“The Catalyst” Series Book 6
		“Building a Legacy”
		Crumbly Writer All rights reserved © 2013
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10:  Some Long Lost … Faces

           

“I’m telling you, it’s won’t be the same without the two of you here,” Alex told Kitty and Chalise, hoping to convey just how much he’d miss them.

“Park here, it’s close and we’re likely to be here a while,” Cate suggested, pointing out a spot.

Alex did as she asked, before climbing out and grabbing the bags out of the back, unloading an extra set of bags he hadn’t anticipated. “Hey, whose bags are these?”

“Those would be mine,” Cate informed him, grabbing and moving them out of the way. When Alex turned to ask her what they were doing there, she enfolded him in her arms. “I didn’t want to tell you earlier and I swore everyone else to secrecy, but I’m heading home.”

“Home?” Alex blurted, shocked at this newest revelation. “What the hell? Why didn’t you tell me? What about arrangements? You’ve got all our records, all our contacts!”

“Relax. Just shut up and hug me goodbye, you big lug,” she advised him. “Don’t worry about the details; they’re already taken care of.”

Alex glanced over Cate’s shoulder at Kitty and Chalise, but they just shrugged, showing they had nothing further to add.

“Why is it you insist on blindsiding me every time I turn around?” Alex demanded, pushing her back so he could confront her. “Wouldn’t it make more sense informing me of a sudden change this significant?”

“Hey, I’m not the only one who likes to create dramatic moments,” Cate argued.

“She’s right about that,” Chalise chimed in. “Consider that scene in San Diego. You could easily have warned us what was going to happen, prepared us for what we were going to encounter, or at least assured Cate you weren’t about to be killed and to not throw herself in front of you. But instead you chose to remain silent, just like she’s been doing, all to achieve some sort of dramatic effect.”

Alex blushed, realizing they’d caught him and recognizing they both shared the same propensity.

“Still, it would have been useful knowing what to expect. I could have made arrangements.”

“Like what?” Cate asked sweetly. “If you knew, you’d have fretted and ignored everything that’s been happening the past couple of days. You’d have screwed up your meetings and you wouldn’t have been as quick in dealing with the producer yesterday.”

“Well, at least it explains what the two of you were up to the last two nights,” Alex said, glaring at Kitty and Chalise as he finished unloading the last of their bags.

“What the hell did you tell him?” Cate demanded rounding on her two friends, hands firmly planted on her hips. “I thought we’d agreed to not tell him anything?”

“We didn’t say anything,” Kitty said, holding her hands up to show she wasn’t hiding anything.

“We simply told him he needed to pay you some more attention, that’s all,” Chalise explained. “We couldn’t imagine you walking off if he hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye properly.”

“Well, I’ve got to admit, his goodbye last night was pretty spectacular,” Cate admitted, grabbing her suitcases and leading everyone towards the terminal building. “It’ll give us something to discuss on the plane,” she added with a giggle.

“You’re going straight home, then?” Alex asked. “Not on some secret mission like Gail did? You’re just abandoning me and our mission?”

Cate stopped, releasing her suitcase so she could face Alex directly. “That’s hardly fair. No, I simply wanted to return home and regroup,” she answered, even as Kitty and Chalise rolled their suitcases around Alex like a stubborn boulder, blocking their path but not presenting an insurmountable obstruction. “In case you haven’t noticed, you keep the stress at a fairly critical level here. Plus, I miss our parents and I also need to make arrangements for college in the fall.”

“Oh, yeah, I’d forgotten about that,” Alex admitted.

“That’s understandable, since you’re not attending college yourself, but there’s a lot of prep work you have to do before you show up on their doorstep.” Cate’s arguments sounded a little too well-defined, as if she’d been practicing them for just this moment.

“Still, you could have given me a little warning. Like maybe when we were getting ready to leave the hotel this morning?”

“Don’t worry,” Cate told him, setting off for the walkway leading to the departure terminal, “I’m sure you’ll manage to find a couple of girls to take over for me. You’ve never had any problem finding plenty of volunteers.”

Though late in grasping the situation, Alex quickly got his act in gear, rushing forward to grab Kitty and Chalise’s bags. “What about the damn mice?” Alex asked as he struggled to balance all the bags.

“Don’t worry about them; you’ve watched me long enough. Plus I’ve left all my notes so it shouldn’t be hard to figure out what to do.”

“But I’m not even sure which ones are which. I’m also not familiar with your procedures,” he whined, even though he knew he was bringing up pointless arguments, but he just felt the rug had been yanked out from under him and was struggling to reestablish his footing.

“The starving half dead ones are the Alex mice, the active fat ones are the Seers, the healthier ones are the Seekers while the lethargic ones are the normal mice, bored out of their little minds,” Cate laughed over her shoulder, not granting Alex the benefit of taking his concerns seriously. She knew it was better to get this over with quickly. Humoring him would negate her efforts in springing this on him.

Alex hurried to catch up to her as she marched into the terminal, the glass doors opening to admit them. She was already heading to the check-in gate by the time he caught up to her, struggling with the girls’ bags.

“Still…, don’t I get to take some time to acclimate myself to this?” he asked.

Cate stopped, dropping her bags and grabbing his arms to reassure him.

“Don’t worry,” she said, kissing him again. “You’ll handle everything. But I’ve got yet another surprise for you. Don’t look, but I’ve got a couple people for you to meet.”

“Huh?” Alex cleverly replied, trying to adjust to yet another surprise. His mind was already spinning wildly. He didn’t know just how many surprises he could take.

“Hey, sailor, you look like you’ve been left adrift in a strange port without your emotional passport,” a familiar voice called out. Alex quickly spun around, even as Cate smiled widely, looking like the Cheshire cat caught with a mouse dangling from its mouth.

“Becky?” Alex asked, unable to believe his eyes. He quickly noticed the person beside her, also familiar. “Melinda? What the hell are you two doing here? What is this, an episode of ‘This Is Your Life’?”

“I love you too,” Becky told him, enveloping him in a hug. “Though you need to get some more up-to-date references than 50’s TV shows you were too young to watch.”

“Yeah, if I’m too young to know about them, then how do you recognize the references?” he asked as his other sister, Melinda, joined their group hug.

“Hey, Alex, glad to see you again.”

“So what the hell is going on?” Alex asked, pulling back and regarding everyone. “What are you doing here?”

“They’re here to take over for me,” Cate told him matter–of–factly. “I’ve already told them everything they need to know, except for the latest bits about Winona; you’ll have to watch out for that little bitch,” she urgently told them as an aside. “Other than that, they’re both ready to take over for me. Here, you’ll need these,” she said, handing Becky her iPad and iPhone.

“Please, I’m in charge of those,” Melinda replied, taking them both from her. “She’s in charge of your experiments and keeping track of Alex.”

“Keeping track of me?” Alex asked, not sure exactly what that entailed.

“Oh, you know, making sure you eat on time, tracking your followers, noting variations in your abilities,” Becky explained. “We spent quite a while dividing up Cate’s tasks. For everything she does, we could have used several additional sisters.”

“I’m sure you could have found a few in Carbondale,” Kitty suggested with a laugh.

“Yeah, but we didn’t want to overwhelm our poor brother,” Becky said. “As it is, it looks like someone left the farm this morning with the barn doors wide open.”

When Alex hurriedly looked down, checking his fly, Becky stepped up, pushing his dangling jaw closed.

“You guys say hello, we’ve still got to check in,” Cate told them, as she, Kitty and Chalise filed by.

“If everyone knew what was going on, why couldn’t anyone bother to inform me?” Alex asked in exasperation. “I mean, what’s the use of telepathic abilities if no one ever tells you anything?”

“Ixnay on the elepathytay,” Melinda insisted, again pressing his jaw closed to emphasize her point.

“Yeah, if you can’t speak in your ‘interior voice’, then don’t speak at all,” Becky cautioned him. But that comment caused Alex’s thoughts to spiral further out of control.

“Did you know about this?” he asked, turning on Gini.

“Hey, I’m just the hired help. I don’t make any decisions and I don’t question what anyone else does unless it directly involves your safety,” she advised, still casing the room.

“Some guard you are,” Alex groused. “You can’t even protect me from my sisters. What are you going to do if one of them tries to give me a wedgie?”

“Hey, I stopped doing that years ago,” Becky laughed. “But yeah, those are fond memories,” she added with a wistful grin.

“See?” Alex said, looking again at Gini.

“Hey, you weren’t the only one she did that to, and I never did it to you,” Melinda argued.

“No, you didn’t, but you had your own methods of tormenting me,” Alex responded, frowning at the memories.

“Don’t worry, if they try it now you can always melt their minds,” Gini told him with a playful pout, despite her personal delight at watching Alex try to fend off the combined forces of his two sisters. Despite bulking up to compete against men, she still appreciated the way Alex’s sisters all stood up for themselves. They weren’t always right, but they weren’t afraid to let you know where they stood. And that was something Gini respected.

“So these bags are yours?” Alex asked halting his complaints long enough to take in the obvious items standing before him.

“Yeah, we got in earlier, about two hours ago. Cate wouldn’t arrange for us to be picked up any earlier, wanting to preserve our surprise, so we’ve been sitting in the coffee shop over there. Frankly, I could stand to pee,” Melinda told him.

“Hey, I’ve got a nice wall outlet you could use,” Alex suggested, only half-joking. Despite how well they turned out, he really didn’t like this kind of surprise.

“How about you show us the car, so we can store our gear and then you can come back and say goodbye to all your girlfriends,” Becky suggested.

Still grumbling, Alex led the way out after checking and seeing the three girls busy talking amongst themselves, not even glancing back to see how he was faring.

---

“Man, that took a long time! I didn’t think you’d get a chance to say goodbye to everyone,” Melinda observed as Alex drove away from the airport, heading out on the long drive back to San Francisco.

“It just shows I’ve got absolutely no control over when and where people might show up. The problem is, you have to address it right then or you might never see them again,” Alex explained.

“Still, you’d think they’d be able to wait while you said goodbye to everyone,” Melinda commented. “Not giving you time to say goodbye to your girlfriends was just rude.”

“They were heading out as well,” Alex replied with a heavy sigh. “They didn’t count on my being there any more than I planned on meeting them. If I hadn’t addressed them right away, they’d never have learned what they needed to know. By the way, you handled your initial indoctrination well, though there are a few rough points we’ll have to work on.”

“Yeah, like when you tried to describe colors you’ve never seen,” Becky replied with a laugh.

“Hey, don’t go getting on your high horse. You were the one who forgot to tell them about contacting Shanna so they could visit others in the community,” Melinda shot back, showing just how nervous they both were about filling Cate’s shoes.

“The important thing to remember is you’ve always got to be aware of who’s around you, how they’re reacting, and be ready to intercede in order to contact them. The Seers will usually force themselves on me, regardless of anything else they have planned, but the Seekers might very well continue on, never confronting me. The only reason I had to leave the girls was because the two of you weren’t watching the crowds around us, and I had to stay to watch how you dealt with it.”

“Well I’m glad you got to say goodbye, but it’s still strange seeing you kiss your sister like that in public,” Melinda said.

“What, kissing three different women in the middle of a large public airport is any more normal?” Becky asked. “Talk about not wanting to attract attention.”

“She’d never have forgiven me if I hadn’t,” Alex insisted.

“Alex, you clearly aren’t aware of how Cate regards you, even after all this time. You can literally do no wrong. She’d not only forgive you, she’d invent excuses for why you didn’t,” Becky countered.

“Is Gini going to be able to keep up with us?” Melinda asked, glancing out the rear window as Gini just squeezed through the turning light.

“She’ll not only keep up, she can run rings around us with that bike of hers. She’s an amazing driver, and her bike can get her through anything. But getting back on topic, can you describe more about what you’re hoping to accomplish here? After all, I find it hard to believe Cate couldn’t have handled her paperwork via the mail, or simply waited until we got back.”

Becky sighed, expecting this to come up eventually. “It really wasn’t about college,” she admitted. “We pressured her, telling her we wanted to spend time with you. Given her reports on you, we were afraid if we didn’t come out, we’d never see you again.”

“Yeah, and this wasn’t a recent decision,” Melinda added. “She decided this some time ago. She made the arrangements while you were in Texas.”

“If that’s the case, then why didn’t Mom and Dad join you? After all, I’m sure they’re anxious to see me too.”

“That’s simple,” Becky replied. “They knew they’d never be able to fit in. Could you imagine the poor reticent Watchers, trying to approach you while your parents are fussing over you? They realize this is your life now, and as much as they miss being near you when they might never see you again, it’s best for both you and your mission. Though I’ll add, they really appreciate your phone calls, so I’m going to be on your ass to make them more regularly than you have been.”

“They’re ‘Seekers’, not Watchers,” Alex emphasized. “You need to get the terms straight, as they feel the earlier term diminishes both their involvement and their contributions.”

“Yeah, yeah, it was just a slip of the tongue,” Becky said, trying to cover her slip of the tongue.

“But that’s just it. This is the only chance we have at these people. Very often, if we blow it or we miss someone, we’ll never see them again, and they’ll never learn what they are and what they can achieve.”

“OK, we got the point,” Melinda said, cutting off his lecture. “We both screwed up and we both have a lot to learn.”

“That’s fine. I just wanted you to realize it. I don’t expect you to learn this all on your first try. After all, we’ve been struggling with it for some time, and I still keep screwing up. But let’s get back to why you’re here,” Alex said, trying to pin the girls down a bit more. “I’m still not clear on what you’re here for.”

“Well, while we weren’t lying about wanting to spend more time with you, we talked with Cate about wanting to know you a bit more … personally,” Melinda explained. “Despite her reactions to my previous attempt to fool around with you, she realized we both think the world of you and we’re both impressed as shit over what you’ve achieved. So she proposed we take over for her like this so we could both spend some time with you.”

“Wait, you mean you’re both here to sleep with me? And Cate not only knows, but she helped arrange it?”

“You see, that’s why Cate keeps surprising you like she did today. It’s because you’re not always the brightest bulb on the tree,” Becky teased. “Sometimes it’s just easier to let you drift in oblivion, rather than risk distracting you by explaining what’s being planned.”

“And you both want to sleep with me?” Alex asked again, still not able to wrap his mind around the concept.

“Alex, I wanted to strangle Melinda as much as Cate did, not because of what she did to Cate, but because she did what I’d been fantasizing about before I could manage it. When Cate came down on her, I knew I’d lost my shot at it,” Becky explained, revealing just how emotional the topic still was for all three sisters.

“And I trust you’ve discussed this between yourselves?” Alex asked, still cautious. “You realize it’ll likely involve a lot of other people. I have no control over who I end up sleeping with, or even when.”

“Yeah, we understand that,” Melinda said. “You’re the central figure of your people, and as such, you belong to them, not us.”

“And you also realize, if we do this, it won’t just be us? You’ll either end up in bed together or with a bunch of other naked women?”

“Alex, this might come as a surprise to you, but this is the twenty-first century and it’s almost impossible to go to college anymore without experiencing girl-girl love,” Melinda informed him. “I’m not saying you can’t avoid it if you’re not interested, and a lot of women don’t, but everyone is aware of it. We all know it’s the number one male fantasy, and there are a bunch of women pining after our bodies as much or more than the men are. If you have any leanings in that direction, you’re likely to experiment in a college setting.”

“Both of you?” Alex asked, still having trouble accepting this newest revelation about his two older sisters; whose sex lives he’d never really considered before.

“Both of us, Alex,” Becky confirmed. “I got involved in a steady relationship with a girl named Natalie when I was doing my thesis just so I wouldn’t have to date but could still get some regular sex. It didn’t cut down on the drama at all, but it was nice not having to go fishing for dates all the time.”

“Geez, I never knew.”

“There’s a lot you don’t reveal to your family when you come home,” Becky told him.

“Yeah, I can imagine that. Dad just about freaked when he learned about Cate and I. But then, he just seemed to accept it one day, clear out of the blue.”

“Yeah, sometimes they do that, and other times they never speak to you again and you never speak to them. And you never know ahead of time just how they’re going to respond. It’s pretty damn scary,” Melinda said.

“OK, I now know you both have lives I never knew about, and why you never confessed these details before, but I’m still interested in this whole situation. Are we talking about a one-time thing? A recurring relationship? A steady arrangement like I had with Cate? The two of you together or alternate nights with each one? Or whoever’s in the mood whenever I don’t have anyone else in my bed?”

“You’re full of questions,” Becky observed. “Most guys would know better than to look a gift horse in the mouth, but Cate gave us a good feel for how your life is organized. We’re planning to get as much time with you as we can, and we’re looking to emulate Cate in how she slept with you each night and got to experience the strength of your aura on a regular basis.”

“Uh… you realize you probably won’t experience quite what she did? What she feels is based on her exposure to me from a young age, apparently when she was young and her genes were more malleable.”

“‘Uh’ yourself,” Becky teased, “but I don’t think genes work that way. They don’t lose their ‘malleability’ and that malleability is generally called ‘genetic mutations’.”

“OK, whatever, the fact is Cate has a unique ability no one else does.”

“Still, you understand what we’re trying to say,” Melinda said. “We’re looking to spend as much time with you as we can; whatever it involves. We’re also going to be less preoccupied with ‘correctness’ than Cate was. Your people seem to be fine with whatever you do, seeing as how you’re a special case, so we’re assuming they won’t object.”

“This from the person describing how hard it is to admit the truth to your parents? Need I remind you everyone reacts differently, and not everyone is likely to be as forgiving as those who were already tuned in enough to recognize what’s going on?”

“Still, we only have so much time, so we don’t plan on wasting it. We realize we can’t have sex with you every night, but we’d at least like to be as close to you as we can, even if it means helping you have sex with someone else.”

“Again, that might be easier in theory than in practice,” Alex suggested. “By the way, how long is this supposed to be for? Is Cate coming back? Are the two of you staying until I return home? No one explained the details.”

“We’re supposed to be here until you reach Seattle, however long that takes,” Becky explained. “Once there, we’ll book a flight home and Cate will come back.”

“You need to realize it’s more involved than just us wanting to be with you,” Melinda said. “Cate … uh … Cate’s been terrified about you … uh….”

“You mean she’s nervous about my dying. You’re allowed to say what we all know is going to happen,” Alex told her.

“OK, Cate’s nervous about you dying and she doesn’t know how she’ll handle it. She’s been trying to prepare for it, and she wants to be sure she can handle it when it occurs, so she arranged this some time ago so she’d know how she’d cope without you. So she plans to wait as long as possible before returning. She’s not so much giving us a chance as she’s allowing us to distract you so you don’t have to suffer what she’s putting herself through.”

“Wow. That’s a lot to process. Shit. I guess we should have been discussing my death more, but frankly, the only way I can continue is to block it out of my mind. If I concentrate on my own death, on what it implies and what it’ll be like and especially what it’ll do to Cate and everyone else, I’m afraid I’ll freeze up and be unable to continue with what I need to do. Frankly, I feel whoever is behind all of this, whether otherworldly spirits or some unknown god, is purposely allowing me to block it from my consciousness, just so I don’t suffer a nervous breakdown.”

“That’s quite an acknowledgment from an avowed atheist,” Becky observed. “Are you beginning to rethink your basic theology?”

“Me? No, I still don’t believe in souls. And even if there is some other universe with some kind of ‘spirits’, I see it more as another life-form and we just don’t understand what kind of bodies they have. Life can’t exist without a physical body. What form that body takes is anyone’s guess. However, I’ll admit my experience in Utah has made me a little more understanding of this whole belief in spirits. While I still don’t believe in them, there seems to be something which reaches out to us—communicates with us—and I’m not sure I can discount it in whole or in part.”

“That’s a long-winded way of saying you haven’t changed your mind,” Becky responded. “But your experiences, and your own views, have changed everyone’s basic theology. Your girls have each radically adapted their own beliefs. While not many of us are willing to accept your atheism, we’ve all had to adjust our beliefs in what constitutes a spirit.”

“Well, I’m glad I’ve had an effect on your lives, though whether that’s positive or not I’m not entirely sure,” Alex responded. “So we’re talking about a full-on threeway relationship for the next several weeks, at the very least?”

“Yes.”

“Exactly,” Melinda echoed her sister.

“And Cate believes she’s OK with this?” he asked, clearly not convinced.

“That’s what she says,” Melinda answered.

“What do Mom and Dad think about this? I mean, Dad almost went over the edge when I got together with Cate. How does he feel about the two of you dedicating yourselves to sleeping with me, an arrangement which isn’t even as permanent as what I have … had with Cate?”

“I think you’ll have to discuss that with them,” Becky advised. “We just told them our plans to come here and help you. We didn’t discuss exactly what it entailed, and they knew enough not to ask, though I don’t doubt they know what we planned.”

“Yeah, it seems everyone always knows more than I give them credit for. So did Cate tell you anything about Winona?” he asked, changing the topic.

“Not much,” Becky explained. “She told us about what happened in Utah, about how she’s supposedly pregnant with your heir and how she showed up here. Even that she’s supposed to take over for Patty and Cate doesn’t trust her, but apparently there have been some changes since then we haven’t heard.”

“It seems Winona and Cate blew up at each other. Winona yelled at her, saying she knew Cate didn’t like her, but she couldn’t control her or how I reacted to her.”

“I can’t imagine Cate taking that well,” Melinda observed.

“She didn’t. She proceeded to tell Winona how she was only trying to sink her claws into me, how I was bigger than any one woman and she couldn’t have me to herself.”

“And what do you think? Do you trust her?” Becky asked.

“Forget that, are you going to sleep with her?” Melinda pressed. “Despite what Cate thinks about her?”

“It’s complicated,” Alex temporized, staring straight ahead so they couldn’t see his reactions. “Winona is going to be the mother of my child, so she deserves a fair amount of my time. We’re also going to be together a lot, and it’s hard to predict what’ll happen during that time. However, she also told me while we were leaving she planned to take me to bed when we got back. In fact, when I suggested she take a private room to help appease Cate, she took it to mean I planned to use it for our private liaisons behind Cate’s back.”

“Ah, the plot thickens,” Melinda observed, smiling at the intrigue.

“So how are you going to handle it?” Becky asked, trying to figure out Alex’s plans. “Are you going to sleep with her? Either when you get back or later?”

“I honestly don’t know. I hate to betray Cate like that, but I don’t feel like I can cut Winona out of my life, either physically or emotionally. And I’m pretty sure Cate is more concerned with my emotional life than she is about who I sleep with at this point.”

“By the way, speaking of how many women you’ve slept with, Mom suggested we stock up on rubbers when we talked about this trip,” Melinda said. “I’m pretty sure she knows what we’re doing and she’s worried about how many people you’ve been sleeping with, all without having regular checkups.”

“That’s a valid concern. I’ve made a point not to sleep with anyone too questionable, and so far I don’t seem to have picked up anything obvious, but I’m sure I’ve been exposed to chlamydia, at least.”

“Actually, according to national studies, undiagnosed STDs are actually lower than you’d expect,” Becky advised him. “They currently say it’s only about 8 to 10%, which is still a lot, but it also reinforces you may have avoided it so far.”

“So, are you planning to use Mom’s rubbers?” Alex asked. “God, that’s the strangest thing to say out loud. It’s almost like asking whether you’re going to use protection when you sleep with your father.”

“Well, in a way it is,” Melinda pointed out. “After all, we’re talking about sleeping with our brother, without protection.”

“Are you sure that’s smart?” Alex asked. “Undiagnosed chlamydia can result in infertility.”

“We’re both aware of the dangers of STDs. As one almost scientist and one science student, we’re both smart enough to read up on the basic literature.”

“That doesn’t answer the question,” Alex argued.

“Well, as dangerous as it potentially is, we trust you, we also trust the ‘spirits’ guiding you, and frankly, we aren’t about to underestimate the effect of your aura on those exposed to you. We’d no more put on protection with you than we would put on gloves before touching you.”

“Actually, in terms of danger, I think you’d do better learning how to read people’s reactions to me based on Cate’s research. You’re more likely to get killed by a stray bullet than you are from a stray STD. Besides, I got tested when I hit L.A.”

“That’s good, but don’t forget checkups. After all, you’re not just doing this for you, but for everyone else. But speaking of how people respond to you, that was our research as well,” Becky pointed out. “And we plan on doing just that, although it might take us a little while to get the hang of it.”

There was obviously a lot more they’d have to discuss and they still had a long drive ahead of them, so Alex settled in, preparing to cover a lot more territory, both geographical and personal.

---

The trip back to San Francisco didn’t take long and Becky and Melinda enjoyed it, never having visited California before. They stopped for lunch along the way and when they reached the city Alex took them for a quick tour, even stopping by a little beach with a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge. When it came time for dinner he tried calling one of the restaurants they’d used earlier, La Folie, but was told they couldn’t possibly accommodate him without several days’ notice.

Hanging up, it occurred to Alex he hadn’t been taking advantage of the hotel’s ‘Premiere’ services, so he called the hotel, telling them who he was and asking for some assistance making restaurant reservations. The person who answered said they’d have to get back to him, so Alex hung up, thinking he’d struck out. He’d no more than turned around when his cell rang. Thinking it odd someone would call him at just that moment, he answered. “Alex here.”

“Ah, Mr. Jennings, I heard you were requesting my services? My name is Androv, how may I help you today?”

“Well, Androv, I was hoping to make a reservation tonight at La Folie but I’m told I need a reservation at least—“

“Let me look into it,” Androv told him. “I’ll call you right back.”

Perplexed, glancing at the dead phone in his hands, he put it down and explained what was happening to his sisters.

“Personal service from a major hotel? It looks like our little brother is suddenly someone important,” Melinda teased.

“How much do you want to bet it’s a girl ‘servicing’ him?” Becky replied with a smile. Just then Alex’s phone rang again.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Jennings? I’m dreadfully sorry, but I couldn’t manage to get you a table at La Folie. It seems they’re hosting some event at the moment. How about either Kokkari Estiatorio or Danko’s?”

“Either would be fine. I realize this is sudden, but….”

“It’s no problem, I’ll make the arrangements. I’ll call you when I have a confirmation,” Androv told him. “Is there anything else you need at this time?”

“No, I’m fine, and thank you,” Alex replied, relieved at the resolution of his problem.

“Thanks aren’t needed, although they’re appreciated. This is what our Premiere service is for.” With that he hung up.

Alex, his sisters and Gini walked into Kokkari Estiatorio a little later that evening and had an excellent time. Melinda and Becky were suitably impressed, especially since both the maître d’ and the waiter knew Alex by name. Alex decided he could get used to being a celebrity, but while it had its perks it really wasn’t for him. He already had to fight hard enough not to let his powers and his followers’ adulation go to his head. If he stayed in this city much longer, he knew he’d begin to let his ego rule his emotions and his judgments.

---

Glancing left and right, the threesome entered the hotel looking like a crew of scofflaws after a night of hooliganism. Alex was worried about Winona waiting up for him, hoping to entice him into her room. He knew he’d have to deal with her eventually, but he wasn’t looking forward to doing it just yet. There was still a lot more to get through with his sisters first.

Alex tried to maintain a dignified demeanor while checking for messages at the front desk. Melinda giggled behind him and Becky sharply elbowed her, even though she wasn’t doing much better at maintaining a straight face. But when they reached the elevator, all bets were off. All three burst out laughing, feeling like a group of school kids playing hooky for the first time. Gini just shook her head, trying to ignore their mood lest it overtake her own sense of professionalism.

“Man, I thought I was going to pee myself I was laughing so hard in the elevator,” Melinda admitted once they’d made it safely into Alex’s room. Gini did a quick check to ensure no one was there, but gave them a thumbs up to assure them there’d be no more interruptions. No planned interruptions, anyway. You could never really rule out something popping up when dealing with Alex.

“Where are you at, Becky?” Alex asked, curious where she’d disappeared to.

“I’m just checking on the mice,” she said, playing with a cute little mouse as she exited the bathroom. “Who the hell is this one?”

“That looks like Rebecca,” Alex told her, having to study her for a second to be sure.

“Man, it’s going to take a while before I learn all of them,” Becky said. “Cate’s got a few in there.”

“Not as many of the Alex mice now, I’m afraid,” Alex informed her.

“Yeah, she mentioned that. I could tell which ones they were right away. They aren’t looking very good.”

“That’s because I’ve been gone for too long. Without regular treatments they go downhill pretty fast. Cate thinks the whole idea of twice a day energy baths is a bit flawed, but it certainly brings home the difference the constant infusion of energy makes.”

“Wait, you mean this is what you can look forward to?” Melinda asked, carrying out one of the two remaining Alex mice.

“It’s not what I have to look forward to, it’s what’s happening to me,” Alex said, placing his whole palm over the animal and giving it a burst of energy. It quickly perked up, becoming more energetic where it had been lethargic before. “I keep getting these flare-ups in my energy level which wipe me out afterwards. I suspect it’s losing the energy that does it as I always feel great while it’s flaring, but once it fades I’m toast.”

“You don’t think it’s addictive, do you?” Becky asked, cocking her head as her professional curiosity perked up.

“Nah, it’s just processing that much energy takes a lot out of you, and without a constant flow of energy, I’d really be showing it too. It’s kind of a weird dichotomy. The energy is killing me, but it’s also the only thing that’s keeping me going.”

“Don’t worry, your sisters will keep you going,” Melinda offered, cuddling up to him as Becky retrieved the other Alex mouse. Melinda was the least comfortable with Alex’s approaching illness of any of the sisters. It bothered her that everyone else seemed to take it so stoically. But she blamed their father for that. A typical WASP, it was always a stiff upper lip and don’t bother acknowledging that your son is dying. As long as no one talks about it no one has to deal with it. And their mother wasn’t much better, since she enabled such a dysfunctional attitude in her family.

“OK, now that that’s done, go sit down,” Becky insisted. “Melinda, grab him some food for later. Alex, you’ve got a few phone calls to make.”

“What? Now?” he asked, caught off guard.

“Yes now. How do you think Cate is feeling, leaving you in the lurch like that? Believe me, part of her not telling you anything is because she can’t face disappointing you. By making all her bad news a surprise she thinks she can disguise it somehow.”

“And don’t forget Mom and Dad,” Melinda called from the kitchenette. Actually it was more like a full-sized kitchen in this giant-assed luxury apartment. “Then you should call Kitty and Chalise as well.”

“And don’t forget the girls in your loft in Carbondale,” Gini yelled, just to tease him.

“OK, I’m calling, I’m calling,” Alex said, collapsing into the easy chair as he dialed the number he knew by heart. “Just so you know, I’m pretty good at calling them. If not every night, then every night I can manage it.” The phone only rang once.

“Hey there, I was wondering when you’d call!” Cate answered.

“Sorry, Ma’am, I was calling about a pest inspection visit?” Alex replied in a fake accent.

“Very funny, but I’d know your voice even if one of your girls was using you as a ventriloquist’s dummy. I can almost feel your energy over the phone.”

“So how was your trip? Does it still feel like home?”

“The trip was lonely, thank you very much. The entire flight I was thinking how much I missed you and dreading what the next several weeks are going to be like without you,” Cate groused.

“Well at least you have Kitty and Chalise to commiserate with.”

“Yeah, there is that. And Alex, thanks for last night. I really didn’t expect it, but it was a nice touch.”

“Thanks, but I don’t deserve the credit. It was the girls who put me up to it—all without telling me why I was doing it, by the way.”

“Still, it was nice, and I appreciated it. I’ll remember it all these nights I’ll be spending alone from here on out.”

“Alone? Come on,” Alex argued. “How many people do you have at the house right now?”

Cate laughed. “Yeah, we’ve got a few. All your girls are here, and they put up banners and everything to welcome me home. I think they know how lonely I’m feeling without you always by my side.”

“What about Kitty and Chalise?”

“They’re here with their mothers. Darrell is here too. Everyone misses you terribly,” she replied, sounding like she was beginning to tear up.

“Tell them all I miss them, but I miss you the most of all. It’s going to be hard being separated for me too. You’re my right hand. Without you, I won’t know what’s happening or what to do. Hell, without you I wouldn’t even—”

“Don’t even try to finish that sentence,” Cate warned him with a laugh. “That’s all I need, you turning a heartfelt moment into a dirty joke. And just when I was thinking good thoughts about you for a change.”

“Well maybe you’d better let me talk to Mom and Dad, then,” Alex suggested, his own eyes filling with unexpected tears. “That way we can each take a moment to get our emotions under control again.”

“Yeah, you’re trying to milk your tears over missing me to win points with Mom, I know what you’re up to,” Cate laughed as she passed the phone on.

“Alex, how are you? It’s been way too long between phone calls. You keep forgetting about those of us not tied into your head.”

“Hey, blame that traitor beside you. It was her job to ride me about it. Her sisters seem to be doing a better job of it,” Alex teased, even as Becky and Melinda brought him the other mice, two at a time, for him to work his magic on. Each one was freshly energized when he finished with them.

“You know, listening to Cate, I hear the heartbreak in her voice and what the other girls are all afraid to tell me,” his mother said, her voice turning serious. “I know she and the other girls are worried because they don’t know how much longer you have, and I worry I’ll never see you again.”

“Hey, don’t listen to such nonsense. I’m as fit as a horse. A horse headed happily into the glue factory, that is.”

“I honestly don’t know how you can joke about such a thing, but then you take after your father. He spends so much time trying to hide bad news from everyone you’ve got to beat the truth out of him sometimes.”

“Yeah, I’m hearing that’s a pretty common trait in the family. How’s he holding up, by the way?”

“Frankly, he’s looking a bit grayer. I think worrying about you is aging us more rapidly,” she admitted. “I’ve taken to dying my roots.”

“Don’t listen to a word she says,” Alex’s father, Frank, called out, showing he was listening in. “I’ve still got all my hair, and I’ve got enough va-va-voom to keep up with the likes of you!”

“Yeah, I knew you wouldn’t let anyone get too emotional,” Alex replied, actually glad he’d gotten them off the topic. As hard as hiding his own fears was, it was an easy choice when considering how pained his mother sounded. He hated being so far away when they clearly wanted to be near him, but there really wasn’t any way around it. He was meeting too many new followers each and every day to take a vacation from his mission now that every day counted that much more.

“Hell, emotions are for sissies. That’s why all real he-men watch action flicks, so we’ll only cry when the naked women put their shirts back on,” Frank added with a heartfelt guffaw. He was one of the few people Alex knew who actually guffawed.

“Why don’t you cuddle your lovely wife so she doesn’t feel too sad, and put me on to my own two lovelies?” Alex suggested.

“Sure thing, champ. And, Alex…, take care of yourself, won’t you? I mean, I know you’re an adult and influencing everyone around you, but still….”

“Yeah, I’ll take care of myself. But you know what they say. My end isn’t in my hands. It seems there are these troublesome spirits who keep playing with it, stealing it from me and only giving it back in random bursts.”

“Hey, you leave my spirits alone,” Anh yelled out, her English now sounding almost perfect. “They’re certainly better than any of your Western ones, although they may not be packaged quite as well!”

“Tell Anh and the others hello, and tell her I still honor her spirits, even if they’ve never seen fit to pay me a house call,” Alex teased before his father passed him on again.

“Hey, handsome, seems like we were just with you. These separations seem like they just happened yester… er… earlier today,” Chalise teased.

“Can you both hear me?”

“Yep, your father hooked up an extra extension on the phone,” Kitty informed him. “But your girls are repeating everything you say, so no one is really missing anything. But it’s nice pretending we’re having a nice intimate conversation.”

“That’s the problem, there’s no keeping secrets when everyone lives inside your head.”

“Hey, you’re the one feeding them the information, so don’t go pretending anyone is reading your mind,” Kitty countered.

“You know me too well. So how are the two of you feeling? Thinking you shouldn’t have given Cate all that exclusive attention last night?”

“Nah, we don’t regret it for a moment, even though we miss you ourselves,” Kitty assured him.

“Plus we plan to take out our frustrations at missing you on her, so hopefully she’ll be too distracted to complain,” Chalise promised.

“Make her scream for me, will you? Make her scream.”

---

“There, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?” Becky asked as Alex finally hung up the phone, after having talked to everyone he was supposed to.

“No, you’re right. I really needed to do that. It was good hearing everyone again, and I could tell both Cate and Mom were upset. But it was difficult listening to the pain in Mom’s voice.”

“Yeah, she’s been struggling, as each of us has,” she admitted. “It would actually be easier if you were actually sick, confined to a hospital bed or something. Then we’d have something right in our faces we could deal with, something that announced what was going to happen. Instead, whenever they speak to you, they hear your strong resounding voice, and you’re so busy they don’t want to interrupt you. You’re about the healthiest sick person I know.”

“Sorry, next time I come up with an unusual condition, I’ll try to ensure it’s a more traditional case of cancer or heart disease,” Alex responded with a bit of gallows humor.

“You do that. At least those you could cure,” Becky shot back.

“Hey, now that that’s out of the way, it seems to me there was something else on the agenda. What was it? Oh yeah,” Melinda responded, leaning in and kissing Alex. They kissed for a few minutes. When they broke, Melinda looking at him dubiously, unsure of his response.

“Well, that was… well, frankly, it was weird as hell,” he admitted.

“Now how is that any weirder than what you do every day?” Becky asked, clearly amused by Alex’s reaction.

“I don’t know. I mean, I fool around with Cate all the time, so you’d think I’d be beyond the whole incest taboo, but kissing my sister is just… weird.”

“I’ll admit, it is weird,” Melinda admitted. “But it was also fun. I must say, I’ve been dreaming of doing that ever since that one day we tried it before, when Cate blew up over it. She never gave us a chance to resume, so I’ve been waiting ever since.”

“So quit describing it and kiss me. We’ll never get past it being weird unless we….” The rest of Alex’s comment was lost as he suddenly found a much better use for his mouth.

“You’re right, but I still contend it’s a good weird,” Melinda explained when they separated again. “You’re certainly unlike anyone else I’ve ever been with. It’s not just you, and it isn’t just kissing my brother, but the idea of what you represent; that not only are you leading a huge movement and changing the world, but that you’re personally responsible for changing the whole future of mankind. Man, that’s just intoxicating stuff.”

“That may be, but I’m still having trouble wrestling with the images of the two of you abusing me when we were kids,” Alex responded.

“Hey, that only happened for a little while,” Becky objected.

“Yeah, but that’s only because I objected when you started in on Cate,” Alex pointed out.

“Yeah, you were super protective of her, even then,” Becky reflected.

“Well, it’s not just her, he’s like that with everyone apparently,” Melinda observed. “He takes in every stray waif he can find, and he seems to form a personal commitment with each one. But that’s just another of the many things I love about him,” she said as she kissed him again.

Melinda pressed him back into the bed, and they made out for another couple of minutes until they came up for air again.

“What about you, Becky? Aren’t you joining in?” Alex asked, glancing at Becky sitting on a chair beside the bed, watching them bemusedly.

“Nah, this is Melinda’s time. As she said, she’s been looking forward to this for a long time. I’m expecting my own evening with you, and trying to cram us both in the same night isn’t fair for either one of us. While we may have to contend with other beautiful women, we both have enough time we can wait for the right moment.”

“So she says, while watching us the entire time,” Mel objected.

“Sorry, it’s just so much fun watching the two of you trying to work out how you feel about each other, I can’t take my eyes off of you.”

“Well just remember, if you get to watch then so do I,” Mel informed her. “And I’ll be sure to make the appropriate comments as well.”

“Hmm, that seems to be my signal to leave,” Becky replied, getting up and giving Alex a quick but promising kiss goodbye. “Do our family proud, I’ll have your snack ready when you finish, and I’m looking forward to our chance together later.” With that she left the two of them alone.

Now that they were free of distractions, Alex turned his attention completely to his middle sister, reveling in the sweet taste of her lips, even as he tried to ignore the fact he knew her so well. But this wasn’t like the sister he remembered from when he was young. For many years she’d been distant, trying to emulate Becky, leaving Alex and Cate alone. Now she was attentive, interested and very affectionate.

“So tell me,” Alex asked when they came up for air again, with his shirt hanging open and his hand under hers, “is this just about what I represent—whatever that means—or is there something else going on here? Not that I’m complaining either way,” he hurried to assure her.

“Actually, it’s kind of complicated,” Melinda admitted, sitting back and taking his question seriously. “When you first came back from New Orleans you were suddenly fascinating, an intriguing mystery. Then when we saw all those girls fawning over you, you seemed exotic. That’s when we first got together, but honestly, a lot of that was just because Cate was so fascinated with you, so it was partly a competitive thing. But then, over time, as more and more people started trailing you, and you revealed more abilities, it started to become something more. I realized you weren’t just a cute kid who attracted a lot of women. You were a force of nature, a singular moment in history, and you represented the kind of situation most people never have.

“Imagine if you had a chance to sleep with Joan of Arc,” she suggested, “or I had a chance to sleep with Gandhi. Then multiply that by about a hundred times.”

“OK, you’ve convinced me. Man, I’ve got to stop distracting people with inane questions. At least until after we’ve made love,” Alex commented teasingly, pulling Mel back so he could begin kissing her again.

“Hold on, there’s a bit more,” she protested a few moments later when she once again broke their kiss. “I don’t want you to think I only want you because you’re successful, as that doesn’t quite capture what I’m feeling. When you returned from New Orleans, you were like a whole new person. Before you were like an emotional hermit, purposely avoiding people just so you wouldn’t have to deal with them. But when you returned, you were more self-assured, and you clearly already bore a heavy dose of responsibility to everyone you’d connected to. That took you from a self-obsessed child unwilling to deal with the world to a mature adult wrestling with things much bigger than himself.

“You came back not only more confident and directed, but you didn’t go overboard either, becoming self-obsessed and cocky. You became mature in a number of ways, never taking the easy route, but considering each and every move you made as they each impacted many more people than just you.

“I think that’s when I stopped thinking of you as my little brother and started thinking of you as a potential lover. You weren’t the little brother who wouldn’t grow up, suddenly you were a man who knew things no one else did, and who couldn’t afford to take the easy way out the way so many so-called ‘world leaders’ do. You took each and every decision you made as a personal responsibility and you weighed each one on your own scales.

“That—the ability to ignore the rest of the world, act on your own instincts and to follow your own dictates—is what makes you SO sexy in my eyes. There are loads of celebrities who have people fawning all over them who simply soak up the adoration and never pay attention to how their own actions impact those around them. Whereas you think about it all the time. You’re much more like the Dalai Lama than you are some celebrity. You’re respected not only because of what you represent, but because of how you approach that responsibility.”

“That’s nice to know, but now that you’ve said it, I’m equally as interested in getting back to what we were talking about,” Alex told her with a playful smile as he drew her back into their kiss. “Part of being able to ignore the rest of the world is knowing when to ignore it, and right now is a great time to do so.”

Melinda was more than happy to comply. She’d said what she’d wanted to, which was mainly that she wasn’t interested in Alex only because he was now famous and important, and now that she’d accomplished that, she was all for spending time showing Alex just what he meant to her, rather than merely discussing it. Alex was right: one thing about this family was everyone tended to talk things to death, when sometimes actions counted much more than words.

The rest of the night was, in a word, phenomenal. Melinda managed to come several times, and each time Alex seemed to know just what to do to make her feel special. He didn’t just focus on the sex and then lose interest once he came. Instead he made the entire night special for her, even once they were done and Becky joined them, carrying in a tray of snacks. They’d laughed and teased playfully together, and that simple act became almost as intimate as their lovemaking had been. And when they finally settled down to sleep, Alex cuddling Mel from behind, while Becky spooned him, left her feeling safe, secure and loved in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Yes, this wasn’t simply a kinky new twist, this was something much more substantial, something she’d honor for the rest of her life. This was more than simply a transient love; this was a true love of two spirits, brought even closer together by a commonality of purpose. She loved her brother, but she LOVED Alex! It might be hard to explain to him, but it was easy to understand lying safely in his arms.

           

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