Friday morning could not have passed more slowly for Beca. After Marie had left, she had texted Chloe to see if she had managed to get home okay but hadn't received a response from the redhead and this worried her.

She had spent the rest of the evening tossing and turning in bed wondering if she had screwed things up with the redhead, but also wondering about what Marie had said to her the night before.

'Great way to screw up a budding relationship last night Mitchell' she groaned inwardly.

Beca stared up at the clock on the wall in her office for about the millionth time. It was a quarter till twelve. Based on the locker room schedule, Chloe would be off in forty-five minutes. Perhaps she could take the redhead out to lunch as an apology for last night.

She frowned slightly at the clock, wishing that time would pass more quickly.

Just then, the phone in her office rang, and she gave up her mind games with the clock to answer it. It was a member of the hospital Board calling to go over the budget allocation again.

Beca found herself tied up with administrative nonsense for over an hour. When she looked up at the clock again; it was almost one. Chloe had probably already left for lunch.

After a frustrating and seemingly pointless exercise in dealing with hospital red tape, the budget issue was resolved, although she still wasn't quite sure what the problem had been in the first place.

She was just tying up the last of the loose ends before heading to the hospital cafeteria for a quick lunch when she heard a slight knock at her door.

'This had better not be another unwanted interruption,' she thought to herself.

'Coming!' she called out before heading to open her office door.

"Chloe!"

Beca couldn't help the grin on her face when she was greeted with the sight of the redhead, arms full with takeout containers. Perhaps this day wasn't going to be so bad after all.

"Beca," the redhead smiled back hesitantly, unsure if she was welcome.

"I was held up in the cath lab with a long case, and it was getting late so I thought I'd pick up some take out. I hope you haven't had lunch yet."

"No, this looks great, thank you."

"Uh... let me help you with that" Beca continued quickly as she unburdened Chloe with half of the little cartons of Chinese food she was carrying and walked inside her office, placing the containers on her desk.

Chloe followed her into the office and began organizing the cartons as Beca searched for paper plates.

"So, how's Marie?" Chloe finally broke the topic, trying to keep her voice neutral as possible.

"She's fine … I mean I assume she's okay - "

"You assume?" Chloe looked questioningly at the brunette who was fidgeting with her chopsticks.

"Well, I mean we caught up briefly, but she left the bar pretty soon after you did …"

"I'm not following you." Chloe's voice was almost perfectly calm.

"Well, she and I had a long history together, but all that is water under the bridge. Our breakup wasn't one that I was the most proud of, and I think last night was the closure she had always been seeking …"

Chloe couldn't help but stifle the small grin and warm glimmer of hope that flickered in her chest when she heard the rambling words coming out of Beca's mouth. But she quelled the surge of emotion down.

'Beca is just a friend. She just sees you as a friend, Beale snap out of it.'

The two of them sat at Beca's desk enjoying a somewhat casual and relaxed lunch, talking and laughing about nothing of importance.

For the third time in half an hour, Beca rubbed absently at the back of her neck. Chloe frowned as she did. The brunette was obviously in some degree of discomfort.

"What's wrong?" she asked, trying not to sound overprotective and overly concerned.

"Oh, this? It's nothing. I guess I just slept in an awkward position, that's all."

Beca winced as she stretched her arms over her head.

"Here, let me see if I can help,"

Before she could say anything to the contrary, Beca felt a pair of warm hands on her shoulders. She closed her eyes as Chloe began kneading gently, applying just the right amount of pressure.

Stacie walked towards Beca's office determined to speak to the brunette. Jesse had told her what had happened the night before and she wanted to check in to make sure Beca was okay.

Sometimes Beca had the tendency to wrap her head around the wrong things and she was sure that the brunette doctor was overanalyzing the situation.

She paused right outside Beca's office and was startled to hear the distinct sound of voices coming from the office. Puzzled, she leaned closer to try to make out the sound of the voices.

It wasn't … it was! Stacie grinned to herself.

She could hear Beca's voice, but the other was higher and feminine, and it sounded just like a certain …

"Mmmm… Chloe, that feels so good," she heard Beca murmur breathlessly.

'Why Beca, you dirty little bird!' Stacie thought to herself. She shook her head with a small grin on her face, and slipped quietly down the hallway while she still had a chance. Jesse was totally wrong about the two it seemed.

Beca couldn't help but let out a small groan of pleasure as the tension in her shoulders melted away.

"How are you doing that Beale? Your fingers are like magic."

"Uh… I once took a massage class in college."

"Closet masseuse huh?"

"You could be real handy to have around it seems, Beale" Beca smirked.

Chloe was glad that Beca's back was toward her and that she couldn't see the blush that crept up her face.

Beca sighed happily. Did the redhead even realize the effect that she was having on her? She felt so relaxed and so excited all at once.

She didn't know what the redhead was doing to create such feelings inside of her, but she didn't care. All she knew is that she didn't want her to stop.

Chloe's hands fanned out over her shoulder blades as her fingers set to work on her upper back. Beca's body tingled and she felt like she was on fire everywhere that she touched her. If her body responded in this way to a simple shoulder rub, she idly wondered what it would be like to kiss the redhead.

'If she kisses as well as she gives shoulder rubs, I'll be in a whole lot of trouble,' she thought dreamily. She tried to shake the thought. It was out of the question. It didn't matter what Chloe Beale kissed like because she wasn't going to kiss her.

Chloe felt Beca's muscles relax under her touch. She knew that she shouldn't be taking any pleasure out of this other than the satisfaction of making a friend feel better, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't help but feel secretly thrilled about the way that Beca was responding to her touch, the fact that she had allowed her this simple contact, and the fact that she seemed to be enjoying it as well.

"Thank you Chloe," Beca said as she stretched. She felt infinitely better.

"Of course Beca. That's what friends are for," Chloe replied cheerfully.

They sat quietly for a moment, neither one sure what to say.

"Well, I should probably get going…." Chloe said, ending the long moment of silence.

Beca stood up, amazed at how good her body felt despite the long morning which had been preceded by an uncomfortable and sleepless night.

"Yeah, I guess so," she responded wistfully, standing up to walk the redhead to the door.

"Thanks again for lunch Chloe, and for the massage,"

"My pleasure," she grinned.

'God, that smile could sail a thousand ships.' Beca thought as she fidgeted nervously with her thumb ring before looking at the redhead in the eye.

"So… um. I was wondering what you were doing this weekend" she trailed off uncertainly.

"I mean, I am on call tonight and will probably be crashing all tomorrow, but I was wondering if you would be up for hanging out together on Sunday. Maybe we could grab dinner or something in exchange for today's lunch … "

She smiled timidly, somewhat embarrassed by her own nervousness.

Chloe's eyes grew wide but she recovered quickly.

"Are you asking me out Mitchell?" she responded in a teasing tone.

"Maybe. Don't get too cocky Beale." Beca smirked, having regained her confidence at the redhead's teasing tone.

"Well, I did say that we would be fast friends."

"If you wanted to hang with 'all this' (the redhead gestured at herself) "all you had to do was ask," Chloe bantered.

"Ha ha very funny. So I guess I'll pick you up at six on Sunday?" Beca smiled happily as she felt a sappy grin forming on her face.

"Sounds good. Goodbye Beca".

"Bye Chloe."