A/N: Okay my lovelies, let's get a little serious for a minute. This story has major major self harm trigger warnings. Please don't read it if it's going to be a problem for you. Also, if any of you at any time need anyone to talk to about s/h then please feel free to send me a message, I have a history with it so if I'd like to help if I can.

Seriousness aside, thank you to everyone who gave me such positive feedback 'The Mitchells', it made me a little weepy :P

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

I also do not own any song that is sang.

Chloe Beale wandered idly around the book store where she worked, her hand running across the spines of the books that stuck out from the shelves.

"'Bree, I'm so bored!" She groaned to her best friend.

"Just one more hour and we can close up." Aubrey replied, sitting behind the cash register and spinning on her chair. "Are we going for a drink tonight?"

"If we don't I think I might die." Chloe replied, leaning across the counter.

"Tone the dramatics down a notch." Aubrey responded, nudging her as a customer entered.

"Can I help you with anything, sir?" Chloe asked, brightly.

"Do you have Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?" He asked, reading the title from a scrap of paper in his hand.

"Of course!" Chloe replied before rushing off to get it. For 90% of her day, Chloe hated this job. It was boring and pretty poorly paid. The only two upsides were that she got to work with her best friend and room-mate Aubrey, and that she got to talk to people about books. Aubrey would always giggle at her for being so enthusiastic around customers. She returned, book in hand, and handed it over.

"Great." He said, studying the cover.

"It's an awesome book." She said, grinning at him.

"It's for my kid." He said, handing it over to Aubrey. "She's mad on the movies so we bought her the books. She's missing this one."

"Oh the books are way better! She'll love it." Chloe said, Aubrey nodded her agreement before telling the man how much he owed.

"And the books came first did they?" He asked, a tone of surprise in his voice.

"...Yes." Chloe replied, internally screaming.

"Didn't know that." He said happily as he left the shop. Chloe gaped at him in shock as Aubrey laughed at her friend's reaction.

"I definitely need that drink now. Where are we going?" Chloe asked, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Bellas?" Aubrey suggested.

"Good idea, we haven't been there in ages." Chloe replied.

"Chloe, we were there last week." Aubrey said.

"A week is a very long time when you work here." Chloe responded before she turfed Aubrey out of the seat so she could sit down.

Beca Mitchell was sleeping, tangled up in her sheets, when the incessant ringing of her phone woke her up. She groaned and clicked answer before bringing the offending object to her ear.

"Jesse, please tell me there's a good reason you just woke me up." She mumbled.

"It's 5pm Becs and you have a gig at Bellas in three hours." Her best friend's voice said on the other end of the phone.

"Shit." Beca replied. "Thanks, dude." She rolled out of bed, the phone tucked in the crook of her neck.

"I'll come and pick you up in an hour." He said, his voice a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

"You're a life saver." She said before hanging up. She headed to her bathroom turned on the shower before she began stripping off. Her eyes avoiding her body for as long as they could. When the shower was hot enough, she stepped inside and began washing. A few seconds later and she watched the water run scarlett, the newest cuts on her arms and legs had reopened under the jet of the shower. A small sigh escaped her lips as she carefully cleaned them, wincing as the soap made contact. "Stupid." She muttered, closing her eyes and resting her forehead against the tiled wall. Her hand reached up to the shower and increased the heat. Beca bit down on her lip before she increased it again. Her body screamed as the hot water pounded it. After a few seconds she gave in and returned the shower to its original temperature.

An hour later and she was dressed in a pair of jeans and a zip up hoody. Her hair was lightly curled and her trademark dark eye makeup was in place. She opened up her guitar case and double checked that she had everything before she heard the beep of Jesse's car. She swung the guitar case over her back before leaving the apartment. She waved to Jesse who popped the lid of the trunk so she could put her instrument in.

"Dude, didn't you learn anything from last time?" He asked, looking at her clothes.

"What?" She replied.

"You're gonna burn up under those lights. You should wear a t-shirt or something." He said, pretending not to notice the way she absentmindedly tugged at her sleeves.

"Great idea." She muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Something I should know about?" He asked, turning the key and starting his car.

"Everything's fine, Jess. I don't do that shit any more." She lied easily. He didn't say anything. "Wanna check?" She said, her heart pounding uncomfortably. "Don't trust me?"

"I believe whatever you tell me, Becs." He said with a sigh. He knew he couldn't afford to lose her trust. Without him, Beca would be totally alone. And an alone Beca is not a good thing.

"Good." Beca replied, regretting her small outburst.

About ten minutes before she was due to go on, the familiar feeling of nervousness and panic rose up inside Beca. Her head was getting crowded again.

You're gonna fuck this up.

She shook her head slightly.

You can't do this.

Failure.

Loser.

"Becs, are you okay?" Jesse said, breaking Beca from the battle with her thoughts. Beca excused herself to go to the bathroom. Locking the door behind her, she closed the toilet seat and sat on it before she rolled up the sleeve of her hoody.

Do it.

Her chest felt tight. She closed her eyes and tried to take a deep breath but it didn't help. It felt like she couldn't get enough air into her lungs. She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a razor blade which was wrapped in a piece of tissue.

Do it you fucking loser.

Chloe and Aubrey took a seat at a table near the back of the bar. Chloe took a long swig of her beer.

"God I needed that." She said, smiling at the bottle.

"You sound like such an alcoholic sometimes." Aubrey said, sipping her drink and shaking her head.

"Do you know anything about who's playing tonight?" Chloe asked, nodding towards the stage. Aubrey shook her head.

"Some girl who's just moved to town apparently." Aubrey said. "Don't go falling in love again, Chlo'."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chloe said, rounding on her friend.

"Every time we see a musician here you claim to fall in love with them." Aubrey said, raising her eyebrows as if daring Chloe to disagree.

"I happen to find talent attractive." Chloe said, shrugging as she took another drink.

"Okay ladies and gentlemen," a man on stage said, tapping the mic before he spoke, "give a big hand for a young woman making her début on the infamous Bellas stage. Please welcome, Beca Mitchell!" There was a polite round of applause as the man left the stage. Chloe was staring, open-mouthed.

"Did he just say Be-"

"Uh, hey everyone. I'm Beca." Beca said, standing in front of the mic. Chloe couldn't believe her eyes.

"Oh my god." She whispered. It was her. Really her. The same hair, same confident smirk, same trademark eye makeup.

"Let me guess," Aubrey sighed, "you're in love?"

"'Bree that's Beca! The Beca!" Chloe said, grabbing her friend's arm and squeezing it.

"Beca Beca?! Your best friend from high school?!" Aubrey said, staring at the petite girl on stage.

"Yes!"

"The Beca you were insanely in love with but never told?"

"Yes!"

"The Beca who moved away when she was seventeen and left you broken-hearted?"

"Yes, 'Bree! Shush she's singing!" Chloe said, exasperated.

While Chloe and Aubrey were having their muttered conversation, Beca had started speaking again.

"So, uh, here's a bit of Bon Iver to get us started." She said, moving away from the mic. She took a deep breath and began strumming the guitar, playing the opening chords of Skinny Love. As soon as her fingers moved across the frets and strings her mind cleared. The black cloud which usually filled her head seemed to fade away. A smile spread across her face. She approached the mic again.

"Come on skinny love just last the year,

Pour a little salt we were never here."

Beca's clear alto voice rang out throughout the bar, silencing every muttered conversation. Chloe's eyes instantly filled with tears. Beca's voice seemed to fill the redhead and make her heart constrict. She wanted to both laugh and cry and how beautiful the sound was. The longer the song went on the better it got. Both her guitar playing and her voice were faultless.

"Um, Chlo'?" Aubrey whispered to her open-mouthed friend.

"What?" Chloe whispered back, not taking her eyes away from the stage.

"You're going to break my arm." She said. Chloe looked down. She hadn't realised she was still squeezing Aubrey's arm.

"Sorry." She said, returning her attention to the stage where Beca was playing the last few chords. When she stopped she gave the crowd a shy smile and she received a generous applause.

"Thanks." She said, a little breathless. She began re-tuning her guitar as she spoke to the bar. "Okay, so, I don't know how to whistle, and you kinda need to for this next song. So I was wondering if you guys could help me out. Can you all whistle?" Chloe wolf-whistled in response and there was a ripple of laughter around the room. "Whoever that was, thank you." Beca said with a laugh. "Um, I'm sure you'll know this one. If you don't just whistle when everyone else does." She placed both hands on the microphone and began singing, slowly, without music.

"Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby,

Let me know,

Girl I'm gonna show you how to do it,

And we start real slow,

You just put your lips together,

And you come real close,

Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby..."

She placed her hands on her guitar and gave the crowd a smirk.

"Here we go."

She stepped away and started playing and the crowd whistled (or sang to the tune of the whistling). Her face broke into an enormous grin as she heard the crowd singing. She stepped back up the mic, still playing, and began rapping.

"I'm betting you like people,

And I'm betting you love freak mode,

And I'm betting you like girls that give love to girls,

And stroke your little ego."

"'Bree!" Chloe squealed, grabbing Aubrey's arm again. "'Bree she's rapping. She's actually rapping!"

"Arm, Chloe!" Aubrey said, trying free her arm from Chloe's grasp. Once the song finished she received an even bigger cheer. A bartender came to the edge of the stage and said something in her ear. Beca said something back and a second later he was there with a bottle of water.

"To the dude who just bought me a drink, thank you, that's very sweet. I should point out though that I, uh, bat for the other team." She held up the bottle of water. "Cheers for this, though." The crowd laughed again.

"Did she just... She's... 'Bree, she just said she was gay, right? I'm not making that up?" Chloe said, her heart thumping.

"That's what she said." Aubrey said, rolling her eyes and laughing at her friend.

"I am going to marry that girl." Chloe said, a determined smile on her face.

"You say that about every chick or dude with a guitar." Aubrey pointed out.

"No, I say that I want to fuck every chick or dude with a guitar but she," Chloe took a deep breath, "she is going to be my wife."

Two songs later and Beca had finished her set. She gave the crowd a small bow and a wave before she left, their applause still ringing in her ears.

"Good job Becs." Jesse said when she'd put her guitar in the tiny room that served as a dressing room and returned to the bar.

"Thanks." She said, adrenaline still racing through her veins.

"Nice set, kid." The owner said, handing her an envelope of cash. "Wanna do another one tomorrow?"

"Sure." Beca grinned.

"Drink?" Jesse asked as she took a seat at the bar.

"Triple whiskey." She said.

"You kept that talent quiet when we were kids." An achingly familiar voice said. Beca's stomach had done about four backflips by the time she turned around. Chloe was standing there, smiling, her red hair perfectly curled, falling lightly at her shoulders. Her shocking blue eyes exactly as she remembered them.

"Chloe." She breathed out. She felt like her heart had stopped.

"Hey stranger." Chloe said, a shy smile playing on her lips.

Songs used: 'Skinny Love' - Bon Iver & 'Whistle' - Flo Rida