A/N: This chapter gave me a bit of trouble, but it contains the scene that inspired me to write this fic in the first place, and so I am very, very excited to share it with you all.

The Bellas' final rehearsal was surreal. They all needed to focus in order to put the finishing touches on their set, but it was clear that each girls' mind was otherwise occupied. Even Beca could feel time slipping through her fingers. This was it, the last substantial amount of time these girls would ever spend together as a group. Beca knew that, and it was clear that the rest of the Bellas were distracted by the thought, too. Well, all except Chloe, who seemed to be channeling her fear of the future into a particularly crazed and fierce captainship.

"Um, Chloe?" Beca asked as the group finished running the set for a fourth time. The gruff scowl gracing her friend's face caused her to hesitate for a moment, but she pressed on. "Can I, like, talk to you for a second?"

"Sure. Fine."

Beca could feel Chloe following closely behind her as she walked toward to corner of the hotel conference room space they had reserved for the day. She turned to face Chloe, her tone conveying her seriousness. "You need to cool it."

"What?" Chloe sounded indignant, like she had no idea what Beca was talking about.

"We've clearly all got other things on our mind," she calmly explained. She watched as Chloe crossed her arms, eyes flickering up to the ceiling before staring back at Beca. "Maybe we should call it early. Go have lunch." The look on the redhead's face strongly suggested that she wasn't in favor of this idea, but Beca continued anyway. "This is our last rehearsal together," she said, carefully emphasizing each word. It wasn't like Beca to be sentimental, but this was important. The group needed the break. They weren't accomplishing anything, and her co-captain was pushing them too hard. And really, Chloe was the biggest mess of all. She needed to walk away right now more than anyone else, and Beca knew that. She just hoped somewhere beneath all that frantic energy that Chloe knew it too.

"All the more reason to keep rehearsing," Chloe was quick to retort. "If we're gonna beat DSM, we—"

"Chlo," she interrupted, placing a hand on the other woman's shoulder. "They're ready. We're ready. Let's just enjoy some time together before the alums arrive…"

Chloe huffed, looking once again toward the ceiling. "Fine," she said, after a long pause, holding up her hands in defeat. "Whatever."

Bright blue eyes once again connected with hers, an intensity flaring within, but behind that Beca could see fear, could see pain. But she could also see love. She knew it was there in the same way she knew the sun would always rise in the east. In a move uncharacteristic of her, she stepped forward and hugged Chloe, wrapping her arms tightly around the girl's shoulders. She ran a hand down red hair as she felt the girl reciprocate the gesture.

Then without thinking, without hesitation, and without consideration of any consequences, she whispered softly, "I love you."

All of the muscles in her body instantly clenched as she heard the words come out of her mouth. It wasn't like it was something she hadn't said to Chloe before, but the circumstances had changed. Of course, she'd always meant them, but from the sound of them alone, Beca knew that she meant those words differently now than she had in the past. Just like that, the slow recognition of her own feelings came to what was honestly, to Beca, an unbelievable, totally preposterous conclusion.

She released her friend, took a step back, and cleared her throat. Maybe Chloe wouldn't notice the difference. Maybe she wouldn't think anything of it. She looked up at Chloe with a slow sort of uncertainty, afraid of what she might find when she did.

What she saw surprised her. Chloe's anger had vacated. The tension within had completely dissipated. She was grinning like an idiot, her vibrant eyes positively shining. There was nothing severe, or contemplative about the way Chloe looked, which is what Beca had feared most: that Chloe would hear it too seriously, that she'd be looking at Beca with a mushy sort of understanding. But no. Chloe looked simply as she always did when she was genuinely happy. She wasn't affected. She was just her typical, bubbly self.

Beca felt relief as she realized what she had said was not the wrong thing, but, in fact, the totally right thing to say in that moment. It turned an agitated Chloe into gleeful Chloe, the Chloe she, well… loved, most of all. And so Beca smiled back, something toothy and adorable.

"Awww," Chloe squealed, "love you, too, Becs!"

The brunette stood smiling for what was probably a too long moment. She couldn't help it. Her chest felt warm, her cheeks aching from the mere width of her grin. She felt almost embarrassed, but so… well, just happy. Beca wasn't sure she'd ever felt this happy in all her life.

"Is this Bloe moment over yet?" Amy's voice suddenly rang out. "Or do we need to leave you alone for a while?"

Beca rolled her eyes, still smiling, then began walking back toward the other girls, Chloe practically skipping behind her.

They ended rehearsal and together the group went out for a long lunch, which included a cocktail or two. It was nice to simply enjoy the last moments of their limited time together, instead of all the intensity that sometimes came with more stressful Bellas rehearsals.

"We're gonna kick some DSM ass tomorrow night," Stacie said as she sipped her second vodka tonic.

"Um, heck yeah we are," agreed Amy, raising her glass. The rest of the girls followed suit and looked toward their co-captains for the final word. Chloe was seated at the head of the table, and so Beca, seated to her right, deferred. She looked to Chloe with a smile, knowing, of course, that she wouldn't have known the right thing to say anyway.

"To Bella sisterhood," Chloe said, staring directly into Beca's eyes before turning her gaze on the rest of the table.

The girls all responded in unison. "To Bella sisterhood!"

"Cheers," said Beca, clinking her glass against Chloe's. She shook her head with an embarrassed chuckle when Chloe winked back at her, then finished off the rest of her drink.

The toast was simple, sure, but it was the final bit of motivation the group needed. It was a reminder of why they were here, an urge to save an institution they'd be a part of forever, and a reminder to look back at those who had gone before them, those who would be arriving in just a few short hours.

"Aubrey!" Beca turned to look as Chloe sprinted with unprecedented speed toward the woman who had just entered the conference room, saw Chloe lunge toward her, wrapping Aubrey into a tight embrace, watched as Chloe pressed loud, smacking kisses all over her face. "I missed you!"

Aubrey smiled and held back a giggle. "I've missed you, too, Chlo."

The rest of the girls rushed toward Aubrey, but Beca hung back, folding her arms across her chest. She swallowed hard, the image of Dream Aubrey licking her lips lighting up her memory. Beca watched as Chloe slipped out of Aubrey's arms, dragging her fingers, slowly it seemed, across both sides of Aubrey's neck as she took a step back to allow the other Bellas a moment with their former captain. Beca's heart beat fast as she imagined a flash of skin, heard the blended sound of two breathy moans. She felt dizzy. She shook the thoughts from her mind and refocused her attention on the room, catching sight of Chloe who was standing aside from the excited group of women surrounding Aubrey. She saw the flush of Chloe's cheeks and reached up to touch her own, worried that her body may have betrayed her. Her skin felt hot, but she tried not to worry. She knew that would only make it worse. Chloe's downcast eyes looked up and met Beca's, a warm smile spreading across her face. Chloe's eyes flickered toward Aubrey, then back to Beca as the smile grew wider.

Beca's chest felt suddenly warm and she was unable to stop herself from returning the grin. She saw movement in her periphery and broke eye contact with Chloe in favor of watching Aubrey step away from the pack and toward Beca.

"What? I don't get a greeting from you?"

Beca stood firm, arms still crossed, shaking her head with a teasing, insolent smirk. Aubrey continued to walk toward her, pressing a hand to her chest with an over exaggerated scoff as she looked back toward the other girls in disbelief.

"Really, Beca, after all I've done for you…"

Aubrey was quickly approaching Beca's personal bubble and she was beginning to panic. Her eyes frantically searched the room, stopping on a shrugging Chloe who shared no bit of sympathy and simply nodded with eyebrows raised. Beca looked back and was now face to face with Aubrey. Her eyes darted to her lips for a moment too long, remembering the dream, remembering her thoughts. When she looked back in Aubrey's eyes, the girl was smirking rather proudly. The look infuriated her in its condescension, and its presumption, and yet it made her absolutely weak. She swallowed a whimper before the woman moved to hug her.

"And all I might do for you in the future," she whispered into Beca's ear as she pulled her close. Beca wasn't sure what she meant by that, could only assume she was referencing all the guidance Aubrey had given regarding her evolving friendship with Chloe, and yet the tone of her voice was dripping with something else and was, at the very least, suggestive. Beca's muscles tightened, her frenzied brain counting all of the points of contact between her body and Aubrey's at this exact moment. She hadn't unfurled her own arms, and her left index finger was pressed against the underside of Aubrey's breast.

She told herself that she shouldn't be noticing something like that. It was just a hug, like any other. She was making it weird. Just hug back like a fucking normal person, you idiot!

For once, her body listened to her. She slid her arms from between them and wrapped them around Aubrey, gently hugging the girl back.

"That's a good girl."

Heat shot through Beca at the praise and she immediately pulled back from the embrace. It was too much. She took a step back, crossing her arms once more, and did her best to ignore it.

"Yeah, uh, it's good to see you, too, Aubrey." There was an awkward moment of silence as Beca stared down at her shoes. She looked up when she sensed the rest of the Bellas moving toward them, her eyes caught a moment on a grinning Chloe Beale, then flickered back to Aubrey's face. She was smiling. It was sweet and genuine, but also knowing. Beca reached an arm behind her to rub at the back of her neck. "Thanks for, like, doing this. For being here."

"Of course," Aubrey said, the rest of the group joining them. "Anything for the Bellas."

They began rehearsal, the rest of the former Bellas trickling in as they arrived at the hotel. Everything was going according to plan. It wasn't terribly complicated, what had to be taught to the past generations, but they picked up on it quickly and Beca was more than satisfied with the results. The set was going to be aca-awesome. She felt pumped. She felt ready, and she could tell the rest of the group did, too.

They broke from rehearsal just before 9:00pm, and the women went their separate ways. Many of those who just arrived headed straight to their rooms to combat the jet lag. Others dispersed for a late dinner. There would be a team brunch tomorrow before the final rehearsal on stage, so no one felt obligated to spend time together tonight.

Stacie was insistent that Beca go out for dinner with only her. It was a sort of weird proposition, but she agreed, knowing that Chloe would probably like to spend some alone time with Aubrey. She usually did, whenever Aubrey came for a visit. She didn't think things would be any different just because they were in Copenhagen.

They had just ordered, seated in the back of a dimly lit restaurant. Beca was sipping a glass of water when Stacie asked the question. It surprised Beca, caught her off guard, even though it was something she'd been worrying would happen since day one.

"So, what's going on with you and Chloe?"

Stacie asked the question so casually that Beca nearly spit out her drink. "N-nothing," she sputtered.

"Come on, Beca. I'm not blind," said Stacie.

Beca's mind raced, cycling through all of the options she had to respond to this unsolicited line of inquiry. There were a number of possibilities, but the first decision was whether to tell the truth, or to deny everything.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Fuck. She didn't even sound convincing to herself.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?"

Beca was nervous, and her reply came out as more of a question. "No?"

"So tell me what's going on then."

Beca took a deep breath. There was no way she was getting out of this. So why bother? It would be good to be able to talk to someone other than Aubrey.

"Fine," she said. "Chloe and I… we've been, uh… we've been… experimenting."

Stacie swallowed a laugh. "What does that even mean? Experimenting? Experimenting with what?"

It felt a bit like Stacie was mocking her – even though she knew the girl meant well – and something about that could have shut Beca down, but it fueled her instead, dissipated – at least momentarily – the fear that was holding her back. "With each other!" she countered, a bit too loudly.

"Oh my God, are you twelve?" Stacie jeered. She couldn't stop her laugh then, and Beca felt her face go red with a mix of embarrassment and outrage.

"Shut up!" she yelled. But as she watched Stacie in stiches, she couldn't help but laugh herself. It came on slowly, but built into something loud and full-bellied. Stacie cleared a tear from her eye as the pair quieted. It felt good to laugh, Beca realized. This thing had potentially life changing repercussions, and yet, Beca had still been taking it much, much too seriously. All Stacie had to do was crack a joke to make Beca appreciate how ridiculous she was being.

"Okay, so, you're fucking your co-captain—"

"Hey!"

"What? Did I misspeak? Are you not fucking your co-captain?"

Beca gave an exaggerated eye roll, and struggled to find an answer to that question. She was. Of course she was, so why did she have such an objection to the implication? Surely not just because it was crass. She took a breath. "I mean, I am. We are." Stacie raised a curious eyebrow. "But it's… it's more than just that."

"More?"

Everything was coming to a head in this moment. Beca wanted to talk to someone about this. She really did, and so she was grateful that Stacie sort of just fell in her lap this way. She wanted to be honest, and yet, Beca didn't know what to say without sounding stupid. "Yeah," she answered.

Stacie paused, chewed on that for a long moment. When she spoke again, her tone had completely shifted. Her voice was quieter. She wasn't laughing. She was serious, and empathetic. She knew what Beca meant. "Do you… want to talk about it?"

Beca was grateful for Stacie's intuition. She didn't really know how to explain herself, but was now assured that she wouldn't have to. She wouldn't have to put words to the way she felt when she was around Chloe, how just looking at the girl made her chest ache, and tugged the corners of her mouth into a smile that made her feel dizzy. "Kind of," she said.

Without properly acknowledging the thing – because Stacie clearly understood already – Beca spoke of how it made her feel. She did her best to articulate her fears, her reservations, why she was nervous and not excited. Her time at Barden was officially over. She didn't know where to turn next, or how Chloe fit in, or didn't fit in, to that picture.

"What about LA?" asked Stacie. "What about Jesse?"

Beca was a bit confused by the question. All the Bellas knew that she and Jesse had broken up. Beca never explained the potential for reunion. How could she be asking about him?

"I'm not sure what you mean." If she did suspect the pair might reunite, it must have been Stacie's natural instinct for this sort of thing. But was Beca really that transparent? Though if Stacie had a sixth sense about her and Chloe – something Beca was actively trying to hide – then it stood to reason that she'd known that her relationship with Jesse had the chance for revival.

"Well, he's coming here tomorrow, isn't he?"

"Uh – not that I'm aware of." Her disbelief was evident. If this was true, she certainly had no knowledge of it.

"Oh – I mean… I thought… you knew? Legacy told me. He's coming with Benji. I thought maybe you two were—uh, sorry. Wrong tree, I guess."

Why wouldn't Jesse have told her he was coming? Was he trying to surprise her? Or did he intend to ignore her? It'd been a while since they talked. She didn't know exactly where Jesse stood, how he was feeling about this whole… thing. Tomorrow's performance already had her on edge, pile on all this confusion about Chloe, and Beca really, really didn't need one more thing to worry about.

"I didn't know he was coming." That was all she said, her voice tinged with something reminiscent of sadness, a signal that she had nothing more to say, and didn't want to dwell on the matter. Ever intuitive Stacie picked up on the cue, and abruptly shifted the conversation.

"And what about Aubrey?"

Beca froze as panic took a rough hold on her. She wasn't sure what Stacie's implication was. The question sounded innocent enough. But why would she be asking about Aubrey if she didn't also sense that Beca was working through her own feelings about the blonde, too? Just as she was trying to formulate a cohesive response, the waiter returned with their meals. Beca was grateful for the extra moments of silence, the chance to think before she spoke.

"What about her?" she asked, picking up her fork as the waiter departed. The extra time hadn't helped her craft an eloquent reply, but it did give her the ability to make her words sound cool and nonchalant. She felt proud of how breezy she seemed, even though the question had absolutely floored her.

"Well, her and Chloe," she said frankly. Stacie looked up into her eyes then and must have seen the horror and confusion Beca was feeling, because she immediately shifted tact. She became a bit anxious, and sounded unsure. These were two words Beca didn't think were even in Stacie's repertoire of emotion before this moment. "I mean… uh… I always thought that they, well… you know."

There was a long moment of silence in which Beca could only blink, dumbfounded by Stacie's conjecture. When Beca didn't reply, Stacie continued, voice losing that momentary hesitancy. "They're awfully close," she said, as a note of evidentiary support. "Don't you think?"

Beca's stomach sank. Her face felt hot, her mind tingling as it tried to work through what Stacie had just said. Her memory flashed to that kiss she was sure she saw outside the bus at the Lodge, the images playing like a flipbook before cycling through a handful of other moments when strange things were said, or whispered, odd instances when Beca observed other unusual things happening between Aubrey and Chloe, moments when they thought they were alone, or in such a large group that it would go unnoticed. But Beca had noticed, and evidently so had Stacie. Beca hadn't made anything of it – though had apparently filed the memories away to access right now – whereas Stacie had exercised a little more suspicion and formed some not altogether illogical conclusions.

She took a bite of her food, rebuilding her cool façade, pretending that she didn't feel sick to her stomach. "Never thought about it," she lied. "But, no. No way. I don't think so at all."

Stacie gave a half-hearted smile and shrugged. They finished their meal in relative quiet, neither breathing another word about it.

Beca was feeling more than a little strange by the time they returned to the hotel. Their imminent Worlds performance was weighing on her, as were all the forms change would take once the performance was over, win or lose. The realization that she had feelings for Chloe – even if she wasn't quite sure what exactly those feelings were, or what they meant – was possibly an even bigger source of crippling anxiety. And apparently Jesse was coming tomorrow, whatever that might mean. To top that off with the suspicion (or something at least resembling suspicion – perhaps paranoia?) Stacie had just bestowed upon her about the nature of Chloe and Aubrey's relationship was honestly just cruel. How could she be expected to function at all under these circumstances?

Chloe was nowhere to be found when Beca returned to their shared hotel room. And Beca was grateful for it – at least for the first few minutes. She needed time away from the girl. She needed time to think. But not fifteen minutes later, she felt her mind consuming her. Her skin felt itchy, like she was literally being eaten alive by her thoughts. She couldn't sit still, kept scratching at the cuticles of her thumbs with the other digits, her foot tapping an erratic rhythm on the floor.

She thought better of being alone. And it was risky, considering the particulars of what was making her feel this level of anxiety, but Beca didn't know what else to do. She took the elevator up two levels and walked frantically to Aubrey's door.

She knocked once, relatively quietly, and stood a long moment to no response before knocking again, a little louder. Beca shifted nervously on the balls of her feet. Aubrey had given her the second key card to her single room earlier that day. The hotel had given her two and Aubrey thought it best someone else hang onto the second one, just in case she somehow locked herself out of the room. Beca hadn't thought much of it when Aubrey handed it to her with a wink. After all, that was the quintessential Aubrey Posen: always prepared, always with a backup plan. "You know," she had said, "in case of an emergency."

Beca now debated the ethics of using the card to enter Aubrey's room without her permission. This wasn't exactly an emergency. But Aubrey had given her the card, after all. Wasn't that permission enough? Driven by an unexpected need to talk to the girl, Beca pulled the card from her back pocket and slid it into the locking mechanism. She heard the click of the lock, saw the flash of the green light, and pressed inside.

She heard movement, like the rustle of blankets, as she entered the dark entryway, the door closing softly behind her. Her ears were assaulted by a grunting, breathy sound as she stepped forward. Beca registered it just as the room came into view.

Her breath stopped. Her chest clenched. Her stomach dropped. She was frozen in place as time momentarily ceased to exist. She stared, eyes wide and mouth agape, at the sight before her.

Aubrey laid naked on the bed, one hand forcefully gripped into her own hair. Her eyes were shut tightly, head tipped to the side, mouth open, moaning, as her bare chest heaved. Beca recognized the distinct look of pleasure furrowing her brow. Fiery red hair caught Beca's eye and her gaze traveled down to the body kneeling between Aubrey's thighs, face pressed against her. She followed the curve of a spine to an uncovered backside perched upon the heels of two bare feet.

Beca couldn't look away. She was altogether mortified and yet somehow she still felt a distinctive tingle between her legs. She knew what that was, knew what was happening, what she had just walked into, and could feel nothing but shocked and disgusted, both with herself, and with the scene playing out before her.

She felt like she was going to be sick. She had to leave, before one of them noticed she was there.

"Beca?!"

Fuck.

Aubrey's voice rang out shrill, surprised, and wholly breathless. Beca's eyes flicked up and met hers, a look of panicked fear blinking back at her. She noted a burst of red movement in her periphery, and was met with the concerned, caring crystal blue eyes she'd come to know so well over the past weeks.

"Oh my God…" Unlike Aubrey, Chloe's voice was quiet, almost shy, aimed more toward herself than to Beca. "Beca…"

"What the fuck?!" Beca heard her own voice more than she felt it leave her.

More movement registered then as Chloe shifted, and Aubrey sat up. Beca quickly regained her own ability to move as she saw Chloe begin to get up from the bed. Beca raised both hands up by her ears, felt her face begin to contort into a look of revulsion, of confusion, of pain.

Pain.

It shot into Beca's chest hard and fast. She felt it travel through her, form a lump in her throat, and oh my God, was she going to cry right now? She turned to rush out of the room as soon as she felt the tears prickle, slamming the door behind her, a "Beca, wait!" traveling to her ears a moment too late, and from which woman she couldn't tell. She ran through the corridor to the stairs, flew down them as fast as her feet would carry her, and straight to the hotel entrance, not stopping as she pushed through the glass door and out onto the streets of Copenhagen.

A/N: imsorryimsorryimsorry