(Subplot) Talking it Over

Lucy's head was still spinning when Leilani entered their room, lazily drying her hair from her afternoon swim. It didn't take long for her to notice something was wrong.

"What's up gorgeous? You look like you're miles away"

"Yeah, actually it's good that you are here. I wanted to get your opinion on something" Lucy rubbed the back of her head, not even sure how to begin explaining all of this.

"Sure, hit me with it!" Leiliani sat down next to her wife and placed her hand on her thigh.

"So, I was talking to Van and, um, there is an offer for Naked Mansion from a major streaming company. Like a huge, crazy we'd all become globally famous millionaires kind of an offer"

Leiliani let out a squeal before jumping up and down in excitement. It was the kind of reaction Lucy feared she would be getting from most of the glitches before she revealed the catch.

"Is this real? You'd better not be fucking with me. I'd never forgive you!" Leilani shouted.

"No, it's real. I've seen all the details now. They'd literally buy us the lease for this mansion, and another one in Beverly Hills, so we could film six months in the UK and six in the US every year. They'l pay us a couple of million each a year, plus quite a bit extra for me as the shows creator, have us all attending red carpet events, going on international talk shows, making dolls of us. They were talking about you becoming a pop star"

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod this is unbelievable!" Leilani looked like she wanted to cry tears of happiness "So what do you want my opinion on? How many bottles of champagne we are going to need for the party tonight? Do we all have to sign for this or have you sorted out the contract already?"

"It's not that simple Lei" Lucy sighed "There are a few conditions. Most of them are either manageable or at least not dealbreakers. But they are demanding we bring Tania back to the mansion to be a permanent glitch. There is no deal without her"

"Then we bring her back" Leilani shrugged.

"What? It's as simple as that is it? We just bring back the same Tania who we need to smuggle into Rebecca's place so we can bring Sophie home? The one who spied on us all, turned Maggie into a frog and donated Lexie to a charity shop?"

"Ah, forgive and forget! Everyone is back to normal now. Anyway, it's not like she can seriously try and spy on us a third time without anyone noticing. And if we can smuggle her into Rebecca's place we can smuggle her back out again I don't mind going myself. I'm super resistant to magic, after all"

This was unbelievable. Lucy had now realised nobody was turning down this deal under any circumstances. It was more a case of how they got Tania back rather than if.

"Okay, but think about it. As long as Rebecca has someone she thinks is Sophie to torment, she is off our backs. If we take away her fake Sophie without leaving another one, and we don't have any more to hand, then it's war again. Glitches turning into frogs, or dildos or just vanishing. Mel getting sucked back into the app. Remember what that was like?"

"Tania will turn back eventually anyway, so it's not like we don't have to deal with all of that a little further down the line. Plus, we have Noelle now. And do you really want Rebecca to stop us all from achieving something incredible?"

Lucy wasn't sure at this point of Leilani was actually making sense or if she just wanted her to be doing so. Of course Lucy wanted this deal just as badly as her wife, but she felt like somebody had to be the voice of reason.

"I can probably stall them for a few days, that buys us a bit of time to prepare but it isn't the fortnight we thought we had. As soon as Sophie is back I'll call a meeting. If everyone goes for this deal, we'll just have to figure something out"

"Oh, I think they'll go for the deal" Leilani laughed to herself "Yeah, I wouldn't worry about that!"