Time really flew by after that. Final exams came and went. In the days prior to graduation, the girls did little else than rehearse for Worlds. The performance had really come together and Chloe insisted that they were going to blow minds. Beca knew the set was great, but wasn't quite as confident as Chloe. Das Sound Machine was an exceptional group. Beca knew that the Bellas were too, of course, but even still, DSM was going to be hard to beat.

While the fear of losing, which would ultimately lead to the disintegration of the Barden Bellas, plagued her, there was something else Beca found herself more afraid of: moving on. Change, Beca assumed, was never easy for anyone. The fear of it is what kept Chloe from graduating the first time…and the second time…and the third time, and what made Aubrey the stubborn, controlling, raging nightmare she had been Beca's freshman year – though Beca was pretty certain those descriptors, minus the rage perhaps, were constants for Aubrey Posen.

Beca's life, thus far, had been overwhelmed by unexpected change and she liked to think that she had a better knack than most people for rolling with the punches. But, of course, that was wholly untrue. Change never got any easier, and being as obstinate as she was when it came to her own feelings, Beca had never developed a particularly healthy or effective coping mechanism for it either.

As an emotionally stunted idiot, it all obviously came as some big shock to Beca, that she would be feeling this way at all, which only made the whole thing more difficult. She felt stupid for being so affected by this, but she loved these girls and the future held an uncertainty she just wasn't quite ready for, as if anyone could ever be prepared for it.

Graduation came and she played it cool, pretending to be the unruffled, unfeeling cliché she'd always prided herself on appearing to be. By now, she knew it was silly. All of the Bellas knew her game. They knew she wasn't quite as tough as she seemed. They'd seen her through a variety of emotional breaks over the past four years and knew her hard candy coating was simply a thin shell protecting a gooey center. Beca wasn't quite sure why she felt the need to continue the charade. She just felt that she had to.

She thought back to that moment at camp, when she was ready to storm off without a second thought. At the time, moving on really did seem that easy, but it just didn't anymore. And that, she assumed, had mostly to do with Chloe. She'd brushed the redhead off at camp because it was easier than confronting how she really felt. Leaving then, when things were broken, would have been the best time to rip the bandage off. Because now things were messy. Her relationship with all of the Bellas had been renewed. She recognized how these women made her feel: loved, safe, happy. There was perhaps nothing more painful and scary than knowing she'd be abandoning that feeling in favor of… what? She didn't know.

Then there was her relationship with Chloe, which had taken the strangest, most unexpected turn of all. Maybe it shouldn't have been so unexpected. Maybe it should have been painfully obvious that it was Chloe she was ready to walk away from that day. That it was Chloe, and her feelings for the girl, that she had wanted to walk away from. Because the moment they shared in the tent, after Beca had overhead the redhead's conversation with Aubrey, kick started something in Beca. Something she wasn't able to articulate that day, and something she could barely articulate now, but something she was beginning to recognize for what it was. Something like love.

Love. Beca couldn't believe she just thought that. That was cheesy. That was horrible. And that… couldn't be true… could it? She had only had sex with Chloe a handful of times. She couldn't be in love with her. That would be insane. And yet, she did seem to be developing some feelings for the cheerful redhead. Or perhaps she had felt something akin to this all along, from the moment she met the girl at the activities fair, or the moment the girl had intruded on her shower, or the moment the girl had grabbed her hands, pulled her close, and declared that they would be fast friends. Chloe certainly was right about the last part. Despite their differences, the two had become incredibly close almost overnight.

It was weird the way this "experimentation" thing seemed almost like the natural extension of that, of their friendship. Thinking back over it all now, it seemed obvious to Beca. Of course they were going to end up here. Of fucking course they were, sooner or later. Beca wondered for a moment if Chloe had known that all along. How long, exactly, had Chloe been planning this?

Beca's thoughts wandered to Jesse. She wondered how things might have been different, had she not hooked up with him freshman year. It wasn't worth rethinking now, really, and Beca didn't regret even one second of her relationship with the Treble. She had cared deeply for Jesse, she still did. Though even more importantly than that, she recognized now, that she might have gotten lost somewhere along the way without him. She wouldn't be who she was today if it weren't for Jesse. And the Bellas. All of her friends.

Beca found herself once again depressed by the concept of moving on. But change had a way of forcing itself into existence, whether she wanted it to or not. She'd graduated. She was a college graduate. She was a mini adult, and she was about to take on the big bad world, in true Beca Mitchell style. But first, the big bad Worlds, where she and her friends would have one last hoorah, and show everyone just what it means to be a Barden Bella.

The girls took a redeye to Copenhagen. Beca looked toward Chloe, her eyes closed in slumber. She stared at the beauty of Chloe Beale for a long moment, and couldn't stop the goofy smile that spread across her face. Ultimately deciding she was being creepy, Beca gave Chloe's hand a gentle squeeze and looked away.

A quiet voice broke the silence of the dimly lit cabin. "I can feel you staring, Mitchell."

Beca's gaze snapped back to Chloe, whose eyes were still peacefully shut. "Sorry, I-I," she stammered.

Chloe's right eye opened. "I like when you stare," she said matter-of-factly.

Beca swallowed hard as she watched Chloe open her other eye and then sit up in her seat. The redhead's movements were slow and deliberate as she leaned in to Beca's ear, momentarily snaring the lobe between her lips as she dragged a hand up Beca's thigh. "It makes me feel wanted," she breathed. Beca felt Chloe's tongue flick against the shell of her ear. "You do want me, don't you, Becs?"

Chloe's breath felt hot against her, and the combination of it and the impossibly cute nickname made Beca shiver. She let her eyes close when she felt Chloe's mouth connect with the flesh of her neck, just below her ear. Her breath hitched when she once again heard Chloe whisper. "Because I want you, Becs. I always have."

Always.

Beca felt Chloe's fingers drag down and then back up her left thigh, but they didn't stop this time. They continued the journey to the apex of her legs, applying pressure to her center through the thin sweats she had worn for comfort on the overnight flight. Beca shifted, letting out a restrained whimper. The plane was filled with people, she quickly realized, including their fellow Bellas. Fingers stroked forcefully before traveling up to the hemline of her pants. It was impossibly hot, but absolutely could not be happening. Beca couldn't allow this. She had to stop it. Chloe's hand slipped effortlessly beneath her sweatpants, scraping down the fabric of her panties. Fingers pressed against her as she heard Chloe groan before nipping at Beca's neck. She tilted her head back, stopping a pathetically weak sound before it left her lips. Then material was pushed aside as Chloe pressed into wet heat.

Beca's chest heaved as her eyes snapped open at the sensation. She visibly flinched when she was met with the sight of Aubrey, peaking over the seat in front of them and slowly licking her lips. "We have," Aubrey husked. "We have always wanted you, Beca."

A panicked confusion rushed through her as she startled awake. She clutched a hand to her chest, heart beating fast, her breathing quick, as she frantically scanned the cabin.

"Beca?"

Her eyes landed on Chloe, seated innocently next to her.

"Are you okay?"

A dream, Beca realized. It was just a dream… Aubrey wasn't even on this plane. She wouldn't meet up with them in Copenhagen until the next day.

"Uh, yeah. Fine. Just had a weird dream, I guess," she offered, still out of breath. "Are we almost there?"

"20 more minutes," the redhead replied. "You were breathing funny. And the sounds you were making… Seemed more like a nightmare. You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah… I'll be fine."

In reality, Beca was anything but fine. Memories of the vivid dream continually flashed through her mind as the girls spent the day doing some sight-seeing around Copenhagen. It had felt so real, as real as the wetness that Beca found pooled between her thighs when she woke up. It was so startling, Aubrey's presence in that moment. Beca couldn't stop thinking of the way Dream Aubrey had licked her lips, or the way she sounded when she declared "we have always wanted you."

Is that what was going on here? Were Aubrey and Chloe actually trying to orchestrate some… some sort of… threesome? It actually made a weird sort of sense out of the way those two had been acting these past few weeks… But, nah. Couldn't be. That would be insane.

There was one moment that Beca hadn't forgotten, though. One potentially very important moment, she now realized. Beca had seen, or at least felt relatively certain that she had seen, Chloe kissing Aubrey as they departed the Lodge at Fallen Leaves. She'd brushed it off then, assumed it to be a trick of the light, or just a normal, friendly goodbye between the two women, but now she couldn't help but think… maybe she did see what she thought she saw. Maybe that really happened. Maybe Aubrey and Chloe had been intimate with each other all along.

But that was a thought too far for Beca. There was no way that Chloe and Aubrey had been in some sort of relationship this whole time. They were close, sure, but Beca would know if something was going on between them. Or at least one of the Bellas would have known. Somebody would have known. The former co-captains couldn't have been keeping a secret like that. Especially not Chloe, who was practically famous for her inability to keep secrets.

So, like everything else before it, Beca dismissed the thought. The imagery, though, was something she couldn't shake. The dream was at the forefront, but those images were now coupled with thoughts of Aubrey and Chloe kissing, of Beca being in the room to witness it. Beca knew these thoughts were twisted and desperately wanted to rid her mind of them, but it was just so oddly arousing to picture the pair that way. She could feel herself sweating as she walked through the streets of Copenhagen, hand-in-hand with Chloe, trying to take in the sights of a new, foreign city, but mind constantly drifting sideways and into the gutter.

Why was it so hot to think of the blonde and the redhead together? It made no sense. Why were her thoughts locking there, and not on thoughts of her with Chloe? Or even her with Aubrey for that matter? These past weeks, everything had been about her relationship with Chloe, or her relationship with Aubrey. While obviously it existed, Beca hadn't been privy to Aubrey and Chloe's shared connection. In fact, it was their conversations that had Beca most paranoid this whole time. What were they saying to each other about her? She hated that feeling: caring at all about what other people might be saying, or thinking, or feeling about her, but she just couldn't help it.

Surely this twisted curiosity was just some sort of extension of that. She wanted insight into their bond, the same way she had been sharing with Aubrey information about her feelings about Chloe, and about this little experiment.

Still, it felt inappropriate to have these thoughts. Beca felt ashamed and guilty (and eternally grateful that mind reading was a strictly fictional possibility). By the end of the day, she couldn't even look at Chloe without thinking of Aubrey, too, and without feeling extremely turned on.

The girls had previously dropped their bags off at the hotel, but check-in wasn't until 3. She was grateful when they returned after dinner. It was better to be in a private space, Beca thought, even if it wasn't her own personal space. She almost immediately calmed as they entered the hotel, altogether more comfortable with her current aroused state there than she was publicly on the streets of the city.

The girls all checked in without issue, and all agreed it was best to simply turn in for the night. They were exhausted from the trip, and had to be up tomorrow for one last Bellas practice. There would be a rehearsal on stage the following day, and then the performance was that night. Their secret weapon, a horde of former Barden Bellas, were all arriving tomorrow. They'd join rehearsal tomorrow evening, which meant the current group had only a few final hours to spend alone with each other, rehearsing one final time.

The girls paired off, each sharing a room with a fellow Bella. Beca and Chloe were, of course, to share a room. Beca struggled with the key card for a few embarrassing moments before allowing Chloe to swipe hers instead, gaining them access to the room on her first try.

Beca stepped into the room, wheeling her suitcase behind her, when Chloe held the door open for her in a gentlemanly manner. "After you, miss," she'd teased, taking an excessively low bow and gesturing with one arm for Beca to enter. Beca's eyes were still rolling as she took in the room, but she soon stopped short. There was only one bed.

She suddenly felt hands on her shoulders, and hot breath against the back of her right ear. "I thought it'd be more fun this way," Chloe purred.

Beca's muscles tensed. Fun. Right.

Warm hands left her as Chloe took a step back. "Sorry. Is it… not okay?" The redhead's tone was laced with fear and regret. Beca hated when her voice sounded like that, the heartbroken quality it took. She could practically hear tears welling in her best friend's eyes.

It wasn't that Beca didn't want to share a bed with Chloe. They'd done it before, many times, over the years, but things were different now. And even still, it probably wouldn't have been a big deal if Beca hadn't found herself on the cusp of revelation about how she really felt about the girl, beyond the realm of simple experimentation. But that was exactly where she found herself and the idea of sharing a bed with Chloe made her a little uncomfortable. Rather, it made her a little panicked. A lump formed in her throat that she couldn't swallow down, yet she couldn't bear to hear Chloe's dejected tone, so she opted to assuage it, despite her own fears.

"No. It's fine." She turned in place, releasing the handle of her suitcase to look at Chloe. "It'll be great," she said, forcing a smile.

"Yay!" Chloe cheered, clapping her hands together. In a flurry of movement, the redhead rushed toward the bed, pouncing on it in such a way the left her bobbing after the initial contact. "I call the right side!"

Despite her own nerves, Beca couldn't stop the genuine smile that spread across her face. How could anyone resist Chloe Beale's childlike energy? She was adorable, wholly capable of brightening any room just by being in it.

"Okay, okay," she replied as she moved forward, kneeling down to unzip her suitcase. "Can we unpack first? I'm in desperate need of a shower."

"Oo! Me first!" Chloe squealed. Beca watched as she quickly hopped off the bed and ran to the bathroom. She peaked her head out from behind the door. "You unpack, I'll shower. Then we'll switch." With that, she shut the door and Beca stared at it for a moment, dumbfounded, until she heard the water begin to run. She shook her head as she exhaled and began putting away the clothes she had packed. Where Chloe found her sprightly exuberance, especially after a day as long and exhausting as this one, Beca would never know.

Beca had brought her pajamas with her into the bathroom after having been caught staring at a towel clad Chloe.

"Like what you see?" Chloe had asked, twirling in place. Beca's cheeks had immediately flushed. She turned her head with a cough, and muttered a quick "uhhh" under her breath before collecting herself and looking back to stare Chloe directly in the eye.

"You finished in there?" she asked, standing and pointing toward the bathroom.

"All yours," Chloe replied as she bent down to pull sleepwear out of her suitcase.

Beca's breath had momentarily hitched in her throat again at the sight, but she shook it off, gathered her clothes and headed into the bathroom.

It was the dream, she silently insisted to herself. It was still getting to her. She couldn't look at Chloe without being reminded of it, reminded of the arousal she had felt, reminded of Aubrey, reminded of Aubrey's words and the way she had licked her lips like she wanted to devour Beca. She tried to focus on literally anything else as she showered, but her thoughts continually drifted back and she was slowly becoming very anxious about the blonde's impending arrival. Beca felt certain that if she couldn't look at Chloe without thinking of Dream Aubrey, then she wouldn't be able to look at Aubrey without thinking of her either.

Beca did her best to push those fears aside, continually reminding herself that it was just a dream and that it didn't mean anything. By the time she had finished washing, got into her PJs, blow dried her hair, and brushed her teeth, she felt much calmer. Those minutes of alone time in the bathroom were precious and soothing.

Chloe was already in bed by the time Beca re-entered the room. The lights had been turned off, save for a lamp on the nightstand on Chloe's side of the bed. The redhead was staring intently at her phone, and didn't immediately notice the younger girl. Beca noted how beautiful her friend looked, legs bent under the covers, knees almost touching her chin. Her red hair blazed with the light from the lamp, and her bright blue eyes shimmered under the glow of her cell phone. Something in Beca's chest tightened, her stomach knotting as she watched Chloe slowly rub her neck with her right hand.

Beca cleared her throat as she crossed the room, making her presence known.

"All clean?" Chloe chirped. Beca nodded, staring down at the floor as she made her way to the far side of the bed. "Want to go to sleep?"

"Yes, please. I'm exhausted," replied Beca as she pulled back the blankets and crawled beneath them.

Chloe reached over and clicked off the lamp after putting her cell on the charger (something Beca had done before she got in the shower). The two laid awkwardly in bed for a moment, several inches of space separating them.

"Well, good night," the brunette finally said, turning onto her left side to face the window, her back to Chloe.

"Yeah, uh… good night."

Beca shut her eyes and tried to focus on the blackness. She tried not to think of Chloe just inches behind her and definitely did her best to ignore the warmth building between her legs at the thought – which she wasn't thinking – of Chloe in bed just inches behind her. Her hips instinctively shifted and her fingers gripped at the pillow beneath her head. There was no way she was going to be able to sleep like this, sharing a bed with her best friend.

"Beca?" she heard a soft voice ask.

Her eyes snapped open as something akin to excitement trilled through her body. She forced herself to respond with a cool, quiet "Mm?"

Chloe's next question was hesitant, her voice sweet sounding. It was the kind of Chloe Beale patented tone that Beca found it impossible to say no to, not that, in this case anyway, she wanted to. "Would it be okay if I, um… can I hold you?"

Beca's muscles reflexively tensed, something in her chest twisting in a not altogether unpleasant manner. She whimpered under her breath, almost silently, and hoped that Chloe didn't hear her. "Um… I guess that'd be okay," she mumbled, heart skipping a beat as the meaning of her own words registered.

She felt Chloe's movement toward her and something rose in her throat that she did her best to swallow back down. She remained still, her breathing momentarily stopped, as she felt Chloe's arm loop around her waist, and then the sensation of the front of the girl's body pressing into her back. It took a moment for Chloe to properly situate herself, and once she had, Beca felt Chloe's hand slither up her shirt ever so slightly, her palm laying to rest just below her belly button. Only then did Beca start breathing again, releasing a loud exhale.

"Is this okay?" Chloe asked sweetly.

Beca's words were caught in her throat, so she opted for a quick nod.

"Good," Chloe said simply. Beca heard the redhead take a deep inhale, nose buried in Beca's still partly damp hair. The hand at her middle squeezed her tightly, hips pressing fleetingly into her backside, and then released with a sigh from the older woman. "Good night, Becs."

Beca could feel her heart pounding in her chest, but did her best not to panic. Instead, she tried to indulge the sensation. It felt good to be held. No, it felt amazing. She felt safe, and warm, and loved. She decided to try to embrace the feeling, instead of run from it in a more typical Beca Mitchell fashion. Tonight she was going to simply accept it, enjoy it. "Night, Chlo."

A/N: So close to our girls all being in the same room are the same time! Who's excited? Cause I'm fucking stoked, personally. Hope you all are, too!