Depraved

A short while later that same night, Bubbles herself was prematurely awoken. Buttercup gently rocked her shoulder (as if anyone rocking your shoulder while you sleep can justly be called "gentle") and called her name in a harsh whisper.

Bubbles pushed herself up with her elbows and rolled to face her sister, who knelt at her bedside. With her free hand she tried to rub the sleep fuzzies away.

"Hey, Buttercup. What's wrong?" She asked the last instinctively. Not only was Buttercup waking her up in the middle of the night an indication something probably wasn't right, but the slightly worried, guilty look on her face (common though it had become these days) was a dead giveaway.

"Bubbles, I'm sorry to wake you up, but... Now that dad's come out and stuff, I've had more time to think about stuff."

Bubbles rolled her eyes.

"Buttercup, please don't worry about it. Not right now." She pulled her elbow out from under her, laying on her pillow instead of propping herself up. She reached out and took her sister's hand, gently rubbing it. "Whatever it is, can't it wait until morning? And shouldn't we go down to dad's soundproof chamber for this, anyway?"

Buttercup swallowed and shook her head. "I don't care anymore. And this is really bothering me, sis."

Bubbles briefly cocked an eyebrow. Buttercup hadn't called her "sis" in years. "Okay..." she started. "What's bothering you, honey?"

Bubbles had never called her sister "honey" before. Somehow it seemed to even the score.

"Do you regret... I mean, do you think we should have... That is..."

Bubbles couldn't restrain herself. She giggled, and justified it with, "Buttercup, you sound like a cross between Mojo Jojo and Porky Pig. After all we've been through, I know you can spit it out if you try." She stopped smiling for a moment, and when she resumed it was a comforting rather than mirthful smile. "I know you know you can trust me, now." She continued sleepily rubbing her sister's hand clasped in her own.

Buttercup nodded and took a deep breath to steady herself. "Having sex. So...so soon."

Bubbles smiled. "I'd hardly call that 'soon,' Buttercup." Bubbles wondered at her sister's name for a moment. The the three-syllables, each hard, with force, maybe suited her sister, but maybe a nickname was due. A pet name, perhaps. "Cuppo," she decided, "things had been building to that for both of us for a while now. Just in different ways. Just because it looks like I decided overnight..."

She sighed. As close to a frustrated sigh as Bubbles ever seemed to come. "Look, Buttercup," the full name emerged again, "I want you to stop worrying about me. I trust you. I trusted you even when you tried to break us up the other night. I let it go because I knew it wasn't that you wanted out, just that you worried about me. But you've got to trust me, too, 'kay?"

Buttercup struggled to smile, however weakly, and nodded.

"All right, then," Bubbles said in her most Blossom-like matter-of-fact tone. "So is that what you were looking for?"

Buttercup smiled. Something about the smile seemed a little off, like Buttercup was silently enjoying some joke only she was in on. But at least she was smiling.

"Yeah. Yeah, that did the trick. Thanks, Bubbles." Buttercup both stood and leaned forward, giving her sister a quick peck on the cheek. This, too, comforted Bubbles, who had noted Buttercup lately seemed to all but withdraw from even Bubbles's casual attempts at physical contact. In fact, it had been that way since...

"Hey, Cuppo?" Bubbles called just before her sister gripped the doorknob. Buttercup paused, then turned to face her sister, smiling. The smile seemed misplaced on Buttercup's face. Bubbles hoped, in time, that sight wouldn't be so foreign to her.

"You aren't... You aren't worried about getting close to me now, are you? I mean, because you feel guilty about what we did?"

Buttercup closed her eyes slowly as she shook her head. "No. Not anymore."

Bubbles smiled back. "Good. Thanks, Cuppo. And goodnight."

"Good night," Buttercup returned as she turned away. In a moment, she was gone, and Bubbles was alone, breathing in the cool night air flowing in from her windows. She found many of her worries had melted away. She found sleep returned easily, welcoming.