Beca was unpacking grocery while Joseph laid in his bouncer chair looking very focused as he clenched his fist then released when Jesse walked down the stairs finally having woken up.

"Where's Sam? Did Sandra come and get her?" he asked.

"No, I drove her home." She looked up and watched him make his way to the kitchen.

(Beca drove Sam home and took Joseph with her then went grocery shopping.)

"You got home super late, didn't wanna wake you up to drop her off."

Jesse nodded while rubbing his eyes.

"I thought about what you said," she started to say as she continued to unpack grocery. "Some of the stuff you said is very wrong but other points you made made sense to me." She put the yogurt she was holding in the fridge after Jesse pulled the milk jug.

"I don't want you to hate me but I'm pretty sure you're headed that way and I can't help but think that it's my fault. I let it happen." She paused and rested her hands on the kitchen island. "I regret asking for a break. I should have just broken up with you instead," she uneasily said. "Dragging you around because I didn't want to completely let go was a dick move and I'm sorry," she apologized to Jesse who was holding a cereal box and a milk jug tightly as he watched her. Beca looked up and met his gaze. "I'm always the one breaking up, wanna do the honor this time?" she cracked a smile despite how low she was feeling.

"Are you seriously asking me to break up with you?" he asked in surprise.

"Yeah. All the times we've broken up before I broke us up. I don't want to do it again." She shrugged. "So, you do it."

"I don't know how" he confessed after a beat of silence.

"It's not easy but you can do it, Jess. Just say what's on your mind," she told him. "I promise I won't get mad nor will I interrupt."

"Okay," he swallowed and put the stuff he was holding on the kitchen island. "So, we're doing this, huh?" He ran his fingers through his hair. "I love you and you know it." He paused not sure how to proceed. "But I'm so, so exhausted from all of this and I hate that I am feeling this way. I really do. Which is why I think it's time we just called it quits," he said deciding to just cut to the chase and get it over with. As he held her gaze, Jesse felt bad. She almost looked like she didn't want to break up unlike what he believed.

"It feels so weird to get dumped," Beca spoke when he went quiet and tilted her head towards Joseph hearing him sing his usual nonsense of vowels.

"It feels even weirder to be the one dumping," Jesse walked to her and threw an arm over her shoulder. "I love you, Becs," he told her when she looked up.

She smiled sadly at him. "You just broke up with me, stop saying that."

He pulled her to him and placed a kiss on her hair.

"At least this guy came out of this relationship and we didn't just waste each other's time for nothing," Beca mumbled taking Joseph's hand in hers.

"I disagree, he's not the only good thing that came out of this," Jesse said. "But let's not get into it 'cause this is totally not the time to reminisce about our relationship."

"I agree," she sighed.

A couple of months later.

Beca sat in her office chair, trying to work. She had decided to get back to work because she just couldn't sit around the house and mope. After four months of doing nothing apart from being a mom, she realized that she was totally not cut out to be a stay at home mom. Breaking up with Jesse also played a role because she needed a distraction from her thoughts that sometimes made her want to pick up the phone and call him and she wasn't even drunk when she had those thoughts, so she went back to work a week after they broke up.

"Dude, I totally get that you're into singing but I am trying to make a living here." She looked at her son who was in his bouncer chair near her desk. "You want me to afford to buy you things and pay your college tuition, right?"

Joseph babbled something back that made her roll her eyes and push her chair back. She picked him up and sat him on the desk facing her. "I won't cut you a record deal, singing all the time won't get you anywhere, young man," she told the boy who had stuffed his fingers in his mouth. She sighed and grabbed a tissue from the tissue box on her desk cleaning the drool from his hand.

"Can momma get a kiss?" she asked her 6 months old baby. He leaned forward instantly and attacked Beca's cheek with his opened mouth, which counted as a kiss in his mother's books.

"Thanks," she thanked him while she wiped the drool from her cheek. "I really love those wet messy kisses." She smiled at the huge grin he had on his face that made him look a lot like his father.

She glanced at the time and was delighted to see that it was near noon which was the time lunch break started. "Okay, time to get some food in that tummy," she said tickling him in his belly. She was still breastfeeding him but the fact that he could eat solid food now was good because he often got mad at her when she wouldn't let him have what she was eating and also because it meant she could drink alcohol more than she did when his diet only consisted of milk.

"Why don't you put him in daycare?" Matt, her co-worker, asked as he leaned against the doorway of Beca's office.

"Jesse usually has him when I'm at work 'cause he works from home but he's out of town," Beca answered getting up as she held Joseph. "He's got a meeting with a potential producer for the movie he wrote and since he's still in L.A. I think it's going well."

"Cool." Matt straightened up. "I came to see if you wanted to eat out 'cause I found this awesome restaurant but I see that you already have a lunch date with your little dude."

"You are right. Joe and I are having lunch together. And by that I mean I'm gonna spend half an hour begging him to eat and not play with the food 'cause he still doesn't accept the concept of having lunch," she sighed. "I'd love to check the restaurant some other time."

"Want help with that?" he said offering to help her feed Joseph.

"Nah. We're good, aren't we Joe?" she tilted her head to look at Joseph whose hand was tangled in her hair. "Don't you pull my hair. I spent too much time straightening it this morning." She held his gaze then smiled when he patted her head before he leaned in and gave her one of his signature wet kisses on this time on the lips.

"That is equally gross and adorable," Matt remarked.

"Wanna hold him while I get him lunch from his bag?" She wiped her lips.

"Yeah, sure," he hesitantly said.

"Don't worry, he takes pleasure in seeing others scared: he won't cry when you hold him." She assured him knowing the reason behind his hesitance. "And he's quite social," she added, proud of her little guy's social skills.

"Has he learned to say actual words yet?" Matt asked frowning when Joseph reached for his beard with an odd look in his eyes.

"Not really, but I'm pretty sure Jesse's been trying to get him to say mama which is why I made it my mission to get him to say dada first." She pulled the food container and the bib.

"That's an odd decision to make."

"I know why Jesse's doing it. He knows it will give me a sense of victory. It will feel rewarding when Joe finally starts calling me mama. And, I think he deserves that too. Which is why I want the same for him."

"You guys are weird," Matt finally said. "This isn't how you're supposed to treat your ex."

Surprisingly, no one was surprised when she and Jesse broke up, not even their parents who didn't know about their on-and-off relationship and were lead to believe that everything was A-OK.

"What are we supposed to do instead? Enlighten me, Matt," Beca sarcastically wondered.

"Not care so much about your ex and what you think will make them happy?" Matt smiled when he spotted Joseph's bottom two teeth.

"I might get behind that if Jesse and I didn't split up amicably and didn't have a baby together." She turned on her heels.

"Why is he patting my cheek?" Matt asked in confusion.

"His dad has a beard and he hasn't seen him in a few days," she shrugged.

"Are you saying he thinks I'm his dad?"

Beca shrugged again took her baby from him. She sat him in one of the chairs facing her desk before she sat down on the coffee table facing him.

"Time for some disgusting looking cooked mashed carrots that I wouldn't be caught dead eating!" she said in the most excited tone she could fake to get him excited about eating carrots. Joseph started waving his arms and legs in excitement.

"Wow," Matt chuckled watching Beca put the bib around the joyous little boy's neck.

"Babies are dumb," she told Matt before she placed a kiss on Joseph's cheek. "Anything is awesome and fun if you act like it is." She ran a hand over Joseph's curly locks.

Matt shook his head and closed the door before he walked to where Beca sat and pulled a chair to sit and help anyway.

"Beca, did he just say dada?" Matt asked while Beca cleaned Joseph's mouth before she fed him another spoonful of carrots and he pulled faces to keep the boy in a good enough mood to eat.

Beca quickly grabbed her phone and tapped on the camera icon.

She hit record and proceeded to say, "Dada," slowly. "C'mon, Joe, you said it just now, do it again. Say Dada." She felt like her heart had skipped a beat when he said the word hesitantly. Beca repeated after him and he grinned and said it again.

Matt took the phone from her and continued to film when she picked Joseph up and hugged him while kissing him forcefully on the cheek. "That's right, buddy. Dada will be so happy to hear you say that." She held him up and grinned when he kept repeating 'dada' and adding some nonsensical consonants and vowels sounds into the mix which is totally awesome because he looked happy talking to her even if it didn't make sense.

"Thanks." She took her phone from him once he ended the video. "Whatever you were doing must've reminded him of Jesse."

Matt rubbed her back deciding not to make a comment on how close to tears she was.

"Okay, back to disgusting carrot," she sniffed. Matt inhaled deeply then stuck his tongue out and crossed his eyes and got Joseph to laugh.

Later that day.

"Are you ready?" Stacie peeked her head into Beca's bedroom.

"Almost," Beca answered as she wore her earrings.

"Show me what you picked to wear?" Stacie stepped into the room then nodded. "Good, you don't look like you just nurse a baby. You got a broad thing going: not too slutty yet not too classy," she said impressed with Beca's outfit. "I'd fuck you."

"Thanks, Stacie," Beca rolled her eyes then picked the high heels she was wearing for the night.

"I can't even remember the last time I went clubbing."

"Don't worry I'll make sure you have a great time," Stacie gave a cheeky grin.

"I'm a little worried now 'cause you look you're up to something," Beca admitted. "You can't slip drugs into my drink. I have a baby. Think about him."

"Jesus. I won't trick you into anything. Just don't think about Joe 'cause he's in good hands. Amy and Bumper aren't your ideal babysitters but they're surprisingly not bad either."

Beca grabbed her purse and followed Stacie out of the room.

"Put him to bed by seven-thirty. He will get cranky if he stays up past his bedtime," Beca told Amy and Bumper who were on the floor playing with Joseph under his gym.

"We know," Bumper said in a bored tone. "Go away now," he continued as he sat up.

"I said go away," he insisted when Beca made her way to them in the living room.

"Shut up, I'm saying good night to Joe." She got on her knees.

"Dada," Joseph called as he reached for her.

"Yeah, keep saying that." She picked him up.

"Isn't he supposed to call you mama?" Amy said in confusion as she sat up as well.

"Don't say that in front of Jesse when he gets here," Beca said to Amy after placing a kiss on joseph's cheek.

"Yes, sir," Amy nodded.

"I'm pretty sure Joe doesn't know what he's saying he just knows it makes me happy," she shrugged eyeing the little boy. "Good night, weirdo." She placed a kiss on his forehead. "Please don't put up a fight and go to sleep on time," she said sitting him back on the mat between Amy and Bumper.

"This is just sad. You're going out of your way to get your son to say the word that would mean so much to your ex-" Bumper thought out loud as he crossed his legs and got slapped in the stomach by Amy.

"I'm just calling as I see it." He shrugged. "What you and Jesse did was irrational." He nodded at Beca. "You shouldn't have broken up."

"You don't know what you're talking about Bumper," Beca deadpanned. "Just put him to bed on time," she said before she stood up.

"Say bye bye to dada," Bumper said in a childish voice as he waved at Beca who rolled her eyes then cracked a smile when Joseph did wave at her.

Jesse was lying bed at his parents' guestroom while he re-watched the video Beca sent him of Joseph saying dada for the nth time that day. He was grinning the whole time and every time he watched the video when his phone rang. He frowned and sat up seeing that it was Beca calling him at 10:20 PM which was 1:20 AM over in NYC.

"Hey, Becs, everything all right?" he asked upon picking up.

"Yeah, everything is top notch," she slurred and he felt relieved that she was just drunk dialing him and that nothing bad happened to either her or Joseph.

"That's great," he said and leaned against the headboard. He was surprised that she was even drunk. "Did you want to tell me something?" he asked.

"Yeah, right. I was talking to this dude at the club Stacie took me and he wasn't very interested in hearing me talk about Joseph," she scoffed.

"Yeah, wonder why," he sarcastically said.

"Fuck him, I wasn't planning on sleeping with him anyway," she said hiccupping at the end.

"Still no sex drive?" he asked then realized that he shouldn't have.

"It's not as dry as it was a couple of months ago," she casually answered. "I've resumed solo activity, it feels nice but I haven't gotten myself to orgasm yet."

Jesse shifted his place then scratched his beard, hating that he was getting a little excited himself despite the fact that she didn't say anything explicitly, before he said, "you'll get there."

"You think it'll help if I watch Magic Mike XXL?" she wondered. "I mean I'm a little horny now."

"Regular porn since you hate sitting through movies," he recommended.

"Valid point. I don't know where I put my laptop though and I don't feel like looking… Guess, I'll just think about… stuff," she said after a beat. "So, the reason I called you is to talk about Joe and what he did today," she added after an even longer beat.

"Thank god you got it on film," he grinned.

"Yeah, I'm glad I did. I seriously cannot wait for you to hear him say it. He's bananas cute and he fucking knows it."

"Beca, stop," Jesse groaned. "I might hop on a plane right now just to see him and I've been thinking about doing that the whole day."

"Okay, I'm sorry." She chuckled not sounding sorry. "I hope your meetings go well and you get financed to make your movie."

"I hope so too," he sighed. "You okay?" he asked when he heard what sounded like puking.

"Yeah, yeah, everything is okay. I just threw up a little. Don't worry, I'm home and sitting next to the toilet bowl."

"Drink enough water so that you won't wake up super hungover," Jesse reminded her. "Beca?" he called when she didn't say anything back.

"Found it!" she exclaimed.

"Found what?" Jesse frowned.

"Battery."

"What are you going to do with it?" he wondered in confusion.

"It's for this fancy sex toy Stacie got me." She hiccupped. "Says it will make me come in 3 minutes tops."

"And you're gonna go give it a try now?" he guessed.

"Yep. Wish me luck," she said.

"You don't need luck, Becs. You can get there just set your mind to it." Jesse swallowed when he heard buzzing on the other end of the phone. "Did you just turn it on?" he asked.

"Yeah," she chuckled. "Dude, this thing is so funny looking. Looks like a mouse."

"A mouse?"

"A computer mouse," she elaborated. "Well, Imma go try the thing now. It better work because I need some release. Love you, bye," she said before hanging up.

Jesse rubbed his face after tossing his phone aside. He missed her very much and regretted breaking up again but couldn't just go and be like, 'hey, I don't think we made the right call and I wanna get back together with you.' He knew they had to sack up and just wait for the feelings to fade at some point. But everything felt wrong. Being apart felt wrong and sucked.

The next day.

Beca was in the kitchen testing the milk she just pumped for alcohol before she threw it away. She was a hundred percent sure it had alcohol but kind of had to test it anyway.

"Hold on a minute, buddy," she said to her impatient baby boy who was babbling demanding she gave him his food as he sat in his chair. She sighed pouring the milk in the sink. "Just keep it low, please, my head is pounding." She rubbed her temples at her agonizing headache then resumed slicing bananas for Joseph.

"I can't handle getting shitfaced anymore," she admitted to herself. "Dude, I'm getting old," she said to Joseph with a pout. "But you don't care, do you?" she smiled a little when he grinned at her once she placed the bananas in front of him. "Yeah, keep grinning. One day I'm gonna die, you know? I'd like to see your face then."

"What the hell are you saying to your child?" Bumper said catching the last thing she said.

"Can't a woman have a conversation with her kid in her own house?" she deadpanned.

"You're so weird, Beca, and it's affecting everyone here even Joe," he told her.

"Bumper, I am so hungover. Please, for the love of whatever shit you're into these days, don't. Just don't."

He held his hands up as he walked to the kitchen.

"I'm making a Potassium smoothie that Amy once told me you drank to help with hangovers," she sighed. "What else should I add? I've already put bananas and yogurt," she told him.

"Milk and beans… Um, I think there's still beet. But double up the bananas so its taste overshadows the unpleasant taste of beet."

"Okay," Beca nodded and opened the fridge to grab the stuff he told her to get.

"You seem like you had fun last night," Bumper remarked serving himself a mug of freshly brewed coffee.

"If by fun you mean drinking way too much tequila shots and scaring off every single guy that showed interest in me because I wouldn't shut up about Joe then going home to puke my insides out and drunk-dialing Jesse and having no memory of what I talked about then yeah so much fun!" She grabbed a knife to cut the beet. "And I have this bruise that I'm not sure how I got," she told him as she lifted the robe she was wearing to show him the bruise on the calf of her right leg.

"That is a nasty bruise," Bumper said after a beat.

Beca laid in bed waiting for her hangover to fucking go away while Joseph sat next to her playing with his toys and occasionally acknowledging her.

"Your sister used to make me feel better when I felt like shit back when she was a baby," she told him when he threw a giraffe stuffed toy at her. "You're not helping." She held the giraffe and played with it before tossing it aside.

"Dada dada dada…" Joseph continuously said then threw himself at her burying his face in her chest and rubbing his nose against her tank.

She sighed and pushed herself up before she sat him in her lap. "I demand you make me feel better now!" She tickled his sides and made him laugh while she rocked him.

A soft knock made her look up. "Hi," Jesse smiled as he stood in the doorway.

"Jesse? What are you doing here—when did you even get here?" Beca asked in surprise.

"I just got here. I ran into Bumper downstairs. He let me up. I was gonna call you to tell the doorman to let me in." He stepped into the room, grinning when he saw that Joseph recognized his voice and was jumping in his mother's lap and looking around.

"Hey, champ," Jesse said picking Joseph from Beca. "I missed you," he said before he placed a kiss on his cheek quite forcefully. "I missed you so much." He breathed in his scent.

"He missed you, too," Beca told him smiling as she eyed the nearly identical grins on the father and son.

"I thought you were supposed to stay over there until you got the money," Beca noted.

"I e-mailed the producer and told him we'll be in touch via e-mail. I'm not gonna wait around there." He shrugged and took a seat on the bed. "How could I stay across the country when my little boy is saying dada?" he said to Joseph who was trying to hold his face.

"Dada," Joseph repeated after him. Beca grabbed her phone to record their interaction, her face hurting from the grin she held the whole time.

"God, I missed these," Jesse grinned when Joseph placed one of his wet open-mouthed kisses on his face.

"What's the matter, buddy?" Jesse wondered when Joseph glanced at Beca then back at him.

"He's hungry but doesn't want to stop playing with you," Beca told him. "No, I can't nurse him," she added when Jesse nodded and held him her way. "I got hammered last night," she elaborated a little embarrassed by the fact that she drunk dialed him.

"Right," Jesse said in realization.

"I'll go get him some of the milk I stored," she said climbing out of the bed.

Lying in bed with your ex who was holding your sleepy baby as he nursed him to sleep should have felt awkward, yet it didn't. It was actually nice. Having Jesse around was nice because it made Joseph happy, of course.

"How's your hangover doing?" Jesse asked in a low voice as he slowly removed the empty bottle from Joseph's hold noting that he was fast asleep.

"Relatively better," Beca answered, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger as she stared at the ceiling.

"Is this the fancy vibrator you told me about last night?" Jesse wondered as he grabbed the item after placing the bottle on the nightstand.

"What?" Beca sat up.

"It is weirdly shaped like a computer mouse." Jesse frowned flipping the thing in his hand.

"Please tell me we didn't have phone sex last night." She closed her eyes in embarrassment as she felt the heat in her cheeks.

"No. You actually called me to complain about some dude that didn't want to hear you talk about Joe," he told her while avoiding eye contact. "You don't remember?" He looked up.

She shook her head. "I have a vague memory of calling you and the log history on my phone confirms it."

"Don't worry, you didn't say anything wildly inappropriate." He held the thing up and said. "This doesn't look like any vibrator I've seen before. How does it work?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes laid back on the bed. "You can figure out what it does since you yourself are pretty good at it." She clenched her jaw regretting saying the last part.

"Ooooh," he slowly said. "Does it work? Did it… make you… you know?"

Beca nodded. "It's surprisingly very efficient," she told him.

"Cool." He put it on the nightstand and looked down at Joseph who sighed in his sleep.

"So I called you to talk about Joe then it weirdly turned into discussing the sex toy?"

"Uh-huh," Jesse nodded, deciding not to get into how they got to talking about her sex life nor the part where she told him she loved him before hanging up.

"That's not so bad," she said in relief.

"As much as I miss Joe I think it's best if he naps in his crib," Jesse said while stroking Joseph's cheek.

"You're right," Beca agreed then followed Jesse out of her bedroom and to the nursery.

"I'll bring him over to your place tomorrow," Beca said watching Jesse as he placed a kiss on the sleeping boy's head and straightened up after having put him in his crib.

"Okay," he nodded stuffing his hands in his pockets and walked out of the nursery following Beca's lead.

"Wow, what's that?" Jesse wondered as he noticed the bruise on Beca's leg while pulling the door and leaving it barely open.

"What? Oh, you mean this?" She held the robe up a little to let him see it. "I'm not sure how I got it," she shrugged.

"Did you get punched in the calf by an elf?" he frowned bending to have a better look.

She rolled her eyes. "I think I stumbled backward and hit the edge of the bed," she told him. "It's nothing," she added when he ran his fingertips tracing the bruise, hoping he didn't feel the Goosebumps his gesture caused.

"Well, be careful, Becs," he cleared his throat straightening up. She nodded and took a step back when she saw how close he was standing. He reached and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear then leaned in and kissed her hesitantly. She returned his kiss and it wasn't long until he was pinning against the wall and kissing her senseless while she wrapped her legs around his waist and clenched his hair pulling closer to her.

"You look like a pair of dingoes in the heat." Amy's remark brought them out of their bubble and back to reality.

"No, keep going." She gestured with her hand as she walked casually. "Preferably not near your son's nursery, you might wake him up." She was walking down the stairs when she said the last words.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me," Jesse apologized as he put Beca down. "I'll let myself out," he awkwardly said while avoiding her gaze before he walked away.

"Fuck!" Beca huffed in annoyance at what just happened because she thought they could do better. She dragged herself to her bedroom and jumped on the bed, burying her face in a pillow before she let out a muffled groan of frustration.

She promised herself she'd be mature about breaking up despite the fact they still had feelings for each other.

'It's for the best,' is what she kept telling herself ever since they broke up: She didn't know what she wanted and it didn't seem like she was going to and he couldn't just wait around for her.

AN: This must feel like a broken record, eh? Sorry 'bout that. It's just part of the whole schtick. Roll with it, please. To the dear guest wondering how many chapters are left: I'm trying to wrap it up. I can't give you an exact number of chapters because I'm basically winging it... So, not a lot of chapters, I guess?

I hope you didn't hate this chapter. Leave a word telling me what you thought if you want to. Until next time, peace!