Disclaimer: I don't own, Dan Schneider of Schneider's bakery does. I just needed someone to star in this story.

Disclaimer 2: I'm not that great with Beck.

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Beck was enjoying his afternoon, working in his vegetable garden. The simple task of coaxing the plants to grow out of earth and sun was always calming to the one time actor. He hadn't acted since hew as twenty and the short lived show he'd been cast in ended. That same show he'd help keep alive an extra season by taking on other jobs, including both directing and editing. But the long term effect was his finishing collage with a job as a casting director, as well as earning other credits that let him work mostly from home.

The sun was bright that day, and Beck's small slice of the acre plus grounds was fairly open, leaving no place to hide from the suns merciless embrace. Only a single tree, a multi-fruit tree sporting both apples and pears, offered him any shade from the heat beating down on his small garden. Beck didn't mind, glancing over the small fence he'd placed around this sacred plot of land to see what the children were doing.

Kane and Marcus had once again invented a game that involved wresting. The two never could figure out how they got in so many fights, considering that fighting seemed such a prominent part of their many play sessions. 'God, those boys...' He smiled. "BOY'S, PLAY NICE!"

It was hard to believe the two were brothers, since Marcus was African American, while Kane was white. Still, they were, because like all Beck's kids, they were fostered. In the five years since he started taking in foster kids, his secret passion since he was twenty one, Beck had fostered over a dozen children. These two precocious first graders had been with him a year, and it felt like they were slowly recovering from the different drama's that caused them to be in the system. Beck knew how hard the first six months had been on them, and was grateful they'd bounced back so well. 'They're tougher then they look. Then again, I had help giving them the love and attention they needed. I've always had the support of my friends, when they can help out.'

Friends like his ex, Jade, who used his services as a casting director whenever she could, just to help keep the money flowing into his household. With anywhere up to eight kids living here, Beck needed every penny. Not that he was suffering. Boy was rich, thanks in part of the gig he had from seventeen to twenty, on that Dingo channel show, playing the older brother of the main character. Beck earned his nice home in the hills, as well as the privilege of working his so called main job from home. Casting director, associate producer, and frequent writer, the one time actor only rarely engaged in that particular passion. The kids took up too much of his energy, his time, and his focus. 'Honestly, small kids need so much time.' Still, he was smiling.

Lia was, once again, sitting under one of the trees in his large yard, complaining to Fran that her leg hurt. Lia was, like her twin sister, Maya, only five, and like so many children that age, overreacted to everything. The girl could complain about the unbearable pain in her leg, even while jumping around the playgrounds. Maya, at least, had the decency to just look cute, then hide from the others when it was time to go in. Beck knew, however, that both girls were good kids, just kids. Their kindergarten teachers had commented on that much.

Beck sent four kids to Hollywood Hills elementary, and had wanted to send more. Only, a working single parent, it was often hard for the handsome young man to find women interested in his many responsibilities. After all, Lia and Maya had been with him since they were two, and were almost completely finished with The foster adopt process. So many women had seen that part of his life and just ran.

Others had decided that, him living next door to his ex, Indi darling turned main stream draw Jade West, sent the message he was still too attached to his past. No one likes competing with a mans ex. 'Of course, I helped Jade transition to main stream, cause while being an independent artist let her do everything, it also had her on the road, all the time. Her working with the studios now means she had to set down roots. Roots next door to me, so I can use her sometimes, when I desperately need a baby sitter.' He smiled at the memory of the first time he'd just dropped his brood off at her home, letting them play while she tried to argue that she had a date. I think maybe thats the reason she still likes to work on projects so far away from home.' he glanced at his kids, making sure they weren't doing anything too bad. 'But hay, she keeps me in frozen treats. I need them, thanks to Fran, and kids like her.'

Fran was his current oldest, at fourteen. The girl had been with him less then six months, and when she'd arrived, they thought she'd probably be in juvenile hall by now. 'Fran, you've got a ways to go, but you're gonna make it. We just need to stay the course. I got you something to think about, other then maybe you'd still be dating Carlos if you'd done what your rival did, and have his baby. How can anyone who's still a baby care for one of her own.' his eyes drifted to where Marcus was wrestling with Kane. Kane's mother was far too young to care for him, and his grandparents had too many issues of their own. 'Fran, you made the right choice.'

Fran was Hispanic, like Mike, Beck's last, or depending on how you looked at it, first child. But Fran, short for Francine, was taken from her parents much older, while Mike had been fully adopted by now. Mike even used the Oliver surname. That boy should have been out playing with the others, only at nine, and having been with Beck four years, he'd grown to the point where the smaller children were an alien species. Instead, he was with Beck's parents, at some playdate with the grandchildren of some of their friends.

'I got you into Hollywood Arts.' Beck thought at the troubled girl. Like so many, she could sing, kinda, and he convinced Robbie to teach the girl guitar. That one action had the dual effects of helping her win her way into the prestigious school, where the alternate methods of teaching gave her the chance to thrive, and gave the nerdy boy his first crushing fan. Fran was over it now, mostly, but it caused more then a little friction with Cat, who felt it was wrong for the girl to think of Rob like that. 'Cat thought it was wrong for any girl to think of Robbie as a sex object. Man, Cat needs to admit she likes rob, and move on from there.'

He shifted his view to see Maya sitting next to the fence. "Daddy, can I help in the garden?" She asked, again.

Beck sighed. "You're too little." He told her. 'I'd be lucky to have a garden, assuming you were trying to work, and didn't go digging for worms, again. There are holes the grounds keeper I hired complains about, where the younger kids go digging for worms, or maybe try to get to china, and we have to fill them in.' he smiled, a big smile he never wanted to lose. "No, you're too young to help in the garden. Too many grown up things in here. Maybe when your older."

Mike was Beck's, fully adopted, and the twins were just a few weeks shy of joining him in the Oliver family. Beck knew that Fran wasn't part of his original plan, not since John had turned out so poorly. Still, he was so happy to have her in his home. 'Now if sheila would just get over herself and agree to date me, life would be so perfect.' Beck thought. The girl was nice enough, and Tori swore the backup dancer was done with the touring life. The one time Canadian hoped her love of children would keep her around lone enough to be sure she was the kind of women he wanted to spend time with. Tori toured, Jade was often making movies, and when she wasn't, she was jade, and Cat often just didn't want to talk about the problems a teenage girl might have. 'Fran needs a mom, and in time, so will Maya and Lia. God, Dre, why is it having kids makes me so happy, and you so miserable?'

Beck knew the answer to that one. 'You never planned on your kids. They happened because your womanizing ways went too far, and you got her pregnant. Glad you stepped up, but while we're bros in parenthood, I see the glass as half full, while you're been reduced to playing local gigs and writing jingles to pay for your family. Still, ask for help. I've been doing this longer then you have. I can walk you though the child parts. Just, talk to me, Bro...'

Still, Beck didn't have any time to get too lost in his worries. His girls were now playing together, with Fran watching, sighing. Beck wished she'd just get her guitar and play, cause he knew that calmed her. But he could let her work though this on her own, at least until Cat agreed to talk to her for him. Rob was far better at that kind of thing, but with Fran's crush, he didn't want to risk it. 'I could ask Trina...'

Beck was, he knew, content. Happy, almost blissful, in his role. The challenges, the drama, of being a parent had become his addiction, and while he had six right now, he also knew he was on the short list of people to call for an emergency placement. 'Or if I got married, and they felt I wasn't so outnumbered.' He smiled, and finished his time off in the garden. It was time to break marabous and Kane up, because they'd stopped fighting, and got quiet. "Never a good sign….'

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So, that happened. I was trying to just write something different, and so this came about. Hope you enjoyed it.

Thoughts?