A/N: Not to worry, the story is still going (been working my butt off trying to fix the plot). Although January is exam and essay deadline time for me, I'll do my best to update!

There's vomit in this chapter, briefly. I feel like that might need a warning. Then again, if you've watched PP...

It's far too early in the morning when Aubrey arrives and starts banging on the door of Chloe's apartment, especially since Beca didn't actually fall asleep until quite late in the night. However, it is not the banging which wakes them - which goes on for several minutes, unnoticed by the two girls snoring away in the bed - but the angry call that comes along with it.

Blearily, Beca sits up and tries to locate her phone. She tries to answer it, but ends up just gazing at it in confusion when she realises the screen is blank - until suddenly Chloe's thrusting her own phone in Beca's face. 'Get rid of it,' Chloe moans, nearly hitting Beca in the eye with her eagerness to get rid of it. 'Make it stop.'

'Okay, okay.' It's Aubrey, of course. When Beca picks up, she barely gets out a tired, 'Hello,' before Aubrey snaps, 'I'm outside'. She then hangs up.

Beca sighs. 'Aubrey's here,' she tells Chloe, but she doesn't respond beyond a grunt. Rolling her eyes, Beca reluctantly leaves the warmth of the bed to go answer the door, which is so loud Beca isn't sure how Chloe could be sleeping through it. Next to Chloe's warmth the room is freezing, so she snatches up one of her sweaters on the way to pull on over... The shirt she was wearing last night. Huh. It finally hits her that she fell asleep in Chloe's bed last night instead of relocating to the sofa at some point like she'd planned originally - but she'll have to process that one later, because apparently Aubrey still doesn't know how to knock on doors like a human being.

'Chloe's sick,' says Beca bluntly, as soon as she's opened the door.

Aubrey doesn't look particularly pleased to see Beca there, but nor does she look surprised; she frowns, pushing past Beca to get into the apartment. 'Sick? But I'm only here for a weekend.' Her tone, while sympathetic, is undoubtedly annoyed - like Chloe should have been able to hold it in until Aubrey had left. 'Where is she? In bed?'

'Yep,' replies Beca, popping the "p". 'She looked pretty terrible when you woke her up - oh, thanks for that, by the way. Should I go see if she's well enough to see you?' She wisely doesn't add the sarcastic 'm'lady' that she's thinking of at the end.

Aubrey's busy making herself at home on the couch. 'Yes, go on then.'

Beca waits for her to say please, or thanks, at least something to indicate that she knows how actual conversation works as well. Nothing comes, so she heads back into the bedroom, disgruntled.

Chloe moans in displeasure when Beca walks back in, rolling over onto her side. Now she's a little more coherent and her vision is less blurry, Beca realises that at some point during the night Chloe seems to have stripped down to her underwear; although she has the comforter pulled all the way up to her chin, the little pile of clothes on the floor is a bit of a giveaway. While her brain is taking this in, Chloe decides to remind Beca that she's sick again, and that this is a really bad time to get worked up about seeing your girlfriend in fewer layers of clothes.

'Too loud. Be quieter.'

'Sorry, sorry,' says Beca, shutting the door as quietly and quickly as she can. She creeps over to Chloe, putting a hand on her bare shoulder, which is just about visible. 'How're you feeling?'

'No,' comes the muffled response, which pretty much sums this whole experience up as far as Beca is concerned. Looking after sick people has never been her forte at the best of times, let alone when she has no other choice. It's why she became a DJ - the less social contact, the better.

'Still ill?'

'Mm. Headache. I'm aching everywhere.'

'What do you think is causing it?'

She hears Chloe make an irritable noise. 'I don't know. I'm just sick.'

'Ah…' She sits down next to Chloe, gently stroking her hair. It helps a little, since Chloe relaxes into her touch. Well, at least Beca can do that. 'Can I get you anything?'

'No...' She pauses. 'Actually, maybe some water.'

'Sure.' Then she remembers . 'Oh, wait. Aubrey's here.'

The muscles underneath Beca's fingers tense for a moment as Chloe stills, and then suddenly she sits up. 'Shit!' Sitting up that fast was evidently a mistake, however, as she has to throw out a hand to grab onto Beca so she can keep her balance - Beca does her best to keep her upright, but she's pretty much a dead weight today. 'Shit, I completely forgot Bree was coming! Oh my God...'

'It's okay,' Beca says, reaching behind Chloe to pull her pillow upright and push her back onto it to support her back. 'She knows you're ill.'

'No, you don't understand,' says Chloe, upset. She pushes Beca out of the way and jumps out of bed, already visibly imbalanced. 'We've been planning this visit for ages - I won't be able to see her for so long after this. Oh my God, I can't believe I'm sick today, of all days!'

'You can't help being ill, Chlo. She'll understand.' Chloe's not listening however, too busy trying to find her clothes without opening her eyes.'Chloe, just go back to bed. Do you really think you're up for seeing Aubrey right now?'

'No, I have to go talk -' Chloe stops in the middle of putting her shirt on, her sentence fading away as her eyes fall shut.

'Chloe?' asks Beca warily. 'You... okay?'

'No...' she whimpers, a hand coming up to cover her mouth.

'What is it?' Beca stands up - and from this new angle, she can see Chloe has begun to sway slightly, and that her face has gone very, very green. It doesn't take a genius to know what's coming.

'AUBREY!'

Aubrey rushes in at the sound of Beca's yell - past Beca herself, who is currently running in the opposite direction - and rolls her eyes as soon as she sees what's happening. She goes out into the kitchen and pulls a bucket out from underneath the sink, filling it with some warm water. She also retrieves some rubber gloves, cleaning fluid, and sponges from the same cupboard. 'What kind of girlfriend are you that you can't even deal with her puke?' she snaps, while the water is running.

'One with a weak stomach, apparently.' Beca wipes her forehead. She can still feel her insides churning at the memory of it. 'Ugh. Nope, nope, nope. It was everywhere.'

Aubrey's scoff is derisive, but Beca can't really argue back in case she makes her clear it up. She carries the bucket off into Chloe's bedroom; meanwhile, Beca sits down on the couch and tries to take deep breaths and not think about it, so as not to add to Aubrey's workload. She can hear Chloe and Aubrey talking in hushed tones from the next room, but can't make out actual words. The reminder that they have some sort of secret thing going on doesn't make her vague nausea any better.

Surprisingly, it doesn't take Aubrey very long to return - by which time Beca has pulled out her phone and found videos of puppies to get her mind off things. She's just watching one of a French bulldog refusing to go to bed when Aubrey walks back in, now carrying some sheets across the top of the bucket. 'You can go back in now, if you want,' says Aubrey, with a severe look at Beca as she pulls off her rubber gloves. 'Really, there was hardly anything there. You're a wimp.'

Considering Aubrey just had to clean up her girlfriend's vomit for her, for once, Beca decides that it's not worth retorting. 'Thanks. I owe you, dude.'

'I'll hold you to that,' Aubrey sniffs. But when Beca doesn't move, her brow knits. 'Well? Aren't you going in?'

'Don't you want to see her?'

She folds her arms. 'It's not me she asked for.'

Silence falls, where Beca tries to look anywhere but Aubrey. Her statement is delivered in flat tones, but after a year of trying (and sometimes not) to get on Aubrey's last nerve with every practice, Beca knows her tells when she's upset - that jaw twitch is very distinctive. Still, Beca should probably put her girlfriend duties first - unless running out on Chloe has put her in the doghouse now. Damn. Yeah, she'd better go in there and suck it up.

Bad choice of words.

'Oh. Uh... I'll be back in a sec, then.' Beca stands up and awkwardly shuffles out of the room, avoiding eye contact the whole way.

Chloe's bedroom smells pretty heavily of whatever Aubrey used to clean the carpet, and Chloe herself is currently curled up in a ball at the bottom of her bed. Any trace of... yeah, has been removed, but there is a slight wet stain on the floor which Beca decides not to think too hard about. When she raises her head to look at Beca, her cheeks are tear-stained and she's squinting slightly, looking pained; Beca realises this is because Aubrey left the light on. She flips the switch. 'Feeling any better?'

Chloe groans, unfurling her body from the clenched position she was previously in. 'Physically, I feel a little better, but… Mostly, I'm embarrassed. God, I'm so sorry, Bec.'

'Hey, you can't help it.' She sits on the bed next to Chloe, legs folded underneath her; Chloe immediately leans her forehead against her thigh. 'I'm just sorry I'm a wuss about it.' Chloe shrugs half-heartedly, pushing her tangled hair out of her eyes. She makes a face at her hand.

'Ugh - I'm a mess. I look so gross.'

'No you don't.'

'Don't lie, Beca.'

'I'm not. I mean, you're a little sweaty, sure, but who isn't now and then?' Beca's not so great at the placating-your-girlfriend act, apparently, and it's blatantly obvious. She looks up at Beca, a half smile on her lips.

'You're really bad at that.'

Beca sighs. 'Yeah, I know. But I'm working on it.'

'Mm. Gonna need a lot of work.'

'You're awfully snarky for someone who just threw up on the floor.' Beca winces, and so does Chloe. 'Sorry. Foot, meet mouth. Oh wait, you guys are already friends, my bad...'

'It's okay.'

It's obviously not okay. Why is she so bad at this? At just acting like a normal, caring human being instead of the sarcastic shit she always is? It always looks so easy in those damn movies of Jesse's to get the girl swooning - wait. Movies. Ah, there's something she can do without messing it up. 'Hey, why don't you get back into bed?' she suggests, barely able to keep the triumphant note out of her voice. 'We'll watch a movie on so you can relax a bit and forget about how much of an idiot I am?'

Chloe squints at her. 'But you hate movies,' she says suspiciously, as though it's completely unheard of for Beca to do things she's not a fan of for Chloe - as though their entire relationship wasn't almost entirely based on that concept.

'Yeah. But you like them. And I like you, so I guess I'll just have to manage.' She twitches her thigh, nudging Chloe off it. 'Go on, get in. I'll go find something to put on.' While Chloe crawls back into bed, she goes back out into the living room. Aubrey is still there, sitting on the couch with her hands folded in her lap.

Beca watches her as Aubrey gazes off into the distance. She actually looks... Rather lost? Then again, it can't be easy when you've travelled miles to see your best friend and she's too sick to see you. She's mostly surprised that Aubrey is showing genuine emotion with Beca in the room. Maybe they do have more in common than she thought.

She clears her throat, getting Aubrey's attention. 'Uh, hey. We're going to watch a film together.'

'Good for you,' says Aubrey politely, turning back to the front. 'She'll like that.'

Beca rubs the back of her head, unable to believe she's suggesting this. But Aubrey hasn't looked so forlorn since they didn't place at Regionals, and it's very obvious why that is - she feels somewhat responsible. 'Did you... want to join us? She'd like you to be there.'

Aubrey's head shoots up in surprise, and for a moment she looks tempted. But then she bites her lip and looks back down at her lap. 'No, it's fine. She needs her rest.'

'Well, we're going to do it anyway. One extra person won't hurt.'

'No, I...' She sighs. 'You should be with her.'

'She won't mind, obviously.' Aubrey just takes a long breath in and lets it out, but doesn't respond any more. 'Uh. Is something wrong?'

That twitch is back. Aubrey casts an irritated look at Beca. 'No. Nothing is wrong.' She stands up and throws on her coat in one smooth movement, now aggressively doing up the buttons.

Beca inwardly rolls her eyes at Aubrey's dramatics. 'Where are you going now?'

'I'm going see if any of the other Bellas would like to do some catching up. Andmaybe Chloe will be feeling better later when I come back.'

Beca is beginning to get rather sick of Aubrey's attitude. 'Aubrey, she can't help being ill.'

Aubrey scowls. 'I never said that. Of course I don't blame her for being sick!' She shakes her head, muttering to herself. 'Never mind. You wouldn't understand.'

'Try me. This might surprise you, but sometimesI do have feelings.'

Aubrey snorts. 'I'll believe that when I see it.'

She takes a wild stab in the dark at what's going on here. Although, maybe it's not a wild stab if it's blatantly obvious. 'Doyou want to go look after her instead?'

When Aubrey freezes as she's doing up her last button, Beca knows she's hit onto something. 'No, that's fine,' says Aubrey, sounding defeated. 'You're her girlfriend, or whatever. You should probably be the one in there.'

'You don't seem very sure about that.'

Aubrey huffs, finally doing up that final button. She reaches for her bag again, turning her back on Beca. 'It'sfine.'

'You're still her best friend, and stuff. She still needs you.'

'Would you let it go?' she snarls. 'I told you - it's fine.'

Giving up, Beca tries something else. 'Hey, why don't you go see Unicycle? I'm sure he'd like to see you.'

She doesn't even look at Beca. 'We broke up.'

Oops. 'Oh... Sorry,' she says, shifting her weight from foot to foot. She just wants to get the movie and run back into Chloe's room. Even the smell of bleach is better than this. 'What happened?'

'Distance,' says Aubrey flatly. 'He couldn't handle it. Apparently.'

'Oh, that really sucks. But there's... Other fish in the sea?' Beca squints one eye. Relationship advice isn't really her forte, despite being in one herself. Aubrey sniffs.

'Yes, thank you Beca. I'm going to leave now before you start spouting other clichés.'

'Hey!' she exclaims, but the door has already slammed behind Aubrey.

Oh well. She tried... Badly.

Beca retrieves Chloe's laptop, finds the cheesiest looking romcom she can find in her bookcase, then quickly makes her way back into Chloe's room. She smiles weakly when Beca returns, looking like she's half asleep already. That's good - maybe then Beca won't have to sit through an entire film. Is that selfish? No, she decides - just preserving her sanity.

'I think Aubrey might actually be jealous of me,' says Beca incredulously, sliding into bed next to Chloe and loading up the DVD. 'She was acting really weird when I asked her to join us. And then she just left. What's that about?'

Chloe yawns, snuggling up to Beca's side. 'She always has been,' she says sleepily. 'I think, anyway.'

'She was?'

'Totes. Because you're so awesome, and pretty, and musical... And stuff.' She nuzzles Beca's hip, throwing one arm over it. 'Who wouldn't be jealous?'

'I don't know about that, Chlo.' Although inside, she's rather pleased to hear it. 'I just meant that she seems jealous of our relationship... Should I be worried about you two?' she says, only half joking. It does seem a little odd for Aubrey to act so hostile if they're only friends. And there's that whole thing about their Skype talks...

But Chloe's making a face, looking like she wants to make a repeat performance of earlier. 'Ew, no. Aubrey's hot, but... no.' Hearing Chloe say that she thinks Aubrey is hot is not quite what she wanted to hear. But what she says next is. 'Besides... It's you that I want.'

'Really?' Chloe nods as fervently as she can with her face pressed into Beca's side. 'Cool.'

She giggles, reaching over to link her fingers with Beca's. 'You're an idiot, sometimes. But... You're my idiot, so it's okay.'

Beca smiles. 'Well, as long as I'm only an idiot around you.'

'I hope so.'

Chloe mumbles that last bit so quietly that it's obvious she's beginning to fall asleep again. As Beca loads up the DVD for real now, she gazes down at Chloe out of the corner of her eye. Sometimes she really does have to pinch herself, because to be sitting in bed with Chloe Beale and have her go to Beca for comfort when she's sick - well, last year it would've seemed impossible. Back then it always seemed like Beca was the one with the problems.

It's been difficult to remember it lately because of all her paranoia about what's going on with Chloe, and with her getting sick. Yet it strikes Beca in this moment that she's really lucky. Lucky to have someone who cares for her so much, and is helping her to get to a place where she can be both a functional human being and a halfway decent girlfriend. That takes a lot of patience. And she realises now that she's never properly thanked her for that.

Beca leans down and gently strokes a thumb over Chloe's face, not even caring how much of a dork she looks like doing it for once. Chloe doesn't stir, which might be what gives her the courage to whisper, 'I really hope you're asleep right now, because I kind of want to say something really mushy and possibly really commitment-y to you right now, and I want to be able to pretend it didn't happen later on.' There's a long pause, and Beca starts to think Chloe is actually asleep. She's really tempted to say it.

But then she has to ruin it.

'I'm asleep,' Chloe mumbles.

Beca sits back, slightly disappointed and not sure why. 'You know, you could have just pretended you were asleep just then.'

'Mm. But I don't want you to pretend it didn't happen,' she says, her eyes flickering open for just a moment, then falling closed again because she's too sleepy to keep them open. 'I want you to want to say it.'

Fair point. 'Alright. You might have to wait a bit longer, though.'

'That's okay,' she says with a sigh, but there's an upward turn to her lips. 'Do you mind if I sleep while I wait?'

Beca laughs. 'No, go right ahead.' With that permission, Chloe is asleep within seconds. It's kind of amazing, the ease with which she can fall in and out of sleep. She abandons the film, and makes some halfhearted decision to do some work or something, but as usual that is discarded in favour of absentmindedly stroking Chloe's hair and gazing off into space.

Yeah, this isn't so bad, she decides. She's been worried about Chloe, lately, but maybe things are on the way to getting better. Unfortunately it makes a lot of sense that Chloe is ill - the poor girl has obviously been working herself into the ground, so it's clear Beca's going to have to try harder to help her out and make sure she rests more. Maybe she could learn to cook or something so Chloe actually has a decent meal to eat the end of the day? Or she could come over more often to check up on her. Time to actually learn how to be a decent girlfriend, at any rate.

As she's thinking, Chloe's phone buzzes on the counter, and, simultaneously, an iMessage notification comes up on Chloe's laptop screen. She tries not to look to respect her privacy, but the name on the screen still manages to catch her attention - and by the time she's looked at that, it's way too late for the message that she reads (albeit cut off by the screen) not to make Beca's insides twist and go numb.

Kate

Hey. I was wondering... Can we meet up soon? I know it's

She has to remind herself at the last moment not to cry out verbally, or wake Chloe in any way; she forces herself to take a deep breath in, and then a deep breath out. But it does nothing to calm her thoughts, because they're already racing ahead - is this a message fromKate, Kate? Luke's brother? She doesn't know - there's no last name attached. But whoever it is, why are they meeting up? Why are they in contact?

(No. She needs to calm down, because freaking out is exactly what she shouldn't be doing right now. She needs to wake Chloe and ask her calmly what's going on.)

But is it even Kate? Chloe's never mentioned another Kate before. What if it's a colleague or someone she used to know from college? Something in Beca's gut keeps telling her that this is definitely the Kate, and that Chloe's been talking to her. Behind her back.

(Stop freaking out. This is dumb. Just ask her!)

She feels trapped in this bed. When she tries to get up, Chloe whimpers in her sleep and clutches onto her tighter. She can't leave, or Chloe will know something is wrong. And what if she's just overreacting? She can't say anything, or Chloe will think she's been reading her messages, and then there'll be an argument. She just can't handle that right now. Not after literally just thinking that things were getting better - it's like some kind of cosmic joke. Like she isn't allowed to be happy, for once.

(She can be happy. It's all in her head, anyway... It's all because she keeps overreacting. If she wasn't so prone to jumping to conclusions, this wouldn't happen.)

Rationality doesn't seem to be gelling with Beca today, though, because a rational person probably would've done something completely different to just sitting in bed with Chloe for a few hours while she thinks. It's easy to zone out and completely ignore Chloe, who falls in and out of consciousness the whole time with barely a stir and a mumble of Beca's name (good, it's her name). As long as Beca keeps up a mechanical stroking of her hair, she's none the wiser of the feelings swirling about inside Beca, or the panic beginning to build.

In the back of her mind she knows talking to Chloe would be the best option - but immediately dismisses that idea, because oh God, what if it's really happening? What if she asks Chloe about it... and she's right? But then she sways back in the other way, knowing that she should say something about it to Chloe for her own peace of mind - but then she's back to worrying about her worries coming true.

She barely resists the urge to read the other messages to find out, because okay, no, she doesn't want to be right.

It's far easier to just sit here and soothe Chloe back to sleep whenever she stirs. Easier to wait for Aubrey to come back - who, Beca has realised, must have some idea of what's been happening. She suspects this has been what all those Skype chats were about. If she confronts her directly, maybe she'll give Beca a straight answer. And if she doesn't, well. Beca doesn't mind arguing with Aubrey. She's not worried about Aubrey dumping her, laughing in her face, and ruining her life.

Sometime around noon, when Beca's butt has long gone numb from sitting in the same spot for ages, Chloe wakes up a little more fully than usual. She stretches out alongside Beca, arm tightening around Beca briefly. She croaks, 'Hey.'

She seems to sense something is wrong immediately, perhaps because of the way Beca finds herself unable to respond in any manner. Her hand searches unsteadily over Beca's body, trying to find out its partner - finding it reluctant and resistant to being held. Chloe makes a valiant attempt at sitting up, but can't hold it for too long before sagging back into the bed.

'You okay?' she asks.

Beca tries to smile at her. It's not hard, in spite of the way she's feeling inside. Chloe does look rather amusing with her hair so mussed up, and pillow prints on her face. 'Yeah. Are you?'

'A little better,' says Chloe hoarsely, 'probably because you're here.'

That makes the smile disappear again. How can she say that if she's been messaging Kate behind her back, trying to salvage their relationship? 'Yeah.'

Chloe knows for sure something is up now. 'What's wrong?'

'There isn't, I ... Just go back to sleep.'

Chloe gazes up at her - to Beca's disappointment, her eyelids are already drooping. She's in no fit state to provide comfort, or reassure Beca that she's completely misinterpreted this whole situation. She tries to fill in the gaps herself - It's just the one text. Chloe loves you, she wouldn't cheat on you - but there's still that bit of doubt in her mind that secretly knows she doesn't believe any of the logical, reasoned arguments she has against this. It's frustrating, like those thoughts have been somehow soaped up and won't let her hold onto them firmly for more than a second.

And looking down at Chloe now, seeing her eyes staring back at, Beca doesn't think she could bear hearing if she's right or not from Chloe. The only thing she can agree with her mind on is that she should talk to Aubrey, instead.

'It's okay,' she insists. 'I'm just worried about you.'

Well, it's not a lie.

'Go back to sleep. It's fine.'

That's a lie.

But Chloe seems to believe it. She nods slowly, still not in this world. 'Okay,' she says, laying her head back down, forehead pressed against Beca's hip. 'Okay.' Showing her talent for falling asleep too quickly again, within moments she's unconscious again.

If nothing else, the fact that Chloe can fall asleep so quickly and deeply makes Beca feel a lot better about the fact that she can't stop herself from crying.

Not long after this conversation, Beca finally hears the door open and close and knows Aubrey is back.

Immediately (albeit still quietly, so as not to wake Chloe) Beca leaps out of bed and speeds into the living room. Aubrey looks up in alarm, to see Beca pink-cheeked, red-eyed and scowling at her. 'Outside,' she hisses furiously, pointing to the hallway.

It must be surprise that makes Aubrey actually listen to her directions for once, as she obediently walks back into the hallway. Beca is about to slam the front door, but thinks better of it - she doesn't want to wake Chloe and have her come investigating what all the noise is. Still, Aubrey does not look happy to be ordered around; she folds her arms, asking flatly, 'Mitchell, what are you doing?'

'I need to talk to you,' she says. She's been waiting for this for hours, but now she's got the chance to talk her tongue is tripping up over the words. Aubrey takes advantage of the lull in her brain processing power for more snark.

'Yes, I was rather hoping you had asked me to come out here for a reason, instead of just so you could gape unattractively at me.'

'Chloe got a text,' Beca says, deciding to not respond to Aubrey's sarcasm, and to just get to the point.

'Ah,' replies Aubrey, sounding bored. 'And what does that have to do with me?'

'A text from Kate,' Beca goes on. 'You know, her ex-girlfriend?' Aubrey's face drops, all but confirming Beca's fears, but she still has more to say. 'She asked if they could meet up soon. I didn't see if they'd been messaging back and forth before and how long it's been going on for, but something tells me it's way more than just this time.'

'Kate messaged her?' Aubrey bites her lip absently, looking troubled. 'Are you sure it was her?'

'Yes.' She isn't.

'How?'

'I just know it is.'

'But how, though? You could be wrong.'

'I'm not wrong.'

'You're just making a baseless assumption based on one text message,' replies Aubrey. 'It could be anyone. You need to calm down and get a grip on yourself.'

Beca slams her fist into the wall, making Aubrey jump. The adrenaline that's been building all morning is beginning to peak, making her fingers tingle and her legs start to shake. 'I don't care, Aubrey, I know it's her!' Beca shouts; her voice cracks in the middle of the sentence. 'Did you know about this, anyway? Have you guys just been laughing about it behind my back?'

'No, Beca. Stop yelling, you'll wake her -'

'Is this how she wanted me to find out that she's cheating on me? She couldn't tell me herself?'

'Beca -'

She's starting to cry. 'I can't believe this, and I can't believe you, Aubrey - I thought even if we're not properly friends you wouldn't let her do this to me - I trusted both of you -'

'Beca, be quiet for one minute!' Aubrey screeches; the surprising volume makes Beca falls silent and take a step back. She smiles mirthlessly. That jaw twitch is back. 'Are you going to listen to me now?'

'Depends,' says Beca. The anger is gone as quickly as it came. Humiliated, she wipes away her tears, hating that her righteous anger could translate so easily into crying. In front of Aubrey. 'Are you going to actually say anything worse listening to?'

'Shut up,' Aubrey growls. 'Now. To answer your questions... No, we have not been talking about Chloe seeing Kate being your back. I am not done,' she interrupts, when Beca starts to speak. 'I let you rant about nothing, now it's my turn. There are several things wrong with everything you've been saying.' She counts them on her fingers. 'Number one: there is no way Chloe would be cheating. Number two: that's not what we've been discussing, anyway. And finally, number three: I didn't even know she was in contact with Kate, either, so how could we be talking about it?'

'You... didn't?' Aubrey shakes her head. 'But...' So does that mean there's something else Chloe has been keeping from her?

'Chloe wouldn't do that to you,' says Aubrey. 'For whatever reason, she does love you. And she doesn't cheat.'

'But then... What is it that she's refusing to tell me about? Which you guys keep talking about when I'm not there?'

'I can't tell you. But it's not about Kate. Or anything along those lines, for that matter.'

'So she doesn't cheat, but she's happy to keep other secrets from me? For "my own good"?' she spits, putting the last part in inverted commas. 'How the fuck is that okay?'

Aubrey hesitates. 'Well, I'm not going to say I agree with Chloe's decision not to tell you what's going on, Beca, because I don't. But as her best friend, I have to support her with it.'

'... Wow.' Beca closes her eyes. 'And does no one care about how I feel? How about how frustrating it is walking around like nothing's wrong, when Chloe is deliberately and obviously keeping shit from me?'

'She wouldn't do it if it wasn't in your best interest.'

'Wouldn't she?' says Beca skeptically.

'No.' Aubrey's denial is firm. 'Trust me. Although I think she should tell you about this, I know why she isn't - she doesn't want to worry you.'

'Maybe I want to be worried. At least I'd be in the loop, then.' Beca growls in frustration, pressing her fingers against her eyes where she can feel a potential migraine building. 'I just don't know what the hell is going on with her. I thought maybe a lot of it was due to exhaustion or illness, but now I feel like she's... slipping away, somehow. Which is dumb, because she's still right there.'

Aubrey chuckles slightly, and when Beca looks at her, she's smiling sadly. 'You too, huh?'

'What does that mean?'

'I feel the same way,' says Aubrey. 'Chloe's been distancing herself from me, too. That's why it was hard to see you guys together, being so coupley and happy - or so I thought. But it seems it's not just me, after all.'

'... Oh.' In a way, that is somewhat comforting; Beca hadn't realised, but she'd been thinking the same thing, too. That it was just her. That she was the one that was changing.

'Beca...' Aubrey looks like what she's about to say is paining her. 'Ah - I can't believe I'm saying this...'

'What?'

Aubrey screws her face up. 'Look... I know we've had our differences in the past, and we didn't always get on that well. But since you're now Chloe's girlfriend and it seems like you'll be sticking around...' She glances at Beca here, as though to verify this statement - Beca nods vigorously. Aubrey turns to stare at the wall. 'Since we both have Chloe as common ground but we're both struggling with what's going on with her right now... If you ever want to...' Aubrey trails off, but Beca knows what she means.

'Wait,' says Beca, holding up her hand. 'Is this a parallel universe?'

'Huh?'

'Never mind.' She studies Aubrey, but she seems genuine. 'Do you actually mean that?'

'Yes, I do. At least, I think so,' she says, crossing her arms. 'I don't know exactly what's going on with Chloe, but she's starting to behave more and more erratically ever since she graduated. And... I'm worried about her.'

'Yeah,' says Beca, sighing heavily. 'Same.'

'What are you going to do about Kate?' asks Aubrey, changing the subject.

'You know, for one amazing second, I actually forgot she was a problem.' Beca leans against the wall, wishing she had somewhere to sit down. Her legs don't feel like they can carry her anymore. 'I really don't know - I didn't think she'd actually contact Chloe again.' At Aubrey's confused look, Beca realises she's left an important detail out. 'I've known Kate was arounnd for a while - Luke mentioned that he was having problems with her. I was hoping she wasn't dumb enough to actually try and contact Chloe, but apparently I thought wrong...'

Aubrey arches an eyebrow. 'So you're angry at her for not telling you that Kate contacted her, but you didn't mention she had come back?'

'What would have been the point of that?'

'Maybe she could have used a warning,' Aubrey reminds her. 'Maybe you're wrong and Kate just messaged her out of the blue, today. Getting sudden messages from your ex is never fun.'

'Well - I didn't think Kate would actually contact her,' Beca splutters, although Aubrey is right, of course. 'I thought she didn't want anything to do with Chloe.'

'Well, you didn't know that, you just assumed,' Aubrey shoots back. 'Besides, couldn't you have just asked her directly instead of coming out to yell at me about it?'

'No.'

'Why not?'

'... I didn't want to be right.'

Aubrey rolls her eyes. 'God. I forget how young and naive you are, sometimes.'

'Gee, thanks.'

'I just mean that you have nothing to worry about with her and Kate. But you should probably hear that from her - by talking to her,' says Aubrey, with a pointed look at the door. When Beca looks pained, Aubrey rolls her eyes. 'Okay, somewhere along the line you need to learn how to communicate with your girlfriend.'

'I know, I just... I'm worried,' Beca says, hardly able to believe she's admitting such a thing to Aubrey. 'I don't want to rock the boat in case I mess everything up.'

Aubrey gazes at her for a few moments, then sighs. 'Alright. Well, regardless of what happens, you have to go in there and talk to her yourself, because if you leave it then the boat is just going to sink. I'll stick around, though,' she adds, as an afterthought, when Beca looks put out. 'In case you need help getting Chloe's head on straight again. Figuratively speaking.'

Beca snorts, but she knows Aubrey means well. ''Kay. Thanks.' She reaches out her hand to Aubrey. Aubrey gazes at it like Beca is going to infect her; Beca just rolls her eyes and indicates what she wants her to do. Cautiously, Aubrey meets Beca's fist with hers, flushing slightly as she does so; Beca smirks. 'Did we just have a moment?'

'Oh for God's sake, just get in there!'

She makes sure to be quiet when she opens the door, but Chloe doesn't stir, even when Beca perches on the end of the bed.

Maybe this is a bad idea. Does she really want to bring this up and potentially ruin everything? She can easily just pretend she hasn't seen. After all, what if it turns out that she's wrong after all, and it's some other Kate? She'll look like an idiot, and probably come across like some jealous, possessive girlfriend going through Chloe's texts as well. But then again, the whole situation with Kate hardly counts as a "normal" seeing-a-message-from-an-ex kind of thing, anyway, so surely Beca is entitled to be a little concerned.

Maybe Beca would leave it if this was the only time she'd felt like Chloe was keeping things back from her. But Aubrey seems sure that this isn't what they've been talking about in hushed tones on Skype, which means there's something else she's not telling her. Something big, probably, or she would have said already.

Perhaps she's sick - but no, Beca remembers with some relief, she'd promised that no one was in danger. She hopes she can trust Chloe on that, at least... But part of her still wonders. It almost feels like she doesn't even know Chloe anymore. The Chloe she used to know would never have kept stuff back from her. In fact, she was probably open to a fault about her feelings. What's changed since then and now?

They have, Beca realises, beginning to feel a bit sick. They're in a relationship now - it has to be about them. That's the only thing that's different, now.

Or is Beca just being her usual paranoid self? Chloe's in there somewhere. And she probably wouldn't cuddle up to Beca the way she did this morning or call her in the middle of the night if she was planning on them breaking up.

Overreacting, as usual.

'What's up?' Chloe mumbles, giving Beca enough of a fright that she nearly falls off the bed. How much has she heard? Is it possible to hear the conversations going on in the corridor from this bedroom? Probably. Although Chloe did sleep through Aubrey's banging on the door this morning, so she can't really tell.

When she's righted herself, Beca asks cautiously, 'How long have you been awake?'

'A while,' Chloe replies tiredly, rolling onto her back and stretching her limbs until they pop. 'Woke up and you weren't here... You were gone for ages.'

'Whelp. I'm here now.' The smile she gives Chloe attempts to be something along the lines of optimistic and caring, but as usual, Beca's inability to do more than just bare her teeth comes back to bite her. Chloe only has to look at her to know something's wrong.

'Where'd you go, anyway?'

Beca takes a breath, dropping her head. She chooses her next words delicately. 'I was talking to Aubrey.'

'Really? You guys are being oddly buddy-buddy at the moment.' Chloe is watching her, taking in the nervous bounce of Beca's leg and the way she keeps taking deep breaths, over and over, in a fruitless attempt to stabilise herself. 'Okay, you're still acting weird. What's the matter?'

She stares at Chloe, trying to work out what to do. Does she really want to do this? It could all horribly, horribly go wrong.

Yes, says a little voice in her head which sounds disturbingly like Aubrey. Come on. Just say it. It's not as bad as you're imagining.

When Beca still is unable to speak, Chloe struggles up into a seated position. 'Hey... What's up?' She fumbles for Beca's hand, probably finding it cold and clammy. 'You're scaring me.'

'It's nothing.'

'It's obviously not if you're getting like this.' She reaches out to smooth the muscles of Beca's forehead, trying to push away the tension there. 'You can tell me anything, you know that.'

Can she? Beca isn't so sure. 'Look... You got a message earlier, while I was setting up the movie, so it came up on your screen. I didn't want to read it, but I kinda saw the name, and I thought...' She bites down on her lip, hard. Why is this so difficult? 'You have a message from someone called Kate. And... she wants to meet you.'

'... Oh. When did she send that?'

Chloe's lack of an instant denial that it's not the same Kate that Beca is thinking of pretty much confirms it for her - it is Kate. 'This morning.'

'Aha.' Her expression becomes veiled, and she says nothing more - merely gazing down at the comforter with a slightly faraway look on her face.

'Has she messaged before?' She almost doesn't want to know - and Chloe's nodding, oh God.

'Yes. Yesterday.'

'And... Did you reply?'

Chloe nods silently.

'Chloe,' says Beca. It's a struggle to keep her voice level when she feels like she's the one going to throw up on the carpet next. 'Whyare you talking to her?'

'She messaged me... So I replied.'

'And you didn't think about, you know, telling me?'

'Why should I have?'

'What?'

Chloe flinches at Beca's tone, which was more out of surprise than anything else. 'Don't yell at me,' she mutters, rubbing at her temples. 'I'm not talking to you about if you're going to get angry.'

'I'm not angry,' she says - but God, she is, she really is. She can feel it bubbling up under her skin again, her muscles tightening. It feels almost like the beginnings of one of the (rare) panic attacks she's had in the past, but this time seems to center in her gut, not her chest. Something's going to go wrong. She can tell. 'Just tell me what happened.'

'Nothing much, really. She only messaged for the first time yesterday. And then you and I argued yesterday and I've been ill all day, so it's not like I've had time to tell you.'

It slips out before she can check it. 'Oh, how convenient.'

'Don't even, Beca,' Chloe says. She lays back down again, pulling the duvet over her head with a tired groan. 'I don't have the energy for this... There's no need to get jealous.'

'It's not about jealousy!' Beca barks, ripping it back down to expose Chloe again with shaking hands. She can't bear to not see Chloe's face while all this is happening, too scared that she might secretly be grinning or laughing to herself while Beca can't look. In the end it doesn't make much difference; normally, Chloe's such an open book, but right now she's barely showing any emotion at all. 'I'm worried, for God's sake! You can't honestly be talking to her again. Don't you remember what she did to you?'

'Of course I do,' Chloe retorts. She shuts her eyes, pressing her face halfway into the pillow. 'Much more than you do, in fact. And I know what I'm doing.'

'And what is it it you're doing, exactly?'

She replies shortly, 'Talking. She sent me a message. I replied. That's all.'

'A mesage about what?'

'Just about her life, and what's going on with her. I think she might have changed, at least a little.' Chloe seems oddly calm about all this, while Beca feels like her head is splitting in two. It's like Chloe doesn't even notice, or maybe doesn't even care. Neither prospect is particularly comforting. 'She wants to meet up with me and to talk.'

'And? Are you going to?' she demands.

Chloe shrugs, barely a tiny movement of her shoulders. 'Maybe.'

'What?!' Beca exclaims. 'Why? What's the point?'

'You haven't even met her,' says Chloe quietly, 'I don't know why you're so angry.'

'It doesn't matter. I've seen what she did to you and how it affected you, and that's enough for me to know it's a bad idea.' When Chloe shrugs again, Beca wants to claw at her face out of frustration. She wants Chloe to stop being so blasé about it, especially when she herself feels like she's losing control. Her distant attitude just makes things worse. 'Don't let her manipulate you into doing what she wants you to do.'

Chloe's head snaps up, her eyes flashing. Perversely, Beca almost feels something akin to satisfaction, because she's finally reacting, and Beca feels a tiny bit less like she's the only one who actually gives a shit about their relationship. 'I'm not,' she snaps. 'I'm seeing what she has to say, then making a decision.'

'And what decision do you need to make?' It's obvious what it is from Chloe's face. She wants to meet her. In her rising panic, the barbs fall easily from Beca's lips: 'Why would you even want her back in your life? What, you're bored of me so you want another basket case to fix?'

Chloe's jaw drops, and the spark of anger in her gaze goes out, to be replaced by hurt. So much hurt, which she put there - no, no, no. Stop this. What is Beca doing? Why is she ruining everything even more? It's no wonder Chloe's distancing herself if this is how she behaves.

Beca dreads Chloe's next words and the brutal cutdown she's expecting, but somehow what she actually says is much worse. 'I'm just going to pretend you didn't say that,' she says, her voice wavering, 'because that was a really, really hurtful thing to say. About all three of us.'

Beca flushes with shame at the disappointment she can hear, hanging her head. She runs her fingers through her hair in frustration, trying to get a grip on herself. She's such a fucking asshole. 'I'm sorry. God, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. Fuck... I'm sorry.'

She gazes at Beca mournfully for a few moments, but then seems to mentally sigh... And let it go. How the fuck does she do that? Beca would be bouncing off the walls if Chloe had been that rude to her.

She pats the bed next to her to tell Beca to come closer - when she shuffles just a little bit over, Chloe shakes her head. At Beca's confused look, she lifts the covers for her again, much like she did before.

'Really?' Chloe nods. She doesn't have to be told twice - in seconds she's back in bed with Chloe, sinking into her embrace gratefully, feeling suddenly exhausted. 'I'm an idiot,' Beca mumbles into the skin of Chloe's neck. She's still overly warm - Beca feels even worse when she remembers how sick Chloe is, and that she just unloaded all of that on her when she's barely slept or eaten in about a day. At least she seems a little closer to a normal temperature now.

'You aren't an idiot,' Chloe tells her, putting her hand on Beca's back soothingly.

'I am. I'm always doing that, the bitchy, sarcastic thing... I'm sorry,' she says again, turning her head to rest her forehead against Chloe's.

'Well... Yeah, it kind of sucks a lot for me when you do that. But one apology is enough,' says Chloe gently. She cups Beca's face. 'Look... I get that you're not happy about this, but I promise, I was planning to tell you what was happening, before I got sick. It just went out of my mind, with everything else going on.'

Beca just nods. She's opened her big mouth enough already.

'And I know you don't want me to meet her. But I'll be honest with you... This is something I really need to do.' She wants to ask, but thankfully Chloe knows what she's thinking. 'For closure, I guess,' she says. 'It's been a while and there's a lot of stuff about what happens that still affects me. I have to see her, if only to punch her in the face.' Beca smiles at that. 'Beca... I have to do this. I want to do this.'

Well, after that, she can hardly so no, can she?

'Fine,' she says in the end, albeit very reluctantly, and despite the squeezing presence of worry in her belly. 'But I'm coming too.'

'I was going to suggest that, anyway.' Chloe kisses her on the top of the head. 'Are you okay?'

How does she always know? 'I dunno - I guess not.'

'What's the matter?

'Oh, you know, the usual,' Beca says vaguely, because anything more would probably give it away from the shaking of her voice. She doesn't want to be the kind of person that always brings the subject back to themselves - because this is very much not about Beca, despite how much she keeps trying to make it so.

Chloe pulls back, and her expression softens. 'Must be something more than usual, what with the face you're giving me right now.' Her thumb tracks the path of a tear that's escaped from Beca's left eye without her permission.

Beca rubs vigorously at her face before any more errant tears can rebel against her, annoyed at herself for always being so see-through where Chloe is concerned. Life would be far easier if she could simply get rid of her emotions and exist as some sort of empty shell. But no, turns out she is actually irritatingly human. 'It's nothing, honestly. Just worrying, as per normal.'

She taps the side of Beca's head. 'Any of those you want to hand over to me?'

'Any of yours that you want to hand over to me?' Beca retorts. 'Your plate seems pretty full of stuff, yet I'm sure I only know about half of it.'

'Well, I don't want to bore you or worry you anything.'

'I wouldn't be bored.'

Chloe smiles. Now that the immediate drama with Beca is over, she seems even more exhausted than she did before. 'No, but you would worry. Let's not get into that now, there's no point.'

'But -'

'Please, Beca,' Chloe interjects, her forehead creasing. 'Lately, when I'm with you, it's the only time I feel vaguely normal. I just want to keep it that way and have somewhere I can go where I don't feel like my head is going to explode.'

Beca falls silent, gazing into Chloe's eyes. She certainly understands the feeling of only feeling normal when Chloe is around - but she just wishes it didn't have to come at the expense of keeping Beca out of the loop entirely. It almost gives her the feeling that she doesn't trust Beca, somehow.

'Maybe I can help you,' Beca says quietly, hating how vulnerable she sounds. 'Maybe I could, if you'd let me.'

'There's nothing you can help me with. I can handle it without you, anyway,' Chloe says tersely - but then they both flinch at her wording, thinking back to the day before. She licks her lips nervously, and starts, 'I didn't -'

'I know.'

'But really, I didn't -'

'I know, Chloe.' She does. But that doesn't make it any easier to hear that Chloe doesn't even want to consider letting Beca in to help her.

Beca turns her head away, glancing at the bedside clock, seeing that it's coming up to lunchtime. The words come out in a rush, because she just needs to not be in this bed again. '... You know, you've not eaten since you threw up earlier. I'll go get you something - crackers or whatever.'

She hops out of bed without another word to Chloe. But she doesn't call Beca back, either.

Somehow, that seems horribly appropriate.

A/N: On the next installment of Doormat And EmotionallyCrippled, there will be Kate. Fair warning. She is not a fun character.