Title: What God Has Brought Together (and all that)
Description: a forever tale
Description: a forever tale
stuntdouble - September 14, 2007 02:23 PM (GMT)
Disclaimer: Shed Productions made the characters, wrote the original stories, and have full copyright to them. We are using these characters simply for non-profit, entertainment value. The same goes for any other known copyrighted character/storyline where a cross over fiction is written.
Author's Note: I am writing this story because it's something I always wanted to read. I hope you like it.
I am happy to accept feedback openly by readers. (BOARD NOTE we would recommend if any length i.e. more than a couple of points, it is done privately away from the story itself).
Prologue
Helen had to say it three times before it stuck.
The first time she said it had been New Year’s Eve, and she’d been completely pissed. Nikki loved drunk Helen; she was snuggly and flushed, and tended to make soppy eyes at Nikki and agree with everything she said. They’d been leaving a party at Trish’s house, and as Nikki hailed a cab, Helen turned in her arms, pressed her lips to Nikki’s ear, and said it. Before Nikki could answer, a cab pulled up to the curb. Helen shuffled cooperatively inside, and fell promptly asleep.
The second time, Helen had been nearly incoherent with pleasure. Her lips and throat had been dry, so the plea had been rasped just above a whisper. Nikki had wanted to answer, or to shout at Helen to stop saying something she didn’t mean. As she held Helen to her, in the wake of their lovemaking, she decided Helen hadn’t known what she was saying. It was absurd, but Nikki had nearly cried for the loss.
The third time had been over breakfast.
Nikki almost always made breakfast for Helen on Saturdays. It was her way of making up for the fact that she’d been at the club until the wee hours of the morning, and would be back at the club again that night. She loved her work, loved co-owning a successful club with her ex-partner, but the demands of the weekend crowd meant she wouldn’t make it home until the early morning.
Nikki knew Helen, knew she thought omelets a poor substitute for her warm presence in their bed, but Helen rarely complained. Instead, she made freshly-squeezed orange juice every Saturday morning because it was Nikki’s favorite, and after cleaning her plate of the breakfast offering, often dragged Nikki back to bed for a cuddle or late morning shag.
In early spring, Helen had padded into the kitchen one Saturday morning to find Nikki making pancakes. Nikki looked up and grinned, wondering if the sight of a rumpled Helen Stewart would always affect her like this. They’d been together for two years, since the day Nikki had been released from Larkhall, but seeing Helen in pajama bottoms paired with one of Nikki’s tattered t-shirts, hair askew, feet bare, always made Nikki inexplicably happy.
Helen rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, and squinted against the sunlight.
“Mornin’,” Nikki said, offering Helen a cup of coffee.
Accepting the coffee with a lopsided smile, Helen inhaled the steam, and drank deeply from the mug. She never drank coffee without smelling it first, and Nikki loved that about her, too. When Nikki turned back to the pancakes, she heard the clink of Helen’s mug on the counter, and then felt Helen’s warm body press up behind her, arms encircling her waist.
Helen sighed sleepily. “I like having breakfast with you,” she said, squeezing Nikki gently.
“Me too,” Nikki responded, flipping over the pancakes.
Helen was silent for a minute. Then, taking a deep breath, she spoke. “Nikki?”
“Hmm?”
“Would you always have breakfast with me?”
“It’s a Saturday tradition,” Nikki answered. “I certainly won’t be the one to break it.”
Helen didn’t immediately respond. Loosening her grip on Nikki’s waist she said, “I mean, will you always have breakfast with only me?”
Nikki chuckled. “As opposed to the hordes we usually feed here on the weekends?”
“No,” Helen said seriously. Nikki felt a tug at her left arm. Helen pulled it close to her, and slipped something onto the ring finger of Nikki’s left hand, without ever breaking contact with her back. “Will you have breakfast with me, only me, for…for as long as you live?”
After the pancakes had burned and they’d made love on the counter and against the refrigerator, Helen pulled back and asked for clarification. “Was that… was that a yes?”
Nikki pushed a sweaty piece of Helen’s hair off of her forehead, and tucked it behind her ear, allowing herself a moment to gaze possessively at the features of Helen’s face. Helen had the most expressive face; it was in her eyes and lips. Nikki had loved Helen’s eyes from nearly the first moment she’d caused them to flare up in contempt at Larkhall. And from the moment she’d touched Helen’s lips she’d known she wanted to be the only one to ever be allowed to touch them. Nikki shook her head, and felt herself break into a wide grin. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I love you, and yes.”
Author's Note: I am writing this story because it's something I always wanted to read. I hope you like it.
I am happy to accept feedback openly by readers. (BOARD NOTE we would recommend if any length i.e. more than a couple of points, it is done privately away from the story itself).
Prologue
Helen had to say it three times before it stuck.
The first time she said it had been New Year’s Eve, and she’d been completely pissed. Nikki loved drunk Helen; she was snuggly and flushed, and tended to make soppy eyes at Nikki and agree with everything she said. They’d been leaving a party at Trish’s house, and as Nikki hailed a cab, Helen turned in her arms, pressed her lips to Nikki’s ear, and said it. Before Nikki could answer, a cab pulled up to the curb. Helen shuffled cooperatively inside, and fell promptly asleep.
The second time, Helen had been nearly incoherent with pleasure. Her lips and throat had been dry, so the plea had been rasped just above a whisper. Nikki had wanted to answer, or to shout at Helen to stop saying something she didn’t mean. As she held Helen to her, in the wake of their lovemaking, she decided Helen hadn’t known what she was saying. It was absurd, but Nikki had nearly cried for the loss.
The third time had been over breakfast.
Nikki almost always made breakfast for Helen on Saturdays. It was her way of making up for the fact that she’d been at the club until the wee hours of the morning, and would be back at the club again that night. She loved her work, loved co-owning a successful club with her ex-partner, but the demands of the weekend crowd meant she wouldn’t make it home until the early morning.
Nikki knew Helen, knew she thought omelets a poor substitute for her warm presence in their bed, but Helen rarely complained. Instead, she made freshly-squeezed orange juice every Saturday morning because it was Nikki’s favorite, and after cleaning her plate of the breakfast offering, often dragged Nikki back to bed for a cuddle or late morning shag.
In early spring, Helen had padded into the kitchen one Saturday morning to find Nikki making pancakes. Nikki looked up and grinned, wondering if the sight of a rumpled Helen Stewart would always affect her like this. They’d been together for two years, since the day Nikki had been released from Larkhall, but seeing Helen in pajama bottoms paired with one of Nikki’s tattered t-shirts, hair askew, feet bare, always made Nikki inexplicably happy.
Helen rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, and squinted against the sunlight.
“Mornin’,” Nikki said, offering Helen a cup of coffee.
Accepting the coffee with a lopsided smile, Helen inhaled the steam, and drank deeply from the mug. She never drank coffee without smelling it first, and Nikki loved that about her, too. When Nikki turned back to the pancakes, she heard the clink of Helen’s mug on the counter, and then felt Helen’s warm body press up behind her, arms encircling her waist.
Helen sighed sleepily. “I like having breakfast with you,” she said, squeezing Nikki gently.
“Me too,” Nikki responded, flipping over the pancakes.
Helen was silent for a minute. Then, taking a deep breath, she spoke. “Nikki?”
“Hmm?”
“Would you always have breakfast with me?”
“It’s a Saturday tradition,” Nikki answered. “I certainly won’t be the one to break it.”
Helen didn’t immediately respond. Loosening her grip on Nikki’s waist she said, “I mean, will you always have breakfast with only me?”
Nikki chuckled. “As opposed to the hordes we usually feed here on the weekends?”
“No,” Helen said seriously. Nikki felt a tug at her left arm. Helen pulled it close to her, and slipped something onto the ring finger of Nikki’s left hand, without ever breaking contact with her back. “Will you have breakfast with me, only me, for…for as long as you live?”
After the pancakes had burned and they’d made love on the counter and against the refrigerator, Helen pulled back and asked for clarification. “Was that… was that a yes?”
Nikki pushed a sweaty piece of Helen’s hair off of her forehead, and tucked it behind her ear, allowing herself a moment to gaze possessively at the features of Helen’s face. Helen had the most expressive face; it was in her eyes and lips. Nikki had loved Helen’s eyes from nearly the first moment she’d caused them to flare up in contempt at Larkhall. And from the moment she’d touched Helen’s lips she’d known she wanted to be the only one to ever be allowed to touch them. Nikki shook her head, and felt herself break into a wide grin. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I love you, and yes.”
stuntdouble - September 14, 2007 02:27 PM (GMT)
Chapter 1
It was, Nikki decided, one of life’s great pleasures to watch Helen Stewart walk into a room. It wasn’t the sway of her hips or the shape of her calf or the play of her winter coat against her body. Well, okay, maybe that was part of it. But what Nikki really cherished was that moment - the one when, after scanning a sea of faces, Helen’s eyes alighted on her own. Sometimes Helen would lift up a hand to wave, or wink, or simply offer up a smile, but always she would hold Nikki’s gaze and sigh. Nikki’s eyes made promises that Helen always understood. Whatever happened before you walked in this door doesn’t matter; I’m here now, and I will shelter you.
Helen’s belief was Nikki’s reward.
On this particular night, Helen waved, and made her way quickly across the restaurant.
“You’re late,” Nikki accused as she slid over to make room for Helen in the booth, then added sweetly, “I missed you today.”
“I’m sorry,” Helen answered, reaching over to kiss Nikki’s cheek, and lingering near her ear. “I’ll make it up to you.”
Nikki raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
Helen pulled back and grinned. “Mmm hmm.”
The hum of Helen’s reply made the hair on Nikki’s neck tingle. “How much time do you have?” Nikki asked. “I missed you an awful lot.”
Helen dropped her eyelids and smiled indulgently. “As long as it takes,” she promised.
Nikki felt a rush of warmth sweep through her body -- and was just about to tell Helen exactly how long it would take -- when Helen’s best friend, Claire Walker, cleared her throat loudly from across the table.
“That’ll do, lovebirds,” Claire said, and Helen had the good grace to look embarrassed. She hadn’t even seemed to notice that Trish and Claire were at the table.
“Hiya,” Helen offered sheepishly. “Good to see you two.”
“Oh, you can see us then?” Trish responded, earning her a swift kick under the table from Nikki.
To Nikki’s relief the waiter chose that moment to show up and take their drink order. After he’d listed the specials and shuffled away, Nikki decided to take the attention off of her and Helen.
“So what is it?” she said. “You two invited us here to celebrate. What are we celebrating?”
Claire shot Trish a furtive glance before clearing her throat and saying, “Erm… well, it’s not actually a celebration… per se.”
“Per se?” Helen asked, eyeing Claire warily.
Claire cleared her throat. “Trish and I just thought maybe you two could use a little help with the wedding planning.”
Helen shifted uncomfortably before saying, “It’s under control.”
“And by control you mean that you’ve literally done nothing in preparation?” Claire asked, in her most professional solicitor voice.
“Not nothing,” Helen answered.
“Yes, nothing.”
“No, not!” Helen snapped.
Claire tilted her head to the side, “What?”
“No, not nothing!” Helen said.
“Okay, see, now you’re just saying words.”
Helen’s nostrils flared, and Nikki calculated that in 30 seconds every patron in the restaurant would be looking toward their table. “I - can - handle - it,” Helen said, through the taut line her lips had formed.
“Now look, Helen,” Claire said calmly. “Your wedding is two months away and you don’t have a dress picked out, a photographer booked, a caterer planned. You haven’t chosen flowers, a DJ, or even a venue to actually get married in.”
“It’ll get done!”
“You’re right; it will get done, because I am going to sit right here and make you do it!”
Helen narrowed her eyes. “Make me do it?”
“Yes,” Claire responded defiantly. “Make you.”
Nikki was shaking her head surreptitiously at Claire, who either did not notice or did not care.
Helen did not fancy being surprised, did not fancy implications that she was incompetent at something, and certainly did not fancy being told that she was going to be ‘made to’ do something. Nikki found Helen’s temper to be quite sexy when it wasn’t directed at her -- and, admittedly, sometimes when it was -- and as much as she liked the thickness of her Scottish accent and the firmness of her jaw when she was this close to becoming unhinged, Nikki decided she’d better step in and diffuse the situation before the shouting started.
She gently clasped Helen’s hand in her own, and said, “I think it’s a good idea, Sweetheart. We really should be making preparations.”
Helen inhaled deeply, her eyes still fixed contemptuously on Claire. “Fine,” she said, though clearly she didn’t believe it was.
“And you come sit by me,” Trish said, joining the conversation and motioning toward Nikki.
“I’m sorry?” Nikki said.
“You can sit here and Claire can sit by Helen. That’s how we’re dividing up the responsibilities anyway; you two need some accountability. It’ll be like a soccer draft.”
“And I’m sure I can sit here and conduct it,” Nikki answered.
Trish looked to Claire for help, but the mutinous look on Helen’s face kept Claire quiet. After a moment, Trish spoke up. “You’ll take advantage of Helen,” she said to Nikki.
“What? With you two stroppy cows sitting across the table? What do you think I am, some kind of--”
“Oh, come off it, Nik!” Trisha said hotly. “You’re being ridiculous. You’ve got eight weeks to pull off an entire wedding. You’ve had nearly eight months, but every time either of you start talking about florists or caterers you end up moony-eyed and shagging like rabbits until neither of you is good for anything!”
“You’re being--” Nikki started, but Trish cut her off.
“And Helen is going to get tipsy, and if you’re sitting there nuzzling her, she’s not going to be able to say no to anything you ask her to do.”
Helen let go of Nikki’s arm, which she’d been grasping tightly since Trish had instructed her to switch seats, and let out a loud, “Hrmph!”
“I’m sorry, Darling, but it’s true,” Trish said to Helen.
“What’s the problem with that?” Nikki asked.
“The problem is that Helen is overworked at her office, and you’re co-chairing Monica Lindsey’s charity Christmas dinner, and when Helen doesn’t get around to doing the things she’ll wish she hadn’t agreed to while staring into your sappy brown eyes, you’ll end up doing the work. And, just as an afterthought, you are the co-owner of one of the most successful nightclubs in London, which does require a modicum of your time.”
Trish was right, and Nikki knew it.
Once they’d rearranged themselves, and the drinks had been served, Claire began pulling supplies out of her bag. There were calendars and lists of responsibilities for everyone, legal pads, pens, and dozens of pamphlets on every service the Greater London wedding industry had to offer.
Helen, who’d calmed considerably after one drink, snorted into her wineglass when Claire began handing out post-it notepads; her mirth earning her a swift elbow in the ribs from her best friend.
“I’m sorry,” Helen said, burying her smile in her napkin. “It’s just that you’ve worked all these years to become a top barrister. I didn’t know your secret ambition was wedding coordination.”
The splitting up off responsibilities actually went quite well. Trish and Nikki chose to search for the caterer and the DJ; with their contacts in the industry, they’d make easy work of it. Helen, of course, chose cake first, and then flowers. Together, Nikki and Helen agreed to pick out their wedding attire and rings, assuring Claire and Trish that they would not get kicked out of the store by having sex in the fitting room, and that the rings and clothes would be ordered by the following weekend. By the time they were finishing up their entrées, there were only four things left on the list, and Claire had loosened her chokehold on the direction of the dinner.
As the conversation turned toward other things, Nikki leaned back and allowed herself a moment to soak in the company of these, her closest friends. Claire had proven a loyal companion during Nikki’s appeal years ago at Larkhall, and since then she’d come to count on Claire for advice and laughter and the occasional moment of reeling Helen in.
Trish had been Nikki’s partner for nine years, and even though she knew Trish regretted ending things with her, and knew that Trish would have loved to give their relationship another chance, Trish had grown to respect her relationship with Helen, and ultimately to love Helen herself. If Trish noticed the possessive way Helen’s arm snaked around Nikki’s waist when Trish and Nikki were enjoying an inside joke, or the deep way Helen kissed Nikki when she was leaving her alone with Trish, she never mentioned it. Aside from Helen, Trish was Nikki’s dearest friend.
Helen was laughing at something Claire was saying, her eyes dancing in the low light of the restaurant. Nikki loved Helen’s laugh. It was husky and raw with emotion. Helen laughed the way she made love, and the sound of it caused Nikki’s heart to hammer in her chest.
She leaned forward, propping her chin on her hand, and smiled across the table. Any way she looked at it, Nikki was head-over-heels, arse-over-elbow in love with Helen Stewart. She could not wait to stand up in front of their friends and family and promise forever.
It was, Nikki decided, one of life’s great pleasures to watch Helen Stewart walk into a room. It wasn’t the sway of her hips or the shape of her calf or the play of her winter coat against her body. Well, okay, maybe that was part of it. But what Nikki really cherished was that moment - the one when, after scanning a sea of faces, Helen’s eyes alighted on her own. Sometimes Helen would lift up a hand to wave, or wink, or simply offer up a smile, but always she would hold Nikki’s gaze and sigh. Nikki’s eyes made promises that Helen always understood. Whatever happened before you walked in this door doesn’t matter; I’m here now, and I will shelter you.
Helen’s belief was Nikki’s reward.
On this particular night, Helen waved, and made her way quickly across the restaurant.
“You’re late,” Nikki accused as she slid over to make room for Helen in the booth, then added sweetly, “I missed you today.”
“I’m sorry,” Helen answered, reaching over to kiss Nikki’s cheek, and lingering near her ear. “I’ll make it up to you.”
Nikki raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
Helen pulled back and grinned. “Mmm hmm.”
The hum of Helen’s reply made the hair on Nikki’s neck tingle. “How much time do you have?” Nikki asked. “I missed you an awful lot.”
Helen dropped her eyelids and smiled indulgently. “As long as it takes,” she promised.
Nikki felt a rush of warmth sweep through her body -- and was just about to tell Helen exactly how long it would take -- when Helen’s best friend, Claire Walker, cleared her throat loudly from across the table.
“That’ll do, lovebirds,” Claire said, and Helen had the good grace to look embarrassed. She hadn’t even seemed to notice that Trish and Claire were at the table.
“Hiya,” Helen offered sheepishly. “Good to see you two.”
“Oh, you can see us then?” Trish responded, earning her a swift kick under the table from Nikki.
To Nikki’s relief the waiter chose that moment to show up and take their drink order. After he’d listed the specials and shuffled away, Nikki decided to take the attention off of her and Helen.
“So what is it?” she said. “You two invited us here to celebrate. What are we celebrating?”
Claire shot Trish a furtive glance before clearing her throat and saying, “Erm… well, it’s not actually a celebration… per se.”
“Per se?” Helen asked, eyeing Claire warily.
Claire cleared her throat. “Trish and I just thought maybe you two could use a little help with the wedding planning.”
Helen shifted uncomfortably before saying, “It’s under control.”
“And by control you mean that you’ve literally done nothing in preparation?” Claire asked, in her most professional solicitor voice.
“Not nothing,” Helen answered.
“Yes, nothing.”
“No, not!” Helen snapped.
Claire tilted her head to the side, “What?”
“No, not nothing!” Helen said.
“Okay, see, now you’re just saying words.”
Helen’s nostrils flared, and Nikki calculated that in 30 seconds every patron in the restaurant would be looking toward their table. “I - can - handle - it,” Helen said, through the taut line her lips had formed.
“Now look, Helen,” Claire said calmly. “Your wedding is two months away and you don’t have a dress picked out, a photographer booked, a caterer planned. You haven’t chosen flowers, a DJ, or even a venue to actually get married in.”
“It’ll get done!”
“You’re right; it will get done, because I am going to sit right here and make you do it!”
Helen narrowed her eyes. “Make me do it?”
“Yes,” Claire responded defiantly. “Make you.”
Nikki was shaking her head surreptitiously at Claire, who either did not notice or did not care.
Helen did not fancy being surprised, did not fancy implications that she was incompetent at something, and certainly did not fancy being told that she was going to be ‘made to’ do something. Nikki found Helen’s temper to be quite sexy when it wasn’t directed at her -- and, admittedly, sometimes when it was -- and as much as she liked the thickness of her Scottish accent and the firmness of her jaw when she was this close to becoming unhinged, Nikki decided she’d better step in and diffuse the situation before the shouting started.
She gently clasped Helen’s hand in her own, and said, “I think it’s a good idea, Sweetheart. We really should be making preparations.”
Helen inhaled deeply, her eyes still fixed contemptuously on Claire. “Fine,” she said, though clearly she didn’t believe it was.
“And you come sit by me,” Trish said, joining the conversation and motioning toward Nikki.
“I’m sorry?” Nikki said.
“You can sit here and Claire can sit by Helen. That’s how we’re dividing up the responsibilities anyway; you two need some accountability. It’ll be like a soccer draft.”
“And I’m sure I can sit here and conduct it,” Nikki answered.
Trish looked to Claire for help, but the mutinous look on Helen’s face kept Claire quiet. After a moment, Trish spoke up. “You’ll take advantage of Helen,” she said to Nikki.
“What? With you two stroppy cows sitting across the table? What do you think I am, some kind of--”
“Oh, come off it, Nik!” Trisha said hotly. “You’re being ridiculous. You’ve got eight weeks to pull off an entire wedding. You’ve had nearly eight months, but every time either of you start talking about florists or caterers you end up moony-eyed and shagging like rabbits until neither of you is good for anything!”
“You’re being--” Nikki started, but Trish cut her off.
“And Helen is going to get tipsy, and if you’re sitting there nuzzling her, she’s not going to be able to say no to anything you ask her to do.”
Helen let go of Nikki’s arm, which she’d been grasping tightly since Trish had instructed her to switch seats, and let out a loud, “Hrmph!”
“I’m sorry, Darling, but it’s true,” Trish said to Helen.
“What’s the problem with that?” Nikki asked.
“The problem is that Helen is overworked at her office, and you’re co-chairing Monica Lindsey’s charity Christmas dinner, and when Helen doesn’t get around to doing the things she’ll wish she hadn’t agreed to while staring into your sappy brown eyes, you’ll end up doing the work. And, just as an afterthought, you are the co-owner of one of the most successful nightclubs in London, which does require a modicum of your time.”
Trish was right, and Nikki knew it.
Once they’d rearranged themselves, and the drinks had been served, Claire began pulling supplies out of her bag. There were calendars and lists of responsibilities for everyone, legal pads, pens, and dozens of pamphlets on every service the Greater London wedding industry had to offer.
Helen, who’d calmed considerably after one drink, snorted into her wineglass when Claire began handing out post-it notepads; her mirth earning her a swift elbow in the ribs from her best friend.
“I’m sorry,” Helen said, burying her smile in her napkin. “It’s just that you’ve worked all these years to become a top barrister. I didn’t know your secret ambition was wedding coordination.”
The splitting up off responsibilities actually went quite well. Trish and Nikki chose to search for the caterer and the DJ; with their contacts in the industry, they’d make easy work of it. Helen, of course, chose cake first, and then flowers. Together, Nikki and Helen agreed to pick out their wedding attire and rings, assuring Claire and Trish that they would not get kicked out of the store by having sex in the fitting room, and that the rings and clothes would be ordered by the following weekend. By the time they were finishing up their entrées, there were only four things left on the list, and Claire had loosened her chokehold on the direction of the dinner.
As the conversation turned toward other things, Nikki leaned back and allowed herself a moment to soak in the company of these, her closest friends. Claire had proven a loyal companion during Nikki’s appeal years ago at Larkhall, and since then she’d come to count on Claire for advice and laughter and the occasional moment of reeling Helen in.
Trish had been Nikki’s partner for nine years, and even though she knew Trish regretted ending things with her, and knew that Trish would have loved to give their relationship another chance, Trish had grown to respect her relationship with Helen, and ultimately to love Helen herself. If Trish noticed the possessive way Helen’s arm snaked around Nikki’s waist when Trish and Nikki were enjoying an inside joke, or the deep way Helen kissed Nikki when she was leaving her alone with Trish, she never mentioned it. Aside from Helen, Trish was Nikki’s dearest friend.
Helen was laughing at something Claire was saying, her eyes dancing in the low light of the restaurant. Nikki loved Helen’s laugh. It was husky and raw with emotion. Helen laughed the way she made love, and the sound of it caused Nikki’s heart to hammer in her chest.
She leaned forward, propping her chin on her hand, and smiled across the table. Any way she looked at it, Nikki was head-over-heels, arse-over-elbow in love with Helen Stewart. She could not wait to stand up in front of their friends and family and promise forever.
stuntdouble - September 14, 2007 02:29 PM (GMT)
Chapter 2
Beautiful is not a word Helen would have ever used to describe herself before she met Nikki Wade. Helen’s mother had told her often how pretty she was, and Helen believed it. But then, when she was only a little girl, Helen’s mother had died; and for a time Helen thought all the beautiful things in the world had died with her.
Helen’s father had carried on with his life the way clergymen do, admonishing Helen to buck up: she would see her mother again one day so long as she kept to The Commandments and attended church. Though Alan Stewart was not a man to pause for beauty, Helen hoped every day that he might compliment her. She understood his silence on the subject to mean disapproval, and so she believed him, too - as children always believe their parents.
Men had said she was beautiful over the years: a host of Sean Parrs, looking to get laid. Helen didn’t fault them, but she didn’t believe them either.
And then she’d made love with Nikki.
The first night -- the night of Nikki’s escape -- they’d fallen together feverishly, lips and tongues and limbs tangled together, as each woman made a febrile effort to press as much skin against the other as possible. Time and uncertainty pounded away at them, stealing any real hope of intimacy; the night ended with Nikki alone in her cell, and Helen sobbing outside the walls of Larkhall.
After Nikki’s release, she and Helen spent six days alone in Helen’s flat - in Helen’s bed - making up, making love, making promises.
“You are so beautiful, Helen,” Nikki told her, as they lay in bed their first night together. Slowly she traced patterns on Helen’s bare torso. Helen had been unable to meet Nikki’s eyes, so Nikki tilted Helen’s chin toward her, and said, “Did you not know?”
Helen shook her head, tears filling her eyes. Nikki brushed them away as they fell down her cheeks, and then whispered, “Let me show you.”
Nikki kissed Helen’s eyelids, and praised the saturated hues of Helen’s irises. She kissed her cheeks and extolled the way they flushed when Helen was aroused. She kissed her lips and told how Helen’s smile had brought hope into her darkness. She kissed Helen’s jaw line, her collarbone, her neck, her “perfect” nipples, her belly button. She worked her way down Helen’s body, and then back up again, and by the time Helen’s climax racked through her, her throat was too constricted with emotion to speak. She choked out Nikki’s name between breaths and tears, and when they finally left her flat a week later, Helen was convinced that, behind Nikki, she was the most beautiful woman in the whole of Britain.
So as Nikki’s chin rested on her hands, and she gazed across the dinner table, meeting Helen’s eyes, it took all of the willpower Helen Stewart possessed not to reach over and pull Nikki across the table to her.
Nikki Wade thought she was beautiful, and Helen believed her more than she’d ever believed anyone.
“Nikki will do the honeymoon,” Trish offered, seizing the list from Claire.
“Yeah, I will,” Nikki confirmed, her eyes still locked with Helen’s. Somehow Nikki knew what she’d been thinking; Helen felt her body flush with anticipation.
Trish rolled her eyes.
“Then Helen will do the invitations,” Claire said. She marked it down on both hers and Helen’s calendars. “Just give your list of invitees and addresses to Helen by next weekend, yeah Nikki? We’ll mail them out the following Monday.”
Nikki nodded, her eyes fixed on Helen.
“Helen,” Trish said, looking over the list once more. “Isn’t your father a pastor or something? You could have him do the ceremony, couldn’t you? That might be nice.”
Helen’s unsnapped her gaze from Nikki and whipped around to face Claire. “Er… I…I don’t know if he’s available.”
“Of course he’s available!” Trish countered. “It’s your wedding day; where else would he be?”
“Right,” Helen said, drinking deeply from her water glass. “I’ll… um… I’ll see about it.”
“Okay,” Claire cut in, for which Helen was monumentally grateful. “Where do you two want to get married?”
“In a church,” Helen said automatically, just as Nikki said, “In a park.”
Helen grinned. Perhaps it hadn’t occurred to Nikki that they were getting married the week before Christmas, and that London’s winter weather was tempestuous on its best days. Nikki loved the freedom of being outdoors; she once told Helen that the fresh air was full of promises. Of course she’d want to be married in a park.
“Actually, I think a park would be rather nice,” Helen said.
“In the middle of winter?!” Trish exclaimed. “You two really are mad.”
“As pants,” Nikki agreed, reaching across the table for Helen’s hand. “It’s what keeps us warm.”
“That and the fucking,” Trish responded.
After Nikki had paid for dinner (“It’s the least I can do; you two really are saving our arses here.”) she spoke to Trish privately for a moment, and then offered to drive Helen home. Helen wanted to know why Nikki wasn’t going in to the club, but Nikki just grinned cheekily and said, “I think you promised to make something up to me.”
“You just want to drive the Peugeot,” Helen said.
Nikki pulled Helen to her by the lapels of her coat and kissed her deeply; Helen did not protest when Nikki said, “I’ll bring you back to the Peugeot in the morning.”
---
“I can’t get--” Helen was walking backwards, pulling Nikki with her, through the door of their flat. Her left hand clutched Nikki’s shirt, and her right arm was caught in the sleeve of her own. Her lips were already swollen from assaulting Nikki at every traffic light between the restaurant and their home. Nikki’s feeble protests that they were going to get in a wreck were silenced all together when Helen smoothed her hand up Nikki’s thigh and down the front of her trousers.
Nikki managed to work Helen’s arm free and get her own shirt off before Helen pressed her up against the door they’d just come through.
Socks, shoes, and pants were discarded in the foyer, and as Helen led Nikki to their bedroom she momentarily wondered if she and Nikki would ever grow tired pawing each other like teenagers. If the decision fell to Helen, she knew what the answer would be. She was intoxicated with Nikki Wade, and given the choice between stretching out on top of Nikki’s body and doing practically anything else, she would always choose Nikki.
They fell together onto the bed, and Helen immediately rolled Nikki over, and straddled her waist. Helen smoothed her hair back from her eyes, and stared intently down at Nikki. There was nothing sexier than Nikki Wade - flushed and panting - pinned beneath Helen’s hips.
Helen undid the front clasp of Nikki’s bra, and trailed her fingertips up the sides of Nikki’s creamy breasts, and back down. Nikki breathed encouragement, so Helen ran a finger over Nikki’s collarbone, and neck, following her finger with her tongue. She teased her way back down to Nikki’s breasts, ignoring her nipples completely.
Nikki grinned up at Helen. “Taking back a little bit of that control Claire snatched from you tonight, eh?”
Helen met Nikki’s playful eyes with serious ones. “This isn’t about control,” she said, running her thumbs over Nikki’s nipples, which were already hard beneath her touch.
Nikki arched off the bed, and her breathing quickened again. “Oh yeah?” she said, as Helen slid down her body, dragging her tongue from Nikki’s throat to the soft expanse between her breasts to her stomach, which was already beginning to bead with sweat. “What’s it about?”
Helen nudged Nikki’s thighs apart with her knee, and covered her mouth in a searing kiss. When she pulled away, she panted, “It’s about loving you.”
Slowly, possessively, Helen trailed her hand down Nikki’s torso and dipped two fingers into her wet center. “It’s always about loving you.”
Helen hadn’t anticipated how fast Nikki would come, or she would have slowed down, but Nikki had been so turned on from dinner and their car ride home, that her thrusting against Helen had been almost frantic, as her body begged for release.
As soon as her aftershocks subsided, Nikki rolled on top of Helen. “How close are you?” she asked against Helen’s lips.
“Just touch me,” Helen breathed.
So Nikki did.
---
Hours later Helen and Nikki lay facing each other, smiling lazily, their whispers as muted as the moonlight filtering through their bedroom windows.
“They were right, you know,” Nikki said, brushing the back of her fingers against Helen’s cheek.
“Who was right?” Helen asked, taking Nikki’s hand and interlacing their fingers together.
“Trish and Claire,” Nikki answered. “Wedding talk does make us useless.”
“It’s not that I didn’t want to plan,” Helen said.
“It’s just that… other things seemed more important.” Nikki agreed.
“It’s amazing that we haven’t lost our jobs.”
“Or our friends.”
Nikki’s chuckle warmed Helen from her core. “D’ya think we really ought to write our own vows?” Helen asked.
“What, you mean ‘what God has brought together’ and all that?”
Helen considered Nikki for a moment before tenderly asking, “Do you believe in God, Nikki?”
Nikki stiffened, and Helen’s arm automatically reached round to stroke her back. Nikki thought for a long moment before answering, “It’s complicated.”
Helen nodded. “I know.”
“Do you?” Nikki asked. “Believe in God, I mean.”
“I did when I was growing up. I had to with my dad, didn’t I? Now, though, I don’t know… I’ve seen a lot of suffering.”
“Yeah,” Nikki agreed. “But you must at least believe in him a little.”
“Why’s that?”
“You pray to him a lot.”
Helen felt her brows knit together. “Pray to him?”
“Yeah, like earlier you were all, ‘Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!’ You must believe in him at least a wee bit.”
Helen reached up to smack Nikki, but Nikki grabbed hold of her wrist and rolled on top of her, pinning Helen’s arms above her head.
Helen gasped. She was never going to grow out of wanting Nikki. My God, they’d been making love for hours, and Helen still responded to her touch. She wanted Nikki again and again and again. It was almost obsessive, insatiable.
“Helen?” Nikki asked, her voice becoming softer. “Did you really want to get married in a church, because if that’s important to you, I…”
“Shh,” Helen said. She reached up to gently press her fingers against Nikki’s lips. “I don’t care where we get married, Nicola Wade - so long as you marry me.”
“And you’re you sure a park’s okay?”
“The middle of Victoria Station is okay - because in the New Year, I am going to stop calling you my girlfriend.”
Nikki raised her eyebrows playfully. “You getting a new girlfriend, then?”
“Yep,” Helen teased. “Trading my old one in for a newer model.”
Nikki released Helen’s hands and made her way down to Helen’s breast. “Aye? I hear you can barely keep up with the model you have now.”
Helen was quiet for a long moment. At length, she said, “You know when I come to the club sometimes on Saturday nights?”
Nikki grinned. “For the free booze? Yeah, I know those sometimes.”
Helen shook her head. “You know how when you have new employees there, or old friends, you introduce me as your girlfriend?”
Nikki stopped the exploration of Helen’s breast. “Yeah,” she answered. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”
“For now,” Helen said, pressing Nikki’s palm back against her. “But I don’t want to be just your girlfriend forever.”
Tears began to sparkle on Nikki’s long eyelashes. “I love you, Helen,” she said seriously. “You’ve never been just my girlfriend.”
“I love you, too,” Helen said. “And I don’t care where we get married.”
“Not at all?”
“No. So long as very soon you start introducing me as your wife.”
Beautiful is not a word Helen would have ever used to describe herself before she met Nikki Wade. Helen’s mother had told her often how pretty she was, and Helen believed it. But then, when she was only a little girl, Helen’s mother had died; and for a time Helen thought all the beautiful things in the world had died with her.
Helen’s father had carried on with his life the way clergymen do, admonishing Helen to buck up: she would see her mother again one day so long as she kept to The Commandments and attended church. Though Alan Stewart was not a man to pause for beauty, Helen hoped every day that he might compliment her. She understood his silence on the subject to mean disapproval, and so she believed him, too - as children always believe their parents.
Men had said she was beautiful over the years: a host of Sean Parrs, looking to get laid. Helen didn’t fault them, but she didn’t believe them either.
And then she’d made love with Nikki.
The first night -- the night of Nikki’s escape -- they’d fallen together feverishly, lips and tongues and limbs tangled together, as each woman made a febrile effort to press as much skin against the other as possible. Time and uncertainty pounded away at them, stealing any real hope of intimacy; the night ended with Nikki alone in her cell, and Helen sobbing outside the walls of Larkhall.
After Nikki’s release, she and Helen spent six days alone in Helen’s flat - in Helen’s bed - making up, making love, making promises.
“You are so beautiful, Helen,” Nikki told her, as they lay in bed their first night together. Slowly she traced patterns on Helen’s bare torso. Helen had been unable to meet Nikki’s eyes, so Nikki tilted Helen’s chin toward her, and said, “Did you not know?”
Helen shook her head, tears filling her eyes. Nikki brushed them away as they fell down her cheeks, and then whispered, “Let me show you.”
Nikki kissed Helen’s eyelids, and praised the saturated hues of Helen’s irises. She kissed her cheeks and extolled the way they flushed when Helen was aroused. She kissed her lips and told how Helen’s smile had brought hope into her darkness. She kissed Helen’s jaw line, her collarbone, her neck, her “perfect” nipples, her belly button. She worked her way down Helen’s body, and then back up again, and by the time Helen’s climax racked through her, her throat was too constricted with emotion to speak. She choked out Nikki’s name between breaths and tears, and when they finally left her flat a week later, Helen was convinced that, behind Nikki, she was the most beautiful woman in the whole of Britain.
So as Nikki’s chin rested on her hands, and she gazed across the dinner table, meeting Helen’s eyes, it took all of the willpower Helen Stewart possessed not to reach over and pull Nikki across the table to her.
Nikki Wade thought she was beautiful, and Helen believed her more than she’d ever believed anyone.
“Nikki will do the honeymoon,” Trish offered, seizing the list from Claire.
“Yeah, I will,” Nikki confirmed, her eyes still locked with Helen’s. Somehow Nikki knew what she’d been thinking; Helen felt her body flush with anticipation.
Trish rolled her eyes.
“Then Helen will do the invitations,” Claire said. She marked it down on both hers and Helen’s calendars. “Just give your list of invitees and addresses to Helen by next weekend, yeah Nikki? We’ll mail them out the following Monday.”
Nikki nodded, her eyes fixed on Helen.
“Helen,” Trish said, looking over the list once more. “Isn’t your father a pastor or something? You could have him do the ceremony, couldn’t you? That might be nice.”
Helen’s unsnapped her gaze from Nikki and whipped around to face Claire. “Er… I…I don’t know if he’s available.”
“Of course he’s available!” Trish countered. “It’s your wedding day; where else would he be?”
“Right,” Helen said, drinking deeply from her water glass. “I’ll… um… I’ll see about it.”
“Okay,” Claire cut in, for which Helen was monumentally grateful. “Where do you two want to get married?”
“In a church,” Helen said automatically, just as Nikki said, “In a park.”
Helen grinned. Perhaps it hadn’t occurred to Nikki that they were getting married the week before Christmas, and that London’s winter weather was tempestuous on its best days. Nikki loved the freedom of being outdoors; she once told Helen that the fresh air was full of promises. Of course she’d want to be married in a park.
“Actually, I think a park would be rather nice,” Helen said.
“In the middle of winter?!” Trish exclaimed. “You two really are mad.”
“As pants,” Nikki agreed, reaching across the table for Helen’s hand. “It’s what keeps us warm.”
“That and the fucking,” Trish responded.
After Nikki had paid for dinner (“It’s the least I can do; you two really are saving our arses here.”) she spoke to Trish privately for a moment, and then offered to drive Helen home. Helen wanted to know why Nikki wasn’t going in to the club, but Nikki just grinned cheekily and said, “I think you promised to make something up to me.”
“You just want to drive the Peugeot,” Helen said.
Nikki pulled Helen to her by the lapels of her coat and kissed her deeply; Helen did not protest when Nikki said, “I’ll bring you back to the Peugeot in the morning.”
---
“I can’t get--” Helen was walking backwards, pulling Nikki with her, through the door of their flat. Her left hand clutched Nikki’s shirt, and her right arm was caught in the sleeve of her own. Her lips were already swollen from assaulting Nikki at every traffic light between the restaurant and their home. Nikki’s feeble protests that they were going to get in a wreck were silenced all together when Helen smoothed her hand up Nikki’s thigh and down the front of her trousers.
Nikki managed to work Helen’s arm free and get her own shirt off before Helen pressed her up against the door they’d just come through.
Socks, shoes, and pants were discarded in the foyer, and as Helen led Nikki to their bedroom she momentarily wondered if she and Nikki would ever grow tired pawing each other like teenagers. If the decision fell to Helen, she knew what the answer would be. She was intoxicated with Nikki Wade, and given the choice between stretching out on top of Nikki’s body and doing practically anything else, she would always choose Nikki.
They fell together onto the bed, and Helen immediately rolled Nikki over, and straddled her waist. Helen smoothed her hair back from her eyes, and stared intently down at Nikki. There was nothing sexier than Nikki Wade - flushed and panting - pinned beneath Helen’s hips.
Helen undid the front clasp of Nikki’s bra, and trailed her fingertips up the sides of Nikki’s creamy breasts, and back down. Nikki breathed encouragement, so Helen ran a finger over Nikki’s collarbone, and neck, following her finger with her tongue. She teased her way back down to Nikki’s breasts, ignoring her nipples completely.
Nikki grinned up at Helen. “Taking back a little bit of that control Claire snatched from you tonight, eh?”
Helen met Nikki’s playful eyes with serious ones. “This isn’t about control,” she said, running her thumbs over Nikki’s nipples, which were already hard beneath her touch.
Nikki arched off the bed, and her breathing quickened again. “Oh yeah?” she said, as Helen slid down her body, dragging her tongue from Nikki’s throat to the soft expanse between her breasts to her stomach, which was already beginning to bead with sweat. “What’s it about?”
Helen nudged Nikki’s thighs apart with her knee, and covered her mouth in a searing kiss. When she pulled away, she panted, “It’s about loving you.”
Slowly, possessively, Helen trailed her hand down Nikki’s torso and dipped two fingers into her wet center. “It’s always about loving you.”
Helen hadn’t anticipated how fast Nikki would come, or she would have slowed down, but Nikki had been so turned on from dinner and their car ride home, that her thrusting against Helen had been almost frantic, as her body begged for release.
As soon as her aftershocks subsided, Nikki rolled on top of Helen. “How close are you?” she asked against Helen’s lips.
“Just touch me,” Helen breathed.
So Nikki did.
---
Hours later Helen and Nikki lay facing each other, smiling lazily, their whispers as muted as the moonlight filtering through their bedroom windows.
“They were right, you know,” Nikki said, brushing the back of her fingers against Helen’s cheek.
“Who was right?” Helen asked, taking Nikki’s hand and interlacing their fingers together.
“Trish and Claire,” Nikki answered. “Wedding talk does make us useless.”
“It’s not that I didn’t want to plan,” Helen said.
“It’s just that… other things seemed more important.” Nikki agreed.
“It’s amazing that we haven’t lost our jobs.”
“Or our friends.”
Nikki’s chuckle warmed Helen from her core. “D’ya think we really ought to write our own vows?” Helen asked.
“What, you mean ‘what God has brought together’ and all that?”
Helen considered Nikki for a moment before tenderly asking, “Do you believe in God, Nikki?”
Nikki stiffened, and Helen’s arm automatically reached round to stroke her back. Nikki thought for a long moment before answering, “It’s complicated.”
Helen nodded. “I know.”
“Do you?” Nikki asked. “Believe in God, I mean.”
“I did when I was growing up. I had to with my dad, didn’t I? Now, though, I don’t know… I’ve seen a lot of suffering.”
“Yeah,” Nikki agreed. “But you must at least believe in him a little.”
“Why’s that?”
“You pray to him a lot.”
Helen felt her brows knit together. “Pray to him?”
“Yeah, like earlier you were all, ‘Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!’ You must believe in him at least a wee bit.”
Helen reached up to smack Nikki, but Nikki grabbed hold of her wrist and rolled on top of her, pinning Helen’s arms above her head.
Helen gasped. She was never going to grow out of wanting Nikki. My God, they’d been making love for hours, and Helen still responded to her touch. She wanted Nikki again and again and again. It was almost obsessive, insatiable.
“Helen?” Nikki asked, her voice becoming softer. “Did you really want to get married in a church, because if that’s important to you, I…”
“Shh,” Helen said. She reached up to gently press her fingers against Nikki’s lips. “I don’t care where we get married, Nicola Wade - so long as you marry me.”
“And you’re you sure a park’s okay?”
“The middle of Victoria Station is okay - because in the New Year, I am going to stop calling you my girlfriend.”
Nikki raised her eyebrows playfully. “You getting a new girlfriend, then?”
“Yep,” Helen teased. “Trading my old one in for a newer model.”
Nikki released Helen’s hands and made her way down to Helen’s breast. “Aye? I hear you can barely keep up with the model you have now.”
Helen was quiet for a long moment. At length, she said, “You know when I come to the club sometimes on Saturday nights?”
Nikki grinned. “For the free booze? Yeah, I know those sometimes.”
Helen shook her head. “You know how when you have new employees there, or old friends, you introduce me as your girlfriend?”
Nikki stopped the exploration of Helen’s breast. “Yeah,” she answered. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”
“For now,” Helen said, pressing Nikki’s palm back against her. “But I don’t want to be just your girlfriend forever.”
Tears began to sparkle on Nikki’s long eyelashes. “I love you, Helen,” she said seriously. “You’ve never been just my girlfriend.”
“I love you, too,” Helen said. “And I don’t care where we get married.”
“Not at all?”
“No. So long as very soon you start introducing me as your wife.”
stuntdouble - September 14, 2007 02:36 PM (GMT)
Chapter 3
“This is Helen Stewart.”
“Mmm…good morning, Ms. Stewart,” came a sultry voice on the other end of the phone line. Helen felt her mouth turn up into a smile. Nikki must have just woken up.
“Afternoon, more like. Are you just getting out of bed?”
“I work nights, you know.”
“Aye, that you do,” Helen responded. “And some mornings.”
Helen had heard Nikki come in around 1:30 last night. She faintly remembered hearing the shower come on, and remembered Nikki slipping naked into bed a few minutes later. Nikki smelled so good and felt so warm, that Helen had nestled into her and fallen immediately back asleep. An hour before her alarm clock was set to go off, Helen had woken to Nikki kissing her way up the inside of her thigh.
As if sharing in her memory, Nikki yawned, “What’re you wearing?”
“Nothin’,” Helen answered playfully.
“Oh yeah? You must be a big hit at the office today.”
“I am, actually, now you mention it. Can’t figure out why, though…keep getting offered favors and such. I don’t really see what the big deal is.”
“Hmm… more research is required to determine what the big deal is about your naked body. I’ll make a note.”
“All right,” Helen said. “I’ve got plenty of work to be getting on with, without you putting a bunch of images in my head.”
“What are you really wearing?”
“Nikki,” Helen warned.
“Let me guess: a… white blouse, modest skirt, matching jacket, stockings, and… some old lady pumps.”
“Cheeky sod. I don’t have a job where I can dress to pull women. People judge me on the practicality of my clothes.”
“Good thing they can’t see what you’re wearing underneath them, then.”
Helen felt her face flush. Despite her teasing, Helen knew Nikki loved, what she called, Helen’s ‘lingerie obsession.’ “I’ve got to get to work,” Helen said, “What time are you going in to the club?”
“’Round noon, I think. I have some paperwork to do, and some deliveries to accept. Do you want to meet up near Piccadilly this afternoon? They’re having a wedding show over there. We can look at cakes and caterers; it’s been four days since Claire gave you that list. She’ll be checking up on you soon.”
“She already has.”
Nikki chuckled. “I’ll drive you to Monica’s thing afterwards, and then we can get your car.”
“Shit!”
“You forgot?”
“Yeah, sorry. Remind me again?”
“It’s at her house, a planning dinner for the Christmas charity event. All the board members will be there, and their significant others. Plus you and me, and some other volunteers. Starts at 7:00.”
“Okay.” Helen shuffled some papers around on her desk and sighed. She was up to her ears, and she had to finish this project up before Christmas, because she and Nikki were taking two weeks off after the wedding for their honeymoon. She pulled her watch out from under a stack of statistical data, and rubbed her eyes.
“If you can’t do Piccadilly, it’s okay, Darling. We’ll work something else out.”
“No, no. It’s fine. I’ll just work through lunch. Can you meet me outside the Piccadilly Tube Station at, say, 4:00?”
“Yep. Just be on the lookout for a tall, striking woman with gorgeous brown eyes.”
“Always am,” Helen answered.
“Helen?”
“Yeah?”
“What are you wearing under your boring work clothes?”
“I’ve gotta go, Nikki.”
Nikki made a petulant little noise in her throat. “Go on, just give me a hint.”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“What color is it?”
Helen sighed and shook her head. “Black,” she said, as she put the receiver back into the cradle.
Up to her ears, and absolutely in over her head.
---
As promised, Nikki was waiting for Helen outside the Underground at 4:00. Helen made her way through the crowd, and Nikki handed her a soft pretzel and bottled water that she’d picked up from a street vendor. “Since you skipped lunch and all.”
Helen devoured the pretzel, so Nikki also bought her a sausage roll, a bag of pickle crisps, and a package of Jelly Tots.
Despite her initial hesitation, Helen was glad they’d decided to come to the wedding show. Nikki led her through the booths, pointing out flowers that she thought Helen might like, and noting the vendors she and Trish had worked with in the past. They tasted cake, and Nikki got into several tedious discussions with DJs about the latest sound equipment. It was all over Helen’s head, and each time Nikki stopped to run her hand over a bass or a subwoofer, Helen doubled back for an extra cake sample.
Helen would have never guessed that planning a wedding could actually be fun, but then most things about being with Nikki Wade had surprised her.
She’d known from the moment that Sean Parr had moved into her flat that their relationship was doomed. When he’d proposed, she’d felt as if she would suffocate under the weight of the commitment. And every time he’d mentioned planning for the wedding, Helen could feel her world closing in around her.
Helen had never really been comfortable with the possessive attributes of love. She wasn’t a jealous person by nature, nor had she felt the need to make public professions of adoration to the previous men in her life. But with Nikki… sometimes Helen would see a woman at the club flirting with Nikki, and her heart would begin racing so fast that it felt like her entire chest was on fire. She trusted Nikki implicitly, but she didn’t ever want another woman’s hands near Nikki’s body. It was silly and childish, she knew, but sometimes she wanted Nikki’s looks and Nikki’s laughter and Nikki’s deep sighs all to herself. She ached to be married to Nikki. It wasn’t oppression, the way it had been with Sean; it was freedom.
“That bloke didn’t even know the difference between thermal and magnetic non-linearities.” Nikki said disdainfully when she found Helen at the Delightful Decadence booth.
“Seriously?” Helen said. “What an idiot.”
“I know,” Nikki responded in earnest.
“And he has the audacity to call himself a DJ!”
“You’re telling me. I would never book him.”
Helen let out an exasperated breath. “Me neither. I wish they’d make him leave the show.”
“Are you taking the piss?” Nikki asked, smiling wryly at Helen.
“No,” Helen said, reaching up on her tiptoes to kiss Nikki’s nose. “I think your little speaker obsession is cute.”
“Subwoofers, Helen. It’s completely a different thing.”
“Right. Are you ready to go? I’m stuffed, and we need to be at Monica’s in half an hour.”
Nikki reached down and clasped Helen’s hand. “As long as you’re well-fed, I’m ready. Feeding you is a top priority.”
“Because I get stroppy otherwise?”
“Exactly.”
---
Over the last five years Monica Lindsey had managed to form one of the more successful charities in London. She worked specifically with recovering prisoners, and Helen knew, more than anything, her passion was fueled by the time she’d spent in Larkhall herself. When she’d contacted Helen and Nikki to help her organize a charity Christmas dinner, they’d both readily agreed. It was a cause near to both of their hearts.
Monica’s home was beautiful. A brownstone in a less traveled part of London, the hedges were pristine, and the leaves had been raked into a tidy pile near the edge of the fence lining the sidewalk.
Helen’s nerves were rattled as they stood outside the front door of Monica’s house, and Nikki rang the doorbell. Helen loved Nikki, and adored being escorted by her to dinners and parties, but the idea of seeing someone who knew them both in Larkhall made Helen uneasy. There were many painful memories in that place; she and Nikki had worked so hard to erase them. She didn’t want anything to upset Nikki, not this close to their wedding. She leaned into Nikki’s side, and hoped seeing Monica wouldn’t open up too many of Nikki’s old wounds.
“Helen!” Monica said when she opened the door. “Nikki! Oh, it is so good to see you. It has been too long. Please, come in. Let me take your coats.”
Helen helped Nikki out of her coat, and then shrugged off her own. She followed Monica out of the foyer and into a nice-sized coat closet. Placing her coat on a hanger, Helen quickly brought Nikki’s to her face and inhaled deeply. She was pathetic, she knew, but sometimes she felt she couldn’t help it.
“Many of the guests have already arrived,” Monica said, ushering Helen back out into the foyer. “There are snacks in the dining room, a bar in the parlor, and I’m sure you’ll have no trouble mingling. We’ll catch up in a bit.”
She hugged Nikki and Helen, and hurried off in the direction of the aforementioned dinning room.
“So?” Nikki said, raising an eyebrow at Helen. “Snacks?”
Helen followed Nikki into the dining room, where they introduced themselves to Monica’s friends and various members of her board. It was a stuffy group, really: rich people trying upstage each other with charitable giving.
Nikki had no trouble joining in on conversations, offering insight and anecdotes where needed. It always amazed Helen how at ease Nikki was in whatever crowd she was in. Last night she’d been at the club, serving a bunch of rowdy 20 year-olds, who drank Vodka and Red Bull, while dancing to some rapper Helen was sure she’d never heard of. And tonight she was charming the socks off of a group of men and women who probably had no idea that three years ago, Nikki had been one of the very convicts their money was going to help.
Helen quickly decided that she was going to need alcohol to make it through this evening.
“Can I get you something to drink?” she asked Nikki.
“Just white wine will be fine, thank you.”
So Helen made her way to the bar, fully intending to get something stronger than wine out of the bartender, even if she had to turn on her own form of charm to do it. Nikki could talk for hours about the Tory party, and Helen could get free booze. Both were gifts in their own right.
Helen stepped to the bar behind a man with a familiar set of shoulders, and was nearly knocked over when he turned around and revealed himself.
“Helen,” he exclaimed jovially, though he, too, was clearly surprised to see her.
Helen swallowed hard, and tried to smile. “Hello, Sean.”
She didn’t have time to register all the questions firing in the synapses of her brain. Of course she wondered what he was doing here, how he’d come to be at the same place as her and Nikki when she hadn’t seen him in five years, whether or not he’d known Nikki was out of Larkhall, whether or not he’d heard they were together. There were others, too, perhaps hundreds of questions, but all Helen could think to do was get to Nikki and get out of here.
But before she could do it, there was hand on her waist, and Nikki was beside her.
“Oh,” she said, when she noticed Sean. “Hello.”
Nikki’s voice was cordial, but tight.
Sean’s eyes darkened, and Helen knew immediately that he remembered Nikki. “Hi,” he said stiffly.
Nikki turned to face Helen, and said, “Darling, is everything okay?”
Sean sloshed his gin and tonic down the front of his shirt and repeated Nikki with incredulity. “Darling!”
Nikki regarded him with forced casualty. “It’s a term of endearment.”
“I know what it is,” Sean said through gritted teeth.
“You’re a bloody genius then,” Nikki responded.
“And you’re a predator,” Sean whispered angrily at Nikki, as he moved out from in front of the bar to make room for the other guests.
“Excuse me?”
Sean’s face was starting to glow red, and Helen wasn’t sure who was going to lose it first, him or Nikki. “Helen told me how you dragged her into your cell all those years ago and tried to make a pass at her,” Sean spat. “She was repulsed! Did you know that? I don’t know what kind of brainwashing you did on her to be here calling her darling, but you make me sick!”
Nikki looked as if she’d been slapped. She straightened up, and seemed to grow six inches before Helen’s eyes. “Excuse me,” she said, and turned and walked away.
Helen watched Nikki go, and then turned back to the bar to find Sean looking rather pleased with himself. She wanted to throttle him, to literally grab hold of him ‘round the neck and choke the life out of him. But she didn’t have the time; she had to go after Nikki and make her understand. She spared one look of loathing at Sean before turning on her heel and storming away.
Nikki was in the kitchen when Helen found her, turning a wine glass around idly in her hands.
“Nikki…” Helen began, striding across the room, and coming to stand directly in front of her.
“Dragged you into my cell?” Nikki asked, without meeting Helen’s eyes. “Is that what you told him?”
“Yes,” Helen answered honestly.
Nikki seemed surprised to hear her response, and it was perhaps that more than her desire to do so, that caused her to look up at Helen. “Really?”
“Nikki, I was so confused. My mind was coming apart with thoughts of you. I was already so in love with you by then, and I hadn’t a clue. I felt like I should say it - that we kissed - somehow, some way, and just get it out of my head. If there was more room in my mind, I thought I could make sense of things.”
Nikki’s face was stoic, so Helen rushed on.
“I could still taste you on my lips and feel the heat from your body, and my helpless pleas were trapped in my head. I was undone and afraid. Nikki, I am so sorry.”
“You came into my cell,” Nikki said.
“I know.”
“And you nearly sat in my lap.”
“I know.”
“And you wanted me, Helen.”
“I did want you,” Helen confirmed desperately. “I do. I do want you. Nikki, please forgive me.”
“There is a difference between being dragged somewhere and choosing to go somewhere of your own volition. Do you understand that?”
“Yes,” Helen said contritely.
“Just as there is a difference between speakers and subwoofers. It’s subtle, but it’s there.”
Helen felt her jaw tighten as she narrowed her eyes. “Nikki Wade, are you having me on?”
To Helen’s great relief, Nikki began laughing. “Helen, Sean Parr is ancient history. I don’t care what you told him. You left him, and you’re with me. We’re getting married! He can sod off.”
Helen threw herself into Nikki’s arms. “I love you so much,” she breathed into Nikki’s neck.
Nikki pulled away to look at Helen. “How much?”
Helen considered Nikki for a moment before grinning and grabbing her by the arm. “This much,” she said, as she pulled Nikki out of the kitchen, through the hallway, and back into the parlor, where Sean was standing with three other men. Helen marched directly up to Sean, clutching Nikki’s hand tightly.
“Sean,” she said, interrupting the conversation he was having, much to his obvious chagrin. “Nikki did not have to drag me anywhere. I went to her because I wanted comfort. I kissed her, and I am not sorry.”
The men standing near Sean exchanged startled looks with one another.
“And I just… thought you should know,” Helen added.
Sean cleared his throat uncomfortably, and smiled weakly at his companions. “Excuse us,” he said.
Sean glanced around the room, and, after ensuring that no one else had overheard Helen, walked into the hallway. Helen followed him, dragging Nikki in her wake. When the crowded parlor was out of ear shot, Sean rounded on Helen. “What are you playing at?” he asked in an angry whisper.
“I want you to apologize to Nikki,” Helen said.
“I will not apologize to that bitch.”
“Her name is Nikki!”
“I don’t care. I will not apologize.”
“You will apologize, Sean; you had no right.”
“I had every right, Helen. You embarrassed me with that little scene. And God knows what other humiliation I’ve endured behind my back. My fiancé, prancing around in a little lesbian tryst with an ex-convict! ”
“Yeah, you’d know all about making a scene, wouldn’t you?” Helen said, her entire body vibrating with anger now.
“You cheated on me!” Sean said, his voice rising. “With a dyke! How do you want me to react?”
“I never cheated on you, Sean. We were broken up by the time Nikki and I got together. I am sorry I hurt you, which I told you at the time, and stand by now. I should have ended things much sooner. For both of our sakes.”
“You’re apologizing to me? What do you want, some sort of absolution for being a whore? Well you won’t get it from me, Helen. Maybe you should go to your father if you want forgiveness; I’m sure he’s very proud of what you’ve become.”
Helen was rather close to slapping Sean when Nikki’s spoke up.
“First of all, Sean, Helen did not cheat on you, though that has more to do with her character than your worth, I assure you.”
“Fuck you,” Sean said, his fists clenched at his side, but Nikki didn’t falter.
“Second of all, if you’re embarrassed, it should be because of that little stunt you pulled at Larkhall lighting your wedding suit on fire. You’re lucky Helen didn’t sue you for defamation of character.”
“Nikki…” Helen said, but she could tell Nikki wasn’t going to be quiet. Sean looked like he might attack her at any moment, and Nikki seemed completely unperturbed at the thought.
“And thirdly, that you called this a ‘tryst’ is entirely inaccurate, as Helen and I are due to be married next month.”
The color drained completely from Sean’s face. “They let you do that now, do they? Bloody brilliant government we’ve installed. Well, good luck getting her down the aisle. It’s sure as fuck not a place I could get her to go.”
Nikki grinned. “Oh, I’ve taken Helen to lots of places you apparently had trouble getting her to go.”
Sean narrowed his eyes, and Nikki stepped menacingly toward him. “You’re a hypocrite,” she whispered.
Helen realized that she was suddenly, and inappropriately aroused. Nikki seemed taller in this moment somehow, larger than life. Her pupils were dilated, her body stiff. Helen tried to shove down her salacious thoughts, but Nikki’s next words did her in.
“You’re standing there pretending to be disgusted with Helen and me, when really, right now, in that tiny little brain of yours, you are picturing the two of us together: naked, writhing around. You’re wondering what it’s like to make love, really make love to Helen. You’re remembering what it’s like to fuck her.”
“I…” Sean stammered, but Nikki would not let him speak.
“You know what it’s like when she gets turned on, don’t you? How warm her skin gets… how slick. She’s amazing when she’s like that, don’t you think? Her head thrown back, and that whimper." Nikki closed her eyes, as if shutting Sean's face out of her mind for a moment. "My God, that whimper.”
When Niki opened her eyes again, Helen shivered involuntarily. And Nikki continued speaking.
“Well let me tell you something, Sean Parr, whatever you’re picturing in your pornographic little fantasy is nothing compared to how hot it really is. When you take your disdain home tonight, and lay down with it in your bed, I want you to know that my mouth is on Helen’s clit, that she is coming harder than you ever thought possible. And the name on her lips,” she leaned forward to Sean’s ear. “It’s Nikki.”
---
Sean stormed out of the room and Helen stood slack-jawed as her disbelief warred with her lust. She shook her head, as if trying to clear water from her ears.
“Nikki,” she said. “That was…” But before her mind could find the words to say exactly what it was, she crushed herself against Nikki and thrust her tongue into Nikki’s mouth. “Jesus, Nikki. I’m not sure if I’ve ever wanted you this much.”
Nikki grinned against Helen’s lips. “This has been the most bizarre night.”
Helen put her hands on Nikki’s bum and pulled their hips together, trying to assuage the throbbing between her legs.
“I mean fancy meeting Sean Parr here at Monica’s of all places,” Nikki said undistractedly, as Helen’s lips moved to her neck. “It just seems so surr--”
“Nikki, I swear to God, stop talking and fuck me.”
“What, here?”
Helen grabbed Nikki and shoved her into the coat closet she’d been in earlier. She made quick work of unbuttoning Nikki’s trousers, and slamming her into the back wall of the closet. She was sure she was going to actually begin growling at any minute - so desperate and primitive was her desire.
“Wait…” Nikki said, as Helen shoved her hand down Nikki’s pants. “Helen?”
“What?” Helen said, almost unkindly.
Nikki put her hand on top of Helen’s to still her. “Are you listening to me?”
“Barely.”
“Will you do something for me?”
“Yes, anything,” Helen promised, her teeth scraping along Nikki’s neck.
“When you get drunk and tell this story to Claire, will you please try to remember which one of us did the dragging?”
“This is Helen Stewart.”
“Mmm…good morning, Ms. Stewart,” came a sultry voice on the other end of the phone line. Helen felt her mouth turn up into a smile. Nikki must have just woken up.
“Afternoon, more like. Are you just getting out of bed?”
“I work nights, you know.”
“Aye, that you do,” Helen responded. “And some mornings.”
Helen had heard Nikki come in around 1:30 last night. She faintly remembered hearing the shower come on, and remembered Nikki slipping naked into bed a few minutes later. Nikki smelled so good and felt so warm, that Helen had nestled into her and fallen immediately back asleep. An hour before her alarm clock was set to go off, Helen had woken to Nikki kissing her way up the inside of her thigh.
As if sharing in her memory, Nikki yawned, “What’re you wearing?”
“Nothin’,” Helen answered playfully.
“Oh yeah? You must be a big hit at the office today.”
“I am, actually, now you mention it. Can’t figure out why, though…keep getting offered favors and such. I don’t really see what the big deal is.”
“Hmm… more research is required to determine what the big deal is about your naked body. I’ll make a note.”
“All right,” Helen said. “I’ve got plenty of work to be getting on with, without you putting a bunch of images in my head.”
“What are you really wearing?”
“Nikki,” Helen warned.
“Let me guess: a… white blouse, modest skirt, matching jacket, stockings, and… some old lady pumps.”
“Cheeky sod. I don’t have a job where I can dress to pull women. People judge me on the practicality of my clothes.”
“Good thing they can’t see what you’re wearing underneath them, then.”
Helen felt her face flush. Despite her teasing, Helen knew Nikki loved, what she called, Helen’s ‘lingerie obsession.’ “I’ve got to get to work,” Helen said, “What time are you going in to the club?”
“’Round noon, I think. I have some paperwork to do, and some deliveries to accept. Do you want to meet up near Piccadilly this afternoon? They’re having a wedding show over there. We can look at cakes and caterers; it’s been four days since Claire gave you that list. She’ll be checking up on you soon.”
“She already has.”
Nikki chuckled. “I’ll drive you to Monica’s thing afterwards, and then we can get your car.”
“Shit!”
“You forgot?”
“Yeah, sorry. Remind me again?”
“It’s at her house, a planning dinner for the Christmas charity event. All the board members will be there, and their significant others. Plus you and me, and some other volunteers. Starts at 7:00.”
“Okay.” Helen shuffled some papers around on her desk and sighed. She was up to her ears, and she had to finish this project up before Christmas, because she and Nikki were taking two weeks off after the wedding for their honeymoon. She pulled her watch out from under a stack of statistical data, and rubbed her eyes.
“If you can’t do Piccadilly, it’s okay, Darling. We’ll work something else out.”
“No, no. It’s fine. I’ll just work through lunch. Can you meet me outside the Piccadilly Tube Station at, say, 4:00?”
“Yep. Just be on the lookout for a tall, striking woman with gorgeous brown eyes.”
“Always am,” Helen answered.
“Helen?”
“Yeah?”
“What are you wearing under your boring work clothes?”
“I’ve gotta go, Nikki.”
Nikki made a petulant little noise in her throat. “Go on, just give me a hint.”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“What color is it?”
Helen sighed and shook her head. “Black,” she said, as she put the receiver back into the cradle.
Up to her ears, and absolutely in over her head.
---
As promised, Nikki was waiting for Helen outside the Underground at 4:00. Helen made her way through the crowd, and Nikki handed her a soft pretzel and bottled water that she’d picked up from a street vendor. “Since you skipped lunch and all.”
Helen devoured the pretzel, so Nikki also bought her a sausage roll, a bag of pickle crisps, and a package of Jelly Tots.
Despite her initial hesitation, Helen was glad they’d decided to come to the wedding show. Nikki led her through the booths, pointing out flowers that she thought Helen might like, and noting the vendors she and Trish had worked with in the past. They tasted cake, and Nikki got into several tedious discussions with DJs about the latest sound equipment. It was all over Helen’s head, and each time Nikki stopped to run her hand over a bass or a subwoofer, Helen doubled back for an extra cake sample.
Helen would have never guessed that planning a wedding could actually be fun, but then most things about being with Nikki Wade had surprised her.
She’d known from the moment that Sean Parr had moved into her flat that their relationship was doomed. When he’d proposed, she’d felt as if she would suffocate under the weight of the commitment. And every time he’d mentioned planning for the wedding, Helen could feel her world closing in around her.
Helen had never really been comfortable with the possessive attributes of love. She wasn’t a jealous person by nature, nor had she felt the need to make public professions of adoration to the previous men in her life. But with Nikki… sometimes Helen would see a woman at the club flirting with Nikki, and her heart would begin racing so fast that it felt like her entire chest was on fire. She trusted Nikki implicitly, but she didn’t ever want another woman’s hands near Nikki’s body. It was silly and childish, she knew, but sometimes she wanted Nikki’s looks and Nikki’s laughter and Nikki’s deep sighs all to herself. She ached to be married to Nikki. It wasn’t oppression, the way it had been with Sean; it was freedom.
“That bloke didn’t even know the difference between thermal and magnetic non-linearities.” Nikki said disdainfully when she found Helen at the Delightful Decadence booth.
“Seriously?” Helen said. “What an idiot.”
“I know,” Nikki responded in earnest.
“And he has the audacity to call himself a DJ!”
“You’re telling me. I would never book him.”
Helen let out an exasperated breath. “Me neither. I wish they’d make him leave the show.”
“Are you taking the piss?” Nikki asked, smiling wryly at Helen.
“No,” Helen said, reaching up on her tiptoes to kiss Nikki’s nose. “I think your little speaker obsession is cute.”
“Subwoofers, Helen. It’s completely a different thing.”
“Right. Are you ready to go? I’m stuffed, and we need to be at Monica’s in half an hour.”
Nikki reached down and clasped Helen’s hand. “As long as you’re well-fed, I’m ready. Feeding you is a top priority.”
“Because I get stroppy otherwise?”
“Exactly.”
---
Over the last five years Monica Lindsey had managed to form one of the more successful charities in London. She worked specifically with recovering prisoners, and Helen knew, more than anything, her passion was fueled by the time she’d spent in Larkhall herself. When she’d contacted Helen and Nikki to help her organize a charity Christmas dinner, they’d both readily agreed. It was a cause near to both of their hearts.
Monica’s home was beautiful. A brownstone in a less traveled part of London, the hedges were pristine, and the leaves had been raked into a tidy pile near the edge of the fence lining the sidewalk.
Helen’s nerves were rattled as they stood outside the front door of Monica’s house, and Nikki rang the doorbell. Helen loved Nikki, and adored being escorted by her to dinners and parties, but the idea of seeing someone who knew them both in Larkhall made Helen uneasy. There were many painful memories in that place; she and Nikki had worked so hard to erase them. She didn’t want anything to upset Nikki, not this close to their wedding. She leaned into Nikki’s side, and hoped seeing Monica wouldn’t open up too many of Nikki’s old wounds.
“Helen!” Monica said when she opened the door. “Nikki! Oh, it is so good to see you. It has been too long. Please, come in. Let me take your coats.”
Helen helped Nikki out of her coat, and then shrugged off her own. She followed Monica out of the foyer and into a nice-sized coat closet. Placing her coat on a hanger, Helen quickly brought Nikki’s to her face and inhaled deeply. She was pathetic, she knew, but sometimes she felt she couldn’t help it.
“Many of the guests have already arrived,” Monica said, ushering Helen back out into the foyer. “There are snacks in the dining room, a bar in the parlor, and I’m sure you’ll have no trouble mingling. We’ll catch up in a bit.”
She hugged Nikki and Helen, and hurried off in the direction of the aforementioned dinning room.
“So?” Nikki said, raising an eyebrow at Helen. “Snacks?”
Helen followed Nikki into the dining room, where they introduced themselves to Monica’s friends and various members of her board. It was a stuffy group, really: rich people trying upstage each other with charitable giving.
Nikki had no trouble joining in on conversations, offering insight and anecdotes where needed. It always amazed Helen how at ease Nikki was in whatever crowd she was in. Last night she’d been at the club, serving a bunch of rowdy 20 year-olds, who drank Vodka and Red Bull, while dancing to some rapper Helen was sure she’d never heard of. And tonight she was charming the socks off of a group of men and women who probably had no idea that three years ago, Nikki had been one of the very convicts their money was going to help.
Helen quickly decided that she was going to need alcohol to make it through this evening.
“Can I get you something to drink?” she asked Nikki.
“Just white wine will be fine, thank you.”
So Helen made her way to the bar, fully intending to get something stronger than wine out of the bartender, even if she had to turn on her own form of charm to do it. Nikki could talk for hours about the Tory party, and Helen could get free booze. Both were gifts in their own right.
Helen stepped to the bar behind a man with a familiar set of shoulders, and was nearly knocked over when he turned around and revealed himself.
“Helen,” he exclaimed jovially, though he, too, was clearly surprised to see her.
Helen swallowed hard, and tried to smile. “Hello, Sean.”
She didn’t have time to register all the questions firing in the synapses of her brain. Of course she wondered what he was doing here, how he’d come to be at the same place as her and Nikki when she hadn’t seen him in five years, whether or not he’d known Nikki was out of Larkhall, whether or not he’d heard they were together. There were others, too, perhaps hundreds of questions, but all Helen could think to do was get to Nikki and get out of here.
But before she could do it, there was hand on her waist, and Nikki was beside her.
“Oh,” she said, when she noticed Sean. “Hello.”
Nikki’s voice was cordial, but tight.
Sean’s eyes darkened, and Helen knew immediately that he remembered Nikki. “Hi,” he said stiffly.
Nikki turned to face Helen, and said, “Darling, is everything okay?”
Sean sloshed his gin and tonic down the front of his shirt and repeated Nikki with incredulity. “Darling!”
Nikki regarded him with forced casualty. “It’s a term of endearment.”
“I know what it is,” Sean said through gritted teeth.
“You’re a bloody genius then,” Nikki responded.
“And you’re a predator,” Sean whispered angrily at Nikki, as he moved out from in front of the bar to make room for the other guests.
“Excuse me?”
Sean’s face was starting to glow red, and Helen wasn’t sure who was going to lose it first, him or Nikki. “Helen told me how you dragged her into your cell all those years ago and tried to make a pass at her,” Sean spat. “She was repulsed! Did you know that? I don’t know what kind of brainwashing you did on her to be here calling her darling, but you make me sick!”
Nikki looked as if she’d been slapped. She straightened up, and seemed to grow six inches before Helen’s eyes. “Excuse me,” she said, and turned and walked away.
Helen watched Nikki go, and then turned back to the bar to find Sean looking rather pleased with himself. She wanted to throttle him, to literally grab hold of him ‘round the neck and choke the life out of him. But she didn’t have the time; she had to go after Nikki and make her understand. She spared one look of loathing at Sean before turning on her heel and storming away.
Nikki was in the kitchen when Helen found her, turning a wine glass around idly in her hands.
“Nikki…” Helen began, striding across the room, and coming to stand directly in front of her.
“Dragged you into my cell?” Nikki asked, without meeting Helen’s eyes. “Is that what you told him?”
“Yes,” Helen answered honestly.
Nikki seemed surprised to hear her response, and it was perhaps that more than her desire to do so, that caused her to look up at Helen. “Really?”
“Nikki, I was so confused. My mind was coming apart with thoughts of you. I was already so in love with you by then, and I hadn’t a clue. I felt like I should say it - that we kissed - somehow, some way, and just get it out of my head. If there was more room in my mind, I thought I could make sense of things.”
Nikki’s face was stoic, so Helen rushed on.
“I could still taste you on my lips and feel the heat from your body, and my helpless pleas were trapped in my head. I was undone and afraid. Nikki, I am so sorry.”
“You came into my cell,” Nikki said.
“I know.”
“And you nearly sat in my lap.”
“I know.”
“And you wanted me, Helen.”
“I did want you,” Helen confirmed desperately. “I do. I do want you. Nikki, please forgive me.”
“There is a difference between being dragged somewhere and choosing to go somewhere of your own volition. Do you understand that?”
“Yes,” Helen said contritely.
“Just as there is a difference between speakers and subwoofers. It’s subtle, but it’s there.”
Helen felt her jaw tighten as she narrowed her eyes. “Nikki Wade, are you having me on?”
To Helen’s great relief, Nikki began laughing. “Helen, Sean Parr is ancient history. I don’t care what you told him. You left him, and you’re with me. We’re getting married! He can sod off.”
Helen threw herself into Nikki’s arms. “I love you so much,” she breathed into Nikki’s neck.
Nikki pulled away to look at Helen. “How much?”
Helen considered Nikki for a moment before grinning and grabbing her by the arm. “This much,” she said, as she pulled Nikki out of the kitchen, through the hallway, and back into the parlor, where Sean was standing with three other men. Helen marched directly up to Sean, clutching Nikki’s hand tightly.
“Sean,” she said, interrupting the conversation he was having, much to his obvious chagrin. “Nikki did not have to drag me anywhere. I went to her because I wanted comfort. I kissed her, and I am not sorry.”
The men standing near Sean exchanged startled looks with one another.
“And I just… thought you should know,” Helen added.
Sean cleared his throat uncomfortably, and smiled weakly at his companions. “Excuse us,” he said.
Sean glanced around the room, and, after ensuring that no one else had overheard Helen, walked into the hallway. Helen followed him, dragging Nikki in her wake. When the crowded parlor was out of ear shot, Sean rounded on Helen. “What are you playing at?” he asked in an angry whisper.
“I want you to apologize to Nikki,” Helen said.
“I will not apologize to that bitch.”
“Her name is Nikki!”
“I don’t care. I will not apologize.”
“You will apologize, Sean; you had no right.”
“I had every right, Helen. You embarrassed me with that little scene. And God knows what other humiliation I’ve endured behind my back. My fiancé, prancing around in a little lesbian tryst with an ex-convict! ”
“Yeah, you’d know all about making a scene, wouldn’t you?” Helen said, her entire body vibrating with anger now.
“You cheated on me!” Sean said, his voice rising. “With a dyke! How do you want me to react?”
“I never cheated on you, Sean. We were broken up by the time Nikki and I got together. I am sorry I hurt you, which I told you at the time, and stand by now. I should have ended things much sooner. For both of our sakes.”
“You’re apologizing to me? What do you want, some sort of absolution for being a whore? Well you won’t get it from me, Helen. Maybe you should go to your father if you want forgiveness; I’m sure he’s very proud of what you’ve become.”
Helen was rather close to slapping Sean when Nikki’s spoke up.
“First of all, Sean, Helen did not cheat on you, though that has more to do with her character than your worth, I assure you.”
“Fuck you,” Sean said, his fists clenched at his side, but Nikki didn’t falter.
“Second of all, if you’re embarrassed, it should be because of that little stunt you pulled at Larkhall lighting your wedding suit on fire. You’re lucky Helen didn’t sue you for defamation of character.”
“Nikki…” Helen said, but she could tell Nikki wasn’t going to be quiet. Sean looked like he might attack her at any moment, and Nikki seemed completely unperturbed at the thought.
“And thirdly, that you called this a ‘tryst’ is entirely inaccurate, as Helen and I are due to be married next month.”
The color drained completely from Sean’s face. “They let you do that now, do they? Bloody brilliant government we’ve installed. Well, good luck getting her down the aisle. It’s sure as fuck not a place I could get her to go.”
Nikki grinned. “Oh, I’ve taken Helen to lots of places you apparently had trouble getting her to go.”
Sean narrowed his eyes, and Nikki stepped menacingly toward him. “You’re a hypocrite,” she whispered.
Helen realized that she was suddenly, and inappropriately aroused. Nikki seemed taller in this moment somehow, larger than life. Her pupils were dilated, her body stiff. Helen tried to shove down her salacious thoughts, but Nikki’s next words did her in.
“You’re standing there pretending to be disgusted with Helen and me, when really, right now, in that tiny little brain of yours, you are picturing the two of us together: naked, writhing around. You’re wondering what it’s like to make love, really make love to Helen. You’re remembering what it’s like to fuck her.”
“I…” Sean stammered, but Nikki would not let him speak.
“You know what it’s like when she gets turned on, don’t you? How warm her skin gets… how slick. She’s amazing when she’s like that, don’t you think? Her head thrown back, and that whimper." Nikki closed her eyes, as if shutting Sean's face out of her mind for a moment. "My God, that whimper.”
When Niki opened her eyes again, Helen shivered involuntarily. And Nikki continued speaking.
“Well let me tell you something, Sean Parr, whatever you’re picturing in your pornographic little fantasy is nothing compared to how hot it really is. When you take your disdain home tonight, and lay down with it in your bed, I want you to know that my mouth is on Helen’s clit, that she is coming harder than you ever thought possible. And the name on her lips,” she leaned forward to Sean’s ear. “It’s Nikki.”
---
Sean stormed out of the room and Helen stood slack-jawed as her disbelief warred with her lust. She shook her head, as if trying to clear water from her ears.
“Nikki,” she said. “That was…” But before her mind could find the words to say exactly what it was, she crushed herself against Nikki and thrust her tongue into Nikki’s mouth. “Jesus, Nikki. I’m not sure if I’ve ever wanted you this much.”
Nikki grinned against Helen’s lips. “This has been the most bizarre night.”
Helen put her hands on Nikki’s bum and pulled their hips together, trying to assuage the throbbing between her legs.
“I mean fancy meeting Sean Parr here at Monica’s of all places,” Nikki said undistractedly, as Helen’s lips moved to her neck. “It just seems so surr--”
“Nikki, I swear to God, stop talking and fuck me.”
“What, here?”
Helen grabbed Nikki and shoved her into the coat closet she’d been in earlier. She made quick work of unbuttoning Nikki’s trousers, and slamming her into the back wall of the closet. She was sure she was going to actually begin growling at any minute - so desperate and primitive was her desire.
“Wait…” Nikki said, as Helen shoved her hand down Nikki’s pants. “Helen?”
“What?” Helen said, almost unkindly.
Nikki put her hand on top of Helen’s to still her. “Are you listening to me?”
“Barely.”
“Will you do something for me?”
“Yes, anything,” Helen promised, her teeth scraping along Nikki’s neck.
“When you get drunk and tell this story to Claire, will you please try to remember which one of us did the dragging?”
tudy - September 14, 2007 04:16 PM (GMT)
Soooo..the next installment...just so I can clear my calender....lengthy is it...? Funny?... touching...?.....And speaking of touching.....not a false note anywhere ...Are you done ?.....I am.
zena - September 14, 2007 04:16 PM (GMT)
WOW! You are good. More please. :dazzler :dazzler :dazzler
tudy - September 14, 2007 04:22 PM (GMT)
Sooooo...Just so I can clear my calendar...The next installment...lengthy is it?.....funny?...touching?...and speaking of touching...not a false note anywhere?...Or are you done...?.....We are.....
tudy - September 14, 2007 04:29 PM (GMT)
Wow....double posts....How did you do that...? My woofers and tweeters are all a twitter.
LahbibLover - September 14, 2007 05:06 PM (GMT)
OMG, this is erotic and LOL, a great combination. Bring it on.
Emms - September 14, 2007 05:56 PM (GMT)
Oh my fucking god. That was brilliant. More than brilliant, but I'm a little incoherent at the moment. Your writing is (I already said brilliant, right? okay, must find a new word) sharp, witty, fan-freakin'-tabulous (those will do)?
I really enjoy your use of dialogue. It was incredibly natural and free of many of the clichés I'm so used to hearing. (there's nothing wrong with a good cliché, it's just nice to hear things put a different way.)
I love the way you're able to say so much with as little words as possible. And the dynamic between Nikki and Helen is unrivaled here. They are so hot together and your writing of them, so evocative I can practically feel the steam rising off them.
That bit in the beginning with Nikki, Helen, Trish and Claire, had me laughing out loud. It was perfect the way you had Helen on the verge of telling Trish and Claire off, all because they'd seen the need to take control of the wedding situation, and then in the next instant Helen was placated with a word from Nikki, a glass of wine, and some post-it-notes. Brilliant (oops there's that word again)
And then at Monica's party. Wow. Sean = asshole...but I've never read a more satisfying retribution then the one Nikki provided us with. I could just see Sean's face, flushed with embarrassment and anger as Nikki described their [she and Helen’s] intimacy.
Need I even mention the closet? :lol1
more please?
I really enjoy your use of dialogue. It was incredibly natural and free of many of the clichés I'm so used to hearing. (there's nothing wrong with a good cliché, it's just nice to hear things put a different way.)
I love the way you're able to say so much with as little words as possible. And the dynamic between Nikki and Helen is unrivaled here. They are so hot together and your writing of them, so evocative I can practically feel the steam rising off them.
That bit in the beginning with Nikki, Helen, Trish and Claire, had me laughing out loud. It was perfect the way you had Helen on the verge of telling Trish and Claire off, all because they'd seen the need to take control of the wedding situation, and then in the next instant Helen was placated with a word from Nikki, a glass of wine, and some post-it-notes. Brilliant (oops there's that word again)
And then at Monica's party. Wow. Sean = asshole...but I've never read a more satisfying retribution then the one Nikki provided us with. I could just see Sean's face, flushed with embarrassment and anger as Nikki described their [she and Helen’s] intimacy.
Need I even mention the closet? :lol1
more please?
stuntdouble - September 14, 2007 08:42 PM (GMT)
Tudy: Thank you for being so kind! I think the whole story will end up being about 12 chapters. The next one should be up in a day or two.
Zena: Chapter four is off at the Beta right now. Your wish is my command.
LahbibLover: Thank you! And I, um, will bring it on! (I hope.)
Emms: That is about the nicest thing anyone has ever said about anything I've written. This is my first shot at Helen/Niki fan fiction, so I was super nervous about posting it. You allayed my fears; I hope I don't disappoint you with the coming chapters. By the way, "brilliant" happens to be my all time favorite word. I'm an Anglophile through and through.
You guys are awfully sweet with your feedback. :)
Zena: Chapter four is off at the Beta right now. Your wish is my command.
LahbibLover: Thank you! And I, um, will bring it on! (I hope.)
Emms: That is about the nicest thing anyone has ever said about anything I've written. This is my first shot at Helen/Niki fan fiction, so I was super nervous about posting it. You allayed my fears; I hope I don't disappoint you with the coming chapters. By the way, "brilliant" happens to be my all time favorite word. I'm an Anglophile through and through.
You guys are awfully sweet with your feedback. :)
Aleasha - September 14, 2007 09:48 PM (GMT)
Wow so okay. I'm completely in love with this story so far. And I agree with Emms, the dialogue is fantastic! Definitely can't wait for more. And please don't make us wait too long! heh.
louie99 - September 14, 2007 10:06 PM (GMT)
WOW that was great you left me speechless there are no word to be said :devil :devil :devil
Cassandra - September 15, 2007 03:45 AM (GMT)
Only one word I can think of to describe this story .... mega brilliant!! :clap (Okay, so I cheated and used two words!) Not sure if I also need to say it three time before it sticks but just in case ..... mega brilliant! mega brilliant!
Thanks for the great chapters. You are a natural writer. I hope you are going to update soon. Like Helen, I don't think we can wait too long. :)
Thanks for the great chapters. You are a natural writer. I hope you are going to update soon. Like Helen, I don't think we can wait too long. :)
ekny - September 15, 2007 06:13 PM (GMT)
Hi, stepping in as moderator to make 1 request/suggestion (it's not a 'bad' thing, don't worry!) First, I'm glad people are enjoying the story so much, and am making this remark in public to help other authors, too, not just new members. Everyone is encouraged to read the general guidelines about posting fanfics on the board; I personally think there IS (and should be) a place for constructive criticism, etc., between writers & readers. But this is just a formality, what I'm about to say, so even more minor, in one way.
It's a simple point, but much as I wanted to continue to read this story, I couldn't, because the fact that a main character's name was consistently misspelled just... well, really got in the way. Could you please fix this? It's Nikki Wade, 2 Ks.
Item 4 from the General Guidelines in the Fanfic section says:
http://z4.invisionfree.com/Nikki_and_Helen...p?showtopic=917
"Please read the guidelines over spelling of characters names in the profiles we have on the board. For example, it is Helen Stewart – Not Stuart. {link to character profile info}
Readers are allowed to correct these basic mistakes of character."
Every word-processing program has a Search & Replace feature. Just "search" for every instance of the letters Niki & "replace" with Nikki. It shouldn't interfere for cases where there are possessives, and the whole thing will take a few seconds to do max, perhaps 10 minutes to fix on the board here, if that.
So after you've go it saved, log on here, and "edit" each entry with parts of your story in it: highlight the text in the entry for your first chapter; clear it; then just cut & paste the 'new' first chapter into the entry you're editing--thus replacing it. Then hit the 'modify'/accept button & you're up and running.
Please feel free to contact me or any other mod or admin & someone will be happy to help if you have ?s! I'm sure many other folks on the board would help too. I know it's a little bit of hassle, but easier now then when you're up to chapter 12 or something! :D
Thank you again, & welcome to the board. :)
It's a simple point, but much as I wanted to continue to read this story, I couldn't, because the fact that a main character's name was consistently misspelled just... well, really got in the way. Could you please fix this? It's Nikki Wade, 2 Ks.
Item 4 from the General Guidelines in the Fanfic section says:
http://z4.invisionfree.com/Nikki_and_Helen...p?showtopic=917
"Please read the guidelines over spelling of characters names in the profiles we have on the board. For example, it is Helen Stewart – Not Stuart. {link to character profile info}
Readers are allowed to correct these basic mistakes of character."
Every word-processing program has a Search & Replace feature. Just "search" for every instance of the letters Niki & "replace" with Nikki. It shouldn't interfere for cases where there are possessives, and the whole thing will take a few seconds to do max, perhaps 10 minutes to fix on the board here, if that.
So after you've go it saved, log on here, and "edit" each entry with parts of your story in it: highlight the text in the entry for your first chapter; clear it; then just cut & paste the 'new' first chapter into the entry you're editing--thus replacing it. Then hit the 'modify'/accept button & you're up and running.
Please feel free to contact me or any other mod or admin & someone will be happy to help if you have ?s! I'm sure many other folks on the board would help too. I know it's a little bit of hassle, but easier now then when you're up to chapter 12 or something! :D
Thank you again, & welcome to the board. :)
stuntdouble - September 15, 2007 08:13 PM (GMT)
I am so sorry. I read those guidelines, like, four times. I can't believe I misspelled Nikki's name!
I have fixed it in the chapters that have been posted here, and am fixing it in the chapters I am working on now.
Thanks for being so kind with your request, ekny.
2 Ks!
::face palm::
I have fixed it in the chapters that have been posted here, and am fixing it in the chapters I am working on now.
Thanks for being so kind with your request, ekny.
2 Ks!
::face palm::
ekny - September 15, 2007 08:52 PM (GMT)
Hey, I'm glad it was no big to fix. "face/palm"! That's a new one. :)
zena - September 17, 2007 04:00 AM (GMT)
Stuntdouble hows the next chapter coming? :hug2 :hug2 :hug2
stuntdouble - September 17, 2007 01:05 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (zena @ Sep 17 2007, 04:00 AM) |
| Stuntdouble hows the next chapter coming? :hug2 :hug2 :hug2 |
The next two chapters are off at the beta right now. I hope to have them back really soon! :)
Emms - September 17, 2007 01:08 PM (GMT)
Darn...I was all excited thinking this was going to be an update. Poo. *taps fingers impatiently*. I guess I could start from the beginning and read through it again while I wait. :thought
Sashindu - September 17, 2007 01:17 PM (GMT)
Great story
hopelessromantic - September 17, 2007 02:44 PM (GMT)
Nice fic look forward to reading more : :tongueout
jessju - September 18, 2007 12:30 AM (GMT)
This is such a great story..this is the first story that has actually made me laugh out loud and jump for joy especially when Nikki gives Sean a good lashing...it was great I can't wait for the next update!
stuntdouble - September 18, 2007 01:47 PM (GMT)
Author's note: I can't thank you enough for your kind comments and PMs. I am glad that you are enjoying this story; it is a hoot to write. I also want to thank those of you who provided correction to the last three chapters. I think that most of the glaring mistakes have been corrected. I am posting the next two chapters this morning, and should have the following three ready by the weekend. Thank you again for being so welcoming. You are all awesome! :)
Chapter 4
If she were to ever be pressed on the issue, Nikki absolutely knew that she would lie.
It was true that two weeks after moving in together, Nikki had bought Helen a new alarm clock. It was equally true that after one month, she’d bought Helen a different alarm clock. Neither of them served to wake Helen up, so Nikki had traded them in for a third, milder alarm that would easily wake her up.
Every morning when the alarm went off, Helen would stir, and then fold herself into Nikki, murmuring her dreams -- both sleeping and waking -- into Nikki’s neck. Nikki would reach across Helen to silence the alarm, and hold her. Sometimes she would stroke Helen’s back or hair; or kiss Helen’s nose or forehead; or whisper promises she knew Helen would never hear.
When the alarm clock woke from its slumber after a ten minute snooze, Nikki would gently shift Helen, and tell her it was time to get up. The following minutes -- when Helen opened her eyes and gazed at Nikki with sleepy adoration -- were some of the best of Nikki’s day.
Helen was good at a lot of things, but keeping track of time was not one of them. She never noticed from looking at her watch that she gained fifteen minutes when going from her bed to the bathroom.
Nikki had purposed it, of course, by setting the bedside clock ahead by a quarter of an hour. It wasn’t exactly dishonest, and she dared anyone to judge her for wanting to spend a few unsullied minutes wrapped around Helen Stewart.
Besides, if anyone asked, she was prepared to say she hadn’t a clue what they were talking about.
“Sweetheart,” Nikki stilled her hand on the back of Helen’s neck, which she’d been rubbing lightly. “It’s time to get up.”
Helen groaned, and snuggled more deeply into Nikki’s body. “Uh uh,” she grunted.
Nikki lay still for a few moments, trying to determine whether or not Helen was putting up her standard morning protest, or if it was actually going to take some coaxing to get her out of bed. Helen’s breaths deepened immediately, and Nikki knew it was the latter.
“Helen?”
“What?” Helen asked groggily.
“Are you awake?”
“No.”
“If you get up now, I’ll get up with you and make breakfast.”
Helen slowly opened her eyes. “Why are you so good?”
“Can’t help it.”
“I love you so much,” Helen said, grinning stupidly up at Nikki.
Nikki ran a hand through Helen’s hair. “And I never get tired of hearing it.”
“I am so...” Helen’s body tensed, as she sat up quickly, wrenching herself from Nikki’s arms. “Shit!”
Startled, Nikki sat up, too. “What’s the matter?”
“I’ve got to go to Berlin tomorrow.”
“What?”
Helen exhaled loudly. “My boss called last night, after you’d left for the club, and said I need to meet with my counterpart in the Berlin office. I’ll fly out tomorrow morning and be back in two or three days, depending on how our meetings go.”
“Oh,” Nikki said.
“I’m sorry.”
Nikki shrugged. “It’s only three days; you’ll be back before you know it.” Her voice was falsely cheery, and she knew Helen could tell.
Helen groaned and flopped back down onto her pillow. “Three days without you is three days too many.”
Nikki agreed wholeheartedly, but would never say so. She was determined to support Helen’s career, seeing as how she’d walked away from her last one for the sake of Nikki’s appeal. “Do you want me to pack for you? I could do it before I go into the club this afternoon.”
Helen shook her head. “Claire’s going to come over after work tonight, to help me get the invitations addressed. I’ll pack while she’s here - give her room to do the invitations properly.”
“I could help,” Nikki offered. “Trish and I both, actually. We’ve wanted to give the assistant manager a chance to handle some weeknights alone. Now’s as good a time as any.”
Helen pulled Nikki back onto the bed with her, and brushed her thumb over Nikki’s lips. “I do not deserve you,” she said softly.
“I know,” Nikki agreed. “But someone’s got to keep you off the streets. We all do our bit for charity.”
Helen yawned. “I think I’ll go in late today. I’ll be in Germany for three days. They can do without me at the office for a few hours.”
“What do you want to do with your free morning, then?”
“Have you any idea how much I adore making love with you?” Helen asked.
Nikki chuckled. “You want to sleep?”
Helen flipped over and snuggled backwards into Nikki, pulling Nikki’s arm around her waist. “Mmm hmm… and have breakfast with my beautiful…” her voice trailed off, dragging Nikki’s heart with it.
“Soon,” Nikki said softly into the back of Helen’s neck.
“Promise?” Helen whispered.
Nikki kissed Helen’s shoulder, and pulled her closer, fitting their bodies more snugly together. “Promise.”
---
It was near 10:00 when Nikki awoke to the sound of Helen in the shower. If it had been an hour earlier, she’d have jumped up to join her, but Helen did have to get to work at some point. Nikki pulled Helen’s pillow to her, and hugged it, inhaling deeply.
Helen had trouble sleeping without her pillow. When she and Nikki traveled together, Helen would ask a dozen times if her pillow was packed before they left. But when Helen traveled alone, she always left her pillow behind on their bed. They never mentioned it, but Nikki knew it was for her. Another thing Nikki would fervently deny if questioned was that she slept on the couch with Helen’s pillow when Helen was away. She hated being in their bed alone.
Nikki raked her fingers through her hair, and cast around for some clothes. Pulling on some pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, she made her way to the kitchen to prepare the breakfast she’d promised.
She’d just finished gathering the ingredients for crêpes, and mixing together the batter, when Helen emerged from the bedroom. Nikki poured Helen a cup of coffee, and grinned when Helen breathed it in before drinking it.
“Do you want strawberry or blueberry?” Nikki asked, as she began pouring the batter into a pan.
“Umm…”
“Both?”
“You know me so well.”
“There’s something for you there,” Nikki said, motioning toward the kitchen table.
Helen, who was pouring juice into glasses, glanced at the table, and then back at Nikki. “Which do you think has been better to us,” she said, walking toward the table with the juice. “This table or the kitchen counter?”
Nikki chuckled. “Or the kitchen floor.”
“Or the bedroom floor.”
“Or the bathroom floor - after we got that heated towel rack.”
“Perhaps we should start over,” Helen suggested. “Keep score.”
“The pantry door has been pretty solid.”
“Or… oooh! how about that little table we used to have in the foyer?” Helen picked up the envelope on the table, and ran her finger under the opening.
“That table looked so much sturdier than it --”
“Nikki!” Helen squealed. “Southern France! The Mediterranean! Really?”
Helen was in Nikki’s arms in a second, showering her with kisses and muffled praise. “You’ve always wanted to go there,” Nikki said. “Why not on your honeymoon?”
Finishing up the crêpes proved to be more difficult than anticipated, Nikki having been reduced to cooking with one hand. The other was occupied with fending off Helen, who’d become completely uninterested in work or breakfast. In fact, she was just explaining to Nikki the finer points of really making use of whipped cream, when Nikki steered her to the table.
Nikki was willing to let it slide with most meals, but strawberry crêpes were not an easy job, so she insisted Helen sit down and eat.
“How can you expect to shower me with expensive gifts and not let me repay you?” Helen pouted.
Nikki shook her head. “Right, because there’s nothing sweeter than quid pro quo sex.” She took a bite of her crêpe, while Helen watched her intently.
“You know it makes me hot when you speak Latin,” Helen answered, twirling her fork around in her fingers.
Nikki rolled her eyes. “No one speaks Latin. Now, eat your breakfast.”
Helen gave Nikki a coy smile. “You speak French.”
“I do.”
She was halfway through her first crêpe when she realized Helen was still starting at her.
“Teach me,” Helen said in a surprisingly seductive voice.
Nikki's eyebrows shot up. “Teach you what?”
“French.”
Nikki studied her for a moment before sliding her chair nearer to Helen’s. She picked up a strawberry from Helen’s plate, and Helen turned in her chair, bringing them face-to-face. Helen made to bite at the strawberry, but Nikki pulled it away.
“Parlez-vous anglais?” Nikki asked Helen.
Helen shook her head.
“Non?” Nikki asked. “D'où venez-vous?”
Helen smiled and shrugged.
Nikki took a bite of the strawberry. “Where are you from? You are from Scotland.”
“Merci,” Helen responded.
“You’re thanking me?”
Helen grinned. “I will be.”
Nikki held the strawberry up to Helen’s mouth. “Fraise,” she said. “Strawberry.”
“Fraise,” Helen repeated.
“Je voudrais fraise?” Nikki said, “Would you like a strawberry?”
“Yes.”
“S’il vous plait,” Nikki responded.
Helen licked her lips, and raised her eyebrows.
“Please,” Nikki said. “S’il vous plait.”
Helen shook her head mutely.
“S’il,” Nikki coaxed.
“S’il,” Helen repeated, taking a bite of the proffered strawberry.
Nikki dipped the strawberry into the whipped cream on Helen’s plate. “Vous,” she said, offering it again to Helen.
“Vous,” Helen echoed.
“Plait,” Nikki said, taking the last bite of strawberry for herself.
“Plait,” Helen said quietly.
“S’il vou…” Nikki began, trying to tie the word together, but Helen brought her fingers to Nikki’s mouth, and pressed them to her lips to silence her.
“S’il vous plait?” Helen asked, her voice now raw with desire. “Please.”
The request shredded what was left of Nikki’s self control, so she made love to Helen, for the first time, in French.
An hour later when Helen left for work, Nikki determined that if the slate had been wiped clean by their earlier conversation, the kitchen table was now ahead by one.
Chapter 4
If she were to ever be pressed on the issue, Nikki absolutely knew that she would lie.
It was true that two weeks after moving in together, Nikki had bought Helen a new alarm clock. It was equally true that after one month, she’d bought Helen a different alarm clock. Neither of them served to wake Helen up, so Nikki had traded them in for a third, milder alarm that would easily wake her up.
Every morning when the alarm went off, Helen would stir, and then fold herself into Nikki, murmuring her dreams -- both sleeping and waking -- into Nikki’s neck. Nikki would reach across Helen to silence the alarm, and hold her. Sometimes she would stroke Helen’s back or hair; or kiss Helen’s nose or forehead; or whisper promises she knew Helen would never hear.
When the alarm clock woke from its slumber after a ten minute snooze, Nikki would gently shift Helen, and tell her it was time to get up. The following minutes -- when Helen opened her eyes and gazed at Nikki with sleepy adoration -- were some of the best of Nikki’s day.
Helen was good at a lot of things, but keeping track of time was not one of them. She never noticed from looking at her watch that she gained fifteen minutes when going from her bed to the bathroom.
Nikki had purposed it, of course, by setting the bedside clock ahead by a quarter of an hour. It wasn’t exactly dishonest, and she dared anyone to judge her for wanting to spend a few unsullied minutes wrapped around Helen Stewart.
Besides, if anyone asked, she was prepared to say she hadn’t a clue what they were talking about.
“Sweetheart,” Nikki stilled her hand on the back of Helen’s neck, which she’d been rubbing lightly. “It’s time to get up.”
Helen groaned, and snuggled more deeply into Nikki’s body. “Uh uh,” she grunted.
Nikki lay still for a few moments, trying to determine whether or not Helen was putting up her standard morning protest, or if it was actually going to take some coaxing to get her out of bed. Helen’s breaths deepened immediately, and Nikki knew it was the latter.
“Helen?”
“What?” Helen asked groggily.
“Are you awake?”
“No.”
“If you get up now, I’ll get up with you and make breakfast.”
Helen slowly opened her eyes. “Why are you so good?”
“Can’t help it.”
“I love you so much,” Helen said, grinning stupidly up at Nikki.
Nikki ran a hand through Helen’s hair. “And I never get tired of hearing it.”
“I am so...” Helen’s body tensed, as she sat up quickly, wrenching herself from Nikki’s arms. “Shit!”
Startled, Nikki sat up, too. “What’s the matter?”
“I’ve got to go to Berlin tomorrow.”
“What?”
Helen exhaled loudly. “My boss called last night, after you’d left for the club, and said I need to meet with my counterpart in the Berlin office. I’ll fly out tomorrow morning and be back in two or three days, depending on how our meetings go.”
“Oh,” Nikki said.
“I’m sorry.”
Nikki shrugged. “It’s only three days; you’ll be back before you know it.” Her voice was falsely cheery, and she knew Helen could tell.
Helen groaned and flopped back down onto her pillow. “Three days without you is three days too many.”
Nikki agreed wholeheartedly, but would never say so. She was determined to support Helen’s career, seeing as how she’d walked away from her last one for the sake of Nikki’s appeal. “Do you want me to pack for you? I could do it before I go into the club this afternoon.”
Helen shook her head. “Claire’s going to come over after work tonight, to help me get the invitations addressed. I’ll pack while she’s here - give her room to do the invitations properly.”
“I could help,” Nikki offered. “Trish and I both, actually. We’ve wanted to give the assistant manager a chance to handle some weeknights alone. Now’s as good a time as any.”
Helen pulled Nikki back onto the bed with her, and brushed her thumb over Nikki’s lips. “I do not deserve you,” she said softly.
“I know,” Nikki agreed. “But someone’s got to keep you off the streets. We all do our bit for charity.”
Helen yawned. “I think I’ll go in late today. I’ll be in Germany for three days. They can do without me at the office for a few hours.”
“What do you want to do with your free morning, then?”
“Have you any idea how much I adore making love with you?” Helen asked.
Nikki chuckled. “You want to sleep?”
Helen flipped over and snuggled backwards into Nikki, pulling Nikki’s arm around her waist. “Mmm hmm… and have breakfast with my beautiful…” her voice trailed off, dragging Nikki’s heart with it.
“Soon,” Nikki said softly into the back of Helen’s neck.
“Promise?” Helen whispered.
Nikki kissed Helen’s shoulder, and pulled her closer, fitting their bodies more snugly together. “Promise.”
---
It was near 10:00 when Nikki awoke to the sound of Helen in the shower. If it had been an hour earlier, she’d have jumped up to join her, but Helen did have to get to work at some point. Nikki pulled Helen’s pillow to her, and hugged it, inhaling deeply.
Helen had trouble sleeping without her pillow. When she and Nikki traveled together, Helen would ask a dozen times if her pillow was packed before they left. But when Helen traveled alone, she always left her pillow behind on their bed. They never mentioned it, but Nikki knew it was for her. Another thing Nikki would fervently deny if questioned was that she slept on the couch with Helen’s pillow when Helen was away. She hated being in their bed alone.
Nikki raked her fingers through her hair, and cast around for some clothes. Pulling on some pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, she made her way to the kitchen to prepare the breakfast she’d promised.
She’d just finished gathering the ingredients for crêpes, and mixing together the batter, when Helen emerged from the bedroom. Nikki poured Helen a cup of coffee, and grinned when Helen breathed it in before drinking it.
“Do you want strawberry or blueberry?” Nikki asked, as she began pouring the batter into a pan.
“Umm…”
“Both?”
“You know me so well.”
“There’s something for you there,” Nikki said, motioning toward the kitchen table.
Helen, who was pouring juice into glasses, glanced at the table, and then back at Nikki. “Which do you think has been better to us,” she said, walking toward the table with the juice. “This table or the kitchen counter?”
Nikki chuckled. “Or the kitchen floor.”
“Or the bedroom floor.”
“Or the bathroom floor - after we got that heated towel rack.”
“Perhaps we should start over,” Helen suggested. “Keep score.”
“The pantry door has been pretty solid.”
“Or… oooh! how about that little table we used to have in the foyer?” Helen picked up the envelope on the table, and ran her finger under the opening.
“That table looked so much sturdier than it --”
“Nikki!” Helen squealed. “Southern France! The Mediterranean! Really?”
Helen was in Nikki’s arms in a second, showering her with kisses and muffled praise. “You’ve always wanted to go there,” Nikki said. “Why not on your honeymoon?”
Finishing up the crêpes proved to be more difficult than anticipated, Nikki having been reduced to cooking with one hand. The other was occupied with fending off Helen, who’d become completely uninterested in work or breakfast. In fact, she was just explaining to Nikki the finer points of really making use of whipped cream, when Nikki steered her to the table.
Nikki was willing to let it slide with most meals, but strawberry crêpes were not an easy job, so she insisted Helen sit down and eat.
“How can you expect to shower me with expensive gifts and not let me repay you?” Helen pouted.
Nikki shook her head. “Right, because there’s nothing sweeter than quid pro quo sex.” She took a bite of her crêpe, while Helen watched her intently.
“You know it makes me hot when you speak Latin,” Helen answered, twirling her fork around in her fingers.
Nikki rolled her eyes. “No one speaks Latin. Now, eat your breakfast.”
Helen gave Nikki a coy smile. “You speak French.”
“I do.”
She was halfway through her first crêpe when she realized Helen was still starting at her.
“Teach me,” Helen said in a surprisingly seductive voice.
Nikki's eyebrows shot up. “Teach you what?”
“French.”
Nikki studied her for a moment before sliding her chair nearer to Helen’s. She picked up a strawberry from Helen’s plate, and Helen turned in her chair, bringing them face-to-face. Helen made to bite at the strawberry, but Nikki pulled it away.
“Parlez-vous anglais?” Nikki asked Helen.
Helen shook her head.
“Non?” Nikki asked. “D'où venez-vous?”
Helen smiled and shrugged.
Nikki took a bite of the strawberry. “Where are you from? You are from Scotland.”
“Merci,” Helen responded.
“You’re thanking me?”
Helen grinned. “I will be.”
Nikki held the strawberry up to Helen’s mouth. “Fraise,” she said. “Strawberry.”
“Fraise,” Helen repeated.
“Je voudrais fraise?” Nikki said, “Would you like a strawberry?”
“Yes.”
“S’il vous plait,” Nikki responded.
Helen licked her lips, and raised her eyebrows.
“Please,” Nikki said. “S’il vous plait.”
Helen shook her head mutely.
“S’il,” Nikki coaxed.
“S’il,” Helen repeated, taking a bite of the proffered strawberry.
Nikki dipped the strawberry into the whipped cream on Helen’s plate. “Vous,” she said, offering it again to Helen.
“Vous,” Helen echoed.
“Plait,” Nikki said, taking the last bite of strawberry for herself.
“Plait,” Helen said quietly.
“S’il vou…” Nikki began, trying to tie the word together, but Helen brought her fingers to Nikki’s mouth, and pressed them to her lips to silence her.
“S’il vous plait?” Helen asked, her voice now raw with desire. “Please.”
The request shredded what was left of Nikki’s self control, so she made love to Helen, for the first time, in French.
An hour later when Helen left for work, Nikki determined that if the slate had been wiped clean by their earlier conversation, the kitchen table was now ahead by one.
stuntdouble - September 18, 2007 01:48 PM (GMT)
Chapter 5
“I’m having trouble thinking of a word that rhymes with cleavage.”
Nikki rolled her eyes. “Trish! Would you please stop with the rhyming wedding vows and help out with addressing these envelopes!”
Helen, Nikki, Trish and Claire were seated in the middle of Helen and Nikki’s living room floor; takeaway trays, empty wine bottles, and stacks of wedding invitations littered the floor all around them. Trish had readily agreed to help out with the invitations, as soon as Nikki had promised dinner and wine.
Unfortunately when Trish arrived, she discovered that Helen had given Claire her wedding vows for safekeeping, while Nikki had not yet finished hers. Trish - being Trish - took it upon herself to rectify the situation.
“I don’t understand why it has to be a limerick,” Helen said
“Some people like order, Helen,” Claire responded.
Helen rolled her eyes. “You are the only person in Britain who gets turned on by dusting, and folding laundry.”
“I do not!”
“You do. That and the law. You want to shag the law.”
“Does anybody want any more wine?” Trish asked, abandoning her notepad on the floor, and rising toward the kitchen.
Helen and Claire responded in the affirmative, causing Nikki to again roll her eyes. Helen had an 8:00 am from Gatwick, and she was going to feel like shit in the morning. Nikki knew better than to point this out; instead, she made a mental note to have aspirin at the ready.
The four -- well, the three -- of them were working through Nikki’s list of invitees. If they didn’t get to Helen’s, Claire and Nikki decided they’d finish it up while she was in Berlin.
“Hang on,” Helen said, pulling out the next invitation. “You’ve invited the queen?”
Nikki shrugged. “It’s a big day.”
Helen nodded, and Nikki loved her even more for addressing the next envelope to Her Majesty, The Queen, Buckingham Palace, Buckingham Palace Road, London.
“You know,” Claire said. “I’m not actually clear on how you proposed, Nikki.”
“Oh, it wasn’t me,” Nikki responded idly. “It was Helen that popped the question.”
“Aye?” Claire said. “Helen?”
“Yep.”
“How come you never told me?” Claire asked Helen.
“Nikki and I were… busy after the proposal. We went on that mini-break, remember?”
Claire rolled her eyes. “There are rabbits that aren’t as busy as you two. How’d you propose, then?”
Helen licked the envelope addressed to the queen and tossed it on top of the stack. “Which time? I had to ask her three times before she agreed.”
Nikki felt her head snap up. “You remember?”
“Of course I bloody well remember! You don’t just go around asking someone to marry you if you don’t mean it!”
Claire looked confused.
“I asked her once on New Year’s Eve,” Helen clarified. “Once on my birthday, and then the third time I had to pin her to the oven to make her say yes.”
Nikki smiled wistfully. “I’d forgotten it was your birthday.”
“And you made her beg?” Claire asked Nikki.
Nikki’s face flushed. She had indeed made Helen beg, but not about that. “I…um… I didn’t know she was…” Nikki turned to face Helen. “I didn’t know you were serious.”
Helen rolled her eyes.
“Honestly!” Nikki said. “The first time you were completely pissed, and the second time… well…”
Helen heaved an exasperated sigh. “Nikki, when do you think people are most honest?”
“When they’re drunk and when they’re coming,” Trish answered walking back into the room with two bottles of wine and some cheese straws she’d apparently dug out of the pantry. “Why do you ask?”
“See?!”
Claire’s face went pink. “You proposed when you were…”
“Coming, yes,” Helen supplied. “We can’t all be thinking of The Constitution when we climax.”
“I do not --”
Helen threw her head back and let out a moan, causing everyone in the room to drop what they were doing and look at her. It caused a different, particularly distinct, reaction from Nikki as well. Helen closed her eyes and cried out, “Oh yes, yes!”
“What the…”
But Helen continued. “Oh, God! The Constitutional Reform Act, paragraph 3, subsection 7. Oh! Yes!”
She was silenced as Claire pummeled her with a pillow from the back of the couch. Helen was rolling in the floor, clutching her side from laughing so hard, when Trish spoke up to say, “That’s not how Claire comes.”
Helen sat bolt upright, tears still streaming from her eyes. “What?! How do you know?”
Trish shrugged. “It’s a gift. I can always tell what someone will be like when she climaxes. Claire, for example, she’s a dirty talker.”
“No!” Helen rounded on Claire. “Are you really?”
If Claire’s face had been flushed before, her brain was probably nearing its boiling point now. “I am not,” she said, straightening her blouse. “Okay, I am… sort of.”
Nikki couldn’t help herself; she tipped over into the floor and let out a loud guffaw.
Wanting to shift the attention away from herself, Claire said, “Do Helen!”
Trish smirked. “Stewart? Well you think she’d be a yeller, wouldn’t you? But she’s not.”
“She is sometimes,” Nikki interjected.
“Yeah, but mostly Helen’s sweet about it,” Trish said. “I’ll bet she cries a lot.”
“I do not cry,” Helen said sternly, meeting Nikki’s eye and daring her to make a public contradiction.
“Yeah, you do,” Trish responded kindly. “It’s in your heart, Stewart.”
Nikki shook her head. Trish was spot on: Helen was a crier. Sure, sometimes she shouted; and Nikki had been bitten more than once; but Helen was actually the gentlest lover Nikki had ever had. Sometimes sex between them was nothing more than a physical release, and sometimes it was a purging of anger, but mostly it was emotional… it was almost… if Nikki hadn’t known herself better, she would have used the word spiritual.
“Okay, how about Nikki!” Claire said enthusiastically. “What’s she like?”
An awkward hush fell over the room.
Nikki wasn’t entirely sure where to look, so she picked up an envelope and stuffed an invitation in it. Across from her, she could hear Helen doing the same. There was a long moment filled with nothing but the sound of shuffling papers.
“Shit. I’m sorry… I just…”
“It’s okay,” Helen said, looking up from the invitation she was addressing. “Honestly. I can’t believe we’ve never mentioned it before.”
Trish smiled wanly at Helen, and Nikki felt immediately and unaccountably nervous.
“Go on,” Helen said to Trish. “It’s okay.”
Nikki was ridiculously grateful when Trish said, “No, it’s alright.”
Again, the room filled with the deafening sound of envelopes being opened and shut.
“Fine then, I’ll do it,” Helen said. “Claire, Nikki’s a screamer. You nearly have to put a sock in her mouth to keep from waking the neighbors.”
“Oh - my - God!” Trish said. “I know!”
Nikki let out her breath, as Helen and Trish collapsed into giggles.
“When Nikki and I first met in London, I was living with my sister - who, by the way was straight and completely in love with Nikki - and, I thought she was going to throw me out of the flat when Nikki and I started fucking.”
“That loud?” Claire asked.
“No,” Nikki answered.
“Yes!” Trish and Helen countered.
“I wish you’d told me your sister was into me,” Nikki said to Trish. “She was a lot nicer than you.”
“Sod you.”
“Does your sister still live in London?” Claire asked Trisha.
“Nope, moved to Brighton with her boyfriend about two years ago. She’s coming to town for the wedding, though. Two weeks early, in fact. You’ll have to keep an eye on her, Helen; she may try to steal your bride.”
“Wouldn’t be the first,” Helen answered. “Someone’s always trying to pull Nikki.”
“Too right,” Nikki agreed. “I think it’s my charm.”
“I think it’s your tits.”
“Right, no more booze for you,” Nikki said, reaching for Trish’s wineglass, and receiving a smart rap on the hand for her effort.
She was just about to smack Trish back when Helen said, “Wait, Nikki, you’re inviting your parents?”
Helen’s hand was shaking slightly, as she held up the next envelope in the stack. Nikki immediately slid over and took the paper, grasping Helen’s hand in her own.
“They won’t come, I’m sure, but I wanted to at least give them the chance.”
“But you haven’t seen them since they kicked you out.”
Nikki tucked Helen’s hair behind her ear; it was something she always did when comforting Helen. “Yes, but this is one of the biggest days of my life. This love between me and you, Helen, it’s bigger than anything I’ve ever known. I want them to at least have the opportunity to celebrate it with us.”
Helen nodded.
“Hey,” Nikki said soothingly. “Everyone’s parents can’t be as supportive as your dad, right?”
Nikki felt Claire stir uncomfortably beside her. This was an intimate conversation, Nikki realized, but she’d already started it here; she couldn’t just pull Helen out of the room now.
“Nikki, about my dad…”
“Maybe you could have him come early! I’d like to meet him, you know; he is going to be my father-in-law. I know he couldn’t make it down for Christmas, but surely he could come early for his daughter’s wedding.”
“Yeah…” Helen said. “I’ll, um, I’ll see.”
“Good.”
Nikki was just leaning in to kiss Helen, when Trisha shouted out, “LUCK! Of course!”
The three of them turned to face her.
Trish cleared her throat, and held up her notepad.
“My love for Helen’s anatomical
Her bosom’s more heft than economical
At first I did flirt
Because of her shirt
That she covered her cleavage was comical.”
“Trish!” Nikki said, her indignation genuine.
“Wait,” Trish responded, holding up her hand. “It gets better.”
“What brought us together was fate and some luck
To be with each other we traveled through muck
But now I can see
Forever she’ll be
My partner, my wife, and my favorite-”
“Oy!” Nikki interrupted. “How about you don’t finish that?”
“Fine,” Trish shrugged. “Have it your way, but I really think this could be a crowd-pleaser.”
---
Nikki took Claire’s keys away, and settled her into the guest bedroom; took Trish’s keys away, and settled her onto the couch; and finished packing Helen’s suitcase before she finally discarded her clothes and climbed into bed beside Helen.
To Nikki’s surprise, Helen rolled over to meet her. “Hi ya,” she said, her voice husky with exhaustion.
“What are you still doing awake?”
Helen snuggled into Nikki’s side, and wrapped her arm around Nikki’s torso. “Fancied having a bit of you to myself before I leave the country.”
Nikki stroked Helen’s arm silently for a few moments. Finally she succumbed to the desire to say it. “Helen, I miss you so much when you’re away.”
“I miss you, too, Sweetheart.”
“Helen?”
“Hmm?”
“Was tonight… weird for you? When Trish started talking about when we were lovers.”
Nikki’s answer was in Helen’s stiffening body. “It was okay,” Helen said.
“Helen, Trish and I were together for a long…”
“I know,” Helen said tightly.
Nikki moved a hand to Helen’s hair, and ran her fingers through it. “But what Trish and I had, Helen, it was nothing like this, like you and me. I’ve never felt like this in my life.”
Helen relaxed in Nikki’s arms. “Me neither.”
“I love you. I want so badly to be your wife.”
Nikki felt rather than heard Helen’s smile. “Me too.”
Helen’s breathing deepened beside Nikki as they lay in the silent stillness of their bedroom. Nikki was almost convinced that Helen was asleep when she whispered, “Nikki?”
“Yeah?” Nikki found that her voice came out in a whisper, too.
Helen was quiet for still another moment. “Am I really your favorite fuck?”
Nikki sighed. “Helen Stewart, you are my favorite everything.”
And within minutes, Helen was fast asleep.
“I’m having trouble thinking of a word that rhymes with cleavage.”
Nikki rolled her eyes. “Trish! Would you please stop with the rhyming wedding vows and help out with addressing these envelopes!”
Helen, Nikki, Trish and Claire were seated in the middle of Helen and Nikki’s living room floor; takeaway trays, empty wine bottles, and stacks of wedding invitations littered the floor all around them. Trish had readily agreed to help out with the invitations, as soon as Nikki had promised dinner and wine.
Unfortunately when Trish arrived, she discovered that Helen had given Claire her wedding vows for safekeeping, while Nikki had not yet finished hers. Trish - being Trish - took it upon herself to rectify the situation.
“I don’t understand why it has to be a limerick,” Helen said
“Some people like order, Helen,” Claire responded.
Helen rolled her eyes. “You are the only person in Britain who gets turned on by dusting, and folding laundry.”
“I do not!”
“You do. That and the law. You want to shag the law.”
“Does anybody want any more wine?” Trish asked, abandoning her notepad on the floor, and rising toward the kitchen.
Helen and Claire responded in the affirmative, causing Nikki to again roll her eyes. Helen had an 8:00 am from Gatwick, and she was going to feel like shit in the morning. Nikki knew better than to point this out; instead, she made a mental note to have aspirin at the ready.
The four -- well, the three -- of them were working through Nikki’s list of invitees. If they didn’t get to Helen’s, Claire and Nikki decided they’d finish it up while she was in Berlin.
“Hang on,” Helen said, pulling out the next invitation. “You’ve invited the queen?”
Nikki shrugged. “It’s a big day.”
Helen nodded, and Nikki loved her even more for addressing the next envelope to Her Majesty, The Queen, Buckingham Palace, Buckingham Palace Road, London.
“You know,” Claire said. “I’m not actually clear on how you proposed, Nikki.”
“Oh, it wasn’t me,” Nikki responded idly. “It was Helen that popped the question.”
“Aye?” Claire said. “Helen?”
“Yep.”
“How come you never told me?” Claire asked Helen.
“Nikki and I were… busy after the proposal. We went on that mini-break, remember?”
Claire rolled her eyes. “There are rabbits that aren’t as busy as you two. How’d you propose, then?”
Helen licked the envelope addressed to the queen and tossed it on top of the stack. “Which time? I had to ask her three times before she agreed.”
Nikki felt her head snap up. “You remember?”
“Of course I bloody well remember! You don’t just go around asking someone to marry you if you don’t mean it!”
Claire looked confused.
“I asked her once on New Year’s Eve,” Helen clarified. “Once on my birthday, and then the third time I had to pin her to the oven to make her say yes.”
Nikki smiled wistfully. “I’d forgotten it was your birthday.”
“And you made her beg?” Claire asked Nikki.
Nikki’s face flushed. She had indeed made Helen beg, but not about that. “I…um… I didn’t know she was…” Nikki turned to face Helen. “I didn’t know you were serious.”
Helen rolled her eyes.
“Honestly!” Nikki said. “The first time you were completely pissed, and the second time… well…”
Helen heaved an exasperated sigh. “Nikki, when do you think people are most honest?”
“When they’re drunk and when they’re coming,” Trish answered walking back into the room with two bottles of wine and some cheese straws she’d apparently dug out of the pantry. “Why do you ask?”
“See?!”
Claire’s face went pink. “You proposed when you were…”
“Coming, yes,” Helen supplied. “We can’t all be thinking of The Constitution when we climax.”
“I do not --”
Helen threw her head back and let out a moan, causing everyone in the room to drop what they were doing and look at her. It caused a different, particularly distinct, reaction from Nikki as well. Helen closed her eyes and cried out, “Oh yes, yes!”
“What the…”
But Helen continued. “Oh, God! The Constitutional Reform Act, paragraph 3, subsection 7. Oh! Yes!”
She was silenced as Claire pummeled her with a pillow from the back of the couch. Helen was rolling in the floor, clutching her side from laughing so hard, when Trish spoke up to say, “That’s not how Claire comes.”
Helen sat bolt upright, tears still streaming from her eyes. “What?! How do you know?”
Trish shrugged. “It’s a gift. I can always tell what someone will be like when she climaxes. Claire, for example, she’s a dirty talker.”
“No!” Helen rounded on Claire. “Are you really?”
If Claire’s face had been flushed before, her brain was probably nearing its boiling point now. “I am not,” she said, straightening her blouse. “Okay, I am… sort of.”
Nikki couldn’t help herself; she tipped over into the floor and let out a loud guffaw.
Wanting to shift the attention away from herself, Claire said, “Do Helen!”
Trish smirked. “Stewart? Well you think she’d be a yeller, wouldn’t you? But she’s not.”
“She is sometimes,” Nikki interjected.
“Yeah, but mostly Helen’s sweet about it,” Trish said. “I’ll bet she cries a lot.”
“I do not cry,” Helen said sternly, meeting Nikki’s eye and daring her to make a public contradiction.
“Yeah, you do,” Trish responded kindly. “It’s in your heart, Stewart.”
Nikki shook her head. Trish was spot on: Helen was a crier. Sure, sometimes she shouted; and Nikki had been bitten more than once; but Helen was actually the gentlest lover Nikki had ever had. Sometimes sex between them was nothing more than a physical release, and sometimes it was a purging of anger, but mostly it was emotional… it was almost… if Nikki hadn’t known herself better, she would have used the word spiritual.
“Okay, how about Nikki!” Claire said enthusiastically. “What’s she like?”
An awkward hush fell over the room.
Nikki wasn’t entirely sure where to look, so she picked up an envelope and stuffed an invitation in it. Across from her, she could hear Helen doing the same. There was a long moment filled with nothing but the sound of shuffling papers.
“Shit. I’m sorry… I just…”
“It’s okay,” Helen said, looking up from the invitation she was addressing. “Honestly. I can’t believe we’ve never mentioned it before.”
Trish smiled wanly at Helen, and Nikki felt immediately and unaccountably nervous.
“Go on,” Helen said to Trish. “It’s okay.”
Nikki was ridiculously grateful when Trish said, “No, it’s alright.”
Again, the room filled with the deafening sound of envelopes being opened and shut.
“Fine then, I’ll do it,” Helen said. “Claire, Nikki’s a screamer. You nearly have to put a sock in her mouth to keep from waking the neighbors.”
“Oh - my - God!” Trish said. “I know!”
Nikki let out her breath, as Helen and Trish collapsed into giggles.
“When Nikki and I first met in London, I was living with my sister - who, by the way was straight and completely in love with Nikki - and, I thought she was going to throw me out of the flat when Nikki and I started fucking.”
“That loud?” Claire asked.
“No,” Nikki answered.
“Yes!” Trish and Helen countered.
“I wish you’d told me your sister was into me,” Nikki said to Trish. “She was a lot nicer than you.”
“Sod you.”
“Does your sister still live in London?” Claire asked Trisha.
“Nope, moved to Brighton with her boyfriend about two years ago. She’s coming to town for the wedding, though. Two weeks early, in fact. You’ll have to keep an eye on her, Helen; she may try to steal your bride.”
“Wouldn’t be the first,” Helen answered. “Someone’s always trying to pull Nikki.”
“Too right,” Nikki agreed. “I think it’s my charm.”
“I think it’s your tits.”
“Right, no more booze for you,” Nikki said, reaching for Trish’s wineglass, and receiving a smart rap on the hand for her effort.
She was just about to smack Trish back when Helen said, “Wait, Nikki, you’re inviting your parents?”
Helen’s hand was shaking slightly, as she held up the next envelope in the stack. Nikki immediately slid over and took the paper, grasping Helen’s hand in her own.
“They won’t come, I’m sure, but I wanted to at least give them the chance.”
“But you haven’t seen them since they kicked you out.”
Nikki tucked Helen’s hair behind her ear; it was something she always did when comforting Helen. “Yes, but this is one of the biggest days of my life. This love between me and you, Helen, it’s bigger than anything I’ve ever known. I want them to at least have the opportunity to celebrate it with us.”
Helen nodded.
“Hey,” Nikki said soothingly. “Everyone’s parents can’t be as supportive as your dad, right?”
Nikki felt Claire stir uncomfortably beside her. This was an intimate conversation, Nikki realized, but she’d already started it here; she couldn’t just pull Helen out of the room now.
“Nikki, about my dad…”
“Maybe you could have him come early! I’d like to meet him, you know; he is going to be my father-in-law. I know he couldn’t make it down for Christmas, but surely he could come early for his daughter’s wedding.”
“Yeah…” Helen said. “I’ll, um, I’ll see.”
“Good.”
Nikki was just leaning in to kiss Helen, when Trisha shouted out, “LUCK! Of course!”
The three of them turned to face her.
Trish cleared her throat, and held up her notepad.
“My love for Helen’s anatomical
Her bosom’s more heft than economical
At first I did flirt
Because of her shirt
That she covered her cleavage was comical.”
“Trish!” Nikki said, her indignation genuine.
“Wait,” Trish responded, holding up her hand. “It gets better.”
“What brought us together was fate and some luck
To be with each other we traveled through muck
But now I can see
Forever she’ll be
My partner, my wife, and my favorite-”
“Oy!” Nikki interrupted. “How about you don’t finish that?”
“Fine,” Trish shrugged. “Have it your way, but I really think this could be a crowd-pleaser.”
---
Nikki took Claire’s keys away, and settled her into the guest bedroom; took Trish’s keys away, and settled her onto the couch; and finished packing Helen’s suitcase before she finally discarded her clothes and climbed into bed beside Helen.
To Nikki’s surprise, Helen rolled over to meet her. “Hi ya,” she said, her voice husky with exhaustion.
“What are you still doing awake?”
Helen snuggled into Nikki’s side, and wrapped her arm around Nikki’s torso. “Fancied having a bit of you to myself before I leave the country.”
Nikki stroked Helen’s arm silently for a few moments. Finally she succumbed to the desire to say it. “Helen, I miss you so much when you’re away.”
“I miss you, too, Sweetheart.”
“Helen?”
“Hmm?”
“Was tonight… weird for you? When Trish started talking about when we were lovers.”
Nikki’s answer was in Helen’s stiffening body. “It was okay,” Helen said.
“Helen, Trish and I were together for a long…”
“I know,” Helen said tightly.
Nikki moved a hand to Helen’s hair, and ran her fingers through it. “But what Trish and I had, Helen, it was nothing like this, like you and me. I’ve never felt like this in my life.”
Helen relaxed in Nikki’s arms. “Me neither.”
“I love you. I want so badly to be your wife.”
Nikki felt rather than heard Helen’s smile. “Me too.”
Helen’s breathing deepened beside Nikki as they lay in the silent stillness of their bedroom. Nikki was almost convinced that Helen was asleep when she whispered, “Nikki?”
“Yeah?” Nikki found that her voice came out in a whisper, too.
Helen was quiet for still another moment. “Am I really your favorite fuck?”
Nikki sighed. “Helen Stewart, you are my favorite everything.”
And within minutes, Helen was fast asleep.
LahbibLover - September 18, 2007 03:57 PM (GMT)
I love this story. Your writing is just wonderful. I felt like I was in the room watching the banter between the 4 women in the living room. Your comedy writing is LOL funny which is not easy to do. You brightened my day.
Brenda :hug2
Brenda :hug2
iwoman - September 18, 2007 04:12 PM (GMT)
I concur with that. You did brighten my day. You combine wonderful writing, a great sense of humor and a very natural and easy flow of words. Thank you for being so original! :clap :clap
zena - September 18, 2007 04:48 PM (GMT)
I also concur your writing is fantastic, I can't wait for your updates loverly. :hug2 :hug2 :hug2
tudy - September 18, 2007 04:48 PM (GMT)
N & H share a future that we
Have invested inordinately
With the grace of a love
From the Goddess above
Who’s conveyed it directly to thee
Have invested inordinately
With the grace of a love
From the Goddess above
Who’s conveyed it directly to thee
Aleasha - September 18, 2007 09:23 PM (GMT)
Ooooh, I hate when you just know you're coming to the end of a chapter and you'll have to wait for the next installment.
But other than that, that's really the only thing I hate!
I don't think I've read a fic so ... ahh, there aren't any words.
Again, thanks for the great read. :)
But other than that, that's really the only thing I hate!
I don't think I've read a fic so ... ahh, there aren't any words.
Again, thanks for the great read. :)
Cassandra - September 18, 2007 09:52 PM (GMT)
Brilliant ... and funny! More s’il vous plait!! :)
SexySimone - September 18, 2007 10:12 PM (GMT)
Amazing story, love the updates :) Thanks.
Emms - September 18, 2007 10:12 PM (GMT)
I'll be back later for a proper feedback as I'm practically going to be late for work as it is... but I wanted to drop a little note before I go, to let you know how much I'm completely lovin' this story. Completely. Utterly. Absolutely. Wholly (thesaurus much?).
Rock on.
xoxo
Emms
Rock on.
xoxo
Emms
sheildeb - September 19, 2007 01:38 AM (GMT)
I love it too! Very funny and clever, thanks for the updates. :) S
Emms - September 19, 2007 06:11 PM (GMT)
Okay. I’m back.
So yesterday morning when I got home and saw that there was an update (two whole chapters to read and be in impressed by) I was ecstatic. I gathered my snacks and drink and sat down at the computer. Long story short. After I had finished reading, I sat around pondering for too long what I wanted to say until I didn’t actually have any time left to say it. But I’m back now, and full of pretty words.
So…onwithit. Right.
I’m really lovin’ all the little details that you throw in the make the characters so three dimensional. For example:
1. Helen’s love of food.
2. Helen being a crier after sex ( on the show, we never really got an intimate look at what she’s like when her defenses are down. I mean besides the obvious examples, and I think we all know what those are)
3.Claire’s (supposed ) love affair with the law (I laughed out loud when Helen pulled a “Sally” and did that impersonation. Good stuff lol)
Helen leaving her pillow for Nikki even though she has trouble sleeping without it. ( so romantic, btw)
And then Nikki sleeping on the couch with said pillow because she can’t sleep in the bed without Helen in it. (even more romantic)
Those are all aspects of the characters/ little details we never really got a chance to see on the show, but when you read it, you’re like “Yeah that’s so how it would be”
And I think I mentioned something about this previously but, your writing of dialogue is so spot on, and true to the characters. Flawless, really.
Back to the story--
It’s nice to see Nikki and Helen so relaxed and having fun (again something we never got to see that much of on the show).
I’ve noticed the tension surrounding the mention of Helen’s father (well, it seems, solely on Helen’s part) If we’re going by Cannon as the model for her father then he’s still the disapproving sort…but in the story everyone seems to think he’s this greatly supportive guy…which makes me wonder why Helen hasn’t said anything to anybody--especially to Nikki about how her father really is (I’ve got my guesses as to why that is, but I’ll keep quiet for now). Do I smell a wee bit O angst in the air?
I’m on the edge of my seat, waiting for the next chapter.
Xoxo
Emms
So yesterday morning when I got home and saw that there was an update (two whole chapters to read and be in impressed by) I was ecstatic. I gathered my snacks and drink and sat down at the computer. Long story short. After I had finished reading, I sat around pondering for too long what I wanted to say until I didn’t actually have any time left to say it. But I’m back now, and full of pretty words.
So…onwithit. Right.
I’m really lovin’ all the little details that you throw in the make the characters so three dimensional. For example:
1. Helen’s love of food.
2. Helen being a crier after sex ( on the show, we never really got an intimate look at what she’s like when her defenses are down. I mean besides the obvious examples, and I think we all know what those are)
3.Claire’s (supposed ) love affair with the law (I laughed out loud when Helen pulled a “Sally” and did that impersonation. Good stuff lol)
Helen leaving her pillow for Nikki even though she has trouble sleeping without it. ( so romantic, btw)
And then Nikki sleeping on the couch with said pillow because she can’t sleep in the bed without Helen in it. (even more romantic)
Those are all aspects of the characters/ little details we never really got a chance to see on the show, but when you read it, you’re like “Yeah that’s so how it would be”
And I think I mentioned something about this previously but, your writing of dialogue is so spot on, and true to the characters. Flawless, really.
Back to the story--
It’s nice to see Nikki and Helen so relaxed and having fun (again something we never got to see that much of on the show).
I’ve noticed the tension surrounding the mention of Helen’s father (well, it seems, solely on Helen’s part) If we’re going by Cannon as the model for her father then he’s still the disapproving sort…but in the story everyone seems to think he’s this greatly supportive guy…which makes me wonder why Helen hasn’t said anything to anybody--especially to Nikki about how her father really is (I’ve got my guesses as to why that is, but I’ll keep quiet for now). Do I smell a wee bit O angst in the air?
I’m on the edge of my seat, waiting for the next chapter.
Xoxo
Emms
zena - September 19, 2007 07:58 PM (GMT)
Emms You said it all for all of us brava. SD your writing is just splendid .reminds me so much of Nicos and for me she was of the gold standard. Can't wait for and update. :dazzler :dazzler :dazzler
Alex - September 19, 2007 08:38 PM (GMT)
Enjoying this story very much. Thanks for sharing :D
terriw1979 - September 22, 2007 08:08 AM (GMT)
I love love love love love this story! Please continue it as soon as humanly possible! I just found it today and read it from the start and I love your writing. It's so natural and and touching... the observations about little intimate things are brilliant. And the funny parts arent forced, but they're LOL funny like was said above... this could well be my new fave fanfic, ever!
Emms - September 22, 2007 07:40 PM (GMT)
Withdrawals.
Seriously.
Dying here waiting for the next chapter.
Absolutely dying.
Seriously.
Dying here waiting for the next chapter.
Absolutely dying.
terriw1979 - September 22, 2007 09:39 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Emms @ Sep 22 2007, 07:40 PM) |
| Withdrawals. Seriously. Dying here waiting for the next chapter. Absolutely dying. |
Seconded.