Chapter 35

Beca woke up from someone gently nudging her arm. With a groan she opened her eyes and for a moment she had to remind herself she was on a plane. The sound of people chatting and a baby crying pulled her out of her haze. During her sleep she'd dreamed about Chloe, being with her and being able to kiss her. Bringing her fingers up to her lips she swore she could still feel her strawberry lips in her own. Closing her eyes again she tried to relive the dream wishing it was real.

"Wake up, we're almost there," a voice said making her open her eyes again. Beca nodded and sat up straight. A sting of pain went through her shoulder spreading all over her arm and chest. With a gasp she grabbed her shoulder and clenched her jaw.

"You should really take it easy with that shoulder..." Greg had a concerned look on his face as he watched Beca search for her painkillers letting out a wavering breath in pain.

"Yeah whatever. It will heal..." She grumbled and sighed relieved once she found the bottle pills tugged in the pocket of her jacket. She placed one on her tongue swallowing it down thickly and exhaling slowly. She rested her head against the chair again waiting for the pain to go away.

"Can I ask you something Beca?" Beca looked at Greg with a quirked eyebrow.

"Depends on the question..." She said eyeing him suspiciously.

"Who is Chloe?" Another shot of pain, but this time it wasn't her shoulder.

"Why do you ask that?" She snapped.

"You said her name in your sleep... You sounded... Hurt and sad." Beca turned red and averted her eyes from the worried look he gave her. Hurt and sad weren't even close to describing how she felt. Destroyed and empty, felt more right. "She's important to you, isn't she?" Beca nodded weakly and chew on her bottom lip. Chloen was everything to her...

"She is... She is the most important thing in my life- well she was..." She mumbled swallowing hard.

"What happened?" Beca really didn't want to talk about it, she couldn't as she was fighting against her tears.

With a deep inhale she spoke up, her voice smaller than she'd wanted it to sound, "I made a stupid mistake. And I know that it was stupid but it happened, at the moment I thought I was the right thing to do but..."

"But it wasn't," Greg filled in as Beca's voice trailed off. Beca nodded her throat too closed up to produce any sound.

"You can always try to make it right, Beca. Amor vincit omnia, love conquers all." Greg said as he stood up. Beca hadn't even noticed that they had landed and she saw everyone getting up to leave. She stared at Greg as he walked away not giving her another chance to respond. She got up slowly and got her bag her mind still running. As she left the plane she got an disapproving look from the stewardess she had snapped at earlier. Beca stopped in front of the stewardess and gave her a mischievous smile.

"And now you say: thank you for flying with us. Just that you know!" Beca said as she turned around to leave. With a grin on her face she walked away from the plane. Beca got her bags and walked through the automatic doors into a empty hall. She was all alone... No one knew she had returned. No one. After her previews missions there has always been people waiting for her and her men, and then there was Nick and Jesse, of course, who arrived with her. Taking a moment to let her painkillers do their job before another long ride, she got coffee and sat on a bench outside. A little girl holding her mom's hand and her teddy bear walked by and stopped staring at Beca. Beca gave the girl a curt nod and a smile.

"What happened to your shoulder?" The girl asked letting go of her mom's hand. She ran towards Beca clutching onto her bear.

"Emily! Get back here! You can't just ask people that!" Her mom exclaimed as she quickly went after her daughter.

"Does it hurt?" Emily asked ignoring her mother.

"It does a little bit, but I'm a big girl," Beca grinned as she took off her sling showing the girl her bandages and uncovering her medal and necklace with her tags.

"Wow you got a medal!" She girl gasped in awe.

"I did, I was a soldier, so I fought against the bad guys."

"You're awesome! Mommy can I be a soldier?" The girl jumped up and down looking up at her mom.

"We'll see about that, this woman didn't get hurt from playing with her friends. I'm sorry, she can be a little blunt sometimes," the woman sighed taking Emily's hand again.

"That's alright," Beca smiled carefully placing her arm in her sling again.

"Okay, dear, we have to go now. Say goodbye to the nice lady."

"Goodbye," Emily smiled sweetly waving at Beca. Beca saluted at the girl making her giggle.

After finishing her coffee Beca got a cab and threw her duffel bags in the back of the cab. She got in greeting the driver with a nod.

"Barden University, please."

"University? You don't look like a student to me?"

"Just shut up and drive please..." Beca grumbled placing her headphones over her ears shutting out the chauffeur. The driver shrugged and started the engine. After an hour Beca got to Barden. She paid the driver and got her bags looking around, there were some students around but none of them seemed to pay attention to her. As Beca walked around campus for a moment she spotted two girls as they followed the path that let to the small, on campus cafe. They were busy talking and laughing. One of them was blond, and the other... The other was a redhead, so beautiful you would never forget her...