You may not only walk on the grass; you may also feed the bard here! I only know how others feel about my stories from feedback. Let me know what you think about it. Homophobes need not apply, however. I'm at: Devlin@xenafan.com

Part 5

By LJ Maas

After picking up Valerie, the four drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to Newport Beach where Taylor hired a helicopter to fly them out to Catalina Island. Torrey had her eyes screwed shut until about five minutes into the fifteen-minute flight, when Taylor slipped an arm around her shoulders and whispered that she was indeed safe with her. The old habit of feeling safe and secure in Taylor's embrace did the trick and soon, Torrey was enjoying the breathtaking view as they flew in over Avalon Bay.

Taylor explained that they had reservations at The Landing in the town of Avalon. Since that was about a mile from where they landed, Taylor asked the pilot to have a cab waiting for them.

"I picked Avalon just for you, Tor. In honor of a Chicagoan coming to California." Taylor said.

The two older women laughed.

"I must be missing something. I don't get it." Jessica stated.

"That makes two of us." Valerie chimed in.

"Avalon was developed by William Wrigley. In the nineteen twenties the Chicago Cubs used to come here for spring training." Torrey smiled at Taylor as she explained.

Torrey was surprised that a helicopter could be so large and comfortable. She told them about the time, when doing research for one of her books set in Mexico, the military gave them a ride. She said the helicopter had no doors and the engines were so loud you could barely hear yourself think. She remembered it fondly as one of the most harrowing experiences of her life.

Taylor told them that this was pretty much the Rolls Royce of helicopters. It was upholstered in leather and seated six people, not including the pilot. She gave a wry grin at Torrey when Jessica asked why they didn't just take the ferry. The artist said it took an hour to get to the island by ferry and when the sea was rough flying was the only way to go. Finally Taylor revealed the truth behind the helicopter ride whenever she went to Catalina.

"I get seasick." She said with surprising candor, raising her voice above the noise of the helicopter's engines.

Torrey liked the sudden and uncharacteristic vulnerability in the dark-haired woman's eyes when she unveiled this fact about herself. The writer remembered times past when the artist tried to appear stoic about it, usually turning green at the first step off of solid ground onto a rolling surface.

By the time they were exiting the cab, Valerie and Torrey were friends. The writer seemed genuinely interested in Val's experience as a freshman at the University of California. Jessica said a silent thank you, thinking it wouldn't hurt to have her mom hear a few positive comments about the school.

As Torrey and Valerie walked along in front of Taylor and Jessica, the young woman suddenly frowned and turned to the taller woman next to her.

"Tay?" Jess sounded worried as she watched the two women in front of her. "You don't think mom will do anything to...you know...embarrass me tonight. Do you?"

Taylor laughed so loud that the two women in front of them stopped to look. Hugging Jessica by the shoulders she leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"She's your mother, Jess. Of course she will!"

Taylor resumed her laughter as the women walked into the restaurant.

They all enjoyed the Landing's specialty, mesquite-grilled swordfish with mango salsa. Taylor and Torrey indulged in one of the Landing's own microbrewery specialties, a non-alcoholic lager. By the time coffee was being enjoyed, they all felt quite comfortable together.

"I'm still finding it a little hard to believe I'm having dinner with two people as famous as Taylor Kent and Torrey Gray." Valerie said with enthusiasm.

"Hey," Jessica looked at her, feigning a pout.

"Oh, Jess, you know what I mean." She laughed as she nudged JT's shoulder. "I mean most girls our age would practically consider it an honor to be raised by two mothers as together as you two."

Valerie's compliment indicated that the young woman thought that Taylor and Torrey were indeed a couple. Jessica saw the understanding half smile on her mother's face and cleared her throat to explain.

"Uhm, actually, Val--" Jessica started.

"Taylor, want to enjoy the sunset with me?" Torrey interrupted her daughter. The writer stood and held out her hand to the artist who took it in her own slender grasp and they walked outside onto the deck.

Jessica wanted to explain to Val that the two women in her life didn't have that kind of loving relationship, but as she watched them through the large window, she realized that wasn't exactly true. The young girl saw her mother standing with her arm around the taller woman's waist, Taylor's arm resting lightly across the blonde's shoulders. She realized then, that the two women were in that kind of a loving relationship. Granted, there was no sex involved, but that didn't mean that intimacy didn't exist. Of course, they did love each other; they were even very much in love with one another. The only problem was that neither of them knew the other person felt exactly the same way. This could be tricky.

"So, what did you think?" Jessica asked her mother.

The three women sat around the living room enjoying the warm evening breeze and listening to the sounds from the surf below the cliffs.

"I think dinner was great, what did you think, Stretch?"

"Oh, yea, I think so too." Taylor played along.

"You guys enjoy being cruel, don't you?"

Torrey's melodic laughter filled up the room. "I like her, Jess. I like her a lot." Torrey beamed.

"Yea, she's nice, huh?"

"Pretty, too." Torrey added with a wink.

"Which is what makes me wonder why she's going out with you, squirt." Taylor chimed in.

"Very funny." Jess responded to the artist's teasing.

"Hush." Torrey tossed a pillow in Taylor direction.

Jessica caught Taylor's eye and motioned for the woman to leave the room. The young girl wanted to finish the conversation with her mother that had been bugging her all day.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I have a couple of calls to make. I'll be in the office if either of you need me." Taylor said as she left the room.

"Since we're alone could I ask you a question, mom?"

Torrey nodded her assent.

"This afternoon when we were talking, why did you get kind of torqued out when I mentioned smacking me around?"

The same pained look crossed Torrey's features before she answered.

"It doesn't have anything to do with you, Jess. It's ancient history, lets just let it go."

JT didn't want to play this card, but somehow she felt that this was a conversation they needed to have. She didn't know why, it was simply a feeling.

"So, today...our honesty pact. That was just for this afternoon?"

"No, Jess, of course not. You know I'll answer any question you have." Torrey responded.

"Well, then...what's it all about mom, this thing you have about hitting?"

"Ask me something easier." Torrey said hoarsely.

Jessica sat down next to her mother and slipped her hand within her mother's slender fingers. She couldn't quite understand the look of fear and pain that played on her mother's face.

"What is it mom? Why would you be afraid to hit me?"

The hurt, wounded look in her mother's green eyes brought a sudden realization to Jessica.

"Did someone hit you?" Jessica said in a very soft voice.

The way Torrey looked into Jessica's eyes and the tears that filled the writer's green depths, spilling out onto her cheeks, was the affirmative response that Jessica really didn't want to know.

"Who?" Jessica said tightly, her jaw clenched.

Torrey recognized the low growl of her daughter's voice and gave a little smile at how familiar it sounded. She knew right then that she had another protector. Jessica's voice took on exactly the same hard edge that Taylor's did at the thought of someone hurting her friend.

"It was a long time ago, Jess. Before you were even born. I'm just sorry that it affected the way I raised you."

"It was your mom, wasn't it?"

Torrey nodded and the tears came harder. She thought it odd that you could think of something that happened to you so long ago and the hurt would come back just as fresh as when it first happened. She didn't want to scare Jessica, so she held the worst of the pain in.

"I'm so sorry, mom." Jessica felt tears fall from her own eyes and realized that she'd never cried for her mother before. Apologizing seemed so inane at this point. She never felt this way about the woman who raised her. JT never met Evelyn, even though Torrey's mother lived only an hour away from them, but she had this incredible urge to make the old woman accountable for her mother's pain. As long as she would live, JT would never understand how anyone could treat someone as wonderful and loving as her mother, so cruelly.

Taylor quietly entered the living room and found Torrey by herself sitting on the floor, her neck and back resting against the sofa. Taylor dropped down beside the writer and Torrey immediately leaned her head on the artist's shoulder, Taylor moving her arm to pull the smaller woman closer to her.

"Where's Jess?" Taylor asked.

"I sent her off to bed. I think finding out her mother had the crap beaten out of her by her own mother was more than she could handle in one day. You knew she was going to ask, didn't you, Stretch?"

"She asked me about it earlier. I told her she'd have to ask you herself. I'm sorry I didn't really have time to prepare you for what she had in mind."

"It's okay," Torrey said with a gentle squeeze to Taylor's free hand. She absently twirled the band that encircled the artist's left ring finger. The writer couldn't help but notice that they both still wore the wedding bands that Taylor had purchased all those years ago.

Taylor watched as Torrey played with the platinum band on her finger. The artist debated over whether to remove the ring before Torrey arrived, but she couldn't do it. The ring was just as much a part of her as her love for the woman she now held tightly against her. She sighed with relief in the airport when Torrey took her hand and Taylor at once caught sight of the familiar ring on Torrey's left hand.

"I wasn't sure what to tell her. I told her the truth. I hope it didn't scare her." Torrey said.

Taylor rested her chin on the top of the soft blonde hair. She smiled to herself, breathing in the familiar scent of the same brand of shampoo Torrey used since she was a teenager. There was a satisfying comfort to the odor that clung to her memory for years after Torrey was gone.

Yes, Taylor knew Torrey would ultimately tell her daughter the truth, as ugly a truth as it was. She was also sure that it did more than simply scare Jessica, remembering how the admission first affected her when Torrey finally relented and confessed her family's secret. Taylor never really felt true, deep down anger until that night.

Taylor thought of the nights spent in their Sorority House bedroom before she fell in love with Torrey. The small blonde would wake up to nightmares every night, until Taylor told her that maybe she should see a doctor. Her young friend stubbornly refused. The artist attributed the night time behavior to it being the girl's first time away from home, but the first time Torrey went home for the weekend and came back with a split lip, Taylor's heart lurched. Another time it was a bruise on her jaw. Finally, when the young woman returned back to the campus with a black eye, Taylor confronted her young friend. Finally, held safely in the arms of someone who cared for her, Torrey confessed that it was her mother who hit her.

She explained that she ran away from home at fourteen to go live with her brother and he told her mother that if she came after Torrey he would make public what she was doing to her only daughter. The woman gave in and Torrey lived with her brother until his death three years later. Torrey cried in Taylor's arms and couldn't understand why her mother always did this to her, more importantly why she seemed powerless to stop it. Taylor cried with the young woman and promised her no one would ever hurt her like that again. Looking at the small, frightened girl in her arms, Taylor couldn't fathom how anyone could hurt such a beautiful, trusting soul.

The next time Torrey went home for spring break, Taylor borrowed a car from a friend and went with her. She told her small friend that she might want to make her separation from her mother more permanent, indicating a place in the car for plenty of boxes. Then Taylor proceeded to enjoy herself by sneering at the older woman all week and never letting the small blonde out of her sight. Torrey never went back after that and it was many years until the young woman was finally able to stand up to the woman who destroyed her childhood.

"Hey, you still with me?" Torrey interrupted the dark-haired woman's reminiscing.

"Sorry, I was just thinking. How are you holding up, Little Bit?"

Torrey looked up as fresh tears began to slide down her cheeks.

"Damn that woman. Almost twenty years and she's still finding ways to fuck with my life!"

"Oh, honey, she can't hurt you anymore," Taylor whispered, wiping away the tears with a caress of her fingertips. "She can't hurt you now unless you let her. Don't give her that kind of power."

Torrey nodded in agreement with the dark-haired woman, her tears falling onto the starched white linen of the artist's shirt.

"I'm going to ruin your shirt." Torrey warned.

"I don't give a damn." The artist responded, tightening her hold on the woman in her embrace.

"Tay?" Jessica whispered again, the artist finally showing some signs of life. "I need to ask you something."

"Geez, Jess, what time is it?" The artist responded.

She and Torrey had again spent the night on the couch, the writer murmuring in her sleep, her small form tucked within Taylor's loving embrace. Taylor felt like they just went to sleep, which was pretty close to the truth.

"It's six o'clock. Hey, don't you guys have beds that are more comfortable?" JT teased.

"Shut up, squirt and what do you have to ask?" Taylor whispered.

"Can I take the Explorer into Laguna and pick up lox and bagels for breakfast?"

"Mmm hmm." Taylor nodded, already drifting off again.

Jessica smiled at the picture the two women made on the oversized sofa. The young woman pulled the comforter over them and ran out to pick up breakfast.

Taylor unconsciously snuggled closer to the woman spooned against her, burying her face in the blonde hair. Torrey felt, rather than heard the conversation above her, not wanting to break from sleep's spell quite yet. She pressed her back into the dark-haired woman's chest; hearing a low growl of satisfaction and feeling it vibrate out from the woman behind her. A smile curled at her lips as she listened to the gentle snores that escaped from Taylor, the noises quickly becoming a comfort sound to the petite writer.

Jessica walked into the kitchen, depositing her treasures on the counter and noticed that someone already made tea and coffee. That's when she heard it. She couldn't be sure, but the voices definitely belonged to her two moms, and the sounds were definitely not ones she ever heard them make before.

"Oh, God, yesss, right there." Taylor groaned. "Who in the world taught you this?"

"I think it was you," Torrey laughed.

"I am such a smart woman." Came Taylor's breathless reply.

"Quit squirming around so much."

"I can't help it...it feels incredible, oh yea."

"I can't believe that not one other woman has done this for you in fifteen years"

"I just haven't been...oh, yes...able to find anyone...God, harder...whose hands are as talented as yours."

"Oooh, I definitely think I've got the spot, now." Torrey said.

Taylor merely groaned her reply. "Oh, you're definitely in the right spot...there, right there...almost...now, press your hand harder, right there...oh, God!" The artist's voice started at a purr and finished at nearly a yell.

Jessica had no idea what she was going to do, but the only thing that came to mind was either leave the way she came or make a lot of noise and walk in. She chose the latter in case the two older women heard her by this time. Clearing her throat and coughing loudly, she entered the living area just as an audible pop resounded through the room.

Taylor sat on the floor against the couch that her mother was sitting on. Torrey rubbed the artist's neck a few more times and another pop was heard from Taylor's neck. Finally the woman on the floor twisted and turned her neck and shoulders, declaring herself pain free.

"Hi, honey, heard you got breakfast?" Torrey asked her daughter. "You okay, your face is all red?"

"Yea," JT's hand went to her face, feeling the heat coming from her skin. "Uhm, I'm fine...breakfast is served."

Taylor stood and pulled the smaller woman up from the couch. Jessica shook her head as they passed in front of her to the kitchen. I have got to get a grip.

Breakfast turned into a leisurely affair with Torrey and Jessica using all the persuasive powers in their arsenal to talk Taylor into tasting a bite of Nova lox. The artist finally relented, stating that the two would never let her hear the end of it if she didn't at least try some. Mother and daughter nodded their agreement and Taylor took a small bite of the bagel loaded with cream cheese and tomato, topped with the salmon.

Torrey found the look on Taylor's face to be priceless. The artist seemed to be trying to chew the fish without having it actually touch her tongue.

"Oh, honey spit it out. I can't watch you go through that torture!" Torrey laughed.

The food was devoured, Jessica was thanked, and the two older women left the table for their respective morning workouts.

Torrey appeared on the patio to stretch and prepare her muscles for her morning Tai Chi routine. JT sat at the kitchen table, sketch pad and pencils in hand, drawing quick sketches of her mother's actions. When Torrey sat back on her heels, Jessica knew that she would be that way for a few minutes, meditating or doing whatever she did that put her into the state of relaxation and concentration.

Taylor touched JT's shoulder as she passed by and the young woman smiled up at the artist. Before they had a chance to speak, Taylor was out the patio door and knelt down slightly behind and to the right of Torrey.

It was as if no time at all had passed as Torrey felt the familiar presence behind her without having to turn and look. She took a little longer preparing her mind to begin than she usually did. So many thoughts and feelings were running around her head concerning the woman at her side, that she wasn't sure she would be able to achieve the first level of relaxation necessary.

Finally the movements began. Jessica was held in awe at the fluidity of the matching motions. The two women exuded a power and a grace that spread outwards like a whirlpool. At first Taylor had her eyes open, watching the small woman in front of her. Eventually, both women progressed in their routine so that their eyes were closed, each of their actions in perfect balance by its twin.

Jessica sat there, staring through the window out onto the patio, completely transfixed at the sight. All her life she had watched her mother's routine and found that it appeared to her unconsciousness as if something were missing. In the last five months she watched the dark-haired artist perform the same ritual, Jessica still feeling that she was watching something incomplete.

Now, gazing at the slow, methodical movements of each woman, Jessica felt the memory. This time it wasn't fleeting, causing her to think it a dream. This was a true, physical recollection of a time past. She remembered the sun shining in through patio doors, the sound of the ocean outside the window, and the two women, moving as they were now; light and dark, two halves of a whole. As she remained hypnotized by the sight before her, Jess finally felt what had been missing in the past, why she had such a sense of incompleteness when viewing the scene. There was only one way her brain pictured this ritual, and it was as a duo, not a single.

"You want to go with tonight?" Taylor asked, smoothing the lines of a wood sculpture with a rasp.

Torrey sat on a stool in the art studio watching the artist at work. Taylor wore a long sleeve t-shirt with the sleeves pulled up just past her forearms. Torrey's heart kept skipping beats when she would stare down at the artist's tanned forearms, muscles and tendons bunching, then flexing under the skin. The blonde writer thought it was about the sexiest thing she'd ever seen.

"I'd love to, that is if it doesn't bother the two of you."

"We can check with Jess, but you know how I feel."

They didn't have to elaborate, she knew how the artist felt. Torrey went to AA with Taylor for years before the two separated. The writer's presence was always a comforting beacon for the dark-haired woman.

"Here put this on, I'm going to use the sander." Taylor held out a paper mask.

The whine of the motor revved up and finally wound down as Taylor ran her hands over the newly smoothed surface.

"That is so amazing." Torrey complimented the artist.

"You want to try?"

"Oh no, Stretch...I might ruin it."

"Bullshit, it's just a hunk of wood, you can't ruin it. Here, you can do it with me."

Taylor seated Torrey on the same stool she sat on, slightly in front of her. The first thing she knew she was going to have trouble with was the feel of the small blonde as she sat between Taylor's outstretched legs. They put their masks in place and Taylor showed Torrey how to grasp the sander in a firm grip, the artist's hands covering Torrey's. Once the sander was turned on and began gliding across the surface of the wood, Torrey couldn't help focusing on those muscular forearms as they helped the smaller woman control the piece of equipment.

Taylor was just as focused, but on the strong biceps that stretched as the small woman held on to the sander. Torrey had on a tight tank top and her arms and shoulders were quickly covered in a fine wood dust. Taylor had a grin on her face underneath her mask, watching the writer. Torrey attempted everything with the unbridled enthusiasm of a child and this was no exception. The writer's sea-green eyes sparkled with excitement and when Taylor shut the sander off, and Torrey turned her head, the innocent glance turned into a white-hot bolt of desire to the artist.

Torrey finally met everyone that Taylor and Jessica knew in their group. The small writer immediately liked Natalie, the woman's no nonsense attitude and sense of humor was refreshing. As always after their meeting, people stood about talking and sharing. Torrey couldn't keep track of how many people came up to her and explained how great a girl they thought Jessica was. The petite blonde knew what a struggle fighting an addiction could be. She lived with Taylor's first year and it made her even more proud of her daughter.

Taylor stood off to one side talking to an auburn-haired woman just a few inches taller than Torrey was. When she met the artist's eyes, Taylor motioned for her to join them.

"Tor, I want you to meet someone. This is Emily, Corey's mom." Taylor said, turning to Emily she continued. "Em, this is Jessica's mother, Torrey."

Torrey didn't have words for the woman before her. All at once she was heartbroken and guilty. She ached for the woman's loss, but she felt full of remorse that she should still have her daughter, healthy and recovering. Torrey did what she would want someone to do for her. Instead of coldly shaking the hand that the woman offered, she wrapped her arms around the woman's shoulders and whispered in her ear.

Taylor never found out what Torrey said to Corey's mother. It seemed a private moment between mothers, so she never asked. The whispered words were enough to somewhat shatter the woman's veneer of self-control. She began to cry and Torrey led her to a couple of chairs that were out of everyone's line of sight. The two stayed seated there long after everyone else left for the evening. Natalie stood by Taylor as they glanced over at the two women.

"She's pretty incredible." Natalie said, indicating Torrey.

Taylor watched as Torrey sat with Emily. The writer acted, much like she did everyday, with everyone she met. Her sparkling smile shone brightly and she held Emily's hand as she spoke to her. Gently brushing tears away from the other woman's cheek, Torrey was the picture of compassion and Taylor loved her for it.

"Yes, she certainly is." Taylor responded after long minutes of watching the petite blonde and her loving manner.

"I was kind of thinking of a trip to San Diego, Stretch. Can you get away?" Torrey inquired.

The Japanese garden became Torrey's favorite spot in this house, as Taylor had always known it would be. They sat enjoying the quiet as Taylor took a break from the dirty task of polishing and grinding.

"Absolutely." The artist answered without hesitation, mentally calculating the time she had left before her show and what she had yet to do. Samantha took care of all the little details, but there were always old friends and colleagues Taylor liked to personally invite to her shows.

Taylor knew that a trip to San Diego meant Torrey wanted to visit the artist's mother and that fact would make Jean Kent a very happy woman. The two women became very close in a short amount of time; the writer looking at the older woman as the mother she always wanted. Taylor wondered what kind of contact the two had kept up in the last fifteen years. She could have simply asked either Torrey or her mother, but it seemed like it was none of her business. As if their relationship were private since Taylor and Torrey separated.

"Am I presuming too much to say it's to see mom?" Taylor questioned.

"Not presuming at all," the blonde smiled over at the artist seated next to her. "I sent your mom a Mother's Day gift that's going to require JT's expertise to set up." She finished cryptically.

Taylor raised an eyebrow, but never asked. "What kind of time are we talking?"

"I was thinking just the weekend. I don't want to take you away from your work too long."

Taylor laughed at the comment. "Now, do you think if I came down with you and Jess, mom would let us get away with a weekend? What do you say to leaving tomorrow and coming back Sunday?"

"I'd say that would be great."

Jessica's face peeked out the door. "I'm making avocado salad for lunch. Anyone interested?"

Torrey raised her hand, nodding, Taylor just raised an eyebrow at the young woman.

"It's mom's recipe." Jessica said to the artist with exasperation.

"Oh, okay. Count me in then...as long as you use your mom's recipe...and your mom makes it."

"You think you're so funny." Jess returned.

Torrey laughed at the playful banter between the two.

"Mom, please don't laugh, it only encourages her to abuse me more." JT deadpanned.

"Okay, I promise." Torrey responded, holding up her right hand. "Jess, how would you like to take a trip to San Diego for the rest of the week? Think you can pull yourself away from Val for a while?"

"Sounds great. To see grandma?"

Torrey nodded without looking over Taylor. She could only imagine the look the artist had on her face.

"Yea, that sounds great, mom. Okay, I'm going to fix lunch, it'll be ready in about a half hour." She said, reentering the house.

Torrey finally looked over at the artist, looking back at her, and she would have laughed out loud at the look on the woman's face, had it not been so serious. Taylor had the appearance of a man who'd just been told he was the long lost father of a seventeen-year-old.

"I'm sorry, Stretch, I should have told you. You know how your mom is, she insisted that Jess call her that, and you know how persuasive your mom can be. I should have checked with you first."

"No, honey, it's allright," Taylor laughed at herself a little. "I guess it's just one of those things that threw me. I didn't really know how much contact you and Jess had with mom. I know she loves you, though and it doesn't appear that a child will be coming from me in the future so it makes me happy that mom has at least one grandchild to spoil."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." The artist turned a sparkling white smile on the small blonde. "Do you...talk to mom a lot?" Taylor could have kicked herself for asking. She never sounded more like a snoop to her own ears than right now.

Torrey couldn't suppress the smile that graced her features. She knew it was killing her friend to ask about her personal life.

"We talk a lot, yea. Jess has never met her, though. It's nice, having a mom sometimes, I just hope you don't mind me borrowing her?" Torrey looked up, concern in her eyes.

"You deserve a mom who can make you feel special, Tor. And, no, it doesn't bother me in the least." Taylor understood how much Torrey, of all people, needed a positive matriarchal figure in her life after the one the luck of the draw had saddled her with. "Come on, let's go see how much trouble Jess has gotten herself into."

"By the way, Tor. Do you mind me asking what you got mom for Mother's Day? It's driving me crazy."

Torrey chuckled and slipped her arm around the artist's waist as they made their way inside.

"A computer."

"My mother and a computer? Why does that scare the hell out of me?" Taylor asked.

"It should...I gave her your e-mail address." Torrey said, quickly ducking through the doorway in time to avoid the hand that came swinging at her backside.

Taylor finished putting the bags in the Explorer as the three women prepared to leave. Jean Kent was overjoyed when Taylor called to tell her they would be coming down for a visit. Being Jean, she refused to take no for an answer to having them stay with her instead of a motel and Taylor said a silent thank you. The artist enjoyed staying in the house she grew up in and was anxious for Jess to see it. She also wanted some time with Torrey alone and this way she wouldn't feel too guilty if Jess had Jean around for just one evening.

Torrey walked out of the front door, windbreaker in hand. The day would turn warmer later, but right now there was a chill in the air and the famous Southern California sun was hiding behind rain clouds. The small blonde stretched and yawned, making a delicious sort of whimpering noise to Taylor's ears. The sound hit the dark-haired artist right between the legs and she had to drag her eyes from the sight or she would certainly find herself doing something that would be embarrassing.

Point Loma was a beautiful small town on the oceanfront of San Diego. Taylor grew up healthy and happy in the small neighborhood that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. She was a Navy brat, but her mother insisted they needed a home base of sorts. So the year after Taylor was born, her parents built this home practically within sight of the closest Naval Air Station.

"It's as beautiful as ever, Stretch." Torrey said in a broken voice as they pulled into the driveway.

Jean Kent was waiting and she wasn't disappointed with the sight of the three women exiting the vehicle. Her daughter had been to visit at Christmas time, but seeing Torrey and her grown daughter was a tonic for the old woman's soul. She had watched and waited as fifteen years went by, neither Torrey nor her daughter ever expressing their passion for the other. With every year that went by she had to force herself not to step in and intervene. She too, believed as the small blonde did, that everything happens for a reason and in its own time. She had an uncanny feeling, however, that if these two didn't verbalize their thoughts and emotions to each other now, they might never have another chance.

Jean was out the door as fast as her legs could move her sixty-five year old body. She hugged Taylor first, the tall woman having to lean down to place a kiss on the woman's cheek. She and Torrey both had tears in their eyes by the time their embrace was complete.

"Absolutely beautiful." Jean said as she took a good look at the woman before her. Torrey had sent pictures as the years passed, but it was never the same. She always knew this girl would grow into a beautiful woman, and from the adoration that still sparkled in her daughter's eyes it seemed the artist still felt the same way too.

"Mom, this is your granddaughter, Jessica." Taylor said standing behind the young woman, her hands on JT's shoulders.

Torrey smiled as the young woman shyly approached the older woman, but within two minutes, Jean had the girl laughing and smiling. The writer especially enjoyed the way Taylor introduced Jess and the pride in the artist's voice. It was a moment that Torrey had waited on for quite some time. It was as close to a family moment as they had been in fifteen years, and her heart felt like pounding right out of her chest. She couldn't remember feeling this happy in a good long time.

"Way to go, Grandma...I knew you had it in you!" Jessica's voice could be heard from the upstairs study.

Jessica and Jean were sequestered in the study, the girl trying to give computer instruction to the older woman. The young woman was trying to teach years worth of computer knowledge in the few days they had to spend there. Tomorrow they were supposed to leave and Jessica was feeling a little down. She actually loved being around the older woman, her take no prisoners approach to learning the computer making Jessica smile.

Taylor and Torrey were enjoying the time to do absolutely nothing as they sat in the family room. It had been entirely too long since the women sat in this room talking about everything under the sun.

Jessica came to the top of the stairs and shouted to the two women below.

"Grandma sent her first e-mail." She said proudly.

"To who?" Taylor asked with a worried frown as Torrey slapped her in the arm.

"To me." Jessica answered, returning to the study.

"I can just see it now," Taylor said to Torrey as the blonde walked into the kitchen and returned with more iced tea. "My mom will be e-mailing me like mad. I'll have to listen to that damned 'you've got mail' message fifty times a day!" She hissed.

Torrey laughed and stood over the dark-haired woman.

"Think that's funny, do ya, Little Bit? I'll get you for this, you know."

Torrey put on her Taylor stare, complete with menacing eyebrow arch and slowly took the two steps to the sofa where the artist sat.

"Oh, really?" Torrey growled, placing one knee on the couch between the artist's legs and kneeling to within inches of the woman's body.

"And, just what makes you think you're woman enough to get me, as you put it?" She finished.

There was complete silence for what seemed like an eternity. Torrey quickly realized whom she was talking to and just how that comment came out sounding. She also recognized that while she was used to flirting and playing with sexual innuendo, Taylor was definitely not used to hearing it come from her.

In the meantime, Taylor's spine simply turned to hot melted butter. The heat that she felt rising from her own body couldn't compare to the rapidly pounding pulse in her ears. The mischievous glint in the writer's eyes was so teasingly erotic that Taylor swallowed hard before speaking.

"Torrey...would you go out with me tonight?"

Torrey was enjoying the feeling of sexual power over her dark-haired friend. The artist may have not been interested in her that way, but to Torrey's eyes, she was definitely human. Taylor's eyes turned slightly glassy and her tanned skin began to flush slightly.

"What?" Torrey asked in surprise.

"I, uhm...well, remember you were my date when we came here together the first time. I thought maybe we could...you know, do it again.

Oh, yes, love...'doing it' with you is exactly what I dream about, Torrey thought to herself. Okay, snap out of it woman!

"That sounds like fun, Stretch." Torrey responded pulling herself away and looking the picture of innocence, while Taylor looked a bit more uncomfortable than she usually did around her old friend.

"You sure you don't mind, honey?" Torrey asked leaning over her daughter's shoulder, watching the young woman sketch quick images on a graphics tablet that materialized on the computer screen.

"Huh?" Jessica asked in a distracted tone.

"I guess that answers my question."

"Oh, I'm sorry, mom." JT turned around, giving her mother a quick smile.

"I just wanted to know if you mind if Taylor and I go out tonight."

"God, no...go." The young woman blurted out, realizing by the look on her mother's face that she sounded a little too enthusiastic. "I just mean that you two could use a little down time. I'll be allright. Besides it's our last night here and Grandma and I are gonna play on the computer and eat junk food all night, she promised."

Torrey chuckled at her daughter's idea of a fun night.

Taylor looked at her watch again. She leaned against the back of the sofa and yawned. Why is it the older Torrey gets the longer it takes her to get ready? The artist fidgeted in her seat. She dressed with a bit more style than in her college days, but nothing ever felt as good to her as jeans and a t-shirt. She stood up and smoothed her black leather slacks out, pulling at the cuffs of a blue silk blouse. She leaned her head back to let out another yawn, but she made the mistake of trying to gasp at the same time and suddenly felt herself without enough air to breathe.

Torrey came down the stairs; still putting her earrings in, looking like she just stepped from the set of some movie. The petite blonde wore a royal blue, one-piece pantsuit that plunged at the neckline. She had a white jacket over it, with her sleeves as she always wore them, pulled up to the elbows. Truth be known she wasn't trying to make a fashion statement with the jacket, but when your arms were two inches shorter than the rest of humanity, that's what you did. She had on high heels that Taylor didn't think looked comfortable, but the writer seemed unaffected. It was a little disconcerting for the artist, however. She was used to looking down at Torrey and the heels put the smaller woman quite a bit closer to Taylor's level than usual.

Taylor was certain she could feel her heart missing about every other beat, watching her friend cross the room and give Jessica a quick hug.

"Ready when you are, Stretch." Torrey said with a smile.

Taylor thought she opened her mouth to say something intelligent, but the only sounds she seemed capable of making at the moment were small whimpers. She gave Torrey a weak smile and held the front door open, silently chanting a mantra in her head.

"Can I ask you a personal question, Tor?" Taylor asked as they strolled along a deserted pier, watching the nighttime surf roll in.

"You know you don't have to preface a question to me like that, Stretch."

Taylor looked a little uncomfortable, but still she wanted to know. "I noticed you brought your laptop with you, but I haven't seen you use it since you've been here. Is there a problem?"

"I'm on vacation," Torrey tried to sound flip, but she forgot that she couldn't hide much from this woman.

"Uh, huh...well, it's funny because I used to watch you write nearly every idle minute of the day. What's going on, Tor?"

"Did you read my last book?" Torrey asked.

"Of course. It was great."

"You didn't see anything...different about it?"

"I don't know. Maybe like you were holding back a little, but I figured with the problems you were having with Jess and all..." Taylor trailed off.

Now that Torrey brought it up, Taylor had noticed something odd about her friend's latest literary effort. The story was entertaining and enlightening, as usual, but it seemed a little...flat, was the only word she could think of.

"You don't have to say anymore," Torrey said softly. "I can see it in your face. You noticed it too. It's just not there anymore and I don't know how to go about getting it back."

"Maybe now that you don't have to worry so much about Jess, now that some of the headaches are taken care of, maybe things will settle down for you."

"I'm not sure it ever really had anything to do with Jess. Oh sure, running after the girl and worrying about her took up some of my time and energy, but I think it's something buried deep inside me. Something I can't bring close enough to the surface to touch anymore."

Torrey slipped an arm around the artist's waist and Taylor pulled the smaller woman's body closer against her. The dark-haired woman wondered how she would feel if the ideas, the emotions that helped her create her art, didn't come anymore. It would be like losing a hand or her arm. A piece of her would be gone.

Taylor stopped and leaned against the worn railing of the pier, able to feel tiny drops of moisture against her skin as the surf hit the pylons below, the waves exploding up into the air. Torrey paused also, not releasing her hold on the taller woman.

"Can I do anything to help?" Taylor's deep blue eyes held Torrey's in a tight gaze.

"I don't think a kiss and a hug will make it all better anymore, but it sure couldn't hurt." The blonde smiled up at her friend with sparkling eyes the color of the sea below.

Taylor gave a lopsided grin and pulled the small woman in for a hug that the artist didn't want to let go of. Torrey let herself be held for a few moments and basked in the feel of Taylor's body pressed against hers. When she pulled back from the embrace, she hardly recognized the woman who looked back at her. Taylor's smile was replaced by a look of intense concentration, as the artist seemed to struggle with something inside. She'd obviously made a decision because suddenly her face took on a soft glow as she brushed her fingers against the skin of Torrey's cheek.

Taylor couldn't keep it inside, not standing here, so close to the woman she had desired for so long. She touched the softness of Torrey's cheek, then ran her thumb lightly across the silkiness of the smaller woman's bottom lip. When Taylor leaned in to kiss the woman in her arms, she actually intended for it to be a kiss between friends.

The artist held Torrey's face in her hands as their lips touched. Neither woman expected the rush of adrenaline or the surge of ardor that flowed through their bodies. It was a simple kiss at first, warm and inviting, but as it lengthened, passions became quickly ignited. Each woman lost cognizance of who they were kissing, as they allowed their emotions free rein. Taylor's mouth pressed harder, becoming more insistent, more demanding in its eagerness to quench the fire that raged within. Torrey lost all reason as her need struck her with a passionate fury. Taylor's tongue slipped forward almost gently, coaxing Torrey's lips to part without hesitation. Suddenly the artist's senses were on overload as the sweet taste of the woman she loved, filled her mouth.

It was like a jolt of electricity sparked each woman into the here and now, realizing what she was doing and whom she was doing it with. At the same exact moment, they pushed away from one another; terror and fear mixed with a lustful desire, mirrored in their eyes.

"Taylor, I--I--"

"I'm so sorry, Tor...I didn't mean to do that."

Torrey finally raised her eyes to her friend's, catching the look of confusion and fear in the intense gaze. She never intended to let Taylor see this side of her, but everything happened so fast, and she was swept away with the sensations. Taylor's remark brought her back quickly, however, and she could barely contain the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. The look of pain on the taller woman's face told Torrey that the artist got caught up in the moonlight, the ocean, and the way Torrey looked, but that she didn't feel what Torrey felt. You knew it, you knew she didn't want you that way. Damn, woman, what were you thinking?

Taylor closed her eyes tightly before opening them as Torrey looked up at her. Tears were filling the writer's green eyes and the sight broke the artist's heart. Taylor committed the one act of selfishness, when she leaned down for that kiss, which she had hoped to conceal from her friend. Torrey seemed unable to speak, but her silence said more to Taylor than words. The dark-haired artist knew that her best friend loved her and Taylor knew in her heart that Torrey was sorry for not being able to be the woman that the artist wanted. Probably the first straight woman in history to apologize for not being gay. Damn, Kent, what were you thinking?

"We better get back." Torrey said, turning back in the direction of the car.

Taylor silently followed, thinking that their beautiful night together had been ruined. She wondered, in painful silence, if her long-standing friendship had been too.

They drove along in silence for most of the ride home until Torrey commented about something inconsequential. The artist took that as a good sign and kept up her end of the discussion, but the conversation seemed strained, and that was something new for the two of them.

They both felt responsible for the kiss; neither realizing it was exactly what the other wanted. Taylor pulled the car into the driveway and was quick to come around the vehicle and open Torrey's side. As the smaller woman headed for the front door, Taylor put out a hand and gently stopped her.

"Let's go around back and sit on the patio for a few minutes, huh? Just so we can talk?"

Torrey followed her friend's lead through the fenced in yard and around the back of the house. Taylor couldn't help but notice that Torrey chose to sit in the chair, rather than next to her on the loveseat.

"I thought maybe we could talk about tonight." Taylor started slowly.

"I'm sorry, Taylor...I don't know what to say." Torrey apologized. The writer knew what she did was wrong and she couldn't offer an excuse for her behavior. She understood that Taylor was trying to let her down gently.

"Oh, God, Tor, it's not your fault." Taylor's heart mirrored the petite blonde's seated across from her. She could see the pain in Torrey's eyes at not being able to be the woman the artist wanted. "I'm the one to blame. I guess I just got caught up in the moment, you know? Hey, you're a beautiful woman and I'm not made of stone." Taylor finished with a sheepish grin that she hoped would make her small friend smile.

"You don't have to take the blame for everything all the time, Stretch." Torrey said with a sigh as she stood up. She moved to the house and silently slid open the patio door. Looking back, she knew she owed her friend at least some sort of explanation. "I'm sorry about what happened, it's not something I planned, it just happened. You were there and I was there, and suddenly...well, I may not be a young girl anymore, but I'm certainly not made of stone either. Don't worry, Stretch," Torrey said with a chuckle. "It wasn't the first time I've kissed a woman and I guess it won't be the last, so quit looking so guilty."

Taylor may have had a guilty look on her face, but it was utter confusion she was feeling. Is she saying she kissed me? What the does that mean, not made of stone, and what the hell does she mean I'm not the first woman she's kissed?

Taylor was in absolute shock. Any sense of reason she previously possessed simply vanished. Even her power of speech was failing her. She wanted to call out to make Torrey stop and turn around, to make her explain what she meant, but the best the artist could do was to sit there and ask in disbelief, "Torrey...have you ...been with women?"

"Yes."

Taylor heard the small assent as if it were a whisper in the night, and then she watched her friend's back disappear into the house. Taylor knew she should run after her, make her repeat it, clarify it, but she could only sit in the darkness as a multitude of emotions, past and present, whirled around her.

Jessica watched through the same patio doors that she had as a child while her mother stretched and warmed up before her morning Tai Chi. It seemed as if the small woman sat back on her heels for twice as long as she ever had before. JT didn't know how to tell her mother that it didn't matter how long she waited, Taylor wouldn't be joining her this morning. The young woman listened as Taylor awoke just before the sun rose and watched out the bedroom window as the artist left the house, walking down to the beach. She hadn't been back, that Jess could tell, and she wondered if the two older women had a fight last night. Her mom seemed a little more subdued than usual and Taylor didn't seem to want to be around her. That was a definite first and the girl worried that the two women had a confrontation of sorts.

She continued to watch as her mother's shoulders slumped a little in an odd gesture of defeat before she began the slow, deliberate movements of her routine.

Jean Kent found her daughter exactly where she thought she might. The dark-haired artist sat on a break wall, her long legs dangling over the side as she tossed rocks into the water below. Jean took a seat on the grassy sand behind the tall woman.

"Some things never change. This is still the spot you come to when you're running away from the world. Only this time you're running away from Torrey." Jean said.

Taylor knew it was her mother behind her. She saw the woman from a distance and realized she was in for a lecture.

"I'm not running from Torrey."

"Oh, did you tell her where you were going before you left?"

"It was early. I didn't want to wake her." Taylor lied.

"I think she was up all night. I could hear her pacing the floor."

Taylor was aware of that fact. Torrey did pace the floor all night. Taylor knew this to be true because she sat in the chair in the room next door listening to her friend pace and cry all night. It broke the artist's heart, to not only realize that she couldn't comfort her friend, but that she was the cause of Torrey's anguish.

"I kissed Torrey last night." Taylor admitted.

Jean sighed. She had a feeling it was something of that nature. I'd like to shake both of you. You couldn't just tell her you love her, could you?

"So, what happened?"

"What happened?" Taylor turned and looked at her mother. "She jumped away from me like I had the plague, that's what happened."

"Before or after the kiss?" Jean asked.

"Huh?"

"Did she push you away after the kiss or as soon as you tried?"

"Well, I guess...I don't know. Not as soon as I kissed her, though."

"Hmmm. What kind of kiss was it?"

"It was, I don't know, just a regular kiss." Taylor didn't talk about these feelings under normal conditions and discussing her sex life with her mother was even less appealing.

"If that's the way you describe a woman's kiss it's no wonder you don't get kissed very often." Jean said in exasperation.

"I could get kissed plenty if I wanted to." Taylor responded hotly. She shook her head, noticing the grin on her mother's face. Taylor laughed at herself. "I can't believe I'm sitting on the beach with my mother trying to justify why I don't kiss more women."

"Well, was it a quick kiss or a, uhm, romantic...intense sort of kiss?" Jean questioned delicately.

Taylor couldn't stop the smile that played at the corners of her mouth or the sudden tingling sensation on her lips, remembering last night's kiss.

"It was definitely an intense kiss...very romantic. Mom, do you think Torrey could be gay?"

"Why don't you ask her?" Jean responded.

"I did, she said she had been with women."

"I suppose that's your answer then, dear."

"I kind of expected something a little more profound or at least revealing coming from you, mom." Taylor said with a smirk.

"I'm sorry, dear, but I have two daughters in this scenario, remember?" Jean laid a hand on her daughter's shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Torrey is as much my daughter as Jessica is yours. I have to consider her trust in me too. Isn't that the pact you made with Jess, that she could tell you anything and you wouldn't repeat it?"

"It's just that I'm confused. If Torrey is attracted to women, then maybe it's just me that she's not attracted to. I don't want to do the wrong thing and scare her away. God, I feel like our friendship has changed just from that one kiss." Taylor said in a worried tone.

"Honey, you take yourself too damn seriously. Just kiss the girl and tell her you love her. End of story."

"You know it's not that simple with Torrey and I. I can't just kiss her and then carry her off. This is my best friend we're talking about. I risk too much if she doesn't feel the same way." Taylor responded with a sad look, turning back to face the water.

Jean stood and brushed her hands through her daughter's raven locks, Taylor leaning her head against her mother's leg.

"My dear, sweet daughter," Jean began. "You still haven't learned the most important lesson your father tried so hard to teach you."

Taylor looked up at the woman with a quizzical expression.

"There are some things in life," Jean continued, "that are worth risking everything for."

The older woman turned and made her way up the beach hopeful that she said enough, but not too much. Taylor simply stared out onto the churning surface of the ocean, reminded of a pair of sea-green eyes.

"Remind me to travel with you two again when you haven't gotten enough sleep. This is fun." Jessica said sarcastically from the back seat of the car.

Taylor wore a pensive frown for most of the ride back home and Torrey looked out the window lost in her own thoughts. Every time JT tried to get the conversation rolling, one of the older women effectively let it die. Eventually they all sat back and continued the silent ride home.

Jessica said she was going to her room to call Valerie, leaving Taylor and Torrey both standing in the middle of the kitchen.

"Do you want some coffee?" Torrey asked.

"I think if you just threw it in my face it would work better, but yea, that sounds great." Taylor answered.

Torrey proceeded to grind a small amount of beans and began the automatic pot. Taylor sat at the table watching the small blonde's movement, mesmerized by the strength and grace in the woman's compact form. Suddenly she realized that Torrey had stopped moving, leaning her hands against the kitchen counter, her shoulders shaking slightly. Taylor rose in alarm and went to the woman seeing tears streak her face.

"Torrey, honey."

"I don't want to lose your friendship." Torrey sobbed.

"Never," Taylor whispered forcefully. She wrapped strong arms around her friend and held her tightly. "Torrey, nothing we could say or do could ever change that." Taylor placed two fingers under the smaller woman's chin, tilting her face so their eyes met. "You are my best friend, don't you know that? For the rest of our lives, Little Bit, no matter what, you will always be my best friend." Taylor finished as tears filled her own eyes.

"Come on, let's go sit down in the family room." Taylor said, coaxing her friend into the other room.

Torrey started to seat herself in the oversized chair, but Taylor stopped her.

"Sit next to me, won't you?" Taylor asked.

Torrey smiled at the request and it lightened the artist's heart to see that small grin. Both women were tired from lack of sleep the night before, and as was their habit, Torrey's head fell upon the artist's broad shoulders, and it took only minutes before they were both sound asleep.

Jessica shook her head once she saw the pair on the sofa. She quietly turned the coffeepot off in the kitchen and pulled a comforter over the two women on her way into the studio to work. She just hoped they would wake up long enough to help her with one small problem.

Taylor let the hot water from the shower run for a long time over her head and face. She felt her muscles beginning to loosen up and eventually she started to wake up. It was noon when she and Torrey woke up from their impromptu nap. The writer said she wanted to soak in a hot tub, Taylor heading in the other direction for a shower.

Still running her fingers through her damp hair, Taylor tossed the towel covering her body into the laundry hamper and paused to look at the painting that hung on the wall. She gazed up at the sole reason that she kept her bedroom door locked while Jess and Torrey lived there. The painting was merely a figment of her imagination, a secret desire that she translated onto the canvas. It was an oil painting of the erotic piece of work that she and Torrey had gotten into so much trouble over at the Sorority House. It started out as a black and white drawing they placed in the Sorority newsletter. There was one difference now, however, and that was that the two women in the picture had been painted in Taylor and Torrey's images. Now the two women in the clutches of the amorous embrace were the two best friends.

Pulling on a pair of faded blue jeans, the artist walked to the closet and pulled a lightly starched white shirt from its hanger. She couldn't keep the light smile from her face as she looked at a dozen of the same white cotton shirts hanging in front of her. Torrey was probably one of the few people in the world that knew the artist had so many of the men's style shirt in her closet. Taylor realized that she was predictable, if nothing else. She enjoyed the feel of a brand new shirt; consequently she sent her shirts out to be cleaned and pressed every week, always requesting the light amount of starch.

"Hey, that smells good," Taylor said, leaning over the small blonde's shoulder and breathing deeply. Torrey was in the kitchen in her relaxed mode also. She wore a faded MU t-shirt and a pair of jeans Taylor would have sworn belonged to the woman in college, they were so frayed and discolored.

"Well, you said my bouillabaisse sounded good the other day, so I sent Jess down to the harbor market while we were cleaning up. She did a good job. The shellfish look great." Torrey answered.

"You are a treasure." Taylor said punctuating her statement with a kiss to the top of Torrey's wet head. "Want a cup of reheated four hour old coffee?" Taylor offered.

"Sure, as long as you put some cream in it." Torrey added.

Five minutes later found the two women in the family room, relaxing with their coffee. Jessica appeared in the doorway a worried look on her face.

"What's up, squirt?" Taylor asked.

The young woman sat on the sofa next to her mother, Taylor, with her bare feet tucked under her legs, sat on the other side of Torrey.

"You like Val pretty well, huh?" Jess asked.

Torrey saw this as a chat up for something and exchanged a knowing grin with Taylor.

"I like her very much, hon. She seems like a great girl."

"Enough to let me go out with her?"

"I don't know...Stretch, what do you think?"

"Well, six months was our agreement..." Taylor trailed off.

Jessica's face fell and Torrey didn't have the heart to prolong the girl's torture.

"Yes, honey, you can go out. I expect you to be in at a reasonable hour, though."

"How reasonable?" Jess asked.

Torrey looked at Taylor and raised her eyebrows in question.

"Midnight." Taylor said.

"Hey, I can work with that." JT replied with a grin. "Uhm, a couple more things." She said, pausing.

"Geez, she's pushy." Taylor looked at Torrey.

"I--I'm a little broke...and I need to borrow a car."

Torrey chuckled at her daughter's dilemma. "I can handle the money." She answered rising to find her wallet. "But, you'll have to talk to her about the car." She finished, jerking her thumb in Taylor's direction.

"What do ya say, Tay?" Jessica asked with a weak grin.

Taylor reached into her pocket and pulled out a set of keys, tossing them at the young woman. "The Explorer, not the Mercedes."

"You're great." Jess said, jumping off the sofa and placing a quick kiss on the artist's cheek.

"Here," Torrey said holding out her hand as she walked back into the family room.

"Oh wow, thanks, mom. I'll go call Val right now."

"Hey, what about my bouillabaisse?" Torrey yelled after the retreating figure.

"You two enjoy it." Were the last words they heard from the young girl.

"You missed your calling, Little Bit. You should have been a chef." Taylor commented as the two women sat in their familiar spots on the sofa.

"I've thought about it plenty, lately." Torrey answered.

Taylor knew the writer referred to her current difficulty expressing her thoughts and putting them down on paper. Both women were in the middle of the large cream colored couch, sitting facing one another. Torrey had her head resting on her arm on the back of the sofa, while Taylor's head was held in the palm of her hand.

"I'm kind of surprised you let Jess have the car." Torrey asked, changing the subject.

"Well, she's been pretty good in cleaning up her act. I just thought showing a little trust in her was the way to go."

"And, she did call you Tay. Admit it Kent...it really gets to you when she does that." Torrey teased.

A sheepish grin crossed the artist's face and she nodded. "Yea, it does."

"I'm sorry, Stretch."

"For what?"

"For not keeping you in Jessica's life more. You would have been so good for her."

Taylor gave a small, lazy smile to the woman seated across from her and brushed light wisps of hair from her eyes. Torrey closed her eyelids slightly at the dark-haired woman's touch.

A thousand questions rose in Taylor's mind on account of that gesture. Her mind thought of little else since Torrey's admission that she knew what it was like to kiss a woman other than Taylor. Their past floated across her mind's eye and she wondered what other things the writer kept from her. What other secrets do you have, Little Bit?

She caught the way Torrey looked at her sometimes and didn't it seem like she had more in her eyes than friendship? When they touched, didn't her reaction appear to be more intense? Am I building this up in my mind, or does more exist? Is it possible that I kept my feelings for you hidden so well, that you never thought you had a chance?

"Why did you leave?" Taylor suddenly found herself asking.

"What?" Torrey's green eyes seemed to go wide at the question. It was so unexpected.

"I--"

Taylor quickly brought her fingertips up and covered Torrey's lips. "Please, don't say it was because you met someone, because I don't think that was the truth. Was it?"

Torrey looked as if she were going to bolt from the room. Taylor recognized the frightened expression and moved her fingertips to gently caress the blonde's cheek, then rested her hand on top of Torrey's, which lay in the writer's lap.

Torrey looked down at the hand that covered her own and was suddenly so tired. Tired of hiding her feelings and covering up the truth. It felt like it took so much of her energy to keep up the pretense and she began to wonder why she did it. Taylor already promised that they would always be friends, no matter what. I bet you never thought this would come up when you said that, Stretch.

After long moments, Torrey raised tear filled eyes and was nearly caught speechless by the deep Prussian blue color staring back at her. Those eyes held so much love and concern that Torrey knew she had to tell the truth. She shook her head back and forth, in answer to the artist's question.

"No, it wasn't the truth." Torrey said.

Taylor's hand rose and cupped Torrey's jaw in the palm of her hand. "Then why, Tor? Was it something I did?"

"No," the writer answered quickly, her wet tears spilling down her cheeks and across the artist's hand. "It wasn't something you did, it was something you would have done."

The confused expression on Taylor's face, caused Torrey to try and explain.

"You gave up everything for us. You would have spent the rest of your life taking care of Jess and I. You never dated, you never tried to start your own life--"

"Honey, you and Jess were my life. I thought we were a family." Taylor interjected, brushing away tears with her thumb.

"You deserved to have your own family, a relationship with a woman who could be your partner. I knew you didn't want me that way, but you would have stayed, just to take care of us. I couldn't let you give up that part of your life. It wouldn't have been fair. I was just being selfish trying to keep you."

Taylor was taken back at her friend's honest admission. "I didn't want you that way?" She whispered as if to herself.

What settled into the forefront of Taylor's brain was her mother's admonition from this morning.

As she silently repeated the words to herself she could see why her father would have wanted her to learn that maxim. He lived by those very words. Robert Kent knew that every time he went up in a jet, he took the very real chance that he wouldn't come back. Even knowing that risk, however, he still flew. He loved flying. Not more than his wife and child, but it was as much a part of him, as Taylor's art was to her. Her father thought it important enough that he risked everything for it. For him to do less wouldn't have been in him.

Taylor wondered what she had in herself.

What else had her mother told her?

Taylor brushed away the woman's remaining tears. The pained look on her friend's face simply decimated any thought she had of holding back the truth any longer. It took eighteen years, but Taylor Kent finally decided to listen to her mother.

"Torrey," Taylor said softly, waiting until the writer's beautiful green eyes locked onto her own. "I love you."

Taylor's face was inches away from Torrey's. Leaning down slightly, she pressed her mouth to Torrey's. The kiss was as gentle as the artist could make it at first; finally feeling that her friend had no intention of breaking the sweet contact, Taylor deepened the kiss.

As hunger and passion took control of both women, Taylor learned that the kiss they shared the previous evening was innocent in comparison. Little moans came from the back of Torrey's throat as she pressed her lips more firmly against Taylor's. The artist let herself float on the intensity of the sensations her friend's lips were producing in her body, she could no longer suppress the low, rumbling growl that was drawn from deep in her throat.

Torrey wrapped both her hands in Taylor's dark brown hair, pulling their mouths together more tightly. Moving her hands to take hold of Taylor's shoulders, she used the strength of her whole body to push the artist down, flat against the sofa. The move surprised the artist, but the feel of Torrey's full weight on top of her caused her to involuntarily part her legs wider, pulling the woman more tightly against herself.

Taylor's hands couldn't be contained and they were everywhere at once. They finally slipped underneath the t-shirt Torrey was wearing and settled against the smooth skin at the small of the writer's back.

"Oh, God," Taylor moaned, arching her head back just as Torrey released her lips to kiss and bite the skin along Taylor's neck.

"I love you, Taylor," Torrey breathed into the woman's ear, before reaching in to take the artist's mouth in another breath stealing kiss.

"Again..." Taylor pleaded, between kisses. "Tell me again."

"I love you." Torrey repeated, breathlessly.

"Oh... yes..." Taylor sighed, feeling completely helpless as she felt the buttons to her shirt being undone by practiced fingers.

Torrey shifted her body so one knee pushed firmly between Taylor's legs, the artist groaned at the contact, her eyes closed in ecstasy as the writer began to follow the shirts open path with her lips. Suddenly Taylor felt her friend's chuckle against the skin of her chest.

"What?" Taylor opened her eyes, running into the mischievous sparkle in the green ones that looked up at her.

"You never used to wear a bra." Torrey stated with a grin, placing a kiss where the tan cloth started.

Taylor dropped her head back against the sofa and laughed. "Gravity gets to all of us sooner or later, love."

It was Torrey's turn to be surprised as the artist took that moment to flip the smaller woman onto her back. Taylor held most of her weight up on one elbow, letting the rest fall upon the woman below her. Taylor's denim covered thighs straddled Torrey's, her free hand slipping up under the t-shirt against the writer's smooth skin. Taylor moved in and took the writer's mouth in a passionate frenzy, her fingertips caressing every bit of bare flesh she could get her hands on.

Again she whispered the words that started it all. "I love you, Torrey...I've always loved you."

Torrey paused and looked up with her own glassy gaze to look into eyes that burned blue fire at her. She lifted up her fingers to caress the lips that had just issued the powerful proclamation of love.

"I'm still not sure what just happened, but I'm afraid to question it. I'm afraid this will all end." Torrey murmured quietly.

"Oh, baby..." Taylor began, her free hand moving up to lay light caresses on the face she cherished. "Now that I know you want me too, I'm not ever going to let it end."

"Torrey," Taylor said in a voice hoarse with desire, "come to bed with me."

"Oh God, yes..." Torrey moaned.

They stood in the middle of the large bedroom, the French doors slightly ajar, the sounds of the crashing surf on the rocks below filtering up to them. Taylor took the small blonde's face in her hands and kissed her again and again. Torrey found her hands brushing the unbuttoned shirt from Taylor's shoulders, wanting to feel as much of the artist's skin as possible. Taylor let her head tilt back, exposing her neck to the caresses that Torrey's lips provided. The artist's eyes opened and she found herself looking straight into the painting on her wall.

"Torrey...honey..." Taylor tried to start.

Torrey slipped her hands up the artist's muscled back, expertly unclasping the hook that held her bra together. She let her fingers glide up and over the dark haired woman's shoulders, pulling down the bra straps and removing the garment in one easy motion.

"Beautiful," Torrey whispered reverently, kissing the tanned skin of the woman's chest just above the swell of her breasts.

"Torrey...baby," Taylor was breathless by now. "We need to talk."

"Sweetheart, it's been eighteen years...couldn't we talk later?" Torrey reasoned, pulling open the top two buttons of Taylor's jeans.

"It's just that..." Taylor paused to try and get her breathing under control. "There's something in the room that could be a little embarrassing when you see it, and I wanted to warn--"

"If it's an inflatable doll, I swear I'll never tell anyone." Torrey paused in her activity to look up with a charming glint in her eye.

Taylor let loose a throaty laugh. "You have turned into such a wicked woman."

Torrey smiled back, but watched as the taller woman's grin turned into a frown. "Honey, what is it?"

Taylor gently turned the oblivious woman around, facing Torrey in the direction of the painting. She rested her hands on the smaller woman's shoulders, anticipating a negative reaction. Okay, Kent, this is where you get shown up for the pervert that you are.

"Oh Taylor. That's the way I always fantasized about that picture." Torrey said in awe.

Taylor breathed an audible sigh of relief, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman and nuzzling her face into the soft skin of her neck, blazing a trail of kisses up to the woman's ear. She caressed the sensitive flesh with the tip of her tongue, using her teeth to send electric tingling sensations down the blonde's spine and all the way down the back of her legs.

"What did I ever do right in my life to deserve you?" Taylor whispered.

Torrey turned in the taller woman's embrace, her body pressing firmly against Taylor's until the artist felt the back of her knees touch against the bed. With a slight push, Torrey had the woman seated on the bed, reaching down to continue the contact between their lips.

Taylor parted her legs and pulled Torrey's hips toward her so the woman was standing between her legs. The artist opened the button to her jeans and slid the zipper down, pulling up the t-shirt to expose a flat abdomen. Taylor let her lips and tongue explore the exposed flesh, tugging at the jeans to pull them down further. Torrey's moans of pleasure, combined with the feel of her skin under the artist's fingertips caused Taylor to nearly explode into an orgasm right then. She lifted the t-shirt higher.

"Taylor," Torrey looked down at the woman below her. "I'm not that eighteen year old anymore."

Taylor looked at the concerned expression on her lover's face and broke into a sparkling white smile. She lifted the t-shirt off in one deft motion.

"Thank God." The artist murmured against Torrey's skin as she buried her face in the valley between the writer's breasts, moaning her pleasure, licking her way to take a hardened nipple between her lips.

Torrey wrapped her fingers into Taylor's dark hair, pulling her head down tighter against her body. The artist took the hint and began to suck harder, causing an immediate groan from deep within the standing woman's chest.

Torrey whimpered slightly at the loss of contact as Taylor moved her caresses lower. She slipped both hands into the waistband of the smaller woman's panties at her back and slipped her hands down lower, pulling the undergarment and jeans down in a single motion. Torrey grabbed onto strong shoulders as she lifted first one leg, then the other from her jeans, leaving them in a heap at her feet.

Torrey moved to straddle Taylor's hips, but stopped and moved her hands to the front of the artist's jeans. She grasped the cloth in each hand and pulled the rest of the buttons apart, then pushed Taylor flat on the bed.

"Lift." She commanded.

The artist lifted her hips as Torrey pulled her jeans and panties off as one, just as Taylor had done with her. Torrey kneeled between the artist's legs, the sight of Taylor lying on her back; her legs spread invitingly was too much for the writer. She placed one hand on top of each of the dark-haired woman's thighs and, with her fingers splayed, she ran her hands up the muscled limbs, feeling Taylor's legs trembling slightly under her touch. She then let her lips follow the same path that her hands had just branded.

Torrey gently coaxed the artist's thighs further apart with her hands, as she drew closer to the dark patch of curls. The scent of Taylor's arousal caused the blonde to pause, closing her eyes and breathing deeply, her fingers reflexively grasped the smooth skin under them as if to ground herself. Her mouth watered at the sight and the smell before her. Without further thought she dipped her head and ran her tongue the full length of Taylor's swollen sex, moaning against the sensitive flesh.

"Sweet mother of...unhhhh." Taylor cried out, twining slender fingers within the short blonde locks.

The sound of Taylor's voice, trembling and full of desire, set Torrey's blood on fire. The writer's passion spurred her on, her control fading quickly as she wrapped her hands around the artist's already rocking hips, sliding a warm wet tongue inside of her. Even as she thrust her tongue into Taylor's slick opening, her thumb began to tease the hardened bundle of nerves.

Taylor's chest heaved and her body began the tiny convulsive tremors that indicated her orgasm would quickly be upon her. She tried to fight the feelings back, finally realizing she would have to either admit defeat and give in to the flames that attempted to consume her, or slow this delicious torture down.

"Torrey...Oh, god...honey, please wait..." Taylor begged.

Torrey looked up from her pleasure in alarm. "Are you okay...did I hurt you?"

"No...baby...come here..." Taylor panted, pulling the smaller woman up to hold her in her embrace. She brushed the damp hair on the writer's forehead aside and kissed her lips passionately. Kissing Torrey, with her taste on the younger woman's lips, was something Taylor never would have thought possible and she practically hummed into the kiss.

"I'm okay. What you're doing feels absolutely incredible...too incredible. I--Torrey I've wanted you for so long," Taylor said, stroking her lover's face, "but I was only going to last for another five seconds and I don't want the first time with you to be over that fast. Can we--can we slow down a little?" Taylor asked, still trying to get her breathing within normal limits.

Torrey smiled and leaned up on one elbow.

"Geez, don't look at me that way," Taylor grinned back. "I already feel like a teenage schoolboy doing it for the first time."

"Honestly, it's the most flattering thing anyone's ever said to me." Torrey grinned back. "And, I think I can accommodate your needs." She purred. "Roll over."

Taylor looked at the smaller woman leaning over her and never thought, in all the times she fantasized about their love making, that it would be Torrey taking the lead and Taylor that couldn't control herself. Somehow, that scenario never entered her thinking, but here she was, utterly quivering and helpless under Torrey's touch. Each moment was pure heaven, so she quickly complied with her lover's request.

Torrey had to focus and breathe deeply to restrain the absolute urge to ravish the perfect woman that lay beneath her. She straddled the artist's hips and shook her own head slightly to will a little self-control into her already shaking hands. It all happened so fast that she barely had time to realize that this was Taylor lying underneath her, moaning her pleasure into the sheets.

Torrey pushed aside the long raven hair and ran her tongue along the nape of a sensitive neck. She started at Taylor's neck and massaged the strong flesh, kneading and swirling her fingers in tight circles out to her shoulders and arms, and down the length of her back. The small woman's strong arms concentrated in the small of the artist's back, knowing that spot and her neck, were the areas that bothered her most. Torrey continued on with the innocent massage across firm buttocks and down the length of her legs. Then the blonde began a more sensual exploration.

Torrey sat astride Taylor's buttocks, feeling the flesh beneath her twitch and flex in anticipation. Taylor let out a soft breath as she felt the writer's wetness spread across the firm globes of flesh, which became a low groan as Torrey slid her aroused sex along the artist's backside. Taylor lifted her own hips in response trying to put more pressure on Torrey's center. The writer's answer was a languid moan of her own followed by her hips, pressing down harder onto Taylor.

Torrey leaned against Taylor's back and began to kiss and lick her way down the path her massaging fingers had just taken her. Taylor's breathing was again becoming ragged, her moans nearly constant. Finally the writer breathed in her ear.

"Roll over."

Taylor rolled over, Torrey lifting slightly, but not enough that the woman below her didn't feel her touching every exposed piece of skin on her hips. Torrey pressed herself down against Taylor and the larger woman's hands immediately went to Torrey's hips to guide their mounds together harder.

"Ah ah ah..." Torrey teased, wrapping her hands around the confused artist's wrists and guiding them over her head. She moved Taylor's fingers until they were wrapped around the underside of the wooden headboard.

"Remember, love. You'll be allright if you look into your partner's eyes. When you're dancing with someone, one of you has to give up a little control. Just lead where my body takes you and don't think so much about where you're going." Torrey used the very words that Taylor had, when they danced together at the little club in San Diego.

Taylor smiled a deliciously carnal smile at her partner and let her trembling body relax back against the bed. She was instantly rewarded with a kiss that made her dizzy in its intensity, then Torrey proceeded to perform the same massage therapy on the front of the artist's body. When Torrey reached her lover's breasts, both women knew that heaven had nothing on this spot on earth. Torrey slid her body between Taylor's legs until she could feel the artist's soaked center pressing against her stomach. She buried her face into Taylor's breasts, first kissing, then licking, and finally sucking on the hard points of flesh. Torrey let her lips surround the hard nipple, pressing it against her front teeth with the tip of her tongue.

Taylor tried to raise her head to watch. It was the sight of the woman above her making love to her breasts and the lustful sounds that escaped from Torrey's throat that turned the artist into six feet of liquid fire.

Taylor's breath was coming in short gasps. Arching her back, she pressed her wet mound against the muscles of Torrey's abdomen. "Please, Torrey...now"

No further explanation was needed. Torrey reached down and slid two strong fingers into the woman's slick entrance, following it quickly by her mouth, wrapping around the swollen nub that pulsed against her tongue. The low guttural moan of satisfaction from the artist's lips, caused Torrey to suck harder at the bit of flesh in her mouth. Torrey slipped another finger inside and three fingers drove themselves deep inside Taylor's writhing body, and she lifted her hips to meet each thrust and drive it deeper.

"Oh...Torrey..." Were the last strained words the artist could gasp as she held tightly to the headboard, her bucking hips suddenly stilled, letting Torrey's rhythm carry her the rest of the way. She felt her orgasm approaching like the licking flames of a fire, burning hotter and hotter until they reached her core. Then, with a powerful burst, the flames exploded and the artist began to melt.

The cry that was torn from her throat made her own ears ring.

Torrey rested her head against the artist's thigh until she looked up and saw tears escaping from the dark-haired woman's blue eyes.

"Honey, are you okay?" Torrey moved to release her fingers from their sanctuary, still buried inside the artist.

Taylor quickly moved to lock her hand around Torrey's wrist.

"Please, stay inside. Just move your body up here." Taylor implored.

The two women lay facing one another, one of Taylor's legs draped over the smaller woman's hips. Torrey brushed the tears from her lover's face and fought back her own at the sight. She kissed Taylor's lips, her eyes, and cheeks.

"I'm sorry," Taylor rasped. "It was just a little...overwhelming."

"I know sweetheart, I've got you, now." Torrey said, concluding the sentiment with a tender kiss that sliced through the remaining cords that held the artist's lonely heart together.

Taylor pulled the woman tight against her; the blonde's fingers still trapped inside the artist's sex. Torrey whispered a litany of loving words to the dark-haired woman, delighted at the feeling of being inside her lover, her fingers surrounded by soft, silken flesh. Torrey could feel the quivering and jumping of Taylor's muscles beginning to lessen as she moved her kisses to the artist neck and breasts to once again ignite the woman's smoldering passion.

Taylor found the sensation of Torrey's powerful back muscles thoroughly erotic as she slid her hand up and down and across the writer's skin. She savored the exquisite touch as soft warm lips caressed her neck and shoulders, and closing her eyes, she began to rock her hips against the hand that started to move in a slow deliberate rhythm. Torrey's lips found her own and as their tongues met, Taylor felt a burning heat sear its way to her center.

Torrey felt the kiss to her very soul, its gentleness infused with an unbelievable passion. She felt a renewed wetness coat her hand, even as Taylor's sex drew her fingers in deeper. Torrey continued the even motion, the wet friction causing Taylor's inner muscles to betray her, beginning to quiver in anticipation, As Torrey gently guided her hand in and out, her thumb reached up to stroke the hard nub of flesh at the top of her cleft. Taylor's inner muscles clutched desperately at the receding fingers, the same muscles spreading to receive them as they penetrated her again and again.

Her climax was just as intense this time, but the feel of Torrey wrapped so tightly around her, calmed the artist. "Oh, Torrey...yes" Taylor groaned, her head thrown back, her body convulsing and shuddering in rapturous release.

Torrey finally slipped her fingers from her lover's haven, only to bring them to her own lips, savoring the wetness that coated them

Once Taylor found her voice she smiled at her lover. "Dear, God, woman. If you were eighteen you'd kill me!"

"I want you so much, Torrey. I want to make you mine" Taylor breathed in a sultry voice

"Oh love, I've always been yours for the taking." Torrey replied breathlessly.

Taylor pressed the full length of her body against Torrey, feeling the woman's hips press up urgently against her own. Torrey's moans were captured by the artist's mouth as her lips hungrily devoured the woman beneath her. Taylor's lips found their way around the writer's neck, then to an earlobe that she sucked on, lightly nipping at it with her teeth. Eventually the artist began to whisper a string of teasingly erotic words into the younger woman's ear, the artist's moist breath combined with the content of her speech causing Torrey to shiver uncontrollably.

Taylor's fingers caressed her lover's firm breasts, thumbs reaching out to lightly brush over the nipples. Torrey gasped and the artist watched in loving fascination as the small areas of flesh hardened in response to her touch.

"Mmmm," Taylor hummed, placing a delicate kiss on each nipple. "I like the way they respond to my touch."

She traced large circles around the erect nipples with her tongue, making the circles smaller and smaller until Torrey ached at the hot breath that spread across the hard nubs, but hadn't yet touched them. Taylor reached out with the tip of a pink tongue to flick the tip in a teasing manner. Rolling the nipples between her thumbs and index fingers, she lightly pulled them, the squeezing sensation nearly sending Torrey into the stratosphere.

Taylor's hand took its time as it slid down the woman's belly to bury itself within the light colored curls, glistening with moisture. Torrey eagerly spread her legs wider. The artist's breath caught at the sensation of the velvety softness that lingered there. Torrey moaned loudly when she felt Taylor's strong fingers glide across the wetness, the artist's fingertips swirling around the hardened bundle of nerves.

Taylor kept her fingers away from the nub of flesh that begged for attention, instead preparing to suck on the hardened nipple that Torrey arched her back to present to her.

"Please..." Torrey begged.

Taylor complied, her lips covering the nipple, her tongue gently, then more firmly, swirling around the nub of flesh. Taylor could feel Torrey press herself up against her face, ultimately crying out her need.

"Please, Taylor...harder."

Taylor sucked at the hard bit of flesh in her mouth hungrily, while at the same time moving her fingers to stroke Torrey's clit in small circular motions. The action nearly caused Torrey's body to spasm off the bed. Taylor smiled what Torrey thought was an altogether wicked smile, as the artist released the nipple and let her tongue create a path of burning fire down the woman's body.

Knowing where Taylor was headed only served to add fuel to Torrey's already flaming libido. She parted her legs wider, groaning in frustration as Taylor licked the inside of her drenched thigh.

"Taylor...I--" Torrey's hips writhed involuntarily, begging for a more intimate contact, but at the same time Torrey's body seemed to be pulling back.

Taylor felt the small blonde's body tense and looked up to catch the look of concern in the woman's face.

"Honey, what is it?" Taylor inquired tenderly, moving her body up to cradle Torrey in her arms.

"It's just that...I mean, you going down on me..." Torrey seemed frustrated at her inability to voice her concerns.

"It's okay, baby. If you don't like that, I don't have to." Taylor wanted to reassure her lover, desperately trying to keep the disappointment from her own voice.

"No, it's not that. It's...I've never had anyone...oh, God I never thought this would be so embarrassing." Torrey stammered.

It took every bit of restraint the artist had not to smile at her lover. "Are you trying to say no one has ever--"

"No." Torrey quickly answered. "It's just that it seemed so special. I could never see sharing it with anyone else. I always wanted it to be you. This sounds very stupid when you say it out loud, you know?"

"No, honey, it doesn't sound stupid at all." Taylor said in soothing tones. "I can't even begin to tell you how I feel. It's like being honored with a very special gift." Taylor captured Torrey's lips in a kiss filled with desire. "Let me show you how I'd like to thank you for this beautiful gift." The artist finished, once again sliding her body and positioning it between Torrey's legs.

Taylor moved her index finger down to her lover's curly triangle and ran her finger along the length of the moist outer lips, capturing the drops of wetness coated there. The artist closed her eyes at the incredible taste that filled her mouth as she slipped her finger between her own lips.

Torrey writhed at the sight. "Oh, Taylor, I want you...I need you, please." Torrey begged in a pleading voice that Taylor had fantasized about hearing a thousand times.

Taylor's head bent and it seemed to take an eternity, but her tongue reached out and tenderly lapped at the gift before her. It wasn't fast, or overly gentle, but a firm, slow exploration of the taste and texture that belonged to the woman she had been in love with for so very long. That first taste, however, was enough to drive away all sense of reason and control, which Taylor once possessed. The artist gave in to the frantic pleadings of the woman who wrapped tense fingers in her ebony locks, and with an experienced tongue and practiced fingers, she took her lover as hard and fast as the woman dictated.

Torrey cried out Taylor's name as she exploded in orgasm. Her body arched as the waves of release crashed through her body just as the waves hit the rocks below their window. Her muscles went limp, and then her body shuddered and tightened as a series of convulsive movements sped through her. As Taylor continued the penetrating motion of her hand, Torrey screamed, as a second orgasm shook her body.

"I love you," Taylor found herself whispering again into the small blonde's ear that lay wrapped protectively in the artist's strong embrace.

"I love you, Taylor...with all my heart. Can I ask you something?"

"Anything, love."

"How did you know I didn't move to Chicago to be with someone?"

"One part guess, the other part deductive reasoning. When Jess and I were talking one day, she said she couldn't remember you ever being in a relationship with anyone. That's all she said, but it stuck in the back of my brain. The other day in San Diego when we kissed, and you admitted it wasn't the first time you kissed a woman, I thought that just maybe there was a chance that you felt the same way about me as I did about you." Taylor kissed Torrey's temple, pulling her closer.

"I always thought I was an open book around you, boy was I sure wrong. I guess I hid my feelings for you too well. Once I realized that might be the case, I figured leaving, in some selfless act, would be just like you. You were always thinking of me and never yourself. Did Jess know how you felt about me?" Taylor added.

"Not until we had our talk last week. I was surprised that she guessed so quickly. Did she know about you?"

"Yep. She found...well, you know the painting on the wall? I've got about a million drawings to go along with it. I didn't mean for her to find out at all. She took it surprisingly well, though"

"I'm so sorry, I hurt you by leaving, Stretch." Torrey responded tearfully.

"It's allright, baby. We have each other now and that's all that counts. Besides, it's more my fault anyway. If I had been more responsible back then, maybe I would have been able to see what you were going through." Taylor answered, lost in her own regret.

"Your mother always knew. From the very first time we were there. Did you know that?"

"Yea, I did. She told me back then that if I didn't tell you how much I loved you, that you would give up waiting on my heart and find someone else."

There was never anyone else, Taylor. I had lovers, but I never gave my heart away to anyone. It always belonged to you."

"I feel the same way. Can I admit something embarrassing?" Taylor asked.

"Oh, is this the part about the inflatable doll?"

"You are so bad," Taylor tickled the woman in her arms until Torrey cried uncle.

"So what could you think is that embarrassing?"

"Part of the reason I needed you to slow down tonight was that it's been a good long time since I've been with a woman." Taylor admitted.

"How long?" Torrey asked curiously.

"Six years." Taylor added hesitantly.

"Wow. Your staying power was mind boggling all things considered."

"Yea, well, it wasn't like celibacy was a conscious choice, I just never wanted to be with anyone else. Even in college, even with other women, all I could ever think about was you."

"And, I slept with Stephen."

"Hey, don't forget what you're always saying...everything happens for a reason. If you had never spent that night with him, we wouldn't have Jess."

"Your mother told me the same thing this past week. Remember when she and I went out on the beach to walk and were gone so long on Thursday? She said that it was fate that brought us together again here in California and that this was the chance of a lifetime. She actually pointed out that it was meant to be that you and I never got together when we were younger. I think she was just trying to encourage me to say something to you, but what she said made sense."

Torrey turned around to tenderly kiss Taylor's lips and snuggled into the space against the artist's shoulder.

"Mom said that if you and I would have gotten together when we met it would have been disastrous. She said that I wouldn't have been what you needed, I wasn't strong enough to be your partner. She told me that I would have always been waiting for you to change and you would have grown angry with yourself because you couldn't. She said we would have ended up destroying the love we had for each other, and she was right, Stretch." Torrey turned her face up to the woman who already had tears in her eyes to match those in the writer's.

"She was completely right, Stretch. We were so young. Our love would have never survived the problems we faced, but this way, growing up apart from one another, I can honestly say that there hasn't been a day in the last fifteen years that I've been out of love with you."

"Why did you kiss me and tell me you loved me tonight?" Torrey inquired.

Taylor smiled through the tears that fell from deep blue eyes. "Because my mother told me to."