Opening the door, she saw the wide-eyed face of her cousin, “Hey Crystal, what’s up with you?” Sam hesitated then asked, “Something wrong?”

“No, I just thought that maybe we could go do dinner or something. You interested?” The woman pointed to her relative using the hand with a bottle of water in it.

“Interested…yeah, I’m starving. I haven’t had anything since breakfast this morning.” The woman’s mind thought back to breakfast in bed with a certain tall woman at her side.

“My God, you actually still make time for those big breakfasts of yours?”

“Ah…I had more than just breakfast, Crys.” Sam smiled, “It was breakfast in bed served by someone we both know.” The blonde smirked, “And oh, can she serve.”

Crystal rolled her eyes at the look on Sam’s face. “Well, come on Babycakes, you can tell me all about breakfast over dinner.” Crystal took a sip of water.

“Okay, just let me leave a note for C.C. or she’ll worry about me.” Sam went to the desk and shifted through the clutter for some paper and a pen.

“So… Ms. Wonderful brought you breakfast in bed? Wow! That’s quite a drive for some toast,” Crystal teased her cousin.

“Well, it was more than just toast…” Sam’s coy smile said it all. “Let’s just say that she wet my appetite.” She cleared her throat, “Ah…all of my appetites.” Sam could feel the flush start and quickly tried to head it off. “So what’s on your mind, Crystal? You don’t drive almost two hours just to share a meal with me on the spur of the moment either. Something up with you and Peter?”

Acting very dignified, Crystal stated, “Actually, I had to attend a seminar near the campus.” Then the impish grin crossed her face and she confessed, “Peter’s moving here.”

“Hmm… you must have really made an impression on him.”

“Well…I hope I did. He said he’s been thinking about a change for quite a while now.”

“He has. I see that it’s for the better with you in the picture,” Sam teased as she scribbled out her note and then straightened up.

“You think so? My God Sam, everything is happening so fast and I don’t even want to stop it.” Crystal paused for a moment then added, “I don’t think I would if I could.”

“Yeah, he’s really a sweet man. I can see that he likes you.” Sam turned to face her cousin still standing in the doorway, “Well, don’t knock it, look at Brooke and I…”

“Good because I’ve got it bad for him too. Sam, you’ve been together for at least 2 months. Peter and I have known each other for less than two weeks.” Crystal shook her head then laughed, “I absolutely love it though.”

“Oh…now that is bad,” Sam joined in the laughter. “But you know, I kissed Brooke the second time I was in her company.”

The older woman’s eyes lit up as she stepped inside the room and closed the door. “Second time, huh? Oh do tell.” She crossed to the bed and made herself comfortable, waiting to hear the story.

“Yeah, well…the first time C.C. introduced me to her family at a dinner, there was Brooke…” Sam took in a breath as though it was just happening to her now, “I remember how her family kept picking on her about settling down.”

“Really, huh?” Crystal teased her.

“Yeah…” Sam hung her head, shy with embarrassment, “And now look at us.”

“Hey…why are you hanging your head?”

“I was just thinking…bet she never took anyone else breakfast in a dorm bed.” Sam looked up with a twinkle in her eye and a coy smile on her face.

“What’s going on in that head of yours, Sam?” Crystal laughed at her cousin, then took another mouthful of water, finishing the bottle in her hand.

“Can you believe we were actually talking about giving her mom grandchildren.”

The sudden spray of water coming from Crystal’s mouth showed how surprised she was by the topic. “Wha…what?” The woman sputtered out as she tried to catch the waterfall.

“Nothing definite, mind you. The topic just came up, that’s all.”

“What do you mean, ‘came up’ exactly?”

“She said that her mother was interested in having more grandchildren, but I think she was really testing the waters, just to see if I’m receptive to it.”

“You think?” Crystal now viewed her cousin in a different light. They weren’t kids anymore at all.

Sam nodded her head, “I think. You know, Crystal…I could see it happening… Brooke and I with kids of our own.” Sam became quiet for a moment as she gathered her thoughts, then slowly started. “I see me…and Brooke, of course,” she grinned, “…with an armful of children. Each one getting as much love as they need from the both of us. You know, it’s like the more we love, the more we have to give. Stupid, huh?” Sam looked to Crystal who was shaking her head, then continued with her dream. “I see her house… our house… full of life and love with children popping up everywhere.”

“No, not stupid. I think it’s really very sweet.” Crystal smiled as she asked, “So just how many little rugrats do you plan on having with Ms. Thing? I mean, obviously Brooke would have to be ‘Daddy’, she’s so butch, you know.”

“Hmm… that she is,” Sam’s eyes twinkle with the thought. “You know with wanting a family that big, we just might have to adopt.”

“What, you don’t think Brooke would have a baby?”

“Well, heck Crystal, if I’m the only one having the kids… I’d be pregnant all the time. I’m not sure if Brooke would. I mean, it might interfere with her lifestyle too much.” Sam remembered the mental image that she’d painted earlier in the day. “Could you imagine her nine months pregnant and drumming out tunes in the studio?”

Crystal thought for a moment, “No, I can’t say that I can, she’s a little too butch to be wearing one of those pink ‘Baby Under Construction’ shirts. Hmm… I’m sure this isn’t going to happen anytime soon, right?”

“Besides, wouldn’t it help if the two of you lived together on a full time basis first?”

“Yeah. I think we’d have to be living together for that whole Planned Parenthood to become a reality. I don’t really think that will happen until I’m out of school. “

Crystal nodded in agreement. “Say, do me a favor?”

“Sure… just name it.”

“If you happen to get pregnant…I have to be the first person you tell,” Crystal smiled at her cousin, then began laughing.

Sam laughed about the idea for a moment, then quickly answered her, “Yes Crystal, I’ll make sure that you know before Brooke even knows. But,” she added, “…only on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“You do the same for me when its’ you and Peter’s firstborn.”

“No problem but you really have to tell me first. It’s important.”

Puzzled, Sam asked, “Why?”

“Because the day that your little ‘Stud-Puppet’ learns how to spit, that’s the day I’m gonna be a rich woman, with the tabloids paying me for the story.” Crystal winked at Sam, “Come on, let’s go get some dinner. All this talk of sex and parenting has made me work up an appetite.”

Brooke found herself drawn to the dorm, like a magnet to a piece of metal. It was so crazy, this spiraling, almost out of control effect that Sam was having on her. The tall woman sighed as she stepped up to the door and knocked on it, hoping to see the smiling face again. Not waiting, Brooke tapped out the rhythmic announcement of her presence again. Hearing the patter of movement from the other side of the door, she waited patiently.

As the door opened, the image of C.C. with her hand on her hip came into view, a displeased look coming to her face as she recognized her sister, Brooke, on the other side of the door. “Is it breakfast time again, so soon?”

“What?” Blue eyes opened wide. “Hey, I’m sorry about earlier but thanks, Sis.” Brooke looked into the room, searching for Sam. After not seeing the love of her life, Brooke pushed her way past C.C., throwing off the comment, “Besides, you got fifty bucks out of it. I guess I’m going to have to make sure I’ve got smaller bills on me when I get another idea like that. I hope you had a very good breakfast on me.”

The brunette smiled sweetly, “You know, I do have to sleep sometime.” C.C. tapped her sister on the shoulder, then held out her hand. “Fifty bucks, Sis and I’ll be at the library if you need me.”

“Huh?” Brooke spun around from looking in the bathroom for Sam. “I gave you fifty this morning, Goofball. Check your left pants pocket.”

Scowling, C.C. reached into the pocket of her jeans. “Oh yeah,” the brunette smiled, “guess I forgot…it was so early and all.” She pulled the crisp bill out and held it up to the overhead light. “If you’re looking for Sam, she’s not here.” She smiled, then put the money back into her pocket as she continued to talk, “She hasn’t been for a while. Crystal stopped by and they went out together.” She picked up the scribbled note and waved it at Brooke.

Disgusted at her bad timing, Brooke let her shoulders slump. “Damn, I was hoping to surprise her.”

“Once in a day isn’t enough?”

Brooke rolled her eyes at her sister, “Nope… never.”

“Come on Brooke, you keep this schedule up and I’ll be setting my watch with your comings and goings like the trains in Grand Central station.”

Brooke glared at her sister, “Smart ass.”

“Why thank you,” C.C. smiled, throwing the note in the wastebasket.

“I just wanted to see her, that’s all.”

C.C. shook her head. “Her looks haven’t changed since this morning, Sis. What’s there to see?”

Brooke looked down at her feet as she shoved her hands into her front jeans pockets. “I know…I just…” she took in a deep breath, then mumbled, “I dunno…maybe I…missed her.”

“You are a whipped puppy, if ever I’ve seen one.” C.C. stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest, as she sighed at the mush ball her sister was turning into. Grabbing her coat and purse, she headed for the door, “Well, come on, there’s no sense in you sitting here just pining away, give me a lift over to Terri’s. I promised her I’d stop by and bring some pizza.”