A/N: Sorry it's been a few days, but I'm really busy atm. I promise you once I've finished 'Beca Mitchell the Sex Goddess' I'm going to put all my effort into this story. I hope you're all enjoying it so far, and all your reviews make me smile so much. So thanks for everyone who's given me such great feedback and for everyone who is trusting me! Also, I've decided to use more of Jane and Maura in this because, well, I love them and I love the idea of them helping Chloe cope. There will be a part where it will just be them two talking as well, just so we can get some information about the other people that have been killed. Anyway, enjoy! (Well, try..)
A week passed, and Chloe hadn't left Beca's side the whole time. After Kim had got the text from Luke about people knowing about what happened to Beca, there was nothing she could do about it. It was too late. The whole world now knew that Beca Mitchell had been shot whilst on vacation with her wife, and was now in a serious coma. Chloe was constantly getting tweets and texts, asking how Beca was doing. People commenting on all her past Instagram photos. Sure, she was flattered that they were all so concerned, but the fact that the whole world were tweeting her and asking her how her wife was, made this whole situation ten times more real, and it fucking killed Chloe inside. However, she did reply to a few people, telling them that she was grateful for their concerns, and that she was still waiting for Beca to wake up. That she wasn't giving up on her.
The redhead was constantly on edge, she was pretty sure that her heart beat was now in sync with Beca's heart monitor. Every time someone opened the door, every time a doctor would come in to check on Beca, Chloe would instantly stiffen and go into protective mode. Scooting closer to the brunette and tightening her grip she had on her hand. It was as if she was a mother eagle protecting her eggs and nest. Every single person that came in couldn't get a word out of her either, everybody except for Detective Rizzoli, who had started to speak to her more about what was going on, and her wife Maura Isles, who was extremely helpful when it came to talking about her thoughts and feelings.
6 days ago...
The sound of a soft knock on the door came to Chloe's ears just as she finished talking to Beca about their first date. "Chloe?" a gentle voice asked, and she turned her head to see the police officer from a few days ago.
"Hi, Jane." she greeted, then looked back at her wife's still face. However, she saw another woman out of the corner of her eye, so she turned her head to see that there was a beautiful, blonde woman in a blue dress and heels standing next to Rizzoli.
"Chloe, this is-"
"-Chief medical examiner, Maura Isles. It's nice to meet you Mrs Mitchell." the woman interrupted with a smile as she approached Chloe. The redhead tried to ignore how happy the woman looked, but her smile appeared to be contagious and before she knew it, Chloe was actually smiling, for the first time since the day of the shooting. Which was weird.
"Call me Chloe, please." the redhead said as she looked up at the woman with a small smile on her face.
"I'm really sorry about all of this, Chloe." Maura whispered as she leaned down next to the redhead and placed a comforting hand on her knee. The redhead nodded and looked back at her wife, who still hadn't moved at all. Still hoping, though, that she would. One day.
"You think she's going to die, don't you?" Chloe asked after a beat of silence, not looking away from Beca's pale face. Her heart beat sped up at the thought of the brunette dying. At the thought of not being able to hear her voice again, or see her beautiful, dark blue eyes. Not being able to hold her, or make love to her. Instant tears formed in the redhead's eyes, and Jane immediately knew that the question was intended for her, but Maura answered it before she could say anything.
"We're here to help you, Chloe-"
"-You're a chief medical examiner. They work with dead people, right?" she now turned her head so she could look at the doctor. "You think she's going to die."
"We're not saying that, Chloe." Jane answered before Maura could. "I brought my wife here so she could help you. She knows what it's like for this kind of thing to happen, and so do I."
"You two are married?"
"Happily." Maura smiled at Chloe, and she didn't need to look behind her to know that Jane was smiling too.
"So you.. you wanna help me?" Chloe asked Maura quietly, and the brunette nodded.
"I want to be your friend."
Now it's not like nobody had been there for her through all this. Of course, Aubrey had helped her a whole lot after the news that she wasn't pregnant. The blonde had come in every single day to offer her consolations, and of course, to bring her food and drink. Stacie had also been in to see her every day, talking to her even though Chloe wasn't talking back. Then there's Ryan, of course Ryan had been in, and he had even managed to crack a slight smile from the redhead at one point. Kim had also been in a few times to see Beca and to check on Chloe, but she had to go back to L.A two days ago to sort some private stuff out. Jesse had also been in to see his best friend everyday, and at one point Chloe had left him alone with her, albeit only for a half hour. The truth was, she couldn't stand leaving Beca alone. And as much as the redhead liked Jesse (hell, he was like a brother to her as well), she still didn't want anything to happen to Beca while she wasn't there.
Yes, all of these people, her friends and family, had been in to check on her and try to look after her, but for some reason, nobody had just offered to be her friend. Everybody who came in, came in to talk about Beca and how weak and fragile she looks. They talked about how cruel it was for someone to do this to the DJ, and they'd tell Chloe that she was being very strong. Then they'd leave. Nobody came to talk about other things. Nobody came to talk about what new movies were coming out or this new chic clothes shop that had just opened down the road. Nobody had mentioned anything that wasn't to do with Beca. Everybody had their little input, and Chloe knew that everyone were just waiting for Beca to die, there was no denying that. Everybody had been saying their goodbye's to Beca, and what surprised Chloe is that Maura was just saying hello to Beca. Because Maura Isles had faith in the small DJ. And she'd do anything to make sure Chloe wouldn't give up on her wife like the other's allegedly did.
The redhead smiled, not needing to ask for permission to jump into Maura's arms and give her a hug. Maura, however, looked behind her at Jane, internally asking her what the hell to do, but Jane just smiled and nodded, knowing full well that this was the first hug Chloe had initiated since the incident.
Maura had been working on one of the bodies that had linked up with Beca's shooting for about four hours now. Working on a woman that she had not so long ago confirmed was called Clara Layton. She had found a bullet embedded in her brain, and had sent it off to test for any DNA or fingerprints on it. A few days ago, Frost had found a bullet near one of the crime scenes, with somebody's finger prints on it. A man named James Pointer. Now, if Maura could confirm that his finger prints were on this bullet that was in Clara's brain, then she'd be one step closer to finding out who shot Beca, and the four other victims too.
The blonde heard the door open to her left hand side, and saw two people wheeling a gurney in, with somebody in a body bag on top of it.
"Another head-shot four miles from where Beca was shot, she instantly died." Jane said as she walked in behind them as the two men lifted the woman onto the table. Maura slowly unzipped the bag, and revealed a woman who, once again, looked similar to Beca.
"She looks just like Beca, Jane." Maura whispered, and Jane walked over with a sympathetic look on her face. She placed a hand around the woman's shoulder, and the blonde instantly relaxed into Jane's embrace. Jane could read her wife, and she knew full well that Maura was finding it hard to work on these women, because Chloe had made such a huge impact on her life. They were great friends, and whenever Chloe spoke about Beca, it reminded Maura of her and Jane; madly in love and willing to do whatever it takes to keep them safe.
However, Maura pulled away from her wife hesitantly, and instantly got to work, turning the body over and inspecting the bullet wound in the head. It seemed like the bullet was shot from a closer distance than Beca's, as the entrance wound was much bigger than the brunette's. She then noticed that there was no exit wound, and before she knew it, she had pulled out the bullet from the woman's brain.
"There's a clean, circular hole rimmed with abraded skin." the blonde said as she inspected the wound. "The bullet impaled the prefrontal cortex, but never exited the brain."
"What does that mean, Maura?" Jane asked, trying not to sound irritated and seemingly confused by her wife's 'science talk'.
"Jane, if I was to take a guess-and yes, this is only a guess. An estimation. It would be that this is the same bullet that we found on the pier where Beca got shot; a 22-caliber."
"So.. These all link up, Maura. If Beca dies, we're looking at five intentional homicides. That ain't good!"
Before Maura could answer, her assistant walked in with a file in her hand. "The fingerprint results from the bullet that was found in Clara Layton," the woman said as she passed the document to Maura. Jane's body was rigid as she watched Maura read over the piece of paper, like every single other time she did. She then saw Maura smile slightly, passing the file over to her.
"Well it's a good job that I have a suspect then."
Jane's eyes skimmed over the page, widening at the confirmation of what could be Beca's shooter.
"James Pointer."
"Um, Maura?" Chloe's voice croaked as she tore her eyes away from her wife to look at the doctor. It was a few hours after Jane and Frost had gone to interrogate James, but there was still no news. The blonde was currently looking through the files of the four other women that had been killed, and she was trying to link up all the evidence that her, Jane, Frost, Frankie (Jane's brother) and Korsak (Jane's other detective partner) had collected.
The redhead seemed to be doing a lot better with Maura around her. She didn't know why exactly, but Maura had something about her that was.. comforting. Soothing. She felt almost protected with the doctor around, and now that Maura had started to help the other doctors in looking into the shooting, Chloe felt like she trusted her even more. However, she still had one question on her mind which had been bugging her for a week.
"Yeah?" the woman smiled, closing the file and standing up after she noticed that Chloe had worried look on her face. She walked over to the bedside and pulled a chair up so she could sit beside the redhead. "What's on your mind?"
"I um.. I wanted to ask you something. It, um.."
"Are you okay?"
"Not.. not really." she sighed, feeling a lump appear in her throat. "A week ago, I took a test. It's.. it had been a month and five days since my last, y'know, my last.. menstrual cycle?" Maura nodded in understanding, knowing what was coming next. "The test was negative but-but I still haven't got my period."
"Are you sure you took the test right?" the blonde asked gently, knowing for a fact that not all tests are guarenteed to be 100% accurate.
"I-well, yeah. There's only one way to take it?"
"Not all pregnancy tests are accurate, you know. Or maybe you're corpus luteum hasn't yet produced the hormone progesterone to prepare the uterus to receive the fertilized egg."
"Maura, you're gonna have to simplify that statement." the redhead let out a soft laugh and Maura joined in, always forgetting that not everybody understood her technical terms.
"Maybe you're late because of another reason. A lot of women get irregular periods because of stress or emotional problems."
The two were silent for a minute, knowing full well that Chloe was under a lot of stress, and also had emotional problems at the moment. If she's honest, Chloe knew full well that the test was probably wrong. She had searched symptoms of pregnancy on Google and it had told her almost everything that she was feeling right now. Sore breasts. Stomach pains. Morning sickness. Late period. It all added up, and Chloe was ninety percent convinced that she was pregnant. She just didn't want to believe it in a time like this.
All of a sudden though, before any of them could say anything, a small, sharp gasp caught their attention. It took Chloe a few seconds to catch on, but then she whipped her head around to look at Beca and saw that her wife's eyes were wide open.
"Beca?! Oh my God!" the redhead's hand shot over to her mouth, muffling a gasp, and her eyes immediately teared up. Her heart started to beat faster at the sight of her wife's eyes looking around the room. It was like seeing her eyes for the first time all over again. Like a new-found experience. Just the sight of her grey-ish, dark, blue eyes made Chloe choke back a sob. "Beca, you're okay." she whispered, taking the woman's hand in both of hers as she cried happy tears. Ecstatic tears. "You're okay, I promise."
"I'll call the nurse." Maura said, a huge smile on her face as tears clouded her eyes at the sight of the two women in the room.
Beca's eyes darted around the room as she woke up from her sleep. Well, what she thought was her sleep. She felt a sharp throbbing pain in the side of her head, and she could feel a weight on her right hand, but she didn't move her head because it hurt too much. She couldn't move her hands, or her whole body for that matter. She'd panic, but that would just make things worse. Obviously she knew where she was, she's been here enough times before. She could recognize the white glow of the single light on the ceiling, the faded white colour of the walls (which were now turning grey), the smell of sterile air, the coldness washing over her. Yep. Hospital.
She listened intently, hearing the sound of multiple footsteps making their way towards her. Closer and closer. Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw two nurses and a doctor (she thinks) rush into the room. Chloe instantly stood up when the nurses started taking care of Beca. Placing the tubes in the right places, checking her pulse, checking the heart monitor, scribbling stuff down on the clip board at the end of the bed.
"Mrs Beca, I'm Nurse Kelley, you're currently in UCSD Medical Center in San Diego. You've been in a coma for a week because you took a bullet to the head, but you're okay."
Chloe's ears zoned out as her eyes locked with her wife's. The brunette had a neutral expression on her face, and Chloe had learned to read her wife. But not now. No, she couldn't tell what Beca was thinking at all. Not one thing. Her eyes seemed.. distant. She immediately broke eye contact when she heard the doctor address her.
"Chloe."
"What-yeah?" she responded, not noticing that the nurses were now done. She looked over at her wife to see that she was sat up now, courtesy of the two lovely nurses, and was looking around the room with beady eyes.
The doctor needn't say no more. With her eyes trained dead set ahead of her, connecting with her wife's again, she slowly made her way over to the bed. It was as if time had slowed down. The sight of her wife now fully awake made her throat almost constrict, and she had to clear her throat several times before she spoke up in a small voice.
"Hey, Bec."
"Hi." the brunette said with a friendly smile. She flinched slightly when she felt a warm, soft hand over hers, and she looked down to see the redhead silently sobbing as she stared at her hand.
"I was so worried, Beca." she cried, albeit quietly as she reveled in the moment of being with her wife. Her love. The woman who she thought she'd never be able to hear speak again. "God, I thought I'd never be able to see you ever again. I thought I'd never get to hear your voice, or look into your eyes. I was-God, I was so scared I was going to lose you, baby!"
Beca looked down at the woman as she rested her head on her stomach, but she didn't have it in her to move her away. She watched as her body shook with sobs, and she could hear her almost choking from how much she was crying. She looked around to see the doctor standing at the other side of the room. She saw a blonde and a tall brunette woman in the doorway, one of which looked to be a police woman. She stretched her head up to look out of the window, and she could see a four people, with only one boy she recognized. She looked around the room again, the only people she was looking for were not there.
"Um," she spoke up, shaking the redhead who's sobs had now died down. "What happened?" she found herself asking.
"You got shot in the head Beca, but it's all okay now, I promise. I swear, I'm never gonna let anything happen to you ever again, baby." she smiled reassuringly, lifting Beca's small hand up to place a kiss on it. What happened next though shocked her to the point where she couldn't even form enough courage to speak anymore, as her whole world crashed down on her once again.
The brunette pulled her hand away with a frown on her face. "Why do you keep calling me baby?" she asked. "And who are you?"
"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment."
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever