Decided to get in on the Cooperfeld fun. It's a oneshot, but if people like it I could keep it going. Review and comment and let me know.

The first time, according to Lauren, was an accident.

If, by accident, you mean she'd had just about enough (or, actually, way way way past enough) of listening to Amy carry on about Karma.

"She should be over it. She should understand why I had to go. She should be grateful I left or else we might never be able to be friends again except she's not talking to me and she's so mad and maybe now we're never going to be friends again and she shouldn't be but she is and maybe I should just apologize even if I don't mean -"

The first time - the first time Lauren grabbed Amy's face in her hands and kissed her - it was an accident, an impulsive slip (of the tongue) caused by a brain on Karma overload (hers, not Amy's) (Amy's brain could, seemingly, take endless Karma) and she hadn't meant anything by it.

The second time - which came about five seconds after the first and had a lot more of Amy's hands on Lauren's hips, holding her in place, and a lot more of those same hands drifting perilously close to Lauren's ass - was not an accident.

Neither was the third. Or the fourth. Or the fifth. Or the sixth until it was interrupted by Farrah banging on Amy's bedroom door, the noise startling both of them back to some sort of… sense… just enough to send Lauren hurrying through their bathroom and into her own room and into her bed and under her duvet.

She stayed there through dinner ("stomach ache," she claimed) and through dessert ("too many empty calories") ("and stomach ache") and through Farrah and Amy watching a movie downstairs ("if you've seen one Hunger Games you've seen them all") and Farrah finally coming upstairs and going to bed and the lights dimming in the hall and then - and only then - did she think it was safe to come out.

Amy standing in the doorway of their bathroom made it somewhat less… safe.

Amy crawling into bed next to her with only a whisper ("stomach ache, my ass") and pressing her lips all along Lauren's neck and down along her collarbone and her hands sliding up under the loose fabric of the tiny blonde's shirt…

That all made 'safe' something of an afterthought.

And when Amy slid down the bed and slipped up between Lauren's legs, that made everything an afterthought.

They didn't talk about it, not even a little.

It didn't come up at breakfast the next morning, even though Amy kept staring at Lauren with this look that made the other girl feel like she was on the menu.

Not that she minded.

It wasn't discussed on the ride to school, even though Amy's hand kept finding its way higher and higher on Lauren's thigh.

And yes, she was so wearing a skirt tomorrow.

It never got mentioned as they walked from class to class, the subject was never broached as they sat through lunch together, even though Amy's hand found Lauren's under the table and their fingers laced together until Shane started looking at them funny, and it never came up during gym class or after gym class in the locker room.

Even though Lauren spent a very inapproriate amount of time taking furtive side eyed glances at Amy's ass.

Not that Amy minded.

(Not that she didn't do the same.)

They didn't discuss it on the way home and that, Lauren realized quickly, had less to do with them just not talking about it and more with the fact that they (quite literally) bumped into Karma on the way out of the building.

"Hey," Karma said and "Hey," Amy said and "Oh for fuck's sake," Lauren muttered under her breath as she pushed past Karma and out to the parking lot, doing her level best (which wasn't even close to good enough) to not acknowledge the feeling seeing the two of them even sorta together brought up in her.

Lauren didn't do jealousy.

But that night after Farrah went to bed, she sure as fuck did Amy.

Twice.

Take that, Ashcroft.

"We should probably -"

"If you're going to say 'talk about it', you can just shut that shit down right now," Lauren said, cutting Amy off as they stood at the sink cleaning vegetables for dinner.

It had been a week and they hadn't discussed it once and the world hadn't ended so Lauren saw no need to mess with… chatting… now.

"I was going to say prep some extra carrots," Amy said. "Your dad's coming tonight and those are like the only veggies he eats, so…"

"Oh," Lauren said. "Right. Carrots. Exactly." She turned to the fridge and pulled out the bushel and dropped it on the sink. "Good thinking," she said, immediately regretting it because it was a compliment and it was a compliment on thinking and if Lauren didn't do jealousy she did compliments even less.

Amy leaned against the sink for a moment and tried to plan what she was going to say but in the end, she was still her, so..

"We should probably talk about it though but only if you want to cause I think I want to but if you don't, that's OK and… and…and... my mom won't be home from work for another two hours?"

Lauren glanced at her, staring over the top of a carrot. "Was that a question or a statement?"

"Statement," Amy said, sounding only slightly more confident. "Mixed with a question cause I don't know, like I wouldn't want to assume that just because my mother's not here you want to -"

She had to reach a little, but Lauren got one hand around the back of Amy's neck and pulled the other girl's lips down to hers, the other hand grasping a hold of Amy's shirt and pulling her along, guiding her until Lauren felt her ass bump against the dining room table and she grabbed Amy's hands and placed them on her hips.

"Up," she said and Amy obeyed, lifting Lauren onto the table, bunching the tiny blonde's skirt around her waist in the process. "Good," Lauren said, putting both hands on Amy's shoulders with a wicked grin. "Now, down."

The carrots never did get washed.

"I hate her."

Amy rolled onto her side and looked at Lauren. It was the first time she could remember Lauren saying anything other than 'It's morning. Your bed. Go.' in the month or so they'd been doing this or the three weeks or so since Amy started spending the night.

"Who?" she asked (as if she didn't know.)

"Karma," Lauren said. "I hate her. And I know she's your best friend and I know she's your 'soulmate' and your other half and all that." She didn't look at Amy at all while she spoke, her eyes fixed on the ceiling. "But she's hurt you and yes, I know you've hurt her and you slept with her boyfriend but he's a douche and she's better off anyway. And I don't care if you hurt her because she's not…."

Amy waited. And waited. And waited some more.

"She's not what?" she asked, finally.

Lauren looked at her then, rolling over to face her and even in the mostly dark, Amy saw the streaks of tears she hadn't heard or felt Lauren crying. "She's not mine."

It had been a month and they hadn't discussed it once and the world hadn't ended but now Lauren had and Amy wasn't so sure the world hadn't just stopped.

"If you want to go," Lauren said, "I under -"

The first time had been, according to Lauren, an accident.

This time, time number who-the-hell-knew, the first time Amy kissed her so gently and softly and clutched their hands together between them, was so obviously, not.

"I know you hate her," Amy said, literally from out of nowhere, and Lauren almost toppled over from the shock.

She was leaning against the nearest locker and waiting on Amy to change out her books so they could head to class, not that either one was in a hurry and not that either one wasn't doing the mental math to figure out how long they could disappear into the janitor's closet before anyone would get suspicious.

"Hate who?" Lauren asked (as if she didn't know.)

"Karma," Amy replied without hesitation. "You said it. The other night?"

Lauren rolled her eyes. The other night… "That was like three weeks ago," she said, eager to dismiss the conversation before it drifted to that other thing she'd said the 'other night'.

She's not mine

The other thing they hadn't talked about at all except sometimes, only if by talking you meant Lauren muttering the word (mine mine mine) occasionally (every fucking time) when Amy made her cum.

So, you know, maybe once or twice. A night.

"I know you hate her and I know you think we're bad for each other, but she's my best friend," Amy said. "And eventually, we'll figure it out and you're gonna have to deal with that cause I can't stay away from her and -"

Lauren didn't wait for the 'and'. "You did for three months," she snapped. "And it did you good."

Amy dropped the last of her books in her locker and turned to face Lauren. "If you'd let me finish -"

"I don't have to," Lauren said, cutting her off again. "I've heard it all. A dozen times. Probably more. I get it or, really, I get that you get it cause, honestly? I don't get it, but that really doesn't matter because in the end, nothing will ever come between you. Not even…"

Amy waited. And waited. And waited.

"I'm going home early," Lauren said, pushing off the locker and stalking off down the hall in the opposite direction of the janitor's closet. "You'll have to catch the bus."

Amy slipped into her bed well past the usual time, wearing far more than the usual clothes and Lauren noticed all that but not half as much as she noticed the unusual way Amy slipped up behind her, curling her into spoons and lacing their fingers together as she spoke.

"Shut up," she whispered and Lauren started to protest that she hadn't actually said anything but then Amy continued, cutting her off at the pass. "Shut up and let me say what I was trying to say, OK?"

Lauren nodded.

"I know you hate her and I know you think we're bad for each other, but she's my best friend," Amy said, again. "And eventually, she and I will figure it out and you're gonna have to deal with that cause I can't stay away from her."

Lauren rolled her eyes. Silently.

"And," Amy said, "I can't stay away from you either. And I don't want to." She pulled Lauren tighter and whispered into her ear. "And I won't."

Somewhere between third and fourth period, Lauren decided it was all Karma's fault.

It wasn't one of her tougher decisions.

She was watching Amy - something she'd found herself doing a lot lately, even when the other girl was clothed and not touching her and sometimes not even near her - from across the hall, watching as the taller blonde, who somehow managed to seem smaller by the day (every new day when she and Karma aren't the old her and Karma), pretended to dig through her locker, looking for… well…

Nothing.

She was looking for nothing and doing a bang up fucking job of finding it.

Lauren watched as Amy shuffled things around, never actually holding onto any of them long enough to even look at them, basically bullshitting the entire thing. Amy was looking for something she didn't really need or she was never gonna find or that maybe didn't even exist and, Lauren had noticed, she did that a lot. It was a stall, a time killer, a way to stay there - within range - whenever Karma was nearby. And there, Lauren saw, she was. Standing three lockers down, talking to Shane about their stupid band and which of them should be the stupid lead and which of them had stupider hair - regrettably, Lauren had to say Shane - and she couldn't really hear a word they're saying, but she didn't have to.

She knew.

Stupid. Just… stupid.

Lauren watched as Karma and Shane finally drifted off down the hall - they would, no doubt, make it to class on time, which is more than she could say for herself or Amy - and that's when Amy suddenly grew again, when she stopped being all hunched over and hunkered down, just one step away from crawling into the fucking locker and shutting the door behind her and that's when Lauren decided that she'd had just about enough of that.

The bell - the fucking gong, and that was one of the only things that made Lauren almost miss Principal Turner - sounded and they were officially late for class, but Turner or Penelope or whoever, it was still Hester after all and even if it wasn't, even it if was a real school where people actually went to class sometimes or carried around books for anything but show or actually had homework or something - anything - to occupy their time besides hooking up and talking about hooking up and white parties and battles of the bands and every other ridiculous thing the Ashcrofts and Bookers and Harveys did, Lauren wouldn't have given even a single fuck.

It had gotten that bad.

Amy - her Amy (whether Amy agreed to it or not) - had gotten that bad.

Lauren understood, sort of (not really) (she tried) (but, no) how hard it was on Amy. She got that Amy wanted Karma back - as a friend - and that Amy was heartbroken that the very thing she'd done to save their friendship seemed to have killed it. Lauren got that.

She also 'got' to see the pain in Amy's eyes every day, she 'got' to see the way her shoulders would slump every time she stalled in the hopes that Karma would come talk to her (and Karma never did), she 'got' to see the way Amy tried to hide her loneliness, even when they were together.

Yeah, Lauren got it. She got it all too fucking well. And as bad as it all was for Amy - and it was worse by the fucking day - Lauren had started to think it might be even worse for her. She had to watch it every day and she had to stand by and do nothing about it (Amy had made her swear) (swear) (under penalty of no more… anything) and it was, she'd realized, slowly killing her.

And if… 'mine'... had been bad and been more than she'd expected to say (or fucking feel) well then this?

This was just too much. Too. Fucking. Much.

She crossed the hall before she had time to think about it and second guess it and reconsider it because, truthfully, she'd been doing that since the very beginning. Since the day Amy came back, since the moment she'd hugged the taller blonde to welcome her home, since the split second she'd felt Amy's hands on her back and her arm slung around her shoulders as Farrah gushed about her girls being together again and - truth be told - Lauren had had about all of that she could take too.

(the second guessing and the overthinking and the arguing with herself of it all) (not the hugging) (or the touching) (obviously)

She reached out with one hand and slammed Amy's locker shut, the other hand somehow finding Amy's and their fingers were no sooner laced together (in public) (where anyone could see) (and that was new) (and Lauren liked it) (a lot) then she dragged Amy - who wasn't resisting at all - towards the front doors and then out into the parking lot and then all the way to the row in the back where she'd had to park this morning because Amy was slow getting out of bed (again) (she hadn't slept much) (totally not Lauren's fault) and it wasn't until the reached the car that she actually spoke.

Or tried to.

Amy's lips on hers did a lot to shut her up. Not that she was complaining. Not even a little.

Lauren's eyes stayed close for a breath or two after Amy broke the kiss, her hands still resting lightly on Lauren's hips, the smaller girl's arms still around Amy's neck.

"I had a speech," Lauren said, her eyes still closed but she could feel Amy's on hers. "This whole big thing about how much it hurts me to see you like this and how stupid and blind and stupid and ridiculous and stupid she is."

Amy's grip on Lauren's hips tightened just a little. "Sounds like a good speech," she said.

Lauren nodded. "It was. My best one since I saved this stupid school." She opened her eyes and looked up at Amy and prayed she didn't look as vulnerable as she felt. "I saved Hester but I can't save you and it's killing me and that's not fair because this wasn't supposed to be that and now it is, for me, and you're still down her fucking rabbit ho -"

"Amy?"

Well… shit.

Lauren squeezed her eyes shut and wished there was a hole she could fall into right then and there, some petite blonde sized sinkhole to suck her down and save her from this… whatever it was… and from this whatever being interrupted by her.

Amy loosened her grip - but didn't let go - and turned slightly. "Hey, Karma," she said, like this was just another hallway bumping, another passing on the street with nothing but a smile, another 'please say something to me, please' moment by the lockers.

Lauren watched as Karma's eyes flicked rapidly back and forth between them and as Liam and Shane (who just had to be with her) did much the same. She tried (though not very hard) to squirm out of Amy's grasp, but the other girl held tight.

"She… Lauren… you…"

Karma, it seemed, was at a loss for words and if Lauren had known this was all it took to shut her up, she'd have kissed Amy long ago.

The redhead stared at them for a moment longer and then turned her eyes fully to Amy. "She's your sister."

"Step," Amy said, almost automatically. "And, really, not even that, not anymore."

Not even that

It was both heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once.

"She lives in your house," Karma snapped and for the first time, it was clear that this bothered her and Lauren could barely contain the small victory 'woot' she felt bubbling up. "She lives with you and your mother takes care of her and your parents were married and she's… Lauren… what the hell else would you call her?"

Amy let go of Lauren's hips and took her hand, walking them back toward the school - which was totally the wrong way - but then, as she passed Karma, Amy spoke and Lauren didn't care which way they were going.

"I'd call her mine," Amy said.

And that was no accident.