A/N: Just wanted to say thanks to you guys for sticking with me through this ultramarathon of a story! You guys are the best.
"Beca?"
Beca blinked out of the daze she was in, noticing Chloe was several steps ahead of her on their journey from the Miami Airport restroom to the baggage claim area.
"Baby, what's wrong?"
"Sorry." She hurried to catch up and grabbed Chloe's free hand as they resumed walking. "I'm weirdly nervous."
"You've met my parents, like, so many times. Why are you nervous?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. I've never been to your house before. And now they're my in-laws. And I didn't ask your father for your hand in marriage so he's probably going to take me aside and sit me down and give me a talking to and -"
"He's not going to do that, and you didn't have to ask him. I'm his daughter, not his property."
"You say that, but you didn't elope with his daughter."
"Honey, he wasn't mad. It's going to be fine. And I did elope with your father's daughter, and he was okay with it." Chloe squeezed her hand.
"Yeah, but you aren't showing up at his house to start making plans to impregnate me either."
"Beca!" Chloe said with a laugh. "Please, calm down. It's going to be fine. Now, they said they would be down here by the...there they are!"
Beca followed Chloe's point and enthusiastic wave to what was of course Chloe's parents, holding a sign that read "Welcome Home Chloe and Beca!" in multicolored block letters along with a bunch of obnoxious balloons. She would have spotted them regardless, though. Chloe's father was tall, which was an understatement. He definitely surpassed six feet. Her mother, however, was barely as tall as her daughter, which made their height difference plenty amusing. Plus, Chloe had inherited her hair from her mother which made her stick out (at least to Beca whose eyes had learned to spot that color from a thousand yards) like a sore thumb.
She sensed Chloe pick up their pace and part of her wanted to start dragging her feet, but Chloe was right. This would be fine. Her parents were lovely, even if her mother could be a touch dramatic.
"There's my girls!" Chloe's mother stepped out to meet them, wrapping Chloe in a massive hug and leaving Beca to awkwardly smile and fidget by herself. Her father started toward them and she was instantly anxious, needing Chloe's hug to finish so she could have her turn and avoid Chloe's father for a few more precious seconds. But Chloe took after her mother with the hugs, so it was an endurance contest for them and it was too late.
"Good to see you again, Beca."
Beca shifted, trying to not appear as uncomfortable as she felt. His face was flat, hard to read. "Hey, Roger." She stuck out her hand to shake.
A smile that was definitely Chloe's broke out on his face and he laughed, opening his arms. "All I get is a hey from my new daughter-in-law?"
Before she could reply, Beca was swept up into a bear hug that lifted her off her feet by an inch or two. She bit her tongue on her complaint - she really hated that people just picked her up because they could; she wasn't a child - and gave him a swift pat on the back to do her part and help bring the hug to a conclusion.
Chloe's embrace with her mother was just ending and the parents traded places and Beca had to go through it all over again, though thankfully Mrs. Beale didn't pick her up.
"So good to see you, Beca."
"You, too, Marie." Beca looked for her own Mrs. Beale, still tucked under her father's arm, her suitcase in his hand. She lifted her eyebrows at Chloe and glanced at the sliding glass doors.
"Let's go guys," Chloe said with a nod in return. "We've been traveling all day and I'm starving."
"Of course! I have dinner waiting in the oven. Rog, do you remember where we parked? I told you to write it down."
Roger let Chloe out from his hold and reached for Beca's suitcase, winking. "Yes, dear, I remember where we parked."
Beca smiled a little, not getting a perfect read on what he was implying, but she guessed it was along the lines of, "Welcome to my life." She was relieved when Chloe held back to let her parents lead the way to walk with her, hand in hand.
Chloe's childhood home was...well, it wasn't modest. But it wasn't excessive either. Beca had seen photos of it, but only in segments, and usually of the interior from things like family dinners and high school sleepovers, or the backyard for pool parties and barbecues. In person, it was...impressive, she decided, with its palm tree-lined driveway and its Spanish-styled white stucco walls and tile shingles and arched doorways. The interior was very obviously professionally designed, yet charmingly lived-in and showed signs of still-recent empty-nesters. She had to pause in the foyer to admire Chloe's senior portrait from high school hanging on the wall, as gorgeous as ever, but with a touch more softness to the angles of her face.
"We'll be in the kitchen, just down the hall," Chloe said as she let Beca hover in front of the wall of photographs.
Beca nodded, appreciating the fact that Chloe was giving her whatever time and space she herself didn't even know was needed for her nerves. She watched Roger haul their suitcases up a staircase while Chloe and her mother chattered until they disappeared around a corner, leaving Beca alone with her thoughts and Chloe's family's memories.
It was weird, she thought, though it felt as weird to think it as she thought it weird: that Chloe had a whole separate life that didn't include her; that in every one of the dozen or so photos mounted on the walls of the foyer and placed around the surfaces adjacent family room there existed a Chloe who didn't know she existed. Who loved someone else. Who didn't know who she would marry, or was certain she knew who it would be. A Chloe who had apparently brought Tom home for a Christmas - in 2010, based on the print in the corner of the photo. She glared at it for a moment, picking up the frame to look at it more closely, but her wedding ring caught her eye and she smiled. "Who gets the last laugh, Tommy boy?" she jokingly said to herself under her breath as she set it back in its place.
Of course, she had her own pre-Chloe life. She wondered if Chloe had ever thought about it, had felt how weird it seemed to know a period of time existed where they weren't part of one another's lives. Her life was very much split into B.C. (Before Chloe) and A.D. (After David Guetta), and her B.C. life felt less and less like her the more time passed. It wasn't that she was losing her identity, no, but that she was establishing a new one, or another one. One that already had photos of Chloe and her on the walls.
She existed in this home, too, she discovered as she circled the room slowly, finding a photo taken by, if she recalled correctly, Chloe's mother after winning the 2013 Southern Regionals competition. It was of Chloe and Beca, posed with their arms around one another in the halls of Vanderbilt University, their trophy firmly in Chloe's grip.
There was a similar photo or two in her own father's home.
And, she thought it was weird. Weird that the people in that photo had no idea what their future would be, that they would fall in love - oh, Beca loved Chloe dearly in that photo, was in love maybe - or, confess their love. Move across the country together. Get married. Start figuring out how to have kids.
Kids.
Beca shook her head and smiled, brushing her finger along the edge of the frame of their photo before turning to walk to the kitchen.
"Chloe honey, I set your old room up for you, but you're welcome to stay in the guest room if you girls would like more privacy."
Beca felt the back of her neck flare with heat as she sat sipping a glass of ice water at the small table in the Beale Family kitchen. That offer was a far cry from the experience they had over Thanksgiving when Beca brought Chloe to meet her own family as something more than a friend.
"Cool, thanks, Mom," Chloe said, flashing a smirk at Beca as she flitted around the kitchen helping her mother finish getting dinner ready. "Chris is coming tonight, right?"
"He's working, but he said he's off at 6:00 and should be here around 7:00."
"Great!"
Beca's grip slipped on the glass in her hand and she almost dropped it, getting it back on the table with a hard clunk just in time. She knew they were only visiting for three days, and Chloe's older brother wasn't going to be there every minute of every day, so the window of opportunity for The Discussion to happen was extremely narrow.
Like, tonight narrow.
She couldn't just sit there and wait in silence.
So she stood. "Marie, can I help you with dinner?"
"Oh, no honey, please. You're our guest."
Just as she was about to protest, Chloe pushed a stack of plates into her hands. "Set the table?"
She exhaled, smiling at Chloe for giving her something to do. "It's five of us?" she asked after tallying up everyone in her head.
"Yep!" Chloe chirped. "Silverware is in the drawer below the microwave. Glasses are next to the fridge."
"Thanks," Beca said with a sigh, turning to disappear around the corner into the dining room.
"Rog, bring the girls' bags back down to the guest room, would you?" echoed through the house, and Beca smiled.
"So, Beca," Marie started, startling Beca out of her relatively quiet zone of listening to Chloe's family talk endlessly about various cousins' shenanigans. "Chloe tells me you're doing well with your music? We've seen you on a few programs. She always tells us when to watch for you."
Beca cleared her throat, glancing at Chloe who was smiling at her. "Yeah. I mean, it's going okay."
"'Okay'? Honey, the record you made sold like two-and-a-half million copies and it's still selling. Don't be modest."
Beca felt herself blush under Chloe's praise and she laughed nervously. "I'm kind of in between projects now though." She was grateful when Chloe picked up where she left off, talking about the artists she may or may not work with in the future. It wasn't until Chloe's brother asked her a question that she realized she'd barely spoken to the man yet, his arrival having been hurried and promptly moved to the dining table lest the lasagna get cold.
"How's married life treating you, Beca?"
She swallowed hard and felt a hand on her knee under the table, squeezing gently. "It's good. I mean, Chloe's...amazing, but you guys already know that." The hand squeezed again and she could see Chloe smiling in her peripheral vision.
"She's treating you okay? Do I need to have a conversation with my sister?"
Beca laughed, hoping and correctly assuming he was joking when he started laughing, too. "Ha, no, no. But you'll be the first to know if she starts forgetting to put the seat down."
The table fell silent, and Beca froze; her attempt at a twist of gay-straight humor was all, so very wrong and she'd just put her foot so far into her mouth she could taste leather and...and then everyone burst out laughing, including Chloe, and Beca breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh honey, tell me about it," Marie said, poking her fork at Beca, then at her husband. "I've been fighting that battle for thirty years. Now that you've pointed that out to me, I bet it's kind of nice living with another woman, hm?"
Beca wasn't sure how to respond, and she was relieved when Chloe jumped in. "Oh, it's great. We don't fight over the thermostat and, like Beca said, no one leaves the toilet seat up. And our wardrobes doubled because we can share basically everything except what, Bec? Shoes and jeans?"
"Depends on the shoes; depends on the jeans."
"Maybe I should have given it the ol' college try before I married your father," Marie said, winking at her daughter, and there was again no doubt from where Chloe picked up so many of her traits.
"Ew, Mom, no!" Chloe said, wincing and shaking her head, and Beca and Chris did much the same.
"Marie, I'm sitting right here," Roger said, amused but a little exasperated.
"Don't worry, sweetheart. I still love you."
Beca smiled at them, and then glanced at Chloe next to her. She hoped that in thirty years, they would still be as obviously in love as Chloe's parents were. Her own parents hadn't provided much for an example; it was almost intimidating to know that it could be possible to stay with the same person for the rest of her life.
"Speaking of married life," Marie continued. "Don't think for a second you're off the hook for your little wedding stunt young lady."
Chloe groaned and Beca saw her shoulders sag. "Mom, seriously? It's been two months, can't you let it go?"
"You expect me to just forget that my only little girl went and got married without the decency to invite her mother? Or the rest of the family?" Her tone wasn't bitter; it was more calm than anything which unnerved Beca more than bitter would have.
"Mom, it's her life," Chris said, coming to their defense. "She's an adult. She finally finished college. She's happy. Why can't you be happy for her? For them? It's just a wedding."
"I'm thrilled for them. But when you have children of your own, if you ever give me grandchildren, Chris, you'll understand how I feel. Chloe, honey I'm not angry about it. I'm just so disappointed that I wasn't there for your big day."
"Why can't you respect our decision?" Chloe asked, sitting up straight as though she'd found her resolve again. "This is our life, together. Beca and I didn't want the stress and drama that comes with a big wedding, and this is a perfect example of why. You didn't get what you wanted so you're upset. What part of my marriage is about you? And why?"
Beca was honestly shocked by Chloe's firm response. And she kept her own mouth firmly closed.
"I only want you to be happy, sweetie."
"I am happy!" Chloe said, voice raised along with her hands. And then as though noticing the irony, she calmed down and smiled, resting her hand on Beca's shoulder. "I am happy, Mom. We are happy. And I'm going to need you to respect that, and our decision. It's not like we can undo it to make you happy anyway. What's done is done."
Marie was silent for a moment, and Beca tried to keep the mix of shock, embarrassment, and amusement off her face as Chloe's mother looked back and forth between the two of them. She finally sighed. "I respect your decision and I know you are happy. But I can't help feeling sad that I wasn't there."
"I understand, but you cannot guilt me about this forever. Okay?"
"How about another month?" Marie said with a small smile, and Beca felt the mood in the room shift back to normal.
"Two weeks," Chloe countered, holding up her fingers after giving Beca's shoulder a squeeze. "Though I might have something that will make you get over it faster."
"And what is that?"
Beca felt the panic rise up in her like she'd just dropped off a roller coaster. This was not a conversation she was expecting to have over dinner, with everyone. She expected a private conversation with Chris, parents to be informed at the appropriate time.
"I'll tell you before we leave on Sunday."
Beca exhaled, relieved.
"Okay kids, I think it's time for me to turn in for the night," Roger announced after draining the last of the wine from his glass. "I'll see you all in the morning. I'm sure your mother has something planned…"
"Of course I do. I'm taking the girls shopping since we didn't get to have a proper bridal shower or wedding reception."
"Mom…" Chloe started but Beca put her hand on her knee, shaking her head when Chloe looked at her. It was already late, and she really couldn't handle sitting through this conversation again tonight. And if they didn't get The conversation out of the way tonight, Beca was sure she'd lose her mind to anxiety. "That sounds fun," Chloe finished, standing to give her mother a hug goodnight.
"It can be for your birthday instead. As long as you let me spoil you both."
"Sure, Mom," Chloe said, laughing a little.
Beca relaxed at Chloe's lowered tension and followed suit with offering her mother a hug good night; for all the guilt trips about missing their elopement, Marie held not an ounce of negativity about her or their relationship, which Beca was eternally grateful for.
"Don't stay up too late, kids," Marie said as she took her leave.
"We won't," Chris said with a wave of his hand. "Night, Mom."
Beca watched Marie and Roger disappear upstairs, and then Chris was up and in the kitchen, head in the fridge.
"You guys want a beer?"
"Yes," Beca answered quickly enough to make Chloe laugh.
"Me, too, please!" Chloe called toward the kitchen, and then turned to face Beca. She took up her hand in her own. "Are you ready? I can do all the talking."
Beca didn't like the concept of sitting out an important conversation. She was technically, technically maybe going to technically and only technically make a baby with this guy. On the other hand, it was kind of a weird conversation to have with a guy she'd only met maybe a dozen times in five years. But on the other hand, they were family now. But on the other hand, he was Chloe's brother. But on the -
"Bec?"
She jumped, startled out of her thoughts as Chloe nudged her, Chris hovering in front of them with her beer awaiting claim. "Sorry. Thanks." She grasped the cold bottle and took a long drink. She needed to calm her nerves.
"Now that Mom and Dad are gone - we wanted to talk to you about something."
Beca took a breath and held it.
"Sure. What's up?" Chris settled into the recliner next to their spot on the couch and kicked it back.
"Well, they don't know this yet. But Beca and I...we're talking about starting a family."
"Shit, really? That's awesome, Chloe! But it's kinda soon, isn't it? I mean it's cool. It's just fast."
Chloe shook her head. "No. I mean, I know it seems that way. But it takes a long time. For us. I can't just like…accidentally get knocked up tonight."
"You're gonna bang in Mom and Dad's house?!" he asked, grinning before taking another drink.
Beca considered crawling away and dying of embarrassment.
"Oh my god, Chris. That's not what I meant." She hesitated. "But that doesn't mean we won't."
Beca inhaled loudly enough to be heard and Chloe turned to her and burst out laughing, Chris following suit. "Chloe!"
"Oh my gosh, baby. Your face! Oh, wow. Okay I'm sorry. Oh, but that was worth it." Chloe cleared her throat and leaned over, brushing her lips over Beca's cheek. "But we totally are," she whispered before pulling back. "What I meant was, was that it takes a lot of time and planning for two women."
"Are you going to adopt or what?"
"Funny you should ask," Chloe said lightly, masking her nerves behind a drink of her beer, Beca noticed. "We want to try to get pregnant. I mean, me. We're going to try to get me pregnant."
"That's great! So you're going to find an anonymous donor and do the ol' whoop-dee-do?"
Beca coughed, squirming. There was really no turning back now.
"Well, we were thinking," Chloe said, reaching for Beca's hand and pulling. Beca scooted closer and locked their fingers together. "Since Beca doesn't want to be pregnant and I do, and since she doesn't have a brother and I do…" She gestured toward Chris with her beer. "And we would like our child to be from us, as much as possible really. So it makes the most sense, we figured, if we take Beca's eggs -" Beca slapped a grin on her face, bracing herself for it. "- and have them fertilized and then implant them in me for one to hopefully take..."
Chris reached for the handle on the recliner and pushed it, sitting up. "And you'd fertilize them...how?"
Chloe laughed nervously and Beca squeezed her hand. It was kind of relieving to know Chloe was anxious about this, too, despite her initial confidence. "Well, Chris, my one and only brother and the only other person on this planet that has the same genetic combo as me…"
He let out a low whistle and then took a swig of his beer, draining it, Beca noticed. "You want me to…"
"Only if you're comfortable with it," Beca rushed, needing to participate in this. "It doesn't obligate you to anything. You'd be their uncle just like any other scenario. We'd have legal paperwork drawn up to handle all that."
"What would I have to...do?"
"Not a lot, really," Beca continued, finally feeling confident enough to talk about it, since he hadn't immediately shut them down. "We'll find a clinic here, eventually, and you'd need to go in a couple times. First for tests, nothing major, like blood tests and tests on your...stuff."
"Motility tests," Chloe clarified.
"Yeah. And then, if it's all good, you'd go again to make your, uh...donation. And the clinic would send it to ours in LA. And that's basically it."
She was quiet then, watching Chris as he stared at the empty bottle in his hand, swirling it around in thought. She glanced at Chloe, who was watching her brother pensively. She gave Chloe's hand another squeeze, reminding her to breathe.
After what felt like an eternity, Chris looked up. "Think it'd get Mom off my back for giving her grandkids? She'd kind of be getting two-in-one."
Chloe exhaled. "If you're lucky. But, I really need you to keep in mind you won't be the father. You will be, only in the most basic sense. If we do this, it's our child. Your niece or nephew."
"No, I get it, I get it. Bad joke, sorry," he said, rubbing his hand through his close-cropped strawberry blonde hair. His color wasn't nearly as vibrant as Chloe's, and Beca found herself apprehensive that their child wouldn't have her signature vibrant red hair. It's kind of how she'd pictured it from the moment she let herself imagine it some years ago.
"It might get her off your back anyway, if one of us gives her a grandkid," Chloe said, cracking a smile. "And whatever you decide to do," she continued, "I'm pretty sure I'll beat you to it."
"And this is all super, super preliminary," Beca rushed to add. "We haven't even had a consultation with a doctor yet or anything. We just needed to know where we were starting, because it's probably going to be one of the first questions they ask."
"And for my sanity," Chloe joked, but the touch of crazy to her laugh made Beca think she wasn't completely joking. "I just needed to ask the question. Take as much time as you want to think about it; you don't have to decide -"
"Let's do it."
Beca's head snapped up from where it had drooped to pick at a rough spot on a fingernail. "Dude."
"What?" Chloe breathed.
"Yeah, let's do it. You guys wanna have a baby and you can't make one on your own, so - why wouldn't I help out my kid sister?"
Chloe forgot to drop Beca's hand when she launched herself at her brother so she was dragged along into the massive hug Chloe gave him. Beca was elated, too, but she would much rather give the guy a firm handshake. Maybe a playful punch to the shoulder and a finger gun. She improvised best she could, directing most of her hug at Chloe and kind of grabbing Chris's shoulder. She didn't have to look at Chloe to know she was crying, and she felt something warm and wet on her own face and she pressed her face into Chloe's back to absorb those pesky tears.
Confident her face was dry, she eased back, letting Chloe hug it out with her brother until she suddenly turned and yanked Beca into a fierce embrace, squeezing the air right out of her lungs before grabbing her face to kiss her. It all happened so fast Beca barely had a chance to react, and she laughed when it was done, Chloe grinning at her, holding her hands. Neither of them said anything; they just smiled and held hands.
"Well, I think that's my cue to head home," Chris announced, a touch of awkwardness to his voice as he interrupted the silence.
Chloe broke from their reverie and turned, hugging her brother tightly again once he was on his feet. He laughed a little, smiling at Beca over his sister's shoulder. "We fly out on Sunday. I'll see you again before we go?"
"Yeah, I'll swing by again. Text me so I know your schedule."
"I will," Chloe nodded, releasing him. "We'll talk about...all this soon. I don't even know what to say, Chris. Thank you."
"Of course. And I'm pretty sure doing this means this and every birthday for, umm, yeah, I think forever? Is covered, gift wise."
"Oh you…" Chloe started, pointing at her brother with a squinted eye and a smile, "...are completely right."
"Beca?" He said, turning to her after playfully roughhousing a little with Chloe, all shoves and pokes. And Beca didn't care about checking her emotions anymore. She stepped up and hugged him for a few seconds.
"Thanks," she said, feeling like the word was impossibly weak for the sentiment behind it. "You're a good brother."
"And you're a good sister," he said, and it took Beca a second to realize what he meant. She had meant he was a good brother to Chloe, but...he was a good brother to her, too. And she would try to be a good sister. She'd never had a sibling before. "I'll see you guys Sunday," he continued. "And don't wake up the parentals tonight."
Beca blushed hard and spun away to busy herself with collecting their half-empty beer bottles to avoid the teasing.
"We're staying down here. Won't be a problem."
"You forget we lived under this same roof together for eighteen years. What was his name again? Ryan?"
"Oh my God," Beca said under her breath. She couldn't imagine having such an open and teasing relationship with a family member, Chloe being the lone exception. She also had zero desire to think about any noise Chloe might have made as the result of her ex-boyfriend.
"You hush," Chloe said, laughing as she followed Chris out of the room and out of sight.
"No, you hush," came his laughing response.
Beca was glad they weren't in the same room together anymore, because she was pretty sure she wanted to die. She heard the door close and Chloe reappeared a moment later. "I cannot believe you guys can tease each other about -"
Her statement drifted off at the way Chloe was stalking forward toward her, and her brain caught up at the last possible second, prompting her to take a quick breath before lips crashed into her own, backing her right up until she was against...well, Beca had no idea what she was pressed up against, but it didn't feel like a wall. The China hutch, she noticed when she chanced a glance, and despite returning Chloe's kiss with equal fervor, she knew it was a very, very bad position to be in for something like this and she pressed forward to get away from the cabinet filled with expensive and extremely fragile dinnerware.
"Wait, wait, wait," she said when she finally managed to convince herself to break away from what was arguably one of the most ridiculously intense kisses Chloe had ever given her. They were both breathing hard, and she hadn't noticed Chloe's hands roaming, but one of them was definitely up the front of her shirt right now.
"What? What's wrong?" Chloe said, smiling, cheeks flushed.
"Nothing. Just...not here. Bedroom?"
She watched her statement wash over Chloe's features as the redhead sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, and then pulled her hand out from Beca's shirt to flit through the room, turning off lights as she went until she caught Beca by the elbow to steer her down a different hallway to what Beca assumed would be their room for the weekend.
She didn't get a good look at it, because she was pushed through the doorway and immediately pressed up against the wood the moment it was closed, lips and teeth and tongue attacking her neck. The room was dark, but she could make out the outline of a bed and what looked like a pair of suitcases standing along the wall. Chloe bit a bit too hard and Beca gasped, nudging her back with a touch to a shoulder.
"I'm not going shopping with your mother covered in hickeys."
"Sorry," Chloe said through a giggle. "I'll be more gentle."
And she was, easing her assault into something more slow and sensual but no less pleasurable and Beca let her hands wander up and down Chloe's back, easing beneath the edge of her shirt to feel the warmth of her beneath her fingertips. "Not that I'm complaining - I'm really not - but what's gotten into you?"
"Did you forget already?" Chloe teased before drawing a line of kisses down Beca's neck to her shoulder.
Beca was glad Chloe couldn't see her face as she grimaced at her forgetfulness. "Refresh my memory?"
"Thinking about having a baby," Chloe said, continuing her line of kisses along the hollow of Beca's throat. "With you. Of you…" She ran her tongue lightly up the other side of her neck to her ear. "Being a mother. With me."
Beca tilted her head and sighed, letting her fingernails scratch at Chloe's lower back. "Should I be concerned that you get so turned on by the thought of kids?"
Chloe jerked back at that, and Beca's eyes had adjusted enough to make out the features on her very shocked face. "Beca! That's not...I'm not…"
"Sorry, sorry. It was a joke. Bad joke," she said when Chloe didn't seem to realize it right away. "I know you're not...okay just forget I said anything like that, come here." She pulled Chloe back to her and into a kiss, pushing off the door to walk Chloe backwards toward what she knew now was definitely a bed. She pressed until Chloe sat down with a bounce and a giggle, and she remained standing, looking down at Chloe as she ran her fingers through the red curls that were so synonymous with her wife. She felt hands on her thighs, moving up and down slowly, and she smiled, reaching for the top button of her own shirt. "You're going to have to be quiet."
"Trust me, they can't hear us down here," Chloe said with a smile that nearly lit up the room. She reached for the lower buttons of Beca's shirt, undoing them to meet her in the middle until it was hanging open. She immediately wrapped her arms around Beca's waist and leaned in to press a kiss to her stomach.
Beca shivered under the touch and shimmied out of her shirt as she reached to unbutton her jeans. She felt more than heard Chloe's reaction to the move, a quiet almost-growl against her abdomen as hands ran up her back and with a quick tug the tension around her ribcage disappeared as her bra was unhooked, those same hands running around to push it up and out of the way to replace its cups. Beca cut back the moan that tried to escape as she pulled the bra off her arms to drop it to the floor.
She paused, absorbing the moment and the sensations as Chloe's hands cupped and caressed until the same warmth that was against her neck minutes ago covered the tip of her breast, and that time she didn't cut off her moan.
Chloe seemed to like that, echoing the moan a little as her hands dropped to the waistband of Beca's jeans to wiggle them down over her hips until they got to her knees and Beca had to work them down the rest of her way until she could kick them aside.
She made to reach for Chloe's shirt next, just as Chloe shifted to give equal treatment to her other breast, and she faltered for a moment, catching herself with a hand on Chloe's shoulder before she fell forward. "Shit," she breathed, tangling her fingers in Chloe's hair with her other hand to press her closer and hold her there.
Chloe's hands were roaming, up and down Beca's thighs to her hips and stomach and chest to drag her nails down her back, squeeze her backside, and repeat it all over again.
Beca finally wrenched herself away, wanting to give to Chloe instead of take. She tried again for Chloe's shirt, succeeding this time at catching the hem to lift it up and off in one quick motion. She watched Chloe remove her own bra and reach for Beca again, but she leaned back.
"Wait, wait a second," she said quietly. "Stand up."
Chloe looked confused but did as she was told.
"I don't want to do it on this...like...your parents' guest room quilt. That's...weird and kind of gross," she explained as she moved to pull back the bedding to expose the sheets instead.
Chloe giggled. "Good idea. Wanna know why?"
When Beca turned around from her quick task, Chloe had divested herself of the rest of her clothes. "Why?" she asked, taking Chloe's hand to pull her around to sit back down.
"Because," Chloe said, guiding Beca's hand lower and lower until it was met with wetness. Beca's breath caught at the feeling as she let her fingers glide. "That's why."
Beca nodded and bent to kiss her, using the angle to her advantage to control the pace of the kiss, keeping it steady and slow when Chloe tried to speed things up. She pulled her hand away, too, making Chloe whine. She grazed her fingers along her knee, nudging her a little. "Lie down."
Chloe was quick to move and Beca smiled at her eagerness, but she was having fun controlling the speed of everything. She watched Chloe turn and work her way toward the middle of the bed, arms immediately reaching out toward Beca expectantly.
"Baby, c'mere," she said with a pout.
"How are you so fucking cute?" Beca answered, climbing in to stretch out on her side next to her.
Chloe was on her in a heartbeat, trying to wrap herself around Beca, and she let her for a few minutes. As much as she wanted it to be about Chloe tonight, she had needs, too, and the thigh between her own was making her toes curl. Finding her resolve underneath her arousal, she pressed Chloe away with a hand to her hip until she was on her back again.
Chloe pouted and opened her mouth to protest but Beca cut her off, dragging her hand straight down from her hip to her center. She didn't bother teasing; Chloe didn't need it. She set a slow, steady rhythm and Chloe's intended protest instead came out as a groan of relief.
"Baby…" she sighed, shifting her legs a little further apart.
Beca got comfortable, too, propping herself up on her elbow to be able to look down at her, foot resting lightly over Chloe's, a bit of an anchor for both of them. "Hmm?"
"That feels so nice."
"Good," she said simply as she leaned down to touch her lips to Chloe's. She didn't linger, leaning back to let Chloe focus on one feeling.
Chloe's body rolled next to hers, not demandingly or desperately, but slowly and gently to complement Beca's pace. Chloe sighed and Beca felt a hand at her back, touching without much thought until it settled at the back of her neck. Beca watched her other hand settle against her stomach, twitching a little whenever Beca hit a nerve just right.
Despite Beca's slow pace, Chloe was breathing hard, hips starting to lift a little more urgently, but Beca didn't indulge her - not more than she she already was, anyway. She did press her fingers a touch more firmly, enough to set that hand twitching a tad more. Chloe moaned at the slight change and Beca shushed her a little, just enough to remind her to keep her voice in check.
She leaned down, grazing her lips along Chloe's ear. "You like when I touch you?"
Chloe nodded quickly, the hand on Beca's neck tightening.
"You feel so good."
Chloe whimpered, brow furrowing a little as her hips lifted.
Beca hesitated; it felt a little weird to her, but she knew Chloe would like it. "Wanna make a baby with me?" She marked her question by dipping her fingers lower for a moment, slipping her fingertips inside before dragging them back up to work them a little more quickly.
Chloe's eyes popped open at the question, her answer coming by way of a groan and a tug hard enough at Beca's neck to force her down into a kiss.
Beca abandoned her rhythm, wanting to pull Chloe over the edge in that moment. She pressed down hard, moving quickly.
Every exhale from Chloe came as a muffled moan as they kissed, her hips shifting higher and faster until she broke from the kiss she initiated, her broken cry filling the room enough to make Beca worry about it, but not enough to shush her. It sounded too good and Chloe was feeling too good to interrupt it.
Chloe muted herself after a few seconds, biting her lip to stifle her moaning as she came down.
Beca kept herself close, peppering Chloe's face and neck with kisses as her hand slowed, dragging it out for her until Chloe stilled and sank into the bed.
"Mmm, wow," Chloe murmured, hand at Beca's neck starting to trail around her back again, drawing shivers from her.
"Beca dropped another gentle kiss to her lips. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." Chloe's free hand moved to fit over Beca's where it rested between her legs, just touching.
Beca glanced at the electronic clock that glowed red on a nightstand on Chloe's side of the bed, smiling at the time. She redirected her smile down at Chloe and kissed her again. "Happy birthday, baby."
Chloe's lazy smile split into a grin, followed by a squeal and a hug as she pulled Beca down into a wiggly, rolling hug until Beca found herself on her back, Chloe stretched out on top of her, hands suspiciously held above her head. "Thank you," Chloe said sweetly, despite the naughty way her hips were slowly grinding against Beca. "Can I tell you a secret?"
Beca nodded, starting to lose focus.
"I've fantasized about being with you this way in this house for years."
Beca gulped at that, feeling the way Chloe's grip on her wrists tightened.
"What I really want," Chloe continued, the hand not pinning Beca's wrists trailing along her forearm and bicep, "is to have you in my bedroom upstairs. But...that might have to wait until tomorrow. I'm going to steal you away when they're down here watching TV after dinner."
"Okay," Beca breathed, fairly confident she would agree to just about anything at the moment.
"Awes!" Chloe chirped, going from seductress to adorable dork in half a second as she was prone to do, and then the seductress was back, pressing Beca into the pillow with a kiss. "It's your turn to be quiet. If you can."
