The Studio

Tegan, Sara, and Ted spend the day at Chris Walla's studio

The three friends took a cab to Chris' studio. Tegan was nervous, she didn't know what it would be like to be in a professional studio, and the idea of it scared her. Sara was excited, she had never recorded any of her songs, and she was bouncing in her seat hoping the taxi driver would speed up so they'd get there faster. And Ted, well, he just wanted to play guitar again. It was his favorite thing when he was growing up. Watching people like Billy Corgan playing on stage inspired him when he was a teenager. But he hadn't played much in the last five years. He knew he'd be rusty, but he didn't care.

The cab pulled up to the studio and let out a low whistle, "The Hall of Justice. Nirvana did some recording at this place." He turned to the three people in the back, "Good luck in there." They all smiled back at him and Ted handed him the fair.

"Oh my god!" Tegan was almost breathless, "This is that studio? We'll be so disappointing to them. We have nothing on Nirvana."

"Relax Tegan." Sara smiled at her, "That was over a decade ago, and Chris didn't own the place back then. We don't have to worry about being better than Cobain just yet."

Tegan laughed and agreed, "True, we just have to be as good as Death Cab." She rubbed her now sweaty hands on her jeans and then shoved them into her pockets.

"You guys are at least as good as them." Ted tried to comfort the obviously nervous Tegan.

"Thanks Ted." Sara flashed him a brilliant, excited, smile.

They walked up to the front door and opened it. There was a woman, roughly the same age as Tegan and Sara, sitting behind a little desk.

"You guys must be Tegan and Sara." She smiled up at them, peering over her dark framed glasses.

"Yeah…th-that's us." Tegan could feel her breath becoming less and less steady.

"Just sign in here and walk through that door behind me." She smiled reassuringly, she'd seen a lot of young musicians walk through that door. Some of them even came out happy, cheering about getting to come back and record again.

"Thank you." Sara smiled as she finished signing them in.

"Have fun in there." She smiled back at the three friends.

Sara led the way with Tegan right behind her. They walked through the door and into the studio.

"Hey guys." Chris stood up from his seat at the mix board, "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise." Sara shook his hand and looked around, "This place is nice."

"Yeah?" He looked around quickly, "I had to redo a lot of this stuff when I took over last year."

"It looks good." Sara smiled at him.

"So," He smiled back at them, "Are you ready to get started?"

Sara nodded, "What do we do? Should I just grab a guitar and sing?"

"Well, first, I'd like to see some of the songs you've brought in. Just so I know what to expect. Then I'll have you play and sing one of them for me. If I like it I'll work on adding some sort of beat to it. How's that sound?"

"Sounds great!" She smiled and handed him a binder with a collection of her songs in it.

"Glad to see you came prepared." He quickly went through the first song, "This looks promising." He turned to the next one, and made similar comments about all the songs he looked at. After roughly a half an hour he set the binder down, "I'd like to hear the first one. If you don't mind."

"Of course!" Sara smiled and grabbed her binder, "Should I head into the recording booth?"

"Just grab that guitar behind you and play me a verse and chorus here. And then you can go into the booth and I'll work a bit of my magic." He smiled at her and motioned for her to grab a guitar.

"Okay, well then…I guess I'll sing." Sara started to get nervous.

"If I don't recover

Sell this house and find

Something lost outside your window"

After she finished singing through to the chorus she stopped and looked around at the faces of the three other people there.

"That was great Sara!" Tegan spoke for the first time since walking to the back room.

"Yeah." Ted nodded in agreement.

"Definitely," Chris smiled at her, "So, do you want to hop in the booth and give me a stripped down recording of it?"

"Of course!" Sara walked to the booth door.

"If the rest of today goes as well as it's starting to," He smiled triumphantly, "I might not need to hear you guys tomorrow before my decision."

Sara smiled nervously and went into the recording booth. She heard Chris' voice coming through into the room, guiding her through the process. Having her set up the mics that she would need for the basic recording, and then she did it. She played her song, beginning to end, and Chris gave her a thumbs up.

"Alright, come and join us out here again." She hastily agreed and walked back to her waiting friends.

"I'd like to hear something of Tegan's now." He said after talking briefly about the song that Sara had just played, "You have song on your newest EP called Dark Come Soon. I'd love to have you go record it for me. I already have some ideas of what I'll do to improve the song."

"Okay." Tegan mumbled and grabbed one of the guitars that lined the wall. She walked into the booth and went up to the mics that Sara had set up. She was too nervous; she couldn't even remember how the song went. She stood in front of the mic for a few seconds without saying, or singing, anything.

"Baby," She heard Sara's voice come through the speakers, "You'll do fine, okay? And no matter what, you'll be my bella." Tegan felt reassured by Sara's voice.

She started out a little shaky but got her confidence after a few lines. She walked back out of the booth feeling relieved at how well it went.

"That was good." Chris smiled at her, "You had a lot of emotion, and it really works for this kind of song. And that will make it a lot easier for me to know what to add."

They spent the rest of the day repeating the process over and over. Basically creating demo versions of their songs in a professional studio. Ted and some point had grabbed and electric guitar and after playing it while sitting on the couch Chris had asked him to plug it in and give him a few riffs. Ted nervously agreed and played a few songs that he remembered learning years ago. Chris was impressed and had said that he could work with Ted's talent and style. He finished up the night saying that when they came in on Saturday he would have some music for Ted to play.

They called a cab and went back to the hotel. They were exhausted form the long day of singing and went straight to their rooms. After taking a shower Tegan felt refreshed, and even a little energetic.

"Come on Sara, let's do something."

"Yeah," Tegan thought that Sara was agreeing with her, "Let's sleep."

"Oh come on!" She whined and pawed at Sara's leg, "Let's at least put on a movie."

"Go ahead." Sara stood up and walked over to her small suitcase, "But I'm still gonna try and sleep."

"Fine." Tegan pouted and flipped through the channels. It didn't look like anything good was on so she turned toward Sara in defeat. She started to talk but just ended up mumbling something as she watched Sara pulling of her shirt revealing the beautiful skin underneath it. Sara had her back turned and hadn't noticed. She pulled down her pants and pulled a pair of pajama shorts and a t shirt out of her suitcase. She turned and walked toward the bed, noticing Tegan's unwavering stare.

"Like what you see?" She chuckled as Tegan barely nodded, a little drool forming at the corner of her mouth.

Tegan slowly walked around the bed so she could stand behind Sara, "Please just wear the shorts. I think you'll look hot in them."

Sara laughed and pulled them up, "So, you want me topless, eh?"

"That's exactly what I want." Tegan nodded and leaned in for a kiss. Sara rushed forward to meet Tegan's lips, kissing her passionately. As they kissed Tegan worked on the clasp of Sara's bra. They broke the kiss briefly as Sara lifted Tegan's shirt over her head, immediately reconnecting when the shirt was off. Tegan softly pushed Sara, urging her to lie on the bed, and Sara obliged. Tegan started to kiss her way down, stopping at her breasts, taking one in each hand and trailing kisses all the way down from in between Sara's breasts to the hem of her shorts. Tegan took her right hand down and slowly pulled down the pajamas, taking the boy shorts with them. She smirked as Sara moaned in delight. She then rested her hands on Sara's stomach while she kissed the inside of her left thigh.

"More Tegan, I need more than that." Sara murmured breathlessly.

"Ask and you'll receive." Tegan smirked up at her.

"Please Tegan," She panted out the words, "Fuck me in celebration of how well things went to day."

Tegan smiled up at her, "Of course." She went back to giving Sara's thighs kisses and small bites. Sara's scent was starting to drive her wild and she couldn't hold back any longer. She gave Sara's slit a playful lick and then she grinned up at Sara as she let out a low barely audible moan. Then she used her thumb to rub along the top of the opening as she continued working with her tongue.

"Oh god!" Sara breathed and lifted her head so she could watch Tegan. She didn't keep her head up long, as soon as Tegan thrust inside her with her tongue Sara couldn't keep from letting her head fall back against the bed.

Tegan kept thrusting her tongue in and out; pausing every few seconds to give Sara's slit another full lick. Sara was now moaning and gripping the bed trying not to shout out loud, aware that Ted was sleeping in the room on the other side of the wall.

"Jesus, Tegan!" She moaned out, just above a whisper, "I'm getting close."

Tegan removed her tongue, looking up at Sara's beautiful face; she quickly replaced her tongue with two fingers. It didn't take much longer for Sara to get there.

"I'm comi-" Sara started but finished by biting down on the bed sheets, not wanting her scream to be audible. It didn't help much, her cry of ecstasy easily breached the wall between them and Ted. She hoped to God that he hadn't heard. She looked down and saw Tegan licking off her fingers. She moaned again at the sight, "Kiss me."

Tegan obliged, sliding her tongue into Sara's waiting mouth, letting Sara taste herself. Tegan pulled away from the kiss after what felt like several minutes, "Now I'm tired." She smiled sleepily at Sara, "Are you ready to sleep?"

"I was exhausted when we got into the room," Sara smiled back at her, "Let's cuddle under the sheets and share our sweet dreams, bella."

Tegan's smile widened, "I shall dream of my beautiful angel. And maybe tonight my dreams will explain why she's on earth instead of in the heavens with all of her kind."

"That's my secret," Sara smiled and played along, "I might never tell you why I came down here, but it might have something to do with a certain beautiful woman."

They got under the covers and wrapped their arms and legs around each other, face to face, both with peaceful smiles; it was a picture perfect moment. Tegan kissed Sara gently on the lips and fell asleep immediately.

That night she dreamt of nothing but Sara. Gabriel never showed up that night, something about Sara kept him at bay. She didn't even think about Jenn like she had the day before. It was just Sara, just her and Sara together, sharing a beautiful life. She smiled in her dreams, knowing that's what they were, but knowing that her life was even better, because in her real life she could feel Sara's warmth, smell her sweet scent, and kiss her perfect lips. She slept all night with a smile on her face, completely oblivious to the fact that Sara was doing the same. Both girls had forgotten about their pasts, both of them were dreaming of their future, something that neither of them was accustomed too. And it was absolutely what they both needed. A future; something that got them to finally stop dwelling on the past, something that got the two of them to have happy, sweet dream filled sleep.

Tegan woke up the next morning, a smile on her face, as she watched Sara sleep. She looked like an angel, so beautiful, so perfect, and completely at peace on the inside.