A/N: As you probably noticed, it takes me a little longer to update. I'm trying, but life's just... urgh. Hope you're still with me though and that you'll enjoy this short chapter.

As she was descending the stairs, Chloe was more concerned with her phone than her surroundings. She also hadn't thought that anyone was still up, but the clearing of a throat made her look up in startled surprise.

"Davie? What're you doing here?"

"I was out this way with friends and didn't wanna make the trip home," her brother said, slipping out of his jacket. He came up the stairs toward her. "What're you doing still up?" He looked at his watch as he stopped beside her.

As she'd been looking at her phone, she already knew it was after two. She hadn't been able to fall asleep after Beca's call and had been looking at pictures on her phone. "I'm a little hungry? Join me for a snack?"

David shrugged. She knew he could always eat and he turned to walk down the stairs with her.

"So what're you looking at there?" he asked and a moment later snatched the phone from her.

"Dave!"

He was laughing as he bounded down the steps. She followed but only caught up with him in the kitchen. He leaned against the kitchen island and evaded her by walking around across from her. He was looking through her photos.

"Are these from Copenhagen?"

"Some of them," Chloe answered and stopped the useless circling. She knew what Davie would discover next.

"Hey, these are all of Beca."

"There're some of the Bellas," Chloe defended herself.

"Like this one?" He turned the phone, smirking. He was showing her a shot of Beca clearly standing between CR and Amy, only there was little of the other two Bellas to see. "Man, I thought you weren't going after straight girls anymore, Chlo?"

"She's not entirely straight, okay?"

"Like Mindy? Candy? What was her name?"

"Nancy," Chloe said and rolled her eyes. "And Beca's not like Nancy. Nancy... she was straight, she just liked... some of the things I could do for her."

"Please, TMI," David pleaded. "Wait, didn't Beca have a boyfriend? Jordon something?"

"Jesse, and they're not together anymore. And now, can I have my phone back?"

David held it out to her over the distance of the kitchen island.

"Put it down," Chloe told him. She knew better than to trust her brother to not pull back as she grabbed for her phone. She knew how these things usually ended: her things got broken and she wasn't taking any chances with her iPhone.

"You don't trust me? That hurts," he said, but put the phone down anyway. Then he took a step back and bowed.

Chloe picked up her phone. "Thank you." She closed the picture file which didn't really alter her view because Beca was still smiling at her from the screen. It made Chloe smile in turn.

"You got it bad, sis."

Chloe looked back up at him, the smile still firmly in place. "I know."

"So, how is she not straight anymore? I mean, I know you've been kind of strangely close the whole time she was there, but... well, I thought that was just you being you." Davie turned and opened the fridge. "There's leftover lasagna. Think mom will forgive us for stealing it?"

"Like she doesn't always forgive YOU for stealing food," Chloe gave back. She took the dish from him and put it in the microwave, choosing the right program as not to burn it.

As the food heated, they busied themselves with plates and cutlery. "Want a beer with it? Or wine?" David asked as he looked into the fridge again.

"Wine," Chloe said and David handed her an open bottle.

He pulled a beer out for himself, opened it and sipped. "So what about Beca?"

Chloe took her time pouring herself a glass of wine. "Do you really wanna hear it?"

"I wouldn't have asked otherwise, would I?"

Since David hadn't been very accepting when Chloe had first come out, she'd never talked to him about her relationships. That he now asked about it was a first. "It's pretty complicated," she told him, gauging his reaction.

He rolled his eyes. "Seriously?"

"What do you expect me to say, Davie?"

"Anything but that," he gave back.

The microwave beeped and Chloe busied herself with taking their food from it and dishing it onto their plates. She let her piece cool, but David dug right in, burning his mouth.

"Ow." He took a long pull from his beer. "Hot," he said. Then he smiled at her. "Come on, sis, tell me about Beca. We could always talk, you know, back then."

"Back then was before I came out."

"I apologized, haven't I? I really want to know what's going on with you. I mean, you've been here a couple of weeks now and you were mostly sulking. And just now when you came down the stairs you were smiling. What happened?"

Chloe smiled again as she took a sip of her glass. "All right. Beca called earlier. She actually drunk called."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and she was babbling, but mainly I think she just called to talk to me, hear my voice."

"Wow, that's sappy. Didn't think she'd be like that."

Davie and Beca had bonded easily the few times they'd met, but then all the Bellas had adopted him as their little brother. Even Stacie hadn't hit on him, much to David's chagrin.

"She's usually not. I wouldn't say we were 'strangely close' like you did, but we've always been close. Things were just always different with her and I guess I always knew I liked her... in a gay way. But... never acted on it, of course, since she was with Jesse early, and I was with Mark her first year."

"Urgh, that guy was the worst," David said.

"Was not."

"Yeah, he was. He would always leer at you, gross."

Chloe had to laugh. They were talking and eating now, the conversation flowing easily. Chloe couldn't remember when she'd last talked like this with her little brother. And she acknowledged to herself that she'd missed it.

"He was a nice guy. And I liked his leering," she added.

David pretended to vomit which earned him a punch on the arm from his sister. "Stop that."

"Well, it's gross."

"Anyway, I broke up with him because he started leering at other girls. I moved on and... I don't know how to say this... Beca was always there. I mean, of course she was, because we were living together in the Bellas house, but also... I was always aware of her and that I liked her."

"The whole four years? Sounds like you wasted a lot of time on somebody who was with somebody else."

"No, I didn't really. I mean... I wasn't really thinking about it, just aware that the attraction was there. And sometimes... there were moments when it felt like she was feeling it too. We didn't talk about it, it was... actually too close, too comfortable to just be friendship. At other times it was... not comfortable, but really close."

David looked at her suspiciously. "Does that mean... I don't think I wanna know," he quickly changed his mind as she gave him a big grin.

"When we were at Aubrey's power retreat, I told her... well, I said that I wished I had experimented more, but what I meant was that I wished we had... been together, I guess. And that changed some things between us. I mean, we were still close, especially in Copenhagen... before Jesse arrived... but even... Jesse and Beca weren't really very together at that point. I mean, sometimes they behaved more like siblings than lovers."

"Gross," David said.

"No, not like that. They were friends mostly. I think Jesse already suspected that he liked Derek at that point, but wasn't ready to come out."

"Jesse's gay?"

"Hm?" Chloe looked up. She'd been so engrossed in her memories of Copenhagen that she hadn't even followed her own line of conversation. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, he came out to Beca when they broke up."

"Wow! A capella is gayer than I thought it was. I mean even with those Harmonics-guys."

Chloe huffed. "Or maybe that's just us," she said.

David looked at her like he might ask, but then he said: "So, did you like... go for it? In Copenhagen, I mean? Looks like you had a huge crush at that time." He pointed at her phone.

"I think what I was really scared of that last year - besides having to graduate and go out into the world - that I would lose Beca. That just... it was the worst feeling. To not... have been with her, to only ever have wanted her but never having done anything about it. Time was running out, but in Copenhagen we were so close. We shared a room at the hotel - with Amy, too. But... I felt content again, having her so close."

"Do I even wanna know how close?"

Chloe shook her head as she leaned back in her chair and sipped her wine. She'd finished eating. "I didn't do anything. Not until after Jesse and Beca had broken up. We kissed and... Beca totes freaked."

"Seriously? Guess, she didn't actually feel like you did, huh?"

"Well, I think she did, but... her stepdad... he's a phobe and he'd thrown his gay son out. So, she thought that he might do the same with her. And that her mom would be on his side. Well, now she's told her mom that she might be gay and her mom still loves her. And Beca was here and we kissed again and she didn't freak."

"Ah, okay. That's good for her, but... how do you feel? I mean... hell, you waited four years for her? I'd never wait that long for a chick."

Chloe looked at him, unsure if she should say it. She knew she was still holding back so much with Beca because she was afraid to scare her away. She'd also barely admitted to herself how deeply she felt because the possibility of rejection was still so close. But their earlier conversation had shaken something lose. She'd asked Beca out and Beca hadn't said 'no', she'd actually said 'yes'. And even though, Chloe didn't wanna get her hopes up, she couldn't help the happy feelings tugging at her heart.

"You would if she was the right one," Chloe said. She felt her face almost split with her smile.

"And you think Beca's the right one for you? Even though... I mean, you guys haven't yet...?"

"None of your business, Davie!"

David had the decency to blush, but then he looked up at her from beneath his long lashes. "Bet you haven't."

She squinted her eyes at him. "This conversation is so over." Chloe stood and picked up her dirty dishes. She put them in the dishwasher and then took Davie's dishes from him as he stood beside her.

"Hey, sorry, Chlo. I just... I can't say I get it. I mean, Beca's cute, but FOUR YEARS!"

"You're right, you don't get it," Chloe said, closing the dishwasher. "At least not yet." She smiled at him.

"Ha, I bet I never get where I understand four years. That's like tv show romance. Too sappy for me."

Chloe faced her brother, she pulled his hand from his pocket and held it. "You know how I am, Davie, I like people. I like being with people. But I hadn't had a date in... over two years. And I wasn't even unhappy, because... there was always Beca. Even as my best friend... it was better than most relationships I've had. Maybe that sounds pathetic, but... Beca is just that important to me. And I love her, Davie. Even if she will never love me back in... that way-"

"That gay way?"

"Funny," she told him. "Yeah, in a gay way. Even if that never happens, I'll still love her. Just... always."

Davie squeezed her hand. "You're nuts, sis." He smirked. "But it's cool. I mean, I know I wasn't really here for you and I'm sorry. I didn't understand, but I think I kinda do now."

Chloe smiled.

"Gays're just as weird as straights when it comes to love."

They laughed together.

"Yeah, we are."

"Okay, I'm beat. See you in the morning?"

Chloe nodded. David left her in the kitchen and Chloe wiped down the counter and table. She was still smiling and as she went up to her room later, she again had her phone out, looking at Beca's picture.