A/N - Here's a cheeky little update, to not let leave people hanging for too long! I know this chapter is a tad shorter than normal but I hope you like it, nonetheless. Side note, this was one of the first chapters I wrote so I've pretty much been waiting to publish this for over eighteen months!

I continue to thank my lovely beta, for all their help.

Have a great weekend everyone xx

.oOo. Chapter Forty Three .oOo.

A few minutes after returning to the pool house, Beca was busy cramming her clothes into her old duffel bag, not caring about ripping the fabrics as she mashed them against the zipper.

Between heavy sobs, she was desperately trying to work out her next move. Beca knew there was no way that she could stay there, at Chloe's after her epic rejection, but the brunette also had nowhere else to go that night. Beca choked up a little as she wished with everything that she had that she still had her car so she could escape.

"So stupid!" She bellowed into her fists as she ground them into her eyes, seeing tiny stars as her knuckles began to ache.

Beca ignored the knock on the locked pool house door as she moved to the bathroom, deciding that it might be an idea to message Amy in the morning to see if she could come and pick her up, deciding to walk to the rec centre, and see if there were any late night buses that she could ride until first light.

Knowing she didn't have much money to her name, Beca scrambled around in the bottom of her purse and her messenger bag, thanking her lucky stars when she managed to scrape together a couple of dollars in small change. The brunette knew she could camp out on the floor of the van for a few days while she sorted out somewhere to stay. Beca knew Amy wouldn't mind and would probably enjoy having her stay, the pair not having hung out together for a very long time. Beca didn't want to call Luke because Aubrey would then have to be involved and she didn't want him to have to think about picking sides.

Briefly wondering if she could go to the office and stay there, she remembered she wasn't able to pick up her new credentials for another couple of days.

"Fuck!" She yelled out suddenly as another reality hit her. "The kids!" What was she going to do about the girls?

As more of the tragedy of this situation sank in, Beca dropped to her knees on the bathroom floor. Desperate to block it all out, the distraught brunette pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes this time, still causing them to ache immediately.

Beca didn't understand; everyone had been pressuring her and egging her on. They had all said there was something special in her and Chloe's friendship and she'd believed them. She was so confused; Chloe had been saying the right things back to her, and Beca was usually a good judge of character. As she reached up to scoop what few bathroom products she owned into a plastic bag, she kicked herself for letting her guard down.

"As if anyone would care about you, let alone love you back!" She spat.

She patted her pockets as she stood, wondering where she'd put her mobile phone. She would need it to call Amy, and let her know what was going on. Finally remembering that she'd left her phone out on the patio, she congratulated herself on being an idiot. Needing it, Beca quickly crossed the room to open the door to go and retrieve it.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Chloe sitting cross legged just outside the door, her head in her hands. The redhead looked distraught, rocking gently with a baby monitor in her lap. She looked up as Beca faltered in the doorway.

"Bec-" Chloe immediately spoke, raising her hands in surrender.

"-No, please. Don't. Please Chloe, I can't-"

"-Please listen to me." Chloe said, struggling to her feet and almost juggling with the small monitor as she tried to stop it falling to the floor.

"I just need to get my phone. I'll be gone as soon as Amy can come to get me. And if she can't, I'll just be gone, okay?" Beca mumbled as she tried to push past Chloe.

"Where are you going?" Chloe asked, looking past Beca and seeing her packed bags by the door. "Beca?"

"I have to go," Beca stated as she pushed forward. "I can't stay here anymore."

"No, you don't understand," Chloe pleaded.

"I got the message Chloe; it's okay. It's me, not you. I'm sorry," Beca groaned, finally moving past the redhead.

"Beca, listen to me. Please!"

"I just need my phone, please," Beca motioned ahead, walking past the pool and up the steps. Chloe followed close behind, trying to grab at Beca's arm to stop her. Beca reached out to take her phone, pocketing it immediately. She could hardly breathe and just needed to get away from Chloe.

"Beca, please, just stop a second."

"I read it wrong. I'm in the wrong," Beca said blindly, making tracks back towards the steps.

"BECA!" Chloe yelled and Beca ducked as if Chloe had thrown something at her. The petite brunette was shocked at the sound that came from Chloe's mouth. She'd never heard the redhead raise her voice that loud before, despite any of the previous disagreements they'd had. In a slightly less forceful tone yet still with a raised voice, Chloe pleaded, "Listen to me for one second, will you!"

Beca paused at the top of the steps and Chloe took her chance while she could.

"Did you mean it?" Chloe asked, a desperation in her voice.

"That I'm moving out?" Beca clarified as her shoulders slumped. "Yeah, it will be easier for the both of us. I'm sorry-"

"-Did you mean the words from the song?" Chloe asked, cutting off Beca's apology. "Did you really write that for me?" There was hope in her voice.

"Yeah, I did," Beca said in a small voice, feeling as broken as she was before she even met Chloe.

"It was beautiful, really, really beautiful. I've never had anyone write me a song before," Chloe breathed out. "Please look at me."

Beca turned slowly and looked up to Chloe. She was clutching the baby monitor in her hand so tightly, Beca could see her knuckles had turned white.

"Was it about me?"

"Yeah."

"What made you write that?"

Beca sighed heavily. "You changed something in me the very first time I saw you. Way back in the past. I blamed it on the fact I'd just had a kid, and my emotions were all over the place. But since then, and especially in the last few months, I've been trying to think about what you mean to me now."

"Changed what?" Chloe asked as she risked taking a step toward Beca. She desperately wanted to reach out and touch her but was really glad Beca didn't take a step back when she came towards her.

"My feelings."

"Beca, I don't understand what-"

"-I know, it's dumb. I know." Beca interrupted. She was talking with her hands, and wished she could keep them still as she continued to ramble. "But I felt there was hope out there for someone like me. It gave me hope that I might find someone one day."

"It's not dumb. Nothing you say is EVER dumb."

"It made YOU run away," Beca bit back.

"I was overwhelmed. I'm sorry." Chloe said, popping the baby monitor down on the small table that still held their wine glasses and the discarded food tray.

"I didn't mean for you to get upset over it," Beca offered. "If I'd known how that would go, I'd have kept my mouth shut."

"I'm not upset," Chloe promised, her voice pleading. Beca raised her hands towards the back door, indicating towards the general direction in which Chloe had fled not more than twenty minutes beforehand. "No, I'm not, I swear to you. I just didn't think you really felt that way about me." The redhead paused, as if collecting herself. She took an audible deep breath, and released it slowly. Then with a slightly timid voice, Chloe said, "I hoped." Then in a slightly louder voice, she said, "I hoped with everything I had, and people around me were telling me I wasn't imagining it, but you are such a guarded, closed book, I never actually dreamed you'd do that-"

"-And now, I've gone and put my foot in it and-"

"-You haven't, I promise you," Chloe insisted.

"Hmm, I tell someone that I've got feelings for them and it all goes wrong. Not my finest move," Beca looked down at her hands, willing herself not to cry. "And now, I've got to leave, and the kids won't understand what's happened and we were just settling into a routine and I fucked it all up. So stupid!"

"Will you please stop and listen to what I'm trying to tell you?" Chloe huffed out.

"It's like-"

"-Beca, I feel the same way."

"-we're back to square one-"

"-Beca! I feel the same way!" Chloe raised her voice to cut the brunette off.

"Huh?" Beca drew back a little and managed to look directly at Chloe for the first time since she'd serenaded her.

"About you," the redhead said as she bit her lower lip. "I feel the same way," Chloe clarified, running her shaky hands through her hair. "Remember when I said that I may have forgotten some things about you from the day we met but never forgot the way you made me feel?"

"Yeah, kinda," Beca admitted out loud, but she knew exactly what Chloe had said.

"You awakened something in me that day. Something I didn't even know was dormant," Chloe explained, taking a tentative step towards Beca and noting that Beca didn't look like she was desperate to run away, despite her finding a loose piece of gravel suddenly interesting. "Remember how I said that I was okay with David leaving me for someone else. I think deep down I'd already left him. I knew he wasn't the man for me. He wasn't the person I was supposed to be with."

"Okay, I'm not following. We met four years ago and you were still with David at the beginning of this year."

Chloe nodded, "And I stayed with David way longer than I should have done because I needed him. And he needed me in a way, but we'd not been in love with each other for a very long time." With a sigh, Chloe admitted, "The accident changed us both. Him, with his temperament and me, well, I guess because I fell pretty hard for someone I met over the course of three days. I couldn't tell anyone about it, they'd say it was hormones playing up but Beca... I'd dream about you. I'd dream of the kind gestures you'd do, finding me a soft blanket to nurse the girls with, saving me the chair by the window because I'd do a double feed and would be sitting for longer, for bringing me a drink... for saving my life."

Chloe paused and ran her fingers through her hair.

"David changed after the accident but so did I. We both knew it. I was prepared to stay with him for the sake of the girls and then... we found out about the switch with Jessie and Alex, and then we met you again. And honestly Beca, that flood of feeling, deep down in my gut, came back to me the moment I saw you. I could have gone fifty years without seeing you again and I'd have known you from across the street."

Chloe took another step forward, she could reach out and touch Beca if she wanted to but held back.

"Why did you leave so suddenly then?" Beca asked, a little confused. "You said I was saying the right things."

"Remember when you got the job offer?" Chloe smiled at Beca, who nodded back. "Ever thought it was a big joke, and someone was about to jump out of the bushes and scream 'gotcha' and the universe had made it all up, because it was the one thing that you desperately wanted?"

"Yeah."

"Well..."

"I'm hardly a prankster Chloe," Beca moaned.

"No, but I couldn't really allow myself to believe what you were saying... singing. I've been in love with the idea of you for four years-"

"-Jesus!"

"I'm in love with you, Beca," Chloe admitted, watching as Beca's eyes, rapidly filling with tears, snapped up to meet hers. "And I have been for years. I just didn't know it until I saw you again. Nothing truly ever made sense until you came into my life. You disappeared just as quick, but fate brought us back together and for that I'm so very grateful. I know there was hurt along the way, and I'm going to continue to try to be better, to be more aware, less my unaware self. You're teaching me so much about humility and the simpleness of life... you've gotten me excited tonight about researching stars and planets and taking the girls to the Observatory. It's been so long since I've wanted to get to know someone; I'm excited to potentially start a journey with you."

Beca continued to stare at Chloe, and it was just beginning to become uncomfortable, when she spoke again. "Chloe, don't fuck with me."

"I'm not, I swear," Chloe promised. "The heart wants what it wants, and as it seems, my heart wants nothing more than to be with you. I mean, who else will put me to bed when I get drunk on too many cocktails?"

"I'm being serious," Beca demanded.

"So am I."

"But you've never said anything."

"Each time I tell you to get home safe, to sleep well, to eat your meals and take care of yourself, I actually mean I love you," Chloe risked reaching out and tucking a loose piece of hair behind Beca's ear, not missing the fact that Beca leaned into her touch in the smallest of movements.

"Don't tease me... please," Beca pleaded.

"I'm not. Please don't mistake someone who didn't know how to love you, with love itself. Please don't be afraid to love me back."

"I'm asking too much. No one has ever truly loved me," Beca breathed out.

"No, you were never asking for too much. You were just asking the wrong people."

"Chloe?"

"Despite the fear and uncertainty, I want you to know that I love you, I'm here, and I'm willing to see all of it through as long as you're by my side. I got upset before because I've been holding this inside me for so long… I never thought you would love me back. And you wrote me a song. A beautiful song. Which means so much more than anything I've been trying to say to you."

"Your words are pretty perfect," Beca smiled through her tears. "But just so you know, I actually wrote you a few songs."

"Well, maybe you can sing another one for me one day."

"Singing calms me down, it's relaxing. It helps Jessie too, remember?"

"I do remember and if you want to, you can sing another one for me now?"

"Chloe, I'm pretty embarrassed about what happened here tonight."

"And I'm not?"

"I wish you'd just kiss me. So we can…" Beca started to say but her words were cut off as Chloe took the final step towards her.

Time slowed down for both of them as Chloe reached out her hands to cup Beca's face. Chloe's fingers were gentle on Beca's skin, her touch was as light as she could make it. Beca's hands fell to Chloe's hips but she wasn't sure if it was to touch Chloe back or to steady herself.

Chloe's face was serious and focused, completely opposite to the look she was wearing just a few moments before. Beca's eyes flickered upwards to Chloe's lips and she moved her head a fraction towards Chloe's, both to test the reaction and to check she wasn't dreaming.

The invitation was there.

Chloe leaned down a little, wetting her lips with her tongue as Beca closed her eyes, wishing the tears would stop tracking down her face. She felt Chloe's breath on her cheek.

Chloe placed a finger under Beca's chin and lifted her face gently towards her. She bent down further towards Beca, keeping her movements slow and deliberate, almost giving Beca a chance to back out if she needed it too.

Beca fingers lightly danced up and over Chloe's hips, reaching around to the small of her back as she felt Chloe's fingers run through her slightly damp hair, pulling her closer towards her.

Their lips met.

Beca sucked in a breath as she felt their shared connection. She was used to Chloe pecking her on the cheek or on the top of her head, but this felt different. She could feel every nerve ending spring to life in a way they hadn't before.

It wasn't until Chloe felt Beca release the breath she'd been holding in, did she start to relax. As their mouths meshed together, the pressure mounting, and heart rates quickening, Chloe decided to be brave and snake her redundant hand around Beca's shoulder, pulling her completely into her chest, and found little resistance. She could feel Beca tapping out a beat on the base of her spine and enjoyed the light tickle.

Beca found Chloe's mouth softer than she could ever have imagined and the delicate scent of her perfume hit her in a different way, surprising herself when she moved the kiss along, by parting their lips with her tongue.

Chloe moaned lightly into Beca's mouth, as her tongue began to fight with Beca's, tasting expensive wine and ranch dressing. Her hand which had been around Beca's shoulder lightly skated down Beca's side until she found the brunette's breast. Cupping it gently, and trying so hard not to make it more awkward with the position they were standing in, she ever so gently rubbed her thumb over Beca's nipple.

Beca, having not been touched by anyone for so long, twitched noticeably but began to stroke Chloe's back, slow circles changing to wide sweeps as if she wanted to have as much contact as possible. Slotting her leg in between Chloe's, she twisted her head to the side slightly to get a better angle, trying to be as close to Chloe as possible.

She'd expected, in the half second she'd had to get used to the idea of kissing Chloe, that it would be either all chaste and junior high, or knocking teeth and awkward, but she was surprised to feel how sensual it was. She was already beginning to love the little murmurs that were escaping from Chloe's throat and the way Chloe's knee was twitching against her own.

Chloe heard the quiet groan from Beca and began to move her tongue faster in Beca's mouth as she lightly pinched Beca's nipple, not mistaking the twitch in Beca's hips as she could feel the power of Beca's kiss all over her own body. It wasn't long before Chloe felt Beca's hand on the back of her neck, squeezing just the right amount of pressure, her fingers feeling silky against Chloe's skin.

Chloe felt her body tightening with need. She felt so connected to Beca as they physically got closer to each other and didn't want to stop but she could feel herself getting too giddy to continue. She dropped her hand to Beca's hip and tried not to feel embarrassed about how hard her nipples felt as they brushed up against Beca's own; the sensation growing more and more intense the longer they kissed.

Chloe couldn't remember the last time she'd been kissed the way Beca was kissing her that night; Beca's tear stained face and hesitant hands not giving away how emotional it was for the both of them. Their heads rocked side to side, both of them trying to gain a better angle so that they could feel more of the incredible sensation.

If she didn't stop now, Chloe knew that she was likely to take the evening in a direction that she thought Beca might not be comfortable with yet. With a reluctant sigh, she began to pull away from Beca. As Beca felt Chloe's hand release her hip, she already missed the warmth from having her friend touch her. She felt Chloe's face pull away and opened her eyes to find Chloe smiling at her; her lips, swollen like Beca's own and glistening with saliva.

Beca wanted to hold Chloe close to her, to feel her heartbeat against her chest for a few moments more and somehow Chloe knew this, and pulled Beca in for a hug, tucking her head onto Beca's shoulder. They began to rock back and forth; imaginary dancing to whatever tune was flowing through their minds.

As Beca began to shiver, Chloe pulled away, kissing Beca's nose and brushing her hair from her face again. Beca tentatively reached for Chloe's hand, and kissed her knuckles. No words were spoken as they stared into each other's eyes.

Beca broke contact first; Chloe, not wanting to be the first to pull away, was glad of Beca's actions. After a moment's hesitation, Beca began walking backwards towards the steps, ready to return to the pool house, turning just before she descended.

"Night Chloe," Beca whispered quietly over her shoulder.

"Night Becs," Chloe smiled softly, watching as Beca walked down the steps towards the pool house. She waited until the door closed behind the brunette, before she took a seat on the lounger, pressing her hand to her chest and whispering into the night, "Wow!"

.oOo.

A/N - Hope it was worth the wait.