Epilogue XVII - Old Mercury

Candles? Check. Yellow gerberas? Check. Blanket on the floor? Check. Picnic basket filled with Chloe's favourite picnic foods? Check. Rosé chilling in that crazy wine cooler Sheila had sent them as an apartment-warming gift a couple of years ago? Check. Sambucca? Check. And those two weird little bunny-shaped shot glasses Chloe had found, bought, and adored at a flea market last year? Check-check.

Beca stood back from where she'd been crouched in the centre of her bedroom and admired her handiwork. One year. How had it been one year already? One year since she'd finally caved and revealed her deepest secret to the one woman she'd feared telling the most, who happened to be the one woman to breathe a breath of fresh air into her life the moment she'd revealed it. To give her more hope and happiness then she'd ever felt before.

Beca had successfully got time off work today to gather the final things for Chloe's present and set up what she hoped was the redhead's idea of a perfect anniversary evening. She knew it was the first anniversary Chloe had ever experienced with someone and so Beca wanted it to be special. The brunette had miraculously managed to dive into the shower and get ready before Chloe had got home from work, and had just spent a good couple of hours tidying the spare room and setting up the picnic.

Tonight was going to be a night that Chloe would never forget, Beca was sure of it. The brunette smiled as she imagined the look on her girlfriend's face when she opened the present she had bought for her. The picnic idea was largely concocted from a discussion she had had with Aubrey, one of Chloe's dearest friends, on the phone earlier that day. A phone call that had opened somewhat surprisingly.

Beca quietly placed her key in the lock of the front door of her apartment and gently shunted the door open with her hip. She stuck her head through the doorway and paused, straining her ears for any sound of her girlfriend. It was a stroke of luck really that there was rarely a time that Chloe was quiet when in their apartment. The redhead always sang or hummed or muttered to herself as she organised one thing or another. Beca loved it. Particularly now when she needed to sneak into the apartment.

When she knew the coast was clear, Beca shoved her way through the front door, dragging bags along with her. One of the bags contained her lunch – a large pack of sushi that Chloe had somehow got her addicted to. The other two bags contained things that were imperative to Chloe's anniversary present. The brunette headed straight for her bedroom. Well, the bedroom that had once been considered her bedroom. Now that room was regarded as the spare room. The dressing room. The walk-in wardrobe. The room where an overspill of items that made the lounge a little slobbier than Chloe would like belonged.

Beca placed all the bags on the space that remained on the double bed in the spare bedroom and took her phone out of her back pocket to check the time. One o'clock. She had three hours before Chloe left work and she was still stuffed on ideas of what to do to celebrate their anniversary. She'd never really had to do it before. The only 'first anniversary' she'd had before now was with Jesse several years ago and the man had been such a romantic that she hadn't needed to make any effort at any point during their relationship. He'd always made the moves. He'd always arranged things for them to do.

In fact on their first anniversary he'd made Beca a photo montage set to his favourite music scores. He'd managed to send Benji out of their shared room in the Treblemakers frat house, and had created a 'movie theatre' style set-up in the bedroom with a mini projector, popcorn, candy and soda. To many it would be the perfect romantic first anniversary date. But Beca had cringed as the photos of her projected onto the wall. It may have been his ideal date-night idea, but it was far from hers. If Beca had had it her way they would've just ordered take-out, had some beers, maybe put on some music, and chatted.

Yep, Jesse had always made the moves. He'd always arranged things for them to do. And Beca had to admit to herself, she should've broken up with him far sooner. Because she'd really felt uncomfortable having someone focus their entire attention on her. No, scratch that, she'd felt uncomfortable having Jesse focus his entire attention on her. And that wasn't the type of feeling someone should have when spending their anniversary with their significant other.

Not only had she never really needed to make an effort to organise something as nice as a date night due to Jesse's innate ability to make every moment between them like something from a movie, but Beca had found that she hadn't ever wanted to make an effort. With Chloe however, things were different. Beca was pulled between two things: her desire to make Chloe as happy as possible, and her duty as Chloe's girlfriend to provide the redhead with the best anniversary possible. That meant jumping out of her comfort zone and organising something romantic and meaningful. The thing was, Chloe was often the mastermind when it came to ideas. So Beca was completely at a loss of what to do.

The brunette let out a long sigh and unlocked her phone. She'd have to do it. She'd have to call Aubrey Posen. She glanced at the time fleetingly as she began to call Chloe's closest friend, and hoped that the blonde would answer, knowing full well that the woman was busy running her successful team building retreat and spa. Fortunately she was in luck.

"Beca hey! Long time no speak!" Beca froze, furrowing her brow slightly, not only at the words spoken (which were far too cheery for Aubrey) but also the sound of the person's voice. Long time no speak? Who did she know, who sounded like that, who would greet her that brightly? It had to be a Bella. But which Bella cou-

"…Staci?"

"Um yeah? Who else would it be!" Beca furrowed her brow further, unknowingly wandering slowly around the floor of the bedroom. Why was Staci answering Aubrey's phone? As far as she was aware the two had never really spoken to each other. Ever. And since Staci had graduated from Barden her career had shot up. Chloe had even shown her pictures from an online newspaper just yesterday of Staci leaving a club in Cannes with a man rumoured to be her boyfriend. The woman had only just been photographed in Europe. How was she now with Aubrey's phone? Beca pulled the phone from her ear briefly to look at the screen. No, it was definitely Aubrey's number.

"Um…I expected it to be Aubrey?" Beca said, returning the phone to her ear, "because this is her number." The petite brunette strained her ears as she heard Staci pause then swear under her breath. She got the vibe that Staci hadn't meant to answer Aubrey's phone. There was dead air between the two women as each racked their brains to come up with something to say. While Beca was wondering how or why Staci had come to be in possession of Aubrey's phone, Staci was busy wondering if there was any way that she could throw Beca off the scent that she and Aubrey were more than just friends. But the tall model had no such luck, because Beca was gradually beginning to ask herself if something more was going on here. The best way to find out was to gauge Aubrey's reaction.

"Is Aubrey there?" Beca asked, her brow still furrowed.

"Um no she…is really sick." Beca couldn't help the smirk that had begun to grown on her face. Okay that was a stupid answer even for Staci. Aubrey never got sick. Something had to be going on, though Beca couldn't be sure what.

"Really sick huh?"

"Uhuh"

"And you flew all the way to Aubrey's retreat from Cannes to take care of her?"

"Um…sure. That's what friends are for right?"

"Riiight" Beca couldn't help the massive grin of disbelief that was now spread over her face. Oh this excuse was going to be good. Now where was Aubrey?

"Oh come on, you'd do the same for Chloe!" Staci protested and Beca could sense how flustered she was becoming. Staci never got flustered.

"Well yeah, but Chloe's my girlfriend…" Beca said, then she paused and stopped in her tracks. Holy shit. Aubrey and Staci were seeing each other! As if almost on cue, Beca heard the familiar sound of Aubrey's voice singing out loudly and happily the chorus of "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". There was no way that woman was sick. The blonde had evidently stopped in her tracks, the song petering away from her lips into silence and Beca strained her ears for any dialogue between her two friends. But Beca concluded the two women must have got good at reading each other's minds. With the silence being too much for the petite brunette who was not only desperate to ask Aubrey what was going on but also running out of time to put something together for Chloe this evening, she cut through the silence.

"Staci, put Aubrey on the phone." Beca asked firmly, though her grin still remained. Oh she was going to enjoy this! She could heard the phone leaving Staci's ear and Aubrey taking it before the blonde cleared her throat and spoke to her.

"Hello?" Beca had never heard Aubrey sound so nervous in all the time she had known the older woman. But it turned out, despite having known her for seven years, there was a lot about Aubrey Posen that she didn't know. Like how long she'd been having a 'thing' with another woman! Aubrey Posen was definitely the last Bella she'd ever imagined batting for the other side. Well, save for Emily who was precious and sweet and innocent and childlike and definitely ran away with the idea that she was a Disney princess and would happily wait about for Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet. But then again, Beca imagined Chloe had once been like that, probably up until she met her. So there was no guaranteeing Emily would end up with a boy. Not that it mattered, Beca thought, so long as she was happy. Speaking of happy, Beca still had a grin on her face,

"Aubrey Posen you dirty bird!" she took great pleasure in saying to the blonde down the phone in a teasing tone and she was fairly certain she could hear Aubrey go bright red. Oh this was golden!

"I…don't know what you're referring to." she didn't sound too sure and Beca still grinned broadly. It wasn't that she hated Aubrey. Absolutely not. Aubrey was one of Chloe's closest friends and since Beca and Chloe had become a couple the woman had actually been very supportive of them together. But there was still a twinge of mutual nastiness between Beca and Aubrey. Where they would take it in turns to make snide comments about each other, to each other, here and there. Not loudly in front of Chloe, but certainly under their breath. Beca certainly wanted to make the most of this opportunity to tease the woman though

"Uhuh…" Beca said with a grin, loving the sound of how flustered Aubrey was getting on the other end of the phone.

"This'd better be important Beca." Aubrey said with a warning tone but Beca couldn't let it go. She had to know.

"Oh I'm sorry, was I just interrupting you and Staci, alone, in your romantic little cabin…?" Beca felt elated as she could sense how desperate Aubrey wanted to curl up into a little ball of embarrassment, "Seriously? You and Staci? How did that even happen?!" and Beca dared to let out a little chuckle as Aubrey released a defeated sigh.

"Beca if you don't tell me why you called then I'm going to hang up." The grin immediately dropped from Beca's face as Aubrey won the upper hand. Because Beca needed Aubrey to help her right now, far more than she needed to tease Aubrey. She could tease later.

"Alright alright. Chloe and I have been together for a year today, and I've no idea how to celebrate it. Any suggestions?"

And Beca spent the next thirty minutes on loudspeaker to Aubrey and Staci as they helped her come up with the idea for exactly how Chloe would want to spend her first anniversary. Chloe found indoor picnics romantic, Beca would try to source the same make of rosé that they'd had on their first date, and the idea of sambucca shots were met with mixed reviews: Staci saying "go for it!" and Aubrey saying "absolutely not!"

Beca pulled her phone out and was about to text her girlfriend to come through into their spare bedroom when her phone chimed. It was a message from Chloe: Come through to the kitchen B, I've got a surprise for you! Xxx

Beca's heart skipped a beat. She'd heard Chloe come home about two hours ago. She'd heard her stop at the closed door of their spare room and giggle at the sign Beca had messily stuck on there telling her not to enter. She'd heard Chloe duck into the bathroom and have a long shower, then potter about their bedroom next door, evidently doing her makeup and getting dressed. But Beca wasn't sure how long it had been since Chloe had left their bedroom and gone to the kitchen. So with one last glance around the now tidy spare room, Beca eased through the door and closed it behind her.

The smell that hit her nostrils immediately made her stomach rumble and Beca felt a smile grow on her face as she began slowly walking through the apartment towards the kitchen. She paused in the doorway and grinned as her eyes landed on her beautiful girlfriend. Chloe wore a bright blue dress, a plunging neckline that emphasised her chest, the fabric gripping in at her hips then flowing down, stopping just above her knees. Her long red hair trickled across her shoulders and down her back, having been fashioned into loose curls by Chloe's favourite wireless hair straighteners. And she wore rose coloured lipstick, which didn't detract away from her beautiful eyes that were complimented by a set of her favourite fake eyelashes and a lick of eyeliner on the edge of the tops of her eyelids.

Beca could hardly catch her breath as Chloe tentatively poured bolognese sauce over the spaghetti she had evidently been cooking over the past half hour, careful not to spill any down her front. Beca loved the way Chloe bit her bottom lip whenever she concentrated hard on something. She waited until her girlfriend had placed the pan back on the stove before she spoke, not wanting to make her jump.

"So which bit is the surprise? My favourite meal? My girlfriend looking stunning? Or the fact that you're playing one of the mixed CDs I made for you years ago?" Beca asked as Chloe reached into their small fridge, because true enough, she was playing one of the mixed CDs that Beca had made for her for her twenty fourth birthday. The redhead simply giggled, before stepping towards her girlfriend and handing her a chilled beer. Beca took one look at the label and her face opened into a huge grin, "Woah! A bottle of Old Mercury?! Where did you find this?"

This bottle in her hands right now was Beca's most favourite beer. She'd tried it for the first time when they were over in England on The Bella's European tour last year and she had pined for a bottle of it ever since they'd left. Beca had scoured the streets of NYC for any British stores that may sell it. But no luck. She'd given up all hope. Yet here it was, in her hands. She could still remember how good it tasted.

"I've had my family looking out for it for months!" Chloe said in delight, "Mikey was out at a conference in San Diego a few weeks ago and one of the Irish bars there was selling it by the bottle so he bought the last one and sent it to Mum & Dad's."

Beca refused to cry, but she stared a little more intently at the bottle then was necessary, entirely touched by the thought that had been put into this seemingly small gift, "I'm going to savour every last drop." Beca said quietly.

"Oh I wouldn't worry," Chloe began, as she moved backwards towards their small fridge, "Daddy bumped into an old work colleague last week who's son is a beer supplier…" And as Beca looked up from the bottle in her hands her mouth dropped open in surprise. Chloe opened the door of the fridge and laying on one of the shelves, stacked two high, were several more bottles of Old Mercury. "That's why he drove up here a few days ago. To drop a crate of these off."

Beca was lost for words. The Beale's had gone to so much trouble. But the mastermind behind it all was the woman stood before her, looking at her with a sheepish grin, as though wondering if the gift really was alright. Beca looked at her, tears threatening to appear in her eyes, and she felt stupid because it was all down to a bottle of beer. No, not just any beer, her favourite beer. A beer that was almost unfindable here in the US, and somehow Chloe had made it her mission to find it for her. Beca lunged forward and threw her arms around her girlfriend's neck, an action that caused a giggle to slip out of Chloe's mouth and drift into Beca's ear.

"Thank you" Beca mumbled into Chloe's hair as she squeezed her tight and she closed her eyes at the feel of her girlfriend wrapping her arms around her waist and holding her tight. They parted reluctantly, and Chloe briefly brought a hand up to tuck a piece of Beca's hair behind her ear, both grinning at each other, "I can't believe the effort you made getting hold of these" the brunette said, holding the bottle up slightly as a way of motioning to it.

"Well I wanted to get you something special," Chloe said with a smile, stepping back from her and walking to the small draw where their cutlery was stored, "I toyed with the idea of a necklace or a locket, but I didn't have much money. I toyed with the idea of baking you a bunch of stuff. I even almost made you a mixed tape," Beca was grinning as she watched Chloe chat away while pulling a couple of knives and forks out of the draw. She loved how animated the woman got when she spoke, "but then I was looking back through that photobook you got me for Christmas and saw the photos of you drinking that beer while we were in London and I thought, why not try to find you a bottle of that instead!"

"Well you have excelled. This is definitely the best anniversary gift I have ever received." Beca said looking down at the bottle again and licking her lips slightly. She couldn't wait to try some again.

"Right then, I thought we'd sit in the lounge? Better than leaning on the kitchen worktops huh." Chloe said brightly as she picked up the two plates which each boasted a large portion of spaghetti bolognese. Normally this would be Beca's ideal way to spend an anniversary. None of this crappy 'watching a mushy photomontage of herself set to film scores while eating popcorn which just got stuck in her teeth'. No. Sitting in a nice quiet room, with good music, her favourite meal, her favourite beer, and chatting to her favourite person. That, to Beca, was perfection. And Chloe had appeared to get it right first time.

But as Beca followed Chloe out of the kitchen, smelling the heavenly aroma of the bolognese that she knew to be Sue Beale's secret recipe, she remembered that she too had arranged what she thought would be the perfect evening for Chloe. And as this was the redhead's very first anniversary with someone, she wanted it to be special for her.

"Oh, shit…hang on…can we…um…" Beca paused as Chloe stopped in her tracks with a furrowed brow and turned her head to look at her, wondering what the brunette was doing, "…can we go to the spare room? I just…trust me…" Beca stuttered, before motioning down the apartment towards the bedroom doors. Chloe appeared to nod, which was enough for Beca to begin making her way down to the spare room. Her heart was racing a little. She was both nervous and excited. She knew Chloe was going to love this, but there was still an ounce of doubt that the redhead would. So Beca stopped at the closed door and turned to Chloe, raising her eyebrows to emphasise the order she was about to give her.

"Alright just…wait here a moment and close your eyes." Beca said, and she saw a smile spread across Chloe's face, her eyebrows rising as she did as she was told and closed her eyes, still holding both plates of Spag Bol. Beca nudged into the bedroom, quickly glancing around at its presentation and within a couple of moments she was satisfied enough to open the door wide. "Okay, step forward five paces?" Beca instructed, and while there was a brief moment of hesitation, Chloe did as she was told and stepped forward five paces, bringing her into the room. "Okay, you can open your eyes now if you want." Beca held her breath as she watched Chloe open her eyes and let out a gasp.

"Oh Beca…" was all the redhead could muster before tears became evident, her eyes now glistening in the reflection of the candles that were lit around the picnic area in the middle of the room.

Beca began making her way over to the blanket on the floor, "Now I know it's not a trip to London to have dinner at the place we had our first date. Believe me, I tried to get the time off work that would allow that but-"

"Beca this is perfect!"

Beca grinned awkwardly, thrilled that Chloe was so happy with the effort she'd made. She took one of the plates of Spag Bol from her girlfriend and motioned for her to sit on the blanket beside her, which she did. The two smiled at each other as Beca removed the lid of the rosé that had been chilling in the ice bucket beside the blanket, and poured Chloe a glass, handing it to her before opening her own beer. She didn't notice Chloe looking at her in anticipation as she took a long swig of the cool beer, closing her eyes as the cold liquid touched her tongue and Beca let out a satisfied sigh as she swallowed the mouthful with a grin. She'd missed this beer. She was slightly taken aback when she opened her eyes and saw her girlfriend smiling at her reaction to the gift. Gift!

"Oh, I haven't given you your gift yet!" Beca said in an apologetic tone, and she placed her plate of food down before lifting the lid of the picnic basket. She pulled out an envelope and an A5 sized gift box which had a lid and red bow on top. Beca felt her heart-rate increasing as she handed the envelope and box to her girlfriend who had placed her plate on the floor beside her legs, and looked at her with a curious expression before glancing down at the envelope and box in her hands. "Open the envelope first. Then you can open the box." Beca directed, and she found herself holding her breath again as she watched the woman eagerly rip open the envelope and pull out a card.

It was as though time had stood still. Chloe peered at the front of the card, her chest beginning to rise and fall a little faster with every few seconds that went by. Beca bit her bottom lip in anticipation. She was going to freak. Chloe opened the card, so the front faced the brunette, as she read the words within the card. The front of the card had a Polaroid photo of a small white Labrador puppy slotted into the front. The words on the front of the card read Happy First Anniversary Mommy!

Beca watched as Chloe read the words within the card twice, then suddenly looked up at her, a shocked smile on her face. Beca simply smiled, "Open your present" and her heart rate continued to ram along at a fast rate as Chloe quickly lifted the lid of the gift box and let out a short squeal, reaching in a pulling out a tiny pink dog collar. Almost instantly tears began welling up in the redhead's eyes as she grabbed the card and stared at the Polaroid on the front of it, her mouth open in shock, realising it was a real photo.

"That's a photo of our puppy Chlo. We pick her up tomorrow."

Before Beca could say anything else an excitable shriek left Chloe's mouth, and the woman threw herself at the petite brunette, wrapping her arms around her neck and hugging her tight. She could hear Chloe begin to cry loudly and Beca reached around to peel the redhead's arms from around her with a chuckle. Chloe didn't stop crying, "Is…is this a joke?" she sobbed.

"Nope. That's really our puppy right there Chlo."

And Chloe began crying louder, before ducking forward and kissing Beca hard on the lips, her tears mixing across their tongues, her hands cupping Beca's cheeks.

"But…how…when did you have time to organise this?" Chloe sobbed as she pulled away from Beca's face to look down at the photo of their puppy once again.

"One of my colleagues has a brother out in Connecticut who breeds dogs. I spoke to him a little while back about maybe taking one of the puppies from his next litter off his hands." Beca explained softly, a broad smile on her face, "He arranged for me to pop over last week and meet them and this one was just perfect Chlo. So she's ready to leave her mother tomorrow and come home with us." To her surprise she saw Chloe look up from the card in her hand, a worried expression on her face.

"But…we don't have anything for her. No food, or a bed-" But Chloe stopped the moment Beca held a hand up at her.

"That is where the rest of your present comes in…" the brunette started, and she stood up from the blanket and strode over to the other side of the bed. Beca dragged a dog crate into Chloe's view, "…I got us a crate, so we can crate train her…" she then took hold of a large bag with bits and bobs in. She pulled each item out one by one, holding them out to show Chloe,

"…there's a lead here…" she placed the lead on top of the crate,

"…and a cool squeaky toy…" she squeezed a plastic green cartoon alien and chuckled at it's sound before placing it on the crate with the lead,

"…some treats…" a packet of dog treats were plonked on the crate,

"…and I got this little cuddly toy for her because apparently puppies like to have a cuddly toy to curl up with when they're in their new home…" she said as she placed a toy bunny on the crate,

"…which I read in this book here…" and Beca held up a book called So you're getting a puppy! before placing it on the little room that was left on top of the crate,

"…and finally I bought us this to look through tonight and tomorrow." and Beca held up a Baby Names book which caused Chloe to raise her eyebrows slightly, so the brunette quickly felt the need to explain "Well, we've got to have a name for her!"

"Alba" Chloe said in a flash, taking Beca by surprise.

"Huh?"

"Her name is Alba"

"Um…" Beca glanced from her girlfriend, to the book in her hand, then back to her girlfriend again. She was confused. Had Chloe already had their dog's name picked out?

"When I was growing up I always wanted a dog and I promised myself that when I was an adult I'd call my first dog Alba. It means 'White'. And she's a white Labrador." Chloe said, motioning to the puppy in the photo that was now in her hand.

Beca couldn't help the smile that grew on her face. Why was she so surprised that Chloe had already named their puppy long before they'd even discussed getting one? Alba was a nice name. Beca, Chloe and Alba. Yeah, perfect.

"Alba it is." Beca said with a smile and she chuckled as Chloe let out another little squeal before quickly getting to her feet and dashing over to Beca, pulling the petite brunette into a tight hug and kissing her hard on the lips. Yeah, this was already the best first anniversary Beca had ever had.

Hellooooo! It's been over a week since my last update and for that I'm sorry - I can't even begin to describe how crazy the past 10 days have been. But I'm back!

I have a bit of homework for you guys. Check out 'The One (Acoustic)' by Kodaline on YouTube. Get to know the composition of the song - but don't worry too much about the video or the lyrics. Just get used to the song. You'll see why in about 3 chapters time...

Also, how fun is the new Pitch Perfect 3 trailer huh? Very little BeChloe interaction but it's too be expected - it's not their story at the end of the day, it's about The Bella's :)

Skyeze.10 - Your wish is my command dude, here was a longer chapter for you (twice as long as the previous!)

LauratheChef - ooh thanks for the tip! I'll see how I go, but if I struggle I'll take your advice :)

LighteningShades - thanks for the compliments! Funny you should say about including more of The Bella's. Their time will come, don't you worry. Beca & Chloe will be seeing them all together soon.

Mystery Guest - hello! Welcome! And thank you :) I hope you enjoyed this update!

Now then, Leapyearbaby29 - crumbs oh crumbs have you asked me so many questions haha! Many of which are answered in later chapters so I hope they're getting answered for you as you continue to read. My time is filled to the brim at the mo so I'm afraid I don't have any time to take any 'Bechloe prompts' but thank you for offering anyway! And I thiiink all the flashbacks in this fic are based on my imagination of what I think would/did happen. Nothing has really come from Pitch Perfects 1&2 specifically.

As always, a huge thank you for all your reviews! Big hugs x