index


Message-ID: <61940asstr$1333631402@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: TBD <tbd@hushmail.me>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Cancel-Lock: sha1:OfclcjdnrUSA3do2+Wuij2aqxvY=
Subject: {ASSM} Variations on A Theme 1/5 (zoo themed, 'spy kids') TBD
Lines: 1769
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2012 09:10:02 -0400
Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail
Approved: <assm@asstr-mirror.org>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d

Variations on A Theme Part One of Five
----

Jo and I were sharing our morning toast when Rachel pranced through
the kitchen.

"Bye, see you this evening, when I get back."  She gave us each a peck
on the cheek and a hug before she strode out the back door.  We heard
her car start and then the crunch of gravel as she drove off to her
sixteenth birthday party.

We grinned at each other.  My comment was teasing.  "We must have done
something right, after all."

Jo's eyes laughed and she shoved her toast at me.  "You!"

I grinned, took a bite, then waved my slice of toast at her.  She
obliged by taking a bite, then we smiled at each other while we
finished our breakfasts.

Once we'd taken care of the morning chores, we stripped, then headed
for the porch and some relaxation.  After eighteen years, the back
porch held a lot of memories.  Quite a few good ones, some were
bittersweet--and a few were sad.  Jupiter and Sam, the dogs who had
played such an important role in getting us together, were gone and
we'd never replaced them.  That was probably the saddest memory of the
porch I had.  I couldn't speak for Jo but I'd seen her face whenever
she looked at the leashes that were still hanging on their nails after
all these years.

'Never replacing the dogs' wasn't quite true, I mused.  Two years
after we'd decided to get married, Rachel had showed up.  With her to
keep us busy, we'd decided to wait until she'd grown up before we made
any decisions about having dogs in our lives again, once Sam and
Jupiter had died of old age.

Rachel was special in a way we'd never told her.  Medical technology
had changed since my testicles had been damaged.  A couple of exams
after we'd decided we were going to stay together, a routine sterility
test had detected very small amounts of sperm in my ejaculate.  Jo and
I had discussed the possibilities for weeks.  Children had been my
dream, not hers.  In the end she'd agreed to let them try to fertilize
one of her eggs and reimplant it.

Rachel was the result of that desperate gamble.

It was a shared decision neither one of us ever regretted.  Rachel had
proved to be quite a handful at times, and way too inquisitive for her
own good.  Or, at least both of us had felt that way when she'd kept
coming into our bedroom while we were making love to each other.  

Yes, I guess you could say we were quite content with how things had
turned out.  

I hugged Jolene.  "Not bad for who we were, is it?"

She hugged me back and kissed me.  "Nope.  Certainly never was part of
my dream..."  She giggled.  "I never met a porn star who wanted kids.
Thanks for persuading me to have one."

I chuckled and pulled her into another hug.   "Even though she's a
teenager?"

We laughed together.  The truth was that Rachel had never been the
'handful' that some parents felt their teenagers were, or had been.

Jo snuggled.  "Even though."

We fell silent and relaxed.  

I was lost in my memories when the phone rang.  Jo was already
reaching and smiling when she recognized the number on the caller id.
"Yes, dear, what did you forget..."  I felt her stiffen, then
collapse.  Her voice was drained of emotion when she continued.  "I
see.  Where?  OK.  We'll be there as soon as we can."  She hung up.

She was shivering when she turned to me and wept on my shoulder.
"Rachel's been in an accident.  She was second car back in the left
turn lane, and her car was t-boned on the driver's side.  She was
conscious and handed the paramedic her cell phone while whispering
'Call mom and dad.  First number'.  Then she passed out.  They've
removed her from her car and are on the way to emergency."

I was stunned.  An hour ago Rachel had been breezily alive with all
the energy of a happy sixteen year old on her way to see her friends.
Now she was in an ambulance headed for...  I knew not what.

Jo broke into my thoughts.  "We need to change before we go."

Even in my shock I smiled.  "Change?  We're naked, remember?"

She sighed.  "Dressed, then.  Still a change.  I'm not...  Worried
about getting the words right."

"Yeah.  Sorry.  Habit took over."

"Forgiven."

Less than an hour later we were dressed and on our way to the
hospital.  Deep down I was wondering if I'd ever see our daughter
alive, again.

* * *
When we got there Rachel was already in emergency surgery.  I was an
emotional wreck, so while I paced the waiting room closest to the
operating room, Jo handled the seemingly endless paperwork.

Jo finally found me and managed to get me to settle next to her.

I was startled out of my melancholy thoughts by the gentle voice of
one of the nurse's aides.  "The doctor will see you now."

Jo reacted first.  "Rachel?"

"She'll live."   She was smiling but...  "The doctor is waiting.  She
will answer any questions you have."

* * *

"It could have been worse."

We glared at the doctor.

She sighed.  "It's true.  If she'd been in an older car she would have
been killed instantly.  Instead, the car protected her and she'll
survive with a replaced knee and a broken ankle."

She looked away and then back.  "And the head trauma.  She's showing
signs of a pretty serious concussion."

I looked at Jolene with fear in my eyes.  She studied me, then nodded.
"How bad?"

The doctor sighed.  "We won't know until she wakes up and we can run
some tests.  Why don't you folks get some rest?  Nothing is going to
happen until she wakes up in a few hours."

"Rest?"   I looked out the waiting room window at the darkness that
matched the emptiness in my heart.  "Rachel's going to live, after
all?"

Jo took my arm and turned me towards the exit.  "Come on, Tom. There's
a hotel nearby.  We can get a room there instead of going home."

I was still lost in my memories because I didn't want to face reality,
yet.  "Jo?  She's really going to live?  Rachel isn't going to die?"

"Yes, dear.  She's alive and will stay that way.  You can see her in
the morning.  Now, let's go get something to eat, and then it's the
bed for you.  OK?"

"Rachel's alive.  Good."  I sagged against Jo and started crying with
relief.

After that I was in a fog.  I must have eaten because I remember
seeing the leftovers when I woke up in the morning.  My morning
routine was just that.  My movements made themselves because my mind
was elsewhere.  I was eagerly wanting to see Rachel but at the same
time I dreaded it because I couldn't stand the thought of seeing her
hurt and looking the way I knew she'd look.

Jo, bless her endlessly, understood my dithering and called the
hospital to see how our daughter was doing.  I sat and stared out the
window while she talked on the phone.  Fear made me ignore the low
voiced conversation taking place next to me.

"Tom?"  Someone was calling my name.  "Tom?  Rachel is awake."

I came back, reluctantly.  "What?"

"Rachel is awake.  She's in ICU and we can see her as soon as we get
there."

She sat on the edge of the bed and studied me.  I shivered.  Something
in her eyes told me there was more--and I wasn't going to enjoy
hearing it.  "Tell me the rest.  I'm not ready for it, but I need to
know."

She nodded and reached for my hands.  In spite of my own trembling, I
could tell she was trembling, too.

"They've done all the tests they can, for now."

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

"Her memory is almost gone--as far as they can tell."  Her lips
quirked slightly.  It wasn't quite a smile but it told me she'd found
something bitterly amusing to hang on to.  "She only remembers two
things.  Her name--and our morning toast ritual."

I laughed and I knew my laughter was tinged with hysteria.  "The toast
ritual?  Trust her to remember *that*!  She's seen it almost every day
for the last 12 years!"

Slowly I recovered and sobered again.  "Anything else?"

Jo looked away for a long time.  Without turning back she whispered
and I could hear her pain.  "Yes.  They think she's hiding from
everything.  Mostly the accident, but from us, too.  She told the
therapist she's afraid of how we'll feel about her getting in an
accident.  She blames herself for it, not the other person."

"That's ridiculous!"  Then I snapped my mouth closed when I realized
how I'd reacted.  "No, it isn't.  I remember how I felt when...  How
the court made me feel..."  I took a deep breath.  "It couldn't have
been her fault.  She was *stopped*,  the second car back in the line!"

Jo sighed.  "That's how she feels though.  She doesn't remember
anything.  She doesn't *know* how it happened."  She sounded a little
exasperated when she continued.  "She doesn't remember what happened
to her, Tom.  All she knows is that she's in the hospital, something
bad has happened, and she's worried that her parents will blame her
for it all."

I nodded slowly while I came to terms with things.  "OK.  Then we'll
just have to convince her otherwise, won't we?"

We hugged each other, then finished getting ready to go reassure our
daughter, after we had breakfast.

We opted to  stop in the office and have the continental breakfast
provided by the hotel.  Our toast ritual was more solemn than usual,
and done more out of a sense of putting something normal in our lives
than as the casual habit it had become.

If our smiles were bittersweet, well, that was to be expected.

Bottom line?  We did it for Rachel as much as we did it for ourselves.

* * *

I wish I could say we were able to see Rachel as soon as we got there.
I should have known that wouldn't happen.  We were immediately taken
to see the person who'd 'tested' Rachel.  Eventually he led us to her
and stood quietly in the background while we reintroduced ourselves to
our only child.

"Hello, Honey."

She looked at me curiously.  "Should I know you?"

I glanced at Jo and she nodded.

I took a deep breath, then reached and held Rachel's hands in mine.
"Yes, Rachel.  We're your parents.  I'm Tom and that's your mother,
Jolene."  I smiled at a memory.  "I always call her 'Jo' but you
decided that was too much of a boy's name so you started calling her
'Jolly', or 'Lean' when you were just a couple of years old."

"Oh."  She studied us, then her face grew more animated.  "You're the
people who share the toast!"  Then she frowned.  "Something's wrong."
She studied us again.  "You're older, a *lot* older than when I saw
you."

Jo smiled and reached into her handbag.  She pulled out a small
mirror.  "You're older too, dear.  Yesterday was your sixteenth
birthday."

Rachel pulled her hands from mine and reached for the mirror.  "I
can't be that old!"  She used it to study herself.  "I guess it is
me."

She handed the mirror back, then obviously remembered something.  Her
eyes were pleading when she looked at Jo.  I could see her doubt and
the tears she was starting to shed.  "You're my mom and dad?"

Jo reached and brushed Rachel's cheek lightly.  "Yes, Rachel."

"You're not mad at me?  You're not going to spank me?"

I winced inside.

Jo kissed her.  "We're not mad at you and we're not going to spank
you.  You didn't do anything wrong."

Rachel smiled tentatively, then she tilted her head in her familiar 'I
have a question' manner.  "Why do you do that weird thing with the
toast?"

I chuckled.  "Because of you."

"Me?"

"Yep."  I was grinning now.  "One evening you refused to share the
dogs' toys with them.  I lectured you about it.  The next morning,
during breakfast, you got after Jo and I for sharing our food with
Jupiter and Sam but not each other.  'Share and share alike!', you
admonished us."

"I did?"  She giggled.  "I bet you were surprised!"

Jo laughed.  "Yes, dear.  We were.  We were also proud of you for
being brave enough to correct us.  We've shared our toast every
morning since--in your honor."  Jo took a deep breath.  "And we're
still very, very proud of you.  The first thing you did when you were
rescued was hand them your cell phone and insist they call your mom
and dad.  Young ladies who care that much *never* get spanked for
being in an accident."

"Wow."  Then her body collapsed in on itself.  "I'm tired.  I hurt--a
lot."

Jo patted her hands gently.  "OK, honey.  We'll let you get back to
healing.  We won't be far away if you want us again."

I reached over and touched her pale face.  "Bye for now, love.  We'll
always love you."  I bent and kissed her before she faded into sleep.

Jo and I watched our daughter until a discreet touch on our arms
turned us.  The therapist led us away and settled us in a small room
before making any comments.

He studied us for awhile.  Then he sighed.   "I need to apologize, to
both of you."

"Oh?"  Jo's terse response caught my attention.  I touched her arm in
a private signal and watched her face, carefully.  Eventually she let
out her breath and nodded slightly.

I leaned forward.  "Why?"

He studied his hands and without looking up sighed deeply.  "When a
teenager, especially a young girl, is worried about punishment from
her parents, the usual reason is because one, or both of them is..."
He sighed again and went on, "is abusive.  I see it so often that I
missed the fact that her worry was caused by something else and it was
NOT based on fear."

He looked up and the entreaty in his eyes stopped me from saying
anything more.

"She's used to accepting responsibility for her actions--and I missed
it because I saw something else, and assumed things from there.  I was
so assured of my original diagnosis that I missed it again and was
judging both of you based on that--until you explained the 'toast
ritual' to her."

"You..."  Jo put her hand over my mouth to stop me.

I could hear her anger.  "And now?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  Then he opened them and
studied his hands again.  "I'd like to continue working with you and
your daughter."

Jo suddenly remembered where her hand was and she turned me to face
her.  There was a question in her eyes.  I nodded and she pulled her
hand away.

I let the anger flow through me and then I sagged back into the chair.
"I have some past experience with people who have made mistaken
assumptions.  They..."  I waited until he looked at me.  "Never
apologized."

He nodded.

I went on.  "Because of that I have a condition, one you *must* agree
to, before I let you help us again."  I took a deep breath and leaned
forward.  "Apologize to our daughter, with us present.  *She's* the
one you need to apologize to, not us."

He stiffened and his posture was all offended dignity--and then he
relaxed and looked at Jo.  "You agree?"

She smiled and I shivered inside.  I knew that look.  "I want what's
best for Rachel.  I want an honest, responsible adult doing his best
to help us all.  Are you that person?"

He winced.  "I'd like to be."

"Apologize to her.  Now."

"But she's probably asleep."

Her next words were scathing.  "Does she deserve the apology?"

He sighed again but didn't otherwise hesitate.  "Yes."  He stood and
gestured weakly.  "Shall we?"

Jo stood and reached to lightly touch his face, a gesture that
surprised me.  "I'm looking forward to any help you can give us. Thank
you."

Suddenly I remembered something else.   "Wait."

They stopped and looked at me.  "There's something he has to do
first."

"Oh?"  He was slightly hostile and I reacted to it with some of the
pent up anger I felt.

"Yeah.  You'd damn well better change your report to reflect the
truth, so child services doesn't take Rachel away from us, or I go
from here directly to the best lawyer I can find.  Do I have to draw a
map?"

He winced and sighed.  "You're not going to let go, are you?"

I glared.  "Nope.  You see, about 25 years ago, I had a woman try to
kick my balls through my throat because I told her I was an anal
erotic.  The judge decided I'd deserved what I got, and 'suggested' I
seek professional help to correct my unwholesome perversion.  She was
absolved of all blame for her actions.  It came out later that her
lawyer had been a gay bottom all his life, yet he won this case.  I
never got an apology from the system, or that judgment stricken from
my records.  To top it off, As far as was known at the time, all my
ability to produce sperm was destroyed.  Until I met Jo, I *knew* I'd
never be able to father a child of my own.

"Rachel is a love child, and very special to both of us.  Yes, we've
spanked her, but that has always been a token spanking, and she knew
it at the time it happened.  As for abusing her emotionally...  That's
so absurd I can't find the words to express my anger.  Yesterday
morning, a young lady kissed her mom and dad before she drove off to
enjoy her sixteenth birthday party with her closest friends.

"A day later,  I get to deal with a man who thinks her fear of what I
might do to her because she was in an accident that wasn't her
fault--is the result of abuse?!"

I glared again.  "Do you think I'm going to completely trust a man who
is so wrapped up in his bias that he can't tell the difference between
a kid who fears, and one who accepts personal responsibility so
strongly it's almost the only thing about her life she remembers?"

Jo touched my arm and I broke off my tirade.  I nodded to her and
sighed before I relaxed a little.

"What I'm telling you is that I don't have a lot of faith in the
system, and if the records aren't corrected *now*, by the person who
made the original entry, they never will be."

I paused, to get my anger under control again.  "We.  Will. NOT! Be.
Known. As. Child.  Abusers!"

He backed away slightly.  "I can't change what I've already written."

Jo smiled at him.  "You can add to it, and timestamp what you write,
and be sure to mention the fact of your recognition of your
misdiagnosis, and that you have apologized to everyone, including the
patient."

He looked at her.  "We don't get that personal in our reports."

She shook her head.  "You can.  Dress it up if you must, but you'd
better admit you're human, and can make mistakes that can affect
people for the rest of their lives."  She looked at me and I nodded.
She turned back and her expression was grim when she pulled out her
cell phone and held it up.  "Or should we just get on with it and call
the lawyer?"

It was his turn to glare.  "Blackmail?"

She shook her head sadly.  "Is that really your first thought?   No.
You made the incorrect diagnosis.  We're holding you personally
responsible for your decisions, that's all.  If it takes a court to do
it, so be it.  I'm not going to let you get away with destroying our
lives because you can't see the truth and admit to a perfectly
reasonable mistake that can have such far ranging consequences if it
isn't corrected as soon as it is discovered."

Surprisingly, he slumped.   "I've always feared that someday something
like this would happen.  I wonder if I've made the same mistake with
others, all the time.  It's part of the job, I'm afraid.  I've always
hoped I could deal with it properly, but I've never had to, until
today."

He turned and headed back to his office.  "Come on.  I need you there
so I can finish the preliminary interview reports while things are
fresh in my mind.  Then, when that's done, I'll go apologize to your
daughter."

And that's what happened.  He made the changes, added them to the
file, and we made sure we had copies of everything for our own
records.  I sighed when we got the copies.  I'd never expected that
I'd be adding a new folder to that bottom drawer that held my own
records of miscarried justice, and for similar reasons.

That reminded me of something and I held out my hand.  "Thank you,
Doctor."  We shook hands, and I expressed the hope that we could put
all this in the past, now that it was taken care of.

He nodded solemnly.  "I think we can."  Then he studied us
thoughtfully.  "I'll need to know more about your personal lives, the
more the better if we're going to help Rachel recover her memories."

He grimaced.  "I'd like to be able to say any more mistakes I make
will be minor ones, ones that aren't going to have extremely serious
long term consequences, but no matter how much I wish it were
otherwise, I can't make that promise.  It will help, though, if you
tell me what you can so I don't run into any surprises while talking
to her."

I winced and knew that Jo was probably wincing, too.  "Jo?"  While I
waited for her reaction I walked over and closed his office door, and
locked it.

They both watched me and when I was done Jo nodded and turned back.
"Can we say some things off the record?  It won't be anything Rachel
didn't already know before she lost her memory.  We just don't want
anyone walking in while we're explaining them.  The situation could
get awkward if that happens."

He leaned back and laughed.  "Doctor and patient confidentiality
applies, even here.  Not everything I know winds up in the records.  I
only summarize, usually."

He suddenly leaned forward and studied Jo.  "You folks were pretty
confident you could win in court.  Considering the state of the
system, and Tom's previous experience, that attitude surprises me.  To
satisfy my curiosity, could you explain that confidence?"

I snorted and he glanced at me.  I pointed at Jo.  "I'll let Jo tell
it.  I'm too close to a flashback to want to try and explain it all."

He nodded and turned back to Jo.

She shook her head slowly.  "Oh, our confidence comes from an ironic
coincidence that has its roots in the years before we met.  Our
personal lawyer is an old acquaintance of mine that I got to know,
years before I retired, and he  became a family friend,  after Tom and
I got married.

"It all has to do with the work I retired from.  Before I married Tom,
I worked as a porn star, and I was still a 'hot property' when I
retired.  I've kept my contacts and one of those is a very competent
lawyer who is noted for winning the cases he takes on when he defends
the porn industry from the zealots.  He's also a gay bottom, and has
been open about it for over twenty years."

She sighed and looked a me with tenderness in her eyes.  "Honey?  You
ok with this?"

I sighed.  "Yeah.  He and I settled our differences during the second
wedding reception."

She smiled and turned back to the therapist.  "Our family attorney is
the same one who won the case against Tom when he got *her* off scott
free for what she did to him.  We have a lot of reasons for our
confidence in his skill and we both have excellent personal reasons to
place even more confidence in his ability to go against the
system--and win."

"In this case, he knows us so well that there isn't a bit of either of
our pasts that can be dug up to discredit our fitness as parents, that
he doesn't already know about."

She grinned.  "He *loves* medical malpractice suits, by the way."

The therapist blanched.  "Oh.  Warren Finley?"

I smiled.  "Yes.  So don't be surprised if he shows up as a friend of
Rachel's.  He's her god father and the executor of our estate."

I chuckled, feeling better about his perspective, now that the air was
cleared.  "Is there anything else you would like to know before we go
check on Rachel?"

"Yes..."  He went through his notes.  "She asked for Sam, then said
something about Jolly having him tied up after I said he wasn't
available, and she giggled.  A pet dog?  Any idea what prompted her
giggle?  She acted like she wanted him for comfort."

I was puzzled.  Sam had died when Rachel was about five or six.  I
could think of several reasons for the word play and giggle, but the
one that made the most sense was one she'd learned more recently.

"Jo?   Think she's mixing up two times in her life?"

She blushed.  "She doesn't get her love of word play from me, and I
*still* remember how she loved winding me up after she found out."

I looked away so I could hide my grin.  I was watching the wall when I
explained Jo's embarrassment.  "Sam died when Rachel was about six.
Last year, Rachel came home from a pajama party at a friend's with a
very surprising question, and a link to a web site that one of her
friends had shown her.  Jo?  You want to take it the rest of the way?"

"No.  But I don't have a choice, do I?"

I sighed.  "Not if we want to do what's right for Rachel.  Or,"  I
amended, "I don't see any other choices."

She thought about it.  "I don't, either.  I'm not ashamed, or
apologetic about it, and I made that clear to Rachel at the time."

I recognized the tones in her voice so I went over and stood behind
her so I could hug her.

She put one of her hands on mine before she finished the explanation.
"Sam was mine, and after Rachel was born, the two of them were best
friends."

The therapist nodded.  "And the giggle?"

She straightened, gathering her pride, and faced him squarely.  "That
link was to a porn site that has stolen copies of my films available.
She didn't recognize me because I used makeup and wigs for all of
them.  She did, though, recognize Sam.  For seven years, before I
retired, Sam was my co star and as much of a professional as I am."
She smiled at the memory of Rachel's shocked questions.

"She wanted to know if the sex scenes were real or faked.   *That's*
the most likely reason for her comment and fit of giggles.  In her
confusion, she probably thinks Sam is still alive, and she's
remembered that he tied with me during filming."

He nodded slowly and spoke more to himself than to us.  "So that means
she probably has access to a fairly recent memory.  Good.  That's nice
to know..."

He came out of his reverie and noticed our shocked expressions.
"Relax.  Attitudes change, and in this business I have to deal with a
lot of things most people never think about.  Unfortunately, forced
bestiality is a common form of degradation and it's not unusual for
there to be videos involved, or pictures.  On the other hand, kids do
sometimes turn to the animals for affection, because they are 'in it
together' and don't have control of their lives."

He reached into a drawer and pulled out a collection of images, then
spread them out so we could see them.  "One of the things I had to
learn was how to spot the nuances that will tell me it the bestiality
is abusive, or desired by the people and animals involved.  I use
these to help me evaluate people's attitudes and knowledge."  

He shrugged.  "I know I have no right to ask, but if you would tell me
which ones you think are of zoosexual relationships, I'd appreciate
it.  We have our guesses, but that's all they are, because we know
we'll never be able to interview most of the people involved in the
non abusive relationships.  This isn't going to be recorded, it's for
my own knowledge, so I can help others when I meet them."

I bent over Jo's shoulder and studied the pictures, then chuckled.
"Jo?  It looks like there's a shot from each of your movies mixed in."
I looked up.  "We can do better than that for some of these.  Either
one of us could take Jo's pics and put them in chronological order,
then tell you how she felt at the time.  Interested?"

He gaped at me.  "You're that comfortable with her past?"

"Yup.  She told me in the first email she sent me 4 years before we
got married."  I took pity on him, finally.  "You see...   I was
already comfortable with being a zoosexual when she first asked me to
help her come to terms with her realization that she was fucking her
dog for more reasons than the money it paid and that it kept her from
having to do other, more abusive sex films.  I didn't know she was a
porn star until the day before we got married.  I only knew she and
Sam loved each other, the same way Jupiter and I were in love with
each other."

While I was talking, Jo had picked up the images and then quickly laid
them out in a new order, in several rows.  I looked at them and
frowned, then moved one set of woman and dog images off to the side by
themselves.  Other than that, I agreed with her choices.

She looked up when we were done.  "This isn't a fair test, in some
ways.  Some of these are from my own films.  Many of the rest are from
internet videos we've seen and talked about.  In one case, a privately
distributed video that 'escaped', we had a chance to talk to the young
man who made it.  The rest, we've never seen them, but we agree on the
types of relationships we think they show.  From your left to right.
most abusive to least abusive to various phases of being zoo.  The
ones he set aside are..." 
 
She shuddered.  "Tom showed me the video.  I'll never forget it. Those
stills tell one story, the video itself, a different one.  One woman
uses her fingernails and actually cuts the dog's penis until it's
dripping blood, after she has him fully swollen.  Later, when one of
them tries to force a blow job on him he turns and grabs her arm in an
attempt to stop her.  After that, one of them holds his head while the
other sucks him off anyway."

He looked at the layout, shrugged a little, then turned them all over.

There were letters and numbers on them, and he took the time to add
more to each of them before he gathered them up and put them away.

He noticed our focus and smiled a little.  "My own code.  Confidence
level of the people doing the sorting, mostly.  Also my own evaluation
of their 'zooishness', based on all the usual stuff I watch during an
interview."

He nodded a little in Jo's direction.  "You're the first porn star
I've dealt with, so that's in there, too, along with your being het,
married, apparently well adjusted--and that you have a daughter with
the strongest sense of values for her age I've had the pleasure to
meet, now that I know what I was really seeing."

He stood and moved from behind his desk, then took a deep breath.
"Let's go wake her up and I'll tell her so."

He sighed and shrugged.  "I can't get any of the monitoring turned
off.  Takes a court order to get at things, so I can't do more than
assure you the duty people are responsible people as far as I know.
They don't gossip, and frankly, anything we discuss in there is going
to be quite 'normal', compared to some things we've run into."

Surprisingly, he frowned so slightly I wasn't sure I'd seen it, then
he watched Jo intently.  "It's a unique situation, and I'd like to
take advantage of it, if you folks are willing."

Jo didn't do anything except shift her posture slightly, but suddenly
I felt like I was standing in a freezer, and he must have sensed it,
too, because he blushed before he said anything more.

"I've been doing this for fifteen years, and I've always dreamed of
meeting a couple I could consult with and possibly allow my zoo
patients to meet.  It would be far more effective if they could talk
to someone like themselves.  Most of those conversations would have to
be on the record, of course, but there's still room for friendship
outside my office.  *I* can't do much to encourage that, but you folks
could."

The temperature rose a few degrees.

Jo turned to me and raised her eyebrows.  I nodded back and shrugged.
"You're the one who has the seamy past.  I'm only a victim of the
system, who managed to help himself."

Her lips quirked into a slight smile.  "You had help.  Lots of it.
Jupiter.  But I take your meaning.  What's going to happen to Rachel,
if we accept?  Her friends seem ok with my past.  It's what the
zealots can do that worries me."

She turned away to face him again.  "We'll have to talk to our lawyer
before we make any decisions past doing whatever it takes to make sure
Rachel recovers."

He nodded.  "You'll consider what I'm asking?  I might be able to
offer some protection from the zealots.  I have some experience
dealing with them, after all."

"We'll consider it."

 * * *

Rachel was awake and more alert than she had been earlier, but it was
easy to see she was still pretty out of it.

She took the apology well, and then giggled.  "That's silly, you know.
Mom and dad never spanked me unless I deserved it."

He nodded.  "I believe that, now.  Think they'll ever forgive me for
not understanding?"

She studied him for awhile.  "Maybe.  Happen a lot quicker if they
spank you, you know.  When they do that, it's over and they promise to
never mention it, unless you do it again."

She giggled again and looked at Jo.  "Jolly?  I can't do it.  Would
you spank him for me?"

Jo got that strange smile she liked to use when she and Rachel were
sharing a joke.  "I can't do it unless he asks me to.  But I really
think you should do it anyway.  It has to be done by the person who
was hurt."

Rachel nodded.  "Yeah.  You're right.  I forgot about that."

She studied him intently, and I hoped we were the only ones who
realized she was secretly laughing inside at his obvious
embarrassment.  "Mom's right.  I gotta do it.  May I spank you?"

He blushed and started to turn to us, then he took a deep breath and
sighed.  "Yes."

She smiled.  "Good!  Give me your hand."

He held it out and she lightly touched the back of it with the palm of
her right hand while she held it in her left one.  "There!  You've
been spanked, just like they always spank me when I've been a bad
girl!"

She was grinning at his surprise, then she resettled herself wearily
before she looked at us.  "You're not mad about my car?"

I shook my head.  "How can we be?  It saved your life, Dear, and
that's all that really matters, right?"

She frowned.  "Yeah.  I guess.  Did they save my purse and stuff?"

Jo spoke up.  "We haven't had time to find out."

"Kay.  You said I handed them my phone and told them to call you?  I
don't remember doing that.  What about the guy who hit me?  Is he ok?
He looked so scared..."

Then her eyes went wide.  "Oh, god!  It was Billy!  His parents are
gonna kill him!  You gotta tell them it wasn't his fault.  This woman
turned in front of him and he swerved to miss her and hit me instead.
I don't remember if she stopped or not."

She stared at me and I could see her worry and fear.  "Dad? You gotta
tell them, ok?  Tell him it's ok that he hit me instead.  She was
driving one of those little cars.  You know, the real old ones before
they put all the safety stuff in them.  I think he would have killed
her if he'd hit her.  I don't think he was speeding, but he was going
pretty fast when he swerved."

Then she looked at Jo.  "If you're here, who's taking care of Sam and
Jup?"

I froze but Jo just smiled sadly.  "Honey?  You're still confused, but
it's ok.  Don't worry about it.  You're sixteen now.  Sam and Jupiter
died years ago, of old age."

Then she diverted her.  "We can talk about it all later.  You just
relax and worry about getting better.  Ok?"

Rachel looked scared.  "Confused, huh?  More like I can't remember
anything much, and I want to.  Will I ever remember it all?"

The therapist interrupted.  "I could pretend, and say that someday you
will, Rachel, but I don't think you want to be lied to.  Nobody knows
how much you'll remember, but the signs so far are pretty good.  You
have old memories and very recent ones and you've started to fill in
the blanks."

She was watching him intently, then she nodded.  "Don't worry about
it, right?"

"Yes."

Then he looked down and sighed.  "William will be glad to hear you
remember him and what happened."

Jo and I looked at each other, then waited while the two of them were
in a shared world of their own.

He spoke again.  "Are the two of you friends?"

"Sorta.  We have some classes together.  Something bad happen?"

"You're a very perspective young woman, Rachel.  Yes, something bad
happened."

"He's gonna live though, right?"

"He will."

"So what happened?"

He sighed.  "I shouldn't be telling you this so soon.  His legs were
trapped and crushed.  They had to amputate his left one just above the
knee."

She was silent a long time, then, hesitantly.  "I think you're hiding
something."

He finally shrugged.  "I am."

"Can you tell me anyway?"

"He recognized you before the impact, and he's sorry he made you miss
your birthday party."

She blushed.  "Oh."

She slumped and seemed to lose her intensity, so Jo and I kissed her
and advised her to relax and not worry about things.

Then the three of us left after Jo reassured her we had rented a motel
room and would be nearby when she needed us.

* * *

Neither one of us was surprised when he led us back to his office and
invited us to settle.

We let the silence get uncomfortable and embarrassing for him, then Jo
laughed.  "Rachel apparently doesn't remember, but I bet Billy does,
and he confessed, didn't he?"

He nodded.  "Are you aware your daughter doesn't appear to be a
virgin?"

Jo smiled and then she and I shared a look of understanding before she
spoke calmly.  "Unless she's lied to us recently, she's still a virgin
even though her hymen is missing.  After all, we helped her decide
which of Tom's dildos she wanted to use to remove it.   She talked it
over with us for weeks before she decided she'd let Billy be the boy
she would give her virginity to."

I shrugged a little.  "Saving it this long was her decision.  We've
been discreet, but we've never hidden our normal sexuality, except for
never returning to being zoos once the dogs died.  She didn't know
about that until she stumbled across the pictures on the net, and
recognized Sam."

He leaned back thoughtfully.  "So you knew William would be at her
party with her other friends, and that they were going to fuck each
other?"

I laughed.  "We offered her the use of the porch and the hide-a-bed,
but she turned it down.  I think she and her girlfriends had a little
more than fucking planned.  Billy is pretty shy, and we think there's
been some sort of quiet contest going on and she 'won' by managing to
draw him out enough to get him to ask her to be his first fuck."

He was smiling, but he was still serious when he spoke again.  "Do you
know if she's on the pill?"

Jo giggled.  "On the pill, has an IUD in her purse and carries several
condoms, too.  Knows how to use them all, because I made certain she
knew her alternatives, and how to gently avoid problems if somebody
tried to get her to not use any protection."

"Seems strange, that a couple of animal fuckers, one of whom used to
make her living getting fucked and filmed, would be such concerned
parents."

Jo jerked upright, as if he'd slapped her, then her eyes narrowed and
she studied him.

I'd stiffened, then my brain kicked in.  "Hold it, Jo.  Something's
going on here.  I don't know if he's being honest or not, but he's got
a point--even if his words weren't ones we enjoy hearing."

Her head jerked in a nod and then she made a little gesture in my
direction, to tell me I'd better deal with it until she got her anger
under control.

"Ok.  That was pretty damn brutal.  Seemed out of character, though,
if you get my drift."

He sighed.  "It was a test.  I had to know how you'd handle sudden
stress."

"Picked a hell of a way to find out.  What next?  Going to find a way
to trigger one of my flashbacks?"

He winced.  "Might be a good idea.  If they still have that much
control of your life, it means you haven't dealt with them properly,
yet."

"I'm listening."

"When was the last time you had one?"

I thought about it.  "The day Jo asked me to marry her, eighteen years
ago.  Important?"

"Some.  This isn't irrelevant.  I need to know Rachel's home
environment so I can do the best job I can of helping her.  That
includes the little things you do unconsciously.  Bluntly, I need to
know if either of you has done anything to inhibit her mental growth,
because of your pasts."

He looked away, clearly embarrassed.  "I see it all, and read about
more.  You folks probably know better than I do, that the children of
zoos and bestialists tend to be dysfunctional in some way, to match
their parents.  At least that's true of the ones who make it into the
books and studies.

"Based on what little I've seen so far, I want to know how you folks
succeeded in raising a daughter who seems to be normal in all ways. If
it weren't for the memory loss, there's no reason for me to be
involved with her, any longer."

Jo leaned over and touched me lightly.  "I'll take it now."

"Kay."

She watched him for a long time, then spoke gently.  "I'm glad you
said 'make it into the books'.  Circumstances made us zoos.  Tom is
the one who always dreamed of children, not I.  I never wanted to be
an animal fucking porn star, but I needed a way to survive, and normal
fucking for pay, then fucking Sam, paid the bills, and let me keep the
industry from spitting me out later.  The alternatives I faced were a
lot less pleasant than letting a trained dog fuck me for a year's
normal pay.

"What came later, was something that happened.  I've never looked at
it closely because there was no point to questioning it.  Nobody
focused on Sam, only me, since I was the actor, not him.  It was the
people who watched the movies who saw any reality that was captured,
so it was easy for me to hide my true feelings for Sam when we were in
front of the cameras."

She looked at me and I nodded wearily.  "You're telling it this time."

He flinched, apparently surprised, then focused on me.  "This time?"

I laughed.  "Of course.  We first met on a zoo chat site, and Jo has a
web site of her own where she can keep in touch with her fans, and
others.who want to talk to us.  We zoos have to support ourselves,
since the system tends to ignore us unless they want to waste time
trying to cure us, in spite of the studies that have been done."

Jo touched me again and smiled sadly.  "It's all on our forum, of
course.  What made us zoos, the trauma in Tom's case, and my selfish
decision to do it to keep from getting sucked up in the alternatives."

He nodded.  "May I have the link?"

We looked at each other.  Jo finally nodded.  "To my main site, yes.
To the private chat areas, no.  I can't just give that out without
discussion.  Our friends trust us, and we never wanted to be some sort
of private study group.  That's not what it's all about."

He nodded.  "I understand."

"I'm glad you do.  You see, I think you've made another assumption,
based on ignorance.  You couldn't have avoided it without being part
of the 'real' zoo community, and we don't give our trust easily."

She took a deep breath, let it out slowly and faced him squarely. "The
zoos you usually meet online, because of their visibility, are the
'squeaky wheels', and a very, very, small minority.  You'll never meet
or talk to the rest of us, because we *are* well adjusted and normal
citizens, who live happy, content lives.  Married, single, poly,
whatever, we're as invisible as 'Joe and Mary Average', because we
too, are average, and we are unremarkable, except for being honest
with ourselves about having needs that can only be answered by a
species other than humans."

I chuckled.  "We also tend to raise our children to be a little more
open and accepting of differences.  It's a long term view, and we
don't expect to see major cultural shifts because of it."

I shrugged.  "We're both in our 40s, and we've seen a lot happen, to
us and others.  There's also a world wide community of shared
knowledge we can draw on, just like any other sub culture.  Takes some
effort to find us, but those who do, can learn anything they need to
know, to adapt and raise healthy, well adjusted children if they want
to have them--in spite of being animal fuckers, and shunned for it."

Jo smiled tenderly.  "Or parents who aren't zoos can find the
beginnings of understanding and help for their kids, if they want to.
The kids and newcomers can get help and support, too.  Nobody gets
turned away because of age.  We do, however, have links to peer
support sites for the younger ones.  That decision was forced on us
because of the hysteria over pedophilia."

He nodded again.  "You've given me a lot to think about.  Getting back
to Rachel, the prognosis is good, because I haven't seen anything that
indicates there's anything in her past she fears and would want to
suppress.  She is remembering details of the accident, and most people
would want to hide from that, because they'd feel they were somehow
responsible for it."

He sighed.  "Time.  All we can do is wait.  There might be memories
lost because of physical damage we haven't detected.  On the other
hand, her personality seems intact to me, unless there's something
you've noticed and I haven't, because you know her so well?"

I sighed and didn't bother looking at Jo.  "She's terrified almost
into paralysis.  That's not normal for her."

"Ah?"

"Yeah.  She's bright, and should have been a handful because we
aren't.  Somehow the three of us came to terms with that when she was
very young, and she is smart enough to hide it around most people, so
that much of her personality has survived.  But the bottom line is
that she's proud of her mind.  We made sure of that and encouraged her
to use it.  I'm no expert, but I think she's going to notice even
small memory losses and lapses more than the average person would."

Jo sighed and picked it up.  "That wasn't our sixteen year old in
there.  That was a mix, but it was mostly Rachel when she was about
seven, with flashes of her when she was five and six.  She was six
when Sam died and Jupiter died when she was about eight, but she was
never as close to him as she was Sam."

He held up a hand to stop any further comments we would have made, so
we shut up and waited.

He eventually dug out some case notes and paged through them while he
nodded or frowned to himself a few times.  Then he put them away and
leaned back to think for awhile.

Finally he leaned forward and refocused on us.  "Did you know there's
a study that seems to indicate zoos tend to be above average in
intelligence?"

I nodded.  "Always seemed like it was a biased sample.  We don't put a
lot of faith in some of the conclusions possible."

He nodded back.  "Perhaps intelligence is the wrong word, but it's the
only one we have, because of the standardized evaluations used."

"Ok."

"Do either of you think Rachel might have experimented with animals by
now?"

We'd talked about that problem a lot, between ourselves, and Rachel,
so we had our answer ready.  "She's always told us she hasn't, and we
believe her.  If she has, it probably would have been after she found
the web site, and we haven't seem any signs of anything more than
intellectual interest, in her or the friends we've met since.  Lots of
curiosity at first, after they found out her mother was a porn star,
but that's it that we know of."

Jo giggled.  "I think she's been too intent on getting Billy, to think
much about that.  She may have used my past to get his interest by
now, but I've never asked directly.  She's allowed to keep secrets, if
she wants to."

I laughed.  "Everyone was pretty curious at first, but things died
down fairly quickly, once Jo and I answered all the questions they
had."

Strangely, he didn't laugh or respond directly.  "Would either of you
object if we put Rachel and William in the same room after they get
out of ICU?"

I hesitated, studied Jo, and she sighed.  "She's serious about him,
but I don't know if she's long term serious, ok?  Ask them, and do
what you think is best for them both."

He pushed a pen and note pad in our direction.  "That's the problem,
isn't it?  If one of you could give me that link?"

I wrote it down, then deliberately stood and stretched.  "We know a
dismissal when we hear it.  When would you like to see us again?"

"Tomorrow afternoon.  I'll be seeing my other patients for the rest of
the day, and at some point I'll have to have a long talk with Billy's
parents.  Then there are some calls and consultations I need to do..."

I smiled at his distraction.  "Your a busy man, aren't you?  You're
also hiding something that involves us, but we'll wait to hear it, for
now."

He nodded.  "Thank you."

He stood, we shook hands with him, and then Jo and I left his office
and decided to get some lunch before we went back to our room at the
hotel.

* * *

Once the door to our room was closed, Jo studied me wryly.  "You need
a stronger deodorant.  You stink already.  Shower?"

I chuckled a bit sourly.  "Stress, and you know it.  Yeah.  Sounds
good.  Snuggle and massage, after?"

She sighed.  "So you noticed?"

I walked over and hugged her while we both shook.  "Yeah.  Hard not
to, when you started to snap his head off.  Looked like he was used to
seeing it, though."

We kissed, then she pulled back to watch my face as intently as I was
watching hers.  "Well, Tomsdog?  You ready for our past to catch up
with our daughter?"

I slumped.  "No.  Hoped it wouldn't.  What do you think he's hiding,
Dogsbody?"

She sighed.  "Not a clue.  Or too many to choose from, and I bet it
will be something we never thought of, so let's try and forget about
it until tomorrow."

She pulled the rest of the way apart from me, and stripped.  I joined
her, and then we spent far longer in the shower than we usually did,
doing a hell of a lot more than scrubbing each other's backs.

Oh, we did that, but there was a lot of just standing there holding
each other while the water caressed us, since we knew we didn't have
to worry about running out of hot water.

I don't think either of us really wanted to leave the small pocket of
our past we'd built to keep the world out, but we both knew we'd have
to return to the real world far sooner than we wanted to, even though
we never spoke of it.

After we dried off a little, I pointed at the bed when we came out.
"You need a massage worse than I do, Love."

She just smiled and settled on her stomach.

I straddled her legs, then leaned down to kiss her back before I
straightened and began to work the tenseness out while I thought out
loud.

"I don't think it's Rachel he was worried about."

"Oh?"

"He didn't make any effort to hide the case notes, and I saw the name
on them.  They were about Billy.  Couldn't read any details though."

"Nosey."

"Paranoid."

Then I realized I was working out a returned knot.  "Sorry.  Relax and
I'll quit for now.  You pick the subject."

"What do we do about the link to the forums?  I want to give it to
him, for a lot of reasons, but I know we can't, ever."

I sighed.  "Set up a new one?  How do we know we can really trust him?
Lot of folks would use it, if we supported it.  Be just like if one of
them set something up."

She sighed and rolled over so she could look at me while I started
working on the front.  "Tom?  Are we going to have to give it all up,
to protect the others?  Tell them to move the discussions and not tell
us where they've gone?"

I looked down at where my hand had stopped moving.  "We wouldn't be
the first to do it.  It's been done before.  Things are already more
fragmented than they were when we met."

She touched my hand.  "Let's give it a few days before we make that
decision.  Looks like we should stay close for the next week or so.
Which one of us should go get what we need, and one of the laptops?"

I winced.  "They're cheap enough.  Let's buy a new one.  We can afford
it, and it might be wiser to have one with us that's clean, for now.
Is there anything we need other than some fresh clothes?  We closed
the house down because we expected a long stay in town, anyway.  We
have a few days before we need to worry about the perishables in the
fridge going bad."

She smiled sadly.  "And no animals to worry about.  Trip to the second
hand store in the morning?"

"Works for me."

Then I had a thought.  "Might have to bring in some of Rachel's
personal stuff, if she remembers any of it and asks.  Pictures, maybe,
to help her memory."

She nodded.  "Deal with it when it happens."

"Yeah..."

She let me drift off for awhile before I felt her touch my thigh.
"Swap."

We changed places, she worked me over, then we cuddled and I was the
one who cried himself to sleep.

Jo always had been the stronger of the two of us.  Maybe the therapist
had a point about triggering my flashbacks under controlled
conditions.

Something to ask about, after we took care of Rachel's problems.

* * *

When we shared our toast this time I nearly lost it and cried.  "It's
not the same, is it?"

Jo sighed.  "No.  Let's find out how soon it will be before we can
include her again."

"No argument from me."

We ate the rest of our breakfast in silence, then went shopping for
some emergency clothes and supplies before we steeled ourselves and
headed for the hospital again.

When we checked in, the charge nurse asked us to wait for Dr. Simmons
before we saw Rachel.  Then she reassured us.  "He had their beds
moved so they are next to each other and can hold hands if they want
to.  They've been doing a lot of that, even when they sleep.  Talking,
too.  William is giving her back a lot of her memories.  It's helping
both of them recover."

My eyebrows went up, then I nodded and thanked her.  "Where should we
wait?"

She thought about it and then shrugged.  "There's an area just down
the hallway, where families usually wait."

"Thanks."

We settled next to each other in silence and lost ourselves in our
thoughts, I guess.  That's what I did anyway.  Mostly I wondered about
letting the two of them be together like that.  It sounded like
something unusual was going on, and as far as I could remember, Rachel
and Billy had just been casual friends, not so close that they would
be treated like they were married or engaged.

I finally touched Jo to get her attention, and she came out of her own
trance.  "Jo?  Did Rachel tell you anything that would help make
letting them be together in ICU make sense?"

She shook her head.  "No."

I sighed and went back to brooding.

I was vaguely aware when a couple settled across from us, but was
startled when a woman's hand settled on my knee.  "Hello, Tom.  We
missed you yesterday.  Sorry about what's happened to Rachel.  William
told us why he was going to her party, and we were ok with it.  Happy
for them both, even though we knew it wasn't likely to get serious
right away, if ever.  William's always been shy and she's really drawn
him out more than we thought anyone ever would."

She sighed.  "She doesn't remember any of that yet, but she knows we
do, and she knows William remembers."

Then she sighed and ducked her head before she turned to study Jo.
"Dr. Simmons showed us your web site this morning.  It was...   Quite
a shock to us both."

Jo waited, and finally William's father spoke up.  "I wish we were
parents as good as you two are.  We just found out we failed somewhere
and we don't know how.  Dr. Simmons tried to explain that we hadn't
failed, then he suggested we talk to you two before we make any more
decisions about William."

Jo and I reached for each other's hands while we stared at the two of
them.  Jo said it for both of us.  "We didn't know.  Neither of them
ever said a word.  As far as we've known...  Billy was just shy, and
she decided he was the one she wanted to share first times with."

He spoke miserably.  "We want to believe that, but after seeing your
web site..."

He faced her.  "William told us this morning, that he started during
puberty.  He was the one who found the site, and had no idea about you
until Rachel recognized your family dog when he showed it to them last
year."

He hesitated, then sighed and went on.  "He said he showed it to his
friends as a sort of test, to find out if there were any he could
tell.  Rachel didn't say anything the first time, but he said that she
talked to you folks and found out it really was her mother and Sam,
and she managed to put it all together and confronted him about it."

They shivered, and watched us.  "He says she's been helping him hide,
and that you folks have never known about what's been going on."

I sighed.  "We haven't known.  To be honest, if we had, we would have
helped them in any way we could."

"You wouldn't have tried to make him normal again?"

Jo shook her head wearily.  "It sounds like Rachel was doing just
that, by giving him a chance to explore and find out what his true
feelings are.  For some people..."

She sighed.  "You didn't fail.  It may be a phase, it may be something
more.  Don't judge him, or yourselves, too harshly.  Sometimes it
happens, and it was meant to be."

They nodded, then we were asked the question we were expecting.  "Will
you go back to it?"

I sighed.  "We don't know.  We postponed the decision until Rachel
moves out.  After that..."

I shrugged.  "I probably will.  An important part of me died when
Jupiter did.  Jo and Rachel have been wonderful, but they aren't dogs,
and I need that in my life again."

She nodded and turned to Jo.

Jo leaned into me and smiled sadly.  "I agreed to try and have his
child, because it was his dream, never one of mine.  Then I had her,
and she's been the center of our lives.  I'm glad I did it, but like
Tom, I know there's an important part of me that I've suppressed all
these years, that I have to turn free again, if I ever want to be the
person I really am.  Only reason I've waited this long is because I
didn't want to accidently pressure my daughter into something that
wasn't right for her.  After she settles into herself, I'll get
another dog."

They both nodded, then he sighed.  "So you're saying you won't help us
if we decide it's wrong for William?"

I spoke carefully.  "Not exactly.  What we *will* do is help you make
sure that William has enough information so he can make that decision
and know it's an informed choice instead of one made in desperation,
like ours were."

I let myself smile.  "And we'll help you into whatever understanding
you are comfortable with, if you want to truly know the young man who
is still your son, no matter what his decisions are, and whether you
agree with his decisions about his sexuality, or not."

There was a long, uncomfortable silence while they looked at each
other, then they both stood and held out their hands.  He spoke sadly.
"We'll take care of William's bitch, until he can go home from the
hospital, if we have to.  We won't have her spayed, either.  But I
think it would be best if you folks plan to have the two of them at
your house when he's released.  We love him, but we no longer want him
in our home, unless he turns away from animals and back to humans,
exclusively."

I winced but held back my retort, then shook hands with the two of
them.  "If you change your minds, you have our phone numbers.  And the
two of them will be welcome, no matter what he decides later."

They nodded.  "We'll tell him and Dr. Simmons before we leave."

I flinched at the suppressed anger in the voice I heard come from
behind us.  "You'll tell William *now*, then you'll get out of my
sight until I've calmed down enough to watch what I say when I tell
you how many mistakes you're making, as parents, and human beings."
Before he finished speaking he was standing where I could see his
profile.

Jo's hand spasmed on mine, then she recovered first.  "We'll wait here
until you're ready for us, Doctor."

He nodded jerkily, then gestured for Billy's parents to precede him.

After they were out of hearing range, I sighed.  "Jo, that sounded too
much like a set piece, to salve their own consciences."

"True.  So how are we going to make room for *two* hospital beds, and
the inevitable therapy equipment?"

I dredged up some old memories and sneezed at her.  "Not worried about
putting a bitch in our lives, too?"

"No.  The porch is big enough.  Close off half for Billy and make that
his room?"

I thought about it.  "The den opens on the porch, and it would be easy
to have a door to Rachel's bathroom put in.  That way he'll get his
privacy, and they have a way to discreetly see each other whenever
they want to.  We'll have to buy another shed for the stuff in the den
or just have a room added somewhere."

Then I laughed and she pulled back to study me.  "What's that for?"

"Big yard, and Billy's going to need a lot of exercise to learn how to
use any prosthesis he winds up with.  Rachel will need the exercise,
too.  If he feels guilty, he'll be able to earn his keep."

She smiled.  "We'll save that.  Let him recover, first, and if he
asks, then we'll deal with it."

"Right.  So you're ok with losing the den?"

"I'm gaining a son, even if it's only temporary.  Small price to pay,
and under the circumstances..."

"Point.  We'll let him and Rachel know, and let them figure out how he
wants to redecorate it."

A few minutes later Dr. Simmons came out and settled across from us.
"Sorry, folks.  I thought they wanted to at least try and understand
their son."

Jo leaned forward and rested a hand on his knee in a reassuring
gesture.  "Maybe they do want to understand, and this is the only way
they can think of to get their feelings sorted out.  We've seen it
happen a lot over the years.  Usually, the parents and children
reconcile themselves in some fashion."

His lips smiled, but none of his body did.  "Those should be my words,
not yours.  I'm the professional and yet this is the first time I've
seen this happen."

We both nodded, but I let Jo handle this.  "We were planning on buying
a new laptop anyway, so we'll get two, and give one to Billy so he can
access the forum we host, once he can have internet access.  How
long?"

"At least a week or two.  His parents signed release forms that turn
all custody and medical decisions over to you folks.  Brutal, but I
felt it was best to do it that way instead of through the court, which
was my only other option.

"Rachel was scared, and William was shocked and hurt, but he's ok with
it being you two instead of the hospital.  He seemed relieved when it
was over, and refused a sedative.  Since none of his vital signs went
critical, nothing was forced on him."

Then he sighed.  "How soon can you take in his bitch?  He's pretty
scared for her."

Jo responded carefully.  "We could take her now, if we had to, but
we.."

She stopped when I touched her arm.  "What?"

I sighed.  "We could find a motel that allows dogs."

She nodded.  "Point."

She returned to her earlier conversation.  "Is there any chance of
Billy being allowed to see her?"

He frowned thoughtfully.  "Not until he's out of ICU and in a private
room.  She'd have to go through a special bath, and we need to see her
shot records before she would be allowed in the hospital, but then
arrangements can be made.  We have several care dogs that make routine
visits during the week, so once she's cleared and gets a bath, she can
be here during regular visiting hours, as long as she's well behaved
and good with people."

She took another deep breath.  "If he'll let us, we'll do it that way.
Been years, but we spent time on the road with Sam and Jupiter.
Shouldn't be a problem to do it again."

I chuckled.  "Looks like I'll be going home sooner than we expected.
I'll put the special shell on the pickup, and all the other stuff
back, then go pick her up."

I looked at Dr. Simmons.  "She'll be fine in the shell.  It's secure,
opens into a screened canopy, and has enough solar panels on the roof
to run a dedicated cooling system during the hotter weather.  Animal
control looked it over when we designed it, and all I have to do is
let them know we'll be using it again.  If someone complains about the
dog being left alone, they might check on her, but they won't panic or
seize her for her own safety.  Most likely, they'll just call us and
ask us to check on her.  One of us might have to spend time with her
until she settles in, although we won't be leaving her alone until
we're confident she won't panic.  Maybe some of his friends can help
take care of her, if she's used to traveling with him and visiting."

Jo smiled.  "Make sure you get her blankets, or whatever she sleeps
on.  Should help."

"Point."  

Then I sighed.  "At least she wasn't in the car with him.  Sounds like
she would have been killed.  Another good reason to make sure she
stays alive and available for him.  I bet he's worried sick about what
his parents might do with her."

Dr Simmons nodded, then took his own deep breath before he stood up.
"I think I can face Rachel and William again, and be calm about it."

He smiled and held his hand out to Jo.  "Her memory is improving
rapidly.  The  two of them have made recovering her memories into some
sort of game--and it seems to be working."

* * *

Rachel was alert and using some headphones to listen to the TV she was
watching.  When she saw us she grinned, and took the headphones off
before she looked over at Billy, who seemed to be sleeping.  "Hi mom,
dad.  I convinced him to let them give him a sedative.  His head's
really screwed up and all he can do is worry about what his parents
are gonna do to Nibby.  He doesn't trust them any more."

I smiled at her concern for Billy.  Dr. Simmons had been right.  She
was returning to being the young woman we were used to.  "I'm going to
call Warren and have him take me home so I can put the special shell
on the truck before I go get...  Nibby?"

She giggled.  "Her real name is 'Miss Nibbles' because that's how she
has always eaten her food."

She frowned.  "I didn't remember that until Billy mentioned it, then I
was able to remember him telling me her name, and what she looks like.
She'll ride good in the pickup, although she really likes to be in the
front seat with Billy or me.  So he's gonna be my brother, now?"

Jo sighed.  "Up to you two.  Do you think he'd like to have the den
for his room if we add a door to your bathroom so neither of you has
to be obvious if you want to be together?"

There was a long silence, and Rachel's head slowly titled further and
further until she suddenly gasped.  "Now I remember my room!  Yeah.
You guys ok with that, really?  He said we were gonna give each other
our virginity, even though he hasn't really been one for years, and I
knew about it before..."

She froze and blushed before she stared at us with a little worry in
her eyes.  "I didn't lie about knowing, and I don't know now, not yet
anyway, but he said I knew and helped him hide from everyone after I
convinced him I was ok with it, and that I was passing on anything I
could find out from you guys without saying who it was really for. You
never really asked me, you know?  That's what Billy told me, anyway.
He's pretty paranoid about making sure nobody else knows about him and
Nibby."

She slumped.  "We never thought this would happen, though.  He told me
that, too."

Then she perked again.  "Hey, I do remember a lot about the accident
though, Now we're sure it wasn't his fault, not really, even though
he's said he was a little distracted and didn't see the woman before
she turned in front of him and he swerved."

I took over.  "Oh?  That's good news, of course.  What makes you so
sure?"

She smiled.  "You sound just like Warren, dad."

Then her eyes went wide.  "I remember him!  He's my god father or
something, right?  Is he gonna come see us?  He's a lawyer, isn't he?
Maybe he should represent Billy or be there or something when the
police interview him about the accident, again."

I smiled and bent down to hug her.  "Yes, he's all of that.  We
haven't told him what happened yet, but one of us will, later."

"K.  Good!  Anyway, we're sure because Billy reminded me about that
game we play where I kinda pretend a memory is a movie I can watch and
I can pause it or all the other stuff you can do with the player.

"It took awhile, but he remembered a lot, and I remembered a bunch
more and we sorta figured out what really happened after we put it all
together."

She paused and looked at Dr Simmons.  "You got a recorder or
something?  I'm scared that I'll forget some of this because my memory
still sucks and I can't always remember like I used to."

He smiled a little.  "I can do better than that.  You're in ICU, and
it's monitored all the time.  If you and William ok it later, we can
have the records pulled for whatever time you specify.  Just tell us
what you figured out and don't worry about not being able to remember
it later."

"K.  We both thought it was a woman driving, but after we talked it
over, we kinda think it was a guy with long hair.  Sorta blonde and
wavy, but that doesn't matter.  It's the car that's really important,
'cause it's gonna be real easy to identify."

I took the lead.  "Easy, Honey?"

She grinned.  "Yeah.  At first we figured it might be one of those old
Hondas, the real small ones, or maybe a VW wagon.  Something like
that, anyway."

I nodded.  "Not many of those on the road any more, either."

She smiled.  "Yeah, but neither one of us remembers seeing anything
except pictures of this one.  We can't remember what it's called, but
that doesn't matter.  We both agree it was real little, and it didn't
have any doors on it."

I was the car enthusiast, so I *knew* what she was talking about.
"Damn!  an Isetta!"

"Yeah!  That's the one!"

Then she frowned.  "Aren't they real slow though, because of a real
small motor?"

I nodded.  "Yes, they are, but a lot of people have modified them over
the years, to make them faster.  Do you remember anything about that
custom car book I have?  It had one in it that had been modified."

She frowned and finally shook her head.  "Sorry, dad.  Nothing there,
yet."

She sighed.  "Anyway, this guy was in the right lane and Billy doesn't
remember good enough but I do.  He had his right turn signal on, then
he suddenly turned left like he was going to make a quick u turn but I
guess he saw Billy coming at him and he really accelerated and made it
a left turn instead.  That thing was *fast*, too.  We sorta think that
if Billy hadn't swerved, he would have missed him.  Not by much, but
every time I replay it in my head, I think there might have been
enough room for Billy to go behind him and miss the cars in the left
turn lane, too."

I looked up and at Dr. Simmons.  "Rachel has an eidetic memory.  We
used to test her as a game, to help her with it.  If she says she
remembers it that way, that's the way it was.  We've used photographs
to prove it to any of her friends who didn't believe her."

I suddenly turned back.  "Jo's third movie with Sam.  What color was
his collar?"

Rachel giggled.  "He never wore one after the first movie.  Mom did
though, his red one with the black leather leash, usually.  But in the
third movie she wore a chain collar with reversed spikes.  It had
rubber ones on the inside, and they used makeup so it looked like it
wounded her when they jerked her leash."

Then she stared at me with wonder in her eyes.  "Hey!  I remembered!
Thanks, dad!"

I laughed and hugged her.  "You're welcome.  And you're right, as
always."

Dr Simmons was watching us both and he looked a little bemused.  "All
I know is that enough witnesses agreed on a small car driving away in
a big hurry, that the police are trying to find out why the driver
left the scene.  Excuse me while I make a phone call.  You said it was
an Isetta, probably modified?"

I nodded without looking away from Rachel.  "The whole front opens up
to reveal a bench seat.  Shouldn't be many of them left on the road
after all these years.  Can't think of any other car with no doors on
the sides."

He left, and we took the time to find a couple chairs so we could
settle next to her bed.  Jo sighed and held her hand.  "Like the man
said, Honey, there's no privacy here.  He already knows about us, of
course, so you can say anything you want and we won't get upset."

She gulped nervously, then looked over at Billy.  "He said I was gonna
like...  you know?"

Jo was calm.  "Yes, we do, and you talked it over with us for weeks
before you decided to let each other lose your virginity, together. We
never suspected he isn't really a virgin, and we aren't upset about
that, even though we do wish you'd trusted us."

She looked scared.  "Billy couldn't, that's what he told me a little
while ago.  He sorta knew his parents might get upset and I guess I'm
really the only one who knows for sure about him and Nibby."

Then her head tilted a little and she giggled.  "I just remembered.
I've been giving him the condoms he uses so he doesn't have to worry
about his semen getting splattered everywhere when Nibby shakes
herself, sometimes.

"Everyone's been teasing us since they found out I give him my
condoms, but we tell them he's been practicing for whoever gets his
cherry."

She smiled and reached to touch the hand that was flopped over near
the edge of his bed.  "He really is shy, and that's sorta why he
started fucking Nibby a few years ago.  He says he trusts me though,
and I'm the first person he's done that with.  I guess now he's gonna
be able to trust you like I do, huh?"

Then she sighed.  "I don't really remember trusting you, but he says I
did and he was always jealous but afraid to trust you, too, even
though he says I tried to get him to understand you'd be ok about what
he does."

She looked scared.  "I just gotta believe him, ya know?  I mean I
remembered the toast, and how you always spanked me, but I know
there's a lot I don't remember yet, and I want to, real bad."

Then she looked at us again.  "You'd better call Warren and go get
Nibby, dad.  I don't think Billy's gonna get his head straight until
he knows she's safe.  I wish you could bring her in, but that's not
going to happen, is it?"

I smiled.  "It can, as soon as he's out of ICU."  I looked around and
studied the room thoughtfully.  "Maybe sooner, if I talk to Dr Simmons
and we can arrange to bring her outside so Billy can see her through
one of the windows."

I stood and stretched, then looked at Jo.  "Still have the spare keys
in your purse?"

She smiled.  "Of course."

"Good.  I'll get out of here and call Warren.  Then he and I will go
take care of whatever has to be done to make sure Nibby is safe, after
he says hello to Rachel."

I looked at the wan form on the bed.  "Good enough, young woman?"

She nodded.  "Get Samantha to help with Nibby.  She's Billy's
neighbor, and she's helped take care of her since she was a puppy."

Then she smiled sadly.  "Another memory back.  This sucks, ya know?  I
never know if I'll be able to think of one that is right, but this
time I did, so that's ok."

Then she looked at her covered legs.  "They said I need a new knee,
but it will be a few more days before they do anything serious about
it."

She sighed.  "Mom?  You don't have to leave, do you?"

"No.  I can be here as long as you want me to, or they throw me out."

"Good.  I hope Billy wakes up before you leave."

I sighed and quietly left before I broke down and cried and did none
of us any good.
---------

End: Part One of Five

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| alt.sex.stories.moderated ------ send stories to: <ckought69@hotmail.com>|
| FAQ: <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/faq.html> Moderators: <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|ASSM Archive at <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org>   Hosted by <http://www.asstr-mirror.org> |
|Discuss this story and others in alt.sex.stories.d; look for subject {ASSD}|
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+