A/N: I'm sorry for the chapter title. It's just, you know, it's the Bellas chapter (although I'm focusing on Aubrey's narrative).
I'm totally thinking 'Ghostbusters' every time I read the chapter title :)
Anyways might be some shenanigans involved in this one. Or you know, the planning of shenanigans to come.
Thanks for all the reviews and comments so far! You guys are awesome :D
I don't own pitch perfect.
Chloe went home that night in a confused and thoughtful state.
Which naturally made Aubrey curious as to why.
"So you bought another record? Are we starting a collection now?" Aubrey asked as soon as Chloe settled in the living room with her.
"No. I mean, I didn't buy that." Chloe started to say.
"If you're starting to absentmindedly rob every record store you enter…"
Chloe chuckled, interrupting what Aubrey was saying. "No Bree, Beca bought that for me."
"Okay, just so that we're clear." Aubrey then said, adjusting her position on the coach after pausing the movie she was watching before Chloe got back. "Beca, the same Beca the DJ we've found and discovered to be alive, bought you this record?"
Chloe nodded. "We bumped into each other at some other record store a few blocks away and we just sort of reached out for the same record again. It's her Bree, it really is. We got a chance to talk and stuff, exploring the city and all. Everything about her is the same. Nothing changed."
"Well, where is she now? You should've invited her for dinner, slowly bring her back to our fold."
"Yeah well, when we finally got tired we decided to go to this little coffee shop three blocks away. And guess who picked her up? Her incredibly perfect and angelic girlfriend, that doctor Jesse mentioned." Chloe replied. Aubrey being Aubrey instantly recognized the traces of jealousy that laced her tone, no matter how hard Chloe tried to hide it.
"Alex von Albrecht." Aubrey inattentively said before humming.
Chloe looked at her curiously. "What? Bree, look at me, you look like you're scheming."
"Are you accusing me of having a set look when I'm scheming? Or for that matter that I make schemes?" Aubrey said with feign indignation.
Chloe laughed a little. "Yes. Come on Bree, I may not have ever mentioned it to the Bellas but I know you were the one who pulled out that prank during Halloween their junior year when you came to visit. They all blamed Beca for it. I can still remember seeing Amy and CR looking so terrified."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Aubrey said, feigning innocence as she resumed her earlier position and un-paused the movie.
Aubrey sat thoughtful throughout the rest of the night, letting Chloe gush on and on about Beca.
It wasn't something new. She's done this whole thing before, ever since Chloe met Beca that is.
And truth be told, it was a welcomed change from the silence that has taken over Chloe the last five years.
Aubrey could tell, it was like something breathed life back to Chloe.
And Aubrey was happy about it.
More than that, from Chloe's stories, she knew that the tiny DJ she had grown to actually care for is alive, without a memory, but alive.
What Aubrey wasn't too happy about was the fact that Beca was found by an incredibly powerful family.
A family that could have very easily helped Beca to find her way back to her real family, the Bellas, and to Chloe.
Something wasn't quite right there.
So Aubrey decided to take matters to hand.
Because more than anything else, what was clear, what was evident, was that Chloe was still in love with Beca.
Not that she ever stopped loving her.
Just that she was falling in love with her all over again.
And they might have a truly difficult nemesis to take down in terms of fighting for Beca's heart.
Aubrey left early the next day chalking up some sort of work-related reason to Chloe as to why she had to be somewhere at seven in the morning on a Sunday.
Chloe didn't buy a single word she said but the blonde noted that her best friend probably chalked it up to some secret rendezvous at Stacie's apartment.
Not that it was far from the truth.
It was just, whatever it was that Chloe was thinking that they'd be doing so early in the morning wasn't exactly why she was in Stacie's apartment at that moment.
And it wasn't until Jesse opened the door to let Amy in that Aubrey realized they haven't exactly told the Bellas that their former fun-sized fearless leader was actually alive, not even considered how they would react to it.
"Stace, how are we going to handle this?" Aubrey whispered all frazzled as soon as Amy settled down in the couch, completing the Bellas, while Jesse pulled a chair from the dining area to seat down on.
"Well, how about we just rip off the band aid?" Stacie suggested.
Their little exchange didn't go unnoticed though.
"Are you two finally admitting you're in relationship?" Amy piped up and said. "Awesome! Come on you pitches, you each owe me twenty."
"Hang on a second, you were also betting on us?" Aubrey asked sounding a little shocked. "I mean, I knew about the Beca and Chloe bet, but seriously guys!"
"Yeah, and that's not even why we gathered you all here today." Stacie added.
CR chuckled. "Well, is it true though?"
Silence.
Aubrey didn't quite know how to respond to that.
Chloe's teasing was one thing.
The rest of the Bellas were a different matter.
Jesse then cleared his throat sensing that the two former Bellas had no idea how to calm down the unexpected clamor of the rest of the former Bellas. Thankfully, that got everyone to settle down.
"So what is this about then?" Emily asked.
"It's about Mitchell." Aubrey started, her tone starting to sound serious.
"What about Shawshank?" Amy asked, shooting a quick glance at the former Treble in the room, Stacie, and Aubrey.
"Did… did people finally find her… you know…?" Jessica voiced out uncertainly.
"Sort of?" Stacie responded and Aubrey patted her girlfriend's shoulder, her way of saying that she's got this.
"Mitchell is… well… before you react please let me finish whatever I'm going to say, sounds good?" Aubrey started and all the Bellas nodded in unison.
Aubrey took a deep breath before looking back at Jesse and Stacie for support. The two nodded, urging her on.
"Beca's alive." Aubrey said before taking a pause to look at everyone else's reaction. A mixture of gasps and wide-eyed looks expressed their surprise but nevertheless the Bellas kept their promise and let Aubrey go on.
And so Aubrey went on and recounted their earlier encounters with Beca, including Chloe's. Jesse providing his own side of the story too after Aubrey.
The Bellas remained silent throughout the whole thing, absorbing every piece of knowledge being given to them.
"So why are we hear now? Why don't we just go to Beca and drag her back here, make her remember?" Ashley suggested.
"Because that would be a bad idea on so many levels." Stacie answered. "One, we don't know how Beca will react to the whole thing. Two, what part pf powerful family isn't clear? If Beca is leaving the life she's known for the last five years, if she's going to find a way to include us in her life now, it has to be of her own volition."
"So what are we doing here now?" Flo asked.
"We're going to find out what exactly happened to Mitchell. We'll piece this story together and get her back." Aubrey answered.
"Right, that's why from now on this place will be HQ. We can do our own digging on the sides all the while helping Chloe the best we could whenever and if ever she needs our help with Beca." Jesse added.
"Operation get our shorty back?" CR asked and the three masterminds nodded.
"So if everyone's in, how about we start assigning missions?" Aubrey then said.
All the Bellas nodded eagerly.
They will get their answers.
And bring Beca back home.
One way or another.