Author's note: For those who have been reading this story, I apologize for the long delay in posting its conclusion. I had trouble deciding how it should end, and even more trouble actually writing it! Many thanks to those who have posted reviews…it is much appreciated. As an aside to the review questioning how Dr. Scott could drive – there are vehicles equipped with hand controls allowing those without use of their legs to drive. For what it's worth…

Janet woke up with a start. She quickly looked around her, and saw the glow of the moonlight illuminating the bedroom. She breathed a sigh of relief; she really was awake this time.

The more she thought about the conversation she'd had with Frank in her dream, the more excited she became. There was no way she could wait until morning…she had to go out there and resolve things with Brad. Now.

She noticed that Brad had left one of his bathrobes draped across a chair for her. The thoughtfulness of the gesture, so typical of Brad, made her smile. However, she didn't bother putting it on. If all went as planned, a robe was the last thing she was going to need.

Making her way carefully to the bedroom door, she opened it slowly and looked around. As best she could see in the dim light coming through the windows, everything was as it should be. No fog…and no unexpected visitors. Just Brad, curled up in a fetal position on the couch in an attempt to squeeze his tall, lanky frame into a piece of furniture that was much too short to accommodate him.

Janet took a deep breath and moved her hand to the light switch at her side. However, before flicking it and illuminating the room with a harsh glare, she thought better of it. The silvery moonlight would provide a much better atmosphere.

She walked over to the sofa and knelt down. Leaning over Brad, she pressed her lips to his neck. He woke up with a start, hitting his head on the arm of the sofa as he quickly sat up. He looked over at Janet, and his sleep-reddened eyes widened. "Janet, what the hell are you doing?"

She sat next to him on the sofa and put her hands on his shoulders. "Brad, we need to talk."

He shook his head. "Now?"

She smiled seductively. "No, not right now. There's something else we need to do first." She pulled her fiancé close and gave him a kiss - a very passionate kiss.

After a moment of shocked immobility, Brad finally responded, but his response was not exactly what Janet had in mind. He pushed her away, snapping, "Janet, come on…I'm not in the mood."

Janet wasn't about to give up that easily. She began to unlace her basque, purring, "Well, then allow me to get you into the mood."

However, Brad pulled her hands away. "Janet, I'm not kidding. Don't do this."

Janet looked at him, wounded and confused. Men weren't supposed to turn down sex, were they? The only thing her mother had ever told her about sex was that men wanted it – all the time – and it was a woman's "wifely duty" to provide it to her husband. All right, so she wasn't Brad's wife yet, but after the events of the evening, that should hardly be a stumbling block. Suddenly, a blinding flash of the obvious struck her. The "events of the evening" were a stumbling block, but for a different reason.

"Brad, I know you're upset and angry about my behavior tonight, and I can't blame you one bit. I wish I could tell you just how sorry I am. It was bad enough when I let Frank seduce me, but when I turned around and seduced Rocky…I can't imagine how much that must have hurt you." Her eyes filled with tears, and she blinked them back furiously. "It's just that…well, I looked on one of the monitors, and I saw you with Frank. I know I had no right to get angry, but…"

Brad put his finger to her lips to stop her. "Janet, it's all right. I'm not angry with you. It would be pretty hypocritical of me if I were."

She sat back, completely bewildered. "If you're not angry, what's the problem? You can't tell me you're still holding on to that whole 'saving ourselves' thing."

Brad rubbed his eyes wearily. "Janet, do we really have to discuss this now?"

She pulled up the basque and glared at him. "Yeah, I think we do. You let Frank seduce you, but you won't let me do it? What's going on with that?"

"Janet, please, not now." He started to get up, but Janet grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"Yes, Brad, now. Whatever is wrong won't get fixed until we talk it out." Suddenly, her anger was replaced by dread. "You do want to fix things, don't you?"

For a long moment, he was silent. When he finally spoke, he didn't directly answer her question. Instead, he asked a question of his own.

"Janet, don't you wonder why the two of us were still virgins?"

Janet looked at him, wide-eyed. "Why would you ask such a thing? You know we agreed to save ourselves for marriage."

"And you know how easily we abandoned that agreement when Frank came into our bedrooms. Think about it, Janet. Think about all the times we made out – at parties, at drive-ins, parking at Shadywoods Point – and we never went beyond kissing. We never even thought about going beyond kissing. Then tonight, a total stranger…a very bizarre total stranger…was able to get both of us to give ourselves to him with no trouble at all. Doesn't that tell you something?"

She stammered, "But…but at first I thought it was you."

"But what about when you realized it wasn't?"

"Well…I was frightened, and…"

Brad cut her off. "Did you give in because you were scared? Did he rape you?"

Janet thought back to Frank's words to her in her dream. 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. She remembered the new, unfamiliar sensation of arousal, the desperate need she felt for him to possess her body in every possible sense of the word. Softly, she responded, "No. He didn't rape me. I gave in because I wanted to."

Brad nodded silently. "I know." He looked down at the floor, struggling with what he was going to say next. Finally, he added, "I gave in for the same reason…and I think that taught me something about myself I didn't know. Well, not really something I didn't know…more like something I didn't want to admit."

Suddenly, Janet saw where this conversation was going. The blood drained from her face as she asked, "Brad, what are you saying?"

He forced himself to look at her as he answered. "I'm saying…I'm gay."

Although she'd realized what he was going to say, hearing the words spoken out loud had the same impact as a punch to her stomach. Forcing a laugh, she replied, "Come on, Brad. We've been in love for years. You asked me to marry you. You can't be gay."

Brad sighed. "A person can be both married and gay, you know." He took Janet's hands in his. "Janet, I do love you, and I always will. As far as I'm concerned, you're the most beautiful, most wonderful woman in the world. But no matter how much I love you, I've never really desired you. Even before Frank really did anything, I wanted him like I've never wanted you. I didn't love him, but I had to have him. And when I did…well, everything made sense."

Janet's eyes filled with tears. Desperately, she said, "You can't tell me you've just decided, out of the blue, that you're gay. Frank was an incredibly skillful lover. That was why you wanted him. It doesn't mean you're gay."

Brad's own eyes got misty. Blinking back the tears, he replied, "Janet, it's not just 'out of the blue.' It's something I suspected for a long time. I remember how I felt watching the other guys in the showers after gym class. I remember sharing a class with Roger Abbott – you know, he was captain of the football team our junior year – and getting a huge crush on him. I tried to ignore all those feelings; I tried to tell myself they were just normal 'growing up' things and didn't mean anything. But even as a kid, I always felt 'different' somehow. Now, after what happened tonight, I can't deny it anymore. Frank never would have been able to seduce me if I'd been straight." He pulled Janet close, and she rested her head on his chest. "Admit it, Janet. On some level, you must have known."

She raised her head in astonishment. "How can you say that?"

"I'm not saying you knew I was gay, exactly. But you knew I was 'safe'. You wanted to be a 'good girl' who would walk down the aisle as a virgin…but I think you also knew you were more interested in sex than you were willing to admit. The fact that Frank was able to seduce you so easily was proof of that – not to mention your urge to seduce Rocky. If you'd been with someone you had sexual chemistry with, you wouldn't have been a virgin so long. Since you didn't have that chemistry with me, you could stay a 'good girl.' Think about it."

Janet wanted to deny it. She wanted to make Brad take back everything he'd said. She wanted everything to be the way it was before. But she knew that in life, you don't always get what you want.

However, she wasn't quite ready to let go. Pulling back slightly so she could look him in the face, she said, "Brad, we can still get married. Have you read about 'open marriages'? People are married, and they love each other, but they take on other lovers. Maybe that's what we could do. We could move away from Denton, maybe to some big city where nobody knows us. It could work."

Brad shook his head. "It could work until you met and fell for someone else, someone you could both love and desire. Suddenly, I'd be nothing more than an obstacle. But in the meantime, we'd have established a whole new life, with a new circle of friends, and a breakup would be messy and hurtful. Janet, I know you're scared of being alone. I'm scared, too. But it would be wrong to stay together, when we can't give each other what we need."

Janet disengaged her hands from Brad's and covered her face. When she finally looked up, she saw Brad looking at her anxiously. In a voice barely above a whisper, she asked, "What will you do? Are you going to stay here?"

He sighed. "I don't think so. I can't stand the thought of having to tell everyone here what I just told you. I can't believe I'd ever be able to have a happy life here." He ran his hand through his hair. "I've heard San Francisco is a good place for…people like me. Either there, or maybe New York City."

She stared. "You'd be willing to leave everything and everyone you've ever known, to go to a big city all by yourself, where you won't know anybody?"

He shrugged. "In some ways, I've always felt 'all by myself' even when I was around family and friends I've had my whole life. If I can go to a place where I can be around people who won't think I'm strange, or disgusting, or…evil, because of who I want to sleep with, maybe I'll finally feel 'at home' in a way I never have before."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"Then I'll think of something else. But I have to try. I've been living a lie my whole life, and it has to stop. I wouldn't have chosen to be gay, not in a million years…but since I am, it's up to me to come to terms with it and create a good life for myself in spite of it." He smiled faintly. "Look at it this way. The two of us have even more in common than you realized. We're both searching for Mr. Right."

Janet managed to smile through her tears. Suddenly, seemingly without warning, a haunting tune began playing in her head, repeating itself until the significance of the words accompanying the music finally registered with her…

Don't dream it…be it. Don't dream it…be it. Don't dream it…

Finally, she understood. Brad was taking a chance, seizing an opportunity…being it. As frightening as it was, she realized she would have to do the same. It was no longer enough for her to be "the good girl." She was no longer a mere girl. She was a woman - a woman who needed a very special man. A man capable of satisfying both her heart and her body. A man who could make her feel safe yet adventurous, loving yet lusty, fulfilled yet ever hungry.

A man who combined Brad's tenderness and Frank's fire.

He would not be easy to find, but success in the endeavor would make everything she'd been through worthwhile…and, Janet suspected, the search itself could bring some unexpected pleasures of its own.

As she and Brad sat side by side, silently staring through the living room window, they saw a sky painted with pinks, corals and lavenders. It was a sky signaling the birth of a new day…

…And of a new life.

Don't dream it…be it.