Chapter 16: A Real Family

Chloe woke up and smiled as she felt Beca's arms wrapped around her. She didn't want to move and wake Beca up but she knew that if she didn't get to the bathroom soon her bladder would explode.

"Baby," Chloe whispered. "Becs."

Beca shut her eyes tighter, clearly not wanting to wake up.

"Come on, I need to get out of bed for a minute. I'll come back and cuddle I promise." Chloe whispered.

Beca shook her head, "ay here."

Chloe let out a soft chuckle. "Becs I have to pee really badly right now and I need you to move."

Beca kept her eyes closed but moved to her back so Chloe could get up. Chloe planted a soft kiss on Beca's cheek before getting up and heading toward the bathroom.

Once she came out, she was surprised to see her dad coming out of his room. He looked at Chloe for a moment before speaking.

"Mornin' Chlo-bug." Johnny walked toward his daughter and pulled her into a hug. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Chloe returned the hug.

"Is Beca okay?" Johnny asked sincerely. Studying his daughter once they pulled away.

"It was pretty rough at first, but I think she's okay." Chloe explained. "I really want to kill Jake right now."

Johnny nodded his head. "That's understandable. He had no right to speak to you or Beca like that."

Chloe nodded her head. "Bec's still asleep so I'm going to head back into my room, spend some time with her."

Johnny smiled. "Sounds good, kid."

Chloe rolled her eye affectionately. "Love you, dad."

"Love you too." Johnny walked away and headed down the stairs.

Chloe silently made her way into her room and smiled as she took in the sight of Beca asleep in her old bed. It was almost surreal to see.

She moved over to the bed and took her original spot from last night.

Beca quickly shuffled over and pulled Chloe to her.

Neither said anything. They didn't need to. But in the silence the pull of sleep seemed too much for Chloe and she slowly began to fall asleep. The last thing she thought before she fell asleep was the thought of Beca and how she wanted this every morning.

Soccer Field

Beca and Chloe stood on the old soccer field on the grounds of Chloe's old high school. Chloe was sharing some of the basics of soccer with the young brunette. Her brothers and dad would be joining them in a little bit to play a proper game.

"Let's take some practice shots. Get you used to the movement." Chloe suggested.

"I'm going to be so terrible at this," Beca said with a little apprehension but tried to hide it with a laugh.

"No you're not." Chloe stated. "Come on, let's do this."

Chloe and Beca walked toward one of the goals. Chloe set up the ball and took a shot to show Beca how to do it.

With one fluid kick she sent the ball soring into the right corner of the goal, connecting solidly with the back of the net.

"Holy shit, no wonder you were the fucking captain." Beca stated as she stared at Chloe in disbelief.

"You still got it, Chlo." A man yelled as he walked toward them. Beca recognized him from the picture in Chloe's apartment.

"Hey Tommy!" Chloe called out and walked toward him. She pulled him into a hug once she reached him. This again caused Beca to smile as she saw the pure joy on her girlfriend's face.

Once they pulled apart Tom's eyes went to Beca who had made her way closer to the brother and sister. "Hey, you must be Beca."

Tom put his and out to which Beca accepted with her own. "I sure am."

"It's nice to meet you. Glad you came out." Tom smiled.

Beca looked over at Chloe who was smiling brightly at her. "Me too."

"So, where are the other trouble makers?" Tom asked turning to his sister.

"They should be one their way." Chloe explained. "You wanna take some practice shots with us?"

"Let's do it." Tom agreed. "Beca have you ever been on a soccer team?"

"Nope, I've never really played actually." Beca admitted.

"Well you got the expert of all things soccer as a teacher." Tom stated causing Chloe to look down sheepishly. "Did Chlo tell you that she got a full ride scholarship to play soccer? She coulda gone pro if she had really wanted to."

"Tom stop." Chloe plead with her brother.

"Seriously?" Beca turned to her girlfriend. "Why didn't you ever tell me that?"

"I obviously didn't go pro Becs." Chloe pointed out.

"No because teaching and writing were always your real passion. Soccer was just the gateway to getting to do your dream." Tom smiled at his siter.

Beca understood why Chloe would turn down going pro. In fact she was grateful that she had or else they would have never met.

"Okay can we like practice now and stop talking about this?" Chloe asked as she lined up two balls, one for Beca and one for Tom.

Tom laugh but nodded.

Both of them set up, Beca following Chloe's instruction on how to change her position to ensure a clean kick.

Her first kick was pretty messy and just barely made it to the goal. It wasn't nearly has hard of a kick as Chloe's or Tom's were.

"Try again, you're doing good." Chloe called. She then moved over to help her set up for the next one. "Just move a little more to your left and make sure you pull your leg back to about this point."

Chloe moved her own leg to show Beca where it needed to be. Beca nodded.

She ran toward the ball and did what she was told, sending the ball rolling toward the goal, going much faster this time then her time before. She smiled as it made contact with the back of the net.

"There ya go!" Chloe called happily.

Soon the rest of the Beale family joined them. A full on game insued.

Beca laughed as she and Chloe sprinted down the field, matching up with each other. Tom stood infront of right where Beca was going but Chloe passed her the ball anyway.

"You got it." Chloe called. Beca kicked the ball and somehow got around him and sent the ball flying into the goal.

Beca stood stunned looking at the ball, she'd never felt so energized. In her moment of pause Chloe ran up to her and tackled her to the ground. Beca let out a small yelp but laughed when she realized who it was.

"That was so amazing!" Chloe cheered happily before planting a kiss on Beca's lips. "I'll make a soccer player out of you yet."

Justin ran up to them and pulled them both up. "Nicely Done!"

They hugged each other and high fived.

"That's the game Bitches!" Chloe yelled as she turned and looked over at the other team, who consisted of Mike, Tom, and Jake.

Johnny stood on the side of the field and laughed.

Whatever team Chloe played on always won. That was just a given.

"We'll beat you one of these days!" Tom shouted in disbelief.

"Let's go get some food." Johnny called from the sidelines.

Chloe turned and pulled Beca's hand into her own.

"That was so fun." Beca beamed. "And this is coming from someone who is allergic to physical exercise."

Chloe laughed at her. "You did so good."

xxttwyxx

The day floated by in a comfortable ease. Chloe had basically been avoiding Jake all day thought and Beca wasn't exactly complaining about it. But she knew that it was only a matter of time before they couldn't avoid it.

"Can I speak with you both?" Jake asked as he stood in front of Beca and Chloe, who sat on the couch.

Chloe looked over at Beca hesitantly trying to gage her reaction.

Beca met her eyes and just nodded her head. They both stood and headed out of the room after Jake.

They stood in the same spot he and Beca had stood in just the night before.

Jake turned to face them and took in a deep breath.

"I don't understand it." He stated simply, looking at Chloe as he spoke. "I don't get why you would do this. It's an idiotic move that makes no sense to me."

He paused for a moment and just as Chloe was about to blow up at him, he spoke again. "I don't understand but that doesn't give me the right to do what I did yesterday."

Jake then turned to look at Beca. "Beca, I'm sorry. What I said to you was wrong. You were right when you said I didn't know anything about you. I don't know you and I shouldn't judge you."

Beca nodded in response, not sure what to say. But Jake turned his attention back to Chloe before she could think of anything anyway.

"Chloe, I'm sorry as well for the things I said to you yesterday to both of you." Jake continued.

"It doesn't excuse your behavior." Chloe stated. Her eyes shown with anger but eventually softened. "But thank you for apologizing."

Beca nodded her head. "Thank you, Jake."

Chloe kept her eyes on her brother. "Look, I know you know, and I know you don't approve but Jake, I'm not asking for your approval. Neither of us are. We both know what we're doing. And you don't get to say anything about it. If shit hits the fan, we will deal with it. Nothing we are doing is illegal."

"But it will kill your reputation, Chloe. How do you not get that?" Jake asked but must have realized that he needed to reign it in. "Just all I'm saying is you need to be careful. I can't make you change your mind but I can advise you to think things through, can't I?"

"Jake, we know do know that. We understand." Chloe explained again. "I'm not asking for you to be okay with my relationship with Beca, but I swear if you ever so much as think about speaking to her like that again that's it. You wont be welcome in my life."

Beca felt her heart drop. She couldn't let Chloe do that. He was her brother. "Chloe, he's your brother."

"No, she's right Beca. I would do the same thing if she ever stood against my husband." Jake explained. "I'll keep my mouth shut, both with you two and the rest of the family."

"I don't care if they know." Chloe stated defiantly and laced her fingers with Beca's. "Nothing they say will change my mind about Beca."

Jake nodded his head at that response.

"Can I uh can I just ask you one question?" Jake asked clearly not wanting to make the situation worse.

"I guess." Chloe nodded her head.

"Where do your parents think you are right now, Beca?" Jake asked curiously. "I just can't wrap my head around how you're making this work."

"Neither of my parents are apart of my life." Beca stated, not giving too much away. Jake looked at her questioningly but must have decided not to push anymore, and just nodded his head.

"Are we okay?" Jake asked, looking from Beca to Chloe.

Chloe looked over at Beca, almost like trying to gage how she was feeling right now.

"I'm good." Beca nodded her head.

"Then yeah, we're okay." Chloe told Jake. "Just don't be a dumbass anymore. Got it?"

Jake smiled. "Got it."

Beca's POV

Beca found herself sitting out on the back porch of Chloe's childhood home, just thinking for a moment. Breathing in the fresh air, she allowed her eyes to slip closed.

It had been a long time since Beca had felt this calm. Since she didn't have to worry about maintaining this narrative of being the quiet, smart girl.

It was nice to just be Beca. To have a chance to just breath.

"Penny for your thoughts?" A voice called. Beca would have expected it to be Chloe who came out but recognized the voice of that of Johnny's. "Mind if I join you?"

Johnny asked as he walked over to the bench she was sitting on.

"Of course," Beca shifted a little and let him sit down. "You know you're daughter's said that exact same thing to me a few times."

Johnny smiled. "Yeah, sounds like my Chlo-bug."

Beca smiled at the nickname.

"So Beca, how are you doing?" Johnny asked. Beca couldn't help but catch onto the fact that there was a deeper meaning to his question then just the face value.

"I'm…" Beca began. She looked out across the small back yard. "I'm doing really good, thank you."

"That's good to hear." Johnny nodded. "So tell me a little about yourself Beca."

Beca looked over at him. "I'm honestly pretty boring."

"I doubt that." Johnny said with a soft laugh. "Chloe wouldn't love you so much if you were boring…"

Beca looked over at him. "I'm still wondering why she does…"

Johnny shook his head. "Let me just tell you Beca, Chloe's brought home at least 3 other people that she was dating and you are by far the one she looks at with the most love. I've never seen her this happy, Beca."

The shock look that filled her face did not go unnoticed by Johnny.

"You love my daughter, right?" He asked.

"Of course I do." Beca nodded her head, without hesitation.

"You want what's best for her?" He asked again.

"Absolutely." Beca looked at Johnny questioningly.

"Good." He said, he looked out into the night.

A silence filled the air, Beca not really knowing what to say but not knowing if she should leave. So she just sat there, looking out into the darkness.

"Beca, I'm not sure of the full story but I just want you to know that I know." Johnny explained. Beca was shocked and flipped her head to look at him.

"You what?" Beca asked.

"I know how you met." Johnny explained.

Beca felt her heart drop. What the hell was it with the Beale men and cornering her with the truth.

"Don't worry, Beca." He stated calmly. "I trust my daughter and I value her opinions and feelings. She clearly cares about and loves you and that's enough for me. I just need to know you'll have her back too."

"Of course I do." Beca explained. "I'll always stand by her."

"Good." Johnny nodded his head. He looked over at her. "I met my wife and we married in 21 days. I know its not the same thing, but I understand the intense pull that love has on a person. Tom and Justin, heck even Jake don't understand that pull. They've never really experienced it that way. But Chloe's her mothers daughter. She feels with everything she is. She loves you which must make you a really remarkable person."

Beca nodded her head. Not really sure what to say.

"Something I'm sure you know about Chloe, when she loves she loves with everything inside herself. And when she loves someone nothing changes that. So, you will always be loved by Chloe. And thus you will always be a member of the Beale family. Don't forget that." Johnny stood up and put his hand on Beca's shoulder. "We'll see you tomorrow."

He left Beca stunned. She didn't know what to say. The words filled her heart. You will always be a member of the Beale family.

Maybe Beca did have a real family after all.