Hi guys! So... I know I've been shitty about updates on SCR and K&P, but I haven't just been sitting on my ass doing nothing. I've been working on this, along with a few other things, and here I present it. This piece was inspired by the song 'Mr. Brightside' by The Killers. If you haven't heard it, I highly recommend it. (Or any of their songs) This is probably the longest singular piece I've ever written (I think), and to think it all started with the line "Will you please put some fucking clothes on?" You'll see. Enjoy!

"You could stay with me," Beca offered, not looking up from the newspaper.

"What?" Aubrey was taken aback. When did Beca Mitchell ever offer to do anything for her?

"That's a great idea! You can stay in our apartment while you look for a new one! I'm gonna be at med school anyway, so it's not like it'll be crowded. Come on, Bree, let us do this for you, please?" Chloe pleaded.

"Fine." What could it hurt?

"Oh my God, will you please put some fucking clothes on!" Aubrey growled, snapping her hand up to cover her eyes. She'd been reading the newspaper on the couch, minding her own business, when Beca had breezed past like it was nothing.

"No, because I like walking around my own house naked, and you promised that you wouldn't interfere with my lifestyle at all," Beca laughed, reaching into the fridge for her leftovers from that new Chinese place.

"I lied."

"No you didn't, because Aubrey Posen is a woman of her word." Beca stopped right in front of her new housemate, waiting.

"Shut up."

"Hey, just think of it as a free pass. Feel free to walk around naked too. Mi casa es su casa, and all that shit."

"You just want to see me naked, don't you?" Aubrey teased, opening her eyes but refusing to look anywhere but the short girl's face.

"The fact that I have a girlfriend prevents me from answering that truthfully. Especially when she is the best friend you tell everything. I plead the fifth," Beca laughed, raising her hands in a joking manner.

Aubrey fell silent at that. She tried not to look too much into it, she really did. It was just Beca joking around, right? Right. She couldn't afford to get into this line of thinking again. Chloe was her best friend, and she had been crushing on the currently unclothed DJ ever since she'd seen her at the Activities Fair, not even mentioning the fact that they'd been dating for two years now. Aubrey's stupid little infatuation was nothing; just something from the long ago past. But she couldn't help but wonder.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Aubrey blushed furiously when she realized that in her state of deep thought her gaze had shifted lower, to a more comfortable position, right on Beca's-

"I was just wondering what it was still doing in my face."

"Helping you memorize," she grinned. Was she flirting?

"Don't make me do something drastic, Mitchell," Aubrey warned, getting into the teasing nature of the conversation. It wasn't her place, but God help her, she was flirting back.

"Alright, I'll go get dressed. I've got a Skype date with Red tonight, anyway, and she doesn't like when I'm naked. Something about her friends seeing, or some shit. You should pop in and say hi." Beca made her way back to her bedroom.

Right. Chloe. Her best friend. Beca's girlfriend. She had to think of Chloe, and stop reading so much into this... whatever it was. She was a Posen, for shit's sake! She'd hunker down, ignore Beca, wait for Chloe to come back, and remind herself how in love the redhead and Beca were. Right. Good. Nothing could go wrong.

Everything was going wrong. First there was the problem of Beca's constant nudity. She hadn't been kidding when she said that she enjoyed being naked in her own house. Every day. But at least Aubrey could control what she saw. Beca's constant need to flirt was another problem entirely. While the brunette enjoyed picking fights, she apparently also enjoyed giving compliments. Aubrey brought it up with Chloe on Skype one night when Beca was out.

"Your girlfriend is a chronic flirt," Aubrey frowned.

"Yeah, she tends to get like that," Chloe smiled.

"Not that I don't enjoy compliments, it just feels a little weird coming from her. And it's not just here or there, it's literally every time we talk." Aubrey leaned her face on one hand, sighing.

"She needs an outlet. Now that I'm not there, she doesn't have anyone to say nice things to, and since you're in close proximity with her, you're getting the results. She'll deny it if you ever bring it up, but she's such a sweetheart. She hates getting compliments, but she'll take every chance to tell you you're pretty or smart. Especially smart. She has a thing for smart girls," the redhead nodded conspiratorially.

"Really?" Aubrey raised an eyebrow. That was very interesting.

"Yeah. Me talking about all my medical stuff really gets her going. Try it sometime. Just start using a bunch of legal jargon and stuff she doesn't understand and you'll have her squirming in her seat." Interesting. Aubrey filed that away under 'Things To Blackmail Beca With'. It was a steadily growing list.

"Did you get a haircut?" Aubrey looked up from her mail to see Beca peering at her.

"Um, yeah, just a trim," she explained cautiously.

"It looks good," Beca smiled, going back to mixing.

"Thanks."

"Hey Aubrey, which shirt looks better for- whoa. You... okay, Bree?" Beca put a hand on the frazzled woman's shoulder.

"Yeah, just a little stressed," the blonde sighed, running her fingers through her hair. She could only imagine what she must look like right now: sitting on the floor in a rumpled pantsuit, surrounded by ten paper stacks of varying height and at least a dozen crumpled coffee cups.

"Wanna talk about it?" The brunette ventured cautiously, coming to sit beside her.

"You wouldn't understand, it's a bunch of legal crap." She threw down the papers in her hand.

"Try me."

"I just- I swear, it's like this company hasn't updated their bylaws since women couldn't be more than secretaries. We can't liquidate the competition if I can't figure out what the grounds of the fucking partnership agreement are, and to make matters worse, the shareholders are filing a suit saying that they aren't seeing the proper dividends. This case is going to shit, I'm ass-deep in paperwork, and I'm going to fucking scream if the partners don't quit trying to find loopholes in their operating agreement." Aubrey shoved her face into her hands, breathing deeply. After hearing nothing, she looked through her fingers to see a very flustered Beca shooting to her feet and muttering something about 'needing to be anywhere else' between shallow breaths. She quickly made her way back to her bedroom and nearly slammed the door behind her.

"Well I'll be damned."

Watching Beca do any kind of household chore was quite an experience. Never had Aubrey pictured the dark alt girl being domestic in any way, and yet here she was, moving about the kitchen in a way that was stunningly graceful for someone so awkward. When Beca had announced that she would cook for them, Aubrey had scoffed a little. Beca Mitchell, the girl who barely had the drive to make Ramen Noodles in college, claiming she could cook. It had seemed a little far fetched. Apparently not so much.

"Where'd you learn to cook like that?" Aubrey watched, fascinated, as the brunette used the skillet to toss various ingredients in the air and catch them several times.

"My step-dad is Italian. He noticed that I constantly watched him so one day he sat me down and showed me the basics. I was hooked from then on." Beca briefly cut her eyes toward the blonde sitting at the counter and gave a lopsided grin.

"That's really cool." She meant it. Aubrey had always wanted to know how to really cook like that. Beca looked at her like she had read her thoughts.

"I could teach you, sometime. If you want, that is."

"I'd like that."

"Is that Beca's shirt?" Chloe's voice cut through the thick haze clouding Aubrey's mind. The two girls had been having a Skype study session, and Aubrey may or may not have been nodding off. She looked down.

"Hmm, I guess it is. I barely slept at all last night and didn't have time to do laundry, so I just put on whatever was in the dryer this morning to clean around the house." She inspected the red plaid button up. It was really the only thing she was wearing, aside from her "comfortable undies", which were a pair of cotton panties she'd had since freshman year of college. The shirt was very soft and a little big on her, which was odd considering the noticeable size difference between them.

"Oh. You're not enforcing a strict laundry separation decree?" Chloe smiled, but it didn't seem to reach her eyes. Must have been the camera.

"I did, but it got really inconvenient really quickly. We've compromised on a lot of things, actually. I let her walk around naked, and she makes me jasmine tea when I'm stressing over a case, and as long as I pay for pizza, she'll cook for me. It's a pretty efficient system." Aubrey swore she saw a frown on her best friend's face, but it was gone before she could make sure.

"It sounds like you two are having fun without me. You obviously don't miss me. Maybe I'll just stay here and bang hot nurses and doctors, like on Grey's Anatomy," she grinned. A little half-heartedly, but it was probably just fatigue. Hopefully.

"Oh no you don't. Beca misses you way too much and I need my best friend." It was true, the DJ was always staring at pictures of the redhead or talking about her or thinking about her. No, it didn't bother Aubrey even a little. Really. Even so, Chloe didn't look convinced.

"Hey Aubrey, will this sweater be okay for tonight?" Of course Beca chose that inopportune moment to show up in only a bra and underwear, holding up the sweater in question.

"If I've told you once, I've told you a million times, Beca. You can't wear a black bra underneath that; you can see right through it! Go get your beige bra and the sweater will be fine," Aubrey waved her off.

"But I can't find it!" Beca pouted.

"Did you look in the bottom of your closet? Where it always is?" The blonde rolled her eyes. Beca could be such a child sometimes.

"Yes! It wasn't there!"

"Are you saying that if I go in your room and look, it will definitely not be there?" Aubrey arched an eyebrow and made a motion to get up.

"Oh, um, let me just go..." The brunette smile nervously and quickly went to her room.

"She's such a child." Aubrey turned back to the computer, rolling her eyes.

"So what's going on tonight?" Chloe asked in a small voice.

"My father is hosting a casual dinner party for his lawyers plus a guest. Beca's freaking out because she doesn't want him to disapprove and fire me for having terrible friends." Aubrey rolled her eyes. The brunette could be so dramatic sometimes.

"Oh, she flipped the fuck out over my parents. She wouldn't shut up about how she was going to ruin my life for a week before she actually met them," Chloe gave a half smile.

"Are you okay? You're acting a little strange." Aubrey was worried. Chloe barely ever cursed, and the clipped tone she was using was definitely not normal.

"I'm just tired and frustrated. Goodnight, Aubrey." End of call, and the last picture Aubrey got was Chloe with her eyes squeezed shut, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Aubrey jumped as a box was dropped into her lap, nearly making an ugly black line over the paper.

"Beca! What the hell?" Aubrey chided.

"Dude, it's a present. Happy 23rd birthday. Sorry I suck at stuff like this," she pointed out the poor wrapping and messy bow.

"You... know when my birthday is? And how old I am?" Beca merely nodded.

"All we need is a cake," Aubrey giggled. Beca said nothing, shifting from one foot to the other awkwardly.

"No you didn't. You did not buy me a cake," she stood up slowly, shaking her head.

"Nope, I didn't buy you a cake. However, I may have baked one. A small one," she held out her thumb and pointer finger to emphasize 'small'.

"Beca Mitchell, I cannot believe you! You have no badass points left. None. They're all gone," Aubrey grinned, hugging her.

"Wait until you see the present. I made it myself." She picked up the box and handed it to the taller girl.

Aubrey unwrapped it to find a flash drive, which she plugged into her computer. Mixes, tons of them. Based around her favorite songs, by the looks of the titles. There was a separate folder, filled with more mixes with dates as the titles.

"Those are all the mixes I made with you in mind, from my first impression of you up until last week. I made them every time you pissed me off, or more recently, did something cool, so the feel of them changes as you go along," she smiled awkwardly and ran a hand through her hair.

"I love it, Beca, thank you," Aubrey pulled her close and buried her face in Beca's shoulder.

"Okay, so now that I've replaced the wood here, I'm gonna caulk it." Beca pointed to the new wood frame of the bathroom window. After mentioning that she was going to fix it, Aubrey had requested that she give her a rundown of what she was doing, should the problem ever come up once she got her own apartment. She'd been through deconstruction, measuring, cutting, nailing, and painting, and now she was on caulking.

"What does caulk do?" Aubrey was very curious about finding out everything she could about Beca.

"It seals up any cracks and creates a smooth surface for touch up painting. I just squeeze the trigger while I push this little bar right here, and then I smooth it out with my finger. Like so," Beca demonstrated, holding out a finger covered in the odd substance.

"Where did you learn all this stuff?" Why was she so curious? For that, Aubrey had no answer.

"My mom. Even before my dad left, she was a pretty self-sufficient woman. She had to be, because my dad had no idea about this stuff. It helped that my granddad on her side was a construction worker," the brunette explained as she continued working. It was kind of hot- wait, no. Bad Aubrey.

"Oh, cool."

The first time the nightmares struck, Aubrey nearly puked out of fear and anxiety. When Beca heard the gagging, she rushed to Aubrey's bedroom.

"You okay?" Beca sat down beside her.

"Nightmares," was all Aubrey managed.

"Gotcha. I know how it feels. Sucks. Anything I can do for you?" the brunette offered, placing an uneasy hand on Aubrey's shoulder.

"Hold me?" Aubrey asked weakly, laying down under the blanket.

Beca merely nodded and scooted in behind her, wrapping an arm around her midsection and hugging her tightly.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Fire. Smoke. I almost suffocated. It was just like when my apartment burned down, except this time, I didn't get out." Aubrey didn't realize she was crying until a soft hand wiped the tears away.

"It's okay. I'm here, and nothing can hurt you while I'm here. I'll protect you, I promise," Beca cooed.

The next time the nightmares came, Aubrey sought out Beca, wordlessly sliding in beside her and stifling a sigh as surprisingly strong arms enveloped her. It happened like this for many nights, and of course that's how Chloe found them.

When Amy had called, inviting them to a Bellas and Trebles reunion at her parents' lake house, Aubrey and Beca had agreed immediately. They were currently down at the lake for Aubrey's first rock skipping lesson.

"Damn it!" Aubrey exclaimed, stomping her foot after another failure.

"Hey now, calm down! It's not as complicated as you're making it out to be, I promise." Beca laid her hands on Aubrey's shoulders, calming her.

"But I can't do it!" Aubrey pouted, actually sticking out her lower lip a little. She knew it was Beca's weak point, but she couldn't help herself. Beca Luther hands on either side of Aubrey's face and drew her close

"Listen to me: you are an intelligent, beautiful young woman who is going to be a brilliant lawyer, the best in the business someday. I know you can do this, so pick up that rock and skip it like it has never been skipped before, you got that?" Beca smiled, never breaking eye contact.

"Will you help me?" Aubrey asked sheepishly, bending over to pick up the stone. She didn't fail to notice how the brunette's eyes momentarily followed before snapping back up with a blush. She moved to stand behind the taller girl.

"Of course. Here," Beca grabbed her hand and drew it back "just pull it back to right here, and then as you come forward, flick your wrist. Bend down a little so that you're more parallel to the surface, and..." Beca trailed off, letting Aubrey lead. The blonde was hyper-aware of the way her back pressed into Beca's front, but she did as she was told, letting the DJ guide her.

"Oh my God, five skips! Fucking finally! Thank you so much!" Aubrey spun around and gripped Beca in a bone-crushing hug.

"No problem, Bree. Now that you're a master, let's get back up to the cabin with everybody else." She linked their arms, a habit she'd gotten from Chloe, and pulled her along.

When they got back, Amy nearly yanked her off her feet and into a corner.

"What the hell, Amy?" Aubrey yelped, cowering from the large woman.

"I could ask you the same question, Aubrey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Amy demanded in a hushed tone.

"What are you talking about?" Aubrey asked, matching her friend's volume.

"You know good and well! Beca is a taken woman, and she's taken by your best friend, no less! I thought you had more tact than that, Aubrey Posen," Amy huffed, crossing her arms.

"I know. I'm a terrible person for even wanting it," Aubrey sighed.

"No, you're not a terrible person for wanting it, I mean, if I swung that way..." Amy trailed off and looked over at Beca, who was currently talking to a very drunk Stacie. "Anyway, you're not a bad person for wanting it. You are, however, a bad person for acting on it. Chloe trusts you enough to let you live with her hot girlfriend while she's miles away, and this is how you're repaying her?" Amy put a comforting hand on her shoulder before rejoining the party.

Aubrey looked back to Beca, sighing. However, burning anger came over her as she saw Stacie nearly pressed up against her, rubbing her arm flirtatiously. The taller girl was unabashedly looking her up and down, biting her lip, and Beca was completey oblivious. Aubrey was having none of it. She stormed over and caught the tail end of their conversation.

"... and I was thinking that if you ever wanted to come over, or I could visit you, then we totally should. You know, we haven't really seen much of each other lately, we should catch up. It's kind of loud, you wanna go upstairs and find someplace quieter?" Stacie offered, grinning.

"What makes you think you can creep on girls with girlfriends, Stacie?" Aubrey pulled the girl away none too gently.

"Well, I didn't see anything stopping you," Stacie quirked an eyebrow, challenging the blonde.

"You better shut the fuck up before I make you," Aubrey growled, grabbing the brunette's collar.

"Oh yeah? Try me." Aubrey gave her a light shove.

"Back the fuck up before I fuck you up, Stacie Conrad." Stacie pushed up against the blonde.

"Why, because I called you out?" Push.

"You have no right." Shove.

"Oh please, everyone at this party has a fucking right. We all wanted to call you out on it. Maybe if you weren't eye fucking your best friend's girl, you could see that!" Harder shove.

"Don't you fucking dare accuse me of anything!" Slap.

"Whoa, Bree!" Beca separated them and pulled the blonde aside.

"Let's just go, Beca," Aubrey suggested, turning away.

"Okay, if you wanna go, we'll go."

"Amy Skyped me," were the first words out of Chloe's mouth. No hello, no warning. She sat in her computer chair, arms crossed. Frowning.

"Really?" Aubrey asked quietly.

"From the party. I saw the fight." Silence.

"Oh. You're mad." More silence.

"Silly, I'm not mad! It's nice of you to keep my bed warm while I'm away," Chloe thanked her sarcastically.

"Oh come on, Chloe, it's not like that. Stacie was just pissed that I cockblocked her," Aubrey explained, desperation in her voice.

"So did you start fucking my girlfriend as soon as I was out the door or did you have the decency to wait a while? You know what, I should be thanking you! At least she's fucking you and not some whore out in the streets." Aubrey said nothing, letting Chloe get it all out. She had started to cry, wiping at her eyes.

"Was it good? Did you get down on your knees and show her just how much you've wanted her since we were at Barden? Did she pin you down and fuck you like you told me you wanted her to do that one day?" Chloe accused, getting into it now. Aubrey now had tears running down her face and was on the verge of sobs.

"Okay, that's it. This conversation is over," Beca walked into the room, obviously having heard.

"How much did you hear?" Aubrey refused to look at her.

"I've been standing out there since the call started. Chloe, we're not sleeping together, I promise," Beca leaned down to better see the screen.

"What about you, Aubrey? We both know that you can't lie to me for shit," Chloe prompted.

"Beca would never cheat on you, and that is a stone cold fact. I can't vouch for my own self control, but she would never betray you like that. She loves you, Chloe. More than I do, obviously." Aubrey waited for the redhead's reaction.

"I think that we need to talk about this, but now is not the time. It needs to be in person," Chloe decided, ending the call.

"She's pissed, but she believes us for the most part," Beca sighed.

"That's good, I guess. Listen, about that other stuff-" Beca held up a hand and effectively cut her off.

"If you don't wanna talk about it, we won't talk about it," Beca gave a half-hearted smile.

"Thank you." Instead of freaking out, like Aubrey had expected, Beca simply hugged her, grabbing a tissue from the box on the desk and dabbing at her eyes. And God help her, she fell just that much more in love with her for it.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me, Beca! I found you two cuddling on our bed!" Aubrey listened to the argument from the bedroom, deciding not to follow Beca and Chloe out into the hall.

"She was having bad dreams! Don't you think, if you nearly died when your apartment caught on fire, that you would have nightmares? You know how I feel about stuff like that," Beca argued back.

"I know, Beca, it's just... Every time I video chatted with one of you, I got more suspicious! How could I not? You two are borderline perfect for each other, and I already knew that she liked you, and I couldn't deal with it," Chloe sighed. Aubrey, sensing that the danger of explosion had passed, poked her head out of the door.

"Dude, I love you so much, more than anything in my life. More than music, more than life itself, I love you. Never doubt that," Beca took Chloe's face in her hands, much like she had Aubrey's, and kissed her nose.

"I love you too," Chloe sniffled, starting to cry.

"Aubrey is a wonderful, gorgeous girl, and anyone would be lucky to have her, but unless you decide otherwise, you are the only girl for me," Beca pulled her close, smiling at Aubrey over her girlfriend's shoulder.