PRESENT DAY

Amy broke off the kiss, keeping her arms resting on Scott's shoulders, maintaining her lips within range of his for whenever the urge struck again. "So what do you want me to do? And wouldn't your bedroom be a better place to do it in?" She tried, as best she could, to keep the seductive Hanging Girl purr out of her voice. She could be as real as she wanted with him. This was Scott.

She sensed the nervous tightness in his voice at his next words, and frowned. Something big was happening, aside from the obvious. "You could take off that slave collar."

She blinked, and backed away slightly. "Well, yeah, I could. But why? It's just saying I belong to you. Don't you want that?"

"Of course I do, but in a different way." He slipped out of her arms and moved to a nearby desk, picking up a paper from it. "I released you from slavery. You're a free woman."

She backed off a full step. Her voice a choked rasp, she said, "WHAT??"

"I would have taken you downtown today to do it, but it can't all be done in one day. They have to verify ownership in city records, see if there are any other claims on you -- stuff like that. They did find a slavery agreement between you and your brother on file, but it never went into effect." He handed her the paper. "But you're free now... What's wrong?" The tightness in his voice increased.

Amy was staring at the document, shaking her head. "You did this without asking me?" She couldn't believe it. The Scott she had known would never have done this.

"Well, technically, you know, as long as you were a slave, you didn't have any legal standing to give permission for..."

"The hell with the legal niceties! The hell with whether the city cares what I want! Don't you care what I want??" Outside an open window, through which a warm breeze floated, fluttering the curtain, she could dimly hear splashing and high-pitched giggles. The girls must have decided on a swim before lunch, oblivious to the drama unfolding inside the house. "Scott, I'm a slave for a reason!" She was shaking, and didn't care whether he saw. She wanted him to know how angry she was. Four years of striving towards a single goal, and he thought she would be happy to throw it all away for a life she'd never wanted?

He started to approach her and then backed away, in obvious distress. Clearly this wasn't going as he'd anticipated at all. "But you have to be free, to be able to..." He stopped.

"To what? To do what?" She took a step towards him, her fists clenched.

"To... Well, I was hoping... Amy, will you marry me?" He wiped his forehead with his sleeve. "I was picturing that coming out a lot smoother."

She froze, her jaw dropping. It all makes sense now, she thought. At least from his point of view. Why can't he see mine? Why doesn't he know what he's asking me to give up? She realized she was slowly shaking her head, and decided to continue doing so.

"Amy... say something. Please?" He was biting his lip, nearly to the point of puncture.

Suddenly Amy's hands flew to her face, and she began crying, her shoulders shaking in great heaves. The one person outside the Academy I trusted, she wailed within herself, and now look what he's done. Sniffling, she stammered out between sobs, "You... you... you always understood me before. When you, when we... In the first two minutes after we first met, didn't I tell you we couldn't have a long-term relationship? Didn't I tell you I was going to be a Hanging Girl? You understood, you always understood!" She took a deep breath to calm herself, and said with as much dignity as she could muster. "Scott, take me home. Now."

His own voice as choked as Amy's now, he said, "I... okay. I think I know where your dad lives..."

"No!" She thrust out her jaw, trying to stop the quivering of her lips. "The Academy is my home! And I'll never leave it again!" She started crying again. After all those goodbyes, she told herself, it's going to be so humiliating to return. And the dean will be so mad! He'll have to give Benjamin his money back. But I'll never trust anyone outside the Academy again. I'll ask the dean to hang me at a party. He can at least charge extra and get something out of it. Not nearly as much as Megan.

Her legs felt weak, as she realized she was choosing to give up her dream of ever having a hanging like Miranda's.

Scott was crying as well, now. "Amy, all those people coming tomorrow... what do I tell them?"

Her hands flew down to her sides, fists clenched again. "I don't care! Inviting people to a wedding reception before you even asked the bride -- just tell them you did that!"

He blinked. "Amy, none of them were invited to a wedding reception. They have no idea about that."

Amy paused in her sobs as her mind processed the incongruity. "They have no... What is it they think they're coming for?"

He stared at her for several seconds, then let out a long, "Ohhhhh." To Amy's amazement, the corners of his lips turned up in the ghost of a smile. "I see what the problem is. I've been planning this so long, I somehow figured you'd automatically know... Okay, I needed to make everything more clear."

He walked over to the window, and pulled aside the curtain. "I want you to see something."

Grudgingly, but curious despite herself, Amy came to look.

In the distance, she could see the pool, and a building near it she assumed was the guesthouse. Melissa, Jana, and Runner, naked as expected, were in the pool, playing some sort of game with a large inflated ball.

Amy could only spare a small part of her attention for her friends, though. In the foreground stood a stage, of standard Academy construction, with a hanging platform, and a noose above it, swaying gently in the breeze.

Amy couldn't help being calmed by the sight. Quietly, wiping her eyes, still sniffling, she asked, "So what's that there for?"

Scott laughed briefly. "What do you think it's for? Who do you think it's for?"

Amy continued staring at it. "But... so what's all this stuff about getting married?"

"That's for today. Then tomorrow, when everybody comes for the hanging, we can start it with the wedding party, and then hang you, and barbecue you for the big meal at the end."

She turned towards him, frowning, but excitement beginning to bubble within her. She had to make sure she was understanding this. "You want to hang me as your wife?"

"Sure. Lots of men hang their wives."

"But not at the wedding party! I've never heard of that!"

He grinned. "Isn't it cool?"

"Scott..." Her mind was spinning. "This is... Is this really what you want?"

"What I hope is that it's what you want. Amy, look at me a minute." He took both her hands in his, and he took a breath. "Amy, I'm sorry I made such a mess of explaining this. Let me try to do it better.

"When you left for the Academy, I was so happy for you, it didn't leave much room for thinking about myself. It was all true, what I'd been saying about being happy with the memories. But it all seemed... incomplete. There was something really missing.

"Then one day, after maybe a year, I was thinking about you again, like I did a lot, and thinking about that last phone call, where you said you loved me. And as I thought about it, the idea went through me, man, if I could just be married to you for one day, that would last me a lifetime. It was... Just sort of a throwaway thought, a fairy tale kind of thing. But then I started thinking more about it, and I realized how well it fit with you being a Hanging Girl, so that it could be exactly what you wanted too. And the... completeness. I knew we'd have it then.

"Of course, I wasn't sure how I could manage it. But Dad goes to those Academy parties all the time, and I finally talked it over with him. In case you're wondering, when he first met you, he had no idea you had any connection with me. It wasn't until about a year ago, around the time I graduated from the university, that I explained it all to him. He found out you weren't available yet, and told me he'd probably need to purchase an option on you right then, so somebody else wouldn't buy you first. And I said, fine, I'll pay for that too."

Amy blinked. "Too? What are you... Scott, you're paying for all this? Not your dad?"

"Oh! I guess I did skip over that part. Amy, I couldn't have my dad buy a wife for me! So I worked it out with him. I've been working at his company since I graduated, and all of my salary goes back to him. For this. I get to eat and sleep here, and I get a little allowance if I want to go to a movie or something, but the rest of it is for this. After the option, and buying you, and getting an estimate for the cost of the party, it all works out to me owing him about two more years after this."

She looked at him wide-eyed, her jaw hanging unrecoverable below her. "Scott... you... You're giving up everything you earn for three years of your life, just to be married to me for one day? And then to host an Academy Hanging Girl party to hang me?"

He bit his lip again, bruised though it was from the last time, but looked less nervous now. "So... What do you think?"

She stared at him for what must have been a full thirty seconds. Just as his nervousness appeared to be returning, she said, barely above a whisper, "I think that is the... most... romantic... thing I've ever heard of."

"So will you..." He stopped as Amy reached behind her neck, unfastened her choker, and set it gently on the table. She smiled at him.

He cleared his throat. "So is that a yes... ufff!" He was cut off as she threw herself at him, her arms squeezing him tight, tighter, her lips on his once more.

When she broke off the kiss at last, he tried again. "Will you marry me?"

She laughed with the greatest pure joy she'd ever felt. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes. Now shut up." She kissed him for a long time.

Amy had heard that the city marriage office was nice, but she didn't quite expect such beauty in the middle of the utilitarian drabness of City Hall. One minute she was walking, holding Scott's hand, trailed by Karl, through a dim, featureless corridor with doors sporting pebbled frosted-glass windows with division names and room numbers stenciled in paint, and in the next she found herself, on passing through one of these doors, marked "Marriages," in something resembling an island paradise -- reminding her of Purity Island, only much prettier, and without the menacing farmers ready to force her into captivity as a work slave.

The room was lit pleasantly by fixtures hidden in what might otherwise have been wooden planter boxes along the wall near the ceiling. The walls themselves were cream-colored, with darker swirls in a wood-grain pattern. The floor was richly carpeted and interrupted by randomly-distributed flower boxes, the flowers themselves in a riot of colors. One of the side walls was glass, behind which was a miniature forest with stunted but lovely trees, within whose branches birds were chirping happily. The sound system piped in music quietly, almost subliminally, in a tune Amy would find herself still humming hours later.

Incongruously, though inevitably, there was a counter near the back of the room opposite the entry door, with a cheerful girl sitting behind it, about twenty-five, slightly pudgy, who greeted them. "Here to be married?... Yeah, I can tell you meant to be here." An engraved nameplate in front of her read, "Cynthia Bowen."

Amy stopped alongside Scott at the counter, and smiled at the girl. "That obvious, huh?"

Cynthia laughed, and then looked at Amy admiringly. "That is such a cute top. I wish I could wear something like that." She sighed, and went on, "Anyway, have you got your blood test forms?"

Amy gasped, and looked at Scott. Blood tests! In the whirl of emotion, she had totally forgotten.

Without hesitating, Scott pulled a folded form from his pocket and handed it to Cynthia. Amy started to speak, and decided to ask later.

After looking over the form, the girl smiled and pulled out a form of her own from below the counter. "Just fill this out, and I need you both to sign here, and date it. You need to sign in front of me. I'm legally authorized to witness."

Scott took the form, and thanked Cynthia, leading Amy afterwards to a small circular table, unnecessarily covered by a brightly-colored umbrella, in the corner of the office next to the "forest." Karl took a seat nearby.

As Scott began filling in the form, Amy leaned close and whispered, "When did I do a blood test?"

He smiled and whispered back, "You had one on file from four years ago. They wouldn't tell me what was in it, but they could clear it in coordination with my own test."

The one she did for Andrew! That explained it. "Ummm... what would you have done if it hadn't been there?"

He shrugged, while writing. "I'd been figuring to ask your dean to test you at the Academy on some pretext. He knew what I was planning. Where were you born?"

Yes, Amy said to herself, the dean would have had to know. It was no easier keeping secrets from the dean than from Runner. She looked at the line Scott had arrived at on the form. "City Hospital."

"What's your date of birth?"

She told him, and he continued filling in the rest of the form.

They returned, with the form, to the counter. The girl spent a moment typing on a keyboard that was flush with the surface of the counter, and looking at a monitor set at an angle in front of her which, from Amy's side of it, appeared to be clear glass. After maneuvering the computer mouse and clicking it a few times, the girl said, "It looks like Miss Cameron was a slave until being freed just last week." She gasped and looked up at Scott, her mouth agape, the edges curled up in a smile. "Did you buy her so you could get married?"

Scott smiled back. "Basically, yeah." Clearly he'd decided there was no reason to go into greater detail.

She grinned at him, then at Amy. "That is so neat!"

She turned the form back around and pushed it towards Scott. First he, then Amy, signed the form, both with hands slightly shaking. The girl produced an official stamp, used it, and then signed the form herself. Afterward she looked up. "It's kind of traditional to say this -- Anyway, I now pronounce you husband and wife."

Amy turned to Scott, her heart pounding, and kissed him. He broke it off, grinning. "I've got something here."

Amy laughed. "I'm sure you do." Still shaking slightly, she watched as he pulled a small, felt-covered box from his pocket, and opened it. She gasped. "Oh, it's beautiful!"

The ring must have added its own significant expense toward the debt Scott was slowly working off. As he slipped it onto her finger, it occurred to Amy that at least he could get some of the money back by reselling it -- except, she knew, he would never do that. She started to ask, "What are..."

With Hanging Girl-like perception, he interrupted her. "Necklace." Her head, wherever he decided to display it, would wear the ring from a necklace around her neck.

He continued holding her newly be-ringed hand, took a deep breath, and grinned. "Hey, Mrs. Smith."

She thought about responding, "Hey, Mr. Smith," but he'd always been that, and it didn't seem terribly original anyway. She gave him a long kiss instead.

To her left, Amy heard Cynthia murmur, "I love this job."

Riding in the limo, with Karl driving, Amy sat with her hand curled around Scott's, her head on his shoulder. She reached up with her free hand to scratch a momentary itch on her throat, and reflected on how odd it felt not to be wearing anything around her neck.

A sudden thought made her sit upright, with a gasp.

Scott was immediately concerned. "Honey? Everything okay?"

She frowned for a moment, ignoring him, and then smiled and squeezed his hand as the solution occurred to her. "Yeah, it's okay, or at least easy to fix. You must have got a bridal dress for me for tomorrow, right?"

"Oh, sure. Is that what you were worried about?"

Amy shook her head. "I just need a... fashion accessory, to go with it. I don't suppose it came with a choker."

"Ummm... you brought a choker..."

"No, I don't want that one. That one said you're my owner, and..." She giggled suddenly. "...and I'll bet the color doesn't go with the dress. I haven't seen a lot of brown bridal dresses. Could we go by wherever the shop is where you bought the dress and see if we can get a choker that will go with it?"

Scott looked lost. "What for?"

Amy explained. After that, Scott looked at her in wonder. "So this is to keep a promise to a girl you knew for a month, who died three years ago?"

Amy nodded vigorously.

Scott grinned. "No wonder I married you." He kissed her. Amy let her lips melt against his, holding the kiss a long time.

They entered the Smith house holding hands -- No, Amy corrected herself, my house.

Amy let Scott guide her to a small den, down a short hallway from the huge living room, from which the sounds seemed to be coming. In the room, Amy's three friends, now fully, if casually, dressed, were engrossed in a movie showing on a big-screen television. Melissa and Jana were squeezed intimately together in an overstuffed chair, while Runner sat on the floor in front of them, leaning back against the front of the chair, Melissa's legs draped over her shoulders, her hand resting on Melissa's shin, stroking it absently. All three looked to the doorway as Amy and Scott entered it.

Runner gave Amy an open-mouthed grin. "Hi, Amy! Look at this TV! It's huge!"

Amy grinned back. "I see that." To Melissa, now dressed like the others in t-shirt and shorts, she said, "Thought you said you wanted to stay in character."

"Oh! It turns out I won't be wearing that tomorrow. Didn't Calvin tell you this already? They're doing some kind of wedding scenario. Matty had us try on bridesmaid dresses in the guesthouse. They already had our sizes. Matty wasn't sure, she said she thought Benjamin or Calvin called ahead of time and got the info from the Academy. Anyway, they've got a rip-away bridal dress for you. You'll need to try that on later."

Amy giggled and stepped farther into the room, holding her left hand out. "I've already got part of the... costume."

Jana and Melissa both gasped as they saw the ring. Jana said in awe, "Now that's a pretty high-priced prop."

Amy reached back to take Scott's hand again, as he came up behind her. "I wouldn't exactly call it a prop. A prop is when you're faking something."

Melissa frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean it's not a fake wedding, or fake reception. We were just down at City Hall, where we got married."

Melissa hurriedly threw her right leg over Runner and stood upright out of the chair in one motion. "WHAT??" Jana quickly stood beside Melissa, gaping at Amy.

Runner scrambled to her feet to join the others, with an astonished look on her face. "Amy? Did you say you're married?"

Jana managed to squeak, "For real??"

Putting all her concentration toward burying the laugh that wanted to bubble out of her that would have suggested the whole thing was a joke, Amy stepped back and rested her hand against Scott's back. "You guys didn't get a chance to meet earlier. Melissa... Jana... and Runner..." She went slowly, pointing, so Scott could catch their names. "I want you to meet my husband, Scott Smith."

Scott held out his hand to Melissa, standing nearest. "Hi... Melissa?" He looked back at Amy to make sure he'd attached the name to the right girl. Amy nodded.

Melissa automatically shook hands with him, saying vaguely, "Nice to..." She looked at Amy again, "Amy, you can't... you just can't!"

Amy could easily read Melissa's concern, which wasn't based on her belief Amy was still a slave. She said reassuringly, "Melissa, I'm still going to hang tomorrow. Nothing's changed." She giggled suddenly. "Except my name. My next of kin. Stuff like that."

Jana, looking very confused, asked, "Where's Calvin?"

Amy rubbed Scott's arm. "Calvin Scott Smith. But I've always known him as Scott."

Melissa said, "Always... Didn't you just meet him like four hours ago?"

Amy laughed. "Uhhh, no. It's closer to four years ago. We..."

Melissa interrupted, her eyes wide. "Scott! Amy, is this the guy you were trying to reach when you graduated?"

Scott gave Amy an astonished look. "You tried to call me?"

Amy smiled and turned more fully towards him. "Uh-huh. I wanted you to come and see my graduation. But I couldn't figure out how to find you! You weren't living at that apartment anymore, the university won't give out any personal information, and... ummm, do you have any idea how many Smiths... well, of course you do." Her hand flew to her mouth suddenly. "Oh!! I remember I saw 'Benjamin Smith' when I was looking for you in the phone book! I was looking right at your phone number and had no idea!"

He laughed. "It's okay. It's really nice knowing you hadn't forgotten me."

Amy squeezed his hand. "Of course I didn't forget you." She leaned forward and kissed him.

Jana waved her hands. "Okay, wait a minute. Amy, if you lost track of him... so this wasn't all planned in advance somehow?"

Amy smiled and shook her head. "Not by me, anyway."

Melissa, in an awestruck voice, said, "Scott... You waited all this time then, to buy Amy, and marry her, and then hang her the next day?"

Scott kissed Amy again, and responded "Uh-huh" to Melissa.

Runner said uncertainly, "Amy, is this what they call..." She frowned and looked down, muttering, "What's that word?" then looked up again. "...romantic?"

Amy, still looking up at Scott, said softly, "You've got it exactly right, Runner."

Dinner was served in the formal dining room by Matty and Sharon, Benjamin's slavegirl cook. Amy could tell, the moment the two slavegirls were present in the same room, that they were lovers. It seemed, to Amy, typical of Benjamin that he would take the trouble to make sure his slaves could work well together. She wondered whether he had bought them as a set, or whether their relationship had blossomed after their purchase.

Benjamin sat at the head of the table, with Scott and Amy to his right, Jana, Melissa, and Runner on his left.

Benjamin, unsurprisingly, found Runner fascinating. "Have you always been called 'Runner'?"

"Mostly, sir... Benjamin." It amused Amy a little to see that Runner had so fully absorbed her training in how to address club members that she found it as hard as the others to bend the rules for Benjamin. "It's not really like here. Here people name babies as soon as they're born..." She hesitated a moment, seeking a confirming nod from Melissa, before going on. "When we got our littles... babies, to take care of, we didn't call them anything for a long time. When they started getting bigger, there would be things about them we would use for names, and after awhile we'd stay with one thing, and everybody knew them by that one thing."

Amy noticed Runner watching closely as Melissa broke a roll and buttered it, doing the same thing herself afterward. I think, thought Amy, she's intentionally using Melissa as a model, and not me. She's consciously trying to break her dependence on me for behavioral cues, knowing I won't be here after tomorrow.

Amy breathed a relieved sigh as she cut another bite of girlmeat. Runner's perceived need for Amy had been one last thing that nagged at Amy's mind, one final loose end before letting go. Of course, Amy reminded herself, it won't be too much longer before Runner stops being actively dependent on anyone at all.

Runner looked at Amy. "Will you come out to the pool with us later?"

Amy looked at Scott, keeping her eyes on his as she said, "I think Scott and I need to spend some time together. This is our one day."

Runner looked irritated with herself, and banged the heel of her palm against her forehead, a gesture she'd picked up somewhere. "Oh, and it's your wedding night! I know about that."

Jana leaned ahead to see Runner past Melissa. "I meant to ask if you'd been swimming somewhere before, Runner. It looked like you already knew how."

Amy suspected that whatever Runner had been doing had been picked up instantly by watching the others, but Runner nodded and answered, "There was a river running through the pen. Most of the time, anyway." She looked at Benjamin, her eyes shining. "But your pool is so cool, Benjamin! It's all blue, and smooth, and it doesn't try to push you over when you're in it."

Benjamin laughed. "I'm glad you like it. The three of you certainly made it more beautiful by being in it."

Melissa and Jana laughed, and Jana made the rest laugh by looking at Amy and asking, "So why was it again you like him, Amy?"

Scott said to Runner, "Amy mentioned you're not a student, Runner?"

"Not yet, but I will be. I have to pass the high school equivalence exam first."

Amy told Scott, "She's studying hard. She's getting started on fifth grade workbooks now. You've got to keep in mind, she couldn't read when she came here." Amy realized she was getting that proud-parent feeling again.

Scott shook his head in wonder, and looked back at Runner. "So what are you studying?"

That got Runner started. She was always eager to describe her latest reading.

Amy looked around Scott's room as he closed the door behind her. It was amusingly bare, looking more like the inside of a bachelor's refrigerator than one's bedroom. "Kind of... utilitarian."

He laughed. "Well, I had a different room growing up, downstairs, next to Dad's. Mom and Dad's, before we ate her. This was actually a slavegirl bedroom, and the one next to it, but Matty and Sharon share my old room now, so this was empty when I moved home after college. I keep planning to put stuff in it, but I never get around to it." He grinned. "I'll have something now, though."

"Oh!!" She laughed. "Right." She looked around. "You should..." She shook her head -- the very head being referred to. "I shouldn't tell you. You should decide where you want it."

"Oh, I already know. I moved the furniture around last week, to make just the right place for it. See if you can figure it out."

She blinked, realizing he meant that there must be some visual clue in the room. After a moment of looking around mystified, she noticed a long rectangular depression in the carpet adjacent to the right-hand wall. Exactly in the shape of the base of...

She pointed. "That dresser wasn't there before, was it? You moved that."

He smiled and nodded. The dresser, about six feet long and three high, was against the far wall beyond the foot of the bed. "It'll be easy to look at you every morning when I wake up. And most of the year, the sun shines through that window in the morning..." he pointed, "...right across the dresser. So you'll be sunlit."

Amy crossed the room to the dresser, and squatted down in front of it, with her neck at the level of the dresser's top. "Here's what you'll see." She giggled.

"Yeah, at least until I replace you with a lamp."

She laughed, and ran across the room to give his chest several playful punches with both fists. He caught them, laughing, and used them to pull her closer for a kiss. Her arms went around him for a time as they kissed, then dropped down so she could loosen his belt, still kissing.

Minutes later, both naked now, they managed to navigate to the bed and lay down on it without breaking the embrace or the kiss.

He broke it off at last, and looked into her face, stroking her hair. "Can you still do the pussy-suck thing?"

She laughed, and looked directly at him, holding his eyes with her own. "Sweetie, it's been four years..." She paused just long enough to see his frown of disappointment, then went on, "...so I've had lots of time to get better at it. Get on your back."

He laughed and complied, his erection pointing to the ceiling. Moments later she was over him, taking it inside her, slipping up and down on it briefly to lubricate it. Then she began rippling her vaginal muscles, from front to back -- milking his manhood. As he squeezed his eyes shut, his mouth in a wide O of astonishment, letting go of a loud groan, she could feel it growing still longer inside her.

They rested awhile, holding each other, on their sides, each stroking the other's hair idly.

Amy gave Scott the next in a succession of hundreds of small kisses. "You are going to get married again, right?"

"Sure. I think I've got a free day next week."

She grinned and punched him on the shoulder. "Be serious. I don't want you to go through the whole rest of your life without anybody to share it with."

"I know. I don't think of it as something you plan ahead for. It just kind of happens."

"You planned ahead for me."

He shook his head, and returned her latest kiss at last. "I planned ahead for the day. You'd already happened to me, long before today."

She tightened her arms around him and gave him a more serious kiss. "I just don't like to think about you just going to work, coming home, watching TV, going to work, coming home, reading a book."

Scott shook his head. "It's not like that. I do go out, and I do have friends."

"Okay. But no real close female ones, I guess, or you would have been married before now. Tell me you've had some sex in the last four years. Do you at least use Matty or Sharon sometimes? They're right here."

"Well, they're... you could probably tell, their thing with each other. They can't legally marry, as slaves, but I think of them that way. I don't want to get in between them."

Amy sighed, and smiled. "You're just literally too sweet for your own good."

"I do go to parties at the Breeding Farm. Dad's thing is the Academy, mine is the Breeding Farm."

Amy nodded. "Okay, but as far as something deeper, richer, and more permanent than playing with a breeder, just promise me you'll be open to love happening. It will."

He smiled. "Promise. She'll just need to be open to sharing a bedroom with the head of my first wife. That's non-negotiable. You're not going in the livingroom, or..." he made a face, "...a closet shelf. You're staying here."

She laughed. "I better. I'll be inside you too..." she patted his stomach, "...and I can give you indigestion anytime I want."

He covered her hand on his stomach with his. "Hey, I think I can feel you moving around in there already. Oh, no, wait." He slid her hand down lower, between his legs, where his manhood was growing and hardening again. "That's not my stomach, it's a different organ altogether. And it's meant to go inside you."

She laughed again. "Well, let's not disappoint it." She rolled onto her back this time, as he rolled on top of her, his mouth finding hers.

They fell asleep at last, hours later, still holding each other. As much as Amy begrudged losing any time that could be spent making love with Scott, she knew she had to be rested for tomorrow. And she had always found sleep pleasurable in its own right. She wanted to do it one last time.