Aca-moms

Beca couldn't help feeling a little guilty over shutting Chloe off so quickly yesterday. If it had been Emily or Jesse asking, or even Stacie, she would have been fine with it. Her friends were the closest thing to a family she and David have and she would gladly involve them in David's life as well, so that David knows he can fall back on them too. But she has always been a little cautious about letting new people close to her and David, always afraid that they would break her trust and disappear. But Chloe was a whole different story. One, she's David's teacher and Beca would hate it if it would get uncomfortable at home or at school for David. Or for Chloe. But more importantly, Beca was a little afraid of letting Chloe get close, because she knew that she would Chloe come closer than anyone else and that scared her like hell.

David barges into her bedroom and jumps on the empty side of the bed, drawing her from her thoughts.

"Come on, mom, get up, we're going to the zoo today" he says, jumping up and down on the bed excitedly.

"Woah little man, calm down, it is way too early. Come lay next to me for a while" Beca says pulling the cover back to let David slip under it.

After snoozing for a little while, David asks: "Mom?"

"Hmhm" Beca replies

"Do you remember Felix?"

"Of course I do"

Felix was a boy that lived in their building in New York and was about David's age. His mother had helped out with David when she had to work.

"He was like my best friend. I miss him sometimes. Do you think he misses me too?"

"I'm sure he does. You know what? Let's send him a postcard from the zoo, so you can tell him about your first weeks here."

"That's a great idea" David happily agrees.

When Beca's alarm goes off, they get up and ready for their day at the zoo.

The weather is beautiful and David studies all animals with great interest. They treat themselves to some ice cream and everything is just great. Beca really enjoys the time with her son, but just incidentally her mind wanders to a certain redhead.

At the gift shop David picks a card with a collage of the animals in the zoo to send to Felix.

"Mom, can we send a card to our other friends too? I think Stacie likes this one, and Jesse likes this one, and Emily likes..." He says holding up two cards while spinning the display to find one for Emily.

"Yeah, we can do that, but how about buying a small present for Emily instead? Then you can give it to her when she comes to visit in two weeks."

David picks out a key chain with a monkey for Emily and Beca spots one of a ladybug that she suddenly can't resist buying for Chloe. After paying they sit down outside to write the postcards and enjoy a drink.

"Mom," David suddenly calls out "we forgot to buy Ms Beale a present!"

Beca looks at him slightly confused.

He continues: "Yeah, we got all our friends a card or a present, but isn't Ms Beale your friend too? We should get her something. Maybe she can come and have dinner with us and we can give it to her..."

Beca feels her heart filling with warmth when she listens to her boy.

"So you liked it when Ms Beale came over last time?" She asks him deciding to discuss the matter with him now he brought it up himself.

"Yeah, I did. You were smiling the whole time and you laughed a lot. I like it when you're happy, mom. And Ms Beale, she was really nice too, even more than at school."

"So you didn't think it was weird that your teacher was at our place?" She asks cautiously.

"Well at first I did, but then not, because she is your friend and really nice... There was one thing I didn't like… when she was there we didn't sing when we cleared the table and did the dishes."

Beca laughs at that last statement – they had been too busy with their stories- and replies: "I guess that can be sorted when we tell her about our little tradition, after all she was the one who got me into the habit of singing while doing chores. But I'm glad you're okay with Ms Beale coming over. And it wasn't weird at school either?"

"Nope" he replies.

"Good. She was coming to visit me later tonight when you would be asleep, but if it you're fine with it, I could invite her for dinner tonight?" Beca proposes.

"Yes! Oh, but her present.."

"You're such a sweet boy. Luckily I already got here something... How about you go play on the playground a little and I'm going to call Chloe"

David bolts off and Beca grabs her phone.

"Hi Beca, everything alright?"

"Hi Chloe, yeah, we've had a great time at the zoo. We are actually heading home soon. So, about tonight, we had agreed you would come over when David went to bed, right? Well.."

Chloe feels her heart drop fearing that Beca is going to cancel on her and replies with an unsteady "yeah?"

"Well, David brought you up today and we talked for a bit about you being around the house more and he is more than fine with it. So I was instructed to invite you over for dinner, and I would love if you came, if you feel comfortable with the situation."

"Oh Beca, I'd love to."

"Uhm, Chloe, there is one condition you have to agree to before you can come…"

"Okay, which is?"

"You have to sing with us during the dishes. Do you think you can do that?" Beca laughs

"Do you even know me?" Chloe teases back. "What time do you want me there?"

"I think we'll be home by six, around then would be fine"

"Great, see you then"

"See you"

Beca puts her phone away and gets up to call David. On their way home they pick up some groceries for dinner and some snacks for the evening. When they get home Chloe arrives almost simultaneously and together they head up to the apartment.

They've barely gotten inside or David already starts to ramble about all they saw today at the zoo. Chloe listens patiently and shares a smile with Beca, who heads into the kitchen to put away the groceries and start cooking. She finishes preparing the condiments, puts the potato wedges in the oven and starts preparing the meat for the burgers. When she has just put the burgers in pan, she feels an arm wrap around her middle and feels Chloe breath close to her face as she says:

"Something smells good here"

"Yeah, I learned a few things after college. I had to feed my kid something decent." Beca grins.

Turning away from the burgers for a minute she does a few things on her phone and suddenly an audio system switches on in the kitchen and the living room, playing what Chloe recognizes as one of Beca's mixes.

This time David is the one that leads the conversation. After he told Chloe all about the zoo, he continues with stories from their life in New York. Chloe listens attentively, while Beca sometimes frowns at some of the details that are not exactly true.

During the washing up Chloe somehow manages to change the music to a playlist of Disney songs, much to the delight of David. Beca protests pretending to hate the songs, but soon enough all three are singing along and dancing through the kitchen.

Not much later they all settle on the couch. Exhausted from the day at the zoo and the excitement of having Chloe over, the little boy falls fast asleep against the armrest. "Okay", Beca whispers, "let's get you to bed" and she lifts the boy from the couch. Chloe is impressed as she watches the small woman carry the boy to his bedroom.

Of course Beca lets Chloe pick the movie and she goes to the kitchen to get some drinks. Chloe settles for a comedy that Beca might like, well aware that it's very likely that the movie will only serve as a welcome distraction from whatever conversation they will be having.

They watch the movie for a while, until Chloe breaks the silence.

“One thing that has been haunting me since our coffee date, is my stupid remark on settling down before starting a family. I never meant to criticize you as a single mom…. I see now you’re doing an amazing job..”

“Don’t worry, Chloe, I know.. David is the best kid, and we’re doing fine together, but it isn’t my ideal either, you know…”

“So what happened between you and Jesse? It seemed to me that he would be the kind of guy who would do the right thing by you, you know, stick around and maybe even marry you…”

“It’s not that he didn’t offer… I didn’t want to … We had just decided that it was best for us to break up, we couldn’t give each other what we wanted in life… The fact that I was pregnant didn’t change that for me... You know how my parents fought a lot before they got divorced? And how I hated my dad for leaving us?... I just could see that being us in 5 to 10 years. I simply couldn’t do that to my child. I mean … I never saw myself as the motherly type, but it’s funny how two lines on a piece of plastic you just peed on can change that”

Chloe couldn’t help blurting out a loud laugh at that blunt statement. Beca looked at her disturbed for a minute, but soon a smile started to form at the corners of her mouth.

“No, but seriously,” she continued, “from the moment I found out I was pregnant I was determined to shield my little one from all harm. And pretty soon I was convinced that I had to raise him by myself. Jesse tried to fight me, but I was so stubborn that he gave up after I had agreed that he could still see him whenever he wanted… I was fine with him being a kind of fun uncle that comes by often, but not with him being a dad that is hardly there. It must sound weird, but it made sense back then.”
"So what about your love life?" Beca turns the attention to Chloe. "How can a great woman like you still be single?"

“I don’t know” Chloe sighs “I’ve dated a couple of people in the past, but somehow it never really worked out. Besides that I’m also pretty busy with my job, currently. Let’s just say it’s not a priority right now.”

“Well, you certainly can’t say that no one is interested” Beca says, clearly hinting at the incident at the school concert.

“Urghh, please stop talking about that creep. He has been hitting on me for over a year now and he really can’t take a hint. I already told him I’m not interested so many times, it’s just pathetic.” Chloe sighs.

“Well from now on you have me to come to your rescue at school functions” Beca quips.

They settle back into their comfortable silence and just catch the end of the movie.

After that first movie /talking night, more would follow in the next couple of weeks. As time went by the distance between the two of them closed and they were back to their old habits when they were around each other. Chloe loved hanging out at Beca's place and cooked dinner or stayed with David when Beca had an emergency work thing.

“You know you don’t have to do all this for us, right?” Beca says one night.

They sit on the couch at Beca’s place, Chloe propped up against Beca, checking activity sheets while the brunette idly plays with her red curls. Chloe had taken David home from school, so that Beca could go grocery shopping, so that they would have a long free evening together.

“I know” Chloe hums, “I just love to. I love you… you guys.”