A/N: Well, guys we are winding down. Chapter 9 is going to be the last one before the epilogue in ch. 10. I think you guys will like this one! Thanks so much to everyone who left feedback and to everyone who has followed along. You guys are the best.

"Guest: Miss, you've done it again. My heart is erratically beating. Well done :)"

Just wait! Thanks for your lovely comment.

Kylyn, thanks for your feedback and for dropping by to read.

Opening night, time for the unwitting public to be exposed to the most uncomfortably performed play known to student theatre. Beca flipped through the script one last time before she got into her costume, which as it turns out was pretty close to what she wore every day. She glanced down the hall trying to spot Chloe but it seemed she was elsewhere. Beca bit her lip and checked her hair in the mirror.

In an hour the show would start and afterwards she would never have to hear the three songs that Aubrey had been forcing them perform again. It wasn't that Aubrey was a bad song writer or that the play itself was bad. It was the repetition. She had gone to sleep for the last week hearing the melodies and words march through her head like annoying little blonde soldiers demanding perfection that would obviously never come..

The real trouble began once she was asleep. That was when the dreams still came. Just like the one before Chloe was always just out of grasp. She had thought hard on it, on what conflict was happening within her that yielded such vivid and sad images.

A little voice kept telling her that it wouldn't work, that she shouldn't try, and that she didn't want to ruin a friendship. Then she reminded herself that that was the fear talking. She would see Chloe across the room and her heart would clench. Soon the excuses wouldn't be enough anymore. She just needed to close her eyes and jump off the cliff, trusting that she wouldn't suffer a traumatic emotional death if it didn't work out.

Rehearsing these scenes with Chloe and repeating the lines she had learned. They were all about Jack being in love with Ella when really she was just trying not to slip and say Chloe's name instead, to let her know that this wasn't just an performance. It wasn't her acting that had improved it was just her true feelings showing through. The more they were around each other professing the love that the characters felt; the more comfortable she began to come with the idea of deviating from the script and saying it for real.

Across the backstage area Chloe was doing her makeup and trying not to think about what they were about to do. Going on stage always made her nervous but this was worse. Instead of stomach churning excitement she was feeling apprehensive dread.

The show had come together better than she thought it would. They had all learned their parts pretty quickly and the songs even sounded great but they still hadn't nailed that last scene where Ella and Jack had their first kiss. In truth, they hadn't gotten to the kiss in rehearsal again, something that had driven Aubrey insane. Each time it came up they both just seemed to find an excuse to take a break or an interruption would save them from their eventual fate.

She had noticed how Beca had been a little more emotionally forthcoming in their scenes in the last few days and she hoped that they could just get the play done and move on because it was like torture. Aubrey could get her passing grade and they could all get on with their lives.

On the other hand, Jesse had been acting a little suspicious and she noticed that he seemed to always leave her alone with Beca between scenes and on breaks. When Beca had let it drop subtly that they had broken up she had felt some momentary joy but she quickly turned it off because being happy about someone else's misfortune made her feel terrible. However, neither of them seemed too upset about it so she let it go.

The stage manager, or Idiot Face as Aubrey had called her earlier in the week, came through the hall and passed Chloe. "Five minutes to vocal warm up. Everyone gather back by costumes!" Chloe sighed and prepared to come face to face with everyone for the last time before they went on.

They gathered in a circle and started vocal warm up, which was quite intimate since there were so few of them. Beca glanced up at Chloe every few seconds to gage her mood. She looked fine but if she was as nervous as Beca felt then she had to be shaking inside. They continued running through arpeggios and building cords until they all felt comfortable. When they were done Chloe met Beca's eyes and smiled. They were in this together after all.

The moment was over when the rest of the crew joined them for their little backstage ritual. Leigha, the lighting guru nudged Beca and winked when she walked up to stand beside her. Beca cleared her throat and smiled awkwardly in return.

She had noticed that Leigha seemed to always find her in a crowd. "Break a leg, Half Pint," she said in her broad Irish accent. "And let me know if you'd like to accompany me to the after party." She winked again before turning her attention to the group. Beca flushed red and tried to focus on anything other than what just happened.

By the time they broke apart Idiot Face was announcing five minutes until curtain. Chloe and Jesse lined up for their entrance into the first scene and Beca watched them, admiring the ease of their interaction. Then they were gone, first one and then the other. She turned away and listened to their dialogue, appreciating the sweet sound of Chloe's voice as they burst into their duet.

She opened her eyes and saw Idiot Face approaching with widened eyes. Apparently, she was about to miss her cue. She turned and waited a split second before walking semi-casually on stage, trusting that she would know what to do once she got there. Thankfully, muscle memory set in and she spoke just as the light hit her.

Forty minutes later and Jesse was on stage doing his monologue. Chloe and Beca waited in the wings for their last scene, the big scene to begin. They stood side by side, shoulders almost touching. Chloe glanced over and took in Beca's profile. "We can do this. It's just a kiss, right?"

Beca looked over, surprised that she had spoken. Her face was shaded by shadows as she fought hard to find the right words. This was the part that she was terrible at because she always felt inadequately prepared to soothe anyone's worries.

"We're going to be fine," she cleared her throat and turned to face Chloe, taking her hands. Chloe blinked in surprise and felt herself being pulled towards her counterpart. Beca was going to be brave, she had to be... for both of them. "Chloe, I..." She suddenly heard Jesse's footsteps approaching and the music changing for the last scene.

Beca let out a frustrated sigh. "I need to tell you something really important but I guess it has to wait until after we nail this scene." She smiled and stood aside letting Chloe enter the scene first and then took a big gulp and followed her.

"love is love

and I can't do this

without you there to hold me

There's no me without you

Let me show you,

and help you see

Just what you mean to me

With this kiss,

I'll say it all"

It was time, Beca held onto Chloe as tightly as she could and started deep into blue. She put it all out there, the month of frustrated back and forth and the dam of emotion that had broken inside her when she gave in. She was letting herself love Chloe, on stage in front of everyone she cared about.

She saw something of realization in Chloe's eyes and she clung to that, squeezing her hands. Trying with even more vehemence to tell her in Jack's words what it meant to be here with her no matter how long it had taken for her to realize that it was worth it. She wanted the experience, she craved the closeness, and she just wanted to ask if Chloe was there with her, if they could jump off the cliff together.

The song ended and she whispered her last line of dialogue before her lids fluttered shut and she leaned in to finally seal the borrowed but true words with her lips. "I love you." she said, just loudly enough so that the small audience could hear the barest edge of her annotation.

Chloe's body felt like light was beaming through it. She was not aware of the audience anymore. she felt fear and doubt leave her. Beca was telling her, everything she needed to know if she could just catch it all. This was making a memory or a stamp on time. She felt the small fists of Beca's love pounding on her heart and she closed her eyes and leaned in to allow it to enter her.

They kissed and it was nothing like either of them had imagined. It wasn't just the feeling of soft skin and warmth. It was the removal of corporal awareness. The tactile sensations were removed by the spark of each nerve ending as it fired until they had no idea where they were. Beca's tongue slid along Chloe's lips and she opened up to further exploration. The soft, wetness heightened the experience further, making it impossible for them to break apart unless acted upon by an outside force.

It came in the form of applause. At first just a smattering of sound waves being pushed at them and then a thunderous wall of clapping beating against the island they had created onstage. Beca broke the embrace first leaning back to look into Chloe's transformed features. They glowed together like a beacon of transcendental emotion. Chloe pressed her forehead to Beca's and held the last fortification of their defining moment before turning to the audience and pulling them both into a bow, bound by their linked hands.

Jesse joined them, then Aubrey, and then the crew. They each took their turn collecting their accolades and then one last time Beca and Chloe stepped forward to bow before leaving the stage, each one offering the other up to the appreciation of the crowd in turns.

Then, they were backstage grinning at each other, a little apart from the rest of the crew. "Did you mean that," Chloe asked, "What Jack said on stage."

Beca pulled Chloe into her and slowly leaned in until they mirrored their earlier positions on stage. "Those weren't Jack's words to Ella," she pressed a light kiss onto Chloe's lips and pulled back. "That was me telling you..." She looked up making sure that her words would reach their intended target. "that I love you and I want to be with you."

The words shot like an arrow straight to Chloe's heart, lighting it with their veracity. It was finally over, the pain of avoidance and repression. She felt the string that had been attached to that arrow stretch from Beca's heart to her own connecting them in a new way. She hoped that it would never break.