A/N: So… anyone still remember this story?

Ahhhhh sorry guys, I know it's been a long time! I haven't had much time to write for the past few weeks since my timetable is quite CRAZY this semester, ughh :( But thankfully, I've finally found a way to manage my time a little better now so I wouldn't be constantly exhausted and could do some proper writing. Anyway, apologies again for the long delay!

Chapter 26

Chloe woke up in the middle of the night in Beca's bed and shivered a little. She lazily reached out for Beca beside her and wanted to cuddle for warmth, but was met with an empty space instead. The redhead frowned and opened her eyes to check the time. It was nearly 1am. Beca had previously asked Jesse for a night off so she and Chloe could finally have a long-overdue date and then cuddle to sleep for the whole night. Chloe pouted slightly, wondering where her girlfriend and personal heater snuck off to at this late hour.

She sat up a little in bed and noticed that there was a dim light in the living room. She listened carefully for a moment and caught an intermittent sound of the guitar, so soft that she almost missed it. So, she slowly got off the bed, and went to Beca's closet to pull out an oversized sweater along with a pair of shorts, putting them on quickly before walking out of the bedroom.

"Becs?" She called in a slightly hoarse voice, rubbing her eyes a little.

But Beca didn't seem to hear her, she was sitting on the couch with her guitar and was writing something on the coffee table, completely lost in her own world. Chloe took a few more steps and went to lean against the wall a few feet away from the side of the couch, gazing at her girlfriend quietly.

The brunette was wearing a large hoodie with sports shorts, her hair tied up into a messy bun. In front of her on the coffee table, several pieces of sheet music were laid out neatly. Some were blank, others were already filled with Beca's beautiful cursive handwriting. Her guitar pick was caught between her teeth while she was hunched over that small table and was scribing rapidly with a pencil. After a few seconds, she dropped the pencil and went to retrieve her guitar pick from her mouth, before resuming her soft strumming. And her head would sway lightly along with the rhythm from time to time, a ghost of a smile on her lips.

Chloe smiled at the sight. Even in the dim illumination of the table lamp in the living room, she could still see the ceaseless creativity and excitement radiating from Beca, along with that special dazzling glow of a dream chaser. Immersed in the gentle sound of the guitar, Chloe closed her eyes briefly. But instead of seeing boundless darkness, she was greeted with flashes of exploding fireworks in a riot of colours.

Interestingly, she felt like her life during the past eight years had always been in a monotone greyish colour. Sometimes there would be swirls of chromatic elements emerging in certain moments, like when she had finally graduated from vet school, when she landed her first internship, when she treated an adorable animal, when she was spending time with Aubrey or her family, or even sometimes with Chicago. But those swirls of vividness never lasted. They were all ephemeral, twirling in her world for a fleeting moment, then they were just… gone. And her life was back to that dull grey again. However, now, now her world was bursting with cascades of vibrant colours and sparkles, all because of Beca.

Different from those monotonous 8 years, right now, millions of shades were dancing around her world, spinning and colliding with each other, creating something so beautiful that it almost overwhelmed her. And with every smile, every touch, and every unpredictable kiss from the brunette, new technicolour hues that she couldn't even put names to would appear and run around on the already insanely colourful canvas of her life, trying to find a small space to leave a mark. Actually, even now, everything about Beca would still make her wonder in amazement that how anyone could be this effortlessly beautiful, crazily loving and just so extraordinarily talented. Moreover, what made her even giddier was the fact that she was lucky enough to call this person her girlfriend.

Chloe open her eyes, feeling her heart overflowing with fondness. She continued to watch Beca writing this new song for a while, before finally pushing herself off of the wall and walking over towards her girlfriend. She wrapped her arms around the brunette's neck from behind and pressed a light kiss to Beca's left cheek.

"Hey." She said softly and rested her chin on Beca's shoulder, looking at all those magical music notes on the sheet music in front of them.

Beca smiled, turning her head a little, "Hey, sorry babe, did I wake you?"

Chloe shook her head, "No, I just got cold." She let go of Beca and went to sit beside her on the couch, "New song?"

Beca grinned, a little apologetically, "Yeah… I know today we finally get to cuddle for the whole night, but I just had this inspiration and it was keeping me up so…"

Chloe chuckled, "That's okay Becs, I'll just stay here with you and then when you are done, we can go back to bed together and continue our cuddling session."

"What? Chlo you don't have to stay—"

Chloe cut the brunette off and pouted, "Uh-uh, I'm not negotiating, I'd rather stay here with you than sleep alone in the bed."

"Fine…" Beca shook her head, laughing lightly, "I guess I'll have to get used to this bossy side of you from now on, huh?"

Chloe reached out and smacked the brunette's arm playfully, "Hey, go back to your song-writing already!"

Beca laughed again before picking up the pencil on the table obediently and resuming her previous work. In the meantime, the redhead happily moved to the other side of the couch and rested her head on the armrest, curling on her side and just gazing at her girlfriend's profile contently.

After a while, Beca finally finished the first verse. She stretched a little and noticed that the redhead beside her was already fast asleep, a tiny smile still on her face. Chuckling lightly, Beca put down her guitar as quietly as possible and stood up to grab a blanket before covering her girlfriend carefully. She leaned down and placed a soft kiss on the sleeping redhead's forehead, "Sweet dreams baby. I love you."

She gazed at the beautiful redhead for a lingering moment, before going back and picking up her guitar again, smiling when she felt an inexplicable strength slowly rising from the pit of her stomach, while even more inspiration and ideas streaming through her mind incessantly like an endless river.

For so many years, she was usually walking alone on this journey towards her dream. Sure, there were a few people that came along every now and then, but at the end of the day, she knew she was on her own after all. And that was okay, because she had never expected them to stay in the first place anyway; because at some point, she had already gotten used to being alone. She had already gotten used to waking up alone on the couch with a stiff neck after spending the whole night writing a new song. She had already gotten used to playing the guitar to herself over and over again trying to decide if the song still needed more touch-ups. And she had already learnt to ignore the empty and worn-out feeling that would suddenly creep up on her, in the quietest nights.

But it appeared that she didn't have to deal with those things ever again. Because from now on, she knew she was no longer all by herself.

Not anymore.

Chloe was eating her lunch in her office when she felt her phone vibrate inside her jean pocket. She fished it out and found a text message from her girlfriend.

Hey beautiful! Did you finish your lunch? Come out of the clinic, turn right, walk about 100m and then turn left, you might find someone interesting there! ;) – B

Chloe giggled, immediately standing up and grabbing her coat and bag before walking out to follow Beca's instructions. She made a mental note on the way to convince the brunette to stop coming to see her during lunchtime and get some much-needed sleep instead, although she loved these small yet sweet surprises so much.

Wondering what the brunette was trying to pull off this time, she quickly reached the spot according to Beca's text, but the second she spotted her girlfriend, her heart immediately started racing inside her chest uncontrollably.

Because Beca was leaning against the brick wall of a building at the end of the sidewalk, with her guitar in her hand. She was wearing a black leather jacket and looking a little bored. Okay, Beca's never visited her during lunchtime with her guitar… so what's happening now? The redhead didn't know what to think, so with her heartbeats echoing in her ears, she quickly walked over to her girlfriend. And as always, the brunette's stormy-blue eyes lit up entirely when she spotted Chloe, which was not helping to calm the redhead's pounding heart.

"Hey babe." The brunette grinned, before giving Chloe a light peck on the lips.

"Hey, what's… all this?" Chloe gestured to the guitar.

Beca smirked, while stepping back a few feet away from the redhead and positioning her guitar in place, "Well, you are getting a private street concert today, Doctor Beale."

Chloe giggled, "Why do you suddenly want to play out here?"

"Well you mentioned the other day that I should try playing during the day, but I don't really want to go play alone at some random place, so…" Beca shrugged.

"You remember?" Chloe smiled.

"Of course! I just have one thing to ask you before I start."

"Sure, what is it?"

Beca cleared her throat a little, a crooked grin on her face, "Please don't jump me right here okay? At least wait till we are somewhere inside."

Chloe gasped while her face crimsoned, "Oh my god!" She glared at her giggling girlfriend and spluttered, "You are never going to let this go, are you? Why did I even tell you that in the first place?!"

Beca laughed, "You are right babe, I'm never letting this go. Now, enjoy your private concert and try to restrain yourself."

"Are you going to start or not?! Stop teasing me!"

"Okay, okay. Here we go." Beca immediately started strumming her guitar, laughing while winking playfully at her flustered girlfriend.

Chloe listened to the brunette sing for her with a huge grin on her face and okay, maybe Beca was right, she was indeed having a hard time restraining herself. She had already gotten so used to Beca singing in the bar that she almost forgot how insanely hot the brunette was when she played the guitar on the street. She bit her lower lip and watched Beca intently, completely unaware of the small crowd that was starting to form around her.

Beca finished the third song and decided to do a little introduction for the next song that she was going to play, since she saw the small crowd in front of her seemed to be quite interested.

"Hey guys, umm the next song is a new one I just wrote a few days ago in the middle of the night, inspired by my amazing girlfriend." She winked at the redhead and resumed strumming her guitar softly.

I'm gonna pick up the pieces

And build a Lego house

If things go wrong we can knock it down

My three words have two meanings

There's one thing on my mind

It's all for you

–

And it's dark in a cold December

But I've got you to keep me warm

And if you're broken I'll mend you

And keep you sheltered from the storm that's raging on now

Hearing the familiar melody, Chloe immediately recalled that night when she stayed with Beca on the couch but ended up falling asleep while the brunette was writing this song. However, she never expected that it would be inspired by her. And the way Beca revealed this information was so casual like it was never a big deal. But it was. It was a big deal to her. She knew the brunette had written several songs for her, or about her by now, yet she was still having trouble wrapping her head around this fact. Every time she learnt that she was the inspiration behind a new song, she would still feel a tingle of excitement, starting from the tips of her fingers and passing through her entire body like a never-fading warm ocean wave.

I'm out of touch, I'm out of love

I'll pick you up when you're getting down

And out of all these things I've done

I think I love you better now

–

I'm out of sight, I'm out of mind

I'll do it all for you in time

And out of all these things I've done

I think I love you better now

Feeling a little dizzy with exaltation, Chloe looked back into those intense steel-blue eyes. "I love you." She mouthed the words to Beca, watching the brunette's mouth stretch into an impossibly-wide grin and trying to savour the pure rapture that fizzled in her heart.

Gradually, more people started to gather around the brunette musician, drawn by this incredibly beautiful song and Chloe had finally registered the fact that she was standing among a small crowd now. She chuckled to herself, feeling proud of her girlfriend and also a little amazed that how music could make a group of strangers stop in their tracks, and just gather together to spend a few minutes in their lives getting lost in the melodies, to feel the emotions behind those beautiful notes.

Several people came and went beside her, but she hardly even noticed. Her eyes were locked on the brunette the whole time, letting Beca's music flow through her veins, swirl in her heart and touch her soul. The brunette would close her eyes every time she was trying to reach a high note, and then re-open those electrifying blue eyes to wink at the redhead, while effortlessly strumming that guitar of hers and working wonders with it.

After a while, the old lady standing next to Chloe left, and a man who was behind them quickly stepped up to take the lady's place while watching Beca closely with fascinated sharp brown eyes. He was tall and rather thin, with a handsome facial structure, a well-groomed beard and stylish short rich brown hair. This guy was wearing a denim jacket with his collar turned up and was tilting his head a little, his eyes trained on Beca's nimble fingers moving over the guitar strings. He continued to watch the brunette's fast and flawless guitar fingering for a while, before moving his eyes to take in Beca's appearance and slightly nodding his head in approval with the rhythm of Beca's current song.

The guy soon noticed that the musician would sometimes wink at the giggling redhead standing next to him, so he leaned a little bit closer to catch the redhead's attention and politely asked, "Excuse me, but do you know this artist? I've never seen her around here before." He said in a British accent.

Chloe turned her head to him and answered, "Yeah! Her name is Beca Mitchell and she's my girlfriend." She smiled and looked back at the singing brunette adoringly before adding, "Isn't she great? She has this amazing voice and she wrote all those songs herself!"

The guy seemed a little surprised at hearing this, "Wow, really? She's very talented."

Chloe nodded immediately, "I know, right?! Oh, you should totally come see her at this bar where she sings. If you think this is good, wait till you see her with a microphone and a keyboard!"

The Brit chuckled lightly, "I'm sure she'll be great." He looked back at Beca for a moment before asking Chloe again, "Can you tell me the name of the bar? I really want to listen to some more of her songs."

Chloe let out a small squeal, "Oh my god, yes!" She took out a pen and a piece of paper from her bag and quickly wrote down the name and the address of the bar before handing it to the guy next to her. He took it and thanked the redhead before walking off.

Chloe followed his movement with her eyes for a second and happily turned her attention back to her girlfriend. She just loved it when people could see how talented her girlfriend was.

Later that day, Chloe finished her work early and thought she should pay her girlfriend a surprise visit at the restaurant as well. She walked into the restaurant around the time that Beca was about to finish, and instantly smiled when she recognized that Beca was playing one of the sonatas by Mozart.

Deciding not to distract the brunette, she walked quietly to stand a few feet behind her girlfriend, listening contently to the beautiful melody. However, an auburn-haired little girl sitting at a table near the piano soon caught her attention.

The tiny redhead was staring at the pianist intently, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, completely drawn by Beca's swift fingers on the keys. Then suddenly, she jumped down from her chair and ran away from her table to stand beside the pianist, enchanted. She tilted her cute little head to watch Beca for a while, before excitedly bouncing over and trying to climb onto Beca's lap, startling the brunette. But being the experienced and expert pianist as always, Beca still managed to play the piece perfectly, without messing up the notes at all. She locked eyes with the girl for a brief second before the little one nodded at her solemnly and turned to face the piano, trying to make herself comfortable on Beca's lap while staring at Beca's nimble fingers in awe.

Beca blinked, not knowing what to do with the child on her lap, again. Seriously, why did this kind of thing keep happening to her? Sighing slightly, she just lifted her right arm really quick to let the girl move to sit right in front of her so the little intruder wouldn't block her movement up and down the keyboard.

Beca watched the tiny redhead amusedly while continuing to play, deciding to add a fancy glissando into the piece near the end, which successfully earned a small squeal from the girl on her lap. Her little audience turned her head to look at Beca, clapping her hands while bouncing excitedly on her lap. Beca chuckled with a slight shake of her head, and finished the piece within the minute.

Clearly displeased by the end of the performance, the little girl pouted, and went to pick up Beca's hand resting on the keys, studying it curiously.

"Maaagic fingers!" The girl whispered and held her breath.

Beca laughed, "They are not magic fingers, just normal ones. See?" She waved her hand to her small audience.

The little redhead narrowed her eyes incredulously and looked at the brunette's face for a while, before suddenly touching Beca's cheek with her small hand, "You are very pretty." She stated in all seriousness.

"Thanks?" Beca answered, amused.

Just when the little girl was about to say something else, a woman came up to them, "Oh my god! I'm so sorry! Isabella! How many times did I tell you not to climb onto people's lap!"

"But mom, she has magic fingers!" The little girl protested.

The woman picked her daughter up from the pianist lap, smiling apologetically at Beca before walking off with the girl in her arms. Beca watched them walk back towards their table, chuckling again when she saw her tiny audience wave at her with a giant pout and then rest her little head on her mom's shoulder reluctantly.

"Well, those are magic fingers indeed."

Beca whipped her head back around and found her girlfriend leaning against the piano, a wide grin on her face.

"How long have you been here?" Beca asked and blushed lightly, before leaning forward to place a kiss on the redhead's lips.

"Oh, from the very beginning of the sonata and I witnessed everything with your little fan right there. I mean if that's not the cutest thing ever, I don't know what is. Trust me, I should know since my job allows me to see a LOT of cute things." Chloe cooed, and dropped down on the bench next to the brunette.

Beca rolled her eyes, "Actually I don't get why kids keep doing this to me. Do they not see I'm a badass or something?"

Chloe laughed, "I think they just know you are secretly a softie."

Beca huffed, before smiling at the redhead, "Actually this one kind of reminded me of you, she's like a small version of you." She got up from the bench and started to pack her stuff, "You know, the red hair and the whole completely ignoring people's personal space thing."

Chloe pouted, "You love it when I invade your personal space."

"True, but that's because you already have a permanent spot in my personal space. So in your case, it's not called invading, it's called coming back to."

Chloe's heart fluttered. She smiled, watching Beca for a moment, before she spoke again, "To be honest, I didn't know you were this good with kids until today. How many do you think you can handle?" She chuckled lightly.

"Two."

Chloe froze, "What?"

"Huh? I said I think I could handle two kids, maybe more in the future, but right now, I think two sounds pretty good. I'll teach them how to play the piano and the guitar, so they can go out there and mock their school music teacher with all those fancy pieces that I've taught them. And you could take them to the clinic to see all those cute animals and of course they'll want to pet everything, which means later I'll have to come and literally drag those two little monsters away so they wouldn't disturb you when you are working…" Beca laughed lightly and finally finished packing and was ready to leave.

She turned to look at her girlfriend but found that the redhead was looking up at her with tears glistening in her cerulean eyes. Then Beca suddenly realized what she just said. Because yes, she had thought about their future and kids a lot lately, and what she said was actually just a tiny little glimpse of all her reverie. It may seem a little inconceivable. Her, Beca Mitchell, having kids. But it just felt right, it was what she wanted. A family. With Chloe.

So maybe because of all those thinking that she did, it just felt natural for the words to slip out of her mouth. But seeing the redhead didn't comment on what she said, Beca started to panic a little. They had just established an official relationship again, it was probably too soon to talk about kids and stuff. And she didn't want to scare the redhead away. So Beca quickly went to sit back down beside her girlfriend, taking her hand,

"Hey, I'm sorry. I know it's probably too soon for me to think about this kind of stuff but… I just can't help myself. I'm serious about what I said, and I would love to have a family with you in the future. Of course we still have a long way to go right now, but I can see my future with you Chloe. I love you and I just want you to know that I'm all in and—"

"It sounds perfect Beca." Chloe smiled. She quickly brought up a hand to brush away a few escaped tears, "I would love to have a family with you too." She watched Beca's lips curve upwards into a wide grin and couldn't help but lean in to kiss the brunette, feeling her heart soar into the sky with the overwhelming happiness she felt.

A/N: Well… I think you all know who the British guy was & what would happen next, right? :D

The song in this chapter is Lego House by Ed Sheeran.

Also, just a quick thank you to those who are still reading/following/favouriting this story, and of course thank you for all the lovely reviews! They all made me smile so much, love you guys! xx