A Thousand Years
Sitting around the fire they had found their song, well really the Bella's sound, but to Chloe it was their song, her and Beca's. She knew it was weird having the cups song as their song but Chloe knew that was when she fell in love with Beca.
Yes they had another song "Titanium" which Beca classed as their song and often joked about the shower incident, and yes it had stirred something in Chloe when her and Beca sang Titanium in the shower naked, but it wasn't until Beca sat in front of her singing "Your gonna miss me when I am gone" that Chloe really knew.
Chloe had spent three years waiting for Beca. She had failed Russian Lit so that she could stay at Barden. She had told everyone that she was staying at Barden because she wanted to stay with the Bellas. That was partially true but the main reason she stayed was for Beca. She loved Beca so much and didn't know what she would do without her in her life, so she stayed and only Aubrey knew the truth.
Chloe missed Aubrey badly, they talked all the time and Chloe needed an outlet for her frustrations but it was not the same as having Aubrey right there to wrap her arms around Chloe while she cried herself to sleep. It was Chloe who had told Aubrey that the Bellas had lost their way, although Aubrey didn't need to be told, she had been keeping a close eye on what was happening. And it was Aubrey's idea for them to come to her retreat to try and help.
Chloe had spent two years, well three if you include the year Aubrey was there doing nothing but talking about her feelings towards Beca. At first Chloe had been scared to tell Aubrey about her feelings because she knew how Aubrey felt towards Beca, but it just got too much for her. And after a night of crying Aubrey finally got her to open up.
Beca and Chloe had been dancing around for years with their feelings. Well that was how Chloe seen it. They were close, as close as two people could get without sleeping with each other. Well they did often sleep together but not sleep, sleep together. These nights were really hard on Chloe, to have Beca right next to her, holding her in her arms while they slept but not be able to act on it. She wanted too, god she wanted too, but what if she did and she lost Beca forever. She just couldn't do it.
And Beca, well she just continued to play it safe and stay with Jessie. Chloe decided that this is why Beca stayed with Jessie because he was really, really boring, dull, an idiot and this whole list of other descriptions that made Chloe feel better when she talked about him to Aubrey.
Chloe knew in her heart, not just in her heart but every fiber of her being that she was meant to be with Beca.
At the camp fire, Chloe finally made the decision to graduate. So after all the Bellas went off to bed, Chloe stayed up to talk to Aubrey. She stayed really quite thinking about the look she saw in Beca's eye when she sang their song. It was there, she could see it and feel it to her bones. Yet last night when she suggested that they should experiment, Beca had just told her she was weird. Ok Beca could have taken it as a joke since Chloe did say it in a tent full of Bellas, but Chloe meant it. She knew things were coming to an end and she didn't want them too.
Finally Chloe spoke "What am I going to do?"
"What do you want to do?" asked Aubrey
"I want her to know how I feel."
"Then tell her."
"What if she doesn't love me back?"
"Are you serious? Did you see the way she was looking at you? She was feeling it too. But you haven't exactly told her how you feel."
"I have tried to show her."
"But that is not the same as telling her. I think you just need to come out and say it. No more messing around, you are running out of time."
"What if I left it too late?"
"It's only too late if you have given up, and I know you haven't. So do something about it."
"Will you help? I have an idea."
"Anything, I just want you to be happy."
"Ok, I will need the help of the other Bellas as well. Can you send me and Beca on a team building exercise, just the two of us and that way you can fill the other Bellas in on what's happening. You could get them organized and do it with them and when the time, I will jump in and take you place."
"Sure "
Aubrey did what Chloe asked and organized a fake treasure hunt that would take them a couple of hours to complete. That would give her enough time to organize the other Bellas. She split all the girls into two and paired Chloe and Beca together. She sent them off first so that Beca wouldn't know that the other girls weren't on the treasure hunt.
Chloe was really nervous walking around on this fake treasure hunt. Beca kept trying to make conversation as they walked around but Chloe only managed to make stupid noises as a sound of response. Chloe knew she was about to put everything on the line but she also knew she was running out to tomorrows. So she had no choice.
Beca was worried that her and Chloe were still not ok. I mean Chloe was acting all weird. Chloe could hardly put two words together and normally when they walked, Chloe's arm would be linked in hers and you could hardly get her to shut up. So on their way back Beca grabbed Chloe's hand and turn her till they were facing each other.
"Chloe are we ok?" asked Beca
"Sure why wouldn't we be." Chloe replied but wouldn't meet Beca's eyes.
"Really because it doesn't feel like we are."
"Sure we are, we are aca cool."
"I know I really hurt you by hiding the internship from you, but I didn't mean to hurt you. Which is stupid because I only hid it from you so I wouldn't hurt you, and I ended up hurting you anyway."
"I know and it's fine, really."
"Are you scared of leaving?"
"Yes I am. I am going to miss the Bellas so much and I will miss being a Bella. It has been such a big part of my life for so long."
"I know but we will all stay in contact. I mean we are Bella sisters."
Chloe's eyes start to well up with tears and says "It's just, I am going to miss you most of all scarecrow."
Beca steps forward and hugs Chloe in and replies into Chloe's ear "You can't get rid of me that easily. Do you think I would just let you walk out of my life? You have been a big part of my life since that night you walked into my shower. I will never let you go."
Chloe almost whispers "Things can change?"
"Nothing will change Chloe, you are my closest friend and you do could never do anything to change that. I mean you stuck by me and I am a criminal and all" Beca laughs
Chloe steps back feeling more nervous now than before but laughs at Beca's attempt to lighten the mood.
"Let's go and see if the other Bellas are back." Chloe says grabbing Beca's hand, wondering if this is the last time she will ever get to do that.
When they got back to the hall all the Bellas were there including Aubrey. Once Chloe and Beca walked in the door, Aubrey starts to arrange the Bellas into a semi circle facing two chairs that were placed in the middle of the room. Then she lights up the candles that they are holding and glances at Chloe. Chloe looks at Beca and gives her a big hug then takes her hand and walks her over to the chairs. Beca sits wondering what's going on. Chloe starts to walk to her place in front of the Bellas but when she walks pass Aubrey, Aubrey reaches up and gives Chloe's arm a small reassuring squeeze. Aubrey then takes the other seat next to Beca but sits it just a bit behind so that Beca knows this is just for her.
Beca says to Aubrey "What's going on?"
Aubrey replies "Just watch."
The Bellas start to harmonize, and Chloe turns to them and gives them a smile, hopefully enough of a smile so that they knew that she really appreciates what they are doing for her. She takes a deep breath and turns to face Beca. Then she starts…
Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall
But watching you stand alone
All my doubts suddenly goes away somehow
One step closer
Chloe takes a small step forward
I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
Time stands
Beauty in all she is
I wil be brave
I will not let anything take away
What's standing in front of me
Every breath
Every hour has come to this
One step closer
Chloe takes another step
I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I lave loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
And all along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
One step closer
Another step
One step closer
Now she is standing right in front of Beca
I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
All along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
Beca couldn't take her eyes off Chloe and Chloe's eyes never leave Beca's.
When Chloe stopped singing the other Bellas blew out their candles and just headed out the door. None of them said anything because they knew this wasn't about them, this was something bigger. Aubrey waited till all the girls had left and then got up from her chair. This time she gave Beca's shoulder a quick squeeze and left as well.
It took a few minutes of them just looking at each other before Beca finally found words that would come out of her mouth. "Chloe I don't know what to say?"
Chloe looks at her pleadingly and says "Tell me you feel it too?"
Beca sits and thinks for a little bit before she can answer, Chloe doesn't know what to do with herself so she takes the seat next to Beca.
"Look Beca, I am sorry if this makes things weird between us, but I needed you to know. I have tried to hide how I feel about you for years and I have tried to show you too without really showing you and now there is about two months left at school and only a month till the World Titles and I couldn't go any longer without you knowing how I feel."
"So" Beca starts "Are you telling me that you are in love with me?"
"Yes I have been since I first met you. I know that is a little weird but I have been."
"And you never said anything?"
"I was scared of losing you."
Beca thinks for a little bit again. Her minds starts racing through images of the two of them over the last few years. She realizes that every happy feeling she has ever had was when she was with Chloe or if something good happened to her it was Chloe that she always rang first, or if she was upset it was Chloe's arms she wanted. Jessie always just seemed to be an afterthought. It was always Chloe first. Beca shakes her and in disbelief. How could she have been so stupid?
Chloe sees Beca thinking and doesn't want to press her because she knows she has just heaped a whole lot of stuff on her, but when she sees Beca shaking her head, her heart drops and she gets up from her chair to leave before the tears start to fall.
Beca reaches out and grabs Chloe's hand to stop her. She stands up as well and looks at Chloe.
"Are you sure about this?" Beca asks Chloe
"I have never felt so sure about anything. I love you Beca. I am in love with you. And even if you don't feel the same way, I'll understand but it won't change how I feel, because I feel like I have loved you for a thousand years and that I will for a thousand more, that why I picked this song. So you knew that this is real for me even though it's really corny"
Beca says "I am going to do something now and I don't want you to stop me ok?"
Chloe just nods her head scared of Beca just walking out the door and she had just agreed not to stop her.
Beca takes a step into Chloe and puts one of her hands on Chloe's check and leans in and kisses her. It only takes a second for Chloe to realize that Beca is kissing her and she leans into it and grabs Beca around her waist to pull her in tighter. The kiss is strong and passionate and they only pull away when they could no longer breathe.
"So that was um hot" says Beca
Chloe just nods with a stupid grin on her face. Beca can't help herself, she smiles too. So they kiss again. But this time Beca pulls out of the kiss first and says "We really should talk about this?"
'We really should" replies Chloe
"I'm with Jessie"
Chloe frowns and nods. "Do you want to be with him?"
"I don't know. I care for him, I do, I even love him but I am not in love with him and have never been in love with him, so no. I never realized that it was you. It was always you. You're the one that I turned to if I was down or the one I ran to if there was something I needed to show or something to share. It really was always you. I knew that I loved you and on some deeper level I guess I knew that there was more too it, more than just friendship. I was scared of what it could mean. I was scared of having a label, scared of losing you. I was just so scared of everything. No one in my life has meant as much to me as you do. I mean no one but you has ever gotten me to share. Either my food or my bed. Even Jessie, I would never let him stay the night because I didn't want to wake up with him. I thought it was just because of how I felt about my dad. But you, waking up next to you with your arms around me always started my day off the right way. How could I have been that stupid?"
"So what do we do now?"
"Well like I said, we should talk and then I will need to talk to Jessie because now that I can finally see the truth and the truth is that I love you too, it would be really unfair to act on this until I talk to Jessie. Oh yeah and you are not going to be an exotic dancer, not now, not ever even though I think you would be really good at it"
"Ok" Chloe says with a smile back on her face. "Can I get one more kiss because I waited for so long and now that I have had a taste it is going to be even harder to wait until I can do it again?"
Beca leans in again and captures Chloe's lips with her own. They decide not to go back to the tent and sit up all night talking, holding hands and leaning against each other. They were scared that if they fell asleep, that they would wake up and it would all be just a dream. The sun started to come up as they were still sitting there holding each other's hands, and both of them thought it was the most beautiful sunrise they had ever seen. Then the other Bells started to stir, Chloe looked at Beca and asks "Are you sure you want to do this?"
And Beca replies "I have never been surer of anything."
When they were leaving the retreat both Beca and Chloe were the lasts to say goodbye to Aubrey. Chloe hugs her and says "Thank you" and Aubrey hugs her back.
Chloe goes to get on the bus and Aubrey pulls Beca into a hug which surprises Beca. "If you hurt her I will tear out your vocal chords all by myself, I won't need a pack of wolves"
Beca hugs back and says "I will tear out my own if I do. I love her Aubrey, I won't hurt her." Aubrey gives her one last squeeze and let's go.
Beca climbs on to the bus and takes a seat next to Chloe, she is tired from being up all night talking and has almost dozed off when Fat Amy says "She wear you out short stuff, I heard gingers were wild in the sack."
Beca picked up a jumper and threw it at Fat Amy's head.
It was a busy month heading towards the Worlds, between practice, organizing all the arrangements and her internship Beca hadn't had a chance to talk to Jessie. In fact she sort of forgot about him all together. When she wasn't at work, she was with the Bellas practicing or she would collapses at Chloe's from just pure exhaustion after work. It was just because of that because now she knew the truth, there was no place that she wanted to be. Beca only went back to her own dorm to pick things up she needed because she no longer slept there.
Chloe never asked about Jessie or pushed Beca into dealing with that situation because she knew Beca loved her and that they were going to be together. And in a way they were, they were together all the time, and slept with each other nearly every night because after practice they were so tired that they just fell asleep. They hadn't been intimate with each other which was making Chloe a little bit antsy, but she knew that Beca would need to take her time. Realizing that she had these feelings was new to Beca so she was going to let her set the pace. Chloe had waited this long, she knew that she would be willing to wait however long it took.
Copenhagen was beautiful, and Beca was go glad that she got to share this with Chloe and the other Bellas. And on the first night there they went out for dinner and had a few drinks. Not too many because they still had to get up and practice. So her and Chloe headed back to their room and settled in. They laid in each other arms talking excitedly about their performance until Beca leaned up and kissed Chloe. Chloe kissed her back, it was something they did now before they went to sleep but this kiss was different. Beca's kisses had a need in them and when her hands started to roam around Chloe's body, Chloe melted into her touch.
They made love to each other for the first time and it was everything that Chloe had hoped it would be. They both slept well for the first time in a month, worn out and tired but both completely satisfied. No more hoping, no more dreaming. The love of her life was in Chloe's arms and she couldn't be happier. All her dreams had come true.
They rocked at the World's and won. Their first instinct was to run towards each other and hug, they were jumping up and down in each other's arms. Life could not get any better. They saved the Bellas, beat DSM and were in love. It wasn't until somehow over the noise of the crowd they could hear someone calling out "BECAW" that they knew that Jessie was there. Chloe looked at Beca and Beca shook her head and said "Shit"
"What is he doing here?" asks Chloe
"I forgot to tell him."
"Um well that's probably a conversation you should have had with him before he flew half way around the world to see you." Chloe said annoyed.
"I know Chloe, I am so sorry. I really haven't talked to him since we got back from Aubrey's and I just thought well you know, that he would have just guessed."
"You really should have talked to him, it's not fair on me or Jessie."
"I know and again I am sorry but I will put it right, I promise. I love you and want to be with you and I will tell him tonight."
So after the Competition ended Beca went to met Jessie. She felt bad about what she was going to do but she knew that leaving it any longer was unfair to him and to Chloe. She never meant to be a cheater. In her mind they had already broken up and her need to be with Chloe gotten the better of her. She knew that when she broke it off with him, which was going to definitely be tonight, that telling him why, that she was in love with Chloe would not go down very well. And there was the fact that he had travelled half way round the world to support her.
So she took him to a small café and started talking, She told him that although she was glad he had come, he should have told her he was coming so that she could have saved him some money. She explained that although she loved him and would always love him, she was not in love with him. Jessie tried to convince her that she was just tired and she didn't know what she was saying. Beca hadn't told him that there was someone else and that the someone else was Chloe, she figured that just ending it would be hard enough. When the café had closed they had moved outside to keep talking. Jessie kept pushing and pushing, telling her that when she wasn't so tired, she would see things more clearly and when they got home things would go back to normal.
She snapped finally, and she said "Look Jessie I am really sorry, but I am not in love with you, I am in love with somebody else."
"Who"
"It doesn't matter who, I am just really sorry ok. I never meant to hurt you, I really didn't."
"Why are you lying to me, you do love me, I know you do."
"And your right I do, but I don't love you they way that you have always loved me. I thought that your love would be enough for the both of us, but it isn't."
"Then tell me who this great love of your life is?"
"No"
"If it's such a great love why aren't you shouting it from the roof tops?"
"Because it doesn't matter who it is, it just matters that it's not you."
"It matters to me."
"Why?"
"Because no one could love you as much as I do Beca."
"I know how much you love me and I am sorry that I am hurting you."
"Then just tell me who it is and I will let it go?"
"I really don't think that's a good idea?"
"I should at least get to know what guy stole my girl from me."
Beca shakes her head "It's not a guy."
"What"
"It's not a guy, it's a girl."
"Um?"
"Now can we drop this?"
"Is it Chloe?"
"Yes"
"Well um, I don't know what to say?"
"There is nothing to say."
"Can't I fix this? Us?"
"No, there is nothing to fix. I am in love with Chloe and there isn't anything I can do about it. And I don't want to do anything about it. I am happy, truly happy for the first time. I didn't know that I was in love with her Jessie. If I had known, I would never have put you both through this. I really didn't mean for you to get hurt. I really care about you a lot, and I hope at some point you will be able to forgive me."
"Does she love you back?" Jessie asks already knowing the answer.
"Yes."
Jessie finally knows he has lost. He can't fight against Chloe. If it was another guy, he might have stood a chance to win her back but not Chloe. He knew that Beca and Chloe shared a special bond that most people would never understand, he didn't understand. He just thought they were best friends but he was wrong. He tried to think about it as if it was a movie, because movies were something he could understand. Jessie forgot that every movie has a sub plot and when he thought about it and played the last few years in his head, he realized that he was never meant to the hero in the movie, he was the distraction. Chloe was the hero, the one who patiently waited for the princess to realize she was the one. After he finally accepted what had happened, he headed off to his hotel.
Beca had been gone for hours and Chloe was frantically pacing the room she shared with Beca. Chloe mind was racing, she started to think that maybe Beca had gone back to Jessie and to his room and they were there laying in each other's arms, Jessie kissing the lips that she wanted to be kissing, touching the skin she needed to be feeling under her soft touch.
The high she had been feeling since the win was finally wearing off and fact that Beca hadn't come back, and all the thoughts that went with why Beca hadn't come back was taking its toll on Chloe. She was getting tired. She decided to jump in the shower to try and clam herself down.
As she stood under the warm flow from the shower head she heard a noise behind her. She turned to see Beca smiling at her. Chloe tried to cover herself and Beca laughed.
"What?" Chloe says
"Since when do you cover yourself?"
"Since I don't know if it's my girlfriend seeing me naked or a friend?"
"It never worried you before."
"Well it does now."
Beca starts taking off her clothes very slowly, knowing that Chloe is watching very closely. She steps into the shower and grabs Chloe around the waist.
"How would you feel if I said your girlfriend? Asks Beca
"I would feel extremely happy. Are you saying you're my girlfriend? "
"Yes if you will have me?"
"Oh I will have you, over and over again."
"Which one of our songs should we sing?
"Which one, I thought we only had one" says Chloe.
"We have Titanium, now we also have A Thousand Years but I think I want to sing the other one"
"What other one?"
"You don't fool me Beale, the song that made you fall in love with me"
Chloe blushes and said "How did you know?"
"I sang that song hoping to make you notice me. I obviously made the right choice." Beca smiled.
"Yes you did."
Chloe pulled Beca to her and knew that this time, she was never going to have to her let go.