Avery's door stays locked tight for the rest of the evening.
Jade stops by on her way to her own room and calls out to her daughter, letting her know that she's going to bed and she loves her, but receives no response. She knows better than to try to force her way inside, so she continues down the hallway to her own bedroom. Normally, Willie would sleep with Avery. He's positioned himself dutifully at the foot of her bed almost every night for the past five years since they adopted him, but when he sees that Avery's door is closed and there's no way in...he hangs his head and follows Jade to bed instead.
It's hard for Jade to sleep that night. Between the stress of the situation and the guilt from Avery's outburst, her head is spinning...and the wine definitely isn't helping make that any better. She feels sick to her stomach over the whole thing.
She tries to take her mind off of everything with the typical sitcom reruns that air at night, but by one in the morning she knows they aren't providing her with any reprieve. Defeated, she grabs the remote off of her nightstand to switch the TV off, then spends the next hour staring at her bedroom ceiling, watching as the ceiling fan spins around and around infinitely.
It's just after two when Jade finally falls asleep, but it isn't a deep sleep. Of course when the door to her bedroom creaks open not even five minutes later, she jolts awake.
"Mom?"
"Avery?" She answers groggily as she rolls towards the sound of her daughter's voice "What's wrong, baby?"
"I'm sorry..." Avery apologizes "I don't hate you, I didn't mean that..."
"I know you didn't..." Jade reaches across the bed and grabs her daughter's hand "S'okay."
"Can I lay in here for a little bit?" Avery asks her "I can't sleep."
"Of course." Jade nods as she lifts the blankets on the empty side of the bed "Climb on in."
Avery crawls into bed beside her mother and pulls the blankets over her. Jade is about to roll over and attempt to fall back to sleep, when she senses that there's something more that Avery wants to say to her.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asks, rolling over to lay face-to-face with her daughter "I know you have questions...I'd be more concerned if you didn't."
"Why didn't you tell anyone...?" Avery says so quietly that Jade can barely hear her
"It's not that I didn't tell anyone..." Jade explains "Grams and Gramps knew. Grandma, Papa, Grandpa and Nana all knew. Uncle Robbie, Aunt Cat, Uncle Andre, Aunt Tori...we told Uncle Tyler when he was old enough...which I know probably doesn't make you feel any better because that feels like a lot of people who have lied to you, right?"
"Well yeah, right."
"I wasn't that much older than you when I found out I was pregnant." Jade sighs "And Beck...your dad...had just gotten his first acting job. It wasn't really an opportune time to be having a baby. He had...changed a lot since he started working, and I knew we weren't good for each other anymore. Not to mention that he had a lot that he was dealing with, and his career was just taking off. I didn't think a baby would be part of his plans...but I didn't want to give you up."
"I'm glad that you didn't."
"Me too." Jade smiles a bit "You're the best thing that has ever happened to me. Hopefully he comes to see that you're the best thing that will ever happen to him too."
"Why couldn't I know he was my dad?" Avery asks "I mean...everyone else did. And it's not like I could have told him."
"Well, you could have. That sort of thing happens all the time in Hollywood, people showing up claiming to be the children of movie stars." Jade reminds her "I know you would've had more sense than that though. I guess...I don't know...I guess I was trying to protect you. I didn't want to tell you when you were younger because you wouldn't have understood fully, and it's so hard to know when the 'right time' is for something like that. Not to mention...he has a bit of a reputation...and it doesn't always paint him in a positive light."
"Yeah, I know." Avery nods "I knew about some of it, but I've googled him some tonight."
"Wait and form your own opinion of him." Jade advises "But Av, you should know...he wants to have a paternity test done. It will come back a match, I promise you...but I'm going to have to take you to give a sample."
"Like a blood sample?"
Even in the dark, Jade can tell that Avery is displeased with the idea.
"Maybe, or a cheek swab. They can do either nowadays and they're equally accurate." Jade explains "But regardless, the next few weeks are probably going to be...weird. And you're probably going to have to make a lot of choices...but just know that I love you unconditionally, so no matter what...I'll always be there for you."
"Thanks, Mom." Avery smiles "I love you too."
The paternity test comes back a match, which both Beck and Jade had expected. It still rocks Beck's world though, it's hard for him to wrap his head around the idea that he has a daughter at all...let alone a teenage one.
Lawyers are involved immediately, both Beck's and Jade's. Beck wants to make sure that he is ensured some kind of visitation, he wants the chance to get to know his daughter. Jade wants to make sure that there is as little disruption to Avery's life as possible. Thankfully, Beck doesn't seem to have any desire to take her back to California with him when he goes, at least not yet anyways.
A lot of choices will be left up to Avery, since she's old enough to make them for herself. How much time she spends with Beck, when she visits him, and how often she sees him will all be up to her. That makes Beck nervous. He knows what the general public thinks of him, and he knows what Jade thinks of him. Even though he feels that the actions he displays are justified and he's often unfairly judged for them, he worries that his daughter is already poisoned against him and won't want him to be part of her life.
It's hard for him to get a day off from filming with their schedule being so tight, but Jade has promised him a full Sunday with Avery that upcoming weekend when he's available. It occurs to Beck in that moment that he has absolutely no idea what fifteen year-old girls are interested in...or even teenagers in general for that matter. Nor does he know anything about the Charleston area, he's barely left his hotel room since he arrived other than to go to set. For a brief moment he considers contacting Jade, just to give himself some kind of a fair shot, but decides against it in the end. He doesn't want to seem incapable right off the bat.
By the time he gets back to his hotel room, he feels like he's been caught in a whirlwind. Between his meeting with his lawyers that morning and then a full afternoon and evening of filming, he's absolutely exhausted. He can't go to bed just yet though, he knows there's a phone call he needs to make.
"Hello?" Ericka answers almost immediately
"Hey babe..." Beck breathes a sigh of relief "S'good to hear your voice."
Other than gaining a daughter, another positive of the whole situation has been that he and Ericka are communicating again, at least somewhat. Beck is incredibly grateful for that.
"What's up?" She asks him
"It's been a crazy few days, but the paternity test came back." He explains "It was a match. I'm...I'm a dad."
"Congratulations, I guess..." Ericka isn't sure how to respond "What does that mean for you?"
"I dunno yet exactly." Beck admits "I get to spend some time with her this weekend, and we're going to see where it goes from there. I might end up staying out here a bit longer than I had planned to...just to be around her while she's still on summer break. Maybe you could fly out here too...you've gained a step-daughter after all, you should get to know her too."
"Beck, about that..."
There's a knock on the door to his hotel room and it makes Beck jump. He hadn't been expecting anyone, so he has no idea who it could be. Some of his costars are staying in the same hotel, so maybe it's one of them. He stands up from the bed and moves to answer the door, keeping Ericka on the phone with him as he does so. When he looks through the peephole he doesn't recognize the man on the other side, but sees that he's holding a package of some kind.
"Can I help you?" He asks as he opens the door
"Beck Oliver?"
"Yes..?"
He has one of the most recognizable faces in the world, he's surprised that this man had to ask.
"You've been served." The man tells him as he hands the package over to him "Have a good night."
"Huh?"
Beck turns the package, which turns out to be more of an envelope, over in his hands as he lets the door close behind him and walks back towards the center of the room. Confused, he rips open the top and reaches in, only to find a stack of papers inside that read 'Petition for Divorce - State of California' across the top of the first page.
"What the hell is this, Ericka?" Beck's voice is quiet and angry "Divorce?"
"I know the timing isn't great..." Ericka admits "I had already filed when you found out about your daughter, that's why I wasn't answering you that night when you called to tell me."
"Irreconcilable differences?" Beck is scanning over the papers in his hands as quickly as he can "Are we even going to talk about this?"
"Beck, listen. I-"
"What happened to all of that stuff you said before I left about telling me to grow up and become a good person?" He interrupts her "Don't I still get that chance?"
"You had been gone for about a week when I realized that even if you made those changes, I was never going to be happy with you..." Ericka explains "And I think that if you're going to put all of that work into being a better person...your energy should be focused on being that better person for your daughter now, not for me. I'm sorry, Beck. I really am. This isn't what I saw for us, it isn't what I wanted, but it's what we both need now."
"There's nothing I can do or say to change your mind?"
"No." Ericka's answer is firm "I hope that one day very soon you'll be able to see that this is for the best."
"Whatever." Beck scoffs "I guess you'll be hearing from my lawyer then. Bye."
"Beck-"
He ends the call and throws his phone onto the bed in frustration. After a few moments, he picks it back up again because he knows he has another important phone call to make. Between a daughter from an ex-girlfriend suddenly showing up out of nowhere after fifteen years, and now a second divorce...the media is going to have an absolute field day with him.
He needs to give his publicist a heads up.