A/N: sorry I know this is late but things got busier than I expected. I'm worried this isn't my best work but I tried my best!
Also to anyone who is interested I have just started working on the staubrey companion piece, any suggestions for a title would be welcomed
also there was a problem with the first upload of this
Chloe was roused from her sleep by the sound of her phone ringing. She felt around blindly for the device, not wanting to open her eyes to the morning sunlight she knew would be filling her bedroom. She swiped the screen and brought it to her ear.
"Hello?" she mumbled groggily, her voice hoarse with sleep.
"Hey, I'm sorry, did I wake you?"
At the sound of Beca's voice on the other line Chloe's eyes flew open. The DJ sounded so hesitant and awkward that it made her smile. "No it's fine, don't worry about it! What's up?"
"So if I woke you does that mean you haven't been online at all since last night?" Beca asked, Chloe could hear something in her voice a note of seriousness, or concern even, that she hadn't heard before.
"No why?"
"It's just this...thing. Look would it be ok if I came over so I could talk to you about it in person?" She asked tentatively. "I'll bring coffee!"
"Of course!" Chloe smiled at the idea of seeing her new girlfriend, even if she did sound weirdly serious about the visit. "Beca Mitchell and coffee on a Saturday morning, how could I say no?"
"That's great!" Beca laughed and Chloe felt a little reassured by it. "I can be there in 20, what's Aubrey's coffee order?"
"With a hangover? Americano," Chloe giggled, knowing her friend wouldn't be feeling great this morning after all the cocktails they'd had last night.
"And you want a latte?"
"Please."
"Alright, I'll be there soon," Beca paused for a second. "Hey Chloe, do me a favour and just stay off the internet until I get there ok?"
"Okay," Chloe replied slowly, wondering what was going on that had the brunette so rattled.
"I promise I'll explain when I get there!"
"Alright," Chloe agreed, she knew Beca must have a good reason for the request. "I'll see you soon."
"See you," Beca said softly before she hung up. Dropping her phone back on her bed Chloe sat up and stretched. She was curious, incredibly curious about what was going on. Her fingers itched to pick up her phone to see if she could figure out what this was all about but she had promised Beca she wouldn't so instead she left her phone on her bed and went to wake Aubrey and tell her about their upcoming guest.
"Bree." She called softly when she entered the room, receiving only a grunt in response. "Bree!"
"What?" The blonde mumbled gruffly, rolling over sleepily to face her best friend.
"So I just got a really strange call from Beca," Chloe climbed into bed beside the blonde and relayed the details of their conversation.
"That is weird," Aubrey frowned thoughtfully. "I'm sure it's nothing major though."
Chloe simply hummed in response, her mind was reeling. She had no idea what Beca was coming over to talk about she just hoped it wasn't as bad as she was thinking.
"Maybe we should get dressed," Aubrey suggested, in an attempt to get Chloe's mind focused on something other than worrying. "I mean I know she's officially your girlfriend now but I presume you still want to make a bit of an effort."
"Good idea," Chloe nodded, looking down at her pink unicorn pyjamas. It wasn't that she thought Beca would care about how she looked, she just thought maybe pink unicorn pjs weren't the best attire for having a serious conversation in.
Chloe returned to her room and changed into sweatpants and a tank top, and pulled on her Bellas hoodie on as well. By the time she was dressed about to drop on to the sofa there was a soft knock at the door. Her stomach clenched a little with excitement knowing it was Beca and she hurried to answer. Beca was standing in the door holding a tray of coffee in one hand and a paper bag from the coffee shop in the other. Her face broke into a beaming smile when she laid eyes on Chloe and the redhead couldn't help but return it as she stepped aside to let her in.
"Morning," Beca greeted her almost cheerfully, leaning in to press a kiss to Chloe's cheek as she passed.
"Morning," the teacher echoed. Beca's kiss had relaxed her slightly; at least she knew the DJ wasn't here to tell her she regretted asking her to be her girlfriend. Beca was setting the stuff down on the coffee table when Aubrey came out of her room.
"Good morning Beca," she smiled, as much as she could with a hangover at least. The sunlight pouring in through the windows certainly wasn't helping.
"Morning Aubrey," Beca chuckled slightly, noticing the girl's pain. "I brought coffee."
"I knew I liked you!" The blonde sighed gratefully at the promise of a caffeine fix. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Beca smiled. She was glad she was winning Aubrey over, she knew how much the other girl's opinion mattered to Chloe. "And a latte."
"Thanks a latte!" Chloe giggled.
Beca wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "You know I brought pastries too but I'm not sure you deserve one after that horrible pun."
"Come on it's a classic!" Chloe scoffed indignantly.
"Exactly so I can't even give you points for originality or creativity," Beca countered with a smirk.
"You're seriously going to deny me a pastry?" Chloe pouted and turned on the puppy dog eyes.
"Oh not the face! Damn you play dirty Beale!" Beca groaned because how could she say no to that face, she'd have to be some kind of monster. She rolled her eyes and held the bag out to the redhead.
"A girl does what she has to when pastries are at stake!" Chloe shrugged and happily chose a pastry from the bag before handing it to Aubrey.
"I'll give you two some privacy to talk," Aubrey said once she'd got a pastry. The promise of the baked treat was the only thing that had kept her from leaving during their obnoxiously flirty display; she already felt queasy enough without their cuteness. She didn't wait for a response before she backed out of the room.
"So what's up Becs?" Chloe asked, sitting down on the sofa and tucking her legs under herself. "You sounded kind of serious on the phone."
"Yeah..." She bit her lip nervously and sat next to Chloe on the couch. She wasn't sure how the teacher would react to what she had to tell her, she just really hoped it wouldn't put her off. "So last night at the club, it seems someone got a picture of us together in the DJ booth and this morning there are a few articles online featuring the pictures."
- [x] She fished her phone out of her pocket and handed it to Chloe. The website had a picture of the two of them standing very close in the booth and another of them looking at each other with beaming smiles. The headline underneath read, 'DJ BMitch cosies up to mysterious redhead at The Bunker!'. Chloe quickly skimmed the article that speculated over whether or not DJ BMitch had a new girlfriend. Beca looked on intently as Chloe read, waiting for a reaction. She really hated this part of her job; the invasive media poking around her private life. It was one thing being snapped when at an event or during publicity but she hated the fact that there were people out there who went out of their way to get pictures of her personal life.
"I'm really sorry Chlo! I should have considered the fact that something like this could happen," she apologised, she really hoped this didn't put the teacher off being her girlfriend.
"Beca it's fine!" Chloe assured her, reaching across to place her hand on Beca's knee and giving a light squeeze which seemed to calm the other girl down. "I just...I guess I don't see what had you all worked up this morning, I mean I'm sure this isn't the first time something like this has happened to you."
"Well no it's not," Beca shook her head. "But I'm used to it, it's a shitty side effect of my job so I've had to get used to it. But you...I guess I wasn't sure how you would react. I was kind of worried it would freak you out. It's stupid but I never really thought about this affecting you. I guess this is something we probably should have talked about before I asked you to be my girlfriend but when I'm with you I just feel like Beca Mitchell I kind of forget about all this other stuff."
"You are entirely too sweet Beca," Chloe smiled and leaned over to kiss the DJ. The fact that she had been so concerned for Chloe warmed the redhead's heart.
"Yeah well don't tell anyone, I have a rep to keep," Beca muttered as a faint blush coloured her cheeks. Chloe chuckled.
"Look I knew about you going into this," Chloe reasoned. "I knew there was a chance that something like this could happen and yeah it's not something I'm used to or something I want particularly but it doesn't change the way I feel about you. I still want to be your girlfriend."
"Girlfriend does sound better than redheaded mystery woman," Beca chuckled, a wave of relief washing over her. It seemed that Chloe Beale just got more amazing everyday. "I do have to ask though, how you want to handle this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well I've never hidden who I am from the media, meaning I'm out so if we're going to be pictured together they're going to ask questions about our relationship," Beca explained. "But I also don't flaunt my private life either so I just want to know what you're comfortable with? Are you ok if we're out as a couple or is that an issue for you? I don't want to do anything you're not alright with."
"It's fine Beca," Chloe assured her. "Everyone who knows me knows I'm bi. I don't want to hide from anyone either. Besides I think it kind of showed last night that I want people to know you're off limits...that you're mine."
A shiver ran down Beca's spine as the memory of Chloe's possessiveness from the night before filled her mind. She had to take a sip of her coffee to ease her suddenly dry throat. "Alright then! Good. I'm so glad you're not bothered by this."
"Going to take a bit more than this to scare me off Becs!" Chloe replied playfully, lightening the mood. "So is that all the serious talk over now?"
"Yes," Beca nodded and took a swig of her coffee. She felt like a weight had been lifted from her, the conversation had gone far better than she expected.
"Great! You can come out now Aubrey!" She called across the room. The blonde sheepishly made her way out of her room, acting like she hadn't just been eavesdropping on their conversation.
"Everything ok?" She asked.
"Everything is great," Chloe smiled brightly and Aubrey relaxed into the armchair facing the couple. She knew Chloe would fill her in when Beca left.
"So how are you guys feeling today?" Beca asked playfully, she was feeling much more cheerful after her conversation with Chloe.
"Ugh," was Aubrey's only reply, wrapping her lips around the takeaway coffee cup and guzzling more of the sweet caffeine.
"That bad huh?" Beca chuckled. She felt ever so slightly smug about being the only one who wasn't hungover; she rarely had more than a few beers while she was working. "Did you at least have fun?"
"I had a great night!" Chloe said, beaming so broadly at Beca that Aubrey could help but roll her eyes. "What about you Bree? Worth the pain this morning?"
"Yeah it was a pretty good night," she nodded, poorly containing a smile of her own as she remembered flirting with Stacie the night before.
"Would that have anything to do with a certain leggy, brunette best friend of mine?" Beca asked teasingly. Aubrey's cheeks coloured almost instantly and Chloe giggled. "Relax Aubrey I'm saving all the good teasing for Stacie! Speaking of, I should probably get going. I promised Hailey we could go to the park today."
"That's so sweet!" Chloe cooed. She just couldn't believe how incredibly cute Beca was with her goddaughter. It made her like her even more. Beca simply shrugged off the compliment as usual.
"Anyway I hope today isn't too rough for you guys," she chuckled as she stood from her seat.
"Thanks," Aubrey grumbled. She was inclined to blame Beca and her bottomless bar tab for how she was feeling today. "And thanks for the coffee as well."
"No problem," Beca nodded.
"I'll walk you out!" Chloe said quickly standing to accompany Beca to the door.
The couple lingered in the doorway reluctant to say goodbye after such a short visit.
"Thanks," Chloe said softly, biting her bottom lip. "It means a lot that you came round to talk. I really appreciate it."
"No problem," Beca shrugged. "Thank you for not freaking out or changing your mind about me."
"I don't see that happening anytime soon," the teacher laughed.
"Good," Beca murmured quietly.
"Anyway, enjoy the park with Hailey."
"I'm sure I will," she nodded, smiling at the thought of her adorable goddaughter. "So if you're feeling up to it later would you maybe like to come to my place and have pizza?"
Chloe grinned at the nervousness in Beca's voice. "I'd love to."
"Great!" Beca gave a beaming smile and leaned into kiss Chloe on the cheek. "I'll text you later then."
"Bye," Chloe said softly, unable to stop smiling as she closed the door and returned to Aubrey in the living room.
When Beca pulled into Stacie's drive she could see Hailey sitting in the window watching for her. The 6 year old's face lit up when she saw Beca's car approach. The music producer never got tired of seeing that, it amazed her that there was someone in the world who got that excited to see her. She waved enthusiastically at her goddaughter as she walked up the path to the door and on into the house.
"Aunt Beca!" Hailey screeched as she ran to wrap her arms around her aunt's legs.
"Hey kiddo!" Beca chuckled, patting her on the back a couple of times. "How are you this morning?"
"I'm good," she smiled up at Beca with her dark brown eyes shining happily. "I'm excited to go to the park!"
"Me too!"
"Hey Becs!" Stacie greeted her when she entered the living room looking only mildly worse for wear after the night before. The appraising look she was giving her told the producer that her friend had seen the articles involving her and Chloe.
"Morning' Stace, how are you feeling today?" She smirked. Stacie gave a pained eye roll in response; she had a slight hangover but nothing too bad, she'd learned long ago that hangovers and kids don't mix and no matter how much she enjoyed going out and having fun, Hailey always came first.
"We all set for the park?" The astrophysicist asked in an excited tone that got her daughter all riled up. "Go get your jacket Hails and then we can leave."
"Yes Mommy!" She chirped as she hurried off to her room, she was excited to be spending the day with her two favourite grown ups.
"Want to give me a hand to grab this stuff?" Stacie smiled at Beca.
"Sure."
A backpack and a picnic basket were sitting ready on the kitchen table next to Stacie's car keys and her jacket hung over the chair. It was no surprise to Beca, Stacie had always been the more organised of the pair and becoming a mother had heightened that particular skill. Beca grabbed the handle of the picnic basket and was surprised by the weight of it.
"What's in here?" She asked as she struggled with the weight.
"Food." Stacie shrugged.
"How did you do all this this morning? You were pretty drunk last night, I would have thought you'd be a little hungover this morning."
"I am," Stacie half groaned, she had a mild headache and as yet the painkillers she took when she got up hadn't kicked in. "I did all this yesterday before I went out!"
"Oh," Beca nodded. "That's why you're the brains of this operation."
"Ready!" Hailey announced, bouncing off the last step of the stairs.
The three girls headed out and piled into Stacie's car to make the short trip to the park. The journey was filled with Beca and Hailey singing along loudly to Hailey's car playlist while Stacie winced at the noise. When they arrived Hailey was just a blur of brown hair and her yellow jacket as she raced to join her friends in the play area. Stacie and Beca picked a nearby patch of grass and threw down the picnic blanket. They sat down where they could watch as Hailey swung from the monkey bars before running towards the slide with her friends.
"I have to say you're remarkably calm and collected today considering those pictures that got published," Stacie mused, taking in her friend's relaxed and happy demeanour. "I would have thought you'd be going nuts and gunning for blood."
Beca chuckled at just how well Stacie knew her.
"Well I kind of was this morning when I saw them," she explained. "But Chloe took it way better than I expected so I don't really have anything give stressed about."
"Oh you already talked to her about it?" Stacie asked, sounding surprised.
"Yeah I called at her apartment this morning before I came to your house."
"What'd she say?" Stacie asked, she assumed the teacher's reaction was a good one because of Beca's lack of stress. She knew how Beca felt about media attention, especially when it focused on her personal life, and she knew she would be worried about how Chloe would handle it.
"Honestly she was surprised I was so worked up about it," Beca laughed. "She said she knew this kind of thing could happen and that she was ok with it."
"Wow two important emotion related conversations in two days; I'm impressed!" Stacie teased. Beca wasn't one for talking about things involving her feelings, Chloe must really be something special if Beca was opening up to her already.
"Shut up!" Beca huffed, giving Stacie a playful shove.
"I'm just teasing you," Stacie rolled her eyes. "I think it's great. You clearly really like her. She seems to really like you! So I'm glad she's ok with the whole press thing."
"Thanks," Beca mumbled bashfully. "Speaking of liking people...you looked pretty cosy with Aubrey last night! Did you get her number?"
"I did!" Stacie grinned.
"Of course you did!" Beca chuckled, it had been a stupid question really although Stacie hadn't really been dating over the last few years. At first it was because she was focusing on her career, then it had been because she was focusing on Hailey and hadn't wanted anything serious. Beca was glad she had taken an interest in Aubrey, Stacie deserved someone who could make her happy and Aubrey seemed like a pretty good candidate. "She seems really nice."
"Yeah," Stacie sighed happily as she thought about the blonde. She had really enjoyed getting to know Aubrey the night before. They had even exchanged a few text messages already. It made her feel quite giddy; it had been a long time since someone had given her these feelings. "She is nice. And funny. And, well you've seen her, she's gorgeous."
"Not exactly my type but she is pretty," Beca agreed with a shrug. Stacie rolled her eyes and scoffed.
"Well of course she's not your type! I think at this point the whole world knows you have a thing for mysterious redheads," she laughed.
"Funny Conrad, real funny!"
"You know what is kind of funny though?" She asked, ignoring the glare Beca was giving her.
"What?"
"Us ending up dating best friends," she chuckled. "I mean what are the chances?"
"I know it is pretty unbelievable," Beca had to agree that it was a rather nice coincidence. "Also you're dating Aubrey now?"
"Well no, not yet but I'm hopeful there will be a date in the near future," she admitted with a grin.
"If that happens I will be more than happy to look after Hailey for you while you date!" Beca smiled.
"I thought you might be," Stacie smiled at her best friend. "And I'm sure Chloe will be more than happy to help you."
"Yeah," Beca chuckled softly. "So you're cool with me telling Hailey I'm dating her teacher?"
"Of course," Stacie nodded, as though Beca shouldn't have needed to ask the question. "I have a feeling Chloe is going to be around for a while; it'd be dumb not to tell her, she's a pretty smart kid it probably wouldn't take her long to figure it out."
"You're right, she is very clever," Beca agreed, silently hoping she was right about Chloe as well. "How do you think she'll take it? Think it'll weird her out?"
"I highly doubt it," Stacie shrugged. Hailey might only be 6 but she was quite mature for her age. "She loves Miss Beale so she'll probably be thrilled about hanging out with her outside school."
"That's good, I wouldn't want to do anything to make her uncomfortable," Beca said seriously.
"I know!" Stacie smiled. It really touched her heart to see how much Beca loved her daughter. This was her best friend who had never so much as held a baby before Stacie fell pregnant and she had stepped up instead of shying away like many others would have. "You wanna grab her so we can eat?"
After Beca left Chloe and Aubrey lounged around the living room finishing their coffee and the pastries Beca had left. Chloe filled her in on the conversation she and Beca had shared.
"I'm glad she was so concerned about how you would feel about media attention, shows she really cares about you," Aubrey said, she was pleased by how well Beca had been treating Chloe so far, especially considering how hard her best friend was falling for the DJ. "How do you feel about it?"
"It's weird," Chloe shrugged. "I mean last week I was just Chloe Beale, first grade teacher and now my picture is in the internet and I'm dating a world famous music producer; it's strange. But I really like Beca. She's so sweet and she's thoughtful and funny and so hot it drives me crazy. She makes me happy. If being with her means occasionally having my picture taken by some paparazzi then I can deal with that."
"I'm glad she makes you happy," Aubrey smiled.
"Me too," Chloe grinned. "What about you? Seemed like you were getting pretty close to Stacie last night, what's going on there?"
"She is...something!" Aubrey couldn't contain the smile on her face. "She's really smart and funny and obviously beautiful."
"She's totally your type then," Chloe's eyes twinkled excitedly as she listened to her friend talk. She could tell Aubrey was interested in the brunette.
"Definitely!" The blonde nodded. "We talked a lot last night and we have a lot in common. I don't know I just, I feel like there might be something there."
"Did you guys talk about Hailey?" Chloe asked, never one to beat around the bush or avoid an awkward conversation.
"We did. She was very upfront about how if things were to continue she would have to consider Hailey in everything, which I knew but I appreciated how straightforward she was," Aubrey explained. She knew from the very beginning that Stacie had a child and it didn't put her off in anyway.
"How do you feel about that?"
"Honestly? It doesn't bother me. I mean, I knew she had a daughter but that doesn't change the way I feel about her. I would be more than happy to accommodate Hailey if this does go anywhere. If she's anything like her mother I'm sure she's great!" Aubrey was smiling when she talked about Stacie.
"Hailey is great!" Chloe smiled. She was happy to see Aubrey express interest in someone; it had been ages since the blonde had so much as looked at someone with interest. "I hope it goes well with you two. Are you going to ask her out?"
"I was thinking about it," she admitted shyly.
"You should!" Chloe grinned enthusiastically. "Maybe we could eventually all go on a double date!"
"Maybe," Aubrey chuckled. "How weird is it that we have ended up dating best friends?"
"I know, isn't it awesome!" Chloe smiled excitedly, her mind swimming with double date ideas. She loved spending time with Beca and she liked what she knew of Stacie, especially after spending some time with her outside of school, so if this worked out the way she hoped it would it would be amazing.
