As the outro music faded, Beca slid off her headphones so they were around her neck. Rubbing her eyes, she looked at the artist in the booth and let out a sigh. Putting on a smile, she pressed the intercom into the vocal booth.

"That was great Taylor. I think the bridge is finally getting to where we want it. Take a few minutes and we'll go again."

Taylor Swift gave Beca a thumbs-up through the glass and stepped away from the microphone to grab a sip of water.

Beca's phone buzzed on the console, and she stretched her arms over her head, groaning lightly as she did so. They had been in the studio essentially three days straight trying to finish some demos for the label before a rapidly approaching deadline. Beca had been working on and off with Taylor Swift for a number of years after she toured with DJ Khaled. Taylor was just one artist in a long list of talented musicians that Beca had been fortunate enough to work with over the years, and Beca's years of hard work were paying off in that now she was one of the top American producers. The Beca Mitchell name was in high demand, and Beca's numerous hours in the recording studio were quickly accumulating. Beca was of course satisfied with how her career had flourished over the past few years, but the past six months had been a whirlwind, both personally and professionally. She was in a state of exhaustion that she had never even considered humanly possible.

Rubbing her eyes again, Beca flipped a few switches on the console in preparation for running back the new segment they had just recorded and picked up her phone to see who was texting her. Seeing three missed calls from "Home" Beca sighed and opened her texts to see a few unread messages. One of them was a picture of one of her favorite humans and Beca took a moment to study the picture, which was of a small boy wearing a blue graduation cap and gown with a big grin on his face.

Jack missed you at his preschool graduation - the caption read. Hope you'll be home early enough to have some cake with us :)

There was another text from the same number that followed the picture. Also, don't forget that we need to leave at 9am tomorrow in order to make it on time for our flight!

Beca groaned internally, realizing that it was going to be a late night in the studio and she hadn't even started to pack for the trip she was supposed to be taking in less than 24 hours. She scrolled back up to the picture of the young boy and grinned at it for a few moments before putting her phone back down beside her workstation. Leaning back in her chair, the diminutive brunette took a few deep breaths and glanced at the clock. 4:57pm. Shit. By her estimate, they still had several hours of work to get the demo to a place where Beca wanted it. She picked up her coffee which had been cold for a handful of hours at this point and took a large swig. Swallowing hastily, she pressed the intercom to the isolation booth and tried to sound upbeat.

"Okay Taylor, what do you say we try and run it again? Let's see if we can clean up the final chorus as well as the outro."

"Sure thing!" The blonde singer replied. "I have a few runs I think will work well for that section of the song."

"Awesome. Let's bang it out then." Beca settled into her chair and slipped the headphones back over her ears. Pressing a few buttons, the background track started playing throughout the studio and Beca closed her eyes and tried to focus on the music. The upbeat track seemed to steady her uneasiness and she relaxed and let the music wash over her. After a moment, someone tapped her on the shoulder and she swiveled her chair around to find her boss giving her a quick wave before setting down a fresh cup of coffee down on her workstation.

Beca pulled her headphones off and immediately grabbed the coffee.

"Dude, you don't know how much of a lifesaver this is right now." She took a long drink from the fresh cup of coffee. She screwed her eyes closed when the hot liquid almost burned her tongue. "Oh! Shit! That's hot! But also, so so good!" Beca took another sip of the coffee and turned back to the console to focus her efforts on Taylor who was still singing in the isolation booth.

"How's the track coming?" Charlie asked, sliding up the volume so that Taylor's vocals could be heard over the studio speakers. He bobbed his head to the beat as he moved to stand beside Beca. "You gonna be able to get this done before you have to fly tomorrow?"

"Well, that is the million-dollar question now, isn't it?" Beca replied, twisting her wedding band around her finger distractedly as she looked over at her boss. "I mean…I don't really have a choice. It's gotta be finished tonight because I'm gone for the next ten days." The music producer yawned and took another pull from her coffee cup. "A deadline is a deadline."

Charlie Paulsen had been working closely with Beca for the past year or so. Beca greatly respected the man, and they had a great working relationship which translated to several hit tracks over the past thirteen months. They made a great team, and Charlie was constantly pushing Beca to up her game to keep up with other competitive record labels. Although Beca was young in comparison to other successful producers, Charlie knew she was extremely talented, and basically gave her free reign creatively over the studio as well as the artists she worked with. With just a glance at the still-yawning woman, he could tell that she had been burning the midnight oil in order to meet this deadline. The label had been putting a lot of pressure on her with this particular set of demos, especially because Taylor Swift's last record was produced by Beca and had gone platinum in a record amount of time. Both Beca, and Charlie by extension, were feeling the pressure to produce more hit tracks and to repeat the previous achievements. Charlie listened to the track playing over the speakers for a few more seconds before turning down the volume.

"This is sounding good Mitchell. That hook is money."

Beca nodded and looked up at her boss. "Yeah, I mean I'm still not totally satisfied with the song as a whole, but I think we're on the right track."

Charlie nodded and studied the woman for a few seconds. She looked downright exhausted. "When was the last time you slept for more than a few hours Beca?"

Beca closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of nose as she searched her exhausted mind to find the answer to Charlie's question. "Uhhhh, I got a few hours last night…I think?"

Charlie rolled his eyes, knowing full well that Beca had spent the night on the studio couch. "I meant at home kid. You know…like in your own bed…with your family."

Beca let out a mirthless laugh and took another swig of her coffee. "Well today is what…Friday?" She glanced down at her watch to confirm. "So, I guess…. Tuesday? I mean I slept at home at least, but definitely not a full night. You know…kids and all. They're cute and everything, but they never sleep." She looked up at Charlie with a sheepish grin on her face. Her grin disappeared quickly and she rubbed a hand over her face. "I need to finish this and get home at a reasonable hour."

Charlie placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a quick pat. "Yeah, I'll leave you to it." Straightening up, he turned to leave Beca to her work. "Let me know if you need another set of ears before you finish for the night, I'd be more than happy."

Beca was already back and focused on the console in front of her. She adjusted a few sliders and held her fist up toward her boss. "Thanks Charlie, I'll let you know. Otherwise, I'll leave the demos in your office on my way out."

Charlie extended his fist, meeting Beca's in a fist bump. "Yeah, sounds great." He started toward the door. "Have a good vacation." He called over his shoulder. "You definitely are long overdue for one Mitchell…try and relax, yeah?"

Beca choked mid-sip on her coffee, spluttering for a few seconds. A Bellas reunion was most certainly not going to be relaxing in the least and was most certainly not to be considered a vacation, even if it was in a tropical location. Knowing that Aubrey would likely have put together a jam-packed itinerary for the group of women, relaxation would be hard to come by. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she put her coffee back down. Chuckling to herself as her boss exited the studio, she slipped her headphones back on and focused at the task at hand. Although Beca would never admit it out loud, she was in fact looking forward to the trip. The Bellas had become her family over the years, and had led to her current career, a fact that Beca greatly appreciated. Beca grinned to herself, mentally anticipating whatever shenanigans would take place on the trip. The music faded once again, and Beca slipped back into reality looking up at the tall blonde singer on the other side of the glass.

"That was great Taylor! Take five and I'll run it back and we can go over some feedback."

Picking up her phone once again, Beca opened her texts to type out a response to her earlier messages.

Can't wait to come home and have cake with you guys. Hopefully not too late tonight! I'll see you when I get home.

As she hit "send" she hoped her message would prove to be true, and she would actually be home at a reasonable hour. However, based on the current state of affairs in the studio, Beca wasn't sure she would be able to keep her promise. This was becoming all too common these days.