Chapter Text
Between Now And Forever 03 – Am I Worth It
Chloe stumbles into the apartment she’s sharing with both her fiancées. She has been taking up extra classes at Barden to prepare her for vet school. That while helping her Russian Lit teacher by being his assistant.
It doesn’t pay much but it helps to put some food on the table while the retreat and Beca’s job at Residual Heat pay for everything else really. So, the least she can do is cook and clean up the house. Although Beca beats her to it most of the time.
The redhead makes her way into the kitchen, half expecting to find Beca cooking. But to her surprise the kitchen is empty, the whole apartment is empty.
Aubrey would be home in an hour but Beca? The brunette should have been home already. “Maybe she’s running late or has a big project coming up.” Chloe thinks to herself. With a light shrug she turns to open the fridge and see what they can have for dinner. “Fudge nuggets!” With a slam Chloe shuts the fridge and sighs.
She takes her phone out of her pocket and dials Beca’s number. It goes straight to voicemail which is strange. Beca’s phone is never off or far away from her side. Chloe decides to let it go because she knows the brunette will call her back when she sees the missed call. So, the next person on the list is Aubrey. The call immediately goes through.
*Phone Call*
Aubrey: “Aubrey Posen speaking, how may I help you?”
Chloe: “Did I ever tell you how hot you sound all professional?”
Aubrey: “Always the charmer Chloe. But I need to ask, why are you calling? Is everything alright? Do I need to come home?”
Chloe: “No no everything is fine, I just wanted to ask if you’re ok with take-out tonight?”
Aubrey: “Sure, just make sure Beca isn’t cooking.”
Chloe: “She isn’t, she isn’t even home yet. Did she mention anything to you this morning?”
Aubrey: “That’s weird. But no, she didn’t, she left before we woke up.”
Chloe: “Maybe she has a new project or something.”
Aubrey: “Maybe… Have you tried calling her?”
Chloe: “I did but it goes straight to voicemail.”
Aubrey: “Ok now I’m worried. I’ll drive past Residual Heat on my way back home. Actually, I’ll go now. The last group just finished. I can get Jessica and Ashley to finish up the paperwork.”
Chloe: “Ok, let me know if you find her. I’ll call you if she comes home.”
Aubrey: “See you in a bit.”
Chloe: “Oh Bree before I forget. What do I order for dinner?”
Aubrey: “We haven’t had pizza in a while?”
Chloe: “Ok I’ll order us some pizzas.”
Aubrey: “I’ll see you at home, love you, Chlo.”
Chloe: “Love you too Bree:”
*End Phone Call*
With a heavy sigh Chloe plops down on the couch and pulls her laptop closer so she can pull up the website of the local pizza place. She orders a large vegetarian for herself and Aubrey and a medium pepperoni for Beca. Now all that’s left to do is wait for Aubrey and or Beca to come home.
20 minutes later the apartment door swings open, and hurried footsteps enter the living room. Chloe turns in her seat but jumps up when she sees a worried looking Aubrey pacing behind her.
“Bree what’s going on? You’re worrying me.”
The blonde stops in her tracks. “She had a day off Chloe. They have no idea where she can be. What if something happened to her?”
“Whoa Bree, take a deep breath. We’ll find her. Let’s call her one more time before we panic.” Chloe grabs her phone and dials the brunette’s number.
HEY THIS IS BECA MITCHELL. IF YOU HEAR THIS IT MEANS MY PHONE IS OFF. LEAVE A MESSAGE OR TEXT ME. I’LL CALL YOU BACK WHEN I CAN.
The redhead lets out a deep breath. “Hey Becs, can you give us a call when you get this? We uhm we’re kind of worried about you. Please?... We love you, bye.”
Aubrey rubs her temples and starts pacing again. “Why wouldn’t she tell us? Did we do something wrong?”
Chloe shakes her head. Not that her fiancée could see it. “I don’t know but I do know we have to find her. Where can she be?” The redhead wonders out loud.
“She isn’t at Residual Heat. Maybe she’s at the radio station? She still goes there from time to time, right? Or m-” The doorbell makes Aubrey stop talking and both girls run to the door and yank it open, scaring the pizza delivery boy.
“P-pizza for Chloe Beale?”
The redhead lifts her hand and nods. “That’s me, sorry for scaring you.”
The young boy hands over the pizza and shakes his head. “That’s ok, it would be my reaction if I had ordered pizza.”
The joke was extremely lame but just for the heck of it and because they felt sorry for the boy both girls laugh.
“Anyway, I’m going to let you two ladies to it. Have a nice evening.” With an awkward wave the boy disappears down the staircase.
“We’re not going to eat this now, right? I mean I we must find Beca. I don’t think I could even eat without knowing where Beca is.”
Chloe agrees and runs to the kitchen and returns a minute later. “Let’s go, she can’t have gone far.”
Aubrey hums lightly. “So, we can go to the radio station first and ask Luke if he has seen or heard from Beca.”
The two girls get ready and take off towards the radio station in the blonde’s car. It’s a short drive filled with tension and concern. They don’t hesitate to jump out of the car and run into the radio station.
“Luke? Luke!”
The tall British man walks out of the booth with a confused frown.
“Chloe? Aubrey? What’s wrong?” He asks seeing the scared expressions on his best DJ’s fiancées faces.
“Have you seen Beca?”
Luke shakes his head. “I’m sorry girls. I haven’t seen DJ Becky since before summer. She drops off some mixes in the mailbox, but I haven’t seen her, sorry.”
Chloe rolls at the nickname the man has for her tiny brunette.
“Do you know where she might be?” Aubrey asks running her fingers through her hair.
“I have no idea, Aubrey. Have you tried calling her?”
Once again Chloe rolls her eyes. “Do you really think we would be standing here if we had been able to reach her?” The redhead immediately regrets snapping at the blonde. “I’m sorry Luke. I’m just worried.”
The man puts his hand on the redhead’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I understand. If I hear from her or see her, I’ll give you a call. But I do have to get back to the radio.”
“Yes, no, of course. Thank you, Luke. We really appreciate it.” Luke smiles at Aubrey and holds the door open so the girls can step outside.
“I hope you find her. But remember, she loves both you. You know how she gets when something freaks her out, maybe she just needs a moment to herself.”
The girls nod, knowing that Luke is probably right.
Aubrey and Chloe are leaning against the car trying to figure out where Beca could be.
“It’s Friday, right?”
Chloe nods in agreement.
“Doesn’t Beca go to her dad’s once a month?”
The redhead pushes herself of off the car and turns to face her fiancée. “You might be on to something. Let’s go!”
Aubrey chuckles as she watches the redhead scramble into the car. She quickly follows because she’s just as eager to find their brunette.
Thank God Dr Mitchell lives 10 minutes away from the radio station. And again, when they reach the house, they jump out of the car and rush towards the door. Aubrey is the first one to reach and rings the doorbell. They have to wait a few minutes before the door opens. When it finally does, they are met with a frown.
“What are you doing here?” Dr Mitchell’s voice is low, gruff and for some reason angry.
“We’re sorry to bother you so late this evening but we were wondering if you had seen Beca?” Aubrey asks carefully.
“Why should I have seen her? I haven’t spoken to her in almost 3 years. And to be franc I don’t want to see you either. So, I’d really appreciate it if you’d leave my property.” Beca’s father starts closing the door, but Chloe stops it with her foot.
“What do you mean you haven’t spoken to her in almost 3 years? She’s your daughter how could you not talk to her?”
Dr Mitchell snorts. “The minute she decided to be a lesbian dating not 1 but 2 dykes she stopped being my daughter.”
Both girl’s jaws drop. Did they just hear their fiancées father say that?
“What?” Aubrey breathes out angrily.
“You heard me and now I’d really appreciate it if you’d leave. If you don’t, I will call the cops.” With that the door slams in their faces and leaves them both baffled.
“What else has Beca not told us?” Aubrey questions out loud while they make their way back to the car.
“I-I don’t know but we have so much to talk about. How did we not notice this sooner?”
The blonde groans. “I don’t know but hearing this it makes me even more worried about her. What if she-“
“No! Don’t even dare to finish that sentence, Aubrey. She’s totally fine. We’re going to find her, and everything is going to be fine. We only have to find a place where she feels comfortable, a place that means a lo-… I know where she is.”
Aubrey cocks her head to the side with a puzzled expression. Then it hits her. “The pool!”
Aubrey turns on the engine and speeds off towards the campus. To the one place that means a lot to the three of them. The place where Beca really became a Bella, the place where they realized they fell in love. The pool had always been the brunette’s safe place. Whenever she has a bad day, she will sit down by the pool and collect her thoughts. How didn’t they think about it sooner?
They reach the spot and park a bit further away not to spook the brunette. They run towards the pool and find Beca sitting on the bottom of it.
“Beca!” Aubrey mentally face-palms herself for screaming. The next set of movements from the brunette are totally expected.
Beca shoots up and runs towards the nearest stairs to climb up, but Aubrey and Chloe saw it coming so they ambush her at the top.
“Beca please we need to talk.”
The brunette stops at the top and lets herself be pulled up by her fiancées.
“W-What are you guys doing here?” She takes a step back.
“Beca?” Chloe tries to step closer which makes the brunette take a few more steps back.
“Becs please you have to talk to us.” Aubrey pleads gently.
“There’s nothing to talk about, I’m fine.”
“No Beca you don’t get to do this. We have to talk about this… all of it.”
The brunette raises her brows in confusion.
“We know about your dad.” Chloe says taking another step closer and closer until she can wrap her fiancée in her arms.
“H-How do you know about that?”
Aubrey also steps closer and puts her arms around both girls.
The quiet sobs coming from their tiny brunette makes them pull away slightly to look at her.
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
Beca breaks free, runs her fingers through her hair with a huff trying to contain her sobs before sitting down on the edge of the pool.
“Fine, let me tell you what happened but it has nothing to with… this.” Beca motions between the three of them.
Aubrey and Chloe share a look but don’t say anything. They wait for the brunette to tell them in her own pace.
*Flashback*
Life couldn’t have been better for Beca now. She’s dating the two most beautiful women in the world. She has the greatest friends in the world.
The three of them had told the Bellas about their relationship and they are all totally cool with it. So, the next step was probably to tell her father. It was going to be hard, but it had to be done.
That’s how she finds herself at her father’s door at 7 pm on a Friday. Her father was supposed to be home so at least she didn’t have to come back another day. She knocks on the door and a few minutes later the door swings open to reveal her father.
“Beca how nice of you to swing by. Come on in, I was just about to make some tea.”
Beca rolls her eyes but enters the house anyway.
They go into the kitchen and the brunette takes a seat at the kitchen island.
“So, what brings you here? I mean you never come over, except if I invite you over explicitly.”
The look on Beca’s face shows Ben that he shouldn’t joke. “Ok, I’m going to pretend you just didn’t say that… I’m here because I need to talk to you.”
Ben sits down opposite his daughter. “What’s going on?”
Beca takes a deep breath and casts her eyes down. Too scared to look her father in the eyes. “Uhm yeah so uhm you know that uhm… I’m in a relationship.”
Ben claps his hands together in excitement. “That’s great, who’s the lucky guy? Is it that boy in the acapella group? What’s his name? Jesse.”
Beca shakes her head.” Uh no it’s not Jesse it’s… uhm it’s not a guy really. It’s a girl uhm two.”
Beca still doesn’t dare to look up and the silence is too painful. So, she finally finds the courage to look up. When she does, she wished she didn’t. The look on her father’s face is something that she hoped to never see. The anger and disappointment are too heavy for her to handle but she can’t look away. “D-dad? Say something? Please?”
“Get… out.” The words are more of a hiss through gritted teeth than actual words.
“W-what?”
Dr Mitchell gets up from his seat and turns away from his daughter. “I said, get out.” The words are more clear but not less painful.
“Dad?”
Ben holds up his hand to silence Beca. “Get out, I will not have a filthy dyke in my house. I never want to see you again. From now on I do not have a daughter anymore.”
Beca freezes on the spot.
“Now!” The loud voice coming from the man she once called her father, the man that left her all those years ago and forced her to open and tried to be close to her now scares her.
“No, he doesn’t just scare her, he terrifies her.”
Before anything else can be said or done she bolts out of the room. Running as fast as she can to a place where she feels safe. A place where she can collect her thoughts. The only place that can really do that for her is the riff off pool. The one thing she can’t do is tell her girlfriends. No matter what happens they can’t find out.
*End Flashback*
Beca is slowly rocking herself and her two fiancées at the edge of the pool.
The two other girls silently listened to her story.
Aubrey is the first to speak up and ask the second question that really needs answering. “What happened today?”
Beca takes a deep breath. “When I woke up this morning, I couldn’t believe how lucky I was. Waking up next to both of you still makes my heartbeat faster every day. Even if we’ve been together for 3 years. It scared me that one day you both would realize that I’m not worth it and you’d… leave.”
“Beca, babe we love you. We will never leave you.” Chloe whispers.
“That’s what you say now. My dad said the same thing to my mom but still left. Now he’s remarried and has a 3-year-old daughter. I saw them walking at the park this morning. When they saw me, he just glared at me and pulled the little girl away from me. I really hope he doesn’t screw up with her. I hope I don’t screw up one day. I want to be worthy of you.”
Chloe pulls the brunette in as tight as she can, hiding her tear-stained face in her neck.
Aubrey follows the motion. The three of them stay like that for God knows how long but at some point Beca feels Aubrey shiver so she breaks the hug and puts her jacket around the blonde’s shoulders. She does the same thing with her sweater and gives it to Chloe. The two women laugh at the brunette’s actions which only confuses her.
“What?” She asks with a raised brow.
“You’re telling us how you think you’re not worth it but we’re the ones that should be worried.” Aubrey answers with a nervous chuckle.
“She’s right. You cook almost every day, even when you’re tired. You come and pick us up when we need you without a complaint. Everything you do, you think about us first.”
“You’re the best fiancée in the world and we’re lucky to have you.”
Beca smiles with tears in her eyes.
“We actually wanted to give you this on your birthday but maybe now is a better time.”
Chloe reaches into her jeans pocket and takes out a ring. Beca had been so focused on the redhead that she didn’t notice Aubrey standing up and moving to kneel next to the redhead.
“We never gave you a ring and it didn’t feel right. You might have proposed to us, but we wanted to propose to you too. So Beca Cooke Mitchell will you do us the honor of becoming our wife?”
The brunette nods her head yes as fast as she can. There’s no stopping the tears now. Aubrey and Chloe slide the ring on Beca’s finger together.
“Babe, I’ll need you to actually say something.” Aubrey jokes her own tears slipping past her cheeks.
“Oh God, I do, of course I do! I love you both so much!” Beca pulls both her girls into a hug before showering them with kisses.
“How about we go home, and I cook us some celebratory dinner? I’m going to assume you didn’t cook, right?”
The cheeky grins tell Beca enough.
“We didn’t cook but I know how to order a mean pizza though.”
Beca gets up and holds out her hands to pull the other two up.
They make their way to the car, hand in hand with Beca in the middle. Aubrey and Chloe made a silent promise to themselves that from now on they would show Beca how much they love her more often. They would defiantly start from today; they have another engagement to celebrate.