Sometime near morning, there's a smile I really need

Nick was surprised to see Rose leaving the Master’s Suite as he came back from his date. Well, the fact that Rose was leaving wasn’t a surprise- she was here most every night, it seemed. But the fact that she was alone came as a surprise. Where was Ella?

She looked surprised to see him, as well. For just a moment anyway, and then a sly smile spread across her lips. “Coming home alone tonight?” She tittered. “What a pity. Did your date not go well?”

He could tell by the gleam in her eye that she was playing with him, so he just smirked. “I’ll leave that up to your imagination,” he replied.

Rose was undaunted, and rolled her eyes. “Well… I hope you had a nice day. Sylvia really went above and beyond, taking that bounty. Giving up her night with you… I don’t know if I could do that myself,” she admitted.

Then she sighed. “If only I could be the one you’d spend tonight with… but alas.” She wiped a tear from her eye that he was pretty sure was faked, and then smiled his way. “So, do you know who it’s going to be, then?”

Nick shook his head. “I expected I’d come upon them waiting for me in the suite,” he replied. “Speaking of, are you alone? No Ella?”

Rose shook her head. “She came to me this morning and asked if I could use my transformation again to give her another day off. I was happy to oblige, but… did everything go okay between the two of you?” She asked, concerned. “She seemed really flustered.”

Nick thought back to this morning and the strange encounter with Ella he had in his bed. He’d almost forgotten with how hectic the date had been.

He shook his head. “This morning was weird,” he admitted. “But it wasn’t anything bad. We had a nice time last night.”

Rose nodded. “Well… good. Anyway, I’m done with my work, so… oh! Take a look!”

She craned her neck, and for a second, Nick thought she was showing off her hair. It was back to its original length now, with this latest boost in BP, or very close to it. But that wasn’t what Rose was trying to show him.

Rose: 9500 BP + 100 BP = 9600 BP

Nick squinted. “Is that… a collar?”

Rose took a step back and batted her eyelashes. “Why yes… it is,” she purred. “I had Vivian pick one out for me this morning. I’ll be getting a nice little chunk of BP from it tomorrow… fortunately she had one on hand! If I had to buy it at the boutique, I probably wouldn’t have even made money!”

She shook her head, sending her curls bouncing. “I just have to wear it for 24 hours… so after your date with Kim tomorrow, when you see me again in the morning, I’ll have more BP, and even longer hair than before!”

Nick could understand the draw of that. Rose certainly liked her money. But he had more important things to concern himself with, right now.

“Well, it was good to catch up, Rose, really,” Nick said. “But as much as I’d like to keep chatting, my mystery date is likely to come up any minute now, and I could really use a moment to unwind. Knowing Dakota, she’d probably send someone like Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin up for the night to boost the ratings.”

Rose frowned. “You don’t like her?”

Nick shook his head. “No, it’s not that! It’s just… I imagine there will be a bit of stress involved.”

She nodded, though she still looked a little troubled. “Well… I’m sure you will be able to figure it out, mon compagnon,” she tittered. “For now, this is where we must part.”

Then before Nick could say anything, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

Flustered, Nick pulled away and looked at her in surprise.

“You didn’t think I wouldn’t take the opportunity when presented to me, do you?” She pointed out with a bold gleam in her eye. “Have a good evening!”

And with that, she turned on her heel and flounced into the elevator, leaving a flustered Nick standing in the entryway.

“…Rose…” Nick sighed and shook his head. He didn’t know how it was possible, but apparently he’d used up his supply of tolerance for teasing on his date with Sylvia, because she’d definitely caught him on his heels. Pushing his thoughts of Rose out of his mind and focusing on the night ahead of him, he turned and walked inside.

For a moment, he was afraid the suite would be empty. With all the emphasis that had been placed on tonight, it wouldn’t be a surprise to him if Dakota had shooed his wife and housekeeper out of the room so he could be alone with whoever she chose for his date tonight.

But that wasn’t the case. Mary was waiting for him, and looked a little anxious, too.

“You’re… alone?” She questioned.

Nick nodded. “Sylvia took a bounty, remember? So she’s not spending the night with me. Whoever is getting me tonight will be chosen by Dakota… though she might have put it up for vote.”

“That could be fun!” Holly said. She was busy dusting, putting the finishing touches on Rose’s work. “Maybe they’ll vote for Dakota. Wouldn’t that be hilarious?”

Nick wasn’t sure if hilarious was the right word or not, but he was pretty sure that if Dakota was an option, she would have forgone any vote and just appointed herself.

“If you don’t know who’s going to be coming, I’ll hold off on dinner for now,” Mary decided, stroking her chin thoughtfully. “You never know… I don’t want to make something not to a person’s taste, after all, right?”

Nick then realized that ever since Mary’s elimination, she must have been tailoring dinner to suit the favorite foods of whoever he was spending the night with. That was sweet of her! But now that it was an unknown, she was a little stuck.

“You never know, maybe whoever it is will want to cook their own meal,” Nick pointed out. Not that he expected that to happen. He didn’t really care one way or the other, though. He and Sylvia had shared an early dinner before going their separate ways. Anything Mary would have made would probably go to waste. But he didn’t feel like commenting on that, in case he disappointed her.

Mary laughed. “Well, I did hold a cooking class today, while you were on your date,” she said. “So maybe someone’s eager to practice?”

Nick shrugged. Anything was possible.

“So how did your date go?” Holly looked like she was just dying for details at the moment. Mary looked at him curiously as well, though her curiosity was tinged with worry.

Given the stressful conversation they’d had this morning, Nick wasn’t surprised.

“Actually? It went pretty well!” He said, and both girls looked relieved.

“Well, it’s Sylvia, so I was a little worried,” Holly admitted. “But I bet you guys had a really great date together, yeah?”

Nick nodded. “I think we made a lot of progress.”

“Progress… on having sex? How far did you get?!” Holly leaned forward excitedly, her eyes sparkling with delight.

Nick stared at her, and kept staring at her until she understood just what she had done.

With an exaggerated sigh, Holly rolled her eyes. She puffed up her cheeks. “Fine, fine, fine… you don’t want to kiss and tell, I get it.”

Mary giggled.

“It’s not what you think, we…” Nick’s voice trailed off and he shut his mouth. He quickly realized that telling the two of them that he and Sylvia didn’t do anything together because she was pretending to be his bratty daughter might have the opposite impact he was looking for.

Holly’s cheeky smile confirmed it.

“…Sexy stuff wasn’t on the table,” he said tactfully, and switched the subject instead. “It was a nice date, and that’s what was really important.”

“Right, gotta keep your eye on the ball,” Holly nodded. “Focus on the sexy times today.”

There was no winning with Holly, it seemed. Nick sighed and slowly shook his head.

Before he could chew her out though, a knock on the door caught the attention of all three of them. He and Mary shared a look, and Holly looked ready to spring to the door immediately. But she stared apprehensively at Nick.

It took him a while to realize that she was waiting for him.

“Right, uh, I’ll go get it,” he said, turning and heading for the door.

He was surprised to see Gina there waiting for him. She was wearing a crooked grin on her lips, and her eyes were shining with excitement, and a bit of confusion.

“Gina?” He asked. “You’re my date for tonight?”

She bit her lip and nodded.

“Yup,” she said. “Dakota just told me. She said that I would be spending the night with you.”

“Well… I’m glad,” Nick nodded. He was still confused why Gina had knocked, instead of just barging in, which seemed way more her style. He was also confused by the fact that she was standing there staring at him.

“…Do you want to come in?” He asked, taking longer than it should have for him to realize she was waiting for his permission.

She nodded and entered the room, still with an awkward expression on her face.

“Gina!” Mary went to greet her. “Hey. So you’re, um…”

Gina nodded again. “For tonight, yeah.”

There was an awkward tension hanging in the air that Nick couldn’t quite figure out. It shouldn’t be like this, should it? Gina was way more laid-back than this.

Maybe Dakota had told her something?

“Is everything alright? You want a drink?” Holly asked. At fist Nick thought she was just being considerate, but when he saw the devilish smile on her lips, he realized what she was insinuating about a “drink” here.

Gina rolled her eyes. “Come on, really?”

“That… we haven’t even had dinner first,” Nick stammered, blushing. “At least wait for after Mary finishes cooking before we get to any of… that stuff,” he begged his lascivious maid.

Holly made an exasperated farting noise with her mouth.

Gina frowned. “Well… who says Mary’s going to be cooking tonight?”

Nick blinked. “Huh?”

The punk girl’s face was red, and she had trouble meeting Nick’s eyes. “I… I can cook too, just so you know. Mary isn’t the only one. I-I’ve learned a lot from her, so…”

Her offer caught Nick completely by surprise. His eyes widened. “Wait, you mean… Gina, you want to do the cooking?”

Gina looked fiercely at him. “Is… is that so wrong?” She asked. “I can do it, can’t I?”

“That-that’s not what I meant!” Nick shook his head. “I didn’t mean to imply that you couldn’t cook, I just, um…”

“That sounds wonderful!” Mary clapped her hands together. “I’m so excited! You’re actually going to cook a meal for Nick all on your own!”

Gina’s blush intensified, but she didn’t remove her eyes from his. It almost seemed like if she looked away, she would die of shame.

“I… I’m trying to get better,” she said determinedly. “I want to be self-sufficient. I talked with Amelia, and I… I’m trying to be a more mature person, so…”

Nick understood what she was saying. And he was all for it.

“So the first step of being self-sufficient is cooking on your own?” He clarified her position.

Gina bit her lip and nodded. “Yeah… something like that, anyway,” she confirmed.

He smiled. “In that case, I’d love to test it out for you!” He agreed. “Make whatever you want, and I’ll eat it!”

Gina brightened. “You will?” She couldn’t hide the hopeful tone in her voice. “Really? Even if it, like, even if it’s awful?”

Well, that wasn’t a reassuring statement.

“You’re not going to make me anything awful, right?” He joked.

She bit the inside of her cheek and looked away for the first time. “Well…”

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Nick must have been making quite a face, because when Gina looked back at him she burst into a fit of laughter.

“Come on!” She gently jostled his shoulder. “I’m playing around! I’m not going to make anything deadly, don’t worry! How bad a cook do you think I am?”

“She’s actually really good!” Mary had her student’s back. “When she pays attention to the recipe, anyway, and listens to directions.”

Gina looked at her aghast and Nick could only nod. That did sound like Gina alright…

“I’ll show you!” Gina crossed her arms and puffed up her cheeks. “I’m going to make something spectacular! Now, take me to the kitchen!”

She pulled out a crumpled pink apron and threw it over her leather jacket as she stomped off towards the kitchen, red in the face.

Nick watched her go, resisting the urge to slap her swaying ass as she did. Holly had no such compunction, and happily gave her a nice spanking. Nick blushed, but remained silent, not taking another breath until Gina was in the other room.

Then he let out the breath he was holding in a long sigh, and slumped against the chair.

Mary looked distressed. “What’s wrong?” She asked worriedly. “If you’re concerned, I can promise you, Gina really is a good cook! She isn’t as good as me, but her food definitely tastes pretty good!”

“I can confirm,” Holly nodded. “She doesn’t serve it off of her body or anything, in spite of my suggestions, but she’s still a decent chef!”

Nick shook his head. “No, it’s not that. It’s just… well… I already ate before I came here,” he admitted. “With Sylvia. Really heavy, greasy food, too. So getting something heavy on top of that, well… I’ll try to eat it, but…”

He could picture it already. Using Gina’s current diet as a guide, his brain painted an image of something deep fat fried, a whole meal from the meat to the vegetables to the dessert. Gina even fried the drinks. Somehow.

Mary looked aghast.

“You knew that, and you still let her go cook?” She puffed up her cheeks and placed her hands on her hips. “Nicholas Reynolds, you cad!”

“What?! Why?” Nick protested.

“Eating dinner before coming up to the Master’s Suite! What if I had been slaving away in the kitchen all afternoon? Would you have just blow off my cooking, too?”

Nick winced. “No, that’s not what I-”

“So it’s okay to blow off Gina’s cooking but not mine, is that it?” Mary crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a scathing glare.

Nick shook his head. “No, that’s not what I-”

“I know Gina isn’t as skilled as I am, but she’s trying her best!” Mary continued.

She really wasn’t listening.

“What did you want me to do?” Nick asked weakly. “Turn down dinner with Sylvia so I could come here and eat Gina’s dinner instead?”

When he put it like that, it gave Mary pause.

“W-well… I suppose that’s a valid reason,” she mumbled, not quite sure what to say. She couldn’t meet his eyes. “But you should still be more sensitive!”

“I didn’t even have a chance to say anything, though!” Nick pointed out. “Gina went to go cook before I could tell her I already ate! And could you really ask me to shoot her down so harshly like that? Tell her that I’ve already eaten? You saw how excited she was!”

Mary bit her lip. Nick raised another good point… There really wasn’t any winning here.

“Well, I’ll just have to eat her dinner, then,” he decided. “Even though I’m stuffed to the gills.”

He could feel the greasy burger from before fighting its way up his stomach just at the thought of having to eat something else. Not exactly where he wanted to be right now.

Mary looked at him, concerned but still irritated. She understood where Nick was coming from, she really did, but in her eyes, this was a problem with no good solutions. Nick would just have to eat the food anyway, and pretend like it was the best thing he ever tasted.

Her firm glare conveyed that to him as best as possible.

“Think on the bright side!” Holly chirped. “At least this way, you’ll have a lot of calories to burn off with some hot, steamy sex, isn’t that right?”

Nick blushed at her suggestion and shook his head quickly. “Holly, don’t say something like that!” He pleaded. “That’s a little…”

“What? Accurate?” She wiggled her eyebrows at him, and he realized there was no sense in trying to argue.

Besides, given how energized Gina was when they normally had sex, and how long it had been since she’d given him a good workout with her mouth, he could probably count on her being rather fierce in bed tonight.

Maybe Holly raised a good point.

“I’ll go check on Gina to see if she needs any help,” Mary decided, grabbing the maid by the chain attached to her collar and dragging her away. “Come on, Holly.”

As much as she loved her best friend, the diminutive girl was really good at making things awkward. And right now, Nick didn’t need anybody in his head second-guessing him.

Nick appreciated that gesture. Finally, he could be alone with his thoughts and have time to breathe. He let out a breath and walked back to the couch, sitting down and kicking up his legs. As he stared up at the gold ceiling, he just hoped that everything would be okay tonight.

Gina… the way she was acting was so strange. It almost felt ****, like she was trying to play the role of a good girl again. Nick remembered Gina’s brief stint trying to “fit” her role, and how much she’d despised it. He really hoped that wasn’t the case again.

He had assumed the punk girl had learned her lesson. Nick liked her best when she was being herself.

Maybe I’m not the one who gets to decide that, though, he thought, remembering Sylvia’s behavior on their date today. If this is who Gina wants to be, a tough girl who still cooks and wants to be supportive… maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

It was definitely better than when she was raving about becoming his sex ****. As hot as that idea was, he wanted Gina to have a little more self-respect than that, at least. Besides, that was what Holly was for!

Or maybe, she’s fine with whatever happens, as long as we’re together, Nick thought, questioning if, in Gina’s mind, there was any difference between a sex **** and a housewife at all. Instead of questioning her choices, he decided to follow the advice he’d learned from Sylvia today, and just embrace this little behavior shift for what it was.

And as he made that resolution, the weight in his stomach lightened slightly, and he found himself wondering if maybe he could eat something if he wanted to.