A/N: To Phi, the guest who is absolutely on my wavelength... I like your style. :) I hope you enjoy this chapter, which I swear has been in my notes/on my outline since the inception of this story.

To everyone else - I have some news. I created a tumblr account so I could better interact with all you aca-lovin' nerds. So come follow me at v3ronica-summ3rs, where you can ask me anything!

Try as she might, Beca couldn't appease the aching between her legs. She was laying in her own bed, desperately begging for sleep, legs twisted in a sad attempt to ease her own painful arousal. The thought of reaching her hand down to satisfy herself played in her mind. And really, what was stopping her? Amy wasn't here. She had barely spent a night in their room since she realized, and subsequently confessed, that she was in love with Bumper. But Beca felt weird about it – guilty, or dirty maybe? It's not like she was a stranger to touching herself, but something about doing it with a certain redhead in mind felt… uncomfortable to her? And that, honestly, only made her more frustrated. What was the big deal? Chloe had literally tried to – even started to – do it for her less than an hour ago. She felt pretty certain that Chloe would actually, like, want Beca to finish what she had started if the redhead couldn't finish it herself. So, yeah, Beca was feeling guilty about feeling guilty… which was up there in the list of the stupidest feelings she had ever had.

Maybe it was because of Jesse? He was still her boyfriend after all… Wait… no he wasn't. Jesse wasn't her boyfriend. He had broken up with her four months ago now. And maybe that was Beca's whole problem? She was still thinking of herself as a non-single person, still thinking of Jesse as her boyfriend, when, in fact, he was now just a friend. A good friend, sure. A friend she wished she could tell about what was going on between her and Chloe, but a friend nevertheless. The truth was… she really didn't owe him anything, not even an explanation, let alone her chastity. She had to admit to herself that her plans had changed, that even if she wanted to, there was no way she going back to Jesse after this whole experience. She had to let it go and instead live with the uncertainty of the future.

Beca tried to focus on what was freeing about that, instead of everything that was terrifying about it, but really she couldn't focus on much of anything, what with the throbbing between her legs which had spawned a throbbing in her temples. She pulled the pillow out from underneath her head and pressed it against her face, releasing a long, low grunt of frustration.

While she was certainly frustrated by the state of her arousal, she was also annoyed with herself. She was so close, so very close to not freaking out about Chloe touching her. Aubrey had really helped get her into a better mindset on the whole thing, but apparently, she hadn't helped quite enough. She couldn't stop herself from panicking as she felt Chloe's hand move against… well, as she felt what she felt. And it was maddening, really, that she couldn't push through this. Because every touch, every kiss, every moment with Chloe served to illuminate further just how badly Beca wanted to. Fuck, how she wanted to.

As her exasperation grew to a new and unprecedented level, she found herself reaching for her phone. It was only after she'd hit the name, only after her phone was already ringing that it occurred to her that this was probably not one of the best choices she'd ever made.

"Hello?" came the questioning voice.

Beca swallowed hard, squinting her eyes shut tightly. "Aubrey! Um, hi…" she said, shaking her head.

"Beca?"

"Uh – yeah, it's me," she stuttered. "Sorry, um, are you talking to-to… because I can totally c-catch you later, um, it's not like—"

"No, I'm not," the blonde interrupted. "Now is fine time to chat. What's going on?"

Beca didn't know what to say and didn't have the slightest clue what possessed her to call Aubrey in the first place, if she was being honest. The ever present throbbing between her legs wasn't making it any easier to focus – to come up with something, anything to say to Aubrey right now – either.

"What's wrong, Beca? You sound… distressed."

Something about the way Aubrey said that made Beca laugh. It wasn't that it was funny, because Aubrey sounded genuinely concerned, but there was something about this whole situation that was just… well, laughable… and Beca couldn't stop herself.

"Is something funny?" She sounded confused, but also a little offended, maybe even hurt. That's not what Beca intended, of course, and she was quick to apologize.

"No, sorry. I mean – yes, kind of?" Beca said, still chuckling despite herself. She cleared her throat, taking on a more serious tone now. "I'm sorry. I don't even know why I called you…"

"Oh," Aubrey paused. "Did something happen with Chloe? Do you want to talk about it?"

Beca's breath caught, and it shouldn't have. It didn't take an intuitive genius to figure out that she was probably calling about what had obviously just happened between her and Chloe, but the question caught her by surprise anyway. She didn't know how to respond, and the mention of Chloe's name was making her suddenly aware of that itch she couldn't quite scratch. She shifted beneath the blankets uncomfortably.

"Uh-I mean, we… w-we—uh…." Yep. That was wonderful display of English, she sarcastically commended herself. Now there's a fuckin' surprise.

"Did you get, uh… further than last time?"

Beca appreciated Aubrey's gentle candor. She appreciated the sort of guise the blonde was constructing, a way of talking about this that made it seem like it was a normal conversation to be having instead of the totally crazy, not at all normal, conversation it actually was. It's not every day a girl approaches a female friend for guidance in regard to sexual contact with a mutual female friend. Honestly, regardless of the added gender twist, this wasn't the kind of conversation that Beca had ever had in her life. Talking about this stuff was weird. She didn't know what she was supposed to say, or how she was supposed to say it, but Aubrey had been really sympathetic and reassuring. She had a way of talking that helped Beca navigate the conversation, in a way that, sure, made her feel a bit uncomfortable, but didn't make her feel like she wanted to run away screaming. And that was kind of amazing, actually – kind of unbelievable, really, but all of the events since the retreat had been pretty fucking unbelievable, if she took time to think about it… which, she didn't really… at least not at this moment.

"Yeah, um, I–" she started to say something, but cut herself off, unsure of how exactly she should explain what had just happened. "Yeah."

"That's so good!" Aubrey's voice was kind, and supportive, it put Beca almost instantly at ease. It made her feel good, about what had happened. It cleared up some of the fuzzy confusion that was currently surrounding the memory.

"Did she touch you?" Aubrey asked. Her voice was now rough and throaty, a tone Beca couldn't quite pinpoint and certainly had never heard before from the blonde woman. It threw her off a bit.

"What?"

"I said," came the same rasping tone, this time a bit more deliberate, a voice that was careful to articulate every sound in each of its words, "did she touch you?"

Aubrey's words shot through her like an electric shock, working from her head down her spine until she found herself once again aware of her pulsing center. Beca was certain she was sweating. She screwed her eyes shut. She couldn't breathe. She swallowed hard before tightly twisting her legs together. Instinctively, her hips lifted off the mattress as an involuntary whimper escaped her lips and traveled through the phone.

Embarrassment rushed through her instantly. She found herself silently entreating a god she wasn't entirely sure she believed in. Please, please, please. Don't let her have heard that.

But Beca Mitchell had never been that lucky. "She did, didn't she?"

The tenor of Aubrey's voice was certainly not helping Beca's situation. It was so raw, so heated. Beca could practically feel the way the blonde's blue-green eyes widened as she spoke. And it was weird, it was so weird the way it was all making her feel right now, but Beca couldn't help it. She ached all over.

"Did you let her, Beca? Did you let her touch you?"

It was the way Aubrey had said her name that let loose another unconscious squeak from Beca's throat. This was too much. It was all too much. She had to hang up the phone. She knew she had to, but it was like she was entranced by Aubrey's voice. She couldn't stop listening. What the fuck is happening? was all Beca could think.

"You did," Aubrey stated, almost calmly. Then after a moment, the realization must have struck her. "You didn't let her finish," she breathed. It was a statement, not a question. She was sure.

But the certainty in her voice quickly vanished. "Beca, I-I-" she stammered.

Then, silence. Beca's mind was racing, not unlike it always did when she was with Chloe, but this was different. Now she was alone; she wasn't with Aubrey. That fact subdued the panic into something else, something a bit more manageable. It allowed Beca the ability to better decipher what she was actually thinking.

This phone call was more than a little weird. It was fucking absurd. Beca couldn't decide what was more messed up: the fact that Aubrey seemed to be turned on, or the fact that Beca was finding her already aroused state heightened by this. She spared a moment to acknowledge the fact that not two weeks ago, Beca had never found herself particularly aroused by another woman. The Chloe thing, well, Beca had assumed that was more of a "just a Chloe" thing. And sure, she was already itching when she called Aubrey. So maybe this reaction was only to be expected. Maybe it didn't mean that Beca now found herself turned on by two women, which would probably be some kind of definitive proof that this wasn't "just a Chloe" thing. No, it was a Beca thing, specifically a "Beca's at least a little bit gay" thing.

So, that's a messed up thing…

Aubrey's breathing suddenly broke the silence. She said nothing, but Beca could hear her, knew she was still there. Beca couldn't bring herself to say anything either. What would she possibly even say right now? Yet, she couldn't hang up either. So she sat, listening to Aubrey's rhythmic inhales and exhales. But even that was becoming an issue, for Beca. It was all too much; it was just too painful. She couldn't take it any longer, couldn't just continue laying there, saying nothing and doing nothing. So she cleared her throat.

"You can… uh. I mean, you're allowed to-to…" The blonde's voice was still low and yet uncertain. Beca was glad that Aubrey was having as much trouble with this conversation as she was. It was good to be among anxious and confused company for a change. It felt nice to know she wasn't the only person on earth who stumbled over weird awkwardness of this nature. It made her feel slightly less idiotic and socially inept, at least for the current second.

Beca's train of thought was lost when Aubrey spoke again, this time with the same bold and certain confidence in which she captained the Bellas, or ran the Lodge. "It's okay to touch yourself."

Beca froze. The conversation had suddenly taken a step from "super weird" to "what the actual fuck." And yet… Beca couldn't deny the fact that she was probably turned on more right now, in this moment, than she had ever been in her entire life. The throbbing was persistent. In fact, it was downright excruciating – and really, Beca was only teasing herself here, dragging out the agony like the incredibly stubborn thing she was. There was no need to put herself through this. Aubrey was right. Obviously it was okay for a grown-ass lady to indulge herself after a particularly heated sexual encounter that left her, ultimately, unfulfilled. She felt stupid for needing to hear those words out loud at all, but yeah, that was kind of what she needed to hear. And it must have been what she had called Aubrey for. Which made this whole thing even weirder. Why in the hell would she need Aubrey to tell her that? The brunette might have been a bit hopeless when it came to navigating sexual situations in any manner other than totally awkward, but she certainly didn't need permission to masturbate.

Something about that made Beca kind of angry. It seemed to her that Aubrey was treating her a bit like a child and it was reminiscent of all the condescension Beca endured from the blonde her first year with the Bellas. And she sort of snapped…

"What the fuck, Aubrey? You don't think I know that?!"

Aubrey was quick with a response, as she always had been. "Well, it certainly seems like, at the very least, you needed a reminder…"

The blonde's tone was teasing, and it served to incense Beca further, and also to arouse her further – which is not something she cared to admit to herself at this particular moment. "I don't need you telling me what I can and can't do."

"Need I also remind you that you're the one that called me, remember?" Beca didn't have a quick comeback for that one. How could she? That was exactly what had happened. So, she sighed loudly into the phone instead, making her frustration known. But something about the noise she made shifted the conversation. She could feel the change tingling in the air around her, but she still couldn't have been ready for what Aubrey said next.

"Now, you listen to me, Beca Mitchell." Her voice was commanding and rough. Beca couldn't ignore the way the sound ignited a fire in the pit of stomach. She swallowed, tugging her bottom lip into her mouth to chew on it in a sorry attempt to refocus her mind. She shut her eyes as she listened Aubrey's every word. "You just spent some one-on-one pillow time with Chloe. And Chloe is seriously hot and you are seriously into her, but for whatever reason, you panic and stop her from… satisfying you. You now find yourself alone in your room, presumably – and you're stopping yourself from finishing the job because why? Are you that embarrassed by your own sexuality? Why do you insist on punishing yourself this way?"

Aubrey took a breath as any remnants of anger vanished from her tone, instead taking on a much calmer, though still very serious – and somehow still lascivious – timber. "You have nothing to be ashamed of. It's okay. Let yourself go. Indulge yourself." The blonde paused again for a moment, as if to highlight the importance of her next words. "I know Chloe wants you to."

And yeah, the tense of that statement was weird. It suggested that Aubrey had talked to Chloe, and that Chloe had literally said she wished Beca would touch herself. But Beca only barely registered that implication. She was too busy trying not to have an audible reaction to the way in which Aubrey was speaking to her. The last thing she needed right now was for that to happen again, but it was difficult not to, so difficult in fact that refraining from it was actually becoming a turn on for Beca.

"So, Beca…" Aubrey continued, her voice now dripping with something hot and wet, "I want you to reach down and think of red hair, and bright blue eyes, and soft, flawless skin. Think of the way that Chloe makes you feel when you're with her… how loved… how free. And allow yourself this moment."

Beca's breathing was quickly becoming noticeably labored, and she couldn't stop it. She was worried that Aubrey would hear her, or that some other sound – potentially even more incriminating – would escape her.

"Please, Beca," was the last thing she heard Aubrey beg before she pulled the phone from her ear and hit the red button to end the call. She tossed the phone off to the side of the bed, just out of reach, and then did exactly as she was told to do.

The poetic nature of this moment wasn't lost on her. As her fingers slid through wet heat before settling atop that sensitive bundle of nerves, she spared a thought for Aubrey Posen, a woman who she refused to obey – or at least never submitted to without a fight – somehow exercising complete control over her. Thoughts of Chloe flitted into her mind as she pressed down, back naturally arching off of the bed as she finally released the moan she had been holding in for what felt like a lifetime.

A/N: And, uh, sorry about the end of this chapter...