A metaphorical door had been unlocked and Judy was the key, at least that's what it was starting to feel like. Now that she had caught on that Jen liked, no, needed to be touched and feel wanted in order to open herself up to the possibility of more intimacy, Judy was on it.

Judy pondered how Jen vehemently rejected touch from most anyone and everyone who wasn't her family. Judy felt supremely lucky to be considered so close and trusted. She just couldn't fuck this up because Jen's metaphorical door was probably still padlocked...with heavy chains... and no trespassing and keep out signs. Enter at your own risk. Judy ignored that shit. She was a stalker after all.

She let Jen sleep in the next morning, happy to indulge in the simple domesticity of making the kids breakfast, packing their lunches and sending them out the door with their book bags and checking that they had their gym shoes and homework assignments. It felt great to be trusted with that level of responsibility when for her whole life no one had ever given Judy that chance. She'd always been looked over in that way, but Jen trusted her with her absolute most precious assets and she wasn't gonna blow it. She was proud that Jen believed in her and the kids believed in her and she actually excelled in something.

When Judy heard Jen slowly making her way down the stairs, she flipped on the Keurig, and continued to clean up the kitchen. She greeted her with a 'good morning' a bright smile and moved quickly to catch the still groggy, but decidedly rested and relaxed looking woman in a warm tight hug. Judy moved her hands down Jen's back, settled momentarily on her hips and then gave her butt a firm two-handed squeeze. She leaned up and in, ghosted her lips right on the Jen's ear and whispered, "How are you feeling?"

Jen, taken aback by the closeness and decided weirdness of full handed butt grabs first thing in the morning, tried and failed to pull away. "Uh...good, yeah, relaxed...thanks?"

"Wait, wait.." Judy said urgently, still holding her butt, locked flush to her body, "squeeze my butt too."

"What? No!" Jen shook her head and stammered in protest.

"Aw, come on? Smack it at least?" Judy was playing Icarus, but she hoped to make this a thing and Jen would chalk it up to her weirdness. She had to get Jen touching her back, it couldn't be all one-sided.

Jen huffed and stomped her foot, and turned her head, but Judy didn't waver, she just held on, and then to Judy's delight she felt Jen bring her hands back around her body, and give her tush a light squeeze and a gentle slap. Judy squealed.

"Okay, there you go...weirdo. Coffee?" Jen frowned then immediately smiled while Judy leaned in and pecked her lips in a daytime kiss. Then turned in a flash and grabbed the freshly brewed coffee from the Keurig stirred in the just so amount of required cream, and delivered it to Jen's hands.

"What's gotten into you?" Jen asked bemused taking a sip of her coffee, as Judy busied herself wiping down the counters.

"Hmm?" Judy played dumb. She was good at that. Really she intended to touch Jen's butt as much as possible to give her a visceral reminder of slick, dripping oil being rubbed into her ass by none other than Judy. It was called building a sense memory and Judy had thoroughly enjoyed giving that massage, Jen must have enjoyed receiving it.

"You're just a little more...more, like the daytime kiss is new," Jen sounded unsure of her words or where to begin.

"Did it bother you?" Judy asked sincerely worried.

"Did I say that?" Jen snapped, then breathed and corrected herself. "No, it's just... new. Usually, it's only at night that we..." Jen trailed off in frustration and her brow furrowed. She clutched her coffee with both hands, and stared at it like she wished it were wine.

"Okay," Judy nodded emphatically giving a very non-answer and letting Jen stew. "So I have to get to work, your omelet is in the microwave keeping warm."

"Okay..." Jen turned to watch Judy as grabbed her purse and ran out the door. Judy bit her lip to keep from smiling hard and could hear Jen's puzzled "thanks" as she left for the day.

Judy was good at pushing boundaries. Here was the catch, though. She has her own issues and she didn't feel right having her own orgasms now knowing that Jen wasn't— or hadn't had any for a very long time.

So on her drive to work she was thinking and decided to take a semi-vow of self-imposed chastity. If Jen wasn't getting off, neither was she. It really was co-dependent or worse: stupid. It also added a lot of pressure to this dipshit plan, (and made the bumpy car ride to work and the crotch seam on her tight jeans an unbearable combo.)

...

The plan hadn't included Judy having a really shitty day at work. She got there feeling great and within minutes learned that two of the residents had passed away overnight. It was always hard when one resident passed, but two was devastating and both of these ladies were well liked and relatively social so there was a heavy air of grief permeating the facility among the residents and staff.

Judy found herself painting monochrome and rough edges in anger and sadness. She cried privately in the bathroom and supply room several times throughout the day and worst of all Jen didn't pick up any of her four phone calls when she tried her from crying in her car on her lunch break.

The equilibrium of the day had shifted from her primary mission of trying to get Jen's horny groove back to just being an emotional self-centered wreck. It was an awful day especially when one of the dead resident's family came by and Judy had to try to be strong and professional even when they were sobbing their eyes out. She was not so good at that.

She dragged herself home emotionally exhausted with all the pride and hope of the day completely evaporated and nothing to show for it. Jen wasn't in the kitchen or living room when she got there, all she wanted was to throw herself into her arms to be held and cry and let out some of the pain.

Instead she lurched over to the couch in the quiet house that felt too big and too lonely without the boys and Jen in it, and cocooned herself up in a blanket. She stared at the wall for minutes before the pressure from her tear-sore eyes felt heavy and she fell into a restless nap. Why did the universe have to play these games with her?

...

Sometime later she felt someone shaking her and a hand on her forehead taking her temperature. It was Jen, swooping in to sit next to her when Judy reached out for her and scooping her up in an embrace. Jen instinctively rocked her and held her close, and didn't say a word.

"I tried to call," Judy choked out. "Oh, honey. I spent the day gardening and getting the backyard under control. I didn't know you needed me."

Judy sniffled and instantly understood and the feeling of abandonment abided when she felt Jen kiss her temple and kiss the tears from the apples of her cheeks. The backyard had become an overgrown jungle since the accident and Jen had mentioned that her doctor had cleared her for more physical exertion. Judy had tuned out after Jen said she was going to weed and clear out the dead plants because the only physical exertion on Judy's mind was sexual. God, she was such a hornball.

She came to her senses and realized Jen was covered in dirt and now so was Judy, but she didn't care because she was feeling a whole lot better being rocked and kissed.

"How about you take a bath and get on your comfy jammies, rest up. I'll get the boys settled when they get home here in a minute, and then I'll get us all some tasty takeout? Wine obviously. Then we can watch a movie or talk about your bad day, not talk?" Jen offered a plan for the night and Judy nodded vigorously as she burrowed her head against her chest. As much as she wanted to be in control and help Jen with her vulnerability issues, Judy realized just how much this was a partnership and how lucky she was that Jen was there for her too.

She still wanted to blow her mind and fuck her brains out. Obviously. That would come in due time hopefully. For now, she was content to get some nonsexual touch and comfort.

...

Much later, after a hot bath, Chinese takeout, another shoulder rub from Jen and a funny story about Jen screaming at the Lowe's Garden Center employee about Hydrangeas, Judy couldn't fight it and she started to fall asleep. She was promptly woken up by Jen saying "ahem."

She opened her eyes and swallowed, rolled over to where Jen was sitting up and staring at her expectedly.

"I'm sorry," Judy tried to wake up a bit, feeling rude that she must have fallen asleep and missed something Jen had asked her.

"Where's my night-night kiss?" Jen's eyebrows lifted.

"Oh!" Judy smiled and propped herself up to give Jen a peck on the lips like usual, maybe a bit of a linger because she couldn't help it, and then snaked her hand around to find as much of her butt cheek as she could get hold of and gave it a nice hard rub and a squeeze. "Hmm... I love you."

"Love you, Jude."