Caleb 86 – Working Girl

I wasn’t sure if I was surprised or not when Sarah and Arnie slept in their room that night. It didn’t upset me at all and since they’d not really had a lot of time together during the week, or at least not time where they could indulge themselves in each other, I guessed they had some catching up to do.

Mary and Amanda had been asleep in a sweaty heap in the bedroom when we’d gotten back from the supermarket. I’d had to wake them so they could shower and get ready for dinner. Josh and Louise were in a slightly better state, but not by much. When I’d knocked on their door after waking the twins, they invited me in. I found them both in a very aroused state and looking at me like lions eyeing a herd of zebra. I laughed and told them that Ness was starting dinner. Louise’s moue of disappointment made me laugh even more.

Throughout dinner I watched Arnie, trying to see if he had any regrets about what had gone on but, if anything, he seemed more relaxed around us all than he had been before. It was like he’d had his lightbulb moment and he seemed to be perfectly happy with his and Sarah’s lives.

On Sunday we did the rest of the shopping. Arnie was flying, so he’d left reasonably early, although he’d not got up with Sarah when she, Melanie, and I went out to exercise. We’d forgone our run and had done some martial arts work in the back yard. I’d decided that I’d take them both to the Dojo and ask Kevin to take over their training. Perhaps one or both of them could take over the evening classes that I’d been taking, since my time was becoming even more strained, despite the fact I’d dropped all my school hypnotherapy sessions and all but one of my college classes.

I spent the afternoon finishing up a couple of assignments that needed to be handed in that week and emailed them to the relevant professors.

We had four weeks to go before the Christmas holidays and I couldn’t wait. In fact, I was, now, merely marking time before I could finally leave school and looking forward to the next stage in my life.

Sunday evening, I was out having my usual beer when Chris and Jane came out into the yard.

“Where’s the bundle of joy?” I asked.

“Asleep,” Jane said. “I put her down just after seven, and she’s fast asleep. That’s two nights in a row now, and this morning she slept until almost six.”

“Excellent,” I said. “It seems to be working.”

Chris nodded. “It seems so,” he said.

He and Jane exchanged a glance.

“I got the job,” he opened.

“Congratulations,” I said. “When do you start?”

“Next Monday,” he said. “But I have to spend a month working in the office to be trained, before I can start my working from home rotation of four weeks at home and one in the office.”

“You have to stay there for a whole month?” I asked.

“I think after the second week,” he said, “I’ll be able to come home weekends.”

“That’s something,” I said.

“I was wondering if I could ask you a favor?” he said.

“Sure,” I replied, my mind still going over my own thoughts about what had happened over the weekend.

“Will you keep an eye out for Jane?” he said. “And help her out if she needs it?”

“Sure,” I said. Again, still not paying full attention. It was then I caught the full meaning of his words.

“Wait,” I said. “You mean?”

“She’s only just starting to relax,” he explained. “Getting all frustrated and wound up again isn’t going to help.”

“You’re only going away for two weeks,” I said. “Surely…”

“I’m not saying she will,” he explained hurriedly, “but sometimes, you know, she gets a little ‘stressed’ and needs to unwind.”

I sighed.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea if you’re not here,” I said. “These kinds of things can blow up in your face.”

“I’m not going to want to leave Chris for you,” she said with a smile.

“No,” I said. “But you are hoping that maybe I’ll give you another baby. No?”

Both of their eyes widened.

“How did you…?” Chris asked at the same time as his wife said.

“What?”

I shook my head.

“Look,” I said. “I’m not quite a dumb as I look. I suspected the night of the party that’s what you had in mind. I got the impression that night, and Chris just confirmed it. I’m fairly sure that you’re not trying to trap me into anything, and I don’t know if it’s some kind of fetish, or that Chris has an issue, but there’s two things you need to know. First, I can’t get you pregnant. I’m sterile. That’s one reason that I am not overly worried about using protection. I know I’m clean and I know I can’t impregnate anyone, so it’s all good for me.”

“You’re sterile?” asked Jane. “You poor thing.”

I shrugged. “It is what it is,” I said. “If and when I’m ready for a family I’ll have to figure something out. But right now, I’m not there.

“We weren’t trying to trap you into anything,” said Chris. “We just both really liked you and thought we’d like you to be a father to our next child.”

“Is Kirsty yours?” I asked.

“If you’re asking if I’m her biological dad, the answer is, I don’t know, nor do I want to. If you’re asking if she’s my daughter, then of course she is. I love her more than anything in the world. Just as I would have loved any child Jane had conceived with you, had that been possible.

“I’ll admit that it is a bit of a fetish of mine, having my wife impregnated by another man, especially as I’m not exactly the most fertile man around. I can potentially have a child, but the chances are low. But we do want more children, and… well…”

“Don’t you think it would have been better to ask?” I asked.

Chris looked down.

“It was a spur of the moment thing,” said Jane. “Honestly, I didn’t plan it. We were at the party, and Kirsty wasn’t settling, and Chris told me to ask you. Then we just looked at each other and I knew that he and I were thinking the same thing.

“Then we were over in our house, and you were inside me and… well… it was just so wonderful.”

“Spur of the moment?” I asked. “I thought you were on the pill?”

“IUD,” she said. “After what happened, Chris and I decided that we wanted to ask you to help us with another child. I went to my doctor, and had it taken out, so we’d be ready after we’d spoken. Then at the party, things just happened, and…”

“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you,” I said. “But now you know.”

“What was the other thing?” Jane asked.

“What?” I asked.

“You said there were two things we needed to know?” she pressed.

“I have four fiancées,” I said. “Each of whom deserves the opportunity to be the one who bears my first child. I’m a little unhappy that you’d want to steal that from them.”

“Ah,” said Chris. “I…We never considered that. We just thought…”

“You thought that a horny youth wouldn’t even consider the consequences of having unprotected sex?” I asked.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “We didn’t think it through, but…”

“I like you Caleb,” Jane interjected. “We both do, and I like being with you. I know we should have asked before trying to get you to give me a child but, like I said, it was a moment of madness, spur of the moment thing. Always, up to now, with any other guys, we’ve always discussed it at length before trying. I was honestly going to talk to you about it, but we kind of got carried away.”

“Well,” I said, “like I said, it’s not going to happen, not by me at least.”

“Now you’re mad at us, at me?” asked Jane.

“Not mad,” I said. “Just disappointed that you’d do something like that without talking to me first. Even if what you say is true, and you intended to just bring the child up as yours, it would be my child. You’d be taking away my choice about being involved in the life of my own flesh and blood.”

“But we’d have…” said Chris but stopped. I’m not sure what he was going to say, and I’m not sure he knew either.

I stood up.

“Congratulations on your new job,” I said to him. “Goodnight.”

I felt their eyes on me as I walked into the house.

“You okay?” asked Ness as I came back into the kitchen. I smiled at her.

“Yeah,” I said. “Just setting some boundaries with the neighbors is all.”

“That’s a first,” she said.

“They were hoping that I was going to impregnate Jane for them,” I told her.

“They asked you that?” she said.

I shook my head. “No,” I said. “That’s one of the problems. If they’d asked me then I might have thought about it, although I really think it’s only fair that my first child is with one of you guys, not someone who’s probably going to disappear out of our lives in a year or so.”

Ness nodded. “I agree,” she said. “Were they planning on stinging you for maintenance and stuff?”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “I don’t think they were being maliciously dishonest. They just want another kid, Carl is not particularly fertile, and they like me. One plus one plus one equals three. They just didn’t think to consult one of the ones before acting.

“So what did you tell them?” she asked.

“I told them I was sterile,” I told her, “which is true. I also told them that I thought it was wrong of them to try and do that without asking first.”

“So does that mean that the swapping thing is off?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t think so. At least they say not. They say it was a ‘spur of the moment’ decision and that they’d normally ask first.” I shrugged. “I’m just not sure I trust them anymore, and if I don’t trust someone, why would I sleep with them?”

“Makes sense,” she said. “You’re at your most vulnerable when you’re being intimate with someone.”

“I don’t think they’d try to hurt me, but I’ve kind of lost all the attraction I had for them. Maybe that will be enough to dampen the Empathic attraction they are feeling for me at least.

“Maybe Melanie and the twins will be enough for them, and they can have some fun. I’m just not particularly interested any more.”

“You still love Kirsty though, right?” she asked.

“Love?” I asked. “I’m not sure…”

“Stop deluding yourself.” Ness said. “I’ve seen you holding that little girl. I doubt you could love her more if she were your own. Like Jeevan said, you’re emotionally vulnerable to children. If you build up any relationship at all with them, you’ll end up loving them, and they you.”

“That doesn’t help,” I said. “What’s going to happen when we move back to the other house, or they move away? I’m going to lose her. A child I have no right to love in the first place.”

“I guess that’s one of the down sides of being a power user and an empath,” she said sadly. “I guess you’re in for a lot of sadness in your life. Not just from things like this, but also that you’re going to outlive a lot of your friends, loves, and lovers.”

I sighed.

“Weren’t you supposed to be cheering me up?” I asked her with a wry smile.

“Oh?” she said sounding surprised. “Was it not working?”

I picked up a cloth and threw it at her. She didn’t react in time, and it wrapped itself around her head.

She spluttered at me indignantly. “That’s wet,” she said.

“You’ve never complained before about getting wet,” I told her.

She laughed. “And there he is,” she said, then she moved across the kitchen and put her arms around me, before drying her face on my T-shirt.

On Monday, I surprised Kevin by turning up at the Dojo with Melanie and Sarah.

“Well,” he said. “What do we have here?”

I explained the situation with them and told him that I was going to be bowing out of the Dojo, since I had so much else going on in my life. I asked him if he would be willing to train with them, given that I’d transferred all my knowledge to them in the same way that I’d gotten it.

He put them both through their paces, and I followed along just for something to do.

“They have all the bad habits you started with,” he said. “But I can see that with some practice they’ll soon get out of them. I’ll give you two the same deal I gave Caleb. I’ll train with you in the mornings, same time. Probably three days a week would be enough. You’ll take the Tuesday night class. You still have to work on both your strength and stamina. Caleb was much further along on both those when he first came to me.” He turned to me. “You’ll have to hand over the class to them, it’s only fair to the students.”

I looked at the girls. They both nodded.

“That sounds good.” They agreed.

By the time we arrived home, Ness was in the kitchen making breakfast, and the rest of the household was up and around. Arnie had already left since he had an early lesson and the weather looked to be reasonable to fly in. I’d be heading to the flying school later to get a couple of hours last minute practice in, and again on Tuesday, since I had my check ride on Wednesday afternoon.

I arrived at the range just before my first appointment with the Chef from Coquine. He came in full of life and happy, since he’d had a good amount of success and indeed was coming to the end of his course of treatment. He’d not had any cravings of any kind and was feeling much better in himself having managed to quit smoking.

“I can taste things so much more,” he said happily.

“Good,” I said. Then stopped talking. He looked at me enquiringly.

“Can I ask your advice about something?” I asked him.

“Sure,” he said.

“I think I might have mentioned that my fiancée is at Culinary School.” I told him. He nodded. I did sometimes make small talk with my clients.

“She’s about halfway through her first year,” I said, “but she’s been advised to drop out and just get a job in a kitchen. The guy who told her said that she already knew everything that she needed to know, and all she was lacking was experience. Was that good advice do you think?”

He shrugged.

“I would say not,” he said. “Most kitchens won’t employ someone without either experience, or a qualification from culinary school. Without that she’d have to start waiting tables, or washing dishes, and perhaps wait to work her way into the kitchen.

“What idiot told her to drop out?”

“Gordon Ramsay,” I said. He gaped.

“Seriously?” he asked.

I nodded. “We had a cooking lesson with him. It was a charity thing he did, and Ness bought it for me for my birthday. Well, really, she bought it for her, but you know what fiancées are like.”

He laughed. “And he told her she didn’t need to go to school?” he asked.

“He wrote her this.” I told him pulling out the email from my bag.

His eyes zipped across the page.

“Is this genuine?” he asked. “You’re not playing with me?”

“Email him and ask,” I said. “His address is at the top there.”

He read it again.

“When can I meet her?” he asked. “I need to see her in the kitchen, see what she can do. If this is genuine, I’ll hire her tomorrow and give her all the kitchen experience she needs. I’ve been looking for someone good to take on for a long time.”

I searched his mind when he said that. Like Ness, I was a little concerned that, although he might be looking for a protégé, he might assume that being taken on as one must come with some strings.

Fortunately, he had no such intentions. He was really looking for someone to train. The last couple of chefs he’d taken under his wing were okay, but they’d moved on and he was looking for his next project. He loved cooking, and loved to help people who shared his passion to progress.

“You tell me,” I said. “When’s best for you?”

“This afternoon?” he asked eagerly.

I checked in with Ness.

“You free this afternoon?” I sent to her.

“Sure,” she said. “I’m just talking to my cohort leader now. He’s trying to talk me out of leaving but I showed him the email from Gordon Ramsay and he’s kind of run out of arguments.”

“What time?” I asked, “and where?”

“At Coquine,” he said. “And any time up to four. I have to start prep for dinner service then so I’ll be busy after that.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll get her there between one and two?”

“Perfect,” he said. “The restaurant will be closed. But just bang on the door. I’ll tell the staff to expect you and bring you to me.”

“I’ll do that,” I said. “Anyhow, should we get to the actual reason you’re here?”

He started to count back from one hundred.

I arrived home just after twelve and found Ness already home and waiting for me.

“So what did they say?” I asked.

“Like I said,” she replied. “My cohort leader tried to talk me out of it, but once I’d shown him the email, he kind of ran out of steam. He did say that if I was unable to get a job, I could go back at any time before the end of the year, and take the finals, to progress to year two.”

“What did your friends say?” I asked.

“Tiffany cried,” she said. “Made me promise to keep in touch. Neil looked and felt upset, and Sam, well, she said she was upset, but for some reason I felt that she was secretly pleased.

I laughed.

“It seems like training your empathic power is working. You’re picking up on peoples unguarded emotions. Maybe if you keep going, you’ll get to see auras.”

“Cool,” she said. “I think Sam is glad for me to be out of her way, so she can have a shot at Neil”

“Possibly,” I said. “Anyway. The chef from Coquine wants to meet you. He damn near wet himself when he saw the email, and he wants to see you.”

“When?” she asked. I looked at my watch.

“Now” I said. “It’s about forty minutes to the restaurant, and I said I’d have you there between one and two.”

“NOW!!” she screeched, adding at least five years to my hearing age. “Why didn’t you say?”

“I need a shower,” she said. “And to get changed.”

She dashed out of the kitchen and into the bedroom. Twenty minutes later she was back, in a clean set of student chef’s whites, which in this case were black, knife roll in hand.

“Well,” she said. “let’s go.”

I had an idea. I was betting that once he’d seen Ness in the kitchen, he’d want her to stay and see more. “Let’s take both cars,” I said. “If he’s as impressed with you as I think he’ll be, I’m betting he’ll ask you to stay and do a service with him.”

“Okay,” she said. “But I don’t know where I’m going.”

“Follow me,” I said.

Thirty-five minutes later, we pulled into the empty parking lot to the side of the restaurant.

Ness looked jittery as she stepped out of her car, her knife roll clutched in her hand.

“Come on,” I said rolling confidence and relaxation over her. She grinned at me.

“I saw that,” she said, “and thanks.”

We walked to the front door of the restaurant, which was closed and locked. I knocked.

It seems they were expecting me, as a youngish guy opened the door almost immediately.

“Are you Caleb?” he asked.

I nodded. “This is Ness.”

“Come in,” he said. “Chef is in the kitchen.”

We walked through the front of house, and through the doors into the kitchen. There were a few people in there, but less than I had imagined. My client, the head chef, looked up as we entered. His face split into a grin.

“Caleb,” he said. “Is this her?”

“This is my fiancée Ness.” I told him.

He looked her up and down. Then spotting her knife roll said. “May I?” wordlessly she handed it to him.

He laid it out on one of the work surfaces and unrolled it.

“Nice,” he said noting the make. He then tested the edge on all of the knives.

“You can often tell the caliber of a chef,” he said, “by how they maintain their knives.”

I hadn’t known that.

He then proceeded to put her through her paces. As she worked, I could see him getting more and more excited. Occasionally he’d ask her why she’d done things a certain way, or perhaps how she might do something differently, given different circumstances or ingredients.

Since she owned all of his knowledge, she easily answered everything he asked her, and I could see him getting more and more excited as she worked.

“I can’t believe it,” he said. “Someone so young and so knowledgeable. Caleb said that you were going to drop out of college. Have you done so already?”

“I spoke to my cohort leader today,” she said. “He tried to dissuade me, but I told him I was going to.”

“So you’re free to start straight away?” he asked.

Ness grinned at him. “What time is service?” she asked, he laughed.

“Stay for service tonight,” he said. “And you’ll get a feel for how we do things here. I’ll put you in a few different places in the kitchen and see how you cope. Then tomorrow morning we can work through all the paperwork with the owner. I can offer you a job starting at forty-eight thousand but, if you are as good as I think you are, that will soon increase.”

Ness looked at me. I raised an eyebrow.

“One thing,” she said. “I have a pre-existing commitment at Christmas. I know it’s a busy time for you, but this year only, I’ll need the Christmas break off. I’d imagined to be at school this year, so I’d made plans.

I pushed a little, making him think that if he refused this, then he’d lose the chance at working with the best new chef he’d ever encountered.

“That will be fine,” he said. “We’re closed from 24^th until 2^nd in any case. Since it’s so close I can see how you might have already made plans. But from then on, you’ll have to commit to working through most holidays. Those are often our busiest times.”

“Of course,” she said. “I know that kind of goes with the job.” She did glance at me for a moment, and I wondered if she’d seen my interference.

“Excellent,” he said. “Normally we’d not be open tonight, but we have a function booked in, and so we’re prepping for that.”

“Looking forward to it,” she said.

He looked at me, rather pointedly.

“I guess,” I said with a grin, “that I’ll get out of your way. Have a good service.”

They both looked at me. Suddenly I was the outsider, and in the way.

I turned and left the kitchen, heading for the door.

“Caleb,” Ness chased me out into front of house.

I turned around.

“Sorry,” she said. “I’m just so excited. That was horrible of me. Thank you so much for this. I love you.”

She pulled my face down to her level and kissed me.

“Ness!!” the shout came from the kitchen. She released me and grinned.

“Yes Chef!!” she shouted back, heading back through the doors.

I drove to the airfield, and was just in time for my afternoon flight.

I was asleep by the time Ness got home that night, but I saw her the next morning, curled up next to her sister in the bed as Sarah, Melanie, and I got up to go to the Dojo.

When we got back, she still hadn’t surfaced, so I made breakfast. I guessed that I was going to get to do a lot more of the cooking now, since Ness would simply not be there to do it. I didn’t mind, I liked to cook.

Ness came into the kitchen just as the others were leaving to go to school. I was due at the airfield, but not until mid-morning.

“So,” I queried, “how did it go?”

“It was amazing,” she said. “It’s one thing going to school, or cooking at home, but it’s an entirely different prospect working in a real kitchen. Everything happens so fast, and you have to keep so many things in your head, all at the same time.”

“You’re going to accept his job offer then?” I asked.

“I already have,” she said. She looked at the clock. “I’m due in work in an hour.”

“You want some breakfast?” I asked.

She shook her head. “I’m going to really have to watch what I eat,” she said. “You’re pretty much always grazing in the kitchen, tasting everything you cook. If I’m not careful I’ll put weight on.”

“Well just remember what Pops said,” I reminded her. “Don’t forget your family.”

She came around the table and climbed into my lap.

“How could I?” she asked. “I know we’ll be seeing a lot less of one another, now I’m working, but that’s going to make the time we do get to spend together even more special.”

“Just remember we love you.”

“I know,” she said a thoughtful expression crossing her face. Then she looked a little uncertain.

“I am doing the right thing,” she asked, “aren’t I?”

I smiled at her. “You’ve wanted to do this since when exactly?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. “As long as I can remember.”

“Then you’re doing the right thing,” I said. “We’re all going to have to think about how all our jobs fit in with our relationship. I guess it’s a part of growing up. You have an opportunity to do something that you’ve wanted all your life. Grab it.”

She grinned at me. “I need to get ready,” she said. “Traffic this time of day is a bitch.”

When I got to the flying school, Danny was stood waiting for me, a clipboard in his hand.

“Today,” he said, “we’re going to do a practice check ride. I want you to imagine that I am your DPE, and we’ll be flying the flight that we already prepared for your check flight. Okay?”

“Sure,” I said.

“Then we’ll begin,” he said. He cleared his throat and in an official voice introduced himself as my DPE told me what we’d be doing and invited me to start my preflight inspection of the aircraft.

Just over an hour later I finished the shutdown procedure, having completed the flight. I looked across at him.

He grinned at me.

“Do that tomorrow,” he said, “and you’ll have no trouble. My only concern is that your DPE will wonder how someone with so little stick time can fly like you can.”

“I’m a prodigy,” I grinned back at him. He snorted.

As we sat there, the Baron taxied up alongside us and shutdown. I looked across to see Arnie, with an older man, going through the shutdown procedure.

“The school is busy I see,” I said to Danny.

“It is,” he said. “It’s getting to the stage where I’m going to need to employ someone to run the office. Arnie and I are spending nearly every hour flying.”

“And you’ll be getting another plane when the Baron goes back?” I asked.

“Actually,” he said, “my friend with the school in Vegas is looking like he’s going to retire. There were some complications with the surgery, and I don’t think he’s going to be able to pass the medical to fly commercially. He’s not too upset, he was getting to the age where he was considering it, but it just brought it forward a couple of years.

“I’m hoping to be able to buy the Baron from him,” he said.

“Wow,” I said. “What does one of these go for?”

“Brand new they’re about 1.5 mil” he said. “This one is a bit older, but he’s still looking for six-fifty for it.”

“Six hundred and fifty thousand?” I asked.

He nodded.

“I’m going to have to finance it,” he said. “I’m hopeful the bank will back me. There’s enough work on the books to show it’s a good investment.”

While Danny and I had been talking, Arnie’s pupil had left, and Arnie had gone into the office. A moment later he came out, shouting and waving an envelope. Danny and I looked at him, then at each other.

Danny opened the door of the aircraft.

“What is it?” he asked.

“The NTSB report on the crash,” he said.

Danny jumped out of the Cirrus, and I followed. We walked into the office.

Danny sat at one of the desks and started to read the report.

“Coffee?” asked Arnie, I nodded in the affirmative, and he made us all a mug.

“Bastards,” Danny said, after nearly a half hour of reading.

“What?” asked Arnie and I together.

“From what I understand,” Danny said, “there were no safety wires on the prop bolts.”

“What?” asked Arnie. “How can that be?”

Danny flipped through pages on the report, and read, then flipped some more and read some more.

“It looks like,” he said, “the mechanic that installed the propellor was interrupted as he did the installation. There’s no record as to who finished it, but it looks like when we asked to rent the plane, someone simply bolted the spinner cap on and sent it down to us. There was nothing in the maintenance log that I got with it about the prop being changed at all. “

“So, it was a maintenance issue?” I asked.

“It looks like the bolts weren’t even torqued down properly. There’s nothing in here to say why the mechanic had been interrupted. From what I read, he took ill while he was changing the prop, and then was out sick for the next three days. By the time he returned the plane was gone. He figured someone else had completed the job and thought nothing more of it.”

“Don’t these things all get signed off?” I asked.

“Supposed to,” he said. “But the shop might do the paperwork after the job is completed. Since there’s no record of who put the spinner cap on, there’s no individual that can be held accountable for the accident, but that still leaves the maintenance company liable for it. I would guess that we, and you, will be hearing from them very soon, looking to head off some kind of litigation.”

I grinned at him.

“You think you might get enough to buy the Baron?” I asked.

Danny looked thoughtful.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Arnie was just too damn efficient in getting you down without a scratch, there are no injuries to be compensated for.

“What about mental anguish?” I asked with a grin.

“Did you need counselling? Go to see anyone? Any documented evidence?” he returned. “If you did, then you might go for that. I suspect that they’ll offer us a cursory amount and hope that we go away.”

I thought about that.

“You think I should initiate proceedings?” I asked. “Maybe file a lawsuit for a couple of mil and see what happens?”

“If you have a lawyer,” he said, “then I’d go speak to him or her. I’ll give you the case number for the report. Your lawyer will be able to get a copy.”

I had a thought then, but I didn’t voice it. I’d speak to the lawyer first and then see what happened.

I called Pops once I got home and spoke to him, and a few minutes later his lawyer called me. We talked for a while.

Wednesday morning was my Ethics class, my only mandatory attendance class in all my courses.

I’d arrived in to school early and dropped off an assignment to one of the professors. Most of them were happy enough for them to be emailed in but for some reason this one was old fashioned and always required assignments printed out and presented old school. He also gave extra marks, or rather deducted marks, for presentation. Putting the assignment in some kind of binding, and making it look pretty, got extra marks.

It made absolutely no sense to me, but if I could up my grade by jumping through some easy hoops, why wouldn’t I?

“Today,” said my Ethics professor, “we’re going to revisit a topic we’ve touched on before but from a slightly different angle. It was a topic that interested me, and I have spent some time considering it for myself. I’m going to start the discussion by setting a couple of boundaries.

“I want you to imagine that there is someone in the world, who has powers beyond what we would consider normal. What these powers are don’t really matter. Whether they can fly, read minds, jump tall buildings in a single bound, whatever. They have powers that we do not.

“If history, tells us anything, it’s that anyone who is different from us in any way, gets persecuted, ostracized, attacked, and even killed just for being different. For this reason, our superhero has to maintain their anonymity. If their powers are discovered then they will be in for a whole heap of trouble, and we’re not going to discuss the reasons for this. That is a whole separate topic. For the purposes of this discussion, we are going to stipulate that they need to stay in the shadows.

“With this in mind, I’d like to discuss the ethical dilemmas of such a person.”

He looked around the room. I waited for someone to talk.

“What powers?” asked someone.

“Does it matter?” returned the professor.

The person who’d asked the question thought about that.

“Not really,” said Dana.

“Explain” said the professor.

“The question is not about specific cases,” she said, “But in general. So, no matter the superpower, it’s not about the powers, but whether the person with them has the responsibility, or right, to use them to interfere with other people’s lives just because they can.

“If we’re accepting that they need to be anonymous, then there’s no way to ask for consent. It’s purely down to the person with the power to decide what is right for other people.”

“But surely they have a social responsibility to do what is right,” said someone else.

“For example?” asked the professor.

“Well, if they see a crime being committed, and they have the power to stop it…” they returned.

“It’s easy,” said the professor, “to cite extreme circumstances. Someone’s life is in danger, and yes you would expect someone with powers that could deal with that to step in. But what about the lesser crimes? What about pickpockets, fare dodgers on the subway, or jay walkers? These are all prima facia crimes, but would you expect our superhero to deal with them?

“Also, what if our hero is a Healer? Do they have the right to intervene without consent? Are there any other circumstances where a Healer might intervene that might have other reasoning. What if a woman conceives a child they didn’t want, and healer could prevent that child being born?”

“Abortion is wrong,” shouted one of the Kumbaya crowd. It was the same one I’d walked into the trap some time ago regarding choices.

“I don’t intend to get into specific topics like that,” said the professor. “I was just mentioning them to encompass the range of ethical dilemmas that a superhero might face, without the opportunity to discuss them with anyone else, because their primary concern will ALWAYS be to maintain their anonymity.”

“In reality,” I said, “having extra powers doesn’t really change the dilemma we all face every day.”

“Explain,” challenged the professor.

“All of us,” I said, “every day, make decisions. We see things that we could, possibly should, get involved in, and we make decisions as to whether to intervene or ‘mind our own business.’ Our superhero has exactly the same choices we have. They could call the police if they see something that shouldn’t be happening, they could involve the correct agencies, or give advice to people, support people who are ill without using their powers. They have all the tools that we have. But they also have more.

“Also,” I went on, “things aren’t always simple. Just because someone has superpowers doesn’t mean they can do everything. If they involved themselves each time they see something that they could intervene with, they could soon become swamped, getting deeper and deeper into a morass until the only way out would be to reveal themselves.

“Ultimately, just like everyone else, they have to rely on their own upbringing, sense of morality, and knowledge of what is right and wrong, when they make the decisions. And just like everyone else they will make mistakes. It’s the scale of those mistakes that might cause problems that normal people might not encounter.”

“I’d agree,” said the professor. “With or without superpowers, we all have those dilemmas. We all have to decide whether or not to take action, and we all have the capacity to help or to hurt. We’ve already discussed the difference between right and wrong, and legal and illegal, and our consensus was that they are not always the same thing.

“But when it comes to the actual argument, of the ethics of someone with superpowers, it seems that they are, by necessity, exactly the same as the ethics of everyone else. They must make decisions in the moment, and they must live with the consequences, whatever those turn out to be.”

I left the classroom and headed for lunch. Dana caught up with me.

“It’s not simple is it?” she asked quietly as we walked.

“In no way,” I said, glancing around to see who might overhear our conversation.

“Gracie told me,” she said, having also looked around, “that the guys who attacked her are not having a good time in prison.”

I smiled a grim smile. “No,” I said. “I guess they wouldn’t be.”

“Are you going to leave them like that for ever?” she asked. “I know what they did was wrong, but surely…”

I stopped and looked at her.

“Answer me one question,” I said. “If Gracie had died that night, how long would she have been dead for?”

Dana bit her lip.

“Caleb, she didn’t die,” she said.

“That was their intent,” I said, my anger stirring a little, “and were it not for Jeevan and I, the likelihood is that she would have.”

“But…” she said.

“Dana,” I said. “You have no idea what happened to her. I could show you, but it would give you nightmares, possibly worse, and I wouldn’t do that to you. Judge Roder did initially order me to reverse what I’d done, until I showed her Gracie’s memory of what they did to her. That was when she changed her mind.

“It’s possible, that one day I’ll undo what I did to them, but I know that were I to go anywhere near either of them just now, I’d likely do far worse. I’m still way too angry with them.”

“Couldn’t someone else…” she asked.

“Nobody else is powerful enough to undo what I did,” I told her, “and even if they could – I’d be angry at them for doing so. And before you ask what right I have to do something like that to someone, then ask yourself what right they had to do what they did to Gracie, and to the many others that they hurt, terrified, or killed. Gracie certainly wasn’t the first.

“I’m sorry if that changes your opinion of me, but those two men are getting exactly what they deserve.”

Suddenly not hungry any more I turned and headed for the door. I needed some time to cool down before heading toward the airfield.

I arrived at the school in plenty of time. As I entered the school, an older woman, probably in her early fifties followed me. I held the door for her, and she thanked me with a smile.

It was then that I found out that she was to be my DPE. Arnie introduced us, since he’d met her before.

Later, as we sat in the plane, listening to the engine tick as it cooled, she looked at me.

“Looking at your logbook,” she said flipping through the pages, “you don’t have nearly enough hours to fly like you do.”

“Pardon?” I asked.

“You grew up in the country?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Tell me, did they use crop sprayers around where you grew up?” she asked arching her eyebrow at me.

“They might have,” I hedged wondering where she was going with this.

“I’ve come across students before,” she said, “who fly like you do, like you have much more experience than your logbook would lead me to believe. Most times it’s because they’ve had some unofficial, and illegal, I might add, stick time.”

“I’ve never flown a crop sprayer,” I said, perfectly honestly.

She gave me a long look, then spoke again. “Well, as I said, you fly like you’ve had much more experience than you apparently have. Congratulations, Mr. Stott, you’ve passed your check ride.”

That night at home, I had to cook my own celebration dinner since Ness was working. Already I was regretting her getting a job. I missed her terribly.

Thursday morning there was a letter from the waiting for me when I got back from the range.

Dear Mr. Stott.

Regarding your application for the position of Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

We would like to invite you to attend a ‘Meet and Greet’ session at the Seattle Field Office located at 1110 3^rd Ave, Seattle, WA 98101-2904.

It gave a date and time to attend, which was the following week, and a number to call if I were unable to make the meeting and needed to reschedule.

I looked at my diary, and realized I’d have to get Mary to reschedule a couple of my hypnotherapy appointments so I had that day clear. I also looked to see how long it would take me to drive to the Seattle office, just over three hours, depending on traffic.

After Ness left, I cleared away the breakfast dishes and headed for the airfield.

Danny looked up as I entered the office, he smiled at me.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

I grimaced. “I spoke to a lawyer yesterday.” I told him. “He says that if I were to litigate, it would be against your school, since you were the ones I had the contract with. It would then be up to you, or your insurance company, to take action to recoup any damages from whoever was actually at fault.”

“Oh,” he said. “Are you going to?”

“I’m sure that you’d be able to get back any losses,” I said. “But what would that do to you? How would it affect things like the reputation of your school, and your ability to get insurance in the future?”

He considered that.

“If there was any reputational damage coming,” he said. “It’s already here. It’s not like we could keep it a secret. Everyone around here knows. I don’t know how it would affect our insurance though. Our premiums are enough to insure a small airline as it is. Although having said that, I think that my premiums are going to increase in any case. You have to declare ‘incidents’ when you renew, and it’s not like this happened in secret.”

“I don’t need the money,” I told him, “and I don’t want to make life more difficult for you guys, when it wasn’t your fault in the first place.”

He chewed his lip as he thought about that.

“I’m going to talk to my lawyer tomorrow,” he said. “I’ll ask his opinion. We’re also both going to be talking to the rental company’s lawyers. Perhaps we can negotiate something without you having to instigate litigation, that is if that’s okay with you?”

“Hey,” I said. “We’re family. I’m not going to make life difficult for you.”

Danny’s eyes widened a little at that. I don’t think he’d even considered that.

“Family?” he murmured. “Yes, I guess so.”

Arnie chose that moment to come into the office. He’d just finished a lesson and was to be my instructor for my first lesson in the Baron.

He grinned at me. “You ready?” he asked.

I nodded. “I brought lunch for us all for after the lesson,” I told him.

“Sweet,” he said. “Dad’s got a lesson now too so we’d have been struggling to get something in the time before our next lessons.”

The door opened again, and a youngish woman entered.

“Natalie,” said Danny smiling. “You’re just in time. Let’s go and start our walk around.”

Most of Thursday I spent in the air. I had decided to get through as many of my certifications as I could before the end of the year. If I could, then I’d look into getting my type rating for the G500 in the new year, preferably before having to go join the training at Quantico.

I’d noticed in the latest literature that the FBI had sent out with my invitation to the Meet and Greet, that the training course had been reduced to sixteen weeks from twenty weeks. I was happy with that news. That was four weeks less that I would be away from my family. I really wasn’t looking forward to that at all.

Thursday night I went into the kitchen to make dinner. Since Ness was working, cooking for the family had once again become my job. I didn’t mind, I liked to cook. I was surprised when Mary came into the kitchen, and told me that Gracie and Dana were coming over for dinner.

Apparently Gracie had called her, and asked if they could come over to talk, and Mary had invited them to eat with us.

“Gracie said that you and Dana had words.” said Mary. “She thinks that you and Dana need to talk this out.”

I sighed and gave Mary the memory of Dana and my conversation.

“Ah,” she said.

“What time are they arriving?” I asked.

“I told them it would be ready by seven thirty,” she said. “I also called Hoss and cancelled our lane for tonight.”

“Good thinking,” I said, starting to peel more potatoes. If we had two more people to feed, we would need more food.

I was just plating up, when I heard them arrive. Gracie and Dana came into the kitchen after a few moments spent greeting the other girls.

“Perfect timing,” I said. “Dinner’s ready.”

I mentally told the rest of the girls and they all came through to eat. Sarah and Arnie were not present. They were eating with Danny. They usually alternated between, making sure that Danny didn’t spend too much time on his own. Arnie still felt guilty about leaving his dad all alone, although Danny was starting to go out much more, usually with guys he knew from the airfield.

Conversation over dinner was pretty standard, people unburdened themselves regarding their days. Gracie asked where Ness was, and we spent some time catching her up on Ness starting to work at the restaurant. Jules, having had it read to her so many times, was able to recite the recommendation that Gordon Ramsay had written for Ness. Gracie and Dana were suitably impressed.

After dinner I was clearing away dishes, and Dana and Gracie lingered in the kitchen after everyone else had gone into the living room.

“Caleb,” said Dana. “I owe you an apology.”

I looked at her.

“No,” I said. “You don’t.”

“Gracie never told me,” she said. “Not in detail. She just said that she’d been attacked, and that you’d saved her. I never really knew what they did to her or how bad it was. When I told her about our conversation she…”

I saw tears in Dana’s eyes as she looked at her lover.

I put the last of the dishes into the dishwasher and wiped my hands.

“They hurt her,” I said, “and I was, and am still, angry about that. I’m sorry if that lowers your opinion of me, but…”

“NO,” she said, probably louder than she intended. She moved until she was standing right in front of me.

“I…” she began, suddenly not able to look me in the face. Gently I put my fingers under her chin and tilted her head up to look at me.

“I thought you were angry with me,” she said finally, “when you left school.”

“I was angry,” I said, “but not with you. You just reminded me how angry I was with the men who hurt Gracie. I left because I didn’t want to take that anger out on you.”

“Then we’re still… friends?” she asked.

“I hope so,” I said. “I was worried that you’d think less of me because of what I did to those men, because it’s still happening, and I currently have no intention of changing that.”

She put her arms around me and pulled me to her, resting her head on my chest.

“I don’t” she said. “I could never…”

She looked up at me. “I’m sorry,” she said finally.

I leaned forward slightly and kissed her gently. She responded, pressing harder against me.

When we broke apart, I glanced at Gracie who was moving toward us.

“If you’re handing out kisses,” she said arriving beside us. Dana laughed lightly and stepped back a little, clearing a space for her girlfriend.

“We’re going to have to have another night together,” said Gracie after her kiss. “Soon.”

“That sounds wonderful,” I told her.

The two girls stayed until after I’d gone to bed. Melanie came to bed with me since she was going to be getting up at the same time as me.

She snuggled into my side as we relaxed, prior to sleeping.

“You okay?” she asked, resting her head on my shoulder.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m glad they came over. That might have festered otherwise.”

“What exactly did you do to the men,” she asked. Since the attack on Gracie had been before Melanie and I had met, she’d not really known a lot about it, although she’d heard snippets of information since.

“I made sure,” I said, “that they suffered for their crimes.”

“Will you show me?” she asked. “Not what they did to Gracie, but what you did to the men?”

I thought about that.

“I think,” I said. “IF you want to see one, then you should see both. It puts things into context. However, I don’t really want to show you either. What they did to Gracie was pure evil. It was unnecessary, cruel, and despicable. Even if you could ‘rationalize’ them killing her to keep their secret, what they did was beyond appalling. Even now I don’t have words to describe it.”

Melanie pondered this for a moment.

“Then they got what they deserved,” she said. “Or maybe they didn’t. Maybe, they deserved far, far, worse.”

Friday, once more, I spent most of the day in the air. I was considering whether to book my next check ride, since I’d already got more than three quarters of the required flight time logged.

Saturday, we invited Danny over for dinner.

Danny knew all our family, but we’d never really had an option to socialize with him. I was curious to know how he was doing following my ‘intervention.’

He and Arnie arrived just after six. They’d finished their lessons for the day and had buttoned up both aircraft before coming straight to our house.

Since Ness was still at work, I was going to be making dinner.

“I had a meeting with the lawyers,” he said, taking a seat at the dining table, while I started to make preparations.

“What did they say?” I asked.

“I told them that you were considering your position regarding taking action against my school,” he replied, “and that if you did, I’d be seeking not only any damages I was forced to pay you, but also all the legal costs involved, along with an amount to cover the projected increase in my insurance premiums caused by your action against the school.”

“How did they take that?” I asked.

“They asked me to set up a meeting with you,” they said. “I think they’re hoping to settle things directly, so that the legal costs and also the fallout will be minimal. They’ll still have trouble with the NTSB but if they can satisfy any outstanding legal issues, they’d like to.”

I looked at him.

“No,” I said. “I don’t want to meet with them.”

He looked surprised.

“But…” he began but I held up a hand.

“I already told you,” I said, “I don’t need the money. My primary goal is to minimize the fallout for my family. You and Arnie. I’ll get my lawyer to draw something up to give you full authority to deal with them. Whatever you think is fair, I’ll accept.”

He stared at me for a few moments as I continued to prepare dinner.

“Okay,” he said finally. “It might make things simpler if they’re just dealing with me.”

During dinner I was surprised by Arnie.

“Are you going to tell dad about powers?” he sent to everyone around the table. I guessed that he’d only meant to send it to me, but since this was really the first time he’d instigated a conversation through the connection he was still learning to use it.

Several eyes turned to me.

“I hadn’t planned on doing it tonight,” I responded. “Perhaps during the Christmas break at the Ranch would be the best time. That way Dean and Cheryl will be around to talk to him.”

“As will a lot of other people,” he replied. “Is that really fair to him?”

I thought about that for a few minutes. Arnie was right, there would be a lot of people at the Ranch. I guessed that my parents would be there, as would Cheryl and Dean, plus the ‘surprise’ that Cheryl had hinted at.

“Mostly they will be power users,” I told him, “and able to answer his questions. But if you think that it would be better to do it here and now, then we can do that too. I’ll defer to you. You know him better than we do.”

I saw Arnie thinking for a few moments.

“I’d like to do it before,” he said. “Also can you not tell him that it was you that made him see Mom. I think that would really freak him out. He seems to be doing so much better. One day it might be right to let him know, but not yet.”

“Is something the matter?” asked Danny. He’d noticed all the looks up and down the table. There was no way that he could know that we were holding a conversation telepathically, but there had been some significant looks exchanged, especially by Arnie who’d not yet learned how to mask what was going on.”

“No,” I said.

“There’s an atmosphere all of a sudden,” he pressed. “Something’s wrong. What is it?”

I sighed.

“Nothing is wrong,” said Arnie quietly, looking a little guilty, knowing that he’d inadvertently forced our hand.

Danny looked from Arnie to Sarah, then to me.

“Caleb?”

Danny took things far better than I thought he would.

We explained about powers to him, what they were, and grossly how they worked. Melanie and I demonstrated TK and PK to him, while Sarah demonstrated that she could read Arnie’s mind, by having Danny write things down on pieces of paper and show them to him.

He made some leaps of deduction about the crash, which definitely softened his stance on Powers.

We decided that he didn’t need to know about ‘sharing,’ at least not for now. It wouldn’t affect him directly and Arnie and Sarah’s sex life were not really any of his business. It may come to light later on, but there was no real need for it to be discussed now.

Danny even stayed over, in our spare room, since both he and Arnie needed to be at the airfield earlyish in the morning, and they’d only brought one car. It meant that Arnie could stay with Sarah. When we’d offered, he’d immediately declined saying he had nothing with him.

“Actually,” said Arnie, “you do. I packed a bag for you. It’s in the trunk.”

Sunday, Sarah, Melanie, and I were in the yard, just finishing our kata practice when Danny emerged.

“Morning,” I said. He looked at me.

“How long have you been out here?” he asked.

“Couple of hours,” I said. “We train most mornings. It’s important to keep the body fit. Using powers can really take it out of you.”

“And the martial arts?” he asked.

“It’s about control.” I told him. “It’s also important to retain control of your emotions at all times. Since any one of us could do some impressively nasty things to people, losing our tempers is not a great idea.”

“That’s probably wise,” he said.

“You want some breakfast?” I asked, moving toward the kitchen door.

Arnie and Danny left after breakfast. I suspected that since Arnie disappeared while Sarah showered, he’d joined her in the shower for some early morning fun. At breakfast, Sarah had a satisfied expression on her face.

The restaurant wasn’t open on a Sunday, so Ness was there. Since she’d been working until after midnight on Saturday night, I didn’t wake her. She came into the kitchen yawning just after eight.

“Morning,” I said. “Breakfast?”

She looked at me. She looked hungry – but not necessarily for food.

“Later,” she said coming over to me, and grabbing the front of my T-shirt. She pulled me against her, kissing me hungrily.

After she broke the kiss, she pulled me to her, resting her head on my chest.

“I’ve missed this,” she said. “I’ve missed you all.”

“And we’ve missed you,” I said. “Was it worth it?”

She looked up at me.

“That’s not a fair question,” she said. “Nothing is really worth not being with you all, but unless we’re all just going to sit around the house all day doing nothing, then we need to work.”

“Sorry,” I said. “You’re right. That wasn’t fair. I’m not looking forward to being away from all of you for so long next year, but I’m still going to do it. If we want careers, then we have to make sacrifices. I just missed you so much is all.”

“I know,” she said.

“I’ll rephrase my question,” I told her. “Are you enjoying working at the restaurant?”

She grinned up at me. “Hell yes,” she said. “I thought I knew it all, that you’d given me all his knowledge, and I guess you did – or at least all of his cooking knowledge. But there’s so much more to know. There’s running the kitchen, working with teams, keeping everything moving, timing so that all the dishes for a table are ready at the same time and so much more. I’m learning loads.”

“No issues?” I asked.

“There are a couple of idiot younger chefs,” she said. “One who’s been trying to sweet-talk me, and another who seems a little pissed that I’ve been hired above him, especially since I have so little experience. I’m dealing with them.”

“I have no doubt,” I said. I didn’t offer to help. She knew that we’d all be beside her in an instant if she needed help, and also that I trusted her to take care of herself.

“Is he cute?” I asked. “The one that is trying to sweet-talk you?”

She snorted.

“Not as cute as you,” she said. “He’s a year older than me, a bit soft, but thinks he’s suave. When he gets over his teenage acne, he’ll probably be good looking.”

I laughed. “Cruel fate,” I said.

“Besides,” she said running her hand down the front of my body, stopping just north of my belt.

“When I’ve got Kobe beef at home, why would I settle for shin?”

“Because it’s at hand,” I said seriously. “You know I wouldn’t mind if you needed some stress relief at work.”

“Not going to happen,” she said. “I come home each night, and if it gets too bad, I might just jump you in your sleep.”

“And what about when I’m not here?” I asked.

“Then the girls will have to help out,” she said. “I told you Caleb. This,” she slid her hand down the front of my sweatpants and grabbed my now stiffening meat, “is the only cock I want. And I want it now.”

She turned, and, still holding on to me, walked toward the bedroom.

Melanie was just walking out of the bedroom as we approached. She looked amused when she saw Ness leading me in by my cock. She looked surprised when Ness grabbed her hand and pulled her in too.

“He’s not the only one I missed,” Ness said.

Mary and Amanda, on seeing this, looked a question at her. She grinned. Jules, who’d been in the bedroom tidying up, looked up as we entered. She smiled at her younger sister, and the rest of us as we came in.

“I’ll send Sarah in,” she said. “She’s missed you too.” She leaned in and gave her younger sister a ‘Jules’ kiss. And then held her for a moment. “So have I,” she breathed, before leaving the bedroom.

When the door opened to admit Sarah, Ness was on her knees in front of me, my cock down her throat. Sarah sashayed over to me, stroking Ness’ head as she got to my side.

She turned my head to face hers and kissed me, her hunger evident. Melanie and Mary were busy undressing each other, and Amanda, predictably, had started to undress me. Once my sweatpants were out of the way, she slid her fingers into the crease of my ass and began to massage my asshole gently.

I had one hand on the back of Ness’ head and the other cupping Sarah’s ass as she ground against my leg while Ness brought me closer and closer to my climax. When Sarah slid her hand up my chest and tweaked my nipple, I lost control. I held Ness’ head still, pushing myself deeper into her throat, and delivered my first load of the day straight down her throat.

Ness pulled back a little, not to escape, but to take some of my cum into her mouth. I knew what was about to happen, and that thought extended my orgasm a little.

Ness held my cock in her mouth until I was finished, and then she sucked it clean, making sure not to miss any. Then she stood up, and, grabbing Sarah by the chin, turned her head and kissed her, forcing her tongue into Sarah’s mouth, feeding her some of my cum.

Sarah’s eyes went wide at first, but she soon got into the kiss, and I saw their tongues battle for a few moments before they pulled apart and each swallowed their share.

“I needed that,” Ness said grinning at me.

“We’ve missed you too,” said Mary, now naked, and standing beside Melanie. Mary held her hand out towards Ness, and with an ‘I’ll see you later’ look at me, Ness went to join them. Amanda grabbed mine and Sarah’s hand’s and led us both to the bed.

Amanda lay down on the bed, and pulled Sarah on top of her into a 69 position.

“I’m hoping,” she said as she did, “that Arnie left a little something for me”

Sarah, suddenly realizing what Amanda was talking about blushed.

“I was just going for another shower,” she said, “when Jules grabbed me.”

“Later,” Amanda purred as she got Sarah situated above her, and buried her face into Sarah’s pussy.

“Ooohhhh!” Sarah sighed, “That’s so nasty.”

I grinned at her, stepping forward and brining my newly interested cock to within her reach. She wasted no time at all taking me in her mouth and getting me back to full tumescence. Then she backed off a little and, pulling Amanda’s legs up and tucking them under her arms, pulled me forward, directing me to fuck the creampie-eating twin.

Amanda squeaked into Sarah’s pussy when I entered her, but soon went back to her feast as Sarah, sat up some and, still holding onto Amanda’s legs, kissed me.

Mary, who had Ness’ face buried in her snatch, was moaning. Melanie kneeling behind Ness had three fingers in her pussy, and her tongue buried deep in her asshole. I saw Ness stiffen and squeal in climax her body shuddering from Melanie’s ministrations. When it was over, she went right back to sucking on Mary’s clit, while her hands did other things I couldn’t see, due to the angle I was situated at.

Whatever she was doing, I could tell Mary was enjoying it since she was moaning and writhing in pleasure.

Gently and carefully, I used our connection to share our sensations. I made sure to exclude both Jules and Arnie. The last thing I wanted was for him to get distracted as he flew. That could be very bad.

The sudden onslaught of sensations caused Mary to hit her climax, which then fed into Amanda causing her to cum on my cock. Sarah stiffened as the tonguing she was getting from Amanda, added to the feeling of the twins orgasms ripping through them set her off, and Melanie, who was still gently stroking and licking at Ness’ pussy and ass suddenly stiffened as the combined orgasms hit her. Ness’ pussy clamped down on her fingers once more as she also hit her peak, almost immediately on the back of her first orgasm.

I had to use my power to prevent my own climax, otherwise I’d have been emptying myself into Amanda’s pussy also. Not that that would have been a problem, but I got the impression that Ness wanted that for herself this morning, and I didn’t want to disappoint her.

All the girls collapsed to the bed, panting as they recovered from their peaks. Ness looked up from her position beside Mary.

“Here,” she said, indicating the spot beside her.

I lay down.

After a few moments rest, the girls switched around. Amanda moved over to Ness’ far side, and Mary joined Sarah on my opposite side. Melanie laid down directly beside me, after a quick whispered conversation with Ness.

I’d expected Ness to turn to me, but she actually put her back to me, while Amanda also turned onto her side, initially kissing her, but quickly moving into another sixty nine position, both on their sides.

I felt fingers on my jaw and had my head turned, to Melanie, who kissed me deeply. I couldn’t see what Mary and Sarah were up to, but the feelings running through my body, told me that kisses and fingers were involved. I couldn’t tell whose was whose.

Melanie broke the kiss and then brought her lips to my ear.

“Don’t cum,” she said before running her tongue around the rim, sending shivers down my spine.

She then proceeded to climb on top of me, before lowering her incredibly wet, hot and tight pussy on to my rigid manhood.

I moaned in appreciation, and would have possibly said something, had Melanie not leaned down again and rejoined the kiss, invading my mouth with her tongue, as she worked her hips, sliding herself up and down on my length.

I really don’t know who came first. Perhaps it was Amanda, having her pussy eaten by Ness or Sarah, who was being fingered by Mary who was also busily sucking on her clit. Perhaps it was Melanie who was now, ramming her squelching twat hard onto my length, or maybe Ness who had Amandas tongue on her clit and fingers up her ass.

Whoever it was, it caused a feedback loop, sending each of the girls into a massive orgasm, which then fed back causing more and more orgasms until all five girls were twitching puddles on the bed. My lower half was soaked in Melanies squirting she’d come so hard, and she was lay on top of me panting, almost insensate following the cascade climax.

“Oh FUCK!!” I heard someone moan, then realized it was me. I’d almost lost it, almost not been able to control my own orgasm, having ‘suffered’ through the combined climaxes of all the girls.

After a few minutes, Melanie slid off me. My cock was still rampant and throbbing, coated in a combination of my precum and Melanie’s juices.

I felt a hand reach over from the opposite side to Melanie, and grab onto it, squeezing it and pulling. I turned onto my side, being pulled into Ness’ back, spooning her.

She looked over her shoulder, her eyes full of lust, but with also a trace of fear.

“It’s time,” she said. For a moment I didn’t understand what she meant, but then I felt Amanda line me up against Ness’ last virginity.

“Are you…” I began but Ness shook her head.

“Don’t talk,” she said. “Just fuck me. Take my ass. I want to feel you buried balls deep inside me, filling me full of your cum. Do it now!”

I slid my hips forward, pressing up against her pucker. Amanda had been working on her, probably for quite some time now, and so it unfolded fairly easily as she accepted me into her body.

I pressed forward more, stopping when Ness hissed.

“Don’t stop,” she said. “That feels so good.”

I continued to push, slipping deeper and deeper into her tight back door, hearing moans from all around, as they all shared the sensation of my cock forcing its way into Ness’ tightest hole.

“That’s incredible,” I heard Sarah say. “I’m so going to get Arnie to do that to me.”

I smiled at that thought, remembering what she’d said about having a DP with us both.

Soon I was pressed against Ness. My cock buried deep inside her, her butt cheeks tight against me.

Amanda had moved, and Ness reached back and grabbed my hip, before trying to roll onto her belly.

Figuring out what she wanted, I rolled with her, placing me on top of her, still buried deep in her guts.

“Now fuck me” she demanded.

I knelt up, pulling her up onto her hands and knees, using TK to move us both and ensure I didn’t slip out of. I pulled her back further, pressing even deeper given our new position. Ness groaned. Then she turned her head.

“Melanie?” she said indicating the bed in front of her. Melanie smiled and moved, sliding into position to give Ness access to her pussy. Amanda had taken up station behind me and was reaching between my legs, stroking Ness’ pussy as I started to move.

As soon as Melanie laid down, with Ness’ head between her legs. Sarah mounted up, giving Melanie access to her. Melanie wasted no time. Mary, obviously feeling a little left out climbed onto the bed and straddled Ness, putting her pussy directly in front of my face. Not wanting to disappoint her I slipped my tongue between her lips and feasted on her, while I plundered Ness’ rear.

Mary moaned as I lapped at her, and I realized that Sarah had taken advantage of having her rear almost directly in front of her face, and was spreading her cheeks. Mary had Sarah drilling into her ass with her tongue. I could feel it, but also Amanda’s tongue lapping at my pucker as she worked Ness’ clit with her fingers.

I could feel all our climaxes building through the bond, but mine was building quickest. How could I not. I had five beautiful sexy hot women, involved in possibly the most depraved orgiastic activity I could imagine all around me.

I pressed my orgasm down again, causing Ness to growl.

“Let it go,” said Mary, the only one of the girls whose mouth wasn’t occupied. “She wants it. Fill the little slut up with your spunk.”

I felt Amanda’s other hand tugging at my balls, and knew that unless I cheated again, I was lost.

I sped up my thrusts, causing Ness to moan in appreciation, knowing that I was nearing completion. She pushed back against me trying to get me deeper still as I pounded into her ass. I felt her clench on me, her asshole becoming even tighter, a velvet lined iron sleeve.

That was all too much, and with a long moan into Mary’s pussy, I came. I squirted jet after jet of hot thick cream into her bowels. My orgasm, and the feeling and thought of my spunk jetting up her ass, caused Ness to cum, Amanda’s fingers on her clit intensifying and prolonging her orgasm. That caused Melanie to cum as Ness sucked even harder on her clit as she rode out her orgasm.

After that I lost track of who was cumming, who was riding out other people’s orgasms, and who was doing what to whom.

I had to support Sarah, who’d passed out, falling backwards. She would have banged her head on the headboard of the bed, but I lifted her gently and moved her to one side, as we each disentangled ourselves. Finally, we were all laid on the bed, Ness curled up against my side, her head on my chest. The rest of the girls were arranged around us, each holding another, although Melanie was on my other side, her head on my chest too, facing Ness.

I looked down, just in time to see Melanie plant a gentle kiss on Ness’ lips.

“Thank you,” she said to Ness. “We missed you.”

Ness smiled at her and then looked up at me.

“If I’d known that was on offer,” she said. “I’d have dropped out months ago.”

I laughed.

Sarah moaned as she came around.

“Fuck,” she said, shuddering in memory of her orgasms. “Is that going to be our regular Sunday morning from now on?”

“Yes, please,” said Mary and Amanda together. Melanie giggled.

I looked at Ness again. She’d dozed off, a contented smile on her face.

“I love you,” I said to the sleeping teen. Then looked around at the other girls who were watching.

“All of you,” I told them.