I'll hide in your heartbeat (I'll be there for you, you know)
"Don't be nervous, okay? We're just here to meet and see if you like him."
Lucy takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, hoping Beca and Chloe don't see it. Of course they do. Beca holds her hand the entire elevator ride up and while they wait to be called back. Lucy bounces her knee in her chair and bites on the same spot on her bottom lip where there's already a scab. She doesn't take her eye off the clock, ticking the seconds away, on the wall above the receptionist's desk.
She barely slept last night. She rubs her eye with the heel of her hand and lets out another long, slow breath.
"Lucy?" A kind looking, older, man in a sweater and thick-framed glasses says, from the doorway of the small office. "Come on in."
He steps to the side and lets them all into the comfortable space. Lucy hesitates before she sits on the couch, with Beca and Chloe on either side of her. He takes a seat in the chair across from them. His smile never falters, it stays firmly on his wrinkled face. Lucy observes each feature, scanning slowly, like if she looks hard enough his true intentions will be revealed; no such luck.
"Hi Lucy, I'm Dr. Winters, it's nice to meet you."
She doesn't say anything right away, until Beca nudges her with her elbow.
"Hi."
He lets out a small chuckle and turns his attention to Beca and Chloe.
"So, which one of you did I speak with on the phone?"
"Oh, that was me." Beca says, "I'm Beca and this is my girlfriend, Chloe."
"It's nice to meet you both. You're Lucy's caretakers?"
"Yes."
He turns his attention back to Lucy. He gives a look that most would take as sympathy but she just feels pitied. She wraps her arms around her stomach and slouches.
"So, how does this usually work?" Beca asks, feeling out of her element.
"Well, once Lucy starts her individual sessions, we will work at whatever pace is comfortable and talk about what's on her mind. She will find different coping skills to-"
"Isn't that your job? Aren't you supposed to tell me how to do that?"
"Lucy." Beca warns.
"No, that's okay. You're right. I'm here to help you figure out what works for you, but it will ultimately be up to you."
Lucy feels overwhelmed, once again, by this whole situation. Dr. Winters, Beca, and Chloe, talk for another twenty minutes before they all stand and Lucy takes her cue. She stands, putting her body as far behind Chloe as possible. She shakes his hand when he extends it but she doesn't say anything else.
"So what did you think, Lou?" Beca asks, once they're out of the building.
Lucy doesn't say anything. Her cheeks feel like they're on fire and she can't get a full breath into her lungs. She clenches her fists at her sides and loosens them; she repeats this several times. Beca and Chloe don't push. They let her walk home in silence but once their door is finally closed, they decide it's time to get her to talk.
"Scout."
She turns to face the two of them. Her eyes can't seem to focus on either of them for more than a couple seconds. Her brain is in hyperdrive.
"I- I didn't like him. I'm sorry-"
"Okay."
"-but I just feel like, wait, what?"
"I said, okay." Beca repeats.
She takes Lucy's hands and leads her to the couch.
"Do you remember what we said? This is all about making you feel comfortable. If you didn't like him, that's fine. I don't even need to know why. We'll meet with someone else and if you like them, great. If not, then we'll look some more."
Lucy lets out a relieved breath. Then swallows hard around the lump in her throat.
"Baby, we just want you to have someone to talk to." Chloe adds."That's all this is."
Lucy nods and runs a hand through her hair.
"Could we try to find a girl?"
"Of course." Chloe says, adamant about making Lucy believe that this, in fact, is all about her. "Anything else you can think of?"
Lucy thinks for a minute. Her eyes drift back and forth, not landing on anything in particular.
"I don't know."
"You think on it and let us know, alright?" Beca says.
"Just someone nice."
Lucy walks out of the room, into her bedroom, where she's been spending more and more time.
"Someone nice." Beca echoes, "That's all this kid is looking for."
—
Lucy walks up to her locker, and puts her combination into the lock three times before she can actually get it to open. Her brain feels foggy and she's more tired than usual.
"Where were you yesterday? You missed practice." Lincoln asks, walking up behind her with Matteo.
"Oh yeah, I uh, I had, um, a doctor's appointment."
Matteo nods but Lincoln gives a lingering glare.
"A doctor's appointment."
There's a moment of understanding between them.
"Why are you being weird?" Matteo asks.
"Trying to be more like you." Lincoln shoots back, and walks away to hide her blushing cheeks.
"She's the worst." Matteo mutters and Lucy scoffs, watching Lincoln walk all the way down the hallway.
—
"Beca, hey."
Beca turns her head to look behind her but doesn't stop walking.
"Hey Anderson, what's up?"
He follows her into her office and closes the door behind him.
"I was just wondering how things are going."
"They're, uh, they're okay."
"Good, that's good. What are the lawyers saying?"
Anderson takes a seat, only after Beca does. She sighs and pushes her hair behind her ears.
"He pled guilty. He's in jail for five years. Which is, well, it's what we wanted." She shakes her head.
"So why don't you look happy about it?"
"I just don't get it."
"Don't get what?"
"What the whole point was. Why he did it. Why he smiled."
"Why he smiled?"
Beca leans forward and speaks a little quieter, as if someone is listening on the other side of the door.
"When they took him down, they had him pinned to the ground, and he didn't even fight back. Then when they were taking him out of here, he just smiled at me. Like he had won."
"Maybe getting caught is what he wanted."
"It just doesn't make any sense and I can't get his stupid face out of my mind."
"Well there you go."
"What are you talking about?"
"You letting him into your head, thinking about him constantly, that's his victory."
Beca sits back in her chair and crosses her arms over her chest.
"Well, maybe he did win this one yet."
"I don't buy it." Beca raises an eyebrow. Anderson continues, "I haven't know you all that long but I've never seen you just lay down and take anything."
"I don't know how to fight this anymore."
"You admit you're scared and then you work through it. It's the only way."
He stands and smiles.
"You'll figure it out. We all have faith in you, Beca; just have some in yourself now."
—
Beca walks up to the school, and leans against the chain link fence. She watches Lucy run down the field. She wonders where the athlete gene came from, then assumes it must be from her mom's side. She's fast and fierce, and she actually has a smile on her face.
Beca alternates between watching the last few minutes of the practice and sending emails. The coach blows the whistle and yells something she can't quite make out before the girls all go their separate ways.
"Hey Beca." Lincoln calls out and Beca waves. "See you later, Peach."
"See ya." Lucy looks at her sister, "I thought Chloe was picking me up."
"Gee, good to see you too."
Lucy pouts her lips and turns her head to the side.
"She's on her way. We have that appointment, remember?" Beca says, doing her best to be discrete.
"Right now? Do I even get to go home and shower first?"
Beca shakes her head, "It's in twenty five minutes, we've gotta go."
"Beca, I would have asked to be done early or something. I didn't know."
"Hey, it's okay. It's not prom, it's just a meet-and-greet, just like the other one."
"Yeah, it's not a big deal to you, you get to look good, and I have to go all sweaty and gross."
"Hey," Beca says more seriously this time, and waits for Lucy to meet her eye, "it's okay. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but it's not the end of the world, I promise."
Lucy nods, slowly, and grips the strap of her bag tighter. Beca takes her backpack and they start toward the street, where Chloe is just walking up.
"Hey baby." She greets with a smile.
"Hey gorgeous."
Beca and Lucy have both noticed something is off with Chloe; her smile hasn't been as bright and her laugh hasn't been as bubbly. Beca hasn't pushed because she doesn't want to start a fight, but she also hopes it's just because of everything that's been going on with Gardner. Hopefully now that he's in jail, she will start to go back to her old self.
They walk in silence. They can both feel the nervous energy surging off of Lucy. The closer they get to the building, the more anxious she feels. Inside, she feels like her muscles are vibrating against each other.
The office is a near replica of the last one, except the walls are lavender instead of grey.
"Lucy?"
This time a woman, much younger looking than expected, peeks her head out and gestures for them to come into her office. This room is much different than the last. The walls are a bright coral color with flowers in vases and colored accents scattered about the room. One wall has a shelf filled with games and art supplies. There's a stack of composition books on a small table in the corner, along with a couple musical instruments that look like they've seen better days, and a bin of dolls and stuffed animals in the other corner.
"Come on in, have a seat."
Once they're all seated, Lucy does her best to take her in, without staring. She's a little taller than Beca, with a tan complexion, and brown hair cut to her shoulders. She turns her attention to Lucy and looks directly at her face when she speaks, with the slightest hint of a British accent.
"Hi Lucy, I'm Thea. It's nice to meet you."
"You too." Lucy says, adjusting closer to Chloe's side.
"So your sister, was telling me a little bit about the year you've had."
Lucy looks up at Beca but turns immediately back to Thea.
"I'm really sorry. It sounds like it's been really tough."
"Yeah." Lucy lets out, barely audible.
"But I'm really happy you're here. Coming to a place like this is very brave. And if you'd like I would love to help with finding ways to work through all of the feelings that this year has brought for you."
"What would we do?"
"Anything you want. We can talk, or not. We can draw or play games or just sit and stare at the wall if that's what you need."
Beca is surprised when she hears a little laugh from Lucy.
"It's whatever you need or feel on that day."
Lucy looks between Beca and Chloe.
"And can I let you in on a secret?"
Lucy looks up with a lifted eyebrow.
"I haven't been doing this all that long, so we'll be learning together." She leans in closer, as if telling her a secret, "really, you would be helping me out quite a bit. You don't need to make a decision right now, but just know that it's an option."
For the first time in days, Lucy feels some semblance of control and she almost doesn't know what to do with it. She grips her knee and squeezes tight before she speaks.
"I know what my decision is. I like it here."
"You're sure?" Beca asks.
"Yeah. I am."
"Fantastic." Thea says. "Beca, I know on the phone you had mentioned family counseling. I don't do family sessions necessarily, but what we can do is, as I work with Lucy, we can have certain days where we invite you and Chloe in. We can talk about whatever Lucy chooses. But, it will be strictly by Lucy's say-so."
"That sounds great." Beca says and Chloe nods in agreement, keeping one hand on Lucy's back.
"I typically do weekly sessions, lasting about forty-five minutes," She turns back to Lucy, "and like I said, we can do whatever you'd like. I'm sure you have a lot to say, and I want to hear it all, but only once you're ready."
The overwhelmed feeling Lucy felt in Dr. Winters' office is completely absent. She feels both in control and guided and she doesn't know how this woman is managing that.
The conversation falls to logistics, and scheduling, and all of the boring stuff that makes Lucy zone out.
"She seemed nice, right?" Chloe asks, as they walk toward the cafe down the street for dinner.
"Mhm."
"I'm really proud of you, Lou. This is a big step." Beca says, pulling her sister into her side.
—
"So today seemed to go well." Beca says, while changing into her pajamas.
Chloe is standing in front of their dresser, taking off her jewelry. The house has been quiet all evening. Thankfully it's been the gentle kind of quiet. The kind where they can breathe and move and feel like a normal family. Despite the lighter feeling, Beca can't ignore Chloe's saddened demeanor. She walks up behind her and wraps her arms around her waist.
"Baby?"
"Hm? Sorry."
"What's going on with you?"
Chloe turns, still wrapped in Beca's arms.
"Don't think I haven't noticed. Nothing gets passed me."
Beca gives her best smirk and Chloe smiles, just barely.
"It doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters."
"I've just been a little sad lately."
Beca leads them over to the bed and sits on the edge.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"With everything else going on, I didn't want to add more to your plate."
Beca looks down and shakes her head.
"No matter what's going on with me, you can always talk to me. I thought you knew that."
"I do. But I also don't want to add more stress to you right now if I don't have to."
"If you're unhappy I need to know."
Beca looks up and watches Chloe's eyes widen. Her lips part slightly and she squeezes Beca's hand.
"I'm not unhappy with you. I'm just..."
"What is it?" Beca asks, needing complete honesty.
"I'm just a bit lonely, I guess. With Lucy in school, and you working, the days can just be a little long."
"I thought being home is what you wanted."
"It is. I'm just adjusting. I think I just need to find what's mine in all of this."
Beca leans over and kisses her cheek.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Just keep being you."
Beca nods, and her cocky grin returns, "I think I can manage that."
—
"Don't be nervous." Beca says, while they wait for Lucy's first session.
"You know telling someone not to be nervous doesn't actually help them not to be nervous."
"Sorry."
Lucy is tired from the school day but her adrenaline is pumping in anticipation. She takes her top lip between her teeth and twirls a piece of her hair between her fingers.
"Lucy, come on in."
Lucy gives one more look to her sister before walking into the office. She hesitates in the doorway and watches Thea take her seat. She expects her to tell her to sit, instead she waits. Lucy walks in a slow circle around the room. There are diplomas from NYU on the wall, along with some drawings that look like they were done by younger kids.
When she feels like she's taken in everything there is to look at, she takes a seat on the computer chair, near the table, instead of on the loveseat that's in the middle of the room.
"Did you have a good day today?" Thea asks.
"It was okay. Did you?"
Thea gives a warm smile, "I did, thank you. How are your classes going?"
"They're okay. Harder than at my old school."
"In Georgia."
"Mhm."
Lucy is taken back to the conversation she had with Gardner. She closes her eyes and takes a breath. She tries to push that idea out of her head; this isn't like that.
"It's really different here."
"I can imagine."
Lucy falls into another bout of silence. She gets back up, she feels like she can't sit still. She walks over to the small keyboard, she used to have one just like it when she was maybe five or six; until she broke it trying to make a one-woman-band instrument like Burt in Mary Poppins. She lets her fingers hover over the keys.
"Do you play?"
"A little." She shrugs. "I haven't really since, um, since we left Georgia."
The rest of the session goes by quickly, smothered in silence. When Thea opens the door to the waiting room, Lucy feels like she can breathe again. She walks out to Beca, and leans into her.
"Bye Lucy, I'll see you next week." Thea says. "You did fantastic today."
Thea gives Beca a gentle smile and walks back into her office.
"You okay?" Beca asks, quietly.
"Mhm, can we go home?"
"Yeah, let's go. Maybe we can talk Chloe into ordering pizza."
"Yum."
—
A few days later, at school, Lucy walks down the hall. She looks around for her friends, but surprisingly, can't find any of them. When she closes her locker, she catches a glimpse of Poppy's hair out of the corner of her eye. She does an awkward half-walk, half-jog down the hall to catch up before she walks into the classroom.
"Hey Poppy."
"Oh, hi Lucy."
"Are you mad at me or something?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You've barely said two words to me since Halloween. And I wasn't gonna say anything but it's been pretty weird."
There's a long pause.
"Look, I'm really sorry about all that. I just-"
"You don't have to say sorry."
"I kind of feel like I do. I'm sorry if it scared you and I get it if you don't want to be my friend anymore."
Poppy looks down at her shoe, she doesn't say anything, doesn't even look at Lucy. She waits, with bated breath, for an answer; but she doesn't get one.
"Uh, okay. See you later then."
Lucy walks away, down the hall, trying not to cry. She blinks her eyes as fast as she can but a couple tears still manage to escape. She wipes them hastily with the back of her hand and ducks into the girls' bathroom.
—
After her practice, which feels twice as long as ever; with awkward eye contact and adding distance between her and Poppy, Beca picks her up and they walk home in silence.
Lucy walks into the apartment and Chloe can practically feel the anger radiating off of her in waves. She drops her bags and Beca is right behind her, giving her best "watch out" look.
"Hi Luce, how was school?" Chloe asks, her way of testing the waters.
She doesn't answer, instead she stalks off down the hall and slams the bathroom door shut before they hear the shower start.
"What was that about?"
Beca sighs and leans against the counter, "What is it ever about?"
Beca walks over to the refrigerator and grabs a beer. She pops the top off and takes a sip, along with a deep breath through her nose. She lets her eyes slip closed for just a second. Before she opens them, Chloe is standing in front of her, letting her hands find Beca's hips.
Chloe waits for her to continue because she knows there's more.
"I don't know what to do for her. These mood swings have been so drastic. Every day it's like she's five different kids."
"I know."
"I'm worried about her."
"I know that too. Hopefully the new counselor will help."
Beca scrunches up her face in thought.
"I just don't want her to feel even weirder, you know? Therapy has such a stigma, especially with kids."
"I don't see what other choice we have. And if you start to show hesitation, she's not going to want to go anymore."
Before Beca can answer, the bathroom door opens and Lucy walks out. There is shampoo in her hair and her towel is wrapped haphazardly around her body. Her cheeks are bright red and her breathing is ragged.
"What's wrong?" Beca asks, moving to her in a second.
Lucy starts crying and Beca pulls her to her chest. She can feel the warm water soak through her t-shirt.
"Are you hurt?"
She shakes her head.
"What's going on?"
"I don't know." Lucy says, heaving thick breaths between each word.
"Okay, you're okay. Just breathe."
She feels another inhale expand Lucy's chest and stay for just a few seconds before being let back out.
"There you go. That's good, again."
Beca feels like, in that moment, she is holding her sister together; like if she lets go she will smash to the floor in tiny shards and they'll never be able to find all of her pieces to put back together.
—
Lucy looks up when the door to her bedroom opens slowly. Chloe peeks her head in. She walks over and takes a seat on the bed. She waits until Lucy turns in her desk chair.
"Beca went to go pick up dinner."
Lucy nods. She's embarrassed. After she was able to finish her shower, she hid in her bedroom under the guise that she had a lot of homework to finish. In reality, she's just been sitting at her desk staring out the window. Her brain has been circling around the feelings from before; she's been trying to find out what triggered it but the more she thinks about it, the fuzzier it all becomes.
"Do you want to talk about what happened earlier?"
"Not really." Her voice, no matter how much she wishes it didn't, cracks and it makes her feel like crying again.
"Okay, well dinner will be here any minute."
Chloe stands and starts out of the room but is stopped by Lucy's voice, even smaller now.
"I don't want to feel like this anymore."
Chloe doesn't turn around right away, afraid any movement will spook her and send her back into her shell. She's lost Beca many times to the same exact thing.
"I don't want to feel so angry or sad anymore, but I don't know how to be anything else."
Chloe turns slowly and takes her seat back on the bed.
"Feelings are hard." It sounds dumb, but it's maybe the most truthful thing Chloe has ever said. "And they're deep. Feelings are the most individual things we own and sometimes that makes them almost impossible to deal with because we think we have to deal with them all alone."
"I mean, we do, a little bit."
"I guess you're right. But not always, and that's why we have each other, and you have Thea now. You're not alone if you don't want to be."
"Neither are you." Lucy says, looking up into her eyes.
Chloe wonders if Lucy somehow heard the conversation she had with Beca the other night. No matter what she meant by it, she finds comfort in it nonetheless. She leans over and kisses the top of her head.
"Thank you, sweet girl. Get ready for dinner."
—
Another week and a half goes by, and Lucy is slowly beginning to feel the tiniest pieces of herself find their home within in her again. Her next session with Thea is still rather uneventful but she likes her well enough to keep going, for now.
Lincoln is talking, rambling actually, about something Matteo said to her this morning but Lucy is too busy watching everything going on around her on the street. Now that Gardner is behind bars, Chloe and Beca have, reluctantly, agreed to let Lucy walk home from lacrosse practice, as long as she has a friend with her. It's only a block and a half, and she has to keep her phone on at all times. But no matter how many times she tells herself he's gone, she still feels like she's being watched.
"See you later, Peach. And uh, Happy Thanksgiving."
"Yeah, you too. See ya."
Lucy walks into their building, sends a wave to Rick, one of the doormen, and steps into the elevator.
She pushes the door open to the apartment and stops halfway through the entranceway when she sees a guy sitting in one of the armchairs in the living room. He doesn't notice her right away, he's turned facing the windows. Lucy looks around, stock still, wondering who he is and why he's in her house.
Chloe should be here, somewhere, but she doesn't hear or see her. She thinks about backing away and calling Beca from outside but doesn't get the chance before he turns around, after catching her reflection in the window.
"Hey, you must be Lucy."
There's something familiar about him but she is certain she's never met him before. He stands and walks a few steps toward her. She takes a step back and grips the strap of her backpack tighter.
"It's nice to finally meet you. You're all my sister can talk about."
His smile is kind and his bright blue eyes sparkle in the midday light.
"Sister?"
"Yeah, I'm Fletcher."
Suddenly the pieces snap together. Chloe's younger brother.
"Oh."
But she still can't get her heartbeat to regulate. She's still on edge whenever there's a stranger where she doesn't expect one. Her house is the one place she should feel completely secure, and yet, here they are.
"Where's Chloe?"
She doesn't mean to be rude, she really doesn't, but she can't get rid of the tense stiffness through her whole body, it's even effecting her brain.
"She's finishing up some laundry, I think."
"Oh."
There's a long pause. Lucy takes this time to observe him. He's tall, much taller than she thought he would be. And thin. He has the same rosy complexion as Chloe, but his hair is a little closer to brown than red. Their eyes are nearly identical and that's what finally makes Lucy calm down.
"Sorry, I just didn't expect-"
"Some random dude in your house? Yeah, I get that."
He lets out an honest-to-goodness giggle which makes Lucy laugh too.
"Fletch?" Chloe walks out and stops. When she smiles she looks happier than Lucy's seen her in a while. "Hi sweet girl, you're home already?"
"Coach let us out early since it was the last practice."
Lucy realizes now that she's still holding all of her stuff. She walks over to the bench near the door and drops her bags and kicks off her shoes.
"So I see you two met."
"Yeah, nothing like an ambush in your own living room, right?" Fletcher says, looking at Lucy before turning to his sister, "You couldn't have sent a text? Let the poor girl know someone would be here?"
Chloe's eyes widen and she looks at Lucy. She waves her off but Chloe still walks over and gives her a hug.
"I'm so sorry. I never even gave it a thought."
Lucy knows that Chloe wasn't there that day with Gardner; either time. She doesn't know what it felt like and she isn't left with the same standing effects that she and Beca are. Lucy notices things in Beca that mean she's feeling the same way that Lucy feels every day; the tenseness around new people, she's a lot jumpier now than she ever was before, and she doesn't walk with headphones in anymore. Lucy knows they'll never go back to the way they were, but she hopes someday they'll at least get close.
"Fletcher came to surprise me."
"Well, it was Beca's idea actually."
"I think I just got caught up."
"Seriously, it's fine." Lucy assures her.
Chloe is the middle of four kids. She's the only girl and she absolutely adores her brothers. Fletcher is the youngest, and Lucy knows she is as caring and attentive with him as she is with her. She's been told a million stories over the years about all of them, but Chloe always seems to have a little more to say about Fletcher than Jameson or Dex.
—
"So what's the plan for tomorrow?" Fletcher asks, helping Chloe clear the table after dinner.
"We aren't really doing Thanksgiving this year. I figured Beca would have told you that. She has a show tomorrow night and I'll probably just hang out here with Lucy."
"You're not gonna go?"
"She doesn't want Lucy around all of that yet. Besides, this is the first year without Daniel and Sheila, we just don't know how she's going to react."
"Isn't that all the more reason to do something?"
Chloe stops what she's doing and puts her hand on her hip.
"What do you suggest?"
"Well, dinner would be a start."
"And who is going to cook it?"
"I mean, I figured you would," He says with a smirk, "with my help of course."
"Mhm."
"Mom taught us well. I think we can manage. I'll even do the shopping."
Chloe squints and purses her lips.
"What's the matter?" He asks.
"Nothing, just trying to figure out your motive."
"I take offense to that. Can't a guy just want his sister and her family to have a nice holiday?"
"Another guy, sure. You, I'm not so sure about."
He laughs and takes a sip of his beer.
"God, I missed you." Chloe says, letting the earnest tone saturate her voice.
"I missed you too. But I gotta say, this whole mom thing kind of suits you."
"Yeah?"
"I was a little worried when mom told me about everything- not that, like, you couldn't handle it or anything, just that it might be too much."
Chloe hasn't heard much from her brothers over the past couple months. Weekly check-ins but nothing like the conversations they had before everything. They've all wanted to give her space and let her find her footing. Which Fletcher is satisfied that she has.
"But watching you with Lucy tonight, I think this is where you belong, at least it seems to be. And Lucy deserves someone like you. I know you helped me a lot when I was younger."
Chloe feels her cheeks blush.
"Thank you for saying that."
"It's true. There's no one better."
"Chlo, have you seen my laptop?" Beca asks, walking into the kitchen. She stops when she feels the vibe in the room, "Did I interrupt something?"
"Nope, and I haven't seen it. Is it in your work bag?"
She pauses for a second, "Have you seen my work bag?"
Chloe doesn't answer. Beca turns around without saying anything else.
"Found it!" She calls out a minute later.
Fletcher shrugs and takes another sip, Chloe laughs and rolls her eyes.
That night, Chloe is laying in bed reading, Beca is on hour two of work emails. The air in the room is undeniably different than it has been for weeks. It's happy. There's a gentle knock on their door, so light neither of them are actually sure they heard it. Lucy's face appears in the crack of the door.
"What's up, Scout?"
"I just wanted to say goodnight, and I love you."
"We love you too." Beca says, "Go get some sleep, alright?"
"Mhm."
"Good night, sweet girl." Chloe says, as the door closes.
Beca takes a sharp inhale like she's about to cry.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. She's just amazing."
Chloe smiles and nods. She leans over and kisses Beca.
"She really is."
"I've just been so worried all of this would take that away; that it would make her, I don't know, hard."
"She's as soft as they come. Just like her sister."
"Yeah, yeah, just don't go spreading that around, okay?"
—
The next evening, Chloe and Fletcher have been in the kitchen for hours. They've only had one burnt dish and a slightly more burnt hand, when Fletcher substituted a dish towel for an oven mitt.
"I'm telling you, this is way too much food." Chloe says, pulling the turkey out of the oven. "Beca isn't even going to be here and Lucy eats like a baby bird. We're going to be eating leftovers for a month."
"Maybe, but they'll be damn delicious."
Lucy walks out into the kitchen. She's dressed in something other than sweats for the first time in a couple days. Her hair is pulled back into a braid, just like Beca taught her and she looks like a regular kid; it makes Chloe's heart flutter a little at the small surprise.
"Is there anything I can help with?"
"I think we're just about done, but if you want to put on some music, that would be great."
"Okay."
Lucy walks over to the speaker and connects her phone to play music. She scrolls through for a while before deciding on an acoustic playlist Beca made a few weeks ago. The front door opens suddenly, making them all turn.
"Hello, something smells good." Beca's voice echoes through the entryway.
"What are you doing here, I thought you were supposed to be going on, like, now."
"Yeah, I may have lied about that."
"What are you talking about?"
Beca doesn't answer, she just opens the door wider.
"What?" Chloe squeals, "Oh my God, what are you doing here?"