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.
Finally, she drew in a deep breath, and told us "I can't see anything wrong with what you've said. It goes against so much of what I've learned so far, but there's simply no escaping the fact that what you say is true; and that your attitude about maturity and responsibility is right. The only thing that has mattered to me, for as long as I can remember, is the FACTS, the EVIDENCE. What you show me here is indisputable fact; with my own eyes and ears, I know the evidence that these young ladies are mature well beyond their years, and deserving of the trust and responsibility you give them."
With that, Sandra moved over to Robyn, and they kissed before putting an arm around each other. Amy watched as it happened, then asked Sandra "Why did you do that?"
Sandra looked at her as though Amy weren't quite right in the head, and answered "Because she's my best friend, and I love her."
"You don't care that she's another girl?"
"No. All I care about is that she's my friend, and I'm her friend."
"Would you kiss another girl like that?"
"Yes, if she was my friend, and I loved her."
"Is that how you kiss boys?"
"The ones that I love, yes."
"And you know what love is?"
"Love is when making someone else happy means as much to you as making yourself happy. When you'd rather get hurt than have them hurt."
Amy then asked Robyn "And you?"
"What she said. She's my best friend. We love each other. We love my mom. We love Dan. Different ways, but love is love, right?"
Amy turned to look at Lucy, who just smiled at her and said "She's got a point, you know. I love each of them, in different ways. That doesn't mean that I love one more than the other, only that I love them differently, just like my love for Dan is different from what I feel for them. But it's still*love*."
"And you're okay with that?" Amy asked me.
"Sure, why not? They're not hurting anyone, least of all each other.
They really do care about each other. They've been best friends for a pretty long time, even by adult standards. Most of society would frown on what they do, but then, most of society has it's head on backwards about a lot of things. To paraphrase something the science fiction author Heinlein said in one of his books, 'If everyone knows such-and-such, then it isn't so, by a factor of at least a hundred to one.' We've already agreed that they're mature; why deny them the freedom to express honest, caring emotions in a physical way just because they're both the same gender?"
She sat there, blinking at me as she thought for a couple of minutes before nodding her head, and saying "Go on."
"You look tense. If Lucy were to rub your shoulders, would that be helpful?"
"Yes"
"If you were nervous, or afraid, and she held your hand, or hugged you, would that be a caring gesture?"
"Yes"
"Then if you were feeling sexual desire, and she was willing to help you relieve some of that desire, it wouldn't that just be an even greater help, and a more caring gesture? Simply more of what she'd already shown, and not something different?"
"But she's another woman."
"So? Do you think your body would care the gender of the hands that soothed your brow? Do you think your body would care the gender of the arms that held you in times of stress? Do you really think your body would care the gender of the lips and fingers that brought it sexual relief? Or would it be only your mind that would object? A mind that you've already admitted has accumulated a number of misconceptions?"
Again, she got a distant look on her face as she thought through what we'd just told her.
A few moments later, she excused herself, and went into the bathroom.
When she came out several minutes later, she was wearing only her very sheer bra, French-cut panties, and a nervous smile on her face.
As we all looked at her, she took a deep breath and said "I admire all of you; but particularly Dan. If you can be that loving, that caring, and that honest with each other, then it's something that I want to learn, too. Every day on my job, I'm ready to take a bullet for somebody else – but*this* scares me. I've never opened myself up like this to*anyone*. But I'm determined to do it with you, people that I KNOW are what I want to be like. I don't know how much of this I can actually DO, but I'm damned well going to*try*."
Robyn, Lucy, and Sandra all looked at me, telling me with their eyes that I should be the one to respond to Amy's statement.
I stood up slowly, and as she watched me, undressed before her, setting my holstered pistol on the table next to her purse before letting my clothes accumulate in a small pile on the floor next to my feet. Naked, I carefully walked toward her, stopping when I was but a single step away. With her eyes on mine, I told her "Amy, you've shown us bravery by your willingness to protect us. You've shown us kindness by showing those I love how to protect themselves when I was not there to protect them. You've shown us respect by not denigrating our choices. Now you show us trust. We respect all the qualities in you that make you who you are. One of the most basic things that all of us believe in is that we will NOT force or push another person into doing something they do not want to do. If you wish to join us this evening, as our friend and guest, we will be delighted to help and encourage and comfort you as much as you want or need. If, at any time, you are uncomfortable with something, you only have to say so, and we'll respect that without thinking badly of you. Each of us has gotten to where we are at a different speed, and in a different way; and we are not the kind of people to think ill of someone else as they move along THEIR path at THEIR speed."