Beca stirred slightly, realising she must have dozed off. She had no idea what time it was, or how long they'd been on the boat. 'Dammit, here I was hoping this was all just a terrible dream…' She hadn't meant to doze off, she felt awful. She'd left Chloe all alone, when she was so clearly distressed.
"You finally stopped snoring then?" Chloe joked weakly, her voice sounding hoarser than it had before.
"Aw jeez… was I really snoring?" Beca blushed furiously, lifting her head from the red head's shoulder, and shifting a little to try and ease the aching pain in her neck and back.
"Like a bulldozer. But I'm used to it, we do share an apartment after all… and a bed."
Beca frowned slightly, noting the hoarseness of her friend's voice.
"Are you okay Chlo?"
"Y-yeah. I'm just a little dehydrated that's all."
Beca opened her mouth to argue with Chloe, knowing that the hoarseness was down to the fact that Chloe had probably been crying non-stop, but she was rudely interrupted.
"Well I suppose we'll have to do something about that then! We do have a long journey ahead of us."
The girls started at the sound of the unfamiliar thick Australian accent from the shadows, the tall older gentleman towering above the two captive women.
"Who the hell are you?" Beca squared her shoulders, jaw set, eyes narrowing.
"Oh, how terribly rude of me. The name's Fergus. Fergus Hobart."
"Wait… Hobart?" Chloe recoiled slightly, the realisation hitting her like a brick to the face.
"Yes! I believe you know my daughter? Patricia?"
"You- You're Amy's dad?" The ginger's voice shook as she pressed herself closer to Beca, the tales that Amy had told them over the last week running through her head. Drug smuggling. Weapons mule. The man in front of them was a hardened criminal. God knows what he was capable of.
"Where are our friends?" Beca's defiant tone rang through the hull, her eyes glaring daggers at their captor as she felt Chloe shrink back. Something about Chloe hiding behind her made Beca even angrier than she had been at being kidnapped and tied up by an Australian lunatic. How dare he put the lives of her friends, of her family in danger, for what? Quality time with his daughter and her friends?
"Safe. Somewhere else. Boy, you girls sure ask a lot of questions!" The smile on the Australian's face was unable to hide the cruelty and the psychotic capabilities of its owner. He squatted down in front of the girls, his hand reaching out as Chloe flinched away, pressing herself against the wall of the boat.
"Calm down sunshine, you're the one who said you were thirsty!"
Chloe's eyes flickered down to the bottle of water in his outstretched hand, pressing herself as close to Beca as she could manage, swallowing hard. Fergus unscrewed the bottle cap and moved closer to the ginger. He pressed the top of the bottle against Chloe's lips, waiting for her to accept it. After a rather clumsy exchange, the ginger found herself less dehydrated, and the brunette was offered the same courtesy.
"I'm alright. Thanks." Beca's eyes narrowed, far too wary of the strange man in front of her to accept anything from him, "What exactly is it that you want from us?"
"It's not you I want something from sweetheart. You're simply a means to an end. I'll be back in a while, maybe even with Patricia!" Fergus grinned cruelly, leaving the two women on the floor.
"Hey! What about our friends?" Beca yelled after him.
"Oh, you'll see them soon enough. If Patricia keeps up her end of the bargain that is."
Fergus disappeared into the darkness, and the pair heard the door slam shut.
Chloe let out a sob, burying her head in Beca's shoulder. Beca rested her head on top of her friends, quietly shushing her in a vain attempt to comfort her friend. She wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around the distraught, sobbing young woman on her shoulder. She'd never seen the ginger so distraught, and even though the situation seemed dire, Chloe's reaction did seem a little out of proportion.
"Chlo, what's going on? This isn't like you..." Beca asked, her voice full of concern for her closest friend.
"I just- it's nothing. I'm just winding myself up that's all." The red head sniffed, lifting her head up and leaning back into the wall of the boat again, suddenly exhausted. The alt-girl frowned, dissatisfied with the response she'd been given. She shuffled backwards so she was sitting next to Chloe again, shifting her legs into a more comfortable position as she looked at her friend. Their faces were mere inches from each other, and Beca couldn't help letting her eyes briefly wander to Chloe's lips. 'Now is not the time Mitchell. Get it together.'
"You can't fool me weirdo. What's going on with you?"
Chloe tore her eyes from the ceiling, meeting the soft, concerned, blue-eyed gaze of the woman next to her. She smiled softly, tears sliding down her cheeks. What did she ever do to deserve Beca Mitchell in her life? She knew how she felt about the brunette was probably unreciprocated, but ever since their little shower incident in the alt-girls first year Chloe could slowly feel herself falling harder and faster for her friend and co-captain. Yet there was so much she couldn't tell her, that she'd never told anyone (except Aubrey, but that was unintentional after a particularly difficult night and an almost lethal amount of alcohol), and here was this beautiful, perfect, angel of human being who cared about her so much, who looked at her in a way that made her knees go weak and her palms sweat. Chloe needed Beca to look at her that way, not in the way that she'd look at her after she'd told her the truth; disgust, contempt, and pity. Chloe couldn't risk it… not with Beca.
"I'm just scared Beca. Those stories that Amy told us… they really got into my head, you know what I'm like." It wasn't technically a lie Chloe supposed.
"An obsessive overthinker?" Beca chuckled, "Yeah, I kinda got that impression the day you had a panic attack when you thought Amy was pregnant because she had 'something to tell us' and it turned out that she was just changing the type of maxi pads we bought to cheaper ones."
Chloe blushed furiously, "Ugh I can't believe you remember that…"
"Dude it was literally the funniest thing that happened in that whole month." Beca's grin was infectious, and Chloe giggled in spite of herself. "And what about the time at Barden when you thought you'd gone blind after you'd forgotten you'd fallen asleep with an eye mask on, and nearly broke your neck as you ran around in a panicked frenzy?"
"Hey! In my defence, the eye mask was your fault you put that floodlight on the front of the house, right next to my window!"
"That was to deter the TP-ing assholes following muffgate, so technically, Amy's fault."
Chloe laughed and shook her head. There was a comfortable silence for a few moments, Chloe once again resting her head on Beca's shoulder.
"How did we get here Beca?" she sighed, chewing her bottom lip.
"On a boat kidnapped by Amy's dad?"
"No, idiot. Living in a studio apartment with Amy, so scared of moving on with our lives that we're on a tour with our college a cappella group, trying to cling onto who we used to be."
"Jeez Chlo, kidnap turns you into a right buzzkill."
"I'm serious Beca! What are we doing? Why are we so afraid of the future?"
Beca sighed softly, finding the despair in her friend's tone crushing. She was so used to Chloe being the positive one, so full of hope, even when the Bellas seemed to face crippling defeat. So why now was Beca having to be the one that stayed positive? The brunette was so used to being the one having her spirits lifted, that she was totally lost in this new role. All she could hope for was that Chloe stopped spiralling into the dark, twisty pit she was creating. There was obviously something that the flame haired girl was hiding from Beca, that for whatever reason she was hiding from her, and whilst that irritated the brunette a little (after all that they'd been through, why didn't she trust her enough to tell her what was bothering her?), but she was more concerned with the fact that whatever it was that was eating her up was having such a devastating effect on Chloe.
"Chloe… this is just you obsessing over your vet exams. A Bella reunion was just what you needed to distract you whilst you waited for your results. Besides, the Bellas are family, there's no such thing as wasted time with family." Beca lent her head on Chloe's in a clumsy attempt to soothe her.
"Yeah… I guess you're right. Look at you being the positive one." Chloe scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah I know… I feel kinda gross. Ugh don't make me do that again." The brunette screwed up her nose in disgust.
The two sat in companionable silence for a few moments as Chloe started to doze off, exhausted from all the stress and fear of their current situation. She gently nuzzled into the side of Beca's neck, soothing herself with the rhythmic breathing of her friend. "As long as I'm with you Beca, I know I'm going to be okay." The red head mumbled as she drifted off into an uneasy slumber. Beca blushed furiously, grateful that her friend had nodded off so that she didn't have to respond.
What had Chloe meant by that? Did she…?
'Time and a place Beca. Besides, if she had meant that then she would've said it. Right?'
Beca rolled her eyes at herself. Why was she being so ridiculous? There were clearly far bigger priorities right now. Like what that Australian psychopath wanted. And how they were going to get out of this. She knew Amy would do anything for them, for all the Bellas. So why was she so terrified of what was to come? Yet, as she sat there, Chloe's warm breath tickling her neck, all she wanted to do was snap her restraints, take the ginger in her arms and carry her away from Hobart, blacked out vans, and whatever else that had hurt or could ever hurt her again (sure, with her tiny frame it was impossible to carry Chloe anywhere, but that was hardly the point).
No. How could she think about her doomed feelings for Chloe when her family was in danger? How the hell were they going to get out of this? They were a former college a cappella group, none of them could pose any threat to whoever it was that a career criminal had on his payroll. God, what if… no. No. One of the spiralling was enough, it would do them no good if Beca fell apart. The brunette closed her eyes, focusing on the rhythm of the sleeping ginger's breath to keep her calm. What the hell were they going to do?
Despite the earlier heat of the summer afternoon, a chill had now spread through the Bellas, unhelped by the winds and the exposure of the ocean. Although they were perhaps only a mile and half from shore, to the young women zip typed to the metal barriers of the 'Fat Dingo Bitch' it was the most isolated place on earth. Fergus Hobart paced back and forth, looking at his watch, getting more and more agitated.
"Ten minutes Bellas. You'd better hope she gets here quickly, otherwise you ladies are in a lot of trouble." He sneered. The Australian stopped in front of Emily and squatted, his face a mere menacing centimetre from the youngest Bella's face, "Although maybe I'll keep you as a play thing…"
Emily whimpered, scooting as far away as she could manage, as Hobart reached out to stroke her face. At this point, something in Aubrey snapped. She'd enough of this man, his threats and his skeevy remarks. Before her brain could catch her and stop her from making a regretful mistake, the blonde kicked Fergus' legs out from under him.
"Get away from her!" she spat. 'Oh shit…' Aubrey started to panic, as Hobart's head whipped round, his eyes black with fury. He grabbed her blonde hair and wound it around his hand, yanking her head back violently, causing the young woman to cry out in pain.
"Well that was exceptionally stupid now, wasn't it?"
"Let her go Fergus. You win. Let them all go, and you can have the money."
Smiling cruelly at the young woman, Fergus said nothing, throwing her head forward as he stood to greet his daughter. Tears formed at the corner of Aubrey's eyes as her head throbbed, her breath coming in short gasps as her chest tightened in fear, somehow unsoothed by Amy's appearance, having little faith that this maniac would hold up his end of the bargain.
"Oh thank God…" Emily whispered quietly, smiling at Aubrey in a vain attempt to reassure her friend who had jumped in to save her.
"Sunshine! You came!" A wide yet cruel smile spread across Amy's fathers face.
"You didn't exactly give me much choice, did you? Now let. My friends. Go."
"Always in such a rush Patricia. Well I suppose there's no reason to hold onto them any longer." He nodded to his cronies, who busied themselves with cutting the cable ties around the Bellas wrists and ankles, the girls gratefully rubbing the aches out of their joints.
"What about Beca and Chloe?" Aubrey's voice was as cold as ice as she glared daggers at her captor as Emily helped her to her feet, the older girl a little shaky on her feet from the previous assault, but trying to attack aloof and undeterred. No way was she letting Fergus Hobart have the upper hand.
"Yeah, where are they?" Cynthia-Rose demanded, jutting her chin towards Fergus, stepping towards Aubrey, giving her hand a subtle little squeeze of reassurance. The blonde half smiled in response, more grateful than ever for her family.
Hobart chuckled malevolently, shaking his head at the assembled group.
"Now really ladies. What kind of idiot do you take me for? I need some insurance to make sure Patricia follows through on her word."
Aubrey's fists clenched as she stepped forward. No way in hell was she leaving them behind, not with him. Especially not Chloe, not with all the demons she hid so well from everyone else.
"We're not leaving without them!" Aubrey took a stand, eyes burning with defiance, determined to rescue all of her friends. Amy looked perplexed, not understanding what was going on.
"W-wait. We had a deal. I showed up to get you the money, and you let my friends go."
"I don't believe I said I'd let all of them go pet. After all I wouldn't be that stupid. And as for you sweetheart…" He stepped menacingly towards the Bella who moved protectively in front of Emily to keep her safe, but unable to stop herself from flinching slightly, "You're leaving. You don't have a say in it."
"No. Beca and Chloe are coming with us. We're family. We stick together."
Hobart sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. Then, quick as a whippet, he pulled his gun from the holster on his hip and fired a single shot. The bullet hit Aubrey just above her left knee, the blonde letting out a screech of agony as her leg collapsed underneath her, Emily quickly rushing to her side. Blood began to pour from the wound, fear and pain coursing through the blonde as Jessica joined Emily, instinctively taking off her belt and using it to form a makeshift tourniquet. Amy's dad loomed over them, Aubrey visibly shrinking away.
"Now then…" His goonies unholstered their own guns, aiming them at the Bellas, "Get onto the dinghy now, there's a good girl."
Aubrey bit her lip, tears forming at the corner of her eyes. She was terrified. Terrified for herself, for the Bellas behind her, and for her friends that were still very much in danger. Jessica and Emily, helped her to her feet, the former captain leaning heavily on Jessica unable to bear weight on her left. She nodded to the group gathered behind her, signalling for them to board the little boat.
"Can I at least say goodbye to Amy?" Aubrey asked.
"Fine. But make it quick."
Fergus kept his gun trained on the blonde as she all but fell into Amy's arms, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Be careful." She whispered tearfully, "And look after them. Chloe especially. She won't be coping well… she went through some stuff. Trust me. She needs your help. They both do."
"Alright that's enough." Fergus roughly grabbed the skinny blonde, tugging her towards the dinghy. Aubrey threw Amy one last desperate look before being shoved into the small life raft with the other Bellas. She yelped as she landed awkwardly, pain once again threatening to overwhelm her as Emily gently stroked her hair, Jessica dutifully tending to her bullet wound.
Amy ran her hand through her hair, only just beginning to realise the danger she was in. The danger she had put Beca and Chloe in. Sure, she knew her dad was a maniac, but never in a million years did she think he'd go as far as he just had. What else was he capable of?
She watched the Bellas be cast adrift, mobile phones long since confiscated, with only an oar to guide them back to safety. Thank god they weren't in the middle of the ocean… at least this way they could get help, and with Jessica's medical training she knew that Aubrey would probably be fine.
'Please god let this work out okay…'
"C'mon on then sunshine. Let's get you comfy. It's a long way to the Cayman Islands." Hobart put an arm around his daughter's shoulders, the Bella quickly shrugging it off in disgust.
"I wanna see Beca and Chloe first. I won't do anything until I know that they're okay."
"Of course." Fergus chuckled, "I wouldn't expect anything less Turnip Top."
"Don't call me that."
"Oh, so testy… fine, fine, have it your way! Let's go see your roommates."
Beca was stirred from her sleep by the restless woman on her shoulder. She frowned as Chloe whimpered, shifting slightly so she could see her better.
"N-no…" Chloe whispered, "I'm sorry… Please…"
"Chlo?" The brunette could feel her heart breaking. Whatever her friend was dreaming about, it was causing her untold amounts of distress.
"Chloe wake up. It's just a dream."
Beca tried the best she could to try and stir her friend, but with her hands tied behind her she was finding it incredibly difficult.
"Chloe? It's Beca. You're okay. I'm right here."
Suddenly Chloe jolted upright, breath coming in small breathless gasps as she tried to remember where she was. Her eyes darted around the small metal hull, seeing only darkness. No, she couldn't be back here. Please don't let her be back here. No. NO.
"Chlo?" The flame haired woman jumped sharply, her head whipping round as her eyes met Beca's concerned ones.
"Beca?" She croaked, her t-shirt drenched with sweat.
"It's okay Chloe, I'm here." The brunette moved closer to Chloe, whose breath had started to calm as she let herself go limp against the wall of the boat.
"Are we still on Amy's dad's boat?"
"Yeah…"
"Damn. And here was me hoping it was all a dream." Chloe sniffed, shaking her head slightly. She was partly relieved, at least the bottom of a private yacht was better than… well, anyway.
"Hey, I thought I was supposed to be the sarcastic and bitter one?" Beca joked weakly, looking at her roommate with concern. What had she been dreaming about that was causing her so much distress? This wasn't the Chloe she knew, but it didn't change how she felt about her. If anything, it made her long to comfort the redhead, to fix all the hurt that she was feeling.
"Yeah well… desperate times, desperate measures I suppose."
The pair jumped as the door crashed open, heads whipping to the direction the noise had come from.
"Here you go sunshine! As promised, your roommates in one-piece."
"Chloe? Beca?"
A smile broke out across the ginger's face as Amy came into view. Was this it? Was it over?
"Ames?"
The blonde Australian rushed towards her friends, pulling them into a huge hug. Beca, for once, didn't complain, grateful to see her friend was safe.
"What's going on Amy?" Beca asked, voice wobbling slightly.
"My mom left me $180 million in a bank account in the Cayman Islands, and dad wants it. So, he kidnapped the Bellas to lure me onto the boat and give him what he wants, and he's keeping hold of you and Chloe as insurance to make sure I give him the money."
"Are you serious?" Chloe hissed, "This is over money?"
"Yeah I know. I'm sorry guys, I never meant for you to get roped into this." Amy smiled sadly.
"It's okay. How could you predict your psycho father was gonna truss us up like a Thanksgiving turkey and keep us hostage in the bottom of his boat?" Beca laughed, trying her best to make things a little lighter. Amy sniggered, as Chloe gave her a soft smile.
"We're okay Amy. Just worry about getting that money moved." The redhead gently pleaded.
"Oh, she isn't moving the money!" Hobart laughed, his wicked grin turning Chloe's blood run cold, "We're going to the Cayman Islands to get it!"
"Wait, what?" Chloe exclaimed.
"Get comfy ladies. It's gonna be a long trip. Come on Patricia. Let's go."
"Aubrey and the others are safe." Amy whispered quickly, before getting to her feet and following the kidnapper out of the room, throwing Beca and Chloe one last apologetic glance as the door slammed shut. There was no way she was telling them about what her father had done to Aubrey. They were frightened enough as it was. As she followed her twisted parent to the control room, Amy couldn't get the mental image of Chloe's empty and haunted eyes out of her head. Aubrey was right, she needed to protect them at all costs.