Chapter 677

The Retreat

... A few moments later, they walked into the Retreat through the garage door and eventually found everyone in the living room. Adrienné immediately went to hug both Arlene and Ann. Due to the cooking classes and the other things Diana had initiated with the alien women, Adrienné felt at home with everyone there. In moments, she was sitting in the middle of a group of females engaged in animated conversation.

Jeff went over to where Aiko sat on a couch talking to her daughter. He leaned down to kiss Kei, then did the same to Aiko, who blushed crimson but kissed him back. When the kiss was over, he remained leaning over her, his face still close. Whatever she expected, it wasn’t, “Coffee, Woman. I need coffee.”

Before she could respond, he scooped her into his arms, put her over his shoulder and left the living room with Aiko too shocked to protest. After nudging the kitchen door open with his hip, he put her on her feet near one of the big coffee urns. After taking the not-so-subtle hint, she reached for the coffee cups while giggling quietly and blushing intensely.

While she was pouring the coffee, he sat at the head of the big table, waiting. When she put his cup in front of him and hers at the place to his left, he made a negative sound and pulled her to his lap before moving her cup, sugar and cream near. When her coffee was fixed to her liking, they both sipped as Aiko tried to remain calm.

“My newest wife says it’s time,” Jeff calmly said as if he were discussing the weather.

“Time?” she said with a frown as she stared into his eyes but knowing full well what he meant.

“Yeah. She says that it’s time I made you officially part of the family. I assume that you haven’t changed your mind about marrying me?”

Aiko reached out a slightly trembling hand to bring her coffee to her lips as she delayed while trying to give herself time to calm. “Are you sure about this?” she quietly asked. “I am used merchandise. Would you really take a woman to wife who has been married to that evil pig?”

Jeff calmly reached to put her cup back on the table before making a production of smelling her hair and nearest shoulder. “Hmmm. Smells like a beautiful woman to me. Not even the slightest hint of pig,” he teased as his lips caressed her neck, which produced goosebumps on her neck and arms and two more much larger bumps on her chest.

After a moment, he said bluntly, “Said pig is dead. Most probably killed by the assassin he hired to kill you.”

“But ... how could you know that?” she asked, frowning.

Jeff stared eye to eye with her for a few seconds before, “I had rather not lie to you, so we’re going to change the subject.” To her frustration, he went on, “From what you have told my wives, you have never been made love to, kids or no kids. From what you have told Diana, you were bred as if you were an animal. With the enhancement, your body is healed and is now as perfect as that of any of my wives. None of those aches will ever bother you again.”

The Prime took another sip of coffee while he thought. “Aiko, Love, you see how I treat my wives — and now, your daughter. Knowing them, I’m fairly certain they have gone into detail while discussing our married lives. I’m also just as certain that they have assured you that I don’t beat my women.”

Her immediate blush assured him he was spot on. “Seriously, My Lady, you have already agreed to marry me. Now, we need to get this show on the road, as my Clan Queen so... indelicately put it,” he finished with a chuckle.

“Tosha...” Aiko began.

“ ... told me last night as I was making love to her that our honeymoon was over and it was time for you to join our marriage. Your daughter was there and gave her blessings. So, tell me when to show up in my tux, and I’ll be there.”

At the shocked look on her face, he lightly kissed her lips before saying, “Diana is waiting for you to say the word, and she’ll set things going. Just remember, I love you and always will.”

While they were kissing, Diana, Helen, Laura and Kei walked in. Smiling knowingly, they poured themselves coffee and sat at the table, proving yet again, as far as Jeff was concerned, that the women had some type of mental connection. Either that or they had the Retreat’s AI tattling on him.

“We need to do some planning, Husband, so kiss her again and go find something to do,” his Clan Queen said after kissing him herself.

When the Prime walked back into the living room, all his other women were smiling, knowingly — even Adrienné.

When he sat, Kayla snuggled into his lap before anyone else could. After a thorough kiss, she smiled at her husband and whispered. “Unless Aiko decides to wait to marry you until we leave Earth — which I seriously doubt — Adrienné is going to get her wish.”

“And just what is that?” he asked with a smile.

“She wants to be the first to marry you while we’re in deep space. She’s already asked Ship if she cares, and Ship said she would be glad to assist with the wedding plans.”

Jeff didn’t know what to say but just sat staring at his wife. “Where does this end?” he asked, barely loud enough for Kayla to hear. “Despite the mental connection when we’re making love, I’m just one man.”

“No,” Kayla whispered back. “You’re a Prime. And in case you’ve momentarily forgotten, your wives differ greatly from the ‘average’ wife’ — if there is any such thing — for several reasons. We don’t fight, nor are we jealous because we know that you love all of us equally. We don’t just know it. We feel it. Maybe the enhancement has something to do with it too, but we don’t have to compete for your love or dominance over our sisters. Maybe that’s your influence, also. Who knows?”

“Look, Kayla. I haven’t even married Aiko, yet.”

Kayla ignored his remark and abruptly changed the subject. “You need to expand Adrienné’s enhancement fully. I think she’s begun to suspect that something is different about us. Oh, she’s healthy because of what Ship did to her and the other aliens, but she’s going to be with us forever, so you need to make sure she has the complete enhancement. You wouldn’t want to see her start to age, would you?”

Jeff almost pointed out that a full enhancement would allow her to look any age she wished, but he also knew that Kayla was right.

“Aiko is going to be tied up for some time, so now is a good time, don’t you think?”

He didn’t know whether Kayla’s talk with him had been planned by his wives or not, but when he came to his feet, Jennie and Melissa, who were sitting on either side of her, took Adrienné’s hand and urged her to her feet.

“Go with him,” Melissa said.

“He has something he needs to do for you,” Jennie added.

By the look on Adrienné’s face, she thought she was in trouble.

Jeff took her hand. “Let’s find a place where we can be alone and comfortable. There’s a sitting room on the second floor that should be perfect. We can use that.”

When they stepped into the hallway, Jeff stopped her so he could face her. “There is something that happens to all the special people in our lives. As you’re certainly aware, Ship made some ... adjustments to all the Miadax as you came aboard her. Passing through any entrance hatch results in anything of a foreign nature being removed from our bodies, whether it is something we are carrying, such as a weapon, or a germ or virus that might harm our bodies or others.

“Come on,” he said as they started on down the corridor while he continued. “That was done to you — and more. She also made certain ‘adjustments’ to your bodies that prevent you from getting sick, and she also did a low-level enhancement. I told the First Officer about the enhancement, but I didn’t tell him everything. You see, there is quite a bit more. I mentioned the ‘special people’ in our lives, and, of course, you definitely fall into that category.”

Jeff paused as they stepped onto the elevator for the short ride to the second floor. When they exited, he motioned, and they went on down the hallway a short distance. When they turned into a sitting room, he motioned to one of the couches. When they were settled, he said, “You’ve seen Little One, at least in her solid form, but to remind you, most of the time, she remains spread out across my back. She can easily transition into a semi-liquid state to ‘flow’ from my collar, then form into a solid state as need be.”

While he was talking, Little One flowed out of his loosened collar and into his hand. “You’ve seen her before, so don’t be afraid. She certainly will not hurt you. On the contrary, she’s going to enhance your body and mind so that you can have a very prolonged life.”

“But...” Adrienné began.

“Because you have consented to be my wife.”

“Oh,” she said with an accompanying deep blush, “but what is this ‘prolonged?’” she questioned, wondering if the mapping program had somehow failed with the definition of the word.

“Very prolonged,” he reassured her. “Ship says we will live until something forcibly ends our lives.”

“But ... that is impossible — isn’t it?” she asked, uncertain.

“The thing is that we do not know. The enhancement will automatically correct anything that goes wrong, and it will do it at the absolute very beginning of the problem. Just imagine the very first unwanted virus or group of viruses to enter our bodies. The enhancement will rid our bodies of it before it can even begin to replicate. Although the enhancement process can’t stop us from being killed from ... say, a bullet entering our bodies. However, it can slow the blood loss and go a long way toward isolating the damaged area while enormously speeding up the healing process, hopefully giving Little One, and to a greater extent, Ship, time to heal us completely.

“Also, Ship can put us into stasis where the damage, and everything else, stops, which allows her to do the needed repairs without the results of the injury continuing. Little One did that to Arlene when she had been shot, which stopped everything while Ship went about repairing the damage. Unfortunately, when Little One activates her stasis field to her patient, she becomes part of the stasis field too. She, without a doubt, saved Arlene’s life until we could get her to Ship, though.”

As Adrienné’s eyes focused on Little One, Jeff chuckled. “And before you ask, you won’t feel a thing. You’ll sleep for a few minutes and wake feeling great. So, why don’t you just lie back while we continue our conversation?”

As Jeff continued to chat with Adrienné, telling her about some of the things Little One had done, he placed the little alien on Adrienné’s chest. The blue beams came on, and she slept.

When Adrienné awakened, she, just as most everyone else, hadn’t realized that any time had passed. Jeff assured her it had as she sat stroking Little One.

“But I don’t feel any different,” she blurted out, only to stop as soon as the statement was out of her mouth. “Oh, but I think that I do feel different after all.” Then after a moment of contemplation, “A lot different.” After gently handing Little One back to Jeff as if she had known the little creature forever, she came to her feet. “I feel ... wonderful.” Then, after a brief pause, she added with wonder in her voice, “Is this the way all of you feel — all the time?”

“Yep, but it comes with a penalty for the first few days, and to a lesser extent for the next several weeks. Even then, you will always eat more than you are probably accustomed to at present. So, perhaps, you should stay with us for the next few days. We have all had the enormous hunger that you will experience, and there will be healthy food near to hand until your body learns to maintain its energy levels without having to use both hands to put food into your mouth.” At the shocked look on Adrienné’s face, he chuckled and said, “Just kidding — mostly.”

After a moment’s pause, “Unfortunately, all this has to be kept secret from anyone not of us, and the block, which you know about, will keep you from discussing the enhancement with anyone not blocked. Of course, you have to stay away from anyone who doesn’t know about you, so that shouldn’t be a problem just now.”

After a pause, “Still want to be my wife?” he asked, half-seriously.

“If that was to be a joke, it is not funny,” she said as she stared him eye to eye.