A/N This one has a little twist in it. Interested to see how you guys feel about one of the character developments in this chapter...

Chapter 19: Not Alone

Beca and Chloe lay in each other arms on Chloe's couch.

"I don't know what to do." Beca sighed heavily.

"I can't even imagine what you're feeling right now, baby." Chloe sighed. "I wish I could give you some advice or something."

"I just… like I don't want to sit in the same room as them, let alone publicly talk about the shit they did to me," Beca explained. "Like why can't I just sign a paper or something under oath and they can use that?"

"Have you asked, Officer Carter about it?" Chloe asked.

"No. But I don't know if it would be enough. I mean he recorded the whole interview, but still wants to know if I'll press charges and testify of it." Beca pointed out. "I just. I just want it to be over and I was hoping that that conversation would do it… But that's too fucking easy, isn't it?"

Beca sighed in frustration.

"And to top it all off, all my teachers at school today don't understand how to be subtle about shit and were super obvious the whole day that shit was going on…" Beca grumbled. "Stacie Conrad caught onto it and corned me at lunch and after school…"

"Stacie did?" Chloe asked curiously. She didn't know much about the girl, only having her in one class but she knew she was smart.

"Yeah, apparently her dad is the fucking DA." Beca mumbled. "She told me about this support group for kids with shitty parents."

"What kind of support group is it?" Chloe asked, she sat up a little to look into Beca's eyes.

"Just some like group for kids with parents in jail or waiting for trails or whatever." Beca explained. "I didn't really look too much into it. I'm not going to it. I don't need support from a group of random people."

"Maybe you should think about it, babe." Chloe suggested. "You don't have to like go in there and tell everyone what's going on, but just listen. It might help."

Beca scoffed. "I doubt it."

"Just think about it." Chloe pushed lightly. She bent down and placed a kiss on Beca's neck.

Silence filled the room after that, both content just to lay in each other's arms. Beca closed her eyes and burred herself deeper into her girlfriends side.

"Your paper was really beautiful." Chloe whispered after a moment. "Thank you for writing it."

Beca smiled against Chloe's skin. "I meant every word."

"I know." Chloe whispered simply. "I'm glad it was such a good week for you. I feel the exact same way."

Again a silence filled the room but it didn't last long because all the sudden there was a loud knocking coming from Chloe's front door.

The couple shot up and looked at each other with wide eyes.

"Go into our room." Chloe instructed.

"Okay," Beca nodded and headed into the back of the apartment, Billie following dutifully after her.

Chloe watched as the door to their bedroom closed before she made her way over to answer her front door.

"Hey," Chloe smiled brightly at Aubrey who was standing on the other side.

"Hey, sorry did I wake you up?" Aubrey asked, she looked down at her watch as if she was unsure what time it was.

"No, no. I was just in the back room of my apartment." Chloe explained. She looked down at her own watch and saw it was only 8:30. "So what brings you here?"

"Can I vent?" Aubrey asked and Chloe could tell she really did need someone to talk to. But she hesitated. This was insane… How the hell was she supposed to come up with an excuse. It would be different if she had called first, it would be easier to lie that way.

"Uh," She hesitated and looked behind her as if looking for an excuse.

"Is someone else here with you?" Aubrey asked curiously.

"What? No, no one else is here." Chloe lied in a rush. "Come on in."

Chloe pulled out her phone and texted Beca, as Aubrey walked into the apartment.

C: Aubrey's here. Not sure how long she will be. I'm sorry.

B: It's okay, I have all my stuff in here, I'll just work on homework, making no noise and pretending that I don't exist.

C: Okay Harry Potter :P

B: Why am I not surprised you knew what I was quoting lol

B: Seriously thought, take your time babe, I've got Billie to keep me company.

Chloe put her phone away and turned back to Aubrey, they were now standing in the living room.

Chloe flipped on the light and they both sat down on the couch. Her eye caught sight of Beca's purple binder that sat on her coffee table.

Shit… Her brain began to spin. Please don't see it... please don't see it…

"Why is Beca Mitchell's binder here?" Aubrey asked pointing to the name on the binder, almost as if she could read the writing teachers mind.

"Oh uh…"

Think quickly you dumbass…

Chloe noticed that it was in fact Beca's writing binder.

"She left it with me to look over her thesis." Chloe explained. "She just finished up on the first draft and wanted my thoughts and corrections. I told her I'd look over it for her tonight."

This was true. Beca had pulled it out for Chloe to go over the paper, she just hadn't gotten to it.

"Oh, I forgot you said you were helping her with her thesis." Aubrey smiled. "How's it looking?"

"She's doing really good!" Chloe smiled. "It amazes me how great she is with words. A true talent for writing."

Aubrey smiled. "Do you know how she's doing with everything that's going on with her mom?"

"I don't really. She hasn't talked much about it but knowing her I'm sure she doesn't want a lot of attention brought to it. If she wants to talk about it, she will." Chloe explained, trying to aid her girlfriend. "Anyway, you said you wanted to vent?"

"Ugh…" Aubrey sighed loudly. "Jesse is hopeless!"

Chloe chuckled at that. "What now?"

"I thought he was going to propose while we were at his parents. But I waited the whole week for nothing!" Aubrey grumbled in defeat.

Chloe chuckled again. "Guys are ridiculously stupid when it comes to things like this."

"I just… I mean we've been together for a year and a half. Living with each other for 6. Like don't you think it's time?" Aubrey asked in defeat.

"Don't you think that's a question you should be asking Jesse?" Chloe asked with a smirk.

"But he's clueless and I don't think there's anything I could say to him that would get him to realize what I want. I could have a flashing sign and he'd still miss it." Aubrey whined. "I mean this guy… it took him three years to even realize that I liked him!"

"Okay so he's a regular, oblivious guy. Have you been dropping hints lately that you do want to get married? Have you two talked about marriage at all?" She asked curiously.

"Yes!" Aubrey yelled in exasperation. "So many times!"

Chloe laughed. "Did he give any hints that he was going to propose last week?"

"He kept just talking about how amazing the week was going to be and how it was going to be a week I'd never forget." Aubrey explained.

"Well, did anything like big or exciting happen?" Chloe asked with a raise of her eyebrow.

"No." Aubrey explained in exasperation. "Nothing! Yeah we hung out with his family and it was all fun or whatever but that's all we did. We just spent time with his family. And it's not like the first time I've ever met them. I met them after we dated for like 3 months."

Chloe thought for a moment.

"Maybe he was going to propose but something happened and he didn't." Chloe suggested.

They both talked for another half an hour when Chloe's phone buzzed again, breaking up their conversation. She looked at it.

B: Dude… I have to piss so bad…

C: Sorry give me a minute.

Aubrey looked down at her phone. "Oh, I should probably go. Sorry I didn't mean for it to get so late."

"Yeah I didn't either." Chloe sighed. "I'll walk you out."

The two friends stood up and made their way over to the door. Aubrey turned to her. "Thanks for letting me come over! I really appreciate it."

"I mean you just showed up." Chloe stuck her tongue out teasingly. "But of course. I'm glad you felt like you could."

They hugged. "Tell your friend hi for me and thanks for letting me steal you."

Chloe looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh please, Chloe… You have a friend in your bedroom right now." Aubrey smirked. "I heard her cough a few times. Plus, I could hear talking before you answered the door."

Chloe looked at her with a shocked expression. There's no way she could know it was Beca right? Like no possible way…

"Chloe, it's okay. You're allowed to have your girlfriend over to your apartment. I'm sorry that I ruined your night." Aubrey smiled apologetically.

"I…" Chloe began and looked down. "You didn't ruin my night. But I promise, there's no one here, it's just my neighbor."

"Uh huh…" Aubrey laughed. "Well, I'll let you get back to your empty apartment then…"

Chloe shook her head. "Bye. See you tomorrow."

Beca's POV

A few days had gone by and the weight of everything going on was still fresh in Beca's mind. She and Chloe had talked about it a few times since then but her girlfriend wasn't pushing her into anything. Chloe wanted Beca to make her own choice.

Yet somehow Beca still found herself walking into the community center and into a room that had a piece of paper posted on the door that said:

Crime Affected Teens Support Group

Beca rolled her eyes and hesitantly walked in. She was already a few minutes late as was hoping she'd be able to walk in without too many people paying attention to her.

Most of the people in the group were teenagers but there were two adults sitting at the front of the room.

Beca grumbled however because the set of chairs was in a circle and in order for her to find a seat, she would have to disturb the group. This was enough to make her want to walk out, but it was too late because one of the adults saw her.

"Oh, hi. Please come on in!" The woman smiled at her. "There's a seat right here by Emily."

Beca's eyes went to where the woman was pointing and was shocked to see the girl Gila was talking about.

Sitting there, right by an empty seat was none other then Emily Junk… Emily was a freshman who was also in hers and Stacie's writing class.

What the hell would she be doing in a group like this.

Emily caught her eye and gave her a small smile, shifting over as if to tell her it was okay to sit down next to her.

Beca hesitated. She didn't recognize anyone else in the room, which she was fine with. Taking a deep breath she walked over and took a seat.

"We're just finishing up with introductions, would you like to introduce yourself to the group?" Gail asked sweetly.

"Oh uh… I don't know what to say…" Beca said awkwardly.

"Well Emily hasn't done her's yet, so why don't we let her go first. It's really all just dependent on what you want to say." The man next to Gail explained. "Go ahead, Emily."

Emily nodded, but stayed seated. "Hi, I'm Emily Junk."

"Hi Emily." The group murmured off.

"I'm here pretty regularly and I know most of you know why but just for those that don't I'm here because my dad is in prison." Emily stated.

Everyone nodded but she didn't go into detail. Beca wasn't sure if that was all that most people said or if it was just Emily.

"Alright, go ahead. "Gail smiled again at Beca.

"Oh uh Hi, I'm Beca Mitchell." Beca waved awkwardly.

"Hi, Beca." The group mumbled, Emily's voice broke through the crowd, probably just because of how closely Beca was to her.

"Uh… Yeah I don't really want to talk about why I'm here." Beca explained and looked down at her hands.

"That's totally fine." The man assured her. "Well, guys my name is John Smith and this is my wife Gail Abernathy. We're so glad you could all join us today."

John and Gail went on to talk for a few minutes about the grieving and forgiveness process. They took a lot of time to talk about acceptance today. Accepting how each person was affected by the actions of an individual they all cared about. That they needed to come to terms with it in order to move forward.

Then came the sharing portion of the night. Beca expected to be rolling her eyes the whole time but found herself engrossed in each person as they shared their stories. There were some who passed (including Beca) and some who shared. More shared then didn't though.

The last person to go was actually Emily.

"Hi again," Emily smiled brightly. "So yeah I'm here because my dad's in prison. He's in for 20 years but it's now down to 18 with poral possible in 6 years."

Beca's eyes grew wide. That was the longest amount of time she'd heard anyone say. 20 fucking years…

"He actually called last week." Emily began and she got kind of nervous and started playing with her hands. "My mom begged me to talk to him. She wanted me to uh give him a chance. But I can't."

Emily paused for a moment. She took in a breath and Beca could hear the shakiness of it. "I haven't talked to him since that night…." Her voice was shaking with emotion and Beca fought the strange urge to reach over and put her hand on Emily's, comfort her. "When he took my brother. I just… I don't know how my mom can be so forgiving of him."

Tears welled in Emily's eyes and she looked up to Beca in that moment. "I've tried to work through it. It's been almost 4 years since Mason died. No… Since he killed Mason. But I just I can't."

Gail put her hand on Emily's leg, trying to help her know it was okay. She smiled at her and continued.

"So I didn't talk to him. I know it made my mom mad or at least hurt but she didn't push it." Emily explained. "I did write him another letter though. I didn't send it but it was good to get those feelings out on paper. Tell him how much he's hurt me. So yeah, still working on the forgiveness part of it all. Definitely not an easy thing."

Gail nodded her head and so did the rest of the group. "Thank you for sharing Emily. I know that was difficult for you."

"Thank you, Emily." Beca and the group muttered.

"Does anyone have anything they'd like to share before we end the meeting?" Gail asked. She looked around the group and her eyes landed on Beca for what felt like much longer then the others. Somehow that seemed to spur her into talking.

"Actually uh yeah can i?" Beca found herself asking.

John smiled at her. "Of course you can."

Beca nodded. "Uh hi. I don't really know what I'm doing to be honest. This is my first time here."

Everyone nodded in support and no one looked at Beca with judgement or even pity, which she appreciated. "So I guess I'm here because my mom's kind of a shit person."

Everyone in the group laughed. "Language, please Beca." Gail reprimanded but she too was smiling.

"Sorry…" Beca smiled sheepishly. "Um so yeah, my mom got arrested almost two weeks ago and it looks like it's gunna be pretty bad. I uh met with the officer in charge of her case two days ago and gave my testimony of the things I witnessed and uh went through."

Beca looked across the room and stared at a point on the wall. "He uh wants me to press charges on her and this other guy as well as testify in the trials and I… I don't know if I can."

Beca thought this would be hard. It should be hard to open herself up like this in a room full of complete strangers, but for whatever reason, it doesn't. She feels like this truly is a safe place for her to be open and honest.

"I just the thought of even seeing her again right now is too much." Beca explained. "The last time I saw her it didn't exactly end well and the things I talked to the police about are super like damning…"

Beca sighed. "Ugh it's just like I know that I should. That's the right thing to do. She's done some really terrible things and I should help to make sure she has to answer for those things but I shouldn't have to. I shouldn't have to be the one who puts the nail in her coffin… It's just all so… fucked."

Beca closed her eyes and let her head fall forward slightly. "Sorry for swearing." She mutters.

"It's okay, Beca." Gail promises. "We do our best not to use profanity but I'm sure everyone here can agree that what you're talking about is indeed, fucked up."

Beca nodded her head.

"So, would you mind if we talked a little about what you've shared?" Gail asked. "There are a few people here who I know have had to testify against their own parent and I'm sure they could offer some advise."

"Yeah, uh if we have time." Beca nodded her head.

"We do." Gail smiled. "Anyone wanna share first?"

Emily raised her hand to which Gail acknowledged with a nod. "So when I was asked to testify against my dad I was only like 11 and it was super tough. I knew what it meant and I knew that it would likely work against my dad. But I also knew that my brother and even myself deserved justice. My mom still guilts me about testifying against him but it gave me an opportunity to share my truth and feel heard. It gave me the chance to show him that he didn't just get a free ride because he was my dad."

Emily looked at Beca, "I don't know what happened with your mom but Beca, if she truly is guilty and it hurt you, you deserve to be heard."

Beca nodded her head at the freshman. She'd never spoken to Emily before but it was obvious she recognized her from school as well. She would have never guessed that the overly happy, seemingly innocent girl, who has been known to say things like 'oh my stars' and 'adorbs' has been through so much shit in her life.

Beca smiled at her before someone else spoke up.

"Testifying against my brother was tough." A kid named Max stated. "But just like Emily said, you deserve to be heard. It really helped me find closure honestly."

A few other people talked as well but it was mostly about those who either volunteered to talk or who hated the person so much they didn't even care if what they said hurt their 'loved one'.

"Well, that's all the time we have tonight, guys." Gail smiled out at the group of teens. "Thank you so much for being here. Like always there's cookies and drinks in the back. We took a bit of our mingling time so we don't have as much today but enjoy the little bit we do have before we have to clean up."

"Remember that we have a mini meeting on Saturday, working on a service project if you want to come and then regular meeting again on Thursday." John explained.

Everyone stood up and folded their chairs and put them away. Beca followed the group and did as the rest of them did.

She stood awkwardly in the corner and pulled out her phone to text Chloe, letting her know she would be headed to their designated spot soon.

"Beca." Emily walked up to her and smiled brightly, holding out a chocolate chip cookie out to her. Beca took it and smiled. "I… I'm really glad you came."

Beca nodded. "I'm surprised I did honestly."

Emily nodded as if she too understood why it was so shocking. "It's a good group. I know they'll be super helpful for you."

Beca nodded. "Yeah. They really uh seem like they care."

"Listen, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here." Emily stated in a rush. "But uh can I just ask that you not talk about what I said while at school?"

Beca looked at her in shock. "Of course, I would never say anything…"

"I wont say anything either." Emily explained. "You know the whole, what's said in here, stays in here sorta thing?"

"Yeah," Beca smiled reassuringly at the girl. "If you ever need to talk as well, I'm here."

Emily smiled and put her hand out. Beca looked at it questioningly for a second. "Let me see your phone, I'll put my number in it."

She pulled her phone out and went to her contact info, she handed the phone over and Emily typed away on it.

A few seconds later a phone dinged and Emily smiled. "I texted myself so now I have your number too."

She handed the phone back to Beca. "Also someone named 'C' texted you. I didn't look at it, I swear."

Beca laughed lightly. "It's okay."

She looked down to see Chloe's text.

C: K, see you soon love

She wondered if Emily had actually seen it. But it didn't give any details to it actually being Chloe Beale, their writing teacher.

"Listen, I need to go, but I'll uh see you at school tomorrow." Beca smiled at her.

"Have a good night, Beca!" Emily waved.

With that, Beca walked out of the room and out onto the street. She still had a lot of things to think about as far as what to do with her mom went. But this did help. More then she thought it would.

Pulling out her phone again, she pulled up Stacie's contact info that she had saved in her phone earlier that day.

Unknown Number: Hey, this is Beca. Thanks for the suggestion.

Stacie: Glad it helped.

Beca: *thumbs up emoji*

Stacie: You aren't alone, Beca. I know it feels like you are and that you have to be. But people do care about you. No matter how much you push them away.

Stacie: I don't know what you're going through, but I do know that you shouldn't have to go it alone.

Stacie: So I'm glad you went to the group. John and Gail are great people.

Beca read her messages and smiled. In this moment, Beca felt something like regret. Regret for not making for of an effort to get to know people. Getting to develop more friendships then just that of Amy.

Maybe she and Stacie would have been friends… Maybe they still could be?

Beca: Thanks. I'm starting to realize that.

A/N Disclaimer guys... I've never been to one of those support groups before so sorry if it wasn't super accurate...