Beca and her daughter Anna bake a cake for Chloe's birthday.

One Friday, after Beca had picked up Anna from school, the little girl proudly waved around a piece of paper.

"What's that baby?" asked Beca, trying to figure out what the colorful blur in front of her face was.

"It's a birthday card for Mommy!" Anna stated, "Lookie! Isn't it aca-some?"

"Aca-awesome," Beca corrected, mentally chastising herself for even caring enough to correct her daughter on something that started way back when she was 18 years old and a freshman at Barden.

"Yeah, aca-some!" Anna repeated, showing Beca the card that she had made for Chloe.

Beca squinted at all the squiggles on the piece of construction that was covered in stickers and glitter. "It's so pretty! Tell me about your picture," Beca requested, since she had no idea what to make of it all.

"This is me, and you, and Mama and Bitty," Anna explained, pointing to each stick figure on the paper.

When Brittany was first born, Anna thought that her little sister was a doll. She had doll that looked like her, and some Bitty Babies. When Chloe and Beca would talk to Brittany, sometimes they called her Britt, which Anna misheard as Bitt. Connecting her Bitty baby dolls to her doll like little sister, Brittany became Bitty. Now, Anna fully knows how to say her sisters proper name, but sometimes she still called Brittany "Bitty" as a nickname.

Once each of the characters were defined, Beca could actually appreciate what she was looking at more. It turns out, Anna paid a lot of attention to details, but just didn't have the super defined fine motor skills to accurately portray those abilities. Plus, in Anna's defense, it was drawn in crayon, which is hard to color in detail with in the first place.

Beca identified the red scribbles as Chloe's hair, and all the random X's on her personal stick figure as the squares on her plaid shirts she always wore. When Beca looked at Anna and Brittany's figures, her heart melted a bit. Her 2 daughters were in between their moms and there was a rainbow heart surrounding the entire family.

On the back of the paper were the words:

Happy Birthday Mommy

Love,

Anna

"Oh, yes! I love it Anna Banana. You did such a wonderful job. I'm sure Mommy will love this," Beca said genuinely.

"Thanks! But Mama, what did you get Mommy?"

Beca froze at that. She had yet to get Chloe anything except a bouquet of flowers. She had ordered a customized bracelet, but it hadn't arrived yet. Beca is fully aware that she can't put things off, but did it anyways. The thing about ordering online though, is that if it ships in 10-14 business days, you could have to wait up to 2 whole weeks before you get your package, assuming it's delivered on time. Beca much preferred Amazon Prime because of it's 2 day shipping, for that exact reason. She had intended to get a second gift to supplement it anyway, but ran out of time to go before she had to pick Anna up from school. Since Beca was a high ranking music producer, her schedule was a bit more flexible than Chloe's. However, it was Chloe's birthday, and she at least wanted to do something special for her.

Thinking on the fly, Beca said, "I'm giving Mommy the night off."

"What does that mean?" asked Anna. "Where's she going to go?"

"She's not going to have to do anything when she gets home from work today."

Chloe worked part time as a vocal music teacher, and ran an outreach community program for underprivileged kids the rest of the time. Right now, Chloe was working on getting her community program ready for the transition to add an after school session, in addition to being open on Saturdays. She had been applying for grants and putting a lot of extra time and hours in, so that her dreams could become a reality.

Beca Mitchell, 13 time Grammy Award winning music producer and DJ extraordinaire was many things. But a stereotypical housewife she was not, seeing as Beca was not a very domestic person by nature. She was constantly leaving clothes on the floor instead of the hamper, dirty dishes in the sink, and all sorts of other things laying all over the house, but if you left her to fend for herself, she could survive.

Even so, what Beca lacked in cleanliness, she definitely made up for in other ways. Beca was good at taking care of her family, and she could also cook. She usually didn't, because Chloe enjoyed it so much, and sometimes she worked late nights at the studio, but she understood the basic concepts. She attributed that to the fact that her mom was frequently away on business and her dad was out of the picture.

"I'm going to make Mommy dinner and a birthday cake!" Beca said. "Then I'm going to let her watch a movie with you, while I clean everything up."

"I want to do it!" Anna exclaimed excitedly. "I know how to read so I can do it."

Beca shuddered at the thought of her daughter baking a cake, but decided to let her help anyway. Anna was 5 now, and all about helping her Mama and Mommy (for the time being).

"How about you be my sous-chef?" Beca placated.

"What's a shoe-chef?" Anna questioned, intrigued by the foreign word.

"SOUS," Beca corrected gently. "It's French, and it means you'll be my little helper."

"No. I'm 5 now, so I am your big helper," Anna replied, grinning broadly.

"Okay big girl, you can help. But be careful, okay?" conceded Beca, slightly wishing that time would stop and her baby would stay little forever.

"YAY!" Anna screamed, as she hugged Beca's legs.

"First we're going to make some chicken fettuccini alfredo and salads, and then we'll bake the cake, Beca planned out. "Does that sound good?"

Boiling the noodles, making the sauce and putting together salads did not take long at all, and soon it was time to bake Chloe's birthday cake. Anna helped Beca gather the flour, sugar, baking powder, butter, eggs, vanilla and milk. She found the measuring spoons and cups, mixer and spatula. Then she scooted her step stool over to the island in the middle of the kitchen and watched intently as Beca laid out all of the ingredients in front of Anna. Beca was inconspicuously helping Anna out, by lining up the ingredients in the order they needed to be used, and putting the correct measuring units besides the ingredients.

It started with Anna handing Beca the things she needed, and Beca doing most of the work. However, once they started baking, Beca realized Anna was totally competent in the kitchen and she became less and less involved, stepping back to watch her daughter do her thing. Anna was staring intently at the recipe and only asked a few questions like "What does 'Sif-ted' mean?"

Anna only really needed help holding the measuring cups and spoons because doing things one handed was still a bit hard for her. Beca learned that the hard way, when Anna ended up dumping about half a bag of flour and a few eggs on the floor. Beca was totally entranced watching her mini-me moving about, scooting her step stool around the kitchen and giggling every time it made a sound against the tile flooring. Once the cake batter was made, Beca intervened and poured the batter into the cake pans. It was definitely a lot messier and it took a lot longer than it would have if Beca had just done it herself, but for some reason, Beca didn't seem to mind it at all. As Beca slid the pans into the oven, she thought about how fast Anna was growing up.

The one-on-one bonding time with Anna was something she had missed, especially since Brittany had arrived. Yes, Beca picked up Anna after school, and occasionally took her places like ice cream or to the studio, but they hadn't had a whole afternoon just having some uninterrupted quality time with just each other in a while. Beca made a mental note to intentionally set aside some time every week, to spend with Anna, even if it meant leaving work early. Beca didn't mind that part anyway, because that's what her assistants and interns were for. She had her whole life to work, but Anna would only be a kid for so long. Work is always there and she was grateful for her work, because that meant she was able to support her family. But in Beca's mind, there was no point in working long hours to support her family, if she couldn't spend time with her family. Coming from a household where she grew up with absent parents, getting fun opportunities to spend with her family were incredibly important to Beca. Once her kids got a bit older, she couldn't wait to take them to places like Disney Land and the Grammys (because that's totally the same type of thing, right?)

"Hey baby bear, I have a question for ya," Beca said, not sure if she really wanted to know the answer, but knowing she also didn't want to not know.

"What Mama?" was the reply.

"Do you ever think I don't spend enough time with you?" Beca held her breath, hoping that her daughter didn't feel the same way Beca did her entire life.

Anna paused, as she collected her thoughts and the words she wanted to say. Beca was nervous that Anna was going to be mad, but instead, she was blown away with what the small child said.

"Well… No, not really. Sometimes, when you leave for work, I miss you. And Brittany always needs stuff. But I know you love me and I love spending time with you."

Beca just stared at her daughter, and wondered what the hell had just come out of her mouth. Beca knew Anna was more advanced than the average 5 year old, but the eloquently given response totally caught her off guard.

Trying to keep the tears at bay, Beca swooped down, grabbed Anna in her arms and hugged her. The amount of relief she felt was indescribable, and she wanted to make sure her daughter knew as much. "Anna, I love you so much, and I'm going to try and make sure we always get to do things like this, hopefully at least a couple times a month. Maybe about once a week or so. Does that sound fun?"

"We get to bake a cake every week?"

"Well, maybe not every week, but we can definitely try and do something every week. How does that work?"

"I love it! And I love you! And I can't wait til next Friday!" Anna yelled, running around the kitchen island in excitement. Anna was still running around the kitchen when the timer on the oven went off. She skidded to a stop in her socked feet in a move that could've been straight out of the movie Risky Business.

"Timer means food!" she exclaimed happily, showing just how much of Beca's traits she had inherited. She started over to the oven, but Beca stopped her in her tracks.

"Not so fast little missy, you could get burned. Let me do this part, okay?"

Anna huffed and stuck out her bottom lip in a very Chloe like pout, but allowed Beca to take the cake out of the over, and set it on a rack to cool.

"How long do we have to wait now?" Anna asked impatiently.

"We have to wait until the cake is cool, because it's not safe to touch it when it is this hot. Also, if you try and decorate the cake right now, all of the frosting and sprinkles will melt! All your hard work will be ruined, and the cake will look messy."

Anna's eyes bulged slightly at this, wanting this cake to be perfect for her Mommy. Unlike Beca as a child (and sometimes even now, depending on the project), Anna was a kid who took her work very seriously and both wanted and expected the best results every time.

"I'll wait. I want this to be the best cake ever."

Beca chuckled and said, "Why don't you go play, and I'll call you when it's ready to decorate?"

"'Kay kay," said Anna as she ran off to the living room. "I'm gonna watch Annie."

Anna had recently discovered the musical and was currently obsessed with it. She almost threw a fit when she couldn't convince Beca and Chloe to call her 'Annie' instead of Anna. They also had a bit of an issue when Anna tried to find her own 'Daddy Warbucks'. Anna claimed that it wasn't fair that she had 2 moms and no dad, even though Chloe and Beca knew she was just saying that to get what she wanted.

Beca got pregnant via IVF first, during a time when she took a year and a half long break between producing records. Chloe also wanted to add to their family, resulting in baby Brittany arriving a few years later. Anna was well aware of how babies were made, thanks to Aunt Stacie, and also accepted the fact that nobody knew who her dad was, just that it was 'sperm donor 2247'. All Anna really had to say about the matter when anyone asked, was that it was super cool that she and Brittany had the same donor for their dad, and both her Mommy and Mama got to have them.

Beca began cleaning up the kitchen, listening to Anna sing in her sweet voice. As she was finishing loading the dishwasher, it seemed that Anna was finishing up her song too, because all of a sudden, "The sun will come out tomorrow. So you got to hang on til tomorrow, come what maaaaay! Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow. You're always a daaaaaay aaaaaaa waaaaaaay," came drifting through the house, as Anna belted the ending lines. Beca made a mental note to let Anna do some recording samples for a fun bonding activity the next time they went to the studio. Beca did have her own studio at home, but that was mostly for mixing and demos. All of her professional equipment was at the record label.

After the dishes were done, Beca checked on Anna to make sure she was still okay. The girl was dancing around the living room, so Beca took that as a sign that she was in fact, fine. As she went around picking up the house and straightening the things that were out of place, Beca came to a realization of just how much Chloe must do around the house to make it look the way it did. Making another mental note to try and be more helpful, Beca moved on to the second floor. Picking up all the discarded clothes, she stripped the bed and started a load of laundry. As she re-made the bed with new sheets and folded and put away the freshly washed clothes, she honestly began to get a bit tired. "I've really got to start to do more cardio…" she thought to herself.

As Beca was walking down the stairs, she wiped off a couple of beads of sweat off her forehead. She walked in to the kitchen and examined the cake. It was cool enough to frost, so she gathered up all of the things needed to decorate a cake, and called out to her oldest daughter.

"Honey, are you ready to help me decorate Mommy's cake?"

"YEAH! Let's do this!" Anna hollered as she ran in to the kitchen.

The two spent the next 20 or so minutes frosting and decorating the cake. A lot of the frosting and sprinkles did get on the cake, but a fair amount also ended up on Anna's tiny fingers and all over the counter. Beca looked at the creation, and while it was very beautiful, she shuddered at the thought of how much sugar Anna would be ingesting that night, combined with the ice cream.

Beca looked at the clock and gasped when she saw that Chloe was due home in about half an hour. "Okay banana. We gotta clean this up and get ready for Mommy to come back," Beca said. "Want to help?"

"Can I lick out the frosting bowl?" Anna bargained.

"Sure, but you also have to clean off the counter too."

"Okay," was the far too innocent reply.

Beca smiled, and turned around to put the decorations away in the pantry. When she returned, Beca let out a chuckle. Anna was bent over the island, licking the counter clean with her tongue.

"Not like that you weirdo," Beca said, handing her daughter a dish rag. "Use this, on the counter please." Anna took it, giggling madly.

"Then clean your hands and face off with this one," Beca continued, handing Anna a damp cloth.

"You're no fun," Anna pouted, trying to hide the smile that was spreading across her face at the same time.

"Yeah, whatever," Beca said as they finished cleaning the kitchen and walked over to the couch in the living room. "Guess that means I can't take you to see Aunt Tay Tay at the studio next week."

Usually when Beca went to the studio and brought Anna along, she just sat in a spinning chair and listened as her mom worked. Beca only brought Anna with her when she was working with an artist whom Beca knew would be okay with a child being in the studio as they worked. Anna loved her 'Aunt Tay Tay' the most. Even though Beca no longer worked directly with Taylor, she did get to see her from time to time, since Beca still worked for the same company and would pop over to Republic Records when they wanted Beca's assistance with a song.

"You wouldn't," Anna glared, looking quite betrayed.

"No, you're right," Beca said, smiling. "And, I think Aunt Tay Tay has something for you that she brought back from her tour!"

Anna squealed and hugged Beca tightly, bouncing up and down on the couch in excitement. "I'll be super good, I promise."

Beca laughed, patting Anna on the back, and looking down at the tiny girl who had settled down in her lap after launching herself into her arms. "I know you will, because Taylor said if you weren't she would give Mommy, Brittany and me our presents and not you."

The worried look on Anna's face made Beca feel a bit bad, "Just be yourself and there shouldn't be any problems."

"I'm a Mitchell," she said proudly, "Even if there was a problem, you have people for that."

Beca wanted to be shocked, but knew that she had said those same words to Chloe more than once.

"Dude, look. It's okay. It's being taken care of…"

"Chloe it's gonna be fine, chill. I'll just get someone to fix it…"

"Babe, relax, they're already on it…"

"Chloe, don't worry about it, I have people for that…"

"Just because I say that doesn't mean that you get to use it as an excuse to be rude," Beca scolded lightly. "I have people who help me when I don't know how to fix a problem. I try not to have them fix ALL of my problems."

"Mmmhmm. Okay," Anna said sarcastically, showing exactly whose daughter she really was.

"Well, most of them," Beca acquiesced. "Sometimes, I am just lazy. But shhhh. Don't tell Mommy."

"Don't tell Mommy what?" came a voice from behind Beca and Anna.

The two turned around to see Chloe standing in the hallway, holding Brittany on her hip.

"Mama is lazy," Anna tattled. Beca lightly smacked Anna's leg, as she stood up to greet her wife with a kiss.

"Oh, I could've told you that," Chloe giggled against Beca's lips as she returned the kiss.

"Rude," Beca said, as she turned to kiss Brittany on the forehead.

Brittany stretched out her arms towards her Mama and Beca took her from Chloe's arms. As she gently swayed from side to side, she turned back to Chloe.

"Hi love, how was your day?" Beca asked.

"It was good, but I'm glad to be home," Chloe responded, walking over to the couch and wrapping her arms around Anna for a hug.

"And how was your day at daycare?" Beca said to Brittany, not expecting an answer, but asking anyway. Brittany gurgled in response and nuzzled into Beca's shoulder.

"That's great!" Beca said, as if she understood what Brittany was saying.

"Oh. And Chloe, Anna and I have some birthday surprises for you, whenever you're ready!"

"Great! Let me just get changed and I'll start on dinner," Chloe said.

"Dinner is already made," Beca said proudly, "So while you get changed, I'll get it set up."

"Oh, Becs," Chloe said, "Really? That's so sweet of you."

"Really. Now go," Beca commanded, giving Chloe another kiss and a smack to the butt.

"I'm going, I'm going!" Chloe said, hands up in the air, as she headed towards the stairs.

Anna set the table as Beca took the pasta out of the warming oven and retrieved the salad from the fridge.

As Beca finished putting everything on the table, Chloe came down the stairs. She was dressed in an old band t-shirt of Beca's and some yoga pants, with her hair tied up in a messy bun and her glasses on. The thing about Chloe, in Beca's opinion, was that she always looked beautiful, no matter if they were going to an awards ceremony or just hanging out at home.

"Ohhh. Something smells delicious," Chloe said, walking into the dining room. "Looks great too!"

"Only the best, for you my dear. Happy birthday baby," Beca said, as she handed Chloe some flowers.

"Aww. Thanks babe. I love you."

"I love you too," Beca said quickly, not wanting to ruin the moment, but also wanting to eat.

"I'm hungry," Anna announced, "Can we please eat now?"

Beca and Chloe laughed, and turned to sit down at the table. "Of course, munchkin. You worked hard today too."

"Oh really?" Chloe asked, her interest peaked. "What did you do, Anna?"

"I made you a card at school!" Anna started to get up to grab it, but decided against it.

"I'll show you after dinner. I don't want you to get food on it," Anna explained, as she sat back down. "So hurry up."

"Sounds like a plan," said Chloe, chuckling at how different Anna and Beca were sometimes.

"You'll have to wait a bit longer, if you want to have dessert," Beca said, smirking at her girls.

"Oh yeah. You will get it, but not 'til cake," Anna declared. "I made it myself."

"Is that so?" Chloe asked, looking to Beca for confirmation.

"She did most of it," Beca said. "Except the dangerous parts," she added quickly, not wanting to sound like a bad mother.

"Awesome. I can't wait to try it," Chloe said.

Once dinner was done, it was time to get the cake out. Chloe took one look at the sugary coated cake and smiled. "Anna, I think you've got a career in baking," she said. Anna beamed and said, "I did that part too," pointing to the decorations.

"I can tell," Chloe said, nodding in appreciation, "You did a great job."

Beca added some candles and lit them up. Anna and Beca began to sing, and Brittany squealed in her high chair, contributing to the performance as best she could. When they finished, Chloe locked eyes with Beca and blew out her candles.

Beca got out the ice cream as Chloe cut into her cake. "Birthday wishes and birthday kisses," Beca said, as she kissed Chloe and handed her some plates for everyone.

"TIME FOR PRESENTS!" Anna shouted, thrusting her card in Chloe's hand. Chloe took the card, and admired Anna's handiwork.

Anna was practically radiating with pride. "That's our family!"

"I know! It's beautiful," Chloe said. "I love the details you added to each of us."

"Of course," Beca thought, recalling her need for an explanation of the picture and wondering why Chloe didn't need one. "She works with kids for a living."

After dinner, Anna went outside to play, for a bit before it was time for her bath and bedtime. When it came to actually going to sleep, Anna surprisingly went without a fuss, satisfied that her Mommy liked her present. Both Beca and Chloe were worried the sugar would keep her hyper but apparently Anna must have gotten it out of her system when she was outdoors.

As the two were relaxing in the living room sipping glasses of wine and finishing their slices of cake, Beca turned to address Chloe. "I bought you a few things, but they haven't arrived yet. But the rest of your gifts should be coming within the next day or so," she finished. "I hope."

"Becs, you didn't need to get me anything. You know that," Chloe said softly.

"I know, but you deserve it," Beca said, annoyed with herself and all around lack of planning.

"Having the night off to just spend with you and the girls was so nice. I love spending time with you, and that's the best present ever," Chloe commented. "And don't think I didn't notice all the work you did around the house. That will leave us with so much time to do other things that are way more fun tomorrow."

"Anna has a playdate with the neighbors tomorrow, but other than that I don't think we have any plans," Beca said, as she mentally checked her calendar.

"Well, good," Chloe whispered huskily into Beca's ear. "Because if you did, I'd make you cancel them, because my plans for you tonight will keep you incredibly busy way into tomorrow."

Beca looked torn, between finishing her cake and ripping off all of Chloe's clothes. After a moment's hesitation too long, Chloe decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Race ya to the bedroom!" Chloe said childishly. "Last one naked is the loser."

"Chlo, really?" Beca responded, shaking her head. "I think we're both going to be winners tonight."

As Beca shoved the last bite of cake into her mouth, and chased Chloe up the stairs, she couldn't help but agree. Life was pretty good.

A/N: Wow! What a wonderful welcome back to this fandom! I appreciate it more than I can say with words, which is ironic since I am a (beginner) writer. As always, I'm not always sure what ideas people would wanna see written, so let me know what you'd like me to write about by dropping me a PM or in a review! This is set shortly after the epilogue of SWY24. If you haven't read SWY24, I highly recommend you read it, but you can read (most) of these stories without it.