So baby take my hand it'll be alright

Dani sat up in bed and stretched. She had a grin on her face.

It felt like she’d been smiling a lot recently.

“I see someone’s in a good mood. Your date go well?”

Dani blinked, and turned to see Kim getting ready from across the room. She was just putting the finishing touches on her uniform.

The short-haired girl smiled. “What time did you come in last night, anyway?” She teased. “I didn’t hear you.”

Dani laughed and rolled her eyes. Her face felt hot. “Come on,” she sighed. “We didn’t do stuff like that! We just started dating yesterday, you know! It was our first date together! Did you and Nick have sex on your first date together?”

“I get your point,” Kim admitted. “Still, I’d have thought, with Carly…”

Her voice trailed off as she realized what she was insinuating, and she wisely decided to shut up.

Unfortunately, her words had already had an effect on the other girl.

“I see…” Dani said, looking down. “Yeah, you’re right… Carly’s the kind of girl who would have sex on her first date, wouldn’t she… if I was a boy, anyway… but I’m not, so…”

“N-no!” Kim exclaimed, shaking her head frantically. “That’s not what I meant at all! I wasn’t trying to say… that is… I was thinking… look! Okay? That’s just a bad way of seeing things.”

“I know,” Dani sighed. “But… how else am I supposed to look at it? Carly… if I was a guy, we absolutely would have had sex last night, don’t you think?”

There was a very good chance that was the case. But Kim didn’t want to make her roommate, her friend, feel any worse about the situation she was in.

Which put Kim in a rather awkward situation herself.

“…Okay, how about this?” She said, sitting down next to Dani on the bed, finishing up the last of the buttons on her blouse. “Maybe the reason that Carly didn’t want to have sex with you isn’t just because she’s not attracted to you that way. Maybe she’s trying to take things slowly, because she doesn’t want to rush the way she would with someone who she didn’t have feelings for.”

Dani blinked. “Do you really think so?” She asked, her voice brimming with hopeful optimism.

Kim shrugged. “It’s a theory, anyway,” she said. “I’m sure that if Carly thought having sex was a good idea this early on in a relationship, well… she would have done it, whether she was attracted to you or not. You know, for your sake. Don’t you think so?”

Dani considered that. It was certainly one way of looking at things. “…I suppose you’re right,” she admitted, stroking her chin thoughtfully. “Knowing Carly… yeah, she would want to make me feel embraced and accepted, even if she wasn’t getting something out of it herself…”

Kim cracked a grin. “There, you see? Just like I thought! It’s not anything against you, it’s just that Carly thinks it’s a better idea to take things slowly! And you can respect that, right?”

Dani nodded again. “Yeah… I can respect that… it makes sense… but…”

After a few seconds, she shook her head. “…But that’s still something we should have a discussion about, if you ask me.”

Carly might have thought that it was a smart idea, to not consummate their relationship.

Dani wasn’t as convinced, though.

Kim blinked. “Huh?”

“Sorry, Kim, but Carly and I… we need to have a talk about this stuff.” Dani got out of bed and walked over to her closet, grabbing a change of clothes. “But first, I need to go see Serenity!”

Kim blinked.

“…Who’s Serenity?” She asked, confused.

Kim had been at work while the other girls figured out where they could best house Serenity, and Dani had been on her date, of course, so she didn’t know either. So she had to go poking around the other rooms to find out where she was.

Dani had gotten her answer when she stopped off to check in with Dawn, and found, much to her surprise, that the cat girl and Sylvia were actually getting along nicely together.

“I didn’t expect to see you two being so chummy,” Dani said, glancing at the blonde, then back to Dawn. “Although, I guess you do make a habit of getting to know all the Auditionees, don’t you?” She pointed out, cracking a grin.

Dawn gave a rueful smile and rolled her eyes. “Come on, Dani, there’s no need to be snarky. We had a nice night together! So what’s up? What did you want to talk about?”

“I’m just looking for Seren- err, the siren,” Dani explained, remembering that Serenity didn’t want people to figure out who she really was, and wanted to keep pretending she was a siren. “I wanted to have a talk with her. Do you know where she is?”

“Whoa, you and Carly started dating, and you’re already stepping out on her?” Sylvia clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Come on, Dani, I expected so much better than that from you.”

Dani’s eye twitched.

Dawn sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Sylvia… remember that discussion we had last night, about you not saying stuff that you know is just going to make people upset, and harder to get along with?”

Sylvia frowned and a contrite expression crossed her face. She looked down at the floor. “Yes’m,” she admitted sheepishly.

“Good. Focus on that. It’ll be better for you in the long run,” Dawn said, not sparing the blonde a second look. She focused on Dani instead. “The siren’s at the Cove,” she explained.

Dani blinked.

“…Cove? What cove?”

That got another sigh out of Dawn.

“…Yeah. That’s just what I said yesterday.”

“So you’re telling me we had a place like this in the hotel this entire time!?” Dani’s jaw dropped as the elevator opened up to reveal an entire underground water resort, more or less. There weren’t slides, or wave pools, or any attractions, but a steep slope of gravel and rock led down to a large pool of water. Glowing crystals on the walls cast a bright light over the chamber. It looked a lot like the interior of the Sploosh! ride.

“Yeah,” Dawn said dryly. “Apparently, it was one of the features Sylvia tossed in, when she was redesigning this place after Dakota passed on the role of host to her.”

“Isn’t it just the coolest!?” Sylvia’s eyes were shining. “An underground hangout! A crash pad! A secret base! Just take a look!”

She skipped down the hill, and soon her running turned into skidding down the gravel. It looked dangerous to Dani, but Sylvia moved as if it was natural. Clearly, this was something she’d done a whole lot of. She started to slow down as the ground leveled out, and when the gravel became more sand than rock, she stopped at the shore of the beach.

“Come on!” She called back to Dani. “The siren’s over here!”

Dani sighed and rolled her eyes, and prepared to follow Sylvia’s lead down the steep hill. But then Dawn cleared her throat, and gestured to a staircase carved into the stony wall right next to them.

Yeah, that was much better.

When the girls got to the bottom of the hill, Sylvia didn’t look amused.

“You know,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and puffing out her cheeks, “skating down the gravel is a lot more fun. I thought you liked a good workout, Dani?”

“I’d rather not get hurt if I can help it, though,” Dani replied. “Who knows, maybe I’ll run up the hill on the way back.”

Going up was always harder than going down, but when it came to a hill this steep with ground this unstable, Dani was pretty sure it would be a lot safer.

Sylvia just grunted in response. But she quickly brightened up.

“Anyway, isn’t this place just the coolest!?” She gushed, crouching down next to the water. She stuck her hand into it, and pulled it back up, revealing a few shimmering crystals in her hand. “There are gemstones in the water!”

“That is pretty cool,” Dani had to admit. “Did you style it on the Sploosh!?”

Sylvia nodded. “Yup. I thought it would be cool to invite the sirens here, instead of leaving them in the Amusement Park.”

Dani raised her eyebrow. “So why didn’t you?”

At that, Dawn grunted in exasperation and rolled her eyes.

“…I kinda forgot about ‘em,” Sylvia replied, scratching her head sheepishly and sticking out her tongue.

Well, gee. Imagine that. Sylvia being a moron. Dani was completely shocked.

“Oh, also, the water is freshwater, too,” Sylvia added, scooping some up and taking a drink.

“It’s not seawater?” Dani was surprised to hear that. She glanced at the far side of the Cove, where a tunnel seemed to stretch out in the direction of the ocean. (Then again, they were on an island, so that was every direction.)

Sylvia shook her head. “I conjured up a freshwater spring, and it flows down into the ocean instead of the other way around. After all, seawater? Ick!”

She made a face and stuck out her tongue, shaking her head.

Dani could agree with that.

Still…

“So where’s the siren?” She asked, looking around. “Isn’t the whole point of this place to give her a habitat?”

Sylvia’s eyes widened and she cracked a grin. “Oh, that’s the best part!” She exclaimed. “Come here, take a look!” She grabbed Dani by the wrist and practically dragged her along. The girls headed down the beach, to where the water curved inwards towards an even tighter cove.

When they turned the corner, Dani’s jaw dropped.

Serenity was sitting on a couch, outfitted with a waterproof cover, dressed in her swimsuit and watching TV.

That’s right, there was a TV in the underground room, with cables traveling up through a hole in the wall. There was also a luxury waterbed. And a stove. And even a minibar.

“…What the heck?!” Dani looked around at the cavernous room. “This is nicer than the rooms we have upstairs! She gets her own fridge!? And a stove?!”

“Oh, hey Dani,” Serenity said, looking up at the tomboy and waving her hand lazily. “Nice to see you again. Date went well?”

“You know,” Dawn said, turning to Dani, “it would have been nice, letting us know that Serenity was actually a former contestant on a previous season.”

Dani’s jaw dropped and she looked at Serenity. “…You told!? But I thought you didn’t want anyone to find out!?”

Serenity waved her hand dismissively and rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, that kind of went out the window when she saw how swanky this place was,” Dawn sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Can you blame me?” Serenity replied. “I finally got my own TV! Do you know how long it’s been since I got to watch anything on television? It feels like forever! Did you know they made whole new Star Wars movies!?”

“…Yes,” Dani said, exasperated. “I’m aware. Well… at least you’re happy, I guess? Still, it would have been nice to know I didn’t have to keep your secret anymore.”

“You weren’t exactly keeping it very well in the first place,” Dawn pointed out. “You almost said her name outright.”

Dani’s face heated up. “I-I’m not good with the whole lying thing,” she admitted. It was a bit of a relief that she no longer had to do that now. “Anyway, Serenity… how are you doing? You like it here?” She looked around.

“Isn’t it lonely?”

“Nah,” Serenity said. “I mean, I’m a bit of a loner by nature, if I’m being honest. Besides, I have my own private elevator that takes me back to the main hotel anyway, so I can drop by whenever I want to, you know?”

She gestured to a set of doors in the corner.

Dani looked at it. Then she looked back at Sylvia.

“…So if there’s an elevator that connects here, why did we need to come down the other way?” She asked.

Sylvia rolled her eyes. “Because it’s a private elevator? Duh? Do you just use other people’s private things without asking them first?”

Dani couldn’t. She really couldn’t.

“Besides,” Sylvia added. “Then I wouldn’t have gotten to show off how fun the gravel slide is! And I also wouldn’t have gotten to see your expression when you turned the corner! You were so sure that Serenity was just living in a cave or whatever, and you were totally cool with it!”

She clicked her tongue, crossed her arms, and shook her head. “Not cool, Dani. She’s a person too. She deserves wi-fi.”

Dani wanted to strangle the obnoxious blonde.

Dawn cleared her throat.

“Sylvia?”

“…Fine, fine,” Sylvia said, sighing in exasperation. She reached into her shirt pocket and fished out an index card, and cleared her throat. “…Right. ‘To whomever it may concern, I would like to express my sincere apologies. I have been informed that my recent words or actions have been very offensive and/or insensitive to your feelings. Please rest assured that I am taking steps to adjust this behavior, and would appreciate understanding and support in this difficult time. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.’”

Her voice never broke from her monotone.

Dawn sighed. “One step at a time,” she reminded herself under her breath.

“…Right, are we done with the bit now?” Dani asked, exasperated.

“That depends, are you going to throw me into the lake?”

“Really tempted to, yeah.”

“…So, just ‘tempted’ means you’re not going to do it, right?”

Dawn kicked her lightly in the shin.

“YOW!”

Dani crossed her arms over her chest. “We done?”

“Right… right. Moving on, right…”

Dani turned to Serenity. “I’m glad to see you’re doing okay,” she said, smiling. “I just wanted to check up on you, since I was worried.”

Serenity smiled back. “No problem,” she nodded. “This place is much better than where I was before. The other sirens were nice… but I like being around other people, you know? No matter how sweet the sirens are… they’re not the same as people.”

“Who knows?” Dawn shrugged. “Maybe we can convince Dakota to move them here.”

Serenity nodded thoughtfully. It was definitely worth consideration.

“…But the TV is mine.”

“Right, obviously, yes,” Sylvia agreed.

Dani smiled. Seeing that Serenity had settled in, meant that there was one worry that was off her chest now.

She could finally go check up on Carly.

There was something they needed to discuss.

Serenity allowed Dani to use her private elevator, so Dani didn’t have to climb that hill. She was grateful for that.

Dani exited out into the main lobby and headed for the Banquet Hall, where she figured Carly would be. And if not, she’d at least be able to cut the other woman off! She wanted a private conversation with her girlfriend, or at least, as private a conversation as someone could get, when they couldn’t be more than ten feet away from their sister.

Luckily, she ran into Carly and Marley almost immediately as they were getting off the elevator.

“Hey, Carly, just who I was… wha…”

Dani’s voice trailed off as she stared in open-mouthed shock past the two twins and at a very flustered and embarrassed Rose.

“Wh-what?!” Rose demanded, her face red. Her arm was over her chest, hiding her nipples away, while she held her other hand down over her crotch. There wasn’t a stitch of clothing on her. “What’s wrong, never seen a naked girl going to breakfast before?”

“Wh-why…?” Dani shook her head, not sure what to make of what she was seeing right now. But she couldn’t pry her eyes away from the exposed blonde.

“Ahem.”

Carly cleared her throat, and that was enough to snap Dani’s attention back to where she was supposed to be looking. Dani turned to her, her face burning with shame.

“S-sorry,” she stammered, feeling guilty about openly ogling another girl right in front of Carly. She hadn’t even realized what her girlfriend was wearing today! She wore a blue pinstripe dress with striped red sleeves, and her hair was set in two braided red pigtails tied with blue ribbon. At first, Dani thought it was some bizarre Mary cosplay, before realizing that it was the Wendy’s girl.

“It’s fine,” Carly mumbled, twirling one of her pigtails. Now that Dani was staring at her, she suddenly felt very self-conscious. “What, uh… what do you think?”

“I-I like it!” Dani gushed. “You… you look amazing! Really, I’m serious!”

Carly broke out into a smile. “Do you really think so?” She asked, her voice aching with hope.

Dani nodded rapidly. “Yeah! Your outfit is so cute!”

Marley rolled her eyes. She looked like she was going to be sick. “Are you two going to carry on like this all day?” She sighed. She was happy for her sister, she really was. But Carly had never been in a relationship before (not that Marley was one to talk) and it showed.

The way she was acting right now, like a little girl with a crush…

It was a whole new kind of headache.

“Well, um… I can see you guys have a lot to talk about,” Rose said, clearing her throat. She took a few cautious steps back. “In the meantime, I’m gonna, um, go find a small corner to just wither up and die of shame in, okay?”

She turned on her heel, trying to look as confident as she could with her butt hanging out and bouncing behind her.

Dani felt ashamed, but she couldn’t help but sneak a peak.

“…So what’s going on there?” She asked, turning back to Carly. “Why’s she naked?”

Carly sighed. “I don’t know… I think it’s probably something to do with her bounty sheet? I mean, I wouldn’t put it past Rose to just like being naked, either…”

“Hah!” Dani laughed.

“…So what is it? What were you looking for us for, Dani?” Marley realized that if she wanted this torturous conversation to end, then she needed to be more active herself and divert it in the right direction. Dani gasped, realizing that she’d gotten off track.

“Um, yeah, sorry,” she apologized, her face flushing. “I just… um…”

She glanced warily at Marley. She didn’t want to say it, but…

“Fine.” Marley rolled her eyes. She walked as far away as she could, while still being able to retain her composition as a human. “Is this acceptable?”

“So what is it?” Carly had stopped smiling, realizing that Dani wanted to talk about something serious. The way the other girl looked at her… “Dani?”

Dani took a deep breath, and then slowly let it out. “Carly… look, there’s no easy way to say this, so… I just need to get it off my chest. It… it’s about sex.”

Carly tensed. That wasn’t a good sign. She held her hands up. “Look, Dani, I know what I said before, about how I’m not attracted to you that way, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to have sex with you! If you want to have sex, if that’s what you need for our relationship to feel intimate, then I’m happy to do it! But I just wanted to take things slowly!”

Dani blinked. “Wait, Carly-”

But Carly was on a roll. “Look, I know the kind of impression I give off, and I know it’s kind of selfish, that I had sex with Nick almost immediately and didn’t with you, I know,” she said, shaking her head. “But that’s because I really want to do this right! I was worried that if we jumped right into sex, then you wouldn’t think my feelings for you were anything special… and maybe, then, even I would start believing that…”

Her eyes began to water.

Dani’s eyes, on the other hand, were wide. It was just like Kim had said! But… that wasn’t the issue.

“No, look, I get it,” Dani said, touching her girlfriend’s arm. “I’m glad you’re trying to take this seriously. But that’s not what this is about.”

Carly blinked. “…It isn’t?”

“Carly, we’ve been dating for one day,” Dani said. “I wasn’t expecting anything from you. No, this… this is something else.”

“…Oh. What, then?” Carly winced, seeing the tense look on Dani’s face. That wasn’t a good sign.

“I think… I think you and Nick should have sex,” she said quietly.

Well, a little late for that! Carly wasn’t about to say that out loud, though, that would be just awful.

She was confused what Dani was trying to say, though. “Sex… with Nick? Huh?” She squinted, as if seeing Dani’s face any clearer would help her figure out what was going on.

Dani bit her lip and nodded.

“You and Nick… you’re sleeping together, I know, and I know I said I was fine with that,” Dani mumbled. “But… I don’t know if I really am. So I’m going to suggest something. And if you’re not comfortable with it, then just tell me, and we don’t have to do it.”

“Suggest what?” Carly asked.

“Tonight is my night, up in the Master’s Suite, with Nick,” Dani reminded her. “And I… I was hoping… you could come with me. And I could watch you two… you know.” With each word, her face grew redder and her voice turned shakier.

Carly’s jaw dropped.

“…You can’t be serious,” she muttered, shaking her head.

Dani was absolutely serious.

“I mean it,” she said firmly. “I-I’ve never… I’ve never seen you two… well…”

She couldn’t get the words out, so she mashed her hands together instead.

Subtle.

Carly’s face turned red.

“Look, okay, I’m not… I don’t think I’m jealous,” Dani said. “But the whole premise of this relationship, is that you and I connect together emotionally, while you get Nick to fulfill your sexual desires. And I said I was fine with that yesterday, but… I don’t know if I am! I mean, no… that’s not what I mean, I just… argh, this is so hard to explain!” She groaned, pulling at her hair.

“Then just try and help me understand,” Carly said gently. “Dani, if you won’t want to go through with this, if you’re getting cold feet…”

“But that’s just it, I don’t know!” Dani exclaimed. “Look, it’s like this. You and I… we… I know you’re having sex with Nick. You had sex with Nick two nights ago! But we weren’t together then. And seeing it, that’s… that’s something else entirely. So… I want to see it. If it’s happening right in front of me, then I’m going to know for sure, whether I can take it or not, and if not, well…”

She didn’t finish her sentence. Both women knew what the “if not” was.

Carly sniffled a little, trying not to cry. She was really scared of pushing this issue. Having sex when Dani wasn’t there, that was one thing. But having her watch… having her see all the things Carly did with Nick… that would crush her!

“Can’t… can’t we wait a bit?” She pleaded. “Until we’re both more comfortable with the relationship?!”

Dani shook her head. That wouldn’t work. “I’m not going to **** you to sleep with him or anything,” Dani assured her girlfriend. “But the sooner we do this, the better. I don’t want to fall deeper and deeper in love with you, and then two months from now see you with him and have my heart break in two. That would crush me. At least… if it happens now, and I can’t take it, then… at least I’ll know now. And we can move on fast. No hard feelings.”

Carly knew that Dani was being the rational one here. But she was still afraid. She didn’t want to lose Nick, and she didn’t want to lose Dani, either. She didn’t want to lose anyone!

“…You’re right,” she admitted, sighing in resignation. “Okay. We’ll try it. Tonight, right?”

“Yeah,” Dani nodded. “Tonight. But if I say I can’t handle it… then you stop, alright? Can you promise me?”

Carly nodded. She held Dani’s hand, feeling her love flow into her.

“I promise,” she said, and she hoped that tonight would go as well as Dani clearly believed it would.