"You better not be moody at my party tomorrow."

Beca glanced at her friend, faking a smile. "I'm fine."

"You've been sad since Monday." Cassidy claimed, continuing with her work. "You're always sad when we come back to school."

"I just don't like school."

"Since when?"

"Since always."

"Since your dad moved away." The blonde decided, finally looking up to hand Beca the scissors she had been using. "Why don't you just live with him if you hate coming back so much?"

"I don't hate coming back." Beca sighed, taking the object and beginning to carefully cut around the pictures on her own sheet. "It's just..."

"Are you sure you should be using those?" Cassie gestured towards the scissors, her tone questioning. "You have all those cuts on your fingers. Did you do that with scissors?"

Beca shook her head. "No, it's just..."

"How'd you get hurt then?"

"It doesn't matter."

Cassidy watched her for a moment. "Okay, just don't be moody tomorrow."

"And on our last evening of moody, mopey 'I miss my boyfriend' Beca..."

"Shut up!" Beca interrupted, pushing away the camera her older brother had shoved in her face. "You're not funny."

"I'm capturing the moment." He claimed, attempting to move her hand out of the way. "After tonight you're not going to be moody Beca any..." He cut off when she pushed the camera out of his hand, listening to the light thud as it hit the table. "If that's broken..."

"You'll get over it."

"It was expensive..."

"You were asking for it."

"Pointing out that you're moody isn't..."

"Mom, tell Brandon to stop winding me up."

"Brandon, leave your sister alone." Came her voice from the kitchen and Beca smirked at her brother.

"Mom, tell Beca to stop breaking my stuff,"

"Beca, stop breaking your brother's stuff."

It was Brandon's turn to smirk, and the two continued to stare at each other until another voice cut into the tension. "It's great to have you two home." They both turned to their stepfather, watching as he sat across from them at the table. "I have missed the noise. So much fun. Some advice, though, Brandon, things are less likely to get broken if you don't antagonise your sister, and Beca, Brandon is less likely to wind you up if you stop being so easy to wind up."

"She'll always be easy to wind up."

"Then your stuff will always get broken."

"Do you break Jesse's stuff when he winds you up?" Brandon queried, suggestion in his tone. "Please take that both ways."

"Do you want to die?"

"Are you hearing this, Harry?" Brandon turned back to their stepfather. "She's threatening me. In your home. And after you were kind enough to let her boyfriend come and stay. Threatening your only son in your own home."

"You're not my only son."

"You object to that but not to what he just said to me?!"

"You're an adult, Beca, what you get up to is your business."

"So he can't say that to me!"

"You can choose not to answer."

"This conversation seems to have veered out of control pretty quickly." Eleanor put in, leaning in the doorway. "And adult or not, what she gets up to is my business." She watched them for a second. "Brandon can you go and get your brother?"

"Someone's in trouble..." Brandon commented as he quickly left the room, heading up the stairs.

Eleanor moved forward, taking the seat that he had vacated. "I know you're an adult..."

"Mom!"

"Beca, listen to me." She was determined, and Beca knew there was no point in trying to prevent her saying what she wanted to say. It just needed to be waited out. "I know you're an adult, and I know I have always been pretty relaxed with you growing up, but Alex is still a child, and if you and your boyfriend are going to be doing anything he shouldn't see, lock the door."

She frowned. That was not what she had been expecting. "We won't... I mean, we're not..."

"For your brother's sake."

"I'm not an idiot, Mom." Beca complained. "And I really don't want to talk to you about this."

"We've talked about it before."

"Don't remind me."

"You understand?"

"Yes!" The young brunette insisted. "Just please stop talking."

"Fine." Eleanor sighed. "I just wanted to make sure it was covered before the Robertsons arrive."

"What?"

"The Robertsons." She repeated. "They should be here soon."

"Why?"

"They're our friends, Beca." Harry reminded her. "Did you think they stopped coming when you went off to college?"

"No, I just..." Beca cut off. "No one told me."

"Brandon said he'd mention it." Eleanor shrugged, looking over at her husband. "He didn't?"

"I guess not." Harry stood up, pushing in the chair he had just vacated. "I'd better get back to the kitchen. Wouldn't want dinner burning."

"I left the glasses on the side." Eleanor nodded to him as he left the room, turning back to her daughter. "It's one night, it won't kill you to play nice." She paused. "They've been looking forward to seeing you and your brother, it's been a while. Don't you think it'll be nice to see Cassidy, too?"

"We haven't been friends for years."

"Then now is the perfect time to sort it out."

"I've managed fine without her for a long time now."

Eleanor sighed. "I thought you were doing better."

"What?"

"Brandon tells me you have friends in college as well as Jesse. I thought that maybe you weren't struggling to let people in so much, that maybe fixing things with your dad had helped you."

"She betrayed my trust, mom." Beca insisted, frowning when a knock on the front door made her mother stand up. "There's no coming back from that."

-SH-

"So I'm thinking tomorrow we'll get a hold of some beer and go up to the spot."

"How are you planning on doing that, Kyle?" Cassidy queried, her eyes narrowed. "You know many people that will sell beer to a bunch of fourteen year olds? We're underage."

"There are ways, Cass." He smirked, nudging her shoulder. "There's always a way."

Cassidy turned to her friend linking arms with the silent brunette. "What do you think, Bec? You up for it?"

"Sounds dumb." Beca shrugged, turning away from the group. She hadn't really been in the mood for socialising for some time.

"Should have known she'd have a problem with it." Kyle shot back, a hint of irritation in his tone. "She has a problem with everything." He nudged Cassidy's shoulder again. "Just come without her."

"I don't really want to do that." The blonde admitted. "And my dad would probably figure out something was up if I did anyway."

"Come on!" The boy complained, briefly glancing at Beca. "She's so boring, I don't get why you hang around with her so much."

"Back off." Cassidy demanded, her calm demeanour changing. "She's been going through some stuff recently. You wouldn't want to either if you were her."

Beca pulled away from her friend, moving away from the group at a quick pace, her arms crossed over her chest as if the action could protect her from the anger and hurt. She swung round when she heard Cassidy's recognisable footsteps behind her. "I can't believe you!"

"Are you okay?"

"I told you that in confidence and you just told him everything. It'll be around the whole school by lunch!"

"Beca, this is stupid."

She restrained herself from letting out a frustrated groan at the sound of the voice at her bedroom door. After managing to avoid conversation with her all dinner, she had hoped she would have escaped the prospect all together when she had managed to escape upstairs. She turned in her chair, looking the blonde in the eye for the first time that evening, remaining silent.

"You can't keep avoiding me." Cassidy claimed, stepping into the room and closing the door behind her. She sat at the end of Beca's bed, maintaining a small distance between them. "I was stupid, I get that. I shouldn't have brought it up, but we were fourteen, Bec, and he never figured it out. No one ever figured out what happened, even with the rumours."

Beca's eyes narrowed, but she still didn't say anything, shaking her head in disbelief before turning back around. She heard movement behind her, and assumed her unwanted guest was approaching her again, growing curious when that didn't happen.

"I get that it upset you." Her voice seemed further away, but Beca resisted the urge to turn again to see where she had got to. "But I didn't even do anything wrong. I was defending you."

"I didn't need defending." Beca turned back, standing up and realising the blonde was across the room from her, her back to her as she studied the variety of pictures on the wall by the door. Pictures of the two of them as children, of Beca and her brothers, an old high school class schedule that she had never taken down. An invitation to a birthday party, Cassidy's 8th, if Beca remembered correctly, and it's most recent additions, two pictures, one of her and Amy shortly after their winning performance, and the other a candid shot of she and Jesse that Stacie had taken before either of them had had the chance to object. Beca rarely took anything off of that board, had always insisted that her mother work around it whenever she was set on redecorating the house. It was a collage of her life, a reminder of who she was, and who she had become.

"I know." Cassidy admitted, lightly shrugging. "I wanted to, though. I was fourteen and my best friend was being given a hard time. What would you have done if it was me he was treating like that?"

Beca remained silent for a second, considering the question. She'd never really thought about it before, and she knew she didn't really need to. "I guess I'd have done the same."

Cassidy gave a brief nod, and her concentration on the board in front of her began to unnerve Beca, unsure what she could be so focused on.

She stepped forward, slowly making her way across the room, standing close enough to see the board while maintaining what she considered a reasonable distance from the woman she had once considered her best friend. She found herself beginning to question what Jesse would say if she told him about the situation. What advice he would give her, whether or not he'd help her see the situation more clearly. Somehow she knew he would.

She followed Cassidy's gaze, her eyes falling to a picture of the two of them when they were ten. They were both smiling at the camera, their heads resting on Cassidy's dog, sitting between them. It had only been a brief moment, the Labrador had taken off mere seconds after it had been taken. Beca knew it wasn't the dog that had caught the attention of the blonde, though. It was the gash on the small brunette's collarbone, the one she had been asked about later that day. The question that had caused her to tell the other girl everything.

"I did do something wrong." Cassidy stated, reaching out and lightly pulling the picture off of the board. She turned it so that the image was facing Beca. "That day. That day when you told me and you swore me to secrecy." She cut off, turning the picture around, studying it again before placing it back where it had originally been. "I shouldn't have listened. I should have told your mom. I should have told my mom. I should have told somebody." She let out a sad sigh, turning back to the brunette. "But I was ten, you were my best friend and a promise is a promise. To this day I have never told anyone what happened. What was happening. I'm sorry for that."

Beca glanced down, choosing not to answer. Of all the anger she felt for the girl in front of her that she had held onto for so long, none of it had ever been because she'd kept her promise, that she hadn't told when they now both knew she should have.

"I was worried that if I said anything, you'd never speak to me again. Guess I should have just risked it. Not as if that outcome would have come about that much sooner."

"I shouldn't have put you in that position." Beca stepped back, moving back to her desk, feeling the blonde's eyes on her as she did so. "Sorry."

"This isn't about what position you put me in." Cassidy pointed out, taking the moment to follow her. She sat on the desk, something had always done when they were kids and still friends. "It's about the position you were in, the position you never should have been in, because that's what really happened between us, right? It wasn't that I defended you, that I said what I thought would get Kyle to back off, it's about what happened to you. It's about that woman taking everything out of you, taking all of the trust you ever had away from you." Her voice softened. "I'm not the enemy. I never was."

"I know." Beca's admittance was barely audible, but she knew it had been heard when Cassidy gave a weak smile. It didn't really matter, it didn't change anything. She'd always known that Cassidy hadn't caused her pain, but she'd still been the reason their classmates had figured out that something was wrong. How else would they have even heard rumours about what really happened?

They were interrupted before either could continue to speak, the sound of an incoming skype call, and Beca felt her mood instantly change upon seeing her boyfriend's name on the screen. She answered the call almost immediately, smiling at the sight in front of her. "What are you doing, weirdo?"

The camera on his end moved, and he came into focus, a grin spread across his face. "Just proving to you that my bags are packed. After your doubts as to my packing skills I thought it was necessary."

"Dude you literally told me you packed those last week."

"I did, wanted to make sure you knew I hadn't unpacked them."

Cassidy shifted beside her, briefly causing Beca's focus to change. "I never thought you had."

"Just checking." His brow furrowed following his words, and he leaned in closer to the screen. "Bec, you have a blonde standing next to you. Are you aware of this?"

Beca let out a laugh. "I am."

"Hi." Cassidy nodded briefly, gesturing towards the door. "I'll see you around, my parents probably want to leave anyway and they're my ride."

Beca nodded, listening for the door to open and close again before continuing her conversation. "You're definitely ready for tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Jesse assured her. "I've been ready since before we left Barden. Who was that?"

"Just Cassidy."

"Cassidy?" He queried. "Childhood friend Cassidy that you stopped speaking to?"

Beca tilted her head, her eyes narrowed in confusion. "When did I tell you about her?"

"Not you." He elaborated. "Your brother mentioned her when we had dinner at your dad's house that time. You were outside with Sheila and he started talking about you when you were a kid."

"You never told me that."

"Didn't think it was a big deal." Jesse shrugged. "It's not as if he was telling embarrassing stories or anything that would upset you. If it was anything huge I would have mentioned it."

"Weird that it would come up, though." Beca decided. "What did he say?"

"Just that he hadn't been introduced to a friend of yours since Cassidy and that you didn't speak to her any more."

"Oh." Beca had to admit she was relieved that her brother hadn't filled her boyfriend in on the details. As far as she was concerned it was something she should tell him herself, and it was the sort of thing she didn't think she could properly explain to him without telling him everything. "That's probably true. I didn't really bring friends home much."

He smiled. "I miss you."

"You'll be here tomorrow."

"I'll stop missing you when I'm there."

"Nerd." She laughed, although she had to admit, that just the image of him on a screen wasn't really enough for her either. "I miss you, too."

"I'll be there tomorrow." He joked, his grin giving away the attempt at humour, before repeating the last word. "Tomorrow."

-SH-

"Dadddddy!" Beca shouted across the airport's arrivals lounge. "I thought you wouldn't be back!"

The man's smile lit up his face as he lifted the almost eight-year-old into his arms."I was never going to miss your birthday, kiddo."

"Where were you?" Beca queried, her eyes narrowed as she prepared to interrogate her father. "On a plane means far."

"I was in Georgia."

"Why?"

"Business."

"That's boring." She rolled her eyes. "You're my favourite daddy, daddy."

"You're my favourite girl, Bec."

"What about me?" They both turned at the voice, her question sounding like a joke.

"You'll have to make do with second best, hun." He answered, his grin never faltering. "Thanks for picking her up, Frankie."

She plastered on a smile. "No problem, babe."

She felt the corners of her mouth beginning to form a smile the second she saw him, a mortifying grin taking over her features in less than a second.

"Jess!"

He looked up from his phone, and his expression soon matched hers as any last anxieties she had been holding on to about his visit fizzled out. He approached her fast, and she was in his arms before either of them could say a word.

"This feels so good."

He'd mumbled the words into her hair, just loud enough so that she could still hear, and she rolled her eyes, unable to form the words to make an expected snarky retort about his cheesiness. She had to admit, to herself at least, that he was right, it did feel good.

She pulled back slightly, just enough to allow her to initiate a kiss, a move she could tell initially surprised him. It wasn't something she did that often, putting herself out there still made her uncomfortable, so she usually waited for him to make the first move, waited until he gave her something to respond to, but as their relationship progressed, she realised, so did she.

After a couple of moments, she took a step back, taking him in, the grin on his face still matching her own, the familiar bags by his feet, the softness of his eyes as he watched her. She reached out, connecting their hands and tugging on his, reaching down to pick up one of his bags. Her eyes narrowed curiously when she realised how light it was, but the look of confusion was soon replaced when she saw him heave the other bag into his free hand.

"You knew I'd pick one up, didn't you?" She accused. "You packed one light specifically because you knew I would pick it up."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He was still grinning, but this grin was different, it was one she knew well, the mischievous one she had seen many times before.

"You so do." She scowled. "I am not some weak little girl, Jesse."

He let out a laugh. "I know, and I knew you would pick that one up because it was the one you went to first every time you saw my luggage at Barden." She bit her lip, staying silent, surprised that he was admitting it so soon. "I didn't pack it light because I think you're weak. I packed it light because it just feels wrong to have you carry my stuff around. You're my girlfriend, not my servant."

"You realise that means you can't carry my stuff either, right?" She smirked. "You're my boyfriend, not my servant."

"I consent to being your servant though." He decided. "So you don't have to worry about that."

"So if I'm cool with it you'll be fine with me carrying your stuff."

"If it's what you want to do, sure."

"And there was me thinking you were going all macho on me."

He laughed again, and she couldn't help but fall into the sound. She had missed it. "Never."

She led him to her car, tossing his bags onto the back seat before sliding in, her keys remaining in her hand as he climbed in beside her, an inquisitive look on his face as he did. "What?"

"This is the first time I've ever seen you drive."

"I'll try not to traumatise you."

"Do you often traumatise people with your driving?"

"Just my family." She started the car, pulling out of the spot with ease. "Except Alex. I'm not cruel."

"How is the little guy?"

"Ecstatic that you're going to be there when he gets home." She answered, trying to remain focused on the road. "What did you do to him anyway? Some kind of voodoo?"

He let out a chuckle. "I'm just good with kids, I guess."

"Please do not say that in front of my mother. She's already started telling Brandon how cool she thinks it would be for Alex to grow up with a niece of nephew. Like, no, that's not normal."

"It's normal for some families."

"Dude, no!" She exclaimed, risking a glance at him. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

"I mean, it's not normal for me." He semi-agreed with her. "I wouldn't want it, but it is normal for some families."

She narrowed her eyes, still staring at the road ahead of her. "You got any same age aunt or uncle I should know about?"

"None." He raised his hands in surrender. "That I know of."

"You know your grandparents, right?"

"Not exactly." He shrugged. "My dad was raised by his grandparents. His parents, my grandparents, both took off when he was young. His mom when he was about 2 and then his dad when he was I think, 6."

"That sucks."

"He's never really let it bother him. I don't get it, really, but he says his grandparents were the best he could ask for." He looked down for a second before turning to her, taking in her reaction before continuing. "We used to go to their house when I was little. Grandma, she made the best hot chocolate, she was an athlete in high school, grandpa grew vegetables, he'd let me help him sometimes, and he loved music. He died when I was ten. Grandma lived with us for a while but she needed more help than we could give her, so dad found a great place not far from our house."

She turned to him, and for the first time he realised the car had come to a stop, the keys no longer in the ignition. "They sound great." She glanced towards the house. "This is it." She let out a sigh, looking at the other car in the driveway. "Looks like my mom's home." She stepped out of the car, and he followed her, both of them grabbing a bag from the back seat. "You sure you're ready for this?"

He nodded. "It's going to be okay."

She gave a reluctant nod, taking his hand as she had done at the airport, and leading him into the house, only stopping and dropping his bag to unlock the door. "Mom!"

"You're here!"

Beca turned to her left, frowning at the sight she saw on the coffee table through the wide open living room door. "Mom, what are you doing?" She dropped Jesse's bag at the bottom of the stairs, gesturing for him to do the same before slowly stepping towards her mother. "Mom?"

Eleanor stood up, holding out a hand for Jesse. "You must be Jesse, I'm Beca's mom." Jesse went to respond but she was too excited to hold onto a conversation, pulling away from the handshake quickly and returning to her seat on the couch. "Look at what I've found, Beca. All of our old family photos. I haven't looked at these in years. I think I still have that dress somewhere, you know."

"Hell." Beca stated, looking at the picture her mother was holding up. "I am in hell."