"An ulterior motive?" Bonnie repeated. Her mind leapt to the worst possible scenario. "You didn't set up the whole thing with Chahna, did you?"

"Good grief, no." Andy laughed. "I'm not that clever. I admit I suggested going to Rainbow in the hope you might meet someone, but I didn't have anyone in particular lined up."

That was a relief. "So if that wasn't your ulterior motive, what was?"

"What do you think of Eric?" Her ex-beard answered her question with a question.

"He has very strange taste in men." Bonnie deadpanned. She smiled when Andy responded with a histrionic swoon of betrayal. "Other than that, I like him a lot. He's smart, he's kind, and he's clearly besotted with you." She paused. "But I doubt that you brought me all the way to London just to ask my opinion of your boyfriend."

"I didn't ask your opinion of my boyfriend." Andy demurred. "I asked your opinion of my fiancé."

It took a few seconds for Bonnie's brain to compute what he was saying.

"Oh my god!" She leapt forward and swept her ex-boyfriend up in hug, her enthusiasm lifting him off his feet. "Congratulations! I'm so happy for you!"

"Oof." Andy laughingly complained. "Careful there, you amazon." He shook his head, then reached out to feel the hard muscle of her bicep. "Wow. If you were a man, Eric would have some competition for my affections."

"Sorry, but if I were a man, I'd still like women." Bonnie grinned, and let Andy's feet drop back to the floor. She glanced at her arms. "We used to do a lot of lifts and throws in our cheerleading routines in high school, and I demonstrate a lot of lifts in dance class. I'm stronger than I look."

"You don't say." Andy raised ironic eyebrows.

"I am really pleased for you guys." Bonnie kissed him on the cheek. "Have you set a date?"

"We haven't picked the specific weekend, yet. But we do know it will be July or August next year."

"Well, I expect an invitation as soon as you know."

"I think that can be arranged." Andy's tone was dry. "After all, it would be hard to have the wedding without the best man."

"Huh?" As responses went, it was not Bonnie's most articulate.

"Or maybe we could call you the Maid of Honor." Andy mused. "Whichever. The person who stands next to me at the ceremony, anyway."

"You want me?"

The Englishman seemed surprised at the question. "Who else would I ask? Eric will have his brother there for him. You're the closest thing I have to a sibling, so ... you do want to do it, I hope?"

"Of course!" Bonnie was vehement. "It's just a surprise."

"You think you're surprised." Andy rolled his eyes. "The big goofy schnitzel asked my father's permission to marry me before he actually popped the question. Do you have any idea what it's like to be woken up with the words 'I haf arsked your farzer for your harnd in marr-age'?" His impersonation owed more to Arnold Schwarzenegger than it did to Eric's actual voice.

"Sure, you complain now, but I bet you were excited when he asked."

"Euphoric." Andy wrinkled his nose. "Hard to believe that in a year I'm going to be a boring old married man."

"Somehow, I doubt you will be boring." Bonnie scoffed. She paused as a thought occurred to her. "How did your dad take it? I assume you spoke to him after you said 'yes'."

"I did." Andy's gaze slid away for a moment, then returned to her. "He was okay with it. He likes Eric, and I think he was pleased that Eric came to ask his permission. That's the kind of old-fashioned thing he appreciates."

"But?" Bonnie prompted. She could tell that there was something Andy hadn't told her. "Is he still having trouble with the fact that you're gay?"

Andy shook his head. "No." Then he paused and shrugged. "Well, yes. But he's trying to be accepting. What I need to talk to you about isn't really about him, though. It's about something I realized while I was talking to him."

"Whatever it is, you can tell me." Bonnie took Andy's hands in her own. "You know I would do anything for you, right?"

To her surprise, Andy winced. "Don't make any promises until you know what I want." He warned. "This is huge. Gargantuan. Colossal. And I want you to know that I don't expect an answer today, or even this week or month. Take as long as you need. And whatever your answer, it won't change the fact that I want you to be my best man."

"Okay Andy, you're freaking me out a little here ..." Bonnie gave a nervous lick of her lips, and tried to lighten the mood. "What do you need from me that requires all this build-up? A kidney?"

"... an egg."

"He wants ya t' have his baby?" Joss's eyes were wide.

"It's not like he asked to impregnate me there and then." Bonnie did her best to sound nonchalant. The truth was, even four days after Andy had raised the matter, she didn't know how she felt about it. "But in three or four years, assuming all goes well, Eric and Andy would like to have a child."

"And they want ya t' be the birth mother." Joss actually laid down her spoon, a sure sign the conversation had her full attention. The two women sat at the small table in Bonnie's apartment. They'd been just about to start dessert when Bonnie had blurted out Andy's request.

The former cheerleader nodded. "Or at least to provide the ovum. Andy thought they could organize a surrogate if I didn't want to carry the child myself."

"Would ya do that? The surrogate, I mean?"

Bonnie shook her head. "No. If I agreed to do this ... and I don't know yet if I will ... then I would do it all."

"When d'ya need to decide?"

"Oh, not until they're ready to start a family." The brunette took a sip of soda. "Andy was very insistent that I had years to make a decision. He only asked now because he has this strange concept I might need some time to get used to the idea." She smiled at her own sarcasm.

"Would ya say 'yes', if ya had t' decide right now?"

Bonnie shook her head. "No, and I'm sure Andy knows that. In three or four years ... " She couldn't imagine saying yes, even then. On the other hand, a week ago she couldn't have imagined she'd spend two passionate nights with a woman fifteen years her elder. "... I don't know. It's pretty huge. Would you?"

Joss considered the question.

"No." She said at last. "Well ... I might donate an ovum, fer a real close friend. But if I carried a child fer nine months, I don't think I could give 'em up fer someone else t' raise."

"Andy said I could be as involved in the child's life as I wanted ..." Bonnie mused. "... and that he hoped I would want to be a part of it. But if they're living in the UK, and I'm still here, that'll be hard."

"Wow. I feel like an ass." Joss propped her chin on the heel of her hand.

"You do?" Bonnie was confused by the apparent non-sequitur.

The younger woman grinned. "Sorry, guess that came across as a bit random, huh? I just mean ... I remember tellin' ya how I wanna have kids. But I jus' realized I never thought about stuff like how much the guy I got to ... uh, 'help out' ... should have t' do with the kid's life."

"Well, I guess with sperm banks, you wouldn't need to worry about it, if you don't want to." Bonnie didn't know much about the mechanics of such places, but it had to be easier to get anonymous sperm than an anonymous ovum.

"True. But I guess if ya find a donor ya really trust, it's a bit like yer child has an extra parent watching out for 'em, right?" Joss picked up her fork again and tried a mouthful of the bread and butter pudding Bonnie had made. "Oh man."

Bonnie grinned. "I guess it's good?"

"Good?" The Montanan snorted, and ladled up another spoonful. "I swear, if the way to a man's heart really is through his stomach, then I don't know how ya haven't got 'em linin' up round the street to be with ya. Wednesday night is always the best meal of my week."

"You're not that hopeless in the kitchen." Bonnie pointed out. "The chili you did was really good."

Joss waved the comparison away. "Sure, anythin' where it's jus' 'stick a buncha stuff in a pot and apply heat', I can do. Real cookin', not so much."

"You design rocket engines. I refuse to believe that bread and butter pudding is too complex for you to handle."

"Yeah, but I'm a butch. I can't be wastin' my time in the kitchen." Joss delivered the line with all apparent seriousness, but then took one look at the brunette's expression and chuckled. "I'm jus' messin' with ya. Though I have actually met people who expected me t' be like that. They see how I look and figure they know what I'm tryin' to be."

Like I did. "So you don't think of yourself as being a butch?"

"No. I'm just bein' me. That happens to mean havin' muscles and wearin' jeans and boots. An' I guess I come across as pretty cocky." Joss gave a half-grin when Bonnie unconsciously nodded at the last observation, but it faded as she continued. "Butch. Femme. Top. Bottom. They're labels we stick on people because we think we know who they are, but that don't mean we're right."

Something about the younger woman's tone niggled at Bonnie, and she put down her spoon. "Is everything okay?"

"What? Oh. Yeah." Joss suddenly seemed to find her bowl very interesting.

"You're still crap at lying, I see." The brunette's frank observation prompted a snort of surprised laughter from the Montanan.

"Apparently."

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay." Bonnie offered.

"It's just ... personal stuff. Relationship stuff."

"Are you and Reba having problems?"

"No." The denial was instinctive. Joss sighed and bit her lip. "Not really."

Bonnie didn't say anything, simply waiting patiently. After a long silence, the Montanan spoke again, keeping her eyes on the table.

"Ninety-five ... ninety-nine percent of it is good. It's just ... well, you know where Reba and I met." Joss glanced up slightly, waiting for Bonnie's nod, then continued. "I guess you could say that Reba's a bit more ... 'lifestyle' than me." She gave a short laugh. "There's another goddamn label. Even I do it."

"We all do." High School Bonnie had been good at labels. Dork. Loser. Nerd. Jock. You're still good at them. Now you just turn them on yourself. Coward. Failure.

"This mornin', Reba accused me of just 'playing' at bein' submissive." Joss frowned. "I'm not playin' at bein' anything. Not pretendin' t' be somethin' I'm not. I'm just me."

That sounded to Bonnie like more than a one percent problem, or even a five percent problem. But that doesn't mean it can't be fixed.

"You need to talk to Reba about this, Joss." Bonnie suspected the younger woman knew this already, but wasn't sure how to do it. She tried to get her thoughts in order. "It sounds like Reba wants something from you that she feels she isn't getting. I don't know the details, obviously. And I probably shouldn't. That's a private matter for the two of you. But I think you need to talk to her, and find out what she thinks is missing. Either it's something you feel you can give her, or it isn't."

"And if it isn't?" Joss's voice had a ragged tone to it. "I really like her, Bonnie."

The brunette reached across the table and gently laced her fingers with Joss's. "I can see you do. And I hope you work it out. I want you to be happy." It was curiously liberating to say those words and really mean them, without any frustrated desires eating away at her. I may not be able to be anything more than a friend to Joss, but I'm going to be the best friend I can be. "It's a two way street. You need to find out what Reba wants, and give her as much as you can. But Reba also needs to ask what you want, and give as much of it to you as she can. Hopefully you'll find a way for both of you to be happy. But if not ... well, I'm afraid that when two people have mutually incompatible needs, the relationship is not going to work out." She paused, deliberately seeking out the most over the top example as a means of lightening the mood. "I mean, as much as Andy and I love each other, we'd fail utterly as a couple unless I suddenly grew a penis." And of course I'd need to be into guys. But it didn't seem the time to mention that.

As hoped, Joss gave a soft chuckle. "We'll certainly have a problem if that's what she wants from me. But I get yer point. I'll talk to her. Thanks."

"No problem. I hope you guys work things out." It felt good to help a friend.

Author's Note: I originally wrote Bonnie and Andy's conversation about his desire to be a father, and his hope she would help ... but it felt very emotionally strained, and tonally not right for this story. Also, it's been a few chapters since Joss made an appearance. So I switched things around and wrote the 'four days later' scene instead. It works better for me, and it allows me to introduce another thread. We'll learn more about Joss and Reba, later.

Next chapter will be a bit different, structurally, than what has gone before.