A/N: Um...sometimes stuff happens over at Tumblr in the tags. This is the result of that. I own nothing. Not the songs or the bands or the places or characters. Enjoy!

Falling Slowly

Falling slowly
Sing your melody
I'll sing it loud
Loud

Falling Slowly- The Swell Season

She never imagined that the city would be just as perfect as it was in her dreams. It was everything and more. She had been reluctant at first, hesitant even to listen to Chloe as she rambled on during drunk evenings about where she wanted to live most in the world. New York was a fantasyland. A place where only the glamorous and fantastic lived. Maybe it was a place for Chloe, but it certainly wasn't a place for her.

But somehow, there was no saying no to Chloe. Fall came soon after graduation and Chloe had tired of her minimum wage job at Starbucks, begging Aubrey to please come with her to New York. Duluth wasn't big enough for them. She needed to live and if she didn't try, then she would regret it forever. Aubrey could find a job anywhere, with her impressive college transcript and pages of recommendations, but the hardest part was packing her bags. Filling the U-haul with the contents of their last four years together and starting the day long trek up the East coast until they reached home.

Leaving was the worst. If Chloe was the big city, then Aubrey was a small town. She liked the quiet evenings and warm summer nights. Community festivals and little coffee shops. Holding hands as they watched the stars appear in the sky without the impediment of buildings. Duluth was home, but Chloe was her heart. It was easy to decide which one to cling to.

It had been four years and New York was exactly as she had imagined it to be and more. While Chloe had wild pipe-dreams from time to time, occasionally she got it right and maybe New York was meant for Aubrey Posen. She had fallen in love with the long trek up to the third floor of their apartment building, carrying groceries and huffing by the time she reached the top, begging for an elevator but secretly loving the creaky steps and peeling paint. Fighting with Chloe for space at the tiny mirror in their bathroom and leaning against her on the ride into work on the subway. It was home.

Home was saving their money to get the worst seats at musicals, peering out from behind a pole or the overhang that obstructed their vision and taking it all in. Chloe practically dancing in her seat along with the music and Aubrey mouthing the words, wanting so badly to join in but knowing that this was not the place for that. There would be time for singing when they went home and Chloe put the soundtrack on, dancing around and sliding on their hardwood floors while she simply shook her head and pretended not to be amused while she read the New York Times. It was becoming everything.

Home was pretending to be annoyed when Chloe pulled up TripAdvisor and compiled a list of things for them to do on the weekends. Even after four years, there was still so much that they hadn't seen or done in the city. Cafes they hadn't stopped to share a latte in, shops they hadn't perused, and corners they hadn't snuck a kiss in when no one was looking. Chloe wanted to see it all and Aubrey couldn't say no.

Christmas was always Chloe's favorite time of the year and New York was like being in a snow globe, swirling and spinning as they took in the sights and noises and lights. It was watching the Rockettes like her mother had always dreamt of, trying not to laugh as Chloe made sarcastic remarks about their costumes and compared their legs to her own. Twirling Chloe around in a circle as the snow fell down in sheets as they slowly walked home from dinner at the Thai restaurant a few blocks from home. Ice skating with her at Rockefeller Center and biting her lip as Chloe bandaged the tiny cut on her forehead, indelible proof that she would always be a klutz. There was no place like home for Christmas.

New York was fun, but Aubrey knew why. It was because she had Chloe there, to drag her out of the warmth of their apartment and into the land of the living. Smoothing out her rough edges and calming her anxieties as they strolled through the hoards of people as they tried to find the perfect spot to watch the ball drop on New Years. It was the way that Chloe seemed to understand how much she had wanted to simply witness the grand spectacle, allowing herself to look like an idiot as she suggested that they take a trip down to Times Square along with a million other fools. The way that she could just shake her head and act like she was miserable, while allowing Chloe to play the clown. Holding her hand as the numbers slowly slipped away and kissing her a little harder at the count of 3, 2, 1…

New York was the stuff of dreams and that was no secret on Thanksgiving, when she turned away from their tiny oven and found Chloe sitting with her hands pressed to the window as she watched the parade. It was biting back her own smile when Spongebob and Elmo and rows and rows of marching bands marched below their building. The tiny smirk on Chloe's face when Snoopy drifted by and she couldn't help herself from squeeling with joy. If Linus had floated by, she would have had to kill Chloe from embarrassment. It was the best morning of her life.

Home was spring in Central Park, slowly strolling along on a rare weekday when they both had off from work. They had moved out of their tiny apartment and into a new, bigger building that lacked the charm but finally had a double vanity. It was close to the park and on these afternoons, Aubrey relived her childhood dreams. Clutching Chloe's hand in her own and walking peacefully, no words necessary to block out the perfect soundtrack of their sneakers flapping against pavement and kicking up loose pebbles. It was a kiss beneath an earlobe, picking the perfect lily and popping it into Chloe's hair, and stopping at the Imagine mosaic just to dream a little more. It was the stuff of her fantasies. She was at home.

New York was visiting Coney Island for the first time after living there for what had felt like a lifetime. Wrapping an arm around Chloe's back as they fought against the sea of tourists and tried to take it all in. It was a ride on a merry-go-round, holding hands as their horses slowly rose and fell, herself on an appaloosa and Chloe on a unicorn. Somehow it was fitting, but Aubrey would never say it out loud. It was grabbing a hot dog just to say that they had and finding the one quiet spot on the pier to talk and listen to the waves. It was hustle and bustle and pulsing through her veins. This city had become her home.

It was calling off from work just for the hell of it, making love all evening and rising before the sun to enjoy the city when it was a little tamer. Splurging a little to take a cab to Manhattan and walking the streets with a pair of earbuds shared between them and the soothing soundtrack of Chloe's perfect New York City playlist edging them on. Death Cab at their favorite café, The Decemberists when they passed the alley that Chloe once pulled her into for a kiss, and Bon Iver outside of the bakery. It was just opening up for the day and Chloe's face had lit up as the smell of fresh bread slowly wafted through the bones of the building and into their noses. Home was the most beautiful eyes and smile as they slowly walked back home with donuts in hand and Holocene playing in the background.

New York was their first big fight in October, screaming over something as stupid as the costume they would wear to a colleague's party and slamming doors as they said words they would regret later. Pouring bright red punch into a plastic cup and talking to the receptionist who looked utterly charming as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Sipping the spiked drink and gazing at the girl across from her at the party, dressed as a bumble bee and laughing loudly at a stupid joke. Falling in love with a stranger until she reminded herself that that bee was her own and that she would get to take her home later. Coming up behind her and kissing her gently, letting the petals of her dumb flower costume droop over her face as she breathed against her neck and whispered "I'm sorry." New York was falling in love, so slowly that she felt like it would last forever.

It was the places that they had always dreamt of back at Barden, staring up at the ceiling as the hours drifted away, talking for hours about their hopes and dreams. Where they wanted to live and who they wanted to be. How they wanted to love. A dizzying delight of getting everything you ever wanted with so much more to see. The possibility of thousands of days together, stretched out over each block and café and streetlight. New York was home.

Chloe was her heart. Chloe had strung her along and didn't take no for an answer. Chloe pushed her ahead and pulled the smile onto her lips. Chloe made a shoebox feel like home.

She couldn't imagine herself anywhere else.