Every Day [Bechloe Fan Fiction]

9) The One Where There's Tension

Fat Amy soon realised that it was a slow process getting Beca back to health. Although she was now conscious a lot of the time, she still got confused and panicked. She also slept every three hours or so.

Amy spent almost all of her time looking after Beatrice and Alice, while Susan looked after Beca. She didn't mind, but she knew Beatrice was much happier at the times when she was with her mum, compared to her time spent with Amy. It didn't matter how much their relationship grew, Beatrice needed her mother.

Beatrice seemed to resemble Beca in almost every aspect of her personality. She was strong willed and stubborn whenever she disagreed with anyone. But she wanted to be liked and tried her best to please everyone - especially her stern Aunt Susan. Fat Amy's favourite thing about getting to know Bea though was how funny she was. Everything could be turned into a game, leading to no end of giggles. That part was nothing like Beca. Amy wondered if it was how Beca had been as a child. The thought gave her hope.

The little girl spent her nights asleep in Beca's bed, crawling in there after everyone else was sleep. Susan would have to get up in the early hours in the morning to remove her, just in case Beca hurt her in her sleep. According to Susan, Beca had vivid nightmares and a tendancy to lash out.

Not much had changed since Fat Amy and Beca's talk, much to Amy's disappointment. She had hoped that Beca would be up again by the next day. It wasn't until they were all eating dinner at Susan's kitchen table when a surprising thing happened.

"Hey, can I join you?" A familiar voice croaked out from the corridor. Everybody turned to see Beca shuffling into the room, forcing a smile at them.

"Momma!" Beatrice squealed and flew into Beca's arms before anyone could stop her, almost knocking Beca over. Beca just laughed, clutching her daughter tightly.

"Hey, how's my favourite girl? I haven't seen you much today," Beca replied. Beatrice mumbled something about Beca being asleep all the time, but everyone chose to ignore it.

"How are you?" Susan asked, smiling.

"Better," Beca nodded. "My head's feeling much clearer."

"Did you have a head cold, Aunt Beca?" Alice asked, her face a picture of worry. The adults all laughed, touched by her expression.

"Something like that, Al," Beca agreed with a kind smile.

Susan began setting another place at the table, in between Beatrice and Fat Amy.

Beatrice held her mother's hand tightly throughout the whole meal, making in hard for the little girl to eat. No matter how hard anyone tried, she refused to let go. She seemed convinced that if she were to, Beca would slip away again.

Beca herself mostly stayed quiet through the meal. She just sat, listening to everybody else discuss their day. She felt disconnect to the world, out of place. That was nothing new, but even her own daughter felt slightly too far away, just out of reach. Fat Amy, a person who had been in Bea's life barely more than a week, knew more about what she was up to than Beca herself did.

Eventually, when the meal was finished, Beca took both the girls up to Alice's room and read to them for the rest of the evening. Fat Amy and Susan left her too it.

"She finds it hard," Susan said quietly as they were doing the dishes. "Missing out on parts of Bea's life..."

Fat Amy was so stunned that Susan had willingly shared this information with her that she didn't reply. She just stared at Susan, her mouth slightly open. Susan looked over at Fat Amy when she didn't answer, frowning slightly.

"You okay?" She asked, her voice a little judging, as usual.

"Um, yeah," Fat Amy cleared her throat. "Must be hard." She paused, desperate to ask the glaringly obvious question.

"What?" Susan said, raising her eyebrow again, hand on one hip.

"Why doesn't she fix it?" Fat Amy blurted out. Susan shot daggers back immediately. Fat Amy put up her hands in protest. "I mean, if she hates it that much, why doesn't she see a doctor?"

Susan rolled her eyes, like Fat Amy was the most incompetent person she had ever met, and went back to the dishes. Fat Amy looked at her despairingly, furious at herself for losing the opportunity to talk to Susan.

For several long minutes, Fat Amy stood in silence beside the woman, doing the dishes. All the while, she got madder and madder at Susan for her rudeness.

"You know what," she suddenly snapped, throwing her towel on the side. "I've been trying my best to help, but all you are so rude to me. Why? I didn't do anything?!" Susan ignored her, which only aggravated Fat Amy more. "It's a valid question! If you're really Beca's friend, you'd have taken her to sought herself out!"

Susan spun around, looking like it was taking every ounce of her strength not to slap Amy. However, she gave off the sense that she was totally in control of the situation at the same time. Susan possessed the power to make everyone else in the room with her feel like an idiot, just by looking at them in her signature style.

"So I suppose, Fat Amy, that you are a 'real friend'. Correct?" She asked, her voice measured. 

"Yeah," Fat Amy nodded, trying not to stammer.

"Then where have you been, Miss Real Friend?" She said simply. With that, she turned and left the room.

Fat Amy watched her go in horror. She couldn't argue with that. Where had she been? With Bumper, trying to focus of their relationship and their careers. But not with Beca, who had very clearly needed her. Not really with anybody else from the old days, a few messages here and there over the years, but that was it. They all saw each other on occasions, but they had also all started to drift apart.

"Wait!" she cried, chasing after Susan. Susan was standing at the bottom of the stairs, clearly about to go to to see Beca and the girls. She didn't bother to wait for Fat Amy to say anything else.

"The reason Beca doesn't see a doctor," Susan stated patronisingly. "Is because reliving it is much more painful for her than suffering with the consequences."

With that, Susan continued upstairs. Fat Amy watched her go, feeling like she might cry.

Relive what?