Beckett V. Scott 2

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“Where’s Cal?” Maximiliano asked as soon as Asa and Jon walked through the door. His 19 year old brother, and hero, had promised him that he’d have dinner at the house. 

The kid needed that more than anything right then. Living with his oldest brother, and the man’s wife was...lonely sometimes. Dalia loved the kids, but not as much as she loved going out  with her friends, or JUST her husband. 

Asa was...a decent man, but he wasn’t tender and he wasn’t mature enough to play ‘Dad’ to two free spirited teenagers and a 9 year old boy. Alessandro and JC usually drove him crazy, and he never had time for Max- and so the young boy desperately looked forward to those rare days when Cal would grace them with his presence. The two had a special friendship and bond. 

“Maxi, I’m sorry, Cal can’t come...he said he has to study.” Asa explained calmly, not expecting his little brother to frown at him. 

“Well, can we call him? He promised me he’d come!” And that meant something. 

“I already talked to him. I don’t want you making him feel guilty.” Cal was determined to  be a doctor and was completely focused on his studies, though he was just going through generals at the moment. 

“But he promised!” The kid yelled, hitting the table with his hand- the sudden noise made the two teengers look up from their conversation, while Dalia put a hand over Asa’s arm to stop him from smacking the little child. 

“I’m going to tell you once. Calm down and eat.” Asa used a tone that his 3 brothers recognized as one that meant they better listen. 

“Dude, calm down…” J.C had to roll his eyes- he certainly didn’t get along with their 19 year old brother, and so didn’t understand what the issue was. “You’re so annoying.” He let the younger boy know, who was already upset, and so a brand new fight broke out. 

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“Dad?” 

L.J groaned loudly when he heard the horrible sound of one of his children opening his bedroom door. He rolled a bit and looked at the clock. 2:00 AM. 

Fuck no. 

Was he Dad? Not really, right? He was a son… a son that had been spoiled by a doting, noble, kind father. L.J had never really had a relationship with his mother, but that hadn’t ever mattered to him- He had the best father….and despite it, he had never had the burning desire to have children. He didn’t want the responsibility- not when he’d been 16 years old,and certainly not then, at 2 in the morning. 

“Dad?” Beck called again, getting closer to the bed, and even putting a hand on the sleeping form of his father. 

“Dad?”

“What?! Fuck, kid, what…?”  The 31 year old couldn’t help it. It wasn’t fair! It was their stupid mother that had wanted them. He was just the poor innocent sap that had thought he’d loved her, or some shit like that, and then she’d had to go and die, and leave them with him…

While his mind went places it shouldn’t, Beck’s brown eyes seemed to darken. He looked like her; and it made Lucas Julian Beckett throw a pillow at the oldest son. 

“Don’t make that face, Hartley.” 

“What face?” The 15 year old was flustered and frustrated and wanted to yell at the man- but he’d been there, done that, and it never helped things. 

“I don’t know, that stupid face that makes you look like your stupid mother-” He wasn’t exactly nice at the crack of dawn...and his son knew that, and yet he’d woken him up, and so, L.J sat up finally, curious if nothing else. 

“Is someone dying? Is the house on fire? Please tell me the house is on fire…” 

“No.” The teenager looked at him with a mix of hurt and disgust, and it made the man squirm under the accusatory gaze. “No, the house is not on fire. I would seriously hope that we only have to live with that once in our lifetime. Jackass.” The kid spat, before turning on his heel and slamming the door shut. 

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“You said WHAT?!” Sebastian was furious the next morning; his grandchildren had shown up at his doorstep the previous night, upset, crying- in a way he hadn’t seen since the house fire at their mother’s. 

“Dad, calm down…” LJ couldn’t believe the man that had always been on his side- was now yelling at him, the worst part was that they were in his father’s office- the one with glass walls, and he was painfully aware that everyone outside the walls were aware that there was something going on. 

“No, Lucas, I will not calm down! I will absolutely not calm down when you are FAILING those children!” 

L.J rolled his blue eyes in a way that made his father want to slap him. 

“Why can’t you keep them if you love them so much, Dad?” 

“... well, son, as I told you when you were 16 year old… you have got to be responsible for your actions.”  Sebastian had to force himself to calm down. He had never wanted to alarm his son about his health, but perhaps he needed to tell the younger man sooner rather than later, that things were not looking good. 

“... A better father would have paid for the abortion and not forced their teenager to marry a heathen-”

“Enough, son. It is not their fault. I understand the pressure you were under and your mother and I probably didn’t help the situation, but you’re not 16 years old anymore, you’re a father to four beautiful, hurting boys…”

L.J gave him a look that reminded the older man of a moody teenager, which made it easy for Sebastian to ignore him once someone knocked on his door, waving his assistant in. 

“Come in… Son, you remember Asa Scott, right?” The young and brilliantly hard working man had been working for Sebastian for almost 6 months. 

“Vaguely.” He said so casually that Asa wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Mr. Beckett… but the mediation team for the Smith case just arrived…” 

“Thank you, son, I’ll head there now- L.J, think about what we discussed…Take Asa here, he’s the legal guardian to his younger brothers- something that he wasn’t obliged to take on. It’s about responsibility, and it’s about loyalty.” 

“Well, does he want more kids? Asa? Do you? Mine are free.” L.J tried to joke, but neither his father nor the younger man were impressed. 

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“So, why are you trying to shmooze up to my father? It can’t possibly be that you find his lectures exciting?” L.J asked, once Sebastian was out of the room. Asa watched as the man strolled over to the liquor cabinet to pour himself a drink. 

“Your father is a wise and generous man, there’s no schmoozing on my part, and there never will be.” He respected Sebastian. 

“...I suppose he is that. What about you, Mr. Scott? Are you really so generous that you’ll slave away in a cubicle, raising children that aren’t yours?” 

Blue eyes met blue eyes, but the younger set held a maturity that the older did not. 

“...I’m the only person that my little brothers have and I’m never going to abandon them. 

“...” L.J drank from the glass he’d poured, slowly- methodically. “Some of  us dream bigger dreams…” 

“I do have aspirations, Lucas, but my family comes first...that’s something your father and I agree on.” 

“Right.” The man grabbed his coat and set his drink down. “Well, when my father comes back, will you tell him I thought about what he said? And I’m not interested.” 

Not in parenthood.

“...Sure.” 

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After the odd morning, Asa Scott had planned on having a productive day- he needed to work hard and fast if he wanted to make it home in time for dinner. Cal had promised he’d have dinner with them, but he could only stay an hour. It was fine for Asa, he just wanted Maximiliano to have a good evening after the misery of the previous night. 

He was actually able to get halfway done, before heading to lunch in the building cafeteria, but that’s when more oddities emerged. He grabbed a hot plate from the open cafe and hurried to find a table. The room was unusually quiet, but at least a few tables were occupied- he decided to sit alone, to focus on the paperwork he’d brought along with him, and he didn’t look up- not until he heard the sound of children running around, giggling. 

He ignored the sounds until the giggling turned into sobbing- alarming him. When he looked up at where the commotion was coming from, he recognized them right away, how could he not? 

The little identical twins from the night before. One had fallen in the middle of the cafeteria and scraped his knee- that’s where the crying was originating- but the other little boy had joined the crying a well, as if expecting someone to magically show up- 

But nobody was with them. A few of the workers were looking around as well- and despite himself, Asa hurried over to them. 

“Hey… hey, it’s okay… you tripped? That’s no fun…” He focused on the one on the floor, but then dedicated a smile to the one still standing. “Are you boys looking for your grandpa? My name is Asa, I work for him…” He wasn’t sure if the two would remember him from the previous night, but to his surprise, the hurt kid wrapped himself around the man. 

“We’re not looking for Papa, we’re just having fun, duh.” 

“...Oh.” Asa tried not to laugh at the run- on sentence from the kid not in his arms. “Does your Dad know where you are?” 

“...I don’t know.” The same kid frowned at him, giving him all the attitude in the world. “Daddy just said ‘Go play, I’m busy!’” He emulated in a spectacular fashion. “You were at my house yesterday.” 

“ You’re right, I was. I know your Dad…” Kind of, “and your Papa, but I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.” Asa held out a hand for the child to take and shake it. 

“My name is Luca, and that’s Liam” He pointed to the kid still clutching to Asa as if his life depended on it. “We’re ‘dentical twins.” 

“I see that… should we call your grandpa? He’s probably worried…” Or would be, when he realized the little boys were alone, wandering the building. 

“He’s ‘PAPA’ NOT GRANDPA!” Luca yelled at him, in a way that made Asa quirk a brow- and think that the child was lucky he wasn’t his son. 

“...Right, so let’s call him, yeah?” He was already getting his phone out, when he spotted Buchanan running into the cafeteria- he waved the 13 year old over. 

“Bucky!” 

“There you two are!” The kid went to pull the two brats away from Asa, and when they fought against him, he pulled their hair. “You don’t fucking run off!” 

“Hey!” Asa did snap then, making the kid let go immediately. “Let’s calm down here. Don’t pull them like that-” The man suggested, as the little twins started crying and hugging the basic stranger- 

“Well, they’re not supposed to get lost-” The 13 year old rolled his eyes, making the man realize why Jon found Bucky irritating. 

“Is your dad around…?” He’d have to walk them all to the irresponsible man. 

“...He’s just at his centre..” 

“...His center?”

“The Centre for the arts?” The teenager gave him a confused look- as if he was surprised that Asa wasn’t aware of what his father did. 

“...The…” Asa paused, as if suddenly realizing why the firm sponsored the local centre theater. 

“...The Liana Centre Theater...belongs to your father?”  

“...I guess?” The teenager shrugged. “People are auditioning right now, so he didn’t want us around.” 

“...Did you walk here?” The theater was a good 15 minutes away. 

“Well these two little dumb-” 

“Hey-” 

“These two STUPID KIDS ran off, and they didn’t even look when they crossed the street!” Buchanan complained, and suddenly Asa could see how stressed and ready to cry the teenager was. 

“We have to remember to look both ways before crossing the street…” The man told all the kids, for the benefit of calming them all down. “Sebastian went out to lunch today, but let’s head to his office and call him…” 

He wasn’t sure he’d make it home for dinner then, but what could he do? Despite all the riches and privileges they clearly had- the Beckett’s needed him in that moment.