Splitsville (Unedited Draft)

AN: If you've read this far I'm eternally in your debt. Please give another shout out- even if you don't say anything about the story, just so I can see haow many people are finishing this thing. Thanx.

Also, planning to do my editing in March during NaNoEdMo- anyone who's doing it, too- wanna buddy up?

Chapter Twelve- Mary-Anne's New Life

NANCY TWOMBLY'S KITCHEN...

Three weeks after Mary and Anne woke tingling in shocky pain on the blackened floor of the former particle accelerator lab spattered with blood and facing the sliced up body of Moores, Mary struggled through their physics final, while Anne stubbornly refused to look up answers and think them at Mary. Instead, Anne spent the same time working on their Advanced Basket Weaving final project. She found that it was easier to follow the pattern if she worked on it upside-down- that way left was right and Anne's memories of what Mary had already done on it matched what was in front of her. She steadfastly concentrated on what her hands were doing and not on the test questions that Mary kept popping into her head- Mary really was a persistent pain in the ass sometimes.

Mary really was a persistent pain in the ass sometimes.

Mary really was a persistent pain in the ass sometimes- like her continued insistence that they should take Carrie's offer of a job of a top-secret nature at an installation that doesn't exist, working for a non-existent branch of the government. Mary seemed to think it would be exciting and romantic and patriotic, but Anne just didn't think that they could trust the government not to experiment on them or use them to assassinate foreign dictators. And yes, there were probably a few dictators that Anne wouldn't mourn much if they fell from power, but that didn’t mean she had it in her to do the killing- she had known Moores to be a dangerous psycho who had to be stopped, but that didn't keep her from getting nauseous whenever she remembered the sight of him all carved up- remembered the feel of the sticky of his blood on her skin that night. And it wasn't as if Mary didn't feel the same stomach-turning things, she just wanted the cool superheroine, secret agent, save the world and kittens from trees idea. Anne wanted that, too- she just didn't think it could happen if they let the government run the show.

So, Mary and Anne had finished the semester- they had even passed physics 101 with Matt's help. Matt had had plenty of time since he'd had to leave the graduate program because 1) he had no thesis and 2) then he'd gone and borrowed thousands of dollar's worth of equipment from the physics lab without permission and 3) gotten it destroyed doing an unauthorized experiment in the singed basement of the old physics building. After the semester ended, Carrie had taken a transfer back to Quantico and Matt had gone with her. The Bronxes had gone back to their funeral home with one extra corpse that nobody would notice in the final accounting of things because they were good at that type of thing.

And, Mary and Anne had gone home for the summer. It took a bit of doing to keep Maryanne's parents in the dark about all that had happened, but they were getting much better at being in the same place at the same time and looking like one person- like they'd done to get to Moores. By the end of the summer, they hardly separated anymore, except- except to have sex- they were still doing that apart and together and in infinite variations in between the two. It was peaceful and it was good and- except for the sex- it was boring as hell.

Two weeks before the fall semester, Mary-Anne came home from their summer job selling shoes to find Matt and Carrie sitting at Maryanne's mother's kitchen table shooting the breeze with Ed and Nancy Twombly.

"...And then when she was three and a half, we spent the summer up at Lake Runamuck and she skinny-dipped the whole summer- I'd put her little swimsuit on her and not ten minutes later, her cute, little, sandy tushie'd be running past me so fast I wouldn't catch her until supper. Isn't that right, Ed?" Maryanne's mother gushed.

"That's right, Nance."

"Why that sounds adorable, she must have been quite a handful," Carrie said in a voice sweeter than Mary and Anne had ever heard from her. "Oh, speak of the devil- there's the little nudist now." Carrie nodded towards them.

"Hi Carrie, Matt. What are the two of you doing here?" Mary-Anne asked trying not to let any annoyance slip into their voice- Maryanne's mother didn't deserve and wouldn't understand Mary-Anne being angry at her friend Matt and his girlfriend visiting and Mary-Anne couldn't have explained it all without explaining it all.

"Oh, sweetie pie, they were just in the neighborhood and I wouldn't let them go without at least a piece of cake and cup of coffee- Mat was so good to you after that unpleasantness last year. They tried to just leave you a note, but I wouldn't have it," Maryanne's mother told them. "But now that you're home, Ed and I will leave you young people to talk. We're due at the library fundraiser about twenty minutes ago, anyways."

"Oh, we didn't mean to keep you from anything," Matt apologized.

"Son, don't give it another thought- if we were ever on time for a function, the rest of the town would probably die of shock," Maryanne's father commented.

"Oh, Ed!" Maryanne's mother admonished him as they disappeared out the backdoor.

"So, where's the other one stashed?" Carrie asked, getting up from the table and facetiously looking in the breadbox and under the table. "You've kept it all from dear old Mom and Dad, but there's not way you'll keep it up for much longer."

Anne stepped to the side without Mary.

"Nobody's stashed anywhere. What do you want?" Anne questioned.

"Well, basically the same thing we've always wanted- to help you use your extraordinary gifts to better the world." Carrie handed Anne a thick envelope. She considered it for a moment before Mary ripped it from her hands and opened it.

"Oh. My. God! You really did this?" she squealed at Carrie before rushing over to hugs her.

"So, that's a yes from you?" Carrie teased and Anne fumed because Mary was sniffing Carrie's neck.

"Let me see!" Anne snapped and pulled the papers from Mary's hands. It was some kind of papers of incorporation- Culpepper Security Services- C. Culpepper, M. Twombly, and M. Godunov, proprietors. "What the hell?"

"Anne, we can do this if the two of you agree- I have a lot of connections that can be of use to us and working in the private sector, we can keep our methods- and your abilities- trade secrets. The Bronxes are in, too. Say you'll consider it. It's an enormous waste for you to be selling shoes."

"Wait, if they Bronxes are in, then why don’t they get a cut?" Anne asked suspiciously.

"They do," Matt interjected, "They just don't want any of their names on any paperwork."

"It's still gonna be a hard thing to swing- keeping the secret. Plus there's school- we have another two semesters to finish for our degree," Anne protested.

"We'll consider it, Carrie," Mary promised, hugging her again. Anne didn't like Mary siding with Carrie- they were the same damn person- Mary should always side with her.

"We'll consider it, but only if you don't pressure us. We're the ones taking the greatest risks in this- we're the one's who'll be braving the fires and we're the one's the government eggheads will cut open to see how we work if this all goes wrong- We have to be the ones to make this choice," Anne reasoned. "No pressure or it's all off for sure."

"But think of how much good you can do-"

"No, Carrie," Matt interrupted, "she's right- we can't push them into this- they need to be sure of what they choose because they're the one's who'll pay the worst consequences, they're the ones who'll be giving up anything like a normal life." He stood and all but dragged Carrie to the door. "Mary, Anne, you take care. We hope to hear from you soon, but no matter what, hearing from you will always be welcome."

"Oh, bye, Matt," Mary said and hugged them both- Anne didn't like how Mary missed them so much- and she really didn't like how much she missed them herself. Stupid, loyal, well-meaning friends. Then, Anne hugged them, too, because she couldn't not. Stupid, sentimental, weak-willed heart.

"Annie," Mary sing-songed to her other self, once the door closed behind Matt and Carrie.

"No!' Anne answered the inherent question in Mary's voice. "There is just no way."

"Why not? It's not like we haven't taken all the same risks before. We could have just let Professor Drake die and just gotten out, we could have run from Moores instead of confronting him," Mary reminded.

"Let's not have this discussion in the kitchen, please. They could come home any minute," Anne diverted and walked up the stairs to Maryanne's bedroom.

***

MARYANNE'S BEDROOM...

Mary knew what Anne was scared of- she was scared of it, too. They had all this guilt and grief and regret because what they had done- consolidating Moores- what they had done allowed Nunzio to kill him. The fact that it was the right thing to do- the lesser by far of two evils- that didn't change the image that flashed on the backs of their eyelids when either of them closed her eyes for more than half a second. They had helped end someone- that mark wouldn’t wash off- Moores blood wouldn't just disappear from their skin.

But, it had been months and Anne was still stuck in that moment- still vomiting in that burnt-out basement in the wee hours of the worse day of their life. Mary wanted- needed- to move on. She was drowning in the guilt- she needed something good to come of it and Anne needed that, too, she just couldn't see past that moment and how they could count Moores' vertebrae from the inside- eleven- there were eleven exposed vertebrae that they could still count on the backs of their eyelids.

Mary shook her head- she was still trapped in that box of a moment, just like Anne, but she knew the way out. She followed her twin up the stairs silently. Words weren't the thing she could use to convince Anne- Anne was better with words than Mary was. Mary was better than Anne was at only two things- sex and fashion, though the sex was a really close tie. So, fashion, it was.

It only took a moment for Mary to put it together- how to entice Anne into a life of superscientific do-gooding. They needed superheroine clothes- tights and a cape- a cute skirt and a spandex M on their chests- a sexy mask and sturdy, but feminine boots for kicking bad guys in the ass- silver bulletproof bracelets and a lasso of truth- ooo, ooo and a utility belt. Okay, maybe she couldn't quite get any magically protective clothes, but they could put Carrie and Matt on that project once she got Anne to agree to their new life.

She knew it wouldn't be long before Anne caught the memory of Mary's plan, so she didn't waste time trying to figure how to hide it- she just went to the closet and considered the possibilities. The perky, little sleeveless aerobics short-tank would do to start. Ooo- and the slinky skort she got last week- the M on their chests could be for midriff- as in bare. And, that electric blue cocktail dress was so last month- she could cut it up for a short, little cape- maybe two. Mary pulled all those and a few other likely candidates from the closet. Then she pulled out Maryanne's little used sewing box, sat on the floor and started cutting.

"That's not going to work, you know," Anne told her without looking up from the copy of The Bell Jar that she was reading.

"Sure it will. The cape doesn't need to be very long- we can't really fly- at least not yet," Mary replied.

"We're never going to be able to fly, Mary, and you know that's not what I mean. I mean that you can't win a life altering argument with a cute outfit, even if I have a weakness for kitsch." Anne turned the page with a sharp flourish to show Mary how hard she was reading her book.

"We need go-go boots," Mary countered, "One pair with thick rubber soles for insulating and one with a built-in grounding wire."

"You're cracked."

"I know you are, but what am I?" Mary teased.

"Oh, don't start that!" Anne laughed and gave up on Sylvia Plath, getting up and sitting next to Mary to sort through the clothes she'd gathered.

"Knew you couldn't resist," Mary said and leaned over to plant an overly wet and tongue-y kiss on Anne's cheek in jest.

"Eww, Mary!" Anne gave her a shove. "You're nasty." Mary took the moment and pushed Anne back- taking the action further to lay Anne out in the pile of clothes and spread out on top of her.

"You like nasty, though, don't you?" she asked, but kissed Anne before she could answer. She did her best to make Anne's description of nasty accurate. Mary kissed Anne hard and deep- making it sloppy and wicked. Mary wound her arms around Anne and slipped her knee between Anne's legs so they could hump nicely against each other and they were in business.

Anne was grinding against her thigh, her hands cupping Mary's ass and pulling Mary harder against her, setting a maddening, syncopated rhythm for their hips- so good. Mary pushed up on her elbows to get a better angle against Anne's knee and wow- Anne looked so hot and sweet with her hair splayed out behind her on the myriad fabrics that were cushioning them from the floor. Mary had to see more of her- she rucked up Anne's top to reveal the purple lace brassiere- they had a running fight over who got to wear it whenever it was clean- and smoothed her hands over the patterning, bring Anne's nipples to peaks, enjoying the same goosebumpy feeling on her own flesh, as well.

Mary pulled the frilled edge down until Anne's left titty peeked out and then she leaned down and tasted her twin. After the soft warm wetness of her mouth tantalized Mary's own nipple, she pulled away and felt the flash of cold as she blew lightly on Anne. Mary loved playing with the sensations she could give them- sometimes it wasn't so much about pleasing Anne- it was more about exploring herself- again and again. She was nothing but a hedonist. Well almost- she did have a mission here. Mary gave Anne's tit one last hard suck and sat up.

"Annie," she asked, moving her leg back just a bit to frustrate her clone some.

"Uh- Mare, please!" Anne whined and scooted down to get the better friction back. Mary pulled her leg back again.

"Annie," she asked again.

"Please."

"Not until you agree- you know you want to."

"Fuck, Mary! You can't do this- it's cruel and really, really unusual," Anne complained.

"What about us isn't anymore?" Mary leaned down and hazed a teasing breath over Anne's well-used nipple again. "Come on, Anne- you know it's what we're meant for," she spoke, letting her lips just graze Anne's flesh. Anne arched up to make better contact.

"Please, please."

"No," Mary said firmly and sat back up. "You're so stubborn!" She rolled back onto her heels and stood.

Mary couldn't believe she was making a stand to Anne- she was so horny- they were so horny, but this was important and she was only better than Anne at two things, so she left- stormed out and went to sit in the tree house Maryanne's dad had built for her when she was eight. Mary would fine her there if she wanted to. She half expected that Anne would follow her. She didn't. Then she half expected Anne would masturbate and put them both out of their frustrated misery. She didn't do that either. A few minutes later, Mary was learning more shit she didn't want to know about Sylvia Plath that she didn't want to know.

***

THE TREE HOUSE...

Despite being really horny and angry at Mary for using sex as a weapon in their argument, Anne was sort of proud of Mary for standing up to her. So much of the time, Anne's judgment, Anne's rules were the ones they went by- but this time Mary really wanted what she wanted, not because she was all id, but because she thought it was really right.

Anne's problem was that she knew that Mary was right. She just didn't want it to be true. She didn't want it to be true because she knew that no matter what it was going to be tricky business and they could find themselves counting someone else's spine before too long, maybe even someone less horrible, maybe even someone innocent. Anne wasn't sure either of them could take that.

She considered finding Mary, but there wasn't anything she could say to her right then. Anne flopped down on the bed and considered fingering herself to ease her need, but that seemed wrong at that moment, plus it would give Mary the same satisfaction and Anne was still mad at her. So she just returned to her book. Soon enough she fell asleep.

Anne woke feeling panicked. It took a moment for her to realize that the feeling was coming from Mary, who was hiding in the old tree house while Maryanne's parents came into the house from their car. The library thing must have ended. Anne thought stay in the tree house, stay in the tree house, stay in the tree house to Mary and straightened her hair before making her way downstairs and out to greet Maryanne's mom and dad. Once the parents were safely inside, Anne climbed the ladder up to where Mary was and sat next to her.

"I'm sorry, Annie," Mary said, leaning her head on Anne's shoulder.

"I know. I am, too."

"I really do think that we should-"

"I know. I do, too. I just don't know how," Anne admitted.

"It's not like you'll be alone, you know," Mary reminded her, as if she could have forgotten. "It's not even like we'd be alone- Carrie and Matt- the Bronxes- they'd all be helping us. We can count on them, all of them."

"Yes."

"And, Carrie was right about how hard it's gonna be keeping the split secret for the rest of our life- they would help us with that, too," Mary added.

"Yes."

"And, it's like we have a responsibility to use this gift, to make something good come from all the madness Moores created trying to play Schrödinger," Mary posed.

"Yes. Mary, honey, can you hear me?" Anne joked, shaking her shoulder. "I'm saying yes."

"Oh- OH! You mean yes yes?"

"Yes."

"Yes? Oh, yes! Annie, you're the best!" Mary shoved her onto her back and kissed her hard. It felt good, really good- the best kind of really good- to give in to Mary- to give in to her own instinct, Anne rubbed her hands around Mary's back and kiss her new crime-fighting partner back.

A while later, Mary sank into Anne and they went into the house to tell Maryanne's parents that she was taking some time off from university to work with Carrie and Matt. It was an interesting dinner hour.


Epilogue to Follow