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Chapter 14

Beca isn't exactly sure how it happened, but before she knows it, it's the end of May and she's sitting in the dressing room in the back of the Lincoln Center. The various Bellas are running around getting ready, with Beca just trying to stay out of the way.

It's pretty amazing how far they've come, in all honesty. It took a while. A lot of long nights, some more challenging than others, but all in all resulting in more fun than Beca has had in years. Everyone on the team (with the exception of Alice, but Chloe always says that she doesn't count) welcomed her with open arms. They got along great, they got along with Macy great, and Beca can't wait to see the end result tonight.

"Whatcha doin?" Macy bounds over to her, plopping down in the empty chair beside Beca, breaking her from her reverie as she watches the mild chaos of the room. Chloe is helping Jessica with her hair, Amy is shouting at Lilly for some reason, and Stacie and Aubrey are applying their makeup in one of the larger mirrors on the wall. They've already had their sound check and go on in less than an hour; the nerves in the room are palpable, but the air of excitement far outweighs any sort of fear that would result in someone backing out.

Beca leans back, making eye contact with the younger girl with a small smile. Over the last three months, she's slowly started to grow, making her almost two inches taller than she was back in February. If she's anything like Beca, though, she'll only have one or two more to go before she stops growing altogether. Besides that, she just looks older. More mature. Happier. The therapy and the stability have been great for her. She's starting to become more like a 'normal' kid. "Just waiting. Did you scout it out?"

Macy nods, straightening out her 'Barden Bellas' t-shirt. Beca is wearing the same one, the only article of clothing that says that they're with the team of ten. According to Chloe, after they "sweep the judges off their feet and win the whole competition," they'll be able to invest in nicer team "swag."

"Mhmm. It's a full house. The judges are right in the center like they were at Regionals."

"Good. They'll all know where to look."

Macy takes her own turn to glance over the room, her own heart beating in her chest. She's seen just how hard Beca and Chloe and the rest of the Bellas have thrown themselves into this performance. She's sat beside the computer during some of their later rehearsals, playing and re-playing pieces of the arrangement so that Beca didn't have to keep walking back and forth across the rehearsal space. She's heard Beca and Chloe's late night conversations about the set, going back and forth about changes or adjustments that need to be made, over a bag of chips on the couch or in the bedroom. All of the girls have poured their heart and soul into this one performance, and it's been so special to bear witness to it.

"Are you nervous?"

Beca smirks, tapping her nails on her thigh. "A little. But they'll be great. No doubt about it."

With another grin and a nod of affirmation, Macy agrees. "They've got this."

"Mitchell!"

Alice's shout causes Beca to immediately straighten in her seat, the brunette still slightly terrified of the dictator-like captain. She's known from the beginning that Alice didn't really want her help (Amy later revealed that they threatened a mutiny after Chloe showed them the set and Alice had started to refuse). But they managed to work… okay together, and hopefully, this will result in the senior getting the win she needs to leave the Bellas behind. "Yeah?"

"You want to run through it two more times before we head backstage?"

Despite the fact that they've been running it all morning and every single one of the Bellas – including Macy – knows each note, lyric, and dance move like the back of their hand, Beca nods. "Sure. Whenever you're ready."

Beca grips Macy's hand tightly, looking at the building in front of her, the lights from the lamp posts casting shadows on the bricks. It's the only time she could get off from work: two hours from seven to nine, in between her shift at Fig's and her shift at the station. Chloe told her that they would make it work, but she still can't help but feel guilty about all of her restrictions before she's even started working with the girls.

It makes her stomach churn.

"You're going to be fine, Bec. Haven't you already met them?"

Beca shrugs, never once breaking her stare with the building. "I mean, yeah, but this is different."

Macy furrows her eyebrows. Her older sister has been freaking out about this all day, and Macy has been sending Chloe updates about the stupid things she's been saying all day. The redhead found it hilarious and endearing; Macy just found it annoying because she knows that Beca knows what she's talking about. She's going to be fine. "Why? Because you're here to help them?"

"I mean, yeah. This is their thing and I'm just… swooping in and I don't know. It's just different."

Giving Beca's hand a light squeeze, Macy looks up at her, trying to catch her eye. "They're going to love you. I'm sure they're grateful for all the work you've already done."

Beca finally looks down at the younger girl, the hand that isn't in Beca's clinging to the strap of her backpack. This can't be easy for her either, having to meet all of these people at once. But Beca wasn't going to leave her home alone and they haven't gotten to spend a lot of time together this week, so she figured it was a win-win. "When did you get so insightful?"

Macy just rolls her eyes, tugging on Beca's hand as she starts leading her into the old gym. "Just come on."

They walk side by side until they reach the propped open door, Beca taking the lead to enter the building first. Overhead lights illuminate the entire space, with the team of girls chatting amongst themselves in a cluster of chairs in the center, and an older student standing off to the side at the piano, tapping her foot impatiently.

At the squeak of the door, the majority of them at least glances in the direction of their new company. Chloe instantly pops up from the group, her beaming smile instantly relaxing Beca. She practically prances over to the two, giving Macy a quick hug, and giving Beca a slightly longer one and a chaste kiss in greeting.

The redhead locks eyes with Beca, whispering as though there isn't an entire crowd of people standing behind them. "Are you ready?"

Beca lets out a shaky sigh. "As I'll ever be."

This time around, the walk to the backstage feels a lot longer. The hallway seems to go on forever, the muffled sound of the performing team being the only thing that Beca or any of the Bellas can focus on in their own state of nervous silence.

They're scheduled to go on in the next half hour, directly following the Treblemakers. It was only after Alice made the team roughly run through the set three times, before she decided that they were as ready as they'll ever be, and announced they were heading backstage.

As soon as she said backstage, it was like the energy in the room shifted. What once was filled with jittery excitement, was replaced by the heart-stopping fact that soon enough, they're going to be on stage in front of over 2,000 people, performing their hearts out.

With a brand new set.

Without the years of customs and traditions backing them.

Fully out there for the world of a capella to see.

So, yeah. Aubrey struggled to keep her nerves in her stomach. Stacie started pacing back and forth in a way that Beca's only seen her do before their physics final last year. Fat Amy started mumbling about aboriginals and dingoes in the corner. Lilly was silent, as per usual. Alice looked as though she wanted to pass out, while Jessica seemed to be the calmest of them all.

And Chloe? Chloe just seemed to be taking it all in.

To an untrained eye, Chloe looked just as she always does. She had a smile on her face, she made her rounds and gave each of her teammates a reassuring hug or pat on the shoulder and a whispered 'it'll be great.' She made sure everyone's hair and makeup was done, and went over any parts of the songs that they're nervous about. There wasn't any obvious tick of nerves.

But to Beca (and Aubrey and Stacie if they weren't so absorbed with their own concerns), Chloe's nerves are practically radiating off of the redhead. Her smile is forced and is nowhere near as genuine as it normally is. She's looking between each person like they're going to float away with the wind if she doesn't keep an eye on them, and, perhaps most obviously, she's fidgeting with the ring on her thumb.

Which is why, as Beca pulls up the rear of the group of Bellas with Macy and Chloe walking beside her, she skillfully grasps Chloe's hand, and gives it a reassuring squeeze.

Chloe jumps slightly, very clearly lost in her own thoughts, before a true Chloe Beale Smile spreads across her face.

"Nervous?" Beca repeats the same question that Macy had asked her less than an hour ago. In retrospect, it's kind of comical that Beca would even think about being nervous when she's not even going on stage. Of course, she hopes the Bellas win, but it's not like she's the one that has to memorize the entire performance and preform it perfectly.

Chloe glances quickly in front of them where the rest of the team seems to be trudging towards the doors to the back of the stage. She turns back to Beca with a quick nod of her head, looking almost ashamed to do so. "Yeah. Quite a bit, actually."

Beca's expression softens, and she can feel Macy's own spirit sink at the redhead's revelation. She pulls Chloe into her side, pressing a light kiss onto her temple. "Don't be. You're going to be amazing."

She sighs, grateful for the brief moment of connection with Beca, but the butterflies in her stomach are overpowering any other attempt of relief or reassurance. "But what if something happens or we mess up or I don't know… the ceiling falls in and we're all crushed underneath and never walk again."

A small grin of amusement starts to spread across Beca's face, but as soon as she hears the seriousness of Chloe's tone, she returns to the concerned-girlfriend-expression. "Chlo, none of that is going to happen. You guys know the routine like the back of your hand. Hell, you choreographed the majority of it. You've got this."

The door to the backstage swings open, with one of the stage-hands running out, clipboard swinging in his grasp. The sight of him makes the Bellas stop pretty much dead in their tracks, another moment of hesitation going over them, before they take the last few steps towards the entrance.

Chloe, though, grasps Beca's hand tighter, stopping the brunette from advancing with the rest of the team. "You really think we can pull this off?"

Beca takes both of Chloe's hands in hers, a subconscious smile appearing on her face when she catches a glimpse of the necklace that she gave Chloe on their first anniversary. She pulls Chloe closer to her, pressing her lips against hers, and practically feels the stress leave the redhead's body. "I know you can."

When they separate, Chloe takes a deep breath, settling both her nerves and the rising excitement in her chest. She doesn't drop Beca's hands. Instead, she gives her a definitive nod, already returning to the confident and effervescent Chloe that Beca knows and loves.

"We've got this."

If the hallway is silent, the backstage is the complete opposite. With the speakers and the other a capella teams being right on stage, other teams talking quietly amongst themselves in the wings, and the stage managers running around organizing people, it's slightly overwhelming at first. Which is why Beca is glad when Alice leads them over to a far corner, effectively calling a team huddle without any words.

Over the past three months, Beca has had many conversations with the graduating senior. She's just as bitchy as Chloe has always described her, but Beca can see her passion for the group and respects that. She also can't deny the fact that it was pretty cool of her to pretty much relinquish creative control and allow both Beca and Macy to sort of become honorary members of the team.

"Okay, ladies. We've made it this far. There's no going back now." Alice flicks her eyes from person to person, glaring at each girl individually. She skips over Macy, who is tucked in between Beca and Fat Amy (the younger Mitchell sister and the Australian have gotten along quite well, surprisingly, despite their completely opposite personalities), but Beca does receive a glare of her own. "We've pretty much destroyed any semblance of the Bella tradition, and hopefully it doesn't come back to bite us in the ass."

Beca can practically hear Chloe's eye roll from beside her, but no one says anything. They each just accept Alice's threat for what it is, Beca knowing that at least the majority of them are slightly concerned for that possibility.

"Beca, any last words?"

With furrowed eyebrows, Beca quickly snaps her head upward, meeting Alice's questioning gaze. Sure enough, all eyes are on her, and at least small smiles are being shown in her direction.

Sure, she's helped them with the music and the arrangements and such, but it's not like she has been in charge of the group. Beca spent the majority of the rehearsals (at least in the beginning) being petrified of doing the wrong thing or messing something up. It has been so long since she actually worked with music and played with the different sounds and chords – which is so much different doing with actual voices than just a piano. It was definitely a learning curve – one that Beca enjoyed one hundred percent - but most of all, Beca can't help but be grateful for the friends she's made in the process.

The Bellas welcomed her (and Macy) into the group with open arms. They didn't bat an eyelash when she was late or more stressed out than normal on a particularly rough day. They didn't question when Macy came to rehearsal with her (which happened more and more as the weeks went on), and sat in the corner doing homework, or reading, or playing the music. They began inviting Beca to team get-togethers and dinners and each of the girls formed their own bond with Macy, making her feel just as welcomed as they did her older sister. The girls have even come over to the apartment a few times, which was completely overwhelming for Beca, but totally worth it in the end.

It was like gaining a whole new family, and despite the fact that Beca doesn't go to Barden and despite the fact that her current situation is slightly different from the rest of theirs, none of them cared. Both Beca and Macy had become members of the Bellas, whether they were expecting to or not.

So, when Alice asks her if she has anything to say, Beca can't help but feel her throat tighten with emotion. How she got this lucky, with a girlfriend that cares enough about her and her music to make this happen, with new friends that the brunette never imagined gaining, Beca will never know. One thing she does knows for a fact, though: if all goes according to plan, the Bellas have this in the bag.

Which is exactly what she tells them, right before a man in a black polo shirt comes up behind them and tells the Bellas that they're up next.

Gripping Macy's hand tighter than she ever has before, Beca watches with bated breath from the wings as the Bellas walk out on stage. The nerves that she has seen gradually develop throughout the day almost instantly vanish upon the ten girls being bathed in the blinding lights. With Macy standing stock-still beside her, Beca doesn't think she lets out a breath until the first note resounds through the pitch pipe.

From there, she watches everything fall into place.

It's almost exactly like watching the girls in rehearsal, but the energy from the competition – and their growing confidence – completely changes the performance. They're lively and energetic and just clearly having fun. It makes the entire set ten times better than Beca ever could have imagined.

She watches as they dance around in perfect sync, hitting every note and reaching every point of inflection that they've worked on. She watches as the audience quickly gets into the set, and the smiles of the Bellas widen as they continue to perform.

And Beca, arguably out of any of the Bellas – honorary or otherwise – beams the most when they hit their final position, the audience springing to their feet in a standing ovation.

It's hard for both Mitchell sisters to keep their excitement at bay, but they scream anyways, hooting and hollering unlike anything they've ever done before. The only thing that can silence them is the Bellas running of the stage, capturing them in a group hug so tight and warm, that even Beca isn't sure if she wants it to end.

To no one's surprise, the Barden Bellas win the ICCA National Championship, the team gladly accepting the trophy after so many years of watching a fellow Barden a capella group take it back to school.

Beca is pretty sure it's going to have to be pried from Alice's hands before she graduates so that the captain can't take it with her.

But honestly, the physical trophy is quickly forgotten upon returning to the dressing room. Instead, everyone is focused on shouting over each other, trying to tell the others how amazing they felt during the performance and what they saw the audience do and how exactly everything went for them.

Beca hangs on to every word, Chloe pressed up against her side with her arm wrapped around her waist just has it has been since they got off stage, matching grins on their faces as they watch the Bellas like a ping-pong match, not knowing exactly where to look. Macy especially is having a good time, enjoying the celebratory nature of the dressing room, rather than the stuffy, nerve-induced state that they were in prior to their set.

Best of all, everyone in the room knows that they're never going to forget this moment. This moment of celebration and just unadulterated joy. Nothing can push them off of this Cloud 9.

While the girls continue chattering away, Beca makes her way over to one of the counters to start cleaning up the various hair products and makeup that has been scattered about throughout the day. They have a late flight back to Georgia tonight after flying in yesterday afternoon and spending the night at the hotel. The Bellas didn't exactly have the funds for another night in the hotel, but Beca already knows it will be a whole other adventure just being at the airport late at night and getting back to Georgia early in the morning.

She wants all of them to enjoy this moment, just relishing in their accomplishments and everything that they've worked towards. Plus, she'd give anything just to keep the smiles that are on Macy's and Chloe's face forever.

So, she gets started on cleaning up. Beca is so tuning in to listen to the Bellas' conversation and making sure that they don't leave anything behind, that she doesn't hear the knock on the dressing room door.

Stacie, on the other hand, is the closest one to the barrier that is keeping the Bellas' happiness beautifully contained in one area. While Amy cracks some joke about being glad she didn't have to rip her shirt off to save the show, Stacie peels herself away from the group, making her way over to the door to see who is there. Her grin is still on her face when she opens it to reveal a man standing in front of her, dressed in a full suit, tapping his foot impatiently.

Stacie quirks her eyebrow upward, "Can I help you?"

He nods, running a hand over his completely bald head. "Yeah. This is the Bellas' dressing room, right?"

Stacie glances warily behind her, the only one having noticed her absence so far, being Aubrey. "Um, it is. What can we do for you?" He doesn't have any sort of ID on him, and he isn't wearing the same headset that anyone else that works for the competition has been wearing.

The man looks over Stacie's shoulder, which is saying something because she has a solid four inches on him, especially with the heels. "I'm looking for the person that arranged your set. I would like to talk to them."

Stacie stills, especially at the fact that he's referring to Beca. The last time a creepy man came up to talk to them about Beca, was when they were at the football game back during their senior year and it was her foster dad. Then it was Jesse at the Treble party and Tara at the supermarket. The fact of the matter, is that Beca had a whole other life before coming to Barden High, and Chloe – let alone Stacie or Aubrey – has very limited ideas as to what happened during that time. The presence of this man is just solidifying those concerns.

"Oh, um… she's…"

"Stace? What's going on?"

Aubrey comes up beside her, placing a light hand on Stacie's arm. The rest of the Bellas' conversation has died down to a practically nonexistent level. Stacie looks between Aubrey and the man, "He's looking for the person in charge of our set."

Aubrey, too, stiffens. "Why?"

The man lets out an impatient sigh. "I just want to talk to them. And look, I really don't have a lot of time…I flew up here to watch my niece and my wife is waiting in the car to try and beat the traffic back to the hotel."

Both Aubrey and Stacie turn around to face the questioning glances of everyone in the room, including Beca who has finally rejoined the group from starting her cleaning process. The shorter brunette lays her hands protectively on Macy's shoulders, both of the Mitchell sisters looking thoroughly confused.

Stacie finally gives the man the answer he's looking for, doing so under the watchful gaze of every single Bella in the room. "That's Beca. She's over there in the t-shirt."

After a moment of hesitation, Stacie and Aubrey move out of the way, allowing the unknown man to step into the dressing room in hot pursuit of Beca Mitchell, who can only feel slightly more comfortable with Macy right in front of her, and Chloe brushing up against her side.

He comes to a halt in front of the trio, locking his hazel eyes with Beca's stormy blue ones. "You arranged their set? With the composition and everything?"

Beca shifts her eyes over to Chloe, who is just as confused as she is, before answering with the utmost confidence. "Um…yeah?"

He gives her another nod, before thrusting his hand in her direction. "My name is Keegan Parker."

"O…kay?" Beca's grip tightens slightly on Macy's shoulders, not at all sure of what's going on. And if there's one thing she hates, it's not being in control in an uncomfortable situation, especially when her sister is right there.

The man – Keegan – sticks his hands in his pockets, fishing around for something, before pulling out a small business card. "I'm the head music producer at Residual Heat Record Label in downtown Atlanta. I really liked what you did with the set, and I'm interested in hearing more of your work."

If Beca was frozen before, Keegan's words make her jaw – along with everyone else's in the room – drop open. She doesn't even look at the card, simply widening her eyes as she practically gapes at the man. "Wait, are you serious?"

"I am." He hands her the card a little more forcefully. "Call me on Monday to set up a meeting. I look forward to working with you, Reggie!"

And just like that, Keegan is walking out of the room, pushing past a cluster of stunned Bellas, everyone waiting for someone to say something about whether or not that was real.

All Beca can do, is slowly turn to meet Chloe's gaze, looking from her to Macy, and back to the redhead, who has tears accumulating in her eyes. "Did that just happen?"

Chloe's answer comes out more as a squeal, the redhead jumping up and down before throwing her arms around Beca's neck, holding on to her tightly, and refusing to ever let go.

The final chapter will be posted on Tuesday!