Chapter 26

Chloe woke up to an empty space beside her, it was cold, meaning Beca had been gone for a while. The red-head checked her phone to make sure she didn't over sleep, then grabbed her pink dressing gown and wrapped herself up in it before heading down to the Rory's room.

When she peeked inside, she saw that it was also empty. She continued down to the living area, where she saw Beca and Rory asleep on the couch in each other's arms. Chloe smiles, and as much as she'd like to let them stay there, it was Monday morning and she needed Rory to get ready for school.

"Babe" she whispers, kissing Beca softly on the cheek. The brunette stirs and opens her eyes to her wife staring lovingly at her.

"Hey Chlo, what time is it?" Beca says as she readjusts herself, careful not to wake Rory.

"It's nearly 7 a.m. Rory needs to get ready for school and I have work. Are you on today?" Beca nods.

"Yeah, Michael needs me there for most of the day to work on an album. We're just finishing the last few tracks, I should be home around 4 or 5." Chloe kisses Beca and heads to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee and make some scrambled eggs.

Rory wakes up at the noises, Beca softly brushes the hair away from the girl's face as she wakes up.

"Hey baby, you need to get ready for school." Rory pouts. Beca chuckles and rubs Rory's arm.

"It's not that bad kiddo. How are you feeling this morning?" Beca knows that the morning after a nightmare, Rory never talks about it. She's always so closed off and embarrassed that she needed to be calmed down.

"Fine, I'm gonna go get dressed." Rory hops off the couch and heads to her room.

Beca moves to the kitchen where her wife was pouring two coffees while getting eggs out to scramble.

"Hey Becs, what happened last night?" Chloe cracks the first egg into the pan.

"Rory had a nightmare, I found her on her bedroom floor crying. Her Dad used to rip out and cut her hair as punishment Chlo, that's why she freaked yesterday." Chloe tore her attention from the eggs to look at her wife.

"Damnit Becs. I wish that she didn't have to live through all of that." Beca wrapped her arms around her emotional wife and placed her chin on her shoulder.

"I know Chlo, I know. But we're there for her now aren't we? She's so strong Chlo, she'll get through it. You said it yourself – she's already made so much progress." Chloe nods in agreement, she knew Beca was right.

As usual, Beca dropped Rory off at school. Rory seemed to be fine after the events of last night, she walked into school with Cassie and soon met up with Georgia. First period was music, Rory opted out of playing the guitar and sat down at the piano. Her fingers grazed the ivory keys, she took a deep breath before trying to play. She cringed at herself as she played the wrong note.

No, you can do this Rory, just like Miss Lingard taught you.

She presses the keys again, this time in tune. She smiles to herself and continues the simple melody her music teacher had taught her when she was in elementary school. She wasn't great, but the familiarity of the motions was enough to calm her and take her back to a simpler time. She wasn't good a making friends when she was younger, all the kids teased her because of her messy hair and dirty clothes. But Miss Lingard treated her like she was special. She let Rory stay in at lunchtimes and they would sit at the piano eating and laughing together while she taught Rory a few notes here and there. Rory always wondered how Miss Lingard was doing. She never got to say goodbye before her Dad made them move.

As the day went on, Rory felt better. Georgia and Cassie were in her last two classes, so she figured nothing would go wrong today as she headed to the cafeteria for lunch.

However, when she sat down and waited for her friends to join her, two girls sat down next to her.

"Hey, what's your name?" the first one said, she was wearing an outfit that screamed privilege.

"Rory." She hesitated before saying it, but figured they meant no harm.

"Hi Rory, I'm Maddie and that's Layla." The second one, Maddie, said. Rory was visibly nervous, and just wishing that Georgia and Cassie would hurry up.

"We were wondering where you're from? We haven't seen you round much. You seem intriguing." Layla said, inching closer to Rory.

"Uh, I um. I moved here about a month ago?" Rory said, stuttering a little. The girls giggled at each other.

"Has anyone ever told you that you've got a very unique look Rory? I mean these worn out jeans and that kiddie top. Oh, and those messy ass curls." Maddie couldn't help herself and began laughing midway through what she was saying.

"Hey! Maddie, Layla piss off, would you?" Georgia came up behind Rory, Cassie in tow. Georgia's eyes were narrowed, eventually Maddie and Layla rolled their eyes and got up.

"See you around Rory" the two walked off laughing. Rory crossed her arms in attempt to make herself seem smaller as Georgia and Cassie sat on either side of her.

"Hey, Ror, don't worry about those bitches. They think their entitled to everything because their parents have money. They pretend to be your friend, only to crush your soul. It's pathetic really." Cassie states as she bites into her sandwich, careful not to smear her perfectly applied lipstick. Rory nods and tries to push it out of her mind.

Beca arrives home at around 5:30 p.m. Chloe was on the couch, her laptop on her lap as she was typing away. The brunette places a kiss on the red hair before going to check on Rory.

"Hey sweets, how was your day?" Rory was at her desk doing some of her Biology homework. She turned to look at her mother, the tears just suddenly began.

"Hey, Hey. What's wrong? What's happened honey?" Beca asks as she takes her daughter in her arms. Rory shakes her head.

"It's actually kind of stupid. Some girls sat with me at lunch and started somehow nicely pointing out my flaws." Rory laughs sadly.

"It's not stupid hon, they are though. If anything gets worse, you know what you have to do right?"

"Kick them in the guts?" Beca laughs and Rory smirks at her sarcasm.

"Clearly you've picked up my sarcasm. No, you tell the principal, a teacher or us, okay?" Beca says ruffling Rory's hair.

"Yeah, Georgia had my back today though, so it's fine." Rory said drying her tears and settling back to do her homework. Beca turns to leave, before Rory calls her back.

"Yeah baby?"

"You think, maybe, tonight we could cut my hair?" Rory fidgeted with her fingers as she spoke.

"Does this have anything to do with what those girls said?" Beca raised her eyebrows.

"No, uh. I just want to freshen it up? Yeah that's it." Rory smiled trying to reassure Beca.

"Alright, I'll talk to your Mom okay?" Rory beamed and turned back to her questions about cellular respiration.

Chloe knelt in front of Rory as the girl sat on a chair in the kitchen.

"Are you sure you're okay Rory? We don't have to do this." Chloe said, her fingers rubbing the girls knuckles that were white from her fists being clenched so hard. Rory shook her head.

"No, I need to do this. I need to show him that he didn't win." Chloe smiled proudly at her daughter, tears burning in her eyes with pride of the progress she'd made.

Beca came back into the room with scissors, a towel, water and a comb and brush. She wrapped the towel around the girl. Once she saw Chloe's nod, she began brushing out the long thick curls.

"Ah, Mademoiselle Rory, would you like today. Perhaps a mohawk? Some Fluro green highlights?" Beca said through a thick French accent that made her wife roll her eyes and Rory giggle.

"Madam, if I may, I would only like a little bit off the ends?" Rory said, trying to match her mother's accent with a posh British one. Chloe laughs at how Rory has adopted some of their mannerisms.

"Not a problem Mademoiselle." Rory laughs again, which causes Chloe to as well.

But when Beca starts wetting down the curls and sectioning some off, Chloe notices the blonde's eyes start to go wide with fear. Beca snips off the first bit and a tear trickles out of Rory's eyes. Chloe was still on the floor, so Rory could see her.

"It's okay Ror, it's Beca remember? She'll never hurt you. I'll never hurt you. You're safe baby girl." Chloe holds Rory's hand, doing the same as she was a little while ago.

Beca snips off another bit off hair and sees the girl cringe. "Hey kid, we can stop if you want?" Rory shakes her head. "I'll be even more lopsided Mama." She tries to smile to make Beca feel better.

Beca and Chloe exchange looks, then Beca turns back to snipping the blonde hair. They both argued about who would be the one to do it, neither of them wanted to ruin the trust they had gained from Rory. Beca finally caved and said she'd do it, she'd cut Legacy's hair before – although that was in a drunken state in college – and it had left Emily with uneven bangs for months.

Chloe chatted to Rory, keeping her mind occupied. They talked about school and about the time Chloe had made all the Bella's go on a retreat. Rory was laughing so much, Beca had to tell the girl to be still.

"Alright, I'm done squirt." Beca removes the towel from around the young girl. Rory reaches up to touch her hair, it was soft, and fluffy and all the same length.

"Thank you, Mama." She gets up and hugs Beca. Beca held the girl, and when she pulls back takes hold of her shoulders.

"You should be so proud of yourself Rory. Do you know how big of a step you just took?"

"Is that why my legs hurt?" Rory smirks, Beca playfully swats at her arm as Chloe tries not to laugh.

"You know what I mean kid. You're so incredible, you've achieved so much since you've been with us. I know Chloe and I are so proud of you." Chloe nods to reinforce her wife's words when Rory turns to look at her.

"Thank you for helping me." Rory's childlike blush was so endearing, Chloe couldn't resist wrapping the girl up in her arms.

Beca cleaned up the kitchen as Rory went to have a shower and get into her pyjamas. Chloe helped Beca, her work clothes growing uncomfortable, so Beca sent her to get changed.

"Better?" Beca asks as she places the broom against the counter. Chloe kisses her,

"Much." The two of them move to the couch. "You did so well Becs." Chloe said, Beca flips her hair dramatically.

"I guess I should've gone into hairdressing." Chloe laughed. She loved how her wife could make her so happy, so relaxed. She could make her laugh without even trying, the thought of not having that was unbearable. Every time she looked at the brunette she wonder's how she survived so long without her in her life.

Rory had a much better day at school the following day. However, it didn't seem to be the same for Cassie, she was much more closed off and defensive.

Georgia and Rory had tried to figure out the problem, but the taller girl just kept blowing them off. Georgia and Rory had a class without Cassie and had talked about all the possible scenarios. But Cassie was strong-willed and stubborn, none of the possible bullying or boyfriend problems seemed to be plausible.

The two were walking to their parent's cars, Cassie had made an excuse that she had to stay back today – usually she would walk with them.

"I'm worried about her Rory." Georgia said as she pulled her long brown hair into a tight pony tail.

"I know George, she'll talk to us when she's ready though." Georgia shrugs and waves goodbye as she spots her mom's car.

Chloe was picking Rory up today, as Beca was working late. The two talked the entire ride home, Chloe was happy see her daughter in a good mood.

"You know Cassie, Mom?" Chloe turned to look at Rory,

"Your friend Cassie?" Rory nods,

"Yeah, she was acting really weird today. I knew that we couldn't make her talk to us, so I just made sure she knew she could come to me when she was ready. Did I do the right thing?" Rory asks, insecurity evident in her words.

"Yeah baby girl, she might be going through something at home, or she could just have been having a bad day. You're a good friend Rory." Chloe says as she turns onto their street.

Rory smiles softly and checks her old android phone for any texts from the girl in question. There was nothing except a notification from an app, Rory sighs and leaves it, hoping it was nothing.

It was nearly 8 o'clock, Rory and Chloe were sat in the living room watching some abc drama. Rory was struggling to follow it, but Chloe was enjoying it.

There was a knock at the door, Rory looks at Chloe, who also looks confused. Chloe gets up to answer it, with Rory trailing close behind.

Chloe opens the door to the apartment to see a young girl, eyes red-rimmed, and tears still making their way down her cheeks. Rory moves to see who was at the door.

"Cassie?"

Okay, I'm really not happy with this chapter. I write about 2/3 chapters ahead, so when I went back and read this one before publishing it, I tried to change things and stuff. But it just wasn't working. I hope it's good enough.

Thanks for all the support and reviews - they mean so much to me.