A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! :)

Chapter 17

Things went back to normal over the following weeks. Chloe would still come to the bar to listen to Beca sing three times a week. And sometimes they would still hang out on Chloe's day off like nothing had happened. Neither of them brought up that day at Beca's apartment or their song, it was as if it didn't happen. Beca was relieved actually, because she wouldn't want the song to change what she and Chloe had now. She was worried that the redhead wouldn't speak to her after hearing the song, but she soon realized that Chloe was pretending that it never happened. So she went with it and was content with still being able to remain in the redhead's life, as a friend.

Beca was in the process of writing a new song and was deep in thought, sitting on the couch with her feet up on the coffee table. Suddenly, a few loud knocks at the door brought her out of her reverie.

Frowning, she put down her lyrics notebook and stood up to answer the door. It was only 1pm and she wasn't expecting anyone. Wondering who that could be, she yanked the door open and was taken completely by surprise, eyes widening at the sight before her.

Because there was Stacie Conrad, standing in front of her on her doorstep, in her ever so exquisite outfit, beaming at Beca with her lips curving into a mischievous smirk.

"Miss me?"

Stacie threw herself onto Beca's couch and let out a content sigh. They had just ordered pizza, actually more like Beca just ordered pizza for Stacie, because the tall brunette looked like she hadn't eaten for weeks and basically wolfed down most of the pizza. Beca watched the tall brunette in amusement. She had missed her best friend. Ever since she moved to LA, they hadn't been able to see each other much. Stacie finished her degree in Atlanta, and found a really good job at an advertising agency. Now she was a marketing director who was in charge of several big clients.

Beca was happy for her best friend. At least one of them managed to achieve success in their careers. Seeing the tall brunette had already made herself comfortable on the couch, Beca went to sit down next to her and asked,

"Well what brings you here Stace?"

Stacie shrugged, "What? I can't visit my best friend in New York?"

Beca laughed, "You can, but I highly doubt that you flew all the way here just to eat some pizza and sit on my crappy couch."

"What can I say? I love New York pizza! It tastes better and your couch is not that crappy."

"Stacie." She pointed a finger at Stacie knowingly, narrowing her eyes.

"Fine, fine!" Stacie put up her hands in mock surrender, "I'm in town for a business meeting and thought I should drop by and check up on you. I haven't seen you in so long and Beca, why can't you just accept the fact that there are actually people who want to see you and enjoy your company for once!"

Beca dropped her finger and shrugged, "Fair enough. So how long will you be staying in New York?"

"Just for 2 more days. I've already had my meeting done, so I figured we could hang out for a bit. Are you going to be busy this weekend?"

"Nope, I'm mostly free during the day since I work like an owl. So I can definitely show you around and we could do whatever you want."

"Awesome!" Stacie clapped her hands excitedly, "I miss hanging out with you Becs! And we could go to the mall and get our nails done!"

"WHAT?" Beca was horrified, "No we will definitely not be doing THAT!"

Stacie rolled her eyes, "Fine, always worth a try though. We could just go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art then, I've wanted to go there for so long!"

Beca was still a little traumatized by the prospect of getting a manicure with Stacie, "Yeah, we could do that. And please, don't ever scare me like that again."

Stacie pouted slightly, "Someday, Beca, someday we'll be doing our nails together. Trust me, it'll happen and it has become my life goal so I won't give up." She finished with a determinant look on her face.

Beca rolled her eyes, and she suddenly remembered something, "Hey, do you want to come to the bar later tonight? I'll be singing and Chloe will be there as well. You two haven't seen each other for a long time too, so I don't know, you might want to catch up with her?"

Stacie's eyes widened at hearing this, "Chloe? Chloe's also in New York?! And you two are talking again?!"

Beca nodded, unaffected by Stacie's reaction.

Stacie was still in somewhat of a shock, "Wow, that's… that's amazing Becs! I mean, it's great to see that you guys are on good terms with each other again. So what are you two doing now? Are you back together?"

"What?! No! We are just friends and I'm happy this way. I'm just glad that I get to see her again."

Stacie looked unconvinced, but decided to let it slide for now, "Okay… so how is she now?"

Beca couldn't help the soft smile that appeared on her face when she talked about the redhead, "She's doing great. She's a veterinarian now and she has her own clinic."

Stacie watched as Beca talked about Chloe's clinic all excitedly and proudly. It was clear that Beca was still in love with the redhead. Just look at that stupid grin on her face when she talks about Chloe. Stacie sighed. She wondered how Chloe was feeling towards Beca now. Was she still in love with Beca as well? She was determined to find out and test the water for a bit tonight. After all, those two were just meant for each other and she couldn't just sit around and do nothing.

Chloe arrived at the bar as usual at around 10pm, moving to sit in her corner booth and patiently waiting for Beca to start the performance. After hearing Beca sing their song the other day, she honestly didn't know what to do with her feelings. Actually, she wasn't even sure what she was feeling. Was she still in love with Beca? Maybe. But she was too afraid to think what that would mean for them. Every time she saw the brunette, she would still feel a dull pain in her chest, probably the after-effect from the agony she experienced 8 years ago, or was it her heart sending her signals, trying to warn her not to fall too deep, to get hurt again? Nevertheless, she still couldn't help but look forward to seeing Beca every week, to hearing her voice and to just being around Beca. All of these complicated feelings were so confusing for her, but at least she knew for sure that she was not ready to let Beca go and disappear from her life again. So, she decided to pretend she never heard that song and to just be friends with Beca, to keep the brunette in her life for a little longer.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a cheery yet slightly familiar voice, "Hey, is this seat taken?"

She looked up and widened her eyes, "Stacie?! Oh my God! What are you doing here?!" She exclaimed, instantly jumping up to hug the tall brunette.

Stacie laughed and returned the redhead's hug, "I'm in New York for business and still have a few days free before I need to go back. So, I thought I should visit Beca and she mentioned that you would be here tonight. And here I am."

Chloe pulled back, still surprised, "Wow, it's been a long time since we last saw each other! How are you?"

"I'm doing okay. I finished my degree and found a job at an advertising agency. So far I'm still loving my job so I think I'm doing just fine." She winked.

Chloe smiled, gesturing towards the booth and the two then went to sit down at opposite ends of the table, "That's great to hear Stacie."

"Yeah, now what about you? Beca told me you are a vet now huh? Impressive, Doctor Beale." Stacie wiggled her eyebrows.

Chloe grinned widely, "Thanks Stace. I'm pretty proud of myself too, you know, for surviving those torturous years of vet school."

Stacie chuckled, "I'm sure."

"So," Chloe asked, "Did you do some sightseeing? I don't have to work tomorrow, we should totally do something together!"

"Yeah, I'd like that! Beca and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art this afternoon and it was so great! I was hoping I could rope her into going to the mall and getting our nails done together, but well…" Stacie rolled her eyes.

Chloe laughed, she could already imagine Beca's horrified expression after hearing Stacie want them to go to a nail salon.

They continued to catch up with each other, and after Stacie's drink arrived, she stirred it absentmindedly before speaking again.

"You know, Chloe, I'm really glad that you and Beca are on good terms now and are at least able to fix a few things."

Chloe smiled, but made no comments about this. So Stacie continued,

"I have to say I'm quite surprised when Beca told me you guys bumped into each other and are speaking to each other again. So, you two are now friends or...?" Stacie trailed off, watching the redhead's expressions carefully.

"Yeah, we are friends. We talked things out and we are all good now. The past is in the past and we've moved past it." Chloe answered calmly, smiling at the tall brunette.

Stacie was a little disappointed. Looks like Chloe is really over Beca. She thought and sighed internally.

"Well anyway I'm just really happy that you two are friends again. That small idiot needs someone like you to keep her in check. Ever since she got alcohol poisoning and almost died, I've been constantly worried back in Atlanta that she would pull something that stupid again. Now that she has you back in her life, at least I could have a little peace of mind from now on." Stacie said, sipping her drink.

Chloe frowned, when did Beca ever get alcohol poisoning? So she asked, "What are you talking about?"

Stacie looked confused as well, "You know, back when she went to New York to propose to you but you basically straight up broke up with her, she came back, and drank 3 bottles of vodka straight from the bottle, god knows how quickly. Thankfully I went home early that night and took that unconscious idiot to the hospital. I'm telling you, it was the scariest experience in my whole life! You need to keep her from doing something that stupid ever again, you know? I wouldn't want to go through all those drama ever again." Stacie finished with an involuntary shudder when she thought back to that horrible incident and didn't notice the redhead's dumbfounded expression.

Chloe was shocked to say the least, there was too much information that she didn't know which one to grasp. First, Beca was going to propose?! Then why on earth did they end up breaking up?! And the alcohol poisoning? How serious was that? Why hasn't Beca mentioned anything to her?! Chloe's mind was going into overdrive. Answers, she needed answers. And apparently, what happened 8 years ago was not what she thought happened at all.

"Stacie…" Chloe called to get the tall brunette's attention, voice trembling a little.

Stacie heard the quiver in Chloe's voice and looked back at the redhead with a frown. Seeing Chloe's confused and desperate eyes, she suddenly realized, "Oh my God! You… you didn't know! I—I'm sorry, I shouldn't— Oh my God, Beca's going to kill me—"

"Stacie, please!" Chloe cut her off, "I need—I need to know. What really happened 8 years ago?"

Stacie hesitated, "Chloe, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said those things. I just thought you've already known since you said you've talked things out, I—" She sighed, "If Beca didn't tell you, obviously she intended you to never find out. So I shouldn't say anything either."

Chloe now had tears in her eyes. She was so close to the truth, and she needed to know. "Please Stacie, please just tell me. What really happened?"

Stacie looked into Chloe's tearful and pleading eyes for a moment before averting her own eyes. She didn't have the heart to refuse and deep down, she really thought that Chloe needed to know what happened all those years ago. So she let out a long sigh, closing her eyes for a brief moment, before finally revealing that well-hidden truth.

"When Beca went to New York after your fight at the apartment, she was going to propose to you. She had her grandma's engagement ring with her and all. And I honestly don't know why you guys ended up broken up. All I know is that I went home early that day from the library because I just couldn't spend one more minute working on that essay. When I went into the apartment and saw Beca's bag, I was so excited and was running into her room wanting to hear all about the epic proposal, but instead, I found Beca passed out on her bed. Now she had been drunk many times before, but something was wrong this time. She was so pale, paler than her normal self and her breathing was really, really slow. Then I saw there were 3 empty bottles of vodka lying on the ground and I started freaking out. That's too many! I tried to wake her up but she was just unresponsive, so I immediately called 911. When we were waiting for the ambulance, she started to have a seizure and I was so scared I…"

Stacie let out a trembling breath, still feeling a bit shaken just thinking back to that day. She ran a slightly shaky hand through her hair, before continuing.

"I wanted to call you, but she came back to consciousness after the seizure just for a few minutes and started to repeatedly tell me you guys broke up and not to call you. And then she just passed out again. When we got to the hospital, they pumped her stomach and eventually had to give her hemodialysis as well. Turned out that I wasn't home early enough. She had been unconscious for a while and if I waited a little longer to call the ambulance, she wouldn't have made it. But still, even after the treatment, she was in a coma for 17 days, while facing the potential of severe brain damage. Fortunately, this idiot eventually woke up with just a few mild after-effects. So I'd call it lucky."

Stacie finished and the two fell into a deadly silence, even though they were in the middle of a bar filled with loud people. Chloe's brain was racing and she didn't even realize that she was clenching her drink so hard that her knuckles were turning white. So that's the real reason Beca didn't answer her calls or voicemails. She… she was in a coma and couldn't even know Chloe was calling her.

"So that's why she didn't answer my calls." Chloe whispered under her breath with her eyes glued to her drink. But Stacie heard it.

The tall brunette let out a sigh, looking hesitant and wanting to say something. She continued to watch Chloe quietly for a few more seconds, before opening her mouth again.

"When Beca woke up, she immediately asked me for her phone, and… I don't know what you said in the voicemails, but it broke her Chloe. I thought she was going to call you to explain everything and apologize for her stupidity. But after she heard your voicemails, she suddenly decided against it no matter how many times I yelled at her to just call you and tell you the truth. You know how stubborn she is so…"

Chloe couldn't hold back her tears anymore. Yes, her last voicemail to Beca. She remembered it all too well because it broke her to say those words as well.

Beca opened her eyes and immediately squinted due to the brightness of the room. She felt like she was hit by a train. Everything in her body hurt so much and she couldn't remember what happened. She blinked, finally realizing she was in the hospital and then it all came back. Her fight with Chloe, the break-up, her buying 3 bottles of vodka on the way home, drinking all 3 bottles of vodka, passing out, and hearing Stacie's voice repeatedly shouting her name in her ears.

She looked to her side and saw Stacie sitting in an armchair beside her, asleep. She called the tall brunette's name weakly and reached out a hand to touch her arm. Stacie stirred and opened her eyes, immediately jumping out of her chair seeing Beca had woken up. She teared up and went to hug Beca carefully,

"Finally, Beca! I'm so glad that you woke up! I was starting to get worried."

Beca hummed, not sure what that meant. And then Stacie pulled back, suddenly getting angry, "You are such an idiot! Why would you even do something like that?! Are you stupid?! Don't ever scare me like that again, you hear me?! And you are lucky that you are in the hospital so I can't yell at you or punch you! Because you so deserve it!" Stacie scolded the small brunette furiously in a hushed voice.

Beca blinked, "Okay… but what happened? Why am I in the hospital?" She asked in a slightly hoarse voice.

"You had alcohol poisoning and you've just woken up from a coma you idiot! You were lucky that I got home early that day otherwise you wouldn't have made it."

Beca stared at Stacie, wondering if she was joking. She was just about to speak some more but got cut off by the taller brunette, "I need to go call the doctors and let them know that you are awake. They need to run some tests. We'll talk more later." Stacie gave Beca another stern look before walking out to get the doctors.

After all the tests were done, Stacie was relieved to learn that Beca was only left with some mild after-effects, no other severe damage or complications. She moved over to sit beside Beca again, watching the small brunette.

"So… are you going to tell me what really happened that got you all crazy and nearly made you kill yourself with vodka?"

Beca turned her head to look at Stacie, and she wasn't sure if she should tell Stacie what happened in New York. Because she herself didn't understand how the event took such a wrong turn as well. she was going to propose, but instead she broke up with Chloe. What was wrong with her?

Beca could feel her eyes burning and her throat start tightening. So she sighed, looking away before suddenly snapping her eyes back to Stacie's, "Stacie?! Where is my phone?!"

Stacie was startled by the urgency in Beca's voice. She went to her bag to grab Beca's phone, handing it back to her, "Here. What's wrong?"

"Did… did you call Chloe and tell her about me being in a coma?" Beca asked, while turning on her phone to check her missed calls and voicemails.

"No… I was going to but you asked me not to during your short period of consciousness that day. And I figured you probably want to explain all this to her yourself when you wake up."

Beca nodded silently, seeing there were 52 missed calls and 15 voicemails. She turned her head to look at Stacie and asked, "Stace, can you give me a few minutes? I want to make this right with Chloe."

Stacie nodded, standing up and pointing a finger at Beca, "You better! I'll go get you some food." Then she went to pick up her bag and walked out of the hospital room.

Beca took in a deep breath before tapping on the first voicemail. Chloe's nervous voice instantly came in.

"Beca? Please pick up the phone. We need to talk about this. Are you back in Atlanta yet? Call me back okay? I'm sorry we fought and I shouted at you. I just really need to talk to you. Call me." *Beep*

Beca kept listening to those voicemails one by one. By the 7th voicemail, she didn't have the heart to continue because the redhead was either crying or begging her to call her back on the phone. Beca's face was covered with tears now. She hated herself for making Chloe cry and she wanted to go back to that day so bad to slap herself and stop herself from drinking.

She sniffled loudly and hastily wiped her tears. She noticed the last voicemail was dated 2 days ago and wondered why the redhead had stopped after that with the daily voicemail. So she decided to skip the few middle ones and go straight to the last one. She had made up her mind, after hearing that last voicemail, she would call Chloe and she didn't care if she had to cry or beg, she would make it right with Chloe and apologize for the rest of her life to make up to the redhead.

So, with a slightly trembling hand, she tapped on the last voicemail. However, the coldness in Chloe's voice immediately sent shivers down Beca's spine.

"Beca, this is my last voicemail to you. I just want you to know, we are over, for real. I've given you so many chances in the past two weeks, but I guess you've made your point. I get it now. So I'm going to be okay, I'll live my dream life, but that doesn't include you anymore. Don't bother calling me ever again, since you made it clear in the last two weeks that you don't want to talk to me. So now the feeling is mutual. If we ever bump into each other in the street, let's just act like strangers. Goodbye, Beca." *Beep*

And at that moment, Beca wished she was still in that coma.