Chapter Nineteen

   The rest of the week seemed to drag, in the sense that none of them had
spent this much time with each other in years, and they soon ran out of
things to talk about.  Some subjects might have provided more fodder for
discussion, but those subjects were avoided, at least in the hospital room.
But the week was also glorious, at least for Jennifer.  Every day, she told
Bob he couldn't have sex and every day, he made love to her for hours.

   It got to the point where, one day, she said, "Remember, Bob, NO sex!"
and his response was "Are you horny AGAIN?  I think you might have traded
your stutter for nymphomania!" She just ignored him and got naked.  Then,
because he hadn't, she struggled to get his clothes off.

   He was soft, and she complained about that before taking him into her
mouth.  By now she had lots of practice and she soon had his prick
straining upward.  Still he didn't move, but she didn't care, mounting him
like a horse and riding her way to two lusty orgasms.

   Then, because of a dream she'd had the night before, when she felt him
swell, she hopped off and, for the first time, drank his semen, sucking the
tip of his cock like it was a straw.  She hadn't been sure she'd like it,
but decided it wasn't so bad after all.  Bob groaned his way through the
whole thing, raising his head to look down at her.

   "What was that all about?" he gasped.

   "I had this crazy dream," she said.

   "What dream?"

   "I was pregnant," she said.  "And I mean REALLY pregnant.  I was out to
here." She held her hand away from her stomach as far as she could reach.
"I stuck out so much that I couldn't stand up.  I kept falling over...you
know, like one of those blow up clowns that you punch and it falls over and
then rolls back up?  Well, it was the opposite with me.  I fell over and
just rolled around on my belly, until somebody came along and stood me back
up.  It was awful." She licked her lips and swallowed one more time.  "It's
getting kind of close to being dangerous to let you just squirt in me."

   He dropped his head and sighed.  He had no idea when it had happened,
but he'd just given up on the idea of protecting her from being knocked up.
He felt guilty about that, but he was also painfully aware that he was
addicted to trying to breed this woman.  His orgasms were so much stronger
and more protracted with her than they'd been with any woman he could
remember.  But he was quite sure that getting her pregnant was the worst
thing he could possibly do, because it would remove so many of her options
for life.

   Part of Bob Jefferson was firmly convinced that Jennifer would, some
day, become attracted to a man closer to her own age.  He knew that would
be a bittersweet time for him -- bitter because he'd lose the physical
relationship with her, but sweet because she deserved to be gloriously
happy.  Now he resolved to start using condoms.  He hoped it wasn't too
late already.

   "I'm glad that one of us is smart enough to know that getting you
pregnant isn't a good idea," he said.

   "Yeah," she sighed.  She also thought, "Not yet," but didn't voice it.

   If she had, things would have gotten very interesting at that moment. 
Because she didn't, though, they got interesting much later.

   ====================================

   The question of what they were going to do in the future was still
unresolved.  It was fairly easy for both Bob and Jennifer to leave it that
way, because they spent all their time together.  It's easy to ignore the
future when you're living in the present.

   It was Don who ratcheted up the tension.

   It happened on the sixth day Bob and Jennifer were visiting the
hospital. No one had talked about how long they were actually going to
stay, though everyone knew that they couldn't stay forever.  Don had been
distracted by what was happening to his little girl.  She had changed so
much in the short time he'd been in the hospital he couldn't wrap his mind
around it.  It wasn't just the fact that her stuttering had magically
stopped.  That was crazy enough, but other things were vying for his
attention, too.  She had matured...somehow...in ways that he knew were
there, but couldn't put his finger on.

   Susan wasn't telling him much, except to say that everything was under
control.  He'd insisted on knowing what she'd meant about Bob spanking
Jennifer's bare butt again, and she'd simply told him that Jennifer had
thrown a tantrum and Bob had spanked her, plain and simple.

   "On her bare butt?!" he'd almost yelled.

   "Don!" Susan had said firmly.  "Do you want your daughter to be happy?"

   "Of course I do," he'd said automatically.  At the same time he wondered
what her happiness had to do with being spanked.

   "Then let her be happy!  Now, I'm tired, and I'm in pain, and I'd like
to go to sleep."

   After that, whenever he brought it up, she refused to tell him anything.

   Now he looked up as he heard his daughter and best friend approaching
the room.  He could see them in the hallway, walking slowly towards him. 
They were talking about something and Jennifer was leaning against Bob's
shoulder.  He knew that shouldn't seem strange, but it did, somehow.  He
looked at Jennifer's face as she looked up at his friend and said
something. Bob looked down at her and she smiled.  The look on her face
was...happy.  It was obvious.  He blinked.  No...it wasn't happiness...it
was something more intense.  He blinked again.

   It was adoration.

   Then, so casually that Don almost missed it, Bob's right hand reached
back and slapped Jennifer on the butt.  She punched him in the arm,
laughing and then...they were there.  They came into the room just like
they had so many times before.  Jennifer smiled at him and gave him her
standard "Hi Daddy!  How are you feeling today?" Bob looked around like he
always did, even though the chair he inevitably sat in was in the same
place it had always been.  Jennifer ignored him to go lean down and kiss
her mother's cheek.  Their heads stayed together as they talked quietly,
just like they usually did.

   Don looked at Bob and, for the first time in his memory, he saw a man,
instead of Bob...or Snake.  His head swiveled and he watched Jennifer
whispering to his wife.  He saw a woman...relaxed...content...beautiful. 
She looked so much like Susan had when she was younger.  Don turned his
head to look at Bob again.  Bob was watching the women.  HE looked content
in a way that seemed foreign, now that Don thought about it.  He remembered
that look on Jennifer's face when she had looked up at Bob in the hallway.
He'd seen that look before ...  on Susan's face ...  right after he'd
gotten back from the Navy and they'd started dating.  He felt his heart
thud in his chest.

   "You've been porking my daughter!" he gasped.  He hadn't meant to say
it. It had leapt into his head and out of his mouth in almost the same
instant.

   There was dead silence in the room.  Don looked over at the women, both
of whom were staring at him.  Jennifer's face was getting pinker and pinker
as he watched.  Then she looked down at her mother and said, "MOM!"

   Susan turned her head to look at Jennifer.  "I didn't tell him," she
said, her voice tired.

   "YOU HAVE!" yelped Don.  He sat up in bed.  It was a convulsive
movement, and it was extremely ill advised.  He felt pain streak through
his leg as his hip muscles pulled at things that shouldn't be pulled.  His
ribs and abdominal muscles screamed at him, too.  He flopped back down with
a tortured groan.

   Jennifer was at his bedside almost immediately.  Her hands lay gently on
his shoulders.

   "Stop it, Daddy," she said.  "You'll hurt yourself."

   Don's pain distracted him long enough for Bob to come up with the reply
he knew would be required.  While he sometimes didn't know what to say to
Jennifer, this was different.  Now he was talking to his best friend, the
man he knew better than any other human being on Earth.  His thoughts
gelled quickly.

   "It was an accident, Don," he said, standing up and moving right next to
the bed.  "Neither of us planned it, and even now I'm not sure I understand
how it happened, but we fell in love and ..."

   "Crazy!" panted Don, still trying subconsciously not to breathe deeply.

   "I know, man," said Bob, shrugging his shoulders.  "I thought she just
had a little crush on me the whole time I was walking right into the kill
zone.  I thought I could manage things.  She's a very strong-willed girl,
though.  There was a serious flaw in my strategic posture.  Basically she
flanked me every time I tried to move to a new position."

   Don had recovered enough to frown, instead of grimacing.  He also had
more thoughts.

   "I can't believe you'd do this to me," he said, his voice low.  "I
trusted you!"

   "Don, please shut up," his wife's voice came from the next bed.

   His head rolled toward her.  "And you knew!  Didn't you?!"

   "Of course I knew," said Susan.  "Jennifer and I talked about it."

   "You TALKED about it?!" he groaned.

   "She's grown up, Don," said Susan patiently.  "Why can't she make her
own decisions, like you and I did?"

   "Because it's BOB!" groaned Don.

   "So," said Bob softly, "what you're really saying is I'm not good enough
for your daughter."

   Don's response was immediate.  "Snake, you know good and well that no
man is good enough for my baby."

   Jennifer had remained silent throughout the whole exchange.  She'd
stared into her father's face the entire time, whether he was the one
speaking or not.  She had become, quite suddenly, very afraid that
something bad was happening, but she had to wait to find out for sure or
she could be the trigger to MAKE it into something bad.  She couldn't stay
quiet any longer, though.

   "So, Daddy," she asked sweetly.  "What you're saying is that, since
there is no man good enough for me, I'll never get to fall in love, and
have my own home, and start my own family...right?

   Don knew a trap when he heard one.

   "I'm not saying that at all," he blustered weakly.  "I'm just saying it
can't be Bob."

   "So he really isn't good enough for me," said Jennifer.  "What, exactly,
is wrong with him, Daddy?"

   "I didn't say there was anything wrong with him!" yelped Don.  "He just
can't marry you, that's all."

   "I never said anything about marrying him," said Jennifer.  "He hasn't
asked me to marry him.  In fact, when we talked about that he said I should
think about going to college now that I don't stutter any more."

   "What an excellent idea!" chirped Susan.

   "You talked about it?" moaned Don.

   "Marriage?" said Jennifer, as if she wasn't quite sure what he was
referring to.  "Not very much.  It seems to make Bob nervous.  He just said
we can't live together."

   "Of COURSE you can't live together!" yelped Don.

   "So I can't marry him, and I can't live with him," said Jennifer.

   "Right!" said Don, sounding less stressed.

   Jennifer shrugged her shoulders.  "Well, I guess that's OK, as long as
he still porks me regularly."

   Don turned ghostly white.

   "Isn't that how you referred to it, Daddy?" asked Jennifer.  Her voice
was neither sweet nor light any more.  "Like I'm some kind of sow or
something?"

   "Why don't we all just take a deep breath or two," suggested Susan.  Bob
just stood there, waiting for the trains to wreck, so he could move in and
begin picking up pieces.

   "You can't have sex with Bob!" spluttered Don.

   "Too late," said Jennifer.  "That cow is already out of the barn."

   "Horse," said Bob automatically.  He almost groaned as he realized he'd
said it out loud.

   "Whatever," said Jennifer, ignoring him.  "What's wrong with you, Daddy?
Don't you want any grandchildren?"

   "You're too young for that!" argued her father.

   "How old was Mom when you married her?" Jennifer shot back.

   Don blinked.  "That doesn't matter," he said sticking his chin out.

   "She was eighteen," said Jennifer.  "How much younger than you was she,
Daddy?"

   "You're missing the point!" said Don, starting to look less angry and
more harassed.

   "She was six years younger than you, Daddy," said Jennifer.  "That's
like a senior in high school dating a middle schooler, Daddy."

   "She wasn't a middle schooler when I dated her!" groused Don.  "And six
years is one thing, but Bob is old enough to be your FATHER!" yelled Don.

   "You're old enough to be my father and I love YOU!" Jennifer yelled
back. "Why can't I love BOB TOO?!"

   "Because that's different," whined Don.

   "Mom is right.  You ARE pigheaded," snorted Jennifer.  She blinked,
looked startled and then smiled.  "Of course!" she said.  "Now I
understand. It's a genetic thing!"

   "What are you talking about?" asked Don irritably.

   "Well, you're my father and you're pigheaded.  It only makes sense that
Bob, who is the same age as you...would be PORKING me!" She grinned.  "Get
it?  Pigheaded?  Porking?"

   "Jennifer!" groaned Susan.  "You were doing so well, and then you threw
it all away for a stupid pun?"

   "Why not, Mother?" asked Jennifer, no longer smiling.  "You can see that
no matter what I say he's just going to dig in his stupid heels and tell me
I can't be happy.  He's almost as infuriating as Bob!"

   "See there?" crowed Don.  "Even though you THINK you love him, you call
him infuriating.  He's too old, baby.  He took advantage of you because of
your youth and inexperience with men.  You have to see that, Jennifer!"

   Jennifer crossed her arms and scowled.  "Mom told me about your first
date, Daddy," she said, her voice heavy.  "ALL of your first date, Daddy!
She told me what you did!"

   Don's face, which had begun to take on a mottled appearance as blood
suffused it, suddenly paled.

   "Jennifer!" warned Susan.

   "Well you DID!" said Jennifer, turning to her mother.  "Right there in
that bed, not two days ago, you told me I was lucky because Bob had been so
gentle with me!"

   "Jennifer Elaine!" snapped her mother.  "I did NOT intend for that to be
aired in public.  I was only trying to help you understand what was
happening to you!"

   "Well Bob waited for YEARS!" insisted the agitated girl.  "Daddy porked
you on your very first date!"

   There was a snort, and all three Brazeltons looked at Bob, who was
trying to hide a grin.

   "This isn't funny!" said Jennifer.

   "Actually, I think it is, sort of," said Bob.  "I mean what you just
described seems as normal to me as the day is long, knowing Don.  Back then
he was a father's worst nightmare."

   "You can say that again," sighed Susan.  She waved a hand in her face,
as if she was hot.  "I was like a lamb being led to slaughter by the Big
Bad Wolf."

   "And now that man is a father himself," said Bob.  "It's kind of like
Earl, on TV, talking about karma.  What goes around really does come
around."

   "It wasn't like that!" complained Don to his wife.  "You make it sound
like I almost raped you, but you wanted it as much as I did."

   "I didn't know what I wanted," said Susan.  "Except that I didn't want
it to stop.  I knew that much.  And I knew that you were my man.  I knew
that night that I was going to marry you."

   "We didn't talk about marriage for months!" objected Don.

   "That's because you were too busy getting into my pants," said Susan. 
"And I was too busy letting you." She smiled tiredly.  "Does that sound
like somebody we know?" Her face got serious.  "Bob's age is the only
difference, honey.  Other than that, all they're doing is what WE did.  And
before you go getting all defensive, I'm quite sure MY father would have
had conniptions about it, too, if he'd known what we were doing.  It
wouldn't have made any difference.  We were in love and nothing could have
stopped us, short of being torn apart and not being allowed to see each
other.  How would you have felt about that, Don?"

   Don's face took on a stony cast, but he didn't say anything.

   "I'm only going to say one more thing," said Susan.  "And that is to
remind you that there is only one man in the world that the sun rises and
sets for, in your opinion, and that man is Snake Jefferson.  I expected him
to be ten feet tall when I met him for the first time.  You went on and on
and ON about him.  And now, the same man...the man you said you were
willing to DIE for if necessary...isn't good enough to take care of our
daughter?  If I hadn't already learned how pigheaded you are I would have
thought you'd be turning cartwheels from the joy of it."

   Don's hands came up and rubbed his face.  He was still scowling when he
took them away.

   "I don't want to talk about this any more," he grumbled.

   Susan wasn't about to let any advancement be lost.

   "Excellent," she said.  "I'm glad that's all settled."

   Don turned his head to glare at her, but didn't say anything.  Then his
view was blocked anyway, as his daughter's body came between him and his
wife.  Jennifer leaned down to kiss her father's cheek very tenderly.

   "Everything is going to be OK, Daddy," she said softly.  "You'll see."

   "That's the kind of thing I'm supposed to be saying to you," he pouted.
"Things are all mixed up and I don't like it!  It makes me nervous."

   "There's nothing to be nervous about," said his daughter.  "If it helps,
just pretend that nothing is going on at all.  That's what I did all these
years about you and mom."

   Don looked surprised, but not for long.  "I can't just stop thinking
about something like that," he sighed.

   "Well...OK," said Jennifer, as her eyebrows moved toward each other
slightly.  "I understand that.  I can't stop thinking about it either." She
brightened.  "But I did tell him he can't have any sex for a month, to
punish him for the clitty whizzer.  Does that help?"

   ===============================

   Now that the generic subject of "plans" had been brought up, even if not
thoroughly examined, the conversation in the room gradually moved toward
short and long term issues.  There was some minor disagreement between
Susan and Don about whether Bob and Jennifer should stay longer or return
to Georgia.  Susan felt like there was little they could do if they stayed,
and Don, though he didn't say so, was worried about what they WOULD do if
they went back home, where he couldn't keep an eye on them.

   "I probably need to get back to work," said Bob.  "They don't really
need me, for the most part, but I don't want them to find out how
successful they could be without me."

   "They'd never turn coat on you," said Don, automatically.

   "Probably not," said Bob.  "But I still want them to think I'm an
important gear in the machine."

   "You ARE important," said Susan.  "Don't you do all the design?"

   "Mostly," said Bob.  "But that's more because I see things in my head
better than they do.  Once I imagine it and describe it, they do the heavy
lifting of working out the kinks and actually create the art."

   "It's still a team," said Don.

   Bob grinned.  "It really is.  None of us are engineers, and sometimes
what I dream up doesn't work.  It usually takes all of us working together
to come up with a design that won't fall apart, but still looks good."

   Susan suddenly lifted her head.

   "Jennifer!" she said.  "I completely forgot about your job hunt.  How
was that going?"

   "It wasn't," said Jennifer glumly.  "But that was before everything
changed.  I'm sure I can get a job now."

   "Have you given any thought to what Bob suggested?" asked her mother. 
"About college I mean?"

   "Not really," said Jennifer.  "And, if I recall, the guidance counselors
in school said you have to apply for things like that way in advance.  Some
kids were even applying for college when they were still juniors.  I never
paid any attention to any of that.  I wouldn't even know what to do."

   "Well all you have to do is contact some colleges and ask them," said
Susan.  "I'm sure they'd be happy to tell you how it could be done. 
They're in that business, after all."

   "I'll think about it," said Jennifer.  "In the meantime, I'll need a
job. With you guys laid up, I'll have to pay the bills." She frowned. 
"Speaking of which, I need to know how to do that.  I've never paid bills
before."

   "I'll help with that," said Bob.  He looked at Don.  "Where do you keep
all the paperwork?"

   "Don't ask me," said Don, waving towards his wife.  "She takes care of
all the finances."

   The rest of the day turned into a planning session, getting more and
more detailed as either Don or Susan remembered some other issue that would
need to be taken care of.  Jennifer began to complain about how much work
it was all going to be, and both her parents smugly reminded her that she
was learning the price of growing up.

   There was one kind of planning that was distinctly missing though.

   Bob and Jennifer's romantic future together went completely unmentioned.

