"You know, you don't have to do the dishes, my mom said it can wait until the morning," Stacie reminded, hopping up to sit on the kitchen counter near the sink, where Aubrey stood washing their dishes from dinner.

Aubrey glanced at her. "I'm crashing your Christmas, eating her food, and having sex with her daughter. Doing the dishes is the least I can do."

"And there's a dishwasher."

"There aren't that many dishes."

"You're sucking up."

"I'm sure that's obvious."

Stacie crossed her legs, accentuating the shortness of her shorts and the amount of skin on display – her body temperature even in the middle of winter was admirable, Aubrey had to admit, taking a moment to appreciate the view – and she crossed her arms as she looked at Aubrey. "She already likes you, you don't need to suck up."

"See above: having sex with her daughter." Aubrey reminded. "Your mom scares me."

"So do the dishes later. Let's go look at the lights."

Aubrey gave her a questioning look.

"Around the neighborhood." Stacie explained. "That's what makes the suburbs great, you know: the inexplicable need to outdo each other with holiday displays."

"After dishes."

"But—"

"Stace, I can do this now, or I can do this later, and if we're going to go out for a walk, I don't think either of us would like to detour the rest of our night with dishes." Aubrey pointed out.

Stacie lifted an eyebrow. "Oh, so this is a preemptive strike so we can get right to the sex after going out?"

Aubrey hung her head at the futility of curbing Stacie's dismissal of her brain-to-mouth filter. "Your mother could walk into the kitchen any time, you know."

"She knows we have sex, Aubrey. Why do you think did she roll her eyes when we said you were staying in the guest room?"

"She doesn't need to know when we're going to have sex."

"You know she thinks I'm a horny teenager who'll have it all day if I could, right?" Stacie asked.

She totally meant to let that dish slip, really. Aubrey frowned at Stacie. "Keep your voice down!"

Stacie ignored her. "Well, not here, obviously, the neighbors can hear and my mom has to sleep sometime, but—"

"Oh my God."

"You know, I'm glad eighty percent of our relationship's based in a hotel, because those Do Not Disturb signs are gifts that keep on giving." Stacie continued.

Aubrey gave her a sidelong glance. "And room service."

"Yes!" Stacie pointed at her. "Room service. Do not disturb signs and room service. No annoying – or overly curious - roommates, no group dinners, no eavesdropping neighbors who live vicariously through our sex noise."

"Our sex noise?" Aubrey echoed.

Stacie arched an eyebrow, as if challenging Aubrey to dare her to mimic said noise.

"Okay." Aubrey turned back to the dishes, relieved to see that there were only a few items left, and focused on the task at hand. "We'll revisit this topic when we're not under the same roof as your mom. How were exams?"

Stacie waved her hand. "Tough. I think I did OK, though."

Aubrey rolled her eyes at the understatement, knowing full well that Stacie probably aced said exams. "I bet."

"Well, I was missing my then-kind-of-girlfriend, sue me."

"And whose fault was that?"

"I maintain, you could have shown up at any time and made me feel better." Stacie argued.

"You remember that I'm grounded until January."

"So make it a personal trip."

"You weren't even taking my calls, how was I supposed to know you wouldn't just ignore me if I showed up in person?"

Stacie scoffed. "As if you'd even step foot anywhere near Barden."

"I would for you."

Stacie stopped short, staring at the blond girl at the sink, caught off-guard by the admission. Aubrey hadn't made it a secret how much she worried how the rest of the current group of Barden Bellas would react to having her around, and had even avoided all matters Bella-related until Stacie called her out on it, and now she was saying, what? That she would brave all of that just so she could see Stacie?

"Stop staring." Aubrey told her, finishing the last of the dishes and rinsing, then drying, her hands.

"I think I love you."

"I believe we've established that." Aubrey turned to her, and Stacie uncrossed her legs to allow Aubrey to stand between them. They shared a few quick kisses, and while Stacie would have liked to test Aubrey's willpower, she didn't think her mom would appreciate that. "You said something about looking at the lights?"

"Yes!" Stacie nodded. "The Mercers are usually the house to beat, but mom says this yuppie couple moved in a few months ago, so they might be up for the challenge."

"…Right." Aubrey didn't know the dynamics of suburban life, and where she'd grown up, decorative lights were a formality, not a show. City Hall and the community center usually got to have bragging rights over holiday decorations and extravagant displays.

Fifteen minutes later, bundled up and walking along the tree-lined streets, Stacie glanced at Aubrey as they went on their way. "What were you doing in England? Was it London?"

"Just for a day." Aubrey sighed. "We were a little further up north, I don't remember the exact town. Our head count's going up over there, and they want to turn it into a major operating branch."

"What does that mean?"

"It means they might need someone from Oversight working there, day to day."

Stacie stopped cold, and grabbed Aubrey's arm to make her stop, too. "And they're looking at you?"

"Yes. No." Aubrey sighed. "Maybe? I don't know. They flew in six of us, but I'm not high up enough in the food chain to be given that kind of responsibility, so I don't know." She sighed again. "And they're not telling me anything, but we did the tour, and we did the meetings, but I don't know where I fit in all of it."

"You can't move to England." Stacie objected.

"You're not kidding." Aubrey let her exhaustion on the topic seep into her voice. "It's one thing if what you said had been a slip and you didn't really mean it, but you did, and I love you too, and it's bad enough I'm not around most of the time, but an ocean apart? I can't do that. And I can't let you go through that, either."

Stacie slid her hand down Aubrey's arm, and linked their gloved hands together. "When will you know?"

"I don't know." Aubrey shrugged. She looked at Stacie. "But when I know, you'll be the first to know, alright? I promise."

Stacie supposed that was the least she could ask for.

They continued walking, the time of night and December temperature pretty much guaranteeing that everyone in the neighborhood were inside their warm homes, which allowed the newly-established couple to walk hand-in-hand unobtrusively. Every now and then, Stacie would point out a house and tell Aubrey a story about its occupants, or to a landmark and how it relates to her.

"Did you ever have any pets growing up?" Stacie asked, after an anecdote of the resident cat lady's favorite cat who liked to terrorize the neighbors.

Aubrey shook her head, and then paused, and shrugged. "Birds? Fish. I used to have an aquarium, like," she used her hands to motion the approximate size of said aquarium, "but nothing bigger than that."

"What happened?"

"The fish turned to cannibalism, I don't know." Aubrey admitted. "There were just fewer and fewer of them, I decided it wasn't worth it. I have a dog with my grandparents, but I don't think that counts."

"Why do you…"

"My dad wouldn't let me have a dog. My grandparents didn't like my dad, so: dog. And when I visit them it's like he knows he's mine, so that's nice."

Stacie eyed her curiously. "One day you're going to have to tell me all about your convoluted childhood."

"Maybe." Aubrey replied simply. "What about you? Pets?"

"I used to have a snake."

"Gross."

"Shut up, they're awesome. But turns out it wasn't a dwarf, and keeping it in its aquarium was keeping him from growing, so I had to donate him to the zoo. Oh!" Stacie turned to Aubrey with bright, eager eyes, "we should go see him."

Aubrey looked at her with just a tinge of trepidation. "To where the snakes live?"

"They're not that bad."

"Of all the pets you could have gotten…"

"Why a snake?" Stacie finished for her. She opened her mouth, paused, and then looked at Aubrey seriously. "You can't laugh."

"Oh, no."

"Aubrey!"

"Now you've left me no choice."

Stacie pouted. "Maybe I won't tell you anymore."

"How bad could it be?" Aubrey cajoled. "It's not like you wanted a snake so you could practice Parseltongue, or…"

Stacie bit her lip.

"Or…" A wide grin spread on Aubrey's face. "Oh my God."

"Shut up."

Aubrey laughed, coming to a stop so she could pull Stacie close to her and give her a kiss. "You're adorable."

Stacie smiled into the kiss, willingly forgiving Aubrey for being kind of a jerk, before she broke the kiss to sigh against Aubrey's lips. "I have to tell you something."

Aubrey frowned, displeased at having their kisses interrupted by whatever Stacie had to say, but considering it was Stacie, it probably meant whatever she was about to share was important enough to pause kissing for. She took a step back. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's 'wrong', exactly." Stacie allowed, although she really wasn't sure if that was true. She looked down at her hands, which were held firmly in Aubrey's, and smiled faintly at the sight, especially when she felt Aubrey squeeze her hands in reassurance. "But there's something I keep forgetting to tell you, and now it'll seem like I've been keeping this from you on purpose – which I haven't – but…" She looked up, and smiled weakly. "Chloe's still in Barden."

Aubrey blinked at her. Once. Twice.

"Aubrey?"

"What do you mean?" Aubrey asked, but clearly she'd understood correctly, because she pulled her hands back and tucked them into her coat pockets as she took a step back.

"Chloe didn't graduate last year."

Aubrey frowned. "Sure she did."

"She didn't." Stacie shook her head. "She was supposed to attend summer class, but she didn't, and they had no choice but to fail her."

"And you've kept this from me?" Aubrey asked, betrayal coloring her tone. "You've known, this whole time, and you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't mean to!" Stacie exclaimed. She insisted, "I keep thinking that I should, but it's never come up, and when I see you, or talk to you, I'm too swept up in you, and us, and how much I miss you; that I keep forgetting to tell you."

"You see her every day!"

Stacie winced.

Aubrey noticed. "Oh God. What?"

"She's my roommate?" Stacie offered weakly.

Aubrey stared at her incredulously. "And this keeps slipping your mind?" She asked in disbelief. She threw her hands up. "God! I knew she was keeping secrets from me, I never could have figured…" She shook her head, and turned away from Stacie. "I can't believe this."

"Bree."

"Don't 'Bree' me." Aubrey retorted. "Was getting off that much more important that you couldn't have deigned to remember this earlier?"

"That's not fair."

"Is it?" Aubrey asked, her voice reaching levels of shrill Stacie hadn't heard since Aubrey had been Barden Bellas captain. "My best friend and my girlfriend have both been lying to me, for months, and, what? Am I expected to just be OK with this?"

"No, but—"

"No!" Aubrey repeated, and shook her head. "God, I don't…" She shook her head again, and turned to leave.

"Aubrey."

Aubrey stopped, and turned to face Stacie. "You know what it means to me, the fact that Chloe didn't graduate in the first place. You were there. And you kept this from me?"

"I didn't mean to!"

"It doesn't matter, whether or not you meant to." Aubrey pointed out. "You should have told me." Aubrey opened her mouth, as if to add something else, but then thought the better of it and snapped her mouth shut before she turned to leave.

"Aubrey!" Stacie's longer stride had her apace with Aubrey within seconds. "Don't walk away from me."

"Stacie—"

"You said, that if we're fighting, that we have to yell at each other. To say the stuff we need to. That goes both ways." Stacie argued.

"Stacie." Aubrey's earlier indignation and agitation was quickly fading, replaced by a quiet resignation. "I know, and I hear you. But I'm kind of storming away, and you walking with me, or following me, kind of defeats the purpose."

"I know." Stacie said quietly. "But you don't know the place and probably don't know how to get back."

Aubrey paused, and glanced around her, as if trying to decide on whether or not she could counter Stacie's assertion, but quickly realized the younger woman was right. Aubrey sighed in defeat. "Fine."

They walked together, but unlike earlier, there was a certain distance between them, and they both had their hands tucked into their coat pockets, as if in a deliberate move to prevent themselves from searching for each other's hand.

"She's my friend, too." Stacie said quietly, about a block later, effectively breaking the silence.

Aubrey's reply was succinct. "I know."

"You can't ask me to choose between you and her, Aubrey."

"I know."

"And I wasn't sure if it was my place to tell."

Aubrey sighed. "Maybe not." She glanced briefly at Stacie, and sighed. "Maybe it isn't. But there are just some things you have to tell me anyway."

"Okay."

Another long silence, and this time, it was Aubrey who broke it.

"I'm sorry." She waited until Stacie threw her a glance, before she continued, "I didn't mean to yell. Or say what I did. It was a cheap shot, I'm sorry."

"It was a very cheap shot."

"I know."

"You can't keep throwing stuff like that in my face, Aubrey."

Aubrey sighed, and stopped walking so she could face Stacie. "I lash out, when I'm hurt. I go for the cheap shot, because that's easier than to admit just how much you hurt me." She quickly continued, when she saw Stacie open her mouth to interrupt, "I'm not saying it isn't reprehensible, or that it's OK. It isn't, and I know it isn't. But my instinct is always going to be to either hurt back, or bite it back and letting it fester."

"And there's no middle ground?"

"I'm working on that." Aubrey admitted. She took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. "I know we're still figuring this out, and I know we have a long road ahead of us, but I've been here before, and I'm almost guaranteed to screw up a couple more times before this works out, so I'm going to need you to be patient. Extremely patient."

Stacie sighed. "You know that goes for the both of us."

"Yeah." Aubrey quietly conceded, before smiling weakly at her. "But you have to promise me you won't make yourself a martyr."

Stacie frowned, puzzled.

"You can't forgive me by rote, or give me a free pass just because I'm sorry and you want to forgive me. There's two of us in this, and you have to feel free to call me out on something if you have to."

"You're talking like you're not the one who's had to listen to me talk about the people I've been making out with since the school year started while you've been working on yourself." Stacie admonished softly.

"Yeah, but that's different."

"How?"

Aubrey shrugged. "You were just the girl I liked. I told you to figure out what you wanted, and to see what's out there, when you got back to Barden. I wasn't part of the equation then."

"And you are now?"

Aubrey smiled weakly. "I really am."

Stacie sighed, and nodded. "You owe me for that cheap shot."

"I know."

They started walking again, Stacie easily taking Aubrey's hand as they walked back towards Stacie's home.

"Do you think this relationship stuff gets easier over time?" Stacie wondered out loud, after a few minutes.

"Hell if I know." Aubrey admitted. "People have broken up suddenly after decades of being together."

"I once hooked up with a girl who only did it so her boyfriend would break up with her."

"How'd that work out?"

"He thought it was hot."

"I bet."

"She was so out of his league, no wonder he wouldn't break up with her."

"Why didn't she just break up with him?"

"You know, I didn't think to ask."

"You've never thought about it?"

Stacie shook her head.

"Want me to tell you?"

"Did you know her?"

"No. But I can take a guess."

"Tell me."

"She didn't want the responsibility of breaking his heart."

Stacie glanced at Aubrey questioningly.

"She'd rather be the villain – cheating on him with another girl, whatever – than deal with sitting down, looking him in the eye, and telling him it's over. One scenario has her being callous with his feelings, the other means she'll have to deal with the look on his face for however long. It's a universal sentiment."

Stacie stopped walking, and forced Aubrey to stop, too. "So you're saying relationships are doomed, in general?"

"I haven't said anything even remotely like that." Aubrey remarked. "I'm just saying, nobody wants to be responsible for breaking someone else's heart, unless they're a sociopath. Why do you think so many of my relationships have suffered under my neglect?"

Stacie pursed her lips. "You know we just decided to officially become a couple a few hours ago, right?"

"I'm just saying—"

"Yeah, and you really should stop talking." Stacie declared, stepping closer to Aubrey, and slipping her hand out from Aubrey's hold to encircle her arms around Aubrey. "I know what you're trying to do."

Aubrey tried to hold Stacie's gaze, but her eyes kept flickering down to her lips. "What am I trying to do?"

"You're trying to scare me off by sounding like the worst girlfriend ever." Stacie answered. "And you're too late."

"What if this is too complicated?"

"Bree." Stacie chuckled, brushing their lips together softly, "We make it, or we screw up. But I'm in this. I want this, I want you, and I know you want us together, too. So shut up, because it's too late to be reading me the warning label."

Aubrey's shoulders sagged, and she reached up to cup the side of Stacie's face to draw her closer, parting her lips and meeting Stacie's in a kiss.

There was, Stacie thought, a certain kind of romanticism, to stand in the middle of a street where she'd grown up and be able to kiss the girl she liked, under old street lamps and surrounded by the lights of her neighbors' Christmas decorations. With snow.

Stacie looked up to make sure, before looking back at Aubrey. She pointed upwards. "Snow."

"I know what snow looks like, Stacie." Aubrey reminded. "I live in New York."

"Why do you keep talking?" Stacie whined, only partly joking.

Aubrey smiled, and gazed in wonder at the taller girl, lit slightly by the street lamp from above, with white flakes of snow drifting above and sometimes landing in her hair. And even though they had just been fighting about things they've said, not said, and things they shouldn't say, Aubrey thought about how, sometimes, it was nice to just say the things running through her head. "You're really beautiful."

Stacie, who had momentarily directed her gaze back up to watch the snowflakes fall, turned back to face her, and grinned.

"We should make out in the snow."

Aubrey was not going to argue with such flawless logic.