Withdrawal.

Author: Invader Johnny.

Synopsis: How does Jade West handle being Tori-less?

Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious, Dan Schneider does, simple as that.

Notes: I always liked to think that after being together for so long, Jade would hate it when Tori goes away be it for a movie, a tour, etc. and has her own ways of dealing with the absence of her girlfriend, this is just an interpretation of what Jade does to battle the loneliness.

Also, this occurs when Tori was away filming "Eye Candy" so this would still take place between the fics "Break A Leg" and "Cancelled" but right after "Ring Of Despair."

Jade headed up to her bedroom, kicked off her boots, taking off her pants and shirt almost robotically.

"Sleeping in my underwear is no fun alone." She thought frustrated "Nor is it sleeping with clothes on for that matter."

The former Goth set her alarm for the next day, not that she needed it given the circumstances.

"I'm sure it will be like any other night... Long and sleepless."

Nevertheless Jade slid into the king size bed, but not before using an elastic band to put her hair in a ponytail, without Tori's fingers giving her a pleasant massage on the head, there was no need for her hair to freely roam down her neck and shoulders.

The second Jade's head hit the pillow though, she was hit with the familiar realization of just how big and empty the bed felt with only one person in it.

She really hated having the bed to herself, no one around to hog the covers.

No one to wake her up in the middle of the night with incredibly loud snoring or the annoyance that came with moving the mattress constantly in the hopes of getting comfortable.

Or literal cold feet.

The silence was deafening, if that made any sense.

She let out a small sigh as she turned to her side, opening up the drawer besides her bed, where she hid the engagement ring she had gotten for Tori, courtesy of her father, opening the box inspecting it once more, a reminder that if things went well then her girlfriend would be a lot more.

"Good night Vega."

She put the box back in her hiding place before turning around, only to cursed mentally at the sight of the empty space.

Even though it had been quite nice to have some time off to herself, she was starting to really miss her girlfriend.

"Vega better miss me too."

Jade hated being deprived of her good night Latina kisses, she hated it even more not having Tori in her arms as they doze off into dream land.

The two young women have been sharing a bed since Senior year at Hollywood Arts, they had shared an apartment together, not to mention that they been dating on and off for a couple of years and still found their way back to one bed, that being said; Jade couldn't remember what it felt like not having Tori next to her in any bed.

Truth of the matter was that this felt like the one millionth night being deprived of her dorky girlfriend, an exaggeration to say the least, but Jade didn't care, she only wanted one thing; for Tori to back, soon.

"Very soon."

So for what felt like the trillion time in that day alone, she cursed the production of her girlfriend's show, make no mistake, Jade loved seeing Tori acting like a super hot hacker, however she despised seeing her girlfriend's supposed love interest in the episodes getting a little too close to her, Jade hated it even more that she couldn't use the scissors on the guy.

"Stupid Eye Candy."

Instead, Jade closed her eyes shut, trying to block out the feeling of 'Tori withdrawal' as she not so creatively christened this pain in the ass so she could get some much needed sleep, but as luck would have it, it didn't come, how could it when her 'sleeping pill' was on the other side of the country probably sleeping soundly in a bed that wasn't theirs.

Jade kept moving back and forth in her bed, ironically the huge space only served to frustrate her rather than to take advantage of this opportunity to enjoy not having to put off with the aforementioned things about Tori that drove her nuts.

She had gotten so used to them that Jade couldn't sleep without her girlfriend's little antics.

It was bittersweet.

"Come on" Jade groaned. "I have to be up in eight hours. I never have trouble falling asleep, for God's sake I even managed to snooze in the middle of a fucking war!"

Despite her complaints, she was still awake... Two hours later.

"This is stupid" She thought angrily. "I just want to get some much deserved shut eye! Is that that too much to fucking ask?"

Jade couldn't help but look over at Tori's side of the bed the moment she thought of that; her eyes suddenly widened as size of dinner plates.

She just an epiphany.

"Am I really some pathetic woman that can't fall asleep without her girlfriend by her side!" after four in the morning now. Jade sighed dejectedly. "Looks like it."

In a last ditch effort to get some rest, the former Goth walked to the closet and after several minutes found what she was looking for.

"There you are you sneaky little bitch."

She had Tori's favorite childhood toy in her hand... Cuddle-Me-Kathy, more precisely her fingers made it seem as if Jade was choking the doll.

Without a second thought, Jade went back to bed and held the doll in an ill-conceived attempt to feel closer to her girlfriend.

"God, how pathetic am I?" She thought disgusted "Vega, what the hell have you done to me? Why didn't you tell me that falling for you would have turned me into someone who can't get enough of you, like a crazed loved puppy."

Several hours later the alarm went off, being heard all over the apartment, as loud as a siren and annoying as Trina's "singing."

Jade was about to grab her phone and throw it out the window had she not realized that doing so would destroy her only means of communication with her dorky girlfriend.

So she calmly (in the relative loose term of the word) pressed the snooze button, her normally blue-green eyes were bloodshot due to lack of sleep.

Still within the covers, Jade contemplated whether or not to even get out of the bed, not even coffee could help her this time, she needed something stronger, actually she needed someone to give her the strength to move her ass.

Jade wearily looked at the calender in her phone.

"Another day, another reason to curse New York." She thought "What the hell was I thinking by letting her go?.. Oh right... I want her to succeed... Because I love her... Love sucks... A lot...It's a double edge sword."

Jade groaned, mentally kicking herself at how poetic her last thought sounded.

"Sure seems like something Vega would say."

Jade finally discarded Cuddle-Me-Kathy, throwing the doll on the pristine side of the bed, putting her feet on the bunny slippers Tori had given her as a present, just because, no reason other than sheer desire to do so.

"What a dork... My dork."

The former Goth sat on the bed for a while, uninterested with the world around her, just staring at a photo Tori hated taken of them a few years ago with them under a tree and Jade holding the ever chirpy Latina bridal style, ironically this photo was when they interpreted a married couple, so yeah Jade and Tori were dressed as Nancy and Walter.

It was kind of hard having to deal with Tori's absence when everything in the apartment reminded her of the Latina.

"Maybe I should consider redecorating."

Jade finally got up from the bed, lazily getting on her feet as she released her hair from the elastic band, finally cascading down her shoulders.

"Ummm."

Afterwards she began to do her morning stretches. first Jade began with her hips, moving them right and left, then her arms and finally her legs as she went up and down on a continuous loop.

"Umm... no comment about my sweet ass... damn you Vega, you can't get back fast enough."

Silently Jade grabbed a pair of pijama pants and a sport bra, ready for some coffee.

She had made a detour however stopping right on the living room, Jade dejectedly rested on the couch, her hands clasped as she look up, no longer fazed by what her mind was making tangible once more.

Tori sat on a chair, or more precisely an imaginary version of her girlfriend dressed as a therapist, with a notebook and pencil at hand.

"So, tell me what's been bothering you?"

"Well, you see doc." Jade sighs "It's been over six months already."

"It's been that long?" Doctor Vega asked, lifting her glasses, something Jade found exceedingly cute (though she had to remind herself that the person in front of her wasn't the woman she loved but a duplicate created by her mind.)

"Yes, you see... Tori has been filming that stupid TV show of hers what seems like forever... At first, I thought I could handle being apart from her, I mean, it's her first TV appearance ... if you don't count when she sang the national anthem at some boring basketball game or The Chris Burm show... What a dumbass."

"You know the rules." Dr. Vega admonished "No badmouthing anyone or anything, this is a safe place."

"Fine, ok... Sorry doctor." Jade grunted, not really meaning her apology "Well, the thing is that I thought the production of the first season would've ended in the blink of an eye, but I still haven't heard from Vega when she's gonna come back and it's driving me nuts!"

"Is it driving you nuts because you haven't heard a definitive answer from your girlfriend or because you miss her?"

"I dunno... The first?... The second... Both?" Jade hissed "All I do know is that Vega has some serious TST to make up for!"

"TST?"

"Tori Sexy Time."

"Ah... now it all makes it perfectly clear." Dr. Vega said with an alluring grin.

"What does?"

"Jade... have you considered that maybe you are sexually frustrated?"

"WHAT?! NO!" The former Goth bellowed "I am sexually fine!"

"Playing with yourself does not count."

Here, Jade blushed furiously.

"Now, that may not be the whole picture." The imaginary Latina said playfully "You miss Tori, not only because she gives you pleasure in every sense of the word but you also need her because she is the source of your happiness, am I right?"

"I won't confirm nor deny it."

"Without her, you are just a grouch who does nothing all day but count the days till she walks in that door." Dr. Vega said smugly "You have it bad for your girl Tori."

"As if!"

"Jade... If you didn't, I wouldn't be here right now."

The thespian said nothing to that.

"Damn you imaginary Vega."

Jade got off the couch, not wanting to be a part of this twisted therapy session her mind had conjured.

As she ran towards the front door, Dr. Vega began to fade away, but not smiling victoriously, knowing she had hot right on the mark.

Having forgotten about making herself a cup of joe, Jade ran to the park near the apartment complex, ready to scream bloody murder as her feet once more had dragged her to something Tori was very fond off.

A tree which had carved the letters "J + T Forever."

She grunted in annoyance "Go figure..."

Having had had enough, it was as if the world was taking a sadistic joy with her misery that her girlfriend was on the other side of the country and had to remind her constantly.

"If this is some kind of pain, it's not the kind I like." Jade hissed as she sat under the tree, closing her eyes "Falling for that dorky Latina ended up being more problem than it's worth."

Suddenly she felt something land on her hand, Jade opened her eyes, only to be greeted by a ladybug.

"If you were a butterfly, I would keep your dead body in a jar." She grunted "But then again, Vega probably wouldn't let me."

She lifted her hand, ready to squash the little insect had something very unnerving not stopped her.

"The fuck?"

Jade was almost certain that the ladybug's eyes were dark chocolate, the same color as Tori's eyes.

She didn't know why, but Jade suddenly didn't feel like killing the tiny insect, instead she decided to inspect it, as if somehow held a meaning to her.

"1... 2... 3...4 spots."

As soon as she stopped counting, the ladybug flew away, leaving Jade behind.

The former Goth quickly got on her feet watching as the tiny bug flew into the sky, somehow feeling a lot better than a few seconds ago.

She turned around to once more see the carvings on the tree.

"No matter how long it takes, I'll be waiting for you Vega."

Now wasn't that sweet?

Truth be told, after watching the Samurai Jack episodes XCIII and CI, I couldn't help myself in making parodies of those.

Jade's therapy session was inspired by Episode XCIII, where Aku had made a duplicate of himself as a psychologist the same way Jade "created" a Tori doctor to spill her problems to, the difference was that while Aku hates the samurai and is concern with having him around for all eternity, Jade can't deal with Tori being gone much longer and ironically created a therapist Vega, fun eh?

For us.. not her, I actually had fun writing her Tori deprived state.

For those who are not aware, there is an ancient Chinese legend that links ladybugs with love. The legend says that when a ladybug comes to call, it is a sign that a true love will pay the person a visit. Further renditions of the legend state that the number of spots on the ladybug indicate the amount of months that will pass until the person is united with her true love, in this case, Jade will only have to wait four more months apart from Tori.

This legend also ties in with the red string of fate. According to the red string of fate, the two people connected by the red thread are destined lovers, regardless of place, time or circumstances. This magical cord may stretch or tangle, but never break. This myth is similar to the Western concept of a soulmate, I actually liked that legend so much that I decided to incorporate it in this story, specially since Jade came to terms that the wait will be more than worth it, more so when she pops the question.

Anyway, constructive criticism is accepted.

Invader Johnny Signing Off.