Chapter Text
A Bella Secret Santa was probably the one thing the girls have been looking forward to all semester. What better way to destress from finals for just a few moments than be getting a present from a Bella just before the actual finals begin. The Bellas all agreed that the presents would be completely anonymous unless the Santa in question wanted to reveal themselves but it was so much more entertaining to watch each person wonder who got their present. So when they all gathered around the living room with a Santa hat in the middle filled with slips of papers with each girl’s name written in swirly handwriting they all had an escape plan ready to implement.
The first to go was Fat Amy who reached in grabbed a slip of paper and straight up bolted up the stairs towards her room in a solid ten seconds. And each girl after that did something similar. They’d grab their slip of paper and escape to somewhere else in the house before they looked at it which may have not been the best plan because Emily wound up walking back into the room moments later saying she got herself. The rest of the girls laughed as she picked a new name and left the room again.
Beca stood back for most of the name choosing just waiting for everyone to have chosen and left the room before she approached the Santa hat. She took a deep breath and reached in pulling out the last slip of paper.
“Who’d you get?” Chloe asked causing Beca to jump and nearly drop the paper she was holding altogether.
“Jesus, Chloe. Don’t do that,” Beca yelped grasping her chest in attempts of getting her breathing under control. The redhead giggled at her response before plopping down onto the couch behind them.
“You’re fine but you didn’t answer my question,” Chloe sing songs. Beca turns towards the redhead with a glare.
“No telling, remember?”
“Telling, schmelling,” Chloe whines. “C’mon share.”
“Nope,” Beca decides sliding the slip of paper into her pocket. Chloe looks oddly offended at the gesture but Beca just shrugs it off.
“Alright, fine then,” Chloe deadpans. “Have fun shopping for whoever it is.”
“I will,” Beca retorts with a smile that the redhead easily returns.
Well, she won’t actually have fun with the shopping aspect of it. There’s always two or so girls that breaks the price limit for the Secret Santa so it wasn’t really that big of a deal. But Beca quickly figures out a week into December that she was going to blow that price limit out of the water and she kind of regrets not figuring out this gift sooner. Had she done that she could have bought it on Black Friday and probably saved a lot of money but oh well.
Beca started out by getting a really nice picture frame that had silver music notes carved into it. She figured that the other girl would easily find plenty of pictures to collage together to go in the 20” x 24” frame. But she knew that she couldn’t settle on just a picture frame because it didn’t quite express what Beca was going for. What she was going for was possibly risky but then again the receiver of this gift wouldn’t know who it was from. Or at least that’s what Beca was going to tell herself to talk herself up to buying the next part of the gift.
The one problem that Beca ran into with the present was that it needed to be delivered to her but she knew none of the Bellas could be trusted. She knew that one of them was bound to stumble upon it and open it and that was the last thing she wanted. So she made sure to have it shipped to her dad’s house and give him a heads up that he’ll watch for it and tell her when it got there. Luckily he didn’t question what it was that was getting delivered or who it’s for which Beca was thankful for. Sometimes, and this is all Beca will admit to, her dad was actually a good person. To say that Beca was jumpy every time someone called her that week though was quite an understatement.
“Beca,” her dad yelled over the phone once she picked up.
“Hey,” Beca mumbled as she bolted out of the room away from the other Bellas.
“Your package is here,” he said happily. “Do you want to come pick it up and stop by for dinner as well?”
“Sure,” Beca agrees glancing into the kitchen to check the time over the stove. “Can you pick me up in like a half hour or so?”
“Works for me.”
“See you then,” Beca says goodbye quickly pocketing her phone soon after.
“Where are you going?” Emily asks walking up behind Beca.
“To my dad’s for dinner,” Beca replies easily. “He wants to spend time with me or whatever.”
“Oh, cool,” Emily chirps with the slam of the fridge. “Have fun.”
“Thanks, Em. See ya,” Beca throws over her shoulder as she scurries towards her room.
Getting out of the house was never an easy task. Each person going in or out of the Bella house was bound to run into at least one other person questioning what they were doing and where they were going especially if they were alone. So, Beca’s dad coming to the house was the best route for her to go. The Bellas couldn’t be suspicious about her whereabouts because they all knew what Dr. Mitchell’s car looked like and the only time she ever really went with him anywhere was when she had to. Never really for fun or shopping or things like that so the girls wouldn’t even bat an eye when she said she was going to his for dinner.
//
Dinner was always good in the Mitchell home and Beca had to admit that she actually liked going there for dinner on some occasions. The light dinner banter and good food was actually quite welcoming once Beca got over the whole stepmonster thing long enough to tolerate the company of her own family. She wasn’t too surprised when they pried into her school life and how finals were going. She was, however, a little surprise when he asked about the package.
“It’s, uh, a secret santa present,” Beca mumbled awkwardly. “I couldn’t have it delivered to the house because the Bellas are nosey as all hell around the holidays. There wasn’t a single chance of me getting to it before one of them would open it first.”
“Ah,” Dr. Mitchell replied between sips of water. “Sounds like that would have been a little bit of a predicament, huh?”
“Yep.”
“Which one of the girls did you get?” Sheila asks.
“Um, Chloe, actually,” Beca responds hesitantly because for some reason she likes that it was a secret to everyone but now it’s just a little too late.
“You two sure are close,” Sheila comments with a tone of voice that Beca can’t quite determine. She stares at her stepmom for a moment before replying.
“Yeah, we are. I should probably get back soon,” Beca decided with a look towards her dad.
“Of course,” he chimed in with a smile. “Let’s get going then.”
“Thanks for dinner,” Beca says quietly once they were on their way out the front door present in hand.
“Beca, you might want to take that out of the box and hide it. If it’s small enough that is,” Sheila calls from the living room.
“Oh,” Beca looks down at the box and realizes that, as much as she hates to admit it, Sheila is right. “Good idea. Thank you.” She opens the box easily and takes the smaller box out from underneath the bubble wrap that was preventing it from moving around too much. Beca grabbed the receipt and folded it before putting both items into the pocket of her jacket and zipping it shut.
“Let me take care of that,” Sheila says taking the box from the younger girl before waving goodbye.
The second Beca was dropped off at the Bella house she burst through the front doors and ran straight towards her room. She grabbed her wrapping paper and tape from under her bed and plopped down on the floor with them all in hand. Beca cut a small bit of wrapping paper off the roll and promptly wrapped the box. She scoured her room for the gold sharpie that she knows is here somewhere. Once she finds it Chloe’s name gets written across the top intentionally in very not Beca like handwriting.
Beca smiles to herself as she puts both presents together in a safe space under her bed. She knows no matter how hard any of the Bellas will search for presents that they won’t for a second want to look under a bed that likely has a bunch of junk stuffed under it. To say she was proud of this hiding spot was kind of an understatement.
//
“Gather round, gather round. For the day of reckoning is upon us,” Fat Amy calls from the living room on the morning of the first finals. “I hope everyone is prepared for finals and ready to go home for the holidays. I also hope your secret Santas have gotten their shit together and your presents will be arriving shortly. Best of luck to ye all on this week of absolute hell.”
“Cheers, Amy. What would we do without your speeches?” Stacie joked as she nursed a mug of coffee in the doorway.
“Har har,” she retorted only for the other girls to chuckle at her weak response. “Whatever, you’re all getting coal for Christmas.”
“Whatever you say, Amy,” Stacie snarks as the other girl leaves entirely. “Secret Santas get to your jobs we all need a nice present to get us through this week. Also known as whatever one of you has me I’d like my present ASAP. Thanks.”
“Wow, Stace, way to drop a hint,” Beca deadpans her own coffee in hand.
“I have five finals, Mitchell. Don’t mess with me right now,” Stacie glared. The other girl threw up her hands in defense and backed away clearly taking the threat seriously.
“Whoever her secret Santa may be please quell the beast,” Beca jokes quickly before bolting from the kitchen much to everyone else's amusement. Stacie glares in the direction that the other girl ran and for a moment it looked like she was about to hunt her down.
“You’re lucky you’re cute, Mitchell,” Stacie yelled through the house.
//