Disclaimer: I only own the OC's Victorious belongs to Dan, I also don't own Masterchef, it belongs to BBC simple as that my faithful readers.
Author Notes: This will be a short chapter, sorry to say that I am running low on ideas for Parental Jori lately, I need help! Requests are open! But only on PM, Kay? Anyways enjoy.
"No."
"But Mama!"
No means no Tony!"
"Why not?!"
"Because I said so! You are not about to apply for that cooking show!"
Seventeen-year-old Anthony West was in 'that phase'. Which was better known as "adolescence", that phase was enough to drive most parents into a state of wonder, Tori when at her wits end often asked "Why did we agree to have kids?" Which Jade jokingly answered with "We must have been high"
Tori and Tony were once again in the middle of a heated argument that had been repeated over and over for the past few weeks, both women were currently in London on a vacation with their son, originally they also asked their daughters to come along but both of them already had vacation plans with their respective lovers so instead it was only the West trio taking the in wonders of the U.K.
Not that they done much sightseeing due to the fact that some gentlemen in the culinary business recognised Anthony as the son of two very respectable women in the entertainment industry so obviously he was given the chance to enter the biggest cooking competition the United Kingdom had to offer and ever since he got the application the young man was hellbent on entering the Masterchef experience while they were in England, and as more time they argued the least time to apply there was.
"Mama come on! everyone else is doing it!"
Tori rolled her eyes and turned to face her only son. "Because that's totally a good excuse, if everyone else threw themselves off a cliff, would you do it?"
"Why can't you see this is a huge opportunity?!" The teenage asked angrily "Do you know how many people would kill to get such a big chance to cook alongside the best of the best?!"
"Because you're not ready!"
Jade rolled her eyes at this "rerun" she just couldn't get through them both, seems like her wife and son were equally stubborn when the right situation came up.
"Are you two at it again?" The former Goth asked, entering their hotel's bedroom and heading towards the bed to get a front row seat of this pleasant and familiar scene, "I was only gone for five minutes to get some fish and chips for dinner only to be welcomed back by your yelling"
"Well maybe I wouldn't be yelling if mama wasn't being so unreasonable!"
"I'm being unreasonable!" Tori bellowed out "You're too young to enter Masterchef!"
"I'm seventeen!" Anthony pointed out "A year away from the legal age!"
"Exactly! Which means you still need our permission to enter!"
"You know what?" Jade interrupted, not wanting to see anymore of this argument "Anthony, gimme the application, I'll sign it so you can be a part of this show"
A unified "WHAT? REALLY?" But while her son's response was in exitement, Tori's tone was in anger.
"Ok! I'll be back!" Anthony said as he went to the next room.
The Half-Latina glared at her wife "Are you nuts?!"
"Well maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing ever," The pale woman offered.
"Are you freaking kidding me?!" Tori screeched. "Jade August West! You can't be serious!"
"Why not?" She shrugs " What's the worse that could happen?"
"Have you seen this show?!" Tori said rhetorically "The judges are sadistic people who feed on the self-stem of the new guys!"
"I think you are mistaking Masterchef with the American version" Jade deadpans "Come on Tori, give him the benefit of the doubt, It's his dream and you can't protect him forever from hash coments and who knows, he might surprise you"
"I can't believe that I'm hearing this."
"You are the one who encouraged his cooking skills baby" Jade pointed out "And let's not forget you bought him every cooking tool known to man because and I quote you 'wanted him to be the best cook ever' am I right or am I right?!"
"I hate it when you use my own words againsts me" Tori grumbled.
"Now you know how I feel when you do it" The Thespian said coyly "Now seriously Tor, why don't you want him to be a part of this?, it's his passion!"
"Well couldn't he do his cooking somewhere closer to home?!"
"Ah ha" Jade smirked "That's it isn't it? You can't bear the thought of our son leaving you huh?"
"Well had I known he was going to want to cook on the other side of the world I probably would have thought twice about giving him full access to the kitchen!."
"Tori... Baby... You don't mean that"
The Half-Latina sighed dejectedly "No I don't... It's just... I don't want him to be so far away from me... Am I a bad mother for wishing just a tidbit that he wasn't so good at what he does so he could stay closer to me just a bit longer?"
"First of all you are too attached to our son and second of all you would only be a bad mother if you didn't feel like your losing him but you aren't losing him baby."
Jade grabbed her wife hand, their fingers entwined "We are just letting him make his mark on the world"
Tori's eyes were filing with tears "It's just so surreal you know? I mean it seemed like yesterday he asked for Santa for his one oven"
Jade snickered "He was the only eight year old on the block that wanted his own oven in the kitchen over a damn video game"
"How can you be so calm about this Jade? I mean, you freaked the freak out when the twins left home"
The former Goth patted the spot next to her, Tori understood what her wife wanted, so she sat next to her.
"Baby... No parent is ever ready to let their children spread their wings but denying them the opportunity to do so can only do more harm than good, remember when I tried to prevent Tawny to start dating Lukas?"
"Boy, do I ever"
"And?" Jade asked "What did happen?"
"Tawny was so mad at you she gave you the silent treatment for weeks"
"Right... Tori when that happened you have no idea how much it killed me when our baby ignored me, she resented me for a very long time just for that and while she forgave me, I'll never forget how shitty I felt, that was a wake up call for me, I had to let her grow up just like you have to let Anthony grow up... Let him find his path in life"
"But what if he doesn't make it?"
"My dad used to tell me that you don't learn anything when you win" Jade replied soothingly "And while you and I know our son is a great cook, we are his parents we will always praise him no matter what because we love him, others will go harder on him and I'm sure that's what he wants."
Tori turned to face her wife. "It builds character"
"Exactly"
The younger woman gave her wife a kiss on the cheek "You are wise beyond your years Jade"
"I have you to keep me grounded"
Silently Tori rested her head on Jade's shoulder while Jade simply puts her arm around her wife.
At that moment Anthony entered the bedroom "Here is it mom" He said, holding in the application form "Ready for you to sign"
But before Jade could grab the paper, Tori intercepted.
"Mama!"
Tori looked down on it, mixed feelings making their way onto her psyche.
"Your mom's not signing this" She said.
But before her son could protest the brunette finished with "I will"
"You will?" Both Jade and Anthony asked simultaneously.
"Yes... I will"
Tori got a pen out of her purse and wrote down her name.
Much to her son's exitement and her wife's pride for this was a sign that Tori was letting their son start his path in life.
The Half-Latina looked fine on her recently made signature.
Tori West
Internally she could only worriedly think "Sometimes watching your kids grow up is the scariest thing in the world"
Looks like Tori learned she can't hold onto her son's hand forever.
Also, I never seen the American version of Masterchef, I actually prefer the UK version but I mean no flame on the US version, ok? I just wanted a neurotic overprotective Tori to find an excuse to not let Anthony compete.
Anyway, your thoughts on this?
Invader Johnny Signing Off.
