Modern Family

Covering the Bases

Or, at least, that's what Jace assumed. He hated the fact that he was questioning what his daughter was doing that night, especially seeing as one of the major foundations of their relationship was their ability to be completely honest with each other. Even the things which were hard, such as having to explain death to a six year old after she saw a lifeless pigeon lying on the side of the road, they had powered through and he genuinely believed their relationship was stronger for it.

They didn't lie to each other. That was the number one rule.

So he decided that he'd trust that when his daughter said she was sleeping over at her friend Aubrey's that's truly what she was doing.

Still, he bought his snacks and drove the rest of the way to Austin's in a daze and by the time he had parked his car on the street and stepped through the bassist's perpetually open front door, he hadn't figured out how to properly handle the situation. The boys were in the basement when he arrived, Austin and Ryan leaning forwards with furrowed brows and pursed lips, intensely drawn into the newest Call of Duty game as Liam sat back on the couch beside them, not particularly interested and extremely glad when Jace entered the room.

"Hey, man!" the drummer greeted him brightly, patting the little room on the leather sofa beside him, indicating Jace should take a seat. "I'm so glad you're finally here. The boys are completely ignoring me."

"We're not ignoring you," Ryan called out, though his eyes never left the television screen, "We're just a little busy."

"It's alright," Jace shrugged, dropping the plastic bag full of candy on the table before plopping down beside his drummer best friend and stretching out his legs. "I need to talk to you anyway."

Liam's eyebrows lifted in surprise, his eyes lighting with interest as he stayed silent, but nodded for Jace to continue.

Despite the fact that Jace was the first of them to have kids, he still went to Liam for a lot of his parenting advice. The drummer was the oldest and quite possibly the most rational and more often than not, he could explain things in a way which made perfect sense, a skill Jace did not possess.

"I saw Connor at the shop on my way here," Jace began slowly, almost cringing as the next words came out. "And he was buying condoms."

That piqued the interest of the other boys. Austin paused the game and lifted one eyebrow as he turned his head to face Jace. "Savannah and Connor are having sex?"

Of course, Jace had told his friends about Savannah's new boyfriend as soon as he'd found out the news himself and as would become tradition when it came to the boys in Savannah's life, they had spent the better part of an hour cyber stalking him before coming to the conclusion that he genuinely was a good kid.

"I don't know," Jace shrugged as Ryan and Austin put down their controllers, giving the lead singer their full attention. "That's not a conversation Savannah and I have ever had."

Liam crinkled his nose as he spoke, knowing Jace didn't necessarily want to hear this particular set of advice. "Maybe that's a conversation you should have."

"Or, you know, you could go tell Connor to keep it in his pants," Ryan offered.

Rolling his eyes, Liam shot the guitarist a glare that made Austin snicker into the closed fist he was holding at his lips. "If they want to have sex, they're going to do so whether or not Jace gives them permission."

"Okay, so what do I do?" Jace asked, genuinely at a loss. "Don't you think it's a little bit soon? I mean, I just don't want her to do anything that she's going to end up regretting."

"For all you know, that ship has already sailed," Austin piped up, which earned him equally fiery glares from the drummer and lead vocalist.

Despite his unappreciative look in the bassist's direction, Jace knew that there was a horrifying possibility that Austin was right. It was entirely possible that the reason Connor was buying condoms was not for the purpose of anticipation, but because he was restocking his supply.