A/N: To the reviewers - Thank you for the reviews! I'm glad that you're enjoying the story!

Fire and Gold - Bea Miller

Beca made her way into the rehearsal space grateful for the fact that she hadn't consumed very much alcohol last night. Chloe, on the other hand, had had enough booze to open a small liquor store. Yet there she was, standing at the front of the room her eyes bright, and everything about her perfectly in place. Beca shook her head, she had spent 4 years of college parties with the girl, 3 of them as housemates, and she still didn't understand how Chloe managed to never have a hangover.

The redhead smiled, waving at her excitedly and Beca couldn't hep but smirk and wave back. Aubrey caught the look and glanced between the two, narrowing her eyes before turning to talk to Chloe.

The DJ took a seat next to Fat Amy. "So, you're Fat Amy, right?"

"That's my name! Because it's definitely NOT Patricia." The Australian gave Beca a look and all she really wanted was to give the blonde a hug. Sure, she had missed Chloe and all but she missed her best friend too.

"Ok! Ladies! Sopranos in the front and altos in the back. As you can see, Kori is not here. Last night, she was treble-boned. She has been dis-invited from the Bellas." Aubrey moved one of the chairs off to the side.

"That oath was serious?" Beca really needed Aubrey to get over the whole 'no trebles' thing if she was going to get her to go out with Jesse.

"Dixie Chicks serious. You can fool around with whoever you want to, just not a Treble." Beca couldn't help but smirk. At least Chloe wasn't off limits.

Stacie spoke up; gesturing at her crotch, "That's not going to be easy, he's a hunter!"

"You call it a dude?" No matter how much time she spent around the girl, she would always be amazed at how easy it was for her to be so . . . sexual. All the time.

"Stacie, the Trebles don't respect us, and if we let them penetrate us, we let them take our power."

"Not a good enough reason to use the word 'penetrate'!" Amy called out and Beca snickered as Aubrey shot them a glare.

"So, does anyone have anything they would like to confess?" Beca glanced around at the rest of the girls and caught Chloe giving her a questioning look. She shook her head mouthing the word "no".

Denise finally spoke up. "It was an accident. I . . ."

"How exactly do you 'accidentally' do that?" Fat Amy whispered in her ear.

Beca snickered again and Aubrey shot her yet another glare before turning to Denise. "Turn in your scarf and go."

The girl handed Aubrey her scarf dejectedly and turned to leave.

"Take your chair."

Beca waited until the screeching of the chair had stopped. "Was that really necessary?"

"This is war, Beca! Regionals are in 4 months! If you have a problem with how I run the Bellas -"

"Nope! You are doing a great job, I just . . . feel bad for her, that's all."

Chloe glanced at Beca gratefully and laid a hand on her co-captain's arm. "You should calm down, Bree. You don't want a repeat of what happened last year."

"What happened last year?" The Bellas all turned to look at Lily. 7 years and you would think she'd be better at hearing the Asian girl.

"What are you saying?"

"What happened last year? And do you want to see a dead body?" The girls all ignored the last part and someone produced a tablet from somewhere. They all watched the video of Aubrey puking at last years finals, except Beca, she had seen the video before, it was disgusting. She took the time instead to study Chloe. Her hair, her face; the little lines that showed up on her forehead when she was really concentrating on something. Fat Amy punched her in the arm, and she looked around to see the rest of the Bellas watching her watch Chloe. She looked down at her sleeve, the lint there suddenly very interesting.

"Alright! Line up!" the girls shuffled into position and Beca leaned over to whisper to Amy.

"What did I miss?"

"While you were checking out the ginger?" Beca opened her mouth to argue but she just nodded instead. "The scary one said we have to do our own cardio; but if you ask me, it was just a suggestion"

Aubrey and Chloe put the girls through their paces, voice exercises, choreography and cardio. God, Beca hated running stairs. She was tempted to join Amy on the bleachers and do horizontal running but if she ran just fast enough, she could watch Chloe without being suspicious.

"Beca!" Aubrey's voice called out as the girls were leaving. The brunette dropped her shoulders and turned back to face the two captains.

"You know your ear monstrosities have to come out for the fall mixer, right?"

"Why do you hate me so much?"

"I know you have a toner for that Treble boy, Jesse."

"What?"

"A musical boner." Chloe explained.

"We're just friends, we work at the radio station together. He's really nice though, I mean he's not like Bumper."

"I don't care how nice he is, if you don't keep your toner in check then you'll be dragging your chair out too."

"Aubrey-" Chloe interjected.

"No, Chloe!"

Beca glanced at Chloe, but the older girl was looking at her shoes. "You know, you should be nicer to your co-captain, she does manage to put up with all of your shit."

"What do you know about Chloe?" Aubrey demanded.

"I know she deserves to be treated better than the shit she puts up with." Beca's eyes flashed and she forced herself to walk away before she made things worse.

"I can see your toner through those jeans!" Aubrey called after her and Beca couldn't resist turning back.

"That's my dick!" She gestured toward her crotch. Chloe had her hand over her mouth and the DJ could see her shoulders shaking with laughter. She threw the older girl a wink and stalked out of the rehearsal hall, but as soon as she was outside though, her bravado dropped. She sighed. She really needed to work on her temper if she was going to get through to Aubrey before regionals.