I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly some people favorited or followed this story. I appreciate the support I've gotten, as it's only been a day since I posted the prologue.
Anyways, I stayed up late to finish this chapter. My class is starting up later today (as it's almost 4am, class is later this evening), and I'm not sure how busy I'll be with class and work. I'll work to keep up on the story, but I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post. As such, I wanted to knock out at least a few chapters before I start getting big class assignments and such.
This chapter is a little longer than the last, and as always I do not own Pitch Perfect or any of it's characters. Though, there were a lot of moments in this chapter that while they coincide with the movie they did not actually happen in the movie. Enjoy!
Currently Bailey found himself sitting at a bar surrounded by the rest of the graduated Bella's. Emily had finished up her performance about 10 minutes ago and his friends had all decided that getting many drinks was in order after the embarrassment of finding out that they weren't actually going to be performing at the aquarium like most of them had thought. Honestly, Bailey was of the impression that it had really been Emily's comment about them all leading successful lives (apparently the reason why she had thought the Bella's wouldn't want to perform that evening), when in fact most of the Bella's seemed to be struggling with their chosen career paths.
It was of no surprise to him when Emily entered the bar in a rush, the younger Bella had a heart of gold, even if she could be rather airheaded at the best of times.
"Guys, I am so sorry," Emily stressed, her gaze imploring for them to forgive her. "I honestly had no idea that you girls-" Bailey cut her off with a rather pointed clearing of his throat, "sorry, that you all would want to perform today. You all are just leading such successful lives and I didn't want to impose."
Bailey couldn't help a chuckle as most of the Bella's rushed to reassure Emily that there were no hard feelings, and that they definitely led 'super fulfilling lives' as Beca put it. Bailey knew for a fact that Beca had quit her job earlier that day, having heard it directly from one of the producers that Beca previously worked with.
"You ever notice how those guys always get sucked into their own world?" He asked, turning his attention to Ashley, Jessica, and Stacie. He had noticed that somehow even Lily got more attention than they usually did.
"Yeah, we've just kind of gotten used to it over the years," Ashley noted, her slightly deeper voice was obviously well suited for the alto role she provided in the group.
"Honestly I sometimes even wonder if they even know we exist," Jessica commented, although her bright smile really didn't go along with the slightly more depressing comment that she made. Bailey sometimes wondered how the blonde could just always be so optimistic, especially with how often they were ignored by the other girls.
"So what have you and Ashley been up to since graduation? Did you two finally get married?" Stacie was never the sort to hold back questions for the sake of courtesy, it was just a part of her very forward personality. Thankfully, Ashley and Jessica had spent a long enough time around Stacie while they were all in college and already knew that about the brunette.
"We're engaged, actually," was the rather exciting news from Ashley. Jessica confirmed the statement by showing Stacie and Bailey the engagement ring that she was wearing. Apparently, Ashley had finally popped the question a few months ago after Jessica had finally gotten the job as a physical therapist that she had really wanted. Both girls now lived in Tacoma, Washington and Jessica worked at One to One Physical Therapy while Ashley had her own business as a psychologist.
"Why didn't you ever say you lived in Tacoma?" Bailey asked curiously, already knowing that Stacie was a bit upset knowing the two lived so close and they hadn't known. Tacoma was only roughly a 40 minute drive from Seattle if traffic was good.
"It didn't seem very relevant, why?" Jessica asked curiously, having already noticed the frown on Stacie's face, or what should be better classed as a pout.
"Bailey and I live in Seattle, we could have come visited and hung out!" Stacie informed the two, finally dropping the pout when she noticed the surprise on Ashley and Jessica's faces. "You didn't know we had moved to Seattle? It's where Bailey and Beca grew up," which was further news to the two Bella's. That wasn't very surprising though, Bailey and Beca were both rather private people, and Bailey especially didn't really talk about his life before attending Barden University. "Anyways, I work at the Northwest Hospital and Medical Center. Bailey is rather secretive about his work, he doesn't want me to know that he's a rather successful musician who has a song in the top 10 charts this month."
Stacie's comment left Bailey gaping at the woman in surprise. It wasn't that he was trying to be secretive or anything, he just never felt very comfortable discussing when he was doing things that could be called something of a 'big deal', which landing in the top 10 charts in the music industry could be categorized as. What was surprising though was that Stacie knew about it, he hadn't thought that she would have payed enough attention to him to have noticed.
Jessica giggled at the shock on Bailey's face, while Ashley agreed that it was pretty obvious that Bailey was the face behind the stage name Quinton Nile. "Where did you even come up with a name like that?" Ashley questioned, because it just seemed like such a random name, yet it couldn't be denied that it sounded pretty good for a famous singer.
Bailey ducked his head slightly in embarrassment, while he was the one who had final say in what his name was sometimes he was still rather embarrassed by his middle name. "Well, I knew if my mom had a boy she would have named him Quinton, so when I legally changed my name I made that my new middle name. So I just took my middle name and my mom's maiden name for my stage name. In all honesty, the first person I expected to piece it together was Beca, she knows mom's maiden name and she knows I picked Quinton as my middle name."
"Your middle name is Quinton? That's so cute," Stacie gushed, hugging the smaller brunette to express just how adorable she found it to be.
Ashley and Jessica shared a glance of amusement, but before they could even comment on whatever thought the two had apparently shared Chloe's voice sounded out to break the four from the quiet conversation they had been sharing.
"I would do anything to sing with you guys again," Chloe informed the Bella's around her, her voice rather teary sounding. "Anything."
Bailey noticed with some amusement that Chloe's admission had quietened most of the group, a feat which didn't happen very often as all of the Bella's were generally a rather rambunctious group.
After the pause caused by Chloe's statement Aubrey spoke up with a decidedly 'a-ha' look. "You guys! Every year the USO puts on a performance to support the troops in Europe." Looking around at the blank looks on all of the Bella's faces she continued, she had thought that should have been explanation enough. "My dad is really high up in the military. What if I could get us an invite?"
This time there was a pause as all of the Bella's worked to catch up with what they were hearing. "Who's with me?" The ex-leader of the Bella's questioned excitedly.
Blinking in surprise, Beca raised her beer bottle for a toast. "Hell yeah, I suddenly have a lot of free time," she noted, although the last bit seemed to be more of an offhand comment. The rest of the Bella's cheered their excitement at the idea as they all raised their glasses in toast as well. Bailey was rather confused to see Stacie holding up her own glass as well, though her comment gave her away as an underhanded announcement of her pregnancy to the rest of the Bella's.
"How much alcohol is safe to drink at 9 months pregnant?" She asked, lifting the glass to observe it's contents almost as though she was trying to find the answer in the glass.
"Um, none actually, why?" Aubrey both answered and asked hesitantly. She and the rest of the Bella's were all confused by the question, Ashley, Jessica, and Bailey excluded. They got their answer when Stacie stood up and stepped away from the bar.
What commenced was a squealing symphony as the rest of the Bella's realized that Stacie was pregnant and all began questioning why she hadn't told them. Stacie commented that she had thought the rest of them would have noticed sooner, rolling her eyes at the smirk Bailey sent her to let her know that meant he won their little bet. She had been sure she wouldn't need to announce her pregnancy and that the Bella's all would have been gushing over her long before now.
"So, who's the dad?" Beca questioned, though she seemed rather hesitant to do so. It was a common belief amongst the rest of the Bella's that Stacie was rather loose in the best way to describe it.
Bailey reached for Stacie's hand and offered a light and comforting squeeze to it, Stacie was still rather upset with the end of what had been one of Stacie's few relationships. A relationship which Stacie had believed would end in marriage between them as well, but kids was apparently something that he did not want and with the revelation of her pregnancy he angrily informed her that he didn't need to stay with her as he had plenty of other girls to choose from. It was in that angry conversation that Stacie, and subsequently Bailey, found out that he had been cheating on Stacie for pretty much the entirety of their relationship just because he could.
"No idea," was Stacie's rather breezy reply, and the rest of the Bella's seemed to accept that answer without any questions. Although Bailey did notice that Ashley and Jessica seemed to look rather suspicious at Stacie's answer, he knew that they didn't fully by what the tall brunette had said. He wasn't surprised, both girls new of the guy that Stacie had been dating in college.
"Well, since Stacie's due any day now I guess that means she's out, which means you're in Emily," Beca informed the younger Bella.
Bailey had to bite back a laugh at the confusion on Emily's face. "Wait, wasn't I always in?" She questioned.
"Yeah, of course," was her answer, although Beca's voice went to the higher pitch it did when she told a rather blatant lie. Emily seemed to take Beca's words at face value though, which wasn't really too much of a surprise as the younger girl was rather trusting of other people.
"What about Bailey?" Chloe asked, causing all of the girls to turn to look at him. It was a fair question, in the past whenever the Bella's were involved in something Bailey had been viewed as a female. Now, however, he was very obviously a guy. Participating in events with the Bella's might be problematic as it was well known in the acapella world that the Bella's were an all female group.
"Don't worry, Bailey will be with me," Stacie informed the rest of the Bella's, her arms wrapping around Bailey's right arm and leaning against him. "He's been going with me to all of my birthing classes and is going to be with me at the hospital. I'm giving a natural birth, so depending on when the baby comes we might be able to all fly out and join you guys for part of the tour."
Bailey felt his face warm as Stacie leaned against him, he was rather pointedly trying not to think about how he could feel her boobs pressed against his arm. He was also trying really hard to ignore Beca's rather pointed looks (his sister had been trying to get him to ask Stacie out for the last year and a half), and the knowing smiles coming from Jessica and Ashley. Sometimes he got the feeling that they viewed his love life, or current lack thereof, as some sort of thing that they could build.
The rest of the Bella's seemed to be okay with where Bailey would be at, and after wishing Stacie good luck with the baby and to call them when she had him or her (as well as wishing Bailey good luck with dealing with Stacie while she was giving birth), they all parted ways from the bar. As Emily had had all of the Bella's meet up in New York, Stacie and Bailey were staying at a hotel for the night before making the flight back to Seattle.
"So, looks like I won our bet," Bailey pointed out, rather pleased with the results of their bet. It's not like the prize was a very big deal, the winner just got free reign of the hospital for the day that they would be there for the birth of Stacie's baby (or possibly days depending on how the birth went, though natural births generally didn't require the baby or the mother to stay at the hospital for very long once everything checked out alright). They didn't expect to be in the hospital for longer than 48 hours, and Bailey was rather glad to have won their bet because Stacie would likely be in too much pain to really focus on the TV at all in the first place.
"Yeah, yeah. I thought they would have noticed it sooner," Stacie grumbled good naturedly, though her slight smile gave away that she wasn't really too upset with the turn of events.
"Oh please, you spent majority of the evening making sure to lean up against things so that none of them would notice, and then at the first opportunity to bring up the pregnancy yourself you willingly took that avenue. You don't fool me Conrad," Bailey informed the taller woman, grinning even as he felt a warmth in his chest that Stacie had done her best to make sure that he won the bet. He knew that she was aware that she likely wouldn't need the TV much while she was in the hospital, and it was honestly such a small thing it really hadn't mattered much. Yet, it still always warmed him any time Stacie did something for him in any way.
"I don't know what you're talking about," was his reply, though Stacie was smiling at him rather fondly. Sometimes he wondered if he should just take Beca's advice and just tell Stacie how he felt, but he worried too much about ruining the relationship that they did have by trying to seek out something even more between them.
Thankfully, it was about that time that they reached their hotel. "Don't forget we need to be up rather early in the morning," Bailey informed her as they got into the elevator, even though he already knew that the tall brunette was aware of that fact. Stacie was the one who had suggested they leave early after all, she didn't want to give birth to her baby while they were in New York, she already had a doctor in Seattle that she trusted for her birth.
"Will you make sure everything is packed up while I'm in the shower in the morning?" Stacie asked, already mentally running through a list of things that she could make sure to pack tonight to make the morning packing even easier. "It's a good thing you didn't drink anything tonight, otherwise the morning might have sucked for you," she noted with a grin.
"I already told you, I'm not going to drink when you can't," he reminded her, his hand briefly touching her belly to make his point without him even being conscious of it.
The two had been rather absorbed in their own conversation, and didn't notice the fond smiles they were receiving from the elderly couple in the elevator with them. "You two make such an adorable couple, I hope you both are together as long as Rich and I have been," the elderly woman told them, breaking the two Bella's out of their little conversation bubble, departing the elevator with her husband and a very cheerful smile that she sent to the two younger adults.
Bailey's face heated in a small blush, stunned into silence by the elderly woman's words. Not that he would have had a comment anyways, had he tried to deny the woman's words it might indicate that he wasn't interested in Stacie in a romantic sense which was just not true at all. And he had learned that even if a woman wasn't interested in him romantically, they sometimes did not appreciate if you insinuated that you would not be interested in them. It was ultimately safe to not argue the woman's comment.
Stacie, meanwhile, had been shocked speechless as well. She had been trying to convey to Bailey that she would be interested in dating him for some time now. While she had always turned down Cynthia-Rose's overtures that was to do with the fact that she was just that, a she. Stacie was, and always would be, only attracted to guys. She wasn't obtuse enough to say that she wouldn't be in a relationship with a guy who had female parts, it wasn't the parts that she didn't like it had more to do with the person's gender. It was who they were, their soul in a sense, that Stacie found herself attracted to. And she was only ever attracted to what could be classified as male souls. Cynthia-Rose, as 'butch' as she may be, was not in fact a male soul, and Stacie could not find herself attracted to the other Bella.
It was because of who and how Stacie was attracted to people that she knew, much before even Bailey himself, that he was in fact a he. While the shorter brunette had been very much confused by his own thoughts and feelings, Stacie had already been having feelings for the shorter Bella for quite some time. At the time she was in a relationship with her boyfriend and had pushed such thoughts and feelings to the side. She had pushed them aside so much that she had actually forgotten to even mention her belief that Bailey was actually a he to the guy himself. As a result, when Bailey did finally come out as Trans Stacie found the entire situation rather funny and just informed him that she had already known.
The elevator stopping at their floor snapped both Bella's out of their thoughts, and both glanced at each other rather shyly. As confident as Stacie usually was, having found out what she did about her last boyfriend she was rather nervous to attempt a relationship and express her feelings for someone else.
Bailey, on the other hand, was overall a person who did not have relationships very often. He had actually only had one relationship in his life and it wasn't overly serious. As a result, he wasn't really sure how to even begin to express that he was interested in Stacie, if that was even something he wanted to do.
The awkwardness continued between them as they got to their room and even inside it, until Bailey couldn't stand the awkward tension between them any longer and finally just heaved a rather large sigh.
"Alright, I can't do with the awkwardness anymore. We both need to be going to bed anyways, as I said before we have to get up early," he commented, watching Stacie as she went about the room and put some random items in their suitcase.
"I was just surprised by her comment," Stacie informed him, finishing with her task of putting things in their suitcase before beginning to strip in the middle of the room. Bailey already knew she was not one to care for modesty, although he also knew that she was actually a very modest person and only stripped like such in front of people that she trusted with her life. Still, that didn't stop him from diverting his eyes to give her some sense of decency. It astounded him that she could feel so comfortable to just strip like she was.
"It looks like I still make you the most uncomfortable, that's good, I'd hate to be beat out by a random comment by a random old lady," she noted rather happily, patting Bailey on the cheek affectionately before climbing into bed.
Bailey grumbled good naturedly as he went about getting ready for bed himself. Sometimes he wondered if Stacie was just trying to give him a heart attack by overloading him with feelings for her. In a matter of minutes he had climbed into the other bed and was switching off the lights before pulling the covers over himself.
"Good night Stace," he mumbled into the darkness, smiling when he heard her quiet good night in reply. It didn't take long before both were asleep, having spent majority of their day walking around the zoo.