Kailor: Welcome back! Who's ready for some Bechloe cuddles?
Also, thank you all so much for all your comments. I can't tell you how much every one means to me. They really keep me posting. Thank you again!
The second test seems to go much faster and has the same result. Pregnant. Actually pregnant. Chloe feels a little like she's just taken the drop on a rollercoaster–a combination of thrilled, terrified, and exhilarated. Kind of tired. All that adrenaline, she figures.
And she's not the only one. As soon as they make it back to the living room, Beca flops down onto her back on the couch. "God, I need a nap now. All that suspense about killed me."
"Awww, poor Beca. She's had such a tough day," Chloe coos as she perches on the arm of the couch.
Beca ignores her patronizing. She pulls her knees up to her chest to fight her laces undone and drops her boots beside the coffee table. As soon as her feet are bare, she closes her eyes and goes completely limp, as if she's already sunken into sleep. Or dropped dead suddenly. To be fair, Beca sleeps like she's dead, so it's always hard to tell.
Chloe laughs, reaching down to tickle her ankle. "You're ridiculously adorable."
"Thanks, babe." Her eyes remain closed, but her lips turn up in a smirk.
"I need to call Aubrey." Chloe turns, looking for her phone, and spots it sitting on the kitchen counter near Beca's beanie. She pushes off the couch to grab it, pulling up her contacts as she returns. Beca still hasn't moved and there's just enough space by her feet for Chloe to sit. But she has a sudden thought.
Tom used to give her weird looks whenever she got too affectionate with her friends. He mentioned it once, that it was strange to him. Chloe had sort of understood, because she is an overly cuddly person and has very little personal space boundaries with her close friends. Not everyone is like her, she knows. So, being who she is, Chloe had respected his discomfort. But it had been one of the things that told her they weren't a long-term thing. Because she couldn't spend forever with someone who didn't at least understand that aspect of her. While their fun, simple relationship lasted though, she had respectfully dialed back how handsy she got with her friends. Especially Beca, who is pretty much top of Chloe's list of favorite people to be far too close to.
But there is no more Tom and Beca is right there. And it's been a while since she could get as cuddly with Beca as she wanted to. A few months, at least, since their last snuggle. So she dismisses the open space at the end of the couch in favor of straddling Beca's hips instead.
"Oof," she grunts, eyes fluttering open. "Dude."
"Free real estate, Becs." Chloe winks and wiggles to settle more comfortably.
Beca grumbles and yanks her hand free from where it's caught between her own hip and Chloe's thigh, but that's all the fight she puts up. By the time Chloe's hit "call" and looked back up, Beca's eyes are shut again and her hands are resting lightly on Chloe's knees. Chloe smiles at the sight. She must actually be tired.
"Chloe!" Aubrey answers almost immediately.
"Hi, Chloe!" Stacie's voice calls from the background.
"We just got home," Aubrey says. "I was about to call you."
"Were you? Why?"
"We have some news." There's a rustle of what Chloe thinks is grocery bags and what might be Stacie humming. "But you first. What's got you so excited?"
Chloe blinks. "How do you know I'm excited? I said three words!"
"I can hear you grinning from here. What happened? Did Beca finally get rid of her death trap?"
Chloe laughs. She's never hated Beca's bike like Aubrey does. She grew up around her father's motorcycle, after all. His baby, he still calls it. The last vestiges of his youth, her mother calls it when he isn't listening, but she always says it with a fond smile. Mamma loves that bike as much as he does.
And Beca's bike fits with that effortlessly cool thing she has going on. Some of Chloe's favorite afternoons have been spent on the back of it, arms wrapped around Beca's waist and wind whipping through her clothes. Also, Beca would probably chop off both of her arms with a butter knife before she parted with it. Chloe suspects she'll be ninety years old and still driving it around somehow. Maybe with training wheels. "No. She still has her bike."
Without opening her eyes, Beca lifts her arm to give the phone the middle finger. Her hand drops back to Chloe's knee with a smack.
Chloe giggles. "She says hi, by the way."
"Oh, I'm sure she does." Aubrey's dry response tells her that she doesn't believe that for a second. "If it's not the killing machine, then what is it?"
It's been exactly eight minutes since she found out and she's been ferociously debating how to do this. Just say it? Ask Aubrey to fly up and wait to tell her when she arrives? Try to get her to guess?
In the moment, though, she doesn't do any of those. "Well, first, I have a question. But I just realized I should have Facetimed you, because I miss your face. Let's switch."
There's more rustling and shuffling. She pictures Aubrey moving the phone to her other ear so she can hold it with her shoulder while she puts away groceries. The image is easily vivid after all their years as roommates in college. "Okay…" she says, voice carefully neutral. "Give me a second and I'll call you right back."
They hang up and Chloe passes the time by tickling Beca and giggling when she swats blindly at her. The phone rings and she quickly answers, grinning as Aubrey's face appears. "Ah! You look so pretty! Stacie too!"
Aubrey rolls her eyes, but she's smiling. Her hair is pulled back into a messy bun and Stacie is far in the background, digging through grocery bags. "You look pretty! Where's Beca?"
Chloe lifts her phone over her head and twists so Aubrey can see her grumpy seat.
"She looks dead."
"You wish, Posen," Beca grumbles.
"Yes, well, sadly it's not my birthday coming up." Aubrey smirks and Chloe laughs, turning the phone back on herself. "But you're keeping me waiting, Chlo. What's your question?"
Chloe pulls her lip between her teeth, thinking. "Do you remember when we were in third grade? And I had that hamster?"
"The one that bit James Wilson's ear during your birthday party, yes." Aubrey laughs. "Sir Fluff, right?"
"Right!" Chloe bounces a little in her excitement and Beca groans in protest. "He was a sweetheart, barring that one, unfortunate instance. And you were such a good godmother to him."
Aubrey hums in agreement. "Are you trying to tell me you got another hamster?"
"No. I'm telling you that you did such a good job of being a godmother before that I'm asking you to do it again."
"To a hamster or–" Aubrey suddenly cuts off and she's so still that Chloe thinks the call may have frozen. "Wait." Her voice shakes, a little higher pitched. "Chloe. Are you–"
"Yep!"
"Oh my GOD!" Aubrey shrieks, the phone shaking around until she's nothing but a blur, and Chloe squeals happily with her. How could she have ever been worried? This is amazing. "Chloe!" Aubrey screeches. "You're pregnant?"
"She's what!" Stacie cries and suddenly her face is right in the screen too, cheek to cheek with Aubrey. "You're what!"
"I am!" Chloe says, giggling. She catches Beca's lips pulling up, the excitement getting to her too.
"Oh my. I'm– Holy shit. Wait, does Beca know? Nevermind, of course she knows. You're sitting on her. Oh god, my brain just short-circuited." Aubrey's grin is wide and she's bouncing in and out of frame a little. Chloe assumes Stacie has grabbed the phone.
"Does Tom know?" Stacie asks, sounding a little breathless.
Chloe sighs, her mood dipping a little. "Yeah, I told him this morning. Or I tried to. He made a very hasty exit." She gasps. "Oh, that's the other news. I'm single!"
"Oh." Aubrey hesitates, obviously unsure how she's supposed to respond. She and Stacie exchange a quick glance. "I'm sorry, Chlo."
"Eh," Chloe shrugs one shoulder. Her free hand lands on Beca's stomach and she strokes her thumb idly over one of the buttons of her shirt. "I'm not as upset as I thought I'd be. We all knew it wasn't a forever thing and I thought I'd be a little sad if we didn't stay friends. But he wasn't who I thought he was, so I don't feel like I actually lost anything." She thinks about it for a second. "I'm more angry than hurt. But I'm kind of over that too already. You know how I am."
"Good," Aubrey says with a sharp nod. Case closed. "Then let's never speak of him again."
Chloe chuckles, but she's pretty sure Aubrey's serious. She bites her lip, remembering the other thing she wanted to say. "I wanted to call you sooner, but I knew you'd try to fly up here right away and I wanted to take the test first, so you didn't waste your money."
"Chloe. It's never a waste of my money to come and see you." Aubrey says it slowly, making sure every word is clear and serious. It makes Chloe's chest feel tight, a little too full. "Which we will talk about in two seconds. I have to do something and Stacie has to finish putting these groceries up. I just remembered we have ice cream." The phone tilts and Chloe's left looking at the wooden ceiling of Aubrey and Stacie's living room.
She spends the next minute picking lightly at the last button of Beca's shirt, unbuttoning it and rebuttoning it with one hand. Beca doesn't stir, content to be Chloe's fidget tool.
"Okay." Aubrey returns and she's grinning even wider than before somehow. "I have to finish up some stuff here, but I can catch this flight Saturday morning. Is that okay for you?"
"Bree," Chloe says, touched. She'd known, of course, that Aubrey would come. But she didn't expect her so soon. "You don't have to come right away. You're already–"
"Don't bother." Aubrey's no-nonsense business voice has always been hard to argue with. There's a rapid tapping of laptop keys. "I'm already buying my ticket and I only asked to be polite. Tell Beca she'll be picking me up at six Saturday morning." A beat. "And no, she cannot pick me up on her murdercycle. Stacie might be coming too."
"Yeah, I just texted my boss. If I can move some things around, I'll fly up with Aubrey. If not, I'll be there a couple days after her!"
"Guys…" Chloe's voice cracks on the word and she just really wishes they were already here so she could hug them both. "I can pick you up."
"No, you can't. You need your rest. You're growing my godchild." Aubrey's tone softens on the last word. "Tell her."
"Hey," Chloe says, pressing down a little with the hand still resting on Beca's stomach. Beca doesn't move, so Chloe curls her fingers in, scratching lightly. It's not like she can't hear the whole conversation, but Chloe wouldn't put it past her to have actually drifted off.
Beca opens one eye. "Hell no. Tell them to Uber. Or walk." But her grumpy refusal is paired with a barely concealed smirk, so Chloe knows she's just being an ass.
"She'll be there, Bree."
"Good." Then Aubrey adds with a grin, "And then next week you two can go furniture shopping with us for our new Barden home."
Everything stops. She's certain the whole world has frozen somehow. Her insides light up, sunrise bright. "What? Bree!" she squeals. Aubrey joins her and Beca's face scrunches. "You're moving back?"
"We are! They're opening a new location out there and they've asked me to run it! We'll be living right on the edge of town!"
"YES!" Chloe is so full of excitement and happiness that she can't help but lunge forward and press a sloppy kiss to Beca's cheek, since Aubrey's is still too far away. She yelps, but Chloe's already sat back up to grin at her phone and Aubrey's shining face. She doesn't know how she ever doubted today could be anything but amazing.
"I still have some things to do here, so I'll be flying back and forth a few times over the next couple of months, but Stacie's transfer has already been approved and, as soon as she wraps up this latest project, she'll be there." Stacie appears on screen once again, throwing up a quick peace sign before disappearing. "So we'll be living there soon enough. Which means you better not tell anybody else until I can be there to see their faces!" Aubrey's eyes soften, the way they only ever do when she's looking at Chloe. "Hey. I love you. Congratulations."
Her whole body warms at how gentle Aubrey's voice has become. "I love you too. Thanks."
Stacie pops back on. "Beca, I'll see you soon, my love! I'm texting you right now!" She doesn't wait for a response, just blows a kiss to Chloe as the call ends.
She leans to drop her phone on the coffee table, taking a deep breath to stave off the tears that always come when she feels overwhelmingly loved. Which is exactly how she's felt ever since Beca showed up and now the feeling doubles with Aubrey and Stacie's imminent arrival. She really has the best friends anyone could ask for.
Speaking of which. Chloe sits back, shamelessly taking advantage of Beca's closed eyes to stare at her.
Her chest rises and falls slowly, like she's already asleep though she was talking just a second ago. One of her sleeves has slipped back far enough that Chloe can see the bottom of the headphones inked onto her wrist and the first few buttons of her flannel shirt are undone, leaving a stretch of pale neck and collarbone bared. The orbital piercing in her ear has flipped back, nearly touching her industrial.
Chloe tilts her head, eyeing the sharp curve of Beca's jaw and the dark eyeliner that she knows was carefully applied to look like she hadn't tried. She smiles, because she loves moments like this, where she can appreciate how pretty Beca is without weirding her out.
"Quit staring at me, nerd."
So much for that. Beca's eyes still haven't opened, but her lips are pursed like she's annoyed. Chloe knows she isn't really. Beca's long been used to Chloe being Chloe.
She giggles and shifts, sliding her right leg out straight and flopping onto her side in the–admittedly tiny–space between Beca and the back of the couch. She tucks herself under Beca's arm and leaves her other leg thrown over her hips. Her hand lands right back where it was and she wraps her fingers in the soft fabric of Beca's shirt. The few months since they've been this close suddenly seem so, so long and she decides then and there that she'll never go that long again. Beca's too comfy.
"Are we napping now?" Beca mumbles, sounding hopeful.
"Yeah, yeah." She tucks her nose into Beca's neck, breathing deeply as she nuzzles closer.
For a day that started out with vomiting, a break up, and a mild panic attack, it's ending pretty spectacularly. Beca's warm and soft against her. Aubrey and Stacie are moving home. And Chloe thinks she might be a pretty good mom. Part of her mind is racing, wanting to figure out how she's going to tell her parents and the rest of their friends, trying to make a list of all the ways her life is about to change. The other, stronger part of her is so sleepy and just wants to live in this moment, bask in it for a little while. Just her and Beca. And a baby.
But before she naps, there's one more thing. She tugs lightly at Beca's shirt. "Bec."
A growl pushes out of her, rumbling into Chloe's chest where it's pressed to Beca's side. "I will knock you out, Beale, I swear." She shifts, her hand sweeping up Chloe's back to rest between her shoulder blades. Chloe hums happily at the touch. "What do you want now?"
"Nothing. I just wanted to say thanks. For being here." She tilts her head to press a kiss just beneath Beca's jawline.
Beca doesn't say anything, but her hand sweeps down Chloe's spine and back up once.
She smiles. That's enough of an answer.