Stacie watched Aubrey pace the length of the apartment, something the older girl had been doing for at least the past half hour, and herself having abandoned her own work on her laptop computer, opting instead to watch her girlfriend pace.

She wasn't sure what the problem was – Aubrey was reticent to discuss her project, but Stacie had ascertained a small amount of information herself, and wasn't above eavesdropping on Aubrey's conversations with her friends, so she had some idea – but whatever it was, it didn't seem to be too aggravating, since Aubrey wasn't yelling.

Stacie wasn't sure who Aubrey would be yelling at, but if there was anyone, they currently weren't being yelled at.

And Aubrey had her phone with her. It occasionally rang, and Aubrey kept answering, and part of her pacing included typing things, which Stacie assumed were emails or messages, so Stacie could tell whatever the problem was, Aubrey was still willing to hear people out about it.

She just didn't know what was going on: she had tried asking earlier, just a few minutes into the pacing, and she had received a head shake and the universal hand gesture to stop, and no verbal answer, so she was just going to assume Aubrey was saving all verbal abilities for handling her phone calls.

When Aubrey greeted Dan for her next phone call, though, Stacie turned back to her own work, schoolwork she had delayed in working on in favor of hanging out with Aubrey and did not doubt she would further fail to work on when she reunited with the Bellas, so she was doing what she could in her last remaining days in New York.

Engrossed in what she was doing, Stacie startled when she finally noticed Aubrey sitting beside her on the couch, watching her and eating a sandwich. Stacie frowned, confused, and had to ask: "How long have you been there?"

"Few minutes." Aubrey replied.

Stacie looked at her for a minute before she reached over, and took the sandwich from Aubrey's hands – Wes had one of those electric grills that doubled as a sandwich maker, and Aubrey loved that device more than any other kitchen gadget in the world, she would not object to making another sandwich – and took a bite, regarding Aubrey thoughtfully before she playfully asked: "Did you get tired of all that walking?"

It worked, and Aubrey smiled faintly. "I'm sorry I've been doing this your last few days here."

Stacie didn't really mind, she loved hanging out with Aubrey under any context, but yes, she was visiting her girlfriend who lived in New York City, and despite the summer heat, she would have liked to see more of the city instead of the interiors of Wes and Aubrey's shared apartment. "I just like being here with you."

"You don't have to try to make me feel better," Aubrey told her.

"I'm not," Stacie insisted. She smiled as she teased, "Besides, us staying in the apartment makes it way less awkward when I want to make out or veer away from the PG stuff, so it's cool."

And air conditioning.

Stacie chewed thoughtfully on Aubrey's sandwich, weighing out how much she wanted to pry and how annoying she found it when Aubrey teased that she wouldn't share details of her project if Stacie didn't share about the Bellas' upcoming Kennedy Center performance, until she finally decided she really wanted to know what had Aubrey so riled up as to pace for approximately three hours. "So what's going on, babe? That looked… intense."

Aubrey made a face. "Dave is screwing me."

Stacie arched an eyebrow, even as she joked, "I knew I didn't like that he kept dancing with you at Halloween."

That got Aubrey to laugh. "Still jealous?"

"I thought I was the only person to screw you."

Aubrey's laugh petered out to a genuine fond smile, and she grinned at Stacie. "I love you."

"Love you too." Stacie covered the small distance between them so she could press a kiss to Aubrey's lips. She had meant it to be a light kiss, but her playful joke flared a spark of possession, and she deepened the kiss, enjoying the way Aubrey responded to her.

When they broke the kiss, Stacie mumbled, "So am I going to have to throw down with that pretty boy?"

"No." Aubrey kissed her again, but pulled away almost immediately. "But you're not going to like how he's screwing me."

Stacie frowned at her. "Am I going to have to hurt him?"

Aubrey pursed her lips.

The hesitation was not comforting. Stacie's brow furrowed. "What did he do?"

Aubrey didn't know how to start.

Dave had introduced her to his "money guy," a venture capitalist, someone who raised money for small companies, and was diversifying his portfolio by helping ventures outside of technology. Aubrey had met him for a meeting shortly after a meeting with a group who needed help with their campsite/outdoor retreat, and through a series of meetings and negotiations, including one where she had whined to Dave about the fact that convincing the camp owners to just let her do her job in improving the facilities, raising capital and finding new clients was proving difficult, he had made the half-joking suggestion for her to be the one to buy part of the ownership they wanted to put up for sale as part of capital fundraising, and in the process give herself leverage in the debate.

She still had no idea what had possessed her to think that was the right course of action, but she had done it, tapping into her savings and getting loans, and, sure, she sometimes wondered if she was in over her head, but she knew what to do, and she knew she could do it, and she wasn't even thirty yet and that was plenty of time to fail and redeem herself.

But that wasn't even Dave's biggest sin. No, Dave had bigger sins than making her meet someone who had enough money to throw around and contribute to fledging companies, or convincing her she should buy majority share just so she can make decisions and the original owners can't question her with the rationale that "it wasn't her money."

Dave had been in a company social event with Aubrey's former boss and had casually mentioned that no, Aubrey was not working for another company, that she, in fact, was setting up an outdoor retreat that would cater to corporate entities, highlighting Aubrey's strengths in corporate training and workforce development.

She gets it: Dave didn't work in the more political corners of corporate life, he didn't see the need to censor himself or have to think ahead of how his words or actions would affect the broader picture. No, Dave had answered a casual question regarding Aubrey's well-being, and hadn't thought of the implications.

The implications being he had given Aubrey's former boss leverage, and the woman knew how to use it to her advantage.

Because any influx of cash into any project meant an expectation of results, and in Aubrey's case, she had negotiated her position in the company, as well as loans and capital raise, on her ability to acquire clients.

And any business worked hard to maintain relationships with clients; and in terms of a multinational conglomerate, they also worked hard to maintain those relationships within the company, through various offices and departments - and that had been one of the main missions of the Oversight Committee.

Getting into Oversight wasn't easy: people didn't apply for the position, they were recommended. They were handpicked by their managers or someone high up enough in the corporate food chain. There was no singular background or experience that mattered: what mattered was how well they did their job, how well they could do what the company required them to. They could negotiate, they could investigate, they could play the corporate heel if they had to, but they got the job done.

Dave had no idea what he had done, telling Aubrey's former boss – the Vice President of Operations for a multinational conglomerate – of her new project.

But it had taken all of three days for him to say what he did, and for Aubrey to receive a phone call, and shortly after, an offer packet.

Because who better to negotiate a deal that appeared advantageous to everyone concerned while getting what the company really wanted, than the person who had single-handedly created the Oversight Committee.

It wasn't Dave's fault. He hadn't known any better.

Aubrey, however, knew exactly what was going to happen. And she already knew she was going to say yes.

Because the money in her savings account was not an infinite amount, and Aubrey knew just how her boss would leverage her advantage – a who's who of corporate clients – to get what she wanted from Aubrey.

But there was a catch, and it was a catch she knew Stacie was not going to particularly relish.

Stacie squinted at Aubrey, trying to read between the lines, because all she'd really picked up on was that the retreat Aubrey was developing was near Barden, and she didn't need to know an exact number to know that whatever her old boss had offered, it had to be something substantial, considering Aubrey had barely been out of her job and was surely aware of how much work she had left in the wake of her departure, work her successor probably didn't—

Oh.

Oh.

"You're gonna have to work with Kathryn," Stacie realized, because of course Aubrey was. They had already delayed Aubrey's departure in the first place because their clients in that region were reticent to trust someone who didn't have as strong Southern roots as Aubrey, and she knew some of those clients had even extended their own job offers to Aubrey, hoping to have her on their payroll and unquestionably on their side. And if the company was going to make someone look over Kathryn's shoulder without raising red flags to clients – current, new, or potential – the only reasonable option was to put in the person who had been doing the job in the first place.

And, sure, Stacie's made her peace about Kathryn, especially considering she had been instrumental in telling Stacie when Aubrey needed to be pulled out of her funk that one time. And maybe Stacie trusted Aubrey when she said there was nothing but platonic mutual admiration between herself and Kathryn, and that at least for herself, she was not attracted to Kathryn beyond that admiration. And while she trusted Aubrey and all of that might be true, none of it had to mean Stacie was thrilled about the idea of Kathryn being around Aubrey again.

"I know it isn't ideal..." Aubrey began.

Stacie sighed. She was glad she had already finished Aubrey's sandwich, knowing she would have been tearing it up into tiny pieces otherwise, and allowed, "No, I get it. It's obvious. And it's the kind of offer you can't really say no to."

Aubrey couldn't exactly deny that point. She tried to make the offer a little more appealing, at least beyond the obvious professional advantages. "There's less travel, though, because I obviously have to stay as much as possible at the site."

"But you're gonna be busy," Stacie pointed out. "I mean, yeah, you'll just be in the area, but between this outdoor thing and this consultancy—"

"But it's a lot easier for us to see each other more."

Stacie looked at her.

"I mean," Aubrey let out a breath. "That was part of the appeal, both for the retreat and this new offer. I'm gonna get to spend more time in the area, which is a pretty big deal, since it's your last year, and everything."

Stacie frowned. "What do you mean?"

Aubrey matched her frown. "I mean, we'll get to see each other more."

"What does this being my senior year have to do with anything?" Stacie pressed.

"Stacie." Aubrey's tone was skeptical of Stacie's question.

"No, seriously: what does that even mean?"

Aubrey blew out a breath. "I mean it's your senior year. You're graduating. And this time next year you'll be a college graduate and you already said you want to get a post-graduate degree."

"And?"

"And, I don't know!" Aubrey exclaimed. "I'm gonna have this job, and this consultancy, and I don't know where I'm gonna be next year. But for the next few months? I'm gonna be in the same region as you are, and that means something to me."

Stacie took a beat, looking at her, and realized: "You're gonna break up with me."

"What? No!"

"You are!" Stacie pointed at her. "You're gonna decide you can't be the kind of girl who just follows the person you're dating, you're not someone who stands in someone else's shadow; You're gonna realize you're not someone who's just gonna follow your girlfriend to wherever if I don't get into Georgia Tech and decide I want to study in MIT or Stanford." When she saw Aubrey open her mouth to protest, Stacie cut her off, "You're better than that."

Aubrey snapped her mouth shut, and instead of pursuing that line of discussion, she refocused. "We've done long-distance before."

"And it sucked." Stacie reminded.

"Which is why the retreat and this offer are good things." Aubrey argued.

"Aubrey, you're going to be busy!" Stacie repeated her earlier point. "Yeah, you're gonna be in the region, but it's not like you're going to have a lot of free time. Your old job demanded a lot of your time already, and now you have to set up this outdoor retreat that you've put your own money into, not to mention your name and reputation, and do you really think we're gonna have a lot of time to hang out?"

"I don't know, but I would hope so!" Aubrey interjected.

"And are you already forgetting how hard senior year is?" Stacie pressed. "Because I'm a double major, and I picked really hard degrees to major in. Between school and the Bellas—"

"Wait," Aubrey interrupted, suddenly putting brakes on the escalating argument, because: "I haven't even signed this offer yet, and I'm very good at negotiating. Do you not want me to take it? Because—"

Stacie sighed, suddenly depleted, and admitted, "Of course I want you to take it."

"Then why—"

"Because this is my senior year." Stacie grumbled. "Between school and the Bellas, I'm not gonna have a lot of time to spare, and all I can think of is what you kept saying, about life after graduation, and I don't want that to happen to us. I want to get as much time with you as I can, because if what you went through is the universal experience, I don't want us to be what I'm gonna have to lose to grow up and get over."

"It doesn't have to be."

"But what if it is?" Stacie insisted. "Don't get me wrong, you having a job near Georgia makes our chances a hell of a lot better than if you'd still be job hunting and stuck in New York, but my mom used to have two jobs, Aubrey, and she didn't really have a lot of time just to hang out with me. I know this offer's just a consultancy, but we both know they're gonna ask for a lot of your time."

"Stacie, I've seen the worst thing that can happen when I put my job over our relationship." Aubrey reminded, moving closer to Stacie on the couch. "I'm not going to risk that happening again."

Stacie shook her head, and gazed at Aubrey. "What if you have to?"

"Then I'll quit."

"Bree," Stacie said softly, because she knew what Aubrey was going to say, and she knew differently now. "This isn't just a job."

The consultancy was one thing, but the retreat was a different story.

It was Aubrey's savings. It was her name and reputation.

Stacie held Aubrey's gaze, saw the conflict there, knew that she and Aubrey were thinking the same thing.

She doesn't think she has ever loved Aubrey more than she did at that moment, knowing the truth of the situation, and using her almost unnatural stubbornness to insist differently.

Stacie looked at Aubrey, and realized what needed to be done.

"We have to break up."