A/N - Apologies for the lack of updates in what seems like forever. I'm not convinced that this chapter is worthy of such a long absence but it is what it is so enjoy! For those that know the film pretty well, there has been some ad-libbing along the way.
Thanks for the reviews and follows! It has meant a lot while I've had a pretty annoying case of severe writers block. Thanks to N and K for all the love and support, the "get your head out of your ass" nudges to get these stories updated!
To Infinity And Beyond
.o0o. Playing The Part .o0o.
It took Aubrey over an hour to defrost properly and start speaking to Beca again after her Aunt had made Beca the Shuttle Commander and Aubrey the Pilot. Aubrey was trying to be civil and she knew she was being petulant and childish and, if she was honest, simply childish, but Beca-Freaking-Mitchell was going to be in charge during the week and Aubrey wasn't sure how to handle it.
It had been hard for Aubrey to admit she needed the help with the Bella's and she sighed heavily as she realized that the reason they were better was the short, opinionated brunette who was currently making it very obvious she was keeping out of Audrey's way.
Aubrey recognized that it wasn't Beca's fault that Auntie Andie had done that to her and she also knew she could make the week more enjoyable if she offered the olive branch and swallowed her pride.
Beca had kept her distance from Aubrey as they made their way to their dorm room after collecting their luggage from the storage room after it had been scanned by security, fearing a puke fest if she antagonized her blonde friend any more than she had, unwittingly, already done.
"Beca. A word." Aubrey said, ghosting over to where Beca was doing her best to stay hidden in the corner of the room. She was on the bottom bunk with Ashley on the top one, having picked a spot as far away from Aubrey as possible.
"Yes, Bree?" Beca sighed, placing the last of her folded shirts in the drawer and closing it with her knee. They had only a few minutes left before orientation began and Beca had successfully managed to avoid the inevitable.
"Outside in the hallway please Beca." Aubrey said, before turning about on her heels and tottering out of the room. Beca sighed, rolled her eyes for good measure and followed her.
"Spare the theatrics Bree, OK?" Beca started speaking as soon as she clicked the dorm room door shut behind her. She had already clocked the rest of the Bella's shooting her questionable looks as she walked out of the room, noticing Chloe beckon everyone to gather around with her hands. Chloe was no doubt filling them in, as you could smell the tension in the air, unless that was the large cool bag of food that Chloe has smuggled in past security, citing the need for a midnight feast with her girls.
Really, it wasn't a big deal and she hated the fuss Aubrey was making.
"Urgh, Beca, you are so infuriating. I was going to say 'let's bury the hatchet' but you seem intent on making my life hell." Aubrey said as soon as the door had closed.
"Oh my God, what did I say now?! Look Bree, I don't even want to be here." Beca argued. "I didn't ask for any of this. She's your Aunt! Go and talk to her or something. I don't care. You can be in charge; just like always! I'm just here for the MoonPies. And maybe, because I want to spend some time with my friends. Although if you tell anyone that I'll-"
"-Really?" Aubrey asked, interrupting before Beca could issue her threat.
"Yes!" Beca said eagerly.
"You aren't secretly pleased that you have one up on me?" Aubrey continued.
"Good God Bree, no." Beca said. "Come on, I thought we were past that."
"Yes but you -"
"- Dude, I just want to get this over with. I want to get through the week, maybe have some of this bonding malarkey you weirdoes are all so keen on and then get back to Barden in one piece. So just cool your jets, okay?"
"All right!" Aubrey said, feeling less like she wanted to throw up. "I guess Aunt Andie had a reason behind it all."
"So, we cool?" Beca said, fiddling with a piece of hair she'd pulled over her shoulder, twirling it in her finger.
"We're cool. So, come on then Buzz Lightyear ..." Aubrey said, grinning. "... let's go!"
"Oh, you so did not just go there ..." Beca said, not entirely unhappy with the change of subject. "... I'm gonna kill Amy!"
.o0o.
Soon enough, the group found themselves in a large, open warehouse filled with all sorts of contraptions. They had all been given their itineraries for the week and none of the group were surprised to note Aubrey checking over the schedules with her highlighter.
Beca wandered away from the rest of the group to inspect the wall speakers before she heard Aubrey clicking her fingers in her direction, drawing her back in.
"What is all of this junk?" Beca asked, yawning loudly and unashamedly as she joined the rest of the girls. She really wanted to get back her bunk for a snooze and an hour session with her iPod. She wanted to see Jesse as well; mostly to complain about what the heck they were doing here but she needed him to help take her mind off everything going on and she knew he'd have a few tricks up his sleeve for that. He was currently over the other side of the room, staring intently at a mock up Saturn 5 rocket with a look of wonder on his face.
She did love her nerd.
"This is a mock-up of the cargo bay and the storage pallet." Andie said, happy that Beca was finally paying attention, even though she had just explained this to everyone else in her team, not two minutes before. She gestured to the equipment as they walked past the machinery. "That arm there is the remote manipulator system. It can be used for repairs and to link up with satellites or other vehicles."
Beca yawned again. Andie ignored it and moved the group around the large mocked up engine room.
"This is the zero gravity chair. It rides on a cushion of air and creates the feeling of weightlessness you would encounter when you leave the Earth's atmosphere." Andie continued before spying Lilly looking intently at a large pile of spacesuits currently littering the floor. "Come on, Lilly. This way."
Andie gestured towards the mock-up of the space shuttle and motioned for them to follow her. Lilly clocked the simulator, uncharacteristically shrieking as she laid eyes on it, running up the steps to lovingly stroke the peeling paintwork. Beca scoffed as she kicked at the iron step, waiting for everyone else to run up the steps before her.
"Oh, this is like the greatest thing since the X-Wing fighter!" Lilly squeaked, placing several little kisses to the skin of the space shuttle.
"Beca?" Aubrey said, clicking her fingers at the brunette again, as she stopped Lilly bowing to the space shuttle. Beca rolled her eyes and was about to retort when Chloe skipped down the steps and linked arms with her friend.
"You okay Beca?" Chloe asked.
"I don't want to be here." Beca moaned.
"I know Beca, but make the most of it lovely?" Chloe reasoned.
"I'm just not interested in this pile of junk …" Beca said, raising her eyes up the steps as the rest of her team filed in, Aubrey's ass disappearing from view. "… I don't want to go into the Space Shittle."
"Beca, it's …"
"I know what it is Chloe. I've renamed it a Shittle."
"Come on … I'll let you have my Moon Pie after dinner." Chloe stated solemnly, the glint in her eye overly apparent.
"Dude, how many times? Even after all the shower bombings, you gotta know, I'm with Jesse!" Beca laughed out.
"I know silly, but it got you laughing." Chloe grinned. "Now get up those steps before Pilot InPosenanator has us Court Martianed."
Beca laughed, in spite of everything and climbed the rest of the steps, slipping into the back of the simulator as Andie was talking. The mock up was well equipped with enough space and light for it to be a mecca for small space explorers. Beca was pleased for possibly the only third or fourth time in her life that she was short enough to fit properly.
Amy was sitting in one of the seats up front with Lilly enthusiastically bouncing in the other. Beca knew by the look on Aubrey's face that she wanted to call out to Lilly to tell her to sit still.
"This is the shuttle simulator which you're gonna learn to fly at speeds up to Mock 25 ..." Andie explained, placing a cool hand on Lilly's shoulder.
'Like aunt, like niece!' Beca thought, watching Amy grab the joystick in front of her, just below the control panel, with both hands, gripping firmly.
"I know it looks complicated now, but when you get the basics down it's real easy." Andie continued. "In fact the computer does most of the work. Now, the first lesson I want to teach you is -"
"- Arrrgh!"
"- Amy!"
"- What the aca-fuck?"
"- Who broke the machine? What was that?"
Andie didn't get to finish her sentence as Amy, joyfully playing with the pilot's stick in front of her, pulled firmly backwards causing the entire simulator to shift violently. With no prior warning and nothing really to hold onto, the ones who were standing were thrown to the back of the simulator.
"That?" Aubrey barked out as she pushed Chloe off her as Beca kicked out at the side of the simulator in frustration. "That was Amy!"
"The first lesson I want to teach you is ..." Andie said, standing upright again, looking around at everyone in the simulator, before fixing her eyes on a very sheepish Amy. Beca had to hold back a laugh as she recognized that death glare from Andie as being akin to Aubrey's momentous pout. "... is why I won't touch anything until I know how to use it."
"By Amy Wilson."
"Right." Andie said.
"But in my defense ma'am, this thin' is wicked sensitive. And if yoos twig bitches weren't so damn skinny, yoos wouldn't have fallen down like a pile of cheap matches."
"Amy!" Aubrey bristled.
"Is everyone okay?" Andie asked as she began to usher everyone out of the simulator. "Perhaps we'll try something a little less dangerous for our next activity."
.o0o.
"This is the Mercury Sigma 7 ..." Andie explained and Beca zoned out completely.
Beca's enthusiasm didn't pick up when Andie took them on towards the museum. True, what Andie was telling them was actually pretty interesting and she clearly knew her stuff but Beca was bored out of her brain at this point and the only reason she hadn't fallen flat on her face were the smutty text messages she was receiving from Jesse. The latest one had nearly made her laugh out loud.
Message Jesse – Cynthia Rose was just talking about gravity and I then started to think about your boobs in space. I need to orbit them later.
Beca wandered off to sit on a structure, clearly labelled with a "Do Not Touch" sign but she was a total bad-ass, she didn't care. She raised her eyes to the high ceiling, quietly impressed by the size of the place. She could see why some kids liked the place; it was kind of cool. She cast her eyes over to a group of thirty something's to her right who were taking pictures of each other with their phones. One of them, wearing an astronaut helmet and a tee shirt emblazoned with "I'm A Virgin" with a smaller line underneath that read "But This Is An Old Shirt" (Beca wasn't convinced), was staging a photo to look like he was free-falling from one of the disused shuttles.
Beca looked at what she thought was a display of machinery and sat down as Andie finished talking.
"... otherwise they would feel like monkeys."
Beca scoffed, knowing exactly how those monkeys felt. She stretched her arms above her head and yawned loudly. She pulled out her phone to check the time when she felt something hit her, quite hard, just above the ear.
"What the aca-fuck was that?" She yelled, causing the rest of the blue team to hurry over. She clutched at her ear and Aubrey reached her first.
"Beca! What did you do?" She said, accusingly.
"Nothing!" Beca protested. "I was sitting here, minding my own business, trying hard not to listen and something clonked me on the head."
She gave her head a couple of little rubs for good measure.
"What is it?" Chloe asked heartily as a small, round appliance, whirred and clicked into life, a number of LED lights flashing across a small raised part of the white machine.
"That ..." Andie explained. "... is a Prototy -"
"- Prototype Maintenance Droid." Lilly enthused. "NASA built him for the space station."
"Well, yes. How did you know that?" Andie asked.
"I read the sign on the side of it." Lilly explained, shaking her head, not understanding the problem.
"When is he goin' up?" Amy asked, as she reached forward and tapped the machine on the outer shell.
"He's not." Andie explained. "His shielding is corrupt and he becomes unstable in about two hours."
"He's cute!" Chloe exclaimed as the machine stuck out an arm with a small wheel attached to it, finding the floor and clicking it into place.
"I'm not sure about that!" Andie laughed. "He's quite complex but NASA hasn't been able to iron out all the bugs. So, he helps out around here and at Kennedy."
"What's his name?" Lilly asked.
"Jinx." Andie said.
"Hi Jinx." Lilly murmured, unable to take her eyes off him. "I'm Lilly."
The small, white machine whirred and clicked and made a serious of small beeps. It rolled off the platform on which it was standing and headed towards Beca who took a couple of steps back.
"Head." Jinx buzzed, poking out an arm towards where it had struck Beca.
"Erm, yeah, it's cool." She said in response.
Jinx twirled on the spot as Lilly took a step forward to touch the raised head of the machine that resembled a face, if a machine could have one.
"Okay, we've all met Jinx. Let's get going." Andie said and the group began to follow her out. Lilly remained rooted to the spot, having a staring match with the robot. Andie caught her looking and called out. "Lilly! Come on. Dinner will be served in half an hour."
.o0o.
Dinner proved uneventful and it was past 8pm when Beca finally was able to meet up with Jesse in the small quad outside of where a selection of the dorm rooms where. There were places to sit and hang out with excellent view of the rockets that decorated the area. The lights were kept to a minimum, allowing the campers to look up to the night sky.
"Hey!" Jesse said as he encircled his arms around his girlfriend, pulling her in tight to his chest. He felt her relax against him, possibly for the first time that day. "You okay Beca?"
"I don't know what I'm doing here." She mumbled into the soft cotton of his shirt.
"Just living the dream?"
"Hardly!" Beca mirthed.
"What would make it better?"
"Apart from you on the same team as me so I can look at your ass during the day, nothing."
"Beca Mitchell, are you sulking?!" Jesse asked, laughing.
"Yep. Pretty much."
"Would a kiss help?"
"Always." Beca smiled up at Jesse.
"If you behave and play nice, I'll get something arranged for tomorrow night, okay?"
"Mmm hmm." Beca mumbled. "I've got to go soon. Aubrey drives me crazy and she's organised a question and answer session back in the dorm, in preparation for the assessment on Friday."
"What assessment?" Jesse asked, knitting his eyebrows.
"Oh something something about something." Beca said.
"Wow, I feel so enlightened." Jesse laughed and Beca soon joined him.
"I mean, she's getting us prepared for the, I dunno what to call it, passing out ceremony or some dumb shit like that. Something about a certificate and a prize if you are the team that wins the most points for the week. It's supposed to be a secret."
"Oh right. I'd best tell the guys then."
"Jesse? You do know what a secret is, right?" Beca laughed out as she pushed herself away from him.
"Too right." Jesse said, reaching a hand round the small of her back. "But it is no secret how much I love you."
"Oh yeah?" She said, looking up into his chocolate eyes.
"Yeah!"
"Show me."
Jesse bent down and covered Beca's lips with his own. Their mouths fitted together well, after several months of dating they had worked out what each other liked. Jesse kissed her firmly, popping his tongue in between her lips, not peeking out to ask, just taking control of what he knew she needed. He snaked a hand around the back of her head, gently grasping her hair as he kissed her harder. She felt the light stubble across his jaw where he hadn't shaved since the day before as he tilted her head backwards, allowing his tongue to sweep inside her mouth. Normally Beca would have fought him for dominance, knowing what buttons she needed to push to get him to do anything she wanted. But now, she needed him to be strong. He tucked his hips towards her and with his spare hand, laced it tightly around her, digging his nails into the dip of her back. He moaned into her mouth as their teeth clattered against each other and he was about to lean her backwards when -
"Whoa! Yoos two need ta get a room!" Amy's voice cut through their moment as she poked her head around the door. Pulling away with a groan, Beca shot a murderous look at her blonde friend.
"Amy!"
"I know mate, I know, I killed yoos fun and stopped the nasty from happenin'. But Aubrey wants yoos and she's been waitin' for five minutes. She's sharpened her pencils and everythin'."
"Oh God, I gotta go." Beca moaned. "If she's in that kind of mood ..."
"Got it!" Jesse laughed, landing a playful pat on Beca's behind. "Go, have fun!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Beca breathed out as she began to walk away. "Same time tomorrow?"
"You got it." Jesse called out, as he walked backwards, narrowly missing a bunch of astro-nerds as they watched Jesse and Beca kiss with pained expressions on their faces.
"What's he like ta kiss?" Amy asked as they walked back towards their dorm.
"Amy, I'm not gonna ... no, I'm ..."
"Dude, yoos are supposed ta say, in reference ta where we are, that he's out of this world!"
"Oh my God."
"I kissed a guy once and it was like kissin' a cut open cantaloupe. He was the wettest, squishiest kisser in the world and his lips where all spongy and loose! I swear he drooled his melon juice down me cleavage."
"That was an image I didn't need and could have lived without."
"Hell-o, we're here now." Amy said as she opened the dorm door. Beca winced at the sight of Aubrey standing there, clipboard in hand, with that look on her face.
"Nice of you to join us Beca." Aubrey snapped.
"I caught 'em makin' out in the rocket garden." Amy said, as she took her place on the floor.
"Was that necessary?" Beca asked, trying to not make eye contact with Aubrey and ignore the look on Chloe's face; filled with glee.
"This is war, Beca, and it is my job to make sure that my soldiers are prepped at go time with three ... no, you know what, I give up. Please just take your seat. There is going to be a quiz and we have to win. There is going to be an awesome prize at the end of it so we have until Wednesday to get ready for this."
"What's the prize?" Ashley asked, hugging her knees up to her chest as Beca sat down next to her.
"I don't know exactly." Aubrey said honestly.
"What's the quiz on?"
"I don't know exactly." Aubrey repeated. Beca resisted the urge to comment as Aubrey passed around fact sheets and quiz questions. "We just need to be ready for anything."
"How many pounds of thrust does the shuttle produce at liftoff? Why do we need to know that?" Cynthia Rose asked, reading one of the quiz questions. "Does anyone have -"
"6,981,400." Chloe answered, smoothing down the front of her shirt.
"Talking of thrustin' ..." Amy began. "Jesse and Beca -"
"- How'd you know that Chloe?" Cynthia Rose said, looking around and catching Denise's eye. "How in the world did she know all that?"
"I just do." Chloe said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Let's get our heads down ladies." Aubrey said, picking up a couple of heavy looking books and flicking through. "Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for us all and I want us to be prepared."
"Nothing like a bit of bossiness to make for a relaxing Spring Break." Beca muttered under her breath as she leaned forward so her hair would fall and cover her face and her remark.
Several minutes passed and everyone was quietly reading their fact sheets. Aubrey was getting increasingly stressed out with her textbook and was almost bleating with the stress. Chloe slipped off the bed she was perched on and wandered over to her friend.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to figure this thing out." Aubrey said, closing the book with a bang, causing tiny dust particle to fly about everywhere. Chloe took the book from her and examined the cover before handing it back.
"The multi-axis trainer?" She said and Aubrey nodded.
"It's one of the most difficult parts of the training. It's scary for a pilot. You know anything about it?" Aubrey asked. "I've got to get it right."
"Let me see ..." Chloe said, closing her eyes for a moment. "Three concentric circles spinning in different directions simultaneously. Object to stabilize from central point utilizing hand controls."
"Chloe, for serious, how'd you know all that?"
"Oh, you know me Bree, I remember everything I read. It's no big deal except it can be a real drag sometimes when my mind gets totally cluttered. It's why I love the Bella's so much. Totes what I need when I have to empty my brain."
"What did you get on you SAT's?" Ashley called out, a few feet away. Chloe spun around not realizing everyone was watching her and Aubrey.
"Erm, 2350."
"Oh." Ashley said, going back to her book.
"Hey guys, let's start on our essays." Aubrey said, shifting quickly to retrieve the stack of clipboards by her side. Beca noticed she had already slotted paper and pencils onto them. Aubrey handed them out quickly.
"Um, what's your essay gonna be about Aubrey?" Chloe asked as she accepted the clipboard.
"Why I want to be the first Female Shuttle Commander."
"Oh, that's gonna go down real big! Yeah, your Aunt Andie'll get a kick out of that" Beca snarked.
"What about you Cynthia Rose?" Chloe asked, hushing Beca before it could go any further.
"Oh, erm, I dunno. What are you doing?" Cynthia Rose said.
"I'm gonna go with 'I want to go into space to find creatures that exist on chemicals other than carbon and oxygen' I think.
"You should visit my home town!" Cynthia Rose laughed.
Beca looked around as the group laughed and noticed that Lilly was missing.
"Hey, where's Lilly?" She asked and watched as Aubrey looked shocked she hadn't realized the quiet one wasn't there.
"I don't know." Aubrey said. "She was here earlier."
"The ninja got away." Amy laughed out.
"She couldn't have ..." Aubrey started.
"Or maybe she's been abducted by aliens." Amy offered another explanation.
"Amy, I hardly think -"
"Come on Beca, let's go find her."
Beca never moved so fast.
Amy and Beca left the dorm room and headed back towards the quad. Having no idea where Lilly could be, they stood looking at each other for a few moments until an ear piercing scream echoed through the quad.
"That sounds like -" Beca said, confused.
"It sure did." Amy agreed.
"Which way was that coming from?" Beca asked.
Amy was about to answer when another scream rang out.
"That's coming from the museum." Amy said. "And it's definitely Lilly. She makes that noise if yoos don't let her watch YoosTube."
Both girl set off on a jog towards the museum. Beca had her hand on the door handle as she heard loud voices from within.
"Hey! Booster breath, leave me alone!" Lilly called out.
"Let me see it." A male voice rang out. "I want to see it"
"Get off me!" Lilly called out as Beca burst through the door.
"Lilly!" Beca shouted. "Are you okay?"
"Let me see it!" The young man standing in front of Lilly yelled.
"Who are you, the Imperial Guard, or something?" Lilly snapped.
"Let us take a look!" The first guy's friend said.
"Hey! What's going on?" Beca shouted louder than anyone else in the room, right in the face of the four guys that were crowding Lilly into a corner.
"She got this thing in there." The first one said, pointing towards a cupboard, just to the side of where Lilly was standing.
"Yeah, we just want to see it." The third one said, joining in.
"Why don't you evaporate laser brain?!" Lilly hissed out between her teeth.
"I'll give you a laser brain." The second guy said, taking a few steps towards Lilly.
"Hey! Hey! Hands off!" Beca said, stepping in front of the guy and instantly stopping him. "Lay off her."
The first guy stepped forward and pulled open the cupboard doors, before taking a couple of steps backwards. Inside the cupboard was Jinx. And he wasn't quite as Beca and Amy remembered him when they had seen him earlier that day. Now covered in silver stripes and blue ribbons, he had been decorated, presumably by Lilly.
"Holy shit!" Amy said, trying not to laugh.
"Shit!" Jinx said, his robotic voice loud in the large warehouse. He began to roll forward as he spoke. "Shit. Solid waste aboard space station. Can be handled in one of two ways."
"Jinx! Jinx! Cancel!" Lilly called out as he rolled towards the lads, his arm extended.
"What is it? What's it do?" The fourth guy eventually spoke.
"Anything you ask it to?" Lilly said, tapping Jinx on the side of his body.
"Hey Jinx, shake a leg." The second guy spoke and laughed loudly as Jinx lifts up one of his legs and shook it. "Oh man, you mean he literally does what he's told."
"Don't do that!" Lilly called out.
"Jinx, come here!" The first guy called out. Jinx began to move as all four of the young men called out different commands all at the same time.
"This way!"
"Turn around."
"Bend your arms!"
"Come here!"
"Hey Jink, roll over"
"Speak!"
With a large clunking sound that didn't sound healthy in any language, Jinx let out a hiss as he sunk to the floor, his light immediately dimming.
"You've broken him, you jerks." Beca shouted to the four guys as they beat a hasty retreat away from the thin, wispy plume of smoke that was emanating from one of the control panels on Jinx's side.
"Oh man, what are we gonna do?" Amy said, looking down as Lilly sank to the floor next to the broken robot. "Isn't he worth like $40 million dollars or somethin'?"
Lilly looked sadly back up at her friends, convinced she'd just earned herself a one way ticket back to Barden.
.o0o.