We Take Care of Our Own

Somehow Kimberly Stewart had survived five years as a military wife without Jim ever being deployed. Sure, he spent time in the training field in other units, but was never gone for more than a month, and was never in danger of dying. She hugged his big 6 foot frame at the edge of the parking lot. Jim brushed her red hair from her pale face to see her tear filled green eyes.

"Nothing will happen," he assured her. "I'm Motor pool Sergeant, not a grunt."

"Anything could happen in a year." At 5 ft 3, she looked up at him. "Promise me you'll be careful." She pleaded.

He laughed lightly and kissed her. "A hundred times, I promise." He tried again to persuade her to go home. This was a new duty station where she knew no one. "You should go home to your folks and wait this out."

"No," she refused. "Jimmy is just settling in here and this is our home. We'll wait for you here."

Jim smiled at his spitfire redhead. She would do it her way or fail trying. He broke the hug and picked up 3 year old Jimmy and kissed the red headed boy before handing him to his momma.

"I'll write as soon as we are in country." Jim waved as he walked towards the company that was just forming up. "I love you guys."

"I love you!" She said bravely.

After the soldiers all boarded buses and left for the airport, then the young wife broke down and cried, holding tight to her little boy.

"Ah shug, are you OK?" Kimberly heard a southern drawl behind her and then felt an arm wrap around her shoulder.

Kim looked up into a taller, older woman's face, she looked maybe 34, with dark short hair and the warmest smile. "I'm OK." Kim lied.

"Your first deployment, huh?" The middle aged woman understood. "It gets better, shug." The woman patted her shoulder. "I'm Maggie, by the way."

"I'm sorry" Kim said, wiping her eyes with her free hand then offering it to the woman. "I'm Kim"

Maggie ignored the hand and gave a quick hug "I know. My husband is your husband's Platoon Sergeant. I'm sorry we're just meeting but it's been hectic, you know."

Kim gave a strained laugh. "I know. I've never filled out so much paperwork before, power of attorney and God, he made a will."

"Well, we're in charge now, hun, until they get back anyway." Slowly they walked to Kim's car. "I'll come by later. When does that little guy take a nap?" Maggie smiled at Jimmy, who smiled back for a second and then shyly buried his face in his mom's shoulder.

"At 2" Kim said. "I'll make coffee" she offered.

Maggie gave a warm smile. "I'll bring some cake. See you then, shug."

Kim had straightened the apartment. It was small, but it was on post, so they paid no rent. Jimmy was down in his race car bed and snoring like his Daddy. Maggie showed up at a quarter past 2 with homemade crumb cake with tons of brown sugar in it and got a quick tour of the place.

They sipped coffee and chatted. "It's good you put him in his own bed. You're going to be tempted to let him sleep with you on those lonely nights, but it becomes every night and when hubby comes home it's a hard adjustment." Maggie said in her southern drawl. "Keep things normal for that little guy. It's the best you can do."

"How many tours have you gone through?" Kim asked her new friend.

"5 if you count Korea. We stayed stateside and Bob only had to do a year there, hardship tour if you don't take your family." Maggie kept her eyes on Kim, giving her all her attention, even when she got up for more coffee.

"What do you do with your time?" Kim came back with the coffee pot. "I'm so used to Jim being here at 4:30. We eat dinner, we talk, watch TV and we go to bed. I'm going to go nuts without him here." Her shoulders slumped in despair.

Maggie reached across and took the young redhead's hand. "You can call me. We'll talk. We'll watch TV and laugh over the phone. OK, shug? And if you need it, I'll talk to you in bed."

Kim laughed sarcastically at the last part. "It won't be the same."

Maggie laughed with her. "No, hun, it's not the same."

Kim made it through the first month by calling Maggie every day, or going to lunch with her, or just hanging out at Maggie's row house on the other side of the base. Maggie's kids were 13, 10 and 8. Little Jimmy was adored by Maggie's 13 year old daughter who had to watch her little brother and sister anyway, so Kim had a babysitter whenever needed. Maggie had really taken the younger army wife under her wing. They went shopping on Saturday together and Dinner at Maggie's on Sundays. Maggie introduced her to the Captain's wife and the other wives from the company.

Kim's days were full. She had friends now and one really good mentor, but her nights were still lonely and long. She never brought Jimmy to bed with her as Maggie suggested. She missed Jim so much. His smell was barely on his pillow anymore. She hadn't washed the pillow case since he left. She would hug it to her chest and face, trying to fill her senses with the scent of him. Some nights, as she lay there under the covers, she would keep it over her face and let her small hand trail down between her pert breasts, then down across her belly with her fingertips as she breathed in the last molecules of his smell. Slowly she would rub her firm white belly letting her hand go in circles that moved further down until her fingers felt the soft tuft of her bright red bush. Kim would cup her small round breast with the other hand. She would tease herself, letting her fingers just press in and rub her mound but not down to the lips, not yet.

Jim would tease her like this. He could play her body, knowing her spots. That hollow were her thigh met her torso and of course her mound. Her Jim spent time on everything but her pussy, so that when he finally trailed across it, she jerked. She tried to do that now. She ran her fingertips across all of her, making her little hairs stand up but when she went to her wet little pussy the surprise wasn't there. She would slip her fingers in and rub, but it wasn't the same. No electricity, no thrill, she got off, but it was still frustrating.

Maggie had to go school shopping, and Kim tagged along even though Jimmy wasn't even in preschool. Slowly they wandered the aisles and talked. Finally Maggie got blunt like she usually did.

"Shug, you look like shit. What's wrong?" the older woman asked as she leaned on the cart handles and pushed slowly.

"I don't sleep, not well anyway." The redhead confessed.

"Bad dreams?" Maggie guessed.

"That and..." Kim looked to the floor like a girl talking to her mom about a boy, "you know."

Maggie rolled her eyes and her whole head. "Oh, thaaat" she said loudly and slowly and then giggled.

"Stop making fun of me", Kim pouted.

Maggie still giggled. "Shug, you are not the only one", and shook her head slowly.

"What do I do?" she asked

"You do NOT act like those navy wives." Maggie said emphatically. "We don't fuck around on our men. Go buy a toy. Put yourself under the tub faucet. Do lots of spin cycles in your laundry and sit on the lid."

"That's it?" Kim had hoped for better advice.

Maggie shrugged. "He'll be back and you'll be happier then, if he's been your only man." She said sagely.

Kim got letters, at least one a week, sometimes two. It helped to read his words, to keep her strong. But by the fifth month, she was watching every fit young man that walked by. It was an army post; every man was strong and fit. The seventh month brought her birthday. She was now 25. There was no party. Jim would have taken her to dinner. She sat in her apartment and shared a box of Kraft Macaroni and cheese with Jimmy. She didn't even buy a cake.

On Saturday nights Maggie plays bingo, so 13 year old Kristen was home with her siblings. Kim brought Jimmy over and asked her to sit for her.

"Please, Kristen." Kim handed her twenty dollars. "I just need some time with the girls, you know, a few drinks."

"Sure, Mrs. Stewart." Kristen took the money and readily agreed. She got nothing for watching her siblings.

She watched Kim walk back to her car in this blue silk Chinese dress with white flowers and black dragons swooping up it. With her pale skin and red hair, Mrs. Stewart looked like a woman wanting more than a night with the girls.

Kim drove to the enlisted men's club on post. 'She would get a drink, just to get a buzz on.' She told herself 'and maybe dance a little, nothing wrong with that.' Her mind justified it. 'She deserved a night out'. She admired how her qipao dress fit so well after all these years. She hadn't worn it since before Jimmy was born. Her heels clicked on the concrete as she made her way to the door. 'She wanted to feel sexy and needed some stares and attention, that's all', she assured herself.

Kim started to pull the club door open.

"Where the fuck are you going?" Maggie was behind her.

Kim spun in surprise "How...what are you doing here?"

"Hello!"Maggie said, holding up her cell phone. "Kristen ratted you out. I just guessed you were going here."

Kim was annoyed. "I came to get a drink and maybe dance." She said defensively.

"Dressed like that?" Maggie sniffed the air. "And smelling like that?" Maggie shook her head. "You came on a cock hunt, sister, and we both know it."

Kim looked at her with her mouth open in shock. "I would never..."

"Oh, you would never, right now, but you would get a few drinks into you and shake that little ass out there on the floor, and maybe some young corporal would rub his hard body up against you. You would get all flushed and start thinking 'well a kiss wouldn't hurt' and maybe a few more drinks and the next thing you know that dress is on his floor." Maggie stopped to let it sink in. "Or maybe you would take him to your husband's bed." She accused in an icy tone.

"Maybe you speak from experience, Maggie" Kim spat back, trying to hurt.

Maggie went forward and grabbed the younger woman by the wrist and yanked her away from the door. "Maybe I do" she simply put. It shut Kim up and she dragged her to the car.

"Get in the car!" She stood taller than the redhead and ordered her. Kim obeyed because she didn't want to party now. She was pissed that Maggie ruined her 'innocent' plans.

Maggie drove and talked. "Why do you think I took you under my wing? Let you use my girl as your sitter? I knew this would happen. I was you, Kim. Not so many years back, I was you." Maggie looked over at her. "Shug, I love you and I won't let you do this to your man."

Kim started to protest but Maggie cut her off.

"You are a sweet, gorgeous girl and we are army wives. We take care of our own." They pulled into Kim's parking lot.

"Why are we here? I need to get Jimmy." Kim said defeated.

"He's fine at my house." Maggie told her. "We'll go upstairs. We'll drink and talk."

They sat in the dark in the living room, side by side on the couch with their feet pressed to the coffee tables edge. Kim had a bottle of blush wine and they shared it and Maggie shared her story.

"I slept with another man when my husband was first deployed." She admitted. "Shug, I regret it to this day and I always will. I was just like you. I was young. My body was soft and firm in all the right spots. Men looked at me at the commissary when I shopped. And I got lonely. He was gone for more than a year and I needed him. Deep inside I needed him, but it got to the point where I thought any man would do."

Maggie put her hand on Kim's knee.

"Baby, they won't do." Kim let the hand stay but looked away to the other wall. "You may not regret it in the morning, but he'll come home and as you hug him it will be at the back of your mind." Maggie looked over at her even though they could barely see each other.

Kim sat in silence for a moment comparing notes. She liked to think she was better than that, but she wasn't better than Maggie. They drank down the wine with a long silence.

"Does he know?" Kim finally asked.

"No." Maggie confided.

"So what did you do after that?" Kim asked.

"I found other ways." Maggie sat up.

"Like long spin cycles and toys." Kim laughed nervously.

"And other ways." She repeated.

Kim sat up now. "Well, like what? Help me."

Maggie reached up and pushed a lock of hair from Kim's face. She leaned in and gently kissed her. It was like a static charge to Kim's lips, she jumped back away from Maggie.

With her fingers to her lips now, "Maggie! I...I've never done that." Kim was shocked "And what about all that stuff about regret?"

"I'm not a man." She said simply. "That's what I did, I turned to women. It's what a lot of us do. While they're gone we take care of our own." Maggie just put it out there.

Kim didn't know what to say. Her heart was pounding and this was a lot to take in. Maggie just sat patiently.

Kim sat back down but at the very end of the couch. "So...so you're a lesbian?"

Maggie laughed. "No, I love men, but I only want to love MY man. While he is gone, it helps."

Kim's mouth was open as she put it all in her mind. She reached for more wine and drank a whole glass quickly.

"And it's worked?" the younger woman asked doubtfully.

Maggie gently took Kim's fingers in her hands, making a connection. "Bob has been my only man ever since. I can stay faithful to him and I think it really helps that the other woman is going through just what you are. You understand each other."

Maybe it was so much wine, maybe it had been too long, but Kim thought of it. She had never been with a woman. The thought was foreign to her. 'When Maggie had kissed her though, there had been electricity there' she thought, 'but maybe it was just the shock of who it was? But rubbing her own pussy was not working' her mind admitted 'and she didn't want to do that to Jim. She loved him.'

"What do we do?" the little redhead asked coyly. Her stomach was churning.

Maggie scooted closer, closing the gap between them. She pushed her fingers through the young wife's soft hair. "I'll do everything." she said softly with her southern accent even thicker. Slowly she leaned in and barely brushed her lips across Kim's. She gently put soft butterfly kisses all over her lips. Nothing like any man would do. She stayed there just puckering the sweet young thing.

Kim just sat there nervously, letting herself be kissed. Then she felt Maggie's hand leave her hair and trail softly down her back. Maggie ran her nails slowly down her spine. It made Kim arch her back and press into the kiss. Maggie licked those soft red lips, letting Kim breathe deeply as she rubbed up and down. The older woman took Kim's other hand and pressed it to the front of the qipao dress. She held her hand over Kim's and helped the sweet thing massage her own breast. Kim kept her eyes closed. She didn't think of Jim. She didn't think of anyone or anything. She was just there.

Maggie gently pushed her head into the curve of Kimberly's neck. 'There was electricity now', Kim felt, and made a quick intake of breath. The woman breathed hot air on the back of her neck as she nibbled softly at Kim's jugular, little bites and tender kisses that sent jolts through the redhead's nervous system straight to the sex between her thighs. Kim bit her lower lip but sat stoically with no other response.

The older woman went slowly, running her hands up and down both sides of the silk dress, then meeting in the middle across Kim's still nervous tummy. Neither woman said anything. There was no pillow talk. Maggie slide her hands softly across the thighs of sweet Kim, running her fingers just up and down the firm outer parts, while her lips returned to kiss the girl. Ever so slowly Kim parted her lips to open up for the woman. It was the first act of participation she had shown so far. Maggie still didn't rush it. She let her tongue explore just inside those sweet lips and grazing across Kimberly's teeth.

Kim was breathing harder, she was getting excited and she was tingling between her legs. She was moving her body now to meet Maggie's touches. She let the older woman's tongue inside her mouth. Still she trembled though, she was so nervous but it was slowly melting away. She could feel Maggie's thumbs, each pushing across her nipples as the woman's fingers rubbed under her breasts. Slowly Kim raised her own hands to the neck of her dress. She began to unbutton it, then down the side of her right breast. Her fingers worked it open, each button giving till she reached her side where the opening stopped.

Maggie paused and watched what was given. Kim pushed the material open till Maggie could see that pale white skin in the soft moonlight from the window. Little rosebud nipples stood straight out, excited and hard. Maggie gently reached forward with just two fingers and rubbed across one hard nub and then quickly to the other. Kim let her head ease back as she opened her mouth and sighed. Her tender nipples ached from being so excited and finally she broke the silence between them.

"Suck them." She said just above a whisper, pleading but still so nervous.

Maggie heard it though. Her entire world right now was this sweet young thing and the responses she was invoking. The older woman knelt on the floor but not between Kim's legs. She was at her side and wrapped her arms around the young mom and pulled her closer. She took the right nipple straight into her mouth. Sweet Kim couldn't take anymore teasing. Maggie suckled as much flesh as would fit in her mouth with the nipple as the cherry center. Her tongue swirled around it and flicked it as her mouth sucked the boob. Kim moaned loudly with her eyes closed and facing the heavens.

Maggie put her right hand in Kim's lap and pushed down on the mound there. Kim responded by opening her legs. Maggie smiled inside. Her hand went down and under the qipao dress, finding a nylon thong covering the tender pussy. She let her two fingers grove up and down the material, following the curve of Kimberly's sex. Slowly she felt Kim's arms wrap around her head as she sucked that rock of a nipple.

Maggie broke from her but still rubbed that wet pussy through her underwear. She looked up at Kim, who opened her eyes and looked at her.

"Kiss me." Maggie said.

"I can't." Kimberly shook her head nervously.

"You have." The older woman said.

"You kissed me, and I let you." The little redhead argued weakly.

"Then kiss me and be a part of this." Maggie urged.

Kimberly bit her lower lip. She made up her mind and moved her head down. Halfway there she closed her eyes and opened her mouth. She kissed Maggie, slowly pressing in until their lips sealed. Kim even brought her hand up to her friend's cheek. It was Maggie's turn to moan and she pressed her fingers into Kim's exposed tits. She pushed into the girl pressing her back into the sofa. Maggie got from her knees and nearly lay on top of her. Her thigh pressed in between Kim's legs and their bodies mashed together. Kim held the kiss though and held Maggie's face as they slide down into the couch with the older woman on top. Thighs mashed into pussies and breasts collided together, as they held each other.

Kim's mind was just lust now. She didn't think about what was right or wrong by society. She was being loved and her body being played. Her pussy was rocked against a firm thigh and her little clit was poking from its hood. Maggie was trying to push the qipao up and pull those panties down.

Kim broke the kiss, "Stop, don't ruin my dress!" she said urgently, thinking about the beautiful qipao that Jim adored on her.

Maggie sat back on her heels and giggled when she let the girl up. Kim stood and pulled her white arms from the dress and pushed it down her slim hips to fall at her feet. She scooped it up and draped it carefully on Jim's easy chair. She turned back to Maggie who was watching her.

"Aren't you going to get undressed too?" Kimberly asked almost disappointed.