It was January freaking first and already Beca was having a crisis of gigantic proportions. After kissing Jesse goodbye and cheerfully waving the boys down the street, she made her way into the living room and just sat.

Jesse wanted to marry her.

(She didn't even know how to process that news.)

With shaking fingers, Beca dialled Chloe's number, pacing up and down.

"Hey Beca!" Chloe said brightly, and hearing the redhead's voice was enough to break her.

"Chlo", she cried, not even able to get out her full name.

"What's wrong?" she said immediately. "Is everything okay?"

Chloe heard nothing for a solid three minutes, just sobbing and hiccupping and Beca trying to breathe through her tears. And whatever Chloe said to her just produced more tears.

"Beca, tell me, so I can fix it!" Chloe pleaded. "What happened?"

Beca hiccupped, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm coming over, okay? I'm going to come over and you can tell me what happened". Chloe shoved her feet into her shoes, before grabbing her car keys. "Please, Bec, you're scaring me".

"Jesse-"

"What did he do?"

Somewhere in between dialling Chloe's number and busting into tears, she had realised how stupid it was. "Nothing!"

"He must have done something, to get you this upset!" Chloe protested, sticking the keys into the ignition of her car. "Did he say something? What happened?"

"It- its-"

"It's what?"

"I'm going to get hurt again", she said finally, flopping down onto the couch and making no movement to wipe away the tears that were still streaming down her face.

"What?" Chloe said incredulously (was she serious? Did she not see the way that he looked at her? And knowing Beca, she probably didn't). "Beca, why would you even think that?"

Beca shook her head, hiccupping.

"You know what? Don't move, I'm coming over. I'll be there in a few minutes".

And true to her word, Chloe Beale barged into her house (leaving Tom with no more than a 'going out, got to get some girl stuff'- knowing full well that with that explanation, the boy was not going to follow her) only a few minutes later. Beca had curled herself up on the couch, fiddling absently with Natalie's favourite pink blanket, her chest heaving.

"Oh, Beca!"

Beca melted into Chloe's arms, feeling ridiculous for crying and even more ridiculous for letting her friend see her cry. Chloe was quiet for a moment, holding Beca tight and rubbing her back gently. She dropped a kiss to the top of the brunette's head, holding her the same way she held Courtney when the little girl fell over and scraped her knees. Beca looked so young and vulnerable, and she was going to put Jesse's head through a brick wall for hurting her best friend.

"What happened?" she said finally.

"It's stupid".

"Beca, you're crying". Chloe reached for the tissue box, bringing it closer to them and dabbing at Beca's face. "You're crying as hard as you did when Luke left, I want you to tell me what's wrong".

"It's-"

"Don't tell me it's stupid, I don't care how stupid it is", she said, gently but firmly.

"Jesse- Jesse-" she took a shuddering breath, trying to even out her breathing. She paused to collect herself, before blurting out the news that had gotten her unexplainably upset.

"Jesse said he wanted to marry me".

Chloe eyed her friend warily, while her heart leapt inside (because she was going to get married! Beca Mitchell was going to get married!). "Why's that so bad?" she questioned tactfully. When Luke had proposed, Beca had been over the moon ecstatic, a far cry from the quiet, sarcastic girl she had met in college.

"You don't get it, Chloe", she sniffled. "In my life, marriage has never ended happily. Look at my parents, they fought every day from my sixth birthday to their divorce, and it ended so badly they put states between them. They only get along because of my kids. Luke proposed to me and look what happened. He fucking cheated, and left me to raise the three kids that he created, that was not a one woman job!" her sadness was slowly slipping away and turning into anger. "Chloe, what happens if Jesse and I turn out that way? I don't want the girls to get hurt again. They're older now- Rosie especially! And this time it's not gonna hurt just the girls, it's gonna hurt the boys too! Courtney and Brody- I can't separate them!"

"It's not just the girls; you're scared of getting hurt". Chloe hugged her a little tighter, resting her chin on the top of her head. "Bec, I know that you've had bad experiences in the past, but-"

"But what, Chloe?" her blue eyes, red rimmed and teary, looked up into Chloe's. "The only serious relationship I've ever had ended with me throwing- I fucking threw- my engagement ring across the room and he ripped out my heart and stomped on it! He up and left his three children, and did you know that Rosie still hopes that he's going to come back one day? She was four, and he broke a four year old's heart! That is not okay! That will never be okay! He up and left and never fucking bothers with his kids!"

(She might have cried, night after night, about the situation Luke had left her in. But now it just made her angry, because he had cheated on her and abandoned three beautiful girls.)

"Beca". Chloe took Beca's face in her hands, cupping her cheeks. "Sweetie, listen to me for just a minute. Listen to me. I know you were hurt. We saw you fall apart. We know how hard that was. But Beca, Jesse is not Luke. You and Jesse are not your parents".

Beca just stared at her, waiting for the rest of Chloe's speech.

"That night you first met Jesse, you had a huge grin on your face. I had never seen you that happy, ever. Even when you were with Luke. You had a sparkle in your eyes, and you looked genuinely happy. When we met Jesse, you were trying to act all mean and dark towards us, but you fought a smile. I know you said you didn't want to, Beca, but you wanted us to meet Jesse, because you really liked him. He loves you, Beca, so so much. I can see it. This relationship is not going to turn out like your parents, and it's not going to turn out like you and Luke".

"How do you know?" Beca whispered, wanting to slap herself for sounding so vulnerable.

"Because Luke never looked at you the way Jesse does". Chloe hugged Beca tight, rubbing her back. "If you asked him, he'd climb up and steal the freaking moon for you- and those girls!"

"Rosie waited on the front steps for Luke to come home for two weeks, before accepting the fact that he wasn't coming back", Beca said, scrubbing at her face with the back of her hand. "Now Courtney sits on the steps waiting for Jesse to come over".

"He's not going to hurt you", Chloe repeated. "He's not going to hurt you, he's not going to hurt Rosie, he's not going to hurt Natalie and he's not going to hurt Courtney. He adores those girls, and he adores you".

"But-"her chest heaved, and Chloe felt her heart ache for the girl.

"But what?"

"But everything I've ever loved", she choked out, "left me".

Her dad had left. Luke had left. Anyone she had ever put her whole heart into trusting had walked out on her, and she knew her heart couldn't take it if it happened again.

"That's not true", Chloe said simply, kissing the top of her head.

Beca looked at her, wondering what the redhead was going to say to her.

"I've never left you". Chloe shrugged and Beca let out a shaky breath, hugging her friend even tighter.

"Talk to Jesse", Chloe advised, and Beca nodded wordlessly, hugging her friend again.