Sera Ch. 10

Sheila's voice had become thick and a single tear raced quickly down her cheek. Auntie Kathleen's features had softened and I could tell she was fighting an emotional reaction to Sheila's words, but she still refused to even look at her.

After a brief silence, Ashleigh quietly asked, "Any of that sound familiar, Kathleen?"

Her unexpected answer was to get out of the loveseat with a stagger and stiffly, hastily leave the room with her skirt still hiked, hopelessly tangled panties only pulled to the tops of her thighs. She didn't slam the door, but her exit left the rest of us strangely uncomfortable without her. When Ashleigh broke the silence, her words held regret rather than anger.

"Well, so much for our family meeting. Just when we were maybe starting to get somewhere, too."

Steven

I was left alone with Ashleigh after the meeting broke up. I looked at her, wondering what in hell she was thinking as I hitched my pants and she regarded me with a questioning expression, but stayed silent until I spoke.

"Are you fuckin' serious?"

"What?" she sighed.

"How do you think this helps anything?"

"Because what I say goes," she said.

I only stared at her, shaking my head again, but this time laughing as I said, "Do you forget who we're talking about here? You think your little stunt is going to make everything okay? She'll probably be mad at me because I let Sheila suck me!"

"Grow up," she toned.

"Grow up!? Did you see Kitten's eyes!? Huh!? Didn't I fuckin' tell you!?" I demanded, yelling now. "I've been trying to alert you to what's been going on, I told you about her and Mum, but you-!"

She held up her hand and I could tell it was a strained effort at respect, her expression telling me that her voiced alternative wouldn't have been so political. Once I stopped, containing my own anger as I tucked my shirt, she closed her eyes and tolerantly gave me her parting explanation, for what it was worth.

"Steven... I could explain it to you, tell you what to do. But what good would that be? It would defeat the purpose. If you can't figure it out yourself, then I'm afraid I've overestimated you."

It was unfathomable and I only stared as she rose and gracefully left the room.

Back in my apartment, it was time for another drink as my anger came to a sudden head. I went fuming to the kitchenette with an angry sneer at Mum's casual abuse and Ashleigh's inability to do anything about it.

"This is fucked."

"Maybe she really does know what she's doing," I replied hopefully.

"Yeah, sure. Forcing the issue with Sheila right in front of them? Just because she did whatever the hell she did to Mum doesn't mean she's gonna accept Sheila sucking our cock! How in hell does Ashleigh think that's gonna solve anything? It's crazy! She's not looking at this from an underwater point of view!"

After a time and another strong drink, I decided, "We have to go to Mum. If we don't, Ashleigh's hair-brained fixit scheme will wreak havoc between us."

"What!? Have you forgotten our recent punishment for hanging out with Sheila behind her back, followed by what just happened in the library? I think you should be a little bit more careful before running to Mummy's tender mercies."

"Look, she's already... punished us for hanging out with Sheila, and she won't do it again unless we get caught repeating the offense. As for what happened in the library, that was as far beyond our control as it was hers and she knows it."

"Let's say I'm stupid enough to think Mum's that predictable. Exactly what is it that you hope to accomplish by going to see her on the heels of our family meeting?"

"Somehow carrying through Ashleigh's fence mending initiative without making it look like we support it."

I replied to this with a short laugh, then, "Have you also forgotten about Kitten? Did you see her eyes in there? There's no longer any doubt, she's been kick-started and it had to have been Mum that did it because she's the Burchell who's having sex with her!"

"But, how do we know it was Mum that kick-started her?"

"Why would Ashleigh task us with softening the blow for Kitten where the Jedi thing is concerned, then kick-start her before I could? Why would she then continue to encourage me to warm up to Kitten, gradually introducing her to the truth when she's already initiated kitten anyway? It makes no sense!"

"Okay, so it was Mum. All the more reason to deal with her first."

"Deal with her?"

"That's right. Mum first, then Kitten. Look, the fact is that Ashleigh did task us with this shit, and we agreed. We're her agent."

"Are you kidding? Did you hear her in there before she left? We shouldn't do another fuckin thing until she comes across like she obviously could! If she wanted to!"

"Wrong."

"Wrong!?"

"Yes, wrong. This whole thing doesn't make sense somehow and it's time we shook some trees to see what'll fall out."

"You want to shake Mum's tree? Haaaa," I expressed without a shred of humour.

"We're going to do what's expected, just what Ashleigh wants, but in our own way. That's why we go to Mum first."

"Ashleigh said Kitten first."

"If you'd acted before now, we'd have that luxury."

"Yeah, great. Fuck off, alright? (Sigh!) Okay, so we go to Mum. What, dare I ask, is the go-to-her plan?"

"Shut up, you know I don't have one."

"And that's not the way we operate."

" ... That's not the way you operate."

Kitten

Gina wasn't at my place, was probably still waiting in her apartment, and I felt it was just as well. Mixing a drink, I went out to my balcony, rather than out into the halls to find the first cock I could get down my throat. Settling into the chair from the corridor, I put my drink down and gazed out over the property, a veritable paradise of flora.

Sitting there, the rising frustration of Ashleigh allowing for Stevie and Sheila was equaled only by my alarm over how much it turned me on to make out with her. Worse yet, beyond my fear of what disaster it would lead to, I couldn't get over how watching her suck his cock turned me on, not at all surprised to find that my panties were soaked after I returned to my apartment.

This too, I found odd. My horny was there as always, but different, almost as though I had an odd form of control. It was that subtle difference I felt after Auntie Ashleigh and I had that orgasm together.

These thoughts led me to recall what Auntie Ashleigh did to Auntie Kathleen and the temporary effect it had on her. It was almost as though she'd slipped her a micky. I remembered Gina telling me that my family gave her the creeps, the way she'd been acting and how badly she wanted to leave, and could then half understand why.

"There's something going on here," I thought aloud. "Something big. ... Something... weird."

Yes, weird. Stevie even hinted around at it, as had his mummy and even Auntie Ashleigh from the very day I'd arrived. Out on the balcony with my feet up and thinking back, I realized I should have seen it sooner. Gina did. Maybe I was too wrapped up? Wrapped up in the grandeur of Ashleigh's estate, the fact that I have this whole other side to my ancestry that I never would have guessed at? Was it that all of that blinded me to something between the lines? The fact that Sheila was there was really enough to do that alone, wasn't it? In fact, anybody who knows Sheila would immediately look at her as explanation for anything weird.

Of course, this didn't prove any complicity, but my rationale wanted to look at her anyway. I'd often heard from people back home of her ability to convince people to do almost anything, but what happened to Auntie Kathleen was done by Auntie Ashleigh, not Sheila. It was confusing and the overriding feeling that something weird was going on seemed laughable, yet... something had been going on since Gina and I had arrived.

The conversation I'd had with Stevie sprang to mind, the things he'd said about how all the Burchells have odd similarities to each other, the things he'd said about Marie, my late grandmother. I had the definite feeling at the time that there was more to what he was saying, more that he could have said.

And then there was Stevie himself. He wanted me, no question. I wanted him, no question. Even both my Aunties saw what was there and it was time I stopped kidding myself. Especially where he and Sheila were concerned was it time to stop kidding myself, and that meant...

I erupted from my chair, suddenly quite disturbed at what that meant, what I finally admitted to knowing. With a panic attack coming on, I carried my glass back into the apartment at a quick walk, repeatedly inhaling sharply and whooshing it out again. Pacing, I kept this up, taking a gulp of the good stuff as my heart fluttered madly and my tummy started to cramp. Longing for Daddy's arms around me made it worse, and it was only by quite an effort that I managed to bring myself under control.

"Okay!" I hissed, my eyes darting around the living room. (My living room) "No problem! ... No problem. Have to... uhhh..."

I took another drink, observing the room in more detail. Mr. Sparkles, all sleepy-eyed and obviously just waking up, emerged from my bedroom, double-timing it to my feet when he saw me. I felt the slow return of calm as I continued to look around, feeling the rest of the house and property beyond the walls of my apartment. For the second time, I seriously considered the reality of making this the home Auntie Ashleigh wanted it to be for me. This contemplation was no longer fueled by fancy, rather a new feeling, almost a certainty, that it would eventually come to that. I had to have Stevie.

I fed Mr. Sparkles and finished off my drink so I could mix myself another before returning to the balcony. Sitting back in my chair, I stared at the horizon and took a sip.

"I could go home... I could just pack our bags, grab Gina, go home and forget all about him and this place."

"No," I replied with a resigned strength, that difference that was there within me since Auntie Ashleigh and I had had that wonderful orgasm together. "Things have already gone far beyond that. Things went far beyond that the minute you walked through Auntie Ashleigh's front door. You know it. I know it."

It was upsetting, what I'd said, but it came with a new confidence that I never had back home. It served to offset my fears as I vacantly stared at the top of the trees, intentionally blurring my eyes at their contrast to the gathering clouds in the sky.

When I awoke, I couldn't remember even going to sleep. The clock by the bed (my bed) told me it was twenty minutes to six and I immediately thought of Gina. I was supposed to talk to her, had promised I would. Did I drink myself unconscious? It didn't seem likely since I never did that, but I had been drinking a lot more than usual lately. Rolling over with an effort, the sudden memory of making out with Sheila that morning returned to my mind, and the first thing I felt was a tingle from miffy.

"Oh my god." I further recalled with hushed tone, remembering Sheila sucking my Stevie's juicy looking cock.

I was soon quite awake with the reality of these events setting in, my painfully sober mind railing even as damned miffy tingled again. For the good of my sanity, I got out of bed, still fully clothed, and went to get a drink, again remembering Gina with a guilty groan.

The drink turned out to be a slug straight from the bottle, then a second before I abandoned it, hoping Gina would still be in her apartment as I headed for the door. Outside my apartment, the corridor was empty as I pushed her doorbell, but she didn't answer. Trying the knob, I found it unlocked, so I went inside and right away heard the explanation for the doorbell's failure.

She was taking a shower with the stereo turned up, blissfully singing along to I Touch Myself, by the Divinyls. She wasn't a bad singer and her voice was all the better in the shower. Smiling, I slowly walked to the doorway while I listened, watching her gauzy form behind the steamed, frosted glass of the stall.

"Hi, smutty," I greeted when the song was over.

She started at the sound of my voice.

"Sorry."

"It's okay," she assured with some embarrassment in her tone. "How long were you standing there?"

"Not that long. Don't worry, you know I've always loved your singing."

"More than I do."

"Yeah. Hey, sorry about earlier. I kind of flaked out."

"I know. I was over a few hours ago to see if you got back, and you were passed out in your chair."

" ... I was?"

"You looked so peaceful, so I left you and came back here."

"In my chair?"

"Out on the balcony."

I didn't reply, again silently asking myself if I'd really had that much booze.

"How'd the family meeting go?" Gina asked, cutting the spray of hot water. "What was it about, if it's okay to ask?"

As her singing suggested, she seemed in a good mood, but there was also that note of care that people have when all may not be well between them and a loved one. At the moment, I shared it and for much better reason.

"Uhh... mostly about what went on last night. Auntie Ashleigh was pissed off."

"So am I. Did Sheila get in trouble?" she asked, stepping out of the shower and reaching for a large bath towel, looking at me a little funny.

" ... Look, I really meant it when I told you I was sorry about how I treated you."

"I know," she said with a slow and slightly relieved smile.

"And I'm sorry if you've felt out of the loop lately. I don't mean to sideline you and I hope you don't think that's what I'm doing."

"No... I understand that you don't want me up your ass, but I sometimes feel... alone here. Without you."

"Um... you know that everyone here likes you, right?"

"Yes."

"Especially Auntie Kathleen."

"Yes," she agreed again, the tiniest smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as she dried herself.

"And I know you like her. Gina, I'm sure every member of my family would gladly include you in any activity."

"As long as that activity doesn't involve some clandestine, Burchell family business," she said, looking at me a little funny again.

She didn't say it with any malicious intent and I could only smile back, feeling guilty about how she was still in my way.

Her odd glances persisted into her bedroom where, I couldn't help but notice, her suitcase had moved to. I surreptitiously looked into her full length dressing mirror to see what the problem was, and saw right away.

"Omg," I said to the mess looking back at me. My wrinkled blouse was untucked and buttoned crookedly halfway up, one bare breast almost totally visible. My bra was gone and the fly of my dress pants was down without panties beneath. My makeup was mostly wore off, what was left smeared as hopelessly as my tangled mess of mousy brown hair.

"I, uh, didn't want to say anything," she said with a smile in her voice.

"Omg," I repeated. "Uhh. Okay, I'm gonna run next door and, um..."

" ... Do something with yourself?"

I whipped my head around at that and found her to be actually laughing. She was trying to be quiet about it with one hand shielding her expression, her nice, knee length business skirt held in her other.

"Gina!"

She laughed even harder, managing, "I'm sorry, but I'm looking at you and thinking, what the fuck!?"

And then we were both trying not to pee ourselves laughing.