A/N: We're in the home stretch now! Thanks for all the support! But before we go any further, I'd like to warn some of the Commenters that if you're expecting a happy ending where Randy and Sid ride off into the sunset, you want to look elsewhere. There's a reason this story is filed under "Romance/Tragedy."

I also would like to warn everybody that this next chapter is pretty sexual, hence the changed story rating (from T to M).

Additional Note: I had far too much fun thinking up the porno titles used in the early part of this chapter. For the record, I didn't know it when I was originally writing this, but two of them are the titles of real adult films (albeit neither of them existed in 1997, when this story is set): A Wet Dream on Elm Street (2011) and Cockraiser (2017). Additionally, my title for the Mad Max porn ended up being quite close to the actual Beyond Thunderdome XXX parody, Mad Jack Beyond Thunderbone (1986). I guess all the really good sex puns are already taken.

1997
Windsor College, Ohio

After Randy got off work and only the employees were left in the store, taking inventory and tallying up sales, he and Sid retired to the privacy of the small back room where the Video Hut kept the adult movies. Sidney ran a hand bemusedly over the tapes, which included titles like Sexpocalypse Now and The Horny Dead.

"Cockraiser?" She raised a skeptical brow, examining one whose tagline proclaimed He'll tear your pussy apart! in large red lettering. "The Good, the Bad and the Kinky… A Wet Dream on Elm Street… Mad Maxine Beyond Thunderboner… Arizona Jones and the Temple of Boobs?" she read aloud, half-laughing.

Randy didn't crack a smile. For once, he was totally serious.

Sidney frowned slightly. She didn't like where this was headed. Randy was easily her closest friend nowadays, and she didn't want to hurt him. "Okay, what did you want to talk to me about?" she asked. "Because if it's about what I think it is, I—"

Randy held up a hand: stop. "Look, it doesn't matter. Just—let me say it, please?"

Sidney hesitated, then sighed softly, relenting. "Okay, Randy."

"Sid, these murders have got me thinking about my own mortality. What if I die tomorrow?" She opened her mouth to protest, but he overrode her. "Any one of us could be next, and you know it." A small pause. "And… if I do die, I don't want to die a coward too chickenshit to admit to the woman he loves that he's crazy about her."

"Oh, Randy—" Sid began, but he cut her off.

"Please, Sid, just let me finish!" His voice was loud, urgent. He stopped, took a breath, and continued in a calmer tone: "Look, it's just… this is hard enough, okay?"

Sidney nodded gently.

He took a deep breath. "I love you, Sidney Prescott. You know how I can keep smiling? The answer is you, Sid. I can smile through all of this craziness because you're my friend, and when we're just laughing and talking and—you know, bullshitting, talking about movies or whatever—I'm having the time of my life. And—and I know you don't feel the same way, but I had to say it. Out loud. Just once." A pause. "Okay, I'm done."

Sidney looked at him. That was the longest she'd ever heard Randy go without referencing some film or other. Somehow, that made his short speech seem much more meaningful. "Randy… I'm sorry. I don't love you. Look, you're a great friend, but that's all you are to me. I love Derek," she said, not sure she really believed that last part. "I really hope you can understand."

He nodded: he clearly had been expecting that answer. "I understand, Sid."

"I'm glad." She opened the door to leave, then paused, her hand on the knob, and closed it again. She turned and looked thoughtfully at him. Randy waited, his face quizzical. Sidney walked over to him, smiling slightly, and leaned close. As his eyes widened, she kissed him softly on the lips.

It was meant as nothing more than a sort of consolation prize, given because Randy was a sweet guy and a good friend. But as he reciprocated with tender affection, Sidney's body realized what her mind had not, and she pressed against him passionately. Randy's blue eyes widened even more in surprise and wonder, but as she slipped her tongue into his mouth, he ceased to resist. Soon, his body responded to her—the soft feel of her breasts, her warm breath in his mouth—and she felt something hard pressing against her through the fabric of his pants.

Randy broke the embrace. He looked down at his erection, flushing. "Sorry…" he muttered.

Sidney, surprising herself, pulled him to her again. "Don't be."

They kissed, long and full of the released tension of the years they'd been holding in their emotions and desires. Then Sid pulled back gently, and slipped off her sweatshirt, revealing her simple white bra. Randy gaped. She smiled at him, and unhooked her bra.

Her breasts were pale and lightly dusted with freckles. He stared, unable to help himself. The expression on his face was suddenly very young—like a kid allowed to run free in the biggest candy store in the world. That analogy popped into Sid's head, and she laughed tenderly.

He looked up at her face, confused. "What?"

"Nothing," she replied, and kissed him again.

He removed his shirt, awkwardly, and Sidney was amazed at how hard his slim form was under it. She saw the deep scar on his right shoulder, and ran a finger over it gently.

"Yeah," he said, "that was from when—you know—when Billy—"

A gunshot echoed through the air, and Randy was blown back by the force of the bullet. Billy smiled, a twisted grin…

Sid wrenched herself out of her dark memories to see him looking at her slightly apologetically, clearly regretting bringing it up. "It's ok," she said quietly. "I'm just glad you're ok."

They embraced again. When they finally pulled away from one another, Randy tried to unzip his pants, but his hands were shaking so badly that he could hardly manage it. Sidney knelt, took the zipper from his trembling hands, and did it for him. He clumsily pushed the pants down, then his boxers.

It was Sidney's turn to gape. "Oh my god…"

"What?" he asked anxiously, those elfin ears turning bright red. "Oh no, it's small, I knew it—"

"Are you fucking kidding me? It's so big…" she said huskily, and brushed his astonished lips with her own.

Randy took off her jeans with a gentle firmness she would have never guessed of him. Then he slipped her panties down, revealing the small dark strip of hair beneath. Sidney was astonished by the quiet way he took control. He moved his mouth all over her body, softly biting her neck, kissing her stomach, licking her all over, until she felt she must explode from pure desire. Then, just as she thought she couldn't take it any more, he lowered his mouth below her waist and began to lick her there.

"Oh GOD!" she screamed. Before long she felt Something building up inside her, growing until she couldn't see, couldn't think. Suddenly, her mind was exploding, and some dam she hadn't known was there simultaneously broke inside her, and her passion spilled out in a torrent.

She stumbled back, half-falling, and he reached out to steady her. He grinned. "Wow."

"Yeah, wow," she answered weakly.

Randy must have seen how tired she looked. "Are we, um—are we done here?"

Sid looked at his sweet, concerned face, and her feelings washed over her again in a hot wave. "Not yet," she said, and pulled him toward her. "Now it's time for the final reel."

He snorted. "Bad movie joke," he told her. "Really weak." He raised his eyebrows.

She grinned at him and tossed her brown hair around her pale shoulders. "You are such a geek."

As they kissed again, Randy gently rubbed her bare shoulders, and then moved his hands slowly, sensually, down to her breasts and caressed them, ever so softly.

Their lust had abated somewhat, and now they were moving almost in slow motion, savouring every sweet moment. She brushed her lips against his cheekbone, as softly as a moth's wings. He ran one hand through her dark hair. And then he entered her.

Sidney let out a harsh gasp. Her world went black for a moment with mingled pain and heat. Randy saw her grimace and stopped at once, letting her get used to it.

When she relaxed around him, he began to move, slowly at first, careful not to hurt her. She gripped his shoulders hard, first in pain, then in pleasure. Her nails dug into his back as he began to move quicker; he clenched her ass with both hands; their breathing quickened as they moved together rhythmically.

Sidney was dimly aware that she was crying out wordlessly, over and over. Randy panted with exertion, his breath coming in short, high gasps that Sidney somehow found incredibly hot. They bumped awkwardly into a shelf, bringing a few loose videotapes tumbling down with a loud crash. The impact threw her off-balance, and they fell themselves, tangled together. Randy's elbow hit her hard in the ribs, knocking the wind out of her with a small "oof!" She was dimly aware that there would probably be a bruise there tomorrow. The same part of her mind noted detachedly that she'd knocked the back of her head against the shelf, and that the Video Hut's coarse carpet, which was definitely not made for what they were doing, had scraped against her bare, exposed skin in places, leaving it tender and tingling. She found she didn't care, and apparently Randy wasn't deterred by their rough landing either, because they barely paused.

In the back of her mind, the little part that wasn't thrilling with deep joy and physicality and movement, Sidney found herself thinking with wonder: This is Randy. I'm having sex with Randy. And she realized with something like astonishment that, though she would never have expected it, this was what she'd really wanted all along.

They rolled over and she looked up at him, his lips half-parted in his pale face; that funny little shock of hair still sticking up in the front; his ice-blue eyes, so full of depth and emotion. A look of delighted shock was etched onto his features, and in those eyes she saw her own face reflected back at her, wearing the same expression. She realized that now her cries had words to them: she was screaming his name, over and over and over.

And then she lost awareness of everything as something deep within her burst, and she began to cry, not from grief or pain, but from pure and perfect bliss. Randy saw her tears and paused, concerned, but she immediately screamed "Oh dear god don't stop!"

Sidney had no idea how long it went on—to her it was an eternity. All she knew was the feel of his warm skin rubbing against hers, his hot breath on her neck, the tears of pleasure burning tracks down her cheeks. And through the tears, splintered into a thousand glistening prisms, she saw his eyes, cool and blue and beautiful as a glacier in the Antarctic.

Then she felt the Something building up inside her again, and screamed, louder and louder, her hands gripping his shoulders tighter and tighter, and—

And then it was over, and he rolled off her. They lay tangled up in each other's arms, sweaty, drained, and satisfied, basking in the warm vestiges of their lovemaking. They were silent for a long while, each thinking their own thoughts.

Randy was the first to speak. "I think I have rug burn." Sid chuckled weakly, then fell silent again. He glanced over at her. "Penny for your thoughts."

She looked away. "Randy… I—I haven't really felt safe in a long time. Not since my mom died." He listened quietly, with complete attention. "And after Woodsboro…" She sniffled violently, trying to stifle the screams suddenly echoing in her mind. He squeezed her shoulder, and the screams faded. They weren't gone, not entirely, but they seemed further away. She smiled gratefully at him. "But… right now, I feel completely safe. I… I feel like I could be safe forever, as long as I'm in your arms."

She sat up and pulled away from him, suddenly terrified he was going to be ripped from her side as they all were. I'm like a disease, she thought. A deadly, contagious infection. New tears formed in her eyes—tears of sorrow this time, and fear, and hopelessness.

He sat up, too, putting a tentative hand on her shoulder. "Hey. Hey, Sid—I'm not going anywhere."

"But—but everything I touch turns to shit! Everyone I've ever cared for gets hurt!" she choked, unable to hold back her fear.

"Sid." His voice was gentle, but firm. He pressed his hand to her face, gently turning it towards him. "Sidney, I'm not going to let that happen. I promise." There was a pause. "I love you, Sidney."

She hadn't known it—really known—until she found herself saying it aloud. But as she heard her own words in her ears, she knew, with utter certainty, that they were true. "Randy, I—"