Chapter 30: Minute l

BEN

I came awake before my eyes opened, and despite an instinctive attempt to raise my eyelids, for now they didn't rise. Through the translucent patches of skin covering my vision, I was aware of illumination around me. But it wasn't so intense as to make me shy away from it.

Momentarily deprived of my sight, the rest of my senses came alive with much stronger clarity. My sense of hearing noticed a rhythmic beeping sound off to my left, electronic in nature and perhaps a touch faster than one beep per second. My sense of smell scented the cool, dry mustiness of a stale room overprocessed by perpetual air conditioning and never allowed to taste the freshness of the outdoors. And my sense of touch informed me that I was supported in a reclined position with full back support, provided the kind of cushioning that one never finds in a home or office.

Memory returned to me, and as the events leading up to my present condition raced through my brain, I realized that I must be in a hospital bed recovering from my wounds. An attempt to move my left arm resulted in a slight tugging sensation against my skin, no doubt from an IV inserted into my vein. The restriction around my head that reminded me of wearing a baseball cap was likely from some kind of bandage wrapped around my skull. There were plugs in my nose feeding me oxygen, probably the source of that stale smell. And the general aches and pains throughout my body told me that not much time had passed since I received my many injuries.

Taking a deep breath despite the pain in my chest from ribs that were probably bruised, I inhaled and felt a ticklish, almost electrical sensation crawl up and down my limbs. Prior to that moment, my sense of touch had only activated enough to inform me of my position, but now I could feel my toes wiggling and my fingers stretching. And I could also now feel the hand holding mine.

Finally my eyelids rose. The sunlight coming in through the window wasn't that bright, but it was still intense enough to make me squint for a few moments while my irises constricted and my vision adjusted. Turning toward the source of the hand holding mine, I noticed the fuzzy outline of someone's head before me. As the seconds passed, I identified blonde hair, pale skin, and sky blue eyes. And then all at once, the image focused and revealed her identity.

I blinked away crustiness that clung to my eyelids and opened my mouth to gawk in surprise. "D ... Dawn?" I rasped, my throat dry.

"Hey..." she replied sweetly, a nervous smile momentarily touching her lips before her calm serenity returned once more. "How do you feel?"

I blinked twice more, my brain still not quite processing how My Dawn had come to be by my side. "Uh..." I grunted helplessly as my poor mental processes went into a recursive loop of stupidity. I could almost see the egg timer icon in my mind flipping and flipping and flipping over again while my computing power accomplished absolutely nothing.

Okay, time to reboot.

With a groan, I braced my palms on the mattress to either side and pushed myself up. Dawn lurched forward, a hand on my chest as she soothed in a tender voice, "Hey, not so fast. Take it slow."

But it was too late. Pitching my head forward too rapidly, I felt inky black clouds immediately swim into my vision. I got light-headed, and the room spun around me. The last sensation I felt was that of Dawn's hand caressing my cheek, and then the blackness took over and my consciousness was gone once more.

I blinked my eyes open and immediately turned my head to the last place I'd seen her. It didn't seem to take as long to get my eyes to focus, and sure enough Dawn was still in her seat, staring at me with that expression of relief to see me awake and alert. Her eyes were a brilliant sky blue, piercing in their intensity and yet soothing in their softness. The sunlight backlit her so that her blonde hair shined like a halo around her head. And as I gazed upon her for really the first time since I'd nearly died, all I could think of was how achingly beautiful she really was.

"Gonna take it slow this time?" Dawn asked with a mirthful grin, squeezing my right hand with her own.

Blinking slowly, I took a deep breath and felt the ache of my ribs once again. I gave her a nearly imperceptible nod, just once, and instead of trying to sit up, I reached out with my other hand and found the electronic controls for my hospital bed. Looking down at the keypad, I identified the one that would incline my backrest and pressed it. The mechanical whirr of a low-power motor filled the silence in the room as the bed raised my body into a nearly upright sitting position. When I reached the right angle, I let go of the button and winced while taking another deep breath against my sore ribs.

"Surprised to see you here," I stated carefully, grimacing against the dryness of my throat.

Dawn's eyebrows furrowed, and without me saying anything more she pointed to a pea green pitcher on the table beside her. "Want some water?"

I nodded thankfully, watching as she let go of my hand and poured half a Dixie cup. Standing up into a half-crouch, she braced her left hand on the mattress and leaned over me to raise the cup to my lips. I opened my mouth to let her pour some of the water inside before the rest of my body caught up to me, and I raised my right hand to take the cup from her and feed myself.

"Not too fast, and not too much. Your body can't handle a lot just yet, and they told me not to give you more than that or you'd throw up."

Dawn waited until I finished the water and handed the cup back to her. She set it down on the table before reaching up to brush a few strands of her fine blonde hair behind her ear. "Better?" she asked.

I swallowed thickly, still not entirely comfortable, but I nodded in the affirmative. My immediate need taken care of, I returned to my original question. "What are you doing here? And is there anyone else with you?"

"I'm here because you got shot," she replied matter-of-factly before blushing and looking down at the floor in embarrassment. Bringing her gaze back up to me, she added, "I, uh ... Well this isn't the first time you've gotten shot, and I distinctly remember NOT being there for you the last time. No matter what else is going on in our lives, I couldn't let history repeat itself."

I blinked but didn't otherwise respond.

Dawn nervously looked down at the floor again before fiddling with her fingers and taking a deep breath. "As for everyone else, most of them are at the house – my house, I mean. Your parents. My parents. Brooke and DJ and the twins. Even Sasha's been staying with us from time to time. I already called to let them know you woke up for a bit, and they're all driving over here now. Everyone except Adrienne; she's here in the hospital, too, and she's gonna be pissed she wasn't here when you woke up. She went to get us lunch, but I called her and she's rushing over from the cafeteria right now."

"Just you two?" I frowned. "Not to sound egotistical, but I would have thought everyone would be hanging out in the waiting room for me to get out of surgery or something. Isn't that what people do in the movies?"

Dawn shrugged. "They were, for the first two days at least. But the hospital didn't want our entire extended family filling up their waiting room for days on end, so they sent most of us home. We've been on rotating shifts, and I guess I just got lucky that you woke up for me." Her smile was warm but bittersweet.

I blinked in surprise. "'Days on end'? Wait, WHAT?" I tried to sit up straighter again, but Dawn immediately held my shoulder and kept me at bay.

"Hey, hey," she soothed. "Take it easy. The doctor said it would take a little while for you to regain your equilibrium and coordination. It's a common side-effect of being in a coma."

"I was in a coma?!?"

"Hey, reLAX..." Dawn rubbed my arm. "It was medically-induced. You got shot in the head and there were bullet fragments imbedded in your cranium. Good thing you've apparently got a thick skull. But you still got a brain bruise and the doctors said the coma would reduce intracranial pressure or something like that and help you avoid getting any permanent brain damage. It wasn't for that long; just a little more than a week."

"A WEEK?"

"Hey, reLAX..." Dawn repeated, still rubbing my arms. "It's not that bad. They stopped giving you the meds to keep you in a coma two days ago, but there was no way to tell exactly when the drugs would flush out of your system and you'd wake up. Like I said, we've been on rotating shifts, and I already called the house to tell 'em you're awake now. But even still, the doctors are going to have to look you over before they let the whole crowd come visit."

"Ungh..." I groaned and let my head fall back against the mattress behind me.

"You'll do fine. You fed yourself with a cup of water. That's perfect recovery. I read that some coma patients can't coordinate that well for a long time. You're pretty lucky."

"I don't exactly feel lucky right now."

"Yeah, well that's what happens when you get shot in the head. Rushing into a meth house by yourself against guys with guns? Not exactly your smartest move ever."

I lowered my eyelids halfway and glared at her. "I wouldn't expect you to understand. Wanting to be there for someone, really be THERE for them, no matter what."

Dawn bit her lip and frowned, instantly looking pitiful enough that I wanted to take back my harsh words. Yet I couldn't forget how much pain and heartache she'd already caused me, and the hurt, vindictive part of me didn't let me say a word to assuage her guilt.

There was a long silence between us, but after a moment Dawn slipped her hand into mine. For some reason, I didn't jerk my hand away like I thought I would, and she squeezed my fingers.

"I know I wasn't there for you before," she began. "I was messed up, and I wasn't who I needed to be for you. I know it feels like I kept running away from you right at the times when you wanted me to stick it out by your side and make things work together. I didn't, and for that I'm eternally sorry. But sorry isn't good enough, and words of apology won't fix what's happened between us. You're angry and resentful even now, a year after everything went down between us, and you have every right to be. But I don't have a time machine. I can't go back to the past and undo my mistakes. All I can do is be here for you NOW. As soon as my mom told me what happened, I drove here as fast as I could."

Folding my arms over my chest, I sighed and stared away from her. "So what, if I hadn't gotten shot, you'd still be up at camp? Gee, thanks for only coming back to me NOW."

"You didn't want me here before. You made that clear enough on that phone call New Year's Eve. You hated me, and you had every right to hate me. So I stayed away. I spent a lot of time thinking about us, but more importantly, thinking about you and me as separate entities. I was desperate before, desperate to win you back as my soulmate, as my lover, as my husband for all time. But that was part of the problem. All my sense of happiness was tied up in you, and it was only AFTER I finally managed to let you go that I was able to move on."

I snorted. "I'll bet you did. Does your friend Nick have a big dick? Does Deedee's pussy taste as sweet as you dreamed?"

Dawn frowned at the bitterness in my tone, but she shook her head. "I never slept with them. Thought about it, of course – goodness knows I got horny enough – but I didn't do it. Not out of some kind of loyalty to you; that would still be fixating on you as my ultimate goal, an unhealthy obsession. No, I did it for me. Believe it or not, some 21-year-olds out there in the world have to live their lives without getting regularly laid. I've always been a very sexual person, but I committed myself to rising above my carnal instincts and really focusing on what makes me happy as a person deep inside."

"That a crack about the way I'm a slave to my carnal instincts?"

Dawn shook her head immediately. "I'm not here to judge you. I drove all this way down here to support you as best I can. But I'll listen, too. If you don't want me here, I'll go back to camp; Norma will understand. But Ben ... you're my friend. You've always been my friend. And even though I went a little out of my head this last year or so, I'd like to think the twenty-one years we had together BEFORE that will still mean something to you. I'm not here to interfere in your romantic relationships or reclaim some lost part of your heart, really. And maybe my timing sucks and dealing with me coming back to town is the absolute LAST thing you want to deal with. But the fact is that you almost died, and the thought of you and I being parted for all eternity WITHOUT ever getting the chance to make things right between us ... well it freaked the hell out of me. So I'm here. I just want to be friends. That's all, okay?"

I took another deep breath and sighed, shaking my head.

"Baby steps. A chat, here and there. Otherwise I'll stay out of your hair. I'm moving back in with my parents. I'll be close enough to visit but far enough away that I won't bother you, alright?"

"I've got a ... well ... we're not officially boyfriend/girlfriend or anything yet, but things are getting there."

"I know. Sasha's nice. She's sweet, and she's smart. I always liked her."

"She's a stripper ... or ... she was."

Dawn shrugged. "A girl's gotta have an edge if she's gonna keep up with you. As long as she loves you properly; that's the important thing."

"She does." I nodded before narrowing my eyes at Dawn. "So you're really not here to make trouble or try to win me back?"

Dawn shook her head. "I wouldn't do that to you."

"Not sure I believe that, especially after what happened the last time we saw each other face-to-face."

Dawn sighed. "Well, it's the best I've got right now, unless you can think of some way you'd like me to prove it."

I mused on that for a second, scrutinizing the open, unthreatening look in Dawn's eyes. "Prove it? Alright. Stick around. Get settled in back home. Make nice with your sisters, especially DJ after what you did to her that last time we saw each other. And don't fucking run away from me again, you got it?"

Dawn smiled and squeezed my hand again. "Got it. I'll be here. I won't leave you again. Not after the universe gave me such a kick in the ass."

"Me getting shot is not the universe telling you to come back to me."

"Maybe not. Maybe there's no such thing as Destiny. Maybe there aren't any cosmic forces that bind you and me together. But this is fact: I woke up in a cold sweat just before midnight on the sixth of May. I was shaking and I was crying, practically hysterical. My roommate Zoey said I kept screaming your name. I knew something was wrong with you. I KNEW it. So I called home and woke up my parents. Mom was on the phone trying to calm me down and tell me that she was sure you were just fine when Dad got the call from DJ. And then all of a sudden Mom was freaking out and asking me how I knew."

I blinked and my jaw dropped open.

"I told her I didn't know anything. I just had a feeling. Mom explained to me what had happened, so I got in the car in my pajamas, and now I'm here."

I was still blinking in surprise.

"Maybe it was coincidence. Maybe it was just a bad dream. But I choose to believe that there's still something between us. Maybe we're not destined to be romantic partners someday. Maybe we still are. I don't know, and I'm not going to rush into anything or pressure you or do anything like that. I've made a lot of mistakes I need to make up for, and I'm not here to mess up your life. But I believe the universe gave me a sign, and I'm sticking around here until I figure out what that means."

I couldn't answer, and I didn't answer. Just then, the door opened and Adrienne rushed in, followed by two nurses. "Holy shit, Tiger! You ARE awake!"

I smiled and opened my arms for a hug. Adrienne launched into me a little harder than was probably good for me, and I groaned in obvious pain. The next twenty seconds was a flurry of activity with nurses reprimanding Adrienne to be gentle while she apologized profusely, me complaining about how everything was achy, and Dawn smiling and squeezing my hand the whole time.

It was good to be alive.

The next couple of hours flew by in the blink of an eye. Dawn and Adrienne were allowed to stay, but had to step aside while the doctors and nurses ran a series of tests on me to verify what I already felt inside: that I was just fine and would make a full recovery despite suffering a cerebral contusion and spending more than a week in a medically-induced coma. My aches and pains were more from my body not moving for more than a week than the beating I took, and would go away soon. My brain swelling had gone down as well. Ultimately, they were confident I would suffer no lasting effects from my ordeal save for occasional dizziness that would eventually discontinue, and an ugly bullet scar on the upper right side of my head. They'd shaved my skull for surgery, but eventually my hair would re-grow and cover up the scar, and with enough time I'd be good as new.

Maybe there was something to this Destiny bit after all...

The rest of my worried relatives, plus Sasha, all arrived before the doctors were done with their tests and had to wait outside for a while. A good chunk of the Tri-Delt harem came too, which likely made for some interesting conversation with the parentals. So they were all chomping at the bit by the time my immediate family was allowed into my room, and all of a sudden no less than three people were asking me questions and trying to talk at any given moment, filling the room with more noise than a Las Vegas pick-up bar. But finally my dad got everyone to calm down, and with the parentals asking questions first, everyone was eventually satisfied that I was indeed alive and would remain so for the foreseeable future.

Thankfully, nobody asked me about the ill-fated trip to Carter's. I gathered tangentially that the other people who'd been there had already been grilled to death on the subject, especially DJ, Brooke, and Adrienne. But I still didn't know myself how things had turned out, and once the two sets of parents stopped interrogating me, I started thinking about getting some questions of my own answered. But just then a dizzy spell hit, I started moaning and groaning, and the thought of talking any more than I had to really didn't appeal.

I was fine, really, just woozy and tired. My energy reserves were non-existent and the time spent going through tests and talking with my family had wiped me out. Inky black clouds covered my vision once again and I passed out.

When I woke up again, it was dark outside and a different Evans sister was holding my hand.

"Hey, kiddo," I rasped, coughing just a bit.

DJ was actually talking to Brooke and didn't realize my eyes had opened until I said that, and she nearly jumped out of her chair. But she recovered quickly and cocked her head, asking, "Dry throat? Want some water?"

I smiled at the sense of déjà vu and nodded while pushing the button to raise incline my bed. She poured the Dixie cup full this time and was about to feed me when I took the cup from her and fed myself.

When I was done, I handed the cup back. DJ accepted it, looked me in the eye, and whimpered, "I'm so sorry."

I arched an eyebrow. "Is this Evans-daughter apology day?"

"What?"

I shook my head and smiled. "Nevermind."

DJ frowned and glanced at Brooke. My little sister widened her eyes and then head-nodded for her best friend to get on with it.

DJ took a deep breath and turned back to me. "I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry you got shot. That never would have happened if it wasn't for me."

"Hold up. Me getting shot had nothing to do with you."

"Of course it did – well, me AND Brooke. The only reason you were even THERE at Carter's place was to watch out for us. If we'd listened to you about how dangerous he was, none of us would have even BEEN there."

I exhaled slowly and shook my head. "Not true, not last night at least."

"Uh, it wasn't last night," Brooke explained. "It was more than a week ago."

I stared at her dumbly for a moment, unable to reconcile that my memory really had a gap of that many days. "Whatever. The point is: I actually went to that party for reasons beyond just you two. I went ... Oh, SHIT. Where's Elyse? What happened to Elyse?"

"Elyse?" DJ and Brooke looked at each other for a second before turning back to me. "You don't know?"

"I just fucking woke UP," I growled before taking a deep breath. I really was low on energy. "The absolute LAST thing I remember before waking up here is passing out in Carter's bedroom. But before that, I distinctly remember Elyse getting shot, too."

"But didn't anybody tell you anything when you woke up before?" DJ asked.

Brooke, who had been there with my immediate family, shook her head and explained, "He passed out before he could ask any questions. So no, nobody told him."

"Tell me now, please," I said wearily.

Brooke leaned forward in her chair. "Elyse is fine. Bullet went clean through her. She was hospitalized for a couple of days, of course, but she doesn't have insurance and they were quick to discharge her. Adrienne paid to put her in professional rehab not too far away from here. She's there right now."

I sighed and managed a smile of relief. "That's good. That's good. What about Carter? Is he dead?"

DJ took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "Yeah. Autopsy came back on that. Cameron hit him with a gut shot, and he probably would have died from that alone. But your letter opener severed an artery and that's what really did him in. You killed him." Her tone was matter-of-fact, with neither pride nor pleasure nor accusation in her voice.

I took a deep breath and thought about that. I'd never killed anybody before. I felt justified in my actions, knowing that I'd been coming to the defense of Elyse and Cameron and everyone else the bastard had preyed upon. But as evil as he'd been, I could still wish it hadn't come to that. I was still in shock over everything that had happened, but my rational brain told me I'd never forget cutting short another man's life, and I had no idea how doing so would or wouldn't haunt me for the rest of mine.

"What about Cameron? Is she okay?" I asked, once I'd gotten a hold of myself.

Brooke frowned. "You were there. You don't remember?"

I shook my head. "All I can remember is jamming that letter opener into Carter's chest and then collapsing. It took every last shred of energy I had left to do that. I really don't remember anything else until waking up here."

Brooke and DJ exchanged a look. Brooke winced, but she took a deep breath and hedged, "Physically, Cameron's fine. We don't know a whole lot of details, only what Amber told us. She got to Carter's bedroom before we did."

I sat up straighter. "You all ended up in Carter's bedroom? So you saw the whole scene?"

Brooke grimaced and DJ turned a little green. DJ was fighting off her nausea, so it was Brooke who continued. "Yeah. We all heard the gunshots. After the first one, we all just sort of looked at each other wondering if we'd heard what we thought we heard. One of the girls suggested it was just part of the music, and when we didn't hear anything else for a while the situation seemed to calm down. But then there was a second gunshot, and a third. That sent a bunch of girls screaming out of there, and some of the guys started heading down the stairs. It was DJ who realized that even though Adrienne and Meli and Lexi had come upstairs already, YOU were still down there somewhere. She took off running even before I figured it out."

"Amber was already down there," DJ intoned quietly, staring a thousand yards off to my right. "She said you'd texted her to say you were going downstairs, but when she texted you back you didn't answer. She got tired of waiting and snuck into the house. She got downstairs and watched Cameron shoot Carter and you stick that letter opener into his chest. But then Cameron looked at her with this expression of total and complete guilt over shooting him, and she turned the gun on herself."

"On herself?" I frowned. "But you just said that she's physically fine."

Brooke explained, "Amber knocked the gun away right as Cameron pulled the trigger. The shot went off but the bullet just went into the wall. A bunch of guys also got to the room just before DJ and I did, but they took one look at the scene and just RAN. Someone had already called 911 and they didn't want to be anywhere near that place when the cops showed up."

I took a deep breath and nodded. "So that's the end of the party house."

DJ nodded, took a deep breath, and looked over at me. "Amber saved your life. You were bleeding from your head wound, losing too much blood really. She bandaged your head and did some other ER-wizardry until the ambulances arrived. The doctor said that if she hadn't gotten to you as soon as she did, you might not have made it. Even so, they had to medically induce this coma to keep your brain from swelling."

"Where's Amber now?"

Brooke shrugged and said. "She flew back to her hometown. Said she couldn't wait another day before going back to her ex-boyfriend. Life is precious, right? She couldn't take the chance of something like this happening to him before she had a chance to make amends. Cameron went with her."

That got my attention. "Cameron's gone too?"

Brooke nodded. "Needed a fresh start and everything. Once the cops got done questioning her, she and Amber took the next flight out. Amber said that she'd be back to visit you once you woke up; Adrienne called her already. Plus, Cameron might have to return depending on how the criminal cases go. But with Carter dead, I don't know how much they're going to get into it."

"Just promise me you won't go vigilante or something," DJ said quickly, a spark of intensity in her sky blue eyes. "Trying to bust up the rest of Carter's buddies or something stupid like that."

I raised both hands, palms out, before using them to rub my head, which was covered only by a very thin stubble of hair. "No, no, I've learned my lesson. I'll stick to the fights I know I can handle and leave that sort of thing to the authorities."

DJ leaned over and hugged my belly and legs, whimpering, "Thank goodness. I can't believe how close we came to losing you as it was."

Brooke piped up. "Speaking of vigilante justice, the police are going to want to talk to you. Probably soon. Everyone else gave their statements, but you were the one with fingerprints all over the knife."

"Letter opener," I corrected.

"Whatever."

I sighed. "Great."

"You'll be fine. They've already talked to everyone else, including us. Everyone else's statements already prove you were acting in self-defense, especially Cameron's and Elyse's defense. Sam and Mario are the only ones the cops got, and they're more worried about their own skins than going after you."

I raised a hand to my forehead and rubbed it over my eyes. "So that's done."

"That's done. You're a hero, you know that?" Brooke reached out and patted my chest.

"Not really worried about that kind of thing."

"I know. But we all still think of you that way." Brooke grinned before getting up and pecking my lips. "My big brother, a genuine hero."

I blushed and waved her off. Brooke beamed at me, but when I looked over at DJ, the blonde had tears in her eyes and looked a little green around the gills. Only now did I realize she'd been quiet for a while, and I asked, "Hey ... you okay?"

Her lower lip quivered for a moment, and suddenly DJ burst into tears as she dropped her face onto my stomach while wrapping an arm around my torso, hugging me tighter than before. "I'm so SORRY!"

Instinctively I held her, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion as I looked down at her. "Sorry for what?"

But she didn't reply directly. Instead, still blubbering with her face against my belly, she muttered, "It was horrible. There was blood everywhere. Carter lying in a pool of blood with his dead eyes staring off at nothing. Elyse slumped in a corner moaning and bleeding out herself. And you! Ohmigawd. Your whole face was covered in it. Amber was cradling you and trying to wrap you up. I thought you were already gone. I thought you were dead."

"But I'm not dead. I'm right here, kiddo," I soothed, stroking her back.

"I thought you were dead," she repeated, her voice a whisper.

I kept stroking DJ's back, and she clutched me tightly for what felt like a long time. But after a while, she shuddered and tilted her head back to look up at me.

Shaking her head slowly, DJ stared into my eyes and bit her lip in a frown before whimpering, "This is gonna sound so cliché, but I never realized how fragile life can be. I thought you and I were young and invulnerable and that we had all the time in the world. I've been so selfish, such an egotistical bitch wrapped up in my own youth and beauty. All I cared about was not being settled down and saddled down before I was ready. I was nineteen, right? I had a lifetime ahead of me. But it could all be taken away in the blink of an eye. YOU could have been taken away from me in a blink of an eye. I'm so sorry..."

"You don't have to apologize," I assured her.

"But I do. Seeing you half-dead and covered in blood was bad enough. But when your coma dragged on and I kept staring at your lifeless body, I promised myself that if you ever woke up I'd tell you just how much I truly love you. That I feel horrible for letting my doubts poison our relationship. I was so stupid to leave you! I didn't realize what I had until it was gone ... until YOU were almost gone, forever! I promised myself I'd tell you that I want to be with you again, to love you and marry you and--"

"Deej..." Brooke interrupted.

"What? You were the one saying all along that I'd never find a man in the whole universe better for me than your big brother. Even when I was burying my relationship with him under layer after layer of horseshit rationalizations in a vain effort to make myself feel better, you kept telling me that if I could just get my head screwed on straight again that he'd take me back. And then the three of us would be perfect together, for all time, truly 'Family'."

Brooke's lower lip quivered and she took a deep breath. There was moisture in my sister's eyes as she flicked a glance at me before focusing back on DJ. "I did. And I meant every word. I just think we should remember that Ben woke up a few hours ago and what you're saying might be a bit much for him to handle, alright? Springing all this on him is going to create an expectation for him to reciprocate, and that's just not fair. Not now, alright? He's awake now. You've said your piece. But I really think we should let him rest."

"I know, I know," DJ sighed, sniffling as she sat up straight and wiped her eyes. "Adrienne's back. You've got this thing with Sasha and the Tri-Delts. Kim's still out there. I get it. I can't expect you to just drop everything and everyone else in your life. It's just ... I hurt you. I hurt you, badly, when I had that abortion. I know that now."

I sighed and shook my head, "Deej..."

"Brooke was the one who made me realize that you didn't knock up Kim to hurt ME, to get revenge or anything like that. Instead, it's that you were SO close to family and security and ... and -I- hurt YOU so badly ... that the only way you could cope in that moment was to get Kim pregnant. I get it, and while you and I can probably agree that it wasn't the most well-thought out decision of your life, I don't blame you. I don't resent you. I totally, totally get it."

I nodded slowly and replied weakly, "Thanks, I think."

"And I meant what I said about wishing we could go back in time, back before I screwed everything up. I want to date again and fall in love again and find out just how special you and I can be together again, without any second-guessing about who ELSE you might have feelings for or whether or not you really have feelings for ME. I should have believed you back then, shouldn't have doubted you when you told me you loved me. Then maybe none of this would have ever happened and you and I would still be the happiest couple in the whole world. Maybe I'd be your wife right now, and we'd be fucking like rabbits every day and even having those kids you always wanted. But I didn't do that, and you got shot, and now everything's a mess between us and I don't know HOW to fix it but I wish I could and I wish WE could and I wish..." She trailed off, whimpered, and took a deep breath. "I know it's impossible, and that we can't go back in time. But ... well ... I love you, Ben. And ... I wish..."

I blinked a few times, and there was a long silence between all of us. DJ stared at me, scrutinizing my face for any sign of reaction to everything she'd said. I simply took deep breaths, still trying to wrap my head around everything that had happened to me and ALSO DJ's proclamations of love and desire to reconcile. And Brooke fidgeted for a bit before taking a deep breath and muttering, "And THIS is why I said it was too much to spring on him all at once."

DJ cracked a smile, and that seemed to break the silence. I let my head fall back against the mattress and took a deep breath to calm myself, the extra oxygen from my nose tubes making me feel a little light-headed as I did so. And when I picked my head back up I found myself staring right into DJ's eyes.

"I love you too, kiddo," I said finally. "It IS a lot for me to take in and I hope you'll understand that I can't make any promises for the future right now. Everything in my life has been turned upside-down, and at the moment I don't even know if I'll ever be able to walk again, let alone ever fuck like rabbits and have kids, with anyone."

"You'll be able to walk. Your legs and spine are fine," Brooke offered.

I chuckled and smiled. "Thanks. But you get my point."

"I do. Of course you need time," DJ agreed. "I'm just happy you're still alive."

"Me, too. And maybe in another week or so, when we've put some time between us and my little 'incident', your emotions will have returned to somewhat more normal levels and we'll talk again, alright?"

DJ sighed in resignation, but nodded and put on a brave smile. "Alright."

I nodded too, and that feeling of light-headedness soon began to give way to dizziness. "Meantime, I think I need another nap."

Brooke hopped up first, leaning over and pecking my lips. "Rest up, big brother. We'll see you soon."

DJ quickly copied her best friend, kissing me a little more firmly. "I love you, and I'm sorry. And I'll see you soon."

I meant to say something in response, a murmured 'I love you, too' or a 'See you later'. But the inky clouds of unconsciousness had already taken over and I fell into the bliss of sleep.

The hospital room air was cold against my right cheek, the pillow reassuringly warm against my left. I did not, however, awake with morning wood. Despite not having sex since that final, almost surreal encounter with Lexi Gilmore in Carter's Showroom well over a week ago, I was anything but horny, even spooned up behind the body of a beautiful young woman.

I blinked in surprise to find myself in this position. The last thing I remembered before falling asleep was going through a battery of tests administered by the nurses. The various tubes and electrodes stuck into my body had all been removed, and I'd also been put up in a different room far away from the various pieces of heavy machinery that had been keeping me both asleep and alive during the recent comatose period of my life.

None of my family members had been present for that brief time of wakefulness, but the flowers, photos, and other mementos of home on the table beside me gave me comfort that they weren't far away. I had hoped to stay awake long enough after my tests to have them visit again, but by the time the doctor pronounced me as healthy as he'd ever seen a post-coma patient be, my eyelids had been dragged down by concrete blocks and I'd once again succumbed to unconsciousness.

But I wasn't alone any longer. Even here, in the dreary, impersonal environment of a hospital room, the women of my life had found a way to make me feel at home. And despite a marked lack of sexual arousal on my part, apparently my instincts died hard as in my sleep I'd slipped a hand beneath my current bed mate's shirt to squeeze the large breast I found cupped in my palm.

"He's awake," Paige's voice sounded softly from the chair to my right.

"I can tell. He's squeezing my boob," Sasha replied with a chuckle, raising her hand to cover mine and keep it pressed against her mammary despite my impulse to pull it away.

Although fully dressed in clothes better suited for the street than for sleep, Sasha had tucked beneath my blankets and made herself my cuddle partner. Taking care to not dislodge my hand from her breast, she twisted in place to roll onto her back and smile up at me, raising a hand to caress my cheek as I smiled back.

"Good morning," she greeted warmly.

"Is it morning?" I asked.

Sasha nodded.

I thought about that and asked a question that had been preying on my mind the last couple of times I'd woken up. "Morning on what day?"

Paige volunteered, "It's Wednesday. May 17."

I blinked in surprise. I remembered Dawn telling me I'd been in a coma for more than a week, but it was still a bit shocking to realize that I'd formed precious few memories in the last eleven days. And memories weren't the only things I'd missed. Turning back to face Paige, I muttered, "Holy shit! It's the middle of Finals Week!"

Sasha nodded and stroked my cheek again, drawing my attention back to her. "Relax. You've graduated. Professor Isakova went to bat for you and the powers that be granted you a medical exemption. You'd have passed all your courses even if you got zeroes for the remainder of your assignments, albeit without the grades you really deserve. Instead they're freezing your scores at what they were before you got shot. You could even walk at Commencement on Saturday, assuming..."

I took a deep breath and wiggled my legs. "Assuming I can walk."

Sasha winced. "I was going to say, 'assuming you get released by then.' Do you really think you might not be able to walk?"

"I dunno. Haven't tried it yet."

"And you're not supposed to," Paige cautioned. "Doctor's orders. No getting out of bed. No exertion of any kind."

Sasha smirked. "Which means I can't even give you a blowjob."

I shook my head. "Don't think I could get it up if I tried."

"Must be the liquid diet," Paige suggested. "Have you eaten anything that didn't get fed to you through a tube yet?"

I sighed, already tired just thinking about it. "Not yet. But I'm not hungry, either. That's weird."

"Your metabolism is still recovering," Sasha explained. "Your stomach has shrunk, your muscles haven't been used, and it's going to take more than a couple of days to get you feeling alright again. Think about those astronauts that lose up to 20 percent of their muscle mass in only a weeklong spaceflight and have to get carried off the shuttle. That's basically what you're up against."

I sighed. "Well how do we get me started?"

Paige held her hands up. "Not with us. We're just here to visit while we can. Dawn and Adrienne organized a waiting list, and Sasha and I just happened to luck out and have you wake up while we were here."

"Andie's complained that she's been here twice already and you just slept through both times."

I snorted and shook my head wryly. "Poor girl."

Sasha shrugged. "I've been here four separate times. Even tried to cuddle up to you like this when you were still in the ICU. Nurses freaked out that I'd dislodge a tube or wire or something."

I chuckled at that and pecked her forehead. "Well it was a very pleasant way to awake. Thank you."

She tilted her head and this time kissed my lips. "I'd say 'anytime', but given our surroundings, I'd very much hope this will be the LAST time you need to wake up by my side in a hospital, right?"

Paige reached over and rubbed my arm. "I dunno. With the way this guy keeps jumping into the middle of fights?"

I sighed. "Well at least I'm going to try really hard to NEVER get shot again, how about that?"

Paige snickered and shook her head. "Wanna bet?"

-- MONDAY, MAY 22, 2006 --

A stray beam of sunlight woke me up in the morning. There was about an inch of space between the two curtain halves, and at this very time on this very date, the sunlight came through at just the right angle to hit the very spot where the covers didn't completely cover my head.

The oversight wasn't my fault, not this time. I hadn't been the one to close the curtains last night; it was probably one of my roommates. For one thing, this was only my first night in my old bed. And after a busy, hectic day of moving back into the Berkeley house I'd called home for the past four years, the exertion of climbing up the stairs and taking a shower at the end of the evening had completely winded me so that I'd fallen asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow. No way was I going to check the curtains for cracks.

The decision of where to house me upon my discharge from the hospital had been up for some debate. Mom wanted to bring me home to Orange County and nurse me back to health in the family house, but Dad preferred that I stay closer to Alta Bates and their medical staff should there be any complications. I'd passed all their tests with flying colors, and the doctors said my recovery thus far had been nothing short of miraculous. But Cerebral Contusions and Intracranial Pressure were tricky things, the effects of which not always immediately apparent.

The Evanses, of course, had offered to put me up at their place. Certainly, Mom would have felt more comfortable knowing Deanna could be my surrogate mother and make sure nothing bad happened to her only son. But I had argued for, and ultimately won, the choice to move back into the house I felt most comfortable in.

While still weak, I was not an invalid. Five days of progressively more solid foods were bringing my energy back, and I could walk short distances without assistance. I could make it up the stairs by myself if I took my time and paced myself. And I'd shown perfect hand-eye coordination, or at least as perfect as I'd possessed before.

My doctor had shaken his head in amazement. He complained that Lifetime movies and sappy romantic comedies had convinced the general populace that people always woke up from comas with perfect hair and makeup and the ability to get on with their lives as if they'd only taken a short nap. Real recovery was NEVER like that, but I was the closest he'd ever seen.

Even after my discharge, I was scheduled for daily physical therapy sessions. My muscles had to learn how to work again, and overall body-coordination would take a little time. My stomach had to learn how to process solid foods again, and my diet would have to be carefully controlled. Plus, I required constant supervision on the chance that I might suddenly lose my balance, fall, and be unable to get up.

In short, I needed a nurse. And wouldn't you know it? Nurses were in ready supply.

No less than fifteen people showed up for my return to the house, the majority of them Tri-Delts. Nevermind that Finals had ended on Friday and the Seniors had graduated on Saturday, most of them hadn't seen me up and about in their visits to the hospital and they wanted to see me now. Andie insisted that since she had no summer job nor summer classes, she was moving into the house full-time to take care of me, and the other girls chimed in their willingness to help out as well.

Lynne made a crack about me needing someone to watch the watchers, lest the girls try to kill me with their enthusiasm. Bert added a quip about the last few months trying to keep up with the girls of Tri-Delt West being the cause of my weeklong coma, saying that if the sorority girls hadn't attempted Murder by Fucking in the first place, I'd have had more strength with which to fend off my injuries.

I'd simply glared at my best buddy and rolled my eyes over to the two sets of parentals who were well within earshot. Bert suitably blushed. Mom smirked and shook her head knowingly.

In the end, pizzas were ordered and devoured, and the festivities began to break up when I had to take an unscheduled nap. I awoke in the afternoon to find that somebody had carried me to bed, and I walked down the stairs under my own power to find that only my immediate family, the Evanses, and Sasha were left. Mom and Dad sat me down and we had a long talk. Brooke mothered me even more than Mom did. And Dawn was pretty quiet, not a wallflower per se but not imposing her presence either.

They all stayed through dinner, but afterwards everyone who didn't live under this roof started preparing to leave. Mom, Dad, and the twins were driving home in the morning. The Evanses obviously had their own house, and Brooke was staying with them for the summer during her Silicon Valley internship.

That left only Adrienne and Sasha in the house with me. Quite tired, I was right about to take a shower and go to sleep when Andie returned carrying several bags with her, apparently quite serious about becoming my live-in nurse. Since Sasha started her first day of work in the morning and Adrienne still had her modeling career to attend to, everyone agreed that if Andie seriously wanted the job then she was welcome to it. And her duties started with helping me take a shower.

Now such duty wouldn't be nearly as fun as it had been in the past. Instead of using her tits as loofahs to soap me as a prelude to sex, helping me shower was just that: helping. I pretty much sat on the bench while Andie used the detachable head to clean me up (although she did take both her shirt and bra off, claiming that she didn't want them to get wet). She also helped me get dressed, but at no point in time did I get a hard-on. Despite my growing strength and ability to move around on my own for short periods of time, precious little blood or energy had been wasted on useless erections. So Andie had helped me to bed, and I'd fallen into dreamless slumber for about twelve hours or so until that damnable sunbeam had woken me up.

At first, I simply picked my head up and moved it a few inches to the right before closing my eyes and trying to go back to sleep. But after a few minutes the ray of light found me again, and surrendering to the morning I stretched my arms above my head and yawned myself awake.

The movement did not stir my bed partners. Unlike some mornings, where one or both of them would be curled up against me in some intimately bonded position, neither Andie nor Sasha was cuddled by my side. To my right, Andie had rolled the other way, bent at the waist so that her arms and feet both dangled off the edge of the bed while her butt jutted back against my hip. To my left, Sasha lay on her back with one arm flung over her face and the other flopped behind her head and leaning against the headboard. Both of them looked quite peaceful, quite content in their slumber, and I didn't want to wake either of them. So taking a deep breath, I sighed and snuggled myself deeper into the pillow and mattress ready to wait them out. And even if I couldn't sleep, my energy levels were such that I was content to close my eyes and not do anything for a little while.

After a few minutes, I actually started to drift off again. One moment, I was yawning, and the next I realized Sasha had rolled against my side and let her hand slowly stroke its way up my leg. I didn't remember her rolling toward me, but I was starting to wake up again when her hand brushed over the bulge in my shorts, and I sighed as her fingers clamped the fabric of my boxers around my erection like one of those bamboo mats they use to wrap sushi rolls.

Two heartbeats later, Sasha suddenly jerked upright. "Holy crap!"

Her exclamation startled both me and Andie, but while I merely sat up, Andie flipped around yelping, "What? What?"

Sasha jerked the duvet down my legs and squeezed my cock, her eyes open WIDE. "Lookatit!" she squealed, stroking her hand up and down.

"Wha--?" I wondered, still quite drowsy.

Now it was Andie's turn to exclaim, "Holy shit! He's got wood!"

Belatedly, I realized she was right. I must've really fallen back asleep, which would explain why the blood had drained out from my head and down to my crotch. But I'd been so accustomed to having morning wood throughout my entire life that my sleep-addled brain forgot I hadn't sported a true erection in more than two weeks.

"Is it functional?" Andie asked excitedly.

Sasha grinned and looked up at her. "One way to find out." And with that, the gorgeous brunette bombshell pulled my cock through the open fly of my boxers, held it at a right-angle to my body, and dropped her mouth around the column of man meat.

"Ohhh, shit," I groaned as pleasure too intense to actually feel pleasurable assaulted my pitiful mind. Nerve endings that hadn't been used in far too long crackled to life and sent explosions of electrical signals into my brain, causing me to twitch and spasm with Sasha's oral ministrations as if I were undergoing shock therapy.

But after the first few seconds, my body adjusted to the unexpected sensations and the intensity of the feelings dropped below the pleasure/pain barrier. I moaned and stretched out my limbs as blissful sensations replaced the electric shocks running up my nerves, and I reached up with one hand to hold Sasha's head as she bobbed up and down in my lap.

"I wanna turn!" Andie squealed as she bounced up and down excitedly with the springiness of the mattress.

Sasha pulled off with an audible pop and giggled as the petite bottle-blonde made sure my cock wasn't in the open air for very long. Andie was so excited that she went from zero to sixty in no time flat, fucking her own face with my fuckstick and overwhelming me with pleasure so that I grimaced and clenched my kegels, trying to stave off a premature end.

"Let it go," Sasha soothed as she reached down and stroked my forehead. "Nothing to prove. Just enjoy it and let go." And then she bent over to kiss my lips.

Like lighting the fuse of a firework, the touch of her tongue set off a spark in my mouth that carried straight down my spinal cord and into my loins. I groaned into Sasha's kiss and abruptly bucked my hips off the bed, driving my dick several inches into Andie's accommodating throat. And then I saw stars as I spewed forth a thick column of white lava that went straight down into my cutie's belly.

Andie jerked with the impact but kept her lips sealed around the base of my cock, swallowing reflexively. And even when I had nothing left to give she only popped off long enough to catch her breath before deep-throating me again and using all of her inner muscles to massage my prick while rolling her eyes up to stare at me lovingly.

When my temporary blindness left me, I looked down to see that sight and smiled as I reached down to caress Andie's cheek. "Thanks, cutie," I said warmly. "That was awesome."

"Your first blowjob since you woke up. I'm thrilled!" the bottle-blonde said cheerily. "Well, Sasha got you started, but I got your sperm in my belly first!"

Sasha laughed. "Well I certainly hope that wasn't your last. You're walking again. You're talking. And now you're cumming."

"That last part is the most important, I think," Andie stated sagely.

Sasha laughed again. "No argument from me. And since you got to swallow his first cumload, I'm calling it now: I get his first insemination."

Andie screwed up her face for a moment but giggled cutely. "Fine. Fair is fair. But then I get to suck it out of you!"

Sasha grinned. "Deal."

Arching an eyebrow, I wearily looked back and forth between my two bed partners. "Do I get a say in all this?"

The girls looked at each other for a moment before glancing back at me. And in unison, they shook their heads and replied, "No."

Sasha would have to wait for her insemination, though. I'd lasted only a few minutes before busting my nut down Andie's throat, and apparently I'd become a one-shot wonder. Not even Sasha's and Andie's best efforts could resurrect my rod. In fact, my single ejaculation wiped me out so much that I rolled over and went back to sleep. No more fucking for hours on end and getting four or even five cumloads in a single session. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

When I awoke, Sasha had left for her first day of work and Adrienne was only just waking up herself. She still lived model's hours whenever she could, staying up well past midnight and only rising around noon. She'd taken over her old bedroom downstairs, the one with the daybed and the vanity I'd built for her four years ago, and Andie and I were at the dining table when she finally emerged. Andie eagerly told her about my morning wood and my now-functional equipment, which woke up Adrienne even faster than her morning (afternoon?) cup of coffee could. And that prompted Adrienne to pull my chair out, sink to her knees, and see if she could get Big Ben to rise once more.

Alas, even supermodel Adrienne Fucking Dennis and her wondermelons couldn't turn the trick. The mind was engaged and I certainly WANTED to have an erection. But the body simply wasn't cooperating and after ten minutes of trying Adrienne had to admit defeat. Andie kept our spirits up, though, assuring both me and Adrienne that in time everything would be better. As important as blowjobs and fucking had been to my old life, bottom line was that they fell into the category of "wants", not "needs", and they could be put off for the time being.

But that discussion reminded me of something – someone – I'd already put off for FAR too long.

"Hey, Tiger. You alright?" Adrienne asked, nudging me with her toes after I'd apparently spaced out for a bit.

I flicked my eyes to her for just a moment and took a deep breath while turning to stare toward the front door. "You don't have a shoot or anything today, do you?"

Adrienne blinked at me and shrugged, replying, "Uh, no. Open calendar. I'm all yours today. Why? You have something in mind?"

I nodded and explained, "I certainly can't drive in this condition. No telling whether or not I'd lose control of the vehicle. But I need a ride."

Adrienne nodded. "Where to?"

"Sunnyvale."

Adrienne slowed the Mustang and made the right turn into the driveway of a familiar suburban house. Turning off the ignition, Adrienne glanced over at me and asked, "Do you want us to stay in the car?"

I looked at her and glanced into the backseat at Andie. "No, you both can come inside at least. Her dad will be out at work by now, and if she wants to speak in private we can always move to a room."

Adrienne nodded and we all piled out of the car. Andie had packed the wheelchair in the trunk, but I waved her off and summoned all of my energy to hold myself upright and walk to the front door. Still, Adrienne stood beside me and let me lean on her arm for a bit before I let go and forced myself to walk on my own.

There was no immediate response when I rang the doorbell. The three of us waited in silence until it became awkward, and I pushed the doorbell again. When another thirty seconds or so passed, Andie looked over at me and suggested, "Maybe she's not home?"

"Unlikely," I replied. "Last I heard from Bert, she's under strict orders to not leave the house."

"Things change," Adrienne offered, but just then, we heard the click of a lock being turned and she added, "and some things don't."

Kim opened the door wearing men's overalls with a definite bulge in her belly, as one would expect from a nearly five months-pregnant woman. She wore a gardening glove caked with dark brown dirt on her left hand, and in it she clutched the matching right glove. Her bare right hand covered her mouth as it gaped wide open, but even the gape of her mouth paled in comparison to how big her eyes were as she gawked at us.

"Hi, Kim," I greeted with a weak smile.

Perhaps I should have warned her how weak I was, because the moment she got over her shock, Kim reacted the exact same way she'd done the last time I'd dropped by her house unannounced: she kissed me ... HARD.

My weak legs buckled beneath me as Kim wrapped her arms around my neck and sealed her lips over mine, and she pulled her mouth away to shriek as we started to fall. But Adrienne was ready and she neatly caught us both, although we wobbled precariously for a moment before Kim got her feet under herself and together all three of us stood back up.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Kim gasped, covering her gaping mouth once again. Andie brushed off little dirt crumbs from my shoulders. "You must be so weak!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I assured her as I took a deep breath and tried to stand up again. "Well, I'm not fine, but I will be soon enough."

"Come inside. Sit down and rest." Kim's head bobbed up and down as if she were instinctively bowing out an apology, and she backed away while gesturing us into the house.

This time, I HAD to brace myself on Adrienne's arm, and I hobbled my way inside. Adrienne led me to a wide three-cushion couch, placing me in the center while she and Andie sat to either side of me. Still standing, Kim stripped off her gardening gloves and gestured toward the kitchen. "Would any of you like some tea?"

All three of us waved her off, but Kim held up her hands and gestured to the hallway. "Sumimasen. Let me wash up."

I gestured for her to go ahead and took a few moments to gather my energy. Kim returned a minute later, freshened up after removing the overalls and leaving her in the simple shirt and shorts she'd been wearing underneath. As she sat on the loveseat at a right angle to our couch, I noticed that her belly was much more pronounced. So getting up from my seat, I moved beside her and held a hand out, asking, "May I?"

Kim grinned, raised her shirt, and put my hand on her bare belly herself. I felt the drum-tightness of her skin, and beneath it the firmness of her belly. And a moment later, I felt the definite thump of a baby kick beneath my palm.

"Was that... ?" I asked in wonder.

Kim smiled and nodded. "I ate lunch not too long ago. He's very active right now."

"Is he doing well?"

"My doctor says he's doing very well. Very healthy."

"And his mother?"

"I'm fine," she replied serenely, although with a hint of sadness as well.

I took a deep breath and canted my head, still rubbing her belly. "What can I do for you? How can I help?"

Kim shrugged. "Get yourself healthy. Recover from your injuries. There is nothing else you need to do."

"And when I'm recovered? What happens then?"

Kim's eyes unfocused for a moment as she looked away, took a moment to compose herself, and looked back at me. She glanced over at Adrienne, and at Andie as well, before bringing her attention to me once more. Still, she didn't immediately speak.

Out of the awkward silence, Andie piped up. "Maybe I should go wait in the car. You don't know me very well, and I think this might be a little too personal a topic to have in front of a near-stranger."

"No, it's fine," Kim told her gently.

"Actually, maybe it would be better if we were alone for this," I said, looking at both Adrienne and Andie. "Not trying to hide anything from either of you, but some conversations are best one-on-one."

"Of course," Adrienne said, offering me a hand to get up.

I took it, and then summoning all my strength, gestured for Kim to lead us somewhere else. I followed as she took us down the hallway to her father's office.

Once behind closed doors, I sat heavily on the couch and waited as Kim sat beside me. Giving me a serene smile, she took a breath and finally answered the question I'd posed before. "As for what happens next, I suppose that's up to you."

Taking a deep breath, I sat up straight and gave Kim a serious look. "I want to take care of you. I want to take care of our baby. But you HAVE to have realized by now that I'm not the Master-type. You're a smart girl. Too smart to be deluded about who I am or who you think I could be."

"You're selling yourself short."

"Perhaps, but my life is a mess right now, and it was a mess when you got pregnant. In hindsight, I realize I wasn't thinking straight after everything I went through with DJ, and I think you know that, too. With all that was going on: my failed relationships, our final semester of college, and an abortion on top of that, what I don't understand is why you LET me get you pregnant."

Kim shrugged and replied evenly, "Because you wanted me pregnant."

I shook my head. "Not good enough, especially after everything I just said about my life being such a mess. You KNEW full well that I wasn't right in the head when all that happened, so that really only gives me two ways to look at this: One, that YOU got swept away by your emotions in the moment and couldn't bring yourself to stop me; or Two, that you manipulated me into getting what you said you wanted most of all: a child."

"I didn't manipulate you."

"Maybe 'manipulate' is too harsh a word, but I also find it hard to believe that you got carried away by your emotions enough to have an unwanted pregnancy."

"Is it so hard to believe? I love you. You are my Master."

I arched an eyebrow. "Master? Forgive me if I find that title a little hard to believe, especially after you chose your father over me."

"He is my father. Nothing you can do, nothing you will ever be, will change the fact that he is my father." Kim pursed her lips. "They say a daughter will always belong to her father until she belongs to her husband. Only once married will her husband become more important to her than her father. We are not married. I do not know that we would ever be married. Therefore, he will always be number one to me."

"So what: even IF I was a true Master, even IF I commanded you to leave your father's house and come with me, you would obey him?"

"Precisely. Unless, of course, we were married."

I arched an eyebrow again. "That a proposal?"

Kim cracked a smile and shook her head in the negative.

My eyes narrowed. "You know, you didn't actually say that you DID get swept away by your emotions in letting me get you pregnant. You claim you didn't manipulate me, but I'm having a hard time believing that right now."

Kim shook her head. "There is a third explanation."

"Which is?"

She shrugged. "That this pregnancy is best for both of us."

I took a deep breath and raised my eyebrows. "You're gonna have to explain that one to me. You didn't get to finish your degree, and I don't have a job lined up. How exactly is this best for both of us?"

"It's what I want, of course. I didn't get swept up by my emotions, and this is an outcome I desired. But I didn't manipulate you, either. In reality, this IS what you want: family, security, a bond of blood that can never be broken."

"Binding YOU to the most un-Masterly Master in existence."

"I think perhaps you're getting hung up on the title at the moment. This isn't some stereotypical Dom/sub fantasy. Despite the games we played with Viktoriya, the restraints and the positions of obedience, you and I have never had that kind of relationship."

I smiled, thinking back to the realization I had in Peyton's bedroom on Cinco de Mayo. "No, we haven't. You're a smart girl."

"And you're a smart guy. You can be dense as a rock at times, true, but there's a genius buried in there somewhere."

I shook my head. "I don't know about 'genius'."

"Selling yourself short again."

"Perhaps. But I don't think it's my intellect that attracts you, nor whatever potential for confident, assertive, 'Master-ness' you may think me capable of."

Kim blushed and smiled coyly.

I sighed and shook my head. "I owe you an apology for the way I've behaved lately."

Kim frowned. "Apology?"

I shrugged. "I've been such an idiot. I've gone about this entirely the wrong way, trying to imagine myself as that very stereotypical 'Master' than you needed me to be, imagine what it would take for me to have that level of confidence and poise and certainty in my life to be your rock and your commander and all that jazz. I've barely turned 22, I'm still in college, and the mere concept of what you supposedly needed me to be felt so intimidating and so daunting a task that I practically put my head in the sand and couldn't bring myself to even begin. But all along, that wasn't what you really needed me to be. That wasn't what you wanted me to be. All you needed me to be was ... well... 'me'."

Kim's smile broadened.

"You wanted our relationship exactly the way it was. And yes, let's please toss aside the title of 'Master' for a bit, huh? Because you're NOT a sub. You're not some helpless little creature who needs guidance from someone else to make sense of her life. You say you didn't manipulate me into getting you pregnant; fine, I'll run with that. But you ARE a master manipulator, working behind the scenes to shape both yours and MY futures as you see fit. You're the ultimate fake-out: the stereotypically reserved, subservient Japanese geisha who's actually the one in charge. It's all a façade."

Now Kim blushed and averted her eyes. "It's not ALL a façade, and I never set out to misrepresent myself."

"I know, I know. You're just being you. But at the same time, you said it best yourself: You know what you want, and you know what you don't want. And what you apparently want is me: warts, flaws, and all."

"I do."

"Then why?"

"Why what?"

"Why abandon ME?"

She frowned. "I never abandoned you!"

"You let your father remove you from school."

Kim winced. "THAT was unexpected. So close to graduation, I thought he'd let me finish, especially since the baby wouldn't be due until well after. But there are ... complications..."

"I suppose even YOU can't predict the future."

She shrugged helplessly.

"But you still abandoned me. You didn't answer my calls. You didn't let me stay in contact with you."

"My father's rules."

"You could have found a way to bend them. I've figured you out. Even when supposedly a submissive, you already know how to lead from the bottom."

"He's still my Master."

"But if I was important to you, you would have found a way. You always did. We just got done talking about this: as much as you value your relationship with him, you're not as subservient as some people might think. For me, if you really love me like you say you do, you would have found a way. Especially knowing how much it was killing me inside to not be in contact with you."

"I didn't want to be a distraction from the rest of your life."

"Your absence was a distraction."

"Was it? Forgive me for saying this, but you're kind of an 'out of sight, out of mind' type of guy. Sure, you may have thought of me from time to time, but it's easy for you to get lost in the people around you rather than dwell on those not present. From what I heard, you did a good job keeping yourself occupied, and in the end, it has paid off. You're getting your degree, you had the Tri-Delts for company, your relationships with Sasha and Andie have bloomed, and now even Adrienne has returned. The presence of your pregnant baby-mama-to-be would have dampened the enthusiasm of the Tri-Delts and probably curtailed those developing relationships with Sasha and Andie."

I made a face, not yet willing to concede what she was saying.

"And now, with school out of the way," she continued, "you still have time to come back into my life before the baby is born."

"So you'll let me back into your life? More to the point: your father will let me back into your life?"

"He will," Kim smiled at me mischievously. "Like you said: I'm pretty good at getting my way in the end. I know my father, and I know what buttons of his to push. To be honest, he won't let me leave the house to go be with you right now, but I think perhaps that is a situation best for both of us. I can remain here and allow him to take care of me, to protect both me and our son. You can continue living your life and be with the various women in your life without my interference. But soon you will be able to visit more often, and then once the baby is born you can have the chance to be more fully involved in his life."

"What, he'll let me move in here?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not."

My eyes narrowed. Now that I was more aware of Kim's true colors, I was paying more attention. "You don't want me to move in here."

She blushed and didn't answer.

"Okay, I'll play. What DO you want?"

Kim batted her eyelashes. "What -I- want is irrelevant. That is for my Master to decide."

"Bullshit. Quit playing games. What do YOU want?"

Kim giggled and shrugged, giving me a look like a little girl caught with her hands in the cookie jar. "I want to get a house with you and raise our son together."

I grinned. "Me, too. But ... uh ... I don't think your dad would let us do that very easily."

"Not easily, no. Some compromises would likely have to be made. But in the end, he will allow it."

"Okay then, sounds like we have a plan!"

Kim nodded. "But not just yet. First, we'd have to GET a house."

"And for that, I'll need a job..." I took a deep breath. "And a big down payment. I know lenders have been playing fast and loose lately, but the market's at a peak and ... well ... maybe it'd be better if we rented for a few years."

Kim glanced at the door. "I know someone outside who I don't think would terribly mind buying us a house if you asked her nicely."

I blinked in surprise, thought about that, and asked, "You really think she'd just up and do it if I asked?"

Kim nodded confidently. "I know she would."

Smirking, I shook my head. "You really HAVE thought of everything, haven't you?"

Kim shrugged. "I know what I want."

I grinned and shook my head one more time. "Well you know what I want? After peering behind the façade and watching the real Kim in action, I want you to NEVER try and call me 'Master' again, got it?"

There was a twinkle in her eyes. "Acknowledged."

-- SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 2006, THREE MONTHS LATER --

I thrust forward a final time, grunting my orgasm into my lover's ear as a quart of spunk flowed out of me and into her sucking pussy. Moaning in ecstatic pleasure, she reached back with her right arm to tug our spooned bodies even closer together as she felt my pelvis grind against her ass while cum flowed out of my body to crash against her insides like waves cresting on the beach. The first wave would start receding only to be met by the second coming forth, and both our bodies twitched and humped together as I finished filling her up with my jism.

When I could spurt no more, I groaned and bent my head down so I could tenderly kiss the back of Kim's neck as I cuddled up behind her. My left arm remained where it was, snaked beneath her pillow and wrapped around so that I could palm her left breast, the globe rounder and fuller than ever before in her life. I let my right arm drop free of the matching orb to let my fingers glide over her distended belly, swollen and massive now that she was only six weeks away from her due date. And imagining I could actually feel my son's heartbeat through his mother's skin, I caressed Kim's belly with an upwelling of emotion that practically brought tears to my eyes in the aftermath of our intimate lovemaking.

Purring with deep-rooted satisfaction, Kim put her hand on top of mine and guided it in rubbing her bare belly. I tightened the grip of both my arms, knowing how much she loved to feel me crushing her body within the strength of my embrace. And craning her head back to meet mine, she kissed me and sighed, "I want to be pregnant forever. I'm so sensitive and I've never had orgasms like these."

I chuckled and rubbed my nose against her bare shoulder. "Aren't most women supposed to be miserable in these last weeks of pregnancy and can't wait to get it over with?"

"Well I can't wait to meet our little boy, that's for sure," Kim replied dreamily. "But you already know I've loved being pregnant. And I'm not kidding about the intensity of these orgasms."

"Just another reason you shouldn't have LEFT ME all semester. Think of all those great orgasms you missed."

"We're not getting back into that."

"I know, I know," I sighed and nuzzled her nose again. "I'm just glad I got you back in the end – both of you." I rubbed her belly once more.

There was a knock at the door, and without waiting for a response, Adrienne poked her head inside. "Hey there, guys. Sorry to interrupt, but the clock's ticking. It's almost showtime."

Groaning, I buried my face into Kim's naked back before glancing over her body at the clock on my nightstand. Adrienne was right: we had about a half-hour before our guests would arrive, and that assumed nobody would show up early.

"Okay, we're getting up, we're getting up," I muttered like a little boy waking up late for school. Sliding off the bed, I circled around to Kim's side and reached out to help her.

She cradled her swollen belly as she sat up and accepted the tissues I proffered to dab up her leakage. But instead of allowing me to pull her onto her feet, she took a whiff of her armpit and said, "I need a shower. My father won't like me smelling of sex when he arrives."

I winced and nodded. "It's been hard enough convincing him to let you out of the house to visit at all."

"Best not to upset him, lest he decide to move in with us after the baby is born."

I laughed and now pulled her up onto her feet. "Say no more. Let's get you showered. I could use one, too. I know I smell like sex."

"Alright, but don't take too long," Adrienne warned. "At the very least you'll want to be downstairs and presentable before the parentals arrive."

"Yes, dear," I cracked while leaning over to peck my girlfriend's cheek. "See you in a bit."

Adrienne rolled her eyes and huffed at me. This house that we'd moved into was "our" place, hers and mine, and we were supposed to be co-hosts for the housewarming party that was about to start. But I'd been shirking my duties for the last hour or so.

See, Kim had convinced her father that she was stressing out over whether her home-to-be once our baby was born would meet with his approval. So he'd grudgingly given her permission to come over early and oversee preparations, rather than continue to stress out and elevate her heartbeat and all that jazz. Of course, Kim hadn't done a thing to oversee preparations and instead had elevated her heartbeat with me by taking advantage of one of her all-too-rare opportunities to get laid. In fact, we'd only had sex a handful of times since she'd re-entered my life.

Thankfully, we already knew Kim would have little to worry about. The house Adrienne had bought for all of us had plenty of advantages for pleasing parental units: modern design, spotless cleanliness, easy childproofing, and plenty of space with three bedrooms upstairs and a guest room/office downstairs.

Of course, there were plenty of aspects about the house Kim's dad wouldn't like, starting with the other occupants taking up those extra bedrooms. It wouldn't just be me, Kim, and our baby in the house; Adrienne, Sasha, and Andie were living with us, too. We'd tried to assure Mr. Fukuzaki that several trustworthy babysitters would only be a good thing for the health of his newest grandson, but he still had a hard time wrapping his head around the idea of his daughter's baby daddy living with three other young women, especially since Kim still refused to marry me.

Now that the cat was out of the bag, so to speak, Kim's true colors had been showing more and more. Her behavior really didn't change much, and it was still in her nature to take a back seat and let others do the driving in most aspects of her life. But she certainly knew how to put her foot down when she wanted to, and while it seemed that in 98% of all situations she was only too happy to bow to her father's wishes, getting married fell into that other 2% and even her father knew not to push her any further on that one. Of course, he could still blame ME, and that Kim refused to even make me her monogamous boyfriend further strained his acceptance of me, especially since we'd made it widely known that I had a steady girlfriend who was NOT Kim.

Adrienne's resumed "girlfriend" status was more of a public appearance thing than anything. It served two purposes: further promoting her bisexual orientation for the media at large, and validating her presence with me and the ownership of the new house for Kim's father. Living in a house together with my loving girlfriend while still wanting to take care of Kim and Kim's baby made a certain logical sense, or at least it made better sense than the idea that I was just a stud muffin at the center of my personal harem of girls, Mr. Fukuzaki's daughter being only one of them. The man had not forgotten about the internet sex tape, nor that my new/old girlfriend had been my very prominent co-star. Knowing that his grandson's father was boinking another woman was bad enough; if he realized Sasha was the other girl in that video I was pretty sure his brain would explode. As far as he and the rest of Kim's family was concerned, the house was mine and Adrienne's, Kim was moving in so I could take care of her and our baby, and Sasha and Andie were just "roommates" there for convenience and to help pay the mortgage.

The point is: he was allowing Kim to move, or at least he would once the baby was born. Beyond her ability to show a backbone when she wanted to, I suspected that Kim had been holding onto some trump card, some unassailable bit of logic or maybe even an emotional argument that he wouldn't be able to refuse. And rather than use it early in her pregnancy to get herself out of his house and reunited with me, she'd kept it until just the right time for a moment like this. She still wasn't due to deliver until early October, but at least I could look forward to a day very soon when she and our son would move in.

But while Adrienne had resumed being my official "girlfriend", in reality not much had changed in our relationship. We were still "siblings-with-benefits": emotional rocks for each other without romantic complications, free to date whomever we wanted and boink whomever we wanted without recrimination or complaint. And although neither of us did much "dating" as it turned out, there was still much boinking to be had, or at least there had been for the last few months.

Up until a few days ago, Adrienne, Sasha, Andie, and I had all remained in the Berkeley house, fucking up a storm whenever the urge struck us. While it had taken a little time for me to make a full physical recovery from my coma, the girls had been making full use of my erections whenever I managed to get them. And for two months now I'd been back at full strength, the Big Ben I used to be.

Plus, our activities had not been limited to the four of us. The Tri-Delt house was still just down the road, and the TDW harem girls that had stuck around for the summer each came by to personally verify that Big Ben was back in action, including an extended weekend when Peyton came back to town. Then there were the occasional models Adrienne brought back to the house to join us ... and that time we made a visit to Nocturne and ended up at Marisa's apartment with three other strippers ... and Andie's birthday party where the girls slipped something into my drink, and to be perfectly honest, my memory is rather fuzzy on the whole evening.

But alas, all good things must come to an end, and after four gloriously wonderful years in that house, we gave it one final goodbye bang and then moved out to move on with our lives...

... across the street.

No really, we moved across the street.

I still don't know exactly how she did it; the house hadn't even been up for sale. But Adrienne knew the place would typically be rented out to students, and the day we left Kim's house and I told her of Kim's idea that she help us buy a home, she'd promptly done some research to locate the owner, drove into downtown San Francisco to find him, and apparently made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

The location couldn't be beat. We were all familiar with and comfortable in the area. Sasha had easy access to the BART station to get to work downtown, Adrienne could come and go as she pleased, and Andie was only blocks away from campus to finish her Senior year.

On top of that, Lynne had gotten a job in Oakland, and with Bert staying to get his MBA, the two of them had moved into an apartment only a few blocks away. Not only would the most important women in my life all live within a hundred yards of me, but two of my best friends in the world would also be nearby.

And yes, I was getting my MBA, too. The look on Viktoriya's face when I told her had been priceless.

Four weeks after Adrienne negotiated a sale on the spot, we had the keys. The last two months had been spent renovating, remodeling, and redecorating. And on Tuesday we moved in.

Standing on my new front porch, I could look across the street to see the place I'd called home for four years. So very much had happened to me in that time: some good, some not so good. But all of them were memories, and I had to admit I couldn't be happier to be remaining so close by. True, for me, Adrienne, Sasha, and Andie, our time there as residents had come to an end.

Now we were in our new home, and it was time to make new memories.

Freshly scrubbed clean, Kim and I arrived on the main floor of the house just in time for the doorbell to ring. Adrienne and I looked at each other and I gestured, saying, "You've done all the work. You should have the honors of greeting our first official guests."

Adrienne smirked and shook her head, saying, "I've seen the movies. You're the guy, you're supposed to open the door, but I get to say the first welcome."

I rolled my eyes and replied, "Fine." And I reached forward to open the door.

"Hiii!" "Congratulations!" "Kim! You're here!" several voices said all at once.

"Welcome, everyone!" Adrienne greeted with a megawatt smile. "So glad you could make it!"

Backing away, Adrienne and I let the Evanses pour in through the door and into our foyer. Deanna went straight to me for a hug and Jack embraced Adrienne before switching off. I was still shaking Jack's hand when DJ hugged me, followed immediately by Brooke, who had spent the whole summer with the Evanses during her internship.

Many greetings were uttered and many questions asked without enough answers, the words sometimes lost in the chaos. But when the voices died down a little I stared over at the lone figure by the door patiently waiting her turn.

"Hey, Dawn," I greeted, holding out my arms.

"Hey yourself," she replied softly while moving into my embrace.

We held each other a little stiffly, neither gripping the other very tight. Despite the Evans home being only about an hour away from here, in the last three months Dawn and I had only seen each other a handful of times. Part of it was me living in Berkeley, and part of it was that I'd been personally doing a lot of the renovation work over the last two months getting our new house in order. Remodeling had become my full-time job, and it was the kind of occupation that didn't give me weekends off. Even for the stuff I didn't handle myself, I was still overseeing contractors and ensuring the quality of their work.

The point is: I'd been busy, but even beyond that I hadn't been particularly motivated to spend a lot of time with Dawn. I was happy she'd come back, of course, and Adrienne and I had enough social events with the Evanses to bring us into contact every now and again. But first with my physical recovery and then dealing with the new house and getting smothered in girlflesh at all hours of the day, I wasn't particularly keen on revisiting old wounds from the past. So the few times we DID talk, it was about inane things like the weather, our daily grinds, and the odd quirks of our family and friends, instead of the complications of our deeply interconnected relationship, past and future.

And we weren't going to start today.

"It's a really nice place you guys got here," Dawn stated warmly, looking up and around the vaulted ceiling over the living room.

"Thanks," I replied. "Although Adrienne deserves all the credit. She's the interior designer of the two of us. If it had been up to me, we'd have ended up with all glass and black metal furnishings."

Dawn chuckled and nodded. I looked up and noticed that all of a sudden, the two of us were alone. It wasn't that our family members were conspicuously disappearing with the sole intention of forcing us to talk to each other, although that had happened more than a few times recently. Instead, Adrienne had simply led the assembled guests on a quick tour of the kitchen and great room toward the back of the house while Dawn and I had been busy with our mental ruminations.

"Shall we catch up with them?" I asked, gesturing with my head.

"Maybe I'll get the next tour when your family arrives," she replied. My parents and the twins were due soon, ostensibly to see Brooke before her Junior year of college since she hadn't gone home at all over the summer. But really this housewarming made a good excuse to bring the collected family together in one spot. "How have you been?"

"I'm good, I'm good. Crazy busy this last week, getting the house ready for tonight. I just put in that chandelier this morning, and the guest bed had been backordered and only arrived yesterday. There's been so much to put the finishing touches on that I've barely gotten any time to sleep."

"The girls still keeping you busy?"

"Always. But to be honest, not as busy as we used to. Sasha and Andie have been somewhat less demanding of me ever since they started their new relationship."

Dawn blinked. "Wait, new relationship?"

"They started dating ... I mean each other." I arched an eyebrow. "I didn't tell you?"

"It's been a couple of weeks since I've seen you, and we didn't talk much about them. Last thing -I- remember was that both of them were rather in love with you."

"Ohhh, okay. Well ... uh..." I scratched my head and tried to organize my thoughts. In hindsight, I probably should have seen it coming. For one thing, there was Sasha's clear attraction for other girls and her almost reckless sluttiness when it came to having sex with them. Starting with her mowing down Nocturne strippers after breaking up with her ex-boyfriend Rod, to the way she readily hooked up with any and all Tri-Delts who visited my house, it eventually became clear that my exotically beautiful brunette roommate leaned rather more to the female side of her bisexuality than male. In fact, I was the only male she currently slept with.

"So you know Sasha used to be a stripper," I explained to Dawn. "Over the last year, she often spoke about coming to terms with both halves of her identity: the hard-working, driven career woman who always did what she was 'supposed' to do at odds with the sensual seductress who got off on the power trip of performing on stage. Likewise, she always thought of her long-term romantic future being with a guy, getting married to a husband and maybe having kids yadda yadda. But she started opening herself up to alternate ideas for the future. And after a year of soul-searching and exploring her emotions and desires not only for me, but also for the girls in her life, Sasha ultimately chose to be with Andie, not me."

"Well that's a little out of left field," Dawn commented dryly.

"Not really, when I think about it. It's hard for you to see because you weren't with us this past year, and it's not that she doesn't still care about me; she does. But looking back, she attributed much of her infatuation with me to an interest in being a part of my free-love lifestyle and my open acceptance of her carnal instincts more than falling in love with me as a person."

"You mean she liked being with you and mistook that for liking you, specifically."

"Kinda. It was more about breaking away from her sheltered existence with high school boyfriend Rod and that clique, about having the freedom to no longer repress her desires and be as kinky as she wanted to be. Sure, she was still attracted to me and wanted to fuck my brains out. And as the catalyst for her transformation, I still hold a position of immense trust and reassurance in her world. But she'd always said that it wouldn't kill her if our romance fizzled out and we decided to remain friends, and at the end of the day, she realized it was Andie she couldn't live without."

"And you never saw it coming?"

"I should have. The signs were always there. Even before the whole Carter/Elyse mess, when Sasha and I started talking about developing our feelings for each other, she was so adamant that Andie remain with us at the same time. I'd thought it was about not losing Andie as a friend, but it turned out it was more than that."

"And Andie feels the same way?"

"Well, that one's a little different. I think Andie just really wants to feel loved. As bright as her love for me burned, I could never really love her back and knowing that always ate away at both of us. But once Sasha came to her realization and expressed just how important Andie had become in her life, it really wasn't difficult for Andie to open herself up to a different relationship. Sasha gives her the tenderness and intimacy that I could never quite manage, and since I was still in both of their lives for the past couple of months, we managed a pretty comfortable transition of gradually moving their romantic focus away from me and toward each other."

"But they're still living here, with you, Adrienne, and Kim."

"Officially, Andie has a room at the Chapter House. But she's got closet space and most of her gear here, so yeah, she'll be living here."

"And you're gonna keep fucking them."

"I'm not turning them down, if that's what you mean," I replied with a shrug. "But seriously, they're kind of in the honeymoon phase, which is weird when you consider how long they've been having sex with each other. So like I said: they've been less demanding of me."

"That's good, I guess. Not that you ever really had much trouble keeping up with four women in the house. You sure you still have enough bed space for everyone?"

"We're doubled-up across the board. Adrienne and I are sharing the Master, Sasha and Andie are in the middle, and Kim has a bed in the nursery at the end of the hall.

"Ooh, the nursery. Okay I change my mind about a tour. THAT I want to see!" Dawn said eagerly.

Just then, Brooke squealed from the hallway, "I wanna see the nursery!"

Both Dawn and I glanced over, and with a grin I commented, "Guess we're joining the first tour after all."

"Laters, bro. Love the digs. Now you come up and visit us soon, huh?" Brandi squeezed me tight before pecking my cheek and backing away.

"REAL soon, huh? It's been too long," Dayna added while kissing me as well, although it wasn't just a peck and it wasn't on my cheek.

Almost nervously, I held the busty blonde bombshell at elbow's length and broke the kiss off. "Hey, not in front of the in-laws, right?" I cautioned, shooting a glance across the room, I made sure Kim's father didn't just see that. Unfortunately, Kim's unmarried brothers Mike and Nick had been hitting on Brandi and Dayna all evening and both of them had seen the kiss Dayna had just planted on me. Oh, well. Hopefully they wouldn't read too much into it.

"Fine, fine. But then you owe me a visit so we can do one of those for real, got it?" Dayna grinned. "I've got a spider or two for you to smush."

I snorted and waved her off. "Bye, ladies."

I saw both girls out the door and then turned to find Sasha and Andie before me with their arms around each other's waist. Sasha explained, "We're heading out, too. But we'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Of course. And thanks for moving out for a night," I added with a sincere expression. Rather than make my parents and the twins get a hotel somewhere or even stay with the Evanses, Sasha was crashing with Andie at the Tri-Delt house tonight. The twins would stay in her room, and my parents would be in the guest room/office on the main floor.

"Believe me, it'll be my pleasure," Sasha replied cheekily. "And I DO mean my pleasure."

I chuckled, thinking of how much fun she could have in the Tri-Delt house with the sorority girls who'd stuck around for the summer.

"Bye, Ben," Andie chirped, hopping up onto her tiptoes and pecking my lips.

I smiled and waved them on. It felt like I'd been saying goodbye to people for a while now, starting with Paige, Kady, Noelle, and the Jacobsens up through Bert and Lynne just before my big sister left. Shortly after Sasha and Andie departed, the Fukuzakis came by to take their leave as well. I kissed Kim and shook hands with her father and brothers. Once they were gone, it was only my immediately family and the Evanses still remaining, and now even the Evanses were preparing their departure.

"We'll see you in the morning," Mom said as she hugged Deanna.

"Be on time. Country Gourmet gets super busy on Sunday mornings."

"I know, I know," Mom laughed. "Not my first time there."

"You young ladies all set?" Jack asked Brooke, DJ, and Dawn. Having moved in this morning, the three girls were taking the extremely long walk across the street to the original Berkeley house.

"All set, Dad," DJ replied breezily.

"Actually, not entirely," Brooke chirped as she looked over to me. "There's some kind of leak behind the upstairs toilet. There was water across half the floor when we moved in this morning."

"A leak?" Adrienne frowned. "I never noticed anything."

"Well you guys were out of the house for a few days, right?" Brooke replied with a shrug. "Maybe it's something that built up only after you weren't using it for a long time."

I puzzled over that for a moment and said, "Maybe a slow leak in the tank feeder. We wouldn't notice if we flushed it regularly, but if the tank went a few days without flushing, it could overflow."

"Do you think you could come check it out?" Brooke asked brightly.

"Now?" Dad put in. "It's getting late. If it's just a matter of regularly flushing the tank, surely it can wait until tomorrow."

"I guess," Brooke replied with a shrug. "But if it's not the tank, or if it's something else..."

"If it's a leaking pipe, dear," Mom added, "the water isn't going to wait for tomorrow. And it's not like the other house is very far away."

I checked the time and said, "It's fine. I'm wide awake anyway, and I hate the idea of leaving the girls a broken house the first day they move in."

"Up to you," Dad said, gesturing a hand at me. "But as for me, I'm going to get some sleep. Bye, Deanna. Bye, Jack." He hugged his old friends again.

So that settled it. Jack and Deanna Evans left to return home. Mom and Dad went to the first floor guest bedroom. And Adrienne came over to kiss me goodbye. "Go get 'em, Tiger," she murmured with a hint of a smile.

I arched an eyebrow at her parting words, as they had a note of finality to them. It was as if she didn't expect me back very soon. But she shook her head mysteriously and gestured for me to go ahead. Fetching my keys to the new house, I followed the girls out and across the street.

Even though I'd moved, it still felt like I was going home.

Brooke and DJ headed upstairs as soon as they walked in, but Dawn stopped and turned to face me with a wan smile. "Well, enjoy your night."

I arched an eyebrow. "You picked this room? Shouldn't big sister get the Master?"

Dawn shook her head. "Not a big deal to me. If anything, I like the idea of coming back here, back to my old room when I used to live here. Lot of memories..." she drifted away for a moment, and then flicked her eyes back to mine. "Lot of good memories."

"We made some good memories upstairs in the Master, too."

Dawn sighed. "And a lot of bad ones, too. Freshman year was a simpler time, for both of us. Maybe we weren't together back then, but then we weren't apart, either. Besides, Brooke really wanted the Master. And when she puts her mind to something..."

I chuckled, " ... even DJ doesn't stand a chance. I get it."

"Speaking of which, Brooke's put her mind to something else. You'd better get up there."

"Right, the leak."

Dawn smirked and nodded. "See you later."

I reached forward and hugged her. Such casual greetings and partings were comfortable enough between us, but I didn't realize I'd kissed her cheek until AFTER I did it. It was the first time I'd done it, actually. It had happened instinctively, without any of my usual stiffness or hesitations when it came to embracing her.

Usually, I had to fight to keep bad old memories at bay when this close to Dawn. Images of her crying and confessing to cheating on me or otherwise pushing me away and running away always crept into my vision when I looked at her, but those images hadn't come this time. I actually forgot for a moment all of the hurt she'd caused me, even if I remembered all of it right now. And blinking in surprise, I turned to see Dawn smiling more brightly than she had in months.

We still hadn't talked about the past. I'd been busy, and she hadn't been pushing me. No one had been pushing me, but for the first time, I thought that maybe I was ready to talk.

"Hey Ben? You coming or what?" Brooke hollered down the stairs.

I sighed and shrugged. "See you later," I finally replied.

Dawn smiled and waved me on.

So I turned and went up the stairs.