So I tend to have certain characters have night terrors or other similar things because I can easily write them and a lot of the characters I write I can see having these things happen to them. Normally, I have it be Beca who has these dreams but I decided to give them to Chloe in this. She seems like she'd learn how to keep a lid on them well but that, if she were to slip up, would need some pretty intense coaxing to come down from it. This is the night terror I mentioned in the previous chapter that sparked the song~
Also shout out to a favorite thing of mine down there at the end.
It was past midnight by the time Beca put down her books to climb into bed. Having spent the past few hours studying, she was completely spent. There was an exam that afternoon, thankfully she would have time to sleep in before going to class, and she had planned on going back over everything beforehand to make sure she knew as much as possibly. Beca hadn't planned on spending so long reading and then re-reading everything until her vision went blurry but that's how she found herself at that point.
Her girlfriend didn't have classes on Thursday but Chloe would end up working at some point, she was sure. Though she would also try to get her to sleep in as well, which seeing as she has slipped off to bed by ten shouldn't be much of an issue. Chloe had been working like crazy the past while, trying to get the twenty page essay due the following Tuesday done to perfection at least a day early to impress the hard-ass professor. Beca, for her part, simply tries to help as much as she could in between her own studies but she knew that school was once again keeping Chloe from sleeping. They were all sleep deprived, between classwork and the Bellas as well as Beca's band gigs for the two of them, but the redhead always seemed to be hit hardest from it all. Lack of sleep wouldn't bother her for a day or two but then she would crash, hard.
Beca glanced at the bedroom door with a warm but worried expression, knowing Chloe was in the middle of crashing as she finished getting her bag ready for her classes later that day. Her Chloe always worked so hard, only letting how much it affected her show through once she was alone with Beca. It was something that filled the brunette's heart to bursting, knowing that Chloe trusted her more than anyone, but it also meant she had to see the redhead have some of the worst crashes. Still, she'd never trade it for anything. She loved Chloe, more than she ever really thought she'd be able to love someone, and she would take every second, good and bad.
Shifting a hand through her hair, Beca flipped the top of her messenger bag closed. She was as ready as she'd ever be and more than ready to hop into bed with Chloe. After flipping the lights off and slipping through the bedroom door as quietly as possible, as well as changing into a baggy sleep shirt and boxers, she gently pulled back the blanket. Then Beca promptly froze.
Chloe was curled up in the middle of the bed, body tightly pulled up around Beca's pillow, and her face was twisted into an expression of fear. It sent Beca into a light shock, hands hovering without knowing what exactly to do, snapped out of it only when the redhead let out a soft whimper and curled even closer to the bed.
"Chloe?" Beca slid a little closer, gently setting her hand on a trembling shoulder and shaking lightly. "Baby, wake up. You're okay, Chloe, come on wake up." All she got in return was another whimper, louder this time, and a hand flailing slightly away from the pillow.
Not exactly knowing what to do, Beca jumped off the bed and flipped on the main light, hoping the sudden jolt might wake her up. It didn't get her much, just Chloe moving about on the bed more. Gnawing at her bottom lip, the brunette let out a slightly frustrated whimper of her own when the soft noises from the bed started turning into screams muffled slightly from the pillow Chloe was so tightly burrowed into.
Jumping back onto the bed, Beca tried anything she could think of from shaking the redhead to screaming to helplessly trying to beg her awake. Her heart nearly shattered when a sorrow filled whisper of her name escaped followed by a soft sob, tears slowly making their way down her cheeks.
Biting back her own tears, Beca grabbed at the bedside table until she was able to snatch Chloe's phone to dial Aubrey. It didn't take long for an irritated if not slightly worried voice to answer.
"Chloe Beale, why in the hell are you calling me at one in the morning? On a night you know I have class at nine no less!"
"Aubrey, it's Beca! I don't know.. Chloe's freaking out and I can't wake her up and you're her best friend so.. Do you know what to do? I don't know what to do. Aubrey, please!"
"Whoa! Beca, slow down and breathe for me." The soft, gentle tone that suddenly hit the blonde's voice settled Beca's racing heart a little as she tried to take deep breaths and listen. "Chloe's probably having a night-terror."
A little confused whimper was the response, Beca's eyes shooting over to her girlfriend shaking form, pulling Chloe's head onto her lap to see if it would help.
"She doesn't tell anyone about them because they don't happen often. They used to when she was little but now they only happen when she forgets to do that weird meditation stuff she does because of stress of lack of sleep." Aubrey's explanation was precise, as if she knew this night would come and she knew she'd have to be calm for Beca.
"Wh-What do I do?"
"You have to wake her up but be ready for her to start swinging. She'll try to lash out and she'll be pretty disoriented for a few minutes so you have to be ready to bring her down from that." There was a shaky inhale as Aubrey gently worded the next question. "Beca, do you want me to come help you?"
Swallowing hard, Beca's eyes trained on Chloe's face, a relieved smile tugging gently at her lips when her brow relaxed ever so slightly with her touch. "No. No, Aubrey, I have to do this. I gotta know how to do this for when it happens again."
"Good answer." There was a twinge of pride in her voice, letting Beca know she'd chosen the only real answer in Aubrey's books. "Get a glass of cold water and splash it on her face. Pour it if you have to, that always works to wake her up. Call me again if you need to, I'll stop by on my way to class to make sure neither of you are dead."
There was a click and Beca let herself blink at the phone for a second before turning to Chloe. Sighing deeply, she slipped the redhead back onto the pillow then sprinted to the bathroom to get some water. Beca hesitated when she reached the bed, not knowing how to go about it exactly. Dipping her fingers into the glass, she got enough water to fling onto Chloe's face.
The result was a twitch and a gasp but not much else. Taking a deep breath, Beca made a cup with her palm and poured a little into her hand, moving close and practically dumping the cool water onto her girlfriend's forehead.
That seemed to do the trick.
For her efforts, Beca received a fist straight to the side of her jaw as Chloe shot straight up in bed with her hands out and ready for a fight if need be. Her eyes were wide, wild, but still glazed over with sleep. It was obvious she wasn't completely awake yet, though clarity was coming to her face faster than Beca expected.
It wasn't quite fast enough as Chloe shot across the room, placing herself in the corner by the door and keeping her fist flying until she could curl back into herself. Following after her, one hand cradling her sore jaw, Beca settled down on her knees in front of the other girl, letting her hands slowly settle on her shoulders once her hands stopped jabbing out.
"Chloe, it's okay. It's just me, baby, it's just me. Come on, come back to me." Moving her touch,she let her fingers glide softly over her arms and then back up until she could hook two fingers under her chin, allowing Chloe's hazy gaze to lock with hers. "There you are. Come on, Red. Wake up, okay, wake up all the way. It'll be better if you do, I promise, just wake up for me." It was some sort of miracle that she kept from crying once again, her chin trembling slightly as she spoke. She could see it though, over the following seconds, how Chloe's gaze started to refocus and the soft whimpers she had been emitting silenced. Her brow furrowed in a way that if Beca hadn't been so worried she would have found it cute and then she gasped, eyes focused for a second before misting over.
"Beca." Chloe's voice was little more than a whisper, containing all the fear and sorrow she'd been feeling in her nightmare. She swallowed hard, chin trembling as tears fell freely, before launching herself at at the brunette, unable to contain herself any longer.
Beca easily caught her, cradling Chloe in close and peppering kisses all across her face. "Hey, shh, I'm here. It's alright, I'm not letting you go."
"You can't ever leave, okay? Never." There was a quiet desperation in her tone, hands clutching the brunette's shirt tightly.
"I'm not going anywhere, Red. I promise." Beca was a little confused but she was more than prepared to make that promise.
It took a few moments for Chloe to calm down enough for them to move but as soon as she did, Beca helped her back to bed. Laying on her back, she pulled her girlfriend tight into her arms, kissing the top of her head as she settled almost fully on top of her.
"You.. You left and I couldn't find you. I kept... So much happened, so many horrible things and I just couldn't find you." A shiver of dread shot through Chloe and Beca simply pulled her closer, tightening her hold as she tucked the blanket around them both. "I don't... I can't."
"Chloe, you don't have to tell me." The body on top of her relaxed even more, nodding before tucking her head into Beca's neck. "If you want to tell me later then okay, I'll listen, but I'm not going to force you to relive it right now just to settle some kind of curiosity."
There was a sniffle and then Chloe simply burrowed even closer, giving her neck a shaky little kiss. "Thank you."
"Anything for you, Red." Beca knew this wasn't okay, that this would bother Chloe through the night and probably for the following nights, but she wasn't going to let it ruin anything. "Want to hear a story?"
Blinking rapidly, Chloe lifted her head to shoot her a confused look, a tiny smile twitching her lips when she realized that her bad-ass lead singer was being her adorable self to make her feel better. "What kind of story?"
"Oh the best kind. One with a princess and a stable boy." Confusion turned to a beaming smile and it warmed Beca's heart immediately. "The Dread Pirate Roberts will make an appearance as well as some fearsome rodents of unusual size. Love and loss, good triumphs over evil, and it's a tale very dear to your heart, I'm sure."
"Can we watch it? Or are you going to read it?" Chloe's eyes were so excited that Beca couldn't help but chuckle.
She wasn't a fan of movies and, of course, Chloe preferred the movie over the book. "We can watch it and I will say Wesley's lines to you the entire time."
"You have to promise. I want you to quote it and mean it, Beca. It has to be perfect or else I'll never be able to get any sleep as that will bother me so much."
The fact that Chloe seemed able to place her forgetting to quote lines over the memory of her dream brought a grin to Beca's face. Shaking her head, she kissed the corner of Chloe's mouth. "As you wish."