Chloe made her way down the corridor of the hospital in a daze, the remnants of the previous nights' conversation with Aubrey still fresh in her mind. How could it not be when her best friend had made so many more than worthy points in the middle of yet another heated discussion about Chloe telling Beca about what had happened in the two years they had been apart.

As much as she never wanted to have the conversation, Chloe was aware of the fact that time was slipping by, several months in fact, and the longer she put it off, the more fearful she became of the potential fallout. As much as Chloe believed in her and Beca's love, she was also aware of the fact that the depth of Chicago's betrayal ran deep and that his actions may just be one mountain Beca was unable to climb, irrespective of Chloe's innocence.

And that was Chloes's greatest fear.

As she rounded the corner, she spotted Beca wheeling herself down the corridor from the opposite direction, the brunette rolling to a stop once she caught sight of Chloe, giving her a small smile. The redhead couldn't help but stop and really take in the woman before her.

The former soldier had come on so much in the last few months. She had gained back some weight and some muscle tone, she looked healthier, stronger, a far cry from the emaciated skeletal figure that had been pulled from the depths of the Afghanistan desert on the brink of death. The buzzcut that once sat atop Beca's head had now grown some length, and Beca had taken to styling it in a pixie cut just to give it some flair, though she was determined to grow it back out to it's once natural longer state.

"Hey," Chloe said once Beca was close enough and she was greeted with that smirk she fell in love with all those years ago.

"Hey yourself," Beca replied before gesturing down to herself, "I just got done with rehab, was gonna grab a coffee and chill in my room if you want to join me. I figured there's some stuff we need to talk about, especially if I'm gonna be busting out of here soon."

Chloe nodded her head in agreement. This had also been playing on Chloe's mind. With Beca's recovery going so well, she was due to leave the centre and continue rehabilitation and counselling as an outpatient, which meant she needed to figure out living arrangements.

Home. What even was home now? Their lives had been in a cute little house just on the outer city limits of New York where Beca was often based when not on tour. The place where most of their friends were based, where they had made a life together. With Chloe's family based in Connecticut and Beca's family in Virgina, it seemed ideal to stay on the east coast.

And their life together had truly been amazing. When the news of Beca's apparent death had reached them, both families had congregated in New York to be there for Chloe. Even after Beca had allegedly died, Chloe couldn't bring herself to leave. Even though Chicago had wanted to move out to the Midwest, Chloe wouldn't budge. There were too many memories there that she couldn't leave behind, more importantly, it would've meant not being able to visit what was once Beca's supposed grave.

The only thing that had changed, was the roof over her head. While Chloe couldn't bear to leave New York because of those memories, she also couldn't bear the thought of moving someone else into the house she had once shared with the love of her life. So, she had sold it, preferring that it go to a new family rather than have the memory of her life with Beca tainted by her new relationship with Chicago.

That all seemed like a lifetime ago now, but even still, the logistics of where they would live was becoming a problem. Both sets of parents had offered to take them in until they got back on their feet, but both women had declined, mainly because, they didn't know if they would be living together or not once Beca was well enough to go home.

"Sure," Chloe said, giving Beca a tight-lipped smile in return which made the brunette furrow her brow in contemplation. She could tell Chloe was being cagey, she just didn't know why.

Heading down to the cafeteria, they purchased two take out coffees, an apple slice for Chloe, and a protein bar and yoghurt and granola for Beca before heading back to Beca's room. Upon entering the now too familiar space the soldier had called home since landing back in the US, they took up residence at the table by the window, Chloe taking a seat as Beca parked up her wheelchair.

"Do you mind if I…" Beca trailed off, one hand resting on her stump and Chloe instantly knew what she was asking.

Having just finished rehab, the soldier was still wearing her prosthetic stump covers, the ones her stubbies screwed into, and socks and wanted to let her skin breathe. Chloe just sighed.

"Bec's we've talked about this you don't need to ask. Just do whatever makes you comfortable," Chloe said.

To emphasise her point, she pulled her seat up closer to Beca and reached out, taking one of the stumps into her hand. She gently applied pressure and pulled until the prosthetic shell that was covering the stump came free and then placed it down before helping to remove the sock. She repeated the same action with the other stump before standing up and walking around the bed.

She reached down and picked up the small cushion that was sitting on the floor and returned to her seat. She carefully placed the cushion under Beca's stumps for added comfort, knowing they were probably aching from her workout. All the while Beca gazed on, amazed at the care and comfort Chloe showed in her actions. When the redhead was done and was sitting back up, Beca smiled at her to show her appreciation.

"Thanks Chlo," she said, "sorry I just, I still find it weird sometimes looking at them, I guess I just assume that it makes other people uncomfortable."

Chloe nodded her head understanding where Beca was coming from.

"I get it, I do. I mean our brains are conditioned to see anything that isn'tconsidered 'normal' as odd. And yeah I'll be honest, it took me a minute to get used to it. But not because it weirded me out, I just, I was remembering before," Chloe said with a wave of her hand as if gesturing back to a time gone by.

"It just took a little time to wrap my head around the now instead of the before. But I'm more than comfortable and okay with this," Chloe finished, hand again resting on Beca's stump unbeknownst to herself.

Beca instinctively reached down and placed her hand over Chloe's, lacing their fingers together. For a brief moment they got lost in each others eyes, and the magnetic pull that had alway existed between them began to manifest itself as they found themselves leaning in closer, eyes briefly flickering down to waiting lips, the temptation oh so strong.

But before anything could happen the voice in the back of Chloe's head snapped her back to reality, and she jerked back. She couldn't give in, couldn't allow herself to until Beca knew the truth and could decide if their relationship was still worth fighting for.

"Sorry," Beca said as she leaned back into her chair, rubbing self consciously at her brow, "I don't know what I was thinking, I thought…." She began to say, but stopped, not really knowing what it was she thought.

Chloe shook her head at Beca's apology.

"No don't apologise. You were right, more than right. There's nothing I want more," Chloe sighed, eyes closing in frustration as her heart thundered in her chest.

"Bec's, there's something I need to tell you. Something I've been putting off for a while because I'm scared of what it will mean for us once I tell you," Chloe said, eyes finally opening and gazing up at Beca who chuckled at little.

"What are you seeing someone else?" She asked jokingly before the humour was sucked out of the room by Chloe's stoic expression. The smile on Beca's face dropped as she gazed back and forth at Chloe's ocean blues that seemed to display her growing fear.

Beca sat back, mouth bobbing up and down trying to find the words to speak.

"Are you seeing someone else?" She finally managed to get out thought the crack in her voice clearly indicated her growing anxiety.

"Bec's…. I…. I…."