Amy knows.

Amy knows.

The words rattled around in Karma's head and she stood there, just trying to let them sink in. She hoped, once they settled in and she'd had a moment to really grasp them,that maybe they wouldn't sound so bad.

Amy knows.

Nope. Still sounded bad. So very very bad. Like catastrophically bad, nuclear war bad, Dance Moms cancelled bad.

I love you too, Amy, just not like that bad.

She instinctively drew closer to Lauren, whether for protection (the look on Reagan's face was sort of evil) or comfort, Karma really couldn't say. What she could say, much to her great surprise, was that being closer to Lauren and feeling the tiny blonde's hand on hers was reassuring.

And it also made Karma's heart race, like it always had (if you counted since Shane's party as always) and her tummy do flip flops and if just being near Lauren could do that, even now?

That meant something. Karma had no idea what or the first fucking clue how to even start figuring it out. But she knew it meant something.

And that was something, right?

But still… those words…

Amy knows.

"Bullshit."

And then there was that word. Karma and Reagan both stared at Lauren and even though Karma knew she was scared (and how exactly Karma knew that was another one of those 'figure it out later' things that seemed to be all the things in her life lately) she still had that.. Lauren look on her face.

Reagan didn't know her well enough to know that look. But Karma did. She'd seen it plenty of times. Like on the way back from Dallas or, even moreso, when Amy had 'accidentally' taken out the croquembouche. That was the first (and until lately, one of the only) times Karma could remember feeling bad for Lauren. She'd recognized that look for what it was. Someone covering up, hiding how they really felt behind a glare, behind a 'fuck with me and I will cut you' stare.

If there was one thing Karma understood, it was hiding.

"Bullshit ?" Reagan asked. "Bullshit?"

Lauren nodded. "Bullshit," she repeated. "Amy doesn't know anything about anything. There's no way she could."

Karma couldn't help hoping Lauren was right but Reagan seemed pretty sure. After all she'd said it. She'd said the words.

Amy knows.

And fuck all could those words just shut the fuck up?

"If Amy knew," Lauren said, "she'd have said something by now. There's no way she'd be letting… this… happen and not say anything."

Karma had to admit that made a certain amount of sense. It was logical. She couldn't imagine Amy not saying something about this. It was too big and too weird and too… Amy would probably say wrong but Karma didn't think that was right… for her to just stay silent. At least not the Amy she knew, though (and Karma hated to admit it) that Amy didn't seem to be around as much anymore.

Lauren wasn't done. "You expect us to believe that Amy knows, hasn't said anything, and is just fine with all of… this?" Karma understood why Lauren said it, but she was kinda wishing the other girl would find another way to refer to them, other than… this.

"I never said she was fine with it," Reagan snapped. "She's anything but fine. The girl she… her first love... and her stepsister? Nobody would be fine with that."

The 'Lauren Look' faltered for just a second and Karma only noticed because of all the time she'd spent recently studying the tiny blonde's face. But then she watched as that look, that mask, slipped right back into place.

"You may be dating her and fucking her, Reagan," Lauren said, "but I live with her. If something was bothering her, I think I'd notice."

"And I know her better than both of you combined," Karma added. "You really think she could hide that from me? "

Lauren and Reagan both turned to her and the look on both their faces said almost the same thing.

Seriously?

Reagan's glare asked it with a touch (or more than a touch) of anger and frustration and 'are you fucking kidding me?'. Lauren, for the first time Karma could ever remember, was looking at her and she almost seemed… amused. There was just a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of Lauren's lips and a giggle dancing behind her eyes and it was all Karma could do not to kiss her right then and there.

"OK," Karma said. "maybe she could, but she's not because she… she just isn't. So I'm with Lauren" (and even Karma didn't miss the flicker of something that crossed Reagan's face at her choice of words) . "I call bullshit."

Reagan stood up, slapping her hands against the table. "You can call bullshit all you want," she snapped. "Which is really fucking rich coming from the two of you, considering how much bullshit you've been spreading lately."

Well.. She had a point there.

"But have either of you really spent more than five minutes with her lately?" Reagan asked, even though she knew the answer. If there was one thing Reagan was always aware of, it was how much time Amy and Karma spent together. "Have either of you even asked how she's doing or what's been going on with her? "

Karma jumped in before Lauren could answer. "Going on with her? Oh, talk about rich." Her voice was something like a snarl and she felt Lauren's hand tighten around hers. "The only thing going on with Amy lately is you. "

Reagan took a small step back. Lauren saw it but Karma didn't and she just pushed on.

"Ever since you and your brilliant plan to 'fix' us and get her to break up with you for me, the only thing Amy's cared about is proving her love to you." There was anger in Karma's voice, as clear as could be and that anger (and the cause of it) was the one thing Reagan and Lauren both feared.

"Karma…" Reagan raised her hands in surrender, but Karma ignored her and stalked her way around the table, getting right up in the older girl's face.

"You screwed up. You made her feel like she had something to prove," Karma said. "You kissed another girl in front of her, you tried to trick her, and she ended up feeling like she had to devote herself to you and ignore everyone else just to make it up to you."

Lauren leaned against the table. This was what she'd feared, right from the beginning. From the the moment she'd asked permission, from the first second her lips had touched Karma's, this was what she'd lived in fear of. Every single thing Karma had buried, every feeling she still had but had shoved aside because Amy had chosen.

"I never meant - "

Reagan tried to interject but Karma cut her off. "I don't care what you meant," she snapped. "This is what is. You're with Amy and if there's anything bothering her lately it sure as hell has more to do with you than her knowing anything about us. And I'm with Lauren and every single thing about that? Has. Nothing. To. Do. With. You."

"Karma look -"

"No." Karma said. She brushed past Reagan to the kitchen door,. "I'm not going to look. I'm not going to listen. You say Amy knows about us?" She didn't even wait for a response. "Good."

Lauren gasped and Reagan's eyes grew wide. "Good? "

Karma nodded. "Yes, good, " she said. "If Amy knows, then we can stop sneaking and hiding. She pulled the door open. "I can let everyone see how great… how wonderful... my girl is.

Lauren's hands gripped the edge of the table and she thought she might fall over.

My girl?

"I spent weeks faking it, " Karma said. "Pretending I was with Amy and hiding my feelings for liam and then hiding my feelings for Amy and pretending I was OK." She gripped the door in her hand and glared at Reagan. "I'm tired of it. I'm sick of pretending that I don't have someone that makes me ridiculously turned on and even more ridiculously happy and I'm sick of hiding how fast and how hard I'm falling for her. So, yes, Reagan. Good. I'm glad Amy knows. Now do me a favor?" She pulled the door as wide as it could go. "Get the fuck out of my house."

Reagan opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again. She grabbed up her bag from next to the chair and hustled through the door, which Karma promptly slammed behind her.

"She is so full of - "

Karma's words were cut off by Lauren''s lips crashing against hers as the surprisingly strong girl pressed her up against the door. The blonde's hands were clutching hers and the kiss was feverish and passionate and Karma's knees were going weak.

Lauren broke the kiss and pulled back, looking Karma in the eyes. "Alone, " she said.

Karma couldn't even think, just stammered a "What? "

Lauren smiled and stepped back, still holding Karma's hands. "Your girl, " she said, the words sounding so good she had to repeat them. "Your girl needs you alone. Right. Fucking. Now. "

Kamas eyes widened as it all clicked, what she'd said, what she'd revealed, and what Lauren was saying. What Lauren wanted.

Her.

Fuck.

She pulled Lauren back to her and kissed her, hard, her hands slipping from the blonde's grasp and finding their way, as they always did, to Lauren's ass. She knew Lucas and Molly would be headed out to the farmer's market in just a few minutes and that could take hours.

Karma broke the kiss and tipped her forehead against Lauren's. "Well," she said, turning and leading the other girl toward the stairs. "What my girl wants? My girl gets. '