Beca stepped into Chloe's tiny studio apartment and softly closed the door behind them. She kept silent to let the redhead look around, trying to judge if her reaction was positive. "But how…" Chloe turned to the brunette, still surprised at what she saw.
The project manager held up a key. "Aubrey. I hope it's okay. I'll give it back to her at work tomorrow." She went up and slipped her hand into Chloe's. The shock was still heavy, almost as if Chloe did not believe her eyes. Beca began to slowly walk her around the small flat.
"This is why… these are the frames you bought last week at the flea market." Chloe stopped at each photo, each a different size and hung at varying heights. "Beca…"
"Please don't be mad at Aubrey." Beca rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, worried. "She helped me pick out most of the pictures and suggested I corral Stacie into hanging them when you were at girls' night." The redhead's new silence unnerved Beca. She was now second-guessing going into Chloe's apartment without her permission. They had done so well at beginning to build each other's trust, and now she had squandered that faith again. Yet the redhead did not let go of her hand as she made several laps around the apartment examining each framed picture.
The next time Chloe faced her, her eyes were rimmed with tears and face flushed. Beca reached up and placed her palm on Chloe's cheek. "I know I had no right to come into your home without your knowledge. Aubrey assured me it would be okay." The project manager was now babbling, sure that she had violated the redhead's trust.
Chloe placed her hand atop of Beca's and pressed their foreheads together. Beca used the pads of her thumbs to wipe away the tears of the woman in front of her, still hopeful the redhead wasn't cross. "No Becs. What you see here," she used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe away more of her own tears, "is not me being upset. I'm touched by your gesture. And that you asked Aubrey to help means even more to me. But… why?"
They moved to the small couch and took a seat. "Last week, when I hurt my back and you brought me here…. Nothing in here screamed Chloe. And that made me sad. You have such a bubbly, vibrant personality. I know these pictures probably aren't what you want hanging in your apartment, but…"
Chloe silenced her by pressing their lips together, holding the back of Beca's neck in an almost frantic gesture of passion. When the kiss broke, the redhead was crying again which confused Beca to no end. "This… is perfect. I couldn't ask for anything better. I have the picture frame on which you change the photos daily – thanks for that by the way. Now this? You… are perfect."
"You aren't disappointed? That I invaded your space? Came in here without your permission?" Chloe shook her head and kissed Beca gently again.
The project manager grinned, while melting into the redhead's kiss at the same time. "What was that for?"
"Just because," Chloe looked Beca up and down, realizing how soft her skin looked, glowing even. The redhead was struck by the urge to touch Beca, really touch her, feel her, kiss her. "I thought about you all week Becs." Her voice was only a whisper. "How about we find a darkroom and see what develops." She giggled as Beca rolled her eyes.
"Such a punny girl you are." The brunette got off the couch and pulled Chloe into her. She ran her hands down the redhead's arms until she reached her elbows. Leaning forward, Beca breathed into the redhead's ear. "It's a school night naughty little girl."
Chloe responded by running her tongue down the outside of Beca's throat, gently biting her skin. She slowly walked the brunette backwards until they fell onto the tiny bed shoved against the wall of the studio apartment. She took advantage of her position hovering over the project manager and ran her tongue down to her neck then throat. When Chloe nipped at Beca's skin, the brunette dug her fingers into the redhead's back, pulling Chloe closer into her.
The redhead changed from a nip to a firm suck on Beca's neck. She then maintained the suction and drew her mouth firmly up the project manager's taut skin to find her mouth, thrusting her tongue inside. The brunette melted beneath Chloe as their kiss was deep… long lasting.
Beca was breathing heavily as she giggled and squirmed from under Chloe to lay next to her. Chloe dramatically flopped on the mattress. "Beccccccccaaaaaaaaaaaa. You weren't serious when you said it was a school night, were you?"
The project manager grinned and nodded. "But I do have to say you are quite adorable when you pout."
Suddenly Chloe was back on top of the brunette, sucking on her lip and pressing her breasts into Beca's. She could tell Beca was resisting the urge to touch Chloe because the moment she did, there would be no going back. The redhead took advantage of the momentary control she had to run her hands down Beca's arms to grasp at her wrists, raising her hands to lock them against the wall.
"I want you Becs." Chloe was almost gasping as she sucked the brunette's tongue into her mouth, trying a more aggressive approach.
Beca turned her hands over, gently wrapping her fingers around Chloe's wrists to break free before using her legs as leverage. She ducked her head to her chest as she began peppering Chloe with calmer kisses before capturing the redhead in her arms and pulling her in tight. "I know you do Chlo, but it's a school night."
She stuck out her lower lip as she began to whine. "I'm an adult Beca – about to graduate. Don't you think I'm old enough to decide how to spend my nights?"
"About to graduate… that's the key. Even if most of your coursework is over, you have a fairly important exam coming up. And study sessions for that exam."
Chloe wriggled and squirmed as she tried to make her way back to Beca's mouth.
"Tell you what – how about we compromise tonight? I'll spend the night. Just sleeping, mind you. This weekend you can show me your study schedule and we'll work out something through graduation." Reluctantly Chloe agreed because having Beca with her was certainly better than waking up alone.
Friday was often Beca's favorite work-day of the week because it meant she'd have the weekend to do with as she pleased. Per her compromise with Chloe about 'school nights', she was going to cook the student dinner, and they planned on enjoying an easy night together. She knew the redhead hadn't exactly been overjoyed at the guidelines she'd put down about them spending time together during the week. However, the next month and a half were the most important culmination of the last three years of Chloe's life as she prepared for her exam.
After checking her own schedule for the next week, Beca realized that she hadn't had a meeting with the Guam team in a few weeks due to her time off and catching up from said time off. She sent Kurihi, the local team lead, two meeting dates and times from which to choose along with a request for details on how the installations were going on the first phase of project execution.
Picking up the phone, she called Jessica to ask if Aubrey had time to see her. After a brief moment on hold, Jessica told Beca to come over to the office.
"Hey Posen." Beca grinned because she knew the use of her last name irritated Aubrey to no end. As the blonde threw her an evil glare, she held up her hands in mock defense. "Okay, okay." Her sheepish grin let Aubrey know that the project manager was only teasing because she liked her.
"I have a question, well several questions." The small brunette was nervous for some reason as she tried to shake the feeling out of her hands. "First, what is the company policy on extending business trips for personal reasons?" Aubrey tilted her head sideways as her expression became curious. "And for allowing someone to join you. Of course, there'd be no cost to the company." Beca's foot was tapping out a pattern on the floor as her leg nervously shook up and down.
Aubrey clarified that if pre-approval was obtained, and no additional expenses were charged to the project that she foresaw no problems. "Why Beca? Do you have a business trip planned soon?" Aubrey was mentally running through the projects on which Beca was currently working trying to remember the stages of each.
"Ummmm I can answer that next week. After my call with Kurihi's team." Beca quickly added, "of course I would never plan a work trip solely for my own benefit."
The blonde reached over the desk and placed her hand on Beca's arm in an attempt to calm her. "I trust you implicitly. Do your questions have anything to do with a certain student who is graduating soon?"
Red crept up Beca's neck as she gave a shy smile and nodded. "I wanted to talk to you, Jessica, and Ashley, too. I'm going to need some help to pull this off. It's her graduation present, and I'd like to keep it a surprise as long as possible. Do you think you guys can help?"
"Absolutely." Aubrey was becoming more and more impressed with her employee on a regular basis. "Just let us know what we need to do."
"Ummm can we do dinner on Thursday and talk about stuff?" Beca was nervously shifting in her chair. She wasn't used to asking others for help.
"She's going to want to join us Mitchell. You know Chloe."
Beca shook her head. "Nope. We are laying down some guidelines this weekend about studying and preparing for her exam. Plus, she doesn't even have to know about it. I am meeting with the Guam team Tuesday or Wednesday night. I'll know more by Thursday. If it's not Guam, I want to take her somewhere. She's worked hard and deserves this."
As Beca stood to leave, Aubrey spoke again. "Hey what are you two doing Saturday? I'd like to maybe try dinner again, you know with you two, Stacie, and me." This time it was Aubrey who was blushing.
The project manager lifted her hand to wave as she walked out. "Dinner… sure thing boss. Sure thing." She chuckled as she went back to her office.
Chloe texted the brunette as she entered the building and headed towards the elevator. This gave Beca time to wash her hands and to meet Chloe at the door with a glass of Chardonnay. "Ohhh thank you." The redhead took a small sip of her wine before kissing Beca. "I could get used to this."
"What, coming over right after the prep is done?" Beca's dry humor merely made Chloe giggle.
"Coming over and being met with a glass of wine and a kiss." Chloe corrected. "It'd be nicer if you had less clothes on though." She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively.
"Yeah and then I'd probably end up burning myself on the stove. I have a tendency of hurting myself around you." Beca motioned for Chloe to take a seat on the other side of the breakfast bar.
"What can I do to help?"
The brunette smiled. "Sit there and look pretty. This is a one-person job." She waved her hand over her counter showing how the mise en place had all been finished. Under her breath but loud enough for Chloe to hear her, she added, "but you could have shown up a little earlier to help." She grinned at the redhead to make sure she knew she was kidding.
Beca dried off the scallops and expertly salted them before placing them in a hot pan to sear and caramelize. Once they were a rich, golden brown on both sides, she pulled them from the pan, set them on another plate, and covered them to keep them warm. As she got ready to make lemon caper pasta, she asked Chloe if she'd set the table. "Everything is simple to find. Just keep opening cabinets and drawers."
While waiting for her water to boil, the project manager poured various ingredients into the scallop pan at correct intervals to start the sauce. When she dropped the angel hair pasta, Chloe came over and loosely wrapped her arms around the smaller woman's torso. "Mmmmm this smells fabulous." She peered over Beca's shoulder as everything was finishing.
Beca shoo'd the redhead to the table as the food was plated up and served. The place settings were next to each other, and the redhead had even found a candle. She slipped her hand into Beca's before leaning over to subtly suck one of the brunette's lips and sandwiched it in between her own, sexy if nothing else. The smaller woman pulled back a bit. "As much as I like where that was heading, why don't we eat? I doubt you had lunch today, and to waste my masterful chef skills would be a travesty."
Beca reached over to cut one of Chloe's scallops, artfully wrapped some pasta around the fork, speared the scallop which she'd early scraped through the sauce, and lifted the full bite to the redhead's mouth. The moan that escaped Chloe's mouth was sinful at best as her eyes rolled back in her head. As she chewed and recovered some of her dignity, she made sure to compliment Beca with more than just sighs and whimpers. "You are an amazing cook Becs, dare I say chef?"
The project manger brought Chloe's hand to her lips to kiss her fingers. "Stick around and see what else I have up my sleeve." Once the women had finished eating, Beca moved her body closer to Chloe's to press a lingering kiss against her lips. The passion and emotion was intense despite the kiss staying simple. Beca grabbed the sides of Chloe's chair and scooted it around for easier access. Chloe naturally moved her hands to the sides of Beca's face as the two merely kissed.
As the two finally broke apart, Chloe's pupils were blown, and she seemed off-balanced. "You okay Chlo?" Beca ran her fingers across the redhead's cheek.
"Mmmm yeah." Chloe seemed to shake off the dazed expression as she looked at Beca and smiled. She stood and began to gather dishes. "You cooked; I'll clean." After a brief discussion, she agreed to let Beca help in order to get everything done more quickly.
Chloe was stretched out on Beca's couch, head in her lap, which seemed to be quite common for the pair since they had started spending time together. Beca was absent-mindedly stroking her hair when Chloe sat up, crossed her legs and turned to face the other woman. The brunette was slightly confused by this out of character nature.
"Can we talk Becs?" The redhead seemed nervous as she waited for a response. How Chloe was acting bothered the project manager. She felt it was best to just nod her head and scoot closer. Close proximity normally seemed to comfort the student. "Do you know how touched I was that you shared your story about your mom last week?" Beca again nodded. "I realize how difficult that must have been; I hope to never again betray the trust you have placed in me."
"We are past that Chloe." The redhead silenced her with a short kiss.
"I know I shouldn't talk to you about my past relationships, especially this early in what we are developing. But I have to as I feel it will give you some insight as to why I sometimes act the way I do."
"You don't have to Chlo." Beca scooted even closer. "Things are okay. We are okay."
"I know I don't have to, but I want to." Chloe went on to discuss the last relationship she had been in. "I was in undergrad, a freshman. His name was Tom, captain of the swim team, a junior. He was everything an eighteen-year-old girl would want. He had the looks, the charisma… and was popular. I loved the attention he gave me as well as the attention I got when I was with him. For a while, the relationship seemed to be working, dare I say perfect. I thought I was in love, as much as any freshman would feel."
Chloe began to fidget as the memories started to kick in. She explained that after Spring Break, things between herself and Tom began to change. "Over the break, I had talked my parents into coming to Barden to meet Tom for a long weekend. He and I had talked about it and agreed we were ready to take that step in our relationship. When I told him, he told me I was wrong – that we had agreed to wait longer before doing the family thing. 'It's too soon,' he said. I felt like a fool when I called my parents to have them cancel their trip."
Beca was trying to not show how upset this conversation was making her. Chloe was visibly distressed, and all she could do was hold her as a show of support. And listen.
"He began to say things and do things that… well made me feel like I was going crazy." Chloe talked about questioning her lucidity, her memories and even her perception of reality. "Tom and I were together for another year after that. He effectively disoriented me so badly that he had almost total control over my life. He managed to separate me from virtually everything I valued other than the relationship with him."
"Luckily the one thing I held onto was the Bellas. When my friends, led by Aubrey of course, noticed the changes in me, they came up with a plan to get Tom out of my life. Even after he was gone, I was unable to fully trust the Bellas, my best of bestest friends completely. Tom had sown so many seeds of doubt in every aspect of my life that I only had distrust in my heart. He'd convinced me that I wasn't worth loving, that I was fortunate to have him my life because only he could love a person such as myself."
Beca was now incensed beyond imagine. How someone as precious as Chloe could ever feel that way about herself was unthinkable. She could only imagine what the redhead went through.
"Aubrey got me into regular counseling sessions through the university where I was finally able to talk about Tom's gaslighting and how it impacted my life. I've been out on a random date or two since then, but never the same person twice. You are the first person I've honestly cared about since Tom. I suppose I'm not as well-adjusted as I thought I was, and some of those fears crept in and took over." Chloe let out a long breath that neither knew she'd been holding.
After a bit of silence, when Beca was sure it was okay for her to talk, she pulled Chloe into her arms. "Chlo, baby. Look at me." They wrestled positions a moment until they had a clear shot of each other's eyes. "You… are a special woman. I wish you hadn't had to have gone through that, and I'll be eternally grateful for Aubrey for helping you to escape. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to believe in what is around you. You deserve love." She wiped away the tears that Chloe had been shedding.
"Do I Beca? God." She sniffled as she looked up at the ceiling. "I often wonder if I deserve anything good."
Beca was aghast. "Oh Chloe baby. Yes. Yes, you do deserve it; you deserve all things good. I only hope you will let me be the one to show you." Not knowing what else to do, the project manager slowly stood up and guided the broken woman into her bedroom. She helped Chloe change into a sleep shirt then curled around her as she stroked the redhead's hair until she fell asleep.
Aubrey heard a knock on her door. Not expecting anyone, she was surprised to see Stacie standing outside with a huge bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine. "Surprise." The leggy brunette stood outside, gauging the blonde's reaction. They had texted a few times about cutting back on the sexy times, particularly in public places. Stacie wasn't entirely sure the rules of engagement for this turn in hers and Aubrey's "encounters".
"For you." She offered the flowers. "And if you'll allow it, for us." She held up the wine and waggled the bottle back and forth. "2011 Tenuta Tignanello." Aubrey raised her eyebrows as she motioned for Stacie to come inside.
"I'm impressed." The blonde examined the label.
"Good. The guy at the wine store said that bottle would do it." Stacie lowered her chin and looked at Aubrey wistfully. "I've missed you in class… honestly I've just missed you."
The blonde sighed. "I haven't been avoiding you, I promise. I've just had a busy week." She stepped towards Stacie and reached up the extra few inches to kiss the taller woman. "I've missed you, too." She then went to put her flowers in water. "I thought we were meeting at the restaurant."
"Meh. I thought we could maybe have a glass of wine before we went. Doesn't have to be from that," Stacie quickly added. "Plus, a beautiful woman such as yourself deserves some flowers to brighten her weekend."
Aubrey turned her back to Stacie to hide the redness creeping up her neck. She slid the wine into her rack and selected another. "I'm going to save that one if you don't mind." She opened the new bottle and poured two glasses.
Stacie had taken a seat on the loveseat and scooted to the far side in hopes Aubrey would take a seat next to her, which she did. After enjoying a moment of silence between them and a few sips of wine, Aubrey leaned over and gave Stacie a proper kiss. She leaned her forehead against the brunette's and smiled. "I'm really glad you came by."
Aubrey and Stacie arrived at the restaurant before Chloe and Beca. Stacie helped tie the Congratulations balloons to the back of one of the chairs while Aubrey placed some small decorations on the table and slipped a manila envelope under her chair. "She's so going to kill me." Aubrey was actually giggling.
"Naw, this is right up Chloe's alley. She's going to love it. Early surprise."
"Oh this isn't for Chloe!"
Before Aubrey could explain what she was doing, Beca and Chloe joined them at the table. Chloe was in on the arrangement and played her part well as she gushed over the decorations and let Beca pull out her chair with the balloons. The four women spent most of the meal catching up on the events of the previous week since they had last seen each other. Chloe shared how the evil Beca Mitchell had set up a study schedule and was going to refuse to see her when she was supposed to be studying. Stacie laughed and said that sounded like something Beca would do.
While the four women were stuffed, they couldn't resist ordering a dessert to share amongst them all. Aubrey stood to excuse herself to the restroom. As Stacie stood to go with her, Chloe leapt up and said, "Uh huh, no way Jose. I don't trust the two of you in a public restroom alone. I can go with her."
During the time the best friends were gone, Beca mentioned to Stacie that Aubrey seemed a lot more relaxed. The taller brunette shared their agreement to back off from having sex, at least in public places. "Plus, I showed up unexpectedly at her house today with flowers and an expensive ass bottle of wine. I think she was impressed." Beca gave her friend a high five as a show of approval.
When Chloe returned, she asked to change to the decorated chair, with all the balloons. Beca raised her eyebrows in confusion. "With all this?" She waved her hands around at the fru fru decorations. "This is all yours, babe." Chloe batted her eyes as she begged, knowing Beca couldn't resist her.
When Beca was in her new seat, batting away the balloons that were attacking her hair, Aubrey reached down for the large envelope she had earlier hidden. "Actually Mitchell, this is all for you. I got a visit from Human Resources on Monday. You know Sally."
The project manager's eyes grew wide. "I swear I didn't say anything Aubrey. I promise." Now Beca was nervous that someone had said something to HR and she'd gotten blamed for a sexual harassment complaint.
"I know you didn't. Sally had pulled your file and wanted to go over your performance, latest review, etc." The blonde reached across the table with the envelope which a stunned Beca took. "Go ahead, open it."
The project manager opened the envelope and pulled out a plaque wrapped in bubble wrap. "What's this?" She looked around the table, but nobody was talking. When she unwrapped it and read it, she began to grin from ear to ear.
"What does it say babe?" Chloe already knew but was trying to get Beca to talk.
"Beca Mitchell, Senior Project Manager"