She buries her face in her hands, her elbows balanced on the edge of the sound mixing equipment. She's glad her boss is out of town today, because she's running at about 10% capacity, if that. The baby was up half the night teething and of course Jesse couldn't be bothered to help her. He'd fallen asleep in front of the TV hours before she finally went to bed for the night.

She just can't do this anymore. She works full time only to go home to a baby and a toddler who need her, and a husband she barely has time for anymore. They work together as a team to care for the kids, but by the time she gets the baby down for the night she doesn't have energy for anything else. And while Jesse is generally understanding of this, he's made a few passive-aggressive comments that let her know he's just as frustrated as she is.

Yesterday, when she'd had to stay late at work to cover for someone who was sick, and he had picked up Melody and Aria from daycare and spent a few hours with them before she got home. This is something she did every day, usually being the first one home. By the time she walks into the house he's grumpy, and the kids are starving.

"What's for dinner?" he asks as he gives her a kiss hello.

"Eh, I don't know. Pizza maybe?" she replies, exhausted, "I don't feel like cooking."

"Yeah, whatever," he mumbles as he turns his attention back to the TV.

She gets the kids situated in their seats and begins feeding them dinner, while Jesse continues to stare at the television. The doorbell rings, announcing the arrival of the pizza, and he gets up finally to answer it.

Dinner, baths, and bedtime progress from there, and she's doing most of the work while he's complaining of being exhausted and having a headache. She has to refrain from losing her temper with him, especially in front of the kids. Also from past experience, it does nothing but have them blow up at each other with no resolution in sight. This is their lives now, argument or not.

Her phone buzzes with an incoming text. She picks it up and it is from Jesse, just the little sleepy looking emoji face with z's coming out of his head. She narrows her eyes at it and doesn't respond. A while later, and he sends a frowning face.

What's wrong? She finally replies.

Her hands are poised over the touch keyboard of her phone, wanting to type something snarky to the effect of, "Like you have a reason to be tired!" He knows she was up with the baby, because he asked her about it this morning.

Bored. Don't want to be here, he answers.

It's Friday, and both of them have had enough of this work week. She desperately needs time to relax, and she knows the upcoming weekend will be a marathon of errands, cleaning, laundry, and playing catch up from the week.

Me neither, she responds.

There's no reply from him after that, and Beca assumes that he went back to work or got pulled into a meeting. So when she sees him though the sound-proof glass of her booth, she's shocked.

She removes her headphones, and exits the booth. "What are you doing here?" she questions, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"I missed you," he answers, "And I figured we could both use a break." He gestures to the picnic basket he's carrying before extending his hand to her. "Come on, let's go."

"But I need to work," she shakes her head, "I can't just leave."

"Sure you can," he grins, "I cleared it with your boss already. You have the rest of the afternoon off."

"Jesse, how—" but he's already pulling her by the hand out the door. They drive to a nearby park where he finds a shaded, grassy spot before spreading a blanket on the ground.

"My lady," he gestures for her to sit down, and after she does he begins emptying the contents of the picnic basket. There's containers of salad, sandwiches, fruit, and dessert plus water and iced tea to drink.

"Wow, you really went all out," she says admiringly, "How did you manage this?"

"Take out," he smiles, raising his eyebrows at her and she laughs.

"Of course, I should've known," she teases as she tears into one of the sandwiches. "This is great, Jesse, thanks."

"You needed a break," he replies simply, looking at her fondly.

She sighs, "Definitely. I love our kids, but man are they exhausting. Especially Aria, she's always fighting sleep! I mean the one time in your life you can actually sleep whenever you want and she's fighting it? Ridiculous!"

"Melody hasn't been much better lately, either," Jesse says, "It's all 'Daddy I don't want you to go' whenever I leave her room at night or drop her off at daycare." He puts his hand over his heart, "And what am I supposed to do? Scold her for loving me too much?"

"You ever think, 'why did we do this to ourselves'?" she asks honestly.

"I'd be lying if I said no," he answers thoughtfully, "But to me it's worth it. I love them like crazy."

"Me too," she responds.

"I love you like crazy too," he adds, reaching for her hand. "This too shall pass, Bec. Eventually we'll get our lives back, at least a little I hope."

"I love you too," she answers, "And it's not that I don't enjoy doing things for the kids. I love them. They're my life, along with you. It's just that I feel like I'm failing at everything. I should be a better mother who is home instead of working. I should be a better wife to you. I should be better at my job but I'm too exhausted to really give it my all. I should have a cleaner house. I should cook more. I should exercise. And the list goes on and on."

"You're amazing, Bec," he says honestly. "Really, I don't know how you do it. I just don't always have the patience for all the baby and toddler stuff. I really want to, but I don't. Sometimes I just need to zone out in front of the TV and recharge my batteries, you know?"

"That's how I feel about music. I can just shut out the world, you know?" she tells him.

"Just as long as you don't shut me out," he says quietly.

"Ditto," she squeezes his hand, "Have I been?"

"No," and then after a long pause, "Not really, but I don't always feel as important to you as I used to, you know?"

"I'm sorry," she breathes, "I don't mean to make you feel that way. It's just that the kids take so much out of me."

"I'm not blaming you at all, Bec. You're an amazing mother, and the kids need you more than I do. I just find myself missing you even when we're in the same room sometimes. Maybe selfishly I wish I could have you all to myself again once in a while."

"I get that," she replies softly, reaching up to stroke the side of his jaw with the back of her hand. "I'm right here. I'm all yours, baby."

"Oh really?" he teases. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were flirting with me, Mrs. Swanson."

"Dork," she smirks.

"Nerd," he counters, inching closer to her on the blanket.

"Idiot."

"Weirdo."

His lips meet hers in a searing kiss, and before she can think clearly he's pushing her onto the blanket, the soft grass molding around her back. "Jesse," she whispers into his ear as he begins his assault on her neck, "We're in public."

"So what," he murmurs into her lips, his tongue delving into her mouth. "So we get arrested for public indecency," he says between kisses, "Just add it to your prison record."

"Shut up," she bites his lip, eliciting a growl from him. When his hands begin to slide up her body to her breasts, she grips him by the wrists. "Car," she grits out and they hurriedly clean up the remnants of the picnic before darting to the car, him holding the basket in front of his crotch in a futile attempt to hide his erection.

They're both laughing by the time they reach the car. He throws the basket in the trunk and they jump into the backseat, where clothes are abruptly shed.

They might not get as much time alone together as they used to, so when they do get these brief, precious moments, they are sure to make them count.

A/N: This chapter's inspiration is Duran Duran's Ordinary World. This story was gone, and was restored today by the magic of the support people on this site. Many thanks to them and to you for reading! My other stories are back up as well in their entirety!