A hearty roar bellowed out from the large oxen man as he clamored down the front steps of the modest single family home. Three boys—ages 7 to 11—hung from his neck and arms, laughing with childish pleasure.
"Ha ha! That's enough now," Michael Braddocks boomed. "Down with you!" he said, leaning over so the smallest boy could hop off his neck. The three boys turned to look up at him with adoring eyes. "I'll be gone by the time you get back from school—"
Whines of protest surrounded him.
"Ant! None of that now," he warned, holding up one large hand. "I'll only be gone for a couple of days this time, and when I get back, we can celebrate with pizza and vids!"
"You'll be back for my game Saturday, right, Dad?" the oldest boy asked eagerly.
"Of course," the man replied, smiling and ruffling the boy's brown crop of curls. "I should be back late Friday night. Plenty of time, right?"
The boy nodded just as a blue and silver van pulled into their driveway. From the driver's seat one of the car pool moms waved to them. "There you go then!" he said, turning them to the van and slapping their backsides affectionately. "Mind Sarah and PJ while I’m gone. No fighting and no getting into trouble at school!"
"Bye Dad!"
"Bye!"
"Bye!" the boys chorused as they climbed into the van and strapped themselves in, waving back to him as the van pulled out of the driveway.
"Have a good day at school!" he called after them, watching until the van disappeared around the corner. He turned, picked up his Preventers' jacket from the railing and locked the front door behind him.
It wasn't after hours at the Preventer Head Quarters, but the floor was empty anyway. Well, except for the two people in one of the last offices. Everyone else was at a Luncheon, celebrating the pregnancy of one of the secretaries. The head Preventer Agent had declined to join, along with her personal secretary, Karl.
The buzzer rang and, in an absent-minded movement, Lady Anne Midi Une depressed the intercom.
"Sally's on her way up, hon," Karl's voice feed through the speaker. "I’m gonna head off now. You need me to pick up anything while I’m out?"
"Thanks, Karl, I think I'll be fine."
"Alrighty then! See you in an hour, and, try not to have too much fun without me!"
Anne smiled and shook her head at the young man before quickly skimming through the open document, hurrying to finish it before her girlfriend could arrive. As luck would have it, she was on the last paragraph when the light rapping at the door sounded and Sally Po walked in, not even waiting to be invited.
"Oh, look at the busy, dedicated, working woman," Sally quipped, tossing a brown deli bag onto the desk as she maneuvered around it, settling herself into the more petite woman's lap. She buried her face in Anne's shoulder and neck, her hand ghosting up the other woman's arm and shoulder to settle down over one small but full breast. Anne leaned back into her chair, her arms coming up around the woman in her lap.
"Mmm," she purred, content. "She's ready for a break," she replied, her own hands beginning to roam, focusing on hips and shoulder. "Care to offer a distraction?"
Sally grinned, tilting her face up to steal Anne's lips as her legs fell open, allowing Anne's hand access to her inner thighs. "I thought I already was…"
Both women moan in appreciation.
"I think I could get used to this kind of distraction," Anne whispered, her voice low and husky.
"Good," came the reply as Sally slide off her lap to the floor between Anne’s knees, Anne’s skirt hitching up past her thighs. Sally’s lips ghosted Anne’s neck, tasting the strong pulse there; her fingers busily dancing down Anne’s blouse, buttons slipping free with careful, deliberate ease until the creamy blouse parted, revealing the shapely curve of two restrained breasts swelling against satin and lace. Sally buried her face between the two soft mounds, murmuring her appreciation of her lover’s fine body.
"Oh, God, Sal," Anne groaned, her fingers pulling in the twisted curls of Sally’s sandy hair.
Sally turned and sucked on one of the slopes, leaving a large red mark. She nuzzled and then moved to take the puckered nipple in her mouth, suckling through the layers of satin. Above her, Anne cried out and moaned, her slim hips undulating against Sally’s stomach. She grinned. "I could ravish you right here," she teased, nuzzling the breast again.
"I—" pant "thought—" swallow "you were," Anne managed to get out without whimpering.
Sally looked up at her. "True," she gave before her lips stole Anne’s in a hungry kiss, her tongue plunging between Anne’s willing lips, sweeping past sharp little teeth and over the ridged roof. She coaxed Anne’s tongue into her own mouth, sucking on the guest, refusing to let go as she pushed the matching satin panties down Anne’s thighs and knees. Her fingers teased apart moist, fuzzy lips, swiping up and down the crease from the tiny nub of flesh in the forefront, to the puckered opening in the aft. And then she pulled back, palming Anne’s sex and squeezing. Her fingers slipped between the moist lips, her small-kept nails grazing over the sensitized flesh.
Anne whimpered. Sally knew just how to touch her to turn her into a pile of mush. Even the smallest little touch that seemed so innocent, made her putty in the older woman’s hands. And she didn’t mind a bit. "Sa~ally," she moaned, arching into the other woman’s touch.
The other woman rested her head against Anne’s breast, her fingers still playing with her sex. "Have you thought about it any?" she asked, her voice soft and musing.
Anne gasped, pulling her mind away from the things Sally was doing to her body, and looked down at the sandy-head laying against her breast. "You’re not still going to push this, are you?"
Sally looked up, resting her chin on the slope of Anne’s breast. "I think it’s something we should honestly consider—not just brush it aside as an impossibility."
"Sally…" Anne’s fingers buried in the freed curls of her lover’s hair. "It just—" She shook her head. "It would be crazy to think about having a baby. Surely you can see that! With yours and my schedules so complete already, how would we every find time to take care of a child!"
Sally Po pulled away from her, her slick fingers slipping clear from her sex as she stood up and leaned back on the edge of the desk, hovering above Anne now. "You make the time, Anne," she said, lifting her fingers up to suck them clean. "Just like we make and find time for each other." Her tongue darted out and swiped clean the tangy cum covering her fingers.
Anne shook her head, closing her eyes against the attractive sight of the other woman sucking her fingers. "It’s not that easy, Sal," she insisted. "A child requires a lot more attention than an adult does; and a child doesn’t understand when you have to work late or break off a promised engagement because something came up."
Sally looked at her. "You’re making excuses, Anne. And they’re pretty lame ones, too. You know and I know." She turned around, picking up the discarded deli bag and pulling out two sandwiches. "Here," she said, handing one to Anne. "A child doesn’t understand starving yourself because you’re too busy working to stop and eat, either."
Anne’s shoulders dropped and when she didn’t take the offered sandwich, Sally turned. She fell to her knees again, wrapping her arms around the woman she’d come to know as fragile and loving. "Look, I’m sorry," she whispered. "I really am. It’s just----" She couldn’t hide the tears in her voice even if she could hide them from her eyes as she buried her face in Anne’s lap.
"Wufei," Anne breathed. Sally nodded.
"Seeing him pregnant and… and…" the older woman shook her head. "I just can’t keep getting over how unfair it feels that a *Man* should be able to have a baby before me, a *WOMAN*, could…"
Anne petted Sally’s head, smoothing the unraveled curls back. "I know," she whispered. "I’m sorry, but I… I just can’t be a mother," she finally said. "Mariemeia…" She bit her lip and shook her head.
They stayed there, like that, for several more minutes before Karl buzzed in that the rest of the staff was making their way back to work, "Finally!" and they straightened up and returned to their own jobs until they could see each other again later that night.
The report was waiting on her desk the next morning when Anne walked in, 7:30 sharp. She sat there, staring at the words in big red type until they blurred.
Mission: Failure
Causalities: 2
Wounded: 1
Two causalities. Two deaths—because of her, two more people were dead. She’d signed the order for these men and women to go out there; she had as good as signed their death warrants. Her eyes danced around the report, words and phrases jumping up at her. "Misinformed," "faulty statistics," "trap." She looked back at the two names, grey-dove eyes closing as images of two agents played like a video recording in her mind. Her shoulders dropped, and she took a moment to grieve for the two lives lost.
A soft knock at the door—the only warning before it pressed open and Karl walked in. "Cardigan and Myers are in the infirmary right now," he told her quietly, eyes scanning her thoroughly. "I figured you’d want to question them personally while they’re fresh."
She nodded and cleared her throat. "Yes, thank you, and… please…" She met his eyes for a moment, before looking away. "Contact their families—"
"Already done," he answered, flashing her a small, sad smile. It melted away quick enough. "Michael has—had," he whispered in a tear-hoarsed voice, "three boys." He waited until her broken face looked back at him. "No wife, no other relatives," he finished.
They continued to stare at each other in silence for another moment, sharing the same thought: more orphans caused by a needless death… will it every end?
Karl nodded, pulling back out of the room. "I’ll ring down and let Sally know to expect you," he called behind him.
"Thank you," Anne murmured, not moving. She remained sitting there at her desk, staring off dazedly, trying to make herself numb to the pain that threatened to overwhelm her, eat her alive.
Mike had children. Three boys. Three motherless and now fatherless boys. Because of her… It was her fault…
"So then she said, ‘Bad Daddy, bad!’" Noin laughed, leaning over the table to hide her face. "You should have seen Zechs’s face—I wish I’d had a camera!"
"Oh, I believe it!" Sally laughed, sipping from her mocha.
The End
Andrea Readwolf
Please send comments to: andrea_readwolf@hotmail.com