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Chapter Text

Aubrey’s cell phone rings while she’s at the office and her first instinct is to frown. Stacie knows to text if she needs her, and if it’s an emergency she’ll call the office, and Aubrey’s not expecting a call from anybody. Her curiosity wins out, though, so she reaches for her phone to see who it is before deciding whether or not to ignore the call. 

The screen flashes with ‘Caller ID Blocked’ and Aubrey’s frown melts into a small smile as she reaches for the device and accepts the call. 

“Please hold for General Posen.” 

Her smile widens when her assumption is confirmed and she leans back in her chair as she waits patiently. 

“Aubrey.” 

“Hi, dad.” 

“Am I disturbing you?” he asks and she wants to roll her eyes but even though she knows he can’t see her, she doesn’t do it, the years of discipline drilled into her very hard to shake. 

“I’m at work, but I have a minute to talk,” Aubrey says, glancing at her open office door and praying that nobody comes in while she’s on the phone. 

“How are you?”

“I’m good. How are you?” Aubrey asks.

“Good, all good,” her father answers.

“Aubrey, I called to ask if you were going to be home for Thanksgiving this year?” 

“I’m not sure,” Aubrey says, taps her desk nervously with her nails. “Why do you ask?” 

“I was thinking it might be nice to spend Thanksgiving with you,” her father says and Aubrey almost falls out of her chair in surprise at the words. 

“What?” she whispers before quickly clearing her throat and saying, “Oh?” Her voice still comes out shrill and high-pitched and just genuinely unnatural and her eyes slide closed in embarrassment. 

“Since I had to cancel last year I thought I could make it up to you?”

Aubrey’s eyes snap open as the memory is pushed to the forefront of her mind and she considers the words and their full ramifications of her father possibly coming to visit for Thanksgiving. 

“I’d love to have you,” Aubrey says, and then her mouth gets ahead of her and she blurts out, “But…” 

By the time she clamps her mouth shut to stop more words tumbling out, the damage is already done, a sharp inhale coming from the other end of the phone and Aubrey knows she’s taken her father by surprise. 

“But?” 

Aubrey hesitates as she considers her words. “I need you to commit to it,” Aubrey finally says, her whole body rigid as she tries to get the words out without sounding too accusing or like she’s trying to guilt-trip her father. 

Her father is silent for a while and Aubrey quickly realises that he’s not going to say anything else or ask for an explanation so she continues, even though her hands are shaking and she has to swallow down the sudden knot in her throat.

“I have a family now and I don’t want to keep Bella from her grandmother just for you to cancel on us. I can handle the disappointment because I’m used to it after all these years but I don’t want to do this to them.” 

“What are you saying?” he asks, and his voice is neutral enough to set Aubrey on edge. 

“I would love to have you home for Thanksgiving but not if you’re going to cancel at the last minute or leave early like the year before. You cancelled last year and Bella deserves better than to think that’s normal. I’m sorry if that seems harsh, but I don’t want her to get her hopes up. If you can’t commit to that I’d like to know upfront and I won’t fault you for it, I’ll understand.” 

“Okay,” he says, voice tight and Aubrey feels something coil uncomfortably in her stomach. “I’ll check and let you know.” 

“Please do,” she says, feeling proud of herself for managing to keep her voice from wavering. 

“Well, that was my reason for calling.” 

“Okay,” Aubrey says with a small frown even though she hadn’t really expected any other reaction and she knows she’s caught him completely by surprise with her words. 

“Goodbye Aubrey.” 

“Bye, dad.” 

She hangs up the call, tossing her phone on the desk as she gets up and plants her palms down on the desk, lets out a long, drawn-out sigh, shoulders slumping and eyes closing as she re-runs the whole conversation in her head. She counts to thirty in her head and then back down to zero, and once she reaches the number, she slowly opens her eyes and lets out another long sigh. 

She picks up her phone again before walking around her desk and striding over to her office door, closing it and leaning her back flat against as she unlocks her phone and navigates to the call screen, easily finding the number she needs before hitting call, bringing the phone up to her ear and listening to it ring. 

“Hey you!” Stacie answers and Aubrey can practically hear her smile over the phone and she can’t help but smile softly herself, Stacie’s voice already soothing her. 

“Hey.” 

“What’s wrong?” Stacie immediately asks and Aubrey’s smile widens. 

“I just wanted to hear your voice.” 

“Now I’m really worried,” Stacie says and Aubrey can tell that she’s concerned, no matter how teasing her words might sound. 

Aubrey laughs softly, shakes her head even though Stacie can’t see her. “I’m okay, I promise.” 

“What’s up?” Stacie asks, her voice dropping its tone of amusement and sounding soft and calm. 

“My dad just called to ask about Thanksgiving,” Aubrey explains. 

“How did that go?” 

“I’ll tell you about it later.” 

“Uh-oh,” Stacie says immediately. “Are you sure you’re okay?” 

“Yeah, I just… yes,” Aubrey says, even after she stumbles over her words because she realises that she really is okay, Stacie’s voice the final thing she needed to completely ground her. 

“If you can get off work a little early you can surprise Bella at pick-up,” Stacie offers. 

“Are you sure?” Aubrey asks, even though her chest fills with warmth at the suggestion. 

“Yeah,” Stacie says. “She’d like that and it sounds like you need it more than I do today.” 

“I love you,” Aubrey whispers and she hears Stacie exhale softly. 

“I love you too, Bree.” 

Aubrey stands in front of the door and watches through the glass as Bella sits at one of the tables, bent over and focused on a puzzle. She’s not sure how long she stands there, but she hears someone approaching and straightens just as one of the teachers stops and smiles at her. 

“It’s nice to just watch them, isn’t it?” 

“It really is,” Aubrey says with a soft smile. “I wish she’d stop growing so fast.” 

“That’s what all the parents say,” the woman says and Aubrey has to laugh at that. “Come on.” 

The woman pushes open the door to the playroom and suddenly Aubrey’s ears are engulfed by sounds of kids chattering and playing. 

“Bella, your mommy is here to pick you up.” 

“Five more minutes!” Bella calls back, not even glancing up from her puzzle and the teacher turns to Aubrey with a knowing look. 

“Take your time,” Aubrey says as she drops onto the couch in the playroom, but Bella recognises her voice immediately and her head snaps up, turning to look at Aubrey. 

She lights up at the sight of the blonde, smiling widely and puzzle briefly forgotten. 

“Mommy!” Bella calls out, runs towards the blonde and Aubrey easily lifts the girl onto her lap for a tight hug. 

“Hi sweetheart,” Aubrey says, kissing her temple quickly. “Did you have fun today?” 

“Uh-huh,” Bella says, nodding as she plays with the ruffles on Aubrey’s shirt. “We did a cool art project for Halloween and I’m doing a new puzzle.” 

“That sounds so cool,” Aubrey says. “Do you want to stay for a few more minutes to finish your puzzle?” Aubrey offers, tenderly passing her hand over Bella’s hair as the five-year-old glances back at her puzzle, looking torn. “It’s okay if you do, we’re not in a hurry.” 

Bella nods softly so Aubrey smiles encouragingly. 

“Go ahead,” she says and Bella quickly cuddles her again before squirming out of her lap and returning to her table

“Hey, we’re home!” Aubrey calls out into the house after closing the front door behind her. 

“Living room!” Stacie calls back and Aubrey watches with an amused smile as Bella all but tumbles out of her boots and coat, ready to run towards Stacie. 

“Hey, hey,” Aubrey says, stopping the girl. “Hang up your coat, young lady.” 

Bella looks at her guiltily as she picks up her coat from the floor and hangs it on one of the lowered hooks. She turns back to Aubrey who nods and motions with her head and Bella cracks a smile as she runs off towards Stacie’s voice. 

“Oof!” Stacie says when Bella hops up onto her where she’s sprawled on the couch. “Hey Monkey.” 

“Hi mama,” Bella says, kissing her cheek. 

“Did you have fun at school today?” 

“Yup! We made spooky hands!” Bella says excitedly, bouncing excitedly on Stacie’s stomach despite the woman’s repeated exaggerated groans of pain. 

“Spooky hands? What are those?” Stacie asks, running her hand across Bella’s back, but then the girl squirms and scrambles off her and back towards the entryway for her backpack, bumping into Aubrey in her haste. 

“Hey you,” Aubrey says with a smile, gaze trailing up Stacie’s legs slowly and meeting twinkling eyes and a teasing smile. 

“Hey hot stuff,” Stacie says with a wink and Aubrey rolls her eyes but can’t help her smile from widening. “What the hell are spooky hands?” 

“I have no idea,” Aubrey says in the same hushed tone that Stacie had used as she shrugs and walks closer to the brunette. “How was your day?” 

Stacie reaches out with her hand, wriggles her fingers and Aubrey slides her hand into Stacie’s, who uses the action both to tug Aubrey closer and as leverage to sit up. Aubrey drops onto the couch next to Stacie and leans in, lips brushing against Stacie’s in a slow kiss. 

“Some freshman was convinced Earth was the fourth planet from the sun,” Stacie says when they finally pull apart and Aubrey’s eyebrows knit together. 

“Every day that you come home with these stories I worry more and more about the state of education in this country,” Aubrey says but before Stacie can respond, Bella is back holding a piece of paper up against her chest with a beaming smile. 

“Look! It’s a spooky monster hand!” 

“Baby that’s so cool!” Stacie says immediately, mirroring Bella’s smile as she motions Bella closer. “Lemme see.” 

“Is that your hand?” Aubrey asks when the girl hands over the sheet of paper, an outline of a hand and arm coloured in with gooey green paint and decorated with red dots and fake nails. 

“No, silly,” Bella says with a giggle. “It’s a monster hand.” 

“It looks suspiciously like your hand…” Stacie muses aloud, then narrows her eyes at Bella, voice dropping into a scandalised whisper, “Bella, are you secretly a spooky monster?” 

“No!” Bella shrieks.

“I don’t know if I believe you…” Stacie teases, holding out the piece of paper next to Bella’s arm for comparison and tilting her head inquiringly. “Hmmm…” 

“I’m not a spooky monster!” 

“How can I believe you?” Stacie asks but Bella’s giggling too hard to come up with an answer. “Maybe I have to tickle it out of you.” 

Bella shrieks when Stacie wraps an arm around her middle and hauls her onto the couch, her free hand tickling the girl. 

“Mommy help me!” Bella calls out, but Aubrey has grabbed the piece of paper and is inspecting it closely, calmly ignoring the commotion happening next to her. 

“I don’t know…” Aubrey says, “It does look like your arm.” 

“No!” Bella shrieks in betrayal as Stacie tickles her even harder. “It’s not! I promise!” 

Aubrey purses her lips, quirks her mouth as she tilts her head, still looking at the piece of paper. “How do I know you’re not a spooky monster in disguise?” 

“I pinky promise!” Bella says and Aubrey really wants to break, wants to crack a smile but she holds on, shakes her head softly. 

“Sounds like something a spooky monster in disguise would say,” Stacie says, leaning in close to Bella’s face before tickling again. 

“But I love you!” Bella yells and surprises Stacie enough to let Bella squirm away, and she moves so quickly that she falls off the couch with a loud thud, not wasting a moment and scrambling to get up and standing far away from the couch to avoid Stacie’s tickling, even as the two adults try to contain their laughter. 

“Hm, what do you think?” Stacie says theatrically to Aubrey, who is looking at Stacie.

“I think if she was a monster in disguise, surely the fall from the couch would have shown her disguise.” 

“So we’re in agreement?” 

“Yes, that’s definitely Bella Conrad,” Aubrey says with a resolute nod, and they both turn to the girl who’s smiling triumphantly. 

“I told you!” Bella says petulantly, arms crossed. 

“This is really cool,” Stacie says, reaching for the artwork and looking over it again. She leans in close to Aubrey, and in a loud whisper says, “I think it deserves a spot on the fridge.” 

Aubrey nods immediately, face serious. “I agree.” 

“Really?” Bella asks, eyes going wide and arms dropping to her sides as she tries to contain her excitement. 

“For sure,” Stacie confirms, holding out the sheet of paper and Bella strides over, eagerly grabbing it and walking towards the kitchen to go put it on the refrigerator door. 

“Hey,” Stacie says, slowly trailing her fingernails down Aubrey’s forearm and watching as the skin erupts in goosebumps. “Do you want to take a bath with me later?” 

“If I ever say no to that you should assume my body’s been taken over by a spooky monster,” Aubrey says and Stacie laughs loudly. 

“I’m going to hold you to that now,” Stacie says just before Aubrey leans in and kisses her deeply. Stacie’s about to pull Aubrey closer and deepen the kiss when Bella’s voice filters in from the kitchen and they break apart with a soft laugh. 

“Mama, what’s for dinner?!”

“Do you think I’m being unreasonable?” Aubrey asks, breaking their long silence. 

Stacie had been expecting the question, could practically hear Aubrey thinking and mulling it over. She slides her fingers down Aubrey’s arm softly, wraps her arm around the woman’s middle as she leans in and presses a quick kiss to Aubrey’s cheek. 

“No.” 

“Really?” 

“Mhm-hmm,” Stacie hums, nodding, and Aubrey twists her neck to look at her so Stacie smiles softly and kisses her. “If anything, I’m glad you’re finally standing up to your dad.” 

“I don’t like what happened last year,” Aubrey says, settling once more with her back against Stacie’s front and revelling in the warm water around them. “Bella was so upset.” 

“No, she wasn’t,” Stacie counters immediately, arm tightening around the blonde. 

“What?” 

“You were upset and she could feel that.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“She was a little disappointed, yes, but she wasn’t heartbroken or anything,” Stacie explains and she can’t see Aubrey frown from where she’s sat behind her, but she knows it’s there. “She barely knows him,” Stacie adds with a shrug. “But you…” 

“You think I projected my feelings onto her?” Aubrey whispers but Stacie immediately shakes her head to dispel that idea. 

“I can see how much it hurts you every time he doesn’t follow through on a commitment and that sucks,” Stacie says strongly, and if it weren’t for the familiar weight of Aubrey pressed against her and the calm of the steamy bathroom and flickering candles, she’d be a lot angrier. “So I’m glad you’re finally putting your foot down.” 

“I don’t want Bella to get used to being let down, especially by my father,” Aubrey whispers like it’s a secret because she knows that she’s gotten used to it by now. 

“I get that.” 

Aubrey shifts then, twists in Stacie’s arms so she’s pressed up against her side, burying her face in Stacie’s neck and wrapping an arm around the brunette to stay close. Stacie slides down a little bit to be more comfortable, sighing at the feel of the warm water enveloping them. 

“What’s wrong, baby?” she whispers then, right into Aubrey’s ear. 

“What if he says no?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“What if he says he can’t make that promise?” 

“You mean what if your ultimatum fails?” Stacie asks and Aubrey nods and Stacie’s heart breaks. 

She tightens her arm around Aubrey’s waist, reaches out to wrap her other arm around Aubrey and pull her even closer, fingers pressing insistently as she holds the blonde tightly. She’s silent for a while, not sure how to respond to Aubrey’s question. 

Stacie wants to believe that Aubrey’s father isn’t intentionally negligent and she wants to believe that he’ll step up and be there for his daughter, but she’s not sure she believes it, and the last thing she wants to do is give Aubrey false hope or make promises on behalf of her father. 

“We’ll deal with that if it happens,” Stacie finally whispers and she feels Aubrey let out a stuttered breath. 

“But even if he says yes…” Aubrey starts, trails off. 

“What do we do if he still cancels?” Stacie whispers, filling in the blank and Aubrey smiles, presses a quick kiss to Stacie’s collarbone. 

“Exactly.” 

“We’ll deal with that if it happens,” Stacie says again, a bit more teasingly this time and she can feel Aubrey’s smile widen, even as her fingers flit down Stacie’s side and poke her gently. 

“I’m serious.” 

“We can invite my mom and Andy down for Thanksgiving,” Stacie says, rakes her nails down Aubrey’s spine and back up. “That way even if your dad cancels, we won’t have to change any plans.” 

Aubrey considers the words, sighing softly when Stacie’s fingers curl around the back of her neck and press at the base of her skull to relieve the tension.  

“They won’t mind?” 

Stacie shakes her head, tilts Aubrey’s head so she can kiss her lazily and Aubrey eagerly returns the kiss, sliding higher over Stacie’s body to be more comfortable. 

“I’ll ask,” Stacie offers and Aubrey wants to kiss her deeper, but she’s afraid of slipping back down in the bathtub if she moves her hand away from Stacie’s shoulder.

Aubrey ends up moving her lips down Stacie’s jaw, licking at her neck and nipping at the skin behind her ear. 

“Andy doesn’t mind where he spends Thanksgiving as long as he gets a meal out of it and my mom will understand,” Stacie says breathlessly, head falling back against the edge of the bathtub as Aubrey shifts over her to straddle her legs, water sloshing around them. 

“Stacie?” 

“Hmm?” she hums, eyes fluttering open to see Aubrey hovering over her with a pointed look. “Stop talking?” 

“Please,” Aubrey says and Stacie grins, wraps an arm around Aubrey and hauls her closer, kissing her hotly as Aubrey settles against her with a breathless laugh. 

Chapter Text

Stacie’s alarm goes off and Aubrey groans at the loud sound. She doesn’t move, too comfortable, but Stacie isn’t moving either, doesn’t seem to have woken up and Aubrey whines softly in protest. 

“Stacie…” Aubrey croaks out, but she receives no response. A quick, sharp nudge also goes unnoticed so Aubrey groans loudly, hoping that will be enough to wake the brunette and when it doesn’t, she reluctantly pushes up from the bed. 

Shifting over, Aubrey whines again when she sees that Stacie’s phone is almost at the outside edge of her nightstand and that simply reaching out won’t be enough, so she finally pushes the covers away and sits up, frowning as she moves over Stacie’s body and struggles to turn off her alarm. 

“This is a nice view,” Stacie murmurs sleepily, eyes blinking slowly and Aubrey glares down at her in response. Stacie reaches out and tugs at Aubrey’s loose camisole, one of the straps sliding off her shoulders and down her arm and Stacie grins. “What a wake-up.” 

“I wanted to sleep in today,” Aubrey grumbles in annoyance, but she still lets Stacie pull her closer, shifting until their bodies are pressed together, Stacie’s lips kissing along the column of her neck. 

“I’m sorry,” Stacie says without an ounce of regret in her tone as she nips at Aubrey’s skin. “Let me make it up to you.” 

“You have places to be,” Aubrey says, and it comes out a little too breathless to be blamed on her still waking body. 

“Ugh,” Stacie says, head dropping back onto her pillow dejectedly. “Don’t remind me.” 

“Good morning,” Aubrey says, moving her hand from where it’s planted next to Stacie’s head to keep her slightly propped up and moving lower so she can kiss Stacie and settle more comfortably against Stacie, leg sliding between her thighs and applying pressure. 

Stacie moans softly, tongue swiping over Aubrey’s lower lip before biting down gently and Aubrey smiles into the kiss. Stacie trails her hands down Aubrey’s back and Aubrey thinks she’s going to pull the camisole upwards but instead Stacie’s hands drift even lower, fingers cupping Aubrey’s butt and pulling her body even closer. 

“You have to go to work,” Aubrey mumbles against Stacie’s lips, pulling away even as Stacie whines in protest. “As much as I want to, this is a wake-up call, not an invite for more,” Aubrey adds, kissing down along Stacie’s jaw. 

“Could have fooled me,” Stacie teases with a gasp but when Aubrey lifts her head to look at her, Stacie sighs deeply and the mood shifts. 

“You’re not actually teaching, are you?” Aubrey asks. 

Stacie shakes her head, one of her hands twitching where they’re still cupping Aubrey’s butt. 

“I heavily implied that I wouldn’t be doing any new or old material and that I wouldn’t be taking attendance,” Stacie says and Aubrey’s expression softens into a smile. “I’m gonna watch movies all day.” 

“So why are you so against going in today?” 

“Principle,” Stacie says but Aubrey knows there’s more. “I’d feel guilty teaching because so many students are already gone so it’s just a lost day. Plus, I’d rather spend the day with you and Bella.” 

“Stacie,” Aubrey starts, tenderly brushing hair away from Stacie’s forehead and pressing her lips there quickly. “You hate your job so much. What are you still doing there?” 

“What else would I do?” Stacie asks but it’s a repeat of the same conversation they’ve had over and over again. 

“Anything else,” Aubrey says, kissing her slowly. “You’re so unhappy there.” 

“I’m just morning grumpy,” Stacie says, twisting her head to look away and avoid Aubrey’s eyes and Aubrey makes a sound of disbelief. 

“No, you’re not.” 

“Yes I am,” Stacie says almost petulantly and Aubrey rolls her eyes, reaches out to tilt Stacie’s head back and leans in for another quick kiss. 

“Don’t argue with me about this,” Aubrey orders playfully and Stacie can’t help but smile at the sight of Aubrey hovering over her, eyebrow arched, blonde hair spilling over one shoulder and looking totally gorgeous. 

She tugs Aubrey back down, captures her lips in a languid kiss and pulls a soft moan from Aubrey. 

Aubrey shifts over her until her knees are on either side of Stacie, straddling her thighs but then Aubrey pulls away and Stacie whines in complaint as the blonde sits up. 

“You’re going to be late,” Aubrey says but Stacie just pouts at her. 

“I don’t hate my job,” Stacie says. “I love the teaching and the research is fun, it’s just…” 

“The bureaucracy,” Aubrey supplies with a small sigh and Stacie nods, eyes sliding closed as she drops her head back against the pillow. 

Aubrey reaches out and cradles the side of her face, thumb brushing over Stacie’s cheek softly to relax her and Stacie turns her head into Aubrey’s palm and kisses it. 

“Come on, gorgeous,” Aubrey coaxes, fingers on her free hand tangling with Stacie’s and using it to pull the woman up. Aubrey moves to climb off Stacie when the brunette reaches out and wraps her arms around Aubrey’s waist, keeping her close and burying her face in Aubrey’s neck with a deep sigh. 

“Remember when I used to be excited about going to work?” Stacie mumbles ruefully against her skin and Aubrey’s heart hurts at how dejected she sounds. 

“I don’t like seeing you like this,” Aubrey whispers, one of her hands cradling Stacie’s head while the other one drifts to Stacie’s back and rubs it soothingly. Stacie doesn’t answer, just melts more against her so Aubrey turns her head and buries her face in messy brown hair, eyes closing. “Stacie…” 

Stacie presses her lips against Aubrey’s neck quickly before reluctantly pulling away and when she does, Aubrey’s worried expression deepens as she sees Stacie’s miserable expression. 

“I’ll be okay,” Stacie whispers but Aubrey doesn’t look like she believes her. “It’s just today that really sucks.” 

“Okay,” Aubrey says, sceptical look softening when Stacie lets her go and lets her climb out of bed. “Breakfast?” 

“What did I do to deserve you?” Stacie flirts as she gets out of bed and Aubrey turns back with a coy smile so Stacie slides her arms around Aubrey, pulls her in close and kisses her slowly in an effort to show her gratitude. 

“I love you too,” Aubrey says when they pull apart and she almost has to shove Stacie away from her with, “You’re going to be late.” 

She grabs her dressing gown and pulls it on as Stacie disappears into the bathroom with a laugh. Aubrey makes her way down to the kitchen and starts reaching for breakfast supplies and it’s barely fifteen minutes later when she hears Stacie’s familiar steps descend the stairs. 

“Look who came crawling into our bed,” Stacie says, rounding the corner into the kitchen and when Aubrey looks up, she smiles widely at the sight of Bella clinging to Stacie’s back, legs tightly around Stacie’s middle and Stacie holding her legs in place. 

Bella squeals when Stacie tickles the bottoms of her feet before twisting so her back is to the kitchen island and crouching enough to set Bella on the countertop, stepping away and turning to kiss Bella’s cheek. 

“Good morning, sweetheart,” Aubrey says, moving closer for a quick hug. 

“Hi mommy,” Bella says with a cheery smile, leaning in and kissing Aubrey’s cheek with a loud smack. 

Stacie leans against the counter opposite them, reaches for Aubrey’s deserted coffee mug and sips from it as she watches the two chatter softly. 

“Breakfast,” Aubrey says, glancing over her shoulder and meeting Stacie’s eyes with a soft smile. 

“Hm?” 

Aubrey motions to the plate of avocado toast next to the skillet with two sunny side up eggs and Stacie’s smile widens. 

“You’re the best,” Stacie whispers into her ear when she passes by her to sit at the kitchen island and Aubrey doesn’t respond, just shoots her a soft smile as she lifts Bella off the counter and encourages the girl to go sit next to Stacie. 

“What would you like to eat, big girl?” Aubrey asks, stealing a bite from Stacie who tries to yelp in complaint but has a mouth full of food so all that comes out is a vague sound of dissatisfaction that Aubrey ignores. 

“Uhm…” Bella says, glancing at Stacie’s plate and frowning. 

“How about…” Aubrey starts, opening the fridge and looking at the options. “Yoghurt with… bananas and strawberries?” 

Bella quirks her mouth and Aubrey suddenly has the startlingly sobering realisation that it’s an expression that she makes a lot and that Bella must have picked it up from her. 

“I can sprinkle some cinnamon over it,” Aubrey offers and Bella’s eyes go wide as she pauses briefly before nodding vigorously. Aubrey laughs softly as she reaches for the yoghurt and the fruits, throwing all the ingredients together in a small bowl before sprinkling cinnamon powder over it and sliding the bowl in front of Bella with a spoon. 

She reaches for Stacie’s plate again, taking another bite of her toast before quickly setting it back on the plate and this time, Stacie’s mouth isn’t full. 

“Hey!” she complains. “Get your own.” 

“I made that for you,” Aubrey points out as she steals her cup of coffee back from Stacie. 

“Why didn’t you make some for you too?” Stacie argues, realising the hypocrisy of the situation when Aubrey sips from her coffee mug but being in too deep to let it go now. 

“Because I don’t want toast,” Aubrey teases and Stacie just shakes her head, looks to the skies as if for patience before shooting Aubrey an exasperated look that Aubrey ignores as she fixes herself a bowl of yoghurt and berries and starts eating it. 

Bella giggles around her spoon and Stacie turns to her with a betrayed look, reaching out to poke the girl softly. 

“What are you laughing at, huh?” she taunts and Bella squirms, wraps an arm around her bowl because she knows Stacie won’t mess with her and risk spilling her food. 

“Nothing,” Bella says, taking a large bite and smiling tight-lipped. 

Stacie finishes her breakfast and gets up, wrapping an arm around Bella’s middle as she leans in and nuzzles the girl’s neck playfully, kissing her cheek repeatedly and Bella squeals, tries to squirm out of the embrace as she giggles and pushes at Stacie’s face. 

“That tickles!” Bella gasps and Stacie kisses her cheek a final time before stepping away to take her plate to the sink. 

“You look nice,” Aubrey says when she finally takes in Stacie’s ensemble, her eyes trailing down Stacie’s blazer with rolled up cuffs, her white shirt and dark jeans. 

“Just nice?” Stacie asks, sliding an arm around Aubrey’s middle and pulling her close, swallowing Aubrey’s laugh with a kiss. 

“You look hot,” Aubrey amends, reaching up and pushing Stacie’s glasses up her nose. 

“I aim to please,” Stacie flirts. 

“You definitely do,” Aubrey says, stepping back when she feels one of Stacie’s hands tug at the sash of her dressing robe. She pushes the woman away from her even as Stacie makes a quiet, disgruntled sound. 

“You’re not even going to kiss me goodbye?” 

Aubrey yanks her back by her collar and presses a heated kiss to her lips. “Bye.” 

“I love you,” Stacie says when Aubrey lets go of her, trying to shake off the sudden flash of heat. 

“I love you,” Aubrey replies with a smile, watches as Stacie rounds the kitchen island to press a kiss to Bella’s forehead. 

“Bye baby.” 

“Bye mama! I love you!”  

“I love you more,” Stacie teases. 

“Nuh-uh, I love you more! To the moon and back!” Bella gives with a smile. 

“Well I love you to the moon and back times infinity,” Stacie says smugly and Bella scrunches up her face and it’s all the concession that Stacie needs as she kisses Bella’s forehead again. 

“Have fun you two,” Stacie says, looking over at Aubrey and meeting her eyes. 

“Drive safe.” 

Stacie’s making her way down to the front of the lecture hall, the movie credits rolling when there’s a soft knock on the door. She turns with a quizzical look that melts away when she sees who’s at the door and she motions them in. 

“I’m just wrapping up,” Stacie says quickly and Aubrey smiles, leads Bella over to one of the chairs in the first row as Bella quietly and slyly tries to wave at Stacie. 

“Okay guys, good movie?” Stacie asks, switching on the lights as she turns back to the lecture hall filled with students who groan at the sudden brightness of the room. “So the syllabus says I need to give you questions to prepare for your tutorial after a lecture so I’ve uploaded them online,” she says and there are enough sounds of discontent that Stacie smiles. “Don’t complain just yet, they’re just two questions and they’re pretty straightforward.” 

A hand shoots up in the middle and Stacie pauses. 

“Melissa?” 

“I just checked online and do we also have to explain our reasoning behind our answers?” 

“Absolutely not,” Stacie says, exaggerating her horrified tone and the students laugh. “That means I have to read more things. No. Just tell me which of the movies is your favourite and which job you would want. No more and no less. Any other questions?” 

The room is quiet and Stacie leans against the desk at the front of the lecture hall with a smile. 

“Happy Thanksgiving, everybody,” she says and the students recognise her dismissal for what it is and they all start packing up and shrugging into their coats. 

Stacie stays where she is but turns to look at Bella and gestures the girl over, who happily crawls out of Aubrey’s lap and skips towards her mother. 

“Hi sweetheart,” Stacie says, leaning down to quickly kiss Bella’s forehead before standing up straight and letting her hand fall to Bella’s head, softly running her fingers along her hair. “Did you have a nice morning with mommy?” 

Bella nods, moves closer to lean against Stacie. “We made muffins.” 

“Yum,” Stacie says. “And you didn’t bring any for me?” 

Bella turns to Aubrey with wide, panicked eyes, expression dropping away when she sees Aubrey holding a tupperware container with two muffins, so she walks over to Aubrey for the tupperware before going back to Stacie and offering it to her. 

“Ooh,” Stacie says, peering at the contents and then glancing up at the students slowly filtering out of the lecture hall before opening the lid. “What flavour are they?” 

“Uhm,” Bella says, standing on her tiptoes to look into the tupperware before pointing at one. “That one is apple and cinnamon.” 

“And the other one?” 

Bella bites the side of her lip as she glances between the muffin and Stacie’s face, a small frown on her face as she tries to remember. 

“Mommy?” she calls out softly, turning to look at Aubrey. 

“Pistachio and chai,” Aubrey replies and it attracts the attention of a few students as they’re leaving and Stacie has to work really hard not to moan as she reaches for the muffin. 

She’s aware that her students seem to be taking forever to leave the lecture hall, so she doesn’t bite into the muffin just yet, knows she looks ridiculous with a five-year-old pressed against her leg and muffin in hand, but she stares down the last of the nosy, gossipy students intent on getting a glimpse of her private life, until they’re gone. Stacie lifts the muffin, ready to take a bite when a voice interrupts her. 

“Miss Conrad?” 

Stacie drops the muffin into the tupperware with a dejected sigh, turning towards the open door. 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” the boy there says when he sees that Stacie’s not alone. “I can come back some other time.” 

“No, it’s okay, Eric, come in,” Stacie says with a small smile and the boy hesitantly steps into the room. “What’s up?” 

“I wanted to see if I could schedule an appointment with you to talk about my major and my options?” 

“Of course,” Stacie says, already reaching for her planner. “Do you have a time in mind?” 

“Is Tuesday at twelve okay?” he asks, phone in hand as he shifts awkwardly. 

“Perfect. My office?” Stacie suggests, glancing up quickly to see the boy nod and type it in his phone before looking back down at her own planner and writing down the appointment. 

“Thank you so much, miss Conrad. Happy Thanksgiving.” 

“Happy Thanksgiving, Eric,” Stacie says with a smile and Bella waves quickly at the boy who seems briefly taken aback by the girl’s presence but quickly recovers as he smiles and waves back before leaving. 

Stacie finishes writing down the appointment before closing her planner and tossing it back into her bag. When she turns to Aubrey, the blonde is still sitting in the first row and she has a mysterious expression on her face as she watches Stacie. 

“What?” Stacie asks, reaching for and finally biting into the muffin, moaning at the taste. 

“Nothing bad,” Aubrey says with a coy smile, getting up and walking over. “I just don’t get to see this side of you a lot.” 

“What side?” Stacie asks, quickly glancing away to make sure the suddenly-quiet Bella is still in the lecture hall with them, smiling when she sees the girl slowly making her way up the stairs, presumably to the back of the lecture hall. 

“Professor Conrad,” Aubrey says softly, fingers trailing down Stacie’s arm. 

“I’m not a professor yet,” Stacie counters and Aubrey rolls her eyes with a soft chuckle. 

“Don’t ruin the illusion,” Aubrey says and Stacie grins, leans in to kiss her lips quickly and Aubrey happily reciprocates, shifts closer to wrap her arm around Stacie’s middle. 

They pull away a while later, recognising that they can’t have a full make-out session at Stacie’s place of work and Stacie threads her fingers through Aubrey’s hair, smiling softly when Aubrey can’t resist quickly pecking her lips. 

“What are you doing here? I thought you had to pick up your dad?” 

“His flight is delayed so I thought we’d surprise you with lunch,” Aubrey explains, watches with fond amusement as Stacie takes another impossibly large bite out of the muffin. 

“This ish amay-shing,” Stacie says around a full mouth and Aubrey actually laughs at that. 

“You’re worse than her,” Aubrey admonishes, pointing in the vague direction she presumes Bella to be. 

“Mama?” Bella calls out and her voice echoes in the large room, her eyes going wide with delight at the sound as the two adults turn to her, find her sitting in one of the chairs in the back row, adorably dwarfed by the large chair and desk attached to it, her hand up high in the air. 

“Yes baby?” Stacie says. 

“Can people come from spores like mushrooms?” 

“Oh boy,” Aubrey breathes, steps away when Stacie looks to her with a panicked look. “Don’t look at me, you’re the scientist in this family,” Aubrey teases. 

“Hey you,” Aubrey says when she accepts the call, glancing quickly at the passenger seat before looking back at the road in front of her. 

“Hey hot stuff,” Stacie says and Bella giggles at the nickname. 

“I’m in the car, Stacie, you’re on speaker,” Aubrey warns, tries to be subtle about it and almost rolls her eyes when Stacie doesn’t get the hint. 

“So? It’s not like she hasn’t heard us call each other—” 

“Stacie!” Aubrey snaps, a little louder and she can hear Stacie’s laugh from over the speakers. 

“Hello Stacie,” her father says and Aubrey tries not to smile at his slightly amused tone, has to bite down on her lips and pretends to be laser-focused on driving. 

“Ohh,” Stacie says then, voice shaky as realisation dawns on her. “Hi sir! You made it!” she says and Aubrey snorts softly, Stacie’s voice still sounding a uniquely Stacie mix of panic, despair, and slightly inflated joy. 

“I did,” her father says gruffly even though he’s smiling and Aubrey throws him an admonishing look for sounding way more serious than he looks, taking advantage of the phone call to needlessly mess with Stacie. 

“Hi mama!” Bella calls out loudly and Aubrey can practically hear Stacie breathe a sigh of relief at the distraction. 

“Hi baby girl,” Stacie says. 

“What’s up?” Aubrey asks. 

“There’s an accident on Canal Road so I’m gonna be stuck here for a while.” 

“Yikes, okay,” Aubrey says, grimacing in sympathy for Stacie. 

“Also, can you call Ashley? She’s been trying to reach you.” 

“I’ll be home in ten, I’ll call her then. Do you know what she needs?” Aubrey asks. 

“Apparently she’s having a cooking catastrophe,” Stacie says with a laugh. 

“And she called you?” 

“Ha-ha,” Stacie says dryly. “She thought we might be together. And then she thought that maybe living with a domestic goddess might have rubbed off on me.” 

“I am not a domestic goddess,” Aubrey counters immediately.

“Right, you don’t qualify as a domestic goddess because you can’t bake for sh—” 

“Speakerphone.” 

“Anyway,” Stacie says loudly. “Take it up with Ash. She’s the one who called you that, not me. I know better.” 

Aubrey can hear her cheeky smile over the phone and she shakes her head out of habit. 

“Maybe I’d be better at baking if you didn’t always stay in the kitchen to laugh at me when I try,” Aubrey says then, putting on a snappy tone but not really meaning it, smiling when she notices her father turn to look at her quizzically. 

“You hypocrite! You laugh at me whenever I try to cook!” 

Her father actually laughs then and Aubrey glances sideways at him with a wide smile. 

“I don’t laugh at you,” Aubrey tries to say but she knows Stacie’s right. 

“Bella?” Stacie calls out loudly. 

“Yes?” Bella says, not even looking up from her etch-a-sketch. 

“When I try to cook, does mommy laugh at me?” 

Bella giggles loudly, focused on her attempts to make a house but still managing to laugh and say, “Yes.” 

“Aubrey don’t you dare hang up on me!” Stacie says quickly, words all jumbled as she tries to get them out and Aubrey growls softly that she’s been caught out, her hand already halfway to the center console to end the call. “You still there?” 

“Yes,” Aubrey reluctantly says, studiously avoiding her father’s gaze. 

“What a miracle, you coward,” Stacie taunts.

Aubrey cuts off Stacie’s laugh with a quick “Bye” before abruptly ending the call. 

Aubrey looks sideways, finds her father staring at her in confusion and he opens his mouth to ask about it when she holds up a hand to halt him. Sure enough, a few seconds later her phone rings and she accepts the call. 

“Aubrey Posen!” Stacie yells. 

“Mama, too loud!” Bella yells back and Aubrey laughs softly at that. 

“I don’t appreciate being called a coward in front of my father,” Aubrey says, trying for a serious tone and failing. 

“So you don’t mind if I say it when it’s just the two of us? Like, say, when—” 

“I’m going to remind you that you are still very much on speakerphone,” Aubrey cuts her off.

“You know what? Let’s talk about this when we’re at home.” 

“Agreed. I love you.” 

“I love you, bye,” Stacie says before ending the call and Aubrey smiles. 

“Does that happen often?” her father asks. 

“What?” Aubrey asks, quickly glancing at him to try and get a read on her father but his face is blank. 

“That you hang up on her.” 

Aubrey purses her lips and shakes her head. “Sometimes.” 

“Hm,” is all he says and then they’re quiet for a long while and when Aubrey glances at her father, she can see the cogs in his brain working. 

“What is it?” 

“What if she thinks you’ve gotten in an accident?” 

“That’s why she always calls back immediately,” Aubrey explains and her father nods, finally understanding. 

“Whatcha doin’?” Bella asks when Aubrey sends her into the living room, finds William sitting in his recliner chair watching football on tv. 

“Watching the game,” he says, gesturing to the television and Bella watches the screen in confusion, head tilting when one of the players moves forward and kicks the ball. 

“Why is he kicking it?” Bella asks, following the action closely as she distractedly clambers onto William’s lap, almost outright demanding his attention. 

“Huh?” he finally manages, still frowning down at the girl’s bold move. 

“My teacher says we’re not allowed to kick the ball in football,” Bella says, points to the game. 

“Bella, wouldn’t you like to sit somewhere more comfortable?” William asks, gesturing to the couch but Bella just shrugs and shakes her head. 

“‘m okay.” 

The sports channel replays the kick between the goalposts and Bella shifts to look up at William, urgently points to the television again. 

“See! He kicked it! That’s not allowed,” Bella says animatedly and William follows her gaze to assess the play. 

“Well, yes it is. That’s his job,” he explains quickly but Bella turns to him with a frown. 

“Huh?” 

“That guy only has one job, to kick the football between the goalposts. It’s all he’s supposed to do.” 

“But it’s not soccer,” Bella points out and William laughs softly at the bewilderment evident in her voice. 

“You’re right, it’s not, but in special cases, one of the players is allowed to kick it.” 

“Oh,” Bella says simply but she’s still squinting at the television and William can tell she has a lot more questions. 

“Do you watch a lot of sports?” 

“I’m not allowed to watch a lotta tv,” Bella says, mouth twisting briefly before she lights up with a brilliant smile. “But I play soccer like uncle Andy!” 

“Do you want me to explain how football works?” William offers a little reluctantly but then Bella beams up at him and nods fiercely. 

“Yeah!” 

Her wide, toothy grin is enough to melt his heart and then Bella settles in more comfortably, turning to lean back against William as she turns to the television. 

Stacie closes the front door behind her with a heavy sigh but before she can call out that she’s home, Bella’s voice rings loud and clear from the living room. 

“TOUCHDOWN!” 

Stacie frowns and shrugs out of her coat and blazer, hangs them up as she kicks off her shoes. 

“For who?” Aubrey yells from the kitchen. 

“I don’t know!” Bella yells back but then there’s hushed voices and Bella speaks up again. “Clemson!” 

Stacie steps into the kitchen just as Aubrey victoriously whispers “yes!” to herself before reaching up in the cupboards for the plates so Stacie leans against the entryway and watches her move around the space to gather cutlery and placemats. 

Aubrey turns and startles at the sight of Stacie. “Jesus christ!” 

“Sorry,” Stacie says with a giggle, moving closer as Aubrey presses a hand to her chest to calm her racing heart. 

“What are you doing standing there like a creep?” Aubrey snarks but Stacie knows the biting tone is more to cover her laboured breathing and to prevent any teasing from Stacie about how startled she’d been. 

“Watching you,” Stacie says, wags her eyebrows as she wraps an arm around Aubrey’s waist and pulls her close. “I’m sorry for scaring you.” 

“That’s—” 

“TOUCHDOWN!” 

Aubrey turns away from Stacie to frown in the direction of the living room. “Already? For who?” 

“Georgia Tech!” 

“Fuck,” Aubrey hisses under her breath. 

“What do you have against Georgia?” Stacie asks and Aubrey turns to her with such a dark look, she wants to step away for safety. 

“Everything.” 

“We went to college in Georgia,” Stacie points out but Aubrey’s indignant expression doesn’t budge. 

“Barden doesn’t have a division 1 football team,” Aubrey explains but it doesn’t clear up anything for Stacie. 

“You’re into football?” Stacie asks, trying to move away from Aubrey’s piercing look but it doesn’t really work. 

“Of course I am,” Aubrey scoffs. 

“How did I not know this?” Stacie murmurs, more to herself than anything but they’re still embracing and Aubrey hears her and it makes her melt into a laugh, shake her head.

“I don’t know,” Aubrey says, even though Stacie’s question wasn’t directed at her. With a quick kiss to Stacie’s lips, Aubrey pulls away and turns to reach for the plates and hands them to Stacie, instructions clear. “I watched a bunch of games with Andy last year,” Aubrey points out when Stacie moves away to set the table. 

“I thought you were just… I don’t know, being polite by hanging out with him,” Stacie says, shrugging and when she turns back to look at Aubrey, the blonde is reaching into the fridge for a pitcher of water and Stacie lets her gaze rake down Aubrey’s body. 

Aubrey turns around and sees Stacie’s dazed look, smiles coyly and props her hand against her hip as she patiently waits for Stacie’s eyes to meet hers. 

Stacie takes in the teasing smile, arched eyebrow and smirks. 

“What?” Aubrey finally asks, curiosity getting the better of her. 

“Just picturing you in a football jersey and nothing else,” Stacie says lowly, smile widening when Aubrey bites her lip and shoots her a challenging look. 

“You better be picturing me in the right colours,” Aubrey warns, knocking the fridge closed with her hip as she moves closer to drop the pitcher of water on the dining table, brushing her cold fingers against Stacie’s arm as she flits away and back to the kitchen. 

“Are you one of those people who gets super competitive?” Stacie teases, following Aubrey to the kitchen and trapping her in against the counter with a hand on either side even though Aubrey’s back is to her. 

“Do you not remember — how did you call it again — aca-dictator drill sergeant Posen?” Aubrey asks, pushing back against Stacie’s body and turning her head to throw Stacie a pointed look over her shoulder. 

“It was either drill sergeant Posen or aca-dictator Posen, not both,” Stacie says, rolls her eyes as she shakes her head fondly. “She was hot.” 

“Was?” 

“Is,” Stacie corrects. “Whatever, not the point I’m trying to make. You were competitive in a cappella.” 

“I’m competitive in general,” Aubrey says. 

“Competitive and combative are two different things,” Stacie says with a sharp laugh but then Aubrey turns around and arches an eyebrow so Stacie leans in and kisses her quickly. “I love you?” 

“Nice save,” Aubrey murmurs against her lips, pushing Stacie away by the hips. 

“How are you so into football? I’ve never seen you watch a game,” Stacie says. 

“I watch games all the time.” 

Aubrey bends down to peer into the oven and when she straightens, Stacie’s already holding out oven mitts for her. 

“Lasagna?” 

“Four cheese,” Aubrey says with a nod, turning off the oven and opening it, reaching in and quickly taking out the lasagna. 

“Fuck, that looks so good,” Stacie moans, leaning in to get a better whiff of the delicious smell. “It’s unfair how good you are at cooking.” 

“You have your own skills too,” Aubrey tries to assuage but Stacie just shoots her a wry smile. 

“Like what?” 

Aubrey purses her lips as she pretends to mull it over and Stacie’s expression becomes insulted so Aubrey laughs. “You’re smart.” 

“That’s not a skill,” Stacie points out immediately. 

“You can braid hair.” 

“That’s the best you can come up with?” 

“Well I can’t braid hair so…” Aubrey shrugs, swats Stacie out of the way so she can pull open the drawer and reach for a long knife.

“You, kitchen goddess who can cook pretty much anything. Me, can braid hair. Do you see the imbalance here?” Stacie asks, gesturing wildly but Aubrey just uses Stacie’s flailing hands to hand her the oven mitts and Stacie gets the hint, holds down the lasagna dish as Aubrey cuts into it, dividing the lasagna evenly. 

“I’m starting to love the word goddess being used to describe me,” Aubrey muses aloud.

“You, goddess. Me, bum.” 

“Aw baby,” Aubrey coos, dropping the knife when she’s done and moving closer to press Stacie against the kitchen counter, standing on her toes to brush her lips against Stacie’s, playfully biting her lower lip. “I’m sure you give better orgasms than a bum.” 

Stacie’s frozen with affront and disbelief and Aubrey flits away before Stacie has a chance to punish her for her words, a sharp giggle falling from her lips, a giggle that turns into a yelp when Stacie easily crosses the distance between them and wraps an arm around Aubrey’s waist and hauls her closer. 

“You’re gonna pay for that,” Stacie says lowly and Aubrey feels a flash of excitement shoot down her spine. 

“Am I?” she can’t help but taunt, her smug tone turning into a surprised gasp when Stacie curls her hands around Aubrey’s thighs and easily lifts her onto the kitchen island, stepping between her legs. 

Aubrey instinctively crosses her ankles behind Stacie’s back, trapping her there but Stacie just smiles up at Aubrey, hands drifting under her shirt and up the smooth skin of her back. Aubrey leans in, fingers brushing Stacie’s hair away from her face, hand cupping her jaw as she brushes her lips against Stacie’s. She’s about to deepen the kiss when Bella’s voice rings out again and Aubrey rips away from Stacie, head snapping up. 

“TOUCHDOWN!” 

“Who’s winning?!” Aubrey yells back and Stacie flinches at the volume. Aubrey turns back to Stacie, thumb softly smoothing over Stacie’s cheek. “Sorry.” 

Stacie turns her head to kiss Aubrey’s palm, smiling up at Aubrey. 

Bella runs into the kitchen, opens her mouth to say something when her gaze falls on Stacie and she lights up. “Mama!” 

“Hi babycakes,” Stacie says, and Aubrey lets her go long enough for Stacie to crouch down for a quick hug. “What are you doing?” 

“Watching football with grandpa,” Bella says excitedly. 

“Who’s winning?” Aubrey asks, trying to hop down from the counter but Stacie stands up and traps her there again. 

“Georgia Tech,” Bella says with a scrunched up face. 

“By how much?” 

Bella frowns, bites her lip before dashing away to the living room. 

“Jesus, that’s weird,” Stacie comments lightly, turning back to Aubrey and watching her closely. 

“What is?” Aubrey says, pretends not to know exactly what Stacie’s talking about. 

“Aubrey…” Stacie urges, but then Bella comes skidding into the kitchen again. 

“Twenty-eight for Georgia and twenty-six for Clemson,” Bella says, the words rushed before she forgets the numbers and then she stands there with a proud grin that Aubrey can’t help but mirror. 

“Thank you, Bella,” Aubrey says and the girl preens. “Can you go get grandpa? Dinner’s ready.” 

Bella nods and disappears again and Stacie turns to Aubrey. 

“That.” 

“What?” Aubrey says, trying to kick Stacie away so she can jump down from the kitchen island. 

“The word,” Stacie says, tightening her grip on Aubrey’s thighs. “Grandpa.” 

“I told him she asked about calling him that and he said he was fine with it, so…” 

“But you’re clearly not fine with it,” Stacie points out. 

“Does that matter?” 

“Of course it does,” Stacie counters immediately, searching Aubrey’s eyes but Aubrey’s avoiding looking at Stacie. “Hey,” Stacie urges, voice a whisper and Aubrey quirks her mouth as she meets Stacie’s even look. “Babe…” 

“I just don’t want her to get too attached.” 

“She gets attached to everybody,” Stacie says, thumbs rubbing soothing circles against Aubrey’s jean-clad thighs. 

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Aubrey gives, but her tense shoulders relax and Stacie can see her give in and admit defeat. 

“Come on, let’s have dinner,” Stacie offers, finally stepping away and offering her hand for Aubrey to take as she hops off the counter. 

“TOUCHDOWN!” Before Aubrey can even open her mouth, Bella comes running into the kitchen. “For Clemson! Grandpa says we can have dinner now.” 

Aubrey laughs and her hand falls to Bella’s head to guide her towards the dining table, Stacie reaching for the oven mitts again to carry the lasagna to the dinner table. 

“Did you see the game last Sunday?” William asks before taking a bite of his lasagna. 

“Did I see the Cowboys lose spectacularly?” Aubrey says with a small smirk. “No, but I wish I had.” 

“You’re not a fan of the Cowboys?” Stacie asks Aubrey as an aside and Aubrey scoffs and shakes her head. 

“Of course not.” 

“She’s a disgrace,” William murmurs, shaking his head sadly. “Where did I go wrong with you?” 

“You let grandma and papa raise me,” Aubrey teases with a sharp laugh but then there’s a beat of tension and Stacie finds herself carefully looking between Aubrey and her father, worried about the fall out she might need to deal with. 

“At least they didn’t make you a Falcons fan,” William finally says, forcing a jovial tone and Aubrey goes along with it. 

“I would never,” Aubrey says with an exaggerated shudder. 

“Wait, you went to college in Atlanta and yet you actively root against the Falcons and Georgia Tech?” Stacie asks, incredulity heavily colouring her tone. “How is that possible?” 

“We’re a Panthers family,” Aubrey says with a shrug, glancing at Bella as the girl stabs her lasagna with the fork held in her fist, knife attempting to cut through the layers. 

“Speak for yourself,” William cuts in. 

“My mom’s family is a Panthers family,” Aubrey corrects. “My dad still believes in the Cowboys.” 

Aubrey’s tone conveys just how little regard she has for the team and Stacie has a hard time stifling her laugh. 

“The Cowboys are America’s team,” William boasts, chest puffing up with pride. 

“I thought that was the Patriots?” Stacie asks innocently, taking a bite of her lasagna as she shrugs. 

Aubrey’s fork clatters to the table as William levels an honestly astoundingly intense glare at Stacie. 

“What?” 

“What?” Stacie asks, mouth half-full of food as she shrinks back from the twin scowls being sent her way, quickly looking at Bella who’s still in her own world while eating, attempting to shove a way too big piece of lasagna into her mouth. 

“Don’t tell me you’re a Patriots fan,” Aubrey threatens and while it is nice to see Aubrey and her father bonding and connecting over something, Stacie really hates how it suddenly means they’re united against her. 

“No,” Stacie says immediately in a small voice. “Not really.” 

“No, or not really?” Aubrey presses. 

“We’re a baseball and soccer family, you know that,” Stacie tries to defend.

“Stop avoiding the question, Stacie,” Aubrey’s father warns and something about the way he says her name makes Stacie shake with fear. 

“I mean, if I had to pick a team, then, yeah, it would probably be the Patriots.” 

Aubrey’s father regards her with an extremely disappointed look before turning it onto Aubrey. “This is who you want to spend your life with?” 

Aubrey is still looking at Stacie in utter betrayal and it’s as if she hasn’t even heard her father’s words. “Why? How? How are you a Patriots fan? You’re from Philadelphia! I was okay with you being an Eagles supporter, I could even accept the Giants, but the Patriots?” 

“What? I don’t know, I guess it started when I was at MIT,” Stacie tries to defend, hadn’t expected such a drastic assault on her choice. “I thought you hated the Falcons more than anything.” 

“I hate the Falcons because I’m a Panthers fan but I hate the Patriots because I’m a human being,” Aubrey says strongly and she misses the way her father looks at her with pride in his eyes but Stacie doesn’t, and Stacie can’t help but be temporarily distracted by how Aubrey’s father clearly adores her. 

“What’s the big deal, it’s just football?” Stacie says then and the moment the words leave her lips, she closes her eyes in regret. “I didn’t mean that.” 

“It sounded like you did,” William says, his voice scarily relaxed in a way that sends a shock of cold down Stacie’s spine, being transported back to her freshman days and seeing flashes of Aubrey using that exact same voice on the Bellas when she’d been displeased except in this scenario there is no fun, hot blonde to leer at because when Stacie opens her eyes, Aubrey looks as if she’s been burned. 

“Aubrey…”  

“We’ll talk about this later,” Aubrey replies, still not looking at Stacie. 

When Stacie glances at her father, William is staring at her with a glower, slowly shaking his head in disgrace so Stacie falls quiet.

“Mama can I have water?” Bella asks, interrupting the tension and Stacie’s grateful for the reprieve.

“Mommy?” Bella says and Aubrey turns to her, melting at the sight of Bella in her giraffe patterned pyjamas. 

“Yes, baby?” 

Bella gestures her closer and Aubrey crouches down in front of her, smiling when Bella leans in and cups her hands around Aubrey’s ear. 

“Mama said to tell you that she’s sorry and that she promises I’ll never be a Patriots fan.” 

Aubrey can’t help but laugh sharply at that, turning to find Bella smiling cheekily at her so she reaches out and tickles the girl, wrapping her arms around Bella to keep her close as the girl squirms. 

“Mommy, please nooo!” Bella wheezes between giggles. 

“Thank you for the message,” Aubrey says, slowing and kissing Bella’s cheek. “Where’s mama?” 

“Around the corner,” Bella whispers loudly before wriggling out of Aubrey’s embrace and running out of the room. 

“Stace?” Aubrey calls out and Stacie pops her head around the doorway with a sheepish smile. “You dirty cheater.” 

“You can’t say no to her.” 

“You played dirty,” Aubrey accuses, shaking her head as she straightens and Stacie finally steps into the room, moving closer and sliding her arms around Aubrey’s middle. “Just like your team.” 

“They’re not my team, jesus,” Stacie says with an eye roll. “Just because I have supported them in the past doesn’t mean they’re my team. And I thought you’d be interested to know that the future generation isn’t doomed.” 

“Future generation?” Aubrey parrots back, arching an eyebrow as she loops her arms around Stacie’s neck. 

“Our kids,” Stacie says, eyes twinkling. 

“Oh, you’re good,” Aubrey breathes as she leans in and brushes her lips against Stacie’s. “But it still feels like I’m sleeping with the enemy.” 

“I’m not the enemy,” Stacie murmurs, pressing her lips more firmly against Aubrey’s. “Just think of all my good qualities.” 

“Like?” 

“I remember you saying earlier something about orgasms?” Stacie teases.

“Hm, maybe you’re right,” Aubrey says reluctantly, having trouble hiding her smile. 

“Do you still hate me?” 

“Only a little bit,” Aubrey says, humming when Stacie moves her lips down along Aubrey’s jaw, nipping at her pulse point. 

“Well, that’s already better than expected. Does your dad hate me?” 

“Don’t talk about my dad when you’re trying to seduce me,” Aubrey says immediately. 

“But does he?” 

“No, not at all,” Aubrey says, pouting when Stacie pulls away. “What?” 

“What do you mean ‘what’? How does your dad not hate me right now? I insulted America’s sport.” 

“He says he can’t blame you for bad taste,” Aubrey says, standing on her toes and trying to kiss Stacie. 

“He’s really not mad?” 

“No, he likes scaring you.”

“That’s mean,” Stacie says, attempting to step away but Aubrey just tightens her arms around Stacie’s neck and holds her close. 

“It just means he likes you enough to keep you on your toes,” Aubrey explains, reaching up and brushing her thumb over Stacie’s adorable pout. 

“Why are you Posens so difficult?” 

“You wouldn’t like me so much if I weren’t,” Aubrey shoots back and Stacie can’t help but give in, pout melting into her tell-tale smirk. 

“You’re not wrong,” Stacie admits, leaning in and kissing Aubrey slowly but deeply, smiling breathlessly when Aubrey’s hand drops to her waist and her fingers sneak under Stacie’s shirt to slide up her back. 

There’s a muffled giggle and they reluctantly pull apart, Stacie dropping her face into Aubrey’s neck to catch her breath as Aubrey turns to the doorway, finds Bella’s head poked around the open door and peering at them with twinkling eyes. 

“What is it, Bella?” Aubrey asks, amusement clear. 

“Can I have hot chocolate?” 

“You could wait to see grandma tomorrow morning and go to bed,” Stacie suggests to the girl curled up in her lap, Bella’s head resting against Stacie’s shoulder. 

“No,” Bella says petulantly but her words are a little slurred. “I wanna see her today. You said ‘m allowed to wait up for gramma.” 

“Okay, baby,” Stacie says, amusement colouring her tone when she feels Bella’s head lull forwards before the girl abruptly jerks back, eyes wide open as she valiantly fights against sleep. 

Every time Bella closes her eyes, they’re shut for longer intervals before she startles awake and Stacie knows she’s not helping matters with the hand she’s using to rub Bella’s back but the girl is adamant about staying up despite it being way past her bedtime. 

Stacie reaches for the tv remote and clicks it on, finding a nature documentary and settling on that and Bella squirms so she can also see the screen, her eyes droopy as she watches capybaras scuttle along in the wild. 

“She’s holding out a lot longer than I thought she would,” Aubrey comments when she joins them ten minutes later, fingers curled around her mug of hot tea as she settles against Stacie, cuddling closer when Stacie wraps an arm around her shoulders. 

“She won’t make it if my mom doesn’t get here soon,” Stacie says, amusement clear as the girl slumps against her with a strong yawn. 

Aubrey softly runs her fingers along the top of Bella’s feet, savouring the feeling of the baby smooth skin and trailing up and around her ankle before moving down again. Stacie’s mesmerised as she follows the movement, knows that Aubrey probably doesn’t even notice she’s doing it and Bella sighs softly in contentment as she curls closer into Stacie. 

“Will you tell me if it’s all too much?” Stacie asks then, cutting into their quiet lull and Aubrey frowns, shifts so she can shoot Stacie a puzzled look. 

“What?” 

“Your dad? The whole grandpa thing? Everything, really?” 

Aubrey sees the concern clearly etched in Stacie’s face and softens, shifts away enough to set her cup of tea on the coffee table before moving close again, curling a leg under her body and shifting so she’s facing Stacie. 

“I promise.” Aubrey tilts her head then as she considers something, brow slightly furrowed. “Is that why you were so upset about having to work today?” 

“I feel like I should have been here for you,” Stacie says with a small shrug that immediately has Bella whining in protest, turning her head away but she doesn’t get far because Aubrey reaches up and cups her jaw, urging her back to look at her. 

“It wouldn’t have mattered, Stace,” Aubrey says sincerely but when Stacie squints her eyes, Aubrey considers how her words may have been misinterpreted. “I was always going to be on edge about my dad visiting and I appreciate you wanting to be here but it wouldn’t have made it any less stressful.” 

“Okay,” Stacie says softly, still wary but feeling a lot more at ease after Aubrey’s sincere words. 

“Is that why you were so grumpy this morning?” Aubrey asks, thumb smoothing over Stacie’s cheek tenderly. 

“No, I also just hate my job,” Stacie quips and she laughs but Aubrey doesn’t laugh along with her, slides her fingers further, tangles into Stacie’s hair to cradle her neck. 

“Stacie.” 

“I know,” Stacie sighs. “I spoke to Spencer today.” 

“And?” Aubrey prompts. 

“He said my concerns have been noted but that I’m still expected to — quote unquote — fall in line and do my job,” 

“Jesus,” Aubrey breathes, fingers tightening their grip on Stacie. “I’m sorry.” 

“Yeah,” Stacie says with a miserable expression, shrugging dejectedly. 

“You know…” Aubrey starts slowly, waiting for Stacie to look up and meet her eyes. “If ever there was a time to move, it would be this summer.” 

“What?” Stacie asks, surprised by Aubrey’s suggestion. 

“The best time to move would be before Bella starts first grade—this summer,” Aubrey repeats. 

“What are you saying?” Stacie asks, even though they both know exactly what Aubrey’s implying. 

“You make your career prospects sound so hopeless even though they’re not,” Aubrey says, arching an eyebrow pointedly. “I can work anywhere and Bella makes friends easily.” 

“Our life is here.” 

“Your post-doc contract ends this academic year and you have countless offers.” 

“Are you saying you want me to take one of the offers and uproot our family?” Stacie says and Aubrey wants to grumble at how annoying Stacie’s being but she refrains, understanding that Stacie’s afraid of ruining the good thing they have going.

“I want you to like your job. I want you to be happy,” Aubrey says emphatically. 

“I am happy.” 

“Stacie…” Aubrey says lowly and Stacie sags, shoulders curling forward as she closes her eyes briefly. 

“I know, I know.” 

“Tell me,” Aubrey urges when she sees Stacie spiral down into her thoughts, fingers drumming against Stacie’s skin to get her attention. 

“We have a great house,” Stacie starts and Aubrey smiles softly. 

“There are other great houses.” 

“She loves her school,” Stacie says, gesturing with her head to a dozing Bella. 

“She loves school, it doesn’t matter where her school is.” 

“You love DC.” 

“I love wherever we are because we’re together,” Aubrey gives and Stacie smiles, heart fluttering at that answer and the promise held in it, and it sets her at ease. 

“You really don’t care where we go?” Stacie asks, and Aubrey can tell there’s an ulterior motive there just in the inflection of Stacie’s voice. 

“I really don’t,” Aubrey replies and Stacie’s mouth quirks into a smile. 

“Even if it’s in Boston?” Stacie teases, but Aubrey’s brow furrows in confusion. “Deep Patriots territory?” 

“Now you’re just asking for me to kick you out,” Aubrey huffs, pulling away to reach for her tea again. 

Stacie laughs at that and quickly wraps an arm around Aubrey to prevent her from moving away. “You gonna make me sleep on the couch like a bad husband?” 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Aubrey says, rolling her eyes but Stacie can see a smile tugging at her lips. “There’s a bed in the poolhouse. You can sleep there.” 

“It’s not in your best interest to kick me out of bed,” Stacie says in a lilting voice, brushing her lips against Aubrey’s ear. “You’d miss me too much.” 

Whatever Aubrey had wanted to say is cut off by the doorbell ringing and Bella springing awake and out of Stacie’s lap and shrieking, “Gramma’s here!” 

Aubrey and Stacie slowly get up from the couch and follow Bella into the hall and Aubrey quickly looks out the window to confirm it’s Stacie’s mother, nodding at Stacie who’s waiting for her okay before opening the front door. 

“Hi grandma!” Bella says as soon as the door is open, leaning heavily against Stacie’s leg and the older woman seems surprised to see Bella as she steps into the house. 

“Hi, sweet girl,” Stacie’s mother says, dropping her bag just past the threshold before slowly squatting down to give Bella a tight hug. “You’re up late!” 

Bella nods, her fingers playing with the woman’s long, brown, curly hair and her head buried in her grandmother’s shoulder as she yawns loudly, making the adults laugh. 

“Hi mom,” Stacie says when her mother straightens and pulls the girl into a hug. 

“Hi, honey,” Stacie’s mother says before turning to Aubrey with outstretched arms. “Get in here, you!” 

Aubrey smiles and happily moves closer for a warm hug. 

“Was the drive down okay?” 

“Yeah, I hit some traffic around Baltimore but other than that it was fine,” Stacie’s mother says, looks down at the small girl draped against her leg before taking a look around the quiet house. She shoots Stacie a concerned look but Stacie misses it so she turns to Aubrey. “Your father isn’t here?” she asks, tone soft. 

“Yes, he is,” Aubrey confirms and Debbie feels a weight lifted from her chest. “He’s trying to beat jetlag so he went to bed a little early.” 

“Okay,” Debbie says with a nod, smiling softly and trying not to show how relieved it makes her feel that Aubrey’s father kept his promise. “I’m glad.” 

Aubrey’s heart warms at the concern but her attention is taken when Bella yawns again, trying to hide it by turning her face into her grandmother’s leg and failing, both of her moms zeroing in on her. 

“Bedtime, Bella,” Stacie says and Bella immediately whines in protest. 

“Come on, babygirl, you know what the deal was,” Aubrey says. 

Bella tries to pout but it’s ruined by another huge yawn that makes Stacie laugh and Bella concede defeat. 

“Say goodnight,” Stacie urges. 

“Night gramma,” Bella says, sleepily rubbing her eyes.

“Good night, Bella,” her grandmother says with a smile, giving the girl a quick cuddle. “Sleep tight.” 

“Want me to come up?” Stacie asks, fingertips trailing down Aubrey’s arm. 

Aubrey shakes her head. “Look at her,” Aubrey says, gesturing to Bella as she sways on her feet, blinking slowly in an effort not to fall asleep right there. “I’ll be back in no time.” 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, big girl,” Stacie says as she nods at Aubrey, crouching down and offering Bella a hug, almost falling when Bella wraps her arms around Stacie’s neck and slumps against her. “I love you.” 

“Mhm-hmm,” Bella slurs, mumbling a reply but they can’t make out the words. 

Aubrey laughs softly as she ushers Bella slowly up the stairs, the girl yawning up a storm, one hand holding onto the banister while the other one has a fierce grip on her blankie. 

True to her words, Aubrey is back downstairs a few minutes later and she smiles when she follows the chatter to the kitchen, stands in the doorway to watch Stacie interact with her mother for a bit. 

As if sensing she’s there, Stacie’s laugh slows and she turns her head and meets Aubrey’s eyes, urging her closer with a quick tilt of her head. 

“Are you hungry, Mrs. Conrad? We have leftover lasagna and muffins,” Aubrey offers, moving away from the wall and stepping into the kitchen. 

“Home-made muffins,” Stacie corrects quickly. 

“Aubrey,” Stacie’s mom starts sternly. “Call me Debbie.” 

Aubrey purses her lips as her cheeks redden slightly and Stacie outright laughs when Aubrey hides her face by pressing it between Stacie’s shoulder blades. 

“She’s never gonna call you that, mom. She’s a good Southern belle,” Stacie teases but Aubrey just pinches her side in retaliation and Stacie springs away with a yelp. 

Debbie, all too familiar with how quickly their teasing can spiral into a long-winded discussion, cuts in before they have a chance to even start bantering with, “I’ll take a muffin.” 

“Good choice,” Stacie compliments as Aubrey grabs one of the muffins and hands it to Debbie. 

“What time did you kids wake up today?” Debbie asks when she sees Aubrey try to hide a yawn. 

“I had to work today, so way earlier than I wanted to,” Stacie answers. 

Aubrey purses her lips as she makes eye contact with Stacie, her answer more than clear as she silently reminds Stacie that she’d also been woken up before she wanted to and Debbie bites into her muffin as she watches the wordless conversation happening between the two of them. 

“You don’t have to entertain me,” Debbie says once she’s halfway done with her muffin. “I know where everything is.” 

Aubrey’s about to protest when Stacie stops her with a hand on her arm. 

“You sure?” Stacie asks. 

“You have to pick up Andy early tomorrow morning, go to bed,” Debbie says, waving dismissively. 

“I’ll take your bag up and leave it in the guest room for you,” Aubrey offers and Debbie smiles. 

“Thank you, honey,” she says gratefully. “You’re the best.” 

“And what am I?” Stacie can’t help but tease. 

“A very close second,” Debbie throws back and Stacie pretends to be wounded, faking a deep scowl when Aubrey moves closer and Debbie takes the opportunity to wrap her arms around the blonde, cuddling Aubrey closely. 

“I came out of you, I can’t believe I’m not your favourite,” Stacie says with a potent eye roll. 

“You’ve caused me a lot of trouble through the years, Anastasia,” Debbie says but when Stacie’s mouth drops open in real surprise, Debbie laughs and in an exaggeratedly put on voice says, “I mean, I don’t have favourites. I love all my children equally.” 

“Yeah yeah,” Stacie grumbles.

“You’re the best,” Debbie whispers into Aubrey’s ear then, who giggles when Stacie shakes her head in exasperation. 

“I think you better let me go before I’m forced to sleep on the couch,” Aubrey stage whispers to Debbie who barks out a laugh as she unwraps her arms from around Aubrey. 

“As if I would ever kick you out of bed,” Stacie complains. “I have other ways of punishing you.” 

“Okay! Bedtime!” Aubrey says loudly, eager to stop the conversation from spiralling into innuendo where Stacie’s mother is involved, cheeks reddening as Stacie winks at her and the whole exchange makes Debbie laugh even louder. 

“Go to bed, you two,” Debbie orders good-naturedly. 

“Yes, ma’am,” Stacie says teasingly but she moves closer to hug her mom quickly. “Night.” 

“Night,” Debbie says, releasing Stacie and hugging Aubrey. “Sleep tight.” 

“You too!” 

“See you tomorrow.” 

Chapter Text

When Aubrey comes downstairs Thursday morning, she’s not surprised to see her father already awake and sitting at the kitchen table reading a newspaper. 

“Good morning, dad,” she says softly and he smiles up at her as she leans in to quickly kiss his cheek. 

“Good morning, Aubrey.” 

She goes back to the kitchen and opens a cupboard, pulling out four mugs and starts fiddling with the coffee maker. 

“Coffee?” she asks, looking over her shoulder at her father who nods. 

Stacie turns into the kitchen with a smile. “Good morning, sir.” 

“Morning, Stacie,” William says with a small smile, watching closely as Stacie leans into Aubrey and nudges her away. 

“You sure?” Aubrey asks, fingers softly trailing down the inside of Stacie’s arm. 

“Yeah, I got this.” 

“He takes it black,” Aubrey says and Stacie smiles, leans in for a quick kiss before pushing Aubrey out of the kitchen. 

Aubrey laughs softly and reties her robe as she walks over to the table and drops into the chair opposite her father, who’s already folding up his newspaper in an attempt to be more social. 

“Did you sleep well?” Aubrey asks, fingers softly fiddling with the cross hanging from her necklace. 

“I did, yes. How about you?” 

“Good,” Aubrey answers with a polite smile. She’s about to say more when Stacie’s mom makes her way into the kitchen and Aubrey gets cut off by the loud yawn that comes from her. 

“Oh, sorry,” Debbie says quickly when Aubrey and Stacie both laugh softly at her before hugging Stacie from behind. “Morning, sweetheart.” 

“Hi mom,” Stacie says with a grin, “Coffee?” 

“Yes, please!” Debbie says. “You know how I like it.” 

“One part coffee, one part cream, one part sugar?” Aubrey chimes in and Stacie sniggers but doesn’t defend her mom, even as the woman rolls her eyes. 

“We’re not all blessed with fine tastebuds,” Debbie jibes back and they all laugh. “Good morning, honey,” Debbie then says, leaning down to hug Aubrey from behind her chair, smiling when the blonde cuddles into her embrace with a serene smile. 

“Hi,” Aubrey says. “That’s my dad, William Posen. Dad, this is Stacie’s mom Debbie Conrad.” 

Aubrey’s father smiles at the two and when Debbie takes the chair next to him, he turns and offers his hand. 

“Nice to meet you,” he says with a gruff smile. 

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Debbie says, shaking his hand with a sleepy smile. “Where’s Bella?” Debbie asks then, turning back to Aubrey, who leans sideways to glance at Stacie. 

“Dead to the world,” Stacie says, walking over with two cups of coffee and setting one down in front of Aubrey’s father. “Black,” she says, then walks around the table and places the other mug in front of her mother, “and diabetes in a cup.” 

Aubrey hides her smile with her hand but Stacie just laughs outright at her own joke, a sound that turns into a yelp when her mother reaches out and pinches her. 

“Ow! Mom!” 

“Don’t make fun of me, we have company and I’m an old lady,” Debbie says and Aubrey wisely keeps her mouth shut. 

Stacie however, “So I’m allowed to call you an old lady?” Debbie pinches her again and she squeals, squirming out of reach. “Mo-om!” 

“Absolutely not.” 

“I think you look amazing and nobody would ever call you an old lady,” Aubrey finally says and Stacie turns to her with a betrayed look. 

“That’s so kind of you to say, Aubrey,” Debbie says, preening and William nods in agreement, proud of his daughter’s kindness. 

Stacie passes behind Aubrey to go back to the kitchen, leans down and quickly whispers “suck up” into her ear. 

“Dummy,” Aubrey whispers back, just as quickly. 

“Get your own damn coffee then,” Stacie mumbles, turning away but Aubrey’s hand immediately shoots out, fingers wrapping around Stacie’s wrist and tugging her back. 

“No, Stace, please,” Aubrey pleads with a soft pout and Stacie rolls her eyes. 

“Fine,” Stacie says reluctantly with an exaggerated sigh, but Aubrey can see her try to bite back a smile so she lets the brunette go. Stacie’s back moments later, sliding Aubrey’s favourite mug in front of her and settling into the chair next to Aubrey with her own cup of coffee. 

Before even taking a sip, Aubrey softly tugs on Stacie’s robe, pulls her close and presses a quick kiss to Stacie’s cheek. 

“Angel,” she whispers against her skin and Stacie tries to be immune but she can’t help but smile, hides it by sipping from her mug and Aubrey smiles at the sight, reaching for her own coffee. 

“What’s the plan for today?” Stacie asks, looking between her mother and Aubrey.

“The kitchen is mine today. I don’t want either of you setting foot in here unless you’re invited,” Debbie says, her last sentence directed at Stacie and Aubrey.

Aubrey blushes, looks down into her coffee cup and avoids Debbie’s eyes as Stacie grows indignant. 

“You don’t have to ban both of us! You can at least let Aubrey help,” Stacie defends and Aubrey would thank her for the support but she’s too busy trying to get rid of the pink creeping up her cheeks. 

“No, because you two can’t really be apart,” Debbie says with a pointed look at Stacie whose fight drains away at the words, knows her mother is right and that if Aubrey’s in the kitchen she won’t be able to stay away. “I’ll just put Andy and Bella to work,” Debbie says, sipping her coffee and Stacie jerks into motion at the mention of her brother. 

“Oh shoot, I have to go,” she says urgently, glancing at the clock. “I have to pick up Andy.” 

Debbie sighs exasperatedly when Stacie gets up and all but runs upstairs to get dressed. 

Aubrey smiles as she gets up and moves to the kitchen with Stacie’s deserted mug, transferring the coffee to a travel mug before making her way back to the kitchen table. 

Stacie’s back a few minutes later, tying her hair into a ponytail when she sees the travel mug and slows down a bit, smiling at the blonde. “You’re awesome.” 

Stacie turns to her mom and Aubrey’s dad with a quick smile and a “bye” before leaning down to kiss Aubrey, taking her time to savour the feeling of Aubrey’s smiling lips against hers. “I love you.” 

“I love you,” Aubrey says back. Stacie straightens and reaches for the travel mug but before she can get too far, Aubrey grabs the edge of her shirt and tugs her back. 

“Bree,” Stacie whines urgently because she’s still in a hurry. 

“If you don’t bring me back french toast when you go have breakfast with Andy, I’m gonna be super mad at you.” 

Stacie relaxes, a grin slowly unfurling over her face. “Gotcha,” she says. “But you have to let me go for that to happen.” 

Aubrey rolls her eyes and releases Stacie, who grins and quickly pecks her lips again. “Bye.” 

Andy’s looking down at his phone and Stacie sees him before he sees her, so she lowers the passenger door window and in an exaggerated voice loudly calls out, “Oh my god, is that Andy Conrad?!” 

She stops the car just past him and he jogs to catch up with her, rolling his eyes but smiling widely. He pulls open the backseat door and tosses his duffle bag on the seat, frowning at the sight of the empty booster seat. 

“Aw, no Bella?” Andy asks when he slides into the passenger seat. 

“It’s seven-thirty, you’re lucky I’m here,” Stacie says, but then she smiles widely, arms open for a hug. “C’mere you.” 

Andy happily wraps his arms around his sister and returns the hug. 

“Hi,” Andy says as he pulls back and starts putting on his seatbelt. “Happy Thanksgiving.” 

“Happy Thanksgiving. Did you have a good flight?” Stacie asks, checks her rearview mirror before pulling out of the pick-up lane. 

“It was so early,” Andy says with a groan, flopping back against the seat as his right hand reaches down to fiddle with the buttons on the side while his left puts on his sunglasses. He grins when he finds the one he’s looking for and sighs in satisfaction when his seat starts reclining backwards and when Stacie glances sideways she rolls her eyes when she sees what he’s up to but doesn’t say anything. 

Twenty minutes later she puts the car in park and Andy sits up, face scrunching up. 

“We’re not at home,” he says simply, lifting his sunglasses to the top of his head.  

“Great observational skills you got there, buddy,” Stacie teases before killing the engine and reaching for her wallet. “C’mon.”

Andy doesn’t need to be told twice, car door already open before he remembers that in his haste to get out of the car, he’s forgotten to unbuckle his seatbelt so he gets stuck and his sleep-hazed brain is slow to catch up. 

He finally gets himself untangled and follows a laughing Stacie into IHOP. 

“Why aren’t we at home?” he asks when the waitress seats them, but there’s no bite to his tone so Stacie smiles softly. 

“I know how you eat,” Stacie teases and Andy sticks out his tongue teasingly. “I figured it would be better for our food supply to get you breakfast here.” 

“But Aubrey makes really good omelettes,” Andy says petulantly as he opens his menu. 

“Mom kicked us out of the kitchen today after last year so she wouldn’t be able to make you one anyway,” Stacie says and she hears Andy snort behind the plastic. 

“Do you think if I ask really nicely she’ll make me an omelette tomorrow?” Andy asks, putting down his menu to pin Stacie down with a look and Stacie laughs softly. 

“Yes.” 

“Yes!” Andy says pumping his fist triumphantly. 

“If you get Bella to ask she might even make a frittata,” Stacie says casually and when Andy doesn’t immediately answer, she looks up, laughing loudly at his wide-eyed excitement. 

There’s something almost child-like in his expression, the way he’s frozen with joy, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, until Stacie realises that Bella makes the exact same face when something is exciting and Stacie figures that Bella must have picked it up from Andy.

Her own expression softens when she makes that connection before shaking her head with fond amusement.

“Are you ready to order?” 

Stacie glances at Andy who nods once so she smiles up at their waitress. 

“Yes. I’ll have a coffee and the vanilla spice pancakes,” Stacie says, folding up her menu as the girl takes her order. 

She smiles when the waitress turns to Andy, sees her brother take a deep breath before ordering. 

“Can I get an orange juice, a Belgian waffle, a chicken fajita omelette and a side of hash browns? Oh, and can you make the waffle a combo?” 

Stacie has to hide her smile with her hand at the surprised waitress who blinks at Andy for a second before writing it all down and forcing a smile on her face. 

“Absolutely, anything else?” she asks, almost timidly but Andy smiles up at her and shakes his head. 

“That’s it, thanks!” 

He grins widely and Stacie sees the waitress falter at the bright smile sent her way, finally laughs when the girl walks away to put in their order. 

“You are too much,” Stacie says fondly and Andy winks at her. 

“I learned from the best.” 

“Speaking of the best…” Stacie starts and Andy chucks a sugar packet at her, making her laugh. “What’s it like being a superstar?” 

“I’m not a superstar,” Andy grumbles under his breath, and something about his inflection or the brief shadow that flits over his face instantly makes Stacie concerned. 

“Hey,” she says, reaches out to stop his fingers from fiddling with the sugar packets and urging him to look at her. “What’s going on?” 

“Nothing,” he says with a small shake of the head. “Don’t worry about it.” 

“Andy…” she pushes now that he’s basically confirmed that there is something going on and because she doesn’t like the sad glint in Andy’s usually lively green eyes. 

“Don’t worry about it,” he repeats and Stacie rolls her eyes. 

“The more you say that, the more I worry.” 

“Well, don’t.” 

Stacie looks up at the ceiling and lets out an annoyed grumble. 

“Andy, why aren’t you a superstar?” Stacie presses. 

“Fine, I’m a superstar, happy?” Andy says and they’re briefly interrupted by the waitress bringing them their drinks. “Thanks,” Andy says, throwing the girl a quick smile that Stacie mirrors before turning back to her brother. 

“You are too smart to act this dumb,” Stacie says, chucking the first sugar packet back at him once the waitress is gone. “Tell me what’s wrong.” 

“I don’t feel like it,” Andy says. 

“That’s not a good enough reason.” 

“Do you bully other people this much when they don’t want to talk about their feelings?” 

“No, only you,” Stacie says cheekily and Andy narrows his eyes at her.

“Is it because you love me?” Andy says mockingly, exaggeratedly concerned expression on his face as he places his hand over his heart. 

“I do love you, superstar,” Stacie says and there’s that flash of something again so Stacie lowers her voice, and almost soothingly says, “Andy?” 

“Hmm?” 

“Do you actually like playing soccer?” 

“Of course!” Andy says immediately, head snapping up to look at Stacie with a frown. 

“So what’s the problem?” 

“Everything else,” Andy says with a deep sigh, finally giving in. 

Stacie gets the wrong impression, though, her eyebrows knitting together in a frown as her concern grows. “Is school not going—?” 

“What?” Andy interrupts, looking up. “No! No, school is awesome.” 

“So if soccer is good and school is awesome…” 

“Ever since we won the championship last year there’s been all this pressure to do just as well this year and I know I’m a good forward but since last year everybody’s just expecting me to be as good as I was and like yeah we’re in the quarter-finals which is great but it’s like they’re expecting me to carry us to the finals and it’s so much pressure and if we don’t make it, it’s all on me and probably a little bit on Julian because he actually needs to stop the balls from going in our net and he’s our captain but still that’s a lot on me and then they all say that it’s a team effort but I missed an easy goal at the last game and coach majorly chewed me out for it and I don’t know what happened, I just didn’t get the angle right, you know?” 

A silence falls between them as Andy inhales deeply and breathes out slowly, his shoulders slumping. Stacie hasn’t said anything and he’s too afraid to look up at her after his outburst and he’s saved by the waitress dropping off their food but he doesn’t touch his plate even though he’s starving. 

“Oh, Andy,” Stacie says with a long sigh and Andy shrugs, glances up at his sister. “I mean, first of all, congratulations on being in the quarter-finals,” Stacie says with a wry smile that Andy returns. 

“Thanks.” 

“When did you play?” Stacie asks, knows that the trick to picking apart Andy’s problems isn’t to tackle them all at once. 

“Yesterday.” 

Stacie pauses for a beat as she considers the words. “Is this why you haven’t been telling us when your games are? So that we don’t bother you about them?”

“Yeah.” 

Stacie lifts her foot and gently nudges Andy’s leg with it. 

“I’m not mad at you,” Stacie says and her chest feels tight when she sees his expression soften at that, almost as if he’d been surprised by her words. “I’m proud of you and I’ll love you even if you lose the championship.” 

Andy frowns then, an indignant “hey!” falling from his lips as he registers her words. 

Stacie grins widely and Andy kicks at her ankles.

“You’re the worst!” he says. 

“I know,” Stacie says. “But you don’t have to feel guilty, okay?” Andy doesn’t say anything so she repeats, “Okay?” 

“Okay,” Andy says impatiently and Stacie smiles. 

“You should really talk to Aubrey.” 

“About what?” Andy asks. 

“About this,” Stacie says pointedly but Andy’s frown just deepens. 

“Why?” 

“She’s the queen of dealing with pressure and anxiety,” Stacie says flippantly, chuckles at her own quip before amending her statement, “Well, no, she avoids it forever until it becomes unavoidable but still, you should talk to her.” 

“Aubrey has anxiety?” Andy asks in surprise and Stacie nods. “But she’s always so...”

“In control?”

“Cool.”

Stacie’s whole expression slacks at that, the brief insight into Andy’s opinion of Aubrey unexpected but heartwarming. 

“Aubrey’s definitely not cool. At least, not all the time.”

“You shouldn’t talk about your girlfriend like that.”

“Have you talked to your girlfriend about the pressure you’re dealing with?”

“No, because she also—aw shit,” Andy stops when he sees a grinning Stacie. “You played me.”

“Like the world’s easiest fiddle.”

“I feel taken advantage of.”

“Eat your waffle before it gets cold,” Stacie orders and Andy smiles as he finally digs into his food. 

“Hey, I’m back!” Stacie calls out loudly into the house, trying to get her voice over the sound of the music playing in the kitchen and when there’s no reply, Stacie shrugs and starts taking off her coat, kicking off her shoes as Andy does the same. 

“Hey,” Aubrey says and it’s all the warning they get before Bella comes bounding into the hallway. 

“Uncle Andy!” she shrieks and Andy quickly crouches down, arms open and Bella crashes into him. 

“Wait,” he says suddenly then, peels Bella away from his body and looks at her with a frown and a suspicious look. “Who are you?” 

“It’s me,” Bella says in a small voice, threatening to tear up and glancing at Stacie quickly with worry. “Bella."

“You can’t be Bella Conrad. You’re way too big,” Andy says, leaning in closer and peering at her and Bella finally catches on, face scrunching up when she realises Andy is teasing her. 

“It is me!” she protests. “I grew!” 

“You did?” Andy asks.

“Yeah!” Bella says and then Andy growls at her so she growls back before laughing, jumping into his arms again for a hug. 

“I learned a new knock knock joke yesterday. Do you wanna hear it?” Andy says and Bella nods eagerly, stepping back. “Knock knock.” 

“Who’s there?” 

“Cows go.” 

“Cows go who?” 

“No, they don’t, silly, cows go moo!” Andy teases and Bella bursts into giggles, the sound infectious as Andy laughs along with her and even Stacie and Aubrey are laughing. 

“Do you have my breakfast?” Aubrey asks as she turns to Stacie. 

“Of course,” Stacie answers, gesturing to the takeout bag on the table nearby. “You’re welcome,” she says, pulling Aubrey close and the blonde comes willingly, sliding her arms around Stacie’s neck. 

“Thank you,” Aubrey says, leaning in for a kiss that Stacie eagerly returns. 

“Uncle Andy you’re so scratchy!” Bella’s voice breaks them apart as they turn to look at the two still chattering and laughing. 

“Quit bustin’ my chops, Bells,” Andy says with a groan, but Bella keeps scratching her fingers over the soft fuzz on Andy’s face so he reaches out to tickle her and when she’s distracted he wraps an arm around her torso and lifts her under his arm sideways as he walks towards the kitchen, Bella giggling up a storm. 

“What did Bella have for breakfast?” Stacie asks when Aubrey grabs her take out bag and they follow Andy and Bella to the kitchen.

“Lucky Charms,” Aubrey says with a nod and Stacie smiles. 

They barely make it over the threshold into the kitchen before Stacie’s mom holds up her spatula at them. 

“Nope, no way, get out!” 

“I just need cutlery,” Aubrey defends quickly, holding up the bag and Debbie lowers her spatula, eyes narrowed suspiciously. 

“I have to ask,” William speaks up and Stacie’s surprised to see him sitting at the kitchen island peeling potatoes. “Why is my daughter barred from her own kitchen? What happened last year?” 

Andy laughs loudly when Aubrey bites her lip and averts her gaze from her father’s piercing grey eyes as he looks around at the people standing in the kitchen, and Stacie crosses her arms and smiles sheepishly, Debbie watching them closely with an arched eyebrow, daring one of them to answer. 

“We didn’t have gravy because mommy and mama were kissing and the pot burned and firemen came,” Bella provides, blissfully unaware of the room dynamics as she carefully cuts the ends off the green beans before daintily placing each piece in a bowl. 

William’s gaze snaps to Aubrey at that, glancing between her and Stacie as they both steadfastly refuse to look at him and surmises that Bella’s telling the truth.

Andy snorts loudly as his body gives up on containing his laughter and he doubles over with the force of his laughs. 

“I don’t know what you’re laughing about, they almost burned my house down,” Debbie admonishes, snaps a towel against Andy’s thigh and Andy yelps as he jumps out of the way but he’s still smiling widely. 

“We did not!” Stacie protests immediately. “It is not my fault your smoke detectors have a direct line to the fire station, okay?” 

“We have a big house, Anastasia! You could have made out with your girlfriend anywhere else!” 

“Oh my god,” Aubrey mutters, eyes closing as her cheeks darken even more, her ears burning. 

“You told me to watch the gravy!” 

“Which you didn’t watch anyway,” Andy pipes up, stealing a rogue green bean and laughing when Bella squeaks. 

“Stay out of it, Robin,” Stacie says immediately and Andy’s expression drops into a scowl. 

“Don’t call me that!” he throws back, voice containing enough whine for Stacie to know she’s succeeded in riling him up and making her smile smugly. 

“What are you gonna do about it… Robin?” 

Andy and Stacie stare at each other, eyes narrowed as they idle, almost as if waiting for the starting shot. 

Bella breaks the moment by mumbling “Oooh” to herself and Stacie glances at her quickly and Andy takes his chance, lunging for his sister but Stacie’s already on the move, ripping away from Aubrey’s side and circling the kitchen island, cleanly lifting Bella from the bar stool and holding her up against her body. 

Bella protests at being jostled, still holding a green bean as she grumbles but Stacie has a firm hand around Bella’s middle as she keeps moving away from Andy as Andy chases her, Debbie letting out a loud, exasperated sigh. 

“You coward!” Andy taunts, gesturing to Bella. 

“Mommy!” Bella cries out, frown deeply set on her face as she makes eye contact with Aubrey. “Mommy help me!” 

“You can’t tackle me without hurting her,” Stacie throws back at Andy with a smirk. 

Bella squirms against her mother’s grip, whining miserably as she uses all her energy to make sure she doesn’t drop her beautifully trimmed green bean. 

“Stop it you two!” Debbie bellows and Andy and Stacie still, stop in their tracks. “Get out of my kitchen!” 

“Okay! Bye!” Andy says immediately, tries to pass by his mother but Debbie grabs at his hoodie before he can get too far, practically yanking him back. 

“Not you, Andreas,” she instructs and Andy mutters something about almost getting away under his breath. “What was that?” Debbie asks and Andy’s head snaps up, charming smile on his face. 

“Nothing.” 

Bella’s still squirming unhappily and Aubrey strides forward, reaching out and Bella happily lets Aubrey pluck her out of Stacie’s arms, wrapping her arms around Aubrey’s neck and legs around Aubrey’s waist as she cuddles against her. 

“I can’t believe you,” Aubrey says to Stacie, shaking her head as she holds Bella against her protectively.  

“What?” Stacie asks, unclear as to why Aubrey’s apparently exasperated with her. 

“You used her as a shield,” Aubrey explains, running a hand over Bella’s head and twisting her head so she can press a quick kiss to Bella’s temple. 

Stacie rolls her eyes, waves her hand dismissively. “She was never in danger.” 

“You sure about that?” Aubrey asks, arching an eyebrow and Stacie knows that if she’d had a hand free, it would have been propped up against Aubrey’s jutted out hip. 

“You doubt my abilities?” Stacie says with an exaggerated gasp. “You’re on Team Andy right now?” 

“At least Team Andy didn’t try to use our daughter as a shield,” Aubrey throws back, shooting Stacie a pointed look as she twists to set Bella back on her chair. 

“Who are you?” Stacie asks in betrayal. 

“Out!” Debbie interjects, dragging out the word while pointing to the living room and Stacie reluctantly follows her mother’s instructions, grabbing cutlery and Aubrey’s bag of food on the way. 

Aubrey adjusts Bella on the barstool so she’s close to the countertop again, smiling when the girl makes a small sound of contentment. 

“Thank you, mommy,” Bella says softly, looking up when Aubrey stands behind her so she can make eye contact with Aubrey. 

“You’re welcome, honey,” Aubrey says, leaning down and pressing an upside-down kiss to Bella’s forehead. 

“Aubrey…” Debbie warns, piercing green eyes on Aubrey, hand still outstretched, still pointing to the direction Stacie had gone. 

“I’m already going,” Aubrey says softly, holding up her hands in innocence as she walks out of the kitchen, follows the sound of crinkling plastic to find Stacie unpacking a styrofoam box from the bag. 

Stacie looks up as she opens the box, angling it towards Aubrey with her eyebrows raised suggestively and when Aubrey’s gaze flickers away from Stacie’s amused eyes to look at the heavenly french toast waiting for her, she sighs softly and drops down onto the couch next to Stacie, relieving her of the box. 

“Here you go,” Stacie says, handing her cutlery and Aubrey knows she’s being watched closely but she can’t be bothered to care, especially not after taking her first bite and moaning softly. “Good?” 

“So good,” Aubrey moans with a mouthful of food and Stacie laughs softly, reaching out to wipe her thumb at the corner of Aubrey’s mouth where it’s a little sticky with syrup. “Robin is new,” Aubrey says between bites, quickly glancing at Stacie and doing a double take when she finds Stacie staring at her, adoration clear. 

“What?” 

“Calling Andy Robin?” 

Stacie breaks out into a wide, mischievous smile before cackling. “It means I’m Batman.” 

Aubrey pauses, her fork halfway to her mouth as she turns to look at Stacie again, shakes her head in exasperation. 

“What?” Stacie taunts, wrapping an arm around Aubrey’s middle and pulling her closer. 

“You are such a nerd,” Aubrey whispers like a secret, leaning in for a quick kiss before turning back to her food. 

“At least I’m a hot nerd,” Stacie says proudly but Aubrey hums, tilts her head and Stacie exaggerates a gasp that has Aubrey turning to her with a coy smile. “Do I need to go put on my glasses that make you hot for teacher?” 

Aubrey pointedly takes a bite of her french toast, refusing to break eye contact with Stacie as she chews slowly. 

“I’ll let you know,” she finally says and somehow, Stacie’s smile grows even wider. 

“Grandma, do you want me to paint your nails?” Bella asks, twisting to look at her grandmother with a hopeful look that drops when Debbie holds up her hands and wriggles her fingers, showing Bella the nail polish already present. 

“Sorry, honey,” Debbie says when Bella quirks her mouth in disappointment. 

Bella glances at both Aubrey and Stacie, who already have painted nails courtesy of Bella doing the rounds on Monday, before turning to Andy. 

He hasn’t heard Bella, is focused so intently on the football game on tv that he’s completely distracted and wholly unprepared for Bella’s squeak when he lifts his hand to reach for his glass of water, Bella’s tiny fingers tightening around his wrist as she keeps his hand in place, brush poised and ready to deliver a fresh coat of varnish to his ring finger. 

“What the—Bells!” Andy complains when he sees his three other fingers haphazardly painted in a sparkly blue. 

“It’s blue! Like your school!” Bella says, painting the nail on his ring finger. 

“You didn’t ask if I wanted my nails polished,” Andy says pointedly, trying to glare at Bella but the girl is lying on her front, focused intently on getting polish on the nail and nowhere else and she completely misses Andy’s look. 

“You always want your nails polished when you babysit,” Bella counters with a small frown, still staring down at his hand as she moves onto his pinky finger. 

Bella’s words elicit a mixture of surprise and amusement from the rest of the adults and Andy quickly glances around the room before looking down at Bella again. 

“It’s your school colours, uncle Andy,” Bella adds matter-of-factly and Andy’s grumble is more out of habit than anything. 

Debbie laughs softly when Bella proclaims “Done!” and Andy offers up his other hand. 

With Andy’s cooperation, Bella gets done a lot quicker with the left hand than the right and she scrambles to sit up after closing the bottle of nail polish, smiling in satisfaction down at Andy’s nails. 

“You have to blow on them,” Bella instructs and Andy rolls his eyes but he does lift his nails and blows on them to dry them. 

“Are you going to put this back, baby?” Aubrey asks when Bella walks over to the couch and deposits the bottle of nail polish back in the box with the rest of Stacie’s colours. 

“I’m not done,” Bella says softly, reaching for the box and lifting it over to the recliner that Aubrey’s father is sitting on, perching the box on the armrest and staring up at William with an earnest and open expression. “Grandpa?” 

“Yes, Bella?” he asks, not taking his eyes off the football game. 

“Do you want me to paint your nails?” she asks, voice sweet and with a small smile on her face.

“Men don’t paint their nails,” William says strongly, still staring at the television. 

“But uncle Andy has painted nails,” Bella says in a small voice, clearly disappointed but not willing to give up so easily. 

Aubrey’s chest aches at Bella’s disheartened tone, brow furrowed as she watches the interaction and her expression eases somewhat when Stacie slides a hand between the couch and Aubrey, settles her hand against the small of Aubrey’s back, thumb rubbing soothing circles there. 

“Please, grandpa?” Bella says and something in her tone must finally set something off in William’s brain because he tears his gaze away from the tv to look down at Bella. “I’ll be really careful not to make a mess and you can pick the colour.” 

William wants to refuse, and he’s about to let Bella down gently when he looks up, sees how pointedly Andy and Debbie aren’t looking at him, sees how Stacie’s watching Aubrey closely with concern but most of all seeing how broken-hearted Aubrey looks as she stares at Bella, almost like she’s ready at any moment to reach out and comfort the girl and it’s the crushing realisation that Aubrey’s expecting him to say no and that she’s already on standby to comfort Bella that has him agreeing, trying to swallow down the sudden knot in his throat. 

“Really?!” Bella exclaims, her whole face lighting up, green eyes sparkling as she thrusts the box with the bottles of nail polish closer to him. 

“Why not?” he says with a gruff smile, trying his hardest to suppress the wave of guilt at the surprised sound of Bella’s voice and the bewildered look on Aubrey’s face. 

“What colour do you want?” 

“Orange. Or purple,” he says, peering into the box to see if Bella has those colours. 

“I can do both!” Bella offers and he nods in agreement. 

“Okay.” 

Bella makes a triumphant sound as she rummages through the box for the required bottles, moving the box to the floor once she’s found what she needs, handing William the purple polish to hold while she polishes the nails on his right hand orange. 

A few minutes and ten fresh coats of nail polish later, Bella happily caps the purple nail polish and drops it into the box, admiring William’s fingers with a satisfied smile. 

“Perfect,” she declares with a single nod that seems a little too familiar to William, but then he gets distracted by Bella’s hands. 

“Where is your nail polish?” he asks and Bella quickly glances at her nails to confirm that she’s not wearing any nail polish. 

“Whoops!” she says with a giggle that William echoes before dropping down to pick out a sparkly green nail polish from the box. 

“Do you want me to do them for you?” William offers and Bella’s smile widens. 

“Really?” she asks with barely contained glee and William nods once. “Yes, please!” 

Bella hands him the bottle and splays out her fingers, barely able to hold her hand still as she shakes with excitement. 

“Grandpa, you’re so bad at this!” Bella shrieks with a giggle when William accidentally gets polish on her finger. 

“I’m trying my best,” he replies in an exaggeratedly hurt voice but Bella just laughs more before they continue talking in hushed tones, both of their heads bent down to inspect Bella’s nail polish. 

“You just have to practice,” Bella says with a serious expression a while later, when she’s waving her hands around to dry her nails, uses her foot to point to the box on the floor when William twists the cap closed on the bottle of nail polish. 

“I think I did a fairly good job,” William says with a huff before inspecting his own nails with a smile. 

“It’s okay,” Bella says, a giggle escaping her when William narrows his eyes at her. 

They’re snapped out of their staring contest by a buzzer going off in the kitchen and Debbie shooting up out of her chair. 

“Is the turkey ready?” Andy asks excitedly and Debbie calls out a “yes” over her shoulder as she strides towards the kitchen and Andy is up in a flash, following his mother. 

“Can you go set the table, Bella?” Stacie asks. 

“Uh-huh!” Bella says. “Did you see my nails?” she asks then, holding them up and wriggling her fingers. 

“We did,” Aubrey says, tone a little forced. 

“It looks super pretty,” Stacie adds, fingers pressing more insistently against Aubrey’s back. 

“Thank you! C’mon grandpa,” Bella says, holding out her hand in an implicit gesture to William for him to follow her and with a groan he stands up from the recliner chair and lets Bella lead him towards the dining room. 

“Are you okay?” Stacie whispers as soon as they’re alone. 

Aubrey’s eyes slide closed as she nods, her hand seeking out Stacie’s and tangling their fingers, sighing deeply after squeezing Stacie’s hand tightly. 

“I’m fine,” Aubrey murmurs, eyelashes fluttering when she feels Stacie’s lips brush against her cheek in a lingering, reassuring kiss. 

“Okay,” Stacie says and Aubrey smiles at how much she sounds like she doesn’t believe Aubrey. 

“Let’s go eat.” 

Stacie is sprawled on the couch, trying to ignore Andy’s moans of “I’m so full” when suddenly Bella’s standing in front of the couch looking equal parts nervous and hopeful. 

“Mama?” she asks. 

“Yes, baby?” Stacie asks with an encouraging smile. 

“Can I play with my Legos downstairs? Please? Pretty please?” Bella’s wringing her hands nervously and Stacie really wants to smile at how adorable she is but refrains. 

Stacie lifts her head to glance at Aubrey who looks a bit sceptical but when Bella turns to look at Aubrey, the blonde schools her features. 

Stacie takes advantage of Bella’s distraction and mimics a square with her fingers and she can see Aubrey’s expression soften at that. 

Bella turns back to Stacie, says, “Pretty pretty please?” and Aubrey sighs softly before nodding. 

“Okay,” Stacie starts and she’s not quick enough to stop Bella from running around the couch and starting to yell “yeeeees” so she loudly says, “But!”

Bella freezes, foot halfway up the first step on the stairs before she begrudgingly pivots and walks back over to the couch. 

“Before you bring down all your Legos. Mommy is going to put down a blanket for you to play on and if a single piece makes it off the blanket, no more Legos. Got it?” 

Bella nods once but doesn’t move, as if waiting for more provisions, so Stacie smiles and says, “Go,” and Bella doesn’t need much more encouragement than that. 

Aubrey groans as she gets up from her chair to go to the hallway closet, returning with a blanket that she unfolds and lays down next to the coffee table. 

“That’s not a big blanket,” Andy comments casually, looking up from his phone. 

“That’s a good thing, trust me,” Aubrey says, moving past him to sit on the couch and curl up against Stacie.

There are suddenly loud sounds coming from the staircase and Stacie can only imagine how Bella must be transporting her box of Legos down the stairs, closing her eyes and praying to God that she won’t find stray pieces of Lego on the stairs or in the hall. 

“Aubrey, if I find a Lego piece in my shoe again, this is on you,” Stacie warns directly into Aubrey’s ear and even though the blonde laughs, she knows Stacie’s not joking because they’ve banned Lego from the downstairs areas for a very good reason. 

They all turn to the doorway when they hear Bella breathing heavily and Stacie stretches behind Aubrey to see, snorting softly. 

Bella has a tight grip on her pillowcase as she drags it further into the living room and Aubrey can only presume that she’s put her Lego box in the pillowcase and dragged it like that down the stairs. 

Bella finally sees the blanket and pauses with a small frown, clearly having expected a bigger blanket but not letting that deter her as she drags the pillowcase the last few feet towards the blanket. 

She plops down on the blanket and heaves a heavy sigh and Aubrey has to turn her face into Stacie’s shoulder to prevent herself from laughing out loud at Bella’s antics. 

Bella pulls the box out of the pillowcase and Stacie’s grateful the lid is still firmly on the box and that Lego hasn’t spilled into the pillowcase as Bella assesses her space and decides what Legos to pull out, knowing she can’t just upend the box due to lack of space. 

Bella looks up at them with a small pout and Aubrey knows she’s trying to bargain for more space so she shakes her head. 

“Lego pieces are only allowed on the blanket or in the box,” Stacie says and Bella huffs but she does comply.

She drags the box to the edge of the blanket but not onto it and smiles, pleased with herself and Stacie can’t even be angry at it because Bella found the perfect loophole. 

Bella plays with her Lego pieces and murmurs to herself while Andy, Aubrey, and her father go back to watching the game, Aubrey occasionally glancing at Bella when she makes random sounds, smiling softly and leaning further into Stacie as the football game progresses. 

“It’s stuck,” Bella says suddenly with a pout, holding up two Lego pieces that she’s pushed together with too much force, and when Aubrey and Stacie look at her, she tries to pull them apart and fails, pout deepening. She stands on the edge of the blanket, knows she’s not allowed to leave it with a Lego in her hands so she hovers and waits, watching Aubrey and Stacie. 

“Let’s see it,” Stacie says, shifting away from Aubrey and leaning forward to get up. 

“No, I want grandpa to do it,” Bella says quickly, holding the piece back against her chest. 

Aubrey’s head snaps up at that, as does her father’s, and they both look at the young girl. 

“He looks very comfy,” Stacie says, glancing at Aubrey’s father in the recliner chair. 

“I can go to him,” Bella says hopefully and it makes Stacie turn to Aubrey. “Please?” 

Aubrey’s expression is perfectly placid, almost too tempered as she smiles softly at Bella and nudges her head in her father’s direction. “Go ahead.” 

Aubrey watches Bella closely, sees as she makes her way over to her father and hands him the stuck Lego pieces. They laugh together as he pretends to exert a lot of force on the stuck pieces and Bella giggles up a storm as he taunts her with a wide smile of his own. 

Aubrey’s more than aware of Stacie’s focus on her so she reaches out and brushes her fingertips against Stacie’s thigh. 

Stacie immediately slides her hand under Aubrey’s and takes her hand, tangling their fingers and she squeezes, frown mellowing out but still staring intently at Aubrey, sees how Aubrey’s brow twitches and how tensely set her neck and shoulders are. 

“I could really use a piece of pie right now,” Stacie says lightly, forces a smile on her face as she draws all the attention to herself. “Mom?” she says, glancing at her mother who shakes her head and when she looks at Andy he’s already shaking his head. “Sir?” she asks then, looking at Aubrey’s father. 

“I’d love a piece, thank you Stacie,” he says with a smile before returning to the Lego pieces and the young girl eagerly watching him. 

“Aubrey?” 

“I’ll go,” Aubrey says, turning to Stacie and meeting her eyes, sees the concern shining clearly. 

“I can get it,” Stacie offers. 

“Let me,” Aubrey says, fingers tightening around Stacie’s. 

“Do you need help?” she asks in a whisper and they both know that’s not what she’s offering.

“It’s just pie,” Aubrey teases but her smile doesn’t reach her eyes and a ghost of a frown flickers across Stacie’s face so Aubrey leans in and softly brushes her lips against Stacie’s. 

“Aubrey,” Stacie murmurs against her lips and Aubrey shakes her head almost imperceptibly when they part, squeezes Stacie’s fingers one last time before getting up. 

Debbie scratches her pen against her crossword book, lets out a disgruntled sound. “Ah, darn,” she says. “Stacie, honey, do you have a spare pen for me?” she asks, holding up her pen with a wry smile. 

Stacie shoots her mom a grateful look as she nods but before she can get up, Andy is clambering up from the floor and running after Aubrey. 

“Hey, Aubrey, you have a fancy MBA, right?” Andy asks, following her into the kitchen and leaning against the kitchen island while Aubrey starts cutting into one of the pies.

“I don’t know how fancy it is,” Aubrey teases gently, looking over her shoulder and Andy laughs. “What’s up?” 

“I have a paper due for my applied financial economics class and I was wondering if you could look it over for me to make sure I don’t have any huge mistakes?” 

“Of course, I’d love to,” Aubrey says and she smiles when Andy lights up. “I can read it right now if you send it to me.”

“Really? That’s awesome, thank you so much,” he says, reaches into his back pocket for his phone to email his paper to Aubrey. 

“Pie?” Aubrey asks, gesturing to the slices she already has set out for Stacie and her father and Andy looks up long enough to nod fiercely. “Do you still have my email?” 

“Yeah,” Andy says. “I just sent my paper to you,” Andy says, locking his phone and putting it face down on the counter as he watches Aubrey closely. “Aubrey?” 

“Hm?” 

“Can I ask you something really personal?” he asks, tone soft and Aubrey sets down the knife and turns to face Andy fully, eyebrows raised. 

“Go ahead.”  

“How did you come out to your dad?” Andy asks but then Aubrey’s expression doesn’t change and he starts second-guessing himself and his decision to pry. “He doesn’t really seem like the kinda guy who’d be all rainbow flags and pride parades, if you know what I mean…” 

Aubrey waits for him to trail off, bites her lower lip to hide her amusement at Andy’s tendency to ramble when he’s nervous. 

“I told him over dinner about a year after I graduated from Barden,” Aubrey answers with a small smile. 

“And he was cool with it?” 

“He said ‘okay’ and that was it,” Aubrey says with a small shrug and then Andy’s expression shifts as he frowns slightly in surprise. “Why do you ask?” 

“Oh, you know,” Andy says, shrugging as he looks down at his phone before remembering that he’d put it screen down so he can’t pretend to check for messages. 

“Are you asking for advice on how to come out?” Aubrey asks carefully. “Andy… are you gay?” 

“No,” Andy says immediately. “At least, I don’t think so…” Andy squints his eyes and his shoulders sag a little as he mulls it over. “I don’t look at my teammates’ dicks and think ‘hm I gotta have some of that’, y’know?” 

Aubrey’s hand flies up to her mouth as she bursts into laughter. 

“What? It’s true,” Andy says, slightly indignant at Aubrey’s reaction. 

“No, it’s not that,” Aubrey says, trying to calm herself down as she wipes at her eyes, lashes wet with unshed tears. “It’s just—never mind.” 

Andy smiles sheepishly and shrugs at that. 

“If not that, then why are you asking?” 

“You and your dad aren’t really close and Stacie said you had issues and that I should talk to you so I figured maybe it’s from that,” Andy provides with another shrug, tracing shapes onto the countertop with his index finger and staring intently at his hand as he does so. 

“Stacie said what?” Aubrey asks, trying her hardest not to release her annoyance with Stacie on Andy when his intentions are clearly good. 

Andy, still looking down at the counter, completely misses Aubrey’s irritation so he just continues, “She said you used to have anxiety and trouble dealing with pressure and I think I might have that because this season has been super intense and being an economics major is so much work and I don’t know what I’m even doing half the time so she told me to talk to you because she thinks you can help me.” 

Andy finally looks up to meet her eyes and he looks so lost that Aubrey can’t help but melt because he looks so much like Stacie and she’d recognise that stressed look anywhere, has seen it mirrored back to her one too many times. 

She shoots him a sympathetic smile as she quickly turns back to the counter behind her and reaches for a plate of pie, turning to slide it in front of him and giving him a fork, implicitly urging him to take a bite. 

“Let me go take these Stacie and my dad and then we’ll talk, okay?” she says, gestures to the two other plates. “I’ll be right back.” 

“Thanks, Aubrey.” 

“So Andy’s having trouble…” Aubrey says casually later that night when they’re upstairs getting ready for bed. She wipes her face dry and looks up to meet Stacie’s eyes through the mirror as the woman moves next to her to take out her contacts. 

“I guess he talked to you?” Stacie asks, squinting at Aubrey and waiting for the blurry nod before starting to carefully pat her hand along the top of the counter. 

Aubrey chuckles softly and reaches for Stacie’s glasses to hand them to her. “He told me you told him I had problems so I knew how to help him with his.” 

“Fuckin’… Andy,” Stacie grumbles with an eye roll, twisting to face Aubrey. “I told him you’ve dealt with anxiety and pressure. Figured you were in a better position to give him advice than me.” 

Aubrey rubs moisturiser onto her skin and Stacie watches her go through the motions with a small smile.

“Did you fix him?” Stacie asks, teasing lilt to her words and Aubrey shakes her head with fond exasperation as she wipes her hands and steps closer to Stacie, into her waiting arms. 

“It’s not the kinda thing you fix with one conversation but I think he’s going to be okay.” 

“Thank you,” Stacie says gratefully, hands falling to Aubrey’s hips as the woman winds her arms around Stacie’s neck. 

“You don’t need to thank me,” Aubrey murmurs and Stacie mirrors her smile, can’t look away from the warm look in Aubrey’s eyes. 

“Still, I appreciate it. And I’m not sure Andy tells you but I know he does as well.” 

Aubrey smiles, leans in for a slow kiss but when they separate, Stacie can see something shift in her eyes. 

“What’s wrong?” she whispers in the space between them, sliding her arms around Aubrey’s waist to pull her closer. 

Aubrey sighs, eyes closing as she drops her face and Stacie presses her lips to Aubrey’s forehead, lingering there. 

“I thought I was totally fine with it but the longer it goes on, the more trouble I’m having,” Aubrey says, frowning softly as she pulls away and Stacie loosens her grip on Aubrey, lets the woman step out of her embrace for some space, knows that opening up like this is still hard for her so Stacie doesn’t take it personally when Aubrey trails her fingertips down her arm before moving away to perch against the edge of the bathtub. 

Stacie quickly washes her face, stays quiet to let Aubrey get her thoughts in order. 

“Is it weird?” Aubrey asks after Stacie pats her face dry. 

“What?” 

“The fact that she calls him grandpa,” Aubrey says and Stacie falters, hesitates before reaching for her glasses again and Aubrey immediately sees it, their eyes meeting through the mirror after Stacie puts on her glasses. “Be honest.” 

“I think it’s weird but that’s me,” Stacie says with a small shrug but then Aubrey tilts her head quizzically. “I’m not close with your dad.” 

“I’m not either,” Aubrey says, frown deepening in confusion. 

“Yeah, but I mean that she, we, aren’t close with him and she still calls him grandpa,” Stacie tries to explain, not sure how to concisely put her feelings into words. 

“Do you think she shouldn’t have been calling him grandpa?” 

“I don’t think that matters,” Stacie says immediately, shaking her head. “She asked you if she could call him that.” 

“She was probably going to always call him grandpa, you mean?” Aubrey asks, nodding as she understands. 

“Yeah. Asking you was more of a ‘do I call him that only in my head or also in front of my parents’-type thing,” Stacie says. 

Aubrey hums in confirmation, had suspected the same herself when she’d had the conversation with Bella the week before. 

“It’s just… he’s at her complete beck and call,” Aubrey says. “She’s got him wrapped tightly around her little finger.” 

“Yeah but it’s Bella,” Stacie provides and Aubrey smiles, laughs softly. 

“I know,” Aubrey says.

“She could probably broker world peace,” Stacie says offhandedly as she applies lotion to her skin. 

Aubrey chuckles in agreement, getting up from the edge of the bathtub and standing behind Stacie. 

“It’s all that Stacie Conrad charm,” Aubrey whispers into her ear, fingers flitting down Stacie’s back as she steps away again to go change into her pyjamas. 

“And that Aubrey Posen determination,” Stacie throws over her shoulder and when she meets Aubrey’s eyes, the woman is trying to suppress a smile as she looks into Stacie’s twinkling eyes. 

Stacie winks and Aubrey cracks, corners of her mouth tugging upwards and she turns away but Stacie still sees the wide smile when she ducks her head. 

Stacie finishes up and leaves the bathroom, closing the door behind her and hitting the light switch as she looks around the room, frowning softly when Aubrey’s nowhere to be found. She’s just sliding into bed when she hears familiar steps down the hall.

“Where did you go?” Stacie asks after Aubrey closes the bedroom door. 

“Left my water bottle downstairs,” Aubrey says, holding up the item before placing it on her nightstand. 

“You could have just used mine, weirdo,” Stacie teases, holding her pillow against her chest as she sits up against the headboard, watching as Aubrey goes into their walk-in closet to change. 

“You wake up in the middle of the night and drink all your water,” Aubrey calls out. “So I won’t have any water in the morning when I want some,” Aubrey adds, poking her head around the sliding door. 

“Are you shirtless?” Stacie asks, excited twinkle in her eyes as she sees the smooth skin of Aubrey’s bare shoulder. 

“Maybe…” Aubrey taunts, but moments later she appears and Stacie pouts when Aubrey’s wearing a shirt and underwear. 

“Boo,” she says softly but without malice and Aubrey laughs as she climbs into bed, crawling over Stacie’s legs, pecking the woman’s lips before settling on her side and sighing. 

“He’s never been this way with me,” Aubrey says suddenly, fiddling with her cross necklace. 

“Hm?” Stacie asks, had been distracted and hadn’t expected Aubrey’s words. “What?” 

“How he is with Bella,” Aubrey says, turning to look at Stacie. “He’s never been like that with me.” 

“You two have inside jokes and you laugh about stuff,” Stacie tries to say but Aubrey’s already shaking her head. 

“He was never warm. I used to think that the older I got the worse it became but looking back now, it was always that way,” Aubrey explains, adjusting the sheets as she squirms to be more comfortable. 

“Like how?” 

“I don’t know how to describe it. Like there’s an icy wall between us and I don’t know how to get past it to the real him,” Aubrey says, frowning down at the bedsheets. 

“I guess I know where you get it from now,” Stacie says, twisting to put her pillow behind her and start sliding down in bed next to Aubrey. 

“That’s low,” Aubrey says and Stacie quickly realises how her words have been misinterpreted, freezing as her eyes snap sideways to look at Aubrey’s face, sees that she’s crossed her arms even though she’s lying down and she’s frowning deeply but upon closer inspection, Stacie can see that Aubrey’s eyes are a little glassy and she immediately shoots up, twisting to look down at Aubrey. 

“That came out wrong,” Stacie says but Aubrey is still burning a hole in the ceiling she’s staring so hard at it and Stacie’s chest aches at how hurt she looks. 

“The sentiment is the same, though, isn’t it?” Aubrey says sharply but her voice wavers and gives her away. 

“Aubrey, baby, look at me,” Stacie urges, moving closer to almost lean over Aubrey and stare at her imploringly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that you’re conflict avoidant and apparently so is he and that that doesn’t really bode well for you trying to work through your issues.” 

“I’m not conflict avoidant,” Aubrey argues immediately. 

“You are when you’re afraid of losing someone by pushing too hard. You used to be with me, you definitely are with your dad,” Stacie says softly, reaching out to cradle the side of Aubrey’s face, rubbing her thumb along Aubrey’s jaw and feeling a measure of relief when Aubrey relaxes against her, jaw no longer clenched tightly. 

Aubrey finally turns her head and meets Stacie’s eyes, tears pooling in her eyes and Stacie slides down to lay on her side pressed closely to Aubrey, hand drifting down Aubrey’s side and curling around her hip, urging her closer. Stacie counts it as a win when Aubrey shifts, turns into her body. 

“Aubrey…” Stacie whispers, fingers brushing away hair from Aubrey’s face before sliding into her hair, watches as Aubrey tries to blink away her tears. “Please talk to me.” 

“How am I supposed to ask my dad why he doesn’t like spending time with me?” Aubrey asks in a small voice. 

“Maybe don’t phrase it like that?” Stacie suggests with a wry smile even though there are tears in her eyes and it has the intended effect as Aubrey chuckles sharply, reaching up to wipe at her eyes. 

“I’m sorry we can’t just have a nice Thanksgiving,” Aubrey says, and Stacie is briefly concerned when Aubrey turns away until Aubrey reaches for her hand and squirms backwards, pressing her back against Stacie’s front and holding their arms over her middle. 

“We are having a nice Thanksgiving,” Stacie counters but Aubrey just shoots her a disbelieving look over her shoulder and Stacie understands what she’s trying to say. “Thanksgiving is your time and Christmas is mine.” 

“I get to be emotionally needy on Thanksgiving and you get Christmas,” Aubrey teases lightly and Stacie nods, burying her face in blonde hair as she tightens her arm around Aubrey. 

“Exactly.” She kisses the side of Aubrey’s neck, lips lingering and Aubrey twists to look at her, question clear. “He’s never going to know how you feel if you don’t tell him.” 

“What if I tell him and nothing changes?” Aubrey whispers, turning back to face away from Stacie, fingers tightening around Stacie’s as a heavy weight settles in her chest. “What if things get worse?” 

“They can’t get worse,” Stacie responds almost instantly, shaking her head softly. “And if nothing changes won’t you be happy that at least you told him? Then the ball’s not in your court anymore.” 

“Exactly,” Aubrey says but Stacie knows she’s not agreeing with her. “If I tell him and nothing changes, it won’t matter.” 

“That’s not—no,” Stacie says, but then she falls silent as she considers Aubrey’s words. “Oh.” 

“Hm?” 

“You hold the power now,” Stacie starts, lifting away slightly to look down at Aubrey’s face with a worried expression. “You think you can’t get hurt if you don’t tell him.” 

“I know I can't.” 

“That’s bullshit, Aubrey.” 

“What?” Aubrey asks, twisting to frown at Stacie. 

“You might be right that if you tell him and nothing changes, you’ll be hurt but you’re delusional if you think not telling him means you won’t get hurt.” 

“You can’t know that,” Aubrey scoffs. 

“I do know that. You know how I know?” 

Aubrey stares at her defiantly, and Stacie drops the edge her voice because this isn’t something worth fighting over so she quickly pecks Aubrey’s cheek and Aubrey understands it for the white flag it is. 

“How?” 

“You’re hurting right now, baby.” 

Aubrey completely deflates because she knows Stacie’s right and she tears up again at the sight of Stacie’s sympathetic expression, at the worry in her eyes. 

“Just… think about it,” Stacie says softly, smiling as she leans down for a languid kiss to set Aubrey at ease. 

Aubrey nods before reciprocating the kiss, reaching out to tug Stacie closer and sighing softly when Stacie presses down against her, lips moving more firmly. 

They slow to a stop when the need for air becomes too much and Aubrey turns away and settles back against Stacie, smiling into her pillow when Stacie tightens her arm, holds her as close as possible and it makes her feel so safe, being wrapped up in Stacie’s arms. 

“You’re amazing,” Aubrey murmurs, eyes closing when she feels Stacie’s smile as she kisses the back of Aubrey’s shoulder. 

“I love you so, so much, Aubrey,” Stacie says emphatically, voice hushed because her lips have moved up to Aubrey’s ear and she likes the quiet lull they’ve settled into. 

“I love you too. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Aubrey whispers back, fingers softly squeezing Stacie’s. 

“Ditto, baby,” Stacie says and Aubrey can tell she’s about to say more when instead Stacie yawns loudly, an embarrassed chuckle following as she buries her face in Aubrey’s shoulder. 

“You should sleep, hon,” Aubrey says, purposefully putting on a smooth voice to lull Stacie to sleep. 

“So should you,” Stacie mumbles. 

“Mhm-hmm,” Aubrey hums, running the pads of her fingers along Stacie’s fingers and arm, swirling around in random patterns. 

“Good night, Bree,” Stacie manages to murmur and Aubrey laughs softly, tries not to move too much to avoid snapping Stacie out of her rapid descent into slumber. 

“Good night, Stacie.” 

Chapter Text

Stacie’s alarm goes off and she groans as she wakes, reaching out with her hand to try and turn off the sound but Aubrey’s sprawled on top of her, pinning her body down.

“Aubrey, baby…” she coaxes, kissing Aubrey’s hair. 

“Hm,” Aubrey hums and Stacie can feel her frowning where her face is pressed into Stacie’s neck. 

“Wake up…” 

“Why?” Aubrey asks, voice gravelly. 

“You need to move so I can get my alarm,” Stacie says and Aubrey whines petulantly but she does slide off Stacie to let the woman quiet the offending sound, twisting to lay on her other side.  

Once the room is quiet again, Stacie curls around Aubrey, wraps an arm around the blonde’s middle and cuddles up behind her. 

“You’re not going for a run?” Aubrey mumbles sleepily, her question muffled by her pillow. 

“No.” 

“Hmm,” she hums and Stacie thinks she’s fallen asleep but then she speaks again. “Why did your alarm go off?” 

“Forgot to turn it off yesterday,” Stacie explains, peppering kisses along the back of Aubrey’s neck. 

Aubrey hums knowingly and there’s a lazy smile on her face as she shifts away from Stacie enough to turn onto her back. 

“Good morning,” Stacie says with a soft smile that Aubrey returns. 

She watches the light stream into the bedroom and catch on Stacie’s skin, revels in the sight of the woman hovering over her, warmth filling her. She shifts even closer, uses Stacie’s arm around her waist to tug the brunette closer and leans up to kiss Stacie languidly. 

Stacie melts against her, smiling against Aubrey’s lips and lets Aubrey push her onto her back and move over her, settling comfortably with a leg on either side.   

“Good morning,” Aubrey says, and when she tries to pull away to sit up, Stacie keeps her close, pushing back Aubrey’s wild and loose hair, cupping her face softly, leaning in enough to capture Aubrey’s lips in another heated kiss. 

Aubrey shoves her away suddenly and Stacie frowns as her back connects with the mattress but then Aubrey turns her face away and covers her mouth as she yawns loudly. 

Stacie laughs immediately, deeply, hands falling to Aubrey’s thighs as she watches the woman’s eyes fill with tears from the force of her yawn. 

“You know,” Stacie starts teasingly, even as her fingers stroke across Aubrey’s thighs. “We could also just sleep for another hour.” 

Aubrey rolls her eyes as Stacie tugs her closer again, hands sliding up to Aubrey’s back and flirting with the edge of Aubrey’s shirt. Aubrey reaches out to tilt Stacie’s head up, her lips moving against Stacie’s jawline as she nips at the skin there, one of her favourite spots because she knows how weak in the knees it makes Stacie. 

“Where’s the fun in that?” Aubrey asks and before Stacie gets a chance to respond, Aubrey bites down on the skin, making Stacie moan. 

Stacie doesn’t relinquish control that easily though, tugs Aubrey’s shirt off and forcing the blonde to sit up as she gets rid of the garment before sitting up herself and kissing Aubrey deeply, one of her hands buried in blonde hair to keep Aubrey close while she rakes her nails down Aubrey’s back. 

A door closes down the hall and they both freeze, listening closely. The steps are heavy and slow, and they move away from Stacie and Aubrey’s bedroom towards the stairs but it’s still a sharp reminder that they’re not alone. 

Stacie pulls back, disentangling her fingers from Aubrey’s hair as she flops back down in bed. 

“No, baby, come on,” Aubrey whines, shifts her hips over Stacie’s needily but the brunette shakes her head, hands reaching out to still Aubrey’s hips. 

“Our parents are here.”

“My dad's going downstairs and your mom is asleep,” Aubrey says, a hand dragging heavily down Stacie’s toned stomach and her index finger tugging at the waistband of Stacie’s underwear. She tries to lean down to kiss Stacie but the woman turns her head and Aubrey’s lips end up on Stacie’s cheek, eliciting a soft whine from Aubrey. “I can’t believe you’re saying no to me.” 

“Trust me, a part of me can’t either,” Stacie says with a soft smile as Aubrey narrows her eyes at the brunette, even as she begrudgingly crawls off Stacie to lay down next to her again. “But it’s too risky.” 

Aubrey grumbles but she still buries her face in Stacie’s neck and wraps an arm around Stacie’s waist, cuddling up to her. Stacie smiles when she feels Aubrey settle against her, eyes sliding closed as she wraps her arm around Aubrey and tangles their legs together. 

“You’re not gonna put your shirt back on?” Stacie whispers teasingly, even as her fingers softly trace along Aubrey’s spine. 

“You’re not going to have sex with me all of Thanksgiving?” Aubrey asks, pulling away enough to prop her head up with her hand to look at Stacie. “I feel like I’m in bed with a stranger.” 

Aubrey’s expression is serious but her eyes are twinkling and upon closer inspection, Stacie can see a smile threatening to break out over the blonde’s face. 

“You’re the one being needy and horny,” Stacie says and Aubrey’s mouth drops open in surprise. 

“Seriously, who are you?” 

Aubrey’s hair is falling over her hand and she’s biting her lip and Stacie is completely taken by the sight.

“I know what you’re doing,” Stacie says, gaze lazily drifting down Aubrey’s chest. “And I’m not falling for it.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Aubrey says but then her fingers are dancing across Stacie’s stomach, taking the bottom of the shirt with her fingers all the way up to brush against the swell of a breast. 

“Here’s the thing,” Stacie starts, shifting so she can also prop herself up on her arm and be eye level with Aubrey. “We have trouble staying quiet.” 

Aubrey quirks her mouth, too proud to admit that it’s true but not willing to fight it. 

“And that’s all good and fine when Bella sleeps four doors down…” Stacie continues. Her free hand reaches out and none too gently pushes Aubrey back into the mattress, sending the woman sprawling backwards with a surprised yelp. Aubrey reaches out with her hand to grab for purchase, fingers curling in the pillow under her head as Stacie looms over her and she can’t help but smirk, taut with anticipation. “Not so much when there’s three extra people in the house.” 

Despite Stacie’s words, Aubrey can’t help but let her touch wander, and Stacie’s thigh between her legs is heavy and insistent so Aubrey digs her nails into the soft skin of Stacie’s lower back to keep the woman close as she grinds her hips against Stacie’s thigh. 

Stacie laughs softly, leaning down to kiss Aubrey quickly. When she pulls away Aubrey whines, but she smoothly pulls her tanktop up over her head and tosses it to the floor. 

“I’m getting very mixed signals from you right now,” Aubrey mutters, licking her lips as her gaze drops to Stacie’s breasts. 

“In the time you’ve been begging, I figured out a plan of action,” Stacie says and Aubrey opens her mouth to protest the begging part of that statement but Stacie leans in and swallows the words with a heated kiss full of promise. Aubrey moans at the feeling of skin sliding against hers. 

“What are you saying?” Aubrey asks breathlessly when they part for air and Stacie starts trailing kisses down her neck, teeth occasionally scraping against skin. “Stacie…” 

Stacie ignores her pleading in favour of kissing down Aubrey’s chest and down between her breasts. 

“Tell me, you tease,” Aubrey growls and Stacie stops, puts her chin on Aubrey’s stomach as she looks up and their gazes lock. 

Aubrey’s glaring at her but Stacie just grins, hooks her fingers into Aubrey’s underwear and drags the fabric slowly down her legs. 

“Get in the shower, Aubrey.” 

Aubrey sparks into action then, sitting up and nudging Stacie’s shoulder to push her back as she kisses Stacie deeply, hand fisting in brown hair to keep Stacie close as her other hand smooths down Stacie’s side, thumb hooking in underwear and tugging it down. 

“Let’s go.” 

“Good morning!” Stacie says cheerfully when she walks into the kitchen to find Bella and William sitting at the kitchen island while her mom leans against the kitchen counter nursing a coffee.  

A round of “good mornings” come from the trio and Stacie stops to stand behind Bella to cuddle the girl from behind. 

“Morning big girl,” she says, smiles when Bella shifts back into her embrace. 

“Good morning mama.” 

“Hm, that looks good,” Stacie comments, looking at Bella’s plate of eggs. 

“You wanna bite?” Bella offers, reaching out with her fork and stabbing a piece and offering it up. 

“Yum,” Stacie says, taking the bite and savouring it. “Thank you, baby.” 

Bella smiles, shimmies a little in her seat in happiness as she takes another bite for herself. 

“Where’s Andy?” 

“Getting dressed,” Debbie says. 

“Where’s he going?” 

“Outside to train. Said something about consuming way too much food yesterday,” Debbie says with an eye roll. 

“He asked for seconds!” Stacie says and her mother just shrugs so Stacie shakes her head in exasperation. 

“Mama?” Bella starts, squirming so she can turn to look up at Stacie. “Can I go outside to train with uncle Andy?” 

“It’s not too cold?” Stacie asks, running her hand over Bella’s hair. 

Bella shakes her head vehemently, wild brown hair going everywhere as she looks up at Stacie with her best pouting, puppy dog look. 

“I still want you to wear your coat, okay?” Stacie says with a small smile. “And you have to finish breakfast and wait a little bit before doing anything strenuous.” 

“Stre—strenu—stenus?” 

Bella’s face scrunches up as she struggles to repeat the word.

“Strenuous,” Stacie says, tapping the tip of Bella’s nose with her index finger.  “It means using a lot of effort. It means you can’t go running around immediately after you’ve eaten because you might get sick and we don’t want that.” 

“Strenu—” Bella tries to say, frowning in frustration when she can’t get the word out right. 

“Stre,” Stacie says, implicitly urging Bella to repeat it. 

“Stre.” 

“Nu.” 

“Nu.” 

“Ous.” 

“Ous.” 

“Strenuous,” Stacie says. 

“Stre-nu-ous,” Bella says slowly, focusing really hard, eyebrows knit together in concentration and when she finally says the word, she lights up, breaking out into a smile as she beams at Stacie. “Strenuous.” 

“Way to go, big girl!” Stacie says, holding up her hand for a high five that Bella happily gives her, her heart swelling with love and pride. 

Bella shimmies her shoulders proudly as she turns back to her breakfast to eat with renewed vigor. 

Debbie stands in the entryway of the kitchen, watches Aubrey lean her hip against the counter and look out the window at the backyard, soft smile on her face. Debbie knows that Andy and Bella are outside and she’d seen William heading that way as well before she’d come to the kitchen for some water. 

She doesn’t want to disturb the peace that Aubrey seems to be in, wants to give the girl some quiet so she just leans against the wall and watches her closely. Suddenly Aubrey’s brows twitch and then she’s frowning, leaning in closer to the window, presumably for a better view and her smile drops and Debbie suddenly feels like she’s intruding. 

Aubrey’s hand comes up and her fingers softly brush down the length of the chain hanging from her neck until she reaches the small cross at the end, fiddles with it as she stands up straighter, expression stormy. 

Debbie raps her knuckles against the wall before moving closer and Aubrey turns her head with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes, hand dropping away from her necklace. 

“Good morning.” 

“Morning,” Aubrey says. 

“You look like someone just pulled a rug out from under you,” Debbie says softly as she makes her way to the fridge to get the pitcher of water. 

Aubrey chuckles mirthlessly but her shoulders relax. “Is it that obvious?” 

“A mother knows,” Debbie says with a smile but when she’s closing the refrigerator door she catches Aubrey’s quick frown and sees how her mouth twitches and Deborah wants to kick herself at her own carelessness. “Which isn’t something you’re very familiar with, I imagine.” 

“It’s okay,” Aubrey says with a reassuring smile, shakes her head quickly to dismiss Debbie’s concern. 

When Debbie moves over to the sink, she glances out at the backyard and sees Andy doing jumping jacks before periodically dropping to the ground and doing five push-ups and when she leans a bit more to the side, she can see a giggling Bella in William’s lap. Ah. 

“You know,” she starts as she moves back to put the pitcher back in the refrigerator. “I’m always here if you need to talk.” 

“Thank you, Mrs. Conrad,” Aubrey says with a sincere smile but then Debbie shoots her a look. 

“Aubrey…” she says warningly. 

“Sorry,” she says immediately with a quick smile, shakes her head softly. “We need to find a solution for this.” 

“You can call me Debbie.” 

Aubrey recoils as she vehemently shakes her head. “I really can’t.” 

Debbie sighs dramatically as she softly shakes her head. “And you won’t call me mom.” 

“Not yet,” Aubrey says and it brings a smile to Debbie’s face because the yet following the first word has only been a recent addition and it shows that Aubrey certainly is warming up to the idea. “Definitely not with my father here.” 

Aubrey glances out the window and seems to close off again as she reaches for her cup of coffee and Debbie lets the statement linger between them. 

Stacie comes bounding into the kitchen in workout gear, Aubrey’s name falling from her lips when she stops and assesses the situation in front of her. 

“Did I interrupt something?” 

Aubrey smiles at the sight of Stacie and Debbie’s heart warms when she notices how Stacie’s presence alone seems to calm Aubrey, how the tension seems to just seep out of her. 

“Just teasing Aubrey about calling me Mrs. Conrad,” Debbie says quickly, bumping Aubrey’s shoulder with her own and the blonde rolls her eyes as Stacie laughs. 

“Why are you dressed like that?” Aubrey says, gesturing to Stacie’s outfit. 

“Andy found out your dad used to be a drill sergeant and asked him to put him through basic training,” Stacie says, walking further into the kitchen and reaching for the water bottles they keep in the back of the fridge. 

“That doesn’t explain why you’re dressed like that,” Aubrey points out. 

Stacie purses her lips and avoids Aubrey’s eyes, but Deborah knows her daughter well enough to recognise that expression and she’s already shaking her head with fond exasperation. 

“You let Andy goad you into joining him.” 

Aubrey turns from Debbie to Stacie, closes her eyes briefly as she sighs. “Oh, Stacie, no.” 

“You need to change, too,” Stacie says, pointing at Aubrey and completely ignoring their words. “Your dad wants you to show us the exercises.” 

“Is this your sneaky way of seeing me in my Army shirt and shorts?” Aubrey says even as she sets down her mug and uses her hip to push away from the kitchen counter. 

“I never said you had to wear your Army shirt. You brought that up all on your own. But now that you have…” Stacie shoots her a look and raises her eyebrows expectantly and Aubrey rolls her eyes. 

“Fine, I’ll be back in five,” Aubrey says and Stacie breaks out into a triumphant grin. Aubrey turns to Deborah as she passes by Stacie, and Debbie sees Aubrey’s hand trail softly down Stacie’s arm. “You’re going to want to go outside to watch this.” 

Stacie makes a sound of indignation as she turns to face Aubrey. “What?” 

“You’re going to regret this so much,” Aubrey warns as she leans up and quickly kisses Stacie. 

“How could you possibly know that?” Stacie asks. 

“Because I’ve been through basic training,” Aubrey says and she can practically see Stacie’s brain short-circuit. 

“Why is this the first time I’m hearing this?” Stacie whispers lowly but apparently not quietly enough because she hears her mother laugh behind her before Debbie walks past them and pats Stacie’s arm on the way, shaking her head as she goes. Stacie cranes her neck to make sure her mom is gone before leaning in and kissing Aubrey slowly but deeply. “Have you actually been through basic training?” 

“I didn’t enlist,” Aubrey says even though Stacie knows that. “My dad used to put me through it every year. I considered making the new Bellas do it to get you guys in shape but Chloe said that would be too cruel.” 

Aubrey looks up when Stacie doesn’t answer, finds Stacie staring off at something over her shoulder in a daze and Aubrey smiles with amused exasperation when she understands where she’s lost Stacie. 

“Earth to Stacie.” 

“Sorry—I just… I was just picturing you in Army clothes,” Stacie says, shaking her head as if needing to physically shake the thoughts from her brain and Aubrey laughs. “Also, I could probably have made it through your basic training.” 

“I guess we’ll see,” Aubrey taunts as she turns away to go change. 

“I’m going to die, aren’t I?” Stacie calls after her. 

“Definitely.” 

“Bella, it’s almost five o’clock!” Aubrey calls out up the stairs and the girl comes out of her room, frowning in confusion. 

“Huh?” 

“It’s Friday,” Aubrey says pointedly and she can see Debbie frowning out of the corner of her eye but Bella seems to understand her meaning, eyes going wide with excitement. 

“Really?” 

“Uh-huh,” Aubrey says with a wide smile and a nod. 

Bella lights up, coming down the stairs at a rapid pace before crashing into Aubrey’s legs, wraps her arms around them as she looks up at Aubrey. 

“Can uncle Andy come? Please? Pretty please?” the girl asks, keeps repeating “please” over and over again and Aubrey laughs softly, drops her hand on Bella’s head and strokes her hair softly. 

“You have to ask him, Monkey,” Aubrey says, laughs softly. “I don’t think uncle Andy can move.” 

“Uncle Andy!” Bella says loudly, her voice carrying after her as she runs into the living room and starts poking Andy’s leg. “Do you wanna come with us to Mrs. Walker?” 

“What are we gonna do there?” he asks, dropping his phone onto his lap as he struggles to sit up from where he’s sprawled on the couch. 

“Play with cats!” 

“Cats?” Andy asks, smile growing on his face when Bella nods fiercely. “Yeah I’m in. When do we leave?” 

“When the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the five,” Bella says, pointing to the grandfather clock and Andy squints at the clock as he mulls over her words for far too long. 

“Oh! At five,” he mumbles to himself, shakes his head and sighs, disappointed in himself for taking so long to figure it out. 

“You have to change your clothes,” Bella says then, breaking him out of his thoughts. 

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Andy says, tone tinged with affront but then he looks down at his sweatpants and shirt and realises she’s right. 

“We’re visiting,” Bella says pointedly. “You have to look nice.” 

“Okay, I’ll go change. Help me up?” he asks innocently, holding out his hand. 

Bella wraps her hands around his wrist and tugs, groaning as she pulls with all her weight but Andy doesn’t budge an inch. 

“Are you even helping?” Andy teases, feigning frustration. 

“I’m trying!” Bella says but then she’s laughing too much to be putting in serious effort and Andy starts laughing with her. 

He stands up and she goes sprawling backwards with a shriek but Andy scoops her up before she makes contact with the ground, dangling her off the ground by holding onto her arms and Bella giggles, swings her legs as she tries to shimmy out of his grip. 

“Do you have to change?” he asks, lifting her up higher instead and peering at her, their noses almost touching. 

“No, I always look nice,” Bella sasses smiling quickly before scrunching up her face and growling softly. 

Andy growls and drops her abruptly, catching her quickly with an arm around her middle and cutting off Bella mid-screech, laughing as he slowly sets her back on her feet. 

“Be right back,” Andy says and Bella holds up her thumb in response before flitting away herself. 

Aubrey turns to Stacie with a wide smile, finds the woman as amused as she is. 

“They’re adorable,” Aubrey says, warmth blooming in her chest at how much fun Andy and Bella always have with each other.  

“I’ve missed them,” Stacie says with a chuckle, looking off into the distance. 

Aubrey tilts her head, puzzled, her brow slightly furrowed and when Stacie looks up at her, the sight is absolutely endearing so she tugs Aubrey closer, shifts in the recliner to be settled more comfortably as she pulls Aubrey sideways across her lap. 

“I missed Bella and Andy the unit,” Stacie explains as Aubrey twists and curls up comfortably, arms looping around Stacie’s neck as she leans in to quickly kiss the corner of Stacie’s jaw. 

“The two of them together,” Aubrey supplies and Stacie nods, turning her head to kiss Aubrey lazily.  

“This is nice,” Stacie murmurs against Aubrey’s lips when they part, smiling and nuzzling Aubrey’s hair when she tucks her head into the crook of Stacie’s neck with a content smile. “Just being at home with you.” 

“We have to leave soon,” Aubrey says, playful smile tugging at her lips when Stacie’s warm hand on her back twists to poke her side. 

“Not what I mean,” Stacie grumbles so Aubrey presses a small kiss to her neck. 

She slides her hand down the inside of Stacie’s arm, all the way to her hand and tangles their fingers, pulling their joined hands close. 

“I know,” Aubrey says with a smile, lifting their hands and pressing her lips to Stacie’s knuckles. “Do you have a lot of work to do?” 

“Yeah,” Stacie says with a deep sigh and a dejected look. 

“You sure you’re not hanging back because your legs are barely working?” Aubrey teases, more than anything wanting to see some of the previous lightness return to Stacie’s eyes. 

“Ha-ha,” Stacie says dryly, turning her head to capture Aubrey’s lips in a quick, bruising kiss. “I really do have an insane stack of papers to grade.” 

“You don’t mind staying behind with my dad?” Aubrey asks, pushing away some of Stacie’s stray hair and tucking it behind her ear. 

“Nah, we’ll be fine. Plus my mom’s staying too,” Stacie says, eyes fluttering closed to bask in the feeling of Aubrey’s nails scratching at the skin behind her ear. “Her favourite wool shop is having a Black Friday sale so she’s upstairs right now going wild.” 

“We need to get Christmas presents this weekend,” Aubrey remembers suddenly. 

“I’m way ahead of you.” 

“Are you?” 

“I have an Amazon wishlist with ideas for everybody.” 

“Whatever happened to not supporting Amazon because they treat their employees badly?” Aubrey asks. 

“And because they’re wrecking small businesses,” Stacie adds, leaning her head even more into Aubrey’s touch when the woman starts scratching her nails across Stacie’s scalp.  

“Oh, right, my bad,” Aubrey says teasingly.

“And we don’t have to buy them on Amazon, it’s just an easy way to keep the list.” 

“You’re so smart,” Aubrey whispers and there’s a mocking undertone there so Stacie slowly opens her eyes but she finds Aubrey with a twinkle in her eyes and a soft smile. 

Stacie surges forward to kiss Aubrey and the blonde smiles into the kiss, using her conveniently placed hand to cradle Stacie’s head, tilting it back as she pushes her tongue into Stacie’s mouth, dragging a moan from Stacie. 

“Okay, guys, seriously? C’mon,” Andy whines, dropping onto the couch as they reluctantly break apart. 

“Bye,” Aubrey says, fingers on Stacie’s cheek urging her away from glaring at Andy to look at Aubrey. “I love you.” 

“I love you too,” Stacie says, melts under Aubrey’s touch and she twists to press her lips against Aubrey’s palm. “Say hi to Mrs. Walker for me.” 

“Will do.” 

With a final drag of her hand down Aubrey’s back, Stacie lets her go, pouting softly when Aubrey disappears around the corner towards the kitchen. 

“I’m going to smother you with a pillow,” Stacie threatens. 

“I’d like to see you try,” Andy throws back in challenge. 

“Grandpa?” Bella asks, voice cheery as she flits around William’s legs while he makes his way around the kitchen. 

“Yes, Bella?” 

“Do you wanna come to Mrs. Walker’s to play with Mo and Pizza?” she asks, stopping in front of him. 

William looks up, meets Aubrey’s eyes across the kitchen and shoots her a questioning look. 

“Cats,” Aubrey mouths soundlessly while shaking her head and William makes an “o” with his lips. 

“I’m sorry, I can’t go with you to Mrs. Walker’s, Bella,” William says, kneeling down on one leg to be at eye level with Bella and regretting it the second he starts going down and the only reason he doesn’t stand up straight immediately is because he’s mid-movement and his knee cracks in a way that suggests counter-movement is not advisable. 

“Why not?” Bella asks, tilts her head sideways, confused but not disappointed. 

“Because I’m allergic to cats,” he explains but Bella’s frown just deepens. 

“What’s that mean?” 

“It means that I get very sick when I’m around cats. I get a rash and I have to cough a lot and my eyes get itchy,” William says, trying to explain it in the simplest words. 

Bella’s face transforms into one of deep sorrow and she throws her arms around him, squeezing William as tightly as her short arms will allow before pulling away. “That’s so sad.” 

William has to stifle a laugh at how horrified Bella sounds.

Bella reaches out with her small hand and places it on William’s cheek, a wry smile on her face as she solemnly says, “I’m sorry you can’t love cats.” 

Aubrey, watching their interaction, has the startling thought that Bella is picking up a lot of her and Stacie’s idiosyncrasies and that it’s quite honestly a little scary. 

“I’m sorry too,” William finally manages, still suppressing a laugh. “But you hug and play with them for me, okay?” 

“I promise!” Bella says with a wide, final smile as she bounds away to go find Andy. “Bye grandpa!” 

“Bye,” he says but Bella barely hears him and he exhales slowly as he takes a moment before trying to get up.

“Need help?” Aubrey asks, amusement heavily colouring her tone as she pushes away from the doorway and walks over, extending her arm. 

William doesn’t answer but he does take Aubrey’s hand, using it as leverage to stand up with a long, drawn-out groan. 

“You okay there, dad?” Aubrey asks, the corners of her lips tugging upwards in a badly suppressed smile. 

“I will have no mockery from you, young lady,” William says gruffly, but his eyes are warm as he takes in his daughter and how she bites her lips to keep from smiling. “Growing old is life’s greatest curse.” 

Aubrey chuckles darkly at his grim words, shakes her head. 

“Will you be okay staying home?” Aubrey asks then, voice soft as she watches her father sweep his hands down his clothes to get rid of some of the creases. 

“Will you have LifeAlert on speed dial if I say no?” he says sharply, eyes narrowed at Aubrey and she can’t help herself, lets out a bark of laughter at that. 

“I meant, do you mind?” Aubrey amends, shaking her head with an exasperated sigh. 

“I’ll be fine. There’s a game on later that I want to watch,” he gives with a small smile. 

“Okay,” Aubrey says, before her smile quirks again. “Plus Stacie’s staying home so we won’t be needing LifeAlert on speed dial.” 

“Aubrey Louise P—” 

“Mommy!” Bella yells from the hallway. “We’re gunna be late!” 

“Saved this time,” William grumbles when Aubrey looks over her shoulder before turning back. He waves her away and she goes with a guilty smile. 

“Hey how big is Bella’s head?” Debbie calls out when she hears Stacie emerge from the study. 

“What?” Stacie asks, pivoting away from her path towards the kitchen to go talk to her mom in the living room. “Why?” 

“I want to knit her a beanie,” Debbie explains, holding up her hands to show the knitting needles held there. 

“I have no idea, you can measure her when she gets back,” Stacie explains. 

“Well then come here with your head,” Debbie says, motioning Stacie over and Stacie looks longingly at the kitchen before sighing and dropping onto the couch and letting her mother measure her head. 

“You also gonna knit me a beanie?” Stacie asks. 

“Sure,” Debbie says with a wink. “I’ll make a whole family set. How big is Aubrey’s head?” 

The words give Stacie pause, and Debbie notices. 

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Debbie asks, marking her progress and leaning forward to drop her needles and wool on the coffee table. 

Stacie glances behind her before sliding down and dropping her head in Debbie’s lap. 

“She’s hurting and I don’t know how to fix it,” Stacie says plainly and if Debbie had any doubt about how in tune Aubrey and Stacie are with each other’s emotions, it’s gone now. “We’re all she has.” 

“I know she’s hurting but you can’t fix it,” Debbie says, raking her fingers through Stacie’s hair soothingly. 

“What?” Stacie asks, surprised by the answer and looking up at her mother with a frown. 

“You can’t fix this. This is something she needs to work through.” 

Stacie’s quiet as she processes the words and Debbie can see doubt creep into her daughter’s eyes, can see how Stacie’s not sure what to do with the words. 

“But she’s really hurting, mom,” Stacie finally whispers, voice cracking and her eyes filling with unshed tears. “And I don’t know how to help her.” 

“Keep doing what you’re doing,” Debbie replies in a soft voice. “Make sure she knows you love her and just be there for her.” 

Stacie reaches up to wipe at her eyes but doesn’t answer. 

“Your dad would be so proud of you, at the person you’ve become, you know that?” Debbie says, her own eyes filling with tears as she looks down at the girl with a broken smile. 

“Do you think he’d like her?” Stacie asks in a small voice. 

“Oh, honey, he would have loved her.” 

“How’d’you figure?” Stacie asks, no longer trying to stop her tears. 

“Because you love her and your dad always trusted your judgment,” Debbie says, voice thick with emotion and it’s a little too much, so she leans down and presses her lips against Stacie’s forehead, lingering there as her hands tremble where they’re holding onto Stacie. 

The girl chokes on a sob and Debbie pulls away, reaching out to wipe at Stacie’s cheek, knows she’s crying as well. 

“You deserved so many more years with him. Andy too,” Debbie says with a sad smile, but then a thought occurs to her and she’s chuckling through her tears. “God, he would have spoiled Bella like crazy.” 

Stacie laughs breathlessly, reaching up to unceremoniously wipe her tears away as she chuckles. “Yeah, he would have.” 

“He loved you so much,” Debbie whispers. 

“I miss him,” Stacie whispers back. 

“I know baby. I miss him too.” 

“How did you—” Stacie stops abruptly then, glancing at Debbie almost guiltily before looking away. 

“It’s okay,” Debbie says, anticipating the question. “Go ahead.” 

“If something were to happen to Aubrey—” Stacie chokes up at the mere thought. “—I think I would die.” 

Debbie nods, urges her to continue. 

“How did you do it? How did you, I don’t know, keep moving forward?” Stacie asks, voice thick with tears as she gestures vaguely with her hands. 

“I had to,” Debbie says simply. “For you, for Andy. You two kept me going. I lost my husband but you lost your dad.” 

“How did you get over it?” 

“Who says I did?” Debbie asks and Stacie’s whole expression shifts, her eyes filling with concern as she gazes up at her mom. “No, honey, don’t worry about that.” 

“How can I not?” 

“You’re a worrier but this isn’t something for you to worry about.” 

“I’m not a worrier,” Stacie says, mouth setting into a pout. 

“Yes, you are, and that’s a good thing,” Debbie says with a small laugh. “But I’m okay, I promise.” 

Stacie looks sceptical so Debbie starts carding her fingers through the girl’s hair again. 

“It’s not something I’m ever gonna get over,” Debbie starts explaining, staring out the window. “A piece of me died with your dad. I’m never getting that back, and there’s no use for you to worry over that. All we can do is live our best lives because that’s what your dad would have wanted.” 

“Yeah…” Stacie says softly, taking a deep breath to try and slow her tears. 

“Which brings me to my next point.” 

“And that is?” Stacie asks, turning to her mom and finding the woman’s piercing green eyes on her. 

“Are you living your best life?” 

Stacie looks completely surprised and slightly perturbed at the sharp shift in conversation. “What do you mean?” she stammers. 

“What’s this I hear about you not liking your job?” Debbie asks, trying to convey a sense of peace as she says the words to show that she’s not looking for a fight or berating Stacie, but the girl still bristles. 

“Andy is such a snitch! Did you know he has a girlfriend?! I can’t b—” 

“Aubrey told me,” Debbie says, cutting off Stacie’s indignant rant before she can really get into it and smiling when the girl falls quiet. 

“Oh.” 

“Well, she didn’t really tell me, but I know you well enough,” Debbie explains. “What’s going on?” 

“My contract ends over the summer and I’m thinking of going to a different school,” Stacie says, shrugs. “We still need to talk about it.” 

“Okay…” Debbie says softly, nodding, understanding that this isn’t something to push now and feeling a swell of pride at how much of a team Aubrey and Stacie have become over the years. “Can I make one small request?” 

“Of course,” Stacie says, looking up with her eyebrows slightly raised to encourage her mother. 

“Please don’t move to the West Coast. I’d miss Bella too much.” 

“And what about me?” Stacie asks, her affront more for mockery’s sake than anything but Debbie laughs. 

“Of course I would miss you.” 

“But?” 

“But I want to spoil my grandbaby.” 

Stacie laughs loudly at that and Debbie smiles at the light, carefree sound. 

“Thanks mom,” Stacie whispers after a long silence. 

“You’re always welcome,” Debbie says with a reassuring smile, leaning down to quickly kiss Stacie’s forehead. “I love you, Stacie.” 

“I love you too, mom.” 

“You guys are fucked,” Andy says, walking into the kitchen for some water and finding Stacie.

“Andreas, language!” Debbie says and Andy balks, hadn’t seen her there and he instinctively jumps out of the way even though his mother’s not holding a towel to snap at his legs. 

“Screwed. You guys are screwed,” Andy amends immediately. 

“Not great but better,” Debbie mumbles under her breath. 

“What do you mean?” Stacie asks as she and Debbie follow Andy back into the living room. “What’s he talking about?” Stacie asks Aubrey when they come across each other in the living room, knows that Aubrey had heard her brother’s loud exclamation. 

“Ophelia—” Aubrey shakes her head to remember which cat is which. “—Mo is having kittens.” 

“Fuck!” 

“Language!” Debbie calls out from the living room and Stacie rolls her eyes when she hears Andy laugh and say “sucker!” 

“Fuck,” Stacie says again, whispers it this time so that her mom doesn’t hear her. 

“I know,” Aubrey replies in an equally hushed tone when Bella passes by them to go to the living room. “We’re fucked.” 

“Does she know Mo is pregnant?” Stacie asks. 

“No, but she’s going to start noticing soon and if she doesn’t, the presence of kittens will give it away,” Aubrey hisses. 

“How are we going to deal with this?” 

“We can’t adopt a cat, my dad’s allergic,” Aubrey tries to reason, tries to use as an excuse but she doesn’t sound convinced. 

“Your dad doesn’t live here,” Stacie says, shakes her head. “We can’t adopt a kitten.” 

“No,” Aubrey scoffs immediately. “Right?” 

“I can’t believe you’re going weak on me now, Posen,” Stacie says, jabbing her finger in the air between them and Aubrey scoffs darkly, smacks Stacie’s hand out of the way. 

“I’m not.” Stacie shoots her a disbelieving look. “I’m not.” 

“But you want a kitten?” 

“I don’t want a kitten, Bella will want a kitten.” 

“I thought we agreed not to give her everything she wants?” Stacie says, knows how hypocritical that sounds coming from her and Aubrey feels the same way if the suddenly arched eyebrow is anything to go by. 

“This is going to be unlike any begging we’ve ever experienced, Stacie,” Aubrey rationalises. “She is going to pull out all the stops for this and if we’re going to cave anyway, I’d rather we say yes immediately than let her think if she begs enough she’ll always get what she wants.” 

“I know that,” Stacie says because they’ve talked about this, about their concern that they give in to Bella too much. “But what do we do with the cat when we move?” 

Stacie’s words give Aubrey pause and she straightens, hadn’t even noticed how hunched together they’d gotten while trading words. 

“Two days ago it was if, not when,” Aubrey says softly, fingers reaching out to brush against Stacie’s wrist to show she’s not trying to put her on the spot or be confrontational.

“My mom said something today and the more I think about it, the better it sounds,” Stacie says with a flicker of a smile. 

“And?” Aubrey presses, knows there’s more. 

“There’s an offer from Columbia.” 

“Stacie, that’s amazing!” Aubrey says immediately and it sets Stacie at ease. “Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“You know they’ve been trying to poach me since last year.” 

“I didn’t know they made an offer,” Aubrey says. 

“I got another email last week but we’ve been so busy with all of—” Stacie doesn’t finish her sentence, gestures vaguely around the house and Aubrey understands, nods. “It’s a lot to think about and I was gonna talk to you about it next weekend when stuff calms down a little.” 

“We’re moving to New York,” Aubrey says plainly and Stacie’s eyes go so wide, it looks like they might pop out at any moment. 

“What? No—we need to talk about this,” Stacie says, her arms waving around awkwardly and Aubrey sighs as she reaches for them to hold Stacie’s hands in her own. 

“I don’t know what there is to talk about, but sure,” Aubrey says drolly. 

“Can we take a cat to New York?” Stacie asks carefully. 

“Probably.” 

“If not we could always give the cat to Beca and Chloe?” 

“Chloe would love that,” Aubrey muses aloud.

“Beca would hate it,” Stacie adds. “We could let Bella ask.” 

“Beca can’t say no to her.” 

“So we’re getting a kitten?” Stacie asks. 

“I guess so,” Aubrey says with a wry smile. 

“How is this our life?” 

“God only knows.” 

“Hey mom?” Andy asks from his position on the floor making a jigsaw puzzle with Bella. “What’s up with Juliana’s wedding invite?” 

Stacie’s head snaps up as she glares at her brother and he returns her stare with a smug grin. She points at Andy before using her thumb to create an invisible line in front of her throat, mimicking cutting off his head and Andy just shoots her a challenging look in return. 

“What do you mean?” Debbie asks, finally looking up from her crossword and completely missing the way Andy’s face falls into a placid expression and Stacie drops her hand. 

“There are so many events listed,” Andy says with an exaggerated sigh. “I can’t make sense of it.” 

“You don’t have to go to all of them if you don’t want to. You only have to be at the rehearsal dinner and the actual ceremony.” 

“Oh, okay,” Andy says with a relieved huff before turning back to the puzzle. 

“But speaking of getting married…” Debbie starts, putting down her crossword book and clicking her pen. 

“Mom…” Stacie says as a warning as Aubrey sighs, already resigned to having this conversation. 

She glances at her father out of the corner of her eye, sees how he’s pointedly not looking at the couch where she and Stacie are curled up together. 

Andy reaches for his glass of water and sips from it to hide his smug grin but then Debbie falters, having noticed Aubrey’s stray gaze. 

“Andy, when are we finally going to meet your girlfriend?” 

Andy chokes on his water and Bella pats his cheek sympathetically as he tries to clear his airways from liquid, coughing loudly but still managing to turn to Stacie and say, “You snitch!” 

Stacie snorts loudly, doesn’t try to argue the point because she’s too busy trying not to laugh at her brother almost dying and when she looks sideways at Aubrey, Aubrey’s shaking with badly suppressed laughter. 

“It’s okay if it’s not a girlfriend, you know,” Debbie says, pushing forward. “Just like with your sister, if you’re attracted to people of your own gender, that’s more than okay. I’ll still always love you and that doesn’t make you any less of a man.” 

Andy’s eyes go impossibly wide as he makes several strangled sounds of indignation and Stacie can’t keep it in any longer at the sight of her red-faced little brother, bursts out laughing. 

“I’m not gay! I have a girlfriend!” Andy finally says and Debbie’s playful expression drops. 

“Gotcha,” she says and Andy squeaks as he realises what’s just happened and Aubrey giggles when she sees the emotions play across Andy’s face. 

Stacie buries her face in Aubrey’s shirt as she tries to control her laughter to keep getting air in her lungs because she’s almost crying and even Aubrey’s father is failing at concealing his laughter. 

Andy makes several sounds of disbelief and protest again, but then Bella nods excitedly and Aubrey narrows her eyes at the girl as she considers why Bella seems so excitable. 

“Monkey?” Aubrey says and Bella turns to look at her. “What do you know?” Aubrey asks gently, expression open and soft. 

The words make Stacie instantly sober up and sit up straight as she turns to the young girl with a surprised look. 

Bella bites her lip, looks guiltily between Andy and Aubrey. 

“Isabella…” Stacie says and she’s playing dirty because Aubrey and Stacie both know that using Bella’s full name sets the girl on edge. 

Bella’s eyes go wide and Andy isn’t quick enough to grab at her when she scrambles away from him and into the safe arms of Aubrey. 

“Bella, no,” Andy whines petulantly but Aubrey just wraps her arms tighter around the girl, cuddling her close. 

“What is it, Bella?” Aubrey coaxes gently. 

“She’s really pretty,” Bella finally says, her voice a loud whisper that everybody hears and Andy drops his face in his hands. 

“What?” Stacie exclaims and Debbie makes a surprised sound. “Where did you see her?” 

“On his phone,” Bella spills. 

“Show us!” Stacie says, starts reaching for Andy’s phone on the coffee table but he snatches it away first, holds the phone against his chest protectively. 

“No.” 

“Why are you being so secretive, you big baby?” Stacie tries to taunt, tossing a pillow at her little brother. 

“Because it’s my business!” Andy says, lifting his chin in defiance. 

“Well we want to know!” 

“Too bad!” 

“This is a family issue,” Stacie tries to argue. 

“Nuh-uh!” Andy says, pointing at her. “You said relationships aren’t family issues.” 

“I never said that.” 

“Uh, yeah ya did.” 

“When?” 

“When you came home from college for Christmas the first year and you wouldn’t stop talking about Aubrey,” Andy says, drawling Aubrey’s name in a way that suggests young Andy had quickly gotten sick of hearing about her. 

“You were eight years old, you’re remembering it all wrong. It must be all those balls to the head.” 

“I remember perfectly fine! Every time you came home you’d talk about her,” Andy says, but then his voice takes on a mockingly higher pitch as he continues, “How pretty she is. How beautiful her voice is. How smart she is. ‘Oh, she dances so well’.” 

“Oh my god, shut up!” Stacie says, throwing another pillow at him but Andy easily bats it away, smirking at the sight of Stacie’s bright red cheeks. 

“‘Oh, Aubrey came over for movie night last week and her hair sparkled so nicely under the stars’.” 

“Andy, I’m going to kill you!” 

“Okay, enough you two,” Debbie calls out. “Andy, show me a picture of your girlfriend.” 

Stacie slumps back against the couch, steadfastly refusing to look at Aubrey because she knows what expression is waiting there for her. 

“You’ve been talking about me since freshman year?” Aubrey asks, leaning in close and tugging on Stacie’s arm to bring her body closer. 

Stacie looks away even as she lets herself be pulled closer. 

Aubrey ghosts her lips across Stacie’s cheek and Stacie can feel her smiling against her skin and it breaks her. 

“We live together,” Stacie finally says with a serious expression that looks completely harmless on account of the fierce blush on her cheeks. 

“You liked me when you met me,” Aubrey says. 

“We’re raising a kid together.” 

“You’ve had a crush on me since freshman year,” Aubrey coos and Stacie finally gives in, rolls her eyes before turning to face Aubrey. 

She can’t help but smile when she sees the warm and giddy look in Aubrey’s eyes, the genuinely sparkling smile that Aubrey’s wearing. 

“Yes,” Stacie admits softly and Aubrey’s heart flutters. 

Her smile turns a little devious then, corners of her mouth twitching and Stacie knows her well enough to recognise the minuscule shift. 

Aubrey leans in close, mindful of Bella still in her lap, and she brushes her lips against Stacie’s ear and whispers, “Sounds like I have twelve years to make up for.” 

Stacie’s pretty proud of how well she suppresses her shudder, but then Aubrey rakes the nail on her index finger down Stacie’s spine and she twitches, can’t help it. 

“I’m gonna get you for that later,” Stacie growls into her ear and Aubrey’s laugh is sharp enough for Stacie to know that she’s looking forward to it. 

Aubrey ties her dressing gown tighter around her body as she walks into the living room and when she looks up with a small smile, she’s surprised to find it occupied. 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she says quickly before registering that it’s Stacie’s mom and relaxing softly. 

“I was about to see if there’s something on,” Debbie says, pointing to her knitting needles and holding up the remote by way of explanation. 

“Go ahead, I don’t want to intrude on your alone time,” Aubrey says with a polite smile as she slides her hands into the pockets of her robe. 

“You’re not,” Debbie says, pats the spot next to her on the couch as she scoots to the side. “Come sit with me, hon.” 

“Are you sure?” Aubrey asks, hesitating by the edge of the couch. 

“Sit,” the woman commands playfully and Aubrey smiles as she slides onto the couch next to Stacie’s mom and curls her legs up under her. 

“Why aren’t you in bed?” Debbie asks softly as she turns on the television. 

“Why aren’t you?” Aubrey shoots back before she realises who she’s talking to and her eyes widen, horrified. “Oh god, I’m so sorry, I—” 

“Stop, Aubrey,” Debbie says with a quick laugh, patting Aubrey’s thigh softly to soothe her. “You don’t have anything to apologise for,” she explains and Aubrey softens even if she doesn’t look entirely convinced, so Debbie rubs the blonde’s leg again and says, “I’ve been working night shifts lately so my sleeping schedule is all over the place.” 

Aubrey smiles softly and Debbie leans sideways to bump Aubrey’s shoulder with her own. 

“Now you.” 

“I’ve been having trouble falling asleep,” Aubrey says with a nonchalant shrug. “If I stay in bed, I just toss and turn and then Stacie wakes up and gets worried and then neither of us gets much sleep, so…”  

Aubrey gestures towards the living room and Debbie nods in understanding. 

They’re quiet as Debbie clicks through the channels, looking for something to watch, and settles on a re-run of Jeopardy. The room is still as they watch, Aubrey occasionally mumbling an answer under her breath but Deborah can tell that she’s bracing herself for something, that she’s gathering up the courage to say something so Debbie stays quiet and waits for it. 

“I was okay with it,” Aubrey starts slowly. “I know that sounds ridiculous and it took me years to come to terms with but I was really okay with how he was and how he treated me because I just figured he didn’t have it in him. I figured he was just one of those people who wasn’t made to be affectionate and loving.” 

Debbie’s heart breaks when she hears how completely convinced Aubrey sounds and she asks her next question even though she already knows the answer because as much as she tries to pretend it’s not the case, Aubrey’s very bad at hiding her emotions. 

“So what’s changed?” 

“Bella.” Aubrey shifts as she shifts her legs out from under her to bend them and plant her feet on the couch, wrapping her arms around her legs and dropping her chin to her knees. “She’s such a charmer,” Aubrey says, smile tugging at her lips as if she can’t help it, but then her smile hardens, brows twitch. “She makes people love her and he loves her. He spends time with her and he laughs with her and he enjoys playing with her and…” 

“And Bella has the relationship with your father that you never had.” 

Aubrey turns her head sharply at that, eyes panicked as she meets Debbie’s eyes. “I’m so glad, I really, really am. I’m so relieved that they’re bonding because I never would have wanted her to go through what I did. I love that Bella loves spending time with him and I don’t want to take that away from her, ever. I want her to have this, I’m just…” 

“Jealous,” Deborah says plainly and Aubrey’s teeth clamp down on her lips as her eyelashes flutter and Deborah knows Aubrey never, in a million years, would have said the word out loud herself but Aubrey nods, a gesture so small that Deborah can almost mistake it for a twitch. 

Aubrey turns away from Debbie, puts her chin back on her knees and when she speaks again, her whispered voice cracks, “I thought he didn’t have it in him.” 

“Come here, sweetheart,” Debbie urges, patting her lap when she sees Aubrey trying to hold back tears. The blonde shakes her head urgently and Deborah pats her legs again. “Aubrey.” 

Aubrey finally gives in and slides down, dropping her head onto Debbie’s lap and turning her face into the woman’s legs. Debbie reaches out and undoes Aubrey’s top knot, threads her fingers soothingly through blonde locks as Aubrey softly cries. Debbie’s heart hurts at how much Aubrey’s crying, at how much it seems like she aches for parental affection. 

“It’s okay to be happy for Bella and resentful at the same time,” she says when Aubrey’s sobs start quieting down. 

Aubrey shifts onto her back, stretching out her legs over the arm of the couch to look up at Debbie and the girl looks almost guilty as she whispers, “Doesn’t that make me a bad mother?” 

Debbie smiles wryly as she tenderly pushes hair away from Aubrey’s forehead. “Sweetheart, that makes you human.” 

Aubrey chuckles through a breathless sob as she reaches up to wipe at her wet cheeks. 

“It’s okay to feel guilty and jealous but happy and grateful at the same time. That’s completely normal,” Debbie adds, wanting to put it out there so that Aubrey doesn’t feel like any of her emotions are irrational and it seems to work because Aubrey nods softly to acknowledge the words. 

“I’m always here for you, honey, if you ever want to talk about anything because believe it or not, I’ve had a lot of the same feelings you’re having,” Deborah says as she continues to run her fingers through Aubrey’s hair and the girl looks up inquisitively. 

“Really?” 

Debbie nods but doesn’t expand on her words. 

“I know I’ve never said it to you and I didn’t think I needed to,” Debbie starts, and Aubrey frowns, a little lost as she looks up at the woman, finds Stacie’s mother staring down at her with a serious but meaningful expression. “But based on the past few days I’m re-evaluating that decision.” 

A smile flickers across Debbie’s face as she sees Aubrey’s confusion written plainly across her face so she keeps threading her fingers through Aubrey’s hair to keep her at ease. “You’re in love with my daughter and you’re a mother to my grandchild and you’re always helping my son and in the past few years you’ve become part of the family. You’re part of our family now, Aubrey, and I love you so much.” 

Debbie smiles softly but Aubrey’s frozen even as her eyes rapidly fill with tears, so Deborah leans down and softly kisses Aubrey’s forehead and Aubrey has seen her do it countless times with Stacie and Bella and even Andy, and she’d been on the receiving end a few times but it had always been quick and she’d never considered exactly what it meant until right now and she lets her tears fall, sobbing again, harder than she had before. 

“I mean it,” Debbie whispers and Aubrey curls into her, hides her face in the soft fabric of Debbie’s sweater as she cries. Debbie soothingly runs her hand over Aubrey’s head, as she coos, “It’s okay, honey.” 

“That means the world to me,” Aubrey finally manages, her voice cracking and her eyes still filled with tears. Debbie reaches out and uses the sleeve of her sweater to wipe Aubrey’s cheeks dry as she smiles tenderly down at the blonde.

“If I’d known you were a little scarce, I would have started telling you I love you a lot sooner,” Debbie says lightly and Aubrey laughs shakily as she starts calming down, breaths slowing back to normal. “And while we’re on the topic of family, you can call me grandma.” 

“What?” Aubrey asks, sniffling as she shifts to lay on her back again, head still in Debbie’s lap. 

“You can call me grandma,” she repeats, sees comprehension flit in Aubrey’s eyes. 

“Stacie’s not allowed to call you grandma,” Aubrey points out, wiping at her eyes to get the lingering moisture off her eyelashes. 

“You’re not Stacie,” Debbie points out cheekily. “And when she says it, it’s an insult.” 

“I like it,” Aubrey whispers and she can’t help but smile when Debbie grins widely. 

“You can use it until you and Stacie get married,” Debbie teases and Aubrey tries not to smile but she can’t suppress it. 

“I knew we weren’t going to get out of your questioning today,” Aubrey supplies playfully but she doesn’t refute the words. 

She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes for a while to completely wind down. 

“Feeling a little better?” Debbie asks and Aubrey nods, slowly blinking her eyes open. 

“Thank you,” Aubrey whispers. 

“Anytime, sweetheart,” Debbie says, leaning down to press a lingering kiss to Aubrey’s forehead again. 

Chapter Text

“Breakfast time, Andy,” Aubrey calls out as she leads Bella down the hall with her hands on her shoulders and they’re halfway down the stairs when Andy replies, “Coming!” 

When they reach the kitchen they split up, Bella clambering onto the bar stool at the kitchen island while Aubrey starts pulling ingredients from the fridge and cupboards.

“Can you peel these two potatoes for me, baby?” Aubrey asks, setting down two potatoes in front of Bella and handing her the peeler. “Careful with your fingers.” 

Bella nods, reaching for the potato peeler just as Andy trudges into the kitchen. 

“Morning,” he says with a smile, dropping onto the high chair next to Bella and ruffling her hair. 

“Good morning,” Aubrey says with a smile thrown over her shoulder as she turns on the coffee machine. “Sleep well?” 

“Yeah, I was out,” Andy says. He looks sideways when Bella grunts softly, the potato rolling away from her and he catches it just in time before it drops from the counter and hands it back to Bella who smiles up at him gratefully. “Can I help with anything?” Andy offers, looking up at Aubrey. 

“Can you whisk six eggs for me?” Aubrey asks as she starts laying out bacon in the pan. 

“Sure,” Andy says, getting up from his chair and getting the eggs from the fridge, opening the drawer next to the stove for a whisk and taking a bowl Aubrey hands him. “Thanks.” 

“I’m done!” Bella calls out, staring down at the slightly patchily peeled potatoes with pride. 

“Well done,” Aubrey says as she takes the potatoes and quickly slices them thinly. “Throw away the peels and Andy’s eggshells and then wash your hands, please.” 

“Yes, mommy,” Bella says with a smile as she squirms off the chair and Aubrey watches her go with a soft smile on her face, turning back to the stove when the bacon starts sizzling. “Can I have milk?” 

“Sure,” Aubrey says, moving over to the fridge and getting milk and cream, pouring the milk into a cup for Bella and measuring out the cream before returning both to the fridge. 

Andy watches, mesmerised as Aubrey flits around the kitchen, setting the glass of milk in front of Bella, removing the bacon from the pan and then adding the potatoes in the pan. 

“Done?” Aubrey asks, hand mid-air to reach for the bowl of whisked eggs and Andy realises he’s been caught staring. 

“Yeah.” 

“Thank you,” Aubrey says as she turns away, tossing spinach and some vegetables into the pan before mixing in cream with the eggs. She adds the bacon and pours the egg mixture over the ingredients, adding cheese and lowering the heat and Andy starts talking before he realises what he’s doing. 

“If you want, I can hang out with Bella today,” he blurts out and Aubrey shoots him a puzzled look over her shoulder before turning back to mix everything in the pan together so he turns to Bella and cheerfully asks, “How’d you like to hang out with me all day, Bells?” 

“Yeah!” Bella says, looking up from her glass of milk. 

“What?” Aubrey asks in confusion when she finally turns to face them. 

“You and Stace are both full-time moms and I know you don’t get a lot of time together,” Andy explains with a shrug. “You could use a day off.” 

“Andy…” Aubrey says softly, a tender smile on her face as she gets the full picture. “It’s very nice of you to offer but you don’t have to.” 

“Naw, I want to,” Andy says, looking away from Aubrey’s grateful eyes. He runs a hand through his hair but it sends the locks standing up in several directions and makes him look even more unkempt. 

The coffee machine beeps and Aubrey turns to it to fix herself a cup, considering Andy’s offer. 

“Do you want some coffee?” she offers but Andy’s already shaking his head. 

“I don’t drink caffeinated beverages,” he says and Aubrey turns to him with an odd look. 

“You drink hot chocolate,” she points out, trying to hide the smile behind her cup of coffee. 

“I’m strict but I’m not made of stone,” Andy teases and Aubrey laughs softly at that. 

“Do you want something else to drink?” Aubrey offers and he shakes his head. 

“My offer was serious, by the way.” 

“You don’t want to be doing better things with your only Saturday off practice?” Aubrey asks. 

“As if chillin’ with Bella isn’t a million times better than running drills or studying,” Andy says with a laugh and Aubrey has to give him that. “I can ask mom to watch me watch Bella if that’s what you’re worried about.” 

“It’s not and I fully believe in your Bella-watching abilities,” Aubrey says, and Andy looks at her, surprised by the confident words. “If you’re sure…” 

“Go out and have fun for as long as you want,” Andy says with an awkward waving motion of his hand. “We’ll be good.” 

“Thanks Andy,” Aubrey says with a sincere smile, glancing quickly at the pan before turning to go. 

“I didn’t mean go now now,” Andy quickly interjects, leaning up from the bar stool to look at the pan with light trepidation. “I don’t know how to finish that.” 

Aubrey laughs, shakes her head. “It needs a few minutes, I was just going to see if Stacie was done showering.” 

“Oh,” Andy says with a sheepish smile, sitting back down. “Yeah cool.” 

“Good morning,” Debbie says as she follows William into the study, closes the door behind her and leans against it. 

“Good morning,” William says, turning to Debbie in surprise because he hadn’t heard her following him and finds a wry smile on her face. 

“I have to ask you something and I’d like it if you answered me honestly,” Debbie says softly and he tenses, already uneasy at the plainly spoken words. 

“Go ahead,” he says, straightens, steeling himself. 

“How much of my conversation with Aubrey did you hear last night?” 

He’s shocked by the words but he’s very good at hiding it, not a single muscle jumping or clenching, and it’s in the lack of reaction that Debbie knows she’s got him. 

“I beg your pardon?” 

“How much of my conversation with Aubrey did you hear last night?” Debbie repeats plainly. The urge to cross her arms is strong but she doesn’t want this to be a confrontation, and she’s familiar enough with men like Aubrey’s father to know that going in guns blazing is going to get her nowhere. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, using his low, gruff voice that almost always works to deter and immediately sees that it doesn’t work when Debbie’s expression doesn’t budge and she sighs softly. 

“Bill, I know you heard some of it,” she says pointedly and something in his stance, in the set of his shoulder, slumps. “I just want to know what you heard.” 

His jaw sets as he considers his answer. 

“Does it matter?” he finally says, and Debbie’s eyebrows knit together in confusion or concern, he’s not too sure. “Does it matter what I heard?” 

“It does if it means you’ve only gotten half the story,” Debbie explains. “If I need to set the record straight on anything, I’d like to. I wouldn’t want you to try to fill in the blanks yourself and come up with something that isn’t the absolute truth.” 

“I heard all of it,” William says, unflinching as Debbie’s face goes slack. “Would you have handled the conversation differently if you’d known I was there?” 

“I did know you were there,” Debbie says with a wry smile. 

“The question still stands.” 

“I wouldn’t have but Aubrey might not have said what she did,” Debbie finally relents, moving further into the study to drop into one of the chairs by the desk with a long sigh. “Those words were never intended for your ears.” 

“If she had an issue I would have hoped she’d come to me with it.” 

Debbie looks at him in disbelief, easing up a little bit when she sees the hard set of William’s jaw. 

“This isn’t a territorial dispute, Bill. I would never want to replace you or your late wife,” Debbie says softly. “She just needed someone to talk to.” 

“Are you going to tell her?” he asks then, voice low and the only sign Debbie gets that he’s ill at ease is that he’s fiddling with his wedding ring. 

“No. I’m not going to say anything to her because it’s not my place, this is between you and her.” 

The relief that fills him makes William feel a little guilty. 

“But I will say this to you,” Debbie starts, her voice a little sharper even though she remains relaxed in the chair. “You can’t shower your granddaughter with love and affection and not extend the same courtesy to your daughter. You’re creating unnecessary resentment issues. Those kids are going to get married one day and they might have more kids and I would hate for Aubrey to have to carry this around with her.” 

“She thinks I don’t love her,” William says then and he’s not sure if it’s a question or a statement but he knows he’s right when Debbie doesn’t immediately answer, grimaces as she tries to find the right way to respond to him. 

“Have you ever told her?” Debbie asks carefully. 

“I’m her father,” he says strongly, sharply. “She knows I love her.” 

Debbie doesn’t say anything, but her silence speaks volumes. 

After they clear away breakfast and Debbie and Bella are washing the dishes, Stacie blazes into the living room just as Andy’s about to sit down on the couch. 

She wraps her arms around him and hugs him tightly from behind, refusing to let go as he protests and groans, “What are you doing, freak?” 

“You’re a good baby brother,” Stacie whispers into his ear and Andy immediately softens and stops fighting her. “I love you.”

Stacie squeezes him one last time before letting him go and Andy drops onto the couch, not meeting her eyes as he shrugs. 

“It’s nothing,” he says. 

“It’s not nothing,” Stacie insists, staring at him with a soft smile and patiently waiting until Andy sighs and gives in, looking up at her. “Thank you.” 

“Go enjoy your day with Aubrey,” Andy says, trying not to show how much Stacie’s gratitude means. 

“I’m going,” Stacie says with a final pat of her hand on his arm before leaving. 

She finds Aubrey standing in their walk-in closet, rifling through her clothes for something to wear. 

“Your dad was cool with it?” Stacie asks quickly. 

“Yeah. Your mom?” 

“She said to have fun and then asked what we were gonna do.” 

“What are we gonna do?” 

“I don’t know. Spa?” 

“On the Saturday after Thanksgiving?” Aubrey says, shooting her a pointed look. 

“Damn,” Stacie admits, walking behind her to reach for some clothes. 

“What if we go to the Wharf and just figure it out from there?” Aubrey suggests. 

“There has to be something to do there, right?” Stacie says, stepping into a pair of dark wash jeans but then Aubrey turns to her with a totally lost look and a shrug. 

“I hope so.” 

“We’re so bad at this,” Stacie says with a pitiful laugh. 

“So bad,” Aubrey laughs. 

“When did we become this couple?” Stacie asks and Aubrey shakes her head, shrugs. 

“Is it weird that I don’t want to really do anything?” 

Stacie looks up to tease her about something but stops still at the sight of Aubrey taking off her underwear and bending down to pick it up, reaching for another pair and putting it on and Stacie is unabashed in her ogling as she heatedly trails her gaze down Aubrey’s smooth legs. 

“Stace?” Aubrey says when Stacie goes too long without an answer and she twists to look at her as she adjusts her underwear and smiles coyly at the sight of Stacie frozen, staring at her and lower lip held firmly between her teeth. 

“Earth to Stacie,” Aubrey teases as she steps closer and buttons and zips up Stacie’s jeans for her before ghosting her fingers along Stacie’s hips, around and up her back. 

“You know what I want to do?” Stacie finally says, snapping out of her daze, reaching up and tucking Aubrey’s hair behind her ears. 

“Tell me.” 

“Lock us in here and have hot, marathon sex with you,” Stacie confesses darkly, grins when she sees Aubrey’s smile twitch and a flush creep up her cheeks. 

“We’d just have to get Bella, Andy, my father, and your mother out of the house for that to happen,” Aubrey counters and Stacie pouts softly. 

“We could convince them to go out?” Stacie tries to suggest but she doesn’t sound too confident in her own plan, the last bit of hope fading when Aubrey shoots her an unconvinced look. 

“Let’s just go out and try to have a good time,” Aubrey says, mustering up some fake cheer and Stacie has to smile at how determined she’s trying to be leans, in to quickly kiss Aubrey. “And if all else fails, we can sneak into the poolhouse.” 

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Stacie mumbles encouragingly but Aubrey just leans in and kisses her more firmly. “I’m glad we’re in agreement on the sex thing.” 

“Totally.” 

After strolling hand in hand across the waterfront and stopping at several small shops but not finding anything concrete to do, they’re making their way back to the car when Stacie stops in front of a microbrewery advertising a cider tasting session. 

“Could be fun?” Aubrey says as they both read the sign outside before turning to each other. 

“Why not?” Stacie says, shrugging. “What’s the worst that could happen?” 

Aubrey shrugs as well and lets herself be led into the microbrewery, something she regrets when they emerge from the building two hours later, considerably less sober than when they’d first gone in. 

“Well that was a mistake,” Aubrey says resolutely, nodding once and then blinking slowly, fingers curled firmly around Stacie’s upper arm to prevent her from swaying. 

Stacie really wants to laugh at her but she knows she’s not doing much better and Aubrey seems to be having a lot of faith in Stacie’s ability to keep both of them upright. 

“Bench,” she slurs, points and Aubrey turns her head to look at the bench, nodding once as they slowly make their way over to it, solidly holding onto each other to stay balanced. 

As soon as they’re sitting, Aubrey presses closer, arms looping around Stacie’s neck as she starts pressing light kisses to her skin. 

“Is this why you said cider tasting was a mistake? Because you’re a horny drunk?” 

“I am not!” Aubrey protests immediately, a little too loudly and attracting the attention of some passersby, causing Aubrey to bury her face in Stacie’s neck in shame. “I am not a horny drunk, you take that back,” she says strongly but it’s muffled by Stacie’s skin and by the fact that her voice isn’t exactly steady as she says the words. 

“Sorry, lemme rephrase,” Stacie says with a sharp giggle. “You’re a touchy-feely drunk.” Stacie grins in self-satisfaction at her joke, her chuckle getting caught in her throat when Aubrey bites into her neck sharply, teeth tugging at her skin. “Ow, Bree, what the fuck?” Stacie hisses. 

Aubrey’s tongue soothes over the bite but when she pulls away, the skin is bright red and already showing signs of bruising and now it’s Aubrey who’s smiling in self-satisfaction.  

“You’re kinda proving my point for me,” Stacie says petulantly, crossing her arms even as Aubrey leans in to latch her lips onto Stacie’s neck again, nipping and suckling softly, making her way to Stacie’s jaw and over her cheek to her lips. 

“Did that hurt?” Aubrey teases when Stacie refuses to kiss her. 

“Yes!” 

“Did you not like it?”

“No,” Stacie says but Aubrey can hear in the shake of her voice that she’s lying. 

“I’m sorry, baby,” Aubrey whispers, moving her lips to Stacie’s ear, arm winding its way around Stacie’s waist to tug her closer. “How can I make it up to you?” 

Aubrey’s pleading, raspy voice makes her shiver and combined with Aubrey’s lips brushing against the shell of her ear and her fingers trailing patterns along the inside of Stacie’s wrist break her. Stacie really, really tries not to give in, closes her eyes and breathes deeply and she’s a smart woman but she’s drunk so she can blame it on that for not remembering that cutting off one sense heightens the others and suddenly Aubrey’s fingers on her skin make her flush with warmth. 

Aubrey knows the exact moment Stacie gives in, and Stacie knows it because she can feel the blonde smiling where her lips are pressed to the skin just behind her ear. 

Stacie whines softly and up until that point everything had been moving so slowly, Aubrey teasing her in a languid pace so when Stacie turns and slips a hand around Aubrey’s neck to keep her close as she twists her head to press her mouth against the blonde’s lips, Aubrey’s caught by surprise at the sudden flurry of movement. 

Aubrey’s lips part in a gasp and Stacie takes full advantage of it, pushing her tongue into Aubrey’s mouth and kissing her deeply, not caring about their surroundings as she tugs Aubrey closer. 

“Cider tasting was a mistake,” Stacie finally says, pulling away with a gasp when Aubrey’s fingers brush against the bite on her neck. 

“Because we’re touchy-feely drunks,” Aubrey says with a breathless giggle. 

Stacie nods, leaning in to kiss Aubrey again, hand fisted in blonde strands as she cants Aubrey’s head back for better access. Aubrey moans at the roughness of the action, her own fingers sliding under Stacie’s open coat and curling into the waistband of Stacie’s jeans, nails scraping against soft skin. 

“We have to go home,” Stacie says frantically between kisses. 

“We drove,” Aubrey counters, pushing up against Stacie’s body. 

“Fuck,” Stacie whines. 

“I’d like to,” Aubrey flirts, lips moving down along Stacie’s cheek and pressing butterfly kisses to her skin. 

“We could go to a hotel,” Stacie suggests but that’s clearly the wrong thing when Aubrey pulls away with a frown. 

“No.” 

“Why not?” 

“We live twenty minutes away,” Aubrey says. 

“We’re too drunk to drive,” Stacie argues. “Baby, c’mon,” Stacie says with a soft whine, hand sliding up to grip Aubrey’s thigh and shift her closer as she leans in to brush her lips just under Aubrey’s ear. 

“It’s still light out. They’re going to think we want a room just to have sex,” Aubrey whines, leaning into Stacie. 

“We do want a room just to have sex,” Stacie says cheekily, but then their moment is ruined when somebody walks past them and wolf whistles loudly. 

“I’m not going to pay to have sex with you in a hotel when we live twenty minutes away,” Aubrey says as she scoots backwards, already missing Stacie’s body heat but not wanting to give the people at the waterfront a show. 

“Why not?” Stacie grumbles, crosses her arms as she glares at Aubrey. 

“It’s sleazy.” 

“What, suddenly you’re too good to fuck me in a hotel?” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Aubrey asks, turning to her with an affronted look. 

“We had sex in Denver in a hotel.” 

“That was different,” Aubrey says with a dismissive wave of the hand. 

“How?” 

“We were already at the hotel.” 

“That makes no sense,” Stacie says, brain still a little muddled from the alcohol but knowing that she’s right. 

“It totally does,” Aubrey says with a sharp nod. “We weren’t there just to have sex.” 

“We went up to your room just to have sex.” 

“We went up to my room to have dessert,” Aubrey points out and Stacie grins, leaning in under the guise of kissing her cheek but instead brushing her lips against the shell of Aubrey’s ear. 

“You were staring at me like I was a snack that you were gonna take a bite out of.” 

“You were, and I did,” Aubrey says, smug pride colouring her tone and causing Stacie to lean back and shoot her an impressed look. “But we also did have dessert.” 

“So let’s do it again, for old times’ sake,” Stacie tries to say with a soft pout. 

“No.” 

“What if we go to a really nice hotel?” 

“We can go to our really nice bed at home,” Aubrey says and Stacie groans. 

“We can’t drive.” 

“We’ll take a cab.” 

“It will be just as expensive to take a cab home as it is to get a hotel room,” Stacie argues. “Plus, we’ll have to come get my car tomorrow.” 

“I’m not gonna pay 200 dollars to have sex with you for a few hours when we can go home and have sex until we drop,” Aubrey says and Stacie can’t help but smile at Aubrey’s insistence. 

“Until we drop, huh?” Stacie asks teasingly as she arches an eyebrow. 

Aubrey rolls her eyes but Stacie can see a blush creep up on her neck, her red cheeks darkening in a way that can’t be blamed on the alcohol coursing through her veins. 

“We can’t exactly go home tomorrow morning,” Aubrey says but Stacie’s still grinning at her. 

“You just want to cuddle naked with me afterwards and not get up,” Stacie says.

“So what if I do?” Aubrey shoots back, arching an eyebrow haughtily. 

“I’ll remind you that there are 3 extra people in our house. We can’t go home now, it’s not even two o'clock. If we get a room we can stay there for a couple of hours, have some fun, and then go home and cuddle.” 

“We’re going to need to get a cab anyway because we won’t be sober in a few hours.” 

“What if I offer to pay for the room?” Stacie argues, fingertips ghosting across Aubrey’s neck but the woman jerks back at the words. 

“You were gonna make me pay for it?” Aubrey asks. 

“I was going to pay for it with our joint account but now I’m offering to pay for it all by myself,” Stacie flirts. “Come on,” Stacie urges, leaning in and brushing her lips against Aubrey’s ear. “When’s the last time we got drunk and had loud marathon sex?” 

Aubrey shivers and Stacie knows she’s going to win the argument, feeling proud of herself at her skills in negotiating with the alcohol-strengthened stubbornness that is Aubrey Posen. 

“Come have super hot hotel sex with me for a few hours, baby,” Stacie drawls, fingers curling tightly around the inside of Aubrey’s thigh and sliding higher, helpfully concealed from the rest of the world by Aubrey’s open coat. “You’re so stubborn,” Stacie murmurs. 

“I am not,” Aubrey fights, realising the catch-22 in answering Stacie’s words but not able to let her get away with it. 

“Then why am I begging you for sex?” Stacie taunts. “I’m offering you multiple orgasms.” 

“Stop talking,” Aubrey says breathlessly and Stacie’s smile widens, knows she’s got her. 

“Baby, I want to make you scream so much you lose your voice,” Stacie says, raking her fingers down the inside of Aubrey’s jean-clad thigh and revelling in the full-body shiver it produces as Aubrey’s eyes slide closed. 

“Stop,” Aubrey says, voice unsteady. 

“Hm?” Stacie hums. 

“If you don’t stop touching me I won’t fucking make it to a hotel,” Aubrey says lowly, eyes snapping open to shoot Stacie a knowing look and Stacie almost chokes on her breath at the clear want in her eyes. 

“Do I need to give you a minute?” Stacie asks with a badly suppressed smile, already starting to pull away. 

“Yes.” 

“You know my dad is dead, right?” Andy says out of nowhere and William finds himself turning to the boy with a puzzled look. 

“Pardon?” 

“My dad. He died when I was five,” Andy supplies but William’s expression remains unchanged. 

“I know your father passed away, yes.” 

Andy nods slowly as he makes eye contact with Aubrey’s father. 

“So like, I didn’t grow up with a dad. Not really. I barely remember him but Stace always tells me stories and stuff,” Andy says, glancing over his shoulder to see if Bella is still in the kitchen with his mom before turning back. “And it sucks that he’s dead and that I never really got to know him but it must suck a lot more to have a dad who’s alive but doesn’t want to spend time with you,” Andy says bluntly. 

When Andy looks at Aubrey’s father, he’s staring at Andy in complete confusion and Andy sighs when he realises he’s going to have to spell this out and what he had originally planned on being a small, passing comment is now going to become an actual conversation with Aubrey’s scary father.  

“I’m sorry if I’m overstepping, sir, but you gotta be less of a flake,” Andy says, raising his eyebrows to get his point across. 

“A… flake? As in, snow?” William asks, frown deepening. 

“No, like, flaking out on stuff, y’know, cancelling and being unreliable.” 

William finally connects the dots and his frown shifts into a more steely look, eyes narrowing at the boy. “I am not unreliable.” 

“Yeah, ya are,” Andy says, eyes going wide and shooting Aubrey’s father a wry smile. “You and Aubrey don’t really talk which is weird because all my family does is talk but it’s pretty obvious you’re a big flake and I don’t know if she tells you but it’s not cool and she deserves so much better.” 

“This is ridiculous,” William grumbles and he shakes his head, getting up and ready to end the nonsensical conversation. “What goes on between my daughter and I is none of your business.” 

“Why do you think we’re all here for Thanksgiving and not in Philly?” Andy blurts out, his mouth getting away from his brain. 

“What the devil are you talking about?” William finally thunders, already a little on edge from his conversation earlier with Stacie’s mother and now having to deal with Andy’s cockiness. 

“We always spend Thanksgiving in Philadelphia but they weren’t sure you’d show up even though you said you would because you cancelled like the day before Thanksgiving last year. I would've liked to spend Thanksgiving at home with my friends but we’re here because you’re flaky and I know it’s none of my business but I just thought you should know that in case you didn’t already,” he explains, trying not to fidget or give away how awkward he’s finding this whole thing so he squares his shoulders and doesn’t duck his head even though he desperately wants to. 

Andy’s earlier statement starts making a lot more sense and William prides himself on his level temper but something about the boy’s blatant lack of shame or compunction in dragging his supposed bad qualities into the light rubs William the wrong way and he can’t help but address it. 

“It is none of your business,” he chastises, squaring his jaw and standing up rigidly in an unconscious effort to assert authority that Andy seems completely immune to. “And it was your choice to spend Thanksgiving here, I am not to blame for your choices.” 

“Yeah, no, you’re totally right,” Andy cuts in with a nod and a quick shrug. “My bad.” 

William opens his mouth to chastise him some more, a dark look on his features when Bella comes bounding into the living room with a smile, pausing and glancing worriedly between Andy and her grandfather when she sees the tense looks on their faces. 

“Uncle Andy?” she asks and he turns to her, plasters a smile on his face. 

“What’s up, Bells?” Andy asks, glancing at Aubrey’s father out of the corner of his eye and feeling his heart beating a mile a minute in his chest at the still angry expression he finds there. 

“Can we watch Moana?” 

“Of course!” Andy says with a little too much enthusiasm, the true weight of what he’s just said to Aubrey’s father finally hitting him and he springs up from the couch to reach for the tv remote. 

Bella cheers as Andy puts the movie on, crawling onto the couch to curl up next to Andy and they both only glance up when William excuses himself and leaves without another word. 

The sun is starting to set and it casts a golden glow over the whole room due to the open curtains. 

Aubrey’s drawing lazy patterns on Stacie’s back, face turned into brown hair as Stacie nuzzles the corner of Aubrey’s jaw, occasionally peppering kisses there. 

“I love you,” Aubrey says softly. “So much.” 

Something in the tone of her voice makes Stacie lift her head to look at Aubrey, finds her brow creased and her mouth set and worry rages through Stacie. 

“Nothing’s wrong,” Aubrey says quickly, seeing and feeling Stacie tense. “I just—” 

Aubrey’s voice cracks and Stacie understands, her concern melting away as she shifts higher, fingers curling around Aubrey’s hip and pressing against the skin insistently, anchoring Aubrey to her. 

“I know, Aubrey,” Stacie whispers, pressing her forehead against Aubrey’s. “I know.” 

“You are everything to me,” Aubrey whispers, her hand sliding up along Stacie’s spine to curl around the back of her neck, clinging onto Stacie to try to stem the overflow of emotions she’s feeling. “You make me feel so safe and so loved and I love you so much, Stacie.” 

Aubrey closes her eyes as she takes in a deep breath, fingers tightening against Stacie’s scalp when Stacie kisses her eyelids and then her forehead before gently pressing her own forehead there. 

“I’m never going anywhere, Aubrey,” Stacie says, reaching up to wipe away one of Aubrey’s rogue tears. “You’re my home,” she whispers. 

Aubrey opens her eyes when she feels Stacie’s fingers trembling against her skin, tilts her head to capture Stacie’s lips in a slow kiss. 

“I love you,” Stacie murmurs against her lips and Aubrey sighs, corners of her mouth tugging up in a smile. “What brought this on?” 

“Us, here, now, I’m just really happy,” Aubrey says and it doesn’t look like she’s going to cry anymore and Stacie feels a lot lighter, a lot less like she’s spiralling down into a wave of emotions so she smiles cheekily and Aubrey knows that teasing pull. “What?” 

“You sure it’s not just the alcohol and great sex?” Stacie asks and Aubrey lifts her chin in defiance. 

“I’m not drunk anymore,” Aubrey protests, sighing happily when Stacie shifts away and onto her side, wrapping an arm around Aubrey and pulling her closer. 

“A couple of orgasms will do that to you,” Stacie comments, nuzzling the corner of Aubrey’s jaw. 

“I’m not sure that’s how sobriety works,” Aubrey flirts back, twisting her head to shoot Stacie a smile as her hand reaches behind her, trailing down Stacie’s side, over her hip to curl around the back of her thigh to move it closer. 

“Whatever,” Stacie comments, lets Aubrey squirm and shift until they’re pressed flush against each other. “I was thinking…” 

“Yeah?” 

“We should at least try to go out and have a nice dinner later,” Stacie says, fingertips ghosting along Aubrey’s skin. “Do an adult activity.” 

“We’ve been doing adult activities all afternoon,” Aubrey says, voice low. 

“Get your head out of the gutter,” Stacie says and she doesn’t need to look at Aubrey’s face to know there’s a challenging set to her mouth. 

“You’re saying that to me right now?” Aubrey asks, looking down at the hand cupping her breast. 

“I don’t mean adult activity like sex I mean adult activity like…” 

“No kid meals on the menu,” Aubrey fills in the blanks and Stacie nods. 

“Exactly.” 

“Counter argument.” 

“Tell me.” 

“We order room service and that way we won’t have to get out of bed or dressed and we can stay exactly where we are,” Aubrey says.

“I have a counter counter argument.” 

“Go ahead.” 

“We go have a fancy dinner, come back here for more sex and cuddling and go home at like eleven and just go straight to bed. Plus we’ll definitely be sober by then.” 

“I feel guilty staying out so late. We’ll have been gone all day.” 

“Andy said to stay out as late as we want.” 

“Yeah but it’s like we're taking advantage,” Aubrey says and Stacie can see how she might think that but she still shrugs. 

“Thing is, if we go home after dinner in a taxi, it’ll definitely look like we were up to no good.” 

“But we are up to no good,” Aubrey says teasingly over her shoulder and Stacie laughs, arm tightening around Aubrey as they fall into a long, easy silence. 

“Hey,” Stacie says softly after a while, getting her attention. “I never knew you had a bunch of photo albums in the study.”

“They’re from when I was a baby,” Aubrey answers, her voice low and Stacie briefly feels guilty about interrupting her almost falling asleep but then Aubrey drums her fingers against Stacie’s forearm. “How’d you find them?” 

“Your dad was looking through one of them on Wednesday and he pointed out the rest,” Stacie explains. 

“Did you look through them?” Aubrey asks softly. 

“Just the one he was looking at,” Stacie says, suddenly worried that she’d crossed a line. “Is that okay?” 

“Of course,” Aubrey says, twisting her neck to look at her but Stacie’s face is pressed against her shoulder so Aubrey shifts onto her back before turning onto her other side, wrapping an arm around Stacie’s waist. 

“You never showed them to me so I didn’t want to overstep,” Stacie explains when she sees Aubrey’s imploring look. 

“You’re not, I really don’t mind.” 

“Why haven’t you shown them to me, though?” Stacie asks, reaching up to brush hair away from Aubrey’s face and smiling when the woman leans into her touch, eyes fluttering closed. 

“I don’t know. They’re all from when I was super young and that was ages ago.” 

“There aren’t any of you when you were older?” 

Aubrey shakes her head. “My mom made the photo albums so…” 

She shrugs then and Stacie feels a heavy weight settle in her chest. 

Even with her eyes closed, Aubrey can tell Stacie’s tense so she slowly opens her eyes, fingers reaching up to brush over Stacie’s furrowed brow. 

“There are pictures of me when I’m older, they’re just not in an album or anything,” Aubrey says softly.

“So all those albums are only up until the age of four?” Stacie asks, remembering the whole row of photo albums she hadn’t ever noticed before. 

“Yup.” 

“That’s a lot of pictures in four years,” Stacie breathes and Aubrey laughs softly, shifting closer and sighing softly when Stacie tucks her into her, Aubrey’s lips pressing a quick kiss to Stacie’s throat. 

“My mom liked taking pictures. Some of them are…” 

“Bad?” Stacie asks with a smile. 

“Over the top,” Aubrey corrects. “There’s a few of when I was three and she put me in a huge dress and did my hair.” 

“Like, Toddlers and Tiaras?” Stacie asks, her amusement growing by the second. 

“Exactly like that.” Stacie looks dazed with glee and Aubrey chuckles. “I’m pretty sure if my mom were still around when I was growing up, I’d have been a pageant girl.” 

“No,” Stacie breathes, eyes going wide. 

“Mhm-hmm,” Aubrey nods. “Family tradition.” 

“Oh, man. What I wouldn’t give to see you in a pageant outfit with your hair all done up,” Stacie says wistfully. 

“The higher the hair, the closer to God,” Aubrey drawls and Stacie feels a little dirty for being so turned on by her twangy voice. 

“Do they actually say that?” she chokes out, trying to move the conversation away from Aubrey’s accent, brought out only when she wants to goad or taunt Stacie. 

“Yes,” Aubrey says, smiling wickedly when she feels how warm Stacie’s getting. “My mom did pageants, so…” 

“I saw a picture of her, actually,” Stacie says and the teasing mood melts away to make way for a strange sense of calm. 

“Yeah?” 

“Mhm-hmm,” Stacie says, fingertips dragging along Aubrey’s spine. “I thought I was looking at a picture of you.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I saw the picture and thought it was just a misplaced picture of you. I mean, it was a picture of you, but you were the baby. If it hadn’t been for the caption underneath I would’ve one hundred percent believed I was looking at a picture of you holding a baby.” Aubrey doesn’t say anything, so she continues. “You look so much like your mom, it’s insane.” 

“I guess,” Aubrey says with a shrug. 

“You don’t think so?” 

“I don’t really see it, but my grandparents used to say the same thing when I was growing up,” Aubrey says.

“Your grandparents never urged you to do pageants?” Stacie asks, forcing a lighter voice because she desperately wants to get rid of that melancholic tone that sticks to Aubrey’s words. 

“No, I moved around a lot with my dad so I was luckily never around for pageant season. I mostly spent summers with my grandparents,” Aubrey explains, feeling Stacie nod. “Plus, you know, with the whole stress projectile vomiting thing…” 

“Yeah,” Stacie says with a sharp laugh. “That’s not pageant safe.” 

Aubrey giggles softly. 

“Still, shame.” 

“That I didn’t throw up all over pageant judges?” Aubrey asks, lifting her head to shoot Stacie an odd look. 

“That there aren’t pictures of you in a pageant dress,” Stacie teases, trying not to smile maniacally but her whole face melting when Aubrey shoots her a smug look. 

“Who says there aren’t?” 

“What? But you just said—” 

“There was a Halloween party sophomore year…” Aubrey taunts, dangling the bit of information and Stacie happily bites. 

“What?!” she exclaims, tries to disentangle herself from Aubrey’s embrace. “I have to text Chloe for pictures.” 

Aubrey tightens her arms around Stacie with a laugh, holding onto her firmly until Stacie stops fighting her and settles against her. 

“Relax, I have the pictures. I’ll show you when we get home.” 

“I’m definitely holding you to that,” Stacie asserts and Aubrey laughs. 

“Okay.” 

“So tell me about this thing you want from Santa,” Debbie says as she sits down in the chair next to Bella. 

Andy’s still moving between the dinner table and the kitchen, bringing cutlery and plates and the food as William makes his way to the chair opposite Bella. 

“So it’s white and pink and with hair—” 

“Hair?” William interjects and Bella nods once. 

“Yes.” 

“Is it a doll?” Debbie asks interestedly as she starts distributing forks and knives. 

“Yeah,” Bella says. 

“What makes this doll so special?” Debbie asks then and Bella’s eyes go wide with excitement. 

“So I really want it because it—it copies you!” 

“How does it copy you?” William asks, confused as to how a doll could do that. 

“So if you say something it also says something,” Bella answers, taking a plate from the pile Andy’s just set on the table and putting it in front of herself before reaching for the second one and handing it to Debbie, then giving the third one to William. 

“Can you give me an example?” he asks, taking the plate with a smile. 

Bella arches an eyebrow then. “I already did.” 

Debbie does a bad job of stifling her laugh, Bella’s sass more than obvious and Debbie already feels bad for Stacie and Aubrey and what their future holds.

“No, I mean what would you say to it?” William corrects. 

“She meant the word something,” Andy whispers to him quickly as he slides onto his seat. 

“Oh! Okay,” Debbie says and Bella nods. 

“So if you say banana, it’ll say…” William prompts. 

“Banana,” Bella says, the exact same time that Andy teasingly says, “Something.” 

“No, uncle Andy!” Bella cries out with a burst of giggles. 

“It would say banana?” Andy asks, scrunching up his face in concentration. 

“Yes!” Bella says with a proud nod, handing him his plate. “I saw it on tv so that’s why I really want it.” 

“Well you gotta write it on your list,” Andy says, giving Bella an honest look but then Bella chews on her lower lip, deep in thought. 

“What’s wrong honey?” Debbie asks as she starts distributing the food.  

“I can’t write yet,” Bella says in a small voice. “We don’t learn that until first grade.” 

“I’m sure if you ask one of your mommies, they’d help you,” Debbie whispers to her and then Bella’s smiling again, nodding to herself as she takes in the words and they start eating dinner. 

Stacie unlocks the front door while Aubrey presses her whole body up against the brunette’s back but once the door is open Stacie twists so she can wrap an arm around Aubrey and keep her close as their lips meet in an insistent kiss as Stacie pulls Aubrey into the house. 

Aubrey closes the front door, hand fumbling with the lock, trying not to break away from Stacie’s lips as she does. As soon as Stacie hears the bolt slide into place she smiles and guides Aubrey through the hallway, Aubrey’s fingers tugging away Stacie’s coat so she can run her hands over Stacie’s body.

Stacie doesn’t even bother with Aubrey’s coat before she starts unbuttoning Aubrey’s blouse. She presses Aubrey into the banister of the stairs and Aubrey moans softly, reaching to unbutton Stacie’s jeans when a throat is cleared. 

“You kids have fun?” Debbie calls out with a knowing smile and the two spring apart, Aubrey quickly closing her coat as Stacie runs a hand through her hair.

“Yes,” Aubrey manages first but she has to clear her throat when her voice cracks. 

“How was everything here?” Stacie asks, adjusting her top before taking a few steps to stand in the doorway of the living room.

Aubrey turns away as she quickly buttons up her blouse and shrugs out of her coat.

“Good, no problems at all,” Stacie’s mother says and Stacie smiles. 

“Where’s Andy?” Aubrey asks when she joins them in the living room.

“Upstairs, leaning against Bella’s door, possibly — probably — asleep,” Deborah muses and it draws laughs from the younger women. 

“Why?”

“Just in case she wakes up and needs anything,” Deborah says with a tender smile. 

“That’s adorable,” Aubrey says and Stacie nods along. 

“What are you up to?”

“Oh, you know,” Debbie says with a vague wave of her hand. “Just knitting and waiting for my kids to come home and make out in the hallway like a couple of horny teenagers.”

“Oh my god,” Aubrey mumbles to herself while Stacie rolls her eyes. 

“Mom,” Stacie says but Deborah’s just grinning at them and their matching blushes. 

“You guys go on up, I’m gonna stay down here for a bit longer,” Deborah says. 

“You sure?” Stacie asks. 

“Re-runs of Jeopardy are gonna start soon,” Aubrey says and Stacie turns to her with a puzzled smile as Deborah nods. 

“Exactly, good night, sweethearts,” Deborah says with a smile. 

“Night mom,” Stacie says, sliding a hand along Aubrey’s back. 

“Night,” Aubrey says as they turn away from the living room to go upstairs. 

True to Debbie’s words, they find Andy slumped on the floor in front of Bella’s door and fast asleep. Aubrey grimaces when she sees him, says, “that can’t be comfortable.”

“Go on ahead,” Stacie says and Aubrey smiles, drags her fingers along Stacie’s back as she steps around her to continue towards the bedroom. 

Stacie crouches down and shakes Andy awake, who, when he realises he’s fallen asleep, snaps awake sharply, blinking rapidly and says, “I’m up! I’m awake!”

He relaxes when he sees that it’s just Stacie and not Bella.

“Go to bed, kiddo,” Stacie says as she softly rubs his arm.

“Did you have a nice day with your girlfriend?” Andy asks as he slowly gets up from the floor. 

“I did. Thanks for watching Bella,” Stacie says and Andy shrugs. 

“It was fun.” He yawns loudly then. “Exhausting.” 

Stacie laughs softly and nudges him in the direction of the room he’s staying in. 

“Go to bed,” she orders playfully and he nods, leans in for a quick hug. 

“Yeah, good night.” 

“Night.” 

“My family keeps calling you my girlfriend,” Stacie grumbles and Aubrey meets her eyes through the mirror. 

“Is that not what I am?” Aubrey asks after spitting out her toothpaste but before continuing to brush her teeth. 

“It feels like... not enough?” Stacie says while running a brush through her hair, perched on the side of the bathtub. “We live together and we’re raising Bella. We’re more than just girlfriends.”

“Partners,” Aubrey mouths around her toothbrush but Stacie scrunches up her face. 

“I hate that word. It’s like we’re playing tennis,” Stacie says flippantly and Aubrey snorts, trying not to laugh too hard as she rinses her mouth. 

“Well we’re not engaged or married yet so wife and fiancée are out of the question,” Aubrey says offhandedly as she reaches for the dental floss. 

When Stacie doesn’t immediately respond, Aubrey looks up and finds Stacie staring at her with a coy half-grin. 

“What?”

“Yet.”

“What?” Aubrey asks, genuinely confused. 

“You said we aren’t married yet,” Stacie says, grin widening slowly as colour seeps into Aubrey’s cheeks. “You want to marry me.”

Aubrey turns and leans back against the counter, staring at Stacie as she figures out what to say. 

“Is that not where this is going?” Aubrey asks, gesturing between herself and Stacie and Stacie can tell she doesn’t mean the brashness that undercuts her words, that it’s panic at her slip up more than anything. 

Stacie rolls her eyes but she can’t stop smiling, shakes her head fondly as she wordlessly drops her hairbrush and walks to the bedroom, coming back with a small box in her hand. She drops it next to Aubrey’s hand where it’s pressed against the bathroom counter behind her and Aubrey stares at the box for a long while as if trying to figure it out. 

Stacie starts to worry when Aubrey doesn’t say anything but leaves the bathroom, only to return moments later with something behind her back. 

“Catch,” Aubrey says and Stacie credits her quick reflexes when she catches the small box that Aubrey tosses at her. 

“Is this what I think it is?” Stacie asks, holding up the small box. 

“Mhm-hmm,” Aubrey hums with a small smile, nodding. She finally picks up the box on the counter, taps her fingernail against it. “Is this—?”

“Yup.”

Aubrey bites her lower lip, trying to contain her smile as she opens the small box, the spring jolting it open and startling her and then she’s staring at a ring—an engagement ring, her brain corrects—and she can’t help the tears that spring to her eyes. 

She looks up to find Stacie looking at her with so much hope and admiration and she lets out a small chuckle as she glances back at the ring. 

“Why are you all the way over there?” Aubrey finally manages through her tears and Stacie exhales loudly, almost as if she’d been holding her breath and Aubrey sees her grin as she moves closer.

Stacie reaches up to wipe at Aubrey’s cheek but Aubrey shakes her head, reaches out to graze the ring box Stacie’s holding tightly against her chest. 

“Open yours.”

Stacie pulls away enough to open her own small box and when her eyes fall on the ring there, her own eyes fill with tears. 

“Just to confirm,” Stacie says, voice wavering. “This is an engagement ring, right?”

Aubrey nods even as she lets out a breathless laugh and Stacie surges forward to capture her lips in a deep kiss. Aubrey wraps her arms around Stacie and presses herself close. 

“Is that a—?”

“Yes,” Stacie breathes immediately against Aubrey’s lips. “Yes. You?” 

“Definitely yes.” 

Aubrey’s crying and Stacie knows she’s not faring much better. 

“Gimme that hand,” Stacie says, tries to go for a teasing tone but failing because she’s smiling too widely. Aubrey holds out her right hand holding the ring box, while she lifts her left hand.

Stacie reaches for the engagement ring, plucks it from its encasing and then slowly slides it up Aubrey’s ring finger. 

Aubrey’s impatient, though, so once the ring is sat snugly on her finger she pulls her hand from Stacie’s and raises her eyebrows. 

“Now you,” she says and Stacie holds up both hands as Aubrey sets down her ring box on the counter behind her and reaches for the one housing Stacie’s new ring. 

Pulling the ring from the velvet encasing, she sets the box behind her, next to her own. Stacie’s getting impatient, wriggling the fingers of her left hand and Aubrey smiles coyly at her as she slowly slides the engagement ring onto Stacie’s left ring finger. 

She tangles their fingers together and Stacie leans in to press a quick kiss to Aubrey’s knuckles. 

“I love you,” Aubrey whispers in the space between them and Stacie’s grin widens as she leans in. 

“I love you too,” she replies, the words brushing against Aubrey’s lips as Stacie moves even closer and Aubrey smiles, leaning in and kissing Stacie firmly. 

Aubrey laughs softly when Stacie pulls away to breathe but stays close, pressing their foreheads together. 

“As much as I enjoy… you,” Stacie starts and Aubrey giggles softly, fingers dancing over Stacie’s neck. “And this,” she adds, kissing Aubrey again. “I am going to need that ring back,” Stacie whispers and Aubrey immediately rips away from her, pulling her left hand away and holding it behind her back. 

“What? No,” Aubrey says, affronted. “Why?” 

“Because Bella’s going to get mad at me that I didn’t propose with her,” Stacie explains quickly, leaning in to kiss Aubrey as she tries to grab at the woman’s hand again. “We had a plan.” 

“What was the plan?” Aubrey mumbles against Stacie’s lips, giggling when Stacie tickles her to try to reach for her left hand. 

“I’m not telling you,” Stacie says, hopping back when Aubrey tries to kick at her legs to stop the tickling onslaught. 

“Why not? I thought we told each other everything,” Aubrey taunts and Stacie wraps an arm around her middle and pulls Aubrey into her body, hands sliding down Aubrey’s arms to her hands where they’re clasped behind her back. 

“Because,” Stacie says and their position means they’re pressed closely together and Aubrey is smiling up at her, eyes twinkling and Stacie falters at the sight of how happy Aubrey looks. “Because this is a really dumb story to tell our kids when they ask how we got engaged.” 

Her cheeks are starting to hurt from smiling so much but Aubrey can’t do anything but smile as she takes in the words and thinks about spending the rest of her life with Stacie. Stacie’s brilliant grin and soft eyes make her a little weak in the knees but then she registers Stacie’s fingers sliding through hers and Aubrey realises she’s being played so she pushes away from the bathroom counter by pressing her chest against Stacie’s before flitting away in the newly-created distance. 

“You should have thought about that before you gave me the ring,” Aubrey says and Stacie groans loudly but she still follows Aubrey out of the bathroom, turning off the light as she does. 

“I’ll get it off that finger,” Stacie says, voice cocky and Aubrey shoots her a doubtful look. 

“You fall asleep before I do.” 

“I have my ways,” Stacie says and before Aubrey can turn to ask her what she’s talking about, she finds herself pressed up against the doorway to the walk-in closet, Stacie’s body moulded to her back and her hand trailing slowly down Aubrey's stomach before dipping into her underwear. 

Aubrey laughs softly, the sound a little breathless. 

“You haven’t had enough today?” Aubrey challenges lowly and Stacie knows she doesn’t mean it by the way her hips shift closer. 

“Never,” Stacie whispers. 

“I’m not getting in the shower with you now,” Aubrey says but she still arches into Stacie’s hand, eyes fluttering closed. 

“But we just got engaged,” Stacie argues, lips against Aubrey’s ear. 

“Did we?” Aubrey asks, breath hitching as Stacie slides her hand even lower. “Because you’re trying so hard to get my ring back I’m starting to think you’re having some regrets.” 

Stacie freezes, pulls her hand out of Aubrey’s underwear and flips the blonde over so they’re pressed together, facing each other. 

“Hey,” she says and Aubrey looks at her with a soft pout at the loss of contact. “I really want to marry you. I just have a whole thing planned and the ring is kind of a big part of it.” 

Aubrey melts at the words, smiling softly at Stacie who smiles widely. Aubrey surges forward, capturing Stacie’s lips with her own in a heated kiss and wrapping her hands around Stacie’s neck and pulling her closer. 

“You have to promise to be quiet,” Stacie mumbles against her lips and a flash of excitement goes through Aubrey at the promise held in those words. 

“I promise I’ll try.” 

“Good enough.” 

Chapter Text

Stacie’s just climbing back into bed when the bedroom door opens so she props herself up and watches Bella trudge into the room, still half asleep.

“Close the door, sweetheart,” Stacie whispers, loudly enough for Bella to hear but not to wake Aubrey and the girl whines but walks back and closes the door before returning to the foot of the bed and crawling onto the mattress. 

Stacie watches in quiet amusement as Bella moves closer, blankie clutched firmly in her hand and tries to slide under the covers with them.   

“Good morning, big girl,” Stacie whispers, kisses Bella’s forehead and lifts the sheets so Bella can settle more easily between them. 

Bella mumbles back, words slurred as she squirms under Aubrey’s arm and finally settles with her back against the blonde’s chest and Aubrey’s arm instinctively shifts to accommodate her, curling around her. 

Stacie slides back down in bed and cuddles up to Bella and Aubrey and the girl sighs when her small fingers reach out and find Stacie’s soft shirt. Stacie smiles and finds herself settling, sleep pulling at her again. 

Aubrey wakes up a while later, morning light streaming into the room and she smiles when she feels Bella’s familiar weight pressed against her and Stacie’s arm over her side. 

Slowly blinking open her eyes, she takes a few seconds to adjust to the light before looking at Stacie with a soft smile, wanting to lean in and brush her fingers against her soft skin but knowing it’ll wake the brunette. 

She carefully disentangles herself to slide out of bed and go to the bathroom and when she returns, her heart warms when she sees that in her absence, Bella has sought out more warmth and curled up against Stacie’s chest, blankie still firmly held in a fist under her chin. 

Aubrey smiles before quietly leaving the room and going downstairs. The house is quiet, everybody presumably still asleep and she doesn’t want to ruin the peace so she quickly makes two cups of coffee and goes back upstairs and settles back in bed, leaning back against the headboard and sipping from her coffee. 

Stacie stirs not much later, the smell of coffee a welcome wake up and she moans softly. Aubrey watches Stacie with a small smile, watches as her brows furrow and she scrunches up her nose and curls closer into Bella and she looks so cute that Aubrey can’t help but smile wider. 

She shifts her coffee cup to her other hand and uses the newly freed hand to run her fingers softly through Stacie’s hair. 

The woman moans again and turns into the touch, basking in it for a bit before slowly opening her eyes. 

Aubrey’s eyes are already on her and she smiles when their gazes lock. 

“Good morning,” Aubrey says quietly, Stacie’s green eyes enchanting as she blinks the sleepiness away. 

“Hm, yes,” Stacie says, mirroring Aubrey’s smile as she pulls her hand away from Bella’s back to curl her fingers around Aubrey’s thigh and slowly stroke the soft skin with her thumb. 

“Coffee?” Aubrey offers and Stacie nods. 

“Yes, please.”

Stacie carefully peels Bella away from her and the girl whines in protest, but Stacie shifts to sit up and then Bella cuddles up to her leg and throws her arm over Stacie’s legs and Stacie chuckles softly, hand dropping to softly rub Bella’s back as she settles with her own back against the headboard. 

When she looks at Aubrey, the woman is watching them tenderly and Stacie smiles, waits until Aubrey’s eyes trail up to meet her own and then she leans in, kissing her lips. Aubrey smiles and shifts closer and Stacie’s hand moves up to cradle her neck and tilt her head for a more comfortable angle as they slowly trade kisses. 

“Hi,” Stacie whispers softly when they break apart, Aubrey pressing her forehead against Stacie’s as her eyes remain closed but she still smiles. With a last soft caress of her thumb against Aubrey’s cheek, Stacie drops her hand and Aubrey’s eyes flutter open again and she pulls away, reaches towards her nightstand for Stacie’s coffee and handing it to the woman who takes the cup gratefully. 

Aubrey picks up her own mug again, finishes the last of her coffee and watches over the rim as Stacie sips and quietly moans at the first taste of caffeine. 

“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you,” Stacie whispers softly, glancing at her and Aubrey smiles but she can’t let the statement go unanswered, bites her lower lip as she replies. 

“Are you talking to me or the coffee?” 

“You know what?” Stacie starts, setting her mug down on her nightstand and trying to turn to Aubrey as much as she can with Bella still clinging to her legs, mouth open ready to protest so Aubrey surges forward and kisses her. 

Stacie tries to say something but all that emerges is a grumble from the back of her throat and Aubrey takes advantage of Stacie’s open mouth to slip her tongue in and deepen the kiss, dropping her empty mug on her lap and using her newly freed hands to cup Stacie’s face and keep her close. 

“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you,” Aubrey mumbles against her lips between kisses and Stacie can’t pretend not to smile anymore as she’s filled with warmth at the words. “And I figured out an idea about the ring.” 

Aubrey loosens her hold on Stacie as the woman tilts her head, intrigued. “I’m listening.” 

“I’m keeping the ring,” Aubrey starts and when Stacie tries to protest she leans in and kisses her again. “I won’t wear it on my finger.” 

Stacie’s eyes dart down to the cross necklace dangling around Aubrey’s neck before looking back at the blonde who smiles and nods. 

“And when Bella and I propose to you? Am I supposed to just give you an empty box?” 

“Just tell me beforehand and I will give you the ring,” Aubrey says as she shifts away to straighten her back, the awkward angle becoming painful. 

“That ruins the surprise,” Stacie pouts. 

“It’s the best you’re gonna get,” Aubrey says, shooting Stacie a look. 

“How about a couple of days? Between one and three,” Stacie offers, twisting as much as she can with Bella still pressed against her and kissing down the column of Aubrey’s neck, fingers sliding into blonde hair to keep Aubrey’s head tilted sideways so she can nip at her skin. 

“Deal,” Aubrey says breathlessly. 

“Okay, give me the ring,” Stacie teases and Aubrey laughs softly, turns her head so Stacie leans up to kiss her lazily. 

“Nice try.” 

“Worth a shot,” Stacie mumbles against her mouth, nipping at Aubrey’s lips. 

“Did you notice how at no point we talked about you not wearing your ring?” Aubrey mumbles and Stacie pulls away with a mysterious smile. Aubrey looks down to see Stacie transfer the engagement ring from her left hand to her right one, holding it up and wriggling her fingers. 

“Problem solved.” 

“What if I had a proposal planned?” 

“Did you?” Stacie asks, freezing as she considers the possibility. 

“Guess you’ll never know now,” Aubrey says with a coy twist of her mouth as she turns away and unclasps her necklace from around her neck, quickly sliding her new engagement ring onto the chain before reaching up to close the necklace around her neck again. 

Stacie reaches out and brushes Aubrey’s hair over her shoulder, carefully knocking Aubrey’s fingers away from the chain and clasping the necklace for her, fingers ghosting across the back of Aubrey’s neck and down between her shoulder blades. 

“Thank you,” Aubrey says softly, shooting Stacie a smile over her shoulder. 

“You’re welcome,” she whispers, leaning in to kiss Aubrey’s bare shoulder quickly. “You good?” 

Aubrey shifts so she can look at Stacie, smiles softly at Stacie’s tender expression. 

“Yeah,” she says, reaching out and trailing her fingers down Stacie’s arm. “I had a lot of fun yesterday.” 

“Me too. Now that Bella’s a little older we should consider doing date night once a week instead of every other week,” Stacie suggests. 

“I like that idea,” Aubrey says with a nod and Stacie smiles. “Do you still have papers to grade for tomorrow?” 

Stacie scrunches up her face. “For Tuesday, but yes.” 

“If you’re going downstairs anyway, can you bring my book?” Aubrey asks with a sweet smile, fingers wrapping around Stacie’s wrist as she turns into the brunette with pleading eyes. 

Stacie narrows her eyes at Aubrey but she melts fairly quickly, leaning in for a kiss and feeling Aubrey break out into a smile against her lips. 

“I love you,” Aubrey whispers. 

“Yeah, I’m sure you do,” Stacie quips but she presses forward for another kiss and swallows Aubrey’s soft laugh. “You only love me because I give you sex and I grab things for you,” Stacie mumbles against her lips. 

“What else is there?” Aubrey teases and when Stacie tries to pull away with an indignant look, Aubrey just pulls her closer and kisses her harder until Stacie relaxes. 

When Stacie pulls away she starts trying to detangle Bella from her leg but the girl whines in her sleep, tightens her arm around Stacie’s thigh. 

“Come here, baby girl,” Aubrey coos, curling her arm around Bella and urging her to let Stacie slide out of bed. Bella whines again but she lets go of Stacie and turns to Aubrey, sleepily crawling into her lap and Aubrey shifts her so that her head comfortably rests against Aubrey’s shoulder. With a lingering press of lips against her forehead and a soothing hand rubbing her back, Bella falls asleep again and Stacie can get up.

Aubrey smiles when the girl settles against her, watching her until she hears the click of Stacie’s phone shutter capturing a photograph and she looks up in exasperation, eyes slightly narrowed but as soon as her gaze falls on the phone held up in Stacie’s hand, the shutter clicks again. 

“Stacie.” 

“You look cute,” Stacie says with a grin, not looking at Aubrey but inspecting the picture. “Definitely making that my background,” she murmurs to herself and Aubrey’s eyes go wide. 

“Don’t you dare!” Aubrey growls. “You have so many better pictures of us.” 

“But this one looks so sweet,” Stacie argues, turns her phone for Aubrey to see. 

Aubrey glances at the phone and then down at herself to confirm that the strap of her camisole has fallen off her shoulder and that the fabric hangs almost indecently low so she quickly adjusts the strap, lifting it back in place. 

“Half of my chest is on display,” Aubrey says.  

“Yeah but it’s tasteful,” Stacie says with a devious smile. “Can’t even see your nipples.” 

“I’m still half naked,” Aubrey grumbles but Stacie just smiles and nods. “Stacie, I swear to god.”  

“What are you gonna do, huh?” Stacie taunts, locking her phone and tossing it onto her nightstand. 

Aubrey follows the movement closely, glaring at the phone when she realises that the nightstand is just out of her reach and she can’t move with Bella draped over her so she turns her scowl to Stacie. 

Stacie shoots her a kiss and wink and Aubrey grumbles again. 

“Your book is in the living room, right?” Stacie asks as she turns away. 

“Yes,” Aubrey reluctantly says, watches as Stacie leaves the room with a wave of her fingers, returning a few minutes later with a stack of papers, a couple of pens and Aubrey’s book. 

She leaves the bedroom door wide open as she moves closer, dropping her papers on the bed and handing Aubrey her book before crawling back into bed. 

“Thanks,” Aubrey says absentmindedly as she shifts Bella enough for her to have both her hands free, opening her book and flipping through it until she finds her bookmark. 

“Mhm-hmm,” Stacie replies distractedly, crossing her legs and taking papers from the pile and arranging them across the sheets before reaching for one and starting to read it. 

That’s how Andy finds them over an hour later when he knocks on the doorframe and pokes his head around the doorway. 

“Good morning,” he says, smiling as he takes in the sight of Stacie and Aubrey sat up in bed side by side, Bella now sprawled over Aubrey’s legs with a stack of graded papers dangerously close to her small fist, still dead to the world and Andy can’t help but be overtaken by how much they look like a family. 

“Good morning,” Aubrey says with a smile. 

“Hey you,” Stacie says. “What’s up?” 

“I’m going for a run and I was wondering if you wanted to join me?” 

“Which one of us?” Stacie asks teasingly but Andy just shrugs as he steps into the room. 

“Both. Either,” he says, shrugs again. 

Stacie shakes her head, gestures to the papers spread around her. “I have homework, but thanks.” 

Aubrey’s quietly considering Andy’s offer and Stacie turns to look at the blonde when she’s silent. 

“Bree?” she asks, and when Aubrey turns to look at her she sees the answer in her eyes. “Really?” she asks in disbelief. 

“I need to burn off some tension,” Aubrey explains, leaning in to brush her lips against Stacie’s. 

“I have another idea for how you can do that,” Stacie mumbles in the space between them, reaching up to slide her fingers into Aubrey’s hair to cradle her head, tilt it backwards for a better angle as she deepens the kiss and Aubrey involuntarily moans in response. 

“Gross, guys, c’mon,” Andy says with a groan and they’re reminded that he’s still there. “A simple yes or no woulda been fine.” 

“I’ll be down in ten,” Aubrey says but Stacie’s still cradling her head. 

Andy raps his knuckles on the doorway once as he leaves. “Dope.” 

Aubrey starts to pull away with a final quick peck as Stacie whines. 

“Shower, after,” Aubrey offers, voice a whisper and that’s what makes Stacie let her go, albeit reluctantly. 

Aubrey can’t go far, Bella still in her lap and both Stacie and Aubrey sigh when Aubrey tries to shift away and Bella tightens her grip on Aubrey’s leg. 

Stacie shifts some of her papers into a stack and scoots closer to Aubrey and they quickly manoeuvre Bella to sit up and when she slides back down, Aubrey moves away and Stacie takes her place. Aubrey moves Stacie’s papers close and Stacie smiles and thanks her.

Aubrey disappears into the walk-in closet, emerging a few minutes later and Stacie takes a second to admire Aubrey in her running gear, the way the leggings cling to her toned legs, admiring Aubrey’s shoulders before they disappear under a light jacket that Aubrey immediately zips up. 

Aubrey perches at the foot of the bed to put on her sneakers and lace them up, standing and hopping from foot to foot to make sure they’re comfortable and Stacie intently follows the movement. Aubrey turns to Stacie when she starts putting her hair up into a ponytail, smirks when she finds Stacie’s attention on her instead of on the papers she needs to grade so she walks closer, ties her hair in place and drops her arms. 

Her fingers flirt with the chain of the necklace around her neck as she stares at Stacie. 

“Andy’s waiting,” Stacie taunts with a dangerous smile. 

Aubrey shakes her head in light exasperation but lifts the necklace up over her head. Stacie reaches for it but Aubrey steps away and holds it out of range for a moment. 

“My ring better still be on this necklace when I come back,” Aubrey threatens darkly, the challenge in her eyes clear as Stacie quirks her mouth. 

“Scouts’ honour,” Stacie says, eyes twinkling. 

“You were never a scout,” Aubrey says with a quick eye roll, but she holds out her necklace with two hands and Stacie bows her head to let Aubrey pull it down over her head and settle the chain against her neck, the movement familiar. 

“Keep it safe for me?” Aubrey asks, just like every time she leaves the necklace with Stacie. 

“Promise,” Stacie says with a smile, reaching up to carefully touch the cross. 

“Thank you.” Stacie smiles and Aubrey leans down to kiss her softly. “I love you.” 

“I love you too. Enjoy your run,” Stacie says, hand brushing down Aubrey’s outer thigh. 

“Enjoy your cuddles,” Aubrey says with a smile, running her fingers through Bella’s hair and leaning down to kiss the side of Bella’s head before moving up and kissing Stacie again, this time sliding her hand to cup the back of Stacie’s head, fingers playing with the wisps of hair there. 

“Bye.” 

When Debbie goes downstairs Sunday morning, it’s almost eerily quiet. She glances at the clock hanging in the hallway and frowns because surely everybody can’t still be asleep and her thought is confirmed when she makes her way to the kitchen and finds a pot of still hot coffee so she fixes herself a cup and goes in search of her family. 

She trudges back upstairs, looking down the length of the hallway and perking up at the sight of the open bedroom door.

Stacie looks up when she sees movement out of the corner of her eye, smiles when she sees her mom standing in the doorway. 

“Good morning,” Debbie says with a soft smile, sips from her coffee mug as she steps into the room. 

“Hi mom,” Stacie says, motions her mother closer and Debbie happily settles on the bed. 

“Where’s Aubrey?” Debbie asks, hand falling to Bella’s head and softly stroking her hair. 

“Went for a run with Andy,” Stacie says, pushing her glasses to the top of her head as she tosses an essay onto her Done pile and turns to face her mother. 

“Ah,” Debbie says with a quick smile. “I was wondering why the house was so quiet.” 

“Because she’s still asleep,” Stacie says with a laugh, looking down at Bella who is still fast asleep. “What time did she go to bed last night?” 

Debbie shoots Stacie a slightly guilty look. “Late.” 

“Mom,” Stacie says, dragging out the word as she raises her eyebrows. 

“Andy put her down at nine,” Debbie provides. 

“That’s not too bad,” Stacie starts to say but Debbie’s already shaking her head. 

“She was up until at least ten-thirty.” 

“Mom!” 

“Don’t yell at me, you left Andy in charge. Yell at him,” Debbie says haughtily, sipping from her coffee. “I thought she would fall asleep immediately because she was yawning when he took her upstairs, but…” 

“She was probably overexcited,” Stacie says. “Bedtime tonight is going to be a nightmare.” 

Debbie nods, tries not to laugh at Stacie’s pitiful sigh but can’t help it. 

“I can’t believe you’re laughing at ruining my child’s sleeping pattern,” Stacie says with a pout but Debbie can see that she means it in jest. 

“There’s two of you versus one of her. I was one of me versus two of you,” Debbie says, raising her eyebrows. “You’ll be fine.” 

“So what you’re saying is to not have more kids and become outnumbered?” Stacie says with a laugh before she can stop herself and Debbie turns to her with an arched eyebrow and Stacie can practically see her mom hone in on that sentence. “Can we forget I said that?” 

Debbie smiles at Stacie’s pleading voice and Stacie relaxes a little bit, thinking she’s going to give in, but—“No.” 

Stacie groans at that, at the false hope she’d felt and she closes her eyes and leans her head back against the headboard. Her eyes are closed, so she misses the way Debbie’s eyes catch on the familiar necklace Stacie’s wearing, gaze following the chain and settling on the new ring resting against the cross, the new ring that had decidedly not been there Friday when Aubrey had been fiddling with her necklace during their talk. 

“You and Aubrey want more kids?” Debbie asks, trying to keep her voice level, to keep her excitement at bay.

“Yeah,” Stacie says with a half-shrug. “Bella’s been begging for a little brother or sister.” 

“She also begs for a puppy but you don’t seem to have a dog,” Debbie points out but Stacie shoots her a tortured look.

“Don’t even get me started on that,” Stacie groans. “It’s hard to say no to her.” 

“She has a really good begging face,” Debbie admits with a nod, pushing a couple of rogue curls away from her face. 

“My first mistake was letting Chloe babysit her,” Stacie says offhandedly with an eye roll and Debbie laughs at that.

“That’s the bubbly redhead right? The one married to her godmother?” 

“Yeah, Beca,” Stacie nods. 

“Short angry one.” 

Stacie laughs loudly at that, doubling over with amusement. “Yeah, that—yes.” 

Debbie nods slowly, eyes on the small girl sprawled against Stacie’s leg and a tender smile unfurls over her face. “You’ll be great.” 

“Hm?” Stacie hums, not following. 

“You’re a really good mom. So is Aubrey. Any kid would be lucky to have you,” Debbie says, reaching out and curling her arm around Stacie’s shoulder, pulling her closer so that she can quickly kiss her daughter’s temple. 

“Thanks mom,” Stacie whispers, shooting her mom a grateful smile. “It’s normal, right?” 

“What is?” 

“To be completely freaked out all the time about everything I’m doing?” Stacie asks, glancing down at Bella and where Debbie’s still softly stroking her head. “She’s growing so fast and I constantly feel like I’m playing catch up.” 

“You’ll be playing catch up at least until you’re old and grey and sitting in your daughter’s bed answering parenting questions,” Debbie says with a playful smile. 

Stacie laughs softly, before pausing, tilting her head and regarding her mom. “You don’t have grey hair.” 

“That’s what you think,” Debbie says with an arched eyebrow, turning back to her coffee. 

“What?” 

“Oh, baby girl, I’ve been dyeing my hair since you went off to college and gave me my first grey hair.” 

“You know there isn’t any research to support that stress causes grey hair, right?” 

“Let them research me, then.” 

“You’re insane,” Stacie states. 

“What does that say about your future?” Debbie counters with a pointed look and a grimace that Stacie mirrors before they both break out in laughter. 

“She’s still out?” Aubrey asks when she returns to the bedroom to find Stacie reading something on her phone and Bella sprawled out like a starfish, fast asleep. 

“Yeah, she was up late last night,” Stacie explains with a grimace as she looks down at Bella. She drops her phone in her lap and when she looks up, her breath gets strangled in her throat because Aubrey whips off her tank top and stands there in her sports bra and leggings. “I hate you.” 

“Too bad,” Aubrey says with a wink and she laughs loudly when she hears Stacie’s grumble. 

“You fucking tease,” Stacie hisses, her curse word softer than the rest just in case Bella wakes up. 

“You’re not coming?” Aubrey taunts as she disappears into the bathroom, and Stacie whines when Aubrey drops her sports bra on the floor, in a spot she knows Stacie can see it. 

“No,” Stacie says petulantly but all she gets in response is another laugh. “You know how bad Bella’s timing is.” 

“I know,” Aubrey says, poking her head around the doorway. 

“And I can’t exactly wake her up just to send her downstairs.” 

“Your mom’s making breakfast,” Aubrey says, dropping her leggings on the slowly growing pile of clothes. “But yeah it would be mean.” 

“Eh, I’ll wait for you,” Stacie says and Aubrey shoots her a final smile before closing the bathroom door for a shower. 

Stacie glances at the clock on her bedside once she hears the shower turn off again and can hear Aubrey moving around the bathroom, frowning at the time. 

Aubrey’s just cracked open the bathroom door when Bella’s fingers twitch and her brow furrows and Stacie knows the girl is teetering on the edge of consciousness. 

“Wake up, Bella,” she urges softly, reaching out to trace her finger over the slope of Bella’s nose to then gently boop the tip and the girl’s face scrunches up as she valiantly tries to cling onto sleep. “Wake up, baby girl,” Stacie sing-songs. 

Aubrey pokes her head around the door with a smile and Stacie motions her closer, smiling at the sight of Aubrey’s soft sweater. 

Bella moans in complaint, squirming and turning onto her side to curl up into a tight ball and Aubrey laughs as she climbs back onto bed, fingers drumming along Bella’s back. 

“Wake up, sweetheart,” Aubrey urges as Stacie scoops the girl up onto her lap and Bella buries her face in Stacie’s chest. 

“No,” she murmurs. 

“Why not?” 

Bella mumbles something unintelligible but then yawns loudly and when she does, her blankie falls away from her. She pouts as she turns her head and opens one bleary eye to locate the blankie, pout deepening when she sees it’s dropped on the bed and out of reach. 

“Wake up, Bella,” Aubrey says, rubbing her back but Bella just whines pitifully. 

“Did you have fun with uncle Andy yesterday?” Stacie asks, kissing the top of her head. 

“Mhm-hmm,” Bella hums, nodding softly. 

“What did you guys do?” Aubrey asks and Bella turns her head towards Aubrey, slowly blinking open her eyes. Aubrey smiles brightly at the sight of Bella’s sleepy eyes, the little girl reaching up to rub at them to get rid of the sleep, and Aubrey’s reminded of Stacie and how much the two are alike. 

“Uhm…” Bella says, stretching time as she thinks over her answer. “We played puzzles.” 

“Yeah?” Stacie asks and Bella nods. “And what else?” 

“We had lunch.” 

“Mhm-hmm?” Aubrey urges with a nod. 

“Oh!” Bella says suddenly, lifting her head to look up at Stacie. “Uncle Andy and me made a really big obstacle course.” 

“That sounds like fun.” 

“It was,” Bella says, nodding seriously and Aubrey has to stifle a laugh. 

“You know...” Stacie starts, baiting Bella before she can fall asleep again. “Grandma’s downstairs making breakfast if you wanna go help her.”

Bella seems to consider the offer, mouth quirked as she leans back against Stacie. 

“Do I have to put on clothes?” Bella asks softly, looking at Aubrey. 

“No, baby,” Aubrey gives with a small smile that widens when Bella lights up. 

“You can stay in your jammies until we go drop off Andy,” Stacie says, kissing the top of Bella’s head. 

“Okay!” Bella says, giving Stacie a quick hug before trying to squirm out of her lap and off the bed. 

She giggles when Stacie lifts her under her arms and sets her on her feet on the ground. 

“Thank you mama,” Bella calls over her shoulder as she hops out of the room. 

“Alone at last,” Stacie whispers, but Aubrey moves out of her reach with a coy smile, shaking her head. 

“We should go downstairs,” Aubrey says. 

She’s turned her back to Stacie to crawl off the bed so she misses Stacie surging forwards and can barely get a word in before Stacie has her fingers wrapped around Aubrey’s ankle, the one that hadn’t quite been lifted off the bed yet, and yanks, easily pulling Aubrey back onto the bed. 

Aubrey goes down with a sharp squeak. “Stacie! What the—?” 

Stacie lets go of her leg to move closer and kisses her firmly, quieting Aubrey’s protests and kissing her until she feels the blonde go pliant under her. 

“Good morning,” Stacie says, raking her nails down Aubrey’s side a final time before moving away and getting up, stretching once she’s standing next to the bed. 

“I hate you,” Aubrey breathes, dragging her gaze away from where she’d been staring at the ceiling in a daze to shoot Stacie a dark look, the effect dulled by her harsh breathing and swollen lips. 

Stacie just winks and disappears into the bathroom with a quick wriggle of her fingers. 

Bella’s skipping through the entryway to the living room when Stacie’s phone rings and she stops to look around, looking for one of her moms. She moves towards where the cellphone’s been abandoned on the small table and smiles widely at the picture flashing across the screen. Bella reaches for the phone and quickly clicks the green button as she holds it up to her face. 

“Hi aunt Beca!” she calls out, holding the phone a little too closely to her face so she can peer at the screen, at the moving image of Beca. 

“Hi Bells!” Beca replies with a wide smile. “Hey, hold the phone a little more away from your face. I can only see your eyes and nose, Monkey.” 

Bella giggles as she follows the instructions and readjusts the phone, smiling when Beca gives her a thumbs up. 

“What’s up, kiddo?” 

“I miss you,” Bella says with an exaggerated pout. “When do I get to see you again?” 

“In just over a month, Bells,” she replies, “You’re coming up for New Year’s, remember?” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah. You’ll get to see aunt Chloe and everybody else.” 

“Can we make up funny songs and put them as auntie Chloe’s ringtone again?” 

“Totally,” Beca says with a wink. “I actually need to talk to your mommy about your plans, is she around there?” 

“Which one?” Bella asks innocently, and Beca finally notices that Bella’s wandering around in circles as she focuses on the video call. 

“Whichever.” 

“Okay!” Bella says and holds up the phone as she yells, “Mamaaaa!” 

Beca winces at the volume but Bella doesn’t notice as she starts walking around the house in search of Aubrey or Stacie. 

“Mommyyy!” 

Bella picks up her pace, starts hopping along as she makes her way through the house, periodically calling out to them. 

Stacie’s just exiting the bathroom when Bella rounds the corner and bumps right into her and goes sprawling backwards with a yelp. 

Stacie’s eyes go wide with alarm but when she assesses the girl for injuries, she finds none and Bella just giggles once the surprise wears off. Her arms are spread out next to her and Stacie frowns when she sees her phone and hears a voice coming from it.

“Bella? What happened? Are you okay?” 

“Who’s on the phone?” Stacie asks, suddenly distracted by the phone as she holds out both hands, one for the phone and one for Bella to take. 

Bella hands her the phone first and then uses both of her hands to reach for Stacie and hoist herself up off the ground. 

“You okay, baby?” Stacie asks, crouching down and running her hand over the back of Bella’s head to check for a bump but Bella just smiles and nods at her. 

“Yup,” Bella says. “It’s aunt Beca. She wants to talk to you about plans.” 

“Thank you, baby,” Stacie gives, kissing her forehead and smiling as Bella skips off again. She straightens and holds up her phone, smiles at Beca, who’s looking at her phone intently with wide, panicked eyes. “Hey, Becs, what’s up?” 

“What just happened?” Beca asks, her voice a little higher pitched than usual and Stacie wants to laugh at her bad attempts to hide her worry. 

“I just straight up body slammed my kid,” Stacie gives with a grimace. 

“On purpose?” 

“Why would I ever—No.” Stacie shoots her a puzzled frown. “Whatever, she’s fine. Stop worrying, mama.” 

“Ha-ha,” Beca says dryly. 

“So, what’s up?” 

“I’ve been texting you all afternoon. I need to know when you’re coming up for New Year’s,” Beca says and the hint of desperation is the only reason Stacie doesn’t roll her eyes. 

“I don’t know yet. We haven’t made concrete plans. We’re in Philly for Christmas though so we’ll be driving up. Why?” 

“Yeah, that’s not good enough.” 

“What?” Stacie asks, leaning against the wall as she frowns at her screen, not understanding Beca’s words until the woman furtively glances over her shoulder before looking back at Stacie. 

“I tried to tell Chloe that but then she freaked out. Jessica and Ashley are bringing the twins and Flo might be bringing her boyfriend so Chloe needs to be able to plan for space purposes and for, well, planning purposes. She wants to know when you get here so your answer isn’t good enough.” 

Stacie’s quiet for a beat as she processes the words and reconsiders Beca’s seemingly flighty nature and then she laughs loudly. 

“What?” Beca squeaks. “Why are you laughing?!” 

“You are so whipped.” 

“As if you aren’t,” Beca shoots back immediately. 

“Yeah but my girl isn’t crazy hormonal now,” Stacie says, raising her eyebrows. “You’re in for a ride, Mitchell.” 

Beca seems to deflate completely and Stacie wants to take pity on her friend. “The mood swings have been insane.” 

“But at least the sex is wild, right?” Stacie suggests and she loves how weird Beca still gets when talking about sex even though almost all of the Bellas have been privy to Chloe’s tendency to overshare about everything. 

“Jesus, Stacie!” 

Stacie laughs again, shakes her head and finally lets up. “I’ll tell Aubrey to call Chloe and calm her down.” 

“Right now?” Beca asks in a small voice. 

“Is it urgent?” Stacie teases even as she kicks off the wall and goes in search of Aubrey. 

“I’m kinda hiding in the bathroom because she’s on a warpath.” 

Stacie chokes on her laugh. “Hang on,” she says before pressing her phone against her shoulder. “Aubrey?!” 

“I’m in here!” Aubrey yells back and Stacie follows her voice towards the kitchen, finds Aubrey sitting on a bar stool watching as Debbie layers ladyfingers into a pan. 

“Hey,” Stacie says, shooting a quick smile at her mom as Aubrey turns to her with a questioning look. “Beca’s hiding in the bathroom because Chloe’s hormonal and wants to know when we’re coming for New Year’s.” 

She hands the phone over to Aubrey who lifts it up to smile at Beca, the pull of her lips and twinkle in her eyes enough of a warning for Beca to know she’s going to be teased mercilessly. 

“You know that in order for me to talk to Chloe, you’re going to have to leave your hiding space, right?” Aubrey asks as she slides off the stool to go talk to Beca in private, fingers flitting along Stacie’s arm as she leaves. 

“Are you making tiramisu?” Stacie asks excitedly, sitting on the high chair Aubrey’s just abandoned to regard her mother. 

“Maybe…” she says mysteriously but Stacie looks over the items she has gathered around the kitchen counter with a smile, noticing the espresso and cream. 

“Oh, yes.” 

Debbie chuckles at the response, glancing up quickly at Stacie before returning her focus to assembling. 

“You were teaching Aubrey how to make your tiramisu?” 

“She already knows how to make it.” 

“When did you teach her?” Stacie asks in surprise. 

“Two years ago, I think? The first Christmas you brought her home with you,” Debbie explains. 

“Wait a sec, why haven’t you taught me?” Stacie asks, affronted as she has the stray thought to wonder why Aubrey’s never made the tiramisu at home. 

“Because you’re a nightmare in the kitchen.” 

“That’s—” Stacie starts to protest but her mother looks up at her again, raises her eyebrows in challenge as she dares Stacie to finish that sentence. “Not entirely incorrect.” 

Debbie nods, returns to her dish to start layering cream over the row of ladyfingers. 

“But there’s no cooking in tiramisu, how hard can it be?” 

Debbie pauses to look up at Stacie with a frown. 

“What?” 

“There is cooking in the recipe,” Debbie says, frown melting away to a teasing smile as Stacie’s face falls, indignant expression smoothing out to a sheepish look. “It’s okay, I’ve accepted that I failed you in the kitchen front.” 

“Andy can cook, so maybe it’s just me,” Stacie jokes. 

“You’re your father’s daughter,” Debbie says with a laugh, shaking her head fondly as she stares off. “You know, sometimes I’m grateful you grew up to be a tall, fit and healthy human being.” 

“Why’s that?” Stacie asks, trying not to get too choked up in the memory of her dad because even though her mother’s smile is sad, her eyes are bright with nostalgia. 

“He couldn’t cook to save his—or your—life. When you were little I had a few times where I worked crazy hours and I’ve never doubted his parenting skills, don’t get me wrong, but I did worry about your food intake.” 

Stacie’s smile grows slowly. 

“Your dad was a horror show in the kitchen. He tried, he really did, but there’s a reason the house has a direct line to the fire station and it’s because of him,” Debbie explains and Stacie’s face must give away her gleeful disbelief because Debbie nods with a chuckle. “He used to feed you some things…” She shakes her head with a grimace. “It’s a miracle you were a healthy child, is all.” 

“Is that why there’s a picture of me as a toddler eating corn straight out of a tin?” Stacie asks, suddenly remembering the photo Debbie has in her office. 

“Yes and no.” Stacie looks eager for the story, so Debbie happily indulges her. “You remember how your dad and I met?” 

“Yeah,” Stacie says with a soft smile. “He broke his arm in grad school when you were an intern at the hospital.” 

Debbie nods, something flitting across her eyes too quickly for Stacie to pinpoint what exactly it is. 

“Yes, but what you don’t know is that he was standing in a Walmart cart to reach for the last tin of corn before falling out of the cart and breaking his arm. He was buying corn because his roommate told him to get ingredients to make cornbread.” 

Stacie wants to laugh at the story but something pings in the back of her brain. 

“But…” Debbie nods encouragingly, knowing exactly what her daughter is going to say. “I know I can’t cook but even I know you don’t use actual corn for cornbread.” 

Debbie nods, lifts her palms in a shrug as she agrees. 

“He—oh my god.” Stacie can’t contain her laughter any longer, crossing her arms on the kitchen counter to drop her forehead against them as she giggles and Debbie has to laugh at both the memory and the sound of Stacie’s pure, infectious laughter. 

“Corn has a special place in our family,” Debbie adds, wiping at her eyes but it just makes Stacie laugh harder, chokes on her breath as she gasps for air while laughing. 

“Jesus, dad, you’re so dumb,” she mumbles under her breath to herself but Debbie catches it and a sharp laugh falls from her lips. 

“Smartest man I knew but defeated by something as simple as food,” Debbie provides and Stacie laughs, but she’s calming down, trying to get her breathing even again and wiping at her tears. 

They’re still giggling softly when Andy joins them in the kitchen and Stacie quickly glances at the clock and sees that they have to go soon. 

“You’re making tiramisu?” Andy asks, voice borderline whining as he turns his betrayed gaze onto his mom. 

“You don’t drink coffee and this is soaked in it,” Debbie argues and Andy nods but his pout doesn’t budge. 

“Still.” 

“Have a piece of pie,” Stacie says. 

“No, I’m okay,” Andy says, shrugging as he settles on the barstool next to Stacie. 

“Ready to go back?” Debbie asks, her smile soothing but her eyes focused intently on Andy. 

He nods, meets her eyes and nods again. “Yeah. Back to the grind.” 

“Okay,” Debbie says, having made her concerns clear to Andy after he’d opened up about his struggles. “Do we have to go right now or can I finish this?” 

“You can finish making the dessert I can’t have,” Andy teases and Debbie shoots him a soft glare so he holds up his hands innocently. “Can I help?” 

“Do you want to do the next layer of ladyfingers?” she offers and Andy nods, springs up from his chair. 

“Sure,” he says, rounding the kitchen island and giving Debbie a quick hug before shooing her out of the way. 

“Wait why does he get to help?” Stacie protests but there’s no bite to her words. 

Debbie moves to the side of the kitchen island to watch Andy as he neatly dips a ladyfinger into the espresso-liquor mix and places it onto the layer of cream mixture. 

“Because look at how perfect he’s doing it,” Debbie explains, voice almost reverent as she keeps her eyes trained on Andy. 

Andy shoots her a smug look and Stacie sticks out her tongue in response. 

“You two, I swear,” Debbie tuts and they both school their expressions. 

“Bye Aubrey,” Andy says with a smile, adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder. 

“Thanks for coming, Andy,” Aubrey replies as she pulls him into a loose hug. “Don’t forget what I said earlier, okay?” 

“Promise,” Andy says, his smile softening as he wraps his arms around Aubrey. 

“What did you say earlier?” Stacie asks teasingly as she joins them in the foyer. 

“That is none of your business,” Aubrey says immediately and Stacie rolls her eyes but she doesn’t press the issue. 

“Ready to go? Have everything?” Stacie asks, directing the words at Andy and the boy nods, shrugs his shoulder to show Stacie his bag. She nods once, before turning back to the staircase. “Bella, we’re leaving!” 

“M’coming!” 

Aubrey laughs and shakes her head with exasperation when she hears Bella’s footsteps running down the hall. 

“Drive safe?” she says, turning back to Stacie. 

“Always,” Stacie replies, arm winding around Aubrey’s middle to pull her close and kiss her softly. “I love you.” 

“I love you.” 

Debbie quietly steps into the entryway, trying not to interrupt the two but a floorboard creaks and gives her away and she mutters under her breath. 

With a final peck, Aubrey pushes Stacie away, watching as Stacie leaves after she hears Andy call out to Stacie to unlock the car door before turning to Debbie with an inquisitive look. 

“You’re going too?” 

Debbie nods, hums. “Empty house,” she says then, leaning in close and kissing Aubrey’s forehead. “Ample opportunity to talk to your dad.” 

Aubrey’s mouth quirks before she can stop herself and Debbie chuckles, pats her arm. 

“Plus this gives me a last chance to needle Andy about his girlfriend,” Debbie adds with a wink, lightening the moment and Aubrey’s infinitely grateful as she laughs, shakes her head. 

“Relentless,” Aubrey mumbles, biting her lips when Debbie arches an eyebrow and shoots her a playful smile. 

“Don’t think you’re not next,” Debbie says, and Aubrey’s brow furrows as she opens her mouth to ask for a clarification when Debbie reaches out and hooks her finger into Aubrey’s necklace near her collarbone, softly urging the cross—and now also the ring—out from its hidden spot under Aubrey’s sweater. 

It’s almost automatic how Aubrey reaches up and touches the cross and Debbie smiles at the sight, eyes only briefly looking down at the cross before meeting Aubrey’s eyes again and trying to convey everything she wants to say without having to use words and Aubrey seems to understand, nervous smile easing as she blushes and looks down. 

“See you later,” Debbie says, amusement heavily colouring her tone but then she squeezes Aubrey’s arm reassuringly, waits for the blonde to lift her gaze again before smiling softly. 

Aubrey nods and she opens her mouth to say something but then Bella comes skidding into the entryway, effectively ending their moment. 

In her haste, Bella struggles to get into her boots and coat at the same time and Aubrey sighs with exasperation before leaning in to help the girl. 

“Thank you mommy,” Bella says, grinning up at her. 

“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” Aubrey says. “Kiss?” 

Bella stands on her tiptoes as Aubrey leans down to let the girl smack a kiss onto her cheek. 

“Bye, baby.” 

“Bye, mommy! Love you!” 

“Love you too,” Aubrey says after her but Bella’s already out on the porch, going down the steps towards the car. 

Debbie rolls her eyes before turning back to Aubrey. “Talk to him.” 

“I will.” 

Aubrey watches from the doorway as the Conrads all get settled in Stacie’s car, Bella waving animatedly from the backseat and Stacie honks once as she drives off. 

She doesn’t immediately go in search of her father, wandering into the living room and dropping onto the couch as she mulls it over. She can’t stop hearing Debbie’s voice and Stacie’s words from Thursday in her head though, so after a while she reluctantly gets up and goes in search of her father, trying the study first and frowning when she finds it empty. Detouring to the kitchen, she fixes herself a cup of coffee and takes it with her as she wanders around the house in search of her father. 

“Dad?” she calls out into the seemingly empty house. 

She checks upstairs and can’t find him in any of the rooms and as she’s making her way downstairs again, she can see that the back door is unlocked so she peeks out the window next to the door and smiles when she sees him on the back porch. 

“Hey, dad,” Aubrey says, joining him after dropping off her mug in the kitchen and grabbing her coat, bundling up against the increasing November chill. “What are you doing out here?” 

Her father smiles sideways at her but doesn’t take his eyes off the backyard and Aubrey steps closer to him. 

“I’ve always loved DC in the fall.” 

She hums softly, not sure how to answer but wanting to acknowledge his words as she leans against the railing next to him. 

“That’s why your grandparents kept this house when they moved back to South Carolina. For us.” 

“Then why did we never live here?” Aubrey asks carefully. 

“No, not y—” He stops, goes quiet for a bit as he stares off. “Well, ultimately it was always meant for you, I suppose.” 

He doesn’t elaborate on his words and Aubrey’s not sure how to respond so she stays quiet. 

“Did you know that you were born here?” 

“In McLean?” 

“In this house,” William corrects and Aubrey’s eyes go wide. 

“I—no, I didn’t,” she stammers, frowning as she processes the words. “But there are pictures of me in the hospital.” 

“Your mother—” he starts and they both pretend not to notice the strain in his voice. “—she was having contractions all night but she didn’t tell me. She didn’t think they were contractions because we were still two weeks away from her due date and she’d had false contractions before and she didn’t want to go sit for hours in the ER.” 

“I was born at home?” Aubrey asks, voice soft as she takes in the new information. She tries to remember whether her grandparents had ever mentioned it but she’s drawing up a blank and she knows for sure her father has never talked to her about this before. 

“Right upstairs, in our bedroom,” William says with a nod and a faraway look in his eyes. “The ambulance arrived about ten minutes after you did and you were both taken to the hospital to be checked over. That’s why there’s pictures of you in the hospital. We didn’t tell anybody you were born at home because your mother didn’t want any talk.” 

“Not even grandma and grandpa?” Aubrey asks. 

“Especially not them,” William says with a wry chuckle. “I’d never have heard the end of it.” 

Aubrey laughs softly, agreeing with him. 

“If I’d known she was having contractions…” He shakes his head with a long, exasperated sigh. “That’s probably why she didn’t tell me. Stubborn woman.” 

Aubrey tries to swallow down the sudden knot in her throat, tries to be in the moment with her father because this is the first time he’s ever talked candidly about her mother in a way that wasn’t strictly for facts sake and she’s never heard him speak of her with such warmth and she doesn’t want to ruin it, doesn’t know when she’ll get to have this again and so desperately trying to have it last as long as possible. 

“You’re so much like her.” 

“Stubborn?” Aubrey asks in a small voice and her father chuckles dryly. 

“Yes,” he says, shooting her a pointed look before softening slightly, the skin around his eyes creasing in a way that suggests there’s a teasing undercurrent to his words. “Amongst other things.” 

“Really?” Aubrey asks, trying to keep the eagerness out of her tone but he hears it clear as day. “Like what?” 

“You’re honest… and driven… compassionate. Independent. Clever.” 

Aubrey can hear blood rushing in her ears and she knows she’s not getting enough oxygen but she’s afraid that if she breathes, she’ll burst whatever bubble they’re in and tear up and her father is still staring off into the backyard and she really doesn’t want to snap him out of whatever memory seems to be gripping him. 

“You have her green eyes,” he whispers and she breaks, all her breath leaving her in one rush. 

He tears his eyes away from the backyard to look at her and a small smile flickers across his face as he nods once. 

“Always so expressive.” 

Aubrey looks like she’s going to cry and he’s never been good with that, never really known how to handle it, and luckily for him, she hadn’t cried a lot as a child. 

He clears his throat and looks away again and Aubrey recognises the gentle brush off for what it is so she twists away to stop looking up at him intently, shaking her head to get rid of her weak moment. 

“Congratulations, by the way,” he says and it’s so out of left field that Aubrey makes a strangled sound of surprise and turns to him with a puzzled look. He gestures to her necklace, to the ring dangling there. “Your mother’s cross.” 

Aubrey looks down at her necklace even though she knows what he means, hadn’t noticed that she’d forgotten to tuck it back under her sweater after Debbie had left and it takes all of her willpower not to reach up and fiddle with the cross. 

“Thank you.” 

She expects him to ask further questions about the engagement so she’s taken by surprise again when he says, “When did you start wearing the cross?” 

“Grandma used to wear it. I got it when she died,” Aubrey explains with a sad smile. 

“I’m sorry you had to go through that alone,” he says softly and Aubrey has to resist the urge to tell him that she hadn’t been alone, that Chloe had been by her side the whole time and refused to let go of her hand as Aubrey had spiralled down in grief when having to bury the second, and last, mother figure she’d ever known.

“It’s okay,” Aubrey says, tries for a reassuring smile but William sees right through her. “I understand. You had more important things.” 

The words, contrasted against what he’d heard her say to Stacie’s mother, send a pang of heavy guilt through him and he’s about to address it when she plasters on a wide smile and looks at him, breaking into his thoughts by speaking. 

“You know dad,” she starts, forcing a cheery tone. “The argument could be made that a lot of the things you said I got from mom, I actually got from you.” 

“Maybe some,” he admits. “But not all of them.” 

Aubrey looks at him with an inquisitive look so he elaborates. 

“Your drive? Your resilience? That was all her. You’ve always been fiercely independent, even as a child,” he explains, thinking back to Aubrey as a young girl and how much she hadn’t needed anything or anyone. “You were bold and vocal about what you wanted or needed. Still are.” 

He smiles wryly but Aubrey’s frown just deepens at his words, can’t recall having ever been vocal with her father about anything and surprised that that’s how he thinks back to her youth because all she remembers is the gripping loneliness of constantly moving around and living in a cold house with an emotionally distant father who never responded to her desperate attempts at connection. 

“I was independent because I had to be,” Aubrey says, the words slipping out before she can stop them. 

Her words take him by surprise, she can see that, but he doesn’t ask for an explanation so she doesn’t provide one. 

“But you’re happy now?” he asks, more than aware of the implication behind Aubrey’s words and trying more than anything to move them past it, the crushing weight of his parental failures overwhelming. 

Aubrey’s brow twitches at the pivot in topic and she looks away from him, staring into the backyard and missing the way he’s intently watching the emotions play across her face. 

She wants to push the other thing, to maybe finally drag some of her past issues into the light but she hears Stacie’s car pull up and she knows they don’t have the time to fully go into it and she’s honestly not sure that talking about their past would do her, her father, or their relationship any good anyway. 

“Yes,” she finally says. She hears the familiar sounds of steps on the front porch and the door opening, her expression easing when she hears Stacie call something out to Bella and the sound of small feet padding across their hardwood floors. “Yes, I am.” 

“Well, that’s good,” he says gruffly and a smile ghosts across her face. “Just shows you never needed me after all.” 

“What?” Aubrey asks, startles by his words, by the constant curveballs he’s throwing her and the depth of his statement but before they can get into it, the door to the back porch rattles and they turn to it. 

The tension breaks as Aubrey laughs softly at the sight of Bella pressed up against the door, peering at them with a large smile. 

Bella doesn’t wait for an invitation as she opens the door and joins them on the back porch. “Hi!” 

“Baby, where’s your coat?” Aubrey asks as the girl makes her way over and Bella shrugs but Aubrey can see the goosebumps forming on her skin so she quickly lifts the girl onto her hip, uses the railing as support as she wraps Bella in her arms, trying to shield her from the cold with her own coat. 

“What’cha doin?” Bella asks, cuddling close to Aubrey, wrapping her arms around her neck and fingers automatically reaching out to play with a lock of blonde hair. 

“We’re just talking,” Aubrey says with a small smile. “Uncle Andy left?” 

Bella pouts sadly up at Aubrey and the woman mirrors the expression before smoothing hair away from Bella’s forehead to press a kiss there. 

“Yes,” Bella says dejectedly. 

“You’ll get to see him at Christmas again,” Aubrey reassures but then Bella lights up more than expected. 

“He told mama we could go see him play soccer!” 

“Did he?” 

“Uh-huh!” Bella says, nodding fervently but then she seems to notice William, her smile dropping slightly. “Grandpa, when do you have to leave?” 

“Tonight,” he answers, voice a little curt because he’d been so distracted watching Aubrey interact with Bella, still not quite used to seeing this whole other side of his daughter. 

Bella worries her lower lip as she turns back to Aubrey, clearly considering an idea. “Can I come say goodbye?” 

“Afraid not, honey,” Aubrey says. “You will be in bed by then. You have school tomorrow.” 

Bella pouts, lower lip jutting out as she gives Aubrey her best puppy dog eyes but Aubrey just shakes her head. 

“Pwease?” Bella tries and Aubrey wants to laugh at her pitiful tone and put-on lisp but she has to stay strong. 

“No. You know the Sunday night rule.” 

Bella sighs when she realises Aubrey’s not going to budge, the sound so deep and exaggerated that Aubrey finally cracks, her lips tugging up into a smile. 

“O-kaay,” Bella says, mouth quirking briefly before she squirms to be let down and turns to William, smiling widely. “Grandpa, do you wanna go play?” 

He opens his mouth to refuse because he can tell that his conversation with Aubrey isn’t over yet but Aubrey looks between him and Bella and there’s that look again, the one that suggests she thinks he’s going to say no and crush Bella and her earlier words echo loudly in his mind, of how she’d needed to be independent and he’d never considered Aubrey to be a lonely child but he’s starting to rethink that. 

“Sure thing,” he says and Bella’s smile widens as she holds out her hand for him to take. 

He’s still a bit taken aback by the girl’s brazenly affectionate nature but he still slips his hand into her small one and lets Bella lead him inside with a quick, wry smile at Aubrey. 

Aubrey watches them go with an encouraging smile but doesn’t follow them inside, waits until the door closes behind them to move over to the bench nearby and drop down onto it, lifting her feet and wrapping her arms around her legs, perching her chin on her knees as she stares off, deep in thought. 

She’s not sure how long she’s outside for but she’s getting colder by the minute until suddenly there’s a blanket around her shoulders and when she looks up, Stacie’s there and she leans down to brush her lips against Aubrey’s temple with a warm look and a reassuring smile. 

Before she has a chance to leave, Aubrey’s hand shoots out and her fingers wrap around Stacie’s wrist, keeping her close and Stacie takes the hint, turns back to Aubrey and stays put. 

“What was that about?” she whispers but Aubrey doesn’t answer, just wraps her arms around Stacie’s middle. Stacie tugs at the elastic holding Aubrey’s hair in place and loosens her ponytail, slowly running her fingers through the blonde strands and smiling when Aubrey sighs and presses her forehead against Stacie’s stomach. “Want to talk about it?” 

“Later,” she says, voice muffled by Stacie’s sweater. 

“Hey,” Stacie urges, tugging softly at Aubrey’s scalp so Aubrey lifts her head, keeps her chin pressed against Stacie’s stomach. “I love you.” 

“Say it again,” Aubrey says, voice hushed and there’s a desperation in her eyes that makes Stacie cup her face and hold her gaze. 

“I love you, Aubrey.” 

Aubrey exhales loudly and then a slow smile unfurls over her face and Stacie softens at the sight, pulling Aubrey’s arms away from her body so she can duck down and kiss Aubrey softly. 

“Come inside, please,” Stacie says once they part. “You’re cold.” 

“No, I’m not,” Aubrey counters because she really isn’t, not since Stacie draped the blanket around her shoulders. 

“Your lips are cold,” Stacie says and Aubrey’s lips twitch up into a smile. 

“Then keep them warm for me.” 

“You sure know how to seduce a girl,” Stacie flirts back, pulling away from Aubrey enough to drop onto the bench next to her and gather her up in her arms. 

Aubrey throws her legs over Stacie’s lap and adjusts the blanket so it covers both of them, leaning her head sideways on Stacie’s shoulder with a small sigh. 

Stacie twists her head to look down at Aubrey, smiling as their eyes meet. 

“What are they doing in there?” 

“Our tiny drama queen almost had a fit when your father said he’s never seen Moana so they’re watching that now,” Stacie says. 

Aubrey laughs softly, her eyes falling closed but then her smile freezes in place and Stacie can feel the amusement seep out of her to make way for something else. 

She knows Aubrey’s not ready to talk about it though, so she changes the topic and she can sense Aubrey’s gratitude when she says, “What did you and Chloe decide?” 

“She was worried about having to make Emily share with either Lilly or Amy again to make up for their lack of space but we talked it over and it makes more sense if Jessica and Ashley stay close to the twins anyway so they’re going to get an inflatable mattress and put it in Bella’s room and have the twins share Bella’s bed.” 

“And Bella sleeps with us?” Stacie asks for clarification so Aubrey nods. 

“Chloe offered to get her a mattress but I told her she doesn’t have to.” 

“If they want to keep hosting all the Bellas for these get-togethers they’re gonna need a bigger house,” Stacie says with a small laugh. 

“That’s what I said,” Aubrey says. “And after New Year’s I’m losing my room, too.” 

Stacie frowns in confusion so Aubrey lifts her head, reaches up to smoothen the skin between Stacie’s brows. 

“Baby room.” 

“Hm, I’d have thought they’d take Bella’s room before yours.” 

“And have Beca lose favourite aunt privileges? As if,” Aubrey says with a chuckle, dropping her head to Stacie’s shoulder again. “She only just got that title back.” 

“You gave her a good run for her money, babe,” Stacie replies and they share a laugh. 

“Bella told me Andy said we’re invited to his games again?” Aubrey asks and Stacie nods, hums. 

“If they make it to the finals, we’re allowed to come see him play.”

“In full gear?” 

“Yup, including Bella in her full soccer uniform with her Conrad jersey,” Stacie adds and Aubrey shoots her a surprised look. “Whatever you said to him must’ve really worked.” 

“I made him promise to call or text if he was ever feeling overwhelmed about anything.” 

“You’re amazing,” Stacie says, twisting her head again to brush her lips against Aubrey’s temple. 

“So are you,” Aubrey says, tilting her head and Stacie takes the hint, moves lower and kisses Aubrey slowly but deeply. 

“I know you don’t want to talk about it now,” Stacie starts when they part. “But are you going to be okay dropping off your dad at the airport?” 

“I’ll be fine,” Aubrey says and Stacie doesn’t look like she quite believes her but she doesn’t push the issue. Aubrey lifts her head from Stacie’s shoulder to be close to her, their lips brushing against each other as she speaks, “But thank you for worrying.” 

Stacie barely has enough time to smile before Aubrey presses their lips more firmly against each other, kissing her. 

Stacie settles into the kiss and Aubrey sighs, but then she reaches up to curl her hand around the back of Stacie’s neck and her fingers are so cold that they make Stacie break away with a gasp and a shiver. 

“Okay, we need to go inside, your fingers are freezing,” Stacie rushes out. 

Aubrey tries to protest it because she doesn’t feel cold at all, actually feels really warm, especially where Stacie’s arm is wrapped around her but Stacie’s already urging her up so she relents. 

“Fine.” 

“I’ll keep kissing you, we just need to do it inside where it’s nice and warm and you won’t give me hypothermia with your cold hands.” 

“Now I know where Bella gets the theatrics from,” Aubrey teases as she gets up and takes the blanket with her. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Miss If-we-let-them-penetrate-us-we-are-giving-them-our-power,” Stacie teases, standing up with a sharp groan made worse by Aubrey lightly glaring at her. 

“I wasn’t wrong,” Aubrey replies haughtily. 

“You were not but still,” Stacie says, small smirk on her face that Aubrey more than desperately wants to get rid off. 

“I’m gonna get you for that.” 

“I look forward to it,” Stacie teases, nudging her towards the house and Aubrey rolls her eyes preemptively with a small smile. “Inside.” 

“I had a nice time this week,” William says once they pull up to the drop off zone. 

“So did I. Thank you for coming,” Aubrey adds and William shoots her a wry smile. Aubrey flicks on her hazard lights as she puts the car in park, twisting to face her father. “I hate to spring this on you,” she starts and William frowns softly in confusion as he turns to his daughter. 

“What is it, Aubrey?” 

“I wanted to ask you earlier but then…” Aubrey shakes her head to clear it and focus on her words. “Will you give me away? When I get married?” 

William looks over his daughter, focuses on her averted gaze, how tightly her jaw is clenched and how tense her shoulders are and it’s clear she’s gearing herself up for him to say no and he hates how she braces herself against his answer every time, and how often he’s seen her like this in just the last few days alone. He’s never seen her so uncertain, so timid, and he wonders how he’s never noticed it before, how he’s never noticed that she’s only this way with him. 

“I’d love to,” he says softly, tenderly and the lingering nervousness in her eyes is hard to hide even as he sees relief fill her. 

Aubrey smiles softly, her eyes shining brightly but there’s a hesitance there that he’d never seen in her mother, a startling difference between daughter and mother and the idea that he’s made her this way, that he’s the reason she’s so drawn back is haunting, and in a desperate attempt to move himself past that, he squares his shoulders and sets his jaw and says, “Was that all?” 

Aubrey’s smile hardens and her surprise is clear, but she still nods.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come inside?” Aubrey offers. 

“I’m sure,” he says, smiling to set her at ease as he shakes his head. “I’ll be going straight through.” 

“Okay,” Aubrey says and there’s a lull where neither of them knows quite how to say goodbye. 

William watches as her hand reaches up to touch the chain of the necklace near her neck, her fingers trailing down along the gold to softly touch the cross dangling there.

“Okay,” he says, leaning in and Aubrey’s expression eases as she moves closer for the offered hug, squeezing him before letting go and sitting back. 

He steps out of the car without looking at her eyes again, too big of a coward to face the expression there and he’s just closed the door behind him, bag in hand, when he hears her door open. 

“Dad,” Aubrey calls out, quickly rounding the car. 

“Ma’am, you can’t park here!” a curbside attendant says, and both Aubrey and William turn to him with a glare and he shrinks back, muttering something under his breath as he holds up his hands innocently, backing away. 

“What is it, Aubrey?” William asks, turning to his daughter. 

She hesitates, fingers tightening around her car keys as she quickly glances down at the floor, shoulders straightening as she meets her father’s eyes. 

“I always needed you,” Aubrey says quickly but quietly and he almost doesn’t hear it over the hum of the airport. 

“Pardon?” 

“You said earlier—” Aubrey gestures vaguely with her hands before abruptly stopping and crossing her arms to stop nervously moving them. “There was never a time I didn't—I mean, I’ve always needed you. I just wanted to tell you that.” 

The only sign she gets that he’s heard her words is the small, quick furrow of his brows before he shoots her a small, sad smile. 

“I’m just an old man with too many regrets,” William says, tightening his hold on his bag as he steps close to kiss her temple, hand brushing down Aubrey’s arm and squeezing her elbow softly. 

His words confuse her and she’s not sure what to say or how to react so she lets him move away, create a distance between them again. 

“You should go home. Kiss your daughter good night.” 

Aubrey nods slowly, gradually coming to terms with the fact that she’s never going to get anything more from him. 

“Goodbye, Aubrey.” 

“Bye dad.” 

She’s not sure how exactly she makes it back to the house because she doesn’t remember actually driving home but she’s suddenly sitting in her car in the driveway, her father’s words ringing in her head. 

The porch light comes on and drags her attention away from intently gazing at her steering wheel and when Aubrey looks up, Debbie’s in the doorway motioning her in. She’s wearing a thick sweater and Aubrey can see that she’s a little cold so as much as she’d like to sit in her car and stew or scream, she reluctantly grabs her wallet and kills the engine, stepping out of the car and slowly making her way up to the house. 

There’s something so soothing about Debbie that Aubrey can’t pinpoint, maybe the lines around her mouth or the crow’s feet that suggest she’s smiled a lot in her life, or maybe it’s the warm look that always seems to be present in her eyes, or how she can somehow always see straight into Aubrey’s soul. 

Aubrey’s still in a bit of a daze but Debbie just pulls her into a hug and Aubrey wants to be annoyed at how quickly she tears up as she wraps her arms around Stacie’s mom and settles in the embrace but she can’t, instead buries her face in the woman’s shoulder as she cries. 

“Oh, sweetie,” Debbie says, hand softly rubbing Aubrey’s back as the other one reaches out to close the front door. “What happened?” 

“I don’t even know,” Aubrey murmurs, swallowing thickly as she lifts her head to compose herself, shrugging softly. 

She shakes her head to clear it and Debbie smiles, reaching out to cup Aubrey’s face and wipe away her tears, forcing the blonde to look at her as she shoots her a sympathetic look. 

Aubrey nods once in acknowledgement and Debbie smiles, leaning down to quickly kiss Aubrey’s forehead before dropping her hands. 

“Is Bella still—?” 

Aubrey barely gets the words out before the sound of laughter floats from upstairs and Aubrey’s chuckle is immediate and involuntary. 

“I’m not surprised if she’s still bouncing off the walls,” Debbie says with a chuckle, leading Aubrey away from the foyer. 

“I’m gonna go see what’s up,” Aubrey says and Debbie smiles, nods. 

“I’ll be here,” she says with a quick wink, gesturing towards the living room and Aubrey shoots her a grateful smile. 

Aubrey quickly makes her way up the stairs, gently rapping her knuckles on Bella’s bedroom door even though she can hear muffled giggles. 

“Who do you think that is?” Stacie’s muffled voice says. 

“Mommy?” Aubrey hears and it encourages her to push open the door and quickly step into the room. 

Stacie’s perched on the side of the bed, and Aubrey can just barely make out Bella buried under a mountain of stuffed animals. 

“Where is Bella?” Aubrey asks, putting on a genuinely curious tone as she addresses Stacie and moves closer. 

“I’m right here!” Bella calls out and Aubrey hums, pulling away a stuffed penguin and smiling widely when she sees Bella’s cheeky grin finally appear. 

“There you are,” Aubrey says with a laugh. “And still awake, I see.” 

Bella smiles sheepishly before glancing at Stacie. “I couldn’t sleep.” 

“She didn’t have enough animals before, apparently,” Stacie provides as she lets her fingers trail down Aubrey’s leg. 

“You’re all set now?” 

“Uh-huh,” Bella says, nodding and causing one of the stuffed turtles to slide away. “Oh no.” 

Stacie quickly adjusts the turtle back in its place as Aubrey tucks the penguin in close again. 

“Good night for real this time, baby girl,” Stacie says, leaning in to press her lips against Bella’s forehead before standing up. 

“Good night, sweetheart,” Aubrey says as she also kisses Bella’s forehead. “I love you.” 

“To the moon and back?” Bella asks in a small voice. 

“Times infinity,” Aubrey whispers like a secret. 

Bella sighs contentedly as Aubrey gets up with a final brush of her fingers along Bella’s cheek and joins Stacie in the doorway.

Aubrey glances back at Bella a final time before stepping out of the room and Stacie blows Bella a kiss and then closes the door behind her. 

“She’s going to be so cranky tomorrow morning,” Aubrey says with a chuckle and a shake of her head. 

“Oh yeah,” Stacie says with a laugh but then she gets a good look at Aubrey in the light of the hallway, hadn’t noticed her slightly red eyes in the lowly lit bedroom before. “Aubrey?” 

“I’m okay,” she says quickly but then Stacie shoots her a disbelieving look. “I’ll be okay.” 

“Okay,” Stacie says softly, gaze darting between Aubrey’s eyes to look for any sign that she should be worried. 

Aubrey melts completely when she recognises the action for what it is, steps closer and loops her arms around Stacie’s neck. 

“I love you so much,” Aubrey says and Stacie grins and lets herself be urged closer, lips brushing against Aubrey’s. 

“To the moon and back times infinity?” 

“Shush.” 

Stacie laughs when Aubrey presses her lips more firmly against hers, trying to kiss Stacie. 

“But you didn’t say yes,” Stacie points out and Aubrey whines as she pulls away to shoot Stacie a glare. 

“Yes.” 

“Okay.” 

“Can I kiss you now?” Aubrey asks impatiently, mock outrage wavering when Stacie wraps her arms around Aubrey’s middle and hauls her closer. 

“Yes, please.” 

Aubrey swallows Stacie’s laugh with a kiss, fingers trailing up Stacie’s neck to the nape of her neck, hooking into the loose bun of hair and tugging at the elastic holding it in place. Stacie moans into the kiss when her hair unravels and Aubrey rakes her nails over Stacie’s scalp and through her newly freed hair. 

Stacie can feel the satisfaction come off Aubrey in waves so she deepens the kiss, swipes her tongue along Aubrey’s lower lip to ask for access that Aubrey eagerly grants and this time it’s Aubrey’s turn to moan. 

The sound causes both of them to slow because they realise they can’t go too far standing just outside Bella’s bedroom with Stacie’s mom downstairs. 

“I was reading something online and it said there’s a meteor shower these days?” Aubrey murmurs in the space between them. 

“Leonid showers, yes,” Stacie confirms, tucking Aubrey’s hair behind her ears. 

“Will you show me tomorrow?” Aubrey asks, fingers dragging down Stacie’s back and dipping under her shirt to trail the pads of her fingers along Stacie’s soft skin. “We can take some blankets outside?” 

“I’d love to,” Stacie says with a tender smile. 

“I’ll tell you everything tomorrow,” Aubrey whispers but Stacie’s already shaking her head. 

“No rush.” 

“I want to tell you, I just have a crazy hectic day tomorrow and I want to enjoy your mom’s last night here.” 

“As long as you’re not staying up until late because you can’t sleep again,” Stacie presses and Aubrey smiles, head dropping to look down because of course Stacie knows. Aubrey shakes her head softly, lifts her head again to meet Stacie’s eyes. “Okay. I love you.” 

Aubrey smiles, leans in for another kiss. “I love you too.” 

“Good,” Stacie asserts and Aubrey laughs breathlessly at that, basking in the moment. 

“Should we go see what your mom is up to?” Aubrey offers and Stacie seems to consider the idea. 

“We could just stay up here and make out,” Stacie tries and Aubrey tries not to smile, tries not to encourage her but Stacie can see the corners of her lips tick upwards. 

“No.” 

“Then let’s go.” 

Chapter Text

Stacie sighs when the front door closes behind her, relishing in the warm air around them and taking a moment to adjust to it before starting to take off her coat. 

Bella’s on the floor, fighting to get her boots off and Stacie chuckles softly. 

“Baby, you need to unzip them all the way,” she says and Bella huffs as she follows the instructions, lowering the already halfway-down zipper and tugging at her boot again, using as much force as before and almost smacking herself in the face when the shoe easily comes off her foot. 

She repeats it with the other shoe, quickly getting the boot off her foot and placing them neatly next to Aubrey’s winter boots. 

Bella tries to unzip her coat then before remembering that she can’t reach the top and she turns to Stacie, expectant eyes looking upwards as she silently waits. 

Stacie stares down at her with her eyebrows slightly raised. 

“Mama, can you help me?” Bella finally says, understanding that she needs to ask for the help she wants. 

“Of course,” Stacie says, reaching down and unzipping Bella’s coat for her and Bella giggles when Stacie unloops the scarf from around Bella’s neck. Bella shucks out of her coat and she’s about to drop it on the floor when Stacie’s voice cuts in, “Hang that up, please.” 

Shooting her a guilty smile, Bella does as she’s told before running off, towards the music filtering out of the kitchen. 

Stacie quickly gets out of her own coat and boots and follows the girl, smiling when she finds Aubrey in the kitchen, leaning over the island at Bella who’s already on one of the bar stools, talking about her day. 

Stacie listens quietly, leaning against the doorway and watching them interact. 

Bella’s recounting her whole day but there’s a specific part she’s leaving out and Aubrey knows it, looks up at Stacie with an arched eyebrow before urging her closer. 

Stacie pushes away from the doorway, dropping her cell phone on the counter as she rounds the kitchen island to slide an arm around Aubrey’s middle and step in behind her, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek. 

“Do you want to tell mommy what happened at school today?” Stacie says then, looking at Bella. 

“No,” Bella says softly, petulantly, her index finger swirling invisible patterns on the counter as she avoids her moms’ eyes. 

“Bella,” Stacie says sternly and when the girl looks up, Aubrey arches an eyebrow at her. 

Bella sighs deeply and Aubrey has to put in good effort not to laugh at the girl’s antics, and she already knows that the reason Stacie was called in today can’t have been all that bad because if it had been, she’d already know about it.

“I yelled at Cody’s mom,” Bella finally confesses with a sheepish smile. 

“And?” Stacie prompts. 

“And mistur Henderson,” Bella adds. 

“Why did you do that?” Aubrey asks carefully, glancing quickly at Stacie who’s stepped away to stand next to her. 

“I didn’t mean to,” Bella says in a small voice. 

“What happened?” 

“During recess Cody kept trying to play with me and Zoë but we didn’t want to play with him,” Bella starts but Aubrey’s not sure how that relates to Stacie being called in. 

“Okay?” she asks. “I thought Cody was your friend?” 

“Not anymore,” Bella says with a disgusted and Aubrey’s expression drops into a frown. 

“Keep asking,” Stacie whispers to her quickly and Aubrey turns her head to shoot Stacie a grateful smile. 

“Why not? What happened?” Aubrey asks, genuinely perplexed because Bella had been all talk about her new friend Cody at the start of the school year. 

“Because he has cooties!” Bella says, throwing up her hands with a shrug, looking at Aubrey and shaking her head with genuine sadness, a devastated look on her face. 

“What?” Aubrey immediately blurts out, has to bite her lower lip to not laugh loudly and Stacie reaches out and pinches her side and it hurts but it also does the trick and abates her laughter. 

“I can’t play with him if he has cooties. I don’t want cooties,” Bella says obviously. 

Aubrey turns to look at Stacie again, drops her voice and says, “Really?”

“Oh yeah,” Stacie whispers with a quick nod, eyes twinkling with unfettered amusement. 

“That still doesn’t explain why you yelled at two adults,” Aubrey says when she turns back to Bella. 

“Cody’s mom tried to make me an’ Zoë play with Cody because we weren’t and he went and told her,” Bella says and the cheekiness dripping from the words is hard to miss but Bella’s not looking at Aubrey or Stacie, is staring at the counter as she raises her eyebrows and talks animatedly. “She said boys don’t have cooties and Cody doesn’t have cooties but he so does.” 

“How do you know he has cooties?” Aubrey can’t help but ask, fascinated and amused by Bella’s recounting of events. 

“Nora told me,” she says plainly. 

“And Nora’s an expert on these things?” 

“Yes,” Bella says resolutely, shooting Aubrey a look as if her answer should be the most obvious thing in the world. 

“You still haven’t told mommy why you yelled at Cody’s mother,” Stacie says, trying to curb some of the sass that is almost certainly going to cause them trouble in a few years’ time. 

“She said that Cody doesn’t have cooties but he does because he’s a boy so I told her that but she said he doesn’t so I said she doesn’t see it because she loves him because she’s his mommy.” 

“Oh my god,” Aubrey breathes, glancing at Stacie again and finding Stacie’s eyes closed as she nods with a wry smile. “You yelled that at her?” Aubrey asks, turning back to Bella. 

“Noo,” Bella corrects, shaking her head. “She said nobody has cooties, not even boys. When I said that they do she asked me if my daddy has cooties.” 

Bella falls quiet then, biting her lip as she pauses and Aubrey stays silent as she takes the opportunity to watch Bella fidget in her seat. 

“And you yelled…” Stacie prompts. 

“I don’t have a daddy,” Bella says, gaze flickering up to Aubrey’s nervously, looking away and worrying her lower lip again when she finds Aubrey closely watching her with a blank expression. 

“When did you yell at Mr. Henderson?” 

“When I got sent to the principal and he asked me why I was telling lies about not having a daddy. I yelled that I didn’t have a daddy and wasn’t lying.” 

Aubrey frowns in confusion, turns to Stacie. “Who’s this Henderson? Is that why you got called in?” 

Stacie nods, sighs deeply. “Steven Henderson was just appointed as the new vice-principal because Janine’s on maternity leave.”

“Where was Allen?” 

“He has a week personal leave before we break for the holidays,” Stacie says. “And Mr. Henderson is the interim principal.” 

“We haven’t met him, have we?” Aubrey asks softly. 

Stacie shakes her head and Aubrey sighs, suddenly understanding. 

They turn back to Bella, who’s still staring down at the counter, still looking sufficiently chastened. 

“Bella?” Aubrey says softly. 

“Yes?” the girl says, carefully looking up at them with clear trepidation. 

“We’re not mad at you,” Stacie says and a frown flickers across Bella’s face. 

“No?” 

“No,” Aubrey emphasises. 

“But I yelled at Cody’s mommy and Mr. Henderson,” Bella whispers. 

“And you know that was wrong,” Stacie says. 

“I’m not suppose’ta yell at grown-ups.” 

“At anybody,” Aubrey corrects. 

“No matter how upset you are,” Stacie adds. “I know what happened today was unfair and it’s good that you stood up for yourself but if it happens again, I don’t want you to yell, okay?” 

Bella nods. 

“Did you say sorry?” Aubrey asks. 

“Yes,” Bella says, gaze flickering to Stacie’s and they all know that she’d done it only after Stacie told her to, but it still counts. 

“Okay, good,” Aubrey says, smiling at Bella but the girl still looks uneasy, eyes wide with worry.

“You know what you did wrong and you apologised,” Stacie explains with a small smile. 

“I’m not in trouble?” 

“No, you’re not,” Stacie says and when Bella looks up at them, they’re both smiling softly at her. 

“Can I go play?” Bella whispers and Aubrey chuckles. 

“Yes, baby,” she says and Bella squirms down from the chair. 

“C’mere,” Stacie says. 

Bella rounds the counter and Stacie drops down with her arms open as Bella flies into her embrace, wrapping tiny arms around Stacie’s neck. 

Stacie kisses the side of her head as she strokes a hand over Bella’s hair. “No yelling, okay?” 

“No yelling.” 

Bella switches from Stacie to Aubrey, hugging her just as tightly. 

“Don’t take out all your toys, we’re having dinner soon,” Aubrey says when they pull away. 

Bella nods in understanding and Aubrey smiles, reaching out to cup Bella’s face as she leans in to kiss the girl’s forehead. 

When she straightens, Bella runs off to go play and Aubrey turns to Stacie with an incredulous look. 

“What happened?” 

“Cody’s mom, Lisa, she went to Henderson after Bella yelled at her because she thought Bella’s dad died and was worried she’d said something wrong.” 

“Seriously?” Aubrey asks and Stacie rolls her eyes but nods. 

“So apparently every kid has a file with notes in it, especially if they have a deceased parent, but obviously Bella’s file doesn’t say that because she has two perfectly alive parents. So this new guy pulls her file and sees that she doesn’t have a dead dad and calls Bella into the office and starts asking her why she would lie to Lisa about not having a dad. And Bella—”

“Incapable of not correcting a wrong,” Aubrey adds in. 

“She gets that from you, by the way.” 

“No she doesn’t,” Aubrey counters immediately, not realising the irony of her words until Stacie cracks a smile. 

“Yeah she does. So Bella said that her father isn’t dead because she never had one to begin with and Henderson just couldn’t wrap his head around it. Lisa tried to say something like Bella being in denial so Bella yelled at them that she doesn’t have a dad and ran out of there to go to her teacher.”

“Fuck,” Aubrey says. “What a mess.” 

“Yeah,” Stacie says, letting out a deep, dejected sigh. “He called me.” 

“I’m glad he did.” 

“I’m glad it didn’t escalate to more,” Stacie says. 

Aubrey sighs, wraps an arm around Stacie’s middle and pulls her closer, pressing her lips to Stacie’s cheek in a lingering kiss. 

“Fucking… cooties,” Stacie says with a long sigh and Aubrey’s lips twitch up into a smile. 

“I didn’t think we were at the cooties phase yet.” 

“I didn’t either,” Stacie says and when she twists her head she finds Aubrey smiling at her, eyes soft and it eases the tension in her body as she finally wraps an arm around Aubrey. “She needs to stop growing so fast,” Stacie whispers, voice tight as she looks away, trying to stem the sudden wave of emotions. 

“I know,” Aubrey says softly, hurting at the sight of the melancholy in Stacie’s eyes so she smiles wryly and presses her forehead against Stacie’s, thumb rubbing calming circles onto Stacie’s skin. 

“How was your day?” Stacie tries to ask, voice shaky and Aubrey breaks away with a soft laugh at Stacie’s bad attempt to move past it. 

“Nowhere near as eventful as yours, apparently,” Aubrey says and Stacie finally smiles, some of the spark returning to her eyes as she pulls away enough to look over Aubrey’s face. 

“Hi,” she says, hand heavily moving along Aubrey’s back. 

“Hi you,” Aubrey says, smiling and gaze flickering away when she feels Stacie untuck her shirt from her pencil skirt so she can lazily trail her fingers up Aubrey’s spine. 

Aubrey lets her own hand move up and curl around the back of Stacie’s neck, urging her closer and brushing their lips together. Stacie surges closer, pressing more intently as she kisses her firmly and Aubrey moans when Stacie immediately deepens the kiss and tightens her fingers on Aubrey’s back to pull her closer. 

Aubrey kisses her back just as fervently until she feels Stacie completely relax, the last of the stress seeping out of her and Aubrey can’t help but smile, their kisses slowing. 

Stacie wants to push Aubrey up against the counter, maybe lift her onto it and keep kissing her but just as her hands curl around Aubrey’s hips, there’s a crash from the living room, followed by an “I’m okay!” and Stacie giggles, drops her face into Aubrey’s neck. 

Aubrey laughs, twists her head to quickly kiss Stacie’s temple before pushing her away. “I have to finish dinner.” 

Stacie reluctantly lets her go, grabs her phone before moving over to a corner where she knows she won’t disturb Aubrey and hopping up to sit on the counter. 

Aubrey checks the oven before moving over to the fridge, opening it but then pausing. 

Stacie looks up when she feels the cold draft and she frowns when she sees Aubrey staring off instead of doing something so she softly calls out, “Babe?” 

Aubrey snaps out of it, closing the fridge but letting her hand linger on the handle as she turns to Stacie. “Did he apologise to her?” 

“What?” 

“Henderson,” Aubrey says. “Did he apologise for agitating Bella and insisting she’s a liar?” 

“Shit. He didn’t,” Stacie admits. “He apologised to me for the misunderstanding.” 

Aubrey shoots her a pointed look and Stacie’s irritation is suddenly reignited. 

“Also, can I just say, I don’t understand a system where they make a note on a child’s file if they’re missing a parent but not if they have, oh, say, two moms?” Stacie says and Aubrey nods as she opens the fridge again to grab what she needs. “Bella’s file should have a note that says ‘has two moms’ in bold font size twenty.” 

“You’re not wrong,” Aubrey gives. 

“And Lisa told me that Henderson kept insisting every child has a mother and father which is not even true for all kids, gay parents or not!”

“Let it all out, baby,” Aubrey mumbles. 

“And I’d really like it if our kid didn’t have an authority figure insisting she needs a father. This is what we were trying to avoid by going in during orientation and explaining our home situation and it still happened.” 

“Mhm-hmm.” 

“I don’t want her growing up thinking she has an incomplete life or thinking she’s missing something or even that she’s weird for being different.” 

“That’s fair,” Aubrey says as she starts pulling plates and cutlery from the cupboards. 

“Do you have meetings tomorrow morning?” Stacie asks and Aubrey pauses, hadn’t expected Stacie to be done with her angry rant so quickly. 

“No, why?” 

“I want to go drop off Bella together, get her her apology and introduce you to Henderson.” 

Aubrey’s lips twitch as she tries to suppress a smile but even through her angry energy Stacie can see it, eyes narrowing in suspicion. 

“What?” 

“Nothing,” Aubrey says but her voice is too high-pitched to be genuine. 

“Aubrey.” 

“Just… He’s new, maybe go a little easy on him,” Aubrey tries and the moment she says the words she regrets them, Stacie’s eyebrow arching pointedly. 

“You’re really saying that? You, to me?” 

Aubrey grimaces, shoots Stacie a guilty look. “I realise the irony, yes.” 

“Do you?” Stacie teases, slides off the counter to stalk over to Aubrey and trap her against the kitchen island, head tilted mockingly and relieving Aubrey of the plates to set them down on the kitchen counter. “You, Aubrey Posen, are telling me to go easy on someone after you almost had a five-year-old expelled for accidentally pushing Bella off the swings?” 

Stacie can see how hard Aubrey tries to keep her cool, how hard she tries not to engage but she sees something flash in Aubrey’s eyes and she’s suddenly proud of her foresight to relieve Aubrey of the very breakable plates. 

“Bella needed stitches,” Aubrey growls. “I don’t care if it was an accident or not, nobody pushes my kid off the swings and gets away with it.” 

Aubrey deflates as soon as the words leave her mouth and she closes her eyes in shame, expects Stacie to be grinning at how easy it is to rile her up but when there’s no sound, she opens her eyes again, finds the woman smiling softly at her. 

“Our kid,” Stacie corrects, voice hushed and Aubrey’s cheeks warm at the tender gaze being levelled at her. 

“Our kid,” Aubrey amends, smile growing and Stacie struck by how much she loves Aubrey, how lucky she feels that this is what they’re bickering about. 

“The point still stands,” she says, but her voice carries no bite and she can’t find it in herself to stop smiling softly at Aubrey. “Mama bear,” she whispers and Aubrey smiles up at her, eyes narrowing because she can’t argue the title.

Her gaze flickers away then, brows furrowing slightly and Stacie nudges her to get her attention. 

“Do you think she thinks Andy has cooties?” Aubrey asks, looking at Stacie again with a puzzled look and then Stacie glances away to mull it over. 

“He’s gonna be really heartbroken when we go to Philly next week and she won’t go near him because he has cooties,” Stacie says with a grimace. “Ok, I gotta go Google how to solve this.” 

Stacie steps away, ready to go when Aubrey curls her fingers into the waistband of Stacie’s jeans and yanks her back. “Hey.” 

“Hm?” Stacie asks but then Aubrey kisses her, a quick hard press of lips against each other before letting her go.  

“I love you,” Aubrey mumbles against her lips and Stacie exhales heavily, eyes fluttering open. 

“I love you too,” she responds, chest filling with warmth at the look in Aubrey’s eyes. 

“Bella?” Aubrey says and the girl freezes, her fork poised over her plate as she looks up with a sheepish expression at being caught playing with her food but Aubrey shakes her head with a smile. 

“Yea?” 

“Don’t you miss playing with Cody?” Aubrey asks carefully, eyes flickering to Stacie’s and back. 

“Yeah,” Bella says with a wry smile and a shrug. “But he has cooties.” 

“So you’re never going to play with him again?” 

Bella sighs dejectedly. “I can’t.” 

“Because of the cooties?” Aubrey asks, just to clarify and the girl nods and sighs again and Aubrey has a hard time suppressing a laugh so she quickly takes a bite of her food. 

“You know, there’s a vaccine for cooties,” Stacie says casually, taking a bite of broccoli and chewing as she also tries not to let her smile get too manic. 

Bella stops trying to stab a piece of potato with her fork and looks at Stacie with suspicion. 

“A what?” 

“A way to prevent it,” Aubrey provides. 

“Really?” 

“Mhm-hmm,” Stacie says, nodding. 

“How do you know?” Bella asks, narrowing her eyes and resolutely putting down her fork to focus all her attention on Stacie and Aubrey lifts a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh. 

“I’m a scientist, remember?” Stacie says, poking Bella’s arm. 

“I thought you were a teacher,” Bella teases around a giggle as she squirms out of Stacie’s reach in anticipation of more pokes. 

“I’m a scientist who teaches,” Stacie corrects. 

“You’ve been to her lab,” Aubrey reminds and Bella’s expression eases. 

“Oh yeah…” she mumbles, quirks her mouth and furrows her brow as she looks at Stacie again. “What’s a vax-een?” 

“Remember when we took you to your paediatrician a few months ago and you got a few shots?” 

“Yeah?” Bella says, scrunching up her face at the memory of the needles. 

“Those are called vaccines. They hurt a little bit when you get the shot but they protect you against super scary diseases.” 

“Hm,” Bella says as she picks up her fork again and pokes at a piece of potato to take a bite of it, chewing slowly and she looks so deep in thought as she stares at her plate that Stacie looks up to make eye contact with Aubrey and breaks, laughing but making sure that she’s quiet enough that Bella won’t hear her and think she’s being mocked. 

Aubrey nudges Stacie’s knee as a warning but Stacie can see how badly she’s also dying to laugh. 

“Why didn’t I get it?” Bella suddenly asks and they’re snapped out of their intense staring.

“What?” 

“Why didn’t I get a cootie shot?” Bella asks, her tone borderline accusatory as she looks between Stacie and Aubrey with a displeased frown. 

“Because you don’t need a paediatrician or doctor to administer this vaccine. We can do it right at home,” Stacie explains. 

“Really?” Bella asks, disbelief clear as she glances at Aubrey to confirm and Aubrey nods emphatically.

“Well,” Aubrey says then, putting on an exaggerated tone. “I don’t know how to do it, but your mama does.” 

“Can you do it?” Bella begs, head whirling around to face Stacie, hair flying around her face with the effort. “Please, momma, please?” 

“Sure thing, baby girl. I can give you the shot after your shower,” Stacie says with a wink and Bella looks buoyed by the words as she shoves the last of the potato in her mouth. 

“Thank you!” she mumbles around a mouth full of food. 

“Bella…” Aubrey warns sternly. 

“Sh-orry,” she says quickly but then Aubrey shoots her an exasperated look so Bella carefully chews her food until her mouth is empty and she opens wide and sticks out her tongue to show that she’s done chewing. “Sorry.” 

Aubrey and Stacie chuckle as they shake their heads fondly. 

“I don’t wanna do it,” Bella says as soon as she’s in her pyjamas, stopping in the middle of her room as Stacie turns to her in confusion, looking around with a frown. 

Aubrey steps up behind her, leans in and whispers, “the cootie shot,” into Stacie’s ear quickly. 

“Hey,” Stacie says, frown melting away as she drops onto her knees and takes both of Bella’s hands in her own, pulling her closer. “Why not, sweetheart?” 

“I don’t like shots,” Bella says in a small voice. “They hurt.” 

“This one won’t hurt, I promise,” Stacie says but Bella’s eyes fill with tears as she vehemently shakes her head. 

“Sweetheart,” Aubrey coos softly, moving to crouch next to Bella and running her hand over the girl’s head. “Don’t you want to be able to play with Cody again?” 

“No,” Bella says petulantly, taking her hands from Stacie’s and crossing her arms. 

“The cootie shot won’t hurt for even a second,” Stacie insists. “Bella, look at me,” Stacie says in a soft voice, waits for the young girl to make eye contact. “I promise.” 

“Pinky promise?” 

“Pinky promise,” Stacie says, holding out her pinky and Bella looks at it warily before hooking her pinky around Stacie’s and shaking it. 

“Come on,” Aubrey says, standing up and ushering Bella downstairs and towards the living room. “Let’s do this.” 

Bella lets out an occasional whine of complaint but doesn’t fight back. 

Aubrey has barely sat down on the couch before Bella crawls onto her lap, reaching for Aubrey’s hands and wrapping them around herself tightly, protectively, and Aubrey smiles down at the girl, shifting Bella slightly to be more comfortable and so she can lean in and press a quick kiss to Bella’s forehead. 

“It’s not going to hurt, Bella, you have nothing to worry about,” she says soothingly and Bella doesn’t look like she believes Aubrey, so Aubrey adds, “But I’m not going anywhere.” 

“Okay!” Stacie says, expressly putting on a cheery voice as she walks into the living room but Bella still whimpers, squirming sideways onto Aubrey’s lap so she can bury her face in the woman’s neck. 

“Oh, no, sweetheart, you don’t have to cry,” Aubrey urges when she feels her neck get wet with tears. She shakes her shoulder softly to urge Bella to lift her head but then turns to look at Stacie. “Do you have everything you need?” 

“Yup, only thing missing are Bella’s arms,” Stacie says. 

“Arms?” Bella squeaks. “Both of them?” 

“I know you’re a big, fearless girl,” Stacie says encouragingly, nodding with a soothing smile but Bella’s lower lip quivers so Stacie holds up the two felt-tip markers she has in her hands, one black and one red and as soon as she sees them, Bella’s expression drops into a confused frown. 

“No needles?” 

“Nope,” Stacie says with a wide smile. “Which arm do you want to start with?” 

Bella reluctantly offers up her right arm, her left hand still tightly clutched onto Aubrey’s and her body curled into the blonde, but when she tries to look away, Aubrey shakes her head and tightens her free hand around Bella. 

“Just look at what she’s doing, Bella,” she urges. 

Stacie uncaps the red marker and holds Bella’s hand with her left, keeping the girl’s arm outstretched as she carefully lifts her sleeve to her elbow and turns her arm so the inside is facing upwards. She quickly draws two big circles and then two small dots and puts the marker aside. 

“Circle, circle, dot, dot,” Stacie says loudly, poking each marking with her index finger once. “Now you have the cootie shot.” 

She smiles widely at Bella and the girl hesitantly smiles back, warily looking at upper arm, peering closer and inspecting the markings once Stacie lets go of her hand. 

“That’s it?” 

“Almost,” Stacie says. “Now I need the other arm.” 

Bella immediately looks worried again but she glances up at Aubrey who smiles encouragingly so Bella switches arms, offering Stacie her left arm as she pulls back the right one to tightly hold onto Aubrey. 

“The vaccine was just for that spot, so obviously we have to make sure your whole body is protected,” Stacie explains as she reaches for the black marker and uncaps it, moving up the shirt sleeve and gently grasping Bella’s forearm. She draws two circles and two squares before dropping the marker next to the red one on the coffee table behind her. “Circle, circle, square, square,” she says, tapping each marking just as she’d done with the first one. “Now you have it everywhere.” 

She beams up at Bella as the girl curiously looks at her arm. 

“That’s it!” 

“Really?” Bella asks, pulling her hand back and holding her arms out next to each other to look over the markings. 

“Yup,” Stacie says. “Well, actually, this is only good for about a week, but I can give you a booster tomorrow that will protect you for life.” 

“Can we do it now?” Bella asks and Stacie’s heart swells at the reemergence of the girl’s confidence. 

“Not yet, because your body needs to absorb the vaccine before we boost it,” Stacie explains and she looks so serious that of course Bella believes her. 

“How do I know if it’s absorded?” Bella asks, stumbling over the word. 

“Absorbed,” Aubrey corrects. 

“Absorbed,” Bella repeats. 

“The markings will be all gone in the morning,” Stacie explains, gently running her fingertip along Bella’s arm. “Capiche?” 

“Capiche!” Bella says, hopping out of Aubrey’s embrace to throw her arms around Stacie’s neck. “Thank you mama!” 

“You’re welcome, baby,” Stacie says, hugging her back and kissing the side of Bella’s head. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Bella then turns back towards Aubrey, clambers onto her lap again to hug her tightly. 

“Our fearless girl,” Aubrey whispers to her. 

“Thank you mommy,” Bella whispers as her fingers play with a lock of Aubrey’s hair, curling close to her. “I love you.” 

“I love you too, Bella,” Aubrey says with a smile and Bella beams up at her before looking down at her arms again and nodding once to herself before going off to play. 

Stacie watches her go with a sweet smile, lifts herself enough to join Aubrey on the couch. 

“That was good,” Aubrey whispers conspiratorially. “Where’d you get that?” 

“Google,” Stacie shrugs and Aubrey laughs softly. “Remind me when she’s asleep to go wipe down her arms.” 

“Nothing like a bit of parental deceit to solve our problems.” 

“Oh, absolutely,” Stacie and they share a laugh. 

Aubrey smiles when she hears the music filtering out of the kitchen, follows it to find Stacie shimmying along to an upbeat song as she loads the dishwasher. She has to bend down every time she places a plate on the lowest rack and Aubrey is unabashed in her staring, leaning against the wall as she watches Stacie. 

“Stop staring at me and come help, you perv,” Stacie says, mid-song lyric and it startles Aubrey’s eyes away from long legs to look at Stacie’s face, twisted sideways to glance at Aubrey out of the corner of her eye. 

“I’m just…” Aubrey pauses to find the right word, smirking slightly when she thinks back to one of Stacie’s favourite descriptions. “Enjoying you.” 

“I prefer your other kinda enjoying,” Stacie flirts, stopping with a fork in her hand to shoot Aubrey a lascivious wink. 

“I’m sure you do,” Aubrey lilts, moving closer and plucking the fork from Stacie’s hand and putting it in the dishwasher before looking in the sink. “You’re almost done.” 

“Yeah,” Stacie says, grin unchanged and Aubrey rolls her eyes. “She out?” 

“Like a light,” Aubrey says, watching as Stacie puts the last of the dishes in the dishwasher and closes it, pushing against the door with her hip. She’s so entranced by the move that she doesn’t notice Stacie reach for her phone and fiddle with it until the cheery song abruptly changes, replaced with a slower song that Aubrey immediately recognises. 

Her smile softens, eyes dragging up to meet Stacie’s whose hand is already outstretched in an offer. 

Aubrey happily slides her hand into Stacie’s as she steps closer, her free hand curling around Stacie’s neck and Stacie holds her close, arm firm around her back. 

“You romantic,” Aubrey breathes, lips brushing against Stacie’s ear before twisting to kiss Stacie’s cheek. 

“Because I want to dance with my super hot fiancée?” Stacie teases as they sway to the music, clasped hands pressed between them. 

“Yes. And because of the song,” Aubrey says, but her teasing smile eases when she sees the stormy look in Stacie’s eyes. “Hey, what’s up?” 

Stacie seems to snap out of whatever trance she’d been in, shakes her head to clear her mind and look at Aubrey, half-smile tugging at her lips. 

“Nothing, just basking in the last few days of normal calm before we go into crazy family holidays.” 

“And the Bellas,” Aubrey says encouragingly, and a grin flits across Stacie’s face that has Aubrey tilting her head quizzically. 

“I include them in the crazy family holidays,” Stacie explains and Aubrey laughs. 

“You’re probably not wrong,” Aubrey admits but Stacie gets that faraway look in her eyes again so Aubrey shifts her hand so she can trail the pad of her thumb across Stacie’s cheek. “Stace…” She waits for the woman to make eye contact before continuing, “You promised you were going to show me Cape May.” 

It’s Stacie’s turn to be a little confused, brows knitting together as she tries to place the words. 

“I know Christmas is rough and if it’s all too much we can take a day before going to New York,” Aubrey explains, expression deceitfully blank but eyes shining brightly. 

The words finally click and Stacie’s rhythm falters for the first time as she closes the gap and takes Aubrey’s lips in a slow kiss. Aubrey tries to smile but Stacie just kisses her harder, fingers pressing between her shoulder blades and Aubrey melts, reciprocating the kiss, heart surging at the response. 

The song ends and switches back to Stacie’s pop playlist but it seems to only add to their kissing, hands turning frenzied as they pick up their pace, a sharp gasp falling from Stacie’s lips when Aubrey’s fingers tug at her hair for better access followed by a ragged moan from Aubrey when Stacie pushes her up against the counter. 

“Take this to the couch?” Aubrey offers when they part, breathing hard and particularly enjoying the dazed look in Stacie’s eyes. 

“We can take it upstairs,” Stacie suggests, nails trailing down Aubrey’s side and smiling wickedly at the full-body shudder it produces. 

“Laundry day,” Aubrey explains, chest rising and falling as she tries to catch her breath. “I still have to put sheets on the bed.” 

“Then we can take this to the couch,” Stacie says, pressing a quick, hard kiss to Aubrey’s lips before pulling away, tucking her phone into her jeans to free up her hands. 

She switches on the dishwasher and turns to smile at Aubrey, whose hand hovers over the light switch, waiting for the okay from Stacie. Stacie nods and follows Aubrey towards the living room, crawling onto the blonde’s lap after she unceremoniously shoves Aubrey down onto the couch.

She goes down with an indignant yelp, silences by Stacie’s lips on her own and then Aubrey can’t find it in her to complain any more, fingers already drifting under Stacie’s shirt and up her ribcage. 

A phone suddenly starts vibrating and Aubrey laughs when Stacie puts her hand on her ass, feeling her back jeans pocket before declaring, “Not me.” 

She reluctantly takes her hands off Stacie and pats the couch cushions, trying to locate her phone, made infinitely harder by Stacie’s lips on her neck. She finally finds her cell phone wedged between a cushion and the back of the couch and as she reaches for it, Stacie bites down and her eyes flutter closed as she lets out a choked breath and her hand slips and accepts the call before she has a chance to look at the caller ID. 

Her head snaps to her phone when she hears the soft crinkly noise coming from it and realises she’s picked up, relaxing slightly when she sees the caller ID blocked and figures it’s her father, waits for the assistant to tell her to hold the line but then she hears a familiar heavy voice. 

“Hello? Aubrey? It’s your father.” 

She’s a little ashamed of how she instinctively shoves Stacie off her, the woman going sprawling onto the floor and when she hits the ground she makes a loud disgruntled sound that Aubrey has no time to focus on. 

“Dad, hi!” she says breathlessly, mouths a guilty “sorry” to Stacie when Stacie throws up her hands and mumbles “seriously?” 

“Is everything okay? You sound a little out of breath,” her father says and she has to shake her head to clear her thoughts when Stacie adjusts her shirt and accidentally ends up flashing Aubrey more cleavage than before. 

“Yeah, I was, uh, just—uh—running down the stairs,” Aubrey explains and that makes Stacie look up, shoot her a devilish smile as she crawls over to Aubrey and part her knees. 

“Running towards something? Am I disturbing you?” 

“No, not at all, I can talk,” Aubrey says, kicking at Stacie’s torso when the brunette trails her hands up the insides of Aubrey’s thighs.

“Stop it,” she hisses, holding the phone away from her ear and Stacie laughs soundlessly in response, hands stilling but not lifting away from Aubrey’s skin. 

“I just wanted to see how you were doing,” her father says and she’s suddenly hyper-focused on the call again, frowning softly, not quite understanding the reason for the fairly straightforward question. 

“I’m doing alright, how are you?” 

“I’m good.” There’s a bit of an awkward pause then. “How are Bella and Stacie?” 

“They’re good. We just put Bella down to bed, so I can’t put her on the phone, sorry.” 

Stacie kisses the inside of Aubrey’s knee softly and Aubrey’s gaze snaps to hers, finds Stacie looking at her tenderly with a small smile. 

“Wine?” she mouths and Aubrey nods so Stacie shoots her another smile, standing up from the floor and softly trailing her fingers up Aubrey’s arm before leaning in to quickly kiss her temple as she rounds the couch and moves towards the kitchen. 

Aubrey twists, watches her go and feels a sense of calm fill her and so she doesn’t hear what her father says, only registers that he’s talking. 

“I’m sorry, daddy, could you repeat that?” 

He chuckles gruffly then. “Are you sure I’m not interrupting anything?” 

“No, it’s just that I heard Stacie rummaging around in the kitchen and got distracted,” Aubrey lies. “What did you say?” 

“Oh, it was nothing important,” he says and Aubrey frowns because that’s not what she asked. “She’s not in there cooking, is she?” 

“I hope not,” Aubrey can’t help but joke with him and she smiles widely when she hears her father chuckle. “Where are you right now?” 

“In Greece for some field work,” he answers vaguely and Aubrey knows enough not to ask for specifics. 

“Safe field work?” she asks. 

“Absolutely. They don’t send us old men out for dangerous missions anymore,” he says with a wry chuckle and she can already picture his expression, heart warming at the thought. “Something about insurance policies and physical ailments like arthritis.” 

Aubrey laughs at that, loudly, before she can stop herself and she’s reduced to a sharp giggle when she hears her father huff. 

“Does the arthritis make the old soldiers a little too trigger-happy? Or is it trigger-slow?” 

“I don’t think we want to find out,” he answers and Aubrey’s laughing again, this time without shame as her father laughs along with her. “Are you laughing at me?” he asks, tries for a stern tone but she knows the cadence of his voice well enough to know he’s smiling as he says it. 

“Only a little bit,” she confesses. “But in my defence, I know you don’t have arthritis.” 

“Hm,” he answers, trying for that gruff tone again but she can still hear the amusement undercutting the simple sound. 

They fall silent again and Aubrey sighs softly, her hand reaching up to fiddle with her necklace before she can think about it, and when she only finds the cross hanging from the chain she drops her hand again, realises she’ll need to get used to the ring no longer being there even as her thumb reaches out to carefully rub across the cool metal of the ring resting comfortably on her fourth finger. 

“Did you call for a particular reason, dad?” she asks, trying to keep her tone light to avoid giving the impression that she’s unhappy with his call or that she’s in a hurry to end it. 

“I just wanted to talk to you,” he says simply and Aubrey falters at that. “And because, well… I know I haven’t been the best father to you, but, uh…” 

He hesitates and clears his throat and Aubrey freezes, breath hitching loudly, suddenly unsure of where this conversation is going and feeling panic rise in her. 

“I don’t want you to think that I don’t care about you or that I don’t love you, because I do. I really do, so much. And I suppose I don’t know how to be a part of your life and that I can’t be there for you the way you need me to be but… I can call? Regularly? And we can talk? If you want to, that is.” 

Tears spring to her eyes and her chest suddenly feels tight and she has to swallow down the knot there as her body fills with a hope she hasn’t felt in decades. 

She must have taken too long to process his words and answer because her father says, in the smallest, most timid voice she’s ever heard him use, “Aubrey? Are you still there?” 

“Yeah, yes—I am, sorry, yes,” Aubrey says quickly, trying not to sound too choked up as she wipes at her eyes. “I would really like that. A lot.” 

The end comes out as a whisper because she’s afraid that if she speaks too loudly, her voice will crack and if that happens she’ll definitely start to cry and she doesn’t want to ruin this moment. 

“Alright.” There’s another awkward and long pause on the phone before he clears his throat and says, “Well, I just called to see how you were and to say that.” 

Aubrey drops her chin to her chest, eyes closing as she bites back a watery laugh because he’s still very much her dad and so predictable but he’s also trying. 

“Okay,” she says softly. “Thank you for calling. It was really nice to talk to you, dad. I look forward to your next call.” 

“It was nice to hear your voice,” he says. “Bye, Aubrey.” 

“Bye dad.”