Jenny didn't speak to Matilda for the entire next day. Matilda tried not to take it personally. Anyone would be uncomfortable at the prospect of letting their adopted daughter orgasm in front of them – be it to break a subconscious mental block or not. Her theory, as she'd explained to Jenny, avoiding her gaze, was that climaxing without giving in to the telekinetic urge, would break any lingering repression that connected her arousal to her powers. Jenny had looked a little bit like she was choking back bile.

Matilda would be lying if she said it didn't hurt, just a little, that Jenny found the idea so abhorrent. That it didn't hurt that Jenny didn't want her the way she wanted Jenny. She would definitely be lying to say that her heart didn't break a little further every time Jenny didn't acknowledge her.

At the dinner table that evening, Matilda tried to get Jenny to talk to her. Greeted with nothing but the same noncommittal hums and the occasional 'yes' or 'no', her patience wore thin. Her heart had been breaking all day, and she was certain it couldn't take much more.

Finally, voice as steady as she could manage, Matilda asked:

"Are you really so disgusted by me that you won't even look at me?"

Jenny's head snapped up in annoyance, but immediately softened at the tears blurring Matilda's eyes.

"Oh, darling," she cried, hating herself. "I'm not disgusted by you; I could never be disgusted by you. I'm so sorry that I made you feel that way."

Matilda sniffed, looking away. "Then why have you been ignoring me? I thought… I thought you were supposed to be here for me. You didn't have to agree to fuck me, but you could have just said no instead of making me feel this… shameful."

Jenny's eyes glimmered as she pushed aside her plate and leaned over the table to take Matilda's hands between her own.

"You're right," she said, so quietly that Matilda scarcely heard her. "I was… projecting my own feelings onto you and I'm sorry. I promised you that this wouldn't change things between us and I let you down. There was just a lot to process. There's a big difference between asking me to ignore your romantic affections and asking me to be involved in your… sexual engagements."

"So, last night you weren't involved in my sex life?" Matilda retorted, still stinging. "You tied me to a bed with silks! I moaned your name in front of you, but you weren't involved?"

Jenny flushed. "Last night," she tried. "Was already a step too far. I should have stopped you when you said your suggestion was worse. Frankly, I should have stopped you a long time before then."

Matilda glanced at her. "So why didn't you?"

Jenny was lost for words. She opened her mouth and closed it again, helplessly. Something like understanding was dawning in Matilda's eyes. Understanding and hope.

"You're my daughter," Jenny blurted, quickly. Matilda's eyes dimmed, but Jenny continued. "You're my daughter and I love you and I wanted you to be able to have this for yourself, one day. I wanted you to be able to have this experience with someone you care about, and who – and who cares about you."

"But that's not you," Matilda said, flatly. Jenny shook her head, trying not to betray her pain.

"That can never be me," Jenny emphasised, perhaps unnecessarily.

Something indecipherable flickered across Matilda's face, but she nodded. Quiet for a moment, she gazed at Jenny searchingly. Jenny didn't know what she found, but eventually Matilda excused herself to her room.

Jenny dropped her head into her hands and tried not to cry.

Matilda lay on her bed staring at the ceiling, unable to get Jenny's words out of her mind.

"I should have stopped you a long time before then"

So why didn't she? Matilda didn't believe a word Jenny had said after she asked the question. Not when she'd seen the panic and the fear that flitted across her face. Not when she'd doubled down on their impossibility as a couple.

"That can never be me"

Bullshit it couldn't. They were both adults. They had few friends, and the ones they did have wouldn't condemn them for it. If Jenny really did have any inkling of a feeling for Matilda, she deserved to know.

"I was… projecting my own feelings onto you"

What feelings? If she hadn't been disgusted with Matilda, there was only one reason she could think of that Jenny would be so disgusted with herself. And suddenly, Matilda had a new experiment to design.

She started slowly. Pretended to be growing more comfortable returning to the relationship they'd had before, bumping her shoulder into Jenny's in greeting or pulling her feet up onto her lap. Later, innocently dropping a hand to Jenny's waist when she had to edge past or letting their chests brush just a little more noticeably during a hug.

Matilda recorded her findings in a notebook. Jenny's breath hitched when Matilda touched her waist. She almost stopped breathing completely when they hugged. She went completely and utterly still when Matilda audaciously lay her head in Jenny's lap, drawing circles on her leg.

Then, she took it up a notch. She frequently bent at the waist in Jenny's eyeline, offering sometimes quick and sometimes lingering views of her cleavage or her ass. Matilda didn't record these findings. She could always feel Jenny's eyes on her.

She started wearing smaller clothing, too. It could be attributed to the warmer weather coming around, the shorter shorts and the skimpier tops. She rarely wore anything that covered her midriff, and once even saw Jenny visibly choke when she wore a white top over her favourite lacy bra.

By now, Matilda was confident in her hypothesis: Jennifer Honey was definitely attracted to her.

Now, she just had to wait until Jenny could admit it. If she ever did.