"Look at that." Beck grins proudly as he watches his wife add her newest addition to their collection of awards "You're halfway to an EGOT."
Jade has now added a Tony to her list of accolades, after playing her role on Broadway for just shy of a year. She had been nominated for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, and of course had won. The show itself also received multiple nominations, such as Best Revival of a Musical and Best Direction of a musical, to name a few.
"Maybe I'll get that Oscar one day..." Jade chuckles as Beck drapes an arm around her shoulders "I don't really see a Grammy in my future though."
"Never say never."
"Eh." Jade shrugs "I doubt it, not really the career path I want to take."
"Maybe you can just steal one of Cat's." Beck smirks "She has what, eight now?"
"Something like that." Jade laughs "Yeah. I'm sure she wouldn't notice if one went missing."
"We can always blame Lennon." Beck points out "Honestly, if we wait until Lennon is old enough we could just get her to ask her for one. Cat would give that kid anything."
"That's very true." Jade laughs, turning away from the display of awards in the office
"So, Jade Oliver. You've just won a Tony award, what are you going to do next?" Beck asks her in a goofy tone
"I'm going to quit." Jade tells him confidently without any hesitation
"What?" Beck is shocked "Wh-why? You love doing the show, and you just won the biggest award there is to win for it. Why the hell would you quit?"
"Because I'm pregnant." Jade shrugs
"Don't fuck with me, Jade." Beck says flatly "It's not funny."
"I'm not fucking with you." Jade chuckles as she drapes her arms around his neck "I'm really pregnant."
"You're serious?" Beck grins
"Yeah." Jade smiles up at him "I'm due in March."
"That's amazing!" Beck exclaims before kissing her "I'm so happy! Two kids!"
"Yup." Jade laughs "Double the trouble."
Jade continues with Rent for another three weeks, then graciously passes the role to the woman who had been playing her understudy since the show's start a year prior. Both sets of her parents fly in for her final show, as do Tori and Andre. That night Beck and Jade share the news of why exactly Jade is quitting the show, and everyone is ecstatic. They FaceTime Beck's parents the next day to tell them the news, and they're thrilled as well. The only people who don't know are Cat and Robbie, which Jade feels terrible about, but they have the best plan set in motion to tell them.
Ten days after Jade does her last performance with Rent, Cat's tour stops in New York for it's three dates she had told Jade about a few months prior. Of course Beck and Jade attend, but they bring Lennon along as well. It's the first time she's ever seen Auntie Cat sing on stage in front of her, and both the toddler and the pop star are over-the-moon excited. Cat even arranges for Lennon to run out on stage with her halfway through the show.
When the concert starts, Beck and Jade immediately change Lennon out of the outfit they had brought her in and into a new one. Robbie notices Lennon's new shirt and puts the pieces together, congratulating them immediately. And when it comes time for Lennon to run out on stage, Cat notices it too.
"C'mere, Len!" Cat grins, stretching her arms out to the toddler
Beck had been holding Lennon up until this point, so it takes her a moment to find her balance with the extra weight from the noise-canceling headphones her parents had put on her. Eventually she adjusts herself, and runs right towards her favorite aunt.
"Oh my god! Your shirt!" Cat exclaims as she picks Lennon up and rests her on her hip
The camera zooms in on the two of them, and then everyone else in the arena can see that Lennon is wearing a purple t-shirt with the words 'Big Sister' written across it in white letters.
"Jade West! Er...Oliver!" Cat exclaims into the microphone "Sorry everyone, I knew her as Jade West first and sometimes I still slip up...are you pregnant!?"
Beck and Jade both grin and nod at Cat, knowing its too loud in the arena for her to hear them even if they screamed a response at her.
"AH!" Cat squeals "I'm going to be an auntie again, everyone!"
Within minutes, the picture of Cat holding Lennon as well as the news of her new soon-to-be-sibling have spread all over the internet. After the show, Beck and Jade both post the same picture of the two of them with Lennon in her t-shirt to instagram along with the caption 'It's true'.
"I two!" Lennon grins as Beck places the birthday cake in front of her and her friends and family finish singing
"You sure are, Bubs!" He smiles "Go ahead and blow out the candles."
Lennon tries her very best to extinguish the flames on both candles, but her lungs are still small and it proves to be quite the difficult task. Eventually Jade ends up assisting her, but Lennon is under the impression that she's done it all on her own.
"Yay!" Everyone exclaims, Beck and Jade included
Lennon is a few days past turning two at this point, but they decided to wait until the weekend to celebrate so that their families could be involved. Most of people the they wanted to celebrate with them live in Los Angeles anyways, so they're making a weekend trip out of it and will return to New York on Sunday night.
"What'd you wish for, Len?" John asks her
"A sister!" Lennon exclaims
"Oh god..." Jade groans, exchanging a worried look with Beck
Lennon was quite excited about the idea of a little sibling when Beck and Jade first told her about the baby, even though she doesn't quite entirely understand the concept. She's dead set on the idea of a little sister, and refuses to even consider the possibility that it could be a little brother. Beck and Jade have tried multiple times to explain to her that they don't have any control over if they baby is a boy or a girl, but Lennon doesn't want to hear it.
"You know that baby just grew a penis, right?" Jade's brother, Tyler, whispers to her "She totally jinxed it."
"You're right." Jade sighs, rubbling her right temple
They won't find out the sex of the baby for a few more weeks, but Jade knows her brother is right. Having another girl and completely satisfying Lennon would just make life too easy for them.
"Once again, Tyler is a good name." He reminds her
"Don't pretend like you wouldn't hate my kid having the same name as you." Jade rolls her eyes "You'd love it for like, two seconds, and then beg us to change it."
"It would be a fun two seconds though." Tyler laughs "But if you won't name him after me, may I be the first one to throw 'Ringo' into the mix?"
"Oh shut up." Jade rolls her eyes
"I'm only teasing you." Tyler assures her, kissing his sister on the cheek quickly before walking away to talk to his parents
"Lennon, remember what we talked about." Beck reminds the toddler "Mommy and I can't control if you get a baby sister or a baby brother. It's not up to us."
"Hmm..." Lennon hums, deep in thought "I tink is a sister."
"Alright." Beck laughs "We'll just have to wait and see."
Being the only young child in the family, Lennon is of course showered with tons of new toys, books, games, and clothes when it comes time to open presents. Beck and Jade have to actually purchase additional suitcases so that they can get everything back home to New York with them.
Their plane lands just after nine-thirty New York time. Lennon had stayed awake for the entire flight, infatuated with the view from the airplane window. Beck and Jade considered this to be an improvement from the days of flying with her as a baby when she would scream the whole time, but as they depart the airplane they notice she's grown quite cranky. Thankfully, she falls asleep in the car and stays asleep as Jade removes her from her carseat to carry her inside.
"I have like three missed calls from my dad." Beck says to Jade as they enter the elevator to go up to their apartment
"Any texts?"
"No, just a voicemail." He tells her as he raises the phone to his ear to listen to the message "It's so vague, he just wants me to call him."
"We probably just forgot something and he wants to know how to ship it to us." Jade assures him as they step off the elevator and begin walking towards their apartment "I'll put her to bed, go ahead and call him back."
"Thanks." Beck pecks her quickly on the lips before unlocking the door "I'll be up in a few minutes."
"I'll be waiting." Jade winks, then turns to carry Lennon upstairs
Beck hits the button to call his father and raises the phone to his ear, walking over to the large window on the opposite side of the apartment and looking out at the skyline as it rings.
"Hello?" James answers
"Hey, Dad." Beck greets him "I got your message, what's up?"
"Beck, I..." James hesitates "I don't know how to tell you this..."
"Is everything alright?"
"It's Grandpa Charlie." James tells him "He's had a stroke."
"Oh..." Beck feels his heart sink "Is he okay?"
"It doesn't look good." James admits "Your mother and I are leaving for the airport in about an hour. If you want the chance to say goodbye, I suggest you follow suit."
"Fuck, alright..." Beck sighs "I'll talk to Jade. Keep me posted, okay?"
"Will do, son." James promises "Glad you all made it back safely."
"Thanks, Dad." Beck tells him "Love you."
"Love you too." James says "Talk soon."
Frustrated, Beck turns around and throws his phone onto the couch. He needs to release some of the anger and sadness that he's feeling, but he definitely doesn't need to break his phone. After giving himself a few minutes to process the conversation he had with his father and to calm down, he picks up his phone and makes his way upstairs to the bedroom to find Jade.
She's already changed into her pajamas and is going through a suitcase, looking for her toiletry bag.
"Everything alright with your dad?" She asks as she sees him enter the room
"It's my grandpa." Beck tells her "He had a stroke this afternoon."
Jade stops looking through the suitcase and turns her head to make eye contact with him. She knows how much his relationship with his grandparents means to him. With their old age, both her and Beck working, and Lennon being so little, they haven't been able to visit them much in the past few years. And now she fears that they should have made the time.
"Is he..."
"It doesn't look good." Beck sighs, sitting down on the edge of the bed "My parents are flying up there tonight. My dad told me that if I want the chance to say goodbye, then I should consider doing the same."
"We'll leave in the morning then." Jade says matter-of-factly as she sits down next to him
"Jade, we just got back." He reminds her
"So?"
"So, that's a lot of traveling. We'd have to fly cross-country again." Beck reminds her "I'll just go by myself. Lennon is too little for that and you shouldn't be flying that much anyway-"
"I will be fine." Jade assures him, taking his hand and squeezing it "And so will Lennon. We're a family, we stay together. Remember?"
"Are you sure?" He asks her
"I am." She nods "We'll be there to support you, no matter what happens."
"Papa?" Lennon says quietly
"Yeah, Papa is in pretty rough shape." Beck says quietly as he passes Lennon over to Jade
They took the first flight from New York to Vancouver the following morning, and had touched down at about noon local time. Their bodies didn't even have time to being back on east coast time before they were back in the pacific time zone. They're staying with Beck's grandma at her house, along with his parents. After dropping their bags off, they came straight to the hospital.
"Hey Grandpa..." Beck whispers as he approaches Charlie's bed "It's me, it's Beck."
Charlie, who is barely conscious, narrows his eyes at Beck to focus on him, then lifts his hand ever so slightly as if to say hello.
"Hi." Beck smiles "Jade is here too, and Lennon."
"Hey, Papa." Jade coos, stepping a bit closer to the bed "It's good to see you."
"Hi Papa..." Lennon says shyly
Charlie smiles a lopsided smile at them, then closes his eyes and quickly falls back to sleep. Beck fights tears as Jade places a comforting hand on his shoulder. This was the man who had helped him build a tree house when he was six, and took him fishing, and showed him how to fix a lawnmower engine. He was big and strong and tough, not weak and frail like the man laying in the bed in front of him.
"Do you want to stay?" Jade asks him
"Yes p-please." Beck says, his voice catching a bit "Just for a wh-while."
"Of course." Jade nods, rubbing his shoulder "As long as you need."
The news Beck had been dreading comes in the very early hours of the morning. He and Jade are both asleep in the guest bedroom on the first floor, his arm wrapped protectively around her waist. Lennon is asleep as well, in Beck's old pac-n-play next to the bed.
Priya opens the door as quietly as she can but it still squeaks, waking Jade. For a moment she forgets where she is, but once she remembers, checks the clock next to the bed, and turns back to Priya to read her expression, she knows exactly what has happened. She sits up and swings her legs over the side of the bed, fumbling to turn the bedside lamp on and waking Beck up in the process.
"You okay?" He mumbles "What time is it?"
"Beck..." Jade says quietly, finding his hand as she looks to Priya "Is he...?"
"Your grandfather had another stroke, sweetheart." Priya tells Beck, and Jade by association "He didn't make it this time, unfortunately."
"What..." Beck shakes his head "No...he can't be. We've been here less than a day."
"Babe..." Jade says sympathetically as she wraps him up in a hug "I'm so sorry."
"I'm sorry too." Priya adds
This is the kind of situation where she would immediately jump at the chance to comfort her son, to take advantage of the fact that he might just need her. But her son is a grown man now and as much as she wishes he would still run to her for comfort, she realizes that as his wife...that's Jade's role now. So she briefly checks on her granddaughter to make sure that she's still sleeping, which she is, then leaves the couple alone to mourn and goes to find her husband.
Beck cries and Jade holds him tightly as he does so, letting a few tears fall herself. This is the circle of life, she realizes that. People are alive until one day they're not. But this was unexpected, Charlie was healthy. They thought they had more time with him. This was her husband's grandfather, her daughter and unborn child's great-grandfather, he had even been a grandfather to her too for a brief time. It's heartbreaking to lose him.
The next few days that follow are somber to say the least. There's preparations that need to be made, but no one is really ready to accept the fact that Charlie is really gone. Jade and Priya take the charge in making the arrangements, along with Beck's uncle who had also married into the family. Although they loved Charlie and are mourning his death too, they don't want to place any extra burdens on their spouses if they can avoid it. Beck asks if he can speak at the funeral. Jade assures him that he doesn't have to if he doesn't think he'll be up for it, but he insists. His grandfather meant a lot to him, and he wants a chance to let others know just how special he was.
"My grandfather was a hero." Beck says as he addresses the crowd gathered around Charlie's grave "Or at least he was to me, and I'm sure was to many of you as well. He was a humble man full of love, strength and encouragement. In life and now death I know he wouldn't want us to focus on the sadness and sorrow, but to continue to love and support each other no matter the situation. He always supported me, always. When I was young and I wanted to be a race car driver, and then when I was older and I decided I wanted to be an actor. He didn't call it stupid or say it was a fantasy. He didn't call me gay, even though a few of his friends did. He encouraged me to chase my dreams, and truly believed that I could catch them. He attended my wedding, even though it was in America and he hates crossing international borders, and even though I was nineteen and everyone thought I was too young. If you walk into his den right now, you'll find copies of every movie I've ever been in, even the bad ones. You'll find copies of every movie or tv show my wife has been in, even ones that were canceled after the first season. Because that's the kind of guy Charlie Oliver was. He was there for you, no matter what. And I like to think that he'll still be there for all of us, even now. We should all strive to be a little more like him."
"Thank you, Beckett..." The minister says to him "...for those touching words."
Beck finds his way back to Jade and slips his hand in her's, squeezing it tightly as he brushes a tear from his eye. Jade reaches across herself and rubs his arm lightly, leaning against him a bit to let him know that she's there for him and supports him. A neighbor's adult daughter had offered to stay back at the house to watch any children who might be too young to attend the service so they left Lennon there, knowing she was too young to understand and also that she would be in good hands.
"Charles Nicholas Oliver, we bless you, wish you well, and thank you for being a part of our life." The minister says "We honor your life on Earth and we pray for your peace ever-after. We will not forget you. Go well."
There's a luncheon back at Susan's house immediately following the services. Beck's grandmother, despite her mourning, shifts into full hostess mode, as she always does, and makes sure everyone is well taken care of. Beck and Jade mingle, swapping stories about Charlie with other people who loved him, catching up with childhood friends of Beck's, and talking about Lennon with other people who have children. For once, they're not famous and its refreshing. To everyone here, they're just Charlie's grandkids, their Hollywood credits don't matter.
Jade is impressed with how well her husband carries himself throughout the day. She knows he's upset and hurting, she can see it in his eyes, but only she can see it because she's the only one who knows him well enough to recognize it. Later that night, he does break down, and she's relieved that he does. Bottling all of those emotions inside and letting them fester isn't healthy, so she's more than willing to comfort him while he cries. He buries his face in her lap, and she kisses the top of his head as she rubs his back gently. Thankfully, Lennon is fast asleep, exhausted from the events of the day and the lack of her regular nap, completely oblivious to the pain her parents are feeling.
"It's going to get easier." Jade promises him as she combs through his hair with her fingers "Not right away, but eventually."
"I know." Beck sniffs, sitting up "I know that, it's just that right now it really-"
"Sucks." Jade finishes his thought for him, handing him a tissue
"Sucks." He nods in agreement as he blows his nose
Beck stands up and throws the tissue in the trash, then returns to sit on the bed next to his wife. He reaches out and places a hand on top of her baby bump. She's only four months, so it's barely there. But it's there. He smiles as he remembers that their child is growing inside of her, and she smiles as well as she places her hand on top of his.
"Moving around at all?" He asks
"Just barely." Jade tells him "Enough for me to be able to feel it, but not enough for you to be able to yet."
"That's good. It means they're growing." Beck nods "Jade?"
"Hm?"
"If the baby is a boy..." Beck begins "I want to name him Charlie."
"Okay." Jade nods, caressing his face "I think that's a great idea."
"You do?"
"I do."
"You're not just agreeing because I'm sad?"
"Of course not." She assures him "This is our child. I wouldn't name him something just because."
"Okay." Beck smiles, leaning forward to kiss her "Thank you."
"You're welcome." She tells him "Hey? I love you, okay? I'm here for you, whatever and whenever you need."
"I know." Beck nods "I love you for loving me."
"Thank you for letting me."