Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: A New Assignment 

Everyone in this business dreaded the day they would receive that visit. No one ever knew if or when it would happen but when it did, your entire world was flipped upside down. How does one move on from something like that? It's like your whole world stops the second you open that front door and see two people standing, in full dress blues at your front door. You've never seen them before, but you already know exactly why they're there. Your brain might not accept it at first but in your heart of hearts you know. You know.

To those in the Army, they're known as the Messengers. No one wants to be them but those that are take it with the upmost respect and reverence. Many would argue that being a Messenger is the hardest job in the United States Army.

Living on Base is also incredibly difficult because you can't not see them coming. Your heart stops as you wait to see which house they will walk up to, and secretly you're praying it's not yours.

The reactions from each visit varies, but the Messenger's have one rule, you do not touch the N.O.K under any circumstances. It may seem heartless to some but it's just to protect all those involved.

Even though everyone knows the saying, don't kill the messenger, it's hard to not blame them. To wish they had made a mistake, that they had gone to the wrong address, or read the name wrong. It was easy to wish that it was all just one massive screwup, but in the end it never was. When the Messengers were at your door, they were there for you.

xxxMessengersxxx

"Staff Sargent Beca Mitchell reporting for duty, sir." The small but stern looking soldier introduced herself with a swift solute to her commanding officer.

"Take a seat, Sargent." The man commanded and Beca followed suit. She sat stone faced and waited for the Colonel to explain why she was there.

He didn't say anything or even look up from his pile of paper for at least a solid 5 minutes. She looked down at the watch on her left wrist and couldn't help but wonder how long they were going to be sitting in there.

"Do you have somewhere to be Staff Sargent?" Colonel Luke Sayvill asked, looking up to the young brunette for the first time.

"No sir," Beca says automatically.

"How is your recovery going?" Colonel Sayvill asked.

"It's going well, sir." Beca kept her response short, not really wanting to talk about it.

"Do you know why you're here?" he asked as he closed the folder on his desk.

"Yes, sir." She sharply nodded.

"So you know that since you have 5 more months before your mandatory service is up we are here to talk about what your new post will be." Sayvill watched Beca closely. It was no secret to him that she wanted to go back overseas, to be with her team. The incident that landed Mitchell in a German hospital for 3 months had halted her ability to go back out into the field. Still recovering from the burn wounds on her back and thigh, as well as the bullet wounds to her shoulder, lower abdomen, and right ankle kept her from being able to be sent back. However, she refused to allow them to discharge her early. She explained that she promised 6 years and she was going to fulfill them. "The decision has been made to put you in The Casualty Notification Unit."

Beca felt her heart fall into her stomach. She was going to be a Messenger? "Sir…"

"Mitchell, we need you. It's not an ideal position for a combat soldier but I have no doubt that you will fulfil this duty with the upmost reverence and respect." Sayvill countered before Beca could ask for permission to protest. He could see the displeasure on the hero's face. "Look, I know this won't be easy but it's either this or we give you your honorable discharge. Your choice."

This was new. In the United States Army there was very rarely moments when your commanding officer gave you a choice. Beca didn't quite know what to do with this.

"Sir, if I may?" Beca stopped and waited for his permission.

"Yes or no?" He asked not bothering to hear her out. This wasn't that surprising to Beca.

She thought for a moment. She knew how hard the job of a Messenger was. The thought of having to be the person to tell someone there son or daughter had been killed.. Jesus Christ, how could she do that for six months? But what would she do if she was discharged? The only option she had was to move back in with her dad and she sure as hell wasn't doing that…

"Yes." Beca finally answered. Colonel Sayvill didn't say anything but Beca could tell that he was pleased with her answer.

"You will be working with Captain C.R. Adams." He explained.

Beca knew of Adams. She had been overseas with her during Beca's first tour. She didn't know the Captain well but knew that she was an exceptional officer.

"Here is a pager, keep it on your person at all times." He explained. "Until then go home, study this." he threw a black binder on the table. "And Adams will be in contact with you."

"Thank you, sir." Beca took the binder.

"You're dismissed Sargent." They both stood and saluted each other before Beca made her way out of the office, limping.

Beca got to her beat up old car and headed for her small one-bedroom house on the base. Most singles didn't have houses on base but due to the injuries Beca sustained they allowed her to have a place there.

Throwing her keys on the kitchen counter, she made her way over and pulled a beer out of the fridge. She settled in the small living room and checked the answering machine for her landline phone. She saw a big red two displayed on the screen so she pushed the play button and sat back.

"Hey Becs, it's your old man just calling to check on you. Sheila and I would love to have you over for dinner whenever you're free. I know you had a visit with your CO today, give me a call back and let me know how it went. Love you, kiddo."

Beca couldn't help but scoff at his message. Her dad hated the fact that she joined the Army right out of High School. He told her that she was just throwing her life away and that she could help people in the states without getting shot at. Beca told him there was so much more to it than that. He never understood and he all but threw it in her face when she returned to Georgia from the hospital in Germany.

Beca pushed a button on the phone and heard the distinct. "Message deleted. Next message."

"Mitchell, hey. I heard you were back on Base. How are you doing? Listen, some of the guys are headed over to the bar for some drinks tonight, you should join us. By the way this is Jesse in case you forgot about me while kicking ass. Hope to hear from you soon." Jesse Swanson. Jesse was Beca's best friend all through basic training, and their first tours in Iraq. He was a medic and after serving his first tour they assigned him to the Clinic just off base. He had been there ever since. Beca however had gone back over three more times since then. She should still be over there…"

Just then the phone began to ring again. Beca looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Warren Mitchell, her father.

Deciding she didn't have enough energy to deal with her father she set her beer down and opened the binder Sayvill had given her.

"Jesus, this is a lot of words…" Beca mumbled to herself as she saw the pages that had to have at least point 8 size font….

Suddenly having no motivation, Beca closed the binder and threw it to the other side of the couch. She decided that she would go to the bar with Jesse and the other medics after all.

Xxxmessengersxxx

"Shit, they assigned you to Messenger duty?" Jesse gaped at the news that Beca had just shared with him.

"Yeah, Sayvill said that he was sure I would 'fulfill this duty with the upmost reverence and respect' or whatever… Yeah how could you not? You're going to people and delivering the worst news they will ever receive." Beca explained as she took another drink of her beer.

"Damn, I don't know what to say." Jesse looked over to his friend. She had been through hell and back these last few years and the fact that they were forcing her to end her service by delivering that crushing blow, it just seemed cold.

"Do my eye deceive me or is that Staff Sargent Beca Mitchell?" Someone from behind Beca asked.

The young brunette turned around to find the source of the voice and smiled brightly.

"Hey," Beca smiles as she goes over to greet the stranger. "Long time no see Dr. Conrad."

Dr. Conrad was beautiful, like super model beautiful. She was all legs, boobs, and brains. She's by far the smartest person Beca has ever known.

"We've been over this, you're supposed to call me Stacie." The Doctor replied as she pulled an unwilling Beca into a tight hug. Beca winced at the pain but it seemed to go unnoticed to the taller brunette, however it did not go unnoticed by Jesse.

Finally, Stacie released her and the doctor went around and said her hello's to everyone, while Beca tried to steady herself and breathe through the pain.

"You okay?" Jesse asked in a hushed voice, trying not to draw attention to them.

"I'm fine." Beca lied. She was worried that she might have pulled her stitches or something.

"Do you want me to take a look? Or Stacie?" Jesse asked, concern written all over his face.

"Jess, I'm fine." Beca reiterated with a much more convincing tone this time. "I'm just sore. That happens when you get shot at and blown up."

Beca put the conversation to an end by walking back over to the bar to get another beer. She didn't notice that Jesse was carefully watching her every move. She was pushing herself way too much and he was worried about it.

"Hey, can I get another one?" Beca asked as she got the bar tenders attention.

"Sure thing." He said before walking away.

As Beca was waiting Jesse came up to her side. "You're bleeding, Mitchell."

Beca looked down to see the blood starting to seep through her shirt. "Shit." She muttered under her breath.

"Come on, let's go clean you up before it get's worse." Jesse started to more towards the exit but Beca stopped him.

"Just have Stacie meet me in the women's bathroom." She said as she made her way in the opposite direction.

Once she knew she was alone in the bathroom she lifted her shirt to revile the mess that was her body. The war sure had taken a toll on her physically, and mentally but she sure as hell didn't talk about that.

"Fuck." Beca muttered as she saw where the bleeding was coming from.

Just then the door opened and assuming it was Stacie Beca didn't even bother to hide her injuries.

"Stace, this is a fucking mess…" Beca began, but stopped when she turned around to see that it was not Stacie after all. She was tall, blonde, and had the resting bitch face mastered. Beca quickly pulled her shirt down to cover up what the woman had certainly already seen.

"Are you okay?" She asked Beca, seeming to be genuinely concerned.

"Fine, sorry about that." Beca says. "I was expecting one of my friends."

"I caught as much." The blonde replied and then pointed out. "You're bleeding."

Thanks Captain obvious… Beca thought to herself. But before she could reply the door opened again and in walked Stacie.

"Shit, Mitchell. You should have told me how bad it was." Stacie walked through completely ignoring the blonde that was still standing there, staring down at Beca.

"I mean I know you got shot but Jesus…"

"Conrad!" Beca snapped. She didn't want to go around parading the fact that she failed at her job. She didn't need her friends doing it either. "Can you just shut up and look at this?"

"Yeah, of course B." Stacie had put a small medical bag on the counter that she had retrieved from her car and opened it. "Can you lift your shirt?"

Beca did as she was asked but felt rather uncomfortable as the blonde just stood and watched. Beca wanted to snap at her, tell her to get out or go into a stall or something. But she couldn't, she didn't.

Stacie cursed under her breath as she removed the gauze from the offending wound. Beca's also certain she heard Stacie ask. "What the hell happened to you?" But wasn't sure because of all the noise in her head.

After a few moments, Stacie was able to stop the bleeding, clean her up, and put on a fresh set of gauzes.

Beca pulled down her shirt and frowned at the blood stain.

"Beca, you should probably head home. Do you want me to take you back to base?" Stacie asked. If the Doctor had noticed the blonde, she didn't show any signs of that, but finally Beca snapped and turned on the stranger.

"Did you enjoy the show?" Beca asked harshly. "Why are you still standing there?"

"Beca! This is Aubrey Posen, she's in training at the clinic, I thought it would be good to see this." Stacie explained. "There's no need to be bitchy about it. I'm sorry, I thought she would have introduced herself or something."

Stacie looked at Aubrey for the first time and gave her a questioning look.

"Oh, so now I'm just your own personal show and tell?" Beca snapped at her friend.

"Mitchell, chill out. That's not what I said." Stacie said with a laugh. "I asked her to come in here to make sure you were okay, while I went out to get my bag. I didn't know what was going on so I wanted to make sure I wouldn't find you passed out on the floor by the time I got in here."

Beca knew she had been overreaching. This whole thing was just difficult for her. She already felt like she was being gawked at, she didn't want it from her friends too.

"Shit, I'm sorry." Beca looked over to Aubrey. "I'm sorry, really. I didn't know."

Aubrey just shrugged her shoulders. "So how did it happen?"

Beca looked down at the floor, she hated this question. "I don't talk about it."

"Whatever." Aubrey said.

"Hey, you can head back out and enjoy the rest of your night." Stacie informed the blonde.

Without a word she was out of the bathroom and it was just Stacie and Beca.

"Beca?" Stacie asked to get the shorter girls attention. Beca finally looked up and Stacie could see the pain in her eyes. This wasn't physical, this was emotional pain.

"Do you want me to take you home?"

"Yeah." Beca nodded. Jesse had picked her up at her place so she didn't have a car here and she knew that Jesse would want to stay longer so she gratefully accepted the ride.

As they pulled up to Beca's small house, more like shed, Stacie turned to Beca. "look, if you ever need to talk…"

"I'm fine, honestly." Beca interrupted. "It's just been a long ass day, that's all." Beca tried to explain but Stacie couldn't help but wonder who Beca was really trying to convince.

"If you say so." Stacie backed off. "See you later."

"Bye Doc." Beca sent her friend a smile before exiting the car and walking into the house.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Picking Up Bella

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Beca shot up from her bed covered in sweat and reaching for a gun that wasn’t there. She frantically looked around the room trying to figure out what the hell was going on…

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Waking up more she realized the sound was coming from her front door. She moved to the door and opened it.

"What?" Beca asked before seeing who it was.

"Wow, that's a wonderful way to say hello." Her father said.

"Dad, what are you doing here? How did you even get on Post?" Beca asked. She was trying to not be so pissed off but he can't just show up like this.

"Can I come in?" Warren asks.

Beca looked at him with a confused look but none the less she stepped aside and allowed him to enter. He walked into the house and looked around, as if he was judging the place.

Beca closed the door and walked in after him.

"So, this is where you decided to live instead of with Sheila, Emily, and I?" Warren asked taking in everything he could of the small house.

Here we go… Beca thought to herself.

She took a quick glance at the clock to see that it was 8:00. She had an hour before she needed to be down to the clinic for PT.

"Dad, as much as I'd like to argue with you about my living arrangements, I have to go." Beca said as she made her way into her room.

She threw on her gray ARMY shirt and some shorts before pulling her hair up into a messy bun. She came back out to see her dad looking at the only picture Beca had put up in the house. It was taken two days before the incident… It was of her and her guys, as she called them. They were all smiling, some were even laughing as they looked into the camera.

"Is this them?" Warren asked as he turned to his daughter. He looked down and saw the bandage wrapped around her leg that was in full view now.

"My men? Yeah." Beca said as she went over and got her bag ready.

"Where are you going?" He asked as he walked over by her side, but still leaving a bit of distance between them.

"I have PT at 9." Beca said not bothering to look up. "You would know that if you had called first."

Warren let out a sharp laugh before heading over towards the answering machine and pushed play.

"Hey, Becs it's dad again. I'm going to be over near the post tomorrow morning. I'm thinking of stopping by. Just give me a call to let me know if you’re busy. If I don't hear from you I'll just assume I'm good to come over. Love ya."

"You were saying?" Warren smirked.

"Dad, I'm like never here. I don't really check that thing anyway." Beca explained.

Her dad continued to walk around the room until his eyes landed on a black binder that lay on her couch. He picked it up and read the cover. Beca however hadn't even noticed. She was too busy trying to ignore him.

"Casualty Notification Unit." Warren read aloud causing Beca to look over at him. "Why do you have this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Beca asked as she walked over and took the binder out of his hand and placed it on the coffee table. "Dad, why are you here?"

"Because I wanted to make sure you were okay." Warren explained. "You weren't answering your phone and I was worried that something might have happened to you. This wouldn't be a problem if you had just come to live with us."

"You're too far from post, dad. Plus, you and Sheila already have Emily to look after, do you really want me there?" Beca pointed out. These were things she had already explained to her father, but it always seemed to fall on deaf ears. "Look, I appreciate that you were willing to let me stay with you, but I'm almost 24, I can take care of myself."

"Clearly. That’s why you’re standing here with me and not there with them!” He pointed at the picture that was now across the room from them.

As his words sank in Beca felt the rage in her begin to rise. She knew he didn't understand, he had never really tried to anyway, but his words hit a little too close to her insecurities for her to let it slide.

"Jesus Christ, it's not like I intended to get shot at!" Beca screamed out, not bothering to hide her true feelings anymore.

"No Beca, you didn't get shot at, you got shot!" He yelled back. "You fucking got shot and then they tried to blow off your leg, yet you're practically begging to go back there!"

"Look, I know you don't understand loyalty," Sure, it was a low blow and Beca knew it, but she didn't care. "But the men in that picture right there, they are my family and I promised them that I would be with them for 18 months. I'm not there! And because of that one of those men is now in a fucking body bag on his way back to the States as we speak. So please, don't ever talk to me about what's happened to me. I should still be there!"

Benji had been killed in the time that Beca had her incident and wasn't there. When she found out the news of his death, it really broke her.

"You can't save everyone, Rebecca." Warren said in a much calmer tone.

"I can’t save anyone being here! Jesus, how do you not understand that?" Beca stated. She took in a deep breath. "You need to go."

Warren opened his mouth to say something but stopped as he saw the look in his daughters' eyes.

"Okay," He surrendered. "Come to dinner next week, Emily wants to see you."

"I'll think about it." Beca says as she walks her dad to the door.

"Goodbye, Becs." He said, not even trying to initiate any kind of physical contact.

"Bye." Beca said before closing the door. She leaned her back on it and tried to take in a few steady breaths. This would be one of those moments where she would have gone running to ease the tension, but she couldn't do that, not with her damn leg in the shape that it was in.

"Pull yourself together." Beca commanded herself. She went over and grabbed her duffle bag then made her way out the door.

xxMessengerxx

While Beca made her way through the halls of the clinic she smiled as she saw Stacie standing at the end of the hall. Stacie met her eye and started walking towards the soldier.

"Hey, Mitchell." Stacie called.

"Hey Doc." Beca said as she stopped in front of her.

"Are you here for PT?" Stacie asked noticing Beca's attire.

"Yeah, just finished actually." Beca explained.

"Hey, I was actually going to call you later, would you be able to pick up Bella from school today?" Stacie asked. Bella was Stacie's seven year old daughter and Beca's goddaughter.

"Yeah, of course." Beca smiled. "What room number is she in?"

"21. She should get out at around 3:10ish. I'm usually there by 3." Because Beca wasn't immediate family she would have to go directly to the classroom to pick Bella up instead of just meeting her outside.

"Great. Is it cool with you if I take her out for a snack?" Beca asked. She missed Bella after having not really seen her in the last year or so.

"Yeah, of course." Stacie agreed. "I get off at 5, so can she hang with you until then?"

"No, I'm going to kick your kid to the curb the second I get her all sugared up." Beca smirked.

"Watch it Mitchell." Stacie gave her a stern look that cracked a few seconds later into a smile. "Thank you."

"No problem." Beca smiled.

The two friends bid their goodbyes before Beca made her way out of the clinic and back to her car. She needed to get some shopping done and a few other things and she figured she had plenty of time to do that before picking up her goddaughter.

3:10pm Barden Elementary 

Beca limped through the doors of the Elementary school and down the hall towards room 21. She had to dodge a bunch of tiny humans but was able to finally reach her destination. The door was open and she immediately spotted Bella. Bella spotted her just as quickly because she was on her feet and rushing towards the Sergeant.

"Aunt Beca!" The little girl screamed, causing Beca to smile brightly. She bent down and braced herself for the little rocket.

"Hey Bells." Beca smiled as she hugged the little girl.

"Do I get to go to the post with you?" Bella asked.

"You sure do, I just need to sign something for your teacher then we can go." Beca explained. She stood up, with the help of the door frame and walked over to the teacher's desk were a beautiful redhead was sitting talking to one of her students.

"Hold that thought." The redhead said to the student and looked up to Beca. "Hi, you're here to pick up Bella, right?"

"Um.." Beca suddenly forgot how to speak. "uh yeah, Bella. Right."

The teacher laughed and pulled out a paper from her desk.

"Great, just sign this and you'll be all ready to go." She smiled brightly.

Beca took the paper and signed her name and contact information. She handed the paper back to the teacher.

"Woah… are you really in the army?" The kid that was standing by the teachers desk asked.

Beca had changed back into her uniform a few hours ago because she had to take care of some paperwork on post but hadn't had the time to change back. "I am."

"Aunt Becs is a Staff something…" Bella said proudly which caused Beca to laugh.

"Bells, I'm a Staff Sergeant." Beca explained to her goddaughter with a smile.

"Mommy says that Aunt Beca just got back from kicking the bad guys asses." Bella explained very matter-of-factly, but her choice of words caused both adults eyes to widen.

"Hey, Bella we don't use words like that." Beca tried to reprimand her but felt like a giant hypocrite.

"What? Mommy says it all the time!" Bella defended herself.

"Well your mom needs to watch what she says around you. Plus, that's what we call an adult word, and it's not okay for you to use it." Beca says, sending the teacher an apologetic look

"But it's true, isn't it?" Bella asked Beca. She had a very serious look on her face as if the fate of the world rested on Beca's answer.

"Yeah, I guess." Beca said trying to get the conversation to drop.

"How long have you been home?" Ms. Beale asked. At least Beca assumed that this was Ms. Beale.

"I flew into Atlanta a few weeks ago but got back to Barden last week." Beca explained. She had stayed with her dad and his family for the first week, since the doctors wouldn't let Beca be alone yet.

"Well, thank you for your service, Sergeant." Red smiled brightly.

"It's just Beca." She smiled back. "I didn't catch your name?"

"Chloe, Chloe Beale." Chloe put her hand out and Beca took it in a light shake.

"It's nice to meet you Ms. Beale." Beca explained.

"Please call me Chloe."

"Alright then, Chloe it is." Beca and Chloe looked into each others eyes and seemed to get lost in each other.

"Aunt Beca, can we go get ice cream?" Bella asked breaking the moment.

"What?" Beca asked breaking the eye contact.

"Can we get ice cream?" Bella asked again.

"Um yeah, sure." Beca smiled. "Come on go get your bag."

Bella ran off and Beca looked back over to her teacher. "It was nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Chloe smiled brightly.

Beca and Bella made their way out of the classroom, both unaware that a certain red head was still watching them, her bright blue eyes never leaving the young solders back until they were out of sight.

Chloe knew that Staff Sergeant Beca Mitchell was going to change her life forever.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Day With Bella

Chloe’s POV

Chloe just sent the last kid out the door of her classroom and sat back in her chair with a sigh. She loved teaching but sometimes it was exhausting. She looked over at the clock to see that it was 3:40. She needed to clean up in her room and grab papers to grade at home, but then she was free for the rest of the night. 

As she started to clean up the room, she notices a lunch box sitting by the side of Bella Conrad’s chair. This triggered the memory of the young soldier that had come and picked her up. Just as she was about to move it into the girls cubbyhole the door to her classroom opened. 

Chloe turned to see the very Soldier she was just thinking about standing there. 

“Hi, I’m so sorry but Bella thinks she left her lunch box?” Beca explains.

“Is this it?” Chloe asks holding up the box.

Beca smiled. “It is.” 

Chloe walked over to her and handed it over. 

“Thank you. The kid would have been upset if she didn’t have her Flynn Rider lunch box tomorrow.” Beca explains as she looks at the cartoon decorated box. 

“It would have been a disaster for sure.” Chloe agreed with a smile and they both laughed. 

Beca looked into her eyes. “You have a beautiful laugh.” She observed. 

Chloe blushed at the compliment and smiled brightly. “Thank you, Beca.” 

Chloe looked down at the floor before looking back up into stormy blue eyes. “Beca?”

“Yeah?” She asked, looking back into Chloe’s eyes as well. 

“I think I’d like to get to know you better.” Chloe says boldly. This caused Beca to smile brightly. 

“I don’t know, I’m kind of a boring person.” Beca countered. 

“I doubt it.” 

Both women smiled at that. “I’d like that, Chloe.”

“Great, when are you free next?” Chloe asks wanting to plan things out before either woman had time to back out. 

“Um…” Beca thought and ran her hand through her hair. “How does Friday night sound?”

“Does 7 work?” Chloe asks. 

“Perfect.” Beca agrees. 

“Then it’s a date.” Chloe smiles again and Beca returns it. They both have stupid happy grins on their faces.

“It’s a date.” Beca repeated. “Can I get your number?” 

“Oh right,” Chloe laughed as she walked over to her desk to get her phone. “Put your number in and I’ll just call your phone.” 

Beca did as she was told and handed the phone back. 

“I’ll pick you up at 7?” Beca suggested. “Just text me your address?” 

“Perfect.” Chloe agreed. “I’ll see you Friday.” 

Beca nodded her head, and awkwardly turned to walk out. Just as she reached the door she turned. “Bye, Chloe.” 

“Bye, Beca.”

Later That Night

The best way to grade papers is with good music, a glass of wine, and Boston the Pomeranian snuggled up to your side. And that is exactly what was happening for Chloe. She had been grading math tests for an hour and was on the last one. Grading papers could be a really great or really bad experience. It was always hard to see her students struggle with whatever problem they were working on but it was equally as rewarding to see them succeed as well. 

As she wrote the score on the final paper, she picked up her glass and drained it of its last few sips. Boston lifted her head and looked at Chloe with curious eyes. 

“Ready for bed, girl?” Chloe asked and the dog began to wag her tail. “Come on then.” 

Chloe and Boston both made their way into the kitchen, where Chloe rinsed out her glass, then they wandered into the other part of her apartment where her bedroom and bathroom were. 

After washing her face and brushing her teeth, Chloe climbed into bed, with Boston curled up at her side. 

Chloe fell asleep that night thinking about how she couldn’t wait for Friday.

Beca’s POV

Beca and Bella were in the middle of a rather intense game of Uno. At this point whoever won this round would win the game and neither was ready to give up. 

Beca kept a straight face the whole time but could read Bella like a book, so she watched carefully with each color change. She got upset when it was red, but excited at blue. Luckly for Beca, she didn’t have any blues. 

The game went on for a little bit and Beca managed to keep it off blue for most of the game. She looked down at her last two remaining cards and smirked to herself. 

She lay down one, it was a wild and called for red, plus she called out her uno. 

Bella wasn’t as good at holding in her smirk. 

“Sorry, Aunt Becs.” She lay down a red skip card, while calling uno, then she put down her last card. It was a wild, draw 4. 

“WHAT!” Beca yelled. “You tricked me, you little rascal.” 

Bella was laughing so hard that she fell over. 

Beca stood up and ran over to Bella, she picked her up and swung her around. “You little…”

They both howled with laughter. Then Beca started to tickle the little girl. 

“Stahp…” Bella yelled as she twisted around, trying to get away from her aunt. 

Just then her foot connected with Beca’s side. 

“Augh!” Beca yelled out in pain. She instantly let go of Bella and fell to the ground. 

“Aunt Beca?” Bella looked over at her with a concerned look on her face. 

“Fuck…” Beca mumbled under her breath. She usually never swore around kids, but she couldn’t hold it in. 

“Are you okay?” Bella asked.

“I’m fine, kid.” Beca tried to give her a reassuring smile but didn’t quite accomplish that. Dark spots began to blacken her vision. Her hand was shaking as she placed it over the spot Bella kicked her. 

Beca didn’t hear the door open to her place but she realized that it must have because now Stacie was kneeling right next to her. 

“Beca? You alright?” Stacie asked her. She bent down and pulled up the end of Beca’s shirt to take a look. “What happened.”

“Nothing, just got the wind knocked out of me, that’s all.” Beca explained. 

“Mommy, is she okay?” Bella asked. The little girl sounded like she was on the verge of tears. 

“Hey, come here, Bells.” Beca sat up, ignoring the pain from her burn. “Your Aunt Beca is just fine.”

“Becs, I need to take you to the clinic. Your stitches are destroyed.” Stacie explained. 

“I did that good, did I?” Beca asked with a laugh. “I guess no more rough housing.” 

She gave Bella a smile and a wink. 

“Alright, let’s get your aunt in the car.” Stacie stood up and put her hand out for Beca. She struggled to stand but finally made it up. The pain that instantly came almost knocked the soldier to the ground again, Stacie was there to help her. 

“I got you.” Stacie promised as they made their way out the door and into the car outside. 

It was a few hours later that Beca, Stacie, and Bella were walking out of the Urgent Care Clinic. 

“Thanks, Stace.” Beca stated. She was so damn frustrated with herself. She couldn’t believe she couldn’t even play with her God-Daughter anymore without her injuries causing problems. 

“Of course!” Stacie looked over at her friend and smiled. 

“Aunt Becs?” Came Bella’s voice from the back of the car. Beca turned her head a little so she could look back at her. 

“What’s up kid?” Beca asked with a smile.

“I’m sorry I hurt you…” Bella’s eyes glistened with tears and her voice shook with emotions. This was enough to completely obliterate Beca’s heart. 

“Hey, Bells, look at me.” Beca stated. Once the girls brown eyes connected with her own, Beca didn’t break eye contact. She needed Bella to hear her, to know that she meant ever word. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t hurt me. I’m just fine thanks to you and your mom.”

“Are you sure?” Bella asked. 

“I’m positive, kid.” Beca smiled at her. 

Bella seemed to accept her answer and brushed the tears from her eyes.  She let out a yawn. 

“You tired, kid?” Beca asked with a smirk. 

“No…” Bella tried to say but it was broken up by another yawn. Both Stacie and Beca laughed. 

“It is way past your bedtime.” Stacie stated, looking at the clock. It was nearly 9:30 and they still had about a half hour before they’d be home, due to dropping Beca off back on Post. “Try to sleep, okay?” 

Bella looked like she wanted to protest again, and say she wasn’t tired but must have thought better of it and just nodded her head at her mom. 

Beca and Stacie both looked straight ahead and listened to the soft music that flowed through the stereo. It wasn’t long before both women smiled as they heard the heavy breathing coming from the back seat, indicating that Bella had fallen asleep. 

Just a few moments later Stacie was pulling up to Post. She showed her ID and was let through.

Stacie navigated the streets with ease before pulling into Beca’s driveway.  

“Thanks again, Stacie.” Stacie smiled at her friend. 

“Call me if you need anything!” Stacie explained. “I’m serious and be careful!”

“Yes mom,” Beca said with a roll of her eyes. She closed the door to the car and made her way up to the door of her house. She walked in and placed the keys down. She looked over at the mess of cards all over the floor and saw the small stair of blood where Beca had been sitting. 

“Shit…” Beca thought. She really needed to get that out before inspections. She thought about cleaning it but decided that she would work on it in the morning and went to bed. 

The Next Day 

Chloe’s POV

The next day of school had gone smoothly. All the kids were really well behaved and they had even earned an extra recess for the day. 

It was during that extra recess that Bella Conrad came up to her. 

“Ms. B?” Bella asked.

Chloe turned and smiled at the little girl. “Yes, Bella?” 

“Did my mommy say if Aunt Beca was picking me up again today?” Bella asked. The mention of Beca made Chloe’s heart skip a beat. 

“She actually didn’t, so I think your mom is picking you up today.” Chloe explained. 

“Oh. Okay.” Bella nodded her head. “Can I tell you something?” 

The look on the little girls face told Chloe that there was something troubling the little girl. “Of course! You can always talk to me about anything, Bella.” 

“I… I think I hurt Aunt Bec…” The little girls eyes began to water with tears and seeing her like that broke Chloe’s heart. She squatted down to eye level with Bella and took the girls hand in her own. 

“Bella, honey, I’m sure even if you did it was an accident.” Chloe tried to sooth the little girl. “I’m sure your Aunt Beca is just fine.” 

“We were just playing and I don’t know what happened but she started crying…” Bella continued. “I think she was hurt and I did it…” Bella took a deep breath. “You know that red stuff… that comes when you get hurt by paper?” 

Chloe nodded. “Blood?” 

Bella nodded in response. “It was all over… Mommy came and had to take Bec to the hosital.” Chloe could see the worry in the little girls face as the tears began to fall. “She told her that she broke something…”

Chloe tried not to show her shock and just listened to the little girl. 

“Something happened to her when she left for a long time, didn’t it?” Bella finally asked. Chloe assumed she was talking about when Beca deployed. 

“Are you talking about when Beca left for the Army?” Chloe asked, to which Bella nodded. “I honestly don’t know what Beca went through or if she got hurt. But what I do know is that you are someone very special to your her! She loves you. I know that last night was probably really scary for you, but it was an accident. You can’t be hard on yourself for that.” 

Bella wiped at the tears that had fallen from her eyes and sniffed a few times. 

“What did Beca tell you last night about it? Did you tell her about your fear that you had hurt her?” Chloe asked. 

“Yes… She said I didn’t do anything bad…” Bella said with another sniff. 

“Then there you go.” Chloe smiled at her. “If Beca says it wasn’t your fault then it wasn’t. Do you trust your Aunt Beca?” 

Bella nodded. 

“Then trust what she said to you.” Chloe stated and Bella nodded again. She gave her teacher a hug and then ran away with the rest of the kids to play. Chloe smiled as she watched the little girl join a group of friends.

She stood up and checked her watch. There was just a few more minutes left in the recess and Chloe started to walk around and check on the other kids. Just as she was about to call all the kids to come in her cell phone started to ring. She looked down and noticed it was from Stacie Conrad. 

“Hello?” Chloe answered. 

“Hi, Ms. Beale. I’m so sorry to call you in the middle of school.” Stacie’s voice came over the phone. “I just needed to let you know that Beca will be picking Bella up again today at the end of school.” 

Chloe smiled at the thought of getting to see the soldier again but she knew she needed to talk to Stacie about what had just happened. “Of course. I was actually going to call you shortly. I just had a conversation with Bella about what happened last night with Beca?” 

“Right.” Stacie stated. She must already know what Chloe was talking about. “Last night while Beca was watching Bella things got a little rough and some of Beca’s stitches ripped open. Everything was fine, she just had to get them fixed. I will talk to Bella tonight about it again and make sure she knows that it wasn’t her fault. Is she doing okay today? I know she’s probably tired. It was a late night for her.” 

Chloe found herself wondering how Beca had received the stitches in the first place. “She’s a little emotional right now, but she’s been doing really well in class. I think it would also be a good idea to have Beca talk to her as well. Bella really seems to care a lot about Beca and what she thinks. I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to have her reaffirm that.”

“I agree, I’ll talk to Beca about that.” Stacie stated. “I’m so sorry to cut this short but I have a patient I need to get to. I will make sure to talk with her about everything.”

“Of course, thank you so much, Dr. Conrad.” Chloe and Stacie bid their goodbyes and Chloe hung up the phone. 

“Alright class, line up!” Chloe called out as she put her phone in her pocket. She tried to get the young soldier out of her mind and focus on her class but she found herself wonder about her. There was a sense of excitement at the thought of getting to see her again. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Something Different

Beca and Bella were sitting in the living room watching Frozen when the pager suddenly went off, catching them both off guards. Beca looked at it and went to grab her cell phone. She quickly called the number on the pager. 

“Mitchell?” Came a voice

“Yes, is this Captain Adams?” Beca asked.

“Yes, I need you to meet me. We’ve got a notification.” Adams explained.

“Right now?” Beca asked in disbelief. She looked at Bella and wondered what she was going to do with the little girl as Stacie didn’t get off until 8 tonight. 

“Yes Mitchell, right now. We are racing the news, social media, and other soldiers with ways to communicate with home. So, hurry up.” Adam’s ordered. 

“Yes Ma’am.” Beca responded. 

The phone call ended without another word. Beca went into her room to change into her Service Uniform. She came back in after a few minutes. She looked at Bella and wasn’t really sure what to do. She wasn’t going to leave her alone, that’s for sure. Then she had an idea. 

Beca walked over and grabbed her cell phone off the table. She went to contacts and quickly found the name. 

The phone rang a few times before the person on the other line picked up.

“Hey, sorry to call you. I was wondering if you would be able to watch Bella for me for like an hour?” Beca asked. She listened for a moment before responding again. “Thanks, I just have to go to work really fast. Duty calls.” Another pause to let the other respond. “Perfect, just text me your address and I’ll bring her by. Thanks again. See you in a sec.” 

Beca ended the call.

“Aunt Becs?” Bella asked from her spot on the couch. “Are you leaving again?” 

“Just for an hour. I gotta go talk to a family about their soldier. I’m going to drop you off with someone while I’m gone then I’ll come pick you up.” Beca explained.

“Grab your bag. We gotta hurry.”

After about a ten minute drive Beca and Bella pulled in front of a large, red brick apartment building. Beca looked at her phone to check the number of the apartment before they both got out and went in search or the right one. 

Once found Beca knocked on the door. 

“Who lives here?” Bella asked. 

“It’s a surprise.” Beca smiled.

“Coming.” Came a muffled voice from inside the apartment and Bella looked at her god mother with excitement.

“No way?!” Bella yelled with excitement causing Beca to laugh. The door opened and Bella squalled again. 

“Hey, thank you so much.” Beca said with a laugh.

“Of course.” Chloe smiled back.

“I’m sorry, I’d stay and talk but I gotta go.” Beca said a bit embarrassed. 

“No, you’re fine. Go do what you need to do.” Chloe smiled brightly. Then she turned to Bella. “What should we do while Beca’s gone?” 

“I don’t know.” Bella replied.

“Hey Bells, be good for Ms. Beale. I’ll see you in a little bit.” Beca kissed the top of the little girls head before heading off. She sent a wave toward Chloe and sprinted to her car.

xxMessengerxx

Beca and CR Adam’s walked away from the home with the cries of a man echoed through the night. Beca felt her heart shatter as they entered the car. Neither saying anything, which she didn’t mind as she fought to control her own emotions. 

CR was very stoic and showed little emotion the entire interaction. 

Nothing was said until CR was further down the street. 

“Don’t every touch the NOK.” CR stated coldly. “I don’t care how crushed they are. I don’t care if they’re hysterical. Don’t you ever do something like that again!” 

“What? Are you serious?” Beca asked in shock. 

“That’s an order soldier.” CR demanded. 

Beca glared at her. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Go home, study your binder. Don’t fuck up again.” CR ordered again. 

“Yes, ma’am.” Beca repeated. 

After not too long they were at Post again and CR was dropping Beca at her car. “Be ready for the next time, it can be at any minute, Sargent Mitchell.” 

“Yes, Captain Adams.” Beca saluted the captain and CR nodded her dismissal. 

Beca got into her car and stared out the window as Adams drove away. She felt the tears sting her eyes. She didn’t regret hugging Mr. Johnson. He needed it. She couldn’t even imagine the pain he was feeling or what his thoughts were.  Seeing him made her think of what her own family would have gone through had they gotten a visit like that of their own. How crushed Emily would have been. 

Beca cleared away the tears that had escaped and started her car. She really needed to see Bella. 

Beca didn’t really notice or register the drive to Chloe’s apartment. But soon she was being hugged by her god daughter. 

“Hey kiddo.” Beca smiled and hug the little girl back. “Were you good for Ms. B?”

“Of course I was.” Bella stated and caused the two adults to laugh. 

“Oh good, because kids that behave get ice cream.” Beca smiled at the little girl as she cheered with excitement. 

“Can Ms. B come?” Bella asked and looked at the two adults hopefully. 

“It’s up to Ms. B.” Beca smiled back and gave Chloe a questioning look. 

“I’d love to.” Chloe smiled. “Let me go put some shoes on.” 

She motioned for them to come into the apartment as she walked further in to get her shoes. Beca couldn’t help but smile as she looked around the room. It was honestly beautiful, yet simple. It was very much how Beca would have imagined it. Not that she had imagined it…

“What kind of ice cream are you gunna get?” Beca asked Bella.

“Vanilla.” Bella stated without hesitating. 

“Vanilla? You’re getting plain vanilla?” Beca stated in disbelief. “Why? There’s so many other good flavors to get!”

“Because it’s good.” Bella stated with as much conviction as Beca had just used. 

“You’re a weird little kid.” Beca laughed, Chloe walked in at just that moment and laughed as well. 

“Is that the best way to talk about your god daughter?” Chloe asked.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t be saying that about me.” Bella huffed and folded her arms across her chest, this just caused the two adults to laugh again. 

“Come on, weirdos, let’s go get some ice cream.” Beca laughed and made her way out of the apartment. 

They all got into Beca’s little run down car, Chloe tried to say she would drive herself so that Beca didn’t have to drop her back at her place but Beca wouldn’t hear any of it and insisted that Chloe ride with them. 

Soon they were all seated at a table and eating their ice cream. Bella had gotten her plain vanilla (much to Beca’s protest and teasing), Chloe had gotten strawberry, and Beca had gotten double chocolate swirl. 

The conversation came easy and they all enjoyed each others company. Beca had a lot of fun getting to know Chloe more. It definitely helped put her in a better mood then she had been with Captain Adams earlier. 

“Oh my gosh, this one time when Bella was just a baby, we were at the store, and Stacie had walked away to get something and I was standing there with Bells, alone.” Beca began to tell a story. It was one of Bella’s most favorite stories. “Now, mind you I’d never really been around a baby before. Like my step-sister was 8 when her mom and my dad got married. So me and babies didn’t really go together. Anyway so I’m like standing there with Bella, she was just barely starting to crawl and stuff but hadn’t really talked or anything. But I swear I was like talking to her and she said ‘Bec’. Like clear as day, Bella’s first word was my name! Stacie still doesn’t believe me, but this kid said my name before she said anything else.”

Bella laughed as Beca sent her a wink. 

Chloe smiled as she watched the two interact with each other. Beca got a little ice cream on her finger and smeared it across Bella’s face which sent the whole table laughing. Bella kept trying to get Beca back, but it always ended in Beca just getting more ice cream on the little girl. 

Just as they were about to clean up and head out Beca’s phone began to ring. She looked down and saw Stacie’s name come on her screen. 

“Hey Stace,” Beca answered. She motioned for Bella to pick up her trash as she and Chloe picked up their own. 

“Hey, where are you?” Stacie asked. 

“Just out for ice cream. We’ll head back to my place now. I just gotta drop Chloe off.” Beca explained. 

“Chloe? Might this be Ms. Chloe Beale?” There was a hint of teasing in the doctors voice that made Beca roll her eyes. 

“Shut up, Conrad.” Beca warned. She took Bella’s hand and they headed out to her car. 

“So you are with Ms. Beale?” Stacie teased. “I’m gunna need details, Mitchell.”

“Stacie, shut up! Stop talking.” Beca warned. She stood outside her car and Chloe gave her a questioning look. “I will talk to you about this later.” 

“You’re no fun, Mitchell.” Stacie pouted. “I’ll just head into your house if that’s okay?”

“Yeah, go for it.” Beca explained. “See you soon.” 

Beca hung up her phone and got into the car. Chloe gave her a questioning look but she didn’t want to pry. 

“Sorry, Stacie’s just being weird.” Beca explained without really explaining. 

“It’s okay.” Chloe smiled at her. 

“Alright, let’s go drop Ms. B off and then get you home to your mom.” Beca turned to Bella and the little girl smiled. 

“Mom’s done with work?” Bella asked in excitement. 

“She sure is.” Beca smiled.

There wasn’t much talk on the drive back to Chloe’s apartment.  But it was a comfortable silence. By the time they pulled up to the apartment Bella had managed to pass out. 

Beca smiled and they both got out and Beca walked Chloe to her door. 

“Are we still good for tomorrow night?” Chloe asked once they reached the door. 

“As long as you’re okay with that.” Beca answered. 

“Of course.” Chloe seemed to beam with excitement. 

“Can’t wait.” Beca’s smile on her lips wasn’t as bright but the smile in her eyes shined brightly. “Have a good night, Chloe.”

“You too, Beca.” Chloe leaned in and kissed Beca’s cheek. “Good night Sargent Mitchell.” 

With that Chloe walked into the apartment and left a half shocked Beca in her tracks. She didn’t know how long she stood there but eventually she snapped out of it and headed back to the running car. 

She couldn’t seem to get the dumb smile off her face. Beca suddenly couldn’t wait for tomorrow. She knew that it was the start of something great.

Chloe’s POV

Chloe walked into the apartment and sat on her couch. She couldn’t get the smile off her face. She was shocked that she had the courage to kiss Beca’s cheek, but she was happy that she did it.

Soon Chloe found herself calling her best friend, she needed someone to talk to about the soldier. 

“Hey, Chlo!” Her friend answered. 

“Hey, Bree, how was your day?” Chloe asked. 

Aubrey and Chloe had been best friends since they were both in their undergrad at Barden University. Aubrey had just moved back to Barden and started her internship at the hospital. She had moved to California to get her doctorate and it was so nice to have her back in Barden after the few years she was gone. 

“Good, I worked a pretty late shift but I have tomorrow and Saturday off. What about you? How was work?” Aubrey asked. 

“Good. Bree I really need to tell you about something.” Chloe said in an excited voice. “I met someone, and I really like her.” 

“That’s awesome, Chlo! Tell me about her!” Aubrey sounded so excited for her.

“So her name is Beca. I met her at the school.” Chloe began. “She’s the God-Mother of one of my students and she came to pick the little girl up. She’s in the Army and just got back a month ago. She just seems so sweet and you should see her with her god-daughter! She’s such a pure person. But she’s strong and badass, but also a teddy bear.” 

“Have you gone out yet?” Aubrey asked. 

“Sort of, we went out and got ice cream tonight with her god-daughter. But we have a date set for tomorrow night.” Chloe explained. 

“I’m so happy for you! Chloe it’s about time you get back into dating someone. I know that everything with Tom ended so badly, but you deserve to be happy!” Aubrey explained. 

“I know. I’m kind of nervous to get back into dating but there’s just something about Beca.” Chloe laid down on the couch and picture the brunette. 

“Don’t overthink it, Chlo. Just go and enjoy yourself tomorrow.” Aubrey advised. 

“I’m going to try.” Chloe said. “Anyway, tell me about what’s going on with you.”

Beca’s POV

Beca squinted against the sun as she looked across the desert. 

“Sarg!” Applebaum called from behind her. “Convoy ahead.” 

“Tangos?” Beca asked as she looked in the direction Benji was pointed in. 

“Unclear.” Benji called. 

“10-4! Look alive!” Beca called. The group of soldiers moved over to the side of the road. Everyone was standing ready for a fight. 

Beca signaled everyone to move forward and kept her gun trained ahead of her. 

It all happened so fast. The gunfire echoed around them and it seemed to be coming from all angels. Beca fired her gun into the direction of the enemies. She knew that she had made contact with many of the tangos. She heard faint screams and grunts of pain. 

“Mitchell!” She heard yelled from behind her. Beca turned to see that two of her men were under way more fire then they could handle. Beca sprinted over and began to fire her gun, supplying support for her men. 

“ Hang in there, Luke!” Beca pulled Luke up and dragged him into an area that he could have shelter. It was clear that he had been hit several times. “Stay with me!”

Beca fired into the crowd of enemies. She looked around her and noticed that they were firing at the gas tanks in the Humvees. She stood and shouted. “MOVE!”

Her yell was drowned out by the sound of the vehicle exploding. Pain erupted from her body and in that moment, Beca knew she was going to die. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: First Date

“Staff Sargent Rebecca Mitchell.” A voice called. Beca stood and saluted the man.

“Come with me.” He stated. 

Beca did as she was told. She walked stiffly into the office. She stayed standing as the Captain sat down. 

“Sargent Mitchell, are you aware of why you’re here?” The Captain asked. 

“Sir yes sir.” Beca called out like the obedient soldier she was. 

“It’s my understanding that you’ve requested to be on funeral detail for PFC Benjamin Applebaum. Is that correct?” The Captain asked looking down at a piece of paper.

“Yes, sir.” Beca stated, looking forward. 

“Your request has been approved. You will need to be at the Post Airfield tomorrow at 1400 hundred hours to reviece the remains. There you will be instructed on what to do. The funeral services will be the following day at 1000 hundred hours.” He explained. Beca really was grateful that they were letting her do this. She had viewed 19 year old Benji as a little brother. It had killed her to hear of his death. 

“Do you have any questions?” The Captain asked finally look up to Beca. 

“No, sir.” Beca gave a slight shake of her head. 

The Captain stood up to which Beca brought herself back to attention. “You’re dismissed.”

Beca gave a sharp solute that the Captain returned. 

Turning on her feet she made her way out of the office. She gave a sigh of relief. She was going to be able to bring Benji home. 

Beca made her way back to her apartment to change out of her Dress Uniform and into more casual clothes. She had decided she was going to spend her day reviewing the CNU handbook. 

Beca opened it and flipped to the first page. There were still an overwhelming amount of words that were way too small. She began to read. 

1–1. Purpose This regulation prescribes the policies and mandated operating tasks, responsibilities, and procedures for casualty operations functions of the military personnel system. The casualty operations functions include casualty reporting, notification, assistance, and fatal accident family brief program.

She sighed. This was going to be a long ass day….

A few hours later found Beca still reading. Not a lot of the information was being retained if she was being perfectly honest. But she was reading it…

Just as she was about to give up all hope that nay information would stick and was fighting the urge just to see if she could find a Sparknotes version of it, her doorbell rang. 

She jumped up grateful for the distraction. When she opened the door she found Stacie standing on the other side of the door. 

“Hey, Shorty.” She smiled brightly.

“Legs.” Beca greeted. She moved over to let Stacie in. Her friend walked in and immediately made herself at home. 

“So why didn’t you go to your therapy session today?” Stacie asked staring Beca down.

“I don’t need to see a shrink.” Beca scoffed. 

“Beca, this was an order.” Stacie pointed out.

“How the hell do you even know I didn’t go today?” Beca asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“I have my sources.” Stacie stated. “Now give me a legit answer. You know you need to go. You gotta get all that shit out of your head.”

“I’m fine, Stace.” Beca countered. She was wondering if she actually believed that herself.

“Bullshit. You haven’t been fine since your first tour.” Stacie stated. Beca wanted to fight her on it but knew that the doctor had a point. 

“Just drop it, Stacie.” Beca said coldly. She didn’t want to have this conversation. 

“Beca, I’m serious. You can’t hold this in, everything you witnessed out there. You keep it in you’re going to break.” Stacie warned. 

“I said drop it!” Beca snapped. “I’m not fucking talking about this.”

Stacie seemed to study Beca for a moment, weighing the option if it would be worth it to push the issue further. She must have decided against it as she changed the subject. “So tell me about last night? You and Chloe are getting close?”

Beca sighed. She didn’t really want to talk about this either but figured it would be better then talking about her mental state. “I mean we’ve talked a little. She helped watch Bells last night while I went on a notification.” 

“And then you went and got Ice Cream?” Stacie asked with a smirk.

“Bella wanted her to come.” Beca said innocently. 

“Oh, I’m sure she was the only one, right?” Stacie laughed. 

“I mean, she’s sweet and not like anyone I’ve ever dated before. It’s just nice. You know?” Beca said as she turned away and walked into the kitchen. 

“You’re dating her?” Stacie asked as she followed Beca into the kitchen. 

“No.” Beca stated. “We’ve talk a little and we might be hanging out tonight but I wouldn’t say we’re dating.” 

“You’ve got a date with the hot teacher tonight?!?!” Stacie asked with a hint of mockery in her tone. 

“Dude, fuck you.” Beca pushed her away. She grabbed a beer out of her fridge and offered one to Stacie who declined. 

“I’m sorry, it’s just been a really long time since I’ve even heard you talk about someone you’re interested in.” Stacie explained with more sincerity in her voice. 

“It’s been a really long time since I’ve really been able to think about it.” Beca explained. It was partly true. The other part of it though was that it had been a really long time since anyone had actually caught her attention. But no one ever had like Chloe.

“So what are you doing tonight?” Stacie asked. 

“Oh I’m taking her to that Italian place in Atlanta. You know the one right by the mall?” Beca explained to which Stacie nodded approvingly. “After that I figured we could walk around, maybe go to the park for a little bit.” 

“Aw look at you being the romantic.” Stacie gushed. This earned her an eye roll. 

“Whatever…” Beca turned and headed back to the living room. She moved the black binder so that they could both sit comfortably on the couch. 

“So did you har back about that one soldier of yours? The one who was killed?” Stacie asked turning the conversation to something more serious.

“Yeah, they told me this morning that I was approved to be on his funeral detail.” Beca explained. “I’ll receive him tomorrow.” 

“That’s got to be so hard. I’m sorry, Becs.” Stacie looked down not sure what to say.

“He was a good kid.” Beca’s eyes drifted to the photo on the mantle. Everyone smiled brightly at the camera. That was before shit hit the fan and people started dying. Beca couldn’t help but feel as though she’d failed her men…

“Stop doing that.” Stacie warned. 

“Doing what?” Beca asked. 

“You know what. Blaming yourself for everything that’s happened.” Stacie clarified. It freaked Beca out how well the doctor could read her at times. “They made their choice to join the Army, just like you did. They knew the risks going into it. They’re brave just like you. You don’t get to own their deaths. You were the one that killed Luke or Benji.” 

Stacie words caused Beca’s heart to hurt more then before. She didn’t really talk about Luke Wilson. She was the first of their group to die. Despite everything Beca had done to save him, she wasn’t able to. She often wondered why it had been him and not her. 

“They were my responsibility.” Beca countered. 

“You did everything you could, Becs.” Stacie tried desperately to explain. “Our lives are full of ‘what ifs’ and dwelling on them isn’t going to do shit. It sure as hell isn’t going to bring them back.”

“It’s not that easy, Conrad.” Beca pointed out.

“I know it isn’t. I just wish you wouldn’t kick yourself over it.” Stacie explained. “I want to be able to help you. It kills me to see you so sad and disconnected from everything.”

Beca sighed. She didn’t really know how to respond. 

“Have you seen Em since you left your dads?” Stacie asked. She knew how much Emily meant to the soldier. 

“No, I’m going over to dinner on Monday though.” Beca explained. She had made the decision to take her dad up on the offer to eat with them. She did it mostly because she wanted to spend time with her little sister. 

“That’s good. It’ll be good for you to get off post for a little bit.” Stacie explained. Beca just nodded her head. “I gotta go pick up Bella from school. I just wanted to check on you. Make sure you were okay.”

“I’m good.” Beca nodded and took another drink of her beer.

“Have fun tonight with Chloe.” Stacie smiled. She was really happy that Beca was finally making connections with other people. She wouldn’t tell Beca this but the first time she met Chloe Beale she had thought how perfect she would be for Beca. 

“Will do.” Beca couldn’t help but smile at the thought of seeing the red head. “Give Bells a hug for me.”

“Of course.” Stacie and Beca both stood and walked over to the door. “See you later, Shorty. I expect all the dirty details of your date.” She winked at Beca.

“Gross.” Beca made a weird face. “There will be no ‘dirty details’. 

“Uh huh.” Stacie challenged but walked away leaving a frustrated Beca in her path.

Later That Night

Beca looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a black t shirt pared with a red and black plaid shirt that she left unbuttoned. She was wearing a pain of dark skinny jeans with ankle boots that were the same color of red as her shirt. Her hair was curled into loose ringlets. 

She couldn’t help but smile. She felt like she looked great. Not to toot her own horn or anything…

She looked at her phone and noticed that she had 15 minutes before she was supposed to pick Chloe up and decided to leave so that she would have time to gas her car. 

Beca arrived about 5 minutes before 7 but decided to go anyway. She was raised that if you weren’t at least 5 minutes early, you were late. That had just always been the way she lived her life. 

She walked up to the door and knocked lightly. 

After about 30 seconds the door opened. Beca’s breath suddenly rushed out of her as she took a look at Chloe. She was in a very beautiful red dress that made her hair pop out and her eyes shined brightly. Her hair was pulled up in a half ponytail. Beca had never seen someone so beautiful. 

“Wow, you look amazing.” Beca found herself saying. 

“Thanks, Becs.” Chloe smiled brightly. “You clean up nicely yourself.” 

Beca smirked as the nickname reverberated around her mind. 

“Shall we?” Beca asks and puts her hand out for Chloe. 

“We shall.” Chloe smiles and takes her hand. They walk over to Beca’s car and both make their way over to the passenger side, where Beca proceeds to open the door for her. 

“Wow, quiet the gentleman.” Chloe smirks playfully. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” Beca smiled and waited for Chloe to get all the way into the car before closing the door. 

The drive to the city passed by quickly and was filled with constant conversation. Beca had asked about Chloe’s day and she talked passionately about her students.

This just made Chloe seem a million times hotter to Beca. She loved how passionate Chloe was about her work. Chloe asked Beca a little bit about Beca’s time in the Army and respected that there were just some things that Beca didn’t want to talk about. It meant a lot to the Sergeant. 

They arrived at the restaurant. “I forgot to ask you, do you like Italian?” Beca mentally kicked her self and tried to think of somewhere else to go if she didn’t.

“Oh my god, it’s my favorite!” Chloe answered. Beca couldn’t help but laugh at the moan that slipped out in the teachers tone. 

“That’s good.” Beca said with a laugh. Beca quickly got out and ran over to the other side to get Chloe’s door. 

“You really don’t have to keep doing that.” Chloe laughed. She’d never actually had anyone get her door for her before. 

“I know, but I want to.” Beca smiled. She put her hand out for Chloe to take and they made their way into the restaurant. Walking up to the front desk the woman standing there smiled. 

“Hi, do you have a reservation?” She asked politely. 

“Yes, it’s for Mitchell.” Beca explained. 

“Mitchell party of two?” The woman asked. 

“Yes.” Beca nodded. 

“Right this way.” The hostess explained and they followed her, holding each others hands as they went. “Is this alright?” The hostess asked bringing them to a table. 

“Perfect,” Beca smiled. She walked over to Chloe’s chair and pulled it out for her. This made Chloe smile. She hadn’t expect Beca to be so… romantic about it all. 

“Thank you.” Chloe smiled brightly. Beca just nodded before helping her push her chair in and walking over to her own seat. 

“Tonight’s specialty wine is Antinori Tignanello. Imported from Tuscan, Italy” The waitress explained that had come up after the hostess had walked away. 

“Do you like red wine?” Beca asked Chloe who just nodded. “Can we taste that?” 

The woman nodded and passed them both menu’s. “If you have any questions about the menu, please feel free to ask.”

With that she walked away to leave them to look over the menu. They’d been looking at the menu for awhile when Beca looked up. “Anything look good?”

“Basically everything.” Chloe moaned. 

“Anything specific?” Beca asked with a laugh. 

“What are you getting?” Chloe asked, clearly unable to decide.

“I was thinking about the Brown Butter Gnocchi.” Beca explained. 

“Oh that sounds really good too. I keep eying the Eggplant parm.” Chloe explained. Beca nodded her head.

“I’ve had that here before, it’s amazing!” Beca nodded her head. 

“Maybe I’ll have to go with that then.” Chloe smiled. 

After awhile the waitress brought the wine and took their orders. Beca and Chloe both loved the wine. After she left to put in the order Beca turned back and smiled at Chloe. 

“So, tell me Staff Sergeant Mitchell, when did you join the Army?” Chloe asked. 

“I was 18 when I joined.” Beca explained. “The month after I graduated from high school actually.”

“Wow. So the Army’s basically been your whole life?” Chloe asked. 

“Yeah, it really has.” Beca nodded her head. 

“Why did you decide to join?” Chloe asked. This made Beca think back to that time.

“Honestly I thought I joined because I knew my dad would hate it.” Beca admitted which caused Chloe to laugh. “But seriously I think I joined because of my uncle. He was on flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania on September 1, 2001.”

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry to hear that.” Chloe gasped. “Were you close?”

“Yeah. He was probably my favorite family member.” Beca admitted. “He was my mom’s brother. They were twins actually.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Chloe sighed. She felt terrible for Beca. 

“You know, my uncle Eric really loved this country. He never joined the military but he always said that if he was asked to he would jumped at the first opportunity. I guess I joined to represent him.” Beca explained. “To fight for justice.”

Chloe nodded her head. “You’re amazing.” 

Beca just shook her head. “The three tours I’ve served have all been super rough. Especially this last one.”

“Have you ever been shot?” Chloe finds herself asking. She didn’t want to be pushy at all. “You don’t have to answer that.”

“No, it’s okay.” Beca shook her head. She didn’t know why she was so willing to answer Chloe. “I’ve actually been shot a few times. Most of them were pretty miner.

Just like flesh wounds. But this last tour I got pretty hurt. I ended up having to come home early. I was actually still supposed to be out there for another six months.” 

“Wow. Are you okay?” Chloe asked. 

“Yeah, I’ve got a few bumps and bruises but I’ll be alright.” Beca nodded her head. “Anyway, let’s stop talking about me. Tell me about you. Why did you become a teacher?”

“My mom’s a teacher actually.” Chloe beamed. “Back in Portland she’s actually a principal now.”

“That’s awesome!” Beca smiled. 

Chloe went on to talk about her love and passion for teaching. Again Beca was in awe of her passion for her work. 

They ate and talked for hours. It had been truly amazing and surprisingly easy. Beca had worried that it would be awkward and painfully obvious that she hadn’t been on a date in years. But they just seemed to click. 

After awhile Beca and Chloe headed back to Beca’s car. It had become far too late to go for a walk so Beca just opted to drive them back to Barden. Taking her sweet time. 

They pulled up to Chloe’s apartment and Beca parked the car, but neither of them moved to get out. 

“I had a really great time tonight, Beca.” Chloe smiled brightly at her, there was so much conviction in her tone that Beca knew she was being honest. 

“I did too.” Beca smiled equally as bright. “Do you think we could do this again?” 

“I’d really like that.” Chloe sighed. She was grateful to her that Chloe wanted to go on another date.

The both got out of the car, Chloe had waited, letting Beca get her door. 

They walked hand in hand back to her door. They stood there for a moment, not saying anything. Just looking at each other. They could both feel the pull that edged them forward.

“Can I kiss you?” Beca asked in a whisper, to which Chloe gave a simple nod. This was enough for Beca to close the gap.

The kiss didn’t last nearly as long as Beca would have liked but she didn’t want to seem too eager. 

When they pulled apart they had dumb smiles on their faces. 

“Good night, Beca.” Chloe smiled. 

“Good night, Chloe.” 

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: Bringing Him Home
Beca’s POV

Beca stood at attention as the cargo hold of the plane began to open. Standing next to her was Jesse Swanson. Infront of her were two other soldiers Beca had never met before. 

“A Ten Hut! Present Arms.” Beca called out and each soldier clicked into place. Bringing their right hands up smoothly and evenly into a solute. 

They stared ahead as the casket, draped in the America Flag was removed from the plane. It was deathly silent and Beca would tell people from both the plane and the airport windows were watching the events unfolding. 

She knew that Benji would laugh and feel super awkward and uncomfortable by the whole thing. She fought back the emotions that were beginning to build inside her. 

Eventually she called out a command and the four soldiers moved into place to move the casket down and into the storage area where the hearse was waiting for them. Beca could hear clapping coming from behind them. She was grateful that they allowed the moment of silence earlier. It showed that people really do know what respect is still. 

Once they made it to their destination one of the employees of the airport approached Beca. 

“Miss, I have the information that I need you to verify.” He explained. Beca ignored him as they still had things they needed to do. 

She and Jesse went to either side of the wooden box, checked each fold of the flag, making sure everything was to military precision. Benji deserved nothing less then perfection. Beca looked up after checking her side and noticed Jesse adjusting his end. She made her way over and noticed that there was a weird crease on one side. Beca frowned. 

“Fluentes!” Beca called. 

“Yes, ma’am?” Specialist Fluentes walked up and brought herself to attention infront of Beca. 

“Grab the extra flag. We need to replace this one.” Beca ordered. Fluentes walked away and did as she asked. 

Jesse looked up and knew what they needed to do next. Beca headed back to her side of the casket and they carefully unwrapped the flag and walked over to where they had room to fold it. Both moving in sync with the other. Soon the flag was folded neatly and Beca passed it off to the other soldier. 

She took the flag that was presented to her by the Specialist. Her and Jesse unfolded the flag with the same level of smoothness and precision as earlier. 

They walked over, flag being held above the casket and draped it over. They began their work on either side. This time Jesse was finished before Beca, but she wasn’t too far behind him. She stood back a moment, inspecting the folds with hawk like intensity before moving over to Jesse’s side and did the same thing. 

With a nod of approval, the four soldiers moved to place the casket into the waiting vehicle. 

As the coroner closed the door Beca once again called out, “A Ten Hut! Present Arms.”

All four soldiers snapped at attention and brought their hands up again in a send off to their fallen brother. 

After a moment Beca finally turned to the employee. “May I see the papers, please?”

The man looked at Beca apologetically. He stepped forward and handed her the information. 

Beca read it over, making sure all the information was correct before signing it. 

“Personal affects?” Beca asked turning back to the employee. 

“Right here.” He explained and handed her the bag. 

Beca took the bag of personal affects as well as the list of everything that was there. She read everything out and pulled it item out as she did so, making sure everything was there.

Once everything was accounted for, she sighed that paper as well.  

She instructed Jesse and the other three soldiers to follow the hearse back to the funeral home. Beca would be riding with Benji, refusing to let him be alone.

The rest of the day went by in a flurry of emotion. She was the one who met with Benji’s family and passed over his personal affects. She talked with them about him and her time she spent with Benji. Apparently, he had talked a little about Beca so they knew who she was. 

She couldn’t help but feel so incredibly sorry for his family. But they held up surprisingly well. 

The funeral the next day was completely draining. Beca had been the one to present the flag to his parents and it was all so emotional. Beca had found herself crying on more then one occasion throughout the whole experience. 

Now as she stands here, in front of his casket. At the end of the funeral, alone, she allows the tears to flow freely. 

She steps up to him and puts her hand on the smooth wood. A simple drop of water fell to the casket and made its way down the rounded wood. 

“I’m so sorry, Benji.” Beca whispered. “I should have been there for you.”

Beca closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Composing herself she opened her eyes and stood at attention. She brought her hand up in a salute and held it for a moment. Staring down at the casket. 

Letting her arm down, she gave one last nod before turning and walking away. 

She didn’t know where she was going once she got in her car, she just drove.

Chloe’s POV

Chloe had been sitting on her couch, her laptop resting on the coffee table, working on her lesson plans for the next week when she heard a knock at her door. 

Confused she stood up and made her way over. Opening the door she was surprised to find Beca dressed in her dress uniform, tears running down her face. 

“Beca? Are you okay?” Chloe asked motioning for her to come in. 

She hadn’t talked to the woman much since their date but she had known that Beca was going to have a busy weekend. She didn’t know what with but Beca told her she would be on duty. 

Beca made her way in but stood there awkwardly as if she didn’t know why she was there. 

“Bec…” Chloe began but didn’t know what to do. 

Beca looked over at her, tears brimming her eyes. “It should have been me.” Beca whispered. 

“What?” Chloe asked confused by her words. 

“It should have been me, not him.” Beca stated louder this time. “I should be dead. Not him.”

Chloe’s heart broke and her face showed the obvious concern she was feeling. With those words Beca’s defensise broke and the usually stoic soldier collapsed into Chloe’s arms, holding onto her for dear life.

“Shh, Beca it’s gunna be okay.” Chloe held her tightly and allowed the brunette to cry into her shoulder. She didn’t know what was going on but it was clear to

Chloe that Beca needed someone to hold her and she would be there for her as long as she needed it. 

Eventually Beca’s body slowly stopped quaking from her crying and she pulled away from the red head, wiping the tears as she moved. She looked down at the ground. 

“I’m sorry.” Beca sighed. “I shouldn’t have done that.” 

“Beca, it’s okay.” Chloe sighed, feeling her heart break even more. “I’m here for you.”

“I uh…” Beca began, she looked up and met Chloe’s eyes. The remnant from the tears made her eyes shine an incredible blue. “Wow, I don’t know what came over me.”

“I’m glad you came over. It seems like you really needed someone.” Chloe explained. She led them over to the couch and they both sat down. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Um yeah I guess I owe you an explanation.” Beca nodded her head. “So you know how I had like work stuff going on this weekend?”

“Yeah.” Chloe nodded her head.

“So what I didn’t tell you was that I was escorting a soldier home to his family.” Beca explained but could tell that Chloe didn’t quite understand. “I was the one who received his body and brought him back to his family.”

“Oh my god, Beca I’m so sorry.” Chloe felt her heart hurt for her. “Did you know him?”

“Yeah, I served with him.” Beca stated. “He was one of my men.”

Chloe felt as though she too was going to cry. Her heart really hurt for her. 

“He uh died a few weeks after I came home.” Beca explained. “He was like a little brother to me.”

“Beca I’m so sorry. I wish I knew how I could help you.” Chloe put her hand on Beca’s thigh. 

“I just uh I shouldn’t have lived.” Beca stated. “It should have been Benji who got to come home. Who got to have his family. He was too damn young.” 
Beca’s voice began to break with emotions. 

“He should be here.” Beca’s voice cracked and tears began to fall again but she shook her head. 

She stood up and walked away, turning her back to Chloe. “God I’m such a fucking mess right now.” 

“Beca, honey it’s okay to be a mess after everything you’ve been through.” Chloe said. “I know that i have no idea what you’ve seen and had to face, but Beca I’m here for you. You don’t have to hold it all in.”

Beca turned and looked at her. She wasn’t the type of person to let someone in. “I… I can’t talk about it.” 

Chloe nodded in understanding. “That’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it. But I’m here for you.” 

Beca nodded. She walked over to where Chloe was standing and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you.”

Chloe nodded her head as well. “Anytime Becs.” 

Beca and Chloe ended up just hanging out for the rest of the night. Beca had changed into the change of clothes she had in her car. It was actually just her PT clothes but it was more comfortable then her dress uniform. 

She walked out in her grey Army shirt and shorts. 

Both women wanted to break from the crazy depressiness that had filled the room. So they decided just to find random comedians on YouTube and watched them.

Both laughing the whole time. 

At one point Beca looked over at Chloe and found herself mesmerized by her absolute beauty. She couldn’t help but smile when Chloe bursted up laughing at a joke that Beca completely missed as she was too busy looking at her. 

Chloe looked over and smiled even brighter then before. “Like the view?” She asked with a smirk. 

“Best view I’ve had all night.” Beca stated sincerely. This caused Chloe to blush. She moved over to Beca a little more. The same pull they had felt the other night was again pulling them to each other. They both closed their eyes just in time for their lips to meet. 

Beca found herself smiling into the kiss which caused Chloe to do the same. 

“You’re amazing.” Beca smiled once they pulled apart. 

Chloe looked at her but there was something written in her eyes that Beca had never seen before. She could tell that Chloe was going to become one of the most important people in her life. She just knew it.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Dinner with the Mitchell’s
Monday

Beca pulled up in front of her dad’s house. It had been a few weeks since she’d been here. She wasn’t really excited or nervous. She was here for Emily and that’s basically it. 

Beca walked up to the door and knocked on it. She could hear footsteps quickly approaching the door and smiled because she knew it was Emily. 

The door swung open quick and before Beca could even register who it was, arms were wrapping around her. Beca returned the hug and smiled. 

“Missed me that much?” Beca laughed. 

“I always miss you, Becs.” Emily pulled away and smiled at her older sister. “Come on, mom’s almost done with dinner.” 

Beca walked into the house with Emily. 

See the thing is, Beca didn’t really consider this home. She hadn’t really grown up here. But she had spent enough time in this place that she was pretty comfortable here. 

They walked further into the house and back to the kitchen. 

Sheila was busying herself with the food. It smelt amazing. “Mom, look who’s here!” Emily practically squealed. 

Sheila turned around and smiled at Beca. “Hey Beca, glad you made it. How was the drive over?”

“It was good.” Beca nodded her head. “Need help with anything?” 

“Nah I got it, go ahead and hang out in the living room. You two can catch up.” Sheila explained. “Warren should be here anytime now.”

Beca nodded and followed Emily to the living room. 

“So, how’s school?” Beca asked her little sister as they sat cross legged on the couch, facing each other.

“It’s so good!” Emily smiled brightly. “It’s so crazy how quickly the school year is flying by. I’m not sure I’m ready to graduate though.” 

“I felt the same way.” Beca nodded her head. “But life gets even better after high school.” 

“But you went straight to bootcamp.” Emily pointed out. “How is that better?”

Beca couldn’t help but laugh. “It might not be better for you, but for me it was exactly what I needed. You know how I feel about my service.”

“So uh, what are you going to do when you get out?” Emily asked curiously. Beca honestly didn’t like to think about it. She knew that she could go into law enforcement or something similar. Like privet security. She’s also been thinking about reenlisting. By the time her service was up her injuries would be healed. She could go back.

“Honestly I don’t really know.” Beca admitted. “I have a few options but haven’t made a decision. I still have like 5 months before I have to.”

Emily nodded her head. “How are things with the new assignment?” 

“Um kinda tough honestly. I’ve only gone on a few notifications, but they’ve been rough.” Beca stated. 

“Are you taking care of yourself?” Emily had always worried more about Beca then just about anybody else in her life. “Are you doing anything fun, or for yourself?”

The first thing or rather person that came to Beca’s mind was Chloe. This caused a smile to spread across her face and it did not go unnoticed by Emily.

“Who is she?” Em asked with a hint of a laugh in her voice.

“What makes you think I’ve found someone?” Beca’s eyebrow raised as she asked the question. 

“That smile. It’s your ‘I’m in love’ smile.” Emily laughed fully. “Haven’t actually seen it in awhile.”

“Dude, shut up!” Beca felt herself being embarrassed. She wasn’t in love with Chloe. It was too damn early for that. She definitely liked Chloe. She liked her a lot actually. But love? That’s just crazy.

“You haven’t actually denied that there isn’t someone.” Emily pointed out with a smirk. 

“Okay fine.” Beca gave in. “You suck, Em.”

“I’m your favorite and you know it.” Emily stuck her tongue out at her sister. 

Beca took in a deep breath. “Her name is Chloe.” 

Emily squealed. “Tell me everything!!”

Beca chuckled. Truth be told, she did want to talk to Emily about her. She knew that her little sister would be extremely happy for her. Extremely supportive. 

“Well, I met her at Bella’s school actually. I was picking Bells up and Chloe’s actually her teacher.” Beca explained. Emily had a ridiculous smile on her face that made Beca laugh. “She’s amazing. She’s so passionate about her work and the kids. Her eyes are this incredible, unreal blue. She’s funny, and like ridiculously positive but like not in an annoying way. God, Em she’s incredible. She’s just…. She’s everything I always pictured and so much more.”

“Bec, this is so awesome!!!” Emily practically yelled. Beca winced at he volume, especially considering she just heard the front door open and knew it had to be her dad. 

“What’s so awesome?” Warren asked as he walked into the living room and observed his two daughters.

Emily opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Beca before she could even get a word out.

“Oh nothing, I was just telling her about Bella and just how much she’s grown. She actually kicked my butt in uno the other night.” Beca lamely explained. She knew her dad wasn’t going to buy the story, but he could tell when she didn’t want to talk about something.

“Alrighty then.” Warren gave Beca a knowing smile. “Well, Beca I’m glad you came over. It’s good to see you.” 

Beca smiled at him. “Yeah, I’m glad I came too.”

Warren asked both Beca and Emily about their day and after about 20 minutes of small talk, Sheila came in and let them know that dinner was ready. 

They all made their way into the dining room. 

Sheila had made a Chicken Divan with broccoli, a family favorite. It was pared with a salad and rolls. Sheila had also put drinks out and Beca couldn’t help but smile as she saw that she had put out Dr. Pepper for Beca. 

They all took their seats. All three thanked Sheila for making dinner and they dug in. 

The conversation was relatively light and easy. It was nice that there was no tension. 

There was a bit of a lul in the conversation, Warren turned to Beca. “How’s your leg?”

Beca nodded her head. “It’s healing. I’m gunna have a nice scar but it’ll be alright.”

“Still going to PT?” He asked.

“Yeah, I go every Tuesday and Friday.” Beca explained and then took another bite of her food. 

“That’s good.” Warren nodded his head. Beca looked up and made eye contact with Emily for a moment. Then she looked over at her dad. She could tell he wanted to say something but was hesitating. 

“What?” Beca asked, this caused Warren to look up. 

“What do you mean?” He asked. 

“You want to talk about something, what is it?” Beca asked curiously. 

“I… I was just wondering if you would consider coming to Barden after you are discharged?” Warren asked. 

“No.” Beca stated without hesitation. “You already know that college isn’t something I want.”

“Bec, come on going to school will only help you. Plus, you will get in for free.” Warren pointed out. None of this was anything he hadn’t said before. Beca fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Emily’s going to college.”

“Yeah, because that’s what she wants.” Beca pointed out. “And that’s great for her. I’m really proud of her. But dad, I’m not sure I’m going to be discharged.”

This caused Warren to look at her in disbelief. “You aren’t seriously considering reenlisting, are you?”

Beca didn’t say anything, just kept eye contact with him. 

“Beca, are you seriously that stupid?!” Warren yelled, the frustration and anger evident in his voice. His word choice caused Emily and Sheila to wince, Beca didn’t react at all. “You almost died! What the fuck are you trying to prove!”

Beca shook her head. “You wouldn’t understand.” 

“No, you’re right. I don’t understand why you want to put yourself in the line of fire. I don’t understand why you have this insane need to risk your life. And for what!?” Warren yelled. Sheila put her hand on Warren’s arm, in a form of a warning that he was going too far. “What’s with this damn death wish?!”

“I need to do this.” Beca stated. “I love what I do. I love being able to be apart of something like this, something bigger than myself. I don’t do it because I have a ‘death wish’. I do it because I want a better life for people! I want people to have the same blessings we have! Hell, I want people to be free to the point that they can express their ignorance to things like military service. Because that should just be a human right.”

Warren shook his head. “That’s ridiculous.” 

“Is it?” Beca challenged. “What are you accomplishing dad? You sit in a lecture hall and drone on and on about a subject that doesn’t change anything! You aren’t helping anyone!”

Warren’s face turned red. He glared daggers at her. “That may be your view but you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Beca let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “Jesus Christ, do you even hear yourself! You literally just described yourself!”

Beca stood up and picked her plate up. Everyone watched her movements with hawk line precision. 

“Sit down, Beca. Dinner isn’t over.” Warren ordered. Beca turned to him.

“I’m done.” Beca stated. “Thanks for dinner, Sheila.” 

Beca took her plate to the kitchen and then headed straight for the door. Warren followed her and stood there as Beca put her shoes on. 

“Rebecca, you can’t just run away when a conversation turns in a way you don’t want it to.” Warren pointed out.

Beca flipped around quickly. “You’re kinda the expert on running away, aren’t you? And don’t do that. Don’t stand there and act like you get to still chastise me and treat me like a teenager. I’m an adult! I get to make the decisions for my life. Not you.”

“I get that, but Beca you have to look at things rationally. I know you’re hurting right now. I know you’re blaming yourself for that soldier’s death, but you can’t let emotions fuel your life choices.” Warren stated. 

“I don’t even know how the hell to respond to that.” Beca stated coldly. 

She looked away from him and saw Emily and Sheila standing in the doorway. Emily was looking worriedly at Beca, almost pleadingly. 

“I’ll call you later, Em.” Beca stated. She took one last look at her dad before she made her way out of the house.

The Following Week
Chloe’s POV

Chloe stood in front of her class and was just finishing explaining the math homework that they needed to do. They were working on counting and simple addition. 

“Alright class, put your homework sheet in your homework folder and then go over to your cubby to put it in your backpack.” Chloe instructed. “Then sit on the rug.”

She walked over to her desk and the room filled with talking. “Quietly, guys.”

That seemed to get the kids attention and they did as they were told.

Chloe took the spare minute to look at her phone. She smiled as she saw Beca’s name pop up on her phone with a text. She had texted Chloe at noon.

Beca: Hey, I know you’re in the middle of school but I just wanted to see what you were doing tonight?

Chloe: Hopefully hanging out with you?

Beca texted back almost instantly.

Beca: Hm… that’s something I’ll have to think about…

Beca: Yeah, let’s do it.

Chloe coulnd’t help but laugh at the text. 

Chloe: K, I’ll call you once school ends. 

Chloe put her phone away and headed over to the rug where the majority of her students were sitting. 

She pulled out a book that she knew the kids would love. She began to read animatedly. Soon the story ended and she instructed the kids to line up in their assigned order. 

They all walked out to the busses and Chloe watched as each student got on their bus. 

She looked around to see which students were getting picked up. Most of them were the normal kids who pretty much always got picked up. She instructed the students to head back inside and followed closely behind them. 

Each remaining students were eventually picked up. 

As the last one left the red head stood and began to clean up her room singing quietly to herself. She had her back turned to the door as she cleared off the white board and wrote the agenda for the next day. 

“David Guetta?” Chloe turned to see who was speaking to her and smiled. 

“What are you doing here?” Chloe asked in surprise. 

“You don’t want me here?” Beca asked with a smirk. 

“No, I definitely do. Just surprised I guess.” Chloe explained. She put the dry erase marker down and walked over to Beca. 

She leaned in and kissed the soldier. “What brings you here?”

“Well I wanted to see you.” Beca explained simply. “You have a beautiful voice by the way.”

The two women had hung out quite a few times since their first date. It honestly made Chloe feel weird. She had never gone this fast in a relationship, hadn’t felt this comfortable. This right. But she wasn’t worried. There was no sense of panic or concern. It just felt right.

“Well, here I am.” Chloe explained. “And thank you.”

“So, I have an activity that I thought would be fun to try with you.” Beca explained. 

“And what would that be?” Chloe asked as she reached out for Beca’s hand and laced her fingers with the brunettes. 

“Have you ever gone ax throwing?” Beca asked with a quirky smile displayed on her face. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 8: Are We Girlfriends?

Beca and Chloe laughed as Chloe had just thrown the ax and it landed somehow on one of the walls. 

“That’s talent right there, Beale.” Beca muttered through a laugh. Chloe playfully hit Beca’s arm.

“Shut up! Not all of us are crazy good with accuracy.” Chloe laughed. 

“Here, let me help you.” Beca stood by Chloe and handed her one of the axes. She stood behind her, putting one hand on the red heads waist to help adjust her stance. The hitch in Chloe’s breath did not go unnoticed by the soldier. Then the other hand reaching out and putting it one Chloe’s hand. Raising it up so the blade was in the air. 

“Look right at your target.” Beca instructed in a hushed tone. “Keep your eyes trained right on the middle. When you throw the ax you want it to have a bit of an arch to it, so release it just a little before it becomes even with the middle.”

“Take a deep breath, when you release it is when you’ll throw.” Beca continued. 

She felt Chloe’s breath hitch for just a moment, then she took in a deep breath, “now.”

Both Chloe and Beca moved their hands, and just at the right moment she released the breath and the ax. It sailed through the air, straight and true. Landing with a thud right in the middle.

“Ha ha, there ya go!” Beca cheered. Chloe turned with a huge smile on her face.

“Oh my god! That was so awesome!” She pulled Beca into a tight hug, Beca hugging back. “Can I try again?!”

“Hell yeah,” Beca nodded her head. She walked in and grabbed the two axes. She handed Chloe one of them. “You got this, babe.” 

Chloe smiled widely. She stood the way Beca had shown her and brought the ax up in the air. She took in a deep breath, and in one fluid motion she swung the ax and released it just before the was parallel with the center. She released her breath and watched as the ax soared through the air. Hitting the center with yet another solid thud.

“Yeah! You’re amazing, Chlo!” Beca pulled her into another hug and kissed her cheek. 

Beca and Chloe stayed for another ten minutes or so just goofing around and make fun of one another. 

They decided to go and get dinner. Neither really wanting anything fancy so they headed to a diner that neither had been to before. 

They sat and had casual, easy conversation. 

Chloe was laughing about a story Beca was telling from her last tour. 

“Benji, he was so innocent but always so willing to step up when the time called for it. One day we were under attack at our camp. He had been in the shower. All of us retreated, like we’re told to do but Benji. He ran out in his shower shoes, holding is M16 pointing in all directions and shouting ‘where they at? Where they at?’

God that kid was crazy. I had to pull him back.”  

Beca smiled as she thought of that moment. She let out a small laugh and shook her head. 

“Sounds like he was quite the character.” Chloe softly smiled. 

“He was.” Beca nodded her head, the smile playing easily on her face. “He was one of the good ones.”

Chloe nodded her head.

“Anyway, enough of that.” Beca said as she cleared her throat. 

Beca and Chloe continued to talk and laugh for a little while longer, they didn’t stop talking until they reached Beca’s house on Post and walked inside. 

“Want a beer?” Beca asked.

“Sure, sounds great.” Chloe nodded. She was looking around the living room. She looked at the few picture Beca had out. The first one was of Beca and a group of guys. It must have been a group of men she served with because they were standing beside a Humvee, most of them holding M16’s, all dressed in their army uniforms. 

The next picture was of Beca and another brunette that Chloe had never seen before. They looked really great together. The other brunette was definitely a teenager in the picture. She figured it must be Emily, Beca’s little sister. 

The last picture was of Beca and Bella. This caused Chloe to smile. 

She turned when she heard Beca reenter the room. 

“Who is this?” Chloe asked point to the picture of Beca and the girl she didn’t recognize.

Beca walked over and smiled as she looked at the picture. “That’s Emily, my little sister.”

“You two are really close, aren’t you?” Chloe observed.

“Yeah, super close actually.” Beca stated. “She’s like the only member of my family I actually like.”

Chloe would have laughed if she hadn’t realized just how serious Beca’s statement was. 

Chloe accepted the beer and they made their way over to the couch.

“So you didn’t really talk much about your dinner with your family. How did it go?” Chloe asked once they went and sat down. 

“Oh yeah… Um it went I guess.” Beca stated as she stated to pick at the label on the bottle. 

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” Chloe explained.

“No it’s just my dad’s a bit of an ass.” Beca explained. “We just got into a pretty heated argument. And we haven’t talked since.”

“Oh Becs, I’m so sorry.” Chloe’s heart hurt for the woman. 

“No it’s okay. My dad and I have always had a rocky relationship. We’re just so different.” Beca explained with a shake of her head. “Us butting heads isn’t anything new.”

“Still, I feel bad.” Chloe explained. She moved closer to Beca and put her hand on the woman’s knee. Beca smiled at her.

“Nothing for you to feel bad about, Chlo.” Beca smiled. “You make it better. I’m so lucky to have met you.  Knowing that I have you in my life makes up for all the shit he pulls.”

Chloe smiled brightly at her. “I’m the lucky one. You are just so amazing, Becs.”

Beca smiled and the two women leaned in and allowed their lips to meet. 

“You’re the best, girlfriend. You know that?” Beca asked as they pulled apart. Chloe had a weird smile on her face.

“I’m your girlfriend?” Chloe asked with a hint of a smirk playing on her lips.

“Well uh…” Beca faltered.She nurvously scratched at the back of her neck. “I sort of thought that was obvious. But uh if that’s not what you want, I get it. I mean labels are stupid anyway… Like we don’t have to do that at all. I mean I really like you but like don’t worry about it. Just forget I said anything…”

Chloe laughed, “Becs calm down. I’d really like that, being your girlfriend.”

“Really?” Beca asked as a hug smile filled her face. 

“Of course,” Chloe smiled brightly. “I can’t think of anything I’d like more then that.” 

Beca beamed at her words. “Awesome.” She said with an awkward laugh. This only made Chloe laugh. She couldn’t help but love how adorable the soldier was.

Sure, Beca gave off a very badass, go fuck yourself kind of vibe, and in all honesty she was at times, but most of the time, Beca had this incredible heart of gold.

She was one of the kindest, more genuine people Chloe had ever known. 

Chloe surged forward again and captured Beca’s lips in her own.

This kiss was hungry, needy, swift. Beca quickly met Chloe’s pace and returned it with the same level of hunger and steadiness. Both women fought for dominance,

Chloe gave it up and allowed Beca to take control. Beca pulled out of the kiss but immediately reattached her lips to Chloe’s jaw. This caused Chloe to let out a soft moan, this seemed to just push Beca forward. 

She trailed open mouthed kisses down her jaw and toward her neck. Taking her sweet time as she went. Chloe tilted her head, giving Beca better access. 

When she found the red heads pulse point she sucked softly at first but then bit softly, causing another moan from the woman. Beca quickly ran her tongue over it, easing the stink of the bite. 

Beca really wanted to move further, explore all of Chloe, but she didn’t know how the woman would feel about. 

As if she was reading Beca’s mind Chloe breathed out, “Bedroom.”

It wasn’t a question, but a demand. Beca quickly stood and held her hand out for Chloe who followed suit. They quickly headed to Beca’s room.

As soon as the door closed a laugh was heard from inside followed by the sound of heavy breathing, moans, and gasps. Each sound filled the quiet.

Later

Beca and Chloe lay, wrapped in each others arms. Both breathing softly, but neither asleep. 

Beca’s head was resting on Chloe’s shoulder, her arm drapped around the red heads middle. A soft smile played on her lips.

Chloe let out a soft, content sigh and pulled Beca impossibly closer to her. 

“God, I’m so lucky to have you.” Beca spoke for the first time. 

“Yeah, me too.” Chloe sighed happily. She planted a kiss in Beca’s hair. 

Chloe’s finger ran along Beca’s ribcage. Her finger sliding over a scar. “What’s this one from?”

Beca didn’t even have to look at it to know what she was talking about. “Someone decided to take a knife to a gun fight.” She stated simply. 

“And this one?” Chloe asked as she ran her finger along Beca’s back. 

“Benji actually tripped me once,” Beca laughed a little. “I landed on a barbed wire fence.”

“Shit… Did it hurt?” Chloe asked. 

“A little but I’ve had worse.” Beca stated. 

“The one on your leg that’s wrapped up, is that the burn?” Chloe asked causiously. 

Beca didn’t mind her asking questions. She was probably the only person, outside her doctors, that she didn’t feel like she had to hide her injuries from. 

“Yeah, it’s the burn and then there’s a bullet hole as well.” Beca explained. “The bullet hit first and then the burn. It probably hurts worse then anything else I’ve ever experienced.” Beca admitted.

“You’re so strong.” Chloe whispered. She pulled Beca closer to her. “I can’t even imagine what you’ve faced.”

A small silence filled the room. Neither knowing what to say.

Beca let out a soft yawn but didn’t want to sleep. She wanted to live in this moment for as long as she could. 

“Get some sleep, Becs.” Chloe urged softly. Again it was like she could read Beca’s mind. 

“No, I’m good, I just want to lay here for a moment longer.” Beca stated honestly. “Take it all in.” 

Chloe nodded her head in agreement. 

They lay in comfortable silence for another ten minutes or so, neither feeling any need to fill the silence. 

Soon Chloe could hear the soft, even breaths from Beca. She couldn’t help but smile as small snores came from the woman. She kissed her head again and allowed herself to sink into sleep as well.

The Next Morning

Beca woke up confused. Why the fuck was she naked? What was she laying on?

All the sudden she remembered what had happened yesterday and couldn’t help but smile. She kept her eyes closed, not wanting this moment to end. She felt Chloe’s fingers running through her hair. 

“Morning, beautiful.” Chloe mumbled out.

“Mornin’,” Beca groaned groggily. Beca opened her eyes and saw Chloe’s unreal blue eyes looking at her, a soft smile displayed on her face. Beca really could get used to waking up like this. 

Chloe moved her head, and kissed Beca softly, lazily. 

Beca smiled into the kiss as she returned it. 

They pulled apart a few seconds later. 

“I gotta get ready for work.” Chloe explained. 

“No…” Beca whined. “Don’t go.”

Chloe laughed softly. “I have to. I’m kind of the teacher.”

Beca let out a soft huff. “Okay.”

She moved and allowed Chloe to stand up, Beca’s eyes trained on her naked form. 

“Like the view?” Chloe asked with her back turned to Beca. 

“Definitely.” Beca stated honestly. 

Chloe turned and smiled at her. “Good.” She winked. “Do you mind if I use your shower?” 

“Go for it.” Beca nodded her head. She sat up and stretched, yawning as she did so. Chloe smirked at her because the blanked had fallen, leaving Beca’s upper half exposed. 

The brunette shook her head and rolled her eyes affectionately. “Go take your shower.”

Chloe laughed but made her way into the bathroom, nonetheless. 

After about an hour Beca and Chloe were making their way out of Beca’s apartment. 

Chloe had asked Beca to just drop her off at the school because that’s where her car was. 

Pulling up by the front doors Beca and Chloe turned to each other. Beca leaned in and kissed her girlfriend. “Have a great day.” 

“You too! Text me later?” Chloe smiled brightly.

“Of course,” Beca returned her smile. 

Chloe began to get out of the car when Beca shouted. “Make good choices!”

This caused Chloe to laugh and roll her eyes. “Bye Beca.” 

Beca smirked and drove off once she saw Chloe enter the school. She couldn’t seem to get this stupid grin off her face. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 9: Chicago Walp

The following days turning into weeks and those weeks turned into months. But the couple’s relationship only seemed to grow stronger. 

Beca still lived on Post but she spent far more time at Chloe’s. 

Her assignment continued as well. It didn’t become easier by any means, but she was getting the hang of it. Even Captain Adams seemed to be taking a liking to Beca. 

The Captain had actually talked to Beca a few times about extending her service and continuing as a Messenger. Beca honestly didn’t know what to do. Her physical injuries had all but healed at this point and the pull to be back out in the desert had only been growing strong the more she began to feel normal again.

Chloe had even convinced Beca to go to her therapist, after Beca had had her third panic attack in front of her. Chloe had been so loving, patient, and understanding of Beca and she never pushed for Beca to talk to her about what was going on in her head. It only made Beca feel like she could talk to the red head more. 

She hadn’t told Chloe about the battle she’s been fighting in her head about what she should do in two months. Beca knew that her girlfriend wouldn’t like the idea of Beca going back out into the field, but that she would most likely stand by her side anyway because that’s just the type of person she was. 

So even now as Beca stares at the wall across the room, debating her options, she knows that no matter what Chloe will be there. Cheering her on. So even if Chloe was the only one in her corner that was enough. She was all Beca needed. 

Beca knew however that before she made her choice, she did need to talk to Chloe. The red head had become such a big part of her life and making a huge decision like this one couldn’t be made on her own. She wanted Chloe in her life for essentially the rest of it. She knew it might be too early to think of that, but she loved Chloe and Chloe loved her. It was as simple as that. They wanted to make a relationship into a life together and that’s what they’ve been doing. They had to make big choices together, as a team.

Just as Beca was about to drive herself crazy thinking about it all, there was a knock at her door. 

Standing up she made her way over to it and turned the doorknob.

When her eyes landed on the person on the other side, she felt so many things. 

“Chicago?” Beca looked in shock at the man. “What the hell are you doing here?”

The question came out in a bit of a laugh. 

“Good to see you too Sarge.” Chicago smiled with a laugh in his tone. “How you been?”

“Get your ass in here.” Beca laughed. She usually wasn’t a hugger but pulled the man into a hug none the less.  Chicago returned the hug, both soldiers smiling. 

Beca lead the way over to the couch, where they both sat. 

“You’re home? No offence but why?” Beca asked in disbelief.

“Everyone is.” Chicago explained.

Corporal Chicago Walp was one of the finest soldiers Beca had ever worked with. He was very quickly on his way to becoming a high-ranking officer and everyone but him seemed to know it. 

“What? The whole squad?” Beca asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, they closed down that base and so they sent us home. Some of us are going back out in a month, some aren’t.” He explained. He seemed to be studying Beca for a moment. “I understand you’ve been assigned to Messenger duty.”

Beca nodded her head. “Yeah, to finish out my service.” 

Chicago nodded his head and thought for a moment. “How you healing up?”

 “Slowly but surely. The first few months back were tough as hell but once I stopped fucking limping and was able to actually do muscle training it’s been a lot better.” Beca explained honestly. “How was the rest of the tour?” 

“Tough.” Chicago nodded his head. “Losing Benji was really tough on everyone. We sure coulda used your pep talks in those times.”

Beca laughed knowing that her pep talks sucked. “Oh, I bet.”

They both chuckled to themselves for a moment.

“So what’s up?” Beca asked knowing Chicago had come for a reason. 

“I uh, I have a letter for you.” Chicago seemed to be a little warry. 

“Okay?” Beca didn’t know what to say. 

“It’s from Benji.” He further explained. Chicago reached into his pocket of his jacket and pulled out a white envelope. “He was gunna send it but uh you know what happened before he could.” 

Beca nodded. She hesitated but took the letter eventually. She looked down and smiled as she saw Ben’s handwriting. 

Sarge Mitchell

Benji would never call Beca by her first name, he wanted to respect her and that was one way he felt like he could. God he was such a sweet kid.

The tears stung behind Beca’s eyes as she looked down at it. Clearing her throat, she looked up. “Thank you for bringing this to me.”

“Of course.” Chicago nodded. 

A silence fell over the room as Beca looked down at the envelope, not sure what to say. “You know I was the one who received him when he came home?”

Chicago nodded his head. “Yeah, I heard. I’m glad you got to do that. He would have been so honored. Becs, he really looked up to you. You meant a lot to him.”

Beca’s eyes filled with tears at that. She didn’t even try to hide them. “Damnit… Why him?”

Chicago nodded his head in agreement, both knowing how unfair it had been. 

“Don’t do that, Mitchell.” Chicago broke the silence after a few minutes.

“What?” Beca asked playing dumb.

“You can’t keep blaming yourself for their deaths. It wasn’t your fault.” Chicago stated earnestly. 

“How the hell is it not my fault?” Beca asked bitterly. “They were my fucking responsibility.” 

“You did everything you could, Becs. I know for a fact Luke and Benji don’t blame you. You are an amazing leader and saved our asses all the fucking time.” Chicago stated, not allowing room for Beca to dispute his words. “I know it seems unfair but at some point, we all have to move on. You can do it in your own time, but it does have to happen eventually.”

Beca nodded her head. “I just want to be back out there.” 

Chicago nodded his head. “Of course, you do. You’re a soldier Beca. Every combat Soldier wants to be out there. Fighting for what’s right. But is that really what’s best for you? I get it, not wanting to let go but Beca you’ve been through so fucking much in your six years. Don’t you think it’s time to move on? To start your life?”

Beca shook her head, not sure what to say. “I’ve been thinking a lot about reenlisting. But a lot’s changed in my life the last few months. I found someone who makes me extremely happy.”

Beca looked up to see a huge smile on Chicago’s face. “You got it bad, Sarge.” 

Beca rolled her eyes. “So, what if I do?” 

“I’m happy for you.” Chicago sent Beca a genuine smile. “What’s she like?”

Beca couldn’t help the smile that filled her face just thinking about Chloe. “She incredible. She’s a school teacher, one of the most loving, kind hearted people I’ve ever met!”

Beca smiled again. “Her name is Chloe. She has these unreal crystal blue eyes and red hair. She’s been so patient with me through everything.”

“How long have you been together?” Chicago asked. 

“Going on five months.” Beca explained. 

Chicago’s eyes looked around the room and he found the pictures on her mantle. 

“That her?” Nodding toward the picture of her and Chloe taken the night they both confessed their love for each other. 

“Yeah,” Beca beamed. Chicago seemed to study her again.

“I’ve never seen you so happy, Becs. It’s good to see.” Chicago finally said. “She’s done a lot of good, smoothing out those rough edges.”

Beca laughed and pushed his shoulder. “You’re an ass.”

“But it’s true and you know it.” He laughed. 

Beca couldn’t help but laugh and nod her head. “Yeah yeah, don’t let it go to your head, Walp. I still out rank you.” 

Chicago laughed. “Yeah I guess you do.”

The two soldiers talked for what felt like just half an hour but really it had been hours. Their conversation was broken by Beca’s phone ringing. She looked down at it and saw Chloe’s name. 

“You can take it.” Chicago nodding having seen the name as well. Beca nodded and answered the phone.

“Hey, Chlo.” Beca answered, smiling as she heard Chloe’s voice.

“Hey, so I need to stay at school a little later today, but if you want I can pick up some takeout on my way back home. You can just meet me there.” Chloe explained.

“Sounds great. If you want me to, I can go ahead and pick it up, just tell me what you want.” Beca offered. 

“You’re so sweet! How does Chinese sound?” Chloe asked. 

“Sound fantastic.” Beca responded. “From that place on the corner?”

“Only one to get it from.” Chloe answered. “What’ve you been up to today?”

“Oh a friend just stopped by and I’ve been hanging out with him.” Beca explained looking over at Chicago.

“That’s awesome, you should invite him for dinner.” Chloe suggested. 

“I’ll ask him. So, what’s going on that you have to stay late? How long do you think you’ll be?” Beca asked curiously.

“Oh we just have a meeting today and I need to grade some papers. Testing starts next week.” Chloe explained. “So I’m just trying to prep for that.”

Beca nodded her head. “Makes sense.”

“I’ll probably be done by 5:30 or 6.” 

“Alright, well I’ll let you get to it.” Beca stated. “Love you.” 

“Love you too.” Beca could hear Chloe’s smile. 

She hung up the phone and put it down. She didn’t even have to look at Chicago to know he was smiling. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.” He laughed. 

“Chloe wants to know if you wanna eat with us.” Beca stated after his laughter died down. 

“Oh no, that’s okay.” Chicago explained. “I have plans for dinner, but tell her next time I’d love to.”

Beca nodded. “I’m holding to that.”

Chicago nodded. “Well, I should get going, I’ve already taken a ton of you day.”

They both stood up and made their way over to Beca’s front door. Chicago turned to Beca before he opened the door. 

“Beca, I know I can’t tell you what to do, but I’d seriously reconsider enlisting again. You’re happy and you’re building a life with someone that sounds amazing for you. I’d hate to see you throw that away because you’re trying to make amends for something that isn’t even your burden to carry.” Chicago’s tone was very serious and genuine. 

Beca nodded her head, knowing there was a lot of truth behind his words. It was definitely something she had to think about. 

“Thanks for bringing me the letter,” Beca explained motioning to the letter that sat on the coffee table. “It was really great to catch up with you. We’ll have to get the boys back together sometime.”

“Definitely.” Chicago smiled and pulled Beca into another hug, which Beca returned. 

Once Chicago had left Beca walked back over to the table and stared at the letter that lay there, honestly unsure what to think about it. She didn’t know if she’d be ready to read his last words to her. 

Deciding it would be best to wait, when her emotions weren’t already all over the place she put the letter away in one of the drawers in the coffee table.

xxmessengersxx

Chloe’s Apartment

Beca walked into the familiar apartment and put the bag of food down. She had beaten Chloe here and began to play with Billie, Chloe’s dog.

“Hey girl, need to go outside?” Beca asked. The dog’s ears perked up at the word ‘outside’ and she excitedly ran to the door. 

Beca grabbed the leash from the hook right next to the door and hooked it on.

Beca laughed as Billie excitedly ran outside, the short brunette following behind. Billie sniffed at every little thing she could, almost as if she’d never been out here.

But she had, every day.

Beca smiled as Chloe’s car pulled into her assigned parking spot.

“Mom’s home.” Beca cooed to the dog. Billie ignored her and kept sniffing around in the grass. 

“It’s my two favorite girls!” Chloe called as she got out of the car. Chloe’s voice did pull Billie’s attention and her little tail began to wag so fast it was moving her entire body side to side. 

To the dog’s dismay, Chloe bypassed her and went straight to Beca, kissing her on the lips for a moment. 

“How was your day?” Chloe asked, her arms draped around Beca’s neck.

“So much better now.” Beca smiled brightly.  

“You’re a real charmer, Sarge.” Chloe teased. Beca couldn’t help but laugh.

“You should probably not call me that. Makes me feel like I have to act all stiff soldier like.” Beca smirked. 

“Is it weird that I really want to see you in your element, at least once?” Chloe asked curiously.

“No, not at all.” Beca shook her head and smiled. “You can come to a drill session one day. They have open drill I think next weekend. But I get to come watch you teach.”

“Deal.” Chloe smiled brightly. “I bet you’re super sexy when you’re being all ‘stiff soldier like’.” The words came across with a teasing tone, followed by a wink. 

“Come on silly, let’s go inside.” Beca moved out of Chloe’s grasp but immediately lased her fingers in Chloe’s. 

Both women smiled as they walked into the apartment.

xxmessengerxx

After they finished eating, they both sat back on the couch, Chloe’s back was resting against the arm rest and had her legs laying across Beca’s.

“What’s on your mind, Bec?” Chloe asked after observing Beca’s distractedness over dinner and now. 

“I need to talk to you about something,” Beca stated. “But like nothings decided or anything. I just wanna know how you honestly would feel about something.”

“Okay?” Chloe looked at Beca questioningly but gave her time to think things through, knowing Beca sometimes struggled to form actual words when she was overly stressed and pressured.

“So my service ends in a month an a half.” Beca began, to which Chloe nodded her head, knowing this already. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what I should do after that. I uh I’m considering re-enlisting.”

Beca looked over to see if she could read Chloe’s face but found it was neutral. Almost void of emotion. 

Chloe stayed quiet for a few minutes, as if she too was debating what to say. But finally broke the silence. “As a combat soldier?”

Beca nodded her head. “Yes.”

Chloe stayed quiet again for a moment. She looked down at her hands and seemed to be thinking. Beca wanted to give her as much time as she needed. So she stayed quiet. “I understand why you want to go back. I really do but Becs, you almost died already. I… Beca, I don’t want to lose you. I can’t lose you.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 10: The Message

Chloe’s Apartment

“If you do this, I can’t Beca. I can’t watch you throw yourself in harms way. You’re served your time.” Chloe shook her head in disbelief.

Beca stared blankly at Chloe, unsure what to say. 

“So that’s it then?” Beca found herself asking. 

“I don’t know what you want me to say Beca…” Chloe sighed. Beca stood up and started to pace the room. 

“This is who I am, Chloe. I’m a soldier.” Beca stated.

“I know.” Chloe hung her head. 

“So isn’t loving me enough to accept that I need to do this?” Beca asked in defeat. She hadn’t expected Chloe’s reaction at all. Logically she knew that Chloe had the right to feel like this but in her heart she was crushed that she wasn’t more understanding. 

“I love you and I could never ask you to decide between me and the army but Bec… I can’t. I’m sorry.” Chloe sighed in defeat.

She stood up and walked over to Beca, she tried to put her hand on Beca’s cheek to which she backed away from. She looked into Chloe’s eyes as if trying to wrap her head around everything. 

“Then you don’t have to.” Beca stated, not thinking what she was saying.

With that she walked out of Chloe’s apartment.

Beca’s Apartment 

Beca walked into her house, blindly making her way back to her bed and flopping forward onto it. She breathed in deeply and when she breathed out she let out a defeated whine. How had she fucked this up? How had she made Chloe mad? How had she ruined their relationship in a sentence?

“If you do this, I can’t Beca. I can’t watch you throw yourself in harms way. You’re served your time.” 

Chloe didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve to feel hurt like this or have to deal with having to wait for a soldier. That’s not something she deserves… Beca knows it’s unfair to put that on her. She shouldn’t ask that of her. She had no right to put that on her.

“I love you and I could never ask you to decide between me and the army but Bec, I can’t, I’m sorry.”

Chicago had been right. She needed to move on, create a life for herself. But what if she couldn’t? What if Beca couldn’t separate her life from being Staff Sergeant Mitchell and Beca Mitchell? The thought scared her. Had she really fucked herself up so much that she couldn’t know anything other then the United States Army? 

She sighed and rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. This wasn’t like her. She didn’t throw herself pity parties.  She took the blows as they came and pushed forward. This had always been how she was, even before she graduated High School. She didn’t allow herself to feel bad for herself…

“Fuck…” Beca breathed out into the silent house, the emptiness suddenly more apparent then ever before.

Beca could suddenly feel her phone vibrating in the back pocket of her jeans. She decided just to ignore it. 

She scooted up her bed even more so her head was laying on her pillow and willed sleep to take her. But it didn’t. She just lay motionless with her eyes closed for who knows how long. 

Finally getting frustrated she got up and headed into her living room. She didn’t realize what she was doing until she was staring down at the letter from Benji that Beca was now holding. 

Her hands were steady as she opened it, but she could hear her heartbeat thumping loudly in her chest like a drum. 

The words assaulted her eyes as she saw his handwriting. The tears begging to break free.

Sarge Mitchell,

PFC Applebaum here. But of course you know that already… Sorry. 

Hi. I uh I’m not entirely sure why I’m writing this actually. I know that you’re home recovering now and I should give you that time to do that. But I just wanted to write you and say thank you. 

I know I’m not the best soldier you’ve ever worked with, hell I’m not even close to being the best in our squad. But you always made me feel seen and needed. 

You’ve saved my life more times then I can count. I can’t thank you enough. I just wish I could have done something for you that day… But even after everything, you made sure we were all safe. But I know how you are, and I know you’re going to blame yourself for not being able to save everyone. Or whatever might happen while your home. I’m sorry for what I’m about to say but stop it! Stop holding all of that shit in!

Sarge, you are one of the most incredible people I’ve met. You do far more for people then what’s expected. But do me a favor, go do something for yourself. 

You don’t have to save everyone! 

You couldn’t possibly save everyone, Sarge. 

Maybe now it’s time to let someone else do the saving. Maybe it’s time to let someone else save you. 

Just think about it. I’m here for you if you need anything. You’re like my sister and I truly do love you as such. 

Thank you, Beca.

-Benji

Beca’s vision had become blurry and unfocused as she read the letter for the third time. Benji. That fucking kid was far smarter than he should have been. He knew Beca better then she even realized. And he knew exactly what she would need to hear.

“Fuck…” Beca breathed out again as she leaned her back into the couch, still holding his letter. 

This was the first time he had ever addressed her as Beca. That alone was enough to break her heart. But knowing that this letter was written right before he died, that was just a completely different level of pain. 

She shook her head as Benji’s words flouted in and out of her mind. 

Maybe it’s time to let someone else do the saving.

Maybe it’s time to let someone else save you.

…go do something for yourself.

You don’t have to save everyone…you couldn’t possibly save everyone.

These words repeated in Beca’s mind over and over again like a broken record. 

Maybe it’s time to let someone else save you.

Chloe’s POV

Chloe sat at her desk, looking over each kid as they worked with their partners on the recent math assignment. She couldn’t help but think of Beca.

She had tried multiple times to get in contact with the woman again, after everything that happened two nights ago, with no luck. 

She just wanted so desperately to take back what she had said. She needed Beca. The thought of not having her in her life… it was just too much.

Her mind raced as she wasn’t sure where she and Beca stood anymore. Chloe was head over heels in love with Beca. There was no question in her mind and if she was being honest, it kind of scared her how much she loved the soldier. 

It hadn’t been that long. She knew that. But it also felt like she had known the young soldier for years and years. That they had always been them. 

But her words reverberated through her mind.

Then you don’t have to.

So now, the thought of Beca walking away from their relationship was worse than the thought of her going back into a raging war zone. 

All Chloe could think was how much she just needed to know Beca was hers. That they were okay. 

She sighed and cleared her head as Bella Conrad came up to her desk. She smiled down at her but honestly all she could see in the young girl was her godmother.

“Ms. B?” Bella asked. 

“What can I help you with, Bella?” Chloe asked.

Bella extended her hand that had the paper in it’s grasp. “I don’t understand the last one.”

Chloe nodded and looked down on it.

“So it’s a number pattern.” Chloe began to explain. “You see these two numbers? Are they growing bigger or smaller?”

Bella answered the question and soon figured out what the problem was asking. 

“K, do you need anymore help?” Chloe asked.

“No.” Bella shook her head, but she didn’t make a move to walk away. “Ms. B, why do you look so sad?”

Chloe shook her head. Of course Bella would notice something like that. 

“Things can happen that we can’t control. And that makes me sad sometimes.” Chloe explained simply. 

“Like when Aunt Beca goes away?” Bella asked. Chloe’s heart panged with sadness.

“Yeah.” Chloe nodded her head. “Like that.”

She fought back the tears as Bella’s words hit way too close to home. 

“Is she going to go away again?” Bella asked, the worry lacing the little girls voice.

“I don’t know, Bells.” Chloe honestly stated. She wanted to hug the little girl, let her know everything would be okay. But she didn’t know if they would be. And lying about it would have been cruel to Bella and to herself. 

She glanced over at her phone, praying that it would come to life with a call from a certain soldier.

Beca’s POV

Beca stared down at the paper coffee cup in her hand. Unsure what to do or say.

“Beca,” Emily’s voice broke through her thoughts and brought her back to reality. Beca looked up into her sister’s eyes. “Talk to me, Becs. What’s going on?”

“I… I think I fucked things up.” Beca breathed out in defeat. 

“What do you mean?” Emily looked curiously at the shorter brunette, her eyebrow slightly raised. 

“I talked to Chloe a few nights ago about me re-enlisting. It didn’t go over so well.” Beca confessed and she went back to fiddling with her paper cup. 

“What did Chloe say?” Emily asked. 

Emily would be lying if she said that she didn’t mind Beca reenlisting. She didn’t want that. The thought of losing Beca was too much for her. Whenever she was away on tours Emily always felt anxious the entire time. She always feared that Beca wouldn’t come back. But she knew her sister. She knew that Beca’s passion and drive lived in serving and protecting others. She respected Beca more then anyone. Her sister was a true hero in Emily’s eyes. But that didn’t mean she didn’t want to be selfish and not let Beca go back. She wanted her sister safe. But she respected Beca’s choices and if re-enlisting is what Beca feels like is right, then that’s what she needs to do and Emily will be there.

“She told me she didn’t want me to and that if I did she was done.” Beca explained.  “I just…I know that I can’t put her through that. Through what you’ve had to go through every time I leave. But I can’t lose her either…”

Emily nodded her head. 

“But who am I if I’m not a soldier?” Beca looked up with pleading eyes, almost begging Emily to provide the answer. Emily had never seen her so vulnerable. So, lost.

Emily took in a deep breath. “Beca, do you wanna know what the worst day of my life was?”

Beca looked at her clearly confused but Emily ignored her.

“The day I answered a phone call. When I was informed that you were laying in a hospital in Germany, right at death’s fucking door.” Emily stated. There was no heat behind her words, but there was definitely a heavy sense of sadness. “You weren’t awake yet and they didn’t know if you would wake up. The realization of how closely we came to almost losing you. That if one of those bullets had been just a few inches over, or if you had been standing a foot closer to the blast, you wouldn’t be sitting here right now. Beca, I know you. I know why you’ve done what you have. I’ve always supported your choices, and you’ve always been my hero, but I would have been completely lost if you had died.”

Tears filled Emily’s chocolate eyes as she stared into Beca’s steel blue ones. 

“Take it from someone on my side of it. Someone who loves you and can’t bare the thought of losing you. We understand why you do it, it doesn’t mean we have to like it.” Emily stated bluntly. “And it doesn’t mean that we will just stand by all the time and just let you throw yourself back into that world. You’re so close to having your world open and free again for the first time in six years. With someone you love more then anything. Beca, she makes you happier than I’ve ever seen you before. Why throw that away?”

Emily’s words were nothing she hadn’t heard before, especially within the last 3 days. But hearing them from her little sister was different. It sank in deeper. 

“I never wanted you to hurt because of my choices.” Beca confessed as she blinked away the tears threatening to break her. “I… I didn’t want that.”

“I know you didn’t.” Emily sighed. “But that doesn’t stop it from happening.”

Beca nodded her head, understanding Emily’s words fully.

“Do you love her?” Emily asked, already knowing the answer.

“Of course, I do. More than anything.” Beca stated without hesitation. “She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Do you want a future with her? A life with her?” Emily asked. 

“Yes.” Beca stated simply. 

“Do you want it more then you want to go back out there?” Emily knew that this would be harder for Beca to answer. But she had to decide. Did she love Chloe more then she loved the Army?

Beca stayed silent for a moment. She already knew the answer. The second Emily asked it she knew the answer, it was the accepting it part that was hard. Once she verbalized it, it became real. 

Beca could stare down the barrel of a gun and not even flinch, but facing this, closing this door scared the shit out of her. But she could do this. She would do this. Not because Emily, or Chloe, or her dad, or Luke, or Benji were asking her to. But because she knew that it was what she needed to do. 

Beca looked Emily in the eyes. “Yes. Yes I do.” 

Emily nodded her head. “So, what are you going to do about it?”

Beca immediately stood up. She looked at her sister for a moment. “I love you, kid. Thank you.”

“Love you too, Becs.” Emily smiled. “Now go get your girl you fucking idiot.”

Beca smiled brightly and practically ran out of the coffee shop, leaving Emily smiling as she watched her.

Barden Elementary School

Beca walked swiftly down the halls, maneuvering around children and parents. School must have just ended because the halls were filled, but Beca didn’t care. She was on probably the most important mission she’s ever been on. 

She rounded the corner and saw room 21. Not even bothering to notice if the room was empty, she stormed in, eyes immediately landing on Chloe. She walked up to her. 

Chloe turned just as Beca stopped a foot or two from her. 

“Beca…” Chloe breathed out, almost in disbelief.

“It’s you.” Beca stated. 

Chloe looked at her questioning and shook her head as if not sure what Beca was saying. 

“It’s you.” Beca stated again. “I need you. Everything else is meaningless. But you, you’re everything I need.”

Tears sprang to Chloe’s eyes. 

“Chlo, I love you and I can’t lose you. I refuse to lose you.” Beca stated in the sincerest, most earnest tone Chloe had ever heard her use. 

Chloe stepped forward and pulled Beca’s hand into her own, lacing her fingers with Beca’s. 

“I can’t make you chose, Beca.” Chloe sighed. “If this is what you want I will stand by you. It’ll be hard but I’ll support you.”

“You didn’t. I did.” Beca stated. “It was always going to be you. It just took me a second to realize it. I don’t need to go back as long as I have you.”

Beca smiled and shook her head. “I’m sorry I was too stupid to realize it, but I need you more then I need the Army. With you I will finally truly live. You are my future, Chloe Beale.”

Chloe gave a watery laugh of pure happiness and pulled Beca to her, kissing her soundly. Both ignoring the fact that there were still students and parents in the room.

Off in the corner of the room stood Stacie and Bella. Stacie smiled at her idiotic best friend and all she could think was it was about time she got the damn message.