Chapter Text
“Beecccaaaa, it’s time to get up!” A voice that was far too chipper for the early hour sang as its attached pair of hands shook Beca into consciousness.
“Ughh, nooo…” Beca groaned and tried to burrow herself deeper into her pillows.
The voice giggled and the hands on her shoulders gripped firmer. “C’mon, Becs- you’re gonna be late.” A whisper this time, right in Beca’s ear as the intruder all but climbed on top of Beca in the effort to get her out of bed.
So what if she’s late, who cares, she’d just make it up by staying late… Except Beca didn’t have work today? In fact, today marked the first time Beca Mitchell had requested time off since her move to LA. She had a flight scheduled into Atlanta at… oh shit! She was gonna miss her flight!
Beca’s eyes shot open as she leaped out of bed, making it all the way to her dresser before freezing. She slowly turned around to come face to face with an unnaturally large grin that could only belong to Chloe Beale.
Beca blinked. “You don’t live here?” She said dumbly at the beaming ginger.
Chloe just laughed and darted forward to pull Beca into a tight hug, which the younger woman reciprocated.
“It’s good to see you too, Becs.” Chloe spoke softly as she pulled away just a few inches, keeping her arms resting over Beca’s shoulders.
A million thoughts rattled around in Beca’s head, all fighting to get out but ultimately failing miserably.
“You- you don’t live here.” Beca repeated.
“I don’t” Chloe affirmed with a nod of her head. “But you do~”
“Right, yeah…” Beca furrowed her brow, “Wait, hold on! What are you doing here?! I- did you come from New York?! How did you get into my apartment… Oh shit, Chlo- I have a flight to- shouldn’t you be flying to Georgia too?!”
“Woah, slow down Mitchell.” Chloe laughed and squeezed Beca’s arms soothingly before finally letting go of her. “I’m here to surprise you- so surprise!”
Beca rolled her eyes fondly at Chloe’s accompanying smile and jazz hands to her declaration.
“I was going to fly into Atlanta this afternoon but… Well last week when I was looking at flights I saw one to LA and so here I am!” Chloe explained with a confidence that almost convinced Beca her actions were at all rational.
Almost.
“Chlo… I- what? You flew across the country just to break into my apartment and fly right back to the other coast?”
“I didn’t break in…” Chloe protested, “CR met me at the airport and dropped me off here with her spare key.”
Cynthia-Rose and her wife had moved to LA not long after Beca. She’d been working as a pilot ever since getting her license and written a few songs on the side, one caught the ear of a relatively famous artist and catapulted CR into a new career. Which was great news for Beca because it meant one of her best friends was in the same city as her again.
Beca had a thousand more questions for Chloe, most of them were some variation of “why?” or “what the fuck?” but really, Beca was years past the point of questioning why Chloe did things.
Instead, Beca just sighed in resignation to never knowing. “It’s great to see you, Chloe… Even if it’s a few hours earlier than expected.”
“It’s great to see you too!” Chloe exclaimed, trapping Beca into another hug, “Gosh, I didn’t realize how much I’d miss not living with you- well, no, I did- but actually feeling it is soo much worse, Becs.”
Beca patted her best friend’s back awkwardly as she rambled into Beca’s shoulder. “Yeah, same… I missed you a bunch and all but now I’m really going to miss my flight… Our flight?”
Chloe pulled back and grinned a little sheepishly, “Yep… I may still have your email password so I checked your flight details and got a ticket on the same one.”
“You’re so weird, Beale.”
“You love it… Though, I was kinda hoping a certain bigshot producer could get me upgraded to first class with her?”
“Yeah, alright.” Beca agreed, “Assuming we make it to the airport in time… I haven’t finished packing.”
“Jesus, Becs- It’s a good thing I’m here or you’d have slept through the whole week!” Chloe admonished and quickly set about rifling through Beca’s dresser for her and throwing an outfit towards the brunette. “Go change- and where’s your suitcase?”
Good to know Chloe still had no respect for others' privacy- specifically Beca’s. “It’s under the bed.” Beca responded before heading to the bathroom to change.
She couldn’t help but smile as she shut the door behind her, making sure to triple check that she’d actually locked it.
A couple months ago Beca had received an email from someone named Lindsay Vernon, claiming to be the current captain of the Barden Bellas. The email was an invite to several previous Bella captains to come and help “mentor” the current group of girls for a week.
Beca had every intention of ignoring the email until she got a call from Chloe insisting that it would be “Aca-Awesome” and Beca had to come. Apparently, Chloe, Aubrey, and Emily had all received the same email and enthusiastically signed on.
While Beca was still kind of hesitant about the whole thing, she was also excited. It’d been too long since she’d seen her fellow former Bellas. Even Aubrey.
“BEEECCCAAA! Don’t forget to pack your toiletries when you're done in there or else we’ll have to share a toothbrush!” Chloe chirped from the other side of the bathroom door.
Beca paused what she was doing to check the lock one more time, just in case…
“Why is that the first solution you thought of?” Beca mused as she tugged on the pair of jeans Chloe had picked out from her.
“Well, I wouldn’t mind~”
“It’s too early for your nonsense.” Beca complained. She could hear Chloe’s muffled giggles through the door.
She hadn’t changed at all. Beca couldn’t even pretend to mind.
---
Chloe had called Beca the moment she saw the email, then Aubrey, then Emily, then she’d circled the dates on her calendar and excitedly emailed Lindsay back accepting her invitation and promising she would personally guarantee the presence of one Beca Mitchell.
Beca had been offered a job in LA almost immediately after the USO tour two years ago and within just a few months had relocated across the country to follow her dreams. So far she’d been very successful because of course she had. Beca was insanely talented, so Chloe wasn’t at all surprised when the music industry started buzzing about the young up and coming producer, discovered by DJ Khaled.
Chloe was so happy for Beca and so proud, really. That didn’t mean she didn’t miss her constantly. Over seven years (all four of Chloe’s senior years then three more living together in New York) Chloe had grown used to Beca’s presence being as sure and constant as Chloe’s own reflection in the mirror.
Two whole years with Beca across the country had been absolute hell.
Well… That was probably an exaggeration. Chloe was working at an animal shelter while she finished vet school and she absolutely loved it. She still technically lived with Amy in the sense that Amy’s name was still on the lease and she paid half the rent- though only God knows where the Australian was most of the time because Chloe sure didn’t.
Chloe’s life in New York was great. She had friends at school and the shelter, she occasionally had Amy, she facetimed Aubrey all the time, she loved her job and was doing well in her classes, she was very excited to graduate and finally be done with school forever.
It’d be perfect if her best friend in the world weren’t in a different time-zone. If Beca wasn’t so busy being incredible and talented and successful that she rarely had time for more than weekly phone calls. She certainly didn’t have time to visit, and between class and work, Chloe didn’t either. It was awful, Aca-awful.
Obviously, Chloe was stoked to go back to Barden and help guide the new generation of Bellas. She was also very glad for the chance to see Aubrey and Emily. Most of all though, she was excited to have Beca back with her, in person, for a whole week!
Maybe it was crazy to fly out to LA first just to be Beca’s alarm clock and pack her bag for her before hopping right back on another plane. Her bank account surely thought so. But Chloe couldn’t bring herself to regret it for even a second. The moment she’d met Beca’s eyes it felt like a cosmic wrong had been righted.
Of course, the very brief trip had also given Chloe the chance to see Beca’s apartment for the first time. It was nice, way nicer than their place in New York (yes, Chloe still considered it “theirs” even if Beca hadn’t set foot inside in two years.)
Once Chloe graduated she’d be able to become a vet, which she could really do anywhere… Of course that was still a ways away and Chloe hadn’t even started making any decisions but… Well, she knew where she wanted to be.
Chloe bounced through the airport as Beca struggled with both their suitcases behind her. Aubrey and Emily were supposed to come together to pick Beca up when she landed, then they’d spend some time in Atlanta until Chloe’s flight arrived later in the afternoon and all four of them would make the trip to Barden together.
Obviously, Chloe had taken it upon herself to change the plan a bit. She scanned the crowd of people until she found her (other) best friend, looking down at her phone and chatting with Emily. She broke out into a run, throwing out her arms and crashing into the unexpecting blonde.
“Breee!” Chloe squealed as she wrapped her arms around a shocked Aubrey Posen.
“Chloe?” Aubrey’s face contorted in confusion even as she firmly returned Chloe’s hug. “You are not who I was expecting.”
“Did we get the flights mixed up?” Emily wondered aloud, which prompted Chloe to remove herself from Aubrey and pull the youngest of their group into a slightly shorter hug.
“You didn’t.” Beca chimed in, tugging two large suitcases behind her, “Chloe did.”
“Beca!” Emily exclaimed and awkwardly moved to hug the producer.
“Hey there, Legacy.” Beca patted her back then pulled away with a smile and turned towards Aubrey, “Aca-Hitler.”
“Clearly fame hasn’t changed you.” Aubrey rolled her eyes, “Seriously Chloe, how are you here before the plane? I know I didn’t mess up the schedule.”
“I… flew to LA this morning.” Chloe explained hesitantly, “Like, really early this morning.”
“She broke into my apartment.” Beca added. “Then she wouldn’t let me nap on the way here.”
“You totes would have missed your flight if I hadn’t!” Chloe argued back, mostly as a way to avoid looking at Aubrey who was staring so intently Chloe could feel it. “And we had two whole years to make up for, Becs! No way were you going to sleep.”
“Uh huh. Well, good news is we can get straight to Barden, right?” Beca pivoted, “So let’s get out of here.” She set off, dragging both her and Chloe’s suitcases with her.
Chloe was pretty sure she’d forgotten which one was hers and just didn’t want to admit it.
Emily jogged ahead to talk Beca’s ear off as they made their way to Aubrey’s mini-van. Before Chloe could catch up to the pair she felt Aubrey grab her elbow to keep her back a few steps so they were walking just out of earshot.
“You flew to LA.” Aubrey stated, “Seriously, Chloe?”
“I- what?” Chloe asked casually, trying to feign ignorance.
“It’s been nine years, Chlo. Nine.”
“Aubs, I-”
“You can’t keep doing this.” The blonde shook her head, “I can’t watch you keep hurting yourself like this.”
“I’m not! I- I-” Chloe floundered defensively. She knew exactly what her friend was implying and didn’t exactly have a solid defense. “I have a plan!”
Aubrey raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Do you really?”
“Yes! I do!” Chloe huffed, “Just trust me on this, okay?”
Aubrey paused, jaw clenched as she glared ahead at Beca, then exhaled deeply. “Fine… But I’m watching her.”
“I’d be concerned if you weren’t.” Chloe teased before dragging Aubrey along to join the rest of the group.
Was Chloe’s plan to graduate vet school then follow Beca across the country like a lovesick puppy? Maybe… But that was technically still a plan- right?
Chloe had a strong feeling Aubrey would disagree.
Still, LA needed vets too.