Chapter 1 Book 2

Happy Birthday

 

For Robert, faithful friend, songwriter extraordinaire, and transformer of lullaby lyrics. A thousand thanks for stepping up when I needed you.

 

Now the moon is almost hidden

The stars are beginning to hide

The fortune-telling lady

Has even taken all her things inside

All except for Cain and Abel

And the hunchback of Notre Dame

Everybody is making love

Or else expecting rain

Bob Dylan

 

 

Karen pushed the door to the restroom open and grumbled, "Jesus, my tits hurt."

"Thanks for the update," Gail said.

They had the small two-stall restroom to themselves. Karen slipped into the far stall, set her bag on the floor, and plopped down. Just as she started to piddle, she felt something pop in her left breast. "Oh shit!" she barked.

"What!" Gail cried out from the next stall. "What, shit?"

"Hang on," Karen said. She quickly unbuttoned her shirt enough to open the nursing flap on her bra. Sure enough, a thick milky liquid the consistency of heavy cream oozed from her erect nipple. A shudder passed over her, and a surge of warmth rose from deep inside. "Shit, just what I thought. I've started."

"Started what? Your period?"

"No! My period? No, my girls are making milk."

"No shit!" Gail scrambled to stand and pull up her pants. "Really?"

"Duh! Kinda thick right now, but I won't make colostrum so it'll thin right up."

"It really worked! I thought it was all a bunch of crap."

"Umm, who was it who said just last week that it looked like I was carrying around a couple heads of cabbage?"

"Yeah, but... I didn't think it meant you were going to actually lactate, I figured it'd just make your girls get bigger. So, what're you gonna do now?" Gail said, stepping out of her stall and arranging her ivory tie-neck blouse.

"Luckily, I've been carrying pads for the last couple of weeks."

"Pads? What kind of pads?"

"Nursing pads. What the hell did you think? Maxi pads?"

"How am I supposed to know these things."

Karen grabbed her bag and dug out a thick nursing pad. "I was not expecting this yet," Karen muttered as she got herself sorted.

"Funny how it's today of all days."

"Who knows, maybe it's God's seal of approval. Maybe it's just good timing. And you, no comments out there, I want this to be a surprise for her."

"Don't worry, I'm not a rotten bitch. Damn, it's even making me horny. I need a girlfriend," she said with a wistful sigh.

Karen stepped out of the stall. "Yes you do."

Gail smiled archly. "Maybe – just maybe. That's all I'm saying."

"Yes you are a rotten, teasing bitch. Look at me, make sure I'm put together," Karen said shifting and tugging at her shirt. "No wet spots?"

"You're fine," Gail announced after scanning Karen. "I thought she knew about it."

"She does, but not when. I want to surprise her, so I have to act all nonchalant." They stood at the sink and washed their hands. The door opened and a new visitor stepped in.

" So, you want to go to Baytown Sunday?" Gail said to Karen's reflection in the mirror, quickly changing the subject in the presence of a stranger. "There's this incredible Japanese restaurant, Yamato's, and you really have to check it out, especially the sushi. It's to die for."

"I'll have to think about it. I can just imagine her reaction to Sushi if she's freaked out by octopustongue."

"They don't do just sushi, ya know. Maybe we could do the hibachi. I bet she'd get a kick out of that."

Karen dried her hands with a wad of paper towels. "I suppose. If things go right after lunch."

"You worry too much," Gail said, pushing the door open.

"It's my job to worry.

Karen's warm glow intensified the instant she stepped out and caught sight of Laci almost dancing in the corridor. When Laci broke into a smile and bounced excitedly on her tippy-toes, Karen's sex flushed and released a surge of dew. Holy shit, now both my tits and my twitchit are dripping. I'm going to be a frigging wreck by the time I get her home. God! I still can't believe what she does to me.

When Karen and Gail disappeared into the restroom, Laci was alone. Gail had said the building would be quiet today. District Court wasn't in session on Fridays, which was reserved for Family Court, mediation sessions, depositions, and other less intense legal business. Just about any other day of the week, this corridor would be packed with a mob of low-grade offenders awaiting their turn before a judge.

Laci set down her pink Ann Spade leather tote holding her sketch pad, pencils, chalk and other accoutrements she needed in case she saw something interesting.

She turned and looked out the floor-to-ceiling smoked glass window atlooking out over Chamberlain Street, once the retail and social hub of Williamston. Across the street was Courthouse Plaza, one of the dozen or so parks and green spaces the city had built in recent years to make the area more attractive for both potential developers, and the existing businesses trying to remain viable.

The Plaza was going to be the centerpiece of the art festival, and seeing it from this perspective made it clear to Laci why it was the perfect site. At nearly half a block, it was wider than the court building. It rose the thirty-foot elevation to Madison Street in a series of terraces, giving it the feel of an amphitheater. Clever water fountains and well-tended perennial beds were strategically located at various points, and each level of tiers had discrete granite daises for street performers, hipster minstrels, and the infrequent artist to display their talents.

Laci envisioned the welcome table she'd suggested for the entrance. It would be a spot where questions could be answered and information given. She would help Emily manage the visitor flow and do face painting for any kids accompanying their parents. Other club members would be available to offer their talents doing various fun things. Ashley would do caricature sketches of visitors, James, the serious one, would do more realistic portrait sketches, both of which they'd sell for five dollars apiece, proceeds going to the art club. Amelia, with her Mom's help, would do demonstrations of how a quilt was made, and Sarah would be doing pottery demos.

Laci's imagination was fired, and it quietly ratcheted up her excitement. She began to hear music in her head – Shakira singing "She-Wolf" – and she unconsciously began to sway and dance to the mental soundtrack whirring in her brain. Her pink Winnie the Pooh "Bee A Dreamer" tee and her soft pink, loosely clingy modest-length skirt allowed her slim body to blend into the grand surroundings. They enhanced her subtle movements. She was a happy dreamer.

A door banged shut, bursting her reverie. When she looked toward the door she was still subtly dancing, swaying, and gyrating to the inner music. A man in an expensive suit stepped into the corridor, and when he spied her there was a stutter in his gait, as though his foot caught an obstacle. When he recaptured his stride, he seemed to stand taller and put a swagger in his step.

Laci was fully aware of the effect she had on the man, and it pleased her in an offhand way. Like any girl her age, she liked being noticed for the way she looked. I bet I could make that guy walk right into a wall, she thought with an inner chuckle. But truth be told, the only one who mattered was Karen. Drawing an Oh-My-God from her made Laci giddy and goose-pimply.

Laci almost immediately forgot about the anonymous voyeur. Her growing excitement had nothing to do with being checked out by passersby. She started swishing down the corridor, tracing her finger along the plank-like handrail guarding the window. She felt good about how things went this morning.

Nothing about the morning's proceedings fit her expectations of how things might play out. She knew from Gail it wouldn't be in an imposing courtroom, but the small, mundane conference room was really unexpected.

And the judge! He was nothing like she expected. She didn't expect him to wear a robe or anything, but she did see him wearing a stuffy suit. Instead, he arrived wearing khakis, a blue polo shirt, and boat shoes! He looked like he might be a retired math teacher, not a judge. And he brought doughnuts, coffee and chocolate milk for god's sake! And not just any doughnuts either, but the fancy ones from Fergie's that everyone raved about.

She expected to be pointedly interrogated to make sure she wasn't making stuff up. Instead, he seemed very compassionate toward the misery she'd endured through the years. She had a bad moment when he went into the time Sandra pushed her down the stairs, and he didn't seem to mind when she pushed closer to Karen, seeking out her comforting embrace.

He didn't even question Karen that much. About all he did was say, "I've gone over your character reference letters, and I must say, I'm impressed."

Then, when they took a short bathroom-and-doughnut break, he actually talked to her about art! He said Gail told him about her involvement in getting the art club up and running. Seriously, she could hardly believe the judge was talking to her about art! Surely that had to be a good sign.

Left alone, her bubbly energy started to turn sexual, and, why shouldn't it? It had been a long time since she and Karen made love, almost a week. They'd had so much going on, so much stress, and they were so exhausted at the end of the day, there simply wasn't any energy for much more than a little cuddling.

Making love was such a vital part of her life now, the way she and Karen melded their love for each other on the deepest level. They touched, kissed, tasted, talked, laughed, played, and cried out at the orgasmic thunderstorms they gave each other. All the kids at school acted all cool, like they knew everything about sex, but they didn't know anything. The girls were so immature, letting guys they thought were cute talk them into all kinds of stupid shit like sexting and drinking. She didn't even feel like a kid, nor did Karen treat her like one, and if people didn't get that, they could go fuck themselves – if they knew.

Plenty of girls in her old neighborhood found out the hard way that guys just didn't give a shit about them. They were fuck toys, and as soon as the girl got pregnant, the guy, whether boy or grown man, dropped out of sight – see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya.

Not Karen though. Karen loved her so much she was trying to finish rescuing her and become her mother. Thoughts like that made Laci's kitty flush and surge.

She had her hands on the rail and she stared trance-like out the window. She unconsciously gyrated her hips and thrust her mound forward, and she let herself revel in a brief fantasy. She could almost feel Karen glide up behind her and pull her back in an embrace. She felt Karen nuzzle her neck and kiss her, then whisper those magic words, "I love you." And yes, even imagining that was enough to make Laci let out a soft murmur of pure pleasure as her muffin blossomed.

The sound of heels tap-tapping brought her back to reality. She glanced in the direction of the sound to see a woman in a business suit and a stony face that discouraged even a polite greeting making her way down the hall to the bathroom.

Laci distantly wondered what was taking Karen and Gail so long as she turned back to the window to enjoy the residual warmth of her casual fantasy. When she heard the restroom, door open again, she spun around, her hair spraying out like the rings of Saturn, and at the sight of Karen, a fresh ripple of warmth spread over her like a little orgasm.

The simple sight of her lover made Laci break into a glowing smile. Oh, she was so beautiful! Even in a simple turquoise skirt, an untucked white button-down shirt, and sandals Karen oozed self-confident alpha-bitch control.

Even next to Gail, who was so stunningly beautiful (I wonder why she doesn't have a girlfriend? Laci thought) Karen projected a powerful don't-fuck-with-me air. That aura of authority was like an aphrodisiac to Laci in a way she couldn't explain. But there was no need to explain, so she reveled in it.

Laci, face radiant, shouldered her tote and pranced over to Karen and Gail. She bounced to a stop and dancing on her tippy-toes, she greeted them with her usual singsong, "Hiiii."

"Whoa," Karen said, her own face breaking into a radiant smile. "We just went to the bathroom. You'd think we were gone for a week."

"Well it took you forever. I thought I was gonna hafta find a plumber because you tried to flush yourself down the toilet and got stuck."

"What a little wise-ass," Karen smiled, her sparkling eyes locked on her lover's.

"Hey," Laci said, pushing between them and locking her arms with theirs. "I learned from the best teachers."

"Can't argue with that," Gail said. "I don't know about you two shining stars, but I'm starved."

A few casually dressed people milled around the open, brightly lit lobby of the courthouse. When they stepped out, Laci tugged Karen closer, stood on her tippy-toes, and whispered, "You can have your way with me when we get home," before giggling.

Karen's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You're being bad, you know, very bad."

"I know," Laci whispered with a fresh, trilling giggle.

"What are you two whispering about?" Gail demanded. She immediately held up her hand saying, "Wait! Don't answer that! I want to maintain the illusion of innocence."

"You're a piece of work, you know that?" Karen said.

"Yup. And a hungry piece of work. Let's go eat."

"Your choice," Karen said. "You know the area better than I do."

They set off like the Three Musketeers, a bubbly Laci in the middle. She bounced and skipped, walked backwards so she could face her adults, held their hands and swung their arms, baiting them several times with accusations of being "old ladies." They drew lingering looks and downright stares from passersby and drivers making their way down the narrow, one-way street. In one case, it nearly caused an accident when one driver was so distracted by the site of three very attractive women of varying age bouncing down the sidewalk he nearly ran into a car stopped in traffic.

Gail brought them to a sandwich shop with a service window abutting the main park. It had a bland name, Lev's Deli ("Hot and Cold Sandwiches, Soups and Sides. Kosher menu available!"), but the smells emanating from it were rich, intriguing, and enchanting.

Laci, at Karen's urging, stepped out of her comfort zone and ordered a gyro. "What's a `year-oh" she asked suspiciously.

A chuckling Karen told her, "It's safe, just spiced beef strips in a pita pocket with a creamy cucumber sauce."

Karen had a cold pastrami on rye with horseradish mustard, and Gail a Rueben, and they shared a large basket of poutine.

"What is `puts-in'?" Laci demanded, which brought another chuckle from both women.

"Fries served French-Canadian style," Gail explained. "Covered with regular brown gravy and cheese curds. It's perfectly safe."

They sat at a table near a fountain spitting out choreographed ropes of water which splatted on an inner concentric granite ring. Laci took it in, noticing the way the light and shadows played together, the water ropes set aglow by hidden lights, the gentle slope of the tiers leading up to Madison Street. There was a hipster minstrel, Rasta hat on the ground to accept tips, strumming a guitar and singing – both badly – for his supper. She noticed the look of oblivious serenity on his face.

No individual element was particularly interesting by itself, but when melded together in her brain they created something larger than those isolated images taken alone. For just a moment she had the disorienting feeling that she was seeing the world in a new and different way. I bet this must be how Monet saw things.

It only took a few seconds to absorb it all. Without conscious thought, she reached into her bag and pulled out her drawing pad and a pencil, and began sketching what she saw, taking notes as she did, just like her art tutor Mrs. Alberghetti said she should whenever something caught her eye.

Gail, unwrapping her sandwich, watched her with an amused smile. "Ssshhh, artist at work," she teased.

"Leave me alone," Laci said without looking up. "I'm creating."

Gail smiled. "So you are. You're really taking this art thing seriously."

"Course I am. Mrs. Alberghetti – she's my tutor – said I should always carry my sketch pad, and whenever I see something that catches my eye, no matter how insignificant it seems, I should sketch it and take notes about what I see and what caught my attention."

Gail swallowed a bite of her Rueben. "Oh damn, this is good," she said, regarding her sandwich. "So, you like her? Your tutor?"

"Oh yeah," Laci said, putting the sketch pad and pencil on the table and opening her gyro. "She's really cool, she's like the assistant to Mr. B's husband, who's, like the boss art teacher at Bentley. She's wicked smart, and her paintings and stuff are a-maz-ing!"

"Is she pushing you? Is she tough."

"Fricken-A," Laci declared. "She gives me all kinds of assignments to do, like right now she has me reading a book on the history of European art – and it's a real book, not like Harry Potter, it's really complicated. Plus, she has me reading another book on drawing the human body. It's a lot harder than it looks. And she has me drawing the human body, the whole thing and different parts by themselves, like legs, arms, chests, and it's by the book, no freehand allowed. Then each week she has me do a painting of whatever I want, but it has to be in a form she assigns. Like this week it's a still life, last week it was a plein-air, and she says I have to keep everything, she calls it my portfolio and it's how I can show off what I can do. She says if I ought to see if people will hire me to do works, and the portfolio is how I show them what I can do."

"Listen to her go," Gail said with genuine admiration. "My god, that's impressive!"

"It sure is," Karen said with obvious pride. "And she does it all come hell or high water. First thing in the morning, she pees, brushes her teeth, and goes down to her studio and starts in. It's funny as hell, her hair a rat's nest going every which way, pencils and brushes stuck in it, holding her palette and painting away."

"Karen, stop picking on me." But Laci's insides squirmed and glowed at the praise and admiration of the two women she relied on for validation.

"Oh you love it, and you know you do."

"I'm gonna try this poutine stuff," Laci said, plucking thick fry coated with brown gravy from the heaping pile. "What's those squiggly things on top?"

Both women smiled broadly. "Cheese curds," Gail said.

"Mmmm, the fries are good! What's cheese curds? They look weird."

"They aren't weird at all," Karen said after finishing a bite of her sandwich. "They're cheese just before it becomes cheese. You get an open tank filled with regular milk and add some stuff called rennet, and it makes the milk curdle. You stir it up and the milk separates, with the curds floating to the top, and the left-over liquid is called `whey.'"

"What's whey? I think I've heard of it before."

"Sure you have," Gail said. "The nursery rhyme. 'Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey.' That's what she was eating, milk that'd been curdled before the curds were pressed into cheese molds. Kind of like cottage cheese."

"She musta been poor, eating stuff like that." Laci sighed and took a curd from its gravy bath. "Well. Here goes." She popped it in her mouth and savored it, studied the unusual texture with her teeth before swallowing. "Good," she announced. "Kinda buttery, and look, it's melting."

"It is, it's supposed to" Karen said, grabbing a wad of fries covered with melted curd. "It isn't all that different from mozzarella. It's sometimes called `squeaky cheese' because of the texture, it squeaks when you chew it"

"Tch! Karen, you're so full of it your eyes are brown."

"Ha! Listen to her! Questioning my integrity like a little wench."

And so, it went, a free-wheeling conversation between three women who were totally at ease together, who truly liked each other, and were totally relaxed. It went from cheese curds to tongue sandwiches ("Ewwww! Guh-ross!"), the state of downtown, to Gail's girlfriendless state, Karen's perennial garden to their plans for the weekend. The one subject they studiously avoided was the 700-pound gorilla dancing on the table: Justice Macdonald's custody ruling after the lunch recess. It was as if bringing it up would displease the Gods.

At last, the poutine was gone, the sandwiches eaten, the coffee and sodas emptied. Gail looked at her watch, sighed, and said, "We'd better get going. His Honor Justice Kenneth Macdonald is a very punctual man. If he says a two-hour recess, he really means an hour and fifty-nine minutes.

Without warning, Laci felt a curtain of anxiety drop down around her. Her enthusiastic optimism of the morning evaporated. What the fuck? Why am I so nervous all of a sudden? Where did that come from? She tried to push it aside, but the squirming in her tummy pointedly told her that wasn't going to work.

She tried a different tack. What the frig am I worrying for? A judge isn't going to give doughnuts and talk about art if he's about to fuck up your whole life. That didn't work, either. Maybe he was just being nice to take some of the sting out of what was coming?

She gathered up the trash from her lunch and wadded it up. She didn't want Karen or Gail to know of her sudden burst of nervousness, so she tried to smile. "I guess so. That was a good lunch. I even tried new stuff and I lived. Thank you, Gail. Next time it'll be my turn to buy you lunch."

"Thanks for the offer. I'll even agree to Macdonald's if that's your pleasure."

Laci wrapped her arms around Karen's arm and rested her cheek on her savior's shoulder. She looked up at Karen and whispered with quiet force, "I love you!"

Karen frowned vaguely. "I love you, baby girl." She looked over at Gail and communicated her frown. Gail answered with a subtle nod of understanding.

"Uh oh," Gail said. "I see a beautiful young lady who's got a sudden case of nerves."

Laci looked up and blinked. How did she know? She glanced at Karen who wore an almost indistinguishable frown of concern. How did she know, too? Was it that obvious? Laci squirmed around Karen's arm. "I can't help it," she pouted. "Now that we're going there, I'm scared. What if he..." she trailed off, unable to say the words that expressed her fear.

"Don't worry, honey," Gail said gently, and she gave Laci's shoulder a tender squeeze. "Everything's going to be fine. Trust me."

Laci sighed. If anyone knew, it was Gail. Her nerves were only a tiny bit soothed. "I guess. Well, we'd better get going or we'll be late."

* * * *

When they entered the conference room, the CPS caseworker Virginia Fleischman was already sitting at the table, her laptop open and papers neatly arrayed around it. She looked up at them and smiled brightly. "Hello, folks. Did you have a nice lunch?"

She was a pretty woman, Laci noticed as if seeing her for the first time. She was young, certainly not yet 30, on the chubby side, with sparkling brown eyes behind stylish tortoise-shell glasses.

Gail made her way to her chair next to Virginia. That's when Laci noticed the two chairs she and Karen sat in during the morning session had been replaced by a two-person version of the chairs around the table. Laci, a puzzled frown creasing her brow, looked up at Karen. Karen shrugged but she didn't look at all perturbed.

What if it meant Justice Macdonald wanted to cut her mother out of the picture, but the law he had to follow said he couldn't do it. Maybe the seat was there because he knew she would freak out, so he wanted Karen close together so Karen could keep her from losing it? Her heart started racing at the thought, and now her tummy was churning in a most unpleasant way.

Molly Ingersoll, the court clerk who kept all the records, came through the rear door and set a batch of manila folders on the table. She must have seen the look on Laci's face, because she smiled and said, "Justice Macdonald noticed how you seemed so much more comfortable when you were close to Karen, so he thought it might be nice if we swapped out the single seat for that double. It isn't any more comfortable than the other chairs, but it does let you sit together."

"Well thank you," Karen said with a look of mild but pleased surprise. "We appreciate that." They sat down, Laci scooping her skirt under her. Karen affectionately tweaked and wiggled the tip of Laci's nose. "I think I have a girl who is more nervous than she's letting on."

Laci pushed close to Karen and rested her face on Karen's chest. Her nostrils flared unconsciously as she picked up a faint but rich scent from Karen she'd never noticed before. It was both soothing and oddly arousing. Her brain didn't dwell on it. "I can't help it," she said with her all-purpose pout.

"I know, baby-girl," Karen said, and she planted a small kiss on Laci's forehead.

"You know," Molly said, sounding pensive, "usually with these TPR hearings, there's a lot of anger and hostility, or painful sadness, there is so much negativity. It's such a – an uplifting feeling, I guess, to have such a loving and happy atmosphere."

Oh please let that be a good sign! "All I know," Laci said with a tinge of defiant defensiveness, "is I love Karen and she loves me."

"Oh yes," Molly said, "that's obvious, dear. Don't be afraid to hug Karen as much as you want." Molly finished arranging the files, then she turned on the recorder. "It's time to get going." She knocked on the same door she'd come through, turned her head and said, "Please stand."

Laci, her knees weak and shaky, stood up. Karen slipped her arm around her waist and pulled Laci closer.

Justice Macdonald came through the door sat and down at the head of the table. "Go ahead and sit down, folks," he said and the four of them followed suit. Molly Ingersoll, the court clerk, settled behind her stenography machine. Macdonald allowed himself a moment to study his folded hands with a pensive look. Then he looked up.

"Laci, you're an artist. Are you familiar with John Singer Sargent?"

"I know who he is, I saw some of his work at the museum. He painted the rotunda murals at the museum, and they're like totally incredible, I coulda just stayed there all day studying them."

"He did a lot of other stuff. Are you familiar with his, `Mrs. Fiske-Warren and Her Daughter Rachel'"?

Laci blushed. "Umm, no – not yet." She looked up with an embarrassed smile. "But I will."

"I hope you do. That's the only way to learn. Now I'm no art aficionado, but I do appreciate it, and I know what I like. It's one of my favorite paintings. I even have a canvas print hanging in my house. I think you'll understand what I mean when you see an image of it, but there was a point in this morning's testimony where we were getting into some unpleasant events, and you were seeking comfort in Karen's embrace and she gave it. That's when the image of Mrs. Warren and her daughter Rachel popped into my head. It's the perfect metaphor, at least in my mind, for what I'm seeing.

"Most of the time when we're dealing with termination cases, we're happy with a `good enough' resolution. We're happy getting kids out of the line of fire and into a safe place. If we're lucky, that safe place is also nurturing. Every once in a while, the planets align and we're faced with a situation that's essentially the best possible outcome for the child – not just `in her best interest,' but `the best possible outcome.'

"All of your teachers are literally astonished at the changes in you since you came under Karen's care. In addition to your blossoming as an artist, you've become a school leader, helping build an art club from the ground up, helping to arrange a downtown art fair – which I promise to attend – and leading the school's anti-bullying campaign. The list goes on.

"Now, the legal threshold for terminating Sandra Harper's parental rights have been met several times over, and there is no indication of any potential improvement – indeed, she's is incarcerated essentially indefinitely.

"Ideally, we – the state – want the custodial guardian to adopt the child when permanent guardianship is granted. I understand there are external factors in Ms. Nelson's life which make that an impractical step at this time, but once those factors are managed, we would like to see adoption move forward.

"So, what I'm saying is, I'm granting the petition to terminate Sandra Harper's parental rights to Laci Harper. Furthermore, I'm also granting the petition for Karen Nelson to assume full and permanent guardianship of Laci. I've filed my formal decision with the Clerk of Courts."

Like the jarring opening notes of Eroica, Laci was hammered by hot, dizzying inner pangs as she realized what Justice Macdonald was saying. For several seconds, she felt like she was in a dream. She looked at Gail, who was beaming and flashing a thumbs up. She looked up at Karen, who wore a serene smile and simply nodded slightly. When Laci noticed tears brimming in Karen's eyes, her own dam burst.

Laci was rocked with sobs. "Oh God! Oh God!" she cried. "Please don't let this be a dream, please let it be real, please let it be real!" she sobbed against Karen's chest.

Karen, struggling to suppress her own tears with only marginal success, held Laci in a tight embrace and rocked her side to side. "It's real, baby girl, oh yes it is, she's ancient history now."

Gail stood up at the same time Justice Macdonald did, and she started talking to him, and they were both smiling and animated. The magistrate started putting papers in his briefcase, and Gail, face as bright as a lighthouse beacon came skipping over to Karen and Laci.

"Game! Over!" she said with quiet intensity, doing a little dance in the process.

Laci disentangled from Karen and fairly launched herself at Gail. She wrapped Gail in the closest she could come to a bear hug. "Oh Gail, Gail, thank you, thank you!" she sobbed. She took a deep, shuddery breath in an attempt to compose herself. "I know how you've put everything on the line for us. I promise – promise – to repay you."

"Oh Laci Honey. The way to repay me is by chasing after your dream and becoming an artist. And always loving Karen."

Laci barked a soupy laugh. "Don't worry about that."

Laci saw from the corner of her eye that Justice Macdonald looked like he was about to leave. "'Scuse me a sec," she said to Gail. She skittered over to the judge, and she impulsively pounced on him. She barely came up to his chest, so she hugged his waist more than anything else. She sobbed again. "Thank you, sir." She wasn't sure if it was the proper thing to do, but she didn't give a goddamned. She beckoned him to lower his head closer to her level, as if she wanted to tell him a secret, and when he did she planted a firm, wet kiss on his cheek. "Thank you. You don't know how big a deal this is for me. Now, I get to live. I will never, ever forget you or be able to thank you enough."

The good jurist was clearly flustered, blushing as furiously as a schoolboy. He chuckled warmly. "I'm more familiar with middle fingers and f-bombs than hugs and kisses, and it's a very nice change of pace. I really can't take credit for anything more than applying the law, but if it gets me a hug and a kiss from a girl who reminds me of Rachel Fiske-Warren, I'll gladly take credit."

He stepped back and held Laci at arm's length and he looked directly at her in a way that was warm and – well, judicious. "From everything I've read, heard, and seen, you are a remarkable young lady. How you held up all those years is very inspiring. You had a hidden talent, and now it's out and ready to be given a life. I hope you chase after your dream with every ounce of passion you have. Maybe someday before I die, there'll be a painting on display at the Museum of Fine Arts signed `Laci,' and I'll be able to say, `I knew the artist.'"

Laci sniffled and chuckled. "I don't know about that, but I do know there's going to be an art festival in a few weeks, and I expect to see you. And I'll have a surprise for you."

Macdonald gave a hearty laugh. "Well, that seals the deal. Wild horses couldn't keep me away." He scowled and took a breath as if he wasn't sure whether he should say what he was about say. "You know, just between you and me," he said confidentially, "this can be a tough job with a more heartache than happiness at times. But then, very occasionally, a case comes up that wipes away all the unpleasant times and restores my faith in both people and the system we have in place to protect kids, one that shows the system can in fact restore some justice to the life of a child. Today is one of those special times, and I'll slip it into a special place inside to remind me of why the work can be so rewarding. Don't shortchange yourself. Now. Go celebrate with your family."

Gail watched them as they walked down the sidewalk toward the parking garage. Laci had her arms wrapped around Karen's arm, and she fairly floated on a cushion of air. Gail shook her head, a wry smile on her face. The whole thing was just... surreal. "Shit," she muttered, looking away. "I need a drink."

It was still early, not quite four, and she had plenty of work waiting for her, but nothing that couldn't wait until Monday. The bar at Papi's would be open. It was an upscale pub with a deck, popular with city hall bureaucrats, executives from the bank processing center, and employees of the local daily newspaper, the Williamston Clarion rather than the attorney crowd. That was perfect. She didn't want to be dragged into a round of the latest courthouse gossip.

Gail wandered through the open door and made her way out to the deck. She chose an empty table at the far end, overlooking one of the canals and the old textile mills it once powered. The water in the canal, diverted from the Amoobejack River, was placid and reflective. A waitress, a young and lovely honey who Gail immediately dismissed as too straight to waste time trying to flirt with, came and took her order, a mint julep.

It wasn't crowded yet, so it took only a couple of minutes for her drink to arrive. She plunked a ten-dollar bill on the serving tray and told the hottie server to keep the change. Whoever the bartender was, she thought, he or she knew how to make a drink. It was only when the bourbon sent its warm glow spreading over her that she allowed herself to ruminate on today's events and all the implications that went with it.

There was no question, it was the most bizarre situation she'd ever been involved in. She was also fully aware that she'd violated both the law, and any number of legal and ethical codes of conduct for attorneys. She'd done it with her eyes wide-open, knowing full well her disbarment proceedings would be a mere formality, and she would probably be looking at jail time if it ever leaked out.

She also knew without the slightest bit of doubt she'd made the morally correct decision, and the outcome was unequivocally the only just result. Maybe it was nothing more than rationalization, but she was convinced that if it weren't for Karen, Laci would almost certainly be getting nailed and knocked up by some slimy dirt bag much older than 18, and The System would write it off as just the way things were in "that world". She'd seen it first-hand a dozen or more times, and unless the girl insisted on prosecution, she'd be lucky if the state even tried to get child support from the so-called father.

Yet because it was a same-sex situation, Karen would most likely end up in prison, and a suicidal Laci would be swallowed up by the foster-care system until she killed herself. That would be a satisfactory outcome in the eyes of the legal system. Gail long ago understood the system was rigged. The frequent fliers, who'd never done an honest day's work and never would, would, unless they were dangerously violent, be endlessly cycled through the system, given fines they had no intention of paying, and probation they would ignore.

Gail shook her head and took a healthy swig of her drink. Not a good idea to dwell on that subject, she thought. It could only piss her off and ruin what should be a wonderful day.

Sometimes the system worked and a kid was rescued, but only if there was a Karen close to hand to pick up the pieces and reassemble them. When there was that someone, the results could be breathtaking. Who knew how many Laci's there were in that squalid world, slowly being worn down until any spark was fully extinguished. Noli illegitimi carborundum? Yeah, right. Show me the way.

Today it worked. Laci was freed into the protective embrace of Karen's arms.

Gail studied her drink before taking a sip. Damn, whoever the bartender was, they knew how to make a real mint julep, and the bourbon was top notch.

What were they doing now? she wondered. Face it, it was something she thought about most days, and it always got her hotter than a two-dollar pistol. She masturbated to fantasies of watching them make love. Holy jumped-up Jesus in a side-car, what I wouldn't pay to watch those two tonight! Karen dripping milk, having something big to celebrate, and good god, that girl's body is enough to drive men and unattached dykes into frenzies. And Karen! Did I fuck up when I let her get away? Oh god, she's the best fuck I've ever had. Ever. Ever.

Their affair had been brief but sizzlingly torrid, almost violent at times. Karen could make love slowly and gently, coaxing pleasures out of Gail she didn't even know existed. But she was just as into raw, grunting, writhing sex. She was the only woman who had ever – ever – made Gail submit to her will, forcing her face into the pillow and making her lift her hips in a frantic search for the magic she worked with her fingers. And god, her orgasms that night were pure explosions, gushing, dripping, sloppy waves of pure ecstasy. Sitting on the deck with her drink, the memory made Gail's mound surge and turn as wet as if she'd pissed herself.

But in the end, they were both Alpha Bitches who had to be the Head Alpha Bitch. There could be no compromise. They'd had wild arguments, both shouting and snarling, unwilling to yield a fraction of an inch. Even if those fights usually ended up with them fucking like the Furies, it was clear their affair could never be more than just that, a super-heated affair. There was a real risk of things turning violent at some point. They had to go their separate ways, and they were both wise enough to realize that before love got involved.

It hurt, badly, there was no use denying that. Nothing was ever the same after Karen. Every weekend it was a different suburban Soccer-mom or MILF sneaking around on her husband. In college and law school, there were the LUGS, lesbians until graduation, straight girls caught up in the misogyny of Women's Study classes who rejected men until they got into the real world.

In the real world, there were the Lesbians-By-Night, otherwise traditional suburban professional women who liked to play around with other women when hubby wasn't looking. Sexually, they could be quite fun and interesting, but they all made it clear they had no intention of leaving their husbands, or giving up the straight life. Nothing worth pursuing there, she mused, just heartache.

Gail took a healthy sip of her drink and turned a pensive gaze on the 150-year-old factory and the canal across the road. It was impossible to miss the sky turning an unhealthy black. Late spring, early summer – it was prime thunderstorm season, and it appeared a juicy one was making up. Fuck it, I'm gonna finish my drink before I go home and feel sorry for myself.

There was no doubting it. She needed a girlfriend, and soon. One who would stick around. One who would thrive in the embrace of an Alpha Bitch, one who would beg to be shown the right way. Gail finished her drink in a gulp, the wave of alcoholic warmth spreading over her in a dizzying splash. She knew someone who would fit the bill perfectly. All that remained was to move in for the kill, lure her in, and then pounce.

Yes, she knew who that someone was, and she knew exactly how she would draw her in. Come Monday, she would make the opening gambit. Now it was time to get back to her downtown condo before the storm broke, and masturbate to dreams of Karen and Laci...

It took great effort for Karen to maintain an outward appearance of calm as she and Laci made their way to the Audi's spot on the third deck of the parking garage. Her brain was a tense, jumbled kaleidoscope, her breathing rapid. She let her excitement come through, but in a controlled way. She had to get them home in one piece.

The parking garage was quiet. In half an hour, the bank processing facility, dozens of legal offices, and all the supporting businesses would start emptying out. For now, the only sound in the garage was the echoing of Laci's excited, cheery chatter, and the tapping of the heels of Karen's sandals.

Having Laci so overflowing with happy excitement brought an intense feeling of relief to Karen. So many of the girl's fear and anxieties had been wiped away, allowing the bright, sweetly energetic girl inside to come bubbling out. For now, she seemed to see a new world full of possibilities stretching ahead of her. Karen was acutely aware that the resolution of the custody only pulled back the curtain on a whole new set of problems to be dealt with. That was for another day, and Karen easily pushed those concerns aside. Right now, her boobs, though leaking, felt full enough to explode, and her recently shaved pussy throbbed and dribbled with a maddening hunger.

Karen couldn't keep up with the excited chatter flowing from Laci like the river over the falls during the spring run-off. It changed subject without warning, connected in a way clear only to her. Karen caught only snippets, references to the judge, the ruling, Gail, Emily and her friends at school, celebrating, shopping for new outfits, the art festival, her art projects, and on and on. Just hearing the rhythm and melody was enough to make her heart throb.

As they made their way through the garage, Karen shifted closer to Laci and slipped her arm around the girls slender, taut waist. Karen was well-versed in what public displays of affection were acceptable, and the list was surprisingly extensive. Laci was at an age where a girl typically had a push-pull relationship with her mother. She could be angrily demanding more trust and freedom one minute, then sweetly loving, tacitly seeking the safety and comfort of her mother's embrace the next.

Almost any embrace that wasn't overtly sexual didn't draw any untoward scrutiny. They could hold hands while walking, wrap an arm around each other's waist or shoulders, or caress each other with tenderness and affection. Kissing was a bit riskier. Other than quick pecks on the cheek or lips, Karen didn't dare risk it. Right now, in the empty parking garage, she was willing to push the margins a bit.

When they neared the car, nestled between a pickup truck and an SUV, Karen unlocked the doors with the fob. She pulled Laci with her between the screen of the high truck. Laci was clearly surprised, and she stopped chattering.

A powerful surge rolled through Karen. She slipped both arms around Laci and cupped her butt, pulling her close so their mounds came together. Laci gasped softly, and her eyes widened. Then a small smile spread across her face telling Karen she trusted her.

Karen quickly scanned the garage. Empty. She couldn't hold it back any longer. She moved her hands up and took Laci's face in them. "That's over," she said in a low, urgent voice. "You belong to me now."

Before Laci could answer, Karen dropped down and pressed her lips against Laci's, pushing her tongue into her lover's receptive mouth. Laci wasn't sure what to do with her hands, and when their tongues united and did a sinuous dance together, she let out a groan.

Karen didn't push it any further. She forced herself to release Laci's lips, lingering long enough to cover her girl's mouth with sweet kisses. She knew what had to happen now, and doing it outside the car would be courting disaster. Almost panting, she said, "You just wait until I get you home. I have a huge surprise for you. Now get in the car."

She gave Laci a final kiss before releasing her. Laci scampered around the other side while Karen, trembling now, tossed her bag on the floor at Laci's feet, squirmed her way behind the wheel and slammed the door shut. Before Laci could think about grabbing her seatbelt, Karen took her by the arm. "Come here," she demanded.

Laci, with the ease of sleek adolescent flexibility, scooted closer and twisted to face her new mother. Karen studied Laci's face. The girl's eyes were wide and lustrous, her cheeks flushed, and her lips parted in anticipation. How was it possible, Karen wondered, that anyone so achingly beautiful could be hers? Laci was, minus the haughty arrogance, super model beautiful. "Today is one of the best days of my entire life. How did I ever deserve you?"

When she dove on Laci this time, and there was nothing tentative about it. They both let out groans as their mouths wrestled in one frantic, probing kiss after another. Laci's voice was an urgent whimper. "Karen! Karen! You're making me crazy! My kitty is crazy! Be strict with me, please make me do what you want."

"You don't have to worry about that baby girl, oh no you don't." There was no time to play around. It wasn't nearly as awkward as she expected. She had no trouble thrusting her hand under Laci's dress to cup her smooth sex. Laci had pleaded for them to shave just last week. It was super sexy, she'd said, plus she'd been getting pubes stuck on her tongue, and that drove her nuts. Karen didn't argue. It was an idea she fully embraced.

Karen nestled her finger between the wet slit of Laci's sex and stroked it up and down, before working her finger inside the girl's hot, tight, juicy honey pot. Laci was clearly surprised, even shocked. She gasped and quivered, and her eyes grew wide and amazed, as if saying Ohmygod-I-can't-believe-what-you're-doing.

Karen yanked her lover into an embrace with her free arm while she stroked and fucked her pussy with her other hand – in deep to probe, squishing, releasing nectar, then out for a ride up the sleeve and over her tender bud. Laci wrapped her arms around Karen and rose onto her knees.

"Ssshhh," Karen whispered in her ear. "It has to be fast. Remember the day at the mall."

Laci clenched her pelvic muscles around Karen's finger. She buried her face in the crook of Karen's neck and nodded quickly. "Yes," she whispered hoarsely. "Just please don't stop, fuck me."

"Yes, baby girl, I'm fucking you, your hot little treasure, this is only a taste baby, I promise, oh yes, I have big plans for you." Karen squeezed and stroked and probed as she spoke, her hand moving with authority, faster and faster.

Oh, god, I can't believe what I'm doing, but I'm not stopping, I can't, oh she is so tight and wet, and yes I'm bringing her there!

She drew her fingers out of Laci's overheated vagina and drew them firmly up the girl's labial channel, bringing a thick gob of pussy honey with her. She reached the apex and quickly, firmly opened Laci's bud and found her swollen clit.

Laci stiffened and whined and pressed her face tighter against the curve of Karen's neck and shoulder. Karen arched her head back, lost in her own special ecstasy. She rolled Laci's clit with the pads of her fingers, using a firm, almost rough touch. Oh, how she gloried at the feel of her lover's taut little bud rolling under her fingers!

Karen stroked, rolled, and rubbed faster, her touch firmer. Laci clamped her arms around Karen's neck and tried to stifle her cries by welding her face to bend of Karen's saliva slicked shoulder. Karen brought her higher, her fingers never stopping their dance. Laci's body instinctively sought Karen's hand, and she was in danger of getting tangled in the console. "Karen!" she gasped. "Oh fuck! Karen! Oh Jesus!"

Karen had her lover close to the breaking point. She'd kept one ear open just in case, and now she heard the faintly echoing clock-clock-clock-clock of a woman's heels tapping the garage floor in a purposeful stride. Karen's brain quickly assessed the potential for trouble. The intruder was still some ways off. No, she couldn't leave Laci hanging here, she was so, so close.

Karen rubbed and fucked Laci with four fingers, fast and rough. "Cum for me," Karen growled.

Laci rose, her body tensing, clenching, while her hands tapped out a furious drum beat on Karen's back. She was straining, whining, going ever higher. With a cry muffled against Karen's neck, she released. Her pelvis, quivering, opened as a sharp wave pulsed through her. "Oh god!" she whimpered. Her body immediately tensed again and she soared up, up, holding her breath and struggling.

Again, she released with a stifled growl as a great shudder rolling through her.

Clock-clock-clock. The intruder was much closer now. It was only the wall created by the pickup and SUV that kept the intruder from being visible. Shit! If she belongs to either of these vehicles, we are totally fucked!

Laci was panting, gasping and holding on. Karen quickly pulled her hand from Laci's pants, leaving her lover's sopping wet sex not fully satisfied. "Someone's coming," Karen said in a low, calm, but commanding voice.

Laci, despite having more to offer, reluctantly released her vise grip on Karen, and whimpering, fumbled on her knees until she collapsed in the seat, looking dazed and panting and gasping.

Karen brought her glistening fingers to her mouth and greedily licked her baby's nectar from them. I can't believe I just did that, but oh fuck it was glorious, oh yes, yes it was. She wriggled her butt back into her place behind the wheel, sighed and straightened herself, pushing her hair back. She was flushed and sweaty, her heart racing in her chest. Her breasts were leaking milk in a steady drizzle, soaking through the pads and sopping her heavy bra. They felt like overripe watermelons about to burst.

Get your act together, she thought.

Laci lay back, her head lolled over, eyes closed, her cheeks flushed red and a long strand of sweat soaked hair pasted to her cheek. The intruder was right behind them now, her heels tapping a steady rhythm until she flashed passed in no more than four steps. The clock-clock-clock faded quickly.

Karen let out a relieved sigh. Laci broke into a languid smile, and she rolled her head to look at Karen. "Karen, sometimes I just don't believe you," she murmured. "You're amazing!"

Karen stretched over to retrieve her purse from the floor at Laci's feet. She pawed through it and pulled out her e-cigarette. This was one of those moments when she wished for a real cigarette. She smiled at her lover. "I hope I didn't take everything."

Laci's smile turned impish. "Not hardly! There's plenty more still in me."

Karen drew on her vape wand. "Be careful what you wish for," she said with her own devilish smile. They both buckled in and Karen started the car. After a pause, the stereo, tuned to her favorite classical station, came on. It was halfway through "Les Toreadors" from Bizet's "Carmen." It was surprisingly fitting she thought with a fresh smile.

"That was close," Karen said, slipping on her sunglasses. "It's not something we can do very often -- we don't need to be tempting fate." She twisted to look over her shoulder as she backed out. "But today's special, and goddamn, it was worth it."

Laci giggled and she let her head roll back against the seat. "You'll probably never stop surprising me. I did not expect that. And it, like, was just enough to get me all crazy inside." And it was true. Her body still hummed and throbbed with hunger, making her restless.

"I like it when you're all crazy inside, it makes for very interesting times." Karen eased the car into traffic, her smile subtly naughty. "You make me just as crazy inside. You are the hottest, sexiest, most beautiful human being I have ever known."

Laci reached over and took the e-cigarette from Karen and took a full draw.

"What are you doing?" Karen scowled without annoyance.

"Just taking a hit, like Gail does. It's not like I smoke anymore. The older kids at school are all into vaping, and it freaks out the teachers and stuff."

Karen just shook her head. "Old habits die hard."

Laci, her eyes still languid with arousal, just looked at Karen and drank her in. Holy fuck, she is like the hottest, sexiest woman I ever saw, and I belong to her! She has me all wild inside! I am sooo hot, my muffin is throbbing and leaking, and I only had two cums, I coulda had like a half a dozen, except I'da been screeching at the end, and wasn't that just so incredibly unbelievable? Laci let her hand sneak between her legs so she could discreetly caress herself.

She's just as hot, I can tell. She's just as turned on about whatever the surprise is as I am, and I wonder just what it could be? I hope she's strict with me tonight, makes me do whatever she wants. I must be sick or something, but I would get off if she acted like my mother and was strict with me, maybe even spanked me, god I hope it's not sick to even think about something like that. Just hard slaps on my butt. Look at her, she's acting so cool, but I know she's crazy inside, I can see it, and I know how to make her crazy, I know what does it, and I'm gonna make her go crazy inside.

Laci's silent smile was impish. She was still caressing herself, even as Karen drove through town. She swayed her knees back and forth, and vaguely wondered if any of the people they passed had any clue what she was doing.

Karen glanced at her, and they exchanged knowing smiles. Karen squeezed her thigh up high. "You're being very naughty, you know," Karen's voice was low and smoky. "I want you to save that for me, I'm hungry."

Laci giggled and said, "You don't hafta worry, I'm only keeping things warm for you." She stretched, arching her back so her pelvis thrust forward.

Karen gasped ever so slightly. She patted Laci's thigh. "Just be careful, remember where we are. We don't need some dump truck pulling up next to us and the driver getting a free show."

Laci smiled, puckered her lips, and sent an air kiss Karen's way. "Prob'ly blow his mind."

"And something else, too."

"Ha!" Laci snorted. "Listen to you! But yeah, guys are so easy to make happy." She sighed and removed her hand. On impulse, she reached over and wiggled her fingers under Karen's nose. "Smell my perfume?"

"Oh, you frigging little minx! I ought to spank you!"

"I bet you wouldn't even dare," Laci said while her brain jolted. Holy moly! Did she read my mind or something? Ohmygod! It's real! She can tell my thoughts, and only two people who are deep in love can read each other's minds. Of course, she's my mother now, not my real mother, it's not like Amy and me are sisters or anything, but she's my mother now, so she should be able to tell what I'm thinking.

"You want to bet?" Karen said, squirming noticeably while gripping the steering wheel tighter.

Laci stuck her tongue out and gave Karen a raspberry. She retrieved her purse and fished out her makeup compact. She flipped it open and inspected her cheeks. She watched Karen out of the corner of her eye as she made a show of fixing her makeup. It had the desired effect.

Karen kept looking between the road and Laci. "What are you doing?" she demanded in a strained voice.

"What d'you mean?" Laci said with sweet innocence. She snapped the cover of the compact closed and swapped it for a bottle of vanilla-flavored lip gloss.

"Primping and preening like that."

Laci brought the gloss wand to her lips. "What do you mean, `primping and preening'? I'm just making sure I'm sexy for you. I like being sexy for you. It matters to me that you think I'm beautiful and hot."

"Holy guacamole, do you think you need to do anything besides exist to accomplish that? You're doing it to drive me abso-fucking-lutely nuts."

Laci gave her head a saucy flip and yet again offered up her all-purpose non-answer: she stuck her tongue out and raspberried.

Karen, simply shook her head. "We need to get home."

It would have been the perfect day for a convertible, Karen thought as she eased the car to a stop in front of the garage doors. Something low and sleek like a black Jag. They'd turn heads, because face it, she was a damned good looking woman, and with Laci by her side... the image only added to her heat.

She turned to Laci and pulled her over. She paused to inspect the girl's expectant face up close. "Finally, we don't have to worry about getting caught." She dipped in and their lips touched in soft kisses, tongues lightly sparring. Each kiss grew firmer, more urgent than the last, until they came together hard, moaning softly and dancing their tongues.

It would be easy to get lost in making love with Laci's sweet mouth, but Karen finally pulled back, letting her lips linger. "Good god," she sighed. "OK, we need to get our butts inside."

"Karen!" Laci said, her voice tinged with a whimper. "I want you to have your way with me. I want you to be strict with me. Please!"

A fresh wave of heat surged through Karen at Laci's plea. She fumbled for the car door. "You don't have to worry about that, baby girl. Grab my bag," she added.

Once out, Karen locked the car while Laci hurried around, carrying their bags. Karen started up the fieldstone walkway to the main entrance as quickly as she could in heels. She could feel nectar dribbling down her inner thigh.

Holy shit, I'm on fucking fire! she thought as she fumbled to unlock the door and disarm the security system. My girl is singing a goddamn aria. I need to get a grip, this isn't about me, it's about her. She paused and took a deep breath.

Laci wrapped her arms around Karen's waist from behind, and her voice soft but urgent, said, "I'm just about crazy and it's all your fault."

Karen fumbled with the lock and finally got the door open. "Is that so?" she said, and she yanked Laci lover into house. "You just wait, I'll show you crazy."

They discarded their bags in the entryway at the same time, and Karen kicked off her shoes, sending them zinging across the floor. Her entire body screamed like a motor at the red line. She again fumbled to arm the security system. Laci was impatient, stroking her lithe body against Karen while she made groaning noises.

At last, Karen spun around and dove on her lover. Their tongues came together like a highway collision. They groped and whined, mouths clashing again and again. Karen's body felt ready to burst. The saturated pads lining her bra barely contained the flow of milk.

She grabbed Laci's arm and pulled her into the living room. She spun Laci around, and she wasn't gentle. "Get your fucking skirt off. Now!"

There was no resisting that low, growling, almost menacing demand. Fumbling Laci tried to squirm out of her skirt, bringing her sopping panties along, but before she could kick them off, Karen roughly pushed her back on the leather easy chair. Karen was like a lioness sizing up her prey, her eyes glowing like burning coals, her nostrils flared and quivering, and seeing her – feeling* her – like this sent an enormous, hot pang pulsing over Laci. Her already swollen sex opened like a blossoming rose, and a gush of nectar dripped out and trickled onto the soft leather fabric of the chair.

She mewled like a starving kitten. The heat surging through her became almost unbearable. Karen pounced, plunging down. Their mouths came together in a head-on crash, tongues like two sharks clashing over a meal. They mauled each other's mouths, tongues frantically rolling, probing, dancing.

Laci plunged her hands into Karen's hair and held her close so she could use her tongue to wrestle with her lover's. Gasping, her hips gyrating in search of Karen's touch, she moaned, "Oh Karen! Fuck me! Make me cum! Pleeeease!"

Karen, her knees pressed on the edge of the chair and straddling her teen lover, grabbed the bottom of Laci's top and yanked it up. "Get this useless fucking top off!" she demanded as she pulled it up over Laci's head, her bra, snared in the move, coming with it. Laci raised her arms and wriggled her shoulders as Karen yanked and tugged at the stubborn garment. At last it came free and Karen discarded it over her shoulder in a single move. Laci's mass of hair fell back like the cascade of a waterfall. Naked at last, her breasts were now like ripe grapefruits beckoning. Karen fell on Laci again, their mouths again doing a frantic dance, and her hands found Laci's breasts. She squeezed and massaged them, tweaking and rolling the girl's erect nipples.

Laci squealed at the sensation. "Kaaaarrrrennnn! You're making me crazy! Fuck me and make me cum!"

Karen panting, her eyes blazing, growled hoarsely, "Just you wait, you little wench! You'll have all the cums you can handle!"

Never letting her mesmerizing glare waver, Karen rose just enough to wriggle out of her own skirt and panties. She kicked them spinning across the polished hardwood floor. She dropped down for a fresh assault on her lover's mouth. Karen let Laci suckle her tongue before she jabbed it deep into the girl's mouth. When she pulled back, her eyes fiery and irresistible, she growled, "Take my blouse off!"

Laci's brain surged and roiled, and coherent thought was hard to grasp. She knew Karen's demand had something to do with the promised surprise, but her humming neurons were too overloaded to make the necessary connections yet. She instinctively fumbled with the buttons. Oh, why can't I get them undone! cut through the roaring fog in her head.

Karen patiently hovered over her, breathing hard and not looking away from her daughter-lover. Laci's fingers managed to get the last button undone and Karen's blouse opened. She shrugged the shirt off, and sent it sliding off in search of her discarded skirt.

Surely the surprise Karen had for Laci was no longer a surprise. Her bra was soaked with milk, and her cleavage glistened like a rain-slicked road. Still, her increasingly frantic whining and uncooperative fingers pawing the clasps of Karen's bra were the only indications that it had actually registered in Laci's mind.

Karen had to fight the urge to brush Laci's fumbling fingers aside and unhook the bra herself. Laci glanced up with a look of desperation on her face. Then, success!

Karen's bra fell open, and the nursing pads, saturated to the point of dripping, immediately fell away and dropped to the floor with wet plop. A warm gushing surge boiled over her as the corks over her nipples were freed and the pressure released. She could feel the milk squirt out of both breasts, ropes spanning the chasm between her erect nipples and Laci's stunned face.

A tremulous, squealing cry of "Kaaaaarennnnn! OhmyGod, Kaaaaarrrennnn!" burst from Laci and her hands flailed in shock.

Laci was not prepared for Karen actually making baby milk, especially today. Even when Karen's breasts grew much larger and firmer, she hardly dared believe it would really happen. Even if it did it always seemed like it would happen in a nebulous "someday."

It shocked her when she unbuttoned Karen's blouse and saw how wet everything was. It took several seconds for her to consciously grasp what it meant. She started to feel warm and dizzy inside, and her hands started to shake as she pawed at the front clasps of Karen's bra. Her fingers didn't want to work, but she finally got the clasps unhooked and when she did...

Karen's fully erect nipples instantly released a stream of milk which splatted on Laci's stunned face. Her entire being seemed to convulse. It wasn't exactly an orgasm, or even wholly sexual, but something even more elemental. It rose from some primitive part of herself, a great tidal wave of heat and dizziness, and it seemed as if she would pass out.

As if from afar, she heard herself cry out Karen's name in a keening wail, and felt the warm milk stream into her mouth. It was only when Karen firmly gripped her by the hair and commanded her to open her mouth that the hot inner tidal wave broke and crashed, and she began to return to something resembling conscious awareness.

Her muffin seemed swollen to three times normal, and the hot tension reached deep inside. It felt as if her sex would shatter into hundreds of pieces like a broken pane of glass. She instinctively opened her mouth to capture the stream of milk Karen directed at her. Her hands flailed as if she were drowning and trying to get her head above water. Her swallow reflex tried to work. Gasping, milk sprayed out of her mouth.

Karen's firm voice and steady grip helped her get a measure of control. "Drink baby, drink from me, drink mummy's milk."

Laci sought Karen's nipple with her mouth, and her hands finally found Karen's breast. Still spraying milk from her mouth as it streamed in, she at last reached the engorged nipple, and drew it into her mouth, suckling frantically.

The elixir was warm, sweetish, and creamy, and tasting it, feeling it ripple down her throat, sent a fresh surge of dizzying warmth over her, and this time it was far more sexual than the initial wave. Her muffin tingled and throbbed, and her hips rolled up and down in a search for relief. She moaned deep in her throat, the sound interrupted by each swallow of the precious potion.

Hardly realizing it, she let a hand move from Karen's breast Karen's breast to her muffin, and she began madly rubbing. Almost immediately, Karen released Laci's hair so she could prop herself on the arm of the chair, and she sent her hand down to nudge Laci's aside. "Let me do that, baby girl," she cooed.

Karen cupped Laci's mound and squeezed before sending her fingers to explore the girl's overheated sex. Nectar was already flowing from Laci's sweet honey pot when Karen started stroking and massaging the intricate sleeve between the girl's clit and her introitus. Within seconds, Laci's sex overflowed with milky white juice, and she hitched and gasped.

Karen toyed with the folds and fissures, and it was almost more than the girl could handle. She whimpered and cried but did not release Karen's nipple from the firm hold of her mouth. Karen slipped her middle finger into Laci's hungry cunt and slurped it around as she penetrated deep inside. She used the heel of her hand to massage Laci's clit while she sloshed and probed with her finger.

Karen's firm touch set off Laci's first real orgasm. It burst over her like a booming, rolling thunderclap echoing through the hills. This time she did release Karen's nipple as she squealed out. Milk flowed from Karen's breast nub onto Laci's face. Laci's toes scrunched and she bounced madly, and in the process started to slide down into the chair.

Karen chuckled. "I guess you like me fucking you, don't you?" Karen purred. "Your little kitty is sooo wet, listen to my finger squish, oh yes, cum for me baby, I looovvve making my baby girl cum."

Who knows how long the orgasms would have lasted had Karen not slowed to a stop. "Come baby," she said, chuckling again. "You're about to slide right out of the chair. We need to get you situated, and I need to be in a better position."

Laci whimpered and panted, her glassy eyes still showed unsated hunger. "Karen! Karen! Mummy Karen."

"Ssshhh, baby girl. Can you slide yourself down so your bum is on the edge of the chair and your feet are on the floor?"

Laci pushed a shaky hand through her hair. "I think so," whimpered. "Oh Karen! Is it real? It's not a dream, is it?"

"No baby girl, it's very real, and from now on it won't be pretend anymore. I'll be able to feed you my real milk all the time." She cupped Laci's face in her hands and dipped down to gently, tenderly kiss her baby's cheeks, then her lips before darting her tongue in for a quick jaunt.

"Karen," Laci whimpered into her mother-lover's mouth. "I-I can't believe it r-really happened! You really are my Mummy now!"

"I am, I most certainly am. Happy birthday, my precious kitten."

Laci's face was flushed bright red and damp with sweat. Strands of her hair lay pasted to her forehead. Karen dropped from her awkward position hovering over Laci in the chair to her knees. She grasped Laci's legs behind her knees and said, "Come, slide down kitten, get your bum to the edge so I can make love to you. Your muffin must be on fire."

"It is," Laci panted, wriggling and sliding into her new position. "It's on fire all the way inside, like a furnace or something. You've got me crazier than ever before."

Karen chuckled. "That's good," she smiled as she pulled on Laci's legs. "There, right to the edge."

Laci's head was propped on the back cushion, her back on the seat cushion. "Do you want my feet on the floor or up?"

"Whatever's best for you. Are you comfortable."

"Yes. I think I want my legs back so my muffin is wide open so you can fuck me. I need you to fuck me hard, please Karen." Laci grabbed her legs at her knees and pulled back, finally resting her feet on the arms of the chair. Her flexible young legs held her securely enough that she could prop herself on her elbows to watch. Seeing Karen making love to her was its own special kind of crazy, and her sex tensed even more.

"You don't have to worry, kitten. You'll get exactly what you want," Karen teased playfully. "But. I have to get you ready first."

"Whadda ya mean?" she groaned. "You already got me stupid crazy."

"You'll see soon enough. We can't rush these things."

Karen turned her attention to Laci's opened treasure chest, and it was the most magnificent thing imaginable. She glittered like a crystal chandelier. She was indeed quite swollen, from her puffy clit bud to her introitus, itself open and receptive.

Everything was on display for Karen. The intricate mosaic of cracks and fissures, flaps and nibs, nooks and crannies; the convoluted sluiceway from her clit to her swollen, exposed entrance; even the shallow trough between her inner labia and her puffy ridges, all of it was coated in a thick, opaline layer of honey, a viscous stream running down the sleeve of her sex to mingle with the vagina's own flow.

How on earth could Karen resist anything so indescribably scrumptious? "Oh my," she said, and firmly patted Laci's shimmering mound. Laci, already squirming, jumped and cried out.

Now Karen moved her fingers down to rub and probe Laci's cunt. "So beautiful," she purred. "And look how fucking wet! Oh yes my sweet baby, you are soaked, your little muffin's boiling over, listen to my fingers squish." She worked her fingers down as she spoke, and they slid into Laci pussy as if on skates.

Laci strained and let out a high-pitched hum, her hips bouncing wildly. She let out her breath in a gusty, "Ooooohhhhhh Karen! Stop teasing me! Fuck meeeeeee!"

"Oooh yeah, listen to my fingers slurp in your hot little honey pot." Karen wriggled her fingers around, and in mere seconds, Laci's sex was a frothy mess of thick ambrosia. Laci groaned and kicked her feet. Droplets of milk gathered and fell from Karen's nipples onto the floor.

Karen slapped Laci clit with her free hand and Laci stiffened and gasped. "Karrrennnn, oh shit," she groaned as the shocks of the slaps broadcast out from her bud over her body.

When Karen pulled her fingers out of Laci's honey pot, she slathered the accumulation of muffin butter up the sleeve of her lover's sex, paying special attention to her tumescent clit. Even with her legs splayed wide and her feet waving in the air, Laci could lift her mound up as if trying to catch Karen's probing fingers.

"Look at you overflowing and dripping all over the place, oh yeah, your hot little kitty looks soooo yummy, I bet you'd taste even better with some milk, hmmm?" Karen shuffled closer and temporarily abandoned Laci's juicy muffin. She aimed a nipple at Laci's pussy and all it took was a light squeeze to send a fresh stream of milk splattering on the girl's tender mound. It pushed Laci ever closer to the edge.

Karen sprayed milk on Laci's mons, in the creases where thigh met body, and over the full length and breadth of her muffin. She used one hand to aim and squeeze, the other to fully open Laci and saturate her, all while making cooing noises. Cream ran down from the rise of the Laci's mound following the natural channels, around her introitus and all the way to her anal rosebud. Karen smeared all of it around, stirred it into her pussy, mixing it all into a delectable soup.

Laci could feel herself losing control. Little orgasmic pulses, which only increased the swelling pressure, jabbed through her. She squirmed and twisted, rose up on her elbows, and dropped back. She strained to hold everything back. She didn't want the way she was feeling to end so soon; it was just too glorious to give up yet.

Laci's labyrinthine sex was breathtaking to Karen in ordinary times. Now, glistening like the crown jewels, it had taken on a sublime beauty. "Oooh, would you look at that," Karen cooed. "I need to see what we taste like mixed together."

Legs still splayed wide, Laci thumped her ankles on Karen's back and lifted her chalice in offering. "Ohhhh Karen! Mummy-Karen!" she pleaded.

Karen pushed her face into Laci's fully exposed muffin and slowly lapped the flat of her tongue up, gathering the soupy brew into her mouth. The tangy, vague umami of her pussy nectar, combined with the subtle brackishness of sweat, and a faint hint of pee blended with the creamy sweet flavor of Karen's milk to stir up an intoxicating cocktail. Karen swished it around her mouth like a sommelier sampling a vintage wine. "Mmmm," Karen purred. "You're so juicy it's hard to tell where I end and you begin."

Karen milked her other breast, sending a fresh spray over her baby's sex to replenish the soupy brew. She dove in again, slurping up a fresh mouthful. She again swished it around, mixing it with her saliva, but rather than drink it, she hovered above Laci's exposed clit and carefully pushed a globule of the elixir passed her lips. A thick strand slowly oozed down and spilled out around Laci's clit, and it dribbled down to the seething stew pot of her sex. Karen pushed her fingers back into Laci's slippery vessel to stir everything together.

Karen exposed Laci's clit from above, dancing her fingers to coax the delicate pearl out, and with her wet hand squeezed a fresh spray of milk onto the precious jewel. "Ohhhh, look at that!" Karen purred. "I see a hot little clitty wanting a little love, hmmmm?" She gave the apex of Laci's sex several firm taps with the flats of her fingers.

Laci cried out and stiffened at the electric shocks the slaps sent sizzling through her. She rose on her elbows and with her teeth clenched, she let out a growl. "Oh fuck!" she panted through her teeth. "Karen! Oh god, you're making me fucking crazy!"

Karen smiled sweetly from her position in front of Laci's glittering, simmering sex. She pressed her middle finger on Laci's clitty and rolled it around and around, drawing a fresh growl from her lover. "Want me to stop?" she teased. Now she framed Laci's nub with her index and ring fingers, and glided her middle finger up and down the squishy wet sleeve, pausing at the apex of each stroke to tap and rub the hypersensitive pearl.

"Don't you dare stop!" Laci cried out in genuine anguish.

Karen, her gaze steady on Laci's face, drinking in the girl's reactions to her dancing fingers, chuckled. "I wouldn't do that, baby. I love making you cum, there is absolutely nothing that gets me as crazy as making you cum." Now she was using the flats of all four fingers to massage Laci's entire sex, slathering the syrupy nectar all over the girl's mound.

Laci flopped back on the chair and moaned as she writhed, and her restless hands sought something to do. "You must be fucking insane then," she gasped. "Cause you're making me cum like fricken mad!"

"Ooo, listen to the potty mouth! Fuck this, fuck that, what's next, `fuck my cunt'? Such a naughty girl. Fifty hundred lashes with a wet tongue!" Karen punctuated each of the last three words with a light but firm slap of her hand, making Laci squeal. "But before I do, I think kitty is thirsty for some more milk."

"Yes!" Laci gasped. She rose back up on one elbow to watch. Her bent and spread legs cantilevered out so her feet hovered unsupported in the air.

Karen straightened and brought her wet fingers to her mouth. She sucked each one into her mouth and cleaned it with her tongue. "Mmmm, you taste so good," she crooned.

Karen's teasing explorations sent Laci's passion soaring like an old hand-turned siren approaching the upper register of its cry. She was growing frantic inside, the tension inside her pelvis becoming almost unbearable. She mewled and gasped, her legs wig-wagging aimlessly.

Karen used both hands to aim and squeeze her breast, sending a fresh stream of milk onto Laci's mons. It sprayed up over her tummy, and ran in rivulets down over the face of her pussy and the crease of her thigh. "There you go, kitty," Karen purred. "Drink Mummy's milk." She directed the next stream right at Laci's red hot clit sleeve, funneling a river of white milk cascading down the intricate pathway of her slit.

Laci, still propped on one elbow, used her free hand to grope for her sex and begin frantically masturbating. Karen seemed amused by Laci's feverish rubbing. She sent stream after stream of milk squirting out until Laci's tummy, hand, thighs, and sex glistened like a rain slicked highway. She paid special attention to the bullseye where Laci's fingers did their frenetic dance. Laci grunted and groaned, and in no time, she had herself churned up like a gooey, frothy milkshake.

Karen released her breast so it could refill. She took up her other milk-laden breast and squeezed, sending a fresh gush arcing up to splatter on Laci's face. Laci instinctively opened her mouth to capture the liquid sustenance squirting up from her mother-lover's breast. She gurgled and spluttered, gulped and swallowed, her fingers never stopping their mad dance.

Karen sent her milk arcing indiscriminately. It sprayed Laci's face, in her hair, under her chin, and on her throat and neck. The unbridled wantonness of what they were doing sent delicious thrills rippling over Karen. Oooh I am turning into such a kinky fucking bitch, aren't I, and I love it, oh yes I do, Oh fuck! I need to have my baby right now!

Karen's insides thrummed feverishly. She dropped down close to Laci's flushed face, close enough to lap her tongue around Laci's mouth and taste the milk. Laci's eyes pleaded with Karen's, and her whimpers bespoke the storm raging inside her overheated young body.

Karen firmly took Laci's frantically masturbating hand in her own. "Your little kitty belongs to me," Karen murmured, "and it's time for your ninety-eleven lashes with my wet tongue."

"Oh Karen!" Laci wailed. "I love you! Make me cum some more! I need to cum some more!" Her fevered mind had reached a state where coherent thought was replaced by roiling, kaleidoscopic images and colors skimming along a steady river of elemental pleasure punctuated by orgasmic surges and spasms. The tension in her midriff was unrelenting, even growing.

Karen kissed her away around Laci's mouth, sucking in her lower lip and letting it pull free. She made her way down Laci's torso, lapping up the droplets of milk, and pausing at the girl's breasts to take each nipple between her teeth and give it a tug. She traced her lips lightly over the taut, creamy skin of Laci's midsection as she moved down, stabbing her tongue into the girl's belly button. It might be sexy if she had a ring here, popped into Karen's head.

She ran the flat of her tongue over the depression of Laci's tummy, then strolled it up the rise of her baby's mound. She held Laci's hand between them, away from her throbbing sex, making her writhe and whimper madly. It was only when she was back where she started from, facing Laci's wide open pussy that she let it go. She straightened and pushed back her hair. "Come baby," she murmured. "Push back a little so you don't fall off, your butt's hanging in the breeze."

Panting, Laci dropped her feet to the floor and used her elbows to help back herself back onto firmer ground. Situated, she immediately pulled her legs back.

"That's it baby, and oh your precious muffin is so fucking beautiful!" And indeed, it was a sight that yet again sent a fresh and powerful surge through Karen. Her baby-girl's vulva, the intricate vestibule framed by the heart-shaped, darker ridges of the outer labia, glistened like a pink sapphire, irresistibly beckoning Karen.

Karen breathed in the fragrance of Laci's potent arousal, and it was as inviting as the aroma of a simmering stew on a frigid winter's evening. She anointed Laci's opened labia with a final spray of milk before using her fingers to squish and slather the accumulated nectar around. Laci, tensed up in anticipation like a sprinter in the starting block, let out a howl of ecstasy.

At last, Karen, tongue leading the charge, pounced on Laci's overheated crown jewel. She clamped her mouth on her baby girl's sex and sucked her clit in and held it so her tongue could begin its probing explorations. She poked and probed the swollen, tender bud with her tongue, then did a rat-a-tat dance before pulling back and letting her lover plop free of her mouth.

Laci squealed and arched her back, lifting her mound in a desperate chase after Karen's mouth. She plunged her hands into Karen hair and pulled her back, and pressed her heels on Karen's back for more leverage as she pushed her hips up. "Ooooohhhhhh sit!" she cried out. "Fuck me Karen! Fuckmefuckmefuckmmmeeeee!"

It took some effort for Karen to keep from being smothered by Laci's frantic efforts to meld her pussy to her face, but she could send her tongue on a jaunt around her lover's perineal triangle. She nuzzled and stroked every bump and fissure she found with her tongue, lapping in the nectar released by the glands nestled therein. She slurped her way back to Laci's clit nest and did a long, staccato dance on it with the tip of her stiffened tongue.

Karen framed Laci's sex with her hands so she could use her thumbs to knead the tender area between her baby's clit and vagina, sending the girl soaring into fresh ecstasies. Laci writhed and bounced, mewling urgently, her hands tightening their grip on Karen's hair. Karen drank up the cocktail of nectar, milk, and saliva, savored it, swished it around her mouth before swallowing.

She kissed Laci's swollen bud, sucking it lightly between her puckered lips, then darted in with her tongue when it slipped away. Laci held her breath and let it out in a gust again and again, and Karen could feel little orgasmic ripples tremble through the girl's pelvic muscles.

When Karen cast her gaze up, she saw Laci's eyes were scrunched shut and her face contorted in a grimace. She knew where her precious baby was inside, and she knew she had to be careful. Laci was close, oh so close to going over the edge, and Karen wasn't done with her yet, no, not yet.

She nibbled and suckled the intricate flaps of Laci's inner labia before backing away for just a few seconds. Laci gasped in protest, but Karen needed to reposition herself. Besides her knees inexorably slipping back on the hardwood floor, she wanted to come in a little to the side so it wouldn't be quite so awkward for her hands.

Able to get a good look at Laci, Karen knew immediately her instincts were right. She was going to have to masturbate, because her baby was going to be spent. There was no use pouting about it. Today was Laci's day, a new birthday in a sense, and it was not a day for long, slow lovemaking. The emotions involved were far too powerful for that. It could only be hard and intense, nothing else would do, and it was time to finish giving her exquisite baby her birthday gift.

Laci grunted with each panted breath. "Karen! Please! I'm-I'm going nuts!" she pleaded.

Karen chuckled and her eyes twinkled playfully. "You do seem a bit worked up. Don't worry, my baby, I know just what you need, mummy-Karen will take good care of you."

In a single fluid motion, Karen hooked her arm over the top of Laci's thigh so she could open her clit from above, and lowered her mouth back to the delectable feast of the girl's trembling sex. She began nudging and circling Laci's clit with her tongue as soon as her lips came to rest on the girl's mound. Laci stiffened and let out a gusty "Ohhhh god! damn!"

Karen moved close and tickled her fingers around the goopy introitus. Without fanfare, she corkscrewed two fingers deep inside Laci's exquisitely tight, churning vagina and started her explorations for all her baby girl's magic spots. As soon as she entered, Laci's sex released a gush of nectar, streaming down Karen's fingers, over her palm, and around her wrist.

Laci let loose a long, low, strained whine, and she once again buried her hands in Karen thick, soft hair.

It took a few seconds for Karen to find the rhythm and choreograph the complex dance of massaging Laci's clit from above with one hand, while probing the bud with her tongue, and fucking her soupy pussy with her other hand. A stray thought rose and made Karen chuckle, a sound that was lost amidst the coos and murmurs of her delight as she suckled and probed her baby's clit. As a child, it had been a source of some amazement in her friends that she alone among them could pat her head and rub her tummy at the same time. Maybe it wasn't such a novelty skill after all.

Once she found her rhythm, she carried Laci up and up. She worked her fingers deeper, keeping Laci's sex a squishy, slurpy, frothy mess as she searched for the magic spot. At last, the pads of her fingers found the firm node that told her she was directly behind Laci's clit. She shifted a bit, and though the mechanics were awkward, she was finally able to do what she wanted to do.

She was just able to nudge the ball of her thumb against the base of Laci's clit while squeezing and rubbing from inside, massaging from above with the other hand, and vibrating her tongue over, across, and around the girl's ruby-and-pearl jewel. It wasn't something she could keep up for long, but then she didn't need to. All the discrete parts of Laci's passion roared to a convergence as intense as the Ode to Joy climax. Everything came together and the volcano erupted when Karen firmly massaged Laci's clit from behind.

Laci let out a sharp gasp, and she thrust herself up onto her elbows and looked at Karen with wild, astonished eyes. Her feet did a double time march on the floor. She flopped back on the chair and her body went rigid, her back arching as if she were having a seizure. Her hands balled into fists, and her pelvic muscles squeezed around Karen's churning, probing fingers. Her entire body quivered and quaked until it seemed she would shatter.

Karen pressed down with her tongue as hard as she could on the swollen button and gave it a few swirls. That was enough to breach the dam. Laci let out a long, keening wail and her body crumpled back onto the chair. A gush of hot nectar poured from her, running down Karen's wrist and dripping onto the floor. Laci's muscles tremored and undulated like the ground in an earthquake, but Karen didn't stop. She gave up trying to nudge the base of Laci's clit and massage the top, concentrating on stroking it from behind while suckling and nursing Laci's mound with her hungry mouth. It was more than enough.

Almost in slow motion, Karen brought Laci up again, higher and higher, the girl sobbing as the tension in her body ratcheted up again. A steady flow of nectar squished out around Karen's probing fingers until there was a small puddle on the floor and the chair's upholstery was stained with wet streaks.

Karen lifted her head enough to purr, "One more baby girl, give me one more big cum, give mummy Karen one more big cum."

"Yes-yes-yes-yes-yes!" Laci babbled as she bounced and writhed.

Laci's cries dissolved into ever more frantic, incoherent gasps and grunts. She thrust her mound up, and her hands clawed at the seat cushion. Karen had her face welded to Laci's sex, and she devoured her exquisite lover. She made muffled grunting sounds as she feasted, "Mmmmpphhhhh, mmmm, mmmfffrrr." She didn't have to think about what she was doing. She could just wallow in the delight of bringing her baby to sexual paradise.

However, an instinctive part of her was homed in on exactly where Laci was in her passion. She had a finely tuned, instinctive sense of the exact moment Laci would start bouncing along the summit of her ecstasy. When Laci, her body straining, reached that apex and skittered along toward the plunge down the side of the mountain, Karen acted without conscious thought.

She let Laci's clit plop from her mouth, and seconds later carefully eased her fingers out of Laci's sex. She shuffled her knees back and splayed them out, again lowering herself to face Laci's pussy. She used both hands to open Laci's vulva completely. The girl's swollen, engorged vaginal entrance was wide open, and a stream of milky nectar ran out and flowed down her perineum to her anal rosebud. Karen dove in and clamped her mouth over Laci's muffin hole. And as she did she was sure she saw the muscles surrounding the entrance quivering in a spasm.

Karen thrust her tongue in as deep as she could into Laci in a wild French kiss. Laci franticly jiggled her hips, and made a strained whining sound. Then...

Then, she broke completely. Her release came with a shuddering screech of pure ecstasy. A fresh gush of hot honey rushed out into Karen's suckling mouth. With muffled groans, she drank it up, sucking each surge into her mouth and swishing it around before swallowing it.

Laci was like flotsam in a cycle of ebbing and flooding rip tides. She was carried by one magnificent, shuddery swell after another. At last, the wave broke and tumbled across the shore, releasing her. She collapsed into the embrace of the chair, moaning and panting.

Karen pulled her mouth away and gave a long, final lap of her tongue from Laci's anal rosebud up to the to her still open sex, gathering the remnants of the ambrosia dribbling out. Mixed with saliva, there was plenty enough to swish around her mouth and savor before swallowing. My milk to her, her pussy nectar to me, I'm so definitely OK with that trade*, Karen thought with a smile.

Laci's feet were planted on the floor now. One arm draped over her forehead, she lay motionless except for the intermittent shuddery twinges wracking her body. She panted like she'd just run a race. Her chest rose and fell like a bellows, and her taut upper tummy rippled with each thud of her racing heart. The only sound she made were soft moans with each breath, and gasps when the spasms hit her.

Karen moved up so she could lay her head next to Laci's. She simply looked at her lover's flushed and sweaty but serene face. She pushed a sweaty strand of hair off Laci's cheek. She marveled at how a creature so achingly beautiful could be hers. She's now officially your responsibility Sunshine, come what may you have to get her to where she needs to be in better shape than you found her.

At last, Laci turned her head to look at Karen with eyes that glowed softly. "If I could only tell you," Karen murmured, "how much I really love you."

A small smile spread across Laci's lips. "You did," she whispered. "You did."

* * * *

For a few moments, Laci felt totally, utterly helpless and dependent, and it didn't bother her in the least. She floated on a cloud of groggy serenity, drained after her otherworldly orgasms. Karen would know what Laci needed and she would provide it.

*I wonder if this is what a baby feels like when she has a real mother? Laci mused. Whether it was or not, she'd surrendered complete control to Karen.

A couple of months ago, Karen bought several big, firm, memory-foam pillows for just this purpose, and she worked efficiently to position and situate them so they could lay facing each other when Laci nursed. It was undoubtedly easier when she laid across Karen's lap, but at day's end laying down was the most satisfying way for Laci to nurse.

Karen gently nudged Laci back against the pillows tucked behind her back. "Comfy, baby girl?" Karen asked as she laid down and stretched herself out.

Laci wriggled a bit to nestle more firmly against the props. "Yes," she nodded. "Very."

Laci watched Karen with a languid gaze, drinking in her lover's firm, confident beauty. Karen's calm, self-confident way of being in charge, her air of unflappable strength made all of Laci's sexual nerves zing. That air of being in control and unafraid of confrontation was fast becoming the thing about Karen that made her knees weak and rubbery.

It was Karen's turn to get situated. Her breasts were firm and filled with the milk Laci so craved. Now that Karen had finally taken on the role as her mother, Laci could truly learn right from wrong and how to behave properly. If that required Karen to be strict, well that was fine with Laci. That's the way mothers were supposed to be.

Before she settled in, Karen paused to lean over and playfully rub the tip of her nose against Laci's, and murmur, "Are you hungry?"

Laci gave her a dreamy smile and nodded. "Uh huh, very."

Karen touched her lips to Laci's and whispered against them, "I think I have just the thing for that."

It took only a few very well-practiced shifts and shuffles and they were laid out in the perfect position. All Laci had to do was turn her head. For months now, it was the nightly ritual that capped off the day. But it had always been dry, make-believe nursing – until tonight. No, tonight it was real.

A droplet of milk glistened at the tip of Karen's nipple, a promise of what waited for Laci. She let out a very soft, whimpery sigh and she drew Karen into her mouth. She was instantly rewarded. She sucked her cheeks in and stream of warm milk filled her mouth.

A quick surge, not quite an orgasm, passed over her, and then she let go inside. She moaned ever so softly at the first few swallows of Karen's magic elixir. Then, as most nights, she was swallowed up by a feeling of warm tranquility. Her mind grew quiet, and it was if she were floating on a cloud through the sky of a warm summer night.

She unconsciously found a rhythm: two sucks, swallow, two sucks, swallow, the warm, creamy milk flowing into her tummy. Every now and then, she interrupted the rhythmic cycle to give Karen nipple a few flicks of her tongue, or gentle nips with her teeth. Laci smiled inwardly when Karen let out little gasps of pleasure at these extra bits of attention.

Lai was fully aware that Karen was close to exploding. Though subtle and known only to Laci, the signs were unmistakable. Her voice took on a low, sonorous quality and it was almost thick, as if she'd had a couple glasses of wine. She made cooing sounds in that sonorous voice as her hands wandered, explored, and caressed. But most of all it was her leg in restless perpetual motion, and the delicate, almost indistinguishable gyrations of her hips.

It was unusual for organized conscious thought to intrude when Laci got swept along by the warm river of serenity, but tonight, drawing the elixir of life from Karen's breast, small pangs of guilt swept her. How was it fair, she wondered, that she should take love, but not give love back? Karen had taken her to the most amazing place and made her body quiver and sing, and what did she do in return? Nothing, she just took more from Karen.

Laci knew she had to give back to her lover, even if it was just a little. Without warning she slipped her hand between Karen's restless legs. Karen jumped and gasped at Laci's abrupt move. Laci smiled around Karen's nipple, pleased at her surprise.

Karen instinctively opened her legs to greet the surprise visitor. Karen was as hot and damp as a sauna. Her thighs were sticky, her mound smooth and moist, and, best of all, her pussy was slick, juicy, and crying for attention.

Laci continued to suckle and drink without losing stride as she slid her hand over Karen's mound. She followed the natural path of Karen's cleft, her middle finger plowing the way forward. Mmmm, her mother-lover was oh so wet, her pussy a simmering cauldron. Laci pushed her middle finger up into Karen's as deeply as she could. Oh yes, Karen liked that! She gasped and pressed her face against the top of Laci's head.

Laci lingered and let her finger dance around inside Karen. Having her finger inside Karen was like having it in jar of warm jelly. It was a delightful sensation, a pleasing layer of spice to her nursing.

Karen's body hitched when Laci stroked the love spots her finger found, but she didn't loiter there. She drew her hand back up, skating her finger over Karen's clit where she wiggled her finger on Karen's nubbin, making her jump and gasp. Her top leg jumped up like an exclamation point, and Laci hummed a satisfied note deep in her throat.

Karen's reactions told Laci everything about what her lover. She stroked and rolled the pads of her fingers over Karen's clit, slid them up and down to squish in the flow of honey from Karen's sex. She continued nursing without pausing except for occasional nips and flicks of her tongue of Karen's nipple, as her hand found the right tempo.

There wasn't much thought in Laci's actions. Instinct directed them, just like when she masturbated. Karen's soft moans, her ever faster breathing, the gyrations of her hips were all Laci's subconscious needed to know to direct her attentions.

Karen had an enormous amount of pent up sexual energy begging for release. She was soaking wet, and Laci rode her fingers up and down, dipped them into Karen's slurpy honey pot, and smeared the nectar on her swollen button. She gradually increased the force of her fingers as they did a tango on Karen.

Laci fantasized that she was between Karen's legs, using both her tongue and fingers so she could drink from her mother-lovers other fountain. She saw herself capture the honey and draw it in like a cat drinking milk.

The flow of milk from Karen's breast started tapering off as Karen drew ever closer to her own orgasm. Her breathing was sharp and shallow, her soft moans and purrs grew increasingly feverish, and her movements urgent.

Laci let her thumb concentrate on Karen's bud, rolling it, pressing down, rocking it side to side. It was just what was needed to push Karen over the edge. Her lover stiffened and held her breath. With a gusty "Ooooohhhhhh," Karen's pelvic muscles rippled and released. Laci kept her thumb going, rubbing Karen back up, up, up to another orgasmic release.

Karen's moans and impassioned whispers of "Oh my baby, my sweet, precious baby girl," were like a beautiful song to Laci. Even as the flow of milk tapered to a trickle, Laci continued suckling and basking in the delicate pleasure of bringing her lover to her enchanted place. She knew exactly when Karen had had enough, when her clitty became too tender to go on.

Karen's body melted onto the bed, and she held Laci's head in a hug. Laci let go of Karen's breast and let her hand rest quietly on her lover's wet thigh. Laying there, listening to Karen murmuring, "My baby, you are so amazing, such an amazing lover, you know how to... give me what I need. I love you, oh I love you so much."

Laci could feel the warm, relaxing cloud gradually envelop her and draw her closer to drifting to sleep. She struggled to push it back for the time being. "It's not fair," she whispered. "You made me cum all those times, but I got too sleepy to make you cum even once, and that's selfish."

Karen chuckled. "You are the most unselfish person I've ever known. Well now, it seems you've drained me dry."

Laci couldn't help blushing. "I was hungry."

"I guess you were. And now that your tummy is filled, you look very sleepy."

"I am," Laci acknowledged. "I'm relaxed."

"My other boob is still full. Are you still hungry enough to have some more?"

Laci smiled. "I don't think I'll ever stop being hungry."

Karen chuckled and shifted enough to lean in and touch her lips to Laci's. "How do I taste?" Before Laci could answer Karen fully captured her lover's lips with hers, and sent her tongue to find out exactly how she tasted. Satisfied, she pulled away and nuzzled her cheek against the top of Laci's head.

At last, she shifted her position slightly, enough to lift her other breast away from the bed to a position Laci could reach it without much effort. Milk dribbled from her nipple as if it were jealous.

Laci looked up at Karen with a drowsy, languid gaze. She knew she wasn't going to last long once she started.

"Go ahead, kitten. It's perfectly OK for you to fall into the arms of Morpheus."

"Huh?" Laci said, frowning slightly. There Karen went, speaking in riddles again. "What do mean, arms of Morpheus?"

"Sleep baby. It's a way of saying going to sleep."

"Oh. No problem with that," Laci chuckled softly. She took in Karen nipple and immediately drew on the fresh supply of milk. Within a minute, she was drifting away to the sound of Karen's loving humming.

"Go ahead baby, drift off, we'll make love some more tomorrow, we have all day." As if to reinforce her words encouraging Laci to drift off on her cloud, she began to softly sing a lullaby. The tune was vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place it. It didn't matter. Neither did it matter that Karen made up the words as she sang. It was tender, filled with love, and hypnotic, and that's all that mattered. *"Hush little baby, in the fading light,

I'll keep you safe in my arms tonight.

Lay your head on mama's breast,

nurse from me, little baby, rest.

Never forget, baby, you can feed,

mama will provide you with all you need,

Don't you worry, don't you care,

I'll protect you like a mama bear.

You're my friend, my lover, wife,

I'm gonna love you, my entire life.

Don't you worry, don't you care,

mama, baby, always will be there."

 

Laci drifted off and released Karen breast. A small stream of milk flowed from Karen's nipple, and a trickled drooled out of Laci's slack lips. Karen sighed contentedly and slid down until she and her sleeping baby were face to face. She gave Laci a kiss and murmured, "Sleep baby, Mummy Karen will protect you. Always."

Denise didn't even bother to bring her briefcase to the hastily arranged meeting with Sandra. It had nothing to do with Sandra's case. It was all about ruining Harper's day, and Denise knew it was a mean, childish thing to do, but she simply couldn't help herself.

A warm knot of almost sadistic excitement twirled in Denise's tummy. What is wrong with me? Since when have I ever been so spiteful? Have things gotten so bad that I'm reduced to middle school taunting?

There was no point in trying to rationalize it or stew over whether it was morally defensible. She might regret it later, but right now it filled her with a glow that was nearly sexual. She was already looking forward to masturbating when she got home tonight.

She scooped her skirt under her and sat down at the austere table. In less than a minute, the jail-side door of the room opened. Sandra was escorted in by a CO who looked like a compact roller derby queen with dyspepsia. "You got ten minutes, counselor," the CO grumbled.

"Shouldn't take that long, officer."

Before the CO even got out of the room to take up her post behind the thick observation window, Sandra let her displeasure be known. "What the fuck's going on? What's so fucking important you gotta drag my ass down here just at supper time? The food is nasty enough hot, now you're making me eat it cold."

"It's good to see you're your usual bright and cheerful self," Denise smiled. Oh yes, it was going to feel so good.

"Ahhh, fuck you, bitch."

"Are you decent to anybody? Or are you a foul-mouthed bitch to everybody you talk to?"

"Like I said, fuck you bitch, this better be good."

Sandra was hardly the worse client Denise ever had, not even close. Her clients were usually the dregs of the world, people who did not know how to function as productive members of society, nor did they care to learn. She'd represented child abusers, wife beaters, thieves, and murderers. It was a source of personal anguish, not professional pride, that she'd once gotten a murderer she knew was guilty freed on technicalities. How was that right in any moral universe? Many of her colleagues approached their work with unbridled enthusiasm, but Denise was coming to loathe everything about her involvement in the whole repulsive game.

But why was Sandra the straw that broke her back? It wasn't rational; it was a purely emotional response. Perhaps she simply came along at the right time and became the avatar for everything Denise hated about her career.

"I'm happy to see you, too," Denise answered. "Anyway, I have some news for you, and I thought it would be best if you heard it from me rather than through the jail's grapevine."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Do you remember my telling you your daughter had a hearing coming up on a petition to terminate your parental rights?"

"Yeah, I remember. When is it? Am I gonna get to have my say?"

"I didn't think you'd remember. I told you a month ago that the hearing was today and you were on your own as far as representation. There was no obligation to have you involved."

"Today? You're shitting me, right? How come no one fucken told me?"

Denise rolled her eyes and groaned softly. "I just said I told you a month ago. Do you listen to anything I say?"

"You're such a fucken twat, you know that."

"Whatever. They had the hearing and there was no legal requirement that you be present."

"That's fucken bullshit, I have a right to speak my piece."

"No you don't, and it doesn't matter, it's a done deal. Your rights as Laci's parent have been terminated." A pang surged over Denise as she watched Sandra's eyes widen and her face grow red. "In the eyes of the state, you no longer have any say in her upbringing."

"What the fuck? You're fulla shit! No fucken way, they can't do that!"

"Oh yes they can, and they did, and it can't be appealed."

Sandra's eyes took on an ominous glow. "Well ain't that just a load of fucken bullshit! What's it mean? Does it mean I ain't getting no money from the state for her?"

"That's right, that particular well has dried up."

"They can't do that, I count on that money!"

"If you don't start cooperating it won't matter, because by the time you get out of jail, she'll be over eighteen."

Denise could see Sandra's hands, shackled at the waist, clenching and unclenching. Now her eyes blazed with anger and hate. "What the fuck good are you, letting that shit happen to me! You're supposed to be my fucken lawyer!"

"How many times do I have to tell you, my responsibility to you begins and ends with the criminal proceedings against you. Period!" Denise's own anger rose rapidly.

"You're a no-good bitch!" Sandra barked. "A useless motherfucking cunt!"

The camel's back broke, and it was only Denise unconscious discipline that kept her from completely losing her cool. She slammed her fists on the table, only dimly aware that the CO suddenly stiffened and made ready to barge into the room. "I have told you a thousand times not to use that word when talking to me, and now you're using it to refer to me! That's it, I'm done. Come Monday, I'm filing a petition to be removed as your attorney! You'll have to find another patsy to take your crap. Lucky for you there are plenty out there who don't give a shit."

"Fuck you, cunt! You're a worthless pile of pig shit anyways! And that twat daughter of mine and her rich bitch pimp are gonna find out you don't fuck with me and get away with it."

Glowering, Denise stood up, and the CO immediately came into the small room. "Everything OK, counselor."

"Just fine, officer. I'm done with Ms. Harper, you can take her back now."

The CO took Sandra's arm in a firm grasp, and Sandra vehemently shook it off, crying, "Get your hands off me! Fuck both of you cunts!"

The CO keyed her chest mic and intoned, "Code one hundred, conference room two."

Sandra's anger flared even hotter on hearing the CO's assistance call, and she yanked her arm away. "Get your motherfucken hands off me, you twat licking whore!"

Denise unconsciously backed up a few steps, and her lips curled in a small, satisfied smile. Within thirty seconds, two other COs poured into the room, and Denise could see the wind go out Sandra's sails. Within seconds, she was hustled from the room. The original CO hung back and said, "You sure everything's OK counselor?"

"Yes, everything's fine. She can be as disagreeable to me as she can to you."

The CO smiled discreetly. "Gotcha."

Denise opened the door and stepped out of the conference room into the access corridor. She slumped back against the door and sighed. Yes, indeed, the camel's back had been broken. She was done with criminal law, even if it meant she had to quit practicing law altogether. She could not continue endlessly recycling the Sandra Harper's of the world, trying to keep up the farce that they were innocent or victims in their own right.

Still, she wasn't proud of the way she baited Sandra; it was just so adolescent and passive-aggressive. But damn! It felt so good to make that detestable creature lose her cool. Custody of Laci, and the welfare money that it brought, was the only tangible asset Sandra had.

Denise straightened up. "I'm done," she whispered aloud. "I don't know what I'm going to do, but I know what I'm not going to do. I'll finish up what I have left, then that's it, tout finis."

She started down the deserted corridor, her heels tapping on the floor. Her thoughts turned to Gail Wright. Denise didn't consider herself to be a lesbian, nor even truly bisexual, though she was no stranger to enjoyable sexual encounters with other women.

She and Gail didn't cross paths very often, and when they did, it gave her an adolescent thrill when Gail merely acknowledged her presence with a simple, "Hi, Denise." Lately, though, circumstances ensured they at least passed each other like cars on a road much more often. Surely she was deluding herself when she thought Gail was noticing her.

But she could dream, couldn't she? Oh, if only she could work up the courage to approach Gail just to drop a hint that she was on the lookout for a new position. If anyone knew where the unadvertised openings were in the local legal world, surely it was Gail.

Denise passed through the doors separating the newer jail wing of the county administrative complex, into the 150-year-old Superior Court building. She made her way up the wide staircase to the main entrance. It was time for her to stop being such a wimp and assert herself. She needed to work up the courage to talk to Gail.

Sandra's angry snit was brief, so the COs allowed her to get hot food when she returned to the common area of the cellblock. However, Sandra was not interested in eating. In fact, her stomach churned with an anger that was rapidly turning into a seething hatred: a hatred of Laci, the rich bitch who owned her now and got the monthly TANF benefits, her useless fucking lawyer, and a system that allowed such injustices to occur in the first place.

No, Sandra had other things on her mind besides eating.

She grabbed her tray from the jail trustee who pulled it from under a warming lamp for her, and she silently made her sullen way over to the table where her friend Alyssa sat waiting for her. She slid onto the round steel seat at the multi-purpose table anchored to the concrete floor, and let her tray drop with a clank.

Alyssa, an enormously obese woman of indeterminate age who had to sit in a chair at the head of the table to accommodate her bulk, mopped up the remnants of her own meal with the last piece of bread. "Whadup, girl? What was that lawyer meetin' all about? Uh oh, it don't look like it went so good."

Sandra pushed the tray of food away. "That no good, rotten cunt daughter of mine, oh she fucked with me for the last time."

Alyssa eyed Sandra's tray of food with a covetous gaze. "Laci? Little Laci? What she do? Hey, you gonna eat that? Wouldn't wanna see it go to waste."

Sandra scowled at the tray as if seeing it for the first time. "Flush it down the fucken crapper for all I care."

Alyssa needed no more permission than that to pull Sandra's tray in front of her and start wolfing down the paltry meal before Harper had a chance to change her mind. "So what about Laci," Alyssa said through a mouthful of food. "She there to visit?"

"What? No, you numb bitch, it was my lawyer. That fucken cunt daughter of mine and her rich bitch whore went cryin' to a judge and got him to take her away so I don't get her TANF money no more, the fucken no good, rotten twat. Probably banged the fucken judge, the little slut whore."

"Whatcha talkin' about?"

"My daughter and her rich bitch whore, they rigged it so I don't get state money for her anymore! First, they bust into my house and try to rob me, and I'm the one locked up! Now this, they get some high priced fucken lawyer – all I can get is some lazy ass public defender cunt who just gives me a hard time and don't do nothing for me – they get a lawyer to rig it up so I ain't considered her mother no more, and I lose the state aid for her!"

"No way!" Alyssa said her eyes wide and her mouth full. "How they do that?"

"How the fuck should I know? But you can bet your sweet ass it involved spreadin' her legs for that judge!"

"Holy shit, ya really think so?" Alyssa had wolfed down half the dinner tray's contents, and she showed no signs of slowing down.

"Of course I do! But they ain't heard the last from me. I'm gonna make that little shit pay, mark my words, she's fucking with the wrong bitch, I promise you that." Sandra's brain was in overdrive. A dozen different ideas jockeyed for her attention. Nothing was clear just now, but she had options, oh yes, there was no question of that. Posting a twenty grand bail might be asking too much, but that didn't mean she didn't hold some good cards. She had some smaller favors she could call in.

She'd figure something out to make that little cunt pay, oh yes she would. She had no doubt of that.