To say I was puzzled by her sudden outburst, and the gleeful smirk on her face, was an understatement. I got the impression arguing would be useless, so reluctantly headed upstairs...

...only to find a significantly more expensive (and well made) dress on the bed, with a post-it note attached saying "Wear this. x"

Confused, I donned the new outfit, together with the provided tights, cap, apron and shoes (mercifully low-heeled); before heading downstairs to face the music.

So you can imagine my surprise when I opened the lounge door to find her wearing an identical outfit and wielding the obligatory feather duster.

"B...b...but..." I stammered, looking even more confused.

Now it was her turn to look shocked, as realisation dawned.

"Oh... sorry! This was meant to be a bit of fun. You really thought..."

Embarrassed, I nodded.

"Oh, darling, I'd *never* do that to you. Do you want to change, or shall we get this place cleaned together?"

She paused, not sure whether to continue. "Errr... what d'ya think?" and beaming, performed a small pirroutte.

Emotions released, I couldn't help but grin. "Beautiful... as always!"

Feeling inspired, I performed a (clumsy) pirrouette of my own.

Laughing, she replied "Snap!"

"So what was your big idea?"

"Oh, sorry, forgot to say. I just thought it would be fun for us both to do the maid thing from time to time - if we're both doing it, it should take half the time; and why not have a little fun while we're at it?"

"Together?"

We'd always shared the housework, but generally it was one or the other of us, when we felt like it, individually, after work - never together, and never at the weekend.

"Always. I'd never ask you to do anything like that alone!"