Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There was a storm approaching the city that day, but Aubrey couldn't think why it should interrupt her plans. After all, it was just water.

She planned this for weeks, - years, if she could be very honest with herself – scheduled on her agenda, like anything in her life.

Watching from inside her car the suburban street at the hour when the families got back home from school or work on that Thursday, she asked herself again why she was there.

She looked up at the cloudy sky but the clouds didn't have an answer, they just remembered her of the color of her room's walls and the memory irritated her enough to look away.

Across the street was the number 56. A very modest house: two-stories, painted in blue with white windows, a small porch at the front, an empty driveway and unkempt garden where she noticed some forgotten toys. The lights were all out despite it being dark enough to some light be needed.

Knowing no one was home, Aubrey waited. She reserved the evening for this, and it's not like there was a caring husband waiting for her to come back home, worried about the fact the she was late.

She looked at her left hand free of the pair of rings that lived there for years. The sight still amazed her.

As Aubrey was beginning to wonder if she made the right choice, a car appeared at the end of the street and entered the number 56's driveway.

Her heart raced and she put a hand to her chest, trying unsuccessfully to contain it. The image of a redheaded woman getting out of the car did not help. She bit her lower lip as she watched the woman helping a smaller redhead out of the backseat, carrying her own purse and a Dora The Explorer backpack. Chloe looked at the sky and Aubrey knew she was also examining the possible storm before following the little girl's trail - who was speaking enthusiastically to the older woman about something Aubrey couldn't listen - to the porch, opening the front door and disappearing into the house that now began to emit light from its windows.

Aubrey desperately wanted to get out of the car and run to the door, knock and see Chloe closely, this was why she had spent months looking for information about her best friend from college.

The blonde had to admit, the internet was definitely helpful in the task. Finding Chloe Beale's page on Facebook – a social network that Aubrey refused to participate when she was in college. With a couple of exchanged messages, Chloe sent her address and told her to come by anytime. The conversation had happened months ago, when Aubrey was still wondering if staying married was the way for her. She couldn’t bring herself to see Chloe back then, when she was so unsure of who she was and what she was going to do. So she waited until she was on her feet again to see Chloe.

Aubrey looked at the sky almost fully nightly stamped with the charged gray clouds, but paid more attention on the movement of her legs as she left the car and walked to Chloe’s door, because she wasn't so sure she could trust her inferior members. She put a hand on the black overcoat's pocket that hid her work clothes and the other nervously clutched the strap of her purse. Practicing the answers to the questions that Chloe would possibly ask, she climbed the porch steps, careful to not step on a block built with a dozen Legos that did not make any sense to her. Stopping by the front of the door, her heart seemed like it could be heard miles away. She hoped that Chloe wouldn’t hear it or it would be humiliating.

It's just Chloe, she tried to tell herself, but this very thought made her heart squeeze in a surprisingly painful way. Deciding to not think anymore, her hand came out of the overcoat's pocket and politely knocked three times on the wooden door painted in white.

She heard a sound of running feet on the floor, a voice saying something indistinct to her and finally feet approaching the door. If there has been some time since Junior Year she thought her stomach could betray her again, that was the moment. The door opened and she waited Chloe's eyes to meet hers, which did not take long.

"Bree! Oh my God, it's been so long!" Chloe's blue eyes revealed pure pleasure and the smile on her face was the most precious one combined with the way the nickname that only her was allowed to use rolled in her tongue.

The redhead threw herself into the tallest blonde's arms, and Aubrey would find it very unexpected if wasn't at Chloe Beale's door that she was standing after six years of separation. Aubrey tightened her arms around Chloe and the redhead did no differently. She tilted her head then her nose was buried in the red locks, and in that moment, the blonde pretended that there was no separation, that she just got back to their dorm after a long day and exhausting classes. And at that moment, she could only think of how it was like coming home after a long journey.

When they split, Aubrey smiled shyly, wishing to say something but at the same time too lost at the sight of Chloe before her.

She was still beautiful, and Aubrey did not know why she was surprised by that. She was more mature but the years had been kind. She was still dressed in the clothes Aubrey saw her arriving earlier but without her shoes and the jacket.

Chloe tilted her head, smiling, and that was when Aubrey realized she was staring.

"Sorry." She smiled nervously. "It's been so long."

"Oh my, yes. What have you been doing all this time? Why it took you so long to come? I thought you had lost my address." Chloe smiled moving away from the door to let her old friend in. "Please come in," Chloe said and Aubrey obeyed, following her into the house. The redheaded helped her take off her coat and hang her purse, and the blonde couldn't help but blush when Chloe praised her choice of clothing.

It was a cozy little home. The walls were painted in light colors and the furniture pieces didn't match. There were photos on the shelfs with books and some toys. The sofa looked like it had had better days, accommodating the entire cast of Toy Story, with politely seated stuffed animals and dolls. The living room TV was tuned on a cartoon and that's when Aubrey noticed the little ginger figure in the middle of the room.

"Oh, I have someone to introduce to you," Chloe told Aubrey. "Emma, baby," She called the little girl, who stopped organizing the tea party on the coffee table and looked at the visitor beside her mother. "This is Aubrey, a good friend of mommy. Can you say hi to her?"

Aubrey noticed the little Beale's eyes were in a green tone, very different from her mother's blue one.

"Hi Aubrey!" Emma greeted with a smile and a wave.

Aubrey knew Chloe had a daughter. She had seen a couple of picures on Facebook. That little girl was, somehow, a living reminder of how different they were now from their college years.

“Hello, Emma,” Aubrey greeted back. “I love your tiara.”

Emma raised her hands to touch the tiara on her head. “I’m a princess.”

Aubrey smiled. “I can see it, your highness.” The little girl looked at her mom, confused.

“That’s how people talk to princess, muffin,” Chloe explained.

Leave it to Aubrey be clueless about kids and the fact that at that age they usually don’t know how pronouns treatment to authorities work. She almost felt embarrassed but Emma opened a huge smile and went back to her toys.

"She's lovely," Aubrey said to Chloe, who nodded watching her daughter petting a stuffed monkey. “It’s like a mini you.”

Chloe smiled back at Aubrey.

“I better be going,” Aubrey said. “I just came here to see you, I said I would. I know it’s a week night and I thought it would be nice to reconnect and invite you out to a coffee sometime-"

"Bree, you're staying for dinner," Chloe said. It was not a question but a statement. "We have so much to talk, I want to know everything about you, I missed you so much!" Chloe wandered into the kitchen, pulling Aubrey awkwardly by her hand.

So did I, Aubrey wanted to say and for some reason she couldn't.

"C'mon! Tell me everything!" Chloe asked, beginning to cut the carrots into slices.

Aubrey opened her mouth but closed it. What did Chloe wanted to know? What did she wanted to tell Chloe? What could she say without start crying right there in the middle of Chloe's messy kitchen with Emma's drawings watching from the refrigerator's door?

"Do you want me to help with that?" Aubrey asked, indicating the task that Chloe was doing.

The redhead nodded and Aubrey took off her blazer, hanging it carefully in a desk chair, knowing that Chloe wouldn't mind. She rolled up her white shirt's sleeves and washed her hands before starting to slice the carrots. Chloe was already on the other side of the kitchen, on the stove, working on something that Aubrey could not see. The blonde thought perhaps that had distracted Chloe from her life.

"I'm still waiting for your news," Chloe said in a teasing tone.

"Well, I went to law school after Barden, as planned," Aubrey began after a sigh. "I graduated and I started working in my father's firm. I got married meanwhile but we recently split up."

Chloe gave her a sympathetic smile over shoulder and the blonde paused for a few seconds, knowing there was nothing more to be said.

"And now I'm here visiting you," Aubrey said with a small smile. "And you?" She asked Chloe after she decided there wasn't anything more she wanted or should share – by now.

"Well, I am high school biology teacher now," Chloe said and Aubrey smiled with the pride in her voice. "I was accepted to vet school after the finals. Cornell, in Ithaca. But I found out I was pregnant with Emma so it was out of the table," she added, picking the carrots cut by Aubrey and keeping cooking dinner. "I’m single for a while too. Things stopped working with Emma’s dad soon after she was born. But it’s fine. We’re good.”

Aubrey nodded, approaching Chloe. She studied Chloe's profile as she finished dinner, feeling the tranquility. Suddenly it was as if there wasn't a world outside that house, there wasn't a storm coming, or an empty house on the fancy side of the town, or a divorce, or her career. At that moment it was just like it was six years ago and she was risking getting caught staring at her best friend.

"Emma, dear," Chloe called, setting the table with Aubrey's help. "Go wash your hands, dinner's ready."

Aubrey heard Emma's hurried footsteps on the stairs and smiled when she thought Chloe wasn't seeing.

"So, no children?" Chloe asked, putting the last dish on the dining table. Aubrey just shook her head and Chloe, PhD in Aubrey Posen, knew that she should not push that matter.

Aubrey never really thought children were a possibility in her marriage, it takes a real home to raise a kid. But she didn’t tell Chloe that.

They sat down and soon Emma joined them. Dinner was quiet and full of conversation. Aubrey heard Chloe tell about how she still maintained contact with Beca and Jesse, and with the other Bellas (and Aubrey nooticed she regretted not maintaining contact with them almost as much she regretted not doing it with Chloe) and about her job.

Aubrey also learned many things about the smaller redhead's life: Emma was three, turning four in May; she loved bears; her favorite color was yellow; she already had chosen what she wanted for Christmas that year; and she could sing all the songs from Frozen.

Chloe watched the interaction between her friend and her daughter with an amused smile.

After dinner, Emma ran to resume her tea party in the living room while the two women took care of the dishes. Now that all the trivial part of their separation had been cleared, a heavy silence just like the clouds that still hanged over the city had fallen between them.

Aubrey wanted to say she was sorry she had abandoned their friendship but also wanted to blame Chloe for not making an effort to try to reconnect, but gave up knowing that both alternatives would sound stupid out loud.

As the last dish was put on its place, Chloe turned to Aubrey, who had just dried her hands, and for the first time on that evening they were looking into each other's eyes and recognizing the gulf that existed between them. Aubrey thought it was just an impression, but in that exchange of glances seemed that Chloe knew exactly what was going on in the blonde's life and every word she had saved for the redhead.

I'm sorry, these years have been a huge void without you, she wanted to say.

Aubrey was sure it was not just an impression when Chloe came over and hugged her torso, putting her head under the taller woman's chin, who immediately wrapped her arms around the redhead.

"I'm sorry, Bree." Chloe lifted her head to kiss Aubrey's chin and laid her head back on the another woman's shoulder. Aubrey kissed the crown covered in red hair and closed her eyes, feeling every fiber of her body vibrate in an emotion that she did not felt in a long time.

"Aubrey!" Emma called from the kitchen door and Aubrey looked up not splitting from Chloe, who also had made no effort to get away from the blonde. "Come to my tea party - mommy, what time is it?"

The two women laughed at the little girl's adorableness. As if time was something a three-year-old understood.

Chloe looked at the watch on her wrist. "Seven and forty two, honey." Chloe smiled maternally at the girl and Aubrey thought it was the purest thing she'd ever seen in her entire life.

"Okay! Aubrey you gotta come to my party!" Emma said and ran into the living room, but returned to pull Aubrey's hand. "What happens to be now!"

Aubrey gave Chloe a last look and laughed as she noticed her chuckling when she disappeared from the kitchen.

The tea party at seven forty-two ended at eight, when Chloe asked Aubrey to wait in the living room as she tucked Emma to sleep. The blonde checked her cell phone but nothing was waiting for her. Maybe it was a silly thought, but the silence in Chloe's house was more tolerable than the silence at her home.

A few minutes later, Chloe came downstairs.

"She asked me to invite you to another tea party with her," Chloe said.

Aubrey smiled openly.

She sat next to Aubrey on the couch, still occupied by some forgotten stuffed animals. She threw her legs over Aubrey's lap and the lawyer put an arm between Chloe's back and the couch, summing up the traditional position they used to be when they were together on a couch. So many years later, so many things were different now, but it was still the same. That thought made Aubrey turn her head to look at Chloe, who was already looking at her.

"I'm so glad to see you," Chloe said softly above a whisper, but with the closeness that she was from Aubrey, she knew that the blonde had heard her words. Chloe seemed hesitant before asking, "I thought you were never coming.”

“I know. It took me a while,” Aubrey said, not looking into the other woman’s eyes.

Chloe wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck. A comfortable silence wrapped them in. One of Chloe’s hand traced random patterns against Aubrey's ear and the other was linked to one of the blonde's in Chloe's lap.

"I don't want keep missing you," Aubrey said quietly.

Chloe pulled Aubrey's face so she could look into the blonde's eyes.

"We will take care so this won't happen," Chloe said and the phrase was so reassuring that Aubrey felt it go through all the pores of her skin.

She smiled. Not the polite smile. Or the timid. Or the uncertain. That rare smile that showed white and straight teeth. A happy one.

The evening stretched and Aubrey had to go. She picked up the blazer in the kitchen and Chloe helped to wear her overcoat in the lobby. The redhead insisted on taking her to the car and the two walked side by side to Aubrey's SUV. When they reached the vehicle, a drop of water fell from the sky on Aubrey's cheek and she looked up only to see the clouds from earlier were now fulfilling their promise.

"See you soon?" Chloe asked, not caring about the drops that began to fall and quickly begin to soak her clothes.

Aubrey looked at the redhead and could not remember had seen her so uncertain. Chloe Beale could be anything in this world: sensitive, emotional, broken, incoherent, but uncertain was the only thing that did not fit her profile. Perhaps in that moment they have exchanged roles because Aubrey had a lot of certain of what she wanted to do.

Forgetting the past few years, their disagreements and the last moments before everything went inconsistent, Aubrey stepped forward and pulled Chloe's waist, bringing the woman close and their lips together in a kiss in the beginning of a storm. Chloe put her arms around the blonde's neck, deepening their kiss. The rain falling on them made everything romantic in a way that Aubrey was sure Chloe still appreciated.

"See you soon," Aubrey murmured against Chloe's lips that smiled before leaning in for another kiss.

Reluctantly, Aubrey broke the hug and got into her car, watching Chloe run through the rain to the security of her home.

Soon was good. Soon was a promise. Soon was the end of a time that should never had existed.

She could not wait for that soon.

Chapter Text

Six o'clock. Aubrey fixed her hair carefully eyeing her figure on the mirror.

She went out of her way to find something in her closet to wear that her former husband hadn’t touched or looked at, she didn’t want to carry not even the memory of him into her first date with Chloe. She thought she looked decent in that expensive forest green dress and high heels.

She grabbed her purse and keys after putting on her coat – it was the end of October and it was getting colder each passing day - and walked out the house.

She said she would be picking Chloe in thirty minutes, and she would never forgive herself if she got late for their first official date.

It had been a couple of weeks after she showed up at Chloe's door, and three days after that she asked Chloe to go on a official date with her.

Due to babysitter and schedule problems, the date took a little longer than they wanted to happen. Aubrey was not going to complain, life was being too good with her.

She was thinking about that as she knocked at Chloe's door four minutes before half six when a teenage girl opened the door.

"Hello!" The girl greeted. She was short. Short like Beca Mitchell. However, she was too perky, too blonde, with a too curly, and too flowery purple dress to resemble Beca Mitchell at all. "You must be Aubrey."

"Um- I am." Aubrey gave her polite smile without really having time to ask herself who was that girl before the girl spoke again.

"I'm Gisele, I'm Emma's babysitter. Please come in, Chloe is almost ready." She allowed Aubrey in. "Emma is probably more eager to see you than Chloe is, though." She laughed in a bubbly way that made Aubrey think that Chloe and this highschooler girl are probably something close to best friends.

The comment did cause some questions to pop in Aubrey's head, though. Was Chloe not eager to see her? What if Chloe was somewhere else in her life in which Aubrey didn't fit anymore? But what about that kiss? And this date?

"But Chloe is very very eager to see you, too, I mean. I didn't mean to, y'know, say that she wasn't. Chloe has been talking about it for days, believe me. I just mean that Emma apparently liked you very much because she said you know how to hold a cup of tea better the me, and-"

"Thank you, Gisele." Aubrey interrupted that girl's rambling, trying to be kind doing so. "I got it." She gave the girl a reassuring smile.

Gisele smiled back. She had dimples.

The living room was just as much a children's territory as when Aubrey went there for the first time. A cartoon Aubrey never heard speak of (not that she knew a lot about cartoons, but don't kids watch Duck Tales anymore?) was on the TV. The coffee table had some blank pages and crayons on it and Emma was sitting by it, very focused on her art. She was so tiny, but maybe that was because she was three, and Aubrey was not used to see many humans in that age.

"Emma, look who's here!" Gisele said and Emma's head turned to the living room's entrance

"Aubrey!" Emma shrieked running to Aubrey and hugging her legs. Chloe's daughter was a hugger. Like mother, like daughter.

"Hello, Emma. How you’re your highness doing this evening?" Aubrey asked, resting her hand on the little girl's shoulder.

“I’m good!” Emma answered in her energetic way, raising her head to look at Aubrey. “Gisele is going to let me play with her hair!”

“Am I?” Gisele looked up from her phone, looking startled.

She made small talk with the small redhead, promising she would come and have another tea party soon, and made a mental note to herself to ask Chloe if she could bring some chocolate chip cookies for the event.

Aubrey was not the best with kids. Emma, though, was an very easy kid. She was talkative and curious, not allow Aubrey to take time to overthink how to approach her since she was the one doing the approach. Emma was definitely Chloe’s daughter.

Emma was explaining one of her drawings, asking Gisele and Aubrey for reviews, when Chloe appeared on the stairs.

Aubrey was so sorry she stopped listening to what Emma was saying but the vision before her was too distracting.

Chloe was gorgeous. She wasn't wearing expensive clothes, or a lot of make-up, or anything overproduced. She was gorgeous because she was born that way and Aubrey thought that each passing day she was getting more and more stunning. Or maybe Aubrey only thought that because there wasn't a single day she didn't think about how beautiful Chloe was, inside and out. She was wearing a burgundy dress that hugged her frame perfectly and Aubrey caught herself jealous of a piece of clothing.

"Aubrey, I'm so sorry I'm late, I got stuck at school with this meeting and-"

"It's alright, Chlo', don't worry, we're still on time," Aubrey reassured, getting on her feet and hugging Chloe. "Shall we?"

"Yes, of course." Chloe kissed her cheek and Aubrey felt her face blushing.

At the door, Chloe said goodnight to Emma, covering her with kisses, and made some last reminding to Gisele, who paid keen attention while holding Emma to her hip, seeming very unbothered to the mess the little girl was making trying to brush her hair with a small pink comb.

"I'm worried about Gisele's hair." Aubrey said in the car, as Chloe buckled her seat bell.

Chloe laughed and assured Aubrey it would be fine.

She talked a little about Gisele. The girl lived next door and was a very clever kid attending art high school and aiming to study architecture in college even if she was just a sophomore. Gisele was fond of Emma, and did babysitting for Chloe since they moved there, last year.

"She reminds me of myself when I had her age, somehow."

"Yes," Aubrey said, eyes on the road. "We were very little older than her when we met."

"Insane, right?" Chloe answers. "We were so young. And now we're here."

Aubrey adverted her eyes to look at Chloe. The city lights were reflected on her face, kissing and coloring her fair skin like some make up art.

Where was she? She was there, ten years after they met, two years away from being thirty. With Chloe a constant in her mind since the first time she entered their shared college dorm room, but not a constant in her life. She prayed – even if she wasn’t prone to religious acts – that they were just on the very first page of the chapter when their lives mend again.

"Together," Aubrey said, one hand on the steer wheel, other moving to touch Chloe's knee, lightly, and sharing a smile with the woman when she found her eyes.

"We are, Bree.” Chloe takes her hand and squeezes it. “We really are."

It felt right in a way that it didn’t felt before. Their relationship became a mosaic constituted by pieces of love and respect that worked for them before with newfound grace and maturity.

There’s no doubt if the only thing linking them being just a college fling, they are not expecting the other one to drop everything and runaway. They talked about the expectations they had now and worked on the hard feelings left the last time they saw each other, still in college. There was a little bit of pain, but there was also a lot of effort put into healing it.

In college, whatever they were doing was something they didn't really talked about. There were obvious friendship, devotion and attraction that they smothered with young experimentation, suffocating true love. When graduation came they parted ways with inconclusive goodbyes, forcing each other to figure out adult life on their own. Both found new ways of living; Aubrey followed the plans she made as child of becoming a lawyer, marrying a respectable man and making her dad proud; Chloe wandered around, living one day at a time and occasionally forgetting what it meant to believe in herself.

They never really stopped thinking about each other and understood that as some kind of signal as the fact that yes, they belong together in some way.

And Aubrey was so, so happy that they were doing it right this time, without rushing the pace, being careful with their feelings. She was also very happy to hear that she wasn't the only one willing to forgive the past and embrace the future.

Aubrey can't stop smiling for weeks.

They go on dates, they talk on the phone and Aubrey goes to Chloe's almost every week night - since Emma is in the scene, Chloe going to Aubrey's is very unlikely. She helps cooking dinner, she washes the dishes after, she listens to Chloe's work day, she listens to Emma's stories, she talks about her work with someone that is not on the legal field, she brings cookies for Emma, she teaches her make an origami boat.

It feels almost like things were never different.

It's not until a very rainy Friday night at the end of February that they talk about the elephant in the room. Not an elephant at all, more like a three-year-old called Emma.

Aubrey called it a night and grabbed her keys after Chloe puts Emma her daughter to sleep.

“Why don’t you stay the night?” she asked. “It’s hell out there, we don’t gotta work tomorrow. We can have brunch.”

Aubrey was hesitant, freezing in middle of the living room.

Chloe feels it, because, of course, she knows Aubrey and her body language, her eyes' movements and the way she pouts when she is thinking too hard.

"We should talk about it, Bree," Chloe says. "I've been avoiding it because I was afraid I would scare you, but you are already scared." She touched the blonde’s arm and smiled, trying to soften the moment.

The Talk. Aubrey knew very well what Chloe meant. She nodded with her head and sat by the sofa. She was relieved that Chloe was able to read her so well.

"Everything is so different now, we're older and we're serious about it. We've gone through bullshit, and we got back to each other. These past months have been perfect," Chloe began. "But it's not just us anymore, because now I have Emma, and I know you are aware of that."

"So you know why I'm hesitant about spending the night here," Aubrey said.

"Yes, and I wouldn't offer if I wasn't sure it wouldn't be a problem. I care about Emma more than anything in this life and protecting her is all I do," Chloe said, kindly, taking Aubrey's hands in her own. "But I've talked to her, Aubrey. She is okay about this, she is probably dealing with it better than we are." She laughed and gave Aubrey's hand a squeeze, watching her chuckling slightly. "Of course, she is too young to understand some things, but we will all be fine. She likes you a lot."

"Does she?" Aubrey asked and Chloe knew how important this was to her.

Over the last months, Aubrey won Emma’s heart, too. Chloe didn’t expect Aubrey to handle interaction with a child that well. She didn’t treat Emma as a child, she talked to her like a mini human. She wasn’t condescending and didn’t dumb herself down. She was open with Emma in a different way and Chloe was still getting to know this side of her.

"Of course she does,” Chloe assured her. “She is obsessed with you. It’s always Aubrey this, Aubrey that. And I understand.” She chuckled softly.

Aubrey laughed too. She looked at her shoes with a frown. “So, it’s alright if I stay tonight?”

Chloe nodded. “It is.”

The blonde nodded, a wave of relaxation running down her body. “And it’s alright if I stay around your lives for a while?” She joked.

Chloe smirked. “Just a while?”

“A long while then?” Aubrey cupped Chloe’s face.

“A very, very long while, maybe,” Chloe said and kissed her.

“I can live with that,” Aubrey said before kissing her again.

The redhead smiled so hard it ruined the kiss, but Aubrey didn't mind, she just kept kissing her face, peppering every single piece of blushed cheek she could, very much like Chloe does when they kiss goodbye and she is not fond of the idea of Aubrey leaving.

The thought that she was staying made her pull herself up and straddle Aubrey on to the couch and kiss her full on the lips, deepening the kiss when Aubrey allowed, feeling the blonde's arms around her waist, slipping her hand in the blond locks she loved so dearly.

Since they met again, they hadn't gone beyond some hard make out sessions, and Chloe decided to keep things like that, at least for tonight. She softened the kiss, finishing it with a peck on Aubrey's swollen lips and trailed chaste kisses through her neck, until her face was hidden in the blonde's neck. She felt so absorbed by Aubrey, so in love. She did not say tough, not yet.

"Chloe, I'm not going anywhere, I need you to understand it," Aubrey said after a beat. "I'm here for Emma, too. I want it all."

Chloe pulled back to look in her eyes.

"Aubrey-"

"I do, Chloe. I do." Aubrey reaffirmed and Chloe thought she never saw the blonde looking so serious about something, not even about the Bella's oath.

The redhead caressed Aubrey's face.

Such a beautiful woman she became. Her eyes were kinder, her smile came more easily. She was falling for someone new and at the same time falling all over again for someone she knew like the back of her hand. She was falling for Aubrey and it felt like knowing all the words to your old favorite song.

"Thank you for saying it, Bree, it means so much to me," Chloe whispered into her lips. "I want you here for all of it, too."

A watery smile broke out on Aubrey's face and a few tears dropped when she pulled Chloe for a long hug. All of it, with Chloe. That's the twist of fate that only happened in her wildest dreams.

"I've dreamed of it for so, so long, Chlo'," she whispered and Chloe doubted if she knew she had said it out loud.

"I'm here, baby, for real," Chloe hushed against her ear.

And, suddenly, Aubrey didn't know how life could get better than this.

Chapter Text

"She said chocolate chips." Chloe said, entering her room and changing into her nightclothes.

"She said chocolate chips," Chloe said, entering her room and changing into her nightclothes.

"No blueberries?" Aubrey asks back, without raising her eyes from her laptop's screen.

"No blueberries!" Chloe answered.

Aubrey kept working on finishing revising her notes for this important merge meeting she had the next morning. She was so invested in the case she washed the dishes speaking about it. It was joyful to watch the way her hands navigated around the keyboard.

"Do we have chocolate enough for that though? I will probably have to pick it up in the grocery shop during my morning run," Aubrey commented aloud.

Emma had become fond of Aubrey's pancakes. In the morning after Aubrey spent the night there for the first time, she decided to make a good impression on the tiny Beale and make her famous pancakes for breakfast. It's been months since and now every time Aubrey sleeps over, Emma gets eager for the next morning's breakfast. It's an habit that Aubrey is not interested to break, even if Chloe insists that she doesn't have to do it.

"Baby, it's okay if you can't do it this time," Chloe said, crawling on bed beside her girlfriend, getting herself comfortable between the sheets. "You have a lot on your mind, I can make them."

"You? Making pancakes?" Aubrey took her eyes off the screen to look up at Chloe.

Aubrey was so sexy wearing her reading glasses that Chloe almost forgave her mock tone. You know, just ignored it and straddled her and kissed her deeply, trailing down her neck, leaving marks all over her collarbone, and-

"Hey! They're not that bad," Chloe defended herself, putting aside her distracting thoughts.

"They are, sweetie. Sorry," Aubrey said back turning her attention to her laptop again. "And it's just pancakes, I can handle it."

Chloe kept looking at Aubrey's side profile.

Aubrey was embracing the whole being a part of Emma's life thing so bad. It was adorable. She took time to learn Emma's preferences, allergies and fears. She made everything she could to put a smile on the little girl's face.

And Chloe didn't expect any less from Aubrey Posen. She has to exceed in everything she does, it's a personal thing.

Emma had a father, of course. Todd was a good dad, but it's not like he was around a lot. He lived on the other side of the country and flew occasionally to check on her, called, helped with the costs of the child. His relationship with Chloe lasted just enough to Emma be born, when she was a couple months old. They parted ways amicably.

So yes, if someone she trusted and loved very much was willing to help with Emma and be a part of her life, she was down for it. And if they happened to be Aubrey, her college best friend, a trusting, careful, responsible woman, the girl she never really stopped loving, who came back to her life like a gift from above, then hell yes, why not give Emma the chance to have such a good influence around?

She watched as Aubrey took off her glasses, carefully closed her laptop, and put both, in her purse before coming back to bed, joining Chloe between the sheets.

"Are you sure?" Chloe asked again, settling her head on her pillow.

Aubrey sighed, supporting herself on her elbow and leaning over Chloe. She kissed her lips and pulled back to look at the woman underneath her with utterly devotion in her eyes. Chloe is sure that if she wasn't laying on a very soft bed, she would've melted into a puddle.

"I am. Don't worry, ok?" She said, breaking Chloe's thoughts, and kissed her lips again. "Good night, Chlo'."

"Good night, Bree." Chloe smiled sweetly at her girlfriend.

The way Aubrey could go from super lawyer merging mega companies to super girlfriend waking up earlier in the morning to make your daughter chocolate chipped pancakes in a matter of seconds was just about 2% of her charm.

When Chloe woke up in the morning, Aubrey was not in bed, of course.

She got up and walked to Emma's bedroom, only to find her unmade bed empty, of course.

"Why not?" Chloe heard Emma's voice asking, as she got downstairs.

"Because." Aubrey's voice had the sound of frying pancakes as background. "I like my house."

"Yeah, but you like in here too," Emma replied.

Aubrey didn't reply. The sound of a pancake flipping was all Chloe heard.

"Good morning, girls," Chloe greeted walking into the kitchen.

Aubrey's face accused how relieved she was to see her girlfriend.

Emma jumped into Chloe's arms and kissed her mother's cheek, seeming to forget the very serious conversation she was having with Aubrey.

Chloe made a mental note as she kissed Aubrey good morning to question her about it later.

"My little muffin out of the bed that early? This must be a dream," Chloe mocked her daughter's difficult relationship with waking up to go to pre-school.

"It's Aubrey's pancakes," Emma replied quickly.

"That's fair," Chloe said, placing her on one of the stools.

The blonde woman was wearing black leggings and one of Chloe's tank tops.

Aubrey kept a few clothes there, so Chloe didn't know if she had done it on purpose or if she really thought that the blouse was one of her own. - anyway, it was endearing to see her in her clothes. Her hair was in a ponytail and seeing that the pancakes were indeed with chocolate chips, Chloe knew she had gone to her morning run – a habit she had since when they met in college.

Sometimes Chloe wonders at what time her girlfriend awakes because she really has no idea. Five o'clock-ish? If Chloe had not spent so many hours of her life appreciating how peaceful and relaxed Aubrey looks in her sleep, she would wonder if the blonde sleeps at all.

Aubrey passed Chloe her mug with coffee before sitting by the kitchen island with the Beales.

Emma was enamored with her pancakes, so Aubrey and Chloe kept chatting through breakfast.

"I was thinking, maybe we could all go to that cute pizza place near your office tonight," Chloe suggested.

"I can’t, I said I was going to have dinner with my parents, I’m sorry," Aubrey said. “We can do it tomorrow, maybe.”

Chloe had met them during college. She knew they could be a little hard on Aubrey, but that they truly loved her and respected her choices. When Aubrey told them about Chloe a few months ago when they started dating , they proposed a dinner, to see the redhead again and meet Emma, but Aubrey suggested them to give all the situation a little bit of time.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about it. Say hi to them for me." Chloe took a sip of her coffee. "And maybe we could schedule that dinner with them for next week?"

"Are you sure?" Aubrey asked.

"Yeah, I think we're okay." Chloe paused, looking at her daughter. "Emma will do anything if you promise her these pancakes." She gestured to her plate, with the rest of her third pancake resting there. "So I think she will also be okay there."

Aubrey chuckled lightly and ruffled Emma's hair, who was still very oblivious to the world outside her pancakes and orange juice.

Chloe smiled at the sight.

"So, after your parents, are you coming here?" Chloe asked, returning the conversation with her girlfriend.

"I don't think so, I really should go home. Make sure I wasn't robbed or something like that," Aubrey said.

Emma grumbled.    "I'm sorry?" Chloe asked in confusion.  

Emma dropped her fork onto her plate after shoving into her mouth her last piece of pancake.

"Mommy, why can't Aubrey just sleep here all the nights?" Emma asked, very seriously.

"Because-" Chloe was caught a little by surprise, but now the conversation she overheard earlier made sense. "Because she likes her house." She turned to Aubrey who caught her glance and knew she had heard her answer from before.

"But she also likes in here," Emma replied on the same beat.

Chloe was curious. And a little bit shocked.

They never really had spoken about living together. It was so ahead of them, they were still getting used to this sleep arrangement. But now, she could imagine. Because, honestly, if it wasn't for Emma, she probably would already be thinking about that. It would be unthinkable with anyone else. Chloe is very extroverted but she loves having her space, but she lived with Aubrey all her college years, so it was just easy to share everything with her. The whole being with Aubrey but living in different places thing is an actually new thing in their relationship.

"Emma, why do you want Aubrey to live in here so bad?"

"Because then she can make me pancakes everyday," Emma said with a shrug.

"I feel so used," Aubrey said in a fake-hurt tone.

Chloe turned to her, like realizing just now she was there all that time.

"That's the only reason you want Aubrey to live in here?"

"And because she helps you cleaning," Emma replied.

"Now I definitely feel used," Aubrey said.

"And when she's here we play and she watches princess movies with me.” Emma gave Aubrey the sweetest of the smiles.

Aubrey and Chloe exchanged a look and took their time explaining to Emma that it's still very soon for Aubrey to live there all the time, but that soon she could very well do it, but not now.

After all the questions the little girl had about this, and all the explanations, Aubrey promised her she would be at that house as much as she could and make her lots of pancakes every morning. This propose seemed to satisfy Emma, because she agreed to get ready for school without any resistance.

As Aubrey buttoned her shirt in front of Chloe's mirror, her girlfriend sneaked her arms from behind. She smiled to Chloe through the reflection and the smile Chloe gave her back made her feel like she had her own ray of sunshine.

"She adores you" Chloe says, lips against Aubrey's cladded with the shirt shoulder.

"She adores my pancakes," Aubrey chuckles.

"Well, I can't deny that," Chloe laughs, laying the side of her face on Aubrey's back, enjoining the larger than usual height difference created by Aubrey’s heels.

Aubrey turns to her girlfriends and kisses her unexpectedly.

"What was that for?" Chloe asks, amused, when Aubrey pulls back.

"I don't know." Aubrey shrugs. "I just love you so much, Chloe."

"I love you too," Chloe says, getting on her tip toes to kiss Aubrey again.

Aubrey used to smell like an expensive French perfume , -which name Choe didn't know how to pronounce - even back in college. Now, Chloe thinks Aubrey smells more like chocolate chipped pancakes, the kid's shampoo Emma uses and clean bedsheets. Aubrey smells more like home.

"And I love your daughter too," Aubrey says and Chloe thinks she's lucky that Aubrey's grip in her waist is firm and her own arms are strongly wrapped around the taller woman's neck, because the phrase made her knees weak. "Even if she thinks I'm some kind of domestic elf," Aubrey added, making her laugh.

Chapter Text

"They're exhibiting Sleeping Beauty in that park with outdoor movies this Friday," Aubrey tells Chloe, while checking her phone.

Aubrey, Chloe and Emma were lounging in Aubrey's living room. It was a Sunday, and Aubrey had cooked lunch for the three of them.

Emma was over the moon with the fact that Aubrey allowed her to help making cookies. She even convinced the two adults to play chase with her on the background. At some point after lunch she collapsed asleep on her mother's chest, exhausted.

Chloe was laying on the sofa, with her feet on Aubrey's lap and Emma asleep against her.

It was so peaceful, and they speaked low to not disturb the little redhead, they said, but it's more than that: it feels intimate, it feels like a safe place.

"Maybe we could take Emma," Aubrey said.

"It's at night," Chloe said, without taking her eyes off the TV, running her hand absently through her daughter's hair.

"I know," Aubrey said.

"We've only took her on day dates," Chloe observed.

Their first date with Emma was at an organic products fair that was happening in the city and Emma absolutely adored the colorful fruits and vegetables – she was not a picky eater and Aubrey was marveled with the fact. They went on others equally child-friendly dates and the little girl was over the moon with the idea of being taken on dates even if she didn't knew exactly what it meant; if included Aubrey and going out of the house, it was a date for her. Even grocery shopping counts. Except-

"Dinner at your parents doesn't count, even she knows that," Chloe reminded her.

"I know," Aubrey said, again.

(Their first dinner at Aubrey's parents was an important mark at their relationship.

Mr. and Mrs. Posen looked older than the last time Chloe had saw them, and it looked like they were less severe - or she was just less scared. They were very cordial, the dinner ran peacefully and by the end of the night, Aubrey's parent were already enamored by Emma, as the little charming thing she is.

Time does wonderful things. Time brought Aubrey and Chloe back together, and, apparently, time made Mr. and Mrs. Posen see how amazing their daughter is, and how much she deserves happiness, even if she gets it in her own terms.

They settled a date to a next dinner after that one, and it became a monthly thing.)

Chloe looked up to Aubrey, who was already looking at her.

"She is going to love it," Chloe smiled softly. "And sleep halfway through it, but for sure, she will love it."

Aubrey chuckled softly and ran a delicate finger against Emma's tiny heel. She saved the date to her schedule.

Planning was Aubrey's thing.

She left the law firm earlier than the usual that Friday. She went home and prepared a picnic basket, filling it with sandwiches, those organic apples Emma loved and grape juice. She picked up a picnic rug from her closet - she didn't remember buying it and probably was one of her many wedding gifts, as if her ex-husband and her would ever think about going on a picnic together - and a few cushions from her sofa, so watching a movie sitting on the ground of a park wouldn't be so uncomfortable. She put all of it in the trunk of her car and dressed herself in capri-jeans, a sweater and a jacket, because the night was going to be chilly.

She drove to Chloe's in time to hurry them up and guarantee that they would not be late. She helped Emma get dressed and choose which stuffed animal she would take as her date to the movie so Chloe could get herself ready faster. She picked up Emma's car seat from Chloe's car so Emma would be safe in her own. She hurried Chloe up and they all went to the car, without any delays.

Aubrey smiled all the drive to the park, satisfied with her planning, and kissed Chloe's knuckles as she drove.

Emma made very clear as she chatted from the backseat how excited she was that she was going on a night date like mommy and Aubrey and not staying at home with Gisele this time.

They got there in time to get a nice spot on the field, just like Aubrey planned. Under a tree, they settled their picnic rug and had some of the food while waiting for the movie. Apparently, many people had interest on watching an old Disney animation movie. Families, groups of teenagers and couples took their spots in front of the huge screen with their picnic baskets and rugs, coolers and beach chairs. Aubrey commented that they should had brought some of those but Chloe said that the fun was sitting on the ground and she let it go. They put their cushions against the tree and leaned against it. Aubrey was surprised that she wasn't uncomfortable at all.

"It's so big!" Emma exclaimed, looking at the screen before the film began. "Mommy, can we have one of these?"

Aubrey smiled looking at the little girl stand in front of them, staring at the screen. Kids are so easily surprised, it's beautiful to watch. Having one those around, feels like you are discovering the world all over again through their little eyes.

"Oh no, honey, where would we fit one of those?” Chloe asked, playfully.

Emma seemed to think for a while before answering.

"Aubrey's backyard," she said.

"Last week you wanted a pool in my backyard, now you want this?" Aubrey said, containing her laugh. "You have to decide, muffin."

Chloe smiled softly at Aubrey using her nickname for Emma. Aubrey was so natural around Emma, sometimes it almost feels like she had been around her for years and not just a few months, still getting used to the idea of being friends with a child.

"A castle?"

"This is getting really hard to conciliate," Aubrey chuckled.

When the movie began and the park light lowered, Emma ran to sit between Aubrey's legs.

Chloe and Aubrey exchanged a look – Aubrey surprised, Chloe amused with Aubrey's face.

The blonde finally seemed to relax, and leaned all her weight against the cushions, causing Emma to practically lay against her, putting her arms around her tiny body.

Chloe thinks Aubrey didn't even noticed, but she was holding the little girl like a teddy bear the whole time. She took a picture of it: "Emma chose the most comfortable spot to watch the movie #cuuute", was the caption of it on her Instagram. After, she tucked herself against Aubrey's side and focused on the movie.

Emma's energy lasted until the last thirty minutes of the movie until she fell asleep in that position and they only noticed she was asleep because she stopped repeating the lines.

"Don't move," Chloe said to Aubrey when the movie was over and the people were standing up and gathering their things. "She's asleep."

Aubrey then looked down at Emma and Chloe almost squealed over the little smile the blonde had on her face.

She gathered their things while Aubrey carefully took off her jacket and tucked Emma in it before carrying her up. Emma instantly moved in her sleep, putting her arms around Aubrey's neck and hiding her face in the crook of her shoulder.

"I told you. Asleep as a rock," Chloe said after Aubrey buckled the kid up on the car seat. “Definitely a Beale.”

"At least she enjoyed the whole going out at night thing. She will probably brag about it to Gisele," Aubrey said turning the car on.

"You know she will," Chloe said, looking back at the little girl and softly brushing a strand of hair out of her little face. "Do you realize how you're absolutely mom material?" She said turning back to her girlfriend as they left the parking lot.

Aubrey seemed truly caught by surprise, hands on wheel. She took a few seconds before speaking.

"You think so?" She seemed nervous.

"I know so." Chloe smiled, entirely enchanted by the fact that Aubrey exists, that she was there by her side, that she chose to be there after sitting on a park for two hours serving as a pillow for her daughter. And the thought that Chloe had the possibility of a future with this woman is enough to make her smile just a little bit larger.

"Well, I have been practicing," Aubrey answered with a smirk.

"I've heard," Chloe played along.

Aubrey stopped by a red light, and turned to face Chloe and then turned to the backseat to watch the sleepy little girl. Her smile was soft, something you would never see in the Aubrey leader of the Bellas, or the Aubrey lawyer; that was a whole new version of the blonde.

"Do you think she will ever let us go on a date night without her ever again?" Aubrey asked, with a concerned frown, as the light turned green, making Chloe laugh.

She definitely would not.

Chapter Text

"Aaaaaand he is more tall than you," Emma finished her long list of compliments about her father.

"Taller. That’s how you say it, muffin,” Aubrey corrected the kid. “Do I outdo your father in anything at all?" she asked the little girl, trying to not sound annoyed. She was not used to anyone being superior to her in anything.

"I don't think so," Emma said in a beat.

"He sounds great, I'll give you that," she said.

Aubrey tied up Emma's pink Chuck Taylors and the little girl murmured a thank you before running down the stairs. The blonde picked up the little backpack Chloe had prepared with Emma's things and chased after her, noticing with a look by the window that the sun was already gone.

She found the girl in the kitchen, with Chloe packing a sippy cup and a sliced pear for a snack in a Rapunzel lunch bag - Aubrey was getting good at differentiating cartoon characters.

She was feeling particularly cheerful because it was Friday night and no cases to work on during the weekend. Aubrey thought about making a comment about that but Chloe's expression said it all: she was not on her usual bubbly mood.

Emma's dad was in the city. He came for business but prolonged his stay for a couple of days so he could have Emma for the weekend. He was going to take her to his parents' house in a little town nearby so they could all spend some time together.

Emma, of course, was thrilled; sleepovers, dad and grandparent's house together sounded like a dream to her.

So was Aubrey; Emma spending some time with the other side of her family was important for the little girl and, she loved Emma dearly, but yes, it would be nice to have some alone time with her girlfriend.

The only person who did not sound amused at all with the situation was Chloe. And miraculously, she was not talking about it. Chloe was very open about her feelings - differently from Aubrey, who would prefer to lock it all up and pretend she didn’t care at all until she really did not care at all. (Or she would puke.)

The doorbell rang and Chloe sighed without stopping her work or looking up.

Aubrey gave her a concerned look before checking herself up – still in the navy blue dress shirt, black trousers and heels she used to work- and followed Emma who had ran to the door, knowing very well who was there.

"Daddy!" Emma squealed as the man at the door carried her.

Todd was a massive guy. His muscular body could be noticed even underneath his shirt and jacket. He had a light brown short hair and green eyes he shared with Emma. His face was long, and he wore an almost charming beard.

Aubrey could totally see what Chloe had seen on him, not that she would ever say it out loud. And yes, Emma was right, he was taller than Aubrey.

"Hey, monkey." He ruffled Emma's hair while asked her how she was and if she was ready for their weekend.

Of course, her answers were positive, she was so ready for this; she did not stop talking about it for weeks.

"Hey Todd," Chloe said in a forced cheered up tone, approaching them.

Aubrey could tell the difference: the original one would light up her entire face, the fake one would never reach her eyes, always making them give away a little bit of sadness, if you looked really close.

"How was the trip?" Chloe asked him.

"It was fine," Todd answered. "How are you?"

"I'm great, thank you," Chloe answered. "Oh, Aubrey, this is Todd. Todd, this is Aubrey," She introduced them. “Finally properly introduced.”

"It's so nice to meet you, Aubrey," he said, shaking her hand. "Thank you for making these ones so happy. They don’t shut up about you." He motioned to Emma and Chloe.

Chloe kept in touch with Todd - they had a daughter, there was no way they wouldn't keep in touch. She was very open to him about who she was dating since this is meant who was around his daughter. So when things got serious with Aubrey she informed him. He was glad to hear that Chloe found someone, especially someone who loved his daughter. They had a routine: he facetimed Emma once or twice a week, always checking also with Chloe about the girl. They would talk about each other too, in amicably tones: Chloe would share shallow things about her life, ask him about his parents, his job, his plans to come see Emma. He would answer and ask about how was Emma's health, school and habits. In general, they talked about Emma and everything in each other's life that could affect the little girl.

Aubrey smiled politely to Todd and watched as Chloe began with the recommendations for him for the couple following days with Emma – mostly about the fact that Emma still hadn’t conquered potty training and how careful he had to be around the topic. Todd listened with adamant attention and assured Chloe everything would be fine.

He didn't seem the irresponsible kind of guy what made Chloe's bad mood towards that visit even more unclear to Aubrey.

"So, I'm bringing her back by Sunday morning, before I fly back home. Is that okay for you?" He asked Chloe.

"Yes, that sounds great."

Chloe kissed her daughter goodbye, holding her for a little long, promising to call her to say good night. Emma was leaving when she turned on her heels and hugged Aubrey, as she had forgotten to do so, before running out of the door again with her father. And like that, the house felt silent.

The house was never silent. Sometimes when Aubrey would get there after work and the TV would be on in some cartoon channel, Chloe would be in the kitchen, making noise preparing dinner and trying to listen to Emma's preschool stories. Other times, Chloe and Emma would be in the couch cuddled together singing Disney songs out loud, waiting for Aubrey so they could decide together from where they would order food. More common times, when Aubrey would wake up in Sundays – the only day she would let herself sleep in – Emma and Chloe would already be up, curled up in bed beside her, enrolled in some conversation that Aubrey never knew what was about. She would just lay there, waking up from her slumber.  She would watch Chloe and Emma interact in their own little world, falling in love with the way Chloe's eyes never left the little girl's face and the way Emma's hands played, unconsciously, with the ends of Chloe's hair, seeming so comfortable in the place she had been since the very beginning of her life: in her mother's arms.

In moments like those, Aubrey's heart was entirely filled with a warmness she didn't know she could feel. The world would stop and somehow everything she knew about love would be crashed down into ashes and she would feel like she was just discovering the concept of loving someone all over again. Aubrey felt new.

"So, do you mind if I ask why do you have your 'I'm upset' face on?" Aubrey asked her girlfriend, hugging her from behind as the redhead didn't move from her spot in front of the front door since Todd and Emma left, five minutes ago.

Chloe shrugged and rested her body against Aubrey's, letting the blonde hold her for a while. She looked disperse, her baby blue eyes vague and Aubrey observed cautiously that rare mood, willing to give Chloe the time she needed to open up.

"I'll make dinner," Chloe said, heading for the kitchen. "Will you open a bottle of wine?"

Two glasses of red wine. That's what it took to Chloe finally start talking.

"We ended things up in a nice way. It wasn't awful, we just didn't want to be together anymore," she said, sipping her wine while Aubrey took over the work of making dinner. "I think he was very scared about Emma. She wasn't planned at all, and it kind of happened in a moment of our relationship where we both already knew there was not a long future for us together."

If a pregnancy had happened at any moment of Aubrey's marriage, it would have had been that way, the blonde thought.

"So, we split up, he found his dream job in Seattle, I stayed with Emma and we have been arranging things since then. We're doing good, I guess. We try to not think too much ahead of the time," she looked a little bummed saying this, sitting on the counter.

"What is worrying you?" Aubrey asked, setting the knife aside and turning all her attention to Chloe.

"It's just…it's nothing, don't worry, okay?" Chloe said unconvincingly and kissed her cheek.

Aubrey looked at her concerned, but decided to keep on talking normally. She picked up the knife to resume cutting vegetables.

"You should let me watch Emma's baby videos someday,” Aubrey said, attempting to make Chloe smile.

"Oh, Bree, they're the cutest! She was soooo tiny. I mean, she still is very tiny, but she was the tiniest. I look at her sometimes I can't believe I really pushed her out of my vagina.”

"Nice way to say it."

"And you?"

"Me?" Aubrey was very proud of how she was being able to slice the carrot in very similar pieces.

"Never wanted to push a baby out of your vagina?"

Aubrey hesitated. This is the kind of conversation she was not really into, but Chloe seemed finally distracted.

"Not really," she answered. "Peter and I never really talked about it. I think he knew I wasn't ready at the time."

"Wasn't? Are you now?" Chloe asked with a curious expression.

Aubrey shrugged.

"I don't rule it out," she said, chopping sausage, delicately.

"We could, you know," Chloe said, confidently. "Make some more Beales."

Aubrey laughed. Yeah, they could. Someday, who knows, right? With Chloe, she always felt like she could do nearly anything.

"You're drunk. Wait, why doesn’t Emma have Todd’s last name anyway?" Aubrey asked.

"He has a weird last name. Believe, Beale sounds way better. And I'm the one raising her, right? It’s fair," Chloe explains. "So it's Emma Olivia Beale."

Aubrey put the casserole in the oven and got back to Chloe, standing between her legs. “Doesn’t he mind it?”

"I guess this whole surname thing made her very much more mine than his, in his mind, at least." Chloe said, thoughtful. “I don’t  think he minds. He shouldn’t.” She stopped, seeming a little bit shaken. "It must be so easy, you know." Chloe said in a trembling voice. "To come twice in the year, have her for a couple of days and still be the parent of that sweet little thing. To not have to deal with the sick days, the schedule, or with her resistance to not go to bed." She paused, rubbing her eyes. "I'm not complaining. Emma is my world and she makes worth all the difficulties of doing this on my own. It just…sometimes it's not fair that he has all the same rights over her that I do."

Aubrey embraced her, freckled arms tightly wrapping around her neck. She held her like she would break, feeling her sobs shake both of their bodies.

That's how Aubrey felt about their relationship: if it was hurting Chloe, she would feel it too, like it was her own pain.

"What if he wants to take her someday? To take her away from me? He could." She said between the sobs she emitted against Aubrey's shoulder. "What would I be able to do?"

"Chlo', look at me, baby," Aubrey said, pulling back just enough to hold Chloe's face in her hands. "If he ever dares, I will stand by your side in that court room and we will face that together, like everything else. I'm here for you.” She kissed her. “Only you can make a corporate lawyer set a foot into a court room."

Chloe managed to chuckle between her sobs with the last sentence.

"Okay?" Aubrey asked, wiping Chloe’s tears with her thumbs.

"Okay," Chloe said, putting her hands on Aubrey's, holding them in place.

"Emma has a home, Chloe. He knows that. He doesn't look like the kind of guy who takes an action against his ex because he is bored or something. He knows Emma is in the best care possible. Please, don't worry that pretty little mind of yours, I hate seeing you cry."

Aubrey's pale green eyes were so honest, so open.

Chloe knew she had no idea about it. When she looked into those eyes, she saw all of it. All the love, all the devotion, all of her Aubrey.

"Have I ever told you that I am undeniably in love with you?" Chloe blurted out.

Aubrey stood in silence for few seconds before pressing her lips against Chloe's.

Words were Aubrey's thing. She writes papers convincing people of things, making them agree with those words and signing up to them. She explains a complicated case to her colleagues in a matter of minutes. She makes out princess stories out of nothing when Emma is bored. She keeps an extend inventory of fancy and love-struck words saved for Chloe only, even if she never really voices them out.

But the thing is: there's not really words worthy of Chloe. There's no poetry, there's no Disney duet, there's no love letter, there's no Taylor Swift annoyingly lovesick song that makes justice to how she feels about Chloe. With her, she whishes she could create a new word. One that would be a crime if someone decided to ever use to someone else.

She thinks, this ecstasy, this rapture, it may scare her if it was about anyone else. But it is Chloe. She's did not fell in love. She willingly jumped into that sea of red hair, freckles, blue eyes, agitated sleep, smell of kid's shampoo and home cooked meals. She hates to sound like a cliché, but Chloe is worth every single one of them.

"That's lucky," She said, pulling back when air was an issue, holding the redhead by the waist in her arm length. "Because I am madly in love with you, Chloe Beale."

Sunday morning came and so did Emma, shortly telling them about her amazing weekend at her grandparent's house but soon retiring herself on the couch, with an arm looped around her soft pink safety blanket.

"She's a little down," Aubrey pointed out, watching Emma watching cartoons on the couch from the kitchen arc. "She's not even trying to make me impersonate Princess Sofia's mother."

"That's why I am not okay with those visits," Chloe murmured, marking papers by the kitchen island.

After that drunk Friday night, Chloe woke up Saturday morning with a terrible hangover. They didn't resume their conversation, spending the day on bed - not Aubrey's thing, but she was never good saying no to Chloe.

(Lazy Chloe was a memory straight from their college days, when life ran easier, there was really nowhere to be, and their dorm room became a glimpse of what a future together could be.

Their actual future was different from those days, but the essence of it was there: the lingering touches, the pillow talks, the shared dreams, the invisible link between their personalities, how they complemented each other, forgiving mistakes and getting lost on the feeling of having each other.

Aubrey, a person with a special care for details, this time, couldn't care less. She wouldn't change their actual little paradise for the world.)

Aubrey made her way to sit beside her girlfriend, like a silent invite for her to talk. So finally there would be a complete explanation.

"She always gets like that after. She doesn't know when she will see him again, she still doesn't really understand why he has to go, then she sleeps badly for a while, eats little and gets quiet. It goes away after a few days but, Bree, it's so hard to see her like that."

Aubrey nodded in understanding. If she could be honest, Emma's mopey behavior was breaking her heart too. The stone heart everyone always said she had was now made of something like cotton candy.

"I know that not having a father around is difficult to her, all of her friends have one. I constantly try to explain why her dad is not here but I can't control how she feels. She has the right, you know.” Chloe sighed. “I just try to be the best for her. In the end of the day, I'm everything she has."

Aubrey held Chloe's free hand. She leaned down and kissed her knuckles. She always did that to Chloe, it was a little habit, an almost submissive one.

"Now she has me. I'm here for her," Aubrey told.

Chloe smiled to her girlfriend and kissed her softly.

"Yes, she does. You are a blessing." She kissed her again, in a strong and yet delicate way. "So, get your ass in that living room and cheer my baby up with your stupid princess voice."

And Aubrey did as she was told to.

"That's not, like, comfortable, Chloe," Aubrey said, waking up from her slumber as she felt a strong pressure against her stomach that night.

She looked down expecting to find one of Chloe joints poking at her as she moved in her sleep but found bright green eyes staring back at her in the low light.

Emma was carefully easing her knee out of Aubrey's stomach while climbing into the bed, looking very guilty.

"Emma, what happened?" Aubrey asked, in a hushed tone, trying to no wake Chloe up.

"There's a monster under my bed," the little girl answered, like she was telling a secret.

Aubrey almost rolled her eyes, but then remembered she was dealing with a three-years-old. She sat up pulling the little girl closer to her, sitting her on her lap. After turning on her nightlight and hushing comforting words, she wiped Emma's chubby cheeks lightly, realizing the tears stains marking the soft flushed skin. Her little body was shaking from her quiet sobs. Emma was not a crier and the sight broke Aubrey’s heart.

"Shhh, you are okay now, they can't get you here," Aubrey said holding the girl against her chest, ignoring the feeling of her shirt getting soaked with tears.

Aubrey's first reaction would be waking up Chloe, of course, but as a thoughtful, rational and caring girlfriend, she didn't. 1) Because Chloe deserved that full night of sleep after the couple days she spent worrying about the Emma and Todd situation, 2) because if she was already up, was stupid to make both of them to lose sleep, 3) because it was Emma and by then she could handle the girl very well.

The blonde looked at her sleeping girlfriend one last time, deciding to let her sleep in. She wondered how Chloe raised a baby if she can sleep through a cyclone without being disturbed.

"Let's get some water, shall we?" Aubrey suggested, carrying Emma with her as she got up.

"No! They'll get me, Aubrey!" Emma hissed wrapping her arms around the blonde's neck tighter.

"Muffin, they won't. I'll protect you, I swear. But we can't stay here now, or we will wake mommy up," Aubrey said, rubbing the Emma's back. "You know how tired mommy is."

"You swear?" Emma asked, pouting.

"I do, Emma," Aubrey said.

The little girl sniffed. "Okay."

"Okay," Aubrey said, turning off the nightlight and turning on her phone's flashlight so Emma wouldn't be terrified all the way to the kitchen.

Emma shivered a little as they passed by the her bedroom, and hided her face on the crook of the woman's neck.

Poor baby, Aubrey thought, trying to remember if as a child she ever ran to her parents after a nightmare.

She sat Emma on the kitchen counter and got her some water on her Winnie The Pooh sippy cup. The redhead had one hand at the task and the other holding one of Aubrey's, as if preventing her from going too far.

1:42 AM, Aubrey checked on her phone with a sigh.

"Feeling better?" Aubrey asked Emma, moving a strand of wild red hair from her face with her free hand.

The kid nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it? I'm a good listener," the blonde tried.

"What if they listen and come for me?" Emma asked shushing, with a frightened expression.

"Then I'll have to kick their bums." Aubrey smiled fondly. Only Emma could make her say such a phrase.

The little girl hinted a smile, but soon tensed out, looking around, checking if they were really alone.

"They were under my bed, Aubrey. I heard them. They were ugly and green and ugly. And they were trying to catch me."

"That makes sense," Aubrey reasoned, raising her eyebrows.

"You gotta send the monster to jail," Emma said very seriously.

Aubrey chuckled.

"Jail?"

"Yes, mommy says you send bad guys to jail."

Chloe was for sure trying to make a simple explanation of a lawyer's work for Emma, now putting Aubrey in the position of sending the figure of a little kid's nightmare to jail.

Aubrey didn’t know how to explain to the kid that corporate lawyers are unlikely to send someone to jail.

"What about you and I go to mommy's bed now, and by the morning I'll put the bad guy in jail?"

"Pinky promise?"

"Pinky promise."

Back to Chloe's room, Aubrey tucked Emma in between them and got into bed, ready to finally have some rest.

"Aubrey?" Emma called, in a hushed tone.

"Yes, Emma?" Aubrey answered, in the same tone.

"You are better than dad at scaring monsters who live under beds."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And making pancakes too."

"That's two things, thank you."

"And with princesses stories."

"I am flattered, Emma."

"So can you tell me a princess stories now?" Emma said making Aubrey turn to her side to face the little girl. Emma had an expectant look on her face and Aubrey gave her a lopsided grin.

Aubrey loved winning, she always did. As a kid in chess competitions, as a teenager running tracks on high school, with the Bellas at college, as a lawyer. So yes, that night, she did not waste a chance to prove that she was indeed the best at telling princesses stories.

"There was once this beautiful singing princess…"

Chapter Text

"Okay, rule number one, we can't kiss tonight," Aubrey said finishing her French braid by the bathroom's mirror of Chloe's bedroom.

"Well, I totally understand where you’re coming from," Chloe replied, putting her boots sitting on the end of her bed.

Aubrey came from the bathroom, holding out her blue cape's end.

"You look cool," Chloe said, smirking.

"Must I say the same, Miss Twin Braids?" Aubrey retorted.

Emma entered the room with her Olaf costume on, dragging her stuffed Sven.

Chloe yelped - and if Aubrey was the kind of person who yelped, she would had done it too - and fussed over her daughter, completing her looks and kissing her cheek as the little girl giggled.

For Halloween, Stacie was throwing a dinner party at her new house she just bought with her fiancée, Alex. All the Bellas who were still living in the city were attending, very much like a family party. (Aubrey had reconnected with them too. She never felt so sorry in her life. Bellas are for life and she was still forgiving herself for abandoning it.) Since they all adored Emma, Gisele was out there doing whatever teenage girls do in Halloween nights, Chloe, and Aubrey decided to take Emma with them.

Chloe thought it would be "cute" if they all had matching costumes, and since they are a blonde, a ginger and a very tiny human being, they decided - two votes against one - that they should go as Frozen characters.

Emma loved the idea so much, she didn't shut up about it until the day she could finally wear her costume.

So, when Halloween day came, Aubrey left work earlier, picked Emma up at daycare and took her home. She dressed Emma on her costume and took her to some Trick or Treating around the neighborhood still in her work clothes while Chloe didn't get home (Halloween always ended up being a busy day at the school; something about pranks, Chloe told Aubrey). When Emma's plastic pumpkin was full of candy, they went home and Aubrey checked, with a very impatient Emma, what the little girl was able to eat and what she wasn't – everything with peanut went to the bowl with candy Chloe left by the door to give the kids.

Aubrey lowkey liked Halloween, so she didn't even bother pretending she was annoyed by the whole situation.

She hadn't grown up in the warmest household, but she had nice memories about her holidays. Easter was when she would proudly excel at egg hunting. At Fourth of July her family would stay at their lake house in the country, and she loved to watch the fireworks. Thanksgiving was very cozy, spent at Grandma Posen's, and had her favorite food. Christmas meant expensive gifts, snow and being allowed to be between the adults at the traditional Christmas' Eve party her parents thrown every year to their closest peers. Halloween was tagging along with Williams and James during Trick or Treating, and being frightened by the idea of having to trick someone and end up in jail for vandalism.

When Chloe got home they started putting their costumes on, helping each other with the hair and the make-up, while Emma wandered around them, having the time of her life and desperately looking for the stuffed Sven that Aubrey bought her one day they went to the mall without her mother.

Chloe knew letting those two going out on their own always ended up like that. Emma would make puppy eyes and Aubrey would just give her things. The blonde couldn't help it, she was a sucker for the little girl's puppy eyes as much as she was for her mother's.

Properly dressed as Princess Anna, Chloe took several pictures of an Aubrey properly dressed as Queen Elsa with Emma in the Olaf costume and her stuffed Sven, amused with the way they looked together. Then, when Gisele - a Tinker Bell for the night - appeared by the door to bring her mother's pumpkin cupcakes to Chloe, the ginger asked her to take some pictures of the three of them together. It would be a beautiful picture to put beside pictures of baby Emma, she thought.

They got at Stacie's when everyone was already there. Beca and Jesse, Amy, Lily and Donald, Cynthia Rose and her wife, Jane, Jessica, Ashley and her boyfriend, Sam, were all hanging out in the backyard. Apparently, Chloe's obsession with photos got them a little bit late.

Being late was still not Aubrey's favorite thing in the world, but she learned that it's okay to not be on point sometimes. It's just their friends – actually, practically family.

Alex, a handsome tall, dark-skinned guy, welcomed them in wearing a baseball player costume. He gave Emma some candy and complimented her outfit then guided the three to their backyard. It was a large space with cute picket brown fences. They had put a low table in the center of it, with pillows as seats, and Halloween decorations and thematic foods on it. Fairy lights were extended over their heads, making everything so warm and familiar. They greeted their friends – all of them in costume, because Halloween is weirdos' favorite holiday – and sat by the table.

They had a lovely dinner and, being yet the only Bellas' child, Emma was as pampered as always by her aunts. Aubrey watched with a smirk as Emma kept insisting that Beca did the Cup Song all over again several times. She would go and distract Emma with something else, but she allowed it for the one and only reason that it was Beca Mitchell wrapped around a four-year-old's little finger.

After the meal they all danced and sang together, like old times. Aubrey missed them so much, how stupid she had been for shutting everyone out for years. She pulled Chloe closer and kissed her – forgetting her own stupid rule - as a slow song played in the background, swaying slowly through the improvised dance floor, ignoring Amy making some joke about her being whipped. (She was right, Aubrey thought. Aubrey Posen was whipped.)

A moment like that was something she would never let herself do in front of anyone in college, not even if her palms were burning only with the thought of holding Chloe or if the redhead's figure was the only clear thing she could see in the middle of everyone. So, she can't really blame the curious eyes of their friends when she demonstrates affection for her girlfriend publicly.

Maybe she was just thinking of that while getting herself a drink, when Rey from Star Wars approached. Oh, wait, it was just Beca.

"It looks like you made amends with movies," Aubrey commented with a smirk.

"Star Wars was never that bad," Beca replied, rolling her eyes. "And I wasn't the only one making some amends."

Aubrey gave her a guilty look before taking some time to look around.

Jesse had Emma on his shoulders while she attempted to put the basketball in the basket while Alex, Donald and Sam cheered with their beers in hand - seeing the little girl's smile was a privilege Aubrey was happy to have. Ashley and Stacie were laughing hard, leaning on each other, at something Amy said, while Cynthia Rose dared Jessica, Ashley and Lily on a beer pong game. Chloe was chatting with Jane in a corner, with that expression that means that she is enjoying the conversation, fidgeting with one of her braids with one hand and nursing a wine glass in the other one.

"Uh, hide that cup, Aubrey," Beca said, taking the cup out of Aubrey's hand and throwing it away as she saw Emma wandering in their direction.

The little girl came to steal Aubrey from Beca, so they could find some chocolate without peanut for her to eat.

Beca watched as Aubrey picked the kid up and walked to where the candy was. Freshman Beca would never believe Aubrey Posen could adore a kid so much. The little girl kept eating her chocolate sitting on Aubrey’s lap with her arms looped around her. They were chatting about something Beca couldn't listen, but just the view entertained her for a while. She watched as Chloe approached them and kissed Aubrey's cheek before sitting by her side with a slice of pumpkin pie. She fed Emma, but the little girl was more interested in the chocolate, then she fed Aubrey and then herself. It looked like some kind of family picture, Beca thought.

"What are you looking at?" Jesse asked, hugging her from behind.

"Just thinking…they are the cutest family ever. We should just give up, we'll never top them. It's so unfair," Beca said with a fake pout. Her face suddenly became serious. "They really should stop kissing while wearing those costumes. I’m traumatized now."

"You talk like Rey kissing Frodo is normal." He laughed.

"Shut up, nerd." Beca smirked, turning on her heels to kiss him.

Chapter Text

Aubrey thought holiday season was nothing but a creation by big corporations to sell more unnecessary stuff to people. For her, there wasn't some kind of happy mood that took over her when the last months of the year were coming. She couldn't really remember the last time she set up a Christmas tree. As a kid she wasn't that excited about it, since the lack of family traditions in her household didn't allow her to be. This almost non-existent relationship with holiday season was one of the only things in which her ex-husband and her were compatible.

But, of course, if holiday season was important for Chloe, she put her indifference aside.

Since the Posens were going to celebrate Thanksgiving at some friend's place in Boston and the Beales were also leaving the city to celebrate it at some relative's, Aubrey decided to cook Thanksgiving dinner for all the Bellas. They all shared the meal at Chloe's place, in a kind of warmness that had nothing to do with the heater.

"Please don't ever leave us again", Amy mumbled, her mouth stuffed with delicious mashed potatoes, ignoring the glare Aubrey gave her.

It was treated almost like a marathon. Aubrey took the lead, sketching a plan since grocery shopping, sharing the tasks with Chloe and giving Emma a reason to be excited - she was used to know that if Aubrey was planning, something great was going to come in the end. Chloe stuck along, following instructions and trying to keep her away from becoming a dictator.

It was the first holiday season they were going to celebrate together. Although they were already together last year, they spent it apart, with their own families, trying to not rush things and make them too confusing for Emma. Then they shared a quite meal together before Thanksgiving Day, met the day after Christmas for a brunch, in which they shared little gifts, and at New Year's Day, Aubrey was out of the town for some last-minute work trip. But now, since they were in a happy and stable relationship, it only made sense they spent it properly, together.

Aubrey never felt more in family before, as she moved between her Bellas that Thursday, all smiling and joking around, catching up with each other, hugging and kissing. She watched from the arc of the kitchen, Chloe with Emma in her arms, telling Beca something trivial. Yes, she was kind of spending Thanksgiving with her family, Aubrey thought, with a smile before announcing that dinner was ready. That was the first time the blonde caught a glimpse of what Chloe's excitement about the holiday season was about.

Christmas was a settled deal. They would attend the annual Posen Christmas' Eve dinner party, spent the morning together and then drive a couple of hours to Chloe’s parents house to have lunch with the Beales.

She went to Chloe's place one day after work, in the beginning of December, to find both redheads engaged on the task of untangling Christmas lights out of a paper box.

"We were waiting for you!" Chloe said in an excited tone, and Aubrey suddenly felt something that must be very close to what people called Christmas spirit.

Aubrey attended Emma's preschool Christmas play, holding Chloe's hand while she couldn't take her eyes of the stage. Emma was a candy cane and didn't really have any lines. Aubrey couldn't really tell the relevance of that character to the plot of the story, but she thought no other kid shone just as much as the little redhead. They covered Emma with compliments about her performance and the smile on her face was priceless. They walked to the parking lot holding hands with a candy cane wrapped in an overcoat between them, because Emma refused to change back into her normal clothes.

That year, as she walked into her 's cocktail party to celebrate the successful year they had as a firm, she had a gorgeous redhead woman by her side, not a distant, slightly too annoyed guy – not that she could blame Peter, everyone gets a little annoyed at those parties, after all. As she kissed Chloe, pressing her against her car later that night, with the chilly wind biting their cheeks and warm hands against her neck, she decided that there wasn't any other way she wanted to attend those parties ever again.

When her mom complimented Emma's dress when they arrived there on Christmas Eve night and Emma complimented Mrs. Posen back, she allowed a bubbly giggle to erupt from her lips. The Posens and a few close friends, Chloe and Emma, had dinner formally as always and chatted amicably all the while. James and William and his wife, Nicole, meeting Emma for the first time, allowed themselves to be charmed by the little girl.

““Can she play with me?” Emma asked Nicole, after she announced her pregnancy with their first child, making everyone laugh and coo.)

"The Posens are secretly big softies." Chloe hushed to Aubrey's ear when they sat by the living room with Emma unwrapping the gift she received from Mrs. Posen, who sat by an armchair also watching the scene with a soft smile on her lips.

"That's-" Aubrey started to disagree but Emma got up and hugged Mrs. Posen as a thank you, making the woman laugh freely. "Okay, I see your point."

The Christmas morning brought a nostalgic feeling to Aubrey. She sat on the ground of Chloe's living room, helping Emma unwrap her gifts and watching the way her eyes shone with joy and surprise.  Emma was amazed with her new toys, in a hurry to put together the set of new Legos Aubrey bought her.

Being a child was such a blessing, she wished her childhood years were more like that. But in the moment she unwrapped one of Chloe's gifts for herself and found a Christmas sweater that was not too ugly, something changed.

"It's a Beale tradition. We wear them," Chloe explained, and Aubrey noticed her cheeks were pink. "I know that you are very serious about your clothing, so you don't really have to wear it if you don't want to, but I wanted you to know that you are a part of it now."

Aubrey just kissed her, not knowing what else to do.

Maybe her childhood wasn't entirely a Christmas paradise, full of love and affection, but she had the prospect of so many years ahead to be just like that with Chloe. Suddenly, she was eager for the next holiday season, and all the following ones. She couldn't even get annoyed at Chloe for having a positivity so infectious.

“Thank you,” she whispered against her lips.  “This is the best gift I’ve ever received.”

Chloe kissed her again. “Ugh, you are so in love with me, it’s so annoying.” She smirked.

Aubrey laughed. “I am. There’s no doubt about it.” She lifted up the sweater and gave it a look. "I think it will do just fine with those Prada trousers I was planning on wearing today," she said

And the Beales, well, they are the people who raised Chloe. They are loud and overly welcoming. Aubrey had been with them before, twice when she was in college, and uncountable times after Chloe and she got back together – because they were party people, and there was always something to attend related to Chloe's parents or her sisters.

For Christmas, they were hosting a get together for the entire Beale clan – that's what Aubrey presumed, since Chloe introduced her to so many aunts, uncles and cousins that there was no chance she could remember all their names. (The fact that at least seventy per cent of them were redheads and that all of them were wearing the same sweater didn't helped at all). There was at least half a dozen of children running around with Emma, and someone had brought a Corgi named Bruce.

("How did they find Bruce such a small matching sweater?" Aubrey asked Chloe, dumfounded.)

The dinner was delicious and wrapped in cheerful conversation. A Christmas playlist was being used as background music and Chloe had a free hand over Aubrey's on top of the table.

It was almost like Aubrey had been attending those family parties for years. She bites her bottom lip, chiding herself when she allowed the thought that if she had done things right years ago, that was how things would had happened.

As if reading Aubrey's mind, Chloe gave her hand a squeeze, and when their eyes met, the smile on the redhead's face was just enough to vanish any anxious thought on her mind - Chloe's smile was always a reminder that everything was going to be okay, Aubrey has no idea how to live without it anymore.

The Beales sang Christmas carols and danced with each other after lunch.

Aubrey thought how amusing would it be to put the Beales and the Posens in the same party and watch the contrast between them. She smirked at the thought, and through the windows she realized the snow falling slowly outside. She got up and went to the porch in front of the house, not being able to stop her excitement.

As she stepped outside, her body instantly trembled with the cold weather, since she was wearing only the Christmas sweater Chloe gave her that morning. But it was bearable, and she was never too bothered about cold – those skiing lessons as a child had taught her one or two things.

Maybe she was thinking just that when Chloe busted out by the door, looking for her. She gave her girlfriend a soft smile and opened her arms for her, who wasted no time fitting in her embrace. She wrapped her arms around the woman’s waist, bringing her against her body and allowed her nose no to snuggle the mass of red hair, making proper use of their height difference.

"It's insane," Aubrey said.

"Are you still bugged about Bruce's sweater?" Chloe asked with a giggle.

"Well, I am, actually," The blonde answered. "But I wasn't talking about it."

Chloe pulled out from the embrace but kept her girlfriend at arm's length, looking up to look into her eyes. "What is it?"

"Have you ever thought we would be doing this? Me and you? Christmas, family gathering, matching sweaters? Together?" Aubrey asked, with an uncertain tone, maybe not sure if she really wanted to hear the answer.

"I honestly didn't," Chloe said, simply, running her hands through Aubrey’s back. "But, sometimes, I hoped."

Aubrey gave her a puzzled look.

"I hoped that you were happy, safe, loved, even if it didn't mean you and me together," Chloe said in a sad tone. "I hoped that someday I could see you glowing with happiness, even if for one or two minutes, if we casually met out there, and then I would be okay with it, I could let go of you for good.” She smiled in a uncertain way. “I hoped that I could find the same."

Aubrey caressed the shorter woman's face, brushing a thumb against her soft cold cheek, looking down adoringly at her, her heart burning with affection. All those years thinking about each other and not being together, they all looking so wasted now.

"So, no, I didn't really used to think about all of this. Life just gave me so much more than I hoped," The redhead said. "Life gave me the chance to be the reason behind the happiness I wished you so much." She smiled. "At least I think you are happy. I mean, I hope you are happy. I know, these Christmas sweater are not really masterpieces but-"

Aubrey just brought their lips together in a fervent kiss, letting her hands slip into Chloe's hair, tangling the locks around her cold fingers as the redhead's own hands found their way to her hips.

The blonde broke the kiss abruptly. "I've never been happier," She said. "Please don't ever think that I'm not happy with you. That would be so, so wrong."

Chloe eyes shone at hearing those words.

"Even wearing these ugly sweaters?" Chloe joked, with a smirk dancing on her lips.

"They're not that ugly. Bruce looks fit on them, and so must I."

Chloe laughed out loud, but the impulse of kissing Aubrey again was stronger, so she just did, letting the laugh die against her girlfriend's lips. She was thrilled about the prospect of a lifetime with a certain blonde matching expensive pants and shoes with ugly Christmas sweaters.

Chapter Text

31.

Growing up as the third child and only daughter of Anthony and Grace Posen, Aubrey’s birthdays were more an event for her father's social circle than celebrating her new age. Everything, from the decoration to the food, was not her choice or any kid's choice at all. Fancy invitations in elaborated golden calligraphies, proper expensive food and table settings that Chloe would never thought about using on Emma's birthday.

"How many people are we expecting?" Aubrey asked her mother, as she navigated with her between the staff hired for her birthday.

The neatly dressed servants were setting her parent’s large living room to accommodate the cocktail party.

Her mother, giving them some orientation about how she wanted things, moved in her always too elegant posture, inside a beige fancy party dress.

Grace Posen was as pretty as she always had been. Aubrey can't remember a time when she didn't look up to her mother as the image of the perfect woman. She exhaled perfection, that was possibly why Anthony married her. Aubrey wanted so bad to reach it, to be that perfect, to be someone her parents could be proud. She grew up following her high-heeled steps, while still walking on the line of her father's expectations. It sounds hard but if asked, today, Aubrey would say that it shaped her into the woman she grew up to be. The woman Chloe said she loved every single day. If she was enough for Chloe, somehow, she was learning to be enough for herself.

"Thirty. Maybe forty," Grace said, fixing an already perfect flower vase.

"How many of those do I actually know?" Aubrey asked with an amused smile.

"Where is Chloe?" The older blonde asked, ignoring her daughter's question.

"She had to drop Emma with the babysitter. She will be here any minute."

"I miss Emma, you should bring her in here more often," she said, turning to Aubrey and fixing unnecessarily the Tiffany & Co necklace around the taller blonde's neck. "I remember this. We gave you when you got accepted into Barden."

Aubrey smiled fondly at her mother's words. Not about the necklace, but about Emma. Did she know how much it meant to her that they accepted Chloe and Emma? How many nights she spent awake thinking about losing them if she ever got to be with Chloe?

As her mother mumbled something about going to find her father and disappeared, Aubrey ran to the door following the doorbell sound.

"Oh my God, you look gorgeous," Aubrey greeted Chloe kissing her cheek, by the door. "I can't wait to show you off."

Chloe got there earlier than the other guests, after dropping Emma with Gisele. In a long-sleeved black cocktail dress that embraced the body Aubrey adored, perfectly applied make up and her red hair up in a fancy bun, with a few strands falling on the side of her face, Aubrey just wanted to take her hand and run away with her, steal her for the night or something equally crazy and romantic. (That Chloe for sure would love.)

"Oh, don't worry. I will excel at my trophy wife role." Chloe smirked, passing Aubrey only to be pulled back by the wrist.

Soon, the Posen household was filled with serious looking men and pretty and polite women. Some soft instrumental music was playing as a background noise to the conversations taking place in those large rooms.

Chloe couldn't take her eyes out of Aubrey. Something about the way she moved with those people was new and captivating to her - she was slightly more formal, if possible.

Or maybe, Chloe was just too used to her Aubrey, the one only she knew. The Aubrey who was always at her house wearing sweatpants with old and cozy sweaters. Who would kiss her goodnight at her doorsteps when she would sleep in her place. Who would take her on dates and smile the entire time. Who would run around the house with Emma when she thought Chloe was too busy to realize she was playing like a little kid. Who would look all flustered and not be able to hide her smile when Chloe would spontaneously serenate her with George Michael’s Heal The Pain. Who sometimes would be so delicate as she touched her body in the middle of the night that left the doubt if it was real or just a dream, whose laugh was so easy and carefree that made Chloe feel like listening to her favorite song. The Aubrey with whom she was learning to share a life.

So yes, Aubrey in a cranberry cocktail dress, drinking out of fancy glasses and having legal conversation with those strangers was, in a lack of a better word, hot.

And there was something about the way Aubrey introduced her to the guests.

"That's my girlfriend Chloe," she would say, bearing a smile and putting a hand on the small of Chloe's back.

At some point, Aubrey watched from across the room as Chloe made her older brother, William, crack up a laugh as she made conversation with him and his wife, Nicole, who was seven months pregnant. By the way Chloe was motioning to her belly, she was probably sharing some motherhood advice. She caught her father looking at the group and she realized she was not the only one with her eyes on that little moment. There was something almost tender on his look.

"Aubrey, follow me," Mr. Posen said, touching her daughter's arm as he passed through her and got up the stairs.

Aubrey looked for Chloe’s eyes and whispered a “see you soon", making the redhead smile.

It was a small habit between the two of them. They would use it to leave a room or to leave the house, before going to work or before a week-long work trip out of the state. It was a silly reminder of how it all began, of how far they were going.

She followed her dad to his study, closing the door behind her.

Anthony Posen's study was as neat as Aubrey remembered. She wasn't really allowed to be there as a child, but sometimes, when he was out, she would sneak in there, sit in his leather chair and pretend she was as powerful as he was and then sneak out before her mother started looking for her.

"Did you enjoy the party?" He asked, sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

She sat on the other chair, beside him, but turning it so they were face to face. "Yes, father," Aubrey answered, sincerely. "It was a very pleasant evening."

He nodded, almost, almost, grinning.

"Aubrey, I have to be honest with you. I did not see Chloe coming," he said.

It was the first time that he addressed their relationship like that. Like something he was willing to giving his opinion on, like one of his business.

"You were married to a nice guy, had a stable life and we thought everything was settled," he continued, shrugging. "You didn't seem in love, but I brushed it aside and I assumed it was just how you were, you were never the best at demonstrating feelings, anyway." He ran his hand against the lapel of his suit. "But you are not like that. Not with Chloe, at least."

Aubrey's attention was entirely towards him. She didn't grasp why he choose that night to have that conversation or why he decided to have that conversation at all. She had to bite her tongue to not say that she was not the only one in that room who wasn't good at demonstrating feelings.

She kept herself quietly listening to him, allowing a weak grin to escape from her lips at his last sentence.

"You were brave, Aubrey. You chased after what you wanted," Mr. Posen said, leaning in closer to his daughter. "At first, I didn't really understand your reasons, but now I see that you are happy. You are happy with Chloe in the way I thought you couldn't be because it wasn't how you were. I was so wrong." He chuckled briefly, shaking his head.

Aubrey was surprised but tried to not show. She smiled and hoped he couldn't see the blush on her cheek.

"This whole, gay thing - I guess that's how I can call - it's new for me, you have to understand. I wasn't happy about it, but you are happy with Chloe and well, that's it," he said, his elbows against his knees. "You are my daughter."

Aubrey leans in too and takes one of his hand in hers. She knows that on the tip of his tongue there's an "I love you" that he doesn't knows how to say. She squeezes his hand twice and he squeezes back once. It's enough.

"I didn't call you here just to spill my opinions about your life choices, of course." He gets up and walks to his desk.

Aubrey raised her eyebrows, following him with her green eyes.

"You know, your grandma would love Chloe," he said, opening a drawer. "She would spoil Emma so much."

Aubrey laughed weakly. Grandma Posen was indeed a spirited woman. She taught Aubrey to bake and to speak French (as a young woman she had lived in France and spoke the language like a native). Aubrey carried the lightness of those moments with her until these days. She died during Aubrey's junior high year, and the young blonde felt like she had lost that safe, carefree place that was her grandmother's company.

There was something about the memories she kept about her grandmother that confirmed that yes, Grandma Posen and Chloe matched somehow. It was like if they bleed the same light.

Mr. Posen approached Aubrey again, holding something small in his hands.

"Happy birthday, Aubrey," he said giving Aubrey the little velvet box.

Aubrey took the little thing and opened it instantly, not containing her curiosity. The ring sitting inside of it was familiar, she remembered it for its simplicity and beauty. The golden ring had a diamond of considerable size on the top, with ornamented details of gold around it.

It was Grandma's Posen engagement ring. Aubrey kept staring speechless at it.

"I don't know if you are already thinking of it, but, if you are," he hesitated. Anthony Posen never hesitates. "If someday this ring is going to someone else's hand, I'd like to think my mom would approve very much if it this someone is someone like Chloe."

Inside, she was crying. Crying and screaming, yes, yes, yes. She could see it on Chloe's delicate finger. Outside, she was staring at the jewel with an open mouth.

Yes, she had already thought about it. She was a thinker, she was a planer, she was a Posen, after all. But only vaguely until then.

They both had been on previous stable relationships, they weren't so young anymore (she was hours away of turning thirty-one), and Emma was on the equation. There was a still a lot to elaborate, but Aubrey was sure she was going to do it. She just needed the time.

“I never gave it to one of the boys because you were her girl. I offered it to Peter when he proposed to you but he had his own ideas and didn’t take it,” he explained.

Aubrey rolled her eyes. Of course Peter would rather something new, basic and expensive. 

Impulsively, she got up and hugged her father. "Thank you."

She was surprised when his arms embraced her back. She couldn't really remember the last time they had hugged. It didn't take long for him to step back and look a little out of his element.

"Take your time," he pointed to the velvet box. "I mean, don't take long, Aubrey. Don't give her time to get bored and run from you."

Aubrey nodded, grimacing. Just when she thought he was getting too soft.

Next morning, when Chloe and Emma woke her up with a messy frosty cake, breakfast in bed, kisses, hugs and tons of love, she had to resist the urge to fall onto her knees in front of Chloe right then and right there.

There, in the bed, with those two redheads, Aubrey felt at home.

Chapter Text

5.

Chloe looked down at the piece in the robin egg blue box.

“It’s a little too much, I think,” she said.

“I thought so too,” Aubrey agreed. “But those are the people that gave me a LSAT book when I turned eight.”

Chloe picked up the golden hair pin. It was shaped like a little bow with a single diamond craved to it in one of the ends. It was beautiful, she was just not sure if it was the right gift for a 5-years-old.

Emma turned five on a Wednesday. There was a small backyard party scheduled for the next Saturday at Aubrey’s house, with confirmed presence of the Bellas, Chloe’s parents, a couple of neighbor kids and a few of her preschool classmates with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Posen were also invited, but they would be out of town and sent their gift to Emma through Aubrey.

“You can keep it for when she is older,” Aubrey suggested. Just send a thank you note and you can put it in her hair when we attend something at their house.”

They were getting ready for bed on that Wednesday after giving Emma pizza and vegan ice cream for dinner. The little girl spent the whole day telling everyone she was a big girl now and describing how great her party was going to be. Needless to say she worn they out with her energy and they couldn’t wait to rest the night away.

“Did you have Tiffany’s jewelry as a child too?” Chloe asked, putting the pin back in the box and putting it away on her drawer and looking for some sleeping clothes.

“Yes, a few. To use in special occasions, you know.” Aubrey unbuttoned her dress shirt and neatly put it away.

“Sometimes I forget how rich your parents are,” Chloe thought aloud. “Couldn’t they just buy her a Buddy Tyrannosaurus or something like that? She would love and actually know what to do with it.”

Aubrey laughed and approached her girlfriend. “They have no idea what a Buddy Tyrannosaurus is.” And neither did she before Emma entered her dinosaur phase.

Chloe chuckled. “Tell them we loved it. I know buying a four hundred dollars hair pin is their way of telling my daughter they care for her.”

“You know Posens so well.” Aubrey smiled down at her.

Chloe kissed her, touching Aubrey’s sides with her arms hands. “Well, I love one of them.”

Aubrey kissed her, guiding her backwards to bed, suddenly not tired at all.

The party had a dinosaur theme, of course, with green and orange balloons, fake plastic eggs and dinosaur hats. Even Aubrey reluctantly put one on her head, making Chloe laugh and add a story to her Instagram.

Emma was running around the invitees in her pink dinosaur onesie, casually hitting someone with her tail. She had the biggest smile on her face and made sure every single invite got a hug as they arrived.

“Be careful, muffin,” Chloe told her, trying to get to the backyard table with a tray of dinosaur-decorated cupcakes.

“Got it,” Aubrey said, lifting Emma up and throwing her over her shoulder, making her giggle. She let her go as soon as the cupcakes were safe on the table, wondering when did Emma get big enough to make carrying her a little bit difficult.

The little girl ran back to play with her friends and Aubrey and Chloe went back to the kitchen

“There are more kids than the last year,” Aubrey noticed, looking the backyard through the kitchen window. “By primary school she will be inviting the entire class.”

“She is my daughter, what were you expecting?” Chloe laughed.

They picked up a couple of bottles of wine from Aubrey’s adega and the cheese platter they arranged for the adults in attendance and joined them on the deck.

Chloe’s parents also couldn’t make it since Julia, the younger Beale girl, was graduating high school on that same day.

That way, they were left in the company of the Bellas, - they always found an excuse to see each other – a couple of parents and a few moms.

“It’s a lovely house, Chloe,” Rita said and her husband agreed. “How long have you been living here?”

Chloe sipped her wine. “Oh no, I don’t live here. Aubrey is the owner; she is just borrowing her backyard.”

“Where is your husband?” Rita asked Aubrey.

“I don’t have one,” Aubrey said, half distracted, looking at the kids playing on the backyard. “Not anymore.”

“Oh. And don’t you get lonely in a house this big?”

“Well, Chloe and Emma are always around. And I am always at their place as well. No time to feel lonely at all,” she said, looking back to Rita. “Emma, please don’t put that in your mouth, muffin. Thank you,” she said looking back at the kids and raising her voice so Emma could listen.

Rita looked slightly confused.

Chloe caught up her confusion. “Aubrey is my partner, Rita,” Chloe said.

Rita blushed. “As in- as in romantic partner?”

Chloe nodded, touching Aubrey’s knee lightly.

“And you are raising Emma together?” Rita’s look flickered between them.

“Well, for a couple of years now, kind of,” Chloe told her. “Bree is great with Emma; Emma adores Bree. It’s very convenient for me.” She smiled, trying to keep the conversation light.

“Where is her dad? I bet she asks about him-" Rita asked in a tone that made Chloe cringe.

“Dude, this is a really nice cheese. Isn’t it, Amy?” Beca said, clearly trying to change the conversation.

“He is present in her life, thank you for asking,” Chloe informed.

“Is he aware of how his daughter is being raised?” Rita continued.

“Rita, let it go-" Her husband touched her arm.

Chloe frowned. “I’m sorry, how is my daughter being raised?”

Rita hesitated. “Well, you know, kids are just kids, they can get confused sometimes with- all this configuration. I mean, look around it’s a boyish party theme-“

“Excuse me, Rita, but that’s a very stupid thing to say.” Amy frowned. “There were female dinosaurs, too.”

Rita looked at Amy with an unreadable expression.

“There’s no such a thing as a boy’s or girl’s party theme. They’re just kids. Genevieve also likes dinosaurs and swords,” one of the other dads said. “I used to play with my sister’s toys as a kid.”

“Yeah,” Beca said. “Chloe, Todd and Aubrey have Emma’s best interest in my mind, not that this is any of your business-“

Chloe interrupted whatever rude comment Beca was about to make. “Rita, Emma is fine. We are all right. It’s a new world, it’s time to educate our children about how families come in all sizes and shapes.”

“But it’s unnatural,” Rita insisted. “I don’t mind it.” She gesticulated between Aubrey and Chloe.

Chloe felt Aubrey flinch beside her and placed a hand against her tight again.

“I really don’t. You are adults. I just think exposing your kid to this may mess with their minds.” Rita looked around the circle looking for some support but everyone seemed uncomfortable – and Beca looked furious.

“I can assure you Emma understands love very well, there’s no mess in her mind about it,” Chloe said, making Aubrey wonder how she could be maintaining herself so calm.

Rita was about to say something but her husband cut in. “It’s a very nice party. I like the dinosaur balloons.” He smiled coyly.

Chloe nodded with a small smile and nothing else was said about the matter.

“Did someone watch the Game of Thrones finale?” Amy asked after a few seconds of deafening silence. “That blonde chick with the dragons is my mood on Friday nights. Except the dragons are men. And I am definitely not their mother.”

The party lasted until a little before the night fell.

Emma blew the candles out and offered Beca the first piece of cake, since she was the only one who got right which character from Dinosaur Train was her favorite – Shiny - gifting her with the doll.

The kids and the parents left, Rita and her husband with shy goodbyes, and the Bellas lagged behind, helping with the cleaning.

It was late when Chloe came from upstairs, finally being able to take off Emma’s dinosaur costume and getting her into the bed of one of the guest’s bedroom from Aubrey’s house that was practically owned by the little girl now.

Aubrey was nursing a mug of coffee by the kitchen island when her girlfriend approached.

“I could swear she liked Tiny more,” Chloe complained. “Am I a bad mom?” She joked.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t stand up for you against Rita, I froze,” Aubrey blurted out. “Even Amy had more to say. I never dealt with anything like that before, it was so rude I-"

“Aubrey, calm down.” Chloe put her hands on her shoulders as she sat by her side. “It’s fine, it wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last.”

Aubrey sighed. “I- I don’t get how people can not understand.”

Chloe hugged her. “Don’t beat yourself up with that.”

Aubrey pulled back, holding Chloe by arm length. “I still don’t get how you are so calm about it.”

“As I said, it wasn’t the first time I’ve encountered homophobia,” she said. She cupped Aubrey’s cheek as she started to cry. “We can’t let ourselves listen to them, okay?”

The blonde was shaking under her hands with anger and agitation.

“I feel so powerless. Like I can’t defend you and Emma from this. I will never be able to because there will always be people like that and what if I frozen every-”

“You don’t have to. Don’t blame yourself, baby, please,” Chloe cried. “We are a family, we will take care of each other.”

Chloe whipped the angry tears from Aubrey’s cheeks.

It reminded her of how fragile Aubrey was back in their college days. Of how she presented herself as this undefeatable leader, but at the end of the day she would find comfort laying her head on Chloe’s lap, allowing the girl to whip away her tears.

“There will always be people who don’t know a thing about us trying to tell us what to do, how to behave, how to raise our kids. That’s fine. We just won’t listen to them.” Chloe kissed her forehead. “And you know why we won’t listen to them? Because we are the only ones who know about our love. We are the ones who know how happy, safe and loved Emma is. We know we are doing great.” She kissed her nose. She kissed her lips.

Aubrey smiled through her tears.

Chloe smiled back, resting their foreheads together.

“You and I, we are doing great. Do you hear me? We are great together, amazing even.” Chloe brushed her nose against Aubrey. “And we are just beginning.”

The blonde nodded and hugged her girlfriend.

Under the yellow light of the kitchen, they were bathed in gold, like Emma’s Tiffany & Co hair pin.

And Chloe’s words made them unstoppable.

Chapter Text

30.

“Happy birthday!”

Chloe blinked her eyes to take in the sight of her family and friends inside her tiny house as she got home from work that Friday.

“Oh my God! Aubrey!” she yelled but a laughter bubbled out of her lips.

“I’m sorry,” Aubrey said, approaching her carrying Emma.

“No, you’re not.” Chloe rolled her eyes.

Aubrey leaned down and pecked her lips. “No, I’m not.”

Emma jumped from Aubrey’s to her mother’s arms.

“Happy birthday, mommy.” The little girl hugged her mother. “I helped too.”

Chloe laughed, hugging her daughter back. “Alright, maybe I’ll forgive you two.”

It had been spoken since her last birthday: “I do not want a 30th birthday party”.

She was feeling old, if she could be honest with herself. It was driving her slightly crazy.

She was thirty and she was nowhere she thought she would be at that age. She loved her life, but a kid, a teaching job and still living in Atlanta in separate houses while dating the love of her life was not on her radar.

When she thought about her thirties, she thought she would at least be done with vet school. Maybe engaged. Maybe living abroad. Maybe still figuring out who she was.

But there was, the big thirty. And she knew who she was, she knew what and who she wanted, but still felt very helpless about taking the reins of her life. Was she just supposed to go with the flow?

After all, how could she make any move without disturbing the stable life she built for her daughter? Or frightening Aubrey away from the perfect relationship they had? What was she supposed to do with all that will to face new challenges and achieve her dreams?

There was nothing to celebrate about her new age, she decided.

“If I had to have one, you are having too.” Aubrey put a crown with a 30 on it on her girlfriend’s head.

“Thank God I’m never turning 30. I’ll die at 27,” Amy said.

“You are 27,” Beca said.

“It’s coming any time now then, don’t miss me too much,” the blonde said, touching her friend’s shoulder.

Chloe’s parents looked a little weirded out about the comment and Aubrey rolled her eyes.

The birthday girl put Emma on the ground and arranged the piece of plastic on her head. She sighed and opened a big smile. “Well, where’s the cake?”

Chloe’s party mingling was an art. She mingled with her surprise guests at her surprise party with the expertise only a pro could.  She asked her parents about the health of the beloved ginkgo tree they had on their backyard. She asked Julia about her moving in the autumn to Barden and auditioning for the Bellas, offering to help with it and, when Gisele appeared late at the party with charcoal on her left cheek, she introduced the girls to each other. She made plans with Jesse and Beca for a double date on the following week. She turned down Amy’s propose of thirsty celebratory shots, but accepted three. She thanked her beautiful thoughtful girlfriend with a stolen kiss when they met in the empty kitchen. She blew her candles with Emma’s help and cheered her new age with her loved ones. And, through all of that, no one noticed she was far from a party mood.

She was grateful, of course, for the party. All those people found a way of showing up to tell her their good wishes on her new age. Then why she felt so hopeless?

It was past midnight when the last of the Bellas left the house.

Aubrey was cleaning the house when Chloe got downstairs after checking if Emma was still asleep. She joined her girlfriend on the task. They did some work, but left some to be done in the morning, when they were less tired and the alcohol was gone from their system.

As they prepared themselves to bed, Aubrey pulled her close.

“Won’t you open my gift?”

Chloe refrained herself from giving Aubrey a tired look. She knew she was just trying to make her feel better, probably the only person who noticed Chloe was not on her usual mood.

Aubrey handled her a robin blue egg box.

“Bree, you shouldn’t-“

“Just open it.”

Chloe did as she was told, and found a golden necklace with a small pearl and a discreet diamond as pendant. It was a classic and choice – and a beautiful one.

“It’s not fair that only Emma gets Tiffany’s for her birthday,” Aubrey said with a chuckle, going around her girlfriend and pulling up the jewelry from the box to clasp it around her neck. She turned Chloe to the mirror, hugging her from behind and resting her chin on her shoulder. “Do you like it?”

Chloe looked at their reflection in the mirror before looking at the necklace.

The piece fell perfectly around her neck. No need for adjustments. It weighted a little more than the usual cheaper jewelry she had. It felt nice, it felt important, to be wearing such a thing even if in its looks it was modest. Chloe loved it for various reasons.

“I love it,” she said. “Thank you, baby.”

Aubrey kissed the spot where the necklace laid on Chloe’s clavicle. “You are welcome.” She let go of Chloe.

Chloe looked herself on the mirror. She was thirty. Do I look thirty? She wondered. She turned to ask Aubrey that only to find the blonde leaning against the door.

“This is going to be a great age for you.” Aubrey locked the bedroom door behind her, perking up Chloe’s attention.

“You think so?” Chloe couldn’t tear her eyes from her girlfriend and the way she walked to her, forgetting suddenly about her own appearance.

“I know so,” Aubrey hushed before kissing her.

The kiss made Chloe stumble on her feet, but Aubrey’s hold of her was strong enough to keep them both standing. The blonde ran her hands from her waist to her ass, squeezing it in a way that made Chloe gasp against her mouth.

Chloe allowed Aubrey access to her neck, cursing when Aubrey kissed that spot below her ear. She craved her nails on her girlfriend’s shoulders, never getting enough of her.

Sex with Aubrey was great, period. But sex when Aubrey took the lead was perfect. Every time was like a new dance routine that she had engraved to her mind, step by step, performing it impeccably just for Chloe. Aubrey would worship her body like it was their first time, taking time to kiss the freckles hidden on her breasts, navigate the curves and valleys that made her shape, telling Chloe how beautiful she was. Chloe had to admit it could be frustrating if she was looking for something quick or less, let’s say, delicate.

But, most of the time, it made her feel like a goddess of a religion of which Aubrey was the only believer. It made her feel powerful. She needed it that night like never before.

“You are going to be so happy,” Aubrey said in a husky voice, between kisses and nips on Chloe’s collarbone and suddenly the necklace wasn’t the most precious thing touching her skin anymore. “You are going to be so loved.”

Aubrey lowered her on the bed. She unbuttoned Chloe’s blouse, trailing kisses down her body as she popped each button.

“What else?” Chloe asked, mind hazed with desire, hands tangled in blonde hair.

Aubrey brought her mouth back to Chloe’s and kissed her hard and for a long time, not minding when the redhead’s grip on her hair got harder.

Chloe’s hands flew to grip on the sheets under her, not knowing what to do with herself as Aubrey maneuvered her hips onto hers and kissed her like that.

“Just wait and see, Chloe,” Aubrey said, her mouth still hovering Chloe’s. “It’s your year. It’s all for you. The summer, the sun, the rains and the waves on the beach.”

Chloe laughed at Aubrey’s drunk attempt of poetry until she kissed her again, turning her mind upside down, making her question everything but the taste of her lips.

“All for you,” the blonde whispered, looking intensely into her eyes before making her way down Chloe’s body again. “All for you.”

If that night was the beginning of the wonderful age Aubrey promised her, Chloe couldn’t wait for the rest of it.

Chapter Text

“Dev then said he could jump from the sofa and I said that was a lie because he is very tiny. Then I said he was lying and he said he wasn’t. The I said he was lying again and Zac said too and then he went up the red turtle and the red turtle is very very very tall, more tall than the blue and the yellow turtle. But he went the and did thi-"

Emma fell on her face on the floor of the living room as she attempted to imitate Dev’s jump from the sofa. That’s how a quiet weeknight after dinner ended with blood on Chloe’s mint green rug.

“Oh my God, Emma!” Chloe, who was sitting by the coffee table elaborating a test, ran to the little girl.

“What is it? What happened?” Aubrey appeared by the kitchen arc, in knitwear and sweatpants, barefoot with a dishtowel on her shoulder. Emma’s loud crying bringing her to pause her chore.

Chloe lifted the crying little girl to her lap, cradling her and attempting to look at her face. “She jumped from the couch. I was focused on work I-”

Aubrey kneeled by their side and delicately pushed Emma’s hair out of her face to check the damage.

Emma’s nose was bleeding and her face was flushed from the impact and from crying. Aubrey gently opened her mouth with her fingers to check her teeth but found only a small cut on the inside of her upper lip.

Chloe was holding her daughter and softly whispering sweet words into her head, trying to calm her down. She ran her free hand through her spine, an attempt to soothe the distressed child. She was practically wrapped around Emma, like a shield.

“That’s a lot of blood,” Aubrey noticed. She used the dishtowel to attempt to stop the bleeding, carefully placing it under Emma’s small nose. “Her nose may be broken.”

Chloe cupped her daughter’s face and tried to have a better look herself of the state of the trauma when Emma’s crying was reduced to sobs.

“How much does it hurt, muffin?” Chloe asked Emma with an impossibly warm voice. “Can you breathe with me?”

But Emma, panicking with the mention of pain, started crying again, holding her mother as if her life depended on it.

“She is breathing. That’s good.” Aubrey got up. “I’ll get some ice for that. She will be fi-“

“We are taking her to the ER,” Chloe told her, holding the little girl tight. There was an urgency in her face. “Just to be safe.”

The blonde nodded, knowing well that telling a desperate mom what to do in that situation was not going to end up. She went upstairs and came back with Emma’s security blanket. She found a bag of frozen peas in the refrigerator for Emma's nose and grabbed their coats and shoes, helping Emma put on her tiny slip-on Vans and carried her to the car while Chloe put her own shoes and chased after them, closing the door on her wait out.

Aubrey drove them to the hospital while Chloe held Emma on the backseat with the bag of peas on her nose and the blanket tightly held in her tiny hands.

At some point, Emma had finally stopped crying. “Mommy, it hurts,” she said, her voice sounding nasal.

“I know, muffin.” Chloe kissed her daughter’s head. “But the doctors are going to take care of it, okay?”

Emma nodded but Chloe stopped her so she wouldn’t make her pain worse.

A young doctor attended them on the ER. She had her almond her in a ponytail and a white coat over her baby blue scrubs.

Aubrey turned her nose up at the sight of the petite woman that looked like she was nineteen.

“Good evening. I’m Dr. Headrick. And by the red hair I’m assuming you are…Chloe Beale,” she read from her pink clipboard and shook Chloe’s hand. “What happened to Miss Emma Beale?” She smiled down at Emma, who was sitting very still on the examination bed.

“She jumped from the sofa and fell on her face,” Chloe said. “And her nose started bleeding.”

“And when that happened?” Dr. Headrick asked.

“Um...” Chloe looked at Aubrey, realizing she was lost in time.

“Not long ago. We were about to put her to bed.” Aubrey pointed Emma’s pajama clad body. “Thirty or forty minutes ago,” Aubrey said.

“Alright,” Dr. Headrick said and started the physical exam.

Aubrey watched how the young doctor handled Emma very well, talking to her and easing her worries. She cleaned Emma’s face from the blood and put a pink Band-Aid on the bridge of her nose, right where there was a small carpet burn.

“Her nose is not broken. Children usually require a way more serious injuries to get a broken nose,” she told Chloe and Aubrey. “There’s no concussion and she looks quite read to jump from another couch.” Dr. Headrick laughed but noted how her joke was not well received. “But don’t do it, Emma,” she added, looking to the little girl. “Just to be sure I’m ordering a CT scan to rule out any possible head trauma and I hope to discharge her soon after the result,” she told the adults.

Chloe caressed her daughter’s head. “So, nothing serious?”

The young doctor shook her head. “I presume there isn’t. But I can say for sure after the CT.” She got up. “A nurse will come to take her to the exam. Do you guys have any further questions?”

Aubrey and Chloe exchanged a look and shook their head.

“Thank you, doctor,” Chloe said and the woman walked away.

Aubrey ran a hand through Emma’s hair softly.

The little girl was sleepy given it was past her bedtime.

“Just hold on a little more, muffin,” Chloe said, joining her daughter on the examination bed, cuddling her in. “We are going home soon.”

There was a tiredness in her look that Aubrey knew wasn’t associated with the work she hadn’t finished or the long day she had.

“I’ll grab you a coffee,” Aubrey said, squeezing her girlfriend’s shoulder. She leaned in and kissed Chloe’s lips. “See you soon,” she whispered, making a small smile appear on her girlfriend’s lips.” She leaned down and kissed Emma’s cheek, who was looking better now without the blood. “Take care of mommy, muffin.”

Aubrey found Chloe pacing outside the CT scan room holding onto Emma’s security blank just like her daughter does when she is anxious.

“She’s in,” Chloe told, hugging the blonde.

Aubrey nodded and hugged her back, careful with the paper cup with coffee. “You okay?”

Chloe frowned slightly. “Yeah, sure. I just want to take her home.”

The blonde kissed her temple and handled her the coffee.

They sat together by the row of sits adjacent to the wall and waited. Aubrey looped an arm around Chloe’s shoulder and brought her close, feeling her distance.

“I wasn’t paying attention to her,” Chloe said, finally. She hid her face in her hands. “She was talking to me and I was not paying attention so she jumped and I didn’t see, I could’ve stopped her if I had seen-"

Of course she was blaming herself, Aubrey thought.

“Chlo', stop it,” Aubrey said. She took Chloe’s hands out of her face and held them. “Remember what you tell me all the time. She is a kid. Kids get hurt and most of the time you can’t help it.”

Once, Aubrey was playing hide and seek with Emma and the girl hit the top of her head against the coffee table. She cried, Aubrey  cried, and it took Chloe to make them both stop. Emma ended up with a small bump on her head and Aubrey with a soothing talk from Chloe about how that’s what kids do, they fall, they get hurt – especially the ones as clumsy as Emma - and how it’s part of growing up and exploring the world.

“Yeah but-" Chloe sniffed. “I don’t think I am being a good mom I don’t know what it’s going on. I used to keep an eye in her all times and now it’s- I don’t know, it’s like I allow myself to be distracted? I hate it. And look where we are now, in a fucking hospital. I need to get a grip of myself. It could be something serious she could be really hurt-"

“She is not,” Aubrey said, calmly. She hugged her girlfriend. “She will be fine. This is not your fault. You are the best mom in the world. Be easy on yourself.”

Chloe cried into Aubrey’s shoulder, allowing herself to be soothed, to be hugged, to be comforted. She was so glad she had arms to fall right into.

They left the hospital a few hours later. Bureaucracy was inevitable.

Emma’s CT scan came clear from any serious head trauma and the nosebleed had stopped. By the time Chloe carried her out of the car into their house it was the middle of the night and she was asleep.

Aubrey took her time finishing cleaning the kitchen and organizing the mess of papers Chloe left behind in the living room as they rushed to the hospital. She made a mental note to get the rug clean of Emma’s blood when the day arrived. She turned off the lights and went upstairs.

Chloe was in her bed, watching Emma sleeping peacefully. She didn’t look up as Aubrey entered the room, as if se was in some kind of trance, mesmerized by the sight.

“I couldn’t let her sleep alone,” Chloe explained in a whisper, still watching Emma.

Aubrey nodded in understanding. She laid on Emma’s side, oppose to Chloe. She watched her girlfriend adoring Emma with the gentle touch of her hands, caressing the beginning of her nose, her eyebrows, her hairline. She could see love; she was obsessed with it.

“You say you are distracted,” Aubrey started, in the same whisper Chloe used before. “You want to know why you are distracted?”

Chloe took her eyes off Emma and looked up at her with curiosity.

“Because you know you don’t have to do this alone anymore.” Aubrey rearranged the covers on top of Emma. “You got me now. And you know that.” She maintained her staring on the way the little girl’s eyelids trembled in her sleep. “You know that I’m around now. You know that now there’s two to keep her safe.”

The redhead stared at Aubrey like she was just seeing her for the first time.

She remembers exactly the first time she saw Aubrey; a teenager trying to look like an adult woman in a dorm room. She remembers the moment she knew that whatever she was feeling for her had little to do with friendship; an anxious sophomore with an ice cream chocolate stain on the corner of her lips and a soft voice telling Chloe she thought she was beautiful. And she was sure she would remember forever the moment she knew there was no one else in the world for her; she was a full grown woman in a knitwear stained with her child's blood telling Chloe what it meant to have a partner in life.

“I love you, Aubrey,” Chloe said. “So, so much. Sometimes it feels like I’m going to spend forever trying to say it in the right way.”

“I love you too,” Aubrey said. “And I know how you feel. I feel just the same.”

Chloe leaned, carefully to not disturb her daughter, and kissed her girlfriend. She was glad they had the time to find the right gestures, the right kisses, the right apologies and the right words; forever was on their side.

Chapter Text

"We have a crisis," Chloe said, entering Aubrey's study with her phone in hand. "Emma found her pacifier back."

"Isn't she like, too old for that?" Aubrey asked sitting by her desk, stopping typing something on her laptop.

"She is. Mom still keeps one at her place and she just told me Emma found it," Chloe sighed, dropping herself on the reading nook by the window. "You have no idea how hard it was making her stop using it."

The blonde took time typing two last sentences before getting up and laying herself beside her girlfriend on the nook, snuggling against her, tangling their legs.

It amazed Chloe seeing Aubrey letting her guard down little by little; initiating intimacy, relaxing and allowing herself to be smaller in certain ways, even in little actions like that. One of the few things about her that annoyed Chloe back in their college days was how stiff and slightly cold Aubrey could be sometimes, but as a grown woman the blonde left Chloe with no complaints about the matter.

"Is it that bad that she is back at it?" Aubrey asked, admitting how clueless she was about kids.

"It's just not good," Chloe said, distractedly with the ends of Aubrey's long blond hair. "It can cause dental problems and also interfere on the diction, and well, as sad as it makes me, she is growing up and she is getting too old for a pacifier."

Aubrey had this nostalgic look in her face. "She is growing up too fast."

Chloe grinned at her. "Look at you, already talking like a mom."

The comment apparently took Aubrey by surprise. Chloe felt the body tensing against hers and she had that look of a deer caught in headlights.

Truth be told, Aubrey was a lot better with Emma than Chloe ever thought she would be. She knew it was alright to let Aubrey walk into their lives, it never felt like a risk and, of course, she also knew Aubrey was serious about understanding that dating her meant having Emma in her life too. The thing is, she just didn't expected Aubrey to fully embrace the co-parenting thing so fast. In another words Aubrey filled the second parenting figure in Emma's life with barely any hesitation.

Emma, in the other hand, didn't seem not even slightly taken aback with this change. The little girl adored Aubrey, and in a few occasions, Chloe almost felt jealous of it. It was an adaption for everyone and she soon let go of it, deciding that she could share Emma a little more, it was okay.

"Oh my God, I didn't mean to say it like that," Chloe was fast after her own words. "I mean, it's not like I'm pushing this title on you-"

"It's fine, Chlo'," Aubrey said, softly, laying her hand on her girlfriend’s stomach.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Aubrey said with a smile and a small nod.

Chloe cupped her face. "You are amazing with her, she loves you."

"I don't think she will love me very much when she discovers that I'm making you pancakes by the morning and she is not here." Aubrey smirked.

"Don’t tell me." Chloe laughed. She paused, putting Aubrey’s hair behind her ear and soon after taking it off. "Hey, there's something I need to talk to you about Emma." She paused and checked if she had Aubrey's full attention. "I wasn't going to really talk to you about it, not now at least, but the issue came up and all."

"You're worrying me," Aubrey said, frowning. "You have your serious face on."

Chloe's serious face was rare. It appeared only if someone was being unnecessarily a jerk, being mean to a kid or an animal, or if she was scolding Emma for something.

"Emma said something last week," Chloe started.

"I swear I only gave her one cookie before dinner. Just one. And because she made the puppy eyes," the blonde was fast and apologetic.

"Wait, what?" Chloe asked back, confused.

"Oh, it's not that?" Aubrey gave her a guilty look. "Okay, sorry for interrupting, go on, Chlo'."

"We'll talk about that later." Chloe glared at her. She paused and softened her look. "Emma called you ‘other mommy’.”

Aubrey's heart dropped.

Other mommy? Was she worth this title? There was a huge difference between assuming co-parenting and actually being seen as one by the little girl.

"Wow." Was all she said while her mind was burning with anxiety.

"She was talking to Maria - you know Maria, her new best friend from school since Erica became best friends with Anna and left her." (Not surprisingly, those were not news for Aubrey, Emma makes sure she is keeping up with all that kindergarten drama.) "So, she was telling Maria about her plans for the future, and she said that maybe she wanted to be an dinosaur doctor or maybe a blonde, like her other mommy."

Aubrey didn't know if she was more worried about the fact that the little girl’s future plans or with the whole "other mommy" situation. Okay, she was five, she was allowed to think this kind of things.

“Other day she asked me when was ‘mommy’ coming home. I just tried to act normal and said you would be soon and she let it go. Did she ever called you like that directly?”

The blonde tried to remember. "No, never. That's…" Aubrey started but sighed soon after. "Chloe is that okay?"

"I honestly don't know," Chloe said, rubbing circles with the palm of her hand against Aubrey's jeans, delicately. "I thought that maybe we could figure it out together?"

"Now we do have a crisis, right?" Aubrey laughed nervously. She sighed and said in a very serious tone. "Are you okay with that?"

Chloe thought for a minute. “Well, you take care of her just as much as I do these days and I know you are serious about it.”

Aubrey nodded and looked at Chloe, expectant.

“I think the question is,” Chloe said. “Do you want to?”

Aubrey frowned. “Want to…?”

“To be her mom,” Chloe said.

The blonde rearranged herself on her side to look better at Chloe’s face.

“You don’t have to,” Chloe said, delicately running her hand through her arm. “It’s fine if you don’t want, really. We can talk to her. I understand that sharing tasks with me is one thing, I mean, babysitters do it, and being a parent is something totally different-"

Aubrey nodded vaguely. “I see.” She paused, her silence making Chloe afflict. “Do you want me to be her parent?”

Chloe looked into her eyes. If she had to pick anyone in the world to be a parent for her children, of course it would be the person she was staring at in the moment. She didn’t have to think. “Yes.”

“Would Todd be alright with that?” Aubrey asked.

“I can check with him. But I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. He knows how close you are to her and he knows you love her.”

Aubrey still looked lost in the conflicts in her mind.

Chloe cupped her face, gently lifting her chin up. “Do you want to be her mom?” She hadn’t noticed her heart was beating that fast.

“I do, I really do, I already feel-” Aubrey said, tears falling as she closed her eyes. “I just want to be sure you and Todd are okay with it because-"

“Aubrey- Bree, look at me,” Chloe whipped a single tear away from her cheek. She smiled when the green eyes found hers. “She chose you.”

A teary smile appeared on Aubrey’s face.

“Emma chose you. It doesn’t matter what I or Todd thinks. She chose you. Emma.” She paused. “But I do think you’ll do great.” She kissed Aubrey cheek. “And answering your question: I want you to. I want you to be the mother of my child.”

“Okay,” Aubrey said as a huge smile grew in her face and her tears fell freely. She laughed in a way that made butterflies fly in Chloe’s stomach. “Am I a mom now?”

“I think so.” Chloe smiled and, not being able to resist anymore, leaned and kissed her girlfriend with passion. “Do you feel any different?”

Aubrey whipped her happy tears. “No.” She breathed deep. “If I can be honest I’ve been feeling like that for a while.” She looked down at Chloe’s sweater, as if it was the most important thing in the world. “I love Emma like she is mine,” she said. “I never thought I could.”

Just when Chloe thought she couldn’t love Aubrey more. Like that, the weight forming in her chest since the beginning of their conversation suddenly dissolved into warmness. She kissed Aubrey like it was the first time.

At some point she was draped over Aubrey, kissing her under the moonlight that entered through the window.

"I've been reading about motherhood, I won't lie to you," Aubrey said, breaking their kiss.

"That's so you," Chloe stared down at her, adoringly, supporting her head on her elbow.

Aubrey laughed shaking her head. "I have to be ready, okay? But I was afraid I was getting ahead of myself. I was afraid we had rushed things and all but when I talk to you.” Aubrey looked up to the ceiling. “I just feel like we are doing something right."

Chloe leaned down and gave Aubrey a long kiss. "We are good together, aren't we?"

Aubrey smiled fondly at her girlfriend. Good? She was her better version with Chloe. She was always afraid of not being the best; at her work, as a daughter, as a human being. But when she was with Chloe, all her worries faded out into locks of red hair, sweet kisses and a feeling of lightness that were characteristics of being beside her. She never wanted to be anywhere else.

"I have no words for how happy I am about us," the redhead said. "I was never on the same page with anyone I've ever had a relationship with, I always was too much." A glint of sadness passed through her eyes as she said that, and not standing seeing that, Aubrey pulled her head down and kissed her chastely, making her  close her eyes.

"You are not too much. You are enough. You are everything I've ever needed," Aubrey whispered, her mouth just a few centimeters away from her Chloe’s lips.

Yeah, Chloe nodded with her eyes half-closed. She looked down and tried to memorize the way Aubrey looked under the moonlight.

She was so in love.

It took some time to Aubrey adjust with the idea that Emma was calling her for something other than her own name. Emma didn’t even call her Bree, like Chloe did. It was always Aubrey, perfectly pronounced every time.

A few days after her conversation with Chloe, with the feeling of being so perfectly acquainted with someone still making her mood a little brighter than usual, she dropped by Chloe's place after work. Emma received her with her usual greeting: jumping into her arms and screaming her name. They had dinner and when Aubrey was helping Chloe with the dishes, Emma called from the living room.

"Mommy!"

Chloe put her head through the kitchen arc. "Yes, muffin?"

"No! Not you, the other one!" Emma said, giving Chloe the ‘duh’ look she learned from Beca. "Doc McStuffins is on. You know she loves it."

Aubrey and Chloe exchanged a look.

The blonde seemed about to cry or puke, Chloe wasn’t sure. Maybe both.

“Did she just-“ Aubrey asked.

“Yes,” Chloe said, smiling. “You heard, Doc McStuffins is on, mommy.”

Aubrey dropped the task and ran to the living room. She had the stupidest smile on her face when Chloe checked on them earlier, snuggled on the couch watching the cartoon.

The following weeks, had several of those moments. Chloe and Aubrey decided to just let Emma be comfortable using whatever term she wanted, not pushing her to talk about it or forcing her into a situation of using it if she didn't feel like.

Aubrey felt her heart squeeze in a sweet way every time the little girl left implied that she was the one about who she was using that term.

They all regularly spent a lot of time together. At those moments, in a picnic at the park, in a dinner at Aubrey's parents, in a gathering together with the Bellas, or just at home, playing some board game or watching a movie, it was so easy to feel like they were already doing this for years and years. Something about time wasn't right when Aubrey was with them, it just passed too fast. In moments like those, Aubrey just wanted to pick up her grandmother's ring and run to Chloe's door and beg her to spend the rest of their lives together, just like that.

There were also other moments; when Chloe was stressed out about work, or when they would fight over something, or when Emma would throw a tantrum, or when someone would look judgmentally at them when they went out together, or when things were just not easy, and the world seemed to work against them. In those moments, Aubrey also thought there was something not right, because even then, she still wanted to commit herself into that life; she still wanted all of it.

Not every day was perfect, but Aubrey wanted to end every single one of them knowing she would had the other day to try make it better than the one before.

It was in one of the not perfect days when Emma first called her directly by the new title.

She had a less than satisfactory performance in the split of a business, leaving her client with a slight lost in belongings. She dropped by Chloe's place after work – such a common thing now – and of course Chloe understood her low mood. She understood her silence during dinner, allowing Aubrey's mind to go over about every single thing she could've done differently. After it, she allowed herself to drop by the couch, listening to Chloe finishing drying up the dishes in the kitchen, only mildly paying attention to the cartoon Emma was watching.

"Mommy, why are you sad?" Emma asked, climbing into her lap before she noticed.

Aubrey, the queen of buildings paragraphs of arguments was left speechless by a five-year-old. It was the weirdest feeling in the world.

She had heard Emma say that world uncountable times to Chloe. Yelling it, crying it, sweetly saying it, followed by an ‘I love you. Sometimes Emma said it so much that the word would stop making sense.

But she had never heard like that. She was mommy this time.

Later in life, when asked, Aubrey would always say that was the moment she became officially a mom.

She held the little girl with shaken hands and her mouth opened once, then twice, but no sound came out. Oh God, she could not show she was taken aback by that word, she read that on the internet, she should act normally and let the kid take her time on everything. Kids acted as it felt right for them, on their time. She had to respect it. So yes, she felt like crying out of an emotion she didn't really know until then, but she had to act normally. For Emma.

"I just had a bad day at work, Emma," Aubrey said, moving a strand of red hair behind the little girl's ear.

"When I had a bad day, mommy used to let me have paci. I would let you have it but she doesn’t give me it anymore." The little girl sighed and Aubrey chuckled. Emma continued in a hushed tone. "I found one at grandma's house but mommy can't know about it."

"Thank you, muffin, that's really kind. But I don't think your pacifier would help me."

"Oh." Emma made a sad face. "What can help you?"

Aubrey smiled fondly at Emma. She had not only her mother's red hair and uncountable freckles, she also had her heart in the same place. Somewhere where helping people and being a light in the darkest hours was a priority. Something that made Aubrey love them madly.

"Maybe you could give me some cuddles?" Aubrey proposed with a fake pout.

"Okay!" Emma cheerfully agreed, curling herself into Aubrey's chest, as they settled on the sofa and watched cartoons.

They didn't even realize Chloe watching the scene from the arc of the kitchen, with tears glistening in her eyes and a heart full of love.

Even in the worst days, there was no other place any of them would rather be.

Chapter Text

Life was a messed-up thing, Aubrey thought. It doesn’t matter how much you plan – and boy, Aubrey does plan - and can be frustrating if you are not willing to let it have its way and make its necessary changes.

She was never a lover of changes, that's why she was a planner.

If Aubrey had to tell someone the story of how one of the biggest changes of her life began, she would not struggle to point out that afternoon at that cute coffee shop in which they sold Muppet decorated cupcakes for no special reason at all and had beautiful sketches in frames on their walls.

Beca was sitting on a table by the corner when Aubrey walked into the coffee shop. She looked too tiny. She had ordered Aubrey an iced mint tea and one of their cupcakes, - a Miss Piggy one - and seemed pretty amused with herself when the blonde gave her a surprised thank you - not even Aubrey and her obsession with low sugar diets could deny that the cupcakes were delicious.

The blonde made small talk, asking her friend about Jesse and other things.

"You didn't invite me here to this. You are not the small talk kind of person," Beca said, biting a butter cookie.

The blonde sighed. She took a little velvet box out of her purse and gave it to the brunette.

"Wow, Aubrey," Beca said and let a whistle pass through her lips, analyzing the object inside. "You are a very nice woman, but I don't think we are there yet."

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "It's for Chloe."

"That makes sense." The brunette smirked and took her time appreciating the ring. "It's beautiful, vintage, romantic" she said, touching the diamond. "And looks expensive."

"It was my grandmother's. Do you think Chloe will like it?"

"You could propose to her with a pop ring and she would love it," Beca said like it was obvious, and this made Aubrey feel a little more relaxed. “But yeah, she is going to love it.”

Beca and Aubrey developed a weird friendship through the years. Soon after Barden, they were friendly towards each other until Aubrey flew away to be a lawyer and shut out all the Bellas from her life, not only Chloe. Beca was pissed; she was the one witnessing a very heartbroken Chloe, making rushed decisions in order to forget the blonde and the not so secretly fling they had, but she couldn't really hate Aubrey. She saw some of herself in the blonde and hated to admit that she did understand why Aubrey ran away: loving someone gives them the ability to hurt you.

Beca didn't hate Aubrey, she just thought she was really dumb; Chloe was the safest person to love in the entire Earth.

"Do you think this is right? Proposing?" The lawyer asked, fidgeting with her hands.

"Too many questions today, Posen, calm down." Beca raised an eyebrow and closed the little box.

"I'm freaking out in here, so can you please not be you just for now?"

"Okay, you get five minutes," she agreed, setting the chronometer on her phone and making a show putting it on the table between them.

Aubrey just rolled her eyes – she did it a lot when she was with Beca.

"I don’t get why you are nervous, you guys are practically married," she said, returning to the question.

"Not really. We live in separate houses and-"

"And that's it. The rest of the items of the married list you guys already checked. Holidays together? Check. Sharing responsibilities? Check. Singing Endless Love on karaoke nights? Check. Being lame? Check."

"In any other circumstance, I'd already had proposed. But things are different. We're older and there's Emma-"

"Having a child? Check. Emma literally calls you mom," Beca said. "I know, proposing will make everything more serious and real, but don't you feel like that's what you want? Isn't that the future life you see? Aren't you sure of that?"

"Yes." More than anything.

"Then you are fucking stupid for even talking to me."

Aubrey glared at her friend. Why in the hell she kept her around? Why in the hell she was the one to whom Aubrey came to ask advice? Why in the hell her words had to make sense?

"When are you proposing then? Show me your schedule. Please do it soon, Amy got a yacht to Stacey's engagement party, I'm sure she could arrange it again. Just don't ask me how," Beca said with a serious face.

"I'm sorry but it will take some time," Aubrey apologized. "I need to plan."

"If it's taking so long for you to do it, why did you bring me here? I mean, I know these cupcakes are the shit, but I don't think it's just that."

Aubrey blushed a little before answering. "I needed your blessing. You're her best friend. You were here all this time. It just felt like I should ask you before you move to-"

"I got it," Beca nodded.

Maybe that was the reason Aubrey and Beca became close friends. Uncountable times Chloe told them they were so alike and that that was the reason of their previous conflicts. So, if Aubrey had so much to thank Beca for looking out for Chloe all those years and for not being a bitch to her when she came back, Beca knew it already and didn't really need to make Aubrey go through the process of putting it in words.

Aubrey gave her a thankful look.

"Oh, and Aubrey, don't even try to make me your maid of honor, I'm already Chloe's," Beca said while chewing a cookie and making Aubrey want to scold her for it.

"With your height, you'll fit better with the flower girls." The blonde rolled her eyes and checked Beca's phone. "The five minutes are already over? I want to ask for more of them. Not that they made a huge difference, you were still being a pain in the ass."

"Aubrey, just say it, you're going to miss me," Beca said, with a dorky grin on her face.

"Absolutely not," Aubrey lied. "I'll be relieved."

A few months ago, Beca flew to LA for a job interview. Her actual job at a local record label was full of self-absorbed jerks who never paid attention to her or her talent, making her incredibly frustrated and stuck as some kind of assistant, since they never acknowledge her effort and never really gave her space to grow professionally. In this job in LA, she would work with the very best, what she has been dreaming for years. Poor girl went there with low expectations, telling everyone it was "just a job interview that would break her cold little heart". (Aubrey disagreed with her and not only because it was her favorite thing to do, but also because 1) Beca's talent was noticeable and she thought her friend really had a chance, and 2) she thought Beca had a warm medium-sized heart.)

Last week, Beca had received a call; she had got the job and the Bellas celebrated it with a karaoke night by a bar nearby Aubrey's office that she had no idea that existed.

In Aubrey's opinion, the world would be a better place if more people could listen to Beca's music. Chloe agreed, but it didn't stop her from crying on Aubrey's shoulder because she would be apart from her best friend.

"We are getting too grownup, that's scary." Beca said with distant look. "I'm moving to LA, you're getting married-"

"Not yet, she still has to say yes-"

"She doesn’t know how to say no to you." She brunette said. "Just like Jesse does not say no to me and now he will follow me to LA. That loser."

Aubrey gave her a lopsided grin. "Love is a weird thing, right?"

Beca returned the same grin. "The weirdest."

That conversation with Beca lead Aubrey to a state of mind in which she was slowly admitting - to herself only – that she was feeling something like sadness for Beca's departing. Chloe was definitely rubbing off on her, and actually liking Beca was a heavy sign of that.

"You are acting weird," Chloe said, entering the bathroom.

"No, I'm not," Aubrey said, not taking her eyes off from her task.

Shampooing Emma's hair was a tricky work, you had to be careful, for a lot of reasons, not making the knots on her hair worse and not letting the foam fall into her eyes were just some of them.

Chloe frowned, leaning on the door frame. "You are humming that sad song from the Wicked finale."

"I am not," the blonde retorted, from her place sitting on a little stool beside the tub.

Chloe almost got distracted with the domesticity of the vision. Aubrey barefoot in a dark blue pencil skirt, that matched her jacket suit that was hanging by one of the kitchen's chair, and white linen shirt with three unbuttoned buttons and pulled up sleeves, carefully bathing Emma. Mom Aubrey was the newest version of Aubrey and she was falling in love all over again.

"But you are being weird," Emma said, distractingly, playing with a rubber frog.

"Et tu Brutus?" Aubrey pretended to be hurt, putting a stray rubber toy back in the tub.

Emma gave Chloe a confused look.

Chloe laughed and approached them, sitting by the border of the tub.

Aubrey noticed the tired look on her face. "Are you okay?" She asked her girlfriend, finishing the bath and wrapping Emma in her panda bathrobe.

"Yeah," Chloe said, rubbing her eyes. "Work is just killing me."

"Mommy is dying!" Emma shrieked and ran to hug Chloe.

Chloe laughed, picking her daughter up and making her way to Emma's bedroom to get the girl dressed up in her PJs for the night. Aubrey waited behind, emptying the tub and collecting the rubber toys into the little basket they were kept in.

It was not the first time Chloe seemed less than enthusiastic about her work. Of course, everyone had bad days, even loving being a corporate lawyer, not every day was a picture of the job she dreamed about having for so long. What concerned Aubrey was that Chloe's bad days were so often that she couldn't remember the last time Chloe ranted about her students or some project she was thinking of working with them.

She watched from the doorframe as Chloe tucked Emma in.

“What are we reading tonight?” Chloe asked, fumbling through the small pile of books on Emma’s nightstand.

“Paddington! But I want mama to read it to me,” Emma said slowly. “You slept before me.”

(To avoid the usual “is she talking to me or to you?”, Chloe and Aubrey offered Emma new options to call her new mom by, and she settled by mama. It’s been a few months since she started using it but every time the word left her lips, Aubrey felt her heart grow an inch.)

Emma comment made Aubrey reconsider Chloe’s level of tiredness. Story time was sacred, if she couldn’t stay up for it, something was definitely off.

“I can’t even argue with that,” Chloe said with a laugh. She leaned in and gave her daughter a eskimo kiss. “Mommy loves you.”

“Muffin loves you,” Emma said back.

Aubrey entered the room and picked up A Bear Called Paddington.

“See you soon,” Chloe said, kissing Aubrey’s shoulder as she passed by her and leaving the bedroom.

Aubrey settled on Emma’s bed, opening an arm and cracking the book open as the little girl got comfortable against her side. “So, in what part did mommy fall asleep yesterday?”

As she lied down by Chloe’s side that night, Aubrey kindly questioned Chloe again about her mood.

"I have a lot of my mind right now," Chloe said, laying on her side, facing Aubrey. One of her hands was under her pillow and the other one was distracting tracing Aubrey's collarbone, peaking out the collar of the pajama shit. "Beca is leaving, work is...work." She sighed. "I mean, I know I work with thirty hormonal bombs disguised as teenagers, stress is what I signed up for." She chuckled, humorless. "I just didn't think I would be doing this for that long. It's been six years."

"That's a lot of teenage drama," Aubrey murmured with a grin.

"You have no idea." Chloe rolled her eyes. "I love my kids but…" She trailed off. "That is so not what I really wanted to do. It’s not the reason I’m a biology major." Her hand curled up against Aubrey's exposed skin and automatically the blonde's hand came up to hold it. "I was supposed to be a professor, or a vet, I don’t know.”

Aubrey squeezed her hand. She remembers those nights, when they would lay side by side on one of their dorm beds and talk about the future. Chloe mocked Aubrey, saying she was going to become a boring lawyer. Aubrey mocked Chloe, saying she was going to be Dr. Dolittle.

"I don't wanna sound ungrateful, things worked out well and I'm so lucky that I'm managing having a job, raising Emma and everything," Chloe added in a beat.

Aubrey kissed her knuckles so softly that brought Chloe's eyelids to drop and, like that, a single tear escaped.

"But sometimes I wonder how things would be if the past had been different," Chloe said in a low voice, with her eyes wandering past Aubrey.

Aubrey just wanted to kiss her pain away. Clear her doubts and fears and assure Chloe that she was wonderful just the way she was. Make all the promises she thought didn't make sense to make to anyone until the day she touched Chloe for the first time. She wanted to make Chloe feel that settling, comforting feeling, that the redhead always managed to make her feel when the situation was the inverse. But she just laid there feeling that somehow her love was irradiating from her touch and that Chloe could feel if burning against her skin.

"I can't change it, - I know - I don't think I would if I could, anyway." Chloe decided. "Emma is everything, she makes all of this worth."

Aubrey smiled softly at Chloe. She felt unworthy of, but she was beginning to understand what Chloe meant with that phrase. Emma really was worth so much, and it was absolutely insane, because she was so tiny, and so young, and it was still an enigma to Aubrey how parental love happened at all. She just knew that she felt in it a way that made her bones hurt.

"You have a future, though," Aubrey said, quietly.

Chloe smiled a little. "Yes. With you." Her smile grew wider and Aubrey, not controlling herself anymore, kissed her hard.

There were times in which self-control the trait Aubrey would proudly brag about having. Now, she doesn't feel like it belongs to her anymore – at least not when Chloe is around.

"I feel guilty because I kind of felt jealous that Beca is finally doing her thing." Chloe mumbled. "I'm a terrible best friend for this, God. Is it that bad that I wanted that for me? I feel so frustrated. That's not me, I'm now some jealous bitch, I want my loved ones to prosper, I wish them the best. I'm so ashamed," Chloe ranted out, hiding her face in her hands.

"Oh, please, Chlo', stop." Aubrey asked, gently prodding Chloe’s hands out of her face. "It's okay to feel like that, it's normal. We all know you wish her the best. Beca knows that, I'm sure she does. She would never hate you for the you are feeling in the way you are hating yourself." She sighed and then took a softer voice tone. "It's not a crime to want the best for you too sometimes."

Chloe finally seemed to really listen to her. Something in her face changed and the miserable expression she had before vanished, being replaced for something that was just indescribable for Aubrey; it was so Chloe, it was like watching a new sun rise. Hope was in there, mixed with a glint of bittersweetness.

Aubrey could not look away, not even if she wanted to.

"I have the best for me. You are the best for me." Chloe smiled to her girlfriend and shifted closer to her.

Aubrey felt drunk with the smell of Chloe's shampoo and held her a little tighter. She hoped Chloe knew that she also felt like she was the best for her too.

"What comes after a biology bachelor degree anyway?" Aubrey said after some time in silence, as she felt Chloe's arms wrap around her neck. “Masters?” She asked, nudging Chloe into her positive dreamy mood.

"Yeah, I’d get some education." Chloe nuzzled her nose against Aubrey's neck, her voice sounding sleepy. "Maybe vet school. Then I’d find a place to work at. Maybe treat domestics pets. Maybe move to the country and work with farm animals. Definitely not med school, I would get too involved with the patients. Or maybe get my masters and become an university teacher – I like teaching. One of those who are really cool, you know."

Aubrey laughed. "Sounds like a plan. I like plans." She said, running a hand through Chloe's hair then down her back, again and again.

"You love plans," Chloe stated. "Now plan to fall asleep, please, we both have work tomorrow."

And in a few minutes, Chloe was snoring lightly against Aubrey's chest, unaware that her girlfriend was still very awake with a frown on her face.

Their pillowtalk unsettled Aubrey.

She loved, was over the moon, with the fact that Chloe couldn't imagine a future without her in it because it was exactly how she felt. There was no future for Aubrey Posen without Chloe Beale's shenanigans and those laugh lines on the corner of her eyes.

The unsettling came from the way Chloe was clearly avoiding her other dreams and plans.

What was Chloe waiting for? Didn't she know Aubrey was there with full and absolute support to whatever she decided?

Then it hit Aubrey like a train wreck. Of course, she didn't know, that engagement ring hadn't left her nightstand yet. Beca was right. Aubrey already felt married to Chloe even if the things weren't yet explicit.

She wanted Chloe to achieve all of that. Every single one of her dreams, every single wish of her heart. She wanted to be the one to go through all the mess in order to see Chloe achieve her goals. How could she tell Chloe that? And make Chloe feel like it's not for a favor, it's not for duty, it's not as a burden, that Aubrey would do it for her?

She could propose, yes. They had gone a long way through losing, finding each other again, stablishing themselves, learning to cope with their differences, and working on the obstacles on their way; Aubrey wouldn't change it for the world. She had her grandmother's engagement ring and every time she looked at Chloe she only got surer where she wanted it to settle. And yet, proposing didn't really seem like the solution.

There was one thing Chloe was right about later night, though.

Aubrey loved plans.

Aubrey spent Monday morning emailing departments of veterinary schools and masters programs for biology majors in all cities her father’s firm had branches. She was very pleased with the Excel spreadsheet she put together with all the information she needed. She downloaded PDFs with pamphlets from several institutions, altogether with reviews about their programs. She made sure all the information she got was as reliable as you can get on the internet and put it all in a folder in her work computer named "Chloe". She still had to think of a proper name for her mission.

"If you are calling me to invite me to buy me dinner I'm in, otherwise, I'm too busy with…um…taking my dog to a walk," Beca said as she answered her phone, later that day.

"You don't have a dog." Aubrey rolled her eyes.

"You know nothing about me." Aubrey heard a human barking on the background.

"I know that's Amy barking, I swear I can hear the Australian accent," Aubrey said, slightly annoyed.

"Okay, you got me, Posen." Beca gave in. "So, how can I help you?"

They settled a meeting at a cozy diner nearby Beca's place with Amy tagging along for later that afternoon.

Aubrey printed out a Word document with the basic of her plan and slipped in her bag; she was a professional woman, even if it was just for Beca and Amy, whom couldn't possibly care less if Aubrey decided instead to write down her plan with crayons.

"Damn, woman, you don't play," Beca exclaimed, examining the sheet in her hands.

"The plan is: I take this to Chloe and show her that I have her back, one hundred per cent, in whatever she decides to do," Aubrey stated, proudly.

"You would be a great serial killer," Amy said, not taking her eyes off the detailed search Aubrey printed out. "Look, addresses and everything. I don’t even know my own address. "

Aubrey just ignored the comment and went on explaining her plan. "I'm sure it wouldn't be a lot of problem for Chloe to get accepted in one of those schools. She got accepted once."

"You're such a supportive wife," Amy said, seeming genuinely touched.

"Chloe is not my wife," Aubrey replied, annoyed.

"Yet," Beca said, chewing on her fries. Could she not eat and speak at the same time?

"Someday hopefully she will be but now I'm just her girlfriend and we are okay with this. I'm waiting for the right time to propose," Aubrey said more to herself then to her moron friends.

"My wife, my wife, my wife, my wife, my wife, my wife, my wife, my wife, my wife, my wife," Amy kept repeating staring at Aubrey.

"What are you doing, Amy?" Aubrey asked, a little concerned about pinpointing when that conversation became a mess.

"I'm trying to get into your mind," Amy answered, like it was obvious.

Aubrey stared at her friend with an perplex look. “I don’t want you to get into my mind that’s very invasive-"

"Okay, okay, just leave her alone, Amy," Beca reasoned. "She probably has this huge plan about proposing. Something with fireworks or an acapella performance under the moonlight, right, Bree?"

"Don't call me Bree, only Chloe calls me Bree," Aubrey sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Being your wife really has its privileges," Amy said.

Aubrey limited herself to rolling her eyes.

Maybe Beca felt that they had gone too far in their favorite activity, annoying Aubrey until her pout appeared, so she just went back to the matter that brought them together that afternoon.

"Look, Aubrey, I'm sure Chloe will appreciate your support, she has been wanting to do it for so long. It was something impossible to think of a few years ago when she was on her own with Emma, but things changed, right? I'm sure you can talk it out and make a decision together. Even if she changed her mind about it and just decides to do something else." She motioned to the sheets over their table. "This is a proof that you are with her, for real. It's a very wifey move of you, I must say. I'm proud." She smirked playfully at the end and it kept Aubrey from giving her a glare.

The blonde mouthed a thank you, and gave her friends a small smile.

She was going to miss Beca terribly, Aubrey thought incredulously.

"So, why are you hesitating about proposing? Is it because Chloe is a ginger? I totally get it." Amy asked, breaking their little moment.

Aubrey was not hesitating about proposing, she was not double thinking the thing. She was not even thinking about making a list of pros and cons, like she usually did about everything in her life. Chloe was so special that no doubts were heaving her against doing it.

But Aubrey was a woman that not just appreciated a well-thought action; she functioned through them.

She sat with Chloe in her kitchen the next night with her printed sheets of information. Emma was out with Beca, that promised to get into the mall's ball pool with her because - not so surprisingly - she was the only adult she knew who could get in because of her height. Like that, she and Chloe had the space, peace and time to have that conversation. Aubrey had a confident smile on her face, trying to mask the fact that inside, she was nervous; the 'I hope Chloe doesn't think I'm trying to dictate her life' kind of nervous.

"I love it, Aubrey," Chloe said with a condescending smile, reaching to take Aubrey's hand.

Aubrey felt her stomach drop, something was not going well. She didn't even know exactly what she was expecting Chloe to say but somehow the answer she got after she laid down her research made her dizzy.

"But let's be realistic, it's impossible," Chloe stated.

Aubrey gave her a puzzled look. No, it wasn't. It's only impossible if you never try, and then if you don't succeed for sure is impossible because you are not good enough, her father always said. (Luckily, she learned to block entirely the second part of the phrase.)

"The chances of me getting a spot in one of those colleges are the lowest, I'm older than most applicants and out of school for years now. And paying for those tuitions are not a possibility, not with my salary. The salary that I would not have anymore because I would have to move to be a full time student. And, even if I did that, I still have a kid to raise.” Chloe sighed. “Bree, baby, I appreciate the time you took on this so much, I know your heart was in the right place. I love you for that so much. But it is not for me, it's impossible." Chloe squeezed her girlfriends hand, softly.

Aubrey frowned. Chloe had a point of course, but she totally missed Aubrey's own point.

"What about me?" She blurted out.

"You?" Chloe asked, confused.

"Yes, me. Where am I while you are hypothetically getting your education?"

"Um, here?" Chloe gave her the look that this was the only obvious answer. "Working with your father? Because that's what you have been planning since you were in diapers? I mean, I wouldn't want to break up with you or something like that, but we could try the long-distance thing, if that would be okay with you. Luckily, that's all hypothetical since I'm not-"

Aubrey shook her head vigorously, a smile spreading slowly on her face as she watched Chloe's rambling.

"Oh, Chloe, you didn't get it," the blonde said, squeezing both of Chloe's hands. "I'm on your equation, okay? Wherever you are, I'm there with you. If you are here, I'm here. I'm by your side."

It was Chloe's time to have a frown on her face.

"I'm not sending you away from Atlanta. I'm telling you that if you want to go do it, I have your back," Aubrey clarified. "I can work almost anywhere. I'm not badly paid, I have savings and I own this house, I could sell it. Financially, we wouldn't have problems. Of course, you'd be busy with school and I wouldn't expect you to take care of Emma on your own and that's okay, because we would work it out, we would make it out work. Put me on your plans, we can make them possible, together, Chlo'."

Chloe just stared at her, speechless. She was in a place between not believing someone would go all that distance for her and thanking God for her amazing girlfriend. Words were so difficult to form and all she could manage was to open her mouth only to close it again without nothing to say.

Aubrey was looking at her with an expectant look, her hands in Chloe's, finger intertwined.

"Would you really do it? All of that? For me?" Chloe managed to ask, with a tremble voice and misty eyes.

Aubrey's eyes couldn't leave Chloe's, she was so deep into the blue color that she probably didn't noticed the words slipping out of her tongue. "Of course. You're my wife, I'd-" She stopped suddenly, and her jaw dropped. "Oh my God, Amy did get into my mind. Damn it." She shook her head and looked at Chloe, who had an amused smile on her face. "I didn't mean to say it. Of course, I want you to be my wife but Amy got into my head, she kept repeating it and Beca didn't helped me at all, it was awful, those two together are insufferable and-"

Aubrey rambling was rare. It only happened if she was too nervous or if she was absolutely out of her mind. Chloe figured out that at that moment, it was a little bit of both.

"You want me to be your wife?" The redhead interrupted, even if Aubrey shooting forty words per second was cute.

The blonde opened her mouth to say something, but in the last second she seemed to decide against. She held a finger up to Chloe, asking her to wait, and ran upstairs leaving a clueless Chloe in her living room.

Aubrey's place was nice and neat, with matching furniture and light gray walls, very differently from her own place; and that was the only distracting thought Chloe found to grip on to while she torturously waited for Aubrey to come back.

Her girlfriend stumbled back into her living room, sitting beside Chloe, and assuming a very serious expression.

"You are right, I love plans." It was all she said before falling silent. Chloe didn't say a thing, everything, from about Aubrey's posture to the way her knuckles went white as her hands clasped together, was telling her to just stay quiet. "I planned to find you a few years ago and it was for sure my best decision. I knocked on your door that day and I had no idea if you'd want to see me again, if you'd ever want me back. I plan our dates in my head every single time. I plan everything, Chloe. I was going to plan this too, but I'm giving myself a chance." She took Chloe's hands in hers and the redhead realized exactly what was happening, she just expected to not be wrong. "I do want you to be my wife. I didn't decide it now, I decided so long ago that I honestly don't remember a time when I didn't want it. I want to build the rest of my life around you. I want to wake up by your side every single day, I want to share a home with you, I want to support your dreams, I want to make you dinner and listen about your day, I want to fall asleep with my arms around you, I want to throw stupid dinner parties to our friends, I want to be there when Emma goes to college and cry with you because we miss her. I want to take you to see the world and live a happy, married, boring life in between. I want us to be a family, I want to grow old with you." She took a deep breath. "I want to call you my wife."

By Aubrey's last phrase, Chloe was tearing up in front of her. Her laugh lines were visible like never before, because her smile was splattered all over her face.

Aubrey palped her back pocket without tearing her gaze from Chloe's face and picked up the little velvet box, feeling it burning in her hands with anticipation. Chloe's look fell into Aubrey's hand and a laugh bubbled out amidst her tears as the blonde opened the blonde to reveal the ring. When she brought her eyes up to her girlfriend's face, she found tears running through her cheeks and her lips shut tight, preventing them from quivering.

Chloe cupped her hands around her cheeks and wiped the tears away with her thumb, a small gesture that reminded her that even in her bravest moments, Aubrey was still only human, that made mistakes and needed guidance, support, love and care. That was the thought that made her open her mouth.

"Bree, baby," Chloe started saying, trying hard to make her words comprehensible between her huge smile and her happy tears. "You have to ask." She chuckled softly.

This seemed to snap Aubrey out of her frozenness. She smiled to the woman and slipped from the couch to the ground, setting herself onto one knee in front of her girlfriend, hoping that soon she would be able to call her something else.

"Chloe Beale, will you marry me?"

Aubrey was a convincing woman. People did say yes to her. She didn't just walk into a room, she instantly owned it. She persuaded highly educated men into signing contacts that would make them less rich. She was used to be agreed with, to lead, to be right, to hear "yes". But there was no positive answer she had ever received in her entire life that matched what she was about to hear.

"Yes." Chloe shrieked. "Yes. Yes. Yes."

It was all she said, and Aubrey didn't even have the time to do anything else before Chloe's lips were on hers, her hands slipping through her blonde hair, kissing her hard and pushing her up to stand. Chloe heard the velvet box fall on the ground and none of them cared. Aubrey's arms enveloped her body and swept her out of the floor, spinning them, making Chloe's head dizzy for more than one reason. They reluctantly broke the kiss and Chloe kept bringing Aubrey's face to hers and pecking her lips repeatedly. She almost whined when Aubrey let go from her to look for the lost velvet box.

She got up back with the ring and approached Chloe again, resting their foreheads together. "It was my grandmother's," Aubrey said, still breathing heavily from their kiss. She carefully slipped it onto Chloe's finger, kissing her hand when it settled on its place.

"It's beautiful," Chloe said, looking down at her left hand.

"Yeah, it is," Aubrey agreed, but her eyes hadn't left Chloe's face.

Chloe looked up to find Aubrey's green eyes and realized that she had an entire life of having those eyes as the first thing she was going to see in the morning. She felt a shiver running down her entire body with the thought and threw herself back into Aubrey's arms.

"I love you so much, Bree," Chloe said, closing her eyes as their foreheads touched again. She felt Aubrey kiss her lips lightly and longer before letting her mouth rest against her cheek. “I can’t believe how lucky I am,” she whispered, only to Aubrey’s ears. “You are my dream, Aubrey Posen.”

Aubrey kissed her again, never so softly before.

It was refreshing to forget about the plan for a while.

Chapter Text

A window of time was open the day that ring settled on Chloe's finger.

The Bellas celebrated their engagement with a dinner party at Stacie's backyard. Unfortunately, the owner of the yacht Amy got for them the last time was back in town and looking for the responsible for purple slime stain on the deck that until that day hadn't gone off yet. They knew it was their fault, but they were so wasted they couldn't possibly remember how they did that. So, dinner at Stacie's it was, but it wasn't just a dinner anymore since it got prolonged until the first hours of the morning and Beca passed out nearby the dog's house, after crying over how it was unhuman to someone live in that tiny space. Amy did try to put her sleepy body inside it, saying it would be a great story if she woke up in the morning in there, but Aubrey stopped her, and Beca woke up instead on Chloe's couch.

Aubrey made them her famous pancakes in the morning and Emma insisted on guiding Beca through the art of eating them, offering her whipped cream and chocolate syrup to put on top of hers. A picture of a very hangovered Beca having breakfast with the tiny redhead by her side appeared on the Bella's groupchat that day and no one could really get over how Beca Mitchell, the newest and hottest addition to Litigator Records, looked too biased with her brunch date.

Sadly, time is not gentle if you are holding too tight on to it.

Soon Beca and Jesse were on their way to LA. It was a sad day and Atlanta's skies were grey – Chloe thought it was some kind of joke. Aubrey held Emma while Chloe and Beca exchanged teary farewells, looking like a couple in which someone was going to war and probably dying in there. Jesse, watching the scene beside the blonde, had the same look Aubrey had on her face – there's some bonds that are not meant to be understood by anyone else. Amy was missing since Beca's send away party, two days ago, but appeared on the last minute, making all three of them cry even more. She held Beca like a teddy bear and you couldn't even hear the brunette complaining this time.

Watching Beca go brought a bittersweet feeling to Aubrey. She already could picture the nostalgic feeling she would feel remembering the old life they used to have there.

The months passed as if they belonged someone else's story, as if they were filling the gap between two worlds.

Atlanta was becoming less and less home. Their minds were not really there anymore and they held onto each other for love and support.

(One: lingering, chaste, goodnight kisses before they got into bed.

Two: Aubrey with Emma onto her hip, holding her with her eyes closed with Emma hugging her back, pressing her face against the blonde's neck.

Three: Chloe cuddling Emma before bedtime, finally reading her bedtime stories without collapsing with tiredness.)

Chloe gave up of vet school, deciding it wasn’t for her anymore. Instead, she applied for several institutions, looking for the best way to get herself a masters degree in biology. She ended up screaming like a toddler as she received the news she got accepted into NYU’s program. She quit her job with sore goodbyes to her beloved students. They were moving to New York before her classes began, in September, and Emma had questions.

"Do you think Gisele could come and babysit me sometimes when we're there?" Emma asked when she heard the news. And then Chloe would take time explaining that no, that wouldn't happen, but that when they would visit Atlanta they would find a way for her to see the girl.

"Do you think daddy knows how to go to New York?" She asked once when they were cleaning the house and giving away whatever they wouldn’t take with them to New York. Chloe then Facetimed Todd, and they assured her about how nothing would really change, and he would still know how to find them.

"I hope they have pizza in there. Do they, mama?" She asked as they ate pizza on Aubrey’s bare living room, just a week before the moving. Aubrey then took her time showing Emma on the Google Maps all the pizza places they could go to.

"Can I have a dog when we get there?" Emma asked as they said goodbye to Aubrey in the beginning of July because she was about to drive the thirteen hours from Atlanta to New York on her own, carrying all their things on a U-haul rented truck and coming back in a couple of days in a flight straight to get married. Chloe and Aubrey exchanged a concerned look. They answered a maybe in unison. At least, she apparently had forgotten the first thing she asked after knowing that they were getting married. (“Cool, can you guys give me a little sister now?). A dog was easier to get. They would have to talk about it. A lot.

They got married four days after that. Aubrey came back in a flight from New York straight to drive the three hours to her parents lake house in the country. It was 4th July and the Posens, the Beales, and the Bellas were there. Family only. They wore summer dresses in complimenting nude colors and Emma was the ring bearer.

Time seemed to stop for a few seconds, when Chloe slipped a wedding band into Aubrey's finger.  Chloe’s red hair was down, and she had a flower crown on her head, her flowy dress moving with the wind. Maybe time didn't stop, maybe being biased just made people see things in slow motion, Aubrey reasoned.

Aubrey recited her vows in a voice tone that made obvious that she was on the blink of tears; during hers, Chloe allowed her tears to strain her cheeks. They took so many pictures that would put awards shows photographers to shame. Beca almost cried during her maid of honor speech and Aubrey almost cracked up a laugh, but shut her lips together when Chloe elbowed her side. After all, they danced the night away like they were twenty-one again and Chloe kissed her wife passionately when Just the Way You Are came on; she thought was amusing that she was also kissing the same girl she used to kiss when she was twenty-one.

Aubrey had been promoted as partner a few months before her transfer and her father was counting on her to "set order into those preeschoolers" - his words - rulling his New York branch. He, stilll amazed with the timing of their moving, recommended her to start working in there as soon as possible, "before they turn the good Posen name into camel poop", - also his words.

This hurried them a little bit during the moving, and that’s how they found themselves living in a small, two-bedroom apartment in Noho for the first year they were living in New York. They barely bothered themselves with unpacking, fishing only what they really needed out of the boxes and eating a lot of take out.

Aubrey was bothered with the mess, of course, but she if she learned something about the last years of her life, was to welcome the unpredicted. She never imagined that this was how she was going to have a family of her own, but hey, just look at her looking for a Princess Poppy doll in one of the boxes with Emma's toys.

The rent was stupidly expensive for such a small and terribly divided place, but it was provisory, they told themselves.

It didn't take too long for them to get settled to a routine living in New York. They would wake up by the morning and have breakfast. Their place was close to NYU, so Chloe would drop Emma at school in the morning and go to her classes, while Aubrey would take the opposite way and go to her office. Sometimes she would pick Emma up at the after school program at five, in other times Aubrey would do it so Chloe could have some extra study time at the library.

Chloe was always busy with school and her family. She would get home late night, hungry, tired and still would make some time to Emma and Aubrey. She knew it would be that hard, but it was exactly what she had signed up for.

Taking care of her hair was the last thing in her mind, so Chloe cut her hair short, above her shoulders. It was easier to take care of her crazy red waves in that way. And - not meaning to say in a such dramatic way, but it was exactly what happened - Aubrey almost lost her breath. Chloe liked her new haircut, but there was someone who liked it more.

“I don’t know. It’s just so sexy. And cute. And curly. And sexy,” Aubrey said when Chloe came back from the hairstylist, her hands cupping her wife’s face.

“You said sexy twice.” Chloe laughed.

Aubrey smirked. “And I am about to say thrice,” she said, before kissing Chloe.

By the way her hands kept running, gripping and tangling into her hair as they kissed, Chloe knew her wife was obsessed.

Sometimes, she feared that she would lose Aubrey to her hard choices. Their weekdays were insanely busy and Chloe worried that they would grow apart.

What kind of person can bear being married to someone who barely has any time for them at all? What kind of person goes through life assuming responsibilities of a child like they are their own and has no complains at all? What kind of person does what Aubrey had done for her, moving into the big city and living this crazy busy life?

She kissed Aubrey tenderly and lingering every morning before leaving their apartment, trying to somehow say how thankful she was for her existence, how happy she was being married to her, how she learned to love her more and more every single day. The warm smile and the "see you soon, love" that the blonde would give her when she tore their lips apart, told her that Aubrey knew exactly what she was failing to say with words.

Everyday she would drop Emma by her school with a forehead kiss, and then run to not get late for her classes. And like that, her day would be filled with so much information and learning, that sometimes she wondered if she could really keep up with the other students, whom were younger and less worried about having an adult life. But she kept going, she owned that to all the faith her family had in her. And, somehow, she felt like she was going somewhere.

Her doubts and worries about keeping her family together would not vanish, but at least give her a break, when she would walk into their apartment at the end of the day, to find Aubrey between the task of cooking dinner and making sure Emma practiced her reading. Or the nights in which she would lost track of time studying in the library and get home so late, that the lights would be off, and she knew her dinner would be in the fridge. She would make her way to the bedroom she shared with Aubrey, to find her wife sleeping as peacefully as she could while still having a six-year-old sprawled on top of her, an open children's book by the nightstand and the security blanket on the floor. In those nights, she would wordlessly join them, scooting closer and only falling asleep after Aubrey's hand found her own.

There was no such a thing as a perfect marriage or family, but Aubrey and Chloe figured out they could live with that. Not everyday was their best, not every kiss was like the first one, and not every time they liked each other very much. The key to success was that everyday they wanted to make the best, every kiss they felt like the first one, and when they didn't like each other, they made sure they loved each other to the moon and back.

And hell, they loved each other. Their love shined brightly between New York City's lights. It was almost blinding.

After a year of house hunting in stolen Sundays, they found a three-bedroom-apartment in Park Avenue. It was spacious, safe and had a great public primary school just a couple of blocks away. They were about to sign a two-year-lease contract when the owner changed its mind, putting it out for sale instead of rent.

“It’s not that bad,” Chloe said to Aubrey about their ratty Noho apartment that night in their bed, with Emma sleeping soundly tucked between them because she was scared to death of their neighbor and wouldn't sleep alone in her bedroom. “We can stay here a little more.”

But Aubrey was settled on the idea that their place was at that apartment. She was enchanted the moment she put her foot in there, charmed by the large living room and the reading nook she was going to set by its window. She could picture herself kissing Chloe good morning by the kitchen as they rushed into their routines. She knew it was a safe, the right block for Emma to grow up and acquire independency little by little. She would never forget the way her wife looked at her, with the wonderstruck smile she had fallen in love with so many years ago, when they left the place and said:

“I think we found our home.”

So, she wouldn’t let go. That was going to be their home, she had decided.

The only way they were able to buy the place was because of Anthony Posen. He arranged to sell Aubrey’s house back in Atlanta for a price a little over its real worth and, as a late wedding gift, he passed his daughter a payment check with a value that made Chloe wonder if she really knew a thing about Aubrey’s parents financial situation. They ended up with a relatively low mortgage to pay for a relatively short time.

They moved in as soon as the keys were in their hands.

A very relieved Emma grabbed her security blanket on her way out of their old apartment and buried her face in Chloe's neck, making sure she wouldn't see their neighbor if they crossed paths. She wasn’t the only one relieved by the move.

Aubrey approached Chloe the night of the day they moved in, when she was staring out their living room window after they finished dinner – take out from a Chinese place nearby that seemed decently clean.

She had a glass of wine in one hand and Aubrey took a picture of her with her phone before she noticed. Chloe had a tired look in her eyes, but Aubrey noticed that she couldn't keep the beam out of her face.

The blonde leaned down and kissed her, the wine mixing with Chloe’s taste as her tongue slipped into her mouth. For that moment, it didn't made sense why she spent all that money on that apartment if she had found her home long ago: a red-haired woman and her miniature edition, whom was currently passed out on their couch just a few feet away.

Chapter Text

Chloe was already teaching a couple of undergraduate courses before she even got her masters degree as a grad student teaching assistant.  The students loved her and so did the professors, that showered her with recommendations letter after her graduation. She ended up working part-time teaching at Bronx Community College after her graduation and working on her PhD. This allowed her more time at home and a more flexible routine. Besides, she was doing what she loved.

Aubrey too started making a few changes in the way she worked, working more from home if possible and avoiding late night hours in the office.

In the middle of March, Aubrey had a meeting in LA and Chloe jumped at the opportunity, making Aubrey's work trip into a family trip.

They sat in Beca's edgy living room, with a couple of golden records and Jesse's movie posters still hanging on the walls - they knew it was being hard for her after their break up, due to all the complications and demands that came with her transition from small producer to promising artist.

They saw each other regularly although the distance, since Beca was often in New York and they made sure to spent at least one holiday each year together. Last year, was Christmas. Aubrey and Chloe received all the Bellas in their apartment and no one ended up too wasted to find their way back into the hotels. They really were growing up.

That night they chatted over take out dinner about their friends back in Atlanta, FaceTimed Amy briefly before she excused herself to get into some wrestling competition, talked about future and next meetings.

Chloe was snuggled with Aubrey in an armchair, watching from afar as Beca showed Emma a few soundtracks from old movies that she had in her extensive collection of vinyl's.

The brunette reached out to grab a certain one from the shelf, but couldn't reach it. Emma just grabbed it and handed it to a flushed Beca.

Emma was eleven now, she was taller than all her friends - a trait she for sure got from her father. Her long legs made her the tallest ballerina in her class. Her hair was long and she liked it better in a messy bun. She lost some of the freckles she had on her face as toddler and her baby fat was practically all gone but the kind semblance was still there.

"Oh my God, Bree." Chloe gasped. "She's taller than Beca. Our baby is taller than Beca."

"Well, it's not like that’s a hard thing to achieve," Aubrey said distractedly, with a smirk, still watching the pair.

Chloe got silent for a minute, watching Aubrey's profile face. "Do you want another one?"

"Another Beca? No way," Aubrey said, sipping her wine.

"Another baby," Chloe said, seriously.

Aubrey's head snapped in her direction. That was an interesting question.

Exactly four months later, they sat with Emma in their living room for a talk. The girl seemed to realize that wasn't a casual talk, because she had a suspicious look on her face since the beginning.

"I thought I was going to be an only child forever," Emma said. "You guys not even gave me a dog."

"You have a cat," Aubrey pointed out.

"Ma, Fleur is actually a human spirit trapped in a feline's body."

As if understanding that she was being addressed, the Siamese Munchkin cat sitting by the floor meowed.

Aubrey thinks that Fleur's human spirit probably had some family relation with Lily - such a weird cat.

"So, really? Are you guys thinking about adopting?" Her tone voice was excited, and they took it as a good sign.

Chloe smiled at her daughter. "Yes. We are considering. We wanted to talk to you about it. We want to know how you feel about it."

"Really? So, if I say that I don't want you guys to do it, you won't do it?" Emma teased with a smirk.

Aubrey tried to not sound anxious as she spoke. "Your opinion matters, muffin. We want you to be a part of this decision."

Emma looked back and forth between her moms.

"Why now?" She frowned.

"We have better schedules now, we have a nice home. And since you are a big girl now, we thought that it would be a great experience for you too. You know, we think you’ll be a terrific big sister," Chloe explained.

Emma's excitement suddenly vanished, but she put up a fake smile to cover. When you raise a kid for years, you can tell when they are being sincere and when they are hiding something. Both women noticed the sudden change and exchanged a look.

"Okay. It will be fun I guess," Emma said, tugging up a smile.

Chloe looked at Aubrey before asking her daughter. "Muffin, are you sure?"

Emma opened her mouth to say something but closed soon after. She looked conflicted.

"Emma, you seem bothered." Aubrey said that soft tone she used only for her daughter. "You can talk to us, muffin."

"Will they have your last name?" Emma asked Aubrey.

Aubrey and Chloe looked at each other in confusion.

They hadn’t even gone that far in their decision about adoption.

They kept their last names after the wedding; Aubrey for business reason, and Chloe because she was too attached to being a Beale and didn't feel comfortable with taking a name that her daughter didn't have.

"No," Aubrey decided. "I want them to share your last name. You'll be siblings, after all."

The thought that Anthony Posen may not be entirely happy with the fact that none of Aubrey's children would carry the Posen name was soon vanished with the look Chloe gave her. A mix of surprise, joy and thankfulness.

"But they will be your child." Emma said trying to not show she was upset.

"You are my child, Emma. Don't be silly," Aubrey said, without understanding.

"Legally, I'm not," Emma argued.

"Does that bother you? I had no idea," Chloe gave her daughter a sympathetic look.

Emma scrunched up her nose, a thing she did when she was trying to figure out something. "I mean, never mind. Let's forget about it. It's fine. You are my moms, I love both of you and that's it. And I'd love to have a sibling, really,” she said in that sudden positive tone she inherited from Chloe, giving them a tight smile. "Fleur and I are ready to be big sisters."

That fucking cat is not my daughter, Aubrey thought.

"Now, can I go to Jade's?" Emma asked before they could say anything else about the situation.

They were not so excited about the adoption anymore.

Aubrey couldn't get over the fact that Emma felt that way while in her mind Emma was undoubtedly hers.

That night, Aubrey and Chloe found themselves in their usual pillowtalk position – face to face, Chloe's hand fidgeting with Aubrey's ear, or collarbone, or stray lock of hair. They assured each other, once again, that Emma was independent of what they had, that even if someday – they said it horrified – they split, or Chloe died, Emma was still Aubrey's.

And it was true. Nothing could break the bond Aubrey build with Emma. Sometimes, Chloe would find similarities in them, and when she commented it, they would react in the exactly same way. And there were no doubts that Emma felt like Aubrey was indeed her mother. She always tells everyone she has two moms and gets highly defensive if someone points out that Aubrey is just her step-mom.

Even Todd acknowledges the third parent. “It takes a village to  raise a kid,” he said when, many years ago, he was told about how little Emma chose a new parent to called hers.

Aubrey knocked on her Emma's door the next night. Emma was already in her bed, since it was her bedtime. She had her back against the bedpost with a thick book on her lap and Fleur laying asleep by her feet.

"You are not here to tuck me in, right?" Emma asked with a smirk. "I don't need it anymore."

"Of course, I'm not," Aubrey said, but rearranged the covers over Emma and fluffed her pillows anyway. "Do you want to talk about our yesterday conversation?

Emma scrunched up her nose, closing her book. "I snapped, didn't I?"

Aubrey chuckled. "No, you have every right to say how you are feeling."

Emma lowed her gaze to her hands over her space stamped covers. "I want you to adopt the baby. I overreacted, I know you are my mom and that doesn't matter what the law says. It's just a piece of paper, right?"

Aubrey wanted to object on that but decided to stay quiet.

"Just remember I am your first baby," Emma remarked with a grin.

Aubrey smiled genuinely at her daughter, pinching her nose, making her giggle. “You’ll always be my first baby.” She leaned against the bedpost beside Emma and opened an arm and the girl instantly snuggled against her mom. She kissed the top of the head covered in red hair. "Have you ever heard about a Petition for Appointment of Guardian?"

They only gave the adoption process a start after Aubrey was legally a guardian of Emma. It wasn't an adoption because Emma had both parents, and it wasn't the perfect solution, but assured Aubrey that if the worst-case scenarios happened, Emma would be safe with her. It was enough for Emma quit her doubts and allow herself to be extremely excited about having a sibling.

"Do we want a boy?" Chloe asked, looking at the laptop screen sitting by the kitchen island one night.

"Oh, Emma will not like that. I grew up with boys, they were awful. Maybe we want a girl," Aubrey answered, writing on her legal pad ideas of what they were going to upload to their profile for the adoption:

• Family picture in Rome
• Wedding picture (the one in which we are smiling at each other)
• Christmas card picture from 2019
• Picture with Chloe in Central Park
• Mention that Chloe was a high school teacher

And two last items in Chloe’s loops calligraphy:

• Mention that Emma is adopted by Aubrey
• Picture with Beca so they know we have famous friends

"No way, I had three sisters, Emma will not want that," Chloe retorted. “Can we play the Stuart Little card and adopt a rat?”

Aubrey initially wanted a toddler, an age she was more familiar with. But Chloe insisted Aubrey should have the newborn experience once and that’s the whole story of how they immersed themselves into hoping a unrequitedly pregnant woman was going to give an homosexual couple their baby.

They were ten months and twenty two days in the waiting list when, one day, an e-mail dropped from their adoption agent.

A biological mother liked your profile. She is four months pregnant and wants a closed adoption. I think this match is perfect, I'm emailing you more details right now.

Aubrey's heart skipped a beat.

Those months passed as if they were years.

They busied themselves with reading books and sending pictures of baby clothes on their group chat. They turned the spare bedroom – and now Beca was going to sleep on the couch – into a nursery in neutral colors. They reserved a Sunday to paint it themselves, mint green wall paint all over the walls and the three of them.

"Can I name her?" Emma asked as they lounged together in her parents bed before bedtime one night.

They had gone on a checkup medical appointment with the biological mother that evening. They got home ready to count the days until the new member of the family came home.

"I suppose you are going to suggest some Harry Potter name?" Chloe asked, and the girl nodded. "Then no. And it may be a boy, we don’t know."

“It’s a girl, I just know it,” Emma said, excited.

Aubrey laughed. His name was going to be Henry. She was sure it was going to be a boy.

She was wrong.

Charlotte Louise Beale weighted five pounds and four ounces the day she was born. She was tiny, very tiny and very defenseless. Aubrey knew she couldn’t let anything happen to her. Ever.

Aubrey was quite useless during the birth. She just sat beside the doctor and waited for the baby to appear from inside the mother’s vagina. It’s not like she did on purpose, she was just wonderstruck by the happening.

Chloe though, had been there before and it was quite a relief that she wasn’t the one pushing the human out. So she stood by the mother side, held her hand, gave her ice chips and kept glancing at her dumbstruck wife.

Charlotte cried because being born into this world is difficult. Aubrey cut the cord. Then Aubrey cried, because she was never a parent at first sight before. And the mother cried because it couldn’t possibly be easy for her. And Chloe cried for all those reasons and her owns.

And everyone had their lives changed forever.

It was morning when Emma arrived in the hospital, her babysitter dropping her in.

Chloe took Emma by the hand and they headed to the room where the rest of the family waited.

Aubrey was sitting by the armchair with the baby in her arms and the golden morning sun bathing them with the promise of a new day.

Chloe knew her wife was already in love from the moment she saw her leaning down and talking to her in that voice that until now was reserved for Emma and Emma only.

“Muffin, come meet your sister,” Aubrey called Emma softly.

Emma obediently sat on Aubrey’s lap without disturbing the little bundle dressed in white. She looked down at her sister and smiled. “I told you it was a girl. What is her name?” Emma asked in a hushed voice even if the baby was awake.

“Charlotte.” Aubrey looked up to her older daughter. “Do you like it?”

Emma nodded with a smile, exhaling calmness.

Emma, who once was, not so long ago, just as tiny as Charlotte was now a big sister.

Chloe approached them, sitting on the arm of the chair and looping an arm around Aubrey and the other around Emma.

She had her whole world inside her arms.

Life with Coco was different and the same as always at the same time.

(Yes, Coco.

Emma immediately started calling her Coco, and soon Chloe was calling her Coco, but Aubrey was hesitant, not understanding why she should stop using the beautiful name they gave their daughter to honor her beloved grandmother.

And then one day it happened:

“Coco, baby, make it easy for mama, please,” Aubrey begged the baby to stop crying.

Chloe and Emma exchanged a glance and started laughing.)

As said, it was different.

Aubrey took maternity leave from work as soon as Coco came home and would spend her days with the sleepy baby in tow, addicted to the feeling of having her close, to the smell of her head, to the way the color of her eyes seemed to change every single day.

Coco is a good one, don’t worry, Chloe would tell her over the phone every time she called her wife to clear her doubts. Chloe would say that because the baby slept a lot, leaving Aubrey with a lot of time in hands to be paranoid.

They decided to use their maternity leaves wisely, not at the same time. So Aubrey got in first and when hers was finished Chloe’s was going to step in. And that day came too fast to Aubrey’s liking.

“I swear for the love I have for my daughters, if you give me one more recommendation about my own baby you are sleeping on this couch tonight,” Chloe said to Aubrey as she hesitated before going out of the door that morning.

The blonde turned back to the couch where Chloe was sprawled on with Coco laying on her chest and pecked her lips. “Thank you for pulling up with me.”

Chloe rolled her eyes and took her turn pecking her wife’s lips. “You’re just lucky that you’re cute.”

But, as previously said too, life with Coco was basically the same.

They still had breakfast together and Chloe still dropped Emma by school on her way to work. Aubrey still would take her time to watch Emma’s ballet class at least once a week. They still had jobs to attend, friends to see and families in another state to travel to see. They just had one more member in their small gang now.

Chloe always knew she was going to end up like this. Nothing breakable in her house was less than one meter and a half close to the floor. Her kitchen cabinets had way too many sippy cups. There was always a rubber toy lost in one of the tubs. A picture of a rare moment - her kids napping together in her bed – as wallpaper. She thought she was going to have a husband, though. That there would be at least one little boy around. That she would be living in the suburbs with a backyard and a dog. So it was only in part a surprise that she end up in the big city, with two girls, a psychopath cat and an uptight wife that still made her heart beat faster. Because she knew she was going to end up like this, and she couldn’t remember the other replaceable details anymore. She knew she was exactly where she was meant to be.

Life was a mosaic of pushing strollers through parks. Little hands raised as a silent plead to be carried. Buying cat food on the way back home from work. Kissing in the shower under the warm water running down their naked bodies. Classic music playing on the background as Aubrey maneuvered long red hair into a neat bun in the last minute before a ballet class. Joni Mitchell songs as lullabies. Stolen date nights when they could find someone to watch the kids.

Chloe turned off the kitchen light after she put the last dish in the dishwasher and wrapped her arms around Aubrey’s neck. “I’m going to bed,” she whispered against the blonde’s lips. She could only see Aubrey because of the living room’s light that entered the room.

The kids were in bed and the kitchen was finally clean after dinner. There were no papers to grade or contract to review. Not even a novel to finish.

“Is this an invite?” Aubrey asked, leaning her back against the kitchen counter and holding Chloe by the waist.

Chloe kissed the corner of Aubrey’s lips. “Maybe.”

“All right.” Aubrey smirked and kissed the spot below her ear. “Go ahead. I’ll just make sure we locked the front door. I’ll be there.”

Chloe let go of her with one last peck on her lips and turned to look back before leaving the kitchen.

“See you soon?” She asked, with soft smile.

Aubrey smiled too, heart swelling with all the memories those words carried, all the moments that were only possible because one rainy day they dared to exchange them in a suburban street in Atlanta.

“See you soon,” she said. The way Chloe’s smile grew with the line made her heart skip a beat. It also made her think about how no one, in the world the entire world, was as lucky as the two of them.