The Closet

by fembuck

The students of Kennedy High you know the twelve of them that are shown go on a field trip to New York … BrookeSam, femslash

The Closet

Author: Janine
Pairing: Brooke/Sam
Rating: PG-13-ish
Summary: The students of Kennedy High (you know the twelve of them
that are shown) go on a field trip to New York…
Disclaimers: I don't own any of these characters, they're the
property of Ryan Murphy and company (sorry, but I don't know
companies name); I'm just borrowing them for a short period of time.

Part One : Day One
------------------------

Sam smiled, it was a low, sexy smile, and she saw the girl standing
across from her respond with a similar expression. Sam reached out
her hand and crooked her finger out beckoning Brooke to come towards
her as she bit down on her bottom lip, her eyes twinkling throughout
the entire display. To her surprise the other girl shook her head,
relaxing her stance; it became clear to Sam that Brooke didn't intend
to go anywhere.

"If you want me," Brooke drawled out, an impish smile gracing her
lips. "Come and get me," she continued her tone turning teasing. So
it was a challenge, that was fine with Sam, she loved challenges.

Sam advanced on the blonde, her movements were slow and touched with
a feline grace. She was an elegant, sleek jungle cat closing in on
her prey. She didn't blink, she barely breathed, her entire being
focused on capturing the prize in front of her.

Upon reaching her quarry, she extended her hand, she had met the
challenge and she now wanted her prize. Brooke took a step back,
dancing out of Sam's grasp. Sam took another step forward and
reached for her again. Once more, Brooke stepped back, smiling all
the time. Sam observed her for a second, quirking an eyebrow up
questioning.

"You're not playing fair," she commented impatiently, but there was a
somewhat petulant, almost whiny tone to her voice as well.

"Would you like some cheese to go along with that whine," Brooke
replied with a mockingly inquisitive expression on her face. Her
eyes however remained amused, teasing Sam. "Well?" she asked a
moment later when the brunette didn't respond. Her hand dropped down
to her waist as she said this, then started to trail up her torso and
further up in-between her breasts suggestively as she watched Sam
intently.

"You'll just move away again," Sam responded though she began to move
towards Brooke again. She couldn't help it, the blonde called to
her, like a moth to a flame.

"You'll never know unless you try," Brooke responded. Her finger was
now in her mouth, the tip of it resting on her bottom lip innocently —
in a Catholic schoolgirl in porn kind of way, that is.

Sam moved towards her once again, reaching out as she stepped up to
Brooke. This time the blonde didn't step back, instead she relaxed
her body letting Sam pull her into her so that they were soon nose to
nose. They observed each other for a moment, Sam's head leaning
forward then pulling back again in uncertainty, her lips hovering
just in front of Brooke's. The blonde smiled as she watched the
display, her tongue jutting out to lick her bottom lip.

"Come on Sam," Brooke said, her tone was soft but serious, it had
lost the teasing edge that had coated all of her previous
statements. "You know you want to," she continued, "why don't you
practice what you preach."

Sam was still for a moment after Brooke spoke, then without further
ado she leaned in and brought their lips together. The contact was
hesitant at first, but in a short period of time their embrace became
increasing heated. Their lips crashed against each other, their
bodies straining to increase the contact between them. Their hands
roamed each other's bodies, skin on skin, skin of cloth, caressing
and exploring in a desperate haze.

The next thing Sam knew, they were lying on her bed and they were
both completely naked. Brooke was draped over her body, covering
almost every inch of her. She found that her own hands were trailing
up Brooke's sides, towards her now fully exposed chest. She arched
up into Brooke's hands, scarcely aware of the guttural sounds being
emoted from her own throat.

"Who do you want?" Brooke whispered into Sam's ear as her hands
expertly manipulated the brunette's body. Sam was too preoccupied to
respond. "Who do you want?" Brooke repeated, ceasing her movements
and looking at Sam intently.

"You," Sam moaned desperately as Brooke's hand began to trail below
her waist and her hips expectantly. "I want you."

Sam bolted up into a sitting position, her chest heaving as she
blinked rapidly. She braced her hands on the side of her body and
closed her eyes taking a few deep calming breaths. When she
eventually she managed to get her breathing somewhat under control,
she sighed dejectedly and flopped back down on the bed. Dammit, not
again! She couldn't freaking believe it, this was the fourth night
in a row she had had the same dream about Brooke – well not exactly
the same dream as they had gotten increasingly more graphic as time
went on – and it was starting to piss her the hell off. Not only did
Brooke haunt her for most of her waking hours, but now her
unconscious had joined in too. It was a damn conspiracy.

She turned her head to the side. The phone was ringing. She
smirked, not only was she glad to have the distraction, but she if
this was the call she thought it was, she had been waiting for it for
what seemed like eons and it couldn't have come at a better time.
There was no more time to think about the meaning of her Brooke
dreams, she had bigger fish to fry, greener pastures to move on to
and all of that wonderful stuff.

"Hello?" she said hurriedly picking up the receiver, speaking into it
before she even had the other end at her ear.

"Persephone?" the voice on the other end asked. The voice was
unmistakably male, but Sam had already expected that, what threw her
momentarily was tone, which wasn't nearly as deep as she had expected
it to be.

"Arabian Knight?" she asked, shaking her head at the codename once
again. That one always cracked her up.

"Is Operation Sizzler still a go?" Arabian Knight asked, his voice
dropping secretively. Sam could almost picture him looking around
his surroundings furtively, keeping an eye out for Fibbies in black,
or places that could be easily bugged.

"You tell me?" Sam responded. "Everything's five by five on my end,"
she continued deciding to play along with espionage-ese for the
moment.

"The Museum of Modern Art, the janitorial closet across from the
Pollack exhibit 8:00 pm," he responded. "Be there," he intoned
seriously, "or be square. Arabian Knight out." The irritating
buzzing of the dial tone followed this. Sam rolled her eyes and
replaced the phone on the hook. He was goofier than she expected,
but that didn't matter to her as long as he could deliver the goods.

"Sam," she heard her mother call through the door as she rolled out
of bed. "Get up, your going to be late," she continued.

"It's only 7:30," Sam called back as she ran a hand through her hair
and rubbed at her eyes.

"That may be so, but Brooke's already dressed and eating breakfast.
You don't want to miss the bus," Jane replied.

"I'll be down in a minute," Sam responded. Soon after that she heard
her mothers footsteps retreating down the hallway and she let out an
exasperated breath. "Brooke's already dressed and eating breakfast"
she repeated sourly in mocking tone as she stomped towards the
bathroom. She hadn't even been wake for half an hour and already
Brooke was haunting her.

Part Two
------------

Brooke's surveyed the crowd uneasily. An abnormal silence had come
over the assembled group of teenagers coating the peeling walls of
the bus station with a palpable tension. Brooke closed her eyes, her
face scrunching up in anticipation of the inevitable. She could feel
the indignation swelling in the chests of each and every one of her
peers, she could see hands clenching all around her, she could hear
breaths being sucked in sharply, and breathes coming in huffs. In
about one point five seconds, things were going to get very ugly.

Then it happened, all around her people erupted into fits of rage.
Screaming, yells, fists pumping in the air. All around her comments
were being shouted at the front of the station, "What do you mean
there's a seating plan!", "The fuck!", "Excuse me!" To her
immediate right, she could hear Nicole starting up. "No! No, I
don't think that YOU understand. Listen to me…no listen TO ME. Pull
your floppy ears out of the dog dish and listen to the grape vine,
there is no way in hell that…" but the cries were soon interrupted
by a screeching Bio Glass.

"If you want," Glass yelled waving a clip board in the air, "to be
getting on this bus," she continued surveying the crowd with beady
eyes, "you will shut your traps this instant and," she turned to face
Nicole as she spoke, "as Miss Julian so gracefully put it," there was
a definite snare on her face, "you will listen to the grapevine!"

Everyone was quiet.

"The seating is alphabetical," Glass announced, eyes roaming over the
crowd. "Now move!" And with that she began to announce who would be
sitting with each other on the bus.

"Cherry and Esposito," Glass yelled out. "Front and center."

Sam looked over at Lily trying valiantly to contain her smile, as for
how well that worked, well, they say it's the thought that counts.
Lily glared at her then made her way to the front. As she reached
Bio Glass, she saw Mary Cherry look back and wink at her causing a
deep, chilling shiver to run through her body. She looked over at
Glass in desperation, panic over came her and threw herself at Glass,
grasping onto her arm like it was gas mask on a crashing plane.

"Please, please don't make me sit with her!" Lily pleaded
desperately, looking into Glass's eyes. "Oh God, don't make me sit
with her," the brunette continued.

"Get on the bus Esposito," Glass responded shaking Lily off. "And
for God's sake, pull yourself together."

"Ford and Ferrerr," Glass called out next.

Carmen looked over at Sam and winked, causing the journalist to shake
her head and whisper "go em tiger!", to which Carm blushed and
smiled nonetheless.

"Julian and John."

As Harrison walked by Sam crossed herself and mumbled, "My prayers
are with you". As he approached the front of the bus Nicole turned
around, and while nobody could be absolutely certain it appeared as
if she growled at him.

"McPherson and McQueen," Glass called out, then paused for a
second. "Oh, how quaint," Glass then added smiling as Brooke and Sam
approached.

Sam sighed as she walked to their designated seating area. New York
was a very long way away, and Sam could tell that this was going to
be a positively excruciating bus ride.

Part Three
--------------

Sam looked up and over at the girl next to her, an expression of
extreme annoyance covering her features. Her nostrils flared and she
rolled her tongue about in her cheek as she observed Brooke.

"I know!" the blonde exclaimed into her Fido excitedly. "I know!"
she repeated making the two words last at least twice as long as they
should have. "I know, I know," she continued smiling and nodding her
head. "I…"

"If you say I know' one more time I will personally rip that phone
out of your hand and beat you with it," Sam interrupted, barely
restraining herself from reaching out and shaking the blonde. "Know
that," she continued letting out a shuddering breath.

"Uh oh. Spam alert, Spam alert," could suddenly be heard coming from
the front of the bus. "Abort mission, no equipment for a bitter, old
hag attack."

Sam braced her hands on the arms rests and raised herself up so that
she could see over the seats in front her. Turning her attention to
the front of the bus she spotted Nicole looking back at her with a
smile on her. Sam glared at the blonde for a moment and then sat
down.

"Thank you," Nicole whispered to herself with a smile as she turned
back around to face forward. It was then that she felt eyes on
her. "What are you staring at Shaggy?" she asked turning to face
Harrison who quickly averted his eyes to avoid being turned to stone.

Mary Cherry bounced in seat practically dying because she was so far
away from the action. As she watched Nicole turn her wrath on Joe a
small whimper escaped from between her lips. She was suffering from
withdrawal pains, it felt like all of her organs were shriveling up
into little raisin sized morsels. She didn't like being surrounded
by brunettes at all, they had an earthy, rustic smell to them that
disturbed sophisticated sensibilities. Feeling lower than Charlize
Theron after she wore the same pantsuit as Charisma Carpenter, Mary
Cherry turned her attention to Lil' Lily and suddenly she felt better.

Lily sensed Mary Cherry's eyes on her and shuddered. Oh lord, not
again, Lily thought to herself. The southerner had actually left her
alone for ten minutes or so, but that was about to change, Lily could
feel it building up like a tropical storm. Hesitantly, almost
painful she turned her head so that she could see Mary Cherry. The
blonde was sitting up straight and had her head craned at an odd
angle; when she noticed Lily watching her she smiled and licked her
lips winking at Lily suggestively. The brunette watched in a state
of confusion before she finally realized that with the angle Mary
Cherry was leaning at the blonde could see down her shirt. She
shuddered again, her hands gripping the armrests like they were the
last bottle of Evian in the Sahara desert. Then as she saw Mary
Cherry begin to dig into her leather carry on bag, panic gripped her
and she frantically turned around looking behind her. She had to
escape.

"Lookie what I got Lil' Lily," Mary Cherry said drawing Lily's
attention back to her.

Lily shook her head and began to mouth "no, no" over again before
suddenly standing up and running to the end of the bus where she
locked herself in the washroom.

Brooke turned her head to look at Sam who was still watching her with
an expression that could peel paint. The brunette's death stare had
been momentarily broken when she turned to watch Lily run through the
aisle, but she was now back at it with a renewed vigor. Raising her
hand up Brooke pointedly clicked her phone off, the small screen
going black with a little beep. "Not that I didn't enjoy the threats
of bodily injury," Brooke started in a soft tone, "but all you had to
do was ask," she continued turning away from Sam and slumping back in
her chair slightly.

Sam looked over at Brooke, feeling genuinely ashamed. Sometimes she
was just so Joan Crawford not even she could stand it. "I'm sorry,"
Sam said softly as she too slumped back in her chair moodily. She
was surprised at how easily the words fell out of her mouth, though
she considered that with the thoughts that had been running through
her head lately she shouldn't really have been.

"I was just bored," Brooke mumbled a minute later breaking the
silence that had arisen between the two of them after Sam spoke. Sam
looked over at her but didn't say anything. "And I think we both
know that you weren't exactly an option," she continued as her eyes
traced the contours of the roof idly.

"That's not true," Sam muttered under her breath as she picked at one
of her nails, her eyes flickering to observe Brooke's profile
nonetheless. Brooke didn't respond to her verbally, but Sam did see
her loll her head to the side and roll her eyes dramatically. She
frowned.

"That was mature," Sam commented, moody once more.

Brooke turned to look at her, a mildly amused expression on her
face. "You're the one that threatened to beat me to death with my
phone and you're question my maturity level?" she asked. Instead of
responding Sam returned to picking at her nails. "You know, you can
act as pissy as you want to, but you know you wouldn't have talked to
me," Brooke continued. This comment caused Sam to look over at her,
not so much because of what she said but because of how she said it.
There was something in Brooke's voice, an accusation, and a sadness
that Sam couldn't help but acknowledge.

"Even if I wanted to talk to you," Sam started somewhat defensively,
though she didn't exactly know why, "what could we possibly have
talked about? I know that I'm personally at a loss as to what could
out do that no doubt mentally exhausting I know' conversation."

"Oh, I don't know," Brooke responded turning to face Sam. "Maybe
Herman Melville's condemnation of consumer society as can be seen in
his little appreciated work Bartleby, the Scrivener'."

Sam's lips parted in her surprise and her brows scrunched
together. "I…" she started to say.

"Never mind," Brooke interrupted turning away once more. "I've
decided to re-organize my make-up case."

Sam stared at her for a moment longer, her mind trying to come to
grasps with the fact that, one, Brooke knew who Herman Melville was,
let alone was able to comment on the themes of one of works, and two,
that she commented on the condemnation of consumer society and then
decided to re-organize her make-up case. Shaking her head, she
turned around and looked out the window. Screw Brooke, she didn't
really want to talk to her anyway.

Part Four
-------------

Brooke turned her head to look at Sam just as the brunette turned to
face her. Their eyes locked and narrowed. They had entered their
room only moments before engaging in this almost primal staring
contest. Sam licked her lips. Brooke noticed the movement and
blinked. This was the opportunity that Sam had been looking for.
She smiled to herself and thought sucker!' She broke out into a
sprint. Brooke noticed the movement and started after her, but she
was too slow. Sam jumped into the air launching herself forward,
landing on the mattress softly, skidding across it for a second
before coming to complete stop. She raised herself into a sitting
and then a standing position where she turned to face Brooke arms
raised high in triumph.

"I have picked my bed," Sam declared smiling. It was the one on the
right side of the room, the one she knew Brooke wanted. Both of them
had this thing with having whatever was on the right side, and she
had won this battle.

"Whatever," Brooke mumbled staring at Sam as if she were trying to
cast a spell that would inflict the ten plagues of Egypt plus a
clashing wardrobe upon the brunette. After that voodoo moment Brooke
then bent down and picked up her suitcase adding stupid jackass'
under her breath as she carried it over to the other bed.

Sam sat and down on the bed and crossed her legs watching as Brooke
resentfully heave her suitcase onto the bed, still muttering under
her breath.

"Don't be bitter," Sam commented as she luxuriated across her bed,
sighing contently, "it'll give you wrinkles."

Brooke frowned, turning her head slightly so that she could see
Sam. "I'd ask if you're always this annoying, but I'm already
painfully aware of the answer to that question," Brooke responded,
pushing to suitcase to the other side of the bed and lying down
wearily.

"Hey, I didn't ask to be roomed with you either Merry Sunshine," Sam
replied getting up off of the bed and moving to retrieve her own
suitcase, which had been unceremoniously dumped just inside the
doorway. Hauling the luggage up onto her bed, Sam looked over at
Brooke just in time to see the blonde smirk and let out a short,
derisive, wisp of laughter before then moodily turning her attention
to the ceiling. Sam observed her for a second, think that she looked
rather peaceful despite the situation, the way the light was shining
on her seemed to light her hair up making it look like she was
surrounded by a golden halo, and the angle that she had her head
titled at gave her a rather reflective appearance, like one of those
ancient Greek statues from the classical period where the subject
always looked like the were contemplating some elusive truth.

Sam turned away and began to fiddle with her suitcase, trying to open
it. She had things to prepare for tomorrow before Glass came to get
them for dinner. There were other things to think about besides
Brooke. She was on a mission after all.

"Dammit," Sam exclaimed a moment later. The lock to her suitcase
seemed to be stuck. She did not need this. In fact, she was so busy
trying to mentally combust the case that she didn't notice Brooke
approach her until the blonde spoke.

"Here," Brooke softly said coming to stop beside Sam and reaching
over for the case. "Mine does this all the time," she continued
turning her head to look at Sam for a moment before returning her
gaze to the suitcase. Sam felt herself gulp, and prayed to God that
it wasn't audible. Having Brooke this close to her, speaking to her
in a soft sexy whisper was doing things to her that was only suppose
to happen when she was alone in her room at night.

"All you have to do is very gently," and with that Brooke raised her
arm high up into the air and slammed it down onto the top of the
leather suitcase with all of her strength. Sam gaped at her, so
surprised by Brooke's assault of her suitcase that she didn't resist
when the blonde then reached for the key, which was loosely held in
her hand, and removed it using it to open the case.

"Thanks?" Sam responded still mildly stunned, but glad that she was
no longer in the Brooke induced fog that had been hanging over her
moments before. Brooke took a step away from Sam, looking over at
her, a small smile gracing her features before she looked away and
headed back over to her side of the room. "I meant that," Sam added
a moment later.

"Your welcome," Brooke replied as she lay back down and closed her
eyes while taking in a deep breath. Sam smelt like lavender and she
could still faintly detect the scent hovering about her. She liked
it, not that she would ever in life tell Sam that.

She stayed like that for a moment longer then opened her eyes and
turned to look at Sam once more. "Wake me up for dinner?" she asked.

"Yeah," Sam responded nodding as she spoke, she was feeling a wee bit
out of it, she knew this because it didn't even occur to her to fight
with Brooke, no "what am I? Your freaking butler?", no "yes
highness, would you like me to fan while I'm at it?", no "This may be
the Plaza but that ain't on the room service menu", just yeah'. Sam
continued to watch Brooke as Brooke continued to look at her but then
the blonde turned away and closed her eyes once again, and Sam too
looked away suddenly deciding that what the room desperately needed
was some ice.

Part Five
------------

Brooke slowly, curiously cracked one eye open. For the last couple
of seconds she had been coated with a feeling of unease, as if
someone was watching her. However, years of movies of the week and
badly acted films had instilled a certain amount of caution in her,
and if there was some bloody thirsty killer in the room she didn't
want them to know that she was awake, so she barely cracked open one
eye and looked out to see what awaited her.

"Ah," Brooke cried jumping back slightly. What had awaited her was
Sam's face hovering inches away from her.

"Hee," and a smile was Sam's response to her. Brooke frowned.

"What are you doing you psycho?" Brooke mumbled as she pulled herself
together. Sam continued to smile.

"You asked me to wake you up," Sam replied seating herself of the
edge of Brooke's bed. "So I woke you up."

"I said wake me, not stare at me like some pedophile in training,"
Brooke responded as she sat up slightly. She hadn't bothered to get
under the covers, so all she had to do was rest her back against the
headboard to be on even ground with Sam—who seemed to be making
herself quite comfortable.

Sam's face dropped a bit when Brooke said that, her expression
turning serious. Brooke wasn't sure what to make of the change so
she remained silent. Sam turned her head so that she was facing
Brooke, her eyes locked on her intensely.

"I really didn't mean to scare you, I was just about to tap you on
the shoulder when you woke up," she began conciliatorily.

"It's okay," Brooke responded feeling compelled to say
something. "I'm not really a morning…no, make that a getting up
person. It doesn't really matter what time it is, I just don't like
it."

Sam smirked but her expression soon became serious once more. She
turned her head away again so that she was looking at her lap.

"I did watch you though," she said a moment later, raising her head
to look out the window. Brooke looked confused but didn't say
anything. "You're so small," Sam continued a second later. "You
looked so….small," she went on hesitating for a second them shrugging
her shoulders helplessly as she repeated the word small'.

"I…" Brooke started, not at all sure what to make of Sam's behavior.

"Don't know what to make of that?" Sam asked interrupting Brooke,
that cocky smile of hers once again covering her face. Brooke nodded
smiling herself, encouraged by the expression on Sam's face.

"If I were you I'd be a morning, or should I say getting up, person,"
Sam continued still observing Brooke.

"Why?" Brooke questioned intrigued by Sam. She couldn't figure out
why the other girl was actually talking to her, she figured maybe it
was to show her up for that comment she'd made on the bus, but
truthfully she didn't care. She just wanted to see where this was
going.

"Because like an astonishing one per cent of the population you
actually wake up looking refreshed and rosy cheeked," Sam
said. "It's really quite remarkable how much money you spend
supporting Max Factor when it's good genes and enough sleep that do
all the work."

Brooke stared at her, completely and utterly befuddled. She was sure
that for a second or two after Sam had spoken her mouth had opened so
that she was gaping at the other girl, but she had quickly closed it
so that now she was only staring at her in amazement. She didn't
know what to say to that, so she fell back on the old reliable route
of sarcasm.

"Flattery will get you everywhere, but you're already in my bed,"
Brooke said winking at the other girl. She had assumed that Sam
would get all huffy at the comment, make some remark about her lack
of maturity and stalk into the bathroom where she would remain for so
long that Brooke would have no time to get in there before they were
called down for dinner. Brooke was wrong, Sam did none of those
things. Sam looked over at her and smiled. Then Sam shifted her
position so that she was sitting leaned up against the headboard
right next to Brooke.

"That almost sounded like a invitation Ms. McQueen," Sam said
teasingly.

"Make of it what you will," Brooke replied because quite frankly she
had no idea what to say other than that.

"Alright," Sam responded thoughtfully nodding her head slowly in
contemplation for a moment before looking back over at Brooke. "I
will," she continued, that smile, that damn cocky loveable smile back
on her face. And before Brooke knew it Sam's lips were on hers,
pressing against hers. Surprise caused her to try and jerk her head
back at first, it was a base instinct, but she found that she
couldn't do it. Sam's hand had followed the course of her lips and
was holding the back of Brooke's head firmly in place. The only way
to stop the kiss would have been for Brooke to push Sam away from
her, and, well, she found that she didn't really want to do that.
Her body relaxed and she leaned forward into the kiss, surrendering
to Sam's skillful ministrations. As she leaned into the kiss she
felt Sam smile against her lips then shift closer to her on the bed.
This caused Brooke to smile herself before then forcibly bringing
Sam's lips back to hers, moaning into Sam's mouth as her passion
mounted. If this is how she was woken up every morning, there just
might have been hope for her yet.

"Sam?" Brooke questioned. She was feeling a bit dizzy. She didn't
understand it, she felt like she was being shaken. "Sam stop that
this instant," she said looking across her and noticing that Sam's
hands were now on her shoulders and were apparently trying the shake
the shit out of her.

"Goddammit wake up!" Sam yelled shaking Brooke some more. First the
stupid girl tells her to wake her up, then she lies there like limp
noodle mumbling at Sam while channeling somebody's mother.

"The…?" Brooke asked opening her eyes and seeing Sam standing over
her still shaking her for all she was worth. "I'm awake," Sam still
didn't stop. "I'm awake," Brooke repeated, her head was starting to
pound. "Get your bloody hands off of me, I said I'm awake!" she
yelled finally raising her hands trying to beat Sam off of her before
she did some serious damage to her brain.

"Dinner, fifteen minutes," Sam told her with a scowl then the
brunette stalked across the room and walked out the door.

Brooke drew her knees up to her body and dropped her head onto them.
This was not good, she thought herself, although secretly she
admitted she liked how Sam had woken her up in her dream better than
reality. No, she then thought to herself, you will not think such
thoughts. This…nightmare, she continued as she flung her legs over
the edge of the bed and stood up, was not about Sam or sex or
especially not about sex with Sam. That was just ludicrous. It was
about…about…about her own narcissism, yes that was it. She was far
too complimentary to herself in the dream; this was her
subconscious's way of telling her to get over herself. Well, she
thought, message sealed, signed and delivered. As she stood in front
of the mirror, she decided – with this new knowledge fresh in her
mind—that she was only going to wear foundation and lip gloss to
dinner.

Part Six: Day Two
------------------------

Brooke rolled her head around her shoulders tiredly and rubbed at her
eyes. She was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate on
what their tour guide was saying. She had gotten next to no sleep
the night before and she was feeling the effects of it now. She and
Sam hadn't spoken much when they had returned to their room after
dinner, and when they did speak to each other it was fleeting, yet
surprisingly polite. Mundane things, who got first dibs on the
bathroom, who was going to put their clothes in which drawer, which
one of them got control of the remote. Despite the civility of the
conversation however, it was uncomfortable as hell and if it hadn't
been for the fact that it was after midnight and that they were on
lockdown, Brooke would have made her rounds and gone to visit Nicole
and Mary Cherry in the adjoining suites they had reserved on the top
floor. But it had been after midnight, they were on lockdown, and
Brooke was left with no other option but than to lay down, and try
not to think about Sam, which, vexingly, was something she had been
finding increasing hard to do since the brunette had woken her up
earlier on. Then to make matters worse, it seemed as if Sam was
having trouble sleeping too, so they both had lay there in the dark
painfully aware of the others presence until Sam had broken the
silence. In fact Brooke could remember everything that had been said
perfectly.

"Brooke?" Sam had said softly, the word hovering in the air for a
moment before the blonde responded.

"Yeah," Brooke had said, her eyes trained on the ceiling—not that she
could make it out or anything.

"You awake?" Sam asked.

"What do you think Sam?" Brooke had responded turning so that she was
facing Sam's bed even though she couldn't see her. It wasn't like
Sam to ask stupid questions, so it immediately put Brooke on guard.

"I'll go with, yes," Sam responded, her tone a bit rueful. "Listen,
I just wanted to say I shouldn't have shook you like that, and if
your head really hurts then…"

"Don't worry, I won't make you say it," Brooke responded. "Wouldn't
want a black hole opening in the room and sucking time and space into
a huge gaping oblivion because we seemed to be getting along." She
paused there for a moment. "And it only hurt for a little while."

"Yes…well…" Sam said in response. Brooke had expected more to follow
that, but apparently Sam was done, because the silence came after
that once more. Just as she was about to drift off to sleep however,
she learned that she was wrong about the silence because Sam started
up again a few minutes later. "I was thinking, that is to say that
our previous conversation and you helping me with my suitcase made me
think," Sam continued shaking her head at herself as the words came
out of her mouth.

"And," Brooke questioned, sitting up slightly.

"And I think we should try, you know, make a valiant attempt to not
piss each other off. Although the argument could be made that this
situation shouldn't really be new for each of us since we live
together back home, that argument is faulty. The fallacy lies mostly
with the principles of time and space, which allow for us to be
hardly ever occupying the same area at the same time back home.
Here, however, things are different and…fighting could lead to bodily
harm. So if you can pretend that you don't hate me for four more
days, I think this trip could be much more enjoyable for both of us,"
Sam replied hurriedly, before letting out a breath and sinking back
down onto her pillow.

Brooke was silent for a long time after Sam spoke, so long in fact
that Sam had begun to wonder if the blonde had fallen asleep by the
time she replied. "That sounds acceptable," Brooke said
finally. "And," she added pausing again, "I never hated you," she
went on quickly, then she shifted again, her sheets rustling together
audibly and she closed her eyes.

"Brooke…" Sam started a second later, surprised by the other girl's
words. Actually Brooke's words had caused some heart palpitations,
but Sam chose not to focus on that at the moment.

"Brooke's sleeping now," the blonde responded, "she'll be available
again in the morning, thank you and please call again," she continued
effectively putting an end to the conversation.

"What no beep?" Sam asked afterwards, but she said nothing after that
and Brooke could hear her settle down into the bedding like she had
done only moments before.

Brooke was broken out of her revere by the tour guide who was
explaining the origins of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" to them. "When
Vincent van Gogh was a patient in an asylum at Saint-Rémy in the
south of France, he wrote to his brother Theo," she was saying as
Brooke looked around to see if anyone had noticed her space
out. "This morning I saw the country from my window a long time
before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very
big," the tour guide went on. Looking around her at the restless
faces of the Kennedy students loosely assembled around her, Brooke
figured that it was a good thing this was the last painting on the
tour. It was becoming very clear to her that the natives were
getting restless, and truthfully she counted herself among them. "He
said he stayed up for three nights painting the picture because
according to him, the night is more alive and more richly colored
than the day." This was followed by clapping and then the scattering
students who ran off to eat, or smoke, or ogle the nudie pictures
during their free time.

Brooke's eyes immediately drifted over to Sam. She never wanted her
eyes to immediately drift over to Sam, but despite her wishes her
eyes just seemed to do it anyway, so not for the first time that day
she found herself gazing at Sam, this time as the brunette walked
away. Sam had branched off from her other friends, heading in the
opposite direction; Brooke would have wondered where she was off to,
but Nicole grabbed her arm and started dragging her down the hall.

"Where are we going?" Brooke asked giving up trying to follow Sam
with her eyes and turning her attention to Nicole.

"Does it matter?" the shorter blonde responded. "The hell away from
here," she continued shaking her head.

Sam paused, she had the strangest feeling that someone was watching
her. She knew she was late for her meeting, but she turned around
anyway, worse than being late would have been having someone notice
where she was off to. Looking behind her she noticed Kennedy
students scattering, but didn't see anyone watching her except for
maybe Brooke who was in the process of turning around anyway.
Despite herself Sam watched Nicole drag Brooke through the hall for a
moment longer before turning around herself and heading towards the
Pollack exhibit. She didn't have time to think about Brooke, she had
a job to do. She didn't have time to think about the fact that she
and Brooke had gotten along smashingly that morning, she didn't have
time to think about the fact that she had seen the blonde smile more
at her in the past two days than the past few years. She didn't have
time to think about the fact that she had had a dream about Brooke
again last night, and that when she woke up in the morning and
realized that the object of her lust was lying peacefully mere meters
away for her it had excited her so much that she had been forced to
take an agonizingly cold shower. She didn't have time to think about
the fact, that she and Brooke had actually talked on the bus as they
drove from site to site, and that Sam had enjoyed talking with her,
finding her conversation to be smart, and amusing. Sam didn't have
time to think about these things, but that didn't stop her from
thinking about them anyway.

Part Seven
--------------

Finally locating the Pollack exhibit Sam hurriedly made her way to
the janitorial closet across the hall from it. Seeing the door
slightly ajar she tilted her head up and sent a silent thank you to
the man upstairs for the fact that her contact hadn't been spooked
away when she failed to arrive on time. Clutching her shoulder bag
closer to her she rapidly walked over to the door, this was the type
of story that became notorious in a school's history, if Arabian
Knight presented her with the information she thought he would, she
would go down in Kennedy High history. Plus, it would look really
good on her University application.

Stepping into the closet she closed the door behind her silently.
Her heart was racing, this was so cool.

"Arabian Knight?" she called out, "it's Persephone," she continued
walking a bit further into the room.

"Over here," a voice returned. It was the same voice she had heard
over the phone, Sam smiled to herself. Suddenly and light flicked
on, Sam squinted and covered her eyes with her hand until her eyes
adjusted to the light.

"I can't see you," she said moving her head around.

"Oh, sorry, my bad," Arabian Knight responded directing the light so
that it was no longer shining directly in Sam's eyes.

"No problem," Sam responded mildly as the spots that were dancing in
front of her eyes began to disappear. "Did you bring the stuff?"

"Of course," Arabian Knight responded rather indignantly. "Would I
be here if I didn't?"

"Good," Sam responded. "Shall we get on with this then?" she asked
opening up her shoulder bag and producing a notebook.

"Yes, let's" Arabian Knight said finally stepping out of the shadows
as he walked towards Sam. The brunette gasped as she got her first
look at him, then stared as he continued towards her. "What?" he
asked peevishly, self-consciously running a hand through his hair.

"How old are you?" Sam asked suspiciously getting a painful feeling
in the pit of her stomach.

"I told you I'm seventeen," Arabian Knight responded straightening
his back and puffing her chest forward. Sam merely raised an eyebrow
at him, it was clear to him that she did not believe
him. "Thirteen," he said deflating somewhat, "but I can help you,"
he continued quickly. "I knew you wouldn't talk to me if you knew
how young I was, but I have information that needs to be spread and I
knew that you could do it."

"Does your mother know you're out?" Sam asked, as she pictured an
irate mother busting into the room and battering her over the head
while yelling about how Sam was trying to corrupt her baby. She
shuddered.

"Pokemon opened today," Arabian Knight responded, "I'm good for at
least another hour and a half," he continued smiling. "Not bad,
huh?" he asked.

Sam rolled her eyes. Pokemon, oh lord. "Let's just get on with
this, what have you got for me?" she asked wanting to get out of
there as fast as possible.

"Information that'll change the way school cafeteria's operate from
here to Miami," he responded placing a folder down on an overturned
box. "Information that will shock and alarm you. Something that
will make you question everything you ever thought you knew.
Something that…"

"You do not want to finish that," Sam said holding up her
hands. "This isn't a rhetoric exam, just tell me what you know."

"Okay," Arabian said, but Sam could tell that he was disappointed she
had interrupted his little speech. Oh, well, c'est la vie. "The
information I have for you will unquestionably prove that school
cafeteria's all over the country, have for the past year been using
chemicals pilfered from school chemistry classes to artificially
enhance the products served for lunch in an attempt to reduce
spending. And, that this disturbing trend was started by one
Bobby Bio' Glass, at a school I think you are very familiar with,"
he concluded with a smile. "Take a look at this," he continued
opening up the folder he had been carrying with him.

Sam looked down at the pieces of paper then back up at him and
smiled. She had hit the jackpot and she was going to ride it all the
way.

Part Eight
---------------

"Leave her," Nicole stated emphasizing each of her words
clearfully, "you'll be doing us all a favor. Rose petals and doves
await you…besides, don't feel bad, Spam'll fit in perfectly with the
freaks and fringe loners that inhabit the city. You'll be helping
her out, finally she will have found her people," Nicole continued
trying to guide Brooke towards the exit of the Museum. She wanted to
get back to the Plaza, "Shakespeare in Love" was coming on Cinemax.

"I won't be able get on the bus, we have to sign in at the same
time," Brooke responded craning her head back around trying to catch
some glimpse of Sam. "Don't worry, you go, I'll find her and meet
you outside," Brooke said removing her arm from Nicole's grasp.

Upon extracting herself from Nicole's sphere of influence Brooke
looked around her trying to figure out what direction she had seen
Sam go off in. Finally, she just settled on left and started to head
in that direction, she hadn't passed the Pollack exhibit or the
Etching demonstration so she decided that she should start with those
places. Stopping on the ramp that would take her to her first
destination Brooke carelessly turned the corner.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the blonde exclaimed as she bumped into someone.
Her hands immediately stretching out as she tried to steady whomever
it was she had just crashed into.

"I'm o…Brooke?" Sam asked, uncomfortably aware of Brooke's hands
brushing over her body.

"Oh it's you," Brooke said finally focusing on Sam for the first
time. "I've been looking for you."

"You have?" Sam asked rather incredulously before she had to time to
think better of it. "I mean, you have," she corrected herself, her
tone far more civil.

"Yeah, I have," Brooke responded shaking her head. "It's time to go,
Glass is going to flip. We were suppose to be out there about five
minutes ago," Brooke continued subtly trying to usher Sam towards the
exit. Sam looked down at her watch, surprise covering her feature.

"I didn't realize…"

"Yeah, yeah, time flies when you're having fun," Brooke muttered as
she continued to gently shove Sam towards the door. "By the way your
bags open," she added distractedly as she concerned herself with
whether it would be faster to go left or right.

"Wha…" Sam began looking down at her bag. "Uh no," she muttered her
face screwing up in frustration. "I can't believe I left it behind,"
she continued stopping dead in tracks and turning around.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" Brooke asked hurriedly
making an about face.

"I forgot something," Sam mumbled as she hurriedly made her way
through the crowd. "You go ahead, I'll find my way back to the
hotel," she said turning around to face Brooke before returning her
focus forward.

"I can't get on the bus unless you're there," Brooke said catching up
to Sam and placing her hand on her shoulder halting her progress.

"I have to go get it," Sam said. "Glass will let you on, just say
that you couldn't find me. Nobody'll blame you," she continued
before working herself out of Brooke's grasp and continuing back down
the hall.

Once again Brooke quickened her step to catch up with Sam.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked turning her head to the side as
Brooke began to power walk beside her.

"I'm coming with you," Brooke responded meeting Sam's eyes.

"Why?" Sam asked genuinely confused.

"Because I'm not going to leave you to wonder around by yourself at
night to be raped or murdered by some psycho," Brooke responded.

Sam stopped and turned to look at Brooke, her mouth opened and closed
a couple of times but no words came out of her for the first few
seconds. "I…you don't have to," she said chickening out before she
even got started. She had planned on expressing surprise and
gratitude for Brooke's concern with her safety, but that didn't end
up happening.

"I know," Brooke replied meeting her gaze. She stared at Sam for a
second longer, then gave a short little laugh as she shook her
head. "Well?"

"This way," Sam said and with that they wondered off back into the
depths of the Museum.

Part Nine
-------------

Sam extended her hand managing to both whack Brooke in the chest and
halt her progress. Brooke looked down at the spot Sam had hit and
made a face barely registering the brunette's mumbled "janitor" and
she rubbed her now sore spot. Trying to distract herself, Brooke
looked up and watched as Sam's head bobbed around the corner as she
spied on the janitor's movements while muttering to herself about
something or the other. Looking back down again Brooke suppose she
should be grateful Sam hadn't landed her blow a few centimeters lower.

"Come on," Sam whispered to Brooke as she crept out from behind the
wall they had been hiding behind. The halls of the museum were
practically empty and even the soft sounds of their feet scuffling
along the floor reverberated against the walls.

Brooke looked around her in something close to wonder, the place
seemed grander in the silence, she felt more humbled. She thought
that she would have liked visiting museums much more if they were
always like this.

"In here," Sam said, hesitating for a moment before finally reaching
out and taking Brooke's hand into hers. The blonde seemed distracted
and she had to get her attention somehow. Brooke looked over at her
immediately after their hands touched, her gaze dropping to their
conjoined hands for a moment before she began to walk in the
direction Sam was facing. To the brunette's surprise, and pleasure
Brooke made no effort to remove her hand from Sam's once they began
to walk again, and by some silent accord Sam made no effort to let go
of Brooke's either.

As Sam stopped in front of a janitorial closet Brooke looked over at
her simultaneously smiling and raising a questioning eyebrow. It was
a look that said "what the hell" but in a sleazy, porn director kind
of way.

"Shut up Brooke," Sam muttered as she opened the door and slipped
inside. Brooke followed behind her letting the door close as they
became submerged in darkness. "There's a light over here somewhere,"
Sam said stepping away from the door. A minute – and a couple of
bumps and colourful phrases – later Sam turned on the light and the
room was covered in a dim yellow glow.

Sam quickly made her way over to the overturned box, which had served
as Arabian Knights desk, dropping down and crouching over it as she
got there. "Shit," she muttered as she looked around the box with no
luck. She wondered if maybe the janitor had found the fallen folder
while he was in there, but then her eye caught something just over to
the left. Reaching out, she closed her eyes let out a relieved sigh,
it was still there. Picking up the folder and smiling she turned
around to face Brooke who was watching her with a curious but patient
expression. If she hadn't have just found the folder on the floor
she would have brought it to her lips and given it a big kiss. As if
was, as the wave of euphoria rushed through her body she had to
struggle not to yell yes!' pump her fists in the air and give Brooke
a big hug.

"We can go now," is what she said however.

"Good," Brooke said turning around and reaching for the doorknob.

"Come on, I thought you were in a hurry," Sam said a moment later as
she walked up behind Brooke who still hadn't opened the door.

Brooke turned around to face Sam, her features were drawn and she was
blinking rapidly. "The door's locked," she stated.

"What?" Sam asked.

"The door. It's locked," Brooke repeated her left eye twitching
slightly.

"It can't be," Sam responded pushing past Brooke and reaching for the
handle herself. She turned it and pushed. Nothing happened. She
tried it again to the same effect. "The door's locked," she said
softly a second later.

"Yeah, I covered that," Brooke responded. "Not that I'm trying to
usurp control or anything, but I've rapidly come to the conclusion
that secrecy is no longer our friend, and that if we want to get out
of here we better start yelling like now," she finished still
watching Sam.

"I concur," Sam replied immediately. "After you," she said waving
her hand graciously.

Brooke nodded her head and opened her mouth to begin screaming like a
baby in any enclosed space when the light in the hall outside the
door suddenly went out. She turned her head to look at Sam, in
moments of crisis like this it was always good to consult with
others. They stared at each other for a second then they both flung
themselves at the door and began banging on it and screaming for all
they were worth.

Part Ten
------------

Brooke slumped back against the door and let herself slid to the
ground with a soft sigh. They had been banging for over ten minutes
and nobody had come to let them out, leading Brooke to the conclusion
that there was nobody there to let them out, and that there probably
wouldn't be until morning. The walls of the closet were thick and
Brooke could tell from the way their voices were being absorbed by
them next to none of the noise they were making was getting beyond
the door.

"Sam," Brooke said softly. "Just stop," she went on. "Nobody's out
there, sit down."

"Somebody's got to come by," Sam insisted even though she sunk to the
ground joining Brooke. "A security guard or something."

"If one walks by we'll hear and start yelling again, but I'm not up
for continuous yelling for the rest of the night. Doing it or
hearing it," Brooke responded tilting her head back and rubbing her
eyes.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Sam asked as she focused on a
rickety looking shelving unit at the back of the closet.

"The way I see it we have to options. We can sit here in silence
until someone finds us, or we can talk," Brooke replied turning to
look over at Sam. "You indicated yesterday that you weren't totally
averse to the idea of conversing with me in a non-combative manner,
so now's our chance," she finished.

Sam removed her gaze from the shelving unit and turned to watch
Brooke watch her. She was beautiful the dim light of a dusty museum
janitorial closet, Sam decided as she watched the blonde. "What do
you want to talk about?" the brunette asked finally. "Herman
Melville's condemnation of consumer society?"

Brooke smiled but shook her head. "Actually, I was wondering how I
ended up getting trapped in here," she responded pointedly looking at
the manila folder that was now lying in Sam's lap.

"This could take a while," Sam said softly as she traced her finger
around the edge of the folder. She never talked about pieces she was
working on before she had finished them, it was one of her unwritten
rules. To break it, for Brooke – even if she did owe the girl an
explanation – would be a big step, a leap of trust as it were.

"If there's one thing we've got," Brooke replied watching Sam fiddle
with the folder.

"About a month ago I was in one of the chat rooms on…." Sam began.

Part Eleven
----------------

"I don't know what to tell you sir…ma'am, sir, ma'am sir….ah, I
really don't know what to tell you," the man stuttered looking at Bio
Glass in stupification. "We cleared the museum out over half an hour
ago, your girls aren't in there."

"You're an Arts major aren't you?" Glass asked suspiciously as she
watched the little man suffer. "Ah, ah, ah, don't speak. Look," she
said pointing to the line of Kennedy students lined up against the
bus. "There, what do you see there?" she asked pointing to a gaping
whole in the line.

"Nnnothing," the man stuttered.

"Exactly, that gaping void is where snap McPherson and snap
McQueen should be," Glass replied moving closer to him so that she
was now carrying out a full on invasion of his personal space. "Do
you know why they aren't there?"

"Mmmight, might I suggest ma'am, sir, ma'am, si…might I suggest that
they walked down the street to see Nsync at Radio City," he managed
to emote, though it was quite a struggle.

The students lined up against the bus cringed as they heard this,
cowering slightly and shielding their eyes. He should not have said
that.

Part Twelve
----------------

"Are you serious?" Sam asked barely able to control the laughter that
was bubbling up inside of her. The visuals she was getting from
Brooke's story were almost too much for even her not to bust out
laughing at.

"Perfectly," Brooke responded smiling. "Raspberry Kool-aid. I had
seen them do it on some show, probably Saved by The Bell or something
equally retarded. The minute Dad saw it he made me march up stairs
and was it out of my hair…but I'm telling you, for about half an hour
there I was a living legend. Gem never looked so good," she
continued smiling broadly.

Sam smiled back at her contentedly. "You know what I always wanted?"
Sam started in rather wistful tone. "A tree house. In like every
family show or children's novel they always had these kids in tree
houses. It was like a staple of American society and I always
resented not having one."

"Why didn't you build one?" Brooke asked curiously, tilting her head
to observe Sam.

"Where?" Sam asked. "One of the palm trees at the beach?" she
continued. "That's another thing. Have you ever been skiing? I
always wanted to go skiing. Snow, and Yule logs and eggnog around a
fire are more staples."

"We should go to Colorado for Christmas this year," Brooke replied
thoughtfully. She could picture Sam all bundled up, holding a cup of
hot something-or-the-other while being bathed in gentle glow of a
fire. The image made something flutter inside of her, gave her a
warm, happy feeling. "There's enough snow there for a life time of
memories," she continued before pausing for a moment, then
smiling. "I'll teach you what a snow job is."

"Nice try," Sam said shooting Brooke an exasperated look, "but I've
heard of those." Brooke shrugged her shoulders in defeat. "Aspen?"
Sam asked a second later.

"Where else?" Brooke asked in a way that gave Sam the distinct
impression that she wasn't joking. To her surprise, and if she were
honest to her amusement, she discovered that she found it
inordinately cute.

"You're such a preppy," was what she said in response however as she
shook her head.

"Back to your tree house," Brooke said deciding to get the subject
off of her preppiness before they ended up bitching at each other
again, "there were other options you know." She was enjoying talking
to Sam, in fact she was enjoying talking to Sam more than she had
enjoyed talking to anyone in a long time and she didn't want the mood
in the room to shift. She found that being trapped in the closet
lead to a pleasant fiction, a story where she and Sam were friends.
She liked it.

"Such as?" Sam asked looking at Brooke expectantly.

"Cardboard boxes, they're always good, sometimes even better than
what came inside of them. My personal preference was Maytag, very
durable. You could have built yourself a small village," Brooke
responded, a nostalgic smile spreading across her face as she spoke.

"Did your Dad suddenly come into money a few years ago or something?"
Sam asked smiling at Brooke cheekily. Truthfully she had never
pictured Brooke as a cardboard box kind of girl, she had always kind
of assumed that Brooke would have been one of those My Little Ponies,
or Barbie girls, with the house and pink convertible. In fact, the
longer they talked the more Sam realized that she hardly knew
anything about Brooke, but that the more she found out the more she
liked.

"Very funny," Brooke responded although she didn't seem particularly
amused. "Even preppies have to make do sometimes," she continued
sighing a bit.

"I didn't mean that in a bad way," Sam said noticing the Brooke's
defeated tone. "It's actually kind of," she began to say but she
stopped herself. The truth was she found Brooke's sporadic displays
of preppiness to amazing cute, but she had just begun to be able to
admit that to herself and there wasn't anyway in hell that she was
going to tell Brooke.

"Kind of what?" Brooke asked turning to face Sam, a look of curiosity
covering her features.

"Nothing," Sam responded shifting uncomfortably.

"Come on Sam…Sammy," Brooke began testing the nickname out and
deciding that she liked it. "You can't just nothing' that. You
were far beyond the nothing' line, you've gotta tell," Brooke teased
as she bobbed her body around excitedly.

"You pulled that rule outta your ass rather quickly," Sam replied,
still shifting about. "I think we've discovered your superpower: the
ability to produce copious amounts of bull-shit is a single bound."

Brooke was silent for a moment, then turned away from Sam before
lulling her head to the side and muttering resignedly, "And we were
getting along so well."

Sam turned to watch the blonde after she spoke, the silence that now
covered the room ringing in her ears painfully. She hadn't intended
to, she didn't really want, she had only meant to…she had screwed up
and she knew it. "I'm sorry," she said finally. She didn't want
things to end like that because Brooke was right, they had been
getting along so well.

"Are you? Really?" Brooke asked wearily turning to face her.

"Yes," Sam responded softly but adamantly. "It's a coping mechanism,
I didn't mean it."

"I don't either, those things I've said to you…I never really meant
them, it was just a reaction. I never hated you, in fact," Brooke
paused there gathering courage, "in fact I always kinda found you
interesting."

"Really?" Sam asked, her surprise showing in her voice. Brooke
McQueen had always kind of found her interesting, that was new, new
and greatly appreciated. The reality of the situation was that with
what had happened since they had come into the closet, and with the
way Sam was feeling, she knew she wouldn't have been able to keep up
her façade of Brooke hating for much longer. But, if Brooke found
her interesting, that meant that there was a chance that this truce
they had entered into could be continued, and Sam would take being
Brooke's friend over being nothing but a nuisance to the girl any day.

"Amazingly," Brooke replied. It was now her turn to shift
uncomfortably.

"We should have done this before. Talked I mean," Sam said as she
leaned her head back to rest against the door.

"Why didn't we?" Brooke asked. Sam wasn't sure whether the question
was asked rhetorically or not, but she had an answer, and after
Brooke's little revelation she decided it would only be far to share
it.

"I think I know," Sam replied, her voice threaded with mystery.

"Don't be a drama queen. Spill it," Brooke responded lazily turning
her head to face Sam.

"You're a bit of a gossip aren't you?" Sam asked. "Anyway, I think
the reason was that I feared that if I got to know you I would like
you, and if I liked you I wouldn't have been able to actively hate
you, and if I was forced to stop viewing you as Satan the world as I
knew it would have collapsed in on itself, leaving me broken and
bewildered. Outfits I would rather not have worn."

Brooke was silent for a moment, contemplative before finally
saying, "You say the sweetest things." She then looked down at her
lap where her attention remained focused for a few moments before
continuing with, "but seriously, I'm glad that you've gotten past the
actively hating thing. Besides, red has never really been my
colour."

They sat in silence for a long time after that, both watching each
other covertly until Brooke finally broke the silence.

"Are you going to tell me now?"

"Tell you what?" Sam asked looking over at the cheerleader.

"What you find my preppiness to be kind of. I know you thought that
you had distracted me with your charm, and I admit that telling
someone you no longer consider them to be a creature of pure evil
would have worked on most mere mortals, but I'm on to you," Brooke
answered meeting Sam's gaze.

"No." And Sam said no more than that. She knew that the subject was
a slippery slope and she was just willing to take a slid. Brooke was
just going to have to get over it.

"Fine," Brooke responded with a sniff. "I'm just going to read your
boyfriends notes then…to give you time to reflect on your anti-
socialness," she continued reaching out and picking up the manila
folder, which had been resting beside Sam. Placing it on her lap she
opened it up and licked the tip of her index finger before she began
to leaf through the sheets of paper.

"He's not my boyfriend," Sam muttered as she watched Brooke take
possession of her notes.

"You really should be ashamed of yourself. I know that younger men
are in these days but, really," Brooke responded shaking her head
sadly. "Sammy," she added shaking it some more to make sure she got
her point across.

"Shut up."

"Give me your notes so I can piece this conspiracy together," Brooke
said holding out her hand.

"I could make you some Cliff Notes if you're having problems," Sam
replied saucily. Despite that however she handed her notes over
willing to do most anything to get Brooke not to question her about
her feelings on Brooke's preppiness anymore.

"Ha! Oh, wait, no," Brooke responded as she accepted the papers from
Sam. "You know, you don't look like you're reflecting to me," she
commented a moment later. Sam gave her the stink eye and Brooke
shrugged, oh well.

Part Thirteen
----------------

"Oooooh, now this is what I'm talking about!" Brooke exclaimed
excitedly in a somewhat singsong voice, as she ran her eyes over the
paper sitting in her lap.

"What?" Sam asked looking over at her curiously. Brooke had been
quiet for the better part of twenty minutes as she flipped through
Sam's notes. Occasionally she had asked her a question or two but
for the most part she had been keeping herself busy, leaving Sam
ample time to take in their quaint surrounds and to practice not
staring at Brooke.

Brooked smiled and looked down at the piece of paper she had just
been looking at. "'I had the dream again last night'," she began
grinning as she read the words Sam had written. "A very promising
beginning," she continued winking at Sam. In fact she was so caught
up in the excitement of possibly learning about some of Sam's naughty
bits that she didn't see the brunette's face immediately fall, or the
pained expression that settled on it soon after.

"Give that to me," Sam stated as she reached out for the piece of
paper. Silently she cursed herself, how could see have been so
stupid. That morning she had been so preoccupied with thoughts of
Brooke that she had taken a few free minutes after breakfast to write
her thoughts down in hopes that it would get them out of her head.
Once she had finished she had just shoved the paper in with the rest
of her stuff, the stuff she handed over to Brooke.

"Grabby, grabby," Brooke responded playfully as she stood up so that
Sam couldn't yank the paper out of her hand. "Come on, it's not so
bad. Maybe I'll tell you mine…since I'll know yours in a minute."

"I'm serious Brooke, give it to me," Sam stated standing as well.
She reached for the paper again but Brooke blocked her with her body,
turning her back to Sam using her free arm as blocker while held the
paper with her other arm as she read it.

Sam continued to struggle with Brooke, trying to find away around the
blonde's body so that she could get the paper back, but Brooke
determinedly blocked her again and again. Still, Sam couldn't give
up, the thought of giving up and just letting Brooke read a diary
entry that she made wherein she talked, and talked, and talked about
the feelings she had for Brooke just wasn't an option for the
brunette.

"I'm…I finished," Brooke said finally lowering her arm and relaxing
her stance. Immediately Sam yanked the paper out of her hand, and
they stood there watching each other. "Do you really think I have
skin like silk?" Brooke asked finally.

Sam watched the blonde in a kind of stupor that was only broken when
Brooke spoke. She heard the blonde's question, but it seemed
distant, like it was coming from far, far away. She was having
trouble breathing. Brooke had actually read the entire the entry,
she had read it all, she knew everything. Sam turned and began to
walk towards the door. She realized that there was no place to go,
but she knew that she had to at least separate herself from Brooke.
She figured Brooke would probably be grateful for the distance.

"Wait!" Brooke said as Sam started to walk away, quickly moving
behind her and grabbing her gently by the shoulders.

"Why? So you can mock me some more?" Sam asked not turning around.
She could feel the sting of tears in her eyes but she wouldn't give
Brooke the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She couldn't.

"I was just," Brooke started hopelessly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't
have," she continued trying to work through her jumbled up
thoughts. "We were having fun," she continued softly, her hands
still resting on Sam. "I was just," she went on stroking Sam's
shoulders unconsciously.

"Please let go of me," Sam said interrupting Brooke's babbling, her
voice remaining calm through nothing more than will power.

"Do you really want me to?" Brooke asked. She could feel the warmth
of Sam's skin through her shirt, she could feel it warming her hands,
and the scent of lavender, Sam's scent, had infiltrated her olfactory
senses. She was hyper of everything that had to do with Sam, her
smell, her feel, her breathing.

"That's not funny," Sam responded. She could feel herself beginning
to crumble, she needed Brooke to let her go. She couldn't feel
Brooke against her and remain strong, remain standing. She needed
distance.

"It wasn't suppose to be," Brooke responded moving closer to Sam, so
that now she was almost pressed up against the brunette's back. "Do
you? Really want me to stop touching you? Because I don't want to
stop."

"Brooke please," Sam said, she was begging, begging Brooke to stop
torturing her, to just let her go. She was begging and she didn't
care because she was moments away from breaking down. Why couldn't
Brooke have just freaked out like a normal person? Why was she doing
this, teasing her with something she couldn't have?

"I'm serious Sam…Sammy," Brooke breathed out softly. Still holding
onto Sam she moved around so that she was standing in front of the
brunette. "Lately," she began again in her new position, her hand
slowly traveling up Sam's shoulder, "I've…what I mean is…ugh," she
sighed in frustration, and closed her eyes trying to pull herself
together. She placed her hands on the sides of Sam's face, and
dipped her head slightly so that she was looking directly into Sam's
big, beautiful, brown eyes. "You smell like lavender, when you're
bored you stick you tongue into your cheek and when you're excited
her rub your teeth with it. You can write with both of your hands,
and your eyes have the most incredible little gold specks in them
that absolutely break my heart. I know what you're feeling Sam, I
know," Brooke said her voice cracking along the way. "Because I'm
feeling it too."

Sam looked away, down at the dusty floor as Brooke finished
speaking. Her face was wet, she hadn't even realized she had been
crying. She was overwhelmed. She had just heard everything she had
ever dreamed about hearing, but it didn't seem real, she wondered if
her alarm clock were about to off. But then she felt it, warm
fingers tilting her head back up, forcing her to meet Brooke's
equally teary gaze. She was confused, Brooke had never cried in her
dreams.

They stayed like that for long moments, staring into each other eyes,
until finally Brooke impulsively leaned forward and softly, tenderly
pressed her lips against Sam's, drawing the brunette into her body as
their lips moved against each other. Sam's body shook gently as she
felt Brooke's lips, tasted her for the first time. Her hands wound
their way around Brooke's waist, clutching at her as the kiss
deepened and their bodies pressed closer together, their kiss
becoming salty as their tears ran down their faces.

Part Fourteen
----------------

Brooke watched as Sam's hand slowly made its way down from her
collarbone to the swell of her breast where it then dipped down even
further cupping the soft mound of flesh through her shirt and
squeezing gently. Brooke's breath hitched, her eyes momentarily
fluttering closed as Sam touched her, her own hand anxiously sneaking
its way under Sam's shirt reveling in the feeling of Sam's warm skin
pressed against her hand. Slowly, her hand trailed upward, taking
Sam's shirt with it, until Brooke's hand reached the underside of
Sam's breast, which she then began to delicately explore.

"Brooke," Sam breathed out softly as she looked down at the blonde's
face. Somehow, though she wasn't exactly sure how, after Brooke had
kissed her they had ended up falling down to the ground, Sam sitting
on Brooke's lap, straddling her. That had been about fifteen minutes
ago, and since then they hadn't spoken a word to each other, their
only communication coming through the tiny sounds that they emitted
and the looks and touches that they exchanged. But it had all come
so suddenly, and Sam was beginning to wonder if it was real, because
it seemed almost to good to be true; she needed Brooke to speak to
her, to tell her that this was actually happening.

Brooke's eyes parted though they remained slightly hooded as she
raised her head up so that she could see Sam's face. Brooke lifted
the hand that wasn't still under Sam's shirt to the brunette's face,
stroking her cheek softly with her thumb as a tender smile spread
across her lips.

"We need to talk," Sam said as she leaned into Brooke's touch. To
her surprise the smile and Brooke's face only grew, her eyes
crinkling in the most adorable way as she continued to gaze at Sam.

"I think," the blonde finally said, shifting her position a bit so
that her face was closer to Sam's – a maneuver that was far more
complicated than it would seem at first since Sam was sitting on her –
"that would be a…prudent course of action," she continued still
staring at Sam.

Sam nodded, but she was finding it very difficult to
concentrate. "We should probably stop touching each other," she said
finally locating the source of her distraction. Brooke looked away
for a moment, her eyes rolling up in head as if she were in deep
thought, and for a second Sam thought that she might protest, but the
blonde lowered her gaze a moment later watching as she extracted her
hand from Sam's shirt.

"That's better," Sam declared, "this will be much more helpful to the
talking."

Brooke, in response, raised her eyebrow at Sam, then looked down at
her lap while clearing her throat.

"Oh right," Sam muttered raising herself up and off of Brooke so that
she was sitting on the floor beside the blonde. There they sat
together in an increasingly uncomfortable silence until finally Sam
spoke again – to both of their great relief.

"So," Sam started, but apparently she hadn't thought ahead very far
because she didn't add anything to that expect for an awkward head
bob.

"So," Brooke repeated in an equally uncomfortable fashion. "We've
never done THAT before," she continued wincing as the words came out
of her mouth. She didn't think that she could have been any lamer if
she had actually put effort into it.

"Yes," Sam agreed, "The hand up the shirt was new," she continued
shaking her head. If things continued like this she figured that the
rest of their stay in the closet was going to seem, very, very, very,
long.

Brooke looked over at her when she said that, an expression of worry
marring her features. The blonde reached over and took her
hand. "Sam," she started very seriously. "Despite the fondling, I
just totally want you to know that I respect you…you know as a
person, and not just as…"

"A sex-monkey?" Sam supplied helpfully.

"First I would like to say that that just gave me a very disturbing
visual," Brooke responded making a face, "and secondly, well yeah,"
she continued shrugging her shoulders rather helplessly. "Not that
you're not sex-monkey material, I mean your totally sex-monkey
material, just not to me…not that I don't think of you in that way,
because, well, the fondling, just I wouldn't use the term sex-monkey,
because…"

"Brooke?" Sam asked interrupting the cheerleaders babbling. "I get
it," she continued as a smile played across her lips. She was beyond
charmed by the little display and it showed on her face.

"Good, cause I was starting to confuse myself," Brooke admitted
shaking her head ruefully. "We're going to have to talk more than
this aren't we?" she asked a moment later as she turned to face Sam.

"Yes," Sam responded noticing with a touch of amusement how Brooke's
face fell, a pout forming on lips Sam now knew to be delicious.

"I'm going to have to tell you mine now aren't I?" Brooke asked
remembering how she had taunted Sam earlier. Damn, she knew Sam was
going to make her pay for that, but impulse control hadn't been her
strongest attribute lately, so she decided that she shouldn't really
have been surprised that she did it anyway.

"Yes," Sam responded smiling happily. She planned on making Brooke
pay for taunting her earlier. The cheerleader really should have
known better.

"You're not going to let me kiss you again until I tell you, are
you?" Brooke asked barely managing to keep her voice from sounding as
whiny as she was feeling.

"'Fraid not," Sam replied.

"Great," Brooke responded resigning herself to her fate. "Are you
comfortable? This could take a while."

"Not yet," Sam answered shifting a bit closer to Brooke and resting
her head on the blonde's shoulder. "Now I'm good."

"Great," Brooke muttered. "Where should I start?"

"Hmmm," Sam began thoughtfully. "How about you tell me about the
time you first realized that you wanted my body," she suggested
happily a moment later. Brooke sighed, this was going to be fun.

Part Fifteen
--------------

Sam held Brooke's open palm in her hand, cradling the delicate
appendage as she traced the lines of the blonde's hand gently, her
finger practically hovering, barely grazing the flash beneath it.
Sam could feel Brooke's eyes on her as the cheerleader silently
watched her; she liked the feeling, it sent a hum of excitement
through her body, warmed her over to feel Brooke's eyes on her,
burning into her. She looked up meeting the blonde's clear blue eyes.

"You have the most delicate hands," Sam said softly, her voice
holding a touch of wonder. "Looking at them, I feel like I could
break them, but," as she said that Brooke moved her hand firmly
grasping Sam's in her own, taking it captive, "they're so strong,"
Sam continued a small smile playing across her lips. "I wonder…"

"You wonder what?" Brooke asked maintaining her hold on Sam's hand,
stroking it absently as she waited for the journalist's response.

"I wonder if the same applies to the rest of you," Sam answered after
a moment's hesitation. Brooke didn't respond right away, instead she
dropped her gaze down to their joined hands, watching her own as they
moved across Sam's skin.

"I don't know the answer to that," the cheerleader responded softly
as she raised to eyes to meet Sam's once again. "Maybe," she
continued dipping her head shyly, "maybe you'll help me find out."

"Really?" Sam asked genuinely curious. She had just spent the last
fifteen minutes listening to Brooke tell her that at some point she
had realized that her feelings for Sam had become more than sisterly,
and that she had been rather alarmed by the development at first and
tried to deny it, but that recently – said with a impish smile – she
had become more comfortable with the way she was feeling. But even
after listening to Brooke, Sam still wasn't really sure about
anything other than the fact that Brooke found her as attractive as
she found Brooke.

"I was being serious when I said you were more than a sex-monkey to
me," Brooke said in a semi-serious tone, trying to keep the situation
light but also convey to Sam the fact that she did want more than
just someone to release stress with. "I'm not going to lie and tell
you that I know with absolute certainty what's going inside of me,
but I can tell you that I have feelings for you that are more than
skin deep, and that I want to know what it is we could have together—
if anything—because I think that this could be something special,"
she finished watching Sam intently. "If you want that that is," she
added suddenly, her brows drawing together. "I mean you never said…
if you just…"

"Wanted a sex-monkey?" Sam offered helpfully.

"That term is going to be with us for a while isn't it?" Brooke asked
rhetorically before shaking her head and focusing back on Sam. "But
yeah."

"What if that was all that I wanted?" Sam asked watching Brooke
carefully.

"Then," Brooke said pausing. Sam could she her eyes shifting around
as she thought and found herself wondering what was going on in the
beautiful head. "I'd let you," Brooke finally said.

"But you said…why?" Sam asked placing her hand on top of Brooke's,
repossessing the blonde's hand as her own.

"Because, because I'd rather have you for a little while than not at
all," Brooke replied haltingly, as if the words that were coming out
of her mouth were a revelation even to her. "Certainly it wouldn't
be the great follow-up to my last relationship that I was looking for
but…" she left the sentence hanging. "Is that? What you want I
mean. Purely physical?" she asked in a tone that Sam couldn't quite
decipher. "In your dreams was I your sex-monkey?"

"No," Sam said shifting closer to Brooke. "And that's not what I
wanted, want or would possibly want in the future," she continued
looking right into Brooke's eyes, stressing each and every word so
that there could be no doubt whatsoever as to the sincerity of her
words.

"So what does this mean?" Brooke asked relieved to hear that Sam was
interested in more than just her body, because frankly while she was
certain she would have given it to the brunette she wanted more than
just that and she knew she never would have been happy if she'd had
to settle. "That you and I are interested in each other as people."

"That we're now going steady?" Sam suggested.

"That would make you my girl," Brooke replied smiling, as if she was
testing out how the words would sound coming out of her mouth and
deciding that she liked it a lot. "And if you're my girl," Brooke
continued still smiling, but instead of finishing her sentence she
leaned forward and pressed her lips against Sam's softly. Sam then
leaned forward increasing the pressure and the intensity of their
kiss, her hands making their way up Brooke's body and behind her neck
and their lips crashed against each other again and again with a
growing hunger.

"I think," Sam said, still trying to catch her breath as they broke
apart. "That I'm going to like being your girl," she continued as a
sexy grin spread across her lips.

"Good," Brooke replied. "I'm glad we're agreed on this. Now," she
said smiling herself, "I would like to request some more sugar," she
continued barely managing to get the words out before Sam took
possession of her lips once more.

Part Sixteen
---------------

"What is it?" Brooke asked feeling a slight shudder run through Sam's
body. It was now just past three in the morning and the hustle and
bustle of the day was beginning to catch up with both of them.
Brooke was leaned propped up against the door and a shelving unit and
Sam was sitting in-between her legs. "Don't tell me your
uncomfortable."

"I'm very comfortable," Sam responded, "in fact you're better than a
futon."

"That's lovely," Brooke responded glaring at the top of Sam's
head. "Are you cold?" she asked feeling another shiver run through
Sam's body.

"No, just thinking about how much shit we're going to be in when they
find us in the morning," Sam said shuddering once again.

"I hadn't thought of that, but now I am, and…" Brooke shuddered
too. "They're going to call our parents. You are going to be in so
much trouble," Brooke continued.

"What do you mean me'?" Sam asked. "As far as I'm aware I'm not the
only one is this room. What about you?"

"I'll probably get an award for being such a concerned bus buddy and
following you into doom and misfortune," Brooke responded. "The
school will probably create a new award just for me, the McQueen
Medallion or something more grandiose."

Sam paused for a second then said, "Now that you've had time to
rejoin me on the planet earth, what do you think is really going to
happen?" Sam asked a moment later.

"I'd prefer not to think about it if it's all the same to you,"
Brooke replied as she ran her hands up and down Sam's arm lightly.

Sam smirked then shifted up a little so that her lips were hovering
by Brooke's neck where she planted the gentlest of kisses. Brooke
leaned her head down, capturing Sam's lips in an equally tender
embrace.

"Sam," she said when they separated and Sam's head was once again
resting on her shoulder.

"Ummm," Sam mumbled.

"I'm sleepy," Brooke related blinking rapidly in an attempt to keep her
eyes open.

"Me too," Sam admitted with a sigh. "I didn't get much sleep last
night."

"Hmph," Brooke emoted, surprisingly able to make even her grunts
carry a touch of amusement. "I wonder why?"

"Shut up," Sam muttered knowing exactly what Brooke was thinking.

"Don't be grouchy, I'm sure that it was good for both of us," Brooke
continued smiling as she rested her head against Sam's. The
brunette's response was merely to focus though brown orbs at her and
place an expression on her face that clearly said you're really
gonna wanna shut up now'. Brooke smiled, she would shut up…but only
because Sam was her girl.

Part Seventeen: Day Three
---------------------------------

The Kennedy students silently trekked through the empty early morning
hallways of the Museum of Modern Art. Brooke and Sam were still
missing and they had been woken up extra early but an especially
surly Bio Glass. A security guard at the museum had gone over the
tapes for the museum and had found evidence of Sam and Brooke moving
through the museum about ten minutes before closing time, but had
found no footage of them at any of the exits, which meant they were
still in the museum somewhere. So, with that evidence in hand, Glass
had dragged everyone back to the museum to begin The Search for Spock…
I mean, Brooke and Sam.

"We've checked all of the washrooms and closets on the first floor,"
Security guard Bob was saying to Bio as they all marched through the
hallways. "Our next stop is on the second floor, the janitorial
closet by the Pollack exhibit. If we don't have any luck there,
there are three washrooms, and a maintenance closet that still have
to be checked."

Bio simply snared at the man in response.

"In that case…here we are," Bob said fumbling with his keys, not
ashamed to admit that the teacher to his side was terrifying him more
than any person he had ever meet before in life. "Let's just open
this up and…" Security guard Bob jumped back slightly as the door
flew open. Out of the doorway rolled two girls, one blonde and one
brunette. "Huh, looks like we found your…" but he was interrupted by
a shrill shrieking sound originating from somewhere behind him.

"OH MAH GOD!" Mary Cherry yelled. "She's killed Brookie!" the
southerner continued pointing at Sam who had rolled out of the closet
on top of Brooke and was the first of the two of them to begin to
wake up. "With those damn dirty whore hands of hers she has
strangled the life out of our dear precious one," Mary Cherry
continued as tears ran down her face leaving mascara trails in their
wake.

"What the…" Sam muttered beyond disoriented, however despite that
having the presence of mind to roll off of a now waking up Brooke and
into a sitting position beside her before anymore could verbally
wonder what the hell she was doing on top of Brooke in the first
place.

Brooke raised her hand to her face and rubbed at her eyes sleepily.
What a freaky dream she had been having, she was Kenny from South
Park and Mary Cherry was yelling at some unfortunate soul accusing
them of murder. Brooke shook her head as she forced her eyes open
that was a damn weird dream. Stretching, she opened her eyes.

"Ahhhhhhh!" the cheerleader screamed bolting upright and scrambling
to her feet in a panic. Upon opening her eyes she was greeted to the
sight of a scowling Bio Glass whacking a ruler against her hand. An
image that was just too disturbing for words.

"Nice of you to join us McQueen," Glass said eyeing a now upright
Brooke like one of the worms they dissected in class. "Now if you're
through demonstrating to the class that you do indeed wake up minty
fresh, we have more important matter to attend to," she went on
slapping the ruler against her hand once again. Brooke shifted
uncomfortably and turned her attention to Sam who was of no help
whatsoever as she was involved in a detailed examination of her
shoe. The cheerleader sighed, this was just going to be the best
morning ever!

Part Eighteen
--------------------

"It wasn't so bad," Sam said as she lay back on the bed. She was
absolutely exhausted. After she and Brooke had been freed from the
closet, they had remained at the museum for a few more hours to
straighten things out with the curator, then it had been onto the bus
were they were verbally accosted by Bio Glass for the entire ride
back to the hotel. That's when things got rough. Upon arriving at
the hotel they were forced to call their parents and explain why they
had gotten a call the other night telling them that their daughters
had disappeared. Following that very painful conversation Glass
grounded them confining them to the hotel where they were to remain
as punishment until further notice. Following this announcement
Brooke had been dragged by a raging Nicole up to her suite while
Carmen, Lily and Harrison followed Sam to her room to badger her to
death.

"What do you mean it wasn't so bad?" Carmen responded dropping onto
the bed and consequently shaking Sam about. "You can't just say it
wasn't so bad and leave it at that. You and Brooke were trapped in a
confined space for an extended period of time and nobody sustained
serious injury. That's something, that's more than not so bad,
that's a freaking miracle," she continued her voice rising in
excitement as she went on.

"She's not so bad," Sam stated simply, trying to contain the smile
the mere mention of Brooke's name threatened to bring to her face.

"You once said that she was a creature of pure evil," Harrison
pointed out. "You were so flustered that you said that she couldn't
be any eviler on the evilest day of the year if she had an
electrified evil machine," he continued snickering at the
description. That one had had him in stitches for days.

"Not my finest moment," Sam replied calmly, so calmly in fact that
she was beginning to freak her friends out. "Still, Brooke's
alright."

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with Sam?" Lily observing
Sam suspiciously. Sam could tell that she was suspicious because her
eyes narrowed and her lips thinned, and she started to look really
constipated.

"I'm Sam and nobody's done anything to Sam because being Sam I would
know if something happened to Sam, which it didn't cause I'm Sam and
I know that nothing happened to Sam…I mean me, I mean…well you know
what I mean," Sam responded her brows scrunching together as she
tried to make sense of her own sentence before she decided that she
didn't really care.

"Alright, we'll assume that you're not some sort of Sam-bot…for the
moment," Carmen began, "but the fact still remains that you and
Brooke, sworn enemies, the closest thing that I've ever seen in real-
life to comic book style arch enemies, are getting along. You were
like Archie and Reggie, now you're like Betty and Veronica. This is
strange, this demands an explanation, an explanation we are still
waiting for" she concluded.

"We just had nothing to do in there but talk," Sam responded with a
rather exasperated sigh. "I mean, as much as I bitched about her it
wasn't like if given the opportunity I really would have gone all
medieval on her ass or something. We just decided that it would be
better if we tried not aggravate each other, and that led to talking,
and talking led to the realization that our fighting was more
posturing than loathing, and that well we can get along pretty well
when we want to," she continued turning to survey them. "Come on,
this isn't like learning that I'm a crime fighter by night, or that
Glory is god. You guys should be happy, you always said I should
give her a chance, now I have and I'm admitting that she's not a
demon spawn. You win, this is probably the only time you're going to
hear me speak those words, so absorb or inhale or revel or whatever."

Silence.

Sam raised her head and looked around at them.

"What?" Carmen asked. "We're reveling. Look at us revel." Sam
looked, but to her reveling looked an awful lot like sitting.

"Don't you three have a Disney movie cum-Broadway production to go
get dressed for? The circle of life is quickly spiraling by it, and
it'll be a good two or four years, cause even numbers seem so much
more symmetrical, before it'll be back," was Sam's response. It was
funny, she had only been away from Brooke for about an hour but it
already seemed like a lifetime. This being the case, she wanted her
love-den…um, room to be free of interlopers when the apple of her eye
returned.

"She's right!" Lily exclaimed jumping up. "We have to get ready. I
have to prepare my notes," she continued tugging on Carmen's arm
trying to get her to stand up.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Harrison asked as he opened the
door just in time for an arriving Brooke to squeeze by him and into
the room.

"Positive," Sam responded watching as the blonde crossed in front of
her bed.

"Alright, we'll see you later then," he said stepping out of the
door. "And ladies, please behave," he added before shutting the door
and taking off down the hall behind Lily and Carmen.

"Who knew having friends could be such a drag on one's social life?"
Brooke asked sighing dramatically as she flopped down onto the bed
next to Sam. "I mean really, it's like they think I have nothing
better to do. Of course as far as they know I did have nothing
better to do…but you and I know better don't we?" she continued
turning her head so that she was looking at Sam.

"How'd it go?" Sam asked smiling at Brooke fondly, she liked it when
Brooke was goofy like that, it made her eyes seem to twinkle and left
her mouth permanently unturned in the cutest way, like she couldn't
get enough of her own wit and charm. It was an expression that Sam
would have found terribly narcissistic on anyone else, but that
disarmed her coming from Brooke.

"It wasn't so bad, I was verbally assaulted by Mary Cherry who was
somehow under the impression that my stay in the closet had damaged
my hearing and therefore felt the need to stand beside me and yell
directly into my ear whenever she spoke, and Nicole kept sniffing me
in a way that was really quite creepy muttering how she could smell
Spam on me, but other than that it went well I think," Brooke replied
as her eyes drifted to the ceiling. "I got a manicure and a facial."

"Really?" Sam asked.

"Uh huh. Apparently I deserved something extra special for the
trauma that I went through last night," Brooke responded grinning at
Sam. "And you know what they say about…something about gift mouths
and horses…" she went on trailing off as she became distracted by
Sam's smile and felt the need to watch it and be warmed.

"Actually," Sam said shifting forward so that she and Brooke were
lying pressed up against each other. "The saying," she started
brushing her lips against Brooke's, "goes" she said before extending
her tongue and licking the blonde's bottom lip, "don't," she went on
arching her body against Brooke's teasingly, "look, a gift horse in
the mouth," she concluded before pressing her lips against Brooke's
drawing the blonde into a deep, passionate kiss that left them both
breathless.

"You know," Brooke started running her hand up Sam's side once they
broke away, "I'm pretty sure that I could mess up a few more sayings
if you'll correct me like that every time." Her lips were now
hovering just in front of Sam's, the air between them filled with
electricity. "There was something about there always being other
fish in your tea. I always found that one strange."

"Sea, other fish in the sea," Sam corrected dipping her head down
where she trailed a line of kisses down Brooke's neck.

"That definitely makes more sense," Brooke responded in a half moan
as she leaned her head back to give Sam better access. "What about
that one about education being the key to good dress?"

"Success," Sam whispered as her hand found its way under Brooke's
shirt. "Education is the key to success," she continued as she hand
explored the soft skin of Brooke's stomach while her lips returned to
work on her neck.

"And the early bird gets the perm?" Brooke asked her breath coming in
short gasps.

"Brooke?" Sam asked as she nudged Brooke to the side and rolled on
top of her. "Shut up," she continued before capturing taking the
blonde's willingly lips captive.

Part Nineteen
-----------------

Sam sensuously extended her tongue, her eyes sparkling with unspoken
promise. Keeping those eyes locked on Brooke's Sam then slowly
flicked her tongue upwards clearing a path on the strawberry Brooke
was holding which was otherwise covered in whip cream. Brooke gasped
and Sam smiled wickedly, lowering her mouth once more to take the
entire strawberry in, sucking on it until every trace of whip cream
was removed. Then she sumptuously bit down on the fruit, moaning
gratuitously as she chewed on it, leaving a gaping, shallow breathed
Brooke staring at her in wonder.

"That is like the most amazing thing I've even seen," Brooke managed
to chock out as she watched Sam lick her lips.

"This is much better than the Lion King isn't it?" Sam asked, a
playful yet sexy smile spreading across her face.

"Oh yeah," Brooke responded leaning forward and bringing their lips
together, the taste of strawberries mixed with Sam's natural flavor
sending a shiver through her body. It truly amazed her what Sam was
able to do to her body, the feelings the brunette was able to inspire
in her. When they weren't touching—which was very, very rarely—
Brooke was over taken by the need to write bad poetry about her, and
it excited Brooke to no end because she had never felt the need to
write bad poetry before and she liked the feeling.

Sam leaned back, falling against the mattress as Brooke leaned into
and then over her. She could sense the blonde's excitement, feel her
body humming more and more as their embrace continued. She felt
Brooke's hand make its way under her shirt and begin to slide up her
torso. She body arched up, and anxiously she sought out Brooke's
lips, desperately needing to feel connected to her, to feel her
passion.

"Sam," Brooked groaned dropping her down onto the brunette's
shoulder, "being this close to you is doing things to me."

"What kinds of things?" Sam asked as her hands ran up Brooke's sides
and across her back.

"Naughty things, I'm wanting to touch," Brooke responded raising her
head and looking down at Sam, "more and more of you," she continued
her eyes lowering to take in what was exposed of Sam's body. "And I
know that we've just started to…explore what's happening between us,
and that things are progressing rather quickly, and that if I'm to
avoid an excruciating number of cold showers…"

"We should probably watch one of the ten dollar movies on Cinemax and
finish our dinner?" Sam interjected.

"Well, yeah, I mean to quote the great philospher Monica I should make
a move but I won't, I know you're probably thinking something is
wrong, knowing if I do that it won't be right, I wanna get down, but
not the first night'" Brooke responded, her lip quivering it the
sweetest of ways as she recited the lyrics. "I mean, I know lying on
top of you, groping you probably constitutes making a move, but the
rest of it…" she continued trailing off.

"The getting down part?" Sam asked watching Brooke carefully.

"Yeah, that part," Brooke replied meeting Sam's gaze.

"You don't wanna do that part?" Sam asked her eyes still trained on
Brooke but her face revealing nothing.

"No, I wanna do that part, I wanna do that part so much that I'm in
actual physical pain here. I was just thinking that, we probably
shouldn't rush…."

"I know," Sam replied leaning forward and bringing her lips to
Brooke's softly. "You're right, I was just playing with you…old
habits die hard you know," she continued grinning. "And just so you
know," Sam continued as she extended her arm to the side groping
around for and then finding the remote, "I really, really wanna do
that part to."

Brooke smiled and rolled off of Sam, sighing and starring at the
ceiling. "We're not watching anything with Steven Segal in it."

"Even when we were pretending to dislike each other I would never
have inflicted such a horror upon myself simply to torture you," Sam
responded flipping the television on with a smirk. Brooke placed her
hands behind her head smiling herself while wondering why it had
taken her so long to realize that Sam was an original and utterly
fantastic.

Part Twenty
--------------

Sam sighed rolling her eyes dramatically before allowing her head to
flop down onto the table top with a dull thud. Harrison, Lily and
Carmen were sitting around her badgering her, just like they had been
since breakfast. She couldn't even find it amusing in an annoying
sort of way anymore she just wanted it to end.

"Oh my god, will you give it a rest already!" Sam finally said in a
highly exasperated tone. "It's not that big of a deal. I thought
that we already went through this."

"Bu…but that was before," Carmen sputtered.

"Before what?" Sam asked tiredly knowing that she didn't really want
to know.

"You, you, you, smiled at her," was Carmen's response. "And you two
spoke in sentences where the word bitch' wasn't used, not even
once. You're really getting along. Really," she went on sounding
more and more distressed as she continued. "I…we…it…huh!"

"Oh good lord," Sam said pushing away from the table and standing
up. "I'm going over there now," she said pointing vaguely to
somewhere on the other side of the room. "I want none of you to join
me."

"She's not a witch," Brooke stated in an increasingly exasperated
tone.

"There's no other logical explanation for what's happened. Don't be
so narrow minded Brookie, there are things in this world that just
can't be explained by anything other than dark occult forces, like
the popularity of Sabrina the Teenage Witch," Nicole responded
resting her elbows on the table and leaning towards Brooke
challengingly while Mary Cherry nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Really she's not that bad," Brooke said ignoring Nicole's
tirade. "She's really smart, and funny, and if you don't provoke her
she can be really…"

"Mary Cherry, are you hearing this? My god, what has she done to you
Brookie? Poor, sweet, simple Brooke," Nicole went on turning to Mary
Cherry. "Her naive little mind just couldn't hold up against the she-
demons constant assaults."

Brooke gaped at Nicole for a moment, truly shocked at the words that
were coming out of the blonde's mouth. She may have been a lot of
things, but simple wasn't one of them. Then as if that wasn't bad
enough Mary Cherry decided to add her fifty cents to the
conversation. Finally Brooke just leaned back surveying the room
around them while Nicole and Mary Cherry discussed what a lost cause
she was and how they might be able to save her soul.

"Where are you going?" Nicole asked suddenly noticing Brooke push
back from the table and stand up.

"My master awaits," Brooke responded with a slight smile as she
turned and looked in the direction Sam had just taken off in. "But
don't give up on me, you two seemed to be onto something a minute
ago."

With that she walked over to Sam who had settled herself against the
side of one of the rooms pools tables.

"Do you play, or is it all about the look?" Brooke asked settling
next to Sam.

"Oh, I'm the real deal," Sam responded keeping her eyes trained on
something in the distance.

"Prove it," Brooke said moving off to the side and picking up two
pool cues.

"I don't think you can handle me," Sam said accepting the cue
nonetheless.

"We'll see," Brooke said softly raking her eyes over Sam
thoughtfully. "Let's hope not."

Feeling herself start to flush under Brooke's heady eyes, Sam moved
to the other end of the table silently setting up the balls. When
she was done she looked over to Brooke indicating that she could
break, then she stepped back from the table watching as Brooke slowed
leaned over the table, her eyes never leaving Sam's.

Sam jumped slightly, the sound of the balls scattering jarring her
out of her daze. The thing she remembered was watching Brooke lick
her lips, before they parted slightly in preparation for her strike.
Focusing on Brooke again Sam saw her grinning at her mischievously.

"I'm solid," was all the blonde said, then she moved over to Sam's
side of the table brushing up against the brunette's back as she
walked past her. "Six ball, corner pocket."

Part Twenty-One
--------------------

Lily ran a hand through her hair nervously as she eyed the girl
beside her. She wasn't so sure about this. It wasn't that she
really disagreed with Carmen's interpretation of the text, in fact
she fully agreed with it, it was just that what the taller girl was
proposing was kind of illegal.

"Carm, I'm not so sure about this," Lily said finally.

"Thank you," Harrison said pointing at Lily. "See, she thinks you're
insane too. I mean, I didn't really want to use the i' word but,
well, somebody had to say it."

"Actually," Lily interjected. "I kinda do agree with her. I'm just
not to keen on the breaking and entering."

"You agree with her?" Harrison asked, his eyes widening. "Come on
Lily, this is Brooke and Sam we're talking about. They're not that
way. I think that I know a little something about the lesbian way of
life, living with two of them and all, and I think I can safely say
that Brooke and Sam aren't," he went on. "Trust me."

"This doesn't have anything to do with trust. And it's not like
baldness, you can't just tell by looking at someone," Carmen
responded. "And we're not doing anything wrong, we just have to get
Sam away from Brooke for a while so we can talk to her."

"I'm not doing it," Harrison said holding up his hands.

"Lily?" Carmen asked looking at the smaller girl with an expression
that conveyed that either way she was going to go ahead with her plan.

"Okay," Lily said sighing. She couldn't let Carmen go it alone, and
truthfully she didn't really want to miss out on what she was sure
was going to be a juicy conversation.

Mary Cherry turned around her full-length mirror once more carefully
studying her reflection.

"Nic," she asked turning around, her brows crunched together in
thought. "Do theez pants make mah ass look big?"

Nicole sighed as she pulled on her DKNY leather all-purpose
gloves. "No Mary Cherry, the fact that your ass is big makes your
ass look big."

Mary Cherry turned back to the mirror with a frown. "Whah do yah haf
to be so cruel?"

"Come on, we've got a head cheerleader to save," Nicole said heading
for the door. "It's going to be a dirty job," the short - haired
blonde said seriously, her hand hovering over the doorknob. "And
we're lucky to be the ones to do it. Now move!"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Lily tugged at her ski mask for what had to have been the billionth
time in the three-minute time span it took her and Carmen to get from
their room to Sam's. Slipping her hand underneath the woolly
material, she fully intended to rip it off of her face when she felt
a hand grasp hers. Carmen was holding her hand with her left hand
while her right hand was raised up to her lips in the
universal ssssh' gesture. Lily sighed, as Carmen let go of her hand
and took a step back.

"This is ridiculous!" She exclaimed only to have a hand clamped over
her mouth. Wrenching Carmen's hand off of her face, Lily looked at
the taller girl rather peevishly. "What are we doing!" she
continued, this time in a softer voice. "Look at us, we look like
rejects from I Spy! Sam is our friend, we should just knock on the
door and…"

"Sssh," Carmen interjected putting up her hand.

"I don't think that that was necessary. I was merely saying that…"
Lily tried to explain but Carmen interrupted her again.

"Sssh," the taller brunette repeated again. "Listen to that."

Lily was silent for a moment as leaned her ear in the direction
Carmen pointed. At first she didn't hear anything, but then she
could detect a faint scratching sound, and what sounded like whispers.

"What is that?" Lily asked turning her attention back to the other
girl.

"Only one way to find out," Carmen responded rounding the corner.

"Southern Comfort to Mrs. Deville, Southern Comfort to Mrs. Deville…
ovah," Mary Cherry whispered into the walkie-talkie clutched in her
hand, as she ducked her head around from side to side suspiciously.

"Are you sure your parents aren't related?" Nicole whispered harshly
as she yanked the Southerner down into a crouching position. It was
so hard to find competent help these days. "Just shut that vacuous
hole you call a mouth for a moment won't you, I'm almost done."

"Awr you shur that these pants don't make mah ass look big?" Mary
Cherry asked unaware that Nicole had even spoken. She had learned
that you didn't really need to listen to what Nicole was saying, you
just had nod your head and agree with her vigorously. So, with that
knowledge in mind, she had turned to a detailed examination to see
what her own buttocks looked like in a crouched position.

"Didn't I just tell you to shut your…" Nicole started to say,
momentarily turning her attention away from the lock picks in her
hand, when she froze. Curse, Mary Cherry and her loud, grating
voice. The Southerner had managed to distract her just long enough
for the doofus twins to locate them.

Quickly standing up, Nicole made her way over to Lily and Carmen
before the halfwits could open their mouths and alert someone to
their presence. Stupid Bio Glass and her bloody strict curfew.
Slapping a hand over Carmen's mouth and dragging her back around the
corner into the stairwell, Nicole watched as Mary Cherry grabbed Lily
and did the same. Once safely hidden away in the concrete well,
Nicole and Mary Cherry removed their hands from over the brunettes
mouths and stepped back, making mental notes to buy some anti-
bacterial soap before bringing their hands anywhere near their own
flesh again.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Brooke continued to move backwards until she felt backs of her legs
hit the bed. Turning around to look at the object that had impeded
her back peddling, she steadied herself then turned her attention
back to Sam, who was watching her with a debaucherous grin on her
face. Brooke smiled down at her momentarily before ducking her head
forward and capturing Sam's lips with her own, as the brunette gave
one last push sending them both toppling down onto the bed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Listen Krispy Crème," Nicole stated sticking her finger in Carmen's
face and waving it around for good measure. "You and Cousin It were
sneaking around down there, so don't even think about hauling your
fat ass up on to a soapbox and lecturing me!" the shorthaired blonde
continued. "There are two ways this meeting can end, my way and my
way, so listen closely. We're both after the same thing here, to
find out what's going on with Cinderella and the soon to be step-
troll, so we could as well work together. Now, before we were so
rudely interrupted, I was about 5.3 seconds away from getting that
lock open, so you two can either come quietly, or Mary Cherry can
show you how they handled interlopers on her uncle's hog farm. So,
what's it gonna be?"

"We'll be right back," Carmen whispered grabbing Lily by the arm and
pulling her to the other end of the stairwell.

Nicole watched with growing boredom as they argued with each other,
Carmen's hands waving in the air and pointing at her palm before,
they finally seemed to come to an agreement.

"We accept the conditions of your proposal," Carmen said coming back
over to Nicole. "Now let's get the hell over with, you two are
giving me hives."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Do you hear something?" Brooke asked, though she herself was
becoming more and more distracted the more Sam's hand crept up her
shirt.

"Only you," Sam responded. "I want to hear more of that, only this
time along the lines of ummm ohhhh'" Sam continued making the
appropriate faces to go along with her sound effects.

"You're a dirty girl aren't you?" Brooke asked with a smile, her
worries about mysteries noises long forgotten. "I like that."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Snapping the lid of her lock pick set closed Nicole stood up and
turned around to face the girls assembled behind her. Mary Cherry
seemed to be using her compact mirror to look at Lily's ass, while
Lily orbited Carmen's body trying to escape Mary Cherry tyrannical
grasps. Nicole sighed, freaks and losers surrounded her. Whatever
had she done to deserve this?

"If you all are quite finished now," she began in a harsh
whisper. "Our friends await."

Carefully opening the door, Nicole led the pack of girls inside of
the darkened hotel room, closing the door quietly once everyone was
inside. Moving slightly to the side she carefully extended her hand
and began to feel along the wall for a light switch, a wicked smile
working its way across her face as her finger connected with the
stub.

Just then she heard a nose emerge from the darkness of the room. It
was a noise Nicole knew well, it was a sexual, desperate, highly
aroused moan. Deciding right then and there, that she absolutely had
to put a stop to whatever was going Nicole flicked her finger and the
lights turned on, showering everything in the room with bright,
embarrassing light.

Lily and Carmen's mouths dropped open as the stood thunderstruck at
the sight that greeted them once Nicole had flipped on the light
switch. The scene that greeted them simply too much for their non-
payperview watching minds to grasp. Sam and Brooke, together, on the
bed. Clothes rumpled, and hands, hands in naughty, naughty places.
They could see Brooke's bra, Sam's mouth was hovering over it, they
were, they were doing stuff. Yes, Lily and Carmen stood watching the
scene in front of them thunderstruck. It was too much, where oh
where had the coy glances stage gone?

Sam's head whipped around, and Brooke's raised off of the bed as they
blinked against the suddenly light filled room, which they could just
blurrily make out as now filled with people.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Mary Cherry yelled falling to her knees, her
hands coming up to grasp the hair at the front of her head as she
stared up at the ceiling. "WHAH? OH DEAR GAWD WHAH? TAKE ME! TAKE
ME!" she cried looking back over at the bed, dark mascara streaks now
marring her features. "Whah do they great ones leave us so young?"
she whaled her body shaking.

Brooke blinked as the Southerners harsh cries filled the room, her
stupor finally breaking. Working her way out from underneath Sam she
jumped off the bed and practically flung herself at Mary Cherry
clamping a hand over her mouth.

"My god Mary Cherry," she whispered harshly. "SHUT UP. You're going
to wake up the whole floor!" Brooke continued looking around
desperately, barely noticing Sam also getting off of the bed and
walking towards their visitors.

Finally when Brooke was fairly certain that Mary Cherry wouldn't
erupt into a screaming fit again she removed her hand and stood up,
backing away from the still cowering Southerner.

"Does somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on here?" Sam
asked once the room became blanketed in silence once more, her gaze
leveled at Lily and Carmen who had the good decency to look shamed.

"You should know the answer to that question better than anyone
shouldn't you Spam?" Nicole asked, her arms folded across her chest,
as she surveyed the play unfolding in front of her with a detached
fascination.

"I don't believe you!" Brooke erupted pointing at Nicole as she
spotted the small pouch in her hand and recognized it for what it
was. "You picked the lock didn't you?"

"Ah, Brookie," Nicole said sweetly looking over at the wispy haired
blonde. "You might wanna," she continued waving a lazy hand to
indicate Brooke's semi-torso, "before lighting into me."

Looking mildly confused Brooke lowered her gaze, her eyes widening
when she realized what Nicole was referring to. "Holy god!" she
muttered, beyond mortified to realize that she wasn't wearing a
shirt. Quickly turning around so that her back was to their visitors
she began to scan the room.

"Where's my shirt?" she asked, her voice raising an octave or so as
she looked over at Sam.

"I don't know," Sam responded her voice rising as well, as her
attention was torn between Brooke and Lily who was now looking at
Brooke with an interest Sam didn't appreciate.

"Where's my shirt?" Brooke repeated again, getting desperate now.
She was painfully aware of how underdressed she was, and she wanted
her shirt back now.

"I dunno," Sam repeated once more, now torn between scanning the room
herself and watching Mary Cherry in amazement as the girl diligently
reapplied the make-up she had ruined earlier.

"You're the one that took it…" Brooke trailed off, as she remembered
that there were other people in the room.

"Brookie," Nicole said, practically singing her name. "Over there,"
she said waving her hand in the direction of the vanity mirror, where
horror of horrors, Brooke's shirt was hanging precariously on the
corner.

"What'd you use to play softball?" Brooke asked shooting Sam a look
before self-consciously removing her shirt from its resting place
and drawing it over her head.

"Tut, tut Brookie," Nicole piped up as Brooke pulled down her shirt,
finally covering all of her yummy regions. "Those who cop feels off
of other women shouldn't lob stones," she continued observing Brooke
with a shrewd smile on her face. "Basketballs maybe, after all,
considering your new hobby and height the WNBA might just be your
calling."

"Get out," Brooke said whipping around to face Nicole, her face a
study in barely controlled rage.

"I'm not so sure you really want me to do that," Nicole said rising
up to her full height and stepping

forward so that she was only a
meter away from Brooke. "Because after the terrible trauma I just
suffered, if you cast me out I might just be forced to call everyone
I've ever met and share the horror that was you groping Spam
McPherson with them."

Brooke opened her mouth as if to respond when Nicole finished then
promptly closed it again. She really hadn't even begun to
contemplate possibly hypothetically conceiving responses for Nicole
finding out about her and Sam, and bam, here it was right in front of
her. Previously she had been functioning on mortification and
indignation to guide her, but they had left her now leaving
befuddlement in their wake.

"You wouldn't," Brooke said, but not only did the statement come out
sounding more like a question, Brooke also looked confused as if she
wasn't really certain what was coming out of her mouth.

"You!" Mary Cherry exclaimed extending an accusing finger in Sam's
direction. "Look at what ya've done ya no neck little monsta! Damn
bastard chald, ya've gone n' broke Brookie with damn dirty whore
hands!" the southerner continued waving at Brooke who was still in a
stupefied stated.

Sam whipped around to face Mary Cherry, her features covered in
outrage. "What!" she yelled at the blonde. "And don't think that
I can't see you!" Sam yelled pointing at Lily and Carmen who had been
trying to ease themselves towards the door for a hasty escape before
the situation could get any worse. "You two of all people," Sam
continued turning her attention away from Mary Cherry for a
moment. "Working with Satan and Tweedle Dumb, have you suddenly gone
stupid! How could you do this? Will you still own your first born
or was that the price for this little congregation of horrors!"

"We were just coming to talk, then Nicole kidnapped us and threatened
to have Mary Cherry hog tie us if we didn't keep quiet and come along
peaceably," Carmen blurted out pointing at Nicole who merely rolled
her eyes extremely bored. "We were just coming to say hi, see how
the incarceration was coming along, we don't know…that is to say if
had thought that…you know stuff would be happening…with you…we, you
know wouldn't have, and did I mention we were threatened?"

"Oh save it Carnie," Nicole responded looking at Carmen with
irritation. "We all you that you two saw them looking at each other
like fiesta platters and wanted to find evidence that the looks were
just the result of being starved for the past two days instead of
actual erotic attraction. Just admit it, you two were like our
retarded twins. Besides, lil' big head over there seemed to enjoy
the show," Nicole continued grinning at Lily.

"Did not!" Lily piped up immediately, looking around her to see if
anyone actually believed her. Nicole simply seemed amused, Sam was
looking at her with a slight frown on her face, Brooke was watching
Sam watch her, Carmen seemed to be muttering to herself trying to
figure out why Nicole called her Carnie, and Mary Cherry was sniffing
one of Brooke's shoes.

"Okay, I've had enough of this," Brooke said her back straightening
purposefully. "I want all of you to get out of our room like now! I
think we've all seen quite enough of each other for one night," she
finished looking at all of them and then at the door.

"Um no," Nicole responded spinning around to face Brooke once more.

"What do you mean no?" Brooke asked looking at Nicole like she was
insane. "I said get out."

"And I said that I don't think that's going to be happening anytime
soon. I came here to get answers, tell you they're wrong and give
you the correct ones," Nicole responded calmly. "And I'm not going
anywhere until I've shoved the light down your throat and made you
like it."

"Why?" Sam asked turning to look at Brooke. "Why? Why? Why, do you
associate with her!"

"You want answers?" Brooke asked looking around the room at all of
them challengingly. "Fine, I'll give you answers," she continued,
her indignation working up into a creamy lather, before she paused to
look at Sam. "Is it alright if I give them answers?" she asked the
brunette, ignoring Nicole and her obnoxious hand motions.

"Be my guest," Sam responded smiling softly at the blonde. Brooke
smiled back at her then turned to face their audience once more.

"Sam and I are together, and from what you walked in on I think you
know in what way I mean. She had a thing, I had a thing, and so we
decided to have a thing together. That's the way it is. When we get
back home I'm gonna give her my cheerleading jacket, and then we'll
be going steady. And if any of you have a problem with this you can
just suck on it real hard!" Brooke continued looking at them with
her most intimidating face on.

"That was impressive Brooke," Nicole responded not looking at all
impressed. "Did you practice that one in front of the mirror?" she
continued staring at the other blonde. "Go steady?" she asked
incredulously. "Have your brains fallen completely into your utterly
stylish pants? She," Nicole continued, pointing to Sam at this
point, "is the enemy. She is a complete social retard, and
genetically I believe only slightly more complex than a howler
monkey. If you must embrace the Angelina Jolie inside of you, I can
accept that, but you will not bring upon us all a social backspace
the likes of which Los Angeles has never before witnessed, for …
that," Nicole finished waving her hand at Sam, her voice drenched
with distaste.

"Howler monkey!" Sam exclaimed lunging at Nicole, missing the other
blonde by mere centimeters as Brooke grasped her around the waist and
pulled her back into her body. "Let me go," Sam complained
struggling in Brooke's surprisingly strong arms. "She called me a
bloody Howler monkey!"

"Sammy," Brooke said softly into Sam's ear as she fought to hold onto
the brunette. "The direct use of force is such a poor solution to
any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and
large nations. Calm down," Brooke continued in her most soothing
voice.

"Don't quote Friedman to me," Sam said tilting her head to the side
to look at Brooke. "She called me a howler monkey! And, you totally
stole that book from my room."

"Borrow Sam, borrowed," Brooke responded shooting Sam her most
charming smile hoping it would calm the irate brunette down.

"You're lucky you're cute," Sam muttered, a small smile appearing on
her face nonetheless as she stopped struggling and settled back into
Brooke's arms. Damn but she loved it when Brooke held her.

"This isn't a Glamazon meeting Nicole, you can bark all night but I'm
not going to bite," Brooke said looking over at Nicole as Sam rested
her head against her shoulder. "She's my howler monkey, and I'm not
letting her go because you enjoy the creative rush you get when you
insult her. So, somebody please, pop the cork cause it's time to
christen our new treaty with the Browns."

Nicole folded her arms across her chest after Brooke finished
observing the blonde shrewdly. Finally, tilting her head up in the
air and turning her nose up she addressed the head cheerleader. "Who
says you get say what treaties are made and unmade around here?" she
asked staring at Brooke hard.

"I say. And you know why I get to?" Brooke responded meeting
Nicole's gaze unflinchingly. "Because I'm the Queen Bee. Now be a
good little peon and hail the queen."

The room was covered in silence after Brooke finished speaking,
nobody quite able to believe what they had heard come out of her
mouth. It was a strange relationship that Brooke and Nicole had, to
insiders of the popular cliché and outsiders alike. It was taken as
some sort of natural commandment that Nicole just stood by Brooke,
people had long ago stopped trying to figure out why because how
wispy little Brooke managed to contain a pit-bull like Nicole was
beyond their powers of reasoning. But suddenly to the people in that
room it made sense, Nicole welded her power like a deadly weapon but
she also respected it in other people. If she came up against
someone as strong willed as herself she would still rip into them
like a starved Panda, but she would view them as someone worthy of
her, a goddess like herself. And nobody had been able to figure out
how the shorter blonde didn't rip Brooke a new asshole because the
cheerleader seemed like such a pushover. But Brooke wasn't a push
over, she could dish it out to Nicole as well as Nicole gave it to
her, and that's why Nicole always stayed at her side. In Brooke she
had finally found someone who could and would stand up to her. Their
dynamic was all about respect.

And then finally when the silence seemed to grow oppressive, Nicole
smiled, and bowed her head slightly before whipping around to face
Mary Cherry. "Let's go Gumbo," she barked snapping her fingers at
the southerner. And with that she strode out of the room without
looking back.

"Wow," Carmen breathed out looking at Brooke with something close to
awe on her face once Nicole and Mary Cherry had exited the
room. "That was the greatest thing I've seen."

"Didn't you once see a six year old rescue a grown man from a burning
building?" Lily asked looking over at Carmen.

"This was better," was Carmen's only response.

"I think you've got a groupie," Sam said twisting around so that she
could see Brooke's rapidly flushing face. The fact was that she was
rather surprised by how Brooke had handled Nicole as well. "I never
knew you were so dominant," Sam continued watching as Brooke turned a
deeper shade of red in response.

"It's not so amazing," Brooke said ripping her attention from Sam and
turning to face Carmen. "You just have to know what Nicole is."

"Which is?" Lily asked.

"A two year old on a power trip with a gold card," Brooke
responded. "If you let her get away with something she'll keep doing
it because she can, because getting away with the unacceptable amuses
her. If you don't set limits with her, she'll set them…and you don't
want that," she continued. "She's not really a bad person, she just
sometimes gets intoxicated by herself and doesn't know any better.
When she's acting normal, she's actually quite charming."

"Are you trying to tell me that Smug Bitch isn't her normal state of
being?" Sam asked looking up at Brooke unbelievingly.

"Yeah, I'm not saying that it's as alien to her as manual labour,
but…" Brooke responded seeing that she really wasn't convincing
anybody. She sighed mentally, getting people to view Nicole as an
actual human being was apparently going to be the most difficult task
she'd undertaken.

"Well, now that the world has completely gone insane," Carmen
responded. "I think I'm going to bed. I have a world order to
restore before breakfast tomorrow…and of course questions to
prepare," she said looking at Sam who rolled her eyes. "So…
goodnight," she said turning around with Lily following behind her.

"And," Lily said, just before she and Carmen reached the
door. "Congratulations. We're happy for you. Both of us. Aren't
we Carm?"

"Ecstatic," Carmen responded. "Positively." Then before Carmen
could say anything else, Lily ushered her out the door and Brooke and
Sam were left alone in their room once again.

The moment the door closed, Brooke dropped her head down onto Sam's
shoulder and let out a piteous moan. "What?" Sam asked kissing her
on the side of her head. "That wasn't fun for you?"

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Part Twenty-Two
------------------------

"You look tired," Nicole commented with a grin as Brooke slumped down
into the seat next to her. Harrison had taken over her seat next to
Sam; apparently the sheet of paper he was waving in her face was of
the utmost importance so she decided to steal his seat.

"Don't start with me," Brooke responded turning to face Nicole,
though the smile on her face took away any sting her words may have
had.

"Is she any good?" Nicole asked looking at Brooke intently.

"I wouldn't know," Brooke responded. "THAT'S not why I'm tired," she
continued shooting her friend a look. "I've never walked so much
continuously in my entire life. My feet are bleeding; my feet have
to be bleeding. This is too much, I mean my god, I'm from L.A. not
Wisconsin or something."

"So you haven't…" Nicole asked her voice incredulous. After what she
had seen the night before, the idea that the two of them had somehow
managed to control themselves in the past was unimaginable to her.

"No."

"Would you tell if you had?"

"No."

"Didn't think so," Nicole said looking towards the front of the bus
as the engine started up.

"Lady's never kiss and tell," Brooke responded.

"I always tell."

"Exactly," Brooke replied with a grin, thinking she had just called
checkmate.

"So, is she any good?" Nicole responded seeing the self satisfied
look on Brooke's face and knowing that it wouldn't be there for long.

"I just said…"

"I know," Nicole said interrupting. "But I don't know any lady's who
would be caught dead doing what you were last night … so dish."

"There's nothing to tell," Brooke responded. "You saw everything,"
she added in a rather militant tone.

"Let me guess, you're so deeply in lurve that you're relationship has
grown so that it's deeper than a physical love," Nicole responded
grinning happily.

"Shut up," Brooke responded. "Besides, who would say that, that's
the most retarded thing I've ever heard."

"Oh, I see, so there's always room for S-A-M-M-Y, huh?" Nicole asked.

"You're going to torture me for the rest of the week because I called
you a peon aren't you?" Brooke asked miserably.

"Yes. Now I'm going to make some breast jokes, and you better laugh
like you mean it!"

Brooke sighed as Nicole began speaking again. Why did relationships
have to be such hard work?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sam looked up from the notes she had spread out in front of her when
she heard the washroom door nosily creak open. When Brooke had
decided to take a shower after dinner, she had taken out the notes
she had received from Arabian Knight, and for the first time in days
returned her attention to what had gotten her so excited about this
field trip in the first place. However, as she watched Brooke exit
the washroom, clad only in a white bathrobe with wet, messy hair
silhouetting her face, Sam quickly remembered why she had forgotten
all about her article in the first place.

"What?" Brooke asked looking over at Sam with a slight smile sensing
the girls eyes on her. "You're not going to accuse me of hogging the
shower again are you?"

"Nothing. No. I mean wow," Sam breathed out still unable to pull
her eyes off of Brooke. "You look really, really…I don't know," Sam
said shaking her head and blushing as she realized that she couldn't
think of a word to adequately describe how breathtaking Brooke
looked. "I can't…why don't you just think of something really poetic
and pretend like I said it."

Brooke smiled at her flustered roommate and walked over to her bed
flopping down on the side not occupied by the notes Sam was gathering
up. Once horizontal, she reached her arms back placing them under
her head, which in turn caused her robe to inch up a little,
smiling as she watched Sam become fascinated by the newly revealed
areas of skin.

"It's going to be really hard for you to write that article if you
can't think of any adjectives," Brooke commented drawing Sam's
attention back to her face.

"I know, shame on you," Sam responded her gaze looked on Brooke's
lips for a moment, before she finally gave into her desires and
leaned down pressing her own lips against Brooke's.

"Shame on me?" Brooke asked once their kiss broke. "What did I do?"

"You're so irresistible that you leave me almost literally
speechless," Sam responded, as her hand slowly crept across Brooke's
robe covered abdomen, before coming to rest on her hip.

"I can't help the fact that I'm sinfully delicious," Brooke
responded, her own eyes fastened on Sam's face as the brunette
watched her hand play across Brooke's mid-section.

"McQueen, deep and delicious," Sam replied smiling, before returning
to her serious contemplation of the shapes her hands were making over
Brooke's robe.

"What are you thinking?" Brooke asked, placing her hand over top of
Sam's watching her carefully. There was something in the brunette's
gaze that eluded her, but was also exciting her.

"That," Sam said pausing so that she could look up into Brooke's
eyes. "That I'd like to see what's under this," she continued, her
fingers idly tracing the tie of the robe.

Brooke was silent for a moment, and then lifted up her hand so that
it came to rest on the side of Sam's face. Then, propping herself up
on her other hand, she leaned forward bringing their lips together,
softly at first then with increasing intensity as she felt Sam's
hands begin to work the tie of her robe.

As Sam's hand slipped inside of her robe, Brooke's arm gave way and
she fell back against the bed, Sam easily rolling on top of her,
their lips only separating when Sam rose up to watch her actions once
she had settled herself on top of Brooke.

Brooke watched Sam's face, her lips were slightly parted and her eyes
hooded, as her thumb stroked Brooke's stomach lightly. Brooke felt
her breath start to come in quicken and her heart flutter as Sam
slipped her other hand inside of the robe. The blonde felt herself
shiver as she realized what Sam was about to do, and then the
brunette fulfilled her prophecy. Slowly, Sam slid her hands up
Brooke's torso, the robe spreading apart in the wake of her hands.

Sam was still for a moment once she had revealed Brooke's nude torso
to her hungry eyes, then she leaned forward bringing their lips
crashing against each others once again passionately, as she placed
her hand on Brooke's bare breast for the first time, swallowing the
blonde's groan hungrily.

"Brooke?" Sam asked softly as the need for oxygen finally forced them
apart. Her heart was beating so fast she was sure it was going to
break free of her chest. She felt as if she were on fire, she felt
like she was suffocating and Brooke's skin was air. She needed…she
needed…

"I know," Brooke whispered, her own body shivering with
anticipation. Sam had stilled her hand when she spoke, but it made
no difference to Brooke's body, Sam had merely removed the cause, not
the symptoms. "I want…I'm ready," she continued bringing one of her
hands up to rest over top of Sam's, using it to make Sam's hand
squeeze her breast once more.

Sam was silent for a moment, her attention focused on her hand, which
had started to massage Brooke's breast once more, then she smiled and
leaned forward bringing their lips together once more. And, as she
felt Brooke's hands begin to slide under her own shirt, she thought
to herself, 'so this is what love is'.

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The End

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