"So, what happens now?" Chloe murmured as she combed her fingers through the brunette's wavy locks again. The DJ had her head in the older girl's lap, stretched out horizontally on the couch as they watched TV.
"What do you mean?" Beca asked, after a brief spell of silence. She turned her head to look up at Chloe.
"I mean...do we go back to the way we were?" The redhead was hesitant, not wanting to assume anything. Her hands stilled in Beca's hair.
"I...can we even do that?" The brunette's voice was soft with sadness.
"Of course not. But we can fix what was broken and put on a new coat of paint to make it even better than it was before." The ginger murmured quietly, smiling gently at Beca.
"You want to do that? Even after..." The brunette's voice trailed off as she gestured to her arms.
"Especially after that. It breaks my heart that you thought that you needed to hurt yourself." Chloe sniffled, wiping away a tear. "I don't blame you for leaving. I was pushing a little too hard. I really wanted to go forward in the relationship, and it never occurred to me that we didn't spend enough time in the present to progress into the future." The words hung in the air as the brunette thought them over. After what seemed like a million years, Beca sat up and spoke.
"I love you."
"You what?"
"I love you." The brunette said, simply.
"What brought this on?" Chloe breathed, her heart beating unsteadily in her chest.
"You made me realize that I have the capacity to be loved. Instead of saying you can't love me, I realized that you can. I don't know what you see in me, but I'm glad you see it." Beca's words disputed the error she had made in leaving. She spoke of the loneliness and the hurt in her time away.
"I love you." Chloe whispered, grazing her lips over the brunette's.
"I love you too."