Epilogue XXXXI – THE SURPRISE GIFT

Chloe's childhood bedroom was silent, the redhead tucked up under the bedcovers, sleeping heavily while snuggled into her wife's petite body – Beca's arms wrapped comfortably around her. Laid faithfully on the floor at the foot of the bed was their dog, Alba, her head resting on her paws while dozing on and off. Her ears continued to twitch, however, picking up the chatting sounds coming from the bedroom where the young Beale children 'slept' – Beca and Chloe's nephews and nieces – a few rooms down from where the two women slept.

Christmas Day was always a huge deal in the Beale family – Jerry and Sue both loving having their three sons and daughter over for the holiday season, with all of their daughter-in-laws and subsequent grandchildren in tow. The large house was full to the brim with laughter and happiness and food and games and all the things that a Christmas holiday was supposed to be like. This was Beca's third Christmas spent with the family, and her first ever Christmas as a 'Beale by marriage'. Of course the second Beca and Chloe had arrived at the house yesterday afternoon they'd immediately been engulfed with hugs and shrieks of delight from their nieces and nephews, all battling to hug their favourite Aunts as tight as possible. This had left the two women with no choice but to giggle merrily, looking over at the children's parents who watched in amusement. Now, however, both Beca and Chloe Beale slept peacefully in the large bed that had once been Chloe's growing up.

Alba's head shot up at the sound of loud whispers and giggles that increased in volume the closer to the outside of the bedroom door the owners of those voices became. The Labrador scrambled up to her feet, stretching and letting out a yawn, before padding over to the door, her tail wagging. Her owners had absolutely no idea about the noise that was going to fill the bedroom at any moment.

Suddenly the door burst open and Beca and Chloe jumped out of their skins as The Beale kids all tumbled into the room, crying out in delighted voices, "It's Chriiiiiistmas!"

Beca let out a loud groan – a default reaction to being woken before she was ready - bringing her arms from around her wife, taking hold of the pillow under her head and ducking under it for safety. But it only made the children laugh; the twins, Jack and Oliver, scrambling up onto her side of the bed while Sammy was already busy squishing himself between his aunts to tug the pillow from Beca's hands. Eva, now being a teenager, wasn't part of the noisy convoy – choosing to sleep in as many teenagers would – so that was technically one less noisy kid to have to try to fit on the bed. But the baby of the gaggle, Ellie, was no longer a baby – the four year old not really understanding how boisterous she could be. Beca let out a loud "oof!" as the youngest Beale landed on her stomach with a giggle, and that was when Chloe decided her niece and nephews needed to calm down.

"Okay everybody stop!" Chloe called out loud and firm. The kids, having never heard their aunt sound so firm before immediately froze and turned to look at Chloe, the colour draining from their faces. Chloe let out a light exhale, her voice softening, "Darlings could you please be gentle with your Auntie Beca," and she scooped her youngest niece from her wife's stomach, dragging her off and onto her lap instead, "you know she's not keen on early morning wake-ups."

Beca eased herself up in the bed, letting out a huge sigh of relief as three of their nephews around her stopped clambering over her and snuggled slightly under the bedcovers to hug her waist instead. She smoothed her hands through their hair affectionately then looked over at her wife gratefully, and Chloe smiled gently at her. The redhead had both Ellie and Noah on her lap – impressive really when you considered Noah was a whole seven years old now. The final nephew onto the bed was the eldest – Hunter – who sat at the bottom of the bed with Alba (who had taken advantage of her owners distractions and had lumbered up onto the mattress) and Max (Samuel and Ellie's Labrador who had just done as his best bud Alba did).

It was like their own little family gathering, and Beca took the time to take note of how nice it felt: the idea of she and Chloe in bed with their children and their dogs one morning. Really nice.

"Can we go into Grandma and Grandad's room yet?" Ellie asked in her little voice and Beca grinned over at the four year old.

"That depends kiddo. What time is it?"

All eight Beale's turned their attention to The Little Mermaid clock that stood on the bedside table beside Chloe. For those children who could tell the time, their eyes lit up; for those children who couldn't tell the time they furrowed their brows. Beca and Chloe smiled gently.

"It's 6.30!" Sammy squeaked in delight and the children (except for eleven year old Hunter – who was getting a little more reserved the older he became) let out loud cheers. Beca and Chloe chuckled as the dogs and children scrambled off the bed, quickly disappearing out of the bedroom to ram into their grandparents' bedroom so they could start opening the 'Stocking Presents'.

Chloe turned to her wife who was already looking at her affectionately, and a smile swept over her face, "Happy Christmas, Sweetheart." she whispered, leaning her face towards Beca's.

"Happy Christmas." Beca mumbled back with a calm smile on her face, leaning towards Chloe. They shared a gentle kiss, both still imagining what their life may be like in years to come when they hopefully had children of their own, then quickly snapped apart when they heard someone clear their throat loudly in the doorway. Beca and Chloe turned to see that Johnny – Chloe's middle brother – had stopped in the doorway just as they'd kissed. He had a teasing grin on his face, but his cheeks were flushed, and Chloe wondered if her big brother was actually a little embarrassed to see his little sister kissing in front of him.

"You've had all night to do that." Johnny said with a grin, chuckling when Beca and Chloe cleared their throats nervously, "Better get into Mom and Dad's room for presents or the kids will hunt you down." Because The Beale's always waited for the whole family to be in the bedroom before the kids were allowed to open any presents. And it truly tested the children's patience sometimes..

—

The Beale's, like every Christmas, were crammed into Jerry and Sue's bedroom, every person in the room donning a set of Christmas pyjamas – Beca included (the pyjamas she was wearing at that moment in time having been her 'present chest gift' from last Christmas). The adults were all watching as Hunter held the lid to the 'Present Chest' up while the younger children eagerly grappled to pick out the gifts within, ready to hand out to the grown ups in the room.

To Beca and Chloe's surprise and mild confusion, Jack and Oliver wandered over with a large thin rectangular gift that had been addressed to both Beca and Chloe from 'Santa'. The two women peered at the size of the gift, wondering what the hell it could be. Then Chloe looked up at her parents, her father busy directing his grandchildren. But Chloe's mother was looking at her with an eager grin. Something was going on…

Excruciatingly, it was a unanimous vote from Chloe's parents, brothers, and sisters-in-law, that Beca and Chloe should open their gift last. So the two young women had to wait as patiently as possible while the other adults in the room opened their gifts from Santa.

"What do you think it is?" Beca mumbled quietly into her wife's ear, but Chloe just shrugged, shaking her head slightly.

"I've got no idea!" Chloe whispered back. And she really didn't. She'd had twenty nine Christmas' in this family and had never seen a gift from the Present Chest so big before. The gifts were usually just a little something from the bargain containers in Walmart. A little something to open. But nothing like this – the present stretching flat across both their laps.

Finally the time came when Beca and Chloe could finally open their joint gift. Sammy, Jack, Oliver, Noah, and Ellie waded through the gift wrap that was strewn all over the floor and stood in front of their Aunts, watching them unwrap with eager anticipation. All eyes were trained on the gift.

"Um.." Beca began with a furrowed brow as she let her wife hold the gift up to inspect it further, "..wow..thanks Santa.." she eventually said in a confused tone. The gift was a 'welcome mat' for a front porch. Except..Beca and Chloe didn't have a front porch. And Beca wondered if The Beale's (uh..Santa) had really thought this gift through..

"It's lovely but…we don't exactly have a front porch to put this in guys." Chloe said with an air of caution, bringing the mat down to look over at her parents apologetically. But Jerry and Sue just grinned at their daughter.

"Why don't you open this, Twinkle." Jerry said kindly, holding out an envelope towards Beca and Chloe, and Sammy quickly dashed over to his Grandad to collect the envelope to pass to his Aunts. Beca and Chloe took the envelope nervously, and Chloe peered at the familiar handwriting on the front.

"It's a card from Grandmother?" the redhead asked rhetorically, looking up at her parents and siblings who were all looking at her with calm smiles on their faces. Grandmother Richmond had taken all of them by surprise earlier in the year at Beca and Chloe's wedding by approaching Beca and telling her how pleased she was to see her only Granddaughter – her youngest Grandchild, Chloe – looking so happy. Sue's strict mother had then gone on to pat Beca kindly on the arm before wandering off, leaving The Beale's and Beca stunned at the positive interaction.

"It's…a picture of a house…" Beca said in a confused tone, pulling the card from the envelope.

"Oh, it's Grandmother's House!" Chloe said with a soft coo, smiling at the photo on the front of the card. She loved that big old house and it's beautiful white picket fence around the edges of the ample garden. She and her brothers had had many a happy childhood memory made there. Both Beca and Chloe were too busy reading the handwritten message within to notice Jerry and Sue look to one another then over to their sons who were all smiling happily at their little sister.

Chloe and Beca's mouths both dropped open as they reached the end on the words in the card. Their hearts were racing and Beca kept reading and re-reading the words while Chloe took the time to snap her attention up to her parents.

"Is…" Chloe began, taking a moment to pause and drink in their kind expressions, "…is she serious?" and her parents nodded gently, letting out soft "Uhuh"s.

"But.." Beca began, her heart racing as she joined her wife in looking at the couple sat up in their bed calmly, "..this is an entire house! We-We...can't possibly accept this!"

"Why not?" Sue asked, as though what was being offered was the most simplest thing on the planet, "That house has been handed down to the first female of each generation in my family line since it was built a couple of hundred years ago."

Chloe looked up from the card and let out a heavy sigh to try to contain her excitement when she realised what this meant. Her mother continued to explain kindly while her father and brothers nodded.

"Now, you are the next female. It will be yours. Then become your daughter's. Then her daughter's. And so on-"

"-but Mom." Chloe interrupted, "You're still here. Shouldn't it go to you first?"

It was odd talking about property like this. It was as though Grandmother Richmond had passed away already when she hadn't. The woman had been struggling to care for herself in that giant house alone, so she'd finally conceded that she needed to go to a care home, thus finding reason to pass her house down to her daughter as her mother had done to her.

"And it did sweetheart." Sue explained gently to her daughter, "But your father and I agreed that we didn't need the property. We're happy where we are. It's you and Beca who are looking for somewhere commutable to NYC, and your job over on Broadway starts next month. Why not make this opportunity the beginning of your next new adventure as a married couple – setting up home together."

Chloe was stunned, a soft smile gracing her face while she looked down at the card in her hand. Her eyes inspecting the house a little closer. This was…this was going to be her and Beca's home. It was big and beautiful and perfect!

"Sue, we-" Beca began in an awkward tone, clearly about to insist again that they couldn't possibly accept this very kind gift, but Jerry held a hand up and said in a firm but kind tone:

"Beca, believe me. If there's one thing I've learnt over the years of being married into this particular line of the family, it's that you never protest against Alice Richmond. Ever. If she wants to give you a house, you take it."

Beca paused then looked down at the card in her wife's hand. A whole house? With Beca's past couple of years of success in the music industry coupled with her impeccable ability to keep an eye on their money and the addition of Chloe's impending success on Broadway – well it wasn't as though they couldn't afford a house of their own. But this home right here had the addition of sentimental value. With no real outgoings other than bills and travel, Beca and Chloe (and Alba) would definitely be able to live comfortably.

The brunette looked up at her in laws, then over at her wife's brothers. What about them? They had families of their own. Surely one of them would better deserve it than she and Chloe did?

"It's alright, Beca." Michael confirmed with a kind smile.

"Yeah we've always known Chlo-Bo would get Grandmother's house eventually." Ryan agreed with a shrug, and Johnny nodded too:

"Might as well have it now while you're both still young."

Beca took a sharp intake of breath and turned to her wife. Chloe was already looking at her with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face that Beca could tell the woman was holding back on so she didn't scare her. But there was no way Chloe could ever scare Beca. They'd known each other for over seven years now..

"Then it looks like we're moving to Connecticut." Beca said with a shrug, a broad smile growing on her face, and Chloe let out a light squeak of delight.

"Ewwwww!" came the chorus of voices from all The Beale children as they watch their Aunts kiss and Beca and Chloe quickly snapped apart with coy grins while the other adults in the room got to their feet. The Beale's made their way over to Beca and Chloe one by one, hugging and congratulating them on what would be their new home. And both Beca and Chloe hugged them all back – still unable to believe all that was happening. They were finally going to be homeowners!