"Beck!" Jade exclaims as she rushes around the basement, holding Finn to her chest "Beck!"

It seems like every day the already small space becomes smaller and smaller. With their bed out in the main living area rather than in the bedroom, twice as many baby items, and Beck and Jade now both working full time, it feels as if the place is constantly a mess. On the off chance that they do manage to get it clean enough, it never lasts long. Having two children under the age of two makes maintaining any kind of cleanliness or organization feel almost impossible.

"I'm right here." He assures her, emerging from the bedroom with Liam on his hip "What's up?"

The toddler is only half-dressed, which is an issue Jade will address in a moment once she addresses the first issue.

"Where's the diaper bag?" She asks him "I need to restock it."

Liam isn't potty trained yet and at only two and a half months old, Finn obviously isn't either. It's not expected that either of the boys go through an entire day at daycare without needing to be changed, but it is expected that Beck and Jade supply their own diapers. Jade noticed when she dropped them off the previous day that they would likely need to restock soon, but now the bag is nowhere to be found.

"It's right-" Beck begins walking towards the small bookshelf near the stairs where they normally discard it "Shit, where is it?"

"Language!" Jade warns him "Liam repeats things now!"

"Right, sorry." He nods, covering one of Liam's ears "Just...pretend you didn't hear that, buddy."

"We need to find it!" Jade insists "They can't go to daycare without diapers! Or without anything else that is in that bag."

The bag usually contains a spare outfit for each of them, diaper cream, wipes, and a few emergency snacks...just in case.

"I'll find it." Beck tells her calmly as he sets Liam down on the floor "Can you finish getting him ready?"

"I mean...yeah." Jade sighs "C'mon, Liam. You need a shirt."

Finn also needs a diaper change and a new outfit as well, but Jade is going to have to multitask.

"Shit?" Liam asks as he follows her back into the bedroom

"Uh, no." She shakes her head "Shirt."

"Shit?"

"Shirt." Jade tugs on the fabric of her own

"Shirt."

"That's right, shirt." She nods "Your daddy is lucky I caught that one and not one of your grandmas..."

She grabs the first clean shirt that she can find and helps Liam pull it on over his head the best that she can while still holding Finn. Thankfully, Beck had already dressed him in a pair of denim shorts that would have basically gone with anything, so she doesn't have to worry about him being mismatched.

"It was still in my car!" Beck announces as he enters the room "Crisis averted."

"Thank god, I was worried we had forgotten it there." Jade sighs "Can you change him while I take care of that?"

"Sure." Beck nods as he takes Finn from her and slides the diaper bag onto her shoulder "New outfit too?"

"Yes please."

"We're on it." He assures her "C'mon, Liam. You can help me."

"I help!" Liam says proudly

"You know, he tried to say 'shirt' just now and it came out s-h-i-t." Jade says as she walks out of the bedroom and back into the main living area "I told you, we have to be careful."

"It slipped, I'm sorry." Beck tells her "I'm trying."

"Yeah, well try harder." Jade mutters under her breath

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" She calls back to him "Just muttering to myself about how we need to start potty training him soon! I'm a little over the whole 'always needing two sets of diapers' thing!"

"So am I." Beck admits as he leaves the bedroom, Liam toddling behind him "But we have to wait until he's old enough to actually understand the concept. Otherwise we're just training ourselves."

"I know, I know." Jade sighs as she takes Finn from him so he can secure him in his carseat "You're picking them up tonight, right?"

Due to their individual lines of work, Beck and Jade don't always have the most consistent work schedules. This means they're working out daycare pick-up on almost a day-by-day basis. Jade is usually the one to drop them both off in the mornings, because she arrives at work around nine like most other standard day jobs, and Beck's call times are inconsistent. Whoever picks them up really depends on Beck's filming schedule for the day or the meetings that Jade has planned. Now that her show has started filming as well, sometimes she needs to be onset to consult or in table reads to offer feedback.

Tonight happens to be a night with a table read. The actors on Jade's show are finishing up an episode during the morning and early afternoon, then will receive their new scripts for the next table read almost immediately. She and the rest of the writers will stay to provide their services, and then the entire team will head home before returning to start work on the next episode the next day.

"Yes, we're slated to be done by four." He tells her "If that changes, I'll let you know."

"Perfect." She nods with a smile, looking up at him briefly before leaning in to kiss him quickly on the lips "Say 'bye bye' to Daddy, Liam."

"Bye bye, dah-dee." Liam waves

"Bye little man!" Beck ruffles his son's hair before picking him up and pressing a kiss to his cheek "Have a good day today, okay? Be a good boy."

"Otay."

"I love you."

"I luh you, dah-dee."

"I love Daddy too." Jade smirks

"Love you." Beck smiles as leans in to kiss her goodbye "Have a great day."

"You too." She tells him "Act your little heart out."


"Oh he is just precious." One of Jade's coworkers remarks as she eyes the new picture of Finn on her desk "What's his name?"

"Finn Matthew." Jade can't help but smile "He's ten weeks old."

"And you're back at work already?"

"I don't idle well." Jade chuckles "And besides, I couldn't let you guys have all of the fun shooting these first few episodes without me."

"I don't doubt that." The other writer agrees "How is Liam taking to him?"

"He loves him almost to a fault." Jade laughs "He wants to be right next to him all the time. Even if I'm feeding him or changing him or trying to get him to go to sleep."

"Enjoy that while you can, it won't last."

"Yeah, I know."

She's already dreading the petty arguments that her boys will get into, especially being so close in age. She can practically hear their small voices echoing through the house that she and Beck don't yet own; 'Mom, he took my truck' or 'Mom, he's looking at me weird'. It's inevitable, and she realizes that. But at the same time, Jade also can't wait to hear their giggles as they run around playing together, or their yelling as they play-fight with Beck while they're getting ready for bed. The two boys being so close in age definitely wasn't ideal, and at times its still terrifying, but she knows that her sons will love getting to grow up with a sibling so close in age. It's a luxury both she and Beck will never get to have.

"Conference room in five, please!" Josie announces as she passes by the door to Jade's office "Brainstorming meeting!"

Jade closes her laptop, intending to take it to the conference room with her, and begins gathering the rest of the materials that she'll need for the meeting. She's only been back at work for a few days, and she feels like she's never going to catch up on all of the work that she missed while she was away. Even with the breaks for the winter holidays thrown in, she feels like she's behind and that she's missed out. She's doing everything that she can to get back on track.

She's seen almost everyone on the writing team since her return, but there are a select few that she hasn't gotten to interact with her yet and that eagerly greet her as she enters the conference room. They're all asking her the same questions...How's the baby? Can they see a picture? How much did he weigh? How is his brother adjusting? Jade had thought she would grow tired of the constant questioning but oddly enough...she doesn't seem to mind. She never thought she would be the mom to willingly whip her phone out and show off pictures of her children, but she just can't help it. She loves her boys too much, and she's just too proud of them.

The brainstorming meeting isn't anything earth-shattering, at least not at first. They already had most of the plot of the first season mapped out before they had even been green-lit, airing on the side of caution so they wouldn't be scrambling for ideas if the show were to be picked up for a full season. Now that it has been, the writing team's job is mostly to narrow down which points will make it into which episodes. Major plot points are divided up into specific episodes, and then individual writers or pairs of writers will work to develop the screenplays of each one.

"Jade." Josie says her name, catching her attention immediately "How would you feel about writing the script for the season finale?"

"I, uh..." Jade hesitates "Josie, I would be honored but I don't know if..."

"You don't know if...what, exactly?"

"Are you sure you want me to do it?" She asks "I mean...normally that's the sort of thing that show runners like to do themselves."

It's certainly not the thing show runners entrust to associate writers who have only been working in a professional industry for less than a year. She might understand if Josie paired her with another writer to work on the script together...but asking her to fly solo seems almost ridiculous. Of course she's honored that Josie would even consider the idea, as she had said, but she isn't sure she feels confident enough in herself to do so.

"Usually show runners don't trust their associates as much as I trust you." Josie shrugs "Besides, you wouldn't have to start working on it for a few weeks still. It would give you time to adjust to being back at work and get back into the swing of things."

"I mean...I..."

"Just say yes." Josh, who is sitting next to her, whispers "Take it as a compliment and say yes."

"I'd be honored." Jade repeats "Thank you for the opportunity, Josie. I won't let you down."

Their meeting continues for another forty-five minutes. More episodes are assigned, writers take them on either solo or as pairs, and arcs are planned out. In the end, everyone is dismissed to work on their own respective assignments for the next few hours or so until it's time for the table read.

"Jade, can you hang back a minute?" Josie says as the other writers begin exiting the conference room "You're not in trouble, I swear."

"I'm sorry, I hope I didn't come across as unconfident in my abilities." Jade immediately apologizes "Or unwilling to do my part. I was just surprised that you would be entrusting me with something so important so early in my career."

The ratings of a season finale often determine if a show gets renewed for another season or not. Being responsible for writing a show's first season finale is crucial to its future. Jade's ideas and abilities will likely be the deciding factor in whether or not everyone involved in the project will get to keep their jobs or not.

"I know, and I'm sorry to have put you on the spot like that." Josie tells her "I just wanted to let you know that I would never entrust you with something so important if I didn't think you could handle it. You're a very talented writer, and you have a lot of creative and unique ideas. I can't wait to watch you shine."

"Thank you, Josie."

"I can see you doing my job one day, you know." The older woman winks at her "I think you'd make a fantastic show runner."

"I don't want to get ahead of myself." Jade admits

"That's fine." Josie nods "Just...keep it in mind."

"I will."

She says goodbye to her boss and heads back to her own office. There's a few clerical things that she needs to take care of before the table read, mostly paperwork that she missed out on while she was out on maternity leave, but time passes faster than she expected it to. Before long, the alarm that she had set to remind her that it's time to start making her way downstairs for the table read is going off, and she's gathering her things once more and headed to the elevator.

Most of the show's cast hasn't met her yet. This is only their third ever table read and she had still been on maternity leave for the first two. She's been on set a few times to consult on questions with the script, but she hasn't met every actor. Jade feels as if she's introducing herself to someone new with each step that she takes as she makes her way to her seat. Everyone is welcoming and friendly, and Jade almost feels bad when she has to step away to take a phone call.

It's the boys' daycare, she knows it isn't one she can ignore.

"Hello?" She answers

"Is this Mrs. Oliver?"

"Ms. West." Jade corrects the girl on the other end of the call, rolling her eyes at the thought of still having to make the correction "But yes, I'm Liam and Finn Oliver's mom. Is everything okay?"

She briefly pulls the phone away from her ear to check the time. It's after six, it's a bit late for them to be calling her. Beck likely picked the boys up an hour ago, he must have forgotten something.

"Everything is fine, I guess." The girl tells her "It's just that it's getting close to closing time and we wanted to make sure that someone was on their way to get Liam and Finn."

"They're still there?" Jade asks her, maneuvering her way through the crowd of mingling cast, writers and executives to get to the hallway where it is more quiet "Their dad was supposed to pick them up when he got off of work."

"He didn't..."

"I...I'm sorry." Jade apologizes "Let me call him and see if he's on his way, and then I'll call you right back."

"Okay."

She ends the call and then immediately dials Beck, worried that something may have happened to him on his way from work to the daycare. Her first call goes to voicemail and she begins to feel even more anxious as she tries a second time, but thankfully this time he picks up.

"Hey, what's-"

"Are you okay?" She asks him anxiously

"What? Yeah, I'm fine, babe." He assures her "Why?"

"Because the daycare just called to ask why the boys hadn't been picked up yet." She tells him "You said you had them tonight."

"I texted you and said that one of our scenes ran over and I was going to be here until at least eight tonight." He insists

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I...shit." He mumbles "I typed it out, but never hit send. I'm sorry."

"It's fine." She assures him genuinely "It happens. We're supposed to have a table read tonight but I can see if-"

"No, this is my fuck up." Beck tells her "I'll call my parents and see if one of them can go and get them. You shouldn't have to leave work. It's your first table read and I know how badly you want to be there."

"Thank you, I appreciate it." She sighs "Sorry that I got so worried."

"You had every right to be."

"I guess two kids and two careers is going to be a bigger adjustment than we thought it was going to be, huh?"

"Yeah, but we just have to try our best. S'all we can do." He assures her "We'll get the hang of this all eventually."

"Yeah, we will." She agrees "Well, call your parents and then let me know what to tell the daycare. They're expecting a call back from me."

"Alright, I'll text you as soon as I can." He tells her "Good luck with your table read. I love you."

"I love you too." She nods "Good luck with your scene."