A/N Hey, here's the next chapter, I hope it's okay. Thank you for the reviews, favs and follows – they honestly mean so much to me and really help me keep writing :)
This chapter's song is 'Wires' by Athlete. Enjoy.
In the same week, Beca experienced the best and the worst nights of her life. As she sat in the hospital, on what was undeniably the worst night of her life, all she could think about was how different things had been at the same time that previous night. This time yesterday, she had been kissing Chloe under the covers, thinking that nothing could ruin their perfect, long-awaited union. Now, just 24 hours later, Beca was sat in the waiting room of the hospital, not even sure if Chloe was going to survive until morning.
Beca had been on the way home from work when she had received a call from Amy; normally Beca would never answer the phone when she was driving, but she noticed how Amy had called her 5 times in the last half-an-hour and so Beca pulled over to the side of the rode and answered.
"Hey Amy, is everything okay?" Beca asked, turning the radio down.
"Are you at the apartment?" Came Amy's voice, she sounded flustered and slightly out of breath.
Beca frowned. "No, why? Is everything okay?"
"You need to come straight to the hospital." Amy said, her voice breaking slightly.
"What? Why?" Beca chocked out, praying with all her might that it didn't have anything to do with a certain redhead.
"Chloe has pneumonia." Amy muttered. "When I came home this evening, I walked into the flat to find Chloe passed out on the floor. She had a cut on her head that was bleeding everywhere and she was hardly breathing. I called an ambulance and the paramedics came and took her to the hospital. I had to clean up the apartment, but then I went straight to the hospital. When I got there, the doctors told me that they had run some tests and found that Chloe has pneumonia. She must have collapsed at home and hit her head when she did. She's had stitches, but now she's in the ICU. I'm not allowed to visit her since I'm not family, but I'm pretty sure they'll let you into the room."
Even now, sat in the hospital, Beca was speechless. All she could think about was how this was all her fault. She should have taken Chloe to the doctors as soon as she noticed Chloe's cough but Beca been too busy thinking about her job, and her trenchant love for the redhead that she'd overlooked it. Chloe was in hospital because of Beca's careless attitude towards her health and Beca would never forgive herself.
Beca sat in the uncomfortable hospital chair for hours, biting her nails and jigging her leg nervously before a nurse finally came up to her and told her what was going on.
"She's stable." The nurse smiled, beckoning for Beca to stand up and leading the brunette through the hospital to Chloe's room. "She's on a lot of medication and painkillers, and she probably won't wake up for at least another day, but she'll be okay. This infection has taken a great toll on her body – she may have to be in hospital for a number of weeks. The pneumonia has affected Chloe worse than it affects most people her age because of her cancer, and the cut on her forehead was also more damaging than it should have been because of her blood's inability to clot. But Chloe is strong, and she will make it through. You're welcome to stay with her for a bit," the nurse said, pointing down the corridor to Chloe's room, "but I suggest that you go home and get a good night's sleep; Chloe won't be awake for a while, and you need to rest as well. Here's her room, press the yellow button by her bed if you need anything." The nurse finished before turning and continuing on with her nursing duties.
Beca took a deep breath, thanking the nurse and turning the handle to Chloe's room, not ready for what she was saw upon entering the room.
Chloe lay unconscious on the bed, with an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose. She had a couple of IVs going into her arms and there was a heart monitor displaying Chloe's weary heartbeat to the right of her bed. Chloe's pale face looked gaunt under the bright hospital lights, and the monotonous beeps of various machines surrounding Chloe made Beca want to be sick. There was a small line of stitches poking out from Chloe's hairline, and a bruise was already forming around the cut. Chloe's shorter, thinner hair was spread out on the pillows supporting her head and Beca could see tubes poking out of Chloe's stomach. Beca had no idea what those tubes where for but they also made her want to throw up. Just seeing Chloe like this – so vulnerable and weak, unconscious in a hospital bed – made Beca want to crawl out of her skin.
Somehow, Beca found the strength to walk across the room and sit in the chair on the other side of Chloe's bed. Beca took Chloe's limp hand in hers and drew small circles on the back of it with her thumb. Silent tears streamed down Beca's face as she tried to take in what was happening; Chloe had leukaemia; Chloe had pneumonia; Chloe was in hospital; it was all Beca's fault.
Beca let the tears stream from her eyes, not bothering to wipe away the mascara that was inevitably running down her cheeks. After an hour of sitting in silence, slowly coming to grips with what had happened, Beca called Aubrey.
Whilst explaining to Aubrey where she was and what was going on, Beca completely broke down. Sobs racked through her body and tears blinded her as she revealed to Aubrey how Chloe was in intensive care, a severe infection attacking her already weak lungs. Beca looked at the unresponsive, motionless form of Chloe as she spoke to Aubrey and utterly fell apart. The blonde tried her best to console the distraught brunette, but nothing she said could offer any comfort. Eventually, Aubrey gave up, she put the phone down and immediately jumped in her car, throwing a few clothes in an overnight bag and driving straight down to the city to be with Beca and Chloe, unable to bare the distance between her and her seriously ill friend.
A nurse came in late in the night, before Aubrey got there, and gave Beca a sympathetic smile as she checked the unconscious Chloe over. The nurse told Beca that it would be best she go home, because there was no chance Chloe was going to wake up for a while and Beca wasn't doing herself any good staying here. Beca completely ignored the nurse, silently vowing that she wasn't leaving Chloe's side until she saw the light shining in the redhead's beautiful crystal eyes again.
When Aubrey finally got to the hospital, it was well past 3 in the morning, and the hospital was eerily quiet. A soft spoken, gentle doctor told Aubrey Chloe's ward and room number and offered her a sad smile as Aubrey thanked her and went to find her friends.
When Aubrey eventually arrived at Chloe's room, her heart broke at what she found inside: Beca was slumped back in a small blue chair, asleep, but still holding's Chloe's hand in her own. Aubrey could hardly bare to looked at Chloe, it hurt too much to see her best friend in such a state. Aubrey was distressed beyond words to see her two friends like this – one passed out in a chair, tear streaks staining her cheeks and the other hooked up to machines and drips, a screen displaying her struggling heartbeat.
The elastic holding the oxygen mask to Chloe's face was twisted around her ears, and so Aubrey leant down and gently straightened out the blue material, her finger's brushing Chloe's smooth cheek as she did so.
Aubrey looked at her two sleeping friends and thought about what Amy had told her over text a couple of hours ago: Beca and Chloe were together. Aubrey and Amy had been texting about how they were worried about Beca and the responsibility she had taken over Chloe - how she was always there to see the redhead go through chemo and there to see Chloe get weaker as the chemicals did little to help her. They were talking about doing more to help Beca when Amy had admitted how she had overheard Beca and Chloe finally, finally confessing their love for each other. The big blonde revealed how Beca had been sleeping in Chloe's bed every night for weeks, and how Amy had been in her room when she had heard Beca storm into the apartment and spill about how she loved Chloe. Amy said how she had never felt more pleased when Chloe revealed that she loved Beca too, and Aubrey had also been over the moon to hear that the angst between Beca and Chloe was over, and that they had finally both admitted their feelings to each other. Aubrey had thought that nothing could dampen her mood after that news until she had gotten that phone call from Beca telling her that Chloe was in hospital.
Looking at Beca and Chloe now, even in their vulnerable states, Aubrey couldn't help but think about her perfect they were for each other. Their hands fitted so snugly together, and even now, Chloe's head was tilted slightly towards Beca. The chair the brunette was sat in was drawn up as close as it could be to Chloe's bed, as if Beca had to be as close to Chloe as possible.
It broke Aubrey's heart to think that Beca and Chloe might not get the happy ending they deserved; the blonde could hardly bare to imagine what it would do to Beca if Chloe didn't make it through this illness.
Aubrey took a seat on a small sofa that was tucked into the corner of Chloe's room and watched the sleeping couple until she began to drift off herself. As Aubrey fell asleep, all could think about was how Beca and Chloe were the least deserving people of the potentially tragic fate that had been laid out before them.
'You got wires, going in; you got wires, coming out of your skin.
You got tears, making tracks; I got tears, that are scared of the facts…'