Beca woke to the blaring strains of Titanium, the numbers on her clock reading 500. Five. Freaking. AM. She hated early morning practices. More than anything in the entire universe. She grabbed her phone, turning off the alarm. Great. A text from Aubrey.

"Practice cancelled. No evening practice either. No cardio workout tomorrow morning. " Becas eyes bulged as she sank back into her warm blankets. Something had to be wrong. She'd worry about that when she had more than 3hours of sleep. She rolled back over, oblivious to the angry glare from Kimmy Jin.

Cynthia Rose felt someone shaking her. " yo...babe. Your alarms ringing. Get up. " She groaned, disentangling herself from the other woman, grabbing her phone, shutting off the loud sound. One new text. Who had texted her this early? Aubrey.

"Practice cancelled. No evening practice either. No cardio workout tomorrow morning." Short and to the point. Cancelling one practice, sure. CR could understand that. But three? 2 Days before Saturday's performance? Something had to be wrong.

"If you're not leaving, C, come back to bed. I'm cold." With a sigh, CR lay back down, mulling over the events in her head.

Amy opened her eyes, pushing herself away from Bumper, shaking her head as she blindly grabbed her phone. She punched at the alarm, turning off the loud screaming goat.

"I really really hate your alarm." Bumper sighed, rolling over in bed, placing the pillow over his head.

"I hate it too." Amy began checking her texts. "Holy Toledo." She gasped.

"Practice cancelled. No evening practice either. No cardio workout tomorrow morning."

" Well, at least I don't have to do cardio."

Lily's eyes shot open as the sound of heavy metal filled the dorm room. Yawning, she shut off her alarm, noticing the text. "Practice cancelled. No evening practice either. No cardio workout tomorrow morning. " Lily smiled, an evil grin on her face.

"I bet she's possessed by a cat."

Aubrey sat beside the bed, eyes closed, still in her mismatched ABBA T-shirt and shorts, head resting on the pillow, one hand on Stacie's. She had no tears left to cry, yet she wanted to weep. To punish herself for how cruel she'd been to the younger girl, only because of feelings she couldn't admit to anyone, even to herself. She gripped Stacie's hand, raising her head.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, her voice hoarse, tired, strained. "I'm so sorry. I ...I...wasn't there for you when you needed me..."she rested her head in the crook of Stacie's neck, "I should've been there for you . You needed me. I was..I am so obsessed with winning. My whole life, my father only ever cared about me when I'd get an A, or my team won the soccer game, or I got the solo in choir. My own mother didn't love me. She left when I was 1. I was a mistake. She'd wanted to be a safari guide in Africa, but couldn't because she got pregnant with me. " Aubrey sighed. "My Dad didn't want me. He wanted a son that could follow in his footsteps and be a general, like him." She closed her eyes again. " the only other person that knows is Chloe, why am I even telling you .. you're asleep."

"Aubrey...I'm very much awake." Stacie turned her head, pressing her lips gently to Aubrey's forehead. " Thankyou. For being there. I...it helped. More than you know. I...I was so scared. I swear I didn't mean to call you.."

"I'm glad you did. You..you could've died..."Aubrey's voice broke . " oh Stacie...your heart stopped...they had to resuscitate you...I...I almost..." she broke down, pulling away from Stacie, standing and turning away. No one but Chloe saw her cry. Her father had trained her from the age of five that tears were weakness. He'd made her do push-ups when she'd cry.

"Bree...come here..." Stacie's heart broke, seeing the strong woman weeping on her behalf. " Aubrey...hey...don't make me unhook these machines and come over there." Her tone was gentle. She smiled as Aubrey returned to her side,and reached out a hand to the crying girl.

" please...lay with me. " Aubrey stayed where she was, looking at her, an expression of annoyance in her eyes.

"Don't pity me." Aubrey's tone was like ice.

"I'm not pitying you."Stacie said softly, trying to sound weak, pained, which wasn't hard because of how much pain she was in. "I'm...I'm cold. I'm scared. Everything hurts. I need someone to hold me. It...it helps to take the pain away."

"Of course." Aubrey lay down, wrapping her arms around Stacie, resting her tired head on Stacie's chest, the sound of her steady beating heart comforting her more than anything else could. "I...I almost lost you."

" Oh Aubrey, hey, hey listen. You'd never lose me. I'm..I'm ok." Stacie sighed softly, "I bet you didn't sleep at all last night did you?" She asked gently, her fingers gently untangling Aubrey's blond hair.

"No...I wanted to be awake when you woke up. You...I didn't want you to be alone." Aubrey's voice was already slurring, the combination of exhaustion, relief, and Stacie's warmth, voice and heartbeat lulling the tired Bella captain to sleep.

" Rest. Rest. I'll be here when you wake up. I'm not going anywhere." Stacie laughed softly, closing her own eyes. Soon both women were asleep.

Chloe returned with a cup of coffee for Aubrey, smiling at the scene before her. She snapped a picture, saving it as the new background for her phone. She growled as her phone rang. Beca. She stepped out to take the call.

" Chlo? Chloe? Are you ok?" Chloe's eyes widened at the fear in Beca's voice. She forced herself to keep an even, calm tone in response.

" Yes Beca. I'm fine. Why do you ask?"Absentmindedly Chloe sipped Aubrey's coffee.

"Dad called me this morning. Said there was an ambulance called to our dorm. Kimmy Jin's Anime club friends said that they saw them show up at around 2. I figured since Aubrey called of practice it had to be pretty serious. I'm glad you're ok. I was so worried Chloe!"

"Beca. I uhhhh Don't know what the ambulance was for, but I'm glad you called to check up on me. " Chloe soothed, feeling bad about lying to her crush. "Enjoy the time off. As soon as we get back from the hos-" she caught herself. "Hostage tv show, practice will resume." Chloe sighed. " I gotta go."

Beca put the phone down, turning to look at Amy. "Chloe's Fine. Apparently they're watching SVU."