Elliot felt her heart jump into her throat at the sight of Beck. Familiar laughter filled the air around her, in turn making her heart plummet to the floral patterned floor. Milo glanced back.

"Oh, that's right," he said. "Beck is here too."

Elliot barely heard him as she hurried over to the entering pair. Beck's gaze met hers and a smile spread across his lips and slipped into his blue eyes. Tristan looked between then with an expression that said they were all too much. As he passed Elliot, he spoke.

"Thank me by never calling me again," he said, then was gone.

Elliot stopped before Beck, her eyes wide.

"What are you doing here?" she said, the words coming out startled more than excited as she tried to handle her conflicting emotions.

Beck gave an amused chuckle.

"You know, of all the scenarios I played through my head of how this would happen, this actually wasn't at the top?" He smiled. "Though it was in there."

"I'm serious, what in the world are you doing here?"

She looked him up and down, fully taking in his outfit. It was a black button down paired with orange pants. She stared back at him.

"And why in all of the universe are you wearing orange pants?"

Beck placed his hands on her shoulders.

"El," he said. "Tell me now. Should I make a run for the exit?"

Elliot's eyes went wide.

"Why on earth would you leave? You just got here."

Beck just stared at her, his laughter hidden on the edges of his mouth.

"I don't know," he said. "I had this crazy thought that you weren't excited to see me."

"No, yeah, I am, it's just my family and the fact that you are wearing orange pants." She looked down at the pants then up at him. "Why are you wearing orange pants? If your answer is Tristan broke you out of prison to be here then you should know it probably wasn't worth it."

Beck's smile grew, his blue eyes brightening with amusement. "You say that but this conversation is proving you wrong."

"What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice quiet.

Beck took his hands off her shoulders and slid them into his pockets.

"I had this insane idea to take you up on your offer of being your plus one." His expression turned mischievous. "And I was mildly curious to meet this," he leaned in close, "family of yours." He pulled back and shrugged. "I figured this must be something to see."

"What? You have a morbid curiosity about watching disasters? The Hindenburg was a blast, wasn't it?"

"I don't know, the Titanic had more flare to it."

"I missed that one. Seats in the boats were impossible to secure ahead of time."

"Not if you knew the right people. I had one just off the starboard side."

Elliot smiled, the look instantly mirrored on Beck's face. Their moment didn't last as they heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Elliot glanced around Beck and saw her mother walking into the dining room. Her expression was relaxed and when she looked at Elliot, she had a warm smile at the ready.

"Hello, sweetheart," she said, walking over to Elliot and hugging her. She pulled away and looked at Beck, unfazed by his presence. "Hello Beck, lovely to see you again."

"Same, Mrs. McKenzie," Beck said.

Marilyn waved her hand. "Please, it's Marilyn. I'm off to find Tristan, he owes me a twenty."

She left them and moved through the room, to find her daughter and future son-in-law.

Before Elliot could decide whether she wanted to face the rest of the family or hide away with Beck, Austin and Seth approached her.

"Hey, Elliot we wanted to talk..." Austin started but stopped when he noticed Beck standing with her. "Uh, hi. I'm Austin Mckenzie."

Beck smiled and shook hands. "Beck Daniels."

"Seth."

Beck took Seth's hand as well, looking composed, which didn't surprise Elliot since this was his normal state of being. When Beck settled in on Elliot's side, both brothers noticed the orange pants.

"Nice pants," Seth said.

Beck grinned. "You know what they say, orange is the new black."

Both brothers laughed at this while Elliot tried to understand how she felt about Beck's easy manner in the light of having recently told off her brothers.

"How are you and Elliot connected?" Austin asked.

Beck smiled at Elliot, the look speaking volumes. He reached out and took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. Despite the tension of being in front of her brothers with Beck, Elliot's brain focused on the sole fact that her hand was in his. As he tightened his grip, her stomach and heart did contradicting things. Her stomach did an impressive gymnastics floor routine that would have won it the gold, while her heart giggled uncontrollably.

"I'm with Elliot," Beck said, turning back to the brothers, his expression even again.

Both brothers exchanged surprised looks, then sent Elliot teasing grins. Their looks went unnoticed by her, her mind still running around the room screaming with excitement at the feel of Beck's steady hand in hers.

"How did you two meet?" Seth asked.

Elliot's mind finally returned to the conversation, uncertainty dampening her excitement. "Beck is just a-"

"I'm El's co-writer on her latest novel," Beck said jumping in.

She inwardly winced and braced herself.

"Oh, really?" Austin asked.

"Yeah, we've been working together since the end of May."

Seth nodded. "Is writing your full time career like Elliot's?"

Elliot froze not sure how to take the comment, since it felt as if he said it without any judgement.

"No, I'm in college. I go to Boston University."

Both brother's brightened as if they discovered Beck spoke the same language as them.

"That's a great school," Seth said. "I almost went there myself but chose USLC instead."

"I wanted to stay in the sun," Austin said. "Which meant Stanford for me."

"I don't blame you," Beck said. "The winters can be harsh. I'm glad I chose BU because it meant I got to apply for the co-writer job with Elliot."

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Seth asked. "But working with Elliot, does that mean she's technically your boss?"

"I have to climb the business ladder someway."

The three of the laughed while Elliot felt like she'd been dropped into some strange twilight zone. Never in her wildest imagination, which given her choice in career was vast, did she see her brothers getting along with Beck. Somehow she felt like the awkward fourth member.

The clinking of a knife against glass postponed the interrogation. Voices died off in between words and sentences, as conversation were put to rest. Heads turned and eyes moved about, searching for the reason for the interruption. On a chair stood Elliot's father, surveying the company before him. When the room was quiet and the last words had been absorbed into the walls and the surrounding crowd, he lowered the glass.

"If everyone will take their seats, then we can get this dinner started," he said.

Forgetting about their statements and comments from seconds before, the party divided, moving to find seats and discovering new conversations on the way. Austin and Seth both gave Beck friendly slaps on the shoulders before heading to their seats.

"That didn't go as bad as I thought it would," Beck said.

"No, it didn't," Elliot said, surprised.

*******************

With comments on a big day and needing beauty sleep the dinner finally broke apart. Chairs were pushed back as guests rose and made for cars or hotel rooms. Tristan took his mother's arm with a smile and walked with her to the elevators. Cece stretched her arms up, with a yawn, before she tossed them about Milo's neck. He held her waist and smiled down at her.

"Balcony?" he asked.

"Balcony."

They left talking about small things, waiting for space to talk of larger matters. Elliot took a last sip of her water before walking with Beck out of the dinning room. In the center of the lobby she paused.

"Long flight?" she asked.

"Very." Beck answered.

"Tired?"

"Yes."

"Feel like going to sleep?"

"Not at all."

She smiled.

"Cece and Milo have claim to the balcony. I'm guessing Tristan would kill us if we tried to talk in his room. So," she said, dragging out the word. "We can be clichés and walk on the beach or hang out in the parking lot? But I honestly don't think we are classy enough for that."

"Let's be clichés," he said.

She turned and they moved to the entrance. The cool night air slipped inside as Beck pushed the door open for her and they stepped out. In silence, they walked away from the hotel and onto the empty beach. Elliot stopped when they stepped onto the sand. She bent down and quickly slipped off her shoes. Beck followed, cuffing his pants for good measure. When he straightened, he looked at Elliot and smiled. He held out his hand and hers instantly found it. The sensation of his fingers holding tight to hers sent her stomach into another bout of flips and cartwheels.

The silver half moon watched them as they made their slow way down to the water line. Coarse sand seamlessly melted into damp solid ground. They stood for a second before the expansive ocean, watching the undulating dark blue water and the face of the moon that was reflected in it. The waves splashed like little kids playing tag, running up and touching them before scurrying away.

Elliot turned and looked up at Beck, as if really seeing him for the first time.

"You're really here," she said, unable to hide the tone of wonderment.

"Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"If you can't answer that, you really are the world's smartest idiot."

He chuckled and squeezed her hand. He turned and they walked along the water's edge. The sand collapsed beneath their weight, their journey imprinted behind them for mere seconds then washed away.

"So, I have to ask," Elliot said, looking at him. "Why are you here?"

"Your question is making me rethink the answer to my previous question."

"It's a reasonable question. The last time I saw you, you looked like you couldn't run away fast enough." Beck winced like it was a painful memory. "I don't hear from you for four days." Elliot scrunched her face in embarrassment. "Did you get my message?"

"No," Beck said, his face even again, "unfortunately, elephants trampled my phone before I could listen to it."

"So you got my message and didn't return my call -"

"Because you said not to."

"And then you show up at my sister's rehearsal dinner. In orange pants." Elliot stopped walking and faced him. "What is with the orange pants? You never struck me as a person to own orange pants."

"I wasn't aware I owned orange pants either until your brother helped me pack."

"Tristan helped you pack?"

"Yes."

"Okay, there has to be a story behind all of this."

Beck shook his head, his expression indifferent. "Surprisingly enough, there isn't a story at all."

Elliot laughed and they continued walking.

"What is this story?" she asked. "How did you go from turning down my offer to flying 3,000 miles to be my Plus One?"

"I blame it all on Milo."

"Usually what I do as well."

He looked down at her, grinning. "Do you want this story or not?"

Elliot rolled her eyes and gave a big sigh.

"Yes, I want this story."

"Good, then as impossible as this sounds, be quiet."

A battle, equal to the Civil War, was waged between Elliot and her lips as they fought to smile. Beck's own cheeky grin came to aid and Elliot lost. She halted again and twisted to him.

"Wait, if you're here, does that mean you finished your half of the book?"

Beck gave her a flat look and she pinched her lips closed. He smiled and led them forward.

"Let me start off by saying I was an idiot to say no to your offer -"

"Yes, you were."

She received another flat look but its was undercut by the laughter in Beck's eyes.

"I was an idiot and Milo helped me realize that. I stopped by the cafe the next day and he told me I was an idiot, along with some other choice words." Elliot grinned at the thought of Milo's vast vocabulary coming to his aid to insult Beck. "He also told me that the fact that you asked me to go with you was incredibly huge, since your family is slow in letting people get close. It meant that..." Beck rubbed the back of his neck. "That you liked me."

"Well, that's Milo wrong again. I can't stand you." She finished this with a squeeze of his hand.

"Naturally," he said, grinning. "Well, I realized my excuse for not saying yes was for the sake of professionalism and finishing the book. That's why I decided to finish the book and show up here. That's also why I was distracted and half ran out of the cafe."

"And here I was thinking it was because you couldn't stand to be around me."

"Not a chance."

The corners of her mouth curled. "Did you finish?"

"No, I planned on writing the final chapter on the plane, but fell asleep on an elderly man instead." Elliot's head fell back as she let out a loud laugh, the image too perfect. "He was really understanding, once I explained I hadn't slept for about four days trying to get the book done so I could be here."

Elliot shook her head, staring at him.

"You understand how stupid your whole plan was, right? I don't give a hoot about professionalism. Especially since we never cared about it before."

"Looking back now, yes. I don't know...I thought I had to justify why I said no."

Elliot dropped her gaze and looked at the sand, watching as bubbles of white foam popped and disappeared.

"Why did you say no?" she asked.

"Stupidity," Beck said.

She looked up at him. "That only works if you're stupid. I know for a fact that you are merely dumb."

He laughed and lowered his gaze then brought it back up. "I don't know. Why does anyone say no to something amazing?"

"Fear." Pausing, she cocked her head and gave him a mischievous smile. "Do I scare you, Beck Daniels?"

"You terrify me, Elliot McKenzie."

"Good. Because you scare the dickens out of me."

He grinned and tightened his hold on her hand. Thoughts aligned they took up their walk again.

"The orange pants?" Elliot asked.

"Milo enlisted Tristan's help to get me to California. How he managed to do that is beyond me."

"And me."

"While I was writing, Tristan helped pack my bag. It was only when I changed in the airport here that I realized the only thing I could wear tonight were these. I think it was his way of a joke."

"Or his brilliant plan of helping you realize that no matter what you would show up for me, even if it meant wearing orange pants."

"Nope, I think it was a joke."

He smiled at her and her lips mirrored it.

"That's how you came to be here."

"Yes, it is."

"It's a pretty great story."

"I think so. Though I would have rewritten the part where I said no at first."

"Naturally, because you looked like a complete idiot."

"Exactly."

They walked in silence, letting the rhythmic sound of the waves take up their thoughts. The moon's smile drifted across the sky. When the lights of the hotel were faint dots, they turned around.

"Can I ask you a question?" Beck asked, breaking into Elliot's thoughts.

"Funny, those six words aren't so bad anymore."

"You haven't heard the question."

She laughed, the sound drifting away on the breeze.

"What is the question?" she asked, the remnants of a laugh still in her voice.

"Can I ask you how the last few days have gone with your family?"

The laughter slipped away from Elliot and she found she couldn't meet Beck's gaze.

"Cece would tell you it's gone better than she thought, that the problems we had in the past aren't as big of a deal." She shrugged, unsure. "While I still felt all the tension of the past. Cece advised I let go."

Beck hummed in acknowledgment and Elliot could almost hear the gears in his mind turning.

"Please say it," she said.

"El...I have to agree with Cece."

"That's a bad idea, she choose Milo as boyfriend and he can't make coffee."

Silently, Beck regarded her as if waiting for the sarcasm to fall away. She wanted to point out he would be waiting until death since she didn't know how to talk without it. But his steady gaze finally made her curb her second language.

"Why?" she asked, dropping his hand. "Why do you agree with her?"

"Do you want an outsider's perspective?"

"No, I want yours."

That teased a smile from him, but it fell away quickly. "What I saw was a family with a lot of history but not as broken as I imagined it to be with all that you told me. Are you still divided? Yes, that can't be ignored, but after listen at dinner to everyone talk that might have happened anyway."

"Cause Cece and I are damaged goods?"

Beck brushed his thumb over Elliot's cheek lovingly.

"No, it's because you're simply different. You, Cece and Tristan would always find your way to the arts just as Michelle, Austin, and Seth would find their way into business. Divorce or not, I get the feeling understanding each other would have always been work."

"But this week has been so uncomfortable."

"There's a different between uncomfortable and awkward. If it's been four years since you've really interacted, that's going to happen. Even though you're siblings, you're all different people now, you have to relearn who they are as they have to with you."

Elliot fell silent, thinking.

"How do I move on when I still feel the hurt of the past?"

"With time. You've talked briefly about how it used to be, it's okay to feel sad that it won't be that way again. But that doesn't mean it can't be something new."

Elliot began walking again, Beck alongside her, as she tried to come to terms with the life altering thought and how it coincided with what Cece said.

Playing with hypotheticals, Elliot viewed the previous days through the scope of Beck's perspective. The interactions that felt stiff were merely awkward. The comments about her job, money, and life weren't condescending but from a lack of understanding. On the tail end, Elliot saw how her outburst had been doubly insulting in the light of Seth trying to make a connection again. Regret coiled in her stomach.

"What if it takes me a long time to let go?"

"The important thing will be that you are working to let go."

Nodding, Elliot reclaimed Beck's hand, wanting to the comfort she felt there. For a long time, they let silence join and walk alongside them, listening to the hush of the waves. Thoughts tumbled over and over in Elliot's head as she sat with how life could be.

When they drew back towards the hotel, Elliot saw Austin and Seth sitting out on the patio and she knew what she had to do. Inside, she felt like her nerves were having a prison riot. But this was something she had to face.

"Give me a moment," she said, letting go of Beck's hand.

Forcing one foot in front of the other, Elliot approached her bothers. When they saw her, they stopped talking, their relaxed stances turning uncertain. After their last conversation she couldn't blame them.