Beautiful Broken Brain

Part 3

Chloe and Beca sat holding hands in the waiting room at the learning center. Beca was mortified, to say the least, that she was sitting in a room full of children also waiting for tutoring sessions. She still had frequent headaches and couldn't walk very well, but her tremor had stopped for the most part and only flared up if she had been really active during the day.

"Excuse me?" A little boy tapped Beca on the shoulder and the brunette looked up from her phone.

"Yes?" Beca asked, slightly annoyed that she couldn't scroll through her Instagram feed in peace.

"Aren't you a little old to be getting tutored?" He asked curiously.

Normally in these situations, Beca would've completely lost her cool and started yelling at the kid for his lack of manners. But Chloe was right there to stroke her thumb over the top of Beca's hand, silently reminding her to stay calm. "No, adults can take tutoring too," Beca said.

"Are you in college?" He asked.

"No," Beca said with a shrug, knowing what was going to come next.

"Then why do you need tutoring?"

"Because I had a stroke and my brain forgot how to read and walk," Beca said calmly.

"What's a stroke?"

"It's where there's not enough oxygen getting to your brain so it stops working and you have to have surgery," Beca replied.

He looked up at her with a horrified expression on his face and immediately brought his hands to his head. "I don't want that to happen to me."

"It probably won't," Beca said reassuringly. "It just happened to me because I have a few other health conditions and I wasn't taking as good care of myself as I should have been, but my wife here is helping me get better." She gave a thankful smile to Chloe and squeezed her hand.

"What's your name? And hers."

"I'm Beca and that's Chloe," Beca smiled.

"Cool. I'm Jace," he said with a shrug. "I'm here because I'm bad at math."

"I was too, you'll get better," Beca winked. "How old are you?"

"Nine."

"I'm twenty seven," Beca laughed. "If I survived math, so can you."

A tutor came out and called Jace back. "Bye Beca, have fun learning to read," he said happily.

"Thanks kid," Beca laughed. "He seemed like a sweet kid," she said to Chloe once he had left.

"He did," Chloe smiled. "I'm proud of you too. I know this has been hard on you, but you're handling it so well."

"I wouldn't be able to do it without you," Beca said genuinely. "There's been so many times I've wanted to lose my cool, but you're right here to calm me down."

"I'm glad," Chloe said, pecking her on the lips. "Hey Becs, I know you're trying to be okay, but if you ever need to cry or get upset, I don't mind being there for you. You know you don't have to hide how you feel in front of me."

Beca nodded and smiled at her wife. "You look beautiful with your glasses on." Chloe had lately been wearing her glasses instead of her contacts and wearing a beanie so Beca wouldn't feel so different.

"You always look beautiful," Chloe replied with a shrug. "You've been smiling so much lately, it makes me happy."

"I'm glad," Beca smiled again. She looked up when her name was called and Chloe stood up.