A/N: I'm so sorry this update took so long! I wrote a birthday fic for Knappster first and then had a migraine for a few days so I wasn't able to write. I want to first thank everyone for the reviews, follows, and favorites. They really do keep me motivated and science doesn't fail. I do want to mention, though, that if you guest review daily and tell me how long it's been since my last update or write a review that essentially only says "hurry up" - the pressure of that will cause me to have instant writer's block even when I already have the chapter planned out. So, basically it totally works against you. Thanks again for all of you who wrote so many kind things!
Stacie looked over at the blonde wrapped around her. Aubrey's eyes were closed and her breathing was evening out - the slow circles she had been tracing over Stacie's stomach became more intermittent before they stopped altogether. Stacie's eyes scanned Aubrey's face - from the top of her forehead where her blonde hair gave way to brown roots, past her perfectly shaped eyebrows, down the slope of her nose, across her cheekbone, along her jaw, and down to her cute chin before finally landing on her lips that were currently formed in a small pout. Stacie loved this girl. She was sure of it.
"You're watching me," Aubrey said quietly. Her eyes were now open and Stacie raised her own from Aubrey's lips to meet them.
"I'm memorizing you," Stacie replied, taking the tip of her finger and tracing it along the path her eyes had just taken. Aubrey closed her eyes and smiled.
"We need to talk," Aubrey said,trying to keep her voice light.
Stacie hummed, sweeping her eyes over Aubrey's body resting up against hers one last time, just in case. They were both silent for a few moments, neither wanting to be the first to put anything out there.
Stacie took a breath. "I want to be with you," she blurted. "I want you and only you." She stopped herself and bit her lip, waiting for Aubrey to respond. Aubrey was looking down and Stacie couldn't see her eyes - but she felt the blonde start to tremble slightly.
Aubrey buried her head in the crook of Stacie's neck. Stacie brought a hand up to the back of her head, gently stroking her hair. Several thoughts raced through her mind at once - Aubrey didn't feel the same way, or maybe she did but she didn't want anything to come of it, or maybe she wanted something but was too afraid to be with a girl, or maybe she was just too afraid to be with a girl like her, a girl with her reputation.
A wet feeling on her neck brought her back to reality. "Aubrey?" Stacie gently lifted Aubrey's head up and watched the blonde quickly wipe away tears.
Aubrey saw the moment Stacie's eyes shifted to panic. She smiled to reassure her before putting her hand on her cheek and giving her a kiss. "I'm okay - I just didn't expect you to say that. I want to be with you too, more than anything."
Stacie flipped Aubrey onto her back and hovered over her. "Really?" She grinned, kissing Aubrey hard and then peppering kisses all over her face, tickling Aubrey into laughter. The blonde swatted her shoulder playfully.
"We're not done talking, you know," Aubrey said with a laugh. Stacie stuck out her lower lip in a pout before collapsing her weight onto the blonde. Aubrey put a finger under her chin, lifting up the brunette's face and taking the lower pouty lip in her mouth. Stacie whimpered.
Aubrey pulled away and looked into Stacie's eyes. She couldn't believe that she would be able to start calling this girl hers. Stacie grinned at her and her stomach filled with butterflies.
The brunette leaned in. "Fine, let's talk so we can not talk," she murmured and wiggled her eyebrows, leaning in to give Aubrey a brief kiss.
Stacie rolled off Aubrey and laid on her side. Aubrey shifted so she was on her side facing Stacie. She put the tip of her finger by Stacie's collarbone and started tracing random patterns there.
"What do you mean when you say you want to be with me?" Aubrey asked. Stacie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "I mean, what does that entail for you?"
Stacie thought about it for a second. "It means that I get to call you mine and you get to call me yours - and we're exclusive to each other. Just regular dating."
Aubrey wasn't expecting Stacie to say anything different - she just had to ask to make sure they were on the same page. "And do other people know?" Aubrey's eyes shifted to watch her hand moving along Stacie's chest.
"I want everyone to know. I can't imagine not being able to touch you just because someone else is around." Stacie tucked a piece of Aubrey's hair behind her ear. "But if you don't want that, if you're not comfortable with that yet, then that's okay. I can work with that."
"I want people to know."
"Yeah?" Aubrey nodded. "Well, good, because if people didn't know, then the next time some douchebag gives you hot chocolate, it will be quite suspicious when I go punch him in the face."
Aubrey laughed. She shifted her body over, pushing Stacie on her back and putting her weight on top of her. "It's really hot when you're jealous."
Aubrey pressed her leg into Stacie's center and the brunette hissed out a breath before Aubrey joined their lips, working Stacie's mouth open and slipping her tongue in.
Aubrey wasn't the least bit sad about spending their last day of the trip inside with Stacie. They met the girls at the bottom of the stairs when they heard them return from skiing. A couple of them were carrying bags full of take out - and Stacie's stomach growled, demanding to be fed.
"How are you feeling, Bree?" Chloe asked as she was shedding herself of her outdoor clothes.
Aubrey smiled. "Much better, thanks."
"Good." Chloe nodded but looked back and forth from Aubrey to Stacie a few times before deciding not to continue whatever thought she had.
"Let's eat, bitches," Fat Amy called out from the dining room.
Stacie took a spot next to Aubrey at the long dining room table. They passed the chinese food family style around to each other, everyone grabbing what they wanted. The girls chatted excitedly about their days, and eventually people branched off into different conversations with different people.
Aubrey bit her lip and tried to keep from grinning when she felt Stacie's hand rest on her thigh. Then the brunette's hand trailed up her leg and that was basically all it took for heat to rush between her legs. Aubrey stared determinedly at her food, pushing it around her plate with her fork.
Stacie leaned over and cupped her hand to Aubrey's ear. "I want you," she whispered, huskily.
Aubrey's face reddened but the words created an instant reaction in her body. She bit her lip harder, trying to decide if the appropriate way to tell the Bellas she was with Stacie was just to turn and start making out with the brunette on the spot. She glanced at Stacie. She would love that, Aubrey was sure.
"Aubrey!" The blonde turned her head towards Chloe's voice, startled. "I've been trying to talk to for like an entire minute."
Aubrey blushed. "Sorry, Chloe, I-"
"Come on everyone! One last time in the hot tub. I'll get the alcohol," Fat Amy said, interrupting Aubrey and Chloe. Aubrey quickly stood and left the room, not quite sure what Chloe was going to say but not wanting to risk a confrontation - the blonde knew she and Stacie weren't exactly being subtle anymore.
Stacie followed Aubrey up into their room and pressed herself against Aubrey's back, wrapping her arms around the blonde. She nuzzled her nose into the crook of Aubrey's neck.
"Do you think we should tell Chloe and Beca before we tell everyone else?" Aubrey asked, worrying her lip between her teeth. "They're our best friends. It just, it seems kind of wrong for them to find out when everyone else does. Doesn't it?"
"I guess you're right," Stacie said, planting light kisses along Aubrey's neck.
"Let's hurry and change so we can catch them before they go down with everyone else."
Stacie pouted while she changed because Aubrey was denying her advances for the sake of time. She'd like to think she would make Aubrey pay for it later but she knew she wouldn't. Stacie made Aubrey wear the black bikini she had first seen her in. They've come a long way in just a few days, Stacie thought with a smile.
Aubrey threw her a towel and wrapped one around herself. She took a deep breath.
"Okay, let's do this."
They walked to Beca and Chloe's room and Aubrey knocked on the door. A few moment's later, Chloe opened up, already in her bikini. Beca was further in the room, throwing a t-shirt on over her suit.
"Good, you're both here. Can we come in for a second?"
Chloe furrowed her eyebrows but stepped aside to let them in. She closed the door behind them. Aubrey stood there wringing her hands together. She didn't know why she was so nervous. Chloe clearly had wanted this to happen - but there was something different about saying it outloud for others to hear for the first time.
"What's going on?" Chloe was concerned with Aubrey's nervous stance.
Stacie closed the distance between her and Aubrey and pulled one of the blonde's hands away from the other, lacing their fingers together at their sides. Chloe looked from Aubrey, to Stacie, to their joined hands a few times before her mouth split into a grin.
"Does this mean what I think it means?" Chloe had already started slightly bouncing excitedly.
Aubrey gave her a small, shy smile before it gave way to a grin, laughing at Chloe's excitement. She had barely nodded before Chloe was barreling towards and tackling her in a hug, ripping her hand apart from Stacie's.
Beca fist bumped Stacie before Chloe grabbed her in a big hug too.
"When can we go on our first double date? What about next weekend? Maybe we can do food and the movies. Or if you don't want to do the movies we can just get food. Or we can have a home movie!" Beca reached for Chloe's arm, grounding her slightly. "This was totally because of me wasn't it?" She smiled smugly and threw Beca an 'I told you so' glance.
Stacie clapped her hand onto Chloe's shoulder, voice serious, "This was despite of you, Chlo."
Chloe pouted when Stacie started laughing. "But all that stuff in the hot tub. Come on, it at least got you thinking about it, right?"
Aubrey bit her lip. "Oh, yeah, about that.."
"What?"
"We were way ahead of you," Stacie said, returning Chloe's earlier smug grin.
Chloe gasped. "Since when?!"
"That night after our talk," Aubrey said.
Stacie turned her head towards Aubrey. "What talk?"
Aubrey chuckled. "Later. Let's go get in the hot tub."
Aubrey kept a tight hold on Stacie's hand until they were almost downstairs. Stacie knew she was nervous about telling the Bellas. The brunette was just excited they wouldn't have to hide it. Most of the girls had already gotten into the hot tub by the time they joined the group, rushing to get in and out of the cold air.
"I put some drinks on the ledge behind you," Amy said, raising her own with a nod.
Stacie grabbed two of them and handed one to Aubrey. She cringed slightly when she took a sip. This was definitely an Amy drink, heavy mixture of random alcohol and maybe a shot, at most, of some sort of soda. She looked over to see Aubrey chugging her drink.
"Whoa there," Stacie said, pulling Aubrey's arm down. "We definitely don't need you sick tomorrow on top of everything else. Like, you know, flying home."
Aubrey groaned. She had managed to forget about the whole airplane thing until that second. Stacie put her hand on Aubrey's leg, distracting her just enough to let the thought go for the time being.
"Can we just get this over with?" Aubrey asked Stacie quietly.
"Hey, this is all you. If I were telling them, I'd do it very differently." Stacie smirked.
Aubrey narrowed her eyes. "Why don't you just do it then?"
"You sure about that?"
"Yeah, I really don't care. There's no way I'm going to get them to shut up and listen to me right now."
Stacie put down her drink and grabbed Aubrey's now empty glass. She put her hand back on Aubrey's thigh and traced it up her leg, grazing her fingers over the fabric at her hip. Stacie leaned her head in and placed her lips on the spot just below Aubrey's ear, sucking it gently. Aubrey closed her eyes, losing focus of the fact that they were in a hot tub surrounded by other girls.
"Um, Aubrey?" The blonde opened her eyes at the sound of Cynthia Rose's voice and found all the Bellas staring at her. Stacie didn't take her lips off the blonde's neck. "You have a Stacie stuck on you."
"Yeah, um, Stace?" Aubrey nudged her with her shoulder.
Stacie lifted her head and captured Aubrey's lips in a slow kiss. She pulled away and grinned, her eyes twinkling, before turning towards the group. Most of them were staring wide-eyed and silent. Jessica and Ashley's mouths were open.
"So, we're together now," Stacie grinned.
"Whoop, there it is," Amy exclaimed. "Pay up, skinny bitches." The rest of the girls groaned.
"Wait, what?" Aubrey sat up a little straighter. "You guys bet on this?"
"We never thought you'd cave," Cynthia Rose admitted, shaking her head.
"Why not? Have you seen Stacie?" Aubrey questioned indignantly. Stacie smiled and nuzzled her face into Aubrey's neck.
"Babe, stop pacing. You're making me nervous." Stacie caught Aubrey's arm as the blonde walked by and pulled her into her lap. She buried her face into her neck and breathed in the scent of her, oblivious to anyone else around them at the airport gate.
"I can't help it." Aubrey grabbed Stacie's hand and took a deep breath.
"It will be fine. I'll be there. Remember the flight here? Totally fine."
"No! I was sleeping the whole time."
Stacie chuckled. "Yeah, I'm going to fix that this time."
Aubrey's grip on Stacie's hand tightened. "What do you mean?"
Stacie shifted the blonde on her lap so she could reach into her bag. She took out the same orange bottle she had taken out on their trip a few days before. She tapped one pill into her palm and asked Aubrey to hold the bottle for a second. She split the pill in half, giving one half to Aubrey and putting the other back in the bottle.
"An entire pill is a bit much for you, apparently. This amount should be perfect."
"I wouldn't really mind sleeping the whole time."
"I know," Stacie said, putting her arms around the blonde and squeezing tight. "I mind though. If you're not feeling better, you can take the other half, okay?" Aubrey nodded and swallowed the pill.
Forty-five minutes passed before they were allowed to board. Stacie could tell Aubrey was feeling a bit better - maybe not enough to ease all of her stress but enough that it wasn't overwhelming or paralyzing and that's all Stacie wanted.
Stacie let Aubrey have the window seat again. She reached in the overhead compartment and took a blanket out of her bag.
"You woke up for two seconds in the middle of the flight last time and said 'cold' before falling asleep again," Stacie said with a chuckle, placing the blanket over the two of them. She lifted up the armrest between them and snuggled closer after she put her seatbelt on. "How do you feel?"
"I'm… okay, I think," Aubrey said. "The nerves are still here but it's not crazy." She smiled at Stacie. If she could just focus on that face, on that hand in hers, she'd be fine. Stacie leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"You know, last time we were on a plane, you kissed me," Stacie said.
"No I didn't!"
Stacie laughed. "Yes you did! You were loopy and you hugged my arm and thanked me, and you tried to kiss my cheek but it ended up right here-" Stacie leaned in and kissed Aubrey softly on the corner of her mouth.
Aubrey's face reddened slightly. "Is that when you decided to relentlessly flirt with me until you got into my pants?"
Stacie hummed. "No, that plan of action had been in place for months now." She grinned cheekily and gave the blonde a few brief kisses until her tongue darted out across Aubrey's lips and the blonde granted it access into her mouth. Stacie placed her hand on Aubrey's cheek and deepened the kiss.
Aubrey didn't even notice the plane start to move - she barely heard the captain come on and tell the flight attendants to prepare for departure. She didn't know if it was the pill or Stacie's lips, or both, but she couldn't be bothered to care.
Stacie pulled her lips away when she felt something hit the back of her head. She twisted over to look across the aisle but there were two people there she didn't know, each engrossed in their own reading. She looked around until she saw Beca a row back.
"Dude, people can see you," Beca whisper-yelled. Stacie shrugged and stuck out her tongue, turning her back on the tiny brunette.
Aubrey looked out the window and felt the moment the plane started moving and picking up speed. She didn't like it, but it was okay. She watched the ground move away and she heard the sound of the wheels retracting. Her heart rate picked up and she expected the plane to nose dive immediately - but when it didn't, she relaxed a little.
She looked over at Stacie and found the brunette was already watching her. She gave her a little smile and squeezed the hand that was laced in hers.
They sat in silence for awhile and Stacie rested her head on Aubrey's shoulder. Eventually Stacie unlaced their hands to stretch and when she put it back under the blanket that was covering them, she placed it on the sliver of skin that was showing because of Aubrey's bunched up shirt. She softly grazed her hand over the skin, dipping her fingers beneath the waistband of her yoga pants.
Stacie leaned over and placed a few light kisses beneath Aubrey's ear before nipping it gently. She watched the rise and fall of Aubrey's chest quicken and risked putting her hand fully under Aubrey's pants, keeping it on top of her underwear. Stacie grazed over the fabric and listened to Aubrey's sharp intake of breath.
Stacie looked forward when she saw the flight attendant a few rows up with the drink cart. She lightly scraped her hand up slightly to slide it beneath beneath Aubrey's underwear. The blonde's breath hitched when Stacie touched her center.
"Stace," Aubrey whimpered quietly. She looked at the people around them but the only people who could actually see into their row were both still engrossed in their books - and the blanket covered them anyway. "You can't do this." Even as she said it, Aubrey knew it sounded weak.
"You want me to stop?" Stacie asked, pulling her hand slowly from its spot.
Aubrey grabbed Stacie's arm, preventing her hand from moving any farther away. Stacie smirked while she slid her hand back towards Aubrey's center, swiping her fingers down until she found wetness.
Aubrey's hand was still on Stacie's arm and her grip tightened. The blonde bit her lip as Stacie's hand worked - circling around with continuous pressure changes so Aubrey couldn't anticipate what was coming next. She found herself having to focus a lot of her energy on not making any sounds - thankfully her short pants were drowned out by the noise of the plane.
Aubrey felt herself getting closer when a noise from the aisle startled her. She looked over and the flight attendant was in their row, asking the people across from them what they wanted. Stacie's hand didn't stop.
"Stacie," Aubrey hissed just as the flight attendant turned her head to face them, asking if she could interest them in a drink.
Stacie smiled and asked for a water while simultaneously adding pressure to Aubrey's center. Aubrey bit her lip again and couldn't manage to form words when the flight attendant looked at her expecting an answer.
Stacie turned her head and smiled innocently. "Do you want anything to drink, Bree?"
Aubrey shook her head vigorously and when the flight attendant moved on to the next row, she pressed her face into Stacie's arm with a little whimper. It was getting harder for her to keep herself still under the blanket. Right before she came undone, she put her hand on Stacie's cheek and turned the brunette's head towards her, capturing her lips aggressively in an attempt to keep from moaning.
Stacie slowly slid her hand out from under Aubrey's pants and smiled as she rested her head on the blonde's shoulder.
Aubrey inhaled the scent of Stacie's hair. "I am so getting you back for that when we get home."
Stacie's grin widened. She liked the way Aubrey said the word "home," like there was a place there for both of them - like things stopped being just Aubrey's and just Stacie's but became theirs. Stacie's never been the type of girl who liked that idea before - sharing things seemed stifling to her - but maybe she was just waiting for Aubrey.
A/N: That's it, folks. I'm calling this done. Maybe there will be a sequel, as one guest requested! Or if inspiration strikes later, I might add a chapter or two but for now this is complete! Let me know what you thought!