24: Season Finale

I stayed cuddled up to Angela until afternoon and we actually studied most of the time. By one o'clock, everyone was back and Mary walked in the front door.

"Honey, I'm home!" she called. The whole casa ran to meet her. Mary wasn't waiting for anyone to help her take her clothes off. She tossed her suitcase down, dropped her car keys in the dish by the door, and started stripping. I looked around and there wasn't a stitch of clothes on any of the other nine of us still in the house. Mary's jeans were still around her knees when she fell forward into my arms. I kissed her soundly as Jennifer and Rose helped extract her from her tangled pants. They had to get her shoes off, first. "I love you!" she shouted when she was finally free of them. "Every single one of ... oh. Hi, Angela."

"Hi, Mary. We've only been together a few times. I hope you don't mind me hanging around."

"Oh, hell no. I knew you'd be here. I'm just not used to it yet. I will be," Mary said brightly. "I'm free! I'm free! For a whole week, I'm free!" She danced around and spun. She was definitely free. I'm usually pretty good about controlling my spontaneous erections, but I made the mistake of thinking about the fact that Mary and I were going to make love. There was a sudden silence. Rhonda was looking at me. Well, not at my face. She'd poked Samantha and then Courtney, and they'd ... Well, everyone was looking at my boner. Mary looked at me, too, and raised her eyes in question toward me.

"I'm really happy to see you, Mary," I said, sheepishly.

"Mmm, yeah," she sighed.

Then, everything was back to chaos. We'd waited to have lunch until everyone was back and the ten of us grabbed towels and sat at the table. Rose and Whitney had taken charge of fixing lunch after they'd returned from getting the week's groceries. It was light, but they'd bought sliced baked turkey from the deli department and we had delicious turkey sandwiches with fresh fruit and salad.

"Where's the blanket for the throne chair?" Samantha called from near the fireplace.

"Oh, I washed it," I answered from the kitchen. "It was getting musty. It should be dry by now." Sam went to the laundry room and brought out the blanket.

"It's so warm and cuddly!" Sam said. "I love when these come out of the dryer. Rhonda, come and cuddle with me in the big chair."

"I thought you were getting that ready for Brian and Mary," Rhonda laughed.

"Oh, heck with them. We have a warm, soft blankie." Rhonda ran to Samantha and in a minute the two were wrapped in the blanket.

"I can't believe it was musty. We just washed it a couple days ago," Rhonda said. I caught Angela's eye and we both blushed. If we hadn't washed it, it would have been crusty, not musty.

"I didn't want the chair, anyway," Mary said as she came behind the counter. "Is it too early to go to bed?"

"It's only three o'clock, Mary," I said. She looked at me with big sad eyes.

"Is that too early?"

"No," I laughed. "But I have to study, so you can't keep me there all night. Understand?" She nodded happily and we went off to the bedroom. We didn't make love or even make out all that much. We did hold each other tightly and even went off to sleep for a little while. I needed that nap. Mary kissed me awake and looked into my blinking eyes.

"I only let you sleep an hour," she whispered. "I know you have studying to do. I just wanted to be held by you for a while."

"Thank you, sweetheart," I said. "I'd rather lie here with you for the next twenty-four or seventy-two hours or so. But I do have to study."

"Well? Get going. This naked, eighteen-year-old virgin will still be in your bed when you are done studying," she said.

Damn! When you put it like that...

"Phone, Brian," Rhonda said as she came out of the office at about nine. I was about ready to quit studying for the night. I had no idea who would call me at this hour. I stretched and went to the office to take the call.

"Hello?"

"Brian, I hate to ask you for more help..."

"Betts? Are you okay?" I asked. It was what? Five o'clock in Seattle. Betts had been gone a week.

"Oh, I'm fine," she said, immediately. "Allen's fine. Maddie's fine. That's not what I need help with."

"I'm glad to hear that," I said. I was genuinely relieved. I was afraid she was calling to tell me she was getting a divorce or something. "What's up?"

"It's Addison," Betts sighed.

"Oh no. What? Is she obsessed over her brother?" I asked.

"You aren't obsessed over Allen, are you?" Betts asked, holding the phone away from her.

"No!" I heard Addison's voice. "This is a bad idea, Betts. He'll hate me."

"Betts? What's going on?" I demanded.

"Well," she huffed. "We just found out that Addison is having second thoughts about college. It seems she thinks she did something stupid and has decided to join the Peace Corps or something."

"There's nothing wrong with the Peace Corps, if that's what she wants to do," I said.

"Of course not. If that's what she wanted to do instead of it being a way to avoid what she needs to do."

"What does she need to do?" I asked. I was totally confused as to why I was even on this call.

"Talk to you," Betts said flatly. "So I dialed the phone. Now I'm giving it to her. Love you, brother."

"Hello?" Addison's voice sounded shaky. Betts had just handed her the phone without waiting for me to reply.

"Addison, what's up? Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yes," she sounded exasperated.

"What's all this about?"

"My stupidity. I didn't even want to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"That I got accepted at IU." Oh shit! My sister-in-law was coming to IU? Was she stalking me? After what Betts and I had talked about, I wasn't sure how to respond.

"Uh ... Congratulations."

"I was stupid. When they sent me the acceptance letter, I realized how stupid I was. That's when I decided to join the Peace Corps, instead," she said. "Except they won't take you until you have a college degree. So I'll try for the Air Force ... or the French Foreign Legion." I wished I could see her face. She sounded really down.

"No matter what you've heard about the French Foreign Legion, it really isn't a good idea to join up just to escape something. What's the problem?"

"I didn't talk to anyone about it. I should have talked to you and Rose. I just thought it would be neat to join you all at IU, and I'd know all these people, and have, like, a family. It was stupid and I'm sorry. I can probably still get into Washington State. They'll take anyone. It's not like trying to get into UW," Addison said. She sounded really sad. Fuck. I was going to regret this and my sister was going to owe me bigtime.

"Addison, why don't you just come? You're right. You'd know all these people and have a family here. We'd love to see you."

"Really? I don't have to live with you. I can live in a dorm," she said. There was real hope in her voice.

"We'll talk about living arrangements," I said. "But Addison, you have to understand that even if you live with us, that doesn't mean you're invited to be my girlfriend, you know."

"I know that, dummy. It isn't about you. Can I talk to Rose? I should have talked to her in the first place."

"Sure, Addison. I'm looking forward to seeing you." I went to find Rose and didn't bother to fill her in before she picked up the phone. We all heard the squeal from the office.

Mary was a happy addition to the casa that week. We cuddled a lot, but she really didn't ask for much. I'd gotten tickets for an orchestra concert on Wednesday and we sat through a program of Mahler, holding hands. When we got back to the ranch, we kissed softly at the door and then went inside. As soon as we'd closed the door behind us, we laughed and declared the date to be over. Then we stripped and went to cuddle in the big chair. Everyone else had gone to bed, but someone had put another log on the fire. I kind of thought they'd been watching for us and prepared for everything before scampering away when we pulled in. I held Mary in my lap all night long and we pulled a blanket over us as we went to sleep in the chair.

Rhonda was dressed and ready to go in when I left for my lab on Thursday.

"What's up, honey?" I asked. "Big meeting today?"

"Yes," she sighed. "I'm meeting with the student I'm mentoring this morning. Then this afternoon, I'm doing another talk for Lonnie's class. He's going to film me again. I just know it." What? Rhonda was mentoring a student? She's speaking today?

"Do I need to cut class this afternoon?" I asked, tentatively.

"No, silly. I'd have given you fair warning. Samantha and Mary are coming to catch me if I fall off the stage. It will be fine."

"Rhonda, I love you. You are the most amazing woman I know."

"I love you, too, Brian. And I'm the most amazing woman you know." She broke up laughing. I almost decided to cut class just so I could watch.

I could hear voices from Stall One and they seemed to be agitated. I decided I'd better check. I know it's not my problem, but I just need to make sure everyone is okay. Turns out, I was the problem.

"You have to ask him, Rhonda," Samantha said.

"But I don't want to pressure him. I feel like I'm always wanting something from him," she responded.

"That's your job, honey," Rose said. "Don't forget. We hired you to be our producer. Do your damned job."

"Rose," Rhonda said plaintively. I walked into the office.

"Okay, what is it?" I demanded. "I'm sorry I got a little overwhelmed last week. You don't have to go around walking on eggshells. I won't break. Rhonda? What's going on?"

"Okay," she sighed. "Here's the deal. Just don't get mad at me. It wasn't even my idea."

"Just spill it, okay?"

"Lonnie wants to run a production camp this summer. Six weeks. He wants to work students as if they were in a live studio. They want to shoot three to five hours of programming a day. They'll front the entire production cost for students, equipment, and editing if we'll provide the programming. Everything would be shot right here. It seems we have a better studio than he has. We'd have a full production team that is larger than what we usually work with. Always at least two cameras running. They'd even run the editing from stall four." I was stuck back on what I'd originally heard.

"Three to five hours? I can't do that much programming in a day! How can I possibly do that? I planned to take two classes this summer so I'd be fully a junior in the fall," I ranted.

"You still can. You'd only be responsible for your half hour segment. I have to come up with programming for the other two and a half hours. You're not the one that's under pressure," Rhonda said.

"I'm not..." I finally listened to what she was saying. "Oh god, Rhonda. Can you handle all that? Are we talking about six half-hour shows being filmed each day? Honey, that would heap work on you!" Funny. As soon as I realized I wasn't responsible for performing half an hour a day, I could be concerned for my girlfriend. What an asshole I am.

"There are a lot of contingencies," Rose said. "Lonnie has to get the right number of the right students and funding. We have to come up with programming, actors, and furnish the studio. That will disrupt our household almost as much as building the ranch did last summer. At least we know this is time delimited and would all be done in exactly six weeks. Right, Rhonda?"

"Right," she said, a little despondently. "I'll make sure Lonnie knows the timeframe is ironclad. I have so fucking much to do, I can't believe it."

"I'm helping," Samantha said. "I'm your assistant. There hasn't been that much for me to do when we were just filming Brian's show. But you've already been working full time. You have to dump all the routine stuff on me, now."

"Honey, this is really big," I said. "Forgive me for having my head up my ass. I'm with you and will do whatever is necessary. It isn't really necessary for me to take courses this summer. If you need more programming from me, I'll come up with more."

"We still need to clear it with the rest of the casa and even run it by the clan," Rose said. "We expect to have everyone here this summer. It will impact the way we live."

"When are we talking about doing this?" I asked.

"July 8 to August 16," Rhonda said. "Same timing as the second summer session. That also means that if you wanted to take classes during the first summer session, it begins May 20 and ends June 28. We'd still have the week of the 4th off." She sounded a little despondent.

"May I hold you for a while, my pixie love?" I asked softly. She nodded her head and came to hug me. I picked her up and carried her to the big chair. I didn't try anything sexual with her at all. I just held her on my lap and we watched the crackling fire. I had to remind myself of a vow I took nearly a year ago. If this would keep Rhonda happy and healthy, I would do it, no matter what. "Honey?" I whispered. She looked up at me and her eyes seemed sad. "Is this what you really want to do?" She hesitated and then nodded her head.

"I'm sorry," she said. "We don't have to do it. It's just such an exciting opportunity. Maybe I can work something out using the University studio. It's just that Lonnie wants to set up all the equipment and not move it back and forth. Since we have two sets already clearly established, this seemed like a natural location."

"Two?"

"The kitchen and the fireplace. Look at our living room. Even though we prefer to scatter pillows and blankets, it's a perfect location for a talk show."

"We did design the whole space to be flexible so we could put up any kind of setting," I said. "We'll have to thank Elaine."

"Thank her? I plan to hire her," Rhonda laughed. "Who else could we have do a talk show?" We sat there just enjoying our dreams while we watched the fire. "Do you think it's too much to suggest to our clan?"

"Hell. We built a house last summer. How much more difficult could this be?"

Mary: What are we making today, Chef Brian?

Me: Mary, you're my girlfriend. You don't have to call me 'Chef.' We're making meringue.

Mary: Like lemon meringue pie? My favorite!