A/N: In this chapter, we're going to solve some family problems and ... yeah, you'll see ;)

"Daddy, why is my hair red? All my friends have blonde or brown hair. Only mommy has red hair like me." A 9 year old little girl questioned her father whilst he was tucking her in bed.

The man smiled down at his daughter as he sat down on the chair next to her. "That's because you're special, sweetie." He replied as he gently stroked her hair.

"Why does that make me special?" the little girl asked curiously.

"Well..." he paused for a moment and looked into her sleepy–yet–bright blue eyes. "The colour red represents energy, passion and action," He explained.

The girl raised an eyebrow at her father. "What does that mean?"

"It could mean anything. Like confidence, desire, strength, courage, excitement, determination," He leaned back onto the chair. "But it could also mean things like anger, fear, pain, violence or resentment." He sighed lightly.

The little redhead stared at her father in awe, completely bewildered about the fact that one colour could mean so much.

"But, do you know what the most important thing about this colour is?" He smiled when his daughter shook her head. "It represents love." He said. "One day, you're gonna grow up and meet someone you'll love, then you'll get married so that you two can be together... forever."

"But I already love you, daddy. I always want to live here with you."

The man laughed lightly and leaned over to kiss the little redhead on the forehead. "I will never leave you, princess. I love you, too."

You lied, dad. You left me. Chloe sighed as she looked down at her red dress. Her father may have lied about never leaving her, but he was right about this colour. This dress has witnessed her confidence, excitement and desire when she decided to tell Beca about her feelings; her pain and anger when her world fell apart at the news that she was married; her fear about losing her best friend; her strength and determination to let go of her feelings for Beca and give Aubrey a chance. But most importantly, it has witnessed love... her love for Beca and Aubrey's love for her. It wasn't exactly what she had imagined love would be like, but she knew that the blonde would do everything to make her happy, and that was enough for now.

The redhead was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't realize the cab had come to a stop. It wasn't until the cab driver cleared his throat that made her snap back to reality as she realized they had arrived.

"It's already been paid." The driver remarked when he saw Chloe rumbling through her purse. The redhead thanked the man and got out of the car. After the cab drove off, she took some time to look at her surroundings. Her brows furrowed at the sign with "Chloe Beale: this way" written on it. The sign had an arrow drawn below it pointing to the direction of a big theatre. She slowly walked towards the entrance and pushed the door to go inside.

It was dark and silent when the redhead stepped in. Chloe looked around and listened carefully for any sound, but there was nothing. "Hello? Anyone here? Aubrey?" She called out, but there was still no noise other than her own footsteps.

She took a few more steps forward when suddenly, one of the spotlights went on and revealed a blonde woman on stage holding a microphone with both hands.

The redhead squinted her eyes letting them slowly adjust to the bright light. "Aubrey?" The blonde woman didn't respond. Instead, she heard a few musical instruments play in the background. She had no idea where they came from, but before she could question it, Aubrey lifted the microphone closer to her mouth and started singing.

Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling

Do you feel my heart beating, do you understand

Do you feel the same

Am I only dreaming

Is this burning an eternal flame

Chloe heard a few voices singing back up to her, but she couldn't see them either. She stood there watching her best friend sing for her.

I believe it's meant to be, darling

I watch you when you're sleeping

You belong with me

Do you feel the same

Am I only dreaming

Or is this burning an eternal flame

Say my name

Sun shines through the rain

A whole life

So lonely

And then you come and ease the pain

I don't want to lose this feeling

Another spotlight went on and pointed directly at the redhead who quickly brought her hand before her eyes. She slowly removed her hands from her face as her eyes got used to the light. She continued listening to her friend.

While the instruments kept playing in the background, Aubrey stopped singing and started talking. "I know that you don't have any love to give me today." She said to the microphone as she started taking a few steps forward. "But I'm sure that one day you will have, and I'm willing to wait for that day." The blonde slowly approached the stairs to get off the stage and walk towards Chloe. "I believe with all my heart... that special day will come." She was now standing in front of the redhead, looking in her eyes. "Until then, I want you to have faith in my love, because right now it's more than enough for the both of us."

All the lights in the theatre started to turn on one by one, revealing all the rose petals on her path. Aubrey picked up a single red rose showing it to her. "I wanted to give this to you before, but I didn't have the chance to. Please don't reject them today," she held the rose out for the other woman to take it as she continued to speak. "Chloe... will you give me a chance to be your girlfriend?"

Chloe closed her eyes for a moment to let the words sink in. Of course, she had been expecting this question. She had even prepared herself for it, but to actually hear it for real took her by surprise. What was she going to say?

….

An hour had passed and everyone was still waiting for Chloe to return home. They were all excited about the outcome of their 'private talk'. They knew very well what was going to happen and they all wanted the redhead to make the right decision and choose to finally be happy. She deserved it after all she's been through.

The doorbell rang and Jennifer got up to open the door, surprised to find Jesse standing there. "Hi Jesse, come in." she smiled, moving aside.

Jesse stepped inside, smiling, "Good evening, Jennifer. Beca didn't come back home, so I got worried. Is everything alright here?"

"Yes, Chloe just hasn't returned yet." The redhead explained, guiding the man into the living room where everybody was having conversations with each other on whether Chloe would accept it or not.

Jesse didn't understand why it was such a big deal. He just smiled to everyone, greeting them with a wave and a soft "hi" before taking a seat beside Beca.

A few moments later, Beca's phone vibrated and flashed Aubrey's name on the screen. The brunette quickly picked up the call, "Hey Aubrey, is everything alright?"

Every person in the room became silent and stared at Beca's expressions, searching for any signs on what Aubrey was telling her. To their astonishment, the short woman had her poker face on during the entire phone conversation. Beca hung up after some time, making everyone worried as she started to shake her head and put her phone away.

"Beca..?" Jennifer pleaded.

The brunette looked at her and a smile found its way to her lips. "She said yes!"

A big sigh of relief escaped Jennifer's mouth but was quickly replaced with a smile. Her daughter was finally going to be happy again.

Amy jumped excitedly towards the brunette and hugged her as she was happy for her friend. Beca was smiling big, ignoring the feeling of her heart crashing down to her stomach. Only Jesse could recognize the pain in his best friend's eyes. She glanced at him and nodded curtly to let him know she'd be fine before looking up at the ceiling to hold back her tears. This was her last wish after all.

….

The next morning, the two women were in the kitchen making breakfast. They haven't spoken much after Chloe returned home last night. Jennifer put the knife down on the counter which she was using to cut the peppers and turned to her daughter, "We should invite her family for dinner," she smiled.

The younger redhead raised an eyebrow. "Mom, we've only started dating yesterday. There's no rush."

"There is indeed no rush, I don't want them in my house." Iris walked in and gave a disapproving look at the two redheads.

Chloe sighed and turned to her mother. "You know what? Just go ahead and invite them." She shot a small grin towards her grandmother which made her even angrier.

"I have been trying to find you a perfect husband for so long, why would you rather ruin your life with such a horrible decision?" Iris hissed.

"It's not horrible, Grams." The redhead tried to stay calm. "She's my best friend and she loves me more than any of those stupid men from that marriage bureau could."

The old woman turned to her daughter-in-law. "Do you see what you've done? First, you ruined my son, and now my granddaughter." She looked at Chloe as if she was sick and needed to be cured. "You're ruining everybody's life!"

Chloe let out a long sigh trying to calm herself down as she held out her hand to stop her mother from fighting back and walked towards her grandmother. "Grams, listen. It's nobody's fault," she started, "Why can't you just accept the fact that I'm gay?"

"Because it's wrong." Iris deadpanned.

The redhead shook her head. "Not everything that's a little different from what you're used to is wrong." She explained. "Somehow, you fear the unknown. Well, everybody does, actually. So I totally understand you. It's like how people get scared of anything they touch in the dark, because they don't know exactly what it is. Will it hurt them? Is it dangerous? You feel more comfortable and secure with the lights on because you're able to see everything you're familiar with." Chloe explained, "That's why you've never accepted Lily as your granddaughter."

Iris opened her mouth to protest, but Chloe quickly cut her off. "I'm not finished yet." She said. "You hold onto what you believe and I respect that, but it's not completely right. These things limit us and our opinions. It's stupid to be afraid of what we've yet to see and know."

Being someone who never lets anyone win over her, the old woman stared at her granddaughter and tried to protest. However, instead of any protests, she ended up saying "Fine, invite them."

Chloe's eyes widened for a moment. It was the first time that Iris ever agreed with her in an argument. "Okay, good. That's settled then."

…..

It wasn't hard to convince Aubrey's parents. They were more than happy to meet the family of the one who got their daughter head over heels in love.

Dinner went better than everyone expected. The Posen family was warm and friendly towards everyone. Even when Iris made inappropriate comments every now and then, Mr. Posen managed to make Lily and Benji laugh about his cheesy jokes. After dinner, they got into a conversation about Mr. and Mrs. Posen's wedding anniversary, which reminded Chloe of her Salsa performance with Aubrey.

"Yes, it's our wedding anniversary in 2 days." Mrs. Posen confirmed. "You are invited to our party as well! Bring whoever you'd like."

"That sounds great. We'll definitely be there." Jennifer smiled.

Aubrey took a glance at Chloe who was sitting across from her and remembered someone who wasn't there today. Someone she was grateful to have met, "I totally forgot to invite Beca!" she blurted out.

Chloe felt her stomach twist upon hearing the brunette's name. A part of her was wishing she wouldn't come to that party, while the other part of her really wanted her to be there.

"Who's Beca?" Mr. Posen wondered.

The redhead didn't mean to do it, but her mouth helplessly started speaking on its own, "It's m- our neighbour and friend." Chloe corrected herself.

"Yes, she's an amazing friend." Jennifer added. "She helped us through a lot. We can't thank her enough."

"Oh, I see." Mrs. Posen turned to her daughter, "Of course, invite her too."

"She's alright." Iris commented. "She kinda reminds me of my son though."

"Oh yes, Aubrey told us about him," Mrs. Posen slightly frowned. "I'm sorry. What happened?"

They should've seen that question coming, yet they were still taken aback and nobody knew what to say. It was silent for a moment and Jennifer looked down on the table like her plate suddenly seemed very interesting. Mrs. Posen's frown grew bigger so Aubrey turned her head to her mother and opened her mouth to speak, but got cut off by Iris again.

"Heart attack," she said quickly. Jennifer looked up with anger and confusion plastered on her face.

"Oh, heart attack." Mrs. Posen cringed.

"I'm just waiting for Chloe and Benji to settle down," Iris explained, "Then I can peacefully leave this house."

"What about Lily?" Mr. Posen asked.

Iris waved the words off dismissively as if the man insulted her. "She's not ours."

"Grams!" Chloe glared at the old woman.

"Lily is as much as ours as Chloe is!" Jennifer quickly cut in, pulling the little girl next to her into a side hug, "And my husband did not die of a heart attack." She corrected as she looked at everyone around the table, "He committed suicide."

Everyone was surprised by her confession. Everybody's eyes slowly dropped to the ground, not knowing what to say or how to respond. Well, everybody that is except for Iris. She glared at the woman with fire burning in her eyes.

…..

A few hours later, Jennifer was cleaning the house after the Posens had left. The children and Chloe were in bed and Iris was still glaring at the woman disapprovingly.

"Was it necessary to tell them the truth?!" She finally asked.

The redhead stopped with what she was doing and turned to face her mother-in-law. "You can't base a new relationship on a lie."

The old woman laughed bitterly. "You couldn't even handle your old relationships, how would you know how to handle new ones?"

"Relationships are not handled, Iris... they are maintained."

In the meantime, Lily had walked out of her room as she was rubbing her eyes with her knuckles. She heard yelling from the dining room so she slowly approached the stairs and sat down to listen to the argument.

"And what do you know about relationships, anyway?!" Jennifer remarked sardonically.

The old woman pointed her finger at the redhead. "Now listen to me, you failure of a daughter-in-law. I.."

Before she could finish her sentence, Jennifer cut her off.

"I will only be your daughter-in-law when you finally consider Lily your granddaughter!"

"Lily has never been my granddaughter, and she will never be!" Iris raised her voice.

Jennifer couldn't stay calm anymore as she raised her own finger and pointed at the old woman in front of her. "That's enough! You're crossing the line here, woman!" she exclaimed.

"Why?!" Iris slapped her hand away and shot a stern look into the redhead's eyes. "If you are so fond of telling the truth, learn to listen to it as well. Lily is not my granddaughter. She is not a part of this family. She is just a damn burden which you thrust upon this family by adopting her."

Lily's tears started rolling down her cheeks as she listened to their heated argument. She clamped on the stair support and witnessed the hate in her grandmother's eyes... the old woman's hate towards her.

"A burden which took away all the happiness in this family, the peace, even my son!" The woman continued. "I hate her! I hate that nasty little..."

"Enough!" Jennifer interrupted, "If you say one more word about her, I will make you regret it!"

Lily couldn't bear the hate anymore. She got up and ran down the stairs towards the front door and left the house. She crossed the road and started knocking at the door for dear life. "Beca!" she cried, "Beca, please help me!"

The door flew open and a concerned brunette looked down at the little girl. Beca got on her knees and pulled her into a tight hug. "What happened, sweetheart?"

Lily couldn't reply as her sobs grew louder. Instead, she took Beca's hand and pulled her towards their house.

Beca stepped inside and heard what was going on. She and the tiny girl were at the corridor, listening to the two women argue as she tightened her grip on Lily's hand.

"We are still paying for my son's mistakes." Iris said. "The first mistake he made was marrying you. The second was adopting that girl."

Beca let go of the little girl's hand and stepped inside unexpectedly. "He made a third one, too." She interrupted the old woman.

The two women turned their heads to Beca in confusion. "What?" Iris frowned. "Who the hell are you to interfere in our family matters?"

"No one," Beca shook her head. "Just a voice that should've reached you a long time ago." She stepped in closer and stood next to the redhead. "There's a truth that you should've realized long ago."

"Beca..." Jennifer pleaded with a tear rolling down her cheek.

The brunette wiped it away. "No, Jenny. Please let me tell her." She said before turning back to the other woman. "Since you are so interested with the truth, I would like to tell you one, too."

Iris raised an eyebrow at the brunette but didn't bother to interrupt her. She was curious about what she had to say.

"It's about your son's affair with another woman."

The old woman's eyes widened in shock as she stared at the young woman in front of her.

"An affair he hid from all of you," Beca continued. "But unfortunately for him, he couldn't hide the result. Do you know who the result was of that affair?"

"Beca, please..." Jennifer cried.

The brunette took the redhead's hand into hers and gently squeezed it. "Jenny, it's alright." She assured her and turned back to the old woman again. "The result was Lily."

Tears were running down Iris's wrinkly cheeks. Her face remained shocked as her wide eyes stayed fixated on the brunette.

"Lily... the girl that couldn't get accepted by her own mother, was accepted by your daughter-in-law, Jennifer." She gestured towards the redhead who had buried her face onto the brunette shoulder, sobbing. "Jenny... who could've seen the face of the other woman in Lily's face. She could have seen her husband's mistake and betrayal in that face. But she didn't. What she chose to see were those innocent and unfulfilled eyes." Beca quickly wiped a tear off her face. "She chose to complete those eyes by filling them with love."

Beca guided Jennifer towards the couch and sat down with her, throwing an arm around her shoulder as she continued to speak.

"Your son understood her pain and anger, but couldn't understand her acceptance." The brunette gently squeezed the other woman's shoulder. "Jennifer's strength and kindness reminded him of his own weakness, every day, every hour, every minute. It was that feeling that took his life away. Not Jenny."

….

Dear Jennifer,

I know, in these last six years, I have only enquired about Lily and never about you. But in this letter, I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to you. Thank you Jennifer. Thank you with all my heart.

Women are built to forgive the mistakes that their husbands make, but very few women have the courage to accept the mistake itself and shower love to such a degree that it doesn't remain a mistake. You accepted Lily when I, her own mother, couldn't accept her. For this, I will forever remain indebted to you. They say that when a man makes a mistake, he also possesses the ability to pay the price for it. But Jennifer, all these years you have paid for a mistake that was not yours in the first place. All that because of me.

If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, please do. I am truly sorry, Jennifer. I've caused you a lot of pain.

I'm sorry.

Teardrops fell on the letter as Chloe read it the next morning. Jennifer decided that she also had the right to know about this now. She wiped her tears, noticing her grandmother slowly approaching Jennifer who was staring into empty space beside her. Iris sat down and put her hand on the redhead's shoulder, feeling the guilt spreading all over her body. All these years she had blamed this woman for accepting a child not of her own, when her own son was the one blame. All these years she considered Lily a burden, when she was just an innocent girl abandoned by her own mother.

"He was a good man." Jennifer sobbed. "It was just one stupid mistake."

Iris looked at her with apologetic eyes as she quickly put her arms around the redhead and pulled her closer. "I know. He was a good man." The old woman cried hard as well. Chloe put the letter aside and hugged her mother from her other side. All three women had never felt so drawn to each other. Forgiveness and clarity found their way to their hearts. There was finally love in this family. Lily's perfect little world was now complete. At last, they are now united as one, big, happy family.

…..

The day of the wedding anniversary had arrived. The venue was crowded with family, friends and people from work. The walls, stage, ceiling, chairs and tables were all decorated by a famous decorator. A bright beamer was used to project a huge '30th Anniversary' in artistic lettering to the wall behind the stage.

As Chloe, Jennifer, Iris, Benji, Lily, Amy, Beca and Jesse stepped inside, their jaws dropped at the sight of it. Everything was so perfectly beautiful.

Aubrey saw them looking around and quickly made her way to her friends. She welcomed everyone with smiles and hugs, saving Chloe for last.

"Ready for the dance, babe?" she winked at the redhead.

Chloe smiled meekly. "I thought I was. Until I arrived here, that is." She gestured at the people around them. "I didn't know it was going to be this crowded."

"Don't you worry, I'm by your side." Aubrey smiled, going in for a kiss to the other woman's lips, but was met by her cheeks as Chloe turned her head sideways. The blonde felt a pang of pain in her chest but ignored it, understanding that the redhead wasn't ready for it yet. She reached over to hold her hand, slightly nervous on whether she would reject it or not. But when the redhead didn't pull away, she relaxed and guided her girlfriend to the backstage to prepare themselves for the show.

About an hour later, Aubrey and Chloe took their places on stage. Music began playing and the two women started moving. Everyone gaped at them as they moved their hips and turned in circles in each other's arms. But every single time the two got their faces close to each other, the redhead would look away. Aubrey, however, never took her eyes off of her. Beca watched them dance and ignored the hurt inside her as she tried to replace it with relief. Seeing the love and care in the blonde woman's eyes as she held Chloe is comforting enough for her. Nobody else could make Chloe happier than she could.

Reality hit the brunette when all the guests started applauding. She shook her head and conjured a smile on her face as she clapped her hands together.

The two women bowed down and Chloe turned around to walk off the stage. The blonde remained standing, took a microphone and started speaking.

"Mom, dad," she started, "There will never be enough words to tell you how grateful I am to be your daughter. You've supported and loved me through everything. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but you taught me how to be strong in dealing with all of them. You guys taught me that it was okay to make mistakes, as long as I learned from them." She looked at her father. "Never a failure, always a lesson. Right, dad?" she smiled. "You guys taught me so much in life, I can make a never ending list of those things, but I'm just going to point out the most import one," she breathed in deeply, "You taught me how to love." She pointed at Chloe who was now standing beside her mother in front of the stage. "I love this woman so much, I'd literally give my life to make her happy. I hope that one day, she will look into my eyes and I will see the same glow she sees in mine." She paused for a moment and took another deep breath before turning her head to her parents again. "Happy anniversary, mom and dad!"

Mr. and Mrs. Posen raised their glass and mouthed a 'thank you.'

"Okay." Aubrey continued. "Well, being rich has a lot of advantages," she winked at Amy and gestured towards the man in the DJ booth. "Hit it, Luke!"

The DJ blew a kiss towards Amy who jumped up and down in happiness as he started playing his music.

They were all having a good time, including the redhead. Everybody was dancing to the music, drinking, laughing... just enjoying the party on their own. Beca felt good to see so much happiness radiate around her. She managed to fulfil her last wish. It was at least, worth celebrating.

However, her smile faded soon after. She felt an unbearable pain in heart as she stumbled a few steps back, gasping for air and clinging to her chest. Not now, not yet. She thought to herself. Using the little strength she had left, the woman stumbled towards the bathroom and finally allowed herself to drop down on her knees. Everything around her started to spin and to fade. It was getting darker as she kept gasping for air.

Eventually, she didn't have any strength left to fight her eyes from closing. "Beca!" she heard a voice from a distance. At least, it felt like that to her. She didn't have the power to open her eyes and see who it was calling her name. "Beca, do you hear me?" that was the last thing she heard when her weariness took over.

It was black.

No hearing, no sight.

Only darkness.

A/N: Whoop, thats it for today.. I think there's going to be 2 or 3 more chapterss. ending is near! Please let me know what you think so far and how you'd like it to end :) i already have an ending planned out, but i'd love to know what you guys are expecting.

Also it's not gonna be long before Chloe is gonna find out about Beca's heart problems now! BUT will it be too late, or not? We'll know in the next chapter!

Thanks for following ! I am very grateful :)