DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. All rights to the Pitch Perfect creators.

Chapter 21
It's Christmas

After the late night/early morning events, the family of three slept in until nearly noon, a text message from Aubrey wishing the family a Merry Christmas causing Chloe to stir first as she blindly tried to locate her phone. She cracked an eye open and managed to grab her phone, smiling at her best friend's text, replying with something similar before turning to look at her wife and daughter. Rory was laid out sideways, her head on Beca's stomach and feet just barely brushing Chloe's side.

The mother wasn't quite sure how she ended up in that position, but it was certainly an interesting one.

"Wake up, my loves. It's Christmas," Chloe said softly, rubbing a hand over Rory's stomach while leaning over to kiss Beca on the lips.

"Did Santa come?" Rory asked as she slowly woke up, her fist rubbing her eye as she released a yawn.

"I think so, baby. We have to go check," Chloe explained, all the while running her fingers through Beca's hair. The brunette was slower to come around and her wife was trying hard to suppress laughter at the sight on her nose scrunching. "You need to wake up mommy."

"Mommy," Rory hummed, rolling onto her stomach and mashing her face into Beca's stomach. "It's morning."

"More like lunch time," Chloe said, giving Beca one more kiss before she stood up from bed. "I'm going to get your meds ready, monkey."

"Morning, little bug," Beca whispered as she cracked an eye open and glanced down at her daughter, rubbing the girl's head in soothing strokes.

"Morning, mommy."

"Are you feeling better?"

"Lil' bit."

"That's good," the music producer sighed, sitting up and lifting the girl up from under her armpits. "I think you're getting longer, monkey."

"Growing up," Rory said, looking to her feet. "I'm gonna be as tall as papa one day."

"Are you now?" the brunette asked with a laugh, thinking of her tiny daughter growing to be the size of her 6"4 father in law.

"Maybe I ask Santa to make me tall for Christmas next year."

"You're a silly butt, you know that?"

~.~.~

After a lunch and a movie in the living room to celebrate Christmas, Rory finally broke and began to beg to open her gifts that were piled up under the tree.

"You know we do gifts after dinner," Chloe reminded, snickering when Rory bounced on her toes in anticipation.

"But that's far," Rory said, her eyes widening as she tried to figure out how time stood between now and the end of dinner.

"Sorry, monkey," Chloe said, looking to Beca who was dying with trying to suffocate her laughter.

"But mama," Rory said, looking almost desperate. Beca finally busted out into a fit of laughs as Chloe looked at their daughter with an astounded look.

"When did she become a normal kid?"

~.~.~

"I wonder what's this," Rory said, tapping the gift in front of her. It was later in the evening and the family was now seated by the tree, cups of hot chocolate around them as they all worked through their gifts.

Charlie had just received his 'ugly' Christmas sweater and was putting up a fight as Chloe put it on him, giving up when he realized there was no way out of it.

"He looks miserable," Frank said, chuckling at the dog who laid on the ground and looked up with the best puppy dog eyes he could.

"Sorry, dude. I told them not to do this," Beca said, rubbing the golden retriever's head with her toes.

"Look, mommies," Rory said, having opened the gift to see a white gift box. "It's a box."

"Monkey, there's a gift inside of it," Chloe said, sitting in front of her daughter and using her nail to break the small pieces of tape holding it shut.

"Is that from gammy and papa?" Beca asked, gathering up a bunch of trash to place off to the side.

"Yeah," Rory said, trying to grab the box lid to take it off.

"Hold on, one more piece," Chloe got all the tape off and allowed her daughter to open the box, watching the little girl's face light up as she received a puffy Rapunzel dress.

"Look!" Rory demanded, pointing to the purple Disney costume.

"Wow, Rory. That's so pretty," Chloe admired, lifting the dress up.

"Papa and I heard you liked Rapunzel so we thought this would be a nice present," Janice said, smiling when her granddaughter giggled wildly and held the dress to her chest.

"Thank you, gammy," Rory instantly wrapped her grandma in a hug, the dress still in the child's arms and she did so. "Thank you, papa," she moved on, giving her grandpa a similar squeeze before she ran to Beca to show off the dress.

"That's so pretty, Rory."

"Can I wear it when I get medicine?"

Beca thought for a moment and finally nodded, knowing it would make the girl feel better. "Of course, monkey. Anything you want."

"Alright, Rory. You've got one more gift from mommy and I," Chloe said, taking the dress to pile with the other gifts the child received. Along with the Rapunzel dress, Rory got a stuffed raccoon toy, a small easel and paint supplies, three rompers, two new toques, some Disney colouring books, and an abacus (a gift that made Rory oddly excited and proud as she wanted to start to add numbers almost immediately).

Finally, the child was handed her final gift of the evening, everyone watching with excited eyes as she got to work on the wrapping paper of the small box.

"It's so pretty," Rory whispered as she drew a finger over the item in the box.

"It's a sun charm," Beca explained. "Mama and I wanted to show you that you are the sun in our lives. You bring so much light into this world, Rory."

"Can you put it on?" Rory asked, extending her hand out with the gold necklace rested in her palm.

"Sure, baby," Chloe took the necklace and allowed her daughter to turn around before she clipped it behind her neck. Rory giggled and looked down at her chest, fingers fiddling with the gold sun. "Now I have more light!"

"Yes you do," Beca agreed, smiling brightly. "So much light."

~.~.~

The following morning Francis and Shelia arrived, both delivering last minute gifts, which included a monkey onsie and a box of 150 crayons for Rory.

To say the little girl was excited was an understatement. She dressed herself in the monkey outfit almost immediately and then proceeded to throw the Rapunzel dress on top, earning a few strange glances but no questions from any of the adults.

Finally dressed in her desired fashion, Rory hunkered down on the floor of the upstairs hallway, her new box of crayons open as she began to colour in her new books.

"Maybe you two should go on a date," Shelia commented to Beca and Chloe as the two served coffee in the kitchen.

"Oh, no Shelia. We can't do that," Chloe said, shaking her head as she put sugar and a bit of cream into her cup.

"Why not?" Janice asked, joining the conversation.

"Because of Rory," Beca said, shrugging her shoulders.

"We're here. Four adults who've raised children I might add," Shelia said.

"We don't doubt that you guys couldn't watch her for a few hours. Trust me, if she weren't sick we'd take you up on the offer, but she is and I can't imagine spending an evening for myself while she's here at home," Chloe explained, looking to Beca who nodded in agreement.

"Honey, I hope you do remember that I have experience with people who have cancer," Janice said.

"Yeah, me too. I'm a doctor for crying out loud, I've studied this kind of stuff for years!" Shelia added, noticing a slight crack in Beca's front.

"I just don't want something to go wrong. I don't want her to be without either one of us if she gets sick or doesn't feel well in general. She needs us," Beca said, her voice cracking somewhat at the end.

"We're not saying leave her for a week. We're saying leave her for two hours. Go and eat in a restaurant, have adult conversations that don't revolve around Rory or her illness. Talk about the future; remember that you three still have one. Speak about work, travel, what you love about each other. Anything! Just be together and focus on only one another," Shelia explained, smiling when both women released their tense postures. They had conceded and were going to agree to the offer.

"Just two hours," Chloe said, giving all four adults a pointed look.

"And we aren't going until at least an hour after Rory's had dinner, just to make sure she doesn't get sick," Beca added, earning a noise of agreement from her wife.

"That's fine. Do whatever makes you comfortable," Janice said.

"What're you doing for your date now that dinner is off the table?" Francis asked, wrapping an arm around Shelia. Her father and stepmother's relationship once repulsed Beca, but she could now see how good they were for each other. It made her happy.

"I think I've got an idea," Beca said, chewing her lower lip as she smirked.

"I've learned to be scared whenever you get that look," Chloe commented, earning a chuckle from her wife before a kiss was pressed to her lips.

"I promise we'll have fun."

Chloe took in a deep breath and nodded, willing herself to not back out of this date no matter how much she wants to stay with Rory. She knew Beca and herself needed this.

"Okay."

~.~.~

"You're going to be good for gammy, papa, grandpa, and grandma, right?" Beca asked, holding Rory in a hug as she crouched before the pajama cladded child.

"Yup. We're gonna watch movies," Rory said, stepping back and smiling a toothy grin. Beca laughed and gave an enthusiastic nod.

"That sounds like so much fun. Mama and I are going to go spend some time together, is that alright?"

"Yeah, I like when you and mama love each other. Makes me happy," Rory explained, earning another laugh from her mom.

"Well, thank you for understanding, monkey. I love you very, very much!" Beca pressed a kiss to the child's forehead before she stood up, smiling at Chloe who began to walk down the stairs, dressed in skinny jeans and a loose white short sleeve, complemented with jewelry and ankle boots. She was simple yet Beca felt herself lose her breath almost the second she laid eyes on the woman.

"You look amazing," Beca said, making her wife beam.

"Thanks. I forgot how much fun it is to actually do my hair and makeup and dress up a little."

"Well, we should go show you off then," Beca said, taking the hand of her wife.

"Bye, mama. Love you," Rory said, allowing kisses to repeatedly land over her face before she was released.

"Love you, monkey. Be good," Chloe said, waiting for her daughter to go into the living room before she followed Beca out of the house.

The two got into Beca's black BMW M6 convertible, a car that the brunette was beyond ecstatic to purchase just a year ago after her career took off, and took off down the road, allowing the still warm LA wind to hit them as they went along.

"So where are you taking me?" Chloe asked, earning the same smirk she received a few hours ago when the idea came up in the brunette's head.

"That's for me to know and you to find out Mrs. Beale-Mitchell."

"You're terrible," Chloe huffed, rolling her eyes.

"I love you too," Beca teased, placing a gentle hand on her wife's leg and lightly drawing her nails over the fabric of the woman's jeans.

This earned a smile from the redhead as she leant over the center console and pressed a kiss to Beca's cheek.

The music producer smiled, enjoying the moment as music played through the car speakers and her wife ran light fingers over her hand and arm.

After another twenty minutes of driving, Beca pulled her car up to the building she worked, making Chloe cock and suspicious eyebrow.

"Are you here to finish an album, because this really isn't what one could consider an ideal date."

"I'm not here to work, weirdo. Come with me," Beca got out of the car, ensuring she had her pass with her as she approached the doors labeled 'Titanium Records', and put in the right code with her pass bar code. The doors gave off a beep, and clicked with the lock releasing, allowing the brunette and red head to enter, Beca going to turn off the alarm while Chloe headed for the elevators.

"Don't you guys ever worry that someone's going to break in at night?" Chloe questioned, pressing in the code for the elevator that was required for when the office was closed.

"Nah. Too many codes and numbers to remember. Someone would be stupid to even try," Beca said, getting on the elevator with her wife and hitting the button for the 25th floor, the top of the of the building and Beca's office/recording booth.

"Remember when you only had the first five floors of this place?"

"You mean, four years ago? Yes, I do. It was the tightest production company I've ever seen," Beca said, cringing when she remember the harder days of making herself a name in the business.

The two stepped out off the elevator, Beca using her key to unlock the glass door to her studio, beckoning Chloe in who was looking around the place.

"I'm proud of you. I don't think I say that too often, but this alone is an incredible achievement."

"I couldn't have done any of it without you. Even Rory. When you told me you were pregnant I went crazy with trying to get artists to sign with me. The rush and urgent push was what I needed."

"I'm glad we could be of service," Chloe said, pressing a kiss to Beca's lips before the music producer stepped back and moved towards her control panel and laptop.

"So, I've been working on something for you. We can call this a late Christmas gift. However, I'm going to need you to help me finish it."

"I'm contributing to my own gift. Are we getting that old already?"

"Please, my 27-year-old ass has still got it. Anyways, I wrote something," this perked Chloe's interest, the redhead approaching the side of her wife as she looked at the song on the laptop. "And I want you to sing it with me."

Chloe smiled with tears in her eyes, taking a moment to scan the beautiful lyrics before she nodded in agreement and wrapped Beca in a hug.

"I'd love to sing this with you."

"Okay then. Let's get your pretty butt in that booth."

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Valentina