Disclaimer: Don't own. No mate row many chapters, I still don't own. Even my original character is loosely based on something I saw in professional wrestling.

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Jade wasn't too thrilled about this time of day. It was the morning, when the night gave way, and she was forced to face the bright lights of dawn. It wasn't that the blue eyed goth was a night person, even though she was, but because she would be facing yet another reminder of the choices she and others made. 'I got everything I ever wanted, and nothing I wanted, all at once. And now, I pay the price….'

Jade slowly got up, her eyes tracking to the worst part of the morning, the empty bed. 'I just hate waking up to an empty bed. It reminds me of… Not going there.' She took a moment focusing past her past, to the present, and the problem she was dealing with. 'Just, I want someone there when I wake, and yet, here I am, waking up, looking at the spot where my lover was, just last night…'

Not willing to linger in those dark thoughts, Jade started her morning routine. She walked into the bathroom, and started with her legs. Dark hair stood out like a flair on pale legs, so she had to she, almost daily. She's used products, eliminated her fur in a variety of ways. The only ways she wasn't allowed to use, stemming from a time in her teens when she's lost the right to have a certain blades around her, were razors, because of the faint, almost invisible scars that decorated her legs. The soft buzz of her electric razor brought her back from the past, to the present.

"One more night past, one more lonely day to face." It was her mantra.

After shaving, the goth made her way to the kitchen for breakfast. The note on the counter reminded her of the problems she'd face if she didn't eat the breakfast that waited for her in the over. 'How is it I have the most militant therapist in the western world?' She asked the air. Again, she got no response. Jade made a note to contact her therapist, and then went to work eating her breakfast.

"Morning, miss West." Tyler was a mountain of a man, towering over her by almost two feet and weighing in at over three hundred and fifty pounds. "I see you ate your breakfast. I'll let miss Valentine know…."

Jade nodded. 'Cat, how the holy hell did you get a degree in psychology? And if that's not enough, you work for my shrink, as an intern, and keep him up to date on just what I might do if left to my own impulses.' She sighed, realizing her past wasn't letting go. 'I'm not that self destructive. Not anymore. Not since…'

"I agree that miss Vega's been a good influence on you." Tyler continued, smiling that huge smile of his. At seven foot four, he never looked like the soft, caring person he was. That was the reason he'd been hired to keep Jade company. That, and a sense of honor that kept her safe from a wide variety of threats, both internal and external. "Are we expecting her today?"

"She's already left." Jade told him. "I…" Her frustration was evident.

The huge man jumped in. "You have to accept she's a morning person." He tried. "She's up, running or doing errands, or sometimes she loves jumping up and rehearsing for her latest project. I admit, your success has helped her to pursue her dream of being a singer by giving her that much more security."

"She lacked the hunger." Jade told him. "My damage, as much of a threat it represents to me, it's what pushed me to kept going when the world didn't want me. It's the reason I succeeded, despite being blacklisted." She smiled at the thought of her girl, even as her attendant pushed the conversation forward.

"I had no idea you had the kinds of skills, though…" He started to admit.

"I don't." Jade said. "I had the idea, and the drive to get someone with the skills and the money, to make my ideas real. Got the help to make the damn thing. But I revolutionized how they do lighting for plays, and movies, with tracking software and small transmitters used to keep specific people spotlights, and keep them tracking."

Tyler chuckled. "Go on, tell me how much your technology is worth? You can even skip how much the military contracts are, cause I know how much you hate those." He waited a second, but didn't expect her to say a word. "You're the majority shareholder, despite mister Van Cleefs family paying for the prototype. There's at least twenty patterns that have your name on them. That's why you're worth over four hundred million dollars."

Jade glared at the tall man, but couldn't hold it too long. "I just wish…" She stopped, not willing to admit openly what she'd wanted. "That fortune is mostly on paper."

"Miss Vega will be back." Tyler insisted. "She always comes back. And yes, I get that you're past didn't leave you enough trust to believe that she will, but she will. Today, tonight at the latest, she'll be back, looking to tell you about her day, while trying to tell you that you made the right choice." He leered at her, something he'd taken to doing to let her know he was implying dirty things. "And yes, even hold you."

"God, where did Cat find you?" Jade groaned.

"Class." Tyler said. "I was on a basketball scholarship, and she was the one to see how much I wanted to be the healer. Besides, I may have had the height, but I'm not that great a player. This way, I get paid while I go the graduate school rout, work to become a psychiatric nurse. My goal, of course, it's to be a therapist, but I want to be able to prescribe drugs, and I'll need my NP to do that."

Jade didn't mind the big man repeating his goals. It reminded her she wasn't alone, even when her love was off, seeking the fame Jade herself had given up on. It reminded her that she was making a difference, potently in thousands of peoples lives. And yes, on paper, she was worth about half a billion dollars, on track to be worth so much more, thanks to the many military applications her theater tech had. But the real thing she loved was that she was gonna be remembered, loved, for her contributions to the craft. That, and what Tori would do to her tonight. 'I just wish she wasn't out the door as soon as she woke? My god, why'd I go and shack up with a morning person?'

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Yep, another Jori chapter, even if it's not that romantic. I used an idea I had from another story for Jade's success. Hope you enjoyed.