Beck had only known of Ava at that point, he hadn't met her yet. But he knew from what Jade had told him that they were very close. Hearing that she was seriously ill made him feel terrible.
"God, Jade, I'm so sorry!" He said, rushing towards her and wrapping his arms around her. She tried to push him away, to show that she was still angry with him, but in the end her emotions overwhelmed her and she turned into him.
Beck said nothing aloud, but promised himself that he'd always be there for Jade. (( End of flashback))
Beck urged her to lie down on her bed, and she did as she was told which was worrying in itself. He quickly lay down next to her, clasping their hands together.
"You are going to be okay," he whispered in her ear.
Jade said nothing for a few moments, then spoke, her voice still shaky. "But she's gone."
"You're still here," he said, bringing her hand up to his lips to give it a gentle kiss. "And I'm still here and we can get through this."
He saw her nod slightly, as though she was agreeing with him for the sake of it, without actually believing it. He shuffled even closer to her, so that their faces were only inches apart.
"Tell me what you need," he said. He'd said it before, when Jade told him all the details of Ava's cancer for the first time. And again when Jade's parents had passed away. He said it and he meant it; he would do anything for her.
"I don't know what I need," she said honestly, "Right now I need to know that you love me because there will be some times when I'm not very lovable. When I greive I get angry. I might get 'out of control' so to speak. I need you to continue to love me even when I'm not lovable. I won't take advantage of my grief, I promise just like I won't take advantage of what I've been through but I need you to love me"
"Always," he said kissing her.
((The next day))
Willow went to day care like normal. Jade and Beck didn't want her suffering from the grief that they were suffering from. Cat offered to pick her up when Jade and Beck were running late. As they came back a tearfulled Willow was soothed in Cat's arms.
"What happened," Jade asked.
"Willow's day care person in charge hit her with a yardstick," Cat said angrily, "Because she accidentally spilled a cup of glue"
"Are you kidding me?" Beck asked, angrily as Jade picked up Willow from Cat's arm. He was as protective of Willow as he was of his own sister, or Jade. "Can we report this? that's not even legal!"
Jade was surprisingly silent, she just hugged Willow close, pressing kisses into her hair. In normal circumstances, she would've been twice as angry as Beck was, but she had barely gotten any sleep the night before, crying into Beck's shoulder.
Cat shrugged, her mouth twisted with worry. Beck had called her last night, after calming Jade down a little more, and explained what had happened. As far as he knew, she had told the rest of their friends, because within an hour both he and jade had gotten a bunch on texts with their condolences. Tori even called to see if she could do anything. Beck had said something about picking up their homework, but he had been too distracted to really pay attention to her.
"I'm going to their offices. This can't be allowed," he said, angrily. "Will you guys be okay here for an hour?"
"I'll look after them!" Cat said, her arms wrapping around Jade and Willow. Jade just nodded in response.
Beck made sure he had his keys and made his way back to his car. To be perfectly honest, an angry phone call could have worked too. But he needed a moment. He hadn't been alone for more than five minutes since yesterday and he just needed a moment. Seeing Jade hurt like that was almost too painful, as were the memories of his own sister's death.
As he got into the car, he slammed his hand against the steering wheel, careful to avoid the horn. Why did everything have to be so hard?
Cat got Willow settled down with a bowl of YICE CREAM and her favorate movie Cinderella. She then send a text to Beck's oldest sister Diannea. She had just had a baby and Wilow loved that little girl. She had seen her when she was 3 days old, 2 days before Ava died. Wynter was now 6 days old.
2 Diannea: Willow had a rough day today. Do you think you could come over w/ the baby? It would really cheer her up.
It was only a few seconds later when Diannea wrote back
2 Cat: Of course I will. I'll be over in ten minutes.
It was ten minutes later when the doorbell rang. Willow would be turning 3 soon and she was very excited to see her cousin. It really did cheer her up. A few minutes later Wynter had fallen asleep. When Beck came home a few hours later he saw Wynter asleep. Diannea was in a deep conversation with Jade. Wynter woke up causing Willow to pick her up and rock her to sleep singing a song that Jade would always sing to Willow.
"Hey," Beck said softly, as he sat down next to Diannea and Jade. He'd gone back to the daycare offices and talked to the supervisor, so he was feeling a least a little better about that. He was planning to suggest keeping Willow home tomorrow. It wasn't like he and Jade were going to go back to Hollywood Arts yet, anyway.
Diannea smiled at him sadly, her hand rubbing Jade's shoulder for comfort. "Listen if you guys need anything, I'm happy to stay as long as you need me to. Also, Mom said she'd bring over some dinner soon. She wants to make sure you're all eating properly."
Beck nodded, cracking a smile, because that's exactly what his mother would do. When Olivia died, his mother cooked enough food to feed the entire street. It was just her way with dealing with things. Besides he just realized how hungry he really was. He'd barely had more than a sandwich all day, and he was pretty sure Jade hadn't had anything except for the cup of coffee he'd watched her drink that morning.
"Thanks Dee," he said finally.
"Jade and I have just been talking about how big Willow is already. Starting school before you know it!"
Jade sniffled a little as she looked at them, her eyes were still red from crying, but she forced a smile. "I know. I just hope I can raise her right."
"Hey, you got me!" beck grinned, reaching over Diannea's lap to hold Jade's hand.
"Exactly, this man is not gonna let you down!" Diannea smiled, "You've got me too. And I see Willow's already got a best friend in Wynter."
The three of them look across to where Willow is gently stroking Wynter's leg, humming a soft melody. It's a hopeful sight, the first one in a while.
Jade lets go of Beck's hand and stands up, "I should probably go have a shower so I don't look disgusting for your parents."
"Impossible," Beck smiled up at her, but didn't stop her because he thought a nice hot shower, and some time to herself, would do Jade good.
