Sunday Candy

That was a brutal shift.

Jesse stood in front of the door of his house, taking a moment to rub away the soreness from his eyes. He grimaced as he felt the ache in his neck and back. He smelled of smoke; he was covered in dirt and soot; all from spending the last ten hours on his feet attending to a sudden and fierce blaze downtown.

Yesterday's emergency was not particularly nice one.

An explosion and the ensuing fire that had spread far too quickly was never nice. Jesse didn't have time to wrap his head around the damage done. He didn't want to. What he needed to do then was to buckle down, dealt with what was in front of him and prayed it would be adrenaline and coffee had kept him going but now the tiredness was catching up. Benji had dropped him at his front door and Jesse had dragged himself up the walkway, half asleep. It was already Sunday morning; one of those perfect sleepy spring ones with the sun already streaming down and the neighbourhood quiet.

Jesse fumbled for his keys and after the second try, managed to open the door and stumbled inside into the hallway. He took off his coat, almost compelled to drop it in a heap on the floor. He was that tired. Despite wanting nothing more than to kick off his boots and land face down on his bed, he knew he'd better stripped off his work clothes and put them in the laundry. Smelling of smoke was one thing, making his bed reek with it was another.

The house was quiet and Jesse trudged into the living room. He glanced ruefully at dining table. Dinner had been cleared away, of course, but the nice silver candlesticks were still set up; the candles long snuffed out. The fancy placemats were still there, together with the little floral arrangement that Beca made from the flowers he brought for her. He had to hurry off halfway through date night with Beca. It was supposed to be a quiet night in, just them two of them having a romantic dinner and watching a movie. They were celebrating their second anniversary as a couple. In between his shift patterns and Beca's work, it had been hard for them to have a weekend together. It was just pure bad luck that when they finally did, he had been called back to the station.

Jesse sighed, tiredly rubbing his face again.

He would make it up to her. She must have left last night after he had to run off and once he had some sleep, he'll go over to her place. Hopefully, there would be still enough hours in the Sunday to do something really special with his girlfriend. It had been an amazing two years and he really just want to show Beca how much she meant to him.

Just when Jesse was about to turn towards the laundry room, he heard someone moving in the kitchen. For a moment, he thought his tiredness was making him hear things. Jesse frowned, listening intently and then he heard the unmistakeable sound of Beca's voice, singing. And when he made his way to the kitchen at the back, Jesse could not help but smile at what greeted his tired eyes.

Beca was making breakfast. Her back was towards the door, her hair loose down her back. She was wearing a light blue vest, one strap hanging off her shoulder and grey boy shorts, busy whisking some batter in a bowl. Jesse had trampled across living room to the kitchen in his heavy work boots but she did not hear a thing. She had her earbuds in, humming along and singing snatches of the song she was listening o.

"You gotta ...hmm hmm...holy..." Beca hummed and sang, whisking in time to the music. "...waiting for...hmmm.. Candy."

This was how he liked to see her. So entrenched into whatever she was listening to, eyes closed, mouth upturned at the corners. Th sight never failed to make him smile. She looked so happy, so lost in the music that it didn't matter what was happening around her. Right now, Beca was dangerously waving the whisk in the air, in time to the music, splattering bits of batter on the counter top. Beca's hips swung slowly as she danced to the music and when she spun around on her heels, she caught sight of Jesse.

"Jesus Christ!"

The bowl would have slipped and fell on the floor if Jesse had not caught it in time. It was far too late to save the whisk.

"Dude!" Beca yelled out, annoyed. "You scared the hell out of me!"

Jesse just smiled as he bent down to pick up the whisk. He perched both whisk and bowl on the counter top, before checking up on Beca. She was scowling at him; that cute scowl, all pursed lips and evil eyes which he always found endearing and totally cute. It was crazy how completely adorable she looked when she's angry. Not that Jesse ever told her that. He still have some shred of self preservation left.

"'Morning, babe," he said instead.

"Why did you sneak up on me like that?" Beca scolded back, turning the music off.

"I wasn't," Jesse replied. He gestured towards his boots. "These made a racket. But you had your earphones on."

Beca took off her earbuds, winding them up and placing her stuff on the counter. "I still think you're sneaking up on me," she pouted, still too stubborn to give in.

Jesse knew better than to disagree with her. He changed the subject instead. "What are you making?" he asked, peering into the bowl on the counter.

Mollified, Beca picked up the whisk, rinsing it under running water before beating the batter again. "Pancakes," she churlishly answered.

"Buttermilk blueberry pancakes?" Jesse asked, smiling up at her, his cheeks dimpling.

Beca just scowled again and huffed. "They are your favourite. I wanted to make sure the batter's ready when you came in. Whenever that is."

Jesse came over to where she was, placing his hands on her waist and stealing a kiss on the cheek. Beca just looked annoyed, rubbing her cheek where he kissed her but Jesse just laughed, knowing she was pretending.

"I'm sorry about last night," he apologised. "I know we had planned it for weeks."

"Yeah, well -" Beca shrugged. "You have to do your job."

Jesse just hugged her closer, rubbing his face into her soft hair. She didn't have to do this. She could have call it a night after he rushed off and go home. She didn't have to stay to make sure he had breakfast.

"You stayed," he mumbled into her hair. "I blew you off with dinner last night and still you stayed."

He didn't have to say how grateful he was that she did. After a night like that, seeing her in his kitchen, doing something so mundane like making him breakfast was what Jesse sorely needed. Instinctively, Beca could sense what else he needed from her. She placed the bowl back on the counter, turned around in his arms and hugged him back.

He sighed softly.

Beca gave the best hugs. She did not give them often. She was not a hugger, she had declared earlier in their relationship. He was the touchy feely one but when she did give a hug, she would hold him so close, so tight, so fiercely that Jesse could not help but feel everything was going to be ok. She broke the hug after a few minutes and looked at him properly.

"You're really tired," Beca commented, looking at Jesse critically.. "Bad night, huh?"

Jesse closed his eyes momentarily.

"One of the bad ones," he agreed. "Took hours to bring the blaze under control."

Beca wrapped her arms again around him, tilted her face up and kissed him fervently. When they broke apart, a smirk tugged at the corners of her mouth when she saw he was gasping for breath.

"You should get some rest," Beca ordered, running a hand through his mussed up hair, She scratched his scalp lightly and a low moan fell from Jesse's lips as he screwed his eyes tight. "What do you want to do first? Eat or sleep?" Beca asked. "If you wanna eat, get clean up and I'll get a batch ready."

"How 'bout if I go straight to bed?" Jesse mumbled, placing his hand over Beca's, silently urging her to scratch his scalp again. He still had his eyes closed tight.

"I leave the batter in the fridge," Beca replied. "You can cook them yourself when you're up."

Jesse opened one eye. "Then I eat now."

Beca gave him a mock scowl. "Lazy ass. Go get clean up."

By the time Jesse had come back from the bathroom, the kitchen smelled of breakfast. Of warm sugary pancakes, melted butter and hot, bitter coffee. The pan was sizzling. A place was set on the countertop, complete with cutlery and freshly squeezed orange juice. The radio was playing some jazz softly in the background and in the midst of it all was Beca, concentrating hard on cooking his pancakes.

Jesse settled on the barstool, watching her.

She hadn't showered yet. Her face was slightly red from the heat from the stove and a sheen of sweat was on her forehead. Her hair in a messy bun with flyaway strands around her face. Beca impatiently swiped the back of her hand across across her face to push those annoying strands away. Jesse thought she couldn't look more perfect.

"What were you singing just now?" he asked.

"Hmm?" Beca answered distractedly. She flipped the third pancake over carefully. "Oh nothing. Just a rap song."

"Didn't sound like a rap song." Jesse said, frowning a little.

Beca slid the last pancake onto his plate and put aside the pan. She pushed the plate nearer to Jesse, who took it and added a generous pat of butter on top of the stack.

"It's by Chance the Rapper. Quite a sweet song actually.," Beca answered, handing Jesse the maple syrup and a fresh cup of coffee. "I was singing the hook."

He was already scoffing the pancakes.

"Sing it for me," he asked through a mouthful of pancakes.

"What?"

"The hook. Sing it for me?," Jesse said, after swallowing and taking a gulp of coffee. "Please?"

Beca's jaw dropped slightly. The hook had been playing on a loop in her mind. It was more like a ear worm, rather than anything else and she wasn't paying any attention to it.

"Wait," Beca frowned, trying to recollect the lyrics. Jesse watched as she closed her eyes. Then she opened her eyes and began to sing.

"You gotta move slowly. Taking in my body like it's holy," Beca sang. "I've been waiting for you for the whole week. I've been waiting for you; you're my Sunday Candy."

She finished the verse and looked at Jesse with a huge smile on her face. "Don't you think it's beautiful?" Beca asked, her blue eyes shining. "I don't know who sang the hook but it sounded - "

She couldn't finish the sentence. Jesse's fork had clattered down noisily onto the counter and he was already out of his seat, reaching for her.

"I think you're beautiful," he murmured, grasping her closer, his mouth already seeking hers. Beca could only hold on to him tight because Jesse was already backing her up against the counter. His hands were on her waist, lifting her up onto the counter, lips still locked together. Her legs fell open and Jesse moved closer, into that warm space between her thighs. His hands travelled up to cradle her face as he kissed her deeply.

Beca met his kisses just as fiercely. She pushed herself slightly off the counter, pressing herself closer. Air became a problem and Jesse had to draw back to catch a breath before sinking his face into that sweet space on her neck, just below her jaw. He loved to feel the beat of her pulse under his lips, loved the scent of her clean sweat, loved how soft and smooth her skin was just there. His hands were already scrabbling underneath her vest, up her bare back and Jesse was impatiently tugging at the vest, wanting to take it off when he heard a low giggle in his ear.

"I thought you were tired," Beca teased.

"No, not tired," he smiled. "Not when you sing like that."

And his lips met hers again and the pancakes laid forgotten.

AN : Umm...the original was a lot longer and dirtier but it's a Sunday sort of thing and I wanna to keep it sweet.