So here it is, the final chapter! I have loved writing this fic and I am little sad to see it end. Thank you so much for all the support, I cannot say that enough. I hope you enjoy this final installment. Oh, and maybe get those tissues ready.
I do not own Pitch Perfect or any of its characters.
Five years later.
"Beca, sweetie, I love you but if you don't stop driving like an old lady I am going to lose my shit!" Chloe cursed, panting, her hands clutching her very pregnant belly.
"Sorry baby." Beca said, her hands clutching the steering-wheel so tight her knuckles were white.
"Sorry." Chloe said, her breathing evening out. "I love you."
"I love you too." Beca took Chloe's hand in hers and turned to smile at her.
"Eyes on the fucking road Beca!" Chloe shouted, her hand practically breaking Beca's as she squeezed it through another wave of pain.
"Sorry, sorry." Beca said, thankful that Ben was with Fat Amy and couldn't hear the string of profanity that would pour out of her wife's mouth every five minutes or so. They pulled into the hospital parking lot and Beca rushed around to the passenger side and helped Chloe out. At the entrance, Chloe was seated into a wheelchair and Beca pushed her to the maternity ward. "Hey, my wife's in labour." Beca said as they reached the receptionist.
"Name please?" The woman asked, not looking up from her charts.
"Chloe Mitchell." Chloe said, between breaths. "We phoned up on the way."
"Okay we have a private room set up for you, come this way." The woman stood to lead them to her room when she caught sight of Beca. "Oh my god, are you Beca Mitchell?" She said with a squeal.
"Yes." Beca said trying not to sigh and roll her eyes.
"The Beca Mitchell? The DJ?" Beca nodded. "I am such a huge fan!" She said with another squeal of excitement.
"Hey, any chance you guys could do autographs later, I am about to have a fucking baby!" Chloe shouted, her contractions reaching new levels of pain. The woman quickly snapped out of it and within minutes, Chloe was changed into a hospital gown and was lying on a bed shouting and swearing at everyone in the vicinity. If Beca hadn't been so scared of her at this moment, she would have found it funny, considering how happy and sunny Chloe normally was.
"You're doing so well baby." Beca murmured, kissing Chloe's hand as it crushed her own for the hundredth time.
"Jesus Beca, how did you do this when you were fifteen?!" She screamed. Beca laughed.
"In a few weeks you won't even remember the pain." She brushed the hair from Chloe's eyes and suddenly became aware of a shift in the atmosphere in the room. Chloe's face seemed to pale before her and she felt a twist of nervousness in her stomach. "Baby?" She said softly.
"She's bleeding." She heard a doctor say. "She needs surgery now."
"Chloe?" Beca said as her hand was pulled from Chloe's as her bed was wheeled off. "Chloe!" She was pushed back by a pair of strong arms as Chloe was taken out of sight. She ran after them and slowed to a stop as she reached the doors of the OR. Her stomach was twisting and she felt sick and confused. She sank into an uncomfortable plastic chair, her head in her hands as she tried to make sense of what had happened in the last few minutes. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket and she saw Fat Amy was calling.
"Hey." She said, trying to keep her voice steady.
"So is there a new ginger in the world yet?" Amy said.
"Uh, no. Not yet." Her voice shook a little this time.
"What's going on Beca?" The blonde said.
"I don't know. She started bleeding and then they took her into surgery. I don't know what's going on." She choked out a sob. "I'm scared, Amy."
"I'm on my way." Was all Amy said before hanging up. Beca's head went back to her hands. What if I lose her? Beca thought. Her mind started drifting to the wonderful moments they'd shared as a family over the past five years. Like the first time they heard one of Beca's songs on the radio.
"Mom!" Ben shouted, running into Beca's office.
"Did we forget to knock again, buddy?" Beca said with a tired smile. She pulled her headphones off and rubbed her tired eyes.
"Sorry!" He said. "But you have to come downstairs! Your song is on the radio!" Her eyes went wide.
"Are you serious?!" She said standing up from her desk. He nodded and pulled her by the hand out of the room and downstairs. Chloe had the radio blasting and was dancing while making dinner. She lifted the now seven year old Ben into her arms and danced with him, resting him on her hip. "I'm on the radio!" Beca shouted, kissing Chloe and Ben on the cheeks. "The real radio!" Chloe used a free hand to cup Beca's cheek and kissed her, brushing their noses together.
"I told you it was only a matter of time." She said softly.
"Mom?" Ben's voice pulled Beca from her reminiscing and she once again became aware of the uncomfortable chair, the harsh lighting, the smell of antiseptic and the twisting knot in her stomach.
"Hey buddy." Beca's voice was barely a whisper. Fat Amy took a seat beside her, resting a hand on her back. The now nine year old Ben sat on her lap, despite being a little too big. He wrapped his arms around her and Beca closed her eyes, squeezing him close to her.
"Is mom okay?" He said softly.
"I don't know buddy." She said her voice shaking.
"I'm sure she'll be fine." Amy said, for once being a calm voice of reason.
"Do you remember the first time you called her mom, Ben?" Beca asked, hastily wiping her eyes. She felt him nod against her.
It was a ridiculously cold day in December and the school Chloe worked at was closed early due to a problem with their heating. She arrived home to find Beca just about to leave, wrapped up against the cold.
"Your school too, huh?" Beca said, kissing Chloe's bright pink cheek. "I just got a call saying Ben's school is closing early because of the cold, I'm on my way to pick him up."
"I'll come with you." She said with a smile, linking their hands together. They found Ben in the midst of a serious snowball fight with a group of other six year olds, their moms and dad's standing watching and laughing. Chloe and Beca joined the group of parents, ignoring the looks that were being thrown at them. After a few minutes Ben ran up to them, bright red and breathless but with an enormous grin on his face. Chloe knelt down and straightened out his hat and jacket before kissing his forehead. When she straightened up she re-entwined her hand with Beca's saw a few of the mothers shooting her dirty looks. One of them approached the family.
"Do you know this woman Ben? Is she a... friend of your mom's?" She asked, casting a dirty look at Chloe.
"Excuse me?" Beca said, her voiced laced with anger.
"Becs it's fine." Chloe said softly.
"No she isn't." Ben said, staring defiantly up at the woman. The three woman turned to stare at him. "She isn't a friend. She's my mom." And he linked his hand with the redheads. Once they got through the door they scooped Ben up and showered him with kisses. "You cry too much." He said, wrinkling his nose as one of Beca's tears dropped onto his face.
It felt like they had been sitting their for hours when a doctor finally emerged from the OR, blood covering his scrubs.
"Ms. Mitchell?" He said and Beca stood up, setting Ben on his feet. Suddenly every happy memory she had ever shared with Chloe flashed in her head. Ben's first day of school when Chloe didn't mock her for crying, instead taking her out for Taco Bell and coffee. The day Beca proposed when they were on vacation in London. The day Beca did her first gig and she found Chloe in the audience, having arranged a babysitter for Ben so she could surprise her. When she returned home after her first radio interview and Chloe and Ben were in the middle of a game of Mario Brothers on the Wii, dinner cooking in the oven. The day they found out Chloe was finally pregnant via a sperm donor. Their first Christmas as a family, Chloe lifting Ben up so he could put the star on the top branch. Her mouth was dry and her heart was racing as she took a tentative step towards the doctor. "She's going to be okay." He smiled, and Beca let out a sob of relief.
"Thank you." She cried, pulling Ben into a hug and feeling Fat Amy put an arm around her shoulder and squeezing her.
"Would you like to meet your daughter?" He said, and Beca nodded, tears falling down her face. She tentatively walked into the room where Chloe lay asleep, her baby girl in the tiny plastic cot beside her. The doctor placed the little girl in her arms and Beca cried as the baby opened her eyes and showed Beca the piercing blue eyes that she knew so well. She took a seat beside Chloe's bed and stroked a hand gently over the soft ginger hair of her daughter.
"Do you have a name?" A nurse asked her.
"Emily." Beca said softly, not taking her eyes off of her. They had decided to name the baby after Beca's mom if it was a girl or after Chloe's grandfather if it was a boy.
"Lovely. And is she having a middle name?" The nurse asked. Beca looked up and smiled.
"Amy." Beca said, as her best friend's eyes brimmed with tears. "Come and see buddy." She said to Ben who was hovering at the edge of Chloe's bed. He cautiously approached and Beca lowered her arms so he could see his new baby sister.
"She looks like Princess Merida." He said, his eyes a little teary.
"She's beautiful." Beca's head shot up and the sound of Chloe's voice. Her voice was tired and small but she was smiling. Amy took Emily out of Beca's arms and Beca stroked the side of Chloe's face, brushing the hair from her eyes.
"I thought I was gonna lose you." Beca whispered through a haze of tears. "I've never been so scared in my whole life." She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against Chloe's, breathing her in.
"I'll try not to do it again." Chloe said with a small, sleepy, chuckle before her eyes closed again.
A few months later and Beca and Chloe were lying in bed, wrapped in each other's arms and about to drift off to sleep, when they heard Emily stir over the baby-monitor.
"I'll go." Beca said, kissing Chloe's forehead. Before she could even get out of bed however she heard Ben's voice on the monitor.
"Shh, it's okay." He said softly and Emily stopped crying almost immediately. Beca and Chloe sat up to listen, holding the monitor closer to them. "It's okay princess." He said. They adored his nickname for Emily. He still insisted she was the double of princess Merida from the movie Brave. "I'm going to protect you, you know? If people are ever mean to you or try and hurt you, I won't let them." Tears were sparkling in the two women's eyes now. "One day people might make fun of you because you don't have a dad. They used to do that to me at school. But I found something that works. If they ever laugh at you or say stuff then you just look them in the eye and you tell them, "I don't need a dad because I have two moms. And my two moms love me more than anyone ever could." And then they won't make fun of you anymore." They heard the sound of him planting a soft kiss on Emily's head. "Goodnight princess." And then they heard his footsteps take him back to his own room. In that moment, Beca's head resting on her wife's chest, the sound of her children sleeping soundly, she knew that sometimes, the most amazing things can come from some terrible nights.
And there it is! Thank you again for responding so well to this story.
Massive amounts of love to you all :)