Part 1 of an undecided number of chapters :)
Disclaimer: I don't own victorious.
As soon as Beck and Elsa were both completely recovered from the virus, the summer really began for the little family. Beck was obviously back in work filming and doing interviews for various magazines but the good thing about acting was that his hours were sort of sporadic and luckily he got a lot of time off which meant he could still spend time with his friends and with Elsa and Jade.
It was actually on one of those free days that Beck finally got to appreciate how amazing it felt to be called Dad. He was over at Andre's place when Elsa who was newly learning to walk and taking very wobbly, uneasy steps around the place fell and bumped her arm. Tori was with her at the time and immediately picked her up to see if she was okay but Elsa felt scared and began to cry.
"Dada!" Elsa cried loudly, starting to sob. Beck heard that from the other room where he and Andre were making lunch and immediately put down the bread. He jogged in to the living room and scooped his daughter into his arms concerned.
"She bumped her arm." Tori told him, feeling slightly embarrassed that the baby got hurt under her watch.
"Uh oh, did you get an ouchy?" Beck asked Elsa who was whimpering and crying into his chest. He had a look at her arm and could tell that thankfully she hadn't really hurt herself. He tried to suppress his smile when his daughter whimpered dada again and so sadly. It wasn't actually all that appropriate that he was grinning when his daughter was hurt, but he couldn't help but love the fact she'd shouted for him. She was upset and she wanted her dad.
"Elsa look it's the monkey! Ooo ooo eee eee." Beck distracted the one year old from the bump by imitating a monkey and pulling a silly face. It took a little while but eventually Elsa began to giggle and copy the noise her Dad was making, forgetting about her injury.
"Sorry." Tori apologised, "I should have caught her or something."
"Naa don't worry about it." Beck smiled, assuring her, "Me and Jade have done worse. Jade accidentally stood on her fingers once and I didn't know who I was comforting in the end. Jade definitely cried more."
"Oops" Tori smiled shaking her head. She shuffled forwards to kiss Elsa on the cheek who cooed and giggled at her touch, feeling reassured that she wasn't going to be permanently struck off the babysitter list.
After that day Elsa decided dada was her absolute favourite thing to say and she shouted it constantly. First thing in the morning tended to take the spotlight, but Beck didn't mind because the look of absolute delight on her face when she realised that calling him like that worked made up for the early morning wake ups.
The entire group were finding the summer extremely relaxing and once Cat came back from Idaho the six of them found themselves going on plenty of days out, to the park, to the beach, holding movie nights and sleepovers. Cat and Tori took it upon themselves to host another episode of the funny nugget show and decided Elsa Oliver would be their special guest. Jade watched the three of them from the sofa opposite, scowling and acting like the whole thing was stupid, but couldn't always suppress her laughter, especially when Cat tried to put a bow in her daughters hair and Elsa outright refused, pushing it off and telling her 'no'. She reminded her so much of herself in that moment. At least her daughter had good taste.
But as relaxing as the summer was, they knew the relaxing couldn't last forever because that day was rolling around again, the one which settled their fates for the future. Exam results day. It didn't make much difference to Beck and Robbie who already had jobs lined up but for Tori, Andre and Cat however, their college educations depended on them. Jade was just hoping she would graduate at all. Once again her grades depended on exams she'd sat in a time she hadn't been at her optimum level of health and her attendance at school had been pretty appalling this year.
They wanted to open their results separate this year because they decided opening them all together like last year didn't actually comfort them at all, it mainly made the whole thing more stressful. So on that day, Beck and Jade woke up and stayed upstairs until 10am when the results were published and then dragged their laptops onto the bed.
"Ready?" Beck confirmed.
"As I'll ever be." Jade sighed clicking open the email. Both of them went quiet for about a minute as they opened their grades and accepted their fate. The only sound was that of Elsa babbling to herself on the floor nearby
"Straight B's" Beck broke the silence.
"Well done baby." Jade hugged her boyfriend tightly around the neck. Beck smiled accepting the hug. His grades were decent, he'd been hoping for an A in acting but a B he could live with. However his curiosity was burning, wanting to know what Jade's results looked like.
"Come on you." Beck gently pushed his girlfriends arms off of him and looked at her sternly. She pouted and picked up the laptop. Beck didn't take her reaction as good sign as instead of saying anything, she just placed the computer on to his knee. Quickly he scanned the page, reading through his girlfriends exam results.
"You got three A's" Beck said in surprise, "and four C's."
"So you see it too?" Jade asked in disbelief. She spun the screen back to face her, analysing the results again.
"It must be someone else's." Jade shook her head, rationalising the fairly decent grades. She had been preparing herself for weeks for failure. She'd even planned exactly what she would say when her friends tried to convince her to go back to school, repeat the grade and how she was going to say no. But she didn't need any of that. Somehow she'd passed.
"They must have made a mistake. I can't have passed math." Jade continued to shake her head. Beck leant over to look at the screen again. It was her name, her date of birth, her examination number. There was no way they'd made a mistake.
"No one else takes this combination of courses in our year J." Beck smiled, watching as it sunk in.
"What?" Jade gasped, reading the results again.
"Jade they're not going to change." Beck laughed as his girlfriend read them over and over, even grabbing his laptop to compare numbers and make sure they hadn't just put the wrong score in. Still not really believing it, she picked up her phone and scrolled through her contacts until she got to Hollywood Arts. Beck just smiled, picking up Elsa whilst Jade confirmed with the admin in school that those were her actual grades.
"Okay thanks." Jade stammered, "No I don't want to appeal." She hung up the phone and just sat there stunned.
"So those are your grades right?" Beck clarified..
"Those are my grades." Jade said in shock.
"You graduated with 3 A's and 4 C's" Beck's smile widened wrapping an his arms around Jade who was too shocked to talk and pulling her into a proper hug. Elsa saw what her Dad was doing and sat in between them, wrapped her arms around Jade too. Jade continued to deny they were real for the rest of the morning. But they were real. She even told Tori on the phone that there was a mistake but Beck grabbed the phone off her and told their friend the truth. Jade had graduated, even after everything going against her.
Graduation was only a week later and Beck's parents agreed they would take Elsa for the weekend so that Beck and Jade could participate fully in the ceremony and attend the parties like everyone else in their graduating class would be. The pre-party was at an acquaintances house but all their friends were there and the couple had fun. It was the only party they'd both managed to attend since Jade had given birth and they both let loose and relaxed. Andre said it was like they'd reverted back to the Beck and Jade from years ago when they first started going out and couldn't keep their hands off each other. They were just very happy.
On the day of graduation, Frank and Louise brought Elsa along to watch the ceremony and of course Jade picked her up and brought her back to the stage to play before it started. Robbie put his graduation cap on the one year old who squealed and pushed it straight off, never liking anything being on her head. She'd just woken up from her nap so she was in a very good mood and was smiling at everyone and practicing toddling but only whilst one of the gang held her hands.
Beck and Jade actually got some very mixed responses to the baby. All their grade knew they had Elsa but they'd rarely seen her and since she was being so cute that day a lot of their classmates were very interested and came over to play with her and cuddle her and talk to them about her. On the other side, some people just gave dirty looks. Jade didn't pay attention to any of them but Beck immediately went into overprotective Dad mode and was making sure everyone who held her, held her properly and glared at anyone daring to give a one year old less than a smile.
"Who's that?" Jade pointed at Tori, who grinned and waved at Elsa.
"Cat!" Elsa leaned against Jades leg pretending she was shy.
"No silly." Jade shook her head and laughing. "Who is it?"
"Rori" Elsa shouted.
"Yay." Tori clapped and held her arms out for Elsa who toddled over to her and grasped her hands unsteadily. Tori picked the one year old up and kissed her all over the face making her laugh a lot.
"Don't you think it's scary how grown up she is?" Tori asked Jade once she had Elsa sat securely on her knee.
"Uh huh." Jade nodded, smiling. "It feels like yesterday I found out I was pregnant."
"Wasn't that yesterday?" Tori smiled back. A few seconds later Principal Lennon's voice sounded through a microphone informing them all that the ceremony would start in five minutes.
"Lets go find Grandma and Grandpa." Jade took Elsa from her friends arms and stood up to take her back to Frank and Louise. Elsa playfully combed her fingers and made fists in Jade newly curled hair, tugging at the pink extensions. Jade grimaced when she managed to yank the pink extension out and she pulled her little hand away from her hair and clipped it back in.
"Thanks Els, just what I wanted." Jade pulled her hand away once again before saying sternly, "No."
"They do like to do that don't they?" Jade looked up just in time to see the principal approaching her.
"Yeah." Jade replied dryly. That woman had been nothing but annoying this year. She had not made things easy for her at all and she really wasn't in the mood for her lectures today. The principal had constantly been calling her and even texting her whenever she'd taken time off, giving her extra work and forcing her into class when all she really wanted was to stay home with the baby. But today the teacher was smiling.
"Congratulations on your grades." Mrs Lennon continued the conversation. "You were definitely one of the students I was most anxious to find out about."
"Why?" Jade frowned confused. She always had the impression that the principal didn't like her in the slightest and was unfairly hard on her. Jade followed the principals gaze as she pointed to the audience and to the third row back.
"That's my son. He's twelve next week." Mrs Lennon informed her. "I'm twenty-nine. You figure it out." And with that the principal rubbed Elsa's back and walked on to the stage to begin talking with the guest speakers. Jade frowned in confusion for a moment until she realised she'd been tricked. So that was why the new principal had been so tough on her this year. Twelve years ago she'd been in exactly the same position as her.
Jade climbed the steps at the side of the stage slightly stunned and tried to ignore the whispering of the parents in the audience, who knew her only as the one who gave birth at seventeen. She saw Robbie's parents who smiled supportively and she gave them a small smile back before handing her daughter over to Frank and Louise.
"Hurry back or they'll start without you." Louise smiled. "We're so proud of you both ok?"
"Thanks" Jade smiled, kissing Elsa on the cheek. She glanced around the room nervously, terrified her mother would try a stunt like at Elsa's birthday but she couldn't see her. Louise gave Jade a quick hug before she ran backstage.
The graduating ceremony went according to plan and they all received their high school diplomas. When Jade got up to accept her's she said a quiet 'thank you' when the principal shook her hand. She'd had time to think about all this during the ceremony and she realised if it hadn't been for Principal Lennon's constant nagging then she might not actually be here, and definitely not with these grades. Although it felt like torture at the time when she had to miss a week of school for Elsa or the couple of times she just didn't go to class out of sheer exhaustion. The principal always seemed to find out about these instances and would send her extra math or assign her an essay. At the end of the day, all the sleepless nights, study sessions and homework had paid off.
"You're welcome" The principal replied, smiling. "You're intelligent Jade. Don't let it go to waste."
Jade nodded and walked off the stage to where she was directly behind Cat and Tori in the alphabet. They both looked at her suspiciously as they knew Jade and the principal had had their differences in the past and Mrs Lennon hadn't really stopped to talk to anyone else in the graduating class.
"What was that about?" Tori asked curiously. Cat turned and nodded also curious.
"Just.. a mutual understanding." Jade smiled secretively. Cat and Tori shrugged and went back to watching the last of the graduating class collect their diplomas.
Once the ceremony ended the gang felt a mixture of emotions. Sad and happy, overwhelmed and relieved. Their time at Hollywood Arts was officially and completely over but at least for the moment, the future looked bright.
Five weeks later and it there were only a short number of weeks left until college started for Tori, Cat and Andre. Beck and Jade were in the bedroom discussing the same thing they'd been talking about since Jade found out her results. What she was actually going to do now. Beck wanted Jade to do something full time, like college. Jade not so much.
"But Jade you got three A's you could easily get in to college!" Beck insisted as the two of them packed clothes into a suitcase.
"No Beck. We've talked about this before and the answer is still no." Jade replied sternly.
"But all our friends are going to college. You'll be missing out."
"Missing out on what?" Jade shrugged folding another black skirt into the suitcase. "Getting wasted, getting laid, more exams, please enlighten me?"
"The experience." Beck replied, folding a shirt and placing it next to the skirt.
"I thought you were keeping your clothes to that side." Jade complained, moving his shirt along.
"You wear my clothes half the time, how does it make a difference?" Beck replied, grinning.
"Yeah well.. keep to your own side, it's embarrassing enough we're sharing a suitcase." Jade scoffed.
"How is it embarrassing that we share a suitcase? We live together, we share everything."
"Yeah well our friends don't need to know that." Jade said pointedly.
"Babe" Beck smirked. "I think they know. And you were the one that practically threw a fit when Andre suggested you and Elsa share a room without me."
"Yeah because that was a stupid idea. Just because I insisted I sleep with Elsa doesn't mean I don't want to sleep with you."
"Is baby Jadey scared of the woods?" Beck smirked, "Needs big strong Beck and baby Elsie to save you."
"No." Jade narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend. "I just know that Elsa won't sleep very well on her own in a strange place, in the middle of the woods and I sleep with you every night. Not sleeping together would be like, the opposite of a holiday. Unless you don't want to sleep with me which is fine. See if I care. I would probably sleep better without you groping my ass all night long"
"I'm kidding and hey I don't do that." Beck replied playing offence. "Often."
Jade smirked and lay back on the bed in the space next to the suitcase. Beck grabbed a couple more pairs of jeans before closing the closet door. "You all packed?"
"Uh huh? You?" Jade nodded.
"Yeah I'll bring it down if you go rescue Cat from the tantrum I can sense is about to erupt." Beck replied. As if they'd rehearsed it, seconds later the one years olds exhausted cries began to bellow through the apartment. Jade pointed at Beck impressed with his intuition before leaving to go pick her daughter up.
"Bring Elsa's too" Jade replied as she left the bedroom. They'd kept Elsa awake through her afternoon nap in the hope that she'd fall asleep on the three hour journey to Robbie's family holiday home they were renting. Andre, Tori and Robbie were already there but Beck, Jade, Cat and Elsa were arriving this evening. The holiday had originally been Cat and Robbie's idea and everyone had immediately agreed. They fancied a change of scene and this was far enough away to be a break and still close enough to drive back if everything went wrong. Not that they thought something would go wrong, but things could often be unpredictable with a one year old.
"Someone is waaay too sleepy." Jade picked up the red faced, crying baby from her friend and began to sway her. Elsa wailed and leant her tired head on Jades shoulder. Jade pecked little kisses on the baby's chubby cheeks until her heavy eyes began to close and she fell asleep on her Mother. Jade sighed and decided to let her sleep. She couldn't put Elsa through another half hour of sleeplessness even if it did mean they might have a slightly less comfortable car journey.
Beck came down with the large suitcase belonging to them and a much smaller one belonging to Elsa. Cat had a large suitcase, the same size as the one Beck and Jade were sharing and the two of them loaded the suitcases into trunk whilst Jade secured the now dead to the world baby into her carseat and tucked her under a blanket. Cat tucked herself under a blanket too and snuggled next to Elsa in the back whilst Jade and Beck got in front. Jade driving and Beck with a map.
"Ready?" Beck confirmed with his girlfriend.
"I have a feeling this journey is seriously going to test our relationship." Jade smirked, looking hopelessly at Beck who was already twisting and turning the complicated map. "Seriously Beck you're like a celebrity now and we still don't have a satnav."
"You don't need a satnav. You have me. I did an orienteering course, I can read maps." Beck insisted.
"Sure you can." Jade rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Just give me a general direction."
"Get onto the freeway heading north and we'll take it from there." Beck instructed. Jade started the car and got them on the road. Cat and Elsa were asleep in the back and the music was on so low, you could barely hear it. It was calm. Jade smiled when she felt Beck casually place his hand on her knee. She knew this journey was probably going to break their current no-arguing streak, at least at some point in the long unfamiliar journey with only Beck's map reading skills as a guide and most likely wake both the sleeping girls in the back when they ended up lost in the woods shouting at each other. But there was no doubt about it, he could still give her butterflies, even with a single touch.
Review for a faster update :) xx