I don't own a thing, unfortunately. It would be awesome if I did.

A month and a half into her time at Barden, Beca would have never imagined herself joining an a cappella group, especially one run by someone like Aubrey. She had come here to appease her father, who wouldn't shut up about how she needed a degree to fall back on when her DJ'ing career failed; or at least that's what he seemed to imply. Now the only reason this had worked was because her mother has ganged up on her as well, making her feel guilty about wanting to leave for Los Angeles — 'which was all the way across the country, and too far away' — when she was still in her teens. And somehow, by a crazy turn of events that involved the confident redhead and a shower, she ended up here standing with a group of girls as they practiced the same outdated song over and over again. Aubrey often stood up in front of them the entire time yelling out all of their mistakes, most of which were directed at Beca and left her exhausted by the time she stepped through the door of her dorm room. Despite it all, however, Beca was enjoying herself. She would never admit it, but she was making friends and loved their company. If it wasn't for the girls, it would be harder to take Aubrey's criticism in stride or to keep up with the dance moves she secretly practiced by herself yet still couldn't perfect. They had become her rock, and Beca, although she wasn't used to it, loved having that.

On one particularly muggy afternoon, when the air felt like it was as thick as soup, Aubrey decided to make the girls run around the auditorium. "Ten laps," she demanded with a smile, unlike the girls who were folded over and trying to even their breaths. "If any of you stop I'll make the entire group run ten more. Now, go!"

The group of girls straightened themselves with a collective groan, heading towards the stairs and leaving Beca, still hunched over and breathing heavily, alone. The moment Aubrey spotted her she walked over with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face. Beca took no notice though, she slowly lowered herself to the ground with her head in her hands.

"Beca," Aubrey startled the brunette. "Is there a reason you haven't joined the girls?"

In the background they could both hear Chloe encouraging the girls as they came down the last set of stairs and went up for the next lap. Aubrey briefly looked over in her friends direction to make sure that everything was okay and when she focused back on Beca, the brunette was already folded into herself again. Getting closer Aubrey noticed the way her back was rapidly rising and falling and took pity on Beca. She tried again to get her attention but her eyes were closed and Aubrey could tell that she was trying to concentrate - on something. "Why don't you go sit down for a little while. I don't want anyone collapsing in the middle of practice." Beca made no signs of moving; Aubrey waited a few seconds, her breath held as she made sure Beca hadn't done just that. "Do you need me to help you?"

Beca immediately swatted the hand Aubrey held out for her away and lifted her head so that she was looking at the blonde. "Can you grab my backpack from over there?" She asked in a moment of weakness, pointing to the far corner of the auditorium where most of the girls put their bags during practice. Aubrey complied without another word, surprising Beca for a moment before she pulled herself back together and took the bag from the blonde's hands. She could feel Aubrey's gaze on her as she ripped open the clasps and reached in to search the bottom of her bag. She pulled out her inhaler, happy she hadn't left it in her dorm — which had happened far too many times — and took several deep breaths. Aubrey remained in her spot, hovering over Beca with a watchful eye.

"You have asthma," Aubrey noted, almost guiltily.

"Uh-huh."

"You should have said something."

Beca shrugged, "Would it have stopped you from torturing me?"

"Beca —"

"I just kidding, Aubrey, geez. It's fine, I'm fine, you can leave it alone now."

The two were acutely aware that the other Bellas had stopped running now and were waiting for further instruction. Chloe was the closest to them, keeping one ear on their conversation and made the decision on her own to dismiss them. Aubrey made no effort to complain about the early dismissal, instead choosing to yell out to them, "Have a good weekend. Get some rest because next week I'm expecting all of you to work ten times harder." She had her back to them before they could retort, and ignored the groans as they went to pick up their bags and left.

Beca and Aubrey remained still until Chloe joined them and reflexively put a hand on Beca's back to soothe her. She could see, despite Beca's best efforts, that her breathing still wasn't right. The two friends looked over at each other with concern.

"Can you stand?" Chloe asked, her voice softer than ever. Beca nodded, attempting with Chloe's help to get up on her feet and managed to do so albeit still in pain. "I'm going to walk you back to your dorm room, okay?"

The brunette didn't have the energy to complain. Four strong hands led her to the door, both Aubrey and Chloe taking the trek with her without a word. No one asked her which way they should go, and she didn't have to tell Chloe because they'd started to make a habit out of hanging out. They got to the dorm quickly and Chloe fished the keys out of Beca's pocked so that they could help her into her empty room. Her side was a mess compared to her roommates, and she could hear Aubrey mumbling about it as she cleared the bed for her to lay down, but lately she hadn't had the drive to try to clean up.

It must have been hours later when Beca woke up to a knock on her door. Chloe and Aubrey were gone now and she was still alone. She groaned as she lifted the heavy covers off of her body; she felt sticky and gross, a thin layer of sweat covering her body, and wanted nothing more than to take a shower. The room was nearly as hot as the auditorium had been despite the breeze coming in from the window she'd opened earlier that day. The knock sounded once more and Beca briefly wondered if ignoring it would make the person go away. But another knock followed, this time accompanied by a voice and the door opened seemingly by itself. She was about to lift herself off the bed to kick them out of her room when her father poked his head around the corner. "Beca, what are you doing in bed? Have been to any of your classes today?"

Beca shrugged and eased herself back down, wrapping her covers around her to show her father that she didn't want to be disturbed. But unfortunately, it didn't stop him from sitting down with her.

It took less than a second for Sebastian's eyes to land on the dumped school bag on her desk. Aubrey had kindly, or not depending on who was looking at the situation, placed her inhaler near her so that if she needed it, it would only be an arms length away. "Are you sick?" He quickly reached out to touch the back of his hand to her clammy forehead. "You look a little pale. Do I need to take you to the doctors?"

Beca shook her head, swatting his hand away from her head and finally turned to face the wall in hopes he would get the idea.

She knew before he even started the next breath that he was about to ask her the dreaded question. Beca felt him shift on the bed and clear his throat, "Do I need to take you to Dr. Lieppe?"

"No. Definitely not."

Despite having her back to him, Beca could feel his gaze on her. She had hoped he would be satisfied with her answer, but it only seemed to make him more concerned. "Beca," the tone of his voice told her he wasn't going to let her skirt by for much longer. "How long have you been feeling unwell?"

"I don't know. A couple weeks."

"And you didn't think to tell me? Get dressed, I'm taking you to the doctors."

Beca didn't move. "I don't want to go to Dr. Lieppe because I already know what he's going to say and I don't want to hear it."

"So you thought keeping it to yourself for a couple weeks was a good idea?" She could tell he was trying to restrain himself from yelling; Sebastian took a deep breath before continuing. "You and I both know you shouldn't — no, you cannot ignore the symptoms. This is serious, Becs."

With a groan she turned back around, instantly feeling guilty when she saw her father's face. "Yeah, I know. We've been over this a million times."

"And you're still not going to let me take you to the doctors?" She shook her head. "Fine. But I want you to check in with me every week so that I can make sure you're okay. The first time you're late, we will be on our way to Dr. Lieppe's before you can say otherwise, got it?"

They planned to meet at a cafe that marked a convenient halfway point on campus. Her father would ask her how she had been feeling, making mental notes of every cough or attempt at a deep breath, and she would change the subject the moment she had the chance. As much as she hated these meetings, Beca wasn't dumb enough to break their deal. She went to the cafe regardless of how she felt, and it didn't matter if she occasionally had to skip practice.

It was the day after she'd met her father, for what was something like the sixth time since they made the agreement, when she woke up late for practice fighting off a killer headache and a bad cough. Beca had already missed practice twice that week because she couldn't peel herself out of bed and she didn't want to become number one on Aubrey's hit list if she missed another so she got up and got dressed. In the end she was nearly forty-five minutes late for practice, walking in as the girls finished what was probably round twenty of the dance routine. Aubrey had her back turned, so she didn't notice straight away, but it was Chloe who brought her attention to the new arrival.

"So happy you could join us, Beca." Aubrey greeted her, sarcasm intact. "I assume you remember the routine, so get your ass over here — we have a lot of work to do if we want to be ready for regionals."

Beca did as she was told, moving herself to the back so that she could hide behind someone if need be. They started again, but she was already back in her own head and wasn't concentrating on the dance moves. It wasn't until she accidentally bumped into Fat Amy that she realized everything she had been doing was wrong, and that had resulted in her ending up on the ground. When Beca failed to get up the moment her back hit the floor, everyone else stopped and stared. For a brief moment, when Beca looked up at the girls starting to surround her, she could see something flash across Aubrey's eyes that looked like sympathy but it was gone in a flash and she was back to her scary self as she addressed the group. "Start again."

The girls turned around again and Beca peeled herself off of the ground with a groan. She had hit something falling down as she had and as if she wasn't already in enough pain she now had it radiating from her shoulder. Despite it all, she tried her best to keep up with the girls, paying particular attention to the people around her so that she didn't have another incident.

The longer practice ran, the more Beca found herself moving further back in the room. She didn't want to have another stare down with Aubrey and, the way she was feeling, this was the only way she could prevent it from happening.

"Beca, a moment?" Aubrey called her away from the group she had just dismissed for the afternoon. Everyone else had practically run towards the exit, but she was lingering behind. When she didn't move, Aubrey moved closer to her with Chloe close behind. "I don't have the time to watch you for every second of practice so you'll be working with Chloe until you can get the dance moves down. I want to see improvement, Mitchell."

Beca rolled her eyes but agreed to the threat; satisfying Aubrey enough to get her to leave the auditorium.

"Are you okay? You look a little pale."

"Fine."

"I don't believe you."

"Well you should."

"Beca," Chloe sighed, sitting next to the brunette on the floor and crossed her legs to get comfortable. "There's something going on with you and keeping it to yourself isn't doing anyone any good."

"Now you sound like my dad."

"What?" The redhead scooted forward a little more so that her knee was touching Beca's knee.

"Nevermind."

The concern in Chloe grew more but she smiled nonetheless and decided to drop it for now. "So when do you want to practice? I can swing by your room in, like, twenty minutes?"

"Actually, I'm not feeling well, can we just leave it for today?"

She studied Beca for a second before agreeing. "Okay. But do you want to grab some dinner?"

"No, thanks. I really just want to curl up under my covers and fall asleep."

"Did you not sleep well last night?" Chloe prodded her for more information, only to be met with a shrug. "Are you sick?" The brunette didn't need to answer, looking away from Chloe had given her the information she needed. "Beca, you can tell me anything, you know that, right?" She nodded, opening her mouth briefly and shutting it again. "C'mon, don't shut me out again. You were doing so well!"

"God," Beca grumbled, closing her eyes tight and opening them with a roll. "Why does everyone always say that."

"Beca —"

"No," the brunette struggled against the hand on her shoulder. "Just leave me alone. I can't deal with this today. Not with everything else — no, I have to go. I'll see you later, Chlo."

Before Chloe could say anything Beca stormed out of the room, leaving her dumbfounded and still on the floor. Picking herself up, she pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead, a growing headache from the past few days and the stress she'd been feeling getting the better of her. She was grateful that it was finally the weekend and she could get some of the sleep she'd been skipping in favor of studying for exams. Her walk back to the apartment took longer than usual. She was lost in her own thoughts and didn't realize she'd taken a few wrong turns. So when she got back, Aubrey was already in the living room with a plate of food on the coffee table and a blanket wrapped around herself.

"Half pint didn't want to practice tonight?" Aubrey asked, inbetween bites of her salad. "Quelle surprise."

Chloe shrugged, "She wasn't feeling well. I think it might be serious."

"Why do you say that?"

"Aubrey. You were there the other day, you can't say you haven't noticed how pale she's looking lately or that she can't keep up with the group during practice."

"She's always been pale," Aubrey shrugged it off, although the other signs were, and had been, worrisome. "Beca will be fine. I'm sure she's just fighting off a cold or something and we'll have our sarcastic hobbit back in no time."

"I hope you're right." Chloe smiled.

On the other side of campus Beca found herself standing in front of her father's house. She had been there for over ten minutes and had yet to step foot on his property. She had been debating with herself about whether this was a good idea when a light came on inside and a figure started to move out of the living room. Beca froze, hoping that the fact it was getting dark outside had kept her cover. But then the front door opened and her father's face stuck out, "Beca? Is that you?"

Beca had no choice but to walk into his yard, into the lights that Sebastian had turned on for her. "Yeah, hi dad. Sorry to interrupt your evening."

Sebastian shook his head, opening the door wider. "No, that's fine actually. Sheila's away visiting her parents so I was just warming up some leftovers. Is — is everything alright?"

"Uh, yeah." Beca's voice wavered for a second. They were standing in the foyer now, the jacket she had handed him still in his arms as he waited for her to continue her thought. "Actually, I was thinking about — um, I'm ready to go to Dr. Lieppe."

"Bec, you don't know what a relief it is to hear you say that," Sebastian, a smile spreading across his face. "But, but what brought this up?"

"Nothing. You know, I just realized you were right."

Sebastian's smile went away as the implications of her words struck him, "Oh, Beca."

He led them to the kitchen in silence and she sat down on a stool by the table as he picked up another plate and napkin for her. "I"ll call Dr. Lieppe in the morning. In the meantime, how about you stay the night?"

She couldn't refuse, not after his reaction to her news. Beca gave him a short nod, and mustered up a smile when he gave her two slices of pizza from the oven and sat down next to her.

"How long is Sheila away for?" Beca broke the silence, causing her father to look up at her. His face changed again when he realized she had asked him a question; it was a look she knew all too well, and more than half the reason she didn't let him know everything that was going on with her. "Sheila, how long is she visiting her parents for?"

"She'll get gone for about two weeks," Sebastian smiled.

"And how are your classes going?"

"They're going well, thanks. I have a nice group of kids this semester which is always nice."

"You got lucky."

"Yeah, I suppose I did," He laughed. "How about you?"

Beca shrugged, "Well, Aubrey's making my life a living hell, Jesse's determined to make me watch every movie in the library, oh and I aced that neuro exam from last week."

"Great job, Becs. I knew you could do it."

"Yeah, whatever," Beca teased him. "That class doesn't make me want to throw things. So it's alright, I guess."

"Do my ears deceive me or did I just hear my daughter say she likes something at Barden?"

"Ha ha, very funny. I've been a Bella for months now and I never got such an enthusiastic response from you about that."

"That's different, this is a science course," Sebastian continued to poke fun at her. "Is there something wrong with the pizza?"

Beca looked down at her plate, both pieces still where her father had put them and barely touched. "No, I'm not really hungry."

"Are you sure?" She nodded. "Alright, well I'm going to check if anyone is at Dr. Lieppe's office right now so that we can have something set up for the morning."

"Dad, it's fine. Besides, it's 6 o'clock on a Friday night, I doubt anyone's there."

"I'll try anyway. I'm worried about you Becs."

Sebastian left the table as soon as she gave up trying to stop him, and ended up spending nearly twenty minutes on the phone in the other room. When he came back into the kitchen Beca was still siting in her spot at the table, "Dr. Lieppe said if we leave now he can meet us at the office tonight. I'm just going to grab a few things, I'll meet you in the car."

Beca obeyed, and sure enough he came outside ten minutes later with a suspicious looking overnight bag in his hand.

When Monday rolled around and Beca didn't show up for practice, Aubrey stalked up to her best friend. "That's four times in the last couple weeks, Chloe. Beca's walking on thin ice here."

"I'm sure she has a good excuse," the redhead reassured Aubrey.

"Yeah, well, she's running out of them."