"Beca! Quit squirming." Stacie was trying to adjust the bowtie around her best friend's neck. She backed her against the wall in her room. "Just be still."

"Stacie," Beca whined. "It's Aubrey fricken Posen. What the hell am I doing?"

"Hush. It may be Aubrey fricken Posen but you are Beca effin Mitchell. Everything's going to be fine. I mean what can go wrong?"

Beca's eyes widened. "Come on, Stace, what can go wrong? Everything! All of it."

Stacie made a tsking noise with her breath. "Whatever, shortstack. Sack up. You had the balls to ask her father right?"

"Like that was a walk in the park." Beca wrinkled her nose. "General Posen still scares me."

"And you were gutsy enough to ask your dad for your grandmother's engagement ring. Right?" Beca nodded. "Hell, Chloe even helped you plan all this tonight. So I promise, nothing will go wrong."

"But…"

"No buts, Beca. You'll be just fine. Okay. You ready?" Beca nodded. "Got what you need?"

Beca patted her pockets. "Yep," she replied, popping the p.

"Go get 'em, tiger."

Chloe had insisted that Aubrey come to her place to get ready. "Chloe, don't you think this is a little overkill for date night?" She looked over her shoulder at herself in the full-length mirror. Her dress was a rich maroon high slit dress with thin shoulder straps. Her ample breasts were accentuated by the low cut V which showed off more skin than Aubrey had revealed in public in quite some time.

"You're gorgeous, Bree. She's going to have a hard time keeping her hands off you." Chloe winked at her friend. She handed Aubrey the shoes that completed the outfit.

"Chloe," she whined as she slipped them on. "These are like, what, three or four-inch heels. They are going to make me tower over her more than I already do. She's going to murder me."

"Hush. Just do this for Beca. And if not for Beca, for me."

"Fine," Aubrey huffed. She looked in the mirror again. "I do look pretty hot though."

Chloe laughed. "Indeed you do."

When the driver stopped the town car in front of Chloe's place, Beca's butterflies kicked in again. Stacie hadn't let her have a glass of whiskey to calm her nerves. "I can do this," she said out loud. She climbed out of the car and assumed the power pose with her feet spread apart, hands on her hips. She always felt silly doing this, but Stacie swore it would boost her self-confidence.

Of course, Chloe answered the door after she rang the bell. "Well don't you look… dashing," she teased. Beca did her best to glare at the redhead as she stepped into the house. "Aubrey will be right out.

True to Chloe's word, Aubrey stepped into view a few seconds later. And Beca's breath was taken away. Every time she saw Aubrey, it was like she fell in love with her all over again. Her girlfriend approached and gave her a short kiss. "Ummm, y-y-you look beautiful, Aubrey." Beca ducked her head and blushed like a schoolgirl.

Realizing the effect she was having on her girlfriend, Aubrey asked Beca what she was holding behind her back. Beca presented her with the small bouquet of red tulips she'd picked up earlier. "Oh, ummm. Tulips." Aubrey smiled at her girlfriend's flustering. "Errrr yeah, red tulips. They mean true love."

"Well, they are gorgeous. Do you mind if I let Chloe put them in water? I believe I have a date with my girlfriend." Aubrey always had a way of calming Beca's nerves, even when she was being a bumbling fool.

Beca crooked her arm and allowed Aubrey to slip hers into Beca's elbow and they made their way to the waiting car. "Oh, a driver. I'm impressed, my love." Aubrey pressed her lips against Beca's before taking a seat. Beca closed the door and trotted to the other side to get in herself. "So where are we going?"

Having calmed down a bit, Beca grinned. "Marcel's."

"Ahhhh, now I'm beginning to understand all the fanfare. This isn't our normal date night."

"Reservation for Mitchell."

The maitre de quickly seated the couple and before long, a sommelier was presenting Beca with a bottle of wine. She nodded her head. After he opened it and poured her a small sip. After receiving Beca's approval, the server poured glasses for both women, set the bottle in the wine bucket, and disappeared.

Aubrey reached over and turned the label towards her. "Cabernet Franc, Domaine de la Chanteleuserie," Aubrey read, easily pronouncing the French words. "Interesting. Are we to get menus?"

Beca shook her head. "Tonight's been taken care of, sweetheart. No choices, no pressure, just you and me in the best steakhouse in the city." No pressure my ass, Beca thought - but she was keeping her cool. She was already too far in to back out now. She hooked her leg with Aubrey's and placed a hand on top of hers.

Soon the server appeared with two plates - one which held a long marrow bone and the other a terrine of grilled foie gras. Aubrey's eyes lit up when she saw the starters as these were two of her favorites. "Beca! I'm impressed."

As Beca reached to dish out some on Aubrey's plate, she cried, "wait. I have to take pictures. Chloe is going to be so jealous." Beca wasn't about to tell her that Chloe helped pick out the choices. They took turns feeding each other and themselves until both dishes were scraped clean.

The server whisked away the empty dishes and replaced their silverware, this time including large steak knives and a plate for each of them. "I think I'm kind of enjoying this little excursion you planned, Mitchell." Aubrey leaned over and kissed her girlfriend, leaving her hand on Beca's knee.

"Kind of enjoying?" Beca questioned. Aubrey flashed a sweet smile her way to let Beca know she was incredibly pleased with their date night. "You deserve it, Aubrey. You are always planning special things for me, and I decided it was your night to be treated. I love you."

Aubrey returned the sentiments and ran one hand up Beca's arm, giving her instant chill bumps.

As the sommelier opened another bottle of wine for the couple, a person in a chef's coat came out and presented them with their main course. A Tomahawk steak. "Madams," he formally stated. Beca looked over at Aubrey who was staring gape-mouthed.

When the chef began sharpening his knife, Aubrey grabbed her phone to snap some pictures. The chef expertly sliced the steak and precisely displayed the pieces with the bone, lying behind them. "Bon appetit."

Aubrey got the giggles. "I've heard of these monstrosities, but I've never actually seen one. Beca, this steak is huge."

"That's what she said," Beca teased lightheartedly, causing Aubrey to give her a gentle swat on the arm. "Okay, here we go."

Amazingly enough, the women finished nearly all the meat. Aubrey pushed back from the table. "I don't think I can eat another bite," Aubrey said. "Can I just sit and have a moment?"

Beca rubbed the blonde's back. "Of course," she said and motioned to the server who brought them each a small glass containing a minut amount of dark-brown liquid. He explained that the drink was fernet, a bitters that would help with the rich meal they had just consumed. "It's an acquired taste. It'll go down very dry, then when you breathe out, you'll taste all of the herb components. You may not want to drink it neat ever again, but I promise it will help."

Aubrey smirked at Beca eying the shot glass warily. She, herself, lifted the glass to her nose and smelled the aroma. "I say we just go for it, babe."

"When does Aubrey Posen just go for it?" Beca snorted.

"Okay, on three, promise?" Beca nodded. "1 - 2 - 3!" They both downed their drink. Having had bitters before, Aubrey's reaction wasn't nearly as dramatic as Beca's. She was sputtering and using her napkin to wipe off her tongue. "Beca!"

"What?"

"The server warned us." Aubrey began to giggle.

"Not funny." Beca tried to act grumpy.

Aubrey leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Beca's neck. "You are so adorable. And I love you, Beca Mitchell."

"Not adorable. Badass."

After their meals had time to settle a bit and the fernet did its job, the couple was ready for dessert. Aubrey was a chocolate fiend, so they were having a 12 layer chocolate cake - chocolate cheesecake mousse, hot fudge, and chocolate crumbs. The moment the server sat the dessert down, Beca began to get nervous again.

Suddenly, a cacophony of music exploded from Beca's jacket pocket. Terror struck her face as she scrambled to get her phone out and silence it. As she jerked the device, the rubber case caught on the suit cloth and went flying several feet into the dining room. Somewhere in her franticness to retrieve her phone and silence it, she heard the server say, "champagne for the table; compliments of the house."

"No, no, no," Beca shouted. She scrambled towards her phone and leaped back to the table just in time to see Aubrey drinking her champagne. "Noooooooooooooooooooo."

Beca could do nothing as she watched a strange look come across Aubrey's face. Aubrey lifted her fingers to her throat and concentrated before swallowing hard. Beca looked at Aubrey's champagne flute then at Aubrey then back at the flute.

While the server had witnessed the entire last fifteen seconds, he had not realized what had happened until Beca rushed over to Aubrey. "Bree? Oh my god. I am so sorry." She checked the flute again, distraught before getting on her knees in front of her girlfriend and holding both her hands. "I'm so, so sorry. I wanted tonight to be perfect." Beca was near hysterical. "Oh, it will be wonderful, they said. What could go wrong, they said. I ruined it, Aubrey. I ruined everything." She buried her head in Aubrey's dress.

Not knowing what was wrong with her girlfriend, Aubrey rubbed her girlfriend's shoulders, calming her before lifting her head so Aubrey could look in her eyes. "It's okay, Beca. Shhhh, it's okay. Why don't you come back up here and sit next to me?"

Beca sat next to Aubrey and curled up in her arms. "B-b-but, everything's gone wrong," Beca was trying extremely hard to control her blubbering.

"Baby. There is nothing that's fixable as long as nobody's dead, and we're both still here, right?" This caused Beca to start crying again. "Beca, look at me. Everything is okay." Eventually, Beca calmed enough and was breathing normally again. Rather than having what might turn back into an emotional discussion, Aubrey made the executive decision to go ahead and leave. The server let her know that the bill had been taken care of in advance. He also apologized profusely.

As the couple was driving home from the restaurant, Aubrey turned Beca's face towards her. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Bree. How are you so calm?"

"Maybe because I'm not sure exactly what transpired there."

"You swallowed my grandmother's engagement ring."

Aubrey rubbed her throat. After a few beats of shocked silence, she said, "oh. Oh! That's what that was!" She pulled Beca tight before asking, "Beca Mitchell, was tonight all so you could ask me to marry you?"

Beca furiously nodded her head. "Everything was all planned out, but the proposal was ruined."

"No sweetie. It wasn't. The night was beautiful." Aubrey calmed Beca by her shoulder with one hand. "I just have one question." Beca looked at Aubrey with her dark blue eyes. "Can I say yes now, or do I have to wait until we get the ring back?"