It was nearing 4:00pm on a Friday night; Detective's Amanda Ellis and Mitchell Blake are just finishing up some paper work before leaving for the weekend. A very familiar voice called out to them and both women look at each other with suspicious eyes. "What did we do now I wonder?" Mitchell asked her partner.

"Ellis and Blake, in my office please." Captain Marty Anderson had been seen pacing back and forth in his office for the past 15 minutes arguing with whoever was on the other end of the phone. He sighed, hitched up his suit pants and called for the two women whose desks were outside of his office. He was uncomfortable with this assignment he was about to give his only two female detectives. The police chief had instructed him he didn't care about Ellis' and Blake's personal lives. They were police officers and, because they were lesbians, could handle this situation. A bead of sweat rolled down the Captain's face as he looked at these two women. They've been through so much he thought, and now were expected to handle this? When he had seen that the two women were seated and comfortable, he spoke:

"Girls we have a situation."

Amanda cringed at the familiar words always spoken to her by Captain Adams when she was stationed in Beverly Hills. Already she felt sick, as she knew Mitchell didn't realize what was coming next. Unfortunately, neither did she.
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Dr. Sandra Wilson had been in surgery all day. There had been a traffic accident that claimed the life of the driver of the one car, and the other two passengers required surgery. The driver of the other vehicle had been drunk, and walked away with only a broken arm. When she returned to her office she passed on taking a shower. She shared the bathroom with two other surgeons, both male, and both pigs. She changed from her scrubs into her own clothes and headed home. It was days like this she wished she'd never became a surgeon. She needed a long soak in the tub and Amanda's magic hands on her aching shoulders. She was stopped at a red light when her cell phone rang.

"Hi Sandy, its Deb." Sandy smiled when she heard the voice of Mitchell's lover and now her new friend.

"Hey girl, what's up?" Sandy put the ear piece into her ear and drove off when the light turned green.

"Has Amanda called you yet?" Deb asked.

"No, why, is there a problem?" Sandy asked back.

"Sort of, we're all meeting at your place. Amanda and Mitchell have already picked up Kevin and are home." Deb hoped she hadn't caused any problems by calling Sandy. She honestly figured that when Mitchell had called her upset, Amanda would have been on her cell phone as well.

"Ok, Deb, I'm only 5 minutes away, but I need a shower. It was one bitch of a day." Sandy already knew that when Amanda hadn't called, it meant a big problem. Amanda would be sorting it out in her head, on how to tell her. "Hey I see your car Deb, I'm right behind you. See you in a minute. Bye"

The two women pulled into the driveway behind each other. They got out and walked through the door. "Hi honey's we're home!" Sandy called out.

Mitchell poked her head out of the kitchen and smiled at both women. She walked over and gave Deb a kiss and a hug and just held her for a moment. "I'm sorry babe, Amanda and I yelled and screamed at the Captain for 20 minutes, but it did no good."
Mitchell looked over at Sandy. "Ah, Amanda's upstairs waiting for you, Sandy."
With that Mitchell took Deb's hand and they both went outside to let their two friends have some privacy, and keep Kevin company.

Sandy walked upstairs and into the bedroom. Amanda was lying on the bed. Her face still looked angry and her eyes were black instead of their normal brown.

Sandy stripped her clothes off while she spoke with her lover. "I don't know what's going on Amanda, but I've been in surgery all day and I need a shower. I could also use a massage on my shoulders. They are killing me, ok?"

Amanda just nodded as Sandy walked into the bathroom.

Sandy scrubbed the day's sweat and hell away, knowing that tonight didn't look much better. Whatever is going on is nasty she thought. Amanda looks like she is ready to kill, again. A shiver ran through Sandra's body even though the water was hot. She shut off the water and stepped out of the shower. She wrapped a towel around her long red hair and dried off her body. She reached for her silk bathrobe, stopped and decided against it. Amanda might respond a bit better if I'm naked she thought, and walked out towel drying her hair. By this time Amanda was sitting up with her back leaned against the pillows that were in front of the head board of the bed. Sandy sat in between her legs and softly moaned as Amanda and the scented oil worked their magic. Sandy never said a word until Amanda was ready to talk.

"Mitchell and I are being sent undercover for a couple of weeks. At least we hope it's only that long." Amanda poured some more oil into her hands and again worked on Sandy's shoulders.

"They are sending us to a health spa in Tucson Arizona." Amanda stopped for a moment.

"How can you and Mitchell go there, you work for San Diego?" Sandy asked.

"Nothing like the internet and a video camera to swear us in." Amanda scoffed.

"The worse part is yet to come, honey." Amanda just hung her head. "We are going in as two spoiled and rich lesbian executives with nothing better to do than get beautiful. We are expected to work out as instructed, use their mud packs and cucumbers on our eyes, eat their shitty diet food and get caught fucking everyone we can, including each other."

"What!" Sandy screamed as she jumped off the bed. "What the hell was that last part?"

Amanda rubbed her temples as she could feel the headache coming on. "It's a lesbian spa and some of the clients are being blackmailed. Whoever the blackmailer is has these women scared. We're talking doctors, lawyers, anyone with money who can afford this place, and likes a little "hanky panky" on the side. Tucson police are getting nowhere with the case, and they need two unknown police women, preferably detectives, to go undercover."

"Can't they just shut the place down Amanda?" Sandy asked.

"No, we need to catch the bad guy here, because there are negatives floating around and the internet is a breeding ground for stuff like this." Amanda got up and put her arms around Sandy. "I'm sorry hon. Mitchell and I argued with the Captain over this for 20 minutes. It's the chief's decision and now we've just become the police department's lesbian whores."

Deb had just come back inside to order an extra large pizza for the group when she heard Sandy yell "what!" She knew this was not going to be a pleasant evening. Mitchell was still outside playing with Kevin and Whiskey. She had been quiet and Deb thought it was best just to leave her with her thoughts until Amanda and Sandy came back down stairs. Movement and foot steps caught her attention as Amanda and Sandy finally did come downstairs. Both women looked at her with expressions of anger, but mostly fear. What would this do to everyone's friendship and relationship? Deb shook her head and held out her arms to her friends. Mitchell walked in to see the three women in a group hug and joined in. Maybe they would get through this yet? Mitchell didn't know.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By Monday morning, Amanda and Mitchell had been sworn in to the Tucson Police department, and that afternoon they were on a plane headed to Tucson's airport. They hadn't been assigned seats together and the trip seemed to take forever. Upon landing there was a chauffeur with a sign against his chest that read: "Heaven's Bliss." This was the name of the spa and Amanda and Mitchell made their way over, as well as two other women. The spa was just on the outskirts of the city, but with traffic it was still an hour's drive. When they arrived, the spa staff was more than helpful with their guests luggage, seeing them to their rooms, and offering them a complimentary champagne greeting in an hours time. Once Amanda entered her room and she was alone, she quickly took out a small device and scanned the room for any cameras or other electronic equipment. "No bugs, good." She talked to the four walls and sat down on the bed to collect her thoughts. Neither she nor Mitchell had talked much all weekend.
Deb had given them a few ideas on how to get started with the charade, but both women were totally grossed out with any thoughts of the two of them "getting it on." Flirting, Amanda thought, she and Mitchell would have no problem with that. They had flirted with each other numerous times in the past and sometimes even managed to keep a straight face. But usually one or the other would break out into laughter and that would end the game. "What if I have to have sex with someone here, just to get to the bottom of this thing?" Now Amanda was talking to the ceiling. If this had been a few years ago she thought, no problem. Bring it on. But now with Sandy and Kevin, their home life, and Mitchell was her partner for Christ sake.

Amanda heard a knock on the door and got up to answer it. It was her escort for the champagne greeting. Oh goodie she thought sarcastically, let the games begin.

Their host for the greeting was an older woman by the name of Grace Walters. She was a very attractive woman, perhaps in her late 50's and her voice was pleasant to listen to. She only spoke for a few moments and then turned the greeting over to another woman. Her name was Linda Osgood and she started explaining the times of all the meals, exercise times, beauty treatment times etc. Amanda wanted to vomit, she had heard enough and wanted nothing more then to get the case over with and get the hell out of "Dodge." When the greeting was over with and the game was "a foot", the women started to talk with one another.
Amanda wasted no time and moved over to Mitchell's side. Mitchell looked as if she was going to pass out or throw up. "Hi, you look a little lost?" Amanda extended her hand and Mitchell took it in a hand shake. "My name is Amanda Wilson."
"Nice to meet you Amanda, I'm Mitchell Tyler." Both women grinned and turned towards the patio doors. "Perhaps we should stroll around the grounds together and get acquainted?" Amanda smirked as she placed her hand on Mitchell's back and let her exit the door ahead of her. "Excellent idea Amanda, I think a walk would be a great idea." Mitchell looked at her partner and hoped this case would end soon. Deb had sat Mitchell down over the weekend and explained a few things about love and sex to her. "There's making love Mitchell, she had said, and then there's sex. Two totally different feelings." Were they Mitchell thought? I guess I'll find out.

At least Amanda and Mitchell had been allowed to keep their own first names. It was of some small comfort when they chose to use Deb's and Sandy's last names. "I scanned my room and found nothing." Amanda smiled charmingly at Mitchell as they walked the grounds.

"Same here," said Mitchell. "But I think it's something we are going to have to do on a regular basis. Never know from one minute to the next."

Amanda agreed as they walked away from the other guests.

Finding some seclusion for the moment Mitchell stopped Amanda and looked at her. "What happens if we have to "do" this Amanda?"

Amanda now wished they had talked about this over the weekend. "I don't know Mitch. We are just going to have to play this by ear and worry about the outcome later."

"But." Mitchell began to protest and then shrugged her shoulders. "Deb said to me we could look at this in two ways. One, it's just sex in the line of duty, or two consider it a gift to each other and say thank you."

Amanda didn't know how to reply to that. She could only look at Mitchell and smile.

The two detectives returned back to the other guests and started to mingle.
Mitchell was glad for her past few months with Deb. Any shyness that Mitchell Blake had left in her was definitely gone. Mitchell now knew the meaning of "tigress" and used it to her full advantage in this situation.

Amanda had been quite the player in her younger days. She had picked up more women over the years than she cared to remember. A skill she had hoped was long buried.

For the first two days they, like everyone else, were getting acquainted with the staff, the routine and each other. The food wasn't as bad as Amanda had feared and their exercise rooms had all the latest equipment. In fact, so far nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. She flirted with the staff and guests as did Mitchell with no one taking them up on their knowing smiles. It wasn't until Amanda had gone in for her regular massage on the third day that things indeed showed promise.

The massage therapist knew her trade and had excellent hands. All of the female staff wore sports bras and short shorts, leaving nothing to the client's imagination. Amanda and Mitchell were getting used to their surroundings and had actually enjoyed some of the classes they had been taking. Amanda had let her defences down as her body was being turned into a puddle of ooze from this young woman. It was a full body massage and Amanda thought nothing of it until she realized her legs had been parted and two fingers were gently working their way in and out of her. Amanda moaned. Dammit she thought. I don't need my body betraying me now. The woman was whispering something into her ear; the only word she caught was condom, as she felt the shaft of the device being inserted into her. This was it she thought. Amanda swallowed and quietly said a prayer to Sandy. She buried the person she was, and unleashed the person she used to be. With a wicked grin she ordered the young woman to get naked. She hoped the camera lens didn't fog up.

Mitchell was relaxing in the steam room. She was by herself and was taking advantage of this quiet time. It didn't last too long when the door opened and one of the staff's aerobic instructors popped in wearing a towel similar to hers. The young woman apologized and hoped Mitchell didn't mind her coming in for a few minutes. Mitchell had just smiled and motioned for her to sit. The young woman was quite the chatter box and Mitchell just mostly nodded with the appropriate responses. Mitchell eyes popped open when she realized the woman was standing in front of her naked and asking her if she was a natural blond. Mitchell's inner voice said, here we go and stood up, dropping her towel. The woman smiled and took Mitchell's hand and led her to a room off to the side of the steam room. Mitchell thought to her self; I guess she has a thing for natural blondes.

Amanda had the young woman laid out on the floor. They had grabbed some towels, tossing them down and now Amanda had the dildo in her hands and was pumping it in and out of her conquest. After Amanda's body had betrayed her again by the orgasm, Amanda had gotten up, forced the woman on the floor, ripped the condom off and proceeded to just take her. She didn't care to kiss her or waste any time with foreplay. Amanda was angry. She briefly thought that maybe this woman was been used as a pawn as well, but she seemed to be enjoying Amanda's efforts. Damn, she thought. If I'm going to be the police force's whore, then they better meet the bastard that comes along with it. She ignored the woman's orgasm and pleas for her to stop. Welcome to whom I was.



Dinner that evening was a somber affair for both Amanda and Mitchell. They had chosen to sit beside one another and were very quiet.

Mitchell could see it in Amanda's eyes. The smugness and anger that had she had only heard about from Amanda's talks about herself. She looked cold and cruel and Mitchell was thankful that she had never met this person before. She loved the Amanda that she knew and worked with every day and hoped to find her again, after this case was over with. The tryst that Mitchell had been involved with this afternoon had left her feeling sick. Never in her life had she ever had sex with someone that didn't mean something to her. She had been shy most of her life, and only since being with Deb these past few months had she began to open up and explore all the possibilities that love making had to offer. She felt ill as her mind flashed an image before her of the aerobics instructor down on her knees, feasting on Mitchell's blond curls and what lay within. Her hand shook as she attempted to take a drink of her wine, hoping this one glass that they were allowed at dinner would calm her nerves. As she set the empty glass down, a small pinkie finger wrapped its way around one of Mitchell's fingers. She looked over at Amanda who gave her a wink and a finger squeeze. This was her partner's way of reassuring her that she was ok, at least for now.

Sandy had cooked dinner for Kevin and herself. Whiskey was helping with Kevin's bath and getting him off to bed. When the dog knew Kevin was asleep she came downstairs and sat with Sandy. Not understanding why Amanda wasn't there, the gold coloured dog lay down by Sandy's feet. She could sense the upset feelings that the red haired human had and hoped she could comfort her. Sandy bent down and petted the dog glad that she was there for company and comfort. "Hey, girl. I wonder what our big dumb cop and her partner are up to tonight."
Sandy leaned back and sighed. " Forget that thought Whiskey, maybe I don't want to know."

Dutifully at 9:00pm Amanda and Mitchell would sneak out with their cell phones and call home. The talk would be brief as neither woman wanted to draw unwarranted attention to them.

"Hey Sandy." Amanda said when her lover picked up the phone. "How's my son doing and his beautiful mother?"

"We're fine Amanda, but we miss you. How's it going?" Sandy asked.

Amanda stuttered for a second with her reply. "It's going well. We've been approached and now just need to see what happens. Sandy, I'm sorry, if there was anyway to make this right, I'd do it."

Sandy sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "I know Amanda, just get it over with and we'll fix any problems when you get back. I love you, just remember that."

"I love you too and I'll be home as soon as I can." Amanda was shuffling her feet. She was uncomfortable.

"Hi baby girl." Mitchell's heart melted when she heard Deb's voice. "Is everything going ok?"

"Yes too good; we got approached today. Mitchell was torn about telling Deb, but they had agreed to be honest with each other about this, and now was not the time to back out.

"Oh, well that's good I guess? Deb's voice sounded a little deflated.

"Yeah, it is, at least it's a start." Mitchell could hear the upset in Deb's voice. "Listen Deb, I'm sorry. I wish this was just a bad dream and I could wake up and it would go away."

"It's ok Mitchell, I love you."

"I love you too Deb."

The two detectives talked for a couple of minutes longer and then said their good byes for another night. As they walked back into the lodge, they heard music playing in the background. Some of the women had coupled off and were dancing. They could see the hungry eyes of some of the other women clients and both detectives just wished for one moment they were both invisible.

By the end of the first week both Amanda and Mitchell had more cell phone numbers tucked away than they had had in college. Sex happened one more time for both of them, this time with two of the guests. Both detectives had been in the other guests' bedrooms and couldn't scan for "bugs." Still no approach had come from anyone about blackmail.

They had also watched to see if any of the other guests seemed to be upset or had left early. None so far. Everyone was having a great time. Maybe whoever was doing this waits until the last day or two and then approaches them.

It was the beginning of the second week and Amanda had returned to her room to drop off her watch. They were going for a swim. Mitchell had followed her in not thinking as Amanda scanned for "bugs." The light from the device started to flash and Amanda looked at a startled Mitchell. Oh no, Amanda thought, here is the perfect time and place. The camera is rolling and dammit Mitchell walked in with me.

Amanda had never felt so torn in her whole life. Desperately she wanted this case over with, but at what price? Could they do this? How would they look at each other the next morning? They had already sold themselves twice since being here.
All week she had been looking at Mitchell's body in a different way. Her long, blond hair, blue eyes, and Mitchell had the longest legs she'd ever seen on a woman. They both had seen each other in the buff many times. Mitchell did have a nice body and most certainly wasn't hard on the eyes. What would her partner feel like under her? Then her mind stopped and flashed an all too familiar scene. The day Mitchell had been shot, those blue eyes looking up at her before Mitchell had passed out. The blood seeping out of Mitchell's body as Amanda had taken napkins and some of the restaurant's clean towels and kept pressing down on the wound trying to stop the bleeding while waiting for the ambulance. She had shot that son a bitch without a moment's hesitation and now here they were, both of them bleeding from their hearts, in turmoil. Amanda looked at Mitchell's expression. Mitchell was scared, but started to undo her robe that covered her swimsuit. Her best friend and partner was looking at her as if she was a hungry wolf and Mitchell was a rabbit. Amanda gave her head a gentle shake. She removed her watch and placed it on the night stand, turned and gave Mitchell a slap on the butt. "Come on, I need a swim and a sauna." Mitchell was never so glad to hear those words in her life, and followed her partner out the door.

They had three days left of their two week assignment. Finally the aerobics instructor had propositioned Mitchell again, only this time Mitchell had gone back to the woman's room. Angela was her name, that's all Mitchell knew. Amanda had watched the exchange between the two and could smell a strike. This was it, Amanda could feel it. Mitchell could feel it too. In her mind she could hear the camera running as she allowed this woman to have her body. Mitchell prayed for this to be it. She couldn't take another moment of this charade and so wanted to kick this woman off of her and go home to Deb. How had Deb been able to sell herself out on the streets for all those years? When she would leave here to go home, she would order a dozen roses and have them delivered.

It was the last day of their two week stay at "Heaven's Bliss." More like Hell's Haven" Amanda thought. She was in the coffee shop area; bags packed waiting for Mitchell when she spotted Angela heading down to Mitchell's room with a large brown envelope in her hands. Amanda watched as the aerobics instructor knocked on Mitchell's door and walked in. The exchange took all of 15 minutes as Angela left with a fake cheque in her hands, minus the envelope. Mitchell walked out of her room, spied Amanda, nodded her head and grinned.
Both women cornered Angela, flashed their badges, and arrested her on the spot.

Tucson's finest were called in to close down the spa. One other arrest had been made. Linda Osgood, who was the co-ordinator of the spa, had been arrested as well. Linda and Angela had been working together for the past few months with the blackmail scam. There had only been a handful of rooms that the special cameras had been placed in, and all of the negatives and pictures had been found in a locked filing cabinet in Linda's office. Amanda was pleased when no pictures were discovered of her self. The massage therapist had been acting alone, enjoying the pleasures of whatever woman wanted to have fun. The only pictures that had been found of either of them were Mitchell with Angela, the aerobics instructor. Fortunately Mitchell found them first and kept the envelope.

Amanda and Mitchell, with luggage in tow, returned to the Tucson police station and filled out their paper work. Under protest they ended up staying another day, and when they were finally finished with statements and interviews they were allowed to go back home. They had missed the last flight to San Diego and were forced to stay in a hotel across from the airport.

Amanda slid the key card through the lock and walked into the room. Immediately she started to curse and headed for the phone to call the front desk. It took Mitchell a minute to realize what had upset Amanda until she had seen the cause. There was only one bed in the room. Sweet Jesus, Mitchell thought to herself. Are we ever going to be able to make it home and not have sex with each other? For the past two weeks it was all she could think about. Every morning she had awoken with knots in her stomach, and now she was feeling it again. I need to splash some water on my face and think about this.

Amanda slammed down the phone and cursed some more. "Fucking idiots, after everything we did for them, and they give us a single room. Shit, all I need to see are a couple of squirrels and I'm walking home."

Mitchell came out of the bathroom. "Well at least there's a jacuzzi. I could use one right about now."

"Amanda, did you say squirrels?" Mitchell arched an eyebrow and thought for sure her friend had lost it.

"Yeah, Mitch, long story."

Both Amanda and Mitchell dug out their cell phones and called home, explaining they had missed the last flight, but would be home tomorrow morning.

"Is that jacuzzi big enough for both of us?" Amanda asked.

"Yup, suits or no suits?" Mitchell grinned.

Amanda laughed and started shedding clothes. "After this week, what the hell, no suits."

The water was warm and soothing. It had, in fact, been two weeks of hell and both Amanda and Mitchell leaned their heads back on the bath pillows that had been provided and shut their eyes.

"Can we talk for a while?" Mitchell asked.

"Of course, what's up?" Amanda replied.

"That night in your room, when I saw the flashing light of the "bug catcher", I saw the look in your eyes and knew you were hesitating. I thought the easiest way to do it, was as a thank you that day for saving my life. I had my robe untied and you stopped me, how come?" Mitchell could feel herself starting to tense up not having a clue as to Amanda's answer.

Amanda closed her eyes and opened them slowly. "I saw the look of fear in your eyes, Mitchell. Don't get me wrong, you are beautiful and I do love you, but I only saw that look of fear once before and I couldn't go through with it. I moved heaven and hell that day to save your life. I shot that bastard without even thinking about it, tore open your clothes, tried to stop the bleeding and prayed to God, the Devil and anyone else out there who would listen, to please let you live. I promised them to always protect you and never let you get hurt again. I couldn't go back on my promise."

Mitchell sat quietly for a moment, then leaned over tilting her head and gently kissed Amanda on the mouth. "Thank you, Amanda, and I love you too, but let's get out of here; I'm pruning, and we need to get some sleep. We have our lives waiting for us at home and I don't want to miss the flight."

Dried and slipping on boxer shorts and t-shits, two friends cuddled the rest of the night in bed while sleeping. On their flight home the next morning, Mitchell turned and asked Amanda "Tell me the story about those two squirrels."

Upon arriving home, the two detectives grabbed a cab back to Amanda's, shoved their luggage through the front door and headed to the frig for a nice, cold beer. Whiskey was beyond happy as she made her way in and around Amanda's feet. Amanda bent down, gave her a big hug and told her how much she missed her.
Mitchell spots a note on the frig door.

Amanda and Mitchell: You both have an appointment with me at 3:00 pm today for a scrubbing, sterilizing and disinfecting. Don't be late!!

Love you: Sandy

Both women look at the note and then each other. "What the hell does this mean?" Amanda asked.

"I'm not sure, but it sounds like we hadn't better sit on the furniture until Sandy de-fleas us." Mitchell put the note down and headed outside with her beer. "Come on, all dogs outside!" She called as Whiskey and Amanda followed.

One beer led to a few more and, before both girls knew it, they were a little drunk. Dutifully though and thankful for a cab, they showed up at 3:00pm and reported into the receptionist. "Hi, I'm Mitchell and this is Amanda. We're here for our three o'clock de-fleaing." Both women laughed at the stunned look on the receptionist. "I assume you both are here for Dr. Wilson?" She asked in a stern voice.

"That would be us, yes." Amanda leaned over the counter. "Hey, where's there a tree around here, I gotta pee?"

The woman just looked at Amanda in disgust and let Dr. Wilson know her appointments were here.

Sandy came out of her office and almost crawled back in. "Hi honey." Amanda slurred on the words a bit. "Hey, we may have fleas, but no crabs. We checked." Mitchell started to laugh and almost fell down. Oh no, Sandy thought, they're drunk. She looked over at her secretary and the woman had given her a cold glare. It was times like this, when she missed her other secretary, Joan. She would have gotten them coffee and given them the lecture, and shared a laugh with Sandy afterwards. "Ok you two, get in here, NOW!"

"I hope you didn't drive down here or I will swat the both of you. " Sandy's face was redder then her hair at the moment.

"Nope, we took a cab." Amanda proudly spoke. "Um, do we have to get naked for our disinfecting?"

"Yeah, will the sterilizing hurt much?" Mitchell grinned and started to giggle.

Sandy looked at the two of them and let go of her anger. She hoped that everything between them was fine, and whatever had happened at the spa would get sorted out. Sandy reached over, grabbed a rubber arm tie, one needle and two empty vials. "Who's first?" She asked. Amanda and Mitchell quickly pointed at each other.

Sandy took their blood, giving each one a kiss for not crying, and then took Amanda in first for a swab for any sexually transmitted diseases. "Your drunk, Amanda. Is everything ok between you and Mitchell?" Sandy had really wanted to spend some time with Amanda, and talk with her, but her schedule was tight and she still needed to see Mitchell. "Yes, everything is fine, we'll talk tonight." Amanda had wanted to talk more, but didn't feel ready at the moment. She had a lot of confessing to do, and still had to figure out the right words to say it. Amanda got another kiss; only this one was much more passionate with the promise of more to come after the results of the tests. Amanda got a swat on the butt on her way out and was told to send Mitchell in next.

"Waste down, Mitchell, you know the routine." Mitchell kicked off her shoes, next off came the shorts and underwear. Sandy tossed her the paper sheet. "After what we've been through this past two weeks, why bother."

While Sandy was taking the swab, Mitchell asked her a question. "Sandy?"

"Yes, Mitchell."

"When you're doing stuff like this, does it, well, you know, affect you sexually?"

Now Sandy knew Mitchell was drunk. She never says a word during a physical. "You, Amanda and Deb are the only three patients I see as a regular doctor. Normally I don't do this, but in answer to your question. No. Right now I'm a doctor; I have a conduct to adhere to.

"So you can separate your feelings?" Mitchell started to sit up as Sandy was finished.

"I had to learn, just like every other doctor. By the way, no intimate relations with Deb until I get the results back." Mitchell looked at her and nodded.

"Mitchell if you need to talk with someone on a professional basis......

"No, no department shrinks. That was bad enough when I got shot."
Mitchell shuddered at the memory. "Maybe you and I could just talk some time?"

Sandy looked at two blue eyes that were trying hard to hold back tears. "Sure Mitchell, any time." She reached over and gave Mitchell a hug. "Deb's a good listener too, don't shut her out."

"Thanks, I won't." Mitchell got up and headed for the door. "Amanda's got her own demons on this one Sandy. She was a different person in Tucson."

When Mitchell left, Sandy sat down and thought about everything Amanda and Mitchell had told her. Amanda hadn't said much and that in itself was an omen that she was having problems. Maybe tonight they would order in Chinese food and talk. Ever since they had been in college together, Chinese food had been the dinner of "I'm having a hard time talking about this food." Good thing they both liked it.

Sandy's phone rang. "Dr. Wilson, they're ready for you in OR 6."

Amanda and Mitchell grabbed another cab, picked up Kevin from the day care, and spent the rest of the afternoon with him. By 6:30pm Deb arrived to pick up Mitchell and take her home. Maybe they would order in pizza.

In her heart, Mitchell was never so glad to see Deb in all her life. These past two weeks had been a nightmare, and she just didn't know where to start with her confessions. It wasn't her fault she had been assigned a case like this, but it was her job as an officer of the law to go in and always try and catch the bad guy. But this wasn't right. To be forced into compromising situations, she had indeed felt like the police department's whore. Amanda had been right.

Mitchell and Deb sat the rest of the evening, relaxing and Mitchell tried to explain how the two weeks had really gone. The pizza helped, as did Deb's massage of Mitchell's aching shoulders that were turning into a stress headache. "The pictures of you and the instructor, what did you do with them?" Deb had asked.

"I shredded the ones with my face in them and destroyed the disk." Mitchell had replied.

"Isn't that destroying evidence?" Deb had questioned.

"Yes, but they can kiss my ass. I'm not going to live in fear that months down the road someone isn't going to put them on the internet." Mitchell tensed up and Deb drew her into a hug.

"Did you tell Amanda?" Deb was now rubbing Mitchell's temples.

"Yeah. She said she would have done the same thing, maybe even destroyed the whole lot." Mitchell reached around and pulled Deb on to her lap and just cuddled with her for a while. It was going to be a long night of soul searching and she needed Deb's comfort to help her on her journey.

Kevin had missed Amanda very much and was happy to get dinner over with and bath time done, so he could hear one of Amanda's tall tales of "Captain Avenger and Neutron Girl." Amanda thought she was going to cry. How could she tell her son even a fairy tale story of how the past two weeks had turned out? Kevin was looking at her with such trust and love. All she could feel about herself at the moment was that bastard she had unleashed. How could she have been so cold and cruel to those women at the spa? They didn't deserve to have been treated that way, but she had. The old Amanda Ellis has surfaced from a place she had long buried.

"Momma, what's wrong?" Kevin crawled up into Amanda's lap and hugged her.

"Your Momma wasn't a very nice person when she was away with Aunt Mitchell." Amanda hugged the little boy back and gently stroked his hair.

"Did you have to shoot anybody?" He asked.

"No, Kevin I didn't, but I wasn't very nice to some of the people there. It was all part of the game Mitchell and I had to play to catch the bad guy."

"But the bad guy was hurting people, right?"

"Yes, actually it was two bad people and they were hurting others." Amanda tried to explain.

"So now they can't hurt anyone else, right Momma?"

"That's right Kevin, they won't."

"Then you and Aunt Mitchell did a good thing by helping out the other people." Kevin leaned in and gave his Captain Avenger a kiss. "See Momma it all worked out."

From the mouth of a four year old child, Amanda could finally see through a different set of eyes, and hoped that the person she thought she was, could now be put to rest, and the mother, friend and lover she wanted to be, would be able to find her way back home.

Sandy came in to Kevin's room to give him a goodnight kiss. She had heard the conversation between the two, and wondered if the logic of children would, indeed, some day save the world from all of its own insanities.

That night Amanda and Sandy lay in bed talking about what had happened at the spa, but mostly about what almost happened between she and Mitchell.

"I was a bastard to those women and there was nothing I could do about it. I was so angry at being pulled away from you and Kevin. It was the only way I could handle it. Mitchell was just lost at times, Sandy, she's never done anything like this before. What made it worse was when the damn "bug catcher" went off in my room. I was so torn I couldn't think straight. Mitchell started to undo her robe and she looked so scared, just like that day she got shot. I couldn't Sandy, I just couldn't."

"I know hon, you made the right decision." Sandy was cuddled with Amanda and was stroking her back.

Amanda didn't say anything for a moment, trying to figure out the words in her head. "When we stayed overnight at the hotel, Mitchell and I were in the Jacuzzi. She kissed me."

"You two have kissed before, Amanda." Sandy replied.

"No, this was a very loving, passionate kiss and then she looked at me funny and said thank you. Christ, we were both naked in the tub. I could feel her breasts on me and I never said a word." Amanda felt Sandy's hand stop moving.

"What did you do?" Sandy asked.

"Nothing, Mitchell said she was pruning, got out and went to bed. Damn idiots gave us one queen size bed that we shared, and she cuddled with me. That was it."

Sandy now was putting two and two together over her conversation with Mitchell earlier on. "I think, Amanda, it was just her way of thanking you for everything you've done for her. You have been her best friend, her partner, and you saved her life. Sandy, to this day, didn't know how Mitchell had lived through the shooting, and asked her to be Kevin's Godmother. It's just one of those many forms of love we all talked about two weeks ago. Just accept it Amanda."

Amanda nodded her head in acceptance, and pulled Sandy a little closer as the two lovers drifted off to sleep. The demons were put to rest, kicked out of their nesting ground in Amanda's mind. Sandy's love protected her while she slept; the demons were out of luck tonight.

The next morning, Amanda and Mitchell were due to report back to work. Neither one of them were looking forward to this, as they figured the whole bunch had bets going as to whether they "did or didn't" with each other.
Amanda pulled into the daycare center's parking lot and went to take Kevin in when he asked if Aunt Mitchell could take him. Both women looked strangely at each other, as he had never requested this. But dutifully, Aunt Mitchell unhooked Kevin from his safety belt and took him inside. She bent down to give him a hug and kiss goodbye when he pulled on her shirt to bring her down eye level with him. "Momma said you and her didn't have any fun when you were away."

"No, Kevin we didn't. Mitchell just wasn't sure where this conversation was headed.

"But you caught those bad people so that everyone else would be safe." Kevin looked at his aunt and saw the pain still in her blue eyes.

"Yes we did, but we had to act like bad people ourselves, and it wasn't fun at all." Mitchell replied.

As Kevin started walking into his class room he turned and called to Mitchell. "Aunt Mitchell! Thank you for helping those other people. I remember what it's like to be hurt and need someone."

With that Kevin entered into his class room and left a very stunned Detective Mitchell Blake still bent down at the knees, wondering how she could be so lucky to have this child in her life. Kevin had only seen her through his eyes. She had been there to help those people when they needed it, no matter what the cost.

"Everything ok, Mitchell? Amanda asked when Mitchell returned to the car.

"Yup partner, let's go have some fun with those guys at work today."

The two detectives walked into the station, grabbed coffees and sat down at their desks. The paper work was piled high from being away for over two weeks and Amanda was cranky already. "Christ, couldn't they have done some of this shit for us?"

Captain Anderson was just on his way into his office. "Girls, a moment please."

They both groaned but got up and entered the Captain's office. "Shut the door Mitchell."

"Sit, please. You both got a glowing report from the Tucson office. They wanted to know if you ever want to transfer you're hired."

"No thanks Captain." Amanda replied. Mitchell agreed.

"While you were gone, I took the liberty of calling the union on your behalf. To make a long story short, if you want to file a complaint against the Chief, you've got a case. Here's the number to call, if you want to."

Both women nodded and Amanda took the number and placed it in her jacket.

"It's good to have you both back. Ah, are there any problems I should be made aware of? Anyone either of you need to talk to?" Amanda could see the sweat starting to form on the Captain's upper lip.

She looked over at Mitchell who grinned. "No Captain we're fine, just glad it's over with and we're back home."

"Good, glad to hear that. Well then get your asses out of my office and get back to work." He laughed at the two then he pointed to their desks.

"Yeah, nice to be back Captain." Mitchell gave Amanda a little poke and the two women left.

Captain Marty Anderson picked up the phone and called his wife. "I owe you dinner, you won the bet."

Throughout the day, the rest of the office kept asking how the case had gone, did they like Tucson, was the place nice, etc. etc. Finally at 5:00pm, as Amanda and Mitchell were about to leave, Amanda made an announcement. "For those of you concerned..........the answer is ...........no."

Mitchell started to laugh as everyone started reaching into their wallets and exchanged money. It was good to be back.

By the time the weekend came around everyone was ready for their usual Saturday afternoon. Playing soccer with Kevin was always fun and relaxing with a swim in the ocean afterwards. Of course barbecuing was Amanda's job with tonight's specialty being ribs. Sandy had earlier announced that both women were clean of fleas and any other bugs. "Yes!" Mitchell high-fived Amanda. "Love will be in the air tonight."

True to Mitchell's words love was in the air that night. When she and Deb had returned home that evening, Deb headed for the shower with Mitchell right behind her. The warmth of the water cascading down their bodies mixed with gentle hands and scented shower gel made for interesting foreplay. As aroused as Mitchell was, she was a bit hesitant from what she had encountered at the spa. Deb had sensed this and soon made Mitchell forget the prior two weeks and concentrate on now. Soaping the bath sponge with gel Deb had started with Mitchell's breasts, gently covering her chest to make her nipples hard. She ran the sponge down her belly finding the soft blond curls that waited patiently. The water did little to wash away Mitchell's arousal as Deb took the sponge further and washed between her legs. When Mitchell's hips began to rock, Deb stopped. "Not yet lover, I have plans for you." Mitchell took the sponge away, washing her lover and leaving her wanting more. Dried, and moving to the bedroom, Mitchell left the lights on low. Words of love mixed with sighs and moans filled the room until Mitchell heard her name screamed out in Deb's release. Deb had barely caught her breath when she rolled Mitchell onto her back and brought her mouth to Mitchell's breast, gently playing with the other until she felt Mitchell squirm. Slipping her leg in between her lover's, she rode Mitchell until she could feel her wetness on her leg. Deb raised her head and kissed Mitchell letting their tongues duel for battle in a familiar dance. Then slowly she worked her way down and met with a scent that made her hunger more. Greedily she sucked on Mitchell and ran her tongue through the wet folds of skin until Mitchell arched and Deb felt her release. Deb laid her head on Mitchell's belly and finally the two lovers fell asleep.

Amanda lay in bed reading a novel. She had already showered after putting Kevin to bed and was happy to relax. Sandy had already shut off the shower and Amanda was wondering why she was taking so long in the bathroom. Her curiosity was soon rewarded when Sandy emerged wearing a black, lacy, sexy little number that obviously was bought with tonight in mind. Amanda quickly tossed the book aside and took the time to admire the sight in front of her. Sandy was breath taking. Even though both women were pushing their forties, Sandy just seemed to get better looking with age. Sandy slowly approached the bed; the look of desire would have melted the biggest iceberg in the Arctic Ocean. Amanda's mouth went dry and she licked her lips as Sandy crawled onto the bed, kicked the blanket off, and straddled her. She lowered herself down to Amanda's lips and gently kissed her. Slowly her tongue worked its way into Amanda's mouth while a hand found its way to Amanda's breast and began to play. Oh what this woman doesn't do to me, thought Amanda. Her hand made its way down to Sandy's backside and pulled her down on top of her. Sandy took the cue and began to suck Amanda's breasts. Her teeth pulled gently on Amanda's nipples as she rocked her hips between Amanda's legs. Amanda was wet and her musky scent was driving Sandy crazy. Amanda slowed her down and undid the clasp of the lacy top. Next, off came the panties and when skin met skin, it was all either women could do to not come right then. Amanda worked her fingers into Sandy's vagina as Sandy did the same with Amanda. It was a rhythm that both women rocked to, so familiar to them, and it was pure bliss. They both held on, "please don't come yet." Amanda pleaded. "That's it make it last Sandy, make it last. Oh that's it baby, ah damn, I can't, Oh SANDY!!!" Amanda's orgasm ripped through her as did Sandy's. Finally they lay exhausted, and Amanda reached down, grabbed some of the blanket and covered them as best she could. Both women fell asleep, cradled in each other's arms until morning's light brought yet another new day.

With coffee in hand Amanda took Whiskey for a morning walk on the beach. The brave dog had run on ahead to bark at a crab that had washed up on the beach. Amanda laughed at her and called her back. "Good girl Whiskey, show that crab who's boss." The dog wagged her tail and accepted the praise given to her. Amanda turned when she heard her name being called. Sandy was standing at the back gate, she had the phone in her hand. "It's Mitchell; she wants to know if we want to go to the movies today with her and Deb? It's a Disney flick for Kevin to watch."

Amanda smiled and started to head back. They had survived this. Their friendship had remained untarnished and their lover's had stood behind them. Amanda remembered the union guy's card in her jacket. One way or another she would make sure this never happened again. As Detective Amanda Ellis entered into her own backyard, she turned and said good bye to the person she had been for those two weeks, and welcomed home the person she knew she was.

The end of part 10

p.s. In case you're wondering about the story of the squirrels, please read: Snow, Hot Chocolate and You.