Beca Mitchell had once faced down an entire horde baying for her blood, a huge Ugandan killer twice her size, henchmen hunting her with guns but she was never more terrified than she was now, standing in front of this suburban house, Christmas wreath on the front door, jolly reindeers and Santa on the front lawn, fairy lights twinkling in the windows.
What am I doing? – she asked herself for the umpteenth time, hands twisting the strap on her bag. They are going to hate me. They are going to think I hurt Jesse. And they are going to think Stephanie was a thousand times better. She was going into a full on anxiety attack when she felt Jesse's hand on her back, his mouth near her ear, his breath ghosting against her skin, "Hey, you OK?"
She couldn't believe it but she was clutching onto his arm. "I'm scared, Jesse."
"Don't be. They don't bite…." he said with a grin. "…hard."
"It's not too late, Jesse. We can go home and I'll learn to cook a turkey."
"And die of food poisoning?"
"I can make pancakes! My pancakes are good. As many pancakes and as much sex as you want."
"Pancakes are not Christmas food, Beca. That offer is very tempting though," Jesse said with a chuckle. The door opened and Kate came running out. "But it's too late now."
"You are here!" Kate squealed excitedly, giving her a big hug. "What happened? You were supposed to be here an hour ago. Did Jesse distract you again?" She shot Jesse a dirty look. "Honestly Jesse! You are insatiable. Give the poor girl a rest!"
"Don't I get hug?" He got the briefest hug from Kate who stopped short when she saw his car. "Very flash, big bro." Kate then dragged Beca by the arm into the house, shouting out to her mom and dad that Beca and Jesse were here. Jesse was left to bring in all the luggage and presents and he did not mind that at all.
Martha Swanson bustled in from the kitchen, with a huge smile very similar to Jesse's. Beca smiled shyly, "Hello Mrs. Swanson. Thank you for having me. It was very kind of you." Martha just came over and enveloped her in a huge hug. "Don't mention it, Beca. We always love having you here."
"Hi, Mom," Jesse said coming up to hug her. "Hey Dad!"
William Swanson came from the living room, huge grin on his face. "Beca, good to see you again. Jesse can't stop talking about you."
"Umm..where should I put Beca's stuff? Is the guest room ready?" Jesse asked, rubbing his neck. Martha & William just looked at their son – sure he was all grown-up, Mr. Hotshot music composer, married once and brought enough girlfriends home but he still acted like he was an innocent 15 year old when he's at home.
"Your room, Jesse."
"Oh."
"Just don't make too much noise."
"Mom!"
"I've heard enough stories from Kate."
"Dad! Kaaaaate!"
"Little Jimmy will be here so keep it down."
"Moooommmm…" Jesse was officially embarrassed now, not daring to look at Beca. If he did, he would have seen Beca trying to keep herself from laughing out loud. She grabbed her stuff off Jesse, "Come on, show me your room, nerd. Do you still have that E.T. bedsheets and those Star Wars dolls?"
"Hey! Those are collectable items, you know."
"Yeah, yeah. Like you never made Han Solo and Princess Leia make out before."
"Beeeeccccs! Oh god, this is going to be a long Christmas holiday," Jesse said, running up the stairs and pulling Beca along, his face red with embarrassment.
"OK, no E.T bedsheets. That's a good sign," Beca said as she dived into his double bed with a sigh. She looked round the room. Yup, just like she remembered when she visited years ago. Still the same posters, same sports and music medals. It was like a snapshot of Jesse before he went to college. Hang on. No. There were a few pictures of him with the Treblemakers, a few more with Benji, a college graduation pic and is that an old photo of her in a bikini during one of their vacations?
She could not look closer because Jesse locked the door behind him and jumped into the bed beside her. "Hey, what is this hot girl doing in my teenage bed? Am I dreaming?" he whispered as he playfully nibbled her earlobe.
"Jesse, is that a photo of me in a bikini, right opposite your bed?"
"What? Oh! Ermm... I don't know how that get there."
"Dude, they have DVDs and websites now, if you need... you know, some help. That is a really old photo."
"And you look much much hotter now," he said with a grin, his hand inching its way up her ribcage.
"Mrs. Swanson! Jesse is attacking me!" Beca suddenly hollered.
"Becsssss!" Jesse said, sitting up with a panicked look on his face. Beca just laughed and a moment later, they heard banging on the door and the doorknob rattling. Kate shouted "Beca! Do you need rescuing?" Beca was almost breathless with laughing so hard. "No, Kate. I'm fine." she said, in between breathing hard and laughing.
"Not cool, Becs. Not cool!" Jesse huffed, frowning down at her. "No sex for you for a week."
"Yeah," she scoffed. "Like you can stay away that long."
"Don't underestimate how frightened I am that Mom will walk in on us."
"Hey, come here..." Beca said softly, pulling him down. "Don't be mad at me." And she kissed him until he was out of breath. "I can't be mad at you after that," he said with a smile. "Now get changed. We are going carolling."
"Seriously?" Beca said. "Oh my god, this is going to be a long holiday."
The next two days were filled home comfort and warmth, unlike anything that Beca had experienced since she was little. After her parents's divorce and during her teenage years, Christmas had always been an uncomfortable and awkward affair although she knew her mom tried to make the best of it. When she started her job, it was just easier to work. There was always a mission that needed doing and always a gig to tie in. This was the first proper Christmas she had in along while and it was full on.
Carolling? There was no escape when Jesse held her so firmly by his side. She drew a line at wearing those reindeer horns hairband but couldn't quite refuse Jesse plonking a santa hat on her, especially when he did it so charmingly. Damn that Swanson smile! It made her knees became jelly. It was hard not to join in since Jesse's enthusiasm was so infectious so yes, she was singing along quite nicely by the end of it, silly smile on her face.
The days were filled with gossip sessions with Kate and Martha, round the kitchen counter. Beca can't even remember the last time she enjoyed baking so much. Jesse popped his head round the kitchen and could not help but smile at the sight of Beca, hands covered with flour, taking Kate's sass and giving it back double. He came over and gave her a kiss when Martha's back was turned (Kate just graced that with an eye roll) and looked down at the counter.
"Becs, what is that supposed to be?" He asked, pointing at the cookie she was decorating.
"Santa." She replied, giving him a dangerous look.
"Ok, that's a scary looking Santa. What's with the cloud?"
"That's his beard, dummy."
"Okaayyy... That is nowhere like a beard," Jesse said, lifting his eyebrows. "Clearly cookie decorating is not your forte."
"Shut up!"
"I'm relieving you of your decorating duty," Jesse said, removing the bag of icing form her hands. She just scowled at him. "Mom, I'm taking Beca away. She's a liability here. We can't have scary looking cookies for the children."
"You are not fooling anyone, Jesse," Kate said, without looking up from her cookie. " You just want to bring Beca to the woods and make out." Martha just laughed.
"Kate! Scary cookies!" was all Jesse could stuttered before pulling a laughing Beca out of the kitchen.
Kate was right, of course.
One of the evenings, they attended the Christmas show at Jesse's old high school where Beca's appearance caused quite a stir with the students who all wanted a photo opp and an autograph. On another evening, they met up with Jesse's old schoolmates and had a drinking session coupled with karaoke. The nights out always ended up the same though, with Jesse driving up to Lookout point, sheepish grin in place before grabbing Beca for a hot make out session under the stars.
Christmas morning
"Wake up! It's Christmas!" Jimmy, Jesse's four-year old nephew, shouted excitedly outside Jesse's door. More footsteps thundered past and they could hear Kate hollering outside now. Jesse checked the clock. 6.30 am? A little better than last year. Beca was, of course, asleep through all that bedlam. He snuggled into her - mmm... so warm. She was dressed in thick fleecy pyjamas, very unlike when they slept at home but that did not stop his hand from trying to find the softness of her breast.
"Becs? Hey...baby...," he whispered. "We've got to wake up soon or they will break down the door." She just sighed and snuggled into him. Right on cue, Jimmy was banging the door again and yelling with his full lung capacity, "Uncle Jesse! Wake up!"
When he was battering on the door again, Jesse got up and opened the door a little, "Hey champ, keep it down. Auntie Beca is still asleep." That little kid was slippery and managed to weasel himself into the room and promptly jumped onto the bed. Beca woke up with a grunt. "Auntie Becaaaa... Wake up please..." he said very seriously before giving her a wet, slobbery kiss. "Ok. Ok. I'm awake," she said, grudgingly.
Jesse quickly took Jimmy off her and said,"Jimmy, why don't you count the presents under the tree? That would be fun!" He brought his nephew downstairs to distract him and when he came back, there was a very crossed looking Beca sitting up in his bed, feet on the floor.
"Don't kill me. I've come bearing coffee," he said, waving a mug at her. She just looked up at him, murder clearly in her eyes and said, "We are not having children. Hear that, Swanson. No kids." It didn't quite hit her what she said until she was under the shower five minutes later. Jesse didn't even try to hide his grin this time.
Beca just stared at the sight in front of her. It was like a Christmas postcard - beautifully decorated Christmas tree, roaring fire in the fireplace, stockings on the mantelpiece, family lolling about, too full with Christmas lunch, wrapping paper and ribbons cast aside. Kate was arguing good-naturedly with her sister-in-law, looking at the unwrapped presents while her mom was getting a little tipsy with eggnog and leaning against Mr. Swanson. Jesse had set up the toy train set for Jimmy and they were having a raucous game of fighting robots on top of the loud noise of the train whizzing round the track. She rubbed the beautiful and expensive scarf they got for her between her thumb and forefinger. She was touched they even got a present for her and at that moment, she just felt overwhelmed.
Jesse was so in tune with her that he immediately knew she had left the room. He looked up and true enough, Beca was no longer there. "Hey Mike. It's your turn to be the red robot now," he tossed the red robot over to his older brother, Jimmy's dad, and went looking for Beca. He found her at the back porch, resting her head against the cold post, with only a thin wrap round her.
He didn't say anything; he just came up behind her and hugged her. She turned in his arms and buried her wet face into his chest. "I'm sorry, Becs. Is this too much? Let's just go home. It will be just us," Jesse said. He should have known Christmas at the Swansons would be too much; what with her dad passing away so soon. It must be too raw.
"No, it's fine. It's perfect," she said softly. She looked up at him. "You are perfect."
And she smiled that rare, sweet smile that was just only for him and he fell in love with her all over again. Do it now, Swanson. Ask her - the thought ran through his mind, looking down at her. The ring had been in the pocket of his jeans for days.
"Becs..."
"Uncle Jesse! Christmas ball!" hollered Jimmy, running out onto the porch, followed by Mike, who was trying to catch him. Kate thundered past bringing a basketball and tossing it to Jesse, who caught it deftly. "Aunt Beca, Christmas ball!" shouted Jimmy. Beca took the ball out of Jesse's hands. "Ok, sport, I don't know this one. Teach me?" she said, moving towards Kate and the very excited child.
Jesse just stared at the three of them playing the Swanson Christmas version of basketball (it involved shouting out Christmas carols or movie titles before you could score). "I'm sorry, bro," Mike said sheepishly, clapping his hand onto Jesse's shoulder. "I knew you both were having a moment but that little boy is so slippery."
"I can't catch a break," Jesse groaned.
"Jesse, help!" Beca cried out. "I'm rubbish at movies. Help!"
"Oh now, you want my help?," Jesse hollered back. "What was it you said about my movie fun facts?"
"Get yourself here, Swanson! I'm losing to a four year old!" she shouted back, throwing the ball at him.
"Alright! Just remember my movie trivia saved your sorry ass!" he shouted gleefully back, running to join them in the game.
Martha Swanson had a small smile on her face. She glanced over to Charlotte, her best friend, who had joined them for Christmas dinner and Charlotte returned the glance with a "What did I tell you?" look. Even William was gazing fondly at Jesse and Beca who were now softly bickering with each other. No one in the family could missed the way Jesse was looking at Beca during these last few days. He was utterly besotted.
"Honestly Jesse! Who watch DVDs on laptop anymore?" Beca said.
"I do!" he said, with a pout.
"It's all Blu-rays and digital content now, babe," Beca said, gesturing at the pile of blu-rays and the Ipad his family got him for Christmas. "Look, I've uploaded some of the codes on your Itunes."
"I don't wanna watch movies on a 10 inch pad," he said stubbornly.
"What is it with men and big TVs? Stop being a child. You can use the Airplay thingy on your Apple TV and you can watch it on your big TV, OK?"
"I know what you are trying to do."
"What?" Beca said. "I'm not doing anything. It's just so much easier without carting all those multiple copies of DVDs about."
"You want me to get rid of my DVDs so you have more space for your records."
"What? I can't even... what?"
"There's lots of your stuff in the apartment now, Beca," Jesse said with a smile.
"You have a problem with that?" Beca said, looking fiercely at him.
"No," he said softly with a grin, stroking the musical tattoo on her inner wrist. "Just saying."
It was not until later when Beca was helping to tidy up the dishes in the kitchen that Martha put down the dishcloth, came over and gave her a big hug. Beca was slightly surprised by that and even more so when she noticed the slight tears in Martha's eyes.
"Thank you, Beca," the older woman said when she finally broke the hug.
"Umm.. don't mention it?" Beca said, puzzled. "I just got that silver tray for you to match what Jesse and Kate got. They said you'll love it."
"I do," Martha said smiling. "But I'm not thanking you for that."
"OK.."
"I'm thanking you for Jesse. He had not been this happy for a very long time," Martha said. "Sure, he was jolly and all that but he was not happy. Not for years." She paused, her voice wobbling a little. "But I saw him truly happy this time and it's because of you. Thank you for bringing my son back."
Beca was speechless. It took her several minutes to find her voice and say, "He makes me happy too. I don't know what I'll do without him."
Jesse was helping his dad carry some of the trash out when his dad turned to him. "You look happy."
"I am, Dad."
"Son, if you don't propose to her soon, I just might do it for you," Will said gruffly.
Jesse looked at his dad. His hand slipped into the pocket of his jeans, feeling the ring he bought for Beca, "Believe me, dad. That's all I've been trying to do."
A/N : Hi all! Thank you so much for the reviews. I'm so happy it is at 250. You guys are aca-awesome! Thank you for the follows and suggestions. I hope you liked this chapter. Before the next one, I would be so grateful if you could listen to Etta James At Last on youtube. The Jazz and R&B classics version. The last chapter will be up soon.