It's Bailey. Things are coming to a head.

"Hey." Bailey's voice is hushed, almost sad. She doesn't sound likes she's been crying, but she also doesn't sound great.

"What's wrong?" Nick asks. "Hang on, I'm putting you on speaker so Tommy can hear you, too."

"Hi, Bailey," Tommy says once Nick gets the speaker on. "Are you okay?"

"Hey, Tommy," Bailey says quietly. "I think things are going to fall apart with Sarah."

"What? Why?" Tommy looks genuinely upset. Nick knows she really wants Bailey to be happy, and they were both pulling for Bailey to get what she wants, even if that means losing her.

"Things were great for a while," Bailey sighs. "I mean, perfect in every way. But..."

"But?" Nick asks, prompting her to continue.

"I miss you guys so much." Bailey pauses, unsure what she wants to say. "I mean, the sex with Sarah is amazing. But there's this other part of me, the submissive part, that isn't really...satisfied." Now she starts to sniffle a little bit.

"Can't you just bring up maybe her dominating you?" Tommy suggests.

"I tried. And she tried to, but it didn't go too well. She watched some videos, and saw all the spanking and beating, and she said she couldn't do that to me. I tried to tell her that wasn't it, but it's like she thinks it's just my excuse to get back to you guys." Bailey suddenly sobs, **** up. "I'm sorry, I only call you when I'm falling apart and crying."

"Bailey, we love you," Nick says. "We take you however you are, and, if being with the woman you love means we don't take you any way at all, then that's what we want."

"Are you okay?" Tommy asks again, her voice concerned. This time, she emphasizes the word okay.

"We're fighting now." Bailey sounds defeated. "We never used to fight, not the whole time we were in school. But she saw I was texting you guys, checking in, and she got really hurt. I don't know what I should do."

"Have you talked to her about it?" Tommy asks.

"I can't. I don't know what to say." Tommy and Nick can both hear her desperation, her fears, her insecurities. She wants to be Pet right now, to be told what to do. But Nick knows this time, it wouldn't be right. He can't order her through this.

Tommy smiles. "Is she there right now?"

Bailey's breath catches. "Why?"

Using the voice she's learned from Nick and May, Tommy puts the dom voice on. "I asked you a question, Pet."

Nick opens his mouth to stop her, but Tommy holds up a finger, shushing him, confident. They hear Bailey fussing around with something on the other side of the phone, then her voice comes back, quiet, shy. Pet's voice. "Yes, Tommy, she's in the other room. She doesn't know I called you."

"Go get her and tell her we need to talk to her."

Nick shakes his head, furious. "Tommy, that's not-"

"Be quiet," she tells him, firmly. "You have a certain skillset, right? When you need to dom someone, you rock. I'm sure you can wipe out entire armies if you need to, superman. But you are honestly shit at relationships. So trust the empathetic little blonde to fix this so there's a happy ending." Tommy turns her attention back to the phone as Nick tries to digest what just happened. "Listen, Pet, you and I both know what you want is to have your cake and eat it, too. You want Sarah, but you want us, too. So the worst thing that will happen is Sarah will freak out and dump you. Personally, I don't think she will. She spent eight years waiting for you, right?"

"Yes, Tommy."

"Do you trust me, baby?"

Pet doesn't hesitate. "Yes, Tommy."

"All right. Go get Sarah and tell her I want to talk to her."

"Yes, Tommy." They both hear footsteps, and a door opening, hesitant voices. They can't make out what gets said, but it sounds unhappy, angry. Nick's heart is thudding in his chest, his love for the girls overwhelming his long-deadened social senses.

It takes almost ten minutes, during which Nick is convinced they've just ruined Bailey's life. Tommy never waivers, face cheerful, smiling, as if she's convinced everything will work out. Finally, there's a commotion, and the sound of someone crying, and then the phone bangs around a bit before Sarah answers the line.

She's on the warpath, ready to fight. "Before you even start into your patter, I'm a lesbian, I have no interest in having a hot little threesome, and I would rather cut my own tits off than let you put your dick in me, 'Master'!"

"Okeydoke," Tommy chirps. "I mean, I'm not the Master, I'm more of a switch, but please don't cut your tits off. From what Bailey says, they're very nice and it would be a shame to ruin them. Although, if you DO cut them off, maybe I can have them? I don't have any, you see."

There is a long pause. "Who the Hell are you?"

"I'm Tommy, Pet's cross-dressing girlfriend." Tommy laughs. "Bailey really, really loves you, you know."

"So much she wants to fuck other people and have me beat her up?"

Tommy sighs. "Sarah, you're a doctor, right?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"When you diagnose a patient, do you just look at one symptom and decide what's wrong?"

Another pause. "Well, you're a clever pervert, I guess."

"Yep," Tommy agrees happily. "Listen, I'm going to be perfectly honest with you. I love your girlfriend, and so does Nicki. It's hard to believe, but we're very weird people, and we're both capable of loving more than one person at a time. Maybe a whole harem, who knows?"

"Why are you doing this?" Sarah's voice has calmed down, but the anger is still there.

"I told you, silly," Tommy laughs. "I love Bailey. And, because I love her, I want her to be happy, and she's not. And I know why. Nicki thinks he does, but he doesn't, because he's never been submissive a day in his life. And I can tell you haven't either."

"You don't know anything about me."

"So you're saying I shouldn't make assumptions about the thinking and motivations of someone I haven't met?"

This time, there's a small sardonic laugh. "I take it back. You are an exceptionally smart pervert."

"I accept all superlatives," Tommy says, playing high-tone and fancy. "Your Bailey and our Pet are two different sides of the same person. She won't be happy without all her needs being met. The lifestyle is about a lot of things, and you need to know what those things are before you make any rash decisions. I swear, Nicki and I don't want to fuck you." Tommy stops, thinks about that. "Well, I might want to fuck you. The way Bailey describes you, I bet you're hella-good in the sack."

This time, Sarah actually laughs. "Better than you can imagine, girl."

"Oh, I dunno, I have an excellent imagination." Tommy stops flirting and gets serious. "Listen, meet us for dinner, let us talk to you, lay all our cards on the table. I think, since we love her, and you love her, and she loves all of us, we ought to be able to come to some sort of understanding that will make Bailey happy."