Crumbly Writer’s Stories
		“Normalcy Is Harder Than It Looks”
		Book 3 of “The Catalyst” Series
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Chapter 15:  A Dinner, a Bun, a Celebration and a Rescue Rewarded

           

I woke to an even more crowded bed than normal the next morning. There were two additional bodies, three if you count Nikki, on an even smaller bed than usual. There were arms, legs and hair everywhere. Since everyone liked to cuddle me, I found myself at the bottom of the heap. I figured I couldn’t get up without dumping everyone on the floor, so I proceeded to clear my throat several times, in ever increasing volume.

I guess I’m becoming more regimented as I now wake up without an alarm clock, since so many things are happening to me each day that I don’t want to miss it. When I’d spent all my time reading and playing games, I found it hard to wake up in time for school each day. Now that I was performing miracles, discovering new people, starting sororities and foundations, and buying a loft; getting up each day seemed much easier, despite the worries I faced walking into school every day.

Finally people started moving. Amy had to look a few times to figure out where she was. She looked a little panicky when she first found herself in a pile of naked girl flesh. She seemed relieved when she noticed me lying under everyone. I got everyone up and moving, allowing me to finally climb out of bed. I helped the other girls up as well, especially Cate, since she always slept curled up around me.

“Alex, you won’t believe what last night meant to us,” Tina said, speaking for both Amy and her. “We’ll always treasure it, and we plan on using the new abilities to help you as much as we can.”

“That’s nice to hear, but don’t forget to have some fun along the way. And make sure you use it to help yourselves and protect those around you as well. That’s why we’re starting the sorority, after all,” I told them. “Now let’s get moving. There are a lot of bodies to pass through the shower this morning.”

“Don’t worry, you go shower,” Amy told me. “We’ll go downstairs and help get everything ready. We can leave after the rest of you are gone. Allison and Shani said they’d give us a lift to the Amtrak station.”

So I followed the stream of naked butts to the bathroom. While I was relieving myself, Nikki came up and stood beside me, watching me handle myself. When I looked questioningly at her she responded.

“Just wanted to make sure it was human sized,” she told me with a smile. “With what everyone keeps saying I wasn’t so sure. So what does it do? Shoot laser beams or something?” Then she turned serious before I had a chance to think of a clever reply. “You know, you can do the same thing with me you did with Tina. You didn’t ask about my sexual history, but I really didn’t fool around all that much. Several semi-boyfriends who, each time I caught them cheating, I had myself checked afterwards. I was really paranoid about AIDS and STD transmitted cancers. But the use of a prophylactic should make you feel better. You’ll have to wait to see if I’m really a whack job, though,” she concluded with a teasing smile. I just had to lean over and give her a quick kiss, before sprinkling a few drops on her leg for effect. She squawked and backed up quickly. By then I was already climbing into the shower.

“It’ll have to wait till I get home from school,” I called back as I wiggled in between a couple of enticingly cute naked bodies. “And then you’ll have to fit it in between my session with Betty and my dinner with Kitty’s parents. But you’ll be at the top of the list after all of that.”

The shower was, as expected, crowded. It wasn’t very large, as it was just a typical prefab shower/bath stall. Allison, Natalie and Cate were all crowded in there, and four really didn’t fit very well. In fact, it was so tight I had to hold on to a spare set of breasts just to keep from being jostled out of the shower.

“I’m done. I’ll give you some room,” Allison told us. “Shani and Anh already laid out your clothes for you, Alex, and they’ve set out your evening wear for this evening as well.” Once she left we had enough room for me to steal a kiss or two.

“Don’t get me started,” Cate told me. “If you keep acting provocative, we may never make it to school. Once I start on you everyone here will want a piece of you, and next thing you know you’ll be late for your dinner tonight.”

I grumbled, but couldn’t complain too much when my mouth was otherwise engaged. I stopped so I could concentrate on my shower. I didn’t have time to wash everyone’s hair, but it was still fun washing the one nearest me.

When we exited there was the usual mix of people coming and going into the shower. Anh was currently occupying the toilet, which meant she was eye-level with Shani’s crotch as she walked by.

“Giữ trên một thời điểm, Shani,” she said, forgetting we didn’t all speak Vietnamese, but Shani took her intention and stopped. The way Anh was staring at Shani’s crotch I thought she was going to comment about her needing a fresh shave, but instead Anh put her hand on Shani’s pubic area, then stood up and enveloped her in a hug, completely surprising Shani.

She turned and called out to everyone nearby, “Hey, everyone, Shani is pregnant!”

Instantly pandemonium resulted. Everyone ran into the small bathroom, never designed for this many people. It seemed after everyone hugged Shani they had to give me one as well. It took a bit for me to finally get the full story.

‘I saw baby aura glow,’ Anh eventually explained, having repeated the story many times. She was so excited she wasn’t being quite as careful with her English anymore, but I got the gist of it. “Since you gone, we no walk round nude or pay tension to lower bits. When Shani walk pass I baby aura saw. It be no emotion or colors, just different light than mother Shani. You child aura good look. Be very pleasant,” she told me, giving me a heartfelt hug.

“So, can you also tell the sex?” I asked teasingly.

“No, silly. Sex no have color, just big weenies,” she teased back. I wondered how she ever got the translation of weenie.

Needless to say it took a while before we all made it downstairs, and when I did I was swarmed by well-wishers.

“I can’t believe it, I’m finally going to get my psychic grandbaby I kept teasing about,” my mother said, crying in my arms. “I don’t know whether to be happy or scared.”

“Relax, Mom, chances are it will be a normal baby. Besides, you raised me fine, and you never knew there was anything special about me.”

“Oh, no,” she told me, pushing me back so she could look me in my eyes. “We always knew each of you are special. There are magical abilities, but then there’s simply knowing one’s children. Even without your ability, you and your siblings are phenomenal people. And don’t any of you ever forget it!”

Cate surprisingly seemed to have no intent on congratulating me, as she was busy running from one person to another talking about the ‘blessed event’. I didn’t know if she was excited about a new child or about what my girls were seeing of the week old fetus. I figured things were getting out of hand and I needed to establish some control, otherwise no one would get to work or school on time.

“Nikki, have one of the girls take you to the store to buy yourself some new clothes. They’re all pretty good about picking out nice things, so you shouldn’t have any trouble. I’m sorry to be leaving you on your own so much, but I’m a bit jammed these days,” I told her, before turning to Tina and Amy.

“Girls, thank you for all of your help. I appreciate it tremendously, and I look forward to working together in the future. What the two of you are doing is a big help to what I’m trying to achieve.” I gave them both a big hug before my mother finally directed me to my seat at the dining room table. The breakfast table was way too small for this big of a crowd. I was hungry and dying for some coffee. I might wake up on my own, but I still need caffeine to stay awake. Luckily Anh rescued me by bringing me a cup, along with a congratulatory kiss. Somehow I think I appreciated her understated approach as it was a bit of a relief.

Cate hurried me to finish my breakfast, though, as she told me I had something else to do that morning. After we both finished eating, she guided me out to her lab where she took out two mice and asked me to just give them a small dose of energy each, making sure I managed to spread the energy throughout them. She then took out two rabbits, I noticed she’d added a couple of extra ones from somewhere. She told me to drain the energy from the leg bones of each just like I’d done with Jennifer. I did as she asked and that was it. What she was testing seemed pretty clear. She would have me drain energy from the rabbits’ bones, then test the strength of the bones to see if I had potentially caused Jennifer’s injury. In the other, I guess she was testing to see if the animals I gave the energy to did better, health wise, than her test subject. Pretty basic, but necessary tests.

We returned, Cate and I managed to grab our stuff and we extricated ourselves from the overjoyed members of my extended family. I managed to give everyone a goodbye kiss and we were off.

I thought about the long drive to Carbondale I made each morning as we drove. Having a loft in the city would make things much easier for us. It would cut at least an hour off of our daily commute. Cate was clearly excited this morning. Both the details of my encounter with using rubbers last night and the news of Shani’s condition had her full of new scientific questions, as well as a strong need to simply gossip about the news. She managed to talk most of the way there.

When we got to Becky’s, Cate insisted on rushing inside where she quickly informed everyone of Shani’s news. I only reached the house in time to hear the tail end of her description of events, but everyone had to congratulate me. Both Becky and Melinda felt emboldened by the events of Sunday to give me big good morning kisses, although I’m not sure it was even noticed in the excitement of the morning. Caroline asked Cate if she was OK with the news, but my sister assured her she was excited by it, and she was ready to welcome a whole series of nieces and nephews. Cate then informed her she had no plans for any children of her own, either by me or otherwise for some time to come.

Becky and Melinda were all atwitter over the idea of a new baby, telling me how much they planned on spoiling it for me. I told them both it was fine, as long as they didn’t mind babysitting and changing it for us occasionally, though I doubt I’ll have to worry about volunteers for that. If anything, Shani might feel like she won’t be able to play with her own baby enough.

When I finally picked Kitty up, both she and Chalise were excited at discussing Shani’s condition, as well as the activities at the big sorority party, and didn’t seem to be particularly interested in what did or didn’t happen between Tina, Amy and me. I tried to tell them anyway, but Cate just pressed her finger to my lips, letting me know they weren’t concerned with the details. They trusted me to do the right thing. So we ended up discussing all the various girls they’d met on Sunday, and what Shani’s child may grow up to become for the rest of the journey. Since the girls’ ability to see auras did nothing in determining a child’s sex, we were still in the dark about certain details.

Somehow Kitty and Chalise seem to have decided they were going to attend SIU, and their education plans now revolved around what would help me the most. I guess they talked about a lot more than I suspected during their nightly phone conversations. I wisely decided to keep my own contributions to that discussion at a minimum.

Once we arrived at school we all headed across the parking lot. Cate asked again to be let off a ways from the parking lot, though now I realized why.

As we walked to the school, I noticed Tony and a few other guys who disliked me, like Tyler Cox and his pals. Kitty and Chalise moved closer to me, but I didn’t want a repeat of the other day. Tyler and his cronies sidled up to Tony, perhaps to face off against me, but Tony wanted nothing to do with them. As a result they all glared at us separately as we walked past them. However, I wasn’t about to let them disturb my excellent mood this morning, so I just marched past them without as much as a glance at them. Luckily no one tried anything. Perhaps because the entire school was watching what anyone tried on me. It had taken a while for Shani’s news to finally sink in, but I wasn’t about to let my good mood over recent events be disturbed by a couple of angry individuals.

There were no confrontations in school, but there was news. It seems the events of the Friday evening games were running rampant through the school. The girl who had been rushed to the hospital for the broken arm no one had previously detected, and the soccer player who had been cleared to play by the girls, seemed to have the whole athletic crowd positively enthused. It seems each of them wanted to personally thank me for what I’d managed to arrange for the school. I surely didn’t want to tip any of them off that the girls providing the service were all living with me, though.

Luckily no one at school had any clue we were involved at SIU yesterday. Lunch was interesting. All the kids suspected something was up with us, and kept trying to get us to tell them what had happened over the weekend, but none of us would talk of anything other than generalities. Cate kept dropping subtle hints, but no one seemed to pick them up, so they didn’t guess what had happened this morning. However the conversation soon turned to the dinner at my house the next day. I had little doubt the news would leak out once everyone was gathered at the house. Of course, Betty could hardly sit still the entire lunch period she was so excited about tonight. I half expected to find her seat wet when she finally stood up, though from what source, I wasn’t sure.

I passed Mike during the day. He glared, but since he knew everything he might say to me would be reported he wisely kept his mouth shut for once.

At the end of the day I found Betty waiting for me outside. She was nervous about walking to the car where Kitty and Chalise were waiting on her own, so I escorted her. Both Kitty and Chalise were extremely nice to her, telling her how much she was going to appreciate it, and what all the other girls had said about the experience. Betty’s eyes were big, but whether she couldn’t believe she was finally going to sleep with me, or she couldn’t believe my girlfriends’ attitude, I wasn’t sure.

Cate calmly informed me she was driving today, and I’d have to sit in the crowded back seat between my two girlfriends while everyone talked to Betty on the way home. I didn’t make any immediate connection to the comment. The girls all talked on and on. Although they avoided the topic of Shani’s pregnancy, they did discuss their plans on attending SIU and the plans for the new sorority which we’d started. Betty decided right there she’d change all her college application plans to attend along with them.

I was surprised when I finally noticed we were heading in the wrong direction, driving away and not towards Carbondale. When I asked Cate where she was heading she simply told me to focus on what was important, which were the three women currently fawning over me. I figured I’d find out in good time, so I followed my sister’s excellent advice. Everyone around me was much too focused on my succeeding in life for them to overlook anything important.

I was further surprised when we drove up to our house in Shawneetown. But Cate simply smiled when she turned back to me.

“The girls decided you didn’t have time to drive Chalise all the way to Carbondale if you’re going to do Betty any justice and still make it to dinner tonight. So I’ll drive everyone home for you. You just focus on what’s important,” she reminded me again. I took her advice and escorted Betty into the house, hearing Cate beep my own horn at me as they drove away. They probably appreciated the ability to gossip without me there, anyway.

Betty was impressed by everyone in the house, even though she missed those currently at work. The girls introduced themselves, as well as detailing their personal histories and what their own abilities were. I practically had to drag her away so we’d have enough time to do the deed we’d gotten together for. I tried to make our time together special, but she was so excited to finally be in bed with me, I thought I might as well not be there. She managed to have her first orgasm while I was sucking on her breasts before we’d even gotten all of our clothes off. I playfully reminded her that preliminary orgasms didn’t count, and she still had to have one with me in order to reap any benefits. She then started to tell me how just ‘being with me was more than she’d ever wanted or needed’. I finally had to shut her up by kissing her. After all, we only had so much time.

Like everyone else, she was much more interested in my making love to her than in any preliminaries, so we got into it pretty soon. It seems that someone had been telling her about the benefits of full body contact with me were. I still took my time and made sure it was wonderful for her, but she was already going off like a Chinese New Year, so my efforts seemed to be overkill. When I finally came she promptly passed out. When she came to, Nikki and Natalie were there with a damp towel and some drinks to help revive her. We cuddled a little longer, and then she reminded me I was under a deadline.

“As much as I loved our time together,” she told me, “I know you’ve got an important dinner planned. Thanks for introducing me to your family, to all my new sisters, for everything you’ve done for me. I’ll treasure this for a long time.”

She saw I was nervous, so she kissed me tenderly. “Alex, don’t worry. Cate told me about your meeting with Kitty’s parents. It seems no matter what you do, you always manage to do it with style. Either it will work or it won’t. You worrying about it won’t affect the outcome. He’ll either love you or hate you, there doesn’t seem to be much middle ground with you, but I’m betting on the former.”

As soon as she released me, Anh, Nikki and Natalie swooped in and started laying out my clothes while they pushed me into the shower. They had the whole thing carefully timed.

When I came downstairs the girls fed me a quick snack, handed me three individual red roses and asked me if I knew what to do with them. “Yeah,” I responded, “give one to Fredrick, and if he takes a swing at me, give him the other two.” They laughed and told me “Exactly”. They each kissed me, being careful to not leave any lipstick stains, reminded me not to sit down while driving to Carbondale for the next hour, and pushed me out the front door in just enough time to make it to my dinnertime rendezvous.

---

I arrived early, so I was waiting when the Washersteins arrived, the table waiting for us. As they came in I walked up to Kitty’s father and shook his hand using both hands, then kissed Martha on the cheek and extended a single red rose to her, followed by another rose and another kiss on the cheek to Chalise with a wink on the side, followed by a final kiss for Kitty and her own rose delivered last.

As I was doing this I drank in the beauty of my dinner companions. Both Kitty and Chalise were gorgeous, dressed in long dresses which really showed off their physiques without revealing too much. They had made some excellent choices. I also noted they both had some new unique jewelry. I’d have to ask them about their new additions, since it was hard to find unique pieces this far from anything. Kitty’s mother, Martha, was also dressed exquisitely and took my breath away. If Kitty was going to end up looking like her mother, then I planned on growing old with her.

“I’m sorry for springing Kitty’s friend Chalise on you,” Fredrick hurried to apologize. “She was visiting with Kitty and we couldn’t very well abandon her. Anyway, I know it’ll stretch your limited funds, so I’ll cover her, at least,” he offered, hinting he’d be willing to pay for the rest of them if I should feel it necessary.

“Nonsense,” I assured him, “the more the merrier. Kitty told me Chalise was going to be staying over tonight, so I expected it. May I escort the two second most beautiful women to the table?” I asked, laying it on thick. Kitty and Chalise both looked nervous, but Chalise would hardly look at me for fear of giving something away. I finally stopped her, lifted her cheek until I was looking into her eyes, and just looked at her until she eventually nodded slightly, letting me know she’d leave it in my hands and simply follow my lead. With that I led them all to the table, walking just behind the maître d’. I noticed Fredrick watching me as if judging my actions, so I made sure I held the chairs for all three women. Luckily they jumped into the whole gallant young man routine quickly, so I had time to do it properly. Fredrick looked a little embarrassed by my actions—and his own inactions—but I gathered he was so surprised by them he didn’t have time to adjust to it. Finally I remained standing until Kitty’s father also sat, then smiled at them all and explained a little about the restaurant, about Kitty’s and my first date here, and what was good and what they specialized in.

Things were going well so far. When the wine steward came by Fredrick pointedly asked me if I had any recommendations, so I blushed and said, no, but I was sure he could do the selection justice. As we were waiting and everyone was reviewing their menus I decided to dive right in.

“Mr. and Mrs. Washerstein, this is going to be a bit awkward, but I have a confession to make.” When they looked up at me I went on. “Chalise’s visiting you tonight was no accident, we planned it.” I let that sink in for a minute, and Kitty’s father just stared at me, challenging me to explain so I continued what I knew was going to be a prolonged monologue.

“You see, I’m dating both Kitty and Chalise, Mr. Washerstein,” I explained. His eyebrow shot up and his face turned dark, so I resumed my explanation. “It’s not what you’d normally expect, and happened quite innocently. I’d been planning on just bypassing the whole high school dating scene, figuring I’d wait until I could date slightly more mature ladies once I reached college, but an acquaintance recently convinced me I’d be missing a lot by making such a choice, so I reconsidered.

“When I started to think about dating, I was stymied because some recent events generated some rumors about me. I found no one was particularly interested in either the truth, or me as a person, simply relying on their expectations of me to make all their decisions. However, through a strange set of circumstances, I met both Kitty and Chalise through the same contact. I’ll leave it to them to discuss the rumors and the circumstances, as I’m sure you’ll want to hear it without me putting my own spin on things.

“However, I was immediately struck by the fact that both girls didn’t prejudge me, and considered me simply for what I told them and what they heard about me. I gave them free rein to talk to whomever they wanted about me, giving them the names of the objects of the rumors, as well as my sister and each other’s numbers, so they could talk amongst themselves, and then I left it up to them.

“Luckily for me they saw my potential, and I began dating them both, assuming I’d be lucky if they didn’t both drop me before I had to embarrass myself by rejecting either one. However we found we all had similar temperaments and really got along well. I kind of jinxed the whole deal by asking them both not to gossip about the events in question, but giving them free rein to discuss it amongst themselves and those I put them in contact with. This ended up with the two of them soon becoming fast friends.

“The long and short of it is we decided we didn’t want to end the dating ritual, and that instead we should consider ourselves an extended couple. We’ve been going on both combined and separate dates, and have all enjoyed ourselves. And I’m on my best behavior knowing as soon as I make a mistake, they’ll both be talking about it as soon as my back is turned.” Everyone giggled at this, including Fredrick, who couldn’t seem to keep up the charade of being mad at me.

“Well, that’s about it. I’m sure you both have questions for me now. Go ahead and ask me anything,” I challenged. Of course, we all knew the only one with any serious questions would be Fredrick, as Martha was already firmly on my side in this discussion. I also had a feeling that both Kitty and Martha had been slowly working on Fredrick since the previous Sunday. They both sat and thought and I felt two nervous hands grasping mine.

“This is a bit abrupt, isn’t it? Just how long have you been … dating the two of them?” he asked me.

“Only for four weeks, sir; it’s been a very busy time, and we’ve managed to learn quite a bit since then. Personally, they already know enough about me they could easily blackmail me if they had any desire to, but we each trust each other implicitly. You’ve raised a very wonderful individual,” I stated in complete honesty. “However they seem to accept me, warts and all.”

“Yes,” he replied, “I’d like to discuss some of these warts, but since you said ‘any questions’, I’ll take you up on that offer. Are you sleeping with my daughter?”

“I’m glad you asked that, so I won’t have to be so indiscreet as to bring it up myself. The answer is yes. We first slept together the Friday before I first met you, when you helped us rearrange our house. It again was a group decision, with all three of us together so no one would have to worry about the others pulling something over on them, but I imagine in the future we’ll get together in a combination of group and isolated dates.”

“Hmm, I suspected as much, but I thought maybe it had been going on for a while before then as well,” he said. “This honesty thing seems to be recent, though, since you didn’t bother to introduce yourself, or tell me you were dating my daughter, and you were also very secretive about what you were all discussing that Sunday.”

I blushed a bit. “I’m sorry about that, sir, but I guess everyone felt a little embarrassed. You see, your daughter was helping a friend of mine teach me how to lie to them. It seems they’ve been worried about my inability to lie convincingly for some time.”

He glanced at me hesitantly, not sure if I was pulling his leg or not.

“I’ll be honest; I have a lot of secrets. I can’t tell either of you most of them, but let’s just say I have many women in my life. Each of whom feels they owe me a great deal. I also feel it is my duty to watch over each and every one of them, just like I feel it is my responsibility to take care of your daughter.

“Just like I told Kitty, I won’t lie to you, except by omission. There are several things you simply aren’t ready to know yet, mainly because you aren’t directly connected to the events in question. It would be hard for anyone outside of our group to understand what we have, but—”

Fredrick broke in at this point, apparently unable to hold his questions.

“Your ‘group’? You don’t mean you, Kitty and Chalise? You mean you’ve got a little cult, don’t you?”

“Well, I’d hardly consider it a cult, but you aren’t far from the truth, either. However, to divulge more would be to risk the safety of those I’ve sworn to protect. I would no more endanger them than I would Kitty or Chalise. I take everyone’s trust seriously. I also take both of your trust just as seriously. I assure you I have no plans to lead your daughter on, to expose her to any danger, or to unexpectedly leave her in the lurch.”

Fredrick sat there and considered my words for a few moments.

“You always seem to provide more questions than you do answers,” he commented.

“Ha, just wait until you hear everything he has to say, you’ll have even more questions,” Kitty suggested. I wasn’t sure now was the best time to bring this up, but she had a good point.

“He’s right, of course,” Martha said, coming clean. “We didn’t think it was appropriate to tell you before, but I was involved with helping train Alex to lie to Kitty and Chalise. They convinced me it was necessary, even without knowing all the details of his life. We didn’t mean to hurt you, but we thought you should have time to get used to things before we sprung too much on you,” she told her husband.

“And you don’t think inviting me over to move my daughter’s new lover’s furniture was springing too much on me too soon?” he asked. She shifted a little nervously in her chair.

“There’s a lot to deal with in my life,” I explained to him. “It took Kitty and Chalise a while to come to terms with them. Then it took your wife a while as well. When they decided to refrain from telling you, they were still in doubt themselves, so some missteps aren’t unexpected. However I’ll be frank with you. I’m currently living with five women, not including my family—even though I consider them all to be my family. I also have two who have an apartment in Carbondale, one in St. Louis, and a whole city full of fans in New Orleans. I recently visited St. Louis where I picked up about 20 new admirers, and I recently started up a new sorority to help shelter my followers at SIU, where we picked up about the same number of new additions.”

“You speak of ‘followers’, what is it you offer them? Are you starting a new church of some kind? I thought you said you weren’t involved in a cult.”

“No, sir, there is no cult, although I told you it was surprisingly close. There is nothing religious about what I’m doing. What I’m offering these women is information and insight about themselves, information which will substantially improve their lives. The reasons why I have this information, or why I need to tell them about themselves, or even why I can only convey such information to women instead of young men, is part of a whole separate discussion, but these people all depend on me, and I’m not going to betray trust by simply blurting out their secrets just for the sake of your curiosity.”

I could see him start to bluster over my tone, so I hurried to set him straight. “I’m not suggesting you don’t have every right to be concerned over your daughter, but what I’m hiding concerns many more people than just you and her. I didn’t go after your daughter because she fits in with this ‘movement’ of mine, but she’s taken it on as her own, and so far she’s helped me a great deal. The sorority she helped get off the ground this weekend will help a good number of women, both now and over the next several decades.”

Once again the extravagance of my claims seemed to confound him, as he wasn’t sure just how seriously to take any of what I said.

“You don’t have to worry about Kitty or me, sir,” Chalise offered. “Although we didn’t know all the details until very recently, Alex informed us very early he couldn’t tell what he was involved in. He also listed all the reasons why we shouldn’t get involved with him. However, there was an immediately chemistry between us, and we could see how much these people meant to him and how much he means to each of them. Essentially it was his honesty which won us over. Although he may not be able to tell you everything he’d like to. You should know he’ll always be as honest as he can be, and whatever he tells you, you can absolutely count on.”

“Look, I’m not sure why, but both my wife and Kitty seem to think the world of you. I’ll also admit, having met your parents and all the people who live with you, that you seem like a really good kid, so I’ll reserve my judgment. Right now, I’m willing to trust you’ll treat my little Kitty right, but if you get her into anything iffy, then all bets are off. Just like you, I look after those I take responsibility for. If you hurt Kitty, or put her into a dangerous position, I’ll come after you.”

“I believe you, sir, and I can respect your position. I can’t promise no harm will come to her, but I’ll do my best to either avoid getting her into trouble, or at the very least try to keep her away from it if it occurs. But could you talk to her about letting me fight my own fights. Seems she thinks she needs to get between me and those who don’t like me very much.”

Luckily that comment managed to trigger a whole new line of questioning. Both Kitty and Chalise were busy trying to justify themselves as we finally ordered dinner. Not being regular connoisseurs of French foods, Martha took my advice on what to order, while Fredrick order a steak dish, not realizing the steak wouldn’t be like he was expecting.

“Mr. Washerstein, you don’t know just how scary Alex’s girls can be,” Chalise told Fredrick. “They wouldn’t have a second thought about giving their lives for Alex. If we were responsible for something happening to him, we’re both afraid of just what they might do. Not that they’d hurt us,” she hurried to explain, “but the way they’d react, we’d feel terrible if something happened which we could have prevented.” He simply grunted, entirely unconvinced.

Trying to get the conversation back on track, I tried a new tack. “Kitty, why don’t you tell your father about your new college plans?”

She picked up on my attempt to distract him right away. “Oh, yeah. Daddy, I’m now planning on attending SIU. I’m going to bone up on my science and math skills, because I figure the hard sciences will produce better career options.”

“Really? You were harping on moving away and establishing your independence for a long time,” he asked, before turning to view me skeptically. “Are you the reason for this?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, but it’s mostly my sister’s influence. She’s big in the science front, and she has plans on achieving a Nobel prize in either biology or physics. My older sister, Becky, is currently working as an intern at a DNA lab at SIU as well.” I figured putting the blame on my sisters would get the conversation away from how I was unduly influencing Kitty.

“That’s a big step forward. So I assume part of it is to remain close to Alex?” Fredrick asked.

“Well, seeing as how all of his sisters will be there, and how we’re all looking at joining the same sorority, yeah, there will be some overlap. But Alex isn’t planning on going to college. He’s had to drop his plans for college for the next couple of years. He thinks he’ll do some traveling instead, as he tries to find his role in life,” she answered a bit obliquely.

“Well, I wouldn’t waste too much time if I were you, Alex. Employers aren’t very impressed by young men’s attempts to ‘find themselves’.”

However the break allowed the conversation to drift into a new area, and luckily, away from me. The rest of the dinner went pretty well. Fredrick really seemed to like me, but you always get a bit defensive when your daughter suggests joining a potential cult, taking up with an unemployed drifter, and taking part in a three-way relationship. I really couldn’t blame him for being defensive. I wouldn’t exactly chalk him up as a win yet, but he wasn’t actively opposing me at this point, which, given my history with other males, was definitely a step ahead.

---

When I got home everyone wanted to hear how the date went. While I didn’t exactly consider it a date, everyone informed me meeting the parents was a big part of the dating process, and how well I did counted a lot in a relationship, so it was actually more important than a normal date. They all agreed it sounded like I’d done pretty well for myself.

After I gave everyone a full briefing, Allison pulled me aside.

“Alex, I hate to spring this on you on the last minute, but it needs your immediate attention. Ryan wanted me to contact you immediately, and when I refused to interrupt your date, they decided to go ahead and schedule it, so he and Dr. Palmer, the heart surgeon, are planning on your participation.”

I had a feeling I knew what was coming. Ryan started this hoping to advance his hospital without revealing my abilities by attracting some influential surgeries to his hospital. It sounded like one fell into his lap.

“Before we get to that, you may as well tell me how the previous surgery turned out,” I told her.

“Oh, sorry if I didn’t keep you updated, but it turned out well. While there was still a scar, due to the radical nature of the surgery, it was substantially better than what you’d normally find. It didn’t change the overall outcome, but Ryan said he believes it will make a big impact on a lot of people.”

“OK, that’s nice to know. Not quite as satisfying as saving a life or allowing someone disabled by a mental condition to continue with their lives, but still not bad,” I told her, indirectly giving her my view of Ryan’s strategy.

“Well, anyway, Robert has a new patient lined up who he wants to bring to Carbondale so he can utilize your talents.” I sighed, knowing exactly where this was heading.

“And the patient’s name?” I asked her.

“They didn’t want to release it, but it’s a big name movie star. They want to reduce the scars of the surgery so he can resume his career on screen. As a result, he’s willing to contribute a fair amount of money to the hospital that can save his career. Ryan is also interested in the prestige of doing it locally, plus the word of mouth once it’s successfully done.”

“When do they need this to take place?”

“They’ve already scheduled it for tomorrow. It’s an emergency surgery, so they couldn’t put it off for long, but Robert managed for it to be transferred from Chicago to Carbondale simply on the basis of the results of the last surgery.”

“What about follow-up?” I asked, wanting specifics on how this would impact my life. I knew this was how the world operated, that advances followed the money, but I didn’t see my ‘mission’ in life being to help the vain rich remain good looking following surgery. I figured I could do much more helping the underprivileged than I could helping a few wealthy white men. Still, if a few people owed me a couple of favors, it certainly wouldn’t hurt. I also wanted to see Ryan recoup something for all the risk he was taking by giving me such latitude.

“They’re planning on having you stop by for a quick refresh treatment for several days. They figure you can do it when you pick up and drop off Chalise each day, so it wouldn’t really impact you that much.”

“Yeah, it’ll make it much easier if it’s not a big imposition. All right, if they think they can keep my name out of any media attention, and it won’t interfere with everything else in my life, tell them I’ll do it for them.”

“Good, they were so worried you might decide not to go along with it, after they’ve already make their plans. They wanted you to know the movie company is willing to offer you something if he can finish his role in his current action movie.”

“Please, the less you tell me the less I’m likely to object. Let’s not spoil a good thing,” I told her, smiling humorously but actually being quite serious. I still resented working for the vanity of rich white men.

“Also, did Avers tell you how the psych patients turned out?” I asked her.

“Oh yeah, so far they seem to be OK. They’ve been showing up for appointments, which Avers told Ricky to do since he was worried about him, and none of them have had a relapse yet, so it looks like it’s working.”

“That’s good to know,” I told her, happy that my magic had worked yet again, since I never knew when it would and when it wouldn’t.

When she pulled out her cell phone to call Ryan back, I noticed Nikki, who was standing nearby listening, and drew her upstairs with me.

In the hallway leading to my room I met Cate coming out, carrying her books with her. I motioned for Nikki to go ahead into the room without me while I spoke to my sister.

“I assumed you’d want to be alone with Nikki tonight, was I wrong?” Cate asked.

“No, this is pretty significant for me. I’d put it off for a bit, pretending I was worried about her health, but the fact of the matter is I’m afraid of my own emotions. She’s like my prodigal daughter, she was lost, and I lamented her, but now that she’s here I want to lose myself in her, ignoring everyone else.”

“I hardly think it’ll come to that,” Cate responded lightly. “You’ve been very good at giving everyone a lot of attention despite the numbers you have to deal with. But I get what you mean. I knew your time with her would be important to both of you, that’s why I’m going to make a night of it downstairs. And make sure you use your own bedroom. As you saw the last time, wherever you sleep is where everyone will gravitate to. If you want everyone else to be comfortable, make sure you take the most comfortable bed.”

“I will, and thanks for always understanding me so well. I’m not sure I could have explained to anyone just what this means to me. Now I’m just hoping I don’t spend all night crying instead of bringing her joy,” I responded.

“Don’t worry about either. What she needs now is to know she belongs, and that she’ll never be lost again. Even if you are somewhere else, there are now a lot of fellow Seers and Watchers who will look out for her. There’s even a couple of us ‘normals’ who will do whatever we can for her, so she’s got nothing to fear anymore. Just make sure she knows that, and that we will give her the time she needs to adjust to it.” With that, Cate kissed me lightly on the lips before turning and heading downstairs, carefully balancing all her books in her arms.

I finally entered my bedroom to find it empty of anyone else, despite the large number of people in the house, and with the ever present romantic music playing. I wondered whether Cate had set up the soundtrack or the girls had. The music was much more modern than older jazz or romantic ballads like it usually was.

Nikki was nervously removing her jeans, glancing at me as I approached. Her top was already gone, and I took a moment to take in her beauty once again. She was a beautiful girl, although she still looked a bit threadbare from her existence on the road for so long. I’d noticed she had some nice new clothes which made me feel better. Apparently my extended family was looking after her.

Her bare chest matched her face and hair, in that her dyed blond hair set off her fair skin in a way that most girls usually seemed to minimize contrast. I guess the dark roots and her natural eyebrows and lashes provided the distinction to her smooth flesh. However, her hollowed cheeks also highlighted her shrunken physique. You could literally count her ribs from across the room. We’d definitely have to fatten her up.

As I removed my jeans and proceeded to carefully fold my clothes, I couldn’t help it any longer. Heck, lying in a heap for a little while wouldn’t damage them, and I was sure one of my girls would take care of them for me. As a result I just dropped my clothes to the floor and took Nikki in my arms and held her tightly to my chest. I felt a tightness in my throat which made my voice sound odd and fragile.

“Nikki, you don’t know how often I stayed up late at night and thought of you during the course of the day, worrying about where you were or how you were faring. It’s so good to have you here, safe and where you belong, in my arms and where I can help protect you.”

“Shh,” she said, gently trying to console me. “There’s nothing to worry about now, Alex. I’m here and I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. I felt the same way about you. I knew you were out there, although I had no way of knowing who you were, or even what you were like. But I always imagined you were this kind and generous lover, just like you turned out to be.”

With that she pulled back from my embrace, took my hands and pulled me into the bed. I won’t bore you with what happened, because most of what occurred was a very slow and intimate exploration of each other which lacked any definite beginning, middle or end, and thus makes for very poor reading. I couldn’t seem to get enough of simply touching every inch of her skin, and I explored every fold, every wrinkle and every blemish I could find.

It actually took a long time until we started to get sexual, although there was a strong sexual current running between us the entire time we were touching. I guess she didn’t have enough full body contact to benefit from my energy, but we could feel a sexual charge running through us which I didn’t think had anything to do with my own abilities. But mostly I just wanted to show her how cherished she was, and how much I wanted to protect her and take care of her. I was sure she’d eventually become a strong and useful member of my overall team, but right now she was my little lost sheep who needed encouragement and taking care of.

When we finally began making love she was like the other girls, not terribly interested in oral lovemaking, preferring the feel of my full body against her skin. But actually, I think that was due more to the feeling of raw sexuality that seemed to ripple across our skin whenever we touched.

She managed to have several orgasms as we made love, though I held off as long as I could, taking my time to worship her body and to memorize it’s every detail, as if afraid it would be taken away again, and I wanted to be sure I could remember her this time. Despite the slow build up and the level of excitement we both felt, we never fell into a rollicking free-for-all. Instead we kept up the slow loving, just soaking in each other’s love. Having her in my arms seemed to be enough for me. Having an orgasm was completely secondary, almost an intrusion into what we were sharing between us.

When I eventually felt myself drawing close to my own orgasm, I forced myself to maintain an even cautious pace, afraid if I got too carried away she might bolt. When I came I was forced to close my eyes tight from the sheer intensity of it, and I felt like I was emptying my essence into her. I can’t remember if she cried out or not. Heck, I can’t even remember whether I did. But it was an explosive event by anyone’s count.

When I finally had enough presence of mind to regard my surroundings again, I checked to see how she was. She was a bit out of it, probably from the overwhelming of her senses the changes I made to her brain caused, but I thought the emotions we both put into each other had a lot to do with it. I immediately put out a call for someone to bring us something to revive her with, and it seemed like only moments later the door swung open and Cate and Shani were there, pouring us both drinks and wiping us down.

I waved off any attempts to administer to myself, wanting them to focus on Nikki, but Cate insisted on taking care of me as well.

“She’ll be even more lost if she causes you any undue stress, Alex,” she cautioned me. As always, my sister knew just what to say to me, and I took her offered drink as I watched Nikki slowly recover.

They both allowed us to share our afterglow, and we took time to talk.

“Alex?” she asked me, after we’d lain together for a while. “I know this is a sour subject for you, but I’m concerned about how you may have treated Clair.”

“How so? What did you hear?” I asked her.

“Oh, I heard how unreasonable she was, but you can’t always expect people to be at their best when they first encounter you. But, beyond that, I can feel her disappointment at letting you down. I felt so lost when I lost touch with you, I felt incomplete, like my life would never be full again, that I would always be missing an essential part of me. I can only imagine what she must be feeling now, knowing you were so disappointed in her and that you personally rejected her. I can hardly imagine how badly she feels. At least with me I didn’t know who or what I was missing. In her case she’ll always know she drove the one person who means more to her than life itself away.”

I could relate to her feelings and where they were coming from, but I still remained cautious. “I was trying to protect everyone. I didn’t think she was stable enough. I thought she represented a threat to all of us,” I told her, trying to explain my thinking.

“I know that, and it makes sense, but I think you need to give her a second chance. I’m sure she’s been crushed by what you did to her, and I’m sure she’s more than willing to change whatever you want her to.”

“It wasn’t that I want her to change, Nikki. It’s that I didn’t think she was safe. I don’t mind if someone has a different world view or different opinions than I do. But I thought she was likely to fly off the handle at any moment, that the slightest jostling of her world view would set her off. As much as I love each and every one of you, I’ve got to be vigilant of all of you as well.”

“I understand that, Alex. But you were cautious of me as well. You were afraid that my psychosis might be real, and you were setting yourself up for disappointment. Could you be doing the same to her? Maybe you’re reading more into her personality than is actually there?”

“I’ll admit, Gail had some of the same reservations. She thought I was much too hard on her. I’ll tell you what, I’ll think about it for a few days, and then I’ll contact her and see if she seems any better.”

“Thanks for that, Alex. It really means the world to me. I just can’t imagine that kind of disappointment. If I was to lose you after having been lost for so long, I’m not sure whether I could survive. Just make sure you talk to her before she has a chance to do anything to herself, will you?”

“Yeah, I’ll do that, Nikki. I’ll do that for you.”

           

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