DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. All right to Creators of Pitch Perfect.
Chapter 5
Feeling Content
"Our couch folds out into a bed, so if you're comfortable with that, you and Jude can sleep there together." Aubrey explained as she got her keys from her purse and managed to open the door, placing the backpack and her purse on the entry table.
"Of course that works. Thanks again for all of this."
"Anytime." Chloe said with a shrug, handing Jude over to Beca and getting the bed pulled out. The brunette shuffled on her feet, feeling the need to get out of the sight of both women so she could cry in privacy and check her shoulders since she was certain Jude had scratched her a little too hard.
"I can take Jude for you so you can change for bed. Here, I'll grab you something of mine." Chloe said as Aubrey tossed some pillows and a large blanket onto the bed. The two went into Chloe's room and Beca couldn't contain the small smile that broke onto her face as she passed the threshold. This was the first time she was ever in Chloe's room and she couldn't say she was shocked considering how this room screamed Chloe and all her gloriousness.
"I like your room." Beca managed to say, looking around as she swallowed her pained tears.
"Thanks. I like your half of your dorm, only I do have to say that you should've considered an apartment dorm like 'Bree and I. I'm surprised you haven't murdered Kimmy-Jin yet." Both laughed at the thought while Chloe pulled out some draw string shorts and a tanktop. "Here, bathroom is the door closest to the exit. I'll take Jude and get him into the bed." Chloe easily lifted the child from his mother and whispered sweet nothings into his ear as the three left the room and went their separate ways.
Beca shut the door and snapped the lock in place before stripping of her sweater, skinny jeans, socks, and top. She stood at the mirror and looked at the nail racks along her neck and shoulders. Jude had gotten a good chunk of her when he was pulled away from her. His screams kept replaying in her mind and Beca finally released a steady stream of tears as she tugged the shorts on, drawing the strings tighter so then they stayed in place and then slipped the top on. The nail marks were in plain sight, especially with the excessive dried blood.
The brunette scooped up her top and gave a sigh of dismay, noticing the blood stains already dried into the material.
"Fuck." She mumbled, dropping the shirt and reaching for her sweater. The sweater was considerably cleaner allowing her to use it as coverage so then the others couldn't see the scratches. She splashed some water on her face and drank some water from the tap before grabbing the rest of her clothes and walking out of the bathroom.
"Here, extra toothbrushes, and towels." Aubrey handed over double of everything, keeping in mind that little Jude still needed to have his necessities.
"Thanks. I'll get you new toothbrushes later."
"Don't be silly. They're just toothbrushes. No use in having to replace them." The blonde waved off the offer and pointed behind her to the kitchen. "I'm going to get ready for bed but you can use the kitchen sink to brush your teeth."
"Alright." Beca and Aubrey both gave each other smiles before heading to their designated locations. Chloe was standing at the kitchen island with a now awake Jude munching on an Oreo.
"Mommy, Chlo-Chlo has oreos!" The boy expressed with joy, wiggling his uneaten one happily in the air.
"Did you say thank you to Chlo-Chlo for sharing the oreos?" Beca asked, knowing very well it would be out of character if her son didn't, seeing as he's always been well mannered.
"Yup." He nodded making both women laugh.
"Hey, Judicorn. Can I show you a little trick?" Chloe questions taking an Oreo from the bag and presenting it to the boy. Jude gave a nod of agreement before Chloe continued. Beca watched the interaction between the two the whole time. "What's your favourite part of the cookie?" Chloe asked, Jude responding by saying the icing was the best part. "Well if you take both sides and give them a little twist," The woman began to demonstrate before her cookie separated and she had one plain cookie and one iced cookie. "They come apart and you can eat your favourite part." She concluded, laughing when the boy's eyes widened.
"Mommy, Chlo-Chlo broke her cookie!" The boy cried, taking his second cookie and doing what she did, only this time breaking his plain half into three parts by accident.
"What do I do with the yucky part?" Jude questioned after smashing his face with the iced half.
"Well Aubrey and I usually collect them in a container and make oreo milkshakes with them." Beca had to give it to Chloe, that was one great idea.
"You mean to tell me that you have a container of half-eaten oreos?" Beca smirked, gapping her mouth open when she watched Chloe proudly pull out a container full of the food they were conversing about.
"Never doubt a Beale. We always follow through with our ideas." The red-head bumped hips with her friend before allowing Jude to dump his cookie in and put away the almost full box.
"Hey bud, let's wash your hands and brush those teeth." Beca said, lifting him off the counter and placing him by the sink. "Open wide." She said, a toothbrush with paste already on it prepared to clean the three-year olds monstrosity of a mouth. As this was being done, Beca didn't notice the way her sweater slipped from her shoulder revealing the scratches to an on looking Chloe.
The red-head stayed quiet about it, deciding it'd be best to bring it up when Jude wasn't around.
"Don't swallow, spit it out." Beca instructed, rinsing the toothbrush while Jude leant over to tap to spit out the goop from his mouth. "Good job. Alright rinse those chocolaty hands and then we'll get you tucked into bed." Beca quickly nuzzled her nose against Jude's making him giggle as he clapped his hands over her cheeks and squished her jaw playfully. Chloe couldn't help her smile as she watched the natural way Beca was when it came to being a mother.
The small boy washed away all the sticky oreo residue and latched his legs around his mother before she hoisted him into an embrace and followed Chloe back into the living room.
"Say goodnight to Bree and Chlo-Chlo, Bud." Beca instructed, urging him to offer both ladies a hug and kiss on the cheek. He knew very well this was the proper way to say goodnight to someone, so he raised his arms to Aubrey and wrapped her in a hug, his legs still wrapped around Beca, whispered his goodnight and gave her a kiss on the cheek. The same was done with Chloe and before they knew it Jude was nuzzled on the sofa bed with his teddy bear wrapped in his right arm and his left thumb tucked into his mouth.
"How long has he sucked his thumb for?" Aubrey asks, sitting at the foot of the bed while Beca stroked back his curls and rubbed down his forehead with her thumb.
"It started just a few weeks after first semester. My dad says he may suffer from separation anxiety, even blamed it on me for not socializing him enough when he was much younger."
"Like daycare?" Chloe asked, twirling a spoon in her tea and sitting cross-legged next to her blonde friend.
"Jude was with me the whole time. I was home schooled after… you know… and my dad couldn't transfer me to another high school, so I studied from home with a bit of Shelia's help. Jude was with me 24/7."
"Wow. Most moms would've pulled their hair out if they had to be around their kid that long." Chloe said with a smirk.
"I know my mom would." Aubrey mumbled, receiving sympathetic glances from both women before the attention was turned back to Beca.
"I had those moments of course. But Jude just doesn't seem like most kids. There's something in everything that he does that makes him special." They all had their eyes on the little boy, admiring his curled up form.
"So after you left," Aubrey encouraged, wanting to know more about this little boy's physiological well being. It seemed low from her part, but she had a paper to write and with Beca's permission she wanted to evaluate and give a review on Jude after the trauma of being separated from a parent.
"First week he cried or slept the entire time I was gone. Crying became sobbing. Sobbing became panic attacks. And soon I was ready to drop out of University after the first month. But then Jude started to get into a routine and discovered that sucking his thumb was a good distraction from crying, but the pain of leaving him never disappeared." Now seemed like a good time to switch the topic. Beca was desperate for a new question, and Chloe had one. Probably not the one that Beca wanted to hear, but it was a question non-the less.
"How did you get scratched?" The red-head asked, making Aubrey cock and eyebrow and Beca look to her lap in attempt to find an excuse.
"What scratch?" She whispered, absolutely unable to come up with something on the spot.
"This." Chloe demanded, pushing Beca's sweater off one shoulder, emitting a gasp from Aubrey.
"I'm grabbing the first aid kit."
"You don't-" Beca began, reaching to grab Aubrey.
"Let her go." Chloe said, grasping her attention and giving her friend a look as if to say You still haven't answered my question.
"My dad grabbed Jude before I could leave and Jude didn't want to let go. It doesn't hurt that bad. Honest." The brunette hurried to say, sighing as Chloe tugged the sweater off entirely to reveal the other set of scratches.
"He sure got a good chunk of you." Chloe remarked, wincing at the sight and quickly looking into Beca's eyes. "Aubrey and I are your friends," Both scoffed at the thought of Aubrey being considered a friend of Beca's, but Chloe continued anyways. "Like it or not, we're going to want to help. We're sort of deep in your business now, so there is no getting rid of us."
"I don't know what to do." Beca admitted, feeling tears well in her eyes as she glanced at Jude.
"We'll help you." Chloe promised, placing a hand over Beca's light fist and wrapping her fingers into a secure hold. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all was Beca's first thought. It was nice to feel content about this for once.
I'm so sorry these updates are so late. School started and I'm deep in homework and rowing. No worries, I'll make a goal to get one chapter out every week.
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-Valentina