"Okay guys!" Beca said cheerfully. "Next Saturday you're going over to Uncle Donald's to spend the day with him and Aunt Lily!"
A unanimous cheer went through the house, because Uncle Donald and Aunt Lily were fun.
"And we're going to spend time with your other aunts and uncles packing up everything to move into the new house", Jesse said, equally cheerfully.
Their new house was still a sensitive topic with the kids. While all six of them couldn't wait to explore and make the new house their home, they didn't want to abandon the houses that were their own. Despite only living in Barden for a year, the Swanson kids had well and truly made their place theirs, and Dean especially was reluctant to move.
"Don't throw anything out Daddy", Ben warned.
"Yeah, Mum', Natalie said, her eyes widening.
"We won't", Beca assured him.
"It's incredible how much crap we've accumulated", Jesse griped to Benji, as he tossed the boys' Hotwheels cars into a crate.
(Had he not gone through and had a major clean up before they moved to Barden? That was obviously a huge waste of his time.)
Donald and Lily had all six kids at Donald's, while Jesse had the company of Benji, Hat and Unicycle at his own place. Because that was the day that he was pulling apart his kids' bedrooms in order to box their belongings.
He didn't know when or how his kids had accumulated so much. He hadn't realised how much clothing they all had (and yet Brody was insistent upon wearing his two pairs of 'fast shorts' all year round), and exactly how many toys they had. It was ridiculous.
His kids were ridiculous.
Moving day was fast approaching, and none of them were prepared.
"When does their crap get moved into the new place?" Benji questioned cheerfully, as he slid a pile of books into a box.
"Hopefully two weeks. We move in in two and a half, but we want to get as much over there before we move as possible. The kids have accepted they'll probably be sleeping in sleeping bags on Beca's floor until then, but they're oddly excited about it". He shrugged, grinning.
"When did she even get this?" Beca asked in exasperation, holding up a long forgotten jacket. "More importantly, why is it still in here? This is long past Rosie's size and poor Nat skipped it completely".
"I've never seen that", Chloe said in confusion.
"Didn't we buy that?" Aubrey questioned. "I'm pretty sure Michael and I bought that for Rosie when she was three or so".
"This proves how often my kid cleans her room", Beca grumbled, hurtling it across the room. "I don't even know if it'll fit Courtney".
"Courtney's little, it'll fit Courtney", Stacie objected, as she stacked books into a box. "I didn't realise how many books they had though!"
"It's good they're readers", Chloe protested.
(Chloe's elementary teaching skills came in handy when it came to dealing with her nieces; she'd instilled a love of reading to them at a very young age. Rosie, by the time she was a year old, had heard all the classics, courtesy of her godmother, and Charlotte's Web had remained a favourite.)
"Beca!" Jesse hollered, coming in the front door with a slam. "Bec-caw!"
"What, weirdo?" Beca asked in exasperation.
"I have found the perfect car", he declared, a grin a mile wide on his face. "I've found the perfect car!"
"Aren't you meant to be at work?"
"Aren't you?" he shot back.
Choosing not to answer that, Beca took a seat at the table. "Alright. Show me this perfect car".
It was the perfect car.
Or the perfect ten seater bus, whichever way they chose to look at it.
There was a seat for all the kids with two spare (Beca knew that Chloe and Stacie would immediately come out with something along the lines of 'when you get pregnant with Jesse's babies' but that was something that was so not going to happen). There was room for all their stuff, should they take a vacation (because they were looking into taking a vacation the next summer). It was reasonably priced, because they had six kids and had just bought a house.
It was perfect.
"Look! Look how much room there is!" Jesse said brightly. "All the kids have a seat, and look! Two extra seats for when Stacie or Benji!"
"You say that like you encourage them", she chuckled.
"I don't encourage them. I don't encourage anything like that".
(They loved them, they loved them dearly, but they didn't encourage group outings. At one point, Jesse had, but he had learned quickly that when all their friends- their family- got together, it was never for the best.)
"What do you think, Becs?" Jesse said finally.
"Is this our car?"
"This is our car". Beca nodded firmly, leaning up to kiss him.
"Guess what guys?" Jesse called over the chatter, as he walked around the table, scooping ladlefuls of pasta and bolognaise sauce onto plates. "Guess what Beca and I did today?"
"Paint the new house?" Natalie guessed.
(That was a work in progress, and something that they wanted to get done before moving in. And every night, after the kids were tucked into bed, Jesse would head over the new house to paint the kids bedrooms with Benji, Donald, Hat and Uni, Michael and Tom occasionally making an appearance.)
"No, not yet", Jesse corrected. "Guess again".
"Packed up more?" Brody checked.
"That too. Think big. Bigger than painting and packing the house", Beca tried.
Whispered guesses were thrown across the table, as Beca passed around a bowl of cheese.
"Any guesses?"
"I dunno", Ben said finally. "What?"
"Beca and I bought a car".
"What?"
(That was totally the reaction they were hoping for.)
"Turn it on an angle!"
"It's not going to fit man!"
"Pivot! Pivot!"
"Shut up!"
"Jesus, this is not an episode of Friends!"
"Their beds aren't going to fit out the door, Jesse".
"Then how the hell did we get them in the room then?" Jesse dropped the end of Brody's bed that he had been carrying to frown darkly at Donald and Benji. "You tell me! We managed to get them in the door, were going to get them out the door!"
"If you recall we built them in the rooms!"
(He had the worst friends ever. Couldn't they have mentioned that detail before they tried to move the beds?)
"My room looks so empty", Rosie said sadly, as she stood in the doorway of her pink painted old room.
"Don't worry Rosie posie", Jesse said, putting an arm around her gently. "Your new room will be full of all your stuff before you know it!"
"Can you hang my photos up?"
"Of course I can".
"Jesse", Courtney said cheerfully, "Can you put up my Ariel photo?"
(Jesse could only imagine the looks on their faces when he and Beca announced they wanted to take a vacation. And not just any vacation, one to Disney World. The girls- Courtney especially- were going to lose it.)
"I can. Of course I can". He smiled at her and Courtney hugged him tight.
"I love you Jesse".
"I love you too munchkin".
"Last night in the old house!" Beca announced, coming into the living room. All six kids were lying inside sleeping bags, on their stomachs, their eyes focused on Jesse's laptop. "Anything to say?"
"I think I'm gonna like the new house", Natalie said quietly, squeezing her bear tighter.
"You know what Natty?" Beca knelt down beside her daughter, putting her arms around her and kissing the top of her head. "I think you will, too".
"Hey Mummy", a little voice whispered, and Beca groaned, not moving.
"Mmm?"
"It's moving day!"
Courtney's voice was way too gleeful for that time of the morning (it was times like that where Beca wondered where that child had came from). "It is", she croaked sleepily, squinting at her youngest. "What time is it?"
"Time to get up!" Brody said, just as cheerfully, and Jesse let out a loud, dramatic groan.
"Brody…"
"It's moving day, Daddy!"
"When do we get to pick up the new car, Jesse?" Courtney climbed onto the bed, squirming between them, and Jesse groaned.
"During the week Courty… after we're in the new house". He yawned heavily, and Courtney smacked a sloppy kiss to his cheek.
"Let's get this show on the road!" Fat Amy announced brightly, as Michael tightened the anchors on the last car seat.
Moving day was a whole family experience, it seemed. Jesse and Beca were going to drive Charlie over to the new house, with Fat Amy and Stacie taking all six kids in Fat Amy's van. The moving trucks, full of furniture and boxes, would follow, with Chloe and Tom (driving Jesse's car) and Aubrey and Michael taking bags in their cars. Cynthia Rose, Donald, Lily, Benji, Unicycle and Hat were to meet them at the new house, where they would then proceed to unpack.
"Come on guys, into the car!" Beca called, pointing.
"Wait! We've gotta say goodbye!" Rosie protested, sounding close to tears.
And they did.
The Swanson boys and the Ryerson girls wandered around Beca's house, saying goodbye to every room, just like they had done when they'd officially left Jesse's house. Because it wasn't just a house- it was a home, and the house in which they'd spent their entire lives.
"Hey Brody, remember when you fell off the bed?"
"Hey Courtney, remember when you vomited?"
"Rosie, remember when you fell out of the big tree?"
(They all had their own memories of that house. And their conversation made Beca both want to laugh and want to cry, because they were so different and so alike all at the same time.)
"This is an awesome house", Michael said approvingly, scanning the empty back deck (knowing it wouldn't be too long until bikes, scooters and various other toys overran the clean area). "We're gonna have some good parties here, Becs. Courtney's birthday to start with".
Beca grinned at him, before tearing tape off a box. "Thanks Michael".
"I'm glad you're happy", he said after a moment, wrapping an arm around her. "You deserve it. You've put up with a lot of shit, Becs, and now you're happy".
(It was the closest to an 'I love you' that the siblings would ever get, but that was how they worked. And Beca wouldn't change anything between her and her big brother.)
"Is that everything?" Stacie wanted to know, as she pulled the last car seat out of Fat Amy's car, setting it on the grass.
(They'd made the executive decision that they were picking up the new car when all six kids were at school, because taking the seats in and out of the cars was ridiculously time consuming.)
"That's everything", Jesse confirmed.
The house was a mess. Things were being unpacked left right and centre and they didn't know where anything was. But they were home.
"Thanks for all your help, guys". Beca hugged Chloe gently.
"We weren't going to miss this!" Cynthia Rose chuckled, and Natalie grinned cheekily at her.
"Make sure you let us know if you need any help with anything, alright?" Aubrey said sternly.
"We will, Aubrey", Jesse laughed, lifting Courtney to his hip.
Stacie reached out to tickle her youngest niece and Courtney squirmed, laughing. "First day in the new house, hey punchkin?"
"Yeah! I love the new house", she said cheerily.
Unpacking was the worst, Beca had declared.
They gave up once the beds were in their respective spots and the television was plugged in. it didn't matter that there were boxes all over the house, and they didn't know where anything was. In Jesse's (and their kids') eyes, that was what was important, and the rest could be left for another day.
(They'd be tripping over boxes for weeks, Beca was sure of it.)
"Let's get pizza", Jesse declared.
In the twenty minutes it took for the pizzas to arrive, all seven beds had been made with sheets and their blankets, and the kids had found the movie they wanted to watch.
"Beca!" dean hollered from the living room. "Pizza's here!"
"I'm coming!" Beca called, from where she was digging through bags to try and find the kids' pyjamas.
"Hurry up! Pizza's here!"
Beca, laughing, headed down the stairs into the living room, where the smell of pizza was wafting through the house. The six kids and Jesse had snagged slices and somehow found the plastic crockery (they owned a large collection of plastic crockery, most bearing brightly coloured cartoon characters), before settling down to eat. Monsters University was playing on the television (Rosie and Ben clearly having made the executive decision), and they were all either on the couch or leaning up against it. Jesse was sitting on the middle cushion, with both Brody and Courtney in his lap, with Rosie and Ben leaning either side of him. And Natalie and Dean, partners in crime, were leaning against Jesse's legs on the floor, sitting cross legged with their plates resting in their laps.
Beca didn't know how she got to be so lucky.
(she snapped a photo of the scene before joining Dean and Natalie on the floor, and that photo was then framed and sat on her bedside table, if she ever needed reminding of how unbelievably lucky she was. She didn't. But she loved it anyway.)