A/N: I don't own any of the characters. Sharing this since I have all the time in the world.
-astral (ao3)

PROLOGUE

Her fists were balled up, her teeth clenched so tight that it hurt. The nurse around beside her remained standing like a statue. She tried not to think about it. She wanted to keep it in until she got home. Losing control in the hospital wasn't Beca Mitchell at all.

She wished for a single peaceful day. No fighting. No violence. Just a dreamless sleep.

She was done with pretentions. She clutched the white sheet that covered the body in front of her, almost so forceful that the nurse had to pull her back out of the room. The moment she stepped out of the door, she took out her phone for the first time in three days. She ignored the flooding messages and missed calls and pressed 2 on the speed dial.

It didn't take her one full ring for the other side to answer the call.

"Beca, are you alright? I've been so worried about you!"

Beca convinced herself that she wasn't going to cry. Not now. But hearing Chloe's voice at the other end of the line snapped her back to the harsh reality she wanted to avoid. She decided to call Chloe, of all people, because she listens. Chloe listens. And Chloe understands.

Beca took a deep breath. With all the self-preservation she had left, she almost choked her words, "Chloe, please, I need you."

There were three things in Beca Mitchell's mind as she walked away from her little picnic date with Jesse Swanson.

One. She and Jesse weren't passionate. Singing to her in a cab was a sweet little thing but Beca couldn't help but fear a little for her immediate future if she's spending it with him. Jesse was a catcher. He knew his stuff and he was getting to know hers. But he was always around her, following her, finding ways to make her smile, and a whole lot of flirting. That wasn't passionate at all, or even real. She was just another girl-experiment for Jesse. Beca was smarter than he thinks.

Two. She still couldn't believe that she was in an all-girl a cappella group. And that they were competing for the Regional's next week. Their little group of misfits actually won in the preliminaries. Beca liked singing in the shower but other than that she's pretty convinced that singing isn't her passion. It was DJ-ing. So why was she even in the Barden Bellas if she didn't like to sing?

Three. It was because of Chloe Beale. It was because of her that Beca joined the Bellas. It was because of her that Beca was starting to question her sexuality. When Chloe barged in while she was about to shower stark naked and sang Titanium with her, Beca felt that unfamiliar pull. It wasn't normal and she knew it was wrong. But it was because of her, Chloe Beale that she was walking away from Jesse.

"Hey, you made it." Chloe beamed as Beca got in the gymnasium, the Bellas' lair. "I thought Jesse was going to steal you again."

"We'll see if he can." Beca sighed and laid her things aside, trying not to think about her shower scene with Chloe a few weeks back. She figured it would take months to take it off her mind. While she was in her normal tough-girl-jacket-jeans-boots look, everyone else was in their gym attire. "We're doing cardio today?"

The rest of the Bellas, all clad in tank tops, thin jackets, jogging pants and rubber shoes, turned to her.

"Did you tie him to a tree?" Fat Amy asked, poker-faced.

"You swore an oath, Mitchell." Aubrey stormed from across the gym, her eyebrows furrowed.

Stacie just arrived in short shorts, unnecessarily shaking her hips as she made her way to the center of the gym. A smile spread on her face when she saw Beca. "I never thought you'd do that, Beca." Her smile turned to a smirk. "You're tough to get."

"What?" asked Aubrey. "Stacie, don't interrupt."

"Oh, she didn't tell you?" Stacie raised a sharp eyebrow. "Beca slapped Jesse a while ago."

Lily, who stood not far away, mumbled something. No one heard her.

Chloe cocked her head to the side, arms crossed over her chest. This was getting interesting.

Beca shot her a look, as if everything she had done was with her consent, as if she wouldn't do it if it wasn't because of her. "Okay so, I dumped him. He tried to kiss me. End of story. He won't be bothering me or anyone of us."

Aubrey pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay, too much drama. We're wasting time. We should be starting our cardio now."

Their cardio workout and practice went on for hours. And Beca was sure that Chloe's smile never faded in that entire afternoon.

"Last time I checked, this is Bellas territory." Aubrey marched to the gym entrance as the maroon-jacketed Trebles tried to invade their private space. "What are you doing here?"

Bumper and Donald went in nonchalantly. Bumper winked at Fat Amy as he passed by. They zipped past Aubrey.

"Aca-scuse me?" Aubrey fumed. "How dare you ignore me?"

The Bellas looked at each other.

"As much as I loathe going in this estrogen-toxicated lair, we need to talk." Bumper's grin vanished, his dark eyes intent on the redheaded Chloe as he approached her. His fists were balled and he spoke between his clenched teeth. For one second, he looked like he was going to smack her in the face. "Whatever it is you're doing, you need to stop."

"Hey, we're working out here?" said Cynthia Rose.

Beca stood up instinctively. She waved her hands. "No Bumper. You, need to stop."

Donald's face had gone serious too. His dark complexion was scary under the bright lights, his brooding eyes glaring at Beca as he blocked her way to Bumper. "You don't have anything to do with this."

"I didn't go to your place walking around asking for authority."

"How indecent can you guys get?" Aubrey rolled her eyes. She pointed to the entrance. "Go back to your place or find some other place to bother. That way you won't get in our way in the Regional's."

Bumper turned to her. "Just give us a moment, Aubrey. Chloe and Stacie. Then you can go back to pointing your fingers trying to find a sign that will never be found as long as we sing."

"What's with the scary frat boy talk?" Fat Amy interrupted.

Chloe and Stacie stepped out.

"It's okay. We'll talk." Chloe sighed, her electric blue eyes darting from Aubrey to Beca to Stacie to Fat Amy to the rest of the Bellas… and finally to Bumper and Donald. "Outside."

Beca watched with suspicious eyes as Chloe and Stacie led the guys outside. Aubrey called the rest to continue with their cardio, not even bothering to call them back. Beca tried not to think about what her instincts were telling her. She had always known Bumper and Donald as the goofballs. And she can tell right now, that they weren't just the same a cappella singing jerks she had known.

So what was the holdup? Why all the scary intimidating demands of Bumper and Donald?

"Bumper thought we stole his chem lab manual." Stacie said nonchalantly when they came back. This time, the guys were gone.

"Did you?" asked Cynthia Rose.

Stacie rolled her eyes. "Of course not. Lab manuals were passed last week. We couldn't have stolen it." She winked at Beca. "Even if we wanted to."

"Do you share a lot of classes?" asked Beca, her eyes hovering to Chloe who hasn't said a single word, to Chloe who found Beca's all-purpose boots fascinating.

The redhead snapped out of her trance, blinking a couple of times. "We… uh… have advanced chem together and history."

"Okay enough of the drama. Let's get back to work." Aubrey forced a huge smile, clasping her hands. "We don't want to waste any more time."

Beca's eyes followed Chloe and Stacie, passing it as a normal thing to do. Stacie was still the sensual, seductive hip-swaying Stacie. Chloe on the other hand, was disoriented. She would space out, and jerk her head all of a sudden with a small frown on her lips, as if she was solving a puzzle in her mind and not doing it right. It troubled Beca, even if Chloe told Aubrey that she was just dizzy from not getting enough sleep last night.

"Hey," Beca caught up to her after the afternoon session.

Chloe turned to her. Their eyes met, an unspoken connection bridging the gap between their thoughts. The more Beca stared at her face, the more she saw the stress lines on her forehead, the more she saw the unnatural frown on her lips, the more she saw that Chloe wanted to tell her things but she could not.

"Did they scare you? Did they threaten you in any way?" Beca asked, because if they did, things were bound to get worse. "We can't let you be bullied by those jerks, Chloe."

Chloe smiled, though Beca couldn't exactly tell whether she was forcing it or not, it looked both. "Beca, I'm fine. Bumper just wanted his lab manual back."

"That's taken care of, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"Okay…" Beca shrugged, her eyes spotting the fork on the left to the radio station. She had to work overtime today, considering that the practices were getting in way of her CD stacking duties. "I'll just… go."

"Take care and um…" Chloe nodded. She still had the confusing almost painful smile on her face. Beca wanted to ask what was wrong but she didn't have the authority. Not yet. Until she earns the right to ask Chloe of her personal feelings, Beca was to stop prying. "Just take care, Beca."