Jade persistently rapped her knuckled on her brother's bedroom door, trying to get him to answer. "Ty! Tyler!"

After a few minutes of waiting, Jade opened the bedroom door and walked inside. It looked like he was sleeping with the covers pulled all the way up and a pillow over his head.

Jade quietly crept closer to the bed, trying not to make too much noise. When she was near it, she pulled the cover back and got in. "Tyler? Are you up?" She removed the pillow from his face and stared at him. "I know you're up. Your eyelashes are fluttering. You might as well talk to me."

Tyler groaned and opened his eyes, "What do you want?"

"I can't sleep."

"I have sleeping pills. You want one?"

"I don't want sleeping pills."

"Oh." Tyler rolled over. "Goodnight."

"No! Stay up with me."

"Jade, it's like two in the morning. I have to be at the hospital in six hours, and I would like to get five more hours of sleep."

"Well too bad."

"If I fall asleep in the middle of helping a patient tomorrow, and get kicked out, I will strangle you. I promise."

"You aren't. Relax."

"Goodnight, Jade."

Jade waited until her brother closed his eyes and got comfortable again before opening her mouth, "So Beck and I kissed."

Tyler's eyes snapped back opened, "I hate you."

"Why?"

"You keep talking. And you don't get to drop a bomb on me like that."

"Sorry."

"Why were you and your boss kissing?"

"He was working, so he called me to get him something to eat, and after I dropped it off I just stayed. This entire situation could have been avoided if I had just left."

"Go on."

"Anyway, his mom called to wish him a happy birthday, and once I found out about it, I bolted him and I got him a slice of cake, then I sped back to his office and sang him happy birthday."

"You still haven't arrived at the part where you guys kiss."

"I'm getting there." Jade assured. "So anyway, we were drinking-"

"Wait a minute." Tyler interjected. "Where did you guys get alcohol?"

"His preferred drink is scotch, so he always has it in his office."

Tyler sighed, "I wish I could have a job where I could drink in the office. I'm sure I'd get fired and lose my medical license if I went to perform a surgery intoxicated."

Jade huffed impatiently, "Can I finish?"

"Sorry."

"We were talking about his plans for his birthday, and do know what he told me?"

"What did he tell you?"

"That his wife wasn't going to celebrate his birthday. And he was feeling pretty sad about it."

"So you kissed him out of pity?"

"Correction. He kissed me."

"Oh."

"But I kissed him back."

"Oh!"

"Could you stop saying that?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"Anything else!"

"Why were you guys kissing in the first place?"

"I don't know, he just kissed me. We were having a nice time, and we were drinking, and," Jade shrugged, "it just happened."

"It's pretty random. That's like if I stayed behind in one of my classes and my professor just kisses me."

"Well it's not completely random."

One of Tyler's eyebrows raised curiously, "How do you mean?"

"Beck and I are friends. But there may have been a few times where our friendship could have been inappropriate."

"Like?"

"Like the time we went to a club together, got drunk, and ate Chinese food back at my condo. Or what happened a few hours ago. That wasn't entirely appropriate.""

Tyler shook his head, as if he was disappointed. He kissed Jade's forehead and turned around, "Baby sister, you are a glutton for trouble."

"I know."

"Get some sleep."

"I'm not going to work. I'm calling in sick."

"Well, I have to get some sleep."

"Can I just stay here all day?"

"I don't care. Just on one condition."

"You name it."

"You have to come to dinner with me tonight."

"Of course."

"At dad's house." Tyler added.

Jade frowned, "Are you serious?"

"Yes. Tonight at seven."

"No way."

"He's inviting another one of his doctor friends over, and the dinner yesterday was so horrible. I can't handle another one alone. And you owe me."

Jade glared at her brother, even though he couldn't see because his back was turned to her. She huffed before spitting out, "Fine. One hour."

"That's all I need."

"It's someone's birthday!" Jill singsonged as she opened the door to Beck's office and poked her head inside.

Beck looked up from the e-mail he was reading and smiled, "Yup, it's my birthday."

Jill fully entered the office and she quickly made her way over to Beck. She pulled him into a hug. "Happy birthday!"

"Thank you."

"Why are you here?" Jill asked. "It's your birthday. You should have taken the day off."

"Yeah right. Nothing would get done. I have contracts to sign, and meetings all day. Los Angeles doesn't sleep."

"And neither do you. Did you get any sleep?"

"Nope."

"Were you here working all night?"

"No." Beck replied. "I went home around one."

"And you still couldn't sleep? Maybe you have insomnia."

Beck didn't reply. The reason he couldn't sleep was because every time he closed his eyes, Jade appeared. She'd been on his mind ever since she ran out of his office all those hours ago. She was a permanent fixture in his thoughts, and he didn't know if that would freak Jade out or if she'd get some sort of kick out of it. Knowing her, probably the latter.

"No, I'm just always wired. Too much caffeine."

"Speaking of caffeine, where is Jade with your first cup of coffee for the day?"

"Jade's at home."

"She's running late."

"She isn't coming in today." Beck said. "She called in sick."

It wasn't even a call. Jade sent him a quick, one sentence text message, saying she was had food poisoning. He knew that was a lie. She just didn't want to see him.

"That sucks. It means I'm stuck doing stuff for you today."

Beck smiled, "Consider yourself lucky, Jill."

"I'll have your coffee back in about fifteen minutes, birthday boy."

"Love you, Jill."

"You better."

"Do I seriously have to be here?" Jade asked, crossing her arms over her chest in a slight protest. She looked around her dad's house from her spot in the kitchen. Richard was talking to some doctor from Cedars-Sinai, and his wife, who was also a doctor, near the fireplace, while Tiffany hung all over him. She could not believe she agreed to come to her dad's house for dinner.

"You made a commitment to me." Tyler said, swatting Jade's arm. "Uncross your arms and stop acting like a child."

"I am not a child." Jade argued.

"You could have fooled me." Tyler watched as Jade reached for her wine glass and the bottle.

"You're drinking already?"

Jade nodded, and practically filled her glass to the rim. "If I am going to survive, I need to be inebriated."

"Okay, fine, but don't drink too much. We're going to be eating soon."

"You're no fun, Tyler."

About twenty minutes later, everyone was seated around the long dinner table.

"This looks like such a lovely dinner, Tiffany." Jade said. The compliment earned her confused glances from her father and brother. "What catering company did you use?"

Tiffany scoffed, "Why would you ever think I had this meal catered?"

"Because I'm not stupid, and you can't cook."

Tyler nudged Jade, silently telling her to knock it off. Jade just shrugged and drank a little more of her wine.

Tyler leaned over his sister and put his hand up so no one could hear him, "Why don't you lay off the wine. You're on your third glass."

"So Tyler," Richard's dinner guest, Ronald started, "What made you want to choose the David Geffen School of Medicine? Your father was telling me that you got offers from Stanford University School of Medicine and Georgetown. Both excellent schools."

"They are excellent." Tyler agreed. "But I went to UCLA for my bachelor's degree so it only seemed fitting to go to their medical school. And my mother would kill me if I went too far away."

Ronald chuckled, "Your mother sounds like this one right here." He pointed to his wife, Patricia. "If she had it her way, all of our kids would still live with us."

"I love my children." Patricia shrugged. "Sue me."

"Oh, there's nothing wrong with that, darling." Ronald said, squeezing his wife's hand. "But that kids have to grow up some time."

"How many kids do you have?" Tiffany asked.

"Four." Patricia replied. "Two boys, two girls. Our youngest is seventeen and our oldest is twenty-nine. So do guys have any more children?"

Richard shook his head, "Oh, no. Just these two crazy kids."

"Tiffany, you don't want a little baby?"

Jade let out a snort. The thought of her fifty-something year old dad and his just-turned-thirty year old wife having baby was both revolting and amusing.

"No, I'm content being a step-mom."

"Oh yeah, she's the best." Jade chimed in, forcing a smile.

Richard glared at Jade, "Besides, I have my hands full with Jade."

"I am not a handful." Jade argued.

"Please." Richard pointed to Jade but his body faced Ronald and Patricia. "She is twenty-five, and after three years of being out of school, she finally got a job. She's spent the majority of her life partying and causing trouble. She lacks drive and motivation."

Tyler's eyes got wide. He looked at his sister. She was squeezing the stem of her glass so hard, he was shocked it hadn't shattered.

"Where do you work, dear?" Patricia asked Jade, trying to move off of Richard's tangent.

Before Jade could even open her mouth, Richard had already started talking, "She works at some company with a bunch of actors and actresses. It didn't shock me to find out she picked a job in the entertainment industry."

"Actually," Jade started, "I'm the assistant to Beck Oliver. He's the president of the production company. I mostly spend my days around CEOs, and other executives. I've only interacted with two actresses since I started working there."

"Have you improved since your first day?"

"Very much so." Jade answered. Her jaw clench. It was a sign that she was getting pretty angry. Tyler shot her a glance of concern. He knew their father had always been extremely critical of Jade, but it wasn't appropriate to bring this up while guests were present.

"But enough about me." Jade continued, raising her glass to her lips to take another drink. Her brother's warning to her earlier was shot to hell now. "Let's move on to a much more interesting topic."

"And what would that topic be?" Ronald asked.

"My dad, of course." Jade said. She focused her attention on to Tiffany. "Tiffany, how long have you and my dad been together."

"We've been married for seven years." Tiffany answered, flashing her diamond ring to Jade.

"That wasn't the question." Jade then turned to Patricia and Ronald. "They've actually been together for ten years."

Patricia smiled, "Ten years. Your first milestone as a couple."

"Yeah, you would think so, but it's not."

"Jade." Richard warned. "Why don't you eat something or get some water. Maybe it'll sober you up."

Jade ignored her dad and kept talking, "They've been together for ten years, but he and my mom have only been divorced for eight. Something isn't adding up, right?"

"Jade." Richard repeated, his voice rising.

"No, it isn't adding up." Patricia said.

"That's because my dad was cheating. And Tiffany is about twenty-five years younger than him. She's only four years older than Tyler."

Richard banged his fist against the table, making the glasses and silverware shake. "Jade! That is enough!"

"What? It's the truth."

Tyler grabbed Jade's glass and moved it, "You don't need any more of this."

"No, I'm fine." Jade assured. She took her napkin from her lap and put it on her plate. "But if dad thinks it's okay to talk about all of my faults and failures over the dinner table, it's only fair that I share a few of his."

"Why don't you go upstairs and sleep some of the alcohol off." Richard suggested, standing and pointing to the hallway where the staircase was.

Jade stood as well, "Like I just said, I'm fine."

Richard shook his head, "You are still the same immature, unmotivated, constantly drunk girl that you were in college."

"You know what, dad? You're still the same judgmental, overcritical, controlling person that you've always been." Jade shot back. "I'm so glad I didn't pick a profession that you had connections in because I'd have to sit through even more of these boring dinners." She bent down and kissed her brother's cheek. "Sorry, Tyler. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Where are you going?" Tyler asked.

"Anywhere but here." And with that, Jade turned and left.

Everyone heard the door slam. After a few moments, Tiffany stood up, "Who wants cake?"

Ronald grabbed his wife's hand and stood up too, "Thank you for having us over. This was a delicious meal Tiffany, whether you cooked it or not, but we're going to go home."

Tyler smiled sarcastically and grabbed his wine glass, "This was fun, dad. I'll have to tell my therapist all about it."

"Look what I found!" Beck looked up from his cell phone to see his mother, Nora, carrying photo albums in her arms. "Beck's baby book and photo album."

"Mom." Beck groaned. "No baby pictures."

"I'd love to see these pictures." Beck's younger brother, Justin, said. "I'd never an opportunity to look at them."

"Oh, shut up."

Nora sat down next to Beck and opened one of the albums, "Beck, I look at your pictures every year on your birthday. It's almost like a tradition. You aren't my little baby anymore. You're a grown up."

"What about me, mom?" Justin asked, leaning forward to see his mom.

"You're my big baby."

Justin nodded, "I'm fine with that."

"As long as you don't move back in with us once you're done with school, so are we." James said, turning his attention away from the television in the room to engage in the conversation.

"You guys have this big house and I wouldn't be able to stay?"

"Nope."

"Of course!" Nora said. "Don't listen to your father."

The doorbell rang a few times. Nora put the photo album on the floor and stood up. She walked to the foyer where the front door was. "Just a second!" She opened the door and saw Diana on the other side. "Oh, Diana. It's just you."

"Well who else would it be?"

"I don't know. Someone important."

Diana scowled, "It's always lovely to see you, Nora."

"Did you need something, Diana?"

"Is my husband here?" Diana asked.

"Of course. It's his birthday. Why wouldn't he spend his birthday with his family?"

Diana said nothing. She just moved past Nora and walked into the living room. She spotted Beck hunched over a book, laughing with his brother. "Beck!"

Beck looked up, "Diana. What are you doing here?"

"It's your birthday, silly!" Diana made her way over to Beck and pulled him up. She planted a kiss on his lips. "Where else would I be?"

"Oh I don't know. Malibu, perhaps."

Diana sighed, "Can we talk? Please?"

"I'm not really-"

"Let's talk." Diana ordered.

"Fine."

The two of them decided to walk outside because that was the only place they could talk privately.

Beck put his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels. "So, how did you remember it was my birthday, because from our conversation yesterday, it didn't seem like you remembered."

"I know. Kim wanted me to tell you happy birthday."

"Oh, so she even knew it was my birthday."

"I'm sorry. I was so distracted, and I hadn't been in the states for almost a month, and-"

"Diana, there is no excuse. Even the janitor in my building knew it was birthday. And I've said no more than ten words to him in the past seven years! You're my wife!"

"Stop yelling at me! I've apologized already. What more do you want me to do?"

"If you think a shitty apology changes the fact that you forgot my birthday, then that's really sad."

"I'll make it up to you. I promise."

"How?"

"I don't know. Why don't you just cancel your work week and we can go to Fiji. You love Fiji."

"Yeah, I loved it when we went on our honeymoon, but vacationing isn't going to solve the problem."

"What exactly is the problem? You are being so dramatic."

"The problem is-"

Beck's explanation was cut off by his cell phone going off. He dug it out of his pocket and checked the screen. It was a number he didn't recognize.

"I'll tell you the problem! It's your job and the fucking cell phone that you are always attached to! That is the problem!"

Beck tuned his wife out and answered the call. "Hello? Hi...yes this is he...oh...no, don't call the police, I'll be right there...bye."

"Where are you going?"

"There's an emergency at the office. I have to go."

"It's your birthday."

Beck rolled his eyes and looked at his watch, "Yeah, for three more hours, but thanks for finally caring. I'll see you when I get home."

"So you're going to leave me here? With your parents?"

"Then just go home, Diana."

Beck stepped off the elevator that stopped on his floor and looked around. The security guard that called him said that there was a strange female wandering around the building, but so far it was pretty quiet.

He rounded the corner and walked towards his office. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Jade sitting at her desk, a mug in her hands. "Jade?"

Jade looked up, "Hi."

"What are you doing here?" Beck asked. "The security guard thought you were a squatter."

"I didn't want to go home. It's really quiet at my place."

"It's really quiet here, too." Beck pointed out.

"It's peaceful here. It's annoyingly quiet at home."

"Why don't you want to go home?"

"You're really lucky."

"Why?"

"Because you have a seemingly normal family."

Beck laughed, "Normal? That's quite a stretch. No one has a normal family."

"I'm willing to bet your family is not as dysfunctional as mine."

Beck pulled up a chair and sat down, "What happened?"

"I was at my dad's house because my brother made me go. And it was nothing but a disaster."

"How big of a disaster?"

"My stupid step-mom doesn't really have to do much. Her presence alone is enough to make my skin crawl. But my dad is just a really critical man. I'm not my brother. I'm not in medical school. And that means I am a failure."

"You aren't a failure." Beck argued.

"Try telling that to Richard West. To him, I am his trouble causing, functioning alcoholic, party-loving daughter."

"He said that to you?"

"Well not in those exact words." Jade said. "And once he told everyone I was such a loser, I told his friends that he married the bartender he had been screwing secretly. So then I decided to come here. I'm throwing a bit of a pity party."

"Ooh."

Jade huffed, "Parents are no fun,"

"Why don't you just try not reacting?" Beck suggested. He knew that was impossible. Jade was probably the most explosive, short-tempered person he knew.

"I've held my tongue for all of my life. I'm tired of doing that."

Beck leaned over and peered into Jade's mug, "What are you drinking?"

"Tea."

"You drink tea?"

"No. There's no more coffee and I wanted to drink something, so tea it is."

"Yeah, Jill is the only one who doesn't drink coffee here. She's in charge of all break room snacks."

"It's really good. Don't tell anyone I said that."

"Your secret is safe with me." Beck promised.

It got quiet after that. They were both trying to ignore the really big elephant in the room, but it was pretty hard to do so.

"So," Jade started, scratching her head, "you kissed me earlier."

"Yeah, I'm sorry for that. That was completely crossing the line and I shouldn't have done it."

Jade shrugged, "Apology accepted. If we're being honest right now, I think in the back of my mind, I always knew it was bound to happen."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, who are we kidding? Since the day we met, we've had "it", whatever it is. Attraction, or electricity, or chemistry, or whatever you would like to call it. And don't try to deny it. One of us was going to slip up and do something. I am impulsive and I have no self control, so I thought it would be me."

"I had no idea you thought one of us would eventually make a move."

"Really?" Jade smirked. "You going to sit there and tell me that you didn't feel something, anything between us?"

"Yeah." Beck lied.

"Maybe you aren't as clever as you think, Mr. Oliver."

"Maybe I'm not. So, can we just forget it ever happened?"

"That was a stupid question. I'll never forget the time my boss kissed me."

"You're right. It was a stupid question."

"But we can choose to ignore it."

"Deal."

"So how did the rest of your birthday turn out?" Jade asked, moving off of the previous subject.

"It was okay."

"Did your wife end up pulling something off for you? Like a surprise party?"

"No. I knew that wasn't going to happen, though, so I'm not entirely disappointed."

"Just because you weren't expecting anything doesn't mean you shouldn't get anything." Jade said. She reached across the table and affectionately grabbed Beck's hand.

Beck looked down at their joined hands and back up at Jade, "Uh..."

"Sorry!" Jade quickly let go of Beck's hand.

"It's fine."

That wasn't really the problem Beck had with Jade. The kiss wasn't what was getting under his skin. The kiss was nothing more than pure physicality. No, it was deeper than that, they were in way deeper than that. He felt a emotional connection to this woman, and that was much more serious than a drunken kiss they shared. That was the real trouble.