A/N: Sorry, for all the typos in the last part - I don't know where my head was. Also: have I thanked y'all for your great reviews yet? Let me do that because they mean a lot - thanks so much. You guys keep me going.
They lay in bed, facing each other, their legs entwined, their arms around each other. Beca had told Chloe about her break-up with Jesse, what had been said and the way Jesse had handled it - or rather not handled it at all. They wondered what would happen next, whether Jesse was going to do anything, try to win Beca back, for example. Beca didn't think so. For once, there wasn't a lot of time left before he would leave for Hollywood, for another, she was sure she had taken any hope he might have concerning their relationship from him. She had left him nothing to hold on to.
"He'll be alright, sweety," Chloe now told her and brushed a lock of hair from Beca's forehead. "He's going to go to Hollywood for that internship and... he'll be working on what he loves." Beca nodded.
"What makes me so sad is that I knew I didn't love him as much as he loved me, you know. He always wanted to spend more time with me than I wanted to spend time with him. And, of course, he also wanted to spend that time differently than I did. How could I even think...?" Chloe leaned over Beca and kissed her temple.
"Shhhh," she made. "Your mind's running in circles there, babe. Don't work yourself up over this, an outing needs time, even - or especially - when we come out to ourselves."
"Did you have a hard time accepting that you liked girls?"
"Are you kidding me? You don't know the lengths I went to to deny that I... wanted another woman. My first times with women, even just kissing, I was drunk... or pretended to be. After awhile it just wouldn't sail anymore. I met this girl, she was working in a record store and I would always come in before school and after school. She totally fascinated me... one day she came over to me and asked why I was stalking her. I blushed but said that I liked her. She took me home, we had... sex... it wasn't anything more to her and then she sent me home to deal with the fact that I had just had the most intense orgasm of my young life," Chloe smiled. "Until then, not since then," she added when she saw Beca's frown.
"Good safe," the DJ complimented. They smiled at each other.
Beca let her hand drift under Chloe's sleeping shirt, pulling her a little closer and kissing her.
"When did you first... sleep with another girl?" She asked after they parted. Chloe smiled.
"I was sixteen. Her name was Angela, she was... on the girl's basketball team and she was gorgeous. We were at a party at a friend's and when I arrived she was just exiting the whirl pool." Chloe smiled wickedly. "I knew that I had to... have her. I had made out with girls before - as I said, drunkenly - and I felt ready for the next step. So, for the next three hours I executed an intricate scheme of seduction... it was insane but it worked. I went down on her in the bedroom of the seven-year-old brother of the hostess - he wasn't there, of coruse, he was at a friend's."
"Wow," Beca said.
"Yeah... it was amazing but I didn't allow myself to admit it."
"How does that work... I mean, not the going down part, obviously...," they giggled.
"No, you got that down already," Chloe agreed and leaned in for a deep kiss.
"Hmmm, nice." Beca murmured. "What was I... oh, yeah. You denied your attraction even after you had gone down on this... on Angela? How did you do that? I mean... compared to that I was pretty quick to notice."
"Not to crush your pipe-dream there but you were still pretty slow. You're 19, almost 20. I was 17 when I came out, not only to myself but also to my family. It's not like it's a competition, or that you should have known earlier... everybody needs their own time to figure this out. I was 15 when I first had sex - it was actually just a few days after my 15th birthday," Chloe said and smiled a little sadly.
"What happened?" Beca asked and carressed the redhead's cheek.
"He was older, 21... a high school drop-out, working at a gas station. I had kind of a wild phase and... didn't go to school all the time. I would go over to the station, flirt with him - he was a good-looking guy - let him ogle me. One day, his boss wasn't there, he was on some business and Sam asked me to come into the workshop to show me something. I knew what he wanted and I still went... so, my first time was on the hood of an old chevy. It was... painful and meaningless, somehow just to get it over with. I was lucky that I didn't get pregnant because we didn't use protection."
"I'm so sorry," Beca said and pulled Chloe yet a little closer. Chloe shook her head.
"I was an early bloomer, as they say. I... you know me, I like to be close to people, or have to be close to people. It makes me feel warm and good. And back then... I didn't have people around who could deal with it a lot. My family thought I was odd that way - and you really don't need that kind of label when you're a teen and don't feel comfortable in your body to begin with. I felt awkward and I just wanted to be close to someone. I chose the wrong someone and the wrong way to establish that. I mean, it's not wrong to have sex when you know what you're doing but I didn't know then. I was too young."
"I'm glad I waited," Beca said.
"I'm glad you waited, too. It was so beautiful to be with you last night. You're so..." Chloe smiled brightly and kissed Beca.
"I'm what?" Beca asked between kisses but her question didn't get answered for a long while as they kissed and touched and undressed each other.
"I'll show you," Chloe finally said and kissed her way down Beca's body.
Beca came down the stairs of the B&B with her mother's overnight bag, she had insisted on carrying it and Chloe smiled up at her when she saw the small brunette maneuver the big bag.
"Did you mom plan on staying a year, or something?"
"Are you kidding me? In my mom's book, this is light traveling," Beca gave back as she put the bag down next to her girlfriend's feet.
"You know I can hear you, girls," Grace called from the top of the stairs. She smiled down at the two young women as Chloe slipped her fingers between Beca's and leaned into her. The redhead was very touchy-feely and Grace had to wonder at her daughter's patience with it - though patience didn't seem the right word, she rather seemed to crave the contact almost as much as the other woman. It was remarkable.
Grace came down the stairs and after they all said their goodbyes to the proprietor they exited the building to wait for Justin. Chloe had brought coffee for them all and they were sipping it in companionable silence until Grace said:
"Do you know when you're coming to visit?" She asked Beca but included Chloe with a an easy smile.
"We haven't yet hammered out all our plans for the summer - maybe two weeks, maybe a month," Beca said and smiled at her mother.
"And you both gonna stay for awhile, right? A week, at least."
"I was thinking more like ten days, then we can go up to my parent's for my brother's birthday," Chloe contemplated.
"So, I guess one of us has already thought this through," Beca grinned and her girlfriend laughed. "Seems I'm not up to speed, I'll try to catch up," she told Chloe.
"That's okay, I'll draw you a schematic," the taller girl gave back and pulled Beca into a hug. They couldn't resist the closer contact which led to a kiss and another.
Grace chuckled.
"Young love," she murmured.
"You got that right," Chloe confirmed when she and Beca finally broke their lip-contact. She smiled at Grace confidently and the older woman had to laugh. There was abolutely no false self-consciousness in the young woman who loved her daughter. She would always be open and honest with Grace and Beca's mother appreciated it.
"I haven't told you yet how glad I am that you two are together, have I?" She asked.
"Mom," Beca warned.
"No, I know. I sometimes go a little overboard, and I created a mess but... I'm happy that you could clean it up and be together." Grace said. Chloe let go of her girlfriend and came over to her mother, she hugged her.
"So am I;" she said as Grace rather tentatively hugged her back. "I'm sorry, I'm always doing that... hugging and touching."
"That's okay, honey. I'm much more of a hugger than this one here," she pointed at Beca as Chloe let go of her.
"That's hard to believe, she's such a cuddler," the redhead said and saw her girlfriend blush a bright red. Chloe laughed. "Well, you are."
"Whatever," Beca tried to play it cool but Chloe wasn't having any of it. She simply stepped into the brunette's personal space and hugged her tight.
"And I'm so glad you are," she said. Beca rolled her eyes but more at herself than at her girlfriend because she really liked being so close to Chloe and she couldn't hide the smile that had latched onto her face permanently by now. Chloe gave her another small kiss before leaning against the garden wall next to her, bumping shoulders, holding hands.
"There's one thing I wanted to talk to you about," Grace said and Beca turned to her. "Your dad." The older woman sighed.
"What about dad?"
"I told you that we talked and... well, he didn't say it but... I know that he really would like to spend more time with you. And I think you should go and talk to him and tell him about... you and Chloe," Grace said earnestly and Beca looked at her. Her face grew pensive. "And you should do it soon," her mother added.
Beca nodded, though still thoughtful.
"I would have done it eventually," she said.
"You mean, you would have sent him a wedding-invitation?" Grace asked and Beca blushed. Chloe giggled.
"I..."
"You're a lot like me, Beca. I never wanted to talk to Ken about anything that has happened, how much he hurt me. I just put up a brave front. But he's your father and I really want you to give him another chance. You're an adult now and you can make your own decision about it, of course, but... he's really not a bad guy... he's a little bit of a chicken but he's not a bad guy." The words lingered between mother and daughter.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Chloe asked and Beca looked at her with loving eyes. She shook her head, though.
"No, I will go over later and... talk to him. I'll tell him about you and I... and maybe some other stuff," she said. Chloe nodded.
"Thank you, angel," her mother leaned toward her and kissed her cheek.
"Yeah, yeah. The emotional rollercoaster continues, fasten your seatbelts," the brunette groused and her girlfriend ruffled her hair.
"You poor little lamb," she teased and Beca grimaced.
"You'll be careful, Beale. Calling me cute animal names might drive me away," she groused.
"Oh, my little kitten. You sweet puppy. My own little baby seal, I'm so in love wth you," she cooed and took Beca's face between her hands, giving her a smack on the lips.
Grace laughed at the redhead's antics and her daughter's face. Then she saw a red camaro come down the street and she pushed herself off the garden wall. She threw her empty coffee cup into a trash can as the camaro pulled up next to her, it was Justin.
"Hey, honey," he called as he exited the vehicle.
"Hey, you goof, how was New Orleans?" She greeted her friend and he came over to hug her and then kiss her on the cheek.
"A blast. That city's dynamite and unicorns, I swear," he enthused and grinned at the two younger women.
"Sounds like just the place for us," Chloe asserted and smiled at Beca.
"Only if I can be the dynamite," Beca gave back. She turned from her girlfriend and let herself get hugged by her mother's friend, a guy who had some part in her own upbringing as he and Grace had been together for most of her teens.
"But you are my little baby unicorn," Chloe dead-panned. She laughed at the face Beca made, then she pulled out her hand to the tall African-American who she thought was still in love with Beca's mom. "Hi, I'm Chloe. I'm Beca's girlfriend," she introduced herself and Justin took her hand, at the same time looking surprised at Beca who grinned.
"She's my girlfriend," the small brunette repeated.
"Well, you got good taste, smarts," he complimented. "I'm Justin and it's a pleasure to meet you, Chloe. But... we have to be on our way, I want to beat any kind of traffic we might get on the way, so..." He picked up Grace's bag easily and put it in the trunk while Grace hugged Chloe.
"You take care of my little angel, now," she said.
"Will do," the redhead promised.
"I can take care of myself," Beca protested.
"What, you think you're a baby anaconda, now?" Chloe asked.
"Stop it with the baby animals, already," the DJ gave back but grinned. 'Baby animals,' she shook her head. It was ridiculous but also kinda cute.
Grace hugged her daughter, tightly.
"I'm gonna miss you," she vowed.
"I'll miss you, too, mom. I love you," Beca said and answered the hug fiercely.
"I love you, angel, so much." For awhile they just stood, not moving, not letting go of each other. Chloe smiled up at Justin who rolled his eyes.
"They're close," he commented.
"Yeah, it's a good thing," Chloe answered and grinned at him. He laughed.
Mother and daughter finally parted and Grace opened the passenger side door to Justin's car.
"Remember your dad, Beca," she said.
"Will do, mom. Have a save trip and call me when you get home," Beca answered and Grace waved.
Beca then hugged Justin.
"Take care of her," she told him.
"Like she'll ever let me," he answered and sighed.
Beca turned to the car for a moment to see that her mother was inside and couldn't hear them.
"Why don't you ask her to marry you already?" she then asked the tall dark-skinned man.
"Like I haven't. You mom doesn't want another husband and me... I'm too old to be with someone who lives one day at a time. You know I love your mom but I love her too much to just be casual," he said. Beca nodded, she reached out for Chloe's hand and they entwined fingers.
"Keep trying, though. She loves you, we both know that." Justin nodded at Beca's words and squeezed her shoulder for a moment.
"It was nice meeting you, Chloe. Take good care of smarts, here, huh?"
"I got that covered," the redhead answered to the amused head-shake of her girlfriend. Justin waved as he walked around the car. Beca walked next to the passenger side window which Grace lowered.
"Bye, angel, bye, Chloe," she waved and the young women answered in kind. Then the camero roared to life and moved from the sidewalk onto the street. It didn't take long for it to disappear around the next corner. Beca kept staring at the place where it had disappeared.
"Why does Justin call you smarts?" Chloe asked close to her ear and the brunette had to grin.
"When he and mom first got together I was a total brat. I didn't want him anywhere near her and would give flippant answers to anything he'd say. He started calling me smart aleck which eventually shortened to smarts - I always thought that it had a double meaning, that my behavior in the beginning smarted." Beca turned to Chloe. She smiled self-deprecatingly.
"Well, you're still a smart-aleck, obviously," Chloe confirmed. "Would it be aweful if I called you that, too?" Beca smiled.
"No, I actually like it... don't tell Justin, though. And I figure it is better than baby sloth."
"Did you know that a maverick is a baby calf who lost its mother?", Chloe asked as they started walking toward the next busstop to get back to campus.
"Is that just a fun fact or are you trying to tell me something?"
"Just a fun fact, smarts," the redhead answered, swinging their entwined hands.