"What was so urgent that you needed me to stop by first thing?" Jade asks, stepping into Beck's trailer

The door is propped open, and she had taken it as an invitation to just walk in. Looking back, she probably should have knocked. Although their friends now, or at least they say they are, they're not really at a point where they can just walk into each other's spaces unannounced.

"Sorry." She apologizes immediately "I should have-"

"S'okay, that's why I leave it open like that." Beck assures her, putting down the script he had been reading and standing up "And I never said it was urgent. I said you should stop by when you get the chance."

"Well, here's my chance."

"Here." Beck reaches into his backpack and pulls out a child's jacket "This got left behind the other night. S'too big for Cruz and too small for Hendrix, I figured it must be Drew's."

"You would have figured correctly..." Jade chuckles, reaching to take the jacket from him "He was asleep so I had to carry him to the car, must have forgotten to grab it. Thanks for bringing it."

"Of course." Beck nods "It was nice to see everyone again, wasn't it?"

"It was." Jade agrees "Did it...I mean, I hope it helped you feel a bit better."

"How do you mean?"

"Having everyone together?" Jade clarifies "I thought that...did-didn't you invite everyone over because you were feeling sad about..."

"Bianca?" Beck finishes her thought for her "You can say her name, Jade. It's okay. She's not Betelgeuse."

"I wasn't sure where you were at with that whole...grieving process."

"I'm okay." He assures her "But...it did help, having you all over. It reminded me of old times. It was nice."

"I don't remember 'old times' having three screaming kids and three crying babies."

"That was my favorite part." Beck admits "We've all grown up and you guys all have kids but even with all of the time that passed without seeing each other, we're still us."

As the words leave his mouth, something clicks.

Over a decade had passed since the group had seen each other and although they were the same people, they had also changed. They had all grown considerably, as most people do from their teenage years to their thirties. His last thought before Bianca had entered his life had been of Jade. They had been talking about The Scissoring in his film class and he had been thinking about her. Maybe the reason work has been such a great distraction from the divorce that had ripped his life apart was because she was here. Maybe she makes him feel comfortable, maybe she makes him feel safe.

Fuck.

"We're still us." She nods "Well, thanks for bringing this, I appreciate it. See you on set in a few?"

"See you in a few."

Snap out of this, you idiot. Beck thinks to himself as soon as Jade is out of sight.

He can't rebound from a divorce with his high school girlfriend, especially when said high school girlfriend happens to be his boss. Not to mention that she has her own shit that she's dealing with. Jade is fantastic at keeping her work life and her personal life separate, but she had blurred the line a bit the other night when she shared her grievances with her children's father with their friend group.

"Absolutely not." He mutters to himself as he picks his script back up "Absolutely not."

Beck spends the rest of the day trying to shake the thought of anything romantic with Jade out of his head, but it's incredibly difficult because she's always no more than ten feet away from him. She isn't directing this episode but the writers are still always on set just in case there's a problem with a line or something needs to be changed, and she's a producer as well.

He can't stop thinking about her, even when he has a romantic scene with his on-screen girlfriend. Jade is right there. She's so dedicated to her work and so damn good at it. The scripts that she has written for them bring the book series to life on-screen fantastically, and she gives such productive feedback to both actors and directors alike when they ask for it. Although she isn't entirely extroverted, she gets along with everyone very well and seems to have earned a lot of respect from the entire cast and crew. He's seen her with her kids, she's a great mom. Not to mention...she's gorgeous and always has been.

It's going to be impossible to get the thought out of his head now that it's there.

He can't even talk to anyone about it. He has great relationships with his co-stars, but he knows he can't just walk up to one of them and say that he's been fantasizing about their boss all day. Not a chance. They haven't broadcasted the fact that they had known each other prior to working on the show, but a few people know they went to high school together. To their knowledge, no one in their professional lives know that they had dated at one point.

They wrap their last scene at six-thirty which is earlier than normal, but it was the last scene of an episode and the production team makes the call not to start filming the next until they can have a table read for it. Beck retreats back to his trailer to change from his character's wardrobe back into his street clothes. As he grabs his backpack and moves to leave, he knows he should head to his car to go home...but he can't stop himself from walking towards the writer's building.

He frequents Jade's office these days, all of the actors do. It's where they pick up their scripts, or where they go if they have a question about something before a table read, or sometimes where they can hang out for a half hour or so if they want to. Jade is accommodating, one of many reasons why the cast likes working for her so much. She isn't even surprised when Beck walks through the door.

"Hey." She greets him, not even looking up from her laptop "No new scripts tonight, sorry. They're locked away until the morning."

"I, um..." Beck swallows hard "I'm not here about the scripts."

"You already gave me Drew's jacket."

"I know."

"Are you okay?" Jade looks up from her screen, then decides to walk over to him when she sees the odd expression on his face "Beck? Did something happen?"

"I just..." He shakes his head "I..."

"Beck?"

He's just as shocked to be kissing her as she is to being kissed by him. Beck had done everything to talk himself out of it but once she had been standing in front of him, he just couldn't help himself from taking her face in his hands the way that he always used to and pressing his lips to hers. In a brief lapse in judgement he even considers slipping her the tongue, but he doesn't get the chance.

"Beck!" Jade shrieks as she pushes him away "What the fuck! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I..." Beck hesitates

He knows what he did was wrong, but he had to do it. He had to kiss her, just to see if it would make him feel anything. All day he tried to tell himself that it was nothing, but he had to be sure. Beck regrets the kiss immediately, not only because he can see how upset Jade is by it, but also because it had done the opposite of what he had hoped it would.

"I'm sorry." He apologizes to her, then immediately flees her office

"Beck!" Jade yells after him, running to the doorway "Get back here!"

But Beck doesn't look back. In fact, he feels like he doesn't even get the chance to breathe until he gets back to his car. Jade doesn't chase after him, so at least he avoids confrontation for the time-being, but he knows that the next morning's table read is going to be very, very, awkward.