"Jesse?" Beca called once she heard Jesse walk out of the bathroom.

"Yes?" He peeked his head through the doorway.

"What's for dinner?" she asked as she typed on her phone.

"Well, what do you wanna eat for dinner?" he wondered.

"I don't know," she shrugged her shoulders.

"Okay, what haven't you eaten in a while and would like to eat?" he asked changing his strategy and began walking to the bed where she was laying.

She looked up and eyed him as he sat down next to her. "I haven't eaten anything from KFC in ages."

"Bec, KFC is super unhealthy."

"You asked," she shrugged and looked back at her phone.

He ran his finger through his hair and asked, "Would you like to have homemade fried chicken instead of KFC's for dinner?"

"Oh, make a fried chicken pizza!" She looked up.

"What? Fried chicken pizza is a thing?" he asked in confusion.

"Yeah. It's like pizza but instead of pizza dough you put fried chicken," she explained. "It's so good, Jesse."

"Why would anyone mess with the fundamentals of pizza?"

"Jesse, are you gonna make me fried chicken pizza or not?" she asked placing a hand on her belly subconsciously.

"Yeah, sure, I'll figure this abnormality out and make it," he shrugged pulling his phone to google how to make fried chicken pizza.

"Thanks," she thanked him and watched him nodded while eyeing his phone and walking out of the bedroom.

Beca answered e-mails for a while then the smell of food being cooked was a lot to handle so she decided to go see what was happening in the kitchen. Low music was playing while he hummed under his breath. She smiled knowing he was keeping it low for her sake.—after getting blood pressure meds her headaches stopped being as president as they once were and she told him that she was feeling fine yet he still kept it low anyway—

"Hey, Bec," Jesse said once he noticed her presence. "It's almost done. Eat this in the meantime," he told as he reached inside the fridge and pulled a bag of carrots.

"Thanks," she said accepting the carrots. She watched him put the fried chicken on a plate after it was done frying and ask, "what do you want as toppings?"

"Chef's choice," she mumbled. It was easier when she let him pick for her.

"Well, in the video I watched the chef put jalapeno, bacon, and cheese."

"Sounds good to me."

He nodded and turned to the fridge to pull the ingredients.

"How are things with Christina?" Beca asked out of curiosity.

"Not so good," he sighed. "Her landlord is gonna kick her out 'cause her lease is almost over and she doesn't have an income to pay her dues."

"That sucks, dude."

He nodded in agreement as he chopped bacon. Beca walked around the counter deciding to give him a hand.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm helping out," she looked around at the mess he made.

"No. I got it under control."

"Jess—"

"—nuh-uh." He blocked her way when she tried to walk past him and to the sink.

"Dude, we have a dishwasher, I'm just gonna load it."

"I'll load it later. I learned your way ages ago. I won't mess up." He paused. "C'mon, Bec, this right here is slowing the process of cooking and you wanna eat soon, don't you?"

She looked at him in disbelief then shook her head and gave in. He grinned and leaned in and placed a kiss on her head.

Beca went through more work e-mails while he cooked.

"Here you go," Jesse said placing the fried chicken pizza in front of her along with a glass of apple juice.

"Thanks," she thanked him then sighed eyeing the juice. "I don't know how you do it, man."

He looked at her and frowned. "How you willingly don't drink alcohol. I would kill for a pint of beer. Sweet brown beer." She sighed. "Or even the cheap shit you find at frat parties."

Jesse chuckled and said, "Bec, you're halfway through."

She nodded and grabbed the juice sipping from it.

"Wait, aren't you gonna eat?" she asked when he turned on his heels and began cleaning after himself.

"Yeah, I'm not going near that thing. It feels wrong like I'm cheating on pizza. Not doing it," he told her.

"Jesse, sometimes you say things that make me question your mental age."

"I stand by it. Not going near it." He shrugged.

Beca dived into the fried chicken pizza and made a mental note to have a blood pressure pill afterward because of salty it was.

"Stacie is gonna be teaching a semester at some college here in NYC," she informed him after a beat as she read the text Stacie sent her that consisted of a picture of a plane ticket to New York set to arrive in NYC on the 15th of December. "Says she's bored with working on a field. I say she has no one left to screw from work and wants new blood." Beca put her phone aside and reached for the glass of juice.

"Gross." He paused. "But good for her."

"Yeah," Beca agreed, stuffing her mouth with chicken. "Fuck, this is so good, Jesse, you have to try it," Beca moaned as she chewed.

"No," he shook his head in amusement.

"No, you're gonna eat," she disagreed and stepped off of the stool as she held a piece in her hand.

He shook his head and closed his mouth. He laughed when she tickled him with her free hand to get him to open his mouth.

"Jess, is this your idea of preparing me on how to get a baby to eat? 'Cause you're being a big baby right now."

"I said I won't eat this thing that calls itself a pizza," he laughed.

"It's fried chicken with toppings, not pizza," she shrugged and tried to shove into his mouth despite the fact that he was dodging her very well.

"When you put it that way, it doesn't sound so bad." He stopped resisting and let her feed it to him.

"Oh, good lord," he exclaimed as he chewed. "This is amazing, Bec," he said after swallowing and took another bite.

"I know it's great," she said biting from it as well.

"What?" Jesse frowned when she stopped chewing.

"Nothing," she shook her head swallowing. Her vision got pretty weird: she knew it was blood pressure related. She thought she was keeping it under control and her doctor told her she didn't have to change her diet, the meds were enough to keep her blood pressure low.

She held on to him with her free hand and tried to ignore the double vision. She knew that she got severe symptoms because her doctor told her to watch out for them so an impromptu check-up was in order.

Beca forced a smile when she saw how worried he seemed through her double vision and brought the chicken to his mouth. He hesitantly bit then watched her make her way to the stool she was sitting on while she held onto the counter.

He leaned against the counter facing her and ate with her in silence.

She was quiet and distance for the rest of the evening. He thought that things would go back to normal once they got back together but it wasn't the case. He wasn't even sure what normal was. Before she asked for a break, they were busy doing their thing individually. The break helped him realize how distant they became.

The one thing that changed since they got back together, a week ago, was the fact that they were having sex, a lot of sex and it was great. Other than that nothing really changed, she had loads of walls around her keeping him out and he wondered how he was going to get through her.

After dinner, Jesse stayed in the kitchen to clean it and feed Bender then made his way to the bedroom to find Beca curled up wearing earbuds. He couldn't tell if she was asleep or not.

He brushed his teeth and climbed on the bed, stirring her up. She removed an earbud and rubbed her eye.

"Did I wake you up?" he wondered apologetically.

She shook her head, "I wasn't sleeping." She paused, "Just resting my eyes." She smiled glad the double vision was finally gone.

He pressed her closer to him when she scooted his way and leaned against him using his chest as a pillow. "Hey, Bec?" Jesse called as he absent-mindedly stroked her hair.

She looked up.

"You're a homeowner," he said.

She was officially a homeowner and he didn't know what came next. Were they going to move in together into the penthouse? Was she going to stay in the apartment with him until they had the baby? Was she going to move out right away?

"Gonna have to start on getting Joe's room ready," she said avoiding the subject he was trying to bring up.

"Yeah," he gave her a small smile and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Jess, we should live separately," she said after a beat deciding to just talk about it.

He looked at her in confusion and waited for elaboration.

"I mean, we stopped growing as a couple around the time we moved in together."

"So, you're saying we take a step back?" he wondered while rubbing her back.

She nodded.

"You move into the penthouse and I stay here?"

"I'll ask Stacie to move with me since she's gonna be living here for a few months," she told him knowing he'd feel better knowing she wouldn't be living alone.

He nodded as he thought about it. She cupped his cheek and rubbed her thumb against his cheekbone.

"I feel it, too, you know," Jesse sighed tilting his head to place a kiss on her palm, "I feel how far you are, Bec. I can't believe I couldn't see how we've become." He paused for a moment. "I want you back so bad, Becs." He rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes.

She wanted to tell him, then, about her illness, she had been preparing how to bring it up for a while but couldn't do it.

"I'm here, Jesse," she said instead.

He shook his head."I want my Beca back."

Beca continued to rub her thumb against his cheek then kissed him tenderly. She knew what he meant. They grew apart and he was finally admitting it.

"Baby steps," she said against his lips and he nodded then wrapped her in his arms kissing her as he held her close to him.

"Jesse, my feet are cold," she complained to him after a while silence.

Jesse lifted his sweatpants exposing his shins.

"Can you even feel your feet?" Jesse mumbled after letting her put her feet between his legs in an attempt to wram her up.

"Yes. THEY'RE ICE COLD!"

"Ice ice, baby," he sang under his breath and got elbowed. "You're supposed to say 'Vanilla'," Jesse said as he rubbed the rib she elbowed.

"Help me warm my feet and I'll fucking sing the song to you." She rubbed one of her feet against his leg trying to catch some of the heat.

"You need to get blood circulating, Bec," he told her as if she didn't already know. "You're always using your car to get around."

"I try to walk around the city but it's so fucking cold." She shrugged. "And, need I remind of this guy?" She grabbed his hand and placed it on her belly. "I walk more than a couple of miles and my body starts to ache."

"How tired are you now, Bec?" Jesse asked pulling his head back.

"You must be out of your mind if you think I'm going to go walk around in the middle of the night in fucking December," she told him.

He rolled his eyes. "Are you too tired for sex?" he rephrased his question. Sex will get her blood circulating all right.

She took a moment to think then shook her head. "If I fall asleep while we're at it, though, don't take it personally," she joked.

He chuckled, "I hope you know all the words to ice ice baby." Jesse hovered on top of her and grinned when she cupped his face pulling him into a deep kiss.

"Jesse," Beca mumbled when Jesse's cell phone started ringing and he didn't acknowledge. They were in the middle of something but it could be important.

"They can... call later... or leave a message," Jesse mumbled as they kissed.

He gave her puppy dog eye when she pulled away and cupped his face, "you're sponsoring someone," she reminded him.

He sighed knowing she had a point. Jesse reached for his phone and picked up seeing that it was Christina. "Hey, Christina." He sat up when Beca pushed him to get up. He shook his head in question and she nodded at the bathroom.

Beca knew next to nothing when it came to sponsoring but knew she shouldn't hear the conversation between an addict and their sponsor, shit was too personal, and addicts were often on the vulnerable and fragile side. Beca knew that much to respect the privacy.

"I know it's late, but you said to call you whenever, right?" Christina anxiously said.

"Yeah, what's up?" he rubbed his face with his free hand.

Beca closed the door behind her and stayed in the bathroom for a while after peeing just to make sure she wouldn't eavesdrop on their conversation. When she stepped out of the bathroom Jesse was sitting Indian style on the bed thinking.

"Is everything okay?"

He nodded his head and rubbing his face. "I mean, I think."

"Cool," Beca said climbing on the bed. She rubbed his back and watched him tilted his head to look at her. "Jesse, if you think she needs you go see her," Beca said and managed to sound casual.

Jesse shook his head.

What?" Beca arched an eyebrow at the spark she saw in his eyes and knowing it meant a brilliant idea just struck him.

"Bec, aren't you supposed to have an assistant?"

"Um, yeah. The position is there but I don't need an assistant, therefore there's no need to waste the branch's money."

"What are the odds of you hiring Christina to work for you?" Jesse asked.

"I said I don't need an assistant, Jesse."

"I heard you," he nodded. "But she really needs a job, Bec." He paused. "Just have her get you lunch and stuff." He shrugged.

"And would I have new interns do?"

Jesse scratched his head and sighed.

"How bad is it?" Beca asked after a beat.

"Pretty bad. And, she either has a lot of pride or no one to turn to," he shrugged. Beca grabbed her phone checked her schedule then said, "Tell her to come in on Thursday at 2:15 pm and bring her résumé." She looked up from her phone.

"Thanks, Bec."

"She still has to interview for the job, you know?" She put her phone back on the nightstand. He rolled his eyes then uncrossed his legs and reached with his barefoot to touch hers. "Ugh, does it hurt when you walk?" he asked rubbing his much warmer foot against her ridiculously cold one.

"Honestly, in comparison with the pregnancy related aches my feet's condition sucks the least," she sighed.

"We should fix it, through." He pulled his foot away and watched Beca get under the duvet. He jumped right after her and quickly hovered on top of her.

"You're so eager to offer your assistance, aren't you?" she asked in amusement.

He rapidly nodded. "Being helpful is what I live for."

She snickered at his words.

"I'm serious," he said and leaned in to place a kiss behind her ear. "I was offered a job to be a professional helper."

"Like a life coach?" she interrupted.

"No," he mumbled as he made his way down to her neck.

"A shrink then?" she smiled when he sighed against her neck.

"No."

"Oh, I got it. A prostitute," she guessed getting him to chuckle.

"Shut up, would you?" he pulled his head back from her neck. "A professional helper offers help to those rich folks we see on TV like on Downtown Abby, people who need help accomplishing the smallest tasks."

"So like a butler?" she bit the inside of her cheek at the look he gave for ruining his attempt at making a joke.

"Anyway," he said. "I didn't take the job because I really love doing things for free." He paused. "Besides, it would be weird to take money for sex," he casually added making her laugh. He smiled because his goal was to get her to laugh. She tried to ruin it but he got her to laugh eventually.

"It would be prostitution," Beca shrugged.

"Okay, enough talking," Jesse decided.

"No, I wanna know about the sex thing," she tugged at his t-shirt.

"I shouldn't have said that," he shook his head in phony regret. He grinned when she playfully slapped him.

"Hey, let's role play," she suggested.

"Okay," he stretched out the word in surprise. The last time they did role play was on her 30th birthday, which was a couple of years ago, and hearing her casually suggest it caught him off guard. "What do you have in mind?" he wondered and watched a smirk form on her lips.

"You be a prostitute on his first day and I'll be an intimidating and hard to please client."

"Okay," Jesse pecked her lips. "Let's do this," he grinned knowing her suggestion was a step getting his Beca back.

Thursday,

Beca was in her office. She was going through some music sheets. She usually wouldn't get involved in the work once she assigned who would work with whom but she made an exception because she gave an intern a shot to impress her.

Hearing a knock on the door she said, "Come on in," in a loud enough voice. Beca looked up once the door got unlocked and smiled seeing that it was Christina.

The hiring manager was surprised when Beca told him she was going to interview Christina herself. She wanted to do it herself for no other reason than the fact the job title had the word personal in the mix. The woman was going to be her personal assistant. The hiring manager had no business interviewing her future PA.

"Hi," Beca said and sat up and put the sheets she was reading on her desk.

They shook hands briefly.

"Please, take a seat," Beca gestured at the chairs facing her desk.

"Thank you," Christina said.

Beca could sense the nervousness in the woman who sat across from her. She accepted the résumé from her and put it in front of her.

"So," Beca paused. "Tell me about yourself."

"Well, I'm Christina Reyes. I worked as a recruiter and I'm currently between jobs. My years in recruiting have taught me a lot of useful skills such as time management and multitasking ability and speed along with knowledge in IT and social media that would be of utility in this job."

Beca nodded and looked down at the résumé she read the first thing that caught her attention and said in surprise, "You have a PhD in finance from Yale."

"Yep," Christina nodded.

"You're ridiculously overqualified for this position, Ms. Reyes."

"I am well aware of that."

"Hold on," Beca frowned as she eyed the résumé. "Why haven't used your degree to get a job, like, ever?"

"I got the degree because my parents wanted me to. They paid for the tuition so I got the degree," Christina shrugged. "Not a big fan of finance to be honest."

"Headhunter," Beca said, using the informal title of a recruiter, and looked from the paper. "I assume being persuasive is one of your skills as well."

"Manipulative is more accurate," Christina joked.

"Why should I hire you?" Beca folded her hands resting them on her belly as she leaned against her seat. She wanted to see how the headhunter would manipulate her into giving her the job.

"Why shouldn't you?" Christina asked back. If Beca didn't know better she'd buy the front the woman in front of her was putting. It was a good front but Beca could tell that Christina was barely holding it together. Her body language was enough to notice the struggle.

"You prefer to work behind the scenes but you can't avoid the scene. I can very easily handle the stuff you avoid. Take care of your social media for you so that you won't get bad press for ignoring the press."

Beca kept a stoic expression but she was impressed by the fact that Christina did her homework. The job was below her and she pulled the effort to do her research.

"I worked in the "people's business" I know people. I dealt with all kinds of people and I know how to handle a problem. I mean, unless you're gonna Devil wears Prada me, I can solve whatever problem you throw at me."

Beca heard of the movie but hadn't seen it so she made a mental note to ask Jesse later about it.

"What do you consider your greatest strength?"

"I believe it's reliability," Christina curtly said.

"And your greatest weakness?" Beca asked and made sure to keep eye contact. She knew the answer but wanted to see how Christina would handle it.

Christina chuckled and clenched her fist and didn't break eye contact. "I have an addictive personality," she said in amusement. "I tend to get a little too obsessive over certain things. I'm trying to fix this issue."

Beca nodded, greatly appreciating the self-awareness and overall cleverness of the answer.

"Well, Ms. Reyes, do you have any questions you'd like to ask me?" Beca asked deciding that she didn't need to ask any further.

"Yes. Can you tell me exactly what I would be expected to do if I were hired for this position?"

Beca had a feeling the question had something to do with the movie reference she didn't get. "Nothing crazy," Beca answered because she didn't really know what her PA was supposed to do. "I'm a bit of a control freak I like to do everything myself so I just expect you to arrange my traveling and visa stuff if it's an overseas trip and remind me of my meetings and blow people off for me when I don't want to meet them. Working overtime is very possible."

"Okay," Christina nodded.

"Anything else?" Beca wondered.

"No," Christina gave her a small smile.

"Well, then," Beca started to say. "I guess I should figure Twitter and Instagram now, huh?"

"Pardon?"

"To get the media to stop talking about how I'm closed off? Be more approachable? Work on my image a little?" Beca sighed recalling some of the stuff she read about herself in magazines.

"Wait, did I get the job?" Christina asked in surprise.

"Yeah, you can start tomorrow." Beca got up and reached out her hand to shake Christina's.

"I look forward to working with you."

Christina shook her hands while she held her hand tightly and Beca guessed it was to hide the shakiness.