AN: Warning: Very long and full of sadness. Elements from this story taken from The Hollars as well.
Happy birthday to the amazing, hilarious, talented, adorable, stunning queen herself, Anna Effing Kendrick! Sorry to be posting something so sad on her birthday, but this was all I had prepared for the Pitch Perfect Fandom. No matter! It's her 35th even though she still looks beautiful enough to still be in her twenties. Hope she has an awesome day and hope you enjoy this story!
"Beca?"
Beca Mitchell snapped out of whatever trance she'd been in while staring at the crisp, white sheets on the now empty hospital bed. Her head had shot up when she'd heard the quiet call of her name.
It'd been in the soft voice of her redheaded best friend of eight years and girlfriend, now fiancée, of six-and-a-half years, Chloe Beale.
"Sorry. Sorry," the small brunette apologized as she distractedly resumed tidying up the room from their stay while also trying to subtly wipe at her eyes, even though the other woman had already noticed the unshed tears.
"Baby, you don't have to apologize for needing time for everything to sink in. It's a lot to process," the flame-haired Bella advised sympathetically, "I mean, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it and we weren't even…you know, biologically related. She was one of the most important people in your life and it's okay not to be okay after having lost her."
Beca merely shook her head a little in response.
She then uncovered the hidden bottle of old ginger beer that her father had snuck into the building and had been sipping only hours earlier. She picked it up and brought it to the bathroom sink, then poured the liquid of the 3/4-full glass bottle down the drain (he had quickly lost the mood to drink, but he still wanted to exude positive vibes). She then hid the bottle in a bag that she'd brought with her.
Chloe watched her fiancée with sympathetic eyes when she returned and started reaching for the cup of day-old tea, only to hesitate for a moment before her fingertips made contact with the now-cool ceramic material. She just stood there and stared at what little dark liquid was left for almost fifteen full seconds, knowing that this was the very last thing to have been consumed by her.
Five rhythmic knocks on the door drew her attention to the entrance of her room and a smile instantly appeared when she saw the people who entered.
"Hey," Beca softly greeted the woman on the bed, "We come bearing gifts."
"Let me guess. An apple cinnamon tea, one milk, two sugars, in my favourite mug and an apple fritter from my favourite bakery two blocks away from the house?" she asked.
The four visitors smiled cheekily as they revealed exactly those items to the patient.
"Dad also snuck a beer in," the small brunette teasingly informed, pulling the tray table over for her and placing the donut and tea onto it.
She clicked her tongue and gave the man a joking look of disapproval. "William."
"What? It's just a little pre-celebration for when you get out of here," the man told her, subtly trying to reassure her of the bigger matter.
If only he could've been telling the truth.
Shaking her head of the memory, Beca finally picked the mug up with a faintly trembling hand. She dumped its contents down the same sink and quickly rinsed it out before gently putting it into the bag too.
She then started to pack all of the "Get Well Soon" cards and the couple of stuffed animals that had been delivered to the room with just as much tenderness as with the cup.
Once the room was completely void of any of their remaining belongings, the shorter Bella turned to the taller one and nodded once.
Chloe nodded back and offered a small smile, extending her hand for the younger woman to take, which she did.
The couple started to leave, when Beca paused and looked back into the room that she knew she'd never forget for several reasons, allowing the memories to play through one last time.
Her attention was brought back to her fiancée when she felt a gentle hand trail from the back of her head down to the dip in her lower back. She refocused on Chloe and found eyes filled with unshed tears and another little smile on the redhead's gorgeous face.
This made the other woman's heart melt at the unadulterated love and care from her significant other.
Beca returned the expression and gave the slightly taller girl a quick but loving peck on the lips, before allowing herself to be led out of the room, out of the building, and to her father's car.
Chloe was behind the wheel as they both knew that the younger woman was in no shape to drive. They buckled themselves in and Beca sat in the passenger seat, watching the hospital grow smaller in the side mirror.
The landline's ringtone rang throughout the dark apartment, waking both of its occupants, who groaned and mentally cursed whomever was calling them at 3:14 am.
Beca reluctantly rolled over and picked up the device. She checked the caller ID and accepted the call with a slightly annoyed eye-roll.
Holding the phone up to her ear, she answered with an enthusiastic, "The hell, dad? You know how late it is here in LA?"
There was silence as the caller spoke and Chloe tried to roll over and fall back asleep, but she was unsuccessful when her fiancée shot up into a sitting position, causing her to do the same, and exclaimed, "Wait, what?"
The ginger blinked a couple of times in an attempt to rid her eyes of the heaviness and asked in a groggy voice, "What? What's happening?"
"Oh my god…yeah, of course. I'll be there as soon as I can…okay, I'll see you soon…bye, Dad. Love you too."
The second she ended the call, Beca was up and moving. She instantly dropped her suitcase onto the bed and started shoving her things into it in a disoriented rush.
"Beca, what's going on?" Chloe asked again, waking up a little more with each passing second as she watched her frantic fiancée.
It was then that she noticed the tears rapidly accumulating in the younger woman's eyes and she was immediately on high alert.
"Hey. Hey! Beca, sweetie, what's wrong?" the redhead softly questioned as she got out of bed and approached the shorter Bella, placing a comforting hand onto her left bicep and right forearm each.
"My mom's in the hospital. She had a stroke," was all Beca could utter without breaking apart.
Chloe's mouth fell open in shock, her eyes instantly tearing up as well.
"Keep packing, Becs. I'll go book us two tickets on the soonest flight."
It'd been a full week since cleaning out Beca's mother's hospital room. It seemed like such a long time ago.
The funeral had been lovely. The small brunette and her father had arranged it entirely, with a little bit of input from Chloe and her stepmother Sheila, while the latter also organized other things.
It'd been a pretty private ceremony because Janice Mitchell had been a pretty private person. It'd been closed-casket and only her mother's immediate family plus their significant others if they had one, her mother's closest friends, a handful of her grandparents' dearest friends, some of her uncle's best friends, one or two of her father's good friends, and a few of the Bellas had been invited.
Chloe had never left her side, for which Beca was incredibly thankful, knowing that her fiancée was her only source of strength and comfort at the moment. Stacie and Aubrey had flown in from LA as soon as possible and Emily too. Fat Amy had promptly jumped onto her private jet and had arrived quickly from having been in Tokyo.
Unfortunately, the other Bellas were unavailable, but they'd sent their deepest condolences. Many texts and videos from them, telling Beca how much they sympathized with her and how much they loved her. So, though they weren't there physically, they were still there for her, even though she herself barely felt "there," and she couldn't be more grateful to and for her second family.
Soon enough, the burial was finished and people were starting to leave with tear tracks on their faces and heavy hearts in their chests.
"I'll see you at the house, okay?" William spoke softly into Beca's ear, who simply nodded, "Are you sure you wanna help with this, Bec? 'Cause if you don't feel okay, Sheila and I can handle it. We can maybe ask her brother and parents instead. He hasn't left yet."
The petite woman shook her head and assured her father, "No. No, Dad, Uncle Mike's already doing enough and Grandma and Grandpa won't even be able to pull up onto that street again for a while.
"Besides, I have to do this. For her."
"Honey, don't push yourself," the man gently advised his daughter, "No one expects you to be able to immediately feel better. We all know that she was one of the most important people in your life. You're allowed to mourn that loss. You're allowed to not be okay."
"I know, Dad," Beca sincerely responded, staring up into his warm, brown eyes to show him that she really didn't want to skip this.
"Okay," William said, then got into Sheila's car with her, "I'll see you there."
The tiny Bella waved at the couple as they drove away, before turning towards her own guests and thanking them for attending.
"Anything for you, love. Yeah, of course. No problem, Becs. We'll always be there for you. Bellas for life, dude," the five girls replied.
"Anytime, Beca. Really. We're all just a phone call away. Any of us," Aubrey reminded her short friend, giving her a tight hug.
"I know. Thanks, Bree. And thank you guys too," Beca responded, feeling incredibly lucky for the friends she'd made, all thanks to her wonderful fiancée.
Aubrey nodded and started to leave with her tall, strawberry-blonde wife, who offered the much smaller woman a little smile and a hug before following the other blonde.
"Of course, Beca. I'll see you back in LA…aca-Moms," Emily lightly joked, hoping to get a little something from the couple.
She was successful as the pair smiled and chuckled ever so slightly at the younger Bella's quip.
She then walked away as well, joining Aubrey and Stacie in the taxi to take them to the airport.
"Just remember, Beca. You're the Big BM. You're one of the strongest people I know and I've met Dwayne The Rock Johnson…fleetingly…and possibly somewhat illegally, but that's besides the point," Amy rambled, which made Beca and Chloe both furrow their eyebrows in confusion but also smile slightly at their friend's knack for lightening situations, "And plus, you're even stronger with your rockin' ginger at your side, because together you're Beca and Chloe, also known as Bhloe. And nothing makes you feel better than a good Bhloe."
The couple chuckled lightly at Amy's preferred ship name of theirs.
"Thanks, Ames," Beca said to her unusual friend, who somehow always managed to make her smile even when she was at her lowest.
The Australian pulled the other two Bellas into a bear hug, easily lifting them both off of the ground, before letting them back down, then made her way over to her rental car.
"We should be heading back too," Chloe told her fiancée, gently grabbing her hand and nodding towards their own rental.
"Right. Do you mind driving?" Beca asked, before realizing that she hadn't driven a single time this entire trip and that each car trip had befallen her significant other amongst her many other responsibilities, "Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I know you've been driving so much—"
"Becs, it's okay! It's all good! I completely understand," the redhead reassured the younger woman as she simply led her to the passenger seat, "You haven't been in the right state of mind to drive and you still aren't and that's okay.
"That's why I'm here. To make all of this even just a little easier on you. To worry about the little things, like driving, so that you can focus on the big. So, trust me when I say that I really don't mind.
"And remember what your dad said. Nobody expects you to be able to immediately feel better, especially not me. Okay?"
Beca sent her fiancée a small but adoring smile and nodded in response, before giving her a grateful kiss.
The two then climbed into the car and drove to Beca's mother's house, their hands clasped together over the gearshift the entire ride.
AN: Part II is out now. It just ended up being so long that I split it quite literally in half. Thanks for reading.
Edited: Was revising and decided to actually resplit into three parts as it makes more sense to me now story-wise; first part is all about Janice in the hospital and her passing, second part is the arrival at Janice's house and the start of the final move and also about Beca's childhood memories with her mom (save for the first one), and third is about her more recent memories with her and then her closure at the end.
All of this to say that I sincerely apologize to those who had been hoping, but this is not a double update :( So, sorry, really.
Anyway though, parts II and III next.
As always, thanks for reading!