Guys... I'm so sad! This, my friends, is the last chapter of The 12 Days of Pitchmas. I just wanted to say that I've had so much fun writing this for you guys, but seeing your reviews and support has made it so much better. I actually started this in November, but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not. I decided to post it anyway, and the response I've gotten from it was better than I hoped for, so thank you so much!
Also, a couple of you pointed out stuff with the ibuprofen last chapter... I just wanted to say that I've never actually had surgery, so I know nothing about painkillers. Sorry about that!
Now, on with Day 12!
Day 12- Just Come On In Today, Ok?
Simple Minds wakes Beca from a deep sleep, and she groans as she stretches, debating whether or not she should just stay in bed for the rest of the day. That is, until she realizes what day it is; she then quickly jumps out of bed and heads into the kitchen, grinning when she sees Chloe already making a pot of coffee. "Merry Christmas." She says when she walks in, standing on her tip-toes to give her girlfriend a light kiss.
"Merry Christmas." She grins, turning around to properly kiss her. "So, what's the plan for today?"
"Actually, I got to thinking last night, and I decided I'm going to tell Theo about going back to producing early."
"Oh!" She exclaims, clapping her hands excitedly. "Early as in today?" Beca simply nods, moving away from Chloe to grab a cup to pour her coffee in. "So, does that mean you're going to the studio today?"
Beca nods again. "Yeah, but do you want to come with me? I have a few things I want to do, and one of them I really want you there for."
"Ok." Chloe shrugs with a smile as she pours herself a cup of the now done coffee. "I'm assuming it's that thing you won't tell me? You know, the one about telling the world we're together?"
"Yup." She pops the 'p', getting herself a cup of coffee as well. "I'm also going to sign Emily today."
"Oh!" The redhead once again squeals, looking very excited. "Yay! She's going to love that, especially after everything she's going through." She frowns a little at the end of her sentence, and Beca nods slowly.
"That's why I'm doing it today. She needs it." After Chloe had fallen asleep last night, Beca and Emily had a pretty serious conversation.
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"So, how's it going?" Beca asked Emily softly, the two of them sitting at the island in the kitchen after Chloe fell asleep and Emily put Jamie down until they got home. It was ten pm, and Emily had ended up staying longer than she meant to, but she needed to talk to Beca. "Have you talked to him today?"
Emily sighed, resting her head in her hand as she fidgeted with the cup of hot chocolate in front of her. "I called a couple of times, but he didn't answer."
Beca reached out and placed her hand on top of Emily's comfortingly. "I'm sure he'll come around. He's just probably taking some time to process everything."
"I know." She sniffled, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I know that, but he has a son, too, you know? He can't shirk his father responsibilities just because he's mad at me."
"I don't think that's what he's trying to do." Beca shook her head, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "He's probably just confused, and possibly a little hurt. I mean, how would you feel right now if it were the other way around, and Benji admitted to you that he was in love with one of the Treblemakers and always has been?"
Emily sighed again. "Honestly, upset, but I feel like this is much bigger." She looked up at Beca, her eyes wet with unshed tears. "We haven't really been getting along lately. Sometimes it seems like Jamie's the only thing keeping us together anymore."
At this, Beca sat up a little straighter, shocked at what she'd just heard. "Emily…"
With a shake of her head, she said, "It's fine. I'm fine. I mean, it's part of life, right?"
"Don't do that." Beca said, possibly a little sharper than she meant to. With a softer voice, she added, "That's not just a part of life. That's real shit that, sure, lots of people go through, but lots don't either." After another pause, she said, "There's one important thing you need to ask yourself, and be able to answer."
"What?" Emily asked softly, another tear rolling down her face.
"Do you see yourself with him for the rest of your life? Happily?" Beca surprised herself by asking this question, considering her parents' divorce and what it did to her as a kid, but not that she's gotten older, she understands why people split up, and she doesn't resent her dad as much as she used to. She would never encourage her friend to stay with someone she wasn't truly happy with, either.
"I don't know anymore." Emily sighed. "I think I chose Benji because he was the safe choice? Like, don't get me wrong, I love him. He's a great guy, and he makes me feel good about myself… I just don't know if I'm in love with him."
"I get that." Beca nodded. "I think that's how I felt about Jesse, honestly. Like, I knew I loved him, but I also knew that there was something else keeping me from completely falling in love with him. I didn't figure out what it was until junior year, naturally. And when I told him that, he understood."
Emily scoffed for possibly the first time, at least that Beca's ever seen. "Wish Benji would feel the same." She then looked back up at Beca, dropping her hands in her lap. "I almost feel like I shouldn't have told him. Now Jamie's going to have to celebrate Christmas without his dad, and I feel terrible."
"Em. Jamie's barely two years old; he's not going to remember this." She said, attempting to be reassuring. By the grimace on the songwriter's face, she could tell she was failing. "Honestly, it's better to get this stuff figured out before he's old enough to know what's going on. Trust me, I'd know." Her voice unintentionally turned slightly bitter at the end.
Emily's face turned from annoyed to sympathetic. "That's not what I meant. We're going to figure this out."
"Good."
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"How long did she stay after I fell asleep?" Chloe asks, bringing Beca back to the present.
"Umm, she left at about ten-thirty, so only a couple hours." She shrugs. "I hope they work things out, though."
"Me too, they always seemed so good together."
"Sometimes, the ones who seem the happiest are really the most miserable." Beca sighs, then sets her cup of coffee down. "Anyway, I'm hoping this will cheer her up a little bit." Grabbing her phone, she shoots the songwriter in question a text, saying, Hey, Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you guys, too! Emily immediately responds with Christmas tree emoji.
Hey, can you come by the studio today, in maybe a couple hours?
Sure, but why?
Just… come on in today, ok? I'll explain later.
Ok, I'll see you later, I guess.
Yup. She looks up and grins at Chloe. "Alright, get dressed. We're going to work."
It doesn't take the two women too long to get to the studio, having taken another taxi. Jaxxon gives them a shocked look when they walk in, and he rushes to say a quick, "Merry Christmas, Miss Mitchell. You too, Miss Beale."
Chloe laughs as she walks over to his desk. "Jax, I told you to call me Chloe."
"Old habits die hard." He smiles sheepishly, then turns to look at Beca. "What are you doing here?"
"Official Christmas business." She responds. "Where's Theo?" She's one hundred percent positive he'll be here today, since she knows he always works Christmases. His family passed away a couple years ago, and now he doesn't celebrate. She's offered a few times to have him over, but he declined every time.
"He's in his office." Jaxxon says with a polite smile.
"Perfect, thanks." Together, Beca and Chloe walk down the hallway to his office, and Beca raps on the door lightly.
"Come in!" They hear Theo yell, and they enter the room, Beca closing the door behind them. Theo's sitting at his desk, his glasses on and his face in what looks like sheet music. Beca clears her throat, and he looks up with a shocked expression. "Beca, what are you doing here?"
"I have a couple of things I need to discuss with you." She sits down on the couch, and Chloe sits next to her.
"Ok, fire away." He stands and moves to sit on the ottoman in front of the women.
"First things first; I want to have a concert tonight. I don't care if it's live-streamed or not, since it's so sudden. Post it on every social media platform you can, first come, first serve." Theo opens his mouth, as if to say something, but the singer keeps talking. "This is something I need to do. I can't tell you what yet, it's a surprise, but I need to do it."
"Is this for the album?"
She shakes her head with a small smile. "No, it's more important than that."
"Ok…" He blinks a couple of times, seemingly still confused, before he asks, "What's the second thing you wanted to talk about?"
Beca takes a deep breath, suddenly feeling a lot more nervous about this than she was ten minutes ago. "I want to go back to producing."
Theo sighs, pinching the skin on the bridge of his nose. "Beca, we've talked about this-"
"I'm not asking this time, Theo." She says, and she gives Chloe a grateful smile when she squeezes her hand lightly, almost as if in encouragement. "This is what I want to do, so I'm going to do it. I'm really grateful to you and DJ Khaled for everything you've done for me these past three years, but I have to do this."
After a rather large pause, the Brit finally sighs. "Fine."
"Awesome." Beca can't help the grin that spreads across her face, but she holds back most of her excitement. "There's one last thing."
"Yes?"
"I want to sign Emily. She has an amazing voice, makes amazing music, and I think she really deserves it."
She's not surprised, really, when he agrees immediately. "Oh, we can make that happen. That girl has talent, for sure."
"Great." She claps her hands and stands up, Chloe following suit. "She has no idea yet, by the way, but she should be coming in here soon. I'll tell her then, and we can do all the signing. Also, I want to be her producer."
"Naturally." He laughs for the first time since the former Bellas walked in. "I'll get started on posting for the concert tonight. It might help if you did the same."
"Thank you so much, Theo." In a move that was definitely very uncharacteristic for Beca, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before grabbing Chloe's hand again and walking her out of the room, once again closing the door behind her. She can tell there's something on the redhead's mind by the way she stares at the floor the whole time, but neither of them says anything until they get to Beca's office and the door is shut.
"What was that about?"
"What?" She frowns when Chloe doesn't meet her eyes, and she crosses her arms.
"You kissed him."
"Oh, Chlo." She grabs her arms, smiling softly when the redhead looks up at her. "I didn't mean anything by it."
"Promise?" The question comes out quiet and timid, and it breaks Beca's heart a little.
"I swear it." She kisses her lightly before pulling away. "Now, I need to start posting this concert."
"A concert, eh?" Chloe asks with a small laugh that sounds a little bit forced.
"Chloe, seriously." Beca sighs. "It was a small way of me saying thank you to him, ok? You've softened me up these past couple of days."
Finally, Chloe breaks, a wide grin covering her features. "I knew there was a warm-hearted, loveable person under all that sarcasm." Beca opts for rolling her eyes and turns around so the ginger doesn't see her smile and light blush.
"Yeah, yeah." She sits in the chair behind her desk, and Chloe sits on her couch. Both women look at the door when they hear three light knocks, and Beca waves Emily in with a wide grin. "Hey, Em!" She stands up and gives the taller girl a hug, who quickly returns it. "Merry Christmas."
"You too. Hey, Chlo." Emily gives Chloe a hug, then sits down next to her on the couch, folding her hands in her lap and looking up expectantly at Beca. "So… what's up?"
"Where's squirt?" She asks instead of answering, part of her wanting to drag it out a little bit, and another part of her actually wondering where he is.
"He's with Benji." Her smile fades a little, and she looks down at her hands. Chloe lays a hand on her shoulder with a tense smile, and Emily sighs.
"Did you guys get the chance to talk?"
She shakes her head at Chloe's question. "He wouldn't even look at me."
"Oh, Em." Chloe immediately pulls her in for another hug, and Emily gives Beca a soft smile as she hugs the redhead back.
"It's ok, this was bound to happen at some point." She shrugs, but Beca sees right through it. Instead of calling her out, though, she decides to move on.
"Alright, so the reason why I asked you to come is... I have some good news." She clasps her hands together. "I'm going back to producing."
"Wow." Emily gives her a soft smile. "That's amazing, I'm really happy for you."
"That's not all." She almost laughs at the young legacy's obvious confusion. "The label's going to sign you, Em. I'm going to be your producer. If you want to, that is."
"Wait… seriously?" She looks back and forth between Chloe and Beca, who are both wearing identical looks of happiness and confirmation. "Oh-m-aca gee!" She whoops with a very happy laugh. Once she's calmed down a little, she looks back at Beca. "Thank you so much."
She shakes her head, a fond smile still covering her face. "No, thank you, Emily. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. This is me trying to return the favor, because you deserve it."
"Beca." Another tear falls down her face, but this time it's a tear of happiness. "I don't know what to say."
"Don't say anything." She says. "Go home, start working on an album. We'll start it together after New Year's, ok?"
Emily nods enthusiastically. "Yeah, ok. Bye, guys!" She gives them both one last hug, then leaves, Beca smiling when she sees a little pep in her step.
"She looked so happy." She muses, and Chloe nods, wearing a big smile of her own.
"Of course she did." She replies softly. "She's dreamt of being you for a really long time."
"That's creepy."
"Not like that." She rolls her eyes, and Beca laughs, having known full well that wasn't what she meant. "She looks up to you."
"I know." Beca pulls out her phone, letting out a soft groan. "Now, I start the hard work; posting."
"Wouldn't setting the concert up be the hard part?"
She laughs happily. "Nope, that's all Theo's job."
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Hours later, Beca's wandering around Central Park, trying to shake out her nerves. The concert she's about to perform is in ten minutes, and she's more nervous for this than any other concert ever, including the one for Beyonce she did around two weeks ago.
It's crazy to Beca, really, that only twelve days ago, she was secretly pining over her best friend from afar, convincing herself every day that Chloe didn't feel the same about her and never would. That she didn't want a relationship, especially not with her. Now, here she is, about to tell the world exactly how she feels for the redhead in question. She has a perfect idea, and she knows Chloe and the press will love it; she's just not entirely sure she can pull it off flawlessly. Deep down in her brain, she knows she technically can, since it's not hard at all to do, she just hopes her brain thinking too much gets in the way.
"Miss Mitchell?" A soft voice brings her out of her thoughts, and she turns to see Jaxxon behind her, holding out a to-go cup. "You're on in five."
"Already?" Her jaw drops open in shock as she takes the cup from him, and he nods.
"Yeah, so you might want to warm up." She knows he's talking about her voice, but she shivers as he says it nonetheless. It sucks that she has to do the concert outside, but it's really her fault for deciding to do this so out-of-the-blue like she is.
She follows Jaxxon back to the tent they set up outside next to the Christmas tree, seeing Theo pacing back and forth in small circles. "There you are! Are you ready?"
Beca glances outside, seeing what looks like all of New York City gathered in coats, hats, and gloves, all talking animatedly with one another. "As ready as I'll ever be."
"You're going to kill it." He lays a hand on her shoulder momentarily before grabbing the microphone and walking outside. "Good evening, New York City!" He calls out, and there's suddenly a giant roar outside. It sounds like every single person there is cheering as loud as he or she can. "Are you guys ready for a crazy night?" More cheers. "Alright, here she is, the woman of the night; Beca Mitchell."
Knowing that's her cue, she walks outside, giving Theo a quick hug for the paparazzi before taking the mic and facing the crowd. "Hey guys! Thank you so much for coming out tonight." She smiles at the crowd screams even louder than before, and her eyes find Chloe's amidst everyone else. "I'm actually going to be doing something quite different tonight."
She grabs a stool from next to the tent and sits on it, smiling out at the crowd. "Very recently, my whole life changed. You see, there's this girl that I've been in love with for a very long time-" She pauses and laughs as the fans start screaming again. "Yes, I know. I know!" Another laugh as the sound dies out. "Anyway, I've been in love with her since my junior year of college. For those of you who don't know, I was in an a capella group in college. At first, I didn't want to join, at all. I recall calling it pretty lame, actually." She hears Chloe's laugh above all the others.
"But then, about a month later, this girl- the same girl- barged into my shower and forced me to sing with her. Then, I was appalled, disgusted, and even a little terrified. It didn't take long for me to grow accustomed to her, and we even became really good friends." She pauses to clear her throat. "As I mentioned earlier, it wasn't until my junior year that I fell in love with her. I never said anything, for fear that it'd be too weird, and that she wouldn't feel the same. That is, until four days ago. You see, someone was leaving me these gifts based on the song The 12 Days of Christmas, but with a twist. I had to guess who the presents were from, and there were clues in every gift. Turns out, it was Chloe the whole time. We actually got in a fight, because I'm a dumbass, but long story short, we're together now." If Beca thought the roaring of the fans couldn't get louder earlier, she's proven wrong now- she actually sees Chloe wince, and she holds back a chuckle.
"Anyway, I'm going to sing a song now. A song that I can relate to, and a song that I want to use to officially admit to the world that Chloe Beale, my best friend, is officially my girlfriend." She nods at Theo, who starts the music, and she grins as the crowd cheers in recognition.
People say we shouldn't be together
Too young to know about forever
But I say that they don't know what they're talk talk talking about
'Cause this love is only getting stronger
So I don't wanna wait any longer
I just wanna tell the world that you're mine girl
Beca's eyes never leave Chloe's as she sings, and her heart skips a beat when she sees tears of happiness in the ginger's eyes. She quickly blows her a kiss, which Chloe pretends to catch, and the thought from last night hits her again how this is the happiest she's ever been.
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Beca and Chloe fall onto the couch, grinning at each other like idiots. "Was that what you were expecting?"
"No." Chloe giggles, curling up into Beca's side and looking up at her through her eyelashes. "It was way better. Definitely the best Christmas present I've ever had."
"Good, I'm glad." She kisses the top of her head with a happy sigh. "I love you, Chloe Beale."
"I love you too, Beca Mitchell."
A/N- Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!