Chapter 14: Theories

Originally posted on: Sun May 23, 2010 6:02 pm

"So what was all that back at the casino?" I asked Jamie as the girls snuggled in and settled themselves for sleep.

"I don't know," she answered. There was a ... seriousness to her tone that I wasn't used to. "Do you mind if I talk to Lizzy about it?"

"No, of course not, go ahead, but she's probably not going to be around for a while."

"I thought I would go to her."

"Wow, this really must be serious. Do you know where she is?"

"They just landed. Jimmy, I don't know what it was, but something was happening back there; something important, possibly even dangerous. Don't ask me to explain because I can't, but we need to figure it out as fast as possible. I'll see you later."

"Okay, give her a kiss for me."

Jamie

"What's up, my little bride to be?" Lizzy asked when I arrived.

"I don't know," I answered. Again my tone gave me away.

"Whoa," Lizzy responded. "I thought maybe you were getting away while Jimmy and Christine got frisky."

"No, they did that already; they're all snuggled up going to sleep now."

"All of them? So Christine did take advantage of having Amber there. I thought she might."

"Yes and no," I answered. "She shared Jimmy with Amber, but mostly she just played with dominating Amber. They kissed; Amber undressed her and such, but that was all, then she played with Amber, pushing her but telling her she couldn't get off until she was told to. It was all I could do to keep Jimmy from popping before she was ready. She finally told Amber she could come when Jimmy did — I held him back so she had to work at it a little, then let him go. I'm surprised he didn't shrivel up from fluid loss. Christine told her not to swallow, but she couldn't hold it all, and it was dripping all down the front of her. Then Christine kissed her and pushed her over the edge while they were sharing it."

Around us people were getting up to retrieve their stowed carry-on luggage, and bodies filled the aisle the length of the plane. Why do people do this? You're not going to get off any faster, relax.

"Sounds hot, Amber must have been in heaven. Did Christine lick the overflow off of her?"

"Eww! No, why? And why would she?"

"Just curious; wondering how far she went. As for why she would do it... " She flashed the scene of Cherise chained to a table, covered in whipped cream, and berries. "Did she let Amber do anything to her?"

"No, she kind of withdrew a little after that, said she just wanted to go to bed. What did you tell Amber about tonight?"

"I instructed Amber to be very careful with her, not to initiate, but that it was okay if Christine came to her."

"Well, it was all Christine's idea. Amber had lit the place up with candles for them because she knew Christine really wanted Jimmy, and she wanted to make it special for them. But then when Jimmy gave Amber to Christine for the night she had her join in, and the two of them started stripping him. It was sooo hot! If I hadn't been playing fireman he would have lost it a lot sooner, but I was afraid Christine would stop once he did."

"Probably so. It would have given her time to stop and think about what was happening. Some girls never start again."

"Kind of what I thought. I was really proud of Amber; as soon as Christine mentioned calling it a night, Amber safe-worded out of the deal and told her she was full of shit and they both knew it. She sent her and Jimmy off to get busy."

"Christine was worried about interfering with Jimmy and Amber?"

"Yep! Amber assured her it was okay and told her she'd explain it in the morning."

Lizzy nodded her understanding, "This is all new to her, and she doesn't know the rules. She just needs a little time. So what's so serious? It sounds like everything went well."

"Something happened at the casino, or at least I think something was happening; I don't know for sure, but it was really freaking me out, and I was worried someone else might notice, so I had Jimmy break it off."

"What was happening?"

"I think Christine was controlling the dice."

We had just reached the top of the ramp, and Lizzy froze momentarily before stepping into the jetway.

"She was what?" She started forward again. "Wait, don't tell me. Are Allison and Jimmy available?"

"I can check on Allison; she could always take an afternoon nap if necessary; Jimmy will probably be talking with Christine about today to see how she feels about it when she wakes up on the other side where she remembers everything."

"She'll be fine. Could you see if Allison is available? I can sleep in the cab on the way back to the school, so we can all talk."

"Maybe you should get a car," I suggested.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Driving is too much of a strain. Besides, the only time I ever need it is when we come here. Everything else is close enough to walk to. The bus runs from the school to downtown late enough to get me to work and back. If we had a car, then we'd have to pay for parking, insurance, maintenance; it's cheaper to just pay a cab when we need to go farther. Besides, Amber and I are making lots of friends, and a lot of them have cars, so getting around isn't that big a deal. If we were really in a bind, we could rent something, and Amber could drive. Go see about Allison; just let me know when you're ready."

I didn't even notice it at the time, but it didn't feel like I really left. I just shifted my attention to Allison, and within moments I found her on a plane, then I was just there with her instead of with Lizzy.

"Hi," I said.

"Hi yourself," she said, I could feel her smile. "That's kind of a new trick, isn't it? Last time we did this we were in Jimmy's truck, and he was touching me."

That made me stop. She was right. The first time Jimmy had touched her, after that I had moved between them without physical contact; the last time I had been with Lizzy was the night before in New Mexico, and I had gone with Jimmy, then we had merged when we got there. This time, Allison was on a plane going six hundred plus miles per hour, and it had been like walking from one room to another.

"You're right," I told her. "I think maybe things have changed again. We'll have to talk to Jimmy about it later; right now you need to take a nap; Lizzy and I need your help."

"You and Lizzy need my help? Where's Jimmy?"

"Probably debriefing Christine." I felt her react to the word. Ever since the time Rebecca had made that Freudian slip after a couple days away from Bob, none of them ever heard the word without smiling and thinking naughty thoughts. It was actually before my time, but they had explained it to me the first time it happened while I was there. Now even I reacted to it.

"No, not like that," I chuckled. "They did that already. When she wakes up on the other side, he's going to want to talk to her about what happened today. You know, how she feels about it all now that she remembers everything again. You know big brother; he'll want to make sure she's okay with everything. I think he's wasting his time but..."

"Why do you think that?" she asked, cutting me off.

"I think it's too late," I said. "I don't know how to explain..."

"You think he already changed her?"

"Damn it, Allison!" I swore. "Do you have to be so damn smart all the time? Here I thought I was on to something and..."

"I love you, too," she said with a laugh. "You think his energy has already affected her, don't you?"

"Something like that?" I said dubiously. Energy? "What do you mean his energy?"

"It's just a theory I've been working on, but I think that's what Lizzy sees — a kind of bio-energy signature. Years ago a scientist named Kirlian hypothesized that every living creature produces its own distinct energy field, the more complex the creature, the more complex the pattern. It's even been speculated that some blind species — cave dwellers and deep-ocean fish — may be able to detect these fields, using them to identify prey. I think Lizzy is sensitive to these fields — or something like them; and obviously they are all different, or she wouldn't be able to tell people apart. I think the reason Jimmy overwhelmed her in the beginning is because his field is too strong and complex. I've been thinking about it a lot since you guys moved away — it's not like I had anything else to do. I used to think Jimmy was just projecting emotions — actually I know he does — but now I think there's more to it, and maybe part of it is his energy field affecting those around him. For some reason, certain other fields have triggered changes in his field, forcing it to change and grow. I think the most significant change came when his field met Lizzy's. If you think about it, things started escalating like crazy right after that. Look at what happened with Amber, how fast she absorbed her training. I know you helped some, but I think most of the change was because Jimmy made up his mind that she needed it. We all did the research; it takes years to get where she is.

"So now Christine shows up, and, for some reason, Amber is convinced she's important. I have my own theory about why that happened, but I don't want to talk about it yet. Anyway, Amber feels, feels strongly, that Christine is important, and that we have to keep her safe and keep her with Jimmy. Jimmy doesn't understand it, but he believes it, and starts looking for a way to make that happen. I think as soon as he made that decision his energy field started affecting hers."

"Interesting theory," I said. " Do us both a favor and don't tell him about it."

"No kidding," Allison agreed, rolling her eyes. The guy next to her on the plane shifted his hand — which had been touching her — away again, thinking she was irritated with him. Yeah, it's all about you fella, keep dreaming. "He'll immediately start feeling guilty for influencing her, and making her do things she wouldn't normally do or something like that. He still hasn't come to terms with the fact that he's special for a reason. Call it the hand of God, call it Karma, fate, whatever; there is a reason people come into his life."

"I think he's already accepted that part," I said. "That's why he went along with it when Amber wanted to tell her the whole story."

"True," Allison agreed, "but he's still more worried about it being her idea than with finding out why she's here. I'm far more concerned with why she's here, what she brings to the table. Figuring that out may give us a little more insight into what is really going on. There's a bigger picture here, but we don't have enough pieces to see it yet."

In my mind I could feel Lizzy was ready for us, and I passed the information on to Allison. She settled herself as comfortably as she could in the seat, and I took us both to Lizzy's dream rather than making a new one. She was waiting in the garden as usual, and, as usual, she took my breath away. I'm with Jimmy on this one; I hope it's a feeling I never get over. I'm about over the waiting part, though, he can keep torturing himself if he wants, but if he doesn't make a move soon...

"So it's not just Jimmy she does that to?" Allison asked.

"Not even," I admitted. "Sorry if you got caught in the backwash there."

"Don't apologize," she said. "I think it's sweet, and I'm very happy for all of you."

"Hello, Allison," Lizzy said, rising from the bench to greet us. I stepped out of Allison just to be safe. "I didn't really have a chance to greet you properly last night. I'm so happy you're safe." She hugged her future sister-in-law tight, and there were tears in her eyes as she pulled away and kissed her forehead.

It's a good thing I got out when I did because Allison was having none of that.

"You still haven't," she said, then grabbed the older girl by the head and kissed her soundly, "but if you did it now we wouldn't get anything else done, so that will have to hold us over. So what's so important you had to drag me here from the middle of the Pacific?"

"Jamie?" Lizzy said, indicating I should explain.

"Jimmy took the girls to dinner, and then Amber took Lizzy to the airport; long story short, Amber is staying the night. Anyway, after they left, Jimmy took Christine down to the casino to have a little fun and show the hotel that VIP status wasn't being wasted on him. They landed at a craps table, and he started showing her the basics, and everyone started having a good time."

"Wait," Allison said. "How good a time? More or less than the tables around you?"

"More, but let me finish. I started noticing something right after I got back — I'd gone with Amber so she wouldn't get lost. Anyway, Christine's luck kept getting better, and I don't mean a little better, I mean seriously better. I started watching, and every pass her luck stayed good a little longer. I made Jimmy leave before anyone else — like the nice men watching the cameras — noticed it."

"You think she was somehow controlling the dice?" Allison asked. "Like telekinesis or something?"

"I don't know," I answered. "It may have just been my imagination, and I could be totally off base here. All I know is that every time she got the dice it took her longer to make her point. Her last pass took over fifteen throws to make a five — which is not that hard a point — and along the way she hit both the doubles she had bets on; one of them, the eight, she hit twice. The time before that was around a dozen. Oh, and she never crapped out, at least not that I saw. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but we were already up three grand, and they hadn't been there that long. The casino probably loved it, because happy people tend not to notice when they're losing money — especially in a game like that where you're constantly winning here and losing there. Trust me, the casino made more than we did, but I noticed a couple of people were starting to shadow Christine's bets on the last pass, so some had already noticed, and I figured it wasn't going to be long before more did."

"So why come to me?" Lizzy asked.

"I don't know, but you 'see' better than anyone else. You said before that Christine's pattern was different somehow, in ways that you couldn't even describe. You spent three days with her on the road. Then you spent time with her last night after she finished talking with Jimmy. Now she's been with him a lot longer and a lot more intimately." I turned to Allison. "Totally hot; Jimmy gave her Amber for the night, and the two of them started playing with Jimmy, but before long it was more about her working Amber than anything else. It was all I could do to keep him from popping before Christine was ready for him to."

"Oh, the poor boy," Allison said dryly. "Back up a second; Lizzy, was there anything you saw in Christine to suggest that she wanted to play the dominant? I got the impression from their first night that she was more on the submissive side."

"Most people have a tendency to play both roles," Lizzy said. "It's almost like there is a pecking order or hierarchy to the whole thing. You belong to him, but she belongs to you ... Even in quote, "normal" relationships people experiment; your last boyfriend was a pussy, so next time you look for someone more forceful; that sort of thing. Suddenly having a chance to play with a true submissive like Amber was probably a chance she'd never had before. At the same time, she didn't seem that interested in girls; I could see a curiosity, a hint of past regret, that sort of thing, but from what Jamie said, she wasn't holding much back at all with Amber, at least as far as they went. We'll have to wait and see on that."

"Jamie?" Allison asked seriously, turning to face me.

Those one word questions always hold so much possibility...

"What?" I asked innocently. "I never touched her, I swear."

"Not tonight," Allison qualified, "but it was you who was interested in her from the beginning. Did you ever pursue the question of whether or not she liked girls?"

Oh, shit!

"I asked her the other night when Jimmy first started getting her ready to talk to Amber. She told us there had been a girl in high school that the kids had made fun of. You know, there is always speculation flying around about who's doing whom, and if you don't get caught blowing some guy in the science lab during lunch then you're a lesbian — even if they never caught you with a girl either."

They were both nodding their understanding of my statement.

"Anyway, she said she always regretted not getting to know the girl and had wondered what it would have been like to make out with her."

"And, of course, you want her to like girls," Allison said.

"Allison, I swear I never..."

She was already shaking her head. "If I'm right, you didn't need to," she said.

"What do you mean?" Lizzy asked.

"Allison has a theory," I said, answering before Allison had a chance, "that Jimmy's energy field interacts with people around us, working through their fields to make changes."

"What energy field?" Lizzy asked.

"The one that used to blind you every time he walked in the room," Allison explained. "The one that had bled so much into Shannon's and mine that you saw our patterns as reflecting his, the one that Jamie used to hide in. You remember how after Jamie showed up you could suddenly look at him? Even though you said his pattern was stronger and more intense, you said it was like you weren't seeing it all, or you were seeing it through a filter of some kind. I think that would have happened sooner if Jamie hadn't been trying so hard to hide. If not for that, I think Jimmy's energy would have changed yours so you could see."

"Why?"

"Because he didn't like that it hurt you."

"That's a little out there don't you think?" Lizzy asked. "I mean, you're saying that Jimmy is molding the people around him to fit his expectations."

"I know it sounds far fetched," Allison said, "but when you start looking closer at the people in his life — not us, but people like Bob and Rebecca, even Rod — it explains a lot. And the strongest argument lives with you."

"Amber?" Lizzy asked.

"Amber," Allison confirmed. "Look how easy it was to convince her once you convinced him."

"I wouldn't call that easy."

"I said to convince her, not change her, and then once you did convince her, look at how fast she changed. Lizzy, you know better than any of us how much she's changed; you watched it happen. Tell me you weren't just floored every time you saw her and could see how much she had changed? Jasmine does this for a living, and she can't believe it."

"That's true, but Jamie already admitted that she helped her," Lizzy argued.

"All Jamie did was help her to accept it and deal with being two people, which only lasted what, a month before she was ready to decide on her own when she was Amber and when she was Angela? She's flawless as Amber; the change is like flipping a switch. How many years do people in the real world work to get that level of control?"

"Okay, I can't really argue that, but what did you mean about Bob and the others?"

"To be honest, I'm not really sure what I mean," Allison said with a shrug. "People around Jimmy — the people he trusts — like Bob and Rebecca, seem to be ... I don't know, worthy of that trust — even though they may not normally be trusting people."

"I'm not sure what you mean," Lizzy said.

"Okay, take Rebecca for example," Allison said. "Or even better, Rod; they both work for the government — more than that they are hard core, career law enforcement — but just look at the lengths that either of them would go to, have gone to, to protect him. They both know it was him that killed Andrews and Charles. They can't prove it, but they know. Even if they agree that there was no choice and no other option, their natural inclination would be to condemn the action. Kurtz killed himself — and they know it was for the better — but at the same time, they're agents of the system, and the system says he should have been arrested and tried rather than being allowed to take his own life. Rebecca knows the truth, but there is nothing to link Jimmy to Kurtz's death. The guys that had mom and dad? Granted they can't be sure, but there is more evidence there than there was for Andrews and Charles; he called 911 from the house, so they know — or at the very least, they may suspect — that someone was there, and Jimmy was the only other person who even knew we were missing. I think he did a good job of covering himself for rescuing me, but they have to suspect. Again, who else could it have been? All that, but they still go out of their way to protect him. Heck, just look at what Rod has done to protect us ... He had no cause to hide us, no case to attach it to, but he did it. He's using his personal contacts and God only knows what other resources to get us our new identities. Whether he agrees with what Jimmy is doing or not, it goes against everything he was trained to believe in."

It's so hard to argue with Allison...

"Okay," Lizzy said. "Let's say you're right — I'm not saying you are, but let's say you are — so what?"

"I don't know," Allison said. "It's just something I've been working on since we moved away. I needed something to do with all my free time, so I've been playing with all the different pieces to try and come up with some real explanations for all of it. Lizzy, is there anyone that Jimmy interacts with on a regular basis that has what you would call a 'normal' pattern?"

"Oh, come on, Allison, that's not fair. Everyone is different, even twins have different patterns."

"Okay, I'll give you that; maybe normal isn't the right word. Pick a different word; whose pattern isn't special in some way?"

"Lots of people," Lizzy said. "Mr. Shelby, Rebecca, his parents..."

"I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about you, me, Amber, his inner circle if you will. The one's he has, as Walter said, 'given a piece of himself to'? Speaking of Amber, you've seen the changes in her, has her pattern changed?"

"Of course her pattern has changed; your pattern changes all your life, and all your experiences influence it."

"Do they get stronger?" Allison asked, but the she stopped her before she could answer, "never mind, we'll talk more about that later. The people closest to him; any of us have a normal pattern?"

Lizzy frowned. I think she'd been dodging the subject, but now that Allison had pinned her down, she didn't like having to admit that she was right.