Beca woke first to find Chloe curled around her against her back and their fingers laced together against her stomach. It was still dark outside, but it was warm and comfortable under the light comforter, and she just lay there, acutely feeling every place their skin was touching. Then the redhead shifted a little in her sleep and it sent a gentle wave of arousal through Beca's body. It was heady and a little scary, but the brunette just stayed still, her eyes closed as she savored the sensation.

Waking up with Chloe like this was nothing like with Luke. Every morning, without fail, she'd been woken with his morning wood poking her somewhere as he'd humped against her. But it was never enough for him and he always insisted on slipping inside her and finishing quickly. She'd always been left to clean up while he'd headed for the shower with a grin on his lips. Better than coffee! he'd always exclaimed. The memories made Beca physically recoil and wonder why she hadn't stopped him or asked him to pleasure HER sometimes instead. She shook her head and sighed.

"You ok, Honey?" Chloe asked sleepily, pressing her lips to the side of Beca's neck.

"Yeah," the brunette murmured. "Just thinking about stuff."

"Want to talk about it?"

Beca could tell that her friend was more alert now. "I was just wondering why I didn't ask for what I wanted in my relationship with Luke, and I think maybe it was because he made so many excuses not to give it to me that I just… stopped asking."

"Things… like what?" Chloe asked softly.

"A lot of things. Restaurants I wanted to try, theater, vacations to certain places…" Beca's voice lowered. "Sexual stuff."

"Mmmm…" Chloe didn't immediately comment. Instead, she caressed her friend's stomach. "Tell me your dreams, Beca," she whispered then. "What things do you want?"

"It's... not really complicated," the brunette replied. "I want…to wake up looking forward to being with my partner. I want to make decisions TOGETHER about vacation destinations and what we're going to do on a Saturday night. I want the simple things like kissing in the rain and stopping to smell roses and look in shop windows just because we can. And getting a dog that we can take to brunch on Sundays. I want… I…" Beca trailed off and swallowed hard.

"You can tell me anything, Beca," the redhead gently reminded.

The brunette blushed, glad it was dark enough that Chloe wouldn't see it. "I want someone who'll go down on me because they want to, not because I've practically begged for it." Chloe was quiet for a long span of breaths. Then she heard a quiet mumble. "That probably sounds so stupid."

"No, Baby," the redhead replied, tightness in her voice. "It doesn't sound stupid at all. It sounds exactly like MY dreams."

Beca slowly eased over to face Chloe and found her cheek in the dimness, caressing away her tears. "I want to try this with you, Chlo. For real." The redhead took a breath to say something, but Beca stopped her. "But I don't know what I'm doing or how I'll react to certain things about being with a woman. I feel emotionally all over the place right now. Do you think you can be patient with me?"

Chloe leaned in to tenderly kiss Beca's nose. "Yes, because I want this with you too," she replied simply.

Beca kissed her back fully, lacing her fingers into her hair and scratching her scalp softly as she caught the redhead's bottom lip between her teeth and tugged. Chloe gasped and then smiled, letting Beca play, but soon the kisses were messy and passionate, and the actress's hips started to rock slowly against her friend's. She forced herself to stop but Beca whispered to her. "Chloe," she said, looking deeply into her eyes. "Take what you need. I want to feel you."

It was lighter in the room now and Beca could see how dilated Chloe's pupils were. She hazarded a guess that her own were no different, so she wasn't surprised when the redhead slowly took her hand and kissed it before placing it on her breast on top of her shirt. Chloe's nipple was stiff and Beca exhaled softly as she caressed and squeezed the pliant flesh, then let her thumb move in slow circles over the hardened peak. Touching another woman like this felt a little strange at first, but she wanted more so she boldly slid her hand up under the redhead's t-shirt to caress and pinch gently. "Sssshit…" Chloe moaned. "That feels so amazing. Can… can I…"

"I mean it, Chloe. Take whatever you need," Beca repeated encouragingly. The redhead nodded and she slowly moved on top of Beca, making sure to give the brunette time to ask her to stop. But Beca just smiled and nodded, caressing slowly down Chloe's back with one hand while she played with her breast with the other. Then Chloe was straddling her thigh and Beca gasped as she felt how wet the actress was through her underwear.

"Are… are you sure, Baby?" Chloe asked one more time. "This is a pretty huge step…"

Dark blue eyes gazed at her. "I need you to come, Chlo, I want to hold you and feel you against me," Beca whispered, and Chloe groaned as she adjusted a little and pressed her center more fully down onto Beca's thigh, gliding slowly along it and biting her bottom lip.

"I may not survive this," the actress warned playfully. "Just so you know." Beca laughed softly, then planted her foot and pushed her thigh up into the actress's warmth. "I take it back," Chloe whimpered moments later. She was burning with desire. "I might not survive the next five seconds." Her heart was pounding, as she rocked against the brunette's thigh a little faster, her hips pressing down hard.

Then she began to whimper, and her eyes slammed shut. "Oh my God," she got out through clenched teeth. Beca wrapped her arms around her and held her close, heart pounding as she realized Chloe was already drawing close to orgasm, and so excited and grateful to be experiencing this incredible moment. She'd wanted it so much since the first time she'd seen how beautiful the actress looked, bathed in pleasure. It was something she'd been dreaming about since. Chloe's body hit its crescendo and suddenly released, and she clung desperately to Beca as her moans of pleasure echoed around the room. Then she relaxed in Beca's arms and kissed her cheek as she sighed softly. "Thank you. That was... perfect."

Beca drew her into another kiss. "No, that was epic," she said simply. "So hot, Chlo."

"Totally was," the actress smiled as she snuggled closer and slid her hand under the younger woman's shirt teasingly. "Um... Becs... would you like me to... um..."

"Not yet," Beca whispered. "I'm not quite ready, Chlo."

"Ok, Baby," Chloe nodded, kissing her cheek again.

"You want to go out tonight?" the brunette asked.

"I… um… I have Bella tonight, Becs. I'm sorry."

Beca could sense that Chloe felt a little awkward. "It's ok," she said quietly. "I have no problem with working around Bella's schedule."

The actress nodded in relief. "Thanks, Baby."

"Chloe... Bella always comes first, ok? Besides, I… I need to take this kinda slowly."

The redhead nodded, a big smile on her face. "Totally get it, Becs." Then she sighed resignedly. "Ugh… speaking of Bella, I have to get going. It's almost six-fifteen and Dylan will be dropping her off at seven on his way to work."

"Do you have to?" Beca whined playfully, unwilling to let her girlfriend go just yet.

After more than a few attempts at getting out of Beca's clutches which ended up in a lot more making out, Chloe finally got dressed and requested an Uber. "See you soon," she smiled, as the brunette walked her to the door to kiss her goodbye one more time, hands wandering over her and making the actress just want to go back to bed. Instead, Chloe managed to get out the door, lips still attached to Beca's until they finally just laughed and waved at each other.

"See you soon, Honey." Beca waved one last time and then grinned to herself as she went to take a shower.

Xx

When Beca arrived at the soundstage at eight, she was greeted with the sound of raised voices, and she quickly made her way to the meeting room to find Armie, Jesse and Tom in an argument. Chloe was standing across the room from them, face upset, and arms wrapped around her middle.

"What the hell is going on here?" the DP asked as she set her briefcase on the table and perched her hands on her hips.

Armie rounded on her, fists balled. "This is YOUR fault," he exclaimed. "YOU caused this!"

"What's my fault?" the brunette asked, totally confused. "Dude, I have no clue what you're talking about."

"Elektra belongs to ME, not you, but you just couldn't keep it in your pants, could you?!"

Beca's mouth dropped open incredulously and her eyes moved to Chloe, who rolled hers. Then the brunette nodded slowly. "Oh. Well… see now... that poses a fairly large problem for you then, doesn't it?"

Armie blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Elektra is a fictional character so, unless you want an imaginary girlfriend… and no judgement here, Dude… that's a total non-starter. But if you're referring to Chloe, then I hate to break it to you, Bud, but Chloe doesn't belong to either of us. She's an adult woman who makes her own choices." Then she looked at Chloe, eyebrows raised. "Did he hurt you?"

The redhead shook her head. "No, Armie was just having trouble hearing me when I declined his offer of a… good time." She paused meaningfully. "Then Jesse got here."

Beca nodded, looking gratefully at her old friend, who just smiled a little. Then he lifted his hands. "Look, Guys, we need to resolve this because, right now, I don't feel like Chloe is comfortable with moving forward.

"I'm not," the actress replied. "I can deal with a lot, Jesse, and I have. But I CANNOT do this with someone I don't trust."

Armie began to splutter. "But you love it when I fuck you!" he exclaimed. "You come all over my co…"

Then he was reeling back, mouth gaping and holding his chin as Beca shook out her fist, a pained but smirky expression on her face. "God, I've been wanting to do that for ages!"

"You hit me, you Bitch!" the actor exclaimed.

"You deserved it," Chloe said calmly. "It's NEVER ok to grab a woman, Armie."

Beca's eyes widened. "He grabbed you?! Oh HELL no!" But then Tom caught her around the waist and held her back as she lunged at the actor again.

"You're not wrong, but let's keep the lawsuits to a minimum," he murmured in her ear.

Beca stopped herself but she was still bristling as Chloe came to her and took her hand.

"Hey," she said softly. "I'm ok. Let it go, Becs."

Light blue eyes met dark blue, and the brunette felt her anger beginning to seep away. "Ok," she replied, squeezing the redhead's hand. "Ok."

Jesse stepped in again. "Let's take the day for everyone to cool off. We'll talk again tomorrow. Here, at ten in the morning. Armie, do you need medical attention right now?"

"No," the actor pouted.

"Beca?"

Beca flexed her fist a couple of times. "I'm good."

Then Jesse looked at Chloe. "What do you need, Chlo?"

But the redhead just smiled. "I have everything I need," she replied, squeezing Beca's hand again. "See you tomorrow." She led the brunette to her dressing room where she closed the door behind them.

"Are you really ok?" Beca asked softly but then she was whimpering as Chloe shoved her against the wall to kiss her with a passion that left them both gasping. "Holy shit, what was that for?"

Chloe's voice was a little raspy. "I don't condone violence, but you were SO hot punching the shit out of that asshole on my behalf. Thank you, Becs."

"Anytime," the younger woman grinned.

"And it's also to help you remember me tonight, when I can't be with you."

"Like I could ever forget you," Beca whispered in reply.

Xx

Tom and Jesse left the studio and went straight to a local breakfast place to talk things over. Jesse was the first to order a mimosa, but Tom went along with it. The stress of directing the movie was, he admitted, getting to him.

"Am I right in thinking that Beca and Chloe knocking boots is sending everything to shit?"

Jesse chuckled but shook his head. "I don't know if Beca and Chloe ARE sleeping together but they care a lot about each other and... seriously, Armie is such an asshole that I think, without Beca, we may have lost Chloe a while ago." He looked down, playing with the edge of his napkin. "I feel kinda shitty that I didn't step in sooner. I knew Armie was a bit obsessive about her, but I thought it would just blow over. I'll never tell Beca this but... I really thought Armie was about to do something awful to Chloe this morning when I pulled into the parking lot."

"You mean... hurt her?" Tom asked incredulously.

"I mean rape her," Jesse replied very seriously. "He had her pinned to a wall when I got there, and she was legit scared. I don't see any way around this, Tommy. We have to replace Armie, which means we're going to have to change the movie."

"So, not just reshoot everything?" Tom smiled at the waitress as she brought their drinks. "Just rewrite the screenplay a little?"

"Yeah... we can't afford to reshoot. The budget is already tight. Besides, most adult movies have more than two actors. We can just fire Armie using the behavior clause in his contract, and bring someone else in. And I want Chloe involved in the casting. Maybe she already knows someone she'd be happy to work with."

"You got a hard on for that girl, Swanson?" Tom teased.

"No," Jesse replied with a shrug. "But Beca is an old friend who means a lot to me, and I'm going to damn well make sure someone she cares about is taken care of."

The director sorted through those words, then nodded. "Got it. Why don't we call Armie's agent and let him break the news to the prick. I have no desire to ever see that man ever again."

"You got it," the producer agreed. "I'll make the call right now."

Xx

Chloe dropped her purse on the island counter and took a seat at the kitchen table to rest her chin in her hand and sigh. Mari looked at her and then took out her earbuds. She'd taken up Spanish and was learning online.

"Why are you not at work?"

"Meh," the redhead said, sighing again. "Man-drama."

The older woman chuckled softly. "I see." Then she leaned back in her seat and folded her arms. "So... I totally get that you're an adult, Chloe, but... you didn't come home last night, and I was worried."

The actress nodded, holding up a hand. "You're right, Mom. I'm sorry. I should have texted."

Mari nodded then got up to pour some coffee for them from the pot. "Soooo... are you going to tell me where you were?"

"Do I have to?" Chloe grumbled, making the older woman roll her eyes.

"Wow, were you suddenly possessed by teenaged you for a second there?"

The redhead couldn't help but laugh as she got up to grab some creamer from the refrigerator. "Mmmmaybe. It's been a rough morning. We're almost out of creamer. I should go to the grocery store."

"Nuh uh... no changing the subject, Young Lady."

Chloe sighed. "I was with Beca. We went to a carnival on a pier near the soundstage and then back to her house. I stayed there overnight."

The older woman nodded seriously. "In her bed?"

"Mom!" the redhead exclaimed. "You do NOT need to be asking about my sex life!"

"So that's a yes then," Mari sniggered.

Chloe buried her face in her hands and shook her head. "Yes, ok? God!"

"So, are you actually dating or just…?"

The actress, trying to regain her composure, put sugar in both cups and added a splash of creamer. "Yeah." She couldn't stop a smile from lifting her face. "Yeah, we talked and... we're dating."

"I was hoping that was the case when I saw you sucking faces in the hammock the other night. I like her, Honey."

Chloe lifted and then dropped her hands in exasperation. "I have no privacy around here! I swear!"

"Boohoo," her mom teased. "You'll get over it."

Chloe just chuckled and shook her head.

Xx

"What's this word, Mommy?" Bella asked, pressing her finger to the page of the book Chloe was holding. She was sitting in her mother's lap and the actress was cuddling her as they read a story together.

"Can you sound it out for me?" Chloe asked with a smile.

Bella nodded. "I'll try. Buh," she said, brow creased in concentration. "Ihh… Ruh… Duh." She looked at her mom, who nodded her encouragement. "Bbb…iiii…rrrrr…dddd. Oh, it's bird, Mommy!"

"Great job, Baby Girl," Chloe grinned. "I'm so proud of how well you're doing with your reading."

The little girl smiled but then it slowly faded, and Chloe grew concerned. "Is everything ok, Honey?"

"Yeah," Bella replied, looking away.

Chloe immediately lifted her a little to turn her so she could see her eyes. "Bella, you know you can tell me anything, right? If something's wrong or if something happened at school, or if someone touched you… you can ALWAYS tell me."

"Mommy, I love you."

"I love you too, Sweetheart. Now what's going on?"

"Mark at school. His big brother said you have a bad job doing bad, dirty things. I told him you're a ballerina and he laughed and pushed me down. He told me I was stupid. And I know we're not allowed to use that word."

There was so much in that short span of words that Chloe didn't know what to deal with first. She was horrified, angry, terrified and, most of all, ashamed that her little girl had had to go through that. Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked rapidly and sniffed hard until she regained her composure.

"Bella," she said softly. "Mark's brother is wrong. I have a grownup job but it's not bad like he's saying. I'm not a ballerina. I'm an actor. I make movies for grownups…. Movies that kids can't see until they're all grown up.

"Ohhh…" Belle murmured as she tried to understand. "So, I can say you're an actor in movies?"

"Absolutely, Honey. And if someone asks you what movies, just say you don't know."

"Ok…" the little girl nodded.

Chloe kissed her cheek. "As for pushing you down and calling you stupid; he shouldn't have done that, and I'll talk to your teacher about it, ok?"

"Ok, Mommy," Bella smiled.

"Alright, let's get you ready for bed, ok? It's getting late and if we're going to have two bedtime stories, we need to get started!" The redhead suddenly realized her mother was standing by the door, just listening. "Go on, Honey, while I talk to Grandma for a minute. I'll be right in."

Bella took off running toward her bedroom. Mari looked at Chloe and then opened her arms to receive her daughter into them for a hug. "Oh my God, Mom," Chloe said, voice shaking. "I have to quit. After this movie is done, I'm not doing this anymore."

"Chloe…" the older woman replied. "Don't make a kneejerk decision…"

"No, Mama," the redhead whispered. "I don't WANT to do this anymore."

Mari just nodded and hugged her harder.

Xx

"Hey," Chloe said as she settled down in bed, AirPods tucked securely into her ears. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course," Beca replied. She put her phone on speaker and started to get undressed. "I'm all ears."

"Bella told me tonight that she got bullied at school by some older kid who told her I had a bad, dirty job."

The brunette dropped slowly onto her bed. "Oh no. Honey, I'm so sorry. Is she ok?"

"I talked to her," the actress replied. "I explained to her that I'm an actress who makes movies for grownups and I think it made sense to her but… if I keep doing this, she's eventually going to find out so… I decided this evening, Beca. After we're finished this movie, Elektra King is retiring. I'm going to talk to my agent."

Beca lay on her bed in her pajamas, phone pressed to her ear. "I wish I was there with you. Are you sure this is what you really want to do?"

"Leaving the industry has been on my mind for a while, Becs. I think I'm going to try auditioning for theater. Being on stage was something I loved in college." There was a long pause and then Chloe sighed softly. "I know it's late but... could you come over?"

The brunette was already reaching for her sneakers. "I'm on my way."

It was after midnight when she pulled into Chloe's driveway, but it was Mari who answered the door to her. "Hey," Beca said softly. "Chloe asked me to come over. Is she…?"

"End of the hallway," the older woman replied just as softly. Then she squeezed Beca's shoulder. "I'm glad she has you, Beca. It's been a rough day overall for her." She looked down then at the bruises across the knuckles of the brunette's left hand. "Jebus P. Cripes. What happened to you?"

Beca sighed sheepishly. "Chloe's rough day got me too." Mari blinked, then frowned in confusion. "I punched a guy who disrespected her," Beca clarified. "I know I shouldn't have, but she was really upset and…" Then she squeaked as she was crushed in a hug of epic proportions.

"You're a good kid, just like she is," Mari said, emotion stealing her voice. "Now go on. She needs you."

"Night, Mari," the brunette said, then headed for Chloe's room to tap lightly on the door. She pushed it open to find her girlfriend lying on her side with her eyes closed and her AirPods playing David Guetta. Beca moved to the bed, dropped her small overnight bag on the floor and just climbed in, spooning against Chloe's back and wrapping her arm around her waist. Then the redhead was offering her an AirPod and she accepted it, understanding that talking wasn't what Chloe needed right at that moment. Talking would come later.

After the music was done.

The AirPods were on the nightstand and Chloe was sleeping peacefully in her arms when Beca jerked awake to find a pair of pale blue eyes peering at her at very close range through the dimness of the barely-dawn light.

"Morning, Bella," she said quietly.

"Hi, Miss Beca. I came to give Mommy morning snuggles."

Beca nodded seriously. "That sounds amazing. I'm just not sure how to… um…"

But Chloe, who was most definitely awake now, just turned over to press her back against Beca's chest and then pulled back the covers to let Bella climb in and cuddle against her own chest. "Mmmm… I love morning snuggles," she sighed, rubbing her daughter's back slowly with one hand while reaching behind her to caress the back of Beca's thigh.

"Mmmmm, Chloe-sandwich," the brunette hummed into her ear as a shiver moved through her. She kissed her girlfriend's neck and then relaxed against her.

Chloe just smiled and a few minutes later, all three of them had fallen back to sleep.