Chapter 30: New Years Pt 2

Allison

Damn, sometimes I hate being right. And I know it drives Jimmy nuts. It was not even three months since Christine came into Jimmy's life – roughly ten weeks with him full time – and the change was complete, or seemed to be. Ten weeks ago, when she first found herself in the deep end of our little pool, she had been aghast at discovering that twenty-two year old 'David' was really sixteen year old Jimmy. She was so upset about it that she asked him to hide the knowledge from the day-to-day persona they created to protect her. That was surprising enough in itself, and I had to wonder if it had anything to do with being in the dream environment, where Jimmy's influence was so much stronger. Not to mention the fact that she had been hurt – hurt badly – by a lover who had cheated on and taken advantage of her. Yet she accepted Lizzy's assurance that this wasn't anything like that, and that – even though she was engaged to Jimmy – she didn't consider it cheating. Either of these by itself would have gotten my attention, the two together ... Something was happening.

Sex with Jimmy was damned near addictive. The level of pleasure he and Jamie could create in a person bordered on dangerous. The only thing missing was an actual craving for more; it was beyond desire but stopped short of being a physical longing. Except the one time when we screwed up with Jamie, of course, and even with that you retained enough sense to know you would never do it in anything less than carefully controlled circumstances again. At least I did; I can't speak for anyone else because so far we haven't let it happen again. I knew that would change when he and Lizzy finally got married, and I couldn't help but be worried about it, but for now...

I suspected it was over when Lizzy kissed Christine hello, and Christine wanted more. A part of me ached because it was exactly the response you would have gotten from Shannon in the same situation. When she said she wanted to talk to me – she didn't actually say "in private", but there was really no need to – we all knew what she meant.

Sexually, we've always been way off the 'socially acceptable' reservation. Teenagers having sex was nothing new, but it's not something society accepts or encourages either; not mainstream American society anyway. Teenage homosexuality had been little more than a blip on the social radar for decades, and nowhere had the double standard been more evident. Two guys caught in the act were most likely going to get the shit kicked out of them by whomever caught them, be it parents, best friends, or teammates. If it was one of their girlfriends that caught them, they'd be lucky to survive. Big brother is going to be pissed if he catches you with his baby sister, but deep inside he's going to understand that it was going to happen sooner or later, and as long as you treated her right, you'd probably be okay. Big brother finds out you cheated on her, you're in for an ass-whipping on general principles. Big brother finds out you ditched her for another guy, and they're never going to find either of your bodies.

Contrast that with two girls getting caught: If it's their friends walking in on them, they may be embarrassed, but there is also a very good chance they're going to ask questions, not the least of which is, "Why her and not me?" Girls are weird that way. Even if the friend in question doesn't have a bi-curious bone in her body, the fact that you picked someone else to experiment with hurts her feelings. If it's one of their boyfriends walking in on them, it's a coin toss whether he'll be pissed off or want to join in. And if he does go with pissed off, chances are he's going to be even more pissed later when he realizes the chance he just let get away. It's a no win for the girls either way. Whether they throw caution to the wind and let him join in or not, chances are that by lunchtime the next day everyone is going to know about it.

Many parents are confused and conflicted beyond reason by the thought of their kid being gay, or even bi, if it's a male child. I think deep inside a good percentage of dads would rather their daughter found the girl next door than her brother, because at least no one ends up pregnant that way – which was also a big selling point for me and Shannon. We were well on the way to discovering each other before either of us confessed our mutual lust and affection for Jimmy. Just don't be stupid: keep the noise down, toss a couple sleeping bags and pillows on the floor, and no one thinks twice about your girlfriend sleeping over. Oh yeah, scented candles are a good thing to keep on hand, and never kiss your parents, or your brother for that matter, before brushing your teeth. Besides, most guys – dads included – think it's just a phase or a fad, and we'll get over it. Some guys dream Penthouse visions and hope that instead of getting over it, we'll just be more in love with them, get married, and occasionally bring a friend home to share with them. Yeah, dream on, boys; most girls don't like to share.

And then, of course, there is incest, the ultimate sexual taboo. It's far more common than just about anyone will admit, but if you get caught, you're done, finished; just pack up, move to another state, and change your name, which – oddly enough – is also how most couples avoid getting caught in the first place. Jimmy and I were very much the exception in that regard. Looking back, it was stupid of us to take the chance of getting caught in the first place. That Mom and Dad didn't completely freak out was just dumb luck. Although looking back, I do have to question if maybe Jimmy wasn't already affecting those around him; though even if that were the case, his influence then was nothing compared to what it is now. Then again, years of exposure to work on them ... who knows? Maybe someday we'll be able to figure it out; probably by watching his and Lizzy's kids.

"What's up, Kris?" I asked after moving us both to the cabana for a little privacy. "Or were you just worried about saying 'hello' in front of everyone else?"

"A little, maybe," she admitted, "because I haven't ever kissed you, and it would have been embarrassing for both of us if I'd tried and you didn't want to."

"Well then," I said, moving forward. "Let's get that out of the way first." I turned out the lights except for one candle burning on a small table by the door. I knew she was probably still harboring some reservations about my age, so when I was close enough, I whispered, "Close your eyes."

Even though I knew they were closed, I put a blindfold on her. "No peeking." I moved behind her, wrapped my arms around her waist, and kissed her bare shoulder. I felt her tense slightly as she realized her shirt had disappeared, but I'd replaced it with a bikini top and made sure she felt it.

Pulling her against me, I kissed a line across her back, between her shoulder blades, whispering softly as I went.

"I've been with three other women before you, each very special and very different. I know you already figured out that Jimmy and I are lovers. He's the only man I've ever been with... , and I know why he holds back with you. If you talk to Bob about mental age, he'll tell you that emotionally and intellectually I am at least as old as you are. I can show you legal documents that will stand up in court stating that I am eighteen years old, and therefore legal in any state in the country. If it helps, think of me as one of those unfortunate women that everyone hates, the ones that will still be stuck buying clothes in the Juniors' department when they're thirty with three kids."

As I was speaking, I moved around her, touching and caressing her arms, back, face, and shoulders as I went. When I finished, I was standing in front of her with my hands on her hips.

"Touch me," I said, in a tone somewhere between asking, pleading, and commanding. Her hands came up to mirror mine, resting on my narrow waist just above my hipbones.

I brushed a strand of hair away from her face and stood on tiptoes to kiss her gently on the corner of her mouth. When I came back down, her head dropped as her lips tried to keep the contact. I tucked the wayward strand behind her ear, running my fingers through her hair as it passed around to the back of her head. I brushed her lips again, still very gently, but this time full on the mouth with no pretense that I may have been trying for something else. On the next one I let my tongue come out and brush her lips, which parted just enough that I could feel her breath on my lips. I dropped back just a little and ran my other hand up her side, bringing the first hand back around so that they both cupped her face at the same time. The next kiss went up from serious to sensuous as her hands moved up also, fingers weaving themselves into and through my long hair. When I reached back and pulled the neck-tie on her top, she mirrored the movement, and then our breasts were touching. I think if it had been darker and we'd been paying attention, we'd have seen sparks fly between our nipples.

Breaking the kiss, I pulled the blindfold off and dropped back down so my feet were flat on the floor. Drawing my left hand down her arm to catch her hand, I pulled her gently towards the bed and said, "Let me make love to you, Christine, please?"

She followed me like a puppy, and – from the look on her face – you would have thought this was her first time alone and naked with anyone. It's a look I'll always cherish and remember. It was everything a first time should be. I made love to her slowly and gently the first time, and then she returned the favor, taking me places that you can't find or get to unless your heart is in it. After that, the gloves came off, and we went at each other like starved animals. Any reservations she may have had about my age were long gone by the time we got back to Jimmy and Lizzy.

Dream-time is a wonderful thing. I'd swear we had been gone for hours, but from their conversation, it couldn't have been more than minutes to them.

I listened first to make sure we weren't going to walk into anything. I knew they weren't up to anything – no way I could not know in this environment – but they might have brought Amber in as a surrogate, so it was always a good idea to check first. They were discussing my theories on the quantum effects of their first coupling. Based on the change in magnitude between the engagement kiss and that last one in Lizzy's dorm room, I was barely clinging to the hope that the Earth might maintain a stable orbit. There was going to be a big-ass "I told you so" in someone's future.

Jimmy

"So what did I miss?" Allison asked.

"Nothing," Lizzy replied. "We were just discussing the issue with Christine and our collective thoughts and fears of our wedding night."

"Yeah, I got that last part," Allison said. "What issue with Christine?"

"We ran into some people who know Jimmy in the village up in Brighton," Christine answered. "Next thing I knew, the other me was gone, and I was in charge. Kind of freaked me out at first; it was almost like waking up in church and wondering what I'd missed, only I hadn't really missed anything. I think I did okay though."

"Where's Brighton?" Allison said.

"Utah," Lizzy said, and then she turned to me. "You guys are skiing? I am so jealous! So who did you meet?"

"Bob and Rebecca," I said, "but Allison's old coach and her girlfriend were with them."

"You ran into Mel and Lynn?" Allison asked excitedly. "How are they? Did you say hi for me?"

Christine was looking a little confused. "So this wasn't as serious as I thought?"

"Oh, no," Allison said quickly. "It's very serious, but you have to realize, in Jimmy's life the serious scale is like the Richter scale for earthquakes. We measure it in orders of magnitude. This was serious, but given the circumstances, it's probably not more than a four at best. It shook things up a little, but it didn't do any damage that can't be fixed pretty easily."

"Oh," Christine said. "Like manufacturing a different set of memories for the day shift so she won't know the truth? Bob said we'd probably be doing that tonight."

"Yeah, that's about it," I said. "Now if we'd been someplace else where someone might have overheard something like that, it could be a lot worse. You were great, by the way. It took me a second to even realize what had happened, that you'd taken over control, but I'm glad you did. My first thought was that it was going to be hard to cover for Mel and Lynn and cover for you at the same time ... sooo much easier this way. It didn't bother you to suddenly be in charge like that?"

"No, not really. Since I knew what was happening, it was easy to explain, and I knew the important thing was to not act surprised. I'm a little nervous about what happens next, but after all that you've told me about how dangerous it is to know about you, I'm okay with it. But what about them?"

"This is the first time I've seen them in months, and we were never close enough that anyone might go after them for information on me. And I know I can trust Rebecca to make sure they understand just how important it is that no one even suspects that they ran into "Jimmy" somewhere. Meeting David Malcolm – the man who had saved Angela Osborne – and his secretary, Christine, is just a vacation story."

In truth, I was going to be dropping in on them later to make sure they didn't say anything to anyone about me. A simple inhibition should be enough to assure that if anyone brought me up, they would remember me, but nothing short of torture would get them to say it out loud.

Fixing the memories for the 'public' Christine was very simple. Jamie had caught her after just the name, so all we had to do change the 'name' she heard, and then edit out the later conversation with Bob while the women were in the restroom. Everything after that was just old friends talking, and the name 'Jimmy' never came up again. The final thing we did was to set it up so that if anything like this happened again, Christine could take over on her own to protect her surrogate self.

Skiing is awesome! It would have been even better if I hadn't needed to keep it credible that I was a beginner. By lunch I didn't have to work so hard and could relax down the slope. Twice before lunch I managed to sneak away and really cut loose, though – once when Christine was in the ladies room, and the second time when she decided she wanted to try a couple of the more advanced runs and asked if we could meet at the bottom in a half hour or so. Jamie was in heaven for that part. We all went out to dinner and then gathered in the recreation area to relax in the hot tub, laugh, and giggle over our days. When we'd arrived, Lynn was teasing Mel about this hot snow-bunny she'd caught her following down one of the slopes. Not knowing Christine, they were both careful not to be too obvious about their appreciation of their first sight of her in a bathing suit. It didn't work, though; Rebecca caught them and made a scene.

"Hey, what am I, chopped liver?" she demanded.

"What?" Christine asked confused.

"You missed that?" Rebecca asked. "They were totally checking you out! Not that there's anything wrong with that, you're very beautiful, but they didn't even glance at me when I got in. I'm not sure, but I think I should be terribly insulted. Stand up for a second..."

Lynn was embarrassed, but Mel knew Rebecca was just trying to pull their chains, and she was having none of it.

"Give it a rest, Hampton. We all know what a babe you are, but you're old news. You're marrying Bob, for goodness sake; you're off the market. Not to mention being on the wrong team in the first place. Christine is an unknown, young – not that you're old, you're not – and even though Lynn and I train for a living you're probably in the best shape of all of us. Hell, I could break a wine bottle on your abs, but Christine's all soft and curvy, and even if she doesn't swing our way, we don't know that, so we can pretend there's still hope. Although, if the stories of our young friend here are true, probably not much."

"What stories?" Christine asked. "Oh, and thanks. Competition around here looks pretty serious, so it's good to know someone is still looking."

"So what was everybody's favorite run?" I asked, hoping to redirect the conversation.

"Oh, no, you don't," Rebecca said. "What stories?"

"Booooob?" Mel said, dragging the name out in a scandalous tone. "You mean you never told Rebecca about our young stud's freshman year?"

"Melinda Jenkins!" Bob said, sounding seriously affronted. "You know I would never discuss a student's personal life like that." Then he turned to Rebecca and said, "First year, couple months in – probably before you got involved – the boy wonder comes to me with a problem. Seems he made a major mistake with one of our young ladies. He never said what it was he did, wouldn't even tell me who it was, but he gave me a hypothetical. As soon as I heard it I had to agree with his assessment of the situation – he was in deep! About that time, while he's still wallowing in misery at the situation he's gotten himself into, Mel and Susan show up, and of course, being concerned at this unusual display, ask what is going on. Now, in the interest of fairness, judge for yourselves; it seems our young gentleman did something ... significant, for one of the young ladies. Something that in her mind put her seriously in his debt, and so overwhelmed was she that she offered to thank him in the time honored tradition."

"Oooohhh!" Christine cooed. "Score one for the hero!"

"Oh no!" Bob said, shaking his head. "He was much too much of a gentleman to do that, and he very quickly told her that while he was deeply honored that she would even consider it, he could never..."

"Oh my god," Rebecca laughed, stomping her feet in the water. "He turned her down!"

"Let me finish," Bob said. "He told her he could never take advantage of her that way."

By now I was blushing so seriously that even being slowly boiled in the hot spa-water couldn't really cover it.

"No!" laughed Christine. "You told her that!"

"I was fifteen!" I said. "I didn't know any better."

"You were fifteen and you turned down sex?" Christine said. "What? Was she fat and ugly or something?"

"It was Angela," Mel said. "He turned down the crown jewel of the senior class."

"You're kidding?" Rebecca said. "You turned Angela down? I thought you two went to prom together."

"And that is where the legend really took off," Melinda said. "Yes, they went to prom, but that was months later, and you have never seen a rumor spread like the news that Angela had asked a freshman to be her date to her senior prom. Of course, after he beat up those three assholes at the mall, everyone had already figured out there was more to him than meets the eye, but this put him squarely on the social map, let me tell you. Suddenly, everyone was wondering what she saw that they didn't. You can't believe some of the stuff I heard in the locker room. According to reliable sources, the two of them, along with her brother and his date, had a two-bedroom suite rented for the night. One of my girls had a cousin that worked as a maid at the hotel, and she cleaned the room the next day. Condom wrappers everywhere! She said eight, but you know how fast these things grow; by the beginning of the new school year it was an even dozen, but either way, the girls were lined up waiting for him to get over Angela's death and start dating again. Anyway, that's where the legend started. The problem with legends, though, is living up to them."

"Not always," Christine said with a grin. "What did we do it... ?" she looked at me, " ... three times the first night? No, four! And then again the next morning before you took me to the airport?"

Remind me never to try and embarrass Christine in public.

"A living legend then," Rebecca said with a smile.

"Oh, yeah!" Christine said. "And I had to be on my feet all the next day. Oh my god, it was brutal!"

"I can imagine," Lynn said with a not-so-sympathetic grin, "and I'll bet you couldn't wait to do it again."

"Are you kidding?" Christine said. She looked at me and decided I'd had enough embarrassment for one night. "Someday I'll have to tell you about how we met. So what was your favorite run?"

It was New Years Eve, and they closed down everything but the big reception hall early. Bob and I took turns dancing with the women, but then we all went back to our rooms before it got too late. It had been a long day, and I wanted to be rested before we went back out the next morning. Besides, Utah was not the best state for two women to be making out when the ball dropped.

New Years Day is a great day for skiing, assuming you weren't up all night drinking and partying. The slopes were pristine and perfect as we headed up the lift, and we had virgin snow on the first four runs we hit. We were running in a pack today, the six of us alternately cruising and racing down the different tracks. After the third run, Bob reminded me that I was supposed to be new at this, and I needed to stop making it look so easy. I made it a point to fall twice in the next half hour, apparently from going too fast and losing my balance. Fortunately, we had learned the right way to fall: into the mountain so you just go into a controlled slide, instead of down the slope where you go cart-wheeling out of control and breaking things.

"Ouch!" Christine said as she skied up and stopped next to where I lay in the snow after the second fall. "You okay? That looked painful."

"Your powers of observation do you credit," I said. "If it looked half as bad as it felt, then you got the full effect. However, as far as I can tell, only my ego suffered any real damage."

"Really?" she said. "You sure about that? Nothing you'd like me to kiss and make better?"

I glanced up and caught her eye. She grinned down at me, the look in her eyes reminding me of Allison, and said, "I was thinking of taking a run from the top. Want to share a lift up? The chart says it's eight minutes to the top, so we'll have time to catch our breath."

The lift to the top was a fully enclosed gondola, and they stowed your skis on a rack in the back when you boarded. As luck would have it, we were the only ones in the gondola. That may have had something to do with the lighter crowd, but it was least partly due to Christine holding us back until the line cleared before stepping forward. The ride up was anything but restful, and by the time we got to the top, I could barely walk out of the lift and had to catch my breath all over again before heading down. The girl operating the lift just shook her head and smiled as I made my exit. I saw her wave a 'naughty' finger at Christine while we were waiting for our gear, and she thought I wasn't looking. We took our time going back down and then took a break for a much-needed snack and energy drink. The others caught up with us, and we waited until everyone was rested and refreshed before heading back up. I noticed Mel and Lynn seemed to be staying close to us after that, and while I thought it was my imagination, it seemed like a couple times I caught them staring at me.

That night I discovered that it wasn't my imagination as I found myself drawn into Lynn's dream for the first time since I had met her. I didn't stay long but went straight from there into Melinda's, where I generated a scene to see if what Lynn was doing was a fluke. As I feared, it wasn't just fantasy, but rather based on an actual conversation they had had before going to bed – well, before going to sleep anyway. From there I went to the glade and started pacing, trying to figure out what to do about what I had just seen. I'm not sure how long I paced, but eventually I ended up doing what I knew I should have done in the first place.

"Bob! Allison! Easy!" I called. Even as the words left my mouth, I was surprised to hear them, and it just reinforced how lost I felt. I couldn't even remember the last time I'd thought of Elizabeth as 'Easy'.

"Wow," Allison said as she popped in. "This must be serious; you never call her 'Easy'."

Elizabeth, of course, knew something was wrong as soon as she showed up. "Jimmy, what's wrong? Why are you so upset? Bob, did something happen today?"

"Not that I know of," he answered with a shrug. "What's up Jimmy? I don't need Lizzy's gift to see that you're upset. The fact that you called all three of us at once tells me you're feeling like you need serious advice about something. What's on your mind, son?"

"Did you know Mel and Lynn want a baby?"

He shrugged. "Mel mentioned that they had talked about it, and that would be 'babies' actually; plural. She said they were thinking of getting pregnant together, and I told her she was insane, and if she ever mentioned it again, I'd have her committed. Then I told her to get a second opinion, and that there was nothing wrong with wanting to have a baby, but that the idea of both of them being pregnant at the same time was a clear indication that they were mentally unstable, and therefore should not have kids. Why? How did you find out?"

"I just came from Mel's dream. You'll never guess what the topic of discussion was."

Bob stared at me for a second, apparently digesting the implication of what I'd just said. He'd been around long enough to know the circumstances under which I most often got pulled into someone else's dreams. "You're kidding, right? Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with it, but..."

"She wants to have your baby?" Lizzy asked. Her voice had that "awwww" lilt girls get. "Jimmy, that is so sweet. You should be honored."

"Honored?" I said. "Try terrified! I'm not ready to be a father!"

"Jimmy, they're not asking you to be a father," Bob said. "They're asking you to donate sperm."

"I don't think I'm the sperm donor type," I said. "For one thing, I don't know if I could deal with having kids out there in the world and not being a part of their lives; my ego isn't big enough to handle it. And even if I could, I don't think it would be a good idea. What if my gift is genetic? What if one of the kids should manifest abilities like mine? Or something even weirder? Don't get me wrong, I love those ladies, and I think they'll make great parents, but I don't know that they could handle this."

"Oh, I don't know," Bob said. "You came out pretty well, and your parents didn't have a clue. Besides, you'd still be able to monitor them and be there if one of them suddenly started hitting the dream world."

"Yeah, if I'm still alive," I replied sarcastically. "Bob I don't know that I want to risk innocent children having to deal with the kind of shit I've been handed lately."

"A specious argument at best," Bob said, dismissing my argument with a flick of his wrist. "Jimmy, no one wants their kids to have problems in life, but if we all just stopped having kids because the world is a dangerous place, the species would die out. Fortunately, the brave ones keep having kids, so I don't think we're in any danger at this point. But let's say you're right, and your gift is genetic. Then your offspring would have an edge, and you would be diminishing the survival chances for the entire human race by removing what could be a rung on the evolutionary ladder."

"Give me a break, Bob, I..."

Allison cut me off.

"Okay, stop," she said. "This is pointless. You're arguing for the sake of arguing. Jimmy, I understand you being surprised at this, but it's stupid to get so stressed over it. For one thing, it's a dream, and you don't know that it's anything more than a fantasy."

"Yeah I do," I said shaking my head. "It was Lynn's dream I was drawn into. I went to Mel's after, to see if it was just fantasy or not. They talked about it before they went to sleep."

"You are so smart," she said, smiling approvingly. "But talking about your acceptability as a potential father is a long way from actually asking you, which would be very difficult to do since they no longer have contact with you on a regular basis. Even if they did, and they actually decided to approach you, it wouldn't matter because as far as the two of them are concerned, you're sterile."

"Jimmy's sterile?" Lizzy said, disappointment heavy in her voice.

"Oh no," Allison said, shaking her head. "He's just fine, and I predict the two of you are going to make both your mothers very happy some day, but he can't get them pregnant. Well, he could, but ... it's complicated, and trust me, he would have to really want to."

Everyone was looking pretty lost by this point, but she wasn't done.

"Don't you remember: The Sandman, blood all over the warehouse, lots of blood, but no DNA? Jimmy, I don't think you can get them or anyone else pregnant because your DNA breaks down when it's removed from your energy field. By my calculation, there are currently four women on earth you could get pregnant without really trying to: Lizzy, Amber, Christine, and me. There is an outside shot that Roxy may be on the list, but I don't think so – I don't know how you two are connected, but I don't think it's the same as the rest of us. For anyone else, it would have to be intentional; it may have to be even for one of us, but for anyone else? No way. So if – and at this point it's still a pretty big if – they approach you about it..." She stopped suddenly as if something had occurred to her. "Well shoot! I just realized that it still comes back to deciding if you want to, or not, first, because that's going to be the deciding factor in how you deal with..." I started to interrupt and say that I didn't want to, but she held up her hand and said, "Don't say it. I know what you're thinking but that doesn't mean you'll still feel the same way later. Things change, and, well..."