Coming Home

The story is a slow build and the sex is a little bit near the end.

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Honestly, if I never went back to my home town again, I felt it would be no loss whatsoever. It held few good memories for me. When I graduated from high school, I left for college and never returned, not even for summer vacation. I got summer jobs in the big city where I went to college, and had friends and found places to stay.

I'm Kris Rogers, named Krista at birth, but I preferred Kris. I'm 28 years old and not doing bad for myself. I do consulting and work all over the place, though mostly telecommuting from wherever I care to land. I'm 5'10" and 140 pounds and reasonably fit. I run and work out -- the old sound mind in a sound body thing. I'm a natural blonde, which makes some folks dismiss me, which makes it that much more delicious when I prove I'm not as dumb as they think.

I keep my hair pretty short -- a lot easier to maintain and I hate spending a lot of time on hair, and never bother with makeup for that matter. I tend to wear Docker style slacks and long sleeve shirts in a business environment, but more like jeans and a tee for casual. Of course that makes some folks think I'm lesbian, but since I am, that doesn't bother me.

Not that I'm sleeping with anyone of any gender at the moment. My last girlfriend got pissed because I was out of town so much. She got lonely and found comfort elsewhere, as it were. It was a fairly cordial breakup, but she wanted someone to be at home every night, and I wanted someone who wasn't sleeping with almost every woman I know.

Clearly, as much as I seemed to be traveling, it was hard to have a real relationship. Sure, I could find hookups almost anywhere I went, but after a while, the thrill of that fades. Maybe I'm a little old fashioned that way, but I wanted someone to love and settle down with. And that's hard when I'm not in one place all the time.

At any rate, after ten years away from home, I was coming back for a spell. Now I'd seen my parents regularly over the years, mostly when I sprung for little vacations for them, or long weekends when we could be together. They say you can't go home again, well I didn't want to. So why was I? When your father gets seriously ill, you can't just sympathize from a distance -- I can't anyhow.

So I flew to the closest airport to my little home town. Puddle jumper for the last leg, since the airport there didn't handle normal size passenger jets. I rented a car and drove the last few miles to my home town. My town had a small hospital that served several of the small towns nearby. My dad was in that hospital, so I went directly there.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for the room of William Rogers."

The receptionist glanced at me. "Yes sir, he's in room 203." Okay, so I dress in slacks and have short hair. Still most people can tell I'm a woman. I just chuckled and shook my head and took the stairs to the second floor.

The hospital only has about 50 beds, but has solid basic care. They can handle moderate trauma, basic surgery, and basic cancer treatment. If you have major trauma, need a transplant, or require the most advanced types of care, you have to go to the big city, but they can handle most of the needs of the community.

My dad had cancer, but it looked to be early enough for surgery, chemo, and radiation to handle it. Community General could handle his treatment, so that's where he was. They had ties to the Oncology department in a large regional medical center, and were getting advice and such from them. If it got worse, Dad could go there, but it was 150 miles away, and hard to go to for regular treatment.

I had been at Community General many years ago when I broke my leg. It was by no means life threatening, but ended my soccer career and any hopes I had for being the next Mia Hamm. Long buried memories that couldn't help but emerge as I walked to my father's room. I was near it when I heard a voice.

"Kris Rogers, oh my God, is that really you?"

I turned to see a nurse walking toward me, and it took a few second for me to recognize her face.

"Nicole Simmons?"

"Thomas now."

Nikki walked up to me and gave me a big hug. I had a flashback to some of my few fond memories from high school. I was never among the popular kids in high school. I was feminist and outspoken about it. I dressed a bit butch, even more so than now, and didn't spend my time mooning over boys or flirting with them. I had a few friends, and Nikki was one of them.

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Ten years earlier.

I walked down the hall before first period. I could hear mutters of sneers and derisive comments from some of the popular kids. I stopped at my locker to get some books and drop off some others. While I was there, Nikki walked up to me.

"Kris, I heard you were nominated for prom queen."

"Shit, I didn't do it, must just be some jackass trying to pull my chain."

"Are you going to tell them to withdraw your name?"

"I might. I sure don't want the 'honor' but we know I won't be elected anyhow."

"I think Julie Sanders is the only other nominee."

I closed my locker and locked it and we began walking toward class. We talked as we walked down the hall.

"I don't know what she'd have to do not to be elected."

"She is the most popular girl in the school."

"And I think we know how she got to be so popular."

Nikki smiled as I said that. Julie was the head cheerleader and had 'dated' a lot of the football team at one time or another. As best anyone could tell, she was acquainted with the back seats of a lot of cars. Popularity had its costs as well as its benefits. Julie seemed to relish those costs along with the benefits.

"Well, Kris, you're so outspoken about women's rights that half the school thinks you hate men and sleep with women."

We were near the classroom as I stopped and turned to her. "Nikki, are you in a mood to pull some people's chains?"

"Why? What did you have in mind?"

With that, I pulled Nikki to me and kissed her. This wasn't some chaste little peck on the lips. This was a full bore passionate romantic kiss. I didn't hold it long, but as I pulled back, her eyes were about as big as I've ever seen anyone's eyes. She looked almost as though her legs were going to give out under her, so I held onto her for a few seconds more until she pulled back.

"Well, Nikki, that should set a few tongues wagging."

"My God, Kris, my heart feels like it's trying to break out of my chest."

"I suppose we'd better get to class. Let me know if you want to study together after school."

"Study?"

"We don't need to do anything but study. Let me know later."

There were kids gaping at us as we walked the rest of the way. I could see Nikki's knees shaking as she walked. We went into class and sat down.

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Present day.

"You're obviously here to see your father."

"How is he?"

"As well as could be expected. They had to remove part of his lung. He'll be here for about a week, then get chemotherapy and radiation therapy for some time after."

"And that should take care of it?"

"There's no guarantee. But they found no evidence that it had metastasized."

"That's great. I appreciate the update."

Nikki grabbed a piece of paper, wrote on it and handed it to me.

"I have patients to take care of and you need to see your father, but give me a call later. I'd love to get up to date with you."

"Absolutely."

With that, she gave me a quick peck on the cheek and rushed off. I was kind of stunned, but turned and went in my father's room. My mother was there, and my father was still unconscious from the surgery. He had tubes and all kinds of machines hooked up to him. Just seeing him like that was enough to make my knees weak. Mom took my hand and I sat down in a chair next to her.

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Ten years earlier.

Nikki and I walked home from school at the end of the day. She seemed a little shy and withdrawn, but not standoffish. We only lived a couple blocks apart, and not that far from school.

"A lot of people were giving me strange looks by the end of the day."

"Well, Nikki, that's a normal day for me."

"The other day, I'd talked to Ben about going to prom, but when I saw him this afternoon, he gave me the brush off."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put you in that position. But if he's serious about you, he'll get over it."

"Did you really want to study, or was that just something you said?"

"We can study, or we can do other things, or we can each just go home, whatever you want."

By this time, we were at Nikki's house. We stopped in front of it, and Nikki kind of looked down at the ground as we talked.

"I like boys."

"I don't want you to do anything you're uncomfortable with."

"I'm not sure what I'm comfortable with."

"If you'd like, we can experiment a bit and find out."

"My mom won't be home for another hour."

We went in Nikki's house. To be fair, Nikki and I never did any more than kissing and some light petting. We never removed any clothes, and never touched breasts or between the legs. But we kissed and touched in less intimate ways. It wasn't every day, nor was it for long any day, but we got together a couple times a week for the rest of the school year.

Ben never did get over it, but as it turned out, Matt asked Nikki to the prom. I skipped the prom. The school would never have let me show up with a female date, and there were no guys that I wanted to go out with. Over the summer, Matt and Nikki seemed to get serious. I was happy for them. Matt was going in the Army, and Nikki planned to go to community college. I went away to a big university and never looked back.

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Present day.

Nikki and I met at a coffee shop, well actually the only coffee shop in town, once she'd completed her shift. She was still in her scrubs, as we sat and talked.

"So, you ended up a nurse?"

"Matt joined the Army and after basic training, he came home and we got married and I soon got pregnant. He got a deployment overseas immediately, while I was in college. Along the way I decided I wanted to help people and entered the nursing program."

"And how is Matt doing?"

"They sent him to the Middle East almost immediately. When he came home, he was different."

"How different?"

"He had nightmares and was not especially loving or trusting any longer. He was always on edge and suspicious."

"Shit."

"He got a deployment to a base on the coast, and I told him I had to finish my schooling. He blew up and accused me of all sorts of things."

"What then?"

"He spent a while there, before getting another deployment to the Middle East."

"You stayed married."

"In name anyhow. On rare occasions he'd write, call, or e-mail. Sometimes almost like the old Matt, sometimes even worse than before."

"When that was done?"

"His enlistment was up and he came back here. By that time I had my nursing degree and was starting to work."

"Was he any better the second time?"

"Worse -- he was abusing drugs and alcohol. He couldn't hold a job and swung between being very needy emotionally and being verbally abusive."

"Did he straighten out?"

"He got arrested for drugs. He wanted me to bail him out, but I had nothing left after he'd spent all my money on drugs."

"So he's in jail?"

"Got out, got arrested again. Started dealing drugs. Finally died of an overdose."

"I'm sorry."

"There was nothing I could do. He didn't trust me enough."

"Did you remarry?"

"Matt and I had a daughter, between working and taking care of her, I hardly have time for dating. And too many guys have no interest when they find I have a child."

"Where is your daughter?"

"My sister Emily is taking care of her for a little while. She's been such a help."

"You seem to have done okay in spite of everything.."

"It gets lonely at times."

"I'm surprised you haven't caught the interest of someone else. You're still an attractive woman."

"There's the married men -- not interested in them; the gay men -- not interested in me; the ones only looking for sex -- and I need more than that; and of what's left, some are too young, some too old, and some have no interest. Besides that, I have a demanding job. I can't be at some man's beck and call."

"Wow."

"So what about you? Did you ever find someone and settle down?"

"I've been traveling a lot, doing consulting. That makes it hard to have a stable relationship."

"No one?"

"There have been a couple of women, but it just never lasted. They needed me around more than I could manage."

"So you stuck with women? No men in your life at all?"

"I went on a couple of dates, but it never felt the same. Seeing a woman's smile makes my heart flutter. Never been anything like that with any guy."

"I understand."

"No women, for you?"

"I've kissed a few girls along the way. No one who compared to you though."

With that, Nikki seemed to get a bit embarrassed. She got up from the table.

"I need to go get my daughter. It's been nice seeing you again."

"I'm going to be in town for a while. I'd like to get together to talk again."

"I'd like that, but it depends on my schedule."

Nikki shook my hand, paused for a second, gave me a quick hug and darted away. I stood slowly, kind of shook my head, picked up my stuff and headed back to my parents' house, where I'd left my things earlier. I got along fine with my parents, they were never the problem. The other people my own age were always the problem.

Mother had picked up some Chinese for us for dinner and wanted to talk to me before we went back to the hospital. I had beef with black mushrooms, while my mother got Moo Goo Gai Pan. We had a nice dinner before going back to the hospital to check on dad. He had regained consciousness, though he was still pretty dopey from the anesthesia.

He'd need to spend a few days in the hospital before coming home. He'd need home nursing care for a while and then return to the hospital for radiation and chemo. The doctors told us he had a good prognosis, but would need care for a few months, at least. I told both my parents that I had some jobs lined up that would mostly let me work remotely, so I'd be there for them most of the time.

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My home town was small and still pretty insular, so I knew there would be nothing like a girl bar anywhere close. Hell, I doubted there would be any sort of gay bar. Mother told me that someone had tried to open one, but the owner and patrons got harassed so much that they closed it down. Basically I could figure that I'd be thoroughly single for the near future.

My father came home after a few days, still very damned weak. My mother provided most of his care, with me helping out as I could. The hospital said they had nurses who would come by each day to take care of real medical needs for a while. The hospital is not large, so they don't have a large pool of doctors or nurses, for that matter.

After about a week, in which we had a string of nurses come by to take care of dad, Nikki showed up as our nurse of the day. I'd been so tied up, working remotely and helping mother take care of my dad that I hadn't even thought of Nikki. We had been friends in high school, but that was long ago, and she was basically straight, not that I had a lot of time for social things anyhow.

"I kind of thought I might hear from you, Kris."

"I'm sorry Nikki. I've been busy working remotely and taking care of my father. And I figured between work and taking care of your daughter, you were busy anyhow."

"Maybe, but I can always make time for an old friend."

"Well then we should get together for dinner some time and catch up."

"How about tonight? My shift is over at five, and my sister is watching my daughter."

"Sure. I'd love to see something other than the inside of my parents' house."

"La Bella at 6 pm. I'll see you then. Hate to run, but I've got more work to do."

"I'll be there."

With that, Nikki kissed me on the cheek, turned and left, smiling as she walked out the door. Now if Nikki was gay and if she'd kissed me on the lips, I'd figure for sure that there would be more than dinner. As it was, I was a little surprised and returned to doing a little more work on line. I had a video conference meeting with the clients shortly and I needed to get my shit together.

After my meeting, I showered and dressed. If it had really been a hot date, I know how I'd have dressed, but wanted to play that down and just look like two old school friends getting together again. I wore a nice pair of slacks, a long sleeve dress shirt, and some closed flats. Nothing fancy, but casual dressy, I suppose. My mother saw me as I was getting ready to leave.

"Hot date, I see."

"Mom, I'm just meeting Nikki for dinner. That's all."

"You're big enough so I won't wait up for you, and you have your own key."

"I expect to be back before you go to bed."

"You never can tell."

"Mother! Nikki is straight. She was married to a man and has a daughter."

"Wouldn't be the first time someone changed direction down the road."

"Nikki isn't like that."

"Weren't you two 'close' back in the day."

"We never did more than a little kissing. That's all. She liked boys, not girls."

"So maybe she's ready for a little more now."

"Don't do this to me. Please."

"Just keep your options open, baby."

I figured I'd better get out of there before it deteriorated further. In no way did I think that Nikki wanted to be my lover. I was resigned to several months of chastity until my dad was sufficiently recovered for me to get back to the big city where I could find some genuine lesbians and maybe a few bi-curious straight girls.

The town was large enough to have a very few options as far as dining. We had a diner, which also served as a truck stop for the interstate nearby. There was the Chinese place, which had been opened by a Vietnamese couple who were the only oriental people in town. Of course we had places like Micky-D's and Taco Hell but I would not insult real restaurants by referring them to as such.

La Bella was an Italian place that had been there since I was in high school. It was mostly known for pizza and spaghetti, though they had a killer veal piccata and an excellent chicken marsala, along with great shrimp scampi, and other nice dishes for the more discriminating diners. I arrived a little before 6pm and walked in. I walked in but didn't see Nikki there.

"One for dinner?"

"I'm meeting a friend. She should be arriving shortly."

"She? Hmm." The woman looked me over very carefully, and had a cynical little smile.

"An old high school friend. We're just catching up. That's all."

She nodded and led me to a table in a comparatively dark corner of the restaurant. The place was not large, but I remembered that back in the day, couples would go to this table, so they could do a little kissy face in and around eating. I thought about asking for another table, but about that time, Nikki walked in the door.

She saw me, waved and immediately headed over in my direction. The woman left two menus on the table, smiled and walked away as Nikki came over. Nikki had changed out of her scrubs and wore a nice skirt that came down to just above her knees. She had a low cut top and a bra that allowed her breasts some nice movement.

I suppose I should describe Nikki. She is 5'4" and 115 pounds, with a cute face and what appeared to be b-cup boobs. She had dark brown hair, roughly shoulder length that she seemed to keep in a pony tail when she was working, but which she had let down, very nicely now. She had a slim figure with a cute ass. She was never a knockout, but had always looked pretty, even in high school, and so much more so now.