Epilogue XXXXIV – The Next Step

The August morning sun beat down on the Connecticut house, but Beca and Chloe sat, shaded happily on the front porch. Alba lay dutifully at their feet, letting out snoozy sighs from time to time. Chloe sat on one side of the large swing-chair, her legs tucked beneath her while she read a novel. Beca sat on the other side of her, her legs crossed, with the tip of the big toe on her right foot gently rocking the hanging chair they were on.

There was a beautiful warm breeze trickling across the front of the house. The birds sang. And somewhere in the distance was the sounds of neighbours cutting their lawn. The perfect Sunday.

Beca took a sip of her coffee, placing the mug gently back down on the small table beside the hanging chair, then resumed her focus on the Sunday newspaper that had been delivered to their door by a paperboy a couple of hours earlier.

"Have you had much thought recently about us starting a family?" Beca asked suddenly, looking up from the newspaper, and a smile slowly spread on her face when she heard her wife let out a small gasp while quickly snapping her attention over at the brunette. "It's just I'm reading an article about IVF…" she added, looking back down at the newspaper, "…and it sounds expensive and exhausting but…" Beca looked back over at her wife with a calm smile, "…it'd be worth it to have a bunch of mini you's and me's running about the place, huh?"

Her heart skipped a beat as Chloe's smile broadened into her signature broad grin. The woman was excited, she could tell. Beca knew it was Chloe's dream to have a family. To have a bunch of kids to love and nurture. She'd always known that about Chloe in a funny way.

"I think about it all the time!" Chloe gushed, folding the corner of a page in her book and placing it on her lap to give Beca her entire attention, "You're sure we could afford it?"

"I mean it's not like we struggle, babe. We've got plenty of savings and good incomes. But I can crunch some numbers just to be sure?"

Beca watched as her wife let out a happy sigh, the redhead turning to look out of the front porch and into their front yard. Chloe looked excited at the prospect of becoming a mother. Excited that they were finally having this conversation. And Beca just knew her wife would be the best mother in the world to any children they ended up having.

"Would you want to carry it?" Chloe asked tentatively, but Beca immediately scrunched her nose up.

"God no."

And she watched as her wife quickly turned to look at her with a surprised expression, "Really?"

"No way dude. I like my crazy hormones the way they are thank you very much."

Chloe's surprised expression softened, and it caused Beca's face to unscrunch. The redhead already looked rather relieved that they wouldn't end up fighting over who would carry their babies.

"Oh I've always wanted to carry a baby!" Chloe replied in a wistful tone, turning back to the front yard as though she could see their children running around before her already, "The feel of it moving and growing and kicking within you. The connection, knowing that nobody but you can feed and protect it-"

"-The morning sickness.." Beca added helpfully in a less than enthusiastic tone and Chloe turned to her with a sweet smile.

"Again, just a small price to pay for something so magical."

There was a pause while the two women looked into one another's eyes, soft smiles on their faces. This was a big deal. One of the biggest deals. They were going to start a family.

"I want to carry your baby." Chloe said, reaching out to hold her wife's hand and Beca couldn't help raising her eyes with a serious expression.

"Well I hate to break it to you, Chlo, but in case you hadn't noticed I don't have a dick so…"

A loud chuckle fell from the redhead's mouth, Chloe rolling her eyes before looking at her wife with as much seriousness as her amused smile could portray, "I know that. I meant I want to carry one of your eggs. If they can fertilise it via IVF." she said, motioning to the newspaper while she spoke to emphasise her point. Beca hadn't ever thought of that as an option and she hesitated. She felt…honoured really, that her wife would want to do something so sweet.

"It'd be genetically yours but I'll have grown it and fed it in the womb then I'll be breastfeeding it after it's been born so we'll have both contributed in a way?"

A suspicious smile grew on Beca's face and she squinted her eyes slightly, entirely amused by her wife's attention to detail here, "You've put a lot of thought into this, haven't you."

"Little bit." Chloe mumbled, tugging her bottom lip between her teeth guiltily. But Beca loved it.

Normally she was the one who had to plan plan plan. She was the one who put hours of reading and research into any next venture. But unbeknownst to her, her wife had been doing her own reading and research. It filled Beca with confidence. They were ready to start looking into this properly. They were ready to take the next step.

"Okay," Beca agreed in a calm tone, squeezing Chloe's hand assuringly, "let's do it."

And she let out a loud giggle as Chloe let out a squeal, scrambling from her seated position and throwing herself into Beca's arms to kiss her hard. The commotion had Alba immediately getting to her feet, her tail wagging, and she too scrambled up onto the hanging chair to lunge at her owners, licking Beca's face furiously.

They were going to become quite the family.

Massive thanks to everyone who's keeping up with this story even though I only update every several weeks! I update my Tumblr Account with a new Bechloe one shot every single day (find me asweetmelodytrickling).

On my account there I've actually written quite a few Future One Shot from this Universe featuring Bechloe and their kids and The Beales etc. But if you'd rather just wait until I post them within this story on here then that's cool :)

Hope you're all well!