diff --git a/lib/tls.js b/lib/tls.js
index eddd438d0c..433d33958c 100644
--- a/lib/tls.js
+++ b/lib/tls.js
@@ -34,14 +34,33 @@ function CryptoStream (pair) {
 
   this._writeState = true;
   this._pending = [];
+  this._pendingCallbacks = [];
 }
 util.inherits(CryptoStream, stream.Stream);
 
 
-CryptoStream.prototype.write = function(data) {
-  if (typeof data == 'string') data = Buffer(data);
+CryptoStream.prototype.write = function(data /* , encoding, cb */) {
+  var encoding, cb;
+
+  // parse arguments
+  if (typeof arguments[1] == 'string') {
+    encoding = arguments[1];
+    cb = arguments[2];
+  } else {
+    cb = arguments[1];
+  }
+
+
+  // Transform strings into buffers.
+  if (typeof data == 'string') {
+    data = new Buffer(data, encoding);
+  }
+
   debug('clearIn data');
+
   this._pending.push(data);
+  this._pendingCallbacks.push(cb);
+
   this.pair._cycle();
   return this._writeState;
 };
@@ -187,10 +206,13 @@ CryptoStream.prototype._blow = function() {
 //   });
 //
 CryptoStream.prototype._suck = function() {
-  var tmp, rv;
+  var tmp, cb, rv;
   var havePending = this._pending.length > 0;
   while (this._pending.length > 0) {
     tmp = this._pending.shift();
+    cb = this._pendingCallbacks.shift();
+
+    assert(this._pending.length === this._pendingCallbacks.length);
 
     try {
       rv = this._sucker(tmp);
@@ -205,9 +227,12 @@ CryptoStream.prototype._suck = function() {
 
     if (rv === 0) {
       this._pending.unshift(tmp);
+      this._pendingCallbacks.unshift(cb);
       break;
     }
 
+    if (cb) cb();
+
     assert(rv === tmp.length);
   }
 
diff --git a/test/simple/test-tls-securepair-client.js b/test/simple/test-tls-securepair-client.js
index 1b1b510fee..9bcb7e75d5 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-tls-securepair-client.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-tls-securepair-client.js
@@ -66,8 +66,9 @@ var timeout = setTimeout(function () {
   process.exit(1);
 }, 5000);
 
-
+var gotWriteCallback = false;
 var serverExitCode = -1;
+
 server.on('exit', function(code) {
   serverExitCode = code;
   clearTimeout(timeout);
@@ -101,7 +102,9 @@ function startClient() {
     console.log('client pair.cleartext.getCipher(): %j',
                 pair.cleartext.getCipher());
     setTimeout(function() {
-      pair.cleartext.write('hello\r\n');
+      pair.cleartext.write('hello\r\n', function () {
+        gotWriteCallback = true;
+      });
     }, 500);
   });
 
@@ -130,4 +133,5 @@ function startClient() {
 process.on('exit', function() {
   assert.equal(0, serverExitCode);
   assert.equal('WAIT-SERVER-CLOSE', state);
+  assert.ok(gotWriteCallback);
 });