Chapter Six

Jesse woke up Christmas morning with Beca in his arms, feeling unbelievably happy. He slowly removed himself from under her, trying not to wake her, so he could find Hat. He didn't want to leave Beca, but he figured early in the morning would be a good time to find out what happened to Aubrey last night.

Jesse walked down the hallway and knocked on his brother's door, receiving no answer. He opened the door and heard the shower running in his adjoined bathroom and saw Aubrey passed out asleep in Hat's bed.

Hat walked out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist, and stopped in his tracks when he saw Jesse in his room.

"Jesse, it's not what it looks like," he said, following Jesse out of the room and into the hallway. Jesse had went to go back into his own bedroom, but Hat stopped him.

"How the hell did she end up in your bed," Jesse said angrily, shoving Hat back again. "You're my brother."

"Okay, before you start throwing stones at glass houses," Hat said, noticing a certain brunette asleep in Jesse's bed through the crack of the door. "She was piss drunk, and she's not very cooperative when walking up the stairs. Stacie's room is another flight up, and that wasn't happening so I put her in my bed and slept on the couch downstairs. I came up to take a shower."

"Oh," he said.

"You, on the other hand, fell asleep in the same bed as her sister, didn't you," Hat said. "Wanna talk about that, big bro?"

"We were watching a movie and we fell asleep. That's it, nothing happened."

"Did something happen between you and Beca in the past, Jesse?"

"Uh," he stuttered before sighing, all anger gone. "We slept together once and I got her pregnant."

"Oh wow, so Bumper wasn't wrong at all."

"Glad that's your response to that, Hat," Jesse said with a smile. "Now I have to go figure this all out, if you would excuse me."

"Your girlfriend is in my room. She told me some things that makes me think you two need to talk."

"I know," Jesse said, walking back into his bedroom and shutting the door, locking it just in case a nosy family member came in. Or worse – Aubrey.

He laid back down next to Beca and pulled her close, running his fingers through her hair. She sighed and smiled in her sleep, making Jesse smile. Jesse knew this wasn't right, but he couldn't help how happy he felt in this moment and how much he never wanted it to end. But like all good things.

"Ah fuck," Beca said when she woke up to Jesse's chest. "This is awkward."

"Not really, no."

"A little bit, nerd," she said, sitting up and moving away from him. "Your entire family is downstairs and I'll be walking out of your bedroom after I was supposed to be staying at the Inn."

"No big deal," he shrugged.

"Jesse," Diane said, knocking on the door. "Can we talk?"

"It's your mom! That's fan-fucking-tastic, Jesse!" Beca whisper-yelled at him. "How am I going to avoid this one?"

"This is a bit problematic," he said.

"Jesse," she whined, which killed her because she rarely whined. "Your family is going to think I'm a homewrecker or something."

"Never," he said, pulling her close for a hug. "Now I'm going to answer the door."

"Fine," she said.

"Yes, Mom?" Jesse said, opening the door.

"I wanted to talk to you about the ring," she said and stopped when she saw Beca. "Oh, hello Beca. I didn't know you were here."

"Yeah, I'm just going to go to the bathroom," she said awkwardly, all but running out of the room.

"Son?" Diane said with a smirk.

"Nothing happened, Mom," he said. "We were watching a movie and we fell asleep, that's all."

"Okay," she said, still smirking. "I wanted to give you this. It's yours."

"Did Dad put you up to this?"

"Don't be a jerk, Jesse."

"What? You were so against giving me the ring, and suddenly it's mine?"

"Listen," she said, sitting down next to him on the bed. "I'm sick, honey."

"Don't say that," he shook his head, his throat getting tight as his eyes welled up.

"And you can't fix it. Not even by getting married," she said, opening her arms to comfort him as he began to cry. "Hey, I know this is probably a tall order, but I need you to do me a favor, and try not to be so perfect."

"I'm far from perfect," he said, wiping at his eyes. "Far from it."

"I hate to see you miss out on something because you have this picture in your mind or you thought you can change something you can't. I'd hate to see you not find what you really want," she said, grabbing his face. "Oh, but Jesse, it's your ring. It's your decision."

"Mom," he said quietly as they sat there, Jesse flipping the ring in his hands. "I got Beca pregnant."

"What?"

"That's how we know each other. I got her pregnant, and she miscarried and she pushed me away. I missed her so much though, Mom. I still did until she showed up, like fate was giving us a second chance."

"Maybe it is, sweetheart."

"I have to tell Aubrey."

"You do."

"Told you I wasn't perfect," he said with a small laugh.

"You'll always be perfect in my eyes."

"Jesse, we have to tell her," Beca said when he walked out of his bedroom, but paused when she saw his red eyes. "Are you okay?"

"I know," he sighed. "I'm fine, I'll tell you later."

"Okay," she nodded. "But we have to tell Aubrey."

"Tell me what exactly?" Aubrey said.

"Uh," they both stuttered. Their guilty faces lead Aubrey to jump to conclusions.

"Did you cheat on me with her?"

"No!" they both said.

"I would never do that to you," Jesse said sincerely.

"She has to know though, especially if you plan on proposing to her," Beca said and Jesse stared at her. "What? I overheard your mom giving you a ring."

"What?" Aubrey gasped. Jesse was just frozen; he didn't know what to say.

"You know how I never said who the father was when I was pregnant, and then the miscarriage happened and I was even more tightlipped about it all," Beca said, ignoring Jesse's state of shock, and Aubrey nodded. "Well, that's how Jesse and I know each other."

"Oh my God," Aubrey said, covering her mouth with her hand in shock. "He got you pregnant?"

"It was obviously an accident," Beca tried. "We were at a company party. We got drunk and one thing led to another, and I ended up with a baby. I lost it, and I pushed him away."

"Jesse?" Aubrey said, turning to him. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Uh," he stammered. "I didn't think I needed to."

"You didn't think you should tell me you got my sister pregnant and then left her?"

"I didn't know she was your sister," he said.

"He didn't leave me, he wanted to stay. I forced him away," Beca said. "Jesse's not the bad guy in this, I am."

"No, you're not," Jesse said. "No one's the bad guy."

"Well, now that that's out of the way. I'll leave you two alone, I'm pretty sure I smell pancakes," Beca said, leaving the two of them alone to talk.

"So," Jesse said awkwardly, not sure how to handle this.

"You want to get married?" she asked quietly.

"No," he sighed after a few minutes of silence. "I don't."

"Then why did?"

"I did, I was going to propose, but not anymore."

"Oh," Aubrey said, looking down at the floor as she tried to keep her tears at bay.

"You had to have noticed that things haven't been the same lately," he said, lifting her chin gently. "We're not happy, Aubrey."

"I know," she said sadly. "We used to be, right?"

"Yeah, for a little bit."

"I can see how happy she makes you," she said. "You don't look at me like you look at her, or smile and laugh like that. You haven't for a long time."

"I never meant to hurt you, Aubrey," he said, taking both of her hands in his. "I think I would have hurt you even more if I proposed and we got married."

"We both would have been unhappy," she said, nodding a bit. "Doesn't make it any easier."

"No, it doesn't," he agreed.

"Your family hates me anyway," she joked. "I would have been the daughter-in-law they dreaded to see. Beca fits in better here."

"They don't hate you," Jesse said, pulling her in for a hug. "I'm going to tell you something that my mom just told me."

"What?"

"Stop being so perfect. Get that perfect picture out of your head and go after what you really want," he told her. "You're a great girl, Aubrey. You're beautiful, you're successful, you can be funny sometimes."

"Thanks," she said, laughing a bit.

"There's a guy out there who's right for you, but he's not me. You just need to let yourself loosen up a bit and let your guards down. You'll be so much happier."

"Okay," she nodded. "Your mom's a smart woman."

"Yeah, she is," he said. "So, are we okay?"

"We will be," she said with a smile. "I mean, you did just dump me."

"It wasn't a mutual dumping?"

"That sounds disgusting," she laughed.

"Yeah, it does," he said. "Want pancakes?"

"Sure."

Jesse and Aubrey walked downstairs together, feeling happier and lighter than they have in a while. Jesse sat down next to Beca and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, kissing the top of her head as he pulled her close.

"Dude," she said, her mouth filled with pancakes. "Did you fall down the stairs and smack your head?"

"Uh, no?"

"It's fine, Beca," Aubrey said. "A little weird, but it's fine."

"The arm can stay, but kiss me again and this fork is going in your leg," she said before returning to her pancakes.

"Mommy! No one's opening presents," Sophie said, walking into the kitchen with a pout. "I want to open presents."

"Let's eat breakfast first so we can wait for Daddy," she said, but Sophie wasn't happy. "Fine. Go bring your stocking here. Stocking presents only until Daddy comes."

"Okay," she said happily, running into the living room.

"Did I miss something last night?" Bumper said.

"I think Jesse's decided to let both sisters share him. They do that in Australia a lot," Amy said as she took a whole stack of pancakes for herself. "Could cause some jealousy, but might not be too bad since you're family."

"No, that's not it," Jesse said with a laugh.

"Jesse and I are no longer together," Aubrey said.

"I hope it's not the family's fault," Diane said.

"It's completely the family's fault," Jesse joked. "It's for the best. We weren't right for each other. Now we can go out and find the right people for us."

"So not a rebound girl, Swanson," Beca warned. "Especially not a rebound for my sister."

"I think I was more of a rebound girl for you," Aubrey said.

"Yeah, well," Beca said, rolling her eyes.

"I'll actually take you on a real date this time," he said, which earned him a punch in the arm. "Ow!"

"Just don't knock her up again," Hat said as a joke and then realized what he said.

"Again?" Gary said, looking at his son and Beca.

"I knew it!" Bumper said excitedly, jumping up on the chair and jumping up and down. "I knew it!"

Hopefully Aubrey's reaction to what happened was good for all of you. I wanted to make it realistic, and I think since she realized her relationship with Jesse wasn't what it used to be and she knew there really was no happy future for them, she would be okay with it. There wouldn't be any screaming or fighting, just an understanding that it's for the best. Especially since there was no cheating on either sides, because that wouldn't be right.

There's probably one more chapter after this, then an epilogue. Told you it was going to be a short story lol. Let me know what you thought of this chapter :)