Jade sighed as the doorbell rang, turning off the television and striding into the kitchen to answer the door. She knew who it was, of course, Cat and her mother, Cheryl. Her father, Joseph, would be waiting in the car with Jamie.

Jade opened the door quickly, knowing they would be in a rush, and smiled at Cat, patting her shoulder when Cat's arms found their way around Jade's neck. Once she let go, Cat wandered into the living room and set her backpack on a chair.

Mrs. Valentine wrung her hands anxiously, her eyebrows arched with worry.

"I'm sorry for leaving her with you like this Jade," said Mrs. Valentine, fishing in her purse and pulling out a slip of paper. "Here's some phone numbers in case of an emergency... Doctor, the hotel Joseph and I are staying at... Things like that." Jade hated how Cheryl acted as if Cat was a child instead of a seventeen year old. It angered her more than it should, but she never said anything. She knew better.

Jade took the piece of paper from the woman's shaking hand, giving it barely a glance before she stuffed it into her pocket.

"Mrs. Valentine, this is the third time in two months. We'll be fine." Jade's eyes focused on the car at the end of her driveway, and on what appeared to be Mr. Valentine trying to calm down a hysterical Jamie.

"It's really bad this time, isn't it?" Jade asked, turning her gaze back to Cheryl. Twice in the past two months, the Valentines had left Cat with Jade while they took Jame out of the city to see special doctors. They had never left Cat with someone before; she always went with them. But they were afraid she was missing too much school, as they were gone for days -sometimes a week- at a time, so Jade finally asked Cat if she'd like to stay with her. Cat had accepted immediately, but her parents were weary. But Cat finally wore them down, and with no place else for her to stay, her parents finally gave in.

"Yes... we don't know if he'll be able to come home as soon as he did last time. He's been getting much worse over the past few weeks." Cheryl nodded her head toward the living room. "If she gives you any trouble-"

Jade frowned and interrupted Cheryl with a wave of her hand.

"She's my friend," was all she said, but it seemed to be enough for Cheryl.

"Good-bye, Cat," Cheryl hollered, and Jade grimaced at the sudden change in volume. "Be good for Jade."

"Bye, mom," Cat said quietly, walking into the kitchen and waving as her mother walked back out into the sunshine.

Jade closed the door and stood awkwardly for a moment, taking in Cat's unusually dejected face.

"What?" Cat asked, growing slightly uncomfortable under Jade's scrutinizing gaze.

Jade shook her head, snapping out of it.

"Nothing. What do you want to do?" Usually, thanks to much pleading on Cat's part, they would watch a movie that Jade hated, or play a dusty old board game that Jade only got out when Cat was in the mood to play. But Cat just shrugged, and adjusted the turtleneck collar of her shirt. Jade finally noticed the shirt itself, which was gray and something so unlike Cat to wear.

"What's with the turtleneck? It's like ninety degrees outside." Jade asked, trying to get Cat to just talk. It was unnerving to see her so quiet and somber. The other times when Cat had stayed with her, despite knowing that her brother was going to be tested and medicated, she was always cheery. So this behavior worried Jade.

Cat bit her lip, wondering if she should tell Jade or not. She decided not to, at least not yet.

"I just felt like wearing it today," she replied simply, pulling out one of the chairs at the table and plopping down, eyes locked on Luna, Jade's pet fish that she had gotten from Tori.

"Alright," Jade agreed, sitting down across from Cat at the table. They sat that way for a few minutes, Jade studying Cat studying Luna. Something especially bad had to have happened, Jade decided, watching Cat's eyes move with Luna. Or maybe Cat had finally grasped the gravity of what was going on. But no, there was no doubt in Jade's mind that Cat knew exactly what was going on around her every second of the day. She was sure that Cat purposefully put herself in a fantasy world, acting blissfully unaware of everything to forget about all the really crappy stuff her brother caused. But what do I know, Jade conceded. I'm no psychiatrist.

"Can we watch a movie?" Cat asked finally, big eyes pleading wordlessly with Jade.

"Sure. What did you have in mind?" Jade asked, getting up from the table and extending a hand to Cat.

Cat took another look at Luna and giggled, taking Jade's hand and following her into the living room.

"Finding Nemo?"

Jade sucked in a breath.

"I'm not sure if I have that one," she said, trying to remember if she did in fact own it. If she did, it was on a worn out VHS in the back of her closet. "Let me go look for it, okay?"

"Kay kay."

Jade left Cat in the living room while she crawled into the farthest part of her closet, picking through old books and clothes for a movie she hadn't watched in eight years. She sneezed as dust moved through the air and up her nose, finally finding the movie under a threadbare quilt her grandmother had made for her when she was born. She touched it lovingly for a moment, having forgotten it was even there. But she backed quickly out of the closet, knowing Cat was waiting for her.

"...and sometimes he takes things without asking, but I don't think he knows better," Jade heard Cat say as she approached the living room again. She entered the room to find Cat talking to her purple giraffe, but Cat quickly put him down when she saw Jade return.

"Did you find the movie?" she asked Jade hopefully.

"Yeah, it's right here." Jade held up the movie case. "Why were you talking to your giraffe?"

Cat shrugged.

"He listens. Can I put the movie in?" She took the case from Jade and opened it, checking to see if the tape was rewound before pushing it into the VCR. Her answer had shocked Jade, leaving her standing with her mouth slightly agape. Did Cat really feel so ignored that she talked to her stuffed animal? After some thought, Jade decided it wasn't so unusual, as she had told her dog Bandit everything until the day he died.

"Cat?" Jade called gently, smiling softly when Cat turned to face her. "If you need to talk about something, you know you can talk to me, right?" It was out of character for her to be so... soft. She knew that. But Cat was different than other people, and Jade had always treated her differently than she did others. And it seemed to Jade that Cat rarely opened up about certain parts of her life.

"Thanks Jade," Cat said, returning to the sofa and tucking her legs under her. "Maybe later."

Jade sighed quietly when it finally hit her that she was going to have to sit through nearly two hours of a movie about cartoon fish, but she tried hard not to let her disdain show on her face.

"One time my brother spoke whale while we were ordering food in a restaurant," Cat said when the movie was over and Jade was rewinding it to put it back in its case. "They asked us to leave. They said he was disturbing people. But I thought it was funny."

"I'm sure it was," Jade said absently as she tried to decide what to do with the movie.

"You don't have to patronize me," Cat snapped suddenly, her hand flying up to cover her mouth as soon as she had said it.

"I... didn't mean to..." Jade stammered, quickly shoving the movie onto the small shelf that the VCR sat on. She had never once heard Cat snap like that, though she couldn't blame her for doing so.

"I know you didn't," Cat said, clenching and unclenching her fists. "I didn't mean to sound so mean." She looked so worried, like Jade was going to be angry with her.

"Do you want to tell me anything?" Jade asked, sitting sideways on the sofa to face Cat.

Cat thought for a moment, running her fingers over the worn fabric of her giraffe. She studied his spots as she thought, finally holding him up for Jade to look at.

"Jamie picked this out for me when I was born, you know," she said, smiling as if she could remember it herself. "He was with my dad in the hospital gift shop and wanted to buy me something." She laughed. "They couldn't even let me have it until I was a year old. But Jamie always put him by my crib."

Jade nodded, waiting for Cat to continue. But Cat's smile faded into a grimace as she reached up and pulled the collar of her shirt down, revealing an ugly purple bruise spreading over her shoulder.

"He was having a nightmare last night. I could hear him from my room. He was really scared." She paused, looking up at Jade to make sure she was still listening. "When we were younger, sometimes I'd wake him up and lie with him after he had a nightmare. I think it made him feel better, knowing I was right there. So I sit with him sometimes now, until he falls back to sleep. But when I went in his room to wake him up last night, I must have scared him because he punched me in the shoulder." Cat let go of her collar and it popped back into place. "I know he didn't mean to hit me. He started crying when he realized what he did."

Cat sighed, trying hard not to cry herself.

"It's my fault they're taking him away again," she confided, pulling her knees up to her chest and burying her face in her arms. "If I hadn't gone in his room they wouldn't be taking him away now."

Jade put a hand on Cat's back, rubbing small circles, wracking her brain for something to say. She had just received a flood of information that she hadn't been expecting, and it was a lot to sort through.

"You were only trying to help," Jade said softly, pushing Cat's hair away from her face. "It's not your fault."

Cat looked up, her eyes red-rimmed and teary.

"I know that... But I wish I hadn't tried to. Is that bad?"

"No, it's not." Jade pulled Cat closer to her, straightening herself out to hold Cat in a one armed, sideways hug. "Jamie needs help... now he can get it."

"You're right," Cat agreed. She sniffled and cuddled into Jade's side. "Thanks for listening, Jade." She smiled smiled softly, and Jade hugged her tighter in return.

"Anytime."

I've decided that this set of one shots takes place in the same fictional universe as Maybe We Could Be Friends, my set of Jori one-shots (If you want to know why and how Tori got Luna for Jade, it's written there). So there may be some references to that set in this one, but nothing so big you'd absolutely have to read them.

I'm still working on Cat's characterization, so bear with me! I know she's a lot smarter and more aware than they write her on the show, but I'm still learning how I want her to sound. Please forgive me if this seems terribly out of character, but I can't get it out of my mind that Jade is a much different person when she's by herself around Cat, and in this fictional universe (and you'll know this if you've been following MWCBF) as her ~relationship~ with Tori has progressed, so has Jade's personality, if you will. Only slightly of course, but she's becoming a little softer, a little more understanding of peoples' feelings.

Ah, long author note. Kudos if you're still reading.