Title: I Belong With You, You Belong With Me

Author: heartsmash

Rating: M, for this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own these wonderful characters written by Kay Cannon and brought to life by Jason Moore.

Summary: Companion piece to "You're My Sweetheart." Jesse and Beca are apart for summer and this time around it's Beca's turn to meet the family. Named for another lyric from "Ho Hey" by The Lumineers.

Chapter Ten

Beca climbed through the layers of sleep and groaned at the sliver of sunlight that had managed to get past the curtain in Jesse's bedroom.

"Son of a…" Beca mumbled and buried her head under the pillow.

When there was no movement from her bed partner at her muffled profanity, Beca peeked from under the pillow and cracked an eye open to see that she was alone in the bed.

Sitting up, she quickly realized that Jesse was nowhere to be found in his room as she had expected him to be rummaging through his movie collection if he wasn't laying next to her. Climbing from the bed, Beca changed from Jesse's t-shirt into a pair of her jeans and a tank top. Skipping shoes, Beca went out into the hallway and immediately could hear voices coming from the floor below. Creeping down the first few stairs, she sat down on one of the steps as close to the banister as she could.

"I apologized to Christina and she was fine with us leaving. I don't understand the big deal."

"We had no idea where you went, Jesse, that's the big deal," his mother responded

Beca moved silently down the next few steps so that she could get a better look at what was going on. Jesse was dressed in his boxers and a t-shirt, his hair still rumpled from sleep. His arms were crossed in annoyance and if she had wanted to make her presence known, she would have smacked him lightly to stop being such a pain in the ass to his parents. They had been nothing but nice to her since she had arrived and she could tell that they cared for each of their children immensely. It also impressed her how much Jesse's parents cared for Shannon, despite her only being a part of the family by marriage. It was like she was one of their own.

"Listen you guys, I'm sorry that I disappeared last night and if I caused you guys any anxiety because of that. But if it's not clear to you both already, my feelings for Beca are really strong. I'm not talking love just yet but it's certainly moving to that point."

Beca felt her heart thunder in her chest at Jesse's words. But strangely, it wasn't in fear. After everything that they had gotten through recently, including both of them meeting the other's families and a few hiccups along the way, Beca felt more sure about Jesse and their relationship than anything in recent history.

"Sweetheart, that's been obvious to us for awhile now. From the minute that you knew that she was in this house, you seem to have walked on Cloud Nine. I wasn't lying to your sister the other day when I told her that you two were in love."

His father finally chimed in. "Just be responsible, son, and be respectful to her. That's all we want of you."

Beca didn't hear Christina sneak up behind her.

"What are you doing?" the younger girl whispered which made Beca jump out of her skin.

Beca motioned the girl to be quiet and pushed her up the stairs quietly before Jesse or his parents noted that she had been eavesdropping. Obviously, this was a terrible habit that she had picked up since visiting Maryland.

When the two girls finally made it up the stairs, Christina demanded to know what was going on. Beca told Jesse's little sister and the girl smiled gleefully.

"My loser brother is in love!" Christina crowed, "Who knew the movie dork would actually find someone who could tolerate his weirdness?"

"Shhhh," Beca begged but the girl was incorrigible. She only stopped when Jesse came back to his room. She smiled at her brother, which earned her a weird look.

"Who put extra sugar in your cereal this morning?" Jesse asked as Christina left the room. He quickly closed the door and gave her a quick kiss, pulling on some jeans.

"Sorry I left you alone. My dad basically did everything but pull me out of bed by my ear this morning."

Beca shrugged and took a seat on the bed. "No worries. I figured you weren't off gallivanting."

"Gallivanting?" he asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"You know what I mean," Beca responded, rolling her eyes.

Jesse stared at her questioningly for a minute then a minute more.

"How much did you hear?" he asked with a smirk.

"What?" Beca questioned indignantly, but knew that she had been discovered.

"I know you. You probably didn't know where I was and went looking for me, found me downstairs with my parents and overheard something that has made you all crazy twisty inside. Now, you're acting all cool, calm and collected to play off your twistiness."

Beca shook her head at his crazy explanation.

"Twistiness? What the hell are you talking about?" she questioned, standing up.

"You overhead my conversation with my parents."

"Okay and?"

"And you heard me discuss my feelings for you," Jesse stated.

"I'm still waiting for where this twistiness comes in."

"Beca, don't play. You know what was said. That my feelings for you are very strong and although it's not love yet, it's headed there." Beca stared at him, his words once again causing her heart to race. But instead of babbling or running away, she just smiled at him. "You're not saying anything."

"What do you want me to say?"

"Something Beca-like?"

"How about I'm okay with what you said to them and what you just repeated?" His shocked expression didn't surprise her. "I know, it's completely not my style but I figure since it's just you hearing this, I'll survive."

She moved in front of him and draped her arms around his neck.

"The walls need to come down eventually and you might be the person to do it."

Beca leaving the next day no longer held a sense of unknown for the couple. If anything, things were clearer and more defined than ever. And although they would be apart for pretty much the rest of the summer (unless Jesse was able to swing a visit to Connecticut), Beca was looking forward to the start of school. She had the Bellas and she now knew how much she had Jesse.

And that was pretty perfect.

-fin
And she'd be standing next to me

A/N: Thank you all for reading this story, despite my sometimes taking longer than normal to update. I really love these characters so as some of you may have realized I did post the first chapter to my new story, Steal Your Heart and the next chapter will be coming in a few days for that piece.

(And if you haven't already gone to see Skylar in 21 and Over...run. He is so cute and plays such a nerd bomber but in a different way than Jesse. He's also not too terrible to look at in a few scenes if you already know what I'm saying.)