Chloe was waiting.

She'd been waiting for a long time now.

Waiting for the day Beca loved her back.

The waiting started at their first ICCA's win. Chloe turned to Beca, all bright eyed and smiley, about to finally act on her feelings of love for the DJ. She'd felt as if she could do anything. But Beca seemed to have something more important to do.

So Chloe watched. Watched as Beca ran up to him. Watched as Beca kissed him.

Chloe turned away.

She waited.

The next three years was a constant waiting. Waiting for the day Beca came up to her with news she had left him. News he had treated her wrong.

But that day never came.

It never would come.

Deep down, Chloe knew that.

He would never treat Beca wrong.

So Chloe waited.

She waited through every ping of her best friends phone, every loving smile that was reserved only for him, every twinkle in Beca's eye as she spoke of him. Every hug, every kiss, every laugh Beca and he shared, Chloe watched.

Waiting.

Hoping.

Ignoring the pain in her chest.

Chloe waited through moving day a year after graduation. She helped Beca move her things into her new house.

His new house.

Their new house.

She wished that it was her and Beca's new house instead.

She watched as Beca dedicated her first Grammy to him. Her rock, as she had called him. She clapped with the rest of the world at her kind words. Chloe waited for her special mention, as Beca's best friend.

It never came.

Chloe continued to wait.

She waited through every bump in their relationship, silently wondering if this was it. If this was the fight that would pull them apart.

It wasn't.

Chloe watched as Beca agreed to be his fiancé in front of all their friends. Watched as her best friend pretended that the happy tears of love never fell as she admired her new ring.

She watched as Beca chose her wedding dress, waited through the multiple panics of was he the one?

Silently wishing she could say no.

And she would have.

She should have.

But she couldn't.

Because Chloe knew they were meant to be.

And that was what hurt.

Still, Chloe watched. Watched her best friend's life get planned out before her eyes, watched as Beca agreed to be his wife. She waited for an interruption, for someone to yell stop the wedding.

She felt ashamed of herself. How dare she think like that on Beca's wedding day. She had never seen her best friend happier.

She wondered if she could have made her that happy.

Siting at the wedding table hours later, nursing her champagne, Chloe watched. Watched the newly-wed happy couple dance together happily, in their own world. She watched Benji and Emily laugh together as they danced. She watched Aubrey and Stacie do the same. And Jessica and Ashley. And Amy and Bumper. All sharing kisses between, all in their own little worlds.

And Chloe began to hate.

She hated what she had become. She hated having to watch all her friends be in love and know that she could never have what they do. She knew that she was most certainly in love, but she would never be loved back.

She wondered why she did this to herself.

And yet, Chloe continued to wait.

She waited through three minutes of Beca bouncing uncontrollably in both nervousness and excitement, a pregnancy test on the counter. She watched her best friend gasp in shock at the results. She watched the tears start to spill, and the happy smile. She watched Beca explain how excited he would be. And she smiled. Beca was happy. Watching Beca happy made Chloe smile.

Chloe kept waiting.

She waited through nine months of Beca's mood swings, and her crying, and her belly slowly growing to fit his child.

She waited through hours of labour, watched as Beca claimed she was going to kill him. Watched as Beca cried happy tears as she stared down at his daughter. Watched as Beca proudly showed off Alexa Chloe Swanson.

And Chloe smiled.

She ignored her mind reminding her how she wished Beca's daughter was her own.

Chloe waited.

What she was waiting for, she did not know.

But she was definitely waiting for something.

She waited through four years of babysitting for her best friend, four years of telling Beca's daughter how great her father was. Four years of explaining to Alexa why daddy and mommy left her at Auntie Chloe's every Friday night to spend time together alone.

She watched Beca accept her second Grammy. Watched as Beca dedicated her award to him again, and this time her daughter.

Not to Chloe.

She clapped for her. She smiled for her.

She waited for her.

Chloe had tears in her eyes when Beca announced she was pregnant again. Beca's eyes were twinkling as she grinned at her, teasing her for crying.

Chloe said she was so happy for Beca that she was getting emotional.

That was a lie.

Chloe was happy. Of course she was.

But she wasn't happy enough to cry about it.

They were tears of grief.

They didn't come often. But they came when she was reminded. Reminded that Beca had him. That Beca would never want her.

She continued to wait.

She waited for Beca's son to be brought into the world.

He was beautiful.

Chloe refused to acknowledge that he looked very much like his father.

She calmed Beca down when her daughter was in the hospital with a broken arm.

She helped Beca surprise him at work

She became known as Chloe, who would support her best friend through anything.

She watched as Beca waved goodbye to her at the airport, going on a family holiday to Hawaii.

She felt lost until Beca was back.

She agreed when Beca ranted angrily about her husband and his forgetfulness on her way to her seven year old son's school, finding out he hadn't been picked up yet.

She smiled.

Beca and Jesse made up.

She watched as he got the call.

She watched as he broke down in front of Chloe and his kids.

Chloe cried.

Beca had been in an accident.

Chloe waited for an hour, the worst hour of her life. She wondered and she wished and she smiled and she cried and she laughed and she agreed.

And she remembered.

She remembered Beca. Her closed off, freshman self. She remembered how she had fallen in love with the tiny brunette with the ear monstrosities. And she thanked. She thanked God for everything. She thanked God for Beca, and for fate, and for keeping Beca close by her all these years. She thanked him, for making Beca so happy. Beca deserved to be happy.

Beca didn't make it.

That night, having wept so much, for the first time, Chloe felt completely empty. Beca was gone, and with her she took away everything.

She tried to wait.

But what do you wait for when you have nothing left?

She wanted to see Beca again. To hear her voice, to see her laugh, her smile. She would give anything to see him and Beca kiss one more time, because that would mean that Beca was here.

But she wasn't.

And Chloe waited.

She waited to see Beca again.

To be with her forever.

She didn't have to wait for very long.