A/N I know you're all getting impatient for some Bechloe action but stick with me. It'll be worth your while. Thanks for all who have reviewed or followed!
The girls had been enjoying their donuts and chatting when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Beca offered. She had recovered from her earlier embarrassment but still welcomed an escape.
"Beca!" Amy exclaimed as the door opened. She gave Beca a big hug.
"You brought Davey!" Beca said excitedly. Even if she rarely admitted it, she did like babies.
"Yup, Bumper wanted to bring him to the beer pong championship. But I thought he'd be better off here." She turned to Chloe. "So, what's on our agenda today?"
"Amy, did you lose your agenda already?" Chloe asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Amy looked back at her quizzically. "Wait there's actually an agenda?"
Chloe pointed to the coffee table. "The yellow sheet is the official college agenda and the pink one is Bella events."
Amy picked up a copy of each and began looking them over. "There's brunch with the president? I didn't think any president would be associated with the Bellas after our White House scandal."
Even Beca and Cynthia Rose looked at Amy in disbelief. "The college president," Chloe clarified.
"Oh that sounds boring..."
Chloe sighed. "Well Stacie's getting here this morning so we all could just hang around here until then I guess..." Beca gave her a thumbs up at that idea.
Amy took Davey out of his stroller, laid out his blanket and got him situated on the living room floor. The girls circled around him making silly faces. He was eating it up, grinning and giggling at them. "He's quite the attention hog," Amy informed.
"Wonder where he got that from…" Beca muttered with a smirk.
A few minutes later when some of the novelty wore off and the girls backed away, Beca kneeled beside Davey. He grabbed onto her finger. "Wow, you're a strong little guy," Beca commented. She stared at him adoringly for a little while. He hiccuped and she got startled. She turned toward Amy with concern.
Amy chuckled. "He's good," she reassured.
Beca resumed entertaining him, unaware Chloe had sat down on the couch and had begun to watch. A moment later, Davey began crying. Again she turned to Amy, who didn't appear overly concerned. "Just pick him up," she instructed. "He probably wants to be held."
Beca looked back at her with uncertainty. She nodded. Beca shrugged. "Alright Davey," she said quietly. "Up we go!" She hoisted him up in the air. "Wow you're a big boy," she commented. She began to bounce him gently. "Is that better?" The boy began to calm down.
Chloe felt a flutter in her chest, the small smirk on her face quickly becoming a grin. "You're so good with him," she said quietly. Quickly growing embarrassed, Beca just smiled, shook her head a little and looked away. As if Chloe had jinxed it with those few words, Davey began crying again.
"You know, a song will usually calm him down," Amy suggested.
Beca, slightly more self-conscious knowing Chloe was watching now, still had the urge to comfort the boy. So quietly, she began to sing. "Twinkle, Twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky..."
Chloe stared, completely entranced. It didn't matter that it was just a few notes of a child's song. It had been 5 years since she'd heard that voice singing and it was just a few feet away from her. She felt the sound in every bone in her body. And it showed on her face.
"Twinkle Twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are." She ended by giving the slightly calmer, but still cranky-looking, baby a kiss on the nose. Chloe still hadn't managed to take her eyes off of the two of them.
"Alright," Amy said, breaking the weird sexual tension that followed Beca and Chloe everywhere. "I think Davey needs his nap," she announced. "We're going to head back to the hotel for a bit. But we'll be back in time for…" she glanced down at her agendas. "The sing off?" She asked with confusion.
"Good!" Chloe chirped. "It's our prep for tomorrow's tournament before the aca-party!"
"What?" Amy, Beca and Cynthia Rose said at once.
Chloe laughed. "C'mon," she said, hoping for a little more enthusiasm. "It'll be fun!"
Around 3:00 Stacie had made it to Barden, three suitcases in tow. "You sticking around for a week?" Chloe teased upon seeing the amount of luggage.
"This one is mostly alcohol," Stacie informed.
Cynthia Rose shook her head. Beca looked at her skeptically. "Please make good choices," Chloe begged.
"I plan to make the best choices," she replied. Chloe laughed and gave her friend a hug.
"So did you know about this aca-tournament?" Beca asked.
Stacie shook her head. "It's news to me."
"Alright guys," Chloe began defensively. "I only found out about if a few weeks ago! Emily's mom entered the Bellas and asked our year if we wanted in. It's casual and spontaneous. Just think of it like a giant riff off."
Chloe did not appreciate Beca's loud sigh.
"So much for a relaxing weekend," Cynthia Rose chimed in.
"And what is this sing off this afternoon?" Beca asked.
"An excuse to for her to get to sing a duet with you," Cynthia Rose added.
Beca clearly looked uncomfortable. Chloe decided the best approach was to ignore. "Mostly just for fun," she explained. "And so we can warm up out vocal cords. I know some of us have been singing more regularly than others..."
"Is that a dig?" Stacie asked.
"No!" Chloe replied defensively. "I just want all of us to shine."
Beca rolled her eyes, but when Chloe glared at her she mustered up her best "trying to be supportive" smile.
The afternoon was rather uneventful. They were saving their energy for the days (and specifically nights) ahead. Lilly had arrived just in time for the afternoon activity on the Bella's bright pink agenda, the "Skype-a-thon". It had entailed the Bellas gathering around the computer screen video chatting in 10-minute increments with the sisters that couldn't make it to the reunion in person. While they'd initially agreed merely to placate the enthused red head, by the end they'd all apologized to Chloe for deeming it a dumb activity. From Flo in Arizona working to help new immigrants transition to America to Denise on a Fulbright in Argentina, it was pretty cool to check in with everyone and see where they had ended up.
By dinnertime, Jessica and Ashley had made it to the house, having left from Orlando earlier in the day. They now worked as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty at Disneyworld. And as much as the Bellas teased, they did know that both of them considered it quite the dream job.
After the girls had eaten far too much Chinese food. Amy had returned, eager to inform everyone that Bumper was on dad duty for the next few hours.
"The gang's all here," Chloe announced happily.
But Stacie was feeling far less content. "Can we invite the guys over?" She whined.
Chloe was about to object. She had a whole speech about the bond of sisterhood and that the sing off was not orchestrated with male voices in mind and what not. But then she saw Beca's face, clearly trying to tell her she needed to let this one go and loosen up a little for the good of the group. So she took a deep breath and smiled, "That's a great idea, Stace. Why don't you give them a call?"
They all were a bit taken a back by the response, but rolled with it quickly and soon the house had transformed from a relatively quiet sanctuary to a pretty raucous rager. And Chloe's carefully orchestrated sing off devolved into drunken karaoke. Luckily, Chloe, having a drink in hand and Beca by her side, wasn't too heartbroken by the current situation.