Special Note: Many thanks again to Loganx5 for going over this and passing along numerous suggestions to improve the story. Logan, I really appreciate your help and the improvements you suggested. Hope I did your ideas justice. To all others, any typos, continuity gaps or other problems are all mine so blame me.

Part 1

The Tragedy

KTLA News at 7

7:01 PM PST

"…with the weather. But first, the news. A gang-related shooting took place just hours ago in the parking lot of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. The casualties are all believed to be innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire of the escalating gang war between the Black P Stone Jungles, part of the larger Bloods gang and the Rollin 40s, a known branch of the Crips.

"The injured have been taken to Kaiser Foundation Hospital West…"

Hollywood Arts

3:05 PM PST

"No. No. No. How many times do I have to say 'no'?" Jade West barked at Tori Vega. "I do not want to go with you and Cat and that irritating thing you call a sister to look for some rejuvenation chiz!"

Cat Valentine stood off to the side, pouting. "C'mon, Jadey…"

"Don't call me that!"

Cat flinched but continued, "It'll be fun! I bet there's an Auntie Anne's at the mall. We could get some pretzels and…"

"I. Don't. Care." Jade carefully enunciated every word. "I don't want to go to the mall with you guys. I have better things to do!"

"Name one," Tori challenged.

"I…have a… Why the hell am I justifying myself to you?!"

With that, Jade stomped out of Hollywood Arts, across the Asphalt Café and into the parking lot to her car.

The West House

3:45 PM PST

On the way home, Jade stopped at a Jet Brew. With coffee, she glared at a seated underclassman and took the quickly-available easy chair in the corner near a window. She spent some time going over some notes for an upcoming test before getting a fresh cup and heading home.

While she drove, Jade started to feel bad for her friend. Cat was a sweet, if scatter-brained girl she'd known for years. But she just couldn't handle two Vegas at the same time – especially if one of them was Trina.

And why the hell was Trina still at HA? She had graduated the year before. Vega had explained she was taking some college extension classes while she worked on that farce of a revue show for the Spanish-language station. And, supposedly, getting ready for some telenovela where she'd be the daughter of the don of the family.

Right! Like Trina could act in such a role. Then again, she could just play herself…

In truth, except for studying for the following week's test, the Goth had nothing to do. Since the latest, and final, breakup with Beck, she found she had a lot of free time and no one to spend it with. But the Jade West everyone knew, or thought they knew, wouldn't admit that.

If she wanted to be completely honest, Jade would admit she didn't mind the younger Vega as much as she pretended. The girl was a perfect foil for Jade's talk and her attitude. But she'd spent so much time creating the shell around her that only showed what she willed; it was becoming impossible to change that.

Playing that role was so engrained in her; she even did it in the privacy of her room. So, ostensibly not caring, she tried to check IMs from her friends on her PearPhone.

The phone was dead. Jade cursed as she realized she hadn't charged it since the morning before. She shut it off, remembering a rumor that it would charge faster if it was off, slammed it in the charger and headed to the kitchen to see what was in the refrigerator.

Some leftover pizza that didn't smell bad yet…

She quickly nuked two slices and, with a liter bottle of Coke, went up to her room to watch a movie.

She flipped on her television and had no luck – Syfy had crap reality shows, HBO and Cinemax had lame offerings and TCM was running a bunch of old musicals. She ended up watching a Maury rerun. This one was one of those paternity test shows. Nothing like watching white trash, trailer park in-breeders go at each other on stage.

Without realizing it, Jade dozed off. The show went from trash TV to the local news as she napped.

Jolting awake, Jade saw a live feed on the television. Another gang-related shooting.

Bored, she lifted the remote from her belly and started channel surfing. TNT was running a Supernatural marathon so she settled back to watch the Winchester brothers' ongoing battle with Evil. While not creepy enough to satisfy that side of Jade, it was better than almost all of the rest of the 'horror' shows on TV – The Walking Dead was really the sole exception.

As the show went to commercial, Jade got up, stretched and headed for her bathroom. Coming back, she checked her phone. It now had over an eighty percent charge.

It was already nearly 7 so she figured she'd have at least a couple of dozen messages from Cat.

Sure enough, after she powered her phone on, she saw several voice mails.

She played the first one. Hey Jadey! We're leaving the mall. Trina's mad since the lady with that special cream isn't…

Jade skipped the rest. The next message came up, Jade! Oh my God! Tori is…

The rest of the message disappeared in static.

The rest were from her other friends asking where she was. The one that really caught her was an email from Beck. Look, Jade, I know you pretend you don't care but you should be here. I know Cat told you everything. Just get here as soon as you can.

Jade went to the texts next. The first text was Cat's:

On the way to a mall to get some special makeup for Trina!

Feeling: Happy!

Jade shook her head. Cat's posts always showed 'happy'.

Trina's mad. The cream lady isn't here. But Auntie Anne's is!

Feeling: Still happy!

Poor Trina, everyone deserts her eventually, Jade thought with an internal laugh.

Mmm… I love AA's Pretzels! Tori bought me a cinnamon 1 and I got cheese for it.

Feeling: Very happy!

Cinnamon and cheese?

The next one caused a feeling of dread to creep into Jade's heart.

OMG! Jade! Where r you?

The feeling line was empty! Cat never missed that! Jade sat up straight as she read that. Quickly she went to the next. It was from Beck.

Jade! Where r you? Call me! Tori needs u!

Then one from Andre:

I know Cat texted you! Jade, I'm heading to the hospital with Robbie. Call one of us?

Finally another from Cat:

JADE! WHERE ARE YOU?

Cat spelled out 'are' and capped the entire message. This was not good.

She tried calling Andre, Beck, Robbie and Cat but they all went to voice mail. She tried texting them but no response. She was becoming worried since none of the latest IMs had any feelings listed. That was not a good sign. And Cat using all caps….

Something happened. And, I'm guessing to Tori since I haven't heard from her. How do I get…? Call her! Jade hit the speed dial for Tori's cell – not that she'd ever admit to having that number programmed in. When she got Tori's voice mail, she tried to be calm, "Vega, what's going on? Everyone is acting like it's the end of the world."

Maybe Vega's phone is charging too. I'll try her house…

Another part of Jade's mind spoke to her, Brilliant deductions all, Captain Obvious! Or should I say Catherine since that's who you're calling.

"Shut up!" Jade said out loud even as she listened to the house phone at the Vega residence ring before the answering machine picked up. One-handedly cracking the knuckles of her left hand, she left a quick message. "Vega, call me! Tell me what's going on! Please, Tori. I… I'm worried."

God, I can't believe I sad that! And I sounded so sappy there. And there's no way to retract it. Ah, screw it! Jade walked over to her bed, grabbed the remote and hit the button marked 'Previous' to see the KTLA News logo come up. Then the short introduction to the 7 o'clock news team and the teasers.

When the first real news came up, Jade saw, behind the on-the-spot reporter outside the hospital, a familiar shade of red velvet hair in the background. The girl was wearing the same pink dress Cat had on.

The girl had her head down and was shaking even as she was fumbling with a cell phone.

Jade quickly texted Cat:

Cat, are you at a hospital? What's going on?

The figure on TV seemed to relax a bit as the following text appeared on Jade's screen:

Jadey! You have to come here! Tori's been shot!

"SHOT?! What the fuck…"

As Jade was about to text 'where?', the newswoman said, "…reporting live from the Kaiser Foundation Hospital on Venice Boulevard, I'm Tanya…"

Jade grabbed her bag and keys, racing out of her house.

Never mind. I'm on the way…

Kaiser Permanente Foundation Hospital

7:45 PM PST

The hospital was southwest of the Hollywood Hills, less than eight miles away. But late Friday evening traffic on the I-5 made Jade jump off the freeway. Unfortunately the surface streets weren't much better.

"Damn city needs a better damned transit system that goes more than north/south or east/west. Get more of these idiots off the road…" she growled as she hit the horn when a light turned green four cars ahead. She ignored the fact that the trains normally took almost as long.

The trip took nearly forty minutes, well over twice the time her PearPhone app showed.

Her classic black Charger bounced up the slightly sloped entrance ramp and over two speed bumps as she tore into the hospital parking lot. In her haste, she had considered just racing into the ER entrance but, when she was stuck in traffic, she regained some control over her impulses and decided to park the car rather than risk it going to the impound yard.

She did race through main entrance to the front desk. "Where'sToriVega?Shewasatthemall…"

"Please calm down, miss," the nurse's aide replied. "What is the name?"

"Vega! Tori Vega! She was at Baldwin Hills!"

"Oh, yes, the shooting… The ones brought here are either in the ER or surgery by now. The waiting room is…"

Jade heard just enough and started to race through the hallways towards the OR. Security stopped her twice. The second guard threatened to throw her out so she maintained a fast but less frantic walk.

As she neared the OR waiting room, she saw Cat standing by a water fountain. "CAT!"

"JADE!" The normally bubbly redhead's face was streaked with tears. There were reddish stains on her sweater too. She ran up to Jade and hugged her. "Oh Jade… It's horrible! Tori's been shot and…" The girl started crying into Jade's shirt. "It's like I told you on your voice mail."

"Are you hurt?" Jade asked, pointing to the stains.

"No, that's not me… It's… I…I told you on the ph-phone…" Cat started to cry again.

"Cat! I didn't get the message! All I got was an earful of static!" Then, more gently, Jade lifted Cat's head, saying, "Tell me what happened. Pretend you're talking about a play or movie. Okay?"

Cat sniffed and nodded, "Kay-kay. I'll try…

"We were leaving the mall. Trina was mad 'cause the lady who had the makeup she wanted wasn't there anymore. She had one of those stands in the middle of the mall, y'know?"

Jade nodded, "Yeah, yeah, kiosks. What about Tori?"

"She bought me a pretzel at Auntie Anne's. Cinnamon with…"

"Cheese, I know! Damn it! What about Tori?!"

"We walked out and were heading for Trina's car. Tori yelled 'Get down!' and pushed us both down. I heard some popping sounds and Tori was laying on me but she wasn't moving. When I got out from under her, I saw her shirt was red and wet and she…she…"

Cat started sobbing again. Jade's eyes were leaking too. They held each other for a long minute then Cat pulled back.

"She's going to be okay. I think. She's in surgery and we're all in the waiting room…"

"Okay, let's go," Jade said, tugging on Cat's hand.

"Jade?" Jade was still trying to get her to move as Cat repeated, "Jade!"

"Huh? What?"

"You're make up is all runny. C'mon, let's get you cleaned up first. You might make Robbie faint…" Cat stated.

"Cat, I need to go see what's going on!"

"I know but the nurse said it'll be a while," Cat replied, pulling Jade towards the nearby women's restroom. "I feel a lot better now that you're here, Jadey." Dragging her friend into the bathroom, Cat repeated, "The nurse said she'll be in there for a couple of hours maybe… Here, use these wipes."

Reluctantly taking the makeup wipes from Cat, Jade looked in the mirror and was shocked at what she saw. Her hair was a mess – obviously a combination of her nap and the wind as she tried racing to the hospital. There were at least four long, dark streaks of mascara ran down from each eye over her cheeks as well as some smaller ones that were still wet. That's probably why the nurse and the rent-a-cops looked at me so weird.

"My brother cried once and got streaks all over his face." Jade glanced at Cat as she was wiping the makeup off.

"Your brother wears makeup?"

"No. He's a boy, silly!"

Jade didn't bother to argue about that statement. Instead, she simply said, "But Cat, you said…"

"Oh, his face was all dirty and the tears were washing the dirt off."

Jade shook her head. Even in an emergency, Cat can find some stupid story about her brother.

"Thanks Cat."

"Here," Cat said, handing Jade a hair brush. The Goth worked at the rat's nest her hair had become, ignoring the pain of any tangles as she hurried to get it looking more normal. Finally…

"C'mon, Cat. Let's go see how Tori is…"

"Kay-kay!"

"Hey!" Jade said, trying to sound nonchalant, as she entered the waiting room that seemed to be full of Vegas and Hollywood Arts attendees, compared to the other people in the room waiting to hear about their own relatives. Trying to maintain her Jade-ness, she casually asked, "How is she?"

Holly Vega walked over and pulled Jade into her arms, saying, "Thank you for coming Jade. I know Tori will be pleased to see you." She took the time to look around as she added, "All of you."

Jade slowly put her arms around the woman, trying not to enjoy the warmth and security of the embrace too much.

David walked into the room. "Trina's license plate info got us a hit. The Gang Squad is looking for a Black P-Stone called Jet." Then he turned to Trina, who was quietly crying in the corner, Beck was sitting next to her, holding her hand and trying to calm the older girl.

Jade saw Trina had the same type of stains on her blouse. How badly was Tori hurt?

"Trina, you did good getting the license plate." David sat on the other side of his daughter, nodding his thanks to Beck. The girl fell into her father's embrace.

"Th…thanks D…daddy. I… I'm… I'm so sorry…"

"I know sweetie. I know you are. But we are going to have to talk about going to places like Baldwin Hills when the street fighting between the Black P-Stone Jungles and the Rollin 40s is amped up like it is."

"I'm sorry, Daddy," Trina repeated.

"I might've lost both of you. Or you might be in there too." His glance was directed towards the operating room doors.

"David, not now," Holly said as Beck got up to give her his seat next to the distraught girl. Holly took Trina's hand and held it with both of hers.

"I'm sorry sweetie," David said, kissing the top of Trina's head.

"I am too Daddy," Trina sobbed.

While this was going on, Jade sat with Cat, Robbie sitting on the redhead's other side, holding the girl's hand. Jade noted the absence of Rex.

Jade forced herself not to verbally attack Trina, but she had to know what happened. "Trina, Cat said Tori yelled and pushed you down. What else happened?"

"I'm not sure. To…Tori was talking to me and then she was behind us and pushed us down." Trina took a deep breath. "I had my phone out to text Jeannie about the makeup woman. After I hit the sidewalk, I was stunned but somehow I managed… I took a picture of the car as it raced away." Another deep breath that became a sob and Trina went on, "That was when I realized Tori wasn't… She…"

"It's okay, sweetheart. We know," Holly said. David continued to hold her. His phone beeped and he pulled it out.

"Detective Vega. Yes. Good. Uh… Give me a minute." He muted the phone and gently pulled Trina's face up, "Sweetie, I have to take this call. I'll be back in a couple of minutes."

Trina nodded as she leaned into her mom. Holly looked at Beck and he nodded, sitting in David's seat and taking her hand.

In a quiet voice, Jade asked Cat, "What's up with Beck and Trina?"

"I dunno but they're kinda cute together," Cat replied. Jade wanted to say that was inappropriate for what was going on but thought better of it. Anyway, Cat wasn't completely wrong.

Andre came in with a tray of drinks, asking, "Any news?"

Several heads shook at the same time. He sighed and looked towards the OR worriedly, then started to pass out the drinks. "Jade, here. Black coffee, two sugars."

"How did…"

"Cat said you were on your way."

"Thanks, Andre." She had to smile at the surprised look on Andre's face after she thanked him.

David came back in and took the coffee Andre offered. "That was my boss, Captain Yoshida. It was a typical drive-by. Random shooting hoping to get a rival gang member. Anyway, a patrol team got the driver and are questioning him about the shooter. He's a three time loser known as Jet – real name is Rasheed Jackson. He's 23 and already his jacket has more arrests than just about any other Blood who's under 40 – definitely more than any other P-Stone member."

David paused and looked towards Jade, Cat and Robbie, explaining, "The Black P-Stone Jungles is a sort of sub-gang of the Bloods. They've been fighting a couple of the Crips gangs. Especially the Rollin 40s. The mall recently became one of the fronts of their street war."

"Got it," Jade replied simply.

David nodded and then went on, "Jackson is the stereotypical bad seed. No father. Mother was junkie – ODed when he was twelve. He fell in with the P-Stones when he was still in middle school. He must've been busy but nothing I can find out. Juvey records are sealed as a matter of course. But he does have a record going back to when he was 15 and was charged as an adult for possession with intent to distribute and an unregistered weapon. He's been in and out of County but is now facing hard time upstate."

"Can he beat that? He could claim he wasn't driving or…" Robbie asked.

"The department has been trying to crack down hard on street violence like this, not always successfully. At any rate, there are units assigned just to public places in gang territory like Baldwin Hills. It's helping but the shooters must've known the patrol schedule. Anyway, the point is that even peripheral involvement – like his car being used – is considered aiding and abetting. And that'll be much harsher for him than previous peripheral busts.

"Now the bad news, one of the other victims didn't make it. Jacquolene Peterson. An honor student at Crenshaw Arts Tech Charter School. She was pronounced in the ER about ten minutes ago."

"Oh my God," Holly whispered, her hand covering her mouth. David walked to her and squeezed her shoulder.

"Anyway, now he's an accessory to murder. So he flips or he goes away for a very long time."

The others in the room absorbed the information in silence. The silence was pretty much unbroken, with occasional muffled crying, sniffing and some brief, whispered conversation.

Tori felt like she was floating in the ocean in the middle of a starless, moonless night. Everything was black. Where am I? How did I get here? What's going on?

Then she remembered coming out of the mall's entrance, and turning to the right to head to Trina's car. Trina was on the outside with Cat between the Vega sisters.

Tori was nervous. She had been since they came here. She knew some of the problems in the area and tried to keep her eyes open. Even as she scanned the parking lot, she asked her friend. "Like the pretzel, Cat?"

"Yeah! I love the cheese and cinnamon! Thank you so much, Tori!"

Tori shook her head in a mix of amusement and bemusement (common feelings for Tori when she was dealing with her sweetly goofy friend).

"That's a really stupid combination, Cat!" Trina announced as she pulled her phone out so she could text her displeasure about the makeup woman not being at the mall anymore.

"Leave Cat alone, Trina." As she said this, Tori glanced towards the lot to see what parking aisle they were passing. From the corner of her eye she saw a dark SUV with tinted windows slowly approaching from the rear. Tori sensed this could be a problem.

Feeling distinctly uncomfortable, Tori fell back a step or two. She glanced back again and saw the rear window slide down and what looked like a piece of pipe slide out.

"Get down!" Tori yelled as she pushed her sister and Cat even she heard the shots. Then she felt herself being punched in the back several times as she fell on the other two girls.

Then everything went dark.

And now, the darkness was expanding and she didn't know anything else…