~B~

After Beca got back to her dorm, Kimmy Jin was already gone for the morning. Or had never been back. Beca often woke up and found she was alone, unsure if Kimmy Jin had even been home the night before. Sometimes Beca created different scenarios that might keep her roommate out at random hours, her current theory being drug smuggling-to-pay-for-tuition.

After taking a shower and getting into a fresh set of clothes - 'What does one even wear to rehearsal? Shit, I should've asked.' - Beca tried to focus on homework. She eventually gave up as her mind refused to settle and started working on her most recent mixes instead.

Soon enough it was time to leave and she found herself milling in an auditorium with the rest of the new recruits. Aubrey and Chloe were standing in front of two whiteboards that looked way more complicated than Beca would have thought for an a capella rehearsal.

Beca was standing with Fat Amy and Cynthia Rose in front of another board that had pictures of past Bellas groups on display.

"Man, the old Bellas was hot." Cynthia Rose stopped next to Fat Amy and Beca, who was trying not to focus on Chloe standing behind her. Beca was almost positive it was physically impossible to tell when someone's eyes are on you, but she swore she could feel it when Chloe turned her direction.

"Yeah, they kept it tight." Amy sounded like she wanted to argue but was being polite.

They all turned around as Aubrey clapped behind them. "Okay. Sopranos in the front and altos in the back."

The girls all settled into their rows and Beca forced herself to focus solely on Aubrey.

"As you can see, Kori is not here." Aubrey waved her hand at the empty chair next to Ashley. "Last night she was Treble-boned. She has been disinvited from the Bellas." She moved the chair to the side.

"That oath was serious?" Beca couldn't hold back her grin.

Aubrey spun around. "Dixie Chicks serious."

Beca wasn't expecting that level of gravity and her eyes widened slightly. Her eyes darted to Chloe, but the other woman was standing silent in front of one of the boards. 'Okay. Wait, what does that even mean?' But she kept her mouth shut.

Aubrey strode back to the front of the group. "You can fool around with whoever you want to, just not a Treble."

Stacie spoke up. "That's not gonna be easy." She gestured with her hands at her junk. "He's a hunter."

Beca had to whisper so she didn't crack up. "You call it a dude?" Stacie smiled smugly back at her, nodding.

Aubrey pulled their attention by lowering her voice and speaking earnestly. "Stacie, the Trebles don't respect us, and if we let them penetrate us, we are giving them our power."

Beca couldn't wipe the smile off her face; this had to be a joke. She watched as Stacie crossed her legs tighter before Beca looked at Chloe again, but she still wasn't smiling. 'What the hell have I gotten myself into?'

Amy spoke up and waved her hand in the air. "Not a good enough reason to use the word 'penetrate'."

Aubrey moved back to the far side of the rows. "So. Does anyone here have anything to confess?" Dragging out the last word a little, her eyes were focused on Mary Elise, who was looking anywhere else. Beca looked around at the others, in case she was reading Aubrey wrong.

But no luck. Aubrey just waited. Staring. Eventually Mary Elise cracked. "It was an accident! I…"

Aubrey just nodded and cut her off. "Turn in your scarf and go." She held her hand out, waiting. Beca thought it was ironic that the girl who told her to be careful at Jesse's approach last night was apparently the one who ended up doing the deed.

The other girl started to plead, but when faced with that implacable stare she reached down to untie her scarf from her purse. The others all looked away uncomfortably as Aubrey smoothly brought her hand up, eyebrows rising, and pointed toward the door. Beca thought this was the most awkward thing she had ever been part of but her attention had been caught by the way Aubrey's hand moved.

'Jesus, that was the smoothest looking motion I have ever seen in my life. It was like… regal. Like she fucking practiced that shit but there's no way someone sits in front of a mirror and perfects the gesture that they'd use to kick someone out of a capella group for banging the competition.' Beca tilted her head, considering. 'Wait… this is Aubrey. She may actually do that based on what I've seen in the last five minutes.' She'd been kind of hoping that Aubrey wasn't as uptight as she'd been at the Fair, but so far it looked like the ease at breakfast was the rare exception.

As Mary Elise rose to her feet, Beca's attention was pulled back to the room when Amy coughed. "Slut."

"Take your chair." The tone was sharp, her eyes insistent.

No, she was wrong. This was the most awkward thing she had ever been part of. Beca and the others watched uncomfortably as Mary Elise dragged her chair squealing along the floor as she headed for the auditorium doors. When it bumped up against the step she let it go and ran sobbing from the room.

Beca looked back to the front. "Was that necessary?" She wasn't sure at this point if she was talking to Aubrey or Chloe, since Chloe hadn't stopped any of that from happening. But Chloe just looked back at her, face solemn.

Aubrey was stern. "This is war, Beca, and it is my job to make sure that my soldiers are prepped at go time with three kick-ass songs choreographed to perfection. And there are only four months until regionals."

Beca briefly looked at Chloe, who would not meet her eyes, then away and took a breath. She licked her lips as she looked back at Aubrey. This may be slightly more than she was willing to take on just to make her dad happy. But could she really just walk away from her dream shot at LA? A very small voice floated up from the back of her mind. 'Away from Chloe?' She pushed it back down and ignored it.

"So, if you have a problem with the way that I run the Bellas, then you should just…" Aubrey gestured toward the door half a second before she let out a small choking sound. Her right hand fisted against her lips, her left resting against her chest, as small gagging noises slipped free. The girls in the front recoiled a bit, eyes wide.

As Aubrey turned away, Chloe finally moved and stepped up next to her. "Don't stress, Aubrey. Relax." She briefly touched Aubrey's elbow and spoke softly. "We don't want a repeat of what happened last year." Aubrey took a series of deep breaths, obviously working to control herself.

Lilly raised her hand as Aubrey finally pulled herself together. Chloe nodded at Lilly.

All Beca heard was silence, even though she could see Lilly's lips moving.

Chloe asked "What are you saying?"

Beca is pretty sure she was the only one close enough to hear Lilly's second attempt, so she repeated it. "She asked what happened last year." Well. Part of it. Beca was not asking if they wanted to see a dead body. 'Seriously, what the fuck.'

Chloe smiled apologetically at Aubrey before turning back to the group. "We didn't finish our set in Finals last year. There was an… Incident. It's on YouTube."

Lilly brought out her tablet and opened the program, waiting.

Aubrey took a deep breath. "It's called 'Aubrey gives it up.'"

Beca couldn't look away as the performance played out, she was feeling a little stunned at seeing that much vomit come out of someone that skinny. She felt a wave of sympathy for Aubrey, and a lot of admiration with it. To come back from something like that..? Beca thought that took a lot of strength and determination. She sat back, noticing that most of the rest looked horrified. Most.

"Ooh, click on 'guy pukes on cat'" Stacie pointed at the next video on the tablet, completely unfazed.

Aubrey clapped. "Enough! It happened. It's over." The girls settled back in their seats. "We will practice every day for at least two hours, seven days a week." Chloe picked up a stack of paper and stepped back up next to Aubrey. "And I trust that you will add your own cardio."

Beca stopped smiling. "Why cardio?"

Fat Amy was right behind her. "Yeah, no, don't put me down for cardio."

"Okay, moving on." Aubrey turned and smiled at Chloe, gesturing at the papers she was holding. "This is a set list of all the songs that we have ever performed." Chloe stepped forward to pass them out. "And you will notice that we only do songs made famous by women."

Beca skimmed the list as she handed the rest over, unable to help the small smirk that appeared. "There's nothing from this century on here."

Aubrey stared at her. "Because we don't stray from tradition." Even Chloe looked at her seriously for a second.

Beca's eyebrows rose as she flipped to the next page and scanned it. She let the papers drop to her lap and forced herself to put a smile on her face. Any goodwill she'd been trying to muster for Aubrey was slowly fading away.

"Now," Aubrey turned to the boards and flipped one over. "This is how we become champions."

Beca stared at the board filled what looked like a road map and wondered for the tenth time in as many minutes what she'd gotten herself into.

First up, and thankfully the shortest part of the day, was 'learning' how to walk in heels. Beca thought Aubrey just wanted to get an idea of how they moved and their balance. The whole group tottered back and forth, some better at it than others, before Aubrey let them change back into their regular shoes for cardio. "I'll also trust that you'll practice walking in those. We wouldn't want anyone to fall over in the middle of the routine."

While Beca had never really thought she was out of shape, she was starting to realize how horribly wrong she was. At least she was managing to keep up with everyone but Aubrey, who was sprinting ahead like she was Usain Bolt. She was glad for the short break when Aubrey finally noticed Amy hiding in the bleachers.

Then there were the mouth exercises and as much as her inner teenager wanted to giggle, if Beca never heard someone (except maybe Lilly) saying "WOW WOW WOW" again in her life, she'd be happy. Beca felt she'd eventually get the hang of making 'instrument sounds with her mouth', but for today she just felt like she spit everywhere.

Chloe and Aubrey ran through the choreography a couple times, and it didn't really surprise Beca that it was the same routine from the video. Each move was then broken down, the girls running through them one at a time and Beca would never admit to anyone that she felt she was in way over her head.

There were two things that made the afternoon almost worthwhile.

It became obvious that Stacie trained in ballet when she did a pirouette one of her earrings flew off. That distracted Aubrey enough that she didn't notice when Stacie's leg came back around and it almost took Aubrey out. Beca almost choked on her water as she tried not to laugh as the blonde jerked backward out of range of Stacie's long limbs.

And then there was Chloe.

When Beca messed up the simplest step - after making a stupid square in the air, she forgot which way to turn - Chloe came over to help her out.

"No, it's like this." Then Chloe was standing behind her, closer than she'd been to any of the others when she helped them. Beca tried to keep an annoyed expression on her face as Chloe's hands came around and held Beca's. Chloe brought their joined hands in the air to start the top of the square and Beca just closed her eyes as their fingers intertwined. She felt Chloe's body brush against her as she stepped forward.

"I know… I can do it." Or at least she might be able to if she could concentrate. Seriously, Chloe was like a furnace against her back. 'A furnace with breasts. Very… soft… breasts,' she thought as Chloe leaned over Beca's shoulder. 'Breasts you've seen naked.' She mentally slapped herself. 'Get it the fuck together.'

Chloe brought their arms down and along the bottom of the square, her hands shifted slightly and suddenly it was way too much like hugging in front of an audience and Beca stepped away. "Thanks, I'll have to work on that."

But by the time they put it all together and ran through the routine itself, it had stopped being even almost fun.

Beca was pretty sure she was never going to get this down and that she may have made a terrible mistake.

At the end of a very long day of practice, Beca hung back, debating on asking the question that had been on her mind since the routine started.

When Aubrey's exasperation shown through as she passed a still-silent Lilly, Beca almost let it dissuade her, but she stepped up anyway. "Hey, Aubrey. Did we just learn the same choreography from that video?" She tried to keep any hint of judgement or anything Aubrey could take offense at out of her tone. Either she didn't succeed or Aubrey was the kind of person to take offense at everything.

Aubrey slammed her water bottle down on the piano, one of those fake smiles plastered on her face, and refused to look in Beca's direction as she started talking about some gig taking place in a week. Chloe's explanation helped a little, but Beca still wasn't sure what a 'mixer' even was. She was, however, pretty sure a week wasn't enough time for them to practice.

"Okay." Beca looked up as Aubrey took a deep breath. "Hands in, Bellas."

Beca looked around at the others, wondering if she was the only one who didn't have a clue what Aubrey was getting at, but she saw the same confusion on their faces. She saw Chloe start to speak, noticed that she and Aubrey had their hands held out, but Aubrey's voice cut through before Beca had fully drawn the connection.

"Hands in, aca-bitches."

One eyebrow quirked, Beca followed the rest of them in quickly adding their own hands to their captains. She was getting a little tired of feeling like she was expected to know things she had no way of actually knowing.

"Sing 'Ah'-" Aubrey started to explain, when Amy's sudden burst into song made Beca jump.

"No no no. It's actually on three, Fat Amy." Aubrey's smile was stretched tight around the edges as if she were ready to run screaming from the room.

The image made Beca smile as they ran through the countdown together, excitement in their voices. She had half a second to notice that Aubrey and Chloe were lifting their hands over their heads before the sound hit. Beca's eyes were glued to Aubrey to see how she reacted to the wall of noise. Aubrey turned from where she'd locked eyes with Chloe, or perhaps she was watching Stacie - who was watching Aubrey for direction - before turning to stare at the rest of them, eyes widening in surprise.

Beca rolled her lips together, trying hard not to laugh or say any form of the 'You should have expected this' that was bouncing around her mind. She looked away from Aubrey and met Stacie's eyes. The two of them had a silent moment of communication and Beca was relieved that she wasn't the only one who looked confused by what had just happened.

Aubrey's shoulders drew up and her hands fisted before she rubbed the skin in front of her ears as if she wanted to cover them retroactively. "Okay, we will work on that first thing next time."

Beca had to give her props, she didn't think the rest of the group could tell that Aubrey was seconds away from losing her shit. She turned away with the rest of the group until Aubrey's too casual voice called her back. She looked over her shoulder at that earnest also too earnest smile and knew nothing good was going to come from this discussion. Noticing Chloe nearby, she forced a smile on her face and it felt sarcastic even to her. She raised her eyebrows and tried to force her face into a more neutral expression. "What's up?"

Aubrey rolled her hand through the air before folding them together over her stomach. "You know you'll have to take those ear monstrosities out for the fall mixer." It almost sounded reasonable, if it weren't for the quietly disapproving look on her face.

The sarcastic grin freed itself again as Beca watched her. "You really don't like me, do you?" Maybe it was better to get everything out in the open now, or at least that's what she told herself.

Aubrey's eyebrows raised and everything about her expression told Beca that what she was about to hear was the unvarnished truth. "I don't like your attitude."

Beca was speaking before Aubrey had finished. "You don't even know me." She was so tired of the way some people were so quick to dismiss her for one reason or another. This was why she preferred her music to hanging out with people.

"I know you have a toner, for Jesse." Aubrey said it so matter of fact, as if it explained everything.

Beca was so amused that it took her a second to respond. "A what?"

'What the hell is happening right now? Or - is this Hell? Did I die from drinking too much and now I'm actually in Hell?'

Aubrey's explanation of what a toner was didn't help matters. "Yeah, that's not a thing... and uh, you're not the boss of me, so..." She half pointed at Aubrey, wondering what it was about Aubrey that was dredging up childhood insults.

"You took an oath." Aubrey's eyes bore into her, as if they really had sworn on blood the night before.

Beca stared at her. "That oath cost you two girls already today. I'm pretty sure you need me more than I need you." Beca almost laughed, never having imagined that, after a perfectly calm and reasonable breakfast, she and Aubrey would be facing off at the end of practice. It stung, which surprised her, that they were back on different sides after the progress she felt they had made that morning.

Aubrey was taking deep breaths, her eyes never leaving Beca's until Beca took a step back. "I can see your toner through those jeans." Aubrey hurled at her back, sounding almost desperate to have the last word.

But Beca had always been quick with retorts, especially to hide when she felt hurt. "That's my dick." She turned and walked backward for a moment before nodding. Aubrey's jaw had dropped and Beca wasn't going to give her the chance to try and insult her some more.

As she gathered her bag, she noticed Chloe walking up beside Aubrey, but couldn't hear what they were saying as she left.

One. Damn. Year.

~C~

It wasn't really in Chloe's nature to sit back and be quiet, exactly. But Aubrey was so upset over causing their loss last year that Chloe had promised to support her this year. And, after winning the argument to add Beca to the group, Chloe was determined to support Aubrey.

So when Aubrey told her, when everyone had left after breakfast, that she'd seen Kori and Mary Elise leaving with Trebles, Chloe agreed to dismiss them. She just hadn't realized that she'd be so cruel about it or so public. Knowing Aubrey it was to make a point of some sort, but Chloe didn't like it. Aubrey could be intense, but she'd never been like Alice.

But she stood silently in front of the boards, letting Aubrey run the show, and tried not to sneak looks at Beca. They'd only been apart a few hours but Chloe had missed her. So she focused her gaze on Aubrey, until Beca would make some snarky comment and Chloe had an excuse to look at her.

Chloe also tried not to let it affect her when Aubrey stated that she ran the Bellas, focusing instead on making sure that Aubrey didn't hurl all over their new team. Maybe she'd bring it up to Aubrey later, after they were alone.

It was a little easier, once practice was fully underway. Chloe had always enjoyed running, and at this point their routine was second nature to her. Even if she was a little tired of it, she was good at it. She couldn't wait to see what the girls could do.

Chloe and Aubrey alternated between showing the steps and taking notes on areas of improvement as they watched the girls run through the routine one at a time.

Jessica was the happy, bouncy one.

Cynthia Rose put her own unique flare in every move.

Stacie may be a self-groper, but she was surprisingly fluid in her ballet; and extremely flexible, if Cynthia Rose's face was any indication. It was actually adorable how confused Stacie looked every time Chloe had tried to keep her from groping herself. Something she noticed Aubrey eyeing when she thought Chloe wasn't looking.

Denise, Lilly and Ashely were all a mix of hip hop, but they moved well. She figured they'd pick up the steps quickly enough.

Fat Amy was… going to be interesting. But she was game for anything. Except, apparently, vertical running.

They were all a bit awkward, but Chloe had no doubts they would be able to whip them into shape.

And then there was Beca. Her adorable little Alt Girl was maybe going to need some extra help with the choreography. Her body still tingled where it had touched Beca earlier while she was 'helping' her learn the moves. Chloe made a mental note to maybe offer some one on one sessions later. She even meant for choreography. Mostly.

They were on their seventh full run – Chloe had lost count of the number of times they had started and stopped when one of the girls forgot a step – of the routine when Aubrey finally ended practice.

"Okay, I'm calling it." She sighed and walked past Lilly, whose lips were moving. "Nothing. I hear nothing." She stared, exasperated, before moving on, not noticing Stacie eyeing her from the side.

Chloe could see Aubrey's frustration and wished she'd remember it was only their first day. Aubrey couldn't really expect them to be perfect at it already, could she? Maybe she'd have to remind her how their early practices had gone. Surely Aubrey would realize that she might be expecting too much too quickly.

And then there was Beca, she thought again.

"Hey, Aubrey. Did we just learn the same choreography from that video?"

Aubrey slammed her water bottle on the piano and ignored her. "Okay. Don't forget to pick up your performance schedules." She grabbed the stack and stood in front of the choreography board. "We have a gig next week. That's right. Next week." She handed them out as Chloe moved next to her.

Chloe said, "You guys, it's the Sigma Beta Theta's Annual Fall Mixer." She watched as Beca came up and took the schedule, a little more subdued than at the start of rehearsal. Chloe really kind of wanted to give her a hug right now.

"Okay, hands in Bellas." Aubrey threw her hand out, and it wasn't until Chloe added hers on top of Aubrey's, completely on auto pilot, that she realized the new girls would have no idea what Aubrey was talking about.

Chloe drew a breath, about to explain as she looked up, when Aubrey's control slipped. "Hands in, a-ca-bitches!" The rest of the girls quickly piled their hands on, Beca's resting on top of Chloe's which distracted her a bit. "Sing 'Ah'…."

Everyone jumped as Amy belted out "Ahhhhhhhhh."

"No no no. It's actually on three, Fat Amy." Aubrey smiled nervously and Chloe could almost see her trying to wrestle her annoyance down.

"Ahh…. heh." Amy trailed off as the group chuckled.

Aubrey began again. "All right. On three."

And as they counted down together, not even Chloe could have been prepared for the cacophony that happened. Though, really, again, she should have. They were all new, and she and Aubrey had to stop expecting them to be perfect from the beginning.

Aubrey pressed her hands to face briefly. "Okay, we will work on that first thing next time."

Chloe smiled. "Good day, guys!" She stepped over to answer a few questions on the choreography from a few of the girls.

Aubrey's voice caught her ear. "Oh, Beca… A word?" Chloe pretended not to eavesdrop as Aubrey pulled Beca aside.

"What's up?"

"You know you'll have to take those ear monstrosities out for the Fall mixer." Aubrey was using her quiet "sensible" voice.

"You really don't like me, do you?" Beca was using a tone that Chloe would later associate with 'It's amusing that you think this matters'.

Chloe thought, 'Oh, Beca. Don't open that door.' But it was too late, Aubrey was already through. Chloe drifted to the side so she could see them both. And close enough that she could intervene if required.

"I don't like your attitude." Aubrey said. While Chloe knew it was deeper than that, she still didn't really understand why.

"You don't even know me." Chloe knew she should not be finding that smirk attractive right now.

"I know you have a toner for Jesse."

"A what?" Beca's whole face screamed amusement, from her raised eyebrows to disbelieving smile.

"A toner. A musical boner. I saw it at Hood Night. It's distracting."

Chloe felt her mouth drop. 'Oh shit.' If Aubrey knew about that, then this was never going to be easy. She ignored her own feelings of jealousy that swept over her. While Beca may have been talking to him originally, she had gone home with Chloe. With the group. Whatever. Not that Chloe had any sort of claim just because she was falling hard for Beca.

"Yeah, that's not a thing and uh, you're not the boss off me, so…" Beca trailed off.

Aubrey's gaze steeled. "You took an oath."

"That oath cost you two girls already today. I'm pretty sure you need me more than I need you."

Chloe could tell Aubrey hated that Beca was right. Aubrey's eyes fluttered as she went silent, but she kept her gaze locked with Beca's until the brunette turned away.

"I can see your toner through those jeans." It sounded like an attempt to get in a stinging last word.

Except Beca spun around without missing a beat. "That's my dick." She held her palms out as she walked backward.

Chloe had to bite her lip to keep from moaning or laughing, she wasn't sure which urge was stronger. Aubrey would kill her without hesitation, regardless of which one escaped. This was not the time to indulge in her own toner. 'Who knew snark could be hot.'

When Beca turned away again to get her bag, with a smug nod and a smile, Chloe finally pulled herself together and approached Aubrey.

"Everything okay?" She hoped it didn't sound like she'd been hanging on every word of the exchange.

Aubrey dropped her hand from her forehead. "We better have our shit together for SBT."

Chloe shook her head. "I'm not worried. I think we're gonna be a-ca-awesome." She beamed at her best friend and bumped her arm.

Aubrey just sighed and flipped the board back around.

~B~

The Fall Mixer went about as well as Beca had assumed it would. A week of practice was never going to be enough. But still, she was standing up there in this flight attendant outfit, making a fool out of herself.

They sounded awful. They were not fully in sync in lyrics and the dancing was even worse, and they only had to stand there. Beca swore she saw even Chloe mess up a move.

Beca looked around at the crowd, unsurprised by the looks of pain or dull horror around her. It almost felt like a mercy killing when the preppy frat boy stepped forward and stopped them.

Aubrey immediately stepped over. "I am so sorry, Howie. I know we're not performance ready."

He cut her off. "I wanted the hot Bellas, not this… barnyard explosion."

As Beca watched Aubrey's shoulders stiffen and fall, she could just see the edges of Chloe's hurt expression; it made her feel strange. Like she wanted to go punch the guy for making them feel bad, disappointed in herself for not being good enough and, strongest of all, wanted to hide Chloe away and make her laugh until the hurt was gone. Not even Aubrey deserved that level of disdain from some frat douche. But she focused on her anger; it was the easiest to deal with as they all shuffled back out the front. Familiar.

Aubrey made that even easier, slowly draining Beca of any protective feelings that may have been forming. "I hope you all remember the way you feel right now, so you never want to feel this way again." She raised her voice. "Chloe?" Beca watched as the redhead came to a stop, arms crossed tightly in front of her as she looked over the lake. "Your voice didn't sound Aguilerian at all." Aubrey stopped behind Chloe as the rest of them turned to listen. The way that Chloe simply stared at the water was making Beca nervous.

"Chloe, for serious. What is wrong with you?" Aubrey asked, exasperated.

Chloe turned around to look at the rest of them, her eyes meeting Beca's briefly. Beca felt her stomach drop.

"I have nodes." She put her hands on her hips before turning to Aubrey.

Aubrey gasped. "What? Oh my god." She reached out and took Chloe's hands, concern overriding anything else she'd been about to say.

Beca blinked at the gasps around her. 'That's not, exactly… what I was expecting to hear.'

Chloe nodded, voice breaking. "I found out this morning."

"What are nodes?" Beca was afraid to ask.

Aubrey answered her. "Vocal nodules." Chloe met Beca's eyes while Aubrey continued. "The rubbing together of your vocal cords at above-average rates without proper lubrication."

"They sit on your windpipe and they crush your dreams." Chloe's voice was soft and Beca wasn't sure how she'd handle it she was faced with a crying Chloe.

"Isn't that painful? Why would you keep performing?" Beca felt she was missing something; it couldn't be as bad as all that if Chloe still sang, right?

"Because I love to sing." Chloe said it as if it explained everything. And, Beca guessed, for her it probably did. In that short week she'd seen how much Chloe lived for music in all forms, but especially singing. If any of them were going to spontaneously burst into song, it was Chloe. It made sense that she would just sing through her pain rather than not sing at all.

Stacie turned to Beca, who still found it difficult to take her eyes off Chloe. "Yeah, it's like when my lady doctor told me not to have sex for six weeks, and I did it anyway."

Fat Amy spoke up from Beca's other side before she could form her own response. "You should really listen to your doctor."

Stacie shrugged. "Eh."

Beca focused as Chloe started talking again. "The key is early diagnosis. I am living with nodes. But I am a survivor. I just have to pull back. Because I am limited. Because I have nodes."

Aubrey's voice was filled with more emotion than Beca had heard before. "Chloe, this is horrible."

Amy's voice interrupted. "Well, at least it's not herpes." When everyone turned to look at her, she continued. "Or do you have that as well?"

It was the tension breaker they needed, though Beca was sure that Amy was serious when she said it.

~B~

The girls all went back to the Bella house where Beca learned more than she ever wanted to about nodes and their care from Aubrey and Cynthia Rose. When Chloe said she was going to make some tea, Beca surprised herself by saying she'd get it. The shy smile she got in return lessened her awkward feeling as she stood from the ottoman and headed once more into a kitchen not her own. 'Though, I guess this isn't much different than making coffee while everyone is asleep.'

She filled the electric kettle and turned it on while she looked for the berry flavor Chloe had asked for. Placing the bag in a mug, she dropped once more on a stool to wait. She felt a little unsettled by the protective feelings still floating on the surface of her mind. The worry that cannonballed into the middle of everything else was just as confusing.

While Beca had only seen Chloe at practice for the past week, they had begun texting. Rather, Chloe had texted Beca that same Saturday night, offering some extra lessons. Beca was ninety percent sure it was a legit offer to help work on the choreography, but it was that ten percent that had her declining, making some excuse about a lot of homework. She wasn't sure if she was really ready to be alone with Chloe or if she was too ready to be alone with Chloe. And it had only been a week.

So they texted. Every day. Good mornings, good nights, random stuff about their day in between. Beca had never been someone who texted unless she needed something. But texting with Chloe was as easy as everything else about her had been. Yesterday she even found herself sending baby animal pictures while bored in class, because she knew Chloe would find them adorable. She got back an alarming number of smiley and heart emoji's mixed with an all caps 'OH MY GOD THEY'RE SO CUTE'.

As the kettle clicked off, she grabbed a spoon and poured water over the teabag. She waited a few minutes to let it steep before lifting the bag with the spoon, wrapping the string around both to squeeze the excess liquid from it before throwing it away. After stirring a bit, she set the spoon in the sink and made her way out to the living room.

Chloe was sitting where the two halves of the sectional met, her knees drawn up and her back to the kitchen. Aubrey was sitting in front of her, Chloe's feet tucked under Aubrey's thigh. When Beca leaned over the back of the couch to carefully hand her the mug, Chloe straightened up and patted the space to her left with her free hand. Beca was about to head back to her spot on the ottoman when she saw the look on Chloe's face. So, she sat where requested, trying to ignore Aubrey's stare from that close. Beca kind of missed the truce they had during breakfast that first morning.

The girls all continued to talk quietly, almost like they would at a funeral, as Chloe sipped her tea. Which was just stupid because Chloe wasn't dying. But Beca understood that the rest of the girls were taking it very seriously, so she let them be. She'd already decided to do a bit of research on her own, see what was real and what was their fear talking. And maybe it wasn't unusual or a surprise at how much she already loved Chloe's singing voice and wanted to do anything she could to help.

Once the tea was gone, and the mug was set on the table behind the couch, Chloe slid her left hand under Beca's right, threading their fingers together. Beca looked around but none of the girls seemed to think that was unusual, though she couldn't read the look on Fat Amy's face. Anything could be going on in there.

She decided to stop worrying and just enjoy the moment, brushing her thumb along the back of Chloe's hand. After another few minutes, Chloe sighed and rested her head against Beca's shoulder. As Beca let her own head lean against Chloe's, movement in front of her brought her gaze to Aubrey, whose eyes were watching Beca carefully, almost in warning. Beca just arched an eyebrow and looked away. Chloe wanted her here, which was good enough for now. She let herself sink into Chloe's side and felt tension drift away from both of them.

Beca felt her brain slipping sideways as, for the first time, she consciously considered that this might be something other than a purely physical reaction on both their parts. It didn't surprise her all that much to realize she was mostly okay with it.

'Aubrey can suck it.'

~B~

The weeks passed and they all started to blur.

Classes. Bellas rehearsals. Radio station. Add a dash of texting the girls – mostly Chloe - then rinse and repeat.

Every few days she'd hand Luke a new USB of mixes and she tried not to be upset with the fact that she knew when he said "I'll put it on the pile" that they were literally sitting in a pile in the submission tray.

The shared shifts at the station with Jesse had gotten better. They'd come to an agreement, after she pointedly told him he had the wrong parts, and he became more tolerable once he stopped hitting on her. He even made her laugh once or twice, with his stupid tricks using album covers, but he still talked way too much.

Beca was sitting on the grass in the quad, minding her own business, when his voice came up beside her.

"What's up, weirdo?"

She turned just in time to catch a juice pouch thrown her way. "Okay." She watched as Jesse laid out a blanket that he apparently carried around with him outside of work. "What's this?"

"As much as I love spending time with you stacking CDs, and I do." Jesse dug into his backpack and pulled out a candle. "I love it, like, more than life." He set it down on the blanket.

Beca just stared at him. 'Who the hell carries a candle in their bag?'

"I figured we could do some other fun things that don't make us wanna kill ourselves, right?" A box of snacks followed the candle.

Beca pulled the straw off the juice packet after a bit of effort and answered him absently. "Yeah."

He reached back into his bag. "So, I brought some movies." And he pulled out an actual stack of DVDs.

She let him ramble as she braced herself to stab the straw into the pouch. She almost always squeezed too hard, shooting herself in the face with juice, and she was not looking forward to public humiliation today. As she jammed it home, she looked away and winced until it was through.

Beca blew out a breath as he tossed the last case down. "Best scored and soundtracked movies of all time." She gave him a tight grin. "That's what I wanna do when I grow up. I wanna score movies. Bring people to tears, you know. Blow their minds." He finally set his bag aside as he settled down. "I feel like only music can do that."

She just looked at him as she sipped her juice. "Yeah. You must really sweep your girlfriend off her feet."

"Oh I don't have a girlfriend." He was staring at her a little too earnestly for someone who she'd had The Talk with.

"What!?"

"No."

"You have juice pouches and Rocky!" Beca was only slightly teasing him. For almost anyone else, Jesse was probably a catch.

"Okay, so what do you wanna watch first?" He sorted through his stack again.

"Can we do something else?" He turned back to her. "We could relive my parents' divorce. Or visit a gynecologist."

"What, do you not like movies or something?"

She took another sip instead of answering.

"Like, any movies? You don't…" He trailed off with an incredulous chuckle.

He looked so offended she almost choked on her juice as she started laughing.

"What the hell is wrong with you? How do you not like movies? Not liking movies is like not liking… puppies." His tone and the shock on his face made her tired, as well as annoyed.

"They're fine. I just get bored and never make it to the end." Beca would really like to not have to defend herself over this one day. Everyone always had the same reaction when she let this secret free.

His brows furrowed. "The endings are the best part."

"They're predictable. Like, the guy gets the girl and that kid sees dead people and Darth Vader is Luke's father."

"Okay, right, so you just happened to guess the biggest cinematic reveal in history?"

"'Vader' in German means father. His name is literally 'Darth Father.'" She blanked her expression and nodded at him, as if it was sad he didn't know this already.

"Huh." He nodded back a few times. "So you know German. Well, now I know why you don't like fun things."

She was pretty sure the look on her face wasn't entirely masking her annoyance. She did like fun things, just because they weren't necessarily what he thought was fun…. His voice interrupted her inner monologue.

"You know, you need a movie education. A movie-cation. And I'm gonna give it to you."

"Yeah, in between Bellas rehearsals, which are always."

He looked over at her with an unreadable expression. "Are you guys getting ready for the riff-off?"

"What the fuck is a riff-off?"

~B~

At the end of her first riff-off, Beca was riding high off the exhilaration of what had just happened in that big empty pool.

She had stayed in the background for the first two rounds, learning the rules and seeing how it worked. Beca wasn't yet comfortable with singing in front of others, especially after SBT, so she was content to provide backup vocals.

But then it had hit her, the perfect way to interrupt Jesse and the Trebles. She waited for a few beats, still unwilling to put herself out there, but no one else seemed to have any better ideas...

She bit her lip and ran forward – 'Why are we standing so far back and have to sprint forward to sing, anyway?' – and let loose with 'No Diggity'. She was so nervous that the words just poured out of her almost without pause and it took her a bit to realize she was standing alone.

Until, finally, she wasn't.

Beca, for the first time, understood how Kimmy Jin must have felt at the activities fair. She felt like she finally might belong when the rest of the Bellas surrounded her. Felt like maybe this whole thing wasn't a mistake when everyone else, in and out of the pool, started to sing with her.

Beca wasn't even really disappointed at losing to a technicality and she refused to let Aubrey take away how great she felt. Their group had come together and holy shit was it good. Even when they couldn't do the Bellas 'hands in' that Aubrey demanded, Beca was still floating on how awesome it had been.

That's when Beca noticed that Chloe's hands were blue. Literally. Blue. And she just had to do something about it.

Still feeling her confidence boosted, Beca tugged on Chloe's coat, smiling when she turned around. "Wanna go get some coffee?"

Chloe's returning smile lit up the night. "I'd love that, Becs." Linking their arms together, Chloe led the way out of the pool. Beca ignored the look that Aubrey gave them as they split off from the group.

The trip to the campus Starbucks was made in companionable silence, neither feeling like they needed to break it. After finding out what Chloe wanted, Beca pointed her to a corner table and went up to get their drinks. When she settled back down across from her, Beca couldn't take the fact that Chloe's hands were still blue. Without thinking, Beca reached over and pulled Chloe's left hand to her side of the table.

Beca rubbed briskly at her skin, trying to warm it up quickly. It wasn't until she had cupped Chloe's hand between her own, about to try and blow warm air over icy fingers, that Beca realized what she was doing. Reluctantly she looked across the table through lowered lashes.

Chloe was watching her carefully, sipping from her hot chocolate, a small smile curling the corner of her lips. "Whatcha doin', Becs?"

"Uh…" When her voice squeaked, Beca cleared her throat and started to let go, but Chloe just tangled their fingers together. "Palm reading?" She felt Chloe's hand finally start to warm. Maybe the embarrassed heat she could feel creeping over her neck and cheeks was doing some good.

Chloe almost snorted out the hot chocolate she'd started to swallow. When she'd stopped coughing, she leaned forward. "Beca, if you want to hold my hand, you don't need any excuses. You can do it whenever you want."

Beca looked down and watched as her fingers started to toy with Chloe's on their own. "Uh… What?" She looked up and saw that smile Chloe seemed to reserve for her. "Oh." She felt a new warmth spread out from her heart. "That's… Good to know." Beca blinked. That certainly wasn't the denial she thought she was going to say. Would have said to anyone else.

Chloe hummed in agreement and when she took a drink, Beca noticed her hands were back to their normal color.

'Mission accomplished.'

~C~

They didn't talk about anything of importance over their drinks, mostly just the highlights from the riff-off. But then Beca asked something Chloe would never have expected.

"Are Aubrey and Stacie, you know…" Beca hesitated. "A thing?"

Chloe sputtered for a second before her laugh finally found its way free. "Why do you ask that?"

"Just the way they look at each other. Aubrey when she thinks no one is looking but Stacie's more open about it." She snorted. "And because I honestly expected Aubrey to pin Stacie against the side of the pool and make out with her to stake her claim." Beca shrugged.

"What?" Chloe sat back. "Why would you…"

"Because that Donald guy was singing all sexy to Stacie and she looked like she was into it." Beca said. "To the point where Aubrey actually went and retrieved her." Chloe only stared at Beca until she squirmed in her chair. "What? Is that out of line? Too intrusive?" She ran her hand through her hair. "I'm sorry."

"No!" Chloe reached over and placed her hand on Beca's to quiet her. "No, it's not at all. I just… I didn't think anyone but me would pick up on that." She watched Beca, considering. "In fact, almost anyone else would have assumed that it was because she didn't want The Hunter being too interested in one of the Trebles."

Beca frowned. "Oh. I guess it could have been that."

"But it wasn't." Chloe flashed a smile. "That's totes why Aubrey did it, though she would never admit it. Not even to herself."

"Huh." Beca was quite for a moment. "I think they'd work. Stacie would definitely help Aubrey loosen up." She picked up her cup and frowned. "I'm almost out. Do you want to get a refill or…"

Chloe shook her head. "I'm almost done too." As she finished the last of her hot chocolate, Chloe watched Beca stand and gather their trash, holding out her hand until Chloe handed over her cup with a smile. The warm drink had helped sooth her throat; not that she was going full out at the riff-off, but she could still feel a touch of strain leftover from their practice earlier.

She slid from her chair and met Beca who was waiting at the door and opened it for her. "Why thank you, ma'am."

Beca shrugged. "I was already there. Seems like a dick move to stand there and wait for you to open it for me." But she smiled and Chloe grinned back.

Chloe insisted on escorting Beca first as her dorm was closest, despite Beca's half-hearted protests that she should be walking Chloe home. The trip was mostly spent in silence sprinkled with the occasional talk about classes, but Chloe found her thoughts drifting as she tried to pin down what, beyond Beca's immediate presence, was making her heart skip in her chest. Eventually she realized it was the fact that Beca, of all people, had noticed things about Aubrey that most wouldn't. Normally anyone new had to work to see the real Aubrey underneath the military style barbed wire she presented to the world. Though, Chloe admonished herself, Aubrey wasn't truly like that until the second half of their junior year. Before that, she was much more open and prone to laughter. She'd never been exactly carefree, but she hadn't been this closed off.

So for Beca to notice meant that she was present with the group – there in the moment and not just going through the paces like Chloe had feared.

As they came to a halt in front of her building Beca said stubbornly, "I don't like the thought of you walking all the way back home by yourself." Chloe swore she was almost ready to pout.

"Becs, I've been walking around by myself on and off for the past three years." Chloe held up her keys where her BU whistle hung as well as a can of pepper spray. "I'll be fine. I'll text you when I get home, I promise."

Beca scowled. "I hate it when you use logic on me."

"But I'm so good at it." Chloe tugged on Beca's hand, having held it the whole way. "Seriously. It'll be fine." She pulled Beca into a hug, smiling over Beca's shoulder when she went willingly and without any of the hesitation she'd shown over the past few months.

Beca sighed as she stepped back. "Just text me when you're home."

"I will." She leaned forward and kissed Beca's cheek, whispering. "You're cute when you worry."

Beca rolled her eyes but Chloe could see the faint blush in the streetlight. "Oh my god, get going." She pushed Chloe gently down the path. "It's cold out."

"Alright, alright." Chloe laughed and backed up a few steps. "Goodnight, Becs. Thank you for the hot chocolate."

"Night, Chlo." Beca ran her hand through her hair. "And you're welcome." She hesitated. "Anytime."

Chloe smiled again before she turned toward home, hands in her pockets because it really was cold as hell out there. She had no idea how she hadn't gotten frostbite while they were in the pool. Then she smiled as she remembered at the way Beca had worked so diligently to warm them and then refused to admit that's what she was doing.

'Palm reading my ass.' Chloe thought to herself with a laugh then laughed again at the unintentional double entendre. At first she'd been surprised when Beca had pulled her hand over, followed by a few seconds of confusion until she'd taken in the shade of her skin. It had melted her heart that Beca was concerned about her enough to forget her own aversion to human contact. It was moments like that where she wished Aubrey were there to see the care Beca took with Chloe's well-being.

Chloe let herself into the house, locking the door behind her before removing her jacket and hanging it from the newel post. "Aubrey?"

"In here."

Chloe pulled out her phone as she walked into the living room. "What're you doing?"

Aubrey looked up from the notepad she was writing on, untouched school books stacked neatly around her. "Making a list so we do better next time." She looked back down and started to write again.

"Bree." Chloe chided. She pulled up her conversation with Beca as she sat on the other side of the couch.

Chloe:
I'm home, nothing bad happened to me.

Beca:
How do I know this is you and not someone pretending to be you to throw me off?

Chloe:
Aubrey is on the couch making a list of flaws to improve on. I could take a picture if you want.

Beca:
No, that's good enough. No one else would be able to make up something so intrinsically Aubrey.

Chloe:
I'm going to try and talk her down. I had fun tonight, Becs. Thank you again.

Beca:
Good luck.

Beca:
I did too. G'night, Chlo.

Chloe smiled as she put her phone away but it faded as she watched Aubrey continue to fill another page of paper. "Seriously, Bree. It wasn't bad." She waited but Aubrey didn't look up. "Aubrey!"

"What!?" Aubrey jumped then looked guilty. "Sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you. What were you saying?"

Chloe sighed and stood up to move a pile of books out of the way so she could sit next to Aubrey. "You need to stop." She put her hand on the notebook. "This is too much, even for you."

"But we lost." Aubrey said, as if it explained everything. And for her it probably did. Chloe knew Aubrey's dad was focused on results because of his military career. She'd spent half the summer between freshman and sophomore year at Aubrey's family home, so she'd met him and knew he could be intense. Aubrey said he had mellowed some, which explained why Chloe hadn't found him half as difficult to please as she'd expected. And by this point in their friendship Chloe was treated as a daughter whenever she visited, so she never really got the full General Posen treatment that would explain some of Aubrey's… quirks.

"By some stupid rule that I believe Justin made up on the spot to give the win to the Trebles." Chloe said. "Because…" She hesitated. "We were awesome tonight." She'd planned to say that Beca was right, but decided to avoid that. "We were in harmony, Aubrey. Better even than in practice." She winced at how that sounded. "I know this will make our next rehearsal better."

Aubrey sighed. "It's just… disappointing. I thought we had it this year."

"We should have." Chloe said firmly. "I have never heard the entire pool break into song before. Have you?"

"No." Aubrey bit her lip. "That was kind of amazing." She looked at Chloe from the corner of her eye as she set her pen and notepad on the ottoman. "And before that… They were… We were in sync."

"Exactly." Chloe beamed at her. "So you don't need this list, Bree. They're coming along and we're becoming a group. Every single time we hang out doing something other than rehearsal only makes it stronger."

"You think we need more bonding nights?" Aubrey asked, leaning against the cushion behind her.

"I do." Chloe answered firmly. "I don't know that we need every weekend, but maybe every other, have a short Friday or Saturday practice and then go hang out?" She could tell that Aubrey wanted to give in. "They don't live with us, so we can't get to know each other the way we got to know the other Bellas when we finally got to move in. We have to do a little more because we only have this one year."

"I hadn't thought of that." Aubrey pursed her lips. "I mean, I guess I wasn't really thinking that we graduate this year. Or that one of them will be taking over once we're gone."

"They'll need our guiding hands." Chloe said. "But they have to trust us first. We have to learn to trust them."

Aubrey nodded. "You're probably right."

"I'm sure I'm always right." Chloe stood up. "Wine?" When Aubrey shook her head Chloe nudged her foot. "Come on, we need to celebrate tonight, because as far as I'm concerned, we won."

Aubrey bit her lip and looked at Chloe. "Should we invite them over? I know it's late, but… they could stay the night. And we can do breakfast in the morning."

"That's an excellent idea, Captain Posen." Chloe leaned down and hugged her. She knew Aubrey's worry was that they would hate her and that was the last thing she wanted. Respect, yes. Maybe a teeny bit of fear to keep up their cardio – but never hate or dislike. Because Chloe knew Aubrey was learning to relax with them, to make jokes, but only when they weren't practicing. In practice… She was still a little too Alice-like for Chloe's comfort.

"But, maybe you should text them. I don't know that they'd answer one from me. After what I said tonight." Aubrey said quietly.

"Sure, Bree." Chloe stroked Aubrey's hair. "I can do that."

Aubrey stood up as Chloe stepped back. "I'll take all this to my room and be back down." She started to gather up her books then paused and faced Chloe again. "Thanks, Chlo. For always being here for me."

"Always, Bree." Chloe kissed her cheek. "We're family."

Aubrey smiled at her as she grabbed the last of her books and headed upstairs.

Chloe pulled out her phone, grinning.

Chloe:
So, now that I made you stay home, how would you feel about a sleepover?

Beca:
Seriously?

Chloe:
I never joke about sleepovers, Becs.

Beca:
Is it serious Bellas business?

Chloe:
Totes.

Chloe hesitated a second before sending her next message.

Chloe:
It was Aubrey's idea.

Beca:
Oh.

Beca:
Are you sure she wants me there?

Chloe:
Yes, she said everyone. You're part of everyone.

Beca:
Guess I'll be over in a few minutes.

Chloe:
Yay! Don't forget to bring your jammies

Beca:
On second thought, I just started to feel a bit queasy…

Chloe:
Shut up and get your cute butt over here.

Beca:
Bossy.

Chloe:
You love me.

Chloe didn't expect a response, so she moved to the next in her list until she'd texted everyone. Aubrey was coming back down the stairs as she was finishing the last exchange, which happened to be Stacie. Chloe began to laugh at Stacie's last text as Aubrey walked up to her.

"What's so funny?" She shoulder bumped Chloe affectionately.

Chloe just held her phone out so Aubrey could read it herself.

Stacie:
Is it a PJ's optional sleepover? ;p

Aubrey pushed the phone back toward Chloe. "Oh my god. Why does that not surprise me?"

"What do you think, Bree? Should I tell her yes?" Chloe teased. "And that we have to double up in beds because we forgot to do laundry?"

"Chloe! No you should not." But Aubrey was laughing with her and Chloe barely restrained the happy wiggle that wanted to come out when Aubrey muttered under her breath. "Dirty bird."

"If you're sure." Chloe said slowly. "Really sure."

"I'm sure." Aubrey pointed at the phone, still chuckling. "Now type."

Chloe grinned.

Chloe:
Aubrey says no. Guess you better bring them.

Stacie:
What if I don't own any?

Chloe:
We'll have to figure something out, I suppose.

Stacie:
Maybe Aubrey will have to loan me some. On my way.

Chloe handed her phone to Aubrey again. "Thought you should be warned that I have no idea what's about to happen and I cannot be held responsible."

Aubrey handed the phone back. "She's going to be the death of me."

"If you let her." Chloe said lightly. "It has been a while for you, you know…"

"Not that long!" Aubrey retorted and immediately looked away. "I'll admit, it has been… Lonely. But I'm fine. Totally. Fine."

"I think I overheard Stacie say that about you too." Chloe grinned.

Aubrey groaned. "You're going to be the death of me."

"Nah. I love you and think I'll keep you around." Chloe nudged her. "Everyone is on the way. What're you thinking, a celebratory toast then popcorn and a movie?"

"Yeah. We don't have the supplies for a party, just breakfast. I forgot to stock up." Aubrey shook her head. "I've got a list for tomorrow, if you need to add anything before I leave."

"Okay. Let's go start the popcorn." Chloe linked her arm with Aubrey's and turned them back toward the kitchen. "This was a great idea, Bree. They all seemed up for it." She let her arm slip free as she went to grab the stack of giant bowls from the cupboard. "Even after I told them it was your idea."

"You…" Aubrey stopped. "They did?"

"Yup. So relax and have fun tonight, okay?" Chloe set the bowls on the center island.

"I'll try." Aubrey said. "No promises."

"That's all I ask." Chloe said, smiling as the first knock sounded at the door. "I'll get it." She gave Aubrey one more reassuring smile before she left the kitchen.

She opened the door to Amy standing there with a stack of horror movies. "Thought I'd bring us something a little lighter tonight. Or maybe to indulge the beast within." She shrugged. "One or the other."

Chloe laughed and opened the door wide when she noticed Denise and Cynthia Rose coming up the walk. "Works for me, thank you, Amy! Let's get this party started!"