"They asked me to drop these off with you." Tess says, dropping a thick file folder of papers on Jade's desk
"What are they?" Jade raises an eyebrow at her as she reaches for the folder, but not before hitting save on the document she had been working on
"Scripts, I guess." Tess shrugs "Revisions or something? They need to be re-typed?"
"Because I have nothing better to be doing." Jade sighs
"Typical intern shit, right?" Tess smirks
"Right." Jade agrees "Did they give you a deadline for me?"
"No, but I'm assuming it's as soon as possible." Tess tells her "Or you know, yesterday."
"Typical intern shit." Jade chuckles, shaking her head "Thanks, Tess."
"Of course."
The summer has flown by, and it's hard to believe that Jade's internship is close to over. There's roughly three weeks before the end of the summer term, and graduation as a result. Jade won't be walking, it doesn't seem practical for her to fly back to New York to participate in a ceremony with a bunch of strangers she didn't actually take any classes with, but she'll have her diploma and a completed transcript. Those two things are all that matters in her job hunt anyway, and having secure employment locked down before the baby comes is her main priority.
The job hunt may not take her that long, or at least that's Jade's hope. The team of writers that she has been shadowing has been seriously impressed with her work-ethic over the last month or so that she's been with them, and are willing to put in a good word for her at the studio...or possibly even hire her themselves. Network television isn't exactly Jade's dream job, she'd rather be writing, directing, and producing blockbuster films...but TV would be a great first career step to help her get her foot in the door. She's trying not to get her hopes up, but she does find herself working a bit harder to impress the team these days just to help herself out a little. If anything, they'll serve as references on her resume when she goes to start looking for jobs anyway. Leaving a lasting impression can't hurt.
Jade's phone starts buzzing on the table next to her. She isn't surprised to see Beck's face lighting up her phone with his caller ID, and she quickly answers it.
"Hey." She greets him "What's up?"
"Hey, not much." He tells her "How's your day been so far?"
"Fine." She shrugs "I have a lot of work piling up, but it's nothing I can't handle."
"That's my girl." Beck chuckles "Never backs down from a challenge."
"I try not to." Jade smirks "So...did you just call to say 'hi', or...?"
"No, sorry." Beck apologizes "I, uh...I picked up second shift tonight. I won't be home until after midnight, probably."
"Oh, okay..." Jade nods "That's fine, I guess."
He's picked up someone's second shift multiple times in the past, it's nothing new. Jade understands, sometimes people need coverage and it always looks better for Beck if he volunteers...he's just been volunteering a lot lately. She doesn't mind when he does it here or there, but in the last ten days he's probably picked up a second shift or taken an extra weekend shift five or six times.
"It's not ideal, I know." Beck says, almost as if he can sense her disappointment "But I'm trying to do what I can to make myself look good. If I can get promoted to shift manager then-"
"Do you want to be shift manager?" She asks him
This is the first she's hearing of any kind of his desire for a promotion. It's not something she realized was on his radar...or her radar by association. This job was always meant to be something keeping money coming in while they were both on their way to bigger and better things in the entertainment industry, not his actual career.
"I mean, I want to be an actor." Beck sighs "I don't want to be working here anymore, but we need the money."
"We're doing fine, Beck." Jade reminds him
Sure, they're certainly not wealthy...but the small amount of extra money they now have from her internship being a paid one has helped tremendously. It's covering most of their grocery bills, which leaves Beck's income for things that they need for Liam and the new baby...at least for now.
"We could be doing better though." He reminds her "We have another kid coming in a few months, Jade. A little bit of extra money wouldn't hurt."
"A little bit of extra time with you wouldn't hurt either." Jade reminds him "I feel like I've barely seen you this week. Which means Liam has barely seen you this week. We miss you."
"I know, I'm sorry." Beck apologizes "I promise, no extra weekend shifts this week. I'll be home with you the whole time. I miss you guys too."
"Wake me up when you get home tonight, okay?" Jade tells him "I want to see you for at least a little while."
"I will, I promise." Beck agrees "I love you. I'll talk to you later."
"I love you too." She says "Talk later."
Jade can't help feeling a bit defeated as she ends the call and sets her phone back down on her desk. She understands where Beck is coming from, they really can use the extra money...she just wishes that it didn't have to come at the cost of their time together.
"Boyfriend trouble?" Nathan asks her, looking over his shoulder at her
"No." She answers quickly "Not that it's any of your business."
"You're right, it's not." He chuckles "I've just heard a lot of those phone calls this week."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"He calls, you get all pouty, you hang up and go on with the rest of your day."
"I'm not pouty."
"You sound a little pouty."
"Don't you have something to be working on?"
"Yeah, I'm working on it." Nathan laughs "Don't you have something to be working on?"
"Yes." Jade insists, turning back to her computer "I'm working on it."
She only sees Beck for about five minutes that night. It's close to one in the morning by the time he arrives home, and he wakes her as he had promised he would. They talk for a bit as they lay beside each other in bed, but they're both tired and they both quickly drift off. The next morning, Jade allows Beck to sleep in a bit, knowing he had been up much later than he was used to, and takes care of getting Liam dressed and feeding him breakfast on her own. Beck is only just emerging into the kitchen as she readies the diaper bag to take the baby to Priya's. He offers both his son and a girlfriend a kiss that signifies both 'good morning' and 'goodbye' before they're out the door and ready to start their days.
"I can do bath time." Jade offers as they descend the stairs after dinner with her family "I know you've worked a lot in the last day or so, you can take the night off."
"You had to do it last night because I wasn't home, though." Beck points out "And you took care of him this morning...and you've been doing that every time I've picked up an extra shift."
"I don't mind." Jade assures him
"Are you sure?"
"Sure."
"Alright..." Beck nods, kissing her quickly on the cheek "Thanks, babe."
"Dah-dee?" Liam says as Jade carries him into the bathroom, watching over her shoulder as Beck lays down on the couch
"Daddy is tired, buddy." Jade tells her son as she starts his bath "He needs some rest time. I'm going to give you your bath tonight!"
"Mama bath?"
"Yes, Mommy is going to give you your bath."
Jade will admit, she rushes through Liam's bath a bit faster than she would on a normal night. Having been the only one home with him for a majority of the last forty-eight hours...she's tired too. Not to mention the extra fatigue her body is experiencing from literally growing another human. Within fifteen minutes she has Liam bathed and in his pajamas, ready for a story. She and Beck sit on the couch together with Liam between them, each taking turns reading a page of The Gruffalo, before Jade takes him into the bedroom to put him to sleep.
"We need to be thinking about what the sleeping arrangements are going to be once the baby is here." Jade says as she returns to the basement's main living area "I mean, are all four of us really going to sleep in there?"
"Why can't we?" Beck asks, pulling an arm up over his face
He had laid back down on the couch again in her absence, and looks like he's ready to fall asleep.
"Because we can't fit our bed and two cribs." She insists "Can you sit up, please? I'm trying to talk to you?"
"Is this really something we need to make a decision on tonight?"
"No." She shrugs, sitting down on the edge of the coffee table beside the couch "But it's something we need to start thinking about. I'm pregnant, Beck. We can't ignore it."
"I never said we were!"
"Why are you getting defensive?" She asks him, slightly taken aback "I'm just trying to have a conversation."
"I'm not getting defensive!"
"Then why are you snapping at me?"
"I'm not!" He insists, finally sitting up "Sorry, yeah...that time I snapped. I just...I'm exhausted."
"I know, I am too."
"I haven't seen you pulling double shifts lately." Beck scoffs "What have you-"
"Don't." Jade holds a hand up to stop him "Don't even start that shit with me, Beck. I work too, okay? Maybe it's different work, maybe it's different hours, but I'm still working. Not to mention that every time you pick up an extra shift, I become a single parent for the night. I work all day, then I come home and take care of Liam...and I'm pregnant while I'm doing it. Don't tell me I'm not allowed to be tired too."
"S'not what I was going to say..."
"Wasn't it though?"
"It wasn't!" Beck insists, standing up "I know you work hard! I'm not saying you don't! And I'm super proud of you for doing all of that! I'd just appreciate a little sympathy sometimes is all!"
"You're doing it to yourself, Beck!" Jade reminds him, standing up as well "I'm not asking you to pick up all of these extra shifts all of the time! I'm not asking you to spend the extra time away from us-"
"I feel like I have to, though!" Beck admits "I feel like I'm not doing enough!"
"What?" Jade suddenly lets her defense drop "Beck, what are you-"
"Look..." Beck sighs, pacing a bit as he runs a hand through his hair to pull it out of his face "I know you're not asking me to take these extra shifts, but I feel like I owe it to you. In a perfect world, I booked a huge movie as soon as we moved back here and it made a billion dollars at the box office and we're living comfortably in a mansion in the hills. But that isn't what happened. I don't have a degree that is going to take me anywhere. I work a fucking warehouse job. We can barely take care of the kid we have, there's another one on the way. I...I just...I feel like I'm not taking care of my family the way that I should."
"Babe..." Jade reaches out and touches his arm gently "That's not just your responsibility, okay? I'm just as much responsible for taking care of our family as you are. You can't put that all on yourself..."
"S'what we decided though..." He reminds her "You stay home with Liam and go to school, and I work. That was the compromise."
"Except now I'm done with school and I'm working too...well, sort of." She says "We can be sharing that responsibility. Hopefully within the next two months or so...we have two incomes to rely on instead of just yours. We're in this together, Beck. It doesn't all have to be on you. It took both of us to make the kids after all."
"I'm sorry." He apologizes "I wish we were able to get our own place. I wish we didn't have to worry about trying to find a way for all four of us to sleep in one bedroom."
"We'll figure it out." She assures him "It's not 'never' it's just 'not yet'. Okay?"
"Okay..." He nods, wrapping her up in a hug and pressing a kiss to the top of her head "I'm sorry for freaking out and getting defensive. I'm just so-"
"Tired?" She can't help but smirks as she finishes his thought for him "Yeah, I know. Beck, I know you want to do the most that you can...but sometimes the most you can do is just be home with us, alright? I'd take you being home and present with us over the extra few hundred dollars each paycheck."
"That's fair..." Beck agrees "I guess I never really thought of it that way."
"I don't want to tell you what to do..." Jade says, looking up at him "But I think you need to limit the amount of extra shifts you take each month. Maybe...two?"
"Two sounds fair." Beck nods "I'll cap it at two."
"Good. And I'll- uh..."
She breaks their hug and takes a step back from him, an odd look on her face as she moves to sit on the couch.
"Jade?" Beck follows her, a concerned tone in his voice "Are you okay?"
"I don't...know." She admits, placing a hand on her stomach "Something feels weird?"
"What? Weird how?" He asks her "Like, hospital weird?"
"No." She laughs, moving her hand to a different spot "No, I think the baby is moving."
"What?" Beck says again, sitting down beside her and placing his hand on top of her's "Really?"
"I don't know." Jade laughs "I think that's what it is? I'm not sure. I never really felt Liam move, obviously. I have nothing to compare it to."
But then she feels it. Just the smallest bit of pressure beneath her hand...a kick.
"Here." She she tells him, removing her hand and moving Beck's to the same spot "Right here. Do you feel that?"
"Yeah." He grins "Yeah, I do. That's a foot!"
"Or a hand." She laughs "I dunno, it's something."
"It's our kid." He says, pressing a kiss to her cheek "Woah, that's so weird."
It's an experience they never had with Liam. With Jade not knowing she was pregnant, there was really no way that they could have shared something like this previously. It's special, something they'll both remember.
"We're gonna be okay." Jade smiles over at Beck "Yeah?"
"Yeah." He agrees "Yeah, we are."