"All right, let's do this," Beca blew a breath, tightening her grip on her laptop bag as she walked in the building where she worked.
She was both excited and horrified. It took her a while to warm up to everyone, at her old job- No one actually cared about her so it wasn't a problem then.
In her new job, though, she knew that she can't say in her bubble and work in silence. She needed to communicate and have a good working relationship with everyone. She was going to boss an entire department around and thanks to her experience as a captain in her Bella days she knew how to be a team player. But then again she wasn't going to be competing in a cappella competitions with her girlfriends.
Stepping out of the elevator, she took a look around at the office. The gigantic windows were the first thing that caught her eyes. The second thing that she noticed was the fact that there no walls separating most offices. The third thing that grabbed her attention was a worker (or an intern she couldn't tell) dressed in sweatpants.
Her glass-walled office was in the back. "Awesome," she murmured. She would have preferred a little privacy but if glass-walls was how they rolled on the east coast she wasn't going to complain.
"Can I help you?" asked the bearded twenty-something guy that came up to her.
"I'm Beca Mitchell," she started to introduce herself.
"New director of A&R," he finished for her. She nodded and didn't miss the way he quickly checked her out with a smirk on his face.
"I'm Matt Woodward. I'm in charge of the marketing department," he extended his hand. She took it and shook it briefly.
"The morning debriefing," he used air quotation and made a face, "is in five minutes, I'll introduce you," he stuffed his hands in his pockets and started to walk when she did.
"Cool," she looked around for what might be a conference room. There wasn't any. There were a few glass-walled offices and that was it.
Hearing Matt whistle, she looked up.
"Guys," he said when he got everyone's attention with his whistling. "Since our boss isn't in town, I'm gonna do the pleasure of introducing the new gal at work," he gestured with his hand at Beca.
She took it as a cue to introduce herself. She smiled at Matt. "Hello," she looked at her other co-workers.
"I'm Beca Mitchell," she started to introduce herself and felt like she was the new kid at school, "the new A&R director and I look forward to working with you all," she said, keeping her introduction short.
She made sure to keep eye contact as she talked.
"All right," Matt clapped his hands, "you met the girl that the big guy sent from the west coast, you may go back to work now," he gestured for them to go. Beca didn't like the way he was talking, his tone was ironic and not professional. She liked it when people at work were more or less casual. She didn't want to place any judgments but he was way too casual.
"No debriefing?" she asked Matt.
"Nah," he answered.
"Okay. I'll see around Matt," she politely smiled at him then started to make her way to her office.
"Don't you wanna have a tour?" he asked.
"I don't wanna keep you from your work," she tilted her head. "Thanks for offering," she looked back ahead of her, sighing when she felt his gaze on her. She had a feeling he was checking her out so she glanced at him and caught him shamelessly checking her out.
"Hey," Beca rested her hand on Jesse's shoulders. "Sorry," she apologized, seeing that she startled him then leaned in and kissed him hello.
"How was your first day at work?" Jesse asked when Beca sat next to him on a bench at Central Park.
"Eye-opening," she took the half a sandwich he handed her.
He looked at her as he bit into his half, waiting for her to elaborate.
"Yeah, they do not mess around," she blew a breath. "It didn't completely suck, then again I set really low expectations," she shrugged. "Sandra running late?"
"Yep, she's stuck in traffic. She should be here soon," he took a bite from the half a sandwich he had.
"Hey, Bec what are we?" he asked her breaking the comfortable silence they got in.
"What?"
"What are we?" he threw his arm over the bench.
"Best friends?" she didn't want to be the one to ask if they wanted to label their relationship.
"Yeah," he chuckled. "Look, I haven't taken you out on a proper date yet and you've been here for roughly four days but I wanna be honest from the get go, Bec."
She sat up and nodded for him to keep going.
"I don't want to share you with anyone. I've known you for some time now and I remember how refused to label your relationship with Luke," he paused to run his fingers through his hair. "What I'm trying to say is that I get that you take time before getting into an exclusive relationship. I'm cool with that but I'd like to know that eventually you'd get into a monogamist relationship with me," he arched his eyebrows noting the blank look on her face. "Are you going to eventually be my girlfriend?"
It was like he could sense that she was going to bail eventually. She kept looking into his eye as she tried to work up the courage to tell him the truth.
"Jesse, there's something I've been meaning to tell you," she started to say and watched him frown.
"I… I'm… Um…," she ran her fingers through her hair. He placed a hand on her back and gave her a quick rub.
"I'm not staying," she finally said.
"What do you mean you're not staying?"
"This job is temporary. I'm moving back home," she informed him.
He removed his hand from her back and sat up.
"Dada!"
"Hey," Jesse smiled getting up and opening his arms for his daughter who was running her way to him.
"How's my little monkey doing?" he asked, picking her up.
She squealed when he kissed her neck.
"Hi," Beca got up when she made eye contact with Sandra.
"Hello," Sandra greeted her then looked at her daughter and ex-husband.
"Hey Sammy, mommy gotta go now," Sandra leaned up and kissed her daughter. "Have fun at Daddy's,"
"Say bye-bye to mommy," Jesse said to his daughter.
"Bye-bye," she waved watching her mother walk away.
"Sammy, this is dada's best friend Beca," Jesse sighed, turning to look at Beca.
"Hi Sammy," Beca smiled. "You're a very cute kid, you know that?" she said eyeing Sam who had really grown up from the last time she had seen her; she had more teeth, longer hair- that was held up in cute pigtails- she looked different and it had only been 6 months and she would occasionally stalk Jesse on social media and see the pictures he uploaded with/of his daughter and nothing compared to seeing her in the flesh.
"Say hi to Beca," Jesse rubbed his daughter's back when she buried her face in his neck.
"It's okay," Beca shrugged. "Thanks for the sandwich," she picked up her bag. "Half a sandwich," she corrected herself.
"You have somewhere to be?" he asked.
"No. I just figured I should just go."
"Sammy, would you like it if Beca had dinner with us?" he asked his daughter. "Nod," he whispered into his daughter's ear. "Nod and we can make smoothies tomorrow," he continued to whisper. Sam enjoyed the process of making a smoothie but not actually drinking it.
He smiled to himself when she nodded then looked up from his neck.
"See, Sam wants you to come," he looked at Beca.
"What did you tell your daughter?" Beca asked him then looked at Sam. "What did he tell you?"
"Sammy is no snitch," he placed a kiss on her cheek.
"C'mon Becs," he nodded for Beca to walk.
Beca didn't understand Jesse's reaction. She didn't know what to expect but she certainly didn't expect him to not say anything.
"Okay," she started to walk with him.
"Bec remember the last time we cooked?" he asked knowingly.
"Yeah," she watched him put the grocery on the counter. "I'm pretty sure the amount of flour we wasted could have made enough crackers to keep me fed for at least a week."
"We did waste a lot of flour," he chuckled.
"Yeah, and I had to clean up all by myself. I couldn't bring myself to wake you. I felt bad 'cause you caught a cold from me," she smiled at the memory.
Jesse smiled then pulled his phone from his pocket. She took his phone when he handed it to her after going through it for a few seconds.
"We looked amazing," she chuckled, eyeing the selfie he took the day they made pizza and got into a flour fight.
"Sammy, you're not helping me," he said in sing-song noting her absence.
"My Bender," they heard her say.
Noting the frown on Beca's face, Jesse said, "she's playing with Bender."
"Who's gonna help me cook?" he asked his daughter in a loud enough voice as he eyed her from the kitchenette.
She grinned, meeting his gaze, and pointed at Beca.
"Beca is our guest. We shouldn't let guests help us cook."
"Dude, your kid is busy," Beca found herself grinning as she watched Sam hug Bender. "I don't mind helping out," she shrugged. "As long as there's no flour involved," she quickly added.
"Bender isn't running for his life," Beca remarked as she checked on Sam to find her DIY-ing accessories and putting them on the dog.
"Sometimes, he just gives up," Jesse shrugged. "Sam is really persistent."
"Wonder who she gets it from," she said as she leaned against the kitchen counter.
"She gets a lot of things from me," he added the pasta to the boiling water.
"Hey, Bec do you know how to make holy water?" he asked.
"Nope."
"You boil the hell out of it," he chuckled to himself.
Beca eyed him for a few seconds then said, "I hope Sam doesn't get your humor."
"So, when are you headed back to L.A?" he asked as he stirred the pasta.
"In a year," she answered, surprised he decided to talk about it. "I wanted to tell you but I couldn't-"
"-why?" he cut her off.
"I don't know," she shrugged.
He nodded, putting the spoon on the counter before he pulled a beer from the fridge.
"If you're mad at me say it. It's weird when you're quiet."
"I'm not mad at you," he eyed her. "What made you think that I'd be mad at you?"
"Nothing. Forget about it. I'm gonna get going," she started to make her way to the living area to pick up her things. "I shouldn't have come here in the first place," she murmured.
"Beca," he sighed, following her. "Why are you always in a rush to leave?"
"I'm leaving in a year, might as well just go now and save us a lot of time," she shrugged.
"I don't want you to leave. If I could duct tape you here so that you won't go, I'd do it," he made his way to her and held her chin and tilted her head to look at him. "I can't make you stay but I can convince you to stay," he smiled at her, removing his hand.
"I really don't think that would work."
"You know, I wouldn't pass this up. Once I'm a very famous composer, I probably won't have time for you," he joked then pulled her into his embrace and placed a kiss on her head.
They both laughed when Sam ran up to them, exclaiming, "hug!"
"Group hug," Jesse pulled away from Beca just enough to pick his daughter up. He placed a kiss on Sam's cheek, grinning when she put her arm around his shoulder.
"This is fun but Dada has to cook dinner, that you don't want to help out with," he pecked her temple.
"I'll go keep an eye on dinner," Beca removed herself from his hold. "You did all the hard labor," she used air quotation.
"Thanks," he thanked her and watch her walk to the kitchenette.
Beca picked up a spoon and started to stir the pasta. Smiling to herself when she heard Jesse playfully chase his daughter around.
She was emptying the pot of pasta into a strainer when she felt Jesse wrap his arms around her waist from behind.
"I've been thinking of why I couldn't tell you I'm going home," she said as she put the pasta in the pot after getting rid of the water. "I didn't want to hurt you, which is stupid considering that it's all I've been doing to you for the past few months," she looked up. "I honestly didn't expect this reaction from you."
"Bec, a year is a whole lot more than a week," he leaned in and pecked her lips.
"You think you can convince me to stay?" she asked.
"Yeah," he nodded. "Just wait. You'll go all squidy and drape yourself all over me. It'll be fun. You'll see," he kissed her again then removed his arms and added the sauce to the pasta.
"The weather sucks. Everything is ridiculously expensive. I can't drive here- I tried and got into a couple of fights- And don't get me started on noise pollution- Like, I'm surprised anyone can sleep here."
"You really don't like New York," he said in amusement as he pulled plates to use.
"I can barely tolerate it," she took the pot and put it on the counter where he placed the plates.
"If I recall correctly you told me that I'm gonna like living here," he pulled a couple of beers from the fridges.
"Yeah, because you're into artsy film stuff. There's a lot of that here," she took them from him.
"Beca, I used to live in L.A," he laughed. "The biggest film studios nationally are there," he looked where his daughter was playing.
"I know but you can't tell me Broadway isn't cooler than film studios," she shrugged.
"I can't argue with that.- I'm gonna go take Sammy wash her hands. You can start eating."
"I'll wait," she took a seat.
"C'mon, it's dinner time," he started to make his way to his daughter, "which means you gonna have mercy on Bender," he picked her up and ran to the bathroom.
Beca laughed at the squeal Sam made when he picked her up then picked her phone from the counter when she heard it ring. She didn't recognize the number.
"Hello?" she said when she picked.
"Yeah, hey is this Beca Mitchell?"
"Who am I talking to?" she questioned.
"It's Matt Woodward."
"Who?"
"We work together."
"Yeah. Marketing, right?"
"Yes."
"How did you get my personal cell number?"
"I have friends at human resources."
"You could have asked for it instead of going through my personal file," she deadpanned.
"Would you have given it to me?"
"Probably not. I don't really know you, Woodward," she answered bluntly.
"I'm calling so that we could get to know each other- tell you what? There's this awesome band I know, they're playing tonight. Wanna go check it out?"
She chuckled to herself, figuring out why he called.
"Tell this awesome band to send me demos," she said watching Jesse hold his daughter up while making plane noises as he walked out of the bathroom.
"I'm not asking you to come 'cause of your position. I'm asking you out so that we could hang, you know."
"Totally. Well, I'm busy, so maybe some other time."
"You sit here, next to aunt Beca. I'm gonna feed Bender, okay?" Jesse said to his daughter.
"C'mere boy," he called.
"Bender!" Sam exclaimed watching the dog answer to Jesse and come to them.
"Sorry for disturbing you," Matt apologized, not sounding apologetic to Beca.
"Yeah. See you at work. Bye," she said before hanging up.
"Dude, you sure, pasta is okay for your kid to eat?" she asked Jesse
"Yeah," he said joining them. "Who was that?" he asked nodding at her phone.
"Some guy from work tryna get me to go see this band with him."
"That was fast," he chuckled.
"Yeah, I still haven't gotten the hang of it and he's trying to get me to sign his pals."
"That's not what I meant," he looked at her knowingly. "You're fresh meat to him."
"You do realize you just referred to me as meat, right?" she said in mock shock.
"To him," he clarified, he lightly punched her shoulder.
"Okay, I should get outta here. First, you objectify me and now you upgraded to domestic abuse," she put her fork down.
He chuckled leaning over to place a kiss on her cheek.
"I'll make it up to you once Sammy goes to bed," he whispered sweetly into her ear.
"That was quick," Beca said in surprise when Jesse stepped out of his bedroom, pulling the door and keeping it barely open.
"Yeah, out like a light," he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Both Sam and Bender."
"Well, I just finished the dishes," she informed him as she walked to the living area.
"You didn't have to," he said, moving the coffee table.
"I know," she watched him convert to couch into a bed. "Wow," she chuckled.
"I only have one bedroom. A sofa bed is kind of important," he straightened up.
"Totally," she agreed.
"It's comfortable trust me. I sleep on it half of the week."
"Why?"
"Sammy gets the room," he answered in a matter of fact tone.
"She's tiny, why don't you share?" she kicked off her shoes.
"Sandra said Sam should get used to sleeping on her own," he shrugged. She nodded and started to make her way to him.
Reaching him, she placed her hands on his chest.
"You wear a lot of shirts," she started to unbutton it.
"We have a dress code at work. Shirts are the safest clothing option."
"I saw a guy in sweatpants at work today," she informed him.
"You don't have a dress code?" he wondered.
"We do. Not sure if sweatpants are allowed," she helped him take off his shirt. "When was the last time you went to a gym?" she ran her fingers over his chest.
"A while," he walked her to the sofa bed then laid her down. "Am I less attractive to you now?" he asked when she sighed, playing with his hair.
"No," she leaned up and kissed him, "you're the sexiest dad I've ever met. And, I met Ryan Reynolds," she said against his lips.
"Ryan Reynolds?" he pulled away.
"I'll tell you about him later," she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a passionate kiss.
AN: Thank you all for reading. I hope this was interesting. Any thoughts on where do you think I'm taking this? Also, feel free to leave suggestions in a review if you got any.