After all the secrets and turmoil that had been tied in to Denise's graduation, it was almost anticlimactic for her graduation to come and go without a hitch.

And with her immediate departure to start her new job, that left the Bellas one member short and the job of having to restructure their entire prepared sets with the new headcount. It's stressful business, and their summer break gets delayed partly because of it, but everyone seemed to have come to the silent agreement to not bring up the fact that they could have been working on new choreography sooner if Chloe had not been so reticent to address the fact of Denise's graduation.

And it turned out their Kennedy Center performance was a pretty big deal – in fact it was a very big deal, even if they couldn't tell anyone because of security reasons – which meant new costumes that they needed to be fitted for, if they wanted the costumes to be ready for August.

Stacie somehow manages to get coat and tails approved, and she's already trying to figure out ways for Aubrey to thank her.

The erstwhile extended stay in Barden works out for her relationship, too, because as it turned out, Aubrey had her own plans that delayed her return to New York.

"What do you mean, you're checking out a campsite?" Stacie questioned, watching from the bleachers while Chloe and Beca looked up pictures of the Kennedy Center stage from Beca's laptop.

"I don't know how any of those words can be confusing." Aubrey replied.

"Why are you looking at campsites?"

"Campsite, Stacie. One. Not plural."

Stacie rolled her eyes. "Okay, why are you looking at a campsite?"

"Because they asked me to."

Sometimes Stacie was just relieved she and Aubrey weren't in the same room because her girlfriend could be so obstinate. "Explain."

"The owner asked me to come over."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that." Aubrey confirmed.

Stacie smirked, and she changed her tone to something more sultry, "So if I…"

Aubrey chuckled softly. "You want to come over, baby?"

"I want to come so—" Stacie was startled out of her seduction by a loud throat clearing nearby, and she turned to see several of her fellow Bellas giving her a reprimanding look. She sighed, and raised her hand to indicate her submission. "Are you gonna stay long?"

"I'd actually figured we could fly out together."

Interesting. And tempting. Stacie bit her lip, glanced over at where a handful of her friends were loitering nearby, and noted to Aubrey, "We'll be on the same flight?"

"That's kind of what flying out together means," Aubrey pointed out.

Very interesting. "We've never flown on a plane together before."

"We really have."

Stacie furrowed her brow, because she did not recall—

"When we flew out for the ICCAs two years ago."

Oh. True. Stacie frowned. "But we weren't kissing back then."

Aubrey laughed. "That's true."

"A lot's changed since then."

"I know."

"We have sex now."

"We really do."

"We should join the mile—"

"Stacie!" Someone called out.

"I am trying to seduce my girlfriend!" Stacie snapped, turning to glare down the cause of interruption.

Fat Amy, who had called her, paused and glanced around, unsure. "Uhhh, okay, not that I think you need to do much of anything about that, but Beca and Chloe wanted your input on what we should do about how big the stage is in DC."

Oh. Right. As their other choreographer, that was kind of her job. "I'll be right there."

"Okay." Fat Amy nodded, turning back towards where their captains were sitting, but not before shooting Stacie and the rest of their friends a bewildered look.

Stacie sighed, and turned her attention back to Aubrey. "Sorry about that."

"No, it's fine, it's nice to be seduced," Aubrey replied.

"It's even better in person."

"Oh, I know that." Aubrey returned. "Go, do Bella things. Call me later."

"So we can have phone sex?"

"Call me and find out." Aubrey answered. "Love you."

Stacie grinned. "I love you too." She ignored the collective teasing from her eavesdroppers, hanging up and sauntering over to where Beca and Chloe were.

She's read the email Beca had received with the invitation for them to perform at the Kennedy Center, and she's seen the stage measurements and the rough sketch of what the set up would be, but seeing pictures make her reconsider her Physics and Engineering majors because she had vastly underestimated the spatial relation of their soon-to-be stage. It has a freaking balcony, and she's already worried about how to maximize the visuals for their performance.

The Bellas end up agreeing to incorporating props into their choreography, since they try to limit using them during competition because of logistics and the risk of tempting sabotage from their bitter, bitter rivals. Chloe, in fact, has way too many ideas for their set, and Stacie is legitimately worried how they're going to use all her ideas without extending their set into becoming their very own mini-concert, and she spends a lot of time looking up performances to see what they could use.

Aubrey had questions, but when Stacie could only shake her head to indicate just how much she did not know where to start, she did not press the issue.

However.

"Why are you looking up prop guns?" Aubrey asked curiously, peering over Stacie's shoulder at her laptop browser.

"Chloe wants props guns." Stacie told her, angling her screen away from Aubrey but the couch they were lounging on weren't giving her a lot of options.

"To stage a bank heist?" Aubrey questioned, trying to get a better view of Stacie's laptop.

Stacie shot her a look of warning, and switched to another tab where she had been browsing military drills. "To perform."

Aubrey frowned. "For the tour?"

"Sure, babe." Stacie said distractedly, frowning at the amount of precision involved in one drill and wondering if she wanted to be the person to bring up the subject of preparing a backing track.

Aubrey paused, and then asked, "For the Kennedy Center?"

Stacie paused, and then slowly said, "No…"

"Stacie."

"I don't know all the specifics of the disclosure and privacy rules of this thing, okay?" Stacie blurted out. "I don't know what I can and can't tell you."

Aubrey stared at her for a beat, and then acquiesced, "Okay."

Stacie frowned at Aubrey as she turned back to her own laptop, where she was also working on something. "Is this a trick?"

"I used to live on non-disclosures, Stacie. Trust me, I get it." Aubrey assured her.

Stacie narrowed her eyes at her, suspicious.

Aubrey turned to her with a smile. "But if you don't tell me, I can't help you."

Stacie paused briefly before she shook her head at Aubrey and gave her a grave look in exchange for the guileless smile Aubrey was giving her. "That is a dirty trick."

Aubrey grinned.

"That's evil!" Stacie grabbed one of the throw pillows and hitting a laughing Aubrey with it. "Why are you so mean?"

Aubrey grabbed the pillow, and set it aside. "I am very good at my job."

Stacie grumbled, but eventually admitted: "I want it to be a surprise."

Aubrey arched an eyebrow at her.

Stacie glanced at her. "A girl needs to have something unknown about her."

Aubrey's eyebrow arched higher.

"An element of surprise?"

Aubrey's expression wrinkled in response.

"Some kind of mystery?" Stacie attempted, well aware of how her previous turns of phrase could be misconstrued.

"I know you drool when you sleep," Aubrey flatly stated.

"And you sometimes snore, and I still love you," Stacie countered. "Let me have this."

Aubrey raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, and dropped the subject as she turned back to her work.

Stacie watched her for a beat, and then asked, "What are you working on?"

"A girl needs to have some kind of mystery about her," Aubrey deadpanned. Without lifting her gaze from her laptop screen, she lifted her hand in time to block and grab the second throw pillow Stacie aimed at her in so many minutes. "You started it."

Stacie mimicked the statement back at her, but relented and backed off. After a moment, she glanced around. "Where's Strange Naked Guy?"

"Marti's school, for the graduation."

Stacie paused, and frowned.

"Yes, it's okay to make fun of him and the fact that Marti's a Special Ed teacher." Aubrey assured her.

Stacie frowned at her, expressing dismay. "You're a jerk and you're mean, and are you saying we've been working on this couch for over an hour when the apartment's been empty because your roommate's out?"

"You said it was too hot to go outside," Aubrey reminded.

"We've had the place all to ourselves this whole time?"

"I suppose so," Aubrey acknowledged. She glanced curiously at her. "Why do you sound upset?"

Stacie stared at her in muted horror. "How have we been dating for so long?"

Aubrey frowned at her. "How can you even ask that?" Before Stacie could answer, Aubrey reminded: "I buy you good beer."

Stacie tried to keep her disapproving expression, but her face broke into a grin, and she placed her laptop on the coffee table in front of them before taking Aubrey's laptop and also setting it aside.

"I'm working," Aubrey feebly protested.

"Not anymore," Stacie replied, climbing onto her lap and kissing her briefly. "You should totally go to DC and watch us at the Kennedy Center."

Aubrey laughed. "I don't think I can snag a ticket for Obama's birthday concert just because you want me to, babe."

Stacie froze, and reared back. "What?"

"What?" Aubrey echoed blankly.

"How do you—" Stacie stared at her. "How do you even know?"

"The Kennedy Center schedule?" Aubrey reminded. "They post the schedule months in advance."

"What?" Stacie exclaimed in disbelief. "That can't be safe."

"I think they have security covered." Aubrey pointed out, and laughed when Stacie shoved her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around Stacie's waist, and smiled up at her. "Now can you tell me what you're working on?"

Stacie pouted, having her secret turn out to be not much of a secret after all, but still happily responded when Aubrey pressed kisses to her lower lip. She hummed. "I want to, but I also really want it to be a surprise."

"That's too bad." Aubrey grinned into their kiss. "Or else I could tell you there are classes in Georgia where you can learn the basics of military drills and other kinds of dance choreography."

"Yeah?" Stacie questioned, pushing Aubrey to lie against the couch.

"Mmhmm," Aubrey murmured in the affirmative. "They can also tell you what kind of props will get approved for events for high-profile people."

"Mmm, props." Stacie laughed softly. "Is this your version of talking dirty to me?"

"Jerk. The classes are in the Bella handbook." Aubrey told her.

"I'll keep that in mind," Stacie murmured, before she and Aubrey gave up on words and took advantage of the empty apartment.

But because she was dating Aubrey Posen, Stacie did keep Aubrey's advice in mind, which was why she sent a text message to the person who should be in possession of said handbook, even if the response she got back from Beca was kind of expected.

The what?

Luckily Beca eventually remembered what it was, and the fact that the book of Barden Bella bylaws and basic information was with either Jessica or Ashley, which was how they end up shortening their vacations even further because Jessica declared that if she had to go back to Barden sooner than expected, just so she could check the information in the book, then everyone would have to be there with her.

Since Aubrey actually approved of such dedication to the Bella cause, Stacie had to look elsewhere for some sympathy on having her summer vacation cut short.

"That's fair," Dan noted, after listening to Stacie complain to him.

Stacie frowned at him in utter betrayal.

Dan turned to Aubrey, who was engaged in conversation with Teddy. "Aubrey." When she turned to face him, he asked, "Why make her do this? Don't you have all things a cappella memorized?"

"I graduated." Aubrey reminded him. She pointed at Stacie. "And she knows why I'm not helping her."

Dan glanced at Stacie, who rolled her eyes in exasperation as she explained, "She can't help me if I don't tell her what help I need."

"And why aren't you telling her?" Dan questioned.

"Because she wants it to be a 'surprise,'" Aubrey told him flatly.

Dan rolled his eyes, and muttered something under his breath.

"Have you tried asking?" Teddy questioned. He paused, and frowned at Stacie. "Should you be drinking wine?"

Stacie could only watch helplessly as Aubrey glared at her and pulled her wine glass out of Stacie's reach. She turned to glare at Teddy. "You're not invited to my party anymore."

"That hurts." Teddy feigned hurt. He turned back to Aubrey, and whispered in a confiding tone, "It actually does. I haven't been to a party in so long."

Aubrey smiled at him, and indicated Dan. "Have you met Dan? You have that in common."

"Screw you, Aubrey." Dan retorted. "We can't all be dating hot college coeds."

"Please don't say that about my girlfriend," Aubrey requested.

"He's just stating a fact, baby." Stacie told her. She turned to Dan. "And, you know, you could," she told him reassuringly. "You'd be that creepy old dude dating a college girl, but you could."

Dan glared at her, but didn't have anything to say in his defense. Instead, he took a different line of attack. "See if I let you and Aubrey do dirty things in the back of any of my friends' town cars in the future, smarty-pants."

Stacie's eyes widened in alarm, and she immediately turned conciliatory. "I'm kidding. You're not creepy."

"But he is old," Aubrey quipped.

Dan glared at her. "Do you want my help with your project or not?"

"You know what she's working on?" Stacie asked him, surprised.

"I'm helping," Dan said haughtily. He directed a wry look on Aubrey. "For scale."

"You're getting paid?" Teddy asked. He turned to Aubrey. "He's getting paid?"

"He's getting free meals, and I'm paying to eat at a place I hold stake in," Aubrey reminded. "You can both shut up about getting paid."

"Is everyone in on your project?" Stacie asked Aubrey.

"You have your secrets," Aubrey sing-songed in easily the most annoying manner possible, enjoying holding her secret project over Stacie way too much.

Stacie frowned at her. "That's super mean, Aubrey."

Aubrey gave her a thoughtful, considering look, and asked a very simple question. "Do you really want to hear about the financial aspects of business expansion and incorporation or potential buyout of a mom and pop operation?"

Stacie paused, and hazarded: "That almost sounds kind of evil."

"It really kind of is," Aubrey confirmed, to Teddy's nod of agreement.

Stacie frowned.

"If it makes you feel better, they're asking her to do it," Dan told Stacie.

Stacie looked at Aubrey.

Aubrey smiled. "I am very good at my job."