The first trimester had been hell on earth, Beca had declared. She was consistently nauseous and a kind of tired that she'd never known before and every part of her ached. But the second trimester was good. She felt good, she wasn't huge and fat and swollen (although she felt like she was eating for about eight, she'd never eaten that much in her life), and she was so in love with Jesse that it hurt. She hadn't realised she could love a person that much, until Jesse had walked- nay, serenaded himself- into her life.
"I can't wait until we have our own place", Jesse growled into her ear as she pulled her shirt off, collapsing onto the bed beside him.
There were certain downfalls to not having their own place, they'd found out.
One was their roommates.
And the other was the lack of knocking on their roommates behalf.
"Jesse!" Benji yelled before slamming the door open.
"Benji!" Jesse all but shrieked, pulling the blankets around himself.
"Shit, sorry!" Benji's face blushed red and Jesse pointed towards the door.
"Out!"
"Oh Beca's hiding naked under the bed, isn't she?" he frowned.
"Out!"
"I'm going, I'm going. Bye Beca!"
"Bye Benji", she mumbled, staring up at the springs under Jesse's bed, tugging the sheet tighter around her naked body. "Jesse?"
"Yes?"
"We've gotta get our own place".
"Beca!" Jesse was breathless and excited and the joy in his voice made Beca smile.
"Jesse?"
"I've found us the perfect place!"
"What?"
"I've found us the perfect apartment! I'll meet you at the Bellas house in ten minutes and then we can go and see it!"
"Jesse, wait-"
But he was gone.
"What's happening Shawshank?" Fat Amy wanted to know, as she sat down.
"Jesse thinks he's found us an apartment".
"What?"
"Already?" Stacie almost wailed.
"You know we can't stay here".
"I told you, I'll move in with Stacie-"
"I know, but we can't stay here with a baby-"
"Built in babysitters!"
"No offense but I'd rather swallow glass than leave my baby with you".
"Jesus Christ don't hold back".
"You crazy bitch that baby will be fine with her favourite aunts".
"What could possibly go wrong?"
"I literally don't even know where to start, I literally don't even know where to start with that".
The apartment was tiny. But Beca was also tiny, so it only made sense.
There were two bedrooms and a bathroom and a little kitchen and a lounge room that Beca could already see being just the right size for their a capella family to crash, a ridiculous pile of limbs on the carpet. It was a ten minute walk to the university, which meant their friends would be there at every given opportunity, and then some.
"What do you think?" Jesse said anxiously.
Things had never gone right for Beca. Things had never gone to plan, and she was just waiting for the apartment to be derailed by something. It was going to be out of their price range or their neighbours had just gotten out of the slammer, or something else equally ridiculous. So she didn't want to tell him how much she loved it.
That baby was doing weird things to her body, because the words that came out of her mouth were not the ones she had spoken.
"I love it".
Jesse beamed. "I love it too. Its perfect for us, right?" he took her hand, leading her down the tiny hallway. "This can be our room. We can make a group trip to Ikea- Amy can take the van- and this can be the baby's room, and we can get a sofa bed for the living room. We can put a desk over there for all your mixing equipment, and we can get a shelf over there for my DVDs".
"This can be her room", Beca said quietly, standing in the doorway of the smaller bedroom.
"We can put a cot there and a chair- my grandparents gave my parents an armchair when I was born, I wonder if they'll let us have it?"
"Don't get too ahead of yourself buddy, we don't even know if we can have this apartment".
"Providing the contract goes through okay, we can be in here in four weeks".
"What?"
"Your dad is coming over here this afternoon. He promised he'd help us, and I've already spoken to him and Sheila-"
"You called my dad?" Beca's voice rose and Jesse snapped his mouth shut.
"I'm sorry Beca, but-"
"But we need to be out of the Bellas house and the Treblehouse and I'm sick of swapping beds each night".
"We're gonna be a family, Beca". He took her hands, squeezing them tight. "You, me and our baby girl. We're gonna be a family. This can be our first family home".
Beca had never been the girl to dream the all American dream. She'd never pictured the two point five kids, husband and a picket fence.
But this was even better.
"I love you", she said quietly, and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head.
"I love you so much".
"Hi sweetheart", Will said brightly. "Jesse".
"Sir", Jesse said meekly.
He wasn't scared of William Mitchell. But he had been there the night his daughter was arrested, and he was the one who knocked her up. He was positive he didn't like him, and he accepted that.
"What do you think, Bec?" he tried.
She shrugged. "It's okay".
Beca didn't want her father to know how much she loved the apartment, because she was positive they wouldn't be able to afford it. But, despite everything that had happened in her life, her father knew her. And he could see how much she loved it.
"I think its lovely", Sheila said, following Will in the door. "It's a beautiful little place, guys. I could see you guys here".
"Me too", Jesse said softly.
"What do you think?" Jesse said, once they were in the car.
"I love it", she said honestly. "But-"
"What's the but?" he wanted to know. "I think its perfect. It's close to campus, its close to your dad's place and Sheila promised she can help with the baby. I love the building, Bec".
"I do too". She was quiet for a moment. "But I really don't want to get our hopes up. I don't know if you've noticed Jesse but things don't really go our way a lot".
"I think this one will", he said firmly.
"Campbell?" Beca said in disgust. "Yes, let's call our daughter cream of mushroom!"
"What is wrong with you?" Jesse wanted to know.
"No honey she'd be chicken and stars!" Stacie laughed and Beca turned to her with fire in her eyes.
"You aren't a part of this".
"Well you shot down Molly!"
"I am not naming my daughter after Molly Ringwald".
"It's not after Molly Ringwald".
"Who is it after then Jesse?"
"I like the name!"
"You like Molly Ringwald".
"Stacie Junior is looking better, hey?"
"Why are you still here?"
"Claire!"
"Claire is not better!"
"Fat Amy Junior!"
"No!"
"Beca!" Jesse burst through the doors of the Bellas house, making her jump and Fat Amy shriek.
"What?" she said in a panic, her hand flying to her little baby bump (she was turning into one of those people that cradled their belly).
"Do you want the good news or the best news?" he wanted to know, whirling her around.
"What?" she snapped.
"We can move in next month".
"What?"
"Well what's the better news?" Cynthia Rose said.
Jesse held up a keyring and Beca beamed, stretching up to kiss him. He whirled her around, squeezing her tight.
"We got the place".
"We got the place?"
"We got the place", he said breathlessly.