Chapter 3

Aubrey couldn't stop smiling as she and Stacie made their way around to their guests to say hello and thank them for coming. She knew they would have a big turnout, but didn't expect for so many people who knew and loved her to be in attendance. Not only did her grandparents make it, but so did her mother's sister, Liza. She hadn't seen her aunt in years, but was pleasantly surprised to see her walk in with her grandparents. All of Aubrey's colleagues at her firm were in attendance as well, which she had a feeling would happen. She was the boss, after all, and knew many would show up just to gain brownie points, but she was surprised by how excited and happy they were for her. She realized as she and Stacie walked around to greet their guests that she did have a support system even before her father decided to be a part of it. Even the Treblemakers flew in for the event. While she expected to see Bumper, who was Amy's plus one, she was more than happy to see Jesse, Benji, and the rest of their once rivals.

"Jesse and Beca are still cool, right? It has been years since they dated, but when he didn't attend Chloe and Beca's wedding, I didn't think he would attend ours." Stacie smirked.

"I have a feeling that would have been way more awkward than attending ours. After all, it pretty much took Beca dating Jesse to realize she isn't into dudes and her toner was always for Chloe," reminded Stacie.

"Good point. They are all probably using this as a Barden reunion anyways, not that I am complaining. It is nice to see everyone. I can't believe how many people came all this way to see us tie the knot though." Stacie wrapped her arms around her and nuzzled her neck.

"Babe, when are you going to realize how amazing you are? You are the sexiest, most amazing woman I have ever met. I am not surprised that people came to see us and tomorrow is going to be the best day of our lives. Come on, let's go say hello to the Trebles."

"Twenty bucks says Unicycle asks us for a threesome again," challenged Aubrey.

"My money is on it coming from Donald this time," said Stacie and they winked at each other as they giggled.

The night went off without a hitch, much to Aubrey's relief. They ate, mingled, and managed to actually sneak off for a few minutes alone from time to time. After the rehearsal dinner wrapped up, they made their way back to the hotel and Aubrey smiled at the way Stacie held her hand as they headed to the suite.

"This reminds me of our first date when you walked me to my door," said Aubrey and Stacie smiled as she remembered.

"That seems like so long ago. I was so nervous that night."

"You were," Aubrey asked in surprise and Stacie scoffed.

"Of course I was, you finally said yes to a date with me and I thought if it didn't go perfectly, you wouldn't give me another one."

"Well, it did go perfectly, but I already knew you would get another date no matter what. It took me so long to admit how I felt about you. By the time I finally did, I was already in love," confessed Aubrey and Stacie cupped her cheek as they stopped in front of the door. She tenderly kissed her and Aubrey melted into her touch.

"You know, Stace, just because we can't make love tonight doesn't mean I am opposed to a very hot make out session," teased Aubrey as Stacie pressed lingering kisses on her neck.

"Oh, so we really are reliving our first date," she teased back before passionately kissing her. Aubrey moaned as Stacie pressed her against the wall and ran a hand down her thigh. She didn't hesitate to wrap her leg around Stacie's waist, giving the brunette easier access under her dress, but before they could become too lost in one another, the door opened.

"Alright you two, break it up. This was your idea after all. Come on, Bree, it is time for our slumber party," said Chloe and she giggled when they both groaned.

"Just ten more minutes," mumbled Stacie against Aubrey's neck, but Chloe shook her head.

"I know you, Stace. Ten minutes is all you need. Come on, Bree," said Chloe and Stacie smiled smugly.

"Touché, Mitchell. Fine, I will go spend time with my bestie then. See you tomorrow, baby, I will be the other one wearing white," she teased before turning to leave. She gasped when Aubrey pulled her back to her and passionately kissed her.

"I love you," whispered Aubrey and Stacie kissed her again.

"Love you too, goodnight."

"Night," Aubrey said dreamily as she watched Stacie head down the hall toward Beca and Chloe's suite. Chloe giggled at the yearning in Aubrey's eyes.

"You will have plenty of time together on the honeymoon. Come on, bestie," giggled Chloe and Aubrey rolled her eyes, but followed, wondering if she made the right choice by having them sleep apart that night.

Stacie shook her head in amusement as she watched Beca type texts on her phone with a cheesy grin on her face. The two friends were sitting out on the terrace of Beca and Chloe's suite by the fire pit. She frowned in confusion when Beca hopped up and jogged over to the railing to try to peek around the corner of the building. Stacie hopped up as well when she noticed Beca pushing as high off her tiptoes as possible to see something.

"What the hell are you trying to do, shorty," asked Stacie as she wrapped an arm around Beca's waist to make sure she didn't tumble over the railing.

"Trying to see if I can see Chlo from here. She says our terraces are perpendicular to each other."

"To be perpendicular, the terraces would have to meet at a right angle, which they don't…technically….but I may be able to reach farther out and see them, move," said Stacie and Beca huffed as Stacie pulled her out of the way.

"Looks like someone misses their girl already. It has been twenty minutes," teased Beca and Stacie smirked.

"Twenty minutes you have spent on the phone with Chloe."

"Oh I know I miss my wife. I didn't even agree to this arrangement. Why are you two doing this to yourselves? You obviously want to be together tonight."

"I am not doing anything, but this is what Bree wants. I am just trying to keep her calm. You know how stressed out she gets."

"Well hopefully she won't go into full-blown Captain Posen Mode since Daddy Dearest decided to actually act like a father and show up. My dad did offer to walk her down the aisle if the General continued to be a dick."

"I love your dad. I am so glad he could make it and your mom too, but where is Sheila? Your parents looked really cozy tonight, so….I see her! Chlo," whispered Stacie and Chloe happily waved at her. Beca pushed Stacie out the way and gave her wife a wink.

"Hey, sexy, want to come to a party," teased Beca and she giggled when Chloe ran over to the side of the railing of her terrace. She looked down at the wide gap between them.

"So close and yet so far," whined Chloe and Beca sighed.

"Come over and it won't be a problem."

"You know I want to, but Aubrey wants to keep to this ridiculous tradition."

"Has she said that since her dad arrived," asked Beca and Chloe thought for a moment.

"Actually no and if I didn't know any better, she seems a bit disappointed to be in the suite with me right now, which I am trying not to take personally as her best friend," grumbled Chloe.

"Well you know, we could always act like we are in college again and get these two crazy kids together, aka, dislodging the stick from Posen's ass," suggested Beca and Chloe smiled mischievously as she thought about it.

"No, you two, I promised Aubrey that I would respect her decision to want to be apart tonight," called Stacie as she plopped back down on the sofa by the fire pit and wrapped up in a plush blanket.

"She promised, but we didn't," whispered Beca and Chloe winked at her.

"Besides, Stacie isn't the only one that knows what Aubrey needs. My bestie is practically pouting right now. Keep your phone by you and take cute pics. I'm going in," whispered Chloe and Beca happily nodded as Chloe jogged back inside. Beca plopped down on the couch across from Stacie and Stacie rolled her eyes when Beca took a picture of her.

"Hey paparazzi, do we really need to have the conversation about invading privacy," asked Stacie and Beca smirked as she showed the picture to Stacie.

"You look cute, Aubrey isn't going to be able to resist," said Beca and Stacie groaned.

"I told you I promised not to push her on this."

"Right, you promised. I did nothing of the sort. Pic sent and now we wait," said Beca. Stacie rolled her eyes and fell back onto a pillow to look up at the night sky. The light pollution of the city made it difficult to see the stars, but it didn't matter. Her mind wandered back to Aubrey anyways and she sighed, knowing it was going to be a long, miserable night without her. They rarely had nights apart and made it a point to keep it that way after having to spend three weeks apart. When Aubrey first started her accounting firm and Stacie created Rad Tech, a subdivision of Conrad Industries, both had to travel and work long hours. With their travel schedules overlapping, one month they only saw each other for six days and after that, both made changes to ensure it didn't happen again. Aubrey hired Camron as her personal assistant to keep her work and home life balanced and Stacie delegated more of her duties to her staff. The buzzing of her phone snapped her out of her thoughts and she smiled when she received a text from Aubrey. It always amazed her how a simple text from the love of her life could make her heart flutter.

Hey.

She quickly texted back.

Hey, baby.

Chloe says you miss me. That true?

Stacie glanced up at Beca and gave her a playful glare as she watched Beca giggle and type on her phone.

Of course it is true. You know I never sleep well without you.

She waited impatiently for a reply and grinned from ear to ear when she received a picture of a pouting Aubrey in bed with Chloe.

Chloe steals my blankets.

Stacie laughed and took a picture of herself snuggled warmly in her blanket.

You can always come over here and cuddle with me by the fire. It is a beautiful night.

She bit her lip nervously as she waited for Aubrey's reply. When over a minute passed, she began to frown at her phone, but immediately perked up when she heard the voice that always made her melt on the spot.

"Promise to keep me warm," teased Aubrey as she and Chloe walked out onto the terrace. Stacie jogged over to her and scooped her up into her arms as Aubrey hugged her.

"I promise," giggled Stacie and Chloe winked at her.

"I couldn't stay away and managed to guilt her into coming with me," informed Chloe and Aubrey pushed out her bottom lip in a pout.

"She called me a killjoy, babe," grumbled Aubrey as Stacie pulled her over to the couch.

"You are not a killjoy," assured Stacie and Beca smirked.

"Total killjoy," said Beca as Chloe cuddled into her side. Stacie smiled when Aubrey pulled the covers over the two of them and nuzzled Stacie's neck.

"Much better," said Aubrey with a content sigh and Stacie kissed her forehead.

"You know I give the best cuddles," reminded Stacie. Chloe smiled at the two of them.

"You two are so cute. This reminds me of when we were in college and we would go on double dates," said Chloe.

"You mean back when Posen was trying to act like she was only going to keep an eye on me," said Beca and Aubrey rolled her eyes.

"Don't start getting selective memory now that you are a big star, Mitchell. I was definitely there to keep an eye on you since you were playing with my best friend's heart," reminded Aubrey.

"And you were playing with Stace's, so how about we call it even in the temporary insanity department," suggested Beca and Aubrey nodded.

"Agreed," said Aubrey as she pulled Stacie closer to her. Chloe's phone started ringing and she smiled as she answered.

"Hey, Em, what's up, you're on speaker phone," said Chloe as she held the phone out so they could all hear.

"Can I come over? I really don't want to hang with the Trebles tonight. Benji and I are still trying to figure out this whole, we are just friends now thing," said Emily and Stacie frowned.

"Is he making you uncomfortable because we can shut that down real quick," said Stacie.

"No, things are just weird. He is a bit tipsy and talking about the good times and I don't know how to tell him that Mikey will be here in the morning."

"Come on over, we are in our suite. I am going to text Jesse and tell him to talk to Benji later. Mikey isn't going to put up with Benji making you uncomfortable, so let's just put out that fire before the wedding day," said Beca as she began texting on her phone.

"Thanks, be over in a minute. Everyone is back at the hotel now getting ready to go back out. I'm just going to tell them I am not in the mood," said Emily before hanging up. Chloe smiled as she stood up.

"I'll go get us some snacks and wait for Em. Be back," said Chloe before kissing Beca and walking inside. Aubrey arched an eyebrow at Beca.

"Careful there, Mitchell," warned Aubrey and Beca frowned in confusion.

"What are you talking about," asked Beca.

"Chlo is still sensitive about Jesse, so be careful with the texting. We both know he tends to get carried away," said Aubrey.

"Chloe knows there is nothing between Jesse and I and there never really was. I am not proud of it, but I used him to hide from my feelings for her. We are married now. She knows she has nothing to worry about," defended Beca.

"Actually, I am going to have to agree with Bree on this one, Bec. There was a lot of hurt there, so just be careful," said Stacie and Beca groaned.

"Fine, I didn't even send the text yet. You text him about Benji then, Stace," suggested Beca and Stacie nodded.

"On it," she said as she grabbed her phone.

"I'm going to go check on Chlo," said Beca and Aubrey rested her head on Stacie's shoulder as Beca went back inside.

"Good job, babe, we totally just saved them from an argument. We are awesome," giggled Aubrey and Stacie winked at her.

"The best besties they could ask for," agreed Stacie.

"I did talk to Chloe about being too concerned about Jesse attending the wedding. She still worries that he is here to make a move on Beca."

"That is ridiculous. Jesse knows that Beca is not only happily married, but only into chicks. We call him Jesse the Beard for a reason."

"Like I said, there is a lot of hurt there. You know that's what made me stop running from us, right? I kept trying to create space between us and make excuses for why we shouldn't be together and Chloe talked about how Beca did the same thing, but with Jesse. Seeing how much it hurt Chloe made me realize I didn't want to be the cause of that kind of pain for you." Stacie tenderly kissed her and smiled.

"I love you, baby, so much."

"I love you too," whispered Aubrey before passionately kissing her again. She frowned in confusion when Stacie pulled back.

"Okay, we should slow down a bit. I am trying really hard to respect that you want us to follow traditions and you kissing me like that doesn't help." Aubrey sighed.

"I know I keep sending you mixed signals."

"Just a bit," admitted Stacie and her eyes widened when Aubrey crawled into her lap to straddle her waist.

"I am sorry. This has just all been a bit scary for me, hoping my father showed up, planning our big day, and I got caught up in the panic and fear, but I should know better than that now. You are the only person that I want forever and the only reason I am happy. I don't want us both to be miserable the night before our wedding. This is our weekend and we should be able to be together as much as we want."

"Are you sure," questioned Stacie and she tried to suppress her moan as Aubrey peppered kisses on her neck.

"I am always sure about us, Stace," assured Aubrey before passionately kissing her again. Stacie moaned and deepened the kiss.

"Um, they're out here humping each other," called Emily and Stacie rolled her eyes as she and Aubrey pulled apart.

"Just for that, I'm going to tell Benji you still think about him," said Stacie and Emily gasped.

"You wouldn't," she shrieked and Stacie laughed as Emily jumped on her and Aubrey.

"I can't believe Benji is still all over your junk, Junk," teased Cynthia Rose and Aubrey laughed.

"C.R., we thought you were going out tonight," said Aubrey as Cynthia Rose sat down on the couch with them.

"The Trebles cramp my style. It would be too much of a sausage fest," said Cynthia Rose. They all screamed when Lilly suddenly appeared behind them.

"Mine too," whispered Lilly as she pulled up a chair by the fire pit.

"That's it, we have to put a bell on her or something," said Aubrey and Emily nodded.

"Or just announce yourself, Lil," exclaimed Emily, but Lilly just shrugged as she pulled a Ziploc bag of food out of her pocket. Aubrey frowned.

"Please tell me you didn't take that from the rehearsal dinner," said Aubrey.

"It's little shrimp. I like little shrimps," whispered Lilly. Ashley and Jessica walked out onto the terrace with a shake of their heads in amusement.

"I'm not down with the Ziploc bags, but she has the right idea. We just ordered some room service and asked them to send it up here," said Ashley.

"I brought us a nightcap," said Flo as she held up four bottles of wine and Stacie laughed.

"Okay, what is happening right now? Why aren't you out enjoying the Portland nightlife," asked Stacie as Amy placed several boxes on the table.

"Eh, it isn't Bella Style if we all aren't there. Besides, Bumper needs some time with his boys and partying Treble Style just isn't the same. I brought donuts from that donut shop you mentioned, Stace," informed Amy. Beca and Chloe smiled as they sat back down.

"I guess this is now officially a Bella party," said Beca and Chloe beamed with happiness as she held up her glass of wine.

"As it should be, I mean, think about it. None of this happens if not for the Bellas. I doubt Beca and I would have met or Aubrey and Stacie. I know they say college can really shape your life, but I never expected it to shape it so much. I am so lucky to know all you beautiful ladies, so here's to celebrating Bree and Stace getting married and to all of us coming together once again like the aca-awesome family we are, cheers," said Chloe and they smiled at each other, knowing she was right. Aubrey snuggled into Stacie's side and sighed happily.

"This is how it should be the night before our big day, you, me, and our friends," said Aubrey and Stacie nodded with a smile.