The weeks seemed to go by faster when Beca was allowed to play again. Between hockey, mixing, hanging out with Jesse and Chloe and studying, she didn't have much free time. She didn't mind though, because it kept her mind off things. She liked to be occupied and all of her activities certainly did the trick. She had found out that Jesse was working at the on-campus radio station and had hung out there a few times. The DJ, Luke, eventually offered her an internship, since she was there anyway and he could use a second intern. Beca accepted the job, because she hoped she would get some DJing experience before leaving for L.A. However, for now she had only been allowed to stack CDs with Jesse.

Chloe still kept a close eye on Beca the first few practices, but Beca wouldn't sit out any of the exercises. She felt like she had something to compensate for the two weeks she was benched. She was soon back to her old won all of their matches easily, but the team knew they would encounter the tougher opponents later in the season. All the wins did keep the moral high and each and every girl worked their butt off to make sure they were fit enough to take the championship home.

The Friday before their first tough game, all the girls were on the field, except for Chloe and Aubrey. This was surprising, since Aubrey would always arrive at least fifteen minutes early with Chloe in tow. With a minute to spare, Chloe entered the field. She walked to her coaches immediately, apologizing profusely. As soon as she reached the two adults, she started talking at a hushed tone.

After they both nodded, Chloe turned around and walked towards the group. She stood next to Beca and started addressing the girls. Amy was still engaging many girls in some story about her dingo wrestling days, so they didn't pay any attention to Chloe. She was looking quite stressed and helpless, so Beca decided to lend a hand. She brought her finger to her mouth and produced a loud whistling sound. Chloe jumped at the sound, but her face quickly turned from shocked to grateful, since all the girls were now looking at Beca and Chloe.

"Okay, listen up girls. As you may notice, Aubrey is not here today. She has caught some kind of bug and is in no state to play any hockey today. I will be running warming up today. I hope she will be able to join us again next Sunday."

Most of the girls already had all the drills Aubrey usually made them do memorized, so this posed no problem for the team. Soon the coaches took over and they went through practice as usual. Aubrey's absence was noticeable in the overall atmosphere on the field, all the girls seemed a bit more relaxed. They didn't work any less, but they did allow themselves to be a bit more creative, which led to some nice plays.

After ninety minutes of exercises and drills, the girls were divided into two teams. Beca was delighted to be in Chloe's team for once. Since they played with seven players in the field, they had agreed to play with two attackers, two midfielder and three defenders. Beca's team started with Cynthia Rose as their keeper while the other team got an extra field player. The second half the roles would be reversed.

The first ten minutes weren't played on the level they were used to. A lot of passes missed their target, and the players weren't defending very well on both sides. Beca did score after a great solo run. At the intermission Coach Smith was far from positive. Both teams were having the same problem, they weren't coaching each other properly. The backs had to coach the midfielders, who in turn had to coach the offenders.

The second half started a bit like the first, but when Lilly, who was playing in front of Beca, made a defensive error, Beca decided that someone had to step up. At the next free out against them, she coached both Lilly and the other offender to the right spot and corrected Chloe's positionn. This did the trick, now the opposing team had nowhere to play the ball and Beca's team quickly recovered it. From then on, they were dominating the game. The other girls on Beca's team started coaching each other a bit more as well, and eventually they won the game by four goals. The only player that was not playing her best was Chloe, who seemed very stressed and frankly just unfocused.

As soon as the field was cleared of all their equipment, the girls made their way to the showers. Chloe stayed behind to talk to the coaches and didn't even notice Beca waving goodbye. Beca had a late shift at the radio station tonight, so she would not be joining the girls for drinks. She quickly made her way to her dorm, showered there, and then ran to the station.

After a long and boring shift at the station, Beca felt like she deserved to sleep in on Saturday. Since she had worked the day before, she was free today and didn't have much planned except for a bit of mixing and studying. Jesse had to work at the station today, so he wouldn't be available to hang out and she hadn't heard anything from Chloe, who was probably busy taking care of Aubrey.

After sleeping for a considerable amount of time and eating a wholesome breakfast Beca decided to get the reading for her philosophy class out of the way. She was still not a fan of actually studying, but Chloe regularly checked how she was doing, so she did enough to pass. This seemed to also please her father, who left her alone for now. He had been to one game, but had not engaged with her after, so it was fine with Beca.

Just as she finished her reading, she heard a knock on her door. Kimmy Jin had left before Beca woke up, so it probably wasn't for her. When she opened the door, a familiar redhead greeted her with a hug, which lasted considerably shorter than usual. Chloe was clearly very stressed and barely managed to keep eye contact with Beca.

"Do you have time to come with me?"

Beca nodded, confused by the cryptic request. She managed to grab her coat and keys before Chloe dragged her in the direction of the room Beca's two captains shared.

"Is everything alright?"

"Uhm, yeah, Aubrey wants to ask you something."

This was even more cryptic. Beca had no idea what Aubrey would want from her, but she was extremely curious. Especially since Chloe was acting really strange. She usually was a lot more direct, as was Aubrey.

They soon arrived at Chloe's room. The redhead opened the door and allowed Beca to step in. Chloe's room was much larger than Beca's, it was rather a small apartment than a dorm room. The place consisted of two separate bedrooms, a small kitchen and a small living room. The couch in the living room was currently occupied by Aubrey, who was covered in blankets. Beca could only see the back of her head, but as soon as Chloe closed the door, Aubrey turned around to look who had entered the room.

"Good, you're here, please sit down," she said in a raspy voice.

Beca installed herself on an empty chair facing the couch. Chloe lifted Aubrey feet and sat on the couch, allowing Aubrey to rest her feet on her co-captains lap. Then Aubrey addressed Beca.

"Let me cut right to the chase. As you might have noticed I am in no state to play tomorrow. I would never cancel a game, but Dawson visited me today and forbid me to play like this. That means someone has to be the captain the next game. Would you take that place? Chloe said you did really well in training and Dawson and Coach Smith both agreed you would be the best choice."

Beca couldn't really believe what she had been asked. For a split second, she thought Aubrey was joking, but after looking at the serious look on her face, she knew this was not the case. Still, this was the girl who had wanted to kick her out of the team, not have her run it. Plus she didn't have any experience in being a captain.

"Isn't that what having two captains is for?"

Now Chloe looked nervously at Beca. The brunette immediately regretted the tone of her remark when she saw the expression on the other girl's face.

"I am not really good at being a captain on the field, as you may have noticed yesterday. I don't have the natural authority you both have. I like making people happy, I don't like shouting at people."

Beca nodded understandably, but still didn't feel like she wouldn't be the best pick for the position.

"But isn't Amy way more suitable for the job, she's excellent at shouting and can keep a good overview from her position in the field."

Her captains had obviously thought about all the other options, because Aubrey immediately responded.

"Amy is really a focussed person. Besides, she is good at defensive plays, but knows next to nothing about offense."

Beca proposed some other names, but for each, her captains could pose an argument against the girl. Soon Beca was out of options and was staring blankly at her captains. Aubrey had been starting to lose her cool during the conversation.

"We're giving you a great opportunity and responsibility, you should be happy to get this chance, not try to sabotage it," she snapped at the freshman.

Before Beca could respond, Chloe was at her side and guiding her towards the door. She shot a warning look at Aubrey on their way out. They walked silently around campus for a while. Finally Chloe asked Beca to sit down at a nearby bench.

"Sorry about all that. Aubrey is not used to not immediately getting what she wants. We did really consider every option and decided you would be the best pick. You would make a great captain. I know you don't see it, but everyone else in the team does. And you just need to be yourself in the field, I will take care of everything else."

Chloe's pleading eyes were too much for Beca, so while still wondering what she was getting herself into, she was already nodding. This caused a shriek in her captain, who was hugging her extremely tightly.

"You're going to do so great," she exclaimed. Then her face turned apologetic. "Aubrey did demand a briefing with you before the game, so she could make sure everything would be alright. She is not really good at letting things get out of her control."

Beca grimaced and in return received a warning look.

"Okay, I guess I could handle that."

This resulted in a second hug, before Chloe led her back to her room.

The following hour or so was filled with Aubrey telling her exactly what to do. The blonde had even prepared a few lists that included what points to mention during their huddle at the start of the game and during half time. Chloe kept shooting her encouraging smiles, which helped Beca get through the whole thing without ripping her hair out. When Aubrey was finally done she seemed exhausted, so Chloe helped her to bed before returning to Beca.

"Thank you so much for all of this, I know it isn't really your thing, so I really appreciate it. I will think of some way to thank you!"

"Well, I never properly thanked you for taking care of me when I had that concussion, so let's just call it even."

Beca could read from Chloe's face that she was already planning something nevertheless, but she knew better by now than trying to convince the redhead. When she had her mind set on something, there was no stopping her.