Be Mine Ch3

"Uuuurrrrrgggghhh..."

Stephanie wasn't sure where she was, but wherever it was, the room would not stop spinning. She tuned over and blinked repeatedly until things became much clearer and she began to realise she was in her bedroom. She spotted a bottle of water by the bed and took a drink, only to spit it out right away as it wasn't water, but vodka.

Deciding a shower was the best course of action to regain her bearings, she sat up, at which point it felt like someone detonated a bomb in her head and she laid down again for a minute.

Finally getting to her feet, she stood and tried to walk, only to cry out in pain as she stood on something. She kept going anyway, only making it another step, before she caught sight of herself in the mirror, what she saw was not good. Her hair was a mess, with something stuck in it, she grabbed at it and threw it on the bed. Her make up was all over the place, her lipstick was smudged, her mascara had run and she resembled a punk rocker of some kind.

She looked lower, still a mixture of numb and in intense pain all at once, and saw she was naked, except for the small pink thong she put on the night before. Then the memories started coming back.

"She's got to love what she sees when she unwraps me."

Stephanie screamed, pulled the thong off of her as quickly as she could and launched it across the room. She then realised that the entire room had been trashed. She tried to piece it together but she couldn't. The night had been magical. She was having a great time. Nikki had had a great time. A great time together. Nikki had said how she was out with her, and only her. That muscle head who tried to steal her got told that to his face. She turned him down and sent him packing. Nikki did that for her. She said so.

"I came with you didn't I?"

That was what she said. She came out with her. This beautiful woman wanted to be with her, but as soon as she went for a kiss, something happened. Stephanie felt a tear on her cheek as the sight of Nikki running from her was all she could see.

"Don't go Nikki, I don't want you to go."

"Get away from me, you, you dyke!"

Even now, it didn't make sense. Why? Things between them had been great, and they were about to get even better. Stephanie realised that was the last thing she remembered from that night, and could not recall the near entire bottle of vodka she poured down her throat after getting home. If she had, the state of the room would be easy to figure out.

The water jets felt like nails, but they helped as she hoped. She put her best efforts into her clothes, hair and make up once again, much more conservative, it was work, but she left a button undone on her blouse on purpose, hoping a certain someone would enjoy the view. Maybe she would see what she gave up last night. Maybe she would want to try and have another night out together. No, not maybe, she would. She just had to talk to her. Nikki wouldn't refuse to talk would she?

That question would repeat itself in Stephanie's head all the way to work, she drove faster than she ever had, lucky not to get pulled over. She nearly knocked two people over as she entered the building, not that she cared, but as she crossed the lobby, she stopped abruptly before reaching the elevator. Nikki was standing there, clearly waiting for her. Stephanie couldn't help smiling at seeing her. Nothing had changed. This woman was pure perfection. She wanted to take her in her arms right then and there, but Nikki had a very sad look on her face.

"Steph, can we talk please?"

Despite the expression on Nikki's face, and indeed, the tone of her voice, the question set Stephanie's heart a flutter. It was what she'd hoped for, she couldn't wait as Nikki led her back outside.

Nikki hadn't slept a wink that night. The rage she first felt had eroded away very quickly during the taxi ride home. When she got home, she too was in tears. But not for the same reason as Stephanie. She had been overcome by guilt.

"Stephanie, I am so so sorry. What I did was unspeakable."

"Oh Nikki, honey, it's ok, you didn't do anything wrong. I mean, I felt awful to see you run away from me, but that was one moment. I want to forget that happened."

"I'm glad to hear you say that, calling you a dy... I mean, calling you that word, it was inexcusable, nothing makes that right. You have to understand, I'm not homophobic or anything like that." Stephanie felt a pain at that."

"Nikki please, I appreciate that you want to apologise, but I cannot be mad at you."

"But you should be. Nothing excuses my words. And I think I may have given you the wrong idea."

"What are you talking about?" Stephanie really didn't understand what Nikki meant.

"I had had a lot to drink last night, I didn't realise what was going on, I didn't realise that you were making moves on me." Stephanie went red and couldn't help a little smile, but Nikki wasn't smiling back.

"If I had, I would have said something, that's why I shouldn't have been mad at you for kissing me, why I can't be mad at you. I must have led you on in a big way. I must have because of the way you kissed me, I mean you are a good kisser, but I shouldn't have let it happen in the first place." Nikki felt like she'd made her point, but she had lost Stephanie at 'good kisser'. Getting no response she continued.

"It was a great night till that point, I should have realised you were a les..."

"Nikki!" Stephanie interrupted, sounding worked up. "I get what you're saying, I really do, but nobody knows what you know. I need it to stay that way. It's best, really for both of us."

"Steph, there's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Don't say that. It's too personal. I'm happy you know, but don't tell anyone else. Please."

"Ok, if that's what you want, I won't tell the guys. Or anyone else, but this isn't because of what I said was it? I really meant my apology, I shouldn't have said that, I don't care if you're a..." Nikki stopped herself in case of upsetting her again. "I want to put it behind us and be friends." That snapped Stephanie back to a state that made Nikki feel relieved.

"That means so much to me. I feel like I gave some making up to do too. Why don't you come to my house for dinner Saturday night? I'm not saying I can rival the food at Santino's, but I can cook a pretty mean steak. If you'll let me?" Stephanie made puppy dog eyes at Nikki, which she took as her attempt to convince her.

"Well, I do like steak, but not to much alcohol ok?"

"Just one bottle of wine with the meal. I promise. Does that mean you'll come?" Stephanie held her breath. Nikki smiled.

"Yes, I'd love to, thank you for the invitation, and for understanding. We had better get in, the guys will be wondering."

"You go ahead, I'll get us all coffee, I could really do with one."

"Ok, that's good of you, can I get a cappuccino?"

"Anything you want, see you in a minute." Nikki went inside an Stephanie went around the corner towards the coffee shop. She stopped on the corner and checked her make up in the compact mirror she carried. The words poured out of her mouth like water.

"Oh my darling, I knew you didn't run away from me, just around, and back towards me. I knew things would work out. I knew you were the one, and I knew you felt the same about me. I'm going to treat you so well, you'll never want to be away from me again." Stephanie scowled at a woman giving her a look of confusion, put the mirror away and went into the coffee shop.

"Damn, if you are going to come in with coffee for us, I could make peace with you being a bit late, but thanks Steph." AJ said taking his coffee with a smirk."

"You'll be wearing it if you keep that up, smart ass." Steph said as she sat down. Nikki breathed a sigh of relief at she seemed to be ok after everything.

"Smart ass? Dumb ass more like, don't give her grief when it's free coffee." Seth got a ball of paper thrown at his head for that comment.

"Right, so we've got just a couple of days to get this sorted right? What's the next step?" Nikki asked, keen to get to work.

"We need to...get...the boards...excuse me a second." Seth had a big grin and the others spotted Paige coming over.

"Hi everyone" Paige shared Seth's smile as she leaned over for a kiss, that turned into heavy kissing quickly.

"Geez, Would you two join me in a loud throat clearing please?" AJ asked, to nods. "One, two, three..."

"A-Hem!" The volume had the desired effect, and broke the two apart.

"Yeah, um, sorry. I should be going." Paige looked sorry, yet not sorry.

"Probably a good idea, you don't want to get fired." Stephanie said in a tone that wouldn't arouse suspicion, smiling. Paige did her best not to react.

"Yeah, sorry again, see you later babe?"

"After that? You better believe it." Seth stole one more quick kiss before she left.

"So, the night went well?" AJ said, trying to be nonchalant, pretending to write at the same time.

"Yes it did, very well, and even better this morning." Seth sounded proud of himself. "I guess I'm just Gods gift to women, she was all over me, like she wanted sex in the middle of the restaurant. We didn't even make the second stop, she wanted to go back to mine instead. I asked if everything was OK, she said it was, I didn't want to keep I was hardly going to say no, she's a lot of fun, and a stunner!"

"Well lucky you." AJ said. "His date went well, what about you two?"

"What?!" Stephanie shrieked, luckily not too loudly. Suddenly she felt that panic again. Nikki had blabbed. Told them everything, about the kiss, about her running, the making up, that they had another date planned for the weekend. They were going to hate her for it. She had promised not to, but she still did? Why would she betray her trust?

"You two went to dinner right? AJ looked surprised at her reaction.

We did, it was a great meal, you should try it. Paige would love it Seth." Nikki said. Stephanie realised she hadn't said anything. Of course she hadn't. She wouldn't go against her, she respects her, she must love her, nothing else made sense in her head.

"We went dancing too, Nikki is a wonderful dancer, made my night." Stephanie realised she'd been quiet a bit too long.

"Well, until some moron tried to hit on me, Stephanie sorted him out, gave him a knee to the nuts that'd make you both cry." They all laughed at that, three of them at the story, but one remembered what she'd do to protect someone so special to her.

The rest of the day, and indeed the week, was mostly business, but as Friday night came, the job was done, the pitch was ready and they went home for a well deserved rest. Except for Stephanie, who knew she had a lot of work to do to get things ready for Nikki's arrival the next night.

When Nikki got out of the taxi, she couldn't help but marvel at the area she was in, it was further from the city than she expected, but she could see why Stephanie would want to go to the extra trouble to get to work everyday. It was a beautiful neighbourhood. Every house looked brand new, but the design was old, so they were well maintained. The sidewalks were clean, the trees were fenced in and the sunset in the distance made it look all the more amazing. The houses themselves were spaced quite far apart, with large front yards. Stephanie had a lawn out front with rows of flowers lining the path. Nikki was glad she chose to bring chocolates for dessert instead of flowers as a thank you for the meal, nothing she could have bought would have been to the standard, she saw that Stephanie must have taken good care of them.

She knocked on the door, feeling a little nervous, she knew she would after the events of last time, but they had been put behind them. She reminded herself that she was doing this to try and put the kiss, her reaction, her near unforgivable words, all of it into the past and start again with Stephanie, hopefully build a successful working relationship, and a solid friendship.

"Nikki, you made it! And you look amazing! Come in, come in!"

She had no idea what she was in for.

A/N: Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm continually grateful to all of you out there. I'm trying to get these out as soon as I can, but work gets in the way. The response is still way above expectation, thank you.