For the first time in her life, Beca finds herself homeless.

Well. It's only temporary, and she still has a "home", so to speak, in her dorm room with Cynthia Rose - it's just very unavailable at the moment. And for that reason, bizarrely, Beca finds herself missing Kimmy Jin as her roommate; she realises now that last year she took the ease with which she can find somewhere to work for granted. Since she wanted nothing to do with Beca for the most part, they could easily go about their separate lives without a care in the world for the other person. Provided Beca didn't keep the light on too long at night when she was working, hum loudly, or generally remind Kimmy Jin that she existed, it was a perfectly harmonious partnership based on complete apathy about the other's presence.

And, as a major bonus, she never walked in on Kimmy Jin stark naked and having sex with another chick.

('Dude!' Beca had shouted. She covered her eyes with a forearm, but was too late to stop the images imprinting on her brain forever. 'It's ten in the morning! Put a freaking sock on the door or something!' As she slammed the door behind her, she heard Cynthia Rose call, 'Sorry B!'

Sorry doesn't cut it when you've seen your roommate's bare butt on top of another girl - and especially when, Beca couldn't help noticing, said girl had a striking resemblance to Stacie.

Clearly, they needed to talk.)

In desperate need of time to herself and some serious eye-bleach, Beca soon realises she honestly has no idea where she can go. The library is out, as she tends to commentate under her breath while she mixes - plus, she'd probably feel bad being surrounded by all those people working on essays and actually doing something with their lives. She could go to the station and set herself up at one of the desks, but it just feels sad to go to work to do more work- and, much as she enjoys Luke and Jesse's company, they'd probably just be a distraction. And a coffee shop just feels far too hipster for her liking. She has an image to maintain, after all, even if Chloe has been working daily to destroy it.

The thought then crosses her mind of going to Chloe's apartment, but she discards the idea quickly. Although it is Chloe's day off, she's been working all week and wouldn't appreciate Beca turning up out of the blue to sit there and glare at a screen for a few hours.

And so she ends up here, sitting near the campus pond, hoping the grey clouds overhead don't turn into rain. Outside has never been the most productive environment for her, especially when there are ducks and people wanting to look at the ducks milling around, casting curious glances at the girl huffing at her Mac every few minutes. The ducks in particular are extremely interested in the mix she's creating for the Bellas, but maybe she just looks like the sort of person that might give them food.

She is not.

'Go away,' she complains, when one duck starts grubbing near her legs. It quacks indignantly at her, looking up with its beady eyes, and waddles off in search of someone more charitable.

She'll call that one Aubrey.

A text arrives about ten minutes later from Cynthia Rose: Sorrrrry B thought you were out all morning! Don't worry will def put a sock or something up next time Xxx

Beca grimaces at the idea of a 'next time' and replies: That wasn't -actually- Stacie in your bed, was it?

Uhh no why

...no reason.

She puts her phone away after that, even though Cynthia Rose continues to text her, no doubt questioning that final comment. But she just can't deal with any of that right now; she has about a thousand mixes to make and needs some time to herself to get to work.

Naturally, it isn't long before she gets interrupted, because it seems as though when she is creating music that she's some sort of magnet for nosy people. Jesse's never been one to respect people's alone time at the best of times, never mind if Beca's wearing headphones that clearly say 'Busy right now'. He must just be lonely, or else really bad at reading social signals - that's the only reason Beca can come up with for why he approaches her with that unapologetic smile on his face.

She suppresses her noise of annoyance, in favour of sending him her own, far less genuine, smile. 'Hey,' he says, greeting her with a lazy wave as he flops down on the grass. He reaches over to mute her laptop. 'What're you doing out here all alone?'

'Just that - trying to be alone,' she replies drily. 'But I get the feeling that just ended.'

'Yeah, my "Antisocial Girl" radar was going wild.' Jesse winks, then starts rooting through his bag.

'What're you looking for? More juice pouches?'

'Nope, although I have a few of those too if you want one,' he replies with a grin. 'Actually, Luke wanted me to bring you something. Hence me being here, of course. I'd never want to see you for any other reason.'

Beca snorts - but as Jesse pulls out a flash drive from his bag, an ominous feeling hits her. She asks warily, 'What does Luke want?'

'Oh, he was wondering if you could make a mix out of some of the songs on here for him, says it's for a friend's birthday or something.' He pushes it into Beca's reluctant hands.

'And he couldn't ask me this himself, why?' Beca stares at the flash drive in dismay. It's 16GB - she really hopes he hasn't filled the whole thing.

'Apparently he thought you'd say no, so he made me ask,' says Jesse. He smirks, pretending to look smug. 'Although, can't really blame him. My charm is unmatched.'

'I'm not sure even your "charm" will make me wanna do this.' Beca sighs, pulling her headphones off so they rest around her neck. 'Ugh, when am I going to find time to do this on top of everything else to do?'

He laughs. 'What? You don't even study. What's taking up all your time?'

Beca huffs and ticks them all off on her fingers. 'Being a girlfriend to Chloe, being a loving daughter and friend, working at the station, running the Bellas... And I am trying to study this year, thank you very much,' she adds. 'Dad said he'd only let me stay here if I actually attended classes. I swear, the guy is a master of manipulating me to do things.'

'Oh, tough break,' says Jesse, whistling. 'And your dad is definitely an evil mastermind; that's probably where you get it from.'

'Totes.'

Jess raises an eyebrow. 'Isn't that Chloe's saying?'

Beca rewinds her thoughts a little and realises exactly what she said; she facepalms. 'It is. She's got me saying it too, ugh. It's too catchy.'

He smiles slightly, but she easily notices that it's a little strained. 'How are you and Chloe, anyway?'

'So-so,' says Beca with a small shrug.

That gets Jesse's attention - she tries not to think too hard about the way he sits up eagerly in response to this comment. 'What? I thought you were all loved up and stuff. Something happen?'

'No,' she answers. 'Nothing at all. That's kind of the issue, really - I've not seen her in like a week or so, because she's been really busy. New job.'

'Ahh. Curse of finally becoming an adult,' he comments.

'Unfortunately. Either that, or she's finally getting sick of seeing my face all the time.'

Jesse puts his hands behind his head and leans back into the grass again, folding one leg over the other. 'You worry too much,' he says. 'Chloe's in love with you, dude. She's not likely to get sick of you.'

'It could happen,' Beca retorts.

'Nah,' he says definitively, and that seems to be the end of it as far as Jesse is concerned. 'Speaking of Chloe being in love with you, have you said it yet?'

'Said what?'

'You know,' he says. 'The big one. The L word?' When Beca still looks confused, he laughs. 'Wow. How does Chloe deal with this all time? I meant have you said "I love you", yet, Beca. I'm gonna guess from that dumb, blank look on your face that you haven't.'

Beca scowls to replace her "dumb" and "blank" look. 'Not that it's any of your business, but no.'

'Why not?'

'I just haven't, and did I mention "not your business"?'

'But you do love her?' he presses.

Her scowl deepens. 'Jesse, seriously. Not your business.'

'Alright, alright,' he says, putting up his hands.

'Why are you always so interested in my relationship with her anyway?'

He averts his eyes, shrugging. 'Dunno. I just like getting progress reports about your relationship, is all. Why aren't you with her right now, anyway?' he says quickly. 'She'd probably be able to help you with your Bellas arrangement. I mean, I would, but I'm all about the masculine, powerful voices, not squeaky lady voices.'

'Ha ha,' replies Beca monotonously. 'She's probably too busy to come over.'

'"Probably"? So you're not sure?' he says. 'You might as well text her. She'll probably come running. She always does.' At Beca's doubtful look, 'Go on, do it. You might as well.' Beca sighs but does so anyway, partly because she herself is hopeful about what Chloe is going to say - she hasn't spoken to her since yesterday.

You busy? she texts. I'm sitting down by the pond if you want to join me.

'She's not going to respond,' Beca whines when nothing happens for a whole minute. 'And now I've probably bothered her and she'll be mad.'

'Just wait, God. Seriously, how does she put up with you?'

It takes another few minutes during which time Beca starts getting very antsy and Jesse threatens to break her headphones, but eventually Beca's phone vibrates with a new text. Jesse gestures for her to read it, which she does.

The reply reads, Sure. I can't stay long, but I'll stop over - be there in ten.

Beca looks up in disbelief. Jesse smiles slightly and flicks his sunglasses down over his eyes. 'Told you she loves you.'

Beca tells Jesse he needn't leave, but he insists on leaving anyway before Chloe gets there, 'in case she rips my head off for spending time with you.' He laughs it off awkwardly when Beca's only response is to stare at him, but he doesn't stick around to elaborate. Maybe it's for the best, anyway; it's perfectly obvious to Beca and anyone else with a few braincells to rub together what the reasons are behind his odd expressions and seemingly limitless interest in her relationship with Chloe. It's beginning to worry Beca. Whenever they interact, his declaration of his feelings for her last year lurks in the back of Beca's mind. Although he's never brought it up again since their one conversation about it, it still remains there - a massive pink elephant that screams "GAYZONED" whenever he looks at her.

But then, what could she possibly do to stop this? He already knows she's a) solely attracted to women and b) dating Chloe, so he should know there's no chance anyway. He made the choice to stay friends with her, so surely it's up to him to work through that on his own. She has no accountability here.

Probably. She can never shake that vague feeling of guilt wherever Jesse is involved, as though it's her fault he has a crush on her, or whatever. He's certainly good at doing that, with his wounded puppy-dog face whenever she brings up Chloe, and his (what she assumes to be) exaggerated interest in their relationship together so he can seem like a good friend. It's hard not to just shout 'Get the hell out of it!' in his face sometimes, when he's being a dick about things - but then he's kind of sweet about it, like today. It'd be nice if he was at least consistent in being a dick or sweet - then she'd know where she stood.

A tap on her shoulder breaks her from her moody ruminations, and she looks up to see Chloe standing there. Her face lights up as soon as they make eye contact; Beca smiles too, and moves over a bit so Chloe can join her. Once they're settled on the grass, Chloe gestures questioningly towards her ears. Beca obediently lifts her headphones off and hands them over. While Chloe puts them on she presses play on her long-forgotten mix and waits anxiously for a reaction while Chloe listens. When she finally starts tapping a beat on her leg and nodding her head, Chloe-Speak for 'I love this beat', she relaxes.

'Sounds good,' comments Chloe when it's done, sliding the headphones down so they rest around her neck instead of giving them back. 'What's that for?'

'Bellas. I want to make them a demo to listen to for the arrangement we're going to sing.'

'Oh, in that case, they'll love it. It'll sound great when you get it all straightened out.' She glances around her, taking note of all the people wandering around - talking, walking, sitting the way she and Beca are. Unusually social for Beca, she knows Chloe is thinking. 'Didn't know you liked to come here.'

'Wasn't sure where else I could go. Cynthia Rose has someone "over" right now, so my room is kind of a no-go area...'

Chloe laughs. 'Oh, no. Hey, maybe we should return the favour for her sometime,' she says with a wink, making Beca blush. 'By the way, you could always come to my apartment to work, if I'm around.'

'Are you sure?' asks Beca, surprised. 'I don't want to disturb you or seem antisocial.'

'You wouldn't be. I know how hard you work on these, so you might as well have somewhere nice to do it. Plus - kisses and snuggles during breaks,' she says, grinning when Beca cringes at her cutesy language. 'What, not tempted?'

She is, but plays it cool. By now her façade of not enjoying the attention Chloe bestows on her is so thin it's almost transparent, but it amuses Chloe when Beca pretends she's not into it. 'Alright,' she says with a nonchalant shrug. 'Next time I need somewhere to work, I'll come to your place.'

Chloe grins excitedly and bumps her body against Beca's. 'Yay! It was the snuggles that drew you in, wasn't it? You're so mushy,' she teases; Beca shakes her head in response, but affectionately. Chloe leans her head against Beca's shoulder, weight pressing comfortably into her side. 'This okay?' she asks absently, as she reaches for Beca's hand.

As she's nodding, something occurs to Beca. 'You know, you don't ask me that much anymore.'

'Oh. You're right,' says Chloe worriedly. 'I guess I started assuming certain things were okay now so I stopped asking. God, I'm sorry - should I have been?' Chloe makes as though she's about to retract her hand, but Beca grips it tightly.

'It's okay,' she reassures her. 'I'm pretty used to it by now.'

'I just forgot. You haven't said anything about it for a long time.'

'It's not a big deal - I got used to it for the most part. I think it's one of those things you have to practise, and I definitely get a lot of that with you. Besides, it's worth it.' Chloe's beaming at her; Beca returns it, confused at why she's smiling. 'What?'

'Nothing,' says Chloe softly. 'You're amazing. That's all.'

'Oh, well, tell me something I don't know.'

Chloe giggles. 'You really are though, seriously. You get upset about things you struggle with, but you always forget what you can do. No, don't make that face,' she berates her. 'Right: tell me three things you can do now that you couldn't do this time last year.'

Beca groans. Chloe likes to get her to do exercises like this - Beca thinks she fancies herself some kind of counselor. 'I can hug you,' she replies grudgingly, after Chloe gives her an expectant look. 'And hold hands.' She hesitates.

'That's only two,' Chloe is quick to point out.

'And... I can kiss you without worrying.'

The corner of Chloe's mouth quirks upwards. 'Oh really?'

'Usually,' Beca reminds her.

Chloe leans in closer. 'Prove it,' she challenges. Beca wants to laugh at Chloe's constant habit of wanting to kiss her in odd places, but as ever she doesn't put up much resistance anymore; Chloe meets her halfway and sighs happily into the kiss. Beca breaks it after only a short amount of time, wary of the people around them. Chloe hums a little in satisfaction. 'Well, you're definitely getting better at that every day.'

'Implying I wasn't awesome at it already.'

'And the size of your ego is increasing every day as well,' says Chloe, rapping lightly on Beca's head with her knuckles. 'I swear, soon you'll struggle to fit your headphones on because your head will be so big.' Chloe falls silent, watching some of the ducks wandering around the edge of the pond. Her features start going all soft; if allowed, Beca knows she could probably stay here for hours just looking at those damn ducks. 'I wish we had some bread to feed them.'

'Isn't that bad for them?'

'Is it?' asks Chloe in surprise; Beca shrugs, not even sure where she got that bit of information from. 'Wow. Didn't know you knew much about ducks.'

'Of course. During the day I am a DJ, but in the night I am the superhero, DG... Duck Girl,' Beca deadpans, making Chloe chuckle and swat at her.

'You're too cute sometimes,' says Chloe. Beca grins at that, turning towards her.

'Yeah?'

'Very.' Chloe leans in to kiss her again, longer than the one earlier. 'I've gotta go, but why don't you come over later? I want to make you dinner.'

It takes Beca a moment to blink back into awareness through her brain fog, still a little caught up in the kiss, but eventually she manages to get enough brainpower to say, 'Um, okay. That sounds nice. I have practice this afternoon but I can come over afterwards.'

Chloe grins broadly as she pecks Beca on the lips. 'Sounds good. I'll see you then?'

Beca nods, receiving yet another kiss - she seems to have a slight addiction to that - before Chloe hops up. As she walks away she's concentrating so hard on waving goodbye she nearly walks straight into someone walking along the path.

At least she's not the only one so completely caught up in the other to the point of distraction.

'Hey, B... Can I talk to you?'

Cynthia Rose shuffles up to Beca, looking nervously around at the other Bellas filing out of the door. Beca had very carefully not made any eye contact with her throughout practice, and had been hoping to run out to Chloe's before they could have this conversation; no such luck, however, as she Cynthia Rose walked straight over to her as soon as she dismissed practice. Beca tries her best to keep her face neutral as she says, 'Sure, what's up?'

'Uh, it's about what you walked in on earlier.' Beca doesn't feel the need to answer; she'd already guessed it was regarding that. Cynthia Rose takes a breath. 'I'm sorry you walked in on us,' she says in a rush. 'I feel like a douche. It's just, I was at her place last night and only meant to come by to pick up some stuff, but she came with me and then one thing led to another and clothes were coming off -'

Beca cuts her off, not willing to hear any more details. 'I get the picture,' she says, wincing a little. 'Don't worry, dude. Some warning would be nice, but it's cool. I'm not angry,' she reassures her when she still looks concerned, slightly bemused at the fact Cynthia Rose seems so upset about the idea of angering her.

'Right, right.' Cynthia Rose runs a hand over her hair, shifting from foot to foot. 'Will definitely put something up on the door handle or text you next time. Sorry again, B.'

'No prob.' Beca frowns, looking at Cynthia Rose a bit more closely. She seems unfocused, and far less bubbly than she normally is. 'Um, you okay?'

'What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine,' says Cynthia Rose after a few moments, seemingly not having even registered Beca spoke at first. 'Had a long night, is all. Oh. Hey, can you do me a favour?'

'Maybe?' answers Beca warily.

'Don't tell anyone about who the girl looked like? Especially not...' She struggles to finish the name, but Beca can easily guess who she means. She nods quickly; Cynthia Rose looks relieved. 'Awesome. Thanks.'

'Are you sure you're okay?'

'I'm great,' says Cynthia Rose unconvincingly. 'Anywho, gotta go. Places to be, and whatnot. I'll see you later?' she asks hopefully.

'Oh,' says Beca, suddenly remembering, 'No, sorry. I'm going to Chloe's.'

Cynthia Rose suddenly smirks. She coughs lightly into her fist to hide it. 'You know... You can always bring Chlo back to ours instead, if you want to,' she says, wiggling her eyebrows. 'I can go somewhere else, just send me a text or you can do the tie on the doorhandle thing too.'

It takes a moment, but when Beca realises what she's getting at, she flushes. 'Oh - uh, no, that's okay. We're not there yet.' Cynthia Rose's look of surprise makes Beca uneasy.

'Really? But Chloe's so - y'know, touchy-feely - I thought by now she would have...' She trails off at the expression on Beca's face.

'She would have what?' says Beca, with a touch more steel in her words than she would have liked.

'Nothing, nothing,' Cynthia Rose replies quickly, apparently realising she's touching on a sensitive issue. 'Just talking outta my ass as usual. Anyway, better go! Later.'

She scuttles off as fast she can after that, leaving Beca completely alone in the auditorium to clear up after practice. Even Amy didn't stay behind to help. Beca sighs as she collects her bag, stacking chairs on the way.

Just as Beca's stacking the last chair and making her way out the door, her phone starts ringing. Beca takes it out and lets out a deep sigh when she sees that it's her Dad calling. 'Hi, Dad,' she greets him, with little enthusiasm.

'Hello, Beca!' Apparently her dad has enough excitement for the both of them. 'I would have texted, but you appear to be ignoring them.'

'Ignore your texts? Perish the thought, father. I've had stuff to do, that's all.' Alright, maybe she has deliberately ignored a few. Or five, or six. But she's been busy.

Busy ignoring his texts, that is.

He lets out a very familiar long-suffering sigh. 'Don't worry, I won't monopolise any more of your precious time.' Who actually uses the word "monopolise" in an actual conversation? 'I'll cut to the chase: I wanted to see if you're available for dinner tomorrow night.'

Beca barely manages to suppress her groan, if only so her dad doesn't get mad at her. Although she tries quite hard to avoid these weekly dinners with whatever excuse with work, generally she has to turn up at least once a month or her dad will get pissed off. She's missed the last few since she came back to Barden. Unfortunately it seems he's getting wise to this, as he says wryly, 'So what excuse will it be today? Bellas practice? Shift at the station? Rabies?'

Beca winces; that last one happened last year. Desperate times called for desperate measures. 'That was one time, dad. Let it go.'

'Not a chance. So, what do you have to say then?'

Beca wracks her brains, but unfortunately she's coming up short. 'I... guess I don't have one,' she says through gritted teeth, already hating herself for admitting defeat.

'You don't?' Dr Mitchell sounds delighted. 'Wonderful!' And then, before Beca can say anything else, or hang up, 'Oh! Why don't you bring Chloe along?'

And here it is: his real agenda for wanting her to come over. And oh, no. No way. Chloe absolutely cannot be exposed to the mess that is the Mitchell family. Bad enough she has to deal with Beca. She lies quickly, 'I don't think she'd be that interested in coming.'

'Why not?'

'She's got stuff to do.'

'What stuff? Rabies?'

'Will you let that go already?!' says Beca in frustration. 'I dunno, stuff! She's a busy woman. She doesn't want to be hanging around doing a stupid family dinner with you and the step-m - Sheila,' she corrects herself, hearing her father about to let out that long-suffering sigh again. 'Trust me, it's not her thing at all.'

'Hmm,' says her father, with an annoyingly knowing tone. Beca puts her hand over her face, wondering if he'll hear it if she bangs her head repeatedly against the wall; she knows where this is going. Romantic advice, à la Dr Mitchell. Ever since she and Chloe got together officially he's been imparting all kinds of relationship wisdom to her in some misguided attempt to connect with his only daughter. Yeah, like she's going to listen to someone who's already been divorced once so he could go be with Sheila, of all people.

'What is it now?' asks Beca flatly.

'I think I know what's really going on here. I was the same when your mother met my family. Although, that was partly because she had a tendency to wear knitted cardigans, and you know how Nonna Mitchell feels about them.'

'Dad, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.'

'Well,' he says, 'it seems obvious to me that you're scared about introducing Chloe to us.'

'What?' Beca splutters. 'I am not scared!'

'Are you sure? Because I think you're only saying she won't want to come because you're worried she'll say no, or will judge you based on.'

Beca doesn't know how to answer that, given that he's kind of, ever so slightly, right. But she won't admit that to him, because he gets so stupidly smug when he manages to tap into even a tiny amount of truth. It's as though he believes he knows the root of all her problems, and by pointing these things out to her she'll suddenly throw her arms around him and cry tearfully, 'Oh, father! You have cured me of all my social dysfunctions!' Fat chance.

He's still going. 'She isn't going to do that, Beca, not if she really cares about you. And if she's not available this weekend there's other weekends.' After a moment where Beca continues to be silent, he adds, 'I really do want to meet her, Beca.'

'Why?'

'I want to meet the one person who's managed to get you to open up,' he says. That sigh again. She's beginning to wonder if he has a lung problem or something, since surely it's not normal to sigh this often. 'She's the only thing you'll actually talk about for more than five seconds. With everything else I just get one word answers, sarcasm or grunts as an answer.'

Beca grinds her teeth. He's pulling the wounded father card again - the whiny "I always try so hard and you knock me back every time, what more can I possibly do" thing he does when Beca isn't quite being the dutiful daughter he expects. She wants, more than anything, to just tell him to fuck off and hang up.

But... On the other hand, Chloe has been dropping hints about meeting her dad for a while now (such as asking, 'When can I meet your family?' - subtlety is not usually Chloe's strong suit). And she'll have to go either way eventually, so she might as well have company that doesn't make her want to strangle herself with the ugly tassels on Sheila's couch.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Nope, Beca thinks, remembering who she's talking about. It'd still be awful.

'Just ask her,' he presses. 'You won't know unless you try.'

'I'll do my best,' she replies finally, mostly because she has to leave soon to go to Chloe's and she just wants this call to end. 'But I can't make any promises. And also, Dad, if she does come, you can't be weird around her, okay? No embarrassing stories, no protective father act, no grilling her about random stuff. Just be normal - if you even know how,' she adds, muttering the last bit.

'I don't know what you mean,' replies Dr Mitchell. 'I'll see if I can find your baby photos, though. I'm sure Chloe would love that cute one of you in the bathtub.'

He hangs up, before Beca can yell at him.

She lets out a long-suffering sigh.

A/N: More Chloe next chapter, and we finally start picking up the plot in earnest :D (Although, if you missed her here, that was kind of the point).