CC Jitters is a quaint coffee shop, plush couches and sturdy wood tables fill the space among the regular customers. Music plays in the background, just audible over the chatter of the patrons and the constant hum and hiss of the espresso machines.
In the corner table sits Chloe, attentively watching the incoming patrons. She'd decided to walk to the coffee shop, giving her time to organize her panicked thoughts; the mid-morning breeze and warm sunshine helped clear her mind and calm her nerves after a few minutes.
Chloe checks her wristwatch again: 10:50 am.
Aubrey should be arriving any minute now. They agreed to meet at eleven AM and if she knows anything about her best friend is that Aubrey is always on time.
When she looks up again, her best friend walks towards her.
A beaming smile lights up Aubrey's face when their eyes meet. A jolt of anxiety shoots down Chloe's spine then and she takes a deep breath to steady herself. She stands, pulling Aubrey into a tight hug once she's close enough. "Bree!" She says, "I missed you."
"Oh I missed you too, Chloe," Aubrey responds warmly and takes her seat across from Chloe.
"We have so much to catch up on."
"You've got no idea, Bree," she takes a long sip from her latte, pushing Aubrey's drink towards her.
"I'm surprised your better half isn't joining us today."
"You try prying Beca out of bed before noon on her day off. I've learned to pick and choose my battles with her."
The thought of Beca calms her, if only slightly.
"It's going well with you guys?" Aubrey asks.
"Yeah, yeah it is. How's everything at the lodge?"
"Oh, you know. Busy as ever. What about your munchkins this year? Tell me everything." Aubrey asks as she settles more comfortably into her seat.
The lodge had seen an unusual boom in business in the last few weeks and with how busy she and Beca have been lately they'd hardly had time to catch up.
"First graders this year. They are as precious as they are maddening," Chloe recounts her last two months of work with zeal. She's been teaching fifth graders for the last two years so the news that she'd be teaching some of the younger kids this year has thrown Chloe for a loop. It turns out having a room full of six-year-olds is a lot harder than she'd anticipated.
Her kids are wonderfully rambunctious and active and more than anything she's enjoyed watching all their personalities flourish and blossom in the last two months. The parents… well, the parents she could do without.
She thinks about how, soon enough, she'll be one of those parents, with her own six-year-old child. The thought fills her with equal parts dread and excitement.
"Hello? Earth to Chloe."
Aubrey's voice pulls Chloe back into the present realizing she's let her thoughts get away from her again.
"Sorry, what, what was that?"
"Are you okay, Chloe?" Aubrey asks, voice laced with concern.
"Yeah, yeah," Chloe sighs. "Sorry. I'm being totally weird."
"Something's obviously on your mind. What's up?"
"I… well." Chloe swallows against the sudden lump in her throat and reminds herself again she's got nothing to be nervous about. "I've got some news actually."
With shaky hands Chloe reaches inside her bag, producing from it the nondescript green envelope she'd brought precisely for this purpose. She slides it across the table without another word.
Inside the envelope is one of the carefully crafted, costume ordered cards they'd had made. Chloe remembers how much Beca had resisted the idea and how upon seeing the finished product she tried to hide the fact that there were tears welling up in her eyes.
The cards are probably a little cheesy, their latest ultrasound picture on a beige backdrop, proclaiming in big, bold letters "COMING SOON. BABY MITCHELL." But then again, Chloe thinks, that was the whole point.
Beca has been worrying herself sick for weeks now over how both their parents would take the unexpected news. It broke Chloe's heart seeing her break down in tears over all those pent-up anxieties.
Warren & Debbie Mitchell are a lot more open-minded than Beca gives them credit for, however. Though understandably surprised about the news they would become grandparents soon, they both seemed supportive of their decision and Beca's father even promised he'd be making the trip all the way to Los Angeles to see them soon.
It went as well as they could've hoped. Breaking the news to Chloe's parents had been a little more difficult.
Learning their only daughter was having a child with the woman she'd only been dating a few months didn't sit very well with the Beales. Tears had been shed and accusations thrown around. Chloe was glad in the end, she'd handled that conversation on her own. Her parents just need a little time to adjust, she's sure.
She tries not to think about it too much.
Which brings Chloe here. Though she knows—hopes—Aubrey will be a lot more supportive of their decision, her support is still important to Chloe. (And Beca even though she won't admit it.)
"What's this?" Aubrey asks curiously as she slowly pries the envelope open to slide its contents out.
Silence falls between them for what seems like forever. Surprise and disbelieve war within Aubrey's face as wide, bright eyes stare back at her.
"Chloe, I swear if this is some type of early April Fools prank of yours."
"It's not, Bree."
"Oh my god, I have so many questions." Aubrey takes a deep breath, seemingly trying to collect herself. "Well? Start talking! I want to know everything."
A laugh bubbles up from Chloe's chest, a heavy weight lifting off her chest. She feels some of her anxiety ease at finally being able to share this with her best friend.
In a rush of excitement, she tells Aubrey everything that has been happening in the last few months. From the good and not so good things to her very darkest fears; the little, doubtful voice that has taken residence in the corner of her mind for the last few weeks growing quieter.
There's something liberating about finally giving her deepest anxieties a voice.
"—and I don't know, Bree what if we wake up one day and realize this was all a huge mistake? I mean it's not like this was something either of us was planning for."
"You are both adults, Chloe. Capable of making your own choices, nobody is forcing either of you into this. You said it yourself she gave you an out, right?" Aubrey asked.
"Multiple times."
"Then why are you so worried she'll leave? I've watched you two be hopelessly in love with each other for years now. There's no way Beca is ever willingly leaving your side."
"I'm scared this is too much too soon," Chloe says, eyes downcast, absently picking at the label on the side of her cup.
"Chloe, don't be ridiculous. The two of you have been parenting the Bellas for years now. I'm pretty sure you and Beca are the only reason Amy's not in jail."
"I'm not so much scared she'll leave. I'm scared I won't be able to handle this. I love her so much, Bree, but I don't know if I'm ready for any of this." The first sting of fresh tears prickles behind her eyelids suddenly and she tries in vain to blink them away.
She's been sitting on that admission for weeks now. It feels good to finally say it out loud.
"Chloe Elizabeth Beale, what on earth are you talking about?" Aubrey pulls her hand in between both of her own, stopping Chloe from tearing her empty coffee cup apart any further. "I have never met someone more suited for motherhood than you. Yes, it didn't exactly happen the way you hoped it would or when you thought it would but life rarely does."
"I know but I still can't help worrying. We've only been dating a few months, who says our relationship can… survive something like this?"
"You're talking like this is someone you actually met a few months ago. You're Beca and Chloe—"
"If you finish that with 'and together you're Bloe.' "
They both laugh clearly remembering that night at The Lodge and all the other times Amy had made similar comments in the years before then and the many since. The fond memories help to dissipate the remaining tension sitting heavily atop Chloe's chest.
"What I meant," Aubrey continues with a smile, "is that this isn't some rando you just met a few weeks ago, this is Beca. There is so much history between you two. I don't see how this can tear you apart."
Logically she knows Aubrey is right. Their years of friendship have served to give them a solid, steady foundation for their romantic relationship. There is little she doesn't already know about Beca and vice versa. Though the years she spent waiting, hoping that Beca would reciprocate her feelings someday were painful she now has a new appreciation for them. It allowed them to get to know each other without all the pressures and expectations that a new relationship brings.
She's able to look back on those years and recognize how much better their relationship is because of them, because of the friendship they built before anything else. She wouldn't change a single second of the last seven years for anything, she realizes then.
After promising Aubrey ' regular, periodic updates ' Chloe leaves the coffee shop feeling much lighter and calm than she has been in too long.
As she walks into the apartment, the opening chords to Walk The Moon's Shut Up and Dance spills through their speakers; Chloe smiles. Beca must've woken up in a good mood. Her smile broadens when she spies Beca, in the kitchen, wielding a spatula as her microphone. Hair in a messy bun on her head, sans-pants and a shirt that's a few sizes too big and hangs off her shoulders.
She watches silently for a few seconds and wonders how on earth she ever thought she could walk away from this.