Chapter 8 Prologue

Beca and Aubrey had returned to Barden after new year's they had waited a month to inform the Bella's that they were in stable relationship. It was close to the Final Performance that Beca was going to be leading. She found herself outside of Chloe Beale's bedroom trying to psyche herself up for the conversation she was about to have with the exuberant red-head. She had been dating Aubrey for eight months, and everything was wonderful. They still had their arguments, but they never once broke up, or fought for longer than a day. Beca refused to let them go to bed angry at each other.

She entered the room since the door was already open, and found Chloe putting on her boots. She had invited the red-head to lunch intending to make a stop along the way.

"What are you so nervous about?" Chloe laughed at her smaller friend who was bouncing up, and down on the balls of her feet.

"I can' tell you that yet." Beca cleared her throat.

"Come on. Beca! I can totally keep a secret." Chloe told her excitedly.

"I know you can. That's why I'm taking you, and not Stacie." Beca laughed guiding Chloe towards the door.

"We're going out! Emily's in charge!" Beca yelled into the house. She heard a series of groans, and a squeak from Emily.

Beca drove them to the downtown area of Barden purposefully walking under the overhangs of the buildings hoping to not let Chloe see where she was being led. She held the door open for their first stop hearing Chloe let out an excited gasp when she stepped inside.

"Beca! This is a jewelry store! A very specific jewelry store!" Chloe slapped her friend on the shoulder.

"I know. Which is why I wanted it to be a surprise. I need your help. I don't know what Aubrey would want it to look like. I know her ring size, but I have no idea what type of style or color's she would want. I called her dad last month, and we talked about it. He, and her mother both approve. I even had a conference call with Jim, Henry, and Bruce. How do you feel about it?" Beca looked at her nervously.

"Beca. I one-hundred percent approve of this. I've never seen Aubrey this happy before with anyone." Chloe hugged her friend excitedly.

"Great. Now will you help me pick something out for her. I have enough money for a buyout." Beca told her.

"Oh my god. I'm so excited!" Chloe clapped.

"Yeah. When we talked about it. Her only requirement was that we wait until I graduate. I've been saving up for about three months. Finals for Acapella are about three weeks away, and I graduate the week after that. I doubt we'll get married right after, but I thought I could figure out a way to propose this month." Beca admitted.

Chloe hugged her again.

"Okay. You have got to chill dude. This is not who I am proposing too!" Beca told the people who were looking at them with raised eyebrows. A few of the customers laughed at them.

"This one… OOOOH. This one!" Chloe excitedly selected a few of her favorites that she knew Aubrey would enjoy.

"I'm only buying one Chloe. How about you pick out your favorite five. Then we'll narrow it down from there." Beca instructed.

"People have this issue all the time. Don't worry about it." The worker helping them laughed.

"I'm proposing to her best friend. She's a little over-excited about it." Beca explained.

"This one. Definitely this one." Chloe found an elegant ring with a silver band. There were two hands cupped around the ring. An elegant diamond cupped between the hands in the shape of a small heart. It wasn't to gaudy. It was a little smaller than most of the other diamonds. It complimented both of their styles.

"I like it. That's actually perfect." Beca looked at Chloe with a smile. Chloe shrugged with a confident smirk on her face.

"Do you want to do installments, or a buyout?" The clerk asked her politely.

"I'm ready for a buy-out. Can I take it with me today?" Beca looked at the clerk hopefully.

"Of course, you can. Or we can hold it here for you when it's closer to time for you to pop the question that way there's less chance of them finding it?" The clerk offered.

"I can hold onto it Becks." Chloe countered.

"I'll take it today. I trust Beale to hold onto it." Beca explained to the clerk. He nodded happily accepting her payment. The ring box was a simple black velvet box which he placed in a jewelry box with the receipt in a small Jewler's bag.

Once they made it back to her car. Beca stashed the ring box in her blue-jeans pocket.

"I can't wait for you to ask Aubrey. How are you going to do it?" Chloe asked her once they were seated across from each other at a café.

"I haven't gotten that far yet. The first step was buying the ring." Beca admitted.

"We'll come up with something good. Were you wanting to ask her like tomorrow?" Chloe laughed.

"No. I want some time to prepare a speech or something. Instead of just tossing a ring box at her head." Beca explained.

"Well. Do you want it to be a private thing, or a big public romantic gesture?" Chloe asked her with a smile.

"I'm not sure yet. I'd like for her family to be there, but I don't know if I can wait six more months." Beca admitted.

"Well. Have you had any ideas on how you are going to do it yet?" Chloe looked at her excitedly patting her hands silently on the table.

"Um. Well the first one was waiting until Christmas to ask her when her whole family is there. The second was kind of… Well. I was kind of thinking about asking Emily if we could use the song we wrote for Finals. Maybe even about proposing after." Beca told her friend timidly.

"Awe. Those are both cute. I am totally on board for both. We can plan something super romantic, and cute for finals though. If you don't want to wait until the end of the year. She already said she's flying out to Copenhagen. It wouldn't be hard to get the rest of her family out there with the money her dad makes." Chloe told her hopefully.

"I want to confirm that her family can be there with her if we do this at Finals, and I still need to talk to the girls and Emily about it." Beca told her getting less nervous about the idea now that Chloe was on board with everything.

"I can't believe you guys are going to get married!" Chloe clapped again.

"If she says yes. Chloe." Beca laughed.

"She's going to say yes. Call her parents tomorrow. We can talk to the Bella's next week. It's Thursday today. If her family can make it to Copenhagen. That gives us about two whole weeks to prepare something aca-awesome for Finals." Chloe promised.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Beca leaned her forehead against the cool table they were sitting at.

"You are going to be find. You are Beca fucking Mitchel. You are going to ask Bree. She's going to say yes, and you are going to get married at an aca-amazing wedding! You won over the General. You have nothing to worry about." Chloe pep-talked her best friend hoping to boost her confidence.

"Man. Can I just get a go-box. I can't eat." Beca paled when the food was placed in front of them.

"You are going to be like this until you ask her. Aren't you?" Chloe laughed.

"Probably." Beca groaned.

Three weeks later Beca was standing back stage freaking out with Aubrey's engagement ring in her pocket. She had on the only head-piece micro-phone, so her hands could be free to open the ring box on her cue.

"Beca. It's going to be fine. She's right there." Chloe pointed over Beca's shoulder to Aubrey who was standing in the crowd with her family as close to the rail barrier as they could get as per Chloe's instructions.

"I've never been this nervous before. Is this what Aubrey felt like all the time. Jesus Christ. I need to go throw up really quick. Did you bring any mouth wash?" Beca ran over, and hurled into a bucket. Stacie laughed at her friends' distress.

"Shut up asshole." Beca glared at her friend.

"Stacie brought mouthwash." Chloe looked at her friend.

"Yeah. I got you Becks. You're going to evaporate. If you keep going like this little one." Stacie held out a cup with mouthwash in it.

"I can't believe you guys are letting me sing!" Emily clapped excitedly.

"Chill out legacy." Amy rolled her eyes at the younger brunette.

"Come on Shawshank. We're up." Cynthia pulled Beca up to her feet.

"You got this Beca." Chloe told her as the Bella's crowded her into a group hug.

"The sign's ready?" Beca asked them.

"We set it up last night. The Bella's Alumni are all here too. " Jessica promised.

"Alright. I can do this. I'm Beca Fucking Mitchel." Beca bounced on her feet.

"Come on shorty." Cynthia laughed.

They all took their places on the Copenhagen stage. They ran through the set list up until they got to Emily's song. The lights lowered focusing on Beca.

"When to morrow comes. I'll be on my own. Feeling Frightened of. The things that I don't know. When tomorrow comes. When tomorrow comes. When tomorrow comes."-Beca started.

"And though the Road is long. I look up to the sky. And in the Dark I found, Lost hope that I won't fly. And I sing along, I sing along, and I sing along….." Emily joined in for the second Verse pointing back at Beca when she was finished.

"I got all I need when I got you and I. I look around me, and see a sweet life. I'm stuck in the dark, but you're my flashlight. You're getting me. Getting me. Through the night. You kick start my heart when you shine it in my eyes. I can't lie. It's a sweet life. I'm stuck in the dark, but you're my flashlight. You're getting me, getting me, through the night. Cause you're my flashlight….. You're my flashlight…"

All the Bella's including the Alumni pointed up at the sign when the alumni Bella's joined in on the chorus. The sign the current Bella's had made for Beca the week before. Highlighted in yellow neon was the message displayed across the board. 'Aubrey Posen. Will you marry me?'

Beca smiled when the commentators started going crazy about the original song and proposal between two Bella's Captains. As the Bella's carried the song into the ending verse she walked down to the stage to where she had found Aubrey standing with her family, and knelt on one knee pulling the ring box from her pocket. Aubrey was staring at her in surprise. She had turned off her mic while she walked down to Aubrey.

"Well… Will you marry me Aubrey?" Beca asked loud enough for Aubrey to hear over the commotion of the crowd and music. Jim and Frank nudged Aubrey towards Beca.

"Of course. I'll marry you." Aubrey let the tears escape when Beca slipped the ring on her finger. She pulled Beca up to her, and pulled her by the lapels of her Bella's uniform to kiss her deeply from across the fenced in barrier. The crowd erupted into cheers as the Bella's finished their performance. The camera's zooming in on Aubrey, and Beca.

"You planned all of this?" Aubrey laughed against Beca's lips.

"The girls helped. I wrote the song with Emily. Chloe helped plan the sign, and cues." Beca explained waving at the rest of Aubrey's family with a wide smile on her face.

"They all knew you were planning this, and I never got any clues?" Aubrey asked in amazement.

"Chloe, and I may have made some of them cry." Beca chuckled holding onto Aubrey tightly.

"I love you Beca Mitchel, but you are still graduating before we get married." Aubrey told her sternly.

"Yes ma'am. I love you too Aubrey Posen." Beca kissed her again. This was the moment she knew her future was going to be better than she had ever hoped.