A/N: Hey y'all, back with a chapter update. Sorry it took a while, I got busy with work. Might only be one update next week too but things should return to a normal schedule soon. This one is strictly bechloe, so enjoy!

I don't own pitch perfect.

Sometimes things don't go as planned.

Becoming a successful and wealthy lawyer was one of the many plans to be foiled in Chloe's life. It was like a shock of cold water poured onto her head, waking up from that naïve dream in the most shocking of ways.

Going home to have a peaceful night's sleep after a long day of fighting against the true scum of the earth was another.

Lights of blue and red filled Chloe's vision as the police wrapped up investigations in her house and the assailants apprehended. Beca handled talking with the detectives while Chloe sat in her kitchen, her ead in her hands. Strewn lines of yellow police tape adorned her broken back and front doors, as well as the large window in the living room of her childhood home. The detective on the case already told her to find someplace to stay in the interim, especially as it wouldn't be safe to stay at home with easy entry points until she gets both doors and windows fixed.

She's tried calling Aubrey first, but she wasn't picking up her phone. She assumed she was probably with someone. They've known each other long enough to know each other's patterns. Aubrey never lets her phone ring three times on regular nights. It only ever happens when she has a lover, and they're spending some time together. Only after whatever it is that Aubrey's down to doing with whoever she's seeing does she return any important calls.

Chloe's currently blacklisted from her former colleagues at DSM. Any friend she's made there have been lost, although Chloe wasn't sure they were truly friends to begin with. Besides, staying with any of them seemed like a bad plan. She already had a sinking suspicion that whoever sent the assailants after her were either from DSM or Babel. There was Chicago but Chloe didn't want to build his hopes up for anything with him either.

Friends from law school have been avoiding her recently thanks to all the Babel publicity either. They've still been polite with her whenever their paths cross, but since she left DSM, things have most definitely changed.

Chloe considered calling Emily, but Emily still lived with her parents for convenience, and she didn't want to impose.

Which meant she truly only had one option left.

Beca had just finished talking with the detective when Chloe dialed the next and last person on her list. She had just arrived next to where Chloe sat in the kitchen when her phone started ringing. She turned to Chloe, quirking an eyebrow, not even bothering to fish for her. Chloe shot her a beaming smile, but Beca looked rather unimpressed. She shook her head, "No, ask another friend."

"But you're the last one," Chloe argued, ending the call.

Beca sighed. "Then I'll take you to a hotel. The best one in town, I'll even pay for it."

"Will you stay with me?" Chloe then asked.

"No," Beca instantly replied. "You'll be fine, Chloe. You'll have security there," she argued. "Besides, I'm a phone call away. I'll send Lilly for some stealthy guarding if you want."

This time it was Chloe who sighed. "Fine, and there's no need for it."

"Are you sure?" Beca then asked.

"If you're really concerned about me, you'd let me stay with you," Chloe then said pouting but Beca vehemently shook her head.

So much for that, Chloe then thought. Beca kept her company, packing her things and leaving her house while the police wrapped up investigations. Beca kept her word too, driving Chloe to the best hotel in town, even calling ahead for a reservation while Chloe packed. Chloe insisted she'd only need a night and talk to Aubrey the next day and that no, Beca need not pay for her. She hasn't forgotten what Beca said in their drive before, and if she's staying at Barden Tower, it meant she was taking precautions against her adoptive brother. She couldn't let Beca take the risk.

"I am fluid with emergency cash, you know? And I've bought a whole bunch of Visa Gift Cards with them that I use as a card," Beca argued.

This earned a chuckle from Chloe. "Conserve it. I'm sure you'll need it against Paulo."

With that matter settled, and Chloe all packed, the two finally left Chloe home.

But Chloe didn't want to go and leave the safety of Beca's company. Not even when they finally reached the hotel.

Beca looked thoughtful for a moment when they reached the entrance, unbuckled her belt, and leaned closer to Chloe. It took Chloe by surprise, her head already overwhelmed with processing everything else that happened that night practically short-circuited.

But it was only to open the door for Chloe.

"Call me when you've settled down in your room," Beca then said before buckling up.

"So heartless," Chloe teased and shook her head.

"Are you sure you don't want me to send Lilly?" Beca pressed on.

"I'm okay, like you said, I'll have security here. No need to worry, besides, I'm not scared of anyone," Chloe replied.

"You looked pretty shaken earlier," Beca noted.

"That's just 'cause they took me by surprise," Chloe insisted. "Although if you're that worried…"

"You're not staying over," Beca all but grumbled. Chloe really couldn't understand why she was being so stubborn about this, but she didn't insist any more and got off Beca's car.

For the most part, Chloe truly believed she was fine, and that she wouldn't need a bodyguard. That staying in the hotel was enough, and tomorrow she'll talk to Aubrye about staying over until it's safe to return home.

Except all of it was easier said than done.

Chloe jumped at every shadow that passed, and mistrusted every person she ran into from the hotel lobby, to the elevators, and up to the hallway of where her room was.

By the time she was just a few doors away, Chloe felt like her head was spinning, her heart was racing. She was absolutely terrified and still truly shaken with what had happened.

It took all of five minutes for her to ask the hotel for a car to drop her off to Barden Tower and abandon the thought of staying in a hotel room that night.

That's how she found Beca looking slightly annoyed as she opened the door to her flat. She was already in her PJs that also looked bespoke from what Chloe could tell. But Chloe didn't let her say much of anything else about her presence. She felt safe with Beca, that's why she didn't even let Beca invite her in, she just barged in with an apologetic smile. "Please let me stay."

Beca sighed. She was about to argue against it from what Chloe could tell, when she noticed that the couch was already made for someone to sleep on it.

"Oh, you already made room for me?" Chloe chirruped.

"No," Beca replied with a grunt. "That's where I'm sleeping."

"Oh, so you mean you're giving me your room?" Chloe replied, making her way to the bedroom to open the door. As she did, she all but yelped before shutting it close again. She wasn't sure if she was going to be highly amused by what she saw or simply be shocked.

Pigeons flocked inside Beca's room from an open window. Their feathers and droppings were everywhere. Her sheets all but ruined too. The whole room was in complete disarray. Beca then explained that she forgot to close the window the other night, preoccupied by their current schemes. When she returned, Inzaghi – apparently Beca named one of the pigeons – had already fluttered in with a date. They refused to leave and now their friends have joined in. The pigeons have been having a party in her room since then.

"Is that why you kept turning me down?" Chloe asked, barely able to contain her laughter.

Beca grumbled and refused to answer Chloe. "You can have the couch, I'll borrow more pillows from Lilly and sleep on the floor."

"No, no, I can't let you do that. Don't you have a sofa bed?" Chloe asked.

"Nope, it's just a couch."

"I think we can both fit," Chloe replied.

Beca shook her head. It was almost a little too adorable the way she did so, looking a bit stunned, eyes all wide and a tinge of pink on her cheeks, at the suggestion. It's almost as if she's not even a mafia lawyer.

"Beca we're both pretty slim and we're also not that tall, I'm sure we can just scuttle a little bit closer and fit just fine. It's better than sleeping on the floor."

"No chance in hell," Beca then replied.

Which Chloe found incredibly amusing because as soon as Chloe said she'll also sleep on the floor if Beca did, and Beca refused to let Chloe sleep on the floor whether or not she took the couch, Chloe pretty much secured her victory there.

Soon the two found themselves all cuddled up on the couch. Chloe was closer to the backrest and Beca was on the edge, to make sure Beca didn't fall, Chloe put her arms around her. After that, Beca refused to face her, choosing instead to have her back against Chloe's chest, and staying as still as she could.

Chloe wished she would face her. It was already hard enough to decipher what it was that Beca was thinking on an ordinary day, much less now that she stayed so still and silent.

"Are you asleep yet?" Chloe asked.

"No, but truthfully I'm a light sleeper anyways," Beca replied. "You?"

Chloe couldn't answer. The truth was, she couldn't either. One, because every time she closed her eyes, her mind would travel back to the events earlier in the evening, to the assailants in her house. Two, because holding Beca Bella so close made Chloe's heart race a little. Not in the same terrified way as it did in the hotel, but as if her heart danced to an all-new rhythm, one set for her by Beca whenever she was near.

"How about you tell me a story?" Chloe asked instead.

"I don't know that many fairy tales," Beca answered truthfully. "One upon a time and happily ever after doesn't really exist in my world, you know?"

"Then tell me, yours."

Beca stiffened for a minute and Chloe almost felt like regretting making her request. She was about to take it back before Beca started talking.

"There's not much to it," Beca said. "My mother died when I was younger. My real mom. I can't even remember her much. I don't even remember what happened, just something about being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You're dad? Not Don Fabio, you're real one?" Chloe then asked as gentle as she could. "How did you find yourself in Italy to begin with?"

"He left me in an orphanage, here, not in Italy. Back when I was just six," Beca replied, her tone sounding a little distant and cold. Chloe wasn't quite used to hearing it like that. But Beca never faltered, despite the detached tone, she still went on.

"He promised he'd come back for me one day, but he didn't. I didn't have any other family here. My father was an only child and his parents died when he was much younger. My mother had a sibling who died a few years after she did, and her parents died when she was a kid. She and her brother were raised by their aunt, my great aunt, who also died a year before my father abandoned me."

Chloe tightened her hold around Beca's waist. Her mother died in a car accident when she was much younger too, but she wasn't alone. She had her dad. Beca, however, sounded like she never really had much of anyone.

"An Italian couple living here at the time decided to adopt me. They couldn't have kids. For about a year, I lived here with them, while they worked on my papers and documentations for travel to Italy. As fate would have it, they both ended up getting jobs back in Italy when my papers came out. So, they took me with them. They were lovely people, they really did care and they did their best to teach me Italian and a lot about their culture, their country early on. They asked me what I liked, what I enjoyed doing. They did their best to get to know me."

"Were they part of the mafia?" Chloe asked. Because the way Beca talked about them suggested that the truth was far from it.

Beca shook her head. "About six months after we settled in Milan, an incident occurred. They took me out on a tour around Milan, just a nice day out. But there was this commotion in some restaurant near where we had dinner. On our way home, a shoot out happened. My new father got shot, one bullet did him in. My new mom shielded me and she died protecting me."

Suffice to say, Chloe was crying. But she bit her lips and controlled her breathing. She did her best so that Beca wouldn't notice her silent tears. She didn't imagine Beca having this tough of a childhood.

"The fight was between some of Don Gandolfini's men and some of Don Fabio's. Don Gandolfini has been moving into Don Fabio's territories, the people who fired shots were with Don Gandolfini's family. When Don Fabio heard the news about the casualties, he personally came to see me in the new orphanage the authorities decided to put me in temporarily while they sort out what to do with me. That's when Don Fabio took me in."

"He must have felt guilty, or at least bad to have you suffer for the deeds of others," Chloe replied, doing her best to keep her composure.

"Maybe… if he did, he never said anything. He treated me like I was his own daughter. He made me feel no different than that. I don't know, I think he saw a fire in me he wanted to kindle. He didn't leave me wanting for anything, and gave me things equal to what he would for Paulo. He hired private tutors for me to learn different languages. He had the best martial artists teach me how to defend myself so no one would pick on me, a tiny American girl who was still struggling to speak Italian, who suddenly had the whole world at her feet. That's why, in every sense of the word, he was my father."

Chloe pulled Beca closer, resting her head on her back. "I'm glad you found a family, Beca. And that Don Fabio really loved you like her own. He did good, that much I can tell with how you are with us now. Mafia or not."

Beca stayed silent for a minute. "I'm just happy I had that chance to make him proud," she then said.

"Tell me, though, was he any scary? Or intimidating? Like the mafia bosses on TV?"

Beca chuckled. "Only when you cross him. I wasn't really scared of all others."

Chloe smiled. She could only imagine it. Beca staring those tough mobster bosses straight in the eyes, with a smirk on her face, easily handling them, facing dangers head on. Shoot outs, and blackmails, and manhandling the goons who try to intimidate the ordinary people. Beca has leaved quite the colorful and exciting life.

That's when a question had popped into Chloe's head, realizing the inevitability of such a thing occurring.

"Have you ever killed anyone?" she asked, almost in a whisper.

Beca fell silent once more. "Will you stop spending time with me?" she asked. "Will you be afraid?"

"No," Chloe said so easily it also took her off guard. Would she kill anyone herself? No, probably not. She could only imagine how difficult it would be to take a life. But would she mind if Beca did?

Could she even imagine Beca doing so?

"I…" Chloe then started to say. "It'll just be like you're from a different world…"

A world that Chloe wasn't sure she would fit in.

Somehow the thought of it upset her. As if Beca who was right in her arms was suddenly so far away from reach.

"It's just… like, you know how it is in the movies? You get asked to assassinate someone, or take care of business and send them sleeping with the fishes or something."

"I'm just a consigliere, Chloe," Beca replied.

"Of course, you are," Chloe replied, closing her eyes.

But what happens when you get your wish? When you beat Paulo?

What happens when you become the boss?

Will you leave?

Will it be goodbye then?

So many questions started swirling in her head, that she couldn't say much of anything else. She didn't dare ask Beca any of it, not wanting to find out the answer.

"You can stay here as long as you need to," Beca then said, breaking the silence that settled down on them. "To feel safe, at least until you get those doors and windows fixed."

Chloe smiled. "And I promise I'll help you clean up Inzaghi's mess in the morning. It's the least I can do," she said, trying to focus on the days ahead. Trying to ignore the lingering questions that now filled her heart.

Because Chloe found some kind of peace next to Beca Bella. She was her safe house in this crazy business with Babel. Her shelter and source of strength.

She couldn't bear the thought of ever losing her in her life.

And she truly wished she never would.

True to her word, Chloe helped out in cleaning up after Inzaghi's mess. To her own surprise, then pigeons have left on their own volition early the next morning, after Chloe's first night. Beca was quick to shut the windows close, and the two got started.

The rest of the day went by as they usually have, with no trouble at all. The two of them updated Aubrye of what's happening, with Aubrey all but giving them a lecture about letting her know sooner.

"But I was calling you, Bree. You're the one who wasn't answering," Chloe pointed out. Aubrye looked a little flustered when Chloe pressed her on why she didn't pick up her phone and it was all but a nice change of pace, what with Aubrey usually the one berating them on things.

It was a good distraction, if anything.

While Beca didn't want Chloe staying over thanks to the mess Inzaghi made, she did have another reason why. She didn't want Chloe taking a closer look at her, at her life. Beca had to keep her guard up, she had to keep a safe distance with Chloe. Especially as she was starting to grow more and more aware of how easy it was to indulge herself and open up to her.

But try as she may, she would always lose that fight. It was as if it was the very laws of nature dictating its will. Beca could not resist relenting to what Chloe wanted – sleeping on the couch together – and she couldn't help but open up to her, as if her heart was asking for relief from the weight of the scars it carried.

A part of Beca braced for judgement, but Chloe said anything.

The one thing that Beca couldn't answer directly, however, was the same thing that now haunted her when she woke up that morning.

She couldn't tell Chloe the truth, she felt too ashamed to admit it. She never killed anyone who never had it coming, but her hands were stained scarlet, and somehow Beca couldn't let those stained hands of her touch Chloe or taint her either.

At the same time, she truthfully was afraid, that Chloe would change if she knew despite the fact that deep down, Beca had a feeling Chloe would accept her as she was.

But Beca decided not to think much about it. They had problems to solve, people to save, people to take down.

No news on who sent the assailants, as they simply admitted to entering Chloe's homes as burglars, protecting who it was that hired them. Beca's guess is that it was either Babel or DSM, particularly the Kommissar, but she didn't want to take action without understanding the whole picture first.

And so, the day droned on with its usual pace.

Then the night came. Beca made peace to sleeping on the couch by herself that night, giving Chloe her room. But Chloe would not have it. And whatever Chloe wanted, Chloe got, as much as Beca hated to admit it.

Chloe was slowly drifting to sleep next to her, facing Beca, one arm around her waist. Beca on the other hand was as stiff as a board, keeping her eyes fixed on the ceiling. If it wasn't the fear or guilt of the things she's done, things she wouldn't proudly tell Chloe, it was the fact that Chloe was sleeping mere inches away from her that would.

Beca was praying for Inzaghi to come as a distraction, a reason to excuse herself to get up so she could feed him, and maybe mosey on to the couch after. But the damned pigeon dared not come.

What did happen was that Chloe snuggled up closer to her and Beca all but squirmed, surprised by the sudden movement and practically non-existent distance between them,

What is wrong with you, Beca chastised herself. It's not like she's never done more than just sleep with someone under the covers before.

But Chloe was something different.

Chloe conducted a different beat, making her heart sing in ways it never did before.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" Chloe mumbled all but sleepily, sensing Beca's nervousness.

"Nothing," Beca replied.

"They why do you keep fidgeting?"

"I-I'm not," she lied, rather unsuccessfully.

Chloe laughed. "Beca, did we not cuddle last night on the couch, can you please just relax?"

"Y-yeah, but that was on the couch," Beca pointed out daring to sneak a glance at Chloe

"And?" Chloe asked, her eyes were still closed but she was definitely chortling.

"This is my bed," Beca pointed out, turning to face her.

"And?" Chloe asked, trying to stifle a yawn, eye's sleepily fluttering open.

"It's different," Beca replied almost breathlessly. She didn't expect Chloe to look so naturally beautiful that way.

"Are you telling me you've never had a beautiful woman in your arms, underneath your covers before?" Chloe asked amused, looking Beca directly in her eyes.

Beca moved about again so that she was staring up at her seeking once more, feeling incredibly flustered. The answer would be no. However, she never had anyone like Chloe Beale in her bed before. That in itself made all the difference.

"Wow, full of yourself much?" was the response Beca settled for. She wasn't going to lose this fight to Chloe. She already lost so many others since last night.

Chloe chuckled, pulling Beca closer with the hand around her waist. "Are you really telling me you've never done anything more scandalous than cuddle with someone before?"

"N-no," Beca mumbled as a response, turning to look away. She wanted to fully turn around but Chloe's arms around her had her fixed on her position.

Because the truth was this felt all to intimate.

Intimate in a way that Beca's never been with anyone else before.

Intimate in a way that felt so pure and innocent and sincere that it was about to make Beca's heart feel so close to exploding.

"So, what's the problem with you?" Chloe softly asked. But Beca dared not reply. She didn't want her voice to betray her. She didn't want her words to slip up and tell the truth.

That this moment felt so soft, and Beca felt so vulnerable when Chloe was around. That she's never felt this way before and it scared her of what it might mean. Of how Chloe made her feel. Beca Bella was someone who doesn't even fear death, but thinking back to everything that happened last night, thinking about the truth of how she felt the past few days, she knew. She's realized, that she now has one thing that she feared she would lose, someone she would give even her own life for… Chloe.

And Beca didn't want to think about what that meant. Of how that might change her, of how it could affect her grander schemes.

"Beca? I'm talking to you and not Inzaghi outside," Chloe then said.

"He's not even outside," Beca argued, finally turning around to face Chloe again as she tried to recompose herself. "Nothing's wrong."

"So, then hold me, please," Chloe softly said.

"W-why do I have to?"

"Because," Chloe provided as a vague reason.

"Because?"

"Just cause," Chloe insisted.

"Nuh-uh. You have to tell me, use your words, Chloe. You're a lawyer, aren't you?" Beca then teased.

"And you're using yours?"

Touche.

"You make me feel safe…" Chloe then admitted before Beca could even come up with a witty retort. She could see the sincerity in Chloe's eyes when she said it too, and what else could Beca do but oblige? It was almost like her hand was moving on their own volition, placing them around Chloe's waists as Chloe continued to speak. "When you hold me, I… I feel the safest," she admitted in a whisper.

As soon as Chloe felt Beca's arms around her tighten, she pulled Beca closer and buried her face in her chest. All Beca could do was hope that Chloe couldn't hear the loud banging of her heart right then and there.

And so Beca held her safely in her arms.

She was happy to be a safe zone for Chloe, even when she doesn't even know, even when Beca wouldn't admit it.

That in her dangerous life, she's found her safe haven in Chloe too.

A/N Pt 2: I, for one, think Inzaghi sensed an opening there and purposefully wreaked havoc in Beca's room so that she'd be literally closer to Chloe xD

UPNEXT: New tenants! Plans to unmask "Babo"! And Chicago makes moves?