PROMPT: Beca's mother dies and she has to deal with the loss of her mom. Beca being all Beca and not wanting to feel her emotions at all ... so she's trying to block the despire of losing her mom from herself ... have Aubrey be the one whom helps Beca finally let lose and grieve the loss. (They can either be dating or very good friends. Or you can even place it right in the middle of PP1 during the time that Aubrey and Beca are seriously butting heads).
I decided to made this Pre-relationship :)
She's on her way to morning Bellas practise when the call comes from her father.
His voice is monotonous and uncaring as he tells her the news. He tells her how it was quick and unexpected. A drunk driver took both his own life and hers on his way home from a party. It was clean cut and she had been pronounced dead on the scene.
At first Beca doesn't know what to think. They hadn't really been close in the years after her father left them.
Depression had sunk into the older woman rather quickly. This had been followed by a slew of sleazy boyfriends who made Beca's skin crawl and various part-time minimum wage jobs just so they could get by. The money her father sent wasn't enough to sate their food bills and her mothers liquor expenses.
Despite this her mother had remained loving and kind for years after the abandonment. She always made sure to pour Beca a bowl of lucky charms with warm milk before school and sent her off with a loving kiss to the forehead. She had comforted the crying seven year old on her birthday when her father forgot to call and took her to the zoo as distraction, even though they couldn't really afford it. She had picked up an extra night shift that week.
This had all changed when Beca hit puberty at the right old age of thirteen and developed a small but unrelenting crush on one of her classmates. Her female classmate.
The news of Beca's sexuality hadn't gone down well at home and the loving kisses and lucky charms soon dried up. A cold detached look replaced the soft one that used to be there ever morning. Whenever they spoke it was brief and reserved, there was no need for shouting.
Her depression worsened and she was soon fired from three jobs and the only way they could survive was from the petty cash she snuck out of her boyfriends pockets whilst they snored loudly on the couch in their tiny apartment. Beca took on part time work after school at a local diner to help and her mother didn't even notice she was gone.
Eventually her father came back into her life as she was preparing to leave her mothers shitty apartment in Portland in search of a career in LA. At that point the only thing that made her happy was knowing that soon she would be doing what she loved far away from there. Those dreams were dashed when a quick phone call ended with her mother cancelling her flights and forcing her to enrol at Barden.
"Hopefully living in Georgia will straighten you out."
After she had left her mother didn't call for months except for once on her birthday. A short conversation that ended with her mother hanging up when she informed her of the 'sad' news that she didn't have a nice boy to bring home.
So the silence continued for a few months and Beca didn't think anything of it.
She joined the Bellas and made close friends for the first time since before her father left. School, work and mixing didn't leave much time for a social life.
Chloe and Amy quickly pulled her out of her introverted shell. Constantly dragging her out of her dorm room for parties and Bellas bonding nights. Stacie's brashness made her laugh. CR understood her on so many levels. Ashley and Jessica were kind and compassionate. Lilly scared the shit out of her.
Aubrey was different. Aubrey lit a fire deep in her heart that she hadn't felt for a long time. Whenever she argued with the blonde her passion for music was rekindled. After so many years of numbness she was overloaded by the jumble of emotions that the older Bella inspired in her. It was exciting. It was also stupid so Beca ignored it.
She was happy and content and then halfway through the year her mother died. And ruined it.
After her father hung up with a halfhearted attempt at comfort she veered away from the auditorium and returned hastily to her dorm.
Relief washed over her when she noted the absence of her judgemental roommate.
It meant she could cry.
But the tears never came. Instead came an overwhelming sense of guilt.
Guilt because she didn't feel as sad as someone whose mother had just died should do. She sank down on her bed with a shaky sigh.
As she stared blankly into space her thoughts started to wonder. She recalled the last words she said to her mother had been something like 'No mum I'm not bringing home a fucking boyfriend because I like girls!'. Something like that. It was so hard to say at the time but now it just sounded ridiculous. The words that had felt so significant weren't important anymore.
Beca thought about how angry she was at herself for even beginning to miss the woman that made her feel so much hatred towards herself in her late teens. The woman who probably hadn't even thought of her as she lay dying on the road.
With a fierce growl Beca picked up a glass ornament from her messy desk and threw it across the room. The pieces shattered over the ground as Beca's chest heaved.
Quickly she moved to pick up the pieces of the ornament, instantly regretting her actions. The tiny glass piano had been a Christmas gift from the Bellas. Her eyes blurred as she bent down to gather the pieces.
"Fuck!" she swore as a particularly jagged piece cut her. She was left with a two inch long gash down her palm. Brilliant.
She threw away the glass and wrapped up her hand in a bandage from Kimmy Jin's desk draw after cleaning it with some soap and cold water. Something she had picked up on from Aubrey after Amy was injured during a particularly rowdy Bellas sleepover.
After she was done she decided to go straight to bed. It was only four in the afternoon but she didn't care. Her hand was throbbing too much for her to start mixing so she shoved her chunky headphones over her ears and fell into a fitful sleep to the soundtrack of the thrumming base.
Curled up tightly with her eyes squeezed shut she failed to notice her phone ringing with calls from the Bellas.
Beca jolted awake to the sound of a hurried knock at her door.
Rubbing her sore eyes with a groan before she grabs her phone to check the time and sees that it's only six am. She had slept through the rest of the day and night, over fourteen hours.
Groaning when she notices the thirteen missed calls. Ten from Chloe, one from her father, one from Amy and one from Aubrey.
She knows who to expect when she opens the door and is not in the mood for the Bellas and their well-meaning, yet intrusive questions.
Yanking the door open with her uninjured hand she is greeted with a Bella but not the one she expects. Aubrey is standing before her with her lips pursed as she takes in Beca's dishevelled appearance.
Beca feels defensive all of the sudden as she wipes all emotions from her face.
"What do you want?" she doesn't mean it to come out as bluntly as it does and feels regret burn through her when a subtle hurt look comes over the blondes face. It quickly disappears.
"I came to see what was so important that you had to miss practice and not return any of our calls" the taller girl answers with a raised eyebrow. The same resilience in her eyes that she gets whenever the future of the Bellas is jeopardised.
Beca is honestly exhausted. She raises her arms in frustration and spits out "God, can I not just get a break. It's always the fucking-"
"What happened to your hand?" Aubrey cuts in quickly as she sees the bandage hanging loosely from Beca's palm. As she was sleeping the blood had soaked through the thin cotton and it looked a lot worse than it felt. Beca could understand the look of alarm on Aubrey's face.
"Nothing, it was an accident. Now if you could-" Beca deflected and began to inch her door closed. Aubrey was not phased in the slightest and instead marched into the dorm room, digging into her handbag as she walked.
Beca sighed in resignation as she turned to watch the blonde, her other hand reaching back to close the door.
"Do you have any cotton wipes?" Aubrey asked as she rummaged through her bag, pulling out an small emergency first aid kit and emptying the contents onto the bed.
"Uhh..."
"Never mind, I have some" she interrupts and beckons the younger girl over to her as she wets the wipes with a tiny bottle rubbing alcohol.
"Sit down" the order comes and the look on Aubrey's face leaves no room for argument.
"I'm going to sit down but only because I want to" Beca answers pettily as she takes a seat on the bed. Kimmy Jin's was pristine so Beca couldn't tell if her roommate had left early or just never came back last night.
Aubrey rolls her eyes at Beca's attitude and proceeds to unwrap the bandage to inspect the cut.
"This is quite deep, you might need stitches Beca! What on earth did you do?" Aubrey gasps at the gash on Beca's palm.
Beca shrugs not really wanting to explain that she had thrown the ornament. That would lead to questions of why...
"Hmm. Is this why you didn't come to practise yesterday?" she continues when Beca remains silent.
"No-fuck" Beca hisses and grits her teeth as the alcohol soaked wipe is pressed to her fresh wound.
"Sorry" Aubrey mumbles absently as she wipes the cut clean. "Why didn't you come to practice then?" she asks looking up at Beca's face.
At those words the weight of what had happened yesterday falls firmly down on her shoulders. She can't control the way her lower lip trembles slightly and her eyes begin to few wet. This was fucking embarrassing. She was crying in front of Aubrey-fucking-Posen.
" . Don't do that!" Aubrey sounds confused as she quickly applies an antiseptic plaster to Beca's hand and moves to sit next to her on the bed. Hovering uncertainly between a hug and a pat on the back.
Beca decides she doesn't care anymore and moves into the taller woman's grasp. Aubrey quickly adjusts so that Beca's head is tucked under her chin.
"Should I call Chloe?" Aubrey whispers awkwardly. Beca snorts as she shakes her head. It seemed the blonde was just as bad with this stuff as she was. "Okay, well lets just stay like this then" they sit together in silence for a few minutes until...
"My mum died"
The words come out quickly with a small sniffle attached to them.
Beca feel the arms around her tense.
"That... sucks" Aubrey's controlled words make Beca burst out in laughter. She never thought she would ever find someone as shit with emotions as she was but her she was, in the form of Aubrey Posen.
"I know" Beca replied after she calmed down and the tears returned, though there were less than before.
"My mum died too. When I was in high school" Aubrey says after another bout of silence. Beca moves out of her embrace and takes in Aubrey's slightly slumped posture. It was strange because she distinctly remembered the blonde shouting 'Posen's don't slouch' during a practice.
"Dude, that sucks" Beca replied with the same words Aubrey had. She doesn't really know what to do now. Luckily Aubrey changes the subject.
"Is that why you hurt your hand?" she gestures to the newly bandaged palm.
"Yeah, I threw an ornament at the wall and got cut during the cleanup" Beca answers with an small smile.
The blonde smirks before standing up and grabbing the empty glass bottle of cleansing alcohol and turning it in her hands.
"Do you mind?" she shakes the bottle and glanced to the opposite wall meaningfully.
Beca shakes her head.
At her gesture Aubrey swiftly pitches the glass bottle at the wall to the side of Kimmy Jin's bed. It shatters in the same place Beca's ornament had the night before. Beca gapes at the blonde who smirks before pulling two more tiny bottles of alcohol from her bag and handing one to Beca. The brunette readily accepts and as she winds up to throw the bottle she feels the resentment and grief of her mother wash away for a few moments. It doesn't go away completely but it does make her feel better when she watched the bottle explode on impact with the wall.
Later on Beca and Aubrey sit on the floor in front of Beca's bed, staring at the large pile of glass on the other side of the room. They had pretty much broken everything fragile on Beca's desk but she didn't mind. Those things could all be replaced. The only one she regretted was the ornament she had broken last night. Also there was the fact that she may have accidentally picked up one of Kimmy Jin's perfume bottles. The room smelt of rubbing alcohol and perfumes so they had opened the windows to let the smell out.
"Feel better?" Aubrey asks as they sit with Beca's head resting on her shoulder.
The pain she get for her mother would always remain and she'd always feel that sense of guilt and anger when she thought of the woman. But as she sat on the floor of her room with Aubrey Posen of all people, surrounded by broken glass and the mist of various bottled substances, she could honestly say that did feel happy in that moment.
Beca hums slightly in affirmation to the blondes question.
"Yeah, but Kimmy Jin's going to be pissed."
I'm not really that confident writing angst so i hope this turned out you very much to everyone that has followed/favourited and a special thank you to all of the reviewers out their, you make my day.
I will be moving some of my one-shots over to Ao3 because i know that some people prefer to read on that site, if you want to check it out i will have the same username. Also if anyone wants to check out my Mitchsen fan art it's on Tumblr at 'Calmyourpitches'.
P.s Why did nobody mention the word 'prompt' has been misspelled in the summary this whole time (I'm embarrassed).