My Fake Husband
A Pitch Perfect Story
Chapter 17
Disclaimer: I do not own anything familiar.
Author's Note: This chapter jumps around slightly. The first section takes place when Beca is 25 weeks pregnant—at her next prenatal visit, which happens to be on Monday, November 4th, which is Jesse's twenty-eighth birthday. The second, third, and fourth parts take place on Saturday, October 26th, when Beca is at the end of her twenty-third week of pregnancy. The final part will go back to the beginning of Monday, November 4th. I'm sure that this seems very confusing, so I will put the dates and such at the top of each section. I really think you guys are going to LOVE this chapter!
Monday, November 4th, 2013 – 10:32 AM
"You've got to be kidding me." Beca said, staring at the monitor. "You have got to be fucking kidding."
"Beca," Jesse said, squeezing her hand and brushing a stray lock of hair behind her head. "It's okay, really. This is good news."
"Shut the fuck up, Jesse. I need a minute to fucking process this." She snapped at him, yanking her hand from his. She buried her face into her hands, groaning slightly. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."
"I'm gonna step out, and let you two have a minute." Brian said, inching his way towards the exam room door.
"Freeze!" Beca pulled her hands from her face and pointed at the doctor. "You're not off the hook, either, mister. What the fuck? How did you miss that?" She said, pointing to the monitor.
Saturday, October 26th, 2013 – 11:00 AM
Jesse dipped the paint roller into the mauve shade of purple that they had chosen for the walls of the nursery. He was painting the room shirtless and in a pair of gym shorts. He felt Beca's eyes on him. "I can feel you staring at me," he joked flirtatiously as he stretched to reach the upper portion of the wall.
"I can't help it. You look really good without a shirt on." He glanced over his shoulder and saw that she was standing in the doorway; her arms were crossed in a way that made her boobs look really good. Fuck, he loved her boobs. He was disappointed that she wouldn't let his mouth near them anymore, but he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable, so he did as she asked; at least she still let him touch them. He gave her an amused smile and then turned his attention back on the wall.
"How come when I say and do that, you tell me I'm a pervert?" He asked her as he painted. He heard her chuckle, and it made him smile even bigger. He loved her laugh. He loved making her laugh. Oh, who was he kidding? He loved everything about her.
"Because I'm the pregnant one." Her excuse made him laugh as he dabbed the roller into paint pan. He shook his head, glancing over his shoulder at her.
"That is a terrible excuse." She smiled, shrugging her shoulders. "You shouldn't be in here. The paint fumes aren't good for you and the baby." He was worried about her. She was nearly twenty-four weeks pregnant, and there was a very round and very solid bump on her abdomen. He was worried every time she got into the shower (he was scared that she would slip and fall); he was worried every time she went up and down the stairs. He was worried every time that she got into her car. He was worried every time she hopped on one foot in the morning as she tried to pull on a shoe as she rushed out the door for work because she overslept slightly or she had to pee fifty times while she was getting ready. He didn't want her to hurt herself (or the baby). He loved them both too much. She rolled her eyes at him.
"I know. I'm about to head out, and I wanted to stop in to say goodbye. It's not my fault that I got distracted." He gave the wall one last swipe with the roller before he set it down and made his way over to her with a smile on his face.
"Where are you headed on this lovely Saturday morning?" He asked as he slipped an arm around her waist. His free hand settled onto her cheek as he brushed a light kiss against her forehead.
"I'm meeting Chloe, Jessica, and Amy for lunch. Then, we're going for mani-pedis. They will probably try to talk me into an oxygen facial or something. I need oxygen via my mouth, not my skin, thank you. This baby is pressing against my lungs and making it impossible to breathe. Chloe and Amy are probably going to try and talk me into getting my legs and bikini line waxed, too. Chloe will probably make a crude comment or two about how my pubic hair would look by the end of pregnancy if I stopped taking care of myself. I'm sure Brian has seen pretty much everything, so what would he care if I'm not as 'pretty' down there as usual? I'm nervous about getting waxed, because I've read far too many horror stories online about how extra painful it is during pregnancy to get waxed, especially in the bikini area.
"I love how you're more concerned about what Brian thinks than me…who's down there more regularly than your friend's husband is." She grinned, shrugging her shoulder and biting her bottom lip in a way that he decided was far too cute. He had to kiss her, so he did. He brushed his lips against hers gently, tugging the bottom lip that she was biting on into his mouth and sucking on it lightly. He felt her hands on his chest, her fingertips digging into the skin lightly. She pressed her body more firmly against him, which was getting a little more difficult due to the swell of her stomach. She moaned lightly into the kiss, and he decided that he needed to end it before he took her to bed rather than let her go to her lunch. Although, Chloe would probably be fine with that reason for why Beca didn't show, but he didn't think that Amy would be as understanding. He pulled back, pressing another light kiss to the tip of her nose. "Don't let them talk you into doing it if you don't want to. If you're worried about the pain, then don't get waxed."
"Then again, I can't exactly shave…anything…with this big belly. I can't see or move around it all that well." She pouted, running her hands over her stomach. He laid his hands over hers.
"I know you might think that this is weird, but I could help you out if you need me to. I shave my face, so it's not like I've never shaved anything before. If you want help shaving your legs…or whatever, I would help you out."
"You're right. I do find that to be weird." She said, rolling her eyes. "But, I appreciate the offer. I think I would like to keep some mystery about my nether regions from you. I could always ask Chloe to help me out."
"God, you two are so weird."
"Thank you." She joked. She was quiet for a few moments
"Have fun at lunch and getting poked, prodded, plucked, and painted." Beca rolled her eyes at Jesse's alliteration about her spa-like afternoon plans. "What time do you think you'll be home?"
"No idea. After all that stuff, the girls and I are going shopping, too."
"Really? You hate shopping."
"I know!" She whined, pouting. "You see, I gotta get a stupid present for some guy I know." He rolled his eyes at how her pout turned into a smirk. "You see, he has a very special day coming up. A birthday, I think? He's old as shit now, really getting up there. He's going to be twenty-eight!"
"Yeah, he sounds like a real dinosaur!" He responded, shaking his head slightly. She chuckled, and it turned into a deeper laugh after he moved a hand off of hers and pressed it against a lump protruding from her stomach, which made the baby kick. "How's our favorite little man doing today? Is that his butt or his head that I'm touching?" She shrugged her shoulders, grinning.
"He's doing wonderfully today, unlike his mother. He kept me up most of the night, and he refused to let me go back to sleep this morning after you got up, because he was doing somersaults or a line dance or something." She said, laying her hand over top of his. "How is his daddy doing? Are you bummed that we're not having a girl?" She asked him.
"No, I'm not bummed out. I'm excited for our son." He responded, looking into her eyes to show her how serious he was. He wasn't lying about being bummed about having a son. Sure, he was bummed about not being able to use the name Abigail because of its meaning, but that didn't mean he was any less excited about their baby.
"You can always use the name Abigail if you have a girl later." He tried to keep his sadness at bay. He knew that she meant the next child he would have would be with someone else, but he wanted it to be with her.
"It's not going to be the same, Becs. I wouldn't give her a leftover name." She furrowed her brow, obviously confused. "It's not the same, because this is my first child. No parent ever admits to this, but the first child is always scarier and more exciting than any other child they have, because they have no idea what to expect when they actually have it. It's why every first-time parent is all over their first child, but by the time they have a third or a fourth, they are like, 'oh, my kid's eating a cigarette butt? Whatever.'"
"I highly doubt that any parent says that whatever towards their child eating a cigarette butt."
"Dude, that's a What to Expect When You're Expecting reference. We just watched that movie last night!" She rolled her eyes. "We're watching it again." She laughed, leaning her forehead against his bare chest. He didn't let on, but he knew that she liked to breathe in his smell. Ever since he found out she was pregnant, he noticed how she was constantly burying her face into his neck or his chest or even his hair, breathing deeply. Apparently, their son made her really like how he smelled. He thought it was cute, especially because she tried to pretend like she wasn't doing it and to keep the fact it hidden from him. If he was going to be honest, he loved the way that she smelled, too. It was sweet and slightly floral, even when she didn't wear scented lotions or perfumes. It was something that was inherently her. It was just one of the many things that he found he really loved about her. "What I was trying to say was that even if I was going to have a daughter later, I don't think I could use the name Abigail, because the feelings I have about this first pregnancy are way stronger than I will probably have later."
"That is a terrible thing to say. You're supposed to pretend you don't have a favorite."
"I'm not saying I'm going to love my kids any differently. I'm saying that I'm going to be the most excited and terrified with this kid, because he is my first, so the exalted father meaning of Abigail isn't going to apply as much as it would now, with this baby, if he were a girl. But, he's not, so goodbye Abby. We really need to decide on which combination of Alexander, Gabriel, and David we like the best."
"You're disappointed." She said, frowning. He shook his head, smoothing the crease between her eyes with his thumb.
"I'm not disappointed. I'm excited to have a son. I can teach him all about music and movies and sports. I can teach him how to flirt with girls and get a really hot girlfriend like his mom. Or, if he's gay, I guess I could teach him how to flirt with guys…I haven't had any practice with that, so it might not work out well." Jesse grinned when Beca laughed and shook her head in amusement at him.
"You're an idiot." She bit her lip. "You're a cute idiot."
"Why thank you! I finally got you to admit that I'm cute and that you like me."
"Of course I like you. You're my best friend, you dumb ass." He just grinned at her. She was studying his face. "I hope he looks like you." She said after a few moments. His smile turned soft, giving her a gentle kiss to show her how much that meant to him. "Your hair, your eyes, your jaw." She brushed her fingers lightly along the parts of him as she ticked them off.
"No, I hope he looks like you," he whispered. "Your blue eyes." He kissed her eyelids. "Your nose." He kissed the tip of her nose. "Your smile." He whispered before he kissed her lips. She set her hands onto the sides of his neck, pressing herself more firmly against the kiss.
It was moments like this that he fell a little more in love with her, and he thought about how real this could be between them. He wanted this to be real. He wanted her to know that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, that he didn't want to get divorced. He wasn't lying when he said that he wanted their son to look like her. If they didn't stay together, then this little boy would be his only remaining tie to her after the divorce. He didn't want to think about how different their lives would have been had she never gotten pregnant; he didn't know if they would have been as close as they were now. He probably wouldn't have realized just how much he loved her until it was too late, until she was already gone. The baby allowed them the excuse to act on their attraction to one another; the baby forced them to be more civil with each other, to work things out, because they had someone else to worry about. Their fights before the baby, even though they were best friends, lasted days with neither one of them talking. He hated seeing her with Cole, and he knows now it was because he was falling for her, fast. He didn't know if their friendship would have survived the two years and the divorce had they never gotten pregnant, but she did get pregnant, so now they had to stay friends after the divorce. The number one good thing about their son's existence was that he meant that she had to be in his life for the rest of their son's life; she couldn't break ties with him, run away from him, like she did with everyone else. He opened his mouth to say something, but she spoke first, surprising him.
"Alexander Gabriel." Beca said. Jesse raised his eyebrows. She decided on Alexander Gabriel for their son's name? He loved that combination (since Gabriel Alexander was a definite no with the initials being G.A.S.) He liked that his son was going to have a tough, bad-ass name. He was surprised that she chose Alexander over David, though, because she said she liked that name better when they were narrowing the names down.
"Alexander Gabriel?" He asked to make sure that is what she really wanted. She nodded her head. He grinned, grabbing her face by her cheeks and pressing an excited kiss to her lips. After a few moments, he pulled away and dropped to his knees to talk to her stomach. "Hi, little man. You're name is Alexander Gabriel. Daddy's middle name is Gabriel, too, which makes you pretty cool, just like him."
"Ha! Don't lie to the kid." She scoffed, earning a playful glare from him.
"Don't listen to your Mommy. She's just jealous that she's not as cool as Daddy. Although, she loves when Daddy does this cool thing with his tongue—"
"STOP! You know the baby can hear now, right?" She said, smacking the back of his head.
"Yeah, well, with the potty mouth you have, the kid's gonna be born screaming the word fuck." She smacked the back of his head again.
"We will both try to refrain from cursing. For the baby. For Alexander. Okay?"
"But that is your favorite word to say when I do the thing with my tongue." She tried to glare at him, but she couldn't, and soon she was laughing.
"I hate you."
"No, you don't." He winked as he pressed a light kiss to her stomach. "Anyways, Alex…shit, Becs, that's our son in there. Little Alex. Or Xander? Or Andy? Andy might get confused with Andrew. Al? Al is more for Allen…and it's stupid."
"You're an idiot. I like Alex. Alex Swanson."
"Uggh. I wish that my last name didn't start with an 'S,' because then we could have a little Gabe running around."
"I only said Alexander Gabriel, because you liked that they were both 'bad-ass' names. I honestly prefer David. If you want to call him Gabe, we could name him Gabriel David."
"Why did you pick Alexander if you like David better then?" He stared at her, his brow furrowed.
"I wanted you to be happy. You didn't get Abigail, so I thought I would give you Alexander. I like the name just fine, so it doesn't matter much to me." Hearing Beca's reason stabbed Jesse through the heart. She was letting him have his choice over boy names because she knew how much he wanted to name the baby Abigail if he was a girl. She was giving up what she wanted to make him happy. That was something that people did when they loved someone else, or at the very least really liked them. He stood up, staring at her, trying to determine if she cared about him more than she let on, as more than her best friend. She squirmed in discomfort by the way that he was looking at her, which made him want to laugh, but he was too determined to figure out her feelings to actually do it. "God, you're being such a creepy weirdo right now. Stop staring at me like that." She pushed at his chest, trying to get him to stop looking at her in that way.
"Beca," he started, but he stopped himself. He started to chew on his bottom lip, with his brow furrowed. She apparently didn't like that he was unsure of himself, because she frowned, rubbing at the crease between his eyes with her thumb and speaking softly to him.
"Hey, what's with the sour puss? Are you mad at me?"
"No," he whispered. How could he be mad at her for giving up the name she wanted in order to make him happy? She gave him a relieved smile, slapping his cheek lightly with her hand.
"You had me worried, nerd. What's with this quiet thing you got going on?"
"I'm amazed. I'm grateful." He shrugged. "You're letting me name our baby Alexander. You're amazing, you know that?" He kissed her again, putting as much emotion (love) as he could into it, letting her know just how it made him feel that she would do that for him. She seemed to kiss him back just as forcefully, and she laughed into his lips when the baby started kicking like crazy between them. Her phone began ringing in the purse that she had set down on the floor beside her.
"That's probably Chloe telling me that she's outside." He sighed in relief, because she wasn't going to be driving that day.
"I'm glad you're not driving." She rolled her eyes at him. "Enjoy your afternoon with the girls. Have fun, Alex." He said, rubbing her stomach. He gave her a final kiss, watching her as she walked down the hallway and made her way slowly down the steps. The second he heard the door open and close, he went back to where he left his cell phone in the middle of the room. He grabbed it, scrolling through his contacts to send out a text to Bumper, Hat, and Brian that Beca had just left for lunch with the girls. They were coming over to help him finish the nursery so that it was completely finished by the time she arrived home later that afternoon.
Saturday, October 26th, 2013 – 1:12 PM
Beca, Chloe, Jessica, and Amy all sipped orange juice as they finished the last remaining bites of their lunch. Beca had tried to tell them that it was fine if they wanted to drink, but they all chose to refrain since she couldn't. It was nice of them, but they didn't have to stop living their normal lives on her account. Chloe tipped the glass back, swallowing the last of her juice, before she grinned around the table. "So, are we going shopping first or mani-pedis and facials first?" She asked, her gaze settling on Beca. The brunette stifled a yawn behind her hand before flashing the redhead a smile.
"Can we do shopping first? I feel like an old lady today, because this little guy kept me up most of the night doing a conga-line on my bladder. I'm probably going to pass out in a few hours, and I really need to get a birthday present for Jesse before I do." Beca said, yawning again.
"That's not very nice, little boy. You've got to let Mommy sleep!" Jessica gently scolded Beca's stomach, rubbing her hand over the swell. "Have you guys picked a name yet?"
"Yeah," Beca smiled and rubbed at her stomach. "We're gonna name him Alexander Gabriel, Alex for short."
"Oh, my God! Alex! So cute!" Chloe squealed, earning the four of them glares and concerned looks from the other patrons of the restaurant. She jumped up and crouched beside Beca's chair, pushing Jessica and Beca's hands out of the way and proceeded to lay her head onto Beca's stomach, while her hand stroked the rest of her bump. "Hi, Alex. I'm your Aunt Chloe. When you're born, I'm going to steal you away from your parents and take you to Timbuktu so that I can raise you as my own. You're going to wonder why you're not a ginger like me, but that's something you can easily get via a bottle."
"You're never allowed near my kid without me or Jesse present." Beca warned, pinching the back of Chloe's neck, making the redhead jerk her head away from Beca's stomach. The hand that had been stroking Beca's rounded stomach moments before was now gripping the back of her neck as she pouted and moaned about how much of a bitch Beca was for pinching her.
"Do you know what you're going to get Jesse?" Jessica asked, and Beca responded with a shake of the head.
"Um, hi, you're giving him the gift of life in the form of an infant in your stomach. I think that's more than enough." Amy told her as she popped the remaining bite of her burger into her mouth. Beca just stared at her.
"No, I can't say to him, 'happy twenty-ninth birthday, Jesse. I didn't get you anything because I'm going to give birth to your child in a couple of months. I hope you have a swell day.'"
"Why not?"
"You should totally give him a gift for the both of you?" Chloe told her, as she ate a fry.
"What gift can I give him that would be for both of us?"
"An STD?" Amy suggested with a wink. "Herpes is the gift that keeps on giving." Beca, Jessica, and Chloe all ignored the Australian blond woman.
"You guys should get away. Take a small vacation. It will be your last one before the little guy comes." Chloe suggested, reaching from her seat, to which she had returned following the pinch, rubbing Beca's stomach. "You're getting so big."
"Thank you?" Beca said sarcastically. "You don't want to tell a pregnant woman you think she's fat."
"No, I don't think you're fat at all, Beca. I'm just saying, that your stomach gets bigger each time I see you."
"Well, generally, that is what happens when you're pregnant. Your stomach grows." Beca rolled her eyes. "I didn't change that much since we had lunch on Wednesday."
"Beca, she's not trying to upset you, but I haven't seen you in three weeks, and your stomach looks so much bigger. It's a good thing. It means the baby is growing. You still look amazing." Jessica said warmly to her, shooting Chloe a glare. Beca frowned, looking down at her stomach. Was she really that big? She didn't think she was that big. Over the last (nearly) four weeks, she had gained about six pounds. That wasn't a lot right? She had gained only about twenty-one pounds over the course of her pregnancy. That really wasn't too bad. She swallowed. She and Jesse had the next prenatal appointment on the day of his birthday. They both planned on taking that day off, so they decided to push the next appointment to the following week so that it was on his birthday. She would just ask him then if she is gaining too much weight. Then, she was ease up on portion sizes or eat healthier foods in order to slow the weight gain if it was too much. It would be fine. "But, Chloe's right. Babymoons are so in now. You should totally get away for a babymoon. You're already six months along. You should schedule it soon."
"We have the next appointment on Jesse's birthday; I'm getting the glucose test done then. Then, I don't have another appointment again until another two weeks." Beca said. Should they go on a babymoon? Didn't they already sort of do that with the destination wedding at Niagara Falls and then the honeymoon in Quebec City? She was already pregnant at that point. Did they really need to go on a second vacation? "I don't think I want to go away."
"Go away for a weekend!" Chloe suggested. "Take off on a Monday or a Friday, and then go for three days. Stay at a hotel that offers maternity spa packages. Eat, enjoy each other's company, have sex, get a prenatal massage."
"We could do that here. I don't need to travel to do that. There are places here in LA where I can prenatal massages. I have a husband who showers me with foot, neck, and back rubs all of the time. Plus, he is like my own personal chef. When he isn't forcing me to watch bullshit movies, I actually enjoy hanging out with him. As for the sex…I think we're good."
"Oh, speaking of the sex. How's that going? Did you figure out if it is the sperm thing?" Amy asked, balancing her elbows on the table and resting her chin in her hands as she looked closely at Beca.
"God, this pregnancy has turned me into such a prude," Beca muttered, blushing. "We tried the pull out method…but…yeah…that didn't exactly work, because Jesse was like fifteen year old boy have sex for the first time and he didn't have a condom; he didn't stop himself until he was about…done." She squirmed in the chair slightly. "Let's just say, he started to have an orgasm and quickly tried to pull out, and it resulted in like a huge mess, and I freaked out. I took a bath and made him change the sheets and do laundry, because it was totally gross." She chuckled, running a hand over her face. "Anyways, we're using condoms now; it's really weird to have sex with them now." Amy scoffed quietly to herself, and Beca shot her a look that said she needed to shut up, because she knew that scoff meant that the reason why it was weird for Beca and Jesse to use condoms was because they never used them together before. "I'm just glad that it was just the sperm thing, so we can still have sex."
"It shouldn't be all that strange to go back to condoms after not using them for a couple of months during your pregnancy." Amy said with a raised eyebrow, making Beca narrow her eyes at her.
"Yeah, how did you get pregnant? You're always told me about how careful you were with using condoms and always using your diaphragm. Unless, you guys stopped using condoms and just used the diaphragm. You told me that you would never do that." Chloe said, smiling at the flustered waiter who dropped off the check at the table.
"They got drunk." Amy answered for Beca, who was mortified that a stranger knew what Beca normally did to prevent pregnancy and STDs. She shot Amy another glare. "The day after Jesse proposed."
"You were drunk? Why'd you get drunk?" Chloe asked, concerned.
"I was embarrassed that Jesse serenaded me and proposed. We got into a big fight after everyone left. He went and got drunk at Tasmania, which is the only reason why Amy knows all of this." Beca said through a clenched jaw.
"Why did you get into a fight!? That was so cute of him!"
"Because we weren't together for all that long!" Beca said, grasping at straws for an excuse, because she couldn't exactly tell Chloe the truth.
"You were together for a year, silly! A lot of couples get engaged after a year."
"We just moved in together, and then the douche had to go and ruin it by proposing." Beca crossed her arms, not daring to look at any of them.
"You could have had a longer engagement. You're the ones who decided to get married within a month of getting engaged." Chloe said, rolling her eyes.
"Do you really think that Beca and Jesse would have lasted a longer engagement?" Amy said, trying to help Beca out. She wasn't off the hook, but Beca was appreciative none the less.
"Yeah, I would have freaked out and bailed, just like I freaked out after the party was over and the realization that I was engaged set in." She ran her hands over her stomach. "Are we done? How much do I owe?"
"Nothing. We're buying you lunch." Chloe said, and Beca nodded her head.
"So, Jesse's present. You don't want to do the babymoon thing…" Jessica said, changing the subject, and Beca looked at her gratefully. "What about a nice watch?"
"He just bought himself one." Beca rolled her eyes. "He doesn't really need anything. All he does is annoy the shit out of me, compose on his guitar or keyboard, and watch movies." She shrugged her shoulders. "I've literally threatened to throw that old keyboard down the steps almost daily when his crowding gets to be too much."
"Yeah, Dean said that he's had that thing since college." Chloe said, rolling her eyes. "I'm surprised it still works."
"He takes very good care of it. It's his baby. Well, soon, he'll have a real baby." Beca said, running her hand over her stomach.
"Why don't you get him a new one? Or, rather a real piano?" Jessica suggested, and Beca smiled.
"I could get a small piano for our living room. We have the room for it. Plus, we both play it. This kid will be playing music since birth, so it would be nice to have a real piano for him to learn on."
"Aww! I can see a little boy with dark hair and your nose sitting on Jesse's lap banging on the piano keys! Stop! That's so cute." Chloe squealed. Beca tried to keep the grin off her face as she pictured the same thing. It was weird, because she was actually turned on by the idea of Jesse being a dad to their kid, so now she wanted nothing more than to go home and ravish him. She blushed, scratching the back of her head. "Oh, I know that look! Beca's horny."
"Chlo! Shut up." Beca pouted. Chloe pulled out her phone and began typing into it.
"I found this guy who sells pianos. His shop is nearby. Let's head there now. We can pick out the piano and then you can get it delivered on Jesse's birthday while you guys are at the appointment."
"Yeah, I will chill at your house in the morning while it's being delivered. That's the beauty of owning your own business. You can go in when you want." Amy said, grinning.
"Alright. Let's go buy the nerd a piano." Beca said, standing up.
"I know you want to get home to your fella, but we're doing mani-pedis and facials afterwards!" Chloe said, pointing at Beca, who rolled her eyes.
"Fine." She agreed.
Saturday, October 26, 2013 - 6:02 PM
The guys had arrived within ten minutes of Beca leaving for lunch with Chloe. Between the four of them, they were able to finish painting all of the walls a light mauve shade. While the paint was drying, Jesse put in a load of wash that was filled with every soft, cloth baby item (bedding, blankets, stuffed animals, clothing, cloth diapers, et cetera) that he and Beca had. He then made the four of them lunch. After switching the items over to dryer on the gentle, no heat, extended tumble cycle, they watched a bunch of mindless television until it was finished. When everything was dry, he went to check the paint, finding that the walls were dry. The four men proceeded to set up the furniture in the room. The crib was tucked into one corner with a bunny mobile attached to it. A shelving unit was placed beside the crib and then a small dresser beside that. On the other side of the room, a large bookcase was set up, along with the changing table. In the corner opposite the crib, Jesse, with the help of Brian and Bumper, slid a white overstuffed chair with its matching ottoman so that it was facing diagonally into the room. Hat returned into the room with the laundry basket of folded baby items under one arm and his cell phone in his hand. "The girls are headed this way. They should be here in about twenty minutes." He told them as Jesse took the laundry basket from his hands. The four of them began setting up the décor around the room—putting the bedding in the cribs, setting up toys, putting away blankets, et cetera. The last item that was placed in the room was a butterfly mobile made with different colored butterflies that Jesse hung from the ceiling in the center of the room.
The four men stood back to take in the finished (sort of) product of the nursery. Jesse grinned to himself, because it was perfect. The front door flew open, and the four men heard the sounds of their wives talking as they entered the house. "Jesse? We saw the guys' cars. Are you all upstairs?" She sounded confused, and he heard her start to make her way up the steps. She was probably confused about why they would be upstairs. The guys slipped out of the nursery, and Jesse quickly shut the door behind him. "What are you guys doing in there? Did you finish paining?" She asked him, crossing her arms.
"Yeah, the guys helped me finish. Why don't we all go downstairs? I will show you everything once it's all finished airing out." He said, trying to shoo her down the steps, but she refused to move. He didn't want to show her the finished product until they were alone. He wanted it to be a moment that was shared just between the two of them; he wanted it to be special.
"No, I wanna see it now." She said, trying to push past him. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her flush against the front of him. "Jesse," she whined, pouting. "Please? If you're a good boy, I'll reward you." The guys chuckled as they made their way down the steps to their own wives.
"Now, I'd love to take you up on that offer, but it would be rude to push the guys out the door after they spent the afternoon helping me finish up the nursery. I will show you everything later. Why don't you come downstairs with us, and you girls can tell us all about your lunch."
"We talked about how I got pregnant, how Chloe thinks I'm fat, what I was going to get you for your birthday, and then we got facials and mani-pedis after I went to buy your present. There, now you know everything. Let me see the nursery."
"You talked about how you got pregnant?" He said, his eyebrows rising in shock.
"Well, not exactly." She whispered. "I told Chloe and Jessica that I freaked out about getting engaged, so we got in a big fight and then we both got drunk and had unprotected sex. I didn't tell them that our relationship was a fake when you knocked me up." She said, waving her hand between the two of them. His heart started pounding in his chest. She said was; does that mean she wanted it to be real now?
"Hey, guys! We're all gonna head out. You have a great night!" Chloe called up the stairs, and they glanced down them to see that everyone had gathered their stuff and were waving goodbye as they made their ways out the door. Beca and Jesse called out their goodbyes just before the door shut.
"They're gone now. Show me that nursery." She pushed past him and headed to the nursery. He caught up to her, stopping her before she opened the door.
"You really need to learn patience."
"Nah, I'd rather not." She said, elbowing him. He rolled his eyes at her.
"Close your eyes." He slipped a hand over her eyes, reaching out to turn the doorknob. When the door started to click open, he put the other hand over her eyes, making sure that she couldn't see at all. Kicking the door open slightly, he walked her into the room. "Ready?"
"Just let me see the goddamn nursery, Jesse." She groaned. He laughed, releasing her eyes.
"Oh," she said, pressing one hand against her stomach and the other over her mouth. "This is perfect," she said, the sound muffled by her hand. She began wiping at her cheeks. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing a light kiss to her neck. She leaned her body back against his chest. "This is so beautiful." She said, turning in his arms to wrap her arms around his neck. He grinned against her hair, kissing her head a few times. "I love it so much. It's wonderful. Thank you, Jesse." She pulled away from him enough to stand on her toes and press a series of kisses to his lips and cheeks.
"I'm glad that you like it." He laughed, tucking some of her hair behind her ears. "I wanted it to be perfect for you."
"It is perfect!" She grinned, pulling away from him to walk around the room and inspect everything. She sat on the chair, leaning back against it and putting her feet up on the ottoman. She ran her fingers over the blankets and toys and little pieces of clothing on the shelving units. She stood in the center of the room, staring up at the butterfly mobile with a huge smile over her face. She turned the mobile on, listening to the soft music and watched as the bunnies on it rotated over the crib where their baby would sleep as soon as he was big enough and Beca felt comfortable with him not sleeping in the bassinet beside her side of the bed. She clutched the stuffed rabbit that he had picked out a little over a month before when he first found out about the baby. "This is your room, Alex. This is your bunny." She whispered, stroking her fingers over the ears of the rabbit. She returned it to the crib and turned to face him, tears pouring down her cheeks. "He's kicking." She said, reaching out to him.
Jesse crossed the room, sliding his hand beneath Beca's shirt to rest it on her abdomen, feeling the movement of their baby beneath her skin. He grinned, looking up to see her staring at their hands in wonder. "We made him." She whispered after a few moments. "It's so weird to think that there is a small person growing inside of me. We made him, Jesse. He's ours, and he's going to be perfect." He smiled at her, because he understood exactly what she meant. He loved this baby, and he loved Beca. He loved their family. He physically ached with the need to tell her. He wanted to tell her. He was so scared of what her reaction was going to be.
"Becs," he began, but he hesitated. He licked his bottom lip, interlacing their hands at their sides. "I…"
"Yeah?" She said after a few moments, giving him a small smile, when he didn't finish his sentence. "What's wrong?" He shook his head.
"Nothing's wrong." He was chickening out. "I'm just really happy we're having him. I'm really happy that we're a family." She grinned at him.
"You know how you've told me like a thousand times that you're so grateful that I'm having him? Well, I never said thank you to you. I know that he wasn't planned, but I'm so glad that we're having him." She rolled her eyes. "Thanks for getting drunk and forgetting to put on a condom before putting the moves on me." She joked. He rolled his eyes at her. "But more than that, thank you for being my best friend." She started dragging him in the direction of the door by his hands.
"Where are you taking me?"
"I'm going to give you a proper thank you, but I can't do that in my son's nursery, so we're going to our room." Jesse's heart started pounding, because she referred to her bedroom as their room. He was going to gain the courage to tell her the truth one day—soon.
Monday, November 4th, 2013 – 7:00 AM
Beca woke up early to the sound of her phone buzzing from where she had tucked it beneath her pillow. She turned off the alarm and carefully slid out from beneath Jesse's arm, which was wrapped tightly around her waist, with his hand splayed across her stomach. She pulled on a robe over her pajamas, which was one of his t-shirts over a pair of his boxers. They had the appointment at ten, but she wanted to make him breakfast in bed, so she was getting up an hour before they had set their alarm to get up. She wrapped her robe around her body and snuck downstairs after brushing her teeth and peeing in the bathroom. She gathered all of the necessary breakfast materials to make apple cinnamon pancakes, Jesse's favorite breakfast food, coffee, scrambled eggs, bacon (he was such a bad Jew), fruit, and orange juice. When the food was finished, she set up the tray with two plates of pancakes with eggs and bacon, a cereal bowl filled with sliced strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and grapes, two classes of orange juice, one mug of coffee prepared the way he liked it, utensils, and napkins. Just as she was about to pick up the tray, she jumped when she felt two arms wrap around her waist. "Good morning. What's all this?" Jesse's breath tickled her ear.
"I was trying to bring you breakfast in bed. Happy birthday." She told him, turning around in his arms to press a kiss to his lips. He grinned down at her.
"You made me breakfast? Thank you." He kissed her gently. "Although, I don't like the idea of you bringing this up the steps for me."
"I'm six months pregnant, not crippled." She muttered, glaring at him slightly.
"Yes, I know, I'm such a caveman, but I can't help it." He kissed her again before dropping to his knees. He pulled the shirt up, exposing her rounded stomach to him. "Hello, Alex. How did you sleep?" He pressed a kiss against her stomach.
"He didn't sleep much. I'm so tired and uncomfortable." Beca whined slightly. Jesse laughed, standing up. He grabbed the tray.
"I will carry this upstairs, and we can have breakfast in bed, okay?" She nodded her head, and the two of them (she smiled to herself at that thought; in a few more weeks, there would be three of them) headed up the steps. They settled onto the bed, the tray between them. "So, what did you get me for a present?"
She chuckled, stabbing some fruit with her fork and popping it into her mouth. "I'm not telling you. You have to wait until after the appointment to find out." She told him when she finished chewing.
"That's no fair. Can you give me a hint?" She shook her head.
"Eat your breakfast. We both need to shower, and you know how long it takes me to get ready now." He pouted, but she refused to budge on telling him anything about his present.
One and a half hours later, Beca had given her urine sample, had her blood pressure measured, had the fundal height measured, been questioned about the baby's movements, and had her weight measured. "Wow…you've gained seven and a half pounds in the last five weeks. " Brian said with surprise.
"Is that a lot?" She had been concerned about her weight gain ever since the girls had mentioned it to her at the lunch.
"Between your fundal growth and your weight gain, I'd say you're having a really big baby." Brian joked.
"Oh, that's gonna be fun for my lady bits."
"Yeah, I forgot to tell you that my mom said that I was a really big baby with a big head." Jesse said, grimacing. She glared at him.
"I hate you. Our kid is going to have a huge head because of you, and my vagina is going to be torn apart." Jesse and Brian chuckled.
"Let's check out Alex's heartbeat." Brian set up the machine to record the baby's heartbeat through her stomach. The fast thwaping noise filled the room, and Beca and Jesse grinned as they listened to the sound of their son's heartbeat. "Huh…that's strange."
"What is?" Beca said, turning to stare at Brian. When a doctor says 'huh, that's strange' in relation to your baby, you freak out, and she was two seconds away from freaking out. "Is something wrong with Alex?"
"No, I don't think there's anything wrong. I just want to check out something on the ultrasound." He pulled the machine over, squirting the jelly onto her stomach and began to move the Doppler around on the lower part of her abdomen. Beca and Jesse glanced at the screen as the blob that is there baby came up. "Oh, my." Brian said, his eyes widening. She turned to stare at him in alarm.
"Dude, you're freaking us out. What's up?" Jesse asked, gripping her hand in his. She nodded her head, too nervous to speak.
"So, I thought Alex's heartbeat sounded strange, like there was an echo, but…uh…his heartbeat is fine. See," he pointed to a flickering spot on the screen. He then shifted the Doppler to another part of Beca's stomach. "But, see this here?" He pointed to another flickering spot on the screen.
"Yeah?" Jesse prompted him.
"It appears that the weight gain and the large fundal growth are because there are two babies."
"What?" Jesse and Beca said at the same time, staring at Brian in shock. She literally felt like her heart was stopping, because what the fuck?
"Yeah, you're having twins." Brian said, grinning.
"You've got to be kidding me." Beca said, staring at the monitor. "You have got to be fucking kidding."
"Beca," Jesse said, squeezing her hand and brushing a stray lock of hair behind her head. "It's okay, really. This is good news."
"Shut the fuck up, Jesse. I need a minute to fucking process this." She snapped at him, yanking her hand from his. She buried her face into her hands, groaning slightly. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."
"I'm gonna step out, and let you two have a minute." Brian said, inching his way towards the exam room door.
"Freeze!" Beca pulled her hands from her face and pointed at the doctor. "You're not off the hook, either, mister. What the fuck? How did you miss that?" She said, pointing to the monitor. "How do you miss a second baby?!"
"Look, this is extremely rare. It hardly ever happens. Usually, you can tell that twins are coming as early as six to eight weeks. However, it appears that the one of the babies was lying directly in front of the other baby during the exams, matching their heartbeats up. Like I said, the likelihood of this happening is really rare, because the babies have to be perfectly aligned for me to not be able to pick up on a second heartbeat. It is easier to miss it on the ultrasound, though, because it is probably the bigger twin in front of the smaller twin, so I wouldn't see the small one. I'm just shocked that I didn't find a second heartbeat—until today."
"I'm having two babies. I'm gaining ridiculous amounts of weight because I'm having two babies?" She said, staring at the monitor. "Holy shit."
"Becs, this is amazing. We're having two babies! This probably explains why we felt them moving from the outside so early, because one is closer to the surface than the other. And, why it felt like there was an entire marching band going through your stomach whenever the baby kicked—because there were two babies kicking!" Jesse leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. She just continued to stare at the monitor…at her babies. "Can you tell what the other baby is?" He asked Brian, who adjusted the Doppler slightly.
"Well, this one is a tiny bit smaller and still tucked slightly behind Alex, but I will see if I can find out if it is a boy or a girl for you." After sliding the Doppler wand around a bit, he finally found an angle that gave him a shot between the baby's legs. "Ahh, there it is…" Brian said, grinning. "Or, rather, there it isn't." Jesse looked up at him in shock.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"It looks like you're having a boy and a girl." Brian said, slapping Jesse on the back. "Congratulations, guys."
"Becs, we're having a girl! I knew that she was kicking about the name Abigail!" Jesse said, grabbing Beca by the cheeks and kissing her forcefully. He broke the kiss, and she took a deep breath. They were having two babies. They were having a boy and a girl. She was in shock. She didn't know what to make of this. They had to go out and buy a second crib. They had to buy more toys and more diapers and more bedding and more clothing. They had to buy two of everything. Why? Because they were having two babies. She returned her gaze to the screen to study her babies. She was having twins.
"How is it that I'm having twins? There is no history of twins in my family or in Jesse's? If they were identical, I could understand, like the cell divided in half too much and now we have two babies, but how do I get one of each?" She finally asked.
"Sometimes a second egg is released from the ovary; this could have been a onetime fluke, or it could run in your family that two eggs are released every month, but one of them wasn't fertilized or if it was fertilized and the body rejected it, the embryo was reabsorbed into your uterine lining."
"So, I could have been a twin, but my mom's uterus ate it?" Jesse snorted, earning a glare and an elbow to the gut from Beca.
"Sorry," he muttered, clutching his stomach and trying to hold back his laughter. "Your mom's enough of a bitch that I could totally see her womb eating your twin."
"Jesse, shut the fuck up!" She snapped. "Sorry," she said instantly, her eyes tearing up. "I'm being such a bitch. I'm upset and scared and in shock and a mess." She moaned, hot tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Beca, it's okay." He leaned over, wiping at her cheeks to press a light kiss to her forehead, the tip of her nose, and then on her lips. "This is a great thing. We're having two babies. We're so lucky to have two little babies. Little Alex and Little Abby. This is amazing. I love you." His eyes widened in, and she stared at him in shock. His eyes shut, and he released a quick breath. This was the second time he's said that he loved her, the first time during his wedding vows. She glanced over his showered to see that Brian was beaming at them. Right, he was just acting in front of Brian. He didn't actually mean it. Her heart finally started beating again, and she put a fake smile on her face.
"Yeah, me, too. I can't believe we're having twins!" She said quickly, playing the role of an excited wife having two babies with her husband (well, she was excited about the babies, that wasn't a lie). His eyes slipped open, and he studied her for a moment before nodding his head. She didn't realize how much meant those words until she said them. She did love him; he was her best friend. Of course she loved him, just like she loved Chloe and Amy, who were her best girlfriends. Those two and Jesse (and now her babies) were the most important people in her lives; she loved the three of them way more than she loved the rest of their friends (family). "By the way, we're not naming her Abigail Mae!" Beca said, pointing her finger at him. He swallowed, giving her a tense smile. He was still obviously feeling weird about saying that he loved her in front of Brian; he said it before, so why is he freaking out so much. It wasn't like it was a real declaration of love. "I gave you Alexander Gabriel, so you can give me Abigail Rose."
"He doesn't have to be Alexander. You can name him Lucifer for all I care, but we're naming her Abigail Mae!"
"We aren't changing his name now! I've told everyone his name is Alex. I've told him he's Alex. I'm not going to start calling him David or Gabriel or whatever just because you want to name his sister something completely ridiculous and inappropriate! His name is Alex, and her name is Abigail Rose."
"Please, Beca!?"
"Uggh!"
Author's Note: Surprise! Haha! It's TWINS! Were you shocked? I hope so! Almost everyone who gave boy name suggestions liked Alexander Gabriel, so Baby Boy Swanson is officially Alexander Gabriel Swanson! For all the girl suggestions, last time I tallied the votes, it was evenly split between Rose and Mae, with two people who said they didn't care either way. If it continues to be evenly split, I'm going with the tiebreaker vote of Abby Rose via my mother. Haha! I have a poll up on my profile, so go vote for either Abby Rose or Abby Mae.
Also, JESSE TOLD BECA HE LOVED HER! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Too bad she passed it off as though he was just pretending in front of Brian! Also, she realized that she loved him, too…as a FRIEND. Oh, well! That is one step closer to being IN LOVE, right?
Let me know what you think of this chapter! Did you enjoy my cliffhanger ending from the last chapter? Was it worth it for the fun, surprising ending of this chapter?
This is the finalized version of the nursery (remember to remove all spaces and periods):
4 . bp. blogspot / _ jAPiJMw1h68 /TJ8qzgcMINI / AAAAAAAAAyw / r0ydoWeQsyo / s1600 / via+photobucket+twins+2littleangels . jpg
Please use your imagination for the following:
1. Light purple walls.
2. Dark wood floors.
3. The bedding in both of the cribs is light purple.
4. The pillows on the chair are light purple with white embroidery that read: AGS and ARS/AMS (the babies' initials).
5. The rug is light purple.
6. The pattern on the two blankets hanging from the cribs is white, light purple, and dark purple.
7. Butterfly mobile hanging from the ceiling looks like this:
media - cache - ak1 . pinimg 550x / 57 / ac / 27 / 57ac272f35a2876b23f0386f759f6d65 . jpg
8. There are two mobiles attached to the cribs that look like this:
www . theparsleypot images / _ lib / jellycat – bashful – bunny – musical – mobile – 3005238 – 0 - 1280418785000 . jpg
9. All other items in the bedroom that are brownish in color is replaced with varying shades of purple, like sheets and such.
10. The chair has an ottoman.
REVIEW, people!