The support for this story is being very disappointing, but thanks to my two loyal reviewers. This chapter is happy but has a surprise. Big surprise. Woww! LEAVE REVIEWS. Feedback matters.
Chapter 20: 2028.
Months went by quickly, and soon, Noah was six months old, and the family travelled to Tampa to spend the New Year's Eve with the Beales, after having been in New York for Thanksgiving and in Atlanta for Christmas. They always rotated the celebrations so they could spend one with each family and the other with their best friends. Angela and Amelia were also settled in Norfolk already, and Wyatt and Eva were four months away from having their second child, their daughter Susan.
"Aren't you the cutest?" Chloe smiled as she played with Noah in the carpet of her parents' living room. The boy was now learning to crawl and was such a smiley boy. His siblings played with him a lot, but now they were entertained with their cousins. One of them was Samuel Grint, Gwen's youngest son, that was born just three months before Noah, and he was also sitting close by with Gwen, the sisters chatting while playing with their little sons.
"Micah looks more like Beca, but this one isn't much behind!" Gwen smiled at Noah, who smiled in return. He had a messy wavy brown hair, and dark blue eyes, and as he grew up, they had seen it had Beca's hair, color and form of the eyes, some expressions, the same smile, the lips, and the height, although that could be because Noah had been premature.
"Yeah, sometimes they smile just the freakin' perfect same way" Chloe giggled pinching Noah's ass softly when the kid was about to crawl towards his cousin, and the boy squealed and sat down looking at Chloe with a tiny smile before falling with his back against the floor and pulling a fist into his mouth while making some noises. His cousin lied next to him and shook a rattle in the air.
Beca, George and Cormac came talking between them and sat on the sofa after saying hi to them. Chloe farted against Noah's belly and he smiled making a noise that was kind of a laugh and kicking the air. Then he crawled towards Beca and extended his arms helplessly towards her, making some noise.
"Hey buddy" Beca smiled at him, and he frowned and made an upset noise, his eyes watery "Hey, hey, don't you cry!" Beca took him in her arms and sat him on her lap, and while she kept talking with their family, Noah fell asleep on her lap.
Later that afternoon, Beca was pacing around Chloe's bedroom, Noah asleep against her shoulder, and she was contemplating all the pictures Chloe had around her bedroom, some of them had been put long after Chloe moved out of that house by her parents, and it was funny to see photographs of a eighteen or twenty one year old Chloe, surrounded by all the Bellas or other friends, and then next to it a photograph of Chloe with Beca in their wedding, or years later with their children, because Chloe was just still as beautiful as she was with eighteen years old, if not more, than with thirty something. And there were many photos of her four children around, like the first photo Chloe and Beca ever made of Kamara, when they started with the adoption paperwork but hadn't yet been given the privilege of being her mothers, and Beca had made a beautiful photograph that they had emailed everyone saying they were going to adopt that beauty. Her grandparents had already started calling her their granddaughter back then, and sometimes they asked Chloe or Beca well, when are those morons going to bring you my granddaughter? They had just celebrated Kai's third birthday the twenty ninth.
"Hello gorgeous" Chloe said smiling as she entered the bedroom and hugged Beca from behind, kissing Noah's hairy head "How are two of the most amazing things in the world?"
"Cheesy" Beca smiled kissing her on the lips "We're good, this one is more than good I believe. You?" she added looking at Chloe.
"I'm fine, pretty excited with the New Year." Chloe went to her bed, that now was kind of their bed, and sat there being soon joined by Beca and Noah "Can you believe this is the tenth end of the year we've spent together?"
"Tenth? We've done this together ten times already?" Beca smiled proudly "If we didn't have four children to look after now and mostly this one, you have no idea how many things I would come up with to celebrate with you."
"Oh yeah?" Chloe smiled putting a hand on Beca's back and the other on her thigh, kissing Beca on the lips "And where would that happen exactly?"
"This bed" Beca kissed her "Maybe the counter" kiss "on top of the washing machine" kiss "the swimming pool" kiss "the car..."
"Beca" Chloe moaned against her lips.
There was a knock at the doorframe, because the door was already open, and they pulled apart suddenly. Sophie was by the door.
"It's time girls, let's go kick this year's ass!"
"Time to say goodbye to this beautiful year" Charles smiled looking at his watch. The twenty two members of the family were in the garden, waiting for the New Year to start with, many of them, fireworks ready.
Grandma Anna was carrying her grandchild Kamara in her arms, Cormac and Gwendoline, Chloe's youngest sister, carried baby Sam and were also surrounded by their eldest, Owen, and his cousin Katherine, who had now twelve years old and was the second child of George, the firstborn of Anna and Charles, and Hannah, his wife, and also John, George and Hannah's firstborn, was next to his sister. Next to them were their parents, the dad holding Parker Gavigan, the five year old and third child of Sophie, the second of the Beale siblings, and her husband Seth, that were also close by with their older kids, Emma, age twelve, and Edith, age eight. Chloe and Beca were somewhere between all of them with Noah being carried by Chloe, and Micah close by. Beth had gone to Edith's side.
"Okay, ten, nine!" Charles started the counting back and everyone followed.
"Eight, seven, six, five!"
"Three, two" Beca and Chloe locked eyes "Happy new year 2028!" Beca took Chloe's chin, and kissed her passionately. Six months ago, she thought she would never get to see that day.
The kids yelled and squealed and the first fireworks joined their neighbors' fireworks in the air, forming beautiful and colorful forms. Beca and Chloe smiled as Noah, who had awoken with all the yelling, squealed, bouncing in Chloe's arms, extending his arms to the sky.
The family had planned to stay a week more with the Beales so the kids could make a good use of their vacations to see a part of the family altogether they barely got to see. Bulletproof Productions had some employees already working after the first three days of the year, because they had the administrative department, the first revisions of equipment of the year, all the new year albums coming out... it was a rush of work. Beca, however, finished her maternal leave right after the holidays, that for most of her employees including herself, finished a bit more than a week after the end of the year, like Chloe's.
To celebrate the New Year, the family did karaoke night at a place they knew and had been at several times, where many families went with their children and they always had a great time, even having children so young, because they had a lot of people to watch over them and they could always put them in their baby carriages or strollers. Of course a family where almost everyone knew how to play at least one instrument and sing would love the karaoke, and even more one where many parents just sang with their children.
Beca and Chloe, pushed by the family and between laughs, went to the stage, and Chloe took a guitar while Beca took the micro, both sitting on stools, and Chloe started playing and Beca started singing.
"You sit in the bathroom and you paint your toes. I sit on the bed right now and I sing you a song… It's not always easy, but somehow our love stays strong, if I can make you happy, then this is where I belong… And I'd just like to say I thank God that you're here with me. And I know you too well to say you're perfect, but you'll see, oh my sweet love, you're perfect for me. I know all your secrets, and you know all of mine. You're always there to hold me up when I'm losing my mind. I wish that I was stronger so that I had more to give, I'll share everything I have and we'll find a way to live." Beca sang beautifully while Chloe played the guitar and everybody listened closely or danced. Then Chloe joined Beca singing while playing, as the local's guitarists joined with their guitars too. "I know all your secrets, and you know all of mine. You're always there to hold me up when I'm losing my mind. I wish that I was stronger so that I had more to give, I'll share everything I have and we'll find a way to live. Even after all this time, nothing else I ever find in this whole wide world can shake me like you do. It's true that something so sublime that there aren't words yet to describe, the beauty of this life I've made with you" Beca and Chloe were staring sweetly at each other and gave each other a quick kiss, not able to hold back any longer "And I'd just like to say, I thank God that you're here with me, and I know you too well to say you're perfect, but you'll see oh my sweet love… You're perfect for me. And I know you too well to say you're perfect, but you'll see oh my sweet love… You're perfect… Oh my love I swear you're perfect… Yes I promise, you're perfect… for me" and they kissed while everyone applauded them.
Then after that song, the women of the family went with Girls just wanna have fun and other old stuff from when they were teens or toddlers.
At past six, Beca was carrying Noah in one arm, and helping the a little bit drunk Chloe walk towards their bed. After putting the asleep baby in his crib, Beca helped Chloe change clothes, changed herself, and lied on the bed with Chloe, cuddling against her.
"I swear" Chloe murmured with her eyes closed "I'm not usually like this. I don't want a pretty girl like you to think I'm a drunkie." Beca giggled.
"I know you aren't honey, we've been together for almost ten years remember? And married for soon to be eight" Beca said kissing the sleepy girl, who barely opened her eyes a bit smiling against her lips.
"Really?"
"Really."
"Wow" Chloe's smile widened "I'm such a lucky girl. Do I make you happy?"
"The happiest nothing has or will ever make me."
"Good" Chloe smiled. One second later, she breathed deeply, asleep, and Beca grinned.
"Sleep sweet love, rest those pretty eyes of yours" Beca put a hand on Chloe's neck and kissed her on the lips, before falling asleep hugged onto her.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
Chloe laughed.
"I can't believe I was that drunk. But drunkie me was right, I'm such a lucky girl." Chloe giggled hugging Beca and kissing her.
They were in the shower after having made love there, and they were just cleaning themselves.
"If you don't stop, I'll go for round three, and we may not depend on condoms, but we do have a newborn that will probably wake up in seconds" Beca said between kisses.
"Right" Chloe giggled, stepping out of the shower and wrapping herself in a towel.
"For a woman that will soon be in her forties, I gotta admit girl, you're as hella sexy as when we first met, even more I'd say" Beca said biting her lip as she saw Chloe wrap a towel around herself. Chloe looked at her over her shoulder, and winked.
"Coming, Mitchell?"
"A second, I need a cold shower" Beca replied, and Chloe laughed getting out of the bathroom.
When Beca got out of the bathroom, she saw Chloe looking rather depressed, sitting on the side of the bed with Noah in her arms.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Beca said sitting next to her.
"You're right. I hadn't thought about it, but I'll be thirty eight in three months, and soon I'll be in my forties, even worse, my fifties, half of my life or less!" Chloe said panicking a little.
"Chloe, it's okay" Beca rubbed her back and kissed her cheek "This is what we committed with, this is what we've always wanted, to grow old together. One day we'll be in our eighties, and we will still have awesome sex, and be hella sexy, and what's more important, we will still make each other laugh like crazy and feel like the most beloved thing in the world. It's alright. Look around the room, it's full of proof you've only gotten sexier with the years, and more beautiful, what worries you? Did anything change when we discovered our first white hairs?"
"You're right" Chloe nodded and looked at Beca "But it's just so little time left to do stuff… and the health issues that come with age, and… what if nothing is how we expected? What if is all crap and we find ourselves only wanting to die soon?" Beca kissed her.
"Don't be afraid of not having time enough. With us, it will never be enough, even if we had two hundred years together, but it'll be okay, we'll be ready when the time comes, and we'll just confront the next great adventure after life, and one day, the other will join, and we'll be together for eternity. We'll just have to be brave to be without the other for a bit, but we'll do it, I know we will, because we will do it with the promise of an eternity together." Beca stroke her cheek "If it's crap, we've been through crap before, and even if we are deader than alive, or suffering, we'll be together Chloe. We'll always love each other, we'll always take care of each other, I'm not afraid because I know you'll be there with me through whatever comes, and we'll never be wanting to die, we'll enjoy until the very last second, and our children will be there too, and will always love us, and take care of us, and make sure our lives are good until the end. Chloe, my life has never been what I expected it to be, but year by year, it has been better than I could've ever imagined. You made it better. And as long as I've got you and our amazing children, I know it'll be a great adventure for as long as it comes, an amazing trip with the love of my life. I'm not worried, and you shouldn't be either." Chloe smiled sweetly at her, kissing her and supporting her head on her shoulder.
"Promise you'll never leave? Even if I'm grumpy, old, sick, ugly, smelly, and do everything on myself?" Chloe asked in a whisper, and Beca laughed.
"Wasn't I already in love with our children from the first minute, even if they came smelly, grumpy, crying nonstop, dirty as fuck, and basically sucked the life out of us and sometimes were pretty ugly?" Beca said, and Chloe laughed softly "Of course I won't leave, I will love you. I will always love you, you silly dork."
"Cheesy" Chloe sat straight and kissed her again "Every time I think I couldn't possibly love you more, Mitchell, every single time" she shook her head smiling "You exceed my expectations. I love you so much."
A couple days after, they were hanging around the house one afternoon, and while the children were very busy having lots of fun together, excited to see each other and be able to spend time with each other, Beca and Chloe with Noah went to sit in the living room, on the sofas, where the other adults were with Sammy, Parker and Kamara, the youngest.
"Oh God, a bomb?" Anna said pointing to the TV, that was on mute and was showing images of a big building covered in dark, black smoke, and some flames, that the firefighter were already almost done extinguishing. There was a sentence on the screen that said Possible terrorist attack costs the lives of approximately fourteen workers "God Georgie darling, turn the volume up, where has that been?"
They listened in absolute silence, their eyes fixed on the screen, and their hearts beating painfully.
"We are seeing images of this morning" the reporter was saying "When an explosion that the investigations haven't yet figured if it was due to a bomb, a terrorist attack, or some failure in the electric system of the building, destroyed a quarter of the first three floors of the Bulletproof Productions building in Norfolk, Virginia killing what until now we've been informed are believed to be nineteen employees…"
Everybody suddenly stared at Beca, who stared blankly at the screen, her thoughts in denial. She was pale and felt like fainting and throwing up all at once. Chloe shook her arm.
"Beca, check your phone!" Chloe demanded "It must be a mistake, they would've called you… check your cell!" Beca knew there was no mistake. She was starting to recognize the building between the smoke, and she had had her phone off all holidays so as not to be bothered. With trembling hands, she got her cell out of her pocket and turned it on "Sixty eight missing calls. Two hundred five texts" Chloe read in a whisper, and Beca almost threw up going through tons of desperate messages, some from people that had been working all day at that building and were asking for help, but most of them for people telling her in capital letters and exclamation marks what had just happened.
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