A/N: I know it's been a while. And it's a short chapter, too. But it's a prelude to something longer, hopefully. And hopefully it won't take me so long to write it. I confess I'm out of my depth here - but I still hope you like.
When Beca walked into the open kitchen the next morning, she looked at two well-rested ex-Bellas who were having their first cup of coffee.
"Morning," Chloe beamed at her.
"Myeah," Beca grumbled and Aubrey chuckled quietly.
"Someone's got a hang-over?" she asked bemusedly while the short brunette poured herself a cup and then leaned against the kitchen counter, eyes closed. She took a couple of small sips from the hot brew before she answered.
"Among other things," she said and looked at the two other women who seemed quite cozy, the sense of them being a couple stronger now as they were in their own home. This didn't necessarily involve touching or looking at each other, it was a mere feeling of contentment, of commitment that surrounded them and Beca wasn't at all ready to dwell on this sight. "Wasn't I supposed to make pancakes for breakfast?" she asked Chloe.
"Well, we were actually waiting for you to get up. We haven't eaten yet, so if you're game..."
"Oh, I'm game," Beca readily agreed, maybe even too readily. She was stalling on them talking and they were all aware of it, and at least Aubrey didn't mind Beca's tactic at all. They had talked earlier, Chloe telling her girlfriend about the conversation she had had with Beca the night before. While Chloe was quite happy about the outcome, Aubrey couldn't even begin to think about what it all meant. She was confused - to say the least. Her conservative, army-based upbringing had surely not prepared her for this. Then again, it hadn't prepared her for fallling in love with another woman either - and that, at least, felt very right now that she had had time to get comfortable.
Aubrey watched Beca while she contemplated all this, the brunette being too engrossed in her preparations for breakfast to notice. But Chloe noticed. She looked from one woman to the other, wondering if she was doing the right thing to pursue this. Was she being selfish? Did she make this all about herself and her desires for both her friends? She only wanted to be happy but she also wanted Aubrey and Beca to be so - were these wishes incompatible, was she wrong to even try? No, she had to try, that was the whole point. She couldn't give up on something that she felt could work for all of them, make all of them happy.
"I hope you guys are hungry, I'm not even sure I can eat any of this," Beca told them over her shoulder while she was busy stirring the batter.
In the end, Beca did eat her fair share of pancakes and it wasn't even part of her tactic to stall on 'the talk.' Her stomach wasn't sensitive that way, the queasyness would stay with her until the afternoon but it wasn't bound to get worse than when she woke up. They ate at the kitchen table and when they finished, Aubrey stood to clean the kitchen, Beca stood to escape to the guest room. Chloe silently wondered if she would have to strong-arm them into talking, they could both be so stubborn.
"I want to talk," she said before Beca could make her escape and the two other women looked first at her then at each other before they focused on harmless things, the kitchen sink, the table. "In the living room, please," Chloe asked. Her eyes went to Aubrey who nodded silently and then to Beca who set her jaw. In this moment they all wondered if she would just go into the guest room, get her things and leave forever. But then she looked up at Chloe, saw the pleading in her eyes and she felt every ounce of resistence leave her body. She nodded and they went into the living room.
Chloe had thought about it all - not just since last night. Ever since she had felt her feelings for Aubrey deepen, she wondered where her feelings for Beca fell in all this. She had expected them to go away but they hadn't. She had thought her feelings for Aubrey might turn out to be a fling but they weren't. To know that these two extraordinary women reciprocated her feelings - it was amazing. But it couldn't all be about her, she couldn't be in the middle of everything or this would turn into a Tennessee Williams drama without the Southern accent. She sat down on the couch and Aubrey took the seat beside her, Beca - not surprisingly - chose to sit in one of the armchairs.
"Okay, so... I know this is a little weird but... we're all friends, right? I mean, we should be able to talk about it, right?" Chloe looked from Aubrey to Beca but neither was looking at her. The redhead heaved a deep sigh, then she chuckled. "No drama like lesbian drama," she said and this seemed to actually lighten the mood. Beca barked a short laugh and Aubrey smiled.
"Yeah," Beca said. She looked up at Aubrey. "I'm not trying to steal your girlfriend, Bree," she then said earnestly and the mood swung once again. Aubrey blinked her eyes in surprise.
"I know that, I guess," she said haltingly. "I mean, I didn't think you would... just..." Aubrey stopped talking. Had this bothered her? She hadn't actively thought about it but it now felt like it had been on her mind, like she had been afraid that this would happen. "It's so... weird. I mean, I knew you guys were into each other. I think everybody knew, even Jesse..."
"Oh, he knew," Beca confirmed Aubrey's words. "He was jealous of Chloe, of all of you, the Bellas. He knew I'd rather spent time with you guys than with him. God, it should have been clear to me, I know. I just... I wasn't ready to admit..."
"No need to apologize for that, Beca. I know exactly how you felt," Aubrey said and Beca looked into her green eyes. Yes, Aubrey knew how hard it was to face one's feelings - but they had both found Chloe to be irresistible. Beca nodded.
"You know I think it's great that... you... came out. I'm proud of you," the brunette finally said what she felt she should have told Aubrey the night before.
"You just wish I had fallen for someone else?" Aubrey asked. There was no censure in her voice, at least she hoped there wasn't.
"I think you guys are great together, Bree, really... I'm happy for you," but there was also sadness in her dark blue eyes and she knew both her friends could see it.
Aubrey smiled. She looked at Beca for a good long while and she felt her insides falter. She had been so wrong about Beca. She wasn't that wise-crack bad-ass she liked to show the world. Beca was effortlessly kind and good-natured. She was also talented, knew music better than anybody Aubrey knew. And then there was that goofy smirk she sometimes wore, her big blue eyes - so expressive.
Beca looked back at Aubrey and she, too, felt some of what had confused her so the day before. A pull toward the slender blonde that had nothing to do with her feelings for Chloe yet everything to do with who Aubrey was. And it once again surprised her and her thoughts tumbled all around in her head - her look turned pleadingly to Chloe.
"I know," the redhead simply said and Beca let her breath out in a huff.
"What does it mean?" Beca asked.
"It means that you like her."
"Do you like me?" Beca asked Aubrey although she already knew the answer. Their eye-contact had been intimate, it hadn't been about two friends simply looking at each other. Aubrey blushed a becoming shade of pink but nodded her head, she looked at her hands.
"I think you should go out," Chloe said into the tension these kind of confessions elicited. Her companions looked at her.
"Go out?" Beca asked.
"As in a date?" Aubrey specified and Chloe nodded. She smiled at her friends.
"You guys like each other. Maybe we should see how far this liking goes before... we do anything else or say... things."
Beca scratched her head, looking at Chloe for a long moment then at Aubrey. There were a lot of things she felt, there had always been things she had felt around both of them. Given, her feelings for Aubrey had changed a lot since their first meeting. At times they seemed to have bordered on hate, then she was simply frustrated with her, then there was empathy, sympathy and now... she was always so amazed at her strength... and then there was that bright smile, her enthusiasm was contagious... but was that enough? Enough for what? To date? To kiss? To maybe fall in love?
"Would you go out with me, Bree?" Beca heard herself say. There was curiosity in her voice and a dare. Did she even know what she was doing?
Aubrey looked at her intently, probing if she meant it.
"Okay," she finally answered. Then she grinned: "But no funny business, Mitchell. And we're going to watch a movie. And I'm picking it. And you're gonna pay for it. I'm not cheap you know," she told the brunette who laughed.
"But easy, right?" Beca gave back and they returned to their usual verbal sparring.
"Oh, you wish," Aubrey said. "For serious, though...," she sobered "this has to be about us, not Chloe."
Beca looked from the blonde to the redhead. They were both looking at her as if she was the one with the power to decide everything, as if she knew what was going on. She didn't. She was too confused. But she nodded her head. Going out with a leggy blonde who had a wicked sense of humor and an infectuous laugh wouldn't be a hardship. It might be fun. It might be more than fun. Did she have to think about all the things this could be? Now?
"It's a date," she told Aubrey and the blonde grinned.
"It's a date."
