Chapter 3 – Oh Baby

Aubrey is having her baby and her best friends Beca/Chloe want to be by her side. The arrival of a new baby has the ladies wondering about their own future.

"You could sleep for a few hours you know, Benji said we didn't need to come right away" Chole suggested to her obviously tired girlfriend.

"No, let's go now, we can sleep later. I think we should be there for Aubrey, even if we are just sitting in the waiting room, we are there if she needs us," Beca said, yawning a little.

Beca really was very tired and could probably have used a few hours of sleep, but she knew it would comfort Aubrey knowing they were there. Her relationship with her mother was on the mend but she still liked to have a buffer. Benji was there obviously, but he was kind of a spaz under pressure. He had dropped the phone on the floor twice just during his brief conversation with Chloe a few minutes ago.

"Okay, I'll go down and get the car from the parking garage and pull it around to the front, meet you down there," Chloe kissed Beca and headed to the elevator.

Beca pulled on some jeans and an old sweater of Chloe's over her pajamas, grabbed a sweater for Chloe and headed downstairs.

Chloe was already waiting in the car at the front door. Beca hopped in the passenger's side and tossed Chloe the sweater.

"Thanks babe, it is a bit chilly out tonight," Chloe said, she loved how Beca looked out for her.

The hospital was about 10 minutes away from their apartment.

"Do you think the baby will be a boy or a girl?" Chloe asked curiously as they pulled out of their parking lot.

"I don't know really, I'd say it's a 50-50 chance of either," Beca smirked as Chloe raised her eyebrow and the two of them broke out in laughter.

"Yeah, I'd say you're right," Chloe said finally.

"Should we call the best of the Bellas?" Chloe wondered if Aubrey would want them there right away.

"Nah, I'd say wait. You know how excitable they all are, especially Fat Amy. It might be too overwhelming for her, we can call them later to visit," Beca said, and Chloe knew that was probably for the best.

Minutes later they pulled into a spot in the hospital's visitor lot.

"Hey, do you want to check out the gift shop before we go find out where Aubrey is?" Chloe asked her girlfriend as they were getting out of the car.

"Yeah, good idea, this baby definitely needs a nauseatingly cute stuffed animal of some sort from us," Beca laughed at the idea, but secretly couldn't wait to pick something fluffy for Aubrey's baby.

They held hands as they browsed the gift shop. There was no shortage of what Beca would consider nauseatingly cute toys for babies in the shop.

"What about this one?" Chloe had picked up a giant fluffy elephant with polka dots and a ridiculous bow around its neck.

"Perfect," Beca said as she read the animal's tag, "Dotty, very original."

Beca picked up a card, but decided it was too cheesy and far too expensive; especially considering the recipient wouldn't be able to read for a number of years yet.

As they walked out of the gift shop they made their way to the nurse's station to inquire about their friend's whereabouts.

"We are looking for Aubrey Posen," Chloe said to the elderly woman behind the desk.

"She's gone into the delivery room, but the waiting room is just around the corner," the nurse let them know.

Chloe sent Benji a text message to let him know that they were there.

Beca and Chloe sat in silence for a while, waiting. They were both too tired to carry on a lively conversation. After a while Beca fell asleep in Chloe's lap. Chloe stroked her girlfriend's hair, and gave her a soft kiss on the head. Chloe found it much easier than Beca to function on a minimal amount of sleep. She stayed up, watching the TV in the waiting room. It was around 4 am so nothing particularly good was on, but they were selling some pretty jewellery on QVC that Chloe found interesting enough.

In the delivery room Aubrey was twisting Benji's arm so hard he thought she was going to break it, but he didn't have the heart to ask her to let up.

"You can do this Aubrey," Benji said as he kissed his soon to be wife.

Aubrey managed to give him a half smile. She decided it was best not to yell and curse at him anymore; he had taken enough of her crap on the way to the hospital. She was also pretty sure she was physically hurting him and released her grip on his arm.

Benji rubbed his arm for a few seconds before offering it back to her. He brushed her hair out of her eyes, and gave her another kiss.

Back in the waiting room the jewellery sale had ended and an infomercial selling non-stick cookware was now on. A whole set for only 3 easy payments of 39.95, Chloe thought it was a great deal until she realized that neither her or Beca were very good cooks. Still though, the idea of buying things they could put in their home made Chloe smile.

"Beca, Beca, Beca," she repeated until her girlfriend woke from her slumber.

"What?" she said, "did Aubrey have the baby?"

"No, not yet," Chloe informed her, "I just, I just wanted to ask you something."

Beca sat upright, "okay, I was trying to sleep but I'll bite, what do you want to ask me?"

"Marry me," Chloe said, and that was all she said.

Beca just sat speechless, was she really asking her this, now, here.

"I…it's just," Beca stumbled, but tears had started to roll down Chloe's face and she dropped Beca's hand and ran off before she could continue.

Damnit, she had upset Chloe again with her inability to commit within a span of 3 days. Beca knew there was no point in running after her if she didn't know what to say.

Just then Benji walked over to her.

"Hey Beca, where's Chloe?" he asked.

"She uh, went to get a coffee or something," Beca knew he was there with information and didn't want to get him involved in her mess.

"Okay well, you can tell her when she gets back, I'm too excited to wait and I want to get back to Aubrey," Benji said.

Beca had never seen a bigger smile on his face, not even when he told her about getting to sing with the Treblemakers, or when Aubrey said yes to his proposal.

"It's a girl he said, we have a little girl. Aubrey did so great, and she's just, they're both so beautiful," Benji was now stumbling over his words he was so excited.

"You can see them both soon; I'll come back and get you. Make sure you tell Chloe okay," Benji said before turning to go back and see Aubrey.

I will if she ever comes back Beca thought to herself. She thought about looking for her but this hospital was just so huge, and she didn't want to be gone when Benji came back. It would give her some time to think about how on earth she could explain herself to Chloe.

It was almost 7:00 am when Benji returned, and Beca was still just sitting there, alone. She couldn't get any more sleep as every time she closed her eyes she saw Chole's face, tears rolling down it.

"Chloe's not back?" Benji asked her.

"She went to get more coffee, she's just, umm really tired," Beca said this but was pretty sure Benji knew she was lying.

"Okay well, you can come and see her now, I'm sure Chloe can put two and two together," Benji gave her a sympathetic look, before telling her, "I'm actually going to go get a coffee and take a look in the gift shop."

Beca realized that Benji knew she wanted to have a chance to talk to Aubrey.

"Beca!" Aubrey said, looking genuinely excited to see her.

"I have a daughter," Aubrey continued, "she's beautiful, she's got Benji's cute nose."

"Congratulations," Beca mustered up enthusiasm that was both genuinely but also subdued.

"Does she have a name yet," Beca inquired.

"Yes, remember we had already decided. I was going to tell you and Chloe at the same time, but now that she's off in the bathroom crying, I guess I'll wait," Aubrey obviously knew what happened between her and Chloe in the waiting room, but she didn't sound angry with Beca.

"I talked to her a few minutes ago," Aubrey revealed. "I'm guessing she didn't stick around long enough for you to actual accept her proposal because we both know damn well you weren't about to reject her."

"No, I wasn't, I want to say yes, of course I want to, I love her," Beca was now in tears herself.

"I know you do, so what the hell is going on?" Aubrey's tone was still even.

"I'm just scared you know, what if it doesn't work out, what if all we do is fight all the time, what if we end up like…like my parents," Beca had just revealed to Aubrey the fear she couldn't bring herself to tell Chloe.

The only marriage Beca had witnessed had been miserable and crumbled. She didn't want her life with Chloe to be like that and it scared her. When Chloe asked her if she thought of her future this was in the back of her mind, and when Chloe asked her to marry her it was still clouding her thoughts.

"You need to tell her that Beca, you need to talk to your partner, that's how you make sure you don't become your parents, by actually being there for each other," as Aubrey said this Beca knew she was right and she needed to find Chloe.

"She's probably still in the bathroom at the end of the hall," Aubrey told her, "hurry back soon though, the nurse is bringing her back and you probably want to see her before the grandparents get their hands on her," Aubrey laughed.

Just as Beca was about to leave Benji turned up in the doorway, Chloe following right behind him.

"We need to talk," Beca said when she saw her girlfriend.

"Now you can talk," Chloe was clearly angry and hurt and she had good reason to be.

Benji moved and shut the door behind them so they could have some semblance of privacy for their conversation.

"Chloe, I'm sorry," Beca really hoped that her girlfriend believed her.

"Sorry for what? Sorry for not wanting a future with me? Sorry for not caring enough to tell me this before I was foolish enough to propose to you?" Chloe was getting more and more upset with every word and tears were streaming down her face.

Beca grabbed her hands and kissed her hard on the lips.

"No, it's not like that. I do want to marry you, I want you to be my forever, I want a future with you, I want it so bad. I just, I got scared. I'm sorry for not sharing my feelings with you, I'm sorry for not telling you I was scared," Beca was in tears now too, she needed Chloe to know everything.

"When you asked me about if I thought about our future, I lied. I couldn't get images of my parents screaming at each other out of my head. The only marriage I'm really familiar with was horrible, and I couldn't even bear the thought of us ending up like that. I know now though that I am not my parents and you most definitely are not my parents. I know we can do this, so yes, I absolutely will marry you," Beca finished her speech and waited for Chloe to react.

Chloe just leaned over and kissed her.

"I'm sorry I never thought of that," Chloe said finally, "my family life was always so happy and care free. My parents stayed together and just seem so in love. I wanted that with you and didn't even consider the fact that that isn't your reality. I'm also sorry I walked away from you and I promise not to do that again. We need to talk to each other, no matter what, promise?"

"Promise," said Beca, "I love you," she continued giving Chloe another kiss.

"I love you too, forever," Chloe said this just as a nurse was rolling up to Aubrey's room.

Benji opened the door, "are you two engaged yet?" he said letting the nurse into the room with his precious new daughter.

"Not yet," Chloe said as she reached into her pocket. She had popped the question on the spur of the moment earlier and forgot to take out the gorgeous matching engagement rings she bought after Aubrey and Benji's engagement party. She grabbed Beca's hand and slipped one of the rings on before putting the other one on her own hand.

"Now we are," she said.

"Yes we are," Beca said excitedly.

"Good, now come in here and see our beautiful baby," Benji was just as excited he was when he told Beca of her arrival earlier.

Aubrey was holding her bundle of joy, all wrapped up in a warm pink blanket.

"Meet McKenzie Bella Applebaum," Aubrey said, her voice filled with warmth and happiness.

Beca and Chloe both moved in closer to get a better look at little McKenzie. She was round and pink, she had barely any hair but what she did have Beca could tell was blonde and would probably be curly like her father's. She did have Benji's nose as Aubrey had told her earlier, but she had the most gorgeous eyes, just like her mother.

"She's beautiful," they said in unison.

Aubrey kissed her daughter's head, and laid a big smooch on Benji, before asking him about his arm.

Chloe whispered in Beca's ear, "one day, we'll have one of our own," and for the first time, this thought didn't scare Beca at all.