Karen drifted into wakefulness and glanced over at the sleeping form beside her. Cherie lay cuddled against Karen, but remaining on her back. Unusually, her mouth was open and she was breathing through it instead of her nose.

Karen observed this strange action for a minute or two, including it in her regular habit of watching Cherie sleep.Then it came back to her. Last night, as they poured over their assignments for the lead up to the approaching senior school exams, Cherie had remarked that her throat was sore.

A worried Karen enquired if she might have the onset of a cold.

"No way," said Cherie. "I haven't had  a cold in four years and I'm not going to start now."

Karen snuggled in close to the other girl and listened to her breathing. It definitely sounded like her nasal passages were constricted.

"Could be something in this," Karen thought.

The bedside clock told her it was 8.30. Reluctant as she was to leave Cherie's warmth, she was feeling hungry and some toast would be delightful. She arose from the bed, wearing only the T-shirt she often slept in.

Pulling the covers firmly over Cherie to make sure her beloved stayed warm, she put on one of the two identical dressing gowns that hung together in the wardrobe, the presence of which, symbolised the two girls as a couple.

Closing the bedroom door softly behind her, Karen began the morning.

After some toast and orange juice, Karen sat and reflected some more. Last week, she and Cherie had walked to the Kissing Cave in the bushland overlooking their hometown of Bright in rural Victoria. They had named it as such when they would regularly go there to seek the privacy required to expand the physical side of their blossoming relationship.

Last week had been the first time for two years that they had returned there and this step back in time prompted Karen to ask Cherie if they might not consider "coming out" with their otherwise covert relationship. Cherie's response had been an emphatic no, saying that they had put too much effort into each other to endanger it now.

Karen, however, could not help worrying and had to admit to herself that she would be very glad when high school finished and they were both accepted for the University of Melbourne. There, it was certain that there would be other same-sex cliques they could blend in with and no one would bat an eyelid.

At Bright Secondary, Cherie and Karen kept to themselves, immersed in their studies while other girls were cosying up to football studs and would-be juvenile delinquents. Any boy who tried to win over either of them was politely declined. Cherie especially, had to resort to withering put-downs to get rid of persistent suitors. Eventually, they would give up. The gorgeous, slim teenager was not interested.

Karen's parents were away preaching their crazy religion around north-western New South Wales and would not be back until after school resumed. Before they left, Karen's mother had remembered that she had a beautiful teenage daughter and had given her several hundred dollars for food and essentials along with an admonishment that God was watching her.

"Doesn't your god have anything better to do?" Karen had snapped, giving way to a rare moment of anger, despite the freedom their absence gave her to fraternise disgracefully with Cherie.

Cherie, indeed, had promptly packed a bag and told her mother she would be at Karen's for the rest of the holidays and why not consider a call to Alcoholics Anonymous in the interim. Her mother had said self-righteously that she was a respected member of the city's social figures and that there was nothing wrong with a relaxing drink occasionally.

"Occasionally being once every twenty minutes," Cherie had said bitterly, when the subject came and went over steak and eggs with Karen that evening.

"Just hold on a while longer, babe," Karen told her. "When we leave here, we won't be coming back. We can move on and forget our parents existed."

Cherie had stared downcast at the floor for a moment, then reached out and hugged Karen lovingly. There were no further words needed.

* 

Karen was jolted from her reverie by the sound of the toilet flushing at the other end of the house. She jumped from the sofa and grabbed a box of tissues. Placing it on the coffee table in front of her, she resumed her seat at lightening speed. If Cherie had a runny nose and "sniffles", she would need help and Karen just loved to give it. Shortly, familiar soft footsteps padded down the hallway and Cherie was in the room, wearing the other matching dressing gown. Karen knew that underneath, she wore thick flannelette pyjamas through which she loved to hold the other girl's breasts or stroke her little pussy.

Cherie regarded her lover with a sad smile.

"Good morning, honeybunch," she said. "I think I...." she stopped and Karen's heart skipped a beat as one of the most beautiful pre-sneeze expressions she had ever seen came over the teenager's face. For a moment, she had the impression that time was standing still.

Then the tableau broke and Cherie doubled over violently.

"HA.....ATISHOOO....TISH....ATISHOO!!!"

She made no attempt to cover her mouth and a thick mist of saliva was visible for a split second with each of the three explosions. Karen was off the sofa like a bullet, grabbing the tissue box.

Cherie immediately held up a hand in a stop gesture, raised a finger on the other to indicate wait. She seemed incapable of speech. Then, eyes closing, she turned ninety degrees and her fit went to the second half.

"AH....TISHOO!.....HATISH!......TISHOO!......TISH!....ATISHISHOOO!"

Cherie straightened up and turned back to Karen. Her lips and chin were smeared with saliva. She groped out for the tissue box and Karen thrust it at her. Wrenching off four, she jammed them against her face and blew a gargantuan blast into them. Managing to wipe her chin and nose at the same time, she looked at Karen with the most classic expression of distress ever seen.

"Oh babycake," she wailed. "My first cold in four years."

Karen noted that she sounded a little like a puppy who had awakened late to find that the children who usually play with him had all left for school. She regarded the stricken teenager, lust spinning within.

"So I was right last night," she said. Without waiting for a reply, she continued, "We'll have to be careful of infection. There'll be no kissing for a while. No hanky examinations. This is going to send my poor little clit ballistic"

Her pussy was already wet with desire, at the sight of Cherie sneezing and her clitoris clamoured for attention. Cherie wiped at her nose, still clutching the tissues.

"Please don't think of yourself, Karen. That's not like you and we both know it." Cherie's voice held a note that Karen had never heard before and she thought it best not to answer.

Cherie continued. "Yes, you were right about my sore throat. This was what it has led to. Yes, it will be hard for us for a couple of days, but we can still be physical if we compromise".

Karen nodded slowly.

"Did you have any other sneezes before you got up?" she asked more for something to say than curiosity. She already suspected the answer, for no way could Cherie have stifled something that size even though handkerchiefs were readily available in the drawer by the bed, an ironic situation, since Karen seldom had need for them. The girls generally used them for post-sex cleanups and attending to Cherie's sneezy nose.

"No, first fit," Cherie spoke in shorthand. "There'll be plenty more, though," she added, wiping her nose for the third time. "So, what about we get some breakfast?"

"Breakfast?" Karen was amazed. "How can you eat feeling all stuffed up and sneezy? I never can."

"I can eat anytime. You know that," Cherie reminded her. "And I've never known you to be stuffed up and sneezy when you have a cold. You just cough your lungs up".

"Hmmmm.....true enough. And it's feed a cold, starve a fever, am I right?"

"No, feed Cherie, give her hugs," Cherie deadpanned. She stuffed the damp tissues she had been holding into the pocket of her dressing gown, took two clean ones and folded them together absently. Then abruptly, she turned away and raised the tissues to her mouth and nose.

"HA....HATISHOOO!.....HATISHOOO!" she exploded and blew her nose.

"Bless me," she said, turning back to Karen. "Got sneezies".

Karen's eyes were practically spinning with lust.

"This is going to go on all day, isn't it?" Karen spoke what they were both thinking.

Cherie nodded.

"I can cut it down if I take something".

"There's a hundred things in the bathroom cabinet," Karen told her. She didn't add that apart from being a religious nut, her mother also appeared to be a hypochondriac.

"I'll look at it later," answered Cherie. "It won't do my nose any harm to sneeze itself through a good cleanout, anyway."

She seemed about to say something else, then paused and closed her eyes.

"ATISH....OOOO!," she sneezed into the tissues she was holding. Loud blow. Pocket. Fresh tissues.

Karen watched, not explaining that this was doing her serious harm from head to crotch plus a few other places besides. She wouldn't push the sexual issue, though, in case Cherie decided to take her cold home and be sneezy and blowy in private. Abruptly she said, "This is driving me nuts. I'll go to the bedroom and masturbate."

Cherie moved forward swiftly. "Backwards hug," she commanded, stepping behind Karen and embracing her from the rear.

"Please don't do that, baby," she begged softly in Karen's ear. "Just wait for one hour, just for me, and then I'll fix you up. Deal?"

Karen nodded sadly. She wanted to come now! Her pussy demanded it!

Cherie broke the embrace and stepped back, grabbing for her tissues as she felt another sneeze coming on, already past the point of no return.

*

Bacon and eggs were quickly cooking, Karen pushing down her arousal with an effort. Illness did not defeat Cherie’s always voracious appetite and she ate ravenously, pausing twice to sneeze hard, the tissue box not leaving her reach.

When the dishes were done, they knew it was time for Cherie to honour her promise to Karen. Afterwards, there were those damn assignments to complete. Hand in hand, they walked down the passage to the bedroom. Cherie carried the tissue box.

“I’ll just have a wee. You go get ready”, Cherie told her, veering into the toilet.

Karen entered her bedroom - their love nest - and sat dispiritedly on the bed. She would come now and need to come again before too long. How much would Cherie do for her, feeling so ill? From the toilet, she heard a muffled “ATISSH!” Her pussy began to throb with renewed vigour. Then the toilet flushed and a moment later, Cherie was entering the room, wiping her nose absently.

“Dropped the tissues”, she said. “Sneezed all over the back of my hand”.

For a moment, Karen felt as if she were the only one in the world with this damn fetish. Cherie’s movements seemed to say, “Nose needs attending to. Who cares if Karen’s watching?”

She knew it wasn’t true, but how much could she expect of her teenage soul mate? Karen hadn’t felt so nervous since the day she had “come out” to Cherie in this very room. She had decided Father Christmas and the Easter Bunny were real when Cherie reciprocated.

Karen looked up.

“Cherie, I need…….” Her voice failed her with nervousness.

Cherie took charge.

“I’ll do everything”, she said. “Dressing gown around your waist and lie back”.

Karen complied quickly, lifting her dressing gown to expose her pussy and buttocks. Lying down, she parted her legs, feeling Cherie move between them. Suddenly, a pair of hands were sliding under her dressing gown, under her T-shirt and stopping at her breasts, beginning to caress her tight little nipples. There was only a second to comprehend that before Cherie’s tongue was inside her. There was no foreplay required. Ten seconds went by. Twenty. Cherie’s tongue snaked expertly. Her fingers fondled. Nipples on fire. Clitoris smouldering. Karen’s orgasm was beginning. Cherie was an expert lover and could make Karen come as softly as butterflies dancing or as hard as a collapsing brick wall. This one would be an entire building falling down.

“Ohhhhh…..” Karen began to moan and pant, the sensations increasing. Then the explosion hit her. “Oh…..Oh….Cherie……Oh……Oh, my darling, don’t stop…..oh Cherie…..your lovely sneezes….oh eat me….” She bucked against Cherie’s face, covering it with her juices and just managed to fight down a scream as her delight peaked. Then her movements slowed and it was over, the only sound her breathless gasping.

Cherie disentangled her arms from under Karen’s T-shirt and sat up. Taking a clean tissue, she wiped her face and then, almost as an afterthought, blew her nose. Taking more tissues, she signalled Karen to stay still and began to clean around and inside her lover’s vagina.

For once it was Karen’s turn to be embarrassed as she recalled the vocalising she had just done. She had never mentioned Cherie’s sneezes during  orgasm before. Cherie smiled at her, red nose and all.

“Feeling better?” she asked solicitously

“Yes thank you,” replied Karen. “How about you?”

Cherie tried to breathe through her nose, with little success. “Dose is gedding blogged up”, she said, hamming it up a little.

“This will get worse”, she resumed her normal voice.

Karen sat up and straightened her dressing gown.

“How much worse?” she asked.

“More sneezing and blowing,” Cherie told her. “I’ll take something in a couple of hours before it reaches a peak.” As if to mark the statement, she blew her nose again.

Karen got up from the bed and went to the chest of drawers. Opening the top one, she took out two large handkerchiefs. “Do you want to switch to these? They’re softer than tissues”.

“I can sneeze into them and keep the tissues for blowing.” Cherie had gotten off the bed and moved several steps to join her lover, although she did not get too close to Karen’s face. She had not said as much, but the usual arousal she could get from her sneezing was absent. Her throat hurt and her sinuses were constricting further as time passed.

“One sneezing fit from me can destroy a tissue, as you well know,” she continued.

“I love the way you say “a tissue”, Karen deadpanned.

“Fud, isid it?” answered Cherie and this time, she wasn’t mucking around. Talking with a blocked nose and sore throat was becoming an effort.

Karen eyed her ailing girlfriend and then the books and paperwork on the writing desk. “Do we really have to finish this today?” she groaned. “You should be lying down resting. Preferably back in bed.”

Cherie nodded.

“I’ll be alright. Let’s just do it.” She avoided saying words that had an N in them.

Karen sighed, walked to the desk and began preparing her work area. Cherie took the hankies and the tissue box and followed her. Ten minutes, a partially caught sneeze and a solid blow later, they were engrossed.

*

Two hours passed. Cherie blew her nose every fifteen minutes or so. Since they had sat down, she had sneezed eight times, turning her head right away, something she rarely, if ever, did with Karen. The massive “HA-TISSHOO!” born of a visible pre-sneeze build-up, was caught neatly in the hanky. A pile of damp tissues grew at the end of the desk.

Karen was permanently aroused, by now, one eye on her lover, conversation minimal. They both knew their usual fun was not an option. For both of them to be sick would be disastrous. Besides, Karen’s colds consisted of two or three lengthy sneezing fits and then several days of constant coughing as the infection went straight to her chest.

“HA…..HA…..HATISSHHOO!!!!” Cherie lessened considerably the chances of her hanky still being usable in an hour’s time. The sound was muffled a little by the cloth and Karen thought of all that lovely, warm, wet saliva going to waste.

“Bet you can’t stifle those,” she said suddenly.

“Bet you I cad”, was the reply “But thed you dow if you stifle wud, it turds idto a fit”.

Karen gave an evil smile and despite her discomfort, Cherie began to laugh.

“We’ll see,” she said after a moment and wiped her nose.        

*

A little while later, Cherie put down her pen and stood up without a word. Crossing to the chest of drawers, she got another hanky and then resumed her seat. Sitting in the classic position, hanky held half-open on her lap, eyes closed as she willed her sneeze forward. Then her breath quickened and her mouth opened. Her head tilted back slightly as she raised the clean hanky to try for a stifle.

“Ha….ahhhhh….Ha…sheww….ha…shewww”

Her body convulsed as each sneeze was released silently before the involuntary exhale. Her nose expressed it’s displeasure at this treatment and tickled violently, wanting to sneeze more.

“Hah…ahhh…oooo….ah…ewww….sheww….ah…sh…eww….oh..asssh….shew…”

Her body continued to convulse at each sneeze, her nose furious at not being allowed to sneeze properly and rid itself of this irritation. Karen was watching the whole thing, spellbound. She had seen Cherie stifle sneezes hundreds of times, but they had been natural ones and caused no discomfort. Now Cherie dropped the still-clean hanky on the desk and jerked herself to her feet, grabbing several tissues. She stumbled away from the desk and made it to the other side of the bed before she let go.

“AHHH…..AHAHTISSISSHHOO!!!”

She let it go as hard as she could, her infamous two-in-one sneeze that had been known to destroy tissues. Karen sprang up and hurried over with the tissue box.

“Oh baby,” Cherie gasped. Saliva was smeared around her lips and chin. She hadn’t been completely accurate with the tissues. “That wasn’t such a good idea. If I hadn’t let that last one out properly, they would have made me explode.”

Her eyes were watering with the force of the latest effort. She wiped them with fresh tissues and then blew her nose copiously, her sinuses having been unblocked somewhat by the massive double.

Karen was hopelessly aroused and beyond pushing it aside. “Sweetie, I’m going nuts,” she said. “I need to come.”

Cherie went back to the writing desk and added the tissues to the pile. Picking up the hanky she had stifled in, she moved towards the bed.

“You can lie in my arms and fix yourself up,” she said. “But I’ll, have to keep this hanky over my nose and mouth if we’re going to be close together.”

She saw a vague flicker of disappointment cross Karen’s face.

“There’ll be more tongue before the day’s out,” she added. “Promise”.

Reassured, Karen crossed to the bed, hopped on and lay back between Cherie’s legs, her head on the other girl’s tummy. Raising her dressing gown , she put two fingers to her mouth and spat on them. Karen didn’t always use this extra lubrication, but all the “magic fluid” Cherie had sneezed out that day made her need something wet and frothy of her own. As she opened her labia and slipped the fingers inside, she felt a hand encircle her left breast, Cherie’s contribution. The other hand held the hanky, raised to  guard against germs or a sudden sneeze.

As Cherie stroked the breast through the dressing gown, Karen pleasured herself  in a steady rhythm. The first tinglings of orgasm were already evident as soon as she started, but she paced herself, making the moment last. Barely a minute went by, though, and she could hold herself back no longer, beginning to moan.

“Ohh….oh yes…..oh Cherie…darling….I’m going to come…oh baby….YES!…YES!!!….” Karen exploded, riding the crest of pleasure as she came hard for the second time that day, her body bucking and jerking. Finally, she began to descend to the plateau stage and lay there, sated, in Cherie’s grasp. After a few moments, Karen sat up and turned to smile at her cold-stricken lover.

“Thank you”, she said softly.

Cherie smiled back and wiped her nose with the hanky.

“Cool bananas,” she quipped.

Karen watched her. “Is there anything I can do for you?” she asked gently.

Cherie looked a little sad. “Baby, I feel so ghastly in my head, throat and sinuses that getting aroused would be an achievement in itself. It’ll come back in a couple of days. Then we can make up for lost time.”

She got all this out, speaking quietly through her painful throat, before her nose blocked up again, as she knew it would very soon. Karen felt for her.

Cherie stood and clapped her hands twice.

“Backwards hug,” she commanded. Karen zipped into position and wrapped her arms around Cherie’s waist from behind. They stood in silence, wrapped together in the embrace of unconditional love and early afternoon.

Finally the clinch broke and Cherie wiped her red nose which prickled ominously. “We’d better get back to work,” she said.

Karen glanced at the clock. Two-thirty.

“More fun later?” she enquired.

Cherie nodded. “More fun later.”

* 

An hour and a half went by in silence, save for an occasional cough or sniff from Cherie. The sneezing seemed to have dissipated - at least for the time being. Karen didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. It was exciting, yet it caused her sexual and emotional tension. Apart from that, she didn’t like to see her lover in discomfort. Karen glanced surreptitiously at Cherie who was immersed in her work. Occasionally, she would give her nose an absentminded wipe as a dribble threatened to encroach. She hadn’t spoken since they had sat back down again. Her throat hurt too much.

Karen returned to work. She was almost finished and cold or not, surely cautious cuddles and some tongue could be managed.

Cherie put down her pen, a strange half-smile on her face.

“Want to cover my mouth, baby?” she asked.

Abruptly Karen realised what the long silence had been all about.

“You little minx,” she said. “You’ve been holding them back.”

Cherie nodded and both girls stood up simultaneously. A familiar pre-sneeze expression was already on Cherie’s features as she let the overpowering tickle work it’s way forward, searching for release. Karen slipped a hand across the other girl’s mouth and nose, the act and position long practised. Cherie drew in breath. For a moment, she thought the sneeze was going to get stuck, then it surged forward again.

“Ohhhh…ticklelicious,” she breathed against Karen’s waiting hand.

The dam broke.

“HA…TISSHH….HATISSHOOO….HATISSHOO….TISSSHHOO……HATISSHHOOO…”

She let herself go with it as much as possible, head down, the comforting protection of Karen’s hand catching her spray.

A gasping snuffly breath, then: “AH…AHATISSHHOO,” she exploded a sixth time.

Karen had wrapped an arm around Cherie’s waist, her other arm upraised as her hand performed it’s wet and exciting duties. Gasping for breath, her lips and chin again smeared with her saliva and mucus, Cherie broke the clinch and dived for the tissue box. Throwing caution to the winds, Karen quickly sniffed her saturated hand. 

“HA…HARASSH!” Cherie erupted into a fit of coughing. She had tried to sneeze and blow her nose at the same time. Recovering from the coughing, she blew her nose solidly and waited a moment to see if she would sneeze again. There was dead silence and it seemed that she would not. Karen had picked up the driest of the three handkerchiefs and was cleaning her hand with it. She was horribly aroused, but for the moment she knew she would have to ignore it.

“Oh Kared,” moaned Cherie. “This is hideous. I caad breathe properly. I caad eved sbell your little bottob.” She added this last with a glance at Karen’s dressing-gown clad posterior.

“Come on,” said Karen. “Let’s get you some drugs.” She took Cherie’s hand and began to lead her towards the bathroom.

“I dode approve of drugs. They’re bad for you.” Cherie tried to put on a prim tone through her blocked up nose.

“Not these drugs. They’ll stop you from sneezing yourself  silly and cut down on tissue consumption.”

Despite her discomfort, Cherie giggled. In the bathroom, Karen opened the overhead cabinet and began removing items.

“Nasal inhaler, codeine, cough mixture, various pain killers, Codral, Zyrtec and a guaranteed-to-work cold tablet from a company who, last time I heard, was in court and in trouble.”

Karen’s voice sped up cheerfully like an auctioneer and she paused for breath. Cherie picked up the inhaler and several tablets in one hand and the bottle of cough mixture in the other.

“There’s stuff here that will…will..” she turned her head. “ATISSHH…TISHOO…fix me right up,” she finished, swiping at her nose and mouth with a sleeve. Then she tried the inhaler, taking a huge hit of it with both nostrils. Incredibly, her nose began to clear. A tickle threatened momentarily, then fizzled away again.

Now she examined the tablets and cough mixture. “One of each and a swig of that, I think,” she decided.

“What?” Karen almost shrieked. “Are you trying to kill yourself, woman?”

“Look, too much firesquash can sometimes be a good thing,” Cherie insisted, beginning to lay out tablets. “It might make me woozy for a while, but anything is better than this concrete block I’ve got for a head.”

Karen sighed, knowing Cherie was determined to follow this through. As she watched, her pretty lover put the selected pills in her mouth, uncapped the cough mixture and swallowed everything in one hit.

“Gaghh,” she said, making a sound like a malfunctioning carburettor. Then she started coughing again.

“Good?” asked Karen when she had finished.

“Pills were fine, but that cough mixture tastes like turpentine.”

“Well, if it was, you won’t be worrying about colds again - ever,” Karen told her blithely.

“Mmmm….well I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it,” Cherie decided. She looked at Karen for a moment.

“Would you like your lust attended to?” she asked sweetly.

Karen had, for the moment, forgotten the arousal nibbling away between her legs. She smiled, her face lighting up. “That would be just divine”.

Cherie took her hand. “Let’s go back to the bedroom”.

* 

“Oh…..oh ….yes…..oh Cherie….oh….I’m coming……your beautiful saliva…..oh yes….” Karen reluctantly descended from her third orgasm of the day, aware of what she had said. Cherie was usually the more vocal one when she came, but today Karen’s utterances had reached a new high. Cherie lifted her head out from between Karen’s legs, took tissues and began cleaning them both up. Reference to the things they said at the height of passion was rarely made and Cherie did not mention it now. When she had finished, Karen put her legs together and straightened her dressing gown. She did not have the energy to get up. Three massive orgasms in one day!

Incredibly, given her concerns about infection, Cherie lay down beside her and they linked hands.

“How long since you came three times in one day, hon?” she asked, seeming to read Karen’s mind, not for the first time.

“Couple of years,” answered Karen. “Why, yes, it was spring two years ago and you had hay fever. We went to the Kissing Cave because you were allergic to some flowers there.”

“I remember,” said Cherie. “They were wattle blooms and I sneezed more from going near them than I have today. I was either in the middle of a sneezing fit or fixing you up because of it.”

Her voice, not in good shape to begin with, was getting softer. “Those pills are making me woozy. I thought they would. Think I’ll lie here a while.”

“Half an hour’s work and that stuff of mine is done,” Karen said. “Why don’t you call it a day and have some rest. We’ll do yours together tomorrow.”

“…Kay….love you…” Cherie squeezed Karen’s hand and then relaxed the grip.

Karen got off the bed and returned to her writing desk.

* 

As predicted, thirty minutes later, Karen closed the book on what she was certain would get her an A. Her eye on Business Law at University, the next eighteen months would shape the rest of her life. She turned to look at Cherie who was fast asleep on the bed. Standing, she walked to the sick teenager and felt her forehead. Cool. It was just a nasty head cold. No fever. Karen checked the clock. Four thirty.

She resumed her previous position, lying next to Cherie. "I’ll just lie here a little while and listen to her sleep,” she thought. “Then I’ll have a shower and put on some tea for us both”.

Her thoughts drifted as she mulled over the events of the day. An image drifted into her mind of her and Cherie walking through a tranquil rainforest. Above them, the sky was unbelievably blue. Karen didn’t know if she were awake or dreaming or what. She didn’t care. Time moved. Outside, the temperature dropped, giving ground to a long cold  Autumn night. Streetlights came on, fires were stoked and children watched mindless game shows as mothers cooked tea.

Karen slept lightly.

Beside her, Cherie was so deeply asleep she could have passed for comatose. But her brain activity was at an extremely high peak and REM flickered wildly behind her eyes.

Cherie dreamed.

She was walking across a white sandy beach. The ocean rolled endlessly. Well, apparently it did, because she couldn’t see it, but she could smell the salt. Hang on. Smell? She had a whopper of a cold. Why could she smell so clearly? Where was she? And where was her beloved Karen? She glanced upwards. Hell, was that sky blue or what? It’s supposed to be autumn.

To her left was a large rock which Cherie swore had not been there fifteen seconds earlier. Against it leaned a large white rabbit who, at first glance, looked like a garbled version of Bugs Bunny. Incredibly, the rabbit spoke.

“Hello Cherie,” he said in a normal human voice. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Who are you?” asked Cherie, not overly surprised to find her voice working perfectly, the pain in her throat gone. Wherever this place was, it healed sickness pretty quick. Should be on Medicare.

“I’m the Rabbit of Time,” replied the rabbit. He pulled a large alarm clock from what appeared to be a pocket in his fur and consulted it. “And it’s time we talked”.

“Where am I?” Cherie demanded.

"You’re everywhere,” said the rabbit. “And nowhere. It depends on how you look at it. This is the Land That Time Forgot. You’ve come here to find out why you like to sneeze.”

"I already know why I like to sneeze,” Cherie snapped. “And I’ve got a cold. I’ve been sneezing and blowing my little nose all day.”

“Yes, you have,” confirmed the Rabbit of Time. But here, health problems don’t exist. Do you feel any symptoms of your cold now?”

Cherie had to admit that she didn’t. Her head and nose were crystal clear and her throat worked perfectly.

“Ok, point taken,” she said. “So let’s talk about it if we must.”

"Sneezing is your sexual trigger,” said the rabbit. “And Karen’s even though she doesn’t really know it. But she is you soul mate and you must never let her go. The spirits tell me you will be still together thirty five years from now.”

“I know she’s my soul mate,” Cherie said, subdued. “And I never plan to let her go. But sexual trigger. That’s a bit strong. We’re in love. We don’t need triggers”.

Cherie had never thought of it that way. The sneezing was all well and good, but her and Karen sometimes only had to look at one another to become aroused.

“Nevertheless,” admonished the Rabbit of Time, “you must guard her well for you both have a unique gift.”

“I know that and I will:," replied Cherie. “What is all this? Next, you’ll be telling me when I’m due to die. It had better not be any time soon.”

“Oh yes,” said the Rabbit. “You’ll die in your eighty-third year. In fact, I believe you’ll both be a month apart. Still in reasonable condition for that age, but you humans don’t go on for ever.”

"Don’t tell me this,” Cherie almost shrieked. “I don’t want to know. My sneezes are my business. Mine and Karen’s.  I don’t want to stay in this place, wherever it is. What have you done with Karen? I WANT KAREN!!” Her control was slipping. Could it be that this wasn’t a dream?

 “Please be calm, Cherie,” said the Rabbit of Time. “Look to your right”.

Cherie looked. Another rock that hadn’t been there earlier had appeared. On it, sat Karen, casually dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. The only problem was that she looked to be in her fifties. Her figure and beauty were still clearly evident, but she was no longer sweet sixteen.

“Hi babe”, she said and waved cheerily.

Cherie was horrified. She spun back to the Rabbit of Time. He just shrugged.

She turned to look again. Karen was still sitting there.

“Can’t you help me, Karen? What is this place?” she pleaded, fear driving deep into her.

Like the rabbit, Karen was indifferent.

“Not much I can do, hon,” she said. “I’m thirty-five years away. Besides, this is your dream, not mine.”

Cherie turned back to the Rabbit of Time, only to find that he had been joined by a new problem. Her mother.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were gay?” her mother wailed. “You don’t need that Karen girl. She’s trouble. I could have done anything you wanted.”

“You’re not here, Mum,” Cherie said sharply. “Karen’s sitting over there and she just told me I’m dreaming. None of us are in this place,  It’s all a dream.”

Her mother just wailed some more and wrung her hands.

The Rabbit of Time glanced around.

“That’s quite right,” he said. “You won’t be able to stay here. I’ve got other jobs to do in other times. Busy busy.”

“Why can’t I stay with Karen?” demanded Cherie. “Go off and do what you have to do. And take her with you,” she added, nodding at her hand-wringing mother.

The rabbit suddenly snapped his fingers and the vision of Cherie’s mother vanished. He seemed to grin at her mirthlessly.

Before she could respond to this, Cherie heard an extremely familiar sound from the rock where Karen was sitting.

“Atchoo….choo…..choo……choo……”

She looked over. Karen rubbed her nose with the back of her hand.

“Excuse me,” she said. “Sneezies”.

“You can’t stay with her,” said the Rabbit of Time. “I’m sending you to your destiny. You will be safe there.”

He stepped forward and gesticulated at her. She felt nothing, but the air around her began to ripple. Then her vision started fading.

“No!” Cherie cried out, horror-struck.  “I want to stay with Karen!”

She wrenched her fast-fading gaze to Karen’s rock. It was gone and so was it’s occupant. Now Cherie knew it was too late.

“Go now,” boomed the Rabbit of Time. “It is your destiny.”

“Not without Karen!” Cherie shouted.  “I WON’T GO BACK WITHOUT KAREN!!”

Then she was falling. Falling into an empty, endless void. She tried to scream, but could make no sound. Far away, she could hear Karen calling her name. A steel embrace gripped her.

*

“Cherie!!….Cherie!!…Wake up baby. Oh Christ…..PLEASE WAKE UP!!! You’re dreaming!!”

Slowly, Cherie swam into consciousness and realised where she was. The room was a lot darker now than it had been when she lay down on the bed. She was sweating profusely and Karen’s arms were wrapped tightly around her in an effort to subdue her flailing struggles in the nightmare that an overdose of cold remedies had given her.

“Karen,” Cherie half sobbed, her relief palpable.

“I’m here, sweetie,” said Karen. "It’s alright now. You were having a nightmare.”

Cherie became aware that her mouth was dry and her nose was sore and congested. She could also feel herself shaking. Karen’s grip on her had lessened, but not much.

“What happened?” Karen asked softly.

“I was on this beach, but there was no sea,” said Cherie, her voice shaking. “You and my mother were both there and there was this weird rabbit…..” she stopped, confused. Had it all really been a dream. Then her self-control finally cracked and she burst into tears.

Karen held the sobbing teenager tightly and let her cry it out. She was thoroughly alarmed now. She could not ever recall seeing Cherie cry in all the years they had been friends.

She waited a few minutes and Cherie slowly subsided, the terror leaving her. Karen reached out and wiped tears from her lover’s cheeks.

“I’m alright, babe,” she said very quietly, and Karen released her hold.

With considerable care, Cherie stood up, testing her balance. Then she switched on the bedside lamp. The tissues were on the foot of the bed, left there after the earlier cunnilingus. Cherie took several and let out a long liquid blow. And another. More tissues, Another blow. Neither girl read anything sexual into this at the moment. They had both been badly scared, and for different reasons.

Cherie finished removing about a gallon of mucus from her nose and turned to find Karen also standing. “You okay?” she asked softly.

Cherie nodded. “I am now,” she replied. “Could you give me ten minutes, baby? I need to collect myself a bit.”

“Sure,” said Karen. “Look, why don’t I go and have a shower. Then I’ll put some tea on. It’s gone six o clock.”

“Good,” said Cherie, nodding slowly. “Some food would be nice, but I won’t bother with any more cold tablets. That last lot didn’t seem to agree with me.” She managed a small smile.

Karen showered and dressed in clean clothes. She returned to check on Cherie before cooking tea. She found her in bed now instead of on top of it. The girl had stripped naked and crawled in, leaving the bedside lamp on. She was breathing clearer now, sleeping deep and naturally.

Karen grinned and got a couple of textbooks she wanted to study. Then, she gave her lover a kiss on the cheek, turned out the light and left the room.

 *

Next morning, both girls awoke almost together and were quite subdued. Karen had returned to the bedroom at about nine o clock that previous night to find Cherie still peacefully sleeping. It had been a very full and interesting day,  Karen thought. Stripping her clothes off, she crawled in beside her. Listening to Cherie’s soft breathing, she had dozed off.

Now they lay there together, listening to the birds singing outside as morning dawned over Bright. Most of Cherie’s voice had returned and she no longer felt the need to sneeze constantly. Her nose, though, was full of partially dried congestion.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Karen asked, after awhile. She lay on her side, an arm draped over Cherie who was lying on her back.

“Later,” Cherie answered . “My nose needs a good cleanout before anything and it’s too sore for much more blowing.”.

Karen got up and went to the toilet. After completing matters in there, she returned with a glass of hot water. Getting back into bed, she took a tissue and wet it in the glass. For the next ten minutes, there was silence as Karen carefully bathed bits of dried mucus from Cherie’s nose. The other girl lay impassive. It was not the first time one had explored the other’s nose, but this time it was not for pleasure.

“Ok, now you can blow to move any fresh stuff that’s up there,” Karen told her when she had finished.

Cherie took two tissues and gave a moderate-sized blow, releasing a moderate-sized amount of liquid. She snuffled and blew again, but it was more noise than action, her nose having finally subsided. Of an impending sneeze, there was no sign. Cherie remembered that colds stopped abruptly where she was concerned, rather than persisting for a week or more, like they did with some unlucky people.

“That damn cocktail of medicine I took,” she muttered. “Unbelievable”.

“It stopped the cold pretty abruptly,” observed Karen. “When am I going to hear about that nightmare? We frightened the hell out of each other, I think.”

“Make you a deal,” Cherie told her. “I need a shower and breakfast, in that order. Then, if you help me, I can have that assignment finished in a couple of hours. After that, I’ll tell you as much as I can remember. I have to warn you, some of it’s not pretty.”

Karen shrugged dismissively at this last.

“Deal,” she said.

* 

A shower, clean clothes and a hot meal made a world of difference to Cherie, who was left with only a chesty cough and refused to take anything for it. Once bitten, twice shy.

By noon, all the schoolwork was finished. Cherie made a weighty sandwich and vacuumed it down, staring out at the now blustery weather. Then, she got a glass of water and wandered into the living room, where Karen sat reading the paper. An air of expectancy hung over their presence. Karen put down the paper and watched her lover, waiting.

Cherie sat in an arm chair and took a sip of water. Finally, but without looking at Karen, she began to speak.

Fifteen minutes later, Karen sat aghast.

“Wow,” she said. “No wonder you were scared.” She thought a second. “It had to be all those cold medicines,” she added.

Cherie nodded, staring at the floor. She had told Karen as much as she remembered about the nightmare, about meeting the Rabbit of Time, the appearance of her mother and seeing Karen in her fifties.

“Do you think my mother knows I’m a lesbian?” Cherie asked anxiously.

Karen’s tone was restive.

“Babe, when your mother isn’t schmoozing up to the local social set, she’s half out of her skull on champagne. If she knows you’re gay, it’s not her business anyhow. What’s she gonna do? The worst she can do is throw you out of the house, in which case, you come and live here with me. My parents don’t know I’m alive half the time, anyway. You being here full time would hardly make a difference.”

That was a long speech for Karen, but it had the desired effect. Cherie smiled for the first time that day.

“You’re right,” she said. “Love rules.”

Then the smile faded.

“But what about that rabbit telling me when I was going to die?” she asked, fearfully.

Karen snorted.

“He said we would both die at eighty-three, within a month of each other, is that what you said?  We can fit in an awful lot of playtime before we’re eighty-three.”

Cherie laughed, then started coughing.

“Alright,” she agreed when she could speak again. “We can fit an awful lot of sneezing into that many years.”

Karen nodded.

“Besides,” she said, “it was just a nightmare.”

 Cherie touched her sore nose carefully. “Yes,” she echoed, “just a nightmare.”

Then she glanced around the room.

“What do you think he meant when he said he was sending me to my destiny?”

“I think he meant you were supposed to be with me,” answered Karen.

Cherie locked troubled eyes with her and Karen reached out and took the girl’s hand. “It’s me,” she said softly. “I’m your destiny.”

They spent the rest of the day watching TV and trying to put the previous day into perspective. Cherie risked cough mixture by itself and this seemed to settle her chest. Around ten o clock, they went to bed, wrapping up against each other in the darkness. Surprisingly, sleep came quickly. There were no dreams.

* 

Cherie awoke next morning and rolled over to find Karen wide awake and watching her carefully.

“Morning sneezy girl,” she said with cheer in her voice. “How ya feelin?”

“Good morning, honeylamb,” replied Cherie. “I feel better with each passing hour”.

Karen giggled and cuddled up against her. Cherie responded and they began to nuzzle, holding each other tighter as the morning light forced it’s way through the curtains.

“Is it safe by now?” Karen asked.

For answer, Cherie locked her lips firmly against Karen’s and got an immediate response. They kissed hungrily for several minutes, Cherie’s free hand groping it’s way between Karen’s bare bottom cheeks.

Finally, they paused for breath and Cherie sat up.

“Nudity?” she enquired, beaming.

Karen instantly sat up and pulled off the T-shirt she had been wearing. Cherie leapt from the bed, threw off her pyjamas and leapt back in. After another lengthy session of kissing, they paused again, gazing lovingly at each other. Karen was just about to move in for a tongue pounce on her lover’s little pussy when she felt a familiar tickle speed to the end of her nose. There was no time to do anything and Karen began to sneeze.

“Atchoo….choo….choo….choo…….ah…atchoo…”

Karen’s face was only a few inches from Cherie’s, but the other girl felt nothing, but very slight breath. Had the positions been reversed, Karen’s face would have been soaked, something the slim teenager didn’t mind in the least.

“Oh, bless me,” Karen whispered. “They came on very suddenly.”

“Are you catching my cold, sweetness?” asked Cherie.

“No, I’ve got no other symptoms.” Karen breathed firmly, testing her nose. “I think they were just natural sneezies.”

Lust shone in Cherie’s eyes.

“Lie on your back,” she commanded. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

Karen obeyed at once, lying flat, legs slightly apart in case Cherie needed access to her vagina. But Cherie had something else in mind first. Raising two fingers of each hand to her nose, she blew. There was enough post-sleep congestion in her sinuses to get a decent discharge. Karen only had a moment to reflect that she hadn’t seen Cherie pick up a tissue when the fingers descended to her breasts and there was warm liquid being creamed into her eager nipples. Karen gasped as her clitoris practically jumped up and shouted. Lightening bolts shot through her vagina.

“Oh Cherie,” she groaned. She couldn’t think what else to say. Saliva was good, but this was twenty times better.

Cherie grinned.

“It’s all for you, sweetheart,” she whispered.

She bent, fingers still on Karen’s nipples, to kiss the hopelessly aroused girl. As they joined, a magpie began to sing on the front lawn.