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Beca Mitchell-Beale did not cry at airports.
She did not cry at weddings. (Okay, she cried a bit at her own, but who wouldn’t cry when they were lucky enough to marry the wonder that was Chloe Beale?)
She had not cried when winning her first Grammy or Emmy or Oscar (Only a Tony left and she’s EGOT) or when Toni and Ellie left for college at Barden or even when C.C. was accepted into veterinary school in the first place.
Unlike her wife who’d been a sobbing heap of emotion.
But that was part of what made Chloe so special. Beca swore her wife had a doctorate in Emotional Intelligence.
However when the dean of UC-Davis Veterinary School called out:
“Catherine Claire Mitchell-Beale. Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (Avian Specialization)”
Beca absolutely, catastrophically, humiliatingly lost her entire mind.
She made a sound that could only be described as a very horny moose discovering the love of its life.
Kind of a honky, snorting, wet bellow/sob.
Chloe’s head snapped around.
Ellie and Toni both froze.
Aubrey actually jumped.
Stacie snickered.
Bella’s eyes widened in surprise.
J.J. looked scared.
And the newest member of this dysfunctional family unit, Toni’s husband and the new father to be, Derek, just looked confused.
“Oh my god,” Chloe whispered, already laughing, already crying, already reaching for her wife. “She’s started.”
C.C. was walking across the stage in her cap and gown, posture perfect, chin high, as she strode with that same steady confidence she’d carried since she was eight years old and had announced she was going to “ going to play the first rock concert on Mars.” She accepted her diploma, shook the dean’s hand, turned toward the crowd…
…and saw Beca on her feet, hands clapped over her mouth, eyes enormous and shining.
“THAT’S MY BABY,” Beca sobbed, voice cracking through the auditorium. “SHE FIXES DOGS AND MACAWS AND GECKOS … ”
“Mom!” C.C. called, laughing.
Ellie whistled.
Toni covered her face.
Chloe pressed her forehead into Beca’s shoulder, shaking with laughter and tears.
“Sit down, rock star,” Chloe murmured. “You’re going to get us escorted out.”
Beca did not sit.
She clutched Chloe’s hand like she was hanging off a cliff and cried so hard she scared the woman in front of them.
C.C. blew them a kiss and kept walking.
She was wearing a black dress with roses under her gown and red heels.
She’s had her dark brown hair cut in a sleek bob and her makeup was on point (Thanks Aunt Stacie!).
She looked so professional, so ready to face the world.
She looked to, to steal a phrase from Beca’s lovely wife, “totes grown up”
The ceremony blurred after that.
Beca cried when they played the school anthem.
Beca cried when a random student hugged her parents on stage.
Beca cried when a service dog walked by in a tiny cap.
By the time the final applause rolled through the auditorium, Beca was wrecked, Chloe was glowing, and the twins were making bets about whether their MamaB would survive to the reception without dehydrating.
‘You didn’t cry this much at MY wedding.” Toni growled in mock anger, her hands clasped over her growing baby bump. “This kid I’m carrying better earn some MamaB tears or so help me.”
Beca just looked at her middle daughter, gave a helpless shrug and keep crying into the bunch of Kleenex Chloe kept replenishing for her.
The moment C.C. emerged from the side doors, still in her gown, mortarboard crooked, diploma clutched in both hands.
Beca sprinted.
She did not jog.
She did not walk quickly.
She launched.
“MY DOCTOR BABY,” Beca sobbed, colliding with her daughter.
C.C. barely had time to brace herself before Beca wrapped around her, crying into her shoulder like the world was ending.
“I’m so proud of you,” Beca said into her hair. “I’m so proud I might explode. I raised a veterinarian. Chloe, I made a doctor.”
“You helped,” Chloe laughed, sliding into the hug. “I mostly made the doctor.”
Ellie raised her hand and waved it, trying to attract attention. “Hello, Ph.D. here. Also a doctor.”
Bella slid in beside her girlfriend, wrapping an arm around her waist. “Let it be Els, I think this is Cecil’s moment. Plus I’ll make it up to you later.”
Ellie blushed and then surprised herself by giggling. This honeymoon phase of her relationship with Bella was certainly helping her discover new sides of herself.
C.C. hugged both her parents, arms strong and steady, and for a second the world went very quiet around the three of them.
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” C.C. said softly.
Chloe’s eyes filled immediately.
Beca pulled back to look at her daughter’s face … really look … and saw the woman she had become. Confident. Kind. Brilliant. The same little girl who used to bring injured birds into the kitchen and declare, “We have to help him, moms.”
It had been a struggle for C.C. to get where she was. She’d been the child who’d taken longer than her sisters to find her calling. Who’d had a rocky adolescence and an aimless early twenties. She was the oldest in her graduating class. But also had the second highest GPA. She’d been recognized with an award for mentoring and had more than one job offer waiting for her. Thought she’d already accepted a position working at the practice of a red haired vet who she knew very well.
“You’re going to change the world,” Beca whispered.
C.C. smiled. “I’m going to start with cockatoos”
Ellie and Toni reached them next, each taking a side.
“We are insanely proud of you,” Ellie said, kissing one cheek.
Toni added, kissing the other cheek. “We will now be calling you Doc Cecil.”
C.C. laughed. “No you will not!”
Stacie and Aubrey arrived with flowers. J.J. gave his partner in crime a bottle of premium tequila (to be enjoyed later when moms were elsewhere).
Everyone was crying, everyone was hugging, everyone was glowing.
Chloe stood back for a moment and just looked.
Her youngest.
Her fierce, steady girl.
Graduated.
She pressed a hand to her chest, overwhelmed by love.
Beca caught her watching and stepped closer.
“You okay?” Beca asked.
Chloe nodded, tears spilling. “I’m more than okay.”
They’d rented out a small hall near campus. Gold balloons. A banner that said CONGRATULATIONS DR. C.C. with sparkly paw prints. The catering staff was already bringing out food when the family arrived, loud and emotional and unstoppable.
C.C. made a short speech, surprisingly wise crack free.
She thanked her professors and her fellow students.
Her sisters.
Her moms.
Her extended family.
When she looked at Chloe, her voice wobbled.
“When I wanted to quit,” C.C. said, “my MamaC told me I didn’t come this far to only come this far.”
Chloe covered her mouth.
“And when I was scared,” C.C. added, turning to Beca, “my MamaB reminded me I’m not alone. Ever.”
Beca sobbed into her napkin.
They toasted.
They laughed.
They danced.
Beca kept introducing everyone to her daughter the doctor.
Ellie finally let the whole “doctor” thing go after Bella dragged her to the coat room for a quick make out session. Aubrey, Chloe and Beca pretended not to notice when the two women returned to the main room looking slightly disheveled. Stacie just winked at her daughter and gave the new couple a thumbs up.
Toni stood as close to the buffet table as possible while Derek made sure her plate was never empty. Toni took this whole “eating for two thing” very seriously and her husband was more than happy to support the wife he adored.
At one point Beca ended up slow-dancing with C.C. while Chloe watched, hand on her heart.
“You did it,” Beca whispered. “You really did it.”
C.C. rested her forehead against Beca’s. “Because you and Mom taught me how to keep going.”
With the party still in full swing, the mothers and the new DVM slipped out onto the steps outside the hall. The rest of the Mitchell-Beales, Posen-Conrads, Bellas old and new and other assorted hangers on, as was the norm when they all got together, kept the carousing at a solid 11.
It was quiet.
Warm.
Peaceful.
C.C. leaned between her moms, arms around both of them.
“I’m scared,” she admitted.
Beca blinked. “What? Of starting to work with your mom? She’s really not that bad of a boss”
This earned her a slap on the arm and a glare from Chloe.
“Being done,” C.C. said. “Being… this grown.”
Chloe kissed her temple. “You’re allowed to be scared.”
Beca squeezed her. “But you’re never alone. Not for a second.”
C.C. smiled, steady again.
“Yeah,” she said. “I know. You may be a bunch of weirdos, but I wouldn’t trade this family for anything. Love you all.”
Beca frowned a bit. “Jury’s still out on Derek but yeah, we’re a pretty good bunch.”
Chloe just gave her wife a look. “Derek’s fine. “
Then she turned to C.C. “ I can’t wait to see what you do, Catherine Claire.”
With that the trio linked arms and turned to head back inside.
C.C. looked between her moms and gave a wicked grin. “Odds that you won’t get your damage deposit back after tonight?”
Beca just rolled her eyes as Chloe snickered. “Your sisters, Stacie and the Bellas partying in one place? I’m not taking that bet. Even Aubrey couldn’t maintain order with that chaotic combination.”
And back through the doors they went, back into the loving maelstrom of family and friends. Of love and laughter. Of a past filled with wonderful memories and future filled with promise.
Together as always, one jumbled up family, no matter where they might be.