The constant beeping of the heart monitor was enough to drive Beca insane. If someone didn't shut it off soon the brunette was certain her head would explode. Though, she found herself utterly vulnerable. She barely remembered what happened the night before, besides going to get something small to eat. The last memory she had consisted of getting in the car and hearing one of her songs on the radio.
She put her right hand to her head, considering it was the only one not in a sling. Her leg was pure agony. The tiniest twitch would bring an excruciating amount of pain with it. In the corner of her eye Beca could see Chloe's worried glances. To keep from stressing, the brunette rubbed her temples with her fingers and shut her eyes tightly.
"I must be dreaming," she muttered quietly, opening her eyes to look at the red head. "Or hallucinating, or delusional, or this is a joke, because I can't be in a hospital!"
Beca began to panic. Last time she was in a hospital was not pleasant at all, and from that day she vowed never to go into a hospital of her free will. Seeing Chloe's serious expression told her that this was no practical joke, she was seriously hurt. Her chest tightened, and it became harder to breathe. Memories flooded through her mind, reminding her of previous incidents of pain. Distantly, she could hear the rapid beating of the heart monitor, but considering how deep she had gone into her thoughts she couldn't hear it.
Feeling gentle contact to her cheek brought Beca from her thoughts, and she flinched. Her eyes turned to meet Chloe's, and a sigh escaped her lips. The brunette looked at the ground, breathing slowly to help calm down. She could feel the red head's piercing blue eyes on her, like they were seeing the secrets she'd never revealed to anyone.
It was always different with Chloe. She'd made Beca feel more welcome than she ever had been. Now, under Chloe's gaze, the hair on the back of her neck stood at attention and a small shiver went up her spine. Truth be told, she didn't know what was causing the reaction from her, but the red head's hand on her cheek seemed to keep her steady.
"You okay?" Chloe asked, bringing the younger girl out of her thoughts yet again. "You're spacing."
"Well, my arm's in a sling and who knows what happened to my leg," Beca replied, a glimmer of playful sarcasm in her eyes, "So, I don't really have the answer for that."
"Glad to see you and your sarcasm didn't die in that car accident," the brunette turned to find Aubrey walking through the doorway of her hospital room. Though she'd never admit, Beca was rather glad to have Aubrey there. She was strong, and even when they had their arguments, the brunette couldn't deny her determination.
"Good to know you finally found a sense of humor, Aubrey," she said sarcastically, putting on a mask to hide her pain, but the mask quickly faded as the girl raised her eyebrow. "Car accident?"
"You didn't tell her that part yet?" Fat Amy's voice came from the doorway. Beca watched her sit down, a small piece of pie in a plate in her hands. She couldn't help but smile as the larger Bella ate a bite. "You want some?"
"I'm good, thanks," the brunette replied, shaking her head, "Stop changing the subject. What car accident?"
"So you don't remember it?" Aubrey asked, moving to sit in a chair at Beca's side.
"Was I not making that clear with my constant asking 'what happened'?" Beca said, raising her eyebrow. The girl couldn't help the small smirk at Aubrey's eye roll.
"Well, to put it in a simple way, you were in a drunk driving accident," the older blonde replied. Beca's eyes widened. Drunk driving? She hadn't had any alcohol in months.
"That's impossible, I didn't drink last night," her eyes met Aubrey's, and the small glint of suspicion didn't go unnoticed.
"Are you sure?" as the blonde's brow rose Beca felt anger boil in her stomach, and her heart rate increase.
"Aubrey!" Chloe jumped to the girl's defense before she had a chance to think of a snide comment. "The doctors already said it was the driver who hit her who was drunk."
"I was just checking," Aubrey defended herself, "She shouldn't be drinking anyway."
"Okay, this is ridiculous!" she exclaimed, looking at the two older Bellas incredulously, "I'm leaving!"
"Wait!" Fat Amy said from her chair, her mouth full of apple pie, "They didn't tell you about the steel rod in your leg."
The brunette's stomach churned as she sat up to stare at the younger blonde. Looking at Chloe, she saw her beautiful blue eyes glaring at the larger Bella from beside her. Frankly, she wasn't going to deny the fact that she was angry, but more than ever she was terrified, not that she'd let anyone know.
"A what?" the girl yelled, looking at the other Bellas for an explanation. Her mind was being overloaded, and a slight pain in her head caught her attention, but the girl did nothing.
"You have a way with being gentle, Fat Amy," Chloe said sarcastically, but there was an edge to her voice that specifically said shut up.
"Well, did you want her trying to walk out of here?" she replied, looking at the three of them as if they were idiots and taking yet another bite of pie. "This stuff is better than you'd think, you sure you don't want any?"
"Again, this is ridiculous!" Beca yelled, and before anyone could make a move to stop her, the brunette had managed to move her right leg to touch the ground. As she tried to stand, putting the slightest pressure on her leg shot a wave of pain through her. Beca's broken leg was practically on fire with pain as she nearly fell onto Chloe. Luckily, the red head caught her and managed to help her back to the bed.
"I did try to tell you," Fat Amy replied, looking at the brunette as she put her empty plate on the table beside her.
"Probably should've mentioned that first," Beca replied through gritted teeth. The pain in her leg hadn't faded, and she doubted it was going to anytime soon. Putting a hand to her head, she sighed and looked at the ceiling.
She felt the red head's hand slip over hers, intertwining their fingers. Beca didn't want to hurt her, but her leg hurt too much not to do anything. Her grip on Chloe tightened, like she was her lifeline. At the moment, Chloe was the only thing really holding her together. If she weren't there, Beca was certain she would've fainted already.
"We should probably stop dropping big news on her like this," Chloe said, receiving a quick nod from Beca.
"Actually, I should probably get back for classes," Aubrey said, looking at Fat Amy who agreed with her.
"I'll stay here," Chloe said, almost bringing a sigh of relief to Beca. When Aubrey was about to object, the brunette saw the small glare from Chloe and smiled slightly, glad she was so willing to stay with her.
When the blondes had finally left the room it fell unusually quiet, for Chloe at least. The red head stole glances back at Beca, whose eyes were closed as she rubbed her temples. She tilted her head to the side, watching the brunette carefully. Of course, she didn't want to seem strange, but seeing as they were in a hospital Chloe assumed Beca wouldn't mind.
"Staring at me for a reason?" Beca asked, opening her eyes to look at her, a small glimmer of playfulness in her brown hues.
Before Chloe had time to answer the doctor she had seen before entered the room. After calling her 'Ms. Mitchell' Beca quickly corrected him into calling her Beca. He explained Beca's injuries and the brunette simply nodded with what he said, not disagreeing at all. Yet, Chloe noticed something different about her.
The girl was on edge, something she'd seen before but Beca had never seemed so tense, so afraid. What was there to be scared of? The red head knew hospitals could be intimidating, but she'd never seen anyone who seemed so afraid of hospitals.
"Could I speak to you privately for a moment," the doctor said, turning his gaze to look at Chloe. She nodded quickly and put a hand on Beca's arm for comfort.
"Beca," the doctor said politely, "You should get your rest, we won't be long."
Chloe saw the brunette about to argue, but the girl's shoulders relaxed after a short while of locking their eyes together. Before she knew it, Beca's eyes were closed and she was leaving the room. Once they'd stopped walking they had gone well out of Beca's hearing range, but it didn't mean Chloe wasn't worried.
"What's this about?" she asked, fidgeting with her fingers as she stood in the almost empty hallway of the hospital. The white walls and flooring were impersonal, and dreary. It was almost as if the hospital was expected to be a grave.
"Are you close with Ms. Mitchell?" the doctor asked, causing Chloe to arch her brow as he returned to using her formal name.
"Yes, I'm close with her, why?" The red head couldn't help the feeling in the pit of her stomach that something was about to go wrong. She never knew where the sense came from, or why it occurred, but it didn't steer her wrong.
"If her father were here I would be telling him this, but seeing as you are the only one left I have no choice but to make someone aware," her stomach churned, and she crossed her arms over her chest as he spoke. Her arms were almost like a barrier, as if bad news couldn't get through them to touch her heart.
"During surgery we found several scars on Ms. Mitchell's back," he told her, frowning as her eyes widened. "Many of them seem recent, some within the past month."
"The past month?" Chloe asked, her eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets with fear and surprise. Who could do that to Beca? She was already small, thinner than most girls. Of course, Chloe knew Beca's tough façade still withstood at the school, but she knew her toughness was psychological, not physical.
"Why are you telling me this?" the red head whispered, turning her eyes to look at the doctor expectantly.
"Maybe you can find out what's happening to her and stop it," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "As a doctor, I can only speculate, I can't give specifics. If you figure out what's going on you can stop it."
As he walked away, Chloe's mind raced in a million different directions. All of her thoughts revolved around Beca, as they had been doing a lot lately. When they sang in the pool and the brunette had chosen her to lead the song in 'Just the Way you are', it had her thinking maybe Beca thought about her just as much.
A small smile came to her lips as she thought more about the younger brunette, but it quickly turned to a frown after remembering what the doctor had told her. Quietly, she walked back to Beca's hospital room, horrible thoughts still plaguing her mind. Chloe was about to speak, but after noticing the peaceful look on the brunette's face and the slow pace of her breathing she immediately knew the girl was asleep.
She seemed so peaceful, as if nothing in the world could harm her. The girl Chloe had come to know was anything but peaceful. She was in charge, determined, headstrong, sarcastic, funny, and so many other things Chloe wished she could describe in words. There were so many feelings the red head wanted to share with her, but every time she thought about it fear crept into her thoughts, and into her heart.
When Chloe walked closer a small shade of pink on Beca's back caught her attention. The only way she could see it was that her hospital robe was falling on her back, and though she could see the way the brunette's body was perfectly shaped, the red head had little time to appreciate it.
After pulling the fabric away slowly, and gently as to not wake the girl, she gasped quietly. A scar seemed to run the entire length of her back, accompanied by several other scars of similar and shorter length. Chloe shook her head, going to sit beside the brunette and taking her hand. The older Bella caressed Beca's knuckles with her thumb, silently comforting her as she slept.
Whatever happened to Beca, whatever history she had neglected to share with the other Bellas, with her, she would get to the bottom of it. Anything horrible that was happening in the girl's life would be stopped, Chloe would make certain of it. The promise was noble, and very honorable, and she wasn't quite certain where it came from, but there was a connection between the two of them that the red head wouldn't deny anymore.
"What are we going to do with you, Beca?" she asked the sleeping girl quietly with a smile, "What are we going to do?"