A/N: What's up aca-ballers! So my plan was to take a fairly sizeable break from writing fanfiction and try and work on some other things. Of course, this didn't happen because today at work I got the idea for a new fic and it wouldn't go away until I'd written the first chapter. So, here it is! I hope you enjoy it :)

I do not own Pitch Perfect or any of its characters.


"You will stay, won't you?" The little girl asked from her seat in the car.

"Of course I will," Beca replied. She was becoming increasingly aware of a beeping noise. It was getting louder. More insistant.

"What is that?" The girl asked. Beca shook her head.

It got louder.

"It's probably time for you to wake up," the girl said with a sigh.

"No, it's okay," Beca said. "I said I'd stay."

"But you can't," she said, sadly.

The beeping got louder. Then it stopped. There were two seconds of deafening silence before an explosion ripped through the car.

Beca sat bolt upright in her bed, breathing heavily.

"Shit," she said, hitting the alarm clock so it would stop beeping. It was 5:30am and Beca was due back at work today. She rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom. She tried to avoid looking at herself in the mirror as she stripped down and climbed into the shower. She closed her eyes as the hot water washed over her. The tightness in her chest she had had for the past three weeks seemed to ease as she breathed in the steam that rose around her.

Three weeks.

It had been three whole weeks since she'd been able to go back to work as a paramedic. They had made her take time off after she had a pretty serious panic attack the day after she attended the scene of a multiple car pile-up on the highway. Three weeks later, she was finally allowed to return to work. They wanted her to take longer but she wouldn't. Three weeks of wallowing at home was enough for her.

She turned off the shower and stepped out, finally taking in the sight of her body. The bruises on her back and legs were now a fading yellow colour, and the burn on her thigh was practically healed. She was lucky, really. It could have been worse. It could all have been a lot worse.

She pulled on her overalls and her sturdy boots and was heading out of the house by 6:30am.

"Well, well," her friend Jesse said as she walked into the ambulance station. "Welcome back, Beca."

"Thanks," Beca said as he gave her a heavy-handed pat on the back. She clipped her radio to her belt and took a seat by Jesse.

"Good to see you Mitchell," her boss, Gail Abernathy-McKadden, said.

"Thanks boss," she said, trying her best to smile. The gnawing feeling in her chest had started up again.

"How do you feel?" Gail asked.

"Great," Beca said brightly.

"If you need more time-"

"I'm fine, honestly Gail. Don't worry about me," Beca said. The radio crackled and Jesse responded.

"Let's go Mitchell," he said, nudging her. Without another word, the two stood and climbed into the ambulance. Jesse got into the driver's seat. "So, glad to be back?" Jesse asked as they pulled away.

"Ah ha," Beca said, her head resting on the window.

"Is everything-"

"Everything's fine, Jess," she said. "I'm fine."

"Good. That's great," he said, stealing glances at her. "I mean, no one thinks you're, you know, soft or anything for wanting time off."

"I didn't want time off, I was made to have time off," she said, exasperated.

"I know, I know," he said. They were quiet for a few minutes.

"Soft?" Beca asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, like, because of the panic attack. I mean, it's understandable. After what happened..." He trailed off when Beca glared at him.

"Are we done with this conversation?" Beca asked.

"Sure," he said. "This is us." He pulled the ambulance over and the two made their way over to the two women on the grass. One of them, a blonde, was frantically waving them over. The other, a redhead, was sitting down and looked frankly fed up by the whole situation.

"Morning," Beca said, crouching by the redhead as Jesse tried to deal with the blonde.

"Morning," the redhead replied. She had a small cut on her forehead that had bled considerably, but seemed to have stopped. Beca opened up her pack and pulled out an antiseptic wipe.

"I'm Beca. What's your name?" Beca asked, keeping her voice low and quiet.

"Chloe," the redhead said. "Look, this really isn't necessary. My friend there just overreacted."

"Well, Chloe, why don't you tell me what happened?" Beca began cleaning the cut before securing a small bandage to it.

"It's really embarrassing," Chloe said. Beca smirked and Chloe felt her heart do some kind of flip.

"I'm sure I'll have heard worse," Beca said.

"I was texting and I walked into a post," she said. Beca couldn't stop the burst of laughter that escaped her. "See!" Chloe said, blushing and rolling her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Beca said. "That wasn't very professional." Beca was still trying to repress her laughter which only made Chloe laugh. Beca cleared her throat and tried to regain her composure. "Did you throw up or lose consciousness at all?" She asked when the giggles finally left.

"No," Chloe replied. "Nothing like that." Beca noticed a puddle of vomit on the sidewalk. Beca raised her eyebrows at the redhead. "That wasn't from me," Chloe said with a sigh. "Aubrey, my friend, she's a bit of a stress puker."

"A what?" Beca asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"She throws up when she's stressed," Chloe said, smirking again.

"Chloe!" Aubrey said, embarrased as she tried to continue her conversation with Jesse.

"Oh, I've seen that look before," Chloe said. "Your friend there doesn't have a girlfriend, does he?"

"No," Beca said, looking at the pair. "Ah, I've also seen that look before." She went into her pack again and pulled out a small torch. She shone it into the redhead's eyes. "Wow," she said softly.

"Wow, what?" Chloe asked. Beca blushed immediately. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"You, er, you have nice eyes," Beca muttered, putting the torch back in her bag. "Well, um, you seem fine. If you start getting headaches, dizziness or nausea, or if that starts bleeding again, then you should go to the E.R. But you're free to go for now."

"Thank you," Chloe said, smiling at the flustered expression on the brunette's face. "Do you have a phone?"

"Uh, yeah?" Beca asked, confused. She took it from her pocket and gave it to Chloe who began typing something in before she handed it back.

"It was nice to meet you Beca," Chloe said, standing up.

"You too," Beca replied as the redhead left. She checked her phone and saw that Chloe had added her number. She also seemed to have text herself from Beca's phone, in order to get her number. A second later, it buzzed in her hand.

Chloe: Hope you don't mind but I stole your number ;) x

Beca grinned as she walked back to the ambulance with Jesse.

Beca: I hope you aren't walking as you text. Don't you know you can get hurt?

Chloe: Har har har. Anyway, for the record, you have nice eyes too. Fancy going for a drink tonight? x

Beca stared wide-eyed at the text.

"Who are you texting?" Jesse asked, glancing at her suspicously.

"Chloe," she replied, still staring at her phone.

"Jesus, you work quick," he said, shaking his head. A voice crackled over the radio and he switched on the sirens.

Beca: Sure, I'll text you when I get off work?

Chloe: Awesome! This will be great. I can tell we're going to be really fast friends :) xx

Oh, Beca thought. Friends.