It all started very innocently when Higgs asked me to clear out the room on the third floor which Joey and I had used for an office.

"What exactly did you two do up here anyway?" Jennifer asked as we walked hand in hand up the stairs after school.

"We worked on a special art project," I simply said.

"Art?" she echoed in surprise.  "I never thought of you being into art..."

I just let myself smile at her, knowing she had accepted my words without question.  It would have been so easy to flat out lie about things, but I couldn't lie to her.  Mislead her, yes.  Stretch the truth, yes.  Lie?  Well, I didn't want to start because I knew I wouldn't be able to keep my telepathy from her forever.

As we walked by the drawing room, Jennifer asked, "What's in these rooms, anyway?"

"That one was were we did our drawings, this one coming up was..  Well, Joey, Suzi, and I made it our... private room.  Uhm.  We can look at it later, okay?  I want to open up the office just in case it's cold in there."

"Private room?" she echoed again as we reached the office door.

As I suspected, the room was a chilly fifty or so degrees.  Being on the third floor and not used for the most part, the rooms usually didn't require much heat to keep things from freezing.  So after showing Jennifer the filing cabinet where the drawings were, I left to go downstairs to turn up the heat.

While I was down in the utilities room, I grabbed two boxes I figured would be just about right to put the drawings in to take home.  Joey had wanted to get copies made so we each had a set, but we both agreed that could be done later when we had more time for things like that.

I was about halfway up the stairs from the second to third floor when I heard Jennifer's horrific and painful cry.  The boxes went in two different directions as I jettisoned their extra bulk and hightailed it back to the office as fast as I could.

I found Jennifer crying but calming down in the corner opposite from the desk and filing cabinet she had been sitting at when I left.  I immediately walked up to her and checked her over visually, then finally said, "Jennifer, what's wrong?  What happened?"

"I was just looking at your drawings.. and I..  I...  One of them HURT me!" she said, clamping her arms around me in a tight hug.

I savored the moment deeply, temporarily forgetting everything but the woman I loved whom I cuddled gently in my arms.  She was so innocent, so dependant on the love and care of others...  She was almost fragile, especially if a drawing of a symbol could cause her to..

"Wait, did you say one of the drawings.. hurt you?" I asked urgently.

"Yes," she said, turning her head to face the desk while it stayed flat against my upper chest.

"One of those," she said, pointing at the somewhat scattered pile of pencil drawn symbols.  "I was just looking through them, seeing if I could recognize any of them, and.." she stopped and flinched.

"Jennifer, show me, please?  It's very important," I said while my heart pounded in my chest.

"But..." she said as I tried to move us closer.  "But it hurt me..."

I sighed, then hooked her eyes with mine and let that familiar feeling form.

"How can a drawing hurt you, honey?  How?"

"I don't know," she said, relaxing in my gaze.  "I guess it can't... okay..."

She broke our eye contact, then walked timidly up to the desk and examined the few which were on top and visible without touching them.

"I don't see it," she said as I walked up behind her and gently wrapped my arms around her midsection.

"Well?  Look through them.  The worse thing that could happen is you get a paper cut..."

She hesitated, but then she felt ashamed of being so timid in front of me and started uncovering them one by one.

"I guess you're right," she said about half way through them.  "I mean, how can a silly picture hurt you?  But something made me...  EEEKKK!!!"

Even as Jennifer grabbed me and buried her face into my chest shaking all over with her fright, my only reaction was to slowly fold my arms around her as I stared at the symbol she had reached.

Before me was the pencil drawing of the symbol which had been the hardest to draw simply for what it was.  Joey and I had claimed it to be our favorite of the bunch just because it had been so hard to obtain, and the colored version was currently framed and hanging in my room after bringing it home from college last year.

It was the universal symbol for pain, and after having God knows how many flashbacks and colliding thoughts, my mind finally tuned back into my surroundings and I gently pulled Jennifer away from my body and looked deeply into her eyes.

"Jennifer, it's okay.. There's nothing to be afraid of.  Let's go to the other room.  There's something I want to show you."

I carefully covered up the pain symbol before we moved towards the door, but then Jennifer dashed out ahead of me, and kept her back to the door just in case while I caught up with her and guided her towards the other room's door.

She was so upset from the experience that she didn't even take notice of the furnishings in the room.  If my own mind hadn't been churning away from all the possibilities and resulting consequences, I would have realized that she was struggling with something.

I guided her to the couch and we both sat down lost in our own thoughts, but when I felt her shudder, I snapped myself out of it and asked her what was wrong.

"I...  I can't get it out of my head.." she said pitifully.  "I don't want to think about it, but I can't stop.."

I quickly stood up and started digging into my left pocket, then pulled my coin out and said urgently, "Then here..  Think about this, and tell me what you feel."

"What is it?" she asked as her expression and voice filled with wonder.

I couldn't even answer her as I experienced an overwhelming amount of positive emotions flowing through me from seeing she truly did feel something from my coin.

"Tim?  It makes me feel... happy inside.  And.. oh, so warm and tingly to my fingers..  It's wonderful...   Where did you get.." she said looking up at me and getting caught up in my eyes filled with love.

It happened again...  And this time there was something even more magical to it.  We felt as if we were reaching out to each other's souls and embracing them as we met halfway for our kiss, and then sank down onto the couch as we felt our hearts beat as one.

Losing ourselves in our sharing of our love for each other, there was no hesitation or resistance when Jennifer laid down on her back with me on top of her.  The kissing was of the most gentle and loving kind, and while there still was not tongue involved, it was still very wet and stimulating.

Yes, I got a hard on, and yes Jennifer had felt it when it pressed against her thigh, but there was this new binding trust between us, one that told us both that we would not have sex until she was ready, and for now that meant waiting until she was eighteen with a wedding ring on her finger from me.

We kissed for what seemed like a very long time, pausing to catch our breath once in a while before gazing into each other's eyes and being pulled back into our kiss.

When we finally had had enough for the time being, Jennifer sighed happily and closed her eyes while I started kissing her cheek and occasionally her neck.

"Tim?"

"Hmmm?"

"Can I see that coin again?"

"Well, you had it last..."  I said before carefully getting up on my elbows and straddling her with my legs, looking into her face intensely while focusing all the energy and life I had in me into projecting a single telepathic message...

"I love you too," she answered me out loud.

She still had her eyes closed, for she was feeling very peaceful and relaxed from my kisses and caresses, and so she didn't catch my expression when she had confirmed my suspicion.

I was about to announce it to her just like that, but luckily I got a hold of myself and calmed down enough to think rationally for a minute.  I reached onto the floor for the coin, then placed it against her lips, and was rewarded with her smile and then her eyes opened...

I don't know what it was about her eyes, but they seemed brighter than ever before.  Like as if something had awakened within her that had been dormant all her life, but this something wasn't related to do with the coin or telepathy.  It was much more important, and nothing supernatural about it.

When she picked up the coin from her lips, I kissed the back of hand and then got up, figuring she would want to sit up and examine it more closely.

But she just laid there examining the coin like that, and after a few minutes had passed, I got down on my knees beside her and laid my head on her shoulder to wait patiently for the questions I knew she would ask.

"Where did you get this?" she finally asked.

"My dad gave it to me when we met.  His dad gave it to him, but I don't know where by grandfather got it from, and he's dead now so we'll never know."

"How can a coin...  Does it make you feel good when you hold it?"

"Yeah, a little.  It doesn't make my fingers tingle, but it does to Joey."

"Who?"  she said, looking away from the coin for the first time since she took it off her nose.

"You know...  Joey..."

"Oh, him...  But...  How come you never showed this to me before?"

She was back to looking at the coin again, but was glancing over at me ever couple of seconds just to see if I was going to answer or not.  I wasn't sure exactly how to answer her, so I simply told her the straight out truth.

"Well, because of what it is, what it can do.  Most people can't feel anything from it.  Only special people, Jennifer.  People like me, my mom and dad, Joey, and now you..."

"What do you mean, special people?  I'm not special.  You are, but I'm not."

"Now don't start that again," I said lovingly but firmly.  "You are special, and this even proves it.  <sigh>  Jennifer, we need to have a long talk, but not here.  I think the best thing to do would be to take you home and then tell you, Lee, and your dad about..  Well, about what this means."

She frowned, then looked at me for a long time before smiling a sweet smile and saying, "You're being awfully mysterious about this.  This isn't one of your surprises, is it?"

I couldn't help but smile back at her as I softly said, "Sweetie, this time I had nothing to do with it, but yes...  It will be a surprise.  A wonderful surprise.  But..."

"But?"

"I'll tell you in the car, okay?  Help me pack the drawings up and we'll take them with us.  Oh, now..  Don't get scared.  I'll pack the ones you were looking at.  The others are..  Well, they're harmless.  Nothing about them could possibly hurt you."

"So the ones I was looking at?  They can hurt me?" she said in a little girls voice.

"To tell you the truth, nobody has ever had any kind of reaction like you had before.  I don't know why you did.  Jennifer, just trust me okay?  I know what I'm talking about."

She sat up, then nodded her head, then hesitantly offered me back my coin.

"You can hang on to it if you like," I said, then basked in light shining from her smiling face.

I retrieved the boxes I had dropped over an hour before and carefully collected the drawing on the desk and put them in one of them, for Jennifer wouldn't even come into the room until I had.  Even afterwards, she was very skittish about messing with the rest, but I couldn't blame her.  The pain she had felt had been incredibly intense.  I mean, think of it like this.  You walk up to a door you've never been through before and when you take hold of the knob, you get a huge electrical shock that knocks you flat.  You'd be a little skittish about opening unfamiliar doors yourself for a while, and that's pretty much what Jennifer was feeling too.

Joey and I had organized the symbols very carefully for we hadn't labeled any of them as to what they were for security reasons.  We had two full sized filing cabinets of drawings, and even though the eight drawers weren't anywhere near being full, it was still a lot of drawings to handle, especially when I didn’t want them get mixed up.

Four hundred thirty seven drawings of a hundred fifty four symbols, all drawn by numerous students on special non yellowing heavy weight paper. About a third of them were drawn artistically in color, but most of those just didn't look right to me with the colors the artist had used.  Only about twenty of them Joey and I had drawn ourselves, but looking through them brought back all sorts of memories of the time we were the closest of pals.

I easily shook those feelings off once we had finished without anymore surprises.  Yes, Joey and I had had some good times, but I felt our time had passed and that now it was time for Jennifer and I to share as much and more as I had with Joey and Suzi combined.

"But?" Jennifer suddenly said in the car when we pulled out of the school's parking lot.

"But what?" I said, my mind still thinking about the things Joey and I had done that I wanted to do with Jennifer too.

"I don't know.  Before we packed the drawings up, you said but, then said you'd tell me in the car."

"Oh..  Sorry," I said grinning at her.

Then I got serious, for I knew I had to be careful so she wouldn't disbelieve me when I told her later.

"Well?" she said when I took too long in thinking.

"Jennifer, you know I would never lie to you, or try to trick you, don't you?"

"Yes," she said cautiously.

"Well, just remember that when I start saying some pretty wild things, okay?  I'm really...  worried you won't believe what I'm going to be telling you and your sister and dad."

"Why?  Oh, come on Tim.  Why can't you tell me now?  If it makes you feel any better, I'll pretend like I didn't know when you tell.."

"You don't understand.  The reason I need to tell you with your dad and sister around is so you can take their word for it not just mine."

"You're right," she sighed.  "I don't understand.  Well, I just hope it is worth all this suspense."

When she didn't say anything more, I concentrated on working out how I was going to do it while Jennifer pulled my coin out and started testing it out on different areas on her body.

By the time I pulled into her driveway, Jennifer had her eyes closed while gently stroking her left cheek with the coin.  I was tempted to just sit there with the engine running watching her like that, for she looked so...  precious.

I couldn't help but chuckle when she blushed from my stare.  But then it happened again, and even though it was no where near as magical or long as the last time, the kiss still sent us both to cloud nine for while.

We were already finished with the kiss when Lee tapped on the window with her knuckle and startled us.

"I saw that," she teased with a wicked smile as her boyfriend led her to his van parked on the street.

While Jennifer went through a much more intense blushing fit, I realized they were going to leave.

"Lee!  Wait a sec!" I said, jumping out of the car.

"What?" she said out of the passenger side window.

"Uhm, are you going to be gone very long?"

"Just until ten or so.  What is it?  We're kind of in a hurry here."

"Shit.  Look.  I need to explain some heavy stuff to Jennifer, but I really need you to be there too.  It's really important.  I don't think it can wait until ten."

She glance over to her boyfriend who just gave her a look that meant, "lose this jerk," then turned back to me with an apologetic expression intending to tell me no.

"Sorry about this.  You'll understand later," I told her as she got out of the van.

"Hey!" her boyfriend said before she could reply to me.

"What?"

"You want to try tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Okay.  I'll pick you up at three instead."

"Sounds good," she said before turning away from him and walking back to the house with me.

"Lee?  I thought you were leaving?" their father said as we entered the kitchen.

"I was, but Tim said it was important..."

"It is, but..  I know this sounds kind of weird, but could we go sit down in the living room?  What I have to tell you is going to be hard to believe, and when I prove it to you, it's gonna be kind of a shock."

Mr. Corrigan looked at my serious expression, then asked, "How long will this take?  I'm in the middle of fixing our supper."

I looked down at the two TV dinners laying out on the counter thawing, then looked back at up at him with a questioning look.

"I'm hungry, okay?" he said a little jokingly.

"Well, I guess we can wait long enough for you to pop them in the oven," I said with a grin.

"Did you put mine back in the freezer dad?" Lee asked him.

"Yeah.  Tim, are you hungry?  We can pop on in for you too if you like."

"Yeah.  Thanks.  That would be great, especially since I think I'm going to be here a while."

After Lee went back again to retrieve the one which had been out for her boyfriend, the four TV dinners were "popped" into the oven and then we all went into the living room for my little show and tell.

"Okay, before I start making you think I'm nuts, Jennifer, let Lee and your dad hold my coin."

"Oh, okay.  That's a good idea.  Here, Lee.  This makes you feel.."

"Uhm, lets just let them work that out, okay Jennifer?" I said cutting her off.

"Oh, all right!" she said a little grumpily.  She had had her fill of my mysteriousness.

"Okay," Lee said a little suspiciously while turning the coin over and looking at the other side.  "So what do I do with it?"

"Don't you feel anything?" Jennifer said surprised.

"What do you mean?  It's just a plastic coin."

"Let your dad see it, Lee," I said before Jennifer could respond.

She handed it over to Mr. Corrigan, then after he silently looked at it for a few moments, Jennifer blurted out, "Don't you feel anything?" in a more desperate tone than before.

"What am I supposed to feel, pumpkin?" he said, flipping it, then handing it back to her.

Jennifer stared at the coin a few moments, then looked over at me with this confused expression on her face.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer.  I told you only certain people can feel anything from my coin."

"Are you two going to tell us what's going on?" Lee said impatiently.

"But why not them?  Why me?" Jennifer asked me, ignoring Lee.

"I don't know, Jennifer.  Now that we know they don't feel anything from it, why don't you go ahead and tell them what you feel while I think a minute."

As Jennifer began describing the sensations the coin gave her, I watched for their reactions, and as I had expected they were very skeptical.

I didn't comment as Lee and their dad voiced their disbelief, and just waited for one of them to let the other do the talking.  That person turned out to be Mr. Corrigan, so while Lee and Jennifer argued like sisters do, I managed to get the coin from Jennifer and handed it to him with the words, "This is what Jennifer feels."

I was the only one to hear Mr. Corrigan's gasp while I simulated the sensations which Jennifer had described.  I only kept it up for maybe thirty seconds, but it was more than enough to convince him we were serious.

"Lee," he said faintly moments before I stopped my simulation.

"Lee!" he nearly shouted afterwards.  "She's not lying.  I just felt it too."

"What?" both girls said.

"How?" Jennifer asked, then caught sight of my grin and said, "Tim?"

"Lee?  Your turn," I said, handing her the coin and giving Jennifer a wink.

"You're all making me really.... Oh my God!"

"Tim!" Jennifer cried with impatience and confusion as Lee sat very still staring at the coin in her hand, almost like she was afraid to move.

"Hang on a second," I said, wanting to give Lee at least the same amount of time her dad had.

"You said they couldn't feel anything, but now they can?  Tim, please tell me what is going on?!?  I'm so confused, and I starting to think you're doing it on purpose!"

I killed my simulation when I saw she was about ready to burst into tears.  I winced, having not considered that I might scare her with this, but then I knew how to fix it without having to alter my plans.

As I felt that familiar feeling, I resisted letting a full empathic connection form and just let it calm her down.

"I'm a little confused myself," her father said.

"Yeah.  How can a coin make you feel good just by holding it?" Lee asked, still holding the coin like it would bite her if she moved her hand.

"This is where it gets a little hard to believe," I said, giving each of them a dose of my seriousness empathetically.  "Most people can't feel anything from the coin, but when someone does, it means they have this..  potential or gift.  My mom and dad both have it, I have it, both my grandfathers... and Jennifer has it."

"But we don't?" Lee asked.

"No, you don't"

"So what is this gift that Jennifer supposedly has?" her father asked, sitting back deciding he wasn't going to buy it.

"Telepathy," I thought to Lee and Mr. Corrigan.

"Telepathy?" Lee snorted from missing the fact I hadn't said it out loud while watching Jennifer take back my coin.

"Telepathy?" Jennifer echoed.  "Why did you say that, Lee?"

"Lee, look at me.  I'm not kidding here.  See?  I'm not moving my mouth at all. Don't get scared, Lee, please?  You're dad is staying pretty calm, which is good because I don't want to upset Je.."

"Hey!  Why are you all staring at each other?" Jennifer interrupted.

I held my breath as her two astounded family members stared at her for several moments before exchanging glances between themselves.

"Okay... What's going on?" she said, breaking out into a smile that faded very quickly.

I decided it was time to tell her, for she wasn't going to last much longer without getting very upset from the suspense.

I got up from my chair and sat down where Lee had just vacated her spot on the couch for me, then I took her hands into mine and looked into her eyes as I said, "Jennifer, if I was to tell you that I could read your mind, would you believe me?"

"Huh?" she said with confusion.  "Read my mind?"

"Yes.  Like think of something I couldn't possibly know about, something that isn't private, but you've never told me anything about."

"Why are you all staring at me?" she said nervously.

"Blue and white shirt, striped, has a lopsided collar, and you...  You loved it because it had a little flower embroidered into it right there," I said, touching the spot just above and to left of her left breast.

"How did you..."

"I read your mind, silly.  That's what this is all about.  I'm telepathic, and so are you, my love.  So are you."

Jennifer's face went through an amazing number of expressions, twice she had started to laugh but it never got beyond the first couple notes of her beautiful sing song laugh.

"You're joking right?" she said finally.

"No, I'm very serious.  Ask your dad or Lee.  I was talking to them in their heads when you though we were just staring at each other."

"It's true, pumpkin," Mr. Corrigan managed to say.  "I don't really know if I believe it entirely yet, but he was talking to me without moving his lips."

"Then do it to me?" Jennifer said a moment later.

"Well, that's not easy for me to do.  I've told you you're very special, and before this afternoon I believed you would never be able to hear my thoughts.  There's a lot I have to tell you, all of you, some of it you won't like to hear but you need to hear it anyway."

I first told them about my own rediscovery of my abilities when I was in eighth grade, and how my mom had helped me gain control over them.  I was pretty careful to ease the subject of mind control into it all, but I ended up having to demonstrate it by having Lee do a perfectly synchronized ring around the rosy with me before they believed me.

At that point I told them about how I discovered Jennifer was immune to my telepathy.  That was probably the most confusing part for Jennifer.  She didn't understand how she supposedly had the gift and yet be immune to it too.  I guess what made it so confusing was, I didn't understand it myself.

I was very relieved to find she was accepting my word about these things, especially since I kept having to demonstrate it to her sister and dad when they started doubting me again.  But with Jennifer, she never doubted anything I was saying, and only when she didn't understand did I have to go into more detail or something.

Mr. Corrigan really surprised me by the way he took it all in stride.  I mean, even though the whole concept scared him and he didn't want to believe in it, he kept his mind open because he felt he had to at least consider the possibility that everything I was telling him was true.

Lee, on the other hand, kept challenging my explanations.  Even while we were eating the TV dinners, Lee kept asking questions that I was able to answer easily enough, but I ended up being the last one done because of all the talking I had done.

Once I saw they all had a fair understanding of what telepathy could do, I said quite simply, "I'd like to help Jennifer to develop her telepathy, but there are some dangers in doing so."

"Dangers?" Jennifer asked.

"If there's a risk in it harming her..." Mr. Corrigan began.

"No, not her.  Well, not exactly.  I can't ever believe it ever happening to Jennifer, but...  Telepaths are very susceptible to what I think is called God syndrome.  You know the saying..  Power corrupts..."

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely," he finished for me.  "So you're saying she might lose control of herself."

"Worse than that.  She might alter you both in ways you can't even imagine."

"I wouldn't do anything like that.." she said in a small voice.

"I know you wouldn't now...  But...  It changes you, sweetie.  You stop seeing others as your equals because they can't stop you from making them what you want them to be.  Every telepath I've met uses people in one way or another, and even I have done some things which I'm not proud of."

"Like what?" Jennifer asked softly, almost afraid.

"I'd rather not get into that tonight," I sighed.  "I'll tell you someday, but it's not that simple because of... Well, because I wasn't myself when I did those things.  I'm here to offer myself to teach you what I can while at the same time hopefully keep you from corrupting yourself with it."

I turned to her father and said, "I'd never take advantage of her, sir.  Even if I didn't love her, I'd still wouldn't because..  because.."

"What exactly are you asking of me?" he asked carefully.

"I'm asking you for your permission to try and help your daughter develop her abilities without letting them corrupt her.  She has it within her, the coin says so.  Without my help, she may never develop them, or she may develop them on her own without any sort of.. uhm.. guidance."

"I see," he said, looking at his younger daughter who met his eyes with her own.

"Well pumpkin?  What do you think of all this?"

"I don't know, daddy.  I get excited thinking about it, but.. it scares me too.  Lee?  What do you think I should do?"

Lee had been standing since she had let me have the seat next to Jennifer, but with Jennifer's question, she suddenly felt the need to sit down and did so by flopping herself into the chair.

"I don't know, kiddo," she sighed.  "I think I understand what Tim is afraid of happening.  I mean, I was just daydreaming, and..."

"What, Lee?"

"Well..  If I could make people do what I wanted them to...  Well, I know I wouldn't be able to resist...  You know..  The guys and all.."

"Oh.." Jennifer said a little down.  But then she asked, "But do you think I could resist?"

"I don't know, shrimp.  I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't control yourself with it.  But you're definitely not after the boys like I was at your age..."

"No, and I've promised mom I wouldn't do anything like that until I was 18 and married," she reminded everyone.  "I won't be bad.  I know I won't.  And I can't think of anyone better than Tim who could show me the way, can you?"

"Well, I think what we need is some time to think about it," Mr. Corrigan said.  "Tim, thank you for..  For being so frank about all this.  I really appreciate your offer for help and everything, but right now I think I'd really like to be alone with my family...  You understand?"

"Yeah," I said feeling just a little upset.  "I had hoped to try something tonight, but that's okay.  I'll just go home and...  Uhm..  find something else to do."

Actually, when I got home, I decided I was pretty tired so I went to bed early.  But I still ended up laying there for hours just imagining the things Jennifer and I could do together, knowing that she might not be able to do some of it because of her...

Handicap.  That's how I started to think of her immunity to telepathy.  Before, it was sort of annoying not to be able to do the really cool things with her like letting her fly in a bird's body or sharing my thoughts with her when we weren't together.  But yet I had always considered it a good thing because it kept her safe from other telepaths, and even myself to some extent.

Even while I was dreaming of having a mind hoping race with her, there was this thought in the back of my mind which I didn't want to deal with yet.  The thought that it might be a terrible mistake to awaken the telepathic abilities of someone who was immune to my own telepathic control.

I didn't let that thought surface before I fell asleep, but after I left the real world and entered the world of dreams, it promptly made it's message very clear to me.

-------

We were alone in the pull out bed, my love's smile having become my soul reason for living, gave me every possible joy imaginable before she gave me her lips for a kiss.

It was like seeing her for the very first time all over again.  I couldn't tear myself to look away, feeling desperate to absorb her incredible beauty, needing to memorize every millimeter of the skin on her face, all while my love for her strengthen beyond anything else I had felt before.

That love was the only emotion I felt while I laid there with her, for it seemed to give me everything I needed.  I had no wants, no discomforts, and it even seemed to guide me to understanding why I was not shocked to find she was in fact completely nude, why my cock would not become aroused, why I would not make any sexual advances towards her and why I should accept everything she said to be true.

The love which filled my being made everything look brighter, sound cleaner, feel purer.  My Jennifer had given me the greatest gift of all, and I knew it was the truest love possible.

I no longer had the boundaries limiting my love.  Things such as self interest and personal satisfaction, which neither came close as the restrictions due to having a free will.

But now...  Now I was truly free.  She had freed me.  For I was hers, my soul, my mind, my body.  There was nothing I wouldn't do for her, share with her, even give her.  I loved her..  I loved her...  I LOVED HER!!!

I offered no resistance as she entered my mind seeking out any remaining conflictions which she hadn't eliminated while I was asleep.  She didn't find any, for the love I had for her silenced all other voices within me, and I simply accepted her suggestion to never allow anyone to ever scan my mind but her.

Three days went by without a break in our regular routine, Jennifer wisely deciding to wait and see if anyone noticed a change in me.

People did notice, in fact I would find it hard to believe if anyone who didn't know me hadn't.  Everyone thought I had just fallen deeply in love, which I had, but not because I had recovered my emotional feelings for others.  I didn't care about anyone or anything but Jennifer, and only pretended like anything else mattered because she wished me to.

Jennifer and I spent the entire weekend at my home alone, our only visitor being Lee who Jennifer had carefully been preparing for nearly two weeks, knowing I would detect any vast changes in her and didn't want to upset me before she was ready to take me.  But now, Lee was just as devoted to Jennifer as I was, her original personality still very much intact, just altered to fit Jennifer's wishes and needs.

Those needs were actually based on my needs, not that I had any any longer.  I no longer desired sex with anyone but Lee, and Lee no longer desire anyone but me.  There was no love in it, just a mutual sexual need that we only fulfilled when Jennifer allowed us.

While I was allowed to also find Jennifer's body attractive, she made me unable to have sex with her until she was eighteen.  This, of course, was completely overridable, and that Saturday Jennifer explored my male body, the first male body she had ever seen up close.

I began seeking out the people who didn't see Jennifer as the beautiful, most wonderful person on the planet and adjusted them so they saw the truth that I could plainly see.  I desired nothing but to make her the queen she was meant to be, and if it meant enslaving the entire world for her, then so be it.

Slowly at first I began converting the people around me, transforming their selfish lives into one which served a higher purpose.  Oh and how wonderful Jennifer made me feel whenever I brought another one for her to bless and instruct them in what they will do for her.

After a minor incident with Sarah and her group of college campus telepaths, I began using my new recruited voices to process the people who needed to find the ways of Jennifer and her love.  Jennifer wished me to spend more time with her, and I knew there was nothing greater for me to do than obey.

Jennifer and I oversaw the building of her temple, using the minds and bodies of the thousands who by that time loved her with their heart and souls.  It was during the laying of the foundation that the attack came, an army of telepaths whose combined power quickly enslaved nearly half of our followers on the first night.

Jennifer personally engaged the Cabal forces while leaving me to oversee her work, and it was while she was away that Joey showed up asking how I could have betrayed the human race like I had.

Suddenly I didn't see the world like I had before.  Joey hadn't done anything, for I had been for the most part self enslaved by my love for Jennifer, but now...  I was about to say I was sorry when Jennifer appeared and asked what was going on.

I simply watched as Joey and Jennifer began their telepathic struggle to take control of me.  I could only stand there and wait to see who would be the victor, and suddenly Joey became my master, and Jennifer my enemy.

Jennifer aimed a pistol at me while saying, "If I can't have him, no one can," and pulled the trigger.

----------

I awoke without the panic and alarm I thought I should have felt, finding myself very calm and able to think clearly.  I analyzed the dream, finding there being several messages involved here that I hadn't been really aware of before.

The first was of course the one I had been avoiding.  Jennifer's immunity could very well make her too powerful, and it also didn't escape me that this simple fact would most certainly threaten other telepaths, including my friend the Inquisitor.

Another message my subconscious had been picking up on was Jennifer's growing feelings of... well, not jealousy exactly.  Just whenever there was another girl or woman around, she was becoming rather aggressive when it came to making sure they knew I was hers and they couldn't have me.

And that was amplified ten fold when it came to anything to do with Suzi.  I had made the mistake of giving Suzi a kiss on the cheek while Jennifer was present at my little New Years Eve party.  Since then, I didn't dare even to mention Suzi around her after Jennifer getting very emotional from the insecurity she felt concerning Suzi.

The dream also made me realize that Joey had been trying to get me to spend some time with him, especially after we demonstrated the sport of mud wrestling to Jennifer at the party.  I had been very surprised by how quickly my memories and skills in the mud came back to me, and even started to find it uncomfortable wearing the spandex biker shorts after a while.

Since I'm on the subject, the purpose of the New Year's Eve party was to see whether I had gotten over my own jealousy concerning Joey's and Suzi's relationship.  Ever since Jennifer's mother died, I hadn't felt any discomfort or disturbing feelings about them, and I found that I not only had to prove I was over that to myself, but to Joey and Suzi as well.

So I invited Joey, Suzi, Brad, Sandi, and naturally Jennifer to celebrate the new year at my mansion, despite Jennifer becoming very clingy to me after giving Suzi a peck on the cheek, we all had a pretty good time.

It is ironic I suppose that I did have a moment of jealousy at the party, but it didn't have anything to do with Joey and Suzi.  When Brad and Sandi first arrived, Jennifer seemed to be...  Well, in awe of Brad I suppose.  She of course didn't know anything about Brad's and Sandi's incestual relationship, and we were all surprised to find the two siblings' roles having reversed to a large degree.  Instead of Sandi doing the little things for Brad, Brad was doing the little things for Sandi.  In Jennifer's eyes these were the actions of a gentleman, not a horny guy sexually driven to act submissive around his sister in hopes for wild sex with her later.

Brad had adopted the submissive role after accidentally discovering she was incredibly aroused by the idea of him being her submissive slave.  He had brought her breakfast in bed one morning to see if she would be grateful enough afterwards to go for a few rounds of fucking.  Sandi apparently got so turned on by his serving her breakfast in bed like she had done for him countless number of time that she didn't even eat it until after they had worn themselves out in what had been the wildest sex either had had to that time.

Anyway, I felt a little jealous from the way Jennifer had practically melted when Brad told her she looked very pretty out of respect to me and for Jennifer having been Sandi's old friend.  But after I had kissed Suzi's cheek, Jennifer forgot all about Brad as she focused on the threat she considered Suzi to be, and I guess I was pleased by this, and we gave each other an extra long hug after the goodnight kiss before she went home in a limo at 1am.

I gave up on resolving solutions to the problems my dream had expressed around 4am and easily went back to sleep without any further interruptions from my subconscious.  By the time I picked Jennifer up for school, however, I was struggling to keep my conflicting emotions from showing.

"Good morning.  I like what you did to your hair.  Wait.  Is that..."

"Just a little blush and some eyeliner.  You like it?"

"Well, it does make you look...  Uhm.."

"What?"

"I was going to say it makes you look more... sexy, but...  Sexy isn't exactly the word for it."

"What is the word for it then?" she asked with an honest and open expression.

"Jennifer, I like you as you are.  I've never really cared for makeup on a girl.  To me it looks fake, made up.  I'm okay with what you and Lee did, and if it makes you feel prettier then I'm all for it.  But the best word I have for it is..  well, it makes you look a little slutty to me."

"Slutty?" she said surprised.  "Really?"

"Yeah.  You're not upset, are you," I stated.

"No.  That's what I thought too," she giggled.

"Heh."

"But Tim?" she then said seriously.  "It does make me feel.. better.  I mean, you noticed it right away, and so did my dad...  I'd like to know if other people will notice... it too."

She had almost said "notice me," and I could tell how excited she felt about maybe catching the attention of a few of the guys in her classes with her "sluttier" look.  I knew she would never do anything if someone did actually come on to her, but the idea someone might thrilled her to say the least.

I smiled at her and said, "Just don't go overboard, okay?  I'm only human, and if you make yourself took too slutty, I don't know if I could control myself.  Speaking of controlling one's self, did your dad..."

From the sigh she had made following my question, I knew the answer had been a no, and I realized she had been putting off telling me as long as she could.

"It's okay, Jennifer.  I knew he might say no, and I'm not going to try and change his.."

"He said yes," she said uncomfortably.

"He did?  Then why.."

"I'm the one who is saying no," she said very softly and avoiding my eyes.

"You?  Why?"

"Because.  I don't think my mom would have wanted me to.  And this morning, Lee woke me up an hour early to show me how to do this," she paused to indicate her makeup, "but she also was trying to talk me into doing it.  I could see in her eyes, Tim.  It's already changing her, and she's not even the one who..."

Jennifer sighed again, then didn't bother to continue when I reached over stroked her cheek with the back of my hand.

"I'm proud of you," I said softly a few moments later.

"You are?"

"Yep.  All I've been thinking about since I tested you with my coin was how much I wanted to show you all that I know and do the things I've enjoyed doing with others that I've never considered being able to do with you before.  I've been pretty selfish.  I wanted these things so badly that I was willing to ignore the effects it would have on others, including you.  But you..  You're only thinking of everyone else.  You're truly the most beautiful person I know, Jennifer Nicole Corrigan.  With or without telepathy, or makeup."

We were at a stop light waiting for it to turn green at the time, so I let myself watch her sit there with this smile growing on her face while she watched out her window, shyly avoiding looking me in the face.  I noticed the light changing green out of the corner of my eye, but ignored it for the moment for I was enjoying myself too much.

Someone honked behind us, and I was just about to command them to go around when Jennifer looked out the windshield and said, "It's green... we can go," before stealing a glance at me and then turning red and looking down at her feet.

I didn't say anything else, and neither did she.  I was a strange but pleasant quietness that we didn't want to let end when I pulled into my spot and shut of the engine.

When I heard the click of a seatbelt being undone, I finally looked back over at her, having spared her any further moments of shyness by keeping my eyes forward the whole time.  I hurriedly undid mine before sliding the seat back and its back down a bit so she could climb on top of me for a little snuggle.

"I love you," she said once she had her head on my chest.  "It's like I didn't really have a life to live until you were in it."

"You know, I could say the same thing about you.  Before I saw you that day in the hall, I didn't want to feel anything for anyone.  But the moment I saw you I knew you were something special, and I wanted to feel these feelings for you.  With you.  From you.  And now here we are."

"Here we are," she echoed in a contented sigh.

After about 10 minutes, it was getting pretty darn cold in the car like that, and since it was getting close to the five minute bell anyway, just did a short kiss and then left to go to class.

In fifth hour, Joey tried to talk me into going to see a movie with him after school, and didn't back down when I told him I had promised Jennifer we could go to my place to snuggle and stuff right after school.  He wasn't being ignorant or anything, but just the opposite by using his charm and some of the smiles he had picked up from Jason.

He didn't care for my idea of asking Jennifer to go along, but he agreed to it seeing that he wasn't going to get me to go any other way.

Joey ended up bailing out on the movie idea when we met out in the parking lot, saying "Madam President requested my services in an official function, which means I'll be moving something or help make something for the council."

Jennifer and I ended up going to a movie anyway, and it was during the movie that Jennifer suddenly asked, "Don't boyfriends usually want to make out with their girlfriend during a movie?"

I was floored by her question, having never expected her to say she wanted to do that so obviously like that.  It took me a few moments to collect my wits, and found her smiling at me as I replied, "Only if the girlfriend wants to.  Does she?"

"Maybe..  Maybe not," she teased.

"Oh, I get it... You're playing hard to get now...  Well, it won't work, little missy.  You seem to forget I can read your mind, and...  Really?"

Even in the dim light of the theatre, I could see her blushing while she stared back at me with this happy smile.

"Okay..." I said gently, setting the popcorn in the next seat and moving my face closer to hers.  "I won't do anything until you have, okay?  And if something doesn't.."

She didn't give me the chance to finish my sentence, and I wasn't going to bother trying for her lips were plastered against mine.  We kissed like that for a few minutes, but then a timid tongue probed my lips once, her mind having been made up since lunch time that she wanted to try French kissing me.

As with everything else about Jennifer, her french kissing began very timid like, but once she felt comfortable with it, she started to explore and discover the wonders and joys of sharing your spit.

When I actually started actively participating, Jennifer went completely passive, and for a while I did all the work while she just sat there with her mouth open and her eyes closed.

I was startled again when I realized the arousal I was feeling wasn't just mine, but her own as well.  I paused in my kissing a moment to study the signals my empathic sense were picking up, and when I felt her trust, I understood.

Jennifer had never allowed herself to feel aroused with me before out of fear we would go to far.  But she truly trusted me, trusted me more than herself even, for she knew I wouldn't go beyond the making out, even if temporarily she wanted to.

My thoughts concerning this were scattered when she suddenly became aggressive again by shoving her tongue into my mouth while her hands took a better hold of my head.

We spent the rest of the movie alternating periods of making out with periods of catching our breath, and we were startled to find people walking past us on the way out, most of the people grinning to themselves while attempting to keep their eyes off the sight on Jennifer straddling me in my seat.

Jennifer didn't stop blushing until we were on the way home, and then she started giggling which only made me join her in a laughing fit.

I learned very quickly in the next few weeks how to tell when Jennifer was willing to mess around and when she was not.  The day after the movie, Jennifer wouldn't let me start anything at all with her, and after she said I was pushing, I gave up in trying to get her to kiss me again.

On the following Sunday, we went to the mall and she surprised me by wanting to check out the make up counters. She hadn't worn any make up since that first day, so I had figured that had been the end of it.  But after she had picked out a few eyeliners and a couple of different shades of blush, she had me rush her home and had me wait while Lee helped her put it on.

I had to admit, Lee knew how to make her little sister look really hot.  Finding it was having the designed effect, Jennifer's eyes spoke of her desire while she walked up to me.  I couldn't believe it when pushed me onto my back on her family's couch and gave me this wicked lick across my lips, but didn't hesitate to part my lips to her tongue on its second pass, and soon we were lost in our passionate deep tonguing of each other's mouths.

Another week and a half went by before she indicated her willingness by coming to school with make up on again.  Shit, by that time I was feeling very sexually frustrated since I hadn't fucked or even had a blow job since... Hell, I didn't even remember when.  Needless to say we were late to our first class that day, and I wondered how many people noticed the smeared lipstick all over my mouth before I did in the bathroom between third and fourth hours.

Ah...  The Valentines dance...  Our first dance, and I had a heck of a time keeping her from talking herself and me out of it.

You see, Jennifer was convinced she couldn't dance.  We spent everyday after school the week before the dance practicing, and I eventually ended up having to trick her to relax enough that should could dance.

"Jennifer, stop trying to remember every step you have to take, and just let it happen," I said for the hundredth time.

"I'm trying," she said in a pathetic voice, "But I just can't dance..."

I stopped, then had to wait a few seconds for her to stop since she had been concentrating on to so hard that she didn't realize I had paused.

"I guess you really can't dance then," I said sadly.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you," she said, finding herself feeling worse rather than triumphant at winning that disputed topic.

"Well, if we're not going to dance at the Valentines dance, what do we do there?"

"I don't know..." she said unhappily.

"You still want to go, don't you?"

"I don't know," he repeated.  "Do you?"

"Yes, simply because I love you and it's the Valentines dance.  I've never taken anyone to it before.  Suzi had always gone with Joey...  Oh, don't give me that look.  I don't want to take Suzi to it.  I want to take you.  Why would I be spending so much time trying to teach you how to dance if I wanted to take Suzi?  Especially since Suzi already knows how to dance."

"Then what do we do while we're there?" she asked.

"Well," I said, gently pulling her towards me and embracing her into a loosely held hug.  "We can always just... hold each other like this..."

"Yeah?" she said softly while slipping her arms around me and leaning into my embrace.

"Yeah...  and maybe people will think we're sort of dancing if we just... rock ourselves back and forth with the music..."

"You mean like we are now?" she said, closing her eyes.

"Yeah...  I bet we could really fake them out if we lifted our feet enough so we can slowly turn... Yeah...  Hey, if we move around a little more, it would look even more real..."

"I like this..." she sighed, then snuggled her face into my chest a little more and said, "I'd rather do this and dance any day."

"Would you like to know a secret?"

"Uh huh?" she said softly as she ran her hands over my back lovingly.

"We are dancing."

"We are?" she said, opening her eyes and looking up at me.

I never answered her for she knew I was right and simply gave my chin a kiss before returning her head to it's proper place... against my chest.

Friday, the day before the dance, I invited Brad and Sandi to have dinner with Jennifer and I, hoping that Sandi and Brad would loosen Jennifer up enough to do a fast dance.  By that time, Jennifer was a natural at the slow dances, and even though I loved the way she melted in my arms during those, I also wanted her to have some fun during the faster ones.

Unfortunately, the night sort of backfired on me, for even though Jennifer had finally let herself go and get down with the rest of us, I had made the mistake of putting Dirty Dancing on which Sandi and Brad ended up dancing to the letter.

I was just dancing beside Jennifer when suddenly I found Jennifer frozen in her tracks watching Brad teasing his sister's left breast through the material with his tongue as they moved with the music, both with their eyes closed.

The confusion she felt assaulted my empathic senses immediately, and I helplessly stood there while Jennifer watched Sandi slide her tongue up Brad's throat and chin before inserting it into his mouth for a quick french kiss.

It was while the two siblings began grinding their crotches together that I found my voice and said, "Hey!  Stop that, you two!  Can't you control yourselves?"

"Sorry, man...  It's that song..."

"Yeah, sorry.." Sandi said before catching Jennifer's expression and losing the grin on her face.

"Tim, I think...  I think I want to go home now," Jennifer meekly said.

"Are you sure?" I said, resting my hands lightly on her shoulders and finding them being shook off rather quickly.

"Yes.." she said shakily.  "I want to go home right now."

"Okay..  You want me to take you?  Or go in a limo?"

She kept her back to me while she struggled with her emotions, but then turned and pitifully said with tears in her eyes, "Take me?"

I pretty much knew what was coming even though I hadn't peeked in her head.  I was... uncomfortable from the silence as I drove her home, then just as I pulled into her subdivision, she said, "Tim?  Why were they acting that way?"

"Don't beat around the bush, Jennifer.  Ask what you're really asking."

"Fine," she said a bit huffily.  "Did you make them like that?"

"Yes and no.  A couple of years ago, Sandi was tricked into taking a highly addictive drug, and once she was hopelessly addicted, the two men who was giving it to her started..  well, started to make her do things... sexual things, before letting have her next fix.  Then one day they disappeared, and Sandi was going nuts.  She related the drug's addiction to the sex she had to earn it, and at the time I didn't know very much about that kind of stuff...

"Jennifer, please believe me.  I did what I thought was the only thing I could do to help her.  I helped her get over the addiction by making her..  well, I made her Brad and my slave, and about a year ago I set her free because she was ready to be her own master.  I never expected them to go on like this.  I figured they would have gotten tired of each other by now and would have sought out their own...  What?"

"You mean, you had sex?  With Sandi?"

"Oh Jennifer..." I sighed unhappily.  "Sex was all she knew at the time.  I only had sex with her a few times, and that was only because I was her.. uhm, master.  Jennifer, please don't feel this way.  I'm not perfect.  I make mistakes, okay?  But I learn from them, and that is one mistake I will never make again.  I swear."

"I don't know...  I just don't know..." she said, opening the car door since I had pulled into her driveway.

"We're still going to the dance tomorrow, aren't we?"

She stood there with her back to me, her hand ready to push the car door closed as she tried to sort out her feelings.

Finally, she just said, "I don't know..." and hurriedly shut the door before I could answer her at all and raced inside.

"Shit," I said, not really upset, just seeing it as an unfortunate turn of events.

I wasn't angry, I wasn't sad, guilty, or heartbroken.  I wasn't normal, you know, but in a lot of ways it was good for times like this when I would have "normally" been feeling really low.  I was fairly certain she would get over this after a good night sleep, and on the other hand if we missed the dance, it was only a dance.  There would be other dances.

Despite what I just said, by lunch time the next day, I was getting pretty anxious.  Jennifer hadn't called or anything, and the longer I waited, the greater the tension built up.

I finally had had enough around two in the afternoon and called her, finding she had been out with Lee all day.  I hinted to Mr. Corrigan that Jennifer might be pretty upset with me, enough that she might not want to go to the dance tonight, but he assured me that she was going whether she wanted to or not after the money he put out in her dress.

That didn't really help me much, for I knew he wouldn't force her if she had her mind set against going.  All this was for nothing, however, for not even twenty minutes later Jennifer called and explained Lee had taken her out and got her all ready for the dance tonight.  There was this... excitement in her voice I hadn't heard before, and I know she heard the relief in my voice since she said she was sorry she hadn't called to tell me what was going on before they left that morning.

We spent nearly an hour on the phone, and the only reason we got off was because Lee was fussing at her about needing to eat something before getting dressed.  I followed Lee's suggestion myself, and as it turned out I had to rush at the end anyway.

The dance started at seven, and I arrived at Jennifer's door at six thirty seven, seven minutes late.

"Wow..." I said when the door opened and there stood before me was...

"Excuse me miss?  Is Jennifer ready?" I said.

"Oh, Tim..." Jennifer giggled.

"Jennifer?" I faked surprise.  "Wow.  I can't believe how... incredible you look."

"So, you like it?" she said slowly turning around, showing off the white with red hearts dress that really made her red hair and white skin stand out as well.

"I love it," I said while wondering if the dress and my underpants were made from the same bolt of cloth since they appeared to be the same pattern of hearts.

I stood there gaping so long that Lee finally poked her head around the door and asked, "Well?  Are you going to come in or stay out there the rest of the night?  We do have a heating bill to pay you know."

"Oh.. Sorry," I said actually feeling myself blush a little.  "Wow, you two sure did a good job."

"Thank you," Lee said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Your rose, madam," I said, opening the plastic lid and taking out what had been the fullest, reddest rose in all the county's floral shops in the center of a very tastefully array of leaves and those little flowers and twigs they put on that kind of thing, all made into the shape of a heart.

"It's beautiful," both girls cooed at the same time.

I ended up having to let Lee put it on Jennifer instead of doing it myself, but that was okay.  Lee was just as excited about his dance as Jennifer, mostly because she could never get all decked out like this because of her mother.  Well, that's not entirely true, for I knew she had gone to her prom in a very nice dress, but her date had been... well, lets just say he wasn't very romantic about it.

After the flashbulbs had finally faded from my eyes, Mr. Corrigan gave us the curfew of eleven o'clock which I was the only one who didn't try to argue about.  I mean, I saw it as his right and duty to set a curfew like that, but Lee and Jennifer spent almost five minutes arguing before Jennifer finally submitted and told Lee that at least it wasn't ten like they had figured earlier.

"I love riding in your limousines," she commented after relaxing beside me in the new limo my dad had just got.

"Then we'll just have to take them more often," I said, testing her mood by slipping my hand over hers.

"Is Brad going to be there?" she said, taking a gentle hold of my hand which meant that she forgave me.

"Yeah.  He asked Michelle Guilford to go about a month ago, and she's been talking about it ever since.  You know, it's strange how...  how people can change so much and yet everyone just accepts its like it was nothing."

"What are talking about?"

"Brad... Last year, he was so full of himself that he turned the girls off with his attitude.  But now they're chasing him, and he isn't really interested in them that much.  He like doesn’t have any eyes except for his sister it seems."

"Yeah...  He's a dream boat..." she said with that far away look.

There was a silence between us as her statement tried to stir something from within my gut, then she suddenly blinked and said, "But you know?  My ship has already came in, and I wouldn’t trade it for three Brads."

She was staring straight ahead grinning at that point, so I pulled my hand from hers and sent it around her back while I stuck my nose into the side of her face and said, "You little stinker.  You knew I was a little jealous of Brad."

"Yeah...  And I love it."

After attempting to snuggle and failing in fear of messing up her dress or crushing her flower, we just sat there talking about who would probably be at the dance with who while holding hands like before.

We got there a quarter after seven, and I saw the other two limos already parked out in the open away from the rest of the cars.

"Well, looks like Brad, Joey, and Suzi both made it before us," I mentioned.  "Jennifer, would it be okay if I asked Suzi to dance just one song?  She's my friend, and...  Well, I'd just like to have one last valentines dance with her."

I could see she was really fighting her own jealousy, but after having played that trick on me about Brad, she said, "Okay...  But NO kissing."

"Not even on the cheek?  Like this?" I said, giving her a soft very gentle kiss on her right cheek.

"Depends.." she said with less force.

"Oh?  On what?" I said, giving her another on her left one.

"Depends on how well you kiss me afterwards."

"I promise the kiss.. <smooch> I give you... <smooch>  will be ten times better than the one I give her... <smooch> <smooch> <smackle>.

"Mmmhh...  Tim...  We should go in..." she said as I continued to kiss her neck.

I kissed my way carefully up to her lips and gave her one to go on.  Actually, it was more like one for me to go on, for I was pretty horny, and the makeup she had on wasn't helping that at all.

Once we were inside, Jennifer started getting nervous about going out on the dance floor for the first time, but I had come prepared for that and simply said, "Excuse me madam.  I'm afraid I must change into my dancing attire."

"Your what?" she said while I removed my top coat, revealing the vest which had the exact heart pattern as her dress, but was red with white hearts instead.

Following the coat was my pants.  Yes, my pants.  Of course underneath them I had on another pair, but unlike the boring black ones I had just taken off, these were white, glittering white in fact.  And as soon as I was standing up straight again, I tapped my heels together and my back shoes turned white.

"How did they do that?" she asked, bending over to get a closer look.

"I don't know...  My dad has a bunch of collars made out of the same stuff, so I asked him where he got them and had them make me a pair of shoes.  I can make them go back to black too, but I have to wait a few hours before I do."

"The shoes were neat, but why didn't you just wear the white pants in?"

I grinned and said, "If I had, I wouldn't have had to change the color of my shoes.  Besides.  I didn't want to get them dirty before we got here."

"Ohhhh..  I think you just wanted to show off," she said grinning herself and looking in my eyes.

"Well, think what you like," I said, closing the space between us and letting that familiar feeling form as we continued to gaze into each other's eyes.

We stood there like that for several minutes, our surroundings fading away as we shared in each other's happiness, excitement, and most of all... love.

Neither of us realized we had moved our hands and arms around the other, and as the gentle beat of a nice slow song filtered into our awareness, all she had to do was lay her head against my chest before we started to move with the music and our love.

I sensed quite a few people were actively taking notice of us, including Joey and Suzi who were also on the dance floor, but I ignored them all, not wanting to spoil our first real dance together.

We both were disappointed when the song ended and the next one was a fast dance, but once we exchanged a few happy expressions, we separated our bodies and began to move with the beat.  I was happy to see Jennifer's nervousness hadn't returned even while she struggled to get into the groove of the swinging song.

They had a lot of rock and roll songs at that dance, and I guess that was good since most of the people there would have been really bored if they had been the slow kind.  And even though we both enjoyed them immensely, we savored the slow dances when they came, and several times I was tempted to override the DJ's request list and have him play a few slow ones in a row.

We stayed on the dance floor until around nine o'clock when our thirst finally made us grab some refreshments.  A couple of Jennifer's girlfriends came up to us while we were getting our drinks, and after a few minutes of chatter, Jennifer reluctantly left me to go with them to the girls room.

"I hate to say it, but you two do make a nice couple."

"Thanks, Suz," I said, turning and finding her and Joey both looking at me with this happy/sad love in their eyes.  It took me a moment to sort out what it meant, then gave her a long overdue dose of that familiar feeling.

"Oh Timmy," she said, giving me a hug when I ended the partial empathic connection.

"What?" Joey said before I caught his eyes with mine and did the same with him.

It was a special moment for us I suppose. They had such a strange mixture of emotions, both the happiness at seeing how happy and tender I was with Jennifer, and the sadness that they hadn't been the one or ones to provide it for me when I apparently had been needing it all along.  But I let them both know that I would always care for them deeply and I had no regrets on how things had turned out.  While it didn't make their mixed feelings disappear, it did lessen the less desirable ones quite a bit.

I had just closed the connection with Joey and was reading myself to receive the hug he was about to give me when I sensed Jennifer's eyes upon me while I still had Suzi in my arms.  There was a moment of panic, but then Joey's muscular arms wrapped themselves around me and I guess Suzi decided it was time for her to bail for she wiggled out from underneath and let Joey have his own time.

I was pretty disturbed while I echoed Joey's hug on him, and at first I thought it was over the concern of what Jennifer's reaction would be. But as she lost the tension she had felt seeing me hugging Suzi like I was Joey, I realized my discomfort didn't have anything to do with Jennifer.  It was from Joey... touching me.

I played it cool, though.  I finished the hug, then put on the emotional mask of being as happy as I could be as Joey and Suzi recomposed themselves and sent a supportive arm around each other's backs.

Without even having seen her walk up, I sent my own arm around Jennifer's back, and she did the same a moment later after I looked at her with love filled eyes.  All my discomfort vanished from simply making physical contact with Jennifer, and I think we would have had another one of those magical kissing moments if it hadn't been for her swatting her hand in front of her face like she was shooing a fly.

"Like I said to Tim a minute ago," Suzi said at that point, "You two do make a nice couple.  And who did your hair, Jen?  It's gorgeous."

"Lee, my sister, took me to this hairdresser way up north.  And it's Jennifer.  I don't really like Jen or Jenny too much.  It always sounds...  simple to me."

"I'm sorry..  Jennifer.." Suzi said hesitantly.

"That's okay.  I'm used to it.  I should have said something before now, but I didn't..." she said, stopping to swat at something in front of her again, but this time crossing her eyes a little to try and see what it was.

"What's the matter, Jennifer?" I said as she started swatting even harder.

"I can't..  There's...  Oh Tim!  Help!" she cried as she brought her other hand up and started madly swatting around her head like a swarm of bees were attacking her.

"Jennifer!  Stop!  There's nothing there!" I cried, taking hold of her arms while feeling her lose herself to her panic.

I tried to catch her eyes with mine to calm her, but it was when she looked up at me that she became absolutely terrified and broke away from me, stumbling backwards until she fell on her butt, then buried her head in her arms when we rushed to her side.

She was sobbing and shaking so hard I couldn't get her to look in my eyes, so in desperation I did the only thing I could think of.  I slapped her.

Her eyes locked on mine from the shock, but when I immediately turned up the empathic juice, she embraced my gaze with her heart and soul.

It only took me a minute to sober her up, and once I felt she was calm enough, I closed the empathic connection and waited for her to gain her senses again.

"What happened?" Joey asked before Suzi or I could.

"I don't know..." she said, looking me in the face.  "There was these.. these.. things flying around my head...  And yours..." she said with an expression of desperation for me to believe her.

"Shit, Tim... If I didn't know better, that sounds a lot like..."

"It is, Joey..  It is.."

"Shit."

"What?" Suzi asked urgently.

"Jennifer, those things you saw?  You weren't seeing them with your eyes."

"You mean..." she said in a tiny voice.

"Will someone tell me what everyone knows that I don't?" Suzi exclaimed.

I looked at Suzi and said, "She's telepathic, Suz.  She was seeing the symbols."

"Shit," Suzi said.

"Wait.  I thought she was immune to telepathy..." Joey said with a frown.

"Those things...  Are they going to come back?" Jennifer said worriedly.

"I'm afraid so, honey.  But there's nothing to be afraid of.  You remember those drawings?"

"Yes?"

"That's what you were seeing flying around your head and mine."

"Do see them?"

"Yes...  I see them around your mind, mine, Joey's, Suzi's, every person alive, even animals...  And they are very beautiful, Jennifer... Those drawings don’t do them justice."

"Those drawings..." she said with a distant look.  "Ever since I saw them, I've had dreams about them, and sometimes I can't stop thinking about them.  Especially that one that hurt me.."

"Tim.." Joey said with an urgent tone, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

I opened a thought channel with him and Suzi, then spent a few minutes explaining the events concerning Jennifer's telepathy.

"You're talking them, aren't you?  With your mind?" Jennifer interrupted.

"Yeah..  I'm sorry, I guess there really isn't any reason to do that though.  I was just telling them how we found out you had the telepathic potential, that's all."

"That's okay," she said.  "I trust you.  I was just... wondering, that's all."

"I take it you're not seeing them anymore?" Joey asked.

"No, everything is just like it is usually...  except..."

"Except what, sweetie?" I asked softly.

"I don't know, exactly.  Just a feeling...  Like, I can feel you."

"Just me?"

"No..  Everyone.  Like there's someone coming towards us right now."

"Shit, Tim.  It just kind of sank in.  If she's really has voice yet it doesn’t affect her..."

"I know, Joey.  It disturbs me too."

"Disturbs?  Fuck, is scares the shit out of me.  No offense, Jennifer.  I mean, unless Tim dies again and leaves you to figure it all out yourself, I'm not really worried about you taking over the world."

"Then what exactly are you afraid of?" I asked.

"Shit, Tim.  Hasn't it occurred to you that she isn't the only one like this?"

"No, I hadn't considered that possibility."

"What are you saying?" Jennifer asked.  "Are we in danger?"

"No, honey...  Nothing like that," I said while sending Joey and Suzi the thought that I didn't want to worry her with these kind of things.  Or at least not until she was ready to handle them anyway.

"Shit, it's almost nine thirty already.." Joey announced to distract her.

"Hey, what's going on, man?" Brad said as he walked up with Michelle who was wearing a stunning yet revealing red dress.  "You guys having a party down there?  If you are, why wasn't I invited?"

"Tim?" Jennifer called before I could answer Brad.

"Yes sweetie?"

She indicated for me to come closer so the others wouldn't overhear, and once I did, she said, "Do you still want to have a dance with Suzi?"

"I guess so...  I haven't thought about it since we got here..."

"Then talk Brad into dancing just one dance with me, okay?  For me?"

I looked in her eyes and said, "Anything you wish, it's my command."

Joey and Suzi were covering for us by telling them that Jennifer had slipped on an ice cube.  I helped Jennifer up, then let a smile escape when she kicked an ice cube away from her in fake anger.  She caught my smile, and we almost got lost in another smiling moment, but I had enough sense to turn away before it could happen.

"Hey, Jennifer had an idea.  How about we all trade dancing partners for one song?"

"What, all six of us?" Brad asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay," Michelle said excitedly and looking at me, "I'll dance with you anytime."

"Uhm, well, I mean.." I said while Jennifer and Suzi exchanged glances.

"Well Brad, I guess that means you're stuck with Suzi while I get to dance with this pretty red head here.." Joey joked.

"Stuck with me, huh?" Suzi said with that tone of voice that meant she would be out for revenge.  "Just wait until Brad and I are dancing circles around you..."

"Hey that's okay, man.  That just means I get to show Jennifer how much better a dancer I am compared to you.  We are going to switch again, aren't we?"

"Yeah..." I said, surprised to find Brad suddenly interested in Jennifer.

"Okay, that's cool.  We better get movin'  There aren't gonna be many more dances before the lovers dance at the end."

Jennifer was glancing between me and Brad after he said that, and all I could do was shrug before being dragged to the dance floor by Michelle.

"You know, I can't believe I'm dancing with you.." Michelle said as we caught the last third of "The Heat is On."

"Why's that?"

"What.  Don't you know?"

"I guess not."

"Next to Brad, you're the hottest stud in our school."

"What?" I said with a insincere laugh.  "Why?"

"Jesus, Tim.  You really don't know, do you?"

"No..  No I don't," I said as the song ended and we paused for the next one.

When the song came up to be a slow one, several issues of concern were immediately flagged for my attention.  I quickly took care of the most important one which was making sure the next one was also a slow one which it wasn't going to be originally, then checked to see if Jennifer was okay with slow dancing with Joey while finding myself a little unsettled about it myself.

I wasn't all that pleased to find Joey having charmed her enough that she overcame her initial nervousness and was relaxing in Joey's powerful yet gentle grasp.

The last issue I had to deal with was of course Michelle, and her delight at getting the opportunity to get close and personal with me.

I had a hell of a time keeping my cock from responding to her teasingly grinding her crotch into mine, but then relaxed myself when I found she actually didn't have any serious intentions to arouse me too much, and lowered my defenses somewhat.

"So, are you going to tell me what the big secret is?" I said while we reached that equilibrium point where we were dancing in sync very naturally.

"Oh yeah... Sorry.." she said softly while diverting her eyes downward from suddenly feeling a little shy.

"Well, when I was little," she began a few moment's later, "my dad read me stories about princesses and knights in shining armor, Cinderella and her prince...  You know... those romantic fairy tales that little girls eat up."

"Yeah...  Go on."

"Well, before you started filling Jennifer's locker up with flowers and candy, she was this nobody, just another freshman that...  No offense, but she was like this ugly duckling.  I couldn't believe she was the one everyone was talking about when someone pointed her out to me.  I mean, she doesn't even have breasts yet..."

"She does too, but stick to the subject, okay?"

"Sorry, but...  Well, it's just sooo romantic how you, Timothy Brandton, the local rich kid who was too hot to even consider asking out after being kidnapped twice..  You're famous, Tim.  Almost like a movie star or something.  Did you know that they canceled fifth and sixth periods on the day of your funeral?"

"No.." I said, truly flabbergasted.

"You're funeral was huge..  Anyway, here you were, the most well known person in town, going all out to get this Cinderella person to go out with you...  I think any girl in our school would say the same thing.  You were like Prince Charming...  Or her knight in shining armor... <sniff> sorry..  I can't help it."

"Wow...  I knew people were interested in what I was doing, but..."

"Well, now you know...  And I take back what I said about you being the second hottest guy at school.  You're the hottest...  I'd love to be in Jennifer's shoes..."

"Thanks, Michelle," I said, giving her a warm and heartfelt hug as the song started to wind down.  "Don't worry, though.  I'm sure your own knight in shining armor will find you and take you to his castle to make you his queen.  Besides...  Out of all the girls, Brad picked you because you were the sexiest AND fun loving girl he knew.  Don't forget that, okay?"

"Yeah," she said, getting up on her tip toes, trying to see something.  "Now, I wonder where that beef cake Joey is.  I don't want to miss my chance to dance with the third hottest guy in school."

"Thanks.  I think," Joey said three feet to the left of her.  "Third?  I have more muscle than Mr. Donnelley does, (he runs the weight room) and I'm third?  Who the fuck is number one?"

"Eww..." Michelle cooed as felt Joey's solid arm.  "Lets just wait until after our dance, big boy... You might just make number one yet."

I caught Joey's comic look, and for a moment I really missed not having more chances of having them with him.  But the next song was already going, so I quickly sought Suzi out and didn't hesitate to return her smile when she saw me.

"So how was Michelle?  I don't see any hickey marks.."

"Actually, I really enjoyed dancing with her.  She's not really the..  uhm.."

"Slut?" Suzi said with a grin.

"Heh..  Yeah, I guess...  Suzi?  Are you hurt I never... you know...  romanced you like I have Jennifer?"

"No, not really.  I guess I can't help but feel a little envious of her, but... Well, it WAS my idea, you know.  So in a way that makes me feel good to know I played an important part in getting you two together.  I'm really happy for you, Timmy.  I just sometimes... miss having you for myself as well."

"I'll tell you a little secret," I said softly after a brief silence.

"What is it?"

I stopped dancing a moment and pulled away from her enough that I could look at her in the eyes without them going crossed.

"I love you, Suzi.  I just realized why I wanted to dance with you tonight so badly.  It was to tell you that.  But you understand that Jennifer..."

"Shhh.." she said, putting her finger over my lips.  "I may not be telepathic, empathic, or omnipotent, but I know exactly how you feel and you don't have to explain a thing.  I'm really happy to finally hear you say it, though.  So very happy," she ended in a sigh while giving me a hug which I immediately gave back to her.

The next thing we knew, Joey was standing beside us clearing his throat impatiently while the crowd around us was hoping around us to the fast paced beat they were playing.

"Sorry," I said, grinning at my old friend.

"Hmmm...  That's okay.  I'm not worried about losing my girlfriend to the number two man around.."

"You know, I'm really going to have to take care of that bloated ego of yours," Suzi said trying to sound stern while walking up to him with a grin.

"Sorry, baby, but..  You like the big muscles?  Well they come with the big ego," Joey said lifting her up effortlessly to bring her lips level to his for a kiss.

"There you are," Jennifer said, hooking my arm with hers.

I immediately turned towards her and looked her in the eyes, finding the same thing I knew my eyes were showing.  Happy confident love for each other.

After exchanging a kiss of our own, we went back to dancing, but we only did the bare minimum until they announced the lovers dance was next.

We just moved into each others arms without saying a word, and we were already dancing to our own internal music with our eyes closed before they even started the real song.

Even with my eyes closed, I could clearly see all the people around me, or at least the symbols flying around in and about their minds.  But as we danced, even this faded away as I concentrated on the feelings we were having right then.  We didn't even really listen to the music playing over the speakers, but instead moved to our internal beat, something which was far more... beautiful and natural to dance to than the instrumental and vocals the DJ played.

It was while we were so deep into our shared trance of love that I softly sighed to myself and thought, "I wish this song would never end."

"Me too," Jennifer sighed out loud.

It took nearly two minutes before it hit me, but when it did, I pulled away from her a little and said, "What did you say?"

"What? When?"

"Just a few minutes ago."

"Oh...  I said me too... Why?"

"Why did you say that," I said carefully.

"What do you mean why?  You said you wished the song would never end, so I said me too," she said a little crabby.

"Jennifer...  I didn't say it out loud."

"Yes you did.  I heard you say it."

"You heard me think it."

"What?  No...  You must have said it.  I mean.." she said perplexed.

"Jennifer, can you hear me now?" I thought to her.

"Oh my Gosh..." she said, her eyes getting wide.

"Oh don't want this..." she said a moment later with a pained expression.

"Relax, honey...  This is a long way from being able to change people's minds."

"But I don't want to hear other people thinking...  Oh Tim..." she whined.  "I'm hearing other people too now..."

I had a flash back of my first time, and I instantly saw I needed to get her away from there, and fast.

"Come on," I said, grabbing her hand and blanketing the crowd between us and the door to make a path.  "You don't want to be in this crowd if you're telepathy is really switching on."

"But..." she said somewhat in awe of the way everyone just moved at the same instant out of our way without anyone losing their rhythm in their slow dance.

"Joey! Suzi!  She's starting to... to.. break out!" I yelled when I spotted them.

"What?" Joey said a little incoherently as he raised his head away from Suzi's neck.

"She's breaking out!" I repeated over my shoulder as we reached the exit.  "Get our coats and meet us at the limos, please?"

I heard Joey's "Shit!" just before the door closed behind us, so I knew he had heard that time.

"Tim..." Jennifer whined desperately while pulling her hand from mine and covered her ears.  "It's so LOUD!"

"I know, baby.. Shit..  Getting you away from everyone isn't going to help.  Fuck.  Well, we can't stay out here... Do you think you can make it to the limo?"

"I'll try.." she said, squinting her eyes involuntarily from the pain she was fighting.

We were almost there when she cried out to me, and I barely caught her before she hit the black top.  I took her in my arms and carried her the rest of the way, then saw Joey followed almost immediately by Suzi fly out the door heading our way just before the chauffeur closed the door.

"Make it stop, please?" she sobbed.

"Jennifer, listen to me...  You have to make it stop.  I can't do it for you. Try imagining..."

"I can't... Please???  Make it stop??"

"Jennifer!" I said with such intensity that she opened her eyes and focused on my face for a moment.

"Imagine a glass wall all around you that you can turn black just by willing it.  By turning it black, you block the thoughts of the others out.  Do you understand?"

She closed her eyes while nodding vigorously, then frowned in concentration and stifled her sobs to a degree.

"Is she okay?" Joey blurted out as he opened the door.

"Shhh" I said, holding my hand up to silence him.

Joey carefully climbed in, leaving the door slightly open since we could hear Suzi's hurried clopping of her heals approaching.

"Its not working.." Jennifer finally said desperately just as Suzi popped in and shut the door.

"Shit.  Any ideas guys?  When I first felt the minds of everyone around me, I ended up having to imagine a blind between me and everyone else to block them out.  She needs someway of..."

"Oh, that's better," Jennifer sighed, visibly relaxing.

"What did you do?" Joey asked as Suzi went pressed the button to transform the seat Jennifer and I were on into a bed.

"I..  I didn't know this could do that!" she said as the seat we were on moved out into the middle of the cabin.

"Tim, isn't there a refrigerator in this limo?" Suzi asked.

"Yeah.  It's under Joey's seat."

"Well that's kind of dumb," Joey commented as he opened the door between his legs.  "What do you want, Suz?"

"Actually, I was just looking in case Jennifer wanted something to drink," she said while pulling out a hand towel from a different compartment.

Suzi handed the towel to Jennifer as I asked, "What did you do, Jennifer?"

"Oh..  Well I just used your blind trick.  Can I just leave it like this?"

"You mean you don’t..." Joey began before catching himself.

"No..  I really don't want these... powers," she said, stretching out on the bed which I immediately followed suit.  "Joey, is there a water in there?"

"Uhm, I think so," he said, bending over to reopen the door and look.

"I bet I look awful," Jennifer said with a humorous sniff while wiping her face with the towel.

"Actually, it isn't that bad," I admitted while I snuggled up to her back.

"Here ya go," Joey said, holding the spring water out to her.  "Tim?  Suz?  Want anything?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Suzi said.  "Jennifer, if you're going to keep that flower, it might be a good idea to take it off and put it in the fridge for now."

"Oh yes... Thank you.." Jennifer said as she examined it as best she could while it was still on her chest.

I held her water for her as she took care of it, and once it was safely in the fridge, Suzi and Joey decided it was time to get going and left to get in their limo parked next to us.

"Tim?"

"Hmmm?"

"Why is this happening to me?"

"I don't know, sweetie.  I don't know why it happens to anyone."

She sighed, then said, "It all started with those stupid drawings of yours.  Ever since I saw them, I haven't been able to stop thinking of them.  Especially the pain one.  And stretch, and lift for some reason."

I pulled her onto her back so I could look at her face, then said urgently, "What are talking about, honey?  I never mentioned what any of the symbols meant."

"You didn't?  Oh..  I guess you didn't...  I don't know...  It doesn't matter," she said as she yawned.  "Can we just go home?  I tired."

I opened my mouth to attempt to convince her of the importance of her assigning names to the symbols like that, but I saw in her eyes that the subject was scaring her, and while she was pretty tired, she wanted to go home mostly because she didn't want to "discover" anything else about these abilities that night.

So I just mentally instructed the chauffeur we were ready to leave, then waited for her to finish taking another couple of swallows before kissing her on the lips testingly.

After having a wonderfully satisfy round of deep French kissing, I was laying on top of her sucking on her neck when she said, "I love you, Tim.  I just don't know what I would do without you.  Especially now."

I looked up and smiled at her, then said softly, "You would have been fine, Jennifer.  You would have been fine."

We were almost at her house, so I gently got off of her and we both sat up to straighten our clothes out.

"Oh..  So how was your dance with Brad?" I asked when it occurred to me.

"Oh, it was nice, but...  Brad was very sweet and he danced very nice, but he just isn't.. you."

"That's sweet, sweetie, but you don't have to say it just so I don't.."

"No, really," she said turning to face me.  "Okay, I admit that I've always had a thing for him, and I was really excited to finally get to... feel him hold me.  But while I was dancing with him, I just couldn't relax.

"Ohhh!" she whined.

"What?!"

"I bet it was my stupid telepathy again!  I kept feeling he wanted to take me somewhere private and... you know..."

"Have sex with you?  Yeah.  I'm sure that's what he would have loved to do given the chance.  But Jennifer...  If your telepathy really did pick that up, and I'm not really convinced that's what it was, you should now know that I have the same impulses as he does.  I'd have sex with you in a second if you wanted it."

"I know.." she admitted.  "But the difference is, I trust you to wait.  I can't trust Brad.  He's...  Like I said, he's not you."

"Thanks, babe," I said, giving her a warm hug before we got out.

As we walked up to her house hand in hand, she said, "Tim, don't mention anything to my dad or to Lee about..  You know.."

"Huh?  Okay... I think your dad should know about it at least, but it's your decision I guess."

"I'll tell him if anything else happens, but I don't want to worry him if I don't have to.  Thank you for...  Everything, Tim," she said when we reached the porch and we stopped for our goodbye kiss.

"You're welcome, my love," I said as I bent down for our kiss.

At the last second she avoided my lips, and then she sighed miserably and said, "Lee and Dad are watching us, aren't they."

I grinned, then said, "You just can't help yourself, can you.  Come on.  I'm not leaving without my kiss.  Let them watch.  It's nothing they haven't done themselves, and they're expecting it."

"Okay..  But just a simple kiss, okay?"

I didn't answer, just looked in her eyes, let the connection form, then we both moved into the kiss that topped them all that night, and ended up making Lee and her father feel a bit lovesick when we stood there kissing without any sexual overtones for a very long time.

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