Ninety seven percent of the time, Beca Swanson felt like she was raising two children. Because Jesse was more so of a child than their one and a half year old daughter.
"We're going to the zoo, Molly!" Jesse said for the umpteenth time, tossing the little girl into the air and making her squeal with excitement. "With Mummy and Aunt Chloe and Aunt Aubrey and Aunt Lily and Aunt Stacie and Aunt Cynthia Rose-"
"Dude, you need to chill", Beca said, from where she was packing the essentials they would need into a backpack (because Beca was a mum, and knew the kind of essentials a day trip would require).
But he was on a roll, and really, she should have known better than to try and intervene.
"-and Uncle Benji and Uncle Donald and Aunt Amy!"
The Swanson family were going to the zoo. But it wasn't just the Swanson family going.
Jesse had invited their entire aca pella family, to mark Molly's first zoo trip.
"Molly's excited, Bec!" he protested, her previous words having registered to his ears.
Beca was excited too, don't get her wrong. She had liked (perhaps even loved) the zoo as a child (Jesse had fallen off the bed in disbelief when he found out. "Beca Mitchell, hater of all things fun and good in the world, liked the zoo?" "That's Swanson to you"), and was excited to be taking their daughter.
What she wasn't too thrilled about was taking their entire aca pella family along.
(Because they couldn't go anywhere without Fat Amy doing something inappropriate, or Lily doing something illegal, or God forbid one of Benji's magic tricks going wrong. It was inevitable.)
"At the zoo, woo hoo!" Fat Amy hollered, climbing out of the driver's seat of Cynthia Rose's car.
As usual, when taking a group outing (something Beca didn't like to encourage, because Aubrey had gotten shirts made for situations like that- and Beca didn't do matching shirts), they took four cars. Donald's (because it was an unspoken rule that Donald would always be the designated driver), Cynthia Rose's (with Amy behind the wheel, because she had been designated driver in their Bellas days and was unwilling to give up the position), Aubrey's (because Aubrey liked to be in charge and being behind the wheel gave her that control) and Jesse's (Beca's, actually, because Beca's was equipped with a car seat and all the necessities for keeping a one and a half year old entertained in the backseat- Jesse had a freaking DVD player back there. There was no way Molly would ever be bored).
It was a giant convoy, with Donald in the lead (despite Fat Amy trying to overtake him multiple times and wanting to race) and Jesse and Beca and Molly bringing up the rear ("you drive like an old lady, Swanson". "I'm doing the speed limit and obeying the road rules, Beca").
"Molly!" Chloe said in delight, as Beca lifted her daughter out of the car. Molly beamed, reaching out for the redhead, as Jesse hoisted the stroller out of the boot.
"Dude, you saw her like half an hour ago", Beca reminded Chloe, as Chloe hugged her niece so hard Beca had to fear for her life. "Chloe! Release!"
As Chloe reluctantly handed Molly to Jesse (who promptly strapped Molly into her stroller), Fat Amy wandered over.
"Where's my favourite girl?" she cooed, and Molly squealed excitedly.
Beca was completely biased, but Molly was by far the cutest kid she had ever seen. And their fellow Bellas and Trebles had similar thoughts (if Molly wasn't strapped into her stroller, she didn't know where she'd end up- Chloe and Fat Amy had tried to smuggle her out of the hospital room at three hours old).
"Molly!" Jesse called from behind the stroller, as he led the group into the zoo. "Do you see the monkeys?"
Molly struggled to sit up straighter, as she looked around in amazement. Her words were garbled with excitement, as she beamed at her parents.
"Monkeys, yeah!" Beca agreed, and Aubrey grinned.
"You're a monkey, aren't you Molly?" Jesse said, and Molly frowned at her father.
"No".
Donald chuckled, and Jesse glared.
"Molly eats ice cream, doesn't she?" Donald wanted to know, as he handed around waffle cones.
"Everyone eats ice cream", Fat Amy reminded him.
Jesse nodded. "Molly loves ice cream".
"Good, I got her a Dixie cup". He passed Jesse the little blue tub, and Molly's eyes lit up.
"Yum! Yummy yummy yum!"
"That's so cute!" Chloe crooned.
"Her words have just taken off in the last few weeks", Beca said proudly.
"Bee!" Molly called (almost to prove her mother's point), snatching the spoon away from her father and sucking on it cheerfully. When Aubrey looked, Molly waved cheekily, before reaching out to grab more ice cream.
"She said my name first!" Aubrey couldn't help but gloat.
(When Fat Amy had found out that Molly had said Aubrey's name first, she had started to bribe her. First with M&Ms, but her bribes had gotten bigger. It was almost as if Molly was taunting her by not saying her name, Stacie had chuckled, and if looks could kill, the brunette would be six foot under.)
"Can you say Aunt Amy, Molly?" Fat Amy crooned. "Can you say Fat Amy?"
"No".
Laughter rang through the group, as Fat Amy's shoulders slumped.
"Where are we going next, Molly?" Benji cooed, and Molly's looked around wildly.
"Mumkees".
"We're gonna go and see the monkeys again", Stacie translated. "I like the monkeys. The lions are my favourite, though, because-"
Beca looked at Cynthia Rose, who wordlessly clapped a hand over Stacie's mouth.
(As much as Beca and Jesse adored the brunette, they did not want their one and a half year old scarred by beloved Aunt Stacie. And as much as Stacie tried, she did not have a filter.)
"I had a monkey once", Lily whispered, and Molly just stared, the mirror image of her mother, copying her Aunt Aubrey exactly.
"Where the hell did we accumulate all this?" Beca demanded, as she pushed the stroller towards the cars. Molly was slumped face down in her stroller, clutching her orang-utan, a gift from Aunt Amy ("Because it reminds her of Aunt Chloe", Fat Amy had said sincerely upon purchasing it, and Chloe had beat her with a helium balloon, Aubrey stepping in to intervene), as balloons decorated the stroller.
"it's been a long day, Beca", Benji said uncertainly (he had collected a balloon every time they went past the lunch tables, and they had passed them nine times, Jesse giggling along with him). "There were a lot of people with balloons".
"Are we still going back to your place for pizza?" Cynthia Rose wanted to know, and Jesse shrugged.
"Sure- this one's out for the night".
Beca lifted her sleeping daughter out of the stroller, her orang-utan in one hand and her beloved Bellas scarf in the other (something Aubrey took great delight in), face smeared with ice cream. Strapping her into the car seat (Molly's head slumping to the side in her sleep); she turned back to their family.
"If you guys order the pizza when we're halfway home, we can pick it up on the way", she offered.
"No, we'll pick it up", Chloe said immediately. "Aubrey and I will go and get it, you get Molly into bed".
Jesse nodded in agreement.
"We'll meet you back at ours".
"Bye!"
Chloe wrapped Beca in a bone crushing hug, squeezing the tiny brunette into her ample chest.
"Oof- oh my God! Boobs, Chloe, boobs! You're crushing me!"
"We're gonna see earspike and crew in like half an hour, Chloe", Aubrey reminded her, and Fat Amy took it upon herself to haul the two apart.
"Let's get this show on the road, I'm starving!" she announced.
Piling into their respective cars, Donald led their convoy (because they had ended up becoming the kind of people that travelled in convoys) back towards Jesse and Beca's house (the original meeting spot for their zoo escapade).
"She loved it", Beca gushed to Jesse, as she flicked through photos she had captured during the day (all the while trying not to gush, because Jesse would never let her live it down).
"I told you she would", Jesse said simply, his eyes not leaving the road. "There's no one in the world that could possibly hate the zoo".
"Aca-scuse me? Pretty sure that was me, buddy. Pretty sure I told you that she'd love it".
"Oh, whatever, sweetheart". Jesse's face had a grin that was way too smug on his face, and Beca resisted the urge to smack him.
"Don't you sweetheart me!"
Jesse and Beca, the aca pella couple that couldn't go two minutes without an argument.
By the time they had returned home (Chloe and Aubrey with the pizza in tow), Molly was wide away and up and running, completely ignoring any instruction from her parents. Wrestling her into the bath and pyjamas respectively, they allowed her to run wild to entertain her aunts and uncles, sitting down to their pizza dinner.
"You two made such a cute kid", Fat Amy said conversationally, as she bit into her sixth slice of pizza.
"Yeah, when are you having another one?" Donald said, just to stir the pot. Benji started to giggle as Beca literally inhaled a piece of pepperoni.
"Aca scuse me?" Jesse's eyebrows shot off his head, as Chloe smacked his wife on the back to dislodge the pepperoni round from her throat.
"Only child!" she gasped out, Molly looking at her mother in concern.
"Touch her again and she'll drown you, you-"
Lily grabbed Stacie before the brunette could finish, Beca's words from the delivery room making everyone chuckle.
"Mummy?" Molly said tentatively, throwing herself onto the lounge beside her mother.
"Yeah?" Beca answered, once her choking had stopped and her breathing had returned back to normal. Molly just threw her arms around her mother and smacked a sloppy, open mouthed kiss to her lips, hugging her tight.
"I love you too, Molly". Beca grinned, hugging her back and inhaling the scent of Molly's baby shampoo and powder.
"No more?" Chloe said hopefully, and Jesse shook his head.
"Not at this stage".
"This one's perfect, anyway", Stacie said, wording what they were all thinking.
Molly just grinned the cheeky smirk she had inherited from her father, her Bellas scarf in one hand and her new orang-utan in the other.