by Van ©2018
		Chapter 3

One would be forgiven for assuming that Robin and Leda might find the next morning to be emotionally awkward.  After all, they weren't in the habit of sharing the same bed—and they were—Robin's bed.  The BFFs had never demonstrated even the slightest inkling of romantic interest in each other.  And yet... here that were.  How could waking up together in Robin's bed not be awkward?  As it turns out... it wasn't.  Go figure.

It was physically awkward for Leda, of course, as she woke with her ankles still cuffed together and her wrists still padlocked in bracelet-cuffs, but she was much more used to such things than Robin, more so than her BFF suspected.  On the plus side, Leda was still dressed in her customary sleeping costume: panties-and-tank-top PJ's, so Robin wouldn't be embarrassed by full nudity (not that she was a prude or anything).  Also, the pretty steel bracelets Leda had borrowed from work were in front, as opposed to behind her back, so she was only semi-encumbered.  On the minus side, the standard police-type handcuffs binding her ankles only had a couple of connecting links.  Any steps Leda might feel tempted to attempt would be severely hobbled, decidedly awkward, and probably painful.  Best to wait for her "captor" to release her.

The captor in question, Robin, was still wearing her half-unbuttoned white cotton blouse with its long sleeves rolled up, and nothing else.  At least, that's what Leda assumed was the case.  It was Robin's habit to sleep with her bedroom window's mini-blinds and opaque drapes completely closed.  At night that meant total darkness, but now Leda could just make out the ghost of the window's outline with her dark-adapted eyes, and very little else.  The sun was rising... or at least making an attempt.  If, in fact, dawn was breaking and it was therefore time to wake up (which Leda's internal clock insisted it was) there were no other visual clues.  She couldn't see the face of Robin's alarm clock, which had a non-glowing, LED display, anyway.  The prisoner-of-the-bed heaved a tiny sigh and stared into the near total darkness.

"You awake?" Robin's voice inquired.

Leda smiled.  "No, I'm asleep.  Why?"

"Just curious," Robin answered.

Leda felt the bed move... then the reading lamp clicked on.

"Jeez, blind me why don't you?" Leda complained, clenching her eyes tightly closed against the sudden light.

"Big baby," Robin chided as she lifted the dog-tag chain with the padlock and handcuff chain over her head and used the appropriate key to unlock the handcuffs from around Leda's ankles.

Leda opened one eye and watched Robin drop the chain back over her head, free her hair, then spin on her bare feet and pad towards the bedroom door, taking the keys with her.  Leda tugged on her bracelet-cuffs (Jordan's bracelet-cuffs, actually) and a thrill rippled between her legs.  This was for three reasons:

(1) Robin looked very sexy in her rumpled blouse and tousled hair—sort of like a diminutive Sophia Loren—or maybe a tiny and uncharacteristically brunette Doris Day.  Leda liked the old romantic screwball comedies from the 50's and 60's, even though Robin found them dated.

(2) Obviously, Robin wasn't ready for their help-I'm-a-helpless-prisoner research to end, as evidenced by the steel hoops still solidly padlocked around Leda's wrists.

(3) Robin looked very sexy in her rumpled blouse and tousled hair.

Leda had romantic feelings for her longtime BFF?  It would seem their bondage experiments (ostensibly to help Robin with research for her next novel) had tipped the balance of their relationship from solidly platonic to maybe-just-a-teeny-tiny-bit erotic?  Go figure.  I'll have to think about this, Leda mused as she climbed to her bare feet.   Maneuvering Robin into becoming my bondage playmate is daunting enough, Leda thought as she used her cuffed hands to straighten her hair.  Do I want to shoot for girlfriend?  I'm pretty sure that would be hubris.

"Are you coming?" Robin's voice called from the hallway.

Leda was already padding towards the bedroom door.  "Keep your socks on!" she shouted back, even though neither of them were wearing socks.  She has cute feet, Leda noted as she crossed the threshold.  The feet in question, Robin's, were just disappearing into the bathroom, along with the rest of her BFF.  Leda followed, and entered the bathroom to find Robin sitting on the commode.  She favored her blouse-clad BFF with a coy smile and toyed with her tousled hair with her bracelet-cuffed hands.  "I take it you no longer consider privacy that much of an issue?"

Robin finished tinkling, flushed the bowl, and stood.  "Not for me," she purred.

Leda watched as Robin brushed her teeth, then turned to the commode.  Well... in that case.  She pulled down her panties with her cuffed hands, sat down, and emptied her bladder.  By the time she'd finished, flushed, and was struggling to pull up her panties with one hand, Robin took her by the arm and led her to the washbasin.  "Hey!"  Her panties were still at half-mast and she'd nearly stumbled on the resulting panties-hobble.  "That was rude.  Glub!"

An infuriating (and adorable) smile on her face, Robin was busily brushing Leda's teeth for her.

Leda let it happen, then spit in the sink, accepted a mouthful of water from the plastic cup in her roomie's helpful hand, then swished and spit in the sink, again.  "I should have spit in your ugly face," she huffed.  She didn't mean it (of course), and knew Robin knew she didn't mean it.

"Payback is fair play," Robin chuckled as she lifted Leda's tank-top over her head.

"It's also a bitch," Leda muttered as she lifted her arms to be helpful.

"You need a shower," Robin said.  "You stink."

"I do not!" Leda objected, but Robin was using the key dangling around her neck to unlock the padlock securing the bracelet-cuffs, so she smiled.  Her smile faded, however, when Robin finished freeing the tank-top from her arms and hands, and then, despite the "encumbrance" of the half-hoisted panties tangled around Leda's knees, spun her around and locked the padlock, once again, restoring the incarcerating integrity of the bracelet-cuffs, only now with Leda's hands behind her back.

"I just realized I've totally neglected the reverse aspect of my research," Robin explained as she pulled the hobbling panties down to Leda's ankles.

"What it's like to be the one taking care of a helpless prisoner?" Leda inquired as she stepped free of her panties.

"Exactly."  Robin turned on the bathtub, making sure the shower curtain was properly arranged to keep the rest of the bathroom dry, and turned on the shower.  "In you go," she ordered once the streaming water was up to temperature.

Leda gracefully stepped over the tub wall and under the water.  Robin closed the curtain behind her and Leda slowly turned under the hot torrent, getting herself completely wet.  Then, the curtain parted and Robin joined her!  Her captor/BFF had removed her blouse, of course, so now they were both naked.

The plastic mat under their bare feet more-or-less eliminated the possibility of slipping, but the tub was standard size and relatively close quarters for two.  The BFFs had no choice but to huddle intimately close as Robin executed a pirouette and soaked herself.

Leda watched with a lopsided grin as Robin turned off the shower, squirted a dab of bodywash onto a washcloth, then began soaping and scrubbing her body... meaning Leda's body.  Leda closed her eyes as her captor scrubbed her face... ears... neck... breasts... back... armpits... arms... breasts... tummy... thighs... crotch... breasts... legs... ankles... feet... and finally, her breasts.  She also used the soapy washcloth to delicately dab at the stainless steel dumbbell posts piercing Leda's nipples.  Delicacy was in no way necessary—the piercings were fully healed and had been for several months—but Robin was careful, anyway, frowning in concentration and using feathery, fastidious swipes.  Leda thought it was kinda cute, borderline adorable.

Covered with glistening suds from head to toe, Leda watched as Robin soaped and scrubbed her own body in the same manner... only without the blatantly redundant breast-washing.  Quarters were close, so the occasional gentle brushing or bumping together of hips and butts or the harmless nudging of Leda's tummy and breasts by Robin's elbows and hands was inevitable.

And then, it was time to rinse off.  Robin turned on the water, then rotated under the stream and used her hands to strip the soap from her body.  Leda watched, still grinning her lopsided grin.  And then, Robin (also smiling) took Leda by the waist and turned her body under the water.  Since Leda's wrists were cuffed behind her back, Robin had no choice but to rub her hands over her BFF's wet, slippery body to make sure all the soap abandoned Leda's smooth, firm body and swirled down the drain.

Hygienic mission accomplished, Robin turned off the water, opened the shower curtain, reached for a towel, then dried her body, including her hair.

Leda watched... and dripped... and awaited her turn.  Being her BFF's helpless prisoner, Robin would have to do the honors.

Robin smiled and watched as Leda smiled and watched her.  She dried her hair, then wrapped the towel around her long, brown curls and gave herself the traditional towel turban.  Robin then reached for a second towel and did, indeed, dry her captive's wet skin... and her hair... and gave her a towel turban of her own.

Breakfast was next, after a preliminary side trip to Robin's bedroom for Leda's captor to get dressed.  Naked, her wrists bracelet-cuffed behind her back, and her damp hair in a terrycloth turban, Leda watched as Robin donned panties, bra, khaki cargo shorts, and a salmon-pink French t-shirt.  She considered a display of the Righteous Indignation appropriate of a Long Suffering Martyr, but decided to keep mum.  Robin probably wanted her to whine and complain.  She'd show her!

Robin led her naked captive directly to the kitchen, plunked her in a chair, and prepared coffee, sliced fruit, and bowls of Muselix and 2% milk.  Grinning like a fool (in Leda's affectionate opinion) her Cruel Captor fed her prisoner her fair share of the meal, sip-by-sip, slice-by-slice, and spoonful-by-spoonful.

"The least you could do is bitch and moan," Robin muttered as she shoveled the last of the Muselix into Leda's smug mouth.

Leda chewed and swallowed.  "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" she chuckled.

"Quiet," Robin huffed as she lifted Leda from her chair, spun her around, and unlocked her bracelet-cuffs; however, she didn't release her BFF completely.

Leda turned back around to find that both bracelet-cuffs were now locked around her right wrist.  She was wearing a padlocked double bracelet.  "Very funny," she huffed.  "I suppose you think this is..."

"The word you're looking for is 'hilarious,'" Robin purred as she gathered the dirty dishes and carried them to the sink.

Leda sighed and turned her wrist, staring at her new jewelry.  "And I suppose you intend to keep the key."

"Of course," Robin confirmed.

"Jordan will be pissed," she muttered, still examining her wrist.  "She'll want her cuffs back."  That wasn't strictly true.  Jordan had the second key (somewhere) and would probably be amused by Robin's use of her bracelet-cuffs to impose involuntary jewelry on her BFF.  Leda continued her examination.  Truth be told, the cuffs weren't totally unattractive, but the brass padlock would have to go.  Perhaps a cute little heart-shaped lock?  That would work.  "She'll do all sorts of cruel and unusual things to me," Leda sighed.

"Jordan?"

"Jordan," Leda confirmed.  She bit her lower lip and fluttered her eyelashes in her best wounded pout.  "Please don't throw me under the bus, Bestie!  She'll be mean to me!  Please—please-please-please!"

"Go get dressed," Robin chuckled, returned to the sink, and began washing the bowls, mugs, and spoons.

Leda smiled at her roomie's back, heaved a final theatrical sigh, then padded for her bedroom.  Obviously, maneuvering Robin into becoming her girlfriend wasn't going to be as tricky as she'd feared.  It might even turn out to be easy, but Leda decided she'd still have to take things slow.  Maybe she was mistaking naughty tomfoolery on Robin's part for romantic overtures.  She had to be sure.  If Leda botched this (whatever it turned out to be) she might break both their hearts.

Cody Archer left her office and made her way through through the hustle and bustle of Archer Metal's main floor, nodding, smiling, and exchanging greetings with her employees as she went, pausing now and then to admire their work (or offer subtle advice).  Heading for one of the "private" workshops in the back, she passed the closed door of her own workshop and ignored a twinge of guilt.  Inside was a nearly finished, informal commission for Jillian Foxwood that she was neglecting.  Specifically, it was a head-enclosing iron mask for the oubliette under the Foxwood Bed & Breakfast's "Stone Tower."  The cruel, claustrophobic encasement was nearly complete, but when business was good (like now), administration took the lion's share of Cody's time.  There was no deadline for the mask's completion, but Cody still felt guilty (just a little).  She resolved to start staying late until she finished the evil device.

[AUTHOR'S NOTE: For more about Jillian, read my various Tales of the Foxwood B&B.]

Cody reached her ultimate goal, Jordan Price's workshop, and opened the door without knocking.  Nobody ever knocked at Archer Metals, least of all Cody Archer, the "Big Kahuna."

Jordan smiled, waved, and shouted "Hey, Cody!" then returned to making flow adjustments to the fan blowing air through her forge.

"Hey, Jordan!" Cody shouted back.

Both Jordan and her boss were dressed in boots, jeans, and tank-tops.  This time of year it was more-or less the Archer Metals uniform.  The exception, of course, was Cody's secretary and bookkeeper, Leda Brewer, who worked in "pretty dresses," year round, adding a wool or fleece sweater on cooler days.  Everyone at Archer Metals enjoyed watching Leda bounce around in her seemingly endless collection of skirts, blouses, frocks, and wrap-dresses, doing her defiant and bubbly best to singlehandedly balance the otherwise unisex/masculine attire of her fellow employees.

And speaking of Leda, she was also present and was wearing her other work uniform, the one she wore when she'd been "recruited" to help one of the resident artists/metal-workers model and/or test one of their custom "interactive sculptures."  That is, except for a few of Jordan's latest creations, Leda was naked.

The creations in question were a wide, thick, heavy steel posture-collar padlocked around Leda's neck, a pair of heavy manacles locked around her wrists, and a similar pair of shackles locked around her ankles.  She was up on her toes with her hands behind her back in a reverse-prayer, and the manacles were attached to the back of the collar by three links of chain.  Also, the collar was clipped to a long vertical chain that traveled up to a pulley set in the ceiling, stretched across the workshop to a second pulley, then down to a hand-cranked winch set in the far wall.  It was the length of the collar chain that was keeping Leda up on her toes.

Cody smiled and shook her head in mock disgust as she strolled close to her naked, helpless bookkeeper.  She locked eyes with Leda and heaved a sigh.  "Neglecting your duties again, I see," she purred.

Leda's defense of her supposed neglect was decidedly inarticulate and unconvincing.  "Mrrrpfh!"  Someone (Jordan) had been inconsiderate enough to stuff Leda's very pretty baby-blue, pink, and white striped panties in her mouth and make sure they stayed there by using a narrowly folded red shop-cloth to give her a tight cleave-gag.  Thankfully, the shop-cloth was new and therefore clean, not counting the saliva soaking the folded fabric where it passed through Leda's grimacing mouth.

Cody shook her head, spun on her booted heels, and strolled across the shop to the winch.  She released the ratchet locking the drum, played out just enough chain for Leda's heels to touch the shop floor, then restored the ratchet and strolled towards Jordan.  "I just got off the phone with your mother," Cody said once she was close to Jordan.  She pitched her voice just loud enough to be heard above the forge, but with insufficient volume to carry across the shop to Leda's no doubt eager but frustrated ears.

Jordan had just pulled a red-hot bar of steel from the forge.  She examined its color, then thrust it back into the coals.  "She said she was gonna call you," Jordan chuckled.  "I think they're both crazy."

"And by 'they' you mean..."

Jordan grinned.  "My darling mother, and..."  She nodded towards Leda.  "...the Swan.  I don't even know the roommate.  What's her name?"

"Robin," Cody answered.  "I met her at the last Christmas party.  She seemed nice enough.  Also, cute as a bug and about as big."

"Like her roommate," Jordan chuckled.

Both Jordan and her boss were smiling and gazing across the workshop at Leda, who was obviously very interested in whatever they were saying.  Unfortunately, she couldn't hear anything.  Dammit!

"Your mother can handle it," Cody said.  "She handles you well enough."

"Hah," Jordan snorted.  "I know... but the idea's still crazy."

Cody nodded.  "Totally bonkers.  What's your point?"

Jordan rolled her eyes.  "I got work to do."

"So do I," Cody chuckled, then nodded at Leda.  "One more hour."

Jordan's smile turned coy.  "I promised her 'til close of business.  She was a cheeky little thing for dragging my mother into such a harebrained scheme."

"One hour," Cody reiterated.  "You kidnapped her before she could process the afternoon mail.  It's sitting in her in-basket unopened."

"One hour," Jordan agreed, then turned to the forge to check the progress of the bar she was heating.

Smiling sweetly (ominously) Cody strolled to her naked, bound, and gagged bookkeeper.

Leda watched her boss approach with gagged trepidation, then her eyes popped wide—"Mrrrf!"—when Cody cupped her pussy with her right hand.  Leda danced on her toes and squirmed as Cody's index slid between her labia and caressed her clitoris.  "Mmmpfh!"

"Just as I suspected," Cody chuckled.  "I don't mind that you so obviously enjoy helping my artists test their work," she continued.  Her caress of some of Leda's favorite nerve endings also continued.  "But I pay you to process paperwork, not play damsel-in-distress.  Ten points from Gryffindor."

Leda tugged on her inescapable bonds as Cody left Jordan's workshop, closing the door behind her.  Everyone at Archer Metals were Harry Potter fans, and the ten-points-to-or-from-Gryffindor thing was something of a shop meme.  Also, last Halloween Leda had worn a slutty Hogwarts schoolgirl uniform (in Gryffindor colors) to work, so... it was a fair cop.

Cody's visit over, Leda returned to watching Jordan work, having few other options.  She also continued mentally planning exactly how she was going to sell her genius plan to Robin when she got home from work.

Robin heaved a gagged sigh.  She hadn't had to give her BFF a foot massage to get her to continue her what-it's-like-to-be-a-prisoner research program.  Upon arriving home from work, Leda announced in no uncertain terms that the experiments would continue.  Also, she had something to discuss with Robin, but it could wait 'til after dinner.

Leda then changed into her pajamas (panties, tank-top, and robe) and prepared the dinner in question: pork loin roast and veggies.  Robin remained in the panties, jeans, and tank-top she'd worn all day.  Once the meal was ready (and, apparently, just for the sake of novelty), both roomies fed themselves.  Neither of them was tied to her chair or cuffed and dependent on the other.  Go figure.  They also shared the post-dinner cleanup.

And then, Leda decreed that Robin should get ready for bed immediately, then meet her in her bedroom.  It was an unmistakable order.

"My bedroom?" Robin inquired with a dimpled grin, "or your bedroom?"

"Your bedroom," Leda clarified, then pointed to the bathroom.  "Go."

Still smiling, Robin padded into the bathroom and conducted her evening toilette.  It was a little early, but not by much.  She made her way to her bedroom to find Leda waiting.  Ominously, several coils of Leda's white cotton clothesline collection were waiting on the neatly made bed.

"From now on, we're going to do this right," Leda announced.  "As your captor or kidnapper or villainess or whatever, I'm gonna use long established nefarious logic and accepted despicable procedures for keeping prisoners helpless and under control.  Strip!"

Robin smirked and cocked a skeptical eyebrow.  "Say what?"

"Strip," Leda reiterated.  "Being naked has a profound psychological impact on a prisoner's mind, making her easier to control and less likely to try and escape.  Everybody knows that."

"You just want to take revenge for me making you share the shower this morning," Robin purred.

"Nonsense!" Leda huffed.  "Conserving water is our civic duty as upright citizens."  She pointed an imperious finger at her BFF.  "Do it."

Robin continued smiling at her roomie and would-be captor.  This is weird, she mused.  Not totally weird, just... weird.  Robin and Leda had been friends a long time, and neither one of them was a prude, but neither BFF had ever exhibited romantic interest in the other.  Robin was absolutely sure that was true for herself and for Leda as well.  The nakedness in the shower that morning had been a hilarious prank... unless Robin had missed something... which she didn't think she had.  Okay, Robin decided, let her have her fun.  It's another hilarious prank.  Tit for tat.  Robin would be a good sport and play along.

Robin watched as Leda watched her soon-to-be-prisoner unbutton, unzip, and pull down her jeans... peel down and step free of her panties... then pull her tank-top over her head.  Still smiling her patented devilishly-cute-dimpled-smile, Robin placed her hands on her hips.

Leda continued staring for several seconds... then cleared her throat—"Hrrumpf"—selected a long coil of white rope, released the retaining hitch, doubled it, found its center, and nodded at Robin.  "Turn around."

Robin executed a graceful pirouette.  Her high school dance teacher would be proud (and scandalized).

All business (and carefully ignoring her BFF's firm, dimpled butt and smooth back), Leda dropped a doubled loop of rope over Robin's head and shoulders and snugged it tight, pinning Robin's upper arms against her torso.  The horizontal pair of strands passed just above Robin's breasts, and Leda followed with a second tight pair, this time just below Robin's breasts.

"I promised I'd show you a countermeasure against the ol' shifting-the-hands-from-back-to-front trick," Leda purred, then looped a doubled strand of rope through Robin's armpits and behind her head, yoking her shoulders.  "This is one of my favorites."  She passed the remaining rope up and under the strands at the nape of Robin's neck, down to the nexus of ropes below her shoulder blades, pulled out all the slack, and tied a knot.

Robin winced when the ropes tightened.  "I can see how this would make it more difficult, but—"

"I'm not finished," Leda interrupted.  She readied a second coil of rope, lifted Robin's arms and folded them together against the small of her back, then began wrapping doubled strands around her forearms.  Soon, Robin's wrists were lashed to their opposite elbows, and everywhere in between.  The final knots were looped through the nexus of the chest-harness ropes, then up to the shoulder-yoke at the nape of her neck.  It was there that Leda tied the final knot.

Robin squirmed and twisted at the waist.  "Okay, granted, this makes it impossible to—"

"Hey!" Leda barked.  "It's very rude to interrupt the villainess in mid-bondage.  Wait for the 'Big Gloating Scene.'  Show a little class."

"Sorry," Robin chuckled, then turned and watched as her roomie/captor prepared a third coil of cotton rope for use.  "You're not done?" she demanded, then lifted her right foot.  "Oh, my feet, right?"

"Hush," Leda chuckled, spun Robin around, looped the center of the coil around her rope-wrapped forearms, then took a doubled hitch around Robin's waist, pulled it tight, and tied a knot at the small of her back.  She then spun Robin back around, reached between her legs for the free ends of the rope, looped it under the front center of the waist rope, just below Robin's navel, and pulled out all the slack.  The twin strands of cotton clothesline snapped taut, cleaving Robin's butt-cheeks and her labia!

"Leda!" Robin whined.  She also blushed.  Her cheeks (the ones on her face) were crimson.

"I said, hush," Leda said quietly.  "This is so the ropes can't shift upwards when you start struggling."  She tied another knot, then looped the free ends up and under the the horizontal ropes above and below Robin's breasts, pulled out even more slack, and tied a final knot.  The breast-ropes now formed an "X," squeezing Robin's boobs, and all the doubled strands were very tight, tight enough to dimple Robin's flesh.

"Sadist!" Robin accused.

"Don't be insulting," Leda giggled.  "If I was a sadist, I'd have tied a few figure-eight knots in the crotch-rope."  She then led her prisoner to the bed and helped her recline.  That is, she gave her a shove.

Robin landed on the mattress and bounced, including her rope-framed breasts, fluttering hair, and her body in general.  "Hey!"

Smiling a truly infuriating and overtly gloating smile, Leda readied a fourth coil of rope for use, pulled Robin's feet together, and tied her legs together, just above her knees.

"I still think you're a sadist," Robin huffed.  She wasn't smiling, but she wasn't really upset (and she knew Leda knew she wasn't upset).  Robin was still recovering from the intimate shock of the crotch rope—which was still there, and not going anywhere else, except to slide up and down whenever she moved—but she wasn't upset.

Leda smiled but said nothing.  She expended two more coils of rope, using one to lash Robin's legs together below her knees, and the other to lash together her ankles.

Robin took that as her cue to give her bonds a thorough test.  She wiggled, squirmed, and rolled on her formerly neatly made bed.   All she succeeded in doing was making a mess of her bedspread and top sheet.  As for freeing herself... it was a hopeless task.  She stopped her futile struggles, shook her tousled hair from her face, and favored her grinning captor with an expression of polite disdain.  "You're good at this," she conceded.  It wasn't much of a concession.  Obviously, when it came to tying up writers so they could conduct perfectly reasonable and not at all kinky research, Leda was good.

"Thank you," Leda grinned, then shrugged out her robe (leaving just her panties and tank-top) and climbed onto the bed next to her captive.

"What are you doing?" Robin demanded as her captor first pulled down the bedclothes, then pulled them up to cover both of their semi-naked bodies.  (Robin was semi-naked because of Leda's expertly rigged ropes, and Leda was semi-naked because of her panties and tank-top.)

"I'm making sure you don't escape during the night," Leda explained.  "And no screaming for help or I'll gag you."

"With what?" Robin demanded.

"I've got two pair of dirty panties within easy reach," Leda purred, "yours and mine.  Also, the sash from my robe would make an excellent cleave-gag."

Robin heaved a sigh.  "Points taken," she muttered.

"Goodnight," Leda wished her captive, planted a quick kiss on Robin's pouting lips, then reached out and turned off the bedside lamp, plunging the bedroom into total darkness.

"Goodnight," Robin wished her captor in return.

"Oh," Leda said, "I almost forgot that thing I was gonna tell you."

Robin frowned into the darkness.  "What thing?"

"You know how next month I'd spending a week at Jordan's mom's house to help her paint her garden shed?"

Robin smiled.  This wouldn't be the first time Leda had taken a week's vacation to visit the Price ranch, or farm, or whatever they called the place.  Leda was a sweetie to help Jordan help her mom whenever something needed doing.  Robin had met neither Jordan nor the mom in question, but if Leda was willing to spend time helping them, they had to be nice people.  Anyway, yes, she knew about the scheduled painting vacation.  "I remember," Robin said.  "So what?"

"You're coming too," Leda announced.

"I have writing to do, remember?" Robin objected.

"One," Leda said, "you can bring your laptop with you and write all you want.  And two, you're my helpless prisoner and have no choice."

"Oh, I see," Robin chuckled.  "You're going to keep me tied up and gagged until it's time for your vacation boondoggle in the country, then pop me in the trunk and drive me out there as slave labor."

"Only if you make me," Leda purred.  "I've already told Miriam you're coming.  She's cleaning her extra guestroom."

"Miriam?"

"Jordan's mom," Leda explained.  "You'll love Miriam."

Robin stared into the darkness for a few seconds before answering.  "Well... it's not like I have much choice," she sighed.

"Exactly," Leda said, then turned on her side, away from Robin.  "Go to sleep."

"Yes ma'am," Robin purred, closing her eyes.  A week in the country won't be that much of an imposition, she thought.  It'll be fun.