Amy returned to the house later that morning, Davey in her arms.

"You brought Davey back," Chloe said with a smile. She held her arms out, wanting to hold him again.

"Well... I found out that apparently Bumper took him to the treble party last night and they built him a play pen out of beer cans! So I figured I'd keep him close. The worst that'll happen here is he'll get his nails painted by Stacie."

"I wouldn't!" She said, offended.

Chloe laughed.

"So what's the plan today captain?" Amy asked.

"Well..." Chloe began, "there's an all campus barbecue at 1:00. Then we have our acapella 'tournament' at 7:00 followed by our aca-party at 9:00!"

"Wow. That leads me to believe we have 6 hours of unstructured time?" Stacie said in excitement and slight disbelief.

"5 of those are probably rehearsal for this 'informal' tournament," Beca said grumpily.

Chloe did not appreciate the snark. "Nope," she said smugly. "It's supposed to be beautiful out. I'm planning to take a blanket and a Mike's hard and sit out by the lake. You all can do whatever you'd like." She said with a shrug.

"Red has mellowed..." Amy noted.

"Cause she got LAID last night," Cynthia rose let slip.

Chloe looked confused but unconcerned. Beca on the other hand...

"What?" Beca asked a bit too loudly.

"I saw you two together this morning looking so cute and well...people jumped to some conclusions," Emily admitted.

"Nope," Chloe said nonchalantly. "Just feeling relaxed because I'm excited that Aubrey's getting here in an hour. Everyone needs to chill..."

"Well..." Beca said awkwardly, "I'm starving and I'm going to head to this picnic. Anyone want to join?"

Most of the girls followed Beca's lead but Chloe held back, waiting at the house for Aubrey. At last the doorbell rang.

Chloe greeted her with a big hug. "I missed you," she said.

"Chloe..." Aubrey said. "I saw you last week."

"I know but..."

"Is it that you're dying to talk to me about something?"

"Are you actually psychic?" Chloe asked.

"No but I have really good Intel," she explained holding up her phone which displayed the picture of Beca and Chloe cuddling.

"That's super creepy," Chloe said, "even for you."

"Relax," Aubrey replied. "Stacie sent it. The girls were in a tizzy this morning. You know they're desperate for a happy ending to this star-crossed lovers story."

"You know it's really not a star-crossed lover sort of thing…"

"I know, I know, but overzealous redhead and oblivious DJ girl love story takes a lot longer to say." Chloe nodded in agreement. "Anyone else home?"

"The rest of them just left for the barbecue," Chloe informed.

"Perfect," Aubrey said, squeezing Chloe's shoulders, "Now spill."

After Chloe had recounted the happenings of the last few days, she looked at Aubrey, waiting for advice, guidance. But instead, she saw an unfamiliar expression on Aubrey's face. She looked stunned.

"Shit Chloe," Aubrey said. "I never thought I'd say this, but she may finally be ready."

"But what if I finally say something or do something and it ruins everything? What if she doesn't feel that way or can't accept it?"

"What if she can?" Aubrey asked, a glimmer of hope in her eye.

************************************************************************************

"Becawwww!"

Beca heard it from across the lawn. A grin spread across her face. She'd missed him.

"How're you doing?" Jesse asked, giving her a hug. She didn't respond immediately but he could read her face well. "Let's go get a beer," he suggested.

"Or three," she countered.

He chuckled and they got some food before settling down by a large oak tree.

"Chloe?" He asked, guessing the cause of Beca's troubles.

She was caught off guard. Sure, she'd expressed some interest in women around him, especially when she was trying to be more of a 'bro' post-breakup. But she'd never talked about Chloe.

He smiled, already sensing her putting up her walls. "We don't have to talk about it," he offered. "We can just drink if you want..."

"I'll drink to that," she said clanking his can.

"I just want to say one thing," he added.

"I knew that was too easy."

"I want you to be happy. I so want you to be happy Beca. And if you think she could make you happy, you have to go for it."

Beca shoved him. It wasn't the 'thank you' he deserved, but luckily he knew what it meant. "Anyway..." Beca said, demanding a change in conversation. "How's Joanna?"

"She's good," he said with a smile. "Getting serious I think."

"Congrats, man."

"I miss chilling with you though," he said. If it were anyone else it'd be awkward but it was Jesse, so somehow it just felt normal. She smiled and nodded in agreement.

************************************************************************************

Aubrey and Chloe made their way to the barbecue a bit later. Settled on Chloe's blanket, they resumed their heart to heart.

"But Aub, how do I even?"

"You're telling me you've had 9 years to think about this and you don't have a plan?"

Of course she'd made plans. She'd configured hundreds of different scenarios in which she confessed her love to Beca. But these grand gestures somehow didn't seem like the right approach. For better or worse, she understood the need to be careful with this one.

"I have ideas," Chloe said defensively. "You know I don't lack imagination. But I'm kind of thinking that I should go simple rather than extravagant."

"You know what I'm thinking?" Aubrey asked. "The only thing that matters at this point is sooner rather than later. You have two days, Beale."

Oh, Aubrey and her tough love. But unfortunately she was right.

By 4:00 all of the Bellas had made their way back to the house. They lazed on the couch, resting up for their big night.

"I'm just saying," Aubrey began, "We are all here. It wouldn't hurt us to warm up a little or strategize..."

Chloe giggled. They'd all been making fun of her for being the biggest Type A personality in the house. Then Aubrey arrived.

"I'm serious, you guys!" She continued. Everyone groaned.

"I think it'll be hard to strategize without the Bellas from the other years here," Emily pointed out.

"Who is she again?" Aubrey asked with annoyance.

"Aubrey, be nice," Chloe scolded. "This is Emily. And she's right. Katherine invited us to participate we can't go planning everything without her."

"Well let's get her over here!"

"We are not inviting my mother," Emily said definitively.

"Your mother?"

Cynthia Rose sighed loudly. "Can someone get the two of them up to speed?"

"Regardless, we don't know how this tournament works. How would we even strategize if we wanted to."

"I know how it works." Aubrey said matter-of-factly.

"Of course you do," Beca muttered.

"The Bellas won at my five year reunion."

"Alright Aubrey, how about you explain the rules and we'll talk strategy for an hour and then we can all just hang out till we head over." Chloe suggested trying to accommodate everyone.

"Fine," Aubrey said. Wasting no time, she launched into an explanation. " So there are three rounds. The first we feature 3 soloists. Then we need two pairs of duets. The last round is the group performance where we can have up to 12 participants."

"This so doesn't feel like an informal riff off..." Stacie said.

"It'll be fun!" Chloe encouraged.

"The part that is like a riff off is that our songs have to be on theme," Aubrey explained

"Like what?" Lilly asked.

"Well when I competed as a soloist, the theme was songs sung by Disney princesses. It was pretty challenging for some of the boys..." Aubrey said with a grin. "I took it away with 'Part of your World," she boasted.

"I wanted to start planning our groups but if we don't have our entire team, I guess we can wait." Aubrey conceded. Chloe patted her shoulder comfortingly. The girls began to disperse. "But we definitely should arrive at the auditorium early!" Aubrey yelled after them.