Chapter 106

TUESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 22 — THE AIRPORT HILTON

Hope awoke with her usual dread of the coming day. Odd, she thought, as feelings of well-being seem to flood her, tending to override the fear. For months now, she had hated to get up in the mornings. What will that bastard make me do... Her memory struggled to awaken, her mind swimming aimlessly for an instant before everything came flooding back. I'm with Jennie now. Daddy is dead. I'm free. I don't have to fuck anybody, and ... I don't have to act like a little girl to those awful men.

A jolt of adrenaline hit. Jennie. Where's Jennie? She slammed to a sitting position as she desperately looked to her right at the lump under the sheet.

In the dim light, Jennie threw the sheet back and pulled her tousled hair out of her face to stare back at her sister, then she sat up, too. "Hope, what's wrong?"

"It's real," Hope mumbled. Then louder, "It's really real. I thought for a second that I had just dreamed that you came to get me." Tears began to flow.

Helen sat on the bed beside the girls as Jennie hugged her sister. "We're here for you, Hope. All of us. The judge will sign the papers this morning and we'll all go home — a fabulous home where you will always be safe."

"Mrs. Matthews? Where is Mrs. Matthews?"

"Diana," Jennie interrupted. "You've always called her Diana, remember? She's never let us call her Mrs. Matthews since we were any size at all. She says it sounds too stuffy. She's in the other bedroom with Jeff."

Hope pulled back a little from Jennie and looked down at herself — at the expensive pajama set that Diana had bought for her. She wasn't certain about the material, but it seemed to be silk. It felt wonderful to her skin. She felt so ... feminine in the outfit. That thought brought back another flood of memories, but she realized that she wasn't sore anymore. Lately, her body had been sore more than not. Some of those awful men had rammed into her dry pussy. Others had jammed their cocks down her throat, and laughed when she gagged. She had to play the virgin for them, or her father would punish her in ways too sadistic to even think about. He went crazy, she thought. He was crazier every day. I'm glad he's dead. But my ears still ring from all those horrible gunshots in that motel room. But she suddenly realized that her ears actually didn't ring anymore. Her thoughts continued, anyway ... and his blood. His ... brains. I can still feel them sticking to me. I need to shower again. I need to get myself clean...

"Hope, look at me," Jennie said, her face close. Jennie glanced at Helen and the woman gave a slight nod. "How do you feel this morning, My Sister? Good, I'll bet," Jennie said, laughter in her voice, remembering the wonderful feeling of the morning after Little One had enhanced her. "This is going to be a great day." You'll always feel this good, My Sister. Little One will make sure of that, she thought.

"It's real," Hope said/asked. "I don't have to go back home? I can go with you? I can live with you always?"

"Yes. Home will be with us. You can always be with us. It's your home now, too."

Arlene sat on the other side of Hope. "I know that Jennie has told you, but we live on a mountain. The snow is deep and we can ski or ride snowmobiles, or do most anything we want. When you're a little older, we can teach you to drive the pickup and plow out our driveway. I do it all the time, and I love to do it. It makes you feel so... powerful to drive that big truck. We have a game room with every game you could imagine. And Helen here," she said, smiling at Doctor Boswell, "is our teacher. We study just like at any other school, but we do fun things, too. She's the coolest teacher in the whole world. You can have a suite for yourself, if you want it, and it is so pretty it makes this one look shabby in comparison. And speaking of that, you should see the Retreat where we live. There aren't words to describe it."

Hope sat, worried. I want to believe what they say, but...

Diana walked in wearing a robe. Stopping at the door to bring the light up, she looked at the group. Obviously freshly showered, her hair in a towel, she smiled and said, "Oh, good. Everyone is up already. What shall we do? Should we order from room service, or should we go out? There's a nice restaurant here in the hotel, or we can find someplace else."

Room service brought back memories to Hope, unpleasant memories, and Diana noticed the look that crossed the girl's face as she (Diana) mentioned it. Smoothly changing tack, "What about it ladies? Shall we sample the restaurant? As early as it is, we have time to get ready, eat a leisurely breakfast, and still have plenty of time to get to the judge's chambers by ten."

Jennie jumped to her feet. "Come on, Hope. Let's try out that big shower you were too tired to check out last night. If you want, I'll wash your back. Remember how we used to take a shower together every now and then? Or you can shower alone, if you've gotten bashful." Jennie had time for one worried glance over her shoulder before the two girls disappeared into the shower area.

The Queen and the genius locked eyes for a moment, concern evident on both their faces.

In the big shower, Jennie chattered away, trying to keep Hope's mind off what had happened to her. Jennie continued to lightly tease as she dropped her own sleepwear on the floor. Hope, hesitant, turned her back as she slipped her top off. There was a moment's hesitation as she looked down at her bruised breasts, except ... there was no bruising. She stared at herself, unconsciously hissing in a breath.

"What's wrong?" Jennie quickly asked.

"Uh," Hope said, continuing to stare down at herself.

"What's wrong, Baby?" Jennie asked again, thinking the worst, afraid that she knew.

"Nothing," Hope said. "It ... I ... Uh. Nothing."

"Come on, Hope, I know something is wrong," Jennie said, stepping up beside her sister to take her arm and turn her gently toward the older girl. Then, "Oh, you look really nice, Little Sister," Jennie said, smiling. "You've grown a lot, and in all the right places," she teased.

Hope tore her eyes away from her own perfect breasts to stare at her sister, puzzlement evident on her face, then back down at herself, "My ... breasts. I had bruises — a lot of them. I know how long they take to go away, but ... suddenly they're just gone. I'm positive they were there when I put on my new outfit last night. The bruises were just starting to change color. I wouldn't let the nurse see me at the hospital. The paramedics told her I hadn't been hit by a bullet, so she showed me to a bathroom to clean up, then got me a change of clothes from somewhere. Afterward, she put me in one of those little rooms with the curtains all around. There were a lot of patients coming in from a big fight, and the nurse must have gotten busy, because she never came back. Anyway, this lady who said she was from DHR, came and got me, signed some paperwork and took me with her. Later the judge and his wife took me home with them. I heard the judge's wife telling someone that I was in shock and couldn't talk. Everything just seemed like a dream after that motel room.

"The bruises should have been there for at least a week, but they're just ... gone. And ... I'm not sore anymore — not at all. Not anywhere," she finished, realizing that her sex was not hurting this morning. Her thoughts continued with, And, I don't hurt anywhere. It seems — odd — to be without pain. What's happened to me? Am I dreaming? Will Daddy come in to wake me up and tell me I have to go fuck somebody? Am I crazy?

Jennie, almost seeming to be reading Hope's mind, grabbed her sister in a hug. After a moment, she pulled back to look at the younger girl. But Hope pushed her hands down her own sides, and looked at herself again, then cupped her breasts to marvel at her no-longer-chewed nipples, before pushing her bottoms off. "Jennie, I, uh. I feel good. I mean really good. I felt bad and I hurt last night. I just wanted to lie down, but I dreaded getting up this morning. I mean, I always dread getting up. But now, I feel ... so really, really good. It's ... wonderful. What's happened to me? How could my bruises just ... go away?" I don't hurt inside, either, she thought.

Jennie grabbed her sister and hugged her tight. "I can't tell you now. But I'll be able to soon. Just trust me, please. Let's get those papers signed and you back home with us."

"Jennie, I ... Daddy always said to just trust him. Then if I argued, he punished me."

"He's dead, Hope. He'll never hurt you again. No one will ever hurt you again. I promise, Hope. You know that I never break a promise. Remember? Not once. Not ever. Now come on. Let's get cleaned up so Helen and Arlene can shower, too. We have a great day ahead of us."

The women and girls continued with light banter as they dressed and put on makeup, Diana standing back and unobtrusively observing as Hope expertly applied hers. But Hope caught Diana's eye in the mirror. Blushing, her voice little above a whisper, Hope stammered, "I don't have to try to look younger than I am any more. Those awful men..." She chopped the sentence off.

" ... Will never hurt you again," the Queen said, stepping over to hug Hope from behind. Then looking at her in the mirror, Diana stuck her foot in her mouth, "You do a really good job with your makeup." She knew she had screwed up as soon as the supposed compliment was out of her mouth, because she felt Hope tense.

"Yeah. Daddy sent this woman to teach me. He punished me if I didn't look young enough."

"I'm sorry I brought back a bad memory, Baby. But you don't have to use makeup for that purpose anymore, and as pretty as you are, you don't have to use it at all, unless you just want to. And most women do," she teased, almost desperate to see Hope smile again.

Hope turned around to face the Queen. "Mrs. Matthews..."

"Diana," the Queen emphasized. "Why so formal? I'm still just Diana. We haven't been gone that long. My husband has a little more money now, but I'm still just Diana."

"But..."

"What Baby?"

"You look so young. Not that you ever looked old," she quickly amended, "but you look young and so ... beautiful. Oh, you've always been pretty, but somehow..."

"Someday soon we'll have a nice chat," the Queen answered. "I can't say more right now, but when we get back to the retreat, we'll have a long talk. There are a lot of fascinating things that you'll want to hear. Oh, we have such a good time ahead of us. Now finish with that pretty face and let's see what that fabulous restaurant has for us. The last time we ate here, they had a very nice breakfast bar." She chuckled and added, "And another nice thing is that we don't have to cook."

Jeff and Kayla were relaxing in the suite's living room when Hope and the others came out of the second bedroom. Hope's step faltered ever so slightly as she saw the Prime, but Helen was watching for anything. Casually leaning over so that her mouth was close to Hope's ear as the others greeted Jeff, Helen whispered, "He's not like your dad. Jeff is the reason we were able to be here so quickly. He's also the reason this will only take a day, instead of months while you would have been consigned to a foster home you would probably have hated as the attorneys and the judges lazed through the paperwork. Jeff blames himself for not having pushed to take you back with us before. I give you my word that he will never hurt you. More than that, he'll always be your protector."

Hope unconsciously bit her lip, wanting to believe, but the tall man was intimidating. Something had changed about him since she had seen him last. She had known him most of her life, off and on, but he was seldom home for any length of time. She knew that Arlene and Diana had always loved him, and frequently talked about him, but somehow, he was ... different from the man she remembered from a few months ago. He turned a smiling gaze on her, and she felt the same thing she had last night at the judge's house when he came near — fear, awe, something. Somehow, she wanted to ... almost preen, to strut when he looked at her. Suddenly a thought crossed her mind. Will I measure up? Embarrassed, she looked down. What's wrong with me? He's a man. All men want to fuck me — to hurt me. He's no different.

Jennie took her hand as Jeff looked away, said something to Kayla that Hope didn't catch. A few minutes later, she found herself, mind awhirl, being hustled into the elevator with everyone, Jennie's hand firmly clasping hers.

In the elevator, she tried to pretend that Jeff wasn't there, but she knew he was standing in the corner of the elevator farthest away from her. She managed to keep one of the women or girls between herself and Jeff, hopefully without being obvious about it. She knew he meant well — but she had been hurt so much lately, and it was men who had hurt her.

In the restaurant, they all decided to have the breakfast bar. Her plate full, she returned to the table, walking just behind Jennie. Jeff seemed to not notice, but he was suddenly behind her. Without saying anything, he seated her, then Jennie to her right, and Diana to her left. He never touched her, but somehow, she felt him as if he had. Confused, she began to eat, at first, timidly, then her appetite soared, and she had to force herself to slow down lest she gobble her food. She was hungry, voraciously hungry; she had never been this hungry in her life.