Hey guys, I just wanted to apologize for how easy yesterday's clue was. I actually didn't plan the red part of the clue, but it worked, so yay...? xD! Anyway, here's chapter 5. Hope you enjoy!

Day 5- Why Can't I Figure Out Any Clues?

"So what time will you be here?"

"Around 6:30. Is that ok?" Stacie asks over the phone as Beca slides on her socks.

"Yeah, sure."

"Thank you so much. Bree and I couldn't find a babysitter for any earlier than 6:15." She breathes out a sigh of relief on the other end.

"It's fine, I get it. I'll see you guys tonight."

"Yeah. Hey, congrats on the platinum, by the way."

Beca grins. "Thanks."

"Any time. Look, I have to go, but I'll see you later." Beca laughs as she hears Aubrey yell "get off the phone!" in the background.

"Who's that?" Chloe walks in, rubbing her eyes. After her breakdown, Chloe fell asleep on the couch, and Beca didn't have it in her to wake her up, seeing as how distraught she had been. She actually slept on the couch with her, and didn't move until she had to get ready for work.

Stacie, she mouths to her, and she nods. "Alright, you might want to go before your wife kills you." She laughs into the phone, and Stacie laughs in response.

"Yeah, probably. Bye Beca. Tell Chloe I said hi."

"How-"

"I know things. Bye, Becs." With that, she hangs up, leaving Beca looking quite shocked with her mouth agape.

"What?" Chloe laughs at her surprised expression, running her hands through her hair.

"Stacie." Is all Beca says as she snaps out of her daze and pours herself a cup of coffee. "How'd you sleep?"

"Like crap." She yawns and sits at the island in the kitchen. "But it's fine."

"I'm sorry I'm such a terrible pillow." She grumbles sarcastically in return, placing a mug of tea in front of Chloe and sliding into the chair across from her. Chloe giggles, her eyes never leaving Beca's as she takes a sip of the beverage and making Beca's heart leap at the unbroken eye contact.

"You're not terrible." She glances at the clock on the wall and gasps. "Fuck, I'm late for work!"

"What?"

"I had a surgery an hour ago!" She exclaims, standing up in a quick, rather frantic motion and grabbing her phone. "Shit!"

"Chloe, calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" She yells back, then freezes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."

"Hey." Beca slowly walks over, as if approaching a wild animal, and gently lays a hand on her arm, coaxing her to look at her. When she does, she says, "I'll walk you to your place, you'll get dressed, and you'll go to work. You have employees, that's what they're there for. I'm sure your patient is ok and in good hands."

Slowly, Chloe nods, her shoulders slumping a little. "Thank you."

"Uh-huh. Now let me get dressed, and I'll walk you to your apartment." She pulls away. "Oh, you might want to brush your hair."

"Does it look that bad?" She squeals, running both hands through her hair hurriedly, and Beca laughs.

"I was kidding, dude. Sorta." She turns and walks away before Chloe can reach out and whack her, like she knows she will.

"You suck!" Chloe calls after her, and she laughs again.

"I know!" Beca yells back, closing her bedroom door behind her. Quickly, because she knows all too well Chloe's tendency to have no personal space, she pulls on a pair of blue jeans and a purple flannel shirt, buttoning all but the top button. She then puts on her combat boots and makes her way back into the kitchen, grabbing her coffee and downing the rest of it.

Her phone starts playing "Flashlight," and she frowns before answering it. "Legacy?"

"Hi, Beca." To her disappointment, Emily doesn't sound as chipper as she normally does.

"What happened? Are you ok?" Beca's protective instincts kick in, already grabbing her stuff to head out. "Where are you?"

"Calm down, I'm ok." She laughs, which turns into a cough. "I'm just sick. I wanted to let you know that I can't make it tonight. I'm sorry."

"Oh." She lets out a sigh of relief. "Ok. I understand, and I hope you feel better."

"Thanks. Will you tell Chloe for me?"

"Yeah. Do you need someone to take care of Jamester?"

Emily laughs again. "Are you actually volunteering to babysit?" Before Beca can respond, she adds, "but no, Benji stayed home to take care of us."

"Ok, great." Chloe walks out, giving Beca an expectant look as she brushes past her. "Look, I have to go, but I'll see you next week?"

"Why next week?"

"Because I need your help finishing the album, duh." She chuckles through the lie, hoping it's enough of a cover-up for the real plan.

"Oh! Yeah, see you then. Bye Beca."

"Bye Legacy." She hangs her phone up and grabs her going out attire before meeting Chloe at the door. "Emily just called. She's sick and can't make it tonight."

"Aww." Her lip falls out into a small, yet adorable, pout. "Well, at least we'll get to see Bree and Stace."

"Yeah, and they're coming late." They walk out into the cold, both women quickly zipping their coats against the harsh wind. Beca's grateful that Chloe doesn't live that far away; they won't be in the cold too long.

"Well, at least they're coming." Chloe sighs, looking down as they walk.

"True." Suddenly, she laughs. "So Theo tried to get me to throw a party today, because of the platinum."

"Seriously?" Chloe snorts, as she typically does whenever Theo is mentioned. Beca is fully aware that Chloe doesn't like Theo- she's just not sure why. Whenever she asks her, Chloe just responds with a shrug and says "I never said I don't like him," but never denies either.

"Wow, I thought you'd like that idea." Beca's eyes widen as she lets out a short laugh in shock.

Chloe's shoulders lift and fall in a noncommittal shrug. "Well, I know you don't really like parties, so…"

"Yet you're making me celebrate with Conrad and Posen tonight?"

She rolls her eyes and mutters, "Not the same thing." Beca debates for a minute whether or not she should respond with a sarcastic comment, but decides not to.

They walk the rest of the way to Chloe's apartment complex in a comfortable silence that both Bellas are used to. Being with Chloe, Beca has noticed, is just easy- except when she's driving her crazy, which is 99 percent of the time. She doesn't worry about filling the silence with her, because she knows that Chloe appreciates being able to just be just as much as she does. It's one of her favorite things about Chloe, how she just seems to understand her when no one else does. She never feels- or has felt in the past- pressured to make herself known with the ginger, as she knows Chloe is very aware of her presence; hence the "no boundaries" thing.

"Thanks again for everything." Chloe breaks the silence once they get to the apartments, giving Beca a small smile. "I really needed that, last night."

"Of course." Beca nods and takes a step back, shoving her hands in her pockets. "Well, I should probably head to work before I'm late as well."

"As if Theo would mind." She retorts sarcastically.

"True." She sighs as she agrees, not wanting to get into an argument over Theo again in the past two months. "I'll let you get to work then, how about that?"

Chloe laughs. "That I can agree with." She pecks Beca on the cheek before turning and walking inside, leaving Beca standing in the parking lot and watching her walk in.

Sighing, Beca turns around and starts the extra-lengthy trek to work, her mind occupied with flashing images of red hair and crystal blue eyes. She laughs as she thinks back to her first day of her sophomore year.

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"Stacie, seriously! Why the hell should I be captain?" Beca groaned to the taller brunette, ignoring all the other eyes boring into her as they sat in the amphitheatre.

"Because, Beca! You're clearly the best out of all of us. You brought us to the ICCA's last year. We wouldn't have won without you." The rest of the Bellas mumbled their agreements with Stacie's reasoning.

"Also, the only other one who could handle the pressure is me, and I just don't have the time." Fat Amy sighed dramatically, missing several eyerolls from the rest of the women in the room.

"Oh yeah, Ames? What's you time being taken up by, Bumper?" Beca shot back, knowing it would either hit a nerve or cause a joke. She was praying for a joke, but getting in a fight didn't look terrible at the moment either, considering how annoyed she already was.

"Uhhhhhhh…" Fat Amy trailed off, much like she had done in the bus the year prior after singing "Party in the USA" by Miley Cirus.

"Fine, I'll do it!" Beca finally snapped, realizing she had no other choice at the moment. "But I'm going to need help."

"I'll help." All the girls whipped around at the new, yet familiar voice, Beca's heart stopping the moment she heard Chloe say it.

"W-what are you doing here?" Beca stammered in shock, and Chloe laughed as she sat down next to Beca.

"I didn't actually graduate last year." She looked around at everyone, saving Beca for last as she explained her situation. "I didn't tell you guys because I wanted my parents to hear first, and I needed to tell them in person."

Stacie, being the smartest one in the group and also having the most pressuring parents, simply nodded, giving her a small smile. "Welcome home, Chlo." The rest of the girls laughed and gathered around to give her a group hug, but not before the redhead quickly pulled Beca in for a hug, squeezing her as tightly as she could against herself.

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At the moment Chloe hugged her that day, Beca acted annoyed, and she tried (and failed) to push Chloe off. In reality, though, it was a moment she fell even harder for the redhead that she already knew she liked.

"Good morning, Miss Mitchell." Jaxxon calls out like he usually does when she walks in, and she nods politely at him.

"Anything come in for me today?" She asks, suddenly realizing she didn't get her fifth present this morning.

Jaxxon shakes his head, pronouncing the p when he replies with a simple, "nope."

"Oh." She sighs with disappointment. "Ok, well, thanks anyway." She walks up to her office and grabs the lyrics to 'Mine for Christmas' before heading back down to the recording studio. She knocks twice before entering, seeing that there's no one inside or outside the booth. Figuring Theo will try to find her at some point or another, Beca sits down at the piano and starts playing with the melody her and Emily had come up with, changing some of the riffs and notes to better fit her voice.

As she suspected, Theo walks in about 20 minutes later, shrugging his coat off and tossing it to the floor. Beca had stopped playing as soon as she heard the doorknob turning from the outside, and he jumps when he notices her sitting there for the first time.

"Holy shit Beca, what the hell are you doing in here?" But Beca's laughing so hard his glare only lasts about two minutes before he caves, laughing with her.

Once she's sobered back up, she responds, "Emily gave me the lyrics. I just started playing with a melody so that the recording process won't take too long today."

"Oh." If Theo's surprised by this, he chooses not to show it; Beca normally initiates recording a song, so this is new for both of them. "Well then, let's get started."

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By the time they're finished recording, Beca can't say she hates what Theo has produced. Sure, there are a few minor details she'd change in it- like, for example, having the piano in the background decrescendo in the versus instead of laying flat the whole song- but she doesn't say anything. She knows that Theo is really good at his job, having already won several Grammys from artists like Billie Eilish and John Legend.

"Good work today, Beca." Theo grins at her as she makes her way out of the booth.

"Thanks, you too." She nods professionally at him; she just wants to get back to her office and sleep.

"You look tired." He notes, and she rolls her eyes.

"Don't I always?"

"I just mean that yesterday, you looked great." She narrows her eyes at him, and he rushes to say, "Not like that! I just meant, you looked like you slept. Now, you look tired again."

"I just didn't sleep well." She evasively answers, as she has no desire to explain to him that the arm of her couch was digging into the middle of her back all last night as Chloe snored lightly against her chest.

"Hmm." Theo hums. "Go home."

"But-"

"You heard me. The rest of the work that needs to be done on this album is mine to do anyway. Go."

"Fine." She grunts, but is actually grateful for the time off. "I'll see you next week, I guess."

"No, you have to go to that birthday party with JT later, remember?"

"What?" She groans. "Then why the hell am I going home right now?"

"That's exactly why." Theo chuckles at her exasperated expression. "I need you to get some rest so you don't look like shit."

"Fuck you." Beca rolls her eyes and walks out of the studio, ignoring Theo laughing behind her. She quickly grabs her stuff from her office, frowning when she sees a message from Justin Timberlake himself: Sorry, but today's off. Little kid got sick.

"Oh thank God." She mutters to herself before joyously going back to the studio, running into Theo in the process. "Ahh!"

"You should really watch where you're going." He jokes.

"Yeah, yeah. Look." She practically shoves her phone in his face, and his grin disappears when he reads the message. "I'm going home, and I will see you on Monday! Haha, bitches!" He raises a single eyebrow at her, but doesn't actually say anything, so she escapes the building as fast as she can. She knows she was just acting like she didn't want to leave five minutes ago, but now she wants nothing more than to curl up in her bed and sleep, especially since she has company coming over tonight.

She practically sprints the whole way back to her house, not wanting to waste any time. Doing so, it only takes her seven minutes to get home, and she immediately takes her jeans off before curling into bed, setting an alarm for 5:00 so she doesn't sleep in too late.

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It seems like she just fell asleep when her alarm wakes her up, playing "Don't You Forget About Me" softly. Ever since the breakup, she set this as her alarm because she knew it'd wake her up the fastest. Now, it's just a painful reminder that he's gone, but she can't bring herself to change it.

Almost as if it's some sort of sign, her phone rings as soon as she sits up. "Titanium" replaces the alarm, and she quickly grabs it in order to answer. "Hey."

"Are you awake?"

"I am now."

"Do you even know what time it is?" Chloe practically squeals, and Beca gulps when she realizes she sounds angry. She pulls her phone away and looks at the time, her heart dropping when she sees it's 6:14.

"Chlo, I am so sorry. I slept in-"

"It's fine." Beca can practically hear the eye roll, but chooses not to say anything. "Just come and let me in, will you? There's a present here for you on the doorstep."

If knowing that Chloe was waiting for her wasn't enough motivation to crawl out of bed (which it totally was), there being the fifth present was more than enough. "I'm coming." She hangs up and walks out to the door, opening it to see Chloe holding a box in her hands.

"Did you forget pants?" Chloe asks as she steps in, and Beca blushes when she looks down and realizes that she is indeed not wearing pants.

"I'll be right back." She says, and is grateful when Chloe finally cracks a grin. Letting out her own chuckle of embarrassment, she rushes upstairs and quickly pulls on her jeans from earlier. When she gets back to the kitchen, she immediately grabs the box on the counter, swiping the note off the top.

Beca,

I know you love donuts, so here you go! I was going to do these for you for breakfast, but then I figured you'd like them better as a dessert. Look closely for clues!

Beca opens the lid of the box to see five donuts, each a perfect gold color that she's half-convinced isn't actually real. The frosting is a fire red, and the sprinkles are blue. "I think I know what the clue is on here."

"Oh really?" Chloe glances up at her from her phone. "What?"

Beca narrows her eyes at her before remembering that she probably already knows who it is. "They got my favorite frosting flavor wrong, so obviously, it's someone who doesn't know me all that well…"

"Uh, Beca?" Chloe laughs, shaking her head and setting her phone down on the counter. "The clues are supposed to be about the secret admirer, not about you." With wide eyes, she adds hurriedly, "but I didn't tell you that."

She rolls her eyes and picks up a donut, examining it carefully. "Why can't I figure out any clues?"

Chloe simply laughs again as she says, "I don't know, but it's rather hilarious."

"Well, she's not making them easy, that's for sure!"

"Hey Becs?"

"Yeah?"

With a sigh, Chloe dramatically looks around the practically empty kitchen before saying, "What's for dinner? You know, it's only polite to make food when you have company."

"Shit! Chloe, this is why I don't throw parties!" She runs her hands through her hair nervously before getting an idea. "I'll order pizza or something. It'll be like freshman year all over again, only with me being slightly less famous and Aubrey and Stacie being a little less married."

She nods eagerly as she laughs at Beca's comment. "Makes sense to me. Can we please get Hawaiian this time?"

Beca shakes her head. "Fuck no, not happening."

After making the call and ordering a cheese pizza and two supremes, Stacie and Aubrey show up, both sporting identical grins. Thankfully, Stacie and Aubrey don't live too far away, so this meeting wasn't too difficult for them to make.

"Chloe!" Aubrey immediately wraps her arms around the ginger, and Chloe squeals excitedly as she hugs her back with so much force they almost fall over. Stacie rolls her eyes at them to Beca, who laughs and nods her head in agreement. Knowing how Beca is with personal space, Stacie doesn't go in for a hug, but simply smiles at her instead.

"Wow Beca, it's nice to see you again." Aubrey releases Chloe and gives Beca a small hug, which she returns as quickly and minimally as she can without hurting the blond's feelings. Despite her first year as a Bella, Aubrey has been a really good friend to Beca, and she's eternally grateful for her help over the years.

"It's nice to see you, too. Both of you, actually." She glances over Aubrey's shoulder at Stacie, who's been pulled into a tight embrace by Chloe. Laughing, she tells Aubrey, "We literally saw you two weeks ago, I don't know why she gets this excited all the time."

Aubrey shrugs in response, a fond smile on her face as she watches her best friend and her wife chat animatedly. "It's Chloe. She gets excited over the littlest things. You know her just as well as I do, if not better."

It's moments like this that Beca's happy Aubrey's the only person in the Bellas (other than Chloe herself, obviously) who hasn't made some crude comment about her and Chloe "getting it on" somewhere. Even Emily makes fun of her occasionally, and she's the only person who knows the truth. "That's definitely true."

Just as Aubrey starts to respond, Beca's doorbell rings. "That'll be the pizza." She hands Chloe $20 from her purse. "Can you go get it?"

"Why can't you?"

Beca rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest, giving her a pointed look. "You know exactly why, dude." Chloe huffs and takes the money from her before walking out of the room.

"She's too famous to do anything for herself." Stacie winks, letting Beca know she's just joking. "Nice to see you, Shorty."

"Nice to see you too, Stace." She grins at Chloe when she walks back in with the pizza, sporting a devious smirk. "What happened?"

"You didn't give me enough money, asshole." She retorts, setting the pizza down on the island and reaching above the fridge to grab four plates. "Thankfully it was a teenage boy, so a little bit of flirting got us off the hook."

"Chloe…" Aubrey shakes her head, sitting down in one of the bar stools and grabbing a plate.

"I didn't do anything illegal!" She says in return, sitting across from her and putting a slice of cheese pizza on her plate. Beca and Stacie glance at each other, sharing a small shrug before sitting down as well, Stacie next to her wife and Beca next to Chloe. "It's just nice to know I still got it."

Stacie laughs, playfully checking Chloe out. "Hell yeah you do. If I were a teenage boy, I'd have been drooling." Aubrey whacks her arm and glares at her. "What?"

"Don't forget you're married." Aubrey warns, but the tiny smile on her face lets the three other women know she's not actually serious.

"Oh don't worry, I don't." She winks at her wife, who blushes and ducks her head, suddenly becoming very interested in the cheese on her pizza. Stacie laughs and says, "You're so easy, babe."

"I hate you." She mutters, looking up at Beca and Chloe, who laugh. "You two aren't helping my case any, either!"

"Well, of course not." Beca pretends to shudder, frowning. "I wouldn't help you if my life depended on it."

"Fuck off." Aubrey warns, but a small giggle escapes in her words. Stacie grins over at her wife, and Beca's heart twangs with pain at the sight of them. She knows that, one day, she wants exactly what Stacie and Aubrey have, just with Chloe. She has come to terms with the fact that it will never happen, but it doesn't stop her from thinking what if at night when she can't sleep.

"Beca!" The young star blinks when she sees bright blue nails in her face. "Where'd you go there?"

"Sorry, just zoned off." Beca shakes her head, grabbing a slice of supreme pizza and plopping it on her plate. "So Bree, how has work been lately?"

"Not too bad." Aubrey's been a lawyer for almost three years now, and she can honestly say it's the happiest she's ever been- other than when she's with Stacie, that is. "I just finished a case, actually."

"That's awesome." Chloe says as she stands up, turning to Beca. "Wine?"

"Sure." She shrugs and turns back to Aubrey, knowing that Chloe already knows where all of her alcohol is. "Well, congrats."

"Congrats? We should be congratulating you." Stacie snorts, ignoring the whack Aubrey delivers to her shoulder. "A platinum? That's amazing, Beca."

"Yeah." Aubrey adds. "We're super proud of you."

"Now all that's left is a Grammy." Chloe jokes as she walks back in, holding four wine glasses and a bottle of Château Lafite.

"Jeesh Beca!" Stacie eyes the bottle of wine, both her and her wife's eyes widening in shock. "That's some expensive wine."

"I know." She grins and pops the top, pouring each woman a glass before pouring a small amount for herself. "Cheers."

"Cheers." They clink their glasses together and drink after Chloe has sat back down.

Three bottles of wine and two pizzas later, Stacie and Chloe are wasted. Aubrey's had a couple of drinks, and Beca didn't drink more than her one glass from the beginning of the night. "We really should get going." Aubrey smiles at Beca, holding Stacie up. "Thanks for tonight."

"Anytime. Good luck with her."

"Staaaaaacie! You can't leeeeaaave me!" Chloe reaches her hand out to Stacie over the island, and Stacie tries to reach out as well, only to fall forward. Thankfully, Aubrey catches her before she bashes her head into hard granite.

"Come on babe, we have to go home."

"Call me when you get home, alright?" After nodding, Aubrey lightly leads Stacie out of the house, Beca following behind to close the door behind them. She watches through the window until she sees them pull out of the driveway.

When she walks back into the kitchen, she sees Chloe slumped over the island, completely passed out. She shakes her shoulder as hard as she can without hurting her, all to no avail. Groaning, she half carries, half drags her to the couch, throwing a blanket on top of her neatly once she's where she wants her. Because she's unable to stop herself, she places a small kiss against her forehead before turning the lights off and trudging to her own room.