This was starting to get really long, so I'm breaking it into two chapters. As you will tell by the end, it is starting to veer off canon, which I'm ok with, and I hope you are too. I think it's fun to explore other options in the storyline.

"…and that was ah-MAY-zing, the way you layered that Rhianna song in when I was doing 'Singing in the Rain' on the 'songs about water' category," Jesse was saying as he held open the door to Baker Hall for Beca. "I think we should sing together all the time. Screw this college thing and the Bellas and the Trebles. We should go on the road."

Beca just laughed as she walked past him and into the dorm. Some days, they spent so much time together that at some appointed hour, they reached this cozy comfort level with each other. There was less snarking, and infinitely more open conversation, fun, and sometimes, a casual physical contact that told tons about what was percolating underneath, for both of them. A light punch or tap, an arm around the shoulder or through the elbow, a brush of fingers.

Jesse had felt it before, and clearly misread it. He knew, he just KNEW, that while they were watching Judd Nelson stick it to the man, she was thinking about kissing him too. For some reason, she pulled back. He knew about the oath, and figured that was part of it, but there was something else. Had Jimmy Kin not interrupted at that moment, Jesse would like to think that he would have hashed it out with her. But then again, he did scurry out of her room pretty quickly. So maybe not.

At any rate, the following day at the station, Beca greeted him as if nothing had happened, so he decided to ignore it as well. It was like those choose-your-own-adventure books; he was flipping back and trying another route.

Beca grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers loosely with his while they walked down her hall and he was reminded that tonight's comfort level was also aided slightly by alcohol. He had dragged her to a retro matinee of Raiders of the Lost Ark in town, whereafter they mutually agreed on dinner at the Chinese buffet. There, Beca got a text that the Bellas were socializing minus their senior members that evening. Jesse convinced her with the aid of a fortune cookie (A pleasant surprise is waiting for you) to go and bring him along with her. He figured getting to know her friends and teammates would further endear him to her, and give him another perspective on Beca Mitchell.

They arrived at Jessica's suite-size room and the Bellas were already into their karaoke performances. Jesse got a text from Kolio asking what he was up to, and suddenly an impromptu Bellas/Treble hangout (again, minus Bumper and Donald) was occurring. Karaoke turned into a riff-off type competition, until Beca and Jesse collaborated and then the mash-ups began. Now it was 3 a.m. and they were a little giddy off all the alcohol and the adrenaline of the two groups getting along so well.

Beca stopped at her door and dragged her keys out of her pocket, turning to face him as he continued to rattle on with aca-analysis. He automatically grabbed them from her hand and elbowed her out of the way and he put the correct key in the slot, unlocking her door for her and handing them back.

"And then, when the guys were doing Centerfold and Cynthia Rose busted in with Hot in Here, that was unreal. I think you're starting to wear on them, Bec. Before you know it," he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, "all the Bellas are going to be begging for you to mix their set list. Really, I think if you can get the girls on board," and he leaned in and kissed the other cheek, "you guys can mutiny and muscle Aubrey into a change for regionals."

It was at this point that Jesse realized he was staring at the star dangling from her necklace, his nose awfully close to her jaw line. He straightened up to meet her eyes, finding amusement and shock present in equal measure.

"Okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kiss you twice... and then linger a long time on the second kiss," he said, hands up in his traditional stance whenever he seemed to do something like this. His subconscious caught him monologuing and deciding to intervene with an initiation of physical contact. Damn his subconscious. But she smelled so good and she was standing so close…

Beca smiled up at him. "Ok, loverboy. Head off to your cell and see if those moves work on the roomie," she said.

Jesse cringed and silently noted her redirection. "Ugh, that is not an image I needed. Thanks ever so. He's home for the weekend, for what it's worth." He started walking backwards down the hallway. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mitchell."

Beca raised her hand in a wave as she silently pushed in to her room, the door closing quietly behind her.

Jesse turned around and continued down the hall, mentally reviewing their time together and reveling in their great day, so much so that he almost missed the click of the door behind him, and the whisper-yelled, "Swanson!" that followed.

Turning, he found Beca jogging toward him, her eyes a little frantic. "What's wrong?" he said.

"There are Koreans all over my room. I think we have a Heaven's Gate situation," she said.

"What?"

She grabbed his hand and dragged him back to her door, pushing it open to allow the hallway light to illuminate the room. Kimmy Jin and her friends truly looked as if they had been part of some end-of-times type scenario. They were strewn about the room, sleeping in seated and laying positions, some of them wearing 3D glasses with video game remotes in their hands. A few people were on Beca's bed. The large-screen plasma flickered on the wall with the console logo.

Jesse swallowed. "Do you see any cups? Is there Kool-Aid in them?" he said.

Beca made an annoyed face. "You're mixing up your mass suicides, nerd. Seriously, I'm freaked by this. Who falls asleep playing video games?"

He stepped into the room gingerly, being careful to avoid body parts. He knelt down and put his ear up to someone's mouth. He could feel the exhale of moist air on his ear, and see the guy's chest rise and fall. As his eyes and ears were adjusting, he noticed everyone was asleep. There was a light snore coming from Kimmy Jin's bed.

"They're definitely asleep, Bec."

"Well, great," she half-whines, with an un-Beca-like mini foot stomp. "Where am I going to sleep?" she mumbles to herself as she looks around the room, helplessly.

Jesse stands up from his crouch, again remembering that Benji is home for the weekend. The possibility of Beca sleeping mere feet from him is just too tantalizing to contemplate. He wants to offer, but following his uncontrollable kissing of moments ago, he's afraid she will just –

"Hey, didn't you just say Benji was home this weekend?"

Beca interrupts his mental debate so close to his own thoughts that he looks up guiltily, as if he had voiced it. She grabs his hand (all this hand grabbing probably instigated the kissing) and hauls him into the hallway, clicking the door shut behind them.

"His bed is empty right? I'll just sleep there," she says. "That's ok, right?" She is looking up at him, her eyes wide.

"Uh, sure, I guess," Jesse says as he attempts to not do a Chandler Bing-type dance in the hallway.

"Okay, saddle up," Beca says as she pats Jesse on the shoulder, stepping behind him.

"What?"

"Come on, bend down a little. I need a horsey ride if we're going all the way to your dorm. I'm tired," she says, as if this is completely logical.

"This is turning into a Monty Python skit," Jesse says, shaking his head.

"This has nothing to do with snakes," Beca says from behind him.

He looks over his shoulder. "Wha? You mean you don't know…of course you don't," he says with a resigned head shake.

"C'mon," she says.

"Beca, this is ridiculous."

"Swanson, you know you're dying to do it."

Sadly, she didn't know how close she was to the truth. Any action that brought their bodies close together was on Jesse's to-do list. "Ok, but only on one condition."

"Name it."

"You have to sing 'Take Me Home Tonight' while I do it."

Jesse could hear the wheels turning in Beca's head behind him. "Counter-conditions."

"Name them."

"Outdoors only, and if we see a Bella, a total stop-drop-and-roll maneuver is required."

They had never talked about the oath, but Jesse didn't question her right now. "Deal."

Jesse squatted a little, and Beca takes two steps back to get a running start. Within seconds, she jumps onto his back as he grabs behind her knees to hold her up. She ruffles his hair and said, "Giddyup, horsey," with a little galloping motion. God help him.

Jesse runs down the hallway, surprising Beca into a shrieking belly laugh. He was relishing the alcohol-inducing abandon that was causing her to respond to him so favorably, as well as the feel of her arms as they linked around his neck, her warm breath on his ear.

He kicks the crash bar on the exterior door and busts out into the cool night air, hiking her up on his back in preparation of crossing campus to his dorm. "Anytime you're ready, Eddie Money," he says.

Beca sings softly, just so he can hear, in that lusty alto that so turns him on, especially when it's vibrating directly in his ear, which seems to have a direct path to his crotch.

I feel a hunger, it's a hunger
That tries to keep a man awake at night

Jesse stops walking. "I'm not taking another step until you take it up a notch. I'm fully aware that you can sing louder than –" and Beca interrupts him by belting out the next section.

Are you the answer? I shouldn't wonder

"That," he finishes, and begins walking again.

When I feel you with my appetite
With all the power you're releasing
It isn't safe to walk the city streets alone
Anticipation is running through me
Let's find the key and turn this engine on

Jesse joins in at this point, and their voices together in the brisk silence of the night air gives him that same thrill he gets every time he hears her sing, to the power of 10 because of how his heart beats out of his chest to do it with her.

I can feel you breathe
I can feel your heart beat faster, faster…

And now they are really belting, 80s rock-ballad style:

Take me home tonight
I don't want to let you go 'til you see the light
Take me home tonight
Listen honey, just like Ronnie sang,

and Jesse lets up to let Beca sing solo, just so he can hear it for his mental scrapbook:

"Be my little baby, oh ho oh"

She doesn't pick up the next verse, but he can feel her smile against his ear, and he is content to just let her be without requiring her conditional performance for horseback. She hums the chorus again, and eventually his dorm comes into view. He puffs up to the front door.

"Okay, here's your stop, m'lady," he says, as she unlocks her arms and slides down his back.

"Don't. Call me m'lady," she says. "Were you this dorky before you lived with Benji or is he rubbing off on you?"

"Eh, probably a little bit of both," he replies absently as he swipes his ID to get them in. During their silent climb to the third floor, he begins to ruminate on what is about to happen. In all the time they've spent together, neither of them has slept in the presence of the other yet. He wonders if she talks in her sleep, and if so, if it's about him. Does she snore? Sleepwalk? Will HE do any of those things? Holy George Lucas, this could be a catastrophic disaster.

And just like that they were standing in front of his door. Beca was looking up at him expectantly. Right, keys.

Jesse switches the light on as they walk in, and Beca slings her jacket on the end of Benji's bed, sitting down and toeing off her boots. She flops back on the bed, arms wide and legs dangling off as Jesse goes about similar disrobing. He tosses a pair of cotton pants and a t-shirt onto his bed, and is reminded that she has nothing to sleep in.

"Hey, do you want a shirt or something?" he asks, eyeing her plaid button down as she inhales and exhales deeply on the bed.

"Sure," she mumbles, close to sleep.

He riffles through the drawer, looking for something soft. His hand clasps on to a Treblemaker t-shirt and he couldn't help but grin at the irony. He pulls that and a pair of drawstring shorts out of his drawer and throws them to her. They land on her face and she sputters in surprise, snatching them away.

"I'm going to wash up and stuff," he says, snagging his toiletry bag and heading out into the hallway.

To his surprise, Beca jumps up and follows him out. "Yes, cleanliness, I need that."

He just stares at her as they stand in the hall.

"What?" she says, "Do you think I can wear this to sleep?" She points to her eye makeup, already becoming raccoon-like after so many hours of wear.

He shrugs and turns, leading her down the hallway. At this hour, it was unlikely they would run into anyone else (sober) in the men's room. He parks himself in front of a mirror, pulling out his toothbrush and toothpaste. He holds the tube out, with a raised eyebrow.

Beca holds out her index finger.

They brush teeth and wash faces, silently exchanging soaps and towels, spitting and spluttering in companionable silence. Jesse glances up a few times into the mirror, to catch Beca looking at him there. He only smiles softly. For some reason, the intimacy of the moment makes him keep his usual grin in check. He wants to continue their easy-like-Sunday-morning tone as long as he can. He knows tomorrow will be another day, complete with Beca's general thorniness that seems to grow back, though it was less now than it once was, after any time they were apart.

Beca's voice came hesitantly after she handed him back his towel a final time, and he was startled to see how soft her eyes were without the dark makeup. "So…we drank a lot tonight."

"Are you feeling sick?" he says, rummaging for some aspirin in his bag.

"No, no. I um..." she glances at the toilet stall.

"OH! Right. I'll just…see you back there," he says, excusing himself back to his room.

Once inside, he changes quickly and flicks off the overhead light, putting Benji's bedside lamp on the dimmest setting. He paces a little bit. Should he lie down, or…

Just then Beca busts in, Kramer-style, giggling. "I went in the wrong room. Your neighbor leaves his door unlocked…and his porn running on his computer."

Jesse laughs. "Glad you found the right room," he says, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Me too," she snorts, heading over to Benji's bed and picks up the Trebles shirt, noticing it out for the first time. "Really?"

"Hey, beggars can't be choosers," he says with a shrug. "The Trebles fund most of my wardrobe these days."

"Alright, alright. Turn around or something," she says, clicking off Benji's lamp for good measure.

"I can't see you anyway."

"If you're hanging out with pervert next door, you might have a pair of night-vision goggles stowed for just this occasion. Turn."

Jesse huffs and gets into bed, turning his face toward the wall and tuning up his auditory senses. He hears her drop what he assumes is her shirt, and pull the other over her head. He images her slim figure carved out in silhouette. A zipper pull and shucked jeans hit the floor. The covers go back on Benji's bed and it creaks as she climbs in.

" 'kay," she says.

Jesse rolls back over. Silence reigns as Beca's deepening breaths fill the room.

"Good night, sweet girl," Jesse says quietly.

"Please tell me that's from a movie," she mumbles.

"It is. I'll add it to your list," he says, punching his pillow to get comfy as his eyes adjust to the dark. He could make out the outline of her hair, down against the pillow, from the lamppost glare through the blinds. Her face was turned to the shadow, or "the dark side," as Benji termed his side of the room.

"'Night, Jesse," she breathes. He took it as a definite sign of affection that she didn't call him nerd or weirdo during her last conscious thought of the day.

Just as he was about to doze off, he hears her sit up suddenly, and his eyes pop open to see her form in the half-light. She reaches behind herself with both arms, putting one hand up one sleeve and then the other, whisking her bra out of the t-shirt in that magical move girls do, and tossing it on the floor. She flops back down, face toward the light this time, and her deep breaths continue.

Jesse rolls his eyes and groans internally. All those Beca-clothes on the floor, and he didn't help put any of them there. Five minutes later, she tosses again, and he could see the profile of her face as she faces the ceiling.

"Jesse?"

He clears his throat. "Yeah?"

"I think I just felt something run over my leg. Maybe a few somethings."

"Ah, yes. That is possible."

"WHAT?" she shrieks, and sits up, drawing her knees up to her chest, her head whipping from side to side rapidly in search of the "somethings."

"Benji keeps all kinds of critters for his magic tricks," he says.

"And you're telling me this NOW?"

"Well, I've never slept in his bed. How am I supposed to know where he keeps 'em?"

She huffs in frustration and jumps up, bare feet padding over to his side of the room. He sits up as she comes to a stop by his bed, bouncing on the balls of her feet a bit, and pulling the t-shirt down over what he could now see were her bare legs. Sweet baby Jesus.

"Move over," she says, looking over her shoulder as if giant rabid hedgehogs were going to hurtle toward her at any minute. "I'm not sleeping over there."

Jesse wasn't going to argue, or point out the logical conclusion that small rodents were not restricted to just Benji's bed, but felt the need to put up a token resistance. "If you insist," he says, and holds up the covers for her as he backs up to the wall. She climbs in and they lay squished together, staring up at the ceiling. Her long hair tickles his neck.

"Damn suicidal Koreans," she blurts, pulling the sheets up to her chin.

"Whatever, Mitchell. I just want to know how you got Kimmy Jin AND Benji to go along with this elaborate plan to get into my bed. I'm very impressed; I would think you'd have the negotiating skills of Castro," he jokes, hoping to leech some tension of the air.

She pinches his arm and turns on her side to face him as he 'ow-s.' "Shut up, Swanson. And no one needs to know about this. There are purple nurples where that pinch came from."

He turns his head and looks at her, mock-horrified. "You wouldn't. I have very sensitive skin."

"Try me," she grins.

He feels her knees bump against his side as she draws up into a fetal position. He aches to pull her toward him and hold her tight, to feel her hair comb through his fingers, to brush his nose against her temple. To inhale her warmth and that damn freesia cologne that taunts him whenever they are together. They lay in silence for a while, their breathing falling into synch as the edge of his consciousness began to get hazy.

" 'Night, Bec," he says again, squeezing the soft, smooth knee he feels close to his hand.

" 'Night," she whispers, resting a hand on his bicep. As he falls off the edge of the world into blackness, with that weight so reassuring on his arm, he swears he hears her add, "Thanks for taking care of me."

But maybe he made that part up.

Allusions (because I can't seem to not make them:

Glee mashups - Singing in the Rain/Umbrella, Centerfold/Hot in Here

The Holidays (lingering kiss :-) )

The Incredibles (monologuing)

Friends

Monty Python & the Holy Grail

Eddie Money - Take Me Home Tonight

Beautiful Girls (Good night, sweet girl)

Seinfeld

Thanks for your reviews and comments! I really do appreciate them, and all those following this fic!