Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:21:24 -0400
From: Christene <servant2margot@aol.com>
Subject: Pursuit of Happiness

Pursuit of Happiness
by: Christene

(Disclaimer: This story is about love between two women. If that offends
you, please read no further. Any feedback or comments regarding my story
are welcome, but please let's keep those comments constructive. Thank you.)

********

	Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, members of the Senate and the
House of Representatives:

	Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy -
the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by
naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

********

	The year was 1944. The world was a very different place. Its
surface had been forever altered by the happenings sweeping across it.
	Lauren wished that she could say she was brave. She ached to say
that all her decisions had been for the right reasons, but the truth of it
slapped her as bitterly as the cool wind rushing against her tearful
face. She was running away.
	The howl of the train drawing nearer warned that life as she knew
it was about to change. She drew the collar of her flowing coat around her
neck. Her haunted olive eyes blinked away the vision of the woman she
thought she'd glimpsed emerging through the fog.
	It wasn't her, she thought. It couldn't be her.
	She released her coat collar just long enough to wipe away the
tears rolling hotly down her porcelain cheeks. Two children playing along
the platform made her smile through her tears. The little girls were doing
all they could to defy the sleep creeping up to cloud their young eyes.
	Then, after a moment, they raced by her in a whirl of vibrant
colors.
	"Come on, little sister!" she heard. Her heart thudded down into
her stomach.
	"Paige," she whispered longingly.
	She used to believe that whatever demons a person ran from would
only pursue them with equal intensity, but she had abandoned that belief.
She had been forced to. After all, she could hardly throw herself into this
war if she had any reservations about what she was doing.
	Just then, Fate gave her one final reminder that it would not be
ignored.
	A radio perched inside the nearby ticket booth crackled
loudly. From its small body, a voice fought to be heard:
	"Night and day... you are the one. Only you beneath the moon and
under the sun---"
	Her skin blanched.
	All around her, couples drew closer together with dreamy smiles
alive inside their eyes. Others still cleaved to one another, cursing the
threat brought to the world and how that threat was separating
them. Possibly forever.
	Another long, mournful howl came. It was closer than before. And
yet, she did not hear its sound. Instead she further distanced herself from
this moment and from the memory of eyes which rivaled the beauty of raw
honey.
	Numbly, she boarded the train. She was leaving. She was enlisting
along with all these other souls leaving for the nearest recruiting
office. And soon, she would be joining the other men and women doing their
part to save the world from the devastation of the second World War.

********

	"What do you mean, she's gone?!" Paige's voice had been filled with
panic.
	Her father gazed down at his newspaper with a furrowed brow. He
appeared to be focused on an article of great importance, but the sheer
truth of it was that he did not wish to think of it, did not wish to think
of her. "She went to the station, Paige." He sighed, folding the paper with
a frustrated expression before roughly slapping the paper to his lap. "Why
do I care? She's never listened to me a day in her life. Why should I waste
my breath thinking that she would now? Just let her go."
	Paige tilted her head with a pained look on her face. She opened
her rouged lips to speech, but the chime at the door silenced her.
	"Well, answer it," her father uttered in annoyance. "It's Jeffery,
come to take you to dinner." He favored her with a stern look. "There will
be a lot of important people there, so you be sure to make a good
impression."
	Paige blinked while lost within her reeling emotions. She opened
the door to see Jeffery standing in his finest suit. His right hand
clutched the cane he heavily relied upon.
	Jeffery entered the house with the air that he belonged there. He
gently kissed Paige's cheek before immediately pressing past her to join
Paige's father in the study. "Mr. Humphrey," he greeted warmly. He extended
his hand, receiving a firm handshake from his soon to be
father-in-law. "How are you, sir?"
	Mr. Humphrey nodded his head, never truly answering the question.
	Jeffery was motioned to sit, which he did awkwardly. After a
lengthy silence, he cleared his throat. "Terrible business about the war,"
he said. "Why, if I didn't have this bum leg---"
	Mr. Humphrey nodded his head absently, then woke from his
thoughts. "I know," he said. "I'd love to--"
	Their voices faltered when they each took note of Paige's face.
	Her skin was ashen. The intelligent depths of her eyes glistened
with the tears clinging desperately to her thick lashes.
	"Paige?" Jeffery prodded fearfully.
	With a sudden burst of speed, Paige turned and ran out the front
door.
	Jeffery moved to rise from his chair, but he did not have the speed
to catch her. He stopped when Mr. Humphrey motioned him to stay. The man
with dark reddish-brown hair and white bands along his temples rose from
his leather chair. He went to the liquor cabinet, removing a large crystal
bottle of brandy. He poured himself a glass with a lowered head. Jeffery
watched him anxiously.
	"Sir, what's going on?" Jeffery demanded.
	"It's Lauren," Mr. Humphrey said. He drank heartily from his glass.

********

	Paige moved with all the power her shapely legs could muster. She
sprinted into the night, but the heels upon her feet were not meant for
running. She angrily ripped them from her feet then ran barefoot down the
quiet streets.
	Her burgundy dress should have been worn out on the town, but
instead she was racing against hope, racing against the time she simply did
not possess to reach the train station. If providence was with her at all,
then perhaps she would reach her sister in time.
	The shining length of her dark mahogany hair was slipping from her
usually elegant victory rolls. It was slipping from its pins to tussle
wistfully around her milky face. She breathed heavily through moistened
lips which trembled with the onset of tears.
	She caught sight of the station in the distance. She spirited
toward it just as she heard the first whistle sounding the train's
approach. Her heart thundered inside her chest.
	"Oh, please," she murmured. She ran faster with the memory of
mesmerizing green eyes which would rather close than allow her to see too
much into them. Why was she hiding her eyes from her? What was in them that
was different than all the other times they had held each other's eyes
before?
	Paige swallowed the lump in her throat. She knew what was
different. Change had come in the small package of a leather-bound journal.

********

	Lauren sat inside the study, scribing feverishly into her
journal. Her red hair burned passionately within the candlelight as she
worked at her desk.
	Paige watched her curiously from the narrow crack remaining between
the French doors left slightly ajar. She felt her heart all but burst as
Lauren quickly stood. Paige hurriedly moved down the hall to avoid being
seen.

********

	Upon reaching the station, Paige maneuvered through the throng of
people. At the far end of the platform, she glimpsed a breathtaking woman
with crimson hair. She called out to her. Her voice was drowned out by the
sound of the train whistling its arrival.
	The people around her began to move as a booming voice said, "Now
boarding!"
	She struggled to close the distance between them. She had to stop
her. She had to explain. It was not what she wanted. It was what was
expected. Lauren had to know that it was only out of that sense of
obligation. Because her heart yearned for something so far from what others
wanted for her.
	"Lauren!" Paige screamed, trying to lift her voice above the
chaos. "Lauren, here! I'm here!"
	The steam coming from the train expelled as if it were the
smoldering breath of a great beast. Its breath washed over her, drowning
out her visions of Lauren. When at last the copious fog had died away, she
was standing in a meager gathering of others. All eyes were transfixed
sadly upon the train. Her head turned toward the coaches. She quickly
searched each set of windows, but Lauren was nowhere to be seen.
	She watched with a horrified expression marring her beautiful face
as the train began to power cumbersomely away.
	The plush softness of old hands cupped her shoulders
supportively. An old woman with a kind face smiled tenderly. "Oh, don't
worry, sweetheart," she soothed. "I know times are hard, but our boys will
be coming home before you know it." She gentled her expression. "You'll
see."
	Bewilderment swept across her face as Paige looked into the old
woman.
	"Do you have a soldier shipping out?" the old woman queried softly.
	Paige's eyes welled with tears.
	"Oh, he'll be okay," the old woman cooed. She held the tall woman
close to her.
	As honey eyes gazed after the train drawing further away, Paige
spoke in a lyrical softness. "Not a soldier," she sniffled. "A nurse. She's
my sister."
	The old woman flinched inwardly. She struggled not to shift in her
awkwardness. "I'm sorry," she stumbled. "I just assumed, based on the look
in your eyes." She paused, hoping to explain herself. "You looked like you
had just lost the love of your life."
	Paige slipped out of the old woman's arms. She turned away,
slipping back into the night with a lowered head. "I did."

********

	They had been together every day of their childhood lives. They had
gone to school together with two years separating them. They had attended
the same college before ultimately returning home to where it had all
began.
	Paige had thought that with Lauren having newly finished nursing
school, the beautiful young woman would take to being a nurse in their
father's practice. But Lauren had had very different ideas.
	She wanted to make a difference. She wanted to 'save the world,' as
their father had called it. Their father could not understand why Lauren
felt the need to leave her hometown for the pursuit of happiness, or why
she could not just settle down and marry a nice young man. A doctor, or
perhaps even a lawyer.
	At the time, Paige had been courted by a nice young man interning
to be a doctor. And once he'd joined her father's practice, they'd become
engaged. Her father adored him for the sheer fact that he was so much like
himself.
	As Paige recalled those things now, that life seemed so far
away. The time of her engagement was also, she remembered, around the time
when Lauren began keeping her journal. The time when Lauren stopped meeting
her eyes.
	The surge of people moving forward woke Paige from her
thoughts. She was another face within a sea of faces trudging toward the
factory. This was her life now. The graceful young socialite was a worker
on the assembly line.
	She remembered her father's reaction when he'd realized that she
would be covered in soot and grime, working as a laborer. And yet, his rage
had not mattered. All that was important was doing something to help
Lauren. And right now, the only means of helping her was to do something to
help their soldiers.
	Each day, Paige lived in fear. She toiled through her work. It was
hard work, but there was a certain sense of accomplishment in it which she
had not realized she was missing.
	Each night, she spent crying into a pillow which still smelled of
her sister's hair. Within her dreams, she said so many things which
distance and fear prevented her from saying now. What would she do when
Lauren returned? She cried harder into her pillow, thinking something which
made her blood run cold.
	If Lauren came home.
	 She tightened her hold on the pillow.
 	Please, baby sister... come home to me.

********

	The high-pitched whine of bombs falling from the sky sent shivers
down their spines. It was another air-raid. The windows rattled loudly even
as doctors and nurses lowered their heads with a determined air to continue
treating their patients.
	Lauren threw herself over her patient in unison with so many other
nurses while the lights hanging from above shook wildly.
	That one had been too close, they thought collectively.
	With a slow reluctance, they eased away from their patients.
	Lauren lifted her olive eyes. She felt her crimson hair falling
from its pins beneath her nurse's hat. Her thoughts ventured to those who
had felt her healing touch. She understood that dire need for healing. She
felt it each time she experienced the painful ache to be embraced. The
bitter truth of her situation, and for so many others, was that she could
not be consoled by any pair of arms. She craved a very special pair.  She
sighed, then set to her work yet again.

********

	 It was late when Paige found herself wearily passing through her
front door. It had been another late shift.
	She wore a dark red bandanna over her thick, long hair in the hopes
of keeping it from her elegant face. It had not, however, been able to
shield her from dust. Her athletic body was hidden beneath the dirty
navy-blue coveralls adorning her wiles.
	Paige paused inside the foyer with a stunned expression upon her
face.
	Her father was sitting near the fire with her fianc‚. Together,
they were listening to the announcer speaking with a commanding tone about
the allied forces.
	She wanted to listen. She wanted to know, but something in her
screamed not to. Slowly, Paige turned to leave.
	"Oh, Paige," Jeffery called, taking note of her for the first
time. "How was... um... work?" He withdrew from her shabby appearance. She
was not the woman he had affectionately taken in at his side, the woman
who'd possessed a beauty to rival any silver-screen starlet.
	"It was hard," she admitted. "Then again, it will be until our GIs
are home."
	"Yes, of course," he stuttered.
	Paige favored them with a radiant smile which spoke of politeness,
but someone who truly knew her would have recognized that it was also a
mask. It hid what emotions brooded beneath her surface. "Please excuse me,"
she said. "It's been a very long day and I want to retire early."
	Mr. Humphrey nodded his head. Absently, he motioned her away while
Jeffery rose to his feet with a gentlemanly air.
	Paige heard the distant sounds of her own footsteps against the
hardwood floors. She ascended the stairs, feeling her lithe hand slide over
the polished railing. Once she'd reached the head of the stairs, she gazed
longingly in the direction of Lauren's room.

********

	Lauren laughed as she peeked past her bedroom door. Her skin was
glowing with happiness. Her olive eyes never failed to smolder while
surrounded by the rich woods inside their home. The sultry waves of her
crimson hair flashed in the light. "Another late night on the town, huh?"
she teased.

********

	Paige sighed. She closed her eyes, forcing her memories of Lauren
to subside, if only for the moment.
	She bathed and dressed for the night with an odd sort of
absentmindedness. Before she had realized what was happening, she found
herself slipping beneath the coolness of crisp cotton sheets. She breathed
deeply. Her hand reached out and slid over the bed, exploring it with an
intimate sense of discovery. She closed her eyes, letting the scents of
Lauren's room wash over her.
	She knew she should not be there. She told herself that she should
return to her own room, but she could not leave. She needed to be there,
needed to be as close to Lauren as she could. In her mind, the sheets
caressing her body felt like whispering fingertips traversing her skin. Her
hand slid underneath the pillows. Her fingertips grazed the leather-bound
book hidden from the outside world.
	Her heart thundered violently beneath her full breasts. She clasped
the book inside her hand and pulled it from the comforts of its sleepy
world. With the moonlight to read by, she opened her sister's diary.
	Paige bit her pouty bottom lip. She drew in a deep breath, then
summoned the courage to read.

********

	I've never been much of a writer. I feel a bit silly filling this
book with all my innermost thoughts, but I was not left with any other
option. Had I found myself in this situation a few years ago--- Or less,
even as little as a few months ago, a few precious weeks!---- I would have
unburdened my soul to my Sweet Paige. Things are so different now... so
horribly, tragically different now. You see, she's getting married.
	I should be happy for her. I should be helping to plan the wedding
and doing my part to be the best maid of honor this land has ever seen, but
I'm not happy. I'm not!
	It's not that Jeffery isn't a good man. He's keen. A bit bland and
boring for my tastes, but Paige seems sweet on him. Shouldn't that be
enough?
	I hate him. I hate him so much because, more than anything, I want
to be him.

********

	Paige is in the backyard reading beneath a tree. She looks so
beautiful. I wonder if she knows. I try to hide what's in my eyes, but
Paige knows me better than anyone ever has or ever will. Does she know how
deeply I love her? Does she know that I am madly, passionately,
head-over-heels in love with her?
	I should tell her. I want to tell her. And yet... how do you tell
your best friend that what you feel is more than friendship? For that
matter, how do you tell your best friend that when she's your sister?

********

	When I came home, I found Paige inside my room. She was reading my
diary! I don't know what she saw. I'm almost scared to ask. Just thinking
of it makes my stomach knot. What if she knows? She hasn't said a word to
me. She actually rushed from my room. She couldn't even look at me. I've
messed up. I've colossally messed up! Dear God, what am I going to do?!

********

	We fought today. I'm not even sure what we were fighting about. We
were yelling at each other before we even realized it. She was crying. I
hate seeing Paige cry. It breaks my heart. I just want to take her into my
arms and hold her. I want to kiss her tears away and make everything all
right.
	She knows. She knows everything now and she hates me for it. That's
why she's going ahead with the wedding. That's why she's not speaking to
me. That's why we fought today over absolutely nothing!
	I can't stay here. I can't stay here when she'll be laughing and
loving someone else. My heart can't take it!

********

	 Paige lifted her eyes from the pages smudged by tears. She traced
the handwriting she knew so well. Slowly, she lowered her head. With eyes
slowly closing, she touched her lips to the lines making mention of
Lauren's heart. Paige could only hope that somehow, between the distance
between them, Lauren could feel her.
	The apology welling inside her throat could not surpass the lump
sadness had placed there first. "That's why you left," she said in a hoarse
whisper. "That's why I lost you to this war."
	She hugged the diary close to her heart. Tearfully, she gazed out
the window. She took in the starry horizon and the moon which reigned over
the world. A sudden sense of purpose filled her. There was something she
had to do, something she could not run away from any longer.

********

	Lauren was exhausted when she staggered into the room. So many of
her friends were sitting with similar expressions of exhaustion. She sank
down into a chair.
	They had all seen so many patients. Some of them had been their
boys, but some of them had been POWs left behind.
	Lauren lifted her head. She ran her fingers through her long red
hair. Her hands were shaking. She was so tired. Her deep green eyes
reflected how long she had gone without sleep. She could hear the loud
chaos of the hospital, but she could also hear the sounds coming from the
streets outside.
	She could not help but remember that she had always wanted to see
Paris, but never like this.
	An excited nurse burst into the room. "Mail!" she cried. "We've got
mail from back home!"
	So many nurses scrambled to their feet, hoping that there would be
even the smallest news from home to keep their spirits alive.
	"Lauren."
	Lauren lifted her head in surprise. "Yes?" she stammered.
	The nurse smiled softly. "There's one for you," she said.
	The others looked at Lauren in amazement. In all the time they had
been away from home, the beautiful young woman had never received a
letter. They had often wondered why. Lauren was so kind, so personable. It
did not make sense for her not to have family, or even a special someone
back home.
	Lauren took the letter into her hands. They shook violently as she
recognized the handwriting. She carefully opened the envelope. When she
pulled out the letter, tears rose inside her eyes. It had been written on
paper from her diary. She recognized the paper, but more than anything, she
could clearly see her own words lingering on the page.
	"Paige is in the backyard reading beneath a tree," it read. "She
looks so beautiful. I wonder if she knows. I try to hide what's in my eyes,
but Paige knows me better than anyone ever has or ever will. Does she know
how deeply I love her? Does she know that I am madly, passionately,
head-over-heels in love with her?"
	Lauren blanched more by the moment. Paige must have read this and
decided to send it to her as a means of telling her that she knew
everything and could never forgive her.
	Determined to see it through to the end, Lauren continued reading
silently.
	"I should tell her. I want to tell her. And yet... how do you tell
your best friend that what you feel is more than friendship? For that
matter, how do you tell your best friend that when she's your sister?"
	The handwriting suddenly changed as a few elegant lines were
fluidly scrolled along the bottom of the page.
	How do you say what cannot be said? You say it with the love inside
your eyes, with the emotion inside your kiss and the beating of your heart
when it lives for another.
	Come home to me safely, my Love. Please.
	The sudden sound of Lauren's cries frightened the others. They
flocked to her in a supportive guild. Their arms embraced her with a fierce
protectiveness. They rocked her gently and smoothed her back as Lauren,
their strong Lauren, cried with utter abandon.

********

	August 1945
	Cries rose up amongst the masses.
	Strangers embraced one another for the sheer happiness of the
moment. People wept. Sailors raced through the streets, kissing every woman
within sight. Confetti rained from the sky which seemed all but suspended
by joyous singing and boisterous cheers. The cheers grew thunderous, as if
to announce to the very heavens that it was over. It was finally over.

********

	Her heart was racing. Paige had dressed herself in an airy red
dress which brought out the excited flush of her cheeks. Among the many
other women looking expectantly to the train station, she was a brilliant
flash of color amidst a bevy of autumn colors.
	Her flowing mahogany hair was neatly pinned in victory rolls while
her hair hung with satiny glory between her shoulder blades. Her eyes
flashed as shimmering honey pools. Her body grew tense.
	She and every other soul crowding the platform looked to the train
coming proudly into the station.  Cheers flooded the air. A band began to
play loudly, welcoming their men and women home.
	Her trembling hands clasped together. Paige held them close to her
chest. The beautiful woman felt dizzy with happiness. Her sister was
home. She was home!
	Paige was lost inside an eerie sort of haze. She had seen the
people beginning to disembark. Their colors blurred together in a vibrant
smearing of colors. But all of that changed when one person, one solitary
figure, took on the clarity of the sun rising as the dawn. Even among the
others dressed in uniform, Lauren was unique in all the world.
	Her long red hair was parted to the side. It was sleek with
smoothly styled waves. Atop its glistening satin, a garrison cap sat at a
slight angle. Her pale skin was glowing inside the olive green uniform
housing her hour-glass body. The warm color brought out the intensity of
her catlike eyes.
	Lauren had never been so happy to see the hometown she had been so
eager to escape. She turned. Her eyes scoured her surroundings, doing their
best to memorize how things had changed and how exactly they had stayed the
same. It was during that awe-filled gaze that her eyes fell on a woman in
scarlet.
	Her breath caught inside her throat. "Paige," she exhaled. She
wanted to launch forward, to rush into her arms, but she could not trust
herself while she was that close to Paige. Not after having dreamt being
inside her arms for all this time.
	Then somehow, they were standing directly before one another. They
were so close that they could feel the other's breath against their
tingling skin.
	Paige reached out her hands. Her movements were painfully slow. She
had never been timid while showing affection toward her sister before. Then
again, she had never been in love before, never ached to touch another
person the way that she did now.
	With feathery touches her fingertips grazed Lauren's until they
stood face to face, holding each others hands. Their eyes met for the first
time. For a brief instant, Paige remembered all the times her sister had
looked away. Would she now?
	Lauren tightened her hold of the hands in hers. Her green eyes
danced with tears. "Take me home," she mouthed.
	Around them, the chaos had yet to subside, but within each sister,
an odd sort of serenity was sweeping throughout their beings.
	Paige refused to release the hand in hers as she sauntered with a
slow eroticism through the masses. She felt the eyes staring after her with
love, but the thing which sent her core trembling was the heat of arousal
warming her back.
	They walked along the sidewalk, hand in hand. The lights from the
street-lamps fell over them in sporadic pools of warm yellow. Their fingers
wove together tightly, connecting them.

********

	When they entered the front door of their home, it was quiet.
	Lauren lifted her eyes as she removed her cap. They were soft as
she stared around her childhood home. "Where's dad?" she asked absently. In
truth, she had hoped he would be sleeping or locked inside his study.
	"He was called away," Paige answered as she took Lauren's things.
"You know how much he lives for invitations to speak at prestigious
colleges."
	Lauren laughed quietly despite herself. Her laughter fell away as
she thought of what her father's absence would mean at the practice. "That
must mean that Jeffery is---"
	"I wouldn't know," Paige interrupted quietly. She waited for her
sister at the top of the stairs.
	The red-haired nurse moved to the foot of the stairs. Her hand
rested elegantly against the dark wood railing. She stared up at the vision
of her beautiful sister. The hall light at her back warmed the woman's
silhouette in an enchanting halo.
	"He and I haven't spoken since I called off the engagement," Paige
spoke softly.
	Lauren felt herself slip into a state of shock. Her head lowered
while she stared heavily at the imported rug centered along the stairs. She
had not even realized that Paige was no longer at the head of the
stairs. So many thoughts were whirling through her mind, but she pushed
them back. All that mattered was the question raging throughout her
mind. What did this mean, she wondered.
	Lauren hurried up the stairs. She moved toward her room on the
right. She stopped. A warm light flooded lovingly into the hall. It was
coming from her sister's room. She felt butterflies dancing manically
inside her stomach. Her heels kissed the hardwood floors with each slow
step she took toward her sister's bedroom.
	Lauren extended her hand. With her fingertips resting against the
cool door's surface, she pushed the door open.
	The room was warm with candles. Paige lit the last candle before
delicately blowing out the match within her hand. She turned her head as
she caught sight of her sister standing inside the doorway. Slowly, she
smiled.
	"Did you know that the women working the assembly would spend hours
talking about what they would do the moment their GI came home?" Paige
asked nonchalantly.
	She strode across the room. Her fingers lightly clasped Lauren's
hands. She pulled her invitingly into the room while she backed further
into it. Her honey eyes reflected the flames inside the candles. She turned
Lauren gracefully, as if they were dancing to the subtle sound of the wind
rustling through the trees.
	Lauren felt the backs of her legs touch against the edge of the
bed. She swallowed hard at the lump in her throat. Her breath trembled as
it slipped past full lips. She held the eyes of the woman she loved, the
woman she had always loved. Her eyes never once looked away, even as
Paige's nimble fingers began unbuttoning the golden buttons of her jacket.
	"The one thing that each woman seemed to have in common," Paige
continued in a throaty voice. "Was a desperate need to touch, a need to
pamper our GI. As if to say 'thank you', to say 'I love you', to say 'I
missed you' and 'I need you'."
	Lauren tried not to tremble. She closed her eyes, savoring the feel
of Paige moving closer.
	Paige tenderly pushed the jacket from Lauren's shoulders. She
allowed it to fall to the floor. Her fingers loosened the khaki tie around
her sister's neck. When Lauren took her face warmly inside her hands, her
hand fell limply to her side. She could feel the tie slipping out of her
grasp.
	"Paige," Lauren whispered. Her eyes said so much, even before her
lips could utter a word. "Do you realize what you're saying?" She gave a
vulnerable frown. "I was so sure I'd lost you forever when you read my
dairy. I---"
	Lauren's words were brought to a dramatic end by the lips seizing
hers with unending love and passion. The lips moving against hers were the
softest she had ever felt. They were sweet and supple. She parted her lips
against them. She felt them part in response to hers. Tender flesh traced
along the line of her top lip. She closed her lips around it, suckling
lovingly at Paige's tongue.
	Paige tilted her head. She deepened their kiss with a moaned purr
which reverberated deep within her throat. Her arms wrapped around Lauren's
body. She crushed her sister to her, feeling proud, shapely breasts crush
against hers. Between impassioned kisses, she spoke:
	"You'll never lose me," Paige promised. "I love you so much,
Lauren. I always have." Her body shivered with excitement as Lauren's hand
slid down from her jaw. They traveled over her shoulders, roaming down her
arms until they found a home at her sides.
	The slow sound of her dress being unzipped echoed in the air. It
joined the sound of their heated breaths rasping in the night, their gentle
purrs inspiring dull throbs.
	The air came to rush against Paige's exposed skin. She felt it
caress her with each pair of teeth opening. Soon her dress released its
hold. It fell to the ground, haloing her body in a lustful ring. She stood
inside Lauren's arms. Her breasts were housed inside a black lace bra. Her
panties were of matching grace. Along the smooth length of her beautiful
legs, her stockings shimmered. A delicate seam ran along the back of her as
if pointing the way toward bliss.
	Paige unbuttoned the khaki button-down shirt her army nurse
wore. She released an appreciative groan as she glimpsed her sister's
sensuous breasts for the first time. They were full, restrained inside
their ivory bra with a seductive pout.
	Paige lowered her head. Her lips kissed over the tops of
sweet-smelling orbs. She closed her eyes, feeling her sister's fingers get
lost in her dark hair. Her tongue dipped into the valley of her sister's
breasts. She grazed with a slow sweep across the flesh. Her fingers reached
down, unbuttoning and unzipping the skirt which separated them. With a
slight whoosh, they plummeted to the ground.
	Lauren shrugged out of her shirt. She took Paige into her arms,
then laid her sister upon the bed. The moment her body crushed to hers, she
felt her pulse quicken.
	Wrapping her arms around her sister's neck, Paige claimed her
lover's mouth again. She kissed her deeply, growing lost in the emotions
pouring from Lauren directly into her. All the love they had ever shared
was heightened in the realization of attraction.
	Lauren ran her hand along her sister's body. She guided her
sibling's leg to wrap around her waist. With it close, she pushed off her
sister's heel then tossed it to the floor. Her fingers traced the top of
Paige's stocking. She pushed it down slowly, feeling a gift unwrapped
beneath her touch. As they kissed, she repeated the act once more on her
sister's other leg. The feel of smooth bare skin wrapping around her waist
made her dizzy.
	Holding herself up with her arms, Lauren looked down at the woman
with mussed mahogany hair. Her red hair hung around her face. She was
flushed with wanton desires, but she wanted to savor this night. She had
dreamt of it for so long.
	Lauren sat up on her knees. She tossed her long hair over her
shoulder absently, unaware that it sent a jolt through her lover watching
below. Her arms reached behind her body. She unclasped her bra then removed
it with slow eroticism.
	Paige gripped tightly at the sheets. She strangled the moan inside
her throat as enthralling orbs were revealed to her hungry eyes. She
ravaged their flesh with her eyes. The peaks straining to new heights
beneath her gaze caused her own nubs to arch painfully. She sat up on her
elbows, never taking her eyes away from the woman moving to stand at the
side of the bed. She followed the seductive air with which Lauren presented
her leg. Then she watched as Lauren slowly removed her stockings.
	The little striptease that her sister performed was somehow
voyeuristic. Paige felt as though she were somehow glimpsing her sister as
she readied for bed. The way Lauren confidently held her foot against the
edge of the bed, the way her hands slid over her own leg. It was easy for
Paige to imagine the sexy redhead smoothing lotion over her skin.
	Lauren's olive eyes suddenly lifted from her own thigh. She held
her lover's eyes while her thumbs hooked themselves inside her panties. She
worked the fabric down, one hip at a time. At first she gave teasing
glimpses of her smooth skin. The lower her panties were pushed, the slower
their descent became.
	Paige rolled onto her side, then commanded her body to rise. Her
honey eyes never left the erotic show being put on for her eyes alone. She
leaned forward. Her lips sensually covered her sister's trembling abdomen
with lingering kisses.
	"Paige," Lauren moaned as her head fell back. Her lashes fluttered
closed.
	The eldest sibling breathed deeply of the musky perfume rising in
the air. Her lips trailed lower.
	Lauren reached down. She grasped desperately to her sister's
shoulder. She stepped out of her panties, but was sure that she would fall
if Paige's lips moved even a breadth lower.
	As if reading her sister's mind, Paige took possession of the hips
she craved. She held her sister upright the instant her lips touched
themselves to hers in their first intimate kiss.
	Lauren's chest rose and fell with the passion welling inside
her. She moaned aloud as a soft tongue slipped between her lips. It
explored her with unhurried ease, memorizing every silken inch of her. She
began to shake uncontrollably. Her lips were covered in copious dew. She
felt its hot nature turn cool with each moment her lover's breath rushed to
meet it.
	"I love you," Lauren panted.
	Paige encircled Lauren's waist in her strong embrace. She guided
her baby sister to rest comfortably against the plush bed. Her hand slid to
move the graceful length of Lauren's leg over her shoulder. She lowered her
head. Her lips captured a swollen lip between them, suckling with a
hungered need. Her fingers parted the blooming petals until she exposed the
bright heart of her sister. She explored its silken depths with the tip of
her tongue. Then she pushed her tongue slowly and deeply inside of her
sister.
	Together, both women moaned lustfully into the night.
	Lauren's back bowed as her body raised off the bed. She parted her
legs, offering up herself all the more to her sister's famished mouth.
	Paige reached a hand beneath Lauren. She cupped the sensual swell
of her lover's bottom, using her grasp to pull her lover closer. She fit
her mouth to Lauren with greedy need. Her voice was muffled slightly, but
Lauren felt her words tickle the throbbing parts of her.
	"I love you, Lauren."
	Lauren felt tears stream soundlessly down her cheeks. Her breath
grew more ragged. Her abdomen clutched violently. She closed her eyes
tightly as a cry of unabashed pleasure burst from her.
	Paige moaned into Lauren. She drank heartily from the fount
offering itself up to her. As it flooded her, dribbling down the corners of
her mouth to run hotly down her chin, she felt her own juices quicken.
	A sweat had broken out over Lauren's entire body. Her chest heaved
mightily, but she felt alive. She reached out with shaking hands. She
cupped her sister's face. Insistently, she pulled her lover upward.
	Lauren slid her tongue over anointed skin. She tasted herself so
clearly against her sister's face. Turning her head, she captured a pair of
moistly fragrant lips. She kissed her sister deeply, caressing her tongue
against the tongue that had brought such pleasure to her body.
	Paige was trembling. She had never wanted anyone so much. She had
never ached as much as she did in this moment. Her back arched with
arousal. She relished the feel of Lauren's hands moving over her. When the
erotic redhead released her from the restraints of her bra, she shivered.
When Lauren began kneading skillfully at her breasts, she moaned.
	Lauren sucked with a quiet purr at the chin stained by her juices.
Her hands moved down to the panties she both envied and resented for being
so close to Paige. She peeled them away. The perfume their absence released
was driving her mad with passion.
	Her hand worked between their bodies. Lauren felt her palm
purposely grind an erotic slope. She worked the heel of her hand against a
hardened clit. She felt her sister's heartbeat throbbing inside it. She
massaged the hardened nub more diligently, spurred onward by the vocal
encouragements flooding the air. She had never seen her sister so free.
Paige was beautiful and untamed.
	Paige rolled her hips, working to meet the hand grinding against
her. When her sister's middle finger dipped into her, then delved deeper at
its next attempt, her head fell back with a moan.
	Together, they found a rhythm. It was growing more passionate with
every wet-laced smack to toll their pace.
	"I love you," Paige said. There was a sudden urgency to her voice.
	Unable to take her eyes off of the vision above her, Lauren
responded in a raspy voice. "I love you," she said.
	Paige's juices flooded out of her in time with climax's cry.
Breathless and shaking, she collapsed against her sister's body.
	Lauren wrapped an arm around Paige, holding her close. She remained
deeply inside the woman. Her finger felt the persistent kiss of her lover's
inner walls as they involuntarily tightened and relaxed around it.
	Weakly, Paige lifted her head. Her arms moved to rest on either
side of Lauren's head. Tenderly, she brushed back the woman's long hair.
She smoothed it gently. Its red roots were dark with sweat, making it
appear more like the color of her own hair. She wanted to promise that she
would never leave her. She wanted Lauren to promise that she would never
leave her again, but none of that truly mattered. All that mattered was
that they were together, finally truly together, as they had always
secretly longed to be, but never had the courage to admit.
	The olive green eyes gazing devotedly into hers would never turn
away again. They would never hide what was inside them.
	Paige leaned forward. She kissed Lauren with all the love she
possessed in her heart. Complete and utter contentment came as the body
molding itself to hers offered up that same love completely.