Paige and Emily were fortunate that the apartment that they were renting had sat empty for a couple of years; more important, that it was empty when they had to move out of the dorm. Their landlords, the Minters, didn't mind letting them store some of their boxes there for the summer. When the school year ended, they packed up their room and dropped off some of the things that they wouldn't need or couldn't carry back home. They left the car and the keys with the Minters. It was the least that they could do, in view of how much they were getting from the arrangement.

Fred and Gloria met them for lunch. Gloria wanted to cook, but Paige and Emily insisted that they let them take them out. There was a seafood place that Fred and Gloria liked, and it was a hit with Paige and Emily, too. The Herndons had followed the women's team's progress over the season, now that they had a vested interest. They wanted all the details of the competition including where they stayed and what they ate.

"Next time you're up in the SeaTac area, let me know!" Fred volunteered. "I know some great restaurants up there!"

Emily explained that they really didn't have much free time when they traveled with the team. "Also," Paige added, "they're pretty strict about our diets when we're competing."

"But we've been talking about taking a road trip one of these summers, and we'll definitely have to give you a call to pick your brain."

"Well, he knows all of the best places from the Pacific to the Mississippi, don't you, Hon?" Gloria said, rubbing her husband's shoulder in pride.

Emily paid the bill and the Herndons gave them a ride back to Campus.

Paige and Emily had made plans to spend two weeks with Paige's dad before they headed to Rosewood for the remainder of the summer. Paige's dad met them at the airport in Philadelphia and let Paige drive back to the McCullers homestead while he sat in the back. Seeing the place, Emily thought that "mansion" was a better description. It was a bit overwhelming. She was definitely envious of the pool in the backyard.

Nick took the girls upstairs and showed Emily to the guest room. "Actually," Paige spoke up, "Emily's going to be in my room tonight." Emily's eyes almost burst out of their sockets. They hadn't discussed this. Of course, Nick McCullers knew that they were going to share an apartment back at Stanford, but Emily didn't know how he would react to knowing that they were sleeping in the same bed under his roof. She knew that it definitely wouldn't fly with Pam and Wayne Fields.

Nick responded in typical McCullers fashion. He looked first at Paige, then at Emily, then back to Paige to whom he said, "The bed in here is bigger," and bid them good night. Emily still didn't get Paige and Nick's method of communication. She was satisfied with the outcome, though.

Paige was tired. And cranky. Emily was tired and punchy. And something about sleeping in the same bed with her girlfriend, in her girlfriend's father's house, with his full knowledge had her giddy. She couldn't stop giggling. Cranky Paige wanted nothing more than to settle down and get some sleep, but, soon, she felt Emily's elbow in her ribs.

"Hey, Paige! Paige!"

"What?" Paige replied with a sigh.

"We should do it! We should totally do it in your dad's house!" Emily's giggles devolved into full out laughter, and she covered her mouth to try to muffle it.

"Emily, go to sleep. You're beyond punchy. It would be like taking advantage of a drunk person."

"No, I'm cool! I'm cool!" She fought off laughter. "I'm totally cool. I'll be good, see?" She was trying to keep a straight face.

"But you told me," she pointed out wearily, "that you could never have sex in this house, because you'd die of embarrassment if my Dad heard you screaming!"

"Ooh – big bad Paige McCullers!" she teased in an artificially deep voice. "Think you're going to make me scream?" Emily lost it again.

"Em, we're both tired. Let's just go to sleep. I promise you that I'll do you before we leave town."

"What about your map? Your bucket-list map! It's a lie right now! It's mocking us!"

Paige realized that she was lying in bed, trying her best to talk Emily Fields out of having sex with her.

Emily continued to press her case. She turned over and looked at Paige. "I'll show you my boobs," she said, pulling down her collar. Then, Paige lost it, laughing out loud. "See? You want this! You know that you want this," Emily sang. Paige grabbed Emily and started kissing her. Emily pulled away. "No! No! Not here! Not here! We have to do it in your bed!"

"Em, you seriously want to sneak into my bedroom so that we can make love in my bed?"

"Yessssssssssssssssss!" Emily hissed out in a whisper. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease! Take me to your bedroom and take me in your bed! I want to be able to say that you fucked me in your bed!"

"Okay, see? This is why I love you so much!"

Paige told Emily to wait for her signal. She was going to go first, to make sure that the coast was clear. If anything happened, she would just pretend that she was going to the bathroom. "Why can't I just go with you? He knows that we're sleeping in the same bed!"

"But what do I tell him if he asks me why we changed rooms? 'Emily wants to have sex in the bed that I grew up sleeping in?'"

"Okay, fine! We'll do it your way!"

Paige crept out into the hallway. She saw light peeking out underneath the door to her father's room. He was usually an early-to-bed guy. She tiptoed toward her room.

"Paige, is that you?"

"Yes, Dad."

"Did you need something?"

"Um, no. I'm just going to my room to get… a… thing."

"Okay. Well, you know where everything is. I'm still awake, if you or Emily need anything."

"Okay. Thanks, Dad."

Paige made it to her room and signaled for Emily to follow. She mimed the tiptoe posture, to indicate that Emily would have to be quiet. Emily had her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles. When she finally made it to the bedroom and Paige shut the door, she deadpanned, "'I'm just going to my room to get a thing!' That's how you won me over, McCullers! You're such a smooth talker!"

She started to giggle, but, all of a sudden, she found herself pressed up against the door being kissed hard by Paige, whose hands were roughly grabbing at her chest. This was supposed to be sneaky, dangerous, quickie sex, but, apparently, it was going to be dirty, rough, quickie sex. Emily was down. She yanked Paige's hair to pull her deeper into the kiss. Paige groaned, more in shock than in pain, and Emily held a finger to her lips, reminding her that she needed to be quiet. Paige didn't care anymore. She was too far gone.

Emily grabbed Paige by the hips and pulled her onto her thigh and began grinding away. It was a hot, humid summer night, and both of them had worn oversized shirts on top of boy shorts to bed. It didn't take long for things to get sweaty and wet. Emily's tongue darted out and licked a salty line of perspiration that was working its way down Paige's neck, biting down on the spot. Paige was moaning as she rotated her hips against Emily's warm, slick thigh. She managed to keep her mouth closed, but that did little to dampen the sound. Her hands were still riding roughshod over Emily's chest, straying down farther to her abdomen and hips. Emily was biting down on her shoulder, pinching her ass, scraping her spine with her fingernails. Paige welcomed every sensation. She put her arm around Emily's thighs and lifted her off of her feet. She carried her over to her desk, swiping everything that had been on top of it onto the floor with her free arm before she dropped Emily down on top of it.

Whoops. Her dad, hearing everything from her desktop crash to the floor called out to her. "I tripped! I'm all right!" she said before she turned her attention back to Emily.

Emily was insistent. "Not Here! Your BED!" She jumped up, wrapping her legs around Paige's waist, and Paige backed them into the bed. She sat down, still wrapped in Emily's legs. Emily took Paige's arms and raised them above her head. She reached for the hem of Paige's shirt and pulled it over Paige's head, disappointed to find that Paige hadn't put her piercing back in after the flight. She leaned in and kissed Paige, swallowing the moan that escaped when she pinched Paige's nipples.

Paige reached behind herself and grabbed Emily's calves, using them as a lever to push Emily onto her back. She dropped her hands down to Emily's thighs, holding them close to her body. This caused Emily's center to angle upwards, and Paige's tongue went to work on it through Emily's shorts. Emily squirmed under the assault of Paige's tongue, but she was effectively pinned in place by the powerful hands that were on her thighs. She was biting her forearm to suppress her screams.

Paige let go of Emily's thighs so that she could relieve her of her boyshorts. Emily threw her legs over Paige's shoulders, and Paige went to work kissing and caressing Paige's legs. Emily growled, "Fuck me hard!" and Paige obliged, sucking on Emily's clit as she curled her fingers inside. Emily sat up on her elbows and watched Paige work, smoothing her hands over Paige's shoulders to encourage her. Then, time stood still; Emily's thighs clenched like a vice around Paige's head, and she screamed out with both hands covering her mouth.

"Do we sleep here, or do we go back to the guest room?" Paige wondered out loud.

"Will he check?"

"I guess not. We probably want to get up before he does, though, in case he knocks on the door to the guest room in the morning."

"Yeah – or comes in here looking for 'a thing.'"

Paige reached over for the alarm clock on her nightstand. "Oh, fuck!"

"What's wrong?"

"I'm going to have to find a way to get these sheets washed without him finding out."

Before Paige fell asleep, she nudged her girlfriend. "Hey, Em?"

"Yeah, Paige?"

"I love these ideas that you come up with in bed late at night!"

Sure enough, the next morning, Nick McCullers banged on the door of the guest bedroom to let Paige and Emily know that there was coffee brewing downstairs. They pulled on their robes, freshened up, and met him at the kitchen table. He was sitting with his face hidden behind the newspaper. Emily wasn't surprised to see that he was old-school enough to read an actual printed newspaper.

They exchanged grunted "good mornings" with Paige's dad, poured themselves cups of coffee, and sat at the table. Nick had set out some bagels. His voice rang out from behind the newspaper. "So, did you find whatever it was that you needed from your room last night, Paige?"

"Yeah, Dad," she asserted. "I got exactly what I was looking for." Emily kicked her under the table.

"You raised up quite a ruckus. Why didn't you turn on the lights? It sounded as if you bumped into the desk and knocked everything onto the floor."

Emily fixated on the coffee in her cup. She pretended to blow on it, to cool if off. She knew that, if she looked at Paige or paid too close attention to her conversation, she wouldn't be able to keep herself from laughing. Part of her was enjoying watching Paige squirm.

"Yeah, I guess I should have. I thought that I knew exactly where it was, so I was just going to grab it and go, without turning on the lights."

"What startled you?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Something must've spooked you. I'm pretty sure that I heard screaming."

"Oh, that… that was…" She looked to Emily for help. Emily couldn't fight the smile on her face, but she refused to look at Paige. "Yeah, I, um…"

Her dad turned down the paper and revealed the huge smile on his face. "I'm not even going to ask what was wrong with the bed in the guest room." Emily buried her face in the crook of Paige's neck. Paige turned bright red. "I guess you know where we keep the laundry supplies," her dad laughed.

Nick McCullers finished his coffee and got up to get ready for work. "What have you girls got planned for today? No, wait. I don't think that I want to know!" Emily tried once again to disappear into Paige's neck. "Don't look so guilty, Emily! Paige's times were great last season. You two must be doing something right!" He roared with laughter as he exited the kitchen, leaving them to wallow in surprise and embarrassment.

"Oh my God, Paige! We're totally busted!"

"Whoa!" Paige was flabbergasted. "If he hadn't made that comment about my times, I would never have believed that he was my Dad!"

"That's it, Paige! No more sex in Pennsylvania!"

Paige laughed it off. "You say that, now!"

"I'm serious! Especially not in Rosewood! Because that is definitely not the way that Pam and Wayne Fields would react!"

Paige and Emily allowed themselves one day off from training. On their first day back, they only used the pool for lounging and relaxing, but, after that, they got laps in before the sun got too hot, either before or after their morning run. Nick had set up a weight room in the basement, and they put some time in there when it got to be too hot outside.

Paige wanted to make sure that she had her evenings free. She was, after all, back home because she wanted to build on the progress that she and her dad had made in their relationship last Christmas. So, she spent time with Emily while he was at work, leaving the evenings for time with him. At first, the three of them just sat in the family room after dinner and made the occasional comment about whatever obscure event was on ESPNU, the only channel that Nick McCullers seemed to know how to tune the TV to. Over the course of the two weeks, though, they found themselves talking and interacting more, as the TV got muted, and, eventually, turned off.

On Friday night, Paige whipped out her old Monopoly game, and Emily learned where Paige's competitive spirit had come from. Paige had only played the game with her friends when she was growing up. She wasn't even sure that her father knew the rules, but he knew – and exploited – every one. They spent much of the night trying to sabotage each other, and Emily just looked on, losing terribly but thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.

The next day, they picked up Pru and went to breakfast. Pru had heard about the new Nick McCullers, but she was skeptical. It didn't take long for her to notice the difference, and she kept mouthing "Wow!" to Paige as he cracked jokes, nudging her with his elbow, and was generally the life of the party.

Before their time with Paige's dad was up, he took them down to his office to show them off to some of his colleagues. He spoke of Emily almost as though they were related; like a proud father-in-law. One of his colleagues had a son in high school who swam, and, before they left, Paige and Emily went to see him in the pool and gave him some advice about technique and about the recruitment process.

When their two weeks ended, both Paige and Emily gave her dad tearful good-byes. "Let's get together soon," he said to both of them, and they knew that he meant it.