Who likes seeing Beck, Jade, and Cat as a sort of family? I've been scouring for fanfics with this set up (not just ones where it is an AU where Bade are the parents to Cat biologically). I'm not finding many (recommendations, please?), so of course I'm going to write some!
I'm taking copious notes as I watch and re-watch through the show. I hope to be able to work through the cute little "parenting" moments that we see with Beck and Jade keeping an eye out for Cat. I'm planning on doing it chronologically, but we will see how that goes.
Enjoy!
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Jade had never thought of herself as maternal. If anything, she thought of herself in terms of "not mother material whatsoever". And as she was sixteen and quite busy with both high school and setting herself up for a future career, babies were the last thing on her mind. With her younger brother ten years her junior, she had seen her mother go through pregnancy and been completely repulsed by the morning sickness, bloating, incompatible cravings, and weight gain. While other girls spoke of how they wanted babies, Jade would huff and walk off to find a more interesting conversation. The closest she got to babysitting experiencing - having refused to do any such thing for her brother Liam, much to her mother's annoyance - was the good-natured "kidnappings" for her "Jade with Tots" episodes, which Beck had so frustratingly but firmly ended when he caught her making the now-final installment. At least she had gotten some good kisses out of it ...
Beck was slightly more aware of the idea that someday, perhaps, he would like kids. The little guys at the preschool next door to Hollywood Arts were pretty cute (when Jade was not terrorizing them - something that he had ended with a great deal of coaxing, calming, and kissing). He had quite a tribe of little cousins in Canada, and every trip home he was immediately commandeered into games of freeze tag (he could un-freeze everyone quickly because he was SO TALL!), hide and seek (he could help even the unimaginative three-year-olds find better hiding spots than where they last found someone else hide), and Marco Polo (he had extraordinary patience for dealing with peekers and never accused anyone of cheating). His parents were always commenting that he would give them wonderful grandchildren, and he considered it seriously. He already knew who he wanted to create a family with, and so he decided to only be as vocal about a future family as Jade was. For now, that was silent. He did not want her to feel pressured - their relationship was already "dynamic" enough without adding another reason to disagree - and she had some triggers that they needed to work through first anyway. Whether or not kids were in the future for them, he wanted her. Working on them was the priority, not some fantasy family.
All in all, Jade and Beck were not planning on becoming parents anytime soon. Still, that did not prevent them from getting in some unexpected practice. In their friend group, they were the stable couple - or at least as stable as they could be. At least they loved each other, no matter their other faults. And the love and semi-stable pairing was calming to the one in the friend group with the most chaotic home life.
Cat Valentine was sixteen, just like her friends, but that was not always apparent. People meeting her for the first time were often confused about how to class her. In the first year, they mostly guessed a year or two younger. As time went on though, despite becoming more talented as a performer, off-stage Cat was unravelling faster than a ball of yarn with a kitten. Like a smiley little sponge she soaked up every bit of love and attention that was pushed in her direction by her parents, but her brother had their focus. He always would. But just because love was not being consistently offered did not mean that Cat stopped craving it. So she eagerly gathered up the scraps that she could elsewhere, as she always had. Thankfully, she was a lovable little soul and despite her sudden mood swings and occasionally annoying behaviour, she was easily the "pet" of her friend group. Still, there were times when someone needed to say "no" or "stop" or even "eat your peas" for her own good. Robbie could never say "no" to her. Andre was understanding of her, but with investing so much energy into his grandmother's mental health he did not always have a lot left to invest in Cat's. Tori was generally pretty good, but her life was fairly smooth. She did not fully get the desperation that Cat displayed in needing to distance herself from reality.
Who could understand that need, even as she rolled her eyes and acted like being empathetic was the worst thing in the world to ever happen to her? Like it or not, it was Jade. Jade knew that family turmoil could be hard on the head, and on the days she knew Cat had been through a lot more than normal she would be a little more gentle. Jade would buy her ice cream, even if she hated it herself. Jade was blunt about what she thought - something that had elicited tears from the redhead a number of times - but she was also loyal and honest in her comfort when she said, "It'll be okay, Cat. I'll make it be okay." It was the kind of thing that a kind of mother would say.
And Beck, patient enough for Jade because she was the love of his life romantically, could also be patient enough for Cat, because she was like the little sister he had always wanted growing up. Just as he would have if he had ever received asked-for-sister in his Christmas stocking, he occasionally wondered why he thought having a little sibling had seemed like such a great idea, but he still listened to her stories, bought her candy from the vending machine when her allowance gave out, and helped Jade pick her up from her house when her brother's "episodes" got too bad for her nerves to handle. He had her back, but he also knew when to put limits. He was better than Jade was at knowing what movies would give her nightmares or how much caffeine was too much. "Don't you think you've already had enough?" he would ask. It was the kind of thing that a kind of father would say.
Cat would vascillate between loving the attention and affection and then pushing against it, testing it. She would startle Jade awake and giggle at her grumpy reactions. but then lean against her and talk about a scary dream she had last week that no one else had satisfactorly listened to her explain. She would "borrow" another dollar from Beck's backpack while he was making out with Jade to buy just one more soda after he told her she was too hyper, but then say it was a present for him when he gave her a knowing frown right before she opened it. She would relax when she had their positive attention, freak out when they got more than the usual dosage of annoyed at one another, settle down once they assured her that it was all okay and they still loved each other (thus indicating to her that they would still have lots of extra love for her). She would tell them freely "I love you!" with enthusiastic hugs, but also grumble "Phooey!" or "You can't tell me what to do" sulkily when they told her it was time to calm down. If either of them raised an eyebrow though, she would settle down and her smile would come back when given ten seconds to recharge. It was the kind of thing that a kind of kid would say.
Over the years, they would slowly morph from being good friends to close friends to friends of the family sort. Because they were a sort of family that was perfect for them. Oh, others would look on and say that it was strange. People would misunderstand or laugh or unwittingly insult them by saying that Beck and Jade were just watching out for Cat due to charity. That wasn't it. It was because they were their own little family and it worked for them.
"Hopefully we don't absolutely destroy her," Jade commented once when Cat was pouting over being told that she really didn't need to buy five stuffed animals at the store when they were just there to pick up noodles for supper.
Beck looked over at the redhead in question, who was already changing her focus to the candy selection next to the register. Cat was covertly choosing three of the packages - Beck could see her selecting their favourites as well as her own - and adding them to the cart surreptitiously behind Jade's back.
"Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen," he said with a chuckle, kissing Jade's cheek. "I think that she's going to be just fine.."
It was rather premature parenting for Beck and Jade, including some peculiar particulars and predicaments, but in the end they all came out unscathed. And if it created some good stories along the way? Then those deserve to be told too.
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If you have a moment, consider commenting to communicate your thoughts/reactions to me. Is there a particular scenario that you think would be likely to happen with these three? Was there a moment in the show that you think deserves some extra attention? Let me know! :)