A/N: Written for Bechloe Week. Prompt #3 - Celebrate


"Becaw!" Beca almost chokes on the straw she's sipping her drink through as she automatically spins in the direction of the shrill call. She sees him at the end of the hallway, in front of the bright blue door that Chloe is pushing to a close, and she turns back and forth on the spot, looking for somewhere to deposit her glass, before putting it down on the outside edge of the stair just above her head. She sucks her cheeks in as she swallows the fizzy liquid and then takes off running. She hears him laugh right before she launches herself into his waiting arms and he wraps them around her, hauling her up off the ground like she weighs nothing. She peppers the side of his dumb, smiling face with kisses and squeezes his neck.

"You came!" She says, mouth close to his ear. There's music filtering in from the sound system Beca had bought for the living room and she can see bodies moving to the beat in her periphery.

"Uh, duh?" He lets her down with an extra strong hug and she pulls a few strands of hair that have stuck to her lip gloss away with her pinky. "Like I'd miss your first big Mrs Producer Party." She narrows her eyes.

"I told you, if you're just here for the hot singers, you're out of luck-"

"I don't think we need to worry about that." A voice cuts in from behind him and Beca's gaze slides over to find Aubrey materialising at his side after surfacing from the bear of a hug Chloe had wrapped her in. She's stunning, as always, and she tilts her head to let her hair fall over her shoulder in a blonde wave as she looks at her boyfriend. "Right, Jess?" Beca's mouth forms a little 'o' before she twists her lips together in an attempt to stop herself from laughing. Jesse shoots her a glare and then turns his charm on Aubrey.

"Why would I want to look at any other woman, when I've got the most beautiful one in the world on my arm?" Chloe shuffles into line of sight around Jesse's shoulder and Beca catches her eye. The redhead mimes gagging and Beca has to bite down on the inside of her lip. Aubrey though, she's smiling at him like she thinks he's Casanova.

"Aw, babe that's so..." and Chloe seems to recognise Aubrey's tone before the rest of them do, "lame." Jesse's face drops as the blonde takes hold of his chin in one hand and gives his head a little shake. "I can't even give you points for effort." He rolls his eyes at her and she pats his cheek. "You suck." Then she dismisses him by turning her attention to Beca. "Well, it's good to know you'll be able to keep Chloe fed and a roof over her head." Beca's lips quirk into a smirk.

"Hi to you too, Aubrey." They're both smiling and Beca returns Aubrey's hug with both arms. "The rest of the guys are already here. Cynthia Rose came out-"

"What, again?" Aubrey backhands Jesse's upper arm and he flinches away, rubbing at the spot and looking mildly offended. "It was a joke! I can joke!"

"From Maine, you douche." Beca snaps with a wry smile. "Stace and Emily are in the kitchen." She lifts her hand, jabbing her thumb in the direction of the kitchen over her shoulder, before she pauses and furrows her brow. "Which is probably the last person I should leave Legacy alone with."

"You know, Bec," Chloe pipes up, leaning against the door frame that leads to the living room, "Em's a big girl now. I really don't think there's anything that Stacie-"

"She is an innocent compared to Stacie." The interruption is as serious to Beca as it is humorous to the rest of them, because they've all really enjoyed seeing this side of the surly, former captain blossom and flourish over the years. What had started out as just sort of a 'passing the torch protective' kind of thing had steadily grown to a point where Emily is literally like the little sister Beca never had.

"You know she's had sex right?" Chloe whispers and Beca's eyeballs almost fall out of their sockets. She turns from the three of them then, making her way back towards the kitchen.

"I'm not listening!" She grabs her drink on the way, repeating the same monotone "la la la" as Chloe keeps calling after her.

"Your girlfriend is a weirdo." Jesse flashes her a grin and Chloe beams, wrinkling her nose up.

"I know. Isn't she awesome?" Jesse nods enthusiastically and beside him, Aubrey rolls her eyes.

"You're both weirdos." They laugh and Aubrey shrugs out of her jacket. Chloe's eyes immediately zone in on her belly.

"Aubrey!" She shrieks and her best friend's eyes snap up to meet hers again. "What the heck is that?!" And she points, a little wildly, at the barely-there bump. Looking for all the world like a startled meerkat, Aubrey's attention darts to Jesse, who's gaping at nothing with his eyebrows raised.

"Uh..." he flounders, incredibly unhelpfully, and Chloe is holding herself so tense that Aubrey's afraid she's going to go off like a rocket at any given moment.

"Okay, Chloe, please don't scream." She doesn't, all that comes out is a high-pitched squeak and her lips stretch into the widest smile either of them have ever seen. Which is including their smiles when they found out. "We didn't want to say anything because it's still early and Beca's been on the cusp of this for weeks now. We didn't want to steal her thunder." And all at once, Chloe's smile turns watery. "And I didn't think anyone would be able to tell." Jesse finds himself on the end of another smack as Aubrey turns to yell at him in a stage whisper. "You said you couldn't tell!" Then turns back to Chloe, expression one of panic. "Can you tell?" But Chloe reaches out and takes hold of Aubrey's hands.

"Yes." Aubrey lets out a little sound of distress and Chloe gives her hands a squeeze. "I can tell. Because we've been best friends forever and I notice when you wear a different kind of mascara."

"Oh." Aubrey sighs, heavy and relieved. "You don't think Beca will?" Chloe makes a face.

"I love Beca, I really do, but she's kind of oblivious to most things." Jesse scoffs and the sound makes them both jump. They'd kind of forgotten he was there.

"You don't say." He's tugging at the top of his ear with his thumb and forefinger, rubbing over it and bending it down. "It only took her three years of dating me and one sharing an apartment with you," he releases his ear to point at Chloe, "for her to finally realises she was in love with you." Chloe winces her way through a smile, not sure how to take Jesse's tone. Because he and Beca have never not been fine, but she's always wondered if he's as okay with everything as he makes out. "She's awesome, but she's an idiot." And then Chloe's smile cements itself, becomes genuine, and yeah. Okay. Maybe he is.

"Well," Chloe says, exhaling dramatically after a few seconds of silence pass. "I guess we're celebrating twofold tonight." But Aubrey's shaking her head in a manner that Chloe immediately thinks is too vigorous for a woman in her condition.

"This is Beca's night." And it's spoken with such sincerity, Chloe nearly bursts into tears. Because they've all come so far. She gives Aubrey's hands a final squeeze before letting them go with a quiet "okay". "I'm going to say hi to the girls." Aubrey drifts into the living room and Jesse follows her, saluting Chloe with a big grin as he goes. Chloe steadies herself with a breath as she watches them for a moment, then heads in the direction of the kitchen.

She walks in to find Stacie standing in front of the refrigerator like a kitchen appliance catalogue model, arms folded and hip cocked, pointedly avoiding looking at Beca who's yelling at her about "-doesn't need to know about different flavours, Stacie! Oh my god!" with her arms raised above her head as though she's assuming the crash position. Emily is tucked safely behind the breakfast nook, face contorted with amusement, and Chloe sidles up beside her with a rueful smile.

"What started it this time?" Emily offers a half shrug.

"Condoms or lube, maybe body paint? I kinda tuned out. You know Stacie only does it to get her engine revving." Chloe laughs and watches Beca's arms fly out every which way as she continues going at their friend like a pissed off chihuahua.

And yeah, Beca's kind of an idiot.

But she's Chloe's idiot.

And that's worth celebrating every day of the year.