A/N: Don't ask me why this happened, it just did. I never imagined writing for another pairing before until I watched Pitch Perfect 2 the other day and got sucked in by Bechloe. So let me know what you think, this is currently open to be a multi chapter fic. Anways, hope you like it, if not, at least I killed some time trying to get over the writer's block preventing me from writing for my other fic.
Trigger Warning: This chapter depicts scenes of a shooting. In light of recent events, I feel it necessary to warn any readers who may take issue with the topic or find it uncomfortable to read.
Chloe Beale was a worrier. She couldn't help it, it was in her make-up, part of her DNA. She worried about lots of thing's, whether it was preparing set lists for competitions, choreographing dance routines or making sure the Bella's were singing in perfect harmony. She liked things in her life to be organised and perfect. It made her calm. That's why she hated confrontation and things being outside her control. It made her anxious when things in her life were a little off kilter.
So you can imagine how much it affected her when she discovered that her girlfriend of two and a half years had been living with an undiagnosed heart condition. After purposely failing Russian Lit so she could remain a Bella, Chloe had gotten to know her new co-captain Beca Mitchell on a much deeper level. Without Aubrey around, Chloe no longer had her best friend, and Beca sensed that the red head was sort of lost without her.
So Beca had gone out of her way to cheer her co-captain up, something she wouldn't have even thought of doing back in her early freshmen days. But that's what the Bella's had done to her, they'd somehow managed to soften up the once closed off, sarcastic DJ girl to the point that she now cared for them and considered them all friends, and that included Chloe.
What they hadn't expected was how well they would get on. They were so different but at the same time, they were also pretty similar in many ways. They were both very driven and would do anything to make a success of the things they cared about, whether it was Chloe with the Bella's or Beca and her music. They also, in their own ways, were both free spirited individuals, who were confident in their own ways and unafraid to express themselves in whatever they felt necessary.
The more they got to know each other, the closer they became, to the point that they were the closest of all the Bella's. Whenever Beca made a new mixtape, Chloe would be the one that would be the first to hear about it, and whenever Chloe got an awesome idea for choreography, Beca was the first one she would run through it with to make sure it worked.
There closeness hadn't gone unnoticed by the other Bella's either, they'd even taken bets to see how long it would take for either girl to give into the sexual tension that was simmering between them. It wasn't until Beca and Jesse had broken up after realising the chemistry wasn't there anymore that things took a turn. Chloe had shown up Beca's room to comfort the girl after the breakup and almost kissed, witnessed by Fat Amy, was enough to motivate the other Bella's to help things along.
After forcing the girls to kiss in a "friendly" game of truth or dare, things began to reach a boiling point. But with both girls refusing to be the first to admit there was anything between them, the Bella's took it upon themselves to set up a candlelit date for the girls down by the lake, forcing the girls to talk and to finally acknowledge that maybe there were feelings there that were more than platonic.
Which brought them to where they were now, happily loved up heading towards their third anniversary. But they'd had their bumpy moments along the way. Beca couldn't understand why Chloe would willingly fail Russian Lit THREE times in order to stay in college. After several arguments about it the red head finally broke down and admitted that she was scared to leave because she didn't know where or what she wanted to do with her life. Being a Bella meant a lot to her and if failing a class three times meant she had more time to figure things out, she was fine with that.
This eventually led to Beca supporting her and telling her that, if it gave her the time she needed to work things out she would support her, as long as she promised that she wouldn't turn into Van Wilder and attempt to stay in college forever. From that point on things had been fine. They rarely fought, sure they bickered like most couples, but major arguments were few and far between. They worked together like a well oiled machine, both as a couple and as the leaders of the most successful all female acapella group in the history of the competition. Things were going great, until Beca received some life changing news.
Last year, before National's was due to take place, Beca's father suffered a heart attack and was later diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, more commonly known as HCM. Everything was fine until his doctor informed him that there was a 50% chance that his daughter could have inherited the condition, however they couldn't be sure unless she was willing to be tested for it.
Beca had outright refused. She wouldn't even entertain the idea and began to close herself off from everyone as she digested the news. She skipped Bella practices, skipped classes, it worried Chloe to no end. Her girlfriend was pulling away from her and she didn't know why. At first she had thought it was due to the stress of what had happened to her father, but she would soon learn otherwise.
While visiting Beca's father at his home, the man accidentally let it slip about his condition and what it meant for his daughter, believing that Chloe already knew. However the look of shock that passed her face told him otherwise and he quickly apologised, explaining that he thought Beca would've told her. But after the shock began to fade Chloe simply reminded him that when it came to his daughter, she had a habit of running away from things she didn't want or know how to deal with right away.
Fearing that her girlfriend was putting herself at unnecessary risk, Chloe had stormed over to the one place she knew Beca would be hiding out in, the on campus radio station. Upon finding the brunette locked away in the DJ booth with her obnoxiously big and expensive headphones on, Chloe burst through the door with tears streaming down her face, yelling at her for keeping secrets, especially one as big as she had been hiding.
When Beca tried to console her girlfriend and calm her down, Chloe brushed her off, giving the brunette an ultimatum. If she wanted to remain in a relationship, then she had to get tested for the condition. If she refused, then they were over. It was as simple as that. Before leaving, she told Beca how much she loved her, so much so, that she wasn't prepared to sit back and possibly let the same thing happen to her that had happened to Dr. Mitchell.
The next morning, Chloe woke up alone in the room she normally shared with her girlfriend, tears welling in her eyes at the thought that the shorter girl had in fact chosen to walk away from their relationship out of the fear of the unknown. It wasn't until she arrived downstairs to the kitchen and found her girlfriend sitting at the table nursing a cup of coffee that she realised she was wrong.
"So I have an appointment at the hospital today to get tested. You can come or whatever, you know, if you want," Beca said, her usual stoic expression in place as she acknowledged the presence of her girlfriend. With a new wave of tears glistening in her eyes, Chloe smiled and nodded her head before erasing the distance between them and taking a seat in the chair next to her girlfriend and resting her hand over Beca's, and leaning in to kiss her.
One week after being poked and prodded and examined to within an inch of her life, Beca received the news that she did in fact have HCM. When the initial shock wore off, Chloe, who had been right by her side, took it upon herself to ask the doctor what that meant for Beca going forward and what her prognosis was.
With the right medications, a healthy diet and maintaining a light exercise routine, they had been assured that the DJ could still live a full life, however he couldn't promise that there wouldn't be any complications because of the condition. Matters of the heart were always a tricky minefield, but as long as Beca took care of herself and listened to her body things should be fine.
Unfortunately the doctor hadn't been aware of who he was talking to. Beca was not the type of person who took change well and it had taken months for her to finally find a rhythm, although much of it had been done to Chloe taking matters into her own hands and forcing her girlfriend to take her health seriously. The heartfelt pleading from the redhead seemed to work, until Beca landed an internship with a record company.
The stress of trying to impress her boss and keep up with Bella's rehearsals while making mixes for competition and trying to stay on top of her relationship and managing her health finally took their toll on the tiny DJ and, after an argument between herself and the Bella's at a retreat to re-establish their sound, she stormed off, only to collapse minutes later with crippling chest pain.
It was while confined to a hospital bed that the latest topic of contention between Beca and Chloe had arisen. Following a discussion with her doctor about what may have caused the collapse, and her plans for the future. Realising that she was putting herself in a position to be dealing with further stresses it was advised that Beca receive an ICD implant help deal with abnormal arrhythmias that could lead to further collapses or even cardiac arrest.
The brunette had yet to decided, and this was what was currently the cause of Chloe's worry. Sitting indian style on their bed, Chloe watched as Beca floated across the room dressing for the day and gathering whatever items she would need for her classes, blatantly ignoring her concerned gaze. The brunette kept brushing Chloe off whenever she tried to broach the topic but this time, she wasn't letting it go.
"Bec...," she started but before she could say anything, Beca dropped her bag down on her study desk and cut her with a look. "Not now Chloe, I'm late as it is and I really don't wanna talk about this right now." That was it, Chloe'd had enough of being brushed off so she did the one thing she knew would provoke a reaction, she stood up and grabbed her girlfriend by the arm and stopped her movements, forcing her to stay and speak rather than run off.
"No! No more later, or not now, or I'm busy I have a ton of stuff to do. Okay this is important and I'm not gonna let you keep putting it off just because your too scared to face it head on!" By the time Chloe was finished speaking she was red in the face, huffing and puffing, her brow creased as she gazed down on Beca who was staring back, her jaw bobbing up and down as she allowed everything to sink in.
"Wow, okay you know what, I don't have to do this right now," Beca said as she pulled away from Chloe waving her hands as if brushing off the conversation which just further fuelled the redhead's annoyance. "Yes, we do! Okay you might be willing to bury your head in the sand and ignore it, but I'm not," she sighed, hands slapping down by her side, voice cracking a little from emotion.
"I get that this is your condition and that it's happening to you, but it's not. When things affect you they affect me too," Chloe said, pointing at her own chest for added emphasis. "We're a couple, we're in a relationship, if it hurts you it hurts me and seeing you ignore something that could be really good for your health hurts me." At this Beca swallowed thickly and bowed her head, avoiding Chloe's gaze by staring at her boots. Needing to drive the point Chloe reached out and clasped her hands with the brunettes, causing the DJ to glance up and see the tears building in bright blue eyes.
"I don't want to be on the receiving end of a phone call like the one you got about your Dad. I-it would kill me," Chloe croaked out, unable to keep fighting against the lump in her throat. "You p-promised that we were for keeps, but how can that be if I don't know whether or not you're going to come home each night? How will I know you haven't collapsed at the radio station, o-or that you won't have a heart attack or something while we're performing on stage?" At this Beca squeezed Chloe's hands to try calm the girl.
"Chloe, you're overreacting, no..." before Beca could try and finish her sentence her girlfriend ripped her hands away and talked over her. "NO BECA! I'm not overreacting. People have died from this condition, literally just dropped dead and I'm not gonna stand by and wait for a phone call telling me the same thing has happened to you!"
Beca's jaw clenched as she listened to her girlfriends rant and she tried to maintain eye contact but she couldn't keep looking into sad blue eyes and seeing tears. She couldn't bare to see that pleading look that forced her to acknowledge the truth because the reality of the situation was, Beca didn't want to. She didn't want to have to deal with all these decisions, she didn't want to have to think about having surgery and she definitely didn't want to have a stupid heart condition.
Sure the doctors said with her medications and this ICD device thingy that she would be fine, that people all over the world live with this condition every day and lead perfectly normal lives. But there were also no guarantees. They couldn't guarantee that Beca would never have a heart attack. They couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't develop any complications later on in life when the stresses of living out in the real world set in post couldn't guarantee that Beca wouldn't do what Chloe said and collapse unexpectedly.
But the doctors had informed her that with this device, even if that did happen, it could give medical response units enough time to get to her so that she could be treated. It would help to correct most irregular heartbeats, decreasing the chances of a heart attack being brought on, or at the very least, delay it. In other words, it would give both Beca, and Chloe, piece of mind that this condition wouldn't impede of the DJ's life completely.
And Beca knew that was all Chloe wanted, piece of mind. The redhead was protective of the things that mattered to her, the Bella's, her friends, her girlfriend. So to have said girlfriend constantly running away from dealing with her condition was weighing heavily on her mind and Beca was sorry for that, but it didn't change how she felt. She was scared, but she refused to admit it.
No, instead she would do what she always did in times of uncertainty, she would lock herself away inside her head and focus on what she loved most, aside from her girlfriend of course, and that was looking up to see those same sad eyes she had been trying to avoid, Beca stepped back and picked up her messenger bag with all her books and her laptop and then turned back to her girlfriend.
"I'm gonna be late. I'll see you at practice later," she mumbled as she side stepped the redhead and made her way out of the room. Chloe bowed her head and pressed her hand to her forehead as a few tears escaped her, softly brushing her hair back as she tilted her head back in a bid to stop the flow of tears. She didn't know how much longer she could take Beca walking away or shutting her down like this.
As she dropped her hand, the glistening of a diamond caught her eye and she raised her right hand in front of her to gaze at the white gold promise ring sitting on her ring finger. Beca had given it to her on their anniversary months ago. Chloe could vividly recall the moment and how sweet and romantic the gesture had been. Knowing how scared Chloe was about the future and what was next, Beca had gotten her a ring to remind her that, no matter what happened, there was one thing that she could be certain of, and that was their relationship.
Beca had looked somewhat uncomfortable at the time, not being used to expressing herself in such sappy ways, but she did it, for Chloe and it had meant the world to her. The ring was gorgeous and was the perfect symbol of their relationship. It was a simple white gold band with a diamond set into the centre of a heart shaped treble clef. It was beautiful, and it was Chloe's most prized possession.
Hugging her hand to her chest, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, deciding there and then that she wouldn't give up and that she would make her girlfriend see sense. Opening her eyes she heaved out a breath and then finished getting ready for the day. As she fixed her make-up and hair and packed her bag and slung it over her shoulder, her eyes landed on the pill bottle on the study desk and she sighed.
"Dammit Beca," she grumbled as she shoved the bottle into her bag and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Stomping down the stairs she rushed across the foyer and out the door, completely oblivious to the curious gazes of Fat Amy, Stacie and Cynthia Rose, who had been watching tv and eating breakfast.
"Something tells me that practice is going to be a bitch today," Fat Amy said as she took another bite of her toast. Stacie whined as she slouched down in her seat while Cynthia Rose slapped a cushion to her face and groaned into it. Emily appeared from the kitchen and glanced it each of the occupants of the living room, a bowl of cereal in her hand.
"What'd I miss?" she asked. Stacie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest before looking at the legacy. "Just the hasty exit of our captains and what should've been a tension free afternoon of practice." Amy sighed, "On the plus side, if they spend the entire practice arguing, we won't have any cardio training, which I happen to think is a big win." The girls all hummed agreement as they all went about their business.
Sitting under one of the large trees littered around campus that offered shade from the Georgia humidity, Beca finished up the latest arrangements for Bella's practice and shut her laptop, wrapping her headphones around her neck and plugging the cable into her phone. It was in that moment that she spotted the text from Chloe.
'Where are you? You forget your medication this morning! 3 Chloe'
"Shit," Beca groaned as she realised she had in fact forgotten her medication having stormed out of the house to get away from her girlfriend and their discussion. Checking the time she noted that she didn't have time to dash home and decided she would be fine until after practice. The pills made her feel sluggish during cardio days anyways. Just as that thought crossed her mind, the scent of a familiar perfume caught her attention and she glanced up to see her girlfriend standing over her.
"Here," Chloe said as she held out the pill bottle. Beca gazed at her and reached up to accept it. "Thanks," she replied as she took a hold of it and opened the cap, removing one of the pills and popping it in her mouth, washing it down with some water from the bottle she'd stashed in her bag. Putting the cap back on the pill bottle, she shoved it into her bag along with her laptop and then stood up, brushing off any dirt or grass from her jeans.
"I'm sorry okay. I shouldn't have walked out like that," Beca said, shoving her hands into her back pockets. Chloe acknowledged the apology but her only response came in the form of a head nod. That was a sure fire sign that she was upset with Beca as the redhead usually expressed every single emotion with a verbal response, unless she felt that it was pointless or she was really annoyed or upset. Mainly because she knew it drove Beca crazy and made her cave into whatever Chloe wanted. The DJ huffed in annoyance, because she knew she'd lost.
"Okay fine! You wanna have a serious talk, we'll have a serious talk," Beca said, her voice clearly displaying her resignation. Chloe visibly perked up at this and stepped closer, pulling Beca's hands from her pockets and linking them with her own. "Bec, I know I've been pushing this a lot lately, but it's only because I want you to be as healthy as possible. You're kind of important to me doofus," Chloe chuckled, and it coaxed a grin out of Beca.
"You're kind of important to me too," Beca responded before gently tugging the redhead closer and leaning up to kiss her. Chloe eagerly responded before a passing classmate called out to her, breaking the moment. Glancing over Beca's shoulder she noticed that it was Emily from her Russian Lit class and that if she didn't want to fail the class again, she'd better get a move on.
"I'll see you at practice," she said, pecking Beca on the lips once more before dashing across the grass and catching up to her classmate. Beca watched on until her girlfriend was out of sight before checking the time again and realising that she was due at the radio station before her last class before practice. Putting her headphones on, she pressed play on her phones music player and then headed off.
That afternoon, the Bella's filed into the rehearsal hall, all coming from their various classes or wherever they had been before. Chloe was stood by the whiteboard, dressed in her workout clothes, drawing up their schedule for the day. From what some of the girls could tell, she seemed happier than when she'd left that morning, brining them to the conclusion that the redhead had obviously sorted out whatever was going between her and her girlfriend.
"Okay guys, everybody warm up, we'll get started as soon as..." just as she was about to finish, Beca came bursting through the door hopping up on down on one foot as she tried to pull on her sneaker, her bag hanging haphazardly from her shoulder and her hair tied up in a ponytail with a braid in the side. Dashing up to the piano, she dumped her bag on it and pulled out her laptop.
"Sorry I'm late, the new freshmen radio interns showed up late," she explained as she fired up her laptop so she could begin playing the arrangements for the songs she had been working on. Chloe just shook her head and smiled, "Bec it's fine, relax. We haven't even started yet." Beca shot her small smile before focusing back on her laptop. Stacie glanced between the redhead and the brunette before leaning in to whisper to Fat Amy.
"What are the odds of them letting us bail early so we can catch Game of Thrones?" she said and Amy watched the interactions between the captains before responding. "Well, if they've really made up, my guess is they'll be too busy thinking about bumping uglies to really care about practice." Emily, who had been listening to what the girls were talk about scrunched up her nose at that. She really didn't want the image of what went on behind closed Bella doors in her mind.
"Did you guys hear that?" Flo suddenly interjected. Everyone glanced at her with curious gazes. "Hear what?" Cynthia Rose asked, and just as the words left her mouth, a cracking sound rang out. Panicked eyes darted all around the room as Chloe moved over towards Beca and gripped her hand, the girls exchanging looks.
"Was that..." Chloe started and Beca shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, "I don't know, I..."
'Crack' 'Bang'
"OH MY GOD," Emily shouted as realisation began to sink in. Somebody had opened fire at Barden, and they were caged in like sitting ducks in the rehearsal hall, too scared to move, and too uncertain of the outcome if they tried to flee. They could hear rushing around from students outside on the quad through the open windows as more gunfire rang out.
"We need to get out of here," Stacie said as she jumped out from her seat. Emily instantly shook her heard. "Are you crazy? If we go out there whoever is doing this could take us out," she shouted. "And if we stay in here and they find us, it will be a free for all. We're boxed in, we have nowhere to hide!" Stacie yelled back, their voices rising as the two girls continued their back and forth exchange, the other girls occasionally throwing in their two cents. They were losing the run of themselves and their raised voices were just begging for someone to find them, so Beca decided to step up and pull everyone into order.
"GUY'S!" she whispered harshly as she approached the group, her hand still linked with Chloe's who followed right behind, "Will you all stop shouting, you're just drawing attention to the fact that we're in he..." Before she could finish her sentence a shot rang out, but this time it was too close for comfort and all the girls jumped. Chloe pressed herself right up against her girlfriends back
"Bec," she mumbled, her voice wavering as her fear in that moment was made evident at the sound of footsteps coming from the corridor outside the entrance door. Suddenly it struck Beca, they now knew which direction the shooter was coming from, meaning they could use the emergency door on the other side of the hall to make a break for it.
"Dudes," she whispered, gaining everyone's attention. Without another word, she pointed her finger towards the emergency exit. The rest of the Bella's seemed to understand and as quietly as they could, they began making their way towards the double doors, but as they made it half way across, the doors of the main entrance were kicked in, it was too late.
"Barden Bella's," the voice of the young man growled, as he raised his gun and, without a second thought began pulling the trigger, shooting in various directions, not really picking a specific target, just hoping he hit something. The Bella's all dashed around the room, trying desperately to find cover in any nook and cranny they could find. A scream sounded out as Cynthia Rose took a hit to the leg.
A breathy squeal escaped Flo as a bullet grazed her arm and Ashley and Jessica both screamed when a stray ricocheted off a support beam and whizzed pass them, lodging itself in the wall. Beca could see Chloe from her position across the way near Fat Amy, having been separated while dashing for cover. Glancing up, her heart seized as she realised, the shooter was aiming his gun in her girlfriends direction and Chloe seemed to notice too as tears cascaded down her face.
Without a second thought, Beca jumped up from her position and made a run for Chloe. She knew she wouldn't make it, what she was counting on, was the shooter changing target, and as if sensing her wish, he repositioned his gun and pulled the trigger, once, twice, three times, before the clip emptied and he released it from its slot, letting it drop to the ground and reloading and then turning on his heel and leaving, looking for a different set of targets.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Beca could feel herself running, she could hear the sound of gun fire and then, it was like everything just stopped. She registered the wind being knocked from her lungs as something seemed to find home in her chest. She recalled the sound of her name being screamed and then her knees hitting the ground as she fell to the floor. And then she realised, she'd been shot.
"BECA!" Chloe screamed as she dashed out from where she had been trying to take cover and crashed to her knees beside her prone girlfriend, as the other Bella's split up, some rushing to their fallen co-captain, the others rushing over to the other injured Bella's. Blood was gushing from Beca's shot wound and was beginning to pool in her mouth, she was in criticial condition with no idea if they could get help.
"Beca, babe," Chloe cried as she stroked her girlfriends hair, pressing a kiss to her forehead before turning her attention to the wound, tears falling from her eyes as she tried to figure out what to do. "We n- we need to ap-apply pressure," she mumbled as she roughly grabbed the shirt tied around her waist and pulled it off, placing it over Beca's chest and pressing her hands over it, making sure she was using enough force to try stem the flow.
"Ch-chlo," Beca rasped, eyes trying to focus on something, anything, as her chest began to feel like it was on fire. She felt the overwhelming urge to cough and she spluttered in a feeble attempt to relieve the urge, more blood pooling in her mouth before dripping down the side of her cheek. Chloe reached up one hand and stroked her girlfriends cheek.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay. We're gonna get you help okay," Chloe tried to sooth as she wiped the tears from her eyes and then again rested it on Beca's cheek. "I love you so much," she whispered, pressing her lips to a pale forehead, lingering there before gazing down into dark denim coloured eyes. Beca weakly raised a hand to rest over the one applying pressure to her chest.
"I-I...l-love...you...t-too," Beca managed to get out before her eyes began to close, sending everyone around her into a panic. "Beca, Beca keep your eyes open. Beca, BECA!" Chloe shouted as the other girls tried desperately to get medical attention to them by shouting at the people at the end of their 911 calls. But with the shooter still on the loose, all they could do was hope.
A/N: Apologise if I got any medical stuff wrong. I'm not an expert so I don't know the in's and out's and most of it is purely for dramatic effect anyways.
