Epilogue:

"Have you seen my coat?" Tevos asked. She folded her hands around her elbows, wishing that she had possessed enough foresight to choose a dress with sleeves. Her gloves only covered her lower arms, and the rest of her gown was strapless. Fortunately, the slight swell to her stomach hadn't forced her to purchase a new wardrobe yet.

Aria stepped up behind her, and Tevos shivered as warm palms ran along her bare shoulders. "Why? Are you cold? I can think of a few ways to warm you up."

Tevos sighed and leaned her head back against Aria's chest. She had to admit that her bondmate looked very enticing in a dress. Aria didn't wear them often, but when she did… "That will have to wait until we get home, I'm afraid. The party isn't over yet."

"I'm surprised you wanted to come." Aria placed a soft kiss where her fingers had been moments before. The warmth of her lips sent a wave of heat over Tevos's skin. "It's a little scandalous, don't you think? Attending the release party for a porn vid all about us… not the kind of thing a respectable Councilor is supposed to do."

Tevos smiled and turned her head just enough to catch a glimpse of Aria's face. Her lover's eyes were darker than normal, and her tattooed lips were curved in their usual smirk. "I suppose I'm not a respectable Councilor, then. I responded 'yes' for both of us as soon as Amara sent me the invitation."

"Where is Amara, anyway?" Aria lifted her head, scanning the crowded room. "I don't see her anywhere."

"She's not here," Tevos said. "I can usually sense where she is. She's a lot like you - people are drawn to her. She has a magnetic sort of energy."

"Magnetic energy, huh?" The curved lines on Aria's forehead lifted in amusement. "Think she learned it from me?"

"Probably not." Tevos drew Aria's hands away from her arms and folded them around her waist. She relaxed further against Aria's chest as they cupped protectively over the curve of her abdomen. "She knows how to draw people in without chewing them up and spitting them back out afterward."

Aria continued searching the room over her shoulder. "Hmm. I don't see Neota, either. Think they've found some secluded corner to make out in?"

"I doubt it. Neota's far too shy. She still blushes and squeaks whenever I ask after Amara. I do catch her staring off into space now and then, so I assume things are progressing." Tevos paused as another shiver coursed down her spine. Aria's warmth wasn't doing much to heat up the front half of her body. "So, where is my coat?"

"In one of the back closets, along with my jacket. Amara showed me where to put it."

Tevos snorted. "Let me guess. You didn't want to hang your precious jacket with the other coats."

Aria released her and shrugged. "Well, would you? That jacket is famous. Imagine what someone could sell it for on the extranet… or even worse, what if they kept it as a trophy? The Queen of Omega's jacket is way too precious to leave in a public closet."

"And I suppose the fact that you have four others at home isn't any consolation." Tevos turned toward the back of the ballroom, and Aria fell into step beside her. Their arms brushed together as they passed the buffet and wove their way through the crowd. The number of guests had dwindled a little, but the party was far from over. "You'll have to show me the way. I was getting our glasses and talking with Sparatus when Amara took you back there."

"Doesn't it bother you that he came to the release party?" Aria asked. It was obvious that the thought had been lingering in her mind for a while. "I mean… he is your colleague."

"Well, he did back some of the production costs…" The excuse sounded weak even as she said it. "All right. Yes, it was incredibly awkward when I found out that Sparatus gave Amara enough credits to make the sequel. I'm not sure whether he was trying to play a joke on me, or whether he thought it was some kind of bizarre compliment. I mean, how many porn vids are well-funded enough to throw release parties?"

"Vaenia had a release party," Aria pointed out. "That's what Khalisah called the vid in her review, by the way. 'The Next Vaenia.' And she says it's an art film, not porn."

Tevos rolled her eyes. "It's porn, Aria. Porn with a plot and a special effects budget, but still porn."

"But…"

"It had full frontal nudity."

"But…"

"And penetration."

Aria gave her an amused look and waited for her to finish.

"And the orgasms weren't just a shot of a hand falling gracefully onto purple sheets."

"Fine. Maybe it is porn, but it's definitely not as sleazy as 'Bondage Babes'. Khalisah said…"

"Don't even talk to me about Khalisah," Tevos muttered. "Since when do you listen to a word she says? You hate her. Besides, that woman never stops asking questions, even when she isn't going to print the answers. I spent at least twenty minutes with her, and I never wanted a drink so much in my entire life."

"Hmm," Aria purred, "too bad you're pregnant. Maybe it's not just the lack of alcohol that's making you so moody."

"I am not…" Tevos paused when she realized that she was speaking a little too loudly. "I am not moody," she whispered, pulling Aria through a door and into the back hallway. "I'm just cold, and I want you to find my coat."

"Fine." Aria stared down the hallway, glancing over at the identical doors that lined the walls. She cleared her throat. "Um…"

"You don't remember which room it's in, do you?"

"Come on, Thea, they all look the same. How am I supposed to remember?"

"I guarantee you, if you and your people were picking up a weapons shipment on Omega, you'd remember which warehouse it was in."

Aria frowned. "That's a terrible comparison. If you want to blame someone, blame Amara for renting out this fancy place." She stalked down the hallway, opened the nearest door, and stuck her head inside. "You take the left side, I'll take the right. It's not too far down."

With a resigned sigh, Tevos veered left and started opening doors. The first one revealed a plush bathroom, complete with flowers and couches. "How could Amara afford to rent this place?" she wondered aloud. "Is porn really that lucrative?"

Aria's voice drifted over to her from the other side of the hallway. "Based on the appetizers they were serving back there? Definitely."

Tevos ignored her and moved on to the next door. "Nothing," she said as she poked her head into a dimly lit sitting room. "Are you having any luck over there, Aria? . . . Aria?" There was no response from behind her. Instead, she turned around just in time to hear a sharp bark of laughter and a high pitched squeal of surprise.

She knew she shouldn't look, but curiosity got the better of her. She stared past Aria, who was nearly doubled over with laughter and gripping the wall for support, and into the room across the hall. Neota, her ever-faithful assistant, was kneeling on top of a couch. Or, more accurately, she was kneeling on top of Amara, who was lying flat on her back across the couch cushions. Neota's gauzy yellow dress was bunched up around her hips, and her eyes were larger than Tevos had ever seen them. "Oh, Goddess, I'm so sorry," she stammered, pulling down the dress as far as she could. Unfortunately, it did little to shield the glistening shaft that joined their bodies.

Aria sagged against the doorframe, still gasping for breath. "What are you apologizing for? We walked in on you this time." She broke into another round of laughter as soon as she got the words out.

"Aria!" Tevos pinched her arm beneath the strap of her dress. "Stop laughing. It's not funny."

"Are you kidding? This is probably the funniest thing that's happened to me in years."

Neota buried her face in her hands while Amara turned the upper half of her body, straining to see over the arm of the couch. When she realized who had interrupted them, she rolled her eyes. "I guess it was just a matter of time. We should have known you two would catch us eventually."

"Couldn't resist doing a little reenactment of your new vid, huh?" Aria drawled.

Amara threw Aria a deliberately flirtatious look. "Why, do you want to pay fifty credits to watch us?" Tevos knew it wasn't a serious offer, because she noticed Amara's hand drifting between their bodies to adjust the skirt of Neota's dress, offering her a little more privacy.

"This isn't happening," Neota mumbled, still refusing to peek out from between her fingers. "This is a nightmare. I'm dreaming, and in a few minutes, I'm going to wake up, and go in to work just like always..."

Tevos stepped into the room, pausing beside the couch. She reached out and pulled Neota's trembling hands away from her face. "Why don't you take tomorrow off, Neota? I think you've earned it. And don't worry, Aria and I were just leaving." She smiled, gave her startled assistant a kiss on her flushed purple cheek, nodded to Amara in apology, and turned back toward the hallway.

"You're no fun," Aria said as Tevos clicked the lock and shut the door behind her. "But you were right about their relationship. Things were definitely 'progressing' in there."

"And you should know better than to tease my assistant like that. Amara might be able to handle it, but Neota looked terrified.

Aria snorted. "Terrified my ass. She'll come her brains out as soon as we leave. I'll bet as many credits as you want that she's secretly an exhibitionist in addition to being a voyeur."

"A voyeur, Aria? Really?" Tevos narrowed her eyes as she and Aria opened the next door. Thankfully, it was the room where Aria had left their coats. She paused and held out her arms so that her bondmate could help her with the sleeves.

"Really." Aria made sure to let her hands wander as she pulled Tevos's coat into place. "With all the times she's walked in on us, at least one of them had to be on purpose."

Tevos sighed and looped her arm through Aria's. "Well, now that you've embarrassed my assistant, made an ass of yourself, and found my coat, what do you want to do next?"

"I was thinking we'd call it a night." Aria leaned in close, and Tevos felt her skin tingle as her bondmate's warm lips moved beside her crest. She clung a little tighter to Aria's arm. "We already said goodbye to our host, so… what about going back to the apartment and staging a little reenactment of our own? Scene four?"

"Scene four it is, although you don't deserve it. Let's go home."

The End

. . .

AN: I hope you enjoyed the end of this little romp. I had fun writing it. I've got a few other things to wrap up next week, but expect Now And Again to be re-released soon. Some of the material will be the same, some won't, but I hope the quality and pacing will be a lot better.