A/N: And here is chapter 18 featuring Luke being a sweet big brotehr, the Bellas seeking retribution, Stacie and Amy's side mission, and the return of Dr. Mitchell!

Next two chapters will actually be two parts of a whole… you'll know what I mean later. I'm giving your hearts a break form the angst in this one. I needed a break from writing angst too... :P Enjoy!

I don't own pitch perfect.

Beca was forever transfixed by that moment. No, it didn't feel like drowning. At least not yet. Chloe's teary eyes were filled with so much hurt and sadness that Beca was a little thrown off, confused at what could possibly be causing the pain Chloe had been feeling. The words Chloe had said, the sentence she never finished leaving Beca hanging on some sort of imaginary cliff's edge had been haunting her the whole night through.

It was like she was fully submerged in water, with the water rising in an agonizingly slow pace, stretching out the wait for the struggle that Beca knew was going to come. It was as if the water was already rising to her face, her nose barely above it that she could pick of some scent she would associate with sea.

The look on Chloe's face, that agony in her eyes, it was tearing Beca apart.

Beca got up, still monopolizing Luke's bedroom. The original plan was to go back to her dorm room last night after attending the party. Things were still a little shaky with the Bellas but at least there was some sort of return to a normal pace for her friendship with Amy and Stacie. That's how Beca got dragged to the stupid party in the first place.

After Chloe left and a few death glares from Luke to Jesse that made the treble left, there was a brief argument between her and Luke and where to go next. Luke had wanted to make sure that she was safely home at their apartment, while Beca still had her radio show to do in a few minutes. She inadvertently won that argument. Music was the only thing that could console her at the moment, the only thing that can distract her and stop herself from doing anything.

Luke had complained all the way to the radio station where Beca tried her best to act as normal as possible. The show started a few minutes late, but that couldn't be helped, and had to end an hour earlier with Matt covering up for both the remaining hour and the first half of Luke's show.

But that was mostly because of the other thing that was hurting Beca at the moment.

It wasn't enough that that a whole had been punched into her heart for whatever problem or misunderstanding there was between her and Chloe, for whatever Chloe's words had meant. Nope, that wasn't enough. Because Beca just had to learn the hard way that when it rains it definitely pours.

Luke had brought her an ice pack, her right hand swelling and hurting badly during her Midnight DJ run but the pain had become so unbearable that they ended up rushing to the University Hospital before heading back to Luke's apartment. All Beca's hopes of keeping the fight on the down low gone with the evidence wrapped around her hand.

She had grabbed Tom with her right hand before punching him with the same hand. Because of that she wasn't able to use a proper punching technique and causing metacarpal fractures.

Which of course was now annoying the hell out of Beca.

Luke was furious for her stubbornness that delayed the medical attention. Beca has no sleep. And of course Luke called their parents.

Which led to confused and slightly angry lectures via Skype from her mom and awkward reach for her step-dad. Her consolation for that is that he at least was proud the she managed to knock some teeth out of Tom.

It was midafternoon Saturday, and Beca was still tossing and turning in the bed trying to get some peace and quiet and some sleep. But her thoughts won't let her, the aching in her hand won't let her, the drugs for the pain didn't help her, the constant buzzing of her phone thanks to Emily checking up on her every five freaking minutes wasn't helping her, and the overwhelming feeling that was settling on her chest was most definitely making everything worse.

It was like she was about to have a heart attack at the moment.

Okay, so the Chloe problem was already established, there was that, but there was no way in hell that her dad won't hear about any of this, especially with her injured hand, and he already gave her some sort of ultimatum o the no more fights thing and…

…the silence…

…yep, the silence was driving her insane.

The silence from her father. The thoughts of fury and rage of her getting into trouble yet again. And everything circled back to LA, her dreams, the deal.

And for whatever reason, Beca was less scared of losing all of those.

She still wasn't looking forward to face the wrath of her father though.

"Hey Shawshank, surprised to see you're not in jail yet." Amy said as she barged right into Luke's room with Stacie. Beca sat up on the bed and looked at the two with a mixture of gratitude and slight irritation because she really wanted to just sleep at that point.

"It's not like I bet up the guy." Beca grumbled, Amy and Stacie choosing a place to seat on Luke's surprisingly clean bedroom floor.

"Yeah, well, you should've is what I'm saying. He deserved it." Amy replied. "But by the way, kudos on knocking him down. Didn't know you packed a punch Shorty."

"How's the hand?" Stacie then asked to which Beca shrugged.

Beca tried to speak up but stopped, unable to form the words she had wanted to. "We haven't heard from Chlo, she's with Aubrey though, so I'm not worried." Stacie spoke up, realizing what Beca had wanted to say and Beca once again nodded silently.

"We miss you Beca, for real. So we better find you back in the dorm room later for good or we'll carry you there ourselves." Amy then said and Beca chuckled. "And don't worry about Red, she's probably still shaken up on things." she added reassuringly.

"Yeah, I miss you nerds too. I'll try to get some sleep now and if I'm feeling better I'll head back after my shift."

"Good we'll be back by then and waiting." Stacie said picking herself up off the floor causing Beca to give her a questioning look.

"Some of us Bellas have a thing. Don't stress about it Shorty." Amy then said sharing a look with Stacie.

"Don't have too much fun then." Beca said uncertainly with a gut feeling that the Bellas are definitely up to something.

Beca took a deep breath, whatever it was they were up to, she won't think about it, she convinced herself, reaching for her iPod. Popping in her earbuds, she picked the playlist she listens too when she's too stressed out filled with classical music.

Hopefully that would do the trick.

Denise was hiding behind Cynthia Rose who was hiding behind Lilly who was hiding behind a car parked outside the house. "I definitely see some movement." she whispered as she handed the binoculars to Jessica who was standing on the sidewalk next to Ashley. She was looking at them as if she was trying to decipher what on earth the three of them were doing hiding behind a car.

"This isn't a stealth mission." Jessica pointed out confirming Denise's thoughts.

"Yeah, well, we don't want to ruin the element of surprise." Denise reasoned. "By the way, where on earth are Amy and Stacie?"

"Amy and Stacie are here at your service." Amy then said walking towards the group. "You guys ready?"

"Yep, just waiting for when he goes to his car over there." Cynthia Rose replied pointing to a car parked across the street. "Lilly bugged the house at some point and she's still listening in. So far we have the dentists appointment confirmed."

"Are we seriously going to do this the whole week?" Stacie asked.

"We have nothing better to do, so why not?" Ashley replied.

Stacie sighed. "We might miss a few." she then said pointing to Amy and Denise would have asked but it was time to start their thing.

Tom had walked out of their house and started to make his way to the car when Denise ran up all the way to him, the Bellas right behind her.

To the first of many, jerkface. Denise thought and Liily wasted no time to give her the beat.

I wake up every evening
With a big smile on my face
And it never feels out of place
And you're still probably working
At a nine to five pace
I wonder how bad that tastes

The Bellas went full-force with their little performance, almost scaring Tom when they started. All of the girls jumped in with renewed energy once they hit the chorus, sending Tom running towards his car.

When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell

It was Sunday, they were in the middle of the supermarket. Tom was with this other guy Jessica could recognize who was in the same fraternity house as he was. Jessica thought Tom's face might've been burning red from the embarrassment as the Bellas followed them around – Jessica wasn't entirely sure considering that Tom's face was still all sorts of swollen – attracting the attention of all the customers. The staff were in on it though, once the Bellas explained the situation and what Tom had done, and allowed them to do their little act for as long as they put on a good show.

It did help that Stacie knew her way around flirting with everyone to seal the deal too.

Now where's your picket fence love
And where's that shiny car
And did it ever get you far
You never seemed so tense love
I've never seen you fall so hard
Do you know where you are

Jessica sang. They were in the cereal aisle but some of the college kids at the party with them who were also at the supermarket started to join in, not with the Bellas' awesome singing but with simply cheering them on.

And truth be told I miss you
And truth be told I'm lying

It was Sunday evening. The Bellas were definitely taking things up a notch. It wasn't really planned this time, Ashley simply pointed out that Tom was in the same pizza place with some girl that night. The same pizza place and one thing led to another.

When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
If you find a girl that's worth a damn and treats you well
Then she's a fool you're just as well
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell

Ashley had to admit though, it made her feel a whole lot better. There were some students who recognized Tom yet again, and Ashley even heard some guy asking Stacie about the girl who gave him one hell of a hook.

And Ashley felt might have felt some sort of pride for Beca for that.

It was Monday morning. Very early in the morning. Stacie found herself at the quad with the rest of the Bellas for a morning run and for the first time Stacie was really appreciative of all the cardio that Aubrey had them do during Bellas practice as she sang her part.

Tomorrow you'll be thinking to yourself
Where'd it all go wrong?
But the list goes on and on

And truth be told I miss you
And truth be told I'm lying

They passed by outside Jesse dorm as they picked up the pace after Tom who was trying to escape them during his early morning jog. Stacie threw a wink at Amy's direction that thankfully the blonde didn't miss and Amy nodded to affirm that she got the message.

Stacie focused on the task at hand for now, putting their plans on hold until the time comes.

When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you find a girl that's worth a damn and treats you well
Then she's a fool, you're just as well
Hope it gives you hell

At least they sort of helped the slowpoke Tom with his morning exercise, Stacie thought to herself after losing him during their second lap.

It was lunchtime on a Monday afternoon. They were in the dining hall and the Bellas were definitely setting the mood. Unlike their supermarket musical mob, this time the crowd was singing along.

But all fell silent during the Bellas' solos. And this time it was Cynthia Rose's.

Now you'll never see
What you've done to me
You can take back your memories
They're no good to me
And here's all your lies
You can't look me in the eyes
With the sad, sad look
That you wear so well

Tom had his head in his hands from where he was sitting. Cynthia Rose couldn't help but be amused at how his head looked like a tomato about to be squished at the moment.

When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well
Then he's a fool you're just as well
Hope it gives you hell

"Gah!" Tom screamed, abruptly standing up and accidentally spilling all the contents of his plate all over his shirt. He didn't pay much attention to it however. A vein looked like it was about to pop in his head as he addressed the Bellas. "Cut it out already! I get it, alright? Now shoo! Go!"

"Shoo yourself." Ashley said.

"Sorry, but mess with one of us, you mess with all of us." Jessica then said.

"Besides, we're doing this in behalf of humankind." Stacie added.

"Yeah, disrespect a lady and you get what's coming." Cynthia Rose concluded triumphantly before Tom stormed off.

All in all, it was a good afternoon.

It was Monday late afternoon and Lilly was slightly disappointed that Chloe caught them during their lunch performance and while she was thankful they were avenging her, she did remind them to not go overboard with their little vendetta or they might eventually get into trouble. So unexpectedly, the lunchtime performance was their final bow.

When you hear this song
I hope that it will treat you well

But Chloe didn't say anything about planting a bug or three dozen in Tom's room, car, and personal items that would keep playing the Bellas' rendition of the song.

And that said bugs may or may not be remote controlled.

You can sing along
I hope that it puts you through hell

Tom was screaming in rage while in the library before he got kicked out. He was hearing the song softly playing from a bug in his phone that he didn't know about.

Revenge is sweet.

And that's a truth that Lilly knew so well.

Luke thought the fall semester was quite an adventure with its ups and downs. Boy, Luke was wrong. He wasn't looking forward to his early afternoon meeting.

He had Jen from the radio station cover his afternoon shift. This was much more important. Luke solemnly knocked on the door on Dr. Mitchell's.

Dr. Mitchell turned from his computer screen for the unexpected visit. "Well, I'm rather popular today I suppose." he said as he motioned for Luke to come in and have a seat.

"Before you say anything, before you talk to Beca, I came here today because I want you to know how special and talented your daughter is right now and she wouldn't have jumped in to whatever conflict if it didn't have a good reason." Luke said, jumping straight in for the purpose of his visit. "Yes, she was a little reckless, maybe. And yes, I know she got hurt in the process too, but she's being an adult about this. She's owning up to her part and she's already had our parents give her a two hour lecture at five in the morning on a Sunday so really she doesn't need that from you. I hope you listen to her this time, don't jump the gun. Just actually listen. You want to be in her life as her dad, right? You want to rebuild the relationship you lost with your daughter, well, just, don't give her the same speech you did the last time. Beca's trying, she's growing as a person, and she's going through a bit of a tough time right now and…"

Dr. Mitchell listened patiently to Luke's ramblings before he couldn't help but chuckle anymore.

Well that was different.

Luke gave Dr. Mitchell a curious glance. "You really care about Beca. Guess you're more than the good looks and charm you sport on with ladies Luke. I'm glad Beca has someone like you to be looking out for her."

"I- huh?" Luke mumbled.

"Expecting more of an argument?" Dr. Mitchell said, leaning back on his chair and taking a deep breath. "Maybe if you got in here a little bit earlier although even then, I wouldn't probably have put much of a fight. You, Ms. Conrad, and Ms. Well, the blonde who called herself Fat Amy?"

"Yeah, we just call her Amy." Luke gave as an answer and Dr. Mitchell nodded.

"Well, you three. You all came in here strolling in ready to defend Beca from being in trouble and I guess, what else can I say? I wanted my daughter to experience college, have a life, make friends and she's got you three fiercely defending her."

"Um, yeah." Luke said still a little confused.

"No one still beats Ms. Beale though."

"Uh, what about Chloe?" Luke asked being more confused as ever and Dr. Mitchell simply chuckled reminding Luke a little bit of how Beca was sometimes.

But Dr. Mitchell chose not to elaborate any longer.

And Luke left with a feeling like he was just twilight-zoned for some reason but if he was willing to listen to them, if he's willing to listen to Beca, then a part of him knew everything would be fine.

It had been a very busy Monday for Amy and Stacie and it just got even busier. It started out with her tiptoeing her way out of their dorm room, making sure to not disturb Beca who, Amy adamantly kept repeating, was finally home. For whatever reason, Stacie needed to stop by the Biology department before meeting up with the Bellas for their haunting of Tom part… she was going to be honest, she had lost count…

Amy would have asked Stacie why they needed to break in to the Chemistry research labs but to Amy's own surprise people were actually already there at five thirty in the morning. Stacie disappeared inside for a good while before finally coming back to meet Amy. "Did you really need me up at this time already? You look like you were handling things yourself."

"Oh, well, let's just say I needed something. The guy who needed it has a crush on you and wanted to meet you but backed out the last minute with his nerves so." Stacie said with a shrug before dragging Amy to meet with the Bellas.

And that was that with that little side trip.

Amy had been busy the rest of the day, following Stacie's instructions of 'dropping things' for Jesse. Coming in to meet Dr. Mitchell for the first time, that second Bella performance, giving Jesse a final set of instructions of where to go later that night, and classes.

Amy had never really realized how much time Bellas rehearsals take until now that she had all the free time in the world. With all her activities, she still found herself back in their dorm room while Beca was out with her long awaited meeting with her father.

A few hours later and a whole lot of 'killing time' done, Amy finally met up with Stacie at the rooftop of the journalism building where Luke had some sort of access to for some reason that he refused to reveal.

Jesse was out of breath when he finally reached them. "You took your sweet sweet time." Stacie whistled.

"You're not the one being chased by all sorts of woodland creatures the whole day!" Jesse sort of screeched.

To which Amy looked at Stacie curiously and Stacie shrugged. "I might have ended up helping a friend who's testing something about animal pheromones, really can't talk about it."

"What the hell!?"

"You did have it coming." Amy grumbled. "See, we're been digging, Stace and I, and the only effect you're helping is doing is propagate misunderstanding between our lovebirds."

"What!?" Jesse squealed.

"I'm saying that you're helping is making things worse." Stacie said. "Consider this your initiation, if you're serious with cheering Beca on in whatever and whoever she pursues, you need to pass a series of tests. By the way, the pheromone thing wears off after twenty four hours, so, I'd avoid squirrels and skunks until then."

"I- wait, I haven't even agreed to anything yet." Jesse argued.

"It's either this or the alternative." Amy said shrugging.

"Alternative?" Jesse asked confused.

"You don't want to know." Amy said with her thoughts instantly flying to Lilly. "But, here, a laminated typewritten guideline of how to treat Beca as a friend because you're sucking real bad with it at the moment."

"I… thanks I guess?" Jesse said accepting the laminated paper from Amy. "But what about the initiation test thing?"

"Let's see, you've clearly done cardio today, so let's skip that." Stacie said with Amy noting that the comment that he friend had made totally flung over Jesse's headspace

Nevertheless the mischievous look in Stacie's eyes did send noticeable shivers down Jesse's spine.

Well, this should be a fun way to fill her time for a while.

It was late afternoon that Monday and Beca could feel her heart pounding as she took each and every step she needed to take to get to her father's office from her dorm room.

Moment of truth Mitchell.

Dr. Mitchell kept a straight face as Beca pulled up the chair in front of her desk. "Look-" she started to say, trying to beat her dad to the punch.

"How's your hand?" Dr. Mitchell asked, cutting her short.

"It hurts, still." Beca said looking thoughtful for a moment.

"But?"

"How did you know there was a 'but'?" Beca asked slightly impressed her dad managed to guess at that.

"You're my daughter Beca." Dr. Mitchell explained. "If it's LA your worried about, your friends have already made a strong case at how talented you are."

"My friends?" Beca asked being caught a little off-guard by that tidbit of information.

"Yes. Stacie, Amy, and of course Luke." Dr. Mitchell said. "And then some more just a couple of minutes ago. Cynthia Rose, Lilly, Denise, Jessica, and Ashley."

Beca was left a little speechless at the surprise turn of events. She wasn't expecting her friends to show up and do something like that for her. Luke did mention that he let Chloe explain the LA deal while they were trying to win her back. But still.

Beca could feel a smile tugging at the edge of her lips, and she probably would have if her thoughts didn't drift off to Chloe. A part of her feeling a little blue that Chloe…

"And of course no one beats Chloe's determination at making sure the message is clear."

"Wh-what?" Beca then asked a little lost.

"Well, she did show up in front of my house this morning, I think she might've been coming back from a morning run. Which is, kudos to her by the way, it's still a bit chilly out but I guess nothing stops that girl." Dr. Mitchell explained and Beca gave her a look that expressed her wishes for him to stop going off of tangents. "But I digress. Chloe came to explain what had happened. She was worried I'd take away the LA dream for you and she wanted to make sure the message was clear that Beca Mitchell was a good friend and that you are very talented and that LA would be lucky to have you."

"I… wow…" Beca said to herself and Dr. Mitchell smiled.

"Beca all I wanted was for you to find people who cared about you the way your friends do now. I wanted you to experience life and open up to people and I have them marching in my office all day long… You've grown up, and I suppose I was a little harsh before for not seeing that. As a parent I want what's best for you and if what's best for you is LA, then I'm not going to stand in the way of that. Besides, you are a talented musician, music producing genius, whatever you kids call it these days. Music runs in your veins Beca, it's like every note obeys your every whim and in exchange you understand the hidden language that songs and beats and rhythm hold. I'm not going to stand in the way of that because that's who you are Beca, that's who my daughter is. There are a lot of dreamers Beca, most of them lose their way from chasing the dream. Then there are those who have it in them, the dream the world gave them because the world deemed it so. The ones who have it in them to shine. You're that."

Beca looked at her dad still confused, "What do you mean?"

"Midnight radio show with mystery DJ, my rebellious daughter an intern at the radio station where her step-brother is the station manager. It's not that hard to piece the puzzle together. Don't worry, no spilled anything."

"Oh come on! Is it that easy to guess?" Beca exclaimed and Dr. Mitchell laughed.

"No, I don't suppose it is. But people for the people you let in, I suppose it would. As for me, again, I'm your father Beca." he replied with a shrug.

"How long?" Beca asked wanting to know how long he's known about it.

"After a whole week of you not talking during the launch of your Midnight DJ run, I've had a good feeling."

"And you're not mad?"

"No. You have good taste in music and at least you've proven you've got what it takes."

Beca nodded thoughtfully.

Everything was falling into place.

Everything she's ever wanted.

But then again, why didn't it feel complete?

Beca would ask herself that over and over but she really didn't need to.

She knew why.

With all her heart she did.

"You know, Chloe had the same look in her eyes this morning."

"Huh?" Beca asked, not really following what her dad was saying.

But Dr. Mitchell simply smiled at her daughter, a part of Beca knew that he was trying to get a rid of her then, the other part thinks he's already found the answer and reasons to why.

For a while they just sat there in silence before Beca decided it was time to leave, thanking her dad. And for the first time ever it felt like the two of them made actual progress at something. Like they were finally heading towards a good place.

'You know Beca, sometimes we impose our own misery on ourselves." Dr. Mitchell said just before Beca got out of the door.

"What does that even mean?" Beca asked as she turned around to look at her dad.

But Dr. Mitchell simply smiled back knowingly.

Beca tried to give him the stare down to which Dr. Mitchell chuckled. "Happiness is a choice my dear. Listen to your heart, and you'll know what I mean. And as for LA, to be clear, I'm supporting you a hundred percent if you still want to leave at the end of the year.

Beca nodded and thanked her dad yet again, leaving his office feeling a little relieved and thoughtful.

Listen to my heart, huh?

So heart, what is it that you want to be happy?

Song Featured in the chapter: 'Gives You Hell' All-American Rejects

PS: Things are starting to go back right on track guys ;)