Pitch Perfect Bella in Chains

Tumblr Prompt: Imagine Chloe bails Beca out of Jail instead of Jesse after Regionals.

A/N: This is my first _**AU**_ Pitch Perfect fic, all my previous stories have been considered future fics, I believe. I have a hard time invading canon because I'm stuck in the whole _Back to the Future_ Space/Time Continuum thing and fear that changing too much would distort what I loved about the PP canon. So I would say this is a stand-alone one-shot and is not part of my PP future-fic universe (which, with the release of PP2 will all become AU fic in some sense, since it leaps ahead 3 years, I'm pretty sure, but I digress…). Also, like all my one-shots, this is in-beta'd. Any errors are mine.

Disclaimer: Do not remove mattress tag under penalty of law.

**Bella in Chains****-**

"Vertical running! I'm vertical running!" Fat Amy shouted as she ran down the hallway, _away_ from where Beca was currently standing with a piece of ICCA Regional Champions trophy in her hands.

The rest of the shiny candy apple red trophy was lying on the ground.

Outside. On the sidewalk. Beyond the shattered door.

The cop who was ticketing the double-parked Tonehangers "Scoobie Doo" Mystery Machine-wannabe van was easily torn from his task and started toward the foyer of the auditorium. Behind Beca, Tonehangers and Trebles scattered like cockroaches in the light in their haste to exit the premises.

Eight Bellas all stood in shock, staring at Beca as broken safety glass continued to fall from the door frame, hitting the concrete with tiny little crashing sounds. They jumped a little when the cop's boots crunched over the shards as he entered, unnecessarily opening the busted door to do so.

He stomped straight up to Beca and towered over her. "You want to explain what happened here, missy?" he demanded.

"Missy?!" she retorted, her eyes wide in amazement. "What is this, 1960?"

xxx-xxx-xxx

The backseat of a police cruiser was not at ALL what Beca expected. Rather bare-bones in design, vinyl seats, a nice metal ring right in the middle to hook those attractive handcuffs to, plastic floor covering, evidently to keep urine and other bodily fluids from soaking into the carpet if the smell was any indication.

"Well," she muttered to herself, "Dear old Dad wanted me to get out there and have 'experiences'." Even handcuffed behind her back, her fingers still subconsciously made the snarky air-quotes. "I think this qualifies…"

The cop pulled away from the auditorium abruptly, knocking an unbalanced Beca onto her side, face first into the less-than-pleasant-smelling vinyl upholstery.

Slightly gratifying, however, was the fact that her last vision of the East Carolina University Performing Arts Center included all the Bellas, even Amy, standing on the sidewalk watching in various stages of concern as Beca was hauled off to slammer…

xxx-xxx-xxx

Fresh air.

She shoved the door open, hurriedly stepped outside and took a deep, lung-bursting breath of fresh, clean, sweet air, trying hard to get the smell of disinfectant, weed and body odor out of her nostrils. Well, that and what was surely several gallons of Shalimar perfume hanging heavy in the holding cell she shared with a dozen other women of questionable repute. Not that _she_ was of questionable repute but the other wome- she shook her head, this is what being in jail does to a person…

Just outside the door, in all her flight attendant uniform under a lightweight jacket glory, red hair released from its earlier twist and falling in waves over her shoulders, was Chloe; sweet, fun, bubbly, gorgeous Chloe, holding Beca's things in her arms as she waited for the DJ to be released.

Beca rubbed at her sore, bruised wrists as she moved to the redhead's side. "Thanks for bailing me out, Chloe," she muttered, more than a little embarrassed by what happened. "I'll pay you back as soon as I can."

Chloe waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, we took up a collection."

"You did? And people actually gave you money when you told them what it was for?"

"Actually, most of it came from the Tonehanger's CD sales."

"The Tonehangers? Really?"

"Well, to be honest, they took off so fast to avoid being arrested they left everything behind. Lily picked their lockbox pretty cleanly."

Beca's eyes bugged out. "So my bail was paid with _stolen money_?! Great, I am going to prison…" She paused. "Wait, the _Tonehangers_ made that much money selling their CD? Wow, there really is no accounting for taste."

"Jess was going to bail you out, but I told him to back off. A _Bella_ would get you, not a Treble." She shivered delicately in distaste then gave Beca what the brunette could only assume Chloe would refer to as an aca-awesome grin. "Even Aubrey agreed with me."

"Well, thanks for that. He'd probably make some lame joke about women's prison movies or Hilary Swank from _Million Dollar Baby_ because I punched that guy…"

Chloe smirked. "I can go ahead and make a crack, if you want me to. You seem to be expecting it."

"I think I'll survive, but thanks for thinking of me."

"So… how was it doing hard time?"

"It was horrible," the brunette deadpanned, putting on the coat Chloe held out to her. "One chick kept asking me to point out where the exit rows were. Another one wanted to know when the drink cart was coming out…"

Chloe laughed. "I'm glad to know your status as a hardened criminal really hasn't changed you much." She slipped her arm through Beca's and started toward the parking lot. "Come on, I'm over here."

"Nice ride, Beale," Beca said in awe, sliding into the passenger side of Chloe's older model white Volvo.

Chloe turned wide, innocent eyes on the sarcastic DJ. "You're not- you won't carjack me, will you? I'm just giving a ride to a rehabilitated criminal, aren't I? Fresh out of the pokey, shaking off the dust of prison, in need of some kindness on the outside?"

"You do realize it was just jail, right?" Beca replied with a smirk. "I wasn't in, like, prison prison behind razor wire and iron bars."

"I know. It just sounds more dangerous, you know? My little ex-con…"

"Still," Beca huffed. "Not prison. Not a convict. Therefore, not an ex-con."

"Give it time, DJ Badass," Chloe deadpanned as she pulled out of the police parking lot. "You have repeat offender written all over you."

Leaning her head back against the headrest, Beca closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "Your car smells so much better than that cop car," she murmured, breathing in scent of the clean cotton air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror. "Not at all like pee and questionable body fluids…"

Chloe's lips twisted as she fought back a grin. She failed. "Gee, thanks," she replied. "I think."

xxx-xxx-xxx

Beca opened the door to her room and saw the rest of the Bellas waiting for her and Chloe to arrive. Of course they were now, due to the late hour, all in various stages of sleep. Jessica and Ashley were practically curled into a heap against the closet, Lily's head was back against the side of Beca's bed, delicate, almost inaudible, little snores issuing from her parted lips. Cynthia Rose had her head on Amy's shoulder, Amy's head rested against Cynthia Rose's. Denise was konked out at the other end of Beca's bed.

And Aubrey was seated primly in Beca's desk chair, her posture perfect save for her head lolled forward, chin practically touching her chest. Her neck was really going to hurt when she woke up…

Kimmie Jin was mercifully nowhere to be seen.

With a snort, Amy startled awake. "Hey, what up, Shawshank!" she exclaimed when she spotted the two newly returned Bellas.

This shook Cynthia Rose to consciousness. "Did you get yourself a bitch?" she asked shyly.

"Did they spray you with a hose?"

"…," Lily apparently said.

Beca snorted. "You guys crashed out in my room for me?"

"I told them to meet us here," Chloe replied. "You're our very own jailbird, the first ever in Bella history."

"Oh, good," Beca cracked. "I'll put that on my resume under 'Special Accomplishments'."

Suddenly, Aubrey exclaimed, "Sock puppets!" Still hunched forward in Beca's chair, it was obvious she was still asleep. "Clowns! No!" Jerking awake, she leapt to her feet. "Ouch," she groaned, a hand going to run the kink in her neck. She looked up. "Oh, Beca, I'm glad you're here."

Beca rolled her eyes. "Well, it was either jail or here and since this is my room, I thought here would be the better option."

"I'm calling an emergency Bella meeting," the blonde said, effectively ignoring Beca's words.

"Noooooooo," Fat Amy muttered softly.

"Good thing we're all already here, then, huh?"

Still ignoring Beca, Aubrey continued: "Our score sheets revealed that the Sockapella's almost beat us…"

And chaos ensued…

xxx-xxx-xxx

"Yes, yes," Beca grumbled, ushering Bellas out her dorm room door. "See you all tomorrow at boot camp- er, I mean rehearsal. Go. Sleep well. Get out." She closed the door behind Fat Amy who was turning to say something just as the door shut in her face. "Well, that was productive," she muttered. "Nothing like Aubrey sucking the life out of the room with a few well-chosen words. 'I have the pitch pipe and what I say goes'," she mocked.

"She actually said we focus on the set list as planned," Chloe corrected from her seat at Beca's desk.

The brunette turned around and nodded at the older girl. "Yep, that makes a difference. Thanks, Red."

Chloe grinned her big wide, innocent grin with bright blue eyes flashing mischievously. "Yeah, I thought so, too." She got up from the desk and moved to the bed, disrobing as she went until she stood, with her back to Beca, of course, in only a matched set of teal lingerie. Unconcerned with her state of undress, she flung open Beca's closet door and dug out a faded LA Dodgers t-shirt.

"Um, Chloe," Beca said in bemusement. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Getting ready for bed. We're having a sleep-over," the ginger informed her as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She pulled the t-shirt over her head and shook out her fiery locks again. "You better get changed. Or do you plan on sleeping like you're working an overnight flight and you have the first shift?"

Blushing beet red, Beca reached past the semi-naked redhead and into the built-in dresser, yanked out a pair of shorts and an over-sized Queen t-shirt and turned her back to the other girl, stripping and re-dressing at the speed of light.

"You're very forward, do you know that?" Beca finally managed to say to the redhead.

"Yeah, I do. It's part of my charm."

"Did somebody tell you that or did you come up with it all on your own?"

"Hey, now," Chloe responded with a smack to Beca's arm. "Is that anyway to talk to the chick who sprung you from the joint?"

Beca grinned in amusement. "Who _talks_ that way?" she asked, watching the redhead drop onto the bed and lean back against the bookshelves lining the wall.

Chloe responded with a grin of her own. "Hey, be glad it's me here and not Jesse. I swear he was looking up your dad's phone number in the campus directory when that cop slapped the cuffs on you."

"Oh, God," Beca moaned. "That would have been bad. Very bad. Like, very, _very_ bad."

"So, you're saying it would have been bad?" Chloe deadpanned. She laughed at the unamused look on the brunette's face. "Come on, you look exhausted from your first encounter in the hoosegow. Let's get some shut-eye."

"Seriously, _who talks that way_?"

Instead of responding, Chloe grabbed Beca's hand and yanked her onto the bed. "Be nice to me and I'll let you take me to lunch for saving you from the wrath of Professor Daddy."

"Are you asking me out on a date, Red?" Beca responded with a smirk once she got her balance back from being forcibly hauled onto the mattress by the remarkably fit and strong redhead.

"No, I'm telling you you're _taking_ me out on a date." She pressed a quick kiss to the brunette's cheek. "You can call it a 'thank you', if you want."

Beca thought about it for a moment. "No, we can call it a date." Suddenly, her eyes drooped and she felt the weight of exhaustion fall on her shoulders.

"Good, because I would have called it that anyway, no matter what you said." The redhead patted the mattress. "Come on. Sleepy-time."

"Do you do this often?" Beca asked as she climbed under the covers and settled in for some much needed sleep.

"Nah," Chloe replied, settling herself behind Beca on the narrow twin bed. She threw an arm over Beca's waist and pulled her close. "I've never slept with a criminal before."

Beca, despite her furious blush, grinned as she settled back against Chloe's warm body. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah," the redhead mumbled, her face buried in Beca's neck. "Something to put on my resume under 'Special Accomplishments'."


End file.

Pitch Perfect, Friendship, Humor