A/N: So this is the last part of the trilogy, but what's different about this one is that it can stand alone as a separate story. The first two parts covered a very small time frame and this one is going to jump around a bit and kind of change things up. If you haven't read the first two parts, I'd recommend it but it's not necessary. I'm kind of excited about this story and there isn't a lot of filler with this. I love every chapter that I have planned out and it should be a fulfilling ending. Enjoy!

Open your eyes and let me in
I swore to God I'd never swear
And we all fall down
And we all fall down
Again.
A Save Situation- The Format

Chapter One: A Save Situation

Beca sat on the couch in the living room of their hotel suit and watched as Chloe stood in front of the mirror and wordlessly applied eye liner. She carefully rimmed her blue orbs with the black liquid and even though she knew that it would just end up running down her cheeks when she undoubtedly was reduced to a quivering mess by the end of the ceremony, it looked good and she wanted to look good today.

Her hair was pulled back into a neat bun and her simple black dress was paired with a suit jacket, aging the girl and making her look even more somber than she was. Beca still thought that she was beautiful though and if she wasn't so sad right now, she'd pull that jacket off and take her right there. She couldn't though and had to be content on watching her from her spot on the couch, trying not to catch her eye as she ogled her girlfriend and thought wildly inappropriate thoughts considering what day it was.

She was in her own black dress and was terribly uncomfortable as she tried to relax against the oversized couch. Dresses weren't her thing and the last time she had worn one was when the Bellas competed at Sectionals during her disastrous freshman year. In fact, as soon as she slid the dress on, she was catapulted back to that day and as the bad memories filled her mind, she was left with a sinking feeling in her stomach that had yet to dissipate. Maybe it was the memories or maybe it was the anxiety of attending a funeral; either way, she hated feeling this sick and she knew it wouldn't go away until they were back here later on in the evening, once Chloe's father was in the ground and the pain was a little less fierce.

As her thoughts drifted back to the funeral and the idea that Chloe's father would literally be buried somewhere in a casket that she had helped pick out, her stomach turned wildly and she lurched to her feet, slamming her hands against her mouth as she rushed to the bathroom. She didn't care that Aubrey was in there and doing her hair in just her bra and underwear. It didn't matter when Aubrey yelled at her and tried to push her out of the room unsuccessfully as Beca ducked under her arm. She didn't even care that she was in her expensive dress and getting it dirty as she kneeled in front of the floor. All she wanted was some relief and as she felt her body dry heave and Aubrey's cool hands on her back a moment later, she felt human for the first time in days.

Thankfully, she didn't puke and as her stomach settled a little, she took a few deep breaths and released her death grip on the porcelain seat. She slowly stood up and sunk onto the edge of the tub, holding her head in her hands as her cheeks burned with embarrassment and catching Aubrey occasionally sneak glances at her as she returned to her makeup.

After breathing heavily for a minute as her stomach churned and her throat burned, Chloe entered the room and handed Beca a glass of water and a small pill. When Beca furrowed her brow at the older girl, Chloe smiled and cracked "I'm not drugging you, if that's what you're thinking." She rubbed Beca's shoulder tenderly and stroked her pale face for a moment before explaining herself. "It's an antacid and it'll settle your stomach a little. I haven't been feeling so great either and my mom gave me them. Take it; we can't have you puking all over the church."

Beca made a face at Chloe, but reluctantly took the pill into her cupped hand and swallowed it with a large sip of the cool water. The liquid felt good going down her aching throat and as Chloe rubbed her forearm tenderly, Beca allowed herself to relax for the first time all day. Chloe watched her for a moment and then smiled sadly before leaving the room and returning to her makeup.

Aubrey was watching her through the mirror and as Chloe left the room and she pulled her dress onto her body, she smirked at Beca and joked "I thought that I'd end up being the one puking today, so it's actually kind of a pleasant surprise to see someone else doing it." Aubrey paused and smiled as Beca glared at her through the mirror, not seeing the humor in this whole situation. "Are you sure that you're okay? I don't want to go there and be embarrassed when you toss your cookies all over the church. I know you're not religious or anything, but I'm pretty sure that you'd go to Hell for something like that."

As Aubrey motioned for Beca to zip up the back of her dress, Beca rose to her feet and groaned as she crossed the small distance between them and pulled the small zipper to the top of the dress. Aubrey adjusted the simple black dress so if fit her perfectly and Beca exhaled heavily as she backed away from the girl.

"You know, even though you're being a bitch to me today, you do look really nice." Beca smiled as Aubrey looked shocked at her compliment. Beca cocked an eyebrow, knowing that her joy would be shortlived. "We should take a picture and send it to Jesse. You look beautiful and he can look at it when he's-"

"Enough! He's my boyfriend and your best friend and we're not talking about that." Aubrey snapped as Beca broke down into giggles. "No one is getting a picture of me either and if I see you even messing with your phone when I'm around you, I'll break all of your fingers. Got it?"

"Ah, the bipolar Aubrey Posen that we all know and love is back in action. One minute you're being nice to me and the next, you're acting like a raving lunatic." Beca replied while smirking at her threat.

Aubrey grinned at Beca and shoved her playfully as they both moved towards the door. Beca laughed softly as she started to loosen up and said "Come on; let's get out of here before we show up late to this whole thing. I don't know what would be worse, Chloe being late to her own father's funeral or me puking on the minister's feet."

As the girls walked out of the bathroom, Chloe smiled at them and laughed for the first time in days. It was nice to hear her laugh and the sweet sound broke up the tension in the room and put them all at ease, if only for a moment.

"Probably the first one." Chloe joked, winking at Beca and smiling when she blushed. "I don't see why we need to rush though, since it's not like he was ever on time for any of my stuff. It would actually be kind of fitting if I didn't show up at all."

The mood in the room instantly turned somber and Beca looked down at her feet as Chloe bit her lip and tried to think of something to say to break the tension. She couldn't find anything though and shuffled awkwardly back and forth on her achy feet.

"Chlo, you don't have to go if you can't handle it." Aubrey soothed, while rubbing her back. "No one would blame you if you stayed back here and just had some time to adjust to everything. You have a choice."

"No I don't, Aubrey!" Chloe spat out, while shooting a glare at Aubrey and feeling her anger finally explode. "My father is dead and I have to go to his funeral because that's what kids do for their parents. I'm going to go there and do the one thing that he could never do for me."

Beca touched Chloe's bare arm with her fingers and as she stroked it gently, she soothingly murmured "I think that Bree and I are just worried that you won't be able to get through it. You're angry and sad and this might not be the best place for you right now. Your grandparents are taking it hard and you could really hurt them if you went there angry. You know?"

"Yeah, I know." Chloe answered soberly after taking a moment to calm down. "It's not like I'm going to freak out or anything, though. It's pretty much the last place on Earth that I'd like to be right now, but I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't go to his funeral. I promise that I won't embarrass you two and that I won't freak out. Now come on, we need to leave now before we miss the party."

As Chloe grabbed her purse and strolled out of the room, Aubrey shot Beca a warning look and all Beca could do was nod in return. They both knew that she was upset and internalizing everything and that it was only a matter of time before she snapped. She didn't normally get snippy with Aubrey and that angry display moments ago had put them all on edge. Beca just hoped that she would be able to make it through the funeral without breaking down and that she could hold off until it was just them. Beca could take anything that Chloe threw at her and she didn't want her to get lost in herself during the most important event of her young life. Her father was dead and Beca just hoped that Chloe would have the clarity to be present in that moment and to understand the stark reality of the situation.

Her father was dead and he was never coming back and nothing was going to change. Being angry wouldn't take away her regret and it wasn't worth beating herself up over it when it couldn't be fixed. Just like the name that would be inscribed onto the tombstone, the past had been set in stone and now Chloe would have to live with that for the rest of her life and move on accordingly. Beca just prayed that she would actually be able to move forward and get through this unscathed.

As she grabbed her own purse and shut the door behind them, she couldn't help but worry that they weren't just burying Chloe's father today. Deep down, she knew that a part of Chloe would be buried along with him and she hoped with everything in her that it wouldn't be a part that she had fallen in love with.

Two hours later, Beca found herself sandwiched between Chloe and Aubrey in an uncomfortable wooden pew as she tried to look upset. It was difficult though because she was so bored and as the man that was speaking droned on and on about a golfing outing he had just enjoyed with his colleague in the casket in front of him, Beca bit back a yawn and doodled on the leaflet that had been thrust into her hands when she walked in. It wasn't that she didn't have an interest in the life and times of Anthony Beale; it was more that they were terribly boring and drawing a cartoon over the mini-biography on the page was far more interesting.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Chloe was just as bored as she was and was staring down at the hymnal in her lap, tracing her fingers over the music notes that decorated the page and mouthing the words of the song to herself. Beca smiled when Chloe caught her looking at her and shoved her a little as both girls tried to hide their laughter. The service had gone on and on and both girls just wanted it to be over so they could go back to the hotel and get back to their regular lives. There was nothing normal about this and they were both so uncomfortable in the large church surrounded by strangers that it was hard to focus on the minister's words or the songs that they had sung or on mourning. It was surreal and from the way Chloe worried her bottom lip, Beca knew that it was becoming too much for her.

As she slid her hand over Chloe's and threaded their fingers together, Aubrey leaned over her shoulder and glared at both of them before motioning up at the speaker. She couldn't understand why either of them were so distracted and couldn't act like an adult in this situation. They were supposed to be grieving, not drawing cartoons and smiling and flirting with each other. Aubrey had always been the most mature out of the three of them, but they were embarrassing her and she would feel no regret about smacking one of them so they got their shit together.

Beca rolled her eyes at Aubrey, but pulled her hand away from Chloe's and slid her paper into Chloe's hymnal, sliding it shut and pressing it down onto Chloe's lap as she looked back up at the man speaking. She was bored and her hand longed for Chloe's, but the look on Aubrey's face had pummeled her back into reality and she couldn't help herself as her eyes shifted from the man to the coffin. It was dark blue and had engraved doves on the handles and she had been the one that had spotted it at the funeral home. Chloe had been dazed as they walked through the shop and couldn't decide on one until Beca stopped in front of this one and felt Chloe squeeze her hand tightly. The girl was overcome with emotions and couldn't say a word, tears rolling down her face as Beca held her tightly and told the funeral director that this was the one. This would be the one that would be lowered to the ground that afternoon and as the man at the pulpit broke down into tears, Beca felt her heart skip a beat. This was real and it was really happening and with nothing to distract her, she began to feel the familiar ache return to her chest.

Next to her, Chloe watched as the man left the pulpit and was replaced by another stranger that she didn't recognize. As she had sat there and listened for the past half hour as different college friends and colleagues of her father spoke, she couldn't help but smirk. They all wore the same uniform of crisp black suits and bright colored ties and they all had the same stories. Her dad loved work and golfing and playing poker on the weekends. He was funny and had an infectious laugh and everyone that he worked with respected him. Blah, blah, blah.

As the newest speaker started, an accountant at the company who had known her father since they were kids, Chloe shook her head and looked back down at the book that she was pressing into her lap. As her eyes started to swim with tears, she wondered just what these men were thinking as they stood up there. Did they think that this was helping? That telling a story about a trip to Tahoe or a missed birdie shot would make his family feel better or for the pain to hurt a little less? Nothing could change what had happened and she had to stop herself from laughing at the irony of it all. Even in his death, her father had a way of alienating her. She knew no one here outside of her family and as her grandparents and uncles and cousins all sat glued to their pews and didn't say a word about him, Chloe felt that somehow this was how it was supposed to be. Her father was a lousy son and brother and father, but damn he was good at his job and that would be his legacy. What the hell was she doing here? She didn't belong here and as the man finished speaking and was replaced by the minister, a single tear spilled from her eye and splashed onto the hymnal in her lap.

The minister locked eyes with Chloe and smiled sadly before announcing "The Beale family would like to thank all of the gracious speakers who have helped honor Anthony's memory. Now, as we prepare to transfer Anthony's body to Pineview Cemetery for internment, his daughter Chloe would like to sing her father's favorite hymn. Please pay your final respects during this time. Chloe, come on up sweetheart."

Both Aubrey and Beca looked shocked as Chloe rose to her feet with the hymnal clutched tightly in her hands and Beca's eyes filled with tears as Chloe inched up to the pulpit. Neither of them had been informed of this and it all suddenly made sense. Why Chloe had snapped at Aubrey at the hotel, why she had been mouthing the words, and why she had been so distracted during the service. Chloe was limping heavily and Beca knew that it was only this noticeable when she was nervous or in pain. From the way that her lip quivered and her hands shook as she fumbled with the microphone at the pulpit, Beca knew that it was the former.

"I want to thank all of you for attending today. I don't know many of you, but I do know that my father would be proud to have so many friends here today to mourn with us." As her eyes became teary and she stared at Beca, who was holding back her own tears, Chloe bit her lip and spoke a little louder as her quavering voice evened out. "Growing up, I sang in the choir at my church and in the chorus at school and was a member of an a cappella group in college. My father always wanted to hear me sing, but we could never find the right time for it to happen. He was either travelling or in New York and no matter how much we both wanted it, time just wasn't on our side. I never thought that this would happen, but this is my last chance and this is for him. I love you, dad."

Chloe stared down at the casket and as the pianist started to play, everyone in the church visibly stiffened as Chloe's clear voice rang out like a bell. It was strong and beautiful and Beca had never heard anything as perfect as Chloe's voice as she solemnly sang I'll Fly Away. By the time Chloe got through the first verse, Beca was sobbing and Aubrey wrapped an arm around her back as they watched Chloe do something that neither of them would ever have the strength to do. Aubrey was wiping her own tears from her eyes as Chloe sang and she knew just how important this was to Chloe after five years of friendship. She was singing for her father and for the first time in her life, she had his full attention.

Her voice had never sounded better and as Chloe reached the middle of the song, she could hear her grandmother start to sob loudly and squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to break down as the ushers stepped forward to take her father away. It was all real now and she felt her voice start to quiver as the reality of everything hit her like a bullet in the chest. He was never coming back and she wasn't going to have a father anymore and everything would be different now.

Somehow she made it to the end of the song, with her voice cutting through the mourners like glass. Her body shook with suppressed sobs as the final note slipped through her lips and as she opened her eyes again, she broke down into full on tears as she watched the casket slip through the doorway and the mourners stand up to follow the hearse to the cemetery. As everyone walked to the doors, Aubrey and Beca walked against the tide and Aubrey was holding her within moments of her finishing the song. Her arms were warm and comforting and everything that Chloe needed as she broke down into her shoulder and cried so hard that her head throbbed.

Beca couldn't will her legs to move to her girlfriend and she felt overwhelmed with sorrow as she stood back a little and watched Aubrey comfort her. This was the one moment where Chloe needed her the most and once again, she was screwing it up. The tears flooded her eyes again as she watched the scene and as she caught Aubrey's eye, she couldn't stop them from streaming down her face. Somehow Aubrey knew what she was going through and guided Chloe over to her, practically pushing the broken girl into Beca's arms and standing back as Beca held her tightly and stroked her hair.

Beca may have been emotionally stunted and not good enough for Chloe, but Aubrey knew what her best friend needed and smiled wanly as Beca whispered soft words to Chloe that both comforted her and made her giggle quietly. This was usually her place, she was Chloe's person after all, but somehow it felt okay to step back a little and as Chloe calmed down and looked up at Aubrey with mascara coating her cheeks and an impossibly sad look painted on her face, Aubrey knew that Beca was it now and that was okay.

Beca couldn't meet her gaze as she looked at the pair, but Aubrey understood and simply wiped Chloe's cheeks off with her thumbs as they all stood in the empty church in silence. Once Chloe was sufficiently cleaned up and calm, Aubrey managed a weak smile at them and said "Let's get going. I'm pretty sure that everyone is waiting on us and we need to get this over with."

Aubrey and Beca stood together in the cemetery while the minister spoke to the crowd and Chloe sat with her grandparents in front of the casket. Chloe was unusually still and hadn't cried since they left the church. She hadn't done much of anything else though and as she played with a loose string on the edge of her dress, Beca knew that she was holding it in. That wasn't good and Beca would rather have her upset and crying than this. She couldn't keep this up and eventually she would break and that wouldn't be good either.

Once the minister finished talking he smiled sadly at Chloe and her family and motioned to a group of three soldiers who were standing away from the mourners. One stepped forward and Aubrey held her breath as he folded up an American flag with extreme precision and placed it into Chloe's hands. Chloe thanked the soldier with a small smile and hugged the flag to her chest for a moment before handing it to her grandfather, who cradled it carefully in his arms and blinked back tears.

Chloe's father had served in the army for a few years after graduating from high school and while he hadn't become a career soldier, it had shaped him into the man he was before he went off to college. Aubrey discovered all of this during the first night that she had shared with Chloe in their dorm room, when they had stayed up all night chatting and finding stuff in common. Aubrey was a military brat and it was nice to finally relate to someone who knew how tough it could be to have a parent who was shaped into something cold and strict through the military.

As the three soldiers raised their rifles into the air and shot a bullet, Aubrey felt the noise of the shots ripple through her chest and suddenly it hurt to breathe. As a military kid, she had been to too many of these funerals to even count. She had friends at the base whose fathers had been killed over the years and had been an unwilling participant at these sad events. It had never hit this close to home though and as the bullets rung out and taps was played in the distance, Aubrey allowed herself to break down.

She knew that one day she would be sitting in Chloe's place, listening to the guns being shot in honor of her father and probably being just as broken as Chloe was too. One day she would have to say goodbye to her father and the thought of facing the same situation that Chloe was enduring ripped her heart apart. The thought was too much to bear as she knew that it was absolutely true and as the tears spilt from her eyes and the sob building in her chest choked her, Beca placed a warm hand on her back and rubbed it gently as she broke down into harder cries.

With Beca comforting her and Chloe biting her lip as she struggled to hold back her tears, Aubrey realized that she would have to change her life if she didn't want to be in this situation herself. Something would have to change and she knew that her father would never make the first move, so it would have to be her. One good thing would come from all of this and she wouldn't go through the pain that Chloe was facing. It hurt enough to witness it as a friend and she knew that she wasn't strong enough to go through it on her own. She would change things with her father and maybe, just maybe, that would make things a little less hard for Chloe.

There was one good thing about their insanely expensive hotel room and that was the fact that it overlooked the large pool in the back of the hotel. Beca found herself thankful for this small blessing as she stood with Aubrey on the small balcony of their room and watched Chloe drink away her sorrows as she sat alone by the pool. It was almost nine o'clock and they had an early flight to catch back to Atlanta in the morning, but Chloe didn't seem to care as she dipped her feet in the water and got the bottom of her dress wet as she sipped from the bottle of Jack Daniels that she had swiped from the mini-bar in the room.

"We should stop her, but I don't want to get my head bitten off again. I thought she was going to slug you when you questioned her before and this day…" Aubrey sighed as Chloe took a long swig from the bottle and shook her head in annoyance. "I just want to go home."

Beca laughed bitterly as she took a drink from her bottle of water and murmured "Yeah, I second that. I used to love New York City, but after a trip like this and going through everything that we did... I never want to come back here again." Beca paused, catching Aubrey's gazing and smirking. "This place is officially ruined for me and I'm tired of the people and the noise and the traffic and just…I'm tired of being sad. So, did you really think she was going to hit me? I have far too pretty of a face for her to ever want to hurt me."

"Yeah, I did." Aubrey replied, snorting as Beca just shook her head. "She was really pissed after that dinner and she's just really stressed and I don't blame her for putting that on us. Her grandparents threw her to the wolves there and made her talk to all of those stupid business associates that she had never met before. It was really hard and this one guy, one of his college friends, actually told her that he had no idea that Anthony had a daughter. He said that he never brought her up and I thought she was going to start bawling when he said that. Who says that to someone at their father's funeral?"

"Someone from New York." Beca replied bitterly as she drained the rest of the water from her bottle. "I'm telling you, this place is cursed. So, what did you think of this whole thing? I thought it would be a lot less sad, but seeing her and how much it was hurting her hit me hard. What about you?"

Aubrey nodded as she watched Chloe finish off the bottle of Jack and said "Yeah, it hit me pretty hard too. Especially at the cemetery when they did all of that military stuff. It kind of hit me that I would have to do that one day and I…I don't want to be like Chloe is when I have to bury my dad." She looked up at Beca and smiled sadly when Beca nodded knowingly. "I can't lose him without having a relationship with him and I realized today that I'm going to try to fix things with him. I know that I can't change all the stuff that has happened between us, but I want to at least try to have some kind of relationship with him now. I'm not saying that it'll be functional, but I at least have to try. You know?"

Beca simply nodded as she watched Chloe silently and Aubrey rubbed her shoulder gently as she broke the sad silence again. "Maybe you should give it a try too. I know things aren't that great between you and your dad either but you should take a chance on him. Let him back in and maybe it'll hurt a little less. It's worth a shot and by the way things have already changed between the two of you since you came to Barden, I don't think you're too far away from having a normal relationship with him. It's just a little work and you're lucky to have many more years to work on it with him."

Beca managed a slight grin as tears filled her eyes and Aubrey glanced back down at the pool and grimaced when Chloe reached into her bag for another bottle of alcohol. She shook her head and muttered "I should go and grab her before she passes out into the pool. I'll be right back."

Beca stepped back into the room as Aubrey left and felt an overwhelming desire to call her father. She had been thinking about it since Chloe lost her father two days ago and now seemed like the right time to actually go through with it. As she poured herself and Chloe a cup of coffee from the coffee pot, she dialed her father's number on her phone. When he answered a few moments later, Beca felt a pang of sadness go through her chest and she had to swallow the tears building in the back of her throat as she softly said "Dad, are you busy? I've been wanting to call you and talk, but these last few days have been really hard. How are you?"

Ben smiled at his daughter's voice and he sunk down on a barstool in his kitchen, sipping from his own cup of coffee as he listened to this unexpected caller. He had never expected Beca to call him and while he was overwhelmingly happy to have this happen, he was also nervous about what she had to tell him. He knew of the circumstances that had pulled her away from Georgia for spring break and he hoped that everything was okay with her in New York. Death wasn't easy and Beca hadn't seen a lot of it and he hoped that she was dealing with it okay.

"Um…I'm great." Ben responded, while running a hand through his thick hair, a habit that he had passed on to his daughter. "Sheila and I had a really nice dinner with a friend from work tonight in the city and now I'm just reading the paper and grading midterms. How are you guys doing? When was the funeral?"

Beca sniffled as the tears slid down her cheeks and answered "It was today. Chloe buried him today and she… she's just so sad and I don't know what to do to make her better. She's down at the pool drinking right now and she's been really quiet and sometimes she just snaps at me and Aubrey and it…it hurts so bad. I look at her and I don't even recognize who I'm seeing. We've been together for a year and I don't know who she is anymore."

Beca broke down into heavy sobs as she words spilt off of her lips and Ben tried to comfort her with soft encouragement, but she wasn't hearing them as she just cried harder. Ben finally decided to ditch comforting her and focused on just relating to her. He couldn't be a father right now when all she needed was a friend and a sympathetic ear to open her heart to.

"I'm so sorry, Beca." He soothed while pressing the phone closer to his ear. "I know what Chloe is going through right now and when your grandfather died, I thought that my heart would never stop aching. It hurt so much to bury him and realize that I'll never see him again. He was relatively young, like Chloe's dad, and that makes it so much harder because you expect to have years left with that person and suddenly they're gone." He paused, taking a sip from his cup and blinking back tears as he remembered his own father's death. "You can't push her away though, Bec. She needs you now more than ever and you just have to stick by her side and push her to open up to you and not get offended when she snaps at you. Don't be like me and skip out on her because you're going to regret that for the rest of your life."

Beca watched from the window as Aubrey pulled Chloe to her feet and held her as she discovered that she was crying and felt her own tears start up again. Her father's words were somewhat comforting, but she didn't know if she was strong enough to face this along with Chloe. Her mother had been a rock to her father when her grandfather died and had gotten him through it, but she was nowhere near as strong or compassionate as her mother was and she was scared.

"I think I can do that." Beca assured herself as she dried her tears with the back of her hands. "I love her and you're right, I would regret it if I left her. I can't leave her and I…you can't leave me either. I can't go through what Chloe is dealing with and I need you to promise me that you won't die. I'm not strong enough to face this on my own and I…I'm sorry for how I've treated you since coming to Barden. I want to fix things and I'm starting with this."

Ben felt tears of his own fill his eyes and he bit his lip before saying "I want to fix things too and I promise you that I'm not dying. Not now or anytime in the future. I want to see my little girl make it big out in Los Angeles and I plan to be around to see it. Beca…I've been a pretty bad father and I know that bringing you here and expecting you to just fit in and want a relationship with me was a pretty shitty move. It's a lot to ask of you, but can you forgive me for all of that? Can you forget all of these years and start over with me? It's okay if you can't, but maybe this is how we move on and become a family again."

Beca smiled on her end of the phone and let a calming breathe wash over her as she softly replied "I forgive you, dad. For the divorce and leaving us and for these past two years. I love you and I forgive you."

Beca was laying on her bed when Aubrey brought Chloe back up to the room a half hour later. From the weary look on Aubrey's face and the redness of her eyes, Beca knew that it had been a struggle down there and kicked herself for not going down and helping her. She didn't want to imagine what kind of insults a drunken Chloe could throw at Aubrey, but she figured that they had been unpleasant and shot her a sympathetic smile as Chloe stumbled over the threshold of the room and came crashing down next to Beca on the bed.

She was in a much better mood than before, but Beca knew that it was the alcohol in her system and tried to downplay the predatory smile on Chloe's face and the hands that were wandering over her torso. Somehow, through some miracle of God, Chloe quit touching her and instead threw herself into Beca's side and kissed her cheek as she leaned into her body. Beca wrapped an arm around Chloe's back and softly chortled "No more alcohol for you, Ms. Beale. You're going to pay for this tomorrow."

As the sound of the shower running hit her ears and Beca knew that Aubrey would be busy for a little while, she stroked Chloe's hair and let her hands move a little lower and rest on Chloe's hips. They hadn't been this close since the evening before Sectionals and it felt good to actually have contact with the girl. Chloe hummed contentedly and softly murmured "You're so snuggly, like a teddy bear or something. Can I lay here all night?"

"Of course." Beca answered with a small smile. "I'll hold you all night if that's what you want. I just want you to be happy and I want to be close to you. I love you."

Chloe closed her eyes and whispered "I love you too. Promise me that you'll never leave me. Promise me that you won't die."

"I won't. You're stuck with me forever." Beca replied before placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

As Beca tucked the blankets in around their bodies, she looked down and caught a glimpse of Chloe's dilated eyes. They were dull in the dim of the room and so unfamiliar that they scared Beca. Chloe shut them a moment later though and relaxed against Beca's body as sleep came quickly. As her snores filled the air and Beca listened to them as she stared up at the ceiling, she couldn't help as she worried that maybe she wouldn't be enough. That she wasn't strong enough to get Chloe through this and that maybe it would be for the best if she didn't even try.

She couldn't leave Chloe though and as she slipped into her own dreams, she prayed that she wouldn't lose her girl. That she wouldn't fall out of love as the grief took over Chloe's spirit and personality and that one day she would be able to look at Chloe and recognize the woman that she had fallen head over heels in love with. That their love would be spared as the change effected everything and that they would be okay. That wasn't too much to ask for, right?