Stacie prided herself for her spontaneity, her ability to go with the flow and make any adjustments to make the most out of any situation; and there had been a time in her life where sticking to a rigid schedule would have made her hesitate and just drop the whole thing. And for all of Aubrey's efforts to slow things down, including the absence of any kind of communication between herself and Stacie for the first few weeks of the new school year, things pretty much escalated from that first phone call the night of riff-offs, leading up to Stacie's trip to Birmingham to see her.

The next time Stacie met up with Aubrey was in Nashville, a few weeks later, and because Beca and Chloe still bickered like a married couple too stubborn to file for a divorce (and she would know), Stacie had barely provided her friends with an excuse for her leaving, and just told Cynthia-Rose and Denise that she had business out of town and the two of them hadn't even bothered to ask questions.

After that was Columbus, where Aubrey spent more time arguing on her phone than entertaining Stacie, but that was how they learned that Stacie found Aubrey's authoritative side very attractive, as long as the yelling was directed somewhere else, so it hadn't been an entirely wasted weekend.

It wasn't the most ideal of situations, and the fact that Stacie had to lie by omission to her friends just to be able to go on those trips was enough evidence against the whole thing, but by some strange twist of fate, it just worked. They just worked.

It helped, obviously, that she and Aubrey didn't talk about their relationship, or that neither of them asked for more than their scheduled rendezvous; Aubrey didn't always ask Stacie to make the trip even when she was within travelling distance, and Stacie didn't always agree to go just because Aubrey was nearby. It was a relationship borne out of convenience, and they meet, they have a good time, and they part ways with only a promise to keep in touch and hope for a next time.

They now called each other fairly often, and over time, they both become blissfully unaware that they had developed a schedule for their phone calls, removing the possibility that one or the other would be too busy to make or take the call. Stacie called on Tuesday nights after the worst of her lab classes, with a professor who seemed to loathe her very being for reasons unspecified, and talking to Aubrey helped remind her that there was someone in the world who found her impressive and fascinating, and Aubrey had become someone she can just complain to, and not have her complaints rationalized, because Aubrey knew that sometimes holding one's opinions back had its own value, and Aubrey also didn't have the time or patience to figure out why someone was obviously committing a serious error in judgment by disliking Stacie Conrad; but nonetheless insisted that Stacie should keep a record of the professor's obvious bias.

On Stacie's part, she allotted Thursday nights to listen to Aubrey complain about her week and the inevitable Friday night social events that she still needed to show up at because her friends insist. Aubrey had been picking and choosing which friends she wanted to keep, and telling Stacie about how she felt about certain people helped enlighten her on whether or not she wanted to keep them in her life. And in its own way, the exercise also provided Stacie some comfort that she had some vague idea of who were in Aubrey's life, the people she called her friends, and was reassured that Aubrey wasn't adding to her list of names and dates.

To a casual observer, it held a lot of the markers of a relationship, but both women would balk at such a suggestion and vehemently deny it.

It's not that they weren't aware of the irony, it was simply a matter of choosing to live in ignorance and denial, especially since they both knew, given their luck and track records, their ignorant bliss came with a timer.

Aubrey knew that letting things get so far so fast could only lead to trouble, especially since she was one half of the relationship, and for all of Stacie's bravado, Aubrey could tell the very idea of an official relationship freaked Stacie out. But Aubrey had learned a few things, during her self-imposed exile from the Barden Bellas, and the truth of the matter was that she would rather be in relationship limbo with Stacie Conrad than pining for the girl while distracting herself with other people, as she had during the past year.

It was why she found herself in Georgia on Halloween night, sitting under one of the tents at a public event, checking on the status of an ongoing negotiation deal she had just left behind in Florida, having been replaced by someone higher up in the figurative Oversight food chain and enough clout with their boss and the rest of the board to negotiate beyond the previously-decided figures. In an exchange that totally worked in Aubrey's favor, she had been instructed to travel to Georgia for an event that the company was sponsoring, in a thinly-veiled attempt at recruiting soon-to-be-graduates from Georgia Tech.

In a pleasant surprise, one of the managers from their local office was someone she'd known from Barden, so despite having to work that weekend, she had a friendly face to deal with.

And she needed the preoccupation, because since her trip to Georgia was made at the last minute, she hadn't been able to make plans with Stacie, whose Halloween night was pretty much filled up by the parties she would be attending with the rest of the Barden Bellas. The last time they had spoken, Stacie had been telling her that the Arts and Drama group had started an annual event of hosting a haunted house party every Halloween, and had sounded excited about the prospect of what the group would be doing this year. So catching up with Dave at the scavenger hunt was a very welcome distraction, one she hoped would be enough to prevent her from making the trip to Barden to see Stacie and making a mess of their carefully-crafted not-quite relationship.

However.

Best-laid plans, and everything.

Aubrey was on her way back to the booth where she and Dave were with the technical team assigned to keep track of each team's progress, having momentarily gone to figure out where the facilities were ahead of the official start of the night's events, when a body pressed up behind her, and a very familiar voice whispered in her ear, "You're supposed to be in Florida."

"You're supposed to be at a haunted house party." Aubrey reminded, slowing her pace but not turning to greet Stacie, not knowing if Stacie had friends with her.

"My lab partner got an invitation from her boyfriend to join a scavenger hunt." Stacie answered. "And we know how much I love the hunt."

Aubrey's pace grew even slower. "So the Bellas-?"

"Are still in Barden."

Aubrey turned immediately, and easily captured Stacie's lips in a bruising kiss that was very nearly inappropriate for such a public place. Stacie, however, only responded eagerly, uncaring of the crowd, well aware that they were within proximity of a university in a college town, and if Aubrey had concerns about their surroundings, she wouldn't be so blasé with showing her affection.

Eventually, the kiss slowed, awareness of their surroundings seeping in, and Aubrey broke the kiss reluctantly. She gave Stacie one last quick kiss before taking a half step back to stop herself from kissing Stacie again. "Hi."

Stacie grinned at her. "I've missed you, too."

Aubrey smiled even as she shook her head in bemusement. "I think I just got you disqualified from the game."

Stacie faltered, her grin fading, because on one hand, she really liked scavenger hunts, but on the other hand, being ineligible to play meant spending time with Aubrey. "Worth it?"

"Top prize are gift cards to each team member, for use in almost every establishment in Atlanta." Aubrey told her flatly.

Stacie winced, because that was a good deal.

Aubrey nodded her agreement. "If I had known this existed when I was in school, I could be a scavenger hunt champion by now."

Stacie scoffed. "You wouldn't understand half the clues, and take them literally."

Aubrey opened her mouth to argue, but realized quickly that Stacie had a point. She frowned. "This is why I like Math."

"I thought you like Math because you like making money."

"I like making money because I like Math." Aubrey corrected.

Stacie scrutinized her. "You should like Math for the greater good."

Aubrey shrugged her shoulders. "My financial stability counts as a greater good."

"Baby, you're the greatest good there is." Stacie laughed, and squeezed Aubrey's hand, which she hadn't even realized she'd started holding at one point. She motioned over her shoulder at the giant poster announcing that night's scavenger hunt. "So do you like have any insider tips on how to win this game?"

Aubrey gasped in mock horror. "Are you asking for insider information?"

Stacie shrugged. "I literally used the word 'insider'."

"Oh my God, stick to academia or research, you'll be in court sooner than a subpoena can be served." Aubrey advised her. "And, I don't even know what's going on, I wasn't even supposed to be here."

What a convenient reminder. Stacie frowned at her. "Yeah, you said you were going to be stuck in Florida. So what are you doing here?"

Aubrey rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Negotiations went beyond my pay scale. We traded weekend duties."

Stacie's eyes sparkled with mischief and arousal. And when she next spoke, her voice was laced with lust. "You're here for the weekend?"

Aubrey bit her lower lip, holding back a whine, because she still had a job to do and Stacie's voice was making her reconsider the moral high ground. And her stance on public indecency. "Until Tuesday night, actually."

Stacie's eyebrow lifted curiously. "Five days?"

Aubrey shrugged. "I wasn't going to question their decisions."

Stacie pursed her lips thoughtfully, making Aubrey's gaze fall upon the taller girl's mouth before snapping back up. Stacie smirked at her obviousness. "We can do a lot in five days."

"There's a party after the hunt through the early morning, so actually more like four, and you have classes." Aubrey reminded.

"Skip the party."

"Ahh, no, because there'll be dancing and there's a gay boy I'm talking to who can dance with me if you won't."

"I can skip classes?" Stacie suggested meekly.

Aubrey gave her a skeptical look. "Two straight days?"

Stacie shrugged. "You'll have to go to work sometimes, too."

Aubrey laughed. "Thanks for considering my continued employment."

"According to you, I should stick to academia, and there's no money in teaching, and very few in research. You'll have to support my needs, Aubrey." Stacie reminded, grinning, something in her buoyed by Aubrey's lighthearted laughter.

"And what am I getting out of supporting your needs?"

"Constant sex?" Stacie offered.

"Good to know." Aubrey smiled back.

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the crackle of the PA system, making them and everyone else in the area pause for the public announcement that the game was about to start, and for its participants to gather with their registered groups.

Stacie turned back to Aubrey. "That's my cue."

"I'm with the technical team."

Stacie paused, frowning at her in confusion because she was pretty sure Aubrey was almost technologically-illiterate, but shrugged it off and gave her a quick kiss. "We'll pick this up later."

"I'll be waiting."

Stacie grinned, and kissed her again, before darting off to find her lab partner and her friends.

The next morning, Stacie was startled awake by her phone's incessant ringing, and frowned in confusion as she took in her unfamiliar surroundings. "What—"

And then she noticed the mess of blond hair in front of her, and she remembered. She took a moment to bask in the memory of the night before, and the early hours of morning, and how nice it was to fall asleep beside Aubrey. Laughing softly to herself, Stacie tightened her arms around Aubrey, and was answered with muted mumbling.

At which point her phone rang again.

"It's Saturday," Aubrey whined, reaching behind her to tap Stacie's face in what she was sure was supposed to be a gentle manner, but instead landed heavily. "Make it stop."

Stacie rolled her eyes and sat up, looking around Aubrey's hotel room for her phone. Guided by the stop and start of its ringing, she finally found it, and answered immediately. "What?"

"Oh good, you're okay." Was the first thing Denise, who was calling, said. And then, clearly not addressing Stacie, announced, "Guys, I got her. She's okay."

Stacie frowned. "Of course I'm okay. What are you talking about?"

"You didn't—hey!"

"Where are you?" Chloe demanded, clearly having grabbed Denise's phone from her. "Are you safe? Do you need bail money? A ride home? You're not talking, say 'what' if you're in trouble. Go."

"What?"

"I'm calling 911." Chloe declared, before there was another scuffle, and a shriek, and then Beca next came on the line.

"Let- go!"

And then there were more noises on Beca's end of the line, several voices yelling "Calm down!" or "Hold her down!" until finally there was an unmistakable Tasmanian holler, and another shriek, before things finally settled down enough for Beca to be heard again.

Beca sounded exhausted. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. What's going on?" Stacie asked, confused.

"You didn't come home last night, and when you didn't show up for rehearsals this morning, we got worried." Beca told her. They usually didn't have rehearsals on Saturdays, but in an attempt to appease Chloe about helping Jesse and the rest of The Treblemakers, Beca had agreed to extra rehearsals to keep the Bellas in top form. That Saturday was supposed to be the start of weekend rehearsals.

Stacie glanced at the time, and winced. "Sorry."

"But you're fine?"

"Yeah, I, uh…"

There was a hint of a smile in Beca's voice when she next spoke. "Got distracted?"

"You could say that, yeah."

"And you're cool?" Which encompassed every concern Beca thought herself to be too emotionally-withholding to actually voice out loud.

Stacie smiled. "Yeah. I'm fine. Sorry I missed rehearsals."

"You—"

Stacie shot the girl on the bed a glare, making Aubrey immediately shut up.

Beca laughed, clearly having heard the interruption but not recognizing the voice. "Nah, it was a jam session. You didn't miss anything."

"Thanks."

"So are we seeing you tonight, or are you gonna do an extra-special walk of shame?"

Stacie laughed, because she had missed Beca's attempts at downplaying her concern with seemingly-lighthearted questions. "Do we have practice tomorrow?"

"Dude, I'm trying to get the Saturdays to stop, don't remind her there could be Sundays, too."

Stacie laughed some more. "I'll take that as a no. And I'll be there Monday."

"Monday?" Beca echoed.

Stacie's gaze flicked to the bed, and smiled wickedly at the oblivious Aubrey, who was checking her own phone. "I'm gonna take someone to church."

If there was such a thing as an audible grimace, Beca did it. "Did not need to hear that."

"Make someone call out to God a couple of times."

"Don't-"

"And I'm not going to stop with missionary."

Beca abruptly hung up, making Stacie laugh, and tossed her phone back into her purse, before turning back to Aubrey, who lifted an eyebrow at her as she, too, set her own phone aside. "Yes, I forgot about rehearsals."

Aubrey raised her hands in surrender, watching expectantly as Stacie returned to the bed and crawled up its length towards her. "I wasn't going to ask."

"I know." Stacie said, hovering over Aubrey, and leaned in close for a kiss. Aubrey was about to lift her head to cover the gap when Stacie paused, and immediately sat back, regarding Aubrey thoughtfully. "You really don't."

Aubrey frowned, annoyed at having their kiss thwarted. "What?"

"You don't ask about the Bellas."

They stared at each other, the weight of that fact hanging between them.

"Why…" Stacie began to ask, reconsidered, then opened her mouth again.

Aubrey beat her to it. "Because if I start, I'll overstep."

Stacie gave her a confused look.

Aubrey sighed, and sat up against the wall, patting the space beside her for Stacie. Once Stacie joined her at the head of the bed, Aubrey started to explain. "Remember, what I said about needing to distance myself from the Bellas?"

Stacie nodded.

"I care about the Barden Bellas, even now. But just like last year's Regionals, I could have gone on berating all of you for weeks, months even, for not realizing there were nuns in the audience. But I can't have it both ways: I can't lecture you guys for the things I think you're doing wrong, and still keep distance to let myself figure out my life away from the Bellas. It's bad for me, but it's probably going to be worse for you." Aubrey shrugged. "Do I care? Of course I do. Am I curious? Yes, absolutely. But I can't get involved, for my own sanity; and to make sure I'm not tempted, I just don't ask."

"But you could have warned us back then." Stacie reminded.

Aubrey acquiesced to that point. "Not then. But I think I'm at a place now where I can do that and not blow a fuse."

Stacie glanced at her. "They're my friends, Aubrey."

"I know."

"I want you to care about my friends." Stacie admitted. "And I'm a Bella, and I want you to care about that, too."

Aubrey sighed, and turned to meet her gaze. "What do you want me to do?"

"Not be ambivalent?" Stacie suggested. "Like, maybe ask, even just vaguely? And I'll try to answer just as vaguely."

Aubrey paused, considering the request, before nodding. "I can do that."

Stacie smirked. "And maybe if the judging criteria calls for bad late-80s/early-90s pop songs, I can ask you for help."

"You can ask." Aubrey rolled her eyes. "And, sorry if I don't know my madlib beats and R&B anthems." Her indignation was cut short, however, by Stacie sitting up and swinging a leg over her and settling on Aubrey's lap with her knees on either side of Aubrey. It took all of Aubrey's willpower to keep her gaze above Stacie's neck.

Stacie cupped Aubrey's chin and tilted it up when she noticed Aubrey's eyes concentrate a little too hard on her neck. She smiled at the blonde. "Baby, your taste in music's so straight-up white-girl radio you're almost a cliché."

"I'm a cliché?" Aubrey questioned.

Stacie paused thoughtfully, and nodded in confirmation. "But with a cross-section of musical theater, both classic and new, so that's not so bad. But the white-girl radio? That's what you should be apologizing for."

Aubrey arched a brow. "Oh, should I?"

Stacie nodded. "Major apology."

Aubrey hesitated, the snappy retort on the tip of her tongue.

Stacie arched an eyebrow, because Aubrey wasn't one to hold back on their verbal exchanges. "Say it."

Aubrey looked up at her. "Or you're taking me to church?"

"If you apologize." Stacie quirked an eyebrow, teasing.

Aubrey bit her lower lip, making Stacie slightly whimper because pouting Aubrey was hot but watching Aubrey bite her lower lip made Stacie want to bite Aubrey's lower lip, and she was about to call the whole thing off and get right to the kissing when Aubrey lifted her eyes and met Stacie's challenging gaze, and whispered, "mihi ignosce?"

Stacie's eyes darkened with lust, taking hold of the back of Aubrey's neck and pulling her in close for a hard kiss.