That's the way it's gonna be, little darlin'

The air in the Garden Suite was heavy, and Nick doubted that it was because of the humidity. For one thing, he could feel the oppressive stare of his stepmother like an icy dagger on the back of his neck, and even though she didn’t look like she was sitting in judgment of him as he waited for Vivian to change, he knew she was.

More surprising, though? And what really made him feel confused and uncomfortable?

So far, this little peep show Vivian had alluded to and teased him about… really wasn’t.

He expected something like the fashion shows the girls had put on when they were on the hook for getting some free clothes from the boutique. Showing off elegant outfits for him, only this time, with more than a little bit of sauciness, bordering on outright seduction. That was what Nick anticipated he’d be in store for. He assumed that Vivian would at least angle to let him see her naked, or in her underwear, or something along those lines, if not outright stripping down in front of him.

But she must have been saving the saucier stuff for later in the date, because she had taken cover behind several large plants growing in the corner of the room while she tried on her outfits for the day, and judging by what she was saying to herself and the rustling he could hear, she wasn’t stopping at just one, either.

Did he even need to be here for this? Vivian seemed pretty well in control on her own. And if anything he was just making himself look like a peeping tom in front of his stepmother.

Just as he made the resolution to speak up and excuse himself until Vivian was ready, she interrupted him with an “I’m done!” and he jerked up off the bed.

As Nick rose to his feet she stepped out from behind the bushes and to his surprise… she looked pretty normal.

Now, Nick had seen quite a lot of outfits from Vivian since he’d known the fashionista, ranging from wild and fanciful to simple and functional, to downright flirtatious. And this one was definitely more of the casual variety. She wore a tight green shirt that hugged her waist and emphasized her modest figure, and tight jeans that did the same. A pair of tall riding boots clung to her calves, giving her a rather western sort of appeal, as did the wide-brimmed had she wore over her neatly-brushed hair.

She tipped up the brim with her finger and gave him a wink.

“You ready to head out?” She didn’t even bother asking if he thought she looked good. They both knew the answer to that question. Nick just swallowed and nodded in agreement, and the two of them headed for the door.

Stepping out into the hallway, Nick was just glad to be out of that oppressive room. But of course, Vivian had to ruin it all by getting the last word in- even over someone who hadn’t said anything all morning!

“Oh, Teach?” She turned back in the doorway, winking saucily at Amelia. “Don’t wait up. I doubt I’ll be back before morning.”

Nick cringed a little at the insinuation in her tone. She wasn’t even trying to sound alluring or flirtatious, in fact, she barely seemed to acknowledge his presence at all. That was absolutely about a power play with his stepmother.

If this was the tone Vivian was trying to set for their date together, Nick anticipated a lot of headaches in store. And that was the last thing he wanted today.

“Vivian, why did you have to do that?” He grumbled. Usually he tolerated the antics of the women in his harem with relative silence, but since he was going to be spending the day with her, he wanted to lay down some ground rules before Vivian got too ahead of herself.

She looked curiously at him.

“Have to do what?” She questioned, tilting her head to the side.

“Pick fights like that. First with Mary this morning, then with Amelia…”

“Oh, what?” Vivian shook her head. “It’s different with Teach, don’t worry,” she giggled. “She needs to learn to relax, don’t you think?”

Nick frowned. That wasn’t the point at all. “Vivian…”

“And I wasn’t picking a fight with Mary!” She looked almost hurt by the insinuation. “She didn’t think I was, did she? That would be just awful!”

“…No, she didn’t,” Nick said, shaking his head slowly. “She’s a sweet woman who doesn’t take things like that personally. But it still felt kind of… …Well, look, telling someone you want to hire them out of the blue like that, it’s pretty condescending.”

“I was being honest!” Vivian held her hand over her heart. “She’s a wonderful chef!”

“Right, I know that, but saying stuff like that when your relationship with me is… well…” Nick sighed. “…It can kind of seem like a power play. At least that’s what I was afraid of.”

“Oh, well don’t worry about that,” Vivian said, waving her hand. “You’re worried I’m trying to do a hostile takeover, is that it? ‘Cuz of those transformation paths?”

She was a perceptive one. Nick nodded. “And well… the way you act sometimes…”

“Well, I’m not gonna pretend like I don’t enjoy being in charge,” Vivian replied. “Can you think of anyone who does? …Don’t answer that, we both know. Rhetorical question tho, inn’it?”

“I suppose, in a manner of speaking,” Nick said, not quite sure he liked the direction this conversation was going. “But even if Dakota wants to make you the Harem Manager or whatever your transformation path is, we don’t really think of things in that way.”

Vivian scrunched up her face into a frown. “…Well, maybe you should.”

That definitely wasn’t the response he expected. Then again, she wasn’t really the kind of person to make an abrupt denial, either.

“Vivian…”

“Stuff like this, where feelings get involved? I can’t imagine it’s easy.” She shook her head firmly. “I mean, whenever one of my companies is doing a buyout, that causes hard feelings and tense emotions, y’know? It’s to be expected. And that’s just business. I can’t imagine how heated matters of the heart would get. And don’t get me wrong I’m really loving all the smiles and positive vibes everyone’s got, really. But don’t you think something a bit more structured would help make everybody feel a little more secure about where they stand?”

Nick bristled. “What do you mean?” He asked cautiously.

She bit her lip. “…Now really isn’t a good time to talk about this,” she decided, shaking her head. “Come on, let’s get back to our date and have some fun, okay?”

The smile on her face looked a little ****, but now that she’d raised the issue Nick couldn’t let it go unaddressed.

“We can have fun later,” he assured her. “But first, I want to talk about what you just said.” His tone was gentle and well-meaning, which served a secondary purpose. He wanted to let Vivian know that regardless of how their upcoming conversation went, it wouldn’t affect how he enjoyed the rest of their date together.

He expected that she would speak her mind regardless, but he wanted to be sure of it.

Vivian looked at him closely, and he could start to see the cracks in her façade. It looked like she was debating whether or not she could really open up to him about this. He hoped she’d make the right decision.

Finally, she nodded.

“Okay then,” she agreed, her expression turning serious. “We’ll talk about that stuff first. Then the fun! Work for you?”

And just like that, she was all business. She led him into the lounge, which was thankfully empty, and they sat down opposite each other at one of the tables.

“Let’s start with the simple matter of facts,” Vivian said plainly, tapping her finger on the table. “This show isn’t going to last forever. Eventually, we’re all going to have to go back to the real world, right?”

“Of course,” Nick nodded. As convenient as this island paradise was, it was also a prison. Nick had no illusions that he would be spending the rest of his life here.

“Good. Then with that in mind, let’s think about the harem itself,” Vivian continued, sitting back in her seat. “It’s going to be tough, keeping track of the needs and desires of all the women who have fallen for you, Nick. How have these last few days gone for you?”

Nick shifted awkwardly in his seat. Right to the point with Vivian, huh? And he couldn’t exactly deny her either.

“I imagine it would be a little rough,” he agreed.

Vivian nodded in turn. “I feel the same way. And you know, for all this show is… at least it’s structured, don’t you think? Each of us girls gets our own little slice of time with you. That makes it simpler. But when we get back to earth, is that going to continue being the case? Some of the women in your life work jobs. Some live across the world. I’d wager Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin doesn’t have any official documentation attesting she even exists. Are you gonna smuggle her into your basement or something?”

All good points.

“We need to work out some structure. A good system. I’m not saying a hierarchy per se, but I imagine that as we get closer to the endgame, there’s going to be some apprehension among the other ladies in your harem. You can understand that, right?”

“You’re right,” Nick agreed. “I guess I’ve just been trying really hard not to think about it.”

Vivian shrugged. “I can understand why,” she admitted. “It’s really not pleasant to think about, let’s be real here.”

Again, she was right on the money. And that made her point hit all the harder. Vivian knew what she was talking about. As unpleasant as the idea was to Nick, and as much as he didn’t want to think about it, the issue couldn’t be dodged forever. And even if he didn’t want to create a hierarchy, they really did need to start ironing out the structural details of how this whole thing was going to work.

“Let me guess, you want us to put you in charge?” Nick asked sardonically.

Vivian laughed, relaxing a little. “I mean, I won’t deny I’d be very good at it,” she chirped. “But come on, do you really see it happening so simply?”

No, he didn’t. Vivian might have been integrating nicely into the group dynamics as they stood, but he doubted that even as much as the other girls got along with her that they’d be okay with her suddenly being in charge.

“Right now, it seems like your harem revolves completely around Mary,” Vivian pointed out. “Which makes sense. She’s your official wife after all, so I completely understand why the other women give her a decent amount of deferment. And if that’s your endgame, to have Mary in charge of things, I’d understand that-”

“No, that’s definitely… definitely not.” Nick shook his head. He couldn’t imagine Mary being in a position like that. Then again, he was having a hard time imagining anyone in that role…

“All I was doing before was playing around,” Vivian said. “Teasing her. Not trying to throw my weight around or put myself in charge, I hope you know that.”

The look in her eyes was a sincere one.

“…I don’t think you’d do something that reckless, no,” Nick agreed with her premise, if not necessarily the reasoning behind it.

That seemed to amuse her.

“As we get closer to the end, we can have more talks like this,” Vivian promised, getting up. “But right now, I’d prefer to have some fun.” She turned towards the elevator and looked over her shoulder, winking at him.

“And if we have fun together, well… maybe I can show you that coming to live with me could be the structure you’re looking for, how about that?”

She wasn’t that subtle. Vivian had made her goal very clear- she wanted to win Nick over and put herself at the top of the harem. But at the same time, she’d also made it clear that she wasn’t arrogant enough to believe that she should be handed that position as a matter of course.

So if her intent was just to show him that she was the perfect girl to be running things and looking out for the other women in his harem… should he deny her that?

Honestly, Nick wasn’t sure.

Either way, it was clear that she wasn’t going to continue this line of discussion. So all Nick could do at this point was stand up and go after her.

“So what do you have planned for this date of ours?” He asked the heiress curiously. He couldn’t deny that he’d been equal parts excited and nervous about what a woman like Vivian would have in mind for a fun day’s date.

Vivian hummed, and looked up at him with a playful gleam in her eye.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” She said mysteriously.

It was almost so cliché he didn’t have any words to reply to her with.

The last thing Nick expected when the elevator reached the lobby was for Vivian to lead him out of the hotel. He knew she didn’t have any funds to go to Dream Alley, but he would have expected she’d at least approach the shops.

But she seemed to have something else in mind.

“It’s a beautiful day, don’t you think?” Vivian tilted her head up, shielding her eyes with the brim of her hat. “Then again, around these parts it’s always a beautiful day, huh?”

“Yeah, we haven’t had a single issue on this island,” Nick confirmed. “The weather’s set to always being lovely.”

“That’s good to hear,” Vivian said, nodding to him. “I’d hate our day to be ruined!”

Nick wondered what she meant by that. He would find out shortly when she led him around the hotel, up a path towards a part of the property he hadn’t visited in quite some time.

“Wait, this is… huh?”

They were standing at the stable house. Vivian didn’t hesitate to enter the wooden barn, and her face was aglow as she stepped inside.

“Well, would you look at these beauties?” She cooed, reaching up and rubbing her hand long the broad neck of one of the stallions. “Aren’t they just gorgeous?”

“You wanted to come meet the horses?” Nick asked.

Vivian laughed. “Meet ‘em? Oh Nick, I first met them ages ago! Didn’t you know? I’ve been coming down to the stables darn near every day to greet these fellas!”

No, he’d had no idea.

“I knew you liked horses,” Nick said, walking up next to her, “I just never thought, well…”

“What? You never thought that I’d be coming down and grooming ‘em myself?” Vivian picked up a brush and ran it through the horse’s chestnut mane. “Well, it’s not like I have to or anything. The faeries here take great care of ‘em already an’ all.”

She shook her head. “Still… I’ve loved horses ever since I was a little girl. You’d have to tie me down to keep me away once I heard about this place!”

Nick remembered Mary fawning over the horses as well. Maybe this was something the two of them could bond over in the future.

“You said when we first met that you’d never ridden on a horse before,” Vivian said, looking back at Nick with a playful gleam in her eye. “That right?”

Nick nodded, a little apprehensive of what Vivian was insinuating here. “That was the first time,” he confirmed. “Although I have ridden in a horse-drawn carriage before,” he recalled, thinking back to Mary’s date idea.

Perhaps Vivian had something similar in mind…

Vivian snorted and rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, that’s hardly the same thing! To have a tamed beast under you, to know that your bond together is all that’s keeping you safe, to give up yourself and fully trust in him… it’s a completely different feeling.”

Her voice ached with sympathy as she patted the horse’s hide.

Then she looked back at Nick again, and he realized what exactly Vivian had planned.

He gulped.

“Hey, uh, Vivian… I don’t think…” Nick took a slow step back, suddenly worried about what she was proposing. As if Vivian would let him get away that easily.

“Come on, Nick, don’t be like that,” she said. “You’ve already done it once, haven’t you? What’s a second time gonna do?”

“That… that was different!” Nick shook his head. “That was in Dream Alley. It’s a completely different situation!”

“How?”

“Well… be-because I can’t get hurt in Dream Alley!” He pointed out.

Vivian smirked and rolled her eyes. “Do you think Dakota would let you get hurt here?”

“…Urk.”

Nick couldn’t argue with Vivian’s logic, unfortunately. Of course Dakota wouldn’t let anything happen to him, not while he was here. Not when she still had a show to run.

Not when she was Dakota.

“I get that you’re scared, but you don’t have to be,” Vivian said, taking a step towards him. She held out her hand, and Nick realized as he gazed at her that this was her plan all along. The outfit she’d chosen was perfect for horseback riding.

“I’ll help show you how. Unlike last time, though, you won’t be riding with me. You’ll be all on your own. You think you can do that?”

No, he really didn’t. But the gleam in Vivian’s eye told him that she thought he could. And for some reason he didn’t want to disappoint her expectations of him.

“I-I’ve really never done this before,” he said again, shaking his head.

“I know, that’s why I wanted to do this for our date,” she explained. “I want you to get to know me better, Nick. And it would mean a lot to me, to show you how to do this. Isn’t that what dating’s all about? Getting to know each other’s interests and enjoy ourselves together?”

She wasn’t wrong. But learning how to ride a horse was a little different from going to a garden or visiting the aquarium or hanging out in a bookstore. What Vivian was asking of him…

…

Was it really that bad? Did he really need to be stubborn about this? People rode on horses every day with no problems at all!

Nick turned and looked at the majestic beast again. It didn’t look as intimidating as he had been building it up in his head.

“…Sure, what the heck?” He relented, laughing. “Maybe it’ll even be fun.”

Vivian’s face lit up with glee. “That’s the spirit!” She cheered, clapping her hands together. “Come on, Nick! Let’s get these lovely creatures fitted for some saddles!”