Sorry about the skipped day, but I was in NYC visiting a friend and it was super amazing, but there was 0 time to write let alone post anything. But now we're back on track so enjoy. And also, for those that were wondering, yeah, those lyrics in the last chapter I wrote myself. Poetry isn't my strongest suit, but it was too cute to resist.

Beca held her breath as she walked into her boss's office on Monday. She kept repeating to herself all the good things in her life that wouldn't change if this fell through. It was managing to keep her from running out of the room at top speed, but not much else. She swore her hands were shaking.

Right. Forty-five days until Mina was in the States. Half way through. Mina loved her. She loved Mina. They had an awesome apartment that was looking more and more like home every day and with everything the two of them bought together. She had awesome friends that still blew up her phone every day with messages even though they were halfway across the country now. She had everything going for her. This risk was nothing. The worst he could say was no.

Or the worst that could happen was he realized that Beca had absolutely no talent at all and fired her on the spot.

But she wasn't supposed to be thinking like that right now. Holy Jesus. She smiled hesitantly at her boss as he looked up.

"Uh, hi, you're assistant said your free for a few minutes." She held up her flash drive. "I, um, I made a demo of a song for Nikolai like you said."

Her boss's eyebrows rose. "Damn, that was fast. I didn't expect anything from you until week's end."

Beca felt herself blushing. "Yeah, I was inspired I guess." She laughed awkwardly but stopped herself before it could get ridiculous. She stepped forward and handed him the drive. "The music is the first file and then the second file is with the lyrics overlaid how I thought they would work best. Obviously if we used it, it would be Nikolai singing, but." She stopped herself again. Right, no need for ridiculous comments that were obvious.

Her boss plugged the flash drive in and opened the first file. He slipped on his headphone and closed his eyes, face the picture of concentration. Beca swallowed and leaned on one of the chairs he had in front of his desk. She was too damn nervous to actually sit right now. She counted down the seconds, knowing after running the song fifteen million times just how long it lasted. She couldn't tell if she was getting more anxious as the end drew closer or less.

Her boss's eyes blinked open at the end of the song. He took off his headphone and looked at her for a long second.

"You know, the stuff you came with showed potential that could be shaped if you learned the ropes and saw how everything was done, worked on project with others, that sort of thing. It was good for someone just entering into the business. But this? It's great. It's warm and light, and you've got a hell of an ear. No matter what you're lyrics are, I could use this."

Beca's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Really. Whatever inspired you, keep it."

Beca looked down at her feet as she blushed. "Yeah, I sort of plan on it."

"Let's see what you've got for lyrics then." Her boss slipped the headphone back on and listened for a second time.

Beca chewed the inside of her lip. She was thrilled beyond reason that her boss had liked her arrangement. She had worked her ass off on it. But somehow, the lyrics meant more to her, though both parts of the song were dedicated to Mina, the lyrics really put her heart out there. It was most important Mina liked them, and she did. But outside approval would mean the world too.

Her fist clenched as her boss went for his headphones again. "I should give you a weekend to compose a song more often." He took a deep breath. "You're definitely in the right place, kid. I'm not sure the Nikolai could use this though. It's definitely techno, but his voice." He shook his head. "Wouldn't be the right tone. However, I know a few others who would snatch this song up in a second and rock it like it needs to be. That sound good to you."

"You want to use the whole thing?"

"Yeah, there are a few changes I'd make before marketing, but it's solid. Really solid."

"Oh my god, yes, I am so good with that."

"Good, good, hand off some of your demos to Tim. You'll help me work on this with the artist I pick. I'll call you when I've got things set up."

Beca nodded, keeping it just on the sane edge of frantic. "Of course, awesome. Thank you so much." She forced herself to turn around and walk out of the office before she squealed in a completely undignified manner.

She walked in a daze to her desk, gathered up the demos she'd been putting off listening too and a couple more to make a day's worth or so, and walked over to Tim. She didn't know what she told him about the demos, but he took them from her with a frown and a resigned look on his face. By the time she got back to her desk she couldn't quite contain the internal squealing.

Beca pulled out her phone. Mina might be asleep, her schedule still a bit off from the insomnia a couple days before, but she needed to vent somehow or she was literally going to start jumping around the office like some sort of overgrown five year old. Of course Mina would say she wasn't that overgrown, but she was an adult size, damn it. So she was a little below the national average for a woman, that was fine. It was only a couple inches and right now that was not the point and Jesus how was it fair that she could already hear Mina's voice in her head making snarky comments. They'd only been dating for a month and a half or so.

She typed out a message in all caps. "OH MY GOD. MY BOSS IS GOING TO USE THE SONG!"

Perhaps there were a few too many exclamation points, but that was how she felt. Fuck it. She drew in a deep breath to try and reign herself in a bit more.

"He's not going to use it for Nikolai, but he's got a few other artists in mind that he thinks would fit the song. He's going to let me help him produce it. Engel, I don't even think I have the words to express how fucking over the moon I am right now."

She didn't want to send another message to Mina until she was sure she was awake, but her fingers still itched. She needed to tell more people or scream at the wall or something. Except not screaming at the wall. Right that was why she was texting people so she didn't need to be institutionalized by her coworkers on one of the biggest days of her life to date. Actually, probably the biggest besides when she got together with Mina.

She almost gagged at that. They totally had become one of those couples, hadn't they. Whatever. Mina was worth a little bit of cheesiness.

She brought up the groupme she had going with the Bellas. She typed out everything that had happened since the last time she'd appeared in the group, which had been Friday on a short break from composing the music to her track. She'd told them about everything that happened that day in her normal terse way to which all of them had cheered her on and assured her that she would make the best damn song ever. Except for Lily, who had been encouraging in her own way by saying she could rig sales for her track to sky rocket via hacking iTunes, to which Beca had just sent back an obligatory lol.

Beca sat and waited for replies. Any replies. From the Bellas or from Mina. She should probably text her Dad too and let him know that something was already working out for her and she'd been here like a month. He was a little less critical now that she had a degree, but it was still a music degree and he still was a college professor. He was as supportive as his academia geared mind would let him be and Beca was fine with that. He wasn't the one she wanted to celebrate with right now when she was so excited she couldn't stand it and was about to lose her reputation as the overly chill sarcastic one.

But then the replies from the Bellas were pouring in almost all at once.

"Oh my god, Becs, that's so awesome! I don't care who actually sings the song, I'll totally buy it when it comes out just because you're the one who wrote it," Chloe sent.

"It was totally my butt confidence that got you here, mate," Fat Amy said and then sent another message a second later. "But seriously, congrats, I'll wrestle a dingo to buy it if I have to."

Beca rolled her eyes at that. She wondered if Fat Amy really thought that all of the Bellas thought that Australia was really like that. Then again she'd been wondering that since Freshman year so. Nothing new.

"Of course he liked your song!" Emily said. "You are completely awesome. Your mashups were always the best, and what you did with Flashlight was beyond awesome. Of course anything by you should be used, you're the best."

"My offer still stands, I can rig it so sales sky rocket," Lilly sent.

"No thanks, Lilly. I want to see how it does on its own, but thanks for the offer again. :)" Beca sent before Lilly could actually implement any steps in that plan. "Seriously guys, thank you, all of you. I'm like almost in a puddle of goo right now. It's a bit hard not to jump around, if you can believe it."

"It should be, it's exciting," Jessica said.

Beca wasn't really sure which one was Jessica until she looked at the picture beside the little speech bubble. How in the world Jessica and Ashley could literally be that close to be almost indistinguishable was beyond her. Her and Chloe were close and yet everyone actually knew who they were. She shrugged.

"Oh my god, do you think it would make a good Bella song?" Emily asked.

Immediately everyone in the conversation started replying blowing up Beca's phone. Holy Jesus. Beca just set the thing aside for a few minutes while everyone got that out of their system. The generally gist of everything she was seeing was 'yes oh my god, another Bella song written and composed by a Bella would be so great for the next national competition, if it came out in time, and if not the next then the one after.'

After the initial tide Beca finally picked up her phone again. "It might fit in with what we normally do. I'd send it to you, but a. I don't want to be fired if anyone finds out somehow through like spy powers or some shit and b. it'll probably change so what I'd send wouldn't be wholly accurate anyway. But I'm sure you could find a way to mix it, Emily. You just have to remember the stuff I taught you."

"And if you use it, of course all of us will come watch you and cheer you on," Chloe added a second later. "It'll be a big reunion and it'll be great."

"Uh, Chlo, that's what you said about the retreat, and I don't know about you, but being covered in mud was not my version of great," Beca messaged back.

"Hey! It got us our sound back to beat those stupid Germans."

"You do remember I'm dating one of those stupid Germans, right?"

"Lesbihonest," Amy texted.

"Amy, I don't think I could be any more honest right now." Beca rolled her eyes.

"Uh, girl, you could go to Maine and get married," Cynthia Rose sent.

"Why would I go to Maine when I can get married right where I am? California loves gays more than gays love gays."

"She's got a point," Chloe sent. "And Beca, you realize you didn't just sputter and try to deny getting married, right?"

Beca sat back and blinked at the screen of her phone for a little bit. She hadn't. She hadn't even thought about it. With Jesse, when it was good, she had imagined them together in the future of course, but any time one of the other Bellas had joked around about her marrying him she'd always rolled her eyes and said marriage was stupid. And now she hadn't. there were all these little signs that told her she had done the right thing breaking up with Jesse and getting together with Mina, and this was just another one, she supposed.

"Didn't realize that, no, but I dunno. I haven't thought about it, really. It's a little stupid to start thinking about it after a month and half."

"But you two are moving in together," Flo said. "Financially I understand, but you two aren't doing it to save money and we all know it."

"U-haul," Amy sent simply.

"That's what I was about to say," Cynthia Rose sent back.

"Wtf why are you agreeing with the ridiculous stereotype, dude? Shouldn't you be, I don't know, denying that's a thing or something?" Beca typed out.

"Stereotypes gotta come from somewhere." Beca could practically see the shrug that Cynthia Rose accompanied that text with.

"Right, ok, not thinking about marriage, and despite what you all think the moving in together was more of a convenient thing than anything. Will it be more than that, yeah, but I mean, whatever. Don't you all have jobs you should be doing right now or something?"

"Don't you?" Ashley sent back. "Besides, it's my lunch break."

There were a bunch of text messages that agreed with that and Emily just sent back "college student=no job."

Beca rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I do have a job and I'm going to go do that now, aca-nerds." She huffed out a breath. "But yeah, thanks guys you mean the world to me for the compliments and everything else. Maybe not the teasing about U-Hauls, but I can overlook that. Message you later."

She put her phone on silent and set it aside. Only to look at the device a second later. She should probably message Jesse too. He was still her friend even if their conversations had cooled off a little in light of the breakup. They were finding their way through it as they did everything else. He would want to know this. He would want to be excited for her and with her. And she wanted that too, but probably not right now. That would take up a lot of her brain space and she was still at work. She had demos to listen to while she waited for her boss to work out the details of what artist he wanted her song for and everything else. And being not productive after something like that would just be stupid.

Beca shook herself and turned back to her still rather large pile of demos. She grabbed one out of the stack and slipped it into her computer. This was the part of the job she hated the most but newbies had to do something, she supposed. She sighed and pressed play.