"You know, Grace, you are a very beautiful woman," Frankie smiled to her best friend as they sat on the couch together in their beach house.

Grace smiled back. "Oh, I know. Thank you. I hope you know that you, too, are very gorgeous."

"I know," Frankie joked back with a grin. There was a pause before Frankie spoke again. "I would do anything for you."

Grace felt her heart skip a beat, and she turned to fully face her friend. "You know, I'm starting to believe I'd do anything for you, too." She reached over and grabbed Frankie's hand and squeezed it.

Frankie took that as an invitation to scoot closer to her friend, startling Grace slightly, but the woman did not move. "I moved back from Santa Fe for you. And my children," she admitted. "But mostly you! I couldn't stand being away from you. And while I miss Jacob, if I had one person to spend the rest of my life with, it would be you. It will always be you, Grace."

Grace felt her eyes water a little, and she quickly wiped the tears away. "In the beginning, I would have never thought I'd say this, Frankie, but now, I can strongly say that I feel the same way about you. I don't know what I would have done without you these past few years."

"People always ask us if this is how we picture the rest of our lives, with each other. Well, it is! I'm about sick of boyfriends! All I need is you."

"Amen to that," Grace agreed. "I'm through with men. It's just too much for me to handle at my age. You're enough for me to handle," she joked.

"Ha ha," Frankie teased back dryly, stroking Grace's thumb with her own, with a little smile. She looked up at her friend, looking her in the eyes, feeling her heart flutter a little. She truly did love Grace, and now she had an overwhelming urge to kiss the woman. She'd had this thought before, but she'd always brushed it off. But now… She wanted to try it. What did she have to lose? At the most, Grace would probably just push her away and say she was being weird. And while that would be a little disheartening, Frankie still wanted to try, so she went for it.

And to her surprise, Grace did not pull away. It startled her, sure, but she did not reject it, either. It did not last long, however, and when they pulled away, Grace sort of abruptly stood up and said, "Well, goodnight," before heading to the stairs.

Frankie, still in a daze from the kiss, looked over to her friend. "What? Are we not going to talk about what just happened?"

Grace stopped in her tracks but did not turn around, saying, "I don't think so," before heading up the stairs to her bedroom.

"But Grace!" Frankie called out weakly, feeling a bit hopeless. Grace did not respond, and Frankie sunk back onto the couch, letting herself fall on her side. Had she made a mistake in kissing her? No, Grace had kissed her back. Surely that meant something! Surely there was hope.

But the turmoil of not knowing what was going to happen next kept Frankie up all night. She thought about texting Sol, as they sometimes did at night, but she couldn't talk to him about this. It would be too weird! The only person she felt she could talk to this about at all was Grace, and she was pretty sure Grace did not want to speak of it.

Meanwhile, Grace was sleeping like a baby, having wonderful dreams about her best friend that she would question once she awoke.

The next morning, while she was confused by her dreams, she brushed it off and headed down the stairs to make some breakfast. "Good morning!" she sung out as she flitted down the stairs. When all she heard was a groan from the couch, she raised her eyes. "Did you stay there all night?"

"Mostly," Frankie shrugged. "I also got up and paced around several times in the night. How did you sleep?"

"Wonderfully, thank you," Grace smiled.

"Good for you," Frankie mumbled, trudging over to pour herself some cereal.

"What's wrong, Frankie?" Grace asked, concerned.

"What do you think?" Frankie narrowed her eyes slightly, feeling a bit bitter, yet mostly disappointed. When Grace didn't respond, she sighed. "The kiss we shared."

"You didn't like it? It actually helped me sleep, I think."

"Then why didn't you say anything after it happened? You had me all up in knots last night! You just left so abruptly to bed. Why, Grace?"

Grace fidgeted a little. "I don't know… I guess I was scared. I'm not gay, Frankie! That would be Robert and Sol."

"Well, I'm not gay, either, Grace, but that doesn't mean we can't have something together. Maybe you're bi or… or Frankie sexual," she cracked a smile, joking.

"That's not a thing," Grace shook her head.

"Do we have to question what this is? Why can't we just run with it? Look into your heart, Grace. Don't think about the specifics of it all. Just look at me. What does Grace want to do right now?"

"Grace wants to eat her breakfast," the woman responded simply.

"What about last night? What did she want to do then? You kissed me back, Grace. I know you felt something."

Grace bit her lip in silence for a moment, thinking. "The truth? Part of me wanted to pin you on the couch and do unspeakable things to you, and it scared the hell out of me."

"Then why not do it, Grace?"

"Frankie, that's.. that's silly!" Grace blushed slightly and turned away. "We're best friends… right?" She turned back slightly to face her.

"Yes, but I wouldn't mind if we became more than that," Frankie touched the woman's shoulder gently. "Admit it, Grace, we've crossed some lines. Maybe not sexually, but emotionally. We're more than friends at this point. Why can't we just admit it to ourselves and see where it takes us? I love you, Grace Hanson."

Grace felt every inch of her body tighten up at those words. They truly scared her. "That's…that's some heavy stuff, there, Frankie."

"You love me, too. I know it," Frankie smiled coyly.

Grace sighed, feeling defeated. She knew the woman was right. They really had crossed lines in their friendship, becoming closer than your average "bff". She would do anything for this woman, and she couldn't imagine her life without her. "Oh, fuck it," she muttered before backing Frankie against the counter and kissing her fully.

Frankie's heart fluttered, and she wrapped her arms around Grace, kissing her lovingly. She decided to be a bit more bold and slide her tongue in, seeing how Grace would react to that. To her delight, Grace reciprocated. Their kiss got more intimate, and the intensity grew. God, it was driving Frankie crazy! She never knew how much she wanted Grace until this moment.

Grace could never have predicted this would happen. A few years before, never in a million years would she think this would happen. She could barely stand this woman just years before. The fact that they were standing in their kitchen, in their house that they had lived in together, kissing, showed just how much they had grown to love each other.

Their hands started exploring each other, lovingly and perhaps even a bit lustfully traveling the other's body. After pulling away for a moment, Frankie half jokingly said, "How about you and me take this upstairs?"

"Okay," Grace agreed instantly, very much surprising Frankie, but she was not going to question it; she was going to roll with it. Grace took Frankie's hand and started to lead her upstairs to her bedroom, her heart pounding quickly, so nervous but so excited.

Frankie coyly grabbed one of their Vybrant vibrators before they reached the stairs, figuring they could make use of it.