"You're insane." Aubrey said stoutly.

Chloe just shook her head.

"She won't even be home – and even if she is I can just take the ticket and go."

"I'll come with you." Aubrey said, turning towards the exit. Chloe put a hand on her forearm.

"Nope." She said, shaking her head again. "I'll be fine, I promise. Take your ticket, sit down and I'll be back in twenty minutes. Thirty tops."

Aubrey's eyes narrowed but Chloe smiled reassuringly. She had no idea why she felt so confident that this was the right thing to do, but it was, and she was standing her ground. Chloe pressed her invite into Aubrey's hands. "I'll be fine."

"You've got twenty minutes then. Any longer and I will come and find you and I will punch Beca square in the-"

"I'll be fine Bree!"

The assistant took back the invite from Aubrey's grip, pointing behind her to her seat. As she walked away Aubrey glanced over her shoulder back at Chloe, but Chloe smiled and mouthed "Go!".

She did feel less secure without Aubrey at her side, but she knew the cab ride would be short, she'd go straight to Baker Halls – Beca would almost certainly be at the station – and then take the ticket. She'd go, be firm, and come back, showing Beca (and herself) that she didn't need her as much as her sleepless nights and aching chest told her otherwise.

She took a deep breath, hitching her coat further up round her shoulders. Through the throng of people in the doorway she could see the rain coming down heavier than ever.

"Excuse me," she said, pushing past them and out into the street. Her hand came up to her face, cupping her brow from the falling rain. Normally Chloe would have stopped, hands out to her sides, enjoying the feeling of the impact pressing on her palms – but now wasn't the time for dramatics.

Instead, her other hand reached up, loose in the air to hail a cab from the steady stream of traffic opposite. A few drove past, their lights bright and their tyres noisy through the puddles – but none of them stopped. She turned back to the hotel – she would have to wait there for one to arrive, the rain was continuing to pelt down – but as she went towards the canopy a firm hand clasped her shoulder and made her jump.

"It's Chloe, right?"

She looked up and her chest tightened, feeling as though all the air had been knocked from her lungs. She could just make out the face beneath a dripping hood.

"Jesse – I don't –" she gasped. He shook his head and rain trickled down his face.

"I'm not here to cause trouble."

"Leave me alone," Chloe tried to turn away from him, shrugging his arm – but he quickly sidestepped her, blocking her escape.

"What the fuck are you doing?" she glared up at him, feeling rain drip from the end of her nose. Her dress was starting to stick to her legs.

"I didn't do it." He said, his voice getting louder through the fight against the hammering rain. "Whatever you think went on between me and Beca – I promise you it didn't."

"Get out of my way." Chloe said, but her voice lacked any of the hate and venom she felt in the pit of her gut.

"No." he shrugged. "I saw you together. I'm not being the jackass to get in your way."

Chloe glowered. "I don't know why you care but I don't care. Move."

He scoffed and rain sprayed from his lips.

"Do me a favour. That door can show me how it's feeling better than Beca can, and I can still tell she's hurting. Probably more than you. You need to fix this."

"I need to fix this? Jesse, are you kidding me?" She didn't care anymore that she was soaked to the bone. She felt sick; angry and sick. "I'm not the one who's dating like four people at once and pretending all the time to be the injured party all the time." Her anger made her stamp her foot and the puddle splashed up around her boots. "I'm not doing anything Jesse, now leave me alone."

"Chloe, you're gonna make a huge mistake," Jesse called as she brushed past.

"I've already made a huge mistake – I let Beca into my life!" she shouted, glaring at him over her shoulder. He shrugged and she turned away, infuriated at his nonchalant attitude. Whether or not she was crying she couldn't tell; her face was hot and flushed and the rain still beat down onto her cheeks.

It was then, as she darted away from Jesse who had bowed his head in the rain, did she look up to the canopy of the hotel entrance and see Beca herself, standing in the doorway. Chloe stopped in her tracks, a soft 'oh' falling from her lips as she watched her, unable to pull her eyes away. Beca looked awkwardly around, an arm crossed over her midriff, damp fingers holding tight to the crux of her other elbow. She had an oversized jacket on, draped on her shoulders, but it gaped at the front and Chloe could see a band of the dress she had chosen – they had chosen – the teal one from the old lady's shop on the high street.

Chloe was suddenly aware of the rain sticking her hair to her face, and then realised she had nowhere to run – no option but to walk towards the canopy of the hotel. She could brush past her, and she wanted to – so desperately – but she couldn't. Not really.

"Did you mean that?" Beca said, all stiff and awkward as Chloe approached. Her face was pale, blanched from the cold.

Chloe shrugged.

"What are you doing here?"

"I uh…" Beca held out the envelope Chloe had left for her. "I kind of… I wanted to hope… I mean, if we could sort things out…"

Jesse suddenly appeared at her side.

"What she means is I told her you needed to sort things out. I apologised she swiftly right-hooked me -" he pulled back the hood slightly to reveal an angry bruise creeping around the socket of his right eye "-and then I told her I would try and fix things." He shrugged. "It was the least I could do."

"I'd rather you didn't do anything, if it's all the same." Chloe said gruffly, not looking up from her feet.

She didn't know what to do, what to say; she'd practiced this moment over in her head a thousand times over the past few days and was sure she knew all the superlative insults she would fire in both of their directions. But now she was here, with Beca stood in front of her, Jesse at her side, trying to fix things, make the peace – she didn't know what to do.

She swallowed hard. "I don't-"

Beca nodded, looking down. "I messed up. I should have told you straight away what this dick decided to do." She thumbed in Jesse's direction.

"How was I supposed to know you batted-" he tried to interject but Beca's furious scowl stopped him.

"I think it's time you left us alone," she said, then glanced over at Chloe. "I mean, if you'll give me a minute, just to talk – then I'll go – I swear."

Chloe lifted her gaze from where she had been watching a puddle bleed into the nude leather of her shoes. She nodded softly, truly unable to fight the ache in her chest that told her otherwise.

Jesse stepped backwards away from them, his arms up to his sides with a shrug.

"For what it's worth Chloe – I am a jerk. And I don't lie. So if you can put those together you'll also realise I'm telling the truth about me and Beca. We're not together, we never have been, and I guess we never will be either. I'm sorry." He added as a mumbled afterthought before hiking his hood up further and turning from them, walking off down the street and disappearing into the night, his shoulders hunched and his hands stuffed into his pockets.

Chloe bit her lip between her teeth before turning back to Beca.

"So…" she said quietly. "You wanted to talk to me about something?" she avoided Beca's gaze for as long as she could, but when she looked up she saw that her eyes were so sad and tired and it sent a pang to her chest.

"This… this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever done." Beca said after a moment, waving her hand down her front to indicate the sodden dress.

Chloe smiled gently.

"I can't make you change your mind," Beca continued, glancing away from Chloe, who watched her with wide eyes. "I can't make you take back what you just said to Jesse either."

"I didn't… I didn't mean…" Chloe mumbled.

Beca bit her lip between her teeth then exhaled. "It's alright. You can think it if you want. I should have told you. I just thought it'd be easier if I kept it to myself."

Chloe watched the rain drip down Beca's nose and her hair, seeping into the front of her dress, turning it a dark green, blotchy with the damp, and sticking to her body beneath. Beca's make-up had too begun to bleed into smudges around her eyes. There was pain in her eyes, Chloe thought, and desperation; a straining, desperate fear.

"I haven't been honest with you, and as much as it goes against all of my better judgement I kind of want to start." Beca smiled painfully. "I mean, if you'll let me."

Chloe swallowed then nodded slowly. Her eyes stung, but she wasn't going to cry. She wasn't. She wanted to cry and hold her and push her away and shout and kiss her – all at once, but instead she wrapped her cold arms around herself and forced herself not to look away.

"You are the sweetest, craziest and most beautiful girl I have ever met. Ever." Beca said slowly, then laughed uncomfortably. "I mean… well, that sounded better in my head…"

Chloe smiled. A warmth was swelling in her chest, and she couldn't fight it.

"And I am an absolute dick for fighting against everything I felt when I was with you. I thought I could keep you safe by not letting you in. I thought I was safer keeping you away. I probably ended up hurting us both more. I get that now, and I've never been more sorry about anything in my life."

Chloe's teeth pressed hard into the inside of her cheek. She was not going to cry.

"I can't beg for a second chance. I can't force you to change your mind. I know I could apologise a thousand times more – a million times even – but I don't think you'd want to hear it." Beca's voice wavered and a quick hand flashed to her cheek, wiping something away.

"What – what I can do though," she went on, fighting the break in her voice. "What I can do is tell you… I just want to be your sweatshirt, Chloe. I didn't think it was possible before, but I've never known anything feel so right. I want to be the one who holds you, comforts you, looks out for you, makes you smile. It's never going to be perfect, and I'll probably make you angry, but I want to be there to make it better afterwards too." She looked at the ground for a second, and then looked back to Chloe, her eyes wide, wet and brimming. "I just wanted you to know."

Chloe didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say.

"I'll be here, if you change your mind." Beca blinked, and then she was gone, her tiny frame padding away down the pavement, disappearing away into the rain.

Chloe stared hard at the ground. The invite lay on the brickwork at her feet, the single black 'x' beginning to bleed into the paper. She crouched to pick it up, the corner sliding under her nail and into the palm of her hand. She stood slowly, thumbing away the water from the envelope. She glanced first through the double doors to her left where she saw Aubrey's face, impatient and questioning through the crowd at the other end of the reception. She turned away, staring hard back down the street, straining to see if she could still see Beca through the rain.

"You got it then?" Aubrey said, appearing beside her and swiping the invite from Chloe's grip. Chloe snapped her head to look at her. "What's wrong?"

Chloe stared blankly up at her.

"You're freezing Chlo', come on, let's go inside."

Chloe turned her head away slowly, looking back down the street. She could see nothing but hard pelts of rain, hitting the sidewalk in a grey angry spray.

"Chloe! Come on!"

Make a decision, Chloe thought, ignoring Aubrey's stern voice and the feel of her grip on her arm.

"Come on! Inside. Now. The show's about to start."

She'll be gone soon, Chloe thought, and then I'll never be able to find her. She turned back to Aubrey again, watching her forehead crease in an angry frown. Her mouth opened again but Chloe didn't hear the words coming out.

"I have something to do." Chloe said suddenly, shrugging away from Aubrey's grip. She stepped away, out into the rain.

"What? Chloe – what the hell are you doing?"

"You're gonna hate me – but I need to do this." Chloe called back.

"Chloe – what are – is this to do with Beca? Chloe, I swear-"

But Chloe ran. She didn't find out what Aubrey would swear – she was away down the street. Her boots splashed through puddles, rainwater dripping down her legs. She was properly soaked within seconds. Her hair clung to her face in a limp, damp mess, but she kept running, her eyes straining through the dark to see the figure she craved so badly.

She called her name as she ran but nobody turned to answer her calls. Her chest burned and her legs begun to ache. A voice told her she knew she'd damned Aubrey's cardio too soon.

And then there she was. Her tiny frame, hunched against the rain, a nervous hand in the air trying to flag down a cab at the kerbside. Chloe's pace slowed as she approached unnoticed.

And then her hand reached out, finding Beca's other which hung limply at her side, and her chest swelled as Beca turned to her, jumping at the contact as their cold fingers laced together. Her eyes were wide, Chloe noticed, and she glanced down to their interlinked fingers. Chloe slowly reached up and brushed Beca's cheek, thumbing her cheek gently, wiping away the black mascara smears that tracked down her pale skin. Beca trembled under Chloe's touch.

Her cheek stayed cradled in the crux of Chloe's palm and her thumb brushed gently across the skin. Chloe laughed nervously as she leant in slowly and pressed their foreheads together. She felt Beca's fingertips tracing her waist.

"We'll work on this," she promised quietly. "We can do this. We can be together, I know it."

Their lips pressed together gently, wet from salty tears and the rain. Chloe felt Beca's fingers unlink from her own and then press cold against her cheek, pulling her close and thumbing away her own tears. She smiled at the touch and felt the curve of Beca's smile in her kiss as their lips pressed together once more.

"We'll be alright." Beca whispered.

Chloe nodded.

"We'll be alright."