Dr. Stone Suggests A New Way of Looking At Her Marriage

"I just...can't get it out of my head," Sue Storm said. "Ever since we started these sessions, I've just been obsessed with cheating. I don't understand, I never had this problem before..."

"Oh, Susan," Dr. Stone said. Her head tilted, and her hair did that odd track where it caught the light just right and seemed to form a golden aura around her. "That's not true, is it? You came here at your physician's suggestion because of the stress you've been showing. In our discussions, we've uncovered this issue about your sexual dissatisfaction with your husband—but it was always there, ready to come out. Now that it has, you can't ignore and repress it anymore. You have to deal with it."

"But how!?" Sue said and leaned forward in her chair, head in her hands, elbows on her knees. "I feel like I'm going crazy. I can't cum and I can't cheat and I can't..."

"I want you to consider something," Dr. Stone's voice was smooth, calm, controlled. Almost as if she had practiced this speech. "A marriage is a complex thing. It has legal and spiritual dimensions, but it is at heart a social and sexual contract. The only sexual contract that our society actually recognizes. We focus on monogamy in our society for so many reasons, but the nature of that contract is that it is reciprocal—that each party holds up their part. You have been true to Reed Richards, you have been sexually exclusive with him, you have given him sexual gratification. But has he held up his part?"

Sue blinked. She raised her head from her hands, not sure what Dr. Stone was getting at.

"You've been true to Reed Richards in thought, word, and deed," Dr. Stone said. "You've done your part, but Reed hasn't done his. You need sexual satisfaction. It is his duty to achieve that. He has failed. Which means..."

The idea was left open. Sue felt she had to respond somehow.

"Which means...I can find...sexual satisfaction...elsewhere," she finished. "But how can I do that without cheating on him?"

Dr. Stone smiled. "Well, I'm not suggesting you go out and get a lover. But there are alternatives. Ways that you can scratch your itch. When you think of it, monogamy in marriages is largely about ensuring there's no question of parentage with the children, right?"

"Right," Sue blinked. She seemed to think through a haze, as if punch-drunk. Dr. Stone's words seemed to make so much sense.

"So perhaps you shouldn't be looking at men, at the moment. If you kissed a woman, that wouldn't really be cheating, would it?" Dr. Stone pressed.

"I...guess not," Sue said.

"And if a woman touched you...in a non-sexual way, like during a doctor's appointment...that wouldn't be cheating, would it?"

"No, it wouldn't," Sue said, more confidently.

"But say you were getting a massage. A full-body massage, from a woman. And her hands rubbed over your breasts. Your nipples. Your ass. Thighs. Cunt," Dr. Stone's glasses seemed to glow from within, and a drop of blood oozed from one nostril. Her voice was husky now, strained.

"Just...a massage," Sue said.

"And if you happened to cum during such a massage. Well, these things just happen," Dr. Stone's voice quavered under some unseen strain. "That's not your fault, is it?"

"Not my fault," Sue repeated, docile as a cow as the words, the image, impressed themselves on her brain.

"I have a card for a massage parlor. They're very good, very discreet. A 'happy ending' might do you a world of good," Dr. Stone leaned forward, and the blood dripped onto the carpet as Sue languidly reached out a hand and took the paper card.

Then Sue snapped back to reality, hard. She saw Dr. Stone holding a kleenex to her nose, that strange optical illusion gone.

"I...I think that's all the time we have for today," Dr. Stone said, her voice shaky. "But please think about what we talked about. It's for your own health, after all. A massage might do wonders for you."

"Yes," Sue Storm said as she stood up. "I think...it might."