As the winter holidays start to fade away and Jade starts her second semester of classes, her daily schedule starts to look a bit different.

While at this time last semester she was able to sit with Liam nestled in one arm and type with the other, getting a substantial amount of work done each day, that just isn't feasible anymore. Liam is older now and while he's content to just sit and cuddle when he's tired and upset, most of the time he wants to be doing something. Jade finds herself completing most of her coursework when he's napping, or at night when Beck is home to look after him so she can do so. Thankfully, her strategic choice in the fall to leave her easier classes for the second semester makes the whole feat much more manageable.

"Hi!" Beck grins as he descends the stairs to the lower level "How was everyone's day?"

"We had a pretty exciting day, I won't lie." Jade smiles as she approaches to kiss him, Liam on her hip "What about you?"

"I had an exciting day as well." Beck admits "But I want to hear about your's first. What did you guys do today?"

"Stay there, I'll show you." Jade tells him as she carries Liam to the other side of the room and sets him down "Liam? Go see Daddy!"

"Hey bud!" Beck calls over to his son as he shrugs off his backpack and kneels to the ground "Do you have something to show me?"

"Go ahead." Jade urges the baby, tickling his stomach "Go see your dad."

Liam looks up at Jade a bit unsure before she points to Beck again, causing Liam to follow her point and a smile to spread across his face as his eyes land on his father. He reaches forward, a bit hesitantly, before pulling the rest of his body along, moving quicker the more confident he becomes as he crawls across the floor.

"Hey, Dude! Look at you!" Beck chuckles as he extends his arms to Liam "You figured out the crawling thing!"

It had been a few days in the making. He had started by rocking back and forth on all fours as he tried to mimic Beck and Jade's motions while they showed him what to do, but he hadn't been able to actually put the movements together until that morning.

Liam giggles as he approaches, pulling himself into Beck's lap and turning around to face Jade again.

"You did it, Liam!" Beck tells his son as he hugs him tightly

"Yay, baby!" Jade claps

Liam grins and mimics her clapping motions, almost as if he realizes that his new talent is something to celebrate. Beck picks him up and caries him over to Jade, kissing her again as they celebrate their son's new achievement.

"First it's crawling, then its college." He jokes "Or so I've heard."

"Shut up." Jade rolls her eyes, taking the baby back from him "He can't go to college, I'm still in college."

"I still wish time would slow down a little bit." Beck admits, gently smoothing down some of the hair on his son's head "What do you think, Liam? Or are you in a rush to grow up? Crawling is a big deal, you know. We'll have to send a video to Grandma and Grandpa."

"Or you could just take him over there to show them one night this week."

"Did you just volunteer to hang out with my parents?" Beck smirks

"I volunteered you to hang out with your parents."

"Fair enough." Beck shrugs "Have you heard back from your dad?"

"No." She shakes her head "And I probably won't. He'll blame international travel or whatever and put off seeing us until my birthday."

"You don't think he'll make an effort for Liam's birthday?"

"He probably doesn't even know when Liam's birthday is...despite me telling him at least three times." Jade sighs "Anyway. You said you had an exciting day too. What happened?"

"Shit! I almost forgot!" Beck grins "I combined my lunch and my afternoon break today and went on an audition."

"And...?"

"And I booked a commercial!" Beck exclaims "You are looking at the new face of Listerine mouthwash!"

"Beck, that's fantastic!" Jade congratulates him "Wait, regional? Or national?"

"National." Beck winks

"Wow..." She smiles "The national face of fresh breath and good teeth. How sexy."

"I know, right?" He chuckles "It's only a minute long, and I only have one line...the rest is just looking in the mirror and smiling-"

"Well this might be tough then, you don't know how to do that."

"Very funny." Beck smirks "It's nothing huge, but its national exposure. Not to mention it's my first acting gig in close to a year."

"Congratulations." Jade smiles, kissing him before turning back to Liam "Say 'Congratulations, Daddy'!"

"Big day for us both, huh bud?" Beck laughs "But, uh...by the way. We're filming on Saturday."

"Okay?" Jade looks at him, confused "You said that like I should be mad. Is there something happening on Saturday that I've forgotten about?"

"Well, no but..." Beck hesitates "Usually Saturdays are when I'm home with you guys...and when I take him for a bit so you can get schoolwork done."

"So you'll be home with us on Sunday instead." Jade shrugs "I'm not going to tell you to not take a big career opportunity just so I can do my homework, Beck. We can manage for one extra day. And if I really can't handle it, my mom and Chris will be home...or honestly Cat would probably be over here before I even finished asking her the question."

"Thank you for supporting me in this."

"We support each other, right?"

"Right." Beck smiles "Hey, Liam? Wanna take a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's? We can tell 'em all of our good news, and Mommy can get some homework done."

"Don't you want to eat first?"

"Oh right..." Beck chuckles "After dinner, then."


"Look at you, Liam!" Cat grins as she pushes Liam gently in the baby swing "You're flying!"

"Easy, Cat." Jade warns from her place on a nearby bench "I don't need him to go flying across the playground."

"He's fine." Cat assures her, continuing to push Liam back and forth "I'm not letting him go that high. And he's smiling SO big! Aren't you, Mr. Liam?"

"Just...be careful."

"I will." Cat promises "You know I'd never let anything happen to him."

"Yeah, I know."

Another positive to living in LA again is that Cat is also living in LA while she attends USC. When Cat's class schedule allows it, she and Jade, and Liam by default most of the time, are able to meet up during the day. Not only to they get to spend more time with each other than they did when Beck and Jade were living in New York, but Jade also gets some much needed adult time when she might otherwise be lacking it.

"How are your classes going?" Cat asks "Any easier this semester?"

"Yeah, thank god..." Jade sighs "The content itself is more manageable for one, and I think Beck and I have finally gotten into some kind of routine taking care of Liam.'

"That's good, Jadey. It was hard to see you so upset and stressed out."

"Yeah, well I've been told I'm going to be stressed out for the next eighteen years. So get used to it, I guess." Jade smirks "What about you, how are your classes?"

"Boring as hell." Cat laughs "I don't want to learn about how someone else made music in the past anymore. I want to get out there and actually try making my own."

"And you'll get to soon!"

"Not soon enough." Cat rolls her eyes "Until I can get a label to notice me, I'll be stuck working some random job to make ends meet."

"You'll have a minor in production." Jade points out "You should try to get a job at that label where Andre is interning. Something entry-level just to get your foot in the door and your name around."

"If only it where that easy..." Cat sighs, still pushing Liam "How's your internship hunt going?"

"Don't get me started..." Jade rolls her eyes

"Uh oh. Not well?"

"No, the internship hunt itself is actually going pretty well..." Jade explains "I, uh...I actually applied for one through NBCUniversal. It'd be for writing, development, and production...I'd get to work on the lot at Universal Studios here in LA, and it's paid. One of my professors from NYU that I put down as a reference contacted me to say that they called her and it seems like I'm actually going to get it."

"Shut up, are you joking?"

"No."

"Jade, that's...amazing."

"I know...I know..." Jade can't help but smile "Their interns are usually hired immediately after graduation too and I'd have my pick of where I wanted to work it's just that..."

"It's just...what?"

"I've been toying back and forth with whether or not I want an internship that's on-site or remote." Jade explains "Liam is still so little, and being remote would give me time at home with him that I wouldn't be able to get back otherwise...but being on-site would mean learning so much more and actually getting to interact with people who work in the field."

"S'not like you're abandoning him for the summer to go and work in another state or something." Cat points out "You'll see him in the morning and when you get home. Oh...but I guess decent child care can be difficult to come by."

"Well, Beck seems to think he's solved that problem..."

"Is he going to take him to the warehouse in the little baby bjorn and make him help move boxes?" Cat teases

"No..." Jade can't help but laugh at the thought "No...his mom is a teacher and she has summers off, so he suggested we ask her to watch him."

"And you don't want her to?"

"It's complicated." Jade explains "I mean...she'd probably do it for free...which is a huge plus...but she also hates me."

"Well, I don't know if she hates you..." Cat shrugs "But she for sure doesn't hate Liam. Isn't that what's important?"

"I just have this self-conscious thought that she's going to try to poison him against me..."

"Jade." Cat stops the swing and lifts Liam out of it "Look at this little boy. He could never hate you."

Liam smiles and reaches his hands out to touch her face, giggling as he does so.

"Hi baby boy." Jade smiles as she takes Liam from Cat and kisses the top of his head "I love you."

"He loves you right back, anyone can see it." Cat assures her "It's your life and he's your kid, so I don't want to tell you what to do. But that internship sounds like an amazing opportunity to launch the career I've been listening to you talk about for years now, so if they offer it to you...I think you should take it."

"Thank you, Cat. I appreciate hearing it."

"Of course." Cat smirks, reaching out to squeeze Jade's hand "What are friends for?"

The idea of the internship weighs heavy on Jade's mind for the rest of the day. She thinks about how as much as she wants the extra time with Liam, that the internship could open up new doors that would help her better provide for him. She thinks about how as much as she and Priya don't see eye-to-eye on many things, that she shouldn't deny Liam a relationship with a grandparent who clearly loves him...especially when her own father lacks in that department.

"We went to the park with Cat today..." She tells Beck later when he arrives home from work "She and Liam played on the swings...and she and I had a bit of a heart-to-heart about my summer internship..."

"Did you hear back from NBCU?" Beck asks her, hopefully

"No, not yet..." Jade clarifies "But, if they offer it to me, I'm going to take it...and I think we should talk to your mom about watching Liam sooner rather than later."

"It was just an idea, if you're not comfortable-"

"She's his grandma, I should feel comfortable leaving him with her." Jade cuts him off "She and I...well, I'll be honest I'm not entirely sure what I ever did to make her dislike me so much."

"Neither am I." Beck admits

"But she very clearly loves Liam, and I shouldn't deny the two of them a relationship just because I'm feeling self-conscious." Jade explains "Especially when he's already missing out on a relationship with my dad because...well, because my dad is himself. And if you and I are going to be spending most of the day away from him...well then he should be with family."

"You're sure?"

"Yes I'm sure."

"Alright..." Beck smiles, taking both of her hands in his and resting their foreheads together "I'll talk to her. And babe?"

"Hm?"

"You're going to get that internship." Beck tells her "They'd be stupid not to take you."

"Thank you." Jade smiles "Fingers crossed, right?"

"Fingers crossed." Beck agrees, kissing her quickly on the lips "I love you."

"I love you too."