EPILOGUE

"Why does Axelrod have black spot now?"

Beca squinted her eyes. Sure enough, the damned little goldfish had a black spot on his back.

"Oh, I don't know, Bud. He's just growing, I guess," Beca lied through her teeth.

At this moment, Beca heard the click-clack of high heels entering the room. Chloe walked into the kitchen, wordlessly raising her eyebrows at Beca. Beca shrugged back a non-verbal 'I don't know.' Chloe pursed her lips together to keep from smiling and shook her head. Beca had to hand it to her. Even when Chloe was wearing her stern-mom face, she looked downright sexy.

"Kathryn, are you about ready for school, sweetie?" Chloe asked her daughter.

"Yeah, Mommy, I just gotta feed the fish real quick," the eight-year-old answered. Tucking her dark brown hair behind her ears, Kathryn turned her blue eyes back towards the fish bowl. She took a pinch of fish food and dropped it into the bowl. Within seconds, Axelrod the Goldfish attacked the flecks of food.

"Alright, go upstairs and get your book bag," Beca said. "Oh, and when you come back down, make sure you bring your twin brother with you, yeah?"

"Right Mom. Like there's any chance Sam is ready yet," Kathryn said, rolling her eyes as she walked out of the room and up the stairs.

"He'd better be," Beca muttered mostly to herself. Sam was a chip off the old block in the sense that he was not a morning person. Getting Sam out the door and to school on time was the bane of Beca's existence.

Chloe, who had just checked to make sure "The Bachelor" was set to record on their TV that night, turned off the television set. Beca was a self-proclaimed hater of the TV show, yet made a fuss each time she missed an episode. Chloe silently let Beca keep up the charade by making sure the TV show was recorded each week. That way, Beca could still claim to hate the show without having to seem like the hypocrite who recorded the show to watch. Chloe quickly smiled over at Beca, before cutting her eyes through the doorway to make sure Kathryn was out of earshot.

"Becs," she said, once she was satisfied that Kathryn had made it upstairs, "You've got to stop buying a new fish each time an Axelrod dies. I'm afraid it's not good for the kids. They've got to learn at some point that goldfish deaths are just a part of the circle of life," Chloe said, her bright blue eyes boring into Beca's eyes with concern.

Neither of the children were any the wiser, but Axelrod was technically Axelrod Number 8. Each time the goldfish went belly up, Beca would swing by the pet store after work and secretly replace him with a new goldfish. This was just as much for the children's benefit as it was for Chloe's. Beca didn't dare tell Chloe this, but she knew how Chloe would take the news of an Axelrod death. Several years prior, the family had kept a pet toad, Rocky. When Rocky died after a week and a half, Beca could've sworn that Chloe cried harder than either of the children. Seeing Chloe cry broke Beca's heart. It was for this reason, that Beca never told Chloe about a new Axelrod until after the fact. Chloe never seemed as upset about a goldfish's death when there was already a new goldfish to take his place.

"You're right, Chlo. I promise this is the last time."

Beca leaned in and kissed her wife on the lips. Chloe grabbed Beca's jacket and yanked her closer, deepening the kiss. Before things could heat up any further, the girls heard stampeding footsteps coming down the stairs. The kids.

"We can pick up where we left off tonight, once the kids are gone," Chloe promised with a wink.

"I'm counting on that," Beca quipped back. Thank goodness the children were having sleepovers with Aunt Stacie and Uncle Marcus that night.

"Mommy!" Sam came bursting into the room. Running into Chloe's arms, he continued, "I just remembered that I need a poster board for school today."

"Hon, why didn't you say something last night when I asked you if you were ready for school tomorrow?" Chloe asked, smoothing Sam's dark brown hair back from his blue eyes.

"Didn't remember," the kid answered.

Chloe sighed, biting her bottom lip. She had a full workday in front of her and hadn't factored in time to run by the store for poster boards.

"I got this," Beca piped up, shooting a look to her wife. Chloe exhaled, grateful that Beca could step in to handle the situation. "Bub, you're coming with me today. Get your shoes. We need to roll if we're going to both make it to the store and get you to school on time."

Sam ran out of the room to get his shoes.

Kathryn asked, "So which one of you is taking me to school today?"

"Still me," Chloe answered. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah," Kathryn answered. "And Mom?"

"Yes?" Beca answered.

"Our troop is still coming by to the studio today, right?"

"That's right, Bud. Four o' clock. Can't wait." Beca was lying somewhat. While she was excited that her daughter was visiting her office that day, she was less than thrilled over the fact that fifteen other Girl Scouts would be accompanying her.

"Me either! After today, we're gonna have our Golden Microphone badges!" Kathryn exclaimed.

"So that's still a thing, huh?"

"Totes," Kathryn answered. Beca laughed. The girl took after Chloe so much.

"Reminds me of those Girl Scouts from Las Vegas," Beca said to Chloe.

"What Girl Scouts from Las Vegas?" Kathryn asked, interjecting.

"Nothing, just a weird story involving a Girl Scout troop getting their Golden Microphone badges from this sketchy competition we did one time," Beca said. She deliberately withheld the fact that the competition was held in a sinkhole-turned-nightclub by a man who was now serving time in federal prison.

"Oh, okay," Kathryn said. "Well, I'll see you at four!" Beca hugged and kissed her daughter good-bye.

"Oh, and you've got your bag packed to stay with Aunt Stacie and Uncle Marcus tonight?" Beca asked.

"Yep!" Kathryn responded as she darted out the door and towards Chloe's car.

Beca next leaned in and kissed her wife good-bye. "Have a good day at work, Chlo."

"You too, Becs," Chloe said back. "Happy Anniversary," she added with a sultry wink.

Beca's stomach flipped. "Happy Anniversary. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Alright, so that's officially a wrap! I think this is a really bittersweet moment, as it's the first fiction I've ever written and I enjoyed creating this far more than I thought possible.

We really are a wonderful fandom, no matter what is happening in the world out there. Each and every one of you matter and I think we've all made such an important difference through our support of this franchise and its incredible cast of ladies. Whether we're outspoken advocates or simply quiet supporters of Bechloe, I think we're putting our support behind something much larger than we realize. We're supporting love, acceptance, and friendship- something this world probably needs a bit more of. I'm really proud of all of us :)