Blake awoke to a bright Saturday morning, the light shining down from the cloudless sky easily visible from the threshold onto the balcony, even through determinately closed eyelids. She couldn't remember the last time that she'd slept in like this, and though odd, it felt good to wake up without any urgency for once; no classes, no operations, nothing but a nice warm bed. She just wanted to lay there forever in a lazy state of bliss and not even entertain the possibility of getting up, but feeling the fingers woven between her own, Blake resolved to lift her head from where it rested in the crook of her elbow and open her eyes after all.

Despite the vast expanse of the king-sized mattress, Mina lay on her side, facing Blake mere inches away. She showed no signs of waking from her peaceful slumber, and Blake found herself just watching Mina sleep. Mina's hair was splayed out over the pillow haphazardly, her head gently nestled upon the soft cushion, and her sleeping face held an expression of contentment. Blake smiled at the sight, and then, her attention caught by the steady sound of Mina's breathing, her eyes fell to Mina's chest as it slowly rose and fell with each breath. For a brief instant she thought about reproaching herself for allowing her eyes to linger on Mina's exposed chest, but dismissed the notion; Mina wouldn't care, and besides, it wasn't lust she was feeling right then, but appreciation.

She really is something else… Body and mind… She lightly squeezed Mina's hand in hers as she noticed the back of Mina's free hand resting against her bare stomach, It's just like when we were kids except… Blake blushed, Except less clothes…

The blush subsided quickly enough though; the fact was that Blake did enjoy just lookin at Mina's naked body in sleeping repose, and she was comfortable enough with that fact at least to admit it to herself. She couldn't help but think how small the span of inches between them was, and how easy that it would be to just reach over and touch Mina as she pleased. Mina's pale silken skin, her smooth face, and the generous curve of her breast; Blake could think of nothing that she would change. Even the fangs… Mina's particular needs had, in retrospect, been one of the major things over which they'd first bonded. Yes, that had started as pity, Blake couldn't rightly deny that much, but as they'd grown up together it had grown more and more into an act of love on her part, and in return Blake had gotten to feel needed – wanted – which hadn't always been the case in the White Fang. It felt good to know that someone so genuinely needed her, and coupled with the trust that Mina would never take from her more than she could give, even when she quite literally offered up her own flesh and life's blood in submission to Mina's needs… It was amazing to have that level of intimacy with someone, even before they'd confessed to each other.

Blake slipped her fingers free of Mina's, lifting her hand to rest her fingers softly on Mina's hip just above where the comforter had been draped over her legs. Smiling, Blake slowly and gently drew her fingers over the sleeping form of Mina's body, from her hip to her stomach, then briefly cupping a breast before moving on to Mina's cheek. What she felt for Mina seemed beyond her power to justly describe, and she didn't really try, lest it be somehow devalued for being explicitly identified.

Mina's eyes fluttered drowsily open as Blake stroked her cheek, "…Hmmm..?"
Blake leaned forward to place a chaste little kiss on Mina's forehead; admittedly a substantial contrast from the previous night, but appropriate for the present moment, "Good morning Mina,"

Mina brought a hand up to rub the sleep from her eyes with a yawn, "…Good-," she yawned again, "Good morning…"

"Did you sleep well?" Mina nodded, eyes opening a little wider as indication that she was indeed awake now as she shifted to get up, but Blake put a hand on her shoulder to stop her, "Where are you going?"

"I was going to dress…"

"Don't… Not yet…"

Mina relaxed gratefully back down onto the bed, but nonetheless had a raised eyebrow, "Oh? And what of my modesty?" Mina teased.

"No one knows just how little you care about your modesty quite so well as I do," Blake countered playfully, "And besides, I'm the only one here to see anyway,"

"Very well," Mina obeyed, making no further effort to dress as she rolled over onto her back, staring blindly at the ceiling with a satisfied smile on her face now, "Whatever pleases you,"

But Blake wasn't paying attention at that point; her face was too busy turning red, "Did I…" her attention captured by the fading, but still visible red mark now visible to her on Mina's left breast, "I… Your uh… your chest…"

Mina glanced down at herself aimlessly, but then ran her fingers over the spot, smirking, "Yes… I rather enjoyed that part…"

"I… well…"

Mina rolled back onto her side, this time resting her head against Blake's chest, "Rest easy Dearest; I am quite satisfied with our night…" she looked up at Blake now, past her eyelashes and unmanaged bangs, "But are you? If not, I could-,"

"No… You did great, I promise," Blake assured, lovingly brushing Mina's bangs out of her face; Mina was always peculiarly sensitive whenever she thought that the possibility existed that she'd let her down, "I'm perfectly happy with last night too, I just… like to look at you…"

Mina's smile returned, albeit softer somehow as she nuzzled closer, "I love you…"

"I love you too," Blake whispered back, stroking her cheek, "And you're beautiful, you know that?"

"It's all for you,"

Blake scrutinized Mina's face, but found nothing but sincerity, "Mina-,"

"I cannot express my good fortune to have grown up such that you find me beautiful…" Mina interrupted, "As I cannot serve your needs as you provide for mine… I am glad to offer my body for such pleasure as I can provide you…"

"You're a person, Mina, not some object-,"

Mina silenced her with a quick little kiss, "You needn't worry about me Dearest, I know, but it would be a lie to say that I do not enjoy submitting to your will whenever you would have your way with me… And at such times as you turn to me for your own satisfaction, I have perhaps the greater reward in knowing that you desire me… What else could I ask for?"

"Mina…"

"You require nothing of me Dearest," Mina continued, "But I freely offer such as I have in hopes of being for you even a fraction of what you have been for me…" Mina reached over to take Blake's hand in hers once more, "Dearest, I have always, since the very first time, enjoyed giving you my body, because here I may be of value to you, as you are of such incalculable worth to me… I have said it before perhaps in jest, but I mean every word and more; you may have me whenever you so desire, and I will gladly be of service to you at any time. You needn't ask permission; simply take that which is yours,"

Blake took a few deep breaths as she took it all in all that was said. Mina didn't seem to understand that, even if Blake acknowledged that she wanted her, Blake wasn't comfortable with the idea of straight-up objectifying her like that, or indeed the way that Mina so eagerly objectified herself. Sure, it was ultimately harmless, Blake supposed, and it was definitely better that Mina was with her rather than with someone who would abuse the privilege, but she just couldn't wrap her head around the idea. Still, she couldn't say, not honestly, that she didn't enjoy the thought that Mina was so committed to her as to offer herself on such preposterous terms; the level of trust – no, trust wasn't the word for it, and knowing Mina's self-esteem issues, probably didn't even enter into it – but the unqualified love that such a pledge seemed to require was just… Amazing…

"Hey Mina?"

"Yes?"

"You should place a little more value on yourself; you're really something special,"

Mina raised an eyebrow to this, "Are you certain that I don't?"

"You're offering me so much of yourself so casually…" Blake replied, somewhat more hesitant; in truth, she didn't really want Mina to withdraw the offer, but it just wasn't right to let it stand.

"It is only because I am so certain of such worth as I can be to you, and that I wish to be that," Mina shook her head, "My life and body are mine to give, and I wish to give them to you,"

Blake sighed, stroking Mina's ears affectionately as she let the issue drop; arguing with Mina was exhausting, made the more so because she usually didn't want to, "What am I going to do with you, huh?"

Mina smirked, "Whatever you want,"

They stayed like that for a while, just enjoying each other's presence and undivided attention, at least until they heard a knock on the door, and Blake jumped, reaching for the previously ignored covers, "What? Who's there?" She demanded as she pulled the comforter over herself and Mina, who chuckled.

"It is adorable when you act shy Dearest, but it could not hurt you to be a bit more bold…"

"Not with strangers!" Blake whispered back scrambling now to find their discarded robes.

"Room service for Miss Mina Carfax?" an inquiring voice sounded from the other side of the door.

Serves me right for forgetting the 'do not disturb' sign… Blake fumed mentally as she hastily slipped her arms into the robe, "Just… Just a minute!" she cast her eyes this way and that for the belt to the robe, "Mina, where are the…?'

As Blake looked back to her, Mina sat propped up on one arm, blanket held just barely high enough to cover herself, and she shrugged with a deceptively innocent smile on her face, "I have had other priorities, Dearest…"

Cute, but not particularly helpful at the moment… With an exasperated sigh, Blake gave up, holding her robe together with one hand as she went to the door and opened it, "S-sorry to keep you waiting…"

It was the same waitress that had served them the previous night, "Let's see… as ordered we have a short stack of pancakes, eggs over easy, bacon, milk orange juice and… tomato juice…"

"Um… thanks…" Blake shot a brief glance back to Mina, whom she assumed had placed the order in advance with her reservation, and became very thankful for the comforter as she was now uncomfortably aware that Mina was in full view of the open door way. Mina just smiled.

The waiter raised an eyebrow with a knowing smile as she glanced from Blake, noting her robe's lack of a belt and then to Mina's half-hearted measure to cover herself, "I can come back later if I'm interrupting…"

"N-no! It's fine! We weren't actually…" Right Blake, like she's going to believe that! It's like Goodwitch said, if you're going to lie, at least put some effort into it! "Thanks for bringing it up…"

The waitress chuckled good-naturedly at Blake's defeated tone, "Relax, no judgment here; lots of couples come here for… this sort of thing… Although I've gotta say that you two are one of the prettiest pairs I've seen,"

Blake blushed, "Um… thanks?"

"Sorry, I guess I'm babbling," The waitress apologized amiably, "People-watching's just kind of a habit I guess…"

Blake awkwardly accepted the breakfast cart with her one free hand and stepped back from the door, "No worries," she said, "And uh… have a nice day?"

The waitress suddenly nodded slowly as if in realization, "Oh… I'm a being a mood killer, aren't I?"

Blake made to object and refute the implied assumption, but before she got so much as a word out the waitress had shut the door and taken er leave with a quick thumbs-up, "She's about ten hours late for that…" Blake eventually muttered.

"Oh never mind that Dearest," Mina said in good humor as she got up and walked over to the cart, not bothering to put on her own robe, but then having reached it, paused, suddenly unsure.

"It's this one," Blake held up the glass of tomato juice, offering it to Mina before responding to Mina's prior statement, "I just… I'd like a measure of, well, privacy, in our private time…"

"She was only delivering breakfast," Mina shrugged, "and besides, we had all of last night perfectly to ourselves… I enjoy the sounds you make too much to share them with anyone anyway…"

"And you're cute when you whimper…" Blake retorted weakly, knowing full well that it wouldn't embarrass Mina in the same way, "But please… Yang doesn't need to know…"

"About the sounds you make-,"

"No-, well, yes, but I meant any of this… I'll never hear the end of it if she ever finds out…"

Mina shrugged again, "Well if you'd prefer I not kiss and tell, so to speak, then my lips are sealed, though I should think Miss Xiao Long will have deduced our whereabouts upon learning from Weiss that we went out alone for the night…"

Blake facepalmed with a groan, "You're right… God, I'll never live this down…"

"Just you, Dearest?"

"She'll get bored of teasing you when she realizes that it doesn't embarrass you…"

"Hmm…" Mina considered it, taking another sip from her tomato juice, "Perhaps you should not be so embarrassed,"

It was a 'cutting the knot' solution if Blake had ever heard one, "I wish it was that easy…"

"You seem comfortable enough with my standing here naked," Mina reposted with a smirk.

"It's all about context…" Blake defended, before taking an experimental bite of the bacon and setting it down again, "It's still really hot…"

"Oh really?" Mina said with a slightly evil look as she set her glass down and moved to hug Blake from behind, clasping her hands over Blake's stomach and making a special effort to press herself up against Blake's back, "How will we pass the time?"

How did I get roped into this?

Breakfast had been wonderful, especially after taking the time to… let it cool off… but sooner or later all good things had to come to an end, and Mina had a shift starting at noon. After another shower and finally dressing around ten-thirty, settling the bill, and checking out by about eleven, Blake had offered to walk Mina to her job, dutiful girlfriend that she was. She still didn't much like walking through that less reputable part of town, but her first thought had been that her presence beside Mina for once might let any aspiring creeps know that Mina was taken, but then she realized that this probably wouldn't be a stranger's first assumption at a glance unless she wanted to publicly hang all over Mina… Still, it couldn't hurt to send the message that Mina wasn't always by herself… not that anyone who got any ideas would probably pose any real danger to her… After dropping Mina off, Blake's plan had then been to tear out of that part of town as fast as she could and make for the nearest bookstore or library – anywhere to kill eight hours before she would venture back to surprise Mina by picking her up… and also put off dealing with Yang for a precious few more hours. Sadly, it was not to be…

"C'mon new girl! We're like, crazy busy today!"

Blake winced at being brought back to reality, and futilely attempted to pull the front of her unfamiliar blouse up a precious inch or two before picking up the tray of drinks for table seven, "S-sorry! I'm coming!"

Why did I agree to this? Oh right… She remembered that while Mina hadn't asked her to do it, Clara had complained in passing as she greeted Mina that they were unusually busy to day and that they didn't have enough waitresses on the shift, and Blake felt like she owed Clara a favor for helping with their reservations…. Didn't hurt that Mina gave you that big hug after you suggested it…

So it was that Blake had been hastily bundled off to the changing room where Mina and Clara shoved her – almost literally – into a skimpy maid outfit that was just a little bit tighter than Blake was comfortable with, but it was too late to go back at that point. From there, all hell broke loose as she was then summarily shoved out to serve tables six, seven, and eight. She had never imagined how difficult waitressing could be, nor about exactly how uncomfortable having the customer stare like that would be… Perhaps most troubling though, and certainly most perplexing was that, while she was terrible at the job – she'd stammer as customers undressed her with their eyes, spill drinks, and even once delivered an order to the wrong table – somehow she was a hit, and half the restaurant wanted to see her.

Her first break finally came at three o'clock after the lunch rush had – and she still could wrap her head around how a place like this had a lunch rush – had died, down, and proceeded to slump back against one of the lockers in the changing room as Mina and Clara also took their break, "Finally…"

Clara chuckled, "I hear that; Blake, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well," Clara nodded as though in confirmation of her having properly remembered Blake's name, "It's definitely busier today than usual, but I'm not really surprised," she cocked her head in Mina's direction, "Since Mina came on board, she's been one of our most popular girls,"

Girls, huh? That makes it sound like… Blake shook her head, Best not to dwell on that…

"So," Clara continued, taking a headband out of her hair that Blake hadn't had the chance to notice, busy as she'd been for the last three hours, "The boss decided it'd be a great idea to have a "cat-ears" day, so we all have to where these today… Anyway, your bow looked right for it, so when you offered well… I wasn't about to turn you down, and the manager never objects to a cute new waitress."

"Once again, I do apologize for that…" Mina said with atypical sincerity.

"But…" Blake blinked, "Mina has-,"

Clara nodded again this time rolling her eyes, though not at Blake, "I know that and you know that, hell, all us waitresses get that, but our… esteemed patrons don't seem to think on that level…"

"So I've noticed…"

"But enough about that!" Clara clapped, leaning in conspiratorially, "How'd it go?"

"W-what? I've only been on the job a few hours-,"

"No, no, not that; I mean last night…" Brown hair, glasses, and blue eyes notwithstanding, Blake could've sworn Clara looked unsettlingly like Yang for an instant, though it was probably the question asked…

"I… Um…"

Clara blinked a couple of times, displaying momentary confusion before she glanced over to Mina, "She is you beau, right?"

Mina nodded with a sly little smile, "Yes, but she is shy about that sort of thing…"

"Awww… that's cute…" Clara cooed, but then the knowing look returned with a vengeance, "But I wasn't born yesterday; couples don't book hotel rooms for one night just to cuddle…"

Blake felt herself blushing furiously, but she couldn't muster her words.

"I'm not hearing a 'no'~"

"Fine…" Blake gave up, "It was… really nice… Thanks for the help with the room, by the way…"

Clara cocked her head, "Ah Mina, you told her? You're supposed to let 'em appreciate you,"

"Trust me Clara," Mina smirked, "I did not go… unappreciated…"

Clara shot Blake a dubiously appraising look, "I don't know, she doesn't seem the type…"

"Can we talk about something, anything else? Please?" Blake begged.

Clara wove her fingers together behind her head and leaned back against the wall, "Alright, alright; sorry if I made you uncomfortable; I practically live on gossip… I'll tell you how my last date went if you want?"

Blake shook her head, "Mina said you like, um… pianos? But I really don't think even that much is my business…"

Clara broke out laughing, "Not quite; my boyfriend Robert's studying to be a concert pianist,"

"Oh…"

Clara glanced over at the clock, "Okay, five more minutes girls, then we're back at it,"

Blake deflated, "I just don't get how you two can do this job… it's exhausting… and the customers are all creeps…"

"Yes, but they're creeps with too much money to spend," Clara grinned, "Play your cards right, and the tips can get pretty impressive,"

"What cards?" Blake asked, not entirely sure that she wanted to know.
"Take Mina, for example," Clara elaborated, "She fills out the uniform nicely, but more importantly, she's a tease. Lizzie's another good example; her figure ain't much to write home about, but she makes it up with attitude; you'd be surprised how many of these guys go for verbal abuse…"

"I see…"

"As a rule though," Clara continued in her explanation, "It's rude to rip off another girl's shtick…" she paused to think it over a moment before snapping her fingers and shooting Blake a meaningful look, "You could always pull your neckline down an inch or two; if nothing else, it's an easy way to add a good five percent to your tips…"

Blake blanched, looking to Mina for assurance that it wasn't true, "Seriously?"

Mina just shrugged, "I have never had occasion to do it, but I am told that it works,"

"Let's face it," Clara slung an arm over Blake's shoulder, "It breaks the chef's heart, but nobody comes here for the food, they come for the eye-candy; playing to the audience is the key to this job. In fact, a good few of our better co-workers are aspiring actresses. They don't let it get to 'em; it's just a role, and once you figure that out, minimum wage is just a fraction of what you walk outta here with every day, trust me."

"So… what should I do?" Blake asked in deference to Clara's greater experience… Not something I ever thought I'd think about a waitress…

Clara shrugged, "You really don't need to do anything different; from what I can see, you've been pulling in twenty-five to thirty percent tips doing that awkward clumsy thing; no reason to fix what ain't broke,"

That's not so much deliberate as a mixture of revulsion an having no idea what I'm doing…

"But…" Clara added, "If you really wanna get 'em going… you could give each other a kiss out on the floor~"

"WHAT?" Blake demanded, mortified.

Clara and Mina both laughed at Blake's reaction, but after she got a grip on herself again, she offered by way of explanation, "A two of the waitresses on the night shift do that; they're both actresses, pretty good ones too – and straight besides – but I've seen the tips those two get, so trust me: the customers love lesbians,"

Blake just stared blankly.

"Or…" Clara offered, noting that her first suggestion wasn't getting much traction, "You could just do your extra special best to be extra cute… Although, between you and me, the guys that come here for 'cute' are the biggest creeps of them all…"

Why me?

Author's Note: Another longer than average semi-two parter! To be honest, both sections were always going to be in the chapter, but they got longer as I wrote them, though not so long that I was prepared to release them separately, so here we are. I figured it would be nice to round off the more serious front end of this chapter with some humorous fluff in the latter half, though I do apologize if any of it fell into the category of 'biting the hand' humor for anyone…

Anyway, please fav, follow, or review as you feel so inclined; I do love feedback; the good keeps me motivated and the bad helps me improve, so please, do share your thoughts.