Got busy with work, so sorry for the update delays, and for the shorter chapter too… The next chapter will be up next week (for as long as work stays calm, if not, gimme two weeks)!
Y'all, before anything else, there is an epilogue chapter, okay?
No TW this time, kinda nice we're just back to regular… angst? Maybe?
I don't own pitch perfect.
Lilly was already waiting for her as Beca exited the old abandoned factory, Lilly ready to hand her phone as soon as Beca reached. She had destroyed her phone hours ago, not wanting any government officials to track her. Thankfully they didn't realize that she had Theo's phone, the one she used to track Chicago, now promptly crushed as well, otherwise things would have been harder communication and tracking-wise. Lilly's phone had now become their primary source of communication with their allies.
The deed was done, and Beca could see the messages for their next phase already waiting to be read in Lilly's inbox. She confirmed their plans with vague responses and walked side by side with her bodyguard towards their getaway vehicle to reach their next point of contact.
Beca instinctively typed in Chloe's number, remembering her promise to let her know when everything was done, not bothering to look it up in Lily's contact list. She knew the number by heart. Het her fingers hovered over the call button as she stood still for a moment, prior to getting in the vehicle, eyes glossing over Chloe's phone.
She couldn't do it.
She couldn't call her.
Beca knew she would break if she heard her voice. But more than that, she knew she couldn't say the words she needed to say either.
She couldn't say goodbye.
She tried so very hard not to think about this moment, how it would be like when it arrived, and now it was her current reality.
She didn't want to leave Chloe behind.
A part of Beca knew, this was always going to be the case. She wasn't meant to make connections when she came to Atlanta. She only wanted to sort out her business with the gold. But the longer the fight with Babel waged on, the more root Beca ended up making. The more connections she dared not forget and break. For a while there, she honestly thought things might be different.
Yet here she was.
Beca briefly closed her eyes and cleared the phone number she entered. She took a deep breath and steadied her nerves, quieted her mind and heart.
She'll find a way, she promised before.
Still, she hated she had to leave in the first place.
Beca turned off Lilly's phone before handing it back and getting inside the car.
They said parting was such sweet sorrow.
She never knew it to be true until now.
Aubrey didn't know what she was doing, or why she showed up to the off-road dirt path not too far away from the airport, but she was there. Perhaps for a final goodbye, perhaps for a reaffirmation that the job was done.
Or perhaps because she also wanted to say thank you.
Stacie was with her, the two of them leaning on the side of Aubrey's car. Across hers was Jesse's standard issue CIA vehicle, he was there with the documents – fake passports and such – for Beca's smooth exit for the country. Joining him was the deputy director.
On the other side was Luke, standing ready by his car.
They had to make this quick.
Soon enough, Lilly pulled up to the spot in her car. She had her keys and her phone ready in her hand, handing it over to Jesse who handed them the documents.
"Passports to get you out with fake identities as well as boarding passes. You should be able to move through undetected and pass your gates and board the plane no problem. But it's only good for an hour. Your flight boards in forty-five minutes anyways, and don't worry you're pre-checked and everything. We booked you first class, the least we could do," Jesse rambled on and explained before moving towards Lily's car to take care and get rid of it.
Beca nodded on and thanked Jesse. The deputy director said she was a welcomed asset to the CIA, especially with her return of the Guillotine File to them. Aubrey didn't really pay much attention to the conversation, her focus was on the last few drops of blood stains Beca forgot to wipe off her cheeks. She had her handkerchief ready in her hand and immediately tried wiping it off Beca as soon as she walked towards her.
"Okay, okay, enough," Beca then said and smirked.
"I guess it's really over," Aubrey then said before giving Beca a quick hug. "Thank you."
Beca nodded and Aubrey let her go. Stacie was next to quickly pull Beca in a tight hug. "Don't be a stranger, okay?" she had said before letting their beloved consigliere go.
Beca nodded again, seemingly lost with words.
"Alright, time to go," Luke then said, beckoning her and Lilly over. Beca wordlessly walked over towards the car, an air of melancholy surrounding her that Aubrey couldn't help but observe.
That was when another car pulled over. Chloe's.
Aubrey looked curiously at the car, Emily hurriedly jumping out of the driver's seat to help Chloe who was, of course, too impatient to be helped.
"I had a feeling you'd do this, you said you would call!" she reprimanded Beca.
"You shouldn't be out of the hospital bed! What did you do? Did you sneak out?" Beca replied, hurrying to her side, arms around Chloe's waist to support her up, a worried look on her face.
"I plead the fifth," was Chloe's quick retort.
Beca sighed and shook her head. The two of them shared a look. Stacie leaned over and whispered a question "Do you think they're about to confess their undying love for each other?"
Aubrey chuckled. It sure looked like it. What with how deeply they were staring into each other's eyes.
But no confession happened. Instead, Chloe pulled Beca close, in an impossibly tight hug. Beca wrapped her arms around Chloe too, burying her face in the crook of her neck.
"No goodbyes, okay?" Chloe then said, almost in a whisper.
Beca nodded. "Mhmm, so I guess it's goodnight."
Chloe smiled weakly, "Right, goodnight."
Slowly, reluctantly, Chloe released Beca from her arms.
Reluctantly, slowly, Beca slipped away and walked towards Luke's waiting car.
Aubrey was quick to rush towards Chloe to make sure she was alright. Arms around her best friend.
The nightmare that was the seemingly never-ending war with Babel was over.
But did it mean a love story that barely begun was too?
Aubrey hoped not.
Aubrey chose to believe that it was only beginning.
But before new beginnings can start, old chapters needed to be put to rest.
"You should have told her," Lilly heard Luke say as he drove on ahead to the airport, his eyes fixed on the road. Lilly sat in the front seat of the car and watched Beca twist around in the back seat, looking through the rear window, watching the image of Chloe fade away into the night.
"Tell her what?" Beca asked.
"That you loved her," Luke said matter-of-factly. "You do, right?"
"Does it matter?" Beca asked, still refusing to seat properly despite them being miles away from where Chloe and the others were left behind.
"It's all that mattered, Beca," Luke replied.
Beca let out a dry chuckle and refused to say anything else, choosing to remain silent instead.
She didn't need to say anything else.
Lilly at the very least understood what remained unspoken. She's known Beca for so many years now. Decades, really.
She knew Beca didn't say anything for one simple reason.
She wouldn't have left if she did.
Beca would stay and hold on to Chloe. Especially if Chloe had said anything too.
She wouldn't have the strength or resolve to leave, which would make things a bit more complicated with a potential case against her, investigations, and what not. Besides, Beca couldn't stay. She knew she had to resolve the business with the family, get them back to stable ground after quieting attacks and threats from rival families.
But Lilly knew, she could see the silent resolve in Beca.
She'll come back.
Why else would she say "goodnight" if not for the sweet promise of the morning to come?
We have a time jump next chapter and get to check in on everyone!
We also find out what happened to Schrodinger's Jessica
Also, I hope y'all appreciate the Romeo & Juliet nods.
UPNEXT: A Finale!