Chapter Text
BECA MITCHELL IS DEAD
"Yesterday at approximately ten fifteen a.m. the music industry's newest rising star, Beca Mitchell, was caught in a head on collision with a semi-truck. We have unconfirmed reports that the truck driver was heavily intoxicated but as you can see Miss Mitchell's car was almost completely destroyed by the impact. For those of you who don't know Beca Mitchell recently signed a record deal with DJ Kahled after—"
Chloe stood in front of the television in complete and utter shock. She didn't notice the tv remote falling to the floor or register that she was falling after it. The entire world seemed to be crumbling around her and Chloe had to fight to keep from passing out.
This couldn't be happening. She had just talked to Beca the other day, complaining about Theo and the crazy amount of crap she was being put through just for one interview. And now…there was nothing.
"I don't know Aubrey, I haven't heard from Amy ever since she bought that mansion in Australia and left on her yacht." Chloe had been on the phone for several hours trying to get in contact with all the Bellas for Beca's funeral. So far the only ones she hadn't managed to track down were Amy and Lilly and Chloe was starting to get angry with the blonde for not picking up her damn phone. Lilly would probably just show up at the funeral on her own, Chloe wasn't worried about her, but Amy had better pray that the angry redhead didn't find her before the funeral.
"I have to go Aubrey, my flight was just called." Chloe stood up and made her way to the terminal. "No, I am not being ridiculous flying to Sydney. Amy will be there for Beca or so help me I will burn her stupid five storied mansion to the ground." There was an unfamiliar growl in her voice that no one had heard before Beca's death. Chloe knew she was becoming a bit harsh and her usual peppy personality had all but disappeared after she watched that news anchor shattered her entire world. Now she was just angry. Angry at the world for taking her best friend away and angry at herself for not using the time she had to the fullest.
Chloe boarded the plane and settled in for the extremely long flight ahead of her. She pulled out a face mask to slip over her eyes and felt the exhaustion of the last few days. Sleep had been constantly eluding her since all she could see when she closed her eyes was Beca's face. But, for some reason fate smiled on her and Chloe finally fell asleep an hour into the flight.
"Ma'am." Someone shook Chloe's and the redhead begrudgingly opened her eyes to see a blonde stewardess looking down at her.
"Where am I?" Her brain tried to work through what was going on, apparently going days without sleep wasn't good for your memory.
The stewardess just giggled. "You're in Sydney, Australia Ma'am."
Chloe's eyes widened comically as she remembered what had happened. "Wow, I really slept the whole way?"
"Yes miss, is everything okay?"
"No." Chloe didn't offer an explanation but rather just grabbed her luggage and made her way off the plane. After getting almost a full day of sleep Chloe's brain felt like it was running on overdrive. But at the same time everything seemed to blur around her, the other people, the videos of prancing kangaroos on the tv's. Somehow she managed to get her suitcase and out to the pick up location for the uber she ordered.
On any other day she would have enjoyed the view of the Australian coast rushing by outside the window. But today all she could think about was how Beca wasn't in the seat next to her.
Amy's house was well out of the way so it took the uber a while to get there. When they finally pulled up to the gate the driver let out a low whistle. "Crikey. Your friend must be filthy rich."
Chloe almost giggled, she had never heard someone say 'crikey' unironically before. "Um yeah she recently inherited a lot of money."
"Well if this sheila needs a new boyfriend would you mind giving her my name?" The driver asked.
That actually earned a chuckle from the redhead. "I'll let her know." The driver waved and pulled off down the street. "If I don't strangle her first."
Chloe walked up to the small dial pad next to the gate and she rolled her eyes. She input the code on the first try, leave it to Amy to use her birthday as the password for everything. The walk to the front door was longer than it looked from the road so it took her a little bit to reach the front door. Thanks to the Australian heat Chloe worked up a sweat by the time she got to the porch and given her attitude before getting here she was now borderline furious.
She walked up the steps and pounded on the front door. "Amy! You better have a good excuse for not picking up your phone!" When the house refused to respond to her assault Chloe tried the door handle and was surprised to see that it was unlocked.
Easing the door open Chloe had a brief moment of hesitation about entering Amy's house uninvited but then she remembered all the times that her friend had done the same to her hundreds of times in the past.
She had to give Amy credit, the house was immaculate. The door opened to a massive foyer with a large staircase front and center. There were several hallways branching off from the foyer but Chloe didn't have time to search the whole house. She thought for a minute about the most likely place to find Amy in a house this big and sighed.
It only took her a couple minutes to find the absolutely massive kitchen tucked away in the corner. And just as she thought there was a refrigerator with the door open and someone standing behind it humming to themselves. Chloe marched over to the refrigerator and placed her hands on her hips. "Is it really so hard to pick up your phone?"
The door was slowly closed and Chloe's brain short circuited. Before her was a woman that was definitely not Fat Amy.
"Beca?"
"Um," The shorter girl pulled the spoon from her mouth and placed it in the ice cream carton she was holding. "Hi."
That's when Chloe's brain rebooted and her hand lashed out to strike Beca across the face. The brunette seemed stunned, but she slowly turned back and held up a finger. "I deserved that."
It looked like she was going to say more but was stopped when Chloe rushed forward, grabbed Beca by her collar and pulled her in for a deep kiss. It took a second but Beca returned the kiss with the same passion as Chloe. They stood there for a full minute, neither wanting to move away. When they finally did pull apart Chloe smacked Beca on the shoulder none too gently.
"Ow! Hey can we stop with the hitting me thing?"
"You're supposed to be dead." Chloe stuck an accusing finger in Beca's face. "There was news coverage and everything."
"Yeah, apparently it's a little difficult for celebrities to get into witness protection without some sort of grand display." Beca said.
Chloe's face scrunched up in confusion, "Witness protection?"
"Shawshank!" Amy suddenly appeared in the archway to the kitchen looking rather concerned with Lilly right behind her. "Oh, what are you doing here Chloe?"
Chloe looked around at her friends and could feel her temper rising again. "Someone. Had better explain what's going on. Right. Now."
Beca let out a long sigh through her nose before gesturing towards the living room. They all made their way to the lavishly decorated room and took seats on various couches with Beca taking the spot next to Chloe on the loveseat.
"Okay. You remember Theo from the USO tour right?" Beca waited for Chloe's nod before continuing. "Well turns out he's a crime lord."
Chloe's eyes widened in shock and looked to the other two Bellas for confirmation. Lilly just nodded her head while Amy was preoccupied with a snack she brought from the kitchen. The redhead turned back to Beca and waited.
"So yeah, Theo uses his connections in the music industry to get drugs to all the celebrities that are into that stuff." Beca explained. "He tried to offer me some drugs but when I refused he got all cagey and weird so I may have stuck my nose in places I shouldn't have." Chloe reached out and grabbed Beca's hand, rubbing her thumb over Beca's knuckles. Beca gave Chloe a grateful smile before continuing her story. "Anyways, I called the cops and they took me in for a bunch of interviews before sending me to an interpol office in L.A. where someone," she gestured to Lilly, "was waiting for me."
"Turns out turtle man caught on to Shawshank rating him out so she needed to pull a disappearing act." Amy said. "And I just so happened to have the perfect place to hide out for a little while. And sorry about not returning your calls Red, Lilly said she'd kill me if I told anyone."
"I said you would never be found, not that I would kill you." Lilly whispered before turning to Chloe. "Now that you know you can't leave."
"What? Why not?" Chloe didn't like that idea one bit. Especially since Aubrey would most likely come looking for her if Chloe didn't call soon.
"It's okay Chlo." Beca squeezed Chloe's hand. "It's not forever. According to Lilly's boss they had already been working on this case and are almost ready to make an arrest. My testimony is just the last nail in the coffin."
"So how long?" Chloe started to ask before Lilly stopped her.
"Shouldn't be more than a month."
"And hey," Beca smiled at her. "A month, practically alone, in Australia, in a giant mansion. Not a bad way to spend our time in witness protection. Especially if we could," Her smile got wider, "do some more kissing?"
Chloe smiled back but just as she started to lean in Amy sat bolt upright. "BLOE IS REAL!?"