Two days later Mina's phone rang right as practice ended, that special tone that signified the call was coming over wifi and not over regular celluar channels. Abroad it was a common enough sound, but at home she rarely heard it. Her face lit up as she lunged for her phone. It had to be Beca finally calling her after getting back from the retreat.
"Tiny mouse," she said in lieu of greeting.
"Hey. I'm still alive. No bears ate me. Though im sure Pieter told you about the bear trap, that traitor."
Mina smiled. "Oh, he did, but because I was worried for you, not for a laugh. I was imagining a steel trap, not a net. But now that I know you're ok, I admit, it is rather amusing."
"Yeah he freaked about that too. I swear he would've hopped on a plane if I had actually got stuck in one of those sort of traps."
"Oh, he would have and grabbed me to go with him without explaining what was going on. It would have been a mess."
She got the distinct impression that Beca was blushing. "You guys wouldn't have to come if something like that happened. It's not like I wouldn't have the whole Bella team looking after me or anything."
"You would, I know, and we wouldn't have to, but we would want to. It wouldn't matter where we were and what we were doing, we would want to. I dont believe there would be any stopping us."
Protectiveness flared up inside Mina. No, there would certainly be no stopping them. She would break down doors if she had to, break enough laws to get her put away for life, but she would be there.
"I'll keep that in mind then. Um, thanks."
"There is no need to thank us for something we would do without hesitation or question, but the sentiment is appreciated, Beca."
They fell silent for a few moments, just listening to each other breathe. Mina usually hated these awkward silences. She usually hated phone calls period, but she was used to them now being team leader of DSM and so she endured. But this silence with Beca wasn't uncomfortable, if anything it was comforting to know that Beca was alive and well.
"How are your friends with everything now that the weekend is over?" Mina finally asked voice quiet.
She looked up and saw a member of DSM heading towards her with purpose and frowned. She did not want her time with Beca interrupted. She tried to glare at him to make it clear that she was busy, but he did not notice. At the last second Pieter swept in and cut Elias off. Mina smiled and grabbed up her stuff before walking from the gym they rented to practice. After this worlds she was going to set all the money aside and buy a place of their own. Renting was a hassle. DSM would complain that they didn't get a bonus, but a space of their own would shut them up after a short time.
Beca took a deep breath. "They're good, I think. I think we're all good. We're out of the funk we were in and I think we found our voice again. It'll be hard pulling something awesome out in a month, but we're all together again and I think we can do it."
Mina smiled. "Good, good, I am glad that you have figured it out. After all it wouldn't be fun without a little competition from somewhere. God knows its not like the French team will put up much of a fight." She snorted. They were idiots who thought they knew everything about art and music because they were French. They did not.
"Yeah, we're gonna kick your ass don't worry."
"I'll provide the stepstool so you may reach it." She smiled wider at their now familiar banter. Mina stepped out into the spring air. It was actually warming up now. April was fighting its way in, melting some of the snow on the warmer days, but there were still large piles and would be for a while.
"They really are ok with the internship?" Mina asked, starting to make her way home. Pieter would find her there eventually.
"Yeah, I talked to them more about why I hid everything and I think we all realized we've been too focused on everything that it was actually breaking us up a bit. Well, that was Chloe and Aubrey talking because they're actually good at words and emotions but it sounded exactly like what I was feeling so."
Mina had a feeling that Beca was shrugging. She wished the month would go by faster so that she could hug their little mouse again. Beca sounded fine, but a hug never hurt.
"There may have also been, um, something about you guys in that whole confession thing," Beca muttered, switching to English for the first time in the entire conversation. Mina could barely hear her, but she'd still caught the words. She wasn't sure if she should say something or just let the mouse go on in her own time. This was where she needed Pieter, but Beca had chosen to tell her this and so she would deal. But she still looked over her shoulder to see if Pieter was anywhere close. He wasn't of course.
After too long a pause Mina finally spoke up. "And what did you say, darling?" Her voice was soft, not pushy in any way. It was the closest she could get to a hug when she was four thousand miles away.
"Um, uh, well, it was actually a lot of things, but it mostly boiled down to that there's something going on between the three of us, and I'm not really sure what it is, but it's there and I think it's stronger than anything I had with Jesse but I just don't know because you guys are so far away all so it's hard to really figure out."
Mina bit her lip. Was now the time to really show their hand? They had in a way at the riff off months ago, but it had been different then. They hadn't talked for months and months and comforted each other in the bad times and celebrated the good. They knew each other now. Saying something now would mean more.
"What do you want to be going on?" Mina asked instead. She had to know exactly where she stood before she took the huge risk of revealing just what she really wanted. An offer in a bar was different than the words that were bursting to come out of her. Those words were more permanent. They revealed the person underneath her persona, not that Beca hadn't already seen her, but…
Beca paused for a long moment thinking. "You remember back at the riff off, where you offered the whole threesome thing?"
"I remember all the conversations we've had, so yes." She bit her lip hard hoping that Beca wouldn't just want a one time threesome and nothing more. She would take what she could get, but that would only be one sip when she was dying of thirst.
"I…I want that, but I mean I don't just want that. Like you're both insanely hot and Jesus Christ above I would be lucky to fuck you, but I just…there's something more there."
"So what you're saying is that you'd like to be in a relationship with the two of us?" Her heart sped up. Months and months of waiting and this could be it finally.
"I think so, but like…I don't know. Like I said it's sort of hard to figure out when we're four thousand miles apart. I'm not good at this shit face to face and I think I'm even worse like this." Beca sighed heavily.
"Mouse," Mina started and then paused. She hoped that she could find the right words for this. It was too important not to. "If it helps you with your decision Pieter and I want that, want you. I think we've wanted more than just a threesome for a long time, perhaps since the riff off itself. There was just something…right about all three of us together." She took a deep breath, knowing the next words had to be said, but not wanting to. They felt like she was throwing away her chance at everything she wanted. "But that being said, we won't pressure you into anything. We will wait for as long as it takes to figure it out, and if you decide that what you want isn't this, well, you will still always be our friend as long as you wish us to be."
Beca made a frustrated noise. "Jesus, why aren't you guys just here because I actually want to hug someone for the first time in my life and of course they're in a different country."
"In a month we will both be in Denmark."
"Yeah, we will." Beca hummed quietly.
"Perhaps then you can hug us. And perhaps maybe we can all talk face to face and maybe figure everything out if we can?" She wiped her hands on her sweatpants. They were clammy. It had been a very long time since she was this nervous.
"Yeah, I think, yeah, that sounds like a good idea."
Mina nodded even though Beca couldn't see it. "OK." And like that everything was decided. At least for the time being.
"But no matter what we're still winning worlds."
Mina laughed and all tension from the conversation dissipated. "Oh, you can try. Now, tell me little mouse, Pieter said something about you crawling through a mud hole, is it true?"
"Yeah, ugh it was disgusting. I mean like my inner five year old loved it but I hated it."
"And yet you persuaded Pieter to bring us to this same retreat so you could watch me crawl in the mud." Mina put just a bit of the hard tone of the Kommissar in her voice.
"Um?" The phone moved away and Beca started to curse in mixed German and English and she knew Pieter was going to get and earful later. She smiled at the prospect.
"I might have?"
"Then I suppose, mouse, that the only way to pay you back for that is to drag you into the mud while we're there." Or perhaps, if they had sorted everything out by then there could be another form of retribution that didn't have to do with mud. A much more pleasurable form of torture. Mina rubbed at her temples. She was getting almost as bad as Pieter with the thoughts of sex.
"Please, god no I had enough of that this weekend. I'll do literally anything else."
Mina sighed at the inevitable dirty thoughts popping back up a second after she had just gotten rid of them. "I suppose we can work something out. Though I don't suppose your friend will let me skip that portion either?"
Beca snorted. "Aubrey, fuck no dude you're on your own with that one. Hell, depending on what mood she's in she might make me do it again just because I'm there watching you guys and laughing. Ugh, I need to hide to watch that part."
"But not in a bear trap." Mina grinned.
"No, smart-ass not in a bear trap. I'm never gonna live that down, am I?"
Mina chuckled. "No, probably not anytime soon."
"Ugh, you're both horrible."
"And yet you talk to us a great deal."
"Yeah, well, I….ugh shut up beautiful I just can't with the sass right now, it's late."
Mina did the time conversation in her head. It was almost two in the morning America. "Go to sleep, little mouse, I'm glad you called but you need your rest."
"But talking to you relaxes me. And I wasn't exactly sleeping before this. We got back at like eight and I went and unpacked and showered and was exhausted, but my brain won't turn off. Calling you was both productive and a way to help, I guess."
Mina melted just a bit at that. "That's sweet, Beca. I'm glad I could help in any way." She would help even more if she was there, cuddling up against the other woman and humming to her until she fell asleep. She smiled at that. She had an idea. "Are you in your bed?"
"No, I'm in the living room. Amy is actually asleep for once instead of bumping uglies with Bumper. Why?"
"Go get in bed but stay on the phone with me. I know how to get you to sleep."
"Uh sure, whatever you say."
Mina could hear the disbelief in Beca's voice but she pushed on. "Trust me, little mouse, if nothing else you'll be on the phone with me longer."
"OK, OK, you can try to work whatever pretty German voodoo you want on me but there's not a lot that can be done when I super get like this."
Mina heard Beca tread lightly up the stairs and a door open. There was the quiet rustling of sheets and then Beca breathed out a quiet sigh.
"OK, whatever you had in mind, I'm ready."
"Good." Mina took a deep breath and started to sing quietly. It was a lullaby her mother used to sing her as a child. She had imagined singing it to her children as well, if she ever had any, but this was just as good.
"I recognize that song. My grandma used to sing it to me."
"Shhh, mouse, this doesn't work if you keep talking."
Beca made a noise in the back of her throat but didn't speak again. Mina went back to singing, voice soft and gentle. Slowly, bit by bit, Beca's breathing regulated to deep and even little puffs. Mina smiled to herself as she kept singing for just a little whole longer. She had put their mouse to sleep rather easily. Good, Beca needed the sleep after the weekend she had.
She finished the last verse one final time and then fell quiet for just a second before speaking once more, even quieter than before, afraid that she would wake Beca right back up. "Goodnight, darling, I love you." She swallowed hard at the words but couldn't take them back. They were true. So deeply true that she couldn't see where they began.
She hung up the phone finally a second later, staring at it for a minute before putting her phone back in her pocket. She had accidentally walked by her apartment while she was talking to Beca. Mina turned around and started to make her way home again. She had it bad. She had known it for a long while but this cemented it more somehow.
She sighed a month more to go until worlds.