[A/N: Here we are. Finally.

Thank you all for coming along on this journey. When I started writing this story one and a half years ago, I really only wanted to get back into writing *something*. It's been a beautiful time. It helped me understand fan fiction even better. Making the girls my characters helped me appreciate the movie that much more. And even though the fandom is mostly asleep right now, I'm really looking forward to PP2 next year. Thanks again for all your never-depleting patience and continued encouragement.

One more time, here's the music I used:
Bruno Mars "Just the Way You Are": [youtube] watch?v=LjhCEhWiKXk
Ricky Nelson "It's Up to You": [youtube] watch?v=RpYlJ55-Alw
Elvis Presley "Always on My Mind": [youtube] watch?v=RF5fW3-9DeI
Bright Eyes "First Day of My Life": [youtube] watch?v=zwFS69nA-1w

Let me know what you think :-)

You can find my blog on Tumblr also as jcback.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.]

„Besides, maybe this time..."

Epilog – Eight Months Later

"Besides maybe this time it's different
I mean I really think you like me"

Present Day – Beca's POV

Beca was on her way to the airport. By car. Her own car. It was a shitty little Honda she had bought used. But it was hers, and she loved it. Not really because it was a shitty little Honda. But rather, because she could get stuck in traffic with it. Because she could roll down the windows and blast music loudly on her way to work. Because she took her car to work now. Because that was how you did it in LA.

Right after returning from her visit to Chloe and Aubrey, Beca had called her parents to tell them about her decision. They had surprisingly offered help and encouragement. She had given notice at Blumberg & Gurtsky, cancelled the lease of her apartment, and packed up her life and U-hauled across the entire country.

Her move to the West Coast had been on a hunch, completely unplanned and wildly irrational. But as soon as she had gotten to LA, had hunkered down at Aubrey's of all places and gone apartment-hunting Beca had know it was the right decision. She moved much more easily here. She could breathe freely, despite the smog, and she felt welcomed by the city. She belonged here; she knew that much now.

The only thing missing in Beca's life was Amy. The Australian was firmly planted in New York City, her job was there and a whole network of friends. It had been with a heavy heart that Beca had left her behind. "No worries, you'll be great, Squish Ball," Amy had said as they parted ways: "And I know I can always count on Aubrey to keep you from going completely bonkers." – "Yeah, right," Beca had scoffed – Aubrey Posen was probably the one thing that would actually send her into insanity.

And so the two friends had agreed to talk as soon as Beca got settled in and had managed to get in touch on an almost daily basis for the first weeks. After that, they only had weekly Skype conversations but the pace picked up again as soon as the first snows reached New York City in December – Beca had taken the liberty of sharing a picture of almost every palm tree she passed with the Australian who had responded with a plethora of expletives.

Beca had found a job at an independent radio station and worked as a producer on a show that specialized on indie music from the 2010s. Which was really perfect since she had been working herself through as much of that decade's releases in the previous months. The job was pretty decent, she liked her work and it offered her ample opportunities to further replenish her music collection.

Life, in general, was pretty good to Beca Mitchell. At 29, she had a job she enjoyed during the day and her mixes to work on at night; she had an apartment which was co-decorated by Chloe Beale, and California offered some of the finest coffee she had ever tasted.

And Chloe Beale. Oh man. Beca and Chloe were 'fast friends' again, just as they had been during their Barden days. The two hung out a lot, with and without Aubrey, with and without Joy. They spent time on beaches and in parks; they met at Griffith Park to walk Chloe's new puppy. Beca had even acquired a tan – something that still shocked her every time she looked in a mirror.

Also shocking was that even after all this time – after eight months in LA, almost a year of being back to music, a decade of knowing Chloe Beale – Beca could still feel her heart skipping a beat every time she saw Chloe. That first look each time they met. Every first time ocean-dark met baby-blue. The first dazzling smile that started in Chloe's eyes, spread to her lips and then ended in a crinkled nose. Beca would feel her heart jump to her throat every time. She would gulp and then respond to her friend with her trademark smirk.

And now, here she was. Driving down the 405 towards LAX. Her hair was still wet; a shower had been in order since even April was hot already in Los Angeles. Her faded yellow Bellas scarf was tied around her left wrist. Her headphones hung over her messenger bag, the iPod plugged in in the cigarette lighter for some last-minute charging. Her weekender was packed with the usual: tank tops, jeans, a vest and a new leather jacket. But the most important piece of luggage was a crumpled up sheet of paper that stuck out of her back pocket. She had been working on it for weeks, with help of a weirdly excited Aubrey. This had to work!

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Present Day – Chloe's POV

Aubrey had been insufferable all day. The blonde would have moments like this every once in a while but this specific mood was fairly rare. Really, the only day in the year when Aubrey Posen was buzzing with this kind of positive excitement was that day in April the two friends would fly out to Atlanta to meet their college friends for Bellas reunion. Every year, Aubrey would start pestering Chloe with texts before dawn. Due to time zones differences, the two usually took the Friday off work and then met at the airport around noon. (In all seriousness, Bellas reunion was the only reason Aubrey ever took a day off.)

Chloe knew that her best friend loved her work and enjoyed getting completely absorbed in it, despite all the complaining. But the Bellas, that was a whole different level of joy to Aubrey. Chloe was glad this was the case – even though it meant that she would be woken at 5:00 am by a very worried Aubrey who swore that her voice would not last through the weekend. For all the drive that had been instilled into Aubrey's personality by her very ambitious parents, she also had a fiercely loyal trait that few people ever saw. The Bellas as a whole were graced with this and so was Chloe. And in the last few months, so had Beca.

Beca had become a constant part of Chloe's life. The brunette had called her the week after her visit to Los Angeles to ask Chloe for help in apartment hunting. For a hot second, Chloe had considered offering to share a place but then had thought the better of it. She had also been in need of a new home but she needed to figure things out with Jules, and Beca sure would have to deal with the transition to California, too. And so she had only accompanied her to open-houses and IKEA.

The figuring things out with Jules part had not worked. There had been a few awkward phone calls but in the end, they had their attorneys sell their house and hadn't talked since. Chloe had stayed with her sister for another month but then Joy had kicked her out insisting that she needed to get some consistency – which sleeping on your little sister's couch clearly wasn't. Despite her initial doubts, Chloe had found that living on her own again had helped her come to terms with what had happened.

Not that she really needed to live on her own all that much, really. Joy had been a great help distracting her as much as she could and taking her out to new vegan restaurants almost every day of the first two weeks. Aubrey had constantly texted to ask how she was doing. But after ten days of only vegetables, Chloe had woken up from a dream that had shown her a crispy steak in so much detail that it reminded her of a sex phantasy.

That had been the day Beca had started helping. Not in the sexual kind. But in the "okay-we're-gonna-hang-out-and-do-whatever-you-want" way. The first meeting of this kind had indeed been spent at a steakhouse where Chloe had torn through a piece of meat the size of a vinyl record. A month later, the two had met at the shelter and Chloe had found Sparkles, a bright and bubbly pug and poodle mix who had become her constant companion. They had taken her to a dog run after and shared a cup of coffee which Chloe found a little too strong, but she didn't say anything. Beca had not made any mention of the whole Jules situation which was also kind of a relief. Chloe had needed to not talk about that.

Eventually, Chloe had told Beca what had happened and the brunette had reacted just as Chloe had known she would. She had scoffed sarcastically at Jules' assumption that Chloe had been cheating on her fiancée with her. She had assembled a beautiful speech consisting mostly of abuse towards the concept of jealous girlfriends and Chloe had giggled for the rest of the evening. After that, they had not talked about it anymore.

Instead, they had seen a concert almost every week and had hung out on the beach listening to all the music Beca was finding on a daily basis. These had been the days when Chloe had been the most bewildered. How someone so entrenched in music could have lived without it for a decade had still been a mystery to her. That part had never changed actually. But she had moved on, just glad that things had changed.

And now, she was craning her neck to see Beca in the airport lounge. The brunette was fashionably late as usual and Aubrey was freaking out about a) that, and b) the fact that she had found a tiny stain on her Bellas scarf. "How will that look if even the captain can't keep her scarf clean?" the blonde was exclaiming now, rubbing the garment hectically. Chloe averted her eyes from the entrance door and took the scarf out of Aubrey's hands. "Co-captain," she winked. Aubrey's eyes followed Chloe's movements and then snapped up at her face: "Huh?" Chloe shook the scarf out before re-folding it and stepping behind Aubrey to fasten it out her neck again. "Beca is a Bellas captain, too. And I'm sure she has used her scarf as a napkin before. Chill, Bree!" (Actually, Chloe had been present for that epic moment where Beca had spluttered espresso all over herself.)

Aubrey was stunned silent at the suggestion and opened her mouth to protest. "Hey guys," Beca greeted from behind them. Chloe felt a huge smile spreading on her face at the sight of the brunette: "Hey you," she answered and hugged the smaller woman. Aubrey's voice was unusually high-pitched: "Beca!"

Chloe watched her two best friends' embrace and shook her head unbelievingly. Just a year ago, their greeting had been frosty at best. And now, they were positively chummy. 'Who would have thought that they would ever get along, yet alone become friends?' Chloe had watched them over the last months and "friends" really was what they had become. Asking Beca about this one day, Chloe had gotten at least somewhat of an answer: "She's cool," Beca had said. "I mean, she's fucking weird and really messed up. But I get it." And that had been that.

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Present Day – Beca's POV

Friday night had come and gone in a blurry whirr of Bella after Bella running into the hotel bar grinning. Usually, Beca moving to LA would have been all the news but Chloe had obviously talked to everyone since her split from Jules so the entire group had been crowded around the redhead. Beca's favorite moment had been when she had able to swoop in and steal Chloe away from the prying questions and pull her towards the bar. The second favorite had been Amy's crushing bear hug.

Beca got up early on Saturday morning to practice again, at least the words. She really wasn't sure whether they would be able to pull this off. After all, rehearsing via Skype and sending everyone rough recordings of their parts was not perfect. But it was the best they could have done. There was one chance and she was going to take it.

For months, Beca had contemplated her plan. Moving to LA was something she had done for herself, it had nothing to do with her love life and everything with her mental health. She needed to leave New York; she needed music, and the only place to get it was LA. But in her heart of hearts, the brunette knew that Chloe was still a large part of her life. The redhead had always been, really. She had never left, even though Beca had basically sprinted away from her at full speed. But seeing her on a regular basis, having her be a constant presence in her life, made Beca realize that all that love she had never seen during her college years had only grown over the decade apart. The redhead still gave her goosebumps whenever she wrapped her arms around Beca in greeting. Her voice could still hold her heart like an embrace of sound.

After celebrating New Year's Eve together, Beca had returned to her apartment and still giggling from a joke Chloe had made in the taxi home, she had dropped onto her couch. Her gaze had fallen on the picture of the two of them in the art-déco picture frame Chloe had given her all that time ago. It was the picture Beca had snapped in the park during her and Amy's visit to LA the previous summer. And like lightning that came with the sound effect of a full-sized rock drum set, the realization had hit Beca. She had wanted so many more pictures of Chloe and her. Only pictures of Chloe and her. She wanted there to be a reason to take all these photos. She wanted Chloe.

And so, she had come up with a plan. Sleep had been neglected for the better part of the following month. Finally, at the end of January Beca had called Aubrey to tell her. She had shown her what she had come up with, and in an effort that recalled old Barden times, the two captains had collaborated to arrange a new mashup for the Bellas to perform. The hardest part had been to hide all this from Chloe. But with many emails and Skype conversations with the entire group (most of them at ungodly hours), they had managed. Aubrey and Beca were finished. The mashup was composed, rehearsed; the Bellas warned and prepared.

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And now, the day was here.

When all the Bellas had finally clambered down to the empty swimming pool a couple of hours later, Beca took a deep breath. She knew how this had gone every year, the old mashup, 'Just the Way You Are' and 'Just a Dream;' every year they did this. Ten women stood around in a half circle, just like they had done so many years ago. Chloe squealed in excitement and called out a loud, "We're back, bitches!" before initiating a big group hug around Beca. Amy had been most enthusiastic throwing her arms around Aubrey and Stacie and pulling them in so close together that Aubrey protested; Stacie responded by wiggling her eyebrows suggestively and Aubrey had blushed violently, her face a wild crimson.

Beca mustered up all her courage and smirked at Chloe: "Chloe, are you okay to take the lead?" To a round of giggles (from everyone except Aubrey who was busy nestling with her Bellas neckerchief again), the redhead nodded with tears in her eyes.

'Oh God, fuck!' was the mantra Beca's mind had chosen for the moment at hand. Which was not exactly helpful. She managed to clear her throat loudly enough for Aubrey to look up from her shoes and Cynthia-Rose to give her a more or less secretive thumbs up.

And so they fell into their good old harmony, Beca giving cues to all her Bellas friends. Aubrey and Denise started the performance, then Amy, Ashley and Cynthia-Rose fell in and Stacie and Lilly sounded as if they had never stopped a cappella. Finally, Chloe's voice rang out in the pool, a little husky, in that familiar deep register of hers. Frankly, Beca thought she had never sounded better.
"Oh her eyes, her eyes make the stars look like they're not shining
Her hair, her hair falls perfectly without her trying"

For a moment, Beca was not sure if she actually wanted to go through with her plan. It didn't take longer than a second but her mind managed to cram all the pictures from the last years into a seamless stream of memories: Chloe waving out of a van. Jesse as he was craning his neck for her during aca-initiation her sophomore year. Amy's shoulders drooping as she listened to Beca's plea for help with the boxes. The first weeks in New York. Crying on her own when she woke up in the middle of the night and wished for nothing but a time machine. Previous Bellas reunions, painful Aubrey hugs and even more painful Chloe hugs. Awkward coffee dates with her dad on the Barden campus.

"She's so beautiful and I tell her every day," crooned Chloe and her voice cracked a little bit for the last two words. At the sound, the picture changed: It was Chloe looking at her at last year's Bellas meeting, her eyes twinkling ever so hopefully, her hand reached out to Beca singing "A world of sweet harmony…"

And the decision was made. She took a breath and:
"It's up to you
Because I've done everything I can"

Chloe's eyes widened but a grinning Cynthia-Rose elbowed her in the side and she continued her part staring at Beca: "I know, I know when I compliment her she won't believe me." Beca averted her eyes and sang her next line: "I hope that you will say that I'm your lovin' man."

The group broke out in giggles as Beca puffed out her chest and frowned a macho smirk. Chloe barely held her concentration; Lilly actually snorted so loudly that Aubrey whipped her head around to stare at her. The tension was gone, Beca was relaxed again.

"Make up your mind and do what you're gonna do," sang Beca and Chloe answered: "When I see your face there's not a thing that I would change." Beca stuck out her tongue and continued: "Well you know how I feel so I'm leaving it up to you." With a wild blush, Chloe replied: "'Cause you're amazing, just the way you are."

Beca could feel her heart beating close to the roof of her mouth. The muscles under her eye started twitching. This could only end badly. This would be terrible. How had she ever thought this a good idea. It was this insane Los Angeles that made her unable to think. That heat, the sunshine that was way too bright. That Aubrey! And Amy. Why hadn't they talked her out of it?

Chloe's eyes bore into her eyes, bluer than ever. Questioning, wondering, insecure. Beca could almost see the question marks clicking behind her face. Once again, she wished she could read the redhead's mind. Every time Beca had tried to guess what Chloe was thinking this wonderful, weird being had always surprised her. More than ten years had gone by and she still hadn't figured her out. (But it certainly wasn't for lack of trying.)

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Present Day – Chloe's POV

Chloe's breath had caught in her throat the second Beca had started her new song. Chloe could remember the first time they had sung that mashup like it was yesterday. Of course, the Bellas had performed the two songs at every reunion but the pictures in front of her mind's eye were from that night in her senior year. When Aubrey had first given the Bella reigns (and pitch pipe) to Beca. When the brunette was strolling into the empty swimming pool leading the group as if she had been born to do it. (Which, at least in Chloe's mind, she actually had been.)

Chloe had not been able to take her eyes off the petite woman. She still to this day knew what both of them had worn. (Chloe held that red shirt in high esteem; it was only worn for special occasions to prevent abrasion.) Apparently, her senses had gone off in such a state of hyper sensibility that she even remembered what the pool had smelled like, and at what specific moments Beca's eyes had sparkled especially dark and mischievously.

And today. Chloe was caught completely off guard. Beca had managed to surprise her. So had everyone else she realized as the Bellas weaved an elegant arrangement around the two songs that was way too perfect to not have been practiced to perfection. 'How did she pull that off?' Chloe's mind spluttered and the redhead almost missed her cue. She shook her head, deciding that the technicalities really didn't matter here.

All that mattered was Beca. Beca who was looking at her as openly as she rarely had done before. Beca who didn't seem to blink, who grew seemingly larger in front of Chloe's eyes. Larger until she was all Chloe could see. She saw a slight, jittery quiver on the brunette's temple. And her heart flew across the about two and a half feet of too hot, too empty, soft Georgia air that was between them; and her hand was about to follow, out to calm her friend's nervousness. "Ooooh-hoooooh!" came the chant from her right where Amy was singing with gusto. Chloe shifted her weight back on her left foot, and swallowed. No. Not this way.

Over the past months, there had been moments. So many moments. That Chloe and Beca had spent together, in complete harmony, at ease, the same ease they had shared at Barden, that never had to be questioned. And Chloe had wondered. What if. Could they…? She had hoped against hope, only to stop her mind from going to that place. That place that could only hold hurt and sorrow.

But here she was now between all her friends, with Beca in front of her. Beca who had found her way back not only to herself but also to Chloe. And in this moment, the brunette sang out with a clear voice: "Well, I've laid my cards on the table and it's oh so plain to see that I'm ready, willing and able to love you faithfully…" Chloe smiled widely and suppressed a tear as well as an excited squeal.

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The successful premiere of the new mashup was celebrated in such a rambunctious manner that Chloe didn't have an opportunity to talk to Beca and thank her. Or congratulate her without having to shout across the entire group of Bellas. Probably, she would not have found the right words anyway.

And so Chloe did the only thing that she could think of. She answered in kind. It was hard not to rush to the stage as soon as the group entered the karaoke bar. But Stacie was terribly impatient this year and ran up to the DJ before everyone had ordered their first round of drinks. The tall woman gave a surprisingly emotional performance of Elvis's "Always on My Mind" during which a crimson blushed Beca bit her nails and drank her Gin & Tonic way too fast and Aubrey stared towards the stage open-mouthed.

Chloe could see that it took Beca all the courage she had ever summoned in her life to look over her shoulder at Chloe during the last chorus. Chloe smiled her widest smile, her eyes filling with the tears she had been holding back for an hour now. And as if in a trance, she got up as the Bellas and their fellow patrons clapped for Stacie. Wordlessly, she walked up the three steps to the stage and whispered a few words to the DJ and exhaled.

She held on to the microphone in her hand for dear life. Beca's gaze had been following her from the second she had set down her glass, and she could feel it on her still. Chloe tried counting the scratches in the microphone. Checked the perfect fit of the laces on her sneakers again. Breathed a shaky gulp of bar air. But then, she had to look. She felt Beca's ocean eyes boring into her baby blues, not aggressively, just fearful and expectant.

When the guitar riff started, the brunette's mouth fell open. She knew. Chloe knew she knew. Beca's bit her lip as tears started rushing out of her eyes.
"This is the first day of my life
Swear I was born right in the doorway."

It was all Chloe could do to keep singing. She didn't see anything but Beca who let her hand sink, the nail that had apparently seemed so enticing a moment ago completely forgotten. Her vision became blurry around the brunette. There was only her. The rest of her life, of this bar, this town, even this beloved group of friends, grew pale in comparison to the love that filled Chloe as Beca started giggling through her tears. Chloe's heart grew five sizes, it was too big for her chest, her smile too big for her face. Her voice became shaky and she had to bite back a scream of true happiness. "So if you want to be with me, with these things there's no telling, we'll just have to wait and see," she sang instead.

In this moment, she felt like she had traveled the entire globe in the past decade, seen every ocean, every desert and jungle. But looking at Beca was like a door opening, to a whole new world where a new light would shine on every drop of water, every sand corn and every leaf. And Chloe knew that Beca would be her journey around the world. And it would start right now, right here.

Beca got up and stood directly at the end of the steps leading up to the stage. Waiting for Chloe to finally, finally be hers. After all those years, this would be it. Chloe felt her feet walking towards the stairs, never taking her eyes of the brunette. Beca giggled, shrugged and then mouthed a "kind of," as Chloe sang the last line: "Besides maybe this time it's different, I mean I really think you like me."

The End