A/N: A few things...

1. I am extremely sorry for the long wait. Life has been very busy lately.

2. BUT I promise that I will never give up on the story. Some updates just might take longer than others. I just didn't want to give you guys a crappy chapter by rushing it (so I hope this one isn't crappy haha)

3. a) This chapter was added in as an unplanned addition, which is also why it took longer to write. So, (b), your opinions would be great :)

4. Thank you all for reading/following/favouriting and of course reviewing!

5. And just a casual reminder, that I COULD NOT HAVE DONE THIS STORY WITHOUT iamacrepe.

6. Fun fact (because I find it extremely important that you know this :P ), FF won't let me post a double question-mark... or swear in my PM's...

Also, a warning, there is a bit of a flashback in this chapter, so I hope it makes sense :)

I hope you enjoy! And continue to have a lovely week! :D

Chloe stood in the entrance of the Bellas' House, taking in the odd silence of the place. Aubrey had just dropped her off, and was going back to her own apartment to unpack and prepare for her classes in the coming week.

It seemed that no one else was home in the Bellas' House, which was a very rare event. Even with most of the girls returning later on in the day, there should have been three of them still somewhere around the place. Or maybe two (Lilly wasn't often seen around the place). But there were none.

Chloe had been looking forward to seeing Beca when she got back, after being apart for this long. She had even come home earlier in the day so she could have some time alone with the DJ before everyone else returned. She must be at the radio station or with Jesse, the redhead thought to herself.

Slightly disappointed but determined not to let that dampen her spirit, Chloe made her way up the stairs to their bedroom, glad to be back at Barden. It was home for her, and she had missed the place whilst she was away.

She hummed to herself as she started unpacking, thinking of the great time she had on break. But in no time Chloe found her mind wandering to a certain brunette, as she glanced over at the empty bed on the other side of the room. The break had been a great opportunity for her to figure out what she was going to do about the 'Beca situation'. And unsurprisingly, neither co-captain had been able to go without messaging the other during that time.

And now we go back in time…

Only a day after she and Aubrey had arrived at her brother Michael's house, Chloe had received a message from her favourite brunette, with a photo attachment.

The photo was of the three girls left at Barden, all collapsed on the floor of the auditorium in their rehearsal clothes, covered in sweat. The message read:

Beca: Evidence for the drill sergeant. We rehearsed AND did some cardio too! I want bonus points for voluntary cardio.

Chloe had broken out into a huge grin, before she responded with a selfie of her smiling, with the view from her brother's yard in the background. He lived by the beach, of course.

Chloe: Good effort Becs! It's not easy to rehearse with only three people :) Bonus points granted! Are you jealous of the view we have here?

And they had continued on with their usual back-and-forth for the rest of the day, before Aubrey had forced Chloe to put the phone down and join her on the beach.

It was only a couple days later that Michael had caught Chloe grinning like an idiot as she read another one of Beca's messages. He decided to finally bring up the topic that she had been avoiding so far.

"So, little sis, how are you doing on the love life front? Talking to someone special there?" He asked with raised eyebrows, nodding towards the phone.

Chloe had hesitated initially, unsure of what to say as she put the phone away in her pocket. "Well, there's nothing really exciting been happening, I guess."

Aubrey scoffed immediately. "Yeah right. Tell him Chloe." She urged, knowing it would be good for the redhead to get it off her chest to someone who was unfamiliar to the whole situation.

Michael leaned back in his chair, now extra curious about the topic of his sister's love life. "Yeah tell me Chlo. Obviously there is something going on with you, because you have been avoiding this whole topic the entire time you've been here. Not to mention you've been glued to your phone all day. And my sister does not hold back on sharing the details of her crushes. If there's a hot dude or chick in your classes, you've always told me."

Chloe sighed, seemingly troubled. "Yeah, you're right. This time it's different though. This one is complicated."

Michael looked over to Aubrey questioningly, waiting for more of an explanation. "You know the socially awkward DJ in the Barden Bellas?"

Michael nodded in confirmation. "Ooh her? Beca, right?" He squinted as he tried to remember the girl's name.

Chloe joined back in the conversation with a "Yep. That's her."

"So are you going to tell me what's so different and complicated about your crush on Beca?" He prompted, finding it strange to see his sister's reluctance.

This seemed to work, as Chloe started to explain. "It's not just some 'crush', Michael. I really care about her. She's my best friend, my roommate and my co-captain. I don't want to screw it all up. But I can't help the feelings I have for her. I've never felt this strongly about someone before."

This was the first time Michael was hearing of how serious Chloe's feelings for Beca were. Sure, she had had many crushes in the past, and had been in relationships before. But she had never felt this seriously about someone. She had never been so worried about how things would turn out. This time, it was the real deal, and that seemed to scare Chloe. She didn't want to mess it up.

Chloe leant her head on her arms on the bench in front of her, troubled by her situation. Michael looked back to Aubrey again, eyebrows raised once again in surprise.

"Yeah" Aubrey replied quietly, understanding Michael's thoughts without needing words. They both knew Chloe so well, and it was hard to see her so troubled over her feelings for another person. Aubrey had questioned the redhead in the car on their long drive down, and had gotten the same response from the girl; one of confusion and uncertainty.

Chloe lifted her head back up, still having more to say. "And I've been dropping hints and trying to talk to her, but…"

"But the girl is completely oblivious." Aubrey piped in, her irritation at Beca showing through.

Chloe turned her head immediately to scold the blonde. "Aubrey! Don't say that." Defending Beca, as always.

"Well it's true." The response came just as Aubrey's phone began to buzz on the table beside her. She glanced apologetically at Chloe, seeing the caller ID on the screen. "Sorry Chloe, I have to take this. It's my father."

Chloe nodded in understanding. It was never a good sign when Aubrey got a call from her father. They weren't on the best of terms, and any interaction lately would result in an upset and/or very frustrated Aubrey.

"That won't end well." She said knowingly to her brother.

"He's still on her case?" Michael was well aware of the situation with Aubrey and her family. Over the years that Chloe and Aubrey had known each other, there were a number of instances where the blonde was invited to join Chloe over the break to visit her family. The Beale's were always very welcoming to the girl, and for that she was grateful.

"Yeah. There's always something."

"Damn. So are you going to do something about this "oblivious" crush of yours?" He quizzed her further.

"I really don't know. What if I do talk to her about it, and she turns me down? Or she already has a boyfriend or girlfriend? What if she thinks I'm a weirdo for ever thinking about her like that? What if she never talks to me again? At least if I don't say anything, I know she will still be my best friend. She won't hate my guts."

"But what if you tell her and she tells you that she feels the same? From what Aubrey said, just because you've been dropping hints and Beca hasn't responded, doesn't mean that she doesn't feel the same." Michael tried to reason with her.

"But I told Beca that I had feelings for someone, and that person was a close friend, and that I didn't want to change things between us." Chloe tried to reason back, throwing fuel on the fire of irrational thoughts she was having. She had been thinking about it over and over again, and had the opinion that this admission would be enough for Beca to understand that she was the one Chloe had feelings for.

"And how did she react?"

"Well, she kind of fell asleep in the middle of our conversation, so I'm not really sure." The younger sibling admitted.

Michael lifted his hands up into the air. "Well there you go. Chances are, she still doesn't know you have feelings for her. Or maybe Beca is in the same situation as you, and is worried about whether you feel the same. Look Chlo, there are a lot of 'what ifs' here, but you will never know if you don't talk to her. If you ask me, I think you should just be honest. I mean, do you really want to spend the rest of the time you have with Beca, just being friends?"

Chloe looked down, realising that her brother had a good point.

"All I'm saying, is that sometimes it is good to take the risk. You don't want to look back and wonder 'what if?'."

Chloe nodded. "Yeah. I guess you're right." She stood up and moved in to embrace Michael. "Thanks bro. You always know what to say."

He smiled and returned the embrace, glad to have helped out his sister. Hopefully now things would be clearer for her, and maybe she would finally get the girl!

"My pleasure. I'm happy to help, Chloe, always. But if we're all good right this second, I have to go meet Natasha for lunch." His expression was one of questioning, asking permission to leave now that they had dealt with Chloe's problem.

"Yes, go. Have a nice time! Say 'hi' to the girlfriend for me." Chloe grinned, back to her usual self.

"I will. See you a bit later."

After waving her brother off, Chloe made her way outside, in the direction that Aubrey had headed to a while ago. She found the blonde sitting on the back steps, her phone sitting next to her on the floor, as the girl stared out into the yard with troubled eyes.

"I take it that your conversation didn't go so well?" Chloe asked sympathetically, as she lowered herself down to sit next to her best friend.

Aubrey looked up, shaking her head. "Nope. My father read an article in the newspaper, and rang me to lecture me on why he thinks I should transfer to law studies, and become a lawyer like him. We have had this conversation a million times. I don't want to be a lawyer. I don't want to have to defend guilty people. Not to mention, the whole stress of being a lawyer would be terrible for my stress-vomiting."

Chloe internally shuddered at the mention of Aubrey's stress-vomit situation, but nodded along to the rest of the blonde's words.

"I like studying Actuarial Science. And it's one of the hardest courses to get into at grad school. But I did it. And I'm getting straight A's. I have a 4.0 GPA. Why can't he be satisfied with that?" She exclaimed, moving her hands around in frustration.

Chloe immediately moved to wrap her arms around the wound-up girl, hoping to help calm her down with this comforting gesture.

"I don't know Aubrey. He just has the wrong priorities in mind. Forget about your dad. You've got a family in the Bellas, and we will always support you in whatever you do. Even if you choose to study something that sounds kind of boring – and I say this with all my love, – I think you will make a great actuary. I'm so proud of you. And you have already been a big help to the Bellas with the finance side of things."

Success. Aubrey was smiling at Chloe's words.

"Aww Chlo. You are so sweet. And I'm glad I've got you and the Bellas. It just hurts that I don't have the support of my father." She looked down, sadness overcoming the blonde once more.

Chloe squeezed the girl tight in support. "I know it does."

"I miss my mom so much." The uptight blonde wasn't one for showing much emotion usually, however this was one of those times when she did. The girl blinked as tears began to make their way slowly down her face.

Chloe softened even more (if that was even possible) at seeing the hurt in her best friend's eyes, and held on tighter. "Oh Bree. I'm so sorry. I wish there was something I could do."

"I know."

"But I do know this: your mom would be so proud of you for following your dreams and doing what makes you happy."

"Thanks Chlo." The blonde gave a small half-smile.

After a few minutes of sitting there in silence, Aubrey sat back up, wiping her cheeks as she did so. She was now determined to think about something else, trying to distract herself. "So, have you got this whole 'Beca situation' sorted yet? What did I miss?"

Chloe nodded. "Yes. It is decided." She spoke resolutely. "I'm going to talk to her when we get back. Michael gave a pretty convincing argument. But you might want to have the chocolates and tissues ready, just in case."

"No Chlo. I'm sure if that girl has any sense in her at all, we won't be needing the chocolates and tissues. I'm glad you've decided to do something about your feelings. I don't like this uncertain look on you Chloe, it's not like you at all." They both chuckled at this, knowing of Chloe's usual confident demeanour, and she agreed with Aubrey: it wasn't fun having all these feelings of uncertainty and such to deal with.

"I don't know. Who knows how she will react. I'm just really nervous about it now." The ginger admitted, still hung up on the situation.

"There is nothing you can do about it right this instant, so try and put it to the back of your mind for the rest of the time we have here, and enjoy yourself." Aubrey reasoned with her, in the hopes that it would now calm down the redhead.

"Yeah I can try." Chloe agreed.

"And, we will leave here first thing Friday morning, so you can talk to her before the other girls get back. Okay?"

Chloe nodded. "Thanks Bree."

Back to the future we come. Or rather, the present…

Chloe was pulled out of her reminiscing when she heard raised voices coming from downstairs. Apparently someone else was home now.

"And you act like it would be easy for me to just tell everyone everything!"

Yep. That was Beca. But who was she talking to, or rather, shouting at?

After a small battle within herself on whether she should go down there and let her presence be known, or whether she should give Beca and whoever she was with, some privacy, Chloe began to descend the stairs, too excited to see her Bella sisters after a week apart.

As she made her way down the second stairway, the redhead was trying to figure out what else was being said. It seemed serious, and she couldn't help herself; her natural curiosity got the better of her. But fortunately for Beca and whoever else was down there, Chloe was only able to make out a few words here and there. Namely the words 'hiding something'. What was going on?