You need to give it up, had about enough, it's not hard to see, the boy is mine

After Dawn left Rose to deal with her own problems, Rose was left with quite a dilemma.

What to have for breakfast?

It was going to be her first meal after losing her virginity- she needed to make it a good one.

“Croissants with jam,” she decided, smearing the red paste over the flaky sweet. “Just gotta love croissants with jam!”

…

It didn’t taste as wonderful as she expected it to.

“I guess things don’t really change that much, do they?” She sighed, setting down the half-eaten pastry back on her plate. “And here I was thinking that the whole world would change for me once I became a woman…”

Still, even if her perception of the world hadn’t changed that much, there was no doubt that she had changed in a tangible sense.

Stretching, Rose stood up, ignoring the soreness between her legs. Last night had felt amazing, but she was paying for it. It was almost enough for her to forgo the bounty for today and try again tomorrow, just so she could take a relaxing bath in the hot spring.

For now, though, she wanted to check up on someone.

She just had to figure out where that someone was.

The first place she chose to check was the kitchen.

“Mary?” She called as she walked into the room that had been set aside for Mary’s cooking class. “Are you in here?”

The room was empty though, which made Rose sigh. So much for that idea. “I guess it’s too much to hope for, to expect that you’d be going back to cooking class like normal, eh?” Rose shook her head and clicked her tongue as she looked over the kitchen. “A bit of a pity… I found it to be a lot of fun in fact.”

Moving on, the next place she could think of where the redhead would be, would be church. She headed for the chapel where Mary had gotten her wedding ceremony done.

It was empty as well.

“Hmm… not bad…” She mused, stroking her chin thoughtfully as she looked it over. Memories from her dance in the Notre Dame cathedral came back to her. “Although I’d say that my wedding venue was a bit fancier.”

A squeak from the pews confirmed her suspicions and she smiled.

“Mary, darling? Is that you?” Rose called, strutting down the aisle. “It’s okay, you can come out! I just want to talk!”

Mary poked her head up from behind the bench with a cautious, suspicious look on her face.

“…You came back,” she said quietly, walking over to Rose when she saw that the coast was clear.

“I did,” Rose chirped. “And don’t worry, you don’t need to hide. I heard about what happened with Morgana and Dawn. And Gina… but it’s okay. They’re all back to normal.”

She blinked. “…Well, I haven’t seen Morgana yet…”

“She’s fine,” Mary said tersely. “Nothing to worry about. I saw Morgana this morning.” Her face fell. “She was crying, the poor thing… I had to hug her until she stopped.”

Rose raised her eyebrow. “Really now?” She asked curiously. “You were able to do that, even after everything she did to you?”

“That wasn’t her,” Mary said pointedly. “She was being occupied by that… thing. That mirror turned her into a different person, and-”

“Stop, stop, I get it.” Rose held up her hand to cut Mary off. “Dawn already gave me the full story.”

Mary’s eyes widened. “You saw Dawn? Is she okay? Morgana said that she didn’t want to come down to breakfast, so…”

“She’s… handling things,” Rose said, not planning on revealing the intense conversation that had transpired between the two women. “Yesterday was hard for her, too, apparently.”

She stared apologetically at Mary. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

Mary looked stunned. Whether it was the fact that Rose was apologizing that confused her, or she was just overwhelmed by the situation itself, that was hard to say. But she exhaled and sighed in relief.

“I just… wish there was something more I could do,” she said somberly. “Some way that I could make things right… Dawn and Morgana shouldn’t be feeling as bad as they are… it wasn’t their fault, it really wasn’t.”

Rose nodded. “Well, next time you see Dawn, just let her know that there’s no hard feelings,” she shrugged. “It should do a lot for her, I imagine.”

“Yeah, I will,” Mary agreed.

An awkward silence hung in the air between the two of them.

Rose looked around. “…So why the chapel? Why are you hiding out here? Is this because of those bad dreams that Morgana put in your mind?”

A wicked smile crossed her lips. “Wait… did she make you think some impure thoughts, maybe? Did you come here to get confession?”

Mary glared at her. Her face was red. “That’s… not quite how it went,” she stammered, shaking her head.

Rose kept staring at her until the redhead averted her eyes.

Oh, yeah. There was something Mary wasn’t telling her alright.

“Mary? Mary Mary Mary? What is it?” Rose cooed, sliding a little closer to her. “If you’re feeling bad about something, maybe I can help!”

Every time Mary looked at Rose, her blush intensified.

That’s when Rose realized it.

“Wait!” She gasped. “Your dream, was it… about me?”

Mary’s eyes widened as big as saucers and she took a step back, nearly tripped and falling over a pew.

That was about as good of confirmation as Rose was going to get.

“It was! Oh, gosh! It was, wasn’t it!?” She squealed, closing the gap between the two of them in a heartbeat. “Morgana used her diary to give you a scintillating, sexy dream… about me!”

“No!” Mary blurted out. “It wasn’t about you, it was… about us.”

That sounded like a distinction without a difference to the Frenchwoman.

“…Okay then,” Rose said, backing up a step. “Then go ahead, and tell me all about this dream about… ‘us’.”

Mary just trembled. A visible tremor shot through her, which made Rose frown.

She hadn’t thought about it until now, but she was grateful that she hadn’t gotten a nightmare last night. Dawn and Mary both seemed traumatized, while Kim had clearly been repressing some things behind her customer service smile. It would have ruined such a perfect night to have it be punctuated by a bad dream where Morgana did something horrendous.

Maybe there was some kind of field in Dream Alley, which made her not affected by the nightmares? That was something to file away for later.

For now, though, she wanted to see what Mary had to share.

“Well, Mary?” Rose pressed.

Mary averted her eyes again.

“It was… you were…” She swallowed audibly.

“…You had me tied down. To like, a rack, or something like that. You were dressed all in black, and holding this thing, like… a whip, but not? It was sort of long and straight…”

“A riding crop?” Rose asked, raising her eyebrow. She liked the sound of this already.

Mary just stared at her.

“…Right, you might not know what that is,” Rose sighed, shaking her head. “It’s a tool for horses… and bad little girls.”

She tittered at the expression of shame that flushed across Mary’s freckled face.

“You said, um… that Nick… that he had a new wife now… one who was better than me…” She was shaking even more now, and Rose could see tears welling up in the poor woman’s eyes. That wasn’t good.

“Then you hit my chest a few times, and you… you made me watch while you-!”

Her voice cracked and she looked away. She couldn’t handle it anymore.

Rose frowned. Now this was no good at all. She enjoyed hearing about how much of a femme fatale dominatrix she was in Morgana’s twisted little fantasy, but not if it came at the expense of Mary’s wellbeing. For her to seek sanctuary in a church…

“You and Morgana played with him, did stuff with him… and all I could do was watch,” Mary sniffled. “I know, I know it was just a dream, but… after yesterday…”

She sunk to the floor and pulled her legs up to her chest.

“I couldn’t do anything!” She sobbed. “Those two, they… they didn’t listen to me at all… they took control of me, they pushed me down, they… they did things to me-! Even though I’m Nick’s wife, they didn’t respect me at all…”

She buried her face in her knees.

“Am I even worth being Nick’s wife at this point?” She muttered sourly. “Sometimes, I wonder… could he do better than me?”

Mary wished her milk could work on herself. She would never admit that she’d tried it, just to see what would happen, but the fact that it couldn’t change her into Nick’s ideal stung.

And now here she was, seeking sanctuary in the place she was her happiest. The place where she’d had that one perfect moment, where it was just her and Nick, and nobody else in the entire universe.

A moment she would never be able to recapture.

Rose stared at her, not knowing what to say.

“Mary…”

“Just save it,” Mary said, looking up at her. Her tear-filled eyes reflected bitterness. “You said you already married him, right? Even though you’re not as good of a wife as I am, he still chose to marry you anyway… even though I would have been perfect for him… even though I’m trying my best… he still chose you to spend the whole day with, and then marry…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, back the marriage carriage up there, girl,” Rose said, holding up her hand. “Nick and I didn’t get married.”

Mary’s head snapped up and her eyes widened in surprise. “You didn’t?”

“Uh… no?” Rose shook her head. “We were only gone for, like, a day! Do you really think that’s enough time to get married to a guy I only met, like, a month ago?”

Mary nodded. Which, frankly, Rose should have expected given how much the redhead adored her husband.

“…Okay, look, Nick and I didn’t get married,” Rose clarified again. “That thing I said earlier, it was a joke. We just went to the Notre Dame cathedral, and then I changed into a wedding dress, and we danced. That’s it. No wedding.”

Mary just stared at her.

“…Okay, well, when I say it out loud…” Rose sighed and shook her head. “We just had a really great day together and had sex. That’s it. Nothing for you to lose your shirt over.”

“You had sex before you got married!?” Mary exclaimed, throwing Rose for a loop.

“Um-! Yeah?! It’s like, the point…?” Rose stared at her in confusion, until she saw a shaky smile crawl up Mary’s lips.

“That, um… that was supposed to be a joke…” The redhead informed her sheepishly. “Sorry. Not a very good one… I’m not like that anymore.”

“Yeah, I know,” Rose tittered, shaking her head. “Hey, come on red. It’s fine. Nick and I, we had our fun, but we haven’t gotten married yet.”

Mary relaxed slightly.

“We’re saving that for next week.”

“WHAT?!”

“Kidding, kidding!” Rose held up her hands in surrender. “But hey, what’s the big deal, anyway? Didn’t that transformation of yours make you WANT Nick to get married? Why the sudden change of heart?”

“Because you’re not the right fit,” Mary sulked. “You don’t deserve to be his wife yet. You’re not ready.”

And just like that, Rose’s sympathy turned into frustration.

“Excuse me?” She snapped, placing her hands on her hips. “Who are you to say that? I’ll have you know that Nick and I had a perfectly lovely date last night! He adores me! And I love him, too! Who exactly do you think you are, saying that I’m not ‘ready’ to marry Nick, huh?”

But Mary wasn’t going to buckle to Rose’s declarations. She stood back up and wiped away her tears, staring the blonde down.

“It’s one thing to sleep with him,” she affirmed. “It’s another thing entirely to devote yourself to him, body and soul.”

“Again, lost my virginity to him!” Rose said, gesturing to her sore crotch. “That’s about as devoted as you can get, wouldn’t you say?”

Mary baulked slightly, but didn’t back down. “You could be so much better!” She insisted.

“Really?” Rose crossed her arms over her chest. “Tell me how, then. Looks? Check. Romance? Check. Love? Check. Cooking? Check! I’ve got everything a good wife could ask for, you know!”

Even though Rose had been kidding about the whole “getting married in a week” thing, she was easily goaded. At this point she wanted to marry Nick right fucking now, just to shove it in the redhead’s face.

“You’re… you’re too… um…” Mary was starting to run out of steam. She knew a lot about Rose, and just knew that the blonde wasn’t ready to be Nick’s wife yet. But all the things she was saying, it all sounded pretty convincing.

“…Housework!” She said suddenly. “I can do all sorts of chores around the house, besides just cooking! I know how to clean, and, um, use a vacuum cleaner! I can vacuum stuff so good you wouldn’t even believe it!”

Rose just smirked. “You forgot about my transformation? All Work and Role Play? I can perfectly attune my role to anything, you know! One sexy maid with all the trimmings, coming right up!”

She took a deep breath and then exhaled, and lifted the hem of her cheerleader skirt. “‘Ello, guv’nah! ‘Ow may oi s’rve yu t’day?” She asked in the most comically-exaggerated scullery maid accent possible.

Mary turned pale. “That, um…”

“Just face it, Mary, if I wanted to, I could wife the FUCK out of our precious Nick. I’d wife him so hard he wouldn’t even be able to think straight,” Rose boasted, putting her hands on her hips. Her competitive nature was rearing up again, and she couldn’t help it. This was supposed to be about finding Mary to comfort her, but nope. The redhead had suddenly turned this into a debate over who would be the better wife for Nick.

And if there was one thing you didn’t do, you didn’t get between Rosemary Beausoleil and a role she wanted.

But then Rose saw that Mary was practically in tears, and she realized exactly what she had missed.

“…Merde,” she cursed, slapping her forehead. “It was right there in front of me, and I didn’t even see it! Come here, you…”

She swept up a very confused Mary into a hug and held her tight.

“W-what?” Mary stammered, trying to break free, but Rose had quite a bit of strength to her.

“Mary, it’s not a competition,” Rose said, pulling back from her. “You’re afraid, right? That I’m going to be a better wife than Nick, and he won’t even pay attention to you anymore.”

Mary turned pale. Now the tears were really coming, and snot along with it. Good thing Nick wasn’t here, because a snotty Mary wasn’t exactly attractive.

Rose sighed. She didn’t have a purse with hankies to fetch for the redhead, so all she could do was keep her at arm’s length. The last thing she needed to do was spend the rest of the day in a cheerleader costume covered in farm girl snot.

“I… I just…” Mary couldn’t find the words. Because the only ones she had were awful.

She was of two minds about Rose, after everything the blonde had described. She didn’t think that Rose would make a good wife for Nick, but at the same time, she was afraid that she WOULD make a good wife… so good of a wife that she would leave her in the dust.

“…I couldn’t even keep the harem under control,” Mary muttered. “I’m his wife. His first wife… I’m supposed to be in a position of authority and respect. But… those two, they just walked all over me. What am I supposed to do? How can I face him tonight, knowing that in one day without his supervision everything fell into pandemonium? I was supposed to keep everything under control, and I was busy in the kitchen while everyone else was fighting…”

Rose sighed. It seemed like Mary had quite the chip on her shoulder, and Rose wasn’t sure what she could do about it. And it didn’t help either that tonight was the redhead’s night with Nick, and she was clearly doubting her ability to perform, considering she was coming after Rose, and the blonde’s date sure sounded like a tough act to follow.

For the moment, though…

“What about this?” She suggested. “What about, you say ‘fuck it’ and just do what you’re supposed to do?”

Mary stared blankly at her.

“What, um… what is that?” She asked.

Rose gave her a conspiratorial smirk.

“You’re Nick’s wife, remember? Why do you think it’s your job to keep the rest of the harem under control?” She asked.

“Because… I’m his wife?” Mary wasn’t sure how Rose expected her to answer that question.

Clearly she didn’t expect that answer, though, because the blonde shook her head and waggled her finger from side to side.

“No no no,” Rose tittered. “You’re his wife! Your job is to stay in the kitchen and pop out babies for him, remember? None of this ‘keep the harem under control’ bullshit. That’s not you, right, Mary?”

Mary’s jaw dropped.

“Well, I mean, when you put it like that… wait! No!” She shook her head, snapping out of the trance Rose had placed her under. As nice as the fantasy she’d been presented was, Mary knew that she had more responsibilities than just being a baby incubator.

…She didn’t like that, but that didn’t change the fact that it was true.

“I need to be stronger and tougher,” Mary asserted. “I’m his first wife! That means it’s my job to keep the harem in order! I have to make sure that the other girls are worthy of being his wife, and that means working hard and keeping them under control!”

Rose could see the logic she was working with, but the redhead had already acknowledged that she’d failed miserably at that.

“…And I should probably start with you.”

Mary turned to Rose with an adamant expression on her face, and Rose felt a sudden chill.

“Uh, Mary?” She suddenly wondered if the redhead might be a little bit unhinged. And dangerous. Which wasn’t good.

Maybe she should run.

Mary’s grip on her arm was tight though.

“Rose!” She said determinedly. “You need to be better! It’s not enough to just have all those things going for you! You can’t slack off!”

“Mary, I’m not planning on slacking-”

“We need to polish your talents!” Mary dragged her toward the chapel doors. “Don’t worry, Rose! By the time I’m done, you’ll be the perfect housewife!”

Rose tried to resist for a few seconds, but eventually relented. Bridal training wasn’t the worst thing Mary could be doing to her, after all.