Chapter 3: Bruises

A couple months had gone by while Beca dated Luke. Things were going okay, but she could tell he wanted more and she was nervous. Bella rehearsals had gone smoothly for the most part. Aubrey wasn't on her ass about every little thing. Classes were good. Life was good. Except a small problem she felt continuing to creep up in her mind. Chloe was making her feel weird. Like..was it a crush? Did she actually like Chloe like that? If so…what the hell? It didn't help that Chloe was a super touchy feely person, making the hair on the back of Beca's neck stand up every time they touched. And did Chloe have any idea?

Chloe walked up to the door and fumbled for her keys when Beca opened it and they did a weird little dance stepping around each other.

"Hey!" Chloe looked Beca up and down. "You look nice."

"Don't sound so shocked." Beca rolled her eyes.

"What are you up to?" Chloe asked as she stayed in the doorway.

"Date. With Luke."

"Oh." Chloe looked away, feeling a strange pang of jealousy. "Well, you look good. He'll love it." She rubbed Beca's arm as she got inside. "Have fun!"

Luke had candles all over the apartment. He had made dinner - spaghetti because that's really all he could cook. There was light music in the background. Instead of a table he had laid a blanket down on the floor. There was a fancy bottle of wine as well as some other liquor, knowing Beca wasn't a huge fan of wine. But it was romantic so he had to. He was making sure everything was in perfect when Beca knocked on the door.

"Hey, gorgeous." Luke kissed her quickly as she came inside.

"Holy shit, what is all of this?" Beca looked around, amazed.

"I told you I had something special planned." He winked as he intertwined their hands and led her to the kitchen. "For starters, I cooked you dinner?"

"You cooked?" Beca scoffed looking at the pots, pans, and plates.

"A special girl deserves all the best. Now...its not really the best, I'm not a good cook. But its the best that I make, so there's that."

"Wow. This is pretty sweet." Beca put both hands on his cheeks and gave him a deep kiss.

"Wine?" He grabbed the bottle and started pouring her a glass. Beca made a face of mild disgust. "Come on, one glass. And then you can drink your precious vodka."

"Deal." Beca downed the glass of wine and smirked proudly at her boyfriend. He rolled his eyes and handed her the vodka bottle.

They had finished dinner and were relaxing on the blanket in the middle of the floor. She had finished her third vodka rocks and was feeling pretty good.

"Hey." He whispered in her ear, stroking her back. She looked in his eyes and let him kiss her. They started a pretty intense makeout session when his hands started roaming. They've reached second base, but Beca wasn't ready for more. He slid his hand from her mid thigh up to her pelvis. She reached down and moved his hand. A few seconds later his hand was back. She forcefully moved it again, leaning back giving him a warning look.

"Come on baby." He kissed her neck and laid her flat on the floor. He slowly climbed up so he was straddling her.

"Luke, come on." She pushed his chest but he wouldn't budge.

"Look at all this I did for you. I want tonight to be special." He whispered again returning to her neck. "We've waited long enough."

Beca had had enough. She thought back to the days of taking martial arts. She was actually grateful to her dad for forcing her to. Due to her size she got disrespected a lot, but at least had a legitimate defense in case of assholes like what was rapidly becoming Luke. She didn't think the situation warranted her to kick his ass...yet, but she kept it in her mind.

"Stop." She shoved him harder and slid out from under him.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Luke lost his patience and ran a hand through his hair. "I do all this for you, I wait for you longer than I wait for anyone and you're telling me no?!"

"I don't owe you sex, jackass!" Beca stood up and grabbed her purse.

"Hey!" He grabbed her arm.

"Let. Go." She growled through clenched teeth.

"God, you're such a bitch!" He held his right hand across her face and in a quick movement slapped her hard, cutting her head just over her eye with his rings. He looked a little scared at first, not meaning to actually hit her. She instantly grabbed his arm to try and detain him, but he quickly shot his knee up into her ribs, nearly knocking the breath right out of her.

"You really shouldn't have done that, asshole." She cocked an arm back and decked him with one quick left hook. She then kicked him in the groin. As he writhed in pain she grabbed his arm and twisted it back while stepping on the center of his back causing him to yelp like a wounded puppy. "Bye, little bitch." She whispered in his ear and gave him one last shove. She slammed the door leaving him curled up in a ball on his floor.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" Beca muttered to herself as she walked down the street. Her head was spinning a little from the alcohol as well as from the wound on her head. "Little asshole!" She slammed her left hand against a traffic light post and almost fell to her knees since it was already throbbing from the punch she landed on Luke's jaw. "Should've just done the martial arts." She shook her head and rubbed her hand that was already turning purple and swelling.

"Shit." She was next to the post office and decided to sit on the steps. It was a little past midnight and few people were out and about. She was worried about walking home. It wasn't far, but she was feeling dizzy and disoriented. She hoped she didn't have a concussion because of Luke's obnoxious rings. She also hoped she didn't break a rib since it was still hard to get a deep breath. She pulled out her phone, thinking of one person who would probably be waiting up for her to get home.

"Chloe…" Beca mumbled into the phone. For the first time she felt like she was on the verge of tears.

"Beca? What's wrong?" The fear was evident in the redheads voice.

"I need you…" Beca paused. There was weird silence over the phone. "I need you to pick me up."

"Okay. Where are you?"

"The steps of the post office. I'll explain when you get here."

"Alright, I'm on my way right now."

Five minutes later Chloe's car pulled up and Beca was leaning against the steps by the post office. She was definitely feeling worse. She heard a car door slam and it jolted her from her near nap.

"Beca! What the hell happened?" Chloe sprinted around the car and knelt down beside the brunette. She looked worriedly at the gash on Beca's head and the swollen hand sitting in Beca's lap. Beca was still feeling groggy. "Beca!" Chloe put her hand on her shoulder to get her attention. "Do I need to get you to a hospital?"

"No!" Beca reached out to grab Chloe's shoulder and then winced when it hurt her hand.

"Come on, let me at least get you in the car." Chloe bent down and wrapped her arm around Beca's waist and pulled her up. Its a good thing she was small because Beca wasn't helping much with getting to her feet.

"Sorry, Chlo." She leaned her head on the ginger's shoulder and put her arms around her waist for support.

"You do not have to apologize." Chloe whispered as she struggled to open the door while holding Beca up. She gently slid her into the front seat making sure not to hit her head. She jogged back around to her side and locked the doors when she got in. She took a deep breath, filled with so many questions.

"Beca, please tell me what happened." Chloe looked to the passenger side. Beca was slouched and just staring blankly out the window. No emotion on her face, not even anger. "Beca, talk to me."

"Can we just go home?" Beca whispered. Chloe sighed, resigning to having to take the long route to pull whatever happened out of Beca.

They got home and Chloe helped Beca walk up the steps to the front door.

"Do you want to try and go upstairs to your bathroom or stay downstairs?" Chloe asked helping Beca through the doorway.

"I want my room." Beca replied. Chloe nodded and then put her in a kitchen chair while she grabbed some supplies from the kitchen. Aubrey then walked in from their room and gasped when she saw Beca. The bruise around the cut on her eye was growing.

"Oh my God, what the hell happened Chloe?"

"Still trying to figure that out myself." Chloe gave her a look that said she was worried but also frustrated. "I'm taking her upstairs to clean her up."

"Need help?"

"No, I can handle it. Thanks, though."

"Okay, just call me if you need anything. Hey, Beca." Aubrey looked down, trying to make eye contact with her short nemesis. Beca only stared blankly ahead, not focused on anything. "Hope you're okay." Aubrey looked back at Chloe with concern. "Should she go to the hospital, I'm worried." Before Chloe could respond Beca slammed her hand on the counter. "I'm not going to a damn hospital." Then she winced as she cursed herself for hitting her hand on something a second time, probably making the bruising and swelling worse.

"We'll see…" Chloe mumbled to herself. "Here, Aubrey, you can carry this stuff to Beca's bathroom, so I can help her get there."

"Got it." Aubrey snatched the supplies from Chloe eagerly, just wanting to help. As Beca stood back up in Chloe's arms she tried to sneakily reach for the vodka bottle that was sitting on the counter.

"Don't think so." Chloe snatched the bottle and put it out of reach.

"For my wounds, though…" Beca looked at it longingly.

"Nice try." Chloe shook her head and followed Aubrey upstairs.

Aubrey wished Beca goodnight and hoped she felt better as she went back downstairs to not get any sleep. She would be tossing and turning, concerned and confused over one of her Bella sisters. Beca gave her a hard time and infuriated her some days, but she was still part of the family. She hated seeing Beca so despondent and hurt.

Chloe lowered Beca onto the toilet lid and dampened a washcloth. "Alright, what hurts the worst right now?" Beca simply raised her left hand. Chloe knelt down and gently took Beca's hand in hers, dabbing it with the cloth. She looked up at Beca when she felt a wince that she was obviously trying to hide. She then took the first aid kit ice pack and wrapped it over the swollen knuckles.

"Okay, tilt your head." Chloe very carefully grabbed Beca's chin and examined the cut and bruise on her head. She wiped the blood off and dabbed with the cloth again. "Are you ready to tell me what happened?"

"You're good at this you know?" Beca glanced up.

"You're avoiding."

"I'm giving you a compliment."

"Thanks. So what happened?"

"Its a good thing you're pre-med. I'm lucky my best friend is pre-med. You can stitch this right up."

"Beca…" Chloe warned.

"You're going to make such a good doc-" Beca was cut of with a mild shriek when chloe dipped the cloth in peroxide and aggressively applied it to Beca's cut. "Ow!"

"Sorry." Chloe did feel a little bad, but she knew it was the way to get Beca to pay attention. "Now spill."

"Luke."

"What did he do to you?" Chloe's tone turned icy. She was ready to call the cops on the punk.

"He got pissed when I wouldn't have sex with him."

"What the fuck?" Chloe leaned back to try and look at Beca in the eyes. "I'm going to kill him." She resumed cleaning the cut on Beca's head.

"Its okay, I actually kicked his ass pretty good before I got outside."

"Good. I always knew you were a badass." Chloe grinned, hoping desperately for some sort of recognition from Beca. An ever so slight smirk and huff escaped her lips which made Chloe smile. Beca then let out a chuckle, followed immediately by a gasp for air and grimace.

"What was that?" Chloe cocked an eyebrow wondering where this new pain was coming from.

"Nothing. Just tired." Beca tilted her body awkwardly. Chloe's eyes narrowed and noticed how Beca was protecting her left side involuntarily. She reached for her shirt and pulled it up.

"Hey!" Beca tried to argue, but Chloe had seen it.

"Oh my God, Beca!" Chloe looked at the dark bruise covering half of Beca's left side. "You might have a broken rib!"

"And there's nothing the hospital can do about it except tell me to rest, so don't try again with the hospital shit."

"You're so stubborn." Chloe sighed. "Okay, here's the deal. This cut needs stitches. I have a kit, but I've never stitched up a real wound. I think it would be wise to go to the medical center at least. But!" She put her hand up before Beca could fight. "I will respect what you want and can take care of you here if that's what you want."

"Thanks, Chlo. That's what I want. I trust you more than those scrubs anyway." Beca smiled. Chloe couldn't help but feel super lucky that someone like Beca acknowledged trust in her. But she was also really nervous about her first stitch up.

"I'll go get my kit and be right back."

Beca watched anxiously as Chloe got the stitches ready. It kind of freaked her out that Chloe would be sowing up her head like her mom used to sow up her clothes.

"Okay." Chloe took a deep breath, trying to hide her anxiety. "Now sit still." She leaned in close and started to put the needle through the top of the cut. She could feel Beca staring at her so her eyes flashed quickly to the brunette and saw an intense glare. "Stop that."

"Stop what? You said sit still." Beca smirked.

"You staring at me makes me more nervous."

"But your blue eyes make me feel calm." Beca was shocked herself when the words came out of her mouth. Chloe paused and looked back into Beca's eyes. There was a silence that hung heavy over the two. Chloe took another deep breath and continued stitching. It didn't take long, she only needed three stitches.

"There." Chloe exhaled heavily. She put a bandage over the stitches and then leaned back, proud of her first successful stitch-up. "Now, how bout we get you to bed."

Once Beca was as comfortable as she could be, Chloe sat on the bed next to her. She found herself running her hand through Beca's hair, stroking her to give her a level of comfort.

"I'm sorry this happened, Beca."

"Its fine. I never should have tried to fool myself into thinking I deserved love or something stupid like that." Beca blurted out.

"Hey." Chloe's hand went to hold Beca's cheek. "Don't say that." Beca rolled her eyes and averted Chloe's gaze. "Hey…" Chloe whispered again, this time getting Beca to look at her. Chloe found herself leaning closer and her eyes drifting from Beca's eyes to her lips. Then Aubrey appeared in the doorway. Chloe instantly removed her hand and straightened herself to an upright position.

"Just wanted to check on things. You've been up here awhile." Aubrey looked between Chloe and Beca.

"I just finished." Chloe ran a hand through her hair. "I'm going to come down in just a minute."

"Okay...goodnight Beca. Obviously don't worry about rehearsals." She chuckled lightly, happy to get a sincere smirk from the brunette.

When Aubrey left Beca sighed heavily. "Thank you Chloe, for everything tonight."

"I could stay here...if you wanted?" Chloe asked hopefully.

"No, that's okay. I just...I'd like to be alone for a bit." Beca looked down and Chloe's heart hurt and just wanted to make everything okay for her little best friend.

"Okay. Goodnight, I'll see you in the morning." Chloe quickly kissed Beca's forehead and retreated to her own room. Neither one was able to sleep well that night.