I was kind of proud of this chapter - hope you like it too. Thank you for reading - and extra special thanks to those who comment and review - it makes sharing this work extra rewarding!
Reminder - I starting writing this universe well before PP3. Most of it fits - Stacie's storyline does not. In my universe, Stacie went to medical school in Georgia and then went to LA to start her residency.
Chapter 3 – Somewhere in the Middle
Yesterday brought the beginning,
tomorrow brings the end,
and somewhere in the middle
we became the best of friends.
~ Anonymous
The next day dawned early. Beca heard her phone going off at seven, just as she'd begrudgingly set it. She groaned. Then she squeaked as she realized Chloe was straddling her – and leaning in to kiss her. Despite her surprise, Beca quickly relaxed and kissed her back, making the most of their official first kiss.
When Chloe finally pulled back, she grinned happily. "I've been waiting a long time to do that."
Beca smiled at her. "Couldn't even wait until we brushed our teeth?" She gazed at the redhead. "And Chloe? Why are you sitting on me?"
"I was a little bit afraid you were going to run away this morning."
Beca shrugged. It was a relatively fair assumption. "We're good," she promised. Her eyebrow raised when Chloe didn't budge. "But I really do have to get up. We have a lot of things to do. And Emily will be up soon." Chloe didn't even shift. Beca paused before continuing, a slight grimace flashing in her features. "And you're kind of sitting on my bladder." Chloe reluctantly tumbled to the side, lying on the bed next to her favorite brunette.
"What can I do?"
Beca considered the question. "Can you call any of the Bellas from the past three years who don't know yet? And find out from the current crop who Emily's other college friends are." Chloe nodded. "Maybe start looking into Katherine's years in the Bellas."
"No problem," Chloe told her with a soft smile. "I spoke to Stacie yesterday – she'll be here this evening. She's kicking herself that she couldn't get here earlier." Beca nodded. The brunette was doing her residency in LA; her schedule was a mess.
"I should get up," Beca said reluctantly. They kissed one more time and then she left – grabbing a change of clothing from her bag and heading to the bathroom. She exited ten minutes later, towel drying her hair as she walked back to the room. Chloe was sitting on the bed, sipping at a cup of coffee. She nodded to a tray on the desk that contained two coffee cups, a carafe, and two muffins. "Thank you," Beca said. She sat down and began brushing her hair, then used a small bit of product to scrunch it into waves.
"You are thinking pretty hard," Chloe said softly, noting the other woman's intense silence and obvious preoccupation. "I'm afraid smoke is going to come out of your ears."
Beca gave her a small smile. "I'm fine."
Chloe shifted so she could look Beca directly in the eye. "We're not doing this," she said. "I'm fine is not an acceptable answer when you're clearly not." She wasn't angry, just insistent.
"What does this mean?" Beca asked, motioning between herself and Chloe. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes cast nervously around the room.
The redhead saw the fear in her eyes and her heart broke a little. She knew how much trouble Beca had with emotions – and this situation had already brought up so many. Them deciding to declare their love for one another – after never even dating – was clearly a lot to take in. Chloe set her coffee down and moved closer, taking Beca's hands. "You are my best friend. Am I your best friend?"
"You are," Beca promised. A slight smirk appeared. "But don't tell Jesse."
Chloe beamed. Joking was a good sign. "We are still best friends. We are going to spend the next few days doing everything we would have done anyway as friends. Now we just get to be a little more."
"Are you going to be more handsy?"
"Oh, you know I will be," Chloe grinned.
Beca blushed and shook her head. "Is it really possible that you can have fewer boundaries?"
"Oh, you better believe it," Chloe said, leaning close to kiss Beca deeply. Then she pulled away, her hand still caressing Beca's cheek. "But we can take our time," she promised.
"What are we supposed to say? If people ask? I'm assuming you're going to want to kiss me when other people are in the vicinity."
"You assume correctly," Chloe said with a chuckle. "Would you like to be my girlfriend, Beca Mitchell?"
Beca met her eyes. "I would love to be. With the understanding that I'm a mess. I'm not kidding, either. I'm a basket case. Have you met me?"
Chloe smiled. "Oh, I've met you. And I'll take the whole package – mess and all. If you are a mess – and I'm not agreeing to that – then you are a beautiful one. So, I guess we have our answer. Are we dating? Yes."
Beca moaned and leaned forward, collapsing against Chloe and several pillows. "Can we just avoid people?"
Chloe stroked her hair and was silent for a moment. "As much as I love you – and don't want to ruin this meaningful moment – think about where you are – and why we're here."
"Shit," Beca muttered. "You're not wrong." She sighed as she sat up. "It's fine."
"We're fine," Chloe agreed with a nod. "I'm going to get ready and go downstairs for breakfast. These girls need some serious life skills. None of them but Emily and Hannah can cook."
Beca smiled. "You go whip them into shape, love." The both froze for a moment and then turned to one another as they realized she'd just used an endearment. A new one that she did not use for other people. Chloe winked, breaking the significant moment. Beca walked to the desk and peered at the muffins.
"What are these?" She asked, flipping one over to examine it.
"What do you think they are?"
"Please, be chocolate chip," Beca stage-whispered.
"Of course they're chocolate chip," Chloe teased. "I know better than to try to feed you something healthy."
Beca turned on her with a very serious expression. "If you ever try to feed me a bran muffin," she said sternly, "then this," she motioned between the two of them, "is over."
"I would never," Chloe said with a laugh. Beca picked up the tray and began walking to the door. "I would just sneak in the bran when weren't paying attention," Chloe said with nonchalance. Beca turned to glare at her and Chloe beamed right back.
Once inside Emily's room, Beca shut the door again and set the tray on Emily's desk. Lifting one of the lids, the fragrant aroma of hazelnut coffee greeted her. Beca poured in her preferred amount of cream and sipped, wrapping both hands around the mug as she gazed out Emily's window.
The town of Barden had not changed much in three years – not terribly surprising. Beca often thought – at first with irritation and then later with adoration – that they were living in a Norman Rockwell painting. The trees were bare of leaves and most houses on the street still had Christmas decorations up. Whether that was a result of cold weather or college students being procrastinators, Beca wasn't sure.
She'd been watching the morning hubbub on the outskirts of campus for twenty minutes when Emily began to stir. Beca gave her space until she sat up. Then she removed the cover from the other cup of coffee and handed it to Emily, who accepted it silently. The older woman set one of the muffins on Emily's bedside table, then sat at the desk and began pulling apart her own muffin.
"How are you feeling?" Beca finally asked, pouring herself another cup of coffee from the carafe.
Emily shrugged. "Numb. I guess it could be worse."
Beca nodded. "So, we need to talk about a few things." Emily watched her with big doe eyes, waiting. "Chloe spoke to the hospital yesterday. We need to go talk to the funeral home and they'll take care of everything with your mom." She paused. "Do you know if she had any will or funeral plans?"
"I don't know," Emily told her. "Probably. She was usually prepared for stuff."
"Do you know where she kept important papers?"
"There's a fireproof box under her bed."
"We need to go look," Beca said softly. Emily nodded. It took another hour to get Emily fed, out of bed, into clean clothes, and out to the car. Beca drove to the house where Emily grew up – about half an hour from Barden. She parked in the driveway and got out, rounding the car to open Emily's door. The taller brunette shakily unlocked the front door and let them in. She went directly to Katherine's room and pulled a heavy-looking box from under the bed. She opened it and Beca saw there was a stack of file folders at the bottom, along with a few jewelry boxes.
Beca withdrew the stack of folders and closed the box again, offering her hand to Emily. She led the younger woman to the kitchen and they sat at the table. Emily was silent as Beca thumbed through the paperwork. "The stuff in the fridge is going to spoil," she said evenly, blankly staring at the large appliance.
Beca looked up at it and then back to Emily. "We'll take care of it. But not today." She continued going through paperwork. She found both a will and arrangements that had been made for a funeral and a gravesite. Katherine had wanted to be buried in the plot adjacent to Emily's dad. Beca put everything else back in the safe and locked it.
She stood in the kitchen, watching as Emily stared. She would occasionally change up what she was staring at, but she stared for long periods of time. "Em, do you need anything else while we're here?"
Emily looked up at her, confused by the suggestion. "Do you have things at Barden to wear to the funeral home and church, that kind of thing?" The younger woman shook her head and walked to another room that Beca immediately saw must have been Emily's bedroom. It was bright and cheerful – remnants of high school everywhere. Emily pulled several dresses from the closet and took a few sweaters from the drawer. They all went into a duffle bag, along with two pairs of shoes and several pairs of tights and stockings. Beca watched, her brain falling into another terrible thought.
"Em?" Emily looked up at her after zipping the bag closed. "Do you want to pick out something to take to the funeral home for your mom?" Emily's eyes widened, glazed over with tears, and she looked horrified. "We can come back later," Beca offered calmly.
But that sounded worse to her, so Emily walked into her mother's room and went into the closet. She came back with several dresses. She decided on one rather quickly and picked up a few pieces of jewelry from the dresser.
Beca drove straight to the funeral home. She could feel that Emily was losing steam, and fast. Beca was not far behind her. Empathy sucked – one of the main reasons she usually tried to hide hers and turn it off. They quickly found themselves whisked off to the office of the funeral director, who did a great job at looking both sympathetic and business-like, in Beca's opinion.
"I'm so sorry for your loss," the woman said sympathetically. "I know what a difficult time this is for anyone – we try to make it as easy as we can." She flipped through the file Beca had handed her. "It looks like your mom took care of just about everything." Emily nodded miserably. They spoke at length about the coffin, the wake, and a million other little things that fell into categories on Sheila's list. For the first time in her life, Beca really wished Sheila was with her. She felt that these discussion and decisions were too much for her, let alone Emily.
"It looks like she requested the funeral itself to take place in the chapel at Barden. You'll want to contact the minister. We can work with him to ensure smooth transitions that day."
"Do you have his contact information?" Beca asked. The woman wrote it down for her. Beca handed over her cell phone number, since Emily had almost completely check out now. She ushered the younger woman back to the car and they returned to the Bella House.
"I'm going to go lay down," Emily said, as soon as Beca pulled in front.
"Will you eat something for lunch first?" Beca asked.
"I'm not hungry," Emily answered.
"I understand that. But you need to – at least something small." Emily rolled her eyes but allowed Beca to direct her into the kitchen. Chloe was making soup and grilled cheese.
"Are you spoiling them?" Beca asked, eyeing the five Bellas who were already at the table, waiting patiently.
Chloe laughed as she glanced back at them. "I take out food – and they appear. It's like magic." Emily went to lay down after lunch while Beca and Chloe stayed in the dining room. Beca called the chapel.
"Hi, may I speak to Reverend Underwood?" She asked.
"He no longer works here," a bored-sounding college student informed her.
"Who is in charge, then?"
"Reverend Aldrich." Beca paused. It couldn't be. Aldrich wasn't an unusual name – was it? Because if it was the only person she knew from Barton with that name, then she was shocked.
"As in, Michael?"
"Yes," the girl said. "Do you want me to get him?"
"Please," Beca responded. Her head was reeling. She knew him. He had been a friend of Jesse's in undergrad. He was more the weed head type than the religious type.
"Hello, Minister Aldrich speaking."
"Hey, Mike. This is Beca Mitchell."
"Beca! How's it going? How's Jesse?"
"Jesse's fine," she promised, watching in amusement as Chloe's ears perked up from her seat at the table. "He's happy in LA with his girlfriend and their cat."
"Oh. Sorry to hear you're not together. You guys always seemed great together." He paused. "And Jesse always struck me as a dog kind of guy."
"We're still friends. And she likes cats," Beca responded. "Since when did you become the master of the chapel?"
"I like to refer to myself as a minister or the reverend. Master sounds too pompous," Mike said in a teasing voice. "I worked as an associate minister right out of college – led a few missions, then came back here when the full time gig opened up."
"So the guy who was smoked weed every weekend, all weekend, is now seeing to the spiritual needs of the students at Barden?"
"I have no idea what you're talking," Mike said. "But yeah, I run the campus ministry. We do retreats, have a few different youth groups, volunteer service, spiritual counseling, church services every weekend. It's a good time."
"None of that sound like a good time in my book," Beca assured him. "But I'll take your word for it. Hey, I'm calling for a reason."
"I figured as much."
"Have you ever met Emily Junk?"
"Of course," he said. "Emily comes to vespers most weekends. She and the Bellas do a lot of volunteer work. She usually drags the Trebles along with her."
"Sounds about right," Beca told him. "Unfortunately, her mom died a day and a half ago."
"I am so sorry to hear that. What can we do?"
"Katherine, her mom, was a Bella. She loved Barden. In the directions from her will, it seems that she wanted her funeral service in the chapel. Is that even a thing? It looks like she spoke to someone – but not someone recent."
Michael cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'll be honest – funerals aren't my usual gig. But I know we've done them for alumni in the past. I'd be happy to do that for Emily, if that's what she wants. I'll check with the pastor from First Episcopal. He can help since it's not something I've done." They spoke for another half an hour and traded a wide breadth of information before making an appointment to get together that afternoon.
The meeting with Mike did not go well – Emily was no longer in the mood to be nice. Beca was surprised at some of the snappy responses. But they worked around it and settled on details. Back at the Bella house, Therese and Ellie – two sophomore Bellas – served a dinner that Chloe had overseen the creation of. They were quite proud of themselves for accomplishing lasagna.
"We should practice tonight," Hannah said, gently, to Emily. Nationals were two weeks away. Although she didn't want to be crass, she also knew that several of the girls would start to backslide on the routine if they took too much of a break. And they were getting antsy without Emily's usually cheer. They needed to do something.
"You should," Emily responded, not looking up from her plate – where she'd barely touched her food.
"Do you want to come? I know it's not important right now – but it might get your mind off things for an hour or two –"
"No," Emily said briskly. "Excuse me." She stood and left the table. They heard her ascend the stairs.
Hannah looked crushed. "She needs time," Chloe told her. "But you're right. It would help to get everyone's mind off of things. You should go." The girls did the dishes while Chloe and Beca sat in the living room, coffee cups in their hands.
Within half-an-hour, the girls were gone. Ten minutes after that, the doorbell rang. Beca glanced out the living room curtains and smiled before walking to the door. She allowed Stacie inside and the tall brunette insisted on hugs all around.
"Where's Em?"
"Upstairs," Beca said. "It's been a long day. She's tired and understandably grouchy."
Stacie nodded. "How is she doing, overall?"
"Better than I would be," Chloe said. "She's keeping it together." Stacie nodded.
"I'm gonna go up," she said. She left them and walked up the stairs. Chloe and Beca sat together quietly for another few moments, then went their separate ways. Beca wandered the house before going to the front porch.
Despite the chill in the air, Beca enjoyed her time on the porch. The swing had always been one of her favorite places to sit and think. In the days she had time to sit and think. That had mostly disappeared after Junior year. She watched the sky turn shades of pink and orange as the sun sank lower. After almost an hour of treasured solitude, the door opened and Beca watched Stacie exit with a blanket under her arm and two cups of coffee. Beca accepted one with an appreciative smile and moved over a bit so Stacie could sit with her and cover them both in the fluffy blanket. She slipped her headphones to her neck and paused her music.
"Decaf?" She asked, holding up the mug.
"I've met you before and it's nighttime. Of course it is," Stacie responded, settling in. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine," Beca said quickly.
Stacie offered her a half smile. "You're not good at taking care of yourself even when you're not focused on someone else. Try to remember to be good to you."
"I'm doing ok," Beca promised. "Are you using your six weeks of psychiatry rotation to study Emily?"
"Emily wears her heart on her sleeve. No need for a formal education to figure out that kid. She seems to be doing okay, considering the circumstances."
"She doesn't have anyone left," Beca said mournfully.
"She's a Bella," Stacie reminded her. "She has plenty of people. She has a house full right now." They fell quiet for several minutes, sipped coffee, and studied the night sky. "What's going on with you and Red?"
"How the hell do you know about it already?" Beca asked. "You've barely been in Georgia for three hours."
"You look different," Stacie told her, smirking.
"I do not accept that as an answer," Beca retorted. "Seriously, did Chloe tell you?"
"Seriously, I'm more observant than most. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's not true." Beca groaned and shook her head at her friend's words.
"You're impossible."
"So, you're official?" Beca nodded to answer Stacie's question. Of course, the leggy brunette moved right into territory that made Beca go bright red. "How's the sex going to work? Have you talked to Chloe about it?"
"No," Beca said in a huff. "And I'm not talking to you about it right now either. I'll figure it out."
"Tell her the truth," Stacie warned. "Don't play games. She's not going to care, as long as you're honest."
"I will figure it out," Beca repeated tightly. Stacie changed the subject until the conversation began flowing smoothly again and they were able to spend time catching up. It was dark – and getting almost too cold to be there anymore – when they saw a familiar car pull up in front of them.
They both set aside their mugs and stood up to greet Jesse and Benji, who exited the car. Hugs all around. Benji's eyes were rimmed in red. "How is she?"
"As good as can be expected, considering," Beca told him. "She's pretty calm. Why don't you go upstairs and check on her? I was about to do it – but you should see her."
Benji shook his head, offering a distraught expression. "I'm not even sure if I should be here. I don't want to be in the way – "
"Dude," Beca said firmly, "you are one of Emily's best friends. You should be here – no matter what the romantic relationship status is. This is not the time to second guess your friendship, got it?"
Benji nodded. "You're right. I just – if she has someone else – I don't want to complicate the situation."
"She doesn't," Beca told him. "And she's not going to, Benji. She's been waiting for graduation." Emily had been heartbroken in her sophomore year when Benji had called off their long-distance relationship. He had done it out of a misguided attempt to give her freedom. He wanted her to spend time in college dating and being open to new guys. He didn't want her to regret not knowing her other options. Emily had not, at first, enjoyed the freedom. She had later appreciated his thoughtfulness and made him promise that – if she hadn't found another prince charming by graduation – they could stop the silliness and get back together.
"You think?" Benji asked.
"I know," Beca told him firmly. "Please, go upstairs before I smack you."
"She smacks out of love," Stacie teased. "Go on, Benj. She'll be glad you're here." Jesse gave him a hearty pat on the back. He looked anxious, but eventually went inside and up to Emily's room.
Thank you for reading! Please do share your thoughts. What did you like? Favorite moments? Least favorite? Any lines stand out? Anything you're hoping to see?
