A/N: So, I'm sorry this chapter is mainly just dialogue and kind of short but here's why: originally this chapter wasn't supposed to exist. What I had written for Chapter 11 will now be in Chapter 13, and I have added two filler chapters for character development and clarity.
Since Chapters 12, 13, and 14 are already written (because I had the original 11-12 written before deciding to add this chapter and the following one), I will be posting the rest every other day until they're all posted.
I want to estimate that we are about halfway through this story, but I could be wrong.
Chloe walks into the garage, closing the door as she enters the house. She leans against the wall and sighs, knowing that she had been a bit of an idiot the last two days. She shakes the thoughts from her head and walks into the kitchen, spotting Claire sitting on the living room couch.
"Just so you know, you were wrong about Beca." Chloe practically spits out at Claire as she grabs a bottle of water from the fridge. "And I made a huge freaking fool of myself in the process."
Chloe slams the fridge shut and walks between the kitchen and living room, hand on her hip as she glared at her sister.
"What?" Claire raises an eyebrow, setting down the details of her latest case on the coffee table.
"Beca isn't trying to get in my pants." Chloe states bluntly. "And you owe me $50, I guess."
"And how do you know that?" Claire looks expectantly at Chloe.
"Because, she had the opportunity to and she rejected me. Happy now?" Chloe scoffs as she unscrews the cap off of her water and takes a huge gulp.
"Uh... Well. Not particularly."
"God, I feel so stupid and desperate." Chloe shakes her head.
"I mean... Look, Chloe I love you, but did you really have to throw yourself at Beca to prove me wrong?"
"That wasn't even it. Last night, I was drunk and I was just not thinking and today... Her ex and her were talking and laughing, and I just go so jealous that it just happened." Chloe sighs as she walks into the living room and slumps on the couch next to Claire. "I mean, what do I do?"
"Maybe you should take a break or something. Go home and visit mom and dad, get their advice." Claire offers. "Take some time for yourself to heal without being confused between who Beca is and who Beca was. I mean, mom's a pretty non-biased party. Maybe she could shed some light for you."
"I would love to, but what about Cass? You have work you know."
"Let Cassidy stay with Beca. Just see how they do without you for a few days and if Beca is really in it for the long haul, then she'll prove it by taking care of Cassidy and doing what's right." Claire smiles as Chloe rests her head on her shoulder. She knows her sister is right and that this was the best opportunity for her to get time to herself and for Beca to truly go above and beyond as a parent.
"Okay. I'll call mom tomorrow." Chloe nods before smiling at her sister. "I'm going to go check on Cassidy."
Chloe gets up from the couch and heads upstairs, knocking on Cassidy's door. She hears her daughter mumble a 'come in' and she pushes open the door.
"Hey, sweetie."
Cassidy looks up from her book and over at Chloe whose eyes were still red and puffy from crying in Beca's car. "You okay, mom?"
"I'm, uh, fine. Just a little disagreement with Beca is all."
Cassidy's face falls at the comment. "So you're definitely not getting back together?" Chloe shakes her head. "But you were acting like it!"
"Cass..." Chloe warns at her daughter's sudden outburst.
"This is so unfair!" Cassidy angrily shouts. "You can't keep acting like you want to be with Beca and then take it back!"
"Cassidy Elise Beale!"
"No! I don't care! Get mad at me, mom! But Beca deserves to be forgiven! I've forgiven her and she abandoned me!" Cassidy slumps her shoulders, crossing her arms and scowling.
"She abandoned me too, Cassidy." Chloe replies softly. "But you have to understand, sweetheart, that Beca abandoned me after two years of being together. She left when I needed her most."
"And she came back, mom. She came back and she's sorry. How much does she have to grovel and try to earn your forgiveness?"
Beca sits in the lobby of the law firm, her leg shaking as she waits patiently to be seen. She feels the weight of a sleepless night take a toll on her as she closes her eyes and rests. It had been over an hour since Beca had shown up and she was growing impatient as she waited.
"Rebeca Mitchell?" A voice calls out, jolting Beca out of her semi-sleep. "She'll see you now."
Beca nods, grabbing her stuff and heading towards the office. She feels her stomach twist as her hand touches the handle, pushing it down and entering the room.
"You know, when I saw your name I almost didn't see you." The lawyer said as Beca sits down across from them. "What can I do for you, Mitchell?"
"Claire, I know you hate me... But I need your help." Beca bites her lower lip. "Please, help me."
"Okay, spill. What do you want?"
"I want to adopt Cassidy. Or whatever it takes so that I can legally be her parent." Beca breathes out, avoiding eye contact with the blonde across from her.
"Wow." Claire states, leaning back in her chair. "That's very... Grown up of you."
Not expecting this reaction, Beca looks up and locks eyes with Chloe's sister. "I- thanks. Look, Claire, I'll do whatever it takes. I love Cassidy and I know I have a lot of making up to do. I just think this is a step in the right direction."
"Okay. Beca, you do know what this could cost right? We can't do adoption because you're not legally tied to Chloe at all, but we can do parental rights. But then that usually turns into a custody battle and tends to piss some people o-"
"No!" Beca interrupts. "I'm not trying to take any rights away from Chloe. She can have sole custody, she can claim her for taxes; I don't care. I just want Cassidy to be my daughter."
"Then you have to pay child support if that's the way the court sees it." Claire shrugs. "And that can get costly."
"You don't know how much I'm worth, do you?" Beca raises an eyebrow and Claire shakes her head. "My net worth alone is 60 million, Claire. Not to mention I hardly spend money, anymore. I have more than enough to support Cassidy, hell, even Chloe if I need to. I don't care if I go broke in the process. This isn't about money, it's about our daughter. I want this, Claire. I want to prove to anyone who's ever doubted me how serious I am about this, please help me."
"Okay, fine. I'll help you." Claire caves. She stands up and rummages through a filing cabinet before handing Beca a stack of papers. "Chloe needs to consent to all of this and sign these. A DNA test will need to be done on both you and Cassidy to prove blood relation. And a visitation plan, if needed, to present to the courts. Get all of that, and we can start the process. We'll have to travel to Oregon because that's where she was born to reinstate her birth certificate, but I need all of this first."
Beca graciously grabs the papers from Claire, putting them in her backpack. "Thank you so much, Claire. You have no idea how much I appreciate this."
"Not a problem." Claire cracks a half smile at Beca. "And Beca? Glad you finally grew some balls and are taking responsibility."
Chloe looks down at the birth certificate as she holds the pen in her hand, her newborn baby girl wrapped in a blanket and sleeping against her chest.
"You're so beautiful." Chloe whispers as she steals a glance at her daughter. "I wish your other mother could be here to see you... I wish she could see what a beautiful baby girl she helped create."
Chloe sighs, feeling the tears well up in her eyes. "But she left... She left us and it's just going to be you and me, okay?"
She looks away from her daughter before filling in the birth certificate.
Full Name Of Child: Cassidy Elise Beale
Date of Birth: January 30, 2007
Mother: Chloe Elizabeth Beale
Age of Mother: 18
Father/Second Parent:
Chloe looks up from the birth certificate, her pen hovering over the empty box. "Uhm... Do I fill this part out if I know who the other parent is?"
The doctor walks over and looks at the paper, shaking her head. "Not unless they are present or will be in the next 48 hours."
"Oh..." Chloe's face falls. "Okay."
Chloe sighs as she drives towards Ixora Records after receiving an oddly suspicious sounding text from the brunette asking to meet her alone. Not to mention, her mom was currently on the phone going on about Chloe asking to come visit for a few days.
"No, mom. I'm not worried about leaving Cassidy with Beca for a few days." Chloe rolls her eyes.
"Are you sure?" Liz Beale's voice floods through the Bluetooth speaker in her car.
"I'm positive. I just think I need a break from California." Chloe replies as she pulls into the parking lot. "It's not like Beca's useless, mom. She's been a real big help this last month or so."
"I'm just worried. What if something happens?"
"Then Beca will call Claire and everything will be fine." Chloe puts her car into park and waits patiently for her mom to reply.
"Okay. It would be nice to see you again, too. Although, I'm kind of sad you won't be bringing Cass."
"She'll be in good hands, I'm sure of it." Chloe states. "But I'll call you later, I'm meeting up with Beca and we'll talk about it, okay?"
"Alright. I love you."
"I love you, too." Chloe ends the call and kills the engine, getting out of her car and heading towards the building. Her stomach is in knots, wondering what Beca would want to talk to her about. She pushes open the door and is greeted once again by Spencer telling her which office to go to.
Chloe makes her way to the office and knocks, opening the door when she hears a muffled 'come in' from behind it. She takes in her surroundings, noticing the mass amount of awards and Grammy's just chilling in a corner of Beca's office.
"Wow. Somebody's famous." Chloe jokes as she sits down on the couch.
"My initials and music are, my face is not." Beca smiles as she sits in a chair across from Chloe. "Thanks for meeting with me."
"Of course." Chloe replies, returning the smile. "Although I'm not sure why we're meeting here. I thought you were taking a break?"
"I am taking a break from recording and producing albums for other artists, but my last client's album got big so we were just working on the finances." Beca shrugs.
"Oh, okay. So, what did you want to talk about?"
"Okay, so... I went to see Claire and if it's okay with you, I want to reinstate Cassidy's birth certificate with my name on it. I want to legally be her parent." Beca breathes out.
"You..." Chloe starts but pauses, a plethora of feelings swirling around in her brain. The thought of Beca stepping up and wanting to take full blown responsibility is not a thought she had entertained often and it was completely throwing her off guard. "Uh..."
"Only if it's okay with you. I, uh- Claire and I started a proposal. You get to keep sole custody, I'll pay child support if needed, and you can claim Cassidy for tax purposes. I will provide for anything she needs, as well." Beca explains. "Mainly, this would allow me to make decisions if you're not present and God forbid something happens, which I'm praying never will. And after talking to the principal at Franklin, it'll allow me to pick her up from school when it's back in session. I'm only allowed to for soccer because the campus is technically closed."
"Wow. That's- wow." Chloe stutters.
"Look, you can take all the time in the world to think about, Chlo. I just... I'm serious about this, about Cassidy." Beca reassures.
"I don't want to sound suspicious, but are you doing this to prove to me that you're not leaving?" Chloe asks cautiously, biting her lip.
"No, no. Chloe, that's not why I want to do this. Even if you said no, I still would never leave. I just- Cassidy asked me once if I left because I didn't want her." Beca shrugs, leaning back in her chair. "I guess this is as much for her as it is me. I love her, Chloe. She's one of the best things that's ever happened to me and she needs to know that. I know she identifies with me in certain ways, but I also know she's disappointed that I'm not legally her parent. She got so upset when Principal Johnson told her I couldn't get her from school once it started. It broke my heart, Chlo."
Chloe looks at the floor as she tries to process everything that had just fallen from Beca's mouth. She had wanted this from day one, wanted this responsible and selfless side of Beca to shine through. Beca wanted to take ownership, and no one had to push her in that direction; spending time with their daughter had done that for her. Beca had made the decision to contact Claire, Beca had made the decision to ask for parental rights. No one had forced her to, and Chloe could feel her broken heart start to piece itself back together. Beca had changed, really changed.
"Chlo?" Beca practically whispers when she sees a few tears stream down Chloe's face. "Chloe, look, I'm sorry. You can say no. Oh god, please don't cry."
"No, Beca. It's not that... I'm just- I'm so happy to see how full of effort you are for our daughter, and how proud you are to be her mother." Chloe sniffles, wiping away the tears with her arm. "Of course, I'll let you have parental rights. You have done nothing but been there for her, regardless of the circumstances between us. You're not dumb like me and letting all of those feelings effect Cassidy."
"You're not dumb, Chloe. Not for anything you've done. You were just caught up in the moment and that's okay."
"Our daughter yelled at me, you know."
Beca's eyes go wide at the comment. Their sweet, innocent daughter yelled at Chloe? No way. "What? Why?"
"Because I acted on my feelings when I still hadn't forgiven you." Chloe admits. "She told me that she forgives you and that I shouldn't have been acting like we were getting back together when we're not. That's why I said I was dumb... Because we said we wouldn't do that to her and I let it happen."
"Hey, it's okay. It happens..." Beca says in an attempt to comfort Chloe.
"But we said..." Chloe sniffles.
"Chloe, it happened, it's in the past. I mean, yeah, we both obviously still have feelings for each other, but we both know a relationship wouldn't work right now. It's not our time, and it may never be, but we have to talk to her so she understands that."
"Okay... You're right." Chloe breathes out. "And uhm... I think we should have joint custody. That way you can make any legal decisions in her life if needed."
"Are you sure? I don't want to take anything away from you." Beca asks.
"If I have sole custody, you'd only get visitation rights and that's it. Joint custody would allow you to make decisions in Cassidy's life." Chloe explains.
"You can keep physical custody. I don't want her to have to keep going back and forth between us. I'm perfectly okay with the time I get to spend with her." Beca smiles. "But thank you, Chloe. This means so much to me."
"It means a lot to me, too, Beca... That you're stepping up and doing this for Cassidy. What do we have to do to make this work?"
"Right." Beca walks over to her desk and grabs the paperwork. "Okay, so we just both need to sign these and write a letter to the courts saying what we decided on. I need to take Cassidy to the hospital to get a DNA test for proof, and we have to go to Oregon to reinstate the birth certificate... But I can do that, if you want."
"Actually... This is perfect. I wanted to go back to Portland to visit my mom. If we can get this done within the next few days, I can get it taken care of." Chloe offers.
"You'd do that?" Beca asks.
"Yeah, of course, Becs. We're trying to be the best parents we can be, right? I wholeheartedly believe this is the right thing to do, for all of us."
"Wow, okay. Cool!" Beca beams. "What about Cass?"
"I was actually wondering if she could stay with you."
A/N #2: The next chapter is longer, I promise. It kind of jumps around a lot, but like I said... these chapters weren't originally going to exist until I took some reviews to heart and added them. So I apologize for the choppiness and randomness (although clarifying) chapters.