Chapter 27: Dixie Chicks Serious

"Ladies, ladies." Aubrey clapped her hands at a bella rehearsal after Fat Amy had distracted the group thoroughly enough with an impromptu demonstration of mermaid dancing. The bellas hushed their giggles and assembled into their tight bubble in front of Aubrey. "We have a week before Christmas break. And that's going to be three weeks without a rehearsal."

"Unless we have a group FaceTime." Beca chuckled as she glanced around at the other bellas who were smirking.

"Hmm...I actually haven't thought of that." Aubrey paused, like she was genuinely considering that as an option.

"Dude, I was kidding. We do not need a bella FaceTime rehearsal over break!" Beca quickly backtracked after seeing the look on Aubrey's face.

"No, the logistics wouldn't work with that." Aubrey waved her hand as if she let the idea float past. "But I do have a daily workout regimen, vocal drills, and mouth exercises for you all to do to keep in acapella shape for when we return and prepare for regionals."

"I can think of some mouth exercises we could do." Chloe whispered in Beca's ear, making the younger girl flinch and blush furiously.

"Dude." Beca shot her a glare as Aubrey continued speaking.

"Now let's make the rest of this rehearsal perfect. In formation!" Aubrey pointed to the ceiling as she marched to her spot and the rest of the bellas, less enthused, followed to theirs.

Chloe was sitting on her bed chatting with her mom about Christmas plans while Aubrey type away at her laptop for a paper.

"So, mom." Chloe shifted awkwardly in her bed as she prepared to ask her question. "Um...well, you know Beca. Of Beca. What I've told you about her, right?"

Aubrey gave a side long glance at Chloe, curious to where that conversation was going.

"Right." Chloe nodded and grinned like a little kid after something her mom said through the phone. "Well, I was wondering if maybe you want to meet her. Maybe she could come with me for Christmas?"

Aubrey nearly fell out of her bed and she stared at Chloe in disbelief. Chloe just gave her a look that said to chill out. And then Chloe had to hold the phone away from her ear as her mom apparently started shrieking in excitement.

"No, I haven't asked her. She's...well, she might get freaked out." Chloe explained on the phone as Aubrey made no effort to hide that she was eavesdropping.

"She's really shy. And this is like her first serious relationship. I'll ask her when the timing's right. I just wanted to make sure you'd be okay with it." Chloe paused, listening to her mom and then rolling her eyes. "I'm sure I can find us a flight, mom." She waited again. "Okay, I'll let you know when I ask. And I'll send you our flight info when I do. Alright, love you too!" Chloe put her phone back on her desk, avoiding the obvious glare she was getting from her roommate.

"Meeting the family, huh?" Aubrey broke the silence. "And meeting the family on the biggest holiday of the year. You got balls, Beale."

"Oh, shush, it'll be fine."

"Can I please be there to see the look on Beca's face when you ask her?"

"No. Now stop making me more nervous than necessary." Chloe shot back as she fell back against her pillow.

"So...you two are pretty serious, huh?" Aubrey lightened her tone and looked at Chloe with sincerity. Chloe slowly turned to look at her as a grin involuntarily formed on her lips.

"Dixie Chicks serious." Chloe nodded. Aubrey only raised her eyebrows and nodded in approval before returning to her paper.

Aubrey had organized a small Christmas concert at a senior center to give the girls one last practice at performing before the break. They were all dressed in reds and greens, looking very festive. Chloe had a long red coat tied at the waist with a green and white scarf. Beca in classic Beca fashion wore a black sweater with grumpy cat on it in a santa hat that said "is this jolly enough?" Aubrey lost that fight with Beca, since they were going to be late if she had argued over Beca changing. Chloe, of course, found it adorable.

The seniors were guided into the large activity room to face the little stage. Many of them looked eager and their eyes were full of excitement as they watched the bellas march onto the stage. Stacie pushed her boobs up when an older gentleman in the front row gave her a wolf whistle.

"Stacie." Aubrey hissed.

"We don't need to be sending them into cardiac arrest, damn." CR chuckled behind them. Once they were all in formation Aubrey blew the pitch pipe and they started singing their Christmas setlist. Chloe got a little teary eyed as the seniors watched them sing each song and had to dab their eyes. Beca gave her hand a quick squeeze as they finished out the set.

Once the performance was over Fat Amy put on her santa hat and started passing out boxes of assorted baked goods that the bellas had made. The seniors looked as if this was the best Christmas they'd had in a long time. All of the bellas, even Beca, were moved that afternoon. Not one of them had any regret about performing there even if it wasn't a paid gig.

"That was pretty awesome." Beca said as she sat by Chloe on the bus back.

"Yeah." Chloe nodded. "I love that we can give joy to people just by singing. Its amazing."

"Just like you." Beca smirked as she grabbed Chloe's hand to intertwine their fingers. Chloe gave it a squeeze as she rested her head on Beca's shoulder for the ride home.

Some of the girls were planning to leave for break the next day, so Aubrey was having the Bellas Christmas Party that night. Fat Amy was fighting with her blow up dancing Santa in the middle of the living room, while Stacie tried her best to help keep it from crashing on anything important. Aubrey watched with a tired glare before returning her attention to the kitchen where the rest of the bellas were making more baked goods for the party since they had just given everything away at the senior center.

Beca of course retired to her room, Aubrey compromising that Beca can be a hermit during prep but must be visible come party time. Chloe slid a pan of various Christmas cutout cookies into the oven before sneaking away to Beca's room.

"Hey, hermit." She whispered as she closed the door behind her.

"Aren't you supposed to be baking or something?" Beca peeked up over her laptop.

"My amazing cookies are in the oven as we speak. Besides…" Chloe sauntered over and took Beca's laptop to set on the desk. She playfully toyed with the belt on her dress/coat. "It was getting a little warm in the kitchen."

"Right." Beca eyed her suspiciously. "So you came up here to...cool off?"

"Not exactly." Chloe winked as she quickly untied the belt and dropped the coat. Beca shot up like a rocket when she saw what was underneath. Chloe stood proudly in a skimpy little gingerbread costume. Her boobs were fighting with the material to barely stay in place. And the lacy "frosting" at the bottom didn't come close to covering Chloe's mid thigh. The little "gumdrop" buttons were undone at the top, presumably to give the boobs a little bit of breathing room.

"Chloe!" Beca gasped as she couldn't tear her eyes away from the absolute sluttiest thing she's ever seen the redhead wear.

"You like?" Chloe spun around revealing an almost bare back.

"Where the hell did you even get something like that?" Beca laughed and then quickly froze. "Oh my God you wore THAT to the senior center?"

"It was covered." Chloe waved her hand in dismissal at Beca's shock.

"Wanna tell me why you're wearing the sluttiest gingerbread house I've ever seen?" Beca smirked.

"Well…" Chloe leaned forward, giving Beca an intentionally good view of her breasts. "I figured I'm your ginger...and you can have me for a snack."

"Oh my God! You are such a dork!" Beca covered her face. But Chloe quickly grabbed her wrists and leaned in closer.

"Come on, Becs. Let's have a little private party before the main event." Chloe whispered as she softly bit on Beca's ear. Beca just gulped, knowing there was no chance of possibly saying no. So in one quick motion she undid the remaining buttons on Chloe's top and leaned up to capture Chloe's lips with her own. Chloe hummed in approval as she slid the garment off to straddle her girlfriend and help with the removal of a lot, comparatively, of remaining clothing on Beca.

Chloe curled up beside Beca enjoying cuddles for a few minutes before she'd have to return downstairs. She looked at Beca who was still panting, just not quite as heavily as a few minutes prior. She grinned to herself, loving the look on Beca's face. She started drawing random shapes along Beca's forearm as she convinced her brain to ask the question she was desperately wanting and needing to. Beca involuntarily started stroking Chloe's hair as if instinctively knowing there was something important trying to escape the redhead's mind.

"Bec, can I ask you something?" Chloe leaned up to look at Beca properly.

"Of course." Beca squirmed slightly, trying to hide her nervousness about the question.

"You can say no. I promise I won't be mad. Yes, I'll be disappointed. But I won't be mad. I won't hold it against you or be passive aggressive or anything. Totally okay to say no."

"Chlo." Beca grabbed her hand before she could continue her ramble. "I can't say no if I don't know what you're asking."

"Right." Chloe took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Would you want to come with me over break? And spend Christmas with me...and my family?" Chloe winced as she finally let the question out, praying Beca would say yes. Beca paused for only a second before Chloe continued. "Because I know your family doesn't do much for Christmas. And you've made comments about just wanting to stay here and not go. So this could be your out. You could tell your dad its some amazing ski trip you couldn't pass up or something."

"I'd love to." Beca said as soon as Chloe took a breath.

"What?" Chloe's lips formed the happiest grin.

"I'd love to. I think it would be a lot of fun. Road trip to Florida for Christmas sounds way better than my other options."

"Oh it wouldn't be Florida." Chloe quickly corrected. "We spend Christmas in Colorado with my Aunt."

"Oh. So snow?" Beca asked excitedly.

"Yeah, snow." Chloe let out a laugh. "And a lot of Beales. You sure you ready for that?"

"I really want to see the band of crazies that had a hand in raising my perfect girlfriend to be the woman she is today."

"You're going to get a cavity with all that sweetness." Chloe shook her head as she placed a quick kiss on Beca's lips. "So you're sure? Once I buy those plane tickets there's no backing out."

"Positive." Beca grinned, kissing Chloe again. And Chloe was so excited and relieved. Because Beca could have easily said no. Made some excuse about forced familial obligations. But she said yes. And she'd said yes without hesitation. Beca was going to meet her family. Chloe realized once again that this thing they were doing was turning pretty serious. And she was both scared and thrilled.

The party turned out to be quite a bit of fun to Beca's surprise. She usually ended up having a decent time at these things, but she'd never admit to it being fully fun. And maybe because she had just had sex less than an hour ago or the fact that she was going to spend Christmas with Chloe in the snow attributed to her ability to enjoy the party more than usual.

Aubrey stumbled over to her as she was munching on some chips and dips. Beca looked up with a look of amusement. She always enjoyed drunk Aubrey.

"Alright, Beca. Here's your Christmas gift. I got you in secret santa." Aubrey handed her a little red bag. Beca pulled out the tissue paper and smiled widely at the 5 16GB USBs sitting in the package. And there was also a colorful piece of paper at the bottom. When she pulled it out and read "one free pass to skip a bella bonding event/party - use wisely." Beca chuckled to herself as she set the package aside.

"Thanks, Aubrey, this is awesome." She leaned in and gave Aubrey a quick hug.

"I'll never admit it sober, but you're awesome too, Beca. You're one of my best friends." Aubrey swayed a little bit as she fell into Beca again for a firmer hug.

"Should I be worried?" Chloe walked in with a smirk on her face and leaned against the wall.

"Oh yeah." Aubrey rolled her eyes. "I'm totally going to steal your girlfriend." She took another look at Beca and scrunched her face. "Ew."

"Ah, now there's the Aubrey I've come to love." Beca rolled her eyes.

"Aww...my bestie and my girlfriend love each otherrrrr!" Chloe giggled as she pulled them into an awkward group hug. Aubrey and Beca both mumbled their protests as they squirmed away.

Once Aubrey left, Beca rested her forearms on the kitchen counter and looked out at the party in front of her. Fat Amy was trying out her Christmas-themed pick up lines on the blow up Santa. Jessica and Ashley were singing karaoke. Lilly was looking happily at the socks Beca had got her for secret Santa. No, not just socks. It was a package of custom made Christmas socks. They all had cats wearing a different Christmas-themed headgear (reindeer antlers, santa hat, etc.) and the cats were holding ninja stars on all the socks. It actually turned out to be pretty expensive to get them printed and made. But Lilly's face when she received them was worth every penny. CR was working her dance moves on another female acapella enthusiast. Stacie was surrounded by three guys all vying to win her over for the night. Flo was getting competitive in the game of flip cup happening in the dining room and she was spouting of a string of what Beca assumed were expletives, in Spanish. Jesse and Benji had come and they were snuggled on the couch listening to Emily excitedly tell them about Christmas stories growing up.

"You okay, Becs?" Chloe interrupted her thoughts.

"Yeah. It's just funny." Beca scoffed lightly to herself. "Last year we kissed under the mistletoe and it was just a friend thing. And I was trying my damndest to fight tall those feelings I had for you. And now, just a year later...I don't think I've ever been this happy. I've got this amazing and insanely weird second family. And it's really all your fault." Beca playfully punched Chloe in the arm.

"What can I say, I'm pretty talented." Chloe grinned as she leaned in for a kiss which was abruptly interrupted by their Aussie friend.

"Alright, Bloe! Quit making bella babies in the kitchen and come join the party!" Amy shouted above the music. Leave it to Amy to ruin a moment. Beca rolled her eyes and trudged into the living room calling back, "not how it works, Ames!"

The day quickly came to fly to Colorado. Chloe was nervous, but she could tell Beca was twice as nervous. Aubrey drove the two to the airport. She unashamedly stayed in her PJs, wearing the largest pair of sunglasses she owned.

"Thanks again for bringing us, Bree." Chloe leaned across the center console to give Aubrey a hug.

"Mhm." Aubrey mumbled. "Don't be too nervous meeting the family Beca."

"I'm not nervous." Beca said rapidly as she flung herself out the door to get their bags out of the trunk.

"Oh she'll be great." Aubrey grinned sarcastically.

"Oh, hush. No need to make her any more nervous." Chloe rolled her eyes.

"What about you?" Aubrey reached out for Chloe's forearm before she could leave the car. "Are you nervous?"

"I mean, a little." Chloe looked down at her lap. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. I mean, my family's going to love her. I just don't want to scare her off, you know?"

"That girl loves you, Chloe. Even your overly affectionate family won't be enough to scare her off from you."

"Yeah, I know. I feel so lucky." Chloe looked over at Aubrey with a dreamy look in her eye. She jumped in the seat when Beca pounded on the window.

"Let's go, let's go. Plane's not gonna wait for us, Chlo!" Beca bounced on her feet outside of the car.

"Super lucky." Chloe mumbled sarcastically.

"She's not nervous at all." Aubrey giggled. "Good luck. And have fun. And text me how things go."

"Of course. Love you!" Chloe gave her one last hug before joining her impatient girlfriend waiting with the bags. She gave Beca a look as she grabbed her own and led the way into the airport.

The plane landed and Beca's nerves fired back up. She felt like she needed to take an anti-anxiety pill or something. Chloe, sensing this, linked their fingers together and led her out of the airport.

"My brother's picking us up." Chloe explained as they walked through baggage claim. "And he's the calmest of the bunch. So it'll help you ease into everything. We're meeting at my Aunt's house with her twins, my parents and sister. She has plenty of rooms; we have a lot of family gatherings there. So it'll be My parents, Carl and Caroline. Brother, Chase. Sister, Chelsea. And yes we are one of those families with the same initials. My dad is really proud of CBB. Don't ask me why. My aunt is Laura. Her kids are Tommy and Olivia, age 9 and 4. They'll like you too, I promise. In the morning we're all going to drive to the ski cabin for a couple days to ski. Then we'll drive back and have Christmas Eve dinner with the fam. We open one present that night, and the rest the next morning." Chloe was reciting everything as if she had rehearsed the bullet points in a gameplan to calm Beca down. Beca always did prefer having a clear plan.

"Okay." Beca nodded, going over the words in her own head.

"They're going to love you." Chloe squeezed her hand.

"What if I'm awkward and do or say something embarrassing?" Beca's voice was almost a whine.

"Oh, its not a matter of if." Chloe chuckled when Beca's head whipped to glare at her. "But that's what makes you loveable and adorable."

"I'm going back home." Beca tried with very little effort to extract her hand from Chloe's grip and turn back around.

"No you're not." Chloe just slid her hand around her waist and kept them moving. "You are absolutely going to do something to embarrass yourself or stick your foot in your mouth. And it won't even be that bad, but you'll think it is. So you'll backtrack and flounder like a fish out of water. And my family will love you. And they'll think you're just as cute as I do."

"I'm not cute." Beca grumbled.

"Yes you are." Chloe stated as she leaned her head against Beca's. "Its going to be fine."

"But what if they don't like me, Chloe." Beca forced the redhead to stop walking for a moment. "I know you're confident and everything, but what if they actually don't?"

"Then I'd be dating a girl my family doesn't like." Chloe shrugged her shoulders. "But, I can promise you that won't happen. They want me to be happy. They'll see that you make me happy. And there is not a single doubt in my mind that they will love you. I've already told my mom a lot about you and she likes you."

"Okay." Beca closed her eyes and took a deep breath as they stood in front of the automatic doors that led to the pick up area. "Let's do this."

The car ride to the Beale's was better than Beca expected. Chloe sat in the back with her so they could hold hands. Chase made a snarky comment about not being a chauffeur that Chloe just shushed away. He asked Beca questions that wouldn't likely be asked by the rest of the family, so Beca didn't have to get worn out by repeating the same thing over and over. He asked things like:

"What's your favorite music genre? (varies, I like to mix and match) Artist? (usually Queen, but Pink is a close second) Favorite road trip snack? (Gummy worms, not bears. And hot cheetos) Favorite outdoor activity? (swimming) Any major injuries?"

Beca had actually broken her collarbone in a mountain biking accident, which was new information for Chloe. Chase enjoyed taking that time to tell Beca about all of his injuries he's acquired throughout his 18 years of life. Beca was relieved to be listening to his stories than keep on talking about herself. Chloe was pretty impressed at how well Chase interacted with Beca. The little brunette seemed to calm down quite a bit since they were first leaving the airport.

However, that calm quickly dissipated when Chase pulled into the driveway and turned around with a mischievous grin.

"So...Have you two had sex?"

"Chase!" Chloe quickly slapped him hard across the top of his head as he couldn't control his laughter. Beca was frozen, wide-eyed next to Chloe. The thirty minute car ride that had calmed her nerves was now moot.

"What? I need to know if I should wear my noise cancelling headphones tonight." Chase kept laughing as he slid out of the car before Chloe could launch another attack.

"Ignore him. He's an idiot." Chloe quickly turned to face a pale looking Beca. "He likes you. He wouldn't make an ass out of himself like that if he didn't." She gave Beca a quick kiss on the cheek as she got out of the car. Chase was doing his best to make up for his comments by lugging almost all their bags up to the house.

"Can you grab the rest?" Chloe asked as she rubbed Beca's arm to ease her anxiety. She also knew that if Beca had something to hold it would distract her hands from being too fidgety. Chloe went up the steps to join Chase as they waited for Beca.

"So you two are pretty serious, huh? Meeting the fam and all?" Chase asked genuinely. Chloe grinned dumbly as looked back at Beca slinging her bag over her shoulder. She whispered in response, even if Chase didn't understand the importance of the statement.

"Dixie chicks serious."

I'll try to get the next chapter up soon. It's obviously going to be Christmas themed with Chloe's family. Thanks to all who read and review!