Life Isn't Cupcakes And Rainbows

Stacie enter the rehearsal space with trepidation, Beca's note folded in the back pocket of her black skinny jeans. Aubrey was the first to see her, and she rushed over when she noted that the tall brunette had been obviously crying.

"Stace, what's wrong?" Aubrey asked, grabbing Stacie's hands when she reached her.

"Beca's gone," Stacie replied morosely, a slight hitch in her breath.

"Well get that bitch back here, we have to aca-smash those treble douches!" yelled Fat Amy from across the room to a loud chorus of groans from the rest of the assembled ladies.

Chloe, however, was suddenly finding it hard to breathe. Clutching her chest, she asked with a shaky voice, "What do you mean she's gone?"

Stacie looked at her, and tried to find the anger she wished was there. This was the woman that caused her best friend to flee after all, but she just couldn't. Besides, Beca wouldn't want her to. She shrugged her shoulders as she averted her eyes, "She left. Last night. Packed up all of her things while I was sleeping and left a goodbye note."

"Where did she go?" asked Cynthia Rose.

"I don't know," Stacie replied, "She didn't say."

"Well shitburgers," Fat Amy said despondently, the rest of the Bellas nodding or voicing their agreement.

Aubrey was incredibly conflicted however. On the one hand, with Beca gone she'd get control of the Bellas back. The woman who had caused so much pain and confusion to her best friend would no longer be around to do so. And she would no longer have to deal with her abrasive attitude. On the other hand, she really believed that they had no chance of winning without her. Chloe and the rest of the Bellas obviously cared a great deal about her. And Aubrey herself had actually grown quite close to the talented brunette hobbit. Making her decision, Aubrey was about to voice her plan for finding Beca and bringing her back. Mary Elise, however, beat her to the punch.

"Why don't we ask her dad?" The question took most of them by surprise because Mary Elise, after almost being kicked out of the group on day one, hadn't really voiced much of an opinion about anything, seemingly content to just be part of the group. She was fiercely loyal and protective of Beca though, so maybe the insight shouldn't have been as surprising.

"I'll go," Chloe immediately offered, and started to run off before anyone could argue the point. Stacie quickly caught up to her and grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"Here," she reached into her back pocket, handing Chloe the note Beca had written, "You should read this." Chloe held the note in her hand looking at Stacie with a questioning look, then just nodded her head and ran off again.

"Hey, has anybody seen Lily?" Fat Amy asked into the sudden silence that had descended on the room.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked for the 14th or so time.

"Yes," was the immediate, and obviously exasperated, answer.

"Just, I warned you that there is no coming back from this either way. You do understand that, right?"

"Yes!"

Lily appeared momentarily taken aback from the harsh tone of voice, before she straightened back up. "Chloe, I just don't want to kill you. This could totally fail and best case scenario, you fucking die! Don't you get that?"

Chloe gazed at the possibly crazy, possibly misunderstood Asian girl in front of her, and gently grabbed her hand speaking softly, yet passionately. "I know Lily. I know what I'm asking is crazy. But look around you. I'm a resident of crazy town already. There is nothing left for me here. Nothing. My parents distanced themselves from me shortly after the accident when they thought I was crazy. I have no siblings or other close family. I haven't had a single visitor or phone call or letter in months. But even before all of this bullshit happened, Beca was my life. If there is even a miniscule chance I can get back to her, I'll take it, damn the consequences. Do you understand?"

Lily just nodded, and wiped at her suddenly moist eyes.

Chloe was racing through the halls of the English department, reading the name plaques on the door as she past. She'd never had a class with Dr. Mitchell before, so she didn't know exactly where his office was located. Seeing the brass nameplate affixed to the correct door, Chloe skidded to a stop in front of it and leaned over her knees to catch her breath. She unfolded the note that she still held in her hand and read it while her breathing began to even out. When she reached the end she had to bite her knuckles to stifle the choked sob that threatened to escape. "Damn you Beca Mitchell."

The knock on the door startled the middle aged man sitting behind the mahogany desk since he didn't have office hours at that moment, or any appointments scheduled. Standing up and crossing the room, he opened the door to find a vaguely familiar, and clearly upset and out of breath red head standing in the hall.

"Can I help you?" Dr. Mitchell asked politely, though he couldn't keep a touch of irritation out of his voice.

"Dr. Mitchell, sir, do you know where Beca is?"

He looks at his watch before looking back at her. "Well, classes are over for her for the day, so I'd guess she is either in her dorm room or with those acapella girls she hangs out with."

"No, Dr. Mitchell, you don't understand! Beca is gone! Do you know where she is?"

He seemed caught off guard by her outburst, then tapped his chin in thought. "Gone? Are you sure?" She nodded emphatically, "Okay then, she probably went home. I can't think of anywhere else she'd go."

"I need the address! Please, it's important," she begged.

"Hold on," he said after a minute of thought, walking over to his desk and grabbing his phone. Beca's phone went straight to voicemail, so he left a message, "Becs, its dad. Can you call me back please and let me know you're okay? I was just informed that you left and your friends are worried about you. To be honest," he glanced over at Chloe briefly before continuing, "After talking to this panicked redhead, I am worried too. Please, call me back." With his message complete, he hung up the phone and turned back to Chloe. "Would you mind telling me what is going on?"

Chloe threw her hands up in frustration and began to pace around the small office as she spoke, "I don't know! God! This is so frustrating. I was happy. My life was good, it was uncomplicated. I don't like complicated, you see? Then this unbearably frustrating brunette fireball bursts into my life and all of the sudden my life is nothing but complicated. She is rude and opinionated and closed off and adorable and sweet and understanding and selfless, and I can't just let her leave the way she did! I can't! I need to get to her, please, can you just tell me how I can get to her!" Chloe was again out of breath after her semi-coherent emotional rant.

Dr. Mitchell slumped down in the chair behind his desk and tapped his pen against the pad of paper in front of him repeatedly, considering her words. Then, without saying a thing, he wrote down the address and ripped the paper out of the pad handing it to her.

"Thank you," Chloe exclaimed before turning around and running out of his office.

"Last chance to change your mind."

Chloe looked at the girl knowing she meant well and smiled. "I will never change my mind about Beca." She turned back around and again was somehow taken by surprise by how far down the ground looked from up here. Her toes were just over the edge of the roof of the mental institution she'd been a resident of for months. Seven stories and a whole bunch of air separated her from the ground below. She closed her eyes and imagined Beca's smile. She saw Beca's hand in her mind's eye reaching out for her. Without opening her eyes and the hopeful smile still on her face she said, "I'm ready."

The GPS was sitting in her center console barking out directions mechanically as she drove quite a bit faster than she should have to reach her destination. She was shaking from fear or adrenaline and her vision was slightly blurry from the tears that were threatening to fall.

The ringing of her phone interrupted the robotic female voice. She answered the call with her car's Bluetooth. "Hello?"

"Chlo, where are you babe?" Shit. Tom. "We were supposed to go grab dinner after your Bellas rehearsal but you weren't here."

She hurriedly wiped her eyes of her guilty tears even though he couldn't see them. "Tom. I love you."

She could hear the smile in his voice when he replied, and it made her feel even guiltier, "I love you too babe."

"I love you, but I can't," Chloe sobbed and had to gather herself before she continued, "I can't keep doing this."

He sighed on the other end of the phone and she could hear the pain in his voice. "It's Beca isn't it?"

Chloe gasped out loud, "How did you…?"

"Chloe, we've been together for a year now. I'd like to think I know you pretty well. Ever since she showed up you've been different."

Chloe was obviously openly sobbing now, "I am so sorry Tom. I don't have words to tell you how sorry I am."

"I gotta go Chloe. Take care of yourself." And then he was gone. Chloe pulled over to the side of the road, rested her head on her steering wheel, and cried her eyes out.

"Fuck!" Chloe screamed at the top of her lungs banging her hands on the steering wheel repeatedly. When her frustration was spent she slumped back into her seat. "She better be worth it." Pulling back out into the road to continue her journey a small smile spread across her face. "She is worth it."

Chloe felt a hard push and suddenly she was flying. Eyes still closed, smile still in place, she reached out into thin air trying to grasp a hand that wasn't really there.

"In 3 miles, take exit 82 for Conyers…" Chloe had named the GPS voice Wilma because it kind of reminded her of Fred's wife on the Flintstones for some reason. Wilma told her that her exit was in 3 miles, so she proceeded to get in the right lane.

Chloe bit her lip nervously. She was less than fifteen minutes from a conversation that could possibly break her, and she had no idea what she was going to say, she just hoped it would come to her.

Seeing the exit sign up ahead, Chloe put on her turning signal. A slight glare caused her to shield her eyes as she slowed down for her exit. The glare, though, just grew brighter and brighter until she couldn't see anything but a bright light all around her. That's when she felt her tire catch the side of the road. Before she could do anything to stop it, her car was airborn, flipping end over end, resting upside down underneath the sign for exit 82.