Chapter 143

The fire was roaring in the fireplace and Jeff, Dave, Bill and Frank sat near it drinking coffee and just "being men" as Diana liked to say.

Art walked in and paused, "Mind if I join you guys? Sandra and Bobby have gone to help in the kitchen."

Jeff motioned for him to come on in. "I told you that you're one of us. This is your home. The only places that are off limits without knocking are our bedrooms. Now get your butt in here, grab a cup of coffee and sit with us."

Art took a cup from the cart and filled it from an insulated carafe. Bill got up and slid a chair over near the others. Art thanked him and sat to sip his coffee.

"Well?" Jeff teased with a grin, but Art didn't know Jeff well enough to even realize that he was teasing.

"Uh?" Art responded. "I don't..." Then it dawned on him what the grin was about. "Uh..." embarrassed, "we're not going to ... consummate our relationship until our wedding night."

"Hmmm," Dave said, his eyes giving away his mood, "was that your idea, or theirs?"

The men all chuckled, even Art. "I suppose it's all... our idea."

"So you're going to lie there in that bed with those beautiful women and control your newfound talents so well that you don't let any pheromones slip? Better thee than me, my brother. Better thee than me," Dave repeated, laughing.

Art suddenly realized a side effect of his enhancement — he blushed easily.

Frank got up to refill his cup, and slapped Art on the back as the older man passed by. "They're screwing with you, my young friend. We all wish you and your women well, and..." he said, drawing out the comment, "if you can hold out until Monday night..." He left the rest unsaid, but with the implication that waiting would be very hard, indeed.

"I know," Art responded. "Oh, trust me. I know how hard it's going to be."

Dave added, "And that's one of the, uh, 'problems' with our enhancement. Your dick will get hard with a change in wind direction, let alone being in bed with two beautiful women."

The men chatted for a while, and Jeff slid his seat closer to the young agent as the two conversed in a more serious manner.

A few minutes later, Jeff turned his head to look toward the doorway where Hope, accompanied by her sister, Jennie, stood. Diana, Arlene and Helen were a step behind them.

Art started to rise to his feet, realizing that something was about to happen by the serious looks on the faces of the women and girls, but Jeff put a restraining hand on the agent's shoulder. "Stay seated. Let her come to you," Jeff said in a quiet whisper that Hope could not have heard across the big room.

Jeff had told Art about the problem Hope had been having, and now the Prime was doubly glad he had. Art sat smiling, while Hope gathered her courage. Jennie and Hope, holding hands, walked slowly toward Art.

As the two stopped by the side of Art's chair, he put his cup down on the carpet. Hope took a breath and released Jennie's hand. "Mr. Hanes, I've come to apologize and to thank you for saving me. Art started to stand, but a suddenly crying Hope, flung herself at him, her arms going around his neck, as she stumbled and more or less fell into his lap.

The shock of the crying girl falling into his lap, stunned Art's thoughts for a second, but his arms automatically encircled her. "Shhh. No need for that. It's no big deal."

"Yes it is. It's a really big deal that I couldn't come to thank you for saving me from those awful men. I tried to come to thank you. I really did. I was just so screwed up. The Ship helped me, but I meant to come to see you earlier. I really did," she sobbed. "I just couldn't, and I ... hic," she said as her hiccups started, "can do it now... hic. Thank you, hic. Ohhh, " she grumped out in frustration at her body's reaction to the stress of the moment.

Art forced himself to not grin. "Shhh. Easy," he quietly said into her ear. "It's all over, and besides, I was just doing my job."

The sobbing continued, her voice slurred by her efforts to talk through her crying. "Every time I saw you, I would just be back, hic, in that motel room. I know it's nuts, but I, hic, just couldn't help it."

Art glanced over at the doorway when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Oh, shit. Bobby and Sandra are watching, too. I don't know whether they're jealous or not, but it has to be obvious to everyone in this room that Hope has her breasts pressed against me. I know she doesn't realize it, but I feel them.

Absently, he rubbed her back, continuing to soothe her, while desperately looking at his women. Both gave him very subtle high signs and smiles, but by now he was becoming very, very aware of the sexy young woman in his lap, her butt right on top of his groin. Get a hard on and you're dead, he thought, desperation gaining magnitude as he felt his cock starting to swell from the weight pressed against it, the very delectable weight of this crying girl.

Jeff knew that his Queen had set this up. His eyes locked with hers, a big smile breaking across her face. At a barely discernable motion from Jeff, Diana hurried over and sat in his lap, even as Jenny leaned over to hug Hope in an effort to help calm her.

Eventually, Hope sat up and wiped her eyes with the tissues her sister handed her. "Oh, my goodness. I cried all over your shirt, and your neck is wet too," she finished, dabbing at the wet places with her tissue.

She wiped her eyes one final time, blew her nose and tossed the tissue in a nearby wastebasket, the movement on Art's lap causing his face to blush yet again.

"Your, uh, mates gave me permission to do this," Hope said as she leaned over and kissed him. It wasn't a passionate kiss, but neither was it just a peck.

Desperately, Art clamped down on the pheromones that he had almost let slip.

"Thank you," she quietly said, unaware of Art's predicament, her voice laden with sincerity.

"You're most welcome," he managed in an almost-normal voice, hoping she would get up soon.

A look passed between Jeff and Jennie when Hope regained her feet. Jennie plopped down in the newly vacanted lap and kissed Art. Like, Hope's, the kiss was a tender one, and not provocative. "Thank you for saving my sister." There were tears in Jennie's eyes as she continued, "I'll never forget what you did. I got on my knees and thanked God for sending you to save her."

"I, uh," Art stopped as his voice failed and he had to clear his throat. "You guys are making too much out of this. I was just doing my job. Things got out of hand and there was only one solution..."

Jennie pressed her cheek against his. "Thank you," she said, then stood as a frustrated Art tried to control his beet red face. He had loved his FBI training, but Quantico hadn't had a course in this.

The girls locked hands and went out the door. Diana, well aware of what was going on with the young agent, kissed her husband, stood to wink at Art, then hurried after the others. Sandra and Bobby took one last look in the room, smiling at their mate before turning to go back to the kitchen with the other women.

The men sat quietly for a time, none wanting to diminish the young Alpha's moment by kidding him about it. Jeff finally broke the silence with, "Women can sometimes ... stress us without realizing it."

Jeff had meant the public display of Hope's gratitude, but Dave thought of a second meaning. He had just taken a sip of coffee, and made a sputtering noise, not choking, but obviously holding back something he thought of at that instant. With laughter dancing in his eyes, he gave in to the thought. "You mean by sitting on our dicks and wiggling around without realizing what they're doing?" he chuckled, Frank and Bill quickly joining in with their laughter.

Jeff hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help teasing just a little. "I'm amazed he doesn't have a boner." Art's face blazed again. "Want some more coffee, Art?" the Prime said, standing.

"Please," the young agent said. It wasn't immediately obvious whether the please was a plea not to kid him, or a request for coffee. All the men laughed, anyway.

When the women returned to the kitchen, Diana smiled at Hope, standing in front of her and taking the teenager's hands for a moment. "Well done. I'm proud of you."

"Me too," Jennie added, obviously very pleased with her sister.

Before Hope could respond, Arlene grabbed Hope's hand. "Come on. I need help with the home fries." Before the teenager could think much about what had happened in the living room, she was immersed in making a mountain of home fries and listening to Arlene tell about snowboarding the driveway.

Jennie, joined by Melissa, drew Sandra and Bobby into the laughter and comradery of meal preparation.

Joyce, still in uniform, walked into the kitchen just as everyone began filling his or her plates from the steam table. She headed straight for Jeff, kissing him passionately for an extended period of time. The only reason the kiss wasn't more passionate was the little genius standing near and eyeing the two.

"Look the other way, please, Selina," Joyce said, kissing her husband again.

Selina giggled and turned back to filling her plate.

"What got you warmed up?" Jeff asked, "Not that I'm complaining," he finished.

"Oh, nothing I guess," Joyce said as she walked in front of Jeff to pick up a plate and pile on several serving spoons of scrambled eggs. "I got caught behind a snowplow on the main road out of Winter Park. Dragging along behind him, I had plenty of time to think about my husband." Then in a stage whisper, "And what he's going to do to me in a few minutes."

"I heard that," Selina responded as Jeff and Joyce laughed.

The laughter and chatter between family members continued with Art, Sandra and Bobby being included.

Plates laden, everyone found places to sit. "Wow, I'm glad to get home," Joyce said. "I swear I had to deal with idiots all night. Sometimes I think that idiots are like vampires. They only come out at night. As soon as the sun goes down, they seem to crawl out of their caves."

Selina volunteered to say the blessing. Astonishing everyone, she recited a child's prayer, but there was no doubt about her sincerity. Jeff looked at her and raised an eyebrow slightly. "Predictability is boring," she said, grinning.

How did we ever get along without her, he thought as she launched into a discussion of probability theory with an amused Doctor Boswell.

As breakfast was drawing to a close, Jeff caught his wife's eyes. "Now what's this about all the idiots last night?"

Joyce thought for a second, then said, "It was as if fairies were sprinkling dumb dust everywhere. The shift started off with this idiot, wearing nothing but his undershorts, locking himself out of his motel room. Weeknight, the motel only had a few customers, and this drunk needed something from his car, so I suppose he decided to not bother with dressing and was just going to slip out to his car for a second. The operative term here is 'slip.' His car was parked close to his room, so he put on a pair of slippers. Actually they were flip flops like you would wear on the beach. The motel is an old one with outside corridors. Anyway, he walked out of his room, stepped off the curb and busted his butt on a patch of ice. As the drunk tried to drag himself back into his room, he discovered — naturally — that he had locked himself out. Paramedic said he didn't think the hip was broken, and thought it may be dislocated, but he couldn't be sure since the guy was so obese.

"The only people close enough to the genius's room to hear his screaming and cussing was a pair of spinster sisters, so of course, they called us. When I got there, they were standing in the door to their room clutching each other, while the drunk, instead of being pleased that someone had come to help him, drew back a fist and told me to get away from him, and that he hated women. Said his ex-wife had 'taken him to the cleaners, ' and didn't want some 'female cop' touching him. It wasn't as if I could handcuff him and drag him off to jail for lying there with his ... uh, exposed and cussing loud enough for the world to hear him. He was injured. I tried to cover him with a blanket — the idiot was lying in snow — but he wouldn't allow that.

"Finally the paramedics got there, strapped him to a gurney and trucked him off to the hospital. My Lieutenant saw the end of it, and he kidded me every time he saw me the rest of the shift. He kept teasing me about eyeing the drunk's, uh..."

"Penis," Selina offered helpfully.

Joyce mock glared at her, "Uh, penis sticking out of the fly of his shorts," she finally added.

"And were you?" Jeff asked, trying to make his voice gruff, but failing miserably as he held back laughter.

"No," Joyce giggled. "And you know what cold does to a man. It was..." She looked over to see if Selina were watching. When Selina appeared to be busy eating a piece of fruit, Joyce held up her hand, her thumb and index finger about an inch apart.

"So you were checking him out," Jeff accused, his laughter barely concealed.

Joyce burst out laughing. "I was not. I couldn't help seeing it."

"So what else happened? Your comments from before would lead us to believe there was more."

Joyce slid her cup over as Arlene offered a coffee refill. "Thanks," Joyce said to her sister-wife. Then turning back to Jeff, "Well, we do have one less idiot this morning. Of course, I think this guy was well past the idiot stage and firmly into the fool zone. Someone should nominate him for the Darwin award. He's bound to be, at the very least, a runner-up."

By this time, everyone at the table was listening intently. "I got a burglary call in the Burstall area." Knowing that most of the people at the table had no idea where Burstall was, she continued, "It's about twenty miles west of Winter Park, and isn't incorporated. There are a number of houses there in a community that could very well be a small town if they had a few businesses for a tax base. But they don't, so the county has to patrol it. Anyway, this lady is a waitress at a bar and got home about 2:00 A.M. When she walked into her living room, it had been ransacked, so she ran back out of the house and used her cell to call 911. She hadn't heard or seen anyone, but she was afraid the burglar was still in the house.