Chapter 9 - Strong

There so much of place in the world. There's less time because the time needs to spread extra thin over all the places, like butter. So all the persons say "hurry up. Let's get going. Pick up the pace. Finish up now."

Ma was in a hurry to go up to Heaven, but she forgot me. Dumbo Ma. So the aliens threw her back down. Crash! And broke her.

Jack had been hanging out a lot with Chloe, he was much happier, Jill and Leo could tell.

It was one morning, Jack woke up and Chloe was not in bed, which was no surprise. She was probably downstairs. Jack looked at Ma's pictures from when she was younger. Pictures with the Bellas, pictures with Chloe. She seemed so happy.

Jack went downstairs and found Chloe talking to Jill animatedly.

"Morning Jack," Chloe smiled.

"Morning Jack," Jill smiled too.

"Grandma, I need the scissors," Jack said.

"For what?" Jill asked.

"For cutting my hair," Jack said.

Chloe and Jill looked surprised. They shared a look before Jill looked back at him.

"Do you really wanna do that?" Jill asked.

"I wanna send it to Ma," Jack said.

"How come?" Jill asked.

"She needs my strong more than me," Jack explained. "I wanna send it to her, or you can take it to her."

"I can help you if you'd like," Chloe offered.

"Yes please," Jack smiled.

"Okay," Chloe said.

"Oh I've been wanting to cut that hair for a very long time," Jill said.

Chloe chuckled and walked over to Jack, taking him to the kitchen.

"Come here, Jack," Chloe said. "Let's start with your ponytail."

Chloe sat him on a high stool, put a towel around his neck and grabbed the scissors.

"I cut your mother's hair once in college," Chloe said. "And some boys'. But that was a long time ago, I hope I still got it."

Jack chuckled.

Chloe lowered his ponytail and took a deep breath. Jack shit his eyes tight in preparation. He thought it was gonna hurt, he never had his hair cut before.

"Alright, steady," she said. She started cutting it until it was all off and she was holding his ponytail. "Done! What do you think?"

Chloe showed him his ponytail and he ran his fingers through his new short hair.

"I like it," he said.

"Come on, let's go to the bathroom to finish this up," Chloe said.

"Do you think this will work? Can my strong be her strong too?" Jack asked.

"Oh of course," Chloe said. "We all help each other stay strong. No one is strong along. You and your mom, you help each other too, don't you?"

"Yep," Jack said.

"You and grandma, you and Leo, Leo and grandma all have the same strong," Chloe explained.

"What about you?" Jack asked.

"Sure, me too," Chloe smiled.

"But your strong is stronger because it's red," Jack said.

Chloe laughed.

"Sure, that's true," Chloe said.

"You can send a little bit of your strong too," Jack suggested.

Chloe grabbed a tiny hair elastic and tied it around the hair around her neck, the strand was as thick as her pinky. She then grabbed the scissors and cut it, showing Jack.

"Now Ma will be strong enough to come home," Jack said.

"Certainly," Chloe smiled.

Chloe took him upstairs to the bathroom, took the stool with her and sat him on it. She finished styling his hair, giving it a more boyish look before she instructed him to go to the sink so she could wash it.

"I can't get soap in my eye!" Jack said.

"Oh no, there's a towel right there if you need it," Chloe said, showing him the towel.

"And my mouth!" Jack said, wiping the soap off his mouth and eye.

Chloe washed the shampoo off before she grabbed the towel and started drying off his hair.

"Oh this is the best part," Chloe said and rubbed the towel on Jack's head and he giggled.

She dried off his hair before removing the towel and taking a good look at him.

"I love you, Chloe," Jack said.

Chloe felt like she could cry. She was receiving love from this 5-year-old boy who was basically clueless but knew what love was.

Chloe wiped a single tear and smiled back at Jack.

"I love you too, Jack," she said, putting a strand of hair behind her ear.

oO0Oo

Jack was coloring.

Chloe would often go to her place and come back, now she was home, planning on coming back for dinner.

Jack had made friends with his neighbor, Aran. The boy tapped the window and showed him a ball. Jack smiled and put his pencil down.

"Grandma, can I go outside to play with Aran?" Jack asked.

"Sure, Jack," Jill said.

Jack went out to the backyard and played soccer with Aran.

About an hour after the two started, somebody called Jack and the boy looked up to see Ma standing there with a smile. He ran to her arms and she picked him up, hugging him tight.

"I missed you, Ma," Jack said.

"I missed you too, Jack," Beca said.

Beca put Jack down and greeted his friend, Aran. Jack explained that he was gonna spend some time with Beca now so Aran left. Beca took Jack up to her room and played LEGOs with him.

"I'm sorry, Jack," Beca said.

"It's okay," Jack said, looking up at her. "Don't do it again."

"I promise," Beca said.

"Are you better now?" Jack asked.

"I'm starting to be," Beca said. She smiled at him and ran her fingers through his hair with a chuckle. "Jack."

"Yeah?" Jack asked.

Beca grabbed a bag containing Jack's ponytail and Chloe's strand of hair.

"When grandma brought this to me, I knew I could get better," Beca explained before smiling at her son, putting her hand on his head. "You saved me. Again."

Jack tugged on her shirt.

"Can I?" he asked.

"No. There's no more left, sorry," Beca said.

"Okay," Jack said.

Beca looked down and started tearing up.

"I'm not a good enough Ma," Beca said.

"But you're Ma," Jack said.

Beca laughed through the tears. Jack was a piece.

"I am," she said before looking at him. Jack nodded. "I am."

"I wanna play with Chloe now. She's my friend," Jack said.

Beca became pale.

"You met Chloe?" she asked.

"And the Bellas," Jack nodded. "They're very fun."

"They are, I miss them. What do you think of Chloe?" Beca asked.

"I love her," Jack said.

Beca smiled.

"I'm glad you do, dude," she said. "I miss her."

"She's coming for dinner," Jack said and they heard the doorbell ring. "It must be her."

"Oh my God," Beca jumped from the bed and Jack followed her downstairs. They both were met with the redhead in question in the hallway next to Jill.

"Beca.." Chloe breathed out.

"Chloe!" Beca squealed and all but jumped in Chloe's arms. The two sobbed, hugging each other tightly. Jack just watched and Jill smiled at him.

"God I missed you," Chloe said, wiping her tears, kissing Beca on the cheek.

"I missed you too," Beca cried. "I'm so sorry, I should've listened to you when you said that guy was trouble."

"Oh don't blame yourself," Chloe said. "It wasn't your fault."

Beca sighed before hugging Chloe again.

"I missed you," Beca said.

"Come on girls, let's get dinner started," Jill said.

"Come on," Beca said, taking Chloe's hand and taking her to the kitchen. Jack following the two. "So how have you been?"

"Awful, just awful. Ask your mom, I attempted suicide when you were taken, I was depressed for years," Chloe said. "Having you home just makes me so much better."

Beca smiled and squeezed her hand. Jack sat on her lap and she hugged him.

"I've been spending time with your little guy. He's pretty cool," Chloe winked at Jack, who smiled.

"He is, huh?" Beca smiled at Jack.

"I am," Jack said.

Beca and Chloe smiled at him.

"You know, I talked to my mom, I'm coming back to Barden in the fall," Beca said. "Finish what I started."

"That's great, Beca," Chloe said.

"I wanna be a music producer," Beca said. "Still."

Chloe smiled.

"What do you do, anyway?" Beca asked.

"I'm a vet," Chloe said.

"Oh that's nice," Beca said.

"Yeah," Chloe said. "Hoping to open my own clinic."

"I hope you do," Beca said. "So are you seeing anyone?"

"I am, yeah," Chloe sighed. "I didn't allow myself to see anyone for the first 3 years after you'd been taken, but your mom talked to me and said this is what you would've wanted."

Beca was quiet and she looked down. She did not want that. Sure, she wanted Chloe to be happy but she expected that when she got out that Chloe would be available.

"I'm sorry, Beca," Chloe said.

The brunette let go of her hand and sighed, wiping her nose, not meeting Chloe's eyes.

"No, don't apologize," Beca said. "Like I said, if maybe I hadn't been stupid to go with that guy, things would be different."

"Don't think like that," Chloe said. "You have Jack now, think about that."

Beca looked up at her son and smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Yeah this little guy's the best thing that's happened during the last 7 years," Beca said.

Jack smiled bigger.

oO0Oo

Beca was disappointed. The person she'd been longing the most to see was seeing somebody else. She wanted to be the one in Chloe's life, she wanted to be Chloe's girlfriend. But she wasn't.

That was hard to get over.

Despite all that, Chloe spent practically all her free time with Beca and Jack. She took them out for hamburgers, since Jack had never had one. She took them to a place she took Beca to their second date.

"Do you want this one?" Beca asked Jack, who nodded. "Okay,"

Chloe ordered three hamburgers, one from the kid menu for Jack, and they sat down near the window, where they could see the city. When their burgers came, Jack was quick to take a huge bite of it, making Beca and Chloe laugh.

"Slow down!" Chloe said with a laugh as Jack laughed as well.

Jack chewed and swallowed his bite and took a big swig of his soda.

"When the winter comes, I'll take you guys ice skating," Chloe said.

"Oooh, ice skating, that'll be so much fun!" Beca said and looked at Jack.

"What is that?" Jack asked.

"Oh you'll see," Beca said. "It's very fun."

"This is so good," Jack said, holding his burger.

"It is, huh?" Chloe asked. "I knew you'd like it."

Jack smiled.

"You're very smart," Jack said.

"Not as smart as you," Chloe said with narrowed eyes.

"That's true," Jack said, making his mother laugh.

"Come on, Jack the Giant, eat your burger," Beca said with a chuckle.

Jack smiled and took another big bite of his burger.