Chapter 79: SM03-Phi, Day 12, Morning

Scott was worried. Why did he need his CO to come along when he was going to meet his wife? It had only been twelve days for her, they had said; that didn't seem like enough time for any nasty 'unexpected survivor' problems. Maybe it was just his guilt for how he felt about Amy; he hadn't even considered kissing her, but he'd never felt as close to another woman as he did to her, except for Charlene.

Their brief journey ended at a residential unit, where another Steve Miller waited, with Charlene sitting beside him. This Steve was tense, clearly unhappy, but Charlene jumped to her feet as soon as she saw Scott, and ran to him, throwing herself into his arms and kissing him hard. She had tears in her eyes, as she told him, "They told us everyone on Earth was dead, and that you weren't among the survivors. But I couldn't let go, and now I have you back after all."

Scott said, "We had no idea that anything had happened to Earth; we thought it was just us. I hated the fact that you'd have to go on without me, but I thought that at least you'd survived. Then they showed us a video of the Earth being destroyed, and it cut my heart out. I almost died when they told me you'd gotten the aliens to look for us, and that you were responsible for our rescue. And now we're back together, just the two of us."

Charlene looked pained, as she tried to find a way to say what she needed to say. Finally, she found the words.

"They've already told you that there are a lot of copies of the men. You've seen that yourself. What you don't know yet, is that a few of the women were duplicated too. There's another Charlene Torino in the world now, who loves you just exactly as much as I do. But she's scared, because of what happened to her, and almost happened to me."

Scott's blood ran cold, as he asked, "What do you mean?"

Charlene swallowed. "Steve has been wonderful; he's obviously attracted to me, and he loves me, but he hasn't pushed me to make love to him. You know how I get when I'm fertile, and when the aliens woke us up, I and all the rest were at the fertile part of our cycles. Add the loss I felt, and the loneliness, and if he'd pushed even a little bit, I'd have spread for him."

Charlene stopped, tears in her eyes, then swallowed hard and continued, "I told you I always regretted not being able to give you my virginity, and now I can, because the aliens grew us new bodies, complete with maidenheads. But my new sister, the twin I always wanted, can't do that, because her man was just a bit pushier than Steve, and once they'd proved to themselves that you were dead, she gave herself to him, and she's carrying his baby."

Scott was appalled, mostly at his own reaction to what he'd been told. His first reaction to his wife's tale had been to feel hurt, by her own confession just as much as the confession of the actions of her 'sister'. But his love for her was unabated, and he found himself fascinated by the idea of two loving wives.

He had to stop to calm himself, but his voice was steady as he asked, "And what do they want to do about that?"

Charlene's eyes filled with hope, as she said, "She desperately wants to join us. Tony's willing to let her go, if you'll have her. He'd like visitation rights to the baby, but he's OK with you raising it as your own, if you want. She's terrified that you'll reject her; she loves you just as much as I do, of course."

Scott smiled, and asked, "And what do you want, as if it wasn't obvious? Are you willing to share me, even if the 'other woman' is your identical twin?"

Charlene realized that she'd won, and cried openly in joy. "I think it will be wonderful."

Scott hugged her tight, and said, "Then get her in here before she busts."

The Steve Miller that had brought them in spoke to the ceiling, and a moment later another Charlene entered the room, hesitating at the doorway. Steve look at her wan tear-streaked face and said, "Come here, darling."

The new Charlene ran to him in tears, and he comforted her as best he could, stroking her neck and whispering reassurances into her ear. Her 'sister' did the same, and between the two of them, they soon had her calmed down.

Scott looked up to see a new face among the witnesses, and he faced him and said, "Tony, I presume?" When the man nodded, Scott continued, "If you agree, I plan on raising your child as my own; you'll be Uncle Tony until he's old enough to understand. I don't blame her for what happened, and I don't blame you. As far as I'm concerned, you're welcome in our home before or after the birth."

Tony nodded, and said, "Thank you for your understanding. I love her, maybe as much as you do, but I couldn't possibly object if you were willing to take her back. If you'd refused, I'd even have tried to get you to reconsider. And I'll take her back in a minute if this doesn't work out."

Scott shook his head, "We'll make it work. I'm sure of it." He turned to the unhappy Steve whose home he'd just invaded, and disrupted. "And thank you for taking care of your Charlene. I can tell this is hard for you, and I appreciate it and regret the pain you're feeling."

Steve smiled wanly, and said, "You're only stealing the only woman with a brain in my entire harem, that's all. But she was yours before she was mine, and she was never going to be mine until she got over the pain of losing you. Now that she hasn't lost you, I don't stand a chance."

Scott looked at him, and considered for a moment. Looking down at his two wives, he said, "Ladies, do you think we can hold off on the passionate reunion for a little while? I've got someone I want the three of you to meet."

He got somewhat confused agreement from his wives, and a puzzled look from Charlene One's Steve which he decided to take as agreement, so he asked his original guide to take them all back to the conference center. When they arrived, he took Charlene One and Charlene Two and Charlene One's Steve to meet Amy, who they found sitting at a table in a lobby off of the auditorium.

"Amy, these ladies are my wife Charlene. It seems that it isn't just men that come in sets around here. I'm stealing them away from their current men, and that leaves this young man in the market for a smart, sexy, strong-willed woman."

"Dears, this is Amy Imahara, my best friend in the world, other than you two. She'd have been my wife if my fears when they showed us the video had been true, but even though I love her dearly, she's no competition for you. I'd love for you to be able to be friends."

Scott knew he was treading dangerous ground, but he wanted complete honesty about his feelings with all of the women in his life. Any doubts needed to be cleared up now.

Charlene One smiled confidently at Amy, and said, "Well, it's easy to like a woman with such excellent taste in men. You'll have to excuse my sister; she's still a little twitchy about a few things; once we get her calmed down, she'll be fine. I'd like to suggest that you get to know my former house-mate here; he's not only smart and caring, he's got connections with the local power structure."

Steve/Phi rolled his eyes, and said, "Charlene, dear, your mouth is running away with you again. For such a smart woman, you do get on these long streaks of nonsense."

Amy had had time to grow reconciled to the loss of Scott, and this gentle teasing intrigued her. "Perhaps we should have a little chat. I'm always up for a good round of social climbing," she told Steve with a grin.

Steve offered Amy his arm, and they wandered off to a corner of the lobby, where they sat down to get acquainted.

Meanwhile, Scott asked his guide if he could arrange some private quarters for he and his wives. "We've got a lot to talk about."

Steve told him, "We have set up a few apartments upstairs here that you can use until we get something more permanent arranged. Rather minimal, but I suspect it will have everything you need for now. Charlene or Charlene can show you the replicators, which will provide all sorts of useful goods, from lunch to marital aids."

Both women blushed at that last, and Scott smirked and said, "Oh, I doubt we'll need any toys for the first few days. Might need some paint or something if the view of the ceiling gets too boring for them."

One small fist hit each shoulder simultaneously, along with matched squawks of outrage. Steve laughed at them, and said, "Let me show you to your rooms."

When Steve had left them to their devices, both women suddenly turned somber. Scott mentally flipped a coin, and took the woman on his left into his arms, and gave her a hard kiss, grabbing her ass with his left hand and squeezing firmly. Then he released her abruptly and repeated the action with the other one.

Scott looked at the two women and said, "This is going to get confusing fast. I need to be able to tell you two apart, and it's going to be a while before I can use your bulging bellies as an identifying marker. There's also the question of what to yell when I want a particular one of you to fetch me a beer. Do you have any suggestions?"