Chapter 24: A Night Back

James looked over at Janice and me. "Are you sure you can perform?" he asked.

Janice giggled. "Why wouldn't we be able to perform? It should be easier the second time. We won't have as many first performance jitters."

"And we won't worry about disappointing you," I whispered. "I missed so many notes while I was playing."

Janice looked at me. "I thought the orchestra was struggling a bit. What was going on?"

I shrugged. "Rather than using the sheet music, the AI was projecting music onto our stands. What we were playing was a bit more complex than what I had practiced."

"A determination was made that the musicians could play to that level. The music displayed was designed to give them the most performance time and minimize the use of digital recordings," the AI intoned.

Janice gave me a hug. "Well, it's nice to know that it thought you could play more."

I flexed my hand. The plan felt a bit spongy, but there was no pain. "I hope I can sneak in some practice before we perform."

Janice laughed. "Well, first you need to go and see your daughter. Bethany and I fed her, but she's definitely missing you. James, I'm going to take my sister here to cuddle with her daughter, and then we'll have to go get the stage ready. Candi, can you let the others know?"

"Randi and I will spread the word," Candi promised. "Now get our Little One home to her daughter."

Janice laughed and pulled me to my feet. I gave her a loving hug as we stood in the room. I turned to look at James to see a tear in his eye. "I'll be by shortly," he promised. "Yvette and I have to resolve one small issue and then I'll join you."

"We'll be waiting!" Janice called as she dragged me from the room.

Giggling we entered the command post. We had only taken a few steps into the room when Tiffany and Tamara engulfed me in hugs.

"You shouldn't"

"Scare James"

"That much," they caroled.

"He was"

"Too upset"

"To function."

"He worried"

"All night."

I looked at the twin girls. They had huge smiles on their faces as they held me between them. "I didn't try to scare James," I whispered. "We didn't have much time to get Amanda out of her armor."

Tiffany shook her head. "We know, but James was too worried about you to be all that useful last night. You mean a lot to him."

"Well, he's my life, so we're even there," I said firmly. "But I understand a little girl with black hair misses her mommy. So I should chat later."

Tamara giggled. "Go. We just wanted you to know we love you. You and your sisters are why James is the leader we so desperately need."

Janice giggled. "No, he's the man his concubines need. But you already knew that. Now, I better get this one to her home."

She pushed me towards the door. As it slid open I expected to see the back of the tapestry, but the far wall of the tunnel was revealed.

"The tapestry is on a rail and can move to uncover the doorway," Janice said as we stepped into the corridor. "It won't open if there are strangers in the hallway."

I nodded as she led me through the hallway. The meal I had eaten appeared to have rejuvenated me and I was able to keep up with my friend. She smiled as we came to the door to our home and stepped back to allow me to enter first.

The door opened silently. I listened carefully, but heard nothing from inside the room, so looking back at Janice I stepped into the room.

Arms engulfed me again. I fought them down and looked around. Bethany, Tina, Brittany and Kitty surrounded me, holding me closely.

Tina spoke first. "Don't scare us like that. I could see you were hurt, but you kept saying you'd walk to the medical bay. When you fainted in the corridor I freaked out."

"You scared all of us," Bethany said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "We love you. Please, be more careful in the future."

"I can only try," I said. "Now, shouldn't I take a moment with my daughter?"

"Of course!" Bethany cried. "We just wanted to hug you first." She led me to our couch and set me down. Kitty brought Madoka over. My daughter appeared a bit upset, but quieted the instant I set her on my lap.

I took a moment to gaze on my daughter. She was a little more than two months old. Her hair was coming in dark and thick. She had deep blue eyes that gazed at everything. She looked back up at me and offered a toothless smile.

"My beautiful daughter," I said with a sigh.

"Who is probably a hungry daughter," Brittany said. "We heard you'd be awake soon, so we haven't fully fed her. We thought you should do that."

I giggled as I struggled out of the halter-top I was wearing. When I lifted Madoka to my breast, she immediately latched on and started sucking.

"I'd say she was hungry," Janice said.

I nodded absently. My thoughts were on Madoka and the love that had created her. I hoped to have a few more children for James, but for now, I had to be there for my daughter.

The others we talking, but I was holding Madoka and not really paying attention when Kitty screamed.

"You mean we're going to perform again? But we already performed for the citizens."

I looked over at my sisters who had claimed chairs and were sitting in a circle. Kitty was staring at Janice. Janice smiled and nodded. "It came up during a meeting. James and Yvette were meeting with the captain of Cancun, and the show was mentioned. She asked if we could perform for her people."

"Is that a good idea?" Brittany asked.

Tina shrugged. "I met a couple of the crew when I was in the medical bay. They seemed rather nice. If they are respectful, I don't mind performing."

"You get to perform," Kitty said with a huff. "Brit and I have to have our babies before we can really join in."

Bethany gave Kitty a hug. "Well, we will probably be performing again. Perhaps we should work our show kind of like the original from Earth."

"How is that?" Tina asked.

"Well, the performers were always making changes. If there was a big scandal of some kind, they'd look for a song that fit, and try to sneak a new scene into the show. The whole idea was to keep the show fresh," Bethany said.

Brittany giggled. "So like since we have a ship with the name Cancun in port, maybe we add a few skits about spring break or something?"

Kitty laughed. "No, we do some skits about Mexico. But I don't know any songs that fit. The only one is that weird one by the former Harvard Professor."

"Ouch," Janice said. "That probably wouldn't be too popular."

"What about the scene in the one old Bug Bunny cartoon where he slaps around a bull to a tune. The tune could be fit in anywhere," I whispered as Madoka stopped sucking. I lifted her to my shoulder to burp her as the others turned to look at me.

There was silence, but I could see Tina start to nod. "That's silly, but it would definitely work. The older citizens would recognize it, and it fits in our pattern of abusing poor David."

Janice giggled. "We'll have it when he enters the bar in the first section. We'll have some kind of Latin rhythm playing, complete with dancers. He'll come in and the music will stop. Maybe we'll have one of the ladies dance around him at first, but then go with that skit and then continue with "I Dream of Genie."

"Who will be the dancer?" Bethany asked.

"It will have to be Heather for this first show," Janice said. "She knows a lot of different dances. But she'd happy teach someone if we had time. Meiko, I know we're here to welcome you back, but I'm going to rush around and see what other ideas we can get."

Janice dashed off. Madoka had finally burped and was lying on my shoulder half-asleep. I stood up slowly and carried her over to the cribs. After a quick glance at the others, I gently set her down next to Astrid.

"Why there?" Brittany asked from just behind me.

I stood up fast and whirled around in surprise, but the others were smiling. I smiled back as blood rushed to my face. "Because, I want Madoka, Astrid and Joy to grow up and become the best of friends. Why not allow them to be together?"

Brittany looked confused, but Bethany laughed. "Don't argue. I love the idea and wish I had thought of it."

I walked over to Bethany and hugged her tight. She held me in her arms for a moment and then stood up, lifting me off the ground. "I've got her!" she cried. "Kitty, quick, get the hot tub going."

I squeaked and tried to let go, but Bethany quickly moved one arm under my legs and cradled me as she walked towards our bathroom. Kitty and Brittany dashed ahead.

Bethany was still making her way to the bathroom when I heard water start pouring into the tub. This was followed by the shower starting up. I tried to turn my head to see what was happening. A light glowed in the bathroom, but the door was partial closed, blocking my view.

"Bethany?" I pleaded.

"Quiet!" she barked. "It's time you were properly cleaned."

The door swung open. Bethany carried me inside. She set me down on the counter for a moment, and removed my skirt and panties. Then, Kitty and Brittany grabbed my hands and dragged me into the shower.

The two pregnant teens left me standing under the falling water. I turned to dash out of the room only to see Tina stepping inside and closing the door. She shed her clothes and joined me in the shower. "You're not escaping that easily," she growled.