Family Bonds

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N

Chapter 1 (Reconnecting)

"So you've done well for yourself," Trina heard Beck say to her as she carried a tray with small coffee cups into the living room. It had been twenty-five years since she last saw the man and his wife, but they didn't look to have aged much in those years. At most, Beck's once trademark hair had been trimmed to a professionally short cut and he had a thick moustache on his face. Jade West's once long near-black hair was half an inch above her shoulders and lacked its purple stripe.

"Jason and I have tried our best to give our children a good life." She set the tray on the coffee table in front of the couch that Beck and Jade were in. Her eyes drifted to Jason and her thin lips curled up into her cheekbones. "It has been a long time since you've seen your uncle or other relatives, honey."

"Would be longer if our daughter hadn't talked me into this," Jason replied with a chuckle. He scratched his head full of light brown hair and shut his eyes. "How are mom and Uncle Erwin?" Jade wrapped her hand around Beck's and looked towards her husband. Beck shook his head and raised his shoulders.

"They miss you," Beck replied with earnest. When it came to light that Beck was the product of his father's affair during their marriage, Jason wanted nothing to do with him. Mr. Sikowitz and Jason's parents-still married-happily accepted Beck into their lives. As a result, Jason cut them off.

It was reminiscent of her own situation. Twenty-five years ago, after Beck and his two friends Andre and Robbie, decided to pretend to fight over her, she left her family. 2012 was the last she'd seen or heard of them, the night that her father believed three men alone in the house with her over his own daughter. It was the straw that broke the camel's back, she no longer felt safe and secure and moved to San Francisco to be with Jason.

Trina walked behind the recliner and slid her arms around her husband's shoulders. Her eyes drifted to Beck and Jade, and she became curious how her own family was. Still, this was Jason's moment, not hers. "Rachel talked you into talking to them, sweetheart?"

"Yes. I don't even know how she knew about you guys." Just then a tall, sixteen year old girl with shoulder length brown hair made her way into the living room. She wore a purple top with short laced sleeves, and knee length denim shorts.

"A friend of mine is friends with their son," Rachel explained. Her eyebrows rose and she straightened her back as Jade and Beck looked to her with subtle smile. "I think it's nice to actually know I have cousins. Kevin and Katie seem great."

"Where are they right now?"

"Playing in the other room with Shawn and Michelle."

Jade grabbed one of the coffee mugs and her eyes darted up to Trina. "So Trina, you're a prosecuting attorney now. I'm surprised your house isn't bigger." She'd received her law degree in her early thirties, while Jason got a doctorate in Medicine in his mid-thirties.

They had enough to buy lavish things, but with three children, it was better to save the money. The money that could buy a mansion in the hills would go towards their children's college;.

"We thought a simpler house would be better than a lavish one. That way we can save up to send our kids to college." Trina moved to sit in the recliner across from Jason's and crossed her legs. "Past aside, it's nice to see the two of you again."

Jade nudged Beck in the side and motioned to Trina. He raised an eyebrow at her, then turned to Trina. "Right. Anyway, I know it's been twenty-five years but I did want to apologize." Her eyebrows closed together and pushed up a wrinkle between them. "Back then, I wasn't thinking. I just reacted, I don't even remember what started everything, really."

"You don't have to apologize to me, Beck." She preferred to thank him. Things were already tense with her parents and her sister, but she had been trying to be patient and see if they would ever be interested in her. It took Beck's puppet prank and his lying to her father for her to see her family truly didn't want her around.

"I was already taking online courses at San Francisco State University, all you did was make me realize my family didn't want me there, so I was able to move in with Jason. The rest is history."

"Yeah, I suppose that worked out. Never thought you would actually leave though." She heard Jason grunt and her eyes darted over to him.

"Sure would have thought you preferred her gone," he said. "As if I didn't already want nothing to do with the man born thanks to my dad's affair." Beck winced as Jason folded his arms across his chest. He turned his gaze upon his daughter and furrowed his brow. "I'd like to meet this friend of yours that you say is a mutual friend of your cousin."

Rachel smiled warily and carefully brushed her fingers through her hair. "I'll try." It was likely the friend was a boy, in which case their daughter usually avoided letting boys visit the house. Jason and Trina were both protective, and of course they were careful when it came to letting Rachel date.

Both of them dated others prior to meeting at camp, and they both knew negative relationships enough to distrust the teenage boy around their daughter.

Trina studied Rachel closely, squinting her eyes as the teenager spoke of her friend.

Just then, a twelve year old boy with a brown bowl cut hairdo came running into the room. In a flash he tagged Rachel on the back, screaming that she was it, then ran off. "What the-" Rachel twisted around and peered down at the back of her shirt. Trina cupped her hand over her mouth, chuckling at the soap suds now dampening the girl's shirt. "Ah! Shawn, you little urchin!" Rachel's voice rose and she charged after her little brother.

As Rachel left, an eight year old girl with a brown pixie-cut hairdo sauntered in. Her wide brown eyes fell onto Beck and her pink lips spread into a widening smile. "Momma, Daddy, that's my new uncle and aunt?" The girl looked shyly at her parents and hooked a plump finger over her lip.

"Yes," Jason answered. He reached out his arm while Beck and Jade gazed back at the child. "Come here Michelle, it's alright." Michelle climbed onto his left knee and raised her right hand, waving her fingers at Beck and Jade.

"She's so sweet," Jade remarked. Trina's heart swelled with pride and she watched Michelle laugh. Jade met the child's curious eyes and her hands folded in her lap. "Hi Michelle."

"Hi."

Jade brought her hand to her chest. "You can call me Auntie Jade." Trina was taken in by the calm and gentle tone in Jade's voice. The girl had really changed in the last two decades; as did Beck.

She watched her daughter move away from Jason and approach Jade cautiously. "She's not afraid as she is shy around strangers," Trina said. Jade's smile grew and she extended her hand, allowing Michelle to place her hand with Jade's.

"I hope not to be a stranger after this, little one."

"Same here." Beck put an arm around Jade's shoulders and glanced nervously at Jason. "That is, if you'll have us." Jason rubbed his knees and took a deep breath.

"Rachel was adamant that we meet up and that she see her cousins." His lips curled up and he raised his shoulders. "I don't see why we can't try. Mom and Dad still together?"

"Far as I know." Michelle climbed up next to Jade and began to chat with the woman, leaving Beck to talk with Trina and Jason. "So. You two? How did you two meet?"

"Long story," Trina answered. Her heart fluttered as she recounted the memory of their reconnection.

To Trina's understanding, Henry and Pamela Tyler remarried a few months before his twentieth birthday. It was around that time they left on a honeymoon and he stayed with his uncle, who had Tori's friends over for a sleepover acting activity.

Cat dragged him off to the Vega home, he displayed little interest in the girl at the time. That night was the very night she and Jason reconnected. "We actually met at a martial arts camp when I was sixteen. He wasn't quite eighteen at the time."

"A few months short of my eighteenth birthday," Jason added with a smile. His eyes softened and he looked towards Trina with a loving gaze. "The moment I laid eyes on her, I knew there was something special about her." The blood rushed to her cheeks and she bowed her head. "I had to talk to her, she wanted nothing to do with me."

"I'd just gotten out of a bad relationship and wasn't interested in getting into another." She grabbed a coffee cup from the tray and brought it to her lips. "Thanks to a couple good friends of ours at the time, Lindsay and Travis, he persisted and I eventually went around to talking to him. After that, I just couldn't stay away."

"We fell in love, but lost contact after that."

"Mom and Dad weren't too thrilled with the idea of me spending time with a boy I met at camp." She shrugged and lowered the coffee cup to the palm of her left hand. Her eyes peered over it and her smile faded. "And Jason went back to San Francisco to attend college that fall. It wasn't until Mr. Sikowitz had you guys do that acting exercise at his house that we met again."

"I wasn't going to lose her that time."

Jade's nose crinkled and a single line shot across her forehead. "Is that why you took online courses at San Francisco State? I remember Tori complaining about how crazy that seemed at the time." She nodded her reply and leaned forward. Her arms hung over her knees and her hands clasped together.

"I thought it would be better to stay with my family, even though they didn't seem to want me around. I didn't realize how toxic an environment it was until Beck and the boys did that puppet routine in front of my father."

"Was it that bad?" Beck inquired. Trina looked at her young child nestled beside Jade and cleared her throat. She couldn't say much in front of the girl, but there was still quite a bit the child wouldn't understand.

"You guys remember how my family was back then. I still wanted to feel safe with them, still wanted to feel like they did want me around. When the guys restrained me the way you did…" Beck frowned and he bowed his head. His shoulders dropped and a heavy sigh fell from his lips.

She unlaced her fingers and raised her shoulders. "Well, needless to say my dad told me to go away and believed the lie you guys told him over me. Three men in the house alone with his daughter, and he believed the men. What if something had happened? What if those three men would have tried to hurt me in some way? Would my dad still have believed them? I wanted to feel safe back then, but I realized right then that I couldn't be safe, and so I left."

"At least you got out and did something with your life." Jade reached over and placed a hand around Trina's. Trina smiled back at the girl. "You even married a doctor. I'll bet your parents never thought that would happen!"

She fell back with a laugh. "No they wouldn't." She felt a moisture beneath her eyelids and quickly swept a finger across them to prevent the moisture from increasing. Her thoughts travelled to her family and she began to wonder how they were doing.

Seeing Beck and Jason reunite was inspiring, and it thrilled her to see her children having fun with their cousins and their relatives. David and Holly may not even realize they had grandkids through her, and surely Tori would love to see her nieces and her nephew.

"I wonder how much they've changed over the years. Maybe they'd like to see me now." Part of her wondered if they'd accept her back, and even then, if they only did so because of her and Jason's careers.

She pushed that thought away from her mind and watched Jade's smile fade away. Beck shook his head and scratched the back of his neck. "We actually couldn't tell you that," Beck said with a sigh, "Both of us lost touch with Tori and the gang years ago."

"We had to focus on college, and of course you're aware that's when Beck started looking for his real dad." Jade shrugged and Jason's forefinger curled over the stubble on his upper lip. "By the time we were twenty-six, I was pregnant and just starting my career as a counselor."

"Yeah, and I was working as a teacher," Beck said while leaning back. "Andre, Robbie, Cat...I don't know what became of any of them. The whole gang just kind of fell apart and went their separate ways towards the end of high school.

"Why?" Jason asked. Her heartbeat slowed and her eyes closed as the thoughts of her family continued to grow. She wanted them to know their family now. If they weren't ready to accept her then, maybe they thought differently now, and perhaps they might accept her family. "Are you thinking of looking for them, Trina? You don't think they'd just outright reject our children?"

"That's what I'm afraid of, but I don't know…I haven't thought about finding them in a long time, but seeing you and Beck? Seeing Jade? I wonder if maybe now's the time. We're not getting any younger."

"We'd love to help." Jade clasped her hands and raised her eyebrows. "Your dad may still be in Los Angeles for all I know. I don't know about your mom or sister." Trina's brow furrowed and an inquisitive expression came over her. Jade opened up her hands and raised her shoulders. "The only thing I can tell you for sure is your parents got a divorce in 2013."

Her heart sank and she blew out a sudden breath of air. It didn't surprise her, but it was something she had hoped never would happen.

When she looked back up she saw Michelle was now leaning against Jade and had fallen asleep. Trina stood slowly and Jade turned her head to the child. "We'll talk more about this later, but first, let me put my daughter to bed."

Tell me your thoughts, do you suspect her family will want her and her family back in their lives? How much will it take to get them to accept her husband and children now after all this time? What do you think her parents and sister has been up to?