Author's Note: TEH AWESOME. That's what you guys are. Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews. :] I honestly didn't think that a lot of people would read it because it's borderline crack and all... But here you all are :] Reading my borderline crack fic!
So remember when I said that this is going to be four chapters give or take? Looks more like a give because there will definitely be a 5th chapter and a 6th chapter to round everything off. :]
Also, I have a new story up! Please humor me and shuffle on over to 'Oh, the cleverness of you and me...' as I think you might enjoy that as much as you enjoy this (I hope) :]
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Little Darling
(like living in a chiz factory. kind of.)
...
No matter how much Beck wants to close his mouth, he just can't. It's really frustrating. He imagines a life where his mouth is perpetually open and he thinks, damn, how many flies is he going to end up swallowing? Thankfully, Jade is the first one to snap to and he watches as she sticks her hands underneath the kid's armpits and holds Thad in front of her, her expression completely aghast.
'You mean to tell me there's two of you?' Thad nods. 'You're saying that I popped two of you out of my—'
'Jade!' everyone yells at the same time.
Except for Cat who shouts her own name immediately after (because 'I like this game! Me next!') and Sinjin who is still lying prostrate on the floor as a result of no one bothering to catch him when he fainted.
Jade rolls her eyes and stands up, the boy dangling in the air before promptly being deposited onto the chair that she just vacated. Thad pouts a little at this and Beck can see something he's never seen in Jade before... uncertainty? Jade never second-guesses herself. That's one of the things that attracted him to her, how she was always so unapologetically herself. But now with this future-son-kid she seems a lot more unsure of herself.
He knows exactly what she's feeling, though, because they're in the same boat with this kid who claims to be their son from... somewhere. The future? Hopefully not the near future because that would just be the icing on the cake. He reaches out to touch her hand but she quickly pushes him away.
He gets it, okay? He dumped her. He doesn't get to just touch her whenever he wants anymore (which just all the fracking time). He doesn't get to do any of the things they used to do (three am phone calls, rubbing his toes against her legs, writing her silly notes and sticking them in her locker) and while it's supposed to get better with time, time has done nothing but make everything harder. Because he can see her moving on and away from him and...
Beck feels something pull on his shirt and it's Thad who has his arms stretched up, obviously wanting to be carried. He obliges, lifting the kid up and Thad squeals with unconcealed joy.
'Are you really mine?' he asks Thad, the words tumbling out of his mouth unchecked. He sees Jade's raised eyebrows but he pays her no attention.
Thad, on the other hand, presses his tiny cheek against his father's chest and nods. 'You look like daddy and you talk like daddy.' He presses his tiny nose against Beck's shirt. 'You smell like daddy, too. But...' Thad sniffs him again. 'Different.'
'Different how?'
Thad cocks his head to the side. 'Daddy always smell a little like mommy, too... But now you don't.'
'Yeah, okay, break it up,' Jade cuts in then surprises everyone by taking Thad from him. She never really touches people willingly. 'Let's get answers out of this tiny person so we can figure out what to do next.'
'Hey, Thad.' Beck turns to find Tori with her palm pressed up against the receiver of her mobile. 'How old are you?'
Thad holds up four fingers and Tori quickly relays the information, Beck assumes, to her father.
'You know when your birthday is, buddy?'
Thad nods. 'Soon!' he says excitedly. 'Mommy says I can have a circus party. With jugglers and clowns and everything.'
'Whoa, hold on. Mommy said you can have clowns at your party? That seals it, I'm not—What are you doing? Thad?' Jade covers both her eyes with her hands. 'Stop doing that. I can't think when you look at me that way.'
Beck chuckles. Oh man. Those have to be the world's worst puppy dog eyes ever. Seriously. Those soft pleading blue eyes... A shiver runs down his spine. Beck's parents always told him that he could get away with murder with his puppy dog eyes but Thad has it down to an art.
He shakes his head as he kneels in front of the kid. 'Okay, your birthday's soon. You know how soon?'
Thad nods, the puppy dog eyes disappearing completely. 'Very soon,' he answers very emphatically.
So much for that.
Tori gestures to Beck. 'My dad says that he'll call back if he has anything. But we should keep trying to get as much information as we can,' she explains.
Beck nods and decides that a change of tactic is in order. 'You know how old your sister is?'
'Um...' Thad sucks in his lower lip and shakes his head. 'She's more fingers than me!'
'She's older?' Jade yelps from behind Beck. 'You mean to tell me—'
Beck whirls around and places his hand on her mouth. Bad mistake, he knows, going by the way she's glaring at him. Pulling her to the side (much against her will), he levels with her. 'Listen, I know that this is turning out to be one big—'
'Clusterfu—'
He muffles her mouth once again. 'Yes, but language like that isn't going to help things, okay? Let's just deal with this as calmly as possible. It's not going to do anyone any good to be acting this way,' he reasons. Except this is Jade and reasoning with Jade is never easy. 'There's a little boy here who thinks that we're his parents. That's the only reason why he's not scared right now. He feels safe with us, Jade. He needs us.'
It takes him a moment to realize that his hand is still firmly on her mouth and that he can feel her warm lips against his palm. Slowly, he pulls his hand away only to reveal a faint blush on Jade's cheeks. He smiles a little when he sees it and she scowls in return.
'Fine,' she relents. 'Just for today I'll tone down the... Jade. Whatever. Fine. I'll be mommy for a day.'
'Good.'
'Don't patronize me.' She mutters as he shoves him away from her.
He tries not to inhale her scent as she moves past him. Instead, he watches as Jade approaches the kid once again to ask him a question. 'Do you remember where you were before you got here, Thad?'
'Yeah. You and daddy were having a party and everyone was talking and... I went to bed.' There's a moment of hesitance that Beck catches and he wonders if the others notice too. 'I went to sleep in my bed but when I wake up, I was in a scary room that smelt like the under stuff of the sink in the kitchen.'
'Maybe he means the janitor's closet?' Robbie suggests.
Jade waves off Robbie to shut him up. 'Do you recognize anyone else in the room, Thad?'
Thad nods slowly then points to Andre. 'That's uncle Andre! He sings a lot on TV.'
'Nice!' Andre reaches over and gives Thad a high-five, much to the little boy's delight. 'That's Aunt Tori. She has lots of kids.'
'Um, okay?' Tori says, the smile on her face small and uncertain. 'That's it? No singing on TV for me?'
Thad shakes his head. 'Nope. You have babies all the time. Mommy says that one day you're gonna burst because your tummy is always so full of babies.'
Everyone grimaces at the image of an exploding Tori. Jade, though, pats Tori's shoulder.
'Congratulations, Vega. You're a walking baby factory.'
'And that's Aunt Cat. She's my fairy godmother.'
'Yay!' Cat claps her hands and bounces on her seat. 'I'm a fairy!'
'I think the kid means you're his godmother, Cat,' Andre explains to a crestfallen Cat.
'But a godmother is just as good, right?'
Andre scratches his head. 'Uh, yeah. Sure.'
'Yay!' Cat claps her hands once again and bounces on her seat. 'I'm a godmother!'
'Mommy and Daddy and me and Dylan go see aunt Cat and we watch her sing and dance on a stage. Did I say it right, mommy? It's a stage, right?' Thad turns to Jade then, a big grin on his face.
'Yeah, a stage. That's right,' Jade replies slowly and Beck can see the beginnings of a smile playing along her lips. He knows that, try as she might not to like the kid, she already does. So does he actually.
'She's a witch! But a good witch! Like with magic wand and everything!'
'Yay! I play a good witch!'
'What about me?' Robbie asks excitedly. 'Do you recognize me?'
Thad studies him for a moment then shakes his head slowly.
'Uncle Robbie?' Robbie says hopefully.
'Oh! I have a uncle Robbie, but I don't see him a lot. Mommy says uncle Robbie lives in a bad place.'
'A bad place?' Robbie's voice cracks a little.
'Yeah. Canada.'
Beck throws his hands up in the air. 'Jade? Seriously?' He pulls on her arm, bringing her face-to-face with him.
'What?' Jade says between laughs and Robbie asking what in the world is Canada. 'What are you so mad about?'
'Canada is a bad place? How can you teach him something like that?'
Jade shoots him a weird look. 'Dude. I didn't.'
That's true. Man, when did start thinking that Thad is really his kid? He isn't a father. Not to Thad, not to anyone else. But why does this feel right? His thoughts are conveniently interrupted by the ringing of the bell.
Sikowitz leaps out the window.
Everyone else dashes for the door—all with excuses. (We need to do a thing. Yeah. A thing. Somewhere.)
Sinjin is still on the floor.
And Thad yawns.
'Great. Now what?' Jade sighs and sits on the platform. Thad comes up behind her and wraps his arms about her neck. And it's such pretty picture that they paint, Jade and Thad together. 'What do you think we should, Thad?'
It's a legitimate question. They can't go to class lugging around a kid like a school bag.
'We should go eat. I'm hungry. I want pancakes.' Beck can't help but grin at how decisively Thad speaks for such a young boy.
Jade turns to him and shrugs. 'Your place? My mom's... you know. She's home and she probably won't like that I'm bringing home my four-year-old son whose dad is my seventeen-year-old ex-boyfriend.'
Ex-boyfriend. Beck seriously hates the sound of that.
'Let's go then.' He shrugs and picks up both his bag and Jade's. Before they can make it out the door, however, Thad tugs on Beck's hand.
'Daddy, I need to go potty.'
...
