"What are you even doing here?"

"Oh, right. Well, Chloe called me today and-" Aubrey starts but she's immediately cut off by Beca's hand in her face.

"Wait. Hold that thought." Beca states as she gets up out of her bed. "I have shit to do today and I really don't want to talk about this right now, or I'll probably stay unmotivated forever."

Aubrey looks uncomfortably around Beca's room as she walks into her closet, trying her hardest to stop her from mentioning the redhead and how she could motivate Beca in more than one way. Maybe it's because she can see how much Beca is hurting, and she doesn't want to make it worse. Beca finally emerges from the closet fully clothed, staring at Aubrey.

"So you're going to help me get started and then we can talk about whatever Chloe had to say, okay?" Beca raises her eyebrow expectantly at Aubrey who just nods and agrees. "Great. Let's go, these lights aren't going to hang themselves."

"Lights?"

Beca sighs loudly as they walk into her garage and open the door. She searches for a minute before she grabs a box of Christmas lights and turns around, smiling at her best friend.

"Christmas lights? Really, Beca?" Aubrey asks in disbelief. "We live in California. Why the fuck do you need to hang Christmas lights?"

"Because my mom is visiting this year and 'Beca, your house is so boring. There's no holiday spirit! Where are the lights? The tree? You don't live in a cave!'" Beca says in her best impression of her mom.

Aubrey bursts out laughing, holding her stomach to stop it from cramping up. Beca just shakes her head and rolls her eyes.

"Grab that ladder." Beca nods her head towards the ladder that was leaning against the garage wall. Aubrey complies and they walk outside to set up.

Ten minutes later and Beca's on the roof, placing the gutter clips to hold the strand of lights and listening to Aubrey go on about how she really needs to tell Beca about the phone call. Because...

"Beca, can we please talk about this now before I forget why I came over in the first place?"

"Ugh, okay, fine." Beca groans as she carefully shimmies down the roof to the next foot of the gutter. "What did she say?"

"She said she's sorry that she left last night. She was caught off guard and didn't mean to react the way she did." Aubrey shrugs as Beca points to a small ziploc baggie on the ground.

"Toss that up." Beca demands and Aubrey does so. "So then what?"

Aubrey bites her lower lip as she watches Beca move across the roof of her house with ease before looking around the front yard.

"Then she said she wanted to talk to you, but figured you'd hate her for leaving."

"I was disappointed, but I mean... anyone would be after trying that hard to tell someone how you feel and them leaving." Beca sighs as she points to the next thing she needed Aubrey to throw up. "I just... I needed to get it out. I needed her to know."

"She really loves you, you know." Aubrey states as she grabs the spindle of lights out of the box.

Beca stops working and looks down at Aubrey. "Did she actually tell you that, or are you just speculating?"

Aubrey steps closer to the house and tosses up the lights. Beca reaches out to catch the lights, misjudging the distance she needed to lean forward. Her foot slips on a shingle and she starts to plunge off the roof headfirst.

"Shit Aubrey, move!" Beca screams as she puts her hands out. Aubrey steps out of the way lightning quick and Beca crashes into the ground, two loud cracks ringing in her ears.

Aubrey's instantly by her side, helping Beca roll onto her back. "Oh my god! Are you okay?"

"Fuck!" Beca hisses out in pain with her face scrunching up. "No, I'm not okay. We need to go to the hospital."

"I took a Lyft here! Where are your keys?" Aubrey asks frantically as Beca sits up, hovering over her wrists in agony.

"Where they always are, Posen! Just get them and my phone and let's go!"

Chloe and Tom arrive at the hospital within 30 minutes of Aubrey's phone call. As soon as they find Aubrey, they're briefed on Beca's condition. She suffered two completely shattered wrists and had just gotten out of surgery. They were allowed to see her, but warned that she will most likely be unconscious until the anesthesia wears off.

The trio make their way into the room Beca was assigned to and Chloe is instantly by her side.

"How did this happen?" Chloe asks as she looks at Aubrey.

"She fell off her roof." Aubrey lowers her head and tries her best not to let details of the conversation she had with Beca slip out while Tom was present.

Chloe can feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she leans forward and wraps her arm around Beca's chest. She lays her head on the pillow next to Beca, completely unaware of her own behavior... which wasn't going unnoticed by Tom.

"Why would you go and do this to yourself?" Chloe whispers out of earshot of the other two people in the room. "You damn near scared me."

She stares at Beca, who, for obvious reasons, was unresponsive. She lifts her head off of the pillow and gently places a kiss on Beca's cheek, her hand stroking back strands of Beca's hair.

Tom's watching from the distance and feels his hand roll into a fist, gripping tightly on nothing as the scene in front of him unfolds. Now, he knew Chloe and Beca hung out, but he also knew that Chloe told him they weren't THAT close. He can feel the air leaving his nostrils as he breathes heavily, trying not to let the anger overpower him.

Was this why Chloe was being distant with him? Because she was getting close with Beca? Had Chloe been unfaithful?

And then it clicks. Chloe's responses to every time he wanted to have sex, her sarcastic remarks and defying him when he asked her not to do something. It all made sense to him now, and he needs to leave before he does something he regrets. But he doesn't. He just sits there and stares at his girlfriend, his girlfriend who was practically attached to another person's side, giving them the love and affection she had stopped giving him.

"Are you fucking serious!?" Tom raises his voice and Chloe is so startled, that she jumps up into a standing position. Aubrey slowly backs away and Tom holds his hand out at her, telling her to stop. "Did you know about this?"

"About what?" Aubrey asks, extremely scared of Tom's behavior.

"About my girlfriend sleeping with Beca!?"

"What the fuck? Where did you get that from?" Chloe asks as she leaves Beca's bedside and walks over to her boyfriend.

"I can SEE it, Chloe. For gods sake, she's unconscious and you're latched onto her like you're her girlfriend!" Tom yells at her.

"She's my best friend!" Chloe defends, trying to grab a hold of Tom's hand, but he pushes her away.

"Don't fucking touch me." Tom spits in her direction. "It's so obvious now. God, I'm a fucking fool!"

Aubrey's standing in the corner, watching Chloe and Tom fight, trying her best to stay out of it.

"Tom, you're overreacting!" Chloe argues.

"OVERREACTING? You betrayed my trust, Chloe! She may be your best friend, but I'm not fucking blind." Tom screams as he yanks his arm away from Chloe again.

"Can we please talk about this? Let me explain!" Chloe pleads, but Tom's mind is already made up. He shakes his head and turns to leave, but Chloe takes one last chance to change his mind. She couldn't let this happen. She couldn't let her safety net walk away.

She grabs his arm one last time, feeling him tug it away before feeling a warm sting on her cheek from the other hand that came in contact with her face. "I told you to not fucking touch me!"

Chloe places her palm over the sensitive spot that Tom just slapped and the tears in her eyes stream down her face.

"You... you hit me." Chloe states blankly as Tom freaks out and rushes towards her.

"Chloe, I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me." Tom starts instantly apologizes, but this was unforgivable. "I'm sorry, babe."

"Just leave, Tom." Chloe says through gritted teeth. "Get out of here."

Beca lays in her bed and stares at the ceiling as she draws random patterns in the texture. It had been a couple of days since her surgery and she was feeling the cabin fever settle in. She felt completely useless. Both of her arms were in splints, and under the dressings were so many stitches that she was starting to feel like Frankenstein.

On top of that, she still hadn't heard from Chloe and by this point in time, she doesn't want to. Aubrey mentioned something about her visiting Beca in the hospital, but didn't stick around until Beca was conscious. She knew exactly what message she was trying to get across.

"Why, me?" Beca breathes out loud as the doorbell rings. She raises an eyebrow, wondering who it could be. She groans and struggles out of bed before walking towards the front door. From the frosted glass, she can see the faint outline of red hair and she gulps loudly.

"Desoto, door!" She commands and the Doberman happily trots up to the door and uses his paw to push down on the handle and open the latch. He then grabs the rope tied to the door handle and pulls it open. Beca holds her breath as she comes face to face with Chloe. "What are you doing here?"

"I just needed to make sure you're okay." Chloe says quietly, biting on her lower lip.

"I'm fine." Beca replies harshly.

"I- are you sure? You don't need help with anything?"

"I don't need YOUR help, Chloe. You've done enough." Beca narrows her eyes at the redhead who looked like Beca just kicked her puppy.

"Beca, I kno-"

"Save it, Chloe. I don't want to hear it." Beca cuts her off.

"Why are you acting like this? What's gotten into you?" Chloe presses and Beca feels like the last straw has been pulled.

"YOU REALLY DON'T KNOW? Are you seriously that dense?" Beca angrily yells. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT."

"My fault? I- I don't understand."

"YOU MADE ME FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU. YOU MADE ME FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU KNOWING YOU'D NEVER LEAVE TOM!" Beca screams. "I don't need your help!"

Beca watches as Chloe's eyes widen at her outburst before going to speak, but Beca wasn't ready to deal with it. Instead, she roughly pushes her left hand against the door, yelping out in pain as it slams in Chloe's face.

"BECA! PLEASE, OPEN THE DOOR!" She hears Chloe call out from her front porch. She slumps against the door, trying not to let the pain of accidentally using her broken wrist get to her. "Beca! Please!"

"GO AWAY!"

"NO!" Chloe stands her ground. "YOU ARE NOT SHUTTING ME OUT. NOT AFTER EVERYTHING I DID FOR YOU!"

Chloe holds her breath as she unlocks the front door to her apartment. She had left the hospital after about an hour of Beca still not waking up and knew she'd have to deal with Tom sooner or later.

She pushes the door open and slams it shut, walking into the bedroom to see Tom sitting on the edge of their bed with a bottle of whiskey in his hand.

"I thought we were happy." He says as he takes a swig out of the bottle.

"We were... but things changed and I- I was a coward." Chloe admits as she watches her boyfriend take another drink. "I'm sorry, Tom. I didn't mean for it to happen."

"Then what did you mean by it when you slept with Beca? How long has this been going on?" Tom asks, pressing Chloe for the answers she knew he deserved.

Chloe sighs loudly and walks over to Tom, grabbing the bottle out of his hand and taking a shot of it before handing it back. She was definitely going to need liquid courage if she was about to tell her boyfriend the truth. "It was at Aubrey's party, five months ago. We were drunk and stupid, and just decided to play spin the bottle. It was supposed to be a harmless game and Beca detested it to no end, but we made her play. I had to kiss her and I thought it would be easy enough, but... I felt something. And I was the one who pushed her into it. I was the one who let it go on. Everything that has happened, it's my fault. I love you, Tom, and I felt safe with you. But I think I'm in love with Beca."

"You think?"

Chloe shakes her head lightly, really thinking about how she felt about Beca. Her relationship with Tom had fallen apart the second that she kissed Beca. "No, I- I know I am..."

"I get it, Chloe. I really do. I've been distant and needy at the same time. I've been controlling and slightly abusive, and that's not right. I just... I was always scared of losing you and by doing what I thought would protect you, I pushed you away more. This is as much my fault." Tom replies honestly because he's right. His behavior had driven Chloe away into the arms of someone who didn't treat her like their property.

"I'm sorry." Chloe says softly. "I love you, Tom, but I think we should call it quits. You slapped me and I told myself I'd never stay with anyone who got aggressively physical with me, no matter the circumstance. I know that I hurt you, and I'm sorry. What I did was unforgivable and wrong. I can never forgive myself for cheating on you... But we're not happy anymore."

Tom nods and stands up, grabbing his suitcase. "I understand, Chloe. And I am truly, sorry for hitting you. It was out of line and wrong. But can I ask you something else?" Chloe nods. "If you weren't happy, why didn't you say anything?"

"Because nothing I said would have made me feel any differently towards Beca. I stayed because you were here for me for so long. I needed that security." Chloe admits, looking at the ground.

"You didn't want to lose your safety net." Tom answers for her. "I hope everything works out for you."

Tom leans forward and kisses Chloe on the top of her forehead before walking towards the door. "I'll be back for the rest of my stuff later."

Beca stays slumped against the door, the pain medications and yelling at Chloe draining her completely as she tries to focus on what Chloe is saying from behind her front door.

"Beca! Please! I am not leaving here until you open the door and let me explain." Chloe states confidently.

Beca clicks her tongue and Desoto perks up from his dog bed by the couch. Beca moves to the side and motions to the door, Desoto running across the hardwood floor and happily opening the door for her. Beca stays on the ground and mumbles something incoherent, waiting for Chloe to come in.

"Thank you, Desoto." Chloe says as she pets the Doberman who barks in response. Chloe then spots Beca on the floor and her heart drops. Pain was written all over Beca's face and Chloe knew (if the yelp that escaped Beca's lips was any indicator) that Beca was extremely hurt. Chloe kneels down and places her hands under Beca's arms and pulls her up. "Come on, Beca. You need to lie down."

"I told you..." Beca tries to protest as Chloe walks her to her bedroom, but Chloe is quick to shut her up.

"That you don't need my help, I get it. But you would have been sitting there for awhile, so I'm doing your back a favor." Chloe says as Beca plops down on her bed.

Beca crosses her cast-clad arms and huffs out. "I still don't have anything to say to you."

"Good, because I want you to listen to me." Chloe rolls her eyes at Beca's childish behavior. "I left Tom."

"Ooo...kaaaay."

"I could really use you not being sarcastic for once." Chloe states sternly.

"Not likely to happen."

Chloe groans loudly as sits down next to Beca on the bed. "You told me... well, kind of, that you didn't want to be my secret anymore, and you're not... I told Tom. And I'm sorry for making you feel like I'd always choose him over you, but I didn't. Look, Beca, you're right. I love Tom, but I'm not in love with him anymore. Because of you. I'm in love with you."

A/N #2: Cliffhangers are turning into my thing. Blame my roommate.

Anyway, there are 2 more chapters of this story remaining. I will probably be writing an epilogue, and then you guys can vote from there if you want a full blown sequel instead of a short story!