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Beck caught Jade's eye across the room. She was politely smiling - a struggle for her even now after plenty of media training - but she gave a subtle tilt of her head and nod of her chin. Beck did not even have to look in that direction to figure out what she meant. He already knew.
In one corner, Cat was eating cake and giggling hysterically. Beck sighed. This was Jade's promotional event for a movie she was in, and thus it was on Beck to be a Cat-wrangler for the night. He did not mind doing it, but following her and especially keeping track of her sugar intake, was a fulltime job. He had been trying his best, but he had been overtaken by some people wanting to talk to him professionally as well.
"Cat, you need to stop eating sugar," he muttered to himself as he walked over. This was a conversation that would likely be more profitable due to talking to himself rather than in talking to Cat.
"Becky!" she said happily as she beamed at him, waving adorably from behind a newly seized lollipop from the open sweets table. Still, he could see the tiredness weighing on her. He wished that he had not been pulled into as many conversations as he had tonight, because then he could have helped her get out of the room before it got this bad. Because that was one of the things that made Beck her "daddy" - he could see when Cat was about to crash, and he did his very best to prevent it. And now, despite Cat's manic front, he knew that she was going to crash in just a few minutes.
"Hey, Kitty," he said, calling her by the nickname he and Jade had for her. It seemed to calm her particularly well whenever she was in an emotional spot. Those were the times she most needed support. And after the third promotional event of the week, he knew that he was exhausted. That must be magnified for Cat.
Of course, Cat did not realize that she was tired. She was working off of adrenaline and candied sugar highs. She felt awesome and ready to dance and never wanted the night to end and ... yes, these energy levels could feel a bit overwhelming and heady, but she would have fun and ... Beck was coming toward her with the look of someone who was about to ruin all her fun.
Beck watched as Cat's face fell and she preemptively shook her head "no" at him, holding one hand out to keep him at a distance so that she would be able to have some leverage in keeping him from confiscating her lollipop.
"Nooo!" she whined, anticipating a series of restrictions.
"I haven't even said anything yet," Beck said with some amusement, deciding to go with some levity rather than up Cat's panic by going after her treats right away.
"It's my lollipop," she insisted. Beck nodded, although a part of him winced at her insistence. It would make it harder to get the candy away from her, which would be necessary - there was no denying it. But also it was another reminder that Cat was not normal. She never would be. A conversation about the necessity of giving up a brightly coloured candy was a lot more suited to a conversation with a toddler than a woman in her twenties, but this was the reality of taking care of Cat.
"My lollipop. You can't take it away. My sugars are fine," she insisted, promptly putting the candy in her mouth.
"Are you sure they're fine?" Beck asked. "I don't think you've checked in awhile."
"I did," Cat mumbled around the lollipop.
"Cat," Beck said warningly. He knew that was not true, given that he was the dedicated person for helping Cat manage her sugars. He was the one who gave her the insulin shots, he helped her test. Jade took care of a lot of other aspects of Cat's care - she was the one who said "no" a lot more in the house. But tonight, he needed to do both, just as Jade did when the situation was reversed and he was working.
Cat frowned at the censure and took the lollipop out of her mouth to protest. "I'm being good, Beck! Leave me alone!" Her high pitched voice was going even higher and starting to draw some attention. He began to strategically get her to back up into a quieter corner of the room where the girl dressed in bubblegum pink and sparkles would not cause a disruption to the important business conversations being initiated everywhere.
"Calm down, Cutiepie," Beck said apeasingly. "I just think it's time for you and me to head out."
"What about Jade?" Cat asked, concern instantly in her face. She might love Beck, but she loved Jade. The fastest way to get Cat's attention was often to mention something regarding Jade. She did not want to leave her best friend behind.
"Jade's got to stay here a little longer. Remember? She's working here."
"It's not fair she gets to stay at the party forever and I have to go!" Cat argued with a little self-assured nod. Beck was certain that she felt like she had figured it all out. She wanted it to be fair, so she was setting her mind on staying.
Yay, he thought sarcastically. I get to try to convince Cat otherwise. That was a known difficult task.
"Jade actually wants us to head home ahead of her," Beck explained. Cat looked doubtful. "Don't you want to go feed Tutu?" he asked, referencing her beta fish.
"Is she hungry?" Cat asked, although her eyes were following the action around the room. Beck, despite knowing that Tutu was a male fish, had heard the "But it's a pink fish!" argument enough times to know that Cat firmly believed that Tutu was a girl, and as there were few things that helped Cat feel knowledgeable, this was one area where they let her believe what she wanted.
"Yeah, Tutu is hungry," Beck said encouragingly. "Let's go."
Cat looked around the room again, then twitched away as she saw Beck start coming closer to her. "Tutu is fine a little longer," she mumbled, holding the lollipop in the hand farther from Beck.
"It's time for us to go, Cat," Beck said, letting his voice become a little more no-nonsense.
Cat gave him one glare, then put the lollipop back in her mouth. "Nope!" she said cheerfully, starting to take off across the room.
Beck was no longer amused, stepping in front of her to block her escape. "Catarina, it's time for us to go," he said firmly, taking her wrist.
"Nooo!" she whined, struggling to get away.
"Do we throw tantrums when we're disappointed?" Beck attempted to reason, but it was already clear that Cat was not going to remember all of the talks that he and Jade had had with her. He changed tactics. "Cat, I'll count to five and then ...."
"Not going, not going, NOT GOING!" Cat protested, her voice amping up in the way it did right before she would start shouting. Beck decided that counting to five would not work either by this point and instead scooped her up.
"No more choices, Cat. It's time to go and I'm going to help you do that now," he said, carrying her back behind the curtains toward the back exit. He blessed Jade for having thought to bring two vehicles tonight. What had seemed excessive was now a godsend. Although he had initially hoped to get Cat calm enough to be able to wait out the rest of the night, going home now was necessary. There was no way she would regulate back to anything reasonable without being home.
Cat was not as into the "going home" plan as Beck. She knew well enough that she would not be getting to continue her candy binge and dancing when she got home. Beck would likely check her sugars, and then she would be feeding Tutu and going to bed. It would be awful, and she did not want to go - which lead to her kneeing Beck in the crotch as he tried to carry her to the car after her refusal to walk.
"CAT!" he gasped, almost dropping her. He groaned and winced, setting Cat down as he bent over in pain.
"Caterina Juliette Hannah Valentine!" Jade scolded, coming up from behind, her heels clumping in an irritated staccato. Beck was grateful for her presence as he doubted that he could have held on to Cat, and if she got back into the main room, she was definitely going to be disruptive and uncatchable. Jade would also be able to talk to her without being is pain, and that would likely help her be a bit more in control of her emotions while dealing with their troublemaker.
"Good thing I came back here to say goodnight," Jade said tersely, holding Cat even more firmly than Beck had. Cat was looking sulky at her escape plan had gone bad and trying to struggle away again, but Jade had a distinct just try me look on her face, and Cat wisely stopped struggling after a few seconds.
"Are you okay, babe?" Jade asked Beck.
"Yes," he grunted. After a few deep breaths, he added, "She has a strong kick."
Jade raised an eyebrow and turned back to Cat. Mindful that anyone could show up in the room at any moment, Jade leaned over and started whispering. From the fluctuating looks on Cat's face, rapidly going through the spectrum from sulky to repentant, she was being scolded, and very effectively.
"We'll talk more about this later," Jade ended in a low tone before passing her back to the now mostly-recovered Beck. "Get her home safely, Beck."
"Will do," he said.
Jade looked back at Cat and raised her brow impatiently. "Cat? Anything you want to say?"
"Sorry, Beck," Cat mumbled, her lower lip beginning to stick out again, but this time in sadness. Beck did not know what Jade had said, but one of the rules they had with her consistently was that she was not allowed to hurt or endanger herself or others. He suspected that his wife had reminded Cat of that and promised some sort of consequence when she got home.
"You're handling this?" he asked.
"Figured I would," Jade said, keeping an eye on Cat. They often did that. If Cat was being particularly difficult with one of them, the other would try to take over the consequences. As difficult as she might be at times, they both loved her too much to be willing to risk being too harsh with her due to their own hurt feelings.
"Sounds good," he said simply. He sighed and shrugged a bit. "Sorry, Ja. I thought I could have it under control. Didn't want you to have to step away from ..."
"It's fine, Beck," Jade said with an amused shake of her head. "I don't mind." She turned to Cat and all amusement was gone. "Be. Good. Understood?"
Cat gave a miserable nod.
"Okay." She pulled Cat in for a tight hug and a kiss on the forehead, before motioning for them to head out. She watched them go, giving a little wave before the door closed behind them.
In the car, Cat was a little more somber than normal. She sat quietly, fiddling her fingers.
"Maybe ... maybe I had too much sugar," she finally piped up.
"You think?" Beck asked, not entirely keeping the sarcastic note out of his voice, although he did dial it back. Cat was already regretful, and sarcasm usually scared her unless it was from Jade.
"Yeah, I think so," she said before turning toward him and asking with innocent curiosity, "Why did you let me eat all those lollipops?"
Beck took a deep breath and focused on driving. There was no reasoning with Cat on a sugar high.
"I don't have a clue, Cat. I don't have a clue."