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Friday, April 18

Sarah’s house, late night:
Sarah waved good-bye to Tedd and Grace as they walked down the driveway back to their car. She closed the door, shut off the lights in the family room, and stalked up to her room, trying very hard not to stomp. Since what she really wanted to do was slam her door, she closed it as gently as she could. She took a deep breath at the sound of the quiet click, then scowled at her cold, empty, lonely bed. “Frak! I'm so damn horny!” She hissed the words under her breath, hoping her parents wouldn't hear her, but she was at her wits' end. She was deeply regretting not having jumped into bed with Tedd and Grace on their second date when she'd had the chance. Heck, at this point she was regretting not sleeping with them on their first date.
Who knew that that would be our last opportunity?
She knew, intellectually, that it hadn’t really been their last chance; it was just that she was anxious, in both senses of the word, to get on with it. The opportunity for sex had been there, but she hadn’t been ready for it, then, on their second—or first—date.However, no other opportunities had presented themselves since then. For the past three weeks.Frak, she repeated to herself. And it all started so well…
Monday, March 31

School Cafeteria, before first bell:
Sarah found the Monday morning following their first dates to be entertaining.She looked up from her sketchbook as Susan sat down at the table across from her. Students were trickling into the cafeteria, hanging out and waiting for the first bell to start the school day. The buzz of conversation was a little more lively than usual for a Monday morning, as people caught up on who had done what over spring break.“Hey, Susan.”“Hey yourself. So, how was your date?”Sarah smiled, and countered, “Which one?”Susan looked nonplussed. “What, you had more than one?”“Well, the first one went well, so we figured, hey, might as well give it a second shot. We watched Serenity Saturday night.”“Hadn’t you seen Serenity already?”Sarah laughed. “Really? That’s the next question to come to mind?”“Well, two dates, and your satisfied smile, seem to indicate that you’re happy with how it went. So, yeah; I know you’ve seen Firefly. Why hadn’t you seen Serenity already?”“I had seen it, actually, but only once, a few years ago, so we decided to re-watch it.”“Well, it’s worth re-watching.”“Yeah, you and Elliot should do a show on it. You could even do a series, Joss Whedon’s Greatest Hits. Which would probably be about everything he’s ever done, I guess.”“Except maybe Alien Resurrection.”“Really? He did that?” Sarah frowned. “Which one was that? The prison planet?”“No, that was Alien 3. Resurrection was where they cloned Ripley.”“Oh, yeah. That wasn’t too bad, until the gooey alien at the end. At least Ripley was bad-ass.”“Ripley is always bad-ass,” said Tedd, as he dropped into the chair next to Sarah. Sarah smiled at him.“Hi, cutie,” she said.“Hey there, Sare,” he replied. Sarah took his hand and kissed it. Tedd grinned, and kissed her hand back.“You keep rolling your eyes like that, you’ll go cross-eyed,” Sarah warned Susan.“You weren’t even looking at me. What makes you think I was rolling my eyes?”“I can hear you rolling them.”Susan snorted, and Tedd laughed.“Why is Susan going cross-eyed?” asked Elliot, as he and Ashley sat down next to Susan.“Hi, guys,” Ashley said.“From cute overload. Welcome back,” said Susan. Elliot looked across the table at Tedd and Sarah, still holding hands and smiling at each other.“Ah. Yeah, I see what you mean.” Sarah and Tedd looked away from each other to their friends on the other side of the table. “So I guess questions about how your, uh, weekend went…”“You mean our… date?” Sarah asked, arching her eyebrows and giving the word portentous weight. She noticed that Ashley didn’t seem surprised at the word “date”; well, it made sense that Elliot would have filled her in.“Uh, yeah, that.” His gaze kept flicking back and forth between Sarah and Tedd, as if trying to process two of his oldest friends holding hands. “And, uh, Grace? Is she, that is, was she…”Sarah suppressed a giggle at his discomfort. She knew it wasn’t kind, but she felt some little glee at disconcerting her ex.“Yeah, Grace was with us too,” said Tedd. “Is with us.”“Wonderful! That’s so cool!” said Ashley.“Cool?” asked Susan.“Yeah, poly relationships are cool. And it’s great that they’ve all found each other. I know Elliot has been worried about Sarah, and…” Elliot made a quiet little distressed noise at the back of his throat. Ashley’s face started to color. “Um, that is… I mean, I… I think I’ll shut up now.”Sarah felt a moment’s guilt about her previous glee; no matter what else, Elliot really did care about her, and Tedd. “That’s sweet, Elliot, but, really, I’m fine. Have been fine.”“More than fine,” Tedd put in, prompting another eye roll from Susan.“But, seriously,” Elliot said. “You guys… all three of you… are, um, dating?”“Well, yeah,” said Sarah.“Is that really so hard to believe?” Tedd asked.“No… well, okay, actually, yes. I mean, you and Grace are such a, a, tight pair. It’s hard to imagine anyone else fitting into that relationship. Even someone as wonderful as Sarah.”Tedd smiled at that. “I agree; she’s wonderful. Grace thinks so too. To quote something Grace said, when we asked Sarah out, we’re happy together, and we wanted to see if we could make that ‘we’ a little bigger. All of us happy together.”Elliot looked at Sarah. “And you’re okay with this, ah, three-way?”“We call it a triad, and yes, I’m more than okay. I’m pleased and flattered that they want me to join them.”“You weren’t here last week for the endless debates about it beforehand,” put in Susan drily.“They weren’t endless!” protested Sarah. “Just one evening’s discussion.”“And a few phone calls. And texts.”“Eh…” Sarah shrugged. “Well. Okay, yeah, it required a bit of getting used to the idea, but, really, what’s weirdest about it is how not-weird it feels. It just feels natural.”“And all three of you… do you… I mean, you know…” Elliot trailed off, looking distinctly uncomfortable.“Um…” Tedd glanced sideways at Sarah.Sarah gave Elliot a flat stare. “And just what were you and Ashley doing last Thursday night?” Ashley squeaked and buried her face in her hands.Elliot frowned. “That’s hardly any—Oh. Um. Sorry. Question withdrawn.” At least he had the grace to look embarrassed for asking the question.Susan asked curiously, “What were you and Ashley doing on Thursday? I thought you were out of town.”Elliot gave her an exasperated what do you think? look. Susan held up her hands and said, “Okay, okay, right, question also withdrawn.”“Elliot flew in for a little visit,” put in Tedd helpfully. Sarah poked him in the ribs with her elbow, as Elliot glowered at him.“Embarrassingly personal questions aside, I’m quite happy with my new boyfriend and girlfriend,” said Sarah. She smiled shyly at Tedd, who smiled back. “And they’re both wonderful kissers.”Susan clapped her hands over her ears. “Gah! That question had been withdrawn!” she protested, prompting a laugh from everyone.Elliot opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but then he closed it and shook his head.“What?” Sarah asked.“Nothing.” Sarah just kept looking at him, eyebrow arched. “Okay, not nothing, it’s just… I was wondering. Why is it that all my girlfriends, past and present, are bi, or gay?”Sarah and Ashley laughed. Sarah said, “And all my boyfriends change into women sometimes, or were born female. It’s not like any of us here are exactly ‘normal’ when it comes to gender roles.”“Hey, speak for yourself,” Susan said. “I’m straight. And always a woman, barring that one birthday party.”Tedd grinned. “Well, sure, if anyone here was going to uphold societal standards for ‘normal’ behavior, of course it would be you.” Everyone at the table except Susan laughed.“You take that back!” Susan didn’t seem angry so much as extremely disconcerted at Tedd’s observation.“Okay, okay, I take it back. You’re not normal.”“Humph. Damn straight.”“Well, yes, that was the point,” Tedd said, prompting several groans. “So I guess that means you won’t be going out on a date with Elliot and Ashley next weekend?”Sarah winced a little at the comment; Tedd didn’t know that Susan had had a bit of a crush on Elliot, but had done her best to suppress her feelings when she realized she wasn’t ready to date.Fortunately, Susan seemed to take the jest in stride. She shook her head.“That’s great for you guys and your non-traditional dating arrangements, but, boringly, I’m only interested in men. So unless you’ve acquired the ability to turn into a man, Ashley?—”Ashley laughed and shook her head. “Nope.”“—Just checking. You never know, around here. So you can leave me out of any of your romantic plans for next weekend. Now, as for non-romantic plans—”Susan was cut off by the ringing of the first bell. A collective groan went up around the cafeteria, followed by the thunder of chairs scraping across linoleum as everyone got up to head to their classes.“See you at lunch.”“Later!”“Bye.”Elliot and Ashley exchanged a quick kiss before they headed in opposite directions. Sarah gave Tedd’s hand a little squeeze before letting go as they stood up. They smiled at each other, but didn’t kiss; they had agreed to keep PDAs to a minimum at school, at least at the start.“See you after school?” Tedd asked.“Count on it,” Sarah replied.She was surprised that the cheery feeling in her heart was enough to make even Sociology seem more tolerable.
Tuesday, April 1

Phone call, after dinner:
“I swear, if Marcella spent even half the time working on this dang project that she spends on making excuses, we’d have been done last week. So, no, I won’t be seeing you guys tonight. Pray for my GPA.”
Wednesday, April 2

Sarah’s house, after school:
“What’re you planning on studying at college?” Grace asked. “Something to do with art, I assume?”“Yeah. I’m not sure exactly what kind; I may study graphic design just to be sure of having a paying job, as my father says, but I also want to explore other media. I mean, I do a lot of sketching because it’s affordable, but I’d like to try some other stuff too.”“Like painting?”“Yeah, I’ll give that a try, but what I’m really anxious to try is ceramics. I only had a little bit of it in my high school art classes, but I really enjoyed what I did.”“Sculpture? Or pottery?”“Either. Both. I don’t know; that’s part of what I want to explore.”“And hopefully you’ll survive the life drawing classes without your head exploding.”
Thursday, April 3

After-dinner:
Sarah’s phone rang while she was clearing the dinner dishes from the table.“H’lo… Oh, hi, how’re you doing?” Sarah set some plates down by the sink and went back to the table. “Uh, sure, no problem, I’ll be there at five… okay… yeah, thanks. Bye.” She hung up her phone, then stared at it for a few moments before muttering “Frak!” She shoved it back into her pocket with a frown.Her mother looked up from the sink and said, with a bemused smile, “I feel like I ought to take offense at that, but I don’t know what it means. Is something wrong?”Sarah shook herself, and forced a smile. “No, nothing wrong; I just had forgotten about a babysitting job Saturday night for the Beckers.” A night when Edward was supposed to be at a dinner meeting until at least nine or ten. “I guess it’s lucky they wanted to change the start time, so I got a reminder call.” She resumed wiping down the dinner table.“Well, at least you’ll get some spending money out of the deal,” her father said.“Yeah. So, I won’t be here for dinner Saturday, Dad; they usually give us pizza money when I’m there before six.”Feh. Pizza instead of a date. What a trade-off, she grumbled to herself.
Friday, April 4
Sarah had been surprised when Elliot had proposed a double-date going out to a movie with the triad, but Tedd had responded so cheerfully in the affirmative that she had no desire to say no. Truth to tell, she was curious to get to spend some more time with Ashley. She hadn’t spent much time with her outside of school, and knew little of what kind of person she was. As her relationship with Tedd and Grace grew stronger, her mild jealousy of Ashley was fading, but she remained curious as to what kind of person her old friend had taken up with after breaking up with her.When she had mentioned such to Grace, she’d been surprised to find Grace was also curious. “She seems nice, but Nanase feels like she’s too nice sometimes.”“Too nice? How?”“Like, when she found out Nanase had magic abilities, she didn’t grill her about it. She just said, ‘tell me whatever you’re comfortable sharing’, and left it at that.”“That fiend! She must be stopped!”Grace laughed. “Yeah, I’m not totally sure where Nanase was coming from either.”“If anyone was going to be found guilty of being too nice, surely it would be you.” She gave Grace a quick kiss on the cheek, and was rewarded with a smile.For all that, Sarah found nothing objectionable about Ashley’s behavior during the movie. She even seemed to be going out of her way to make sure she didn’t make Sarah uncomfortable, subtly dodging Elliot to avoid too many PDAs.Once again, while at the movie, Sarah sat between Grace and Tedd, and they switched off holding her hand or putting an arm around her shoulder. Elliot gave that a couple of covert glances during the film, but he seemed to be getting used to—or perhaps resigned to—the idea of the three of them together.After the film, they went to a diner for a snack. As they chatted and picked at an oversized plate of fries, Sarah suddenly giggled.“What’s funny?” asked Tedd.“I was just thinking—with just a few little, ah, alterations on your and Elliot’s part, this could be a girls’ night out.”Ashley and Grace both laughed at that, as Tedd and Elliot exchanged long-suffering looks.“Little alterations?” asked Elliot drily.Ashley gave Tedd a speculative look. “Do you—” she broke off, looking embarrassed.“Do I what?” asked Tedd.Ashley glanced quickly at Elliot, then leaned closer to the triad sitting across the table from the two of them and lowered her voice. “I mean, if you don’t mind my asking?” Tedd shrugged. “Do you have a lot of, uh, different female forms?”Sarah looked at Tedd, who was sitting in the booth between herself and Grace. She was curious too. He leaned forward and dropped his voice as well. “Well, like Elliot, I think I’m pretty much limited only by my imagination. But, that said, I use just one form, like, ninety percent of the time.” He shrugged. “It’s just… my female self. Since I’m not a superhero, I don’t have the need for a lot of disguise forms.”“Well, it’s not always for disguise,” Elliot put in. “Sometimes…” He paused, blushing slightly. His gaze flicked over to Sarah, then back to the fries. He grabbed a few and shoved them into his mouth.“Sometimes?” Grace prompted.Elliot chewed and swallowed. “Well… it can be fun to just be someone else, sometimes.”“Like Heidi?” Sarah asked teasingly.“Heidi? Who’s Heidi?” asked Ashley.“Uh, that was what Melissa named my ‘party girl’ form, and the name kinda stuck.”“I really wish I had access to an MRI,” said Tedd, sounding slightly aggrieved. “I would love to know if your brain’s structure actually changes to effect those personality shifts, or if it’s some other phenomenon, hormonal or magical or what.”“Well, maybe Sarah and I can pool our resources and get you one for your birthday,” Grace said.“Riiiight. Thanks.”“I wonder if you could do a research project on something like that at MIT?” Sarah added thoughtfully. “Seems like that would be a legitimate area of research.”Tedd’s eyebrows shot up. “Say, Elliot, think you could fly out to Massachusetts occasionally for some scans?”Elliot shook his head. “Even at my best speed, that would be several hours each way.” Tedd stared at him, puppy-dog-eyed, and Elliot sighed. “Maybe. Once.”“You’ll be studying, uh, magic, at MIT?” asked Ashley, eyes wide.“The year after next,” Tedd said.“We’re taking a gap year,” Grace explained.“Uh, that’s cool, but, I mean—Magic? At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology?”“Shhh!” Elliot cautioned her.Ashley leaned in and dropped her voice back down again. “But—really?”Tedd grinned. “They’re not completely incompatible. That’s a large part of what I study. The interaction of magic and alien technology.”“Alien technology?” Ashley squeaked.“Shhh!” Elliot looked around nervously. Sarah wasn’t as concerned; the ambient noise level in the diner was pretty high. All three members of the triad looked at Elliot questioningly.“What?” he said defensively. “I was told not to tell her more than was necessary.”“But—I mean—aliens—you—they’re real?” Ashley whispered intensely.“Uh, yeah,” Tedd admitted. There was hardly any point in denying it now.“Wow.” Ashley sat back, staring at Tedd with wide eyes. “Have you ever, uh, actually met one?”Sarah covered her mouth with her hand and tried not to giggle. Tedd sucked in both his lips, biting them, then he gave up, grinned, and said, “Yeah. So have you.”“I—what? Who?”Grace smiled and wiggled her fingers at her in a little wave. “Hi there!”Ashley opened and closed her mouth several times, but no words came out as she stared at Grace. Her breathing got ragged, and Sarah couldn’t tell if she was going to stop breathing altogether or start hyperventilating.Elliot put an arm around Ashley’s shoulders, and squeezed. “Breathe, honey,” he encouraged her. Ashley took a deep breath and held it for a moment before blowing it out explosively.“Though, technically, I’m no more an alien than you are Chinese. I was also born in America,” Grace added reassuringly.“Oh, well, that’s all right then,” Ashley said, a little hysterically. She blinked several times, then shook her head, “Wait, so there are aliens living here having kids? And sending them to school?”“Well, everyone needs an education,” Tedd said.“And I’m not completely alien. I’m part human, too. Among other things.”“Other things.” Ashley seemed to have settled on hyperventilating, and Sarah was becoming concerned for her.“Do you need a paper bag to breathe into?” Sarah asked her.Ashley’s focus shifted to Sarah. She visibly struggled to regulate her breathing, then said, “So you—you’re dating a sex-changing magician and an alien. What are you? A succubus?”Sarah giggled at the thought of being a seductive sex demon. “No. I’m pretty boringly human.”“Except for what?” asked Ashley.“Beg pardon?”“Well, Elliot’s human, except he’s also a superhero. Tedd’s human, except he’s also a magician.”“Well, not technically a magician—” Tedd began.“Grace is human except she’s part alien. So, what are you?”“Human. Boringly human.” She hesitated, then added, “Well, I know a couple of spells. But I’m not a wizard by any means.”“Hah.”“Maybe we should continue this conversation elsewhere?” Elliot suggested. “Like my house, or Tedd’s?”Sarah looked around. So far, they seemed not to have attracted any attention, their conversation low-pitched enough to avoid being overheard in the noisy diner. Still, there was no point in pushing their luck. “Yeah, let’s boogie.”They pooled their money to pay for their food and drinks, and Sarah reminded Tedd that ten percent was not an acceptable tip. Her sister Carol had worked as a waitress in college, and Sarah had heard her complaining too often about high school kids who under-tipped, or didn’t tip at all.Grace took the middle spot in the back seat on the ride home, happily squeezing in between Tedd and Sarah. Ashley was surprisingly quiet on the drive to the Dunkels' house, and the others let the silence hold sway, giving her time to process. That it also gave them time for a few quick kisses was a pleasant bonus.“You’re sure it’s okay if your parents overhear us talking about this stuff?” Ashley asked, as they walked from the car to the house.“Oh, yeah, they’re fully clued in,” Elliot said.“If it wasn’t for his parents, I don’t think Elliot would keep up-to-date in reading his spell book at all,” Tedd added.“That’s not true!” Elliot protested. Tedd laughed. “Well, mostly not true,” he grudgingly amended.“Yeah, sometimes it’s Ellen who bugs him to do his reading,” Grace put in as they entered the house.“Hi, Mom,” Elliot said, as they walked in through the kitchen. Mrs. Dunkel looked up and smiled.“Hello, everyone. How was the movie?”“Pretty good, as long as you didn’t think too hard about the laws of physics,” Tedd said.“An odd comment, coming from you. You treat the laws of physics like vaguely worded suggestions sometimes,” said Elliot.“Well, yeah, but that’s magic. That movie was purportedly ‘science’ fiction, with aliens and spaceships, not magic. It went a little light on the science.”“Speaking of aliens, Ashley’s had a bit of a shock tonight, discovering that aliens are already among us. We’ve got a bit to talk about,” Elliot said.“Oh, you poor dear,” Mrs. Dunkel said. She patted Ashley on the arm. “It can be a lot to take in, at first. Would you like a nice cup of hot chocolate to soothe your nerves?”“Uh… that might be nice,” Ashley said, looking a little taken aback. “Thank you.”“You kids go on into the living room. I’ll bring out some hot cocoa and cookies in a few minutes.”“Thanks, Mom. You’re the best,” Elliot said. He bent to give her a kiss on the cheek before heading into the living room.Ashley curled up on the couch, leaning against Elliot. Tedd and Grace squeezed into an oversized comfy chair that was big enough for one and a half people, and Sarah sat on the floor at their feet, leaning against Tedd’s legs. As they settled in, Brownie came over and stepped into Sarah’s lap. She meowed at Sarah, looking her in the face. Sarah laughed. “Hello, Brownie. I’m afraid I’m not here to feed you tonight.” Brownie turned around in a circle on her lap and kneaded her legs for a moment before curling up to be petted.“So…” Tedd began. “I assume you have questions?”Ashley nodded. “But… I don’t know what I can ask.”“What do you mean, ‘can’?” asked Grace.“I mean, I don’t want to violate your privacy, or ask anything you shouldn't tell me.”“You’re this far in; there’s not a lot we can’t or shouldn’t tell you, by now,” Tedd said.“And I’m not a terribly private person,” Grace said, prompting a short laugh from Sarah and Tedd. “So, you can ask me whatever you want, as far as I’m concerned.”Ashley looked both relieved and daunted by this carte blanche. “Well… you said you’re part human, and part alien, among other things. What ‘other things’?”“Oh, that’s an easy one. I’m also part squirrel.”“Squirrel,” Ashley said flatly.“Yup,” Grace grinned.“You mean, like the fuzzy little tree rats that raid the bird feeder in my back yard, squirrel?”“Think of them as my cousins.”“Uh huh.” Ashley already seemed to be boggling, and they’d only just begun.“It might be easier to just show you,” Grace said, as she untangled herself from Tedd and stood up.“Show me?”“I’m a shape-shifter. This”—she waved a hand along her body—“is not my natural form.”“It’s not?” Ashley's eyes went wide.“Nope. This is.” Grace shifted to her natural squirrel-human hybrid self. Shorter than her human guise, fur-covered, with furry antennae and a large bushy tail, which poked against the back of her pants and caused them to fall down around her ankles. The shirt she was wearing was long enough to function as a mini-dress when she was this size.For the first time since hearing the news about the reality of aliens, Ashley smiled. “Oh, my god, you’re so cute!” Then she blushed and covered her mouth. “I’m sorry, is that offensive?”Grace laughed. “Not at all. I like being cute.”Brownie looked up at Grace and hopped out of Sarah’s lap. She circled Grace, sniffing at her, then yowled.“No, you can’t chase me around the yard,” Grace told her. “Sorry, Brownie.”“Can you talk to animals?” Ashley asked, sounding incredulous.“Only when I’m in this form,” Grace said. Brownie meowed again, and Grace sighed and added, “Not that I always want to know what they’re saying, mind you.”“Why? What did she say?” asked Sarah.“Squirrels are delicious.” Grace meowed back at Brownie, and Brownie turned her back on Grace and stalked back to resume her place in Sarah’s lap. Sarah and Ashley giggled.Grace stepped out of her pants, panties, and socks that had puddled around her ankles on the floor. She pulled an arm into the shirt, and wiggled around a moment before pushing her arm back out with her bra in hand, which she dropped onto the pile of clothes. She walked over to sit down next to Ashley.“So. Yeah. Squirrel.”Ashley reached out a hand, then hesitated. “Can I p—uh, touch you?”Grace grinned. “Were you about to ask, can you pet me?” Ashley blushed and nodded. “Of course you can.” She held out an arm, and Ashley gently ran her hand down the length of it.“Oh! Your fur is so soft!”“Thanks. You wouldn’t believe how much conditioner I have to go through in a week to keep it that way.”“Really?”“No, not really. That was a joke. It’s just naturally this way.”Ashley blinked a few times, and looked like she was wrestling with a question.“What?” asked Grace, kindly.“Do you… bathe like a squirrel?” Ashley blurted. “I mean… with your tongue?”Everyone except Grace laughed; Grace just smiled. “No, I use a shower like everyone else. Though when I shift into this form, it’s clean, and ready to go, so I don’t need to shower that often, unless I’ve been doing something particularly messy.” She exchanged a small smile with Tedd. “And I may not need a bottle of conditioner, but showering while furry does require about a half-dozen towels, afterwards.”“Oh.” Ashley seemed to suddenly realize she’d been petting Grace’s arm for the past minute, and dropped it with an embarrassed smile.“Any other questions?” asked Grace.Ashley gave a nervous little laugh. “Soooo many questions.”“Pick one.”“Uh… Shape shifter. What else can you do? Are you limited to female forms, like Elliot or Tedd?”“Nope.” Apparently deciding that a demonstration was better than words, Grace’s form shimmered and suddenly her shirt collapsed, apparently empty, onto the couch. Ashley gave a little shriek and leaned into Elliot. He wrapped a reassuring arm around her, and she seemed to take comfort from the fact that no-one else was freaking out at the occurrence.Grace’s squirrel head poked up out of the neck of the shirt and she squeaked at Ashley. Ashley leaned out of Elliot’s grasp and smiled hesitantly down at Grace. “Grace? Is that you?”Grace squeaked again, and Tedd said, “The main disadvantage to this form is the lack of speech. She’ll do one-squeak-yes, two-squeaks-no if needed.”Grace disentangled herself from the shirt and slowly moved closer to Ashley, but Ashley seemed to be recovering her equilibrium. She put out a hand, and Grace shoved her head under Ashley’s palm, inviting petting. Ashley laughed, a little breathlessly, and petted her. “So… strange. To think of a person this size. And you’re not, I don’t know, as dumb as a squirrel in this form?”Grace squeaked twice, and Tedd added “She’s fully sapient in all forms. Don’t ask me how a human-level intelligence fits into a squirrel-sized brain; all I can say is ‘it’s magic’ and throw up my hands. So far.”“Question number two hundred and thirty-five on your list of things to investigate about magic,” said Sarah, who was familiar with his frustrations at having so much yet to learn.“Yeah. Though I do have some ideas about magical displacement of the cerebral functions onto a non-biological matrix in conjoined parallel or pocket universes, where—” Sarah nudged him, and he stopped and cleared his throat, looking a little abashed. “Uh, well, anyway, I’ve got a few theories.”Grace chittered, and tugged at her shirt with a fore-paw, then looked at Tedd and Sarah, her head cocked, moving her paw between the shirt and her chest.“Eh? Oh!” Sarah turned to Ashley. “I think Grace wants us to ask, do you mind if she shifts back to her natural form without any clothes on?” Grace squeaked once. “She’s pretty much as good as dressed in her fur, and she has no body modesty to speak of anyway.”“Uh…” Ashley looked at Elliot, who shrugged.“We’re all used to seeing her that way, she’s just trying to be polite to you,” he said.“Well, okay, I guess,” Ashley said.Grace sat up and flopped back so she was sitting on her tail with her back to the couch, an odd looking pose for a squirrel, but one which allowed her to shift back to her natural form sitting in place, not crouched on all fours.“So, no, I’m not limited to just female forms,” said Grace. “Or even human ones.”“Um…” Ashley’s gaze flicked up and down the length of Grace’s body, blushing as she did so. She looked like she was trying to lock her gaze on Grace’s face, but she kept peeking down. Sarah had gotten so used to seeing Grace in her furry form that she didn’t really think of her as ‘naked’ like this, but apparently Ashley didn’t view it the same way. As long as Grace sat with her legs fairly close together, the fur on her legs and abdomen hid her genitals. And as far as Sarah had been able to determine, in this form her nipples were the same color as her skin, with no areola, and thus were basically invisible under her fur. Although maybe not when they were erect? Sarah shivered a little, thinking of exploring that in more intimate detail, then pushed the lascivious thought aside. Later, she thought. Though hopefully not too much later.Mrs. Dunkel entered the living room with a plate of cookies in hand, and gave a startled gasp. “Oh! Grace! I wasn’t expecting… it’s nice to see you in your natural state, dear,” she recovered.“Thank you, Mrs. Dunkel,” said Grace.Tedd stood up and took the plate from her, placing it on the coffee table. “Thanks,” he said.“That’s just the cookies,” Mrs. Dunkel said. “I’ll be back in a moment with the cocoa.”“Let me help,” said Tedd, and he followed her back into the kitchen. They returned momentarily, Tedd carrying two mugs, for himself and Sarah. Mrs. Dunkel had three mugs. She handed the first two to Elliot and Ashley, then hesitated at Grace.“Can you have chocolate?” she asked. “I know it’s not good for dogs, but I’m not sure about squirrels.”Grace smiled widely. “It’s fine for squirrels, and if I couldn’t eat chocolate in any form, it would be a tragedy. Thank you, Mrs. Dunkel,” she said, taking the mug from her.“Please, you kids should start calling me Karen. You’re all adults now.”“Okay, Karen,” said Elliot, grinning.His mother slapped his arm playfully. “Not you, silly. You still get to call me Mom.”“Thank you… Karen,” said Ashley. Then she grimaced. “Out of all the odd things happening tonight, why does that feel like one of the weirdest?”“Probably because it’s closest to ‘normal’ life. Everything else is so far outside of the ordinary that it’s in a category of its own,” observed Tedd.“And, trust me, he has some experience with things outside of the ordinary,” Sarah said.“I’m off to bed,” said Karen. “Don’t stay up too late, and make sure poor Ashley doesn’t get too overwhelmed.”“G’night Mom.”“Good night, Mrs.—er, Karen.”“Good night.”Everyone sipped at their hot chocolate, and grabbed a cookie or three from the plate.Ashley’s fascination for Grace seemed to have transferred to her tail, which was twitching between her and Grace. She reached out a hesitant hand, then asked, “Do you mind?”Grace looked over at her, her mouth full of cookie. “Mm-mmm?”“May I stroke your tail?”Grace nodded, and swallowed. “My friends are almost always welcome to pet me. I’m a little more, uh, tactile than most people. I’m happy to be touching someone I like, when I can.”Ashley handed her mug to Elliot, and stroked Grace’s tail, gently at first, then, a little more boldly. She pulled it towards herself so she was almost hugging it; it was almost as large as she was. Grace laughed, and twitched the tip across Ashley’s nose, making her jump.Sarah stopped mid-chew, surprised to find she was experiencing a twinge of jealousy watching them. What, she’s got Elliot, and now she wants Grace too? she thought irritably. Then she felt Tedd’s hand on her shoulder, giving her a little squeeze. He bent his head towards hers. “Grace cuddles with everyone,” he murmured sotto voce. “Get used to it, and strive for compersion.”Sarah flushed, and swallowed. Was I that obvious? She looked at the three on the couch. None of them seemed to be paying her any attention, although she would be willing to bet that Grace had heard Tedd. She sighed, and leaned back against his legs, resting her head on his knee. “Right. Thanks,” she said quietly. I know that. It’s just that it’s Ashley that’s making me a little… grumpy. She calmed a little more as Tedd began stroking her hair, and she nibbled on her cookie as she relaxed into his caress.“So, do all aliens look like squirrels, or is it just you?” asked Ashley.Grace chuckled. “Just me. I’m… well, let’s just say, I was a test-tube baby, mixing a variety of races and species. My alien progenitors don’t look very human at all, aside from being bipedal and humanoid in shape. More like something from The X-Files.”Tedd laughed. “I’m going to tell William you said that.”“I think he’ll be amused,” said Grace.“William?” asked Ashley.“A local non-human, a Uryuom.”“Uri-ohm?”“Uryuom. They’re one of the more common alien species residing on Earth, and they’re also shapeshifters, which is where I get my abilities from.”“So, a… local alien, a Uryuom, is named William?”“Well, they can’t very well call themselves by their actual names and expect to blend in; most people can’t pronounce them, for one thing.”“Okay. Wow.” Ashley took her mug back from Elliot and took a sip, looking thoughtful.Sarah’s eyes drifted shut as she relaxed under Tedd’s stroking hand. His touch was wonderfully soothing. She would not have believed she drifted off for a few minutes, except that when she opened her eyes, Grace was dressed again, and looked like a very old skinny white man.“Mwuh? What?” Sarah mumbled.“Hello, sleepy head,” Tedd said, giving her a kiss on the top of her head.“I’m not sleepy,” she protested feebly, prompting a round of laughter. She sat up, and stretched her neck, which had a small crick in it. “Ow. Well, maybe.” She looked around, and realized that not only was Grace in a very different form, but Tedd was female now too.“Did you have a good nap?” asked Elliot.“Uh… I guess? How long was I out?”“Only about twenty minutes,” said Grace, in a creaky old-man voice.Sarah shook her head, and tried to bring her brain back up to speed. “So, I’m guessing I missed the morphing demonstrations?”“Yeah,” said Ashley. “It was really cool!” Her earlier nerves seemed to have disappeared.“And you too?” she asked Tedd.“I just wanted to show her my female self.”“Okay.” Sarah tried to suppress a yawn, then gave up and yawned wide. “I’m sorry, I think I need to head home.”“Yeah, it’s getting late,” said Elliot.“We can give you a lift home,” said Grace, sounding normal. Sarah looked back at her, and she was in her usual human form.“Thanks.”“You want a lift, Ashley?” asked Tedd.“I’ll drive her home,” said Elliot.“Of course,” said Tedd.They all got up and headed back to the front door via the kitchen, putting their mugs by the sink as they passed. “I’ll load the dishwasher when I get back,” Elliot said. Sarah smiled sleepily at him.“You’re a good person, Elliot Dunkel.” She turned to Ashley. “You take good care of him, all right?”Ashley smiled, then gave Sarah a hug. “I will,” she said. Sarah was startled, but after a moment’s hesitation, she returned the hug.Back at her house, when Tedd and Grace dropped her off, Sarah didn’t have the energy for protracted good-night kisses, but at least she made sure the kisses she got were a good ones.Well, it wasn’t an evening of necking and making out, but it was informative, she thought as she made her way to bed. She giggled to herself. And the look on Ashley’s face when Grace said ‘Hi’ was priceless.She was grateful she didn’t have to get up early the next day. She tumbled into bed, and passed out for twelve hours.
Saturday, April 5

Evening:
“Hello?”“Hi, Grace.”“Hey, Sarah. What’s up?”“Nothing much. I’ve put the kids to bed, finished all the homework I brought with me, and now I’m left sitting here, bored and missing you guys.”“Awww, that’s sweet. We miss you too.”“So what’re you two up to tonight?”“Nothing much, actually. Tedd collapsed into bed a few minutes ago himself, and I was just sitting here reading.”“Bed? This early? Is he sick?”“Oh, he’s fine, just exhausted. Edward decided that it was time to do some spring yard clean-up, so we spent most of the afternoon outside. It was a bit more physical labor than Tedd is used to.”“Wow. I have a hard time picturing Edward planting daffodils and raking leaves. That seems like something he would hire a gardener for.”“Well, I believe his line of thought was, why hire a lawn service when you have two healthy teen-agers living under your roof.”“Hah. Sounds like my dad. So I take it you’re not as wiped out as Tedd.”“Well, I get more exercise than he does, working out with Greg and Ellen.”“Oh, right. How’s that going?”“Eh, it’s going. I don’t think I’m ever going to really enjoy it for its own sake, the way Ellen, or Justin, or Nanase do, but I’m getting better. Although I do like knowing how to subdue an opponent without hurting or killing them, if I can.”“Yeah… Hmm…”“…You still there?”“Oh, yeah, I was just thinking about fighting. It’s not something normal people have to worry about much, but—we’re not normal people, are we? These weird situations keep happening to us. I was just wondering if maybe I should learn some self-defense too? I might not always be able to hide behind you, or Elliot, or Ellen.”“It couldn’t hurt. And it’s a great way to stay in shape.”“Humph. Or get into shape, in my case.”“I love your shape, sweetie.”“Um… Thank you? I love your shape too. All your shapes… Heh.”“What’s so funny?”“I was just thinking of all your shapes, which reminded me of your squirrel form. Which reminded me of our trip with Susan to check out the hammers, which made me realize, I’ve already slept with you, on that trip. When you were in squirrel form.”“Well, yes, but that was literally sleeping together, not a euphemism for making love.”“I know, I know. Still… I, uh, look forward to being… less literal, and more euphemistic, with you, sometime.”“Ooh! Why, Ms. Brown, are you propositioning me?”“Well… you and Tedd. I wouldn’t dream of leaving Tedd out of this.”“Of course not.”“But… yes?”“Yes?”“Yes… I guess I am propositioning you.”“Oh, sweetie. That’s so mean, doing that over the phone where I can’t touch you.”“I know, I know. But, I don’t think I could be quite so bold, in person.”“But you do mean it?”“God, yes. Do you have to ask?”“Well… yes. That’s what the word ‘consent’ is about.”“Grace, my lovely squirrel, you have my consent to do… uh, whatever it is we end up doing. I want you, and I want to do all sorts of sexy things with you and Tedd.”“…”“Grace? Are you still there? Nuts, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”“No, no, sweetie. It’s fine. More than fine. I was just… momentarily surprised by how good it felt. To hear that.”“Oh. That’s good, right?”“Very good. There’s nothing quite as sexy…”“…As sexy as what?”“Sarah? Sweetie? I want you.”“…Oh. That. Ah. Hmm. Yes.”“So. How red is your face right now?”“Heh. Actually… not as much as I might have expected… There’s something… uplifting? Uh, inspiring? Stimulating? About hearing… that.”“That I want you?”“…Unf. Yeah. And, just to be clear, I, uh, want you. Too.”“You sounded a little hesitant there.”“I want you. Tease.”“Ah, there we go.”“You are a wonderful girlfriend, you know that?”“Well, I try to be worthy of my wonderful girlfriend. And boyfriend.”“Actually, I should have just said, you’re an amazingly wonderful friend. Even before you became my girlfriend. You do know what an incredibly wonderful person you are, don’t you?”“Um…”“You’re so sweet, and kind, and caring. You’re warm and smart and funny and affectionate. You’re just a joy to be around, and I am so lucky to know you. That you want to be my girlfriend is even more awesome.”“Uh…”“…Grace? Are you crying?”“…No. I just got something in my eye.”“Oh, sweetie. Sending you big virtual hugs.”“Yah. Sometimes I hate phones. I just want to hold you right now.”“Me too. But, it probably would have taken me weeks more to work up the nerve to say I want you in person, so, phones do have their uses.”“Not that you really needed to say it, of course.”“What do you mean?”“I mean, it’s always evident when you want me.”“Hunh?”“Well, when you get aroused, and wet… I can smell it.”“You what?”“Well, my sense of smell is a lot more—Sarah?… Sarah?… I can hear you hyperventilating. Are you okay?”“…yes…”“Sweetie, what’s wrong?”“I… just… I never… Um…”“That was part of why we were willing to ask you out in the first place. I was fairly certain you weren't exclusively heterosexual. Your reactions while you were sketching me made that pretty clear.”“Eeep!”“Oh, come on, Sare. It’s not that embarrassing, is it? All it means is that I knew you desired me. Which I found—find—flattering.”“Flattering.”“Knowing that you desire me? Very.”“…Okay… Right. Flattering.”“Yes. Really.”“So, uh, better hearing than normal, I already knew that one. Better sense of smell, yeah, got that now, thanks. Anything else I should know about? Taste, touch, sight?”“Well, taste is closely related smell, so it's also enhanced. Touch, not really. I think my… designers… felt that being too pain sensitive would be a liability in combat. Sight—I have 20/10 vision, which isn't totally unheard of, but it's fairly rare.”“Okay. Wow…”“Are you all right, sweetie?”“Yeah. I’m just glad the kids didn’t wake up to come downstairs to find me curled up in a fetal ball on the couch just now.”“Really?”“Well, maybe not totally curled up. But pretty close.”“Why does my knowing you desired me bother you so much?”“Eep. It’s… I don’t know. I guess it’s always been one of the perks of being female, we don’t usually have to worry about the world knowing when we’re turned on.”“If you ignore flushed cheeks and erect nipples, sure.”“That’s still not as obvious as a tent-pole in your pants. Poor boys. And… you’re right. I was a bit turned on, while sketching you. But if I’d known you could tell, I would have been, I don’t know, more discreet. I would have conducted myself in a more ‘professional’ manner.”“You didn’t hear me complaining, did you?”“I didn’t even think you could tell, so I wasn’t expecting complaints.”“And you got none. In fact, it got you asked out on a date.”“I guess.”“Furthermore, you did act in a ‘professional’ manner; you were perfectly courteous. You didn’t let your arousal affect your behavior.”“I didn’t?”“You don’t know?”“Well, no, now I’m second-guessing myself. I guess.”“Hah.”“You really didn’t mind?”“Sweetie, if I’d minded, we wouldn’t have asked you out in the first place. To be honest, it kinda turned me on, though I had to suppress that.”“Why?”“Well, one downside to being the nude model, and having no pubic hair, is that if I start dripping all over the couch, it becomes rather obvious.”“Oh. Um. Yeah.”“I mean, you could attribute my hard nipples to the cool air, but—”“Got it, got it.”“Heh. Have you got a good blush going?”“About six out of ten. Maybe six point five. Mind you, that’s down from a few minutes ago, which was a solid ten. Maybe even an eleven.”“Eleven? On a scale of one to ten?”“Right, we’re adding Spinal Tap to your list of required movie viewings.”“Okay. If you say so.”“So… whenever we’re making out—”“Well, I hardly need an enhanced sense of smell to tell you’re turned on then.”“Hah. No, I guess not.”“I’m sorry, I didn’t think this would fluster you quite so much. Should I have not told you?”“No, no. It’s in the ‘better to know’ category, I think. It will just take a little getting used to. Memo to myself: never skip my morning shower.”“You don’t need to worry about that. I like the way you smell.”“I like the way you smell too. I just didn’t know you were smelling me so much more than I was smelling you. Can you… this is probably going to sound silly—”“What’s that?”“Well, in the werewolf novels I’ve read, sometimes they can smell people’s emotions in the way their body chemistry shifts. Can you do that?”“Not… really.”“That was kinda ambivalent.”“Well, it’s a subtle thing. Usually, it’s more like, someone’s scent just confirms what I could already tell, the usual way. But scent is not a really strong cue, by itself. Body scent doesn’t usually shift as quickly as someone’s emotions do, except for some strong fight-or-flight types of responses. And, as good as my sense of smell is, it’s a lot better when I’m squirrelly.”“Do you mean your, uh, normal half-squirrel form, or when you’re a tiny little squirrel?”“Both, actually. But tiny squirrelly me has the best sense of smell.”“That makes me glad I limited my drawing sessions to nude figure studies, and not nature studies.”“Well, I doubt you could get me to hold still for long enough to draw while I was squirrelly. Unless I was asleep.”“Yeah, you’re adorable while asleep. And now I have a burning desire to sketch you in squirrel form while you’re sleeping.”“Heh. Well, next time we have a sleep-over, I’ll shift to squirrel form before going to bed.”“Next time we have a ‘sleep-over,’ I don’t think we’ll get much sleep, do you?”“I hope not.”“Do you think that will ever happen?”“What, us sleeping together? Of course. Eventually.”“Eventually. Sigh.”“Sigh? Who actually says ‘sigh’, instead of just sighing?”“I think I picked that up from reading a lot of Peanuts cartoons when I was little.”“Hunh?”“The main character, Charlie Brown, sighed a lot, which was written out in a speech bubble like ‘sigh.’ I just started saying it too.”“Cute.”“Well, I’m glad you find my quirks cute.”“That’s not all I find cute.”“Hmph… I’m kinda torn right now.”“About what?”“I want to ask you what else you find cute about me, but I’m sort of afraid to find out.”“Why afraid?”“Feh. Just insecurities. Same old baloney.”“Ach, Tedd and I have obviously been falling behind in our duties. Sarah, you are not only cute, you are beautiful.”“…”“Sare? You still there?”“Yeah. I’m just biting my tongue. As per our agreement.”“Ohh, my beautiful sweetie. If you don’t mind my asking, why is that so hard for you to hear?”“I…”“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine too.”“No… it’s just… I don’t know.”“Really?”“No, not really. I do know, or at least some of it, but it sounds stupid, and I don’t like to say it out loud.”“Okay. Well, maybe this is a conversation better had when we can cuddle you and tell you you’re beautiful, instead of over the phone.”“Actually, the phone is kinda nice for this. I can hide my face while blushing, and still talk to you. It makes it somehow less immediate, less threatening.”“Okay, then, what’s the part that you do know?”“I do think this is only part of it, but, well, you know my sister?”“Carol? Of course.”“It’s… when we were growing up. She was always the pretty one, and I was the creative one. And it’s not that my parents didn’t call me pretty, or admire me, but—Carol got the lion’s share of that. Nuts. There, is that silly and petty enough?”“I don’t think it’s silly at all. It makes sense. And it’s not petty, not if it hurt you.”“I wouldn’t call it hurt, really—”“Given how quickly you deflect or denigrate compliments, I would call it hurt. Anything that keeps you from realizing just how wonderful and special you are is hurtful.”“They didn’t mean to hurt me…”“Of course not. They’re nice people, and loving parents, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t hurt you, all unintentionally.”“And if Susan were here, she’d probably point out how society contributes to the problem, with unrealistic images of female bodies and so on.”“Sure, that may be part of it. But that isn’t what you thought of first when I asked you about the issue.”“Frak. Well, so my parents didn’t tell me I was pretty enough when I was a little kid, boo-hoo.”
“Stop that!”
“What?”“Mocking your pain.”“I’m not—”“Yes you were. Stop that. Just because it seems minor doesn’t mean it isn’t real pain.”“I… Uh…”“Sarah?”“…What did I ever do to deserve someone as wonderful as you in my life?”“Be yourself?”“I must have rescued hundreds of kittens from burning buildings in a previous life or something to deserve you. Thank you, sweetie.”“Sarah… you are beautiful. And creative, and sexy, and wonderful, and smart, and warm and grounded and kind.”“Um… I really want a hug right now. This cushion just isn’t cutting it.”“I never thought I could be jealous of a cushion. I wish I could hug you too. Big hugs, sweetie.”“Okay, maybe you were right, this conversation should be put on hold until I can get non-virtual hugs while talking about it.”“If you want. Can I just add one last thing?”“…Maybe… Are you going to embarrass me some more?”“No, I just wanted to point something out. When you make fun of yourself, you’re mocking someone I care about. Which hurts me to hear. So, for my sake, if nothing else, can you be a little kinder to yourself?”“Um… really, really want that hug now.”“Me too.”“Annnnd, on that note, I think the Beckers are pulling into the driveway. Gotta go.”“Okay. We still on for a video tomorrow night?”“Yup. See you tomorrow, sweetie.”“Sweet dreams, beautiful.”
Sunday, April 6

Tedd’s basement rec-room/lab:
The evening had been a delight. They had cuddled up together on the couch to continue their Joss Whedon review, watching Much Ado About Nothing. The previous night’s phone call had ratcheted up the level of sexual and sensual tension in their cuddling. Sarah discovered there was nothing quite as sexy as knowing you were desirable and desired. It had been wonderfully tantalizing, generating a low-key buzz of sexual warmth, keeping her nerves alight, and the casual touches and kisses they'd exchanged here and there during slow parts of the film were exhilarating. Sarah retained an awareness that Edward was upstairs, and had no desire to get more physical, but for once her flushed face wasn’t due to embarrassment.The evening ended with more good-night kisses before she headed upstairs, but she managed to pull herself out of their embraces before it got too heated.“I'm sorry,” Sarah said as she disentangled herself away from the pair, gasping slightly for breath. “I…” She blushed, but force herself on. “I really… want you. I do. But…” She glanced up the stairs.“We already said we won't do anything you're not comfortable with,” Tedd said.“Though we really want you, too, you sexy woman,” Grace purred. “Like, really want you.”Sarah couldn't help but notice Grace was breathing a little heavily, her nipples poking up through the fabric of her shirt. She was too shy to look down at Tedd's pants to see if there was a parallel response there, although she was pretty sure she had felt his erection pressing up against her at one point while they hugged.“Ah, me too, me too. Soon? I hope?” Sarah said.“Whenever we can get some time alone, perhaps?” asked Grace.“Whenever that might be,” sighed Sarah.“I’m sure that won’t be too long,” Tedd said, optimistically. An optimism that Sarah was going to look back on and laugh at, later.
Monday, April 7
“You once said ‘even small breasts like Sarah’s are sexy.’ Did you mean it?”“I did?”“That does sound like something you would say.”“Uh… I don’t recall saying that—”“Well, I’ll never forget it.”“—but it’s certainly true. Very true.”
Tuesday, April 8

School cafeteria, lunch time:
“Oh, bother,” said Sarah.“What’s wrong?” asked Tedd.“I just remembered—I’m going out of town next weekend.”“Where to?”“It’s my Gramma’s eightieth birthday. We’re going to Columbus for the weekend. Six hours in the car. Each way. Blech.”“Well, it’ll be nice to see your grandmother, won’t it?” asked Ashley.“Oh, yeah, I’ll be happy to see her, and it’ll be nice to see my cousins and such. But…” She looked at Tedd, and shrugged. “I’d rather be here, on a date.”“Ah. Yeah. Family vacations can get in the way of your love life,” commiserated Elliot.Susan smirked. “Unless you can fly home mid-trip.”“Well, yeah.” Elliot smiled and glanced sideways at Ashley, who smiled and blushed.
Wednesday, April 9

Tedd’s basement rec-room/lab:
Sarah felt like a deep sea diver coming up for air, as she disengaged from a kiss with Tedd. “Whoah,” she gasped, and looked at him. His eyes were still closed, his lips parted, as if waiting for Sarah’s mouth to return to his. The urge to do so was strong, but Sarah was aware it was getting late on a school night. And besides, as ever, Edward was upstairs, acting as another inhibitor. She shivered as Grace planted another gentle kiss on the back of her neck, and regretfully stepped away from the other two. Tedd opened his eyes and licked his lips, looking like he was trying to restart his brain.“Guys… I gotta go…” Sarah said, regretfully.“Must you?” asked Grace, sounding disappointed.“We could make it worth your while to stay a little longer,” Tedd offered with a smile.“Oh, god,” groaned Sarah. She gave him a quick kiss, then pulled back before she could fall to his charms again. “I wish.” Grace stepped in and gave Sarah another kiss too, before she could resist. That one went on a little longer, before Sarah took another step away from them. Grace gave a little whimper.“We’ll miss you,” Grace said.“Really miss you,” Tedd added.Sarah’s frustration caused her to snap, “Well, at least you still have each other! I’m the one who’s going home to a lonely bed.”Tedd and Grace both rocked back a little at her sharp comment. They glanced at each other, then back to Sarah.“Well, no, not really,” Grace said.“Not the way you mean, anyway,” Tedd added.“Eh?” Sarah looked at them. “What do you mean?”“We’re refraining from… sexy fun times. Until we can enjoy them with you,” Tedd said.“What?” Sarah was taken aback. “Why on Earth would you do that?”“Because—”“Well—”Grace and Tedd both broke off, then Tedd nodded to Grace.“It seemed like… having decided to become a triad… we thought we should wait to enjoy sex until we can all enjoy it together. As a triad. We can see how frustrated you are; it doesn’t seem fair you should suffer alone.”Sarah was suddenly a little embarrassed by her outburst, as well as puzzled. “But… we can’t always all be together. I mean, in the future. If two of us are together and, um, horny, would you expect us to wait for the third person to show up, before doing anything?”“Hunh. Hadn’t thought of that,” Tedd said. “I guess, personally, I don’t think that any two of us would necessarily have to wait for the third all the time.”“I agree, though it might be nice to wait, if the third was going to be available soon,” Grace added. “Polite, even.”“True. Though number three could join in, later, perhaps.”Sarah digested this for a moment. “I’m sorry I snapped,” she said. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re, ah, abstaining?”“There didn’t seem to be an easy way to bring it up—‘Hey, by the way, we’re not screwing!’” Tedd said.Sarah laughed. “What, with all the discussions we’ve had about sex in the past weeks, you couldn’t work not-sex into the conversation somehow?”“Well…” Grace said. “We also didn’t want to risk making you feel guilty for, um…”“Cock-blocking you?” Sarah said, turning a little pink as she said it. Tedd and Grace laughed.“In so many words.”Sarah thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. “Not a problem. I think you’re a little silly waiting on me, but it’s your choice.”“Silly?”“Silly. Sweet, but silly.”“I can live with being sweet but silly,” Grace said with a smile.“And I do appreciate it, I really do. But, for the future. Do you think we should set expectations for what two of us should or shouldn’t do without the third person present?” Sarah asked.“As long as it’s fair, and not secretive or hidden, I can’t think of anything we shouldn’t do.” Grace said.“Fair?”“I mean, like, two people repeatedly pairing off to the exclusion of the third. Not that I can see any of us doing that, but…”“But who knows what might happen,” Tedd said.“Right.”Tedd looked thoughtful. “And there might be some things two of us like that the third one doesn’t.”Sarah cocked her head. “Like what?”“I dunno.” He glanced down, then back up at her. “Like, how do you feel about anal sex?”Sarah was really getting tired of blushing, but it seemed to be becoming a normal part of conversation with Tedd and Grace. “I… um…” She bit her lip. Communicate, dammit, she thought to herself. But she side-stepped the question with “How do you feel about it?”Tedd shrugged. “It’s fun. But, in all honesty, I was a bit frightened of it at first. Maybe I had some aversion to it from so many years of being insulted with ‘faggot’. But…” He looked at Grace and smiled. “With the right partner, enough lube, and going slow… It can be fun.” He paused, then added thoughtfully, “Mind you, I enjoy it more when I’m male than when I’m female.”“Giving, or, um, receiving?” Sarah asked, feeling the heat in her face increase.He grinned. “Both.”Grace put in, “It’s certainly a different sensation when male, but I find it’s fun either way. Not as a regular thing, but from time to time, as a change of pace.”Sarah was sure she’d reached max blush by now, but she said quietly, “Well… it’s not something I feel a need to explore the first time out… but… I wouldn’t rule it out entirely. I’ve, uh. Played around a little. Down there.”“Okay. So maybe that wasn’t the best example of something only two of us might like. But something might come up.”“Like skiing?” suggested Grace.Tedd and Sarah looked at her, then started giggling. “Sex while skiing?” Tedd asked.“No, silly goose, just something that two of us might like that the third one wouldn’t. Just because one of us doesn’t like to ski is no reason for the other two to not hit the slopes sometimes.”“Right. I guess this is a broader question than just our sex lives.”“Indeed.”“Besides, you’d risk frostbite in some very uncomfortable places if you had sex while skiing,” Sarah put in, still giggling a little at the mental image.“Unless we were all furry…” Tedd mused.“Oh, right, I can just see getting on a ski lift while in cat form. Totally unobtrusive.” Grace and Sarah laughed, and Tedd shrugged with a rueful grin.“It was just a thought.”“Never stop thinking, my sweet nerd,” Sarah said.“Though maybe go on to the next thought, in this case,” added Grace with a fond smile.Sarah smiled, and gave them both quick pecks on the cheek. “And I still have to get home. See you at school tomorrow, Tedd.”“Lucky Tedd,” said Grace.“Good night, sweeties.”
Thursday, April 10

Susan’s living room:
Sarah went over to Susan’s house after dinner to study for their bio exam next week. After an hour focused on cellular respiration, the conversation drifted towards more personal kinds of biology.After listening to Sarah fret for a while about her impending first sexual encounter, Susan asked, “This may sound strange, coming from someone who’s never even had a date, let alone sex, but—why is ‘losing’ your virginity such a big deal for you?”Sarah stared at Susan, taken aback. “Uh…”“Yeah, society makes it out to be a big deal. And I can list for you a half dozen of those reasons, pretty much all of them sexist bullcrap. But why does it matter to you?”Sarah sat blinking for a few moments, trying to formulate an answer. “I… I’m not sure? I know that it matters to me, but I’ve never questioned why.” She stared at the fairy doll puppy-pile on the coffee table, distracted by imagining a Sarah doll in the mix with little Teddy and Gracie. Then she shut her eyes and shook her head. I’m avoiding the question. Why? She looked back at Susan.“Well… I don’t think I’ll be any less ‘pure’ or ‘virtuous’ afterwards; it’s not that.”“Are you worried about what your parents would think of you, if they knew?”Sarah shuddered. “Ugh, I hope they wouldn’t know. At least, not for a while.”“Why? I thought your parents were fairly liberal about sex. I know I got all my first sex ed info from you, and the books like Our Bodies, Ourselves that they bought you.” Susan grimaced and shook her head. “All I ever got from my mother was ‘periods suck, here’s a pad’ and ‘boys suck, stay away from boys.’”“Eh… they were good about providing me with information, sure. But, remember how my mom freaked out about Carol dating Serena?”“Oh. Yeah. I guess dating Grace would be a bit much for her to take.”“I don’t think she’d mind me dating just Tedd, or even my being, um, sexually active. But a triad? With another woman?” She shook her head. “Not so much.”“And your dad?”Sarah hesitated. “He’d… probably be more okay with me dating a woman; I know Carol’s girlfriends don’t bother him like they do Mom. But in some ways, I feel like he still sees me as his ‘little girl.’ I’m not sure how he’d react to knowing I’d had sex.”“You are eighteen; and it’s not like you’re going to give them all the gory details.”“Sheesh, I hope they’re not too gory.”“Hah hah. You know what I mean.” She paused, then added, “Umm, speaking of blood and gore, and losing your virginity…”It took Sarah a moment to realize what Susan was hinting around. “No, there won’t be any blood; I broke my hymen a few years ago.”“How?” Susan asked curiously.Sarah stared at her bemusedly for a moment, causing Susan to look a bit more embarrassed, then shrugged and decided to be forthcoming. It wasn’t as if they weren’t already discussing her—as yet hypothetical—sex life. “Masturbating. A little too, uh, enthusiastically.” She paused a moment, then decided reciprocity in questioning was allowed. “What about you?”“What about me?”“You still have your cherry?”“You know I’ve never had sex.”“That’s not what we were discussing. Is your hymen intact?”Susan’s blush was deepening, which Sarah took some perverse comfort in; at least she wasn’t the only person who turned scarlet when discussing sex. “Don’t think so. As far as I can tell, I don’t have one, or else it ripped years ago. Not everyone has one, remember.”“Lucky you.”Susan shrugged and grimaced. “It’s irrelevant. Given my level of comfort with physical contact, I don’t think it’ll be an issue for quite some time. If ever.” She frowned at the floor, looking so gloomy that Sarah wished she could give her a hug to cheer her up. Unfortunately, hugs usually had the opposite effect on Susan.Sarah did go so far as to put a consoling hand on Susan’s shoulder. She took the fact that Susan didn’t shudder or shrug it off as an indicator of how unhappy that train of thought was making her.“Not forever. College will open up a bigger pool of potential dates. You’ll find someone, or they’ll find you.” She grinned. “I bet you there’ll be a Star Trek fan club on campus, wherever you end up.”Susan gave a little laugh at that.“Where do you think you’ll end up? Have you heard from any schools yet?”“Only one rejection so far, from Amherst; still waiting on the others. I’m holding out hope for Vassar, or maybe Bowdoin or Brown.”“Ah.” Sarah felt a brief stab of envy; what must it be like to be able to afford universities that cost as much per semester as any of the colleges she’d applied to cost per year?“How about you? Anything new?” Susan asked.“No, still just the same two acceptances, still waiting on the others.”“Well, at least you have options. That’s good.”They let the conversation drift away to topics that were less blush-worthy, if no less anxiety provoking. Which prompted them to return to studying for at least a little while.An hour or so later, they took break from studying and headed to the kitchen for snacks. Susan re-opened the topic with, “Do you realize it’s one of the only rites of passage we go through to have its own special term?”“Say what? What is?”“Virgin. Meaning, you haven’t had sex yet. But we don’t have comparable words meaning, say, you’re a person who hasn’t walked yet. Or hasn’t talked yet. Or has never driven a car. All of which, arguably, are as significant as, or more so, than having sex.”“I’m not so sure about driving a car.”Susan waved this aside. “Whatever. You get what I’m saying?”“I… no. Not really.” Sarah dumped a handful of chips into two bowls, one for her, one for Susan.Susan brushed her long hair back behind her ear, looking slightly frustrated. “I mean… by giving the state of not yet having had sex its own word, a noun at that, we put it on a pedestal. Fetishize it. Raise its importance in people’s minds to a ridiculous extreme. Think about it. In the next, say, twenty years, you’ll have had a lot of sex—”“I hope.” Sarah muttered.Susan ignored the interruption. “—You’ll have, I don’t know, bought a house, maybe gotten married, driven thousands of miles, had kids, graduated from college, travelled to foreign countries, had some great gallery shows of your artwork, had some sort of surgery, maybe—”“Okay, I get it, there’s a lot of stuff I haven’t done yet.”“Right. Sex is just one of those many things. Why is the first time you have sex more important that, say, the hundredth time you do, or having kids?”“Well, it’s kind of a prerequisite to having kids.”“You know what I mean.”“Yeah, I guess. But just knowing that society, what did you call it, fetishizes virginity, doesn’t mean that I don’t feel that way too. I grew up in this society; I’ve heard that message all my life too.”“Yes, but just knowing that you’ve absorbed this ridiculous message is the first step in putting it aside.”“Hunh. Maybe. If I can do that in the next few days.”Susan smirked. “Hey, if things keep going the way they have been, you may have months yet to work on overcoming that message. Ow!”Sarah felt a little guilty for punching Susan in the arm. But only a little.By around eleven, Sarah’s brain had packed it in for the evening. She was sitting on the floor, back to the couch, doodling in the center of a circular diagram of the Krebs cycle. She was trying to sketch the pile of fairy dolls all sprawled out together on the floor in front of her, and failing miserably. The tangle of limbs was next to impossible to sort out, and their wings and tails just added to the visual confusion. Susan lay stretched out on the couch behind her, open textbook face-down on her chest, staring at the ceiling.“Sarah…”“Yeah?”“As long as we’re talking about, ah, all this sex stuff. I was wondering. Would you mind…” Susan trailed off. Sarah twisted around to look at Susan, who was still staring at the ceiling, face pink.“What?”“When you do. Eventually. Have sex, that is. Would you mind… could you tell me… what it’s like?”“Uh…” The question was so unexpected, Sarah had no idea how to respond.“I’m not looking for, like, personal details. I don’t want to know how well hung Tedd is, or who did what to whom, or anything like that. Just…” Her expression grew wistful. “What’s it like?” She turned her head to look at Sarah and gave an embarrassed little smile. “I’d certainly understand if you said no.”For the first time, Sarah wondered what it must be like to be Susan, from a sexual point of view. She knew from conversations over the years that Susan wasn’t asexual. She had an active libido, she masturbated, she was sexually attracted to men, not least of which being Elliot. So, what must it be like, to feel arousal, get horny, and at the same time not want to touch anyone? The contradiction must be frustrating.“I’m… not sure it’s something that can be fully described. At least, that’s the impression I get from trying to talk about it with Tedd and Grace. But…” She shrugged. “I can give it a try.”“Thanks.”“I’m not sure how I’d bring it up, however. I mean, it’s not something that just naturally fits into the flow of a conversation. ‘Wonderful weather we’re having, and I just love the feeling of a tongue on my clitoris.’”“Gah!” Susan laughed and buried her face in her hands, blushing. “No, it doesn’t really fit with the weather.” She lowered her hands and added, “Though maybe that’s how we could bring it up.”“Eh?”“When we’re alone together, if one of us asks, ‘How’s the weather?’, it's a question about sex. If the other person is comfortable talking about it just then, we go from there. Otherwise, just reply with something about the weather.”“‘How’s the weather.’ Hunh. I like that.” Sarah grinned. “Okay. I’ll try. Just… don’t blame me if I can’t be any more coherent about it than a romance novel.” She paused a moment, trying to decide if she should push this further, then gave a mental shrug. Go for it. Communicate.“Susan… I know you asked me to not go there, a couple of weeks ago, but… If your fairy dolls are. Um. Anatomically correct. And you can inhabit them, feel what they feel. It seems you have a way to explore at least the physical, if not the emotional, side of sex. Without having to worry about actual physical contact.”Susan was silent for so long that Sarah began to worry that she’d finally pushed a little too far, crossed some line she shouldn’t have. But eventually Susan sighed, sat up, and set her textbook aside. “Believe me, it’s occurred to me. More than once.”“But?” Sarah prompted after another minute of silence.“Well, little Suze already, uh, interferes sometimes when I’m, when I’m… masturbating.”“Interferes? How?”Susan gave her an exasperated look.“What?” Sarah protested. “I’m supposed to intuitively know how fairy dolls can interfere with your sex life? It’s a concept that has literally never occurred to me before now.”Susan groaned and flopped back onto the couch, throwing an arm across her eyes.“Yeah, yeah. I concede it’s not obvious. It’s certainly nothing I ever thought about, before it happened.”Sarah waited for Susan to elucidate, then, when nothing was forthcoming, prodded, “So, what, does she try to stop you?”Susan gave a short laugh. “No, quite the opposite. It tries to, ah, help.”Sarah blinked several times at Susan, then said, “Okay. If you don’t want to claim responsibility for the assorted mental images now forming in my head, you’d better clarify that statement fast.”Susan sat up abruptly. “No! Nothing like that! It, it doesn’t touch me!” She shuddered.“Okay. I… guess that’s good to know? So what does she—it?—do? And why do you call her ‘it’?”“Because it is an it. Fairy dolls aren’t sapient. They’re not even sentient, I don’t think. I hope. Pick one up.”Sarah picked up little Gracie, and smiled to see the face of her girlfriend, writ small. She looked to Susan. “So?”“So, does it look like it’s alive right now?”“Well, no, not when you’re not animating her.” The little fairy doll looked and felt like a well-made action figure with seamless joints, flexible and posable. Sarah knew from talking with Nanase that if you cut one open, it wouldn’t bleed; it was hollow.“Precisely. They’re just dolls. They’re only something more when I’m focused on them in some way, lending a magical spark that turns them into weird little extensions of myself.” The little Gracie doll in Sarah’s arms blurred and shifted, becoming less plastic and doll-like, and it fluttered its wings. Sarah released her hold, and Gracie flew away to circle Susan’s head. “And yet… sometimes little Suze does things which I find inexplicable. Things which seem like attempts to, uh, help me, but which usually work the opposite way. Mood killers.” Susan stared, frowning, at the three inert dolls still lying on the floor, little Suze among them. “If they really are just external manifestations of my subconscious, I obviously have no idea what’s going on in the depths of my mind. It’s just… weird. And I have no idea why it’s only Suze, and not the other three. Though I suppose I should be grateful.” Little Gracie landed on the couch arm by Susan’s side, and smiled up at her.“Okay,” Sarah said. “I’m not sure I can help you at all, without getting into more details than you seem to feel comfortable sharing.”Susan sighed. “Yeah. Sorry. It’s just… embarrassing.”Sarah laughed. “What, more embarrassing than me telling you about my sexual frustrations? Or how I broke my hymen? If you think I’m shocked to hear that you play with yourself, you’ve obviously forgotten some of the conversations we’ve had over the years.”Susan laughed. “Oh, yeah. I really wish I could find some non-embarrassing way to thank your mom for buying you all those books.” Sarah recalled many an afternoon of the two of them lying side-by-side on her bed, poring over Period.: A Girl’s Guide, or Our Bodies, Ourselves together.“Well, embarrassing or not, if you want to talk more about it, I’m always available,” Sarah said. “Heaven knows you’ve listened to enough of my sexual woes in the past few weeks.”“Thanks. Maybe… maybe not just yet.”“Okay.” Sarah rolled her head to stretch her neck, then grabbed her books and stood up. “I should probably get going.”“Right. Thanks for coming over. And… thanks for being a good friend.”Sarah felt a little surprised. “Uh, sure. Why so?”“I mean, you ask me things I probably should think about, but… you also are willing to back off when I need you to.” Susan stood up and walked with Sarah towards the door.Sarah shrugged. “That’s just being polite.”“No… it’s more than just polite. You’re… considerate. Kind. I just wanted you to know that I appreciate it.” Susan surprised Sarah by pulling her into a brief hug, which only lasted a moment before she let go, face flushing a little with embarrassment. “Good night, Sarah.”“Good night. See you in the morning.”Susan groaned. “Far too soon.”
Friday, April 11

En route to Columbus:
“Watch out for that semi, dear.”“Mom, if you don’t like the way I drive, maybe I shouldn’t be driving.”“You have heard of the three second rule?”“Yes, of course.”“Just checking. One-one-thousand, two-one-thousand…”
Saturday, April 12
The birthday party was a huge success, with Gramma delighted to see almost all of her descendants gathered together in one place. Sarah was delighted to play catch-up with her favorite cousin, Ruth, whom she hadn’t seen in almost a year. They were chatting for less than fifteen minutes before Ruth began to probe into what was foremost on Sarah’s mind lately.“So, how’s your love life? Any prospects, now that you and Elliot aren’t an item anymore?”Sarah rolled her eyes. “Thank you. At least you remember that we’ve broken up.”“Hey, you can’t blame Gramma. She is eighty.”“I know, I know, but… she asked me about him three times.”“Well, he is awfully cute. He made quite an impression on her. And it’s not as if the two of you hadn’t been hanging out together in a non-romantic way for years even before you started dating.”“Yeah, I guess.”“So, cuz, what’s shaking? Any prospects?”“I am dating,” she confessed. “Though it’s a bit… nontraditional.”Ruth’s eyes lit up. “Oooh, are you dating a girl? I knew it!”“Well, yes and n—wait, knew what?”“That you’re gay.”“I’m not gay!”“But you just said ‘yes.’”“I said yes and no.”“So… what does that mean?” Ruth looked thoughtful for a moment, then asked, “Is it a trans guy?”Sarah barked a sharp laugh of surprise. “No. That was last month.”“Last—wait, what? Really?”Sarah giggled. “Yeah, really. We need to keep in better touch, Ruthie.”“I’ll say. Your love life sounds so much more interesting than mine.”“Oh, you have no idea…” Sarah shook her head, grinning.“So. Yes and no. What does that mean?”“Oh. Well, it means yes, I’m dating a girl, but I’m also dating a guy.”“What, both at once?”“Yeah.”Ruth looked impressed. “Do they know about each other, or is your life shifting into full out soap opera mode?”Sarah laughed. “Oh, god, I hope not. But, no; they know each other. They’ve been a couple for quite a while now, but they were both… interested in me. And when we discovered the feeling was, ah, mutual, we decided to try dating.”Ruth’s eyes were wide. “Wow. How long has this been going on?”“Just a couple of weeks, as of yesterday.”“How’s it working out for you?”Sarah hesitated. “Wonderful and frustrating?”“Well, wonderful is nice. What’s the frustrating part?”Sarah glanced around the family room, making sure no other relatives were within earshot. She leaned in closer to Ruth and lowered her voice. “Trying to find some time when no parents are around, for, you know…”Ruth’s grin looked like it was about to split her face. “Making out? Boinking? After only two weeks?”Sarah’s face turned red and she started giggling. “Shhh! Boinking? Is that what you call it?”“Well, what do you call it?”“Uh…” she lowered her voice to a whisper. “Having sex?”Ruth gave her a slightly incredulous look, then shook her head. “You’re still a virgin, aren’t you?”“What?” Sarah glanced around, then lowered her voice. “I mean, how do you get that?”“Am I right?”“Well… yes. That’s the problem—we can’t find any time to, uh, boink.”“If it’s only been a couple of weeks—you sure you aren’t rushing things?” Now Ruth looked a little concerned.“No, not really—I mean, we’ve been friends for years, so it’s not like we’re strangers.”“Years? Who—it’s not Elliot, is it?”“No, no; we really did break up.”“Then who?”“Well… the guy is Tedd, and—”“Tedd?” Sarah knew Ruthie didn’t actually screech, but it felt that way to her.“Shhhh!” Sarah glanced around the room, but no one seemed to have noticed Ruth over the sound of the conversations, and the baseball game on the TV in the other room. Then a trio of younger cousins darted into the room, laughing and fighting for possession of a game console.“What say we get out of here for a while?” Sarah suggested.“Sounds good. Go for a walk?”“Yeah, that sounds nice. Columbus is warmer than Moperville.” They grabbed their jackets and told Ruth’s father that they were going out for a walk.It was a beautiful spring day, and they enjoyed the sunshine on their faces in companionable silence for a while. They were a few houses away from their Gramma’s house before Ruth spoke again. “So. Tedd. That weird little quiet kid who followed Elliot around and watched you with puppy-dog eyes?”“He’s not weir—wait, puppy-dog eyes?”“Yeah, he was always watching you.”Sarah blinked. “Really? Wow. I guess I am oblivious.”“What, you never noticed?”“No. When he told me that he’d had a crush on me at one time, I… thought he was exaggerating.”Ruth laughed. “Yeah, that qualifies as oblivious. I mean, I only met him a few times, years ago, but it was pretty obvious to me.”Sarah felt a little rattled. Tedd had told her he had had a crush on her when they were younger, but some part of her had still dismissed that as him just trying to make her feel better. Having outside confirmation was disquieting. They walked on in silence for a few moments.“So… weird Tedd, and who else?”“He’s not—well, okay, yeah, he’s still weird, but in a nice way. He’s the smartest person I know, and he’s really sweet.”“Sweet?”“Yeah. Sweet. He went through a sorta pseudo-pervy-teenage-boy stage when he got zapped by the puberty fairy, but he’s pretty much outgrown that now.”Ruth snickered. “‘Zapped by the puberty fairy.’ I’ll have to remember that one.”Sarah grinned. “It’s one of his phrases, actually.”“So, who’s the girl?”“Oh, trust me, she’s a woman.”“Ooooh,” Ruth grinned. “Sounds hot.”“She is that. Her name is Grace. You haven’t met her—she’s only been in Moperville for a little over a year—but she and Tedd hooked up shortly after she arrived.”“And the three of you discovered you all liked each other, how, exactly?”“Uh… that’s a bit complicated.”“I’ve got time to kill, cuz. I’d rather spend the afternoon listening to stories of your love life than, say, back at the house discussing baseball with Jake.”“You mean, listening to Jake mansplain baseball.”Ruth rolled her eyes. “Ugh. Yeah. Here, let’s go left here.”“Why?”“There’s that pretty little garden park next block down.”“Oh, right, I forgot. It’s been a few years since I’ve been here.”“So, what’s the story, morning glory? How’d you discover your, ah, mutual interests?”“Well. It started when I was doing some nude sketches of Grace—”“Say what? You saw your girlfriend naked before you even started dating?”“Oh, that’s no biggie. Grace has all the body modesty of a squirrel.” Sarah gave a little grin. “Sometimes the problem is getting her to keep her clothes on.”Ruth stared at her with wide eyes. “Wow. Okay. So Tedd isn’t the only weird one in this little group.”“Triad. We call it a triad.”“Triad. Okay. Cool.”“And Grace isn’t weird.” She paused, and considered. “Well, okay, again, I guess from an outside perspective she might seem weird, but, really, she’s even sweeter than Tedd.”“Your lovers are both ‘sweet’? Aren’t you worried about diabetic shock?”“Hah hah. No, seriously, I think she’s rubbed off on Tedd a little. But… she’s not just sweet.” Sarah smiled fondly as she thought about Grace. “She’s smart, and beautiful. She’s thoughtful, and kind, and empathetic, and caring. I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone who personifies the word ‘nice’ as much as she does. Which is especially amazing, given her background.”“What’s her background?”“Uh.” Sarah bit her lip. “That’s… private. I’ll let her tell you, if she wants to, someday. Suffice to say, she had a pretty rough childhood.”Ruth grinned. “Let her tell me ‘someday’? So, you intend to hang on to them for a while?”“Well… yeah. I mean, I wouldn’t have started in on this relationship if I didn’t think it could work long-term.”“Why not? I mean, isn’t that sorta what high school dating is all about, trying out a bunch of different guys—well, and girls, I guess, in your case—before heading off into the ‘real world’?”“Uh… Here, let’s sit a while.” They sat down on a park bench with a view of a somewhat winter-beaten pond, bits of new-growth green just beginning to poke out of the brown scrub around it, accented with splashes of yellow daffodils here and there.Ruth turned sideways on the bench to face Sarah. She smiled and shook her head. “You’ve always been a romantic, Sare-bear. Which is why you’re still a virgin, I bet.”“Romantic? Wait, why did you say that, earlier?”“Say what earlier?”“When I”—she glanced around, making sure no one was in earshot—“called ‘boinking’ ‘having sex,’ you said I was a virgin.”“Well, I was right, wasn’t I?”“Yeah, but I don’t see the connection.”Ruth laughed. “Oh, cuz, you need to have a talk with your lovers about bedroom language.”Sarah felt her blush returning, and said, “Bedroom language? What do you mean?”“I mean, some words and phrases that you might not use at school, or in polite society, are much more common in the bedroom. Haven’t you read any erotica?”“Well…” Sarah’s blush intensified. “Yeah. But that’s fiction. You expect… dirty words… there.”“And in bed.”Sarah considered this for a few moments. “Really?” Then she gave her cousin a knowing look. “And what makes you the authority on this?”“Hey, I’m no blushing virgin. And I haven’t been for, oh…” Sarah held her breath, wondering just how long her cousin had been sexually active. “…Seven or eight months, I guess.”“You guess?”“Well, okay, seven months, one week, and five days, if you want to be precise.”Sarah laughed. “Not that anybody’s counting or anything.”“Well, the first time just happened to be on the first of the month, so it’s easy to calculate.”“Calculate.” The term reminded her of Tedd, and she smiled again. Then she remembered the question that Susan had asked her a couple of days ago. “So… what’s it like?”“What’s what like?” Ruth asked.“Boinking,” Sarah said, then giggled. Ruth giggled with her. Sarah noticed that Ruthie was getting a little pink in the face too.“No, really, I want to know. What’s sex like?”Ruth shrugged and flashed a brief grin. “That’s so un-answerable. Uh…” She glanced around the park, as if looking for eavesdroppers herself, then looked back to Sarah. “It both is and it isn’t like polishing the pink pearl”—Sarah choked back a laugh—“but there’s so much more, and at the same time, so much less, to it.”“Less? What’s less?”Ruth turned to look at the pond. She snorted and shook her head. “Gah. Trust you to get right to the heart of it.” Sarah, who had no idea that that was what she had been doing, just shrugged.“The ‘less’ is…” Ruth looked a little embarrassed. “Well, I mean, it’s fun and all, but…” Her gaze shifted around the park, avoiding Sarah. “I never. Uh, y’know. Come. During sex, I mean. I do just fine, by myself, but…” She shrugged.“Oh.” Sarah considered this from her perspective of limited sexual experience combined with a fair bit of until-now theoretical reading. “Have you talked with your boyfriend about it?”“What? No!”Sarah was taken aback at this reaction. “Why on Earth not?”“It’s… I don’t know. It’s my problem, not his. I don’t want to make him feel bad.”Sarah stared at her cousin, who was still resolutely looking anywhere but at Sarah, her expression a little sad. “Ruthie. I may be a virgin, but even I know you gotta talk about these things if you want to make them better.” She paused, but Ruth didn’t respond. She plowed on. “One of the mantras our triad has developed is ‘communicate, communicate, communicate.’ Sometimes shortened to just ‘communicate, dammit.’ Things get too confused with three people if you’re not honest and clear with each other. But I think the same thing applies with just two people.”“Yeah, well, easier said than done.”“Okay, yeah, I’ll give you that one. I don’t think I’ve blushed as much in my entire life as I have in the past two weeks. But… don’t you want it to be… better? More, instead of less?”“Shit,” Ruth whispered. She finally looked Sarah in the eyes, and said, “Yeah, of course I’d like it to be better. But… how would I even start?”Sarah held her hands out, palms up. “What, you’re asking the virgin?”Ruth laughed. “Yeah, I guess I am. You’re juggling two lovers, how do you do it?”“Well, technically, they’re not my ‘lovers’ just yet.”“Details, details. From the way you talk about them, you’re already pretty emotionally involved with them.”“Yeah.” Sarah’s breath caught as she considered it. “Yeah. I guess I am.”“Do you love them?”Sarah was taken aback by the question, derailing her attention from the question of Ruth’s love life. “Uh…” She paused to consider the question. Ruth just sat and waited, watching Sarah as she processed the question. Sarah stared at a little purple and yellow crocus, poking up through rotted brown leaves on the other side of the path.“Do I love them?” she repeated slowly. “I’ve known Tedd for years. He’s been a friend for a long time. I’m certainly fond of them. I like them. A lot. I’m attracted to them. Maybe Grace a little more so than Tedd, at least initially, but he’s been growing on me. I’ve seen some sides to him I never suspected even existed.” She paused. “I… don’t know exactly what love is. I mean, I know I love my parents, but that’s certainly not the same kind of emotion I feel for Tedd and Grace.”“Thank goodness,” Ruth grinned.“Heh. Yeah. I love Carol, and Susan, but that’s sisterly love. Not quite what I feel for Grace and Tedd, either.” She rubbed the back of her neck for a moment as she thought. “Have you ever heard of the word ‘compersion’?”“Nope.”“It’s a word that comes up a lot, when discussing poly relationships. It’s sorta the opposite of jealousy. It’s the feeling of joy you get from seeing a loved one experience joy. Sometimes, from watching them experience joy with another person. I didn’t fully understand it, until the first time I saw the two of them kissing each other, while we were all hugging each other in a little circle. Or triangle. Whatever.”“So… their love makes you happy?”“Yeah.”“And do you think they feel, uh, comparison too?”Sarah giggled. “Compersion. And, yeah. They both seem to enjoy watching the other with me.”“So, it seems to me that if their happiness makes you happy, and your happiness makes them happy, that’s a pretty good start toward a definition of love.”“Hunh. Yeah.” Sarah smiled and picked at a loose thread on the seam of her jeans. “It’s not something that I’ve said to them yet. I mean, they’ve been together over a year, I know they love each other, I’ve heard them say ‘I love you’ to each other, but we haven’t gotten that far yet.”“Well, it’s only been a couple of weeks.”“True.”“But you’re ready to jump into bed with them?”Sarah groaned. “Oh, gods, yes. If we ever get a chance—at least a couple of hours alone.”“A couple of hours?”“Well, none of us are interested in my first time being a furtive quickie. And with three people to, ah, satisfy, we figure it will take a little longer than for just a couple.”“I hadn’t thought of that. Well, I hadn’t seriously thought about three-ways at all, really.”“How do you find enough privacy—wait. We’re getting side-tracked from the first question. How can you improve your love life.”“I’m not sure I can.”“Never say never.”Ruth rolled her eyes. “Got any more clichés for me, doc?”Sarah stared at Ruthie for a moment, considering. “So, how many, ah, lovers are we working with here? Have you been, what’d you say, trying out a bunch of high school boys, before moving out into the real world?”Ruth’s smile turned bashful, and she admitted, “Well… no, actually. There’s only been Erik.”“Only one? For seven months?”“And a week and five days.”“Right. Sounds like you’re at least a little serious.”Ruth blew out a breath and took her turn studying the emerging crocus. “It’s not… I’m not… Oh, crap.” She threw up her hands and faced Sarah with a sigh. “It’s complicated. We’re both aware we’re going to different universities next fall, and neither of us wants to do the long-distance relationship thing, but—in the meantime, the situation is… easy. It’s nice to not have to worry about asking someone new out. We get along. It’s comfortable.”“But not so comfortable that you can talk to him about how to help you have an orgasm.”Ruth grimaced and waved a hand, conceding the point.Sarah considered it for a moment. It was nice to focus on someone else’s relationship issues for a change; things seemed so much simpler from the outside. “So, what’s the worst that could happen, if you said to him one night while you’re just starting to make out, ‘Here, I’d like you to do this.’ Whatever ‘this’ is for you.”“I don’t know. I…” She frowned, and swiped her hair back from her forehead.“Well, try it this way: what are you afraid will happen?” Ruth was silent. “Will he laugh at you?”“No! He’s a nice guy.”“Do you think he’ll be hurt? Pissed off?”“No—ye—I don’t know.”“Don’t you think he’d like to know how to make you feel good?” Memory of something Tedd had said came to mind. “Tedd and Grace have only been, ah, boinking for a few months themselves, and they were both virgins. From what they’ve told me about those first few times, if… Erik?” Ruth nodded. “If Erik is anything like Tedd was, I bet he’d be grateful for some feedback. Some gentle directions. Unless he’s one of those macho a-holes whose masculinity is too wrapped up in always being right?”Ruth laughed. “Hardly. He’s the vice-president of the chess club. That’s where we met. He’s kinda the opposite of macho.”“Hell, Ruthie, you didn’t tell me he was a nerd. I know nerd, sweetie, and, trust me, he’ll be delighted to have more instructions on how to make you happy.”Ruth looked hopeful. “You really think so?”“One hundred percent.”“But… how do I bring it up?”Sarah stopped and considered how she’d bring something like that up with Tedd. Well, to be honest, she probably wouldn’t ever have to; Grace would beat her to the punch. So, how would Grace approach the subject?“A couple of things come to mind. One, you could just say, ‘Sweetie, I’d like to try something a little different tonight.’”“Sounds… difficult.”“It’s less than ten words!” Sarah protested. Then paused. “Well, okay, exactly ten words. But even so.”“What’s another way?”“How about—just show him.” Sarah grinned as she remembered Grace telling her about this particular event early on in her and Tedd’s sexual relationship. “Tell him you’d like to put on a sexy show for him, then show him how you, ah, polish the pink pearl. If he’s really a nerd, he’ll be taking notes. Figuratively. And then eagerly applying what he learns. Grace said that was a really effective teaching technique for Tedd, because even though—”Sarah broke off before she completed the sentence, even though he’d experienced orgasm as a woman, every woman gets there in a slightly different way.“Even though what?” asked Ruth.Nuts, I’ve got to be more careful. She racked her brains for how to finish the sentence. “Even though… she’d talked with him about it, there’s nothing quite like a good demonstration.”Ruth gave her an odd look at the conversational hiccup, but, thankfully, let it pass. She sighed. “That sounds… still kind of embarrassing. But, also…” She grinned. “Kinda hot.”“I gather Tedd thought it was hot. Really, really hot. And as for embarrassing, well, I don’t think it’s possible to get through these kinds of discussions without blushing at least a little bit. Just resign yourself to that now, then plow on ahead anyway.”“I’ll… try.” She stared at the pond for a few moments, considering, then she shook her head and turned back to Sarah. “But, enough about me. I still haven’t heard how you got from nude drawings to dating two people at once.”Sarah laughed. “Ah. Well. Speaking of blushing a bit…”
Sunday, April 13

En route to Moperville:
“Are we there yet?”“Funny.”“Are we there yet?”“I heard you the first time.”“Are we there yet?”“Dad! Would you knock it off! I’m trying to drive!”“Hey, I’ve waited fourteen years for this.”“I was never that obnoxious… Uh, was I?”“Maybe not. Now, your brother Mikey, on the other hand…”“What brother Mikey? There’s just Carol.”“Well, now, yes. Mikey asked ‘are we there yet’ just one time too many…”“Cute, dad, real cute.”“I still miss that boy sometimes.”
Monday, April 14

In Tedd’s rec-room/lab:
One advantage to twelve hours on the road the previous weekend was that Sarah had managed to read and work ahead in a lot of her classes. Enough so that, on Monday evening, her homework load was light enough that she was able to rationalize going over to the Verres house after dinner for a few hours.Tedd and Grace had some homework to do, so for a while they just worked, sitting by and leaning against one another on the couch as they did so. Tedd tried to quiz Sarah on her French vocabulary, but she mangled the French pronunciations so badly that Sarah was reduced to just giggling in response to some of Tedd’s questions.After a couple of hours of (relatively) productive work, they took a break. Tedd went upstairs, and she returned from the kitchen with some chips and salsa. They munched and chatted, catching each other up on what their respective weekends had entailed.“There was something my cousin Ruthie said to me…” Sarah began.“What’s that?” asked Grace.“She suggested I ask you guys about, ah, ‘bedroom language.’” Sarah gave a wry little grin. “Apparently she thinks my vocabulary is a bit virginal.”“Bedroom language?” Tedd said blankly. “What does that even mean?”“Well, that some people use more, uh, colorful language in bed than they would in regular day-to-day life. You know. Talking dirty.”“Oh!” said Grace brightly. “You mean, like fuck, pussy, cunt, or cock?”In a couple of weeks replete with blush-worthy conversations with Tedd and Grace, Sarah had never yet gone from zero to one hundred percent blush instantaneously. Until now. Eyes wide, she choked back a laugh and tried not to inhale salsa. “Uh, yeah. Like that.” She swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to keep herself from breaking out in nervous giggles.“Sorry, did I offend you?” asked Grace anxiously.Sarah noted that Tedd had a hand clapped over her mouth, eyes bright, struggling to hold back her own laughter. Sarah poked her in the arm. “You knew what I meant, didn’t you,” she accused. “You set that up.”Tedd gave up trying to contain her laughter. “No; I wish I could think that fast on my feet. That was pure serendipity.” She laughed and shook her head. “The look on your face was priceless.”Sarah tried to scowl at her, to pretend annoyance, but she couldn’t keep a straight face either. She laughed with Tedd, her face still flaming. “Okay, okay. I’m sure it was.”Grace smiled a little uncertainly at the two of them. “What, exactly, am I missing here?” she asked.Tedd and Sarah looked at her, then burst into renewed giggles. “Sorry, love,” Tedd said.“Sorry, sweetie,” Sarah said. “It’s just… you’re normally so sweet and, well, innocent looking. You almost never swear. Hearing those words coming from you, sounding so chipper, was, uh…”“Highly incongruous,” Tedd said.“To put it mildly,” Sarah said.“Oh.” Grace absorbed this, looking thoughtful. “But, wasn’t that what you were asking about?”“Oh, yeah, it was; I just wasn’t prepared for such a cheerfully enthusiastic response.”“You probably should have been,” Tedd said. “Cheerfully enthusiastic is how Grace approaches much of life.”“Yes, I know. It’s one of your most endearing qualities,” Sarah said to Grace. She leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. Grace returned the kiss with a smile.“Well, thank you, I guess,” Grace said. “But, what did you want to discuss about bedroom language?”“Well… I guess… what’s acceptable? What words are offensive, and what words, ah, turn you on?”Tedd looked thoughtful. “Yeah. Some words are sexy, in the right context. And others aren’t.”“But which are which?” Sarah asked.“Well…” Tedd rubbed the back of her head, looking a little embarrassed. “I guess we could make a list and work our way down it?”“I don’t find much offensive, the way some other people do,” said Grace. “I mean, I know which words are considered taboo, what words I shouldn’t use in front of little kids or what not, but I don’t find much personally distasteful. By and large, words are just words, to me.” She paused, then added, “As long as they’re not hateful.”“So, what are those taboo words you learned to avoid?” asked Sarah.“Well,” said Grace, “There’s fuck, cock, pussy, cunt, tits, ass, asshole, boobs, cocksucker, clit, twat, frig, blowjob, quim, dick—” She cut herself off as Sarah’s face got progressively redder. “Are you all right?” she asked Sarah.“Yes,” Sarah squeaked, trying to contain her embarrassed giggles. “I’m sorry, but incongruous doesn’t even begin to cover it.” She rubbed her face with her hands, as if trying to rub away her giggles. “Sorry, sorry; I know I’m reacting with all the maturity of a five-year-old who’s just learned the word ‘shit.’”Grace just looked at her for a moment, then turned to Tedd, who was grinning. “I’m sorry, sweetie, but she’s right; it really is odd to hear you rattling off obscenities like that.”“Well, we can’t talk about them if we can’t say them,” Grace said, with some slight exasperation.“True, true.”Sarah took a deep breath and calmed her giggles. “Sorry. Let’s try this. I’ll say a word, so we’re not putting this all on poor Grace, and then we can discuss what we think of it, in sexy-times context.”Tedd and Grace both shrugged. “Sure.”“Sounds reasonable.”“Okay.” Sarah took another breath, then frowned, and said, “I just realized, I have no experience at using these words in the bedroom. So I’m not sure how… valid my reactions will be.”“Well, if a word offends you, it offends you,” Grace said.“I would note that Grace and I do use most of those words she just rattled off, in a sexual context.”“Really? Even quim?” Sarah asked with a grin.Tedd laughed. “Okay, no, not that one. I wouldn’t even know that one, if it weren’t for the Avengers movie.”“Although it has a nice sound to it. Maybe we should use it more,” Grace mused. “And it doesn’t have a lot of baggage associated with it.”Sarah laughed. “Well, if you both use most of those words, maybe I should just give you my reactions.”“Sure.”“Okay.”She hesitated, embarrassed to go on, then stalled by asking, “Are any of those words Grace just listed offensive to either of you?”Grace just shook her head.Tedd said, “I don’t really like ‘cocksucker’ that much; I’ve heard it used too often as an insult.” She grimaced, and Sarah could well imagine she’d had it hurled at her too often, along with various other homophobic slurs. She rubbed a hand up and down Tedd’s back, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Tedd looked up at Sarah and gave a lopsided smile. “Mind you, I don’t mind the act, it’s just that particular phrase.”“You’re happy enough to say ‘suck my cock’, or hear me say it,” Grace noted. Sarah choked back another giggle at the mental image of her two (currently) female lovers saying that. She coughed and tried not to crack up.“Well, yes,” Tedd said, with a slightly lascivious grin. “That’s completely different.”“Any others?” Sarah asked.Tedd shook her head. “Like ‘quim’, I don’t think I’ve ever used ‘twat’, or ‘frig.’ I don’t find them offensive, per se, but… I don’t think they’re particularly sexy, either. More or less neutral.”“Yeah, I think I’d agree with those,” Sarah said.“What about you?” Grace asked. “Any of those words bother you?”“Eh… it’s kinda hard to say. They all embarrass me to a certain extent, but I think that’s ‘cause I’m still a blushing virgin, as Ruthie would say.” She blew out a breath, and brushed her bangs back. She steeled herself. “‘Cunt’ is a little iffy for me. Mostly because it’s also used as an insult.”“Most of those words are, one way or another,” Tedd pointed out.“True.”“For myself,” Grace said, “I kinda like the word ‘cunt.’ Just the sound of it, it’s sorta warm and earthy. ‘Pussy’ works in a lot of situations, but it’s more, I don’t know, sibilant, wet and juicy. ‘Cunt’ is more down-to-earth, warm and dark. Sometimes I prefer to say ‘lick my cunt’ instead of ‘eat my pussy.’ The meaning is the same, but the feeling is—Sarah, are you sure you’re all right?”Sarah nodded her head vigorously, not trusting herself to speak just then. Grace sighed, smiled, and shook her head. “And you say I’m sweet and innocent? I think you have me beat.”Sarah cleared her throat to choke down the giggles, and said, “Well, the phrase ‘blushing virgin’ exists for a reason, I guess.”“I suspect that even after we take care of the ‘virgin’ part of that phrase, the ‘blushing’ part will still remain,” Tedd said.Sarah shrugged. “Yeah, well, maybe,” she conceded. “Okay. Probably.”“So… you said ‘cunt’ was ‘iffy’ for you. Would you mind if I used it? I promise to never use it as a slur,” said Grace.“I never in a million years thought you would. Use it as a slur, that is. Yeah, it might take a little getting used to, but, that’s fine by me,” Sarah said.“Anything else feel ‘iffy’ to you?” asked Tedd.Sarah thought a moment, then shook her head. “No. Let’s wait and see. If something bothers me when we’re actually in the moment, I’ll… try to let you know.”“Try?”“Well, if I can bring myself to say the word, yeah.”A grin flickered across Tedd’s face, then she said, “Well, maybe you should practice.”“Practice?”“Saying them. Why don’t you repeat the list Grace just gave us.”“Uh…” Sarah stalled. “I’m not sure I remember them all.”“Oh, I can remind you, if you need,” Grace said helpfully.Sarah stared wide-eyed at her two grinning partners. “Uh…”“Here, let’s start together,” said Grace. “Fuck.”Sarah gritted her teeth, then mumbled “Fuh.”“What was that? I can’t hear you,” Tedd said, sing-song.“Fuck! All right?” Sarah blurted, then hid her face in her hands. After a moment, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up.“Sweetie, we don’t really have to do this if you don’t want to,” Grace said. “We’re not trying to make you more uncomfortable.”Sarah relaxed a little, and leaned against Grace. She gave Grace a quick peck on the cheek.“No, that’s all right. I can do this.” She took a deep breath. “Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck.” She giggled. “Fuck it all. Fuck-a-tronic. Fuck me. For fuck’s sake. Fuck fuck fuck!”“Fuck-a-tronic?” said Tedd, sounding amused. “Where did that come from?”“I have no fucking idea,” Sarah said, deadpan. Then she giggled again.“Are you really all right with doing this?” Grace asked, a quizzical smile on her face.“Yeah. It’s actually… how would Susan put it? It’s kind of empowering. Liberating. In a weird sort of way.”Grace looked skeptical, but she shrugged. “Well, if you say so.”“Next?” prompted Tedd, looking curious.“Pussy,” said Sarah. “Pussy pussy pussy. Yummy wet and juicy pussy…”
Tuesday, April 15

A three-way phone call:
“Well, the back seat of a car is traditional.”“Not for three it isn’t! Where would we all fit?”“And it sounds uncomfortable. And cold. And not very romantic.”
Wednesday, April 16

After school:
“Grace!” Sarah was surprised to see her girlfriend waiting on the sidewalk as she and Susan left school. “What are you doing here, sweetie,” she asked, as she gave her a big hug.“Some construction workers cut the power line to our school by accident, so we were let out early,” Grace said, as she returned the hug. “So I thought I’d come see you guys as you got out of school. Hey, Susan.”“Hi, Grace.”Sarah smiled and took a deep breath, inhaling Grace’s scent before letting go of her. “Wonderful. Tedd should be along in a few; he’s talking to Mrs. Wotherspoon about his Soc paper.”“Listen, I’ve got to get going,” Susan said. “I’ve got a shift starting in half an hour.”“Okay, good to see you, Susan,” Grace said.“Ditto, however briefly,” Susan replied, and headed off.Grace and Sarah sat down on a low wall to wait for Tedd. Grace scooted over a little so that their legs and shoulders were touching. They caught up on their respective school days, truncated in Grace’s case. Tedd came out of the building after fifteen minutes or so.“Wow, this is my lucky day,” he said with a smile, as he approached the pair. “Hey, Grace, what are you doing here?” He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.Grace explained her situation as they started walking towards home. She linked her arm with his. “So, how’s your Soc paper coming?”“Ugh. Can we talk about something else? Anything else?”“That good, huh?” Grace said.“Let’s just say my next couple of nights are spoken for.”“Well, then, I’ll enjoy this walk with you while I can,” Sarah said. She took Tedd’s hand in hers as they walked. He looked startled for a moment, then pleased.“Getting less concerned about public opinion?” he asked.“Yeah. As time passes, our relationship begins to feel more right, and… I don’t want to hide it. I’m not ready to spring it on my parents, just yet, but… well.” She lifted Tedd’s hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles, prompting a smile.They walked on in silence for a few moments, and Sarah focused on matching her gait to Tedd and Grace. Walking hand-in-hand was easier with them than it had been with Elliot, who was so much taller than she was. The triad’s heights, and thus gaits, were all fairly similar.As they walked, Sarah remembered a thought that had occurred to her the previous night.“Last night… I was thinking about sex…”“Now, there’s a surprise,” Tedd said.“Hah hah. No, but seriously… I have just been assuming—” Sarah paused.“Never a good thing, in triad,” said Tedd, with a smile.“Right.”“What were you assuming, sweetie?” asked Grace.Sarah was beginning to wonder if she could suffer skin damage from excessive blushing. Could she permanently rupture the capillaries in her cheeks? It seemed like a flushed face was becoming a normal part of conversation with Tedd and Grace these days. She glanced around, making sure no-one else was within earshot.“I was assuming. Wondering. If you two… have made love while Tedd is female?”Grace looked surprised.“Of course.”“Oh. So, you have some experience with, uh, lesbian sex, too, then?”“Well, yes, I guess so. That, and also straight sex where I'm male, or gay sex when we're both male.” Grace shrugged.“Really, sex is sex. The specifics may vary, depending upon our bodies; but the feelings and emotions are the important parts.”“And the having fun part, don’t forget that,” Tedd put in, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.Grace smiled.“Yes, that too.”“Oh.” Sarah felt stupid for not having taken her assumptions to their logical conclusions. She knew Grace had male forms, too, but she didn't see those forms anywhere near as often as she saw Tedd in female form.Grace cocked her head.“Were you wondering about… you and me? How we might make love?”Sarah just nodded, looking abashed.“I had just realized… a lot of the questions I’ve asked you guys about sex have been fairly, uh, heteronormal?…”“Heteronormative?” Grace provided.“Yeah, that. Most of my questions have been about nor—uh, that is, straight sex, sex with male Tedd. I hadn't been thinking about—I think I’ve sorta’ been avoiding thinking about, the details of making love with you. Or female Tedd.” She looked down.“Not that I haven't been fantasizing about it endlessly,” she added quietly, knowing full well that Grace would hear her sotto voce remarks.“Well, up until recently, you primarily thought of yourself as straight. It's not surprising most of your curiosity would focus on that particular set of, um, mechanics, at least at first,” Tedd said.“But… I don't want… I mean, I want to be…” Sarah shook her head and frowned. “Gah! What am I saying?”“Beats me?” They walked on in silence as Sarah gathered her thoughts.“What I'm trying to say, very poorly, is that… I want to make sure I also know the, uh, mechanics of making love with women, too. I want…” She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, letting Tedd’s hand guide her walk.“I want to be a good lover. With both of you. No matter which sex you are.” She opened her eyes and glanced sideways at them, smiling shyly.“Sweetie—”“Sarah—”Tedd and Grace both broke off and looked at each other. Tedd gestured to Grace, you first.“I don't think you have to worry about that. This… frustrating pause before we actually get a chance to make love has been good, I think, in some ways, for all of us, since it's given us time to talk about things in more depth than we might have otherwise. But, conversely, I think maybe you, or we, have been overthinking some things, too. We can only talk about sex so much; at some point, the doing of it will provide answers you never knew you wanted to know.”Tedd said, “Sex is wonderful, and fun. It's a great way of deepening connections with another person. Or persons. But, while learning about all the mechanics of the process may be good for relieving some of your anxieties, some parts of it just have to be experienced.”“Even if you had no idea whatsoever about the physical aspects of what you were doing—” Grace began.“Certainly feels that way,” Sarah muttered.“—I have no doubt you will be a wonderful lover. Because you care. Want to please us, not just be pleased by us. All the knowledge in the world does a person no good if they don't have a good heart. And, sweetie?” Sarah looked over at Grace.“You have a good heart. You’re kind and generous and giving. It's a large part of what makes you so wonderful. And attractive.”Grace stopped walking, bringing them all to a stop, then reached over to take Sarah’s hand in hers and kiss the back of it. “I’m not worried about you being a good lover. You already are, even if we haven’t gotten to the physical side of things yet. And you can learn anything you don’t already know, by practicing.”“If we ever get the chance…” Sarah muttered, both flattered by the compliment and annoyed by the reminder of their lack of privacy.“Our day will come, and we’ll have everything…” Tedd sang.Sarah snorted. “Goofball,” she said affectionately. They resumed walking, filling their remaining time together with lighter topics.
Thursday, April 17

After breakfast, in the kitchen:
Since learning about Grace's enhanced sense of smell, Sarah had talked with her about perfumes. It turned out that to Grace, most commercial perfumes (or perhaps just the ones that she could afford on a student’s budget) just smelled chemical-y. Natural scents were fine; Sarah thought she might buy some sandalwood oil when next she had the chance. Short term, she'd found one accessible natural scent in the kitchen that Grace enjoyed: vanilla. Real, of course, not imitation. Sarah felt a little foolish wearing it, and she feared she smelled a little bit like a sugar cookie, but Grace seemed to appreciate it, which was motivation enough for her to wear it.She just hoped her mother or father wouldn’t walk in on her dabbing cooking supplies behind her ears.
Friday, April 18

Sarah’s family room:
Tedd and Grace came over after dinner. They celebrated surviving another week of senior year, and Tedd’s Soc paper, by cuddling up together in the family room to watch a recording of the previous week’s episode of Orphan Black. They sat on on the floor in front of the couch together, an afghan draped over their laps. Sarah pulled apart from Grace a little at one point when her father passed through the room, but mostly she felt comfortable snuggling into Grace.“Do you think that your father suspects something?” Sarah asked Tedd during a pause as they fast-forwarded through commercials. “I mean, does he normally work from home this much? I don’t remember him being home this much in the past.”“In the past, you didn’t care if he was at home or not,” Grace pointed out. “This is nothing unusual, really.”Tedd chuckled. “Dad might like to project the image that he’s ‘all-knowing’, but I doubt he’d suspect me of dating two beautiful women at the same time.” Tedd got a far-away look on his face, with a faint smile, for a moment. “Can’t really believe it myself, sometimes…”Sarah gently banged the back of her head against the couch in frustration.“I give up. I think I'm just destined to remain a virgin until I die. The universe is obviously conspiring against my ever getting laid.” She heard the clink of dishes being put into the dishwasher in the kitchen, and she froze for a moment. “That wasn’t too loud, was it?” she whispered anxiously.“I think if your mom had heard you, we’d have heard about it by now,” murmured Tedd. Sarah relaxed.“Unless she’s just trying to figure out how to respond,” added Grace thoughtfully. Sarah un-relaxed.But after a few more moments without parental response, Tedd hit Play and they resumed watching.Her parents went to bed before Tedd and Grace left, giving them at least a little time to engage in a spot of quiet necking. But there were sharp limits on how much Sarah was comfortable doing with her parents in the house, so eventually they left, leaving Sarah to her cold, empty, lonely bed.
Saturday, April 19

Sarah’s bedroom:
Sarah was lost in a mob of hot, sweaty people. She was fairly certain she was in the right line for the Haunted Mansion, but she couldn’t see any signs or guides through the mass of humanity towering over her. Disney is usually better organized than this, she thought crankily. As the people shoved and jostled her, she looked around for Tedd and Grace, but they were nowhere to be found. Crap. I really don’t want to do this ride alone. She pushed and shoved, moist with other people’s sweat while squeezing through the crowd, trying to find her friends. For a brief moment she caught a glimpse of Tedd’s purple hair next to Grace’s furry brown antennae through the crowd, but then the crowd closed back up, cutting her off from them. “Tedd! Grace!” she called out, but there was no response. “Fuck!” she cursed in frustration. She pushed and shoved, but got nowhere, except more squished.She was dragged out of sleep, gasping, by the text tone on her phone going off.Repeatedly.The dream had been sufficiently unpleasant that she was almost glad to be woken. Almost.“Wha’ t’hell?” she mumbled, as she reached for the noisy device. She looked at the time before looking at the messages. 8:38? Who on Earth would text me at 8:38 on a Saturday morning? Then she looked at the string of messages.Tedd: Hey Sare, Dad just got called away to a situation in Boise
Grace: Do you want to come over and play?
Tedd: And by play we mean… ;~}
Grace: Ignor the crude man
Grace: RU awake?
Tedd: Hello?
Grace: Did u leave yr phone on silent?
Tedd: We may have to go wake her
Grace: Please tell me your phone isn’t charging in the kitchen :-(
Tedd: Oh carp. 8-[Sarah was suddenly very wide awake.
Sarah: No I’m here just walking up
She paused and rubbed her face, her pulse accelerating as the implications began to sink in.Sarah: Is he gone all day?
Tedd: At least until tomorrow
Grace: Maybe longer. Depends on migration patterns.
Sarah: Why- nvmShe stumbled out of bed, and headed towards the bathroom.Sarah: B there in an hour or so
Grace: No rush. We’ve got all day… ;->Sarah sucked in a sharp breath as she read that, then put down her phone so she could undress and get into the shower.Sarah stood in the shower, letting the water pour over her head as she rinsed the conditioner out of her hair. Wow. So this is really happening.
Finally.
She paused in scrubbing her hair at that thought, and took stock of her emotions. She was nervous, yes, but not excessively so. Nothing like what she had been before their first date. It was more a butterflies-in-the-stomach sense of happy anticipation; more “Christmas Morning” nerves than “Final Exam” nerves. She grinned, and finished cleaning up. Okay, so maybe this delay has been good for something after all. Now that the delayed gratification was almost over, she could almost feel philosophical about it.She wiped the steam off the mirror when she got out of the shower, and smiled at her reflection. Hey, good lookin’. You’re gonna’ get laid! She giggled as she brushed out her hair, then she brushed her teeth. She was amused to see her nipples standing at attention even as she went through these mundane tasks. She remembered Grace cupping her breast and gently rolling her nipple between her finger and thumb as they kissed a few nights ago. She squeezed her thighs together at the memory, and finished up as quickly as she could.Definitely the red lacies today, she thought. She had worn them a couple of times in the previous weeks, in foiled optimistic anticipation. Fortunately, they were lightweight enough that she could wash them by hand in her sink at night, and they were dry by morning. May be time to buy more than one set of sexy lingerie… well, wait and see if they like them first.She pulled on the underwear and once again paused to look at herself in the mirror. She liked that shade of red with her hair. She ran a critical hand over her belly; it was not as flat as she might like it to be, not as muscular as Grace’s, but Grace and Tedd didn’t seem to mind. As Tedd had observed one evening, with a slightly lecherous smirk, Why would you want to look like Grace? You’re beautiful the way you are. If I’m lucky enough to be in bed with two sexy women, I want to be able to tell you apart! Sarah grinned, and pulled on jeans and the first shirt she grabbed, a pink button-down blouse. Makeup seemed superfluous; her perpetual blushes were coloring enough, she figured. She pulled on a headband and tucked her hair back. Giving herself one last look-over in the mirror, she thought I’m grinning like a loon. Sober up, or Dad will suspect something’s up. She tried to school her face into a neutral mask, but her smile crept out again almost immediately. She shook her head at her reflection. Hopeless goofball.She really wanted to just run out the door and run all the way over to Tedd and Grace’s, but she knew herself well enough to know that if she didn’t eat some sort of breakfast, she’d be spacey and cranky in very short order. Not a nice thing to inflict upon her lovers. My lovers… she rolled the phrase over in her mind, smiling still more. She went downstairs and poured herself a bowl of her usual cereal. She didn’t see her father anywhere; perhaps he was out on his Saturday morning bike ride. This time of the morning on a Saturday, her mother was usually still asleep.She finished her cereal quickly, tucked the bowl in the dishwasher, and scribbled a note on the kitchen whiteboard: Gone to T&G’s, maybe(?) back for dinner. ❤︎ SShe paused, and smiled, as she imagined being in bed with Grace and Tedd all day long, maybe even past dinner time.She grabbed her jacket and stepped out into the cool spring morning air. She decided to take her bike, in order to get there faster. She noted her father’s bike was gone as she wheeled her own out of the garage, confirming her suspicions.Pedaling her way towards the Verres’ house, she was struck by the beauty of the morning. The low sun was still burning off the morning dew, and spring was coming along nicely, with pale new green leaves beginning to flesh out the trees, and daffodils and crocuses sprouting up in every other yard. As she noticed the sound of bird songs, she laughed out loud. Am I in a Disney movie?… Dang, I’m just giddy. She began to sing shortly before reaching the Verres house, “Oh, what a beautiful morning…” Which only made her giggle more as she hopped off her bike and locked it to the back porch railing behind the house.Grace opened the back door. “Good morning, beautiful!” she called out.Sarah looked up from locking her bike and froze. Grace was wearing an dark emerald green babydoll, that set off her green eyes and sienna brown skin just perfectly. It was translucent, and Sarah could see Grace’s nipples quite clearly. She managed to look even better than Sarah had ever imagined her in her wildest erotic fantasies. “My… goddess,” she whispered. Someone who looks like that wants to have anything to do with me? whimpered the insecure little voice deep inside her.Then she shook her head, and fought to recover her giddy mood. The correct emphasis is, someone like that wants to have something to do with me! She smiled slowly and just looked up at Grace, allowing her gaze to travel lovingly over her body. Despite having studied a fully nude Grace for hours at a time while sketching her, the translucency of the outfit managed to boost her erotic appeal in ways which surprised Sarah. She blew out a slow breath, her heart suddenly racing with more than just the exertion of the short bike ride.“Ohhhh, sweetie, I think I finally understand the phrase ‘totally edible.’”Grace smiled. “Then, come inside, and we’ll get you something to eat.”Sarah almost tripped over the steps as she hurried inside. But once inside, with the door shut, she was suddenly caught up in a fit of shyness. She dropped her helmet to the floor by the back door, where it landed with a hollow thunk. Grace reached out to hug her just as she was reaching up to unzip her jacket. They trapped Sarah’s hands between them, nestled in between Grace’s silk-covered breasts. They both giggled at that, and Grace stepped back a pace, to allow Sarah space to take off her jacket.“You are so beautiful,” Sarah said, as she tossed the jacket onto a kitchen chair, and kicked off her shoes. After a moment’s thought, she bent over and peeled off her socks, too, and stuffed them into the shoes. Straightening up, she was struck anew by Grace’s beauty, and she licked her lips and swallowed. “That’s… quite the outfit. I didn’t think you could get any more sexy, but somehow you did.”Grace smiled and twirled around, making the fabric flare around her hips, showing off the black lace panties she wore underneath. “You like? Well, I thought, we had a special tablecloth and napkins for our first date, so we needed to have something else special for our first time making love.”Sarah felt a touch grubby by contrast, standing there in her jeans and blouse, but then she remembered her own lingerie, and smiled. “I’m… wearing something special, too. But…” She faltered. What was protocol for undressing in a situation like this? “Where’s Tedd?” she asked, stalling for time.“When he saw what I was wearing, he wanted to put on something nice too. I think he’s ransacking his dresser, but—he’s never been much of a male clothes horse; almost all of his nicer outfits are for women. He may be a while.”“Oh.” Sarah lifted a hand to her chest, and hesitantly unbuttoned the collar button of her blouse. “Well… I must admit, this is one aspect of co-ordinating a triad I never thought about.” She laughed. “Whenever I fantasized about us, um, together, I usually just started in the bedroom. All of us already undressed.”Grace reached out and unbuttoned the next two buttons, then stopped with her fingers lightly touching Sarah’s sternum, between her breasts. “If we wait for the perfect moment when we’re all three perfectly ready, we may never start,” she said quietly, with a smile. Sarah’s breathing deepened at her touch; she imagined Grace could feel her heart pounding beneath her fingertips.Grace traced a fingernail up the length of Sarah’s sternum and neck, wrapping her hand around to behind her head. She dug her fingernails into Sarah’s hair, scratching the back of her head and neck, and Sarah gasped. Prior to this past week, Sarah had never realized her neck and scalp were such intense erogenous zones. Her eyes closed and her lips parted as she leaned into the sensation, and she tilted her head back a little, inviting Grace.Grace took the hint quite nicely, and kissed Sarah gently over the pulse of her neck. Sarah shuddered, and wrapped her arms around Grace as Grace continued kissing her way up her neck and jaw, ending at her lips. Sarah kissed her back, running her fingernails gently up and down Grace’s spine in the way she’d discovered Grace loved. Grace sucked in a sharp breath at the sensation.Sarah reveled in the feeling of Grace’s skin; the silk babydoll was split in the back, allowing her free access to her whole back. Grace’s mouth kept switching between kissing her lips and nibbling on her neck, eliciting little whimpers of pleasure from Sarah. Grace occasionally hissed with pleasure as Sarah’s nails found a particularly good spot, and Sarah traced the shell of Grace’s ear with the tip of her tongue.Grace pulled back from Sarah after only a minute of this, and they looked at each other, arms around each others’ waists, both breathing heavily. Sarah enjoyed the sight of Grace’s nipples jutting hard through the thin fabric, and was struck with a smug thought: Heh. I did that.“Why are we still in the kitchen?” asked Grace, somewhat breathlessly.Sarah laughed. “Because we can’t keep our hands off each other long enough to get to the bedroom?” She let her hands slide around under the loose silky fabric to the front. She cupped Grace’s breasts, thrilled to feel her bare skin. She loved the heft and weight of them in her hands, so soft and warm. She remembered what Grace had done for her the other night, and gently pinched her erect nipples, rolling them between finger and thumb. Grace moaned, and her knees started to buckle, then she forced herself upright.“Yeah. Right. Bedroom. Now.” Grace gasped. She pulled free from Sarah’s hands, then grabbed her hand and tugged her out of the kitchen.Of the two, Grace had the larger bed, so she lead Sarah to her room. When they got there, Sarah stopped in the doorway. The curtains were drawn, presumably for privacy. Candles were lit around the dim room, and there were bouquets of flowers on each bedside table flanking the bed, providing a faint perfume to the air. But what riveted her attention most was Tedd, sitting in the middle of the bed, leaning against the headboard, wearing only navy blue silky boxers. He had one knee drawn up, as if casually, but Sarah could see his erection poking against the fabric along his raised leg. She hadn’t seen Tedd shirtless in a while; she was pleased to see he’d outgrown his earlier adolescent skinniness. Though still slender, he had some meat to him, not all gangly skin and bones. His chest was mostly smooth, just a light brush of hair down the middle, and there was some nice pectoral definition beneath his nipples. She swallowed, hard, then said “Ohhh, myyyy,” in an unintentional George Takei imitation. Tedd snorted a laugh in surprise, and Grace giggled. Sarah smiled. “It seems that Grace isn’t the only edible person around here today.”“I could say the same thing,” said Tedd, waggling his eyebrows appreciatively. Sarah blushed and laughed.“I was afraid you were going to miss this, Teddy,” said Grace teasingly. She pulled Sarah the rest of the way into the room, and put Sarah between herself and the bed.“Miss what?” he asked.In reply, Grace wrapped her arms around Sarah from behind and cupped her breasts in her hands. “This,” she said. She rubbed her thumbs over Sarah’s nipples, prompting a shudder from her, then she began slowly unbuttoning the rest of Sarah’s blouse, while simultaneously kissing the back of her neck. Sarah gasped and moaned. She struggled to keep her eyes open, watching Tedd, hungry for his reaction. His attention was riveted on her, and he licked his lips as her blouse slowly opened, revealing her lacy red bra. “Oooh, you did wear something nice,” Grace purred. Sarah raised her hands reflexively to cover her breasts, almost exposed through the thin red fabric, but then she caught herself, and converted the motion to a stroking motion, sliding her hands down her own torso. She let Grace peel the blouse completely off her. Her attention was focused on Tedd, as his hand dropped as-if-casually to his lap, gently rubbing against the length of his erect cock through the silk.Grace slid her hands down Sarah’s abdomen, prompting another shiver, and unbuttoned Sarah’s jeans. “Are you wearing something special to match, here, too?” she asked impishly. Sarah helped by undoing the zipper, then paused, hands on her jeans. She felt like Tedd’s eyes were devouring her; she knew he could see her nipples through the thin red fabric, knew that when she dropped her jeans he would be able to see her pale brown bush through her panties. Yes, he and Grace had both seen her naked before at various times due to transformation mishaps, but those had always been accidental, quick glances, before politely looking away.Now, he wasn’t looking away. Now, he was studying her like he studied a magic artifact. His eyes, so often soft focussed, or looking into the distance as he pondered magics that were beyond her comprehension, were totally present, hot and hungry as he watched her disrobe. She smiled, bit her lip, and asked shyly, “You like?”“Ohhh, yes,” he breathed, his voice a husky half octave lower than usual. He’d given up all pretense and was holding his cock firmly in hand through his boxers, his fingers gently flexing and rubbing. “More? Please?” he asked.In response, Sarah slipped her jeans down her hips, trying to maintain eye contact with Tedd the whole time. Her jeans got slightly stuck at her calves, and she almost toppled over, trying to shove them off. Grace laughed and held her up, and Sarah giggled too, blushing some more. “I think I need to practice my sexy strip-tease,” she said, as she pushed the pants off her feet, and kicked them out of her way. She stood upright and looked at Tedd. Her self-consciousness returned a little, and she fought to not cover her crotch with her hands, but settled for placing her hands over Grace’s, which were wrapped across her belly as she hugged Sarah from behind. The feeling of Grace’s silk-covered body pressed against her mostly-bare back as she hugged her from behind was electrifying.Tedd’s smile kept growing, as he looked at her, and he said softly, “Oh, Sarah-my-love, you are so beautiful.” He could not have picked a better thing to say to help her combat her self-consciousness, and she felt her eyes start to tear up as she smiled back at him. Grace gently kissed the back of her neck again, then released her, and stepped around to stand beside her. Grace took Sarah’s hand in hers and moved them closer to the bed.“What do you want to do, sweetie?” Grace asked Sarah. “Today is your day.” Sarah wiped at her eyes with her free hand and looked at Grace, and then Tedd.“I want…” She licked her lips, her mouth suddenly a little dry. “I want…” She stood there, very aware of her near-nudity in a way she had never been before, aware of their near-nudity too. The “near” part bothered her. She knew what she wanted, she just had to say it. Her face reddening, she whispered, “I want to be naked. With you. Both.” Almost more than the sex, she wanted to feel their skin against hers, without clothing or impediment. Stroking Grace’s back and breasts in the kitchen, feeling her pressed up against her as her blouse and pants came off, had made her hyper-aware of her own skin, and she wanted to be touching their skin, with nothing in between.“I think that can be arranged,” said Tedd with a smile. Sarah started to reach back to unhook her bra, but her attention was diverted by watching Tedd lift his hips off the bed to push his boxers down his legs and off. His cock popped up as it came free of the cloth, and Sarah got her first view of his erect cock. It was long, and smooth, and jutted up from his bush of purple pubic hair. Sarah thought it was beautiful, if a little intimidating. She was a little surprised to realize his pubic hair was a bit darker than the hair on his head. Well, just like me, I suppose, she thought. Tedd kicked his boxers off the bed. He leaned back on his side, propped his head up on one elbow and struck a pose, with one knee raised. “You like?” he echoed Sarah’s earlier question.Sarah could only nod. Then she jumped slightly as she felt Grace’s hands on her bra clasp, unhooking it. She looked back over her shoulder to see Grace, already naked—of course—smiling at her. “I thought you could use some help,” she said. Then she paused, and added, “If you don’t mind?”Sarah shook her head, “No, that’s… that’s fine. Thank you.” She reached up to her shoulders to grasp the shoulder straps of her bra, and paused, her hands on her shoulders, forearms crossed over her breasts.Grace moved around her and sat on the edge of the bed. Now Sarah felt two pairs of eyes on her, and she didn’t know what to do. Finally, she licked her lips, and said, “Do you… would you mind… if I, uh, took a quick break?”Grace and Tedd glanced at each other, then Grace said, “No, of course not; if that makes you feel more comfortable, go right ahead.”“We’ll still be here when you get back,” Tedd joked.Sarah snorted, and closed her eyes. She reached down inside herself to where her magic lived, and cast her time-stop spell.When she opened her eyes, Grace and Tedd were frozen in place, stuck in the bubble of “other time” where Sarah could explore. She dropped her arms, letting her bra drop off and onto the floor. Tedd and Grace were still staring at her, and she blushed a little more, even though she knew they weren’t actually watching her. What the heck, might as well practice it all, she thought, and shoved her panties down her legs, and stepped out of them. She stood in front of the motionless pair, stark naked, her heart pounding. Will you really like what you see when I’m like this? she wondered. No pretty underwear to doll me up, just me? My god, you’re both so beautiful. She reached out a hand, and brushed Grace’s cheek, and transferred her consciousness into Grace’s body.She felt the usual moment of slight vertigo that came from switching her point-of-view; looking at her own body from the outside was always disconcerting. It had taken her a while after she’d started using this spell to realize that part of the feeling of oddness was due to the fact that she wasn’t seeing herself in mirror-image, which was how she most often would see her own body. She also felt a warmth at her core that was new to her, then she realized she was feeling Grace’s arousal. Nice to know that she’s actually turned on, too.In Grace’s body, she leaned back a little, the better to see her own body. She didn’t know if Grace’s emotions and arousal colored her own perception, but… I really am kinda cute, she grudgingly admitted to herself. Though I had better remember to take off that silly headband! She’d forgotten all about that, while undressing. She looked at herself critically. That pimple on my forehead isn’t anywhere near as huge as I thought it was, thank goodness. I’m still not sure I believe them when they say I’m beautiful, but… yeah, I’ve definitely got ‘cute’ down pat. She turned away from her body and looked at Tedd. She forced herself to look at his face first. He was still focused on where she had been standing when she froze the moment. He had a bit of a grin, from his last wise-crack, but there was also something else there. It took her a moment to figure out what it was. There was warmth there, affection, maybe a bit of sympathetic understanding for her nerves. Or maybe I’m just projecting what I want to see. But she didn’t really believe that. His warmth and affection were there, aimed at her. If Grace had still been standing beside her, she could have imagined his expression was for Grace, but he was looking past Grace, at her. She felt her stomach un-knot a little at the realization.Then she looked down the length of his body to his crotch. “Oh, my,” she murmured, and was momentarily startled to hear Grace’s voice, until she remembered where she was. She hesitantly reached out a hand to touch his cock, but then stopped herself before she completed the motion. No. I want it to be real, not some magical carbon-copy, the first time we touch like that. Still, she stared at his erect cock for several long moments, getting a little more familiar with it. Will that really all fit inside me? She had masturbated for years with a candle stick as an improvised dildo, but Tedd was a fair bit bigger in diameter than that. When she’d asked Grace about it, she had blithely rattled off, “Oh, he’s about one and a half inches in diameter, and almost seven inches long.” Those numbers had seemed smaller in the abstract. Sarah was glad she’d broken her hymen while masturbating a few years ago, so she wouldn’t have to worry about that particular discomfort, at least.She shook her head, and flipped her consciousness back into her own body. She stepped back and looked down at Tedd and Grace, admiring them both for a moment. The past weeks might have been sexually frustrating, but they had been emotionally rewarding. Getting to know them better, letting them get to know her better. She realized that not only did she find them sexually attractive, but they called to her heart, too. That the inner warmth she was feeling wasn’t just physical arousal, but the warmth of affection, and love.She smiled and thought, If they didn’t really want me, they wouldn’t have called me. Stop being a silly goose. She brushed a lock of hair out of Grace’s face, enjoying the texture, then said, “Right. Let’s do this thing, my loves.” She took another deep breath, then broke the spell.She opened her eyes, to find Tedd and Grace still looking at her, and Grace was saying “—her relax.”Sarah smiled at them and said, “Sorry to space out on you like that, but, yeah, it did help me relax.” With only the barest hesitation, she dropped her arms, and let her bra slide down her arms to the floor. Then, before she could think about it too much, she quickly stepped out of her panties. Lastly, she pulled off her headband and tossed it at Tedd’s cock like a ring-toss; she missed, but it prompted a brief laugh from all of them. Tedd picked it up and slipped it on his head, prompting another laugh. She felt like her blush was covering her from her head down to her navel, but she stood still, not covering herself with her hands. Rather, she stood smiling with her hands clenched together behind her back, chest thrust out, consciously displaying herself. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest; it was a weird mix of anxiety and anticipation and arousal.“Teddy was right. You are so very beautiful.” Grace’s smile was warm and loving.Sarah swallowed her automatic response, and instead said, “So are you.”Grace reached up a hand to Sarah. “Come join us?”Sarah took Grace’s hand and sat down next to her on the edge of the bed, turning a little sideways so she could see them both.“What did you check out, with your spell?” asked Tedd, as he slipped her headband off his head and tossed it onto the bedside table.“Oh… I, uh, practiced getting undressed. Trying to get used to being naked. Around you. But mostly, I just looked at you two.”“Just looked?” Tedd looked slightly skeptical.“Yeah. I wanted any… touching… to be with the real yous, not with magical copies.” This won a smile from both her lovers.Sarah realized she may have been showing a bit more nerves than she thought when Tedd said, “I think the term for your current expression is, ‘deer caught in headlights.’” Sarah glanced at him, but he was smiling sympathetically, not mocking her. “Relax, Sare,” he said gently. “We’re here for you.”“Like we said, today really is all about you,” Grace added. “You call the shots. You set the pace. Do what feels right for you.” She reached out and gently stroked the side of Sarah’s face.Sarah closed her eyes briefly at that touch, and leaned into it. She tried to call up the feeling of giddy excitement she’d experienced on her ride over here, the heat she’d felt while kissing Grace in the kitchen. A low level thrum of excitement still remained with her, but it was quieter now. Opening her eyes, she said, “I want… is it all right… can we just, you know, cuddle for a little while first?”“Of course.”“Best suggestion I’ve heard all day,” Tedd said. “Of course, the day is yet young.”Sarah laughed. “Yeah, I’m not sure which is more incredible to me—that this is finally happening, or that it’s happening before eleven, on a Saturday morning.”She pulled her legs into bed, and scooted over towards the center of the bed, closer to Tedd. There were several pillows piled up against the headboard, where Tedd had been reclining, and Sarah lay back into them. She shyly spread her arms open, invitingly, and Tedd and Grace slipped in on either side of her, to curl up against her. Tedd pulled a sheet part-way up over them as he cuddled in. Sarah sucked in a breath at the feel of their skin against hers; even just simple contact, with no clothes intervening, was wondrous. They both draped an arm across her belly, heads on her shoulders and chest. They made no overtly sexual moves, but Sarah was keenly aware of their breath on her skin, their heads on her chest so close to her nipples, and the firmness of Tedd’s erection pressed into the side of her thigh. She sighed, and settled into the pillows a little deeper.“I can’t believe how good you feel,” she said quietly. “I mean, just feeling your skin against mine.” She slid her hands up and down their backs, closed her eyes, and breathed in their mingled scents.“You feel wonderful too,” Grace said, her hand slowly stroking back and forth over the side of Sarah’s belly. Normally, Sarah would have thought that that kind of contact would tickle, but it didn’t. Tedd’s foot was gently sliding up and down her calf, not coincidentally also rubbing his cock back and forth against her thigh a little bit.The trio lay there quietly for a while, just enjoying the sensations in the moment. Tedd's and Grace’s hands continued to gently stroke her sides and abdomen, avoiding her breasts or anything sexual just yet, and Sarah let her hands roam over their backs and arms.After a few minutes of this, Sarah said quietly, “I’m… not sure where to go from here. What to do. You said I could ‘call the shots’, but… I’m not sure what the shots are.” She briefly squeezed her arms around them in a hug, and kissed the tops of both their heads.Grace pulled back from Sarah a little bit and propped her head up on her hand so she could look her in the face. “There’s no right or wrong, sweetie, as long as you—we—are comfortable with it. There are certainly a lot of different things we could do, but, if you’re looking for a suggestion?” Sarah nodded. Tedd also pulled back a little, to mirror Grace’s pose. “If you’re feeling a little tense, maybe we should start with a massage?”Sarah blinked. “That… was not where I was expecting you to go with that.”“Well, only if you want to—”“No, no, that sounds wonderful.” It really did; Grace not only had strong hands, she also had an almost sixth sense for where tension was hiding. Sarah had only ever experienced Grace’s back and shoulder rubs, given through her shirt; the thought of something like that, all over her body, with just bare skin, gave her a little shiver of delight.Grace pushed herself up on one hand and stretched to reach the bedside table. Sarah found herself charmed by the sight of her breasts hanging down and jiggling gently as she did so. She wanted to reach out and stroke them, kiss them, but she was still feeling a bit too shy to do so. Grace grabbed a few bottles from the table and sat up, smiling. “Do you like valerian, bergamot, or chamomile?”“Uh, what?” Sarah sat up too, reflexively pulling the sheet up to cover her breasts, then she made herself let go of it, and let it drop to settle across her lap. She heard a tiny happy sigh from Tedd, and looked over at him to see him staring at her breasts with a slightly goofy smile on his face. She blushed, then smiled, happy to be admired.Grace held out the three bottles she’d picked up. “Different oil scents. You’re going to smell like whatever we use for the rest of the day, so which one do you like best?”Sarah took a bottle, opened it up, and sniffed. A warm woody smell was barely detectable.“Mind you,” said Tedd, “We’ve mixed these so they won’t fry Grace’s sensitive nose, so they’re all pretty faint. I sometimes have problems telling them apart.”Sarah sniff tested the other two, and found she agreed with Tedd. “They all smell lovely to me. Since you’re the one who’ll smell them the most, which is your favorite, Grace? What do you want me to smell like for the rest of the day?”“Sex,” murmured Tedd, but Grace studiously ignored him and Sarah, blushing, followed her lead.“I like them all, but today? How about bergamot?” said Grace.“Fine by me.”Grace placed the other two bottles back on the bedside table, then turned to Sarah and said, “Lay down on your stomach.”“Um. Okay.” Sarah lay back down and flipped over so she was face-down. Not having her bare breasts on display allowed her to relax a little bit. The sheet was still pulled up to her waist.“Hang on, let me get rid of those pillows,” said Tedd. He tugged the pillows out from under her and tossed them over the side of the bed, leaving Sarah flat on the bed.“Just close your eyes and relax,” said Grace.Sarah closed her eyes as bid, then gasped as she felt first one, then a second gentle kiss placed between her shoulder blades. She had no idea which one was from who. She smiled. Eyes still closed, she said, “You guys are too good to me, you know?”“I disagree; I think we’re just right,” said Tedd.“You deserve all this, and more,” added Grace. Sarah couldn’t believe how much that simple statement could warm her heart. She felt her eyes prickle with the sting of happy tears, but keeping her eyes closed kept them in.Sarah felt the two of them shifting around beside her, then she felt Grace’s hands on her back, gently rubbing oil up and down the full length of her back, before sliding her hands up to her shoulders and squeezing. Sarah let out a whimper of sensual pleasure at the sensation, as Grace dug in to the knots and pressure points. A moment later, she felt Tedd’s hands join in, working on her lower back.She slowly felt herself relax, releasing tensions she wasn’t even aware she’d had, as her boyfriend and girlfriend worked on her. The sensations pulled her in two directions at once: the massage was relaxing her, while the sensual joy of two sets of hands touching her was invigorating and arousing her. She made little whimpering noises of pleasure as they worked on her arms, hands, and back.After ten, or maybe fifteen minutes (she was losing track of time, marinating in sensual bliss), she felt the sheet covering the lower half of her body slide off her. She heard a small gurgle from the oil bottle as one of them poured more oil into their hands, and rubbed it onto her legs and ass. She suddenly pulled out of her daze, her legs squeezing together in self-consciousness.“Shhh, relax, Sarah,” Grace said quietly. She gently lifted Sarah’s leg at the knee an inch or so off the bed, and slid her legs apart a few more inches. Sarah tried to relax her muscles as Grace's and Tedd’s hands stroked up and down the length of her legs, but her face was burning. No one but her gynecologist had ever seen her “down there”, and she was acutely aware that her parted legs probably allowed Tedd and Grace a view of her vulva. She also became aware, as she was exposed to the cooling air, that she was very, very wet. What must I smell like to Grace right now? She whimpered a little in embarrassment. She managed to refrain from closing her legs, but her legs and buttocks tensed nonetheless.“What’s wrong, Sarah?” asked Grace. Sarah wasn’t sure how to formulate a response. Why is talking about this sex stuff so much harder than actually doing it? After a few moments of silence, Sarah was startled to feel first Grace, then Tedd, stretch out on the bed beside her, both of them throwing an arm and leg over her oiled body. Her face was turned toward Tedd, and she opened her eyes as she felt him brush the hair off her face. He was smiling gently, a little bit of concern in his eyes. He kissed her cheek.“You all right?” he asked. Sarah nodded.“What’s going on, sweetie?” asked Grace.Communicate, dammit, Sarah thought sternly at herself. “I’m just… shy. I’ve never been this exposed before. Never had anyone see my, my… pussy. I was wondering…” she closed her eyes. “I was worried about, what I must, uh. Smell like, to Grace’s sensitive nose.”“Oh!” Grace sounded enlightened. “Ohhh, sweetie,” she said, her voice dropping and becoming more throaty. “You. Smell. Delicious.”Sarah twisted her head around to face Grace. “…Really?”In response, Grace leaned in and kissed her, hard, putting a hand behind her head to pull her in close. Sarah’s tensions and worries faded away in the heat of the kiss. Grace’s mouth on hers was always a sensual wonder, and this time there was even more urgency in her kisses, as Grace’s mouth worked from her lips to her jaw and neck and back to her lips. Grace pulled back after a moment, and Sarah was left gasping, her lips parted, wanting those lips back on hers. She stared into Grace’s lovely green eyes, wanting her to touch her again.“Really, truly,” said Grace. “The only reason I didn’t dive head first into your pussy to eat you up was because we’d agreed to let you set the pace.” Sarah suddenly realized that not only did she have Tedd’s hard cock gently rubbing against her oiled thigh on one side, but on the other side, Grace’s smooth wet pussy was clamped hard against her leg too.Sarah’s head was swimming from that kiss. Screw it. Enough stalling. “Well, then,” she whispered, terrified and thrilled at the same time. “Don’t let me stop you.”Now it was Grace’s turn to ask, “Really?” Her face lit up with a smile as she looked at Sarah for confirmation.“Really, truly,” Sarah echoed Grace’s phrase. “I’ve waited… long enough.” She grinned. “Let’s dance.”Grace blinked, and looked puzzled. “Uh… sure, if you want?”Tedd and Sarah both laughed, and Sarah pushed herself up on her elbows, and leaned over to kiss Grace again. “That was a euphemism, silly squirrel, or maybe a metaphor, I dunno. Let’s…” Several phrases flitted through her mind, from the silly to the clinical to the vulgar, but only one felt like it truly fit the moment. “Let’s make love. My loves.”Grace smiled and rolled onto her back, and Sarah finally gave in to temptation, and lowered her head to kiss one of her lovely dark brown nipples. Grace gasped, closed her eyes at the sensation, and Sarah smiled, pleased at the reaction. She lifted her hand to caress Grace’s other breast as she continued to kiss and suckle her nipple. She explored the taste and texture of Grace’s erect nipple with her tongue, enjoying in the new sensation. She paused, and looked up at Grace’s face. “Is that okay?” she asked shyly, then gently licked in a circle around her hard nipple.Grace shuddered and opened her eyes, and smiled at Sarah. “No, that’s more than ‘okay’; it’s truly wonderful.”“I’ve wanted to do that for weeks,” Sarah said.“Me, too,” said Tedd, as he reached an arm around Sarah’s body and cupped her breast in his hand while kissing the back of her neck. Sarah groaned, and rolled towards him, ending flat on her back between the other two. “Oh, yes,” Tedd said, and duplicated Sarah’s actions, leaning over to kiss her the nipple closest to him while stroking her other breast. His hand still had some oil on it, and it slid deliciously across her whole breast.Tedd and Grace had played with her breasts while making out at various times over the past three weeks, but those had been brief caresses, usually through her shirt, only rarely skin-on-skin. None of that prepared her for the sensation of Tedd’s warm, wet mouth on her nipple.“Oh, my god,” she gasped, briefly stunned by the intensity of the sensation, sending an electric jolt of heat through her body. It was like getting her neck kissed, times ten. The sensation only grew, as his kisses gave way to gentle sucking, pulling her nipple and a significant portion of her small breast into his mouth. Sarah was gasping like she’d just run a hundred meter dash, and then she saw Grace bend her head to her chest, and the sensation suddenly redoubled. She arched her back, pressing her breasts into their mouths, and moaned louder at the increased sensation. “Oh, yes, that’s so good. Oh, god.” All her inhibitions and worries about how she smelled, or looked, faded away in the flood of sexual heat as her lovers kissed and played with her breasts.Suddenly both mouths disappeared from her chest, and Sarah gasped at the sudden lack of sensation. Well, not total lack; the cooling air on her wet overheated nipples was erotic, too, but not as intense as the kisses. She opened her eyes to see Tedd and Grace locked in a kiss over her chest, and the sight elicited another kind of moan from her. Fuck, they’re hot, she thought. The two parted, gazing into each other’s eyes, then turned their attention to Sarah. Sarah reached up a hand and pulled Tedd’s face to hers for a kiss. They kissed for several moments, Tedd’s hand resting on her breast and gently stroking it.She was just wondering where Grace had gotten to when she felt a gentle kiss on her thigh. She broke apart from Tedd’s mouth as she gasped, and lifted her head to look down to her waist.Grace peered up at her, smiling, and gently pushed Sarah’s knees apart so she could get between them. Grace scooted around so she was stretched out on her stomach between Sarah’s legs. With a happy little smile, she began kissing Sarah’s thighs, starting mid-thigh and slowly working her way up. She kept her gaze fixed on Sarah’s face as she went. Sarah’s breathing, already a bit fast, got shakier in anticipation as Grace’s mouth worked its way closer to her pussy. Grace’s smiling eyes seemed to show she was well aware of the effect she was having on Sarah.Sarah’s eyes flicked to the side, to see Tedd sitting there, seeming to enjoy the show, one hand gently stroking his cock. Her attention was wrenched back to Grace as she felt a cooling breath Grace blew across her wet and overheated pussy. She shuddered, both at the sensation, and in anticipation of what was to come. Grace’s smile deepened, and she gently parted the lips of Sarah’s pussy, exposing her clit and inner lips. She took a deep breath through her nose, and purred appreciatively, “Delicious.” Sarah blushed and smiled. Grace delicately stuck out the tip of her tongue, and so lightly as to almost be imperceptible, she traced her tongue up the edge of Sarah’s inner labia, ending at her clit. Sarah twitched. Grace repeated the motion, on the other side of her pussy, ending with just a little more pressure on her clit. Sarah quivered.“More? Please?” Sarah whimpered.Grace chuckled. “So sexy. So yummy.” And with that she gave Sarah a long, slow lick, her tongue full against her pussy, ending at her clit. She then flicked her tongue rapidly back and forth over Sarah’s clit for a moment. The sensation was like an electric shock to Sarah’s nervous system. Sarah convulsed, and grabbed Grace’s head, pushing her away from her crotch.“Sarah? Are you okay?” Sarah was gasping and quivering, twitching a little arrhythmically.“Maybe… not so much more…” she panted. “I—uh. Wow.” She shivered, and let go of Grace’s head. “Sorry. That… that wasn’t quite an orgasm, but… it was somehow more powerful.”“Feeling super-sensitive?” Grace asked.“Uh, yeah. And then some.” She flopped back on the bed and just panted for a moment. “Wow.”Grace crawled up the length of her body, and lay down alongside her, half covering her. “I must admit, I’ve never gotten that reaction out of Tedd. Or vice versa.”Tedd joined them, cuddling in on Sarah’s other side. “It certainly looked… well, maybe not ‘fun,’ but, pretty intense.”Sarah laughed. “Yah. Intense. In spades. I think… I think being so turned on, for so long, just made me a little more sensitive than usual.”Tedd placed a hand over her pussy, not stroking or probing, just gently cupping his hand over her mound. Holding her sex. She shivered a little at the touch, but it was a nice shiver, not overstimulated. “Is that okay?”“Yeah. That’s nice.” It felt odd to have someone else touch her there, where no-one else ever had before today, but it was also pleasant. Very pleasant. She enjoyed the heat of his hand in her private place.Grace kissed her cheek, and said, “I’m sorry if that was too much. But I was right about one thing, though.”“About what?”“You are delicious.”Sarah and Tedd laughed. Grace bent her head give Sarah’s nipple a gentle kiss. “Ready to try more?” she asked. “Or do you need a breather?”“Yeah… I want to go on.”Grace kissed her nipple again, and sucked gently on it. Tedd brushed his fingers through her damp pubic hair, then curled his fingers gently, slipping a single digit between her outer lips, to gently probe and stroke her wet pussy. He slid the single finger up to her clit, and gently brushed it, barely touching. Sarah hissed in pleasure. Tedd looked at her face, a question in his eyes, but she just smiled at him and closed her eyes, focusing on the pleasure. He circled her clit with his wet finger, and was rewarded by her pressing her hips up against his hand.“Wow… that’s…”“That’s what?” asked Tedd, massaging her clit a little more assertively.“So much better than when I do that. Unf!”Tedd chuckled. He bent his head forward to suck on her nipple, as Grace abandoned her breasts and started kissing her way down Sarah’s body, back to her pussy. She wiggled around and situated herself between Sarah’s legs again. Tedd pulled his hand away, with one final stroke on her clit, giving Grace access. He slipped his wet finger into his mouth, and said “Mmmm, Grace is right; you are delicious.” Sarah felt ridiculously pleased at that observation.Grace pulled Sarah’s outer labia apart, exposing her inner lips, and paused a moment, then gently stroked her tongue up and down the length of her slit. Grace’s previous licks seemed to have grounded out her hypersensitivity; this time, Sarah felt only pleasure—intense, but not convulsive. Sarah moaned as Grace explored her labia and clit with her tongue; the sensation, combined with Tedd’s mouth on her nipples, rapidly pushed her to a fever pitch. She was torn between the pleasure they were inflicting on her and her self-consciousness about losing control in orgasm. Then Grace slid a finger into her cunt, and she gave up on self-consciousness. As her two lovers suckled, licked, and fingered, Sarah let go of inhibition, and gasped through clenched teeth as her orgasm swept over her.As she came back to her senses, she realize that Tedd was no longer sucking on her nipples; he was propped up on an elbow, watching her face with a loving smile. Grace was likewise watching her, eyes smiling, her tongue just pressing gently at Sarah’s clit. She wasn’t lapping at her intensely, just giving soft warm wet pressure that provoked little after-shocks to her orgasm.“You are so beautiful when you come,” Tedd said. Sarah blushed, but for once didn’t feel obliged to gainsay him. She felt a little self-conscious about having had them watch her climax, but they were both so obviously happy to have done so, her embarrassment was minimal.“Thank you,” she said, to both of them.Grace laughed, and propped herself up on her elbows too. “Believe me, it was our pleasure.”“Mine too,” Sarah said.Grace kissed her way back up Sarah’s body, and snuggled in against her again, and Tedd did likewise.“How you doing?” asked Grace.Sarah laughed. “Magnificently. Thanks to you two.” She wrapped her arms around the two of them, and kissed them both gently. She was grateful that they somehow seemed to know she needed a breather, and she stroked their bodies as she luxuriated in sensual bliss, coming down from the high of her orgasm. She remembered what she had felt while in her time-stop spell, and her heart swelled. They truly did care about her, about her happiness; and she theirs. Her throat choked up a little, and she said, in a rough whisper, “I love you guys so much.”Grace and Tedd both propped their heads up so they could look Sarah in the face. Her eyes were wet with tears, and she smiled hesitantly at them, both happy and a little scared.Grace’s smile slowly widened as she looked at Sarah. “As do I. Love you, Sarah Brown. And Tedd Verres.” At that, the fear in Sarah’s heart melted away, and she caught a breath as she tried to keep from bursting into tears.“Me three,” said Tedd, prompting little laughs from Grace and Sarah, which helped break some of Sarah’s tension. “I love you both so much.”“Oh!” Sarah kissed Tedd, then Grace, then pulled them back to her to hug as hard as she could. “Are you for real? Am I going to wake up from a dream and have to go to school in five minutes?”Tedd chuckled. “I hope not.”“How can I be so happy?”“Hundreds of kittens?” suggested Grace. Sarah giggled.“What?” said Tedd.“Sarah’s theory for why she’s lucky enough to have us in her life: in a previous life she saved hundreds of kittens from burning buildings.”“Ah. Makes sense. I must have gotten the puppies you missed, to make me so happy.”“And I rescued the baby squirrels from forest fires,” said Grace.“Of course you did.”They exchanged little kisses all around.“I love you.”“And I love you.”“I love you.”Sarah chuckled. “It’s convenient that ‘you’ can be singular or plural in English.”“Should we just take it as given that, among us, ’I love you’ means, ‘I love you both’?” asked Grace.“Indeed.”“And… I lust you, too,” added Tedd. Grace chuckled.Sarah felt a momentary flicker of guilt. As well as Tedd’s hard cock against her thigh. “Oh! I… we… haven’t been paying much attention to you.”“It’s your day, Sarah-my-love,” Tedd said.“Yeah, but… no. It’s our day.”“That, too.”“I…” Sarah bit her lip, then continued, “I just realized… I’m still a little nervous, about…”“Intercourse?”“No… well, yes, that too, but…” She closed her eyes, feeling a flush across her cheeks that was not arousal, but embarrassment. How can I still be blushing after they’ve both seen me come? She sighed, and blurted, “Penises.”“Ah,” said Tedd, sounding understanding.“Penises? There’s only one here at present. Unless you wanted me to…” Grace offered.“No!” Sarah’s eyes flew open. “I mean… I definitely want to play with you, as male, someday, Grace, but…”“But for today, one is enough?”“Uh, yeah.” She laughed nervously.“Would you rather I was female?” asked Tedd.“No, not at all. I really want… ah, frak!” She hugged the two of them hard against her, trying to get her thoughts in order.Tedd asked, curiously, “Have you never, ah, played with your own cock while transformed to male?”Sarah felt herself get redder still. “No. When would I have had time? I only transform around you two, and I’ve never had any alone time while male. We’re always doing experiments or some such.”“You’ve never used the Tedd-form clone watch by yourself at home?”“No. That always just felt… too invasive of your privacy.”“I gave you permission to use it.”Sarah shrugged. “Maybe I should have,” she admitted. “It might make this a bit less awkward.” She sighed. “I guess this is one disadvantage of going straight from second base to home run… we skipped over the exploratory heavy petting.” She considered that for a moment, then modified it, “Well, I did. I guess you guys didn’t need it.”“Okay. Well.” Tedd sat up and moved so he was sitting cross-legged next to her, almost at head level. He smiled at her. “So your time to explore is now, then.”Sarah swallowed, and looked at his cock. It was sticking out, angled up slightly, and twitching slightly in time with his pulse. She reached out a hesitant hand, the paused. “May I touch it?”Tedd smiled. “Sweetie, at this point, there isn’t much you couldn’t do. Yes, of course.”Sarah ran a tentative finger along the length of Tedd’s cock, and heard Tedd inhale sharply. “That okay?” she asked, though she was pretty sure she knew the answer.“Oh, yes. It’s… an extra thrill for me, knowing that this is the first time you’ve played with someone else’s cock.”Sarah was fascinated by the contrasts, his cock so hard, but the skin so soft. She stroked it gently with her fingertips.“This may be a stupid question…”“No such thing, sweetie. Stop that.”“Right, sorry. But… are you circumcised?”“No. It would be a bit more obvious if I wasn’t aroused, but, see, here’s the foreskin.” Tedd tugged at his foreskin, pulling it forward, up over the glans. Sarah squeaked a bit in surprise.“Wow. I… would not have imagined you could be so, uh, forceful with your… cock.”Grace chuckled behind her. “Cocks are remarkably resilient. Nowhere near as delicate as the balls, or clit.”Tedd grabbed his cock in hand, and rubbed it several times, demonstrating. Then he removed his hand and said, “Give it a try.”Sarah wrapped a tentative hand around his cock, surprised even more to find how hard it felt, under that soft skin. She stroked up and down like Tedd had, and was rewarded by a soft moan.“Mmm… You can hold on a little tighter,” he suggested.Sarah complied, stroking a little more, fascinated by the way the opening at the end of his cock winked at her as she did so. She looked up at Tedd’s face, to see him looking down at her with a smile and a glazed expression of lust on his face.“You are so hot right now,” Tedd said.Sarah smiled, and, emboldened by his comment, bent her head forward to give the tip of his cock a little lick. Tedd gasped, encouraging further exploration.Sarah moved in a little closer, and Tedd flopped back against the headboard, staring at her, lips parted. “You don’t have to, if you don’t want to…” he said, hesitantly.Sarah grinned up at him. “But, what if I do want to?”“Well, don’t let me stop you.”Sarah licked again, then again, long soft strokes along his full length, exploring the taste and texture of him. She was surprised at how little taste there actually was, but it was early in the day, and he had recently showered, she supposed. She’d been a little afraid it would taste like pee, but it was mostly just a little salty, with musky undertones.“Try the underside,” Grace suggested.Sarah flicked her tongue along the underside, and Tedd gasped. “Oh, yeah,” he panted.Sarah hesitated a moment, then opened her mouth and slipped the head of his cock into his mouth.“Jesus!” gasped Tedd. Sarah looked up at him, her eyebrows raised, slipping a little more of his cock into her mouth. “That… you’re so sexy with my cock in your mouth.”“Oh, yeah,” moaned Grace.Sarah bobbed her head up and down on his cock a few more times, then pulled him out of her mouth and smiled up at him. “So, am I doing it right?”Tedd gave a shaky laugh. “You have no idea how right that feels.”“Maybe later.”“Oh, yeah. I want to suck your cock, too, and make you feel this,” Tedd said. Sarah was surprised at the erotic thrill that the thought sent through her. Most women can only wonder what it feels like… I can experience it, she thought. She pulled him back into her mouth, and began sucking again. She shifted around a little, and found her hand holding his balls.“Gently,” Tedd said. “Those are a bit more sensitive.”Sarah pulled his cock out of her mouth, and lifted it up to look at his balls more closely. She was surprised at how tight and compact they were, and said so.“That’s ‘cause I’m so turned on. They… pull up to the body when I’m turned on. Usually they, uh, hang down a bit more.”“Oh.” Sarah digested this for a moment, stroking them gently. “So, your cock gets bigger, and your balls get smaller, when you’re turned on?”Tedd and Grace laughed. “I guess… I never thought about it that way before.”Sarah leaned in and gave his balls a gentle lick, and was pleased with his response. “So, that feels good, too?”“Oh, yeah.”The taste was definitely muskier than his cock, but it was a sexy taste. She stroked his cock with one hand while licking his balls for a few moments, then pulled back, licking at her teeth.“Sarah? You okay?”“Yeah, just, uh, got a hair stuck in my mouth.”Grace laughed. “Pubic hair: nature’s dental floss.” Tedd and Sarah laughed with her, and Sarah pulled the offending hair out of her mouth.Sarah rolled over and looked at Grace, who had been laying quietly behind her while she explored Tedd’s anatomy. “Are you okay? I feel like we’re ignoring you.”“I’m fine, sweetie. We may have to work on our pacing and timing, among three people, but, for the moment, I’m happy watching you two. It’s very sexy.”“Are you sure?”“Let’s focus on you for now, my love. I think you have enough new experiences to process without having to worry about both of us. Why don’t you two play, and I’ll watch for a while?” Grace sat up and pulled some pillows back up on the bed, and leaned back against the headboard next to Tedd. She poked Tedd, urging him to slide down the bed a ways, so he was lying next to Sarah.Sarah grabbed his right hand and flipped it over in her hand, examining the back for the freckle that marked his “safe” form. Tedd grinned.“Yeah, I’m safe.” Sarah was pleased to see it was so. She sat up and pressed gently on Tedd’s shoulder, pushing him onto his back. He went willingly. His cock was flat against his belly, and Sarah swung a leg over his waist to sit astride him, rubbing her clit against his cock. She rocked back and forth, sliding her pussy along the length of Tedd’s cock. “God, you feel so good,” she panted. His cock was soaked with her saliva and juices, and made a wonderful squishing sound as she moved, rubbing him hard against her labia and clit.“It gets better,” said Grace with a knowing smile.“That’s hard—Umm!—hard to imagine.”“You don’t have to imagine it. Find out for yourself,” said Grace.Sarah paused, looked down at Tedd, then over at Grace. Grace smiled reassuringly. “Remember, it’s only the first time. Not the last. Probably not even”—she leered happily—“the last time today.” Sarah was still getting used to seeing something as overtly sexual as a leer on Grace’s sweet, innocent face. It was slightly incongruous, but that very incongruity also somehow made it all the hotter.Sarah took a deep breath, then raised herself higher up on her knees. Tedd’s cock seemed to be attached to her, like a magnet to steel; it rose as her weight came off of him, to point up at her.“Um, how—” she began.“Here, let me—” Tedd said, as he grabbed his cock with one hand, and gently spread her swollen labia apart with the other. He rubbed the head of his cock back and forth over her clit and the opening to her pussy, making Sarah gasp a little. Then he held it still, and said “Just let yourself down gently. Take it easy.”Sarah slowly lowered herself down onto Tedd’s cock. At first it felt similar to masturbating, but after the first inch she was feeling more stretched than she ever had while playing with herself. And Tedd was hotter than a candle, in both senses of the word. She paused, just an inch or two in, and gasped “You’re so big. Will this really fit?”Grace giggled. “Just what every man wants to hear.”“Hah hah. Seriously, though—” Sarah bit her lip, and tried to lower herself a bit more.“Just go slow, love. It’s not a race.” Tedd stroked her breasts, and gave her nipples a gentle pinch. The shiver of pleasure from that helped her to relax a bit and slide down another inch. She lifted up again, panting from the sensation, not exertion.“That is so hot to watch,” murmured Grace appreciatively. Sarah glanced up to see Grace leaning back against the headboard, legs spread, with her fingers lightly tracing circles over her clit as she stared at them. Sarah was fascinated to see a flash of brilliant pink from deep inside her, peeking out between her dark brown labia, deliciously beautiful.“Oh, yeah,” agreed Tedd, his gaze focused on their crotches, where Sarah was slowly enveloping him. “God, you’re so tight.” Sarah turned her attention back to Tedd and raised herself up a little. She felt the absence of his cock inside her as he slid almost all the way out of her, then she lowered herself down, still further. She looked down, trying to see their joining.“How much more of you is there?” she gasped.“You’re over halfway there,” said Tedd encouragingly. “Take a moment to get used to it.” He reached down between them and gently stroked her clit, making her shudder.Sarah couldn’t believe how full she felt, how stretched, and couldn’t believe that she still had more to go. His cock was so hot, so hard and wonderful. She lifted up again, prompting a sexy groan from Tedd, then slid back down again, not going any deeper, just getting used to the feeling of him inside her. She was gasping at the sensations flooding her body.“It… almost hurts,” she began.“Go slower, sweetie,” Grace suggested, but Sarah shook her head.“Almost hurts. Or rather… it hurts in a good way.” She bit her lip and closed her eyes, her attention focused in on herself. Even as the stretching, filling sensation threatened to overwhelm her, she wanted more. She lifted and lowered herself over and over, engulfing more of Tedd’s cock with each stroke, until she ground to a halt against him, with no more distance to go. She opened her eyes and looked down, breathing heavily. Their groins were touching, her brown hair mashed up against his dark purple hair, with none of his cock visible at all. She relaxed her thighs, and sank a last fraction of an inch onto him.“Houston, the Eagle has landed,” Tedd said, startling a laugh from Sarah and Grace.Sarah smiled down at him. “You are such a nerd,” she said lovingly. She raised herself up a few inches, then lowered herself back down, prompting small gasps from both of them. “Such a fucking sexy nerd,” she amended breathlessly. She leaned forward and kissed him, exploring how she could still slide up and down on his cock in that new position.So, that’s it. I’m no longer a virgin. Finally! The thought mostly made her feel smugly happy. Susan was right; her world hadn’t changed in any earthshaking way. But she was experiencing some new sensations with an intensity that she’d never felt before, and there was no denying that that was nice.She heard a small whimper, and looked up to see Grace staring at her and Tedd intently, one hand a blur as she rubbed her clit, her other hand shoving two fingers deep into her cunt. Grace closed her eyes and tilted her head back, body tensed. She let out a shuddering mewl of pleasure, her body trembling, and her hands froze. She twitched a few more times, then her body relaxed, sinking back into the pillows. Sarah couldn’t believe she could be more aroused than she was with Tedd’s cock inside her, but seeing Grace come like that raised her level of arousal another notch. It was the first time she’d ever seen someone else’s orgasm, and it was amazing, and beautiful. Grace, panting, and still quivering a little, opened her eyes and gazed at the two of them with vaguely unfocused eyes.Sarah swallowed, and said “You’re pretty damn hot to watch, too.”Grace laughed breathlessly and said “The two of you are just so sexy, I couldn’t help myself.” She pulled her fingers out of herself, and leaned forward, offering them to Sarah. Sarah hesitated a moment; she’d never tasted another woman’s sex. But then the smell hit her nose, and it struck a chord deep in her hindbrain in ways she’d never expected. She opened her mouth and leaned forward, placing a hand on Tedd’s chest to support herself, and sucked on Grace’s wet fingers. The taste surprised her; she’d tasted her own sexual juices, but it hadn’t occurred to her that other women would taste so different. Grace tasted, for want of a better word, darker than herself, somehow both muskier and sweeter. The taste and smell sent another shiver of pleasure through her body, and she found she was rocking up and down on Tedd’s cock without conscious thought as she suckled and licked, cleaning Grace’s fingers, trying to get more of the taste into her mouth. She heard Tedd groaning below her, and she looked down to see his gaze locked on her as she sucked on Grace’s fingers, his face a beautiful mask of lust.“Fuck, you’re both so damn hot,” he groaned.“We’re all so damn hot,” Grace corrected smugly. She shifted position so she was kneeling, causing Sarah to whimper in disappointment when she pulled her fingers out of Sarah’s mouth. Grace knelt on the bed beside Tedd’s head, and leaned forward to kiss Sarah. Sarah returned the kiss with a will, sucking hard on Grace’s tongue as it entered her mouth, reveling in feeling one lover deep in her cunt as the other was deep in her mouth. She moaned into Grace’s mouth, and lifted the hand that she wasn’t supporting herself with to grab Grace’s breast, kneading and massaging it as she began to ride Tedd faster.Grace pulled back from their kiss with a gasp, and said, “I know I said you could have him to yourself, but would you mind?…”Sarah had no idea what Grace was asking for, but she was so aroused she just gasped, “Whatever you want.” Grace smiled, and swung her knee over Tedd’s head, so her pussy was above his face.“Ohhh, yes,” Tedd hissed, and he reached up to wrap an hand around Grace’s thighs and pull her down.Sarah saw his tongue coming out as his face disappeared beneath Grace. “Oh, fuck, that’s sexy,” she groaned at the sight. Grace grabbed her head with both hands and pulled her back into a passionate kiss, as she rocked back and forth, grinding her pussy on Tedd’s face. Sarah whimpered at the sensations flooding her body, and she pulled back from Grace’s mouth as the heat from her pussy began to build. She was so aroused it was almost painful, but she couldn’t quite reach the crest of orgasm. She moved faster on Tedd, trying to peak, but after another minute she had to pause, gasping from the unfamiliar exertion as well as passion. Her thighs were beginning to burn from the unaccustomed motion, further distracting her from climax.“Fuck! I’m so damn close!” she groaned. She opened her eyes and watched Grace and Tedd, his skilled tongue obviously bringing her intense pleasure.Grace opened her eyes and seemed to shake herself, bringing her attention back to Sarah from her own pleasure. “Sweetie… we told you that you probably shouldn’t expect to come, your few first times.”“I know, I know, but I’m so close! But my legs are getting tired.” Sarah settled her weight down on Tedd, and paused in her thrusting, panting slightly.Grace moved off of Tedd’s face, prompting a little whimper of disappointment from him, but she slid over to the side of the bed and said “In that case, I think a change of position might be called for. What do you think?” Sarah hesitated, and Grace added, “You don’t have to stick to only the position you started in.”Sarah smiled, and, looking down at Tedd’s wet face, said, “Yes, but… this feels so damn good. I don’t want it to end. I don’t want to let him out of me.” She leaned forward and kissed Tedd, licking essence of Grace off of his lips and cheeks.Grace laughed. “I know just what you mean. But other positions can generate different sensations. You might want… Ah. I know.”Sarah sat back up, and looked at Grace. “Know what?”“Doggy style. With a little extra, to help push you over the edge.”“A little extra what?”Grace grinned. “You’ll see.” After a few moments, without any further movement from Sarah or Tedd, she added, “That does require you getting off of him, first.”Sarah sighed, and slowly lifted herself up, and up, until Tedd’s cock popped out of her and slapped wetly back down on his belly. “Gods…” she moaned. “I feel so… empty.” She found it hard to believe that less than half an hour ago she had been wondering if she’d ever manage to fit Tedd inside her, and now she didn’t want to let him out of her. She leaned forward and kissed Tedd, then leaned to the side to kiss Grace. “What now?” she asked shyly.“Scoot over, Teddy,” Grace said. “Give her room.”Sarah lifted her leg to let Tedd slide out from under her, then dropped her leg back down so she was kneeling upright in the middle of the bed.“Now, stay kneeling like that, but drop your face to the bed, leaving your sweet little ass up in the air.” Sarah was still getting used to hearing such language from Grace, who rarely said anything stronger than “heck” in day-to-day conversation. The bedroom, it seemed, truly did call for a different vocabulary.Sarah did as instructed, her cheeks suddenly blazing with embarrassment. In this position she could feel the cool air flowing over her exposed overheated pussy, and asshole. “I don’t—” she squeaked, but Grace cut her off.“Shhh, it’s fine, sweetie.”“More than fine,” Tedd added. “You’re so damn hot.” Sarah twisted her head to look back at Tedd, as he knelt between her legs behind her. He slid his hands up and down the length of her back, and squeezed her ass. Sarah could feel his cock bumping up against her clit as he leaned forward to kiss the back of her neck, hands sliding under her to cup her breasts. She moaned a little at the feeling, and bit her lip, trying to fight her embarrassment.“I… want you back in me,” she said softly. Tedd grinned, and nipped her earlobe before sitting back up.“I thought you’d never ask.” He spread her open with one hand and inserted the head of his cock. Sarah sucked in a breath at the renewed sensation, the wonderful stretching ache as he slowly slid back into her.“Oh. My. God. That’s… so damn good,” she whimpered. She closed her eyes and focused on the sensation of him sliding into her, then back out again. The stretch she felt inside was different in some indefinable way, a different angle of thrust or friction, she couldn’t tell.“Yeah. Oh, yeah, it is,” panted Tedd in agreement. He slowly picked up the pace, sliding in and out a bit faster, and Sarah appreciated the sensation without having to work so hard for it. His cock seemed to be sinking into her deeper, somehow, rubbing different places inside her, and it was wonderful. After a minute of Tedd slipping in and out of her, she realized she could also push back against his thrusts, pushing him just a fraction of an inch deeper into her.“Fuck!” he exclaimed as she did so. “That, that, do that,” he gasped, and Sarah felt a flush of smug pride at being able to give him pleasure too. He grabbed her hips and pulled her back against him, and he picked up the pace further, moving faster than she’d been able to do while kneeling on top of him. The heat built up inside her, and she moaned, her voice blending with the slap-slap sound of Tedd’s hips hitting her ass and thighs.Apparently she wasn’t the only person with physical limitations, because after a minute of this frantic rhythm, Tedd slowed to a stop, and bent forward to rest on her back, panting. She felt a sheen of sweat covering his chest and her back.“Oh, love, you feel so good,” he gasped.“Yes, I do,” she agreed, with a little giggle. “And so do you.” She opened her eyes, peering sideways towards Grace through a curtain of her hair. Grace was kneeling on the floor beside the bed, leaning forward to watch Tedd and Sarah, with a hand buried between her legs. When she saw Sarah’s eyes open, she smiled.“Are you ready for your little extra?” she asked.Sarah, still gasping a little from the pounding Tedd had given her, but also still hovering just on the brink of unobtainable orgasm, nodded. “Yeah. Although I think anything ‘extra’ above and beyond this might kill me with pleasure.”“Well, the French do call it ‘the little death’,” observed Grace.“What?”“French slang for orgasm: la petite mort. The little death.”Sarah blinked at her for a moment, then said, “Ohhh-kay. Sure. After all, this should be an intellectually stimulating seduction, as well as sexually.” Grace and Tedd both laughed. “So… what’s ‘extra’?”“Raise yourself up on your arms for a minute.” Sarah tried, but Tedd was too much weight on her back. “Tedddd, get up,” Grace directed. “You’ll like this too, I promise.”“Haven’t seen or felt anything yet today I didn’t like,” he said, as he lifted his weight off of Sarah’s back. “Umf.”Thus relieved, Sarah pushed up on her hands, resting on her hands and knees. Grace twisted sinuously, and ended up back on the bed on her back, her head towards Sarah’s feet. She wriggled, and slid under Sarah, positioning her face under their joined genitals. Sarah felt a flush of heat as she realized just what Grace’s “extra” was. Grace kept the length of her body at a slight angle, to one side of Sarah’s body, so that Sarah’s head rested on the outside of one thigh, not between them. Sarah put an arm over Grace’s hips, moving to pull her pussy towards her face, but Grace put a restraining hand on her arm. Her muffled voice emerged from behind Sarah.“Thank you, sweetie, but… sixty-nine can be intensely distracting. Just let me do this for you, this time, okay? This is your day, remember?”Sarah conceded the wisdom of not trying to learn how to perform cunnilingus while she was getting pounded, and also, hopefully, having an orgasm. “Okay. But I really want to taste you soon.”Grace chuckled. “And I want you to, too. But for now, let me taste you.” She matched actions to words, and Sarah gasped as Grace’s tongue slid across her clit. She must have continued onto the length of Tedd’s cock that wasn’t buried inside her, because he also groaned.“Oh… my… god… both at once…” He trailed off inarticulately, groaning as he began to thrust slowly into Sarah again.Sarah heard Grace giggle. “Sarah flavored Tedd cock. I think I have a new favorite taste treat.” Sarah couldn’t help but giggle too, which trickled off into a moan at the combination of sensations.Tedd wasn’t thrusting quite so deeply into her, maybe because Grace’s head was a little in the way. But the combination of his cock sliding in and out of her combined with Grace’s tongue flickering across her clit quickly built her arousal to new heights, and she found herself whispering, “Yes, yes, yes, that, yes, oh, loves, yesssss…” Her voice trailed off into a wordless whine, and she felt herself start to quiver. Tedd, responding to her reactions, picked up the pace a little, and then Grace sucked Sarah’s clit full into her mouth, provoking a sharp cry and convulsion from Sarah as she finally came.This seemed to push Tedd over the edge. Sarah heard him moan loudly, and he grabbed her hips and slammed himself into her hard and deep, and froze there. Sarah felt his cock twitching inside her, and she whimpered in sympathetic pleasure.After a long frozen moment, he collapsed forward onto her back, gasping. Sarah squeaked a little from the impact, and he gasped, “Sorry, sorry, wow,” and pushed his weight up off her a little.He rolled off of Sarah to the side, and Sarah was amazed at how empty she felt without his cock inside her.“Ack!” spluttered Grace, and Sarah rolled to the other side, off of Grace, and looked down at her. Grace was wiping Tedd’s cum out of her eyes, looking a little sheepish.“Shoulda seen that one coming,” she said.“So to speak,” said Tedd. Grace snorted in response.“I love your cum, sweetie, but not in my eyes. That stuff stings.” She rolled up to a sitting position and grabbed a handful of tissues from a box on the nightstand.“At least you weren’t furry,” Tedd said.“Small favors,” Grace said, as she wiped down her face. To Sarah she added, “It really sticks in the fur.”Sarah felt a trickle of liquid on her thighs coming out of her pussy. She reached down and ran her finger through her sopping wet bush. She was amazed at how much cum there was, even after the large portion Grace seemed to have ended up wearing. She lifted her fingers to her nose and sniffed, then gave her fingers a little lick.“Whaddy’a think?” asked Tedd.“Not… bad. Strange. Not like anything I’ve ever tasted before. I think I could get to like it.”“It can be an acquired taste,” said Grace, “but I like it. Just not in the eyes. Excuse me.” She got up out of bed and went to the bathroom. Sarah heard running water and splashing.Tedd scooted over closer to her, and she wrapped her arms around him. “That was wonderful,” she said.He grinned. “I’ll say. It was pretty wonderful from this side, too.”Grace came back into the room, and paused, looking at the two of them. Sarah looked up at her, a little worried for a moment, but Grace was smiling. “Oh, loves, you are so beautiful together.”“You know what would make us even more beautiful?” Tedd asked. “You.”Grace laughed and came back to the bed. She got in on Tedd’s other side, and pulled the comforter off the floor and draped it over them as she snuggled in. Tedd rolled onto his back between Sarah and Grace, and they curled up against him. Sarah and Grace linked hands on Tedd’s chest. Sarah smiled, content and warm, still not quite believing how lucky she was to have Tedd and Grace as her lovers.“I love you guys,” Sarah said quietly.“And I love you,” said Grace.“Love you too.”Lovers… the phrase stuck in her mind. She smiled, and, remembering her conversation with Ruthie, thought, They really are, now. And not just physically.Thinking back over the morning’s events, Sarah giggled.“‘The Eagle has landed’? Seriously? How long have you been planning to use that line?”Tedd laughed. “Actually, it just occurred to me in the heat of the moment. And, hey, it could have been worse, I could have said, ‘to boldly go where no man’—ack!”He was cut off as both women, laughing, pummeled him with pillows.
Sunday, April 20

Late afternoon, at Susan’s house:
“So… Susan. How’s the weather?”