On the way over to Chloe's apartment Darcey started to mellow down in her pram, and so Beca cursed silently when she saw 'Out of Order' sign on the lift doors. It meant either having to disturb the toddler and lift her out of her seat, which she would probably kick up a fuss about after finally getting so cosy, or carrying the pram upstairs with her in it. They both stared at the mountain before them before Chloe bent down, grabbing the front end of Darcey's pram. "Looks like this is the only way," she said, and Beca moved to lift up the opposite end so they could carry her daughter to the third floor.

Lifting the buggy with a young child still in it was a lot harder than they both expected, but they managed to make it up the flights of stairs to Chloe's apartment with the only disturbance to Darcey being a tipping sensation. Finally they were inside and the door was shut, blocking the rest of the world out. "Does Darcey like pasta?" Chloe asked, heading towards her kitchen.
"She loves it. I think she inherited her taste from me – we like and dislike all the same food."

Once Chloe had the water on the stove, she wandered over to the sofa where Beca was getting settled. "I'm gonna leave Darcey in the pram for now, she's cosy and it's been a long day. Hopefully she can get a quick ten minute nap before dinner."
"That's a good idea. You look like you could do with a nap too," Chloe said with a smirk.
"Do I really look that terrible?" Beca replied, running her fingers through her hair. Chloe laughed. "You don't look terrible," she clarified, "Just tired. I know how hard you've been working – staying up late to do your class assignments because during the day you're so busy looking after Darcey or going to class. It's tough, I get it."
"Yeah, well I wouldn't have it any other way," Beca said as she looked over at her daughter.

Chloe couldn't help but smile at their mother and daughter relationship, and decided to leave Beca to rest on the sofa while she cooked dinner. She returned to the stove and put the pasta in the now boiling water, and then got ingredients from the fridge to make a tomato sauce. Of all the girls she had met at Barden; all the flings, all the crushes, all her friends, there was no one like Beca. She was excitingly intriguing and Chloe couldn't help but be drawn to her complexities. She was a loving mother but had a steel exterior, which Chloe could only assume had been built up by everyone who ever criticised her. Getting involved with Beca meant distractions – something she had sworn to avoid her whole life at college. That was the reason why she mostly had flings and only a couple of relationships in the past two years. But somehow, this petite brunette was worth it.

Once she had served up the dinner onto three plates, Chloe went over to Beca who was now stretched out on the sofa: shoes kicked off, head buried into a cushion, and knees tucked up close to her chest. She gently shook the sleeping girl and said, "Beca, dinner's ready."
"Okay, I'm up," Beca replied quite determinedly, sitting up to prove she was awake. Chloe left her to get Darcey from the pram, and thankfully the little one wasn't too disgruntled at being disturbed from her nap. Apparently she was hungry enough for the food to win over her disappointment at being taken from the cosy seat.

They sat around the table, and Beca moved her chair around so it was close to Darcey in order for her to help her daughter with dinner. "I'm glad you cooked penne, not spaghetti," Beca said as she tucked a napkin into her daughter's top. "This one is a bit of a messy eater." Chloe smiled, and once Beca was settled they all began to eat. Darcey could use a fork by herself but it took a lot of concentration, and every now and then Beca would have to help her to stab the food. Chloe sat in amazement at how Beca was able to multi-task eating her own dinner, helping Darcey eat hers, and still maintain conversation.

After half an hour or so, Beca washed the dishes up while Chloe played with Darcey over on a rug in front of the sofa. The dishes didn't take long, but Beca enjoyed the luxury of the space she had in Chloe's apartment that was non-existent in her own for five minutes. She could hear Darcey giggling and Chloe laughing with her, cheering her on for something, and so once everything was put back into the cupboards, Beca wandered back over to them.

She was greeted by the sight of Chloe sitting cross legged opposite Darcey, and both of them were doing the same hand action. Between them was one of Darcey's colouring books, and it was turned to a page entitled "RED". There were pictures that Darcey had coloured all in red: a fire truck, a tomato, a strawberry, a rose, and a girl's hair. Chloe was pointing to the word "RED" as she used her index finger to stroke down her chin twice. Excitedly, Darcey was copying the action and giggling loudly as she did so. "What's going on?" Beca asked, already feeding of the excitable energy around the two girls in front of her.

"I just thought I'd teach Darcey a sign or two before the session with Doctor Lange tomorrow, see how she gets on with it. Apparently it's a hit – she's having a great time."
"I can see that! What sign is it?"

Chloe patted the space next to her, inviting Beca to sit down before showing her. First, she pointed to the word "RED", and then made the sign again. Nervously, Beca copied. "You don't have to be so self-conscious about it," Chloe encouraged. Beca tried the sign again, and noticed her daughter mimicking her as well with a great big smile on her face. "How does she know it's the sign for the colour, and not the sign for the tomato or strawberry?" Beca asked.

"I'm pointing to the word at the top of the page, and she already knows that 'red' applies to every picture on the page, so now she's learning that the sign applies to every picture as well. Hold on – I have an idea."
Beca sat and watched her daughter sign 'red' over and over again, getting only more amused and proud of the action, while Chloe rummaged in her cupboards and fridge. Soon she returned with her arms full of an apple, a can of tomato soup, a red spatula, a red cup, a container of cherries, a blue magnet, a blue lid, and a cupcake with blue frosting on it.

She dropped them all down on the middle of the rug and turned back to Darcey's book. She flicked through a couple of pages before finding the one titled "BLUE", which had also been coloured in. Then, she got Darcey's attention before pointing to the word and holding up four fingers, and then twisting her whole hand round. Initially, Darcey copied by holding up all of her fingers, but Chloe shook her head and leant over to tuck Darcey's thumb in. Then, she repeated the action, and Darcey copied. Soon after, Beca found herself joining in as well.

"Brilliant!" Chloe cried, holding both her hands up beside her head and shaking them in the air. She spent a few more minutes flicking back and forth between "RED" and "BLUE" to make sure that Darcey had established a difference between the two signs, and then turned her attention to the items between them all. "Want to help me?" she asked Beca.
"Sure," she replied.
"Okay. Hold up either a red or blue item and show it to Darcey – hopefully she'll be able to show us the signs for the colour if all goes well."

Holding her breath, Beca picked up the cupcake.

Darcey tried to reach for it. Chloe laughed and shook her head. She pointed to the blue frosting and furrowed her eyebrows as though asking a question, holding her hands out in front of Darcey to give her a clue. Eventually, Darcey held up four fingers and twisted her hand, and then grabbed her book and eagerly smashed her finger into the word "BLUE". Beca and Chloe were both nodding enthusiastically, cheering her on.

Then, Chloe picked up the cherries, and almost instantly Darcey pointed her index finger to her chin and stroked down. They spent ten more minutes picking up objects and going over the signs for the two colours until Darcey was even picking up the items herself, making her mama and Chloe do the signs for them. The whole thing was entertaining for all three of them. Eventually, Chloe got up to put all the objects back in the kitchen again, and as she left, Darcey returned to her book. She pointed at the picture of the sky she had coloured in, and signed blue. Then she pointed to the sea and signed blue, and then the dolphin and the raindrops and the whale. Without any need for encouragement she turned to the "RED" page and began to sign her way through those pictures as well.

Chloe sat down again just as Darcey reached the strawberry, watching as the little girl showed off her new talent. Then, as Darcey reached the girl with red hair, she pointed at the picture before looking up with a gleeful expression and pointing at Chloe. It took a second for the two young women to figure it out, but eventually they realised that Darcey associated the red-haired girl in her book to Chloe. Chloe nodded, and Darcey steadily got onto her feet before walking over to grab Chloe's hair gently in her hand and sign 'red'. "Well technically it's orange, but sure – we'll go with red for this one," Chloe said.

Once receiving Chloe's approval, Darcey sunk down in front of her and cuddled up in Chloe's lap, suddenly coming over very tired. She placed her thumb in her mouth and her eyes began to drift shut now that she had accomplished an evening of learning. "No baby, we've got to go," Beca said, starting to move towards her daughter.
"Why don't you both stay tonight?" Chloe suggested. "It's late, and it's only going to make her grumpy if you wake her again to go out in the cold and all the way home."

"Are you sure? I really don't want to impose," Beca replied.
"Honestly, it's okay. We can settle her in my bed for now – put some cushions either side of her to make sure she doesn't fall out, and you two can sleep there while I take the sofa."
"Seriously? The last thing I want to do is kick you out of your own bed."
"It's no trouble," Chloe said insistently.
"… Okay then. Thank you," Beca replied with a smile.

Chloe carried the little one into the bedroom and set her down on the bed, leaving it to Beca to manoeuvre Darcey out of her clothes so she was wearing nothing but her underwear to sleep in. "You've got her out of diapers already?" Chloe asked, sounding impressed.
"Yeah, I started potty training her soon after she turned two. It took some time, but I really wanted her to be in 'big-girl knickers' before we came to college. I figured it would make life that little bit easier."
"Wow, she's a smart girl."

They returned to the main room once Darcey was well tucked-in, and Beca slumped onto the sofa – tucking her feet up beneath her. "Shall I open a bottle of wine?" Chloe asked, already sensing what the answer would be.
"That sounds perfect."

Chloe grabbed a couple of glasses and a bottle from the fridge, noticing the clock reading 8pm as she joined Beca on the sofa. "Sorry I kept her up past her bedtime," she said apologetically.
"Don't worry about it – it was time well spent. And we don't have to get up too early tomorrow thankfully, I don't have any classes and our appointment is in the afternoon, so she can have a little lie-in."

Their glasses were filled and both took a sip, letting out a sigh of gratitude as the red liquid flowed down their throats. "Mm… I'd forgotten how good this stuff is," Beca said.
"That's the way it is when you don't take a night off from parenting."
"I know. I mean, I never went out after I had Darcey – I couldn't get drunk with a baby to look after. But I don't know why I haven't done this before; just take a night where I sit with a glass of wine and good conversation."
"Well, now is as good a time as any to change that."

They spent a few moments in silence, enjoying the quiet company and wine before Beca asked, "How can you afford this place? I mean, you're still a student and yet you're living here – on your own."
"Basically, my mom paid for it. I don't like to tell many people that because they think I'm some spoilt kid sponging off my parents to get through college, but it's not like that. She was a fantastic lawyer before she had me; she earned a lot of money from some really high profile cases. And she was a smart woman, too. She invested a lot of money in bonds and stocks to make a small fortune, setting herself up with enough money to never work again once she had children. That's something she was always adamant about – being a mother would be her full-time job. When I had to start helping her look after my younger brothers and sister, I had to give up a lot of things but I would never let her give me anything for it. She offered to pay for me to go away for a weekend, or to pay for a car so I'd be able to go out more often, but I didn't want it. I told her that I wasn't helping her for anything in return; I was helping because I loved my family. By now the other kids can look after themselves and my mom can manage, so I was able to come to college. She said that if I wouldn't accept anything else, then I had to accept she would pay for my college education and anything I needed during it, including a place to live."

"That's incredible," Beca replied, "I remember you saying you had to help look after your siblings a lot. But why didn't your dad help? And how come you had to help her so much?"
"My mom and this guy were seeing each other on and off, but it was never serious enough to amount into a committed relationship. They tried that for a while after I was born, but they just kept arguing all the time. She got pregnant four times by him, but he never wanted anything to do with us and she was always confident she could do it on her own. I had to help her because when I turned ten years old, my mom got really sick. She developed Parkinson's disease, the one that makes you shake a lot all the time, and so obviously she couldn't hold the baby or feed the toddler or help dress the six year old. I had to do it."

"Chloe… I'm so sorry," Beca said tentatively.
"It's okay – I managed. Somehow, I managed to get through school and still help her and my brothers and sister."
"I can't believe I didn't know that about you."
"I don't exactly make it public knowledge," Chloe said with a shrug.

Suddenly, Chloe's face lit up to its usual brightness and she said eagerly, "We should play a game."
"What?" Beca asked, thoroughly confused.
"We should play a game, that way we get to know each other really well. We could play 'I Have Never', but instead of drinking shots we just take sips of wine."
"Okay then…" Beca answered, smirking. "You start."
Chloe filled up their glasses again, took in a breath and then began, "I have never swum in the ocean."
"Seriously?! I'm so taking you sometime," Beca said before taking a sip.

"Hmm… I have never kissed a girl."
Chloe sipped her drink, but then protested, "That one wasn't fair! You knew I'd have to drink to that."
"Well you knew I'd probably drink at the ocean one!"
"Fine… I have never had sex in the back seat of a car." She watched for a few moments waiting for Beca to drink, but she never did. "Never?"
"Nope," Beca replied. "You didn't drink either."

"I'm more of a front seat kind of girl," Chloe said with a wink.
"Okay, okay, too much information! I have never… been punched in the face."
Chloe drank and then explained, "There is a very dodgy club ten minutes away from campus. Remind me never to take you there."
"Duly noted."
"Okay… I have never fired a gun," Chloe said. Neither of them drank.

"I have never smoked a cigarette." Chloe drank on her own.
"I have never had a tattoo." They both drank.
"I have never been caught having sex," Beca said, and Chloe drank on her own.
"I have never tried laughing gas." Chloe drank on her own.
"I have never had a threesome." Chloe drank on her own.
"I have never had sex on the beach," Chloe said, and drank on her own before staring at Beca, waiting for her to take a sip.

"You're not drinking enough!" she protested. "How is it I'm drinking to so many more questions than you?"
Beca smiled coyly and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I'm just going to have to start doing all these things so I can drink more next time."
"I agree! What one do you want to start with? I think you have smoking a cigarette, laughing gas, or a threesome to choose from."

Ignoring those suggestions, Beca instead leant forwards until her face was inches away from Chloe's and said, "How about this one?" She pressed her lips against Chloe's and kissed her, tasting the familiar flavour of the wine as soon as their lips made contact. Chloe was soft, and warm, and unlike anyone else Beca had ever kissed. Her eyes had drifted shut and it felt as though everything around them was up in the air – all the chairs and tables were lifting up higher and higher but together, she and Chloe remained grounded.

She pulled away and saw Chloe's bright blue eyes looking back into hers. "That's a good place to start," the redhead said with a small smile.

They sat back apart and Beca finally said softly, "I should probably get some sleep. Darcey's an early riser and I don't want her waking you."
"Okay," Chloe replied. "Don't worry about waking me though, I'll get up whenever you do."
"Okay. Night," Beca said, turning and heading into Chloe's bedroom; still smiling with nothing but the kiss on her mind.