Chapter 21

It was only a few minutes later when Zoe announced she had to leave.

"Don't go on my account," Merie cut in quickly. "In fact, I've probably overstayed my welcome. I'll go and leave you two to get better acquainted."

"I'll still have to go," Zoe said. She had watch Meredith quickly become flustered but she didn't understand why. Brock was obviously fond of the young woman, or at least he had been - fond enough to risk his life to save hers. "I have to be at work in about an hour and I still have to get home and change."

"I've been meaning to ask where your duty station is," Brock said.

"I'm on bike patrol in Rolling Hills," she said.

"Sounds interesting," Brock said. Zoe shook her head as she gathered her purse and car keys.

"It's where they put all the newbies," she said. "It's a low-echelon station, little crime except for D&Ds."

"Drunk and disorderly," she explained when she saw their confused looks. "Our substation is pretty small. I do bike patrol three days a week and 'roving patrol' on Fridays and Saturdays."

"Do you ride your bike after dark?" Brock asked. "I mean, that sounds a little dangerous."

"We ride until sunset and then its foot patrol," she clarified. "My Friday and Saturdays are all on foot."

"Well I hope we can get together again soon," Brock said. He wasn't sure if he should shake her hand or give her a hug.

"I thought I might come to your game on Sunday," Zoe said. "Maybe we can meet up afterward."

"You can sit with me, if you want," Meredith said. "I've been sitting with my Dad the past few games because my game-day buddy is on tour."

"I didn't think to look for you there," Brock said, almost to himself.

"Sorry, I should have told you," Merie replied before turning to Zoe. "I have been sitting in Brock's section. The people there are pretty cool. But the woman I sit with has been on tour since July otherwise she would probably be splashing in the pool right now. I don't really know anyone else in the section. I still have our tickets if you want to sit with me."

"On tour?" Zoe asked.

"Oh, yeah, Randi Raver comes over all the time," Meredith said. She hated to name drop but Zoe seemed interested. "She lives next door and Brock sort of adopted her. Actually, she sort of adopted Brock."

"You know Randi Raver," she stated, shaking her head. "Well, that explains why every time I get the chance to watch a Dodgers game she is on the screen half a dozen times."

Meredith beamed a conspiratorial grin at Zoe.

"Wait until September," she said. "Brock is taking her to the Emmy Awards at the end of the month. She'll be all over TV during the games if they think she's Brock's girlfriend."

Zoe shook her head but wisely didn't speak.

"Do you mind if I stay for a while?" Merie asked.

"Not at all," Brock replied. "But we can't go out anywhere. Is that cool?"

"It's great," Meredith replied. Both walked Zoe to the door. Merie gave Zoe a hug and Brock leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek.

"Keep safe, Sis," he said. "We just found each other and I don't want to lose you."

She gave Brock a soft swat on the arm.

"I should be telling you the same thing," she told him.

Brock put his arm around Meredith's shoulder as they watched Zoe pull away from the curb. It just felt right for him to do it. Meredith, in return, snuggled up close to him.

"Thanks for today," Brock said, leaning over and kissing her on top the head again.

"You've grown since the last time I got to put my arms around you," Meredith joked. It was true; Brock was almost five inches taller at 24 than he'd been at 16, courtesy of a growth spurt just before he hit college.

"You too," Brock remarked, sliding his hands up beneath Meredith's rib cage. Meredith had not grown taller but her breasts had gotten bigger. They had started when she started to take birth control pills. She went from a B cup to a large C cup in about six months.

"I thought you would have noticed before now," she said. "Why do you think I come over here to swim with Randi every chance I get?"

"Because I have a pool," Brock joked. "But I did notice. They look right on you. You don't look top heavy but they look really big because you're so small everywhere else."

"Thanks," Meredith said, blushing. She took Brock's hand and led him back to his couch. "So, I want to apologize for making a complete ass of myself – not just today but since probably the first time I met you. From the very first day I saw you; I tend to get a little gooey when you're around. That hasn't changed in the years we were apart. So I'm sorry that I've sort of disappeared from time to time. It's not because I wanted to. It was because I worried that I would do something really stupid and you would come to hate me."

"Don't worry about it," Brock said. "We all do stupid things from time to time. I'm just glad you're at a point where we can talk about things. You never have to worry about me shipping you off. First off, Randi would kill me while I slept. More importantly, I've always liked you Meredith. You were always so funny and clever. I always had to be on my toes around you. I appreciated the slightly off-center way you view the world."

Meredith smiled at him.

"Well, I still see the world a little differently than most," she admitted. "But I try not to be as impulsive."

"By doing things like tangling with an armed intruder," Brock pointed out.

"Exactly," Meredith said. "You might not believe this, but I've had that move mapped out in my head since I learned about the threat. I, well, you probably didn't know it but I've been studying several forms of judo for the past few years. I don't test for rank because that isn't important to me. It's really helped me get past those feelings of helplessness that used to consume me."

"I'm glad for it," Brock said. "And not just because you've proven you can kick my ass, either."

Merie laughed along with him.

"I've known what I would do if I were confronted with the situation," she said. "Although I must admit that I didn't expect it at your house. I was planning on somewhere a little more open. I didn't really have room to finish my toss."

"Well you tossed me pretty well," Brock said. "One second I was trying to get a look down your blouse and the next my face was buried in the lawn."

Meredith leaned forward slightly until the opening at the neck of her shirt widened, drawing Brock's eyes downward.

"So, that wasn't really an impulsive move," she said. "This is."

In a swift movement she wrapped her arms behind his neck and pulled him forward into a kiss. He didn't fight it overly much. He had always enjoyed kissing Meredith and this time was no exception.

The pair broke apart with a loud smacking of the lips.

"Wow!" Brock said. "That was unexpected."

"Impulsive," Meredith said. "If I had the courage, I'd be more impulsive. But that took all the courage I could muster."

She sat back on the couch, hoping he would take the hint. He didn't.

"Oh, hell," she said, reaching to unbutton her shirt. "I guess I'm going to have to do everything."

"Wait!" Brock said. Merie's eyes rose from her buttons to his face. Brock saw a look of trepidation there. "Let me help."

Brock didn't get to help. Instead Meredith simply ripped the shirt open and stood before him in her bra. The buttons flew across the room but Brock didn't look for them. This bra didn't have flowers on it. It was lacy and very transparent. Brock could see the top of Meredith's nipples through the top of the fabric. He gulped involuntarily.

"Do you remember our rules?" Meredith asked.

Brock smiled at the memory.

"I do," he said.

"Good," she said. "Now forget them. I don't think I want to go, uh, well..."

She trailed off, blushing.

"We'll go as far as you want and no further," Brock said. "But I think we should take things slowly. I think part of our problem last time was that our hormones overrode our better judgment sometimes."

"Of course you tell me this after my shirt is in tatters," Meredith said.

"Of course," Brock agreed. "I must say, you have some magnificent ah ... assets, Ms. Van Landingham. Your bathing attire does not do them justice."

"I had been away for a few months when they came around," Meredith said. "I guess I wasn't eating very well because I started to get a little rounder all over. Once I started to exercise again, my belly and butt got smaller but these stayed right as you see them."

Brock held out his arms and Meredith came and sat down with him. She wasn't embarrassed to be sitting almost topless in his living room. He had once seen her almost naked. He was the only person besides her physician who had ever seen so much of her.

"I can get you a T-shirt if you'd like," Brock offered.

"Maybe later," Meredith replied. She had shifted until her back rested against his chest. His arms were circling her stomach and she could feel the warmth of his forearms on the underside of her mounds. It was a pleasant feeling.

"The others have spoken to me," Brock admitted, "about you. I confess that I was a little in the dark about your actions."

"Once again, my fault," Merie said. "I should have followed through on my initial plan. I planned to make my move on you the first night I came back here. But then Randi was here and, well, you seemed so angry. Once you told me about Chastity, I changed my mind. I didn't want to be a rebound for you. I also didn't want to risk losing you to her later."

"I'm not sure that this is going to lead to... , I don't know, forever," Brock told her.

"Maybe not," Meredith replied. "But maybe so. The point is, we'll never know unless we try. I guess we do need to get to know each other again. It's been hard the past few months. I've purposefully avoided being alone with you."

"I'd never hurt you," Brock said.

"Oh, I know that," she replied. "Like I said, when I get within 10 feet of you, my brain turns to mush. I mean, Jesus, just a minute ago I ripped the buttons off a $100 blouse just so I could show you my tits."

"And lovely tits they are," Brock said again, shifting his forearms upward slightly. Meredith groaned and shook her head. "Are they still as sensitive as they used to be?"

"Let's get this out of the way," she said, turning to face him. She reached behind her back and unhooked her bra. Her breasts fell free. "Find out for yourself. If it leads to us naked and rolling around, that's where it leads. I'm not going to over think this. I will tell you, I want you. I've wanted you for eight years. If you want me, I'm yours."

Brock knew he would hate himself in the morning but he pulled his gaze away from the white breasts and their pink-tipped nipples. They were even paler than the rest of her alabaster skin.

"Not this way," he said. "Merie, I always wanted your first time to be enormously special. That hasn't changed."

"They told you?" Meredith asked angrily. "I cannot believe they told you that. Jesus, this must just confirm what you've always thought of me. I'm a fucking lunatic."

Brock caught her wrist as she sat up and tried to spin away.

"No, that's not what I think," he said. "I'll admit that I was concerned. But then I came to realize that you were never the type to take sex lightly. You wouldn't do it for the sole purpose of losing your virginity. There would have to be real feelings involved and you hadn't met the person you wanted to bestow that honor upon. And it is an honor, Meredith."

She sighed and sat down with him again.

"Well, I guess it's out there and it isn't coming back," she said. "So, here's what I'd like. I'd like for us to pretend we're 16 again. I want us to find a stupid movie and make out to the point we have no idea what it's about. I want to acquaint myself with your body and for you to acquaint yourself with mine. But this time there will be no artificial boundaries in place. There will be no mother peering over my shoulder and no nosy neighbor peering over yours. My sister is a ghost and gone and so are your problems in Wilkins. How does that sound?"

"Good, except for the 16 part," Brock said. "I don't want to be that angry, hurt boy again. I don't want you to be the shy, scared girl again. Let's just be 24 and see if we can discover that first love we lost back then. Is that doable?"

Meredith smiled.

"As doable as I am, right now," she said with a laugh.

"It will have to wait, though," Brock said sorrowfully. "I, uh, well I guess I have a couple of other commitments."

Meredith raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Well, Susan and I have still have to have our 'Final Fling, '" he admitted. "And, well, the other one really doesn't matter, I suppose."

"Randi," Merie cut in. "She matters. See, maybe the rules we made up at 16 weren't so bad. Susan and Randi are two commitments that I can live with. I wasn't sure about that at 16 but I am now. But after that, no more."

"I was never sure I could live with the others," Brock said. "I'm still not. For some reason, I'm not built that way. I can't care about one woman and sleep with another."

"I've said from the beginning that you were totally not a guy," Meredith joked. "I remember our first night together. First me and then Jen offered to go down on you. You said no to both of us. I'm giving you free rein to bang two hot chicks and you're telling me no. By the way, Susan really blossomed in North Carolina. Must be the tobacco plants."

Brock chuckled.

"She had started to blossom even before we left for there," he said. "France was really good for her but being around people who cared about her was even better. She really started to come into her own during her senior year of high school. Once I got over the need to protect her from everyone, she and I really did well together."

"What happened? Meredith inquired. "The others pretty much told me their stories but she was noticeably silent."

"Jealousy," Brock replied. "We were together at the start of college. Suddenly if I was in the same classroom as a woman, I had to be screwing her. She went totally nuts on the rest of the girls. Then she broke up with me and moved back out here."