“No…”, she replied abruptly, and then, “…Yes”.

Carmen giggled silently and pulled back. She cupped her face with both her hands and rested her forehead against Shane’s.

“I am all ears”, she spelled attentively, trying to reassure her with an attentive look.

Shane smiled.

“Alright…”, she swallowed, “…I don’t even know where to start. I had this dream, this bad, bad dream where you weren’t even in my life anymore…”.

Carmen frowned, and Shane shrugged in discomfort.

“…I don’t know why, but I was with Jenny”, she murmured.

Carmen’s eyes popped out in surprise and she repressed an astonished chuckle.

Shane blushed.

“Yeah, yeah, I know… I know. You don’t have to say anything. You can’t imagine how I feel about that”.

Carmen smiled gently and arched her eyebrow.

“Oh, I can imagine, believe me. Let me guess. Perverted?”, she hinted, and Shane chuckled.

“Totally”.

They shared a quick glance and a giggle.

“It was like making out with a relative”, Shane added.

“Jenny is more or less like a sister to you. And you, you’re more or less like a sister to her. That would never happen”, Carmen elaborated, and Shane nodded again.

“I know. I know. Actually, I don’t even know where that nightmare came from. Maybe from some crazy writer’s fucked up mind, I don’t know, but it was… distressing. Painful, even. Because I had left you at the altar, and I had never married you, and you were gone, and I wasn’t doing anything to get you back… not a fucking thing… I was just…”, Shane threw her hands in the air in frustration, “…Letting you go away”.

Carmen took her hand and squeezed it gently.

“But I am here…”, she whispered.

Shane kissed her, lovingly.

“Thank God, you are…”, she sighed against her lips, lingering, “…And Jenny is not a fucking psycho, or a thief, or even worse… dead”.

Carmen pulled back.

“Wait a minute. In your nightmare, Jenny was dead?”, she asked in disbelief.

Shane pursed her lips together and looked down. She fiddled with the sheets, trying to gather her thoughts, to remember.

“…The whole dream was a mess. First of all, I know that I had fucked Jenny’s girlfriend…”.

“Nikki?”, Carmen interrupted her.

“Yeah”, Shane replied tragically.