Hi everyone, sorry for the delay. Here is the reworked version of this chapter. Hope it's better than the last and I hope everyone is staying safe and sane while in quarantine!
"What the hell, Peach?"
When she isn't met with a bumbling apology she gets a little concerned. The whole group stops and turns. Her gaze stays on the same spot.
"What is it?" Poppy asks.
"It's, um," She clears her throat, "it's Gardner."
They all stop and follow her eye line through the crowded street, toward a guy standing on the corner across the way. The only one who has seen him in person is Poppy. She recognizes him immediately. Although now, he has the beginning of a beard and he's wearing glasses that don't look like they have any lenses.
"Wait, isn't Gardner that prick that attacked you?" Cash asks.
Of course Matteo told his brother's, of course they saw the video, but Lucy doesn't have time to feel embarrassed or upset or whatever she would be feeling otherwise. Her mouth feels dry, she feels like her muscles have turned to stone. She can't move and she doesn't want to; afraid that if she moves, it will draw attention to her and he'll run right over to finish what he tried to do the last time. Poppy's hand is on her arm and she willfully tries to ignore how much it's shaking.
Cash moves toward him.
"Dude, what are you doing?" Felix calls after him, reaching for his arm but failing to grasp it. "Cash."
"I'm going to give him what he deserves."
"I'm calling the police." Poppy says.
"Cash, come on man." Matteo calls out, it's garbled up and confused when Lincoln calls out,
"Don't do it."
The flurry of movement does nothing to spur any thought in Lucy's brain. She just stands.
—
"Did you always have this freckle?"
Chloe asks before kissing Beca's bare shoulder blade. She hears Beca's breathy laugh and watches while all of her muscles twitch under her touch. It shouldn't feel as foreign to both of them as it does; being together, alone, in their bed. Intimately. But it feels different than it did before. Not in a bad way, but not in a good way either. Simply in a way that is acknowledged, then tossed aside so that they can stay in the moment together. Intimately.
"Pretty sure it didn't sprout up over night."
"I don't know. Maybe you should have your doctor check that out."
With a scoff, Beca rolls over and kisses Chloe's bright red lips.
"You say the dirtiest things to me."
Chloe lets out a soft giggle and nuzzles into Beca's side.
"I'm so glad you're home."
She's said it a million times since Beca's return from Los Angeles but she means it, right now, more than ever.
"Not as glad as I am that you're home." Beca says.
Their time apart is still at the forefront of their minds; it will be for a while. But in moments like these, the soft ones, they are reminded a little more of the gap that the other left while apart.
"You never actually told me why you didn't go to London. I know you wanted to, you said you wanted to."
This is a conversation Beca was hoping not to have. She has had it with herself over and over since she boarded the plane, but she was hoping Chloe would let it go; she should know better than that by now.
"I guess, I just, couldn't."
"Why couldn't you?"
Beca wraps the sheet tighter around her so she can sit up against the headboard and look into Chloe's eyes; her own form of support and strength.
"Every night while I was away all I thought about was being home with you and Lucy. All I could think about was everything we've been through since we got her and how, if something were to happen when I was on a different continent, how could I ever forgive myself?" She pauses. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to be away from her and not feel incredibly guilty about it."
"Feeling guilty is one thing, but letting that guilt control your life doesn't seem like a good option either."
Beca shakes her head, "I know. Because now I feel guilty that I didn't go, like I cheated myself out of something and now, I just," She shakes her head a little harder, like she's trying to force the thought right out of her brain, "if I'm not feeling guilty about one thing, I'm feeling it about something else, and I don't know how to break that cycle. I don't know if I can."
"Of course you can."
"How?"
It's a genuine plea for answers. Answers that Chloe doesn't have.
"Maybe you should talk to someone. A counselor or a therapist. Maybe we all should."
"Like family counseling?"
Chloe shrugs, "It wouldn't be a bad idea, would it?"
Beca seems to think about this but she doesn't get a chance to answer before her phone rings on the nightstand. She fully intends to hit ignore but when she sees Matteo's number on the screen her heart beats faster and she slides her finger across the screen to answer.
"Hello?"
"Beca? You need to get here now."
"What happened? Are you guys alright? Lucy?"
"We're okay, just come here now. I'm sending our location."
Before she can form a coherent sentence she is up and finding her clothes from all corners of the room. Chloe does the same, not needing to hear what was said. She follows Beca wordlessly out the door and down the block before either of them say anything.
"What the hell are they doing on Bleecker Street?"
There are sirens and lights all around when they make it to the location Matteo sent. Beca is looking around, desperate to pick out her sister. She's in a Joan of Arc superhero costume, how hard could it possibly be? Turns out pretty damn hard.
"Beca, Chloe." They turn to Poppy. She's right behind them now. "Thank God you're here. Lucy's this way."
Beca notices Sara, Matteo's mother, standing by an ambulance and she feels like she is going to throw up. Chloe leads her over to Lucy, sitting on the curb next to an officer.
"What the hell is going on?" Beca asks, when she's finally able to speak.
"Are you the legal guardian?"
"I'm her sister, uh, yes, I am."
The officer leads Beca and Chloe a few steps away. Beca wants to shrug his hand off and scoop Lucy up into her arms; but she also needs to know what happened. She isn't sure Lucy even noticed they were there. She has a catatonic look on her face and she is swaying, just barely, hugging her knees to her chest.
"Gardner Hayes, does that name mean anything to you?"
Beca feels her whole world spin. She should have known.
"He attacked me and my sister about a month ago. We have a restraining order out against him."
She knows he's trying to corroborate whatever story was told to him by the kids but still, the small nod, makes her want to slap him.
"Your sister is Lucy Mitchell?"
"Yes, I'm Beca Mitchell. What did he do?"
"Nothing."
"What?"
She had prepared for the worst. Lucy doesn't look injured but one of the other kids is in the ambulance, there are three cop cars surrounding the area and Matteo sounded terrified when he called. She prepared for the worst. What he says doesn't match the situation and the instant feeling of unease she got when she saw the officer is accompanied with one of disgust, strengthened when he says,
"Your sister and her little friends decided to give the police department a prank call."
"What are you talking about?"
Beca feels her blood starting to boil.
"They called and reported a break in the restraining order. But when we got here, it was just the group of them, he was nowhere in sight."
"You're kidding, right?"
"No ma'am, I don't joke about police matters. We expect things like this on Halloween but given the situation-"
"Did the thought ever occur to you that he may have run off?"
"We've received a million and one of these calls and they are almost always false alarms or prank calls. And on nights like tonight, people tend to see ghosts that aren't there."
Beca's jaw tightens and her trembling hands curl into fists by her side. Chloe grabs her wrist and holds it in place between them.
"I suggest you take your sister home and teach her the importance of the Police Department's time and energy."
He walks away before Beca's face can fully flush and she's thankful for that. She turns to Chloe, wide-eyed and clearly frazzled. Chloe nods and takes her into a hug to let her breathe, for just a second, then lets her go to Lucy; still on the curb. Her eyes are trained on the wheel of one of the police cars and she barely blinks.
Time seems to slow down when they look at her. The commotion around them silences and it's just the three of them against the world, against this increasingly confusing situation.
"Lucy." Beca tries first. Nothing.
"Hi sweet girl." Chloe tries. Still nothing.
"She hasn't said a word." It's only now that they notice Lincoln sitting next to her, one of Lucy's hands in both of hers. "Her breathing's better but she still hasn't said anything."
Beca nods and Chloe gives Lincoln a small smile and puts a gentle hand on the girls arm.
"Thanks for looking out for her." Beca says.
"Always. She's one of us now. Cash wouldn't have done what he did otherwise."
"And what did he do exactly?"
"After we called the cops he followed Gardner, far behind him, we all told him not to but he did it anyway. About a block over he lost sight of him, he tried to hop a fence down an alleyway to catch up. He caught it with his foot and fell onto the cement."
"Oh my God, is he okay?" Chloe asks.
Lincoln shrugs and Beca wonders exactly what this kid has been through to be as cool and calm as she is right now.
"He's pretty scraped up, busted his ankle, and I thought I heard someone say concussion, but I'm not sure. The paramedics were looking him over."
Beca presses a kiss to Lucy's head.
"Do you mind staying with her for one more minute?"
"No problem."
Beca walks over to the ambulance. A kid, she's assuming is Cash, is sitting on the back his left ankle is propped up, while a paramedic wraps it. He has a bandage on his head and a scrape on his elbow.
"Sara," Beca says, and waits for her to turn, "I'm so sorry."
Much to her surprise, she is met with a sweet smile.
"There's nothing to apologize for."
"Isn't there? If I hadn't let Lucy come with them," the next thought, she says mostly to herself, "I shouldn't have let her come. I'm just, I'm sorry."
"There's no way you could have known that he'd be here. Besides, if my boys hadn't come up with the plan to skip out on trick or treating then this whole thing could have been avoided."
"Still-"
"And my Cash, he gets a little," She searches for the right word, "territorial. He acts before he thinks and gets himself into scrapes like this all the time."
"Not exactly what I would call it." Beca says, mostly under her breath, but somehow Sara still manages to catch it; Beca supposes that's a superpower that comes with having four boys.
"We'll sort this out and we'll all be fine. How is Lucy doing?"
"I don't know, she isn't saying anything."
They both look over to where Lucy is sitting with Lincoln and Chloe on either side of her. She has her head resting on Chloe's shoulder now.
"We'll all be fine." She says again, making sure Beca hears it this time.
"Penelope." Poppy looks up from her spot next to Matteo to see her father. He's dressed in a suit and looks like he just left work, despite it being nearly nine o'clock on a Saturday.
"Dad, I-"
He puts a hand up and she stops talking.
"Let's go home. We'll discuss it there."
She follows obediently beside him.
"I'm sorry, dad."
"I don't know that I want you around Lucy anymore."
Poppy hangs her head as she walks away from the scene.
"I should probably get these knuckleheads home."
Sara says, holding Matteo's hand but looking directly at Cash, who looks oddly complete with his injuries. Beca feels a kinship with this kid, despite not speaking to one another; she knows she owes him a debt that she'll never be able to repay.
"Matteo, tell Lincoln we're leaving, please."
"Thank you again, Sara. I can't think of many people that would be so great about this."
"Like I said, they're kids. There's no one to blame here. You should get Lucy home and put her to bed. I think we'll all think a little clearer after some rest."
Beca nods and watches as they walk away. The lights and the sirens disappear one by one and soon they are left on an ordinary street corner, as if nothing had happened at all. She wishes they could all be left as unchanged as the corner of Bleecker and East Houston are right now. She walks over and extends her hand to Chloe to help her up. Beca taps Lucy on the top of the head and speaks as gently as the street noise will allow.
"Come on, Scout. Let's go home."
Lucy rises slowly and takes Beca's hand, she leans heavily on her shoulder and follows her down the street to get their car.
—
Chloe walks into their room after finally hanging up with Emily. She, of course, had a million questions that needed to be answered tonight for her own peace of mind, but the plus side is she promised to call Stacie and fill her in. Thankfully, because Chloe knows she doesn't have another conversation like that in her tonight.
"She's asleep?" She whispers, tiptoeing over to the side of the bed.
"Is she?" Beca gently leans over to sneak a look at her face and to her surprise she is sound asleep.
Chloe climbs into her side and adjusts her pillows.
"I'd say penny for your thoughts, but they're probably worth a lot more than that right now."
"I'm just thinking about the conversation we had earlier. What if I had been in London and this happened?"
"But you're not. You're here. With us."
"But what if I wasn't?"
"Baby, you're going to drive yourself crazy with the what-ifs."
"But we're parents now, right? Aren't we supposed to worry about the what-ifs and the why-nots and the never-gonna-happens, so that she doesn't have to?"
Chloe shakes her head.
"I don't know. If I'm being completely honest here, I don't know what we're supposed to do here."
She runs her fingers through Lucy's hair and takes a long, slow breath.
"Maybe family counseling wouldn't be the worst thing in the world." Beca says.
"It might be nice to have someone tell us we're not doing as horribly as we think we are."
"And if they tell us we're doing everything wrong?"
"Then we try a new approach. We're all learning." Chloe reassures her.
"We'll all be fine." Beca echoes, hoping that, if the words appear in her mind enough, she'll start to believe them.
—
Monday morning, Matteo, Poppy, and Lincoln all wait by Lucy's locker but she doesn't show.
"Has anyone heard from her since the other night?" Matteo asks.
"No."
"Nope."
He sighs and pulls his backpack up higher.
"You think she's okay?"
"I wouldn't be." Lincoln says. They both look at her. "What? I wouldn't."
—
Beca peeks her head into Lucy's room then continues down the hallway to find Chloe in the kitchen. She checks her bag to make sure she has everything before leaving for work. She doesn't want to go. She wants to stay inside, with Lucy and Chloe so she can make sure she's safe.
"Don't let her sleep too long, okay? I just-"
"I know, baby. Go have a good day at work. I'll keep you updated."
Beca gives a thankful little smile before pulling Chloe into a kiss.
—
"Beca, hey," Taylor, one of the interns says, walking up to her, almost as soon as she's through the heavy glass doors.
"Hi what's going on?"
She looks around the big open room for Anderson, but doesn't see him anywhere. She still finds it odd that they're friends and even stranger that he's the person at work she wants to talk to the most about what happened Saturday night.
"There's some man in your office. I asked if he had an appointment, he just grumbled something about making one with you, and brushed past me. Should I call security?"
"Uh," Her brain feels like what she assumes a computer feels like when it gets a virus, "Yes, and then the police."
She doesn't wait for an answer, instead her feet start bringing her closer and closer to her door before stopping her in front of it. She knows she shouldn't go in, that she should wait for security. But there is a part of her that wants to hear what he has to say and another part that wants to beat the shit out of him with the closest thing she can find.
—-
A little after Beca leaves there is a knock on the apartment door. Chloe is sitting at the kitchen counter on her laptop. She looks over at Lucy who is staring at the door with wide eyes. It's rare that they don't get a call from the doorman before there's someone at the door, so it must be someone who's been here before, but she can still see the fear on her face. She walks over and checks the peephole before opening up the door.
"Lincoln, come on in sweetheart."
At the mention of her friend's name, Lucy sits up straighter and forces a few stray curls down behind her ears.
"Sorry to just drop by."
"That's alright, but shouldn't you be in school?"
"Oh, I was." She says quickly, because Beca and Chloe seem to be two of the only adults that she actually cares what they think about her. "I left early, I have a doctor's appointment but I wanted to check on Lou. I was worried when she wasn't at school, I mean, we all were. Everyone was worried."
Chloe smiles and nods. She points in Lucy's direction and leaves them to talk.
"Hey Peach, we missed you this morning. Bio is real boring without someone to pass notes to."
"Yeah, I just didn't have it in me today. And Beca doesn't really want me leaving until they find him."
The fact that she doesn't use Gardner's name doesn't go unnoticed. Neither does the fact that her voice sounds like she hasn't used it in a while. Lincoln assumes she hasn't said much, or anything at all, since Saturday.
"You mind if I hang out here for a bit?"
"What about your doctor's appointment?" Lincoln looks at her. "Oh. There is no appointment."
"Not really, no."
Lucy lets one half of her mouth form something resembling a smile and she smacks the spot on the couch next to her and hands Lincoln the remote.
"No zombie shows though."
"You're no fun."
—
Beca takes a breath and pushes the door open, slowly. She doesn't know if she should go in swinging but she keeps her keys in between her fingers just in case. She walks into her office and Gardner is sitting in her chair at her desk, swiveling it back and forth.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
The fact that he looks a lot different than he did a couple weeks ago flickers through her mind but she has to focus on her words in order to keep her voice a gravelly tone. She's going for intimidating but more realistically it sounds terrified and broken.
"Came to tell you to call off your yappy little guard dogs. You think those little brats could have really protected her?"
He stands and she takes a few steps back.
"I could have had her in a minute flat if I wanted to."
"You don't want to hurt her."
"You sound pretty sure about that." He says, with a smirk, leaning against her desk.
"You just said it yourself. You would have done it already if you wanted to."
"Probably, but let's not test that theory. Instead, we can make this all go away."
"What do you want?"
He sighs and crosses his arms over his chest. Beca feels every muscle in her body tense. The thought that security is taking way longer than they should nags at her but is interrupted when Gardner says,
"10,000 dollars and a plane ticket to Mexico."
"You're even more deluded than I thought you were if you think I'm actually going to pay you.."
This time, he walks around the desk and over to her. When he speaks, it's the exact tone she was trying to achieve earlier.
"You have no idea how deluded I am. Do what's right and make the deal, or you will see what I'm capable of."
"Now you're threatening me?"
"No, that's a promise. And despite what you may think about me, I am a man of my word."
He leaves the room and she doesn't move. She feels frozen to her spot. Like her fear sprouted roots and they are grounded in the wooden floor. She takes a few deep breaths the way Chloe and Stacie always tell her to before she pushes the door open. Just in time to see three security guards take Gardner down to the floor and zip tie his hands behind his back.
There's no yelling or fighting or pushing back. It's eerily serene. It's a resignation. Beca's eyes widen in shock when she watches one security guard pull him up and push him up against a wall. Gardner looks over to Beca and smiles. It sends shivers down her spine and she grits her teeth together because no matter how hard she tries, no more breath is entering her body. Because it's not a cocky smile, it's a relieved one.
—
Lucy and Lincoln have been watching tv for almost an hour before Lucy even realizes she's forgotten that she was worried about something, well everything. Chloe is back at the kitchen counter, typing furiously on her computer when her phone rings.
"Hi baby," there's a long pause.
Lucy waits to hear her continue, but the silence drags out, longer and longer, until she turns her head and sees a tear drip down Chloe's cheek. She closes her laptop and rushes out of the room, closing the door behind her in the bedroom.
"What do you mean he was there?"
"He came into the office and told me if I paid him he would go away."
"Wha- How did he get in?"
"I don't know. Matt is losing his shit on security right now and they're taking the security tapes to the police station. But they got him."
"They arrested him?"
"Right in front of me."
Chloe lets out a shuddery breath, a sigh of relief, and a terrified sob, all at once.
"Bec, that could have been so bad."
"But it wasn't and he's gone now."
"I want you to come home right now."
"I am. I'm on my way."
"Okay," there's another long pause, they're both stunned and confused. "How do we tell Lucy this?"
"We just tell her. This is a good thing."
"Mhm."
"I'll be home soon. I love you."
"I love you too."
Chloe takes a few minutes to gather herself before going back to the living room. It's clear, immediately, that Lucy knows something is wrong with Chloe when she comes back into the room. She shifts uncomfortably in her seat.
"What's wrong?"
Chloe clears her throat and tries to discretely look at Lincoln. She gets the hint and stands.
"I should get to my doctor's appointment now." Lucy, despite herself, smiles and nods.
"Okay," She stands too, and follows her to the door, "I'll see you at school tomorrow."
"Yeah?" Lincoln asks, observing every feature on Lucys face.
"Yeah."
Once Lincoln is gone, Lucy walks slowly back into the living room and sits, stiffly, on the couch. She feels like she's in trouble and doesn't really want to know what Chloe is going to say.
"Beca is on her way home, we have something we want to talk to you about."
"Am I in trouble, did I do something?"
"No, sweet girl. You're not in trouble," Chloe moves onto the couch and wraps an arm around Lucy's shoulders. "Have you felt like we're mad at you?"
Lucy cuddles closer into her side and nods.
"A little. I know what we did the other night was stupid. I never should have went, I just thought if I bailed they would make fun of me, or they wouldn't let me hang out with them anymore, or something."
"They're your friends, Lucy. They won't do that."
Lucy nods but it's pretty clear that she doesn't fully believe it, even though she desperately wants to.
"And we're not mad at you. Kids are supposed to do stupid stuff. It's just unfair that there are people like Gardner out there that make it impossible for you to do what every other kid in the world gets to do."
"This is about him isn't it?"
"Yes. It is." "
"Did he hurt someone else?"
When she asks this, her head lifts back up and she looks directly into Chloe's eyes. The look that's been in Lucy's stare lately gives Chloe chills. She shakes her head slowly and speaks, quieter than before; her voice suddenly feels obtrusive in this intimate moment.
"No, let's just wait for Beca."
