Jade woke up suddenly, breathing heavily as she sat up. She looked to her side, Beck was fast asleep.

"Damn it," she whispered, swinging her legs out of bed and grabbing her phone to use as a flashlight, noticing the screen said it was only 1:14, she'd barely been asleep an hour.

Victorious

She walked to the kitchen to grab a glass of milk, hoping it would help her sleep, but when she closed the fridge, she noticed the pantry was open, this wouldn't bother her too much if she didn't know there was an exit through that hallway. And where there's an exit, there's an entrance.

"Hello?" She called down the dark hallway, hearing clattering and banging.

No answer

"Fine," She huffed, opening a drawer and taking a pair of scissors out "have it your way."

She flicked the light on in the pantry "of course it's broken," she sighed as the light fizzled out.

Holding her phone in one hand and the scissors in the other, she slowly walked into the closet sized room.

Jade moved her flashlight around the room, seeing Joe digging through a box of supplies for something, most likely alcohol, she sighed "I thought you were a bear."

"You'd be screwed if I was." He rolled his eyes, snatching the scissors from her and throwing them on the cold tiled floor "really?"

She shrugged.

"What is it that I always tell you?" He slurred, standing over her "you remember, don't you?"

"Where there's an exit, there's an entrance?" She shrugged, bored.

"No," he sighed, running his fingers through his hair, she hated when he did that, he looked too much like Beck "The bigger the animal, the bigger the weapon. So, say there was a bear in the pantry, you wouldn't bring bloody scissors, Jade," he glared at her weapon of choice on the floor "you'd bring a gun and shoot that buggar dead!" He mimed shooting a gun, before slapping her on the shoulder, making her flinch at the touch "You understand me?"

"And what do I bring to stop you?" She glared up at him, watching him dance drunkenly around the room, her phone's flashlight their only light as the kitchen light behind her fizzled out.

Wrong thing to say...

"Damn it, Jade!" He barked, his whiskey bottle barely missing her as he threw it in temper at the young teenager, making her flinch "I thought I taught you better than this!"

"You've been drinking." She observed the man, edging back towards the more open space of the kitchen "I'm done with this conversation, I'm going to bed." She turned around.

"But look," he grabbed her arm, pulling her back into the pantry "it's our special spot."

"Shut up," she warned, feeling her breathing becoming unsteady as she found herself feeling trapped.

"Oh," he chuckled "you don't like me now?" Joe stood over her, breathing down her neck "Wasn't it so much better when it was just us last year?" He said venomously, stroking the love bite Beck had given her.

"Shut up!" She grabbed his wrist, pulling his hand away from her "you swore you'd never talk about that."

"No one's around, Jade." He smiled, releasing himself from her grasp and stroking her cheek as Jade felt a lump swelling in her throat "you can admit how you really feel."

"Get off me." She said shakily, trying to pull her face away from him as he held her chin.

"Why?" He moved his hands to hold her wrists as she tried to shove him, making her whimper a little, she hated herself for how pathetic she was being right now "aww, don't cry, you're so much hotter when you're angry." He breathed.

"Back off!" She yelled, shoving him away, making her drop her phone "you're disgusting," she bit her bottom lip, trying to prevent tears from escaping as she practically ran through the kitchen back to the stairs, the warm light of the fire lighting up the room "you better be gone by the time we wake up." she stood on the 2nd from the bottom step.

"This is my house." He chuckled, calmly walking through and sitting on the edge of the nearest couch to the stairs "I ain't going anywhere." The man smiled, taking a deep breath as a strong smell of alcohol hit Jade's nostrils, making her want to vomit.

"Really?" She glared at him, narrowing her eyes as she walked back down the stairs "then I'm sure Beck would love to hear about what you did to me last year."

Uncle Joe only scoffed "you make it sound bad, Jade." He sauntered up to her.

"It was!" She yelled before turning into a whisper "it was, you..." She sighed, not finishing her sentence "you know the only reason I never told Beck is because he has so much respect for you, at least he used to, maybe he's finally seen what I saw all along, that you are a spineless, pathetic coward!"

Slap!

"You will show me respect!"

"Like the respect you showed me last year you mean?" She said, tears now running down her face as her cheek tingled "I was a kid!" She whisper yelled.

"Oh please." He chuckled, leaning on the post of the stairs "You dress like this," he took a piece of her black pyjama shirt in his hand before letting it go again "then you can't expect people to call you a kid. Now Cat however..."

"Don't you say a word about Cat!" She went to slap him before he caught her arm mid swing, pushing it backwards enough to cause her pain, making her whimper before letting go.

"And what about that pretty brunette you stripped for? Or was that for me?" He sneered "Hmm?"

Jade took a breath, trying to stop herself from having an anxiety attack right there "I want you gone by morning." She said firmly, walking up the stairs before turning around and adding "or I WILL tell Beck. About everything."

Victorious

She padded quietly across the landing, be lining for the bathroom. She tried to turn on the light but it was broken, of course it was. Feeling like she was gonna be sick there and then, she decided to leave the light and rely solely on the little light source the moon was giving through the window.

She retched into the toilet, the stench of alcohol that was previously burning the hairs in her nose was now replaced with a thick smell of vomit in the back of her throat.

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she laid against the toilet seat for a little while until she heard someone coming down the hallway, knocking on the door.

Jade opened the door to see Tori stood there holding a metallic purple flashlight, it irritated Jade how organised this girl was.

"What?" Jade spat.

"Are you okay?" Tori frowned "you look kinda pale."

"Everyone looks pale when you shine a stupid flashlight in their face." Jade said defensively, pushing the flashlight away as she slid past Tori in the doorway.

"Yeah, but..."

"Night, Tori." Jade said flatly, walking back to hers and Beck's room.

Victorious

"What was that noise?"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realise you were awake." She said softly, climbing next to him into bed.

"You're crying." He looked at her seriously "Jade, what's wrong?"

She realised she hadn't cried her eyes, that must have meant Tori saw too "Nothing, Beck, I just stubbed my toe, okay, I'm fine." She lied quickly, doubting Beck even believed it. She was right.

"Jade." He pulled her in close to him, looking at her "what happened?"

"Nothing." She pressed before turning round and going to sleep "Night."

"Night," he replied, not sounding so sure.

Victorious

"Hey, what's going on?" Jade came down the stairs wearing a black sweater, a black skirt, and thick black tights. Followed by Tori in a purple sweater and white jeans. And a very cute Cat wearing a pink sweater with black leggings with fluffy pink bunny slippers.

"You looked out the window?" Andre said, putting his hands in his letterman jacket.

"What, what's happened?" Jade looked at Beck, stealing the glass of orange juice he was just about to take a sip from.

"I was drinking that." He sighed, throwing his arms up dramatically.

"Then go and get me one."

"Whatever," he smiled as she sat next to him, pulling her onto his lap "you can have it." He kissed her.

Tori rolled her eyes at their gross affection towards each other, they were either all over each other or wanting to kill one another, she couldn't keep up.

"Could someone please tell me what's going on?" Tori asked, folding her arms as the house seemed colder than last night.

"We're snowed in." Beck sighed, hugging Jade in close.

"So we can't get out?" Cat squealed, looking worried.

"It's okay," Robbie hugged her sideways "we can play pirates."

"No," Cat said, looking uncomfortable.

Whatever "pirates" was, Beck saw how uncomfortable Cat looked and decided to change the subject "Anyway," he clapped his hands together making Jade jump a little, he looked at her but brushed it off "we do have power, but I can promise you it won't last long, so if you need to charge anything, pear pads, phones..."

Robbie put his hand up "My pearbook?" Andre rolled his eyes.

"Hey," he touched Jade gently on the shoulder as she spaced out, she looked at him and he smiled, placing his hands around her waist, lifting her off his lap onto the couch so he could stand up.

"Well, I'm starving." Andre held his stomach.

"There should be some food in the pantry." Beck told him and everyone agreed, happy to go search for some food, everyone but Jade "you wanna come look with us, Jade?"

Meanwhile, Jade had mixed emotions, although she had a fear of weather, since last year she also had a fear of Beck's uncle, what made her think it was a good idea to come back to this place. Thankfully though, it didn't look like he was anywhere in sight, could it be that he was snowed out.

"What?" She looked up, looking blank.

"The pantry." Tori smiled patiently, looking worried about her "frenemy".

"We're going to the pantry to look for food." Robbie finished what Tori was saying.

"Oh yeah, sure," she stood up, pushing her hair back with her fingers.

"Hey," Beck caught her arm, holding her back as the rest of them went into the kitchen "you okay?" He asked her seriously "why were you crying last night?"

"I told you," she shrugged "I stubbed my toe."

"Jade," he sighed "you're not that good an actress."

"Oh thanks." She said sarcastically, offended as she pulled her arm away.

"You know I didn't mean it like that." He said adding "you had a nightmare last night, wanna tell me what that was about?"

"Whatever." She sighed, ignoring him as she walked on ahead to catch up with the rest of the gang.

"You know you're gonna have to talk about it sooner or later."

"Later." She called back, not even bothering to turn around as she walked down the kitchen to the pantry.

"Oh my God!" Cat squealed, opening the pantry door.

"What?" Jade asked, worried.

"Scissors?" Andre asked, picking them up from the ground.

Everyone looked at Jade.

"What?" She looked back at everyone, rolling her eyes.

Victorious

"Everyone finished?" Jade stood up with her empty mug of coffee.

Everyone murmured yeses and handed Jade their empty mugs of cocoa.

"I'll wash up." She said flatly, taking everyone's mugs.

"You sure?" Beck looked at her, confused by her sudden display of selflessness, normally she'd just wash up either only hers, or if he's lucky, his too when she was in a good mood.

Victorious

Jade started running the washing up water, turning the faucet on full even though it didn't need to as she cried as quietly as possible.

She cried heavily but silently, letting her sobs wrack her body as she held her stomach, feeling a scream in her throat that she couldn't let out.

She heard the floorboards creaking behind her and quickly wiped her eyes, biting her lip as she washed up a mug.

"Problem?" Jade felt Tori staring at her.

"Nothing." Tori shrugged, standing in the doorway.

Tori walked up to the sink "Need some help?"

"You can wipe up if you want." Jade shrugged, trying to act like she didn't just totally break down.

Tori grabbed a cloth from the side, watching Jade intently as she wiped up the mugs.

"You think I haven't noticed you staring at me for the last 5 minutes?!" Jade raised her voice, annoyed as she threw a mug into the washing up, making some water splash into Tori "What's your deal?"

"Ugh, fine, you got me." Tori groaned "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"But you've been all spaced out and you were sick last night," Jade turned her head around at that.

"Must have been the airplane food." she shrugged.

"And," Tori shifted uncomfortably "umm," she looked down "did Beck give you those?" she pointed to a collection of bruises wrapping around her left arm.

"Did Beck give me what?' She asked, following Tori's eye line "No, he didn't." She swallowed, pulling her sleeve over her arm.

"Then who..." Tori started.

"Just leave it, Vega!" Jade raised her voice, walking away.

"Hey." Andre appeared in the door as Jade stormed past him "oh bye then." He looked awkwardly at Tori "what's her problem?"

"I think Beck's hurting her." Tori told him sadly.

"What, are you serious?" Andre looked doubtful.

"Did you not see the marks on her?"

"Tori, that's called a love bite." He laughed.

"I know what a love bite is, Andre!" She sighed "I'm not talking about her neck, I'm talking about her wrists, she has bruises."

"Yeah but why you assuming that's Beck, he's never been anything but good to Jade."

"I heard noises last night coming from downstairs," Tori started

"Yeah me too, I thought it might have been you and Cat or something..."

"I heard Jade was shouting at someone, AND there were scissors in the pantry, and now she magically has these bruises on her arms? That can't be a coincidence. Who else would it be?"

"Tori, do you understand what you're accusing Beck of here?" He looked at her seriously.

"Just keep an eye on her with me okay, that's all I ask."

"Fine." He sighed "I'll keep an eye on her but she's not stupid y'know, if someone was hurting her, especially Beck, she wouldn't just take it lying down."

Victorious

Author Note: Merry Christmas? Sorry for the question mark, just not feeling in a very Christmassy mood, let's say I can sympathise with the grinch.

So things are getting much more serious now. Will the truth come out when there's nothing left to do but talk? Find out soon

See you later and happy holidays...

BubbleB98

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