A/N – Hello! To all the Glee folks who might have decided to check this out since that is what I typically write, I have not abandoned Brittana, just taking a little break to get my muse back on track. I have plenty more to write about Santana and Brittany, I just need a small break to get my thoughts together to finish the stories I have in the works.
I'm fairly new to the Pitch Perfect scene and while I realize the Chaubrey pairing isn't quite as popular as the BeChloe pairing, it just seems so much more plausible to me. I mean, did you see the look on Chloe's face when she was singing "Everybody look to the left" and was staring towards Aubrey? I love them. This is my first Chaubrey fic, I hope I do them justice. This is not a happy story but there is nothing too explicit in it. I generally believe in a happy ending but I also believe it often takes time to get there. In a perfect world, Beca and Jesse would be in the same location as Aubrey and Chloe as well as a few of the other Bella's so while this takes place years later, they are still together. I don't own anything you recognize. Most likely a 3-shot. Thanks for stopping by.
The title is from Pink's song, "Just Give me a Reason".
We're not Broken Just Bent
It's in the stars…it's been written in the scars on our hearts…
Chapter One
"Caleb, come on finish your breakfast or you'll be late for school." Aubrey Posen-Beale said as she brushed past the boy at the kitchen table.
The six year old boy lifted his spoon to his mouth, slurping loudly. Chloe Posen-Beale reached from her spot next to him and ruffled his reddish brown hair, making a silly face at him. The boy giggled and wiped his face with the back of his hand.
"Come on bud, you heard Mom, we can't be late. Let's get a move on champ!"
Caleb nodded and quickly hopped up from the table and ran for the bathroom to brush his teeth. Aubrey dodged the boy as he dashed down the hallway. Smiling, she followed him into the bathroom and leaned down and pressed a kiss on top of his unruly head of hair.
"You excited for tonight?" she asked, still smiling. "Your first practice…Are you sure you want to be in the play? We could sign you up for soccer or anything else you want to do. You don't have to be in the after school play just because you think we want you to be."
"I know Mom." The boy replied around the mouth full of toothpaste and his toothbrush. "I wanna do it. I'm gonna make everybody laugh."
Aubrey smiled tenderly at her son and nodded. "You're going to be the best shoe shiner this town has ever seen! But remember, the main thing is to have fun!"
He smiled back, toothpaste all over his face and nodded excitedly. The blonde sighed before slipping out of the bathroom, heading back for the kitchen. Her brow was knitted worriedly as she stepped back into the room where her wife sat nursing a cup of steaming coffee.
"Bree, you're giving yourself wrinkles again." Chloe called softly. "I'll still love you if you're as wrinkled as your great aunt Jill but really, there's nothing worth getting that worried about. It's just a grade school play."
Aubrey met Chloe's eye and shook her head with a wry grin, uncertain how the redhead always seemed to be able to read her thoughts. "I know." She replied. "I just worry. I don't want to push him into something he doesn't really want to do. He knows how much we love singing and dancing and…I just don't want to be my father."
Chloe immediately stood from her spot at the table and stepped closer to her wife, gripping her arms in a loving squeeze. "Aubrey, you are nothing like your father. You know that! And you also know how much Caleb loves acting out and pretending…he always has. Remember when he was four and he acted out the entire story of Peter Rabbit using our pots and pans and the poor kitten from next door? He wants to do this and he'll be amazing at it."
"You're right…as usual." The blonde replied with an eye roll.
"Finally you admit it."
Aubrey chuckled and pulled the shorter woman in for a hug. Chloe wrapped her arms around her wife tightly, both sighing contentedly. Until the blonde suddenly pulled back sharply.
"You can take him tonight right? To practice? I have that deposition first thing tomorrow morning and I need to make sure I have everything in order-"
"Of course." Chloe interrupted, raising a hand to calm the other woman. "We talked about this already, like three times. I'll take him and you will be awesome as always at your deponent thing."
"You're sure? You can leave the studio early?" The blonde replied, choosing not to correct the other woman.
"Aubrey," Chloe said patiently, "We own the dance studio, I can leave a little early to get our son to his first play practice. Babe, relax, we've got this!"
The redhead chuckled slightly at her wife. While Aubrey had relaxed considerably since her days at Barden as the slave driving captain of the Bellas, she still had her moments of panic. But Chloe was more than happy to always be there to provide the calming, optimistic voice of reason to her sometimes frantic, self-doubting wife.
Aubrey felt herself relaxing as she looked into Chloe's clear blue eyes. The shorter woman always knew how to respond, always knew just what she needed. They had been married for almost eight years and the blonde woke up every morning eternally grateful for the woman next to her. She once again found herself thinking that her law practice, the dance studio…none of it would matter without Chloe and Caleb.
"I'm the luckiest woman alive." Aubrey whispered.
Chloe smiled tenderly. "I don't know, I might have you beat there. Now get to work woman, you've got a family to support and your wife has expensive taste."
Aubrey's grin widened and she pressed a quick kiss to the redhead's cheek before heading to gather her briefcase to leave for work. Chloe trailed behind slightly, also smiling. "Oh, don't forget you promised to get off work early tomorrow so we can have dinner with Beca and Jesse. So work your ass off today so you blow that deposition out of the water in the morning and can take off early!"
"Yes Ma'am." Aubrey responded, picking her keys up from the table. "I love you babe, see you tonight!"
Chloe waved again as the blonde closed the door behind her.
Aubrey stepped out into the parking lot heading to her car, her mind already preoccupied as to the tasks of the day before her. She almost ran into one of their neighbors, Eddie, a teenage boy who was getting into his car that was parked next to hers.
She quirked a brow at the boy, nose buried in his phone as he fished his keys out of his pockets.
"Good morning Eddie." She said politely. Chloe was always telling her to be polite and reach out to their neighbors.
The boy glanced up from his phone briefly and nodded. His lip quirked in a half smile as he realized who was speaking to him. "Hey there Miss Aubrey. How's Chloe today?"
The blonde forced down a growl at the boy's obvious smirk. She had no doubt that he had a thing for her wife. But who could blame him?
"She's just fine." She replied stiffly. "I hope you at least put that phone down when you're driving. Texting and driving kills you know."
The boy looked at her as if she had grown a second head and quickly scrambled into his own car muttering for her to have a nice day. The blonde sighed and slipped into her own car, fastening her seatbelt and checking all of her mirrors twice before slowly backing out her space.
xxxx
It was after 7:30 and Aubrey was exhausted. She tiredly rubbed the bridge of her nose and glanced out the window of her office. She turned her gaze to the clock on her desk and realized the sun had set a while ago, blanketing the city in darkness, minus the city lights.
She smiled briefly, thinking that Caleb and Chloe must be home from his first practice by now. Unless the redhead had decided to indulge the boy and stop for ice cream as he so often wanted. Aubrey picked up her phone and sent out a quick text asking if she had done just that, planning to stop to pick something up if she hadn't.
She waited ten minutes without a reply before deciding to pack up her things and head home. Just as she was shouldering her bag to head out the door, Aubrey heard her phone sounding, an unfamiliar ring informing her the caller wasn't anyone she particularly wanted to hear from at this time of night. With a groan, she dropped back into her desk chair and fished out her cell phone.
"This is Aubrey Posen-Beale." She said unenthusiastically.
"Hello Ms. Posen-Beale. Is this Chloe Posen-Beale's wife and emergency contact?'
Aubrey's blood chilled at the formal tone on the other end of the line. "Yes it is. Chloe is my wife. Who is this?"
"Ms. Posen-Beale," The voice responded softly. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this…but there's been an accident. I'm calling from General Hospital…your wife and son were just brought in. I would recommend you get here as soon as you can…Did you hear me ma'am? I said there's been an accident…"
xxxx
Aubrey busted through the hospital doors, her heels clicking as she strode purposefully toward the nurses desk. The woman stationed there at least had the decency to look intimidated as the blonde in her power suit came to an abrupt halt in front of the desk.
"Chloe and Caleb Posen-Beale. I was told they were brought here…where are they?"
The nurse typed quickly and glanced at her computer screen. "I'm sorry Miss, I don't have any information for you. The doctor will be out with you shortly if you just take a seat in the waiting room."
Aubrey clenched her jaw and drummed her nails over the counter painfully slowly. "No. I was called to come here because my wife and son were in an accident. I expect answers now. Where are they? Are they alright?"
"I'm sorry Miss, but I don't have any information." The nurse replied in a shaky voice. The blonde clenched both her jaw and her fist, realizing that the poor woman would not be able to give her any information. She nodded curtly and strode off toward the waiting room, hoping to find another nurse to interrogate once she arrived.
Aubrey stopped short when she located the emergency department waiting room. There were numerous people there in various stages of distress. She squared her shoulders and strode toward a chair in the corner of the room. When she finally took her seat, the severity of the situation finally settled on her as she realized that she had absolutely no idea of what had happened and of how badly her wife and son could have been injured. She refused to believe it was anything too serious.
Still, after almost a half an hour had passed with no word, Aubrey awkwardly pulled her phone from her bag with fumbling fingers. She quickly typed out a text to Beca. Within minutes a reply chirped that the brunette was on her way.
"Aubrey?" Beca called as she rushed into the waiting area a short time later. "What's going on, have you heard anything?"
The blonde rose to her feet shakily and shook her head. "No, still nothing. No one fucking knows anything. I've been here for hours!"
Beca clenched her fists, unsure of what else to do. She allowed Aubrey to pace the waiting room as they waited for answers. Jesse came rushing in a short while later, followed by Stacie and Amy, two of the Bella's who had remained in the area after graduation.
The friends all sat silently while Aubrey alternated between pacing and fidgeting in her seat, awaiting news. Finally, hours later, a doctor came into the waiting area.
"Family of Chloe Posen-Beale?"
Aubrey was in the man's face before the last syllable had sounded. "That's my wife. What's going on? Is she alright? Where is she? Where's my son?"
The doctor sighed and nodded in acknowledgement. "Mrs. Posen-Beale, I'm Dr. Jacobs, I've been seeing to your wife and son. Your wife Chloe…she's just coming out of surgery. Her injuries are rather serious but I don't believe they're life threatening at this time. Barring no complication, I think she should be just fine in time."
Aubrey breathed a sigh of relief and squeezed Beca's hand that she had been holding. "Thank you! Thank God…And Caleb? Our son…is he ok?"
Dr. Jacobs looked pained as he sighed and awkwardly scratched his jaw. Beca stepped closer and squeezed Aubrey's hand tightly. "I'm so sorry." The Doctor began. "I'm so sorry but…your son didn't survive. Your son is dead Mrs. Posen-Beale."
Aubrey vaguely remember crumbling to her knees, an anguished cry escaping her lips as Beca tried to hold her upright at the news that her only child was dead.