Can't nothing beat my mother's love

Dani paced outside the door of her bedroom, not sure whether or not she should go in.

Would Carly even want to talk to her? She’d been really cagey all morning, and had directly shut down any attempts from her or Nick to try and comfort her. Dani had tried, but that only seemed to make her roommate more agitated.

And Dani really didn’t want Carly to be upset with her.

Aargh, this would be so much easier without these stupid feelings! Dani’s crush was making it too difficult for her to be a good friend. If Nick was in a tough spot, she wouldn’t have given a crap. She’d have stormed in there, wrestled him out of bed, and maybe put him in a headlock until he either cheered up or told her what had happened.

But if she did that with Carly…

Ugh. Feelings made this way more complicated.

And then… that kiss…

Carly had kissed her on the cheek. That was just a friend thing… right? No biggie. I mean, the week before, she did a lot more…

Dani turned red. Gosh, I wish I’d been awake for that!

…She was getting off track.

My feelings don’t matter. This isn’t about me right now, it’s about Carly. Dani took a deep breath and exhaled, calming her nerves. Tonight, she couldn’t be a girl with a crush. She needed to be a friend looking out for a friend. Even if it meant Carly would resent her for being too pushy.

The door creaked open and she stepped inside. The lights were off, and her buddy was curled up under the blankets.

“Carly?” Dani whispered, climbing into bed with her. “Are you asleep?”

No response. The other girl didn’t even move. Either she was asleep, or she wanted Dani to think she was.

Either way, tonight didn’t look good for talking about feelings.

“Well… if you’re not asleep, then just listen. I know you’re not doing okay. You can try to pretend, but… I know. I know what your real smile looks like, and… it’s not what I saw this morning. …But it’s okay! Look, I’m not trying to pry. Really, I’m not.”

She sighed. Carly still didn’t stir.

“But Carly… you’re important to me. I hope you know that. You’re a very close friend. A-At least… I like to think you are.” Sometimes Dani couldn’t believe that a woman she’d idolized for years had been sleeping next to her for the last few weeks. If not for the horror of the situation, this would be like a dream come true.

“If you’re going through something… you can talk to me, alright? I’m always willing to listen. And it’s not just because… well… never mind.” Now wasn’t the time to confess. Dani took a deep breath, and tried again.

“…You helped me out, Carly. When I was being tormented by those nightmares, you looked after me. Remember when I felt too miserable to get out of bed that one morning, so you came and brought me food? No one’s ever done something like that for me before. It really… it meant a lot to me.”

Dani felt her eyes start to get wet. Am I crying? She wiped away her tears and continued. “I don’t know how long we’ll be together like this. But if there’s something bothering you, if you ever need a shoulder to cry on, you can always come to me. I owe you so much, it’s not even funny. So just say the word, and I’ll be there. Okay?”

Silence. Not like Dani expected an answer. She settled down into bed and prepared to fall asleep.

“…Okay.”

Dani’s eyes snapped open.

“Wh-What?”

She heard Carly shift around in the dark, and saw the faintest outline of the other girl’s face, staring back at her.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “It means a lot to me that you feel that way. But you can’t help me. No one can.”

“I can listen, though…” Dani offered weakly. “It wouldn’t hurt to have someone to listen to.”

“…No,” Carly said, shaking her head after a moment’s pause. “I don’t… I don’t want that. It would just make things worse.”

Dani didn’t understand how that was possible. “Why?”

“Because once I tell you, you wouldn’t look at me the same way,” Carly answered softly, taking Dani’s hand from under the covers. “And I’m not ready for that.”

It hurt Dani’s heart to hear the crack in her voice. But she swallowed back her protests and nodded. When Carly was ready to tell her, then she would. Until then, Dani would just try to be the most supportive friend she could be.

And maybe, Carly’s smile would come back.

Dakota closed her eyes and lifted her head up towards the water cascading down from the shower fixture hanging above her. As the droplets rolled over her pale skin, she slowly lathered up her curvaceous figure, trying to focus on her thoughts and not the heat rising up in her loins.

This transformation is more cumbersome than I expected. But it’s nothing I can’t manage. Every second she spent in the shower made her hornier. Maybe someone weak-willed like Gina would have succumbed to the feeling welling up inside her, but Dakota wasn’t like her.

Gina… she’s with him right now. Again. Dakota ignored the emotions welling up inside her. They wouldn’t help.

What am I getting so worked up over? I knew this would happen going in. No matter how much I want him, he won’t belong to just me. Dakota could feel her horniness start to get overpowered by her rising jealousy. She grabbed the faucet and twisted, increasing the amount of water pouring down on her to fight back.

My jealousy will only hurt him again. I can’t do that. And yet… why?! Why does it have to be her?! No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t keep Gina’s smirking face out of her mind. It was always her first. Every time.

“That’s right… her again. If not for her, you wouldn’t have died. You would have stayed by his side, and he would have chosen you. And none of this would have needed to happen. Nick wouldn’t need a harem… it would have just been you and him, forever and ever… but she had to get in your way, didn’t she?”

The malicious thoughts in her mind just wouldn’t stop. Dakota screamed in frustration and pulled at her hair, stumbling back and hitting the wall. She sank to the floor, feeling the water pool up around her. Her pale skin flushed with excitement but it wasn’t her libido assailing her right now.

It’s over now! It’s over! She tried to convince herself. That Dakota is dead and gone! I can’t be that girl anymore, I can’t! Now… now I just need to make him happy… that’s all…

She started to shake. If she was still capable of crying she wouldn’t know, with how soaked her face already was. But all her tears had long-since been shed. The abyss in her chest only wanted one thing from her.

“I have to… make him happy…” She whispered numbly, almost like she was trying to cast a spell on herself. “That’s why he needs a harem…”

If Dakota could control her jealousy, then everything would be perfect. She would give Nick the harem of his dreams, with her as its queen.

Gina loves him… and he cares for her. That should be enough, right? He should be happy with that… A broken smile spread across her lips.

A good girl? What was Sylvia thinking? She shook her head. Nick has enough of those. Mary can fill that niche just fine. No, the only role suitable for Gina in this harem is as his little alt-girl bondage ****. His perfect painslut.

Dakota started laughing. She raised her head and gazed up into the cascade of water raining down on her.

“This is all working out exactly as I hoped… all that time I spent breaking down the walls she placed on herself, getting her to question her own choices, all so she could finally realize once and for all what her place should be, what would make him happiest…”

Holly had become his little cuckpet. Gina was well on her way to being his party girl painslut. Everything was going exactly as Dakota hoped.

So why did she still feel unsatisfied?

Without even realizing it, Dakota’s hand had drifted down to her crotch. She tore it away.

What the hell are you thinking? She slapped herself across the face. You’ll spoil yourself for him, you fool!

Their night would be coming soon. And it needed to be perfect. She would make him forget all about Gina. All about Carly. All about any of them.

When the dust settles, and he chooses the one who will stay by his side, the queen of his harem… that will be me.

Dakota rose to her feet and stumbled out of the shower, leaning against the mirror to steady herself.

I’ve come too far at this point… this time, I will make him happy.

Dakota walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later, wiping herself off with a towel. As she dried herself her libido slowly trickled down to a more manageable level, which was a relief. She needed to keep her wits about her tonight.

Because her sleeping partner would be Mimi.

The slime girl had already arrived by the time Dakota had finished her shower. She sat motionlessly on the bed, staring off into space with a vacant look in her eye.

“Hello there,” Dakota greeted her, pulling on a black nightgown. Mimi turned curiously towards her.

“Hello,” she replied, and the conversation died there.

Dakota stared at her for a moment, feeling an odd sort of pressure coming from the other girl’s stare.

“…Not very talkative, are you?” She sighed, climbing into bed.

Mimi shook her head. “I prefer to listen. I learn more things that way… by listening. It comes naturally to me…”

“Oh, really?” Dakota asked, raising her eyebrow.

“Ever since I was a sapling, all I could do was sit and listen, rooted into the ground,” Mimi mused. “My mother would come by every day and read children’s books to me while I grew.”

For a second, Dakota thought she saw a spark of emotion in Mimi’s eyes as the pale girl stared off into the distance.

Then Mimi turned back to her.

“Do you have a mother?” She asked.

Dakota scowled. Dark memories filled her mind, and she pushed them down.

“Why would you ask something like that?”

“…It was only very recently that I… became human,” Mimi murmured. “Since then, I’ve been wondering… what is the relationship between mother and I? That movie, Chinatown, it made me think about-”

“Stop right there,” Dakota cut her off, raising her hand. “Don’t look to that movie as a reference on anything. Just don’t. You’ll only get even more confused.”

Mimi nodded obediently. But she kept staring at Dakota with that unnerving, vacant gaze.

Perhaps I can work with this, Dakota thought. She wanted to get a grasp on how much Mimi had really grown over the last few days.

Was she capable of empathy?

I suppose if I tell her, there won’t be any harm. She doesn’t seem to be a talkative sort. Dakota cut away her emotions and dug deep into memories that she’d buried a long time ago.

“I did have a mom,” she answered. Mimi perked up. “At least in a biological sense. But that woman… she doesn’t deserve the title.”

“Oh?” Mimi tilted her head to the side curiously.

“I never had a dad. Not one I knew about, anyway. Apparently he was some rich prick from a good family that abandoned my mom before I was born. All he was to me was a check in the mail every week.”

“I never had… a dad either…” Mimi echoed. Dakota heard a tinge of sadness in her voice. “But I never felt like I was missing anything.”

“Because you’re not human.” Dakota’s blunt words might have hurt, but she had no intention of being gentle with the little slime thing. “You were grown. In the dirt. Just because you’ve transformed into a human, that doesn’t make you one. Not yet.”

“…I see.” Mimi nodded in agreement, and again, she looked a little bit sad.

Dakota wondered how far she could push that.

“Like I said before, I never knew my dad. But my mom? She was a real piece of work. Thanks to the generous child support checks, she didn’t have to get a job. Not that she ever could have kept one. We got to live in a nice neighborhood. A two-story house with a white picket fence, and a pleasant little park just down the block. The American dream, right?”

Mimi stared blankly at her.

“Never mind. All of it didn’t mean shit though,” Dakota scowled. “Because mom didn’t really want to be my mom. You know what she wanted? Another drink. And another. I didn’t get family dinners like the other kids, I got mommy’s red wine nights. Maybe, if I was lucky, she’d remember to do the grocery shopping sometimes. But it wasn’t like I got anything I wanted. Just the leftovers. I… I…”

Dakota’s voice cracked. She couldn’t still be feeling emotion about this, could she? That was a lifetime ago. Those days were far behind her.

But she couldn’t stop herself from shaking. Then she realized she wasn’t shaking because she was about to cry. She was trembling in anger.

“I didn’t want that house! I didn’t want that mother!” She exploded. “I didn’t want someone who only kept me around for the money! I just… I just… I just wanted…”

She couldn’t say it. The words refused to leave her lips. She took a deep breath and exhaled, sitting up and turning away from Mimi. She kicked her legs off over the edge of the bed and gazed out at the night sky, watching the stars.

“Nick was all I had. And he had everything. A father who loved him. And when his mom passed away, guess what? His dad remarried in a flash, to some gorgeous girl half his age. And what then? Did she struggle? Did she ignore him, like all the stepmoms in the movies? Like my mom? No, no, she was perfect! It’s not FAIR! Why did he get her?! Why wasn’t it me?! He gets two moms who love him, and I don’t even get one!?”

She pounded her fist against the blankets, her eyes hot with rage. “I wanted it so badly, don’t you get it?!” She screamed, whirling around and lunging at Mimi. The slime girl slipped back on the sheet, startled, but Dakota didn’t advance on her. She just glared deeply into her eyes. Mimi studied her closely.

So many emotions… so this is what it means to be a human?

Then suddenly, Dakota was calm again.

“Nick was all I had. And I wanted him. Or maybe… maybe it was… maybe I just wanted to be him. But in the end… I didn’t get what I wanted. I died with nothing, unloved and unmourned by anyone but him.” She smiled bitterly. “Oh, but I can see it all clearly. I can imagine my mom crying, sobbing over my grave. Well, the gravy train’s gone now, momma. Got pull yourself up by your bootstraps, right!?”

She laughed maniacally, flopping back onto the bed. Her head dangled off the side, gazing up at the ceiling.

“I don’t even know if she’s still alive… that’s how little I care.” She propped herself up on her elbows and looked back at Mimi. “But it’s fine now. It’s all going to be fine.”

Mimi shivered a little at the smile on Dakota’s face.

“Because now I finally have him back. He’s mine now. Forever. And you will be too.” She scooted forward, crawling over the bed like a tiger on the prowl. “You’ll join our nice happy little family… me, and Nick, and all the other girls. And we’ll all be so happy and loved, forever.”

Mimi was as still as a statue as Dakota pulled her into a hug. Then she melted into her arms. Well, not literally, the way she could have. But she felt the emotions oozing off of the other girl, and could feel the warmth wafting through her.

It wasn’t quite cuddles. But it made her feel all warm and tingly inside all the same.

Dakota smiled. It went just as she’d hoped. She lost control of her emotions, sure, but that was almost a good thing. The more intensity she exposed Mimi to, the greater amount of emotion the slime girl would pick up on, which would only help her grow more human.

“There, there,” Dakota said, stroking her slimy hair gently. “We’ll find a nice place for you, as well.”

Sylvia sat back in her chair and watched the two women hug. Dani and Carly, Dakota and Mimi, even Nick and Gina, everyone was taking comfort in one another tonight.

She looked around her bedroom. It felt so empty and lifeless.

Sylvia dabbed at the corner of her eyes with a handkerchief. Dakota’s story about her past had brought her to tears. Quite a feat, considering the hole she had for a heart.

A mother’s love, huh… Sylvia turned and gazed longingly at the etched out portrait of a woman, and felt her heart ache.

Even someone like me…

She shook those thoughts from her head and turned her focus back to Nick and Gina. The two were just getting started with their steamy session. He was shouting things that Sylvia never would have imagined possible just a few weeks ago, going to town on the chained-up woman’s ass like it was a bongo drum.

“That’s right, Nick. That’s what will bring you happiness.” The words felt hollow in her ears, so she said them again just to be sure. “That’s what will bring you happiness.”

Nick needed to be happy. His happiness would mean happiness for all of them.

She had been born for one reason, and one reason alone. And he had taken that wonderful next step. He could be the kind of domineering master that Gina desired. And with a little bit of luck, Sylvia would help the other girls find their way as well.

I’ll prove to you, mother. This life you gave me has worth. I’ll show you that I can do this job too, just as good as you can! And then… maybe then…

Her eyes were misty again. She wiped them dry and refocused on the steamy sex. That always helped her feel better whenever these strange pangs of emotion rose up in her heart.