A/N: So uh hello again. I'm back with a new chapter. I'm sorry for the long wait guys, I really am. I will finish this story, but I don't know when. I will for sure have it done by this Christmas haha, seeing as it's almost a year old (where the hell does the time go?). Anyways, thanks to everyone who is still keeping up with it, and thanks to all the reviews. You guys are great and I love you all! I hope you all enjoy this chapter; I'm not really sure how I feel about it. I just feel distant from my writing because it's been so long, so I hope it's still okay. Reviews are always appreciated, thanks guys!
"Well, are you ready for this?" Beca looked over at Chloe and smirked. Chloe starred ahead at her parents' house, setting herself up for whatever was inside.
Chloe chuckled. "Ready for a house filled with twenty kids? As ready as I'll ever be."
Beca sighed. "It's funny how four kids can feel like thirty kids on a bad day."
"Yeah and on a good day they only feel like half of that." Chloe winked. She then grabbed Beca's hand and gently squeezed it. "My parents are probably wondering what we're up to just sitting in our car like this. We should go in."
Beca smiled and nodded. Both women opened their car doors but before they were even able to make it to the trunk to grab their stuff, the front door had swung open and there stood a little blonde girl with bright blue eyes.
"Auntie Chloe!" The girl ran down the steps and towards the other woman.
"Hi Charlotte," Chloe replied, the excitement in her tone was expected. Chloe lifted the tiny girl in the air and hugged her tightly. As soon as Charlotte was placed on the ground she ran straight for Beca.
"Hi aunt Beca," Charlotte hugged her harder than Beca would have expected from a four year old.
"Hi sweetie," Beca smiled.
"Come inside, everyone is waiting to see you. Grandma was wondering why you guys were taking so long to come in, she said something about how you two were probably too busy ki-"
"Charlotte darling, that's enough." Chloe's mom stood on the front porch, smiling. "Get your tiny bum inside it's freezing out, and where's your jacket missy?" Joanne placed her hands on her hips and smiled when she saw Charlotte's eyes widen realizing she would be in big trouble if her parents had been the one to catch her outside without a jacket.
"Coming," Charlotte ran away without another word. Beca and Chloe both shook their heads laughing as they followed closely behind her.
"Well, well if it isn't my favourite daughter and daughter-in-law." Joanne held her arms wide open waiting for them both to hug her.
"Mom, you can't be saying stuff like that when your other two daughter-in-laws are right inside." Chloe sighed as she hugged her mother.
"Oh hush, they can't hear me. Besides, I tell them the same thing. I'm just serious about it with Beca." Joanne winked at the other woman making her blush.
"Hi Joanne," Beca hugged the other woman awkwardly.
"You'd think after six years you'd get less awkward with hugging me," Joanne smirked as she hugged Beca. "Now both of you come inside and say hi to the rest of the family," she turned on her heels and walked inside, Beca and Chloe following right behind.
Before Chloe could even blink, let alone say hi to anyone she was swooped into the air by a tall, muscular man with dark brown slicked back hair.
"Chlo-chlo," he smiled as he placed her back onto the ground.
"Jared you really need to stop doing that, it scares the crap out of me every damn time." Chloe playfully slapped her brother's arm.
He shrugged and looked directly at Beca. "Oh no, no, don't even…" Beca's words were cut off when she too was grabbed into a giant hug and lifted straight into the air. "Even think about it," Beca finished as she was placed back onto the ground. "Hi Jared," she smirked.
"What's going on Beca-boo," Jared punched his sister-in-law in her upper bicep.
"Ow, dude!" Beca furrowed her eyebrows, whining as she rubbed her arm up and down.
"Oh please, don't tell me you've lost your edge," he playfully nudged her.
"Shut up," Beca shook her head laughing. "I'm still the badass deejay I was when I met Chloe," she smirked.
Chloe rolled her eyes at her wife. "Beca please, anyone who knew you before and still know you now know how whipped I have you," she stuck her tongue out.
Beca went to reply but was quickly cut off by someone. "She's got a point there Beca she does have you pretty whipped." A tall redheaded man entered the room.
"Chris," Chloe squealed. She ran over to her older brother and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Chris and Chloe had always gotten along more than Jared and Chloe. It wasn't that Jared and Chloe weren't close; they just didn't share the same connection that she and Chris had. They were more alike and closer in age.
"How are you Chloe?" Chris smiled, accepting his sister's hug. He hadn't seen her in half a year and he really did miss her.
"I'm actually really great," Chloe released him from her hold. She then grabbed Beca's hand and smiled. "Better than I've been in a while," she kissed her wife's cheek, making the other woman blush.
"Well that's good to here," Joanne appeared from the kitchen, with an older man. "We were starting to worry about you both," she finished.
"Daddy," Chloe released Beca's hand and ran up to her father. She looked up at the tall man and smiled as he hugged her.
"Hi sweetie," he replied, hugging her tightly.
"Is it just me or did you dye your hair?" Chloe raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, the grey was getting to be too much for your mother so she made me add some color to it." He smirked as he looked over at his wife.
"Oh please," Joanne scoffed. "You were the one who asked me to make you an appointment with my hair dresser." Joanne shook her head.
"It's my word against yours, and I believe everyone here knows how pushy you can be." He smiled. Before Joanne could reply, he looked over at Beca and slowly approached her. "Beca, it's been a long time. How are you doing?" He then grabbed her into a hug, drowning her in his height.
"Hi Charlie, I'm doing pretty great. How are you?" Beca mumbled into his chest.
Charles pulled back and sighed. "You know, as well as one can be when his favourite hockey team is sucking crap this year," he shrugged.
"Well that's what you get when you root for Detroit." Beca smirked. "You need to switch to the better team, you'll be much happier."
"The Leafs are literally the worst, your defence doesn't know what they're doing half the time." Charles went to continue on but was cut off by Joanne.
"Okay, enough sports talk for now. Let's let Chloe and Beca bring their stuff to their room and then we can sit down for lunch." Joanne gestured towards the stairs, waiting for the women to move.
"Right," Chloe nodded. Chloe grabbed her bag and made her way up the stairs, Beca following closely behind. They followed the hallway to the very end and opened the door. Beca scrunched her face as she made her way through the door.
"I hate that I have to look at pictures of Leonardo Dicaprio every time we come here. You really need to take those down; he wasn't even hot in his early years." Beca knew exactly how to get under Chloe's skin, and one of the best ways was insulting her taste in men.
"Are you freaking kidding me woman? He was the cutest in his young days! I used to dream I was on the titanic with him but instead of him dying, we always found enough room on the door for us both." Chloe threw her bag onto her double sized bed.
"I guess that's what you would call a wet dream eh?" Beca smirked, making her wife roll her eyes.
"You're ridiculous." Chloe shook her head chuckling.
"I am not, and for your information there's no way Jack would have been able to fit on the door. You're delusional." Beca pointed out.
"No, no you are 100% wrong dear wife of mine. I can go into details if you're prepared to have an hour discussion about it with me?" Chloe smiled proudly.
"Nope, I think our last debate on whether a zombie apocalypse could be happen or not has drained me for the next five years." Beca jokingly nudged her wife.
"Which I stand my ground on, it totally could happen." Chloe laughed when she saw Beca's eyes grow wide with fury.
"Chloe it is physically impossible…you know what, never mind. I am going to be the bigger person here and walk away." Beca sighed in defeat.
"It's just because you know you're wrong and I'm right," Chloe replied. She then quickly dodged Beca's fist that was aiming right for her arm, laughing and provoking the other woman. She then ran out of the room and down the stairs.
Beca bit her bottom lip as she watched Chloe book it out of the room. She shook her head at how ridiculous her wife was, secretly loving every moment of it. She couldn't help but feel ecstatic at how everything was slowly starting unfold and feel right again, it really was a Christmas miracle.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
"So are you excited to see Santa?" Chloe looked down at her niece who was standing patiently in line to sit on his lap.
She nodded with a giant smile on her face. "Yeah, and I know exactly what I'm going to ask him for." Charlotte excitedly replied. "I just hope it's not too late to ask him."
"Well from what I hear, you've been very good this year. I'm sure Santa will try extra hard to bring you whatever it is you want." Beca nodded. "Which is what, by the way?" She was genuinely curious.
"I'm not telling you. If I tell you what it is, it won't come true!" Charlotte clarified, making Beca and Chloe laugh.
"Sweetie, that's for wishes not presents." Beca explained, not being able to handle how adorable she was.
"Oh," Charlotte scrunched her face. She stood silently for a good few seconds before replying. "Well still, I don't want to take any chances!"
"Fair enough," Beca smiled.
"Hey, I need to go pick up a last minute gift while we're here. Would you mind staying with Charlotte? I should be back before you guys are up." Chloe whispered into her wife's ear.
Beca raised an eyebrow. "Who do you have left to buy for?" Having no idea who they had missed, since it felt like they had been shopping for months with the amount of gifts they bought in the span of nine days.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out," Chloe winked. Beca rolled her eyes.
"Well it's obviously for me then," she laughed.
"I guess you'll have to wait and see, won't you?" Chloe grazed her lips against Beca's earlobe. "I mean it all depends if you were naughty or nice, and I prefer my wife naughty. Were you naughty this year, Beca?" She whispered seductively.
Beca shuddered as she felt the warmth of Chloe's breath against her skin. She went to open her mouth, but found herself speechless. "I'll be right back," Chloe smiled. She then kneeled down to talk to Charlotte. "Auntie Chloe will be right back; she just has to grab one more gift. You stay here with Aunt Beca, and behave okay? It's not too late for Santa to change his mind if you deserve any presents or not." Chloe smiled at her niece.
"I promise," Charlotte quickly nodded. "I won't misbehave one bit, you can even ask Aunt Beca when you get back!" She replied loudly, making Chloe giggle.
"Okay, I trust you." Chloe kissed her niece's cheek and stood up. "I'll see you in twenty," she leaned in and gave her wife a gentle kiss. "I love you," she whispered.
Beca smiled at Chloe's words, getting butterflies in her stomach was something she hadn't felt in almost a year. "I love you too, see you soon." Beca cleared her throat. She watched as her wife walked away then looked down at Charlotte who was staring up at her.
"Are you and Auntie Chloe happy again?" Charlotte asked, throwing Beca off.
"What do you mean?" Beca was completely stunned by her question. She knew that she and Chloe weren't doing that great before, but how in the hell did Charlotte know that?
"Well I just always hear Grandma talking about it with daddy. She said that you and aunt Chloe were always fighting and I was worried because they said something about how you probably wouldn't be coming with auntie Chloe this Christmas to see us. Now you're here so I'm just wondering if you and auntie Chloe are happy again then." Charlotte repeated.
"Oh…" Beca had no idea what to say to her niece. She had no idea that Chloe's family knew how bad she and Chloe were doing, let alone her five year old niece. "Well sweetie, I'm not sure what Grandma and your dad meant, but your Aunt Chloe and I are happy. You have nothing to worry about." Beca smiled at for the first time in a while, she didn't have to lie when saying those words.
"I see, well that's good then." Charlotte smiled.
Beca heard her cellphone going off in her pocket. "Hold on sweetie," she told Charlotte.
She grabbed it and saw Jesse's name on the screen. "Hey man," she turned around so she could get a bit of privacy to talk to him. "What's up…I'm just at the mall with Chloe and Charlotte…Yeah things are going great…Well I'll have to tell you more about it when I see you. We get back in like four days, we'll have to hangout…Alright…I should probably go, tell Aubrey I say Merry Christmas…Okay, you too bud." Beca hung up the phone and sighed.
She then turned around and almost fell backwards when she saw that Charlotte was no longer standing beside her. "Chalotte," Beca yelled. She looked up and down the line, and didn't see her anywhere. Her heart began to race the longer it took her to find her. She started to run around Santa's workshop asking everyone if they had seen a little blonde girl in a pink jacket.
"Shit," Beca hissed. "Charlotte," she continued to yell. She couldn't find her anywhere at Santa's workshop so she decided to look elsewhere. She ran through each store calling Charlotte's name, not having any luck.
"Beca," a voice called out. Beca turned around and saw Chloe approaching her. "What's going on…where's Charlotte?" She immediately noticed the little girl was nowhere near them.
"I…I don't know! I turned around for thirty seconds and she was gone!" Beca started to freak out.
"Are you kidding me?" Chloe snapped. "You can't turn your back on a kid her age for that long, you should know that!" Beca cringed at Chloe's words.
"Chloe, I'm sorry. Jesse called and I didn't think anything about it, I turned my back and…" Chloe had suddenly cut her off.
"That was very stupid Beca. You can't just do that stuff; I mean what if someone took her?" Chloe began to get very angry.
"I was right there Chloe, no one would have taken her!" Beca felt her chest tighten when she saw how angry the other woman was.
"Well apparently you wouldn't have noticed, I mean you didn't even know she left your side." Chloe clenched her fists in anger.
"Arguing about this is just wasting time," Beca knew she had royally messed up and was already feeling terrible as it was. "We need to split up and look for her, keep your cellphone close and I'll call you if I find her." She finished.
"Fine, you better hope to god we find her Beca. I can't believe how irresponsible you were," Chloe shook her head. She then left without giving Beca a chance to reply.
Tears started to form in Beca's eyes as she quickly walked the opposite way. She knew she had messed up, she knew had messed up really bad and Chloe yelling at her was just making her feel a thousand times worse. What if they didn't find Charlotte? What the hell would she do next? That little girl meant so much to her and Chloe was definitely right, she was responsible for her. She was supposed to be watching her and she completely failed.
Just as Beca was about to run into another store, she heard her phone go off. She saw Chloe's name on the screen and quickly answered.
"I found her; she was at the information desk," Chloe wasted no time.
"Okay, I'll be right there." Beca quickly hung up and made her way to the information desk.
As she approached the section she saw Charlotte and Chloe waiting, Charlotte was wiping her eyes when she saw Beca. She quickly ran towards her, Beca scooped her up into a hug and held her tight.
"Charlotte I was so worried about you, why did you leave me?" Beca refused to let her go.
"I'm sorry Aunt Beca, I saw a doggy walking with someone and I wanted to pet it. Then I couldn't find you and I was so scared." Charlotte cried into her shoulder.
"I'm so sorry sweetie; it's not your fault. This is completely my fault. I shouldn't have been paying attention to my phone call; I should have been paying attention to you." Beca rubbed Charlotte's back in an attempt to sooth her.
Chloe approached them both. "Let's just go home, okay?" She asked Charlotte, who nodded.
Beca put Charlotte down and looked over at Chloe. "Chlo…" She went to say something but was cut off.
"Not now," Chloe replied. She then grabbed Charlotte's hand and began walking away from her, making Beca frown. She slowly followed behind her wife as she thought about what had just happened.
Well great, all the progress we've been making the last week has just gone right out the door and as usual, it's my entire fault. When will I learn?
A/N: Alright, I know everyone will be upset with me because they were doing so well but c'mon we had to have at least one fall out. I promise it will all be alright. So I hope you all enjoyed and I will try to update soon! Thanks guys.