Paige woke up just before 10. She looked over at Emily, who was curled up under the covers looking positively angelic underneath a halo of dark waves of hair.

Paige was starving, but she didn't want leave Emily alone and risk having her wake up in an empty bed. Unfortunately, Emily didn't look as if she would be stirring anytime soon. Damn, I'm good, Paige chuckled to herself.

Paige lightly brushed the hair away from Emily's face and was rewarded with a sweet smile as Emily began slow emerging from her slumber. And I thought that she looked angelic before, Paige couldn't help thinking.

"Morning," Emily said, her voice still half asleep.

"Good morning!" Paige echoed cheerfully.

"What time is it?" Emily's scratchy voice inquired.

"About 10:30. You hungry?"

"I'm starving!"

"Same here," Paige said. "You, sit still. I'll go make us some food."

"No, I'm coming with you," Emily said, rushing to grab a pair of underwear before she reunited with her warm up suit. Paige just pulled a short robe around herself. Emily grabbed her hand, and they headed down to the kitchen.

"How do you feel?" Paige asked, once they settled into their early lunch.

Emily's smile said it all. "I feel perfect, Paige. It just feels as if the stars have aligned, and everything's working out for me. I'm back to swimming, I've got the perfect girlfriend, and this morning was..."

"Perfect?" Paige suggested.

Emily nodded, still smiling. "Damn, it's great to be me!"

Paige reached a hand out to squeeze Emily's forearm. "I just wanted to make sure that you're okay."

Emily put her hand behind Paige's neck and pulled her in for a kiss. "I'm more than okay, Paige. It was the right time. It wasn't a mistake. I don't have any regrets."

Paige nodded. She knew that Emily hadn't acted rashly, but she wanted assurance, now that their first time was behind them, Emily didn't have second thoughts.

"Thank you, Paige. I'm so glad that we didn't rush it. That you didn't rush me."

"I love you, Em." Paige's voice was so soft that it was very audible as she leaned in to claim another kiss. "Thank you for giving yourself to me."

"So," Paige said, as they relaxed in front of a DVD, "we need to talk to your parents."

"About?"

"Well, they agreed to let me move into their house with the understanding that you and I weren't sleeping together, and, now that we are - or, that we have, at least..."

"You want me to call my parents and tell them that I had sex with you?" Emily was almost giggling, not from the humor, but from the outrageousness of what Paige was suggesting.

"No, not like that," Paige said, losing her patience. "Emily, I told you that I'm not going to do this behind your parents' back."

"Paige, I can't just call my parents up and say, 'Listen, I know that you guys said it was okay for Paige to sleep here before we were sleeping together, but, now that she's deflowered me, is it still okay?'"

"Obviously there are better ways to put it."

Emily was starting to get annoyed herself.

"Look, Em. I don't do secrets. I've found that it's a lot better to be upfront with people."

Emily remained silent.

"Do you want me to talk to them?"

Emily's jaw dropped. "You actually would, wouldn't you?" Emily read the answer in Paige's expression. "Don't you think that they already assumed that we're sleeping together?"

"Well, then, it shouldn't be a hard conversation. And at least they'll know that we're not keeping things from them."

"Paige, I can't have that conversation," she pleaded. "And you can't either," she added quickly. "God - I'd die of embarrassment."

Paige took a deep breath. "Okay. How about this? You call them and say, 'Hey, I know that you guys said that it was okay for Paige to stay here because we're not sleeping together. We're starting to get close, we're both adults -' whatever - 'Would you guys want her to move out if we decided that we wanted to sleep together?' And, that way, at least we'll know."

Emily groaned. "Fine! I'll call my Mom later."

Paige took Emily's hand. "Thanks, Emily. I'd feel a lot better."

Emily nodded. "I guess I would, too," she said with a sigh.

"Emmy, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Paige and I don't want to do anything behind your backs. We just want to know whether or not it's still okay with you and Dad for Paige to stay here if we decide to take things to the next level."

Pam pulled the phone away from her ear and took a deep breath. Never in her life would she have expected to be having this conversation with her daughter. After she collected herself, she responded, weakly, "It's okay."

"Really?" Emily was genuinely shocked.

"You're not a child anymore, Emily, and your father and I are going to have to trust you to make your own decisions. And the fact that we're having this conversation shows a lot of maturity."

Ouch! Emily thought. Score one for McCullers!

"Thanks for understanding, Mom. I'm glad that you have faith in me."

"Well, I'm glad that you're proving that we can have faith in you."

"Will you tell Dad?"

Pam laughed.

"Do you want me to?" Emily asked

"No, I'll talk to him. I laughed because he's convinced that you two are already sleeping together." Pam laughed again. Emily laughed nervously, under her breath.

"Mom?" Emily closed her eyes tight before she continued. "Paige and I kind of - well, we actually did make love today. For the first time. It wasn't planned!" Oh shit! Emily realized that it sounded like a moment of surrender to lust, not a rational decision made from love. "I mean," she added quickly, "It felt right. We didn't plan for it to happen today, but it wasn't a mistake. We knew that we were ready, and that the day was coming."

Pam nodded in understanding, as if her daughter could see.

"I - I'm sorry if I violated your trust."

"No, Emmy. The fact that you're telling me now is what matters. I wouldn't expect you to call in the middle and ask for approval."

Emily tried to smile. This conversation was just too weird to be having with her mom.

"Do you love her, Emily?" Pam asked, shaking Emily back from her thoughts.

"I really do, Mom. And she loves me. She's so tender and caring. I - I just love her."

Pam laughed lightly. "I'm happy for you, Emmy. I really am. This isn't the conversation that I was expecting to have, but I'm happy."

"Thanks, Mom."

"What did Hanna say? She must have flipped out."

Emily realized that she hadn't told Hanna yet. What happened between her and Paige didn't feel like something that she had to brag about, or even a milestone to share with her friends. It just seemed fitting and normal, like a good-morning kiss. "I actually haven't told Hanna, yet," she said, the surprise evident in her voice.

"Well, thanks for telling me, Emmy. It's good to know that I can trust you about anything."

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too, Honey. Give Paige a hug for me."

Emily hung up the phone an virtually floated to the living room and into Paige's arms. She hardly knew what felt better, her mom's reaction, or the fact that she had been able to be completely honest with her.

"That," Emily said, hugging Paige, "is from my Mom, and this," she said, with a kiss, "is from me!"

"So, it went well? I can stay?"

Emily planted another kiss on her girlfriend's lips. "It went very well."

Paige lifted Emily off the ground and spun her in a hug.

"Paige, thanks," Emily said sincerely. "You were right." Paige responded with a kiss. Emily looked at her shyly.

"What's wrong?"

"Would it be okay for me to tell Hanna?"

"Of course, Em. Why wouldn't it be?" Paige half laughed. "You know that I'm going to be bragging about to all of my friends and distant relatives."

Emily shrugged. "You're not embarrassed"

Paige laughed, before she realized that Emily wasn't joking. Emily knew that Paige's love for her was real, but, still, somewhere, deep down, she had a hint of worry that Paige would be embarrassed for her friends to find out that she couldn't do better than a college freshman.

"Embarrassed?" Paige gave Emily a kiss. "That I'm with the hottest, sweetest, most loving girlfriend in the world? Yes, I'm embarrassed, Emily. Embarrassed that I'm so awesome!"

Emily gave Paige's shoulder a smack. Even though Paige had made her point in a joking manner, it was really nice to hear.

"Go ahead, say it!" Emily challenged Hanna.

"I'm so happy for you, Emily."

"I know. Get it out of your system."

"Get what out of my system?"

"That she punched my V-card. Plowed my Fields. That I banged McHottie. Got some TA T & A."

Hanna couldn't help smiling. "Okay, those are all really awesome, Emily. But, honestly, I'm just so happy for you right now. I bet it was really sweet."

Emily bit her lip. It was true that it had ended really sweet, but the way that Emily had started it off was downright nasty. "It really was," Emily said. Maybe she would give Hanna more, someday.

"Yeah, it was!" Hanna shouted, getting up to hug Emily. "I just want to cry right now."

"Hanna – dude? Who are you?"

"Don't worry, Emily. I'm going to need all the details later. But, right now, I just want to share this moment with you. I just wasn't expecting it. Were you guys expecting it?"

"I mean, it wasn't unexpected. We knew that it was coming. Well, I knew that it was coming. I'm pretty sure that Paige did, too. But we hadn't planned for it to happen right then. I don't know. It was just right in that moment, and we both knew that it was right."

"Wow."

"Paige kind of looked at me. She wanted to make sure that it wasn't just a moment of passion that I'd regret later."

"Aw, of course she did! Emily!" Hanna was up and hugging her best friend again.

"I know!"

"So it was…"

"Perfect."

"Perfect," Hanna echoed.

"Don't worry, Em. I can keep a secret."

"Thanks, Han."

"I mean, if your dad found out…"

"Actually, he knows." Emily said coyly.

"Holy shit! How did he find out?"

"I told him."

"Seriously?"

"Well, I told my Mom, and she's going to tell him. It was Paige's idea. She refuses to sneak around. I didn't want to tell them, but I'm glad that I did. My Mom appreciated it. It's as if she sees me as a grown-up now, since I didn't lie to her."

"So Paige didn't going to hit it and quit it, eh?"

Emily hung her head and smiled, remembering when she used that phrase out of insecurity after her first date with Paige. "Yeah, I was wrong, Hanna. But…"

Emily trailed off. "But what?" Hanna asked, suddenly concerned.

"Nothing. Just – she was going to leave afterwards, because she had to teach a class."

"'Was going to?'"

"I asked her to stay with me. Was that pathetic?"

"Oh, no, Em! Not at all! Why would she leave after? Especially your first time?"

"Well, I mean, I get it. She's teaching the class – it's not as if she could just skip it."

"But, she stayed, though?"

"Yeah. She got someone to cover." Emily sighed. "I mean, even though I understand why, I'm glad that she didn't leave me."

"Yeah, of course, Em."

"So, McCullers. This is nice. I never see you, now that you're shacking up with your little freshman."

Paige curved her fingers up at Shana, using the gesture to say, "Come on. Get it all out of your system."

"Not that I blame you," Shana continued. "If I bagged a hottie like her, you'd never see me, either. I'd never leave the house. Hell, I'd never leave my bedroom. I'm surprised that you can even walk straight!"

Paige smiled, shaking her head.

"So, has she gotten you in the sheets, yet?"

"Actually, yes," Paige said softly.

"Holy shit!" Shana slammed her hands down on the table, as if her loud exclamation hadn't been enough to get the attention of everyone else in the Brew. "McCullers! This is huge!" Shana whisper-shouted, although the damage had already been done.

"It was – right," Paige said simply.

"No, Paige. I know you. You don't do casual sex. If you're sleeping with Emily then…"

"Neither one of us went into it casually. I know how I feel about her, and I wouldn't have gone this far if I wasn't pretty sure that it was mutual."

"Jesus, McCullers! Come here!" Shana jumped out of the booth and extended her arms, running in place. "God. You deserve that kind of relationship. If anyone deserves it, you deserve it."

"Thanks, Shana," Paige mouthed, barely audibly. She was too content to say much.

"So, are you guys moving out?"

"Eventually, when she decides where she wants to go to school next year."

"Really, Paige? It's not like you to sneak around behind her parents' back."

"They discussed it."

"Whoa! I would love to have heard that conversation."

"Shana, I always say that it's best to be upfront with people." Paige shrugged. "And her mom respected that."

"And things aren't awkward at all between the two of you?"

"No. We both knew that it was right. It almost got awkward, because I was supposed to teach today."

"Supposed to?"

Paige shrugged. "She asked me to not to leave, and she was right. I shouldn't have left her like that. I got Pete to cover for me."

That night, for the first time, Emily was nervous when she climbed into bed with Paige. They had taken things to the next level, and she wasn't sure how things would go down. What would Paige's expectations be? What did she, herself, want to happen?

Paige reached out to her with welcoming arms and a welcoming smile. Emily's fears vanished. She realized that she trusted in their relationship. It wasn't a question of disappointing Paige or of Paige disappointing her. They knew each other; their bodies knew each other, and they could be honest about their needs and expectations.

Emily found her smile mirroring Paige's as she climbed into her lover's arms. She settled in with her head on Paige's shoulder and her hand lying flat against Paige's chest. Paige gave a soft kiss to her cheek and they closed their eyes. But it soon became obvious that it wouldn't be that easy to close the door that they had opened that morning. Soon, Emily had rolled over onto her side and was pressing delicate kisses against Paige's neck. Paige moaned in response, and her legs squeezed together completely on their own. Emily started caressing Paige's breasts, and her kisses became more desperate and purposeful as she rehashed the entire day in her mind – the way that their spirits and their bodies had connected, the conversation with her mom and the way that her relationship with her mom changed, the affirmation that she received from Hanna.

Emily paused for a moment to look at Paige, who had her eyes closed and a look of pure contentment on her face. When Emily paused, Paige opened her eyes to check that everything was okay. She smiled at the loving look that Emily was giving her. "This has been some kind of day, hasn't it?" Paige asked. Emily nodded, moving on top of Paige before she resumed kissing her.