#merry pitchmas gift exchange 2022

[psychoteacher90]

Hello, @wordsofmyreality . It's your friendly neighborhood Secret Santa!

I honestly hope you like it and have the best Pitchmas ever!

[massivedrickhead]

and buddy makes six (1/1)

Pitchmas 2022

Words: 2316

Notes: Merry Pitchmas @chubby-maimaki, I’m your (replacement) secret santa! 

You asked for a chaotic Christmas with some funny moments. Wholesome isn’t usually my wheelhouse but I hope this ticked all the boxes you were after. Happy Holidays, I hope you enjoy this!

Read on AO3

-

Chaotic is the only word you could use to describe the Mitchell-Beale household at any given time, and on Christmas it was even more so.

And now that Beca and Chloe had finally caved - or rather Beca had finally caved - and gotten their three kids a dog, it was about to become so much worse.

“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Beca muttered, stepping through the back door of their home, a tiny Border Collie puppy held in her arms. He gave a small yap and wriggled, and Beca froze. “This is such a bad idea, they’re going to hear him."

“They can’t hear anything, the TV is turned up to 50 in there,” Chloe said, scratching the puppy behind his ears. “Hi handsome!” She cooed. “Go on, get him upstairs, the pen is all set up.”

Chloe gave her wife a quick kiss on the cheek before returning to the kids in the living room.

Beca crept upstairs with the wriggling puppy still in her arms.

“Something tells me I’m going to regret this,” she said. He responded by licking her cheek. “Gross.”

She opened her bedroom and placed the puppy in the pen that Chloe had set up for him.

“You’re gonna be good, right? No barking?”

He yapped in response.

“Dude, you’re gonna get us busted,” Beca said, scratching his ear. “It’s just for an hour until the kids go to bed, okay?” He rolled over onto his back, and Beca transitioned to rubbing his belly. “I guess you are pretty cute. The kids are gonna love you.”

She stayed a little while longer until he curled up in the blankets Chloe had put down and went to sleep. 

Beca crept out of the room and down the stairs, and then went to the front door.

She opened and closed it with a thud, and announced “I’m home!”

Three pairs of feet came pounding out of the living room.

“Mama!” Alexis, the youngest, said, arms outstretched so Beca could pick her up.

“Hi,” Beca said, grinning as she lifted up the two-year-old and sat her on her hip.

Callie, seven years old and their middle kid, was next to greet her, wrapping her arms around Beca’s other side.

Nathan, the oldest at almost thirteen, simply raised his hand in greeting. 

“You’re late,” Chloe said, trying to hide a smirk as she raised an eyebrow. She kissed Beca on the cheek. 

“I had a last-minute errand to run,” Beca replied.

“We had to start the movie without you,” Callie said, taking her mom’s hand and pulling her towards the living room.

“Oh no,” Beca said, with such heavy sarcasm that even Alexis picked up on it. “Whatever shall I do?”

“We could start over,” Chloe casually suggested.

“No, no,” Beca said, quickly. “It’s getting late and these kids need to be in bed before Santa comes.”

“Mom, Santa isn’t real-”

“-Really strict about bedtimes?” Beca said, cutting Nathan off and raising her eyebrows. “Actually he is.”

Nathan rolled his eyes but laughed.

“Hey, I’m the only member of this family that’s allowed to roll their eyes,” Beca said, sitting on the sofa beside him, Alexis still in her arms.

Chloe sat on Beca’s other side, and Callie climbed up onto Chloe’s lap. 

“I think we need a bigger sofa,” Beca said, as Alexis wriggled to get comfortable.

Just as Chloe was about to hit play on their paused movie, there was a very loud, very distinctive, bark.

Everyone froze.

“What was that?” Callie asked.

Chloe shrugged and hit play on the movie. “Probably came from outside.”

“It sounded like a dog,” Nathan said.

“There are dogs outside,” Beca said. “I’m sure Devon across the street just got one.”

“Doggy!” Alexis chimed in, helpfully. “Doggy, mama! Woof!”

“There’s no doggy, baby,” Beca said, kissing the top of her head. “Doggy outside.”

Chloe turned the TV up, hoping to disguise any more barks, until Alexis put her hands over her ears.

“Mommy loud!”

“Sorry,” Chloe said, dropping it back down.

Beca and Chloe exchanged a nervous glance.

Alexis was asleep in Beca’s arms by the time the movie had finished, and she carried her up to bed while Callie and Nathan helped Chloe set out milk and cookies for Santa.

She put Alexis in her crib, kissed her on the head, and switched on her baby monitor.

“Sweet dreams baby girl,” she said, softly, pulling the door shut behind her.

Beca stuck her head in her bedroom to check on the puppy, and his tail started wagging immediately as he let out another bark.

“Shh,” Beca said, quickly, hurrying into the bedroom. 

“Bec, come say goodnight to the kids,” Chloe called as she climbed the stairs.

“Dude, please be cool,” Beca said to the puppy, who cocked his head and yapped again. Beca sighed, quickly stroked his head, and then left her room. 

The kids reached the landing just as Beca shut her door behind her.

“What are you doing?” Nathan asked as Beca stood in front of the doorknob. 

“Nothing,” Beca said, quickly. 

“You’re acting sus.”

“I am not acting sus,” Beca replied. “I’m acting totally normal. Come hug your mother goodnight.”

Nathan rolled his eyes again but smiled as he gave Beca a hug. She gave him a kiss on the head and he groaned and wriggled out of her embrace.

“Gross,” he said. 

“Rude,” Beca replied. 

Chloe hugged and kissed him too.

“Please don’t stay up all night on TikTok,” she said. “Your sisters will wake you up early tomorrow.”

“Uh-huh,” he said. “Night Mom.”

“Goodnight,” Beca and Chloe said together.

“Night mama,” Callie said when Beca squeezed her into a hug.

“Goodnight sweetheart,” Beca replied, kissing her on the cheek. “You want a story tonight?”

Callie shook her head. “I wanna go to sleep so Santa can come.”

“Okay,” Beca said. “Sleep tight.”

Chloe walked Callie to her room, and Beca quickly retreated back into the bedroom.

When Chloe got back to their room, Beca was sitting in the pen she’d made for the puppy, with the dog on her lap.

“I thought you didn’t want a dog,” Chloe said, grinning.

“I don’t,” Beca said, smiling as he yawned and tipped backwards. “I think this is a terrible idea.”

“Mhm,” Chloe said, sitting on the bed and watching them. “We’ll have to put him in our bathroom tonight you know.”

Beca looked up at her. “By himself?”

Chloe laughed. “The kids will burst in here first thing, we don’t want them to see him.”

Beca frowned. “I’ll wake up early and put him in there tomorrow.”

“Oh my god, he already has you wrapped around his little… paw. I can’t say I’m surprised, it was the same as Nathan, Callie, and Alexis. You can’t resist a cute face.”

Beca laughed and shook her head. “Tell me about it. Why do you think I said yes when you asked me out?”

“And here I was thinking you just wanted to see me naked again,” Chloe said with a laugh.

“Well, yeah, that too,” Beca said. “Are the milk and cookies set out?”

“Yep,” Chloe said. “Plus a carrot for Rudolph.”

“I wonder if he wants some milk,” Beca asked, looking at the puppy. She looked at Chloe. “Can we give him that?”

“Not unless you want him to shit everywhere,” Chloe said. 

“So does that mean I have to drink it?” Beca asked, and Chloe rolled her eyes. “Okay, when did this family start doing that? The eye-rolling is my thing.”

“Ah ha,” Chloe said. “You invented eye-rolling babe.”

“And now sarcasm? Is nothing sacred?”

“Shut up,” Chloe said, laughing. “Bring him downstairs so he can pee and I’ll take care of the milk.”

Once the puppy had used the bathroom and Beca and Chloe had taken care of the milk and cookies, they both headed up to bed. All of their kids were sleeping soundly, and the puppy dozed off in his pile of blankets as soon as Beca put him down.

They climbed into bed and shared a quick goodnight kiss before settling down.

“I can’t believe we got a dog,” Beca mumbled as Chloe wrapped her arms around her waist. 

“I know,” Chloe said. “We’re crazy.”

-

“Bec,” Chloe said, her voice thick with sleep. “I can hear the kids.”

“They’re loud kids,” Beca replied. “We hear them constantly.”

“No,” Chloe said, stifling a yawn. “I mean they’re up. You need to hide the dog.”

“Already getting this dog is coming back to bite me in the ass,” Beca groaned.

“You’re the one who-”

“I know, I know,” Beca said, waving her off as she forced herself out of bed.

The puppy was still sleeping soundly, and Beca moved his pen as gently as she could into their en-suite and shut the door, just in time to hear the sound of a little fist rapping against their door.

Beca and Chloe looked at each other and saw their own tired smiles reflected back at them. 

“Come in,” Chloe said.

The doorknob turned and Callie burst into the room, climbing up onto her parents’ bed. 

“It’s Christmas!”

“Is it?” Beca asked. “No one told me.”

“Can we go downstairs?” Callie asked. “Please?”

“What do you think, Mommy?” Beca asked Chloe.

“Hmm, it might be too early,” Chloe said.

“But I’ve been awake for ages,” Callie moaned. “And Nathan said I had to wait but I can’t!”

“Okay,” Chloe said. “Go get Nathan, I’ll get Alexis.”

No sooner had Callie left the room did they hear a little yap coming from the bathroom.

“What was that?” Callie said, running back in.

“I sneezed,” Beca said, quickly.

Callie’s eyebrows pulled together as she stared at her Mom.

“I think I’m getting a cold,” Beca said, doing another fake sneeze.

“Bless you,” Chloe said, trying hard to sound sincere. “Go get Nathan,” Chloe said again to Callie, scared that the dog would bark again.

“I’ll get Alexis,” Chloe said, “we’ll all go down together and then you can come back up for him, okay?”

“Got it,” Beca said. “Who knew the hardest part about getting a dog would be hiding him from the kids.”

Chloe cocked her head. “You’ve never had a dog before, have you, babe?”

Beca shook her head and Chloe laughed. She got up and gave her wife a kiss. “Merry Christmas, by the way.”

“Merry Christmas,” Beca replied, grinning.

Once all their kids had made it downstairs and were sitting in the living room by the tree, Beca excused herself.

“I think I left my phone upstairs,” she said. “Don’t start opening gifts without me.”

Callie groaned, at the thought of having to wait one more minute.

“Mommy presents?” Alexis asked, pointing at the wrapped gifts.

“Soon,” Chloe said. “When Mama comes back.”

“I can hear that sound again,” Nathan said, standing so he could look out of the window. “I can’t see any dogs out there.”

“Weird,” Chloe said, trying hard to hide her own excitement.

“Hey,” Beca said, poking her head in the door. “It looks like Santa left an extra gift upstairs for you guys.”

“What is it?” Callie asked.

Beca stepped into the room, the puppy held in her arms.

It took a moment for the kids to register what it was, but he soon wriggled, yawned, and let out another yappy bark.

“Oh my god!” Callie squealed. “Is he ours? Can we keep him?”

“Ah ha,” Beca said, smiling at the looks on her kids' faces. Even Nathan, who had been rapidly turning into a grumpy teen before their eyes, looked like a kid again, his eyes wide and mouth open.

“Now before everyone gets too loud and excited,” Chloe said, using her strict voice that was rarely heard. “We need you all to remember that he isn’t a toy. He’s a pet, a member of the family, and he’s going to be with us for, hopefully, a very long time. We treat him gently, and kindly, and we take care of him. We don’t pull or poke him, and when he doesn’t want to play, we leave him alone.”

“We’ll be gentle,” Callie said, practically vibrating with excitement as she reached up to pet him from where he was held in her Mom’s arms.

“Having a dog is a lot of work,” Beca said. “So we’ll all need to help out with cleaning up after him, training him, feeding him, and walking him. It’s a big responsibility.”

“We’ll help,” Callie said, quickly.

Beca looked at Nathan, who nodded. “We will,” he said. 

Beca crouched down and put the puppy on the floor.

“Hi puppy!” Callie said, trying to hold back as she stroked his little head. Beca could tell she wanted to pick him up and squeeze him, and she was proud that she was restraining herself.

Alexis wasn’t quite sure what to make of him, but when he sniffed her outstretched hand and licked it, she squealed and giggled. 

“Gentle,” Chloe said, as Alexis reached out to touch him again.

“Doggy!” Alexis replied. 

“What’s his name?” Callie asked.

“We don’t know yet,” Chloe said. “He’s a family dog, we should all help choose it.”

“He has a patch on his eye,” Callie said. “Like a pirate.”

“We could call him Patch?” Beca suggested.

“Patch,” Alexis repeated. “No Patch, Mama.”

“Okay,” Beca said, laughing.

“What about Spot?” Chloe said.

Callie shook her head. “He has patches, not spots.”

“We got him on Christmas,” Nathan said. “He should have a Christmassy name.”

“Oh!” Callie said. “We heard him bark when we were watching Elf! We should call him Buddy!”

Buddy replied with a yap.

“Yeah,” Nathan said, scratching him behind his ear, laughing as his leg started to twitch. “Buddy.”

“Can you say ‘Buddy’, Lexie?” Chloe asked Alexis.

“Buddy,” Alexis replied.

“Well I think that’s decided then,” Beca said. “Welcome to the family, Buddy.”

[merry-pitchmas]

Pitchmas 2022

Welcome to the seventh annual Merry Pitchmas Gift Exchange!!

Right, I’m sure most of you are used to this speech by now, so here’s a tl;dr, but for those of you that are new or need a refresh, check under the cut!

TL;DR:

Reply to this post to take part. Reblogs will not be included.

November 25th is the cut off date to sign up.

Posting begins on December 24th - not a day before! And you have to have your gift finished by the end of December.

You don’t need money to take part - just a dash of creativity and the drive to want to do something.

Manips, videos, fanfic, and comics are just a few examples of the things you can do!

All pairings are welcome, but I strongly encourage all participants to ANONYMOUSLY message the person they have to ask questions about which they might prefer.

TURN ON YOUR ANONS. I’ve gotten to the point where if your ask box is not set to allow anon questions and your Secret Santa cannot contact you, I won’t be trying to get in touch - I’ll just remove you from the exchange. So please, even if you’re sure anon asks are already allowed, double check. If you’re not sure HOW to do that, google is your friend.

If you change your name between now and the posting date, please send me a message to let me know. I will not be trying to track people down again this year.

Please don’t leave someone hanging. If you have no intention of doing anything and just want someone to do something for you, don’t reply. It’s not fair. (And I’m always looking for volunteers who will write for anyone that gets missed!)

HAVE FUN.

See you all soon!

~ Red.

Okay, so... how does this work?

If you would like to take part in the gift exchange, please REPLY to this post. Reblog all you want, but you won’t be included in the draw unless you reply. That’s just the easiest way for me to keep track of people. I’ll let this post circulate until November 25th. After that, I’ll chuck all the names in a hat and randomly assign Secret Santas. Once you have your person, feel free to contact them (anonymously - this is supposed to be a secret) and ask any questions about what they might like in a gift. Pairings, favourite tropes, etc. Which brings me to another biggie:

To anyone who wants to take part in this, please change your ask settings to allow anonymous questions!!!

Every year I have quite a few people come to me telling me they can’t ask their giftee questions because of this. That means I have to try to get a hold of them, which slows the process down for everyone and drives me to drink. I’ve gotten to the point where if your ask box is not set to allow anon questions and your Secret Santa cannot contact you, I won’t be trying to get in touch - I’ll just remove you from the exchange.

So please, even if you’re sure anon asks are already allowed, double check. If you’re not sure HOW to do that, google is your friend. 

Posting Date.

You can post your finished pieces starting December 24th. Please don’t post before this and please make sure your gift is posted by the end of December. Once the 24th rolls around, you can reveal yourself as your person’s Secret Santa by posting/scheduling your creation on your blog and @/tagging the person. Also, please tag your entry with #merry pitchmas 2022 so that I can find them all and combine them into a master post once everyone has posted.

“But I don’t have any money!”

You don’t need money for this! No, dear friends, all you need is some time and your imagination. You see, this exchange is all about getting creative. Your gifts can be fanfiction, fanart, gifsets, manips, and anything else that falls under the header of fanworks.

What pairings are accepted?

All pairings are welcome. However, please make a point of contacting your giftee if you aren’t sure which pairings they enjoy.

Also!

If you change your blog name at all over the next two months PLEASE let me know. It’s really, really difficult to hunt people down if you don’t. I put a lot of work into making a list of who has who and that gets completely effed up if User007 has changed their name to ButtercupPony85. Again, I have reached a point where I will not be combing through tags and blogs looking for people.

In closing!

This is all about having fun. 

You know what isn’t fun? Putting time and effort into giving someone a gift, only to not receive one yourself. Every time I’ve done this previously, there have been people who have said yes to taking part who have gotten their gift and then not followed through in giving theirs. Refused to reply to messages and left someone without anything. Luckily, there are some lovely, wonderful people who offer to help out and dedicate even more of their time to coming up with something for those people.

PLEASE DO NOT SAY YES IF YOU AREN’T PLANNING ON HOLDING UP YOUR END OF THIS.

It’s not fair.

If you aren’t going to be able to finish your gift in time, or at all, please let me know. That way I can contact the person you have and let them know it’ll be late or arrange for something else to be done for them.

Speaking of…

Once again, I’ll be looking for volunteers I can hit up in the event that some people get missed and need replacement gifts. If you’re interested, shoot me a message on this blog. I’ll love you forever.

Remember!

This is all about having fun!! I started this so that everyone could have a good time in the fandom around the holiday season. So that people who may be headed towards a rough holiday season or who might not get gifts elsewhere will have something to look forward to and something to work on during what can either be a really great or really tough time of the year.

See you all soon!

~Red

[massivedrickhead]

stay (1/1)

Pitchmas 2022

Words: 4543

Notes: Merry Pitchmas @ezappa, I’m your secret santa! 

You asked for some triple treble with Beca and Aubrey bonding over loving Chloe, and I hope that’s what I delivered. Happy Holidays, I hope you enjoy this!

Read on AO3

-

Beca: 911. Chloe’s crying in the bathroom and won’t come out.

Aubrey: On my way.

Beca was pacing the hallway outside the bathroom when Aubrey arrived. She was tapping the corner of her phone against her chin - a nervous habit she’d picked up as a teen that she’d never grown out of.

“Hey,” Beca said, looking relieved to see her.

“What did you do?” Was Aubrey’s greeting.

“I didn’t do anything!” Beca replied, her relief quickly replaced by defensiveness. “Did you do something?”

“She was fine when I left this morning,” Aubrey said. “And you’re the one who’s been home with her all day.”

Beca frowned, her bottom lip getting caught between her teeth as she resumed pacing, tapping her phone against her chin with a little more force now.

“I’ve been working,” she said. “I haven’t really seen her. I walked past the bathroom on my way to make coffee and I heard her crying in there. She wouldn’t tell me what was wrong.” She ran her free hand through her hair before turning to Aubrey. “I don’t know what I did.”

Aubrey felt herself soften. She hadn’t really thought Beca was to blame, but hearing that her girlfriend had locked herself in the bathroom had caused her to panic. It wasn’t typical Chloe Beale behaviour. 

“I’m sure it wasn’t you,” Aubrey said. “I’m sorry I said that.”

Beca nodded and stopped pacing, allowing Aubrey to put an arm around her and squeeze her into a side hug. She pressed her lips against the side of Beca’s head and Beca felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. 

“I’m going to see if she’ll let me in,” Aubrey said. 

She knocked on the bathroom door. 

“Chlo’? It’s Aubrey, can I come in?” 

There was a pause followed by the sound of the lock sliding across the door. 

Beca tried not to feel hurt as Aubrey opened the bathroom door and closed it behind her. 

She left them to it, heading for the kitchen in order to try and make herself feel useful. She started cleaning because that’s what she did when she needed to clear her head. 

She was still getting used to this… thing she had with Aubrey and Chloe. She was still trying to shake the feeling that, one day soon, Aubrey and Chloe would realise they were better off just the two of them. She was still waiting to get her heart broken. She was trying to prepare for it as if that would make it hurt less when it finally happened. 

And she tried to believe it when her girlfriends told her they loved her, but sometimes she felt like they were all living in some kind of dream. She was worried about what would happen when they woke up. 

It had been almost a year now since the three of them had started dating. It had started at a party to celebrate Aubrey’s return to Barden and to christen her new apartment (Chloe’s idea, of course.)

A drunk Aubrey had found an even drunker Beca hiding in her new guest bedroom, trying to act like she hadn’t been crying.

Aubrey joined her on the floor. 

“It’s hard, isn’t it?” Aubrey asked, sitting beside Beca and staring ahead at the closed door. “Watching her flirt with everything that moves.” 

“Yeah,” Beca replied, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “How long?”

“Since freshman year,” Aubrey said. “You?”

“Same,” Beca said. 

This wasn’t the first time they’d recognised their own pain reflected back at them, but it was the first time they’d addressed it. 

“How screwed are we?” Beca asked. 

“We fell in love with our best friend years ago and it never went away,” Aubrey said. “I think we’re pretty much fucked.”

The sound of Aubrey cursing always made Beca laugh, and she let her head drop onto Aubrey’s shoulder. 

Beca doesn’t remember who kissed who first, but it seemed like no time at all had passed between this quiet conversation and Aubrey pulling Beca’s shirt over her head. 

It might have ended after a heated makeout session. 

It might have ended after a drunken one-night stand that they never spoke of again. 

It might have been just a one-time thing. 

Had Chloe not opened the door to the guest room. 

She didn’t say anything at first, she simply looked at them both with something in her eyes that neither of them had seen directed at them before. 

She quietly closed the door behind her and leaned against it, observing them both in their half-dressed state. Their lipstick was smeared and their cheeks and chests were flushed, their breathing was laboured and the silence in the room grew heavier. 

“Room for one more?” She asked. 

Aubrey and Beca looked at each other and an understanding passed between them. 

If this was their only chance, they’d take it. 

Even if it would hurt more tomorrow. 

Even if it would fundamentally change their friendship. 

They both nodded, and Beca’s hand stretched out towards Chloe who responded with a grin that made Beca blush. She locked the door before she closed the gap between them. 

No more words were spoken, and once it was done they all but passed out on the bed in Aubrey’s guest room. They could hear the party raging on without them, but none of them felt inclined to rejoin it. 

In the silence, Beca felt herself starting to spiral. 

God, what had they done? What had she done? How could they ever come back from this?

She sat up, her heart beating uncomfortably in her chest. 

A hand ran up her back, and Beca turned to see it belonged to Aubrey. 

Chloe was already asleep on top of her, her head on her chest, red hair splayed out.

“Stay,” Aubrey said. “Please.”

Beca swallowed and looked at the tears shining in Aubrey’s eyes. 

“It wasn’t just Chloe I fell in love with,” Beca said. 

“I know,” Aubrey replied. “Me too.”

Beca let out a soft laugh as the tears building in her eyes spilled over and down her cheeks. 

“What have we done?”

“I don’t regret it,” Aubrey said, her hand still lightly running up and down Beca’s back. “Do you?”

Beca shook her head. 

“So stay,” Aubrey said, coaxing Beca back down onto the bed. 

Beca stayed.

And almost 12 months later, here they were. 

Beca had unloaded the last of the dishes from the dishwasher when Chloe finally emerged from the bathroom. 

She’d been so deep in her thoughts that she jumped when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist.

She didn’t have to look down to know that it was Chloe hugging her. She could tell their hugs apart by now.

“I’m sorry,” Chloe said, her voice muffled by Beca’s back. 

“Why are you sorry?” Beca asked. 

“For not letting you in,” Chloe said. “For making you think you did something wrong.”

“You don’t have to be sorry,” Beca said. She turned around in Chloe’s arms so she could hug her properly. “Do you wanna tell me what happened?”

“I had a fight with my Mom,” Chloe said, her voice now muffled by Beca’s chest.

“I’m sorry Chlo’,” Beca said. “What kind of fight?”

“She… She told me not to come home for Christmas,” Chloe said.

“What? How come?” Beca asked even though she was sure she knew the answer already. 

“Because of us,” Aubrey said, entering the kitchen with a frown on her face. 

It was the same reason why Beca wasn’t going home for Christmas. The same reason Aubrey wasn’t. 

“Oh,” Beca said. “That sucks, Chloe. I’m sorry.”

Chloe shook her head. “I thought my Mom was better than that. I thought she’d understand.”

Beca held her tighter and pressed a kiss against her head. 

Beca and Aubrey hadn’t been surprised by their families’ reactions to them not having one but two girlfriends. They’d both been prepared for the heated conversations and the refusal of acceptance. 

Chloe, however, had been confident that her family would be cool with it. They’d never had a problem with her sexuality before, and both Aubrey and Beca had stayed with them previously and had always been welcomed with open arms. 

After Beca and Aubrey had told Chloe they wouldn’t be going home for Christmas this year, Chloe insisted they join her. 

She had been so sure it would be fine. 

“I thought she knew about us?” Beca asked after a few minutes of silence. 

“She thought I’d been joking,” Chloe said, her voice strained. She finally ended their hug and grabbed a paper towel to wipe her eyes. “I asked if you could both come for Christmas and she said yes but wanted to know why. I told her about your families not being cool about us, and she… She said she thought it had been a joke. She said she didn’t understand and things got heated. She told me maybe it would be best if I didn’t come home this year.”

“She said you could go on your own,” Aubrey said. “Just not with us.”

“Which I’m obviously not going to do.”

“Chlo’, Christmas is your favourite holiday. If you want to spend it with your family then you can, you know that right?” Beca said, glancing at Aubrey who nodded. 

“I don’t want to do that,” Chloe said. “Not now that I know that’s how she feels. And I don’t want to spend it without you both.”

Beca glanced at Aubrey again, who gave her a half-shrug. 

“Well, since all our parents suck, I guess we’ll have to do our own Christmas,” Beca said. 

Chloe sniffed, the beginnings of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. 

“Yeah?” She asked, looking at Aubrey for confirmation. 

“Absolutely,” Aubrey said. 

“Can we get a tree?” Chloe asked.

“Yeah,” Beca said. “I figured we’d have gotten one anyway.”

“And Christmas dinner?”

“If Beca promises not to cook,” Aubrey said. 

“Rude.”

Chloe laughed and the heavy feeling in her chest started to lift. “Matching Christmas pyjamas?”

“Let’s not get crazy,” Beca said, and Chloe pouted, which caused Beca to roll her eyes and relent. “Fine.”

Relieved that, for now, the emergency seemed to be over, Aubrey kissed both her girlfriends on the cheeks and returned to work. 

“Do you have to go back to work?” Chloe asked once Aubrey had left. 

Beca checked the time on her phone and then shook her head. “I can call it a day. Do you need to study or anything?”

Chloe thought about the piles of veterinary textbooks piled up on the dining room table before she also shook her head. “I’m not going to be able to concentrate right now anyway. Come watch a movie with me?”

Beca rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. “Sure,” she said. “And since my cooking apparently sucks, we can order pizza for dinner.”

Chloe giggled and pulled Beca into the lounge. “You’re a great cook.”

“Tell that to Aubrey.”

“She just thinks you put too much garlic in everything,” Chloe said as they dropped onto the couch and Chloe searched in the seat cushions for the remote. 

“There’s literally no such thing,” Beca said, lifting her arm so Chloe could cuddle into her side. “Do you think she might be a vampire?”

“That would explain why she sleeps upside down like a bat.”

Chloe felt Beca’s laugh vibrate through her chest, and it made her smile. She cuddled her tighter, and Beca responded by kissing the top of her head. 

“Can I ask,” Beca said after a while, the movie playing quietly in the background, “why didn’t you tell me what was going on earlier? Why did you let Aubrey in and not me? I’m not mad or anything, I just want to know if it was something I did.”

Chloe didn’t respond immediately, and Beca felt that fear creep into her chest again. 

“Aubrey isn��t really a Christmas person,” Chloe said. “At college, she never really went home for it, and when she was in New York she didn’t either. She isn’t big on family gatherings. Well, you met the Posens at her graduation, you know what they’re like.”

Beca could agree with that.

“But you… you seemed really sad when you told me that you weren’t going home for Christmas. And then when I invited you to come to my parents’ place, you looked so happy,” Chloe said. “I didn’t want to disappoint you when I told you that we weren’t going anymore.”

“Chloe,” Beca said softly, the fear quickly being replaced by love and sadness for her girlfriend. Of course Chloe had been more worried about Beca being upset than herself. “I was happy because it meant I could spend Christmas with you and Aubrey. Don’t get me wrong, your parents are great. I mean, they were great, I’m not so sure now. But that wasn’t why I was looking forward to Christmas at their place. I was looking forward to spending it with the two people I love, and who love me back, and we still get to do that. You’re allowed to feel sad that you’re missing Christmas with your family, but I don’t want you to worry about me. And if you change your mind and decide that you do want to spend Christmas with them, without me and Aubrey, then that’s okay too.”

“I love you,” Chloe said, hugging her even tighter. 

“I love you too,” Beca said. “We’re gonna have an awesome Christmas together. I promise.”

-

December passed them in a blur of decorating, card-writing, gift-wrapping, and Christmas parties. 

Chloe’s Christmas to-do list seemed never-ending, but Beca and Aubrey weren’t about to complain. Not even when Chloe made them all wear matching Christmas sweaters with reindeer antlers so she could take a photo for her “digital Christmas cards”.

“It’s more environmentally friendly!” Chloe insisted. 

“And you forgot that it takes more than a week to make and send Christmas cards around the country,” Aubrey added in a low voice. 

But they didn’t care. Chloe could have dressed them up as elves and sent them out carol singing and they wouldn’t have complained. Not now that she finally seemed like herself again. 

Now that the endless phone calls from her family to get her to change her mind had stopped. 

“Unless you’re calling to apologise, I don’t want to hear from you!” 

Chloe had snapped during the last phone call with her Mom and had shut herself in the bathroom again. 

This time she let Beca in. Let Beca pull her into her chest while she sobbed. 

All three of them felt the pain of rejection. Of not being loved and accepted by the people who were supposed to love them the most. 

Aubrey dealt with it the way she always had, by pushing it down and trying to ignore it. She’d had decades of practice by this point in her life, and she was good at it. 

Beca was similar to Aubrey in that she rarely wore her emotions on her sleeve. If there was something wrong you wouldn’t know it unless you really knew her. Though rather than trying to ignore her feelings, Beca always channelled hers into her music. On bad days she would shut herself away in her small office and work on track after track until Chloe or Aubrey made her stop. 

Theo always said this was her best work, and she tried not to hate him for that. 

Chloe was the only one out of the three of them who really showed her emotions, and she had been the only one out of the three of them who’d been truly blindsided by her family’s reaction to her new relationship. 

She couldn’t believe this was the tipping point for them - that this had been the hill they had chosen to die on - but she was getting used to that ache in her chest.

Chloe broke up from veterinary school for winter break a few days before Christmas. Beca had finished work officially the day before, but that hadn’t stopped her answering emails and working on some tracks for most of the next day, which is why she was holed up in her office when Chloe got home. 

“You’re supposed to be on Christmas vacation,” Chloe said, making Beca jump. Chloe giggled and removed the headphones from around Beca’s neck before climbing into her lap. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Beca said, grinning. “Am I getting my Christmas present early?”

“Well, that depends,” Chloe said, her hands resting on Beca’s shoulders as Beca’s hands began moving up her back. “Have you been naughty or nice this year?”

“Naughty,” Beca said, unhooking Chloe’s bra with one deft hand. “Definitely naughty.”

Before either of them could say another word the intercom for their apartment buzzed. 

“Ignore it,” Beca said, trying to pull Chloe into a kiss. 

“I can’t,” Chloe said. “I’m still waiting on a bunch of stuff for you and Aubrey to get delivered.”

Chloe pulled away from Beca despite her grumbling that a neighbour could take the packages, and she hurried out of her office and to the intercom on the wall.

“Hello?” She said, pressing down the button. 

“Chloe? It’s, um, it’s Mom.”

Chloe froze.

“Can you let me in?”

Chloe jumped when she felt Beca’s hand on her back. 

“I can tell her to leave,” Beca said. “If you need me to.”

Chloe swallowed and then shook her head. She pressed the button which unlocked the door to the apartment building. 

She tried to re-fasten her bra but her hands started shaking. 

“Here,” Beca said, helping her. She pressed a light kiss against her shoulder. “Do you want me to stay?”

“Yeah,” Chloe said, taking her hand and squeezing. “Please.”

The wait for Chloe’s Mom to arrive at their apartment door seemed to go on forever, even though it couldn’t have been more than a minute.

Eventually, there was a tentative knock, and Chloe jumped again. 

She hesitated, and then she opened the door. 

Julia Beale was standing there, looking smaller than Beca remembered. She had Chloe’s red hair and clear blue eyes that were now shining with tears. 

Chloe stepped aside so her Mom could come in. 

Chloe was watching her with apprehension, her hand still held tightly in Beca’s. 

Julia looked at both of them. 

“Where’s Aubrey?” She asked. 

Chloe didn’t speak, so Beca answered for her. “She’s at work. She’ll be home soon.”

Julia nodded. “This is a nice place.”

“Mom, why are you here?” Chloe asked. 

“I, um, I wanted to say this to all of you, but I suppose you’ll pass the message onto Aubrey for me,” Julia said. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry. For what I said. For how I reacted when you told me about the three of you.”

Chloe didn’t know what to say. It had been what she’d been waiting to hear - what she’d been hoping to hear - and now that she was hearing it, she didn’t know how to react. 

“I don’t expect you to forgive me,” Julia said. “Not right away, anyway. But I wanted to say it. Before Christmas. And not over the phone, but face to face. I’m sorry, Chloe. I’m sorry, Beca.”

Beca nodded but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t her apology to accept, not really. 

“So… you accept us? You accept me?” Chloe asked, her voice catching on the second question. 

“I’ve always accepted you, Chloe,” Julia said. “This one just caught me by surprise, and I reacted too quickly, and too harshly. But if being with both Beca and Aubrey makes you happy, and if no one is getting hurt, then yes, I can accept this relationship.”

Chloe swallowed and let out a shaky breath, a weight lifting off her shoulders that she thought would be there forever. 

“Come give your Mom a hug?” 

Chloe squeezed Beca’s hand before letting go, and she quickly crossed the room so her Mom could pull her into a hug. 

“My baby,” she said softly. “I’ve missed you.”

“I've missed you too,” Chloe said, her voice breaking as she let the tears that had been building fall. 

Beca was beginning to feel like she was intruding, but just as she was about to leave their apartment door opened and Aubrey walked in. 

Her briefcase slipped out of her hand with a thud as she spotted Chloe and her Mom, and their hug ended. 

“Aubrey,” Julia said, smiling at the sight of her. 

“Mrs Beale,” Aubrey replied. She wasn’t smiling, but she wasn’t giving Chloe’s Mom one of her Posen death stares, so both Chloe and Beca took that as a win. 

“Why don’t you both go sit down, and I’ll make some coffee?” Beca said. “Aubrey can give me a hand in the kitchen.”

“Actually, I can’t stay long,” Julia said. “I have to catch my flight back home in a few hours.”

Chloe’s face fell, and the disappointment hit her hard in the stomach. 

“You have to leave already?”

“I didn’t know if you’d even want to see me,” Julia said. “I only booked one night in a hotel, and I was too nervous to come over last night.”

“Oh,” Chloe said, feeling weird at the thought that her Mom had been in Barden last night and all of today, but had waited until the last minute to come and see her. 

“I’m sorry,” Julia said. “I should have come as soon as I’d landed, but I chickened out.” 

“It’s okay,” Chloe said. “I’m glad you came over. I’m glad I got to see you even if it was only for a little while.”

Julia smiled, and Beca had to look away. 

She could hear the heartbreak in Chloe’s voice, and she couldn’t understand how Julia didn’t. 

Aubrey heard it too, and her hand found Beca’s quickly. 

“Before I go,” Julia said. “I wanted to ask if you’d come home for Christmas? I, um, I booked an extra return ticket. No pressure, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get a refund,” she added with a nervous laugh. 

Chloe looked over at Beca and Aubrey, and Beca gave her what she hoped was a supportive smile. 

“Beca and Aubrey too?”

Julia’s face fell.

“Well, the ticket wasn’t cheap, so I only got-”

“They can get their own tickets,” Chloe said, cutting her off. “But does the invitation extend to my girlfriends?”

Julia swallowed. “I… I don’t think it’s a good idea this year. You know what your grandparents are like…. Maybe this year, you could just come home by yourself?”

Aubrey squeezed Beca’s hand, and Beca squeezed it back. 

Neither of them were expecting an invite, but they both felt something like disappointment settle in their chests. They were both already quietly mourning the Christmas they’d planned together.

Beca thought about the collection of gifts under their tree, and how Chloe had been poking and prodding at them for a week now. 

Aubrey thought about all the food they had bought only a few days ago. About all the recipes she’d collected over the last few weeks so that she’d be prepared to make the best Christmas dinner she could. She’d even been excited to fight with Beca in the kitchen.

They both waited for Chloe to look at them again. For her to ask if they would be okay with her going home. They hoped their voices would be steady. Supportive. They hoped their voices wouldn’t betray them. 

“I’m sorry, Mom,” Chloe said. “I’m not leaving them behind.”

“Chloe,” Aubrey said, softly. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I know,” Chloe said, turning to look at them. “I told you, I don’t want to spend Christmas without you. Without either of you.”

“Chloe,” Julia said, “it’s Christmas. You should spend it with your family.”

“That’s what I am doing,” Chloe said. “Beca and Aubrey are my family too. They’re the ones who have stuck by me, who cheered me up when I was down, and who held me when I cried. I love them, and they love me, and they are the ones I want to wake up next to on Christmas morning.” She gave her Mom a hug. “Thank you for coming all this way, and thank you for apologising. I’ll come home for a visit in January, and maybe we can talk more then?”

Julia looked disappointed, but she knew there was no talking Chloe out of this. 

“Okay. Call me on Christmas morning?” She asked. 

“Of course,” Chloe said.

Julia hugged her again, relieved to have her daughter back in her life, even if she wouldn’t get her at Christmas. 

“Love you, sweetheart,” she said. 

“Love you too, Mom,” Chloe replied. 

Chloe was quiet after her Mom left. 

She was curled up on the sofa, a movie playing quietly in the background. 

“Her flight doesn’t leave for another hour,” Beca said, taking a seat beside her on the sofa. “If you left now, you might make it.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Chloe said. “Do you want me to leave?”

“No,” Beca said. “Of course not. But… you’re sad, Chlo’.”

“A little,” Chloe said. “But I’d have been even sadder if I was sitting on that plane right now without you and Aubrey with me. When I think about leaving here without you both, about leaving you and our little Christmas we had planned behind, it makes me want to cry.”

Beca smiled and leaned over to press a kiss on her head. Chloe adjusted her position so her head was in Beca’s lap.

Aubrey joined them on the sofa, and Chloe lifted her legs so they went across Aubrey’s thighs. 

“I’m glad you stayed,” Aubrey said. 

“Me too,” Beca said. 

“I would never have left you guys,” Chloe said. “You know that, right?”

Beca and Aubrey shared a glance. 

Sometimes it was like they could read each other’s mind.

“We hoped,” Aubrey said. “But we didn’t know.”

 Chloe frowned, and Beca began running her hand through Chloe’s hair. 

“The people who are meant to love us haven’t always done the best job,” Beca said. “So now we’re prepared for disappointment. We’ve learned not to get our hopes up so we don’t get hurt.”

“And it’s not that we think you’d hurt us,” Aubrey added. “It’s just that, for us, keeping your expectations low is the best way to protect yourself.”

Chloe shook her head. “It’s no wonder you guys hated each other when you first met. You’re so damn similar.”

“It’s also probably why we both fell in love with little miss sunshine as soon as she batted her eyelashes,” Beca said, causing Chloe to laugh and whack her playfully on the leg. 

A comfortable silence fell, and Beca felt herself begin to relax. 

Chloe wasn’t going to change her mind and leave. 

She and Aubrey weren’t going to realise they were better off without her.

She wasn’t going to be left on her own with only the memory of the love they made her feel. 

“I’m really glad you stayed,” Beca said, smiling as Aubrey put a hand on her thigh, reading her mind as always. 

“I was always going to stay. I am always going to stay,” Chloe said.