The Course of True Love

It was a whirlwind of activity after that. Doctors and nurses rushing in and out. Her parents and little brother were called immediately, and hadn't left her side since, Aubrey and I in the room with them. The rest of the Bellas were forced to leave, but they were in the waiting room talking to some hospital administrators about what the hell had happened.

Chloe had fallen immediately back to sleep after her little outburst, but even I could tell she was simply sleeping instead of comatose. Her vitals and brain activity were fluctuating, for one. And she was tossing and turning, mumbling in her sleep. My stomach would flip pleasantly and I would blush profusely each time I heard her say my name.

I wasn't sobbing, but since hearing Chloe speak for the first time in a month and a half tears had been rolling continuously down my cheeks. I didn't even notice them, so focused was I on the object of my deepest affection.

"Beca, honey?" Mrs. Beale gently touched my shoulder from behind to get my attention. I'd been sitting next to Chloe's bed, probably in the way of the doctors and nurses bustling to and fro, since she'd awoken, holding her hand like it was a lifeline. Mine this time, instead of hers. "Dr. Benson needs to check on Chloe. Let's go for a walk okay?"

I bit my lip. The last thing in the world I wanted to do right now was leave this room. Leave Chloe. But I squeezed Chloe's hand softly, nodded my head, and followed Anita out of the room. She led us to the hospital cafeteria where she paid for two cups of coffee and led us to a table against the wall.

I didn't look up from the cup of coffee that had been slid across to me, spinning it around slowly on the table. I took a small sip, and waited. I wasn't sure why, in this moment, I was so afraid until she began to speak.

"She's going to be okay. I don't know how you did it, but you woke up my little girl," she was fighting to be strong, I could tell. When I looked up, she was furiously blinking away the tears that desperately wanted to fall. "I gave up on her Beca. I gave up on my daughter. I'd been convinced that she was lost to me forever." Anita Beale looked so small in this moment. So fragile, like the slightest touch would break her. I looked back down at my cup of coffee, giving her a small semblance of privacy in which to grieve for the daughter she almost lost. I didn't know what to say, and it was some time before she was able to speak again.

She reached across the table to grab my hand. I looked up at her to find that she was looking at me fiercely. "Thank you Beca. I will never, ever be able to repay you. You refused to give up, and you brought her back to me. If there is ever, ever anything I can do for you don't hesitate to let me know, okay?"

Her gratitude was making me uncomfortable, so I averted my gaze again, focusing instead on my fascinating cup of hospital coffee. I wanted to be so angry at her. She almost took Chloe from me again. She almost ripped my soul completely out of my body. But she was a mother. She was Chloe's mother. I couldn't even imagine how difficult and painful her decision must have been. I had to force myself to see that she was trying to do the right thing, for herself, and for Chloe.

"Actually, there is one thing," I smirked, and then looked back up at this woman who'd once been like a mother to me. "I would appreciate it if I had your permission to date your daughter."

Chloe's mother burst out laughing, wiping at the tears escaping from the corners of her eyes. I was reminded in this moment how beautiful Chloe's mother was, and how beautiful Chloe would look years from now. "Dear God Beca, I needed that," she looked wryly at me. "I wasn't aware you or my daughter needed permission to date."

"Well, no, but she is important to me. The most important thing in the world, in fact."

"Rebecca," I groaned at her use of my first name, but she just smirked at me, "We've gotten to know each other well over the last month and a half. I know you're the type to ask forgiveness instead of permission. So why are we having this conversation?"

I was starting to get worried. I mean, I just wanted her permission to date Chloe. It shouldn't have become a thing, but it seemed like she wanted to make it one. But why?

"Because we both know how important Chloe is to me," Anita nodded, grin still in place, "But over the last month and a half, you've become important to me too. You and Billy and James. I just want to go into this thing with Chloe with all of us on the same page, you know? This isn't some frivolous, fleeting thing. I am going to treasure her. I will treat her the way she deserves, and I will do everything I can to make sure that she's happy. No matter what."

"You're an idiot, you know." I jerked back as if slapped. She just rolled her eyes at me. "Beca, I saw the note. I know why you were at your house instead of at Barden, and I know why Chloe was on her way to see you. So of course I know you would put her happiness first."

I bit my lip and looked away, tears welling in my eyes. She reached across the table to grab my hand again. "That's why I'd be overjoyed if you dated my daughter." I snapped my gaze back to hers. "Don't look so surprised Rebecca. All a parent wants in this world is for their children to be happy. If I knew nothing else about you other than what I read in that note, it would be enough. But I've also seen how utterly devoted you've been since Chloe was…" She coughed instead of saying the word. She still had trouble saying it, and I didn't blame her. "You've been unflappable, completely convinced Chloe would make a recovery. And in the end, you gave me back my daughter," she sniffled and squeezed my hand tighter, "You gave me back my daughter, so of course you have my permission. I couldn't have picked someone more perfect for my little girl."

It was another day before Chloe woke again. I was, as usual, sitting in the chair next to her bed, holding her hand.

"Beca?" She said softly, squeezing the hand in hers. I startled immediately awake, looking Chloe over for any for injury or discomfort before seeing the smile on her face and calming.

"Hey Chlo," I smiled back at her, "I've missed you."

Alarmingly, Chloe began to cry. "God Beca, I've missed you too. So much."

I searched Chloe's face, confused. As far as I knew coma patients weren't fully aware of their surroundings. So, though it had been a month and a half since I had been able to talk to Chloe, to Chloe it should have only felt like a day or so. "What do you mean Chlo?"

Chloe bit her lip and decided to take a chance. "When are you going to take me on that helicopter ride? You did promise."

I jerked back in surprise, eyes widened comically, and sputtered. "But…you…"

Chloe slumped in relief. "You remember. Thank God."

The noise that came out of my mouth must have been close enough to the sound of a question because she continued.

"I've spent the last nine months or so in a mental institution," Chloe scrunched up her face cutely, "and I've also attended Barden University. I remember dying in that car accident and waking up in the hospital learning that you died instead. But I also remember never having known you. I have two full sets of memories, and it's very disorienting. Just before the accident they hit me. I remembered everything," She paused to take a breath. "It was so hard to keep going. I don't know how you did it."

I looked away, guilty. "I didn't."

"Oh."

I looked back at her with beseeching eyes, begging her to understand. "I couldn't Chloe. I couldn't live without you. I had nothing. No one else. My dad had even given up on me. I lasted six months without you. That was all I could take, and then the dam broke."

"Hey," at some point during my little speech I'd looked away, afraid of what I'd see in Chloe's eyes. I didn't know if I could handle seeing disappointment or revulsion, "Hey, Beca, look at me." So I did. All I saw in those gorgeous blue eyes was tenderness and understanding. "I lasted a week," I blinked in surprise. "A week before I got in a bathtub and slit my wrists. That was where my mother found me. That, and the fact I was talking like a crazy person, got me locked up for my own good. I'd been there ever since. I was beginning to believe them." Her breath hitched, and then she started sobbing. I crawled up in bed with her and pulled her to me.

"It's okay now. Everything is okay." I kept repeating over and over until she'd calmed.

"Beca, Billy was gone. He was just, he didn't exist there. My parents had divorced before he was born, and… I almost believed them. I almost believed that I was crazy! But I remember him here, I have a brother, right?" Her voice sounded so small and broken that my heart ached for her and what she'd been through. It was so much worse than what I went through.

"Yes Chlo. You have a brother. And he's just like I remember him." I chuckled and she sighed in relief, "I actually bumped into him, literally, my first day here. He didn't know who I was, obviously, but it was what led me to hope you were alive here. If we'd never met, we would have never been in that car accident together."

She was holding me tightly when she said, "God I missed this." She pulled back slightly to wink at me, which caused me to giggle, and settled herself back against me.

"So did I Chloe. So did I." I basked in this feeling for a moment longer while trying to put it into words. I could almost feel all of my broken pieces being put back together. The world was tilting on its axis again, but only to put things back the way they were supposed to be. "And as soon as you're out of here, I'll take you on that helicopter ride." I said, smirking into her hair.

When her parents got off work hours later and came to the hospital, they found Beca and Chloe still cuddled up together on the hospital bed fast asleep. James pulled his wife into his side and they both smiled at the couple lying so close together.

"You're alright with this, right James?" Anita ventured cautiously. "With Chloe and Beca…"

James chuckled and said, "You know, from the moment Chloe was born I never thought there would ever be someone good enough for her. I liked Tom. I really did, but he still fell short of what she deserved. But look at that girl, Anita. If there is anyone in the world I would venture to say is good enough for our little girl, it's Beca." He looked at his wife with a mischievous expression. "Hell, I'm almost worried that Chloe isn't good enough for Beca."

His wife playfully slapped his arm, "Oh stop it. You know they are perfect for each other."

James laughed quietly to avoid waking the sleeping girls and pulled his wife in tighter. He gazed lovingly at his daughter, and the brunette who'd become like a daughter to him in the last month and a half. "Yes, I do."

Lilly had fixed it, at least in this universe. To be fair, she had never needed to do anything before. Beca and Chloe were together in every universe she'd ever been 'snapped' to. Well, except in that one crazy backwards universe where somehow Beca had begun dating that Treble Jesse. Lilly didn't need to intervene there either because eventually Beca had come to her senses.

Destiny, fate, all of that was bullshit. Your life is your own, your decisions are yours to make. But the course of true love is inevitable. Because who in their right mind would fight the pull of the other half of their soul? Lilly knew for a fact that Beca and Chloe, no matter the universe, and no matter the lives they'd lived there, wouldn't. They'd always end up together.

Fin

A/N This isn't exactly the ending I had planned when I started writing this. After all I'd put these two through, I kinda gave them the Bechloe version of the Wayne's World Mega Happy Ending. Haven't decided if there will be an epilogue because I almost feel the story ending here almost feels right. Feel free to disagree and let me know if an epilogue is wanted. For now, though, I'm marking this as completed.

I need to say a sincere thank you to all of you who followed, favorited, and especially reviewed. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!

This is Whikky, signing off. Peace out Pitches.