Dear Prudence

"That's true sweetheart," Juliet said, "but you do need your rest. You know how tired you get if you haven't gotten your eight hours."

"Then I'll just sleep in later in the day, that's all," her son replied, his voice showing the smallest measure of independence.

"But it's not a good idea for you to drive if you're tired," Juliet went on, shifting tactics.

"Maybe you're right," Gregg relented, his voice falling into the same obedience mode that Juliet was used to.

"I knew you'd see it my way," Juliet beamed, glad to be back in charge.

"So I'll tell you what," Gregg abruptly said, his voice again changing in intensity. "Rather than drive home this late, I'll just stay here for the rest of the night. I'm sure Brooke will have no problem putting me up."

The smile on Brooke's face told him that it would be no problem at all.

"But Gregg, honey ..."

"Mom, it's settled," he cut her off. "I'll see you sometime in the morning. Better yet, make that in the afternoon. I'm going to stop by the Porche dealership on the way home and order a car like yours for myself. Do me a favor and call them so they'll know that payment won't be a problem. I do think that someone who's going to star in a major motion picture should be driving something better than an old Escort, don't you?"

Juliet Newman was so perturbed by her son's unforeseen and sudden declarations of independence that she found herself, for the first time in memory, totally speechless. By the time she found her voice, she was speaking to a dial tone. She reached for the keypad on her telephone, then decided that calling him back right now might not be the best of ideas.

"Well that was certainly interesting," Brooke said as she took the phone back from Gregg and set it back on its base. "Are you sure that you haven't set in motion that you're going to regret in the morning."

"I don't think so," Gregg replied as he moved closer to Brooke. "I think there are some things that I should've done a long time ago."

Without asking him to elaborate, Brooke had a pretty good idea exactly what those things might be.

"But that can wait until the morning," the younger man said as his hand stroked Brooke's breast. "I'm sure that there are a lot more fun things that we can do than talk about my mother."

"Gregg, baby," Brooke said, feelings of worry beginning to fill her chest. She had almost called Gregg honey, but that would've been too surreal. Their pseudo-incest had been too close to the mark already. "You do remember before all this started, that you said all you wanted to do was spend a night with me, don't you? You do understand that nothings going to happen after this?"

Gregg laughed loudly at what she said. It was a laugh that was both refreshing and worrisome.

"Don't worry, Brooke," he finally said. "I haven't managed to come up with the courage to pull away from one mother, only to try and latch onto another. You're my friend, which's never going to change. I was just thinking that if we were only ever going to have one night together, well the night is far from over."

Brooke looked over his shoulder, out to the dark and empty ocean. The morning dawn was indeed still hours away.

"I guess they were right," she laughed. "Out of the mouth of babes."

"Who are you calling a baby?" Gregg asked in a voice only semi-serious.

"Only you, babe," Brooke grinned as she press her lips hard against his. "only you."

With that, they both rolled over onto the center of the bed to enjoy the hours until the morn. Before giving in to the lust she felt rising within her once more, Brooke couldn't help but think that Gregg had taken larger strides on his road to manhood in the few minutes of that phone call, than he had in the two hours he had shared her bed.

END