A/N: Okay! I think, I got a bit side tracked in the last couple of chapter and almost forgot another important event that happens in the movie, before the Riff Off. And that gave me the idea for this kind of makes-no-sense-spur-of-the-moment-filler chapter.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Though, I am guilty as charged for twisting the plot.

Chapter Ten: Cross Your Heart And Riff Me Off

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"I hope you all remember the way you feel right now so you never want to feel this way again." Aubrey vented, taking the lead as the Bellas made their back from the SBT Frat house. They were the worst.

Of course, the new Bellas weren't performance ready yet, and their set was no short of horrible. But, that didn't mean that they should be heckled and kicked out so unceremoniously. That's the reason why frat boys are honoured with the top place in the universal jerk list. Forget the stupid money they were going to get, Aubrey was humiliated and she had to let out her frustration before she lost control and caused: 'Puke-fest Two: Puketacular Horror'.

"Chloe, your voice didn't sound Aguilerian at all!" Okay, so Chloe's going to have to take this one for the team. Aubrey decided subconsciously, feeling bad already but can't helping herself.

Chloe, however, didn't reply; which would've been a normal behaviour since she had always been glad to be the one that the blonde trusted enough to open up to. But, this time she just walked ahead of them all and stopped a short distance away, facing the lake. Beca and the other Bellas stayed quiet, letting the seniors handle what they thought wasn't unlike the small disagreements in rehearsals.

"Chloe?" Aubrey asked, now getting a bit worried when the redhead gave no reply, facing away from them. "What's wrong, Beale?"

Suddenly, she turned around, facing them but eyes still cast down and tears clearly visible in them. "I have nodes!" she choked, making them gasp at the revelation.

"Oh my god!" In a second, the blonde was at her best friend's side, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Chloe only nodded her thanks, tears still building up, as she explained her condition.

"I just found out this morning. Apparently, I've been using my vocal chords at above average rate without proper lubrication. And now I am stuck with stupid dream crushing nodes." Redhead went a bit dramatic but no one argued. "The key is early diagnosis, but I am a survivor. Also, this means, I am limited for now. No matter how much I love to sing, I can't do it, because I have nodes."

"At least, it's not herpes!" Fat Amy tried to joke, breaking the silence. Everybody stared at her in disbelief, making her give a sheepish smile and motion zipping her lips and stuffing the pretend key in her cleavage.

"Okay. That's a problem, and we are going have to fix it." Beca spoke up, gaining their attention and some confused looks. "We are going to discuss what to do about the singing at the next meeting. But right now, we are all going to change into something comfortable, meet up at the quad in an hour and head to lunch. Also, get Chloe plenty of water, tea, painkillers, maybe ice cream and a precautional notepad. You are going to rest, not talk and relax those throat muscles. Are we clear?"

Everyone stared in shock as Beca showed this authoritative and demanding side of hers that no doubt made her even more so Aubrey's sister. The blonde was equally surprised, but hardly as mad as she should be about somebody taking over the command of her group. Beca was just helping, like she promised she would, and frankly, this scary but caring side of hers was adorable as much as affective.

With only one more look from the DJ, the Bellas scurried away to their respective dorms, leaving behind only the pair of sisters and their respective best friends. Stacie shot an encouraging smile towards the redhead, who returned it slightly, surprised that neither brunettes showed any pity towards her. Good; she hated pity anyway, Aubrey knew that, she was glad that they understood as well. But, then again, how did they understand?

"How do you know so much about nodes?" Chloe asked curiously, in return, Beca shrugged.

"Beca's Aunt had them a couple of years ago." Stacie explained instead. "She is on Broadway; she found out back when we were in middle school."

"Aunt Debby?" Aubrey raised her brow in question.

"Yep, she got the surgery to remove them." Beca replied smirking at the ridiculous memory. "She flew in from Brooklyn one night, just the spontaneous person she is, and next morning Mom drove us to hospital after school. She got the surgery the day after. Stayed in the hospital for a few days. We visited; she got better. And BOOM, a week later, she flew back again."

"She sounds awesome! Aubrey told me so many stories about how perfect she is that I was beginning to question her reliability." Chloe smiled a little, her attempt to divert the conversation from her condition only caught by Beca, though, who gladly granted her wish.

"You saw Debby?" Stacie asked the blonde, curious to how she got so many stories if she supposedly hadn't seen her aunt in 10 years.

"Dad…." Aubrey replied, sighing. "When he got his tenure, he was often invited to give lectures in different cities. He took me to New York a few times and I was able to convince him that he should leave me at Aunt Debby's house to avoid spending money on hotel charges or baby sitters. He agreed faster than I could ever imagine. But he did warn her to never tell Mom about it. She knew that if she did, he would take me away again, so Aunt Debby never let me contact you either. She just took me to all these 'spontaneous' adventures to keep my mind off you guys and keep my father's approval."

"What a Cheap Jerk!" The taller brunette and the redhead scoffed with a snicker.

"Asshole! He tried his best to keep you away from us, didn't he?" Beca scowled, anger building up. "But then the same jerk brought me here, knowing that we'd meet again. How messed up is that?!"

"I don't know what goes on his head. Why keep us away when he got us together?" Aubrey pondered, making all of them think in silence. The man had a twisted way of thinking, and no doubt if they were curious to why he did it, they were sure they were better off not knowing.

"Doesn't matter now though, you are back together, everything's better and we are going to a-ca-awesome friends!" Chloe squealed after a while; Aubrey and Stacie laughed at this, but Beca remained sober and serious.

"Hold those vocals, Red. I am just getting used to your chirpiness. Don't you dare lose that amazing voice by your silly antics." The DJ warned, slightly concerned but heaven's forbid not letting it show, causing the redhead to let out a small squeak before shutting her mouth with a wide grin; infecting one on Beca's face too. "Now, let's get you some tea and me, some shoes that are not a killing machine."

That said, Beca walked away, Chloe eagerly behind her and Stacie waited for a second to let them get out of hearing distance before squealing loudly at the mere cuteness of the exchange she just saw. Her best friend, the badass DJ, was no doubt whipped and the redhead wasn't far from it either. Stacie wondered how long would it take for Chloe to realize the hold she already had over the tiny brunette.

This was a guaranteed ship, only thing she had wait for, was for it to set sail. She began walking after them but turned around to look at the girl who hadn't moved. Stacie smiled when she saw the confused look on Aubrey's face as she stared after her best friend and sister. "Come along, blondie. Let's get some food into you."

"Am I missing something here?" Aubrey asked instead, still not moving, prompting the tall brunette to come up behind her and playfully push her to walk forward.

"Maybe, but right now, we have food to get to!"

x-o-x-x-o-x-x-o-x

"Beca?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Becaw!"

"Dude! Cut it out!"

"Not until you help me!"

"Why me?!"

"Because…" Jesse took a deep breath, which was probably necessary for how he said his next lines in one go. "Because, Aubrey is your sister and she is the Bellas captain and Ashley is a Bella and she took the oath that ultimately forbids her to date a Treblemaker, but Bumper won't let me quit and I want her to go out with me, but Aubrey won't let her, because of the stupid oath. So, I want you to talk to Aubrey to get her to change the rules, so Ashley won't be bound by the oath and will go out with me! Beca, PLEASE!"

"Wow!" Beca breathed, eyes widening at his speech. "Uh… okay… take a breath first."

He did. She continued.

"Okay. Let's get it straight. I am not going talk Aubrey into changing the rules because I can't just change her mind like that. And even if I could, I would spend my chances on getting those ancient songs out of the set, nothing else."

Jesse pouted, and it more so annoyed the brunette instead of impressing her. She rolled her eyes, huffing. "Look, why don't you do those cheesy movie romantic gesture thingys that you told me you wanted to do for me before I told you that you are not my type, and nor is any other guy? Maybe you'll win over my sister's approval too along with Ashley's."

This lit him up and Beca immediately regretted helping him when he started to bite her ear off again while she understood barely a thing he said. At times like these, she was glad that her dyslexia still sometimes allowed her to zone out of the conversations. Coming out of it only to hear his last question.

"Do you think, I should do it at the Riff-Off?"

"What the hell is a Riff-off?" Beca asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, trying to recall if he mentioned it before.

"Hey, Jesse, I am hungry so could you get me some lunch?" Suddenly Luke appeared from the booth, holding a 10 dollar bill that Jesse took. After the Treble suggested him to lay off burgers and Luke flashed his abs smugly before retreating back into the booth, making Beca smirk and Jesse rolled his eyes.

He put back the crate of CDs he was stacking and grabbed his backpack, heading out. Muttering something along the lines of, "So the chest match continues."

"What were you saying about the Riff-off, again?" Beca asked, casually hiding her curiosity. Jesse, however just grinned evilly and shrugged as he walked out.

"You'll find out!"

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The next day, Bellas entered the rehearsals hall to find their captains, not in the killer mode, surprisingly. In fact, they were smiling at them; Quite creepily even. Freaked out by this display, they silently and cautiously made their way to the seats to put their stuff, glancing nervously at the captains who had yet to say something.

They were waiting for them, with creepy grins, not taking their eyes off and worse, eerily silent as well. Beca was the first one to dare to walk towards them, eyebrow raised suspiciously as she slowly handed a thermos with herbal tea, to Chloe and a small paper bag with a blueberry muffin, to Aubrey. The girls smiled more genuinely this time, (the redhead even slightly surprised at the offering) causing more than a few relieved sighs from the other girls who were waiting for an impending a serial attack or something by the looks of it.

"All right, Bellas! Gather up!" Aubrey shouted, back in character. The girls groans of protest were ignored as Chloe and Aubrey began dividing them in two groups. Confused, the girls allowed themselves to be dragged to the two ends of the room, waiting for an explanation to why they were being used like chess pieces.

As if that were the actual case, the seniors stood among each group, looking like the queens of black and white, nodding at each other with a 'Game On' look. Then, both turned to respective groups and began explaining the rules of the Riff Off, as they were calling it. This 'game' was supposed to teach them how the actual competition will be tomorrow. They were going to practise in teams of two for an hour at least before they worked on their team strategies for breaking out in songs in synchronization.

"Let's start, shall we?" Aubrey said once she was done explaining. She turned to face Chloe, who smiled in agreement and both then walked to the huge bowl that was sitting on the desk in the center. She let Chloe pick first and smiled when the redhead squealed excitedly, only to zip her lips and blush when she caught a warning glare from Beca, behind Aubrey.

The redhead chose a category, written on a folded piece of paper, from the bowl and gave it to Aubrey. The girls waited in excitement, already prepared to belt out into songs that were bouncing in their heads currently. They were going to sing something that was not Ace of Base for a change and Beca couldn't wait like many others. Maybe they would get to do something rock, or punk, or anything from this century. Hell, they would even settle for pop; just as long as it was not something cheesy like-

"Swift Style Country."

Several facepalms and scowls followed Aubrey's words as she read out the category. Apparently, her own face showed some major disappointment because Chloe, though almost resentfully, decided to fish for another category. But before she could do so, Beca caught her millisecond forlorn expression and instead of rolling her eyes like she would normally, she eyed Stacie across the room and sent a silent message. Which, considering the 'whipped' motion she made, the taller brunette got it nice and clear and began singing in her loud, mezzo voice, a teasing smirk in place.

"State the obvious,

I didn't have my perfect fantasy.

I realized, you loved yourself,

More than you could ever love me!"

Fat Amy apparently liked this song because she was now adding background vocals with her accent twist and doing some weird form of belly dancing, causing many to laugh.

"So, go and tell your friends,

That I am obsessive and crazy.

That's fine. I'll tell mine, you're gay.

By the way…"

Finally, the chorus got them pumped because now all of Stacie and Chloe's team; meaning Fat Amy, Flo and Ashley, were singing and humming along. And the redhead was smiling delightfully, so that's Beca's secret little victory, right there. Gay? Probably.

"I hate that stupid, old pickup truck,

You never let me drive.

You're-"

Watching the other team dance around and sing was just unacceptable for Cynthia Rose, who cut them off, wanting her own share of the fun. Her rugged voice actually making TSwift's songs more…. appealing, even for the tiny DJ who still stayed out for this one.

"You're on your phone with your girlfriend,

She's upset.

She's going off about something

That you said.

She doesn't get your humor, like I do-"

"Do you remember? We were sitting out, by the water

You put around me, For the first time.

You made a rebel out of

A careless man's careful daughter.

You are the best-"

The team had just began to pick up on back vocals for CR when Chloe practically bounced to the center and cut her off. Grinning widely and quite specifically at one tiny brunette who rolled her eyes playfully, hoping that her cheeks weren't as red as she felt. Stacie had to stop herself from laughing at the sight, so she settled for a huge serial killer grin towards her best friend and busied herself with elbowing Fat Amy in the side, who was not-so-subtly making heart gestures at the pair.

Aubrey, seemingly ignorant of the serenading session that was taking place, cut off her best friend. Closing her eyes for a second to relish in the song that had memorized by now. Who knew that a Taylor Swift song could speak to someone like Aubrey Mitchell-Posen of all people?

"Best day, with you, today.

There is a video I found

From back when I was three;

You set up a paint set in the kitchen

And you're talking to me

It's the age of princesses and pirate ships

And the seven dwarfs.

Daddy's smart and You're the prettiest lady,

In the whole wide world"

Obviously, Beca did, because she just walked over and playfully sling her arm around her sister's neck and pulls her down a bit, singing along the chorus when it came; tributing one very special person in their lives, Diane Posen, their mother. All the Bellas smiled widely and harmonized along the pair, their competition long forgotten.

"Now I know why,

All the trees change in the fall.

I know you were on my side

Even when I was wrong

And I love you for giving me your eyes

Staying back and watching me shine and

I didn't know if you knew

So I'm taking this chance to say

That I had the best day with you today."

And they agreed; it was one the best days that each one of them was going to remember for a long time. Especially the two Mitchell-Posen sisters and their best friends who couldn't help but be smug that they had gotten them together.

x-o-x-x-o-x-x-o-x

"I gotta bag it up! We out!"

The crowd burst into applause as Beca sang the last note of 'No Diggity', ending with the whole gangster pose, surrounded by the Bellas as the crowd sang along. It was amazing how all these nerds put their whole hearts and souls in the simplest forms of music and join in with a simple humming to make a song so incredibly perfect that it made Beca 'the Badass' Mitchell like a capella for goodness sake!

No one had dared to cut them off during the whole song. In fact, the Treblemakers and BU Harmonics went as far as joining them in the beats along with the rest of the audience; with an exception of High Notes, who had practically passed out in the corner of the empty pool after being cut off from the competition in the first round. Once the set was finished, there were cheers and whistles all around and the Bellas already began celebrating their win.

"I mean, you are welcome." Beca said somewhat modestly as she smirked at Jesse, who was still in awe. He was is middle of serenading a blushing Ashley with Justin Timberlake's 'Feels like the first time', even getting a sarcastic flying kiss from Beca as an approval, when the brunette had shut him up with rapping all of a sudden.

The crowd had gone silent when she first started singing, some in awe, some in confusion as to how this tiny alt-girl mashed up perfectly with a capella and rapped in likeness to the king himself. The Bellas were too shocked to join her in the vocals for a long while; Stacie and Aubrey furrowing their brows at the song selection, and most not knowing how to create the beats of it. Lily was too shy to do more than just smile shortly, Emily was just too happy to a part of the group that she didn't realize what to do, Ashley was still entranced by Jesse's performance and Jessica was busy teasing her.

The only two who knew the song were Chloe and Fat Amy. But when the former stood stunned, with her mouth open and eyes wide watching Beca send her a subtle wink as she unknowingly sang another one of her Lady Jams, the latter walked forward to join in the lyrics, hoping to mend the stretching silence that followed the rapping. Soon, the others got over their thoughts and recovered the song, performing it to the edge of perfection and having a blast while doing so.

"Tough blow, ladies." Justin announced, once the applause died down, breaking off the early celebration of the Bellas, including the frequent glances between red headed captain and the badass DJ. Justin looked smug, almost as much as Bumper, who came to stand next to him. "The word you needed to match was 'it' and you sang 'its'."

"The winners are once again, THE TREBLEMAKERS!" He hollers as the guys cheer on and accept their prize microphone. Some of them, meaning Jesse, Uni and Donald, looked almost sympathetic, but they were quickly overpowered by Bumper's pride as he held the prize in the air and started mocking the girls.

"I've never heard that rule!" Aubrey shouted in disbelief, rather louder compared to the other sounds of disapproval from the Bellas. She was upset about losing but that didn't even come close to how she felt at Bumpers childish insults; particularly the one directed to the tiny DJ about how she was a 'rap-wannabe' and wouldn't get anywhere because she is a girl. Aubrey almost lunged at him for insulting her baby sister but was pulled back by Stacie of all people, while Beca seemed unaffected except for the shock at seeing the blonde in action.

"Aah! Stacie!" Aubrey fought, prompting the much stronger brunette to throw her over her shoulder and guide the other laughing girls out of the pool.

"Stacie! Put me down!"

"Sheesh, Blondie. Calm your tits." The tall brunette laughed, finally complying to the demands of the screaming captain, just after getting an approvingly amused smile from her sister.

"That was awesome!" Emily said excitedly, referring to the Riff-Off and certainly not the rag-doll treatment of their captain but receiving a glare from the blonde nonetheless.

"But we lost!" She reminded them, scowling at all as she fixed her ruffled clothes.

"Aubrey, it's not about winning." Chloe spoke up, smiling widely at the tiny brunette who deserved the most credit for nailing this night.

"Of course it is!" The blonde captain insisted, beginning to lose her cool once again.

"Woah, Cap'n, give it a chill." CR backed away from where she was closer to her, to avoid the outburst.

"I AM Chill!" She yelled in annoyance, making a few girls back away while Stacie, Chloe and Beca raised an eyebrow in question, making her sigh and speak in a more collected voice. "And that is why you get the rest of week off for thanksgiving. But before you get all too excited, I still want everyone at rehearsals on the weekend after, 10am sharp. No excuses!"

"I-I can't." Beca spoke for the first time since their performance, her voice being heard over the groans of protest from the others at the news.

"Beca, I said, no excuses-"

"I just- I can't." The brunette cut off her sister, shifting her eyes to everywhere but her as she spoke. All of a sudden, the badass B-Mitch looked incredibly uncomfortable, mumbling all her responses, as if talking to herself more than anyone else. After a second she jerked her head towards the captain, surprising her as she exclaimed. "I-I gotta go."

"Wait a second-" Aubrey grabbed her hand before she could move away but let it go immediately when she saw the wild look in her eyes.

"I gotta go, Bee!" And then she sprinted away; ignoring the still going on riff off party, ignoring the Bellas' looks of confusion, and most of all, ignoring the shouts made by both their co-captains.

"Beca, where are you going?!"

"Beca?"

It wasn't a second after she was out of sight that all heads turned to Stacie, hoping the taller brunette would give them some answers. But instead, all she did was:

"Shit!" Stacie exclaimed in sudden realization and without a second thought or glance at the others, she ran after her best friend. "Becs, wait up!"

The girls stood stunned and confused at their actions. A look of clear despair could be seen on the blonde captain's face as her redhead best friend came up next to her for support, her own eyes showing her disappointment, quite the illogical feeling indeed. The awkward silence only broken by Fat Amy, whose attempts to lighten up the mood remained fruitless as usual.

"Woosh, Shorty and Legs are actually taking that cardio shit seriously. The question is, Why?"

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A/N: I know you hate me, I do too, and this chapter does nothing to amend my mistakes but believe me; starting and studying at a school in United States for the first time in my life is kind of an overkill. The school timings and schedules are just plain annoying, the whole american education system is stupid and for the past three months I've been hanging on to the hope that one day, I might return to my Cambridge Olevels Studies. I am determined to finish my Olevels courses no matter if I am twenty five by the time I leave the US, where there isn't a single person who knows about CIEs, cricket, FIFA, Cadbury, Nestle, or any chocolate that doesn't have an overdose of sugar in it or isn't a chemical mixture for causing diabetes.

Sorry, I needed to rant. And sorry again for the delay. I hope you'll allow me to fix my mistakes. Like it? Hate it? Tell me what I can do. Any ideas on Dada Mitchell's intention behind his actions? Or why Beca ran away at the mention of this particular weekend in November? I am running out of ideas.