Chloe felt as though she was living the next few hours in mortal fear. She stayed at the café for half an hour after Jesse left only because she didn't know where else to go. She could go home but it was Aubrey's day off and she couldn't face her best friend in her current state. One minute she felt like bursting into tears and the next she wanted to scream maniacally at the man talking too loudly on his phone at the next table. There was no way she would be able to hold out on an Aubrey interrogation but she wasn't sure she was ready for her to know everything yet either. Especially the part about telling Jesse.

As she sat at the table she lectured herself sternly, reminding herself that Beca' hadn't left her much choice, that there wasn't a wrong way to do it if she was doing it for Beca's sake, the what she'd done had only been out of fear and desperation, but she couldn't shake the guilt that sat in her stomach like a block of stone.

She remembered a Lit class she'd taken once where they'd studied Dante's Inferno. Dante was the man who had depicted hell as nine circles, each one reserved for a particular, and increasingly vile, sin. Before they'd started the professor had asked everyone what sin they suspected the inner most circle of hell was reserved for. Most people, of course, had guessed murder. It seemed impossible to most people that there was any crime worse than the deliberate taking of another human life. Chloe hadn't been the only one surprised to learn that the inner most circle of hell wasn't reserved for those who had committed murder, but for those who had committed betrayal. Currently, she wasn't thinking about the following discussion that had placed Dante's work in the historical and cultural context of a patron-reliant society where betrayal was paramount to murder. All Chloe could think about was that, regardless of the reasons, she had betrayed Beca's trust and rights, and surely she deserved to join the devil in that burning pit of fire.

She clutched a hand to her lips as a sob escaped her and glanced around the café guiltily. No one was looking at her but there was a definite chill inching down her spine. Tossing some notes and coins onto the table beside her un-drunk cup of chai, she practically ran from the café and out into the dreary campus. There were still a few autumn leaves lying sodden and decomposing on the paths, but apart from that the leaden sky and dim light clearly announced winter.

As she wandered aimlessly across the grassy centre of campus, she wondered what was happening at Beca's room at that moment. She had no doubt that Jesse would have gone straight there and from the steely look that had been in his eye, he would have found some way of getting through the closed door, even if he'd had to break it down himself. The image made Chloe shudder slightly because she could only imagine how terrified Beca would be if it had to come to that. Suddenly she was filled with a sickening unease as she thought over the way Jesse had gone completely still when she'd told him what had happened, and the way he had rushed out of the café with a single goal in mind. Of course Jesse would never mean any harm to Beca…but what if, in his distress over what Chloe had told him, he didn't think about how Beca didn't exactly need a commanding, strong-willed male around her at the moment?

Chloe stopped walking. Her hand flew to her mouth. Had she done the right thing? Her whole self-lecturing only worked if some part of her thought she'd betrayed Beca for a greater good.

"Oh my god," she gasped under her breath. She spun around took off across campus, ignoring the strange looks she received from people as she flashed by them on her way straight to Beca's dorm.

She was forced to slow down as she came along the corridor to Beca's dorm room; there were a lot of people in the corridor, standing chatting in their doorways or poking their heads out of their rooms to peer at something down the other end. Chloe's unease only grew as she swerved around the clusters of chattering college students. The commotion was definitely centred around Beca's door and she pushed passed a tall, lanky guy to find a group of girls standing in a line across Beca's doorway. Chloe recognized them easily as the college 'female security force'. Four of the five had nearly-shaved heads and all of them looked like they would sock a guy in the mouth before smiling at him. Chloe didn't have any particular objection to their cause – which their leaflets claimed was to ensure the protection, safety and comfort of all female members of campus – but she did have an objection to their methods – which usually focused on yelling at men in the quad who were looking too long at girls or crashing frat parties to play angry feminist punk-rock over the pop music.

All five women of the FSF were glaring angrily at Jesse who looked as though he was ready to pull his hair out in frustration.

"She's my girlfriend!" he was shouting at them and pointing angrily at Beca's room. Chloe followed his finger and saw with dismay that Kimmy Jin was standing in the doorway with an even more stony expression that usual and that Beca was nowhere to be seen.

"She's not your anything, dickhead!" a woman with purple and green streaks in her hair hissed back. Chloe shook her head in despair. This was the worst possible thing that could have happened. She could imagine Jesse calling and banging on Beca's closed door, demanding that she open up and talk to up, and she could imagine some sort-of-well-meaning busybody on the floor calling the FSF claiming that there was a guy harassing a girl in the dorm. The result was playing out in front of her.

"I'm just trying to talk to her!" Jesse protested. He even sounded as though he might burst into tears and Chloe's heart twinged. "It's none of your business, any of you!"

Chloe could see that the women were ready to start throwing fists and she quickly stepped in front of Jesse. She held up her hands.

"It's just been a misunderstanding," she said breathlessly, giving the women a pleading look. From the corner of her eye she saw a rustle of movement in Beca's room at the sound of her voice.

The women snorted ungracefully and didn't move. Chloe thought that perhaps she would be better talking to Jesse than to them. She turned her back on them all, even though she could still feel their angry, judging eyes burning in her back, and grasped Jesse's arms.

"I'm sorry Jesse," she said earnestly. "I shouldn't have told you like that. This is such a mess. Right now, this, isn't helping anyone." She lowered her voice slightly. "You're not going to get anywhere with this lot and I can only imagine how awful this fuss must be for Beca. I know you just want to talk to her but why don't you let me try? Go back to the Treble house, try to calm down, and I'll try and get her to come talk to you."

He blinked angrily as though he was furious at the very tears in his eyes. His gaze drifted past Chloe to the line of stubborn women as though he was considering taking them all down just to get to Beca but then his shoulders slumped in defeat and he nodded. Chloe gave him a sympathetic smile. She couldn't dislike the guy when she saw how much he cared for Beca.

She turned back to the women and raised her voice enough so that everyone in the corridor could hear.

"Show's over everyone. Go back to your rooms. Women, thank you for your protection but this situation is under control. Jesse is going to go, everything's fine."

People in the corridor began to mutter and drift back into their rooms, doors shutting behind them. Begrudgingly the line of women relaxed their stances but they didn't take their eyes off Jesse.

"Jesse, " Chloe prompted gently, giving him an encouraging nod. He returned it rather dejectedly and turned. Chloe's heart twinged again as she watched his slumped shoulders disappear down the corridor. She forced a warm smile on the group of women that stood between her and Beca's door.

"See?" she said peppily. "All under control. All it needed was some calm communication."

The same women as before snorted. "Your lot is as bad as they are," she muttered under her breath, her eyes drifting down to Chloe's tight jeans and knee-high, heeled boots. Chloe felt a spark of anger but forced it out. Now wasn't the time to engage in a heated discussion on gender rights with a group of people who were never going to accept any truth but their own anyway. She forced her smile to remain in place and repel them from the door.

When they were out of earshot, she turned to Kimmy Jin who was still standing there looking completely pissed off.

"This is more trouble than it's worth for the $200 I save with a shared room," she said bitterly. She glanced over her shoulder to where, now, Chloe could see Beca sitting hunched up on her bed. Rolling her eyes she shoved passed Chloe – slamming into her shoulder painfully – and stomped off down the corridor two. Nervously, Chloe looked to Beca.

A/N: Surprise! I can't even recall how long it's been since this fic was updated. As I'm sure you can guess, I went and watched Pitch Perfect 2, read a heap of fics, and am now completely back on the Bechloe train.