Debt

Title: Debt

Name: Cheyne

Disclaimer: All main, recognized characters belong to William Broyles, Jr., John Sacret Young. and Warner Bros.

Fandom: China Beach

Pairing: Colleen McMurphy/KC Koloski

Rating: NC-15?

Summary: Never bet unless you're willing to be a good sport about losing.

Spoiler or Other Information: And yet another challenge from The Raven. Parameters of length, time and summary were set by Rave. Words/Phrases to be used in four-page limit: Defenestrate, chronic cranial-rectal impaction, had his sphincter recalibrated for maximum retention, laa-dii-fucking-daa.

Archive: Only with permission from the author.

She lit her cigarette, inhaling deeply, taking a long, slow drag off it. Lying on her back, contented, sated and smug, the alluring yet calculating redhead finally spoke. "Well?"

"Don't gloat. You know how much I hate it when you're right."

"And you're wrong."

"That, too." Colleen McMurphy still couldn't really believe it. How did she - a strict, Irish-Catholic girl from Kansas - end up in bed with Karen Charlene Koloski from Missouri - KC from KC - an opportunistic, entrepreneurial hooker with a heart of tarnished silver?

Actually, it wasn't really all that complicated when broken down. It had started off as a beer-induced mild debate, instigated by good ol' Dr. Dick, who loved to see the sparks fly between McMurphy and KC. When the conversation escalated into a full-blown argument, the heat was too much for Dr. Richard and he got out of the kitchen. Or bar, in this case. By that time, the beer had been joined by shots of tequila and wagers were made. McMurphy, fueled by generations of hard-drinking Irish heritage, always seemed to forget that after the fifth or sixth shot, although she was good, she was no match for KC. The Army nurse could never figure out how the sometimes chillingly in-control prostitute remained so sober. KC could never figure out how the terminally virginal McMurphy could get so drunk so fast. Didn't matter - this time she was going to definitely use it to her advantage.

The question that started the whole thing seemed simple enough - what incident began the systematic bombing of North Vietnam by the U.S. and when?

Both women correctly identified the event - the reporting of North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacking two US Destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. The difference of opinion on the month and year it happened is what resulted in the wager. McMurphy stated she knew for a fact it was June of 1964 because it was the same time she was graduating from nursing school. KC argued that it was actually August of 1964, of this she was positive, although she did not reveal what occurrence in her life it may or may not have coincided with.

Both women stood their stubborn ground, neither conceding nor retreating to neutral corners, until KC suggested a bet - just how sure was McMurphy of her 'facts'? Never one to back away from a challenge, McMurphy, whose recollection of her own name and rank was starting to get fuzzy, took the redhead up on her offer. If McMurphy was right, KC had to pamper her for a whole day - the full beauty parlor treatment: haircut, facial, manicure, pedicure...the works. If KC was right, McMurphy had to do anything KC wanted her to do. Anything. Of course, the nurse had no idea that KC would ever have requested, well, this. She was thinking more along the lines of having to be KC's maid...not made by KC. But KC being KC, her desires were a tad more carnal in nature. Men were a commodity, a necessary evil. Women were her real vice. And nailing the criminally moral Lt. McMurphy was a goal she never thought she would realistically achieve. Until now.

After the stakes were set, Beckett, the history and current events buff, was retrieved from his morgue to settle the dispute once and for all. When he announced that KC had correctly recited the date, the other GIs who had decided to test their own personal luck and take a chance on which woman would win, collected or settled up and eventually dispersed, leaving the hooker and the nurse to decide when and where the payoff would take place and, most importantly, what it would be.

Studying her, like a lioness eyeballing prey, KC leaned in close to McMurphy and whispered in her ear just exactly what she wanted from her. Leaning back, smiling seductively, she couldn't help but laugh at McMurphy's stunned expression. Immediately shaking her head negatively, the nurse almost giggled in her refusal.

"You can't back out on me, McMurphy," KC told her, confidently. "A bet is a bet and you agreed to the terms."

"I did not, I never agreed to these terms, I agreed to -"

"Do anything I wanted you to do. And it was repeated several times. Anything. Everyone heard you. You can't back out."

"KC, come on, do you think if I told the guys what you wanted, they'd hold me to the terms?"

KC just looked at her, incredulously. "You're kidding, right? I can guarantee you, if you told these hot and horny GIs what I just whispered in your ear, they'd be charging admission." She laughed, shaking her head. "You are so, naive, McMurphy."

McMurphy was speechless. Sex with a woman? Never. It went against everything she had been brought up to believe. What would her mother think? Well...probably no worse than what she thought when she enlisted. She remembered the conversation, the disappointment. Her mother's voice echoed in her head, "But, sweetheart, the only women who join the military are whores and lesbians...what will the neighbors think?" McMurphy ordered another shot from Boonie.

"Drinking yourself into oblivion is not going to get you out of this," KC grinned. "If you can't pay up tonight, you'll owe me. And I know experience has taught you that you don't want to owe me."

Fucking a female, McMurphy thought, again, as she slammed the tequila back sans the lemon and salt. Unthinkable. Okay, well, not really - it's not as though it never crossed her mind. She had been curious. One of her roommates at nursing school had carried on a lengthy, torrid affair with a gorgeous, married female doctor. The stories of the sizzling sex between the two women titilated her and the other two ladies who shared the small apartment, even though none of them would ever openly admit it. And it didn't hurt when visualizing the taboo liaison, that the physician was breathtakingly sensual. In fact, if McMurphy were completely honest with herself, she could not deny that she had spent a night or two stroking herself to sleep envisioning herself with this doctor. Of course, she always felt guilty and ashamed afterwards because - well, because she was Catholic and raised to feel guilt and shame concerning just about everything. She felt the same guilt and shame after losing her virginity but it didn't stop her from ever fornicating again (nor was it anything she felt compelled to tell Father O'Brien in Confession, either). If she was ever going to experiment, why not with a pro? It's not like KC would be indiscreet and if she were going to "do it" with a woman, she could do a hell of a lot worse than the enterprising and, no doubt, skillful redhead.

"You are way over thinking this, McMurphy," KC told the normally composed and compassionate nurse. Leaning in again, the hooker's lips were so close to Colleen's ear, the warmth from her breath sent shivers down the nurse's spine. "I can take you places you never dreamed possible," the redhead whispered with deliberate intent.

Closing her eyes, aroused in spite of herself, McMurphy pushed herself slightly away from the bar. "Okay - how about this...one more question and if I win, we'll do a tie breaker, if you win, it's two out of three and you get anything you want."

"Why would I want to do that? I've got nothing to gain - I've already won," KC advised her, amused.

She was right. Damn it. McMurphy stared out at the Marble Mountains, which overlooked one of the finest beaches in Asia. She recalled being on the way back from Danang, caught in a vast network of tunnels maintained by the Vietcong in those mountains. She and KC had to rely on every ounce of ingenuity they had to avoid being captured...and God only knew what else. If it hadn't been for KC's unapologetic and formidable bartering acumen, neither one of them would probably be alive right now. As it was, just being detained was frightening enough. Four hours of waiting in the darkness for KC's connection to come through with ten cases of pipes and paraphernalia. Four hours of McMurphy's life flashing before her very eyes...if KC was thinking about her possible fate, she didn't show it. Four hours of the two females trying to cleverly converse in a manner that would befuddle the interpreter in a manner he would not want to admit to his colleagues ("I don't know, Lt. McMurphy, it looks like an acute case of chronic cranial rectal impaction to me" "I have a tendency to agree, Miss Koloski, but look around you at how everything had to be 'just so.' I would be more inclined to lean toward him having his sphincter recalibrated for maximum retention"). They would have resorted to pig-Latin but that would have been too obvious and most likely not tolerated. Yet they had become closer because of that incident, emotionally, physically, psychologically and the redhead had saved her life. So she already owed her, always wondered how she would have to or be able to repay KC, wondered when and how KC would come to collect this debt. "Okay - if I do this..."

"Wait - there's no 'if' here, McMurphy," KC advised her with all the confidence in the world, her mood still very festive, "you will do this. You're an honorable woman and a bet is a bet."

Nodding, she chewed on her bottom lip. "Okay - when I do this, will it wipe my slate clean with you?"

"For? For what?" KC looked puzzled.

"For our little detour coming back from Danang."

This brought another smile to KC's face. "Oh, that. I'd forgotten about that."

"Well?"

"Uh...no." Off McMurphy's startled expression, KC, smiling, said, "maybe. We'll discuss it."

McMurphy signaled Boonie for one more shot and KC signaled Boonie not to comply. "It would be very bad for my ego if you threw up during or after our...encounter. Come on, McMurphy, who do you trust more than me?"

Snapping her head to the right to look at KC, she almost started giggling again. "Hmmm, let's see...Beckett, Boonie, Dr. Dick, Dodger -"

"If you say Lila, I will make you work off all your debts tonight. And just remember, Beckett, Boonie, Dr. Dick and Dodger didn't save your lily-white Emerald Isle ass from a fate worse than - well, what you incorrectly assume this is going to be. But, listen to me very carefully, McMurphy, I want you to defenestrate all your preconceived ideas and trust me. You will never, and I mean never, feel from anybody else what I will make you feel tonight," KC said, in a low, husky voice. She observed as a smile curled the edge of the nurse's mouth.

"Okay, let's do this," she nodded with finality. She then shot KC a smolderingly inquisitive, almost coy look.

The dazzling redhead was rendered nearly speechless. She was keenly aware of the powers of persuasion she possessed but she really didn't think the impressively attractive but usually unyielding nurse would acquiesce so soon. "Well, laa-dii-fucking-daa," she commented, mostly to herself.

The hooker was relieved that the nurse was as a little inebriated. She knew McMurphy would never have agreed to come to her bed stone cold sober and KC wasn't about to use guilt or force to convince the brunette to do something totally against her will. The alcohol diminishing her inhibitions was just enough incentive for KC to make one of her own little fantasies come true.

Once back at the hooker's beach dive, KC did something to McMurphy she never did with any of her "customers." She kissed her. It wasn't just any run-of-the-mill kiss, either. She employed a technique that literally made the nurse's knees buckle from its unbridled passion. It was all uphill from there. KC was as gifted in bed as McMurphy was in her bedside manner. The sex was so phenomenal, the brunette completely lost herself in the awakening sensations, let go of any repression she formerly had and allowed KC to take her to rapturously frenzied heights, sexually and emotionally. Damn, if she couldn't get used to this. The difference of being touched by a woman was almost exquisitely gentle in its intensity whereas being fucked by a man was, perhaps not as raw in its action, but definitely more primal in its performance and execution. She couldn't remember the last time sex made her feel this good. She even offered to reciprocate but it wasn't necessary. At least not this time. KC had taken care of herself during one of her deliciously oral contributions to the session. McMurphy came first, KC followed less than a minute later. Crawling back up her body, the redhead kissed the nurse, showing a tenderness the brunette never thought possible from the hard, rough-edged, insular prostitute. When McMurphy's breathing returned to normal, KC rolled over and lit a cigarette.

"Well?"

"Don't gloat. You know how much I hate it when you're right."

"And you're wrong."

"That, too." She sighed, fulfilled. "I know you won the bet but somehow I feel like the lucky one."

"You need to learn to listen to me. I haven't steered you wrong yet, have I, McMurphy?"

Laughing demurely, the nurse reached to removed the cigarette from KC's hand, took a drag off it, exhaled, rolled over and initiated a fiery kiss. "I think, after tonight, you can call me Colleen."

Chuckling, KC took the cigarette back, stabbed it out and returned her undivided attention to the tantalizingly naked woman next to her. "Okay, Colleen..." Sealing her lips to the brunette's, they began again.

The End