A/N: I just don't know about this one guys. I might not be a 'prompt' writer. Just keep going with it and maybe it'll go somewhere eventually. No promises.

Chapter 2

She found herself running up a long flight of stairs, flight after flight after flight, until her lungs felt like they were going to explode and her legs turned to rubber. She finally reached the top and ran through the door, seeing cube after cube of office spaces. She veered left and tried to find the perfect space to hide; she knew whoever was following her would be up there any second.

She hid underneath a desk, immediately plugging her ears and closing her eyes tight. She tried to calm herself and steady her breathing by singing loudly in her mind. It was the only thing that ever worked. She's not sure how long she sat there before she smelled it. The smell was acrid and harsh, distinctly gasoline. It was overwhelming, burning her nostrils.

And then the smell changed to smoke. Suddenly, there was intense heat and she was coughing, suffocating. She was going to burn alive. Her lungs strained to breathe.

With a gasp, she shot up in bed, drenched in sweat. She could still smell the gasoline and smoke.

If Stacie's being honest with herself, she felt a little bad about what she said to Aubrey the other night. Aubrey might be uptight and super frustrating to be around in rehearsals, but she hadn't ever done anything to indicate that she was a bad person - or even a mean person.

Stacie tried to think of what her mom would say if she were around. She imagines her mom would say that Stacie needs to really give Aubrey a chance - to find out who she is beyond the Bellas. And if she still doesn't like her? Well, that's that.

Stacie sighed to herself. She knows she's not being fair but she didn't know how to fix it.

She thought it over as she made her way to rehearsals. Maybe she should just try to get to know Aubrey more. If she's going to dislike someone, she wants to know it's at least justified.

She opened the door to the rehearsal room a few minutes early but everyone seemed to already be there. She dropped her stuff and looked up at the blonde who was reviewing something in a binder. She took a deep breath and approached her.

"Hi!" she said, almost rolling her eyes at how accidentally enthusiastic her voice sounded.

Aubrey looked up and turned her head slightly from side to side, as if to make sure that Stacie was talking to her. "Hello."

"Hi."

"You said that already."

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Stacie mumbled. "Listen, I just wanted to apologize for the other night. I didn't mean that."

"Yes you did." Aubrey looked back down at her binder like she was done with the conversation but Stacie persisted.

"You're right, I did - but I could have said it differently. And I don't really know you at all, so it wasn't really fair." Stacie could be completely imagining it, but she swears she saw Aubrey's eyes soften for a split second before they hardened again.

"It's fine," Aubrey said curtly, closing her binder and getting up to start rehearsals.

Stacie didn't really understand what just happened. She's not used to people not being completely receptive to her, even when she's insulted them recently. She's just that charming. And while she wasn't ever mean, she's always been the girl in school who was popular enough that people did anything to be her friend. This left Stacie feeling a bit unsettled - but she's always liked a good challenge.

Stacie went up to Aubrey when rehearsals ended. "Hi," Stacie said, grinning big. Aubrey looked at her warily. "Do you want to get coffee with me?"

"What? Why?" Aubrey questioned, confused.

"I don't know," Stacie shrugged. "-to talk? Maybe get to know each other a little better?"

"I can't," Aubrey said firmly.

"Oh." Stacie didn't mean to look hurt - she certainly didn't mean to actually be hurt. Just hours before, she couldn't really stand the thought of the blonde and now she's sad she won't agree to coffee? She was a mess and it was giving her a headache.

"I have other obligations. See you tomorrow, Stacie." Aubrey turned and left the brunette, who was, again, trying to figure out what just happened.

"Don't take it personally," Stacie whipped around at the sound of Chloe's voice. "She's a tough nut to crack."

"Is it worth it?" Stacie found herself asking before she thought it through.

"Cracking her?" Stacie nodded. "Yes, it's worth it, absolutely."

Stacie sighed.

Aubrey was sitting on the couch with her textbook in front of her, jotting down notes, when Chloe walked into their shared living room.

"Hey Bree."

Aubrey looked up and smiled. "Hey Chlo."

"We're still on for a movie tonight, right?"

"Of course." Aubrey and Chloe watched a movie together probably about once a week. It was one of Aubrey's favorite things to do.

"Good because, um, I kind of invited a couple people over. Okay see you later!" Chloe turned to leave quickly.

"Stop right now, Chloe Beale!" Chloe stopped and slowly turned around, biting her lip. "Who is coming over?"

"Beca and-"

"Beca?! Ughh, Chloe!" Aubrey groaned.

"Stacie is coming too!" Chloe watched Aubrey's eyes widen.

"Is this supposed to be helping your case?"

"Come on, Bree," Chloe sighed. "I know you like Stacie."

"Where on earth did you get that idea?" Aubrey asked, truly perplexed.

"You think she's interesting." Aubrey quirked an eyebrow at Chloe. "And she's not afraid of you, she doesn't bow down."

"That's one of her more annoying qualities," Aubrey said, pursing her lips.

Chloe laughed. "Sometimes I think I know you better than you know you."

"I can't believe you talked me into this," Stacie muttered as she and Beca made their way to Aubrey and Chloe's apartment.

"It didn't take a lot of convincing. You agreed the second I said Aubrey was going to be there," Beca smirked, causing Stacie's face to redden slightly. She hadn't had a lot of success with getting to know Aubrey so she needed to take this opportunity. Still, she didn't appreciate that Beca had noticed.

Stacie looked around the apartment when Chloe let them in. It was nice and homey and she could immediately see herself spending a lot of time there. She made her way towards Aubrey who was on the couch while Beca followed Chloe into the kitchen. The blonde looked up from what she was reading and gave Stacie a half smile as she said hello.

Stacie sat on the couch next to her. "See what happens when you won't agree to coffee with me? I invade your personal space."

Aubrey chuckled and Stacie was surprised by her stomach doing a little flip at the sound. "I'll keep that in mind next time you ask me to coffee."

"Next time? No, no," Stacie shook her head, a teasing glint in her eyes. "That was a one-time only offer. I don't take rejection very well." She stuck her tongue out and Aubrey chuckled again. Stacie found herself wanting nothing more than to make the blonde laugh over and over again.

"I guess I'll have to ask next time then," Aubrey said, meeting Stacie's eyes with a sudden seriousness.

They stared at each other for several moments before Aubrey's eyes shifted as Chloe and Beca walked in the room, holding drinks and bowls of popcorn. Chloe handed a bowl to Stacie and settled in on the other couch with Beca. Stacie sat back and got comfortable.

"Did you know that Americans eat like 17 billion quarts of popcorn a year? Enough to fill the Empire State Building like 18 times," Stacie said as she grabbed a handful.

"That's crazy. Why do you know that?" Chloe laughed.

"Stacie is like a walking random fact machine. Give her any topic and she'll be able to tell you something completely useless about it," Beca teased.

"Hey! Sometimes they're useful," Stacie pouted. She was feeling a bit self-conscious, which almost never happened. She stole a glance at Aubrey, who was looking at her with an amused expression. "Can we start this movie or what?" She heard Aubrey chuckle lightly.

"Wait! Give me a random fact about glow sticks."

"Glow sticks?" Stacie looked at Chloe like she was insane.

"I love glow sticks!" Chloe grinned.

"Um, I don't really know any random things about glow sticks. I mean, I understand how they work, their chemical components, but nothing random."

"How do they work?" Aubrey cut in, suddenly interested.

"They're made up of two chemical components. One is basically a solution of fluorescent dye with phenol oxidate and then there's hydrogen peroxide. All it takes is mixing those two things together to get the glow stick to work, so they put one mixture in the plastic tube and the other in a small glass vial inside the tube. That's why you have to bend it to make it glow - you have to break the glass inside to get the chemicals to mix."

"How do you know this stuff?" Aubrey asked.

Stacie shrugged. "I like chemistry."

Stacie finally succeeded in getting them to start the movie. She curled her legs up beside her and settled in to watch. She usually loves movies but she found herself more than a little distracted during this one. She thought about how she had probably been wrong about Aubrey - she seemed different outside of rehearsal, had seemed different even at that party that one night. Even so, Stacie didn't understand her sudden intrigue. It was probably just her mind trying to figure out why she heard Aubrey in her dreams, right?

If Stacie hadn't been so caught up in her own thoughts, she might have realized that Aubrey was stealing glances at her every few minutes. She could tell the brunette's brain was working by her furrowed brow and she wondered what was going on in that head of hers.

Stacie watched the blonde at the front of room reading through a textbook. Her right hand was on the back of her neck, absentmindedly massaging a kink. Her other hand was holding the page open while the book rested on her lap, except for every couple of minutes when it reached up to cover a yawn. At the third yawn, Stacie got up and went to the front.

"Are you not sleeping well?" Aubrey's head shot up, startled. Stacie sat in a chair next to her. "You keep yawning," Stacie said to explain her question.

"I sleep fine," Aubrey said, but it came out sounding too defensive for Stacie to believe it to be true. Stacie opened her mouth to tell her that but Aubrey cut her off. "Do you want to get coffee after rehearsal?"

Stacie was so surprised that she couldn't immediately respond. Aubrey sat patiently waiting for a response.

"Yes, of course. I'd love to."

They decided to go to a cafe just off campus because it was less busy. After they got their drinks, they settled into a tiny booth across from one another.

"I've always wanted to be the type of person who could drink my coffee just black," Aubrey said as she motioned towards Stacie's cup.

"If I had to guess, I would have guessed that's how you took it; no nonsense," Stacie replied as she added some sugar to her cup.

"Why did you want to have coffee with me?"

"Uhh, I believe you wanted to have coffee with me, yeah?" Stacie scrunched her nose and stuck out the tip of her tongue briefly.

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "You asked me first. Why?"

"Honestly?" Aubrey nodded. "It's like I said - I knew I wasn't being fair to you in my initial assessment. So I thought I'd try to get to know you and see if it changed anything." Stacie shrugged. "Now a more important question - why did you want to have coffee with me?"

"I'm not sure. You seem interesting." It was Aubrey's turn to shrug.

The two fell into easy conversation, which surprised them both. They found they had much more in common than they thought. Stacie found Aubrey less uptight the more they talked. Aubrey let go of some preconceived ideas she had about the brunette too, like that she was a ditz and that she slept around. She didn't actually know about the sleeping around part but she found herself hoping it wasn't true.

"This was supposed to be harder, you know." Stacie smiled as they were getting up to leave.

"What was?"

"Cracking you. Chloe said you were tough to crack."

"You think you've cracked me?"

"Oh, you're cracked. Can't you see that tiny crack? I can," Stacie grinned and when Aubrey laughed, her heart skipped a beat.

Aubrey watched the guy approach Stacie from across the room. She watched them talk for a second; she watched Stacie laugh. She felt her stomach twist but she had a hard time identifying why. She tried to pay attention and participate in the conversation happening right in front of her but she felt her eyes drifting towards Stacie's side of the room.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Aubrey builds very strong and high walls around herself for a reason. Unless you're Chloe, you're not supposed to be able to penetrate them. Stacie just waltzed through them like they don't exist after a movie and some coffee? Aubrey shook her head.

Across the room, Stacie was trying to pay attention to what this dude in front of her was saying but she didn't really care. She looked up and saw Aubrey looking at her. She lifted her hand and gave her a little wave and watched the faint hint of a smile show up on Aubrey's face. She was beginning to think it was a problem how much she would do to get that girl to smile. Shit, a week ago she couldn't stand her and now? Well… now she could.

Stacie excused herself from the guy, who she's pretty sure was mid-sentence but she didn't care, and made her way over to Aubrey. The blonde seemed surprised to see her approach.

"How lucky is that guy gonna get later?" Amy asked with a wink. Stacie felt Aubrey's eyes on her intently.

"I mean, I guess it depends how nice he is to his hand, because he's not getting any from me." A mixture of laughs and "ews" followed.

"We were just talking about leaving and going back to our place to hang out for a bit," Chloe said.

"That would be great; this party is so lame." Stacie felt relieved to be leaving.

The girls left and Stacie was finally in starting to feel the drinks she had from earlier. She stumbled and Aubrey caught her arm to keep her from falling. For the rest of the walk to the apartment, Aubrey held on to Stacie's arm, just in case she stumbled again. Stacie liked the feeling more than she cared to examine.

Stacie accepted a glass of wine even though she had probably had enough to drink - but Aubrey was drinking one and Aubrey had offered, so it seemed like a good idea. Stacie felt her stomach flip when the blonde sat right next to her even though there were other places to sit. Even her buzzed brain knew this was a strange feeling to have.

The girls chatted for awhile and some of them filtered out. Stacie was suddenly very tired, wine had a way of doing that to her. She felt someone nudging her on the shoulder.

"Hey," the voice said quietly. "Do you want to stay here?" Stacie nodded, sleepily. She heard Aubrey chuckle.

Stacie was already on the couch and she felt a blanket cover her. She mumbled thank you and fell asleep before she could even hear a response.

Stacie woke up in the middle of the night and needed to go to the bathroom. It took her a second to orient herself and remember where she was. Someone had left a dim lamp on for her to be able to see.

When she was making her way back to the couch, she heard faint sounds coming from one of the bedrooms. She paused at the door and listened to what sounded like whimpering that was becoming increasingly more distressed. When she heard a shout, she cracked the door open and peered inside.

Aubrey was on her bed thrashing around, face contorted in pain and fear. Stacie rushed in and shook her shoulder, whispering her name. Aubrey pulled away and whimpered more. Stacie shook her harder. She didn't know if this was the right thing to do but she didn't want to see Aubrey like this.

Suddenly Aubrey shot up in bed, panting and looking around bewildered and confused. Stacie heard a sob break through and then tears were streaming down the blonde's face. She wrapped her arms around Aubrey and rocked her back and forth a little.

"It'll be okay," Stacie whispered. "Shh, it'll be okay."

She did this over and over again until Aubrey stopped trembling. She laid the older girl down on her side and laid down behind her, wrapping her arm over her waist. She found Aubrey's hand and traced light circles on her palm until she felt the blonde's breathing deepen and her body relax.

Stacie was tempted to stay right there for the rest of the night to make sure Aubrey was alright but she decided it best to go back to her place on the couch. She set an alarm to wake up and be gone in the morning before anyone woke up.