"You did what?"

"I told that Possible woman exactly what I thought of her." Lorraine affirmed, with a very self-satisfied expression. "Trying to corrupt you like this. She should be ashamed. Do you know, she had the audacity to act like she didn't know what I was talking about!"

"What. Exactly. Did. You. Say." Bonnie stood, trembling with anger, as she gritted out every word. The brunette's fury finally seemed to penetrate Lorraine's smug righteousness. For a moment, the older woman actually seemed to have a flicker of self-doubt.

"I ... I told her I was sure she was proud of herself, leading young women astray -"

"Young women?" Bonnie didn't care that interrupting was rude. As far as she was concerned, Lorraine deserved neither patience nor courtesy. "Did you mention my name?"

Lorraine made a small grimace of distaste. "Well, of course not. I know she's the one who should be blamed for all this. I wouldn't want to publically shame you for one lapse in judgment, however foolish. It's not like you're actually one of these degenerates. You're the victim, here." She gave the brunette what was probably meant to be a sympathetic smile.

Bonnie stared silently at the older woman for several seconds; a pause long enough for Lorraine's smile to slip away. Then Bonnie pushed her chair back with a furious motion of her arm, and stalked toward the older woman. Her expression was so grim that Lorraine actually backed away, as if fearing violence.

Bonnie, however, had no such intentions. She stopped a half pace away from the other woman, folded her arms across her chest and stared the now slightly-pale Lorraine right in the eyes. "Let me make something perfectly clear. I am one of those 'degenerates'. I'm a lesbian. A dyke. A genuine, one hundred percent homosexual. I always have been. I was gay before I met Joss. I was gay before I met you. I've known I was a lesbian since I was in twelve. This was not some experiment or mistake. This is who I am."

"But -"

"But I hid that part of myself." Bonnie spoke right over the top of Lorraine's attempted interjection. "Because I was scared of how I would be treated if people knew who I really was. And based on what you've just done, I had a right to be worried."

"You can't be a lesbian." Lorraine was insistent. "You've had boyfriends!"

Bonnie gave a bitter laugh. "And Rock Hudson was married. Just like him, I used other people to hide who I truly was. I wish I hadn't done it - it wasn't fair to the guys I was with. I'm ashamed of the way I used them. But I am not ashamed of being gay -" She broke off, a smile suddenly breaking out on her lips as she realized; perhaps for the first time in her life; that those words were true. So true, she felt the need to repeat them. "I am not ashamed of being gay. It's not something to be ashamed of, and nothing you or anyone else can say about it will change that. I am who I am. You can either accept that, or you can get out of my life."

Lorraine was silent for a long moment, then she lifted her chin, gave a sniff of disapproval, and marched out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Left alone in her office, Bonnie walked back to her desk and slumped into her chair. She sat silently for nearly a minute, not thinking about anything, trying to let the tension ease out of her body.

Once she was merely on edge, rather than thrumming with tension, Bonnie opened the 'Joss' folder in her email and checked the weekly schedule the Montanan had sent her. A quick glance at the time showed that Joss had just started a class. Lorraine must have ambushed her right before her lecture.

Joss's class would finish at twelve. Then she had an hour to herself before heading to NASA for the afternoon. Bonnie was also free from noon until one, but this wasn't a conversation she wanted to have at the university. Joss's notes said she had a gym class from six until seven. Bonnie herself would be finished for the day at four.

Taking a deep breath, the brunette rang Joss's cell. As expected, the call went straight to voice mail. "Hey, it's me. I know we already planned dinner for Wednesday, but ... well, something's come up that I really need to talk to you about. So, can I interest you in lasagna two days early? I could have it ready for say ... seven thirty tonight? Or later is fine, if that works better for you. I'll be up till late. Give me a call on my cell to let me know."

Lasagna was exactly the right meal to be making, under the circumstances. It had just the right amount of details to get right that Bonnie had to pay attention, but was forgiving enough that if her distraction got the better of her, the meal would not be ruined. So she cooked the mince, monitoring it closely as it bubbled away with the tomatoes and other ingredients. Once that had simmered enough to thicken properly, she made the béchamel sauce, adding a generous helping of parmesan to give it some extra zest. Which I guess officially means it's a mornay. Then she layered the mince, sauce and pasta – fresh, not dried – into a baking pan, and liberally coated it with yet more parmesan.

A glance at the clock showed it was just after six. Joss wasn't arriving until eight – the Montanan had called Bonnie's cell to say that she'd need the extra time to shower and take her gym clothes home before she came over. "I've had a strange morning." The younger woman had said, without elaborating. "And I think I'm going to work out extra hard tonight to try and clear my head." Then she chuckled. "And trust me, you don't want to be near me or my gym clothes after I've been sweating for an hour."

Bonnie wasn't so sure about that. She loved it when the human body glistened. There was something vibrant and primal about it. Not that that mattered, right now. What did matter was finding a way to occupy herself for two hours. As she normally did when she had time to kill, she rummaged through her kitchen. The lasagna would be a fine entrée, but she hadn't thought about dessert. If I want to keep to the Italian theme, there's always Tiramisu. Bonnie did a web search for a recipe and looked it over. She would have to make the ladyfingers from scratch, and use a couple of substitutions for the other ingredients. It wouldn't exactly be a traditional recipe, but in theory she could do it. And it would keep her busy for another hour, after which she could wash everything up by hand – that would use another fifteen minutes – before taking a shower and getting changed.

And this way, I'll either have a nice dessert to share with Joss, or something to console myself with after she storms out.

".. minutes for the lasagna to rest and then I'll serve up." Bonnie pulled a can of root beer from the fridge. It was regular, not diet, part of a special stash she'd bought just for Joss. "And if you're still hungry after that, there's Tiramisu for dessert."

Joss made salivating noises that suggested her surname should be 'Stoppable' rather than 'Possible'. Then the Montanan chuckled. "It's a darn good thing I hit the gym earlier, or ya would have t' roll me outta here tonight."

"I like to cook." Bonnie did her best to sound casual. She poured the root beer into a glass and passed it across the counter to the younger woman. "And it's nice to have my cooking appreciated."

"Well if the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, then you are set." Joss pronounced, before taking a sip of her drink. Setting the glass down, she leaned forward, a teasing grin pulling at the edges of her mouth. "Speakin' of which, you're quite the dark horse, sneakin' off to Vegas on the sly. How long has that been goin' on? Oh!" Joss snapped her fingers. "Is the reason you wanted t' talk tonight somethin' to do with yer secret lover?" Her eyes suddenly widened. "Shit, he didn't propose, did he?"

The question was so unexpected; not to mention so utterly, utterly off the mark; that Bonnie burst into hysterical laughter.

"I guess that's a 'no'." Joss seemed completely unperturbed by Bonnie's reaction. For some reason, that set Bonnie off again.

"I'm sorry." The older woman apologized at last, when she finally got herself under control. "I'm ... I'm a bit on edge." She took a deep breath. "I ... need to tell you something, and I'm worried you'll be angry."

Joss frowned as she picked up her glass once more. "Angry?"

"Yeah." Bonnie swallowed. "I ... I've done this twenty different ways in my head, and none of them seem adequate ..."

"Hey." Joss reached across the counter with her free hand and held Bonnie's fingers in her own. "Just do it straight up; fast and painless, like rippin' off a bandage."

Bonnie took a shaky breath. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Hit me with your best shot." The Montanan took a sip of her drink. "I can take it."

"I'm gay."

Joss spat root beer all over the counter.

Author's Note: That's not really a cliffhanger, right? Because that would be four in a row, which I think is against the Geneva convention.

Mainly I ended it here because I think Joss and Bonnie's "outing" conversation deserves a chapter of its own. So that's what is coming next time.

Bonnie's appreciation for a post-workout body is based on a line from the show ("don't shower, I like it when you glisten"). She says it on the phone to Brick, but conspicuously, she says it when she knows Kim is listening in. For the purposes of this story, that's not a coincidence :)