-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Have A Private Tuck -*- Copyright 2013 by Ellen Hayes. Any resemblance between the writings in this work, and any actual persons or places, living or dead, are purely coincidental, except when used for satirical purposes. This work contains adult situations, adult language, adult concepts, and possibly sex. If you are legally not allowed to read materials containing such things, then you will be breaking the law by reading this. I am not responsible. Continuing to read this document, or storing it or reproducing it in any format means that you explicitly affirm that you are legally allowed to possess and read such materials in your city, county/parish, state, and country. All rights reserved. See the bottom for distribution rights. Have A Private Tuck *** 21:40 1 Mar "Actually, no," I realized, not too late. "Why NOT!?" Nicole complained bitterly. I think she was working herself into a lather, haha, at the idea of shower sex. "Because we have a small hot water heater, and you're person number six in the house tonight..." Assuming Mike wasn't here too, which I wouldn't bet and didn't want to check. "So if we spend all the hot water just having sex, there will be complaints." "Damnit!" "Yeah, I know... But it- tub sex, anyway, tends to leave bruises." "BRUISES?" *** 21:53 1 Mar "Awwww," Nicole said as she picked up my pig. I got tense, anticipating she'd torture him, before I realized that since she'd gotten it for me, she probably wouldn't. "Have you named her yet?" "Her? I thought it was a him." "No! See the eyelashes?" "Oh. I could name-" "NO!" "You didn't even know what I was going to say!" "You were gonna name her 'Nicole'," she challenged. "Oh. Yeah-" "NO!" *** 21:57 1 Mar "Um," Nicole said, "y'know what would be kinda cool?" "Princess Penelope Porkchop!" I waved a trotter at her. *** 23:00 1 Mar Not only did we have differing opinions on 'cool', but it was getting late and we had school tomorrow. But she didn't look like she was going to stop reading any time soon. "Nicole?" Pause. Apparently she was really engrossed in whatever story she'd found. "Nicoooollllle?" She finally answered absently, "Yeah?" "It's eleven o'clock, and we have school tomorrow." "Uhuh, just a- Wait, what? What time is it?" she asked as she turned on the chair towards me. "Eleven," I nodded. "Oh man," she said. "Did you do your homework for tomorrow?" "Yeah, I did it Friday." She pouted. "Since YOU were WORKING." "Hey, don't- How do you think I can afford earrings and things? Huh?" She pouted again at me. It was still cute. I said, "C'mere, little slut, and tell me what you've been reading." "Want a book report?" she smirked. I smirked back. "Just some inspiration, if you had any." *** 23:17 1 Mar I didn't really think it was inspired, especially - or at least not by what she'd probably been reading - but I enjoyed having my breasts played with as much as anyone. Well, as much as most women. Which was a little... not depressing, exactly, but sort of disheartening, when I was in bed with a girl, trying to be male, which the breast-play was sort of negating. On the other hand, Nicole wasn't complaining. Not like she could, with her mouth full. And _I_ wasn't complaining. Moaning, sometimes, but not complaining. *** 23:23 1 Mar "You just like me going down on you," I 'accused'. "I doooo!" she agreed. "Well, I do too." So I slid myself off the bed and knelt down on it, as she wriggled to put her legs off the edge and give me access. "And you're so good at it," she assured me. "Oh, hey, can I have a pillow?" She giggled. "Like I'd say no? Oh, hey, lemme try- Here, move back a second." I did, wondering what she had in mind. She wriggled some more, found a pillow under her hand and tossed it to me, and then stood up as I moved further back. She looked around, then braced against a vertical bunkbed beam and spread her legs, kind of squatting. "I wanna watch you go down on me." "Ooookay," I said, not sure how this would work out. *** 23:39 1 Mar "Oh, wait, stop," she begged, so I pulled back. She sort of slid sideways and off the beam and onto the bed, just managing to catch herself with one arm. And kicking me inadvertently as she went. "Oh sorry." "S'okay." I was glad she'd gotten an arm and not a breast. "I had a feeling you'd regret doing that." "Oh," she said in a very husky voice, "no, I do NOT regret it. You look SO fuckin' hot down there..." She fingered herself a little as she panted. "I want you to blow me like that ALL the time." "Jeez," I said before I giggled. Apparently I'd been infected. I just had to hope I wouldn't giggle around Mike; he'd hit me. *** 23:49 1 Mar "So, is it your turn yet?" she asked me. "Mmmm. I'd kind of like that, yeah," I agreed. Not like this was news, or she'd needed to ask; she'd put the condom on me this time. Giggling, of course, but a condom WAS kind of ridiculous, all by itself. "Yeah?" "Yeah!" I wasn't ready for her to roll on top of me - missing my breasts, thankfully - and start trying to pin my wrists as she spread my legs apart with hers. "Want it?" she grinned. I decided to let her pin my wrists. "Eeek," I said softly. "'Cause you're gonna get it, bitch," she breathed, before she leaned down and kissed me. "Oh help," I fake-whimpered. "Oh, no, oh gosh, no, help, please- Ahhhhhhhhh," I moaned as she started on my neck. *** 23:51 1 Mar "Say you want it." "I want it!" "Convince me." I started chuckling. "This is-" She bit me. Which was almost as exciting as it was painful. Maybe a little more exciting. "Beg for it, bitch!" I couldn't, at that instant, because I was out of breath. "Beg for it," she warned. "Oh god. Please, Nicole, please, fuck me... I need you, I want you so much- Ahhhhhh!" *** 00:22 2 Mar "You know," I mentioned, when I could talk again, "it's kind of humiliating to be made to beg for sex." "Oh, don't worry about it," she said lazily, as she continued stroking my hair. Then she said, "Worry about what you sound like when you're about to cum." Then she chuckled, in that dark and deeper way she almost never chuckled outside my bedroom. "Hey Nicole? Remember, a while back I said sex wasn't dignified?" She chuckled some more. "You're not any better, you know." That made her laugh. "Maybe I should make YOU beg for sex for a while." "Maybe you should," she agreed. "Except I think I'm gonna go to sleep." Now I was a little confused, and more hurt; until I thought to check the time. "Oh." "Yeah, 'oh'," she teased. "Plus, I sort of came a lot." "I need to stop doing that, first thing," I 'decided'. "Make you-" "Noooooo," she whined, "Dooooon't! I LIKE it." She stroked my body to reinforce how she liked it. "You just like it, because when I'm really ready to get going, you're already fucked out, and you don't care, so you can just torture me as long as you feel like it." After a few moments, she smiled, kind of shyly, and said, "Well, yeah?" like it was obvious. I had to laugh. So did she, after a bit. *** 00:26 2 Mar "You know what's fun, though?" she asked me, after we'd disconnected. I guessed, "Sex?" We both laughed some more. "No, I mean BESIDES that." "More sex?" "NO!" she insisted. "What?" She wriggled until we both sort of rotated around each other, ending up with me under her, again. "This," she said, and kissed me gently. And repeatedly. For a really long time. *** 01:03 2 Mar I collapsed, as it were, though since we'd rotated again, I didn't have far to go. Which was good, because after that last orgasm, I was unable to do anything but flow. Nicole almost whispered, "You look so pretty when you do that." I didn't care, I wanted to hold her, and her to hold me, forever. "My beautiful," she said, her voice like a caress all by itself, and presented her fingers to my mouth. I slowly began licking them clean, like she wanted me to. Then she moved even closer, and kissed me, while moving her hand so it was sideways between our faces. And we both licked her fingers clean. Even though she dipped them back in the 'batter' a few times. *** 05:13 2 Mar "Jeezus," I sighed. Well, I sure as hell wasn't going to have time for much else this morning. I was VERY glad I'd gotten my homework done on Friday. *** 06:03 2 Mar "No, I'm cooking," I told Jill. "Dude, all that food'll make you fat," she grinned. I countered, "No, all that food'll make NICOLE fat." "Oh you- Oh you did!" she hissed. "You DOG!" she exclaimed as she punched my arm. "I can't BELIEVE you!" "See what you're missing?" I smirked at her, and fluttered my eyelashes. She stopped, though. "Do you know just how feminine you look when you do that, Tuck?" "Er," I said, as I thought about it. "Does she mind?" I sighed. "No, apparently not..." I couldn't help smiling through the blush as I remembered, "She called me 'my beautiful' last night." "Oh gawwwwwd," Jill complained in a sort of admiring tone. "You two. I thought _I_ was a pervert!" "Um, not really, no," I said before I did the thinking I should've done. "Not compared-" "I do NOT want to hear about it!" she said as she threw her hands up to cover her ears and her delicate non-perverted brain. *** 06:35 2 Mar "Fuck this, I'm marrying you!" Nicole announced. "Oh, no, we asked him first," Jill said back. "'We'?" I reminded her, "The girls that were here Saturday night?" "Oh, the Pack," Nicole nodded, and Jill glared at me. "Wolfpack, Jill. That's how we've always thought of you, as a pack of wolves." Jill bared her teeth at me and growled. So I twisted my head up and back, to show her my throat. So I shouldn't have have been too surprised that she bit me, lightly. Just enough to show dominance, I thought, as she pulsed her jaw muscles a few times before letting go. On the other hand, I wasn't THAT submissive, so when Jill let go and pulled back, _I_ zapped forward and bit HER neck. Jill squeaked but then said conversationally, "I'm a vampire, you know. This means something different." I pulled back and said, "Which you and I aren't doing. 'Cause I wasn't manly enough for you." Nicole started laughing so hard she almost spilled her Dew. She did manage to eventually choke out, "You dumbass! Now _I_'ve got him!" Jill looked at her, then looked at me, so I flicked my tongue at her a couple of times, which made her flinch, though I think in a not- bad way. I taunted, "Too bad you're not enough of a pervert to appreciate it." That got me a punch, which I deflected and almost turned into a wrist lock. "Okay, not this morning," Jill said from a few feet further away. "No," I agreed. Nicole gasped out, "Um, can I- can we-" "You drug addict," I sighed. *** 06:39 2 Mar "I would so totally blow you right now," Nicole said before inhaling. "Not with that going you wouldn't." She glared. "Oh come on," I protested. "What if you burned me with it?" She spewed smoke contemptuously, though not at me. "I wouldn't do that! It might hurt my little friend," she crooned as she smiled down sweetly at my crotch like it was a toddler. "It might! Or the rest of your big friend!" And I pointed at myself just to make sure. *** 06:49 2 Mar "Tuck doesn't like it, though," Jill said. Nicole agreed, "I know! That's so weird, I mean every guy I've ever heard of likes-" Jill and I both interrupted with a version of 'Tuck's not every guy you've heard of' at the same time. *** 06:56 2 Mar "Oh, Nicole?" She looked at me. "Remember what I said, about my friends talking about me, in front of my face? It's just like you were doing, just now." "Oh." Her face froze. "Oh, god, I didn't think about it-" "Chill," Jill assured her. "V-Tuck's used to it by now. Besides, it's- I mean, _I_ really don't have anything to complain about." She reached over and patted my arm. "Not bad, just not what I wanted." "Oh christ," Kim complained at us, "is she fucking BOTH of you?" Nicole squawked a protest as Jill just zipped forward and engaged Kim, with much screeching. "Nicole?" I said as I grabbed her shoulder, to keep her from interfering. "It's okay, though, I don't really mind. With Jill, anyway." She smiled at me, as Kim screamed vengeance if Jill spilled the Holy Coffee, and said, "Yeah, I can sort of guess," and she waved a hand at her breasts. "You don't want everybody..." I nodded. "That's it." I did not want, say, Jennie to know about them. Nicole reached out and hugged me again. "I just wish," she said into my ear, "we could've done some more this morning. That would be so cool..." "Yeah, but then we'd be so tired we'd go back to sleep and skip school." "So?" "So your mom would be SO pissed. Especially," I realized, "since she can't skip WORK and do the same thing." That made her laugh. "So we play like we're responsible adults, and go to school..." "Oh, fuck. Plus I could really go back to bed right now," she said as we let go. "I only slept like, what, five hours?" "What else were you doing?" Jennie asked, slightly before I realized she and Gabby were here. "What, the rest of the night?" Nicole just gave them a incredulous grin and wobbled on her feet. "AND he fixed me a breakfast sandwich AND lunch!" Re-realization of that got me another happy cuddle and kiss, though it was too quick. "You two are SICK," Jennie assured us. "If you think this is sick, you should've seen what we were doing in the bedroom," I smiled back, keeping my face as innocent as I could manage. Nicole screamed, "TUCK!" before she burst out laughing, and stumbled so that I had to catch her and pull her to class. *** 07:59 2 Mar Mike looked sick and irritated; George and Dan looked like they didn't know whether to believe me or not. "Dudes, have I ever lied about this? Since last year?" I added. Now the two of them looked sick too. Which was good enough to make me feel less sick. Maybe I'd passed it on to them. *** 10:44 2 Mar "It was a SCHOOL night, V- Tuck; what were you thinking?" Sabrina asked. I gave her a look, because I shouldn't have to tell her what we'd been thinking. Or doing. Even Amanda gave Sabrina a similar look. Eventually she caught it. "Yeah," Mike nodded at her, "that WAS a really stupid question." *** 11:31 2 Mar "Oh, no, it should be first thing in the morning," I sighed. Which is why I wouldn't need Sabrina or Mike to get my homework; hopefully I wouldn't miss more than that. And Mike would take Jill to school tomorrow. I added, "Uh oh," on a different subject, because Nicole did not look very well. More tired than anything else, or at least that's what I hoped. She saw me and came over and just grappled onto me in a hug without even saying anything. And hung there. "Uh, so, I'm guessing you don't want to go out and party tonight?" She didn't say anything, she just shook her head. "Maybe we don't do Sunday night again?" She shook her head again. "Except dinner; I like dinner," she said, sounding hopeful. And exhausted. "Well, of course you do; I cooked it." She twitched with maybe a giggle and a half. "Oh, poor baby," I told her. "Can you take a nap when you get home?" She nodded. "Okay, good." Then I was kind of at a loss. "I'm sorry, I really am. Well, for the tired," I amended. "Me too. Lunch was good though," she said, sounding hopeful. "Glad you liked it. Sweetie," I dared, and tried kissing her ear. "Mmmmm," she half-sighed-half-moaned, as she stood back up on her own feet before she kissed my cheek. "Just three and a half more hours..." "Oh, and I shouldn't call tonight, right?" She sighed again as her eyelids drooped. "Right. Oh, tomorrow I'll be out of cosmetology; doctor's appointment for the nausea." "Okay, good. You shouldn't feel bad like that," she said, which I totally agreed with; I just didn't think a doctor's visit would help. "Call me tomorrow night?" "Sure." "Uhhhggghhhhh," she complained as she stretched, and then waved as she moved off to class. I missed her. I wanted to take her home and put her in my bed so she could sleep, and then wake her up with something delicious. And maybe repeat the cycle a dozen times or so. "You know, Tuck, if you didn't keep 'em up until two in the morning," Amanda said, "they wouldn't look like that the next day." "It was only one or so. Wait, what?!" *** 12:02 2 Mar "Let us just say," Mike said to Jill, "that it was a tidy sum. Even after paying the bands, security, liquor distributors, Mob payoff, and everything else." "Yes," Jill nodded grimly. "Okay, so, I call up my contacts and see if I can find out what the buzz is on the street, after the concert. Like, whether it worked or not." "What was your Contacts Background?" "Uh..." She shuffled through her character sheet. "Three." "Oh, and because of the great success, recover all your Willpower." "Yes!" *** 15:22 2 Mar "Oh, good," I sighed happily; Miz Parker had gotten the ginger I needed, as well as more masks, more peppermint, and more lemons. And more meat, which meant I was going to need the masks etc. Still, I could take a hint. *Wait, did I bring the respirator?* No I hadn't. *Damnit.* Well, at least I had more masks and more peppermint. *** 16:22 2 Mar "Huh, she's home early," I thought, as I heard the garage door go up. At least, I thought it was Miz Parker. It was, and she didn't look sick. She looked happy, actually. "Oh, Valerie..." she grinned. "Ma!" Stella shouted, causing Miz Parker to pick her up. I responded, "Yes ma'am?" She let out a breath. "Um, I guess... Let me go talk to Ricky first," she said, and left. "Okaaayyyyy," I said to the empty room. *** 16:52 2 Mar "Valerie?" I flinched, because I'd forgotten about Miz Parker being home. "Yes ma'am?" I asked as I turned around. She was still holding Stella, and looking more happy than she had earlier. Which was getting disturbing. "I- We just confirmed it," she said. "I'm pregnant again." "Oh. Congratulations," I said hesitantly; I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. "Thank you!" she gushed, and came over and hugged me. Stella hugged me too. *Okay, happy about it.* "Oh my god, I can't believe it..." As she was holding the evidence that she could do it a second time, after she'd come back from talking to the evidence that she could do it the first time, I didn't understand what the belief problem could be. *** 17:56 2 Mar Whatever restraint had been there, ever since her sister had seen me in the hospital and shot off her fat patient-confidentiality-breaking mouth, was gone; Miz Parker chattered at me like I was one of her best girlfriends, about how happy she was and how they were going to have to move to a larger house very soon - which I thought of as the Apocalypse, but their house wasn't like ours, of course. And how she'd hoped she could have a third child, and how they still had some of Stella's infant stuff in the attic, and so on and so on. Stella seemed almost as happy with the idea of a new baby as Miz Parker was. Meanwhile, I made and cooked a meatloaf with some vegetables and cooked garlic bread and some more vegetables. *** 18:43 2 Mar "Oh, no, not tonight," I said; then I lied, "I was up kind of late doing homework last night, so I'm gonna go home and get some sleep." "Well, if you're sure," Miz Parker said. "Oh, I'm so happy!" she squeaked, and hugged me again. "I'm so happy for you," I lied with a smile. Right now, I wanted to get the hell away from this crazy woman. *** 20:02 2 Mar "Pam?" I asked before we started. "Can... Could you just hold me for a minute?" "Sure," she said, and did. "What is it?" "Just..." I shook my head. It was too early to be worrying about kids anyway. Belatedly, I wriggled an arm to where I could hold her back, as it were. We were like that until Mike showed up, and stopped. "Okay," he said, "either you're in pain," he said to me, "in which case I need to know why; or you're trying to re-hook with Pam, in which case I need to beat you. Or you broke up with Nicole?" "No. Just pain," I said to avoid a beating. "And, it's seriously NOTHING that can be fixed, and it's stupid anyway and I shouldn't be worrying about it; but it still hurts." Pam added, "And you don't want to talk about it." "And I don't want to talk about it, because I'm hoping that in a few hours or tomorrow, I'll look at myself and go 'what the FUCK was I worried about?' And I already feel stupid about it. But it's not- I mean, right now I hurt." I shrugged, and Pam let me go. "Maybe dance it out?" "Make you hurt all kind of new ways," Mike said. "That's encouraging," I commented as Pam whacked him on the shoulder. *** 21:16 2 Mar "So, how are you feeling now?" Pam asked me. She explained to Sabrina, "Val was having some- something. She said she was hurting?" she kind of asked me. "Emotional." "Yeah... It's better now," I sort of lied. The pain had gone from emotional to entirely physical. "Well, if you want to talk," Sabrina offered, and Pam nodded. "I mean," Pam added, "we're still friends, right?" "Well, yeah, I mean I hope so," I hoped. She came over and hugged me, so I hugged back. "Y'know, Nicole was right; I'm such a slut." "Liking getting hugged doesn't make you a slut, Val," Pam admonished me. "See, watch." She went over and hugged Sabrina, who looked a lot like a cat being kissed. "See?" Sabrina opened one eye and asked, "Is it over?" Then squawked as Pam kissed her on the cheek. "Ew cooties!" "GIRLY cooties," Pam intoned, and laughed as Sabrina frantically pawed at her face trying to brush them off. "Right, this makes me feel all better about being a slut," I said. Sabrina said, "Which you totally are. Ow!" "Don't be such a bitch, Sab." "Yeah, or you won't get to be a slut with me," I smirked. She rolled her eyes. "Like I'd want that." "You'd be arguing over clothing all the time anyway," Pam 'helped'. Sabrina and I both laughed. Sabrina said, "No we wouldn't; she does what I tell her," and I nodded. "Obey your fashion advisor at all times," I recited, and Sabrina nodded at me approvingly. She asked, "Speaking of which; are you free any time this week? Gina, Debbie's little, thought she might like to go out." "Probably to see Titanic," I guessed. Sabrina shrugged. "That'd be the way to bet. You know, you need to either break up with Nicole or stop-" "No way!" "-dating her and just have her over after two in the morning, or something. The Littles need you," she smirked. "Maybe we could date-and-a-half." "Oh yeah, that'd go real well, with the two of you sucking face all the time." "We do not!" "Every day at lunch!" "That's the only time we can see each other after cosmetology!" "Girls!" Pam scolded. "Play nice!" We both stuck our tongues out at Pam at the same time. *** 23:11 2 Mar As I cleaned my ears, I wondered how long I should actually leave the piercing studs in. And whether I needed to wait longer, after taking them out, before trying some 'real' earrings. *On the other hand, I don't give THAT much of a shit. Not tonight.* A little extra ginger might help me sleep better. *Hmmm.* Come to think of it... *** 03:02 3 Mar Ginger syrup in ice would apparently keep a while, and then I could add Dew to it when I woke up, and then I wasn't so inclined to vomit my face off. This was good to know. *** 03:12 3 Mar "Just wondered how you were doing," Jack had said, "so call me sometime. Want dinner or something?" "Hmm," I said to myself. The idea of eating, at this moment, was gross; but I had hopes the feeling would fade. And I would not mind getting out of the house; and, honestly, I wouldn't mind dressing up for dinner either. *** 06:02 3 Mar Jill, I guessed, was tapping on my door. "Oh hell. Bitches." I hated them all. Though what I meant by bitches I wasn't sure. But I was sure I hated them. *** 06:03 3 Mar "No," I said. "No, you didn't." Mike nodded, with a shit-eating grin. Except I REALLY hoped that wasn't literal. "Except we didn't stay up as late as you did, apparently," Mike smirked. "Hey, are you making breakfast?" *** 07:06 3 Mar Brian glared at me suspiciously. I told him, "Hey, if you don't want it, don't eat it." "Tell me why you're wearing a respirator," he countered. "So I don't barf. Which is why I'm here this late, so I can go see Doc Treble this morning." He still looked suspicious. "Fine, I can-" "No, I'll eat it," he said, just to be maximally annoying. Mom staggered in and headed for the coffee. I sighed and turned back to the stove; apparently I was making more. *** 08:52 3 Mar "Oh, just a blood draw," said the nurse, who I didn't recognize. I figured Miz Judy, my favorite nurse, was off today or something. Well, favorite for medical personnel, which was not my favorite sort of personnel. They always wanted to do something painful to me, and I mostly saw them when things had Gone Bad. Like now. She said, "Oh." "What 'oh'?" I didn't like 'oh' from nurses. "Oh, just the number of vials. Did you do everything else?" "Yeah?" This wasn't the first time I'd been here, after all; and nobody had seen a point in waiting for a nurse or whatever to do what I could do myself, or my parents or sister could do when they used to bring me, like taking the vitals. *** 08:58 3 Mar Doc Treble gaped. "HOW long?" "About two weeks," I repeated, not feeling well. "Why didn't you mention this before now!?" "Because it kept coming and going! And besides, isn't nausea a stress reaction?" "You haven't been under more stress than usual!" "How do YOU know?" She pinched her eyebrows. "Because you would've used that as an excuse yesterday, if that was the case." I needed to get a new doctor; this one knew too much. "Well, sh- She took five vials of BLOOD out of my ARM!" She countered, "And if you wait this long next time you have a problem, it'll be ten! Did you check your temperature?" "Yeah. Normal. Ninety-eight-point-eight, which is within the normal spread, you said." "Right..." she agreed, looking at the rest of the data. "Damnit. Could be anything, right now." That was the other reason I didn't want to come in. "Allergies?" "What?" "Have you had any unusual allergic reactions lately? Post-nasal drip, is what I'm thinking." "Not really. I'd notice that, right?" "I think you would... you could try a decongestant anyway, see if that helps." She made a note. "How's the asthma?" I shrugged. "Nothing new." "You said you were exercising?" "Yeah. Oh, not much there. Some. The cold-" "Makes it worse," we said at the same time. "Are you wearing a breath mask like you said?" "I said I was! I'm not suicidal!" She glared at me. "It took you this long to come in for nausea and vomiting, Tuck." *** 09:38 3 Mar "Because I had a doctor's appointment," I repeated to the idiot at the desk. "And, here's my doctor's note." "Why did you have it at nine in the morning?" "I don't have to answer that!" I answered, wondering what the hell she thought she was thinking. "Don't get rude, young lady," she told me. *I'm about to get a lot more than rude,* I thought but managed not to say. "Can I just have the pass please?" "Oh, Eugene," said the regular office drone as she drifted through, hopefully to kill this idiot interloper, "Mister Dobson wanted to see you." "Ohhh," I moaned, because I had stuff I could be doing, like some sorely neglected programming. *** 09:41 3 Mar "Oh, sure, not a problem," I told Mr. Dobson. "Just call him. Or you could get the disks yourself. Just make sure you get the ABSOLUTELY EXACT SAME brand and everything. Sometimes, some recorders don't like some disks, and at three dollars each, you don't want to go experimenting." The companies had probably done this on purpose, so the consumer would have to spend three dollars per disk experimenting. Or, you could let a pro do the experimenting, one who either didn't have any financial interest in the proceedings, or one who valued ethics over profit. Someone like, for instance, my dad. *** 09:49 3 Mar "Yeah, just run this, like I wrote down, and it'll tell you whether the CDR is the same as what's on the hard drive." One nice thing about command-line; if they could type, the command would work. It was much much harder trying to instruct someone where to put a mouse-pointer. "Can I run it at the same time as everything else?" "Not under Windows, which I bet is most of what you're doing," I said, and he looked annoyed. "Well, don't use a substandard tool and expect good results. I swear, you kids these days; you don't have any idea what it's-" "I don't think you're qualified to give me that lecture," Mr. Dobson said, as his face tried to contort into a smile. "In computers, I am," I smirked back, because I totally was. *** 10:44 3 Mar "Why did they need FIVE VIALS?" "Dunno, Tuck; maybe they just wanted enough." "Sheesh..." They'd taken 'enough' to keep a vampire going for a couple of days. "Hey-" "Vampire," Mike nodded. "Or a ghoul, getting it for later tonight. Since it was daylight." "Damnit. I gotta call and tell Doc Treble she's got a ghoul working there. That's gotta be illegal." *** 11:32 3 Mar "And they sucked all the blood out of my arm," I sighed into Nicole's hair and ear. Well, the rest of her was there too. "Poor thing," she said into my ear. "But you'll get better, right?" "I hope..." "Busy Friday night?" "Dunno. Oh, hey, the Pack girls want me to take a freshgirl out, sort of a training date. Wanna come?" She was too busy laughing to give me an answer, so I suggested, "I'll call you later, okay?" She nodded, but was still laughing too much to say anything. *** 15:31 3 Mar "Oh, I might could," I agreed, thinking about three boys and one Stella in my car. "It might be best to put them all in the back, though, and Stella up front." "You don't want boys roughhousing over the baby," Mrs. Kaminski told me what I already knew. Then again, I was a professional child care specialist, whereas she was only an amateur. According to Olympic standards anyway. *** 16:10 3 Mar "It was just an idea," I told Nicole. "I mean, I don't have to take her." I'd miss another showing of Titanic if I didn't, but at this point I think I could cope. "Okay, so how is this different from Don?" "Who?" "The guy at the restaurant? Remember-" "Oh yeah. Um. Okay, three ways. One, it's just a practice date with them; two, I'm ASKING you first; and three, I'm inviting you to come along, if you want." She burst out laughing, but luckily not directly into the phone, so I wasn't deafened. *** 16:38 3 Mar "Hey, Jack, it's Valerie. What about dinner out Thursday? I'm off after eight o'clock, if you want; and it'd be better to meet you someplace, separate cars. Call and leave a message, like you did. Bye," I said as I pressed the hook switch with a finger. The advantage of dialing my house from here, then outdialing, was that any Caller ID would point to my voicemail. Assuming that someone would be rude enough to use Caller ID to call me back instead of the number I'd told them that they were supposed to use; but I was that rude, so I had to assume everyone else was too. *** 17:11 3 Mar Now, I thought, was the time for that fish Miz Parker had been hiding in the freezer. Well, not now, exactly; fish didn't take long to broil. I did have to thaw it though. *** 18:44 3 Mar "What is THAT?" "What is-" Oh. "It's a respirator," I explained loudly to Miz Parker. "Makes it easier to cook, and not quite as whiffy as the peppermint trick." "Oh. Does it work?" "So far, so good." I wondered when I'd have to replace the filter, but that wasn't yet. "Except Stella doesn't like it." *** 19:02 3 Mar "How come you never eat with us any more?" Ricky exaggerated. "Because, I'm doing some dance practice at my house at eight, when a friend of mine is getting math tutoring from my dad." "You could get home by eight!" Well, not with having to change identities, I couldn't; but I wasn't going to say that. "Just trust me, okay?" *** 20:03 3 Mar "Not tonight," Dad said, "which is why I called them off. We have to talk." Oh shit. "About?" "Jill." Well, that explained why Brian was there. *** 20:19 3 Mar Brian looked away. "Jeez, I don't..." I wanted to say something, but Dad's hand over my collarbone tensed, suggesting that I give Brian time to think. Since I liked my collarbone in one piece, I did. He sighed. "Yeah, I mean... Yeah. She deserves it. She's working hard, I guess, and..." He shook his head. "Man, what a bunch of assholes." Mom let it pass, which told me all I needed to know what she thought about Jill's 'family'. "So you vote in?" Dad confirmed. Brian sighed, and nodded. "Plus it's only for a couple of years, right?" "She'd be family," Mom warned. "Worse than Mike." "Nobody could be worse than Mike," Brian and I said at the same time, and grinned at each other, before he punched my arm. *** 21:17 3 Mar "'Cause we had to talk about you," I told Jill. "And we didn't tell you about it in case it went bad. Which it didn't." She wasn't certain. "Means you're in." Her eyes closed, and she drooped, and I managed to catch her before she started sobbing; great racking horrors that made MY body hurt. *** 21:25 3 Mar Jill held onto Mom like... well, like a kid hanging on their mom. *** 21:50 3 Mar "It's not gonna be easy," Dad warned her. "This is your chance to get out of it." "What do you mean 'easy'?" Jill asked. We, the biological family as it were, plus Mike, looked at each other. I wasn't gonna say it; I'd been programmed too well. "You will swear never to reveal, to anyone else, any of the secrets we reveal to you, under pain of punishment up to and including summary execution," Dad said. "No joke," Mike said. Jill looked around, and we were all nodding. Dad asked her, "Do you accept?" "Do I have a choice?" she gasped. Mom answered, "Yes. Of course. But the full, legal, adoption requires that you know things, and accept things; and you can't make a choice about that unless you know them; and if we tell you, you are responsible for keeping the secrets." "Whether or not you choose to stay with us," Dad warned. "And keep them forever." "S'cool, Jill," Mike told her. "But you will have to sign in blood." "Tuck?" Jill asked me. "It's... it's not a bad thing," I said carefully. "We just have to be SURE you won't tell anyone else. Not Kim, not Debbie, not anyone." "It's technically not even illegal," Mom mentioned. *** 21:55 3 Mar "So, what secrets?" Jill asked. "Tell you later," Dad smirked. Mom complained instantly, "Bill!" Jill almost yelled, "Oh come ON!" I pulled her shoulders back, as she seemed really mad. "Jill! Seriously, there's more than we could tell you tonight, okay?" Mom came over and held up a hand to Jill. "We're not doing this to make you crazy; we just want you to be sure." She slowly reached out and took Jill's hand, and squeezed it. Jill let her, which was a good sign, although she still seemed angry. "This will give you time to think about it." *** 22:19 3 Mar "What she said, Jill," I assured her. "It's not a trick or anything. We just... We really want you to be sure, that you can keep something secret from everyone else, and I mean EVERYONE. Just us, and Mike. Not even Mike's parents know this stuff." "So what is it?" "I'm not cleared to tell you," I said with a faint smile. And blocked the punch and the other punch and got her to kick the wall instead of me. "You know what's really sick?" Which stopped her, like I'd hoped. "You fit right in around here." *** 22:57 4 Mar Jack had apparently left a message sometime while we'd been talking. I wasn't going to call him back now; but I could listen to the message, anyway. "Twenty twenty four," it said, and repeated the calling number, in case I wasn't staring at the Caller ID log-and-lookup screen like I was. "Hey, good to hear from you," Jack said. "How about Indian food? I was thinking Tandoor Indian, on Market Place. 'Bout eight-thirty okay? If not, call me, like, oh... after four sometime." I assumed he meant four in the afternoon. "Dutch, right? Right," he agreed with himself. "Oh you pig," I said. "Not you," I said to Penelope. "Sorry." *** 05:58 4 Mar "Oh, sure, why'n'hell not," I sighed. Pain and suffering was my life. Jill added, "Besides, it makes your legs sexy." "How would you know? You never wear skirts." "I do! Sometimes!" *** 06:24 4 Mar I was going to have to tell Nicole about Valerie, or quit this running bullshit; if she didn't appreciate my soon-to-be-sexy legs, I wasn't going to bother suffering like this any more. *** 07:11 4 Mar "Oh hey," I realized, "I have a respirator." "A what?" Jill asked, as Kim glared at me. I dug in my pack, and pulled out my 'cooking' respirator. "Dunno if it's good against solvents, but it might be..." *** 07:18 4 Mar "You are SO weird," Jennie assured me. "Yeah," I admitted, "but at least it's keeping the smell down." "Oh yeah?" she frowned in interest she didn't want to admit. "Where'd you get it?" *** 11:32 4 Mar "No Sunday dinner this week," Mike informed me, and maybe Sabrina and Amanda, as he came up. "Tuck, we gotta talk." "Wh-" "About Jill, and last night." "Oh. Now?" "Yeah, come on." I waved at Nicole as I passed her, but Mike was really in a hurry and wouldn't stop; I didn't even bother complaining. *** 11:36 4 Mar Well, it WAS probably the least likely room to be bugged in the entire place, especially since we'd removed our equipment. On the other hand, I'd never have asked Mr. Dobson to take off for a few minutes so we could use his office to have a very private discussion. Nor would I have let them, if I'd been him and someone else had been me. Well- But he had, and when the door shut, Mike motioned me closer, until we were about six inches away from each other's faces, and said, "I called your dad, and-" "You called-" "Shut up. We need your Uncle Lanier for this, and your dad said he was gonna fly out and be here Sunday, for Sunday night." "What? He preaches-" "This is IMPORTANT, Tuck." My hair stood up. "What the fuck are you planning you crazy god- meddling gook?" He grinned. "Not sure yet, but it'll be good." It was gonna be bloody, is what. I knew what he was like when he got into THIS mood. "Anyway," he said, "I gotta work on it the rest of the week, but you'd better have Sunday evening clear, with no visitors." "Oh, fuck," I moaned. *** 11:38 4 Mar "That was your discussion?" Mr. Dobson asked, his eyebrows up. "Very short, but very important. Thank you," Mike said, and bowed deeply. "Arigato!" "Arigato Dobson-sama!" I agreed as I bowed. "Hai!" "Hai!" *** 11:43 4 Mar The crowd was not happy. "Because we've got to ritually sacrifice nine virgins to make sure the sun keeps coming up," Mike claimed. "And trust me, you don't want to be there if we find out one of them's not pure." I let Mike try and convince them of that; I had to go inform the Pack. Who were NOT going to be happy. I decided, though, that I wasn't going to use the sacrifice of virgins thing on them. *** 16:20 4 Mar "Yeah, we've got some family thing Sunday, so supper's off," I told Nicole. "Oh, well," she sighed. "What about Friday?" "I'm cool with Friday, if you are." "I think so," she smiled into the phone. "I might not be able to cook dinner, though," I warned. "Mom." "Maybe you could come over here and cook for us?" "Haha, yeah; call Debbie and see what she charges to whore me out as a chef." *** 19:57 4 Mar "I'll eat when I'm done, Mom! I've-" "You NEED to keep your weight up, Eugene! You can't do it living on air and nice thoughts!" *Fucking bitch.* "I KNOW that!" "And did you find out what was wrong with you?" I wanted to hit her, really hard. *** 20:07 4 Mar I didn't understand how she could start ripping into me, and then be so nice to anyone else around me, like Jill or Sabrina or Pam. I mean, I didn't mind her being nice to them; but I wanted her to be nice, at least the same amount of nice, to me too. Apparently that was too much to ask, though. I'd been too angry to dance, until Mike locked on and we melded for a while. Even so, I was still kind of mad. But, anger beats pain like scissors beats paper, at least in me; so I was ready to go and do something energetic, to burn the rest of it off. *** 21:03 4 Mar "Maybe you are getting better," Sabrina said as I finished the move by doing a shoulder roll to get back on my feet. "Hope so," I said. Pam said, "Okay; Mike?" I turned to watch as Pam started the music and Mike started the same routine I'd just done. "One-two-down-hand- over-left-right-left-over-" *** 21:09 4 Mar "We seriously ought to be living together," Sabrina said as she passed me some ginger-and-club, which was becoming one of my favorite drinks. I had a vague urge for a gin and tonic instead, but that was merely wicked British influence. Especially since I didn't like gin. Well, I wasn't sure, actually. "We could do it at my house," Pam offered. "Just get rid of all the parasitical worms living there, and the evil beasts." Meaning her siblings and her parents, respectively. "Or here," I suggested, since I'd rather kill mine than hers. Well, not Dad. Plus I wasn't sure I could kill Dad; he'd probably figure out what I was planning and do it to me first. *** 21:20 4 Mar "Oh, by the way," Sabrina said, "I got the last couple things on Amanda's list. Your dad said he'd put 'em in the basement." "Groovy," I agreed, since that meant I could put Amanda's box together tonight or tomorrow morning and have it ready for her actual birthday. "How's your box doing?" She grinned like a maniac. "I LOVE it! And I'm actually getting good with Flight Simulator. Well, kind of." *** 22:02 4 Mar The intercom buzzed, irritating me, but I went and answered it, "Tucker." "Two from Six," Dad said. "You need to take next Monday, the ninth, off. For Jill." "Wh- F- Oh," I said. "Oh, okay." "Plan for it. We're faxing in the pre-excuse for you, Jill, and Mike tomorrow." "Oh, okay." I guessed I didn't need to actually do anything. "Uh..." "That is all," he intoned. "Two clear." "Six clear," he said before he hung up. "Huh," I said to myself as I hung up. "Wonder what- Oh, oh SHIT." It was Mike, and his ritual. "Oh SHIT. What the hell is he DOING?" *** 04:17 4 Mar It was a shame I couldn't dual boot Amanda's new bitch, but there just wasn't enough room on the drive; and the 'we' that was buying her presents, or at least the ones on the gift registry, didn't have enough invested to get a second hard drive. "Ah, well," I sighed to myself. At least I should have enough time to do some bathtub curve burnout testing before Saturday. And remove the network card when I'd finished; they did cost money, even the ISA ones. *** 06:56 5 Mar "Happy birthday!" I said to Nicole, and almost panted in relief that I hadn't fucked up and forgotten it. Which I seemed to do a lot. "Thank you..." She looked at me. "So where's my present?" I gaped. "Your- But I GOT you your presents al..." I stopped talking as she started cackling. Then she showed me she was wearing the silver rings-on-a-bar that I'd gotten for her, and the little gold bows in her upper holes. "Oh, and did you want to wear these?" she asked as she held out a box... which, it turned out, held the other gold bows. "I don't have the studs out yet." She frowned. "How long has it been?" *** 07:00 5 Mar We just made it into class as the bell rang, but we made it. My ears hurt, but it was a good kind of hurt. Well, no, it wasn't; but I was willing to put up with it for the sake of Nicole. "Oooh, pretty," Jill smirked at me. Kim beckoned with a finger, so I leaned forward and pulled my hair away. "That is cute," she said, shaking her head and smiling. *** 10:44 5 Mar "Tuck," Mike growled. "Did you put in ear-" "Nicole and I are wearing matching earrings today. Today's her birthday." As he groaned, Amanda asked, "So how come you didn't get ME matching earrings?" "Maybe we did," I smirked. "Yeah," Mike said in a dead voice, "and then we can all wear them." "Wear what?" Sabrina asked. *** "He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings." -- Torrin Polk Distribution: No part of this work may be distributed as an original work by another person or group. Permission is given to redistribute this by electronic means, as long as the entirety of the work (from the BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE header to the END PGP SIGNATURE footer) is distributed, and credit is given to the original author, me. And no fee may be charged. Archiving is permitted provided no fee is charged for access. All rights reserved. + @>--,--'----- Ellen Hayes o===[-------- __ vicki .sig + -=[1990]=- \/ virus 14.1 + http://www.barkingduck.net/ehayes PGP key: EFC9 5D55 (1996) + -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBUeNUcnYDebnvyV1VAQHq9wP/az3u6bQB94i3IRHg/0gS0kvan2zWRVRm fS8ximDpHzeDMFJKCbpWtWxU54HsN3vLnodAb2esRMw9zkATH4+xdZsYH8MNjf6T b7VUf9jOo9AilDautpK4Fx5jpU02NqiJ4u2bJTk26XWUm4rd3Tvm5XUwsUqBg0Ay /VKbnuc2sBA= =cQ7e -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----