Chapter 38

Jiang Yi was suspicious when Candace brought her outside to an old white panel van, but there was a woman in a nurse's uniform in the passenger seat who nodded at her and smiled. When they got in the back, there were no seats; Candace apologized for this, saying, "Sorry about the seating -- the van is a recent acquisition and we haven't fixed this problem yet." She sat with Jiang Yi for the trip, too, in the dim interior light that shone from the front of the cargo bay. "We need a vehicle that can transport people from other locations to our main gathering place without revealing its location," Candace explained. "We'll get better at it, but for now, this is the best we have -- otherwise, we have to do what we did with you before. At least this preserves your hairdo..."

On arrival, Jiang Yi was escorted down the side stair of a house and into an apparent basement or split-level lower floor by Candace and the nurse, who introduced herself as Beth. There, behind a curtain, she was surprised to find what appeared to be at least the rudiments of an examining room, including an examining table with stirrups. The nurse apologized for a lack of johnnies, explaining that they were just setting this area up and didn't have all of the trappings, yet, and provided a sheet for Jiang Yi to cover herself with. Jiang Yi undressed and settled herself on the table under the sheet. And the nurse took her temperature and blood pressure and had her look at some medical history forms, then ducked through the curtain saying, "I'll be right back with the doctor." Jiang Yi, her suspicions mostly nullified, began penciling in various items of information. Moments later, the nurse came back, trailing a younger man in a doctor's coat and scrubs.

Fred and Damian arrived soon after Jiang Yi, parking Fred's pickup behind the van. Fred was blindfolded, as he had been before -- but he survived this particular trip a lot better than the last one. Damian led him downstairs and put him in Randy's charge while he went and got Candace and sequestered her in Booth Three.

Due to the proximity of Booth Three to the curtained-off area, Jiang Yi could actually hear the next exchange...

Fred rapped on the wall of Booth Three, "Y'all in there?"

Beth held a finger to her lips to keep Jiang Yi from responding. Candace, inside the booth, replied, "Yes."

"I worked up an estimate -- two, actually," Fred explained. "The cheaper one involves putting in a raised floor eight inches above the concrete. Then I can slope the floor toward a drain and don't have to poke holes in the concrete for piping. It's cheaper and easier -- but I couldn't recommend it except for the fact that the floor joists from the floor above provide more clearance over where we're putting the bath in."

"I see..." Candace replied.

Damian had circled around and slipped into the booth to point things out. "I'm showing her the differences, Pa. Go ahead."

"Either way, you have to get a pump; you might be able to get over some for just showers, but for a toilet you need a decent pump. That's the worst of it."

Candace eyed the list. The worst-case was several thousand dollars. "How much of this do you hope to take out in trade?" she asked.

"I'm hoping that I'll find most of the materials somewhere," Fred replied. "The pump is probably not negotiable, although I might be able to get it wholesale. If we have to tear up the floor..."

"We're not doing that," Candace replied positively, looking at the numbers.

"Good," Fred replied. "From a drainage standpoint, raising the floor is a better solution."

"Okay. What else do you need?"

"Permits. The boys can go get them, but there are fees -- probably seventy-five bucks. You can give that to Damian. Beyond that, general approval, so I can get started. I'll provide invoices for actual costs -- and we can talk about how they're paid for when I do." He paused. "A deposit would be good..."

"We're, uh, working on something. Won't you have a seat? It should be arranged momentarily..." Candace murmured.

"Yeah, fine..." Fred glanced around and went to settle on the couch.

Meanwhile, the nurse and the doctor had Jiang Yi engaged, discussing her history in low tones. That there were other people nearby was obvious, but what exactly was going on wasn't clear because she would have needed silence and concentration to make things out that were going on probably twenty feet away clearly; as it was, the other conversation was a mere background murmur. The doctor checked her over, doing all of the usual tests, and then cranked her back and had her put her feet in the table stirrups for a routine pelvic exam. "Okay," he announced, withdrawing the speculum, "I don't see anything to get excited about," the doctor said. "Let's discuss birth control." He went on to discuss various options -- several of which Jiang Yi had never heard of before.

At the end of the dissertation, Jiang Yi asked, "You treated my daughter, right? What did she choose?"

"She chose a quarterly injection," Dr. Rankin replied. "Maybe not the perfect choice for a girl her age, but she was concerned at the time about concealing her contraception from you. You, on the other hand, are an adult with a stable cycle -- the injection is a better fit for you."

"I'll take that, then," Jiang Yi said, positively. "It sounds... convenient."

"It is," Robert agreed. "Nurse?"

Beth surfaced the materials and prepared the injection. "Now, if you'll stand and bend over..." Robert directed, wielding the needle.

Jiang Yi did so; the sheet was a total waste of time, anyway -- he'd seen it all... A prick of the needle and it was all over. "Okay, now what?" she asked.

"Now you pay the man, Sweetie," the nurse replied.

"I do? How?"

"Climb back on the table and spread your legs..." the nurse chuckled.

"You mean..."

"Uh huh. You fuck him." The nurse nodded, eyes dancing.

"Okay -- that works..." The doctor was young, dark-haired, pretty nice looking. The up-side of being in this group was again apparent. She climbed back onto the table and put her feet back in the stirrups, amused. "This is kinky..."

"Yeah, it is..." the doctor grinned, shucking out of his coat and dropping his scrub pants. "Yeah, it is."

Jiang Yi wasn't exactly prepared -- foreplay hadn't been on the agenda -- but a speculum had been in her pussy, and it had been well lubed; the doctor had no trouble getting in, and Jiang Yi got to start out tighter than she might have. She scooted her ass down to the point where he had full access to her without bashing himself on the table and started enjoying herself. The doctor had a nice cock and a nice rhythm; she had no problem getting into the swing of things. In a couple of minutes, she was grunting and gasping and rocking her hips to his thrusts, working her way to an orgasm.

Things were a bit iffy at this point, since Fred's primary tormentors were hiding behind a curtain that fortunately shielded them from both Fred and Jiang Yi. Fortunately, Randy was along, too... Jiang Yi started making joyful noises -- something Fred wasn't going to miss, and that would require explanation -- so Lon sent Randy to do the explaining. "Whazzat?" Fred mumbled quietly. "Sounds like some bitch gettin' her ashes hauled..."

"Yeah, that's right," Randy agreed. "I hope you don't mind seconds. She's expecting this piece, but we're going to extend things quite a bit to punish her, and you're up first. You can be as rough as you like -- in fact..." Randy had a brainstorm and explained it to Fred.

Fred chuckled. "Yeah? That might be interesting..."

"She's on a table," Randy added. "We don't want you two to see each other, so we'll push it halfway through..."

"Right." Fred nodded.

In the meantime, Candace let herself out of Booth Three and passed Jiang Yi and Robert and Beth on her way upstairs via the inside stair, which was now shielded from view of the main area by the curtain. "Come on up and see me when you're done," she told Beth and Robert. Beth nodded; Robert was busy. Beth circled around and pulled some things out of the drawers of the exam table and started laying them out on the floor out of Jiang Yi's sight.

Jiang Yi hit her first peak, to the accompaniment of a litany of encouragements for her lover, "Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! Fuck! Fuck! Yes! Yes!" Robert found that he was able to continue through her peak, but was immediately certain that he wouldn't last a similar amount of time. 'Well, that's life,' he thought. 'Mutual orgasms don't happen every day, and she just got hers...' He concentrated on getting and enjoying his own peak, which came about forty seconds later.

Jiang Yi took the end of the episode equally philosophically when it came; it was clear when the doctor finished, as he stopped pumping and started pulsing. After a moment, he backed out and nodded pleasantly at Jiang Yi. "Thank you!"

"Thank YOU!" Jiang Yi replied.

"Just relax there while I take the doctor up," Beth instructed. "I'll be back for you." Jiang Yi nodded; she wasn't hurting where she was -- she'd had plenty of time to get comfortable on the table. Beth led Robert to the inside stair and waved him up, then stuck her head in the dead space beside the stair where the boys had been lurking to tell them they could have their prey -- but they were already gone...

Lon and Toby had been waiting the whole time, masked; Randy donned his and the trio crept to the table, picking up the Velcro restraints and the ball gag that Beth had laid out while Jiang Yi and Robert were fucking. Earlier in the day, Lon had added a wide leather belt to the table in two pieces; one hung in the open on what had been the back side of the table to Jiang Yi's left, and the other was similarly attached but tucked in the top drawer on her right, out of sight. Lon and Randy got the sides; Toby got the ball gag. The pair at her sides suddenly grabbed Jiang Yi's arms; she opened her mouth to scream, a convenience for Toby, who shoved the gag in her mouth. Meanwhile, Lon and Randy secured the belt, pinning her arms at her sides, then supplemented it with the Velcro binders at her wrists, then ankles, then knees. The wrists weren't immediately attached to anything, but the binders on Jiang Yi's ankles and knees locked her feet into the stirrups; when that was done, they worked her arms free of the belt and linked her wrists over her head. "We hear that you haven't learned your place," Lon taunted her quietly. "We're here to see to it that you learn." That said, they pushed the table toward the curtain.

They pushed it halfway through, so that Jiang Yi's lower half was visible to Fred, but the upper half of her was obscured by the voluminous folds of the curtain. In fact, there was so much that it covered most of her upper torso and threatened her face, but they controlled it. Lon and Toby locked the casters and Randy yelled, "Okay, she's all yours!"

Fred found that this whole thing kind of tickled him -- and he got a bang out of Rain Man Hayes' idea... He strode up to his target and got out of his pants while looking it over. The snatch was open and used and drooling semen; on the mound above it was a hank of straight black hair. "Got some dick, did you?" Fred chuckled. "Well, if you liked that, you're gonna LOVE this!" He stepped up and rubbed the head of his cock between the drooling lips.

'Okay...' Jiang Yi thought, 'So I get fucked again...' But that wasn't exactly what was going on -- in reality, Fred was just picking up a little lubrication before proceeding to his REAL target! Jiang Yi's eyes bulged and she tried urgently to get an intelligible plea past the gag as the blunt head of Fred's cock began pressing against her tightly clenched asshole! "No! No! Please!" was what she tried to get out, but neither the leering faces above her nor her unseen attacker was swayed; instead, the pressure built up inexorably, and her sphincter gave under the attack. She screamed around the gag from the pain of what felt like a sandpaper-covered battering ram forced its way into her colon.

The friction was serious -- Fred could certainly attest to that! Once the head of his cock was buried in the bitch's ass, he stuck a finger in her twat for a glob of the mess drooling out of it and wiped it on the shaft of his dick to use as lubricant while he pressed another half-inch into her. The bitch obviously wasn't happy - but who cared? Fred backed a bit and went for more depth, to the accompaniment of a second muffled scream.

In, out, in, out -- it took almost a dozen strokes before Fred could bury himself to the root in the bitch's asshole -- and she squalled the whole time, in an odd, muffled way! The friction had Fred wondering if he was going to lose skin -- and had Jiang Yi CERTAIN that SHE was! Eventually, though, he managed to get in to his full length. Having had this done to himself in the fairly recent past sparked a bit of mild sympathy for the silly slut, but Rain Man HAD told him that they wanted her unhappy, so he got on with getting his dick wet -- he just took it a little easier than he might have before, justifying it by rationalizing that getting too wild tore his dick up, as well as the bitch's ass...

Jiang Yi's ass burned -- she was certain that the unknown cock in it had been coated with Ben-Gay or something. Lucky for her, no one present had actually thought of that. Somehow, over the centuries, the pain became almost bearable; there was lubrication coming from somewhere -- she hoped it wasn't blood...

Fred breathed easier when the silly cunt opened up some so he could get in a decent stroke. No doubt if he had held out for it he could have had pussy; next time, he wouldn't go looking for novelty -- or he'd find a slut whose ass was broken in, anyway. At least it was tight...

Irritation from the early going slowed Fred -- and extended Jiang Yi's misery -- but eventually, he finished in her. When he was certain he was pumped out, Fred withdrew his cock; it was a mess, since Jiang Yi had been nowhere near prepared for the activity. "Fuckin' nasty!" Fred grunted.

Damian surfaced a towel; he'd been watching and had time to go collect something from Candace. "Here." Seeing an opportunity to turn the screw where Jiang Yi was concerned, he asked, "How was it? Should I get a piece?"

"Fuckin' tight!" Fred grumbled. "Damn near rubbed me raw!"

"You probably loosened it up," Damian observed blandly.

"Yeah, no doubt," Fred agreed. "Do as you please, but it's nasty in there..."

On the other side of the curtain, everyone watched Jiang Yi's face clench as she anticipated the inevitable -- but it failed to materialize; Damian swatted her on the belly and led his father out of the playroom.

It was too early for sighs of relief, though, as Jiang Yi soon discovered; Lon undid her bindings -- except the ones on her wrists and the ball gag -- and unceremoniously dumped her off the table. "Okay, it's like this," he announced, "You don't seem to think that fucking minors is a serious enough issue to keep you from plotting to bust out and cause us trouble, so we're here to provide you with some other incentives. Are you getting all this? Nod your head, you fat old slut!"

Groaning around the gag from her fall, Jiang Yi nodded.

"Good. Have we made an impression, yet?" Lon asked.

Jiang Yi nodded again.

"You're lying -- I know you just said that because you want us to stop, didn't you?" Lon taunted.

Jiang Yi eyed him and real fear surfaced in her. He was right -- and he was wrong. She HAD nodded in the hopes that they would stop, but his response told her that it was a forlorn hope. Still, if she admitted it... She ended up shaking her head no, knowing that there was no right answer.

Lon knew that too -- and it showed in his smile. "It doesn't matter, I guess. We've been thinking that maybe you'd like to meet the dog -- you know, up close and personal. How about it?"

Jiang Yi's denial was as loud and emphatic as she could make it, given the ball gag -- which just seemed to tickle her trio of tormentors. "In that case, what do you figure you'll do to avoid it?" the black one asked. He held his hand up to his ear. "What was that? Anything?" He turned to his compatriots. "Is that what she said?"

Actually, she hadn't said anything, much; it occurred to her just after her first grunt in answer to his question that 'anything' might turn out to be worse than a run-in with whatever dog it was they were threatening her with. But then it became clear that the question was all part of their cruel game, anyway...

"Up on your paws, Bitch!" the blond one directed. "Like mother, like daughter..." He didn't quite kick her -- merely stirred her with a foot -- but his meaning was clear; Jiang Yi rolled onto her bound hands and knees. He drew aside the heavy curtain. Okay, crawl over to the main room -- we're going to play a little game..."

Crawling with her hands bound was no picnic, Jiang Yi discovered. Normally, you pay attention to where your hands are and your legs sort of follow along -- but when both hands go to the same place at the same time, setting up an operating rhythm is virtually impossible. Jiang Yi ended up doing this inchworm motion.

"Go around in front of the couch so we can all sit and enjoy ourselves," the blond boy instructed her. "Well, all of us but you, anyway."

Toby followed the woman silently; he was attuning himself to her -- and looking for a trigger for the fatalist streak he could sense in her makeup. Once he had that engaged, she would be malleable...

Lon parked himself on the couch; Randy took the right arm, and Toby the left, after pushing the coffee table out from between the couch and the entertainment center. "Okay, come over here so I can take the gag out," he instructed Jiang Yi. "Don't say a fucking word -- I'm only freeing it up so you can use it as a receptacle. Do you understand? Nod, bitch..." Jiang Yi nodded. "Good. Lean up here, then." He reached around behind her head and unbuckled the strap holding the gag in. Jiang Yi spat the thing into his hand, then worked her jaw to get it back under control, but said nothing, content to eye him sullenly. "Good," Lon approved. "See, you CAN follow instructions..."

Jiang Yi's temper got the better of her. "I bet you think you're..."

SMACK!

The open handed slap felt like it nearly took her head off! "AAAHHH!" she wailed, shocked and agonized.

"I TOLD you not to say a fucking thing! Weren't you listening?" Lon ranted.

Jiang Yi, not all there, opened her mouth -- and thankfully got the point before a noise came out. She shut her mouth. Lon, eyeing her, grunted, "Well?" She nodded. "Okay, then. In answer to your rhetorical question, no, I don't think this is completely humorous -- we're trying to make a serious point, actually. The question is, how long will it take you to learn it?"

Upstairs, Candace was meeting Robert officially. "My my! Beth has good taste! Is the hospital full of hot guys?"

"Well..." Robert was taken somewhat by surprise. "That would more or less be based on the assumption that I'M hot -- and there really isn't a whole lot of evidence suggesting that..."

"Maybe you underestimate yourself," Candace teased.

Robert chuckled disparagingly. "If I do, I'm not alone, by any stretch!"

"Every product has a market, Honey," Candace retorted. "Maybe you've just found yours!"

Beth stood by watching this exchange, more than mildly unhappy. Candace would weave her spell around Robert, fuck him and... Wait a minute... Without any interference from Beth, Candace would fuck Robert a couple of times and then put him on the street, undoubtedly; only if she made a fuss would it make things interesting enough for Candace to continue. That being the case, the best thing Beth could do would be to act unconcerned... "Hey, Candace, do you want to get to know Robert? Maybe you can run him home? I was thinking that someone ought to hang around and keep an eye on the boys..."

Candace was nonplussed. Robert was a bit confused, too. "Uuh, sure, Hon. No problem. Would you like a drink?" Candace asked, turning to Robert.

"I hope you don't mind, Sweetie," Beth turned to Robert. "If the boys finish up before you're ready, I'm more than happy to take you -- it's just that they're probably going to get a little rough with Mrs. Ho, and I don't want anything bad to happen..."

"Oh?" Robert looked concerned.

"It's nothing to worry about -- but she isn't playing ball, you know? She seems to think that she has the latitude to make the group trouble. The boys won't hurt her -- I think the plan is to fuck her into submission," Beth explained. "We really didn't think you would want to be on the front end of that..."

"Um, maybe not..." Why was the idea of watching such a thing so tempting?

Both women saw the look his face took on. "Maybe we were wrong?" Beth murmured.

"I don't think I want to be involved, exactly -- but I might like to watch..." Robert admitted.

"You know..." Beth looked thoughtful. "Let me run down and talk to the boys..."

The three of them hadn't really started when Beth appeared and waved at her son. Toby headed out to see what she wanted. "Toby, is there any way you guys can do this somewhere and we can watch? Unnoticed? In another room, say?"

Toby thought about it. "This place has a pretty sophisticated video system... It would probably take a while to rig up, though, even if we could. What would we do with...?" He nodded at Jiang Yi, "while we worked it out?"

"I don't know..." Beth shrugged and grimaced. "Maybe it would do her good to stew for a while..."

A light came on in Toby's head. He waved Lon over. "Hey, Man, we need to make a video of this stuff and we're not really set up -- and they'd like to watch, you know? But not really be seen?" He waved at the home theater setup. "How sophisticated is that rig?"

"The DVR and the DVD player and the VCR shoot stuff all over the house," Lon supplied.

"So if we plugged the video cam into it?"

Lon nodded. "Yeah. Probably. You know, we need two cams. And a remote." He gazed at Jiang Yi. "Too bad we don't have the time..."

"Ma thinks it might help if she stews for a while..." Toby offered.

"Tie her up," Beth suggested. "Give her a while to worry about what comes next."

"I've got a GREAT idea!" Lon headed back to get some materials from the curtained off area. Two minutes later, he straddled Jiang Yi and announced to Randy, who had been holding her attention, "This is a waste of time, Man. Let's just go get the dog." Then he unceremoniously dropped the bag over Jiang Yi's head.

Toby took it up immediately. "Good idea -- why mess around? In fact, why don't we do it on video and just sell it right away? We could probably get one of the ladies to take custody of Sonya after the trial." In the meantime, he re-bound Jiang Yi's ankles -- with Randy's assistance, since she wasn't entirely cooperative. When that was done, they disconnected her wrist bindings and -- with some effort -- brought them back together behind her. Jiang Yi made a LOT of noise during this period, since the hood didn't gag her -- until Lon fixed it so that she was out of breath by the simple expedient of punching her in the stomach. That limited her fighting, too, and allowed them to crank her bound wrists and ankles together for a hogtie.

Once Jiang Yi was disposed of for the moment, Toby said to Lon, "Okay, show me how this thing works." Randy kept Jiang Yi occupied by prodding her with his foot while Lon showed Toby the sophisticated systems behind the playroom's home theater, including remote operation of components from the similar installation upstairs. At the end of it, Toby nodded. "Yeah, this will work -- and it won't take TOO long -- but we'll need some equipment..."

"Wait here," Beth told her son. Going back to the kitchen, Beth asked, "How bad do you want to see this?"

"Why?" Robert asked.

"The boys say they can pipe things upstairs, but they need a little more equipment..."

"No kidding?" Robert asked, clearly fascinated. "What do they think they need?"

"I'll get Toby." Beth dashed off and returned with her son.

"The good news," Toby related, "is that most of the setup is already in place. But we need another camera and a couple of firewire cables..."

"How much?" Robert asked.

"I honestly don't know," Toby replied. "It depends on where we have to go to buy the camera."

"We could just sit downstairs somewhere and watch," Candace offered.

"No, I don't want to have her know I was there. Besides, I don't know..." Robert shut up, keeping, 'how I'm going to react,' to himself. "I'll go with you to get the camera -- and I'll plan on keeping it after. Okay?"

Toby shrugged. "It's your show..."

Candace glanced around. "I'll... make dinner, or something."

"I'll help," Beth offered.

Toby hit the bottom of the stairs. "Okay, let's go get the dog. Hang on a sec..." He went over to a box of toys and equipment and fished out a roll of electrical tape. In faces and motions, he directed Lon to wrap it around the hood.

Lon got it. "Open your mouth, Slut!" he directed. Jiang Yi did so, primarily to sputter angrily, and he wrapped the tape around her head, pinning her mouth open with the bag in it as a makeshift gag. It wouldn't keep her quiet, but it would muffle her and make her incoherent. "We'll be back with your new boyfriend in a while; in the meantime, if you make a lot of noise, we'll have someone get the bag good and wet. You can't imagine how hard it is to breathe through wet cloth..." They deliberately slammed the door on their exit.

Jiang Yi lay there in the sudden thunderous silence, unable to grasp how she'd managed to get into this kind of trouble in less than twenty-four hours! On the up-side, she'd had more good sex than she'd managed in years -- but the down-side? Hog-tied in a basement, awaiting a dog? It was godawful! What had she done? Oh... She'd threatened to expose the group -- told the woman Candace that she was going to get herself and her daughter out of it. 'Me and my big mouth...' Maybe if she begged and pleaded a lot...

Toby got a call while the four of them were riding to the neared electronics store in the van. It was Jean. "Toby, you, uh..."

"I know -- I haven't come by recently," Toby said shortly. "What else have you done? Have you tried seeing anyone else? You know, you're not kidding me -- I know you're not giving anyone else a break. And I know you're running scared, too -- and I know why. You need to stop trying to hang on to A relationship so hard that you can't see THE relationship when it shows up! Call me back when you can say that you've had sex elsewhere. I'll be around to backstop things as much as I can, but you REALLY need to look into doing better -- for both of us!"

"B-but..."

"Look, I'm busy tonight. Most of us are. Why don't you go see Coach? Did you clean his place today? You said you would; if you didn't, maybe you'd better cook him dinner, or something. If you've got to have a young guy, you could always fuck Hank..."

"Maybe I will!" Jean burst out, and hung up -- and burst into tears.

"That was brutal," Lon observed. "Who was that?"

"Jean," Toby said shortly.

"Damn..."

"Man, even she knows that she's fucking up -- but she's dependent. Right now, she's dependent on me, and that isn't smart. I'm trying to get her to see that there is better stuff out there..." Toby complained. "I saw her with Coach -- you didn't. She got off on him, big time, in ways that she doesn't with me -- but if I let her, she'll do the 'safe' thing and hang onto me. That's just dumb..."

"So what's the plan?" Lon asked.

"I'm trying to drive her to fuck around some -- and evaluate what she's doing, not just do it because I said so. I want her to understand that hanging her hopes on the first guy to have sex with her is wrong -- wrong for her, as well as everyone else. She undervalues herself; she can do better. I'm pushing her to try."

"Who is this?" Robert asked, from behind the partition, where he was riding with Randy on the mattress.

"Jean is an older chick -- one of the guys' mothers. Cute-looking. A widow," Lon explained. "Toby sort of opened her up for business, but she's a clinging vine." Lon flicked a glance at Toby. "You should fuck her -- she needs more time with older guys."

"Oh, I don't..." Robert began.

"No, he's right," Toby argued. "She needs the experience -- and she IS cute! Redhead. Small. And she's a pretty wild fuck, too!"

"Well..." Robert's ship had certainly come in! Women were coming out of the woodwork! "Let's concentrate on tonight..."

Jean HAD backed out on Coach; she'd been due in the afternoon, but couldn't get up the nerve to enter his presence. Thirty minutes of crying her eyes out changed things, however -- well, that and some advice from Teela. The sounds of Rick and Teela making love in his room had been the impetus for Jean's call to Toby -- and they couldn't miss the result. Rick was somewhat angry at Toby for his callous treatment of his mother, but Teela was more tactful. "Jeez, you know, he saw you with Coach -- Heck, I saw you with Coach -- and you guys seemed to hit it off, you know? Maybe he's jealous! If that's it, the best thing you can do is go over there and climb into bed with Coach, you know? THAT would fix his ass! Besides, maybe you ARE better off with Coach -- did you ever think of that?" Teela's eyes popped -- the expression on Jean's face told her she had... "See? Maybe Toby's right! But you know what? Maybe he's right that you ought to hang out and look for somebody ELSE, too! It's not as if you don't have opportunities!"

"Yeah!" Righteous anger gave Jean a grip on herself. "I've got... opportunities..." She hadn't, at the start, but things had changed. If Toby was going to be a bastard about things, maybe it was time to look around! Toby wasn't the only fish in the sea... It irritated her that Toby had suggested it, but calling Martin and telling him she was bringing him supper WOULD work... She didn't have to sleep with him, either, but she could certainly see how things went. It was time to get on the phone. "Martin? Hi, this is Jean Flanders. Look, I'm sorry -- I've been tied up some today with other matters. How about if I start late? I can cook you two up some dinner and then give things a quick wipe and return tomorrow if they need more -- how's that?"

"Well, that would certainly..." Martin didn't get to finish.

"Great! I'll be over in about an hour -- I need to pick up a few things. Did you have anything laid out for dinner?"

"Uh, no..." Cooking was NEVER going to be Martin's forte.

"Fine. Something Italian, maybe? Bow-tie pasta? Some garlic bread?"

"Uh, sure!"

"Okay. I'll see you in a bit, then!" Jean hung up.

Teela stood there, smirking. "You rolled right over him, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah," Jean admitted, mildly embarrassed. "It was easy -- they're a mess over there. I think they've been eating frozen pizza for a year..."

"Keep rolling, then," Teela advised. "It's how I drive Pop to give me what I want. Do you have any idea how long it will be before he decides he can't do without you?"

"Well, no..."

"It'll be last week, if you play your cards right!"

"I feel like I should say something, here..." Rick opened up.

Female gazes swung onto him like gun barrels. "Oh?" Jean asked archly.

"Uh, never mind." After a moment's thought, he turned to Teela, "But I'm onto you!"

"Fat lot of good it's gonna do you, Buster! You're already screwed!" Teela retorted.

"Regularly," Rick grinned. Predicting the slap that followed took no effort; neither did converting it into a hammerlock and a kiss -- but he still covered himself from errant knees... Teela thought about biting him, but it might ruin his kisser...

Jean smiled fondly at the kids, then turned to other issues, such as 'Just how much makeup can I wear without being obvious?' and 'If I wear hot pants, will he think I'm acting trampy? What if I go braless?' In the end, she settled for culottes and a light, thin blouse that would drape over her nipples and could be made to gape and expose her small breasts -- but she would remove the bra AFTER the grocery store...

Rick and Teela watched her bustle out. "Woman on a mission," Rick murmured. "Are we sure we want to support this?"

"I think Toby was tired of waiting for her to get sensible," Teela opined. "Some people never do, you know..."

"Do I!" Rick rolled his eyes, then more or less automatically defended himself from the resulting attack. "What about siccing her on Coach like that?"

"Coach is a big boy -- he can make up his own mind," Teela replied, "if we let him. Besides, that's part of the problem -- your mom and Coach hit it off pretty well -- and it's been messing with Jean's head, because it interferes with her fantasy vision of life with Toby. I think Coach is a better fit -- and I think she does, too -- and that messes up the other thing, BIG time!"

Rick nodded. "She's certainly been weird for the last few days. And I think Toby said something similar."

Teela nodded. "Toby is scary -- sometimes I think he reads minds."

Rick nodded. "There are days when I'm SURE he does! If he hadn't rolled right over Mom's defenses, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"It'll all shake out," Teela assured him.

The four of them -- Lon, Toby, Randy, and Robert -- picked up Dirk, anyway, even though they didn't intend to use him; he made a visible threat, after all... Robert got to know the dog up close and personal in the back of the van. The whole thing reminded Robert of some fraternity gags that he'd heard about but not been in on -- and being ten years older than the other guys involved didn't keep him from enjoying it and bonding -- especially with Toby, who rode in the back after the stop at the electronics store. Sonya was safe at Randy's; they though about dragging her over to the playroom to add to Jiang Yi's pain, but decided not to. "Look," Randy told her, "We're gonna rattle your mama's cage pretty hard so she learns to behave herself -- we don't have to do that for you, do we?" Sonya just shook her head. "Good." He turned to Alyssa. "You take care of her, Sissy. If she needs a cuddle, you give it to her. If she wants girl sex, you give her THAT, too -- don't make me call Damian and tell him you wouldn't lick her!"

"Randy!" Alyssa squealed.

"I heard Damian loud and clear when he told you that you owed your girlfriends tongue rides -- didn't you?" he retorted. Turning to Sonya, he added, "It's not a requirement, but she owes you. At a minimum, she needs to take care of you like a big sister -- she got you into this!" And with that, they -- and Dirk -- hit the street.