A/N: Hey guys!

So this chapter (a summary) is basically about Tom and Trina kind of exploring their sex life. Unfortunately there's actually no smut in it, but I think there should be some in the next chapter. I skipped forward quite a bit (the previous chapter finished on Valentine's Day, when she confessed her love to Tom on their beach date in Miami).

But this chapter is kind of an important one because Swingtown was basically centered around adults exploring their lives in the bedroom, and this is kind of the chapter that starts it all. Which also makes me sad, because that means that Before the Deckers is one step closer to being ended. *cries hopelessly*.

But for now, I shall enjoy writing this.

(And don't worry, it won't be ended in like less than probably at least seven chapters lol. I'd originally planned for this to be about ten chapters but that never happens with me...)

Hope y'all enjoy this! PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW HOW YOU LIKED IT! Constructive criticism more than welcome please! Or just a review saying "HEY I READ IT AND I LIKED IT!" Just a little note of reassurance that someone likes this lol.

Also, probably will be updating sooner. I lost my job today (YAY FOR CUTBACKS!) so I will be less occupied until I can get a new job.

Thanks for being patient! Love y'all!

Enjoy!

G.

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I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
La, la

"Here's your beer." Tom coos, handing her the bottle from behind her. She smiles over her shoulder at him, taking a sip from it (he always takes the caps off for her).

They're on the beach, the music is playing loudly, and for once it's not their party, it's someone else's. Brad and Sylvia Davis, they've just moved to this area. With it being the Fourth of July, it's ridiculously hot and most of them are in the water. Trina and Tom just came out of the water to relax on the beach for a short while (and to enjoy a beer).

She's the first one to sit down on her towel, and he follows her suit. She leans back a little, stretching out to get a nice tan, "Warm beer. Makes me think of my high school days." She chuckles, sipping some more of it down from the long neck.

He gazes over at her, nodding a little bit. "Same here. Except we had the cheap, crappy stuff."

"Us too." Trina replies with a soft chuckle, looking out to the water now. Her mind drifts off to the fourth of July's she's spent on the beaches – sprawled out with Luke, of course. Except they never lasted long like this, they'd always end up somewhere off in a beach house having sex on the floor or something completely crazy like that. She hopes that today she can just enjoy it for once, instead of making everything about sex.

It had taken so much away from her life, and she'd never noticed it until Tom showed her what it was all about. Sex, mixed with a lot of love, makes everything more worthwhile. It makes the sex not all that important, but just spending time with each other all the more.

She's pulled away from her thoughts when he clears his throat, "So, birthday girl," He starts with a chuckle. It's been a week since her birthday, but he still keeps saying it. "Does twenty-two still feel no different from twenty-one?" He asks, looking back over at her again. She chuckles, shakes her head, and rolls her eyes in response. He catches the eye roll and smirks, "What was that for, Tri? Tired of hearing that question?" He asks coyly.

"Yes!" She exclaims playfully, nudging him on the shoulder with her own. "I've heard that question all day, every day from you for the past week, goofy." She coos, rolling her eyes once more and sipping at the beer in hand. "You will never learn that I'll have the same answer to your question."

"Want to bet?" Tom asks.

"Bet what?" Trina inquires, raising a brow at him, waiting for his quirky answer.

He shifts over onto his side, facing her as one arm props his head up. "I bet that I can make twenty-two be totally different for you than twenty-one ever was." He says, no playfulness in his voice whatsoever.

How in the hell could he do that, she thinks. "What do you have up your sleeve, Mr. Decker?" She asks, and when he flicks his brows in response she feels her heart drop to her stomach. The first thing her mind zips to is he wants to get married. "No... no. I think I know what you're thinking and no, Tom. It's way too soon to be married."

"Too soon for what?!" He exclaims. "No! Not what I was thinking at all." And when she replies with oh, he shakes his head again and clears his throat, "No, no marriage yet. We've already done this, but this time it'll be a little different."

"Done what?" She asks, now very confused a tiny bit embarrassed over the marriage thing.

He chuckles and rolls his eyes at her response, something she furrows her brows at since that's her move to him, not the other way around. "Okay, so you know how we have a lot of sex?"

And again, her heart sinks a little bit. Not as much as it did when she thought he was suggesting marriage, but it still sinks. "Yeah?" She asks, sitting up now, setting her beer down beside her leg.

His eyes follow her closely, and he picks his own beer up and sips at it while she's sitting up. "Okay, well, I was talking with Brad and Sylvia and they said they were looking for someone to like...switch up with."

"No." She says immediately. She looks forward and crosses her arms over stomach, remembering the time she thought Tom was not being completely faithful. Sure, they weren't technically exclusive, but she had felt so dirty if she was screwing with him while he was screwing other women on the side. It felt unclean. And this whole concept that he's thought up with Brad makes her feel uneasy again, "I'm not doing that, Tom. Either you have me or you don't, and either I have you or I don't. No...side people."

"It's not side people, Tri." Tom answers softly, apparently seeing how uneasy she was becoming. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asks, reaching his free hand out to her knee, rubbing it gently.

She jerks it away, looking out to the water still. "I just don't want that, Tom. I don't want to lose you if you like...her better."

He lets out a chuckle, one that makes Trina want to slap him so hard he won't even know what's day and night. "Is that what you're worried about?" He asks, shaking his head as he sits up as well. "That won't happen. It's just something different to try..." He shrugs.

"Are you not happy with our sex life?" She asks softly, still not looking at him.

He knows better than to do this, but he takes her chin anyway and gently makes her look at him. "I'm very happy with our sex life. What man gets to say, too often, that he has sex at least four times a week after almost a year of being together?"

She hadn't realized it, but they have been together almost a year. Next month would mark her one year anniversary with Pan-American Airlines on the Miami route. She didn't realize how fast it's all gone by, and how much has changed since just last year. But she tries to not think of that at the moment, she tries to focus on the subject on hand. "Not many, I guess, but how many men get to say that they're screwing two women at one time, Tom? I just don't like the idea..." She says, not budging at all.

She's always been fine with trying new things in their sex life. New places, new positions, new toys. Everything. She's welcomed it, not just accepted it. She's encouraged it, not just tolerated it. But this? This is just too much for her to take. She couldn't stand the sight of seeing him inside of another woman. Shaking his head, he sighs, "It's okay, Tri..." He says softly. "It was just a suggestion. I'm sorry." He says, rubbing her leg again.

Moving it away a little more, she stands up and dusts herself off. "I'm not feeling all that well. Can we get going?" She asks. The fireworks hadn't even started, the bonfire hadn't been lit, the beer hadn't had the chance to cool off in the cool summer night. The party had barely been started.

He looks at her with wide eyes, a bit shocked, she guesses. "Ah, yeah. Sure." He says, standing up and grabbing their towels, wadding them up and stuffing them into their beach bag after she gets her cover up out.

The cover up drapes around her shoulders, still from the lack of a breeze currently. It was true, she did feel sick to her stomach. But it was just from the thought of him with another woman. She knows she shouldn't have gotten this attached to him, but he's done it to her. She just couldn't resist him, and now because of it she's feeling a broken heart already.

Once she was home and tucked under the sheets (she had decided to take a nap, hoping that it would help her nerves), she had fallen into a deeper sleep than she'd intended to. She had odd dreams, one of them consisting of her being about nine months pregnant – but not with Tom's child. With Brad's. Another of them consisted of a whale coming up out of the water just to ask her for a beer at the beach.

In all, she concluded once she woke up that the conversation they had really messed with her mind. It shouldn't have, because she shouldn't be this in love with him and this jealous just over the thoughts of him with another woman, but it did.

She rolls over, realizing he'd joined her some time during her two hour sleep. He wasn't asleep, though, "Hey." He whispers.

"Hey." She whispers back, looking down at the crack in between their two pillows.

He sighs softly, beginning to rub the curve of her waist (she hadn't even realized that his arm was around her. It just felt natural for it to be there). "Sorry for earlier, Trina." He says softly, his voice a little bit husky. It sounded as though he had maybe been yelling or something, she wasn't sure.

Shaking her head and taking a deep breath, she replies, "I just don't want to do that." And begins to pick mindlessly at the fuzz on the blankets.

"I know." He says softly. "I'm not exactly sure why, but I know that you don't want-"

"You don't know why?" She asks, looking up at him with saddened eyes. "Tom, I confessed my love to you months ago on the beach. And that meant that I wanted you and you only. I thought that meant the same for you when you said you loved me..." She says. "I guess I just didn't realize your standards are different than mine."

"They're not different, Trina." He says. "You just aren't seeing it the same way I am. Which is fine...not everyone is meant to see everything the same way. If they were meant to be like that, we'd never have change in the world." He says softly, bringing his hand up to gently thread through her hair. "I just thought it may be a fun way to explore our relationship. Brad said it really brought them closer together...and I thought it may just bring us that much closer." He shrugs softly, letting out a gentle sigh.

She shakes her head, "But how is that exploring our relationship, Tom? I mean we're exploring other people."

"Because it's not like we just go off on our own and have sex with the other person. You'd be there while I'm with Sylvia, just like I'd be there when you're with Brad...it's not literally swapping – I'm not ready for that. That's like...swinging or something." He says. "But it's just...it's a foursome. I'd be there the whole time, and you'd be there the whole time. We'd both be involved with our partners."

"I don't want to do it, Tom." She says again, looking down and going back to picking at the blankets. It just seemed to dangerous to try. "Please don't try persuading me into it." She asks, realizing that her stomachache was coming back again.

He sighs, nodding before he presses a gentle kiss to her forehead. "I'm sorry. I won't bring it up again, okay?" He whispers, running his fingers through her strands again. "Listen, let's get up and get dressed into something casual and go over to the sports bar downtown. They'll be having fireworks close to their balcony, you can see them from there. We don't even have to drink if you don't want, 'cause I'm not really feeling the alcohol right now either. We can just go eat a burger and some fries, maybe have a milkshake, and then watch some fireworks to celebrate our country. Yeah?" He asks, looking into her eyes.

She finally nods just a little bit, sniffling. "Okay." She says softly. "Only on one condition." She adds, waiting for him to give her a hint that she has his attention. Once she knows she does, she continues, "Never bring up a foursome or threesome or fivesome or tensome again. I don't ever want to think of you with anyone else, Tom..."

He nods, processing the request before kissing her again. "Promise." He whispers. "I promise I won't ever bring up new partners again, babe. Just you and me." He says, smiling sadly in an attempt to make her feel a little better.

"Two burgers, one with cheese, tomato, mayo, and onions, and the other with just cheese and ketchup." He orders for them, putting her order in first. She smiles a little, liking the fact that he remembers how she likes her burger. "Oh! And mushrooms, right?" He asks her, waiting for the nod of approval. She chuckles softly, looking up at the waitress as she writes that down, too. "I almost forgot." He says, handing her the menus.

The waitress nods, reads it all back to them – including their order of cheese fries and a milkshake to share – and then goes back to the kitchen. They both have a pop instead of a beer. They're the only couple in here that doesn't have some sort of alcohol, and the little bit of beer they had at the beach hadn't affected either of them.

Reaching for her hand, he sighs a little. "You feeling any better?" He asks, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb gently.

She nods, clearing her throat. "A lot better. I'll feel even more better when I have that burger. I hear they have good ones." She says, quickly changing the subject again. She doesn't even want to remotely think about them swapping.

"Oh, they're bitchin', Tri. I had one back last summer before work one day. I don't know why I've never taken you here before." He says, shaking his head and shrugging.

She chuckles, shaking her head softly, "Well, maybe you should think about that a little harder but with your head hung down in shame." She teases, laughing after he actually does it. She playfully slaps the back of his hand and rolls her eyes, "I didn't literally mean it!"

"I always do what I'm told." He replies, "I'm whipped!" He says in a humorous manner, getting another laugh from her.

"You're whipped, alright. The only whip on you is the one we used that one time when I was dominant."

"We should do that again, you know." Tom says, taking a sip through his straw and widening her eyes up at her.

The thought intrigues her, tickling her brain, so to speak. The last time they'd made her the dominant one, Tom was tied to the bed and being whipped (gently, of course. Trina is many things but mean is not one of them). He hadn't used their safe word, but he came awfully close a few times while she had his balls tight in her hand. "Are you sure?" She asks, furrowing her brows. "If I remember correctly, you couldn't sit down very well for the next two days." She says.

He shrugs, "Just because of that...plug...thing." He says, making a face. "But I'd rather not use that again."

She nods in agreement, "Yeah, that was a little much..." She says, playing with her straw. "But the other stuff you're okay with again?"

"More than okay with it." He replies.

She looks at him seriously, her brows arched slightly and her lips pursed as she carefully chooses her next words. "This isn't just because you want to have that foursome is it?"

"No!" He says immediately. "No, Tri. That's really not it." He chuckles sadly, slumping in the booth a little. "I just thought it may be nice to have you dominant again. I enjoyed it, even if you did make the boys hurt." He says, managing a quiet laugh even though he was thinking about all the pain she caused him.

She cracks a small smile, "Okay. We'll do it again soon. Just not this week, I have...issues this week." She says, shifting a little bit. Due to the birth control pills she's still getting from a friend, she only gets her period every three months. But when it comes, it comes hard and she's always miserable. That's why she didn't wear her favorite white bikini at the beach today.

"Oh." He says softly, realizing now why she was so sensitive to the foursome. "I'm sorry, babe." He says, taking her hand again and rubbing his thumb over it. "No wonder you were so sleepy..." He says understandingly.

She nods, sighing a little bit. "But anyway, we can do it another time."

A burp emits at the table, but it's most certainly not from Tom. Trina chuckles a little bit, smiling sheepishly. "That was a good one." She states, smiling a little more. "That burger was absolutely delicious." She says.

He chuckles at her lack of lady-likeness. "My dream woman." He teases, smirking a bit and looking out at the balcony. "I can't believe we got such a good spot out here. This is why I love this place, you can sit outside and eat." He says, throwing his napkin into his empty basket.

She nods, "It is nice. We'll have to come back here more often." She replies, leaning back into the booth a bit more.

It was almost dark, the fireworks will be starting any moment. She can already feel herself cramping up, and she shifts a bit uncomfortably. She hopes Tom doesn't notice. She doesn't want him being too concerned right now about her. He's always a little too mushy when it comes to her cycle. She just wants to keep to herself with that – it's the one thing she's pretty private about.

"When do you think they'll start?" She asks, bringing her pop to her face, taking a sip from her straw. She doesn't want to move.

He shrugs, "Probably soon." He says, looking over at her and furrowing a brow. "You okay?"

She nods, her lips pushed together a bit as she sets the glass down. "You know how it goes sometimes." She replies, shrugging her shoulders up. "I'll be fine." She coos.

He stands up and gently picks her up, being careful to not make her abdomen stretch out to cause her more pain. He scoots the table away toward his side of the booth a bit, putting her in his lap as his legs are stretched out on her side of the booth. "There." He coos. "Now we can snuggle and watch the fireworks."

She smiles a bit, craning her neck to press a kiss to his jaw. "You're too kind sometimes."

"Only sometimes. Other times I'm kind of a jerk." He admits, looking at her.

"You're not a jerk, Tom..."

He shrugs softly, swallowing hard as he looks out toward where the fireworks will be. "I don't know. It seemed like I was a pretty big jerk today about the whole Brad and Sylvia thing." He states, looking back at her again.

She shakes her head, leaning onto his chest. "No, it just upset me. But you apologized and promised to not talk about it anymore, so that doesn't make you a jerk. Just drop it, babe. It's okay." She says. She's in one of those rare, overly forgiving moods right now. He should be lucky.

Just as he starts to speak, probably another argument about how he was a jerk, the first big firework shoots off in the distance, but close enough to make their ears rattle when it booms up in the sky.

She looks up at him, smiling. "Happy Independence Day." She whispers in between big fireworks, kissing him just in time for another one to go BOOM.

...

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A/N: Awwwww. They "kissed and made up".

What would you like to see in the upcoming chapters? Please let me know in your reviews! I am one of those annoying writers that beg for your help to write this. I'm basically writing it for myself, because I like to pretend that Swingtown had more of a backstory, so it's like a community story lol. You help, I write. So thanks.

yeah.

anywayyyyy.

Leave your reviews and all that fun stuff and I'll hopefully be updating soon!

G.