Janet was lost and completely panic-stricken. Never had she felt so vulnerable.

Slowly, however, the fog began to dissipate, and she realized she was right there in Brad's house…in his living room, as a matter of fact. Before she could figure out how she'd gotten from the bedroom to the living room, she made out the shape of a person across the room. With a wave of relief, it came to her…everything was all right; it was just Brad, sleeping on the sofa. But as the fog cleared completely, she realized it wasn't Brad sitting there looking at her, his face impassive.

It was Frank.

She yelped in surprise, and his lips curled in an amused yet condescending smile. "Hello, Janet."

Her mouth opened and closed several times, but no words emerged. Finally, she stammered, "You…you…you're dead!"

The smile vanished, and he rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Oh, really? I hadn't noticed. Thank you ever so much for pointing it out to me. Whatever would I do without you?"

She started pacing the room frantically, shaking her head and running her fingers through her hair in a distracted fashion. "This can't be happening. I must be dreaming…"

Frank stood up and grabbed her arm, forcing her to stand still. In a voice dripping with sarcasm, he replied, "Of course you're dreaming. Or are you able to come up with another plausible explanation for why you are standing here talking to someone you witnessed getting murdered a few hours ago?"

Her delivery wasn't getting any more polished. "Wha…what are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "Don't ask me. I am here at the behest of your subconscious mind."

For the moment, irritation made her forget her fright. "What the hell do you mean?"

Cocking an ironic eyebrow, he sat back down and purred, "My, such strong language, Janet. I may have to get a bar of soap and wash out your mouth…or at least some portion of your anatomy."

Even in her dream, she could feel herself blush scarlet. Angrier at her own reaction to his taunting than she was at him, she snapped, "Never mind that. Just answer my question."

"You are determined to be a stick-in-the-mud, aren't you?" He sighed. "Have it your way. All I can tell you is that you apparently feel there is some…unfinished business between us. What that might be, I cannot say."

She frowned. "What, are you claiming that I want you or something?"

He smiled lazily. "I didn't say that…although it is hardly outside the realm of possibility."

"Wow, you really have a high opinion of yourself, don't you?"

He chuckled, and despite herself, Janet felt a twinge of longing deep within her at the dark velvety sound. "Of course I do. Why should I not? However, that is beside the point. I simply remember how you behaved when we were…together."

This time, Janet felt as if the blush was going right down to the soles of her feet. "You…manipulated me."

His smile was utterly lascivious. "I certainly did…and into some rather intriguing positions, I might add."

Annoyance managed to overcome embarrassment, and she felt her face began to cool. "That isn't what I meant."

He snorted. "You don't say. I never would have guessed."

His flippancy made her anger flare up again. "Good God, it's impossible to carry on a conversation with you."

He leaned forward and looked at her, an expression of mock regret on his face. "What a pity. After all, there is nothing I enjoy more than a good conversation." The lascivious smile returned. "Except for a good…"

Janet jumped in. "Never mind!"

Pouting a bit, he replied, "All right, all right. Obviously a sense of humor is not your strong suit. I will try to behave myself. Otherwise I may find myself trapped here for hours."

"Good. That means you'll answer my questions seriously?"

He shrugged. "I suppose so – depending on what they are, of course." He smiled slightly. "So what are they?"

That stopped her dead. "Uh…I don't know."

He groaned. "You don't know? You summoned me here, and you don't even know what information you are seeking from me?" He shook his head. "How terribly inconsiderate of you."

Janet couldn't believe her ears. "I'm inconsiderate? You just took it upon yourself to seduce both me and my fiancé, and I'm inconsiderate?"

Her little emotional outburst didn't have quite the effect on him she would have liked. "Yes, that's right. My own consideration, or lack thereof, was not the issue. I was talking about you. And you are inconsiderate."

Janet crammed as much withering sarcasm into her voice as she could muster. "Oh, I do apologize for inconveniencing you…Master."

He winced at that last word. "Ouch." Smiling slightly, he said, "Not bad. Not overly high on the cleverness scale, perhaps, but rather effective nonetheless." The smile faded, and he asked, "All right, have you come up with any questions, or did that little bon mot completely exhaust your capacity for repartee?"

She was still feeling cranky, and the phrasing of his inquiry didn't exactly improve her mood. "You want questions? All right, here's one for you. Why did you seduce Brad and me? Why?"

He settled back on the sofa and looked at her thoughtfully. "It's like the old joke, isn't it?

She was confused. "What old joke?"

"Why does a dog lick his testicles?"

Janet fought down yet another blush. "I don't know. Why?"

"Because he can."

For a moment, Janet was completely speechless. Finally, she sputtered, "Be-because he can? Are you saying you took not only my virginity, but Brad's, too…just because you could?"

He cocked an eyebrow wickedly. "Does there need to be more of a reason than that?"

She was apoplectic with rage. "You destroyed our lives on a whim?"

His smugness gave way to disgust. "Oh, please. Must you be so melodramatic? Why should what happened tonight destroy your lives? I did no harm to either of you, and you know it." He rolled his eyes again. "It was only sex."

"Only sex? I'll have you know sex actually means something to some people."

He was unimpressed. As if humoring a particularly slow-witted child, he asked, "Oh, really? What does it 'mean'?"

"It means two people love each other. It means they express that love by sharing their bodies with each other. It's…sacred."

He laughed out loud. "Sacred. Oh, my goodness. If sex is sacred, I must be some kind of god by now."

"I'm not talking about what you do. I'm talking about…making love."

He smiled slightly. "So if what I do isn't what you're talking about, why should the fact I had sex with you and Brad matter?"

Janet was slightly taken aback. "Well…like I told you, I was saving myself for Brad, and he was saving himself for me, too."

"And like I told you, you aren't spent yet. You seem to see a difference between sex and lovemaking. If that is indeed the case, the fact you've 'had sex' shouldn't matter. You still haven't 'made love.' And isn't that what you are truly 'saving' for each other?"

Her face the very image of frustration, Janet replied, "You don't understand. You can only lose your virginity once…and I wanted to give that gift to someone who would value it…" She looked away, almost embarrassed to complete the thought in front of him. "Someone who would value me."

Cautiously, she looked over at Frank. She was relieved to note he didn't look amused…but she had to admit he didn't look particularly sympathetic, either.

After a moment of what passed for reflective silence – at least for Frank – he answered her. "You should know what they say about the 'best laid' plans…er, no pun intended." Shrugging, he said, "Oh, who am I kidding…of course it was intended. But never mind that. What I meant was that life has a rather nasty habit of not going as planned. I certainly learned that for myself the hard way this evening. All right, so you didn't lose your virginity to someone who loved you. Terribly unfortunate, I am quite sure, but c'est la vie. Despite your best efforts to put all the blame on me for that circumstance, however, you must admit you made a choice to do what you did. I didn't threaten you. I didn't physically overpower you. I didn't hold a gun – or a laser – on you. I just turned you on. When all is said and done, that is not exactly a bad way to lose one's virginity." His smile reeked of self-satisfaction. "You cannot claim you failed to enjoy the experience."

Without thinking, Janet sat down next to him. "Just because it was fun, that doesn't make it right. I mean…the way I behaved. Not only with you, but with Rocky, too. How can I ever forgive myself for that?"

He was starting to look bored with the conversation. "Oh, honestly. How do you humans get through life without driving yourselves completely insane with guilt? If you wish, call it a mistake. Call it an educational experience. Call it whatever you will, but get over it. I have not destroyed your lives. However, it seems you are well on your way to doing that yourselves. For whatever reason, it happened, and now you have to make a choice. You can simply throw away your entire relationship out of shame, or you can find some value in the experience, actually allow yourselves to learn something from it, and move on.You both discovered, first hand, that sex is pleasurable. Perhaps you will now be more confident about sharing that pleasure with each other. Is that so terrible?"

Janet tried to come up with another argument, but somehow words were failing her. Could this hedonist sitting next to her actually be…right? Was it possible that what she and Brad had done didn't necessarily have to destroy their relationship after all? That if they handled things right, they could actually wind up even closer than they'd been before?

Finally, she looked at him and smiled faintly. "No, I guess it's not so terrible." Taking a deep breath, she said, "Thank you for the…perspective. I think it'll help."

If she was expecting any sentimentality from him, she was disappointed. "Splendid. Does that mean I can leave now?"

She didn't quite know how to answer, particularly since she still didn't understand how she'd gotten him there in the first place. "Uh, I guess so. Where will you go?"

His smile was wicked. "Oh, I plan to spend a considerable amount of time with Riff Raff and Magenta."

Janet was confused. "Why? Don't you hate them for killing you?"

"Of course I do. That's the point."

She shook her head in bewilderment. "I don't understand."

He laughed softly. "Poor, naïve Janet. I will not spend time with them because I enjoy their company. I will spend time with them to make them miserable. I certainly hope they enjoy elbow sex, because that will be the only kind of sex they will ever be able to have." He stood up and grinned. "They would have been considerably better off keeping me alive. Freed from the physical limitations faced by the living, I can be quite the nuisance if I wish to be, and they will be utterly powerless to get rid of me."

Janet couldn't help but smile back at him. "Well, I hope you have fun!"

He started to leave, but turned back with a mischievous smile. "It may not be easy having a good time…but I always seem to manage." With that, he was gone.