When she'd said she could be happy curling up with Lauren in the bed and holding her for the rest of the day, Karma had meant it.

Of course, rest of the day had been a figure of speech and she really hadn't meant the entire day, like past dinner and into the evening and if Lauren didn't wake up soon she was going to be spending the night and while Karma wasn't opposed, necessarily, that would raise some… questions for some… people.

And by questions she totally meant 'what the fuck is my sister doing in your bed all fucking night?' and by people she totally meant Amy and even if Reagan was right (and Karma still had her doubts) and Amy already knew… well, knowing was different than knowing and Lauren spending the night (something no one but Amy had ever done) was definitely knowing and Karma wasn't sure how she felt about that.

And that sudden overwhelming feeling (bubbling up from the pit of her stomach and the bottoms of her feet and all points in between) that she was about to find out exactly how she felt about that probably should have made her nervous, at the very least, or outright fucking panicked at the most.

But she'd used up her panic for the day and somehow (somehow) the feeling of Lauren in her arms and the tiny blonde's soft and steady breathing against her neck and the way her hands were resting gently on Karma's legs, one of them always finding it's way to just below her skirt, wasn't just making her wet.

(Just)

it was also soothing and calming and Karma had no idea how someone (Lauren) could work her up so much, could drive her to the point of sexual desperation and yet still make her feel so at peace all at once. She had a fleeting moment of wonder - had she done that for Amy, however unintentionally? - but she pushed that out of her mind because that was then and this was now and she was with her girl and that was all that mattered.

"Except it's not."

Karma's head snapped around and she stared at the door and it wasn't locked anymore (clearly) and it wasn't closed anymore (which went hand in hand with the not locked bit) and it wasn't empty. And she had another fleeting moment of wonder - could doorways really be empty since they couldn't actually hold anything, not like a box or a bucket or a swimming pool, cause all those could totally hold things -

"Karma."

Amy's voice (still coming from the not so empty doorway) snapped her back to reality and that was probably (so not probably) the last place Karma wanted to be, but there she was.

On her bed. Wrapped around Lauren. Clearly turned on (cause it wasn't chilly in her room at all.) Looking at her best friend in the doorway to her room, calmly sipping on one of Molly's smoothies and Karma wasn't exactly sure what part of this picture was more wrong.

"I… um… can...uh…"

Karma shut her eyes and wondered exactly what supreme being she had pissed off that this was the moment she lost the power of coherent speech.

"You can?" Amy asked as she stepped into the room. The blonde shut the door behind her and Karma heard the lock click (as loud as a fucking gunshot and that was so not the imagery she really needed running through her head right then) and then Amy leaned against the door, crossing her ankles and sipping on her smoothie. "You can what, Karms? Explain? Make this make sense? Tell me all about it so I understand and don't hate her and you - and trust me, one of those ships has already sailed, sunk, and the wreck's been found by James Cameron and he's making a film about it - or can you just… not? Cause you do seem a little… tongue tied."

Amy cocked her head to the side and Karma couldn't read her eyes and that had never happened not even when Amy was lying to her on a daily basis and talk about shoes and other feet and Karma knew she was royally, monumentally, unquestionably fucked.

"Amy… I… you see… we… I mean… Lauren and I -"

Amy straightened up against the door, the straw of her smoothie clenched between her teeth and Karma suddenly found that she could read her best friend's eyes.

And she really wished she couldn't.

"So you're a… we… now?" Amy spat and Karma hadn't heard that kind of venom in her voice since… well… since…

I saw him. Crawling out from under the table like a cockroach.

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck.

Karma had never thought she'd need a word worse than fuck before. She was rapidly rethinking that. That and a lot of other things (not the least of which was her need for a much better bedroom lock and parents who didn't let just anyone wander upstairs unannounced.)

"But I'm not just anybody, Karma," Amy said. "At least I didn't think I was, but since I'm apparently the last to know about the new… we… in town… I may have to rethink that."

Karma closed her eyes and hung her head and it took all of about three seconds for her to realize how bad an idea that was because hanging her head put her nose in Lauren's hair and her lips within striking distance of the girl's (her girl's) forehead and she even though she had no intention at all of kissing Lauren right then and there (Karma was many things but that stupid wasn't one of them) the sight of it was still…

Intimate.

And intimate + pissed off Amy + cup full of whatthefuckeverberry smoothie?

That was so not a winning equation.

The cup splattered against the wall behind Karma's bed and she thanked her lucky stars (which, to that point, has seemingly blinked right the fuck out of existence) that whatever Amy had been drinking it was one of Molly's thicker recipes and it stuck to the wall and slowly oozed, rather than erupting everywhere and coating her and Lauren in its smoothie insides.

"I suppose if I told you to get out of the bed and away from… her… you wouldn't listen, would you?" Amy asked but then she went right on, not even giving Karma a chance to answer. "Of course you wouldn't. I mean, it wouldn't be like it was the first time I wanted… or needed… you to stay the hell away from someone and you did pretty much the exact opposite, would it?"

Karma rolled her eyes. Oh, for fuck's sake… really? Liam? Why did it always come back to him?

"Because you always came back to… or for… or with… him, Karma," Amy said. "Because he was your white whale, although, I have to say, having been with him? Whale is generous."

Karma tried, as gently as possible, to extricate herself from the tangles that were her and Lauren but it was like the more she pulled the harder the tiny blonde hung on and Lauren's grip was like quicksand and Karma found herself getting pulled in and while, normally (like any of this was normal) she wouldn't mind that at all, the tighter Lauren's embrace got, the angrier Amy seemed and she might not have had a smoothie anymore but Karma sensed that was somehow only going to make it worse.

"Maybe," Amy said, taking one long step closer to the bed, "I should just ask my sister to get out of the bed. Maybe I should forget asking you since we all know how well that works and just ask my family to help me out."

You're my family

Oh, this was so not going to end well. This wasn't going to end anywhere in the zip code of well and Karma kept pulling and Lauren kept holding and Amy kept coming closer, step-by-step.

"You think she'd listen to me, Karma?" Amy asked. She was right next to the bed then, leaning against it, towering over both of them and Karma had no earthly idea how Lauren was sleeping through this but she really wished she was too. "You think if I asked Lauren to give you up, for the sake of our family, do you think she would?"

Karma swallowed hard and blinked her eyes as the sudden realization of exactly what Amy was asking sank in. Amy (and Farrah and Bruce) were, really, when she thought about it, all Lauren had. Sure, there was Shane (and Lauren would kill her for even suggesting that) and her minions but when it came right down to it, the only people Lauren really had in Austin (besides her) were the ones she lived with.

Her family. For better or worse, that was what they were.

And that was a choice Karma didn't think she would win. Or should.

"Don't," she said softly. "Just… don't, OK?'

"Don't?" Amy asked. "That a request or a demand, Karms? Cause I don't think you're in any position -"

"I'll do it," Karma said, cutting Amy off in midstream. "I'll end it. I'll break up with her or call it off or whatever the hell you want to call it. Just don't… you're all she has."

Amy glared down at Karma and the redhead felt something inside her die at that look, a look she'd never imagined seeing from Amy (though she suspected Amy had seen it from her, once upon a time.) "Seems like she has a whole lot more than just me," Amy snapped.

There was no point in arguing that, so Karma stuck with her offer. "I told you," she said. "I'll end it, OK?"

Karma felt the bed shift beneath her as Amy climbed onto it, knees first, leaning down over them, her face close enough that Karma could feel her breath and there was nothing soft and steady about that.

"You would do that?" Amy asked. "You would give her up so she could keep our dysfunctional little mess of a family?"

Karma nodded. "Yes," she said. "I'll give her up and I'll give you up if that's what you need, just… don't do that to her, OK?" There was something behind Amy's eyes, behind the anger and the rage (and those were two very distinct things), something Karma thought she knew and, maybe, could appeal to. "If you have anything left in your heart for me, and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't, then please. Forgive her. For me."

Amy held her ground, not moving so much as an inch but she didn't have to. Karma could see it all, she could see it all playing across Amy's face and in her eyes and then, as sudden as a hiccup, it was there and Karma saw it and she knew Amy was going to do it before she did.

Before Amy leaned in and kissed her and kissed her soundly, her hands coming up and cupping Karma's cheeks and her tongue swiping against Karma's lips, seeking entrance and Karma made the (rookie) mistake of opening her mouth to protest and Amy pressed her advantage and Karma felt the blonde's tongue on hers and she couldn't help moaning as Amy's hands dropped from her cheeks and found her breasts and oh… fuck…

"Karma."

It was wrong. So fucking wrong.

"Karma."

She didn't want Amy like this, not anymore and it wasn't her Karma was responding to, anyway, she reasoned, it was just her hands and her tongue and fuck Reagan must have been a good teacher.

"Karma."

But Lauren was right there and why the hell was she still not waking up and oh… shit… Amy's mouth was sliding down and replacing her hands and her tongue, even through the fabric of Karma's top… oh… oh…

Fuck.

"Karma!"

She shot straight up in bed, her head snapping back and forth and her eyes ricocheting around the room from the window to the door (the door someone was banging on) and there was no one there, no Amy anyway because Lauren was still there and sleeping soundly and it had all been a dream and Karma didn't know whether to cry or let out a victory whoop or roll Lauren over and wake her up and fuck her till she couldn't walk.

(she was leaning toward the last one cause dream Amy had known what the fuck she was doing)

And then there was the banging again and her name from the other side of the door and it wasn't Amy (thank God or Goddess or whoever), it was her mother.

"Karma!" Molly's voice echoed through the wood of the door. "You need to get up right now," she said. "Amy's downstairs."