Chapter 1

"Hi…" Chloe said, registering that Beca was in the doorframe of her office. Truth be told, she saw her there a few moments before she said anything. A pause. A Breath. Though she never really left Barden, it was still something to get used to …people coming to her. People asking for her office. Though it was a Saturday and students were nowhere to be found, she was still intrigued by this adult thing. Perhaps seeing Beca still took her breath away, though. Chloe was bracing herself somehow.

Beca looked at Chloe, unsure if she should step in. The red head was behind her desk – this was such a Chloe office. Decorative curtains, picture frames everywhere. The Bellas were somewhat of a shrine. A stuffed Princess Poppy doll on her small green couch. The room even had its own aroma. Jesus. Beca rolled her eyes internally. Cinnamon? But where was the source? Maybe it was just Chloe. That wouldn't surprise her either. Was there glitter floating off the blinds?

Chloe never failed to make any place home. Though Barden had been her home for years, Beca was happy that the older girl found her purpose, so to speak. That she was a professor in the Arts Dept. That she was sticking to what she loved. Beca had asked her to do that, anyway. But no, Beca couldn't take credit for this. Chloe was a whirlwind, a force of nature. She was always going to kick ass at this life thing. She just needed a little nudge. A willingness to let go of some things…in order to make room for new things. New advancements in life required sacrifice sometimes. Chloe always enjoyed staying in one place, and hugging everything around her. Hugging them until they went blue in the face sometimes. Beca could nod to that, and understand that that is a true statement. Chloe was Chloe, she loved and loved until it nearly destroyed her. A fault of Chloe, Aubrey claimed.

"When you love something, or someone, why wouldn't you go 150% crazy for it? Why wouldn't you obsess, and be passionate? It's what YOU love, right?" Chloe said, years ago.

Beca heard the girl greet her. The only difference here – it wasn't a greeting that was singing from the hilltops. It was cautious. It was quiet. It was unsure. Beca felt that, it made her stomach drop – a weird flip. This was happening a lot lately. It almost felt like a stab of nerves. She hated it. She also recognized that if anything had the physical power to make you feel, to make you hurt, that was something to pay attention to.

Hi-bombs. What the fuck is a Hi-bomb?

Beca looked at Chloe. She felt her little Bec-Wall beginning to rapidly build. She put her hand in her pocket, and morphed into her alter-ego. Her scrappy-self. Though, one wouldn't say she was completely back to that…

"If you wanted to break my heart, there are a thousand ways you could do it. You did not have to propose to Haley to hurt me." Beca said quietly.

Chloe looked down immediately. She shook her head, subtly.

"It didn't have anything to do with you." She replied. "It's just…it's just weird timing."

"Weird timing? Okay, Chlo…" Beca said, taking her hand out of her pocket and wiping her cheek quickly. She began to approach Chloe's desk.

"I know that it must seem weird…" Chloe began, as she started to stand up from her chair.

"—No. Don't marry her Chlo!" Beca said louder. She quickly made her way around Chloe's desk in order to stand directly in front of her. Chloe kept her hand firmly on her desk, somehow leaning in to it, holding herself up somehow.

"—Bec…"

"Am I crazy?! Do you not feel what I feel? What I've felt every day for the past three years that we've been apart? Because I have felt…there's this vital piece of me that has been missing." Beca says, tears welling into her dark blue eyes. She has never been one for hand gestures; they were always ridiculous and very 'Jesse.' But at this moment, she was clutching her chest, raising her hands as she spoke. She wanted to grab Chloe's face in those hands, and hold her close. She was realizing that she couldn't do that. She was flustered, trying to get Chloe to hear her.

"And I've tried to fill it Chlo, I've tried. I've tried to fill it with work, and friends, and music. And it stayed empty until last night when you kissed me. And my entire universe it just…it just snapped back into focus." Beca smiled lightly, crying a little bit harder. Smiling, remembering that Chloe had put her lips to hers just hours prior. Her Chlo.

Beca finally had her courage up again. She placed her hands to Chloe's face and brought their faces closer together.

"Chlo, look at me."

Chloe bit her lip, and looked down, even though she allowed Beca to take hold of her. Her left hand was still on her desk.

"Look me in the eye and tell me that that kiss did not feel exactly the same as it did three years ago." Beca said, her face damp, glistening. Her smile growing. Her smile hopeful. Expectant. Patient, yet begging.

Chloe looked to the side, released her lip from her bite and let out a slow breath. She moved her intense blue gaze to the pools in front of hers. Her face was hard, she clenched her jaw.

She whispered. "I'm in love with her, Beca."

Beca sank where she stood. Stunned. Her smile falling into an O shape. She didn't speak. Neither of them did.

Footsteps came forward and into the doorway of Chloe's office. Beca registered the new company near them, suddenly taking her hands to her face and wiping the tears away.

Snapping…back into focus.

"What's going on in here…?" Aubrey said, though she said it in a way that read that she knew exactly what was going on.

"Um…" Beca said, turning quickly.

"Just congratulating Chlo." She smiled weakly. "Did you hear? She's engaged."

"Of course I did. I'm her best friend." Aubrey replied quietly. Quickly.

Beca and Aubrey still seemed to bark at each other now and again. Beca used to think that it was a term of endearment finally; after all they had been through. This time, it seemed protective, and true. Not necessarily playful.

"I'm going to be her Matron of Honor." She added.

Beca stared at Aubrey, nodding a little. She took a deep breath in. It was all so obvious, yet Beca was vulnerable and had been caught in this state. Cue Beca's flight tactic. But at this moment, she was stuck between them both. She was playing dumb. She was panicking a little. Nothing that a nervous smile couldn't hide, right? Fuck.

"Look, Chloe, I need to talk to you. Alone." Aubrey said, trying to move things along. Chloe nodded to her best friend, and bit her lip again, looking down as a means to not look at Beca. Beca nodded to Aubrey as well, shifting a little and putting her hands in her pockets again.

Now she could fly.

Beca put her head down, hunched a bit. She stepped away, and moved past Aubrey out of the office. Quietly. Both the blonde and red head watched her go.

Aubrey looked up at Chloe once the small DJ was out of sight. She crossed her arms.

"We're going to live happily ever after, huh." She said, cocking an eyebrow at Chloe.