CHAPTER 17

Earlier this week

She walks outside the airport, pulling her mini luggage bag. She's wearing those heels that makes her look like a tower, denim skirt, and a fitted sweater that shows that much cleavage that is sinful enough for every pair of eyes looking at it. She was wearing her signature smile, as she held her phone by her ear, waiting for the ringing to end and be picked up on.

"Hey gorgeous"

"Hey sexy." She said in her seductive husky voice.

"Okay, as much as I've missed this flirting we both weirdly enjoy, I'm with her right now and she'll be pissed at you."

Stacie rolled her eyes and shook her head as she heard laughter at the background of the other line.

"Oh please, Rebecca. We both know that if I have been just a tad bit of a lady lover as you, you two would be dying to have all of this," she motions to her body – publicly – "on your bed, right now."

"Okay, first" a pause occurred, "that name, Stace, is a violation to my rights." Stacie laughed, oh how she missed to rile Beca up. "And second, I love you, you know that, but gross, Stace. Gross."

"Alright, alright. I give up. You don't want any of these goodies." She hears the soft chuckle from the other end of the line. "But on the serious note, I just landed here at LAX. When are you gonna come over?"

"I'll be leaving tomorrow. Don't worry legs, I made a promise to you, and I'll keep it, you know me."

"Very good then! Aubrey and Jesse will be pleased to see you back. Also, if Chloe comes, she'll be in a surprise." Stacie waited for a second for a reply. It has been a long while since she mentioned the redhead to Beca, and

"Hm, Chloe huh? How is she?"

The one corner of Stacie's lips curled at the tone Beca just gave. It sounded…calm, cool and collected. Well, that's better than anything. "Oh, she's doing good. She's a redhead again, lives in San Fransisco."

"Is she still with…uhm, what was his name again?"

Stacie snorted as she hailed a cab. "Kyle?"and she heard a hum of confirmation. "Yeah, nope. They're not together anymore. It's funny really. Turns out they weren't really a thing."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. But anyway, I'm sure you'll get your questions this Friday, hopefully, if she comes. But I'll see you, yeah?" Stacie asks.

"Of course. I'll see you soon."

The phone call ended, and Stacie proceeded on calling Aubrey's number.

Chloe checks the time for, probably, the millionth time that day. It takes an hour and a half of flight from San Fransisco to Los Angeles, and it's only an hour left before her flight, so she really needs to hurry up. It's been quite a while since she last saw her friends, and she made a pact to herself that she wouldn't miss a single gathering.

As she was closing her locker, Louis, one of her colleagues that has an obvious crush on her and had been asking her to go out for months, walked to her.

"Hey there, C." he greets, and Chloe rolls her eyes internally with the nickname. She puts up a tight smile and looked at him.

"Hi Louis. What's up?" she looked back into closing her locker. And turned around to get her bag from the bench behind her. She silently sighed, waiting for the inevitable question from the black haired guy.

"You free tonight? I was hoping to have dinner with you." He sounded sincerely hopeful, but dang, this boy couldn't take a hint.

Chloe shoulders her bag and gave him an apologetic look she probably have mastered since the beginning of her work days in the hospital. "Sorry, Louis. I have a thing…and I'm really late, so…maybe next time?"

Louis looked dejected and slumped his shoulders. "Oh, ok. It's fine" he said, but smiled nonetheless, "maybe next time, yeah."

She gave hime one last sorry smile and then left the building, hurrying to go home to get her bags and to catch a cab on the way to the airport. Luckily, she was able to find one immediately and was able to arrive in the airport 15 minutes before her flight – but it was 5 minutes until boarding, so she just saved her ass from having a headache on missing her flight.

She arrived in LA with a few more hours she can spare to settle in a hotel before going to Aubrey and Jesse's house, so she looked for a cab and went down to find a nearby hotel.

"Hey babe, is Chloe in LA now?" Jesse asked, while carrying their daughter, Gillian, who was sleeping soundly on her father's shoulder.

"I don't know. I guess? She hasn't given me a text yet, I –" Aubrey was cut off when she heard her phone dinged, and saw that a message from Chloe saying she just arrived in her hotel and would be resting for a few minutes before heading over. "Yup, she's here. She just arrived in her hotel and will be coming over later."

Jesse smiled, as he softly rubs Gillian's back and proceeded to the next room. "How is she?"

"Honestly? I don't know…but, I think she's doing fine. I mean, with her new place, new work and all."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It's been a year now. A lot has probably change. This won't be awkward at all, right?" Jesse asked with his worried smile, but Aubrey gave him an assuring smile as she walked towards him and her daughter. She both kissed them on their forehead silently and lays a hand on Gillian's head. She looked back at Jesse.

"I hope so." She said as a whisper.

Chloe drops on her hotel bed and stares at the white ceiling, then released a blow of air. She raised her phone and looked at the time, showing that she has a few minutes before getting ready to go. She just gave Aubrey a text, and the blonde replied seconds after telling her that they're pretty much excited to see her, especially little Gillian. That put a smile on her face.

Gillian has been her reason to smile ever since she came to the world. Of course, there's her friends and family too…but, that kid definitely brings out the sincerest of smiles from her nowadays, because the last time she made that smile was…the last time she saw Beca Mitchell happy.

Anyway, Chloe stands up and heads to the shower before her happy thoughts from Gillian turn to depressing thoughts about - Oh my god, Chloe, take your shower now.

A knock on the door was heard, and Aubrey hurriedly wipes her hands off with the kitchen towel as she walks towards the door. When she opened, her jaw dropped and both her and Chloe let out a squeal before giving each other tight hugs.

"I missed you so muuuuuch!" Aubrey said, squeezing the redhead just a bit more before releasing each other. "You look good! How's your trip?"

Chloe shrugged and walked inside then looked at the blonde, "It was okay. Not like one hour flights are that eventful."

Aubrey elicited a soft laugh at that. "Well then, are you hungry?"

Chloe shrugged again.

"You okay there, Chlo?" Aubrey asked, hesistant and worried. "Do you…want to talk about it?"

Chloe looked at Aubrey, and found nothing but care and worry in her eyes. She smiled and shakes her head. "Is Gillian asleep?"

"Yeah, she's in her crib upstairs." Aubrey said. She saw the look in Chloe's face, and saw the pure smile she missed on the redhead's face. She watches the redhead walks away towards the stairs and take the steps, bu before the vision of her feet disappear someone knocked on the dorr and Chloe stopped on her feet.

Aubrey smiled and turned around, "They're here!" she said before walking towards the door.

A/N: Please don't kill me :)

Hang on for the next chapter.

-blue