Editor's note: this story contains scenes of incest or incest content.
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What reason did she have for keeping this door locked? She had never been secretive, never sought to conceal anything before, especially from her sister, but this door seemed to be an exception. Fiona looked around her, there was a short three-drawer cabinet against the duck-egg blue wallpaper. Maybe she kept the key in there? She was unlikely to keep it far away.
With a furtive glance to check she was alone, she opened the top drawer. There was nothing there, some old papers, the charger to a discarded cellphone and a few pens. Undeterred, she broadened her investigation, opening the middle drawer. Again, she was disappointed, there was nothing. Literally nothing. Finally she settled on the lowest of the three and slid it open. This draw was stiffer than the others and squeaked as she tried to loosen it. She paused for a moment, eager not to make her whereabouts known to her sister, Sarah, in the next room. She slid her hand inside the drawer and instantly felt it, the unmistakable feel of cold metal - a key!
Without wasting any time she took the key from the drawer and placed it against the lock. She slid it inside, pushing past the slightest hint of resistance the lock gave before hearing it click neatly into the aperture. She was about to turn when she heard footsteps approaching. Quickly, as her heart beat heavily in her chest, she removed the key. She didn't have time to return it to the drawer so dropped in towards the floor, blocking the key from hitting the floorboards with her bare foot before sliding it gently underneath the cabinet. She looked up, it was Sarah.
"What are you doing, skulking about the hallway by yourself?" she asked, grinning ever so slightly.
Fiona remained calm, her composure was always one of her attributes, "Skulking is it?" she asked, "I'm just having a look, I'm not used to staying anywhere so big. You've done well for yourself."
"Awww, thanks Sis," she playfully tapped her arm. "How about you come to the kitchen and we can catch up properly. It's been too long!"
Fiona smiled and followed her sister, back down the hallway and into the kitchen. Although she had been in this room before, it never failed to impress her. Their childhood home could probably have fit comfortably inside the room that Sarah modestly referred to as a kitchen, but in reality was part kitchen, part dining room, part living room. Sarah really had done well for herself.
Sarah sat down a large sofa which looked out at the garden through the patio doors with a cup of tea in hand. "So, tell me," she said, "How is Michael?"
Fiona had been dreading this question, her and her husband had barely been getting on recently, it was one of the reasons why now was such a good time to come and stay with her sister. Their marriage had started well, but had rapidly spiralled out of control. Fiona never made much money in her job, but that hadn't mattered at Mike was the breadwinner. Their first year together was the picture of marital bliss, but then Michael had been made redundant. The blow struck him hard and although he managed to find another similar job fairly quickly he had never really gotten over it. He started to drink more often, and would "work late" sometimes Fiona wouldn't see him for days. This had been going on for more than six months and it was beginning to feel as though the end was near. No matter how much love there was, there was nothing keeping them together.
She unburdened herself of the entire story to her sister, surely Sarah of all people would know what to do. She who had managed to achieve so much for herself in such a short time surely knew how to fix their problems, or could at least offer some advice.
Sarah thought for a moment. "Do you still love him?" she asked.
"Of course I do," came Fiona's reply, her tone made it clear that she was telling the truth.
"And what about your sex life?" continued Sarah. "How has that been?"
Fiona paused for a moment, she considered keeping that to herself, but she had never kept anything from Sarah, and now didn't seem like the time to start. "It was okay at first" she began
"Only okay?" Sarah didn't mean to sound so shocked, "You mean even before things started to go downhill?"
"Uh, well yeah" Fiona was embarrassed but knew that honesty was the only way with her sister, if she tried to lie she would be caught out almost immediately.
"Surely newly-weds should be having amazing sex! What was the problem?"
"Well, it's a little awkward, and I don't want to talk about Mike behind his back."
"C'mon Fee, it's hardly 'behind his back', I'm your sister not his Facebook page - we need to be able to talk to each other honestly. Remember it's the two of us against the world?"
Fiona smiled reluctantly, they had always been so close, they had always shared everything, today should be no different. "Well the thing is, that I'm sexually very submissive as you know..."
Sarah nodded, finally they were getting to the real issues.
"Well the problem is - I think anyway - that so is he."
"Oh."
"Yeah, exactly. I need him to just take me, to do what he wants with me, maybe tie me up, throw me around a little. I like to feel small, I like to be told what to do, I just love all of it... but Mike, it's just not in him. I think he wants the same. He wants me to take charge, and I just can't do it."
Sarah thought for a moment. "Have you guys spoken about this?"
"A little, but we always end up dancing around the issue. I think he's just too embarrassed to say what he wants. He's so stuck in the macho culture of his job that even admitting to something like that is hard for him. I know that he trusts me, but I just think he must think I'd think less of him if he told me what he wanted."
"A lot of men are insecure in that way, but I don't think that is the biggest part of the problem."
"What do you mean?"
"Well you've said yourself what you need from a man, and you know what he needs from you, it seems to me like neither of you are in much of a position to give it."
Fiona's face turned back to sadness "Do you really think?"
"Think of it like this, say you decided to switch for each other, one of you would be in charge while the other could act as the submissive, do you think that's something that you could do for him. Would it get you off to tell him what to do? To have him crawling around after you like your slave? To spanks him? To tie him in bondage? To use him?"
She thought hard for a moment. "The idea is hot, but I don't think I could actually do it. As much as I want to do it for him, I just think I'd feel awkward, I think without confidence, I could never play that part."
"Okay, and in the reverse. Do you think he could do all of that for you? Do you think he could dominate you, give you everything that your submissive side needs?"
This time Fiona didn't need to think, "I know he can't, I've told him what I want and he cant rise to the challenge, I think it just doesn't get him off, or he also lacks confidence. Whatever the problem is, he just can't do it."
Sarah leaned in and hugged her sister. "Look, if you guys are willing, I know a sex therapist who could help you, she's really good, and she owes me a favour."
"It's okay, I think we would just talk about something else for now. I'm sure we can sort something out without having to resort to professional help."