Chloe stood outside the main doors of the ICU, wringing her hands as Dr. Matthews swiped his ID card through the security slot to allow the doors to open.

As he stepped through, he held it open for Chloe to enter, which she did though her movements were nervous, and she dispensed some sanitiser into her hands from the dispenser by the door, scrubbing it into her skin thoroughly.

Because of ICU policy and the fact that Beca was already battling infection, they had to keep the number of people entering and exiting the unit to a minimum.

Because of this Aubrey couldn't accompany Chloe, which had been hard for the redhead to take. Her best friend had essentially been propping her up and keeping her together since the rehearsal dinner that brought everything to a head.

She wasn't sure how she would get through this next part alone but she had to push through. As they passed by the nurses station, Dr. Matthews led her down a corridor to the private ICU rooms until they reached the third door on the left.

Having already prepared Chloe for what was to come, he stood back and allowed her to enter at her own pace. The door was wedged open, and the sounds of various machines filtered out into the hall as Chloe stepped closer to the threshold.

With one last nod of encouragement from Dr. Matthews, Chloe stepped inside the room and her heart stopped as she set eyes upon the silhouette of Beca Mitchell for the first time in over two years.

Making her way inside the room, Chloe's eyes instantly welled up as she gazed at the sleeping form of the woman who was resting on her side, back facing the door.

Chloe remembered what she had been told about the whippings and scarring and tried not to think about what lay beneath the extensive bandaging that peeked out through the gaps in the hospital gown.

Making her way around the foot of the bed, Chloe finally came to a stop when she was stood right next to Beca's beside, gazing down at the face of the woman she loved more than life.

A sob escaped Chloe and she lifted a hand to her mouth to try and silence herself, not wanting to disturb the woman.

As her eyes roamed over Beca's entire being, Chloe took everything in. The buzzcut, which replaced the soldiers once flowing brown locks, brought emphasis to the sunken cheeks and hollow eyes that she could make out from behind the breathing mask.

Down Chloe went taking note of the woman's frail looking form. Her clavicles that jutted out were too pronounced. Her arms lacked any muscle tone and her figure had withered away to the point that her gown looked like it was wrapped around nothing more than skin and bones.

She noticed the tube sneaking out from under the blanket, the feeding PEG that was keeping her nourished as well as the catheter and various other wires. Then her gaze landed below Beca's waist at her lower half, or what was left of it.

Where Beca's legs should've been resting, now lay nothing more than two stumps that stopped just above where her knees would've been, a pillow wedged between them to stop them from rubbing.

The stumps were heavily bandaged, co-ordinating with the various bandages and patches that littered Beca's body. Chloe wanted nothing more than to climb onto the bed and wrap the soldier up in her arms, never to let her go again.

But she couldn't, because a bigger part of her was terrified that the fragile body before her would break. Instead she reached down and gently grabbed a hold of one of Beca's hands, and with her other, softly stroked her cheek.

Eyes began to flutter at the sensation and Chloe's movements stilled as she watched with baited breath. Slowly, from beneath heavily hooded lids, Chloe caught sight of her favourite denim blues for the first time in two years and her heart almost burst free from her chest.

As they adjusted to the light, Chloe watched as Beca tried to find focus on what was in front of her, knowing that the strong pain medication she was on was likely making the effort just to keep them open difficult.

Until finally, she seemed to find some sort of steadiness in her vision as the deep crease between her brows began to soften.

"C-Chlo…." Came the muffled voice from behind the mask, it's tone low and weak but more present than it had over been over the last several years.

The dam inside Chloe suddenly burst open as she sobbed, tears streaming down her face as she leaned down, holding Beca's hand against her chest as she stroked her fingers through the soldiers buzzed hair.

"I'm here Bec's. I'm right here," Chloe cried lips pressed against Beca's forehead.

A small pained whine escaped Beca as she freed her hand from the redheads grasp and reached out her hands to try find purchase on any part of Chloe she could hold on to with the limited amount of movement she had.

Seeing Beca struggle, Chloe reached down and grabbed hold of the soldiers hand again, this time bringing it up to rest around her neck, their foreheads still touching, Chloe resting her hand on the arm now around her neck to help keep it there as her fingers gently stroked it.

It was the closets they could get to being able to hold one another, for now, but Chloe would take it. They stayed like that for a little while until Chloe's back began to ache from the angle.

Turning her head, she spotted an armchair just behind her and she pulled away just enough to be able to reach out and grab it, dragging it across the floor until it was right next to the bed, and then she sat down, leaning back down towards Beca and placing her arm back around her neck where it had been.

"Love….you…." Was whispered by Beca as she began to find herself too exhausted to fight against the heaviness of the drugs and she drifted off again.

Chloe remained that position, gently switching between stroking Beca's cheek, her hair, her shoulder and her arm, physically reminding Beca that she was there, and she wasn't going anywhere.

Ten minutes later a nurse appeared with a tray full of different bags of fluids and syringes, offering Chloe a gentle smile as she walked behind her and began changing out the IV bags and waste bags, replacing them all with fresh ones.

Chloe watched her for a moment before the gentle tug of the hand testing around her neck bright her attention back to the woman in the bed.

The frown between Beca's eyes had returned, this time deeper than before and her face scrunched up in discomfort, a whine beginning to escape and Chloe stroked her cheek.

"Hey, hey it's okay," Chloe whispered, turning to face the nurse wondering what was wrong.

"It's okay, her pain medication supply was momentarily interrupted by the changeover. It will kick back in in second," the nurse answered and Chloe just tipped her head, gazing back at Beca who seemed to be easing back into a more peaceful state.

"The pain, is it, is it a lot?" Chloe asked as she softly placed Beca's arm down on the bed and instead slipped her hand into the soldiers, inquisitive eyes seeking answers from the nurse who had moved to the foot of the bed and placed the tray she was holding down on the table there.

"Amputation can be quite painful as it involves severing bone and nerve endings. Because of the infection and the fact she's so malnourished, it's taking her body longer to adjust and bounce back."

Chloe nodded, thankful that nurse was being straight up with her instead of trying to downplay the gravity of the situation. Chloe wanted to be prepared, she wanted to have all the knowledge she could gather to help Beca get through this.

Once the nurse left Chloe turned her attention back to the sleeping soldier and and stroked her cheek.

"We're gonna get you through this Bec's. I promise."