Chapter 8

The discussions lasted late into the evening, but James thought that it all went very well, considering.

The were going to be held out of school for a few days while David followed up on the legal issues involved with home-schooling in this state, and Ailene had gotten Zoe an appointment for the following Monday with a specialist.

The sleeping arrangements were more problematic, but only on a philosophical level. The two fathers, in particular, didn't think it was appropriate for their teens to be sharing a bed, much less having sex, but the wives were more pragmatic. It was generally decided to let the situation be unless there was a problem.

The first night was actually anticlimactic, Zoe and James slept in Stacy's room, with Stacy staying awake until they had been sleeping for a couple of hours, then waking them to test the link. It had stayed connected and an exhausted Stacy was happy to curl up with them and get some much-needed sleep.

When James woke up, his arm draped over Zoe and Stacy snuggled up to his back, couldn't help but grin He closed his eyes and indulged himself, sneaking a closer look in Zoe's mind to see if she was dreaming.

What he found disturbed him a bit. Zoe was picturing herself as a slave, but one bound in silken roped, and voluntarily submitting herself ... to him. She seemed so very happy to surrender herself, begging him to be her master. She was offering completely and total submission, telling the dream version of James that he owned her heart, body and soul, and if he accepted, she would live to make him happy.

James found the entire sequence disturbing on several levels. Zoe was a smart, vivacious woman with her own mind, her own ideas. That she would be dreaming about submitting herself seemed to mean there was a change in her personality. Was he responsible? Was it a side effect of the link? Could he 'fix' it? The other part that was disturbing was how very erotic the scene was, how deeply it affected him. Was this indicative of some deeply buried quirk in his personality?

One thing he did know ... his was so hard that it was painful. Twisted or not, natural or not, that scene had gotten his blood pumping.

Unable to resist, he slipped into Stacy's mind, feeling guilty but, after viewing Zoe's dream, he couldn't not peek.

Stacy's dream was different, colder and sadder. She was wandering through a city street populated by couples, the sky overcast, dark and dreary, the wind chill on her skin. They were holding hands, kissing, talking and laughing. Everyone was paired with someone. Everyone but her. She tried speaking to passersby, but they couldn't hear her. She tried to grab someone, make them listen, but her hands passed through them. She was weeping, hugging herself and feeling bereft, alone and afraid.

James, afraid to interfere but unable to leave her in that state, took the arm that was draped over his midsection, and raised it to his lips, kissing the palm and projecting warmth, love and compassion to Stacy.

In her dream there was a break in the clouds and she could feel the sun. She stood there, her face turned to the sky, her arms outspread and soaked up the welcome warmth. When she opened her eyes again, the couple around her had stopped walking, stopped interacting. They were all smiling at her, and pointing at something in the distance. Stacy started to walk, then run. As she ran, other couples turned to point the way, urging her on.

James watched, fascinated, until he sensed something ... what? It was Zoe! Zoe was still asleep, but she was ... she was there, in Stacy's dream, calling to her. James watched as Stacy spying a brightly lit doorway, the door open and beckoning. She stopped running and walked, calmly but without pausing, through the door and into the light.

Inside the door was. Holy crap. It was the scene in Zoe's dream! Zoe was still kneeling at his feet and she was beckoning Stacy, holding out a slim chain whose links were made from the same silk as her own.

The dream James was smiling beatifically, beaming at the two women, his arms spread wide and welcoming, radiating love and acceptance. To Stacy the dream James said, " You may stay here, a welcome and loved member of family, for as long as you want beautiful Stacy. You do not have to submit, that was a choice my love made, not a requirement."

"Come, Stacy, be my sister wife. Feel the love that my master can offer, the security, the happiness."

James watched this ... this scene, with many misgivings. Should he interrupt the sequence? Was it his place to interfere with Zoe's dream, her fantasy? She was inserting her fantasy into Stacy's dream, what about that?

At the very least, he was going to have a long talk with Zoe about this later.

The dream sequence seemed to have stalled. Zoe, frozen with her hand extended holding the silken chain; Stacy standing in the door, undecided any his dream self smiling, arms spread wide. James felt Stacy stirring on one side, and Zoe waking on the other, and he felt relief.

Zoe used his arm as a lever to pull herself over, facing him now with a sleepy smile on her face. She nuzzled her head up under his chin and sighed happily.

Stacy started, her whole body twitching, when she discovered James holding the hand that was wrapped over his shoulder, then she too sighed, relaxing and snuggling closer to his back.

Oh boy...

The Doctor's appointment started well enough, an hour sitting in the waiting room with their mothers chatting happily, glad for the company.

James and Zoe sat quietly, hands and minds joined. They were discussing what James had seen in his dream, for at least the tenth time, and James was making no progress.

'I don't understand, baby. Why? Why do you want this?'

'I don't know how to explain it. You can see it, you can read my thoughts, my emotions. You are my soul mate, in a very real sense and you can see the happiness and contentment the thought gives me. Why would you deny me? Why won't you let me have this? It won't change anything, it won't make us closer, that would be impossible, but it would make me happy. Please, lover, I want this.'

'Baby, you know I love you, you know I can't deny you anything, but this, this is ... What would your parents think?'

'I don't care. They don't have to even know. This is between you and me, and right now it is between us. It is keeping us from being what we need to be. I need you to accept me just as I am, and this is part of me, this desire, this need.'

James had been debating this, trying to come to grips with this desire of hers. It bothered him on a basic, instinctual level, but there was one thing that was crystal clear. Zoe wanted this, she wouldn't be happy until he allowed it. Above all else, her happiness was vital to his own, and that was the bottom line here. He could feel her unhappiness and he was the cause.

'Ok. I love you and I want you to be happy, you know that. If this makes you happy, and I can't find any reason it could hurt you, then we can do this.'

'Oh James, my love, my life, I am so happy!! I am so excited, I can't wait. We have to do this right, and I will take care of it, I will make it perfect. Oh my god, I am so excited!'

Zoe didn't confine her happiness to the mental, she practically leapt into his lap, showering him with kisses and smiling like he had given her heart's desire, which was, James thought sardonically, literally true.

Their mothers both objected to Zoe's sudden bout of affection, but mostly in the form of scowls for her bad manners, doing it in public.

Zoe blushed and moved back to her seat, hugging James's arm and beaming up at him.

Once they actually got into the Doctor's exam room, there was another issue. The Doctor was adamant about clearing the room, allowing only Zoe's mother to remain. In a fit of pique, the doctor refusing to listen to any argument to the contrary, James pushed. He deftly adjusted the Doctor's attitude, making him more open to influence, encouraging disinterest in James and in his mother, and encouraging him to concentrate on his patient.

Ada, her own slight abilities becoming more sensitive with use, if not more acute, sidled up to James.

James brought his mother, and after a second's thought, Zoe's, into the link

'What did you do?' Ada asked, once James announced his presence.

'I was wondering the same thing.' Ailene added.

'I just encouraged his interest in his patient's problem and encouraged him to overlook distractions. I dampened his ornery-ness. I can't actually force him to do anything, I can only encourage and strengthen his emotions. I just focused on the ones that would help and damped the ones that were getting in the way.' James explained.

'And how often do you do that to us, to your parents?' Ailene asked, and James could feel a touch of fear behind the question.

James was startled, though he shouldn't have been. He would probably have been paranoid if he weren't the one with the abilities. He opened up his mind, and offered it to them.

'I cannot prove that I do not do that to you. All I can do is offer up myself, who and what I am, and let you discover for yourselves if you should trust me. We love you, Zoe and I, all of you.'

Ada just smiled, but Ailene looked startled, and then snaked her arm around his waist, hugging him and smiling at Zoe who was lying on the examination table.

'Ok, I give. I know when I am outsmarted. I guess I have to trust that my daughter wouldn't choose a bad man for her soul mate.' Ailene said, grinning and not-so-secretly crossing her fingers.

James laughed and put his arm around both mothers, hugging them to his sides.

The doctor was attaching leads to Zoe's head, chest and arms, the wires extending to an EEG machine on a stand near the bed. Zoe was smirking at the three of them, sending across the link a slightly off-key rendition of 'Kumbaya my love, kumbaya', much to their amusement.

The EEG took almost an hour, and a Cat Scan was next, but they had to move to a different part of the hospital for that test. James and the Mothers waiting in the viewing gallery, separated from Zoe by a dozen feet and a plate of glass, but able to see and be seen.

'I don't like this. Hold my hand, lover?'

'I can't baby, but I can do this.' James imagined him cradling her in his arms, and added love and reassurance by the truckload, sending it to Zoe where she lay in the whirring, thumping machine.

'Oh, that is wonderful. I would prefer the real thing, but this helps.'

The tests run and the results pending, they were all glad to get out of there and even happier when they got home. Well, to Zoe's home, though they would be moving to James's the following day.

As soon as they had walked in the door, Zoe had disappeared upstairs saying she would be back down in a little while.

James joined the ladies in the kitchen for coffee and a chance to discuss plans for Zoe's upcoming birthday, only two days away. James's birthday would follow two weeks after, and he took some good-natured ribbing for having gotten involved with an 'older' woman.

"I want to do something nice, mum. Without a job though, I don't have money to do much, and as generous as you and dad are, I feel like this is something that I need to do on my own. Still, I am having a hard time figuring out what that 'something' is!"

"James, you don't think your father and I realized that we would be supporting you until you were old enough to support yourself? We don't do it because we have to, we do it because we love you. You aren't much of a burden, you know." Ada smiled at her son, laying her hand on his arm.

"Stew and I have been discussing it too, though things have been in such flux the last couple of months, we had put off any decisions. What kinds of things were you thinking about, James?" Ailene asked, her chin in her hand and the corner of her mouth quirked in what was surely a grin she was trying to hide, probably because of his youthful angst.

"I just don't know. Zoe and I, we have grown so unbelievably close these last few months, and we are practically living in each other's heads now. It is not like I can actually surprise her. What do you give the woman you love when you cannot have any secrets from her?"

"Has she mentioned anything? You could give us a list and let us shop, that way you won't know what it is until she opens the gift!" Ailene suggested.

James knew what she wanted, but he was not about to tell his or her mother about it. He didn't think he would survive the fallout.

"No, not really. The things that I want to give her will have to wait until we are older, married and employed."

The two mothers exchanged a startled glance.

"Married?" Ada asked, carefully neutral.

"Mum, think about it. How else?" James replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Hmm ... will you think less of me if I admit that I hadn't taken the whole link thing to its obvious conclusion?" his mother asked, a sad smile on her face.

"Never. You are still the smartest woman I know." James said, covering her hand with his own.

"Hrmph..." Ailene said, grinning at the two of them. "You trained him right, Ada!"

"What do you want for your birthday, Mr. Mentalist?" his mother asked, changing the subject.

"I know what I want, but I have hesitated to bring it up. I want to get a job. I know that I have to get an education, and I haven't the slightest idea how I am going to work until we get this link sorted out, but I have faith that it will all work out. I have been looking at ways to make money from home, but most of the quote jobs unquote that I have found sound like scams." James said, bracing for impact.

"Your job is to get an education!" his mother said, predictably perhaps but with real feeling. "You will spend the rest of your life working, don't be in such a hurry to grow up." Ada said. She was not looking at him though, her mind obviously somewhere else.

"Let's table that one for now, let me talk to your father." she said, putting an end to that topic. James knew his mother well enough to be sure that any pushing on his part would be counter-productive. She was a soft-spoken, loving woman with a will of steel.

"Back to Zoe then. We have two days ... TWO DAYS!"

"Two days until what? she asks, knowing the answer." Zoe said from the kitchen doorway, grinning evilly.

"It's not nice to mock your boyfriend, baby." James said, grinning back at her.

Zoe came over and wrapped her arms around him from behind, laying her chin on his shoulder and grinning at the mothers across the table.

"He is so much fun to tease!" she laughed.

"They all are, sweetheart, it is part of why we keep them around." her mother joked, smiling at James.

"Sheesh. A guy could get a complex!"

'Hiya, sexy!' James sent over their link. 'Missed you.'

'I was upstairs for a whole thirty minutes.' she replied, teasing.

'Was that all? Felt like days!'

'Tomorrow night at midnight." Zoe sent, her mental tone serious.

'Wait, what? What is happening tomorrow night at midnight?'

Zoe didn't answer with words, she sent an image from her dream. She was on her knees, her head bowed, a silken chain held up over her head, offering it to him.

'Wow. This is what you really want?' he asked, astounded at the imagery.

'More than anything.' and the certainty in her 'voice' left no room for misunderstanding. 'Stacy has agreed to be my witness.'

James, flummoxed by the inclusion of Stacy, decided to play one of his hole cards. 'If you do this, it changes everything. It changes our relationship permanently. I will be your master, though you know that I love you and I would set you free if you wanted it, but that wouldn't change the fact that I was your master, even for a time. That can't help but have long-term effects on us. I don't know if they will be good or bad, but baby, I don't think I could stand it if you started to resent me. I will do what you ask, because you clearly want it, but I will be your master in fact as well as in name, I have to. I will have to discipline you, enforce any rules. Is this what you want?'

'Good, you do understand.'

He had one more card, one last ditch, desperate card to play.

'If you do this, if I capitulate, you know you can never be my wife. We can and will get married, but it will only be for the state, to simply the legal niceties. You will still be my slave.'

'Slaves don't need to be married, unless it is the Master's will. You will be my master. You are the center of my life and this will force you to accept that reality. You will have responsibility for me, for everything I do. You will have chains more binding and more restrictive than mine. I will be free ... I only have to do what you say, to please you, to love you. You, you have to be my master.'

James was quite literally stunned, his mind a blank. A million things seem to flash through his consciousness but none of them stuck, at least not as first. The thought that surfaced was, 'So who is really the slave?'

The ceremony, for that is what it was in fact as well as in name, was held in Stacy's room. The girls had pushed the bed to one side, hung sheets from the ceiling that concealed, but not hid the bed, and other sheets to soften the walls. It gave the room an Arabic castle feel. They had laid a small pillow on the floor and, in a circle around the pillow were candles. Other candles, scented this time, were placed around the room, giving off just enough illumination to set the mood. In front of the pillow, but inside the circle of candles, was an armchair from the dining room, though draped with a sheet.

Zoe had hand braided a collar and a lead from a silk robe and it lay on the pillow. Stacy had directed him to dress up, and he was wearing a suit, though he felt a little foolish since they had to do this after Zoe's parents were asleep.

Stacy was in a simple silk gown, no makeup, and her hair was in a single braid down her back. She wore no jewelry and it was obvious to James that she wore nothing under the silk. She looked magnificent.

She had ushered him into the room and into the seat, handing him a glass of wine, all without saying a word. She went to the dresser and hit play on her stereo, the room filling with the sounds of Gregorian chant, earning her a startled look from James. He hadn't known that they knew his fondness for the obscure music.

Stacy went to the door again, opened it and exited the room. When the clock had just moved to midnight, door opened again and Zoe stood there. She was naked, her head down, her hands clasped in front of her. Her hair had also been braided in the same fashion as Stacy's and, unlike Stacy, she work a golden torc necklace and a pair of gold earrings.

She looked glorious. James was filled with wonder at the sight. Her body seemed to be glowing, her breasts high and taut, her nipples erect and the areolas crinkled. She had trimmed her pubic hair so that it was just a small patch on her mons, but wore no makeup or nail polish. The effect was spectacular and somehow virginal, as if she were a sacrifice in some ancient rite.

At some unheard signal, she walked slowly into the room, stepping over the circle of candles and knelt on the pillow, taking the silk lead in her hands.

James could see the reflection of the candlelight in her eyes for a moment, and they were full of unshed tears. His heart went out to her and he had a momentary impulse to put a stop to this, to grab her and carry her out of here.

'James.'

Her voice was strong, clear and full of emotion and quelled him, froze him in place.

'I want to start my new life with the start of a new year. My heart's desire, my most passionate wish, is that you accept this. By taking this lead into your hands, you take my life, my soul, my happiness and my future into your hands as well. I will be yours. Your property. You will be my master. You must do this without reservation.'

James felt as if his chest were contracting, squeezing his heart and lungs, yet his mind was strangely clear. This is what she wants. I love her. I want her to be happy, so this is what I will do.

'Do you offer yourself to me then?' he asked, looking down at her with love and longing.

'I do, without reservation.' Zoe's head bowed until it touched her chest. Stacy removed the golden torc from her neck and the earrings from her ears and laid them aside. She took the collar end of the silken lead and fastened it around Zoe's neck and then stepped back.

'Please, take this, take me.' Zoe said, her voice pleading as she held her hands up, the lead laying across her open palms.

'Zoe I accept you as my slave, without reservations. You belong to me.'

'Oh thank you, Master, you have made your slave very happy.' The exultation in her voice, the tears of happiness falling onto her bare knees, these things were very real and James felt his own eyes watering.

'Come to me, Zoe.'

Zoe leapt up and into his arms, curling up in his lap and weeping. She began kissing his neck, his chin, his cheeks and his eyes. 'Thank you, thank you, thank you!' she whispered.

The tears rolling down James's cheeks were evidence of the emotional toll this had taken on him, and Zoe wept for him, telling him over and over how much she loved him and how very happy he had made her.

Stacy stood silently, tears on her cheeks as well, but from the outside James couldn't tell if they were for Zoe, or for him, or for herself.

James stood, sliding Zoe onto her feet and, still holding the silk lead in his hand, crossed the candle circle to Stacy.

"Are you okay?" he asked tenderly. "I wish I could have spoken to you before this, to make sure she had explained at that you were ok with it all."

"Oh James, that was beautiful. I don't ... I can't imagine anything more beautiful. She is such a lucky girl, and you, you gave this gift to her." tears were streaming down her cheeks and she threw her arms around James, weeping.

James was shocked, and a little uncomfortable, but Stacy had done her part, and he put his arm around her, stroking her back.

"Thank you for being a part of this, Stacy, for being a part of our lives. This meant a lot to Zoe, and a lot to me."

He turned and pulled Zoe into the hug, holding both of the girls, collecting their tears on his jacket and sighed.

When they were calmer, both smiling widely, James turned to lead Zoe out but Stacy held on to his arm.

"Stay, James. We prepared this for you, for tonight." Stacy pulled him towards the sheets that obscured the bed and pulled one aside.

The bed had been made, the sheets turned down and there was one pillow where before there had been two. Beside the bed on the floor, a small pallet had been made up. A small pillow, the twin of the one used in the ceremony, was laid on the pallet and one thin blanket was folded neatly at the foot.

James looked at the scene with confusion, taking in the symbols so carefully prepared and nodding. The bed was his, to share or not, with his slave. The pallet was laid so that a slave, when not warming her master's bed, would still be close enough to serve his needs without presuming to be his equal.

James appreciated the effort and he appreciated the ideal, but there was no way his slave, his woman, his love, would be sleeping on the floor.

As he stepped into the 'chamber' he noticed something else, or multiples somethings. On the single pillow at the head of the bed were a pair of belts. One was thick, well-worn leather. The other was silken, like the sash from a robe. One for pleasure, one for punishment. He shook his head at the images. He could see, in his peripheral vision, Zoe's smile, and her shiver when she saw him notice the belts.

James, playing his part, looped her lead around the bedpost at the bottom of the bed. Not tight, just symbolically tying her in place, and strode to the head of the bed. He picked up the leather strap, slapping it against his palm. He did it again, louder this time, making the leather CRACK! against the heel of his palm and raising his eyes to Zoe.

She shivered, her shoulders contracting a bit before being thrust back, her spine stiffening as if to say, "If it is your will." James was discomfited, not by her reaction, but by his own. He hung the leather belt on the headboard and picked up the silk. He ran it through his fingers, watching Zoe's reaction. She shivered again, but this time more of a wiggle and he could see her nipples crinkle, her thighs press together.

Stacy, standing at the opening to the bed 'chamber', had a similar reaction, her nipples standing proud beneath her thin silk robe. He saw her hand creep towards the opening but he didn't think she even knew she was doing it. Her eyes were locked on the silk strap in his hand.

James was torn. If this was going to work, he had to do it right. He had to be what she wanted him to be, the Master. Yet, it was all so foreign to him. Making a decision, he stepped back to Zoe and looked closely at the silk choker she wore. He could see that the lead was lightly tied to a small loop and he quickly untied it, leaving the choker in place.

"You should wear that always, or one like it, but that will have to wait. For tonight, you will keep it on, as a reminder. We will have to see if we can get more appropriate ones for public use because seeing you in it, seeing the outward sign of your slavery, it excites me." he admitted, stroking Zoe's hair.

He moved his hand down her arm, then cupped one of her breasts, his thumb rubbing her nipple. Zoe moaned, pushing her chest forward, pressing the breast against her hand.

James lifted her head, making her meet his eyes. "Don't hide your eyes from me, lover, I love to look at your beautiful eyes."

"Yes, Master." Zoe said, for the very first time aloud. In the corner of his eye, he could see that Stacy's hand had made it inside her robe and as she heard Zoe speak, she gave off a little groan of her own. James could feel himself straining at the material of his trousers.

"Undress me." James ordered, knowing that for tonight he had to be the Master, set the tone.

Zoe knelt at his feet and began untying his shoes. He lifted one foot at a time, allowing her to draw the shoes and socks off his feet. Then she rose up and loosened his tie, pulling it off and laying it on the chest at the end of the bed. She continued undressing him until he was down to his briefs, then paused.

"Why have you stopped?" James asked, allowing some iron to show in his voice.

Zoe grasped the waistband, pulling his shorts down and off his feet as he lifted them.

She knelt, looking up at him, her eyes eager. "Master, may I? May I please you?"

James was keeping one eye on Stacy, wondering if this was a good idea or a bad one, but determined to be the Master that Zoe wanted, that she needed. The belt to Stacy's robe had come loose and James could see one hand massaging her breast, pulling at her nipple while the other delved between her legs, stroking and pulling.

He looked down again, smiling. "Yes Zoe, please me, please me with your lips and tongue."

Zoe smiled and bent forward, her tongue darting out and licking the drop of pre-cum from the head of his cock, then swirling her tongue around the head, tickling that sensitive spot just underneath.

She run her tongue down his length and up the other side then opened her mouth wide, closing her lips over the head, sinking it into her mouth. Her lips formed a tight seal and her tongue whipped back and forth, working the shaft as she began to bob. She took as much as she could before rising again to start over.

James rested his right hand on the back of her head, not forcing, just showing that he was in control. A groan forced its way past his lips and he heard an answering groan from Stacy.