Josh sighed as he pulled up out front of Beck’s building and clicked the button on his steering wheel to hang up the phone. On one hand, he was thrilled to hear that they’d found a replacement for Ashley and would resume filming on Monday. But on the other hand, he was unsure how Beck would react to hearing that his ex-girlfriend was taking the role of his love interest. Not that he and Beck were dating. And not that he had any interest in Jen Hayes beyond friendship. Hell, she was one of his best friends, after Kris. And there was a reason they didn’t work out. Maybe he didn’t technically owe Beck an explanation, but something in him was pushing him to offer one anyway.
How the hell was he supposed to do this without being weird? Again. Weirder?
“Shit,” he sighed, leaning forward to rest his head against the steering wheel. He’d only just recovered from ‘you’re the best’ by buying her breakfast the next day. And now his dumbass brain was pushing him to be weird about things again. Part of him wondered how neurotypical people managed this shit on a day to day basis, not blurting out weird shit due to lack of impulse control, not overthinking every interaction. What must that even be like?
The sound of the car door opening made him sit up straight and smile as Beck hopped in. He grinned a little when he saw today’s t-shirt read ‘Keep Calm & Let The Digital Forensicist Handle It’.
“Morning,” he muttered.
“You okay?” she asked, the amusement lacing her voice accented by the half-smile she wore.
“Fine, just got the call that we’re resuming filming on Monday,” he said, pulling away from the building.
Beck’s laugh made him smile. “Poor baby, having to go back to work,” she teased. “I take it they found a replacement for Ashley?”
“Uh, yeah,” he said, shaking his head and keeping his eyes focussed on the road. “Jen Hayes.” There was a small ‘oh’ from Beck that hit him in ways he didn’t quite understand and prompted him into an uncontrolled ramble. “We used to date. I mean, we obviously don’t anymore. But we’re friends. Just friends. Nothing more. Don’t get me wrong, really good friends, she’s a great person and I think this’ll work out really well, but it’s nothing more than that and I -.”
“Josh,” her voice interrupted his babbling. “It’s fine, you don’t owe me an explanation.”
He opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Of course he didn’t owe her an explanation, they weren’t dating. But he wanted to explain, wanted her to know there was nothing there. Sure, they weren’t dating, but did he want to be? At this point it was hard to say yes or no, especially with Kenz in the picture. Not to mention the impending custody battle. Version whatever the hell they were on now. But he really did like her. It had been damn near three weeks since they met and they’d spent, what, 4 days apart in total? But what if she didn’t like kids? Or what if Kenz didn’t like her or she had one of her meltdowns and it sent Beck packing? He couldn’t do that to his daughter. And how the hell was he supposed to tell her all of that without sounding weird?
Son of a bitch.
“So, anyway,” Beck began. “I’ve gone through the logs and correlated them with your schedule and nothing stands out. And I’m still working through everything, but it looks like your files haven’t been accessed, at least not the studio files that could get you in contractual trouble.”
A small smile pushed its way across his lips. Now who was babbling?
“And I’m still not sure when the keylogger and RAT were put on your computer, but -.”
“Rat?” He shook his head a little as he pulled onto the QEW, trying to pull himself into the current conversation and out of his own head.
“Remote access tool - RAT,” she explained. “I feel like every time I think I’ve found the original download, I find something else. It’s just a mess of hidden files and programs. Whoever accessed your computer really did a number on it.”
While he recognized that she was steering him away from a difficult conversation they would probably need to have eventually, he was grateful. It was hardly the wisest idea to get too far inside his own head about whatever was going on between them while he was driving anyway.
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After a full day of Beck working on the couch next to him while he played video games and they pointedly did not talk about whatever the hell was going on between them, Josh watched as Beck packed up her things. Smiling, he tossed her a wink as he pushed off the couch to get their coats from the recliner. While he’d been worried things would be weird, he was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn’t preventing them from enjoying each other’s company, from having fun.
He was more than aware that she could do her job from her own apartment and at this point didn’t have to come see him at all. The fact that she had spent the day with him like he hadn’t been an idiot earlier in the week, like he hadn’t made things weird with his mention of Jen thrilled him in ways he was still working out. If he had royally fucked up to the point where she wasn’t coming over anymore, he had no idea what he’d do. Miss her, that was for sure. Was it really less than a month they’d known each other? It felt like a lifetime. In the best way possible.
Her phone vibrated and she smiled at him as she picked it up. “Hey, Dani! I’m just about to head home, what’s up?” She balanced the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she zipped up the bag. “What? She cancelled? Okay, don’t panic. Can you bring Syd out to Toronto with you? She and I can get a room at a different hotel and have fun.” Her sister’s garbled voice was loud enough for him to hear it without being able to make out any words; Dani sounded panicked. “No, it’s totally fine! You know how much I love spending time with her!”
“Everything okay?” he asked quietly, coming up beside her.
“Hang on, Dani.” She put a hand over her phone and said, “Dani and Oliver were supposed to have a date night downtown - fancy hotel, expensive dinner, you know? Their sitter cancelled. Can you drop me off at Union instead?”
Josh grinned at her, no way in hell was he letting her get a hotel when he was living in a nuclear bunker fully equipped with video games, an indoor pool, and a zillion spare rooms. “Just have her bring Sydney here. Not like I don’t have the space. Does she like video games?”
“It’s overnight, Josh,” Beck said. “I can get a hotel, it’s fine.”
“It’s not a bother,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I have the room, plenty of it, and I can lend you some pyjamas - pretty sure you’ll fit, you’re half my size,” he added with a grin.
“I’m not half your size,” she protested.
His grin faltered when he realized he’d been rubbing small circles on her shoulder with his thumb. Apparently she noticed at the same time; her cheeks went bright red and her mouth worked open and closed as she stared up at him with doe eyes.
The Clash’s I Fought The Law blared from his phone, making them both jump.
“Hey, Oli,” he said, turning away from Beck as he answered the phone.
Behind him he heard her giggle, “That’s Oliver’s ringtone?”
He tossed a wink over his shoulder as he walked over to the table and leaned forward on his elbows.
“Dani says you offered to bring Syd to your place?”
Apparently Beck hadn’t covered her phone well enough. “Uh, yeah,” he said, watching as Beck put her phone back up to her ear.
“You what?” she hissed at her sister.
God, he really didn’t want to be in the middle of this. Maybe he shouldn’t have offered.
“You’re sure, man? We can be there in an hour,” Oliver said. In the background he could hear Dani helping their daughter gather an overnight bag.
Beck whispered something into her phone and hung up, staring at him with an apologetic shrug as she worried her lower lip between her teeth. “Sorry,” she mouthed.
He tossed her a wink and told Oliver it was fine, then hung up. “Didn’t mean to -.”
“I didn’t think they’d -.”
They both stopped short and smiled at each other, then she gestured for him to go ahead. “Really, Beck, I didn’t think. Is this uncomfortable?”
She shook her head and he felt warmth spread in his chest, relief relaxing his shoulders. “Should it be?”
“Nah, we’ll have a blast,” he reassured her, holding out a hand. “Come on, let’s find you some PJs for later and get a room ready for Syd.”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Beck grinned and slapped her hand down into his, holding on to it as they walked down the hall. When she finally seemed to realize she was holding it, she blushed and let go. Not that he would have complained if she had kept hold of it. Rather than dwell on what it could mean and the feelings it stirred up, he pushed out a breath and led the way to the spare rooms closest to his.
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Josh groaned as he skidded off the track while Sydney pulled ahead. Beck had long-since wiped out and she was encouraging her niece, Sydney’s own personal cheer squad. It was kind of adorable. And it gave him a bit of hope for how she would be with Kenz.
As Sydney crossed the finish line, he congratulated her with feigned resignation - he was happy for the kid, really, she was good at the game! - and handed over a small bag of gummy bears. “You win again,” he conceded.
The way her eyes lit up as she grabbed the gummies from him was cute. “Yes! You’re really bad at Mario Kart, you know,” she said.
“Not as bad as your aunt,” he replied, grinning at Beck.
“Next time,” Beck said, pulling Sydney toward her. “You kicked his butt!”
Sydney giggled as Beck wrestled her into a big bear hug. “Stop!” she laughed. “Auntie!” She squirmed out of Beck’s grasp and ran to the armchair, giggling as she popped gummy bears into her mouth. “Can we watch the dragon movie next?”
“You mean the cartoon one with…what’s his name…Hiccup?” Josh asked, getting up to check if he actually had that movie in his collection. He couldn’t remember if he’d watched it with Kenz or not, if he was honest. It wasn’t her favourite movie, he knew that much.
Sydney shook her head. “No, the dragon movie!”
He arched an eyebrow at Beck. Was there another kids dragon movie he’d forgotten about?
“She means the Hobbit,” Beck said, winking at her niece. “It’s her favourite movie.”
Josh blinked. That movie seemed a bit old for a ten-year-old. “Does…do Oli and Dani know?”
Beck snorted a laugh. “Oliver’s the one who showed her the movie in the first place.”
“Really?” He looked down at Sydney, then back to Beck to see if they were pulling his leg. Then again, he supposed, Smaug didn’t appear in the first movie, so maybe she was okay with it. Although she was asking for the dragon movie…. Shit, kids were weird. Even money, knowing Oliver, the kid was afraid of the world's most innocuous cartoon character or something instead.
“Look at that face, Josh,” Beck said, signalling to Sydney. “Do you think she’d lie about this?”
When he turned around, the kid was giving him the biggest puppy dog eyes he’d ever seen, apart from Kenz. Jesus. Did kids learn this shit in school? Then again, the way Beck had signalled to her, she probably taught the kid the best way to do puppy eyes. He could see Beck pulling that now, let alone at the same age as Sydney.
“Alright, fine,” he sighed. As though watching it would be some sort of trial for him. He loved those movies! “Let me get it. Which one?”
Sydney gave him a weird look. “The dragon one.”
“The second one,” Beck stage-whispered as she pushed up off the couch. “Give me a minute, I need to run to the potty.”
“Potty?” he laughed. God, he thought he was the only one who did that at their age.
Beck grinned at him and tossed him a wink as she ran out of the room.
Shaking his head, he turned back to his movie collection. The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies were some of the few he carried physical copies of at all times. Them and Monty Python. And Star Wars. And…okay, so he was a big nerd?
He grinned and put the Blu-ray in, then dropped down on the couch as he queued up the film. “So this is a tradition, is it?”
Sydney smiled at him through a mouthful of gummies. “It’s our favourite movie! We watch it every time I visit auntie!”
“What else do you guys get up to?” In the back of his mind he realized the absurdity of probing the kid for information on her aunt, but he couldn’t help himself.
“All kinds of things!” Sydney giggled. “Auntie and I go to the museum a lot, she puts on the silly costumes with me!”
“Oh yeah? You got pictures of that?” he asked, trying to picture what kind of costumes she’d be wearing.
“They’re on Auntie Beck’s phone,” she said. “I think mommy has some, too. Auntie Beck sometimes sends her pictures of us to show her what she’s missing.”
Josh laughed. He could almost hear the words in Beck’s voice. “Sounds like you guys have fun,” he chuckled. “You guys hang out a lot, then?”
“Yeah, mommy says auntie is her best friend!” Sydney said, smiling around her candy.
“Maybe you oughta save some of those for tomorrow, huh?” he suggested, holding out his hand. “Why don’t we go make some popcorn instead?”
“With extra butter? Auntie Beck says that’s the best way to eat it!”
“I agree,” he laughed as she dropped the bag of gummies into his hand. “Just dripping with butter! Don’t tell your dad about all the junk food we had, though, okay?” Sure, some of that was for her sake - always fun to think you have secrets from your parents when you’re a kid, right? But admittedly part of him was thinking about the grief he’d cop from Kris when he found out. Movie diet and all that crap. Sometimes he wished he was just a normal guy so he could eat normal food. “You wanna help me make it?”
“Yeah!”
“Alright, let’s go,” he laughed, hopping off the couch and offering the kid his hand. She took it with one of the biggest grins he’d ever seen and followed him to the kitchen, bouncing the whole way. Maybe the gummies and ice cream had been a bad idea, Sydney was off the walls.
He sat her down at the kitchen island, grabbed the popcorn, and tossed it into the microwave. A conservative two minutes should be enough to make sure he didn’t burn it. Again. It could’ve been his mind playing tricks on him, but he swore he could still smell the burnt popcorn from the last time he and Kris did movie night.
While the popcorn went, he asked Sydney a few more questions about the things she and Beck did, laughing when Sydney described their last trip to Build-a-Bear; Beck had designed a lawyer bear for Sydney based on Oli and had imitated his voice in the recorder. What he wouldn’t have given to see Oli’s reaction.
“I thought I heard giggling and smelled popcorn,” Beck’s voice shook him from the conversation.
Looking up he saw her standing in the doorway, grinning and wearing the dinosaur pyjamas he had offered her. They hung a little loose around her, the pants were way too long and the t-shirt was almost a dress. Hell, she probably could’ve worn just the shirt and gotten away with it. His mind wandered and he mentally slapped himself to stop the image of her in nothing but that shirt.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face? Oh, god - did I give myself raccoon eyes?” she muttered looking around the kitchen, clearly for a reflective surface.
“No,” he said. “No! You’re fine. Sorry.”
With all the tact of a nine year old, Sydney jumped in helpfully with, “He thinks you’re pretty. Daddy looks at mommy like that sometimes, that’s what he said when I asked him.”
Almost instantly the pink spread across Beck’s face and Josh wasn’t sure his own face wasn’t doing the same. Was it hot in the kitchen? Jesus.
The microwave beeped behind him and he spun around to get the popcorn.
Idiot.
“Can we go watch the dragon movie now?” Sydney asked.
“Yeah,” Beck said. “You okay to bring the popcorn in?”
“Yeah, be right there.” He watched the pair of them leave the room, Beck’s posture a little stiff as she walked. Sometimes he really wished he had some control over how god damned weird he could be.
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Beck smiled down at Sydney, curled up in her lap and nibbling on popcorn. The Dwarves had just arrived at the Lonely Mountain and she could tell Syd wouldn’t make it the rest of the 2 hours; she was already leaning more heavily against Beck’s chest. But she figured she could give it a bit longer before she got the kid to bed, after all she remembered how much fun it was to stay up late when she was Syd’s age.
Next to her, Josh adjusted himself against the couch, his arm coming up over the back of it to rest behind Beck. Her posture stiffened a little at first and she made it a point not to look at him. The last thing she wanted to do was make it weird.
“Auntie?” Syd’s sleepy voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Yeah?”
“You won’t finish the movie without me if I fall asleep, right?”
Beck chuckled a little at that. “No, of course not.”
“Good,” Syd sighed, cuddling closer. “But I can make it.”
“I know, honey,” Beck said, smiling down at her niece.
From the corner of her eye, she caught Josh watching with a soft smile and indicated to him they’d give her a few more minutes before carrying her to bed. He tossed her a wink in reply and she leaned back against the couch. It wasn’t until Sydney started snoring that she noticed Josh’s arm had curled around her and he was rubbing small circles on her shoulder with his thumb while he stared ahead at the movie.
“Josh?” she whispered.
“Mmm?”
“She’s asleep.”
He shifted next to her to look down at Syd and Beck almost complained at the loss of contact. “She looks comfortable,” he murmured. “Can you carry her or did you need me to?”
“Would you mind?”
“Nah, I got her.” Slowly, he pushed off the couch and picked Syd up in his arms.
Sydney stirred a little against his shoulder, her eyes parting slightly. “Auntie?” she yawned as Josh started toward the hallway.
Beck, following right behind, reached out to brush a lock of hair from her niece’s face. “Yeah, Syd Vicious?”
Glancing over his shoulder, Josh smirked at her; her only reply was a wink.
“Promise me you’ll wait for me to watch the rest?”
She scoffed and wrinkled her nose in mock disgust. “We’d never! First thing after breakfast, we’ll finish the movie.”
“After?” Josh asked, grinning.
He had a point. “Okay, during,” she laughed.
As soon as they reached the spare room, Josh put her on the bed and Beck tucked her in. Almost before the blanket was pulled up around her, she was asleep.
They tiptoed out of the room and softly shut the door, then Beck followed Josh back to the living room. When they were sufficiently far from the room, she asked him what else he had.
Josh grinned. “The Fellowship of the Ring?”
“Deal,” she laughed. While he fiddled with the remote to change the movie while keeping Syd’s movie paused, she leaned back against the couch with a smile. It turned out to be a pretty fun night! As the movie started, Josh settled back next to her, his arm around the back of the couch again. Instead of feeling awkward, this time she leaned comfortably back against it.