Chapter 18
"What happened? All I remember is Mom getting hit, I turned to help her, and then... nothing," Chris said softly.
"You got shot up pretty badly. It took everything we had to keep you from dying. But once we had gotten you healed up, you had lost so much blood you went into a coma. We were afraid of brain damage from the lack of oxygen," Amanda explained. "But everything seemed to be functioning correctly, and still you weren't there."
"Maybe Father and Pasha could explain it better; they were the ones that brought you back," Kathryn said with tears in her eyes.
"Now is not the time for that, Ben. It'll be very upsetting for Chris to know all of that right now," Father said to Ben alone.
"I think those explanations can wait. I'm just happy that our love is back with us, where she belongs," Ben said out loud. "I bet you're hungry, Chris. What can I get for you from the kitchen?"
As she opened her mouth, Amanda cut her off. "Not a damn thing until we can get her checked out. She can have some water for now, but that's all. Now all of you scoot! We've got work to do. Ben, not you! Your patients are over there." She pointed across the room. "Get to work on them; I'll get you some food." She started shooing people out of the cubicle that was Chris's room in the medical section. Amanda looked at the two cats. "I know you two have been working around the clock. Don't you think you need to look after your own health and grooming now? You both look like strays! Go get some sleep and get cleaned up."
Pasha rose up from her position at Chris's left hand, strode to the foot of the bed, turned around three times, then settled into a ball and was asleep in seconds. Father watched her get settled before he jumped down to follow Ben across the room.
"How long was I out, Amanda?" Chris asked.
"Just few days, honey. But you sure scared all of us."
"I feel like I still need to sleep for a week; any idea when I'll be getting out of here though?"
Amanda chuckled. "If everything goes okay, maybe the day after tomorrow. At least we hadn't needed to put in the TPN line yet. We'll get you something to eat shortly, but we do need to run a few tests while you're awake."
"Can we hurry? I feel like I could eat a whole cow," Chris said grinning weakly.
"Okay you old cat, spill it; what's the deal with Chris?" Ben asked.
"Master, afflictions like Mistress Chris had are because she was lost in her own mind. In some cases, as a method of coping with the disconnection from the body, the mind will create an alternate world to maintain it's sanity. Chris had done this, and it was so real to her, she couldn't find her way back when it was time. Pasha and I led her out. We had to wait until you and Great Lady Kathryn were far enough away that our links with you didn't pull you into Chris's alternate world," Father explained.
"But why couldn't you tell anyone that's what you were doing?" Ben asked chuckling. "I mean you scared the crap out of Amanda. She was worried about all of you."
"I know, and I am sorry for it, but it was necessary because of the type of connection we had to maintain with Chris's mind. Any contact with an outside mind risked pulling that mind into the alternate world. It wasn't as critical by the time you and Great Lady Kathryn got back, because Chris had already realized her world wasn't real, and was actively working with us to find her way out."
"So why doesn't she remember any of that?" Ben asked.
"I'm not sure, Master. I think it's the way the memory is stored. I think once the mind realizes that there should be nothing there, it erases it. Chris's alternate world was so real to her that she never would have came out of the sleep she was in," Father said. "We know she is special to you and Great Lady Kathryn, so we couldn't let that happen."
"If it was so real, how come you didn't get trapped in her world?" Ben asked.
"Unless there is something seriously wrong with us, we always know were we are. We simply cannot become lost. It is a trait I can share with you somewhat, but I have to be physically close to you."
"Well, thank you for saving her; you're right, she is pretty special. Now that we know about it, we can be better prepared if it ever happens again. I'll let the others know, so you better expect to be spending time in Chris's lap. Pasha too."
Father smiled; "I could think of worse punishments, she is a sweet young lady."
"Come on, you randy old tom, I'll by you a can of tuna," Ben said as Father changed back into a cat. Ben bent down and picked the purring feline up and set him on his shoulder. Father nuzzled him affectionately as they headed for the kitchen.
As Ben had thought, it was impossible to remove the memory of what had happened to Michelle and Cori without destroying their personalities. It was also a lot easier to correct than what had been done to Susan. These girls didn't have any self-destructs, and their programming had been subtler. He did find, and restore, the suppressed memories of their childhood and families. Both girls had been only eight years old when they had been abducted. However, Ben had been wrong about where they had been abducted from. The girls had been friends before their abduction and had been snatched out of the backyard of Michelle's parents' home. Their memories of the event were rather abrupt. They were sitting on the ground playing, then... nothing. They woke up someplace else and Ben guessed that they had been drugged already because they didn't panic or start crying. They did as they were told. It was strange to watch.
Ben got out of their memories and asked Amanda to call for Master Tohie and John.
"They were actually pretty easy to find once we had their DNA. Both girls were taken just about eight years ago from a small town in Washington State. There was a huge scandal and Michelle's parents were sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of the two girls. Someone went to some trouble to frame them because the remains of two young girls were found about two weeks after the abduction. Apparently DNA identification wasn't feasible because of the condition of the bodies. The investigation produced a lot of circumstantial evidence; with the bodies, there was enough to get a conviction on Michelle's parents. As you may know, convicted child molesters don't last long in prison. Both were killed before their first appeal could be heard.
"Corrine's parents divorced after the trial and moved. Her father died eight months later of a drug overdose and her mother is in Las Vegas. For all intents and purposes, neither of their families exists anymore," John said sadly.
"It is a very sad thing that has been done to these young ladies. How are they mentally?" Master Tohie asked.
"I removed all the commands. However, I would have to remove most of their memory to get rid of what has happened to them. I did find and restore the memories of their families. But I think they are going to have some problems coming to grips with everything that's happened to them," Ben said. "I was just about to wake them, but I wanted you here first."
"They're going to be devastated," Amanda said. "Then they're going to be angry. If they still have all the knowledge they gained from their training, they could be dangerous."
"Don't worry, love. I can knock them out long before they can hurt anyone or themselves. Are we ready?" Ben asked.
Amanda called the rest of the family to support the girls as Ben woke them up one at a time.
"Huh? What's... What's wrong? Where are my parents? Where's Mommy?" Michelle asked, frightened.
"Shh, sweetheart, do you remember me?" Ben asked softly.
"Yes, you're Mr. Tanner and you bought us! Where's Cori!?" She looked around frantically. When she spotted her friend in the next bed, apparently asleep, she asked, "W-what's going on here? What's wrong with Cori?"
"Honey? My name is Amanda, I'm a doctor here. There is nothing wrong with either your friend or you anymore. Ben and Kathryn brought you here after they rescued you from some bad men. Do you remember? Yes, they paid for you, but they brought you here so you could be freed."
"But, they did things with us. Things I know they're not supposed to be doing!" Michelle said.
"Yes they did, but they had to or you would have thought they were imposters. Do you remember that? Sweetheart, you were brainwashed and programmed to do bad things. They had to do those things with you," Amanda explained softly.
"I... I remember... I wanted them too. I very much wanted them to do even more, but they said we had to wait." She looked up at Ben; "You were just trying not to take advantage of us any more than you had to. If we had suspected that you were trying to free us, we would have killed you." She looked really frightened at that. She put her hands to her mouth. "Oh my god! What have I become? What did they do to me?" She started crying then, and Amanda took her in her arms, trying to comfort her.
John excused himself, not wanting to frighten the girls any more than was necessary, and left. Master Tohie stayed in case he was needed.
Ben took a deep breath and turned to the still sleeping Cori. Master Tohie came to his side. "I will help, as much as I can," the distinguished old teacher said.
Ben brought Corrine back to consciousness, and much the same scene happened until the two girls saw each other, and grasped each other for comfort.
It was a very subdued group that sat down to dinner that evening. "We really need to take that 'school' down as soon as we can. We can't let these people continue to do this to innocent little girls," John said.
"We will take them down, John. But we're going to have to do a lot of planning or a lot of those innocent girls are going to be hurt, or killed. Until we can strip the commands out of them, they are very dangerous," Kathryn said.
"I think that's what bothers me the most. I don't know how we are going to be able to do this without either taking losses, or killing a good portion of them," John said, thoughtfully. "No matter how we enter, someone is going to get hurt."
"Can't we use tranks on them? Instead of live rounds load up with sleepy juice, and knock them out. Then we can evac the students and do whatever with the rest of the garbage," Tabby suggested from her place.
"Kathryn and I go in ahead of the teams, we put everyone to sleep mentally, shut off the faculty and practice our TK on the facility once we've cleared it. Let them try to figure out what happened," Ben suggested.
"That's the problem. They probably would figure out what happened and then would prepare for you. We could use part of your plan though; you knock everyone out, we evac the students, then let the buildings fill with natural gas. There is no way it'll look accidental, but it can also be explained with mundane means. I think the good Senator has outlived his usefulness as well. Perhaps we can remove him at the same time," John pondered out loud.
"Solms' group has always tried to capture the original science team. There is a lab somewhere on the grounds where the actual programming takes place. We need to see if any of the original scientists are there, and if they have been programmed as well. In a lot of cases, they are forced to work against their will. We really should take the time to check," Amanda said.
"We need more time to plan. Let's plan on calling a meeting tomorrow after the noon meal in the black room," John said looking around for agreement.
"I don't know what to do, Michelle. Our families are gone; you're the only family I have left," Cori said sadly. "We're really too young to be on our own, but I don't really want to lose you in the foster system either."
"I don't want to lose you either, love. But didn't they say your mother was still alive, and living in Las Vegas?" Michelle asked.
"I don't know if you'd call it living; she's in the coma research ward at UNLV medical center. She tried to do the same thing my father did and ODed on drugs, except in her case, she fried her brain," Cori said. "I would say she succeeded in killing herself."
"Do you think we could ask Amanda or Diane for their advice? Maybe they can think of something we can't," Michelle offered.
"As long as they don't tell us to go ask Ben or Kathryn. Those two are so hot, but I'm still so embarrassed about what we did with them!" Cori said.
"I know, but it really did feel good, and I loved being with them. Do you think they will ever let us do that with them again?" Michelle asked, hopefully.
"I don't know. Something funny is going on with them. Have you noticed that Ben seems to be with a bunch of women? They're sure not shy about being with each other either. I wish I knew what the deal is with them, but I'm too afraid to ask," Cori said.
"What do you want to know?" Amanda said as she walked into the room and smiled at the girls. Normally, she would have knocked, but the door to the hallway was open, so she walked in.
"Uh, well, we uh... " Cori stammered.
Amanda chuckled. "Cori, if you're curious about something just ask; if it's something we can't tell you, we'll let you know. If it's something too personal, well, we can let you know that too."
"Well, this is kinda personal..." Michelle started. "We were wondering about the relationships between the people here."
"You mean you would like to know why Ben seems to be getting friendly with so many women, right?" Amanda asked. When both girls nodded she continued, "We would have told you right out, but we thought with everything else you were dealing with, this just wasn't needed. Ben, myself, Kathryn, Diane, Chris, Melissa, and Carol are all married to each other. Little Lizzy is our adopted daughter."
"A group marriage? Like in the Heinlein Books? I didn't think that kind of thing was legal," Michelle said.
"It's not, especially when you consider that Ben and Kathryn are my biological children, and Diane is Chris' mother," Amanda said.
"Okay, now I know you're just jerkin' us off. There is no possible way you can have kids that are older than you," Cori said.
Amanda smiled softly. "What was the first thing you remember me promising you?"
"That you would never lie to us," Michelle said.
"I take my promises very seriously; I'm a lot older than I look. Ben and Kathryn are my children," Amanda said. "Think about this; if I am so young, how could I possibly be a doctor? Yet both of you know I am."
"That's just it, Amanda, so much here just doesn't seem to add up. I mean, what exactly goes on here? We can hear the gunfire, and people are always moving around, but every time we ask someone something, they become... I dunno, they just act like we asked to have sex with them," Michelle said.
Amanda chuckled. "Actually, you would probably get more of a favorable response to that request. They are very conscious of security around here."
"So when we ask what's going on, we're asking something we're not supposed to know?" Cori asked.
"Pretty much," Amanda replied.
"Okay, so we can know about your group marriage, but we can't know what goes on here? That must be some important secret," Michelle said.
"Not really; you see, letting you know about our group marriage was only the business of our family, not the company. Our family decided a while ago that, if you asked, we would tell you the truth," Amanda explained. "The rest is waiting on what you decide to do."
"That was something else we wanted to talk to you about; our families are gone, the only thing we have left is each other. We're still too young to legally be out on our own, so we would be put into foster care. We don't want to be separated, but that seems like our only real choice," Michelle said.
"Well, you can decide to stay here with us. John and his wives as well as my own family would welcome you. Or, you don't have to join either family, and just form one of your own here. You can work for the company in whatever capacity you want, or you can chose not to work for them at all, and just finish growing up," Amanda said.
"How can we decide to work for the company when we aren't supposed to know what they do?" Cori asked.
"Well, if you decide to stay, you'll get to find out what's going on here before you can decide what you want to do," Amanda answered.
"If... if we wanted to join your family, would we be expected... uh, would we be wives?" Michelle asked shyly.
"That, sweetheart, would be completely up to you. No one here will force you to do anything you don't want to do. Everything is voluntary, but once you commit to something, you are expected to follow through with it, so think carefully about all your options before you make any decisions. We understand that with what you've been through, you might not be ready to be adults yet, but will do our best to treat you like one. Please don't hesitate to ask for advice — that's what the rest of us do," Amanda said.
"I think it's safe to say we'll be staying, but I'd like to talk it over with Michelle some more before we make that final, is that okay?" Cori asked.
"Take all the time you need, Precious; no one will rush you either. If you would like more advice or maybe another opinion or two, feel free to talk to anyone you wish; Master Tohei is probably the wisest man I know; he always seems to know how to get me pointed in the right direction, though it might not seem like it at the time," Amanda said.
"We're supposed to go see him this afternoon anyway. John and Ben want him to evaluate our martial arts skills," Cori said. "He does seem like a really nice man."
Amanda smiled like she had already known about the appointment. "Yes he is, but he still frowns on students that arrive late."
"Oh shit! Come on, Cori! Will you talk to him for us, Amanda? Let him know we where with you?" Michelle said as the girls ran for the door.
"Don't worry, Hon. He most likely already knows."
The girls took off their shoes and knelt next to the door of the dojo to await the Master. Very soon Master Tohie opened the door and motioned them in. "Ladies, it honors me that you would respect my dojo. However, from now on, when we have an appointment, please come in and kneel by the mat."
"Yes, Sensei," the girls said unison.
"I understand you were delayed today, but please try not to let it happen often. Now," he clapped twice, and a woman came out of a side room carrying a stack of folded clothes. "Please change, and we shall begin."
He returned the girls' bow, turned and knelt on the mat.
"Where do we change?" Cori whispered to the women handing out the gis.
"Right here," she gestured to the benches along the wall. "No one will see you, and you should get used to not worrying about your clothing anyway." She smiled at the confused looking girls as she left the room.
The girls quickly stripped and put the new outfits on. When they knelt at the edge of the mat, they both bowed low. "Master, when we have finished our task here today, may we have a few moments of your time? Amanda recommended you to us to speak to about some personal matters," Michelle asked, respectfully.
Tohie rose enough to turn to face them, and the girls rose to a kneeling position. "I would be honored to help you," he said. "But for now, let us begin."
The girls were very good. Master Tohie estimated that they were a match for Melissa and Chris, though the latter was still working her way back into fighting trim since her injury. He took them through weapons, and asked about firearms. They answered honestly and he didn't sense any deception or boasting from them. They seemed to be in awe of his abilities, and focus.
He finally called a halt after two hours of the hardest workout the girls could remember. "I have the knowledge I needed." He clapped for his assistant, who brought out three large bottles of cool water. "You wished to speak to me?"
The girls outlined their dilemma to him with as much detail as they could, making clear to him about their confusion over some issues, but acceptance of the need for security.
He sat in thought for a moment before he spoke. "You already know the answers you seek, you are simply having trouble understanding them. Look inside yourselves; be sure of yourself in mind and purpose. You must be true to yourself in order to be true to the world. You are who you are, no more and no less. You are young to accept this, but if you simply be true to yourselves, and don't be afraid to be yourselves, you will find the right way. You may think that desire clouds your vision in this, but desire is simply one of the tools that the soul uses to communicate with the body.
"There is much more to the story of Amanda and her family, but to learn such things, you must also be willing to let them learn more of you. That is the way every relationship is, whether it is apparent or not."
It was the girl's turn to sit quietly in thought. Cori finally asked, "Master? I mean no disrespect, but why do all Senseis seem to speak in riddles?"
Tohie grinned. "If I gave you a book that told you how to fly a plane, and you memorized it, would you then know how to fly a plane?"
"No, Master," Cori said.
"So, how do you learn to fly a plane?"
"By doing, and working through it. I may have the knowledge of how it works, but I don't know how it works," she replied.
"The same applies to many things," Master Tohie nodded. "Such as the advice you asked me for. I could tell you what to do, or give you what I believe are the answers you seek, but only you can truly know what those answers are. I simply tried to show you how to find them." He stood, and the girls stood with him. "If you wish to train with us, we have classes three times a day; seven, eleven, and four. You may keep the gis; I will have appropriate belts for you when you return. Thank you for coming." He bowed and walked away.
In silence the girls collected their clothes and slowly walked back to their room in the main house.
After they had changed back into their 'street' clothes, Ben knocked on their door. They let him in.
"How are you guys holding up?" he asked.
"Uh, I think we're doing okay. We're really unsure of a lot of things right now, and need some time to think things through," Michelle said.
Cori nodded in agreement. "Things seem to be moving at hyperspeed right now."
Ben chuckled; "I think I can understand that point of view. Go ahead and take your time, don't let any of us rush you. You're free to stay here as long as you wish. We would like you to go out to our target range so we can see how well they trained you with different weapons. But it's completely voluntary; you can simply say no and that'll be that."
Michelle looked a little suspicious. "Can I ask why you are testing us like this? I mean, why should you care how good we are at martial arts, or how well we can shoot?"
Ben looked thoughtful for a moment. "I can't fully answer your question and for that I do apologize. However, we need to know how well they trained you so we can gauge how well the rest of the students at your old school have been trained. It's very important we know this."
"You're going to attack them!" Cori said. "You're going in there to try to free the rest of the girls, aren't you?"
"Girls," Ben said softly. "There was one other very bad thing they programmed into you. I don't think you really realize what it was, or what it really means. I don't mean to embarrass either of you, but do you remember our time in the hotel in New Orleans?"
The girls blushed furiously, but nodded. "If you remember correctly, neither Kathryn nor I were forcing you to act the way you were. You had been programmed for it. If you remember, you both wanted to call me Master, and Kathryn Mistress. Do you know why?"
Cori was still blushing with the memory of the hotel, but Michelle seemed to be thinking hard. "They programmed us to be sex slaves! Toys for rich playboys!" she said.
"I remember now trying to figure out how to get you to take my virginity, so I could be yours forever," Cori admitted, coming out of her embarrassment.
"Yes, they stole you from your parents, and brainwashed you into being expensive sex toys, bodyguards, and assassins. We can't let those other girls be sold off; we have to do something about it," Ben said.
"Sir, you'll fail. There are at least fifty more girls like we were in there. Even the ones that weren't in our program still learned to fight. All of them can be armed in a matter of seconds. You'll be killed," Michelle said and placed her hand on his arm. "I don't know if it's left over from the programming or what, but the thought of you getting hurt is something I don't want to think about."
"I appreciate your concern, sweetheart, I really do, but there are a lot of things you don't know about me. One of them is that I am a very hard person to kill," Ben said smiling at her. On impulse he hugged her, and she flowed into his arms.
He held her and smiled at Cori who was looking slightly left out. When he opened one arm for Cori to join them, Michelle backed away to let her friend have her spot.
"Thank you for that, Ben. I think we really needed a good hug," Michelle said. "All this is so new to us, and this place is strange."
"You know, you don't have to stay in here all the time. In fact, if either or both of you would like, you can come crawl in bed with us... just to cuddle if that's all you want. If you need more hugs, I'll be happy to oblige; for that matter, I think all my wives would too," Ben said softly. "We do care about you; we're just trying to give you your space."
"If you're not careful, you're going to end up with a couple more wives," Cori said, her voice muffled by his shoulder.
"Well, before any of those types of decisions can be made, there is a lot more you need to know about us, and I think I would like to get to know the 'real you' more as well. But that doesn't mean we can't show you love of a different kind." Ben grinned as Cori stepped back. "Do either of you know how to play 'Cut throat'?"
Melissa drowsily snuggled up to Diane after an intense session of lovemaking. "Love, what do you think of Cori and Michelle?" she asked.
"They seem like really sweet, but kind of innocent, sixteen year old girls, why?" Diane asked.
"They've been hanging out with Chris and me a lot lately. I'm starting to really like them and thought I would get your opinion on them."
"Like them as lovers, or as people?" Diane asked.
"They are certainly sexy enough, but I meant as people. If they decide to leave, I'm really going to miss them," Melissa said.
"I thought you were against them staying here since Chris got wounded?"
"They didn't have anything to do with it, and besides, most of those that did had been programmed. Michelle and Cori are really nice now, not like the mindless, killer/sex dolls that they were."
Diane chuckled, then snickered some more.
"What's so funny?" Melissa asked.
"When you said that, I got a picture in my mind of Cori dressed in a black leather corset with French-cut panties, fishnet stockings, and four inch heels, holding a smoking pistol and looking tough," Diane explained, and giggled some more.
Melissa lifted her head to look her lover in the eyes, and broke out in giggles herself. When the laughter broke down, Melissa said, "I wonder if we could get her to model that so we could take a picture?"
"If I saw that sexy little thing in something like that, I'm afraid I would jump her bones! Michelle too," Diane admitted.
"So you are attracted to them?" Melissa asked.
"Honey, anyone with a pulse would be attracted to those two."
"Good, because I saw Chris kissing Michelle the other day. I don't know where Cori was, but it was definitely not a friendly kiss. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't take Ben up on the offer of bed space soon," Melissa said. "Maybe I should warn them about our pajamas."
"What pajamas?"
"Exactly," Melissa said grinning.
"Okay, it's been almost a month since we got back from New Orleans. I think we've gathered all the intel we need to pull this off. I really want to get back down there. What do you think, John?" Ben asked.
"I think you're probably right, Ben. We need to move on this soon. Have the girls provided any more information?" John asked.
"Nope, after getting a third degree black belt from Master Tohie, then breaking all the records on our firing range, they walked us through how the weapons for the students are stored, where to find them, and how fast they can be deployed. Whoever designed their security seemed to know what they were doing; under normal circumstances, I don't think a rabbit enters the grounds that they don't know about within seconds," Ben said.
"So, how are you planning to proceed, then?" John asked.
"The girls gave us a layout of the campus and the location of the security center. I should be able to eliminate the security center, and the external guard posts, if I link with my wives. Then we can simply walk in, putting everyone to sleep, and sort them out," Ben said.
"Okay, two major flaws I can see; one, what do you do if you come across a person naturally immune? Two, how are you going to explain it to our troops? Remember, we only told the command staff about our abilities," John said.
"Unfortunately, Immunes get a bullet; the explanation will be the 'sleeping gas' we are going to pump into the buildings as we move in," Ben explained.
"How will you spot the immunes without getting a bullet yourself?" John asked.
"We scan the entire compound before we start to isolate the 'dampened' signatures. That way we can deal with them as we need to."
"Okay, who leads the entrance teams?" John asked.
"Kathryn, Diane, and myself; each team has ten armed personnel, plus the team lead — also armed. One of our science types should ride along in case we spot something we might need to check out," Ben explained.
John nodded and asked more questions about the logistics of moving so many young girls in the middle of the night, without their help. Ben answered every question. Finally, Ben asked, "Well, do you think it's good enough to see if it floats through a strategy meeting in the Black Room?"
"I think so; I must say, you're getting the hang of this pretty quick. Has Jenna or Tabby been helping you?" John asked.
"Not that they are aware of." Ben blushed. "I only peeked when I heard them thinking about different problems that we would encounter when we did this, honest!" Ben said grinning. "With Jenna, I didn't need to listen to her thoughts, but she was far enough away that I couldn't hear her clearly. She was muttering out problems and solutions while she worked, and I simply listened."
"Okay, so we'll throw it at the wall tomorrow and see what sticks. What are your plans for the rest of the night?" John asked grinning.
"Michelle and Cori asked to speak with my family, then I suppose bed. If Cori and Michelle do join us, I don't know if I'm going to survive it. The girls I have almost kill me every night as it is," Ben said. "Besides, I heard a little birdie saying something about a certain young lady, whose initials are Caitlin, getting permission to join your bed this evening. That's a first isn't it?"
"Well, not a first, but it is rare. I figured Cat would actually try for your bed instead of mine. Personally, I don't think she wanted to fight Jenna and Tabby to get there. You know, if your ladies ever let anyone else in your bed, those two are going to be the first in line?" John replied. "Just try not to get them both pregnant at the same time. We need at least one of them leading their team at all times."
"Oh, I don't think you'll have to worry about that happening for a while. My ladies have a very definite order for who gets pregnant and when," Ben explained. "But I need to get going; the meeting is about to start. See ya in the morning."
"Have a good night, Ben," John said, trying not to laugh at the
younger man.