Title: Bec Greyson
Pairing: Beca/Chloe
Disclaimer: Don't own Pitch Perfect characters just playing with them.
Rating: T
Summary: AU This story takes place in the US around the late 1800's. I'm thinking somewhere between 1880 and 1890 most likely. Beca, aka Bec Greyson, is a young woman who has worked hard to prosper in a man's world, but still hasn't found the one thing that could make her life complete. Love. My first attempt at a historical story as well as a western.
Chapter 1
Beca leaned back in her chair in front of the fireplace as the flames danced around the cut logs within. She eased her feet up onto a padded foot stool and let out a long sigh as she sipped her aged Brandy. It had been a long day and it felt marvelous to finally be able to sit back and relax for the evening. Her mind was awash with a myriad of decisions she needed to make soon, both large and small. They brought her around to thinking about her life and how she had ultimately arrived at that very moment in time.
She had been born Rebeca Elaine Mitchell. Her mother was a doctor, though not many females were to be found in the male dominated field. Beca missed her mother Eleanor tremendously. Eleanor had died a few months after Beca had turned 7 years old. Her mother had always understood and supported her. Eleanor had recognized that her daughter wasn't like most of the other girls when she was at a very young age. Beca had wanted to learn to fight, ride horses, shot, gamble, and chase girls like her older male cousins did. Music was the only thing remotely girlish she had shown interest in. It had been almost impossible to keep Beca indoors and clean and she refused to wear dresses much of the time.
Beca's father, Warren Mitchell, was rarely home when his daughter was small. He liked being a man about town and was always trying to rise among the cities political hierarchy. He knew very little of his daughter. The man remarried a short three months after Eleanor had passed and immediately moved his new wife and daughter to Montana in search of further wealth and political standing where the competition was less fierce. The tiny dark haired girl was 8 years old by the time they reached Barden, Montana and was barely 9 when her father gave up on Beca being the type of girl he wanted her to be and sent her back east to attend a private school for girls. The school was supposed to turn her into a true lady. Beca hated attending the school, music was the only thing she enjoyed studying there.
Her mother's parents, Emma and Henry Callahan, had never cared for Eleanor's husband and had no problem following Eleanor's last wishes to help her little girl become who she was meant to be and follow her own heart and not be beaten down by her narrow minded father. Beca's Grandpa, Uncle, and male cousins taught the tiny girl all they knew. She was lucky she was able to live with them while she attended the private girl's school. Warren Mitchell was up for anything that saved him trouble and money.
Henry Callahan was a shrewd business man and a retired military officer. Beca's education was vast, she had learned all a proper young lady would learn as well as all a young man should learn. She had completed her lessons at the girls school years earlier than expected motivated as she was to start in her opinion her real education. She was an exceptionally bright child by all accounts and even attended classes at Cornell University along with a couple of her older male cousins.
At 16 Beca married a wealthy older gentleman who like her was interested in the same sex. He was a friend of Beca's Uncle Morgan. The marriage helped cover both of their preferences and also freed Beca from her father's rule. Even though she was married she still was able to travel to Europe with her cousins and enjoy a grand adventure. Not long after she returned Beca who was by that time 18 moved to Texas with her husband Matt Greyson and his longtime companion and lover Thomas Spencer. They had plans to expand their holdings into the cattle industry. The trio was faring well when a short 6 months after their arrival Matt caught a fever that was going around the area killing many. Their operation was doing well and Beca was the driving force behind their success finding she took well to such a lifestyle. Over the years since their marriage Matt had become Beca's best friend along with Thomas. Matt hung on and fought the illness as long as he could, nonetheless with Beca and Thomas by his side Matt ultimately succumbed to the fever three weeks after he initially fell ill.
Most everything had been left solely to his wife since Thomas was wealthy in his own right and Beca had done a great deal to help add to the Greyson fortune. Matt and Thomas both loved Beca like a little sister and Thomas stayed with Beca on the ranch in Texas for she was the only family he had left.
The deceptively small woman usually always dressed like a man since she hated dresses with a passion and Beca gained a reputation for being strong, tough, and shrewd. She was an excellent shot with a rifle, a bow, and her pistol. Beca was also very fast on the draw as a few rustlers and criminals had found out the hard way. The brunette was a great tracker as she was taught by her grandfather and a former Indian scout who had often ridden with her grandfather during his military days. Beca herself often rode along with Texas Rangers and US Marshals alike when they needed help tracking a criminal.
Now at 21 Beca Greyson sat across from her best friend Thomas as they both relaxed and warmed themselves in front of the fire in the large ranch house they shared.
Thomas spoke bringing Beca out of her musings of the past. "Bec, I feel we should think about moving our operation to Montana. There's lots of grazing land available and not so many prying eyes to talk about how we wish to live. We have collected many misfits such as ourselves to work for us and all will follow us. We are now a large family. We could live how we wish and we are wealthy enough to purchase plenty of land for us all to prosper and your Callahan family is always sending more misfits to us to help them find a more prosperous life." The older sandy haired man set his glass of Brandy aside. "Beca too many are coming here and trying to claim grazing rights and watching us too closely trying to find something to use against the young woman who is so powerful. I say we sell the land and house and take the rest to settle on an even larger ranch in the less populated wilds of Montana."
Beca tossed the remains of her own Brandy back embracing the smooth burn. "I have been thinking on it. Actually my father has written me wanting me to come see him. It seems he only recently found out Matt passed and thinks I need his protection. Warren has no clue who I am. I have sent a man already to scout out land and other opportunities we might find around there. My father has a fairly prosperous cattle operation outside of a town called Barden. His ranch is the biggest in that area, but nothing like the size of our current operation or what we plan to have if we move there. I don't know how close I want to be to him, but he wrote about me being his only heir and I feel I should at least visit his place and know more about it. Warren thinks I might even find a nice man to settle down with." The young woman snorted. "If I ever marry a man again it would be you, Thomas and only if we needed protection like Matt and I did back east."
"You could always buy up all the land around Barden and you would become one of the most powerful people in Montana along with me, of course. We fill the area with our loyal misfits and live how we are comfortable living."
"That does sound like a wonderful idea." Beca laughed before changing the subject a bit. "I would like for you to find someone to come home to Thomas. Matt would want you to. I know you have had a few short term friends, but nothing permanent. I have also noticed how you watch Tyler Crowe and how he looks at you. He is a nice man and good looking. None here has a problem with him being a halfbreed or with both of you for being men. Hell most of our hands are the same as we are. If you don't snatch him up one of the other cowboys around here will. Tyler is also great with horses and could really help us grow that part of our ranch. You two get along great and look good together. I like him and get along with him too. He would fit into our home well."
This time Thomas chuckled. "I've been thinking about it, but what about you. I haven't seen you out visiting the saloons lately. The only women we have working here who are likeminded are all partnered up with each other already and they are at least ten years older than you are dear. Maybe your lady love is waiting to be found in the back woods of Montana."
Rolling her eyes Beca sighed. "Maybe, but I do know I am getting tired of the saloon girls and those of the like. I would love to find a nice girl to share my life with, but I don't know if a nice girl would want rough and tumble me. Most ladies see me as nothing but a rough and wild rancher with no manners or ability to even carry on a civilized conversation. Most believe I am simply a crude woman who thinks she's a man. Do you really believe there is a lady out there that will ever really see me?"
"I know there is Bec. I found Matt when I was about your age and now I've found Tyler. If I can get lucky enough to find two such wonderful men I know there is a love out there for you too and when the time is right you will find her."
The woman stood and hugged her best friend. "I'm off to bed, I have to be up before the sun in the morning. Tell Tyler I said hi. You two don't have to wait till I'm abed before he joins you." Beca smirked as she left the room.
Later even as her head settled on her pillow Beca's thoughts were still on what Thomas had said. Was there really a lady out their somewhere who she could love and have that love returned? Those thoughts still plagued her mind as she fell asleep.
….
A month later, after receiving the positive reports from Charles, the man she had sent to Montana, Beca had decided it was time for a change. Time to find a better home for her large ramshackle family that seemed to grow weekly. She had already sent people ahead to join Charles and the few people with him to begin purchasing land around Barden, Montana. Her man said he had already found the perfect spot to build a house and the main ranch. Beca trusted Charles. He was the one Matt had sent ahead to find a nice place to start a ranch in Texas nearly 4 years earlier. She had sent word to get the bunk houses, barns, and stables up first before starting on the main house.
The small woman studied the calendar on her desk. Beca had been 21 for only two months and hoped to have her Texas land and ranch sold soon so they could all start slowly making their way to their new home. She had already informed her mother's family she was moving and the Callahan's had already sent a few more misfits on to Montana to help build the ranch and start a new life. Beca hadn't informed her father she was coming to Barden. Warren still called her Rebeca and only knew her new sir name started with a G. He would sure be shocked when the new cattle Baron Bec Greyson turned out to be a Baroness and his daughter. That thought made the cowgirl smile as she got up from her desk grasping her hat as she headed for the door. There were horses that needed breaking and cattle that needed branding and even though she was the boss she never shirked off of giving a helping hand.
PP/PP/PP/PP/PP
I thought I would try my hand at a western. Never written one before so this may really suck. I thought it would be a bit of an additional challenge to drop the Pitch Perfect characters into the old west. Let me know what you think, please. Drop me a few words in the box below I would love to hear from you. Until Next Time…Holly