It was a warm night, but not warm enough yet for the air conditioner, so Brett was lying awake in his bed, mostly staring at the ceiling, listening to the routine country night sounds from outside – and the other sounds that drifted down the stairs.

He was awake, mostly because he couldn’t get to sleep for his mind working so hard. This had been a totally unexpected turn of events!

The bathroom in the house was downstairs, and over the couple of months that the three of them had been living there he’d become so used to one of the girls coming downstairs in the middle of the night that he usually didn’t notice them. He didn’t this time, at least until he heard someone come into his room. “Brett, are you still awake?” he heard Kellye ask.

“Not trying to sound snide, but it would be hard to sleep with all that going on.”

“No shit,” she replied. “You think it’s bad downstairs, you should be upstairs. They’ve really been having a good time.”

“They have gone at it rather enthusiastically, and it doesn’t show any sign of stopping.”

“That’s how I figure it,” she laughed. “Move over.”

“Huh?”

“Move over. You said once that all I had to do is ask. Brett, I’m asking. Listening to those two has gotten me about as horny as I’ve ever been. Maybe worse. Hell, I would have been half tempted to go over and join them if I was inclined to go that way.”

“Even if you were,” he replied as he watched her peel the T-shirt over her head, “I doubt if you’d be very welcome.”

“Probably not, but they seem to be enjoying themselves without me, and rather loudly at that. Did you notice that she hardly stutters at all when the two of them are playing?”

“Yeah, I caught that.”

“It sure makes me wonder,” she laughed as she folded back the sheet and moved to join him. “They don’t spend all their time getting it on. I’ve heard them talking a little, and while I couldn’t hear very well, she doesn’t seem to stutter then, either.”

“Interesting, said the inspector. Verrry interrresssting.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” she said as she snuggled her nude body up against his. Brett, I want some of that. Not just the screaming part, but the closeness, too.”

“Me, too,” he said softly, reaching out to put an arm around her. It felt very good; she was warm, soft, and cuddly. “I’ve been tempted to ask before, but I decided I’d better not. We’ve had sort of a delicate balance around here.”

“Things have changed,” she said flatly. “If I had to bet, I think they’re not done changing, either. But nuts to them. Kiss me, Brett. Let’s just not lie here and talk. I want some of what they’re having, just not quite the same way. I want the real thing.”

“Are you really hot to trot, or do you want some warming up?”

“Hell, I want both, but I’ll take them one after the other. I don’t care which one comes first.”

“All right,” he said as he rolled to get into a better position. “You talked me into it.”

There wasn’t a lot of talk after that. Oh, there were sounds, many kinds of them, some quite enthusiastic out of the both of them, but talking wasn’t needed. There were times that the activities slowed down a little bit, but it always seemed as if the sounds drifting down the stairs got them going again. Brett didn’t know what time he and Kellye fell asleep all entangled with each other, but then, he didn’t care, either.

It was well into daylight before Brett woke up to discover the still very nude Kellye stirring next to him. They woke slowly, kissing and cuddling, before she ventured to softly say, “Good morning, Brett.”

“And good morning to you, Kellye,” he whispered back. “I’m glad to know you’re still here.”

“I didn’t want to go away,” she smiled. “Brett, that was wonderful. I didn’t know it could be like that, and I’m glad I found out.”

“I thought you’d been married.”

“That doesn’t mean the sex was any good,” she said. “I think I told you that Darrin was bent, and he was. I knew just about from the beginning that it could be better, but it wouldn’t be with him. Thank you for showing me.”

“You’re quite welcome,” he grinned. “In case you’re wondering, I thought it was pretty good, too. Let’s do it again sometime.”

“How about tonight?” she giggled. “I’m available. I wouldn’t be surprised if Janine was around all weekend, so I probably won’t be able to sleep upstairs again anyway.”

“You’re welcome to sleep with me any time you want, whether she’s here or not.”

“I think I’m going to take you up on it. Do we have to get up yet?”

“No. Remember, we got the Saturday practice shoved off until the afternoon.”

“That’s right,” she grinned. “I’d half forgotten that. That means we have time before we actually have to get up.”

“You’re talking like you can’t get enough.”

“After as long a drought as I’ve had? I want to make up for lost time. I mean, breakfast is fine but I’d like to try cooking it with a well-fucked look on my face.”

“Especially when Meredith and Janine come downstairs, right?”

“Yeah, it would be nice to show them they’re not the only ones who can have a good time.”

“Works for me,” he laughed softly. “It’s been a while for me, too.”

They were up and running by the time Meredith came down the stairs most of an hour later, dressed casually to find the air full of the smell of fresh coffee. “Shit, it’s late!” she said. “Don’t we all have to be over at the Saturday morning practice?”

“Not today,” Brett told her. “We shoved it back to one o’clock, remember?”

“Damn, you’re right,” Meredith shook her head. “I could have stayed in bed a while longer. I could have used it, too. I, uh, didn’t get a lot of sleep last evening.”

“We noticed,” Kellye replied obliquely.

“Oh, hell,” Meredith sighed. “I hope we didn’t keep you awake, but damn, that was, well, it was pretty good.”

“Oh, you didn’t keep us awake,” Kellye replied with a broad grin. “We sort of did a good job of keeping each other awake.”

Meredith was not exactly noted for being quick on the draw before she’d had her morning coffee. She glanced at Kellye, then at Brett, wondering at Kellye’s statement before it sunk in. “Wow, you guys, too?” she said finally.

“Yes,” Kellye snickered. “It was pretty good, too. Meredith, you don’t know what you’ve been missing.”

Meredith wandered in the general direction of the coffee pot, found a cup, and poured herself some eye-opener. “Maybe not, but what I had worked for me. That was, well, I don’t know, damned interesting. I sure wasn’t expecting that, any of it.”

“I thought it was pretty interesting too,” Brett said, trying to not get too specific, “and on top of that, the two of you sounded like a couple cats in heat up there. I didn’t know either of you had it in you, Janine especially.”

“Hey, you be nice to my baby lesbian,” Meredith said seriously. “It was pretty new to her, but somehow it seemed like she was coming home. I don’t know how to describe it, but I’ve never experienced anything quite like that before.”

“That was her first time?” Kellye asked, a little surprise evident in her voice.

Meredith dropped her voice. “First time ever,” she said, sharing the secret. “With a guy or a girl, either one. She sort of said last night that she’d always thought she leaned toward girls, but she’d never had the guts to do anything about it, so when we kissed after the show, well, things sort of flowed, if you know what I mean.”

“I don’t know that ‘flowed’ is exactly the word,” Brett snickered. “I thought I saw smoke coming from both of you.”

“It did get a little hot,” Meredith conceded. “I guess things just sort of went on from there. I’m not sure how we made it over here, but it was sure worth the effort. It was, uh, like she couldn’t get enough, and I couldn’t either. We did talk a little last night, and she said that how I did the play the second time was just about exactly like what she’d been trying to say.”

“I guessed wrong on that,” Brett nodded. “But I think we worked it out in the end.”

“Yeah, she was real impressed that we’d done the play over again just for her, and she was even more surprised at how the crowd loved seeing the two different versions of it.”

“I’ll tell you the truth, I’ve never seen that done before,” Brett said. “I’ve never even heard of it being done like that. But wow, did it ever have an impact on the audience.”

“It sure had an impact on her,” Meredith smiled. “I guessed right last night when I said that what she wrote in her plays was sort of the thing she wanted to say for herself but couldn’t manage to say. She didn’t quite put it in those words, it was more emotional, but she said it was unbelievable how nice it was to be able to have someone else say it for her.”

“I thought your gut feeling must have been pretty good on that when you said it in the dressing room last night,” Brett agreed. “But the way she stutters and stammers, I’m surprised you got the chance to talk that much, given what we were hearing.”

“Oh, we got to talk quite a bit,” Meredith smiled. “She wasn’t stuttering very much when we were cuddling close.” That left Brett with a nice vision as she went on, “I don’t think that her problem is so much her stuttering, but that she’s very, very shy. Most of the time she just can’t get up the guts to say what she wants to say, other than the simplest things.”

“And the stuttering probably makes her that much shyer,” Kellye surmised.

“Yeah, I think each one builds on the other. The result is a person who is bright, intelligent, and loving, but is next to unable to function in public and not much better in private. But Brett, last night in the dressing room, somehow between you and me we managed to read her mind and figure out what she would have asked us to do if she’d had the courage. She never could have dreamed that we’d actually go ahead and do it.”

“But we did. Well, you did,” Brett shook his head. “No wonder it got a little emotional. So what happens now?”

“Hell if I know,” Meredith sighed. “I wish I knew how she’s going to react when she comes down the stairs. She’s still asleep, or at least was when I left, but I can’t help but wonder if she realizes I’m gone and is worried about what to do next.”

“Go back upstairs and be cuddly,” Brett suggested. “Take a little time if you need to. Kellye, why don’t you get to work on breakfast? Meredith, when you bring her down, Kellye and I will try to be warm, friendly, supportive and non-judgmental.”

“None of your teasing, Brett. Please. I don’t think she could handle it right now.”

“I don’t tease people if I don’t think they can handle it,” he said. “Besides, I think something powerful is going on here and I don’t want to screw it up.”

“Yeah,” Meredith said as she turned to go upstairs. She looked at Brett and Kellye, who were standing so close together that they were rubbing up against each other, “I think that could be true for all of us.”

Breakfast was not only ready but sitting on the back of the stove, being kept warm, by the time Meredith and Janine made it back down the stairs. Meredith was dressed the way she had been before, while Janine was wearing an oversized man’s dress shirt, only half buttoned; Brett doubted she wore any underwear, and thought he had a good idea what must have gone on in the period the two had been upstairs. “H-h-h-hi,” Janine said, very sheepishly. “I-I-I-I …”

“None of that, now,” Kellye smiled at her; she and Brett had agreed that he needed to stay in the background, at least at first. “You’re a friend, and you’re among friends here.”

“F-f-f-friends?” she replied quizzically.

“For darn sure,” Kellye said. “You can relax. We’re not going to bite, and there’s no reason to be embarrassed.”

“I-I-I n-never h-h-had …” she started, and then broke out in tears.

“You’ve never had friends before?” Kellye asked.

All Janine could do was shake her head helplessly and tearfully.

“Well, you have friends now,” Kellye said, walking over to her and giving her a warm hug. “Friends accept their friends for who they are. You don’t have to hide from us. We’re not going to hurt you, Janine. We wouldn’t do that to a friend.”

Meredith joined the hug, and Brett joined in, too. “See, Janine?” Meredith said soothingly. “What did I tell you? There’s no reason to be afraid.”

“I-I … th-th-thank y-y-you,” she said, the tears rolling. “I-I … damn.”

“You can’t make yourself say what you really want to say?” Kellye asked.

“N-n-no I c-can’t.”

“You don’t have to say it,” Kellye said warmly. “We can all feel it. Now, just relax, and enjoy being among your friends. I have breakfast ready, and I think you’ll feel better if you sit down and eat with us.”

“Y-y-yes,” she replied, and buried her face in Kellye’s shoulder.

Brett decided this was a good time to break away and start serving breakfast since it was clear that Kellye and Meredith were still going to be bucking Janine up for a while. He had it on the table before the group hug broke up, and they found seats around the little card table.

It seemed to Brett that it would be a good idea to break away from having everyone’s attention on Janine, but discuss something she would be interested in. “I almost hate to bring this up,” he said as he passed a bowl of scrambled eggs to Meredith. “But I think we have something we should discuss before we see Marty and Samantha.”

“What’s that?” Kellye asked.

“That went real well last night,” he replied. “I mean, it went really, really well for being something we thought up on the spur of the moment, and I think the applause Meredith got after the second version of the play ought to say it. But the question in my mind is, do we want to do it that way again? Or, should that be a one-shot wonder, and not try to recreate it?”

“That’s a darn good question,” Meredith agreed, appearing to understand what he was trying to do. “I think everyone would agree that the first version was funnier. Is that how you saw it, Janine?”

“Y-yes,” she nodded. “I j-just n-never thought of it th-that way b-b-before.”

It took a little bit of talking and several exchanges to draw the thought out of Janine. She seemed to feel that if it hadn’t been her play she would have thought it was pretty funny, but that the emotional baggage she carried with it had made it seem to her like the audience was laughing at her, not at the play. But the experience of seeing Meredith do the play in the “lipstick” version totally turned that around and had made her realize potentials she hadn’t thought of. The epiphany had carried a huge emotional impact for her.

Every one of them could tell that the impact had been so hard that it had led directly to Meredith’s bed, although none of them dared say it. And there, it was clear, another epiphany had taken place, and that one of a somewhat different nature. It was also clear that Janine was still busy sorting everything out in her mind, and that there were things falling into places she hadn’t expected them to fall.

By the time they got that much worked out, they’d finished breakfast. Kellye cleared the table and made a fresh pot of coffee. “These old folding chairs aren’t very comfortable,” she commented. “Why don’t we continue this in the living room?”

“Good idea,” Meredith said. Brett knew her well enough to be able to see that she had something in mind, although he had no idea what it was.

Brett settled into one of the lawn lounge chairs that served as part of their living room furniture, while Kellye dragged another one over next to him. Meredith and Janine sat on the couch they’d borrowed from the Ammermans; Meredith pulled Janine up next to her to cuddle her closely, put her arm around her in a way that her hand brushed lightly up against her new lover’s breast. Janine relaxed into Meredith’s body like a cat; Brett thought he might even be hearing a slight purr from her.

“To get back to the question,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee, then setting the cup on the floor next to him, “do we really want to do the other version as the encore tonight? And, for that matter, if we do, do we start with the funny version, or do we start with the emotional one?”

“I don’t know exactly how to say this,” Kellye said. “But the funny version struck me as, well, routinely funny. I mean, good, but not as stupid slapstick funny as A Marriage Proposal. The, uh, the emotional version hit the audience differently. That wasn’t funny, it was poignant, and it got them to places that they weren’t expecting. I think that’s always good in theater.”

“Well, you’re right on that,” Brett agreed. “I think if we did it the other way around, it would get the audience off on the wrong foot, and A Marriage Proposal wouldn’t be as effective, either. That sets them up for the li … er, emotional version.”

“It s-shows how d-different a p-play c-can be,” Janine commented. “And it s-shows just how g-good an actress Meredith really is.”

“Oh, there’s no doubt about that,” Brett agreed, noticing that Janine stuttered a lot less while she was cuddling close to Meredith. That told him something pretty obvious. “I’ve known for years that Meredith is a damn good actress, but that deal last night really showcased it.”

“I saw that when Meredith did that demonstration at the practice last week,” Kellye agreed. “I don’t remember who said it, maybe it was Lu, but that was an exhibition of what acting really is supposed to be all about. Getting those two vastly different impressions when everything else was the same, well, that was a lesson that really brought it home to me.”

“N-now that I’ve h-had a chance to think about it,” Janine said, “I c-can s-see it, too. It w-wasn’t something I’d th-thought about that w-way before. I l-learned something f-from it, too.”

That settled it if anything did, Brett thought. Janine is considerably more comfortable cuddling up to Meredith than she is otherwise. She still stutters, although not as badly, but it’s possible to have a real conversation with her that way, not just have to pull things out of her and do a lot of guessing along the way. I wonder if she realizes it? Or if Meredith does?

It seemed likely to him that there were some major changes on the way.

“The more I think about it, the more I’m tempted to do it just the way we did it last night,” he replied. “When you get right down to it, the combination of the two plays is a little on the short side, and I’ve had my doubts about that from the beginning. Doing it like we did it last night makes the evening a little on the long side, but what the hell? I think the audience last night thought it was worth it.”

“I do, too,” Kellye agreed.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’d like to do it just the way we did it last night,” Meredith said. “Since we’d know we’re doing it that way, there are things around the intermissions we could tighten up just to save a little time.”

“I’ll agree with that,” Brett said. “The important thing is to keep the show moving. Are we agreed on that again?”

Both Meredith and Kellye agreed. “I want to s-see the f-first version the w-way Meredith d-did it again,” Janine added. “I w-was so d-disappointed last n-night I d-don’t think I f-fully understood w-what it w-was.”

“All right, that make it unanimous,” Brett said. “When you get right down to it, I think Marty and Samantha will agree. It’s their final decision, but the way the crowd reacted last night, I don’t think we’ll have any trouble selling it to them.”

“If wine sales last night went the way it looked to me like they were going,” Kellye snickered, “I don’t think we will either.”

“Then that’s that,” he agreed. “If it starts to go flat, we’ll have to revisit the question, but that should hold us for tonight, anyway, and maybe tomorrow, too. Janine, do you plan on being here for that?”

“Y-yes,” she replied. “I have to f-fly b-back after th-that.”

“Are you sure you have to?” Meredith asked.

“I have t-to w-work,” she replied unhappily, and snuggled up to Meredith even closer, if such a thing were possible. “B-but G-god, I want to s-stay.”

“Can’t you e-mail someone and take a few more days of vacation time?” Meredith asked, giving her a serious squeeze.

“I g-guess I c-could,” she replied hopefully. Somehow everyone present could see the decision take place in her mind. “I’ll stay,” she said flatly – and noticeably without a stutter. “That’s more important now.”

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