Beca was vaguely awake, staring blankly at two uniformed men and a woman all talking loudly to each other, yet she couldn't understand them. They all seemed to be in deep conversation and asking questions, but none of them to her. The pain she had felt all day was intensifying, and she lay on her back, longing to curl her legs up to her chest, but couldn't because she of her obtuse stomach. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she threw it back, clenching her jaw in great pain.
"Beca?! Keep your eyes open hon!" The small, young woman shouted at her, but she couldn't feel strong enough to muster up the strength to do it. The pain was greatly affecting her ability to focus.
Everything was hazy, and not a familiar face in sight, that is until she turned her head. But still even after seeing that face, she could not comprehend what was happening. All she knew was that Chloe was by her side,assuring her that she was going to be okay.
Chloe kept Beca's attention tightly, as one of the men wiped a cool pad of rubbing alcohol on her skin, and pricked a needle into her vein, feeding a tube through her arm. Beca flinched, scowling under her breath as Chloe looked helplessly at her, wishing she could inflict the pain from Beca onto herself.
Beca felt herself go limp, her arms and legs relaxing and her eyes fluttering in pleasure as she slowly let herself go, falling into a deep and temporarily painless sleep.
Chloe paces, tension racking every nerve in her body as she waited for someone with information. Just an hour before she was in the ambulance with Beca, watching as Beca cluelessly fidgeted in pain. She recalls Beca, only half alert on the ride over, moaning in serious pain, cursing meaninglessly under her breath. Chloe had taken her hand in Beca's, trying to distract her from the overwhelming majority of people in the ambulance and all the wires being hooked up to Beca and the baby. And now the last time Chloe saw Beca, she was asleep, and being wheeled into an OR. All that was left was to wait.
The clock ticked irritatingly slow, and Chloe sunk into a waiting room chair, restlessly playing with her hands, wringing them together nervously. Emotionally, she was drained, and she could feel her eyelids droop, but adrenaline from that morning kept her from being able to relax enough to fall asleep.
But Beca, in surgery for the past hour, subconsciously remembered everything that happened in a different way, as in a dream, and she had no idea of the true commotion happening around her as the doctors worked quickly to remove her defective kidney.
Beca thought she had woken up with a bitter taste in her mouth as she looked around the strange environment surrounding her. Chloe was beside her holding her hand as Beca slowly shook the sleepy feeling off of her, and felt semi better.
"It's the morphine, but don't worry, it's in a very small dose." Chloe informed her, noticing the pleased and calm look on the brunette's face.
Beca felt dizzy and nauseas as the effects were somewhat starting to wear off, but still felt slightly better than she had before. Beca still had no idea why she felt so sick before, but was content knowing that Chloe could take care of her and brought her to the hospital where they could get some answers.
"The baby!" Beca suddenly realized with overwhelming concern.
What if the violent episode had disturbed baby Bechloe somehow? Chloe must have sensed her worry because she looked at Beca and squeezed her hand.
"I'm sure no matter what, the baby will be fine." Chloe assures her and Beca sighs, but her relief soon turns to confusion.
"So why was I so sick? Because that was so not morning sickness." Beca groans.
"That's what we're going to find out. But Beca, I'm glad you and the baby are okay. I mean, I couldn't imagine losing one of you, let alone both of you."
"Chloe..." Tears stung the back of her eyes and Chloe leans over her, wrapping her into a hug.
Beca suddenly groans, tears from her eyes starting to pour down her face. The sudden weight of Chloe leaning on her sent that familiar sharp pain through her stomach once again.
"Sorry Becs! Is there anything I can help with?" Chloe asks, as she lifts herself off of Beca.
Beca shakes her head and rolls over to her side. Chloe rubs circles around her back as Beca moans in pain. The doctor walks, frowning with a pen in his hand, tapping it against his right palm. Beca feels his rubbery hand grab her wrist, taking her pulse, and she jumps at the feeling.
"Ms. Mitchell, can you sit up for a sec for me please?" The doctor asks.
Beca hesitates and looks over at Chloe, who immediately offers her a hand. The doctor then reaches over, folding his thumb into his palm, and using his four main fingers to jab the spot right above beca's pelvis on her right side. Beca bent forward, moaning and instantly reaching for her side, waves of pain running through it.
"Can you stand up for me and reach your toes?"
"Are you crazy? I'm pregnant! I can't even see my toes." Beca shoots him a look a dismay.
"Just bend over the best you can." The Doctor sighs.
Beca, with much help from Chloe, obeys the doctor and reaches for her toes, a long stretch being complicated by her belly. But once Beca bends over far enough to see over her belly, the same pain waves follow, and she grabs her side, sitting on the floor.
"Beca, I think you have appendicitis." He finally announces calmly but seriously, scratching his stubbly chin with his pen, and Beca winces at the sound of it.
Chloe's jaw drops as she looks down concerned at the brunette, whose face doesn't change, but instead her lips are pursed and eyes narrowed.
"That's why I feel like this? All this drama just for a useless organ?" Beca asks furiously in disbelief, clenching her teeth from the intensifying pain.
"She can't! She's pregnant! How is she gonna get an organ taken out when she has a baby?" Chloe claims over protectively.
"It's a very common procedure that we've done to plenty of pregnant women before. Appendicitis can affect them too. Pregnant women are more susceptible to disease and infections. The surgery won't take but two hours. And unless it ruptures, there's a good chance she probably won't die." He says smugly.
Beca grabs Chloe's hand and feels the tension leave all at once. She looks trustingly at Beca and can see that she was not fazed by this at all, so given no choice, Chloe nodded at the doctor.
"I'll get the nurses to perform an ultrasound on the baby to make sure it isn't stressed by this."
Beca feels the on call nurse slather cold jelly onto her stomach, and it wasn't until she looked at it, that she realized how big the baby was getting and how big her stomach really was.
"It doesn't look like he's stressed by it at all." The nurse smiles.
"He?" Chloe coos, her worry turning into a relieved smile.
"You didn't know?" The doctor asks, and Beca shakes her head.
"No, we didn't."
"Baby Boy Mitchell ." Chloe repeats, loving the sound of how the three words flowed together.
But Beca had not been awake upon arriving and only dreamt of the baby and everything happening around her at the moment. In fact, she was immediately rushed into surgery, despite looking slightly better, but was a priority considering her baby. And the truth was, neither Beca nor Chloe knew what the baby was, or the condition.
"Chloe Beale?"
Chloe jumps startled, looking at the rosy cheeked woman standing in front of her, and her eyes sparkled, giving Chloe hope of good news.
"Um, sure…" Chloe stuttered.
"Beca will be out of surgery soon, and everything's looking up for her."
Chloe sits up, tension leaving her body as a renewed energy surging over her.
"But…"
Chloe groans, sitting back, preparing for the worst.
"Antibiotics are needed to treat her appendicitis, and you'll need to keep an eye on that baby of yours."
"So, when is the surgery over?" Chloe rings her hands together anxiously.
"She'll be okay in about twenty minutes, then you can see her."
Chloe waited for any inclination that Beca was waking up, while holding the smaller brunette's hand, staring intensely at her unborn baby, wondering if they were disturbed by this violent episode.
"They…" Chloe thought, wondering when the two would find out the gender and stop using the informal term 'they'.
Chloe suddenly felt a light squeeze from Beca's hand and looked over to see Beca glaring at her, her eyes hazy and sensitive to the light.
"Hey Becs," Chloe begins, but is cut off by Beca's hoarse voice.
"Chloe, i'm sorry! I was a real jerk to you." She apologizes sheepishly.
"Do you remember anything that you said or that happened in the ambulance after they gave you the morphine?" Chloe asked.
"No," She replies quietly.
"Beca, you were in pain. It was completely understandable. Your groans were comforting because up until after they gave you the morphine, it was the only sign that you were still with us." Chloe smiles a comforting grin at Beca, taking her hand and squeezing it again.
Beca semi- rolls her eyes in annoyance, then hoarsely laughs. Suddenly, Beca becomes serious again, and looks down at Chloe's hand, flailing it around as she thinks about what she could say.
"Chlo, when we first arrived, did we find out the gender of the baby? A boy?" She asks embarrassed, feeling stupid.
"No, you were taken right into surgery."
"Oh-" Beca utters, silenced from confusion.
"Good news is, you're gonna come home tonight around midnight. They have some antibiotics prescribed for you." Chloe says enthusiastically, trying to change the subject.
Soon a nurse walks in and begins pushing fluids into her iv. Beca looks up and grimaces, her sore body not wanting to take anymore of this. Beca suddenly grabs the nurse's arm and intensely stares at her, all seriousness in her voice.
"The baby? Did you tell me the gender of it before? You know, right before they put me to sleep?" She asks wearily.
"Um, I don't think so. You were already out of it when you arrived, so I don't see how they could've done an ultrasound between the time you arrived and the time they took you into surgery. They only had a heart beat monitor hooked up to you. But if you'd like to know, I'm might be able to pull some strings."
"Yes!" Beca relies tiresome.
"Okay, we'll tell them I'm just doing an ultrasound as a double check on the baby." She winks.
Chloe grabs for Beca's hand, smiling down at her as she runs her fingers over Beca's IV. Beca's hand shakily clasps Chloe's, weakly able to keep hold to it, and Chloe readjusts, grabbing it firmly.
The sound of the baby's heartbeat fills the room, a sound that calmed Beca's racing thoughts, and both girls sighed relieved. The nurse printed out a copy of it and handed it to Beca, who set in beside her on the bedside table.
"We're moving down now!" The nurse says enthusiastically.
"Baby Boy Bechloe." Chloe whispers, loving the way that the words bounced together in an alliteration.
"What?" Beca glared incredulously at her and the nurse laughs.
"That's really cute, but it looks like you're gonna have to reconsider." She informs her, gesturing to the screen as she circles the mouse around the baby.
Though Beca felt slightly terrified, she was thankful for her new little girl. Because with the help of all the other Bella's, she could raise her baby with plenty of help from the others. She was embracing this single mother things, even though the status between her and Jesse wasn't really certain or established.
Chloe on the other hand was beaming, knowing that they had another little future bella on their hands. Someone to love, to be their soul sister, to be born into this tradition, to carry it on. Chloe was ecstatic at the idea, and couldn't wait for the small girl to call her by the name 'Auntie Chloe'. She couldn't wait to help raise this girl to be independent like the rest.
Beca laid back, overwhelmed and still nauseated from the pain meds the nurse had administered through her IV, falling asleep unwillingly.