"My father always says, if you're not here to win, get the hell outta Kuwait."

Aubrey beamed proudly as she mentioned her father. He was a highly regarded lawyer in their community and Aubrey hoped to follow in his footsteps. He was notorious for being stern and cold, always pushing Aubrey and her siblings to be as successful as possible. People wondered how the man could even raise children, many assumed that his wife raised them more than he did but it wasn't true. He raised them just as much as their mother did; both doing so with love and care. However, he didn't show that love and care as prominently as his wife did. He was a cold man naturally, not by choice. Years or service in the military before being honorably discharged had left him with steel barriers, causing him to be emotionless at times. He wanted the best for his children. Nothing less. They were capable of success and he wanted them to realize their potential one day. The children all knew deep down that their father loved them, but it was rare to actually hear it from him. Showing emotion was difficult for him; actually speaking the words out loud was almost unfathomable. As time grew on, he said the things that meant the most less and less. "I love you" and "I'm proud of you" went from being a rare sound to leave his mouth to practically nonexistent. It took it's toll on all of the children as they grew, especially Aubrey, who looked to one day hear both of those phrases again.

Her dad was in the audience, waiting to watch his daughter perform in a national competition. She even had a solo. Aubrey was ecstatic that her father would be there. It was her chance to make him proud, to hear those words from him. It was all she wanted and she had the perfect opportunity to do so placed directly in front of her.

"Did your dad ever tell you to shut up?" Alice snapped, causing Aubrey's smile to fade from her face.

"Why can you not just get the steps right, Beca? They aren't that difficult!" Aubrey exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air and gaining the attention of all the other Bellas, who stopped their movements to watch the two girls get into yet another argument. It was how things worked. Beca did something wrong or pushed Aubrey's buttons and the blonde lashed out at her. If it went on too long, Chloe or Stacie would step in. Most of the time the two girls just decided who would stop Aubrey and Beca's fighting based on which one's best friend started yelling first. Stacie was always grateful that Beca could keep her cool during arguments and not yell; that way she didn't have to get into the middle of things nearly as often as Chloe did.

"Look, dude, maybe if the moves weren't so old and boring I could handle it. I work better with modern things. These dance moves are just tired by now. If you won't change the damn set list you could at least change the choreography a bit." Beca said calmly as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and raised an eyebrow at Aubrey, practically provoking the Bellas captain.

"You're just going to have to deal with it Beca. I have the pitch pipe, so what I say, goes. If you don't like it you can march your ass right out the door." Aubrey said as she turned to walk back to the piano where her notes and bottle of water were sitting.

"Maybe I will! It's not like you care anyway. You would have no trouble kicking me out if it weren't for Chloe always stopping you. If I walked out you'd get exactly what you want but you wouldn't have to deal with Chloe getting mad at you. You'd be able to argue that it was my choice to leave. I'm not going to though! If you want me gone you'll have to kick me out. So go ahead, do it. I don't even give a fuck." Beca snapped angrily, clenching her fists as she fumed. Aubrey spun on her heels quickly and made her way to the younger girl, getting in her face and pushing a finger into Beca's chest.

"I don't know what the hell your problem is but you will either get over it or walk out. You're constantly disrupting practice and I'm sick of it. The goal here is to win. If you would rather be off twiddling your thumbs I invite you to do just that but not here. You either participate and be a part of the group and help us win or you fuck off. We don't need you to disappoint us more than you already have, do you understand me?" She said as a raging fire burned in her eyes. Beca averted her gaze from the blonde's and looked to the floor.

"Yeah, I umm, I hear you. Loud and clear." The brunette mumbled. Stacie walked over and wrapped an arm around Beca and glared at Aubrey as she led the shorter girl away. Aubrey watched as Stacie pulled Beca aside and whispered to her before looking over at Chloe, only to be met with pure anger in the redhead's eyes.

"Practice is over for today. Same time tomorrow." Chloe said, her gaze not ever drifting from Aubrey's as the Bellas all left.

Once everyone was gone Chloe grabbed her bag along with the keys to her car and began walking out, stopping in front of her blonde co-captain.

"Think about the things you say to people. You don't know Beca that well and you really shouldn't have said some of those things. I don't even care who started it. The point is that you took it a step too far. You owe her an apology."

Beca was sitting at her desk working on a new mix when Aubrey finally went to talk to her. The blonde had gotten her dorm number from Chloe after agreeing to apologize for what she had said. When she knocked on the door she fully expected for Beca to slam the door in her face when she saw it was her but instead the door opened to reveal the brunette standing with an expectant look on her face as she gestured for Aubrey to come into the room.

"I expected you to slam the door in my face." Aubrey mumbled as she awkwardly stepped in and sat down on the edge of Beca's bed.

"Oh believe me I probably would have but Chloe texted and said you were coming over and that I needed to let you in." She said with a dramatic sigh as she sat back down in her chair. "So what do you want?"

Aubrey took a deep breath to compose herself. "I wanted to apologize for today at practice. I said some things that were incredibly out of line and I'm really sorry." Beca's eyebrows shot up and she rubbed her neck awkwardly.

"Oh, um. Okay, well, it's okay. I mean, I forgive you. I was upset yeah; but I'll get over it." The two of them sat in silence for several minutes, looking everywhere except each other, before Beca finally broke the silence.

"Have I really disappointed you guys this year? Because if I have I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to disappoint anyone. " Aubrey looked at the girl in shock. The last thing she had expected was Beca to actually open up in anyway at all to her.

"No," she said emphatically, shaking her head, "I was angry and I lashed out. I promise I didn't mean that. Just because you've had trouble with the choreography here and there doesn't mean that you've dissappointed anyone." Beca nodded for a moment, taking what Aubrey had said in.

"Okay. My dad always seems dissappointed so I guess I was just hoping that the Bellas were like, a second chance for me you know?" Aubrey looked at the girl sympathetically and nodded, fighting the urge to say the words coming to her mind.

Of course I know what it feels like to want someone to be proud of you.

When Spring Break rolled around Aubrey was prepared to spend it resting around campus and hanging out with Chloe after she had her nodes taken out. Plans don't always work out though. As she walked out of the gym, beyond happy with the news she had received that they were advancing to the ICCA Finals, her phone rang. Pulling it from her purse, she immediately answered when she saw "Mother" across the top of the screen.

"Hello?"

"Aubrey," her mother said before taking a shaky breath. "You need to come home as soon as you can."

"Why? What happened?" She asked nervously.

"Your father is dying." Aubrey almost dropped her phone in shock as she froze in her footsteps.

"What?! That's impossible." She whispered breathlessly.

"No sweetie. He was having trouble breathing so we brought him into the emergency room. The doctors underestimated the lung cancer and there's nothing they can do now." The were several beats of silence between the two women.

"How long does he have?" Aubrey asked. Part of her didn't want to know the answer, but an even bigger part of her knew that she needed to know the answer.

"A few days. Maybe less." He mother said solemnly. Aubrey choked back a sob.

"I'll be on the next flight out."

Aubrey walked down the hall to her father's room that a nurse had pointed her in the direction of. Her usually determined and fierce footsteps were now soft and defeated. It was hard not to feel defeat when surrounded by the deafening silence in the hospital corridor while knowing that within days she would never be able to speak to her father again. She knocked gently on the door and opened it slowly, stepping in to see her older brother sitting beside her father's bed. His usually bright green eyes were noticeably dimmer and

"Aaron." Aubrey said, barely holding back the sobs she was trying so hard to contain. Her brother stood, combing a hand through his brown hair, which he inherited from their father, and walked over, embracing his younger sister tightly in a hug.

"I'm going to give you some time alone with him. Mom went home to get some stuff and Alex said traffic is bad so she won't be able to get here for another thirty minutes or so." He said before giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze and stepping out quietly.

Aubrey took a deep breath in an attempt to prepare herself before walking further into the room. As her father came into full view she had to hold back another sob. His once strong and powerful look was gone. He seemed fragile and almost glass-like; one touch could shatter him. Aubrey carefully sat down where Aaron had been before and took her father's hand in hers. He stirred lightly and opened his eyes slowly. A moment passed before recognition appeared on his face and he smiled softly.

"Aubrey, I'm glad you're here" He said.

"Of course I'm here, where else would I be?" She asked incredulously.

"I don't know, singing with that acapella group of yours?" She smiled lightly and glanced down at their intertwined hands. Several minutes passed in silence before her father spoke again, his words causing her head to snap up and their eyes to meet.

"I'm proud of you, Aubrey."

"What?" She whispered in shock.

"I'm proud of you. For everything. For being a leader in so many ways, especially for the group of yours. For going after your dream and getting your law degree. For growing up to be an outstanding woman. I'm proud of you for all of it. Every single bit. I couldn't be prouder than I am of you in this moment. I love you okay? I love you so much and you cannot forget that but I want you to live your life. Not mine. You have to be you. It's not about following in my footsteps. It's about creating your own footprints. Nothing in the world could change how much I love you and how proud of you I am. Absolutely nothing. So no matter what, you have to promise me that you'll do whatever makes you happy. I love you okay? He said, tears welling in his eyes.

"I promise daddy. I love you too, so so much." Aubrey said, her voice cracking as she began to cry. A knock on the door interrupted them and Aubrey's younger sister, Alex stepped into the room. Aubrey stood and gave her father a hug before giving her sister one and walking out of the room to give them a moment, as Aaron had done for her.

As soon as the door to the room shut behind her Aubrey practically sprinted to her car out in the parking lot. She ruffled through her purse for a few seconds before pulling her phone out and scrolling through her contacts before finding the name she wanted and pressing the call button. The phone rang for a moment before a voice cut through the air.

"Aubrey?" A sob escaped from Aubrey as she began to shake and cry, completely falling apart.

"I'm so sorry, Chloe is still in surgery and I didn't know who else to call." She managed to get out, sobs wracking her body.

"No don't worry about. Go head, what's wrong? I'm here." And so Aubrey began to talk, and Beca listened.

Aubrey's father died later that night in his sleep and Beca sat on the phone quietly when Aubrey called her and asked her to just sit and be there so she didn't feel so alone while she cried.

"He always said, if at first you don't succeed... Pack your bags."

"Said."

It would be past tense forever now and the thought alone was enough to almost shatter Aubrey's heart.

Aubrey's lip quivered and Beca immediately began talking to distract the rest of the Bellas as Chloe, who had since been caught up in the recent events, moved to Aubrey's side to help calm the blonde down. Aubrey hadn't wanted anyone besides Beca and Chloe to know about her father's passing. They had to get ready for the finals and she didn't want it to become a distraction for the entire group. She wanted to win it for him.

"Like my dad always said, in the minefield of life, you must be prepared to lose both feet."

The mention of Aubrey's father receives a moment of silence from the group. By now, everyone is aware that Aubrey lost her father her senior year. After Chloe told her where they were going, Stacie had taken a moment on the bus ride to camp to fill in Emily about Aubrey preparing them for the fact that she may mention or father, and in the event that she did, not to mention anything about it, especially not around Beca or Aubrey, or even Chloe for that matter. It had made an impact on all three of them and their friendship, making it a private matter that was rarely, if ever, spoken of, outside of the three of them.

Beca looked at the blonde in concern at the mention of her father, as did Chloe and Emily and Stacie watched with small smiles as Aubrey gave the redhead's hand she had been holding a gentle squeeze and shared a reassuring smile with Chloe and Beca that said, "I'm okay. Thank you guys."