Flynntrust13 - The healing process definitely continues :) Thank you so much for your continued support during this fic. I hope you enjoy the conclusion!

RJRMovieFan - I'm so glad you appreciated the last chapter. I really couldn't just wrap it all up nicely in a bow when there is still so much healing that needed to be done. And who said anything about not having a fairytale ending ;) Thank you so much for your kind words and your continued support during this fic. I hope you enjoy the conclusion!

Jody1990 - Bechloe is endgame for sure :) Thank you so much for your continued support during this fic. I hope you enjoy the conclusion!

Icedragone - Maybe we can get that :'( to :') after this chapter ;) Thank you so much for your continued support during this fic. I hope you enjoy the conclusion!

Guest (Jul 29) - Hopefully I can repair your heart this time around! Hmmm... a hint for you... how about three random words that apply to the story, plus the summary at the end?: Heart, baby, family. Hehehe I know that's not much but the first chapter will be up before you know it! Thank you so much for your continued support during this fic. I hope you enjoy the conclusion!

Dark-and-twisted-mind-2.0 - Thank you so much for your kind words! Hahaha I hope you were able to keep the tears in so you didn't ruin your rep ;) Thank you so much for your continued support during this fic. I hope you enjoy the conclusion!

Iluvtvshows - Hopefully a fantastic Bechloe ending is on your way, or maybe a mediocre one hahaha. Thank you so much for your continued support during this fic. I hope you enjoy the conclusion!


Epilogue – Chapter 26

Content Warning: Referenced/implied abusive relationship

Callie has never really had a great relationship with sleep. Not since she was little, blissfully unaware of the evils of the world.

Now, at eighteen, any little anxiety-inducing event keeps her awake at night. Just like her mom.

Tonight is no different. Certainly not with the envelope laying open on her desk. The one that has been taunting her since she got it from the mailbox this afternoon.

The content of the letter isn't important. Callie barely skimmed it before shoving it back into the envelope it came in, the one without a sender's name but with a return address printed boldly in the upper left-hand corner.

But it's still eating at Callie, trying to decide what, if anything, she should write in response.

And no, she will not be telling her mom of this correspondence. Not now – later, sure. But not this weekend.

Callie lets out a heavy sigh, running her hands over her face in exasperation, before sitting up in bed. She took up journaling when she was thirteen and her therapist suggested it. Maybe this will be a similar experience.

It's not likely, but a girl can dream.

She leans over the side of her bed to grab one of her new notebooks from the bag beneath her desk. She can still hear Henry on the computer with his friends even at the late hour – something Beca certainly wouldn't approve of if she were half-focused on anything besides the events that are set to occur tomorrow.

Not that she should be. If anyone deserves it, it's Beca.

After turning her light on, Callie flips to a blank page. She takes a deep breath and puts her pen to the line:

Dear Theo,

I'm not sure what you thought you'd accomplish by sending your letter. Quite frankly, I'm not even sure why you did because I barely read it the first time around and it likely won't receive a second. You have a lot of nerve contacting me – and don't think that my mom won't be finding out about it either. After I finish writing this, I look forward to never having to correspond with you again.

We're happier than we have ever been. Not that you even deserve to know, but Mama rebuilt her entire life after we left you and has done everything in her power to make Henry and me safe, happy, and healthy. It's because of her strength, courage, and love for us, that we are living the best possible lives we could be living.

Tears burn at the back of Callie's eyes and she hastily blinks them away. She learned a long time ago that Theo is the last person on this planet that deserves her tears.

But still, it's hard not to get emotional when she thinks about her mom and everything that Beca has done for her and Henry. It has been a little over ten years since they arrived in New York City that fateful night after Beca packed up their entire lives and flew across the country by herself. It's a story that Callie hears every once and a while, but one she knows will forever be a part of her history, her mom's history, and her family's history.

Through these ten years, Callie, herself, has had the highest highs and the lowest lows.

Henry has had the highest highs and the lowest lows.

And Beca, most of all, has had the highest highs and the lowest lows.

Yet, through it all, Beca has triumphed. She has constantly put Callie and Henry's needs over her own. She has fought, valiantly, for a return to some sort of normalcy; a return to happiness. She has made sacrifice after sacrifice, ones that Callie will never be able to fully repay her for, but the same ones that she will spend the rest of her life trying to do just that.

I'm not really sure what you thought you would be getting out of sending this letter, or what you are looking for in a response. I'm not sure if you're looking for information about us, about me and Henry, or just searching for some way to get back into our lives. I'm not telling you the minute details of the last ten years, nor will I tell you what is to come for all of us. What I will tell you, is this:

Henry is fourteen. He's a freshman in high school. He skipped the third grade because he was too advanced for the class. He reads more than anyone I have ever known, and he's smarter than most adults.

And he's happy. He's a happy kid, with a happy and carefree life, with almost zero memory of you or anything that you've put us through. He knows that he once had a poor excuse for a father who put his mom through hell, but he doesn't remember any of his early childhood when you were still around. I've never been more grateful for that.

I wish I could say the same for myself. I spent years trying to undo all of the trauma that you put me through. Sleepless nights, fear of being away from my mom for too long, panic attacks that creeped up on me at the most unsuspecting of moments. The horrible memories of you showing up at home, drunk and screaming and threatening to throw yourself through the glass door, coupled with the uncertainty of what you put my mom through. I wish that I wasn't able to remember all of that. I wish I didn't still see your face at some of my scariest moments or hear your voice in the depths of some of my worst nightmares. I wish, more than anything, that I never met you. That I didn't have a connection to you. That I didn't still think about you occasionally, or just wonder why. Why you are the way that you are, why you did everything that you did.

Yet, I've long since realized that the answer to those questions is quite simple. Because you are a horrible, horrible man who never deserved to have been given the opportunity to be the husband of the most amazing, courageous woman that my mom is. You never deserved to have been given the opportunity to be a father to me and Henry. And you will never deserve to have the chance to be back in our lives.

Callie's hand shakes as she places a period at the end of her sentence. Frustration boils inside of her, but another part of her feels lighter than it has all day. She gets lighter and lighter as she finishes the letter, and that lightness upon its final completion, coupled with her ever-increasing state of drowsiness, is what causes her eyes to drift closed, her head to slouch to the side, and her breathing to become deeper, as she succumbs to sleep.


The next morning, Beca Mitchell wakes with a soft smile on her face. She stretches out underneath her covers before pulling the comforter back up over her shoulders, curling into herself as she tries to ignore the empty space beside her. It's been a while since she's slept by herself, and despite knowing what today will bring, there is still a small ache in her heart as she feels the cool spot on the mattress.

But that ache is quickly replaced with a flutter. The same flutter that she is overcome by every time she thinks of the person that occupies that space.

Every time she thinks of Chloe.

Chloe, who has stuck by her side through thick and thin, never once wavering in her support.

Chloe, who waited, just like she promised she would, for two years until Beca was ready to take her out on that first date.

(They went to the cheap, hole-in-the-wall pizza place that they had found on their first night in New York City as recent grads, sitting in the corner booth until closing time).

Chloe, who stepped in and became a second mom to her kids; someone that Callie and Henry have grown to love and care for as such. One that they trust, one that they can go to about anything.

Chloe, who waited another six years for Beca to feel ready to propose.

Chloe, who is going to marry Beca today in less than twelve hours.

Beca feels a smile break through at the thought that she is finally getting the chance to marry her best friend.

It's about time.

The road has been long and windy; bumpy to say the least. Beca certainly hasn't made it easy, and Chloe, too, has had her moments. But the work that both women put in, is proving to be well worth it.

Obviously.

Pulling her hair up into a bun, Beca slips out of bed and makes her way across the bedroom to the hall. She takes a deep breath, inhaling the early August air that has sneaked through the open windows of the second floor of the house that they moved into when Callie started high school. The four bedroom, three bath beautiful house in the suburbs outside of the city, the one where Beca wouldn't mind spending the rest of her days. She feels like she's floating on this…this cloud of happiness. One filled with all of the great memories that her and her family have had over the last ten years and supplemented by thoughts of the great memories that they will make together over the next decade.

She can't wait to see what the future holds for them.

Slipping into Henry's bedroom as quietly as possible, Beca can't help but smirk at her son's slumped over body still sitting at his desk. Henry's head is laying on his keyboard, his mouth open and his headphones askew on top of his head. His bed remains undisturbed, still made from the day before, and the early morning light is streaming through his parted curtains.

Beca lays her hand gently on Henry's back, drawing circles on his pajama shirt just like she has done since he was a baby. "Henry…time to wake up, monkey."

Henry groans, his head rolling so that the keys snap back to attention. He blinks heavily, looking up in slight confusion and he tries to figure out what is going on, while Beca stifles a laugh from the imprint on his cheek. "Morning already?"

Beca glances at the stack of library books on his desk, all of them filled with computer jargon that she knows she will never be able to understand. "Mhmm. Up late again last night?"

Henry smiles sheepishly, the same half-smile that his sister consistently uses as well. "Just a bit. Happy wedding day, Mama."

Beca pulls him into a hug, pressing a kiss into the top of her son's head. "Thank you, baby. I'm going to wake up Callie if you want to hurry and claim the first shower."

Eyes widening, Henry springs into action. He gives Beca another quick hug, before grabbing his towel from the back of the door and heading down to the bathroom that he shares with Callie.

Chuckling to herself, Beca follows Henry's path, but takes a detour into Callie's room, just like she said she was going to. It's hard to believe that Callie is going to be moving into college in just three short weeks. She has grown into an amazing young woman, one who excels in school and who has hopes of starting her own shelter for survivors of domestic violence.

Beca could not be prouder.

Unlike her brother's room, Callie's room actually looks like somewhere that a person has been sleeping. Her curtains are tightly drawn, and Callie is fast asleep underneath a single sheet. What causes Beca to pause, though, is the notebook and pencil on her bedside table.

Callie has always been an overachiever, but doing homework, late at night, during the summer before school has even started, is a little strange.

Upon looking more closely, though, Beca quickly realizes that it isn't homework.

Emotions that she has spent years trying to work through instantly spring to the forefront of her mind as she reads over Callie's writing, quickly figuring out that it is in response to the envelope that is laying open on her desk. Shaking her head to herself, Beca continues to read through the letter, tears pricking at the back of her eyes as she feels the passion behind Callie's words. The protectiveness.

She has to dig her teeth into her lip to keep herself from actually crying and waking Callie up when she reaches the end.

Yet, I've long since realized that the answer to those questions is quite simple. Because you are a horrible, horrible man who never deserved to have been given the opportunity to be the husband of the most amazing, courageous woman that my mom is. You never deserved to have been given the opportunity to be a father to me and Henry. And you will never deserve to have the chance to be back in our lives.

Most importantly, you will never deserve the chance to be back in my mom's life. She has spent the last decade healing from all of the pain and suffering that you put her – and us – through. To put it simply, she is thriving. After years of trying to escape the mental hold that you had on her, she has finally found her happiness. She's getting married to the love of her life. Someone that actually loves and cherishes her. Her best friend.

Someone that I am proud to have in our family. Someone that loves us. All of us. And treats us as such.

Before you try thinking about a way to contact me again, you should know that I'll be reapplying for the restraining order now that the one Mama has no longer covers me because of my age. So, lose this address, stop hiring private investigators to find us, and don't ever think about contacting me, or Henry, or my mom, ever again.

I've said all that I ever want to say to you.

Callie Mitchell

Of course, there's a part of Beca that is furious about the fact that somehow, Theo managed to find their address and contact her daughter. Of course, there's some underlying fear, though she has long suspected that he would try and contact the kids – and that's something that will need to be remedied.

But most importantly, Beca is glad that Callie has finally – after years of waiting – gotten the chance to have some closure. Closure that she has always thought the kids would go looking for.

Hopefully, Callie will come to Beca to talk to her about the letter, but Beca will wait until she's ready. And Beca will not pressure her to talk about it before she is.

Closing the notebook and laying it back on Callie's bedside table, Beca sits delicately on the edge of the mattress. She brushes her fingers across Callie's forehead. "Cal… it's time to get up, bug."

Callie groans just like Beca does when she wakes, but she scrunches her nose just like Chloe always does. She slowly opens her eyes and instantly smiles up at Beca. "Morning, Mama."

"How'd you sleep?"

Callie shrugs, but Beca can see as her daughter's eyes flick hesitantly to the notebook on her bedside table. She doesn't make any effort to say anything about it, though. "Alright. What about you? Ready for your big day?"

Beca brushes a piece of hair behind Callie's ear. "So ready. What about you?"

Callie chuckles, rubbing her eye with the palm of her hand. "For sure. What time's Mom coming back over?"

Beca's heart does that little flutter again at Callie referring to Chloe as 'Mom'. It's something that Henry has done for longer than she has, Henry starting when he was around eleven and her and Chloe had been dating for a little while, and Callie following around her junior year of high school.

Beca will never forget how happy Chloe had been the first time she heard both of the kids say that ultra-special title.

"Around three. She's getting ready over at Aubrey and Stacie's. Then she'll come back here for pictures and the ceremony will be at four-thirty."

"Pictures – your favorite."

Beca shrugs. "Hey, pictures with my favorite people? I'd do it for hours."

Callie snorts, sitting up straighter in bed. She pauses, falling quiet for a second, before asking, "are you excited?"

Beca reaches over to give her daughter a quick kiss on the forehead. "So excited. Come on, we need to get ready before the hair people are here."

All Beca can hear is her daughter's groan of protest in response.


Before asking Chloe to marry her, Beca had made a promise to herself.

She promised that she was doing this for her. Not for anyone else.

The thought of marriage was one that used to terrify her. One that triggered wave after wave of anxiety and PTSD symptoms. Something that she swore she would never do again.

Then, she realized that the thought of not marrying Chloe – of not making the promise of being a lifelong partner, a bond that is made with undying love, compassion, and support – hurt her more.

She wanted to take that next step with Chloe. She wanted to take that leap, the one that she never thought she would take again.

And though it took some time – years, in fact – Beca can say with absolute certainty that she is so glad that she did.

Because standing in her backyard, dressed in her white suit with Henry standing behind her and Callie standing beside her, all in front of their friends and family as the sun begins to set behind the trees, Beca is hard pressed to find a time where she felt happier.

Correction: when she sees Chloe standing in her wedding dress at the end of their make-shift aisle, her parents on either side of her, that is the happiest – and luckiest – she has ever felt.

Chloe looks beautiful, standing there, her red hair outlined with the faintest of grays, getting longer and longer as the years pass. Her eyes are still as bright as always, but they are soft with years of living. But her smile. Her smile is the brightest of all.

Beca can't help but smile in the same exact way.

It feels like it takes hours for Chloe to finally get to where she can give Henry a hug and a tender kiss on his cheek, and then does the same to Callie, each of them making remarks about how beautiful she looks – with Chloe returning the sentiments to the kids. And then, when she is standing right across from Beca with Aubrey standing behind her, tears already collecting in her eyes, Chloe finally meets Beca's gaze.

"Hi."

Beca smirks. "Hi, Chlo."

Chloe's voice cracks, her emotions coming in full force. "You look beautiful."

Beca's whisper is reverent. "Not as beautiful as you."

Chloe reaches out to take Beca's hand, offering it a soft squeeze, mouthing, I love you.

I love you, too.

Callie waits as long as she can for her moms to have their moment, before lightly clearing her throat. She speaks softly. "Are we ready to get started?"

Beca nods, her voice becoming too thick to answer.

"Great." Callie laughs along with the rest of the audience, Stacie, Emily, Bella, and Karla in the front row, with the rest of the Bellas right behind them. Some members of Chloe's immediate family are there as well, all of them proud to be welcoming Beca and the kids – officially – into the Beale ranks. "So, I've never been to a wedding before and because of that, when my Mama asked me to officiate the ceremony, I was a little intimidated."

"But then I remembered a conversation that we had had back when I was around nine years old. The outcome of that conversation was a little messier than I could have ever predicted, because, let's be honest, I was nine and definitely did not know exactly what happened in the world of adults, but that being said, I do remember what my Mama told me. She said that when you marry someone, you love them so much that you can't imagine your life without them.

"And I remember thinking that if you can't imagine your life without someone, that love must be really strong. I mean, at that time, I knew that I could never imagine my life without my Mama or Henry, and that love was really strong. But here my Mama was telling me that you can develop this… this passion for someone that you aren't even related to, that you can't imagine your life without. I was confused, to say the least, especially for a nine-year-old. But over the years, as I have watched Beca and Chloe become closer, as I have watched their love reignite and become so powerful that they have overcome every single challenge that life has thrown at them – I have finally been able to see this ever-so-powerful, soul-mate type of love."

Callie takes a deep breath, blinking away the few tears that have started to gather in the corner of her eyes. She looks between Beca and Chloe, both of whom are clinging on to each other's hands with such a tight grip, that Callie is sure nothing can break them apart.

Literally and figuratively.

"Since I was a kid, I have watched my moms go through hell. They have fought tooth and nail to be together, working both independently and jointly to overcome the challenges that had previously prohibited them from being together, as the universe has always intended. I have watched my Mama slowly begin to place her trust in someone else, and I have watched my Mom work valiantly to be someone who my Mama could place her trust in. I have watched them rebuild their relationship from the ground up – one that has a long, long history that I can only get sneak peaks of when Aunt Aubrey has a little too much to drink."

Laughs erupt from the crowd once more, with Aubrey's cheeks flushing a humored red.

"But, most of all, I have watched my moms build the life that they both deserve, and I am so proud to be able to stand up here today, under the license I obtained from some slightly sketchy website and be able to officially marry them. Before we get to that, though, I know that both Beca and Chloe have some things they would like to share with each other. Mom, do you want to start?"

"Wow, okay, Cal… thanks so much for that." Chloe lets out a light laugh, fanning her eyes with her hand as she tries desperately not to mess up her make-up. She blows out a light breath of air, shaking her head. She eventually locks eyes with Beca. "Bec… you are… my other half. You are the strongest, bravest, most amazing person, mother, and soon-to-be wife that I could ever have the privilege of even knowing, let alone getting the opportunity to marry. I am so, so grateful to be living this life with you, and I cannot believe how lucky I am to not only be able to call you my wife, my partner, but to be able to call your kids, our kids. I love you more than words can describe and I'm going to stop talking now before I completely lose it."

This time, it's Beca that lets out a teary laugh, releasing one of Chloe's hands to gently collect the tears off of Chloe's cheeks with her nail. When she's done, she grasps Chloe's hand again, bringing it up to her lips to give it a light kiss, before bringing it back down in between them.

Beca takes a deep breath, her heart fuller than it has ever been. "I don't know how I'm going to be able to follow that, but I'm just going to start by saying that I love you, Chloe. I have always loved you more than I can even fathom. You stood by me in the darkest periods of my life, and most importantly, you stood by our kids during the darkest periods of their lives, too. I will never be able to express how grateful I was for you back then, and how grateful I am for you today, and always. You are the only person that I have ever dreamed about spending my life with, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for us. I love you."

Chloe's eyes flutter closed, tears continuing to break free, with Beca continuing to grip on to her hands.

"Henry, do you have the rings?" Callie's voice is quiet, almost as though it is in the distance as Beca and Chloe re-find each other's gaze.

Before Beca can even realize it, Callie is placing Chloe's wedding band in her hand, with Beca's going to Chloe. Beca takes Chloe's and delicately slides it into place right above her engagement ring.

Chloe follows suit, placing the simple band on Beca's ring finger, the weight of the metal unfamiliar, yet comforting, for the brunette.

"These rings symbolize the love that you both have for each other, the commitment you are making to each other. Do you promise to love, support, and cherish each other, forever and always?"

Chloe nods, a smile tugging at her lips. "I do."

Beca's response cracks with emotion, but she manages to get it out through the tears of joy streaming down her face. "I do."

Callie's mouth stretches into a grin. She looks between both women, the ones who have been through so much and deserve nothing but the happiness that she can see clearly on both of their faces right now. "Well then, Beca, Chloe – Mama, Mom – I now pronounce you wife and wife."

Callie doesn't have the chance to say anything along the lines of 'you may now kiss the bride', because Beca can't wait any longer.

Twenty-plus years in the making, after battling like hell - and surviving it all - Beca Beale-Mitchell can finally kiss her wife.

The End


I just want to say thank you, once again, for sticking with me through this fic. It was a tough one, and I am so grateful for all of your support. Words cannot describe how blown away I was by the response to this little story, and I hope you were all pleased with the conclusion.

As this story comes to a close, I am happy to report that I have another fic in the works. This one, suggested to me by a Guest reviewer on Leap of Faith, is inspired by CW's show, Life Unexpected. I need to take a little break from writing, just because this summer has been incredibly hectic and I want to make sure I have some chapters stocked up before school starts again in the fall, so I am hoping to post the first chapter on September 10, 2021. I also believe I will be posting it on AO3 as well.

To hold you over until then, here is a brief summary:

Untitled (Expected Publication Date, Sept. 10 2021): Beca doesn't like to think about it. She doesn't like to think about how her junior year of high school was the lowest point in her life, and how getting pregnant, and subsequently giving the baby up for adoption, remains one of the worst memories of her entire life. So, she tries not to think about it. That is, until the child that she was told was going to be easily placed with a loving family, shows up sixteen years later, asking for Beca's help to get emancipated. Now, she doesn't exactly have a choice.

Until then, feel free to come say 'hi' to me on Tumblr (same username). I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have about Leap of Faith, or any of my past/future fics. Or to just say hello :)

Thank you all, again, so much, for all of your support. I can't wait to chat with you all again soon :)