The silent treatment really bothered Jesse. He just couldn't stand it. He tried to apology for yelling at her and she acknowledged him with a nod while keeping her eyes on the road.

Arriving at her dad's house, Jesse suggested they try and sober up Mae before she goes to bed and Beca agreed with a nod.

Jesse helped Mae out of the back seat then followed Beca into the very quiet house.

"She's gonna vomit," Beca said, glancing at Mae as she fixed her something to eat.

"Fuck," Beca muttered when Mae started gagging on the kitchen floor before she could do anything about it.

Jesse jumped to avoid getting vomit on himself and to get Mae a glass of water. Beca took the hair elastic she had around her wrist and used it to hold Mae's hair back. She rubbed her back while eyeing the floor she was going to clean.

"You okay?" Beca asked her once she stopped gagging. Mae nodded.

"Here, drink this," Jesse helped her sit up and handed her a glass of water.

He looked over at Beca and saw her huff and turn on her heels. He guessed she was going to get something to clean the vomit.

"I'm gonna take her to bed," he said in a voice loud enough for Beca to hear. And as he expected she didn't say anything back. He took Mae to the guest room; he took off her shoes and helped her get under the covers.

"Hey can we talk?" he hesitantly said walking into the kitchen where Beca was knelt on the floor, cleaning it.

He watched her then sighed, "Please."

She dropped the cloth in the bucket after she was done.

"It's late and I'm tired," she said as she got up.

"Just 15 minutes?" he looked at her hopeful she'd agree. He really hated to sleep on it because he wouldn't be able to sleep.

She took a seat by the kitchen island and rested her hands on her thighs as she looked at him, accepting to listen to him and get it over with.

"I'm sorry for how I acted," he said, pulling a chair and placing it in front of her before he sat down. "I'm sorry I made a big deal out of it. And, I'm sorry I yelled."

He swallowed when she kept eyeing him and didn't say anything back.

"Matt gave me a diamond bracelet," she told him after a beat.

"What?" he frowned.

"That's the one thing that I'm still keeping from you. Now you know," she shrugged.

"Diamond bracelet," he leaned against the chair.

"Yeah, he gave it to me the night I pretend to be dating him."

"So, he, like, paid you for pretending to be his girlfriend?" he said in annoyance.

"You basically called me a liar earlier, and, now you're implying that I'm a whore," she nodded to herself, "great." She hopped off the chair.

"What? No!" he sat up and reached for her arm.

"Then watch what comes out of your mouth," she said in frustration as she pulled her arm from his hold.

"Why did he get you a bracelet?" he asked.

"It's a Christmas present," she answered, running her fingers through her hair. "I wanted to give it back but he told me to throw it away instead. I'm gonna sell it and give the money to some charity."

"He's really tryna impress you, huh?" he turned his chair around and watched her as she started to pace around the room.

"He knows I'm not interested." She glanced at him, bringing her nails to her lips and starting to bite them.

"You sure about that?" he asked her.

"For fucks sake, Jesse," she tried to not raise her voice but it was hard to keep it low.

"What?" he looked at her expectantly. "He really likes you. His family loves you, apparently. You like him, too. It'll be easier with him." He shrugged.

"Dude, if you wanna convince me to break up with you should try something other than talking me into it," she paused, sucking a breath. "You're trying to make this about Matt when it's not," she said as she stopped pacing. "You just don't want to face your problems—"

"—You wanna talk problems?" he challenged. She nodded.

"You have PTSD and you are completely ignoring it."

He got up on his feet.

"PT what?"

"Post-traumatic stress disorder."

"I'm fine."

"Yeah?" she chuckled humorlessly. "Explain this to me then: why couldn't you drive?" she asked.

After helping Mae get in the backseat, Jesse pulled the car keys from her pocket climbed in the driver's seat then froze.

"I wasn't feeling well," he shrugged.

"And you won't until you deal with your issues."

"Try applying your own advice," he said to her.

"Jesse, my shit is nothing like yours."

"We might not have the same problems but yours might be the reason you spend your entire life sad and alone," he snapped at her and regretted it. His words hurt her. He saw the hurt in her eyes for a few seconds before she looked away.

"I'm sorry," he rubbed his forehead. "But, Bec, you might have a problem maintaining a relationship but the way you acted at the party was all you," he said, looking up.

"Jesus Christ," she murmured, tilting her head to look at him. "Jesse, I freaked out because a bunch of kids freaked me out. That's all."

"Nope," he disagreed. "See, I think you freaked out because I'm an embarrassment."

When he wanted to talk with her, he initially wanted to apologize and put it all behind them but somehow he was getting worked up.

"Don't be ridiculous, Jesse." She rolled her eyes at him.

"Why doesn't anyone know we're dating then?" he asked. "Don't say work because I'm sure as hell your family and friends wouldn't tell a soul if you ask them not to."

She opened her mouth to say something then changed her mind and stopped herself. "15 minutes are up. I'm going to bed," she said instead. He reached for her arm and held it.

"Let go," she firmly said. He pulled her to him instead and rested his hand on her back.

"It hasn't been 5 minutes," he let go of her arm to tuck a loose curl behind her ear. "You agreed to 15 minutes," he held her chin up when she looked away from him. He pressed his slightly shaking hand on her back, pulling her closer to him.

Beca looked between his eyes, that carried so much frustration, and his lips then leaned up and kissed him.

She was tired and if they kept arguing they will end up waking everyone up because yelling was inevitable: she had a short temper and he was on the edge and overreacted to everything.

He didn't kiss her back at first then gave in when she cupped his cheek and tip toed. He thought she was initiating an angry sex scenario but she didn't make any attempt to move things forward and it confused him.

She wanted to calm him down. Sure she wouldn't mind if things escalated and they ended up having sex but her main purpose was to calm him the fuck down. If she answered his question he would end up feeling like crap because his self-esteem was so low already.

He was annoying but she understood where he was coming from—at least she liked to think she did—but it was tiresome. And, she would be lying if she said that she didn't want to just shut down completely. She kind of did on the ride to her dad's house. But, she loved him enough to try and pull more effort into their relationship.

Beca pathetically melted into the kiss they were sharing: she didn't hear her dad when he cleared his throat.

Dr. Mitchell cleared his throat for the second time and it worked.

"This dead air is a really good sign," she awkwardly said as she looked at her dad whose eyes traveled between her and Jesse, who was anxiously drumming his fingers on her lower back.

"Um, you might be wondering why we were just kissing." She remove the hand that had made its way to the back of Jesse's neck.

"Actually, no," Dr. Mitchell said.

"Really?" she arched her eyebrows.

"What I'd like to know, though, is whether or not you were going to tell me about this if I hadn't caught you." He crossed his arms across his chest, his tone implying that he was well aware of the nature of their relationship before catching them and was waiting for her to tell him. "Why am I even asking?" he shook his head. "You never tell me anything about your life."

He sounded more hurt than angry and she understood him very well and felt like shit for being a shitty daughter to him.

"Don't forget to turn off the lights when you're done doing whatever it is you're doing, and keep it down," he said, turning on his heels.

"Dad, wait," she called after him, stepping away from Jesse. "I'm sorry, okay?" she apologized when he did wait. "It's just," she paused not knowing what to say exactly.

"Beca, you don't have to tell me," Dr. Mitchell said noting the look on his daughter's face. She was really trying to find a way to explain herself.

"It's just… it's complicated," she shrugged. Jesse scoffed, earning the attention of Dr. Mitchell.

"Saying that our relationship is complicated is understatement," Jesse said when Dr. Mitchell kept eyeing him.

"You're the one complicating things," Beca turned to look at him. He looked at her in confusion. "You say you want to talk and when you hear things that you don't actually want to hear you zone out and start behaving like a 4 year old: incapable of understanding that you can't get what you want all the time."

"Says the girl who avoids serious conversations like the plague."

"You serious right now?"

"Yeah, you completely shut down almost every time we have a serious conversation or just leave."

"Okay, time out," Dr. Mitchell stepped in seeing that they were warming up to a pretty shitty fight.

"Beca, you're not the easiest to have a conversation with and you do shut people out when you don't feel like talking and that's not fair," he said to his daughter.

Jesse smirked, pretty pleased that Dr. Mitchell was siding with him.

"What Beca said about you isn't fair to her either," he turned to Jesse.

Dr. Mitchell looked between them then sighed. "You have to find your common ground and stick to it," he paused. "So, what is the one thing that you two can agree on despite disagree on many things?"

"We love each other," Beca quietly answered her father.

"A lot," Jesse added.

"Keep that in mind before you start hurting each other with your words, will ya?" he told them.

They both nodded.

Dr. Mitchell blew a breath then shrugged. He had no idea what was up with them but seeing Beca bit her fingernails meant that she was dealing with a shit load of anxiety.

"Nicole said you broke up," he said as he eyed Jesse's hands that were clenched so hard his knuckles turned white. "Did you lie to her too?" he looked up at his daughter.

"You and mom talk about me?" she asked.

"Where do you think I get updates on you?" he asked back. She nodded, feeling guiltier, then answered his question, "No," she shook her head. "We did break up," she mumbled while biting her nails. "I just didn't tell her we got back together," she shrugged.

"Why?" he asked.

"She's embarrassed by me," Jesse pointed at himself.

"That is not true," she said behind gritted teeth as she snapped her head to look at Jesse.

"Beca," Dr. Mitchell called slowly. "Why?" he repeated his question, stifling a yawn.

She really didn't want to answer him because it was going to hurt Jesse. So she gave herself some time to sort out her thoughts and come up with an answer better than 'Our relationship is demanding as fuck and I'm getting sick of walking on eggshell because I'm scared for Jesse but I love him so much and can't give up on him again.'

"Our relationship is very shaky, and I really want it to work," she paused as she laced her fingers together while she looked at them, "I just don't want to tell everyone that we're back together only to break up like a month later, again."

"Okay, reasonable" he nodded. "Why do you think Beca's embarrassed by you?" he looked at Jesse.

"It's hard to be specific really," Jesse blew a breath. "Like, just now at the party—"

"—here we go again," Beca murmured, shifting her weight onto her left leg.

"—Beca dropped her grandmother's ring. I found it. When I gave it to her, the kids at the party thought I proposed and Beca freaked out and made marrying me sound like the last thing she'd do."

"Jesse, like I said before," Beca said, tilting her head, "I am not embarrassed by you," she tried to sound as calm as possible. "Why is that so hard to believe?" she asked as she tried to think of an answer to her own question.

Jesse had PTSD from the accident where he and Sandra, his ex-wife, lost their unborn baby. She helped him cope with his feelings when she slept with him then.

Beca realized, as she eyed Jesse frown and give no answer (in other words zone out) that having sex again with her could have triggered the stuff he had been ignoring and bottling up and made him overreact like he did.

Beca looked up at her father.

Yeah, no way she was going to talk about her sex life in front of her father.

Dr. Mitchell was yawning and wanted to go back to bed yet didn't want to leave them because there was a lot of tension in the room and he knew his kid: she's stubborn.

"I'm gonna go to bed," Beca said, picking up the bucket that had the cloth she used to clean the vomit from the floor. "15 minutes are up," she looked at Jesse before she started making her way out of the kitchen. "Good night, dad," she said to her father as she walked pass him.

After cleaning the bucket, Beca made her way to her bedroom and wasn't surprised when she didn't find Jesse.

She decided to let herself and him calm down before they talked again. She changed into a t-shirt and a pajamas shorts then climbed on her bed.

30 minutes later.

Beca couldn't fall asleep. She couldn't stop thinking about Jesse. Her internal thoughts were starting to annoy her. She grabbed her IPod and headphone, deciding to listen to some music.

Beca closed her eyes as The Cure's Boys Don't Cry started to play. She tried to lose herself in the music; listen carefully to the baseline, the drums, the guitars, the pacing, etc. But it was hard. Really. Hard. She usually broke down the song and figured out how they made it to get herself to stop thinking but it difficult.

"Yeah, this isn't gonna work," she muttered as she pushed the covers aside and climbed off of the bed while removing the headphones.

She climbed down a few case of the stairs then bent to get a better look at the living room to see Jesse lying on the couch.

Hearing her footsteps, he shifted in a way he was facing the couch.

"Jesse, I know you're up," she sighed as stood by the couch. (She didn't.) "C'mon, Jesse, turn around," she said and smiled when he sat up after a beat.

Beca sat down next Jesse and took his hand, when she saw him out of the corner of her eye reach to her hold her hand with then pull away, in hers.

"Forgive me?" he asked, interlocking their fingers and rubbing his face with his free hand.

"Yeah," she said, squeezing his hand. She tucked her head into the crook of his neck when he threw his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him.

"I don't deserve you," he sighed, rubbing her arm.

"You deserve the best there is," she looked up. "But the odds of finding the best are pretty slim so I recommend you work with what you got until you hit jackpot," she said jokingly but he could tell that she actually meant what she was saying.

"I don't want to be with anyone but you," he held her chin up.

"We're really fucked up," she finally said.

She had a weird commitment problem, she chances of her running away from him at some point in their relationship were pretty high, and he was having trouble getting over the trauma the loss of his baby left him with and basically was a ticking bomb.

He laughed then nodded.

"I thought about why you were acting like a PMSing teenage girl," she cupped his cheek. "I think that sex between us triggered your PTSD," she slipped her hand to the back of his neck and scratched it. "You're going to see a shrink as soon as we're back in New York," she said while gazing into his eyes. "You could, like, get a piggy bank and give it to me when it's loaded with cash 'cause I'm paying." She kept studying his face, looking for that frown he always had whenever she offered to pay—Well, this time around she wasn't offering, she was telling him—She didn't see a frown, instead there was a small and sad smile on his lips.

"Okay," he leaned in and kissed her.

Giving each other space did work. She no longer felt like shutting him out despite how much she really wanted to. And, he seemed less tensed. Beca considered it a small victory.

She pulled him to her and deepened the kiss. When it started to heat up between them, Jesse pulled away. "Wait, you said sex triggered my post-traumatic stress," he breathlessly said.

"I said I think," she paused. "Jesse, I can honestly say that I don't fucking care what you do next because of your post-traumatic stress. I love you and I'm willing to roll with your shit."

"No, I could hurt you," he shook his head.

"Jesse," she cupped his face, "It's just a guess." She Shrugged. She really wanted to get laid. "I don't know if it's true. We won't get an answer until you go see a therapist."

He slowly nodded, still not completely on board. Any worry he had went out of the window when she leaned in and kissed him.

"Wait. Beca, stop," he mumbled between kisses then pulled away when she climbed on his lap, clearly not listening to him. "Your dad told me that doors aren't soundproof," he said after catching his breath. "He heard us last night."

"So what?" she asked as she leaned in.

"There's nothing wrong with the fact that your father heard us having sex?" he rhetorically asked. She rolled her eyes in response. She was too turned on to really care about what he was saying.

"Let's go to the basement," she climbed off of his lap and grabbed his arm as she walked towards the basement.

Beca woke up from a quite refreshing and unplanned nap to Jesse's singing voice. Her, most of the time depressing, boyfriend rarely ever sang anymore so it was really great to hear him sing Lady Gaga's Judas.

Beca joined him in the living area to find him sitting on the sofa surrounded by sheets. He had a calculator in hand and was simultaneously typing on his laptop.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she stretched.

"I'm doing my taxes," he told her.

"Ugh," she made a face and bent down to play with Bender.

"Yeah, and, unlike you, my mom doesn't do them for me," he looked up. She rolled her eyes, straightening up.

"The deadline is April the 15th." Beca started to make her way to him. "We're not even half a week into January." She grabbed his laptop and put in on the coffee table. "It can wait." She climbed on his lap.

"I like to do them and get it over with," he shrugged, putting the calculator aside then placing his hands on her waist.

"Did I wake you up?" Jesse asked.

They put on a movie to watch and Beca fell asleep before the first act finished. She had a really long day at work and was tired. If it were to her she would have went home and crashed. But, she was going to L.A. for three days and she wanted to hang out with him because after returning from Barden she had so much work to do and hardly saw him.

The executive, who was sent to announce to the New York branch that they were going to cut it off and who promised Beca to make a case for the branch if they manage to make 250 thousand dollars by New Year, kept his word.

She was going to L.A. to basically beg her bosses to give the NYC branch a shot and not fire everyone.

"No." She woke up because she was hungry. "Had dinner yet?" she asked while running her fingers through his hair. He shook his head.

"If had known you were going to wake up anytime soon, I would have made something," he ran his hand up her back. He thought she was going to wake up the next day from how exhausted she looked. He actually put on a movie to watch so that she could sleep. She wanted to spend time with him but she clearly needed sleep and he saw it so he let her sleep.

"Pizza?" she suggested, grabbing his phone that was on the coffee table.

"Yeah," he nodded and watched her unlock his phone.

"Sandra," she handed him his cell when it rang then climbed off of his lap. "I'll make an order with my phone," she told him as he brought his phone to his ear.

When she came back he looked happier than when she left and she had only been gone less than 5 minutes. She hopped on the couch next to him.

"Sandra is dropping Sam over tomorrow," he said as he threw an arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him.

After nearly losing his grip on Christmas Eve when he went to see Sam, he was afraid of how Sandra would react if he tried to see their daughter again. Beca made him see how silly he was being and sat him down then dialed Sandra's number who did exactly what Beca told him would do.

Sandra agreed that he could have Sam for a day and not more because their daughter got used to living with her mom and it would mess her up if they went back splitting the week right away. He was happy with the outcome. He missed his girl, a lot.

"That's awesome," she looked up and pecked his lips.

He didn't tell her why he hadn't seen his daughter in months but it wasn't hard to guess. He felt guilty and didn't want his daughter to be around him. He was still guilty but ever since he let Beca in his life, she tried to make him see the importance of seeing his daughter.

"What are you planning to do with her?" Beca asked. He seemed excited about having his daughter over and she liked seeing happy.

"I don't want to suffocate her with my love, so I'm gonna keep it simple."

"You gonna make her watch a movie?" she guessed.

"Yeah, and play dough maybe," he blew a breath, anxiously.

"Well, have fun." She leaned up and kissed him. Pulling away she tilted her head to look at Bender when he barked.

"Your dog is in love with you," she commented when Bender climbed on the sofa demanding attention from Jesse.

"Bec, you have to learn how to share," Jesse shrugged as he played with his dog.

"I don't share what's mine," she told him and watched him grin cheekily at her.

"So possessive." He looked at her in mock worry and shock.

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes when he wouldn't stop grinning and looked away, grabbing her phone and unlocking it.

Jesse rubbed Bender's muzzle, chuckling to himself.

AN: I've been feeling like shit for quite some time and I am not sure this chapter is decent. I prefer to wait until I feel better then sit down and write but I didn't want you guys to wait around when I have the chapter planned out in my head. I'd appreciate a review.

This story's end is going to start in the next chapter which means there should be like 3 chapters left to write. Depending on the response this chapter gets, I'll see if I could get right into them despite feeling low.

Alrighty thank you for passing by. Aloha.