A/N: Lots of Bechloe in this chapter so enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing
When Beca walked into the auditorium it looked like World War III had erupted. Fat Amy was lying on top of Aubrey and Chloe who were simultaneously struggling to break free and pulling each other's hair. The other Bellas were watching with rapt attention, aside from Cynthia Rose who looked like she was groping Stacie.
Beca was absolutely confused. "What'd I miss?" She asked as her voice echoed amidst the chaos.
Everyone went silent. Chloe and Aubrey immediately stopped struggling. Stacie shoved Cynthia Rose's hand off her breast. Lily said something completely inaudible.
It was Fat Amy who spoke first. "Thank god!" She stood up. "That was significantly harder than wrestling alligators and dingoes simultaneously."
Chloe's face was unreadable, but Aubrey was actually smiling.
"Really, guys. What'd I miss?" Beca repeated as she walked further into the room, her eyes trained only on Chloe.
Then all Hell broke loose as every girl attempted to replay the events that led up to the cat-fight. From what she gathered, Aubrey called an emergency meeting of the Bellas. Once they all arrived, sans Beca, Chloe was going to leave. Then Aubrey told her that she talked to Beca and then…Chloe freaked out.
Chloe was standing now, but didn't make a move toward the brunette. The other girls approached Beca and took turns as they hugged her and welcomed her back.
Aubrey even wrapped her up in a very uncomfortable hug before she whispered, "You better fix this, Mitchell, or your aca-ass is mine."
Beca nodded resolutely. When she was sure she had the attention of the room, she took a deep breath. She slowly released it before she directed her words at the redhead. "I'm sorry I wasn't honest with you guys from the beginning."
She took a step closer when Chloe didn't respond. "You know my dad and I never got along. He wanted me to get a degree like him and I wanted to be nothing like him. Plus, I have this dream of creating my own music." She stepped closer to the redhead. "I made a deal with him that I'd give Barden a try for a year and then he'd pay for me to move to LA."
The other girls nodded; they had heard as much from Jesse.
"I had every intention of skating by, just biding my time before I was out of here." Beca's eyes found Chloe's. "Until some redhead molested me in my shower."
That solicited a reaction out of the other girl. "Hey!"
Beca smirked. "Aubrey's words, not mine."
Aubrey smiled at the brunette, urging her to continue.
"I know that Jesse told you that I already decided to stay." Chloe gave her a barely there nod. "But I want you guys to know why."
She pulled up a chair and sat down, this time addressing everyone not just Chloe. All of the girls followed her lead and soon they were sitting in a circle.
"Before Barden, I was never one of those girls who had a lot of friends." She looked at her hands, embarrassed by the admission. "I never had any friends actually."
She jumped when a warm hand reached out and held both of hers. She looked up to the owner of the hand and saw Chloe's watery blue eyes smiling back at her. Beca choked back a sob as she continued her story.
"Before Jesse, before you guys…I was so lonely. Only, I convinced myself that I was safer that way. I deluded myself into thinking I was actually happy." She squeezed Chloe's hand for comfort. "But it wasn't until I was part of the Bellas that I knew how much I had been lying to myself. Somewhere along the way, whether it was Aubrey's Hitler-esque cardio drills or realizing that a cappella isn't as lame as I thought it was or getting to run my own radio segment…I don't know. Well, I do know. Somewhere in all of that, I managed to find some really kick-ass friends. And well, I stopped worrying so much about moving to LA. I still want to make music…and I will, but sometimes other things are more important."
She sighed as she looked around the room nervously. "I made up my mind a long time ago that I was staying so I never thought I needed to mention it to you guys. But I should have anyway. I'm sorry that I've been so hard to get to know. I'm sorry that I've not been the friend you guys deserve. And if you'll still have me, I want to help the Bellas win the Finals."
"Hell yeah!" Cynthia Rose spoke first with Fat Amy 'wooping' loudly along with her. The other girls laughed and nodded their approval.
Before anyone else could speak, Stacie stood up. "Since we're confessing…there's something I'd like to say." She inhaled deeply before exhaling nervously as she spoke. "I really like sex."
The room was silence before Fat Amy replied. "Yeah, we know."
"Only because I just told you." Stacie answered.
"I've got something I want to say as well." Cynthia Rose stood up.
"Right. Lesbi-honest." Fat Amy coughed out teasingly.
"I have a gambling problem." Cynthia Rose continued with shame.
"Wait, what?!"
Stacie gave her a hug which immediately made the other girl smile again.
"I've been living a lie as well." Fat Amy admitted. "My name's not Fat Amy. It's Fat Patricia."
Silence enveloped the room for a few minutes before Chloe stood up. She squeezed Beca's hand and then she knelt down in front of her. Their eyes were locked on each other's. "See, Beca, no one's perfect. And no one expects you to be. But please…don't keep shutting us out when we only want to help you." She bit her bottom lip nervously before she continued. "You keep pushing us away because you think we'll hurt you. But you were the one who left us, Beca. We've been here waiting for you. We'll always be here waiting for you."
Beca nodded as tears sprang to her eyes. She knew what Chloe was really trying to tell her. Her heart rate picked up when she realized that Chloe didn't hate her. Chloe would never hate her or give up on her.
"I can't promise to never run away again, but I promise that I'll always come back." Beca whispered so that only Chloe could hear her.
As soon as the words left Beca's mouth, Chloe jumped up and wrapped the brunette in a tight hug. The brunette returned it immediately. The innocent hug turned into a heated kiss within seconds. As Chloe attempted to straddle Beca, Aubrey decided to take matters in her own hands.
"Okay! Now it's time to get to work, Finals are soon approaching and my Dad always says that without adequate preparation…"
She was cut off when Beca released a loud moan.
Aubrey's face reddened as she marched over to her friends, and tugged the redhead off of Beca's lap. "I am immensely happy for the two of you, especially since I won't have to kick Beca's ass, but please keep your toner in your pants until after Finals."
Beca had the decency to blush, whereas Chloe's eyes were still glazed over with lust.
"Oh! Speaking of Finals, I've been working on a mix!" Beca ran to her bag and pulled out a CD as well as sheet music.
She handed each of the girls the appropriate papers. "Actually, Chloe did a lot of this. I just sort of…tweaked it."
The redhead stared at her with admiration. "You were prepared to fight for me."
Beca blushed again. Then she smirked darkly as she shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, who knew you'd be so easy though."
Chloe's mouth dropped open and her face grew redder than her hair. Then she bit her lip and smiled back. She wasn't going to argue against the truth.
"Titanium?!" Aubrey screeched. "No way are we singing your sex song on stage. I can barely reign in your libido now; there is no way I'm risking the two of you having sex on stage."
"I didn't know having sex on stage was an option." Stacie replied with obvious excitement.
"It's not." Aubrey answered as she shook her head to emphasize the point.
"It's a duet, Aubrey. We already heard Beca and Chloe sing together and they're amazing." Ashley commented.
"Where did you even come from?" Aubrey asked with irritation.
"Really, Aubrey? We've been here the whole time." Denise said in Ashley's defense.
"Some of these lyrics I don't recognize. What song is this?" Cynthia Rose questioned.
Beca scuffed the floor with the toe of her combat boot. Chloe stepped up to her and laced their fingers. The brunette smiled and looked up with confidence. "They're my own lyrics. I just thought…"
Immediately, everyone was scanning the rest of the music. Aubrey finished first. "This is really good, Beca." She sighed. "Apart from using Titanium, I love what you did."
Beca smiled proudly. "Thank you."
"But we are doing Titanium." Chloe spoke with certainty.
Aubrey rolled her eyes. "Of course we are. But I just want to go on record that I object to it."
Chloe did a little excited dance and Beca quickly stood on her tip-toes to kiss the redhead's cheek. She couldn't resist when the girl was so adorable.
"Okay, let's hear the mix Beca and get right to work on the choreography." Aubrey went from almost human to psychotic drill sergeant in no time at all. It was really quite impressive actually.
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Aubrey didn't let up on the girls for two weeks straight. Extra rehearsals were called and it seemed that every scrap of free time the girls had went to working on perfecting their performance. It was a miracle Beca and Chloe were able to find any time at all to try to navigate their deepening relationship. But they did. Beca worked to be more open and honest and Chloe loved every minute of it. Things were going well.
"I really can't believe Aubrey's giving us the day off tomorrow." Beca announced as she collapsed on her bed after a long day of practice.
Chloe had already crawled in the brunette's bed, so she quickly wrapped her arms around the girl. "She understands what this day means to you." The redhead's voice soothed her as she nuzzled impossibly close to her.
Beca didn't respond right away. Then she turned in the other woman's embrace so that they were eye to eye. "Thank you for agreeing to go with me tomorrow. It means…a lot."
Chloe smiled, kissed the tip of Beca's nose, and replied with a whisper. "It meant everything to me that you asked."
Beca nodded in understanding. They kissed sweetly, reverently. When Beca pulled away, she said. "I was going to just go by myself like always, but…I'm working really hard to let other people in."
Chloe smiled. "I know you are. And if you had wanted it to be something between just you and your dad…I'd have understood that too, Beca."
"I know." She sighed, and then her face turned vulnerable. "Plus…I really want you to meet my dad."
Beca tugged her lower lip between her teeth in nervousness. Then she quickly mumbled almost incoherently. "I already told him about you."
Chloe raised an eyebrow. "What about me?"
"Everything."
The redhead's eyes grew impossibly wide. "Everything, Beca?!" Her voice screeched.
Beca smirked at the girl beneath her. Then she ran her hands underneath the hem of the girl's shirt, resting her fingertips gently on the other girl's toned stomach. "I didn't tell him about you molesting me in the shower."
Chloe smacked at Beca's hands as blush colored her cheeks. "I didn't…molest you." She took one of the brunette's hands and interlaced their fingers then she slowly led them upward and rested Beca's hand just underneath her breast. She smiled when Beca's breath hitched. Then she dropped her voice seductively as she spoke. "Besides, I think you rather enjoyed the view if I remember correctly."
Beca was silent.
"I seem to recall you telling me that I should be proud of my…assets." With that she set Beca's hand atop her right breast as if to emphasize her point.
Beca stilled and looked like she was about to short circuit. Chloe found the reaction quite endearing. Eventually, Beca's eyes met hers and the brunette broke her silence. "He thinks you're my girlfriend. Is that okay?"
Pure elation emanated in Chloe's bright eyes. "Is that what we are?" She asked coyly. "Of course I love that you consider me your girlfriend but we haven't really talked about it."
Beca frowned. She removed her hand from Chloe's breast and rested both of her hands in her own lap as she regarded the other girl. "We're talking about it now. Did I do something wrong? I just assumed with the way things were going…don't you see me as your girlfriend?"
Chloe quickly sat up and moved closer to the other girl; they were face to face now. "You did nothing wrong, Beca. Truthfully, I've considered you mine since the day we first met. I know that makes me sound like a stalker…" She added hoping to get the brunette to smile and was relieved when she did. "I didn't know how to bring it up without the risk of rushing you. But I'm glad we're talking about this now and I'm proud to be your girlfriend. I'm proud of you."
Beca released a breath in relief. "That was the hardest thing I ever did."
Chloe's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What was?"
"Coming out to my dad. He knew, well he said I was obvious. But still, having that conversation…"
Chloe's eyes widened. "How'd he take it?"
Beca smiled. "He told me to fight for you. To fight for us. He said that I talk about you like you're some sort of greek goddess..." She rolled her eyes. "He's a literature professor you know. Anyway, he said that anyone who could bring me back to life. His words. Anyone who could make me feel that alive was worth risking everything for. He said that if you even loved me half as much as I was in love with you…if…he said that he didn't care who I loved so long as they made me happy." Beca took Chloe's hand and brought it to her lips, and then she gently pressed a kiss to the girl's fingertips. "I am happy, Chloe."
Chloe instantly reconnected their lips. It was obvious from the passion within that kiss that she was happy too.
"I love you too. More than you could ever know." Chloe whispered against Beca's lips.
Beca pulled away and studied the girl. "How'd you come out to your parents?"
Chloe tucked a stray hair behind her girlfriend's ear. "I was in 10th grade and told them I liked both girls and boys." She sat up a bit straighter and began fumbling around with her fingers until Beca held her hand. Chloe smiled before she continued. "Dad said he just wanted me to find someone to love me. Mom didn't really like the idea of me being with a girl."
"How is she with the idea now?" Beca asked, suddenly worried if she'd be accepted as Chloe's girlfriend.
Chloe shrugged. "I've usually just been with guys. They're usually the ones who chase me because they think I'm hot." Chloe looked down at their interlaced fingers. "Most of the girls I liked never liked me back."
"Those bitches." Beca growled and elicited a giggle from Chloe.
"I hooked up with a few last year. At parties and stuff. But nobody's ever been that serious." Her eyes found Beca's as she stared at her with intensity. "No one until you."
Beca kissed her softly and then wrapped her arms around the redhead. They cuddled together and got comfortable on the bed. They lay in silence, wrapped up in each other for several minutes.
Chloe nestled her nose against Beca's collarbone. "To be honest…I'm now terrified about tomorrow. Before I was just going as the girl you're dating…but now that I know that you've talked about me…"
"He already adores you."
Chloe bit her lip anxiously. "Still…"
"Come on, where's the confident Chloe that nakedly interrupts another girl's shower?" Beca teased.
The redhead slapped at her playfully, blush tinting her cheeks. "Wanna know the truth about that day?"
Beca sat up instantly and bore her eyes into the light blue orbs that she adored. "Absolutely."
Chloe sat up beside her girlfriend. "I love music so I followed you into the shower. But when I saw it was you…" She closed her eyes in embarrassment. "I hadn't been able to get you out of my mind since we spoke at that Frat party. And there you were…naked and absolutely perfect. And your modesty…it was quite endearing. So…the truth is I pretended to act all confident and secure and normally I am, but everything is different with you. You turn me into a bumbling idiot most of the time. But as soon as I left your shower, I went home and hyperventilated to Aubrey. I was terrified that I scared you away and that I'd never see you again. When you showed up to rehearsals…from that day on…I would have done anything for you. I will do anything for you."
Beca touched Chloe's cheek with reverence before bringing their lips softly together. When she pulled away, Chloe's eyes were still closed. Beca then kissed the other girl's forehead. The redhead sighed with contentment.
"I always wondered what you saw in me." Beca whipered.
Chloe's eyes widened as she looked at her girlfriend in awe. "You really don't know how special you are, Beca Mitchell. You've always seen me. You don't treat me the way everyone else does, you always treat me like…I don't know." She smiled fondly at the brunette. "When I sang that Bruno Mars song…I was singing to you."
Chloe started to hum the melody to "Just the way you are." Her eyes closed as she quietly sang the chorus. When pale blue eyes opened back up, they shined with so much love that it nearly took Beca's breath away.
"Thank you." Beca breathed out. "For…barging into my shower. For always chasing after me. For not giving up on me…" She held her girlfriend's hand. "For giving me what I never realized I always wanted." She rolled her eyes and sighed with defeat. "For making my love life into one cliqued movie after another."
Chloe chuckled. "You're welcome." She squeezed Beca's hand in hers. "Thanks for not calling campus security and having me arrested for sexual assault. That really wasn't my proudest moment."
Beca laughed out loud before claiming the redhead's lips again.
A/N: I hope you like this chapter, there are only a few chapters left. I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I enjoy writing it!