Kailor: Hey, babies. So some people have voiced that this feels like two fanfics suddenly shoved together. But this was the plot from the beginning, guys. It's supposed to seem sudden. But don't worry, Bechloe is still the main focus. So I hope you stick around, because Aubrey may be missing, but Beca/Chloe love is here to stay always! Hope you enjoy!
Beca had been secretly hoping they wouldn't question her. A lofty dream, she knows, but cops haven't exactly been her favorite people since senior year. So she's a little disappointed when one of the agents comes to get her and takes her out back to talk.
She's even more disappointed when the woman asks her basically the same things Officers Calamity and Serenity had.
So you don't really know Miss Posen?
And you haven't spoken to Mr. Swanson since when?
You were invited to his wedding?
And also Agent Anderson is, like, super pretty. Not in the way Chloe or Stacie are-that beauty that makes someone want to share it with everyone, want to parade them down the street and create an Instagram just to show them off (which Beca totally did not do when she moved in with Chloe. She'd had her Insta for ages. Just...hadn't used it…). But she's a dangerous kind of pretty. The kind that very clearly says everyone around her is out of her league and she knows it. So Beca's not surprised that she stumbles through the questioning, giving what she hopes are somewhat coherent answers, but highly suspects are not.
This is confirmed near the end. Agent Anderson leans in, nearly towering over Beca, and her voice drops lower, her accent thickening. "Are you nervous, Little Mouse?"
"I-I-you-" Beca nearly swallows her tongue, choking for a second. She's pretty sure this is not standard questioning procedure at the FBI.
Agent Anderson suddenly grins. "Don't be nervous. Your alibi checks out, no? You were with your girlfriend?"
"I-yes! Girlfriend! I have a girlfriend!" Beca hopes her voice isn't as high-pitched as it sounds to her. "And I was with her." She doesn't mean to make every word sound like a sentence on its own, so she clears her throat and pushes into the next bit. "All night. In our bed. We share a bed."
"I see. So you really know nothing about where Miss Posen may have gone?"
"No, dude." Beca shakes her head emphatically. Pretty or not, the woman is starting to creep her out. Has she blinked at all? Beca doesn't think so.
Nodding, Agent Anderson leans back and Beca takes a breath that didn't seem to be there a second ago. "Thank you, Miss Mitchell. That will be all for now."
Once she's escorted back into the living room, it's like someone's just turned the sound back on and she blinks until Chloe's face is clear in front of her.
"Bec?" Her hands are warm, resting on Beca's collarbones. "What happened?"
"I-" She blinks again. "Uh, she just. She's, like, super intense. Asked the same stuff the cops did." She grips Chloe's hip, which she's just realized she's holding. She reaches for the other one and pulls her closer. "What about you? How'd it go?"
Chloe sighs, curls flinging as she shakes her head. "Aubrey bought a ticket to Belgium. Nobody knows why."
"The fuck is in Belgium?"
"That's what we've been wondering," Jessica says.
"Her dad is stationed in Italy." Cynthia Rose shrugs. "And she doesn't know anybody there."
"So why Belgium?"
"Belgian chocolate straight from the source?" Fat Amy suggests.
Behind her, Stacie rolls her eyes. "Thanks for that super helpful idea. Anybody have any actual thoughts on Belgium?"
Beca thinks for a few seconds as the girls mutter and shrug around her. "Antwerp, Belgium? It's the diamond capital of the world. They have, like, a whole district devoted to it."
Everyone freezes, staring at her.
"How the aca-hell do you know that?" Amy's eyes are wide and Beca has the strangest feeling the blonde girl might slap her. She steps closer to Chloe.
"I, uh." Everyone's still looking at her and she stumbles over her words. "I watch...a lot of Investigation Discovery? There was an episode about diamond heists?"
She squeaks (though she'll never admit it) when Chloe's lips press against her cheek suddenly. "You know the weirdest things," she whispers against Beca's skin. Which really shouldn't sound like a come on, but it really does. She catches Emily's eye and immediately wishes she hadn't, because Emily gives her a very unsubtle thumbs up.
Even in the midst of a crisis, these girls are ridiculous.
"Okay, forget this Belgium shit. We can ask Aubrey about it when we find her. I'm sure there's a perfectly Aubrey-logical explanation." Stacie throws up her hands. "Look, Jesse's a suspect. He's the spouse. His alibi is shaky, because he can't remember some of the night. They're gonna be sitting on him. This whole plane ticket thing is gonna throw more suspicion on the whole thing." The attention has shifted to her and Beca breathes a little easier. "They're so wrapped up looking into him and Aubrey that they're not actually looking for her. They're just waiting for the ransom call and trying to figure out if it's some elaborate money grab. Jesse's parents are loaded, so it makes sense, but-" She cuts off with a sigh, crossing her arms.
"They're not looking for her?" Emily's voice is almost a whisper.
Stacie lifts one shoulder. "They'll have agents out questioning people, but their main focus will be here." She huffs as an agent pushes past them.
Chloe's brow furrows suddenly and she releases Beca to dig into her back pocket, pulling out her phone. She swipes the screen and holds it to her ear. Beca, standing close, hears a tiny, "Sissy?"
"Mickey?" Chloe steps back a little, her other hand coming up to plug her unoccupied ear. "Hello?"
Another agent passes through and Cynthia Rose coughs loudly-and dramatically, in Beca's opinion-as the girls close rank around Chloe. Beca hurries to take her spot in the circle, not sure why they're being secretive.
"What? Where are you?" Chloe's voice has jumped up an octave. "That's-Mickey, how? Okay, okay, let me just- What? Okay, I'll let them know… Thank you." She hangs up.
"What was that?" Ashley whispers. Oh, great, now they're whispering. Beca leans in to hear better and suddenly feels like she's in a football team huddle. Like maybe one of them will suddenly scream, "BREAK!" and everyone will take off to tackle people. She honestly wouldn't be that surprised.
Chloe's still staring at her phone, unblinking. Beca reaches out and taps her fingers along Chloe's wrist, pulling her head up. Chloe's hand squeezes around her phone and she clears her throat. "Sorry, um. That was Mickey. He said… He said he thinks he's found Aubrey."
They run smack into Dana in the hall and she throws her arms out, blocking the stampede. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, ladies. What in the world-"
"Mickey called," Chloe says and Dana motions for her to drop her voice some. Chloe does. "He said he thinks he knows where Aubrey is."
Dana's eyes widen and, to Beca's surprise, she starts pushing them back toward the living room, away from the feds. "Okay, listen. Calm down a second." She gets them all herded back around the coffee table and wraps long fingers around Chloe's arm. "It's Mickey, Chlo… Do you trust him?"
Chloe hesitates, which is the weirdest thing Beca's ever seen Chloe do. And she's seen her paint her toenails while laying upside down on the couch and watching cartoons at four a.m. Then Chloe shrugs. "I don't know. But they can check it out, right?"
Dana clicks her teeth together a few times, her jaw shifting out to the side as she glances around the group. It's still so weird to see a face so similar to Chloe's doing things that Chloe does when she's thinking. "Okay. Okay, look. Where did he say she is?"
"The fish market."
Amy suddenly gasps and whispers, "Fucking One-Eye!"
Nodding, Dana squeezes Chloe's arm. "Okay. I'm gonna go tell the agents. You guys stay here. I'll be right back. Just… Breathe a little, Chlo." She claps Cynthia Rose on the shoulder. Cynthia Rose grunts. "All of you."
She hurries away and the girls seem to take her advice to heart. They split up, moving to take seats around the room in twos and threes. Beca notes that Stacie and Emily sit together on the couch, thighs touching. Stacie's hand slips behind Emily and she leans in to whisper something.
Beca squints. Did Stacie's lips just brush Emily's ear?
"Baby," Chloe whispers, close to her neck.
Oh, that's a feeling. Lightning shivering down her spine and into her fingertips, flexing them out involuntarily, then curling them back into fists. She turns and Chloe is right there, a small smile pulling at her mouth. "Yeah?" It's a strangled word and Beca nearly growls, because why the hell can't she be not awkward for just a minute? A second, even.
"We're gonna find her." Chloe's voice is soft, comforting. She looks so certain.
So Beca is too. She nods. "We will, dude, yeah. Soon as Dana gets back with the feds."
Chloe nods along with her, following her rhythm, but suddenly she's much closer and Beca feels warm fingertips slide along the front of her shirt. She knew she should have left it unbuttoned, son of a bitch. Then Chloe's speaking, her voice suddenly rougher and scraping at something inside Beca's chest. "Once we do, I'm going to kiss you until you can't remember your name."
It's a sarcastic response that falls from Beca's lips, because her brain has quit working beyond default settings. "Are we planning out our fake relationship now? I thought we were kinda winging it." She knows there's more here than pretend dating. She can feel it in every breath Chloe gives and she takes. Because there's no reason right now for them to be this close. No reason for that kiss in the loft. No reason for this twisting and burning in her gut.
And yet, there's so many reasons. All of them glaringly obvious and multi-faceted. Stained glass, Beca thinks as Chloe's smile turns into a full-blown grin.
"Yeah, about that." Her fingers spread out, palms pressing flat to Beca's stomach. "I'm thinking we should talk about that 'fake' part."
"Oh." Like hot chocolate on cold New York nights, Chloe's words spread through her, fill her up, sit sweet between her teeth as she grins back. Because this is real. She was right and it's not just her that feels this. And she wants to name it now. To just lay everything out and see if Chloe agrees. But it's not really the time and she kind of already knows she does. "Would you prefer, um." She pretends to think. "Artificial? Make-believe? Uh, fictitious?"
"Oh my god." Chloe shoves lightly and Beca rocks back. Before she can step away though, Chloe's fingers wrap into her shirt and she's pulling her in again. "You're a jerk."
Beca bobs her head, unable to argue with that. Unable to do anything, really, because Chloe's smile is pressed to her jaw and her voice is soft in Beca's ear.
"Thanks, Becs. For everything."
Beca catches Stacie's eye and that knowing spark she finds there makes it feel like her skin is shaking. It hunches her shoulders, forcing Chloe's face away, and Beca steps back, scratching at the tingling skin of her jawline. "Dude, save that sappy shit for when we find Aubrey."
True to form, Chloe doesn't even blink at the sudden distance. She just tugs once, where her fingers are still wrapped in Beca's shirt, then lets her go.
Dana returns alone. "Okay, take this." She presses keys into Chloe's hand. She's talking fast and ushering them toward the door. "The FBI are already headed to the docks. But Aubrey will want you there when they find her. Take my van. Be quick, okay?"
"But, Aunt Dana-"
"I'll be right behind you guys and there will be agents waiting for you. Hurry."
Beca wants to ask more, because this is weird, right? But the Bellas are already moving around her. She's not sure Dana meant all of them, but that doesn't stop Fat Amy from slapping her hands onto Beca's shoulders and following her out.
The yard is mostly empty now, all the volunteers gone, the FBI's hulking vehicles lined up in the grass. Dana's van is on the other side of the driveway, next to Mamma Beale's car, and she sends them toward it with a flick of her wrists. "Be safe. You'll see the agents. Follow their instructions." Then she's ducking back into the house and Beca's left crossing the yard with the others in tow.
"Lilly and Flo are on their way," Ashley says, holding up her phone. "Should I tell them to meet us at the fish market?"
"Yes!" Chloe pulls open the back door of the van. "Thank god they're finally here. When this is over, I need all my Bellas."
"You got it, Mom," Stacie says, jumping into the van.
Beca follows Chloe in, Cynthia Rose behind her. Chloe passes the keys forward and Amy cranks up the engine, taking off like a maniac.
Cynthia Rose snatches Beca's sleeve, growling. Her other hand slaps against the window. "Bitch, don't kill us before we get there!"
"Just hang on, Black Beauty! I've got this!" Amy skids out of the driveway and Beca's almost certain they're going to flip. They don't, thankfully, but wow, now Beca's a little scared.
It's Stacie that voices the weird churning in Beca's gut. "This is weird, right?" She twists in her seat to look back at them. "Like, they should have sent an agent with us, shouldn't they?"
Emily twists around too, talking quickly. "Maybe they're too busy? Or they're not worried about it, because they've got everything under control? I mean, they're FBI!" When nobody immediately agrees, her hopeful smile slips. "Or we're totally driving into danger alone." Her face completely falls then, eyes wide and round. "Oh my god, why would Aunt Dana send us out here alone? We're gonna get kidnapped and sold for parts. Oh my god. My mom totally told me this kind of stuff could happen!" Stacie wraps an arm around her shoulders, shaking her a little as Emily's breathing quickens.
Amy narrowly misses a mailbox. "Legacy, that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say, and you once suggested I wear underwear for a competition." She swerves onto another road, sending everyone scrambling for purchase. Beca thinks she hears Ashley praying in the passenger seat. "Nobody's going to steal your kidneys or Stacie's fake boobs. We're all getting out of this in one piece!"
"Hopefully," a voice growls loudly from behind the backseat.
Everyone screams.