It disturbed Ashley, just a bit, how much she was basking in her current position of being relentlessly cuddled into her sister's cheek. After Jenna had returned to the den with her, it was like a switch had been flipped within her friends as they had begun to shower her with renewed affection. Claire had been the first to take her, bringing her in close for an affectionate nuzzle with the tip of her nose rubbing gently into her torso while proclaiming her love for her, much as Jenna had done in the bathroom.

"And please, Ashley," Claire had begun as she nuzzled into her smaller friend, "please don't take all of this as some order to stay away from Betas, to avoid them. We want you to talk to them, to get to know them...to be friends with them, and maybe...maybe more, if someday things go down that road." Claire's nose had removed itself from its nuzzling position at that, and passed beyond her head as her plush lips came into view. As Melody and Jenna had done before her, Claire, too, had delivered a short, affectionate kiss to her.

"We just want you to be safe about it, Ashley," she had continued, her lips lifting from her even as the tip of her nose returned to Ashley's torso. "We want you to be careful with them, not just physically, but mentally. And if you...if you want to have fun with one again...and they reciprocate..."

Jenna had giggled sharply at that, drawing a look from Ashley. Jenna, still chuckling to herself, had pointed in the opposite direction, and Ashley's gaze had followed it directly to the face of her sister, which was reddening by the second. She had seemed to be blushing, but Ashley hadn't been quite sure why...

"Well, come talk to me, okay? And we'll talk about how it can be fun, and safe, for the both of you."

Oh. That had explained it.

Ashley had felt her own cheeks begin to burn at that, earning an amused smile and chuckle from her affectionate friend as she'd lifted her face away from her cupped hands. That chuckle had subsided though, and that smile had faded into a more somber expression.

"I hope that you'll do that, Ash. I hope that after today, you'll still want to be my friend, along with Jenna's. Because we want to be yours." Claire's other hand had approached then, and Ashley once again counted a protruding index finger as a probing companion as the soft tip began to gently stroke at the side of her head. "But we're not blind to what we did today. We know you have a lot to think about...a lot to consider, after how we treated you. But I hope you believe me when I say that we took no pleasure in it...that we don't want what we did to define our relationships going forward."

"But you still did it," Ashley had commented weakly, averting her gaze. She did believe what Claire had said...that they hadn't enjoyed what they had done. Ashley felt that she could trust them on that. But they had still done it...dominated, humiliated, and terrified her.

Just as she had done to Jack. And as betrayed as she felt in the wake of her ordeal, as hurt as she had been at her sister and friends asserting their power over her, and as helpless as it had made her feel...a part of her felt that it was no less than what she deserved, to see firsthand what she herself had done. She had done something awful to him, something that could have easily taken a turn for the worse...and she understood that, now. As painful as the lesson had been, she understood it.

"I know," Claire had responded sadly. "And what we did...that's something we're going to have to live with, too. With the consequences of. And we're willing to do that, Ashley, even if it means you hate us. Even if it means you never want to see us again after today. Because as painful as that idea is to us, it's a consequence we're willing to bear if it means we can prevent something like this from ever happening again."

"If it means," a voice had added from behind her, "that you never have to go through a real session." Jenna had leaned onto the nearby arm of the couch then, a look of tenderness on her face as Ashley had eyed the approach of her gigantic hand. Another finger had joined her, and Ashley had found her head sandwiched between two ridged pads, both softly stroking at her. "If it means you never have to go through that with someone who doesn't know what a sweet girl you really are, who could very well not believe or even care that any pain you caused was accidental. Who might not shy away from sharing that pain with you."

Ashley had whined at the thought of that. The thought of some giant she didn't even know carrying out those same humiliations without care or mercy...of treating her like a criminal. Of being kept like a little trouble making pet in a glass cage. That terror she had felt while in Jenna's clutches had bubbled back to the surface then, a shiver had run down her spine. She had barely noticed when the two fingers halted their ministrations and pulled away, but the four larger digits that proceeded to scoop her out of the fleshy bed she had lain upon had been hard to ignore.

It had been with a mix of fear and elation that she had been turned to take in Mellie's angelic face, her full lips curled in a gentle smile as the mighty hand she had found herself on brought her closer and closer to them. Another soft kiss had awaited her at her destination, and to Ashley it had felt like the end of a race through a gauntlet of punishment as her face practically sank into Mellie's lips. To think that the same action that had marked the beginning of this horrifying lesson could relax her so upon revisiting itself upon her...

"If it means," Mellie had stated after pulling her away, "that you never have to deal with the pain of hurting someone like that again...with the devastation that would have come with one errant press." And it was then that she had been pressed into her current position, buried in Mellie's yielding cheek by the hand at her back.

And God, Ashley loved it, regardless of the disturbing feeling that simple pleasure brought her. That feeling of being some household pet that was overly eager to absorb the affections of its owners after it had made a mess that needed to be cleaned up, that had had its nose rubbed into it as a means of curbing future misbehavior. And she was sure that later, when she was on her own again, she would likely throw up again while reflecting on that. While reflecting on easily the worst day of her life.

But right now, she needed this attention, this love. Regardless of the future, in this moment she was content in being treated like a loved one again. In being with her Mellie again.

"You're such a special person to me, Ashley,' Mellie stated, her adoring voice cracking, "and I love you so, so much. You're my little sister, and you always will be, no matter what you do going forward. You'll never be anything less to me...not ever." A sudden warm wetness washed through Ashley's still damp hair then, and she reflexively looked upward to find the cause. A soft bleat escaped her lips as she saw the watery trail that led up the slope of Mellie's cheek and toward the eye that rested above. Ashley couldn't help but nuzzle into that soft skin once again. "Ashley, if there's anything you take from this...about our relationship, about how it works...please let it be that I'll do anything for you. Anything."

And for the life of her, Ashley didn't believe she had ever heard something so simultaneously comforting and horrifying. Because she believed what Mellie had said, with all her heart. The proof of it was still imprinted on her, after all, mashed in by the weight of her sister's foot, of her toes.

They continued with that, for a moment, the cuddling. Ashley continued to receive her sister's affections, and returned them. But something else was weighing on her, and had been since Jenna's comment about her mother. Something she needed to know.

"Mellie?" she quietly called against the loving cheek.

"Hm?"

"Does everyone," Ashley started, pausing for a moment to take a breath, "does everyone at the Institute...know what I did?"

A deep swallow was Mellie's immediate response, the halting of their cuddling session was the next. Slowly, she was pulled away from the cheek, and brought once more before her sister's face, those amber eyes cast lovingly upon her.

"They do," she replied sadly, and Ashley groaned.

"They're going to hate me, aren't they?" Ashley asked with a sniffle. She could see it, in her head. The likes of Alexis and Kyle looking down at her in utter disappointment and contempt for her abuse.

"They're not going to hate you, Ashley," Mellie stated softly. "You made an honest mistake. You've learned from it. There's no reason for-"

"What will they do the next time they see me?" Ashley interrupted, suddenly at near panic. "You guys are...are the three I'm closest to, and even...even then..."

"They aren't going to do a single thing," Melody declared, her voice powerful and authoritative. That declaration was overflowing with a certainly that seemed to wash over Ashley, settling in and calming her nerves. The hand she occupied pulled away from her sister's face, and it was with slight awe that she watched Mellie's other arm lift toward its owner's eyes as Mellie wiped them dry with the sleeve of her shirt. Ashley's gaze couldn't help but fix upon her sister's thick, toned bicep as it pressed tautly against the constricting sleeve. God, Ashley wished she had inherited their father's build and athleticism at times.

"I mean that," Melody continued as she removed the arm from her eyes. Those amber eyes, now dry, were focused fiercely upon her. "If they say anything to you...do anything that makes you even slightly uncomfortable, Ashley, you tell one of us. You tell Mom. And I promise you, they won't do it again. You've been through more than enough, and there's no point to any more."

Ashley couldn't help but smile, just a little, at the passion of those words, at the protectiveness.

"Are you...are you going to tell them...what you did to me?" Ashley asked, still concerned.

"No," Melody replied with a shake of her head, and Ashley found some relief in that. "There's no reason for them to know, and the three of us won't be saying a word about it. You've gone through more than enough...enough humiliation, and you understand what you did. The only thing left for you to do, Ashley, is to make things right for that boy. And I don't think I even need to say that, do I?"

Ashley's shaking of her head was immediate. Not out of any sort of fear of reprisal, there had been no intimidation in that question. No, she knew she had to do that. She wanted to. And if today's awful experience had given her one thing, then maybe it would be a means to express to Jack just how sorry she was.

But still, there was one more immediate concern on her mind.

"What about Mom?" she asked with a hint of fear. She truthfully had no idea what to expect from her mother. Grace King was an immensely stern woman, both at work and at home in her duties as Head Instructor at the Institute and as a mother. She did not hesitate to discipline when needed, and while those punishments typically gravitated towards groundings, revocations of privileges, or extra worksheets she would make out of Ashley's textbooks...well, Ashley had never done anything like this before. Never violated and hurt someone like she had. Would her mother come to the same conclusion her sister had, that she needed to see firsthand what she had done?

"Don't worry about Mom," Mellie stated with a reassuring smile. "Just...just let us talk to her, okay? Claire told you earlier, that we have consequences to face. And there are consequences for what we did, Ashley, even beyond our relationship with you. So we're going to tell Mom what we did...and I know Mom. I know that any anger she has towards you is going to go straight towards us when I tell her what we put you through."

Ashley was at Melody's cheek once again, at a speed that made Ashley almost dizzy. Once more, she was embraced against that soft wall, and she wasn't alone there for long. She felt a sudden increase in pressure from Mellie's hand at her back, followed by another, pressing her ever so firmly into the cheek. Managing to look behind her, Ashley smiled at what greeted her. Two more hands had joined Mellie's, stacking atop one another. One fair-skinned, the other a matching tan.

Nuzzling once more into her sister's cheek, Ashley closed her eyes even as the sound of a turning doorknob reached her ears. For right know, she'd allow herself to relax, just a little. To let things settle. She had a lot to consider later on, about what she had done. About what she could do going forward.

She had a lot to consider about what had been done to her, about what had been said. She wanted to keep being Mellie's sister, to keep being friends with Claire and Jenna. But those relationships were cast in such a different light now, one that was immensely unkind to her. She realized, now, just how dependent she was on what they wanted when it came to those relationships. How dependent she was on the recognition they were willing to offer her. That they could change the fundamentals of their relationships in a heartbeat, if the mood struck them, and there was nothing she could do to resist that. Because they were the ones with the power to do just that; moreover, they had even done so.

Yes, she had a lot to think about. A lot to make right. And she would. But for now, she would take the love was offered to her, while there was still some to receive.