A/N: Corinne, You are the bestest beta ever. I appreciate all the time you put into helping make sure this story is perfect. xx

o~O~o
Chapter 27
Zephyrs and Zealot
o~O~o

"No! Don't pee there!"

"Leave that alone!"

"Stop biting your sister's tail!"

"Oi! That's my toe!"

"Don't eat that!"

"NO!"

"Sit... sit... I said sit! Oh Jesus... I said sit, not shi-"

"Who's idea was this to get you two?!"

"Get off."

"Oh for the love of a capella... if I feed you AGAIN, will you leave me alone?"

Beca lay in bed, smiling contentedly as she heard Jesse talking to the two latest additions in the Mitchell-Swanson house. It felt good to smile again, even if she wasn't ready for anything else just yet. She knew she should get up and help him with the puppies but she was rather enjoying listening to him struggle to control the four legged fur balls.

Beca had bonded with them both immediately and they loved her already, tucking themselves into her side when she sat on the floor to play with them. Jesse was a little stricter with them, more reserved and less inclined to play. He asked Beca that they have a few ground rules with the pups; no sitting on the couch, no playing ball inside and they were definitely going to sleep in their kennels or their beds in the family room.

So far, that wasn't going according to his plan!

Subconsciously she rubbed her tummy but the burning pain was no longer in her heart. The two naughtiest puppies in the world had helped her take the step to the next stage of her life and she had half a smirk on her face as she remembered Jesse's instructions that the dogs weren't allowed upstairs in their room. He didn't know that she crept downstairs with a blanket as soon as he had fallen asleep at night and slept on the sofa in the family room with her furbabies, if they were making too much noise in their beds. She usually managed to slip back into their bed before Jesse woke but on the one occasion she heard him in the shower, she quickly went into the kitchen and sat with a coffee when he came to find her, claiming that she had a little trouble sleeping and had only just gotten up.

After a week… that all changed.

Jesse believed everything she said, he was so grateful to see a light in her eyes again. He didn't want to forget his son but he knew that to move on with their lives, they needed to close that particular door and try to make some sense within themselves. As a child, he'd had a couple of stray, flea ridden dogs that seemingly adopted their trailer as home and Jesse remembered his Granny saying that dogs should be kept outside as they'd bring fleas and all sorts of diseases into a home. While Jesse knew that the two wiggling fluff balls he brought home were of pedigree grade and had all of their innoculations and check-ups, his Granny's words rang in his ear. He didn't want the dogs laying on his bed, but that was partly because he wanted Beca's attention for himself.

He wasn't selfish, he understood that she wasn't ready to make love yet, but he missed her and wanted the closeness with her. While Beca was happy to curl up to his side, he wanted and needed more. His mind was a jumble of emotions, questions and what ifs and he knew he only had himself to blame for his trouble sleeping at night.

For a week after Jesse brought Jagger and Roxie home, Beca was on cloud nine. The puppies kept her very busy and Jesse was thankful that Will was right about what she had needed. She enjoyed shopping for cute dog beds, leashes, toys, bowls and bones for the puppies and he loved seeing her face as she showed him what she'd bought that day. He noticed that she had begun to check through her work emails again as she sat on the floor getting covered in delicate licks of puppy love, the sound of pathetic little barks filled the air. He was pleased to see that Beca was beginning to look like her old self again and when she brought up the subject of going to work for an afternoon, he encouraged her to meet Sawyer in the lobby so that she didn't have to go in alone. He texted his boss and asked for the day off to be at home with the puppies so Beca wouldn't find an excuse not to go at the last minute. Bob had agreed, having appreciated all of Jesse's dedication while they were healing.

With strict instructions on how to care for the ten week old pups, Beca left Jesse in charge and decided that she would go to the office just after lunchtime, four weeks after they'd lost Bodhi. She showered, washed and styled her hair and carefully applied simple make up before pulling on a comfortable pair of jeans and her favorite shirt. She was shocked to see how much weight she had lost but as she checked herself in the mirror before she left, she also noticed that the gaunt, pale look she had the week before had all but disappeared.

Kissing Jesse's cheek, she collected her purse and keys and headed out to her car, unable to remember the last time she had driven it. Slipping into the driver's seat, she waved at Jesse as he stood watching her from the front door. As she passed the guard shack on the way out of the subdivision she dug around in her bag for her phone, expecting to find a text as she pulled up to the traffic light. She'd seen Jesse fiddling with his phone as he waved goodbye and thought he was sending her a good luck message for her to read when she got to the office. He hadn't but she thought no more of it as she continued to drive.

Beca was surprisingly nervous as she approached the Warner offices. She turned into the parking lot, pulled into her assigned space and sat for a couple of minutes with the engine running. She closed her eyes and leaned her head on the back of the seat as she listened to the end of the song on the radio.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a couple of taps on the window from the passenger side. Spinning in the seat, she was grateful to see that it was only Sawyer, loitering nervously, silently begging her to put the window down. He looked as uncomfortable as she felt and for some unexplainable reason, this made Beca happy. She smiled as she hit the button, putting the window down.

"Hey you." She said and watched as Sawyer bend down to stick his head through the window.

"Mitchell." Sawyer said formally, in way of a greeting. "I need your opinion on a hot coffee and a Danish in my office."

Beca closed her eyes for a moment, appreciative that he wasn't being too weird around her. "Yes sir!" She said, mock saluting him before pressing the button that sent the glass upward and taking the keys out of the ignition.

She grabbed her purse from the seat and got out of the car. Sawyer was immediately by her side, making Beca wonder if he'd run around the back of the SUV. He pulled her into a tight, friendly but very necessary hug and Beca wrapped her arms around him, remembering Luke's words that other people were also sad about what happened.

"There are a stack of contracts that are desperate for my best talent scout and producer to look through." Sawyer said as he released her.

"I bet there are." Beca groaned, rolling her eyes for good measure. "No one else was available to keep that stuff off my desk, huh?"

"Well, that's the thing..." Sawyer explained as they began to walk towards the building. "... we've all had to help out with your workload, and I had to come up with a detailed babysitting schedule to keep Kimmy Jin and Lilly from doing anything illegal."

"That bad?" Beca laughed, appreciating his efforts to make her return feel as normal as possible.

"Well, everything was going well until..." Sawyer held the door open for Beca as they entered the lobby. Beca smiled and gave a small wave to the girls in reception as they passed through the entrance towards the elevators.

"... until?" Beca reminded Sawyer as he pressed the call button.

"Until it was Amy's turn." Sawyer said.

"Uh oh!" Beca tried not to laugh at the thought of Amy trying to supervise Kimmy Jin. "Any permanent damage?"

"The fire in the break room was under control in two minutes." Sawyer humorlessly explained but Beca could see the twinkle in his eye.

"Lilly?"

"Lilly." Sawyer confirmed as the elevator door opened. "Then there was the incident with the refrigerator."

"Dare I ask?"

"Well, did you know Lilly can fit in there?"

"Umm, can't say that I did!" Beca said, suppressing a giggle. She automatically pressed the button for her floor.

"Yes, she apparently wanted to see if the light really does go off in there when the door is shut."

"And does it?"

"She said it does but that the evil troll ate all of her lunch." Sawyer told her. "By the way, I think the 'evil troll' is Kimmy Jin."

"Had she, by any chance, been sniffing the permanent markers before all of this happened?" Beca asked, watching as the floor numbers rose.

"Yes. She was found with four in her pocket. She used the flashlight app on her cellphone to light up the fridge then proceeded to decorate everyone's lunch boxes and bags with smiley faces. How did you know?" He asked and Beca just smiled as she elevator doors opened to their floor. Sawyer held out his arm, offering for her to go first then walked towards her office.

"I'm glad that was all that happened. A lot worse could have occurred in my absence." Beca said, looking at Sawyer. When he didn't respond, she reached out for his arm. "Please tell me neither of them were left alone in the copy room?"

"Ummm..."

"How many?" Beca asked.

"Nearly 400."

"Kimmy or Lilly?"

"Kimmy. She mocked up an FBI most wanted poster and I have to say the picture she created for Lilly was quite good. The girl has talent!"

Beca couldn't control herself anymore and she burst out laughing. "And you wonder why every year when we discuss my raise, I ask for more than the standard five to seven percent. It's because of what I have to deal with!"

"Name your price next year." Sawyer said with amusement as they reached Beca's office. She took a deep breath as she rounded the glass wall and came upon her two assistants who were sitting stiffly in their chairs, staring at each other.

"Ladies..." Sawyer began but Beca held up her hand to stop him.

"Don't bother. They're having a staring competition and I could offer them a thousand dollars to stop but neither of them will budge until the other one gives up."

"I'll never understand these two!" Sawyer said. "Well, I'll give you a couple of minutes to leave your things. Come to my office and we'll have a quick run through of everything that has been going on while we have that coffee I promised you. Oh... ignore that rather large hole in your office wall. Neither one has confessed to it yet."

Beca shook her head as she turned away from Sawyer and headed into her office, immediately finding comfort in the familiar surroundings. Here, she was Beca Mitchell, Talent Scout and Producer for Warner, not, Poor-Beca-Who-Lost-Her-Baby and surprisingly, she could almost forget about it for a few hours. She set her purse down on her desk and sighed heavily at the huge pile of paperwork on her desk. She was about to turn on her laptop when there was a discreet knock on the door. She looked up, surprised to see Kimmy Jin standing there. Usually their staring battles went on for a good couple of hours.

"Hey." Beca said softly, preparing for an onslaught of bitter words and complaints from Kimmy Jin. She was surprised when her assistant crossed the room quickly and stood closely to her. "Everything ok?"

"Beca, I'm..." Kimmy Jin started. Beca was astonished to see her looking so perfectly normal. Without the glaring and twist to her mouth, Beca noticed how pretty she was. "... It happened to me too, twice in fact, and I just wanted you to know, if you need someone to talk to, someone who understands, I'm here for you. Call anytime, day or night."

Beca raised an eyebrow in Kimmy's direction. "Thank you. I appreciate you saying that. I'm sorry that it happened to you."

"It won't mean anything now but I wanted to give you this. Please don't open it until you're ready, there's no rush. Someone gave me the same thing and it got me through the dark times." Kimmy Jin held out a small bag towards Beca.

"Kimmy, thank you." Beca said, taking the small gift being given to her. She was further taken aback when Kimmy suddenly lurched forward and embraced Beca into one of the warmest hugs she'd ever received. Beca squeezed her back and the two women held onto each other for a few moments.

As they parted, Beca was almost relieved to see Kimmy Jin had her icy expression back. "Tell no one of this encounter." She almost barked as she turned on her heel and left Beca's office quickly.

Confused but warmed by the words and Kimmy's return to her usual demeanor, Beca sat down in her chair and placed the gift bag by her purse. She wasn't quite ready to open the gift yet and if there was something inside the bag that could be considered harmful, she preferred to have witnesses.

She was just about to type her password onto the login screen of her laptop when she was suddenly aware of someone standing behind her. Spinning in her chair, she looked into the large, almond shaped eyes of her slightly more eccentric assistant.

"Lilly? How did you-"

"-Shh, you'll use up your word count for the day." Lilly whispered, putting her finger up to Beca's mouth and quieting her without actually touching her. She straightened up and slipped her hands into her cardigan pockets. Not taking her eyes off Beca, she continued, "Are you ok?"

"Me?" Beca asked, unsure what she should say.

"I've already checked the room for recording devices."

"Oh."

"It's clean, if you are interested."

"Um, thanks." Beca said, wishing Sawyer would walk through the door and help her escape.

"Seriously though Beca, are you ok? You've been through the mill recently. And we've all been really worried about you. At my church, we all said prayers for you." Lilly said, in a perfectly normal voice.

"Church?"

"Uh huh."

"I didn't know you went to church."

"Twice a week. Once on Sunday and usually on a Wednesday to help with the soup kitchen." Lilly said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Oh." Beca was lost for words, she hadn't expected that from Lilly.

"I've never gone through what you have but I wanted you to know we have all missed you and hope that you and Jesse have the strength to move onto the next stage of your lives. It was strange without you being here and I hope you will come back to work full time really soon."

"Thank you Lilly. And thank you for all the care packages you have been sending."

"It was just a few treats to let you know I was thinking of you."

"And the cactus?"

"Oh, that was to say that I know life can be prickly sometimes but really it is also a beautiful thing."

"Lilly, I do think this is the first normal conversation we have ever had." Beca remarked and watched as Lilly pulled her comb out of her pocket and began to run it through her bangs.

"Sssh, don't tell anyone." She said normally before dropping her voice back to a whisper. "I have a ninja in my bottom drawer who is making Christmas tree ornaments out of paper clips."

Beca closed her eyes for a second as she struggled not to laugh but when she opened them to ask Lilly about the ninja, she was surprised to see she was the only one in the office. Shaking her head and going back to her laptop, she typed in her password and opened her email. She watched with slight dismay as the unopened mail count hit over two thousand but was distracted as an instant message that popped up on the screen.

'Shortstack! You live and breathe!'

'Hey Ames.' Beca typed back, happy that Amy wasn't barreling through the door to welcome her back.

'Well?'

'Well what?'

'What did J-Dog think of your tattoo?'

Beca remembered the conversation she had with Jesse the night they got the puppies, that day she had been to the beach with Amy and they had visited Kat von D's tattoo parlor. She had asked Kat to ink her with something very special using some of Bodhi's ashes and she had been unsure how Jesse would react when she told him, and more importantly, showed him.

The tattoo, while small, was extremely meaningful. Bodhi's ashes were carefully mixed with beautiful white ink and meaningfully tattooed on Beca's rib cage, right over her heart. A tattoo of Bodhi's tiny footprints were surrounded by beautiful angel wings and underneath was his name and the date he passed away. Bodhi had been in her life for a very short time, but his impact on Beca's life would be eternal.

'It kinda got lost when the puppies arrived but he did see it as we were going to bed that night. He didn't really say much but when he thought I was asleep, I felt him running his fingers over it.'

'Well, I'm glad he liked it.' Amy typed. 'Bumper's meeting me for lunch so I gotta shoot. Give me a holler over the weekend or something and we'll grab coffee.'

'Say hey to good ol' Dicky No-Nuts Babcock for me.'

'I will forever regret telling you his name.'

Beca smirked as Amy logged out of their current chat. She cast her eyes over the ever growing list of emails and one particular contact caught her eye. It was from Cynthia Rose, Beca had been copied in on a message sent directly to Jesse. She read what Cynthia Rose had to say and was quite surprised at the tone but wanted to talk to Jesse about it when she got home.

Knowing Sawyer was waiting for her with coffee and danishes, she abandoned the rest of her work and left her office, ignoring Lilly who was practicing yoga moves on her desk. Beca chuckled to herself before heading to Sawyer's office for a couple of hours.

o~O~o

"This really is a very pretty home Jesse. You did well to get this place."

"It's actually Beca's house." Jesse said without malice. "I moved in almost a year ago but she asked me to leave when she caught me messing about and-"

"-Messing about?"

"She went away for work and I fucked up. Threw a party that got out of hand. We sorted through everything and then I moved back in." Jesse explained.

"So, you've messed about with lots of girls before, have you Jesse?"

"Um, no." Jesse said, going red in the face. "Not girls. Booze."

"And she took you back?"

"Yes." Jesse said confidently.

"And as far as she knows, you've behaved ever since?"

"It needs to stay that way."

"Strange choice of words to use."

"How do you mean?" Jesse asked.

"'Needs to' rather than you want it to."

"Slip of the tongue." Jesse said.

"And we both know how that tongue of yours slips, don't we, baby?"

Jesse coughed loudly as he finished showing Pepper around the rest of the house. He still wasn't sure what possessed him to text her the minute Beca left to go to the office to meet up with Sawyer but he really wanted to see her. She had arrived half an hour later, just as he was kenneling the puppies in the family room. He was flustered from dealing with the dogs but calmed as soon as he saw her on the doorstep. He showed her around, despite her being there a few months before at the New Year's Eve party. He was awkward about her being there as he'd suggested they meet up at the local Starbucks for coffee, even though he had promised Beca he'd stay in with the puppies. She had insisted on coming to him and he hadn't put up much of a fight.

"So how long has Beca been gone?" Pepper asked, shrugging her jacket off her shoulders and handing it to Jesse as they stood in the hallway.

"Less than an hour. She went to the office for a while so I guess she'll be home around four. She'll probably text me when she leaves."

"Awesome. Well, I'll have a coffee before we get down to business."

"Business?" Jesse spluttered out.

"You wanted to go through the contract for the third time, right?" Pepper said innocently, pulling a long tendril of her hair over her shoulder and twisting it in her fingers.

"The contract? Oh… yes, the contract. The contract." Jesse said, passing Pepper's coat from one hand to the other. Feeling flustered and trying very hard not to look at Pepper's cleavage, which was fully on display in her tight v-neck shirt. He looked around for a place to hang her jacket before deciding that the knob on the French doors between the kitchen and dining room looked like the easiest, most accessible place. He slung it over the handle and headed into the kitchen, making a beeline for Keurig machine and grabbing a mug on his way through.

"Oh Jesse." Pepper laughed as she watched him hovering in front of the coffee maker. "You have so much to learn at times."

"What do you mean?" Jesse asked, looking confused. Pepper took the mug from him and set it down on the kitchen counter.

"Coffee. I didn't mean..." Pepper said, sliding herself up to him and placing a hand on the back of his neck, drawing his face towards hers. Their mouths were soon an inch apart.

"What did you mean then?" Jesse asked, his heart pounding in his chest.

"There was one room you didn't show me upstairs." Pepper said, lowering her voice as her lips gently brushed over his.

"Which one?" Jesse mumbled, conscious of his mouth ghosting over Pepper's as he spoke.

"Well, I didn't see the master suite."

"Oh."

"And I'd really like to."

"Oh."

"Uh huh." Pepper said, reaching down to the front of Jesse's jeans and placing her hand over the zipper.

"Oh. Coffee."

"Yes..." Pepper said as the realization of what she had meant finally hit Jesse. "Coffee."

"I see." Jesse said, pulling away from her. "Beca will-"

"-won't be home for hours. You said so yourself."

"Yes, but-"

"-No buts, unless it's your naked butt in your bed."

"We'll get caught."

"By whom? Come on Jesse. It's obvious you want this as much as I do."

"That's... I mean, I love Beca."

"And I love Dr. Pepper but that doesn't mean I don't love a Sprite every now and then. As long as Dr. Pepper doesn't find out, what's the problem?"

"The problem is-"

"-Do you want this?" Pepper asked as she held the hem of her shirt and pulled it straight over the top of her head, unclasping her bra in the next movement. She threw both items onto the floor as she held both of her breasts in her hands and looked at Jesse. She heard him whimper as he took in the sight of her. "You like the look of these, don't you? Better than Beca's, huh?"

Jesse would have been inclined to agree, but he would never tell Beca that. He almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of it all. As if he could tell Beca he was staring at another woman's naked breasts. As he examined the display in front of him, he couldn't help the fire in his groin from starting. He thought Pepper was extremely attractive with her plump, perky breasts and perfectly toned body. Not that he didn't think Beca was beautiful and had a kick ass figure but it had been a while since Little Jesse had been given something to get worked up about.

Doing his best to control himself, he didn't notice Pepper take a couple of steps back, dropping her hands on to her hips. Looking up as she coughed slightly, he couldn't take his eyes off of her ruby red lips with the corners of her mouth turned up into a sly smile. Her tight jeans were riding just a little low, allowing a taunting view of the top of her panties emphasizing the narrowness of her waist and the round softness of her hips.

Pepper broke the silence, "How do I look?"

"Meh." Jesse responded, shrugging his shoulders. He was so torn. He wanted to tell Pepper to get the fuck out but at the exact same time, he wanted to scoop her up in his arms and kiss her with everything he had.

"I'll show you meh!" Pepper laughed as she playfully punched Jesse on his arm.

"I think you should go." Jesse whined, weakly.

"Is that what you really want?" Pepper asked, slowly beginning to unbutton her jeans.

"Yes." Jesse said, closing his eyes.

"Is it?" Pepper asked again.

Jesse didn't answer and tried to train his thoughts back to Beca but all he could see was the beauty in front of him.

"Jesse? Do you want me to leave?"

"No." He said, in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Then let's go upstairs." Pepper said as she held out her hand for Jesse to take. "And I'll make you forget everything else for a couple of hours."

"No one can know about this." Jesse said cowardly.

"Deal."

Jesse took the hand held out to him and allowed himself to be pulled out of the kitchen and towards the staircase. "Enough with the puppy dog eyes. You want this as much as I do." Pepper said, pausing at the first step. She looked down at the bulge in his jeans. "It's kinda obvious."

For the first time in a couple of weeks, Jesse allowed himself to be indulged in the moment as he let the sane part of him be talked out of all rational thinking and like a switch, he felt the wash of his addictive personality flood over him. Immediately, he felt comfortable with what was happening and he already had a dozen excuses lined up if Beca came home early and saw Pepper's car in the driveway.

Pepper's eye lit up like a Christmas tree as she saw the change in Jesse. "There you are!"

"Here I am!" Jesse said, grabbing Pepper around the waist and kissing her bare shoulder. "You'd best get upstairs before I change my mind."

Pepper giggled as she ran up the stairs with Jesse chasing her, just a split second behind. At the top of the stairs, Pepper let Jesse take charge and he grabbed her by the hand and pulled her towards the master bedroom.

"The royal entrance!" Pepper giggled as he kicked the door shut with his foot.

"Do you have a royal entrance?" Jesse smirked as he unzipped his hoodie.

"Depends on if you are a prince or a king." Pepper encouraged the playfulness as she laid out on the bed, mildly impressed by the opulence of the room. She watched as Jesse took off his shirt and kicked off his shoes, not caring where they landed.

Pepper crawled on the bed, tucking her knees underneath her. Her back was turned slightly towards Jesse. She batted her eyelashes and held her finger to her lips in a mock-sensual pose.

Jesse laughed and raised an imaginary camera to his eye and pretended to start taking pictures, rotating the fake camera, mimicking a photo shoot. "Yes, yes, make love to the camera, daaaahlin'," he said in a faux European accent. He had no idea where it came from as he refused to consider he was mocking Luke, not wanting to think about anything to do with Beca in that moment.

Pepper tried to stifle a laugh as she continually changed poses. She held her hair up and pushed her chest out before dropping her head back and licking her lips. She was thoroughly enjoying watching Jesse appreciate her role play and her curves. She raised herself up onto her knees and leaned forward onto her elbows, giving Jesse a view of her denim clad ass. Jesse knew there was definitely no turning back at this point but he no longer cared. He was so turned on by some of the poses, that he wished the pretend camera he was holding was real so he could have kept the photos for future reference and viewing.

As Pepper struck another pose, her yoga and pole dancing skills started coming out in force, she looked behind her and giggled. "Oh God, that is embarrassing." She laughed, spotting the waistband of her thong over the top of her jeans. She started to tuck it back in, making sure Jesse was taking in all of the details

"I wouldn't call it embarrassing. I was actually thinking it was looking pretty hot!" Jesse breathed out. Pepper smiled, knowing exactly what she was doing as she and pulled her thong a little higher out of her pants, making it more distinctive. She watched Jesse smile behind the imaginary camera.

As their game continued, Pepper's poses started to get more provocative. She held her breasts in both hands, tweaked her nipples, slapped her ass and ran her fingers between her legs. Jesse began to get more and more involved, making suggestions of what she should do next, "Turn on your side and lay like Rose in the Titantic... what if you opened your legs a little wider... yes, lick your fingers like that. Jesus, that's good..."

"What if I take my jeans off?" Pepper suggested innocently.

"Uh, yeah, I think that would look good."

Kicking off her leopard print heels, Pepper lowered her already unzipped jeans over her hips and slid them down her legs. Leaving her thong in place, she lay back on the bed and let her knees fall to the side as she tried to look innocently at Jesse. He watched, enraptured, hooked by what he has seen so far. He couldn't help but want more.

"How about if you turn over onto your stomach?" Jesse asked.

Pepper complied. Her round ass was exposed as she lifted her hips and once again tucked her knees underneath her. She looked back at Jesse with stunning blue eyes, her hair falling over one shoulder and framing her face perfectly.

"You look amazing," Jesse says, barely even blinking as he stared at Pepper's supple yet athletic body. Pepper smiled and turned her head back so she could stare back at Jesse.

"Come here." She said, calling him over. Jesse walked towards her, laying on the bed that he shared with Beca. Pepper crawled between Jesse's legs and like the vixen she was, unbuckled his belt with her teeth, growling slightly as she pulled on the strap. She unzipped his pants with fast, nimble fingers and pulled them down past his knees. Her face was level with the bulge in Jesse's boxers. She leaned forward and bit down on the waistband of his boxers, pulling them down as her fingernails dug into the back of his thighs.

Jesse's cock bounced free, grazing Pepper's cheek. She looked up at him and nodded appreciatively. Without further words or warning, Pepper opened her mouth to envelope his junk.

Jesse was mesmerized as his penis disappeared inside Pepper's mouth. In the back of his mind he was willing himself not to cum immediately, but seeing Pepper's naked body above his while she sucked his cock was so incredibly hot and so unforgivable that he didn't want the moment to end. She swirled her tongue, slowly circling the head of his cock.

Jesse blew out the air in his mouth as he held the back of Pepper's head. 'I'll put an end to this in a minute.' He promised himself as she continued to suck and lick Jesse's hard cock. Saliva dripped from her chin as she greedily pulled on his shaft. Jesse knew he couldn't last much longer, he could feel the beginning of the tension of an orgasm. He pulled back from Pepper with an audible slurp escaping her mouth.

"It's my turn now, Pep."

It only took a moment, but Pepper realized what he meant. She giggled as she rolled over. Jesse removed the rest of his clothes and crawled on top of her. His face level with her wet panties as his hands slid up the outside of her thighs. She shivered as he pulled her panties down past her ankles and tossed them on the floor. Jesse opened her legs and lowered his face down into the apex of her thighs.

She gasped as he ran his tongue from the bottom of her slit slowly up to the top. Her body almost convulsed when he finally made contact with her sensitive clit. She was impressed that he seemed to know what he was doing. She brought her legs up around his head as Jesse began probing her with his tongue, swirling around her clit and penetrating her entrance.

Pepper started to moan, writhing under Jesse's onslaught. "Don't stop, Jesse. Please." He nodded in agreement as Pepper began rocking her hips; she had been expecting a quick, fumbled fuck and hadn't banked on Jesse taking the time to do her properly. She had wanted a release after months of frustration, her last proper lover having left her for her best friend's sister. She'd made do with a couple of one night stands since then. She reached down and ran her fingers through his hair as he continued to suck on her clit.

She could feel an orgasm beginning and held her breath to increase its intensity. She thought of all the times she had managed to do that on her own while touching herself, while thoughts of having Jesse do this to her were running through her mind. She didn't want to think about the fact that he belonged to someone else, she felt she deserved what was happening and couldn't bear the thought that rich chicks always got the decent guys.

Jesse's wandering tongue struck a nerve, bringing her back to the present moment as the waves of pleasure began in her toes. 'It's really happening!' She thought as her orgasm came crashing down, her body tensing as she called out, "Ohhh, yes! That's the spot! Yes! Don't stop!" Jesse continued his oral feast until it was more than she could bear. She pushed his head away and turned onto her stomach to escape the constant orgasm and looked up at Jesse.

She couldn't quite place the look on his face as her breathing returned to normal. She could see Jesse was overcome with passionate desire for her. But he also had an expression that turned her on, it was the bad boy image he wore when he played with his band, the in control look of someone who took no orders from anyone else.

"I want to fuck you, Pepper. Hard." He said, breaking the silence.

She nodded as he flipped her over and crawled up her body. She could see his junk bobbing, desperate for its release as she opened her legs as far as possible, letting Jesse's hips sink between her thighs. His cock lined up with her entrance, feeling the warmth of her core on the head of his junk. Without asking permission, Jesse leaned forward on his arms and shoved himself in between Pepper's legs with one long, very hard thrust.

He penetrated her so deeply that Pepper let out a loud gasp, "Oh God, I've wanted you so bad for so long."

"I've wanted you too, Pepper. I've wanted to be inside of you so bad." Jesse murmured, unsure of what he was saying.

Jesse began to long stroke her, drawing himself almost completely out of her before thrusting into her relentlessly, fucking her with everything he had as he pushed deep against her swollen walls. Pepper began to unashamedly moan, begging him not to stop. Her hands wandered over his shoulders as he picked up the pace and her eyes rolled as he thrust painfully inside her. Jesse grabbed her wrists and pinned them down, outstretched to the side of her. Pepper started panting and her breathing became more labored as Jesse pounded against her, his rocking motion catching her clit in such a manner that she had orgasmic ripples flood over her in a painful wave. She was so turned on by Jesse taking control of her body, from being used so vigorously after such a slow start. She had dreamed of Jesse simply taking her one day, and fucking her until she was numb.

She pushed upward to meet his thrusts, desperate for him to be even deeper inside of her. Pepper looked over at the bedroom door, wishing with all her might that Beca would walk through and catch them so she could keep Jesse forever. The thought of her lover's fiancée catching them triggered another massive orgasm, and she let out an incredible scream.

Jesse could feel Pepper's walls tighten around his cock as she fell apart underneath him. He was fucking her wildly, feeling his impending orgasm build up with every second. He was so desperate to kiss her but despite everything he was doing to another woman, he didn't want his tongue in someone else's mouth. Soon he could feel the tingling in his balls and knew he should pull out and stop.

"I'm going to cum." He moaned, unable to control himself.

"Cum inside me, Jesse. I want to feel your hot cum inside of me!"

Moments later, Pepper could feel herself fill with Jesse's hot cum as he grunted and collapsed on top of her. She could feel his sweat mixing with hers as they lay rocking gently to catch their breath.

"Was it as good as you had hoped it would be?" Pepper laughed as Jesse looked her in the eye. She could see the change in him immediately.

"Oh my God… what the fuck have I just done?"

o~O~o

"Jesse, I'm home!" Beca called as she walked into the house.

She was exhausted after spending a few hours in the office and had to resist calling Luke on the way home to see if he wanted to grab a quick drink. She wanted to get home to Jesse and their puppies and see how he had managed with them on his own. As she hung her coat on the hook in the closet, she immediately heard the washing machine going and smelled the fresh, lemon scent of her cleaning products.

"Jesse?" She called again as she walked into the kitchen, not seeing him anywhere. She heard a yelp coming from the direction of the family room and quickly headed in that direction. As she entered the room, she was met with a flurry of excitable puppy yips and little barks. "Hey! You two missed me? How are you? What a welcome home!"

Beca sunk to her knees, opened the kennels and loved on the puppies for a few moments.

"Where's..."

"Hey..." Jesse said and Beca's head snapped up to see Jesse uncurl himself from the sofa.

"Hey!" Beca said, rising quickly and walking over to him. She bent down and kissed him. "You ok?"

"Yes. Why?" Jesse said sharply as both of the puppies growled at him, clearly unhappy about having been locked in their kennels all afternoon.

"No reason." Beca said, surprised at his tone. "You've showered."

"Yeah, um, I got, um..."

"Covered in puppy love?" Beca smiled.

"Something like that."

"I'm just gonna run upstairs and get changed. Are you ok? You look a little flushed."

"I'm fine." Jesse said, sitting up on the couch and looking at the floor.

"Ok. Well, I'll just be a minute and then you can tell me all about your afternoon."

"Why?"

"Jesse, what's wrong? You are acting-"

"-Sorry." Jesse said quickly, not able to look her in the eye. "I think I'm coming down with something. I'm feeling a bit off."

"Oh babe..." Beca said, moving to sit next to him on the couch. She pressed her hand to his forehead as he turned his head towards her. She could see his red rimmed eyes and knew right away that he had been crying. She decided not to press him for any more information and pulled him to her for a hug, ignoring his stiffness. She kissed his cheek. "I can make your favorite dinner tonight, that might make you feel better."

"Might do." Jesse said quietly.

"Stay put with the puppies and I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Ok."

Beca kissed him on the lips before she headed upstairs to get changed into her sweats. She felt better than she had in a month and was really sad that Jesse looked so upset, guilty almost. She pushed their bedroom door open and was surprised to see that the bedding was different than Silvana had put on their bed just a couple of days before.

Thinking that Jesse had gotten really sick while she was out, she quickly ran down the stairs to talk to him. He was just tucking his phone into his pocket as she walked into the room, watching her footsteps as one of the dogs tried to climb up her leg.

"What happened to the sheets?"

"Upstairs?" Jesse questioned.

"Yeah."

"I changed them cuz Jagger lifted his leg on the sheets."

"Wow!"

"Wow what?" Jesse gulped.

"I can't even get them to follow me up the stairs without them tumbling back down." Beca laughed as she reached out to stroke Jagger's head as he tried, unsuccessfully, to climb up on to the sofa next to her. Reaching down, she pulled him into her lap, followed by Roxie. "One afternoon with you and they are climbing the stairs and peeing on the bed." She teased and Jesse smiled. "You have the magic touch."

"I guess!"

"If you're feeling bad, do you want to go and lie down?" Beca asked.

"No, I do actually need to talk to you about something." Jesse said seriously.

"Ok." She said, standing up. "Follow me upstairs. I'm gonna take a quick shower. I want to wash the office funk off of me."

"All right." Jesse said. "I'll be up in a second."

Jesse watched her as she put the puppies back down on the floor and walked out of the room, a pang of regret in his heart. Swallowing it, he vowed to make it up to Beca somehow. He wasn't going to let one more moment of stupidity ruin what they had. Standing up, he gathered up the paperwork he'd been looking over for the past few weeks. He was really pleased to see that Beca was approachable after her return to work. He hadn't wanted to talk business with her for so many reasons, which is why he was hesitant to approach her about reading over the contract for the band. He wasn't sure she was ready to come back down to Earth just yet. Seeing her look almost back to normal, he knew it was the right time and after ignoring urgent emails from Cynthia Rose, it was necessary to get it signed and returned soon.

Jesse had been carrying the contract around for weeks but with everything that had happened there never seemed to be a good time to bring it up with Beca. The problem was, Cynthia Rose had called… again, just before Beca had gotten home, only this time she was was very stern and a lot less than understanding. She gave Jesse exactly forty eight hours to make a decision or she was going to terminate the contract. So, it was now or never.

"Hey babe…" Jesse called nervously when he heard Beca get out of the shower. He was sitting on the edge of their bed, doing his best not to look guilty about the afternoon's activities. "Can you take a look at something for me?"

"Sure… What is it?" Beca called from the bathroom.

"Umm… the contract Cynthia Rose gave me."

"Oh, yeah… I'd love to." Beca said as she walked into their bedroom wrapped in a towel and followed by two very happy puppies who were doing their very best to lick all the drops of water from her legs.

Beca had gotten used to the puppies following her everywhere she went in the short time they had had them. If she was up and moving around the house, the puppies were hot on her heels, barking pathetically at her flip flops or growling at anything she was doing if she wasn't playing with them. And while Jesse thought they should sleep in the family room, Beca thought differently. They tried things his way for about a week, it wasn't long before Beca won the argument. The puppy beds were safely tucked under the window on Beca's side of the bed.

"You sure you don't mind? I mean, I know you're not back at work full time yet and it's technically a conflict of interest because I'm signing with a competing record label but I just-"

"-Just don't want to get taken to the cleaners?" Beca smiled, holding out her hand.

"Yeah, something like that." Jesse said as he handed Beca the contract.

Jesse sat on the bed and watched nervously as Beca read the contract. He took in every facial expression she made and silently wondered what each one meant. Jesse was clearly nervous because reading the contract would cause Beca to ask questions that he really wasn't prepared to answer. He began wondering if he should have asked her to read through it at all. Would it have been that bad to just sign the damn thing? From what he knew of Cynthia Rose, she didn't seem to be the sort to offer him a bad deal.

Beca chewed on the end of her ink pen as she read, making a few notes in the margins as she went. The contract was pretty cut and dry, though in Beca's opinion, there were a few things that could be tweaked and negotiated but otherwise it was solid and offered Jesse and The Riff some great perks and benefits. Cynthia Rose was usually straightforward when it came to her business dealings and always made sure to dot all of the i's and cross all the t's. This contract was no exception.

"I can hear you breathing!" Beca said, looking up at him. "I know this contract is important to you and the guys but Cynthia Rose won't sell you out. Listen, go and get some iced tea for us and I'll be finished reading this by the time you get back, then we'll email Cynthia Rose the revisions and you'll promise to sign it tomorrow provided she makes the suggested changes."

"Ok, sounds good."

"I saw one of the emails from her today and to say that she was on your case is the understatement of the century."

"Yeah, I've been putting it off with everything that has been going on. But I feel it's on me to get everyone a good deal. The guys and, um, the, um, female singer, are, uh, all relying on me."

"If by the 'female singer', you mean Pepper, I think you are offering her a great opportunity." Beca said innocently.

Jesse stood up quickly. "I'll get the drinks." He mumbled before heading out of the door. He reached the kitchen just as the phone buzzed in his pocket.

"This afternoon was fun. I ache, but in an ah-mazing way."

"She doesn't suspect anything."

"Told you so. Same time next week?"

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea."

"She'll be back to work soon and we'll be busy getting the band into the recording studio. She won't suspect anything."

"This was a one time deal."

"You can't deny the chemistry Jesse."

"I know. I do kinda miss you."

"So, same time next week?"

"Ok."

Changing into something more comfortable, Beca ran a brush through her hair and tied it up into a messy ponytail. There was something bugging her about the contract and she needed Jesse to explain something. She pushed her feet into a pair of comfy slippers, clicked her fingers for the puppies to follow her and walked slowly down the stairs, encouraging the dogs to negotiate the stairs themselves. She found Jesse in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with two glasses of iced tea next to him. After reading the contract through twice, Beca had just one nagging question for Jesse.

"Well… does it look good?" Jesse asked, nodding towards the paperwork in Beca's hand.

"Yeah, I think."

"You think?" Jesse asked.

"Did you add another female backup singer?"

"No… why?" Jesse questioned knowing this was going to come up at some point.

"I'm confused." Beca said.

"Why? Do you think Cynthia Rose made a mistake?" Jesse asked, knowing clearly that she hadn't.

"It's possible but not probable."

"Umm… ok, then what is it?"

Beca arched her brow and went on the defensive. "Jess, I thought Pepper was being named on the contract."

"Uhh… She is."

"Show me… where is her name?"

"Right here." Jesse said pointing to the contract.

"So, Pepper's real name is Chloe Beale?!"

A/N: So... I ended this chapter with cliffhanger number 1,594,358... and I think it may just be one the best cliffhangers this story will offer. Please don't kill me! Once your shock has worn off, I look forward to hearing your thoughts.