Chapter 24 - I Guess We Can Try That

Chloe slugged into the kitchen, her eyes struggling to stay open. She turned the coffee pot on and she was glad she poured the contents in the night before, because she really didn't have the energy to do anything besides press the button to turn the machine on. She eyed the dripping water momentarily before she heard a click which indicated that the coffee began to brew.

She heard Peanut yelp a bit as he trotted near her so she figured he wanted some food. After she had taken care of him, she noticed the coffee pot was steaming. She quickly turned it off so it could cool. She crossed her arms and wearily walked back towards the direction of her room. Since sleeping still wasn't a total possibility she had kept Beca up most of the night after they ate their donuts that Chloe insisted on buying.

She creaked the door open and half smiled as she saw Beca still curled up with the blankets molding her body. As she admired the brunettes sleeping form, Peanut did his thing and trotted into her room. Since he was most certainly not the size of a puppy now, it was a little harder to control him.

"Nooo." Chloe crooned chasing after him.

He hoped up onto Chloes bed and curled alongside Beca and Chloes face completely softened as she saw how content the two of them looked. She instantly went to grab her phone off the nightstand to take a picture because they just looked so damn cute and Chloe absolutely had to take a picture to savor the moment.

She lifted her phone and snapped a few quick pictures of the two. Though the shutter noise wasn't on, Beca stirred as if she knew Chloe was hovering beside the bed. Her sleep induced eyes hadn't taken the dog laying on her side until she tried rolling onto her stomach.

"What?" Beca mumbled, she squinted as she lifted her head and then realized Peanut was laying with her.

Chloe laughed and carefully sat in the edge of her bed. "Our little guy does love you, Becs."

Becas eyes fluttered open and closed a few times before she nodded. She laid her head back down sighed. "I guess I don't mind him."

Chloe smiled and then nervously sucked her bottom lip in between her teeth. Seeing Beca so drained made her feel slightly guilty seeing as she was the reason.

"Beca?"

Becas eyes opened and she barely lifted her head in response.

"You know that I really appreciate you staying the night with me, right?"

Beca nodded and propped her head on her palm, held up by her elbow.

"Well, you don't necessarily have to." Chloe said. She noticed Beca looked confused so she decided to elaborate. "Because I keep you up and you don't deserve to not sleep just because I can't sleep."

Beca nodded and sat up with her eyes half open, she moved around the dog. She crawled over to Chloe and gently kissed her temple.

"I'm fine." Beca whispered.

"I don't want you to be tired-"

"-I'm fine." Beca repeated. She stroked Chloes cheek, but still saw the apprehension in her eyes.

"Hey," Beca cooed, she leaned forward and kissed Chloe reassuringly. "It's really not a problem. I work late anyway, so I can just sleep during the day while you're working."

Chloe jutted her lips to the side and nodded.

"But maybe-"

Chloe sighed as Becas lips came into contact with hers.

"Okay."

Beca laughed. "How much time until Aubrey comes to pick you up?"

Chloe looked to the bedside clock and noticed she actually had quite awhile.

"Forty-five minutes." Chloe stated. "Why?"

Beca shrugged and leaned forward, ghosting her lips over Chloes cheek. "No reason."

Chloe shivered. "I- oh." she breathed out, feeling Becas lips nip at her jawline. "I have to shower."

Beca pulled back and smirked. "Hmm. Never tried that before."

"Are you-you mean, shower?"

"Yes, Chloe. I've never showered before."

"That explains quite a lot."

Beca laughed. "I mean," she smirked again and pulled Chloe closer to a point where the redhead was leaning over her, "I've never taken a shower with anyone."

Chloes breath hitched and she was pretty sure her face was redder than her hair. The remembrance of her coffee and any apprehension went out the window as Beca began sucking down her neck.

"I guess we can try that."

Later that day Chloe was sitting with her head in her hands as she sat with papers in front of her. She had been okay with filling for the first few months, but now she was pretty sick of it.

She hadn't noticed Aubrey walk in and steady herself in front of her.

"Did something happen?"

Chloe looked up. "What?"

"With Beca."

Chloe nodded her head slightly. "Sort of."

Aubrey sighed. "Did you two fight again?"

Chloe laughed quietly. "Again?"

"I know these things." Aubrey stated. She pulled up a chair from her desk and sat in front of Chloe's smaller one. "What happened?"

"First of all," Chloe began, "We did not fight. At least not recently... she went to lunch with her dads fiancée yesterday and to me, she seemed fine. Did she say some thing?"

"She called Jesse during lunch crying." Aubrey rushed out. She knew Beca would probably be mad at her, but she couldn't keep it from Chloe.

Chloe's face softened. "What did she say?"

"Jesse said he couldn't understand her." Aubrey explained. "And once she calmed down, he said she hadn't wanted to repeat it."

Chloe nodded. "Yesterday she didn't want to talk about the lunch. But surely it couldn't have been that bad?"

Aubrey shrugged slightly. "You should call her. I know Beca, but not as well as you."

And with that Aubrey stood and walked out, which confused Chloe because this was primarily her office.

Chloe picked up a spare pen and tapped the end of it on the desk. She thought for a moment about what she would say to Beca. She figured she should call, but she didn't want to say the wrong thing. She eventually picked up her phone and went to call Beca.

It took a few rings, but she picked up.

"Hey."

"Hey, you." Chloe said, trying to sound cheery. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. Kind of tired."

Chloe noticed Beca's monotonous tone and she couldn't help but frown.

"Why don't you sleep?" Chloe asked, now tapping the pen a little more forcefully.

Beca sighed. "Too much on my mind."

"Want to tell me about it?" Chloe asked gently.

"It's just stupid stuff." Beca brushed it off. "I'm probably just going to take the night off again."

"Okay." Chloe said. "Where are you, Bec?"

"My apartment. I stayed at yours for a while and I had fed the dog before I left."

Chloe tucked her bottom lip in between her teeth and dropped her pen. "How about I come over and I will cook you some dinner and we can just relax? And maybe if you want, we can talk about what's on your mind?"

It was silent for a few moments before Chloe heard a small, 'thank you'.

It had been about an hour and a half after their phone call when Chloe walked through Beca's door. She was immediately greeted with a hug, one that she hadn't felt from Beca since they had reunited if you will. She made Beca some macaroni and cheese Beca has stored in her cabinets; nothing special. (Mainly because Beca hadn't had anything more to make other than cereal and said macaroni and cheese.) And Beca really didn't seem different to Chloe, they had talked like normal. Nothing felt off.

Chloe was laying haphazardly with her head in Beca's lap as the brunette ran her fingers through Chloes hair.

"Beca?" Chloe whispered. She figured she needed to at least make an effort to see what was pestering Beca.

"Hmm?"

The redhead made an effort to lock her eyes with Becas.

"What happened yesterday?"

Beca shook her head and momentarily stopped her motions, then started again.

"Nothing. I told you, she brought me flowers and that was that."

Chloe's response came in the form of a sigh. She thought about how to go about this, or whatever this was.

She took a breath before saying, "Aubrey told me that you called Jesse today." she paused to look at Becas pink turning red face. "And she said you were crying."

Beca retracted her hand from Chloes hair.

"I don't-I don't want to talk about this, Chloe."

Beca began to try and slip away from the couch, but Chloes head made that move a little too hard, so she stayed in place.

Chloe continued to stare at Beca, not moving, and concentrating on nothing but Becas eyes, even if they were looking away from her. The redhead didn't coheres Beca into speaking, she was trying to give her all the time she needed.

And apparently it was going to take a long time.

Eventually, Chloes eyes became tired, so she started to slowly close them. Her eyelids fluttered open and closed though she knew she couldn't sleep. At one point she felt Beca start to run her hands through her hair again, which Chloe adored, but knew she had to stop because sleeping wasn't an option.

"Go to sleep." Beca whispered.

"Can't." Chloe mumbled. She sat up with closed eyes and pried them open so she could look at Beca. "Maybe if you tell me."

"You know that's not the reason."

Chloe shrugged. "It could be."

Beca sighed. "You have to promise not to think I'm stupid, childish, or overly sensitive."

Chloe skeptically nodded. She wasn't sure why Beca would think she would ever think that in the first place, but she would save that question for after the story.

"I promise."

Beca took a breath. It was a few moments before she actually spoke.

"It went okay."

Chloe waited or another moment but she said nothing.

"Okay?"

"It went smoothly. But she was very rude and I let it slide. And now I feel like the scum of the earth." Beca stated. "There."

Chloe sighed and she clasped her hands together and let them fall into her lap.

"Elaborate."

Beca sighed again and this time it took much less work for her to launch into the memory.

"Like I said, she gave me flowers. She had thought that daffodils were the so called, "lesbian flower" so she brought those. I didn't tell her it was actually lilies."

Chloe bit her lip to stifle a laugh, Beca saw and smirked. "You can laugh, it's pretty stupid."

Chloe chuckled momentarily before she saw Beca take another breath.

"And well, she practically asked me the same questions she had at the dinner. She she kept asking me about you. If we're getting married. If we're going to have kids. If we're going to invite people to our wedding, and if so, we need to be careful who we invite because we don't want to offend anyone."

"But it wasn't like she had a tone to her voice... she was speaking genuinely and-and I don't know, she didn't seem like she was purposely trying to be rude or-or hurtful... but she was."

Chloe nodded and took Becas hand into hers. She began drawing mindless patterns across her palm.

"I wasn't sure if I should've felt happy that she seemed to care, or upset because of the things she said. You know what she called you?"

Chloe's eyebrows involuntarily furrowed as she continued to try and sooth Beca.

"First off she asked me if I believed in God, and when I explained that I was indifferent, she said you were the, "temptation that will forever keep me out of heaven" and I should look into it."

Chloe laughed lightly. "Can't say I've heard that before."

Beca scoffed. "It pissed me off. And I was embarrassed, I guess? I don't know, she made me feel stupid. And I hate when people make me feel stupid."

"I know, I know." Chloe said gently. She laced her fingers with Becas and smiled reassuringly at her. "But you're not stupid."

Beca huffed. "I feel stupid."

Chloe tucked a few hairs behind Becas ear and kissed her cheek. "You're not."

"I'm sorry I told you I didn't want to talk about it... and I'm sorry I called Jesse instead of you. I know you've been stressed out, with not sleeping and all that, I didn't want to pour my problems into your full plate. And I just didn't want you to worry or feel bad for me and-"

"-Shhh. It's okay." Chloe whispered, cutting Becas rambling off.

"But I told you I wouldn't do that anymore-"

"-Beca."

"I'm sorry."

Chloe laughed. "It's okay."

Beca nodded. "You aren't mad?"

"I'm not mad." Chloe confirmed.

"We're not like, fighting?"

Chloe shook her head lightly and squeezed Becas hand.

"We're okay."

A/N: Sorry for any errors, just really wanted to get this up before the weekend ended. Next chapter will be the last for sure, thanks for reading :)