A/n: Uggh, the angst is real in chapter. Sorry. Been in a real angsty mood, the holidays always put me in some sort of funk.

Enjoy!

Trigger warning: implied rape


Chapter Seven: Mama Can't Protect Them Forever

"Mom?" She called out.

Chloe poked her head around the corner and saw her youngest and immediately knew what was wrong, "I'll go get your mama." She said.

"No, no, I actually wanted you." She said. "I mean, if that's okay and you're not busy."

"I'm never too busy for you, angel." She said. "C'mere." She added with arms wide open. Dani went straight into her mom's arms and Chloe walked them to the couch where the engineer kicked off her shoes and curled into her mom's side, "Talk when you're ready, lovey."

"I think I'm working too much," she mumbled. "I feel it in the tension of my shoulders. I just needed my mommy, that's all."

"Okay well, I'm right here, not going anywhere." The mother said.

There was a long time of silence where Dani was just playing with the strings of Chloe's sweatshirt, the vice principal was just waiting for the engineer to speak and when she did, the redhead wasn't expecting the words to come out of the mini version of her wife.

After a shaky deep breath, "I ran into Adam again today..."

Chloe takes a shaky deep breath, silently cursing herself for not pushing the lawyer for that permanent restraining order, "Okay, are you okay, my love?" She asked softly.

The name hadn't come up since the trial, every year around the time it happened, Beca and Chloe made sure to be around Dani to make sure she was okay, but after years of on again, off again therapy, Dani was in a better spot, "I want to be," the engineer answered, "but I'm honestly not okay."

Chloe pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head, "Do you want me to get Mama?" She asked.

"Kind of," Dani answered, "but you're really warm right now."

Chloe chuckled and leaned forward to the coffee table to grab her phone, she called Beca's phone, "Hey baby?" Pause. "Can you come up here?" Pause. "The living room, Dani's here and she needs you." Beat. "Okay." She hung up, "She's coming up angel."

It was silent minus the footsteps off in the distance and Beca poked her head in to see the mother-daughter cuddle session on the couch, she went to the other side of Dani and the engineer cuddled into her mama while holding her mom's hand. Beca kissed the top of her daughter's head, "What's going on, princess?" The music producer asked. "You okay?" Dani shook her head, "Wanna tell me what's going on inside that beautiful head of yours?"

"I- I ran into Adam today." Dani said making Beca tense. "I- I was at the bank making a deposit and he was there too, he came up to me to- to apologize or whatever." She mumbled.

"What?" Beca got out, Chloe put her hand on her wife's shoulder to calm her down. "Are you okay?" The music producer asked softly.

"I mean, no." She said. "No, I'm not."

"What can we do to help baby?" Chloe asked, stroking the back of Dani's hand with her thumb.

"Let me be in the bubble of denial," Dani said. "That tonight, you two protect me from the horrors of the world. I'm 22, I know, but I just need a break from life for awhile."

Beca nodded immediately, "We can do that, princess." She said. "I'll go get dinner and you cuddle with Mom, okay?" Dani nodded as Beca kissed the top of her head and put her back in Chloe's arms. The mama got up and kissed Chloe softly as the redhead held the engineer close. "I'mma go get Chinese food and ice cream."

"Okay," Chloe said kissing her wife again. "Love you."

"Love you too, baby." Beca said. "Love you princess."

"Love you too, Mama." Dani mumbled. "Thank you."

Beca kissed Dani's head once more, she was always more protective of the engineer since she revealed what Adam did to her and it wasn't stopping because eight years had passed.

When it was just Chloe and Dani, the mom held her youngest daughter close, "What's going through your head, baby?"

"I thought I was fine," she mumbled. "I thought- I thought-" she begins to hyperventilate going into a panic attack.

"Hey, hey." Chloe said. Dani was still hyperventilating unable to breathe, she does this despite Chloe's protests for her to breathe before passing out after a few minutes. "Beca!" She called out. Beca poked her head back into the room and saw that her girl passed out and wasn't breathing in her wife's arms.


Micah knocked on Emily's door knowing that Aubrey was there because being in her apartment was hard without Cody. Emily came to the door and slowly opened it, "Oh hi Micah." She said.

"Hi," Micah said hesitantly. "I'm sorry for barging over like this. I just- I just shouldn't be alone right now and my moms and Dani aren't picking up their phones.

Emily reached out to gently put a hand on his face, "You're always welcome here, bub." She said. "Come in, come in."

Micah walked in and saw Aubrey watching tv half asleep on the couch, "Aubrey?" Emily said softly waking her up, "Micah's here."

Aubrey sat up, "Hi bub," she said. "You okay?" He stood at the entryway to the room, twisting his hands, with his head hanging, not saying anything. "Hey," the lawyer said softly. "It's okay. C'mere." The younger music producer had a lip between his teeth as Emily gently pushed him towards Aubrey. The man goes over to his aunt and then curls into her. The lawyer kissed the top of his head, "I know," she said. "I miss him too."

Micah's phone buzzed and he takes it out of his pocket and saw that it was Chloe calling him, "Hi Mommy," he murmured as Aubrey kissed his head.

"H-h-hi baby boy." Chloe got out. "Uh, there's- there's been a problem."

Micah sat up, Aubrey sat up with him to rub his back, "What's the problem?" He asked.

"Your sister went into a major panic attack and passed out and stopped breathing," she said. "We're-"

"What hospital?" Micah asked knowingly.

"UCLA Medical Center." She got out.

"Okay, I'm with Aunt Bree and Aunt Emily now, we'll head over, okay?" Micah said calmly.

"Ok-kaay." She said.

They said their goodbyes and then hung up, "Dani had a really bad panic attack and stopped breathing." He said knowing that his aunts are looking at him.

"Okay," Aubrey said. "Why don't we get going?" Micah became stiff, "How about I drive?" Micah nodded. "Em honey, can you help our nephew to my car?"

Emily nodded and put her arm around his back and got him going, not ignoring the fact that her girlfriend just called her honey in front of their nephew that they still haven't told that they were together. The music producer got her nephew employee into the back of Aubrey's car, he was less stiff now and grabbed the earphones out of his pocket to listen to music. Emily slipped into the passenger's seat of the car as Aubrey started it.

It was quiet. Too quiet.

Aubrey reached over to grab Emily's hand, the younger woman looked at the hand on top of her own, looked up at Aubrey, who glanced at her, and then back to Micah who wasn't paying any attention.

"Are you trying to subtly tell our nephew that we're together?" Emily whispered.

Aubrey shrugged, "I just want to be close to you," she whispered back. "Is that a problem?"

"No," Emily whispered softly. "It's just-"

"I can hear you two, you know." Micah said from the backseat. "And I think you two are cute together." Emily looked back at him, "I've also known for awhile now. I was just waiting for you two to confirm it."

"Oh," Aubrey said softly. "Okay."

"So has Dani," he said. "We had a bet going on about how long you two would hide it."

Silence.

"Sooo," Emily said, "who won?"

Aubrey rolled her eyes and gently hit her girlfriend's bicep, "I did," Micah answered. The lawyer glared at her nephew from the rearview mirror.


Micah, Emily, and Aubrey rushed into the hospital waiting room and they saw Beca sitting there with her head in her hands and Chloe sitting next to her rubbing the music producer's back, scratching it every once and awhile.

"Moms?" Micah said softly making Beca's head pop up.

"Hi baby boy," the mama said as the mom stood up to hug him.

"How is she?" He got out quickly still being wrapped up in his mom's embrace.

"They're doing tests now," Chloe said, "but she's breathing again."

"Good," he murmured. "Good. What happened?" He asked as he sat down next to Beca after leaving Chloe's hug and the redhead went over to her other two Bella sister to give them a hug.

"She ran into Adam this afternoon." Beca said.

"What?" Micah said stepping into his protective big brother mode.

"Micah," Chloe said coming up beside him placing her hand on his shoulder, "I need you to calm down. Sissy is fine."

"She stopped breathing," Micah pointed out.

"She's alive." Chloe said assertively.

"She. Stopped. Breathing." Micah said lowly and slowly.

"She. Is. Alive." Chloe said lowly and slowly back.

"Hey," Beca said softly. "Let's not argue loves." Chloe and Micah were in a staring match that they had never been in before, "Why don't you go sit with Aunt Bree and Aunt Em?" She whispered to her son who reluctantly looked away from his mom and sat next to Aubrey. "Why don't we go over here?" She suggested softly to her wife. Beca walks her wife to the other side of the waiting room, "Chlo honey, what was that?" She whispered.

"I know what he's doing." She whispered back. "He's already lost a lot in his life and he thinks he's gonna lose Dani."

"So you think now is the time to assert tough love?" Beca whispered back incredulously. "Now, when he's the most vulnerable?"

"You can't coddle him forever, Bec." Chloe said, eyebrow raised.

Beca sighed and ran her hand through her hair, "So, now this is somehow my fault?" She said back incredulously.

"No honey-" Chloe tried.

"I'm protective of all four of our kids." She argued. "Bailee, Taylor, Micah, and Dani. So I coddle all of our kids?"

"I didn't say that," Chloe said softly.

"You didn't have to," Beca whispered-yelled. "You definitely implied it."

Beca walked away. She never walked away when they argued, not since their first fight when she did it and it hurt Chloe, like the brunette didn't want the redhead, but the music producer had to get away from her wife.

Chloe took a shaky deep breath, she managed to get two out of five of her loves, mad at her in less than 90 seconds. She fell into the chair behind her put her head in her hands and just cried.

She felt arms around her and looked up to see Aubrey holding her, she looked over to where he son was, and saw that he had walked outside to get some fresh air.

"Everything's gonna be okay," Aubrey whispered. "I promise."

The lawyer kissed the vice principal's head and rested her chin there. Chloe saw Emily get up and go to the other side of the room to comfort Beca who was curled in a ball in the chair.


Dani's eyes opened very groggily, "Well hello warrior princess." She looked over at her uncle who had snuck into the room.

"Unc- I mean, Doctor Mitchell?" She got out.

"I mean, yes, but I'd definitely prefer you to call me Uncle Nick." He said.

"This- this isn't your department." She said.

"You're right," he said, "but the moment I heard your name over the intercom, I had to get to you. You had a major anxiety attack. You stopped breathing for awhile. Scared the shit out of all of us."

"Do- do my moms know you're in here?" She asked.

"No," he said. "The intern let me in when I said that you were my niece and I pulled a lot of strings to see you. What happened, warrior princess?"

"I saw Adam at the bank, I went straight to my moms, but it was already too late." She said.

"Well, I'm glad you went to your moms," he said. "That shows growth." Dani nodded. "You're gonna be fine, medically speaking." He added looking at her file.

"Good," Dani said. "I'm glad."

"Emotionally speaking..." he tried.

"I already have plans on going back to therapy full-time." She said. He nodded, "I promise I'm better when it comes to talking about my feelings."

"Good," he said hearing a knock on the door seeing the doctor come in, "I better get out of the way. Doctor Baylor is the best in the biz, I can promise you that."

The other doctor nodded, "Thank you, Doctor Mitchell." She said. "I take it, this is one of your nieces?"

He nodded, "My youngest niece." Nick said.

"Well," Doctor Baylor said, "I promise to take extra good care of her."

"I'm glad." He said with a half smile. "She's like her mama though, if she gives you any lip, lemme know."

Dani rolled her eyes, "Thank you Doctor Uncle Nick, you can leave now." She said.

The man winked at her and left the room, the female doctor waited for the door close, "Well, you've had one hell of an evening, haven't you?" She said making Dani nod.


Micah was standing outside, doing some deep breathing exercises, when an intern came out to take a deep breath himself. The intern then looked over at Micah who wasn't paying any attention.

"You okay?" The intern asked.

Micah looked up to see the man standing there, hair messy from a long intern shift, "Yeah, I'm fine." The music producer said.

"You know when most people say that they're fine, they really aren't fine." The doctor intern said.

"I also don't just tell random strangers how I'm really doing," Micah snapped back.

"Okay, hi," the doctor intern said, "my name is Noah."

He stuck out his hand for the music producer to shake, Micah slowly brought his hand up to shake it, "Micah." He said.

"I know," he said. "We've actually met once before."

"We have?" Micah asked.

Noah nodded, "My brother-in-law is one of you clients." He said. "Brandon Leaf?"

"Oh yeah, you're Monica's little brother." He said. "Sorry, I meet a lot of people."

Noah nodded, "I understand." He said. "What brings you here?"

"My sister." He replied shortly.

"Dani Mitchell-Beale, right?" He said. "Severe panic attack?" Micah looked up at him, "I'm her doctor's intern." He said.

"Is- is she going to be okay?" Micah asked.

Noah nodded, "Doctor Baylor is in there talking with her right now." He said. "Why are you out here?"

Micah sighed, "Got into a fight with my mom," he said. "Needed some air."

"You know, you've had a lot thrown at you in the last year." He said. "I'm sorry to hear about your fiancé."

"Thanks," Micah got out.

"May I ask how you're doing with that?" Noah asked softly.

"I miss him," Micah answered honestly. Quickly getting comfortable around Noah. "I want to move on, but I can't. It hurts so much."

Noah nodded, "I can't imagine how hard that is," he said placing a soft hand on the music producer's shoulder. Suddenly a feeling shot through Micah's body that he's only felt with Cody. He shook it off because it was too soon. "Well, as much as I would like to talk more, I better get back in there. Just came out here because it felt suffocating in there. I hope life hands you a better hand, Micah Mitchell-Beale." He left his hand on the music producer's shoulder for a few seconds longer, caressing the front of his shoulder with his thumb. "Here," the intern pulled a pen out of his scrubs pocket and wrote on Micah's hand, "If you ever need someone that doesn't know the situation just to listen, I always like a reason to drink a good scotch."

After Noah was done he smiled at Micah and then walked away leaving Micah standing there in one place.


Beca and Chloe were on opposite sides of the waiting room. The redhead curled into Aubrey and the brunette curled into Emily.

"I shouldn't have provoked her," Chloe whispered suddenly as she stared at Emily holding Beca.

"Everyone is so sensitive right now," Aubrey said playing with red hair."You didn't mean to."

Noah came out to find Beca and Chloe, "Mrs. and Mrs. Mitchell-Beale?" He called out making both parents jump.

"How is she?" Beca asked, absentmindedly grabbing Chloe's hand.

"She good," he said. "Stable. Why don't you two come back with me to see her? That way the doctor can give you more information and all three of you can be on the same page."

"Okay," Beca said letting go of Chloe's hand and following Noah. Chloe followed close behind, but still hurt that she hurt Beca so much as the woman didn't want to hold her hand.

They walked into the room seeing Dani's eyes open, "Hi moms." The engineer murmured as both moms took each side of the bed.

"You must be Mrs. and Mrs. Mitchell-Beale," Doctor Baylor said. "I've heard a lot about you through my colleague Doctor Mitchell."

Beca laughed at the fact that her brother talked about her and Chloe's family with his colleagues, "Yeah, you can call us Beca and Chloe though." The music producer answered.

"We'd prefer it actually," Chloe added.

"Okay, well, we want to monitor her overnight, but she'll be free to go in the morning." Doctor Baylor said. "I told her that I would like the two of you to keep an eye on her for the next 48-72 hours following, just in case she goes into another frightening panic attack. She said that she would get an appointment with her therapist as soon as possible."

"Okay," Beca said brushing hair out of Dani's eyes.

"And this is what I tell every parent, you two should go home and get some sleep. She'll be in good hands here. We are just monitoring her because if we need to give her a sedative to actually sleep, we want to see how she reacts to it, considering according to her file, she's never had one before." The doctor said.

"Okay," Chloe said. "Is it okay if her aunts and brother come in and see her?"

"Of course," the doctor said. "Make it quick though. We want her to get as much sleep as possible."


As Micah, Aubrey, and Emily were seeing Dani, Beca and Chloe were standing outside the door. They were quiet as they stood next to each other, Chloe was waiting for her wife to snap at her, like she had done in the waiting room.

Beca grabbed Chloe's hand, the redhead looked at her, but the brunette still had her eyes ahead, "I'm sorry for being so sensitive," Beca said. "Sometimes I still think that I'm a shitty parent even though their grown adults."

Chloe brought her hand up to kiss her wife's hand, "You're not a shitty parent, Bec." She reassured.

"I do coddle them a lot," Beca said. "I get so worried that when they're around I just want to take care of them. I just want to feel wanted." Beca looked over to her wife, "It scares me so much. Like Taylor, I can't be there when she's ready to give up being a parent like I was when she and Dani were first born or like Dani, I can't protect her from those terrifying flashbacks of the night that Adam took advantage of her." She took a deep breath, "Or Bailee, I can't protect her if she gets deployed and we end up in the same situation as Aubrey is in with Cody." She took a deep breath, "Or Micah, I can't protect him when people like Tommy Levit are suing him via Legacy Records or I can't protect him on the nights that he feels so lonely and he's literally on his knees on the ground crying so hard because Cody isn't here anymore." Beca stops and takes a deep breath, "I'm so worried all the time and I just want it all to stop."

Chloe pulled her wife into a hug and just held for a moment, "I know," she said after a little while, "I feel just the same, but we can't protect them from everything. All we can do is love them so unconditionally that they know they can still always come to us."

Beca pulled back a little to give her wife a soft kiss, they stood there making out for awhile, knowing that they'd fully make up later.


End of the chapter a/n: Come on, I can't have Bechloe fighting forever. That just isn't right.

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! Hope this isn't so much angst to start your holiday out.

Dunno if I can get an update up before the new year, so if not, I'll see you in 2017!