Chapter 7: Method Acting

Not two days later, the day was particularly rough for Chloe. She was stressed because she kept ruining takes, being in a wrong angle or having her shirt bunch up differently from the other takes. It was a really tense part of the movie too, with a lot of people on set. It wasn't just her getting tired at this stage of the process. She could see Jason getting more and more frustrated at her and some of the rest of the cast. Even breaking for lunch depended on getting to a point where a different lighting a few hours later wouldn't mess things up. Finally, he called the break for lunch.

Chloe stood frozen, trying to keep her emotions in. Beca rushed over to her.

"Hey. Babe, are you okay?" Beca softly asked her.

Chloe shifted her eyes to Beca's and opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She blinked rapidly.

"Here, come here." Beca pulled her over to a couch that was away from the set. Everyone else was closing down equipment and the big space was emptying out as everyone left for lunch. Beca sat Chloe on the couch before she sat down next to her, looking concerned.

"Cuddle with me?" Beca looked at Chloe, aware of the very real tension that she could still feel around them, unsure whether it was a good idea. "Please, Beca... I need- I need you to hold me." Chloe said, her voice cracking.

Beca immediately pulled Chloe into her arms, holding her while she cried. Beca closed her eyes, relished feeling Chloe in her arms, where she belonged. She kept her mind off thinking about the body that was pressed into hers. She fought against the pull to kiss Chloe or touch her in a way that was not intended for comfort. So she instead focused on holding Chloe, comforting her, making her feel better.

After a few minutes Chloe stopped crying, embracing the feeling she got from cuddling with Beca again. Feeling the warm arms wrapped around her. After a few moments she spoke up.

"I talked to Aubrey yesterday."

"Yeah?"

"She said some really encouraging things. She reminded me how I felt when I was growing up." Chloe thought back to her life before Barden, and before Beca. How confusing it was when she felt things for girls that she thought she wasn't supposed to. How lonely it felt to think she was the only one. How confused in was in wanting to be herself, to be normal and feminine, and still like girls, but not being able to relate to the characters on Tv who also liked girls. How afraid she was that she would never like someone who loved her back. How much she wished to have people to look up to. Beca knew all these things. They spent uncountable hours over the years talking about things like these. But it took her best friend (besides Beca), someone who actually knew her during those years, to remember that. "She helped me to see that... what we are doing isn't really about us at all. She reminded me about all the people that need to see this. To see themselves in us, and relate to us. And not just for them, but for the people around them. To show this is okay, we aren't monsters, or confused people messing up our lives. That normal girls can like girls. If we want our society to change, this it how it needs to be done. We can make things different."

Beca looked down at her wife, wanting to cry herself as she saw the same passion for this project in her eyes that she herself felt.

"Beca? I'm really glad we're going this." Beca had to strain her ears slightly so she caught the last part, whispered softly.

"Me too." Beca whispered into her hair, holding her tighter than ever. She was so glad to know she was on the same page as her wife.

"It's hard though. I'm tired and stressed out."

"I know baby."

"I really need you Beca. I really need you to hold me." Chloe and Beca had been together for what seemed like forever. Even at the beginning, before they were ever together she felt the need to connect to Beca physically, and not just sexually. But now... Beca now realized that Chloe needed to be held by her just like she needed food or water. It was an important element in their marriage. It was as important to connect like that as it was to connect through communication, or through sex. If not, more important.

In the days that followed, it became an important part of the day. The minute they saw each other on set, one would pull the other over to the couch in the corner and just hold each other. Whether it was Beca holding Chloe, or the other way around, changed day to day. It became a common thing in the morning to find the pair curled up, occupying the couch, lost in their own little world. Lost in each other. Sometimes they talked, but a lot of the time they just cuddled each other in silence. The pull was always there, and many times they wanted desperately to start something, but the bustle of the set around them was usually enough of a check.

That night however, as Chloe fell asleep, she looked at the laptop she had propped up and open beside her in bed, FaceTime with Beca still running. And as she drifted off, she didn't shed even one tear, the sound of her wife's steady breathing lulling her into a deep sleep.

A/N: Short, sweet & fluffy one for you. :)

Am I the only one enjoying the Sendrick references tho?