Howling endlessly and shrilly at the dawn

“I’m just glad you two look like you had fun today,” Mary said with a big, beaming smile on her face as she set out lunch for everyone. Spaghetti and meatballs. “Was it a good date?”

“Yeah, it really was,” Gina said through a forkful of spaghetti. “It got a little weird at the end there, but I had a really great time!”

“Yeah, so did I,” Nick agreed, giving the other girl a wary look. Gina may have looked sweet and classy with her brushed hair and pink dress, but she still had the table manners of a Neanderthal. But while that didn’t matter to him, with Mary it was a different story.

To his relief, though, she seemed to be tolerating it.

“You’re a really good cook, Mary, I’ve gotta say,” Gina said, swallowing her food and wiping her lips with a napkin. “Thanks for the spaghetti.”

“Well, when Nick said you guys wanted to have lunch of here, I volunteered to cook because I figured that it would be good for the two of you to just take it easy and relax,” Mary politely replied to the other girl.

Nick noticed the uneasiness in her voice.

“…Of course…” Mary continued, biting her lip, “it seems like I did end up missing a bit of drama…”

Nick winced. His wife was perceptive as ever. While Mary and Holly had been busy in the kitchen preparing dinner, he and Gina had a very intense conversation on the couch. And even though the issues that had been raised in that conversation were resolved, that didn’t change the tension that was present there.

“Don’t worry about drama,” Gina said loudly, shaking her head. Nick looked at her in surprise, and their eyes met.

She smiled.

“…It was necessary,” Gina slowly declared, sitting up a little straighter in her seat. “If I’m going to have a relationship with Nick based on love and mutual respect, then it’s important that we have talks like that. Don’t you agree, Nick?”

Nick’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe what he’d just heard her say. “Gina, that… you’re completely right!” He said, nodding.

“How sweet!” Mary gushed, her eyes sparkling. She had been worried when she came out of the kitchen and sensed the awkwardness in the air before, but it seemed like everything had been worked out perfectly.

Just the way she’d hoped.

“I admit, I got a little carried away,” Gina continued, leaning back in her chair. “I mean, can you blame me? Invite a girl up to the Master’s Suite, and you put all kinds of ideas in her head!” She joked, elbowing Nick in the side. “But really, it’s fine. That sort of stuff… you just gotta get used to it, you know?”

Nick nodded slowly, smiling at Gina. He knew she was trying, and that was the important part. Even if it was difficult for her.

Mary gave Gina one of the most genuine smiles Nick had ever seen her give the punk girl. Normally the two had a bit of trouble getting along, but right now, they seemed to be on the same wavelength, which was a relief.

“I’m glad you’re coming around, Gina,” she said, reaching across the table and taking Gina’s hand in hers.

Gina almost recoiled with surprise. “Eh… what?” She blinked, looking at Mary in confusion. Mary stared into her eyes.

“You’re a very important person to Nick, as I’m sure you know,” Mary said softly. “I’ve always known that he has a soft spot in his heart for you.”

“C-come on, we’re eating here,” Gina said, turning red. She scratched her cheek. “You don’t have to get all mushy and stuff…”

“I’m serious!” Mary said adamantly, shaking her head. “To be honest with you, Gina, I’ve always been afraid that you would break Nick’s heart.”

Nick’s jaw dropped. Gina nearly fell out of her chair.

“Br-break?” She stammered, looking around the suite for somewhere to run. “Why would I… I wouldn’t, I mean…”

“Not in, like, a mean way,” Mary quickly clarified, keeping her tone of voice as gentle as possible. “But Gina… you’ve had issues with your sincerity,” she pointed out. “Nick really does care about you. And I was always afraid that you wouldn’t reciprocate those feelings the same way. That you would just try and keep your relationship purely physical.”

For Mary, the idea of a purely physical relationship without any romantic love seemed anathema. But she was trying not to be judgmental. She knew that Nick and Carly had a very comfortable relationship, for example, but with Gina… there was always something deeper there.

“So just… I know this sounds weird…” Mary chewed on her lip. “But thank you for honestly trying to respond to his feelings, Gina. That means so much to me.”

Gina took a deep breath and let Mary’s words sink in. She slowly exhaled and turned to look at Nick with a wistful expression on her face. “…Don’t you think maybe you should have a little something to say about that?” She asked him, in an almost teasing tone.

Nick blushed. “Gina, that-”

“Kidding,” she interrupted him with a giggle before turning back to Mary. “…Thanks,” she said after a brief pause. “It really means a lot. Hearing that from you.”

Mary nodded slowly, relaxing a little.

“Although… maybe you could have picked a better time to lay on the praise,” Gina added, squirming a little. Nick realized that her cheeks were hot.

Mary gasped. “Oh!” Her eyes widened in realization. “I-I didn’t even think of that!”

Gina nodded, blushing a little. “You forgot about my transformations, huh? So much for keeping this whole thing PG, Mary. You naughty little minx.” She clicked her tongue and wagged her finger from side to side chastisingly.

The transformation Gina was talking about was activating right now, triggered by Mary’s wholehearted praise.

• Damned by Faint Praise: Gina has never really been one to get positive reinforcement for anything she does. But she’s **** for it. Whenever someone compliments her on something she’s done well, she’ll receive a spike in arousal. Depending on how “good” the act she’s receiving praise for is, the stronger this arousal spike will become, to the point of even being possible to orgasm from it alone. (Good Girl)

Mary wasn’t shy when it came to laying on the compliments, and Gina was receiving quite a dose of them, much to her muted embarrassment. But she still smiled and shook her head, giggling.

“I can handle it,” she assured the embarrassed redhead. “Don’t worry.”

Her eyes flickered over to Nick, and they shared a heated look. Nick could see the desire in her gaze, but he also saw something he wasn’t used to seeing when it came to Gina.

Restraint.

She really is trying hard, he realized, smiling in relief. I’m glad. She wants to make this work, then. That’s good.

“Besides,” Gina continued, “I don’t know how much praise I really deserve for my actions, anyway.”

“Huh?” Nicki looked at her in confusion. “What are you talking about? You’ve been doing a great job today, Gina.” She had really been putting in the effort, he knew that better than anyone. But of course, she had to be humble about it…

Gina shook her head. “It’s my other transformation,” she said. “It doesn’t feel right, getting praise for something like that.”

Nick and Mary both looked at her, confused, as Holly slowly ate her spaghetti with her head down, checked out of the conversation.

Seeing that they didn’t get what she meant, Gina called up another one of her transformations to show them.

• Leave the Clothes, Take the Cannoli: Gina doesn’t want to wear pretty dresses or wash out her hair dye? Fine, she can dress however she likes. But that won’t help the overwhelming urge she’ll have from this point on to become more responsible and behave like a “Good Girl”, especially as far as others are concerned! (Good Girl)

“See? You remember this one, right?” She pointed out to them both. “My transformation is urging me to be more of a good girl. So for me to get praise for what my transformation is making me do, well…” She shrugged, not convinced that she should get that much acknowledgment.

Nick and Mary glanced at each other, both immediately understanding the issue at hand.

“Gina, that’s dumb,” Mary bluntly declared.

Gina’s mouth flopped open in shock. “Uh… what?”

“Mary’s right, it is dumb,” Nick agreed, shaking his head. “Your transformation may be influencing your behavior subtly, but that doesn’t mean it deserves all the credit. You’re making a sincere effort to change yourself, and that deserves to be acknowledged and praised.”

Gina blushed, feeling her body heat up again from Nick’s praise. “You know, you keep laying it on like that, and we’re gonna have a whole different kind of lunch party,” she warned him with a playful smile on her flushed face.

Nick bit his lip, knowing what she was driving at but backed into a corner all the same.

“Just because your transformation is compelling you to do better, that doesn’t mean we can’t still acknowledge your efforts,” Mary declared. “Think about it! This isn’t like with my milk, where your whole personality changed. You’re still you. You just have the impulse to be a better person. And there’s nothing wrong with that!”

Gina scratched her cheek. “Yeah, I guess,” she conceded. “Just like how Nick’s been fighting the impulse to give me spankings all day,” she pointed out, giving him a playful look.

Nick blushed. Gina wasn’t wrong there. Her Sweetcheeks transformation had been acting on him all morning; he’d just been putting it out of his mind, and trying to keep Gina in front of him all day so it wouldn’t trigger.

“Let’s change the subject, please,” he begged. The last thing he wanted was to ruin all of Gina’s progress by taking the conversation down a more raunchy path.

Fortunately, Gina seemed to agree with him. She nodded, giving him a playful look, and then turned to Holly. “So Holly, how have you been?” She asked, changing the subject just like Nick asked. “I feel like we haven’t had the chance to talk at all today.”

True, Holly had been unusually quiet. She was just eating her spaghetti, almost like she was caught in a trance.

Nick was starting to get a little worried. After their intimate experience together last night, and Mary’s milk wearing off, he hadn’t really had a lot of time to sit down and talk with Holly about how things would go moving forward.

But they both agreed that they wanted to be together.

Holly wiped her lips with a napkin and lifted her head, looking at Gina.

Then she slid a piece of paper across the table to her.

Gina took the paper and unfolded it, reading aloud what was written on it.

“‘Hi, my name is Holly. Mary asked me not to speak while we are eating, in the hope that we could all finally get through a meal together without the conversation derailing into sexual territory and making everybody uncomfortable.’”

Holly flashed a sweet smile and Mary glanced away, her face a testament to her guilt and shame.

“W-well… maybe I was a little too harsh,” she conceded.

Gina doubled over with laughter. “Come on, Holly, stop messing around,” she said, crumpling up the paper and tossing it over her shoulder. “Just because we talk about that stuff, doesn’t mean things are going to get weird between us. Right, Nick?”

“Right,” Nick said with a nod, giving Holly a look. The last thing he wanted was for her to be restraining herself.

“Holly, I didn’t say you couldn’t talk,” Mary added, not taking the fall for this. “I said you couldn’t talk about sexual topics, because Gina and Nick were trying to have a platonic date and discussion about sex could derail it!”

Holly stared at Mary pointedly.

Mary’s eye twitched. “…No, you can have a conversation without it needing to be sexual in nature, Holly, I know you can.”

Holly shrugged. She gave Nick a look that seemed to ask “Come on, do you really believe that’s possible?”

Nick knew for a fact that it was, of course.

Gina burst out laughing. “You guys are just too much,” she said, shaking her head. “Really, guys, I love you!”

Nick was surprised to hear her say that so casually. He looked at her, eyes wide, and she glanced back at him.

“What? To be clear, I don’t mean it that way, obviously,” she clarified.

“…Oh.” Mary’s heart sank in her chest and she sighed. “You got my hopes up and everything,” she mumbled to herself.

“Why the disappointment, Mary?” Gina inquired. “The way you are, I’da thought you’d be HAPPY, not having to share your husband’s love with another woman?”

Mary winced. Gina wasn’t wrong, Mary could get jealous, even though she knew that envy was a sin. But she was also Nick’s wife. She knew how important it was that he share his love with the women around him, even though her deepest desire really was to have that love all to herself.

Since that wasn’t possible, she would settle for Nick spreading his love to as many women as he could, and with that…

“So you don’t love Nick, then?” Mary pressed.

Nick grimaced. “Mary, I think that’s a little too far,” he said, looking hesitantly over at Gina. They had just managed to get through a regular date. It was WAY too soon to be talking about love and all that stuff.

Mary bit the inside of her mouth. She knew that Nick was right, of course, but…

“I like him,” Gina said slowly, looking fondly over at Nick. “But if it’s about love… I don’t even know what that’s supposed to look like, Mary. I’ve never fallen in love before.”

Her gaze sharpened as she looked at the complicated face of her lover. “What about you, Nick?” She asked hesitantly. “You’ve fallen in love. Right? Your wife’s right here, after all. Is that… how you feel about me?”

The hair on the back of Nick’s neck stood up and he braced himself. This was definitely not where he’d wanted this conversation to go, for obvious reasons.

“…Our relationship is complicated, Gina,” he said honestly.

Gina wasn’t going to fall for that dodge, though. “You’re avoiding the question,” she said with a smirk. “Come on, lover-boy, just admit it!”

She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table (Rude!) and batted her eyelashes towards him. “You’re totally smitten, aren’t you?”

“I like you a lot,” Nick said, his face heating up. Mary was right when she said that Gina was an important person to him. But because of their complicated relationship, he’d always avoided using the “L” word in regard to her.

Partly because he always second-guessed himself. And partly because he had no idea how Gina would actually react.

“…I’d like to fall in love with you,” he finally answered, earning a surprised look from Mary, a gasp from Holly, and from Gina…

The dark-haired girl’s mouth dropped open. Her cheeks turned pink and then the color drained out of them, and she squirmed in her seat slightly. “We-well, that’s… that’s really… not the kind of response I was expecting,” she stammered, shaking her head. She tore her eyes away from him, her face burning with embarrassment. “Look, I’m not… you know I’m not the ‘white picket fence and kids’ type of girl, right? You got Mary for that already.”

Holly coughed loudly.

Gina looked at her again, surprised. “…Wait, you serious?” She asked, her eyes widening. She looked at Nick and her mouth fell open. “Holy shit, dude!” She jumped out of her chair and circled around the table to give Nick a high-five. “Congratulations! When did you…? Oh, probably last night, huh?”

Holly blushed. She pulled out another piece of paper from under the table and began to scribble something down.

Mary rolled her eyes and yanked the paper away, crumpling it up. “You can use your words, you know,” she said, getting a little tired of Holly’s game.

The short girl stuck out her tongue.

“…I’m pregnant, yes, it’s true,” Holly said, holding up her head with pride. “At least, I’m pretty sure I am, anyway. It was only last night, but… with Mary’s milk, it would be kind of hard not to be.”

Her voice held so much joy and pride, and her face looked so happy, that any reservations Nick may have still had completely evaporated.

Mary smiled. “You made that choice for yourself, Holly,” she pointed out gently. “I just helped you along a little, that’s all.”

“Well, way to go!” Gina crowed. “Look at you, Nick! Gonna be a dad twice over!”

“You know, you can get in on this too,” Mary pointed out. “If you want to know how you really feel about Nick, then-”

“Getting WAY ahead of yourself there,” Gina interrupted her, shaking her head. “Come on. I haven’t even been able to hold down a JOB. You think I can have a kid?”

People often called Gina irresponsible, and they were right, she was. But even someone as irresponsible as her had enough common sense to know better than to bring a child into her present life. She had a long, LONG way to go before she was stable enough to even think about having kids, assuming that was even something she wanted.

“Gina, it’s up to you,” Nick said gently. “Obviously, I don’t want to pressure you into having kids. Mary and Holly made their own choices.”

“And besides, it’s not like it’s even confirmed that I’m pregnant yet,” Holly added. She reached down and rubbed her breasts. “I haven’t started lactating yet.”

Mary looked at her. “That… that’s not how it works,” she said, shaking her head.

Holly frowned. “Huh? Yeah it is, you see it all the time, when a girl gets knocked up, they immediately start lactating!” The playful tone of her voice made it clear she was just messing around, but Nick couldn’t help but take the bait anyway.

“Holly, that only happens in seedy doujins,” he groaned.

Smirking, Holly looked triumphantly at him, and Nick realized he’d just fallen into her trap.

“Oh, and which of those have you been reading?” Mary asked with a pout on her face. “I’m not good enough for you?”

“Uh, no, that’s not what I… …Never mind,” Nick sighed, knowing there was no talking his way out of this mess.