Chapter Twenty-Nine
When Beck wakes up just before noon, he does a double take to make sure he sees the number on the clock correctly. He can't remember the last time he's woken up past eight, and he has to take a second to remind himself that he doesn't have a baby to feed, hold, or watch.
His left arm is snaked around Jade's body, holding her close to him as she sleeps. She's lying slightly on her side that faces him, and her hand rests on his bare chest. It's only about twenty minutes before her blue-green eyes open and she turns her head to look up at him.
"Good morning," he says softly as he kisses her forehead.
"What time is it?" She replies, furrowing her eyebrows as she sees that some light has shone into the room. She hasn't woken up past the sunrise in almost a year.
"Noon," he says with a chuckle. "Can you believe that? We actually got ten straight hours of sleep."
Jade takes a few seconds to let his words sink in. "Have you talked to your parents?"
"Yeah," he answers. "They texted that everything is great with Shi and that they hope we're having a good time."
She smiles at the good news and stretches her neck up to kiss his lips. "Last night was amazing."
He grins and pulls her up to lay on top of him. "You were incredible," he compliments. "Is it just me or was it better now that we're married?"
"Oh, definitely," she agrees, leaning in to kiss him again. As his lips explore her lower jaw and neck, he sees the faint remains of a hickey near her collarbone. He presses his lips against her skin, but quickly breaks into a laugh.
"What?" She asks, pulling herself up to look at him. "What's so funny?"
"You have a little love bite," he points out through a smile.
Jade feels around for the slightly sensitive spot on her neck. "Oh. Well, it's not like it's the first one."
"I know," Beck continues, still smiling, "but it just reminded me of the first hickey I ever gave you."
As Jade rolls over in an attempt to wake herself up, she finds that she's entangled in Beck's arms. The feeling is still a little strange to her—it being only the fourth time she's slept over in his RV—but they've been dating for almost a year now and she feels more comfortable with him than she's ever felt with anyone in her whole life.
A click on her pear phone tells her that they've got about an hour before they have to be at school, so she tosses Beck's arm off of her waist and forces herself out of the bed.
She heads over to the mirror that sits above his dresser and immediately notices something different. Planted on her neck are two grape-sized hickeys—the first ones she's ever received. "Oh my god," she gapes, pressing her fingers over the spots. At this point, Beck has opened his eyes and is still laying lazily in his bed.
"Beck," she whines, turning around to face her boyfriend, "look what you did last night."
The proud sophomore can't help but grin as he gets a better look. "You like it when I kiss your neck; what was I supposed to do?"
Jade groans and walks back over to his bed so that she can sit in his arms. "What are people gonna think when they see these?"
Beck laughs and begins kissing the other side of her neck. "Since when do you care about what other people think?"
"Beck, stop," she pleads, but they both know she doesn't actually want him to.
"Trust me, Jade: these probably won't be the last," he teases as he moves his lips down to her chest. "Don't worry, I'm sure you can cover it with makeup."
Jade breaks a smile and pulls his face back up to meet hers, pressing her lips against his.
She laughs with him as she remembers the incident. "After the initial shock sank in, I actually sorta liked it," Jade confesses, to which Beck raises his eyebrows in curiosity. "If anyone happened to see them, it was sort of a way for them to know I was yours."
"I had to mark my territory so that none of the other guys would go after you," he claims with a cheeky grin.
"No worries," she says, kissing near his ear so he can feel her warm breath on his face, "I'm all yours."
After they kiss and play for a little while longer, she resumes her position in his arms. "I have to admit, though, your jealous side is sexy."
"What do you mean my jealous side?" He asks defensively. "I don't get jealous."
Jade raises her eyebrows accusingly. "Junior year. Karaoke Dokie."
"Hoooooold on, it keeps gettin' better!"
As Jade belts out the final note of the Christina Aguilera pop ballad, she gains the applause of the entire crowd at Karaoke Dokie. Everyone is on their feet, clapping for the insanely talented seventeen-year-old. She hops off of the stage fearlessly and into the arms of her boyfriend, who treats her to a kiss.
"You," he says as his arms wrap around her little waist, "were incredibly hot."
She grins against his lips as she greedily pulls their faces together again. "I know," she whispers, and Beck swears that if they weren't in public that he'd take her right this instant.
"Come on," he says as he leads her back to the table. "Our food just got here." Once they're seated at their table for two, Beck stands up again quickly. "I've actually gotta use the restroom," he tells her before kissing her cheek. "I'll be quick."
It bothers Jade that he's leaving her, but she tries to ignore it as she sips on her soda. She's not alone for long, though; just seconds after Beck's disappeared into the bathroom, three attractive guys that look about her age (or maybe a couple of years older) approach her.
"Hey, Sexy," one greets as he takes the seat that Beck had previously occupied.
"That was a damn hot performance you gave up there," another adds.
Normally Jade would reach for her scissors at a scene like this, but she's on a confidence high and it's nice to be flirted with by someone besides Beck for once. At school, no one dares to so much as set their eyes on Jade because they fear the repercussions from Beck. He's fiercely protective of her, but she likes it like that.
"I'm Asher," the brunette who pulls up a seat next to her says. "And you are..."
"Jade," she answers plainly.
"Even her name is sexy," the second one contributes.
"So Jade," the first one starts again, "who's the idiot that left you sitting all alone at your table?"
She rolls her eyes, which only turns the three of them on even more. "His name is Beck," she answers, purposely leaving out the term "my boyfriend."
"A guy, huh?" Asher inquires. "Good thing he's not your boyfriend," he assumes as he slings his arm around Jade's shoulder. Just as she's about to object, Beck returns to the table from the bathroom.
"Hey," he barks, throwing Asher's arm off of his girlfriend. "What the hell is going on here?" He demands angrily.
"Aww, is the boyfriend a little angry?" The first one taunts with a chuckle.
"The boyfriend doesn't have a problem giving out black eyes. I suggest you get the hell out of my seat and leave her alone."
"Beck," Jade counters, touching his arm in a somewhat cautious manner, "calm down; it's fine."
"Yeah, Beck," the second mocks, "calm down; all we wanted was to tell Jade how sexy she looked up there... Those legs... that ass—"
"Alright, that's enough," Beck sneers, grabbing the guy by his shoulders and forcing him to rise from his seat. "It's time for you to go." Before Beck can turn around to defend himself, Asher shoves him to the side.
Beck is steaming, prompting Jade to stand up and pull her boyfriend back from the three offenders.
"Look at your girl, coming to your rescue," the second jabs.
It takes everything Beck has not to give the idiot a taste of his fist, but he feels Jade's hands on his shoulders and reluctantly refrains.
"Just get the hell out," he commands, causing the guys to back off and return to their seats across the restaurant, laughing as they do.
"Where did that come from?!" Jade asks as Beck sinks into his seat.
"What were you doing flirting with them?" He clamors, ignoring her question altogether.
"I wasn't doing anything with them! They sat down with me and were complimenting the song; it was no big deal."
His cheeks are flushed a hot red as he takes a sip of his water.
"I've never seen you get so jealous before," she claims in a satisfied tone.
"Yeah, well. People at school know better," he argues.
"Mm-hmm," Jade murmurs, her sly grin remaining on her face.
"Alright," Beck admits, "not my finest moment."
"Not your finest moment?" She repeats. "Honey, you looked like you wanted to rip those guys' heads off."
Beck is uncharacteristically quiet for a few seconds, causing Jade to turn up to face him. "What?"
"You've never called me 'honey' before," he confesses with a charming smile on his face.
Jade rolls her eyes to try to distract him from the blush tainting her cheeks. "Whatever..."
"No," Beck says, leaning in to kiss her, "I like it."
"Don't get cheesy," she warns.
"Say it again," he pleads.
"No!"
"Come on... Please?"
She sighs. "You're obnoxious, honey."
He laughs. "I'll take it." After kissing her again, he leans back into his pillow. "Hey, speaking of memories..." Beck reminisces, "guess what I found in my wallet yesterday?"
"What?"
Beck reaches for the nightstand of the bed in their hotel room in The Hamptons, grabbing his black leather wallet. When he pulls out the picture, Jade leans her head closer to him in a sentimental way. "Oh, I'll never forget that day."
"We probably won't even be able to see it."
"Yes, we will; they wouldn't have scheduled you an appointment if we weren't gonna get to see our kid."
"I've been pregnant for like, five weeks. It's barely a speck of dust at this point," Jade argues as she lies uncomfortably on the patient's table.
Beck brushes her hair behind her ear and moves his hand into hers. He knows she's grumpy and especially nervous, and he feels her body relax quite a bit once their fingers are intertwined. "Well," he says, "I guess we'll find out soon; they said the doctor would meet us in here in less than ten—"
"Good morning," the woman greets as she walks into the little room. "My name is Josie Teller, and I'll be your obstetrician." She smiles warmly and extends her hand.
Jade shakes it after Beck discreetly nudges her. "I'm Jade."
"It's great to meet you," Dr. Teller says. "And you are…" She trails off, looking at Beck with an outstretched hand.
"Beck Oliver," he answers happily, "the father."
"Wonderful. Well, I guess we'll go ahead and get started with the ultrasound."
When Dr. Teller rubs the cold gel all over the tiny bump on Jade's stomach, she groans quietly in dissent, prompting Beck to kiss her head and lovingly squeeze her hand.
Once Josie begins sliding the motion-detecting stick around on Jade's belly, the image of her womb appears on the monitor and the doctor points to a tiny blob on the screen. "It's a little difficult to see, at first," she cautions, "but in just a few seconds… we should be able to hear—"
Ba-Boom. Ba-Boom. Ba-Boom.
The sound comes out of nowhere, and suddenly Beck and Jade can hear the heartbeat of their baby. Jade is frozen—terrified—and Beck can't wipe the shocked smile off of his face.
"So there you have it," Dr. Teller announces. "I'll give you two a few minutes while I print your pictures," she says kindly before exiting.
Jade's heart is racing much faster than her child's, and she has a look of panic on her face that she's not doing a great job of concealing.
"Jade," Beck whispers, "look at that." He presses his lips to her cheek and sandwiches her hand with both of his. "That's it, Babe. That's our kid."
Her eyes are locked on the moving picture displayed on the monitor, and, as much as she'd like to listen to Beck, the thumping sound is ringing through her ears as if it's the only noise in the world. When she finally pulls her eyes away to look at Beck, he knows she's successfully holding back tears. She's quiet, but she doesn't need to say anything for him to know that she's happy.
As he kisses her, she places her free hand on his cheek, pulling him closer to her.
As Jade holds the sonogram picture in her hand, all of the feelings flush back to her from the day they first saw Shiloh. Her eyes flicker to the top right corner of the photo, where the name "West, Jade" is printed.
"Do you remember Andre's face when he saw that?" Beck chuckles. "Priceless."
4:00 on Friday couldn't have come fast enough for the high school juniors, who had made it a sort-of tradition to hit up Nozu for sushi before the weekend.
Despite Jade's persistence in trying to convince Beck that their friends didn't need to know, the couple eventually decided that today would be the day to tell their friends about the pregnancy.
"So," Beck starts as soon as the waiter is gone, "We wanted to…tell you guys some news." Everyone—except for Andre, who's in the bathroom—is enjoying their sushi, unaware that Beck's next words will shock the hell out of them.
"Did you finally decide to go see Princess Unicorns 3 with me!?" Cat exclaims.
Jade rolls her eyes. "I'd rather shove a—"
"No, Cat," Beck interrupts with a forced smile. He squeezes his girlfriend's hand under the table. "Jade and I…are gonna have a baby."
There's a few moments of complete silence while Tori pretends to be surprised and Robbie's jaw drops open.
"A real one?" Cat cries.
Jade narrows her eyes and almost says something sarcastic before she remembers that Cat wouldn't get it. "…No chiz, a real one. I'm pregnant. And it's not a big deal and we don't care about your comments."
"Did you go to the doctor to get a picture yet?"
Before Jade can stop him, Beck has announced that they had already been and is pulling the sonogram out of his back pocket. "We went last weekend," he continues as he hands the picture to Tori.
"The little blob that's circled…is that the baby?" Robbie asks as he looks over Tori's shoulder.
"No, the doctor just decided to draw a random shape on the picture," Jade replies sardonically.
He gets the point, and soon the picture's in Cat's hands as Andre returns to the table. "What'd I miss?" He asks casually, not expecting too much of an answer.
"Look!" Cat announces, handing him the picture.
Andre looks at the picture cluelessly as he picks up a sushi roll with his chopsticks. "So, uh… what am I lookin' at…?" Halfway through his last word, his eyes land on the name in the corner of the photo. "Wait, is this," he utters, looking up at Jade, "are you…"
"Pregnant!" Cat finishes for him.
The sushi falls off of his chopsticks as his mouth falls open in a shocked smile. "Are you serious?"
Beck nods proudly as he takes his arm from under the table and wraps it around Jade. "Yep."
"That's… that's…wow," he says.
"Congratulations, guys," Tori finishes his thought.
"Yeah, congrats," he adds.
"Now that I think about it, though, he seemed sort of upset," Jade recalls.
"Not so much upset as…jealous," Beck admits. "We talked about it."
"Jealous?" Jade asks incredulously. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Not at all," he says. "He knew back then that he wanted to be with Tori, and he felt like a pregnancy would… I dunno, seal the deal. When he saw how well things were going for us, I guess he just got a little jealous."
"Ha," she barks. "What is it with people thinking that being pregnant and having to go to school is so fun and easy? Tori's told me the same thing, and I'm just like, 'Yeah, Vega, I'm sure you'd still be having a blast when you've got vomit in your hair and have to be at school in thirty minutes'."
"I'm sorry, Babe. I'm so sorry," Beck says while he rubs his girlfriend's back. As she bends over on her knees in their bathroom, Jade forcibly empties the contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl. First period starts in half an hour, but there's nothing she can do about the fact that she's been sporadically vomiting for almost an hour.
Her morning sickness epidemics occur three or four times a week, and each time, Beck stays right by her side to help her through it. He's holding her long, dark hair back as she grips either side of the toilet and repeatedly gags. When it's finally over and they've got fifteen minutes to be at school, he helps her up and gets her a cup of orange juice to settle her stomach.
"Take your time getting ready," Beck offers as he pulls her into a hug. She rests her head on his shoulder as she tries to hold back tears from the pain that's burning in her throat. "We don't have to make it to math today." As he holds her tightly, he whispers that he loves her and kisses her hair.
"It's all gonna be okay, Baby. I promise. I'm here."
"Ugh," Jade grunts, "I do not miss that."
"You had the sickness pretty bad," Beck concedes. "I loved when you were pregnant, though. I mean, having Shiloh here with us is obviously better, but getting to guess her gender and feel her kicks were pretty awesome."
Jade laughs. "It was pretty awesome when it wasn't at three o'clock in the morning."
For what seems like the millionth night in a row, Jade is restless. Her bulging stomach that houses the five-month old fetus never fails to keep her tossing and turning throughout the night; even Beck's warm presence in bed with her can't help.
"You okay, Babe?" He whispers after she's involuntarily woken him up.
She moves around in frustration. "Does it look like I'm okay? I haven't slept all night because no matter what position I lay in, I can't get comfortable. There's a fluttering in my stomach that won't go away and it's making me nauseous and I—"
"Okay, okay," he coos comfortingly. "Come here, lay on your side towards me." Jade sighs, but complies with his request, desperate for her eyes to close in sleep.
Once Jade is still, Beck rolls up her shirt and places his hands on his girlfriend's bare stomach. She gives him a strange look, but doesn't object once he begins rubbing his hands in circular motions. "I read about this in one of the books," Beck explains. "Does this help?"
Jade takes a deep breath in relief; she hasn't felt this relaxed in months. She nods her head generously and lets her eyes shut. Amidst her peace, though, she suddenly feels a sharp jab coming from her interior. Beck notices, too, and immediately freezes as they stare at each other in confusion.
"Was that…" he trails. Jade doesn't respond, but someone else does. Just seconds later, he feels another nudge against his hand. He forces a breath through a smile, but Jade winces in pain. "That's… that's the baby kicking? Is that what it feels like?"
"It has to be," she concludes. "I can—" Her word is interrupted by another kick. She tries to breathe as she takes in the magnitude of the situation. Besides the morning sickness and the obvious bump, she hasn't felt any real proof of her child. This is Baby Oliver—as Cat would so innocently put it—kicking to feel for her parents.
"It hurts," she confesses.
"I'm sorry, Babe. But if it's anything like you, you can probably expect a lot more where these came from," he jokes, not to her amusement.
"I…can't believe it's actually kicking."
"Pretty cool, huh?" He adds, still smiling. He leans his head in to kiss her lips. "We're feeling our baby."
Jade can't help but smile a little. "Just keep rubbing," she pleads. "It…helped."
"Good," Beck replies and does as she asks. "Hey," he says again after a minute or two, "you know I'd do anything for you, right?"
She furrows her eyebrows at the randomness of his question, too tired to give him a verbal response.
"If me rubbing your stomach makes you feel even a little bit better, I'll do it until this baby is born. I want you to be as comfortable as possible and—"
She replaces his words by pressing her lips against his as she snuggles up closer to him. "I know," she whispers. "I love you."
Beck pulls his wife into him and kisses the top of her head, prompting her to lift her chin up to look at him. Once they're face to face, they share a sweet kiss that ends in both of them smiling.
"Maybe we'll get to experience it again someday," he offers.
"What?"
"I mean... maybe... one day... in the future..."
"Another baby?" She cuts in.
"Yeah," he admits sheepishly. "Obviously not for a few years, and only if you want to; I just figured we've had so much fun with Shiloh, that once we're out of college, it might be cool to... I dunno, give her a sibling."
Jade bulges her eyes. "Beck, just the thought of being pregnant again makes me nauseas."
"Okay, fair," he says. "But you can't deny that you'd kill to relive all of her firsts. I know I'll never get over the first time she said my name."
Jade laughs. "Yeah, you practically pushed it out of her!"
"And now she says Dada," he claims proudly.
"Say it, Shi! Da-Da! Daaa-Da," Beck encourages.
"Ma-ma," the baby utters again.
"That's right," Jade relishes, leaning over the high chair to kiss her daughter. "Ma-ma."
"Ma-ma!" Shiloh exclaims again.
"C'mon, Babe. If you say it, I know she will."
Jade laughs and sits back down by her fiancé. "We'll see… Shiloh," Jade coos, "say Da-Da. Da-Da."
"Ma-ma!"
She grins. "No, Shiloh. Da-Da."
The seven-month-old looks somewhat confused as she gazes back and forth between her parents, who are both coaxing their daughter to say the word. "Da-Da," Jade says again.
"Da-da-da-da," she repeats after her mother.
"Yes!" Beck blurts out. "Shiloh, what's my name? Say it again! Da-Da."
"Da-da-da!" Shiloh follows, kicking her little legs excitedly.
Beck is grinning so widely that he swears the ends of his lips are touching his ears. He immediately pulls his daughter out of the high chair and tickles her all over, making her erupt in her baby giggle. He tosses her into the air—and Jade's heart skips a beat—and, of course, catches her back into his arms for more snuggling.
"All I'm saying is that it would be nice to get to do it all over again once we're in the right place to have another kid," Beck offers.
Jade laughs. "I'll think about it." She turns her body to face him again and kisses his cheek. "It doesn't hurt to practice, though," she implies as she watches his face light up.
"Gah, I love you so much," Beck says before crashing his lips into hers and pulling her on top of him.
Jade kinks her eyebrow and pulls away from his mouth for just a second to smile at him. "I sorta like you too…just a little." Before she knows it, they're kissing again.
I hope you guys liked it! What was your favorite flashback? :)
