I try to cool my head, reverse the things I've said

Carly woke up to find that her daughter was already awake. Marley was still asleep though, so Carly couldn’t get out of bed to go find her. Luckily Emmy walked out of the bathroom a few seconds later, drying her hair.

“Oh, mom, hey, you’re up?” Emmy greeted her.

“Hi Emmy! Yeah, I’m awake,” Carly said, getting out of bed and stretching her arms over her head. It made her boobs bounce, which she was fine with, but upon seeing the flustered expression on her daughter’s face, she quickly covered herself.

“S… Sorry,” Carly said sheepishly, feeling her face heat up. It was odd for her, to have a sense of modesty like this. Even before getting this cosplay transformation (her very first transformation!) she was used to going to bed naked most nights. It was weird with Marley bonded to her like she was, but her sister was used to it by this point.

Her daughter was very clearly not.

Feeling self-conscious, Carly shifted her arm as best she could to cover her nipples and silently wished that her sister would just wake up already. To her everlasting relief Emmy turned away politely, obviously trying not to make a big deal out of things.

That let Carly go and pick up her clothes so she could change without the weird feeling of her daughter watching and judging her. Carly was used to people staring, but those people were her strangers and friends.

…Not Emmy.

Maybe Amelia was right, she thought, biting her lip. Maybe I do need to be more conscientious of my actions.

She wasn’t an unattached content producer now, after all. She was a mother. She had responsibilities towards her child, obligations that she needed to take seriously. And Carly was only now really considering that fact.

“Hey, Emmy… how did you sleep last night?” Carly asked. It was an awkward, “small talk” kind of question, but not too far away from what Carly really wanted to know.

She couldn’t just ask “Do you feel uncomfortable sleeping next to your naked mom?” though, that would be a bridge too far.

Emmy scratched her cheek, knowing what her mother was getting at but finding it just as uncomfortable to think about herself.

“Well… I didn’t, like, have any bad dreams or anything,” she said. “The bed was a little… crowded, though. Even with Sylvia gone.”

That was Emmy’s main concern. Yes, sleeping next to her naked mother was weird, but she also could really use some room to stretch her legs.

Suddenly, Emmy realized that she had never gotten to sleep in a bed all by herself. Not in, like, an actual sense. The implanted knowledge Dakota had given her didn’t translate to life experiences.

“…I’d really like my own bed,” she said finally. And my own room, if possible. Emmy knew that might be asking for a bit too much, though. She knew how much her mom loved being around her. But still… Emmy was 18 years old now! She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life being smothered by her mother!

…Not that way.

Emmy noticed that her mother didn’t have anything to say in response to that, and uncertainty pricked her breast. She bit her lip worriedly wondering if Carly was upset, but too timid to ask.

“…I’m done changing,” Carly said, and Emmy jumped. “You can look now.”

Emmy turned slowly to see her mom had dressed up in clothes that were, thankfully, far more modest than what she’d been wearing before. She wore a tight leather jacket with a studded collar, torn jeans, and a tank top underneath. They almost reminded her of…

“…Those are Gina’s clothes?” Emmy questioned.

Carly looked down and shrugged. “I don’t know, it could be any number of things,” she confessed, shaking her head. “Sometimes, what I’m wearing isn’t specific to any actual show. Rather, just a generic cosplay outfit.”

Today seemed like one of those days.

Emmy nodded slowly, understanding what her mother was getting at. She opened her mouth to say something, only to realize that she didn’t know what she meant to say.

A tense look passed between mother and daughter, with neither of them quite sure where to go from here.

And unfortunately, before either of them could actually continue their earlier conversation, Marley woke up with a loud yawn and the tension hanging in the air snapped.

“…Haaaahhhnnn… hey, what’s going on, guys?” Marley asked, rubbing her eyes and looking at the two of them. “…What are you wearing, Carly?” She wondered.

“Oh, just some punk clothes,” Carly replied, using her transformation to grow out her hair a bit until it touched her collar, coloring it in black and giving it a wavy, almost spiky style to it to go with her punk vibe. “No clue if it’s from something or not.”

Marley nodded slowly. She was pretty sure her sister had already gone “generic punk” before, but she didn’t care enough about what Carly wore to be sure.

More importantly, she could see some tension on Emmy’s face, and worried that she might have inadvertently interrupted something serious.

“Everything okay with you guys?” She asked, looking at the two of them. “I didn’t interrupt your conversation, did I?”

Emmy smiled and shook her head, not wanting to worry her aunt. “No, it-”

“Actually, Emmy and I were just talking about getting her a room,” Carly interrupted.

Emmy swung her head around and looked at her mother in shock.

“Wait, what?” She gasped, her eyes widening.

Marley was also surprised. “Seriously?” She raised her eyebrows. “That’s… well, I mean, I get it, but… you sure?”

Carly nodded and gave her daughter a sweet look. “It makes sense, don’t you think? I mean, yes, Emmy, I love spending time with you, really! And sharing a bed with you… getting to wish you good night every night, holding you close as we fall asleep together… it’s wonderful.”

There were so many dreams Carly had imagined while her daughter grew inside of her, so many things she imagined doing with her little girl as she cradled her belly gently and went to sleep at night. And when Emmy died… she’d locked those dreams away in a little box in the back of her head, and vowed never to open it again. They were too painful. But now she had her daughter back. Now the two of them could be happy together. All those dreams she had locked away, she could cherish them again, and she wanted to now more than ever.

But… Emmy wasn’t a baby. She wasn’t even a little girl. She was an adult, and Carly had to accept that and treat her as one.

Emmy looked at the pained smile on her mother’s face, and her heart stirred with agony. It was too much. She shouldn’t be feeling like this. She shouldn’t feel guilty for… for wanting her own room, or her own place to sleep!

But the truth was, as much as Emmy valued her privacy, she also valued her precious time with her mother. Just as Carly had missed out on so many opportunities, Emmy had missed out on just as many herself.

Marley, sensing the tension between mother and daughter, kept her thoughts to herself. Whatever she had to say could keep. After all, this was something important to the both of them. It wasn’t her place to say anything.

“Mom, I…” Emmy’s voice cracked and she shut her mouth.

Carly shook her head, then nodded encouragingly. Whatever Emmy wanted to say, Carly wanted to hear it.

“Go on,” she assured her daughter. “It’s fine. I’m your mother, Emmy, I’m trying to do right by you, okay?”

Emmy nodded, fighting back the tears in her eyes.

“…I don’t know what I want,” she admitted, shaking her head. “Mom, I… I want my own room. You’re right, I deserve one. And frankly, four people in one bed? That’s way too much. But… I don’t want to be separated from you,” she confessed. “Knowing you’re right there next to me… looking out for me, loving me… it makes me feel so loved and safe…”

Carly couldn’t help but wear a big, beaming smile when she heard her daughter’s admission. Emmy was just such a sweetheart! “Oh, Emmy… it’s alright, really, it is. It’s natural to feel that way!”

Emmy looked tentatively at her. “Really? It… it’s okay?”

Carly just kept nodding. “You’re still a child in a lot of ways, even though you’re an adult,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, Carly’s not wrong,” Marley agreed, getting in on the conversation. “You never had the chance for a normal childhood, so you’re experiencing something you should have gotten a lot of already, but never did. Most kids grow out of their ‘mom and dad are always with me’ phase, but with you, well… you didn’t get the chance.”

Emmy nodded slowly, understanding what they were saying. It lined up with her own feelings on the matter, too. Emmy felt like she was being pulled in two directions right now, with part of her wanting independence and space from her mom, and another part of her wanting to just throw herself into Carly’s arms and give her a great big hug.

Which part would win out? She couldn’t even begin to say.

“So what do you think I should do, then?” Emmy asked. Wasn’t part of being her mom to give her advice?

Carly frowned. “I don’t know what you should do,” she admitted, shaking her head. “What do you want to do, sweetheart?”

Emmy chewed a little more firmly on her lip. That was the question, wasn’t it? What did she want to do? What did she want from her mother?

It was a hard choice, but ultimately, she arrived at her answer.

“…I want my own room,” she said finally. “It’s not just about the bed. I need my own independence… I need somewhere I can go where I can just tune out all the craziness of this place. …And, you know, somewhere I can put my clothes so that I can actually reach them.”

Carly and Marley glanced at each other and nodded, understanding Emmy’s point perfectly.

“Well, Emmy, in that case-” Carly was about to tell her daughter that she supported Emmy’s decision completely, but Emmy cut her off before she could get the chance.

“And also-!” Emmy looked adamantly at her mother, who responded with surprise.

Her daughter’s firm expression softened and turned timid as she looked bashfully at her mother.

“…I… I think I also, um, would like if you could come by my room every night, and tuck me into bed?” She added hopefully. “Not that I need it, or anything, but… you know.”

It was an embarrassing thing to ask. But when Emmy saw her mother’s smile, she felt relieved that she’d asked it.

“Of course,” Carly giggled, walking over and kissing her daughter on the cheek. “Anything for my little girl.”

Marley grinned. She thought that was the perfect compromise for the two of them.

A knock on the door interrupted the charming family moment, though. Curious about who it could be at this hour (Sylvia would have just walked in and Dani would have waited until breakfast if she had something to say) Carly and Marley looked at each other.

“I’ll get it,” Marley said, walking over to see who it was.

She was surprised when she opened the door and saw Gina standing there.

Carly raised her eyebrow. It was a little like looking in the mirror. Sure, Gina was wearing a different style of jacket and her pants were a dark gray instead of faded blue, and her hair was way longer (and showing her roots) but they looked pretty similar.

Save for the frustrated expression on Gina’s face.

“What’s up, Gina? Come on in,” Carly said. “We were just getting ready to go to breakfast, if you’d like to join us?”

Gina shook her head. “No, um, that’s fine, thanks for asking,” she replied. “This is, uh… not about that. Can I ask you a favor? Well, I mean, I say it’s a favor, but really it’s you paying me back like we agreed, so, um…”

“Gina, hold on,” Carly said, holding up her hand. The flustered girl was talking way faster than Carly was used to from her. “What’s going on? What favor?”

Carly was happy to help with just about anything, but first the other girl needed to stop and breathe for a second.

Gina took a deep breath and exhaled, calming herself down slightly.

“Remember earlier in the round, how you and Dani were fundraising donations to get to 10000 BP?” She asked, glancing at Emmy out of reflex given how tied she was to that whole situation.

Carly replied with a guarded nod. “Yeah… what about it?” She asked hesitantly.

Gina bit her lip. “Well… remember what you promised in exchange for my part?” Gina coaxed her. “You said that you’d, um, have a threesome with me and Nick, yeah? That offer’s still good?”

Marley was surprised by how Gina was acting. The bawdy girl didn’t seem to be the type to behave this humbly and modestly. She almost seemed embarrassed about bringing up the threesome, and Marley didn’t think anything could embarrass Gina!

She was fairly certain as well that the punk girl wasn’t behaving so shyly purely out of consideration for Emmy’s presence, either.

Carly, also sensing something was amiss, just agreed without hesitation. “Sure thing,” she said with a nod. “A threesome’s just fine, Gina.” She had no trouble talking about this stuff even though Emmy was right here. “When were you thinking?”

Gina scratched her cheek and smiled, relaxing a little now that she’d gotten Carly’s agreement. “Well… right now.”

Marley nearly fell over in surprise. Emmy’s mouth fell open. Even Carly seemed to be caught off guard by the statement, looking at Gina with a raised eyebrow.

“Right now? Uh… that’s a little bit…” Carly didn’t know what to say to that. “Wouldn’t we need Nick to be here?” She pointed out. “Today’s his day with Amelia, and I don’t think she’d be inclined to agree to that…”

“No, Amelia said it was okay,” Gina said, shaking her head quickly. “Well, I mean, she actually said that I could have the first half of her date with Nick, technically. So I mean, it’s alright if I ask for a threesome, yeah?”

Marley sensed something was off. Gina was way more flustered than she should have been. And she was acting shifty, too, like she was trying to dance around the truth or something.

Not exactly an encouraging behavior.

“Gina,” she said, approaching the other girl, “what aren’t you telling us?”

Gina jumped, her eyes widening like saucers. That reaction alone was enough to confirm Marley’s suspicion that something was rotten here. She looked at her sister, who seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion.

Carly nodded. “Hey, Gina, it’s fine,” she said gently. “If you want a threesome, let’s hear the whole story first.”

“Well, uh…” As Gina fumbled for the complete explanation, Marley witnessed something else she didn’t think she’d ever see from the punk girl.

A blush slowly started to form across her face.

What the hell?

“…Nick promised, um… he promised that he’d take me on a romantic date, just the two of us,” Gina said finally, her face ablaze.

She wanted to curl up into a ball and die under the pressure of their stares. This wasn’t like her at all! She felt like that shy little girl who struggled to make friends again way back in elementary school, not like her laid-back, uncaring self!

Was this because of the walk down memory lane she’d undergone with Dakota last night?

Carly wasn’t sure if she fully understood. “Wait, so Nick promised you a romantic date, and… you came to me for a threesome? Why? That doesn’t make any sense.”

Marley frowned. It made sense to her. She could see exactly what Gina was trying to pull here.

“Gina, forget it,” she said, stepping between the other girl and her sister. “Carly isn’t gonna have a threesome with you today.”

“What!?” Gina gasped, her eyes widening.

Carly blinked. “I’m not?”

“But she promised!” Gina groaned. “Come on!”

“She’ll do it some other time,” Marley assured the other woman, “but just not today. Today is your personal, intimate, sincere date with Nick, and we wouldn’t want anything getting in the way of that… right?”

Gina made a sick expression. She couldn’t look Marley in the eye now that she knew the other girl had seen right through her.

Carly finally got it. “Oh my gosh! So wait… you were trying to undermine Nick’s attempt at a romantic date by turning it into some sexy threesome instead? Gina!”

“Sorry!” Gina winced. “It’s just… I figured he wouldn’t be able to resist, you know?” She waved at Carly’s curvy figure.

Carly appreciated the compliment, but still!

“Gina, Nick obviously wants to spend real time getting to know you and having a good time with you,” she said gently. “Why would you want to just turn that into something loaded with sex?”

Having gotten to experience love and honest affection through Dani, Carly finally understood how meaningful it was. And Gina wanted to spoil her chance at it? Why?

Gina looked like she was going to throw up. “I just… I’m not good at that sort of thing…” she mumbled, taking a step back and looking down. “Nick and I, what we have, it’s been working just fine up until now. But a romantic date… how am I even supposed to prepare for something like that?”

She couldn’t deny anymore that she liked Nick as more than just a sexual partner. Those feelings of childhood romance still burned in her heart, whether she liked it or not.

But when faced with the overwhelming love Dakota had for him, when comparing her own feelings to Mary’s devotion or Holly’s obsession, or even the more sincere feelings of other girls like her roommate, Kim, or even Rose or Dawn…

How was Gina supposed to give him something like that? Being the kind of woman she was? She felt like whatever she attempted would just come up short.

And that made her incredibly embarrassed. It would be easier for the both of them if Nick just forgot this whole “romance” thing and they just had some hot, sweaty sex and plenty of blowjobs to quench her thirst!

What would she even do on a romantic date, anyway? Hold hands or some shit?

Gina wasn’t prepared for that. It was too fucking embarrassing!

Carly felt the twinge of her transformation triggering. One she hadn’t had the chance to make use of in quite some time. Feeling Gina’s **** need for advice, a relaxed smile spread across her lips and she stepped forward, taking the other girl’s hands into hers.

“I can’t help you out with a threesome,” she apologized, shaking her head. “But maybe together, we can figure out how you can make Nick happy as a romantic companion on your date together. What do you say?”

Gina winced, wanting to turn her down. But she felt the pull of Carly’s Veteran Experience transformation seize her, and coupled with her own insecurities, doubts, and deeply-rooted, hidden wishes, she found herself nodding in hesitant agreement.

“…Alright…” she conceded reluctantly, and opened her heart to Carly’s advice.