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Chapter Six

The sixth thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me:

Facing my in-laws

(Five months of bills!

Oh, I hate those Christmas cards

Hangovers

Rigging up these lights

And finding a Christmas tree)

Beca spends the night before Aubrey's arrival trying to, well, accept Aubrey's arrival. She realizes she would probably feel better if everyone else wasn't going home at some point. But they are, no matter how much she tried to convince them to stay. And there will be a point where she will be alone in the house with only Chloe and Aubrey. Chloe. Chloe who crawls into bed with her again, claiming to be freezing. She hates to admit it, so she doesn't admit it, but the whole sharing body heat thing actually kind of works. But having Chloe wrapped around her all night also makes it difficult to sleep again. It makes it difficult to do anything, including think.

xxxxx

"You can't tell her."

"I have to tell her, Beca," Chloe says.

"Dude, come on." Beca follows her down the porch stairs toward the driveway, where Aubrey should be pulling in in less than five minutes. "Just give me this one thing."

"You just want to see Aubrey jump fifty feet in the air when a reindeer turns its head at her."

"Yeah." Who wouldn't want to see that? "I'll do your part of the housework for a week if you don't say anything," Beca offers.

Chloe glances at her, clearly not even considering it. "I'm telling her they're motion activated before she approaches them."

"Then I'm going back inside," Beca threatens, jabbing her thumb in the direction of the door.

Chloe stops at the top of the driveway and scrunches up her face. "I don't remember asking you to come out here with me."

"Yeah, well, if I'm inside, I won't be the mandatory five feet or less away from you," Beca points out, "It'll be breaking the…what's the opposite of a restraining order?" …a pursuement order?

"Consensual sex." Chloe winks at her.

"And now it's creepy."

Chloe throws her arms around her from the side. "I don't remember you being a grinch last year."

"Because we had electricity," Beca says, "And jobs that suited us."

"I'm sure Aubrey will turn the power back on," Chloe replies.

And gloat about it afterwards if she succeeds. Unless that thing whispers her name too, and in that case… "I want to be there for that. Standing directly at the top of the stairs."

Chloe releases her as Aubrey's car turns onto the road.

"Speak of the devil."

"Last chance to go back inside," Chloe points out.

And fuck if it isn't tempting.

xxxxx

Aubrey doesn't acknowledge either of them when she steps out of her car; she just tilts her head at their new lawn ornament with a soft, perplexed 'oh' sound.

So Chloe didn't tell her about it at all.

Beca can see her holding her tongue – quite literally pressing it to the roof of her mouth to keep whatever thoughts that are running through her brain from escaping out her mouth.

"It's motion-activated," Chloe says, walking swiftly to engulf her in a hug.

Beca groans and goes back inside before anyone can stop her.

xxxxx

The flurry of hellos and new introductions that Aubrey walks into makes it easy to hide from her for a few minutes. Beca is small. She can easily stand off to the side of the room and not be noticed – and as long as the Bellas maintain a circle around her as they make their way into the living room, she might even be able to make it up the stairs.

"Beca," Aubrey stops her on the second stair.

There was some part of her that had hope that Aubrey wouldn't even be able to be in the same room with her after, well, you know… Instead, she makes direct eye contact the moment Beca turns around – and wouldn't it be great if it was too dark for them to actually see each other? But no. No, Beca can see the smirk on Aubrey's face quite clearly. Great. Aubrey, always ever so serious, finds this particular mishap to be funny.

"Weren't you in need of my assistance?" Aubrey asks.

"Doing what exactly?"

Someone exhales a laugh – and Beca is pretty sure it's Stacie. She would know for sure if she could see.

"Turning the electricity back on," Aubrey answers, "You begged me to save Christmas, remember?"

"Begged is a bit of an overstatement."

"Beca says the basement ghost said her name," Chloe says.

"It did."

"What basement ghost?" Aubrey asks.

"What do you mean what basement ghost? The ghost that haunts the basement."

Aubrey looks confused.

"The basement ghost came after Aubrey left," Chloe explains.

"So whoever you killed now haunts the basement," Beca accuses her.

Aubrey tilts her head like she's debating her response. "You really think I'd kill somebody in this house and it not be you?"

That's…a good point. Beca shrugs. "So are you going to turn the electricity on or what?"

"I will go with you to turn the electricity back on," Aubrey answers.

"After what you just said about killing me?"

"Do you want the power on or not, Beca?"

xxxxx

Aubrey has a flashlight in her car. A real, working, bright flashlight. Because of course she does. She probably has everything a person could need in an emergency stuffed into her trunk. Like the Mary Poppins of survival. But mean. It sure makes it easier to see as they stand at the top of the stairs though. "Go," she demands.

"Why do I have to go first?"

"Because I don't trust you not to run away."

"Good luck, you guys." Chloe gives them both a hug. "Don't get possessed."

Aubrey nudges Beca down onto the first stair.

"I'm telling you, something is down here and it said my name," Beca whispers, taking the next stair herself before Aubrey can shove her down the entire flight.

Aubrey doesn't respond. She just marches them over to the fuse box to fix the problem. "Are the lights on?!" she calls toward the stairs.

"They're on!" Chloe calls back.

Beca lets out a sigh of relief. "There is no reason you needed me to come down here with you."

"Repeat after me," Aubrey replies, "There is no basement ghost."

"There is a basement ghost."

"There is no basement ghost."

"No, there is a basement ghost."

"Good, now say the words in the correct order. And get your hand off of me."

Her hand? "I'm not touching you."

Aubrey points the flashlight at her face and then down at her hands – which are hanging limply at her sides. She emits a tiny gasp and nearly trips over her own two feet as she spins around and backs up, pointing the flashlight directly at –

"Lilly?"

Aubrey storms over to the other side of the wall and turns on the light.

Beca stares dumbfounded at the bed, the dresser, the desk – all set up in the basement. "I thought you shared a room with…" Actually, Beca has no idea who she thought Lilly shared a room with. She was so quiet, it was easy to forget she was around when she wasn't being creepy. This actually made a lot of sense. She looks at Aubrey, who has her arms folded across her chest, and exaggerates a smile. "There's no ghost."

"I know that." Aubrey turns to go back upstairs.

"You were scared," Beca points out as she follows her.

"I was not."

"You were. You jumped like fifty feet in the air."

Aubrey swings the flashlight in Beca's direction, making her jump up to the next stair. "Like that?"

"That was a real threat."

"You were the one who thought there was a ghost in the first place," Aubrey says, "I told you that there wasn't one."

"Well, I'm going to adjust the thermostat," Beca tells the group, "And just so you all know, Lilly lives in the basement. There is no ghost. Dude, I could be a ghost hunter."

xxxxx

"Beca, get your jacket."

"I no longer need my jacket to lie on my bed," Beca replies, "I thought you were with Chloe."

Aubrey shakes her head. "She's decorating gingerbread men."

"That sounds super fun. You should go do that."

"Really? Because I came up here to paint you like one of my French Girls."

Beca closes her eyes with a wry smile. "Shouldn't I be taking layers off in that case?"

"Please, don't. I have enough of that burned into my retinas. Honestly, I'd prefer if you added a layer every time I see you from now on."

"Did you need something?" Beca asks.

"Yes. Now put your jacket on."

"Or I could not do that."

Aubrey walks in the room and grabs the chair from the desk, then frowns when she realizes Beca's giant tree is in the way. She sits on the edge of the bed instead, staring directly at Beca. "I have time."

Beca opens one eye.

"I'll use the time to give you some more notes. If you want to send nudes people will like, send them a picture of someone else. And-" Aubrey looks up, satisfied as Beca stands up and goes to get her jacket.

xxxxx

"Where did you find a chainsaw?" Beca asks, "Did you have that in your car?"

Aubrey kneels down on the sidewalk beside their Christmas tree. "It was in the shed. Don't you live here? Now hold the tree."

Beca looks toward the side of the house then back at Aubrey. "I have never seen a chainsaw in that shed."

"I was kidding, Beca. I borrowed it from Sigma Beta Theta."

"Why do they have a chainsaw?" Beca asks.

"They take the chain off every year to chase people with it at Halloween."

"Have you ever used a chainsaw before?"

Aubrey shrugs.

"You don't just not know if you've ever used a chainsaw before," Beca says, "Either you have or you haven't."

"How hard can it be?" Aubrey asks.

"My limbs are at stake here." Beca looks down at the tree.

"You're all the way over there. I'm cutting the bottom of the tree, Beca, not strapping it to a Roomba. Now hold the tree still."

Beca kneels down on the cold pavement and places both hands on the tree. "I don't know if-" She stops when the chainsaw drowns out trying sound of her voice. "Okay."

Aubrey looks so proud of herself while holding the chainsaw that Beca would laugh if it wasn't such a terrifying sight. It doesn't take much effort to cut off the crooked bottom of the tree. They should have used a chainsaw to cut it down to begin with. They haul it back inside together once the chainsaw is turned off and safely placed in Aubrey's trunk to be returned to Sigma Beta Theta.

"I liked it better the other way," Cynthia-Rose claims as they place it in the tree stand.

"You have a giant skeleton being pulled by dead reindeer in the front yard," Aubrey replies, "Maybe you should consider doing something Beca likes."

"Seeing her naked really changed you," Stacie comments.

Aubrey nods. "I feel sorry for her now."

"Well, I feel sorry for you!" Beca calls after her as she walks toward the kitchen, "I feel sorry you didn't get to see it in person!"

"I can arrange that," Stacie says.

Chloe laughs. "Now that I'd like to see."

"Well, you're not going to see that," Beca replies, "Because Aubrey wants me to put on another layer of clothing every time she sees me, and also because I would rather die than face life after that – or during that."

"Necrophilia," Lilly whispers in her ear.

"Where the hell did you come from?!" Beca asks.

"The basement."