Chapter 66

Bill saw Dave and Evie in the hall. "Wait up, you two."

The couple turned to wait for Bill. When he reached them, Evie hugged Bill, then sensing that the men needed to talk, said to her husband, "I'll be in the apartment," and walked on.

"We still friends?" Bill quietly asked.

Dave grinned back at him, setting Bill's mind at ease. "No ... more than that. As Jeff would say, 'brother-Alphas.'" Then, "Uh, Bill, I guess I owe you one — a big one, at that."

"Just take care of my baby and we'll be even."

Dave gripped Bill's shoulder, "You got it. Now what's this about a meeting with the General we're all supposed to attend tonight?"

"Search me. All I know is Diana cornered me and made certain that my family and I would be there. She thinks it's important. I suppose it has something to do with security."

Dave looked around, then motioned to a small area nearby where there were several seats. "Uh, let's sit down for a moment. I have something to ask you. You're not in a hurry, are you?"

"Nope," Bill said, following his friend. "I don't have to be anywhere until Monday morning when we head for Saint Louis."

As they sat, Dave began to have second thoughts. "This sounds strange, and more than a little personal..."

"Since when did that matter around here?" Bill joked. "I don't intentionally have any secrets from anyone here. Jeff says we're all family, and I guess I feel the same way. I don't advertise Mr. Wainwright's business to people, of course, but other than that..."

Dave sighed. "While you and Linda were..."

"Making love," Bill provided, while staring Dave in the eye.

Dave flushed a little, but continued, "Uh, well, I think my other women decided to sort of keep my mind off what was going on. And I guess that was to be expected, but ... Ah, shit, Evie will kill me if she finds out I told you this..."

Bill grinned in spite of himself. "So we won't tell her. Now what's so important?"

"Well. Ah, shit ... uh, Evie has been wanting to have milk in her breasts for a while now, and she has begun to, but when we started making love last night, I noticed her breasts seemed harder — fuller — than normal, maybe even a little larger. When I pulled on her nipples, the milk just ... squirted out. She had milk — has milk — and not just a little like she has had in the past. When I tried to ask about it, she just stuffed her titty in my mouth and said, 'Drink.'"

Bill suppressed a grin. "That sounds, uh, sexy, but what has that got to do with me?"

"Well, I guess you know that Diana has milk all the time, apparently has had since she had Arlene, and I think maybe even before that."

"Sure, she makes no bones about it. Her top is wet around her nipples from time to time."

"Uh, if you don't mind my asking, does either of your wives ... give milk like Evie? And if so, which one?"

Bill didn't answer for a moment, and Dave, deciding that he had pissed his buddy off by getting much too personal, started to apologize, but Bill waved the apology aside and said, "I'm not pissed, but your question started a deluge of thoughts. A few days ago, Kathy asked me if I thought a woman having milk like Diana does was sexy. I told her that I had gotten a kick out of Jill having milk when Linda was nursing. Kathy began pulling on her nipples, and managed to get a few drops out..."

"Then I guess she's your Queen. I would have thought it would have been Jill. I mean, you two have been married all these years."

Bill sat lost in thought for a few moments, then sighing, "Jill has changed — with all that has happened to her with Ingles, I guess it's no wonder. And I'm obviously not just referring to the way she looks so young now with whatever Jeff did to her ... She defers to Kathy. Oh, not overly so, but it's noticeable if you pay attention. If this thing about Alphas and their Queens is what Diana and Jeff say it is, then I guess Kathy is going to be my Queen." Bill became quiet for a moment, staring down at his feet for a second, then looked back up at Dave. "So you think the milk thing is another indication of that? What about Arlene? I know I've heard comments about her having milk, and I've seen dark splotches on her top before."

"Diana says Arlene was born a Queen; whatever that means. I think she's a special case."

"So what started this subject, anyway?" Bill grinned.

"Well, because I think something happened. I'm just not sure what. All of a sudden, Evie is giving milk like a cow."

"You better not let her hear you say that," Bill laughed.

"No shit," Dave said, unconsciously glancing around to make sure no one heard him. "That's just an expression; I didn't mean anything by it. Like I said, I think the milk thing is damn sexy. But I can't imagine what would make her suddenly increase from just a little, to a whole lot — in one day. And it coincides with your night with Linda. And ... there's more..." he said, again hesitating.

"Dave Henson, I know damn good and well you're not bashful. Now spit it out."

"Well, my wives and I make love, all of us together, but, uh, they don't generally do much with each other. Oh, they kiss from time to time, and even tease each other's breasts while I'm, uh, fucking them, but ... Ah, shit, Evie made a point of me sucking her milk, and she told Kim to do it, too. And Kim did. Sucked her milk, I mean. I walked in today, and Evie and Linda were sitting on the couch. Well, Evie was sitting and holding Linda as she nursed. Oh, shit, this isn't coming across like I meant it to. I'm sure not griping about it; it was sexy as hell. Evie didn't even blink when I walked in, though, just bared her other breast and motioned for me to come over. I thought I loved my wives as much as could be — before. But I was wrong; this thing has added something. Hell, I don't know, maybe as they say, a new dimension to our loving each other. Something has happened, I just wondered if it had happened to you, too?"

Bill thought for a moment, leaning back and pulling a knee up with his hands locked around it, then realizing how dumb it looked, he crossed his legs and sat back. "Has Diana been involved in this?"

"Uh, hell, I have no idea. I don't see how..." But then Dave did see. "She seems to be involved with everything pertaining to family. Maybe she is involved, but I don't have any knowledge of it. But then again, I expected this thing about Linda spending the night with you to cause us to ... well, you know. But somehow it didn't. Of course, you didn't actually fuck her, for which I'm eternally grateful, but..."

Bill frowned slightly as he looked at his friend. "Do you think the thing with the milk had anything to do with it?"

Dave shook his head. "Hell, all I know is it coincided with your night with Linda. Besides, I came asking you, remember? I don't have a fucking clue. All I know is that we — my wives and I — are closer than we've been before. There just seems to be a bond that wasn't there ... Ah, shit, Linda and Kim haven't been with us long. Our relationship is new; so saying we're closer now probably doesn't mean a lot, but something has happened. Something good — something damn good.

Everyone who lived at the retreat, except Alesha (who was out with Jesse), was gathering in the living room at 8:00 P.M., as the General had asked. Diana was standing at the door waiting on Jeff. When he walked up to her, she grabbed him and kissed him hard, pushing her braless breasts against his chest. "Go do a light workout, and maybe tinker in your lab until I call you. I would say I would send word," she giggled, "but if I sent one of your wives, you would never get back until she was unconscious."

"Diana, you're making much to do over nothing."

His wife ignored his comment, and went on, "General Whitworth said it would 'embarrass the shit' out of you to hear what he was going to tell everyone. It was his suggestion that I find something for you to do to pass the time while he and Kayla bring everyone up to date. Apparently, he planned this from the beginning, or at least some of it. He said he would show recordings from your team's helmet cams, as well as some from yours. Kayla has worked with him on his ... presentation, I guess you could call it."

"Oh, crap, Diana, I think this is bullshit. I'm not a fucking hero or something. Things just have a way of working out for me. In combat you tend to do some things that you might not do if you had time to think about it..."

Diana put a finger to his lips and made a quiet shushing sound. "Go work out — a light workout. Your wives aren't going to be satisfied with a few minutes of you inside them, and then a blackout orgasm tonight. They'll wake up wanting more. Expect to be busy all night. I'm still so hot I can't stand myself. Soon, the rest of your wives will be the same way. Now go. I'll call you when the General is finished."

"Di, I still think..."

"Go, Husband," she giggled.

"Ah, shit," he mumbled under his breath. His face already flushed with embarrassment, he kissed her, then walked on down the hall toward the basement steps, wondering if the General had lost his mind.

Jeff made a light circuit of several of the machines to work out his upper body, then ran on a treadmill for thirty minutes. Not having received word the meeting was over, he showered, put on a fresh pullover shirt and shorts from a stash he kept in the exercise area, then ambled on into the lab. Mentally shifting gears, he brought up his notes for his next invention, and was soon lost in the new project.

Later, his internal clock started bothering him and he glanced at his watch to confirm how long it had been. Two hours and ten minutes? Shit, what is the General doing in there? Jeff had just about made up his mind to go find out, when the phone buzzed on intercom.

"Want to come see us?" Diana whispered into his ear, her voice dripping sex.

"Uh, yeah, sure Babe," he said into the phone before returning it to the cradle.

Saving his notes, then backing them up and resetting the traps that would destroy the notes should anyone try to read his data or remove the disk drives, he shut down the computer and sat thinking for a time. What the crap is Whitworth up to? I know he believes in the blocks, and I'm a perfect example of them working — well, until Little One relieved me of that problem, but what could he have said that would take two hours? I hope he didn't overdo it with the helmet cams. He could have given my family a brief synopsis of the portal project, the same for my career, and if he thought he just had to, he could have told them about us finding the ship. But Diana sounded like she was ... Oh, shit. How can what I did have anything to do with sex? I don't understand women; I just fucking don't.

Walking down the hall a few minutes later, Jeff met Whitworth and his wives. He's grinning like a mule eating sawbriers, Jeff thought, unconsciously bringing up one of the old expressions from the website he loved.

Just as Jeff started to comment, Barbara took two quick steps and grabbed him. "Thank you."

"You've already told me that," Jeff laughed.

"Diana told us about your being a Prime," Ellen chimed in, as if that explained something.

Ellen added her hug to Barbara's. "Thank you for saving our family. Without Barbara, we would be nothing."

"Little One did the saving," Jeff tried to protest.

Whitworth gathered his wives back under his arms as they hugged him and looked back at Jeff. "And the Healer would still be sitting at the base doing nothing, if it hadn't been for you," the General insisted. "Now go see your wives. They know a lot more about you now," he finished as he obviously tried to keep his face expressionless.

Jeff stood watching as Whitworth and his wives walked on down the hall. Turning, Jeff saw Dave, Evie, Linda and Kim approaching. I know Dave is going to say something. That chickenshit grin on his face is a dead giveaway.

"Can I be your first officer, Cap'n?" Dave asked with a smirk as they passed.

"Very funny," Jeff snarled, but it was hard not to laugh. Apparently Dave's wives didn't try, since they were giggling as they briefly looked back at Jeff, but he also saw something else in their looks that made him wonder what the General had done in that living room.

Well, at least Dave didn't say, "live long and prosper." Almost as if she heard him, though, Evie looked back again and gave him the split-fingered Spock salute.

Shit!

Stopping at the door of the darkened living room, the only light coming from a dying fire, he saw someone standing by the window looking out. The light spilling through the doorway had little effect on the large room. With her back to him, he almost thought the figure was Diana, but suddenly realized it was Susan standing there all alone in the dark.

Quietly, he walked closer. Hearing a faint gulp of air and a snuffle, he grabbed a handful of tissues as he crossed the room. Just as he neared, he heard a choked-off sob. Without thinking, he gently put his arms around her from behind. She gasped and tensed for a second, but must have realized who he was. Suddenly, she just slumped back against him. He didn't say anything, and neither did she, but both just stood staring into the darkness outside.

He pressed the tissues into her hand without commenting. "Thanks," she said very faintly. Then, "He just fucking died on me. He was too young to die. Now, I'm all alone. Oh, it wasn't the best marriage that ever was, but he was a good man. He was a lot better husband than I was a wife, but ... I miss him."

Jeff just held her a little tighter, letting her cry. "He isn't with you any more, but you're not alone. We all love you."

Susan's intake of air in the middle of a sob produced a sound that would have been amusing at any other time, but now, it just seemed to magnify her sorrow. "You said 'we love you.' How could you have any feelings for me other than hatred? I've always given you a hard time, and that was on the good days," she tried to laugh.

"You had a right. I took your thirteen-year-old daughter away from you. I destroyed her childhood." He neglected to say that Susan had told him that a hundred times.

Susan pushed back harder into his arms. "Yeah, but the two of you produced a beautiful young woman who is unbelievably smart."

"No smarter than you or Diana. Both of you run yourselves down far too much."

"But I only have a high school education..."

"And ... we have a genius teaching school right in this building, as you well know. If you want more education, get Helen to sign you up for college. And don't even start about it having been too long. You might have to take some prep courses, but if you want to take college courses, Helen will take care of it."

"But I'm too old," she said as she turned in his arms to face him.

"Bullshit. And there's a positive aspect to having kids so young. You didn't look like a grandmother before Little One did her thing. And now you look thirty — maybe."

"Jeff, I ... I'm sorry I've treated you so badly all these years. I..."

Jeff tilted her face up and kissed her. Gently at first, he gradually increased the pressure, automatically releasing a few pheromones as he did so. Susan sighed and relaxed against him. After a moment, she broke the kiss to get a breath, since her nose was stopped up from crying. "You did it with the pheromones again, didn't you?"

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he kissed her forehead. "When I have a beautiful woman in my arms, it just ... happens unless I consciously think about it and hold back."

"Beautiful woman? Your mother-in-law?"

"You very well know that you, Diana and Arlene could pass for triplets without much help. And yes, you are, indeed a truly beautiful woman."

"It's hard to hate you right now," she said with her face pressed into his chest. "You took that mission that others didn't come back from. You took it so you could use the Healer on Diana's ankle. All those vids..."

"Are just that — videos. Videos I wish the General hadn't shown. That shouldn't be shown to..."

"Then again, maybe they should always be shown to family," Susan interrupted. "Then a freaking starship. Just like in the movies, except it was better. And no one can fly it but you — no one."

"Susan, that might not..."

"The General said people go insane when they sit in that chair and try to make the ship respond. But he says the ship practically sat up and begged to do whatever you wanted it to."