Clara, the girl Gina seduced and abandoned

"Hey, none of that in here!" the young woman who just stepped into the WOMYN'S room says. "Go across to the Men's... Wait. Julie?"

You don't recognize her right off, but when she sees you and Julie together, her face goes through a journey that ends in tears.

"Julie? Nurse Bates? You...two... together?" Clara swallows and her chin quivers. A tear drops to the floor.

"It's all right, Clara," Julie says. It's all right. Come close, we'll both hug you."

Out of her lace-trimmed black dress, out of her heavy makeup, Clara, the young woman that Gina had hired as her assistant from the young offenders diversion program, seduced and abandoned, you wouldn't have recognized her. Now Clara's hair was mousy brown, thin, and cropped short. Had that dramatic Betty Page hairdo with bangs and sweeping raven tresses been a wig?

Or at least, you wouldn't have recognized Clara like this until she started crying. That's how you last saw her, after Gina had abruptly resigned from her hospital job. Without preparing her assistant, Clara, whose job depended on Gina's sponsorship and goodwill.

Julie stretches out an arm and wraps Clara in a hug up close to you both. "Ssh, ssh, it's all right, Clara. Tell you a secret?"

"Okay."

"All of us owe our jobs to Maggie Baxter, personally," Julie says.

True enough.

Maggie Baxter. The Director of Nursing, a blonde Scotswoman starting to gray like yourself. And matriarch of your hospital's Lesbian Mafia, as far as you can tell. Maggie had **** Gina out, partly from loyalty to you, and partly from Maggie's feeling that Gina's **** attempt on you, Maggie's best nurse, was an act of personal disrespect toward Maggie.

"D-did you go down on her?" Clara asks. "To thank her? She wouldn't let me."

"No, not to thank her, " Julie says. "But I did. I do. Not as a trade. She keeps that separate."

You are not quite so sure about that, for yourself. But Julie and especially Clara are much younger, while you and Maggie are close in age.

"Julie?" you whisper.

"I took Clara to see Maggie," Julie says in a normal voice. "Maggie had me take over for Gina as Clara's diversion supervisor. Clara's working as an assistant for prepping the unit supply shelves, the phlebotomy carts, just being useful on the floor like a candy striper."

"At least I got to thank you, Julie," Clara says. She licks her lips, no longer the bold and vivid red from when you last saw her. She tilts her lips up towards Julie's.

But someone comes into the WOMYN'S and you break the three-way hug. Clara claims a stall. "Let's go outside," you tell Julie Paul.

It's early at The Crater, but it's already filling up with the usual crowd, mostly college age lesbians and their friends and admirers -- Julie and yourself among that last, you think with a guilty twinge, your own daughter Jillian older than Columbia, Clara, and most of the crowd here. The back hall between the restrooms is still quiet enough for a private talk.

"Did you fuck her?"

Julie nods with a rueful expression. "I guess I kind of asked for it. I'm a soft touch for things like that. And she reminded me of Cara."

"Oh Julie," you say.

Cara, who had wrapped up her nursing internship, supervised by Julie, leaving early with a mild skull fracture suffered after Julie's car had rolled down a hill when the parking brake hadn't held, while Cara and Julie had been too busy with each other to notice in time.

You take a breath and all your jealousy and fear evaporates, just looking at Julie Paul's sweet face, looking worried and sad. She wanted you for years. Years.

"You're... well, all right, then, Julie." You smile. "You are a braver woman than I, to take on Clara."

"I'm not that brave," Julie says. "Maggie insisted."

That seemed a little twisted of your mutual benefactor and big boss, but maybe there was a method to it all. Some plan for Clara particularly, beyond a good turn for a young woman with few good opportunities. But those were forebodings from your own worries.

"Maggie is a sharp lady. All right, Julie, shall we disaster bisexuals go see what's cooking at the bar? You wanted to see if Nicky has a break later, right?"

You take Julie's hand. "Unless you want to wait for Clara."

You have 1 XP.
You have +1 Hard, +1 Hot, +0 Cool, -1 Control, Lesbian, wait for Clara.Touch Yourself, and Truth.

From TRUTH. you hold +1 Forward on a Move vs. Nicky, +1 vs. Columbia, and +1 vs. Clara.