A Family Stolen

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 27 (Moving Forward)

The group didn't get a lot of chance to talk to Tori or Trina in the days that passed, mostly because everyone was still recovering and the girls were busy trying to recuperate. They had also been spending most their time with Gary and moving in with him.

The girls did give the go-ahead for them to help sort things out in their former home, mostly because they didn't feel comfortable going into the house yet.

Taking Jason's advice they did attend the funeral for David and Holly, but the minute they arrived at the chapel, they felt out of place. Most of the people there were relatives that didn't know much about them other than them being 'the friends that made fun of the family'.

Jade had to step out of the church to avoid the judgmental looks being given by some of the people that didn't understand. She was half tempted to take off running, but the girls wanted them there so she knew better. "How do I do this?" She sat on the chapel's stone steps, almost falling as she sank to them, and looked up in the direction of the cool wind's breeze. "No one in there knows how much we've changed."

"So ignore the unimportant people." She flinched and saw Sinjin walking up from the right. With him was Jesse, wearing a sling over his left arm and bruises all along his body. He didn't look so bad, she thought, for someone that landed in a pickup truck from an upper story home. "What do you care what people that don't matter think? Or, people who won't change their view one way or another."

"You don't get it. They do matter. They're the extended family, and all they know of us are the negative things." Jade glanced down and pulled her knees into her chest. She never felt so much like this before, where the opinions of others made any kind of impact on her. It was eye-opening, and somewhat startling. "I've never felt this kind of insecurity before…I've never felt like I needed people to like me, but they don't know me. They don't understand me." She raised her head up and gasped. "If they'd give me a chance, they might like me."

She heard a door close behind her and twisted around to see Tori standing on the top step. Trina was just behind her, arms crossed and sympathetic gaze falling down her nose towards Jade. Sinjin and Jesse looked up to the two sisters and slowly made their way past them into the chapel.

"That's how it was like for me," Tori said finally with a shaky breath. The girl tucked her hair behind her ear and sat down beside her. Jade felt a nervous twitch in her forehead and smiled sadly. "I wanted to know I was liked, that I was worth something to someone." Tori pat her chest. "That I mattered to someone outside of my family."

"Me too," Trina replied with a hesitant breath. "Jason's often said to me 'The person whose opinion of you that should matter most, is your own'. I guess he's right." Trina walked down the steps, taking a slow and heavy breath while looking out at the area that surrounded them. "Our uncle saw you come out here, so we thought we'd come and talk before the service started…"

"We also ran into your dad." Tori nudged Jade with her shoulder and her eyebrows rose. Jade's face turned red and she looked away, pondering what her father was still doing there. He'd become incredibly protective of her as of late, fretting and worrying about her. "He was going on about his company."

"Oh yeah!" She snapped her fingers, remembering her father's suggestion. "My dad employs some of the best counselors ever. If you wanted to do therapy, you might consider one of the counselors there…I have one that actually really helped me out." The sisters looked to each other, and after a second nodded and turned back to her

"We'll consider it," Trina replied, "I actually have been thinking about getting some counseling anyway." Trina's brow furrowed as she looked into the distance. The woman swallowed and turned back to the church. "I'm going to go head inside, talk to Jason for a while." Tori started to rise up to follow her, but hesitated as Trina flashed a smile. "Sit and talk to your friend, Tori. You have some stuff you want to talk about, don't you?"

Jade looked up with hope and earnest as Tori stumbled over her words. "I guess. Yeah, it's time." Trina held open the door and smiled lovingly at the girl. "Maybe you could find the others, I'd like to talk to them too…Could you and Jason come out too? Also dad." She furrowed her brow at the girl, sensing the hesitation and tremble over her last couple words. Trina's voice lowered to a whisper.

"Sure you want to call him that in front of-"

"It's okay Trina."

Trina paused, holding her breath for a few lengthy seconds before retreating into the chapel. Tori dusted off her pants and sat back down with Jade. Her breathing was shaky and her eyes seemed distant. "Gary and David are both our dads, Jade." Jade blinked twice, shocked by the revelation. She could sense Tori's hesitation in telling the information, and was a bit uneasy because she didn't want to make the girl uncomfortable.

Tori looked down, her arms straight and locked as her fingertips curled on her knees. "Our mom was our mom. It's kind of complicated, kind of hard to understand from an outsider's view, but there was never an affair, Mom never cheated on anyone."

"Are you okay with opening up like this? You know you don't have to, only when you're ready. I'll be there for you as a friend."

"Will you?" Tori's eyes narrowed and she glanced over, as though skeptical. "I mean, I know you used to hate me. Mostly because of Beck, I think."

"Yeah well." Jade looked away with a laugh, her face turning a darker shade of red. "I can't talk anymore. I actually think it's great that other girls find him attractive, and I like that I have him and no one else can." Tori raised an eyebrow, smirking as though she caught the reference. "Like Trina and Jason."

"What are you trying to tell me?"

"A secret that stays between me and you only." Jade turned to her and took Tori's hands, gripping them gently and looking into her widening and trembling eyes. "I'll trust you with this, and you can trust me."

"Jade?" Tori's lips spread wide, and for a moment, it looked like she already had her pegged.

"Nothing is ever going to come of this, because I love Beck with all my heart and would never hurt him. I'm kind of jealous of Trina, or well maybe of Trina and Jason. I think it's just a small little crush, but yeah he seems nice." She nodded fervently and Tori pulled her hands away and sighed, still smiling.

"You have a crush on Jason. Fantastic. At least you realize nothing will ever happen there."

"Right, and I would absolutely never pursue; but I kind of get what happened when we all first met. That's my point." Tori raised a hand to her chin and tilted her head. "My point is…I was jealous because I could see in that brief moment, you had a crush on Beck. Trina would never see me as a threat, so-"

"She'd probably kick the ass of any woman that tried to come close to Jason."

"There is that." Jade chuckled nervously and turned her head away, thinking still of all that she and Trina had in common these days. So it seemed. "But my point is, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for ever treating you poorly, and I know the others are too."

"Yeah, I know." Exhaustion hung on the girls' response, leaving Jade speechless as Tori rose to her feet. "They've been apologizing profusely to me. I just…I guess I just haven't been ready to talk. To anybody." As Tori turned around, her breath hitched and she tensed up as all her friends proceeded out of the chapel with Trina, Jason and Gary in tow. "Oh…"

"You wanted to see us?" Beck stepped beside Jade, looking to Tori as he put an arm around Jade's shoulders. Tears welled up in Tori's eyes as she grabbed the small handrail beside the steps.

The door opened one final time and Ian stepped outside. Tori met his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as he made his way to her and took her hand in his. "My boyfriend. This is my boyfriend, Ian Dennison, from Sherwood High, a place I loved just as much as Hollywood Arts…" Ian waved at the group, and the others nodded respectfully. "Hollywood Arts and Sherwood have two different things for me, hobbies and stuff I enjoy, and then knowledge and, well, other passions and things I love doing."

"So tell us a little about Sherwood," Andre said with a smile. Tori smiled back, happy to see them taking an interest.

"Sherwood's actually a public high school, just like a lot of other schools. They do have fun activities, a lot of great clubs, and well…" She chuckled nervously as a look of pride flashed in Ian's eyes. "I was president of the science club one year and that's how I met Ian, actually."

Ian motioned to her, laughing gently. "She's not being fully honest. We had a class together that year and she never talked to me until I went to science club after school."

"I was shy!"

"You still are, dear." Tori blushed and Ian kissed her temple. Jade enjoyed seeing this side of Tori, a side she hadn't quite seen before. Looking at the others, she could see the same in their eyes.

Tori shook herself and grinned. "So I love science. I once took a program offered by Sherwood to volunteer at an animal shelter and study veterinary medicine for a little bit; and oh my god I want to be a veterinarian more than anything."

"She's not joking." Ian smirked. "Put a puppy in front of her and the rest of her day she'll be playing with the dog and not paying attention to anything else. Even her boyfriend." The others laughed as Tori's face turned redder.

It was clear they liked Ian, and as Tori saw this, she seemed to relax and grow more comfortable. "I'm telling the story," she said with a playful whine. Ian chuckled softly and moved an arm around her waist. "But yeah…that's just a part of who I am, who I've always been, I just wanted to be accepted and was afraid none of you would accept someone you might consider a nerd."

"We accept Robbie," Beck jokingly added. Robbie shot him a glare and Tori laughed. "But no, of course we all accept you Tori."

"Good, because there's a lot about my life and my family that well, you don't know and, well…" Tori ran her hand along her arm and looked down. "It'll take some time."

"We're going to be here for you," Cat replied, "Because we want to be. We're your friends, Tori, and that's the way it is." Tori smiled and looked to Gary, who gave her a simple nod.

"You'd have to accept my family too." The others stated their collaborative agreement of the matter and Jade awaited the next bit of info. "Like my parents had a three way relationship, kind of like a pact formed when they were kids." Tori appeared nervous as a silence fell over everyone. "They all loved each other, it wasn't even a love triangle…Mom was and will always be our mom, she gave birth to us; but we have two dads. It never was even a thought to question which one actually fathered us, but both have always been a part of our lives…So if you judge them, you judge me."

"We won't judge," Robbie replied, "Believe me. I think that's cool actually." He smiled as Gary looked over to him. "Also, I think I speak for everyone here when I say this: If you need space, we will give you space. If you want us to be judgment free, we will be that. We are your friends, we will remain your friends if you'll have us. We're here for you."

"Thank you." Tori gave him a smile and closed her eyes. "Trina actually thinks you guys have potential too." She chuckled slightly and Trina rolled her eyes, casting a smile upon the group. "Just yeah, give us a little time to ourselves. To recover…"

"Sure," Jade remarked, "You know where and how to reach us."

Jade cried during the ceremony, something she wasn't sure she'd do. There had been a few funerals she'd been to where she'd not shed a tear. Even for some of her own relatives, but for Mr. and Mrs. Vega she couldn't help but to feel a string of emotions that kept her from being able to conceal her tears.

Beck was beside her, gripping her hand and squeezing it gently. His eyes were moist as well. In the back of her mind she wondered if she could have saved them, but she knew there was nothing that could have been done.

As time went on, Jade found herself grateful for Jason even more as he was able to fill Trina in on everything. With that, Trina didn't have a problem with their presence-which Tori would have likely kept them away if she did. Even after the trial, Tori and Trina both came to the group with tears.

Indeed the former Police Chief had been sentenced to death, and Ross had been given life with the possibility of parole in sixty years. Jade thought Ross's sentence was light, but at the end of the day she knew it mattered little what his sentence was. The crucial element was the Vega survivors, and the fact that they were thriving the best that they could.

For Trina, Jason proved a good supportive role that could help her through her own trauma. Jade's dad provided discounted rates for the girls and Gary to talk to the counselors at his practice; and of course this gave them licensed therapy at an astounding and affordable rate.

All in all, this was a family of survivors, and Jade knew they would become stronger no matter what.

That ends this tale, thank you to all who read this, I hope you enjoyed it and will enjoy future works.