A/N: I'm not dead. I'm so sorry and want to apologize to all my readers. I literally hit a roadblock in writing and couldn't even type a sentence on this story. But then I saw the Pitch Perfect 2 Trailer, and this happened. I hope you forgive me.

If one ignored everything around them, and simply listened to the rain as it hit the New York pavement, they could hear how it made beautiful beats. It was nature's beat master, composing a symphonic melody that invaded the ears and drowned out every other god forsaken thing around you...like, for example, fire engines or the annoying voices of people. Beca tried hard to listen to the sounds of the the heavy rain as it descended around her, and tried her damnedest to ignore the bevy of conversation about the what was happening this very moment. She wished she could ignore the world, or at least act as if the past hour never occurred.

God, she wished she had her headphones.

"Seriously, how long does it take to put out a fire?" Stacey grumbled, and then glanced at her cell phone again.

"I hope no one's hurt." Reagan rubbed her arms and looked around.

"It was just a little smoke people. Can we go back inside, get this over and done with?"

Chloe glared at Bumper. "Please tell me you aren't trying to rush the firemen so that you can hear whether you won or not."

"Fine, I won't tell you, because I already know we won." Bumper replied smugly.

"I wonder what started the fire?" Cynthia Rose asked, peering into the crowd. Lily shrank back for some odd reason.

Uni gave an annoyed elbow to Brendan who was holding up his phone. "Dude, are you taking selfies in front of the fire truck?"

"Yeah, so?" Brendan looked annoyed at the disruption.

"Stop, dude...show some respect." Uni chastised his friend.

Meanwhile, Kolio frowned at his phone. "I texted this girl three hours ago and she texted 'BRB'. I know she's in her room. There's nothing to do at Barden tonight. Why is she ignoring me?"

"Maybe she's dead." Hat shrugged half heartedly at his friend.

"Why would you even say that?" Kolio frowned.

Hat sighed, "I dunno, I'm tired and hungry. I'm sorry, man. She's not dead, she just doesn't like you."

Jessica shivered. "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Piss in the alley, everyone else in New York does."

"I'm a girl..." Jessica said, aghast at Bumper's suggestion.

"Again, not seeing what the problem is here."

Beca frowned at the mix of Bellas and Trebles anxiously waiting under an awning near the Center, as fire crews stomped in and out of the building. She vaguely remembered Chloe and Cynthia Rose tugging at her arms as the fire alarms blared, then she barely remembered being ushered under the awning by the backstage staff.

Fat Amy frowned as another group of firemen exited the building. "Why can't we go back to hotel again?"

"They said they needed to count us or something. For safety reasons," Kolio replied back, still starting at his cell phone.

"If they cared about safety, none of this would have happened," chided Ashley, bumping Uni over so she could fit under the awning.

Beca sighed heavily. This was perfect. A perfect ending to a great night. Stuck in the rain, with the group she hates sans Jesse and Benji, listening to everyone bitch about everything. Oh and she's pretty sure she just lost the competition. She really wants everyone to kindly shut the fuck up.

Suddenly, she's spun and Jesse's holding her by her arms, a worried look on his face. "Are you okay? You haven't said anything. And that's mad creepy."

Her brow furrowed in response but she said nothing. There was nothing to say. Nothing to say but a string of curses.

"Maybe she's in shock?" Chloe frowned as she placed a well meaning hand on Beca's shoulder.

Bumper gave his two cents of course. "Well, losing big does that to you."

"Why don't you shut your mouth Bilbo Baggins, no one was officially named the winner," Fat Amy growled at him, silencing Bumper.

Suddenly everyone started arguing but Jesse was focused on her.

"Beca?" Jesse prompted again. Beca snapped out of her trance and closed her eyes.

"I'm fine," she sighed, regretting the tone of her voice as Jesse was just concerned. She was just so damn angry and disappointed, it was rainy, and her bra was chaffing her. She just wanted to go back to Barden right now.

"Okay," he said, waving his hands in the air as he let go of her.

Beca composed herself. "I'm sorry, it's just..."

The words got stuck in her throat. He seemed to understand and he nodded. "Amy's right, no one was declared the winner yet."

Beca cocked her head because...seriously?

"I'm serious, nothing's in stone."

"Stop trying to make me feel better," she grumbled miserably, leaning against his chest, as he rubbed his hands up and down her arms, trying to keep her warm. "You know I hate it."

"I do, but I can't help it," he hugged her and she felt just a little better.

"Can you guys move over? I'm getting soaked over here," Marty asked Jesse, rubbing her arms like he was rubbing Beca's. Jesse inched himself and Beca over to make room for Marty. "It's so chilly out. Must be the rain."

Marty stood next to them, looking envious, and almost too close to Jesse for comfort but Beca couldn't even process that. In her periphery, the crowd cleared and she saw the weird stagehand pointing in their direction, the police looking very interested in their group.

Beca squinted and stood up straight. "What the fuck is that guy doing?"

Suddenly the crowd parted and three police officers were standing in front of them. They scanned the group again, their eyes settling on Lily.

"Young lady, can you come with us?"

Everyone looked around and Lily pointed at herself as if to ask "me?"

"Yes, you, ma'am. We'd like to ask you a few questions. Do it at the station. Not in all of this rain."

"What for?" Beca pounced to her defense immediately. Lily looked as if she wanted to sink into the pavement.

"Are you her lawyer?" the policeman said looking at the tiny mean brunette.

"Maybe I am," Beca hissed as she felt Jesse's hand pull her a little to reign in her attitude.

"I'm sure you are," the officer rolled his eyes. He beckoned Lily again. "We have eyewitnesses stating they saw you playing with the electrical wiring back stage. We just have some questions for you."

"What the hell!" Amy exclaimed, stepping in front of Lily.

"She didn't do anything!" Jessica and Chloe exclaimed at the same time.

Lily shook her head and stepped around her protective friends. "Okay," she said softly.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Beca said angrily. "Are you really arresting her? Like for real?"

The police officer shook his head. "Uh, no, not for real...which is why she doesn't have on handcuffs. We're just questioning her."

"Bullshit," Beca stood firm, glaring at the police officer. He cocked his head at the challenge.

Jesse's hand tightened around Beca's shoulder, trying to calm her. "Beca, come on, just...this isn't helping."

"Where are you taking her? I'm calling her a lawyer."

"Again, we're just asking her a few questions. We'll be down at Precinct Five," the police officer said, leading Lily though the gawking crowd to the patrol car, and she casted one worried look at the group before stepping inside.

"No!" Fat Amy yelped reaching forward and the group held her back.

"Lily, don't say anything!" Benji yelled out. He looked at Uni with a solemn look. "My dad told me that. Never say anything. Never snitch."

"This is unbelievable. I'm calling my dad," Beca muttered, angrily punching numbers into her cell.

"Is it? Is it really so inconceivable? Isn't she like...an arsonist?" Bumper asked to the groans of his group. "What? Isn't she?"

"She wouldn't do this," Amy frowned.

Cynthia Rose sighed. "Someone needs to call her parents."

"I don't know their number."

"David might," Jesse said, looking at Beca as she watched the patrol car pull off. "I'll call him. Beca, we should follow them. Let's go."

As the group went to their respective vehicles, Beca slumped down in her seat and frowned at the rain. "Why do we always end up behind bars?"

The group stood in the waiting area of Precinct Five, all trying to figure out how to help Lily. Beca remembered Lily touching a cord of some type backstage, but that was for a brief moment, no way did Lily cause the fire. Her own father was no help, only able to ask "Why are you guys always getting arrested?"

Beca didn't have any answers for him. Just once, she wished things went as they were supposed to. She wished the Trebles ended their set and walked off stage and that despite their best effort, the Bellas rightfully won the trophy. She'd hold it up high, smile bright and know they deserved it. She'd taunt Jesse with it, make him carry it to her room, where she'd kick the girls out for thirty minutes at least, while he fucked her on the itchy hotel sheets because she's a champion and he'd be proud to come in second place in so many different ways for his girlfriend. But no...instead of the amazing night in her head, she's sitting in a police station, freaking out because Lily might be a pyromaniac and there was nothing she could do to help her.

Jesse called David and got Lily's parents number, but that was going nowhere fast.

Beca hung up her cellphone and frowned. "No answer. I left a message."

Jesse shook his head. "We'll figure this out. She's gonna be okay. David wants us to call him if we need anything else. He's worried about her."

"Yeah," Beca sighed, pitching the bridge of her nose. "I'm just...my dad even said every year, one of us is going to jail."

"No fists fights though," Jesse pulled her to him, and looked over to Bumper. "At least not yet."

"It's been two hours," Marty said, sitting next to Reagan and Ashley. "You think they're going to arrest her?"

"For what? She didn't do anything," Cynthia Rose replied.

"If they do arrest her, we bail her out," Chloe nodded, looking to give positive reinforcement. "Aubrey's freaking out. She's willing to call her uncle, he's an attorney in the city."

"We all probably have three hundred bucks between the ten of us," Amy sighed. "We can't bail her out with Barden Bucks, you guys."

"Look, I know everyone thinks I'm a asshole," Bumper said loudly and no one in the room corrected him. "Harsh, but I'm not. I'm just being realistic. I mean, she's cute and everything but all arrows point to psycho, right?"

"You really need to explore the benefit of shutting the fuck up," Jesse cut his eyes at Bumper.

"She didn't do it," Beca growled out.

"Maybe not, but they didn't arrest her. They're fishing," Bumper replied.

"We know you're only concerned with whether you won or not," Amy said bitterly. "Don't act like you give a damn about Lily. Or anyone for that matter."

He looked at her with a hurt expression and before anyone could retort, the door opened and Lily stepped out. The Bellas ran to hug her.

"Oh my god, Lily! Are you alright? What happened? Are you free to go?"

She nodded, and gave a small smile. "I didn't do it."

"Of course you didn't," Cynthia Rose patted her back.

"This time," she whispered, though no one heard her.

"We're going back to the hotel. Come on..." Beca went to move but Lily tugged at her sleeve.

"But..." Lily said softly, dropping her eyes to the floor. "They did say there is an investigation. Faulty equipment. The ICCAs are canceled and no one is winning this year."

Everyone gasped. "What?"

"What did you say?" Bumper exclaimed, jumping up from his spot.

"She said the ICCAs are being investigated for the fire."

Stacey perked up. "Uh guys. I just got an email from the ICCA."

"Just now?"

"Yeah, on my phone. Check yours."

Everyone checked their phones, and sure enough, the email popped up.

"Shit."

"Seriously?"

"Wow."

"This is bad guys," Chloe sighed as she read the email.

"The Kennedy Center said the ICCAs used their own contractors for lighting. They are gonna get sued big time."

"So, they're 'respectfully declining to call a winner this year, in light of the recent incident, and the competition will be canceled until further notice. Hopefully in the future, the ICCAs can continue to give a capella groups a venue to shine'. Who the hell wrote this?" Stacey asked.

"This is jacked up," Beca said, reading the email once more.

"Bumper?" Jesse looked over at a stunned Bumper.

"This can't be happening," Bumper whispered. His eyes were wide and he stared blankly at his cell before taking a deep breath and shaking his head, saying, "No...no, no, no. This can't be happening! THIS CAN'T! NO! NO!"

"Oh, it's happening," Benji replied, waving his cell phone to emphasize the email.

"NO! FUCKING NO!" Bumper yelled and suddenly the police guard at the desk jerked his head up at the commotion.

"Bumper!" Jesse shook him to get him under control. " Get a grip. They will taze you here, man. Understand?"

"They will. In the balls," Kolio added.

"Yeah, the balls. Thanks, Kolio, " Jesse patted Bumper on the shoulder. "So, just calm down. Let it go. It's over."

Bumper jerked away from Jesse and stood back. "Let it go? Do you know how much Justin Timberlake I had to listen to these last few weeks?"

"Alot, I know. Me too," Jesse said sympathetically.

"You know I hate Justin Timberlake. Like alot. He broke up N'Sync."

"I do," Jesse placated him. "And no he didn't."

"Yes, he did. But I pushed through it. For you guys. For..." he looked over at Amy. "For other reasons we don't need to specify at this moment."

"For Amy, you mean?" Jesse smirked.

"I hate you," Bumper hissed, and he could see Amy watching them. "Now, it was for nothing. I don't get anything I want. I'll meet you by the bus."

He stormed out and Fat Amy watched him. She bit her lip and Beca could see her thinking on what Bumper just said, but everyone was still focused on the email.

The two groups stood in shock at the email. Beca's jaw was still dropped. No winner. Even though she certainly didn't want Bumper to win anything, she never imagined this. Everything they all worked so hard for, gone. Taken away. All it took was some bad wires. She thought of all the work the Bellas put into themselves, and now, the ICCAs were yanked from them. She was angry, and in that instance, she understood Bumper. After all the damage and drama, all the blood, sweat and tears, there wasn't even a damn trophy to walk away with.

With the world of a capella turned on its head, Beca wasn't sure what to do anymore. The end of the school year was also looming, so Beca knew everyone was distracted with exams. On the way back from New York, everyone just looked so sad, so beaten. She felt it too. She was so concerned with Bumper winning, she never thought the rug would be pulled out from all of them. She didn't know how to make it right, this was beyond her, it was beyond any of them.

"On the upside, Bumper didn't win either."

"That's not really an upside," Aubrey huffed, blowing her blonde bang out of her face.

Aubrey demanded face time, and sat stoically on the screen in front of Beca, "I'm sure once the investigations over, it'll be business as usual."

"But here's the thing," Aubrey said, frowning. "Our funding is contingent on us being a competing musical group. Without that, we lose the whole point of our organization."

"We're a group of girls that like to sing pop songs. Who's really going to shut us down?"

"We have a charter Beca. We have rules to follow."

"You're serious? You truly believe they're going to shut us down?"

"The school could pull our funding."

"Our entire one hundred dollar budget?!" Beca feigned shock and Aubrey's brow just got harsher.

"I'm serious."

"Okay...okay I get it, " Beca sighed. "What do I do?"

"I don't know, Beca. This is why I put you in charge, though. The girls need you."

Beca nodded and suddenly the weight was heavy on her shoulders. She had to fix this, somehow. Make it work. She couldn't lose this group. They were more than an a capella group, these were her closest friends and she couldn't disappoint them. She had to figure out a way to support them and make sure the group stayed in tact.

"I'll figure something out."

The stress of everything warranted some uninterrupted Jesse time, something she sincerely needed. It's been a whole year, and she can't believe they haven't killed each other yet. Not for lack of trying. He's been an important person in her life, someone who has allowed her to be herself and open up to him at her own pace. With Jesse, he had a way of calming her nerves, of making her ignore the screaming thoughts in her head, the dark comments about the world around them. She'd been fretting over the whole a capella situation, and Jesse said he was concerned about the Trebles too, but he didn't really see a big problem. She wanted to bounce some ideas off of him, maybe going to the Student Activities and speaking as the head of their groups to see what they could do to secure funding. Aubrey made the situation seem dire, but there was Jesse, all light and positivity, telling Beca that it was going to work out. Jesse was good for that. He brought a brightness to her day she needed, craved even, and she found herself anxious to see him. She'd talk to him about her ideas and then hopefully later, after they made out, they'd have a plan.

It was after one of her stupid classes and she was irritable and hungry, ready to whine and force him to take her to the dining hall. Usually, he sensed her presence, and would turn and say something dorky and lame; something that would make her roll her eyes or give him the finger, the way he loves, but not that day. He sat at one of the student center's outdoor tables, his book bag slung haphazardly across his lap, staring at a piece a paper with intense interest. Knowing him it was probably some music score or movie script...or porn. She walked behind him, the sarcastic remark on her lips dying as she read the top line of the paper.

We'd like to congratulate you on being accepted into the Barden Study Abroad Summer Program.

Wow.

No.. really, wow. She re-read it quickly to make sure she read it right.

Study Abroad? She knew it was feasible for Jesse or any student with priorities to want to go study abroad, but she just couldn't picture him being gone away from her for an entire summer. He never said he wanted to do study abroad. He'd told her he wanted to backpack though New Zealand because of Lord of the Rings or some weird shit like that, but he never told her he applied to leave anytime soon. But does he even own her that? Does he owe her a heads up of his plans, an opinion in his success?

She kinda thought so. Here she was at Barden, when last year, she swore she would be in L.A. working at some record company. Her only goal morphed and changed with Jesse and the Bellas' introduction to her life, and now, L.A. was a nice idea but she wasn't willing to give up what she had to get it. They had discussed the upcoming summer, with plans to visit each other, and take a week somewhere together. They were going to make it work. And she believed him, believed that even though he'd be far from her, he'd be willing and ready to see her. How'd he forget to mention this?

So what now? He was leaving this summer. Leaving without her. Without even telling her. When did he apply? Was it during one of their spats? He'd been accepted, obviously, so when did he apply? Why didn't he tell her? He tells her everything else, even stuff she'd rather not know, but this he hadn't mentioned. She tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, that he probably planned for study abroad long before he met her. Hell, he had a graduation plan, his classes carefully mapped out, and he even carried an organizer (that she drew a penis on). He had plans and he was enjoying college and life...but maybe it was just a pit stop. He could have told her. Instead he made her think she was a part of his plans. Now he was leaving her.

There he was, pouring over this letter, ignoring her looming presence behind him- which told her, he probably hadn't really thought of her. He would go on his adventure, possibly somewhere beautiful and cool, like Italy or France, and come back too worldly and educated to be bothered with her. Slowly, this small worm of doubt began to barrel into her heart and mind, and she chastised herself for making a mountain out of a molehill. He wasn't gone yet, it was simply a letter, and if he left, so what?

She felt confused, and a bit hurt, maybe even slightly jealous. Jesse was pretty passionate about two things, movies and her. Or at least she thought.

She should be happy he would get to experience something, that he would enhance himself because if anyone deserved a chance it would be Jesse. But she was selfish, and she wanted him with her, even though she knew that was the most fucked up way to be about this.

She heard him sigh heavily before he folded the paper and she thought maybe she should retreat before he noticed her, noticed how dejected she felt, but instead she found herself walking closer. Finally, he felt her presence and turned towards her, doing a small double take before scrambling to tuck the paper into the satchel in his lap.

"Hey you," he said brightly.

She noted his movements, and tried not to let herself get suspicious of his actions. "Hey."

Zipping up his bag he stood to greet her. "How was sociology?"

"Stupid," she replied, trying to act normal, and it must of worked because he smiled his big precious smile at her and leaned in to kiss her. She felt his soft lips burn on hers and she didn't know what to feel at that moment. Hurt, sad, alone? All seemed reasonable.

"That's my girl. Epic hate for education. Dining hall?" he pointed towards the building, as they both turned to walk in that direction.

She waited. She waited for him to tell her, to tell her he was considering study abroad, but instead, Jesse launched into a story about this disturbing digital short one of his classmates made. "...and I mean like, its just like forty five minutes of him petting his cat, no dialog, nothing..."

Meanwhile, Beca's mind thought about Jesse, standing behind a camera, smiling with the Italian seascape behind him. She thought about him doing what he loves, learning, filming, writing music. And none of that vision included her. Here she was, with all the burdens of the Bellas and the future of Barden a capella on her shoulders, and the only person she felt could understand it was Jesse, and he was going to leave her.

She suddenly lost her appetite but said nothing as he scanned his card to pay for them to eat. Instead she watched his profile, the boy who's become the only man who ever truly put her first, and she ached for him, even at the idea of him leaving. But she said nothing, because he hadn't even said he was thinking about it. But she could already feel the distance growing.