A/N: Thank you for the reviews and kind words of concern last time. I'm feeling better now, thank you.

Just to avoid confusion, we're picking back up on present time.

Read. Enjoy.

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"I'll be honest," Aubrey confessed that night, leaning closer to Stacie to be heard over the noise of the bar, "I was hoping for someplace a little more quiet."

They were in what looked to Aubrey to be a sports bar, with the flat-screen TVs that were all over the room, playing the different games happening that evening; and judging by the reactions of the people watching, not one of their teams was winning that night. She and Stacie were seated at a corner of the bar, away from the main group of barflies, a bottle of beer each - thanks to Aubrey's ID and Stacie's charm - and Stacie had ordered them the taco special, which was apparently a DIY approach to taco assembly, the various filling ingredients served in bowls on a tray with mini-tortilla wraps. It was most decidedly not Aubrey's usual dinner fare.

Stacie grinned at her. "We're too comfortable when it's quiet." Their entire friendship was based on comfortable silences, after all. "This way you're tense."

"You want me to be tense?" Aubrey asked, curious.

"I want you to enjoy the food, not try to get into my pants." Stacie answered, pushing the tray of taco filling towards Aubrey.

"Not to nitpick, but you're wearing a skirt."

"So your job's already half-done." Stacie teased. "Eat. I promise it's delicious."

Aubrey pouted at her, but nonetheless picked up one of the small tortillas they had been served, and began to put together the soft taco. "How do you even know about this place, anyway?"

"I used to go out with someone who used to work the bar." Stacie replied, picking up her own tortilla. "The beer on tap sucks, but the salsa's awesome."

Aubrey paused, doing the math, before she concluded, "You were underage."

Stacie grinned at her. "Why do you think was I dating a bartender?"

Aubrey gave her a look. "You were underage. In fact, you're underage to be drinking right now."

"And you're out having dinner with an intern, so you're really in no place to judge, Ms. Posen." Stacie retorted, giving Aubrey a flirtatious wink.

Aubrey rolled her eyes, finished her taco assembly, and took a bite from the finished product.

Stacie watched her for a moment, enjoying the look of delight in Aubrey's face when her assertion of the greatness of the salsa lived up to expectations. She grabbed the hot sauce, and practically poured it over her own taco. She glanced at Aubrey and asked, "How did you end up in Philly?"

Aubrey, who had just taken a second bite of her taco, shot her a glare as she finished chewing, and finally swallowed. "The Pennsylvania office has been overdue for a review for a while. My boss has a conference and meetings over the next two weeks, and this was better than sitting in a room debating new and existing protocols, so..." She watched curiously as Stacie took a bite of her own taco, and frowned. "Does the hot sauce not bother you?"

"I've had hotter things in my mouth." Stacie replied, grinning.

"You're impossible."

"And you're easy."

Aubrey rolled her eyes instead of making a snappy rejoinder, finishing her first tortilla and taking a sip of her beer.

"I'll admit, though, never thought I'd ever see you in my town." Stacie noted.

"Yeah, I could tell." Aubrey replied. When Stacie gave her a questioning look, she explained. "You looked like you'd seen a ghost when we were in the elevator this morning."

"I thought your voice was kinda familiar, but why would I think 'Aubrey's here'?" Stacie returned. "You're supposed to be in Chicago."

Aubrey shook her head. "Pretty sure I've mentioned I travel a lot for my job."

"You never told me - or anyone, I think - what company you work for."

Aubrey paused, and frowned at Stacie. "No?"

Stacie shook her head.

Aubrey smiled weakly. "So, funny story, I work for-"

Stacie laughed, and playfully hit her arm. "Too late, I've found you out. But I'm gonna remember this and hold it against you for a long time to come."

"Fair enough." Aubrey obliged. She popped a small square of cheese into her mouth. "Why an internship?"

Stacie told her about Denise's breakdown about career prospects, and added, "I applied for R&D, but I guess looking at documents was the only thing interns are allowed to do."

"Why not try other companies?"

"Yeah…" Stacie drawled, "I just applied to this one, since it's the only research company near my home."

"Fair." Aubrey acknowledged. "But why research?"

"The company takes research from existing Science IPs and incorporates them into their projects. I wanted to learn about that." Stacie explained. When Aubrey tilted her head to the side inquisitively, Stacie went on, "I've finished most of my basics, and I'm really gonna have to choose a major and concentration this year, I can't mess around with every Science subject I can get anymore."

Aubrey nodded in understanding, but had to add, "Yeah, but you can still audit."

Stacie furrowed her brow, puzzled.

"Ask a professor to attend and take a class, but don't get credit for it until you're officially enrolled in it." Aubrey explained. "I have a lot of uncredited Math Theory classes that didn't fit in my curriculum."

Stacie stared at her for a long moment, before she shook her head, and rolled her eyes. "I keep forgetting you weren't just Bella captain and actually attended four years at Barden. Do I need permission from the dean to do that?"

"Not typically. Just the professors whose class you want to sit in. You're pretty much taking the class without getting graded for it, so you'll still have to pay fees and stuff." Aubrey noted. She finished preparing another tortilla, "Of course, if they go on sabbatical when you actually enroll in the subject, it'll be up to your actual professor if they want to consider the grade you got before."

"Does Chloe know about this, because she's never said a word." Stacie complained.

Aubrey popped a lettuce into her mouth, chewing and swallowing before she asked, "With your exception, have the others chosen majors yet?"

"Mostly. I think Ashley's still trying to decide between Psych and Sociology. And Beca just declared her major in Music Production. Because that's apparently a real thing." Stacie said dryly.

Aubrey laughed. "Have they gotten to the part where they explain that mashups won't qualify for her final thesis?"

Stacie's eyes lit up. "What? No. That's not- no. Really?"

Aubrey nodded.

"That's going to rock her world."

"Catch it on video." Aubrey told her.

Stacie nodded, before she paused in thought. "I kind of want you to tell her."

"She won't believe me."

"All the better." Stacie laughed, then stopped abruptly to berate herself. "I'm laughing, but oh my God that's awful for Beca. How do you even know that?"

Aubrey shrugged. "I dated someone in Music, once. He kept complaining about why they had to come up with an original composition when Glee is raking in millions making awful mashups and bad covers for good songs."

Stacie laughed. "What, did he stop believin'?"

"Dear God, that song." Aubrey groaned.

"Oh no, did you stop believin'?" Stacie asked in mock-sympathy.

"That's not how show choir is!" Aubrey protested.

Stacie gasped, and stared at her. Slowly, she began to grin. "Were you in glee?"

"I was in Choir, and we competed in choral contests."

Stacie didn't let up, her entire face buoyed by her grin. "You were in show choir?"

"I was in choral-" Aubrey frowned at Stacie, who was practically choking on her food in laughter. "It's not that funny."

Stacie shook her head, belying Aubrey's statement, placing her hand on Aubrey's arm as she bent over to try and curb her amusement. Aubrey rolled her eyes, and returned to her meal, opting to ignore her friend, who was practically falling off her seat in laughter.

"Oh my God." Stacie gasped, a little later, finally regaining some composure as she sat back up on her seat. Her uncontrollable grin still threatened to split her face in two, however. "Oh my God. I haven't laughed like that in so long. See, this is why I've missed you."

Aubrey cast her a sidelong glance. "Are you done?"

"Not even close." Stacie giggled. She picked up her beer. "You know this means I'm going to make Glee puns about you now, right?"

"Do it, and I'm going to have to make fun of you for knowing enough about Glee to make puns." Aubrey returned.

Stacie's grin faded, because... touché. She bit her lip, and ultimately offered, "truce?"

Aubrey, who had taken a sip of her beer, held out her bottle to Stacie, who tapped it with her own.

They spent the rest of the night talking, catching up on their individual lives and those of their friends, as well as discussing completely random topics that came up. They spoke with ease, comfortable with each other, both eager to tell the other things, as well as wanting to listen and know everything and anything that the other wanted to say. It was a conversation they were both unwilling to end prematurely, except they both had to go to work the next day. When they were done, with Aubrey picking up the tab, they stood together outside the bar to say goodbye.

Aubrey glanced at her watch, and grimaced. "I didn't realize it had gotten so late."

Stacie glanced behind her at the bar, which had halved its population in the time they had been sitting, eating and talking, also not having realized how much time had passed while they were inside. She turned back to Aubrey, and shrugged. "It's fine."

Aubrey frowned as she regarded Stacie. "Are you sure it's safe for you to take the bus home? They gave me a car while I'm here, I can drive you."

"It's fine," Stacie repeated, and waved off her concern. "I live here, remember? And I don't want you driving in unfamiliar streets at night, even with GPS. I'll show you where I live when it's daytime."

Aubrey still looked doubtful, but couldn't refute Stacie's points. "And the bus will take you straight to your house?"

"Around the corner." Stacie admitted. She smiled at Aubrey. "I'll be fine, I promise."

"Text me when you get home." Aubrey told her.

Stacie gave her a wry look, but nodded. She motioned over her shoulder. "Walk me to my stop?"

Aubrey nodded, falling into step with the other girl as they headed to the corner to wait for Stacie's bus.

"What about you? Where are you staying?"

"Apartment around the block from the office." Aubrey informed, pointing ahead in the direction of their office building, which could be seen from their current location.

"Must be good to be the boss."

Aubrey groaned. "I'm not-"

Stacie laughed. "I'm kidding. It's just weird, the fact that you're officially a visiting executive."

Aubrey made a face. "I know. It's still weird to me, too. I have an actual office here. I usually have to share a cube with someone."

"It's a nice office, though." Stacie pointed out. "I'm sure the view's awesome."

Aubrey frowned. "It's Philadelphia."

"Also sure I'm not talking about what's outside the window."

Aubrey glanced at her.

Stacie met her gaze, the tension that had lingered between them when they had first encountered each other in the elevator returning full force now that it was just the two of them again, and the undercurrent of everything that tension entailed making itself known once more.

Aubrey looked away, and exhaled. They didn't even need to say the problem out loud, as they had hashed and rehashed the same topic in passing before, and the circumstances hadn't changed: Aubrey was no longer tied to Georgia, and Stacie still had two years of college to attend in Barden. And they were still not the best people when it came to handling relationships, especially a long-distance one.

They continued the walk to the stop in silence, Stacie willing to be patient and Aubrey deep in thought, until they got to the corner just as a bus neared, ending their night.

Finally, Aubrey asked hopefully: "Dinner on Friday?"

Stacie glanced at her.

Aubrey offered a faint smile. "It's not a 'sober enough' confession in the middle of the night, or a last goodbye in a hotel room." She shrugged. "Third date's the charm, right? We've never really... We should have a second date."

Stacie quirked an eyebrow. "This was a date?"

"Or a first." Aubrey quickly amended.

Stacie laughed, and shook her head. "You're a dork, why do I even like you so much. Friday. You can drive me home after."

Aubrey furrowed her brow.

"During daytime." Stacie clarified, and spelled it out for the blonde without actually explicitly stating what she meant. "After."

Mercifully the bus came to a stop and opened its doors, forcing them to break their stare, and Stacie climbed aboard dutifully.

Aubrey waited until the bus left, before she exhaled a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. She glanced up at the night sky, and wondered, not for the first time, just what the hell was going on between her and Stacie. And, more importantly, just what they really wanted it to be.