A/N: Have a nice week!
That evening Beca was finally alone with Chloe. She wanted to get away earlier, but Fat Amy dragged her along to celebrate their victory. She had persuaded the other girls to join her for drinks. Luckily Aubrey forced the girls to break it up early, pointing out that they still had one more week of practice and one more game to go. Beca hadn't seen much of Chloe after the game, so she was glad when she finally got away from Amy and could start looking for her.
She found her sitting in her own room, which was weird considering they always hung out at Chloe's. She walked towards her girlfriend and sat down next to her. Normally Chloe would initiate physical contact, but she didn't this time, so Beca wrapped her in a hug. Chloe finally acknowledged her and leaned into her.
"Babe, please tell me what happened with you and Aubrey. I've never seen you angry at her."
Chloe took a big breath before starting her story. "Jesse came up to us and asked us if it was okay to play some music, you know, like the guys always do. I thought it was a great idea, but Dawson wanted to ask Aubrey as well, since she is in charge of our warming up. She immediately shot down the idea and wouldn't even listen to me. I snapped at her and told her that she shouldn't be so stuck up. Then she said I didn't have a say in this because I was not even playing."
Beca looked at her in shock. Aubrey knew that Chloe had been down about not being able to play and this was a low blow. Of course both co-captains were under immense pressure the last few weeks, but that was still no excuse.
"Chlo, I'm sure she didn't mean it, just like you didn't mean what you said. If you talk to her and apologize I'm sure everything will be fine."
Chloe nodded. "I know, but I'm too tired for that now, is it okay if I crash here?"
Beca now noticed the overnight bag on the floor. She wanted to ask Chloe if sleeping together in her tiny bed would hurt her shoulder, but imagined that this wasn't what Chloe wanted to hear right now, so she just told her it was fine and kissed her on her cheek.
The next morning Beca woke up to a strange sound. She felt the body behind her move before reaching over her to grab something of the night stand. She realized it must have been Chloe's alarm. She turned around to face the sleepy redhead. Chloe gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before climbing out of bed.
"Where are you going?" Beca asked. "It's only…" At this point she realized she had no idea how late it was, so she grabbed her own phone and looked at the time. "Eight. Come back to bed!"
Chloe looked at her with a frustrated look. "You forgot, didn't you?"
Beca wrecked her mind to find out what exactly she could have forgotten. Then she saw the notification on her phone.
"Of course I didn't forget, babe," she said while getting up herself. She had promised to come along to Chloe's doctor's appointment. Today was the day the doctor decided whether Chloe was allowed to play next weekend. Chloe didn't want her to come, because she had a lecture in the morning, but this time Beca was the more stubborn one of the two.
When they were finally both fully dressed there was a knock on the door. Chloe had already opened it. Before the door had completely opened the person on the other side started talking.
"Beca, thank god you're home. Have you seen Chloe? She didn't come home and she has her doctor's appointment and, oh…"
When she saw who had opened the door she stopped talking and released a sigh of relief. Then she marched forward and wrapped her arms around her best friend.
"I'm so sorry about what I said. I really shouldn't have let the stress get to me like that. It was stupid, I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have called you stuck up. I missed you," Chloe responded.
"Guys, as much as I like seeing you all happy again, we do have an appointment to get to," Beca interrupted.
Aubrey let go of Chloe, who started looking for her bag. She found the item in question and gathered her keys and phone. Beca and Aubrey waited patiently until she told them that she was ready to go.
They arrived at the hospital in time, but had to wait for a while, since the doctor had an emergency. The longer they waited, the more impatient Chloe got. She first started tapping her finger, then her feet joined, and soon she was tapping a full-blown percussion and was humming along. Beca found it endearing, but they got some scowls from the other people in the waiting room.
Just when Beca put her hand on Chloe's to stop the tapping, a doctor walked into the room.
"Miss Beale?" he called out. Chloe, Beca and Aubrey got up and walked towards him. He shook all of their hands and introduced himself. The girls followed him into the examination room where he asked Chloe to take off her top. After she did so he carefully grabbed her arm and started moving it in different positions while his other hand probed her shoulder. While doing so he seemed to talk to himself a bit and hummed from time to time.
After he released Chloe's arm and told her to get dressed again, he turned towards his computer and started typing something. He asked Chloe some questions about how it the shoulder had been feeling in different situations and typed up the answers. He soon turned back to the girls who were waiting in anticipation.
"Okay, so I think it is coming along nicely, the healing is looking really good and you are nearly at full function. That being said, I still feel some strain in certain directions, so I would say that you should try and keep about a week more rest to be sure that it is fully healed."
Chloe's face fell and Beca was sure that she was close to crying. She was shocked herself, she really hadn't expected this. Chloe didn't seem to be in pain the last week and she had been out running and training in the gym to be sure that she would be top fit when she returned to the field. It all seemed to be for nothing now.
"Couldn't the strain you feel have another source, like general tension or stress or maybe a prior injury that made her shoulder less mobile to begin with?" Aubrey suddenly asked.
The doctor looked confused, he was obviously not used to such an open questioning of his advice.
"Yes, it could have other sources, but given her medical history and age I don't think it is very likely. Besides, an extra week of rest doesn't hurt."
"Chloe is one of the best college field hockey players in the country. She has to play the championship this weekend, so an extra week of rest does hurt. Now, would this change your advice?" Aubrey responded.
The doctor was taken aback by the sharpness in the request. He turned around towards the computer. After reading something he turned back towards the girls.
"Uhm, I guess we could work something out. I could advise on some exercises to train your shoulder and if you try to avoid big hits to the shoulder everything should be fine."
Suddenly Chloe sprang up from the place she was sitting and hugged the doctor. As soon as she realized what she had done, she released him and walked over to hug her best friend.
The girls cheered as Chloe stepped onto the field. She was allowed to join practice, but still avoided most of the exercises with defenders. She wasn't about to risk injuring her shoulder anew. Having been out of the game for a few weeks had left her skills a little rusty, but Beca knew it was just a matter of a few practices to get Chloe back to her old level.
Chloe wasn't so sure about that. The first practice she had mostly been happy that she was playing at all, but as the week progressed she got more frustrated with herself. She just didn't seem to manage to move her stick as fast as she did before, and the more frustrated she got, the worse it got.
She tried to talk to Beca and Aubrey about it, but both girls said the same thing. It would be fine. She would have to be a bit more patient. This was to be expected. She shouldn't worry too much about it. But she did, it was the only thing on her mind. Nothing was more important to her than this.
After the last practice she asked Beca, Aubrey and Dawson to stay behind. All three of them had a look of worry in their eyes as they sat in the dugout. Chloe was pacing in front of them, waiting for the last girl to walk off the field.
"You probably guessed why I asked to talk to you. I have not been playing well the last week." She saw Beca wanted to interrupt her, but a look of warning shut her up. "I know the girls we're up against, I played some of them when I was training with the national team. They're not only incredibly talented hockey players, but they are also really strong. They like to play a physical game. I just don't think I'm up for that, I haven't had the best preparation, and I fear playing this game will do more harm than good. Both for myself and the team."
"Wait, are you saying that you don't want to play the championship game?" Beca asked in disbelief.
"I want to, I just can't."
Chloe looked down at the floor. She didn't know what she expected them to say. She knew she could handle another "but it will be fine", so before anyone could say anything, she turned around and walked away.
Dawson told Beca and Aubrey to stay put and caught up with Chloe. Beca turned to Aubrey.
"I have an idea."