Next Door Neighbor

if anyone was hungry, and Robyn's stomach growled – I told them that I'd take that as a 'yes', even as Robyn was blushing. Lucy handed over the room service menu, and when I asked for it, the phone. I called down and told Agent Gallery that we'd be having room service, so please, don't shoot the waiter. He laughed, and said that the waiter would be one of his people.

We all had a look at the menu, and after everyone had made up their minds, I called down and placed the order. While we waited, we continued to talk with each other, with most of the conversation going on between Amy and the girls as they asked her even more questions about what it was like to be an FBI agent. I think she was getting a little tired of talking about herself when we heard a knock at the door. About that time, the phone rang, and when Lucy answered it, I saw her listen a moment, then smile. After she hung up the phone, she told us 'That was Agent Gallery. He was letting me know that the person at the door is one of his, with our order.'

She got up and went to the door, taking possession of the meals we'd requested. When the door was secured again, she wheeled the cart in, and we all worked our way off the bed to get our food, then sit around the table to enjoy it. Sandra and Robyn positioned themselves on each side of Amy and listened attentively as Amy, Lucy, and I talked about what had happened that day, and what we could expect in the coming weeks and months.

When we'd finished, we piled the dishes back on the cart, and I wheeled it out into the hall, after checking it first – and finding agents at each end of it. Both raised a hand in recognition when they saw me looking at them.

With the meal over, I could see that Amy wasn't in any particular hurry to leave. As I was talking with her, I saw Lucy and the girls go into a huddle behind her, and knew they were up to something.

After they rejoined us, things seemed to go along fine for a bit – until Robyn asked Amy if she'd like to see the clothes they'd bought at the mall the day before. Amy readily agreed, and the fashion show was on – with a little prompting from Sandra, even Lucy agreed to join in. As Amy and I sat at the table, I assured her that she'd like what she saw – letting her interpret it in whatever way she wanted.

She blinked when I said it, and I could all but see the gears going in her head.

The first part of it was pretty much a repeat of what had gone on the night before – each of them taking turns to change in the bathroom before opening the door to show us what outfit they'd bought. It was when Lucy finally opened the door to show us the teddy she'd bought that we finally got a reaction out of Amy. From the corner of my eye, I could see it when she quickly looked over at me; I turned my head and smiled at her, saying 'I told you I thought you'd like what you saw. Very pretty, eh?'

She gulped, and nodded her head before looking back at Lucy. Still, I don't think she was really prepared for when Robyn made an appearance in her bra-and-panty set. Amy looked at me, then Lucy, who told her 'Like Dan said – we're a casual bunch, and affectionate. You might even say that we're private nudists – most of the time at home, we don't wear much, if anything.'

'Uh, doesn't that get kind of, um, embarrassing?'

'No, why should it? I mean, all of us know what parts we all have, so it's not like there's any surprise*there*. If anything, it's actually relaxing.'

'How so?'

'Well, with all of us naked, there's no mystery to it. I mean, since we can all look at the others pretty much any time, there's no sneaking looks, or any of that nonsense. If Dan wants to look at my tits, he can – he doesn't have to try and cop a look when he thinks the girls won't notice or anything like that. And if the girls want to know what a penis looks like, well, there's Dan, any time they care to look. It's kind of surprising, actually – when you can look any time you want, it takes the 'dirtiness' out of it. And if he gets an erection when he's looking at us, we know that it's not just because he's looking at*a* naked female, but because he's looking at US, and finding US sexy. We all know what he finds attractive in a female, so when he get an erection while looking at us, we take it for what it means – as a compliment.'

'You've all seen him like that?'

'Sure', Robyn told her, adding, 'Like mom said, we're pretty relaxed at home.'

Lucy spoke up, telling Amy 'I don't think it's a big deal. First, it's not something he's completely in control of, any more than we are about our nipples getting hard. Second, I figure if the girls see that a guy with an erection can still behave himself, they won't fall for any stories they hear from guys their own age trying to get between their legs.'

Amy nodded at that, and watched as Sandra headed into the bathroom, only to reappear a few minutes later in her 'look what I have for YOU' outfit.

Amy stared at her for nearly a full minute – Sandra just stood there, looking back at her while the rest of us looked at each other.

Finally, Amy flushed slightly, and turned to look first at Lucy, then me, before asking 'You're okay with her wearing that?'

'Sure, why not?'

'But isn't it a bit, um, mature for her?'

'Amy, you spent time with them this afternoon. Didn't they seem mature to you?'

She nodded, and I went on 'Considering the situation we're in, and the way they've handled it, wouldn't you consider that a sign of maturity?'

Again, she nodded her agreement before I continued 'I'd say she's got the emotional maturity, and the intellectual maturity. Obviously, she's got the physical maturity. Why, then, should her age be a factor? Haven't you ever met people whose emotional age was just a fraction of their chronological? Yet, no one objects to what those folks do. Seems a bit a of a double standard, to me.'

She looked at me doubtfully, and I told her 'When I was in the Army, I could consistently shoot a six-inch grouping at five hundred yards.

I could spend days out in the field with nothing more than a knife and the clothes on my back, and come back in fine shape. I knew a couple dozen ways of killing someone without using a gun. I was routinely trusted with many thousands of dollars worth of sophisticated equipment. But because I was only twenty years old, people in authority didn't think I could be trusted to drink beer.

Was that fair?'

She shook her head, and I asked 'Then why is it fair to judge these girls solely by their age, which they have no control over? By their own actions, which they CAN control, they've shown me – and Lucy – that they're level- headed and responsible people when it matters. I'm not going to fuss at them about something as inane as their skivvies, for crying out loud.'

Lucy told her 'Amy, they've proven to us, in a number of ways, that they're mature enough to make their own decisions. Both of them have shown us that they're not only ready to make decisions for themselves, but to stand ready to take the consequences of those decisions if they made a bad choice. They've both shown us that they're ready and willing to deal with serious matters before they go on to pleasurable ones. Robyn, what did you tell me this afternoon, while we were in that self-defense class?'

Robyn looked Amy right in the eyes, and said 'I told you that I knew Dan was worried about us, and that he wanted us to take the class and learn about guns so we'd learn something, and he wouldn't have to worry about us so much.'

'And?'

'And that I wasn't mad or anything because I knew this was all really serious and really important, and I wanted to help you, and especially Dan, even though I was kind of scared by all of it.'

'Sandra, what did you tell me when we went in to see the guns?' Lucy asked.

Sandra, too, looked Amy in the eyes as she said 'I told you that I was scared about all of this, but that I knew you and Dan had to catch the bad guys, so I wasn't going to make any trouble for you.

And that if you and Dan thought we should know this stuff, then I was going to pay attention and learn it so you wouldn't have to worry about us so much.'

Amy looked at Lucy, who told her 'Amy, if Sandra and Robyn are grown up enough to recognize the situation, and deal with it maturely, do you seriously think I give a happy damn about what kind of UNDERWEAR they choose?'

That said, we waited, watching as Amanda Jones, FBI agent, thought through what she'd just been told, and what she'd just seen and heard. Several times, she looked from one to the other of us, though Lucy and I seemed to get most of her attention.