Variance

Major events in the lives of Beck and Jade.

Beck/Jade

.

"Mom," five-year-old Jade whines. "Let go of me. I'll be fine. I'm a big girl. I just wanna go play." She pokes out her lower lip, giving her mom two big shining puppy dog eyes and hoping she'll let her go, cause she really really wants to play by herself.

Her mom, of course, assents – no one can say no to those pleading eyes. "Stay on the playground, Jade. I'll be watching you."

"Fine," Jade sighs, meandering over to the sandbox. She likes sandboxes – she likes burying things in the sand and pretending they're not there anymore, she likes destroying sandcastles with her bare hands, and she likes destroying other people's creations with her feet. Much to her delight, there is a boy already there with a half-built sandcastle.

"Hey," Jade says to the boy. "Whatcha building?"

"A castle," the boy informs her. "But Imma destroy it once it's done. It's so much more fun to destroy castles than to build them."

With a frown, Jade sits down beside him. She hasn't met many people that enjoy the same things she does; most people just run off once she even suggests something scary like castle crushing. "You like destroying castles too?"

He grins. "Course I do. You can even make fake screaming noises! And sometimes I pretend I'm like, a dragon or something and I can crush the people. How cool would that be?"

"Very cool," Jade agrees, meeting the boy's eyes. He's around her age, she notices, and he has a smile that makes her heart flutter the slightest bit.

"I'm almost done," he says, motioning to the castle. "I just gotta build another tower, ya know? I want it to be perfect. Wanna help me crush it?"

"Course," Jade replies. And so she does – the two of them stomp around in the sand, crushing the precariously built tower to bits. She falls to her bottom, laughing uncontrollably. "You're not so bad," she informs him.

"Thanks," he says, blushing a little bit. "I'm Beck, by the way… and you're really pretty. What's your name?"

.

Jade's pretty darn sure that new schools aren't her type of thing. Having to talk to people, having to interact with people – definitely not exactly what she likes to do, but if she ever wants to be successful, this is, rather unfortunately, what she has to do, so she breathes in deeply and tells herself to man up, cause she's Jade West and she's not scared of anything. Really.

Except maybe freaky redheads that run up to her and squeal.

"Oh my gosh," Cat Valentine says, "Jade you're here! I was scared you weren't gonna make it, but we're both here! How fabulous is this? Oh you've got to meet my friends. I'm sure they'll just love you!"

"Sure, Cat," Jade manages, rolling her eyes behind her friend's back. The two had met at her old school, and it was through Cat that she had found out about Hollywood Arts, about the school that would soon become her dream, and Cat had helped her get in, which probably means she is now obligated to be nice to the redhead, however hard it may be.

"Welllll," Cat says, bouncing on her heels, "they're right over there, so c'mon! The dark guy is Andre – I think he looks like chocolate, ya know? – and the guy with the glasses, that's Robbie! He's kind of weird sometimes; it reminds me of you. And the other guy – oh, I forgot to tell you about what my brother did yesterday, I think you'd think it was funny!"

In all honesty, Jade hadn't been listening – when Cat starts talking, her ears usually switch off. But suddenly her eyes fall upon the third guy, a guy with dark, perfect hair and eyes that twinkle and a smug half-smile and her heart skips a beat. "Cat," she says through gritted teeth, "who is he?"

"Oh, you mean Beck?" Cat asks obliviously. "He's the other guy – I think his name is funny, don't you? Beck. Hehe. He's kinda new to our friendship group. I think Andre's been friends with him for ages, but I just recently met him and –"

"You're going to introduce me," Jade says in an authoritative tone, grabbing her friend's wrist.

"Okay," Cat replies brightly, walking in front now. "Oh, hey guys," she says as the two approach them, "I'm Cat… oh you know that. And this is my friend Jade. She's new here, so you guys should be nice to her."

"Please don't," Jade informs them with a roll of her eyes.

"Well, hey Jade," Beck says with a chuckle, and she tries not to grin. "Name's Beck, Beck Oliver. You look like a pretty capable girl, but I dunno, I was thinking maybe I could show you around? If you wanted?"

He's so uncertain that it makes her want to laugh. A guy like him should have no problem getting girls, and yet it is her that makes him so uncertain, that makes him look like a lost puppy dog rather than a teenaged boy. She gives a nod anyway, because a part of her wants to get to know him better – a part of her that knows that he is exactly what she needs, what she wants.

"Sure," she tells him, "but if we get lost, I'm blaming it on you."

His soft chuckle is all the reassurance she needs.

.

"Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?" Jade inquires once Beck walks up to her locker.

He sighs, run a hand through his dark hair. "It was supposed to be a surprise, Jade."

"You can't hide anything from me," Jade retorts – and it's true. She's learned over the past few months that Beck is nothing if not completely transparent; the worst part of it, though, is that he thinks he is being subtle. Or maybe the worst part is that she finds it endearing.

"Is that a yes?" he teases, the corners of his mouth turning up. They've been seeing each other for months now, after months of Beck relentlessly pursuing her and Jade finally deciding to go with her instincts and go for him, and Jade is halfway certain that she has never been happier. She finds it adorable that he would even entertain the possibility of her saying no, despite the fact that she utterly loathes the word adorable.

"Idiot," she mutters, kissing him. He kisses back rather enthusiastically, his long, supple fingers winding into her hair, pulling her close – and this is it, she thinks, no going back – she is the girlfriend of Beck Oliver, and she wonders when she fell in so deep.

"Wow," he says once she pulls back. His eyes are wide and his mouth is open and he looks like he's just been electrocuted rather than kissed.

"Attractive," she tells him with a smirk, grabbing his hand. "I expect a more romantic popping-the-question, for the record. Possibly involving a graveyard and… and scary movies, but only the good ones like The Scissoring, which just came out on DVD for the record, and not the crappy ones. Also there will be no rings, sappy jewelry, couple outfits… you have no idea how gross that is, honestly… no flirting with girls, especially pretty ones, and you have to buy me coffee."

"I already do." Beck grins at her, that smug cocky grin he always has.

"No sass, Oliver."

"Gotcha, babe," Beck says, leaning down to kiss her again, and it takes her a total of ten seconds to realize that he just called her babe.

.

It is weird, she thinks, being in his RV again with him again, being with him, actually, without wanting to strangle him or yell at him. For months he has been tantalizing her, torturing her in his own sort of way – trying to kiss Vega, making jabs at her, insisting that he had been in the right. He had turned into a monster, someone that she did not even recognize, but now here he is again, her Beck, and somehow she had fallen right back to him.

He turns around to smile at her, and once her eyes meet his she lowers them slowly. He sighs, walks over to her. "I'm sorry."

"Don't know what you're apologizing for," she says darkly. "Being a jerk to me for the past few months? Constantly trying to make me jealous? Breaking up with me in front of an audience? I could make a list of all the crap you've done, but it'd probably take me hours."

He laughs. He actually laughs. She fumes internally; of course she would have fallen in love with a cocky jerk that lives to make her life a living hades. But then he says, "Tell me how you really feel, why don't you." She's about to say something, but he interrupts again – it seems that he's gained some confidence while they were apart, because it's weird for him to be sticking up to her, honestly it is. "Jade – I'm sorry. I honestly am. I've been a jerk, and I mean I guess you've been too at times, but it's always been me that's started it and I don't know why, I guess it was just cause we were broken up and I was scared. I wanted to try to be me for a while, you know? Just Beck – not BeckandJade. But I'm better this way. Better with you. And I'm sorry I didn't realize that earlier. I'm so, so sorry."

"So you're saying I'm a jerk?" she replies, but she gets it, really she does. There was a part of her that wondered what she would be like without Beck – but now she knows and she doesn't like it.

"Shut up," he reprimands her lovingly, kissing her lightly on the lips. His arms encircle her, tracing her back. "I've missed you, I really have. My RV hasn't been the same without you. And I think the fish missed you too."

"Oh, they're not dead yet?" she mumbles sarcastically, but she can't be bothered checking, not when Beck is in such close proximity and they've just made up but there's still a lot of making up to be done.

"Love you," he whispers, kissing the top of her head, and even though she'd heard it a million times in the past, probably, her whole body still tingles just like the first time.

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbles, and the kiss she presses to his lips says what she can't. Love you too.

.

Graduation is admittedly one of those rites of passage where everyone gets all emotional. That is, everyone including Jade West, who is clutching her diploma in one hand and her boyfriend's hand in the other, wondering what exactly she's supposed to do.

"We graduated," she says, breathing in deeply. "We're old, Beck – we're like, out of high school. How weird is that?"

"So weird," Beck chuckles, kissing her temple. "Kinda funny, you know, cause some people thought we wouldn't even last two weeks, and here we are, done with senior year, and you're still right where you're supposed to be – next to me."

"We did break up for a few months, y'know."

"Technicalities." He grins over at her. "So…"

"So what happens next?" she demands. "We're out of school, and now we're going to like, college and stuff, and I'm not sure if I'm ready. I know I'm always tough and crap but the thought of the future really scares me, and especially if…" She trails off, biting her lip, not wanting to finish her thought (especially if it's without you).

"Hey, babe." She glances over and he's on one knee and her breath catches in her throat, because there is nothing, nothing more cliché than this. He grins anyway, smug and confident as ever. "I know this is a cliché and I'm not asking because I want to marry you right out of high school. I want us to be done with college because I want us to be ready. But Jade – I know it's you. It's only ever been you. And I love you, I love you so much, and I'm ready for this, ready for us. So Jade, Jade West, will you marry me?"

There is nothing she can say but yes – that is, after inquiring about fifty times if she's turning into some sappy cliché and insisting fifty times that she will not get married until after college. Hey, Jade West is nothing if not stubborn.

.

Beck is relaxing on their couch, and Cat is next to him, jabbering about the TV program she's watching at the speed of one hundred miles per hour. He sighs, exhales. "When did Jade say she was gonna be back?"

"Not sure," Cat hums, shoving a kernel of popcorn into her mouth.

"Where did she say she was going?" Jade hadn't told him for some odd reason; she had seemed weirdly secretive as of late, and if he hadn't known better he probably would've thought she was, like, having an affair or something, but that was so very uncharacteristic of Jade that he couldn't even picture it.

"To the doctor's," Cat tells him happily, eating another piece of popcorn.

"The doctor's?" This in, fact, panics him – Jade at the doctor's. She never goes to the doctor's, not even if she's sick; she refuses to be in a place that is 'riddled with germs' and get scanned by some 'pedophilic old man'. So the fact that she's actually at the doctor's makes him think that she's sick with some disease, maybe cancer, oh gosh maybe she's slowly dying –

Cat giggles. "She didn't tell you, did she?"

"Tell me what, Cat?" Beck inquires, his tone harsher than he'd intended, his fists curling up into balls. How can Cat giggle, how can Cat even think this is remotely funny, his wife could be dying –

"Jade's got a baby growing in her tummy," Cat squeals, and then her mouth drops open and her eyes widen. "Oh man, I wasn't supposed to tell you that! It was gonna be a surprise – I'm sorry, Jade's gonna kill me now, and maybe you too! But I'm just so excited cause I'm gonna be an aunt."

"Jade's pregnant?" Beck repeats, his face going white, his throat closing up – and then he grins, a grin wider than his house. "Jade's pregnant. I'm gonna have a kid."

At that moment, Jade West walks in the door. Upon seeing the look on her husband's face, she raises an eyebrow. "Cat, what in the world have you two been watching?"

"Is it true?" Beck cuts in, walking up to his wife. "Are you really pregnant?"

"Yep," Jade says with a sigh. "And I swear if you say anything you'll just make it worse, because honestly I'm going to get all fat and gross and vomit all over the place, not that I haven't been already. And we're going to have twins, by the way, just thought I'd share that." But she's grinning anyway.

"Twins," Beck says in wonder, looking as though he's going to faint, so Jade kisses him.

"Hey Cat," she says with a grin. "If Beck passes out, check his pulse and make sure he's not dead."

.

"I don't understand why they can't just walk," Jade complains, glancing over at her husband.

"They're three, Jade," Beck says with a slight grin, obviously amused at his wife's ineptitude with three-year-olds. She sighs and continues pushing the stroller, mouth downturned.

"Can we get ice cweam?" pipes up the one on the left, Abigail, which of course, in turn, sets off her sister.

"Pwease, pwease?" Elizabeth begs.

"Fine," Jade relents, making Beck smile even bigger because despite her failings with children Jade loves her two little girls more than anything in the world and on occasion she is such a pushover when it comes to them. She scoops up Abigail into her arms, grinning when the child gingerly kisses her on the cheek – but hiding it quickly. Then she takes Elizabeth in the other arm and smirks at Beck. "Looks like you're getting the ice cream."

"Whatever, babe," he relents, slipping over to the ice cream stand. He grins as he looks back at his wife, at his three girls that mean more to him than anything in the world, and he wonders absently how, when, his life got so good. After ordering four chocolate ice creams, he heads back over to the girls – Jade has put down Abbie and Elizabeth now, and the girls are clinging to her hands.

"Thank you, Daddy," the two girls chorus, digging into their ice creams.

"Got one for you too, my lady," Beck says in a chivalrous tone, reaching out so that she can take a bite without having to let go of the girls' hands. She rolls her eyes but takes a lick anyway, wincing when it gets on her nose. "No worries," Beck says, kissing the tip of her nose and simultaneously cleaning it of ice cream debris.

"Ewww," Abbie squeals, wrinkling up her nose.

"Hey there, kiddo," Beck says, ruffling the three-year-old's hair, "I got you ice cream, so you better be grateful."

But children are not so easily placated, and soon the two girls are tugging at their parents' hands. "Mommy," Elizabeth whines, "Me and Abbie wanna go play in the sandbox. Pwease?"

"Whatever," Jade gives in, sighing as she glances over at Beck. "We'll be watching you, though, so don't get into anything you're not supposed to, all right?"

"Got it," the two girls chorus, grinning at each other with a conniving smile that is all Jade as they dash off toward the sandbox. They quickly engage in helping a small boy build his castle, which he then proceeds to destroy – and the girls help him.

Jade laughs. "When I was little, I used to love doing that – destroying sand castles."

"Hey, me too," Beck says, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Weird, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah," she says, placing her head on his shoulder.

"Love you," he says with a laugh, and the two of them smile in unison as they watch their two daughters playing and muse on how quickly things change – and for the better, it would seem.

.

A/N: For badeprompts' last challenge. My prompts were "What happens next?" and "She didn't tell you, did she?". This sucks but I can't write lately it would seem.