By the time I was done talking with Maeve it was almost dinner time. I returned to our suite and found the twins there, and the three of us had supper brought to our room.

I was quiet as we ate, I was pretty much exhausted again. All I'd done with myself was talk, but some of the topics were delicate, and the last part of our conversation was fairly intense.

Plus I was still uptight about other things. There was the unpleasant business yesterday afternoon, what I'd had to do to get answers for Maeve. And I was still on edge after nearly losing Kelly on Sunday. Then there was the stuff with my dad on Friday.

Really it just felt like the past few days had been one thing after another after another.

When we'd all finished eating, Keira excused herself and retired to her room for the night.

Kelly looked to me and commented, "Babe you seem really uptight. How about a soak in a nice hot bath before bed? That might relax you."

I considered, then nodded "Yeah ok, that's not a bad idea."

We went into the adjoining bath room and started filling the tub. The water from the tap was still just luke-warm but when it was nearly full I used a little magic to get it nice and hot.

As we waited for the tub to finish filling up, Kelly asked "Do you want to soak alone, or would you like company?"

"Ooh," I smiled. "You're always welcome to join me."

She didn't need any additional encouragement, and the two of us quickly got undressed then climbed into the funny little tub together. The water was nice, but my attention was drawn to the scar on Kelly's chest.

"How are you feeling Kelly? Any aches or pains from that?"

She shook her head, "I'm fine now. Before we climbed up the north tower, Keira made me go see Muireann. According to the best healer in the realm, I'm fully healed."

"Still got the scar, though." I frowned.

Kelly slipped an arm around me and pulled me up close against her as she shrugged, "Yeah. It'll fade in time, it won't always be so noticeable. It's ok Tegan, it doesn't bother me."

I nodded slightly, but it still upset me. It was a blatant reminder of the fact that she'd been hurt just for being near me.

We were both quiet for a bit, then she asked "How did your conversation go with Maeve?"

"Oh," I shrugged. "She was thrilled that I finally wanted to start learning all that stuff. Not sure yet how we'll do it, since I'm still going to be living with you on Earth. She started talking about sending a contingent of soldiers over, so we'd have an 'honour guard' or something. Along with a tutor... I'm not sure how serious she was or if she was kidding around."

I added, "She did suggest we acquire some more land. Still not sure if she was serious or not, but she said she'd send us back to Earth with more 'resources'. By which I think she means, gold. She says six acres is an embarrassment, that I should have more."

"Hmm," Kelly frowned. "I guess we could ask around, find out who owns the neighbouring fields."

"Yeah. I'm not cutting down any of our trees or clearing our woods. But there's a pretty big farm next door to the west of us. I don't know how much gold Maeve was talking about, but if we had enough we could make the owner a compelling offer."

Kelly grinned, "There's probably going to be some other concerns babe. I mean, if we start quartering an actual military force, someone's going to notice, and start asking questions."

I sighed, "I know. If we actually get to that point, I'll try and explain to Maeve we need like one tutor. Or two at most, one for the military stuff and one for the academic stuff. We can put them in a house or cottage. No troops, no contingent, no garrison."

After that we both just relaxed for a while more, till Kelly asked, "Did you two talk about anything else?"

I didn't like to lie but I wasn't ready to tell her about the other things I'd discussed with my fae-mom. "Mostly politics and some strategy. Or tactics? I always get those two confused. Anyways, yeah we rambled a bit, it wasn't all about education. We also caught up on some things."

I added, "I know three years ago I was positive that my human parents were my only parents. But I do feel closer to Maeve now. Like, she's basically become a second mom to me."

"I get that," Kelly replied. She added softly "I hope this doesn't sound rude but I'm sure the way your human mom's been stressing you out lately is contributing to that too. Like, intentionally or not Laura's sort of been pushing you away, while Maeve's welcoming you in."

"Yeah," I frowned.

Despite the slightly stressful turn our conversation had taken, the soak still seemed to help. Eventually some of the stress and tension dissolved away in the warm water. After fifteen or twenty minutes of relaxing and talking, the two of us did some washing up before the water got too cold. We finally got out and dried off, then climbed into our huge bed.

"Hey babe?" Kelly asked quietly as we cuddled up together.

I was ready to sleep now, and didn't really want to talk more. Especially not about anything stressful. I pushed that aside and asked, "Yeah Kelly?"

She was quiet for a few moments, then asked "Have you ever thought about sleeping with Keira?"

And just like that, I could feel the stress start creeping back in. For a few seconds I didn't know how to respond. I'd never made any kind of hint or suggestion about that. I'd never even joked about it. I thought Kelly understood that Keira and I were just friends, that I had no romantic interest in her sister at all.

Then it hit me. My human mom must have made some of her comments back at thanksgiving, when Kelly and Keira were alone with her. I had no idea why Kelly waited till we were in Otherworld to bring it up, unless talking about Maeve and Laura reminded her. Either way I was sure as heck going to have words with my mom when we got back to Earth.

"No Kelly," I sighed. "I've never thought about sleeping with your sister. I'm in love with you. Nothing against Keira, but she's not you, no matter how much you two look the same."

I hoped that would set her mind at ease or whatever. I sure didn't want to get in any kind of argument about the whole situation. Not here, not now. There were too many other things to be stressed out about, the last thing I needed was my girlfriend worrying that I was cheating on her with her twin sister.

Kelly was quiet for a half minute or so, then finally asked "But would you consider it? You're pretty good friends with each other, you two like each other, you trust each other. It wouldn't have to be a romantic thing."

I was silent again but this time I was waiting for my brain to reboot, because it obviously just crashed or something. That was the only logical explanation for what I thought she said.

Finally I propped myself up on one elbow so I could look her in the eyes as I blinked in confusion. "What? Kelly what are you saying?"

She pulled me back down into a cuddle again and sighed, "Remember last month, you asked if we should try and get her out dating again or something?"

"Yeah," I frowned. "And you said she decided to stay single because she didn't want to put another human partner in danger."

Kelly nodded, "Right. I know she's got both of us for emotional support, but she still gets lonely now and then. I was just thinking, since you're fae there wouldn't be any worries about putting anyone at risk. And you two are already pretty close. You've let her do the healing spell on your leg a few times. You're even comfortable wearing your maid uniform around her."

I still couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Kelly, are you telling me you want me to sleep with Keira?"

"Not all the time," she replied quietly. "I mean, it wouldn't have to be a regular thing. Just, once in a while maybe?"

She added "I won't be upset if you say no. I'm just asking, because I think it would be good for her. But I don't want you to feel obligated, especially if it's something that would upset you."

I took a deep breath then sighed. "Ok... You're going to have to explain this clearly for me because honestly Kelly, I can think of a hundred different ways I can mess up just asking the wrong questions. I feel like I'm in the middle of a minefield here. So can you please spell it out? How do you see something like this working?"

Kelly shrugged slightly, "It doesn't have to be anything elaborate or complicated. She's got her own room next door. Or back on Earth she's got her own bedroom at the end of the hall. Just go spend a night with her now and then. Or not even the whole night, just till whenever."

I hesitated. "Ok... So don't get mad because I'm still trying to get my head around the whole concept. So this isn't like, a kink thing for you is it? Like you're not saying you want to be there watching or anything, right?"

She suppressed a giggle, "No Tegan, I'm not asking to watch. And I'm definitely not thinking about joining in, so you don't have to ask about that."

She gave me a gentle squeeze and said "I just thought it would be good for her. Even stuff like this? Just cuddling and talking. She hasn't had any of this stuff for over a year now."

I was quiet for another few moments as I thought it through again, and came up with another question. "Have you already discussed this with Keira? Or is it just your twin-senses tingling, telling you she needs some companionship?"

Kelly stifled another giggle, "Twin sense tingling..." With that out of her system she replied "Yes, I've spoken with her about it. She'd never dare ask, but I guess my 'twin sense' told me she needs some intimacy, and that she'd be happy getting it from you."

I sighed again, then finally said "I have to think about this. I'm going to need a day, or a couple days. Ok?"

"Ok babe," she gave me another gentle squeeze. "I'll leave it with you for now."

"Thanks Kelly," I replied quietly.

She leaned in closer and gave me a kiss, then whispered "Thanks for taking it seriously Tegan. Thanks for considering it."

I kissed her back and continued cuddling with her for now. But after a few moments I had another question, "Why did you wait till we were in Otherworld to ask me this?"

Kelly sighed, "I was actually planning to mention it last week, on Friday? But you seemed really distracted and I didn't want to bother you. Then I was going to try and talk about it on Sunday night. The whole getting-shot thing kind of got in the way."

"Ah," I kissed her again. "Sorry. Yeah... The past few days feels like it's been one thing after another."

"What happened Friday?" she asked. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I sighed, "Not yet. Sorry Kelly. It's uh, some stuff with my human parents. We can talk about that when we get back to Earth."

"Ok babe," she whispered.

We were both quiet for a few minutes, but now I couldn't get to sleep. I was caught up thinking about this, running back and forth through everything we'd just discussed.

Eventually I whispered, "Hey Kelly?"

"Yeah babe?" she asked.

"So please don't get mad because I'm still getting over the shock of all this... But for stuff like, just cuddling and talking like this? Would it be too weird to just invite Keira in here with us? Like, with no-naughtiness rules if we have to spell that out. But like, a pyjama party, sleepover, whatever we want to call it, for the three of us."

Now it was her turn to be silent for a few moments, as she thought that over. I had no idea if she was going to be mad at me for suggesting it, if she'd think it was too weird or whatever. I tried not to cringe too much as I waited.

Kelly finally replied, "I think that might be ok. It's been a long time since me and her had to share a bedroom or anything like that. It might feel a little too weird, but I'm willing to give it a try."

She added, "I don't know though, that's something we'd obviously have to talk with Keira about. But I guess I'm not opposed to it. You'd be in the middle though."

I tried not to sound too upset as I said "Oh no, trapped between two tall beautiful redheads. Whatever have I done to deserve such a terrible fate?"

"Hush you," Kelly scolded softly, but I could hear the smile in her voice.

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