Lifeline

"Hey how you feeling today?" Beca asked softly as she stroked Stacie's hair.

Stacie just shrugged "As good as I can be." She said sadly.

Stacie had been having a tough couple of days. Her grandpa had passed, and it had been hitting the taller girl hard, it especially didn't help that Stacie suffered from depression. Her grandfather had been Stacie's father figure after her dad passed when she was just four years old. Her grandfather was the one who would always spoil her and be the one to cheer her up as a kid. He had pretty much raised her since her mom often had to work her tail off to be able to pay bills.

Stacie didn't really have anyone besides her grandfather and mom until she met Beca in ninth grade. Since then, Beca had become her anchor and been the one to help Stacie with any and everything she needed. Beca was always by her side when she felt depressed and for the past five years has been the only person to know about her past. She knew Stacie was most likely going to be like this for the next few weeks and it would raise a lot of concerns around the Bella house.

Stacie hadn't been talking to anyone since the passing and had been pretty much ignoring everyone. The rest of the girls had already tried talking but Stacie wouldn't talk or even acknowledge them.

"I got to head to my dad's alright sweetheart." Beca said softly. Every Friday her dad and herself would meet for dinner.

Stacie nodded "Ok let me know when you get there?" Stacie asked.

Beca smiled "Of course and when I leave. See you in exactly one hour and twenty minutes. Love you." Beca said placing a kiss on Stacie's head.

"Love you too." Stacie said.

Beca grabbed her bag and walked out quietly closing her door. She headed downstairs and was met by Chloe, Aubrey, Ashley, Flo and CR.

"Welp I'm off to my dad's." Beca announced grabbing a water bottle.

"What's wrong with Stacie?" Chloe asked.

"Can't tell you." Beca said making her way to the door.

"What do you mean you can't tell us? What'd you do?" Aubrey asked.

"Nothing, why do you just assume I did something?" Beca asked.

Aubrey rolled her eyes "Because it's you. You don't care about anything or anyone except yourself."

"Ok Posen." Beca chuckled.

"Don't play dumb Beca. We all know how you are; you and your attitude have proven that time and time again. This whole I don't give a fuck attitude you have is exactly how you are. So, I'll ask you again what did you do to Stacie?" Aubrey asked sternly.

"You don't know a thing about me Posen. None of you do." Beca said pissed.

Aubrey scoffed "Oh really? Because Trish would beg to differ." Aubrey said referring to her sister who went to high school with Beca and would always tell Aubrey about her.

Beca chuckled "Ah yes Trish your sister, the girl who couldn't tell the difference between an Apple or peach. You know what, I'm done with this shit. You always expect me to hurt people or accuse me of shit constantly and I'm done with it. You all want to stand here and accuse me of doing something to Stacie because of some blonde bimbo that I went to school with said shit about me then so be it. I know the truth and that's all that really matters so fuck this." Beca said angrily being fed up with the constant accusations people always threw her way. This had been something she's dealt with since high school, and she's honestly had enough. She turned around and stormed out the house slamming the door behind her.

Stacie whose room is right by the stairs heard the shouting and arguing so she made her way downstairs. When she got to the kitchen everyone turned to look at her.

"Where's Beca? What happened?" She asked.

"She left in a mood like always." Aubrey said.

"What happened?" Stacie asked once more knowing if Aubrey and Beca got into it it's because Aubrey said something to get under Beca's skin.

"Nothing really, we asked what was wrong with you and she said she couldn't tell us, so we simply asked why. She didn't answer so I only asked if she did anything to you. Then she got mad and stormed off." Aubrey said sitting down "Honestly Stacie I don't know why you even bother with her, she's no good."

Stacie was taken back by that "What?" She asked.

"Come on we all know how she is. She couldn't care less about anything except herself." Aubrey shrugged.

Stacie shook her head in disbelief, she would never get used to people just assuming stuff about Beca "Shut the fuck up Aubrey, you don't know anything." Stacie said.

"Woah there, no need for hostility." Chloe said.

"You to. What do you even know about Beca?" Stacie asked.

"Trish has said a lot." Aubrey said.

Stacie scoffed "Trish? The same girl who constantly spread rumors about Beca and me all through high school? The same Trish that ran her mouth to the point that my depression caused me to almost do something extreme. That blonde bitch that's your sister?" Stacie asked.

Everyone was stunned at this revelation.

"What?" Aubrey asked shocked.

"You heard me yeah I have depression and your sister made it ten times worse, but guess who was the only person that knew and the only person there by my side 24/7? The only person who gave a dam to the point where she wouldn't even sleep at times watching over me? Take a guess." Stacie said.

Everyone kept their mouth shut not knowing what to say.

"Exactly. Goes to show how much you really know about Beca and myself! The same girl that you constantly talk down upon has more of a heart then all of you combined. If it wasn't for that beautiful soul, then I wouldn't even be here." Stacie said as tears stared falling down her cheeks.

"Stace, we didn't know about any of that." Chloe said quietly feeling a regretful.

"Of course, you didn't, why would I tell anyone when that always makes stuff worse. I've already gone through enough hell as it is, I don't need anymore. I learned my lesson thanks to her sister." Stacie said as she pointed towards Aubrey "And to answer your question, my grandfather passed two days ago and Beca has been keeping an eye on me like always." Stacie said as tears were still falling down her cheeks.

The girls were absolutely speechless. The more Stacie said the sorrier they felt.

"We're sorry to hear that." Aubrey said

"Save it Posen." Stacie said as she stormed to her room and grabbed some shoes and a hoodie. She unplugged her phone and shoved it in her bag as she made her way to the front door.

"Where are you going?" CR asked.

"Away from here. I need to clear my mind." Stacie said wiping at the tears on her cheeks.

As she slammed the front door the girls were left speechless.

"I can't believe it." Chloe said sadly.

The rest of the girls nodded in agreement.

"We all owe Beca a huge apology." CR said.

All the girls once again nodded in agreement.

An hour and a half later Beca had just finished at her dads when she texted Stacie that she was leaving. The taller girl still hasn't answered her previous text when she arrived, but she figured Stacie either fell asleep or just wasn't in the mood to talk. She walked back to Bellas house reluctantly as she really wasn't in the mood to deal with the girls. She swears she only stays there because of Stacie and if she had to admit it Emily, Jessica and Amy were a blast to be around as well. She made it back about twenty minutes later and entered the house.

She noticed that the girls were still in the kitchen, and all looked her way. Beca just ignored them and made her way up the stairs intending on checking to see how Stacie was.

"She's not here." Chloe announced as Beca walked up the first step.

This caused Beca to freeze and snap her head towards the red head "What do you mean she's not here?" She asked sternly.

Chloe sighed and recapped everything that Stacie had said after she left.

"Did she say where?" Beca asked.

"She said she needed to clear her mind and get away from here." CR answered.

"Is Jess here?" She asked looking towards Ashley.

"Yeah, in our room why?" She asked back.

"I need to borrow her car." Beca answered making her way to Jessica and Ashley's room.

"Hey, Jess I really need to borrow your car, it's urgent." Beca said walking in.

"Stacie?" Jessica asked knowingly.

Beca nodded "Yes."

Jessica smiled and tossed her the keys "I heard. Don't worry about the gas, just get Stacie back safely."

Beca nodded and said a quick thanks before rushing towards the door.

"Beca wait!" Chloe shouted.

"What?" Beca said with her hand on the knob.

"We just wanted to apologize for everything. Like I said Stacie told us about everything, literally everything and we are sorry for always saying the things we do and looking at you the way we did." Chloe said apologetically.

Beca nodded "Thanks I guess but I got more important things to worry about." She said just wanting to get to Stacie.

"You even know where you're going?" Ashley asked.

"There's only place she would go if she's feeling like this and wants to get away." Beca said with a sigh as she opened the door and closed it before making her way towards Jessica's KIA Optima. She quickly started and made her towards Stacie's location. Beca knew one spot that Stacie would always go to as it brought back memories that would always make her happy. A place where her grandfather would always take her as a kid and a place, she'd always bring Beca to for their hangouts when they were in high school and wanted a fun night out.

After a thirty-minute drive she pulled up to a place called "Clankers". It was a place that was a jack of all boxes to say the least. It had an arcade, glow in the dark mini-golf, go-kart racing, a bowling alley and a restaurant. This place was always a go to for Stacie and Beca to this day. She found an empty parking spot and got out the car making her way to the entrance. She walked up to the front desk where you'd pay for whatever you wanted to do in order to get the wristbands. She saw that one of the employees that knew Stacie and Beca extremely well was working so she made her way towards her side.

"Hey Kass." Beca smiled.

"OMG Beca hey girl, haven't seen you in a while." Kass smiled back.

"Been busy with all these stupid practices and classes." Beca said as she got out her wallet.

"I hear you girl so what's up?" Kass asked.

"Have you seen Stacie?" Beca asked.

Kass nodded "Yeah she got here like 40 minutes or so ago. Weird that you two weren't together."

"Yeah, some shit happened with the other girls while I was at my dad's. You remember what she paid for?" Beca responded.

Kass chuckled "The usual. She did seem pretty down."

"Yeah, that's kind of why I'm here, she stormed out while I was gone. Just charge me for the usual I guess." Beca said handing her the card.

Kass simply pushed her hand back "Don't sweat it, just make sure our girl is alright." She said handing Beca a neon pink wristband you get when you pay for all the activities.

Beca smiled "Thank you so much, I'll talk with you before we leave." She spoke.

"You better short one." Kass laughed.

Beca quickly made her way towards the entrance and stopped as she looked form side to side knowing that Stacie tended to usually make her way through all the activities depending on which one had the shorter line. She knew that Stacie had been here a while, so she likely had done a couple of things, so she scanned which activity currently had the smaller line figuring that's where she'd be. She noticed that the arcade appeared to be the emptiest, so she made her way inside the light up arcade room. She went directly to Stacie's and her favorite game to play, "Survive the night" which was a horror survival game where you had to survive the night in a haunted forest.

As she was walking towards the game, she noticed that there was someone in line wearing a black and silver Oakland Raiders hoodie. A hoodie that looked very similar to the one Stacie always stole from her. She smiled and walked next to the person.

"Gave me quite the worry there Conrad." Beca said standing next to her.

Stacie didn't even look her way she just kept staring at the game.

"I'm sorry." She said sadly.

Beca looked over towards her and grabbed her hand gently "Hey look at me." She said softly.

Stacie slightly tilted her head and looked her in eyes.

"I'm proud of you, I know it's not easy for you to tell people about everything, but I really am proud of you. Also thank you for sticking up for me, I appreciate that." Beca smiled.

Stacie cracked a small smile "I'm just tired of people assuming things."

Beca shrugged "It'll always be like that." She said before pointing at the game "Now let's see if we can beat our time."

Stacie smiled "Deal."

After spending an hour in the arcade room, the two sat down at the restaurant and ordered some food.

"You know has odd as this may sound considering everything that's happened, this is actually the happiest I've been in a while." Stacie said with a smile bitting down on a cheese stick.

"Hearing that makes me happy. This place always seems to do just the trick." Beca said.

"You do just the trick to you know." Stacie said.

"I try." Beca smirked.

"I'm serious Becs, you're my lifeline. I honestly have no idea what would have happened to me if you weren't always by my side making sure I'm good. Without you I wouldn't be able to function." Stacie said.

Beca smiled and held her hand "And I'll continue to do just that. I need you just as much as you need me."

Stacie held out her cup "To being each other's lifeline."