When The Stars Align

Chapter 20

               IT WAS BECA WHO BOUGHT HERSELF A COUCH. It was a few days after "that incident" as the brunette dubbed it to her friends - Lou and Debbie -  of whom she told, she decided to buy a second-hand, yet somehow clean and okay-smelling couch for only a few dollars. She proceeded to sleep there despite the redhead's insistence that her bed was 'big enough for two people'.

Chloe knew it was just Beca trying to avoid her, or moreover, trying to avoid falling in love with the redhead again. But love is unplanned and unavoidable, especially if one's love for another person before, never truly left. The brunette thought of how cute the redhead was as her tongue stuck out a little while looking confuse as she read the instructions on a pancake box, the bacon sizzling on the pan and coffee steam starting to emit from the coffee maker, she also thought of how the redhead looked very good in just a large baggy sweater and possibly just an underwear on, then she started to grumble and look back at the computer screen where Spongebob is playing, a giggling Sophie sitting on her lap.

The redhead would look up each time the little girl giggle, trying to figure out if Beca found it funny too, because the Beca she knew, she loved physical comedy, and her heart would melt each time the brunette decides to act childlike too, for the little redhead.

Throughout the few weeks that Beca had stayed with them, Sophie had started to get attached with her, especially when the brunette started to take her to the park each Wednesday evening, because it was the only day she had nothing to do. Chloe watched as Sophie started to include the brunette in all her 'family portrait' drawings, or how she'd always mention to keep Beca safe in her prayers whenever Chloe tells her to sleep and that she couldn't stay up to wait for the brunette. But it was Chloe who really stayed up late to hear the door open and close, listen to the familiar thud of combat boots walking on wooden floor, she'd listen as the brunette would walk into the kitchen, drink a glass of water then proceed to hope that Beca would come into the room and sleep next to her. But she wouldn't.

So Chloe watched her daughter freely take Beca's personal space without even a cringe from the brunette, how she wished she could be as close to Beca as her daughter was, possibly even closer. To be just like they were back then. In Barden.

"Momma... Is the bacon burning?" Sophie called, eyes still glued on the show while Beca's head turned to see Chloe's eyes widen and quickly turn around.

The redhead yelped,"Oh shit!" before proceeding to take the pan off the fire.

"Language." Both Beca and Sophie called out as Chloe pouted at the burned bacons, the two turning back to the show as she slapped a new set of bacon on the pan.

"Done!" Sophie reported as she drank the last of her milk and took her plate to the sink before running off to resume her cartoon marathon, now on her second season of The Adventure Time.

"So..." Chloe looked up as Beca trailed on her words, chewing on a bacon first before continuing what she wanted to say,"How are your family back in Barden?"

To say that Chloe was a bit surprised is true, Beca looked nervous and clearly thought that it sounded less stupid in her head, but Chloe just smiled and looked down on her food before looking back up at Beca.

The redhead looked at Beca's face for a moment, observing how the brunette is trying to mask her nervousness.

"Well... Emily is in college now, she has an internship in the East Coast, the rest of my siblings are still in school, then there's Pa who went to England this week, then Ma..."

She watched as Beca's face had gone paler than it was, she watched as Beca's hand turned her fork a couple of times before she stabbed the egg a little aggressively before she looked up at Chloe, trying to show that she wanted Chloe to continue all the while masking the pain that flashed before her eyes.

Chloe trailed," Ma... Stays at home, tending to everyone there." The redhead watched as Beca nodded, she frowned,"How bout your family, Bec? Spoke a word with Sophia since... you know?"

She knows she shouldn't be asking that when Beca was trying to open up to her, she knew that anything that involves the brunette's family was a no go, but she couldn't resist.

Her voice was colder now,"Shouldn't you be the most knowledgeable about that? Aubrey still talks to you, aren't they like... The forever kind of high school sweets?"

The redhead tried to be understanding, the venom in the brunette's voice agitating the redhead as she watched, in the corner of her eyes, Sophie leaving the couch and running to her room,"Aubrey and Sophia broke up." She observed the way Beca seemed to pause, then proceed to pick up her mug and sip the black coffee Chloe prepared for her.

"Well... Aren't I right about endings."

"They merely changed," Chloe tried to explain,"Aubrey did her best to bring back the Sophia she knew before all the mess happened... But Bree couldn't really persuade someone to change when they don't want that at all." The redhead watched as Beca dropped her fork and decided to drink her coffee alone, pushing away the plate of unfinished breakfast at the center of the table.

"Momma..." Sophie called out and both Chloe and Beca watched as the small ginger climb up the chair and presented a book that is open on a certain page,"The teacher said we have to study Science tomorrow and said we have to answer questions about the Earth." Sophie looked up at Beca with a big smile and sparkling blue eyes,"You can help too, Bec-Bec."

"Bec-Bec? What?" The brunette was baffled but the child merely giggled and looked at her mother before picking up her pen and looking back down at her answer sheet.

Chloe merely smiled at the brunette as the girl still seemed baffled at the child's new nickname for her,"Momma, how big is the world?" The ginger girl asked with curiosity in her eyes.

Chloe smiled, chewing her bacon softly as she thought of the answer, her eyes darted to her coffee cup, then it darted to Sophie, before her eyes landed on Beca who was busy playing with her food than eating it. Then without thought, Chloe reached out and with her left hand, she held Sophie's face and held Beca's with her right, which startled the brunette a bit.

"Well, as it seems, my world fits perfectly well in my two hands." The redhead said slyly.

The comment made Sophie giggle as she stooped down on her paper and wrote what her mom said, but Beca felt embarrassed when she heard Chloe call her her world. Her cheeks flushed red and her ears burned, looking up, she saw Chloe send her a wink before the redhead looked back on her food then proceeded to eat with a victorious smile on her face.

It was a great morning for Chloe, that's a fact.

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A/N: I'm reading "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" and I find it very compelling, just a few chapters in but it's definitely recommendation worthy, so yes, get yourself a copy I guess, actual hard bound books are awesome too!

January 6, 2019