Beca was more than grateful to be headed back to Barden, back to actual civilization. If the Lodge at Fallen Leaves had taught her anything, it was how thankful she was for the modern plumbing system. A hot bath would be the first thing on her docket upon return to the house. And if any of the other Bellas tried to get to the bathroom first? Screw them. She was captain.

Beca had to concede, though, that Chloe was right. The retreat was just what the girls needed to get them back on track. The energy of the Bellas bus on their return trip from the convention performance was a thing of the past. The air had been cleared and the motley crew had managed once again to unify themselves. There was a new-found confidence amongst the group. They were proud. They were ready. They were going to kick some German ass. Beca was certain of it.

While Beca was eager to return to the civilized world, a part of her would miss this place. It pained her to admit even to herself – and she certainly wasn't about to admit it out loud to anyone else – that she had really enjoyed the time she spent here with the women who, over the past four years, had become her family. She knew the memories created here were of that priceless variety, knew she'd never forget them.

But, like all things in life, the trip had to come to an end. The girls headed for the parking lot and were met by Aubrey. The former captain stood by the bus and each Bella, in turn, bid her goodbye before piling in.

As Beca approached the blonde, she noticed an odd glint in her eye. She sort of looked like she was going to cry and the edges of her mouth were turned down in a sweet sort of frown. It was a weird look and Beca wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

"Uh – thanks, dude. For, like, everything." Beca's fingers were wrapped tightly around the strap of her bag at her shoulder as she took a step forward. She attempted to look at Aubrey, but that strange sparkle in her eyes made Beca feel uncomfortable. She diverted her gaze to the ground almost immediately.

"Beca," Aubrey's voice was soft and kind, not unlike that empathetic sounding voice she had overheard the other night. Beca felt the blonde's hands connect with the skin of her upper arms, exposed by the green tank top she was wearing. Fingers curled around her bicep and gave a gentle squeeze. Beca's eyes flicked up, back to Aubrey's, who continued: "I'm really proud of you."

The brunette couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her. Her eyebrows shot up, eyes wide in shock, as she gave a slight shake of her head. "What?!" Suspicion confirmed: This is an Imposter Aubrey Posen.

Aubrey sighed and Beca could practically hear the eye roll the blonde was suppressing. "I'm serious, Beca!" She paused, but her hands never left the DJ's shoulders. "You've come a long way in four years. I wasn't your biggest fan when I first saw you at the Activities Fair…" Beca scoffed, loudly and pointedly. How could she not? If that wasn't the world's biggest understatement, she didn't know what was. But Aubrey brushed off the sound with a tilt of her head, "…what with your bad attitude, and your tattoos, and that horrible ear monstrosity…"

"Dude, is this you trying to pay me a compliment? Because you're super good at it," Beca spat sarcastically.

The blonde gave another exasperated sigh, but persevered through Beca's insolence. And Beca had to silently commend her for that. It was unlike Aubrey not to engage when beca was acting like an impertinent brat. Maybe she's the one who's come a long way in four years… "All I'm trying to say is… Chloe saw something in you that day. Something I couldn't see at the time, but I can see it now. And I'm proud of you."

Aubrey stopped and rubbed her hands slowly down and then back up the upper half of Beca's arms. The two stared at each other for a long moment. Beca felt awkward. She didn't know how to respond. She didn't know how to deal with a genuinely kind Aubrey Posen any more than she knew how to deal with Chloe Beale kissing her. This retreat had been a truly odd experience for Beca… definitely one for the books.

"Um, thanks," she managed to utter. She knew it was the polite thing to say, the right thing to say, so she went with that.

The blonde removed her hands from Beca's arms and leaned back ever so slightly, her eyes flickered down, then back up, and Beca was met with a knowing smirk that seemed so…so…pleased? And a little bit surprised, too. It was kind of… adorable?

Aubrey? Adorable?! …shake it off, Mitchell.

Then Aubrey was speaking again, and though she was looking directly at Beca, she was almost muttering to herself. "Chloe was right. You make us better." And Beca wasn't quite sure what that meant, but she thought that was okay, since she wasn't certain the comment was really intended for her anyway.

"Right," Beca said, taking a firm step back. "Well, thanks. For everything. And uh – see you around."

But despite her best efforts to get away from whatever weirdness just happened, Aubrey surged forward and wrapped Beca into a tight embrace. "I hope so," the blonde whispered. Her voice was husky and her mouth was centimeters from Beca's ear. She could feel the breath of Aubrey's words hot against her. It sent a brief chill through Beca, who instantly moved to push her former captain away.

"Yeah, um. Me too, Posen." She shuffled quickly onto the bus, throwing one last "thanks" over her shoulder without looking back. Beca collapsed into a seat and shut her eyes tightly. What in the hell is going on with everyone?! With a shake of her head, she reopened her eyes and dug into her bag for her laptop and headphones. She turned on the computer screen, plugged her head phones in, and waited patiently for her mixing program to open. She knew she had to at least attempt to distract herself from what had gone down between her and Chloe last night.

As she waited for the program to open, she chanced a glance out the window, back at Aubrey. The red haired captain was the last Bella to say goodbye and Beca watched them carefully as they conversed. She couldn't hear what they were saying, and from where she was sitting she could only see Aubrey's face, but the exchange seemed to be an excited one. Aubrey was smiling and nodding her head and Chloe was practically bouncing in place. A cloud moved and Beca was faced with the bright gleam of the sun against the glass window of the bus. She winced, and turned her head away for a moment. When she looked back, her view was partially obstructed by the glare, but she saw Chloe's arms wrap around the blonde, whose eyes closed as she smiled sort of sadly over the other girl's shoulder. The pair stayed that way for a long moment, so close they seemed almost to be attempting to fuse themselves together. The reflected sunlight caused Beca to wince again. She blinked twice, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the girls' lips meet in a heated kiss.

Beca's jaw dropped, and she began furiously looking around the bus, to see if any of the other Bellas saw what she was seeing. Cynthia Rose was leaning against the far window, arms crossed over her chest, attempting to sleep; Jessica and Ashley were slapping their hands together in some sort of childish game; Flo was braiding Emily's hair; Lily was jamming out and silently beat boxing to the music piping through a pair of bright green head phones; and Amy was bent down at the driver's seat looking for something she must have dropped beneath it. And not a single one of them was looking out the window at the two women whose mouths had just collided in a definitely-more-than-friendly way. Beca wanted to get someone's attention, wanted to say something, but words were escaping her. She looked back out the window just as Chloe was walking away from Aubrey to board the bus.

Did that really just happen? Beca wasn't sure what to make of it. Maybe it was a trick of the sun. She didn't get a good look… she really shouldn't make assumptions. It was probably just a peck of a kiss. A totally normal, totally Chloe friendship sort of thing. It had to be.

By the time Chloe was dropping into the seat next to her, Beca had written off the moment entirely. She definitely didn't see whatever it was she thought she saw. No way. Just two friends, saying goodbye, like friends do.

It's just a normal day, she silently reassured herself. But as she felt Chloe's lips press against her cheek in greeting, she was reminded that whatever may or may not have just occurred outside the bus, today was not a normal day. She had kissed Chloe last night. And kissed, honestly, was the well-mannered way of putting it. She had kind of, sort of, totally made-out with Chloe last night, albeit for just a brief moment. And with Chloe's shoulder pressed against hers on what was to be a very long bus ride, she knew she wasn't about to forget it.

But that's exactly how she spent the journey, trying her very best to ignore the bubbly and totally adorable – adorable? Why is everyone adorable today?! - Chloe Beale seated next to her, and feigning interest in the mixing program on her screen. She hoped the red head didn't notice that she was pretty much just closing and re-opening various sound files and moving different volume bars up and down without any thought.

Because Beca's thoughts were not on the at least halfway decent demo she had to craft if she ever wanted to be a music producer, and they were not on the kickass set she was going to have to come up with in order for the Barden Bellas to continue to exist. No, her thoughts were squarely on last night, and nothing could break them from it.

"What the FUCK, dude?!"

Chloe scoffed, then uttered in a hurried whisper, "What are you even saying? You kissed me!"

"But you—What? I—I—No!" Beca tripped over her words. She felt flushed, and… frustrated. No, not like that. Okay, maybe a little bit like that. It was all very confusing!

"Calm down, Becs. It's fine." Chloe's voice teetered on irritation, and Beca found it patronizing, which only fueled her frustrations. She felt anger swelling inside her, but took a deep breath to stop herself from shouting.

"Fine?! But you just—and we just—I just—and—and…" Words again escaped her, so she stopped in favor of an emphatic gesture in Chloe's direction in an attempt to remind the red head of what had literally just happened and how not fine it was.

Chloe propped herself up on one elbow and faced Beca. "And it's fine," Chloe said, completing the brunette's utterance. "I have to admit, I'm kind of surprised that you just…" the red head's voice trailed off under Beca's glower. "But it's totally fine. It's more than fine. I…" she hesitated, and as she finished the thought, Beca knew that break was for her benefit, not Chloe's, "I really enjoyed that."

Chloe reached out a hand, and Beca saw it move toward her in slow motion, and yet when it connected with her arm, she still flinched. In spite of the reaction, Chloe's touch remained and while, on the one hand, it was disconcerting and weird, Beca also felt strangely comforted by it. She could feel herself calming, as though Chloe's palm was transferring some anxiety-soothing medication directly into her bloodstream.

"I'm sorry, um," Beca's words sounded more relaxed than she anticipated. The sound didn't quite mesh with the racing of her heart. "That was just—that was really, um…w—"

"Wonderful?" Chloe cut in with an earnest smile.

"Weird," Beca corrected. Chloe's face promptly fell. Her best friend's hand dropped away from her arm, and her eyes shimmered with a crestfallen sadness. The look tugged at Beca's heart and urged her mouth to say something, anything, to stop Chloe from looking so… disappointed. "I mean, uh—I just think we should, like, talk… about this. About whatever this is, or like… whatever you, um, want it to be?"

Chloe's look shifted. She still looked a bit dejected, but hopeful somehow, as she asked: "What do you mean?"

Beca cleared her throat. "Um," she paused, "Like this," swallowed hard, "experimentation thing." And the word came out a little rough, a little broken, but nevertheless she was sort of proud of herself for managing to say it at all. Chloe was looking at her like she expected her to elaborate, and it took her a moment, but she managed to continue speaking. "Like what you want from, um, me? Like, uh… what you want us to, like… do?" It wasn't eloquent, but she thought it was effective, thought it communicated to Chloe what she was trying to say before hormones, or something, took over.

"Oh," came Chloe's response. Beca couldn't really read her reaction from that one word. She appeared to be thinking about what Beca had just said, considering it. The silence that sat between them was thick as Beca waited for Chloe to say anything else. The brunette saw something click in her friend's mind, and watched the bright smile spread across her face. "So that means you're agreeing? To experiment with me?" The older girl's voice was a little too loud. She couldn't contain her obvious excitement, couldn't stop herself from bubbling over with that special brand of Chloe-patented glee.

Beca shushed her, her eyes narrowing as she looked around the tent at the sleeping girls surrounding them, a reminder to Chloe of where they were and why they were whispering in the first place. But Chloe only blinked back owlishly, like she didn't understand or, even worse, simply didn't care.

"Can we just… talk about this sometime other than right now?"

Chloe giggled something light and airy. "Sure, Becs," she offered. "Whatever you want," she added with a confident wink.

Beca gave an emphatic eye roll before turning her back to her friend and lowering her head to the pillow beneath her. "Good night then," she said as she shimmied back into her sleeping bag.

The brunette had barely closed her eyes when Chloe spoke up again. "You didn't answer my question…" Her voice was soft, but playful. It was at the very least suggestive and at the very most, if Beca allowed herself to admit it, sexy. When the brunette didn't immediately respond, she felt the other girls fingers slowly walk up the upper half of her spine toward her neck. It sent a shiver through Beca, and that twisting feeling in the pit of her stomach was back. Her muscles tensed and she shut her eyes tightly, trying her best to ignore every last bit of it all.

Beca wanted to say something. She thought she could make it all stop by speaking. But she didn't know what to say. Words weren't a concept her brain could quite grasp at that very moment. So, she said nothing.

Chloe moved forward carefully, and Beca could hear every crinkle of the sleeping bag beneath her as she did. And then Chloe's lips were pressing against the back of Beca's neck. The kiss was long, and hot, and wet. And she seriously thought she might implode as Chloe pulled back and spoke Beca's name raggedly into her ear. Beca wasn't sure if it was a question, but she managed a strangled "mhmm?" in response. She felt Chloe's hand press firmly against her side through the sleeping bag, and shuddered as the red haired captain curled each finger around her hip one at a time.

"You want to experiment with me." It wasn't a question. It was a statement, a carnal, lascivious statement. Beca's heart was pounding in her ears. She pulled her lips in between her teeth and bit down hard, scrunching her eyes closed impossibly harder. Chloe's hand moved from her hip to drag a finger down the shell of Beca's ear. She was getting desperate. She needed this to stop. She had to do something, say something, to make it stop. Right now.

And so she nodded… furiously… repeatedly.

Chloe's exhalation of breath danced across her neck and Beca could practically feel the idiotic grin she knew the other girl was sporting. "I knew it," the older girl teased, before falling straight back onto her pillow.

The DJ released the breath she had been holding. She was relieved to have Chloe out of her personal space, no matter the cost. That was overwhelming, and uncomfortable. Ugh, this was all so weird!

"Good night, Becs."

That's all Beca could think about for the entirety of the bus ride back to Barden. She replayed the events of the evening on a loop. She couldn't forget a single second of it. Despite her best efforts to the contrary, the night had been emblazoned onto her brain. Did she really agree to continue this lunacy? Why?! Why did I do that?! Stupid, Beca. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

She couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, the way her body was reacting to Chloe. The feelings were altogether familiar ones, but they weren't normal. They felt heightened, somehow stronger and more palatable. It was similar to the way Jesse had sometimes made her feel, yet, in all honesty, it was entirely different. Jesse had never made her feel quite like that. Not that she was comparing them. Because, to the simple mind, comparing Chloe to her ex-boyfriend might suggest…well, it might suggest something.

What did it all mean? Did it have to mean something? Why did she nod? How could she agree? What did Chloe want from her? And what was this sick, twisting feeling in her gut? These were the questions that utterly consumed her even as she crossed the threshold into the Bellas house, even as she attempted to relax into the bath. She couldn't stop thinking about it, about how it felt to kiss Chloe: the way she looked just before, how soft her lips had been and the way she moved them delicately against her own, the way she had husked Beca's name against her ear.

The thoughts were devouring her, bit by bit. She couldn't take it anymore. She knew she had to talk to Chloe. She dried herself off and scurried towel-clad back to her room to change. Amy laid on her side, staring at her laptop on her bed, and Beca gave her a head nod before entering their closet to change. She threw on a pair of gray sweat pants and a navy blue V-neck t-shirt. Stepping out, she grabbed the brush from her dresser and ran it through wet hair several times. She waved slightly at Amy, who returned the gesture with a salute, as she trotted down the stairs and directly to Chloe's door.

She stood in front of it for a long moment, just staring at the knob, willing the door to open on its own, or for a hole in the floor to open up and swallow her whole. She wasn't sure which. She swallowed hard as she raised her hand up to the door and knocked twice.

"Come in," rang out the sweet voice on the other side. Beca gripped the door knob and twisted, pushing forward as she entered the room. Her eyes found a smiling Chloe perched at the edge of her bed, hands pressed into the mattress on either side of her. Chloe's eyes lit up as she watched Beca step inside, closing the door behind her.

"Hey, Becs."

A/N: I know. I'm sorry. Forgive me?