A/N: Hey guys! Here's the next chapter! AKA the chapter where the Bellas discover some things and they get a not so brilliant idea… This chapter serves more as a transition for what comes next. Song featured is 'You're a God' by Vertical Horizon.

Sorry for the wait! I promise to make it worth it though. I usually post about 25 chapters so technically we're at the half way mark but depending on how long things might end up being per chapter that number might increase a little. No promises! :P

I don't own pitch perfect.

Beca Mitchell liked Chloe Beale.

Really, really liked her.

It hit her, and it hit her hard, during that early hours of morning when she briefly woke up, Chloe tucked safely in her own arms. She realized the truth in the moment when Chloe crossed the room and kissed her on her forehead, her heart ready to jump out of its chest at the thought that Chloe would – and perhaps almost did – kiss her on her own lips.

Her heart hasn't stopped banging against her chest, truth be told, since then.

But if Beca was being more honest to herself, it hasn't stopped since the day she met Chloe. She had just gotten used to it.

Used to being alive, awake, for the first time in her life because Chloe Beale had been the very breath of life in her.

Unlike the Christmas party, there was no one to wake the two of them up early, no noise, no accidental falling from couches, no interruptions. Morning came and Beca had never been so happy to wake up so early to find that Chloe was still there by her side. The redhead had somehow turned over in their sleep and was now facing Beca, her lips dangerously close to her own.

Chloe looked beautiful, even in her sleep. She was breathtakingly beautiful and Beca wasn't entirely sure what to do next. She was her best friend, she shouldn't feel this way for her. No, she won't just admit the word that comes to her mind, she won't use it, mostly because there's still a part of her that believes that it was just something not for her.

It was a lie, of course, but Beca did what she thought was best to protect herself, protect her heart from being broken, protect herself from being left behind… again…

Chloe started to stir awake and Beca did the only thing she believed and thought to be natural to do, close her eyes and pretend that she was asleep because she wouldn't let Chloe catch her studying her every inch of her face and committing every detail to memory.

And Beca, still being tired, eventually did go back to sleep.

The next time Beca woke up the two of them were still in bed, her back turned away from Chloe. She felt the redhead pull her close, just like the last time. "Chlo?" Beca dared ask in a low whisper.

"Ah, so you're finally awake." Chloe noted. "Becs, I'm hungry."

Beca chuckled at the redhead's response. "You know you could have gone and eaten something right? And maybe you could've gotten me something too." she replied truthfully.

"I was too comfortable here to move." Chloe replied. "But do you want to go grab something at the diner?"

"Maybe in a little while." Beca replied. She still wanted to soak up whatever was left of the moment they were sharing with each other. She really didn't want to leave her bed until it was absolutely necessary to.

And if Amy and Stacie didn't come drop by about an hour and a half later, Beca would have probably stayed forever.

The next couple of days following that had been busy and soon Beca found herself back at the radio station doing her Midnight DJ run. She had just set the next song ready to play, with her thoughts never leaving Chloe.

I've got to be honest
I think you know
We're covered in lies and that's OK
There's somewhere beyond this I know
But I hope I can find the words to say

What she feels, what to do? She's never felt it before. And no she wouldn't like to stop feeling it, a part of her knew.

But the past has gotten Beca so haunted, flashes of memories of sadness and pain and being left behind and forgotten.

She's not good enough, not for Chloe at least.

'Cause you're a god
And I am not
And I just thought
That you would know
You're a god
And I am not
And I just thought
I'd let you go

And once again, her thoughts become clouded, her emotions conflicted as she felt all kinds of torn apart.

Beca Mitchell liked Chloe Beale.

And she doesn't know how to handle that exactly.

Her thoughts were a mess, there was the familiar feeling of knots twisting and turning in her stomach, and Aubrey knew she was just a few feet away from the edge of the cliff. Rehearsals weren't terrible but they weren't going great either. She wanted to win, the Bellas all wanted to win too, she could tell, but group morale was at an all-time low.

Aubrey partially thinks it was because the holidays have just been over. The girls missed the warmth and comfort of their homes. She was, however, just thankful to be back in the thick of it.

Winning the Nationals, that's all that Aubrey could think of right now. She needed to win, to prove that her team can win. To the world, to the past Bellas, and to her father who strongly believed she wouldn't accomplish anything with a team of collegiate acapella singers and Aubrey had made a mistake in putting all her time and energy into something so pointless.

She will lead the Bellas to victory.

But first, she needed to lead them out of the rut they were in during rehearsals.

"No. That's a terrible idea." Stacie huffed while filing her nail, glancing up at Ashley in annoyance. The Bellas had all gathered at a diner after rehearsals, sans Aubrey and Chloe. It was an impromptu meeting of grave importance.

Amy heaved a deep sigh. Stacie was, of course, right. But the way things are going, they would either have a train wreck of a performance at Regionals or they would put everyone to sleep.

Or they would all be hunted down by the fury that is Aubrey Posen whether or not they win or lose.

And of course, Amy was sure, that Stacie's thoughts were not just with Aubrey on this but a certain possible collateral damage.

"It's the only way we can win." Jessica argued.

"Yeah, we talked to Cynthia Rose and Denise about this and they agree with us."

"Well, what does Lilly have to say? Did we even consider what she thinks?" Amy then jumped in and like a flash of lighting Lilly tried to get her point across but it fell on deaf ears, incomprehensible whispers dying out from the massive laughter coming from the group of boys sitting a few tables away. Stacie shot them a death glare, something Amy didn't know she was capable of doing, and they managed to get the message. Things must be really serious if even Stacie's sporting death glares.

"I'm sorry, but even flies and crickets would fall asleep from our performance with the way things are going. Aubrey's not listening. She's stuck in her own little world, too focused on reliving the almost glorious past that she can't see us in the now." Denise argued.

"I still don't see why we have to drag Beca into this." Stacie grumbled.

Cynthia Rose looked at the two of them unfazed. "Look, I think we all know by now that Beca's the Midnight DJ. And I think we all know the two of you know that too."

"Beca's the what now? That is totally brand new information I only heard today." Amy responded feigning innocence.

"Wait, what!?"Jessica and Ashley covered.

"You guys seriously don't have any suspicions why Beca leaves just before the midnight show at the radio station starts? And do you all honestly think it's because of Swan-song?" Cynthia Rose asked and Ashley and Jessica simply looked at each other, lightbulbs turning on. At last, something that made sense.

"Swanson, his names' Jesse Swanson." Stacie jumped, the name leaving her mouth with great distaste.

"Whatever." Cynthia Rose shrugged. "Look, we know Beca's into the music stuff, we saw the equipment in her room and she's always fiddling with the program on her laptop, even sometimes during Bellas practice when she's trying to tune out Aubrey's motivational speeches."

"CR, what are you thinking?" Stacie said, finally pulling the nail file away and looking at Cynthia Rose dead in the eyes. "Please don't tell me you're planning an uprising."

"Not an uprising, just a secret weapon." Cynthia Rose replied.

"Something to surprise the audiences." Denise seconded.

"Yeah, and something that's going to surprise the Aca-Nazi too." Amy mumbled before Cynthia Rose launched into an explanation of what it was that the rest of the Bellas had been plotting.

"Oh, hi."

It came as awkward as almost bumping into each other as Chloe made her way down the stairwell. Her late afternoon class had just wrapped up, her phone buzzing from a barrage of messages from a very stressed out Aubrey, and lo and behold she runs right into Jesse Swanson of all people.

"Um, hi."

"Chloe Beale, right?"

"Yeah."

"Cool."

"Yeah."

"Uh, so…"

"Um, yeah, I don't really have time to do small talk right now. Especially not from the enemy." Chloe said in her usual charming tone. Jesse gave out a nervous chuckle as a reply.

"I think I can see what she sees in you. Good luck." Jesse then said before waving goodbye and rushing up the stairs, leaving Chloe to ponder on whether or not he meant it for the Regionals or…

…no, he wouldn't mean it for Beca… right?

The holidays had been a blast, and spending more and more time with Beca made it even more special.

Then there was New Year's Eve, the countdown, the whole fidgety Beca in her room, redder than a rose's petal. She had been very tempted, incredibly very tempted, to just make a move, kiss the girl. Anybody in their right mind would have done so. The setting was perfect, romantic even. But Chloe wasn't just anybody, and Beca wasn't just some girl to kiss. She was more, and Chloe knew, and she settled for a simpler moment to be shared.

Yet somehow, Chloe knew, it was even more perfect than she had imagined.

Sometimes the simple and subtle things carry the most weight, convey the greatest meaning. And Chloe had very much wanted to stay in that bubble forever, but she knew that was impossible. Reality was catching up, her time in Barden soon coming to a close. Things were falling into place.

Never in her life has she felt the way she did then. So much was at stake.

And Chloe Beale wasn't quite sure what to do next other than just simply live out the coming days and hope for the best.

And maybe, just maybe, she'll come out of it with more than she could ever dream of.

If Beca knew for sure that she had done something wrong, she would have thought that her friends were in her room for an intervention.

Not that she had an obsession or addiction, but lately her head just wasn't in the game. With the game in question being her plan for LA.

Then there was Chloe. She hasn't seen Chloe for all of thirty six hours, haven't heard from her for all of twenty three hours, which in itself was a feat considering they were quite inseparable the last few weeks. But her head is muddled with thoughts about her, what she felt for her, and what a future in LA might seem like with or without her.

Beca was stuck within the labyrinths of her minds, and her 'to be or not to be' situation. To have Chloe with her in LA and possibly face the consequences, suffer and perhaps grieve because of what she felt, or not to have Chloe by her side and miss her terribly so.

Chloe Beale was the closest thing to perfection that will ever exist in Beca's life, and Beca knew, she needed to stop what she felt before it becomes something more. She didn't want to lose Chloe as a friend, and a very terrified part of her knew that she'll eventually screw it up badly.

So yeah, in a way, it was an intervention. A moment to snap out from the thoughts that were drowning her.

It was time to stop dreaming, time to snap out of it as reality had started its descent on all of them, ready to come crashing down in full force. The sweet haze of their short vacation had come to pass, and life was coming into gear once again.

Beca listened as Cynthia Rose, Denise, Jessica, and Ashley all explained their concerns, their thoughts and opinions, and their proposed plan. There was a brief moment of panic when Beca found out that the Bellas knew about her midnight gig but Stacie managed to calm her down right away. "Don't worry Becs, we explained why you're keeping it a secret." she calmly said and Beca breathed a sigh of relief.

"So yeah, Beca, we know we're asking a lot for your help, but you have talent. No, let me correct myself, you have a gift that needs to be shared to the world." Cynthia Rose concluded.

"And Aubrey just won't listen to anything we say. It's like she's stuck in her own world right now. She's more tensed than ever." Denise then added.

Beca pressed her lips together, sharing a concerned look with Amy and Stacie. "I don't know guys. I mean, does Aubrey even know you're here?"

"Ah, well, see. We plan on getting things done and rehearsed first before pitching the idea to her." Jessica said sounding a little uncertain. "Look Beca, we know some of the songs you play during your midnight run at the radio station has your Mitchell brand of awesomeness. If Aubrey hears what we plan to do, maybe she'll say yes. If we just tell it to her, she won't even listen."

"Does Chloe know at the very least?" Beca grumbled more than asked.

"Not yet. But we plan to tell her soon." Ashley answered. "We've been wanting to consult her about this but she's been at Aubrey's side for the most part of the day. We're having a bit of a hard time getting her alone."

Beca sighed, glancing at Amy and Stacie's direction yet again, looking for some sort of advice on the matter. "Look Shawshank, it's a bit of a tough spot. We don't want to place you in a difficult situation, you've had tense encounters with Aubrey already and all. But you're our only hope. We're not planning something drastic, and we do want what's best for the team. We've been talking about this a lot and you're just our best chance at winning, yeah?"

"We've been struggling with this decision too Beca. We don't want Aubrey to feel like we're over stepping her territory."

"Technically, she's being all dictator…" Denise interjected.

"What I'm saying is…" Stacie then jumped back in, raising her voice a little to cut Denise off, "We want to win, but not at the cost of tearing us apart. We know what our best option is, it's just, well, it's like the best option has us handling sodium metal and we're surrounded with wet and damp environments everywhere."

"What?" Ashley asked confused.

"Oh, I get it. Something about sodium metal exploding or something when it comes in contact with the water. It has to do with the enthalpy of whatever reaction is going on right?" Beca chimed in and everyone looked at her in surprise. "I had to take Gen. Chem. Last semester, okay? Our TA in lab always gives interesting tidbits during experiments. Don't ask."

"Okay, but point clear right?" Stacie then said. "It's delicate and dangerous and it very well might end up blowing up in our face. It's tough, but if Aubrey isn't listening we have to make her listen. IN the right way of course."

"And we intend to blow her mind away with a performance to convince her." Cynthia Rose jumped in. "So please Beca, say yes?"

"I don't know guys." Beca said unsure.

"Come on Beca, we know you really care about the Bellas. This is our idea, our plan. You're just a helping hand." Ashley then said.

Beca nodded absent-mindedly, she was deep in thought. "What do you think Lilly? Anything you want to add?"

Lilly did give out a reply although Beca was sure it was more about a twin brother she ate at one point if she heard her right, which totally doesn't make any sense to her so she shrugged it off.

"You guys promise to let Chloe know. And especially Aubrey? You won't do anything reckless?"

"Cross our hearts." Jessica said.

"Hope to die?" Beca deadpanned.

"We cross our hearts, let's leave it at that Shawshank. You know we can't promise you anything a hundred percent, and we don't want to drop dead just yet." Amy then said with a bit of a nervous chuckle.

Beca sighed yet again. "Alright, you nerds. I'll help you out. But you better win."