Kate pulled up outside Abby's condo and unbuckled her seat belt. It was a cool night, a little breezy, perfect for what she had in mind. She and Abby hadn't had a girls' night out in ages and she figured she'd come by, drag Abby out to one of the bars in the area. Little drinking, little dancing, some flirting with whoever happened to be around...it sounded perfect, in Kate's mind.

As she walked up to Abby's front door, she frowned, slowing her steps automatically. The door was just a little ajar, and when she pushed it it swung open easily. She *knew* Abby had a deadbolt on her door, which meant that she hadn't locked it--or hadn't had a chance.

"Abby?" she called, stepping into the house cautiously. "Abs, you there?"

She didn't hear an answer, but she *did* hear muffled sounds coming from the direction of the bedroom. Someone was crying out--Kate didn't bother listening for anything else, just ran.

She stopped dead in the doorway, staring at the picture inside. Abby was there, all right. She was naked, blindfolded, hands tied over her head to the bed. Her skin was sheened with sweat and her face was flushed. She was moaning, crying out in desperation, body arched almost completely off the bed.

That was bad enough. But there was a naked man on the bed as well, his head buried between Abby's legs and his hands on her thighs, holding her spread open. Something about him looked oddly familiar, but Kate was too shocked by the whole tableau to figure out what it was.

"Stop--God, stop--" Abby begged, pulling at her bonds. "Too soon."

The man laughed and raised his head. "You can't go more than once?"

Kate's jaw dropped. "Tony?" she squeaked.

"Kate?!" Tony looked as stunned as she did.

"What the--Tony, let me up!" Abby demanded.

He crawled up, hastily undoing the blindfold and the scarf around Abby's wrists. "What the fuck are you doing here?" he asked, belatedly grabbing part of the sheet to cover himself.

"I came by to see if Abby wanted to go out and the door was open and I heard--and--" Kate gestured, speechless. "What the hell are *you* doing here?"

Abby wrapped herself in another part of the sheet. "The door was open? I thought we lock--" She turned to look at Tony. "Oh, shit, we didn't," she said with a groan.

"No--you didn't give me a chance," Tony reminded her. He licked his lips absently; Kate had a momentary realization of what was *on* his lips and blushed.

"It's not my fault!" Abby protested. "You were the one with--in the car--" She gestured, making the sheet slip down dangerously. Tony reached over and tugged it back up.

"How long have you two been--" Kate slumped against the wall, hand over her face. "I'm not sure I want to know."

"About a month?" Abby guessed.

"Yeah. Just about that," Tony confirmed. Kate opened her eyes to see him put an arm around Abby, hugging her close against him. She grinned and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm not seeing this," Kate said weakly. "I'm not."

"Relax, Kate. We're just friends." Abby pulled the sheet a little tighter around her. "We got drunk one night, fell into bed, and decided we liked it enough to keep doing it."

"But--" Kate dropped her hand. "It's *Tony*!"

"Hey!" Tony said indignantly.

"Yeah, it is." Abby pushed her hair back. "You have a problem with that, Kate?"

"How could you sleep with *Tony*?" Kate asked.

Tony's eyes darkened dangerously. "Watch it, Kate," he said, voice low. "I'll take it at work, but we're not there now. If Abby wants to sleep with me, that's her choice--and good judgment, I might add." He grinned at Abby, who laughed and smacked him on the arm. "You have a problem with that, take it up with me."

"Kate. He's a friend. You can have sex with friends." Abby shrugged. "Besides, he'll try anything and it's been *way* too long since I got to play like that."

Kate groaned. "I need a drink," she muttered.

"I've got vodka in the freezer." Abby slid out of bed and grabbed a black T-shirt, pulling it on and letting the sheet drop. The T-shirt came down to midthigh and Kate didn't miss the look of appreciation on Tony's face as she stretched lazily. "You want a screwdriver?"

"God. Yes."

Abby grinned and headed to the kitchen. Alone in the bedroom, Kate and Tony looked at each other. The sheets were tumbled around Tony's hips, perilously close to revealing everything. He looked at her evenly, his expression giving nothing away. "You going to move so I can get dressed? Or do you want a peek?" he asked matter-of-factly.

"You have no shame, do you?" Kate asked back.

"You've got enough for both of us." Tony stretched and grabbed a pair of boxers, pulling them on before getting out of bed. He picked up his blue button-down shirt and pulled that on as well, rolling up the sleeves but letting it hang open.

He should have looked ridiculous, wearing black boxers and an open blue shirt. He didn't. Kate decided not to follow that train of thought and fled to the kitchen, where Abby was pouring orange juice.

"You got dressed," Abby complained, handing Tony a glass.

"I didn't think Kate wanted to see me in my birthday suit." Tony raised his glass in an ironic salute before tossing back half of it. "Besides, I can get undressed again later."

Abby grinned and gave Kate a glass. "Good. I'm counting on it."

"My turn, remember?" Tony said cryptically.

"Your what?" Kate threw back a slug of her drink and nearly choked--Abby had made them strong.

"His turn to decide what happens." Abby sipped her own drink. "We take turns."

"What is this? Some kind of deranged game?" Kate asked, shaking her head.

"I wouldn't call it deranged," Abby said thoughtfully. "But a game, sure." She set her glass down. "Kate, we're friends who have sex. You've heard of this concept, haven't you? We're just having fun."

Kate stared at her drink. "Friends do not have to have sex," she insisted.

"Have to, no, but it's a hell of a lot more fun if they do." Tony goosed Abby playfully; she jumped and squeaked.

"Could you two *not* do that?" Kate pleaded.

"Kate, look." Abby sighed. "Adults are perfectly capable of having sex without it being some meaningful *thing*. Sometimes it's more fun that way."

"I know that," Kate said, feeling defensive. "I just don't know why--" she gestured at them.

"It's good sex. That's prety much the only reason why." Abby loooked up at Tony and shrugged.

"Only good?" He pouted at her. "That's not what you said earlier."

Abby smacked him on the ass. "Okay. It's mind-blowing, fantastic, out of this world sex. That thing you do with your--" At that point, she seemed to remember Kate was there and shut up. "Oops."

Kate downed the rest of her drink. "I'm not seeing this," she muttered.

"You said that before. Does it work now? Because I'm pretty sure it didn't then." Tony grinned.

"Be nice," Abby chided him.

He set his glass down and shrugged. "I'll leave you two to talk this out, since my presence seems to be unnecessary. Abs, come find me when you want me."

Kate averted her eyes as Tony leaned down to kiss Abby, one arm wrapping firmly around her waist. She didn't want to see. Then again, she didn't want to *hear*, and Abby was making some sort of low sound that just...Kate set her glass down, hoping the clink of glass against Formica was enough to jar them apart.

It was. Mostly. Tony laughed, and there was a husky sound in it Kate had never heard before. "Come find me, oh goddess mine," he said; Kate looked up to see him trail a finger along Abby's lower lip before leaving the kitchen.

Abby poured herself more juice, leaning back against the counter as she sipped. "So why were you here again?" she asked curiously.

Kate shrugged. "I thought I'd see if you wanted to go out tonight. We haven't had a girls' night out in a while." Unwillingly, she looked in the direction Tony had gone. "Now I know why."

"Kate, it's only a couple times a week. Or less, depending on when we get our schedules to synch. It's *not* a big deal." Abby put the orange juice back in the fridge and turned to look at her. "Is it the fact that it's Tony? Or that you walked in on us? I mean, would it have been as bad if you'd walked in on two strangers?"

"Yes!" Kate dropped into a chair. "Sex is supposed to be *private*, you know?"

"It's supposed to be *fun*." Abby sat down opposite her. "Look, I'm sorry you walked in on me and Tony--I really did think we'd locked the door, but he was doing this *thing* in the car and I got distracted and by the time we got inside..."

"I don't want to know," Kate said, barely resisting the urge to put her head down on the table. "I just...I don't want to know."

Abby patted her hand. "Relax, Kate. It's not a big deal."

Kate shook her head. "You're sleeping with Tony," she said.

"You really can't get past that, can you?" Abby sighed. "Look, Kate, I know he's a jerk sometimes, but he's a decent guy underneath. Mostly. And he's amazing in bed."

"Abby!"

"He *is*," Abby said with a grin. "God. The things I could tell you."

"Please. Don't." Kate shuddered. "Look. You go--go--" She shook her head, gesturing at the bedroom. "I'm going to go home and pretend I never saw any of this."

Abby studied her for a long moment before nodding. "You okay, Kate?" she asked.

"Ask me once I've managed to erase the image in my head." Kate stood, as did Abby. "See you at work tomorrow?"

"Yeah. C'mon, I'll walk you out." Abby walked down the hall, pausing by the door. "Sure you don't want to know?" she asked with an impish grin.

"Abby!"

Kate stepped out into the cool night air, taking a deep breath. She pretended not to hear the click of the bolt behind her as she walked down the steps and hurried to her car.