~~~Remade~~~
"Great job!" cheered Ned when Beck, Rebecca, and the rest of the cast as they finished the last scene of "Our Town" in the final dress rehearsal before opening night.
Beck leaned back against Rebecca in relief. "Phew! I'm tired!" he said.
Rebecca gently moved his head off her shoulder. "So am I."
She moved away from him and walked down the steps to the chairs. She picked up her water bottle and took a long sip. Beck followed her and grabbed his stuff. "So, how's your new baby?" he asked, looking at her.
Rebecca's face lit up. "She's fine," she glowed.
Beck grinned. Rebecca had had a baby three months before, right before she got the role of Emily in Our Town. Whenever she talked about her daughter Heather, she looked like she could fly away in happiness.
"What about your babies?" asked Rebecca.
"They are great," said Beck.
Rebecca smiled at the look on Beck's face. He glowed whenever he talked about Cily and Andie. He had all but adopted Andie as his own son.
But he was on air whenever he talked about Tori.
"So, how'd rehearsal go today?" asked Tori when she picked him up a little while later.
"It went really well," said Beck. He leaned back in the car seat and sighed. "I am really tired."
Tori smiled. "Why don't you get to bed early tonight and I'll keep the kids out of your hair."
"That sounds good," smiled Beck. He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips. Tori smiled and kicked the car into gear. She tossed her phone at him. "Can you order a pizza so we can pick it up after getting the kids?"
"Sure."
Beck ordered a pepperoni pizza while Tori drove over to the elementary school. She went to Andie while he went to get Cily.
When Tori and her son walked back down the hallway to the entrance, they were greeted with quite the sight. Beck had Cily slung under his arm and was whirling her around. Her long black wavy hair swung around, covering her face in a curtain.
"Yeah, man!" cheered Cily when Beck stopped turning.
"Oooh, I want a turn!" yelled Andie.
Tori laughed. "Why don't we wait until we get outside on the grass?" she said.
The family walked outside into the soft grass. Andie jumped into Beck's arms. Beck grunted against the little body being pitched against him.
"Come on, Daddy!" cheered Andie.
Tori and Beck's eyes met. Beck swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. Cily had already been calling Tori "Mama Tori" a lot. But this meant so much.
Beck began to whirl the little boy around. Andie cheered in glee. "Yeah, baby!"
"What have you been teaching my son?" Tori asked over Andie's yells.
Beck laughed and put Andie down. He pulled Cily into his arms and hugged both children tightly. His children.
That night, the Oliver/Vega family pigged out on pizza and watched old movies. Both Beck and Tori were trying really hard to educate their children with classic Hollywood cinema and actually Andie and Cily were pretty crazy about it.
"You know, you and Daddy are kind of like Bogie and Bacall," said Cily halfway through To Have and to Have Not.
Beck and Tori both stared at their daughter. "What?"
"Kind of a love story that wasn't allowed but turned out to be pretty cool," explained Andie.
"Why don't you two get married?" asked Cily.
Beck and Tori sat there in stunned silence. They had absolutely no idea how to respond to what their children had just said to them. But, in a way...it made total sense. They were kind of like Bogie and Bacall. Beck had been devoted to Jade for such a long time and she had run off and left him. Tori had made the mistake to become involved with Andre and in the process lost her friendship with him. She was thrown together with her true soul mate, Beck.
Their lives had been totally remade. They were what they were meant to be. And that was enough.
OPENING NIGHT
Beck sat nervously in his dressing room. Rebecca had just charged in there to tell him that they had a packed house because of their director who had directed a lot of movies.
"Oh, God. Oh, God, oh, God!" he repeated over and over and over.
"You all right?" asked Rebecca, seeing Beck's reflection in the mirror.
"I'm fine. Why?" he lied.
"You're turning green," she said.
"Am I?" Beck looked closer at himself and saw that he did look a little green around the gills.
Rebecca patted his shoulder. "You'll be fine, Beck."
Beck sighed and put his head in his hands. "I don't get why I am so nervous. I did this for years," he said.
"And you took five years off to raise your daughter. Of course you would be nervous your first day back. You're going to be just fine," said Rebecca.
Beck smiled at his friend. "Thanks, Rebecca," he said.
All of the sudden, a knock came at the door. "Come in!" called Rebecca.
One of the stagehands came in. "Beck? This came for you," she said, handing him a single yellow rose and an envelope.
"Ooooh, secret admirer?" joked Rebecca.
Beck took the rose and the envelope from the stagehand. She left. Beck looked up at Rebecca. "A little privacy please?"
"Sorry," she huffed and stalked out.
Beck smiled and opened up the envelope.
You are going to be just fine. Go ahead
and hog the stage because it belongs to
you. I'd do if for you if I could just
like how you did for me all those years
ago but I think your co-star would notice
that she was kissing a girl. Hehe.
I love you.
T
Beck smiled to himself. He sniffed the rose and gently placed the note and the rose by his stuff. He hoped that no one would bother it.
Taking a deep breath, he knew he had to get to the stage. He was ready.
The applause thundered through the house. The last two hours had zoomed by. Beck couldn't believe that it was over after all of those nerves.
"You did great!" Rebecca whispered in his ear as they waited to take their curtain calls. Beck grinned at her and gave her a shove as she dashed out to take her bow. She bowed and extended her arm towards him. He dashed out and heard the applause get louder.
Rebecca forced him into a bow and then pointed out to the audience. He looked where she pointed and saw Cily, Andie, and Tori heading for the stage. He saw that Andie and Cily carried a large bouquet of yellow roses. He went down on his knees and his children flew into his arms, mashing the roses in the process. But nobody cared. They were living in the moment. The moment of family.
Beck got to his feet and wrapped his arms around Tori. He kissed her neck noisily and she giggled. They ignored the audience that cheered still.
"By the way, you have to marry me," he whispered in her ear.
Hehe! Cliffhanger!
Now, I want to apologize for this getting kind of sicky-sweet. Some stuff will be happening in the next chapter!
