When Monday morning rolled around, Beck showed up at the set to find out shooting had been on hold due to delays with Jen Hayes’s flight. Josh had been waiting in his trailer since five in the morning to see if they would be able to shoot his scenes that day. She felt horrible for waking him up when she walked in, but he didn’t seem to mind. He launched right into telling her what had happened as he pushed off the couch to get the coffee she had brought him. After an hour of chatting, Josh had picked up his N64 controller and launched into some game Beck had never heard of before pulling out Goldeneye.

Beck smiled as she watched Josh play. In theory she was trying to finish reading a system log on his laptop, but with him getting so animated, she was finding it hard to concentrate. It reminded her of how much fun they’d had playing with Syd on Friday and Saturday.

Her cheeks burned a little as she remembered waking up on Saturday to an angry Syd, who thought they’d finished the dragon movie without her. It had taken her until she was comforting her niece to realize she’d woken up in Josh’s arms. And it had taken looking back at him to get him to turn on the movie for Syd to realize she’d drooled on him in her sleep. God, that had been embarrassing. Luckily, Josh seemed to either not notice or not care. He hadn’t said anything and she was too embarrassed to bring it up herself.

“You know,” she said, banishing the embarrassment from her mind, “having an N64 in your trailer might actually date you. If a Gen Z’er came in here, they’d call it retro.”

“Zed,” he giggled. “You Canadians.”

Beck rolled her eyes and shoved his shoulder gently. “It’s not just Canadians, it’s every English speaking country that’s not the States. Typical American.”

“Typical Canadian - easy to tease,” he shot back, pausing the game to grin at her. “You know, if the N64 dates me, it dates you - we’re the same age.”

“Actually,” she said, looking away to hide the burning she felt in her cheeks. “I think I’m older.”

Josh gave her the side eye, then went back to his game. “Can’t be by much.”

Focussing on her screen, she tried to ignore the way she saw him staring at her from the corner of her eye. “I think about 3 years?”

He laughed. “That’s it? We’re basically the same age!”

“Still older,” she muttered, cheeks getting hotter. Maybe burying her face in her laptop would hide the blush? It was worth a try.

“Who cares?”

“Lots of people.”

The couch sank a little as he shifted to sit closer to her. “Then they’re stupid,” he said.

When she turned to look at him, he had resumed his game, but his arm was touching hers and she felt every shift of his muscles as he played. Was it getting hotter in the trailer or was that just her cheeks?

“You know,” he said, shooting someone from his hiding place, “Friday and Saturday were fun.”

“They were,” she agreed, chewing on her lip.

“Even though you and Syd kicked my ass at Mario Party,” he laughed. “She was ruthless!”

“Your fault for selecting teams mode,” Beck replied, grinning.

Josh turned his grin on her briefly before returning his attention to his game. When she turned back to her laptop, she caught a picture of Josh and a young girl laughing together. She looked exactly like him.

“Is that your daughter?”

Pausing the game, he glanced at her, then followed her eyes. “Yeah, MacKenzie,” he said, smiling at the photo. “She’s eight now, be nine in the fall.”

“What’s she like?”

Turning to look at her, Josh scrunched up his features, the smile straining to come through.

“Sorry,” She turned back to her laptop. “That’s personal.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s not that, it’s…people don’t normally want to know about her, not really. They want to know what it’s like being an actor and a father, do I miss her, how having her affects me, basically. It’s never about her.”

Her cheeks warmed again. “If you don’t want to -.”

“I do want to,” he murmured, looking back at the picture. “She lives with her mom in California. We split when Kenz was less than a year old - wasn’t working out, she clearly, to me, didn’t care about Kenz, only how being a mother made her look. I tried for custody, but the courts favour mothers.” Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair. “It was rough. But I made the best of it, saw Kenz as much as I could. Her mom treated her like a payday, though. I kept trying for custody, but the courts…. Anyway, Kenz is…she’s a great kid. Crazy smart. Tons of fun. Loves dinosaurs - wants to be a paleontologist when she grows up. She’ll be out here on Friday.” As he described their plans for the weekend, his entire demeanour became animated, his eyes lit up with excitement.

“You know,” she said, “if she loves dinosaurs, you should make sure she sees the ROM dinosaurs. And maybe after filming, take her out to Drumheller, Alberta - there’s an amazing dinosaur museum there.”

Josh grinned. “You seem to be the expert here.”

“What? I was a dinosaur-obsessed child.”

He arched an eyebrow at her and she damn near melted.

“Okay,” she conceded, biting back a grin. “I’m a dinosaur-obsessed thirty-six year old.”

For whatever reason, Josh’s face froze with a half-smile like he was the human version of the Blue Screen of Death.

She laughed. “You okay?”

Looking down, he shook his head, then turned his eyes back up to hers with a huge grin on his face. “Yeah, fine, I -.”

A knock at the door interrupted whatever he’d been about to say. Beck smirked. “Do you want me to check if it’s Ashley and tell her you’re not here?”

Josh snorted a laugh. “Somehow I don’t think that’ll work.”

“You’re probably right,” she agreed. “Ashley probably stalks your trailer to see when you’re in so she can ambush you. She’d push right past me.”

“I think you could take her,” Josh grinned at her. Another knock sounded at the door. “It’s open!” he shouted without taking his eyes off her.

Laughing quietly, Beck shook her head. “If it’s her, you can fight her.”

“You’ll protect me,” he shot back.

“I’ll hide behind you.”

“You know I’m not actually a space-faring hero prince, right?” he teased.

A voice sounded from the doorway. “No shit.”

Beck turned to see Jen Hayes smirking at them, hands on her hips. Even from where she was on the couch, she could see that the other woman was smaller than she was and despite seemingly not wearing any makeup, she looked like a model. Thin, small, fit. It was easy for Beck to feel insecure next to her.

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Josh laughed, then shifted his gaze to the door and grinned. “Jen! You made it!” Pushing off the couch, he crossed the room to pull her into a hug.

Laughing, she returned the hug. “Hey, you big dork.”

Beck pushed down on her insecurity and got off the couch to greet her. Whatever Josh said to her, she missed it and Jen’s reply.

Pulling out of Josh’s arms, Jen smiled at her. “It’s so nice to meet you, Beck. Josh has told me so much about you.”

That threw her off - Josh had talked about her? Why would he talk about her? What had he said? “I….” She stopped and shook her head to clear it. “It’s nice to meet you. How was the flight?”

Scoffing, Jen rolled her eyes. “You know, delays and bad food,” she said, turning back to Josh with a grin. “But I’m here now and we have the rest of the day off - Rick rearranged the shooting schedule.”

“What about lunch?” Josh suggested, coming to stand next to Beck and smiling down at her.

Before Beck could even open her mouth, the trailer door slammed open and in burst Hurricane Ashley. “Great, this is going to be relaxing,” she muttered quietly.

Josh winked at her, then looked back at the door where Ashley was pouting.

A dramatic wail pierced her ear drums when Ashley caught sight of him. “Look what’s happened!”

If she’d had any sort of filter, Beck might not have said, “Someone photographed you out in public wearing the same outfit twice?”

“The diamond in your ring isn’t actually 14 carat?” Jen supplied helpfully.

After tossing a quick glare at Beck and Jen, Ashley returned to her hysterics and moaned, “They’re blackmailing me!”

It took everything in Beck not to react when Josh tossed an arm across her shoulders and began toying with a lock of her hair. While she wasn’t about to ambush his attempt to get rid of Ashley, it did make her a little sad. Someone like Josh would never…. But why not put an arm around Jen? Probably not the best time to go down that road. “Ashley,” he sighed. “I don’t think this is something I can help with. You might want to reach ou-.”

“Look!” She thrust her phone in his face. “They have my nudes!”

Cringing, Josh turned away. “I trust you, I don’t need to -.”

“What am I going to do?” she cried.

“Beck, you’re good with computers, right?” Jen asked, trying to grab the phone from Ashley. “Maybe she can help?”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly show anyone, I’d be too embarrassed,” she sighed, curling the phone back against her chest.

“Really, you should let Beck have a look, she knows what she’s doing,” Josh said, his arm tightening around Beck’s shoulders and pulling her closer. “Maybe she can find out -.”

And that’s when the waterworks started. Biting down on her lower lip, Ashley whimpered and turned on the fakest tears Beck had ever seen. How the hell was this woman an actor? Then again, she supposed, she was starting to learn that Josh was a bad liar. Maybe that was a thing with actors - good on screen, but real life was different? When she turned back to Josh to exchange a smirk, she saw him sigh and pull Ashley into a hug. Was he seriously falling for this?

Beck exchanged a look with Jen, eyebrows well into her hairline, she was certain of it. And from the way the corner of Jen’s mouth pulled down, she was just as unimpressed.

When Ashley’s hand slid down to Josh’s ass, Beck took action; she reached out and grabbed Ashley’s wrist, pulling it away from Josh. And before she could even speak up, Jen was already shooing Ashley out the door, tearing into her for being inappropriate. All the while, Josh just stood there, rigid and stunned.

“You okay?” she murmured as the trailer door closed.

Shaking his head, he looked down at her. “Uh, yeah.” His features relaxed a little as he took her in. “I mean, it wasn’t as much of a shock as when she shoved her tongue down my throat, but….”

“Maybe we can get her a dictionary and show her the definition of the word ‘boundaries’,” she teased, relaxing a little when he smiled softly at her.

“You’re assuming she can read,” Jen grumbled. “How about we get the hell out of here and grab some lunch?”

Grinning, Josh went behind Beck and reached for his wallet - one arm around her as he moved. “Let’s go!”

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They had barely made it to Josh’s car when Beck realised she’d left her phone in the trailer. It surprised her when Josh tossed her the key and asked her if she would mind grabbing him a water from the fridge. The fact that he trusted her that much…. Then again, she supposed, she had been working on his personal laptop for the better part of a month and most people would be more concerned with that than a trailer set up for them by their employer. Not that most people had trailers like that.

Biting down on a grin, she looked up at the trailer as it came into view and saw Ashley at the door again. What the hell was she doing there?

“Josh is leaving for the day,” she called out.

Ashley turned a sickly sweet smile on her. “Oh, I think I left my phone in his trailer,” she said. “Do you have -?”

“That phone?” Beck said, pointing to the one sticking out of her pants pocket. The lengths this woman would go to just to harass Josh were…almost impressive. Maybe she ought to suggest that Ashley take up needlepoint. Then again, was it a good idea to arm her when she’d effectively stood between her and Josh less than half an hour prior?

“Oh,” she giggled. “My mistake.” And she walked away without ceremony.

If her eyes had rolled any harder, Beck was fairly sure someone would’ve called 9-1-1. Shaking it off, she went into the trailer to get her phone and the water.

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Josh tried to fight the heat in his cheeks as Jen and Beck laughed about how terrible he was at Mario Kart. At least they were getting along; he had been so worried they wouldn’t. Not because either of them were catty or mean or anything like that, but because Jen could be quite protective of him; if she came on too strong, that might put Beck on the defensive. Luckily - or, he supposed, unluckily, since they were making fun of him - they seemed to get along great.

Jen laughed. “He’d lose to a baby, if he could get one to hold the controller.”

Beck smiled at him. “Syd was pretty proud of herself.”

“You lost too,” he shot back.

In no universe would he ever tire of hearing her laugh. “Yeah, but I never said I was any good. You hyped up your skills! Then Syd came along and boom!”

“Okay, okay,” Jen giggled, pushing back from the table. “I gotta run to the little girls room before I pee my pants laughing at you, Josh.” Before she left she grinned at them. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Dropping his head into one of his hands he rubbed at the bridge of his nose, mostly trying to hide the colour in his cheeks. Either he was going to kill Jen or die of embarrassment.

“So I’m okay to hit on the waiter?” Beck retorted.

Whatever Jen’s reply was, he didn’t hear it; his posture stiffened. Definitely kill Jen. Please don’t hit on the waiter, he thought to himself without looking up.

“You okay?”

Looking up, he discovered Beck smiling at him, completely ignoring the waiter who had appeared to take their dishes. Guy wasn’t even that good-looking. Wincing inwardly, he stopped himself. There was no need to act like a jealous asshole, even if it was only in his own head. Tiredness made him a real jerk sometimes. “Fine. Long day is all.”

“You were up before the sun, that should be illegal,” she teased.

“Mmm,” he agreed, taking a long sip of his coffee. “Probably gonna do an early night, get some rest for filming tomorrow.”

“Oh.” Briefly she looked down at her tea, then offered him a soft smile again. “If you’re tired, I can take the train home, it’s not a problem.”

As though anything in the world was going to make him give up that time with her. “No, it’s okay,” he insisted. “I’ll still drive you. I’m not that tired.”

“You don’t have to.”

Putting his coffee down to give her his full attention and a big smile, he said, “I want to.”

The way she bit down on her lip and tucked her chin was adorable. Shit, he was lost. Absolutely lost. “Oh.” She looked up suddenly. “I meant to say, you should probably bring all this up with Rick or someone. If Ashley’s being targeted too, it could be someone targeting the movie?”

He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I mean, she’ll tell her publicist and they’ll deal with it. It’s probably just some random person looking for a pay-out. Happens all the time.”

Beck didn’t look convinced, but if it was something against the movie or the studio, surely they would’ve heard more than someone putting…whatever the hell on his laptop and someone looking for a pay-out from Ashley, who isn’t even headlining the movie anymore. That news had got out really quickly, so it’s not as though it was some secret and the guy might think she was still in a major role. Maybe Beck was right, though.

He sighed. “Look, I’ll keep an eye out, okay? Promise I’ll be careful. And you’ve got my new laptop locked up like Fort Knox, so it’s not like they’ll get anything from me.”

“Anything they haven’t already got,” Beck muttered.

Pushing out a breath, he reached out and put an arm around her. “It’ll be okay,” he said. “Promise.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Maybe. I can’t help but feel like something’s missing. Like I’m missing something.”

“You’ll figure it out,” he reassured her. “If anyone’s gonna do it, it’s you.”

Smiling up at him, she murmured, “Thank you.”

Before he could say anything else, Jen dropped back into her seat. “So, did the waiter say yes?”

Beck laughed. “I thought you said not to ask him out.”

Josh suppressed a grimace at Jen, but judging by the look on her face he was less than successful.

Instead of embarrassing him like he’d expected her to, Jen grinned and said, “What do you say we get out of here? We’ve got the day off and I want to play tourist to keep myself awake after that flight.” Flying in from the UK always did a number on his internal clock too, but with the delays Jen had, he imagined it would be worse.

“I guess that makes me the tour guide?” Beck asked, smiling as she stood.

“Bingo,” Jen replied “Tanner, you in?”

Downing the last of his coffee, Josh stood. “Let’s go.”