This is chapter 20 - hope you enjoy!

"Jade! Jade!"

Actively trying to get Jade West to talk to her definitely hadn't been on Tori's bingo card for the week, but, really - had any of the events of the past seven days? Clearly the girl had spoken to Beck last night and discovered that a reunion was most certainly not on the cards, a revelation that Tori was now bearing the brunt of Jade's reaction to.

"Jade, come on." She pleaded as the mean girl stalked past her without even a sideways glance. Tori wasn't particularly eager for a conversation, but she thought letting Jade know that it was Beck's fault they weren't back together was her best bet at avoiding complete social destruction. But Jade wasn't playing ball, and instead marched off towards her locker as though Tori wasn't even a speck in her existence. Tori sighed, and followed, although she knew that this wouldn't be welcomed.

"Jade."

"I'm not talking to you." The girl replied through gritted teeth.

"Please Jade, you have no reason to be mad at me." Tori groaned. This was so not the situation she wanted to be in right now.

"Really? Because it seems like I asked you to do something and you did absolutely nothing." Jade spat.

"Nothing? I went and talked to him! It's not my fault if he didn't listen." Tori complained.

Jade merely rolled her eyes. "Okay, Tori. I'm sure you did a great job and said so many helpful things. Thank you so much for getting me back the boyfriend that you can see with me right now." She said, slamming shut her locker door with enough venom to make Tori's hair stand up on end.

"I don't know why I even asked you. You're useless anyway." Jade mumbled as she walked off.

Something about that irked Tori. She'd talked to Beck - she'd made an effort for someone who spoke to her like she wasn't worthy of picking the gum off of her shoes. And she wasn't going to be blamed for the breakdown of Jade's entirely dysfunctional relationship.

"You know, I tried my best." She called after Jade. "You can be mad at me all you want but if Beck really doesn't want to get back together with you then no one can change his mind."

This must have hit a nerve, because the glare Jade subsequently shot her could've brought down buildings.

"You have no idea what you're talking about. Beck just - he -"

And then a very strange thing happened, at least in Tori's opinion. Because out of the very same eyes that daggers had just exited, a glisten appeared, and Jade's voice choked.

"Jade?" Tori asked, concerned, as the usually stony-faced girl appeared to catch herself mid-sentence. In what she could muster as a response, Jade airily rose a hand to her face, as if to cover her broken facade, and snatched for Tori's hand. The girl in question barely had time to register the situation before she was being bundled into the janitor's closet, nearly knocking over a stack of cleaning equipment in the process.

"Hey! These things can cause chemical burns you know!" She yelled, but from Jade there was no reply. In fact, Tori doubted she'd even heard her, as she was hunched over by the door, leaning on a shelf, with only her hair restricting Tori's view of what seemed to be some kind of breakdown.

A couple of sobs went unanswered before Tori felt she had to speak up. It wasn't even that she didn't want to help Jade - which, admittedly, was something of a stumbling block - it was more that she didn't know how to. Beck had said it himself - this wasn't her fight, and Jade needed to sort herself out if she had any chance of winning him back. If the girl hadn't been crying in front of her, Tori might not have been able to stop herself from thinking about how Jade's selfishness was seemingly coming back to bite her.

"Look, Jade, I don't know what you want me to do. If you want Beck back, go talk to him. And if he still doesn't want you back then... I don't know, move on and forget about him?"

"Forget about him?" Jade spat, swinging round her head in all its mascara-streaked glory. "Did you forget we have a child together? That we've been together for two years? How could I ever forget him? God, why did I even come to you - you have no idea about anything!" Jade groaned, beginning to angrily swipe at the makeup stains under her eyes.

"Hey! I didn't ask you to come to me! This isn't my problem. Sort it out with Beck." Tori snapped, heading for the door.

"Wait!"

"What? So you can yell at me some more?"

"No." Jade huffed. "Look, I'm sorry. You're not totally clueless." She admitted, with some difficulty, and Tori rolled her eyes.

"Okay, so, I don't like you, you don't like me, that's whatever, but seeing as some people seem to think you're a nice person..."

Tori had to concede that this was probably Jade's version of a compliment.

"...and you've spoken to Beck about this, I was hoping that you could still help me."

"Help you how?" Tori sighed. "I've already spoken to Beck and he said no."

"Is that what he said, really? 'No I don't want to get back together with Jade'?" Jade raised an eyebrow.

"No, I- I don't know."

"Well what did he say then?"

Tori wasn't trying to be a homewrecker, she truly wasn't, but attempting to remember exactly what Beck had said the previous night was making her feel like one. When she had gone home the evening prior, she hadn't been mulling over his words with a view to relaying them to Jade. Instead, she had been considering what they said about the relationship as a whole; they had felt like a window into his feelings, and telling Jade how to change herself to appear as though everything was fixed seemed like a disservice to the member of the couple that she actually considered her friend. And, of course, the forgotten party in all of this - the baby. Maybe it was actually seeing him in person, but he suddenly felt so much more real to Tori, and the nice girl in her couldn't help but think of his innocent, unaware life in all of this. Sure, she had her own feelings invested in the matter, but the bottom line was that she agreed with Beck that his relationship wasn't stable, and little Toby deserved better.

"He said that Toby deserved better."

Jade's eyes looked like they might fall out of her head. "He said what?"

Tori suddenly had a feeling that that was not the right answer. "I mean, not like that. Not a better mom than you. He said - he meant that he wants a stable family for Toby. A family that loves each other." She gulped, hoping that she'd saved Beck from a chemical castration or whatever other devious plan Jade West was surely capable of.

Jade paused for a moment before nodding silently, causing Tori to let out a breath she didn't even realise she was holding.

"I think I know what the problem is." Jade said.

"You do?"

"Yeah. So there's one thing that's holding him back, right?"

Tori wasn't quite sure that that was what she'd said, but...

"So, he wants a family that loves each other, but we love each other and we love Toby, so who else is left..."

Well, perhaps that statement held a lot of misplaced certainty...

"His parents."

Tori cocked an eyebrow. "His parents?"

"Yeah." Jade nodded, assured. "His parents hate me." She added, with a sense of certainty that would've garnered Tori's sympathy had she not been so confident that it was probably fair.

"I'm sure that's not true." She said, with as much conviction as she could summon. Jade's glare in response made her wish she hadn't even tried. "Why do you think they hate you?" She asked, attempting a different route.

"I made their son a teenage dad." Jade snorted.

Ah, of course.

"They've hated me forever, though." Jade continued. There was something sad, even to Tori, about the way she talked about it so naturally. "I'm not exactly who they pictured as their precious only child's childhood sweetheart."

Was she any parents' picture for that?

"Fortunately, I don't spend my time caring about stupid people and their stupid opinions..."

And just like that, all traces of vulnerability were gone.

"...Beck, however, seems to give a shit what people think." Jade continued, rolling her eyes. "So I guess, maybe, that's where I need to focus my efforts."

"You're going to talk to his parents?"

Jade shrugged. "If I have to. Maybe if they can learn to tolerate me then Beck will have some belief in our relationship."

"Okay, good idea. So what's the plan?" Tori nodded cautiously.

Jade shot her a look. "None of your business, Vega. This is my relationship and I'm going to sort it out myself."

"But you said-"

"I don't care what I said." Jade snapped. "I know what I'm doing and I don't need you and your lack of knowledge getting in the way. But... thanks, I guess - for yesterday." She mumbled that last bit, so quietly that for a moment Tori thought she had imagined it, before confidently sauntering out of the door, as though the first half of their conversation hadn't even happened.

Tori now found herself alone in the middle of a dimly-lit, chemical-infused cupboard, more confused than ever. She'd just about doubled her number of interactions with Jade West in the last couple of days but was still no closer to understanding her. She was an enigma alright, that was for certain.

In the cupboard, alone save for the most unhelpful 'friend' in the word and a precarious stack of toilet paper, Jade felt as though she couldn't survive the next few seconds without Beck. But seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into days, and suddenly she'd been without him for an entire week. But the feeling didn't go away. Sure, she was strong and independent, but god did she love that boy. Enough to turn up on his parent's doorstop dressed like Cat at her Bat Mitzvah. Jade had worn a black cloak.

"Jade?"

For as long as Beck had known her, Jade West wore black. And maybe a little green, or navy, or purple. But never any bright colours. Never any of the pinks or pastels or yellows he'd heard her mom tell her would "make her look less miserable." She'd always replied that she was miserable, so "why pretend?" and he'd always hoped that that was just part of her caustic humour, perhaps because the other option was so much harder to bear.

But now Jade West was stood before him, at the doorway to his parents' house, wearing a summery red dress and a bright smile to match, although this fell when she saw him.

"Oh, Beck."

"Were you expecting someone else... at my house?" He asked quizzically.

"No, I just- I came to drop off Toby." She said hurriedly, gently bouncing the baby on her hip.

"You're early. I thought you were coming at six." He replied, taking the baby. Matching his mother, he was wearing a red babygrow adorned with a picture of Lightning McQueen. Beck smiled slightly. Cars was his favourite kids' movie.

"Yeah, well, I - to be honest, I came to speak to your parents."

Now that caught Beck's attention. "My parents?"

"Yeah, I thought we should probably talk."

"You? And my parents?"

"Yes, Beck." Jade rolled her eyes.

"Why would that be a good idea?"

"Because they hate me."

"They don't hate you."

"They absolutely do."

"They-"

"Look, I'm not gonna stand here doing this all day." Jade snapped. "The bottom line is they obviously hate me so I thought, as the mother of their grandson, I have a responsibility to at least try to change that. So... here I am." She finished, a little nervously.

Beck held his breath slightly and checked over his shoulder for any sign of life. He'd only entered the main house to make himself a grilled cheese and he hadn't seen either of them, so he was confident in the assumption that they were both still at work. Even so, he stepped outside, closing the door softly behind him.

"So, are they in or should I come back later?" Jade asked, impatiently.

"Why are you doing this, Jade?" Beck asked, completely ignoring her question.

"What?"

"We dated for two years. I know you. You don't give a shit what my parents think about you."

"Well maybe I've changed."

Beck raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe I have!" Jade raised her voice in frustration. "What's the point of me even trying to better myself if you people just doubt me every time?"

You people. He'd never been included in that group before.

"I'm making an effort, Beck. You of all people should appreciate that. Your parents hate me because I'm the exact opposite of what they envisioned for you, and how's that going to affect Toby when he's old enough to understand it? But god forbid I try to be more like the kind of person they'd accept, right?"

Beck felt a little guilt clawing at his chest. "Jade, you know what my parents are like. They don't like anything that's not exactly how they've envisioned it. Hell, even I fall into that category and I'm their flesh and blood." He replied, half-jokingly and half exasperated. "I've never had a problem with the fact that they don't... approve... of our relationship." He continued, choosing his words carefully. "And I've certainly never wanted you to change yourself to make them happy. I've always loved you the way you are."

Jade chewed on her lip, no longer knowing whether they were arguing or having a sweet moment. "Well, why don't you think we'll work then?" She asked, returning to their earlier fight.

Beck sighed. "That's what this is about? Look, our relationship - it's never been perfect, right? We can both agree on that. But now... we've got someone else to think about. We brought a baby into this world and he deserves a stable home life. He deserves better than you breaking up with me on a whim - hell, I deserve better than that, don't you think?"

"Oh, so I'm a bad mother am I?" Jade spat back.

"Oh my god, why do you do this?" Beck groaned. "If you're not going to listen to what I'm saying then why are we even having this conversation? I think you're a great mother, but I think whatever this insecure thing you have going on is affecting our relationship and it's affecting Toby too."

Jade was about to retort before looking in his eyes. He looked weary. He was tired of this conversation, this relationship maybe? Who could tell? Maybe she should just up and leave - they'd be better off without her anyway, both him and Toby.

"You're right."

"I am?" Beck was stunned. He wasn't sure Jade had ever uttered those words before in the entire two years of their relationship.

"Yeah, I get it." She sighed. "I get insecure all the time, I can't deny that. And I try to convince myself that it's not part of who I am, but I just can't. I'm always going to believe that there's someone out there who's prettier and nicer and more perfect for you that I can ever be, and whilst I'd love to think that's just the jealousy you stir up talking, realistically, it's just who I am. And I can't expect you, or anyone, to put up with that for a lifetime, in return for whatever being with me is supposed to be good for." She spat. Her eyes flickered up from the floor and rested on Toby, who was looking at her wondrously. She was glad he was far too little to understand the ongoing situation around him, but couldn't help but feel the guilt again, for the negative associations swimming around his early months.

"Jade, I've lost track of the amount of times you've broken my heart recently. And I don't mean breaking up with me."

She cocked an eyebrow, not sure whether that was a heartfelt sentence or a hurtful jibe.

"You keep saying these things and, whether you believe it or not, when you hurt, I hurt too."

"What do you mean?" Jade asked, shifting on her heels. The turbulence of this conversation was really messing with her.

"I am so lucky to have you, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. It makes me feel sick that you think anyone 'puts up' with you. I love you, Jade, and the thought of being able to tell you that for a lifetime is pretty swell to me." He smirked. "You're beautiful and smart and funny and an amazing mother. I wish you could see the version of yourself that I can see because I promise you, you'd have no insecurities at all."

Jade bit back a smile as a blush crept up on her cheeks. "Say more." She smirked, and he laughed and pulled her into him.

"We're not perfect, and we might never be. But I know that I love this version of you, and between us we can work everything else out in between."

"I love you too." She smiled, and he kissed her on the forehead. "Not that much though. Don't get too excited." She joked.

He laughed genuinely, and, before she knew it, his free hand was on her cheek and his lips were on hers. Her arm snaked around his neck in return, as she kissed back, the other finding its way to rest on the arm of his that cradled their son. He pulled away gently, resting their foreheads against each other.

"So, what do you say - be my girlfriend again?" Beck smiled.

"Hmm, if I remember correctly, I broke up with you, so maybe I should be the one asking." Jade replied, with mock contemplation.

He laughed, kissing her again before she could even ask. Toby seemed to sense the happiness in the air and began to giggle as his parents made up, but the pair in question were too engrossed in each other to notice.

"Beck- woah, Jesus. What is going on out here?"

Beck and Jade snapped away from each other at the sound of this foreign voice, swinging around to see none other than Sanah Oliver staring at the pair, washing basket in hands and a scowl plastered across her face.

"Oh, er, hi Mom." Beck replied, blushing red.

"Hi." Jade added meekly, disentangling herself from the woman's son.

"What do you two think you're doing? And I thought you broke up with her?" Sanah spat, pointing at Jade.

"Well actually she-" Beck began.

"We're back together." Jade smiled, placing a hand on Beck's arm. He smiled with her, albeit a little awkwardly. There was a little too much evidence in the world to deny that he and Jade had done any more than hold hands, but he still didn't love to have his mom witness it.

"You're back together? Really?"

"Yeah." Jade nodded. "We're working on things. Hey, do you like my dress?" She asked, giving the skirt a little flicker.

Sanah raised an eyebrow. "Well, yes, actually. It's very tasteful. You should wear that colour more often."

"Oh, no." Jade laughed. "I was just showing you because I don't think you'll ever see me in something like this again. I think we're gonna go now." She said happily, turning on her heel and heading towards the RV.

"Beck, do you really think this is a good idea? You can raise your son without being with that girl, you know." Sanah hissed once she believed Jade was out of earshot.

"I know." Beck shrugged. "But I kind of like that girl." He said, and, without another word, he turned to follow the girl in question, leaving behind both his open-mouthed mother and the grilled cheese waiting for him in the kitchen.

Oh well, there was something, or someone, much better waiting for him in the RV.