Chapter 25

I woke up Sunday feeling like something wasn’t right. I grimaced without opening my eyes, wishing that I’d remembered to close the curtains. Then I remembered I didn’t have a window and opened my eyes. The light seemed terribly bright and I winced. The girls were still asleep, curled up around me, but Dawn was gone.

“I thought you were waiting until the last test results came in,” Patty’s voice startled me for a moment and I gasped.

“What?” I asked, confused. “Wait, what?”

“The girls don’t have their final HIV screening done yet, Matt,” she said getting up from the office chair. Her voice was annoyed.

“We ARE waiting,” I said quietly. “Even if I was in the mood to stop waiting, Gina wore me out so completely that I couldn’t. It might still be broken.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Then why are they naked and here if you were just with Gina last night?”

“Because we both needed to be carried to the shower,” I told her. “Even after I woke up, I needed help. Gina didn’t seem to be in any better shape. Believe me, this close to them being able to take the test, we’re not gonna screw up. I’m sure they’re both fine, but that paperwork is important for all of us. We don’t want to screw that up.”

She nodded and seemed to relax. “That’s a relief,” she admitted. “I was worried when they didn’t come home last night.”

“You let Dawn out?” I asked.

She nodded. “About twenty minutes ago. She was happy to see me. She was trying to wake you and looked like she was close to having an accident.”

“We should get a dog door installed and fence in the backyard so she can wander in and out,” I mused. “I know they make electronic ones that only open if they detect a chip in the dog’s collar.”

She smiled. “Getting tired of getting up with her in the mornings?” she asked playfully.

“No, but last night was exhausting and I’m looking forward to many more nights like that. I’d rather not lock her out of here, so having a system for her to get out on her own seems like a good alternative.”

She shrugged. “You could always just put her out in the yard overnight,” she suggested. “Wasn’t it you who told me that she was bred for the Arctic Circle?”

“I did,” I chuckled. “We’ll work it out. So does your being here mean you’re about to pull the blankets and give someone a spanking?” I asked with a smile.

“Not necessarily,” she allowed with a small smile of her own. “I got more than I bargained for the last time I played that particular trick.”

“True,” I said. “You know this feels more like home now that we’re all back to normal. I’ve missed having you and Dan around. I know you’re right next door, but this summer, we were one family. It feels good to be getting back to that.”

She smiled at me and pulled the office chair over so we could continue to talk while the girls slept around me. “We’ll be around a little more now that we know things are okay,” she assured me. We were staying away to give you some space to find your feet again, so to speak.”

I nodded. “I figured it was something like that,” I said. “I’d prefer to have my family than my footing,” I said gently. “Don’t stay away.”

“Promise,” she said with a smile. “So tell me about Cheryl,” she said, changing topics. “I’ve heard that she won’t be coming back. What happened?”

“She couldn’t handle sex,” I said sadly. “She told everyone she was ready, but she started having flashbacks and rather than tell me and stop so we could deal with them, she pretended everything was fine until she exploded. I didn’t hear much of it other than what happened at lunch yesterday, but Beck said it was pretty bad. She was getting closer and closer to accusing me of being just the same as the guys from that party.”

“That’s terrible!” she said, disappointed. “You had no idea she was in distress?”

I shook my head. “Is that really so surprising? No one had any idea how much distress I was in over Miranda, me included. Victoria didn’t see how much distress Mom was in until it was too late. We all hide our pain. Hers ate at her until she turned it outward at me. The girls got Alice to take her on as a patient. That’s the most we can do for her right now.”

“You intend to do more for her down the road?” she asked, surprised.

“I did promise to put her through college,” I pointed out. I didn’t mention that I’d made a vague promise to do the same for her daughter in twenty years. I didn’t think she’d want that from me, but if she did, she could seek me out when it was time and ask for my help.

“She was here for a week. That doesn’t warrant a full ride to college,” Patty said sternly. “You need to take a step back from offering to help people like that. They’re taking advantage of you.”

I nodded. “I know. Lana’s told me the same thing. I keep my promises though. I promise, I’ll scale back on making fresh ones though.”

She nodded and looked at her watch. “I suppose I should go start breakfast,” she admitted. “Will you be joining us at the table or are you going back to sleep?”

I glanced at the clock and saw that it was late enough that I probably should get up. “We all need to start training ourselves to get up for school this week anyway,” I admitted and leaned over to kiss Lana.

She woke slowly and purred when she realized I was kissing her. She threw her arms around me and kissed me back hard before her eyes fluttered open.

“Your mother would like to know what you’d like for breakfast,” I told her, nodding in Patty’s direction.

She sat up, unconcerned and smiled at her mother. “Hi, Mom!” she said sweetly. “I’m not all that hungry, but Matt wants four scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and home fries, juice, milk and he may need a cup of coffee.” She listed it all off on her fingers and giggled.

“Burned a lot of energy last night, huh?” Patty asked with a knowing smirk.

“Not THAT much!” I said dryly, giving Lana a look. “Two eggs and either bacon or sausage is fine if that’s what you’re making.”

“We’ll see,” she allowed. “For now, wake the rest of the girls and let them decide how hungry they are.”

I woke Gina next with a kiss and a gentle hug. She opened her eyes sleepily and beamed at me, throwing her arms around my neck and kissing me even harder. “I love you so much!” she gushed. “Thank you for last night! How do you feel? Is your back sore? Let me take a look at it.” She grabbed my good shoulder and practically flipped me over so she could trace the scratches all over my back. She clearly hadn’t noticed we had company yet. “These still look deep. Are you sure you aren’t mad about it?”

“Christ, Matt!” Patty exclaimed, seeing my back. “You weren’t kidding about her using you up!”

Gina’s head whipped around at the unexpected voice and she shrieked, realizing that she was naked and that she was face to face with Lana’s mother. She dove for the blankets, covering up as best as she could as Lana tried not to laugh.

That caused Beck to stir. “Are you two fucking again?!!?” she mumbled because of all the frantic motion on the bed. “What time izzit?”

“It’s time to get up,” Patty announced, leaning over to swat Beck’s bare ass to speed her along.

“Hey!” she said sharply, jumping in surprise. “That’s by invitation only!” She sat up and stretched, unconcerned that her mother was watching. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Nothing if you don’t get your ass to the table,” Patty teased her.

“M-Mrs. Powers, I...” Gina stammered, mortified and trying to recover.

I rolled over and sat up, wrapping my arms around her and turned her head to look at me. Her eyes were wide with panic and I kissed her gently. “It’s okay. Patty came to check on us when she saw the girls hadn’t slept in their beds. She’s been in this room more than once before, during and after sex to help out.”

She came to sit on the edge of the bed and took one of Gina’s hands. “Relax, Gina,” she said giving her hand a squeeze. “You’re where you belong. No one’s mad or disappointed or judging you. I’ve helped carry Matt and the girls to the shower after they knocked themselves out. If I’d been here last night, I would have done it for you too.”

She didn’t seem to be quite so bad as the day that Lana had nearly panicked, but she was still shaking like a leaf. I held her close and kissed her neck, noticing that she had some lovely bruising from the bites last night and I wondered idly how mine looked.

“Gina honey,” I said softly. “Patty loves us all. She helped Beck and I learn when Beck asked me to take her ass. She helps us clean up after sex when we’re too broken to stand up on our own and she helps feed us when our appetites catch up to us afterwards. What Lana and Beck did for us last night, they learned from her.”

She nodded a little and turned to cling to me like a life-preserver.

“It might also help you to know that I’ve been in that bed, so I know how good it feels to be where you are,” Patty said gently.

Gina gasped and looked at her in shock. “You and Matt?” she whispered.

Patty nodded and smiled. “It only happened once and it’s not a secret in the family. Obviously we don’t scream about it in public, but we all discussed it beforehand and decided it was okay. I might be a little jealous when you have trouble walking, but you make Matt happy and he needs more of that in his life.”

“Wow!” she said, still processing the idea that I’d been with Patty. “Can I ask you a question?” she asked, biting her lip.

“Sure,” Patty nodded.

“How could you give it up?” she asked. “What we did last night was SOOOOO good! I still can’t believe it all happened!”

Patty laughed and leaned in to hug her and kiss her cheek softly. “That happened over the summer and our lives got torn apart right after school started. You know a little about that, I think. We just never got the chance to go again.”

She nodded. “And Mr. Powers was okay with you and Matt...” she trailed off.

“Dan was the one that asked me,” I told her softly. “It’s because of him that I agreed.”

“Wow!” she said, forgetting her nudity for the moment in the realization that I’d been with Patty. “So does that mean you’re gonna get back together with him now that everything is good?”

Patty shrugged. “Who knows?” she said dismissively. “I think Matt’s spoken for, so probably not unless things change.”

“Once the girls are all back from vacation and things normalize, we’ll talk about it,” I told her with a knowing smile. “You have a way of minimizing your needs that I’ve come to recognize.”

“And you have too many demands on your time right now,” she said simply.

“Oh, I couldn’t take that again any time soon!” Gina assured her. “It was soooo good, but so exhausting. I can only imagine how bad cheer practice is gonna be tomorrow.” She giggled at that thought. “They’re all gonna know what happened.”

Things were starting to get back to normal, so I gave Beck a kiss and then I got out of bed, not worrying about being naked in front of any of them. I got dressed and picked up my weight to work on my arm. I’d let this go for the last few days, but I’d been having so much sex that relied on me holding myself up on my arms that I thought I was getting roughly the same workout. They watched me and got dressed slowly, chatting pleasantly as I limbered up.

“How’re you feeling today?” Beck asked. She glanced at my leg and arched an eyebrow questioningly.

I thought about it, flexing my leg slowly. “Good!” I said, surprised. “I thought after walking all day yesterday that I’d be sore, but ... it feels normal!”

“That’s GREAT news!” she gushed. “Are you gonna start back into working out more then?”

“Hell yeah!” I said enthusiastically. “I’ve lost too much time already. I have to pick up a gym membership for a couple of weeks until the Harvard campus is open. It’s too dirty to run outside.”

I finished up with my shoulder and then the five of us went upstairs. My leg really didn’t hurt. I was amazed at the change and I couldn’t wait to tell Diego that I’d had a breakthrough there. I actually favored it going up the stairs, hopping up on one leg to give it a little extra test. It felt better than fine. I felt energized.

We gathered up Mom and Lilly and made the trek next door after I brought Dawn in so she could have her breakfast too. I hopped the fence, showing off a little, but mostly just celebrating my mobility.

We had a pleasant meal together with Patty and Lilly serving everyone eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, home fries, juice, milk, tea and coffee depending on whatever people were in the mood for.

“So what are your plans for the day?” Patty asked once we were all settled. I noticed that Gina and I had been given larger portions of everything and I gave her a knowing look.

“Well, we’re going shopping for Gina,” I said simply. “She wants to pick up supplies to make me something. She’s into sewing her own clothes and she’s REALLY good at it, so we’re gonna look at sewing machines for her.”

“How do you know I’m good at it?” Gina wanted to know, looking at me directly.

“Easy,” I said with a grin. “I’ve been hanging around you for months and I never once suspected your clothes weren’t brand label. I bet nobody else can tell either.”

She blushed and ducked her head. “Well, there was never really a lot of money for clothes and extras so I figured out how to do it myself,” she admitted sheepishly.

“It’s still an awesome skill to have,” I said, admiringly. “SOMEONE slipped a book into my reading material about sewing costumes once when I was in the hospital, but I never did take it up or look into who put it in there.”

“I did it,” Lilly admitted. “I was hoping you’d be useful for something when I made it big and needed stage costumes. Another dream smashed. Thanks.”

We laughed at that and Gina asked her about costumes.

“I play guitar,” Lilly said. “I’m teaching myself piano too, but I’m taking lessons for guitar right now. I want to be a singer when I’m older.”

“You’ll need the rest of a band too,” Gina pointed out.

“I’ve already got that covered. My friends are into music too. I have a drummer and a keyboardist and a base player. We practice a lot.”

“Just thankfully at her friends’ houses,” Mom said with a smile. “I’ve never heard your friends play, so I don’t know what the bunch of you sound like together.”

“Just keep Matt away from my guitar,” she warned. “Leave him with it for an hour and he’d have it figured out, tuned it professionally and written three Grammy-winning songs with it. Follow your own dreams, Dickhead,” she warned and stuck her tongue out at me.

I laughed, much preferring this approach to the passive-aggressive sabotage she’d been performing on my life in the past. “That was our agreement,” I said. “Hell, when you’re ready to start performing and put up a YouTube channel, I’ll post the links on my Twitter and mention it on my channel.”

“Really?” she asked, surprised. “You’ll do that?”

“Sure,” I said. “Once your band’s ready to go, start recording video of some of your songs and once you post them, I’ll link them. That should get you enough traffic to buy drumsticks once in a while.”