This was not how Amy had planned it.

OK, so maybe she hadn't planned it. Maybe that was her first mistake. If she'd been smarter, she would have made sure this scenario never played out in any way that was totally in her control.

But since when had anything in her life been in her control?

So, no, she hadn't planned this. Worried about it? Yes. Feared it? Yup. Dreaded it? Definitely.

But not planned it. And, honestly, was that really all that surprising? She wasn't the planner, she never had been.

That was Karma's job.

Though, from the look on Karma's face as she stared at Amy and Reagan - mostly at Amy - Amy wasn't entirely sure her best friend had planned this either. At least not that well.

Maybe she should have had a dossier. How to Introduce Your Girlfriend to Your Fake Ex /BFF in Three Easy Steps.

Step one: Don't let your fake ex / bff walk in on you half naked. With your girlfriend's hands on your hips. Her leg pressed tight between your thighs. The taste of her skin still lingering on your lips.

Correction: Step one - lock the fucking front door.

Yeah, Amy thought. Planning might have been better.

"Hey," said Reagan from beneath her. "You must be Karma. I'm Reagan."

If Amy had thought this wasn't going to end well before, then the dark glare Karma fixed Reagan with pretty much assured her that, no, this wasn't going to end well. This wasn't going to end anywhere in the neighborhood of well.

Fucking Liam had gone better than this was going to.

Amy's only hope was that this lasted as long as that had. At least then the torture would be over quick.

Karma hadn't moved even an inch, save for her eyes. Her head tilted slightly as she regarded Reagan. Amy watched as Karma's eyes slid across Reagan's face, then traced the path of her arms, down to her hands, still gripping tightly to Amy's hips.

Amy saw the look. The way Karma's eyes grew just a little wider. The way she swallowed hard and stared, like if she looked long enough and hard enough she could make whatever it was just disappear.

Amy knew that look.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

This was the fucking threesome all over again.

"I know who you are," Karma said, still not moving. Her eyes drifted back down to meet Reagan's. "I think everyone know who you are."

Lauren came down off the last step, leaning against the railing. "And what the fuck," she asked "is that supposed to mean?"

Amy sighed. In the last couple of months she'd come to realize that while Lauren wasn't really a bitch, if you fucked with her, her family, or those she cared about, she could cut you in half with just a word.

And Karma wasn't family. And Lauren sure as hell didn't care about her.

Karma didn't even bother to look at Lauren. As far as Karma was concerned, Lauren was an afterthought, an onlooker, an unneeded - and unwanted - third wheel.

"Why don't you ask Amy," Karma said. "Or, better yet, just watch." She held out her phone to Lauren without breaking eye contact with Amy. "Go ahead," she said, nodding at the phone. "It's quite the show."

Lauren grabbed the phone out of Karma's hand, took one look at the screen, and scowled. "It's locked, Ashcroft."

"0614," Amy said, without thinking. She felt Reagan's grip tighten just a little on her hips as her girlfriend recognized the numbers.

Amy's birthday.

Lauren tapped in the code and the video loaded up on the screen. She hit play and watched as Reagan strolled into view, wrapped her arms around Amy, and… well then…

"Damn," Lauren muttered under her breath. She was as straight as they came and she'd been watching her sister and Reagan make out for almost two months, but still… damn.

"Lolo?" Reagan asked.

Karma flinched, her eyes dropping to Reagan but quickly back up to stare at Amy. The question in her eyes was so clear.

Lolo? They have nicknames? What the fuck universe have I drifted into?

Lauren rose from the stairs and walked the three steps over to Amy, handing her the phone. "I'd heard the gossip mill yesterday," she said. "But seeing it…":

Amy glanced down at the paused video on the screen, saw herself and Shane and Reagan and the hallway she knew all too well.

She felt her cheeks flush. Like she'd just gotten caught doing something wrong. Like someone had taped her cheating on her math test or letting the air out of Liam's tires.

Amy shook her head. She'd done nothing wrong. Nothing to be ashamed of.

She glanced up at Karma. And she knew they didn't share that opinion.

Reagan sat up, scrambling onto her knees behind Amy, an arm slipping around her waist, her chin resting on the blonde's shoulder as Amy pressed play on the video.

"Oh," Reagan said. "That's us."

"That's you," Karma corrected. Amy looked at her, struck by the way Karma was fixated on the arm Reagan had slung around Amy's waist, the way she was watching as Reagan absently traced little circles on Amy's abs. "That's not Amy."

Amy felt Reagan's head tilt up on her shoulder and her arm tense around her. She'd only seen Reagan truly pissed off once, after an encounter with a drunken jackass at a catering event. The guy had cornered Reagan out back of the event hall, pressed himself up against her in the alley, made some comment about all she needed was a real man to fuck the gay right out of her.

It had taken three real men to carry drunken jackass to his car. And ten real stitches to stop the bleeding.

Amy gripped Reagan's hand on her stomach and laced their fingers together. She heard, then felt, her girlfriend's breathing even out.

"What the hell are you talking about, Karma?" Lauren said. "That's Amy. I mean, yeah, the video's shit, and they're both a little washed out, but don't kid yourself. That's my sister."

Karma's eyes finally left Amy as she wheeled on Lauren who, apparently, had finally pushed a little too far. "Step-sister," she said. She glanced back at Amy quickly, clearly waiting for Amy to chime in, to support her, to remind Lauren of her place.

She was going to be waiting a while.

"I know it's Amy," Karma said finally, fixing Amy with a confused stare, even more lost in this new dynamic than before. "I'd know Amy anywhere. What I meant was, that's not like her. Amy doesn't do things like… that." She waved her hand at the phone still clutched between Amy's fingers.

"Like what?" Lauren asked. She didn't have patience for Karma's crap on a good day and this one was already not heading in that direction. "Kissing her girlfriend?"

Karma's eyes grew wide and Amy saw it coming. This was the moment. The t-minus twenty seconds and counting moment.

The 'horny parrot' moment. The 'I can't do this' moment. The 'I'm a fucking teenage girl' moment.

The Amy is so royally fucked moment.

"Kissing?" Karma's voice hit an octave Amy didn't know she could reach. "That's what you call that? Kissing?" Karma laughed, though it came out choked and broken, like a death rattle. "Amy kisses. Amy doesn't do that," she said, pointing wildly at the phone. "Amy doesn't do PDA's. Tongue wrestling in the hall. Showing off everything for the leering masses. It's practically fucking porn!"

Lauren took one cautious step toward Karma, and placed a hand on her arm. "No offense to your precious Booker," Lauren said in her calmest, sweetest, down-homeiest voice. "But Karma, honey? If you think that's porn? Liam's not doing his job right, at all."

Reagan buried her face into Amy's neck, trying not to laugh. Amy bit down on her bottom lip to stifle her giggles, her teeth digging in so hard she thought she tasted blood.

"Liam has nothing to do with this," Karma said and Amy had to wonder if that was the first time those particular words had left Karma's mouth in the last year. "This," Karma rolled on, "is about Amy. The girl I know, the one I've known for ten fucking years… she doesn't do things like this. Amy doesn't keep secrets from me, she doesn't make out in hallways."

"Apparently," Lauren said, "She does both."

"And that's why I'm here," Karma said. "Because Amy's not acting like Amy." Karma shrugged Lauren's hand off and planted her hands on her hips. "She's clearly not thinking straight. She's clearly got something going on that she just doesn't know how to handle, she's obviously confused, she's -"

"She's right here in the fucking room," Amy said.

Karma turned to look at her, and Amy could see the blush of anger already starting to fade from her cheeks. This was the second time in two days that Amy had used that tone with Karma. The last time she'd told her to grow the fuck up.

Clearly, Karma hadn't gotten the message.

"Look, Karma," Amy said. "I'm sorr -" She cut herself off. That word was not leaving her mouth. Not again. "I understand if you think I'm acting a little...odd." Karma arched an eyebrow at 'odd', but Amy ignored her. "I get that you're pissed I didn't tell you about Reagan sooner. And that you're pissed about the video and the comments people left on it."

Amy slid off the couch, standing on the floor in front of Karma, but she never let go of Reagan's hand.

"I get all that," she said. "But this is me. I know it's new for you, it is for me too." Amy did feel bad, a little. She'd had two months to adjust to things. Karma had less than two days. "I know you think you know me so well, and you do, but… I guess you've just never seen me in love."

Karma took - staggered - a half step back and, for a moment, Amy thought she might bolt.

And for the first time ever, Amy knew she wouldn't chase her if she did.

"You've been in love before," Karma said softly, almost whispering it, and Amy knew that was her Karma, worrying about what Reagan did and didn't know.

"Yeah," Amy said, nodding. "I have. But like I said… you never saw it."

Karma's eyes dropped to the floor and she let out a long breath. She fumbled with her hands, not quite sure what to do with herself.

The truth really did hurt.

"You're right, Karma," Amy said. The red-head's eyes snapped back up to her friend's face. "I don't know exactly how to handle this," she waved her free hand between herself, Karma, and Reagan. "This is new territory for all of us. I've never had a girlfriend and a best friend."

Karma's eyes dropped again. Girlfriend. Best Friend.

Two. Different. Things.

"But you have to understand something, Karma," Amy said. She dropped Reagan's hand and stepped closer to her best friend. She placed a finger under Karma's chin and tipped the girl's head up. "You have to understand something very, very clearly."

"What?" Karma asked.

"I'm not confused," Amy said. "Not about this. Not about her." She tilted her head back to indicate Reagan. "I'm in love with Reagan. And maybe that means things are different for us, for all of us. And I wish that didn't upset you or hurt you or.. whatever." Amy took her hand from Karma's face and moved back, next to Reagan. "But I'm not going to apologize. Not for loving her. Not now. Not ever."

Karma stared at them, at the way they weren't even holding hands or anything but they were still so close, like they couldn't exist if there was even air between them.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I never meant… I didn't want you to…" She shook her head. "Is this what it was like?" she asked. "For you, I mean. When Liam and I started hooking up?"

Amy sighed. Sometimes Karma just couldn't get it, not even when you spelled it out for her.

Amy stepped back to Karma, almost as close to her as she'd been to Reagan. Almost. "No," Amy said quietly. "This is what it was like for me the night my mother got married." Karma paled. "When I knew you'd made a choice."

The message was clear. Amy had made her choice. Karma had to live with it.

She pulled away from Karma, desperate to try and bring this thing to an end, at least for now. With Karma, she knew, there was no guarantee it would ever really be over.

"I'm going to go jump in the shower," Amy said. "And then my sister and I have some clothes shopping to do." She glanced back at Reagan. "You coming with us?"

Reagan shook her head. "No," she said. "I was actually… um…" Amy's face scrunched in confusion. She'd never seen her girlfriend so at a loss for words. "I was actually going to see if Karma wanted to go get coffee? Or something?"

Silence. And not the comfortable kind.

"Wait," Lauren said finally, because she was apparently the only one in the room who could still speak. "What?"

"Coffee," Reagan said. "You know, that thing people do when they're trying to get to know each other without all the...um…" she gestured at Amy, "issues in the way?"

Amy smirked. "I'm an issue now?"

Reagan shrugged. "I just figured it would be easier than trying to get to know each other at the party with all the music and the drinking and… well… the Shane."

Even Karma laughed.

"So, how about it, Karma? You, me, warm beverages?"

Karma looked at Amy, but her friend was staring straight ahead, stone faced, apparently unconcerned. Which Karma knew was total bullshit.

"Sure, I guess," she said. "We've gotta get to know each other some time, right?"

Amy's face cracked a little and Karma and Reagan both read it for what it was. Worry. Worry that she wouldn't be there. Worry that things would be out of her control.

Karma thought Amy was concerned about what she might say.

Reagan knew Amy was worried about how she might feel.

"It'll be fine, Shrimps," she said. "Karma and I are grown women, more or less. I think we can have coffee without incident." She turned back to Karma. "I need a quick shower. Did you want to wait or should I pick you up at your place?"

"My place," Karma said quickly, unnerved by both the thought of Amy and Reagan showering at the same time and by the thought of being left alone with Lauren. "Do you know how to get there?"

"Amy can give me directions," Reagan said. "Say half an hour?" Karma nodded. "Cool. I'm gonna go get clean." She headed up the stairs. "Oh," she said, turning back. "And Lolo? Make sure you get something to make my Shrimps look hot, OK?"

Lauren nodded as Reagan dashed off up the stairs. She looked back and forth between her sister and Karma. "I'm thirsty," she said suddenly. "And hungry. And so going to the kitchen."

She moved away, leaving Karma and Amy alone.

"I guess I'll see you tonight then?" Amy said.

Karma nodded. "Yeah, tonight," she said. She turned to go, then paused in the hallway. "Aimes?"

"Yeah?'

"Reagan seems nice."

And then she was gone. Amy stood for a moment at the bottom of the stairs, savoring that one peaceful moment when the two most important women in her life were OK with each other.

She knew it wouldn't last. But, for now, she knew she couldn't have planned it any better.