"You go ahead, I'll be right behind you. I just need to make sure everything is locked up, and the alarm set." She watched Alex the entire way up the stairs before turning and making her rounds of the house, making sure everything was closed and locked, and turning lights off.
Alex's feet slowed as they reached her bedroom door. She realized that before she could be intimate with Nikki, she needed to be honest with her. She turned on the bedside lamp, and slowly sank to the edge of the bed, waiting for her to arrive. Her palms were sweating as thoughts of anger and rejection ran through her mind.
Nikki stepped into the room and saw Alex nervously wringing her hands as she waited. She slowly walked up to her and squatted down into her line of sight, placing one hand over hers. "It's okay, my love. We can wait if you're not ready."
Nikki's reassurances were almost Alex's undoing. She took several deep breaths and said, "It's not that I don't want this, because I do. I love you, Nikki, and I need to be sure you understand who I am before we take this any further." She paused as she looked away, trying to gather her thoughts and calm her emotions. "There are some things I need to tell you. They may change the way you feel about me."
Nikki slowly stood, and sat beside her. "I'm listening, but I know how I feel about you and that's not going to change."
Alex stepped away from the bed. She needed to put a little room between them in order to think. She found that sitting that close to Nikki made it impossible to think of anything else. "I told you I lost my family when I was young, and that I don't like to talk about that time in my life." Nikki nodded. "Well I've only ever told one person what I'm about to tell you." She began to pace as the thoughts and memories ran wild. Six steps to the dresser, turn, and six steps back to the bed. After the third pass, she took a deep breath and began her story. "I was born Roberta Alexis Rossi. My father was Robert Rossi and my mother was Elizabeth Mohr-Rossi. My older sister was Raychel." As she paced she slowly told her about the abuse heaped upon her mother as witnessed by a young child. "He was a very bad man, but my mother stayed with him. I don't know why she stayed with him any more than I know why I stayed with Jo."
Alex wiped the tears from her eyes and struggled to finish the story. She talked about that fateful day that changed her life forever. She explained how she ended up in foster care, and how she moved from home to home, the stigma of her father's name following her everywhere she went. "Then at eight I went before the judge again, and asked to change my name. Since my mother had chosen Alexis as my middle name and called me Lexi when my father wasn't home, I decided to keep it. In an effort to keep Raychel with me, I chose her name for my middle name, and I decided to use my mother's maiden name. That is when Alexis Raychel Mohr was born." As she reached the dresser, she turned and looked at Nikki, waiting for a reaction.
Nikki wiped at the moisture on her cheeks, stunned at the information Alex had just revealed. "I am so very sorry you had to go through such horrible things, especially at such a young age. It makes the things that Dani and I went through trivial. I'm sorry that you lost your whole world in the blink of an eye." She stood and opened her arms, waiting for Alex to walk to her. "And I'm sorry your mother's family never rescued you."
Alex looked up and saw Nikki's arms stretched open, waiting for her. "You still want me, even knowing what I am?"
Nikki smiled lovingly as she replied. "Why wouldn't I? You didn't do those things, your father did. I didn't hear anything in your story that would make me think any less of you. Quite the contrary, it made me realize that you are even stronger than I thought. It helps me to understand some of your trust and privacy issues, but it doesn't make me want you any less."
Alex was overcome with emotion, and quietly walked into Nikki's open arms. Her heart swelled with love as relief and happiness overwhelmed her.
"Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me, my love." She held her close for several minutes before saying, "How about we lay down, and you let me hold you for a while?"
Alex stepped back and smiled. She knew she had much more to tell her, but the worst of it was past her now. The rest could wait a while. "A snuggle sounds wonderful. It has been an emotionally draining day. Why don't you go get into something more comfortable while I take a quick shower and change? Unless you want to join me?"
Nikki's eyes narrowed slightly and a lecherous leer rose to her lips as she let her eyes roam over Alex's fully clad body. "Somehow I don't believe that would be conducive to snuggling."
Alex felt the stirrings of desire at the look on Nikki's face. "Perhaps you're right." She reached for the buttons on her shirt and quickly undid them all. She watched Nikki's eyes follow her hands as they went from button to button, and smiled. She parted the cobalt blue shirt to expose a bra nearly the same color. She let the shirt slip from her shoulders and fall to the
