18:  Reflections in Memoriam

“You’re looking peaked,” Becky said after Phillip wandered off and people started heading for them. “Here, eat this,” she said, handing him a Coke and an apple. “You’ve got to keep your energy up. Burning energy like you are, you’ll be a basket case if you don’t keep eating. And if anything happens to you, Cate will never forgive us!”

“Uh, Alex,” Gini said, touching his shoulder to get his attention, even though she had to turn her head while addressing him. “As you can imagine, your increased output has attracted several new followers who’ve been drawn to the cemetery looking for you. Some of the girls have been intercepting them, explaining what they’re experiencing. They wanted to give you some space so they’ll hold them back until you’re able to deal with them.”

“Tell them thanks,” Alex instructed, already feeling the ever mounting pressure of his multiple obligations to so many people. “I’ll be sure to meet with them, but there are still a lot of people to meet with first. Speaking of which,” he said, observing Leanna Dickson, Ally Frey and her girlfriend Betsy Allen approaching, “I can see I’ll need to be exerting myself a bit more for the next hour or two.”

“Alex, I’m so sorry to hear how this turned out,” Leanna said as she threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. “As soon as we heard about the service today, we booked a last-minute flight out just to be here.”

Smiling tiredly, Alex pushed her back so he could take them in.

“You’re all looking quite good. From what I hear, your bar has become quite the place to be seen nowadays.”

“Yeah, except now there are so many straight women we’ve got to watch what we do,” Leanna replied snidely as she teased Alex. “I was discussing opening a second bar for the local lesbians, but I’m afraid anything I open will draw your supporters just like my first place did.”

“Hey, success has its costs,” Alex answered as Ally hugged him as well. Betsy stood back, letting her girlfriend have her moment with the object of her inspiration.

“Okay, Betsy, come get your hug, and then I can do what you’re all waiting for,” Alex told them.

“Don’t put yourself out,” they assured him.

“Don’t,” he warned them, holding up his weary hand to restrain their insincere protests.

“Before you do anything, we brought someone else,” Leanna hurriedly explained, ushering two nervous women up to meet him. They looked at him anxiously, though one made a point to not look at his face until he told her to. “We met Leslie Cox and Valerie after you left, and we’re pretty sure they are Seer and Seeker. We were hoping you could….”

She stopped when Alex once again held his hand up, guzzling his coke as they patiently waited.

“Leslie?” he asked simply. She glanced up, and even though Leanna was holding her, almost collapsed from the shock to her system. When she finally recovered somewhat and glanced around trying to acclimate herself to her new visions, he idly waved his hand, and both new girls wheeled, suddenly realizing their abilities were boosted in what looked like an afterthought on Alex’s part. But Becky and the others knew better, as she passed him a liter bottle of Coke to help replenish the energy he exerted in performing such a ‘simple’ act.

Becky, Melinda and Gini realized allowing him to do so much so soon after such an intense night—especially considering how his BCM energy was peaking so dangerously—would place a severe strain on him. Allowing him to do these seemingly simple acts threatened his health even more, but they found it difficult denying him or any of these women that benefit, knowing what it meant to each of them. But they also knew if he could handle it now, he’d then have time to recover afterwards. While the women from Oklahoma City were still reacting to what he'd done to the newer girls, Alex boosted Ally, an act neither Ally nor Betsy expected.

The afternoon progressed along much the same lines. Despite Alex’s weakening energy, everyone wanted to speak to him, and several wanted him to boost them. He also needed to meet, activate and boost the new followers his intense BCM drew to the cemetery. He was patient with each, and Becky and Melinda kept feeding him throughout. But they knew once his energy dropped he’d be useless, and they’d have to simply store him in the back of the touring van and let him sleep it off for at least the next day.

“So, Alex,” Becky said once the crowd had largely dispersed and they were wheeling him back to the van, “I still have a lot of questions about last night.”

“Undoubtedly,” Alex tiredly replied with a knowing smile. “I was expecting them, and thanks for holding off until we dealt with everyone.”

Becky waved his comments aside, not wanting him to feel indebted to her with as much as he had on his mind, but she pressed on. “I know you were guarded about your answer to Phillip, but do you actually think Mickie crossed over?”

Alex’s expression turned serious as he struggled to sit up to address this serious concern which had been bugging everyone. “Well, I’d be careful with words like ‘made it’, because she did die and we’ll never see her again, but there’s no way we’ll ever know. Since the transition effectively wipes ones memory clean and there are so many millions of potential places for her to go, we’ve got no way of ever knowing. But,” he added after a short pause, “I’m pretty sure she did. Again, I have no way of knowing, but she had everything going for her and she was prepared for it. As weak as she was when she finally died, she was still hungry to continue and see what awaited her in the next world.”

“That’s better than any other answer, I guess,” his sister acknowledged, gently rubbing his shoulder as Winona opened the van door. The conversation ended as Gini scooped the trembling Alex in her arms and lifted him out of the wheelchair and into the waiting van where the band had prepared a daybed for him.

“Some of the local girls offered to return the wheelchair to Dr. Franklin, who lent it to us,” Mary Watson, one of Winona’s backup singers told him. “And while you were busy, Steve and Taylor went out and bought a wheelchair from a local drugstore he recommended. I don’t know how long you’ll need it, but if nothing else, we can always donate it to someone else at some point.”

Alex nodded absently as Melinda settled him into the daybed. Gini had to retreat due to the intensity of his still radiating energy, taking up a protective position by the window—facing out.

“OK, so Mickie presumably did well,” Becky said, handing Alex a fruit smoothie Susan Simmons had prepared for him, “what about what you learned? What else does it portend? Will you be able to use the knowledge to transition into the next life as well? And if so, could you potentially use it to communicate with us once you have?”

After stating the question everyone was contemplating, those nearby shifted closer to listen to Alex’s reply—everyone but Gini. Unable to glance at him, she was busy sending every word of his responses to a whole relay team of other Seers across the country.

“Lot of … questions,” Alex gingerly replied as he sucked as much nourishment as he could, “few answers.”

Setting the drink aside temporarily to give his answer his entire attention, he addressed everyone listening. “Since I made it once and now know much of what’s required, I’m assuming I’ll eventually make the leap myself. As I assume many of my followers will—especially those who followed me here from another world. I’m assuming we’ll use this ‘language of the spirit world’ to somehow identify where we’ve gone so the others can follow. But I have no clue how that would operate or even if we’ve ever actually done it in the past.”

Alex had to stop and drink some more, those few words wearing on him even more. Those listening waited patiently, even as Steve Blanco started the van and slowly pulled onto the stately cemetery access road still crowded with his many followers’ cars.

“But even if it’s possible to use that knowledge to track where someone has gone—something I’m not convinced is even possible—I’m convinced there’s no way we could possibly communicate over it after that. Just look at me, it’s taken me eighteen years to regain any of my knowledge of what I’d done before, and that was only after an agonizing period of study and analysis and a whole host of lucky breaks. So I wouldn’t count on any ‘What’s up? Just catching up’ calls from me after my demise.”

“All right, that makes sense,” Becky acknowledged, speaking as the official spokesman for the group since no one else wanted to distract Alex while he struggled to remain alert. Becky felt her role was merely to keep Alex talking, as he effectively knew the answers but needed a little prodding to reveal them, a glistening drop at a time, to everyone else. “But do you think we can ever put this ‘secret language’ to some use? Assuming we can ever learn to translate it?”

“Well, all we have now is an incomplete … lexicon of unrelated words,” Alex said, pausing for a prolonged coughing fit, during which Melinda patted him gently on the back and fed him some more of his smoothie to relive his parched throat.

“Just so you know,” Gini interrupted, “his aura is flickering more erratically. I’m guessing his BCM level will plummet soon, and when it does, he won’t be able to last much longer.”

“Then I’ll try … finish,” Alex weakly replied, waving off everyone’s worried looks. “I doubt the words we’ve learned will help much, as the language is only useful for a few meager moments at the exact moment of death—during which no one could ever … remember the specifics. Instead, I suspect the key would be … directionality.” Here Alex paused while everyone anxiously waited for him to continue as he tried to gather his strength, feeling his weariness increasing.

“All you’d need is to know is where in the Cosmos the signal originated from. That should allow you to follow it. That’s even more so if they travel through a dimensional leap…, which could operate independently of … specific directions. Essentially, someone could jump directly to where they’re needed…, and they’d presumably know how when the time occurs. If we had some way … to read that directionality, and could transmit it to everyone else…, we could conceivable gather in the next life on another completely … different world again.”

Becky considered this, giving her sister additional time to feed Alex more of his smoothie. Meanwhile, Susan set about making another one, since it seemed to be the fastest way to get nutrients into him. Of course, the noise of the process effectively halted all communication anyway.

“OK, given that … theoretical framework,” Becky continued a couple of minutes later, “what’s the best way to discover that missing key, determining where someone is heading in death?”

Alex seemed to consider this as he continued to nurse his drink, too weak to drink much at a time, his strength fading. “I have … no clue,” he shrugged, a movement so weak it was hardly perceptible.

“Don’t you think it would be worth trying again to find out?” Becky pressed. “After all, it’s vital information, and there’s only one way to unlock it.”

Here Alex found the strength to vigorously shake his head. “Absolutely … not!” he insisted. “I almost … fried Mickie’s brain. I left her … unable to talk in her last hours. The risk is too great. Won’t attempt again!” he noted with finality.

“But Alex, that doesn’t make sense,” Becky argued, feeling frustrated by his continued moral stand against unintentionally hurting anyone with his abilities. “We could learn so much, and this is the only way we could uncover the information. We now have a roadmap to understand even more if we get a second chance. It would be a waste of what Mickie sacrificed to give us to squander it.”

“No, not risk someone’s life to … play,” Alex answered simply.

“It’s not playing!” Winona objected angrily. For as much as she tried to stay in the background lately, she was terrified of a world without Alex in it. She’d worked hard to find a way into Alex’s life, despite the lack of any inborn trait which would guarantee her more than a fleeting access. For as hard as she’d worked to become close to him, she didn’t want to see it slip away—not when he had a way of continuing it somehow. “You’re talking about continuing your mission beyond this life, of taking your message to dozens, potentially thousands of additional worlds, galaxies or dimensions. And you’re quibbling about a single possible mistake?”

“No, I won’t sacrifice anyone because of my own ego and … personal drive,” Alex insisted. While they’d been speaking, Melinda had managed to prop Alex up with several pillows, helping him converse more easily. They knew this conversation would be easier to hold telepathically, but since Becky had raised it, and since she and Cate were probably the two best people to understand what was involved, they thought it important to involve her. They just hoped it wouldn’t hurt Alex to press him so hard for answers none of them could answer for some time.

“OK, how about this,” Becky asked, “how about if we have another case like Mickie’s, where someone is already deathly ill and not likely to survive. Would you do it then? Would you allow them a better shot at another life, even if it potentially meant shortening their current one? I mean, it’s for the greater good, both for them and for the rest of us.”

Alex still shook his head, although this time he seemed less sure of himself. “No, if I screw … up, I end their ability to think, to live, to be able to … transition. I may not only kill them, but kill any future for them as well,” he answered, pleading with them to understand his reluctance.

“But if they couldn’t make the transfer based on our limited knowledge as it is,” Becky argued, trying to penetrate the thick shell of Alex’s fears, “and if learning more could guarantee they could make it, wouldn’t that justify taking the chance—especially if they requested it?”

Alex lay his head back, closing his eyes and seemingly drifting off to sleep, so the others wondered whether he’d given up, but he turned his head and regarded Becky once again. “Maybe,” he answered letting the word sink in before continuing. “I’d have to … see. Can’t rule … out. Don’t know anything … at … moment,” he finished sounding weaker than ever.

“Alright, Alex’s aura is decidedly weaker and his energy is finished,” Gini insisted, once more getting up and walking up to cover him and to move everyone away to protect him from the unrelenting questions. “I’m sure Alex can address these issues later, but for now, he needs to rest. We’ve got almost a full week before our next concert. That’s plenty of time for us to discuss this, but you all know if we encounter anyone on the way, he’ll need to be strong enough to deal with them.

Becky shrugged, acknowledging it made sense. But each of them were frustrated being this close to having some definitive answers to what was happening, and most of all, what would happen to Alex himself—now that they had this reminder of how thin his link to this mortal coil really was. If he was lost to them now, everything he’d tried to teach them might potentially be lost, but if he could communicate with them from the great beyond, or potentially take them along with him, they could start the whole process all over again.

But Alex was in no condition to continue, so the subject was taken out of their hands for the moment as Alex fell into an exhausted sleep.

“Hey, lazy bones, scoot your ass over and let someone else in!”

“Ugh?” Alex asked, finally opening his eyes with an exhausted groan. When he did, he looked startled for a moment. “It’s dark. Where’d all the lights go?”

Melinda laughed. “That’s what happens at night, bright eyes. You’ve slept all day. You were so exhausted you barely budged.”

“Yeah, when my energy level drops after running so high, it exhausts me,” Alex said as he rolled over and rubbed his eyes. When he glanced up again, he noticed both Melinda and Becky, standing there completely naked, smiling down at him.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, smiling himself even though he didn’t know what the joke was.

“You are,” Becky replied as she climbed over him, rubbing various body parts against him before settling under the covers on his far side. “We’ve driven all day and we finally stopped for the night. The band checked into a hotel and are already inside. We didn’t think it made sense trying to drag you inside, so Melinda and I volunteered to stay and watch over you.”

“Yeah,” Melinda agreed as she too slipped in and cuddled up with their still groggy brother, “we wanted to wake you up, just to make sure you’re still alive and functional.”

“I am still exhausted,” Alex admitted, rubbing his cheek trying to get his blood flowing where he’d been laying on it.

“I don’t doubt it,” Becky told him, poking him with a finger just to see whether he’d react. When he groaned and shifted slightly away from her, she smiled that at least he was capable of that much activity. “We hit traffic, ambulances passed us, we stopped for gas and food and you never stirred, not even shifting slightly. It’s like you were a museum mummy or something.”

“Speaking of food…,” Alex suggested, his eyes finally starting to come awake as the idea of eating began percolating through his brain.

“Right here,” Melinda said as she reached over and picked up a big plate of food, mostly cookies, fruit and various vegetables. “We’ve got dinner for you too, but we weren’t sure how much you could eat.”

Seeing the goodies, a big grin spread over Alex’s face and he grabbed a peach, munching it hungrily, dripping juice down his fingers. “Don’t worry, I’m starving,” he assured them. “Any new people?” he managed to ask between bites.

“Two, though we didn’t feel comfortable waking you for it,” Becky answered. “Both were Watchers. One honked at the bumper sticker that says “Honk if you feel something” and the other approached us when we stopped for lunch.

“Did you…?” Alex started to ask, but wisely shut up when Becky shot him a withering glance.

“Yes, we mere peons know at least that much,” she told him before moving on. “So how are you feeling?”

“Now that I’m eating, better,” he admitted as Melinda got up and brought out a packaged dinner she’d nuked.

“We fed you some shakes and cookies, but you were so out of it you ate them without responding,” Melinda explained. “We knew you needed the food and that was about all you’d eat. We were more interested in keeping you going than conversing with you.”

“Yeah, you’re at least sensible enough to eat even when you’re unconscious,” Becky added with a grin. She then got a little wicked grin. “Let’s see just how awake he really is,” she added, leaning over and giving him a serious kiss for several moments.

“Yeah, he’s back among the living,” she assured her sister after leaning back and flashing her a smile as she picked pieces of unchewed cookies out of her mouth.

“The fact he can still kiss is well and good, but after being out of it for so long, I’ve still gotta check,” Melinda replied, staring into Alex’s face. “Just how much do you remember?”

“Uh…,” Alex said, suddenly struck dumb. “Unless I’ve missed more than I’m aware of, the last thing I remember was the impromptu memorial and activating and boosting a whole bunch of people.”

“See, I told you he was OK,” Becky replied, taking the opportunity to kiss him again. “I love oatmeal raisin cookies,” she grinned when she came back up for air.

“OK, enough Bogarting the bro,” Melinda protested, shoving Becky aside so she could kiss Alex too. She made plenty of appreciative moans as they made out for several moments, and then pulled back with a smile of her own. “Yep, he’s OK by my count too.”

“You know,” Alex said, taking the few seconds he had available to quaff his fruit drink and catch up on information, “I was too busy worrying about Mickie and then dealing with everyone at the memorial to ask, but how did the concert go? I kind of ran out in the middle and no one updated me.”

“It went wonderfully,” Melinda assured him. The band is ecstatic over how well it’s going and Winona has been walking on air she’s so happy.”

“Of course, she’d be even happier if you spent some more time with her,” Becky added. “I think the events of the last couple of days have unnerved her a bit. I suspect she’s a little scared of you at the moment.

“Now that’s just silly,” Alex insisted, trying to finish off his snack so he could get back to the kissing again.

“Really?” Melinda asked pointedly. “Have you spent any time with yourself lately? You’ve been distant, distracted and uncommunicative. Add that to the amazing things you’ve pulled off, the fact you’ve been communicating with the dead and it’s enough to unnerve all of us.”

“Yeah, sorry about that, but along with the new knowledge I picked up about my past, as limited as it is, it’s given me even more to worry about. I’m concerned about how much I can pick up in the little time I have left, and whether it will be enough.”

“About that,” Becky said, leaning up on her elbow, all thoughts of fooling around forgotten for the moment. “I’m worried about these surges in your energy. They drain you so much, first getting you to burn extra energy to cope with it and then dropping your energy just as you need it to cope. I’m a little afraid, with as bad as the long term damage from the BCM is, these aberrant spikes might be the thing that eventually does you in. You’re really showing signs of the stress, and the effects of these energy bursts are even worse than the long term effects.” To illustrate her point, she ran her fingers through his hair and brought it back to show him the hair sticking to her fingers.

Shrugging, Alex leaned in and kissed her again, tweaking her nipple while he was at it.

“That’s the benefit of having your own healing energy,” he responded, smiling broadly when he was done. “As for wear and tear on my body, we’ve always known the BCM is damaging. There’s no erasing damage already done, and there’s no way I can either slow down the BCM or the energy spikes.” However, despite his words to the contrary, he ran his own hand through his hair, noticing his expanding forehead and steadily growing bald patch.

“Yeah, that might be so, but it’s also what’s killing you,” she answered him skeptically, glancing at him dubiously. “You never asked what happened to all the mice. Didn’t you notice they’re all gone?”

Alex rolled his eyes, dropping back to the bed, clearly in no mood to discuss his shortened lifespan. “Of course I’m aware of it. I noticed when everyone cleaned up all the equipment so there’d be no trace of the mice anymore. There’s not really any doubt what it means when people go to such extremes to hide something like that. The mice were expected to live for a couple of years, given what we knew about the effect of my BCM, but they started dying much sooner than that, so the effect is highly cumulative.”

“Yeah, well the two-year estimate was based on how long you’ve had the BCM coursing through you. We extrapolated that amount of time into mice years and figured they had a lot longer before they’d have as much exposure as you’ve had. Except they died much sooner and your own energy levels have been getting consistently stronger.”

“Really?” Alex asked, sitting up, as if he hadn’t been concerned enough before. “How much stronger?”

“Quite a bit,” a voice called out from the back of the van as Gini answered him. “Every time your abilities get boosted, your energy increases as well. At first the differences weren’t enough for us to really be sure, but the last several weeks, the advances are much more significant and the visible changes to your aura are as well.”

“And why hasn’t anyone bothered to mention this little detail to me?” Alex called out, also glancing meaningfully at his two sisters.

“Simple,” Becky answered. “You had no interest in knowing. Just like with the mice, the evidence was right there in front of you, and yet you chose to ignore it rather than address it yourself. Gini, like the rest of us, picked up your reluctance to face it, so we’ve been…,” she halted, afraid to finish.

“Afraid of confronting you with it,” Melinda answered for her. “Face it, we both love you tremendously, but we don’t blame Winona. You’ve not only been moody and distant, but your whole personality has changed. And given your new abilities and the knowledge you’re clearly not ready to reveal to the rest of us, we’re all a little terrified about what you either know or think may happen.”

“It’s not like I’d ever hurt anyone,” Alex protested, even though he couldn’t put much conviction in the argument, nor counter her accusation he was withholding information.

“No?” Melinda asked. “You froze two men’s brains into ice chunks with no more than a casual glance. You rendered Mickie unable to communicate without any planning. We’ve always known you’re capable of much more than you give yourself credit for, but lately, even we’ve been scared of what you’re ultimately capable of.”

“I worried about what I was doing to Mickie for a long time before I did anything,” Alex said, looking more defensive than defiant.

“No,” Becky contradicted him. “You spoke to Anh, Liv and Caity, and while I’m sure you had a good long talk with them, when you discuss things telepathically, it happens almost simultaneously. To everyone else, you simply frowned for a couple of seconds, and then suddenly she’s speaking gibberish.”

“And while the rest of us are horrified at what you’d done, you didn’t even hesitate, instantly realizing what you’d accomplished, as if you’d done it intentionally,” Melinda added. “As we said, you’ve been acting like someone we don’t even know lately.” She looked at him pleadingly, sticking out her lower lip. “Personally, I’d kind of like my old brother back.”

Alex’s heart broke at that and he gathered both girls into his arms. “Don’t worry. I’ll admit, facing your own impending death, realizing how much you don’t actually know and just how damaging what you do know can be is a thoroughly humbling experience.”

“Well, as much as we’d all like the old Alex back, we’d prefer the friendly, hesitant but careful person you were on the trip here from home,” Becky pointed out, enjoying being held protectively by her younger brother. “We’re not quite as anxious to have you revert to the nerdish, shy kid you were before that.”

“Well, don’t worry,” he told them, kissing them both reassuringly. “I’m not planning on going anywhere, and I’m not about to hurt either you or any of my many beautiful followers.”

“Ha!” Melinda exclaimed disbelievingly. “Are you actually going to sit there and tell us you aren’t going to die any day now? When you started this trip, we figured you had at least a couple of years before anything happened.”

“And when you hit Vegas, we knew it was more serious, but we figured you’d at least make it home again so Mom and Dad could see you again and we could all take care of you,” Becky added, also sitting up, leaving the comforting shelter of his arms.

“You can’t even assure yourself you aren’t going to die at any moment, not to mention us,” Melinda reminded him, poking him in the chest with her finger for emphasis. “We may not be looking forward to it, but we’re all painfully aware of it, and pretending you aren’t isn’t going to help anyone.”

“Hey, Gini,” Alex called into the back as he tried to shelter his chest. “I may need some protection from my concerned sisters.”

“Good, maybe they can beat some sense into that thick head of yours,” she responded, sounding anything but sympathetic to his plight.

“But seriously,” Becky said, getting back to her point, “you need to focus on minimizing those peaks and valleys in your energy levels. The normal wear and tear of your exposure is bad enough, but those dramatic variations are much worse,” she said, kissing his chest in apology for the abuse she and Melinda were heaping on him.

“Well, she may be willing to forgive and forget,” Melinda sternly told him as he stole a few bites of his dinner, “but there’s also the issue of what you’re going to do about this newest discovery. While you’ve been out, everyone has been discussing it and they’re concerned that if you were to die unexpectedly, you’d take the very information we need with you. You’ve got to figure out how to communicate with the other world, so you can tell each of us how to get there—especially so, if and when you do cross over again, you can tell us how to accompany you. We see this as a mutli-lifetime mission and we realize we need to accompany you in order to finish it. You can’t take that away from us,” she insisted, looking like she was about to simultaneously cry and punch him out.

“I’m not about to subject anyone else to what I put Mickie through,” Alex mumbled, losing much of his defiance.

“No?” Melinda responded, arching her eyebrow at him, a little emotional clue Alex missed when dealing with his many Seer followers. “You didn’t erase her mind or kill her like you’re so frightened of, so don’t give us this ‘I’m terrified of what I might do’ business. But what’s more, you’ll hurt us all if you cut us out of your future. You can’t leave us behind when you go. We know you. You don’t function well on your own, either in this life or the next. You need us along, and you can’t do all you’ve accomplished here without the support of the people you’ve brought over with you!” she insisted, once again stabbing him in the chest with her finger—which was surprisingly sharp and potent.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I just don’t have enough control over what I’m doing and I have no clue what the next step in the process is. At least with Mickie, I had an idea of what I needed to do, and when I considered it, I had a clear insight about how to accomplish it. But with the rest—trying to figure out how to get the precise geographical information from the other dimension—I’ve got no clue. I’m not even sure it’s possible. There’s just no area in the human brain which has the kind of mental processing needed to accomplish that.”

“OK, but at least that shows you’re thinking about it,” Becky said, taking pity on Alex as she pulled him to her and rolled him away from her sister so he’d be protected from her abuse. “If we know you’re working on it, then that’s all we can ask. But when you insist you aren’t interested in pursuing it, then we worry—not just about you, or us, but about all of your followers,” she emphasized before ending the conversation with a kiss she showed no signs of giving up on anytime soon.

Melinda harrumphed, just for effect, before settling in behind Alex, again hugging him tightly to her. As much as she was challenging him, she was also scared. For him and for what he was both facing and becoming. It frightened all of them, and they wanted to help him carry that heavy load, even as they knew they could never relieve him of it. But neither one challenged him anymore, as their interests became much more carnal after that, and the most anyone said consisted of moans and the occasional breathless whispers of names. Now that they were aware he was conscious of the issues and somewhat recovered, they were more than willing to also help him forget—for the next hour or so, at least.

To Be Continued

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