Loup laughed. “Pilar, they wouldn’t stare so much if you’d do up another button on your shirt.”

She glanced down at her cleavage. “That button’s worth a thirty percent increase in tips.”

“I bet.”

Their eyes met. Pilar flushed, but she didn’t look away. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to get used to it. It’s just really sudden, you know?”

“Like a flash flood,” Loup agreed.

“Or fireworks.”

“Yeah.” Loup’s stomach growled. She’d missed lunch, too. And between sparring with Miguel and the afternoon with Pilar, she’d expended a lot of energy. “Hey, do me a favor? Order a side of fries. Or a double, if you want fries. I don’t get tired easily, but I have to eat a lot afterward. Tommy always used to—” She realized Pilar was staring at her with a dreamy look. “Are you listening to me?”

“What?” Pilar shook herself. “Um, no.”

“Order extra fries,” Loup said gently. “It won’t look as weird if we both do. I need food. A lot of food.”

“Okay.”

They got two burgers, two double orders of fries. Loup ate steadily, feeling the edge of fatigue and weakness recede as her body’s reserves were replenished. She finished her fries, surreptitiously took half of Pilar’s. She finished those and watched Pilar toy with a half-eaten burger. “Are you going to eat that?”

“No.” Pilar shook her head and switched their plates. “You’re worse than a guy, baby.”

“I can’t help it.”

“I know.” A wicked smile flickered across Pilar’s face. “So I gave you a pretty good workout, huh, Supergirl?”

“Yeah.” Restored by food, Loup was aware of a sense of profound, blissful lassitude permeating her entire body. Every time she moved, it sent aftershocks of pleasure through her. “Yeah, you did.”

“You should see your hair.”

“My hair?”

Pilar nodded. “You’ve got a bad case of sex hair, baby.”

Loup tried to untangle it with her fingers. “It’s kind of got a life of its own.”

“Leave it. It’s kinda cute. Sexy.” A funny expression crossed Pilar’s face. “I can’t believe I’m sitting here saying that to you. I have to admit, I’m a little freaked out. And I’m really, really not looking forward to facing the Santitos.”

“We don’t have to say anything.”

“I’m not ashamed, okay? I’m just freaking out.”

“I know. I know!” Loup raised her hands in a peaceable gesture. “Take your time; freak out. Tell them; don’t tell them. It’s up to you. But we should head back. It’s late. I’ve got a key to the gate, but they’re gonna be wondering what the hell happened to both of us.”

Pilar sighed. “Okay.”

Outpost was fairly quiet in the aftermath of the storms. A few soldiers called out to them when they crossed the square and an MP made them show their permits to be out after curfew, but they made it back to the church without any trouble.

“Did Mackie give you that key now that he’s the handyman?” Pilar asked, watching Loup unlock the gate.

“Yeah.” She opened the gate. “Sometimes I run late on Wednesdays when Miguel feels like talking.”

“Miguel Garza?”

“He’s not as big of a jerk as he acts.” Loup locked the gate behind them.

“You think he’s gonna be upset?”

“Miguel?”

Pilar shook her head. “Mack.”

“I dunno. Maybe a little.” She looked at Pilar, shadowy in the faint moonlight. “He knew how I felt.”

“About me?” Pilar sounded startled.

Loup smiled. “Yeah, about you.”

“Jesus.” Pilar slid her arms around Loup’s neck, slid her hands into her tangled hair. Kissed her, pressing her against the bars of the wrought-iron fence until renewed desire pulsed between them, hot and urgent. “I swear to God, I could eat you up with a spoon,” she murmured. “Do we have to go inside?”

“Ummm… no?”

“No, we do. We really kinda do.” Pilar stepped back, blew out her breath. “Okay. I can do this.”

Inside the church, Anna met them in the antechamber with a worried look that turned to one of relief. “Oh, good! We expected you both back in time for dinner today, and you were out so late. Is everything all right?”

Pilar flushed. “Fine.”

“Fine,” Loup echoed.

“Are you hungry?”

“We ate at the diner,” Loup said.

“Oh, good.” Anna gestured. “I think the others are watching a movie downstairs in the rec room.”

“Maybe we can just slip in without them noticing,” Pilar said hopefully.

“Maybe.”

They descended the stairs to find Mack patiently untangling a length of videotape from the ancient VHS machine, while everyone else lounged around reading or looking bored.

“Hey!” T.Y. glanced up. “What the hell happened to you guys? Loup, I waited half an hour for you. I thought it was my turn to read to you.”

“Sorry. I forgot.”

“You forgot? You forgot training?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “I forgot.”

“So where were you guys?”

“Well, I went in to work and there was this sewer pipe that burst,” Pilar began explaining. “So Joe sent everyone home, but then this creepy guy who used to hang around started following me and saying shit, so I got freaked out. Then I saw the gym and remembered Loup was there, then we got caught in the rain, and… Oh, fuck it.” She rolled her eyes. “We hooked up, okay?”

C.C. lifted his head out of a comic book. “Whaaaat?”

“It’s a joke, C.C.,” Jane said without bothering to look up.

“I’m not laughing,” he said.

“I didn’t say it was a good one.”

Mack glanced at Loup. She returned his gaze steadily. He gave her a rueful smile. “So, was it different?”

“Yeah,” she said softly. “It was.”

“Good.” He nodded. “I’m happy for you.”

“You’re serious.” T.Y. looked from Pilar to Loup and back. “You’re fucking serious? You two?”

“Yes!” Pilar raised her voice. “Get over it, okay?”

“God, Pilar.” Jane put her book down. “Was one gender not enough to contain your sluttiness?”

“Fuck you. It’s not like that.”

“What’s it like?” Dondi asked. He patted the seat of the couch. “I think you should come over here and tell me all about it.”

“Me, too,” C.C. agreed.

“Look.” Pilar took a deep breath. “Kotch has a thing for guys in uniform. I have this…”

“Mutant fetish?” Loup suggested.

She turned pink. “You fetish, anyway.”

“Interesting,” Jaime observed. “You know, it probably is some sort of genetic mutation. Natural selection responding to an artificial strain introduced into the gene pool. Fascinating that it would arise spontaneously in different geographic areas… How long have you felt this way, Pilar?”

“A while,” she muttered. “Can we please stop talking about it?”

“And cross gender barriers, too,” he continued, musing. “That must be one powerful predilection.” He glanced at Loup. “And you feel the same way about Pilar?”

She smiled. “Uh-huh.”

“They just spent…” Mack glanced at the clock on the wall. “About seven hours fooling around, Jaime. I think it’s a fair bet that Loup feels the same way.” He eased the last tangle of tape out of the VCR and began rewinding it. “Shall we try this again? We’ve got a little while before I have to shut down the generator.”

Loup stretched out on one of the big pillows strewn around the floor. After a moment, Pilar came and sat cross-legged beside her. “What are we watching?”

Mack eased the tape back into the VCR. “The Sound of Music.”

“Again?”

“It’s one of the only ones that still works.”

They watched the camera pan over the Swiss Alps and zoom in on a twirling, singing Julie Andrews.

“Fast-forward!” T.Y. called. “We were at the part where Liesl kisses the Nazi.”

Mack obliged. The tape squeaked, but it kept running. Unwitting Liesl danced with her suitor in the gazebo while the rain streamed down around them. Loup turned her head and caught Pilar smiling at her. She smiled back. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself.” Pilar stroked her arm, let her hand rest on Loup’s back.

Katya offered her only comment of the evening. “I don’t care what else you do, but just so you know, you two are so not having sex in the dorm room.”

THIRTY-SIX

The first months were the best.

To Loup, it felt like rain in the desert. She knew it had gotten worse since Tommy’s death, but she hadn’t truly known how much she longed for the simple human contact that everyone else enjoyed as a matter of course.

And sex.

Lots and lots of sex.

The church had its share of trysting spots agreed upon by the Santitos and their predecessors. The bell tower. The choir room. The cot room in the dispensary after hours. The rec room was supposed to be off limits, but people used it anyway.

“Anyone could walk in,” Loup reminded Pilar, conditioned by years of thinking about being careful.

“I don’t care.” Pilar’s tongue circled her navel. “Jesus! I could bounce a quarter off your belly.”

“Wanna try?”

Pilar glanced at Loup under her lashes, yanked at the button of her jeans. “Nope.”