Beck didn't often host events at his parents' house. He still resented having to live under their rules, which had grown increasingly harsh ever since he had accidentally impregnated his girlfriend. Besides, the RV was a comfortable haven, every teenager's ideal hangout spot. There was little reason to have his friends around, under the beady eyes of his watchful parents. However, it went without saying that an entire film crew, with cameras and sound booms, would not be able to squeeze into his RV and adequately film the scene that he and his friends had constructed. So, at seven in the evening, he planned to step out of his actual home, lock up, and make his parents' living room the scene of an entirely faked passage of entertainment.

Then there was a knock on the door.

Beck assumed that it was one of his friends. Tori, most likely - she had been especially keen to spend time with him recently, presumably due to the extra cameras that seemed to follow them when she did so.

For a second after opening the door, he had thought he was right, seeing the flash of brown hair. It only took a moment, however, to realise that it was instead the face that would forever be permanently etched into his vision.

"Jade? What are you doing here?"

Jade looked thin and grey, as usual, a bag slung over each shoulder, and Toby, red-faced and fidgeting, in her arms.

"I need you to take Toby." Jade explained begrudgingly, her focus flitting between Beck and the unsettled baby in her arms.

"What, why?" Beck asked, trying to subtly peer over Jade's shoulder to see whether any of the film crew had made an early arrival. There was no one around, but he still felt a deep, sickening pit in his stomach.

The Wood finding out about Jade and Toby would be the end of him. Firstly, they would go crazy and make it a storyline that neither he nor Jade would appreciate, both for their own sakes and, more importantly, for their non-consenting child's. Secondly, if the Little Lake High team caught even a whiff of the scandal that would be '17-year-old primary cast member outed as a teen dad', he would be straight off the show. It didn't matter that they'd already filmed a bunch of episodes, or that promotional materials had been published. A character exit could be easily arranged, and he wasn't so naïve that he thought of himself as irreplaceable. All the producers needed was to find another teenage boy with good skin and hair, and they could walk through any mall in Los Angeles to find that. He was undeniably expendable. Therefore, Jade and Toby being discovered categorically could not happen.

"I have a job interview." Jade replied, but Beck barely registered this, his focus so trained on the gate to his driveway.

"What? What are you looking at?" Jade huffed, spinning around to try and spot the object of Beck's attention.

Seeing her turn, Beck momentarily switched back on and muttered for Jade to come in, before not-so-gently pulling her inside by the arm that wasn't cradling their child.

"What the hell, Beck?" Jade spat, wrenching her arm away as Beck slammed the door. "What is up with you?"

"Nothing." Beck said, shaking his head. Informing Jade of the reason behind his jumpiness would only lead to an inevitable argument.

"Whatever." Jade rolled her eyes. "Can you take him? Please Beck, it's important."

"I'm sorry, I've got plans."

Jade raised an eyebrow. "Plans? Can you not cancel, or fit him in around them?"

Beck shook his head. "I'm sorry Jade, it's just not possible."

Jade sighed, and her face dropped into one of significantly more weakness than Beck was used to.

"Beck, please, I really, really need this. Just take him."

"I can't, Jade, honestly. I'm sorry." Beck sighed. "Why do you need a job anyway? I have one."

Jade's jaw twitched. "We're not together, Beck. I need money."

"I can give you money."

"I'm not a charity case." Jade spat.

"No, no." Beck shook his head. "I'm not saying you are - I'm just saying that Toby needs looking after and it would be better if only one of us worked, so if you need money to help you out, then I'd rather give you it than you spend time away from Toby working."

Given that he saw his speech as significantly conciliatory, Beck was surprised to see Jade almost ignited by his words.

"I'm not doing that Beck! I want a life - I need a life - outside of being a mother! And relying on you to get by isn't possible or sustainable."

"And neither is working! What's going to happen to him whilst you're at work?"

"It's remote - a girl from the theatre, from Well Wishes-" There was a hanging pause as Jade seemed to impress the point that Beck had not turned up to see that. "- she got in contact saying that they've got some part-time admin work I could do. Toby can be right next to me as I'm working."

Still, Beck shook his head. "I just don't get why you feel that's necessary."

"Are you even listening to me? I need independence, Beck! I can't live the rest of my life with my only identity being a mother!"

"Why not? You love Toby."

"Of course I love Toby! But it's not fair that you can have a social life and work and all of that whilst you see me as Toby's carer."

"I don't see you as that."

"I don't even care." Jade sighed. "Please just help me out today."

Beck looked into Jade's pleading eyes. She was ridiculously beautiful, even when she was begging.

Beck would've given in - he would've had no choice, looking at that face - if it weren't for the sounds of tyres and car doors outside his gate.

He looked up, and away from those ethereal blue eyes, and his mind immediately jumped to his reputation. The crew couldn't see Jade and Toby. That wasn't going to happen.

"Jade, I-" Beck began, a film of sweat creeping up on his forehead. "Give me a second."

Then, before he could change his mind, Beck scurried out of the RV, closed the door behind him and promptly locked it.

"Beck? What are you doing?" Jade yelled uncertainly. The RV handle jiggled as she tried it from the inside. "Beck, what the fuck?"

"I'm sorry, Jade." Beck said through the door, suddenly glad that his parents had reinforced it after the last time Jade had kicked it down. "I have to do this. I can explain later."

"Beck! Let me out! Beck!"

But Jade's shouts went unanswered, as Beck instead wandered over to the gate to let in the expectant film crew.

"You okay? You seem a little - I don't know, off - today."

Beck looked up at Andre, seeing a genuine concern in his friend's face.

He stood up straighter and forced a smile. "Yeah, yeah, all good. Just tired."

Andre nodded, unconvinced. Beck had clearly been distracted all evening. The group had gone ahead with their plan to stage an argument about a kleptomaniac in their midst, but Beck's accusations had lacked effort. Something was up, Andre was sure of it. But he was equally sure that Beck wasn't going to spill the beans, at least not tonight.

"All right, that's a wrap. Let's head out, people."

Beck played the polite host, seeing out his friends and every member of the crew, including the director's PA, who seemed to be fighting Tori to be the last one to leave. Once they were both safely on the other side of the gate, Beck turned to the RV, with a pit of dread and self-disgust growing in his stomach.

He opened the door with equal precision and speed and awaited his fate.

Immediately, Jade was in his face.

"What the actual fuck is wrong with you?"

She grabbed his shirt and pushed him backwards with surprising force.

Beck stumbled backwards, but she didn't follow. Once recovered, he took in the sight.

Jade's eyes were red-rimmed and her cheeks pink. She had taken off her jacket and thrown her bags on the floor, leaving her arms bare. Beck almost gasped as he saw the dark bruises and scrapes that had begun to surface on her skin.

"Jade, your arms-"

"Do you know what that's from, Beck?" Jade began with a yell, but decreasing her volume to a whisper-shout as Toby whined in his sleep behind her. He was carefully placed in the travel cot which Jade had clearly assembled, a show of neatness incongruous with the rest of the RV which Jade had efficiently trashed.

"That's from trying like hell to break down the door because you locked me in!"

"Jade, I'm so sorry."

"Sorry? You're sorry? You're a fucking joke."

"I just needed to-" Beck said, reaching out to touch her.

She snapped her arm away as though his touch burnt her. "Nothing, and I mean, nothing, can excuse what you just did. You are a pathetic excuse for a father, for a partner and for a human being. Even my dad would never have done that to me."

Beck's heart sank and he felt as though he could be physically sick.

"I'm so so sorry Jade. Please, just hear me out."

Jade laughed, caustically. "I will never forget this. You're a selfish, disgusting piece of shit and I can't believe I once loved you."

Beck had to swallow the bile back down.

"That's your son over there." Jade said, not letting up. "You just trapped him in here for hours. He's hungry, he's tired, and he's been crying because of what you did to him. He might not remember this, but I will."

Beck had nothing to say. Jade, finished with her tirade, scooped up her bags and the half-asleep baby with practiced precision, and let herself out.

Beck felt like his legs were encased in concrete. He should go after her. He should beg for forgiveness, do whatever he could to make amends. But he did nothing except sink to the floor and bury his head in his hands.

What on earth had he done?