From Friends to Lovers

The girls were still sleeping when Marie and I got up to shower -- "I love the en suite," Marie smiled -- and I wrote a note for them before we left. "Gone to mess with the fabric of reality -- see you for dinner. Xx"

We took Marie's car, and she drove us to the out-of-town science park where the physics lab was located. The keycard from the lanyard round her neck, and a quick tap at the keypad -- "You'll need to know the combination anyway --" and we were in, walking down gleaming corridors to the high-roofed space where Marie and her team worked.

Marie walked over to a semi-circular console, a row of screens lighting up as she threw switches. "Pull up a chair," she invited.

She picked up a telephone handset, dialling. "Hi, it's the lab," she said when the call was answered. "Yes, about ten minutes."

I looked at her enquiringly when she put the phone down. "The experiment uses quite a lot of power," she explained. "We have to let the utility company know when we're about to operate."

More switches, and a distinct humming sound filled the air. Marie adjusted verniers, checking readings, then pointed across the lab. "Everything's ready -- watch."

I followed thick cables from where we were sitting, leading to a raised platform which supported something like a circular segment from a huge industrial turbine, hollow in the middle. Marie counted under her breath, and closed the last breaker. "Oh -- my -- god," she enunciated.

Filling the empty circle was now a rippling surface of velvet blackness, seeming somehow to swallow the light falling on it from the fluorescent tubes above us. "Is it supposed to do that?" I asked.

Marie's hand covered her mouth in astonishment. "We've put high speed cameras on it, of course. The longest the effect's ever lasted before was a millionth of a second."

She kissed me hard on the lips. "I knew you were a genius. Those equations were the key."

She grinned. "Ever fancied a trip to Stockholm?"

I glanced again at the rippling circle. "Er, Marie... Does it, well, go anywhere?"

"We'll have to prepare a probe," Marie said decisively. She tapped keys, then pulled the breaker. The rippling surface collapsed, my eyes momentarily failing to make sense of what I saw, as though light from dimensions beyond the usual was falling on them.

She took a deep breath. "This could be the biggest thing since the Manhattan Project."

I nodded. "We should celebrate. Shall we get back, tell the girls?"

Marie made sure the console was completely shut down, then we retraced our steps to the car. "I suppose I should call the Vice-Chancellor," she said thoughtfully.

"We can do that from the house," I suggested. "Let's pick up something to drink, and we can phone for takeaway -- you and the girls can choose."

We stopped off at the supermarket, and Marie looked thoughtfully at the selection of bottles. "What do the girls like?"

I couldn't help a smirk, and she threw me an enquiring look. "What?"

"I was remembering a slightly tipsy night with Beth and a friend while we were on holiday last summer," I grinned. "But I don't think grappa is quite what we have in mind today."

I picked up a dark bottle. "I think this'll be to their taste, though."

We paid for our selection, then carried on to the house. Marie parked, and we left our purchases in the kitchen, taking off our shoes and climbing the stairs towards the bedroom. When we reached the landing, Marie held up her hand, stopping suddenly, then gave me a knowing smile, putting her finger to her lips to enjoin silence. "Oh, Beth," I heard Sarah's voice quietly but distinctly from the bedroom, full of unmistakeable passion.

I held my breath as Marie walked softly to the bedroom door, then beckoned me to join her. I glanced with her round the edge of the door, and threw her a smile of my own. Sarah and Beth were on the bed, Sarah lying back against the pillow while Beth's fingers stroked down her throat, then onto the curve of one breast. Sarah breathed in, her chest rising, bringing Beth's fingertips into contact with her nipple. Sarah gasped, an almost hungry look filling her face. "Your mouth," she pleaded, and Beth bent to kiss the nipple, then encircle it with her lips. Beth's fingertips drifted to the other breast, and we heard Sarah's soft moan. She parted her thighs, her own fingers exploring herself, circling her nub with increasing urgency. "Beth --" she gasped, and Beth teased her, fingers stroking the inside of Sarah's thighs making her squirm. "Oh --"

Beth relented, two fingers exploring Sarah's wetness then sliding inside. I blinked as Sarah flexed her hips, then whispered audibly, "Oh, Beth, put your fingers in the other place."

Beth drew her fingers back, now slippery, and I couldn't help a quiet murmur of my own as she pressed them into the centre of Sarah's pink star, her fingers penetrating her. Sarah took a deep breath of satisfaction, shifting her hips forward a little. "Feels like when he was in me there," she whispered. "I want that again, Beth, soon, you'll help me, won't you?"

"Of course, darling."

Beth moved her fingers, and Sarah gasped again. "Please..."

Beth slid down, now burying her mouth between Sarah's thighs, tonguing her. "Mm," moaned Sarah. "Oh, but I want you to finish me with your fingers."

Beth moved back a little, her other hand cupping Sarah's mound, then her fingers starting to circle her nub as Sarah's had a few moments before. Sarah's hands cupped her own breasts, her hips pushing up against Beth, gasping as her movements took Beth's penetrating fingers a little deeper into her. "Oh, yes, don't stop," Sarah begged, the muscles under the skin of her stomach tensing visibly, "I'm going to --"

Her back arched, her words no longer coherent, and I watched spellbound as Sarah's pink star pulsed visibly around Beth's fingers while a spurt of clear liquid wet her other hand, leaving Beth's skin glistening, a distinct wet spot on the bed.

"Mm," Beth gave a sigh of satisfaction, carefully withdrawing her fingers, moving up to kiss Sarah. "You always amaze me, my love."

Marie glanced at me, tilting her head back towards the stairs, and I nodded understanding. I followed her back down to the hall, opening and then closing the front door with an audible sound. "Put the shopping in the kitchen," I spoke louder than really necessary, and Marie smirked. "OK, let's go and see how the girls are doing," she replied at equal volume. We clattered up the stairs, and by the time we reached the bedroom, Beth and Sarah were in one another's arms, an innocent embrace under the covers. "How did it go?" Beth smiled as we entered the room.

"Amazing," I enthused. "If you two get up and put some clothes on, we'll tell you all about it."

Sarah pulled back the covers, and I studiously ignored her obviously just-pleasured nipples, the wet spot on the sheets. "Come on," Beth invited her. "Nothing's so urgent that we can't have a quick shower. Tim, be a love and make us some coffee."

We waited in the kitchen, and after a few minutes the girls appeared, hair still wet. They sat down, smiling their thanks for the mugs I set down in front on them. "So what happened?" Sarah queried.

I glanced at Marie. "We might have discovered instantaneous space travel."

Marie held up her hand as Beth's jaw dropped. "All we know is that we've generated a field that significantly distorts space-time -- whether it's useful for anything has still to be proved."

She blinked, obviously recalling our conversation in the car. "I need to make that phone call."

"I'll pour you a drink," I said. "And I'll see what these two want to eat."

Marie went off to use the phone, and I filled glasses for us from the bottle we'd brought. "We thought we'd celebrate, phone for dinner."

"Chinese," Sarah offered without hesitation, looking to Beth for confirmation.

"OK."

Marie returned, grinning. "He'll organise an announcement to the press, and our funding for the next phase is confirmed. Tim, this is pretty unprecedented, but your work on this will go straight before the doctoral committee."

It was my turn to blink. "Marie -- you mean --?"

Beth was the first to lean over and kiss me. "Congratulations, Doctor Oakes."

She picked up her phone to call the takeaway. "What does everyone want...?"