Short of the front door, Stacie used the hold Aubrey had on her hand and pulled the older girl back towards her, the two of them ending up with their chests pressed together. Stacie cupped her cheek with her free hand, and kissed her softly. "Don't go."

Aubrey moaned softly, muttering against Stacie's lips, "Don't tempt me."

Stacie's eyes flashed with mirth and mischief. "Challenge—"

"That wasn't a challenge." Aubrey quickly interrupted. She had a feeling Stacie wouldn't actually have to do much to sway her, anyway. "And you know I have to."

Stacie pouted, making Aubrey smile as she lightly bit on her lower lip, and made Stacie deepen their next kiss.

It was early, and Stacie had made her displeasure at being awake at such an ungodly hour known; a displeasure made more pronounced when Aubrey declared she had to get going and start the drive back to Savannah.

There were probably a few better places than the entryway of the Bellas' front door for Aubrey and Stacie to have their make-out session before Aubrey had to leave, but Chloe had barged into the room she shared with Stacie the minute Aubrey had stepped into the shower – probably clued in by the sound of running water that it was safe to enter – and the couple were now deliberately trying to avoid any horizontal surfaces. Not that it had stopped them before.

But what did succeed in stopping them was being interrupted, this time by Beca and Cynthia Rose opening the front door and entering the house, coffee and paper sacks in hand.

"Do you ever stop?" Beca asked wearily.

For her part, Cynthia Rose only laughed, taking in Aubrey's obviously-borrowed clothes and the folded dress on her arm before she lifted her hand up at Stacie, palm out, and cackled when Stacie gave her a high five.

"Only because we have to," Stacie answered Beca. She regarded her friends, and guessed, "early shift?"

Beca nodded. "I had to cover for someone, and CR agreed to help me out."

Stacie blinked, and noted, "Cool." She pointed at the sacks. "Breakfast?"

Aubrey hid her face to chuckle under her breath, earning her a hard nudge to the ribs from Stacie, while Beca only nodded.

"We weren't sure if anyone would be awake this early…" Beca admitted.

"Did you work up an appetite?" Cynthia Rose joked.

"I got a major workout," Stacie deadpanned.

Beca frowned at the two of them, not sure if she wanted to ask for an explanation, and then turned to Aubrey. "You're leaving?"

"Duty calls." Aubrey admitted reluctantly.

Beca made a face. "Your job sucks."

"And it doesn't get easier, so, yeah, probably," Aubrey conceded, sighing. She shrugged. "Pays really well, though."

"What exactly do you do? And don't you have help?" Beca asked curiously.

"That's kinda confidential," Aubrey admitted. "And of course I have help."

"So what's the story with you and the hot redhead all up on your business yesterday?" Cynthia Rose asked, and tried to recall the name. "Cathy?"

"Kathryn." Both Beca and Stacie corrected, in very contrasting tones: Beca's was factual, but Stacie let her annoyance show.

"She was not…" Aubrey shook her head. "And don't get ideas, Cynthia Rose."

"Why shouldn't she?" Stacie asked archly.

"Because she's my subordinate and kind of my friend, so if she hurts anyone – yes, I do mean anyone – I'm the one who's going to have to deal with the fall out." Aubrey answered. She shrugged. "Besides, Stacie hates her and we do what we can to keep my girlfriend happy."

Stacie beamed. "Right on."

Cynthia Rose just shook her head in amusement.

Beca coughed into her fist, "whipped."

"What was that, Beca?" Aubrey asked, arching an eyebrow, knowing exactly what Beca had just said.

"I said," Beca pasted on a fake smile, "Where to, this time?"

"Savannah," Aubrey answered, letting Stacie wrap her arms around her waist from behind.

"So you'll be back soon?" Stacie asked.

"I said nothing anywhere near that," Aubrey mused.

"You should," Stacie told her.

"I—" Aubrey started, but was interrupted by the ringing of her phone. She sighed, checking the screen, and excused herself as she moved to another part of the house to take the call and answering it with, "It's too early."

Stacie watched her go, brow furrowed in thought.

"For someone who got laid last night, you don't look too happy," Cynthia Rose observed, regarding Stacie.

Stacie gave her a wan smile, and shook her head. "I'm just thinking."

"Don't think too hard." Cynthia Rose advised, before handing the food to Stacie and heading towards the stairs. "I'm gonna go sleep before morning class."

"Check the mix I gave you!" Beca reminded as Cynthia Rose climbed the steps. She turned to Stacie, and indicated the kitchen. "I'm gonna bring these in and get some sleep, too."

Stacie nodded absently, following Beca into the kitchen and placing the food sacks Cynthia Rose had given her on the table. And then she paused and asked, "Don't you have class at eight?"

Beca shrugged. "It's Music History. Let's be honest, that's not going anywhere."

Stacie had to smile at Beca's lackadaisical approach to her college curriculum; she personally would prefer to be as laid-back about her academics, but she needed decent grades if she wanted to get into a good post-graduate program. Still, she kind of admired the fact that Beca could pretty much sleep through her classes and still pass them.

Beca yawned, and mumbled, "See you later."

"Thanks for last night." Stacie blurted out suddenly, seeing Beca start to leave.

Beca paused, and smiled wryly as she turned back to Stacie, "Maybe we don't tell Chloe I didn't interrupt you and Aubrey getting down."

A broad smile came unbidden on Stacie's face.

"Gross." Beca told her.

Stacie laughed, but admitted, "That wasn't exactly what I was talking about."

Beca tilted her head inquisitively.

Stacie indicated the living room, in the general direction where Aubrey was still on her phone. "Not mentioning the deal about not being allowed to have sex in the house," she explained. "Thanks for not saying anything."

"Yeah," Beca shrugged, but her complexion started turning pink, "You already got her naked, I wasn't gonna be the one to prevent Aubrey Posen from getting laid."

"Really?"

"She obviously need the stress relief." Beca acknowledged. "And she's scary enough as it is."

"You wouldn't have hesitated before."

Beca smiled wryly. "I guess I'm growing as a person."

"I just..." Stacie smiled weakly. "I mean it. Thank you. Everyone must have been pissed."

Beca shrugged. "I mean, I get why we can't all be having sex in the house, but it's not like she hogs the bathroom and doesn't put the seat back down."

Stacie laughed, and threw her arms around Beca in a tight hug. "You're the best, Becs."

Beca immediately tried to pull back, while also pushing Stacie away, making Stacie pout. "Dude, your girlfriend learned last night that I've seen you naked. I don't want her to kill me."

"She wouldn't kill you. Prison is harsh."

"I've seen Orange is the New Black, Stacie, she'll thrive in prison." Beca pointed out.

"Yeah, but you're kind of friends now, she won't kill you for seeing me naked." Stacie's pout grew more pronounced, and she grumbled, "Besides, Aubrey doesn't get jealous."

"What?" Beca asked.

"Aubrey." Stacie repeated. "She doesn't get jealous."

"Posen?" Beca clarified, pointing in Aubrey's direction.

Stacie nodded.

"I find that impossible to believe," Beca admitted.

"I mean, yeah, she gets a little jealous – mostly she just gets annoyed – but she just takes everything with a grain of salt, and…" Stacie frowned. "Like, am I not hot enough?"

"You're my friend, Stace, and your girlfriend scares me. I really don't know how to answer that." Beca confessed.

"Meanwhile," Stacie continued, clearly on a roll, "I'm so jealous of that stupid redheaded liaison that it's not even something I can joke about. I'm not a fan of some of the coworkers and friends. I'm jealous of her other coworkers and friends, because they see her more often than I do. I'm jealous of her boss, and that woman's been married for almost thirty years and basically treats Aubrey like the preferred godchild. I've never met her roommate, but he lives with her and has TV dinners and breakfast with her."

"Aubrey lives with a guy?" Beca asked, confused.

"And then she finds out you're non-reactive to the fact that I'm naked in my room, and nothing." Stacie finished. "And considering we all know how hot her jealousy streak runs on something as random as Chloe willing to overrule her for your ideas, I don't know what to think anymore."

Beca blinked, staring at her. Her expression then went through a myriad of emotions, clearly trying to pin one down, before she finally went with: "Aubrey's roommate is a guy?"

"Yes, Beca, and she says I shouldn't worry about it, but I've never seen him, so I don't know what they're like when they're together, and can we please focus?" Stacie asked insistently.

Beca shook her head slightly, evidently at a loss, because her next question was about Aubrey and Chloe, and she didn't know if she wanted to deal with that so early in the morning. Finally, she declared, "I'm gonna go and get some sleep."

"Beca!"

"She's nuts about you, okay?" Beca reminded. "She's liked you from the word go, and maybe she would've been that much more awesome sooner if you two had been together from the start, but if she's pretending not to be jealous, you're forgetting about the night after semis, because that was scary, and we've seen her go Damien."

Stacie paused, confused. "You mean The Omen?" But what that had to do with Aubrey, she wasn't sure.

"No," Beca shook her head, because she was vaguely aware as much as she was conflating her evil child movies, that wasn't what she was referring to. "I'm talking about, you know, with the throwing up, and stuff."

"The Exorcist?"

"Is that the movie with the possessed kid?"

Stacie frowned at her, because Beca was dating someone who wanted to produce film scores.

Beca squirmed, but soldiered through the scrutiny. "I'm just saying, she's more into you than just being petty jealous, okay? And you two have gone through a lot, a lot more than just getting jealous over a hot redhead who probably talks business like she does, or a bunch of people you're Instagram-dancing with."

"But you were worried about her getting angry that you've seen me naked?" Stacie asked, confused.

"Dude, your girlfriend's insane, OK? I don't know what's going to tip her off."

"I heard that."

Beca cringed in reaction to Aubrey's voice.

Stacie glanced at Aubrey over Beca's head. "Beca was worried about how you reacted about knowing she's seen me naked."

"Oh." Aubrey shrugged. "Did she get a good look, because that might be how I measure how much I want to gouge her eyes out."

"See?" Beca told Stacie.

"You barely reacted," Stacie reminded Aubrey as they stood next to each other.

"Yeah, well," Aubrey shrugged. "I've been backstage with the other Bellas for costume changes and used to live with Chloe. I've probably seen Chloe naked more than Beca's seen you, so I can't really-"

"Wait, what?" Both Beca and Stacie asked, blanking on Aubrey's statement.

Aubrey frowned at them. "I love her, dearly, but the girl has no concept of boundaries or personal space." She paused, her frown deepening, suddenly reminded of another gross violation of roommate boundaries and personal space.

And suddenly didn't feel so guilty about keeping Chloe out of the room she shared with Stacie.

Snapping out of it, Aubrey turned back to Stacie. "I really have to go."

For their part, both Beca and Stacie had to concede Aubrey's point about Chloe, and couldn't really refute her assertion.

Reminded of their impending separation, Stacie pouted at Aubrey, lip protruding in an exaggerated manner. "But I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too." Aubrey smiled, gently running her thumb over Stacie's bottom lip to stop her from pouting. "Pretty much all the time."

"You should totally work in Atlanta full time. Or somewhere nearby." Stacie grumbled as she gently traced a line along Aubrey's neck and collarbone with her fingers. She paused, and then as an aside, noted, "I'll miss the make-up sex, though."

"I'm right here." Beca reminded, having her path to the stairs blocked by her friends.

"When can you come back?" Stacie asked Aubrey, ignoring Beca.

Aubrey grimaced. "I actually have no idea."

Stacie tilted her head slightly. "I can go see you."

"I have no idea where I'll be in the coming weeks," Aubrey admitted. "But let's see, OK? I'll see what I can do."

"You'll be in New York for the ICCAs, right?" Beca asked.

"That's the plan," Aubrey nodded. "Even if I'll have to call in not a few favors."

"And you owe me dinner at a fancy restaurant and a Broadway show," Stacie reminded.

Aubrey gave her a sidelong look.

Stacie shrugged. "What can I say? I'm dating you for your money."

"I thought you were dating me for the sex and to buy you alcohol?" Aubrey queried innocently, a teasing smile on her lips.

Stacie smiled at her, leaning in closer until she and Aubrey were a hair's breadth apart. "I do enjoy the sex. And the drinks. The money's good, too. But mostly the sex."

"I'm still right here." Beca grumbled.

Aubrey smirked at Stacie, oblivious to Beca. "Lucky, because I like the sex, too."

"Seriously still right here." Beca groaned.

"Not the conversation?"

Aubrey chuckled lowly. "Mostly because that's what guarantees the sex."

Stacie grinned, but there was a small problem. "Beca."

"Yeah?"

"Go." Stacie stepped aside to let Beca pass, and Beca did not need to be instructed twice, rushing her way up the steps.