Chapter 7

Dr. Connors made his way through the sewers to Beca's school and burst through the toilet causing a loud crash that everyone in the school could hear. A couple halls down Beca, Chloe and their friends were in the hallway chatting until they heard the sound. They could hear the screams of their peers and while Amy, Chloe, and Jesse stayed by Beca's side, everyone else ran as fast as they could out of the building.

As the lizard turned the corner to the hallway they were in, Beca looked over to Jesse and Amy, pushed Chloe towards them and screamed, "get out of here, now!"

The trio did their best to outrun the lizard with Beca following behind them. As soon as they got out the doors, Beca pulled them shut, and turned back around to face the Lizard, "nowhere to hide now, Beca."

As Beca tried to run past him, he grabbed her and slammed her through the wall into the Chemistry classroom. She quickly ran into the utility closet to change into her suit. Connors concocted a makeshift bomb out of the supplies in the classroom. And throws it into the closet that Beca was changing in. Before it goes off, Beca leaps out in her suit and jumps onto the Lizard's back.

The two wrestle and fight each other crashing through several walls back into the hallway. Beca did her best to contain Connors with her webs while being tossed around and slammed into the lockers.

"C'mon Doc, you're not thinking straight," she claimed while trying to web up the Lizard's body. "Can't we just talk this out," she asked as she was slammed into another set of lockers. "Guess not," she sighed. "Well then, here you go," she said as she shot a web at the man's mutant face. Taking advantage of the moment, Beca tries to grab him by the tail.

Connors quickly ripped off the webbing from his face, and began to swing his tail from side to side, crashing Beca into every wall and locker in their path. "I don't want to hurt you, sir," Beca exclaimed as she desperately holds onto his tail. With one last slam, Beca managed to rip off his tail, "gross!" She immediately drops it and watches as the Lizard's tail begins to regenerate. Before she can react, Connors grabs her again and picks her up by her head. She tries to rip the man's hand off of her head as it begins to crush her, but it's no use.

Just as Connors is about to tear off Beca's head, Chloe hits the Lizard on the head with a trophy that breaks upon impact. Connors quickly turns to see who hit her and is surprised to find one of his best interns holding the remains of the trophy, slowly backing away from the two.

"Chloe?"

Taking the advantage of the distracted lizard, Beca quickly unleashes a series of webs to wrap the lizard in. She turns back to Chloe and pulls her in for a hug, then takes the trophy and launches it at the window, breaking the glass. "Thanks, I'm gonna throw you out the window now, okay?"

"What," Chloe asks in shock. But before she can respond, Beca has thrown her out of the window, and she is holding onto the web attached to her shirt swinging in the air when a slew of police vehicles pulls up.

Connors managed to break out of the webs, but no before the police arrived, he looked out the window and back to the vigilante with a glare.

Beca shrugged, "looks like someone's been a bad lizard," she mocked.

The Lizard lunged towards her once more and the two crash into the library. Beca does her best to fight the Lizard, webbing up books that the beast throws at her so they don't hit the librarian. Connors flees before the battle truly ends, and Beca decides to follow him through the sewers.

Beca was in the middle of following Connors and just about to reach his lair when Chloe called her, "hey," she said quietly.

"Where are you," Chloe asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

"I'm in the sewers, following Connors."

"Beca, this isn't your job, are you okay?"

"Yes I'm okay, and I'm tracking him. I need to stop him before he hurts anyone else, but we need an antidote. Do you know how to run a serum?"

"Yeah," the redhead said. "I do it at Oscorp all the time."

"Awesome, alright listen I need you to do something for me okay?"

"Anything."

"Go to Oscorp, and access the cross-species file. There's a blue serum, vile 1-2-3-8-9."

"Okay, got it, on my way."

"Alright, be safe," Beca says as she hangs up. She rounds the corner to find Connors lair, but neither the Lizard or Connors is anywhere in sight. She notices the computer and turns it on to find a recording of Connors explaining his plan. As she listens to his monologue, she scrambles to find any remains of a plan, and finds the blueprint of the old cloud machine. On the back of the blueprint is Connor's plan to disperse a cloud of serum throughout the city, turning everyone into lizards. As soon as she reads his plans, she makes her way out of the sewers and calls Chloe again. "Come on, pick up."

"Hello?"

"Hey, where are you?"

"I'm at Oscorp," Chloe says as she watches the antidote being made.

"No, no, no, no, no, you have to get out of there okay?"

"But the antidote is cooking!"

"Connors is on his way to you right now. He needs that old cloud machine, he wants to disperse the serum to the whole city."

"There's only eight minutes left, Beca."

"Really? You're gonna stay there after what I just said? Get out of there, now! People are gonna get hurt."

"I'm gonna get everyone out."

"What? Did you hear what I just-" Beca was cut off as she heard the other line go dead. "Mother hubbard," she screamed. "Are you serious right now?" She puts her phone back in her spandex and rushes across the city to Oscorp.

She's flying through the air, swinging between buildings and under bridges, climbing up walls and jumping off of rooftops.

While she's midair she hears Chloe's father over a speaker from the helicopter above her, "stand down now or we will open fire."

She sprints up and down the side of buildings, dodging fire from the policeman's stun guns. She shoots a web across the way and jumps over to the building, as she's about to round the corner, she shoots another web and swings out only to find a blinding light from the helicopter. Suddenly she feels something hit her chest, and she is stunned and immediately crashes onto the taxicab below her then rolls off onto the ground. As she tried to get the strength to get back up, the policeman surrounded her and put her in handcuffs before sitting her back up.

Chloe's dad has a small grin as he approached the girl and unmasks her. But Beca musters up the rest of her strength and breaks the handcuffs as soon as she feels the mask come off. She disarms the men around her and splits several guns in half before Chloe's father points his gun at her and yells, "freeze!"

Beca did as she was told and bit her lip as she waited in agony to reveal herself.

"Down on the ground, now," he yells at her. She sighs and turns around with her arms out, "Mitchell?"

"It's headed to Oscorp. Your daughter is there right now," she says with tears in her eyes as she continues to slowly move. "You gotta let me go," she pleads to the man still pointing his gun at her. She doesn't wait for a response, she simply grabs her mask and puts it back on before shooting out another web.

"Hold your fire," Captain Beale said a little too late as Beca gets hit in the leg mid air. She limps and does her best to make her way to Oscorp as quickly as possible. Luckily the city knew the vigilante and came to her aid as construction workers lined up their cranes to give her a direct shot to Oscorp. The Captain makes it to Oscorp to see Chloe running out with the antidote. "Get in the car," he says.

"Dad, I have to get this to Spider-Man."

"Get in the car," he insists.

"No, I can stop the lizard!"

"Get in the car, Chloe, now!"

"No, please you don't understand," she says urgently.

"I do," he says as he grabs the antidote from her hand. "Your girlfriend is a woman of many masks."

"Please make sure she's okay," Chloe says with tears in her eyes.

"I will take care of her, I promise."

Beca managed to make it to Oscorp as Connors is setting up the Genali device and sets it to detonate in two minutes. Beca swings around the room of the building and kicks the Lizard off of the pinnacle. They fight in the air, and as they crash to the ground, Beca tries to sling herself towards the serum but is quickly pulled back down by Connors and thrown off the side of the building. She thinks fast and shoots out a web to swing her back onto the side of the Oscorp building. As she makes her way back to the roof, the Lizard throws several tanks of liquid nitrogen at her. She manages to dodge the attacks and makes it halfway back up the pinnacle before she is hit by an exploding tank, that sends her crashing back down on the rooftop.

She tries to shoot a web at the liquid nitrogen pumps on the roof, but is quickly caught by the Lizard who wraps his tail around her neck, and has each of her wrists in his hands. He squeezes his hands around her wrists as he squeezes his tail tighter around her neck. Beca tries to breathe and shoot webs out to escape, but watches in horror as Connors breaks them. He lets go of her wrists, but continues to strangle her. Beca holds onto his tail as he rips off her mask and chuckles, "poor, Beca Mitchell. No mother. No father," he hissed. "No uncle. All alone."

Suddenly the two hear the sound of a shotgun cocking, and Captain Beale's voice, "she's not alone." He shoots at the liquid nitrogen, and Beca begins to freeze the Lizard, slowing down his regeneration while Captain Beale continues to shoot the Lizard, making him fall into the tank. "Hey, a gift from Chloe," he says as he throws the serum to Beca. Beca catches it and stares at him in awe, "I got this Beca, go!" He continues to shoot the Lizard as Beca sprints up to the Genali device. Just before Beca could swap the serum, the Lizard launched back out of the tank and impaled the captain before heading to stop Beca.

Luckily the device already detonated and the antidote was dispersed into the sky. Connors begins to turn back into his human form as the pinnacle they are on breaks, and Beca has to save herself and Connors. She lands on the roof and manages to catch Connors by his lizard limb, and there is barely enough time to react, before the limb turns back to only his upper arm. Beca quickly catches his other arm and pulls him back to safety.

"I'm fine, Beca, go check on the captain."

Beca runs over to the man who is severely wounded, "captain!"

"The Lizard," he asked through his heavy gasps for air.

"We got him, sir. Everything's gonna be okay, let's get you out of here."

She picks him up and carries him to the elevator. As they are riding down the captain looks over to Beca, "you can't be here when the rest of the cops show up."

"No, you're hurt, I'm not going anywhere."

"You did enough, I'll be alright."

"But sir-"

"I was wrong about you, Beca. This city needs you." He reaches in his pocket and grabs the hero's mask, "here. You're gonna need it," he chuckles through the pain. "You're gonna make enemies, kid. People will get hurt. Sometimes it's the people closest to you. But promise me one thing. Leave. Chloe. Out of it," he says between gasps for air. "Promise me?"

"Yes. I promise, but you've gotta hold on, we're almost there, help is-" but before she could finish, the captain took his last breath. Beca held back her tears and did as she was told. She quickly left the building and headed home to clean up for the party she was expected to attend in an hour.

Beca managed to get home before her aunt, and she did her best to use her alone time to process everything that had happened that night. When she gets back downstairs she sees her aunt watching the news in horror.

"Hey May," Beca says.

"Did you see all of this?"

"Yeah."

"Well I'm glad you're okay. You see something like that, you run the other way, you hear me?"

Beca nodded and sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Just been a long day. Now I have to go to some party for team bonding."

"Well that will still be fun right?"

"I hope so."

"Well do you need a ride?"

Beca nodded again and gave a small grin, the best she could do after the night's events. When she got to the party she put on a smile and pretended that nothing had happened. Everyone was there except Aubrey and Chloe.

"Surprised you finally made it," Felicia said. "Where's your girlfriend?"

Beca shrugged, "I don't know," she tried to pretend. "Guess her and Aubrey had other plans."

"Well we can still have fun without them. This is a rocking house!"

Beca nodded and chuckled, "yeah it's pretty dope."

"Aw, come on Becs, don't be shy, have a drink! Loosen up!"

Beca took a sip and cringed, "you know, I'm sorry it's been a long day, I really shouldn't have come."

"What? We're the captains! We have to be here!"

"Seriously, Felicia, it's been a shitty day."

"Oh," she said awkwardly. "I'm sorry. Did you and Chloe break up or something?"

"Or something," Beca said shortly. "I can't be here right now, I'm sorry." She said as she set her cup down and left.

Beca spent the next few days monitoring the city and looking after Chloe from a distance. She watched the city from their rooftop, and sometimes she checked in on the redhead through the window. But she kept her promise to her father and stayed away from Chloe, even at school. Thankfully it was the weekend, but Beca knew the captain's funeral was today, so she made her way across town, and hid on the rooftop during the burial. She kept her eyes on Chloe the whole time, other than the times she was hiding from her.

Chloe could sense that she was being followed and watched the past few days, but everytime she went to see who it was, there was no one there. She hadn't heard from Beca since the night her father died. She hoped she was okay, but wondered why the girl stopped responding to her texts and calls. She was determined to go visit the brunette after the service to get her questions answered.

Beca headed home when she saw the funeral was nearing an end. She made it back home into her room and was eating lunch with her aunt when there was a knock on the door. Beca answered the door to find Chloe standing in the rain with tears in her eyes.

Chloe sighed when she saw Beca was okay, but noticed her phone on the table with the news pulled up and became frustrated, "glad to see your phone works."

"Chloe-"

Chloe raised her hand to stop her, "I left you a thousand messages and called you a hundred times. You didn't think to let me know you're okay? Where have you been? Why are you ignoring me like this?"

Beca looked away and tried to think of an answer, "I-"

"My father died. But you knew that already didn't you?"

Beca looked at the tears coming down Chloe's face and went to wipe them away, but stopped, "I'm so s-"

"There was a funeral. They shot off guns. Two of my teachers came. Bumper even showed up! Everyone but you."

Beca glances back to the redhead and promptly looks away again, unable.to.see the girl cry, "I-I can't. I can't do this."

"What?"

"I'm sorry," Beca says trying to hold back her own tears.

"What are you saying?"

Beca sighs, "I can't see you anymore. I'm sorry."

Chloe's eyes begin to tear up even more as she turns to walk away, Beca was about to close the door when Chloe turned back around, "he made you promise, didn't he? So that I can be safe."

Beca doesn't answer the girl, she just bites her tongue and holds back her tears as she watches the girl leave.

"Chloe's pretty," May says calmly.

"Yeah," Beca chuckles as she shuts the door, getting one last look at the girl's red hair. "Uncle Ben thought so too."

"Did you ask her out?"

"No, no, May," she said sadly. "I'm not good enough for her. One date was enough I guess."

"Beca, if there's one thing you are, it's good. If anyone has a problem with that, they can take it up with me."

Beca chuckles and sighs before she returns to her phone and lunch.

Come Monday, Beca is preparing for school and she comes across the old voicemail from her uncle. She decides to finally listen to it while she packs her bag.

"Beca," his voice said calmly through the phone. "I know things have been difficult lately. And I'm sorry about that. I think I know what you're feeling. Ever since you were a little girl, you've been living with so many unresolved things. Well, take it from an old man, those things send us down a road, and they make us who we are. And if anyone's destined for greatness, it's you, girl. You owe the world your gifts. You just have to figure out how to use them, and know that wherever they take you, we'll always be here. So, come on home, Becs. You're my hero, and I love you."

Beca cried as she listened, but was inspired by the words of her late uncle. She finished packing her bag and headed to school. She hung out with Jesse and Amy like usual, but found that Chloe and Aubrey were now shunning her. Beca hoped Chloe would've understood that Beca was only trying to honor the late captain's final wish, but she couldn't stand being shunned by her. She spent the majority of lunch making plans for how she would try to get Chloe to talk to her, and she barely touched her food. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't notice someone setting their tray down and sitting next to her.

"What the hell is going on with you, Mitchell?" Beca snapped out of her trance and looked over to her right to see Felicia sitting there with a concerned look. "Seriously the brooding gay look is hot, but it doesn't really fit you," she said with a small grin.

Beca tried to smile and chuckle at the comment, "its just been a really long weekend, Felicia."

"Clearly. You left us high and dry at the party and you practically ghosted me. Is this your way of breaking up with me?"

"We were never together," Beca deadpanned as she picked at her food with her fork.

"Ouch, that one is gonna sting a little. I thought we had something special," Felcia said sarcastically.

Beca sighed and pushed her tray away from her, "I'm sorry, I'm just going through it right now. I kind of blew it with Chloe, and some shit hit the fan and now I just need some time to figure things out."

"Sounds like I get my chance to sweep you off your feet then," she said with a wink.

Beca smiled and laughed, "nah. I'm too depressed to rebound."

"Damn, shorty down bad bad, huh? Well I'm here for you dude. I know I flirt a lot, but if you ever need someone to talk to you know where you can find all of your real friends." Felicia smiled and placed a quick kiss on Beca's cheek.

Jesse tried to contain his frustration with the encounter while Amy nearly spit out her drink. "That chick has balls, dude," Jesse said as he clenched his fist.

"Seriously, if you don't want her I'll take her," Amy said while making a growling sound.

"It's not a big deal, Jess. That's just how she is."

"Well she should read the room, Bec. I get her main personality is being a sarcastic jokester, but seriously, she was hitting some touchy subjects."

"Honestly," Beca sighed. "After all that has happened, it's kinda nice that she still acts the same."

"I guess," Amy said with a hint of suspicion in her voice. "Could dial the flirting back a bit though."

"She was right though, Bec. You can talk to us. And you should."

"It's my mess guys. I appreciate it, but I am the only one who can do anything about it."

"Yeah. But you are trying to take on everything alone, shortstack. We are here for you. Even the sensational spider-man needs her spider-friends," Amy joked.

"Thanks guys," Beca smiled. "I really appreciate it. I just don't know how Chem and cooking will go now. Chloe's my partner for the rest of the semester, and she won't even look at me."

"Well, to be fair, you're the reason her dad is dead."

Jesse slapped Amy on the arm, "DUDE."

"What? I'm not wrong! Then you ghosted her," Amy shrugged. "She has a right to be mad."

Beca nodded, "yeah, but I can't get her wrapped into this spider-man stuff again. I promised her father I wouldn't."

"Ah, honoring the man's dying wish. How noble of you," Amy stated.

"Wait so is today the first day you guys have seen each other since?"

"Pretty much. She called and texted me. I never responded." Beca sighed as she looked down at her food. "Then she stopped by after her dad's funeral and asked why I was acting this way. She made the conclusion that I made the promise to her dad, but I never officially confirmed it."

Before either friend could respond, the bell rang. The trio picked up their trays and threw them away. "Let's finish this talk in the janitor's closet," Jesse said.

Beca and Amy nodded and quickly made their way to the closet, making sure no teachers saw them skipping. As soon as Beca closed the door, Jesse and Amy punched her in the arm. "OW, what was that for," Beca exclaimed as she tried to whisper.

"You seriously left Chloe hanging like that?"

"Well what else was I supposed to do? If I had confirmed it she would've fought for us. I made a promise to keep her out of all this."

"Oh and ghosting is the best way?"

Beca sighed and rested her head on one of the storage shelves, "I don't know. I barely had time to process anything that happened that night. I didn't want to even face her because I feel so guilty for killing her father."

"Woah," Jesse said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Bec, you didn't kill him. Connors did. You may be the reason he got into the situation, but you didn't pull the trigger. Chloe knows that."

"Well I royally fucked up guys. I just gotta let things cool off, and hopefully we can get back to being friends."

"Fuck friends, mate. You and Chloe are meant to be together. You need to get back out there and apologize."

"No, I've done enough. I can't cause her anymore hurt."

"So you'll run to Felicia then?"

"No, not yet anyways. Probably not ever. She's cool and hot, but she is nothing compared to Chloe."

"Yeah it'd be a dick move to rebound so quickly anyways."

Beca shook her head, "I wish none of this ever happened. If I hadn't revealed myself to her, maybe this wouldn't be happening."

"Oh yeah, you'd just be pining over her, and she'd be simping over your vigilante persona, and Felicia would be putting her boner for you to use," Amy stated.

"Jesus, Amy," Jesse sighed. "Look, Bec. You fucked up for sure. But you didn't mean it to have these consequences. The path to hell was paved with good intentions."

Beca nodded and wiped away some of the tears she had been holding back all day.

"C'mon, Bec," Jesse said as he wrapped his arms around her. "You're a good person. But you can't just give up like this. What about spider-man? What about basketball? You gotta get your groove back! Because Felicia's right, this isn't a good look on you."

"I just don't know how to even go back to normal, guys."

"Well first you can start by trying to make things up with Chloe," Amy stated.

"No," she shook her head. "Chloe doesn't want anything to do with me. You both saw how she ignored me. She probably doesn't even want me to exist at this point."

"No come on, you guys are Beca and Chloe," Jesse exclaimed. "That chemistry you have isn't just because of labs and classes. You guys got a good thing going on."

"Jesse's right! Beca and Chloe, together you're Bloe, and everyone loves a good blowy."

The three chuckled and Beca sighed, "thank you guys. You're right. It's just like when Ben died. I can't keep sulking, I've got to move forward."

"That's our Beca! Do it for you, and your friends, and this city!"

"Yeah," Jesse said. "Barden is going through renovations, so can you!"

"Yeah. And the school needs its big BM!"

Jesse laughed again and hit Amy on the arm, "and the city needs its friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."

Beca nodded, "you're right, guys. I gotta snap out of this. I know it won't be easy, but I'm so glad I have you guys. Thank you for reminding me I'm not alone."

"Of course, Becs."

"What else are friends for?"

"C'mon, we gotta get to class now," Beca said.

Jesse headed to his class while Beca and Amy walked to Chemistry together. "Nah. Fuck this," Amy said. "Smith hates me. I'm gonna skip, I'll see you in cooking small stuff!"

Beca shook her head as she approached the door and took a deep breath before walking in.

"Ms. Mitchell, so grateful you could join us today!"

Aubrey rolled her eyes as she watched the girl walk in and go towards her seat, "I'm sorry Mr. Smith. It won't happen again," she said as she sat down.

"Don't make promises that you can't keep, Mitchell."

Beca nodded and looked over to Chloe who was trying her best to pretend the girl wasn't there. She set her bag down between them, and as she leaned over to grab her stuff she nudged the girl and whispered, "yeah but those are the best kind." She winked at the redhead before moving away from her and a small grin appeared on the other girl's face as she tried her best not to giggle. Beca gave the girl a small grin and then sat back up in her seat with her notebook out, pretending as if nothing had happened. The two stole quick glances at each other the whole class, but never actually spoke to one another.

Beca kept to herself as she zoned out of the lecture and focused on designing new web fluid since she wouldn't be able to use the cables from Oscorp anymore. The lab partners worked together on their titration, but Beca used this opportunity to start making her web fluid. Chloe watched as the girl tried to sneak around and laughed to herself at the few failed attempts Beca had. Beca finally had a successful attempt and did a small fist pump before quickly shutting the drawer as the teacher walked by. She looked over to Chloe who was chuckling to herself and smiled at the red head. She worked on the notes as Chloe finished up the titration, and managed to finish with a few minutes to spare.

As soon as the bell rang, Beca was going to say something, but Aubrey quickly made her way up to Chloe and the two headed out together. Beca quickly packed up her stuff and headed out to her locker during the transition between classes. She dropped off her books and picked up her bag of clothes for rehearsals and practice. Just as she was about to close her locker, Felicia shut the door for her and smiled, "hey hot stuff, wanna walk me to class?"

Beca chuckled and smiled back, "I was late to chem, I can't be late to cooking. And your class is the opposite direction, sorry."

"Well then I guess I'll walk you to class."

"You really don't have to."

"I know, but I want to."

Beca shook her head, "alright then."

"So these are your two classes with Chloe right?"

"Yeah, it's been awkward though."

"What happened between you two? Last week you were fine, now it's so tense you could cut through the tension with a knife."

"It's not my business to share, thank you for caring, but this is between me and her."

Felicia nodded, "I get that. I won't force you to talk about it. And I'll back off again if you want me to."

Beca chuckled as she stopped just before the door, "you're fine, Felicia. I don't really know what's going on between either of us. I just got a lot to work out."

"Well, you know where to find me whenever you get it all sorted out. I'm just happy to be considered for the position," she winked.

"Thanks. I appreciate it. I'm sorry I feel like I'm always leaving you hanging or leading you on."

"You're not. I just can't help myself around you. And it never hurts to shoot my shot."

Beca smiled, "well this is me," she pointed to the classroom.

"Guess I'll see you at practice, captain."

"Yeah, see you later, cap'n," Beca said with a small salute.

Felicia laughed and as Beca walked through the door, she slapped her ass hard enough for it to make a sound. Everyone in the room, including Amy, Aubrey, and Chloe turned their head to the doorway where Beca stood in awe trying to hide her red cheeks. She turned around and shook her head as she chuckled, "was that necessary?"

"Sorry, guess I couldn't help myself," she said with a shrug and blew a kiss to the smaller girl as she walked out of view to her class.

Beca kept her head down and walked to her seat next to Chloe who was trying her best to not look jealous.

Jesus, Beca thought. This is some situation I keep finding myself in.

Class went by slower than ever for both Chloe and Beca. They had to work on making a menu for a small gathering. The two had to come up with an appetizer, entree, and dessert, and they had to be ready to make it for the teacher by the end of the week. The two barely interacted as they each went through cookbooks and scribbled down ideas. The bell rang, and Beca packed up and was about to leave when Chloe lightly grabbed her arm and handed her a note,

Meet me at Thai Cafe for a quick bite before rehearsals.

Before Beca could verbally respond, Chloe was gone. She sighed and put the note in her pocket before leaving the room. On her way out she ran into Amy and Jesse who were asking a million questions about the love triangle going on between her, Chloe, and Felicia.

"Guys I have no idea what is going on with either of them. I like both of them, but I like Chloe way more. I need to go and meet her before rehearsals, but I promise that I will text you guys later."

"Well I want the tea at rehearsals," Amy stated.

"Fine, fine, but I really do need to go."

"Go get your girl, Becs," Jesse yelled as they watched the girl leave.

Beca made her way to Thai Cafe as quickly as she could and smiled at the girl with bright red hair as she walked through the door. Chloe was sitting at a table and had already ordered spring rolls for the two. Beca sat down across from her and looked at the food in front of Chloe, "hey, how's it going?"

"Good, I guess. Are you hungry? I got pork and chicken rolls for us."

"Yeah, thanks," she picked up one of the chicken rolls and dipped it in the peanut sauce before taking a bite. Chloe grabbed a pork one and did the same. The two didn't speak as they ate, but they shared glances between bites. They both didn't know how to start the conversation, so they continued to eat in silence, picking up the other type of roll and finishing their food quickly. They both drank their waters, and when Beca was finished she walked up and laid twenty bucks on the counter. "Ready to go? I would hate to be late for General Posen."

Chloe chuckled and nodded, "sure. Thanks for paying, that wasn't necessary."

"Well you ordered, it was the least I could do. You know?" Beca opened the door and gestured for Chloe to go ahead of her.

"Thanks, Bec," Chloe said sweetly. "I've missed you."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"I know."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't really know where to start."

"Me either," Beca sighed and looked down at her hands as they walked back to the school.

With both at a loss for words, Chloe made the first move by grabbing the other girl's hand to keep her from picking at the dead skin under her nails. Beca smiled as she felt the warmth of Chloe's hand and she squeezed it, trying to express her feelings without words. Chloe looked over to Beca and they shared a look with each other and smiled. Beca didn't know what else to do or say so she pulled the taller girl in for a hug and buried her face into her chest. Chloe put her head softly on top of Beca's and the two did their best to hold in their tears. They had both been through so much in the past week, and neither had really gotten any time to process those events and talk to each other. But in that moment, they both felt like they could move forward, and they both had hope that everything would be okay.

Beca stepped out of the hug and let out a sigh of relief before quickly kissing Chloe on the cheek, "You don't need to say anything, Chlo. I don't think either of us is really ready to talk. And I know we can't move forward without it, but I'll be here for you whenever you are ready to talk."

Chloe smiled, "thank you, Beca." She gently grabbed the girl's chin and pulled her in for a kiss. Both girls felt as if time stopped, and gasped as they felt the sparks fly between them once more. Chloe pulled away first and wiped the tears from Beca's cheek, "I don't know when I'll be ready, and I'm sorry. I just need time and space."

Beca nodded and smiled back, "that's okay. Take all of the time you need."

The two continued to walk hand in hand back to the school, and just as they reached the front steps, they both let go of the other's hand and walked into the building. Before they reached the auditorium Chloe turned to Beca, "we are still friends though, right?"

"Of course, we can be whatever you want us to be."

Chloe smiled and hugged the girl one more time, "I don't know what I want right now, Bec. So much has happened, and everything has changed, but I just don't want to lose you."

"I know, and you won't. We can talk about it when you're ready. So for now we are just friends."

"Right," Chloe said with a hint of sadness. "Just friends."

The two smiled at each other and walked into rehearsals together. They started as soon as Beca and Chloe put their things down, and worked on their choreography for their performance. Aubrey briefed all of them on the pep rally on Friday and made it clear that everyone needed to bring their A game. Aubrey and Chloe went over what they should wear, with the exception of the captains and Beca who would be in jeans and their uniforms for their sports teams. Once they finished talking they wrapped practice and Amy went over to Beca to hear what happened.

"Nothing really, we talked a little, decided to just be friends for now, and said we would talk more when she is ready."

"I'm sorry Beca," Amy said as she put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, Amy. A lot happened. We both just need time to sort through our thoughts. I just want her to be happy and safe even if it's not with me."

"You're so brave."

"It's high school Ames," Beca chuckled. "I'm sure we will both have plenty of romances."

"So does this mean you will go ahead and rebound with your foxy captain?"

Beca shook her head, "no, I need time to figure myself out. I gotta go to practice, I'll catch you later."

Basketball practice went by rather quickly, and Beca was able to think while they worked out. Their first game was a few weeks away, so they worked primarily on conditioning. Her and Felicia led warm ups and then worked together in the weight room.

"Damn, Bec, you're ripped."

Beca chuckled after she set the bar back down after finishing her last rep on the bench press, "thanks, I made these guns myself."

Felicia laughed, "it's great to see you back to your old self."

"Thanks."

The two continued to motivate each other as they worked out. And Felicia did her best to flirt with Beca who remained mostly oblivious to the girl's comments, brushing them off as they came. Once practice wrapped, they walked out of the school together and said their goodbyes as they went their separate ways home.

Beca went to her usual alley to change into her costume. Due to the state of her spandex one, she went back to her first model, and swung through the city to clear her head. She made a couple of stops along the way, and looked through dumpsters for different parts to begin making a new suit. She hit the jackpot at her last stop when she found old computer parts. But with little room left in her bag, she popped into another alley and changed back into her clothes, and put in her headphones. She shoved her suit into the remaining space in her backpack and picked up the spare parts to walk home.

Once she got to her house she noticed an unusual car parked out front. She decided not to worry about it and continued with her usual routine. She quickly made her way to the fire escape and slipped into her window and hid her suit in the attic space above her bed. Then she went back out the window and made her way to the front door. The strange car was still there, but she just ignored it, focusing on the music she was listening to. Once she walked through the door, she saw her aunt and totally skipped over the man sitting across from her.

"Hey, May."

"Hey Beca, how was school?"

"It was alright, there's a crazy car parked out front -" she stopped talking as she finally noticed the man sitting in her uncle's chair.

"Ah, Ms. Mitchell, nice to finally meet you," the man said.

Beca stood there in awe and chuckled as she stuttered out, "oh, hi, h- how, wh- what? I'm Beca Mitchell."

"Tony," he said calmly.

"Wha-what are you doing in my house?"

Tony shrugged and got up from the couch, "well I figured it's about time we met,' he said with a smile.

A/N - so after a very very long hiatus. I decided to return to writing. I'm not sure how long I will keep this up and update this, but when I got back to writing, I forgot how much I enjoyed it. I hope you liked this chapter, and I will be working on the other stories too. I graduated and now have a full time job, so I don't get much down time except for breaks, but I like to write because its a nice escape and more ideas keep popping into my head so I will probably keep writing these stories and might make a new one too! I guess the fan in my never died, thank god. But i appreciate everyone who has stayed and read all of this and thank you for your support. These are not my characters or stories, I am simply making up my own AU stuff with some of the stuff people are familiar with. I hope you like it, and as always, RR are greatly appreciated (: