"You know, you're supposed to bring me to your place at the end of the date," Stacie noted, leaning against the door jamb, watching Aubrey search her purse for the keys to her temporary living abode, the company-issued apartment she was staying in while she was in Philadelphia. "Not before."

Aubrey gave her a weary glance. "Those of us issued a company laptop have to sign five pages worth of extra security policies, so you just shush over there, intern."

Stacie rolled her eyes even as she laughed. "Five pages?"

"All the many ways you can say 'I solemnly swear I will not look for porn and send or download illegal files using my company computer'." Aubrey informed her, breathing a sigh of relief when she found her keys. She opened the door, and gestured Stacie inside. "Welcome to my crib."

Short of entering the room, Stacie stopped abruptly, and turned to face Aubrey. She shook her head solemnly. "Don't ever say that again."

"No?"

Stacie shook her head.

Aubrey pouted, and motioned for Stacie to continue inside. She closed the door behind them.

"It's…" Stacie glanced around the cream-colored room and its generic décor, the lack of personal touches. She glanced at Aubrey, who was stowing the laptop into a safe inside one of the cabinets, and shrugged. "Bare?"

"It's very spartan, I know. Living allowance doesn't cover interior design, unfortunately." Aubrey informed her, once she'd locked the safe and returned to a standing position. She pointed at the couch, the back of which Stacie was leaning against. "But that couch is really comfortable."

Stacie ignored the statement, opting instead to cross her arms, bringing up a topic they had been discussing before they made their detour. "You made reservations at a restaurant within walking distance of the office?"

"It came highly recommended."

"The people you talk to at work are either married, or middle-aged single men and women who don't date." Stacie remarked.

"You don't know that." Aubrey defended, although the assumption was probably true. "And I got it off Yelp."

"I'm sure Yelp's clientele would be glad you take their recommendations seriously." Stacie said, deadpan. "But have you forgotten our power dynamics, here?"

Aubrey paused, confused. "I'm not really into—"

"We're coworkers." Stacie reminded.

"Oh, is this because you're an intern?"

"Because you're Oversight!" Stacie reminded. "I looked at the org chart, and maybe we're not on the same chain of command, but your boss is in charge of pretty much anything that's not Marketing or Sales, so technically, you're kind of my boss."

"No I'm not." Aubrey scoffed. "We're not even in the same company."

"Aubrey!"

"Stacie." Aubrey returned, much more calmly than Stacie would have liked. "I told you: I can work around the chain of command."

"What, because you help make up the rules, you can just break them?" Stacie asked wearily.

"Partly." Aubrey admitted, but quickly added: "No rule breaking necessary, I promise."

Stacie eyed her skeptically.

"Come on," Aubrey motioned to herself. "Look at who you're talking to."

"Being a stickler for rules doesn't make you above and beyond them." Stacie reminded.

Aubrey shrugged, acquiescing to Stacie's point, but explained her standpoint. "We don't fall under the same hierarchy. Parent company or not, our positions and departments are so far removed structurally the only way it will become an issue is if you sue me for harassment, which—"

"Don't?" Stacie guessed, smiling despite herself.

"Please don't." Aubrey nodded. "And what I'm really doing is reviewing the documentation process, not spearheading the documentation project you're a part of. I don't even need to be aware that your team's way behind schedule on completing the project."

"And you know all this for a fact?"

"That you're delayed, or the fact that we can date without repercussions?"

Stacie smirked. "So we're officially dating, now?"

Aubrey gave her a wry look. "You told me to look at the rules. I did. I scoured the employee code for every loophole."

"The lengths one would go through just to get laid," Stacie observed, amused.

"I usually prefer dinner and dancing, but you obviously have a higher standard." Aubrey noted dryly.

"Dinner and dancing are so passé," Stacie quipped, taking hold of Aubrey by her waist and pulled her closer. "You know I'm a sure thing, right?"

"Can't really say," Aubrey replied, gliding her hands up Stacie's arms to rest on her shoulders. "You were pretty adamant about skipping out on sex if it was against company policy."

"No, I was skipping out on sex more than once, if it was against company policy." Stacie corrected.

"Well, it isn't." Aubrey reminded. She smiled weakly. "Hooray."

"Yay." Stacie grinned. "Which brings us to our next order of business."

"Seriously: dinner and dancing." Aubrey insisted.

Stacie rolled her eyes. "The post-date kiss."

"What happened to being a sure thing?" Aubrey questioned curiously.

Stacie groaned in exasperation. "Why are you so difficult."

"I had to ask permission from my boss to date an intern, okay, and I'm pretty sure she's still going to be laughing at my annual performance review in a few months." Aubrey said defensively.

Stacie paused, and looked at Aubrey in concern. "You told your boss?"

Aubrey nodded in resignation. "We're clear on company policy, but it's still ethically questionable. I'm going to need someone on my back, just in case."

"And what did she say?" Stacie asked.

"Other than laughing?" Aubrey returned. She shook her head and pouted. "She told me I should make you sign a waiver."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Stacie rolled her eyes again, but pulled Aubrey closer to give her a hug, because she knew from experience – and from generally being acquainted with Aubrey – that the blonde hated having to reveal more than she thought necessary, especially regarding her personal business. "I'm sorry."

Aubrey relaxed into the embrace, wrapping her arms around Stacie's neck. She exhaled. "It's the job."

They stood there for a long moment, letting the whole matter of Aubrey's admission sink in, because they both knew that that made things a little more real, now. It wasn't just a mild flirtation between friends, or picking up where they had once left off, or the thrill of a possibly-illicit tryst between coworkers.

And Stacie once again made the effort to cut through the tension. "Now, about that kiss…"

With a long-suffering sigh of exasperation, Aubrey pulled back to look at Stacie, who immediately covered the gap between them to cut off whatever Aubrey was about to say.

The move was opportunistic, almost aggressive, but the kiss itself was gentle, Stacie quickly tempering her impulsive move with a languid patience she did not entirely feel. Stacie loosened her arms around Aubrey, her hands drifting down to hold the other girl by the small of her back, keeping her in place but not pushing for closer contact, taking the moment to revel in being able to do this again, of once again being this close to Aubrey.

Stacie gently eased off the kiss, pulling back with an expression that betrayed exactly how infinitely pleased she was with herself, and looked up at Aubrey with an amused smile. "You were about to say-?"

Aubrey huffed out an exasperated breath, before cupping the back of Stacie's head to pull her back in, their lips meeting eagerly.

The kiss was more forceful, intense, wanting more and never quite getting enough. It was impatient, and needy, and almost desperate in the way neither of them would relinquish control of the kiss. Aubrey pulled Stacie in closer, while Stacie's hands tightened their grip on the back of Aubrey's top.

Stacie broke the kiss, pressing her forehead to Aubrey's, their lips barely a breath apart. Panting harshly, Stacie spoke, with her lips just barely brushing against Aubrey's. "I'm not gonna lie: that kind of controlling behavior makes me feel kinda torn about the fact that you're not my boss."

Aubrey had to smile, pecking Stacie's lips again. "Funny, because I remember that you hate me when I'm bossy."

"Still kind of a turn on," Stacie admitted.

"I do like the control," Aubrey confessed, once more sharing a quick kiss with the other girl. "Still want to question my attention to detail?"

"Your attention to detail is pretty hot," Stacie agreed, grazing her lips against Aubrey's briefly before moving down to press her lips against Aubrey's clavicle, slowly tracing kisses up her neck to her pulse point, before whispering into the blonde's ear, "but I was really looking forward to sleeping with the boss."

"Sorry to disappoint." Aubrey murmured, cupping Stacie's cheek to turn her head and brush their lips together once more.

After a series of light, playful kisses, Stacie grinned into their kiss. "Never a disappointment."

"Good to know."

"But I'm still gonna say I banged my boss."

Aubrey groaned, which had nothing to do with her desire, and pulled back to create enough distance for her to give Stacie a stern look. "Seriously, I'm not your-"

Stacie returned Aubrey's look with one of her own. "Saying I banged a member of the Oversight Committee doesn't have the same ring to it."

Aubrey conceded that point. But still. She forced down every bit of her that wanted to abandon the topic and just go right back to the kissing, and tried to get her point across. "Stacie, seriously, you can't go around saying you banged your boss."

Stacie lifted an eyebrow. "HR?"

Aubrey nodded.

"What, will Oversight try and come after me?" Stacie asked innocently. "'Cause I know I can make at least one of them come before me."

Aubrey groaned in exasperation. "Stacie."

"Fine." Stacie gave out an exaggerated sigh. "I guess that means I can't post on social media how much fun it is to top the woman on top?"

"I'm hardly the—"

Stacie grinned wickedly, making Aubrey stop abruptly.

"That's not…" Aubrey frowned.

"You like being on top. Admit it." Stacie reminded. "Because I totally recall you—"

"Yes, fine." Aubrey cut her off, shaking her head. "But don't go around telling people you're sleeping with a coworker; I'm still middle management and you're still an intern. My boss has my back, but HR still tends to frown at that kind of thing."

"Aww, do they pout and look adorable trying to be disapproving?" Stacie teased.

Aubrey rolled her eyes, knowing just who exactly Stacie was implicating. "No, that's Oversight."

Stacie laughed, and motioned her head in the direction of the couch behind her. "So just how comfy is this couch, Aubrey?"

"Our reservation's for seven-thirty." Aubrey warned, even as she allowed Stacie to lead her around the couch so they could sit on it together, side by side and facing each other.

Stacie made a dismissive sound, closing the distance between them on the couch. "It's early. And the place is what, a fifteen-minute walk away?" She cracked a mischievous grin. "I can think of more productive ways to spend that time."

Aubrey tried valiantly to resist, even as her traitorous hands reacquainted themselves with Stacie's body, drawing the dark-haired girl closer. She still made a token protest: "We're gonna miss our reservation."

"No we won't."

Two hours later, naked and taking a breather from having thoroughly tested just how comfortable the couch was, it was impossible to deny one simple fact: they had missed their reservation.

And Stacie, champion of getting off and getting dressed, turned to the woman on the couch beside her and broke one of her cardinal rules when it came to sex. "What are you thinking?"

Aubrey, who lay partly on top of Stacie and had been idly tracing patterns on Stacie's collarbone, looked up at the younger woman. "We missed our reservation."

Stacie rolled her eyes. "Yeah."

Whatever Aubrey was about to say next got lost when Stacie's stomach rumbled. Loudly. Loud enough to startle both girls. Stacie grabbed one of the couch's throw pillows and tried to hide her face under it while Aubrey started giggling. "Guess we shouldn't have missed that reservation."

"Oh my God, ignore that." Stacie groaned, mortified.

"Pretty hard to ignore," Aubrey laughed.

"I only had a light lunch." Stacie reasoned. She had gone to the office cafeteria with her fellow interns and only had a salad, which could have used a lot of improvement. She'll admit, she had idly wondered during lunch if complaining to a representative from Oversight about the salad would help. "So yeah, I'm hungry."

"Obviously."

Stacie lightly smacked Aubrey's shoulder with her hand. "Hey, don't make fun of the girl willing to have sex with you."

"Yeah, but apparently she's a sure thing." Aubrey teased, earning herself another swat. Laughing, Aubrey lifted herself up, resting on her elbows on either side of Stacie and pulling the pillow from Stacie's face. "You know, if we were in New York, I'd know where to go for a late dinner."

"Lucky for you, around here, I do." Stacie replied. "But we have a problem."

Aubrey sighed in resignation. "Leaving the couch?"

"And clothes."

They looked at each other, trying to gauge just how essential food was for them at the moment, silently debating if it was important enough to leave their current positions for.

The last time this happened, they had the luxury of room service.

Aubrey groaned, and reluctantly pushed herself off Stacie to start gathering her clothes. "Next time, we're stocking up."

"Bright side," Stacie offered, taking her blouse that Aubrey handed her but not putting it on, "we'll have more carbs to burn."

Aubrey hummed in agreement.

Stacie watched Aubrey run her fingers through her hair, trying to get it back to a semblance of normalcy, blouse half-buttoned and skirt askew, looking deliciously debauched, and made an executive decision. "They deliver."

Aubrey laughed and turned back to her, already starting to discard her top. "Oh thank God."

It took them another half-hour to make the call, and occupied the time waiting for the food to arrive the same way they had missed their reservation, before finally separating long enough to eat dinner and keep the dishes afterwards. They somehow finally end up in bed, continuing what they had started on the couch, and Stacie won't deny that the part of her that still worried about the complexity of sleeping with a coworker also got off on having sex with said coworker on a bed in a company-issued apartment, and might have been a bit over-enthusiastic because of it.

She will say this: all that cardio Aubrey insisted the Bellas do? Really beneficial.

Sated and exhausted, the two women lay on the bed, Stacie on her stomach, relishing the cool sheets that was obviously covered by Aubrey's living allowance, enjoying the softness of the fabric on her cheek and its coolness a comfort to her sweat-slicked and overheated body, and glanced to her side, where Aubrey was gazing at the ceiling, her expression unreadable. "If you look that perplexed, I must've done something extremely kinky." She teased with as much humor as she could, given how merely speaking was an effort.

Aubrey slowly blinked, before she turned her head to face Stacie. "I have a conference call at seven."

Not among the list of things Stacie had thought Aubrey would say. And, had she seriously been thinking about work in the afterglow?

Aubrey went on to elaborate, ignorant of Stacie's thoughts. "The internet here is worthless, so I'll have to go to the office. It's a client conference, so I'm not really expected to contribute, but who knows how long it will last – do I want to have just coffee, or should I have breakfast, too? Because if I have breakfast, that means I would have eaten, and not you, and you obviously like to get fed after sex, but by the time the call is over it'll be closer to lunch, and none of the places around here serve a decent brunch menu. If we have breakfast before my call, that'll be, what, five-thirty? What kind of monster wakes you up after sex that amazing at five-thirty AM? So, again: brunch. I could cook, but I don't really have anything in the fridge but leftovers, and if I had eggs, I could cook you breakfast. But I don't, so I can't, and I don't want to drive you home on an empty stomach and-" the rest of the tirade got lost in Stacie's mouth, having covered Aubrey's once it had been established that the point of focus of Aubrey's train of thought had been feeding Stacie in the morning and not, in fact, work-related.

But that last effort of covering the distance between herself and Aubrey had expended all of Stacie's energy, and Aubrey wasn't much better, which prevented them from escalating things further.

In the end, Aubrey had to break the kiss to turn and turn off her bedside lamp, but not before checking her phone to make sure she'd set an alarm.

Stacie curled up against Aubrey, who wrapped her arms around her.

They don't mention it, but they really shouldn't be thinking about how perfectly they fit together.