A/N: IMPORTANT: I've split the final chapter into two parts, since it was getting a tiny bit long. Second part will come later today, and it's twice as long!

'No, no, no, no!' Aubrey cries in frustration, tugging on the roots of her hair. 'There is no way we are using "Call Me Maybe" in this performance!'

'But it's such a cute song!' Stacie argues, looking disappointed. 'People love it, it's a real crowd pleaser!'

'"Turn The Beat Around" is a crowd pleaser, not that excuse for a cheesy pop sensation!'

'And what is so bad about cheesy pop?!' says Stacie, nettled. 'It makes you feel good and everyone can sing along!'

'This is an acapella competition, Stacie, not a concert! We want people appreciating the work we put into this performance, not distracted by their own singing and dancing in their seats!'

'If they're singing and dancing, that means they're enjoying it! God, can't you loosen up a bit?!' Stacie yells. 'I thought all that puke might have dislodged whatever stick you had up your ass, but apparently not!'

Seeing that Aubrey looks ready to murder Stacie at any moment, Beca decides to step in. 'Guys, guys! Calm down.'

'She started it,' Stacie grumbles.

'I don't care who started it. Look, Stacie, we'd love to use Call Me Maybe…' Stacie's face lights up, while Aubrey turns her homicidal glare on Beca instead. 'But!' she adds quickly. 'I just don't think it'd work. As far as I can see, it doesn't really lead very well to or from any of the songs we've already settled on.' She taps the board which has their new set list on it. It took an hour and half just to get these ones. 'And unless you want to change any of these…'

It works: Stacie pales and rapidly backs away to her chair. 'No way. If you say it won't work, I believe you, Beca. And…' She winces. 'Sorry, Aubrey.'

'That's okay, Stacie. I know we're all stressed out.'

Beca catches Aubrey's eye; she smiles at Beca, who returns it.

'Okay, if we're all ready to work again… Our main problem is that we still don't have a "central" song to come back to,' says Beca, furrowing her brow at the song titles on the board.

'What do you mean?' Aubrey asks. 'I thought we were doing a kind of medley.'

'We are, but I think this would work best if we had a couple of "main" songs that formed the foundation of the song, and then we can layer other bits on top as we go along. That way we have a solid base to work on, and it's a lot more interesting than having long sections of a single song. I don't know which ones would be best, though…' She trails off into thought, unconsciously humming to herself and tapping out beats on her thigh as she searches through her mental archives to find the perfect songs.

As she muses, Beca hears Amy say behind her in a stage whisper: 'Close your mouth, Red, a dingo could crawl in with the way you're gawping.'

She turns to see Chloe has turned bright red, and the other Bellas are watching her with amusement.

'Problem, Chloe?' Beca asks.

Chloe's eyes widen and she shakes her head. 'N-no…'

'She's lying,' Amy declares. 'She's been looking at you like a piece of chocolate gateau for like twenty minutes. It's pretty distracting.'

Beca laughs, leaning against the whiteboard a little. Seeing Chloe get flustered for once is far too good to pass up. 'Is that so? Chloe, maybe you should go sit in the corner, if you're distracting the others.'

'She should do some cardio,' Cynthia Rose comments, smirking. 'Get all that excess energy out.'

Even Lily gets in on the teasing, saying in a barely audible whisper, 'Sex burns a lot of calories too.'

'You all suck,' says Chloe, rolling her eyes. But then she winks at Beca. 'Besides, you guys can't blame me, anyway. It's not my fault Beca is incredibly hot when she's thinking about music.'

'I.e. all the time,' says Amy dryly. Chloe grins and nods.

It's Beca's turn to flush now – she turns around to avoid Chloe's knowing smile, determinedly staring the words on the board until they blur to try and pull herself together. 'Anyway!' she says loudly, ignoring the sniggers behind her, 'Any suggestions for the main songs, guys? My mind's gone blank.'

'I bet,' Aubrey mutters. Beca glowers at her.

'Ooh, I know what we should use!' says Stacie suddenly.

'No,' Aubrey snaps.

'But you haven't even heard my suggestion yet…'

'Your last five haven't been useful, what makes you think this one is?'

'Wait, Aubrey,' says Beca, holding up her hand. Aubrey scowls but stops talking. 'Stacie, what's your suggestion?'

'Pitbull – Give Me Everything Tonight,' says Stacie promptly.

'No,' Aubrey starts automatically, about to tell Stacie off, but then she frowns. 'Wait. That's a… good idea, actually.' She turns to Beca. 'What do you think?'

Beca just smiles and writes the song in capitals on the board.

'Somehow when we were arranging our new set for the ICCA Finals, it didn't occur to me that we'd have to learn a whole new set of choreography,' Beca gripes, as Chloe guides her through another round of "It's not about the money"s and "forget about the price tag"s.

'You didn't expect us to keep the old choreography, did you? Okay, remember, it's table wipe, badass walk, cowgirl, don't confuse them this time,' Chloe advises, moving Beca's limp, resisting arms into every painstaking step. She's not being deliberately petulant – Beca just really hates dancing, and only Chloe can put up with her enough to make sure she knows every step.

In great detail.

It involves a lot of rehearsal, both in practice and outside it. With Chloe pressed right against her back to help her do every move.

She minded at first, but the alternative is being yelled at by an increasingly stressed out Aubrey who is definitely feeling the pressure of having to come up with an entirely new routine and set with only a month to go before finals. Besides, dancing with Chloe isn't that bad now she's getting a little better at curbing her natural desire to run in the other direction when Chloe touches her. She's very patient, and if Beca doesn't get something she helps her through the movements, talking through it with her instead of losing her temper.

'No. Maybe? I guess I didn't think that hard about it,' she says, as she and Chloe skip around the room together.

'I think this choreography is our best ever. Alright, now we're driving, driving…' Chloe rotates Beca's arm for her, mimicking the movement of a steering wheel. 'Now…' There's a pause, and Beca knows Chloe's grinning, 'sexy hips. Let me see 'em.'

Beca snorts, looking back at Chloe over her shoulder. 'You know, your weird names for the dance moves aren't exactly helping.'

'Really? The others like them – they say it helps them remember what to do.'

'Well sure, they're memorable, but when you start nicknaming them things like "giving an upside down blowjob" I can't really concentrate on dancing because I'm laughing too hard.'

Chloe giggles and flicks Beca on the back of her sweaty neck. 'Don't try and distract me with wit. I haven't seen your sexy hips yet.'

'They're right here,' says Beca, slapping herself on her right hip bone. She walks to her bed and flops down on it. 'Also, I'm calling a break.'

'You called a break like five minutes ago!'

'I have low stamina. Sue me. This shit is hard work.'

Chloe huffs, but joins Beca on the bed. 'You're actually a good dancer. I don't know why you pretend you aren't.'

'Beats me,' says Beca dryly. Literally; her throat is parched. She reaches up for a bottle of water sitting on her desk; as she does so, Chloe pokes at the tiny amount of exposed skin at her belly shown by her t-shirt riding up, making Beca squeak and glare as she pulls it back down. 'Hey!'

'You didn't answer the question.'

'Was there a question in there?' Chloe pokes her again. 'Alright, alright, stop with the abuse. I don't pretend I'm a bad dancer.' Beca unscrews the water and takes a swig. She grimaces; it's lukewarm. 'You guys just kind of assume I need help, when really I just can't be bothered.'

Chloe raises an eyebrow. 'And by "you guys", you mean me, right?'

She takes another sip, mostly to delay answering. 'Yeah, I guess. Aubrey too.'

At that, Chloe grabs the bottle off her and takes a sip of her own. When the sip turns into quite a long drink, Beca begins to consider she's doing it for the same reasons as Beca.

'Confession,' she says eventually, licking her lips. 'I don't think you need help dancing. I never did. I just wanted to touch you.'

'Now there's a surprise.' Chloe smacks her on the thigh. 'Ow! Jesus, woman – I swear, the more comfortable we get with each other the more you seem to be beating me up. I'm not liking this change.'

'Oh, get over it, you big baby,' says Chloe with a playful roll of her eyes, but Beca notices she puts her hand on her leg, right over her "injury", a thumb running over the material of Beca's jeans. 'What?' she says mischievously, seeing Beca's open-mouthed expression.

She shudders, closing her mouth. 'You drive me crazy.'

'Maybe. But,' she says, raising an eyebrow and drawing tiny circles on the inside of her thigh, 'I'm starting to think you like it.'

Beca snatches the bottle back from Chloe's other hand and drains it.

'Beca! Beca, wait up! Beca! Ugh, I hate when you have your headphones on, you can't hear a damn thing - Becaw!'

Beca definitely hears that, despite the music playing in her ears – she slips them off, turning around to see Jesse running after her, panting.

'Finally,' he gasps, bending over and placing his hands on his knees so he can catch his breath. 'I've been trying to catch up with you for ages.'

'You could've texted or called, you know. I have my phone on me and I would've felt it vibrate.'

He blinks at her, standing back up. 'Damn, why didn't I think of that?'

'Clearly I'm the brains of this duo,' Beca teases, beginning to walk with Jesse. 'So what d'you want, asshole?'

He frowns at her. 'Well, nothing, if you're gonna be like that.'

'Oh come on, chill out. I meant it affectionately.'

'Calling me an asshole is affectionate?' he asks sceptically.

'In my world, yeah.'

Jesse considers this, and shrugs. 'Fine. You whore.'

'That's the spirit!' Beca cheers. 'Glad we've reached the point in our friendship where we can trade insults, now. Those are the best kinds of relationships.'

'I'm starting to agree, bitch.'

'Jesse, you don't have to insult me every time.'

'Why not, douchecanoe?'

'Douchecanoe?' Beca splutters. 'What are you, ten?'

'I'm not ten. I'm nearly eleven,' Jesse retorts while making a face, eliciting a laugh from Beca.

'Okay fine, no affectionate insults, you made your point. Anyway, what did you say you wanted?'

'I didn't. But now that you ask, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out later, maybe get some food?' he asks, barely looking at Beca as he asks it. 'There's this great new pizza place that opened up recently, I wanted to check it out.'

Beca winces. 'Ooh. Sorry, can't. I promised Chloe I'd spend some time with her tonight. That's where I'm going right now.'

'Again?' he says, his tone a little whiny and making Beca's eyebrow raise. 'You've been out with Chloe every time I've asked you this week.'

'Well, actually, I've been at Bellas practice, but I see your point.' She gives him an apologetic smile. 'I'm sorry, dude. Catch up with you another time, though?'

He sighs. 'This is pretty much the only time I have free – we're having to pull hours of practice to try and recreate our set, since Bumper ditched and he put himself up for solos in the songs we were doing. We're having a night off since we're all beat.'

That takes Beca aback. 'Bumper ditched?'

'Yeah.' Jesse frowns. 'I told you that the other day. Weren't you listening?'

Beca searches her memory, but finds nothing. 'Sorry, I don't remember. When was that?'

'Tuesday. I think you've might've been texting Chloe at the time.'

Beca glances up at him, perturbed by his bitter tone. 'Wow. Did it just get colder out here, or is that just you? Seriously, Jesse, what's up?' When he doesn't answer, she pulls his arm to make him stop. 'Jesse! Why are you being like this?'

'I'm not being like anything,' he snaps, 'you're the one always blowing off your friends to hang out with Chloe, even though you spend half your day with her already.'

'Jesse, I want things to work out with Chloe, so I want to spend time with her. I thought you'd understand that.'

'I do, but you're just taking things too far right now. You're practically obsessed with her.'

A loaded pause follows.

'Wow, harsh,' Beca says, hurt.

'I didn't mean it like that.'

'I think you did. Why are you being such a dick about Chloe all of a sudden? Weren't you were the one encouraging me to go after her and stop ignoring my feelings?'

'Well yeah, but I didn't think you getting closer to Chloe would mean you'd start pushing me away!'

'I'm not!'

'You are,' he snarls. 'And when you start distancing yourself from her or she starts pushing you too much, don't expect me to come and put you back together again!'

'Stop it, Jesse!' Beca says shrilly, his words hitting her in all her most sensitive spots. 'Why the hell are you being this way?!'

'Don't act all innocent,' he says scornfully, turning away from her. 'You already know why!'

'No I don't! I have no damn clue and I wish I did, because then I might be able to do someth -'

'I like you, okay?!' he shouts, loud enough to drown out her words, whirling around. 'I have a crush on you! I have for ages!'

A shocked silence falls.

'So there you are,' he says flatly, quiet again. He folds his arms. 'Truth's out.'

Beca blinks slowly, slowly closing her mouth from when her jaw had dropped. 'Jesse, I…' Her voice cracks on the "I". She shakes her head, not sure what to say. 'I'm gay… I- I thought you knew that?'

'Of course I know that,' he groans, putting his fingers to his temples. 'That's what I keep telling myself, but it doesn't help. I can't help how I feel, and knowing it will never ever come to anything doesn't exactly make me feel better, Beca.'

'Well… what do you want me to do?' Beca retorts, getting a little pissed off with the way he's acting all victimised. 'I can't change my sexuality for you.'

'I know you can't, but… ugh.' He lets out a deep sigh, then takes his hands away. 'I wish things were different.'

'You wish I was straight, basically.'

He cringes, but nods. 'Is that so wrong?'

'Well… Kind of. Jesse. That's a big part of me… A massive part,' Beca says slowly. 'And I thought you understood that. I thought you were supportive.'

'Jesus, Beca,' he says, running his hand through his hair. 'I do understand. I am supportive. But you have to know how hard this is for me… I had to grit my teeth and bear it while I was watching you swoon all over Chloe, and I never said a word.'

'Until now, when things are getting better,' Beca says coldly, her jaw tightening. 'You can't handle the possibility of us getting together for real. Tell me, Jesse, were any of the things you did for me because you really cared, or just because you thought it'd help me get closer to you? Maybe you thought I'd fall into your comforting arms instead after Chloe broke my heart, like one of your movies?'

He looks shocked. 'Of course I care, Beca! I swear that wasn't how it was!'

'I don't believe you one bit. You know, it all makes sense now. All along, you just wanted to get close to me because you were hoping I'd fall for you instead.'

'That's completely untrue -'

'Is it? Think about it, Jesse.' He simply stares at her sorrowfully, looking like he might cry at any moment. 'I'm gay,' she says flatly. 'And for me, that means I exclusively like women, not women with an exception for you. I can't help the way I feel, any more than you can.' She pulls her headphones back up, reaching into her pocket to turn her music on again. 'You need to get that into your head. You have no right to be angry at me just because you're attracted to me and I'm not attracted to you back.'

'Beca...'

'I need to go. Chloe's waiting for me.'

'Beca, wait -'

'No, I'm done here,' Beca interrupts, shaking off his hand on her arm. 'Call me when you decide my sexuality, along with Chloe and me are worth respecting. Bye, Jesse.'

'Hey you!' Chloe says cheerfully when Beca walks up. 'You took your time walking up, I thought you'd died or…' Chloe suddenly catches sight of her face, instantly turning concerned. 'Hey... Beca, what's wrong? Did something happen?'

'Jesse happened,' Beca replies, intending to make it sound cold and unemotional, but at that point she loses control of the emotions that had been steadily building on the walk over and bursts into tears.

Chloe gathers her up quickly in her arms, holding her, letting her cry and stroking her hair. Beca lets her do this without any protest, clinging to the back of Chloe's shirt for dear life.

'You look so pretty,' Chloe says, coming to stand behind Beca as she looks in the mirror. Her hands touch Beca's hips once, a silent question in the gesture; when Beca doesn't move away, she takes this as the tacit permission it is to wrap her arms around Beca from behind. Her chin comes to rest on Beca's shoulder; unconsciously, she leans back into the embrace.

'Well what about you?' Beca remarks, plucking at the edge of Chloe's short-sleeved blazer and letting it go. 'Blue is definitely your colour.'

'It's yours too,' Chloe says, smiling widely. 'I'm still amazed you managed to get Aubrey to forget the old uniforms.'

'I told her to try doing the choreography in the skirt and heels. She agreed pretty quickly then.' Beca turns in Chloe's arms, her hands settling on Chloe's shoulders. It keeps them at a reasonable distance that she feels comfortable with, but as she does this more and more she's beginning to need fewer safety nets.

Chloe hums a little in satisfaction, looking down at Beca's body. 'You look even better from the front. You're going to knock the audience dead before you even get to sing for them.'

'Hm,' says Beca thoughtfully. 'D'you think if they're all unconscious we'll win by default?'

'It's a possibility.' Chloe squeezes her hips. 'But it'd be a waste of all the time we spent practising if that happened, so maybe we should leave that as Plan B.'

'Darn it. And I was so hoping we could go without me having to do my solo or perform my mixes.' She suddenly realises she's forgotten her Bella's scarf, and crosses to the bedside table where she left it. She makes an attempt to tie it around her wrist, but struggles to do it with only one hand.

'Hey,' Chloe says, her voice gently admonishing. 'Don't put yourself down, Bec. None of this could have happened without you.'

'Yep. And so if it turns out it's shit, it's also my fault.'

'It's not going to. You put so much work into this - we all did,' Chloe adds. 'And believe me, if it was awful the girls would have told you a long time ago. Oh, hey, let me help with that.' She joins Beca next to the bed and begins to loop the scarf around Beca's wrist.

'You really think it's okay?' Beca asks quietly.

Chloe finishes tying the scarf up, making a neat little knot for her; she then takes Beca's hand in hers. 'I think it's amazing, Beca. I think you're incredibly talented and we're so lucky to have you with us. And I think you've given us a really good shot at winning.'

Beca smiles, Chloe's words easing some of the tension she's feeling. 'Thanks, Chloe.'

'It's what I'm here for.' She tilts her head, her eyes dragging over Beca in a way that makes her shift uncomfortably. 'You know, I don't think I like this new modesty in you,' she tells her teasingly. 'That old confident swagger was a lot sexier, if you ask me.'

Beca is astonished. 'Sexy? What the hell?'

'Mmhm. I think you're the sexiest woman I've ever seen in my life.' Chloe sounds completely honest, despite the slight smirk on her lips.

'I think you need your eyes tested,' Beca tells her. 'Or you need to get out and meet some more women.'

'I don't need to. I have you here and that's enough for me.' Chloe squints at her. 'And my eyes are fine, blurry shape with a fuzzy outline.'

Beca barks out a laugh and plants a kiss on the back of Chloe's hand. 'I like you, Beale. I might keep you around a little longer.'

'That's all I ask for.'

'I love you awesome nerds,' Beca says, turning around to face her group as the Treblemakers leave the stage and grinning at all of them.

As Amy says something about them all having fat hearts, Beca's eyes can't help but gravitate towards Chloe, and by extension, Aubrey standing just behind her. The two of them are both looking rather pale, but unusually, Chloe seems even more nervous than Aubrey. At least Aubrey looks excited, but for once Chloe looks like she might be the one to throw up at any moment.

Beca mouths, 'You okay?', getting a timid nod in return. Surreptitiously, Chloe lifts her hand and taps two fingers to her throat – and now Beca understands. This is the first time Chloe has performed in front of a large audience since having her nodes removed, so it's natural that she would be more anxious about it.

Beca gives her a little thumbs up and what she hopes is a reassuring look, wishing she had time to talk to her properly. It seems to work though, judging by the way Chloe smiles back at her.

'Ladies and gentlemen… The Barden Bellas!'

The other girls start to file past Beca, and so does Chloe. But as she does so, she flips her hair back and puts on this confident smile that surprises Beca considering how she looked only a few minutes ago. The change is remarkable: Chloe is in performing mode now. It reminds Beca of how easily she'd walked into Beca's shower that one day, not even worried that Beca could've yelled at her or punched her – she'd just gotten on with it. She's always been confident, fearless even when it comes to things like these. Beca wishes, more than anything, that she could be that way too.

On a whim, Beca catches Chloe's arm. 'Wait,' Beca says urgently, turning Chloe around just as she's about to walk off onto the stage.

'Wh -' Chloe never gets a chance to finish that, because Beca has already jerked Chloe down to press their lips together.

It's only barely a kiss; it's not particularly romantic, and Beca's lips are a little sore from biting them due to nervousness. But even that is enough to practically send Beca into hyperventilation. Chloe stumbles a little under the sudden pressure before she regains her balance, using Beca's shoulders to keep her upright.

They stay like that for a few moments, their mouths just touching. Then Beca feels Chloe try to cup the back of her head, to pull her closer, but she wrenches herself away.

'For luck,' Beca squeaks, all but running onto the stage.

A/N: Next part soon!