Little Women: If Beth Had Lived 5

"It's only me!" Laurie laughed. He had just opened the bathroom door, causing Beth to jump as if a firecracker had just gone off.

"Sorry," Beth muttered.

"Oh, it's all right." Clad in his pajamas, Laurie sat beside her on the bed and hugged her. "Nervous?" he asked, tenderly brushing a strand of hair back from her face.

She nodded. She was scared to death.

"Don't be. Everything is going to be all right." Laurie lay back on the bed and pulled Beth down beside him. He held her to him and stroked her hair, and she gradually began to feel more relaxed, even stifling a yawn.

"Don't go to sleep on me," Laurie teased. He began to kiss and caress her, his hands graduallly moving toward her breasts which, to her surprise, began to tingle pleasantly. He reached to pull her nightgown off over her head, and she tugged it down, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Don't you want to?" Beth heard the disappointment in his voice and reluctantly released the gown, which Laurie promptly lifted over her head.

"Please don't be afraid. It really is going to be all right," he whispered. She lay down, and he began to fondle her, first with his hands, then with his lips.

"That feels really nice," she told him.

"I thought you would like it," he chuckled. A few minutes later, he removed his pajama top and began to tug at his pajama bottoms. Beth noticed what he was doing and quickly clapped her hands over her eyes, causing Laurie to laugh out loud. After a moment, he saw her peeking between her fingers at him and smiled encouragingly at her. She slowly lowered her hands and looked at him for a few minutes, then gingerly extended a cautious hand, pulling it back at the last minute as if she had been about to touch a hot stove.

Laurie laughed again and gently took her hand, placing it on himself, guiding her. She began to stroke him, imitating his own movements. Suddenly she stopped.

"It's getting harder...and longer. Is it supposed to do that?"

"Um...yes." Laurie felt awkward and embarassed himself now.

"Does that mean I'm doing it right, then?"

"That's exactly what it means, Beth." Suddenly his heart was filled with tenderness for her. Beth began to feel a completely foreign yearning in her most intimate parts but was far to shy to say anything about it to him. As if reading her mind, Laurie removed Beth's panties. She parted her legs, her eyes narrowing with ecstasy as he began to touch her there, alleviating the aching need she had felt.

"So you like that, do you?" Laurie watched her face with mischief in his eyes. She moaned in response.

Laurie quickly positioned himself over her and suddenly entered her. He encountered slight resistance, pushed past it, and heard her gasp. He stopped moving and began to cover her face with kisses, murmuring encouraging and comforting words.

Despite Laurie's efforts to prolong the experience, it was over with very quickly, and he fell asleep shortly afterwards, holding Beth tightly.

Beth lay awake for a long time listening to Laurie's gentle snoring and thinking about what she had just experienced. Although she was relieved that her first sexual experience was over, she couldn't believe that that had really been all there was to it. For her there had been some quite nice sensations, followed by a rather painful one, but there had been no jolts of electricity, no fireworks, no sudden transformation into true womanhood. Puzzled and a bit disappointed, she eventually drifted into a dreamless sleep.

Laurie awakened the following morning to find Beth dozing peacefully in his arms. Memories of the previous night washed over him, and he felt an incredible warmth and sweetness toward his new wife. He realized the effort it must have taken for her to push past her almost crippling timidity to allow the night's events to unfold, and for that he felt profoundly grateful to her. He had been unsure how to approach her without frightening her but, to his immense relief, in the end everything had worked out just fine.

Beth yawned and stirred in her sleep. Laurie became aware of a physical need but didn't want to disturb her. He finally slipped carefully out of bed, hurried to the bathroom, and stealthily returned. When he climbed back under the covers he saw that Beth was lying still, but her eyes were open.

"Did I wake you up? I'm so sorry."

"Oh no, it's all right." She yawned and smiled, and he smiled back. Both of them were suddenly shy.

"Do you feel all right, Beth?" Laurie asked at last.

"I'm fine. How are you?"

"I'm very well, thanks." More silence.

"We really did it, didn't we?" Beth asked after awhile.

"Yes, we did." Laurie grinned. "Was it really all right for you, Beth?" That was what he had meant to ask before but hadn't really quite known how.

"It was...kind of nice." She didn't want to hurt his feelings. "Was it all right for you?"

"I enjoyed it very much, Beth."

"So I did it right, then?"

"You did just fine, Beth. Please don't worry about that."

"So now I might be pregnant?"

"Well, I suppose you might be. That would be all right, wouldn't it?"

"Well...sure. Of course it would be."

Beth snuggled closer to Laurie, and he kissed the top of her head.

"I love you, Beth Laurence."

"I love you too...Theodore Laurence." She giggled, and he joined in. Beth discovered that the solitary little world in which she spent most of her time had become much less lonely since she had opened the door wide enough to admit Laurie.