Reunion (The Monkees Family Vol. 3)

Chapter 3

She petted his back and let her fingernails graze his skin. "I know, Micky. I'm going to turn over the reins and just let you do it. I'm not going to try to control you or hold you back. I'm not your Higher Power. You've already got one and so do I. I'm here to support you and to enjoy the benefits of your hard work. How about you give me some of that enjoyment now, hmmm?"

She squeezed his butt cheeks and started to maneuver him out of the kitchen.

"Where?" he asked. This question nearly always preceded their lovemaking sessions. They were not a vanilla, boring couple when it came to sex. They lived in a large house and they liked to make use of the many choices it offered in terms of the setting for their trysts.

Gabby looked out toward the backyard. Their new one had a small shed that Micky had spiffed up and Gabby had decorated, converting it into a little hideaway, complete with a daybed. "Should we christen our new shed?"

Micky raised his eyebrow and looked towards it. "I think we need to give it a name. Shed sounds so primitive. How about we call it the 'Shag Shack?'"

Gabby burst out laughing and said "Well, that's not the main reason why I had you fix it up, but I admit the thought definitely did cross my mind when I was decorating it and picked out a daybed instead of a couch or chairs. That name reminds me of the Nooky Nook you guys had on the beach in Malibu." They paused to remember fondly some of the sexual hijinks they and the other Monkees got up to at that secluded cove. "Okay, we'll call it the Shag Shack. So is that the answer to where?"

Micky didn't answer, but just took Gabby's hand and silently led her out the French doors leading to the back yard. He stopped before entering the structure to admire the carpentry and painting work he had done. The little shed had white siding, with Victorian trim detailing painted pink and lavender, as per Gabby's unusually girly request. She admitted at the time that she was envious of the similarly hued princess play land structure that Micky had built Peter and Dawn's young daughter Charlotte in their backyard, the site of Micky and Gabby's reconciliation, and she had requested her own grownup version of it.

Gabby gazed appreciatively at the shack as well and threaded her hands around Micky's waist from behind. "You did a lovely job fixing her up, Micky. My very own princess castle. We've played at being royalty before, but we never had a palace to accommodate our activities, though I suppose the Ritz in Boston was rather palatial." She was referring back to past sexual fantasies they had constructed together.

Micky turned to her and said "I'm glad to have been able to make this fantasy real for you, my princess. I know what you wanted most was a time machine, so that none of the bad things we went through had never happened, but alas, that was beyond my humble abilities . . ." he trailed off.

Gabby grabbed hold of Micky tighter and said "No. Micky, no. I don't want a time machine anymore. What we went through, what happened, it was meant to be. We've walked through the fire and come out stronger, knowing ourselves and each other better, loving each other even more, valuing and cherishing what we have together far more because of the challenges we've faced. Life can't be a fantasy, a fairytale. That's why we make them up for ourselves when we make love. They're pleasant little diversions, little trips for our minds to take, to enjoy together. But real life, that's rough and it jostles us and it tests our strength and our character, and that's when we hold tighter to each other and we come out stronger for it. That's what I believe, having gone through all our travails over the last couple of years."

Micky nodded, then turned around to kiss Gabby gently and give her another of his all-enveloping hugs. They parted and Micky led her into the shack silently, knowing that now, they were entering a space where real life couldn't touch them, where none of the rules applied – not gravity, nor physics, nor logic. Only emotion, communication and trust mattered.