Chapter 14

I had never had a more wonderful night than that first night with Megan. Well, outside of the whole 'restore the memories' part. It surpassed every night I had ever had in my life, with Victoria, Elizabeth, anyone. It scared me, as I knew I could never surpass that night again in my whole life. It was not possible. It was all downhill from there; wonderful as life would be with Megan, it could never surpass that night. Of course, being a woman, Megan showed me how wrong I was. Over, and over, and over again. I'm glad I was wrong.

You see, Megan and I fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. When I entered her that first time, at least the first time I remember, and the first time not part of the cycles, I knew we were made to be together. We were two parts of a whole. We belonged together. I felt a peace, a happiness, a love that I never dreamed existed. I could tell by the wondrous expression on her face that she felt it too. She had made love to me at least 3114 times before, but none of them had ever been like that. It felt like we truly became one, body and mind.

It was not possible that it could ever be better than that night. Yet, the next night, she showed me it was possible. The third night, we just held each other and cuddled; we didn't even make love, and it was still better than the other two nights.

Much of the joy and wonder for me was the complete and utter devotion Megan felt for me and our relationship. This was something she had wanted her whole life, and had looked forward to with anticipation, knowing it would come, knowing it would last forever; not just the fifteen years as part of the cycles, but as long as we lived in real time. This was not something for her that would disappear when things changed, but would last as long as we wanted it to. And we wanted it to last forever.

I had never experienced the feeling of being the complete center of someone's existence before. Megan was completely in love with me; I was her whole life. Oh, Cindi and Amy loved me dearly and I was the center of their existence in a way, being their Daddy, their hero, the man who made the monsters go away, the one that could do anything they needed done. But they did not live for me. They had their own lives that I played a prominent part in, true, but still, they lived their own lives.

Megan was different. I was her life. There was no other. She was just as content to spend the evening curled up on the sofa, her head in my lap, or cuddling on the couch, or just sitting there looking into my eyes, as she was doing anything else. In a way, it scared me. To be the recipient of that much love, that much devotion, was a huge responsibility. With that type of love, it was not possible for me to even contemplate doing anything that would ever hurt her, or make her disappointed in me.

I was not under any illusions that all of this was due to me, at least, not the 'me' that I could see and was most familiar with. With my memory restored from the last cycle, I knew that the 'man in white', the 'me' of the future before the cycles had begun, was merged into me, at least in my mind. I didn't know yet what all that meant. I assumed that was the 'white light' that I 'felt' at certain times when things happened. I assumed it was also behind the wall of white energy that that appeared periodically with such devastating force. Although I had no memory of it, and neither did Megan, we knew from the explanations the man in white gave before he merged with me that there was a long, ages long, connection between the white energy in me and the purple energy that was in Megan. I assumed that those two were their equivalent of man and wife, as were Megan and I, as existed in whatever beings they were. It was hard to explain, because I was thinking of them as beings separate from us, but they were not. They were as much a part of Megan and me as Megan and I were a part of us. We were them and they were us.

I was sure the existence of the two energies in us was a part of the reason for the incredible love we felt for each other. It was obvious just from the memories of what had happened in the last cycle, and the time after, that love played a huge part in the ancient rituals that were a major part of our power. The ceremony followed when certain parts of their power was used, the 'Do you love me?' and 'Do you trust me?' mantras showed how the love and trust of others, particularly, apparently, those enjoying the status of "parents' or 'leaders' or 'adults' was critical to the full exercise of our powers. It also showed the discipline in the use of those powers; the fact that they needed the cooperation of others, through love and trust, as well as the approval in certain cases in the use of protocols, the order and protection from abuse that was built in. Yet, obviously, abuse was possible and had happened before; indeed, might still be happening.

I wasn't sure how the girls fit into this picture, either. The future 'me', in his explanation, had implied that the white and purple energy were the only remnants of the original beings left that he knew of. But the girls had shown ample evidence of having their own colors and energy. Were they offspring of us, or were they part of the original energies also? When it came time for them to have children, would they be fathered by 'normal' people, or would they need to be fathered by me? Would being fathered by others increase or dilute the powers, or have no effect? Or would they possibly be courted by the other colors that we had evidence existed from the colors that participated in Protocol 14 at the end of the first cycle? Why were there no males that we knew of? Other than me, all the members we knew about were female. How was that conducive to continuing the... race, or whatever we were? Or would we ever die, unless killed violently? Certainly, neither Victoria, Megan nor I looked like we were 37 years old.

I realized as I considered these things, especially as I thought about the love Megan and I shared, that I was scientifically, clinically trying to explain an incredible emotion that we felt, the love we felt. I also realized that this was ridiculous, as it could only reduce the beauty and make pale the essence of the love. It was like describing the Grand Canyon to someone. It was like describing a triple rainbow (yes, I have seen one of those) to a blind person. It is frustrating and totally unrewarding. Yet the beauty of it makes you want to share it in words with others, to share the joy.

After that first night we spent together, Megan no longer even pretended that she lived at her house anymore. She spent all her nights at my house, making it 'our' house. Of course, this meant that her girls lived with us too. We were not going to let two 13 year old girls, even though soon to be 14 year olds, stay alone in a house. Fortunately, it was not a problem with them. Sammi was still staying with us as she recuperated, and Julie was delighted to stay with the other girls. We had half expected Sammi to put up a fight, figuring that staying alone would fit her 'do what I want' life style she wanted, but she surprised us. Maybe the shock of what she was getting over had finally penetrated her troubled little mind that freedom from rules was not always a good thing. We knew it was seldom a good thing, but that was usually a concept beyond the grasp of most 13 year old minds.

It did make looking for a new house jump up on the priority list, however. We were able to make do on a short term basis; thank goodness the girls all seemed to get along well together. We ended up putting Julie in with Sammie, and Katie, Becky, Cindi and Amy all stayed together in a mix we were never able to completely determine in the other two rooms. Usually Amy and Cindi slept together in one bed in one room and Katie and Becky in the other. However, it was not unusual to find any combination of two of them sleeping together when we poked our heads in to check on them at night, or when we blasted them out of bed in the morning. I particularly enjoyed seeing the combination of Amy and Katie snuggled up together, arms around each other, as it brought back fond memories of the previous cycle when they had been inseparable.

As much as the girls, and I, enjoyed all of them bunking together in big knots, like snakes, it was only a short term solution. We had to find a bigger place. We began looking in earnest. It boiled down to two possibilities. One was a huge old mansion in the city, bordering on a park, on about 3 acres of land. It was indeed a mansion. It had more bedrooms and bathrooms than even my girls could use. It had what looked like a 6 car garage, an indoor and outdoor pool, and just about everything else that rich people would ever want, including separate servant's quarters behind the house. The girls immediately began planning and fighting over who would have access to that as a hideaway from the prying eyes of the parents. The people that owned it were anxious to sell, so the price was good. The land around it was a forested paradise.

The other house was at least as good. It was outside of the city, on about 60 acres, with a large house and several barns, plus a ranch house for workers. The house wasn't quite as fancy, not being a mansion, but it was as big. It didn't have an outdoor pool, but there was a really nice, crystal clear lake. I was leaning towards that one, but I wasn't sure if the girls would like to be as far out of town as it was.

We met with the owners of both places and the real estate agency several times. We learned that the country place had its own deep well, an excellent source of water. There was also an option to buy extra acreage next door. We had a lot of fun over the next few days, discussing the pro's and con's of each. Each of the owners offered a fairly substantial discount once they learned that a large part of the payment would be in cash.

Each of the girls would have their own room in either house. They had that, of course, at their own houses, but not all together in ours. The two master bedrooms in each house were a dream, with each having a sauna in it. Yes, there were two master bedrooms in each house. This meant that Victoria would have one also. She was thrilled with that.

Once we decided that we were going to take the country house, I arranged for a contractor to prepare a surprise for the girls. Their fourteenth birthday was coming up in about a month, right about the time we would be moving in. Each pair of rooms for the girls adjoined a sitting room, and I arranged to have a hot tub put into each of the sitting rooms, and a larger one in the two master bedrooms, to accommodate all of us if we wished to be together. I also had each of the bedrooms painted their favorite colors. Oh, and I mustn't forget, the little luminous stars on the ceiling in Katie's room. I don't know why she, of all the girls, liked those, but she couldn't go to sleep without them. The other girls regularly teased her about them, but she just gave a little 'some day you will understand' smile and good-naturedly ignored them.

That weekend, the girls had their first game of the year where they were the cheerleaders. Even though my girls accounted for 5 of the squad, there were 15 of them all together, so it wasn't too obvious that our family dominated the team. It was a real pleasure to see them perform. Of course, I had seen them practice, but that was different. It was amazing to see them move with the grace and fluidness that only my girls could accomplish. I had seen them in motion before, but that was almost always in a danger situation, kill or be killed, and I wasn't really watching their movements. Now I could just relax and watch them move around like... I don't know what, I couldn't think of a comparison. They were beauty in motion, though. Afterwards, I got to see all their friends and meet the parents. Of course, we mostly knew each other anyway.

There was one boy that I noticed Amy spent some time with. He was older. For whatever reason, I immediately didn't like him, and I liked him even less when I was introduced to him. He didn't seem to care for me either. Amy didn't seem to notice. She didn't seem to be smitten or star struck, but she did seem to like him more than the other boys.

I asked Cindi later who he was. She gave me that 'who knows, no big deal' shrug and look, then decided by my look that I wasn't going to let it go that easy.

"I don't know his name, Daddy. Just someone she likes and hangs around with occasionally. She's not, like, in love with him or anything like that. She says he's fun. He's not a boyfriend, but he's a little more than just a boy at school." I would have left it there, but the look in Cindi's eye and brief look on her face told me there was more than she was telling me. So I asked the question I always tried to avoid asking one girl about the other's friends.

"What do you think of him, Cindi?" She gave me a disgusted look, rolled her eyes at me, and gave me that 'I can't believe you just asked me that' look.

"Dad! You can't ask me that! It's none of my business! I wouldn't want her telling you about my friends! Come on!" Cindi was actually a little irritated at me, as evidenced by the 'Dad' moniker. That always meant I was out of line. I held her arm lightly as she tried to move away.

"Cindi... you know I never ask that question. I don't, usually. But I need to know. Trust me. I won't tell her what you say." Cindi looked at me sharply. She looked a little worried.

"Why? Is something wrong?" She asked nervously. I was liking this less and less.

"Not that I know of. I just would like to know," I backtracked. There was no reason for Cindi to be worried.

"Ok. He's fine. He's just older than us so Amy is attracted to him more. She thinks the boys our age are idiots. They are. He's alright."

Something strange happened then. It had never happened to me before. Suddenly, I had a picture of Cindi's 'thoughts'. I could read her mind, kinda. It startled me so much I tripped as I was walking and almost fell. I knew that Cindi was lying, big time. I took her arm and led her over to a stone wall on the school grounds. I picked her up and sat her on it, then jumped up and sat down beside her. She looked at me, a big smile on her face as I took her hand and held it. Cindi loved PDA's, especially from her Daddy. I saw Megan look at us, a questioning look on her face. It was even harder to hide anything from her now than it was before. I ignored her look and concentrated on the girl I was sitting next to. I reached over and gave her a soft 'Daddy' kiss on her cheek. It would pass inspection from the biggest busybody, but Cindi knew what I meant. She smiled even bigger.

"Cindi... you know I just love you to pieces, don't you?" I asked quietly. She smiled and nodded. "Then, suppose, sweet daughter of mine that I love so much... suppose you tell me why you are lying to me?"

Cindi's wide smile faltered just a little, so slightly that no one more than five feet away would notice. Of course, Megan, who was watching us ever since I first started talking to Cindi, noticed it 50 feet away. Then, Cindi's smile brightened up again, and she giggled.

"I never could fool you, could I? That's the first time I tried to lie to you since I was five years old and only the second time in my life. It didn't work any better when I was five, did it? How did you know?" She giggled again as I shook my head. I waited for her to go on, but she was not going to make this easy as she sat there silently, looking like an innocent little angel.

"So why did you try? And what are you lying about? Are you going to tell me? You don't want me to paddle your bare little behind right here in front of everyone, do you?" I tried to act real mean when I said that. Cindi gasped in shock and put her hand over her mouth in surprise. She looked at me with a slight look of nervousness in her eyes; uncertainty that I just might not be kidding. Cindi hated to be embarrassed in public. Just the threat of something like that was more effective that anything else.

"Daddy! You wouldn't dare... would you? I would hate you forever and never talk to you again if you did that!" She would be justified, too. "You wouldn't really do that, would you?" She whispered, almost sure I was kidding, but just not completely sure.

"There's only one way to know that for sure, Little One." I whispered back. "Keep lying and don't answer my question!" I moved my hand down and started playing with her belt buckle. Her eyes got real big and she clasped my hand in both of hers, tightly.

"Ok, I'm not taking a chance that you might do it. I know you won't, but I would just die if you did and it's not worth it. You knew that, didn't you?" She smiled at me, giving in and losing once again at a game we played often. I wondered who was fooling who.

"I lied because I really don't think it's any of your business, Daddy, especially to be asking me! But I'm not going to risk a bare butt spanking in public for it. He's a jerk, Daddy. He hangs around a crowd of jerks, and he's the head jerk. He gives me the creeps." She still held my hands, not sure if she was 'safe' yet or not. I could see it in her eyes; she hadn't believed me for a minute. She knew I would never do that to her. But she didn't know that I knew that she knew. I think.

"So, what does Amy see in him? She's too smart to be taken in by his act!" I was confused.

"I don't know. I've asked her the same thing. She just laughs and tells me I'm jealous that he ignores me and tells me to stop being a nosey twin. Jealous he ignores me, my ass! He ignores me because the first time he tried to feel me up I bent his thumb back against his wrist and told him if her ever touched me again, his thumb would be only the first and least important thing that I broke on him!" She giggled, but I could see the memory was irritating her again. Now I was worried.

"He tried to take advantage of you? Did he ignore you when you said no?" This kid might not live out the day! Cindi saw the look on my face and took my hands again, holding them in hers. I saw her flash a look in Megan's direction, stopping her in her tracks as she had started to walk over to us. So I wasn't the only one that noticed Megan watching us. Megan had seen the look on my face too.

"Calm down, Daddy. He's not a rapist. I overreacted and did that the first time he touched me. I never gave him a warning. I don't think he would have done anything, but I wasn't going to take a chance. I will not be raped again!" I looked at her in surprise as her eyes got moist.

"What do you mean?" I looked into her sad eyes and immediately knew what she meant. Damn it! These girls were not supposed to be remembering these things!

"You know what I'm talking about, Daddy. Don't worry; I don't remember it all. I remember enough to know I don't want to remember it all, and enough to know I owe you my life for helping me through it." This time, she reached over and kissed me on the cheek. I saw a worried look on Megan's face as she wasn't even pretending now that she wasn't watching us. She was liking less and less what was going on here. So was I.

"Cindi, honey, I am so sorry. You were not supposed to remember that." She had been so clear and strong with her statement that it wasn't even worth lying about. "How did you know?"

"Dreams, except they're memories, not dreams, and I don't even want to know how to tell them apart because then I might find out that the others are memories too and I just don't really want to know about it if I died and that Victoria was my Mommy, not that that is bad but it's just too weird and where was Elizabeth and I couldn't stand to know that Julie died and..."

I'm sorry, I really tried, but I just couldn't help the look that I was sure was on my face. I know it must have been, because Cindi took one look at my face and fell into my arms, crying. This time she didn't signal Megan not to come over, and I doubt it would have done any good anyway; Megan had stood being away as long as she was going to. Then I almost fell off the wall as I heard Megan's voice, clear as a bell, even though she was still forty feet away.

'She remembers, doesn't she? Let me handle this, please. You go find Amy.' I started to leave as Megan lifted Cindi off the wall, in preparation to taking her to the women's room.

They say 'bad' things, or in this case, weird things, come in threes. That's when I 'heard' Amy.

'Uh oh! Something's wrong with Cindi! I gotta go find her!'

'Cindi! What's wrong, Cin?'

'Rats! No answer! I gotta find Daddy!'

I looked at Megan. This time, I am sure I was the one with the 'deer in the headlights' look on my face. As she held Cindi, trying to clam her down, she looked at me apologetically.

'I'm sorry. I should have warned you about this. I didn't think it would start this soon or this dramatically. Amy's around the corner on the north side of the building. Go head her off. I don't want her around Cindi yet if she is not remembering too.'

I found Amy just where Megan said she would be. I assured her that Cindi was ok, that Megan was with her and everything was going to be alright. She was still concerned. In fact, she was so concerned it never occurred to her how I knew what she was concerned about.

"What happened to her, Daddy? I could feel she was terrified and a little angry too." Amy apparently wasn't remembering, or she would have figured it out by now.

"She just has been having some nightmares and something here triggered her remembering them. She'll be ok. You know Cindi; she's kind of emotional and excitable." Amy rolled her eyes and looked at me in mock surprise.

"You think? What was your first clue?" Then she hugged me, letting her body relax from the tension. I set her up on the wall where Cindi had been and sat with her.

Megan and Cindi finally came out of the restroom. Cindi looked a little pale and tired, but she seemed ok, and really seemed to be glad Megan was holding her hand. We headed for home.