When The Stars Align

Chapter 15: We're Bulletproof

Stumbling back to her apartment while royally drunk was a bad idea, it wasn't ideal, nor was it recommended for a woman to stagger around, wasted at midnight, but she had no choice, her gig at the club finished later than planned because she had to take over another DJ's set and people kept on sending her drinks that were too expensive to waste, so she drank them all.

Its been three months since she became permanent at Luke's club and since then, life has been... chaotic. It a more systematic sense... which is ironic.

Grumbling to herself and her slowly failing eye sight, she tried to locate the right key on her key ring as she approached her apartment, only to stop dead on her tracks when a ball rolled to a stop on her boot clad feet. Staring at it, Beca slowly raised her eyes from the floor towards her door, the only door at the last floor, directly across the door behind her, an empty apartment. That wasn't really what's important, because as she looked up, she couldn't seem to believe that she's seeing the person standing in front of her was real, or just a pigment of her drunk imagination.

"I must be really drunk." She mumbled to herself, shaking her head and rubbing her eyes a few times before a childish giggle stopped her ministrations.

"You're silly." The child said before she proceeded to pick up the yellow baseball ball that stopped by Beca's feet, returning then to her mother who stood by Beca's door.

Beca was still flabbergasted, eyes still disbelieving as she stared at an apprehensive girl –woman really- that she haven't seen for years and a little duplicate of the redhead, looking at her like she's been waiting for Beca to arrive for decades.

"How are you, Bec..." Chloe's voice was hoarse, a bit strained really, and Beca couldn't help the anger that coerced through her veins as she caught sight of a bruise around Chloe's slender neck.

"What are you doing in NYC, Chlo?" That wasn't an ideal question, she has guest, she should be a hospitable host, but it had been years since she saw Chloe and that didn't end in a good note either.

"I... I had nowhere else to go." Chloe answered, a hint of a whimper in her voice, resulting for the little girl beside her to hug the redhead's knee a little bit tighter, the older Bella smiled, putting a hand on the girls head.

That was bullshit, Beca thought, she had Aubrey, Beca knows they are still within talking-relation, and Sophia, they'd be happy to take Chloe in, why did the redhead think she was the perfect person to run to, an alt girl that runs at the first sign of attachment, at the first sign of failure.

Beca stared at Chloe for a moment, the redhead didn't look like she aged a year since their high school days, although, her aura now was different, sadder; Her ginger locks still framed her beautiful face, but her curls looked weaker, like it hadn't been attended properly for years; her blue eyes were still the same, but it doesn't have the mirthful glint and happy spark in them, instead, what hid there are years of experience that Beca felt like she wouldn't want to discover or happen to her, it also held knowledge in them that told Beca Chloe grew maturely; her smile, her smile was the one you'd receive from your mother, it was tired, but filled with love and support. It wavered Beca's guard to see Chloe look this vulnerable, something the brunette isn't used to.

Chloe was a woman now. A woman with a miserable past just like her. They were equal now. Both in pain. Both hurting.

Then her eyes turned to the small girl next to the redhead, there... There Beca saw a lot of resemblance. Her red hair, her piercing blue eyes that were filled with mischief and curiosity, the way the side of her lips lifted as it showing Beca a small smirk, like she's some kind of animal the small girl was trying to coax closer. Beca knew this was Chloe's daughter, from the first time her eyes landed on the girls orbs, she knew.