Epilogue XI - Storytime

The fire at the back of the lake house crackled as it lit up beneath the dusky sky and around it were several camping chairs, four of which were occupied. Beca took a long swig of beer as she sat back, enjoying the warmth that radiated from the fire as the flames danced about in front of her, lighting up the faces of the men sat with her. To her right sat Michael and Johnny, to her left sat Ryan. And at her feet lay Max the Labrador. It was the third night that the Beale brothers and their respective little families had been at their parents lake house and Beca had to admit, it hadn't been nearly as bad as she'd thought it would be.

The kids that Beca had been pretty terrified about meeting hadn't actually been so terrifying. Chloe's five young nephews had taken a real shine to her, which was probably down to this afternoon when she had agreed to go down the zip wire that ran from the kids awesome treehouse, down to a patch of soft grass (and a well placed crash mat) by the house. Beca had actually been pretty happy to oblige the offer as one of the twins (Oliver?) dragged her from her seat beside Chloe, across the lawn, and to the tall tree. And Beca had felt relieved that she was so petite and light, because she had no idea how she would've made it down that zip wire in one piece otherwise. She remembered hearing her girlfriend's laugh, loud and bubbly, as she landed in a heap on the crash mat with an "oof". But Beca was given no time to address her initial embarrassment because before she knew it the nephews were all screeching at her, begging her to go again. And so she had.

Another reason why Chloe's nephews seemed to love Beca, and Beca thought it was weird, was because the brunette had kinda started this thing where if they stood in front of her while she was sat down, Beca would gently take their shoulders and shake them like a maraca. And Beca would chuckle at the little weirdos because they would be laughing so much. Not only that, she loved the expression on Chloe's face when she saw Beca interacting with her nephews. At least they were easy to please.

Chloe's two nieces on the other hand were very different. Eva was the oldest of that generation of Beale's, at ten years old. Beca had always known how much Chloe adored her eldest niece, the child that had made her an Aunt for the first time. The kid was clever and clearly adored Chloe, probably because they were the only two glaringly obvious redheads in the family, Sue Beale now boasting strawberry blonde hair in her older age. Eva seemed alright with Beca, but nothing compared to the adoration of her Auntie Chloe, and the brunette was mindful of that. She ensured that if the ten year old wanted Chloe's attention then she wouldn't get in the way.

The other niece, and the youngest of that generation of Beale's, was Ellie who had turned one a couple of months back. Beca was happy to admit to herself that she was absolutely terrified of her. Not of her physical appearance, no Ellie Beale was the most beautiful baby she thought she'd ever seen. But Beca was absolutely terrified of being around her, for fear that she would upset her. Not that Chloe had taken any notice when she had plonked Ellie on Beca's lap yesterday evening.

"I don't know how to do thiiis!" Beca said in an uncomfortable tone, tensing up as her girlfriend placed the one year old on her lap. Beca held her breath as the bright blue eyes of Ellie Beale looked up at her, as though peering into her soul to assess what sort of person she was. Beca didn't like holding babies. She didn't know how to hold babies. She'd never held a baby in her entire life!

Beca had no brothers or sisters. No young cousins. No friends with children. So she had zero experience.

"Relaaax Beca, you're doing great." Beca heard her girlfriend coax as she took a seat beside her on the couch, stretching her arm out across the back of the leather seat, behind Beca.

"It's alright for you to say, you've held a baby a million times before!" Beca muttered, not daring to break eye contact with the baby. The brunette could feel Chloe lean into her side, tucking her legs up under her body. She watched as her girlfriend brought a hand out to allow Ellie to hold her long slender finger, and the youngest Beale looked over at her Auntie Chloe with a broad smile.

"See," Chloe said softly with a smile, "totally great."

And Beca couldn't help the grin that spread across her face as the baby turned back to her, the smile still remaining. The two women were so engrossed in how cute Ellie was that they didn't notice the looks on Sue and Laura's faces as they watched from the doorway of the lounge.

"Maybe this isn't so bad…" Beca admitted as she dared to tear her eyes from the baby and turn to her girlfriend instead. She saw the redhead gazing at her with a soft smile on her face.

"You're a natural" Chloe whispered, and Beca doubted it. Chloe was always too kind with her words. But she didn't protest, because the woman had leant her face towards petite brunette's and the two kissed affectionately as the baby gurgled on Beca's lap.

Chloe's brothers were actually really nice guys. They had only teased Beca once or twice about their sister but Beca didn't mind. Having lived in a house with Fat Amy throughout college and endured two tours with the Australian too, Amy's 'teasing Beca about Chloe' was on a whole other scale compared to the teasing of the Beale brothers. Amy had been the worst.

"Well you must be doing something right Beca," Beca turned to her right to look at Michael who addressed her with a smile on his face, "I don't think I've ever seen my baby sister this happy before."

And Beca thought she could feel her cheeks flush a little as the other two Beale brothers agreed with the eldest. They'd all been slowly making their way through a large crate of beers between them for the past hour now and it was evident from how open the brothers were with the words they said to their little sister's girlfriend that they were breeching drunk territory. Beca didn't feel drunk, but she was feeling that pleasant numb feeling that she often felt when she was at the beginning of getting drunk. And so she smiled, giving a little shrug as she looked down at the beer bottle in her hand, using her thumb to pick at the sticker around the glass.

"Well there's really nothing to it, Chloe's always happy." Beca said simply, taking another swig of beer.

"Yeah but…" Johnny began, pausing to stifle a burp, then continuing, "she's a whole other spectrum of happy when she's around you dude."

And again the brothers agreed, nodding and holding their beer bottles up at each other as a pretend 'cheers'. Beca smiled to herself again as she processed what the men were essentially saying. She knew she made Chloe happy. Like, ridiculously happy. But she didn't do anything extraordinary to achieve it. In fact, other than the obvious extra actions like kissing, sex, and handholding, Beca hadn't really acted any differently around Chloe than she had done before they'd got together. So Beca really couldn't work out what exactly it was that she did that made Chloe so happy, but it was clearly noticeable to the redhead's family who'd known her her whole life.

"Of course, we have to tell you the obligatory warning..." Ryan said in a serious tone and Beca looked over at him, not meaning to look quite as scared as she did. The brothers must have seen it, sitting forward, hiding their glee at being able to tease their sister's girlfriend, and they all looked at her seriously. "…if you do anything to hurt our little sister, we will have to hunt you down."

Beca exhaled in relief as the brothers laughed out loud at her reaction and the petite brunette waved a hand out as if to say "of course". She had nothing to fear. She had no intention of ever hurting Chloe in any way. So she took another swig of beer as Michael chuckled, "You're alright though Beca. You're the only one we've liked."

And for the third time in a matter of minutes the brothers held their bottles up in a mock 'cheers' as they agreed with another comment about Beca. The petite brunette let out a quiet chuckle, before sitting forward and bringing a hand out to stroke the head of the Labrador that lay on her feet. Max sat up, leaning into her hand as she ruffled the fur behind his ears with a grin.

Okay, so before this week she'd never been much of a dog person. She'd never been much of an animal person full stop really. But Max the Labrador had changed her opinion of dogs. She hadn't had too much of a choice, as the dog pretty much followed her everywhere now. Sue Beale had mentioned something about being able to tell how good a person was based on how much a dog liked them, but Beca wasn't sure she'd been listening, just like she couldn't be sure that Laura's response had been that it was because Beca was so calm and laid back.

And no surprises that Chloe was over the moon with how much Beca appeared to love Max. So much so that Beca was already awaiting the inevitable conversation between them that would no doubt be started by Chloe asking if they could get a puppy. And as Beca saw the Labrador looking up at her with his big eyes she thought to herself that maybe owning a puppy with Chloe wouldn't be so bad...

Footsteps could be heard approaching from behind Beca and the woman saw Max's tail wag in recognition. She felt a brief sense of loss as the dog left her side and went to greet the newcomer, but he didn't have to go far. Chloe appeared beside Beca as she gave a warm excitable greeting to her brother's dog, running her hands over its back. Beca smiled as she watched her girlfriend crouch down beside her chair to come face to face with Max, who's tail was wagging furiously at the attention.

"Are the kids all bathed and ready for bed?" Johnny asked his sister. Beca was relieved that the brothers didn't involve herself too much in talk about kids. From what she'd heard about them, having children was a total nightmare. Not only did they ruin any chances of any form of independence (Ryan mentioned he couldn't even go for a wee back home without his sons having to stand in the bathroom with him), but they drained every last penny their parents earned. What went in the bank essentially came straight out to pay for things such as new clothes ("Noah's gone through four pairs of sneakers in two months. Kids never stop growing!"), presents for birthday parties ("One of Eva's little friends had a frikkin' present list which you had to pick something from to get!"), or whatever they wanted if it was a particularly bad day ("Sammy once held his breath for a whole minute in Toys R Us. He'd gone blue in the face so we quickly bought him the hot wheels set he wanted!").

Beca had casually informed the Beale brothers that any kids of hers would get what they were given especially as their mother had such a terrible way with money. And it was probably the beer talking, but it was the first time Beca had identified that raising children was on the cards for her future. And not only that, but raising children with Chloe was too; the 'mother' in her statement referring to the redhead. The boys had merely laughed, wishing her good luck as all best laid plans go out the window as soon as kids are involved, especially if their little sister was anything to do with it ("The moment you and Chloe have kids she'll bleed you dry, buying them cute outfits that they'll probably only ever wear once before growing out of them." "Yeah just you wait for all the Disney outfits!")

Beca saw Chloe stand up and reach out towards her, placing a hand on the brunette's shoulder, gripping it affectionately while she dug her fingertips into a knot that was forever present in Beca's right shoulder blade, massaging gently. The brunette let out an inaudible groan of relief, her eyes rolling into the back of her head and she could sense from Chloe's tone of voice that she was smiling.

"Yep all bathed and ready for bed. Just milk and story to go." Chloe said. Beca opened her eyes as the redhead released her shoulder and noticed the brothers looking from her to Chloe and back again with sloppy grins on their faces. This was the first time Beca noticed just how drunk Michael, Ryan, and Johnny were getting.

"So what're you doing down here then Bo?" Ryan asked his sister, his eyebrows raised, "you're chief story reader in this family."

Beca saw Chloe turn to her with an affectionate smile, saying brightly, "The kids want Beca to read them a story tonight." And Beca felt her stomach plummet. They'd chosen her? Why? She hadn't read a kids story book since she was probably about…8! And she certainly hadn't read a story book to a child or children ever. She would be a terrible choice.

The Beale brothers laughed out loud and hearty as they saw the expression on Beca's face which was one of fear and disbelief. But the brunette felt numb as she turned to look up at her girlfriend who was smiling brightly at her, "I…um…me?"

"Uhuh." Chloe said with a nod, and before Beca had time to process anything, her girlfriend had reached down, taken her hand, and tugged her to her feet. Beca couldn't process the loud laughter coming from the Beale brothers as Chloe led her away from the fire and across the lawn to the house. She also couldn't process Max the dog, who dashed around their legs, almost tripping them over as he followed them over to the house. Because Beca really couldn't process anything right now. Not until Chloe stopped them both, squeezed her hand and asked, "You ok?"

"Um…yeah…I just…I don't know how to read a storybook to kids…" Beca bit her bottom lip, relieved that her girlfriend had stopped walking towards the house.

"Beca, you just read the words on the page." Chloe said brightly, as though it were the most straightforward thing in the world, "It's not difficult." But even though Beca had nodded, and they had resumed their walking, she still felt nervous. Because Chloe could read a restaurant menu and make it sound wonderful. She had a way of saying words that made people hang onto each and every one of them. So she could only imagine how good she was at reading a story book to children.

Beca sat awkwardly on one half of a single bed up in the attic, watching Chloe's nephews and niece slurp the last of the milk from their respective plastic cups by a small table that stood in the corner of the attic by the stairs. If she hadn't been feeling so nervous she would've taken note of how lovely her girlfriend looked as she mothered the six children; collecting empty cups one by one, straightening out tucked PJ's, wiping milk from around mouths. She would've noticed Sue Beale taking the tray of empty cups and leading the childrens' mothers down the stairs to the next floor of the house leaving Chloe to sort the kids. But Beca hadn't noticed. Because in her hands she held a book. The book. The book she was expected to read to the little rascals.

"Right, come on then, go join Auntie Beca on the bed." Chloe whispered to her nephews who eagerly obeyed, and dashed over to the single bed, lumbering onto whatever space there was beside the brunette. Beca jumped, her heart racing. She hadn't expected them to sit quite so close. Chloe in the meantime slowly wandered over to the bed, smiling, putting her hands on her hips, saying in a patronising voice at her nephews, "oh I see. And where am I supposed to sit?" And the little boys giggled, pointing to the scrap of space at the bottom of the bed. Beca began to panic. She had presumed Chloe would be sitting beside her. Supporting her as she tried to read this book. "Can I not sit next to Auntie Beca?" The redhead asked in a light voice, but the boys shook their head with big smiles, telling her she had to sit at the bottom of the bed. One even had the cheek to tell her that she sat next to Beca all the time so now it was their turn.

So to Beca's dismay she saw Chloe shrug slightly before taking a seat at the bottom of the bed, Eva joining her, the ten year old forever by her Aunt's side. Beca winced a little as the twins clambered over her lap and sat the other side of her. The brunette now found herself sat more central on the single bed. Oliver and Jack to her right, Hunter and Noah to her left. Sammy had scrambled to the bottom of the bed and had launched himself into his Auntie Chloe's lap.

Beca didn't really know where to start, but fortunately her short pause was enough to have Oliver tug the book from her grip and begin to open it. Chloe calmly told him to slow down and hand the book back to Beca which the little boy did. And suddenly Beca realised that seven pairs of eyes were on her, patiently waiting for her to begin reading the book.

"The Dinosaur That Pooped A Planet" Beca slowly read, and the children giggled. The brunette looked up at her girlfriend as she turned the page. Chloe had a soft smile on her face as she watched her and Beca could almost feel her cheeks flush. Her heart was racing.

"Danny and Dinosaur like to have fun." Beca read. She hated the sound of her voice when she read anything. Singing she was fine with. But Beca knew she had a monotone voice when she read. "Some days they had lots, some days they had none." She continued. She was cringing inwardly as she turned the page. Man there were a lot of words to read. "One day they were bored, they had no games to play…"

"I can't see the pictures!" Sammy whined from his position on Chloe's lap and Beca swallowed loudly, not really knowing what to do with that information. But Eva had reached a hand out and pulled the book down so it now lay out flat on Beca's lap. The brunette sat up straighter, leaning over the book to continue reading the words on the page in her monotone voice.

"Danny said, 'Dinosaur, what shall we do today? We could mow the lawn. We could tidy the place. We could do our chores or we could go to space!" Beca said in an unenthusiastic tone, concentrating too much on trying to read all the words correctly rather than trying to put any life into the story she was reading. She looked up nervously at her girlfriend who gave her a little nod of encouragement, as if telling her to continue, and the brunette let out a sigh before reading out the next paragraph, "'But you mustn't forget to have lunch.' said their Mummy, 'You cannot have fun without food for your tummy.' So they packed a packed lunch for the science museum, where rockets were kept if you wanted to see them." Beca grimaced as she turned the page once again. She was so rubbish at reading storybooks. "There were hundreds of rockets and spaceship surprises. Tall ones and small ones of all shapes and-" Beca stopped abruptly with a loud groan, looking up at her girlfriend's startled expression, "You know what, I can't do this."she said with a defeated tone.

"What? No, Beca you're doing great!" Chloe said enthusiastically, her eyebrows raised to show her honesty, "Keep going."

But Beca had already sat back from the book, leaning her back against the headboard of the single bed, "Chloe I don't want to I…you'd be so much better at reading this than me." And she ignored the look of confusion on the children's faces as she took hold of the book and held it out to her girlfriend, "Please."

She knew that Chloe wasn't one to force her to do something she didn't want to do, and to her relief the redhead looked at her nephews who were staring at her, before letting a small purse-lipped smile appear on her face. Beca saw her girlfriend look at her again, giving her a small nod while quietly saying "If you're sure you don't want to?" But Beca was already holding the book out. She definitely didn't want to. So Chloe took the book with a small exhale of breath, turning it around so she could read the words, laying it out in the middle of the bed so all the children could see the pictures.

And within a matter of eight words Beca realised just how truly terrible a story reader she was, as Chloe began reading the story from the beginning of the page that Beca had originally started. "There were hundreds of rockets and spaceship surprises." Chloe said, a big smile on her face, an enticing tone to her hushed voice, and Beca noticed all of the Beale children lean closer to her as she drew them in with her words, "Tall ones and small ones of all shapes and sizes!" she ended with an excitable tone.

As the story continued Beca couldn't help but become entranced with her girlfriend. Because there were several things that she did that made her a far greater story reader than Beca. The first was the volume of her voice; Chloe spoke at an almost hushed and soothing volume. The second was the delivery of the words in the story; while Beca had been reading the story as though attacking each word in her monotone voice, Chloe kept the excitement, adventure and wonder of the story alive with varying tones to each word.

Another way that the redhead was noticeably the better story reader was the way she paused from time to time to allow the children to point at the different illustrations on the page. And if they didn't mention something that had caught their little eyes then Chloe herself would simply finish the sentence she was reading, then point at one of the illustrations to keep their interaction with the story. Sammy seemed the most enthusiastic when it came to chatting about what he could see on the page, leaning towards the book from his position on his aunt's lap as Chloe wrapped her arm around his waist to stop him from falling too far forward. Chloe also let the children join in with some of the words in the story, which made Beca wonder how often they'd been read this story before.

Beca couldn't help but marvel at how patient her girlfriend was too. Because she was so often interrupted by one or more of the children. Either because they wanted to turn the page ("Jack you can turn this page then Noah you can turn the next one…yes Oliver you can turn the page after that…Sammy you've already turned two pages.") or they wanted to count how many stars were drawn on one particular page so she would count along with them ("…threeeee…foooour…fiiiiive…si-…no, six comes next doesn't it…siiiiix…seveeeen…eight! Eight stars on this page!") and at one point Chloe'd had to stop reading the story while Jack suddenly decided that he wanted to scramble onto Beca's lap which had taken both the women by surprise, particularly Beca who's only real contact with the child had been shaking him gently by the shoulders, ("oh…wow…um…hey kid…").

Before Beca knew it the book had finished. She now had Jack curled up on her lap, who had pulled her left arm around his waist so she was practically cuddling him. She had her right arm around his twin brother, Oliver, who leant into her right side, and she had Noah cuddling into to her left side, with his arm curled around her left arm that she remained around Jack. And Beca could tell that the smile on Chloe's face wasn't because they had finished the story. It wasn't for the kids. It was for Beca, the woman who had once been so spiky when they had first met in college. The woman who no idea what to do when she was even in the same room as children let alone curled up with them. Not that she really knew what she was doing right now, she was just letting the kids dictate how she sat or where she put her arms.

"Right monkeys, bed time!" Chloe said and the children all groaned.

"Just one more story. Pleeease!" Jack begged. And Beca couldn't be sure if it was because he was sat in her arms or because he was the youngest, but she had to admit, the way he'd said it had been adorable. She looked at Chloe and her heart swelled as the woman smiled at her nephews and niece. There was something wonderful about seeing her girlfriend interacting with the young children; affectionately bringing a hand out to stroke back Sammy's straggly brown hair, or curling her arm around Eva's shoulders as the eldest child nuzzled into her. Chloe would make an amazing mother one day.

"Alright one more story." The redhead caved, and the children cheered, racing to dive off the bed all at once and dashing to the collection of storybooks that rested on a shelf across the room. Beca couldn't help the grin on her face as she looked from the little Beale's over to her girlfriend who had begun crawling from the bottom of the bed to join the brunette at the top, a mischievous grin on her face. Beca felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment as Chloe placed her hands either side of Beca's hips and leant towards her, placing a kiss on her lips.

"Dude, not in front of the kids" Beca found herself mumbling, despite the small smile on her face, but Chloe didn't move her face away.

"Oh relax," Chloe whispered, "they're too busy trying to pick a book." And Beca could hear the children bicker about which story their favourite Aunt should read them before they went to sleep.

But just as Beca leant her face towards Chloe's to close the gap again a little voice piped up, "Eww!" followed by a chorus of "Eww yuck!"'s and she saw Chloe pull away from her in embarrassment, moving to sit beside her on the single bed with a small giggle. The little rascals had gathered at the edge of the bed, staring at their Aunt and Aunt's girlfriend with scrunched up noses, and for a minute Beca wondered if it was the sight of seeing two women kiss that made the children react that way. But she needn't wonder for long.

"Kissing is so yucky!" Hunter said defiantly, and his cousins, sister, and little brother agreed.

Chloe merely chuckled, "Oh yeah? Just you wait until you're grown up and start kissing!"

"Eww!" came the chorus again and Beca chuckled as Hunter replied confidently, "I am never kissing anyone ever! Not a girl, not a boy, not ever!"

"Alriiight." Chloe chimed in a sing-song voice and Beca knew her girlfriend didn't believe him. Because it was inevitable. Everyone at some point ends up kissing someone. "Have you decided what book we're reading?" The redhead asked and the kids held up three books between them. Beca looked at the covers. One had a caterpillar on it. One had a dog on it. And one had a bear on it. "I think we should let Auntie Beca decide." And Beca felt her heart jump into her throat as six pairs of eyes turned to her, all big and blue and pleading.

"Um…I like bears?…plus he's playing a piano and…I like pianos so…yeah that one." She said awkwardly, pointing at the book that Oliver and Jack held between them. Beca didn't do favourites. Particularly not when children were involved. She'd lived most of her life disliking children so it wasn't difficult to not have favourites. But the inadvertent cuddle she'd shared with Jack was enough for her to feel a slight tug of favouritism towards the youngest boy in the Beale family.

Jack and Oliver cheered. Sammy, Noah, Hunter, and Eva whined in defeat. But before long they were all back on the bed. Jack had resumed his position on Beca's lap, but had made way for Oliver who had also managed to find space beside him, sitting on Beca's right thigh. Both Sammy and Noah splayed out on Chloe's lap while Eva lay on the edge of the bed beside Chloe, Hunter on the edge of the bed beside Beca. It was some sort of miracle, but they all fitted on the single bed. The book was held out between the two women, Chloe holding the left page with her right hand, Beca holding the right pages with her left hand. There was a hush and the redhead began the story.

"The Bear and the Piano" Chloe read and Beca allowed Jack to reach out and turn the first page.

"One day in a forest, a young bear cub found something he'd never seen before. 'What could this strange thing be?' he thought. Shyly, he touched it with his stubby paws." Chloe's voice was low and soothing as she read slowly. Beca knew this meant that this book was the one to calm the children ready to go to sleep.

"'PLONK!' The strange thing made an awful sound." Despite being written in capitals, Chloe hadn't emphasised the word loudly, choosing to simply say it clearly in her soft voice instead. And suddenly Beca began to feel very calm, her girlfriend's words tricking into her ears as Chloe gently read the story. Jack had missed the pause that meant the page needed to be turned, so Beca managed to move her thumb just enough off the book that the next page turned over and Chloe caught it with her own thumb.

"So, the bear left. But the next day he came back, and the day after that too." Beca could sense the hush in the attic as all six of the children on and around them began to feel heavy. She wondered whether the twins had begun to fall asleep on her lap already. "And for days and weeks and months and years, until eventually…"

The story went on to talk about how the bear had friends that loved to hear him play piano in the woods. Then one day some hikers found him and persuaded him to go to New York where he became a successful pianist, winning awards and playing to sell-out audiences. He missed his home and the woods, so one day he returned. But the piano in the woods was gone. Suddenly his friend appeared and led him to a new part of the woods where his friends were waiting for him with the piano.

"So after the bear had told his friends about his life in the city, and the many concerts he had played, he sat down to play once more. This time, for the most important audience of all." Chloe quietly and slowly finished. Beca allowed the final page to join the rest of the book in Chloe's hand and the two women looked at the children around them. Beca grinned as Chloe let out a silent chuckle. All five of Chloe's nephews and her niece were asleep.

Beca didn't know where to start. So she turned to Chloe who was already looking at her with a big beaming smile as her bright blue eyes sparkled at her. And Beca thought that the weird thing was this all felt…right. Curled up in bed with Chloe reading bedtime stories to children. Maybe one day they could do all this with their own children? And Beca felt her breath catch in her throat. Because she had never thought about having a future with children in it before this week. Not even when she had been with Jesse back in college, despite him mentioning it frequently, particularly the longer they had been together. But with Chloe everything felt right.

She watched as her girlfriend dropped the book down onto her lap and bent over to place a kiss on Eva's head, "Eva, sweetheart," the woman whispered, "time to get into your bed." And though Beca highly doubted the ten year old would do as she was told, the little girl proved her wrong, letting out a little groan before sliding off the side of the bed sleepily and over to her own. This had provided Chloe with more room to nudge the little boys on her lap, "Sammy, come on sweetheart, bedtime." And with a little encouragement the six year old rubbed his eyes before sleepily sliding off his Aunt's lap, off the bed and over to his own. Noah was next, "Come on Pickle, bedtime" and Chloe wrapped her arms around the five year old, pulling herself and him off the side of the bed and carrying Noah over to a free bed beside Sammy's.

Beca watched as her girlfriend tucked the little boy into his bed, placing a kiss on his cheek, before moving back over to Beca and the remainder of her nephews. Chloe reached over, tugging Oliver gently out of Beca's arms and the four year old grumbled slightly, "Oliver, time to get into bed" Chloe whispered, scooping him up and carrying him over to the penultimate free bed beside the one they had just been laying on. Whilst Oliver was being tucked in Beca took the opportunity to contribute to putting the children to bed, so she scooched to the free side of the single bed she'd been sat on, bringing Jack along with her. As she stood with the little boy in her arms she winced slightly. She'd underestimated how heavy he was. Or maybe she was just weak?

Beca slowly walked over to the final free bed, and placed Jack in it as gently as possible. Probably too gently. But Chloe hadn't dashed over to tell her she was doing it wrong. So Beca just pulled the covers over the little boy and brushed his brown hair back with a small smile as Jack let out a sleepy sigh, his eyes still shut. Yeah, he was her favourite.

She turned to see Chloe stepping away from having tucked Hunter in the bed that they had all been sitting on. The redhead beamed at her and Beca could feel her heart skip a beat momentarily. She loved seeing Chloe looking so happy. She loved feeling this happy. It was a shame they had to return to reality in two days time. To return to work.

Chloe sidled up to her girlfriend and took her hands. Beca just smiled.

"Do you know what today is?" The redhead asked and Beca furrowed her brow slightly.

"Um…Friday?"

Chloe let out a sweet giggle that made Beca feel warm inside, "True. But what does today mark?"

"Um….." Beca was stumped. She literally had no clue. She tried to think back on any conversations she may have had that Chloe may have heard that would make her feel as though today was something special. But she couldn't think of any.

The redhead leant her face closer to hers, her bright eyes sparkling as she whispered, "It's exactly a month today that we went on our first date."

Beca swallowed. Shit. She hadn't realised. Of course Chloe was the type of girl to take notice of anniversaries that were as tiny as 'one month'. And now Beca felt terrible. Revealing her feelings to Chloe had been one of the biggest, most terrifying, and best moments of her life so far. How had she not realised that today marked exactly one month since then?

Fortunately Chloe had seemed to have read Beca's expression and giggled, "Don't worry Bec, I hadn't realised either."

"Then how…?"

"Aubrey texted me about an hour ago to ask me if we were doing anything to celebrate." Aubrey had remembered? Beca couldn't believe that Aubrey Posen of all people had remembered that she and Chloe had hit their one month anniversary. Beca had always been forgettable to the blonde. And it wasn't as though Aubrey had made a big deal of their date around the time that it had occurred anyway, so why did she seem to have it in her diary?!

-One hour earlier-

"Hey wasn't it a month ago today that Beca and Chloe finally got together?"

Aubrey furrowed her brow, looking up from her phone. Netflix would always be on the TV screen in the evenings that she unwound in her private cabin at the retreat she ran, but she rarely watched it. Whilst it was on she would only ever look at her phone...or someone else. And that someone else was currently curled up on the couch with her, dressed in something that could barely be classed as pyjamas, not that Aubrey minded. That someone else was Staci Conrad.

"Was it?" The blonde asked and the woman beside her shrugged, a coy smile growing on her face as she looked over at Aubrey.

"I remember it was the first night we arrived in London…"

Ah, London.

The longest chapter yet! Sorry for the wait but hope it was worth it :) thank you so much for the wonderful reviews that have kept me ploughing on with the writing!

Woah, big love for the idea of an 'M' rated version of this fic, so will get onto that when I get the time (which is limited as I'm at the final and most difficult stage of my degree so...)

It's about time we found out how Beca's Dad feels about this whole Beca/Chloe thing so next chapter will be set a couple of months later (these are supposed to be Epilogues after all hehe)

Skyeze.10 - sorry, thought I'd give Beca a break from Chloe's brothers for a little bit. But there's something planned for them teasing BeChloe in a few chapters time..

justbch- ahh I'm glad my updates arrive just in time for you to read on the subway in the morning. How cool! And yes I'm trying to work in a 'Chloe talking to her sisters-in-law about Beca' at some point. That may also be in a few chapters time..

Eliley - Hey there and thanks so much for the compliment! Can't believe you spent all day reading this fic. Amazing! Thank you so much and hope you like this update :)

THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS GUYS! KEEP 'EM COMING!

xx