Incorrigible Pt. 04

He had the rest of their lives planned to perfection... he only missed one small detail.

Randy had a good life. He owned a successful business, had two wonderful children and a beautiful wife. Now that their youngest was off to college, Randy was eager to reap the benefits of having had children young. To his way of thinking, becoming empty nesters in their early forties was just about perfect. But his wife had other plans.

Following the divorce, and a bit of soul searching, Randy decides to take a Grand Tour of his homeland and really own his mid-life crisis. He buys a fast car, kisses his kids goodbye and heads west. He would soon discover, however, that fate had one more surprise in store for him.

After accidentally saving an ill-tempered alien with a cockney accent and a devastating appetite for junk food, Randy embarks on an adventure beyond his wildest imagination with a companion whose abilities seem boundless. Along the way, he encounters the best and worst of humanity and meets a bevy of remarkable women.

Incorrigible is the tale of a good man who, in rescuing an alien, finds himself in a very human struggle between good and evil. His new companion tosses out Faustian bargains like candy, forcing him to navigate the fine line between finding true happiness and losing his soul.

Author's note:

This novel is a work of sci-fi adventure. I've split it into four sections for publication here.

All sensuality (on page or otherwise) takes place between characters who are eighteen or older.

Thirty-Four

"That's it," Lily said despondently as they came to a stop at an intersection just outside a town so small that it might have been more aptly called a village.

They had departed early that morning and been on the road for hours. Despite the endless kilometers passing beneath them, the subject of the prior evening's voyeurism had yet to come up. Lily seemed content to behave as though it had not happened. But, in a turn that Randy found utterly bewildering, there had been a complete lack of awkwardness amongst the trio. They had instead enjoyed the kind of effortless camaraderie normally only shared between lifelong friends.

The only downside of that continuous banter was, now that they had arrived, Randy realized he had neglected to come up with any semblance of a plan. He glanced at Lily in the passenger seat and said, "How many people live here? And are they all part of the same congregation?"

"A couple hundred. And yes."

"Does everyone live in town, or is this more of a farming community?"

"The latter, but people definitely come to town on Sundays. And Wednesdays. And Fridays. Now that I think about it, there's typically some kind of event at the temple every evening."

"What about law enforcement?"

"There's a constable, but he never wears a uniform. I don't recall anyone ever being arrested or anything like that. There's also the county sheriff, but my understanding is that the Bishop convinced him to steer clear of the town decades ago."

"Yeah, like that doesn't sound shady as fuck," Sabrina observed wryly.

Randy thought for a moment longer before saying, "I suggest we regroup and wait for the daily gathering at the temple. Any objection?"

No one spoke up, so Randy put the van in gear and headed back to the closest town big enough to contain a restaurant and gas station where they could refuel both their bodies and their vehicle. He dug into the stash of pre-paid cards Betty had mailed him as the cash he had managed to withdraw before his card was deactivated was running low.

As had become their custom, they ate around the table in the van. As they ate, Lily gently asked, "What do you plan to do?"

Randy shrugged and said, "That depends. What would be the worst thing that could happen to those most responsible for what happened to you?"

"Loss of face," Lily replied without hesitation. "Reputation is everything there."

"How does one lose face? Or, to put it another way, how have people lost face in the past?"

"Well, you could refuse to marry the man chosen for you, for one."

Randy pulled her close and gently kissed the top of her head. He was buoyed by the fact that she sighed and leaned into the contact rather than pulling away. He said, "I happen to think your face is perfect, just the way it is. But perhaps a better question would have been, what instances do you recall where a man lost face. Since I get the impression women aren't given nearly the value they deserve in the community."

"Well, one man sent his wife to the hospital after she refused him sexually. The bishop was very angry to be made to break bread with the sheriff to smooth things over. His sermon that week was about restraint. The implication being that men should be cautious to not damage their women so severely that they required medical attention."

"I very much would like to see what this bishop looks like turned inside out," Sabrina muttered.

"Patience, my love," Randy murmured. To Lily, he said, "What else?"

"Normal stuff. Not having money to tithe. Allowing their home to fall into disrepair. Other things which make the community look bad."

"Hmm," Randy sat back in his chair and looked thoughtful.

Lily's face brightened and she said, "Oh! There was also the time one of the deacons got what I later learned to be psoriasis really bad. They whole congregation prayed for his quote leprosy unquote to be healed. When it wasn't, they cast him out. The bishop said it was to prevent spread within the community. But, thinking back, I remember other times where families disappeared after falling victim to some kind of visible ailment which prayer didn't heal."

"Sounds like a proper bunch of assholes. Perhaps we could arrange for a similar fate to befall them." He raised his voice and called, "Cnychwr!"

"I am resting," the alien's voice echoed from the rear of the vehicle.

"Well, wake up. We need your help."

"Are we at your Silicon Valley yet?"

"No. And we won't get there until you help us out. Now get up here."

"Very well," Cnychwr grumbled before hopping off the bed in the van's rear and trotting over to the empty captain's chair. He made himself comfortable and grabbed a few fries from Sabrina's stash before staring expectantly at Randy.

"We need you to modify some more people."

"You wish the new one to also be capable of swallowing your altered coupling gear?" Cnychwr asked wearily.

"What?" Randy asked animatedly as he felt his cheeks redden. "No!"

Lily looked to Sabrina and said, "What's he talking about?"

The latter smiled and said, "Cnychwr altered Randy a bit, even though Randy never asked him to."

"What did he change?"

"Well, small stuff, mostly," Sabrina replied coquettishly.

Randy sighed and said, "He made me look about a decade younger, and in better shape than I ever achieved on my own."

"He also gave him a massive cock," Sabrina added playfully. "As you might have noticed."

At this, a blush spread across Lily's cheeks before she managed to stammer, "I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

"Whatever," Sabrina retorted playfully. "In any case, Cnychwr offered to alter me. I suspect he thought I'd ask for spectacular tits, like yours, or the body of a supermodel. But Randy had already convinced me that he thought my body was pretty great, so I just asked him to make it so I could deep throat the man who would shortly become the love of my life. Best decision I ever made. Well, outside of flirting with Randy when I first spotted him and then interrupting our brunch an hour later when I told him I wanted him to fuck me like there was no tomorrow."

"And you can take all of him in your mouth?"

Sabrina winked lewdly and said, "Would you like another demonstration?"

Lily turned away shyly, but neither Randy nor Sabrina failed to notice that she had not declined the offer.

Randy turned back to the alien and said, "Back to my reason for rousing you, I need you to alter some other people."

"No. It takes too much effort."

"What if we agree to provide whatever sustenance you require?"

"There is also the matter of the rest I will require after. This conveyance is an improvement over that ridiculous machine you had previously, but it is still not remotely suitable to getting proper sleep."

"Then we'll hit up a hotel after we make our getaway."

"A nice hotel," Cnychwr interrupted. "And one where I have my own room, so I am not forced to listen to the endless moaning of your mates."

"Fine," Randy replied as he wondered at Lily's reaction to being lumped in with Sabrina.

"I will also require a firm commitment from you regarding our next stop once I am rested. It really is imperative that I get to this Silicon Valley of yours so that I might properly contact my own kind and get the hell off of this insane planet of yours."

"Agreed. Anything else?"

"Probably," Cnychwr sighed. "What, exactly, is it that you have in mind?"

***

Later that evening, as the sun neared the peaks of the mountains to the west, their conversion van, which Sabrina had declared should be named the Intrepid, from her favorite movie, after Randy had objected to the name Pussy Wagon, pulled slowly into Lily's hometown. There was an eerie feeling to the place which Randy decided was due to the complete lack of humans in sight. None of the homes they passed had any lights on and there was what felt like an oppressive silence weighing them down.

The silence faded, however, as they approached the temple, which was unquestionably the largest, and most expensive, building in town. The parking lot was filled to overflowing with cars and they could hear the droning call and response of a service happening inside.

Randy parked right in front of the temple, ignoring the sign informing him such behavior was forbidden, just in case they needed to make a quick-ish getaway. He stepped from the vehicle, giving the invisible Cnychwr time to climb onto his shoulders like a space wizard with a speech impediment. He then rounded the vehicle to open the sliding door. Sabrina stepped out as well, looking magnificent in the intentionally revealing tank-top and jean shorts she had changed into on the way. Randy then turned his eyes to Lily, who took a deep breath before smiling warily at him as she accepted his hand to depart from the van. There was no evidence of fear in her expression, only faith in her comrades. As Randy closed the door, he offered a brief prayer to the fates that her confidence was not misplaced.

As they approached the door to the temple, Randy muttered, "Remember the plan."

"I'm not the one who has the brain of a monkey," Cnychwr replied nastily. "Just point out those that harmed your mate, and I will handle the rest."

Randy opened the door and immediately locked eyes with the man he assumed to be the bishop, who seemed to be in the process of pontificating on the threat that transexuals posed to their community. The bishop's look of curiosity changed to anger when he spotted Lily.

"Heretic," he decried, pointing at her accusingly.

"Oh really?" Randy asked conversationally. "And do you intend to burn her at the stake?"

"I wish," the bishop whispered, but it was no effort for Randy to read his lips.

"I've come to seek biblical justice on behalf of my good friend," Randy continued.

"She doesn't belong here," a portly man in what Randy judged to be his late fifties said firmly as he got to his feet.

"That's my father," Lily provided.

"She's nothing but a dirty whore who sows dissent," a bald man roughly Randy's age spat from the front of the room.

"Your former husband-to-be, I assume?" Sabrina asked quietly.

"What's the meaning of this interruption?" the bishop asked.

"I already told you," Randy replied as they reached the front of the temple. "I am here to dispense divine justice."

"Heresy!" the bishop spat. "Begone with thee."

"Let's give him a category two," Randy whispered.

Gasps echoed around the temple as the redness on the bishop's face bourn of his fury deepened in color, along with the remainder of his visible skin, until he was the color of milk chocolate.

Randy locked eyes with the bishop and said, "Sit down. And shut up."

The bishop fell unceremoniously into the chair behind the pulpit, but this did little to attenuate the uproar he heard behind him.

"Babe?" Sabrina warned quietly.

Randy turned to find the congregation on its feet, with at least a dozen male members approaching him. He whispered, "Category one, the lot of them."

Within moments, they all sported webbed fingers. This caused all but one of them to retreat. Without prompting, Cnychwr gave the final potential assailant the same treatment he had given the bishop.

"Everyone, sit down!" Randy called out. His instructions were obeyed rapidly, and he noticed several fearful faces in the crowd. He continued, "You all deserve divine judgement, because all of you allowed this woman," he gestured at Lily, "and countless others like her to be abused. Many of you will be spared but know this: you will not get leniency if I'm forced to return. Do not allow those few who would exploit your pitiful understanding of the almighty to justify their cruel treatment of those they consider to be beneath them. Cast them out, or you shall all receive judgement. Bring forth the man who allowed this woman to be treated as little more than an animal."

No one moved, so Randy stabbed his finger in the direction of Lily's father and said, "Bring him to me, or all shall suffer his fate."

Her father had to be dragged to his feet by several younger men and forced to the front of the room. Randy regarded him for a moment before saying, "You sold your own daughter into slavery. And then refused to give her shelter after she had completed her labors. Is this what you believe your faith demands? To shun your own children so that you may reap material rewards?"

"She disobeyed me," he retorted weakly.

"You are a blight, sir. A pestilence. And you will be treated as such." On the utterance of the agreed upon phrase, Cnychwr acted. Lily's father immediately sank to his knees and vomited. Randy continued, "From this day forth, you will only be able to nourish your body with the excrement of others just like the vermin you are."

Randy then turned to Lily's former betrothed and said, "You!"

The man immediately leapt to his feet and made to beat a hasty retreat, but Cnychwr held him fast before he had taken a handful of steps. Randy approached him and began loudly proclaiming, "Abuser! Rapist! Pedophile! Slaver!"

As he spoke, his words appeared on the man's forehead.

When he reached the man, he continued, "This man has defiled your community with his wickedness. You all must choose. Either expel him, immediately and irrevocably, or share his fate."

"Begone," the bishop cried, his finger pointed firmly at the prone man at Randy's feet.

The man was quickly hefted to the shoulders of a group of young men and hustled out the door. Randy and his companions followed and watched them carry him to the town limits before roughly dropping him to the ground. As the men returned, they gave a wide berth to the van Randy slowly drove in the man's direction.

When they reached him, he was already on his feet and headed in the direction of his house. Randy merely waved gleefully at him as they drove by, but he then gestured in the direction of the man's crotch, whereupon the man screamed in terror and grabbed for his now absent genitalia.

Randy laughed maniacally and continued on his way, confident that the town had, at least for the moment, learned their lesson.

Thirty-Five

"I don't often say this," Cnychwr whispered reverently. "But that is quite remarkable."

Part of Randy was glad the alien had spoken, as the humans in the vehicle had been rendered speechless for several moments after pulling into a scenic overlook immediately following their entry into Yosemite. Gazing out over the valley before them was nothing short of a religious experience for Randy, and he knew his companions all felt the same.

They stood there for nearly an hour before reluctantly reentering the van and heading down into the valley in search of lodging. Randy had worried they would be unable to let a room at the nicer hotels in the park, but Cnychwr had already demonstrated a talent for convincing those unfortunate enough to be stationed at a hotel's reception that they did not, in fact, need to see Randy's identification.

It had been three days since they had departed the town of Lily's birth, but much of the time had been focused on keeping a low profile rather than enjoying the spectacular scenery. The only upside to the long hours in the van was that Lily had grown immeasurably closer to Randy and Sabrina after the encounter at her church.

Lily had been initially wary of Randy's plan to imply he was a representative of the Almighty, although it had been unclear whether this was because it offended her beliefs or because she feared the repercussions of his intended course of action. She had quickly allayed the first concern, assuring them that she had long since lost her faith and that, even if she were still inclined to believe in her purported creator, she could never have forgiven the things He had allowed to happen to her. This left only a fear of reprisal, but Sabrina had gently reminded Lily that other women were still suffering.

Randy had managed to communicate infrequently with the children, thanks to a handful of tricks Lily suggested which would limit the government's ability to track them. He was able to assure them he was well, but he was saddened by the fact that he was unable to introduce them to Lily. This thought made him realize how absurd it was that he mourned the fact that he could not introduce his children to someone who was, ostensibly, only a friend. But it was undeniable that Lily had become so much more than that to both he and Sabrina.

Their days had been spent learning more about each other, either through casual conversation or via a wide array of road trip amusements Sabrina had at her disposal thanks to a childhood filled with long car trips. In the years to come, one of the things he would most cherish about those days was the way Lily hungrily soaked up the stories she heard about her companions' childhoods, as though she was vicariously reliving the childhood she deserved, rather than the miserable reality she had endured.

Each evening, they had shared a hotel room as the types of places found in the rural towns through which they traveled rarely had more than a handful of rooms total. While Sabrina playfully chided his conservatism, Randy held firm that it was unfair to Lily for them to be intimate in her presence. The threesome had, however, found themselves growing more intimate despite the lack of physical contact. It began small, with such innocent activities as Lily sighing wistfully when Randy left the bathroom without a shirt. Lily had responded the next evening by removing her bra from beneath her top as soon as they were in the room, groaning in pleasure at the apparent relief. Sabrina's response was to happily remove her top, having removed her bra hours earlier in solidarity with Lily, after climbing into bed just before Randy had extinguished the light.

When Lily had risen from bed the next morning, she had been wearing nothing but panties and a tank top she had borrowed from Sabrina which was poorly suited to the task of concealing Lily's admittedly much larger breasts. Randy had just returned from the restroom and his boxer briefs did little to conceal the outline of his preposterously sized cock. Sabrina's shirt fared no better at disguising Lily's turgid nipples as she stretched luridly before heading to the bathroom herself. Sabrina had playfully tweaked Randy's cock through his boxer briefs after his member had visibly hardened at Lily's display. She then laughed openly as he grew rapidly to full hardness before hurriedly pulling on his jeans in an ultimately comical effort to conceal his arousal.

Upon checking into their hotel in Yosemite with an assist from Cnychwr, both to give them a suite which the desk agent had previously claimed was unavailable and to keep their identities secret, they delivered the alien to his private room before finally entering what it turned out was the honeymoon suite. Randy carried their still meager belongings into the bedrooms and, upon returning to the living room, found both of his companions happily slipping their bras from beneath their shirts.

Randy forced his eyes to linger on Sabrina's delectable, and not insubstantial, curves rather than leering at Lily's breathtaking breasts. Sabrina grinned at his discomfiture, lifting her shirt and shaking her breasts lewdly while Lily gazed around the suite.

"This place is amazing," Lily breathed as she ran her hand over the natural wood walls. She walked to a window which had an unobstructed view of Half Dome and said, "And the scenery is incredible."

"Indeed, it is," Sabrina murmured as she wandered into the bedroom, her eyes lingering on where Randy and Lily stood by the window.

Lily blushed and whispered, "She keeps saying things like that. Doesn't it make you uncomfortable?"

Randy shook his head and said, "Why would it?"

"Because you two are together. Aren't you jealous?"

"Sabrina's attraction to you doesn't mean she loves me any less." He paused for a moment before saying, "Just as how much I care for you doesn't mean I love her any less."

She looked up at him with unfettered vulnerability and said, "I care about you guys too. But you two are in love."

"Indeed we are," Randy agreed. "But, with very few exceptions, I've never been as close to anyone as I am to you."

She smiled shyly and said, "How many exceptions?"

He held up a hand to count off and said, "Well, there's my children of course. And Sabrina. I guess I could not, if I'm being honest, leave my ex off the list. We were together for a few decades, after all. Not to mention that raising children together would make any couple blood brothers, no matter how they feel about each other. And... that's it."

"None of your college buddies? Or coworkers?"

"All of those people combined know less about me than you know, honey."

"I'm proud to be your friend, Randy. You and Sabrina's. These last few weeks have been the happiest of my life. There's no one in the world I care about more than you two." She sighed and took a step back, her eyes rapidly filling with tears. "That's why I think I should go."

"What?" Randy exclaimed, causing Sabrina to hurry to the door of their room with a worried look on her face.

"You guys are amazing," Lily stated with growing confidence. "And I won't allow a dirty whore to get in the middle of that." She turned and stalked toward where Randy had deposited her things, her sobs audible throughout the suite. Randy, too stunned to move, saw a flash out of the corner of his eye an instant before Sabrina tackled Lily to her bed.

"What the hell?" Lily gasped.

"I will not allow anyone to talk like that about my best friend!" Sabrina huffed.

"Get off me, Sabrina. I won't ruin what you two have. I'm sorry I let it get this far."

"I'm not!" Sabrina shouted in Lily's face. "I love you! And I'll be goddamned if I allow you to walk away from us."

"I love you too," Lily wept. "That's why I have to go."

Randy, finally shaken from his stupor, approached the bed where they lay entangled and caressed Lily's cheek before saying, "You're allowed to be happy, honey. You never did anything wrong. It was all those assholes who were supposed to protect you that deserve scorn. Not you."

"But I've had filthy, disgusting sex with more men than I can count." she sobbed. "You'd be crazy to touch me. I'm stunned pieces haven't started falling off both of you just from being around me."

Randy sat beside them, thankful that Lily had stopped struggling and was now sitting between them. "I asked Cnychwr if he could determine if you had anything which might threaten your health the first night you were with us," he began gently. "Not because I had any intention of taking advantage of you, but because I couldn't bear the thought of you suffering any more than you already were. He did his thing and said that you did have two different minor infections and one not-so-minor virus. He then removed it all. Perhaps you've noticed you've been a bit healthier since then?"

She shrugged sullenly before muttering, "Doesn't change what I did. Who I allowed myself to become."

"What you had to do to survive isn't who you are," Sabrina whispered gently. "You're the badass woman who walked into that church with your head held high to rescue other oppressed women; the badass woman who saved the man I love from a highly trained government operative with a knife; the badass woman who, wrongly or rightly, was prepared to, as near as makes no difference, throw her life away rather than bringing shame on her family. That is who you are."

Lily's tears became a torrent as she fell into Sabrina's arms. After a moment, Lily's arm snaked out, blindly questing for Randy. He slid closer and pulled them both into his embrace, his tears mingling with theirs to wash away Lily's misgivings.

They stayed like that for a while before Lily whispered, "I love you. Both of you."

"We love you too, Lily," Randy replied softly.

Sabrina's muffled voice said, "We don't have to be lovers if you don't want to, Lily. But please stay, please let us love you."

Randy added, "You hold all the cards here, Lily. Nothing happens unless we're all on the same page, especially you, honey. We just want you to be happy."

She pulled back from their embrace and haltingly said, "I am happy. And... I do want to love you." Her gaze locked on Sabrina, and she said, "Both of you. I won't allow anything to come between you. Your love is too beautiful. That's my only rule."

Sabrina pulled Lily back into her arms and gushed, "You're also the best friend I've ever had besides Randy. We're going to be so happy together!"

An awkward silence descended as they sat together on Lily's bed, quickly leading to first Sabrina, quickly followed by the others, laughing uncontrollably. When they calmed down, Lily looked warily between her companions before saying, "Now what?"

Randy smiled confidently and said, "We go hiking. There's way too much tension in here right now. Let's go do something together to calm down a bit."

"I can think of a way to calm down," Sabrina said sotto voce.

"No," Randy replied firmly. "As excited as I am, I truly believe we should wait. Whatever happens between us should be spontaneous, and beautiful. Besides, we should grow comfortable with this new reality of our relationship."

"I agree," Lily said meekly. "But, if its ok, could you kiss me? Just once to silence that silly voice in my head which insists this isn't real."

Before Randy could reply, Sabrina had tilted Lily's chin up and gently kissed her. For several moments, their kiss was passionate, but chaste. Randy could feel the love radiating off them even though their lips were closed. A sigh then escaped Lily's chest and their kiss rapidly escalated. Lily took the lead, tilting her head to taste Sabrina's mouth as her hands gripped the back of Sabrina's neck.

Lily abruptly broke the kiss and looked anxiously at Randy. He knelt without hesitation and claimed her lips, tasting Sabrina on her tongue. He felt the trials she had faced wash over him as their souls intertwined and tears flowed down his cheeks at both her suffering and her bravery. He crushed her against his body as he deepened their kiss, his tongue now hungrily invading her mouth. He swallowed the moan which sprang from her chest greedily, knowing in an instant that he would never be sated, never get enough of the spectacular woman in his arms.

Sabrina's tongue along his neck brought him back to his senses. He loosened his grip on Lily and reluctantly allowed their lips to part. She sighed as he traced his tongue along her jaw, finding her earlobe and nibbling it gently.

Sabrina chuckled and said, "I thought the plan was to wait."

Randy pulled back and gazed into Lily's lust filled eyes before saying, "You're right. Sorry. I got a little carried away."

A chattering moan fell from Lily's lips, and she stammered, "Its... its ok." She turned to Sabrina and whispered, "I've never come so close to orgasming from a kiss. I never even imagined it was possible. Is it always like that?"

Sabrina leaned in to kiss Lily briefly, but thoroughly, and said, "No. It's usually way better."

Thirty-Six

"Are we there yet?" Sabrina gasped, pausing to drop her hands to her knees in an attempt to catch her breath.

"I don't think so," Lily replied playfully. "Typically, you know when you get to the top of the mountain because you can't go up anymore." She gestured to the trail which, unequivocally, continued up, and said, "I think we've got lots more up to go."

"I hate you," Sabrina huffed. "I mean, I love you, but I wish you were wrong."

"I love you too," Lily whispered, pulling Sabrina in for a one-armed hug. "And I wish I was wrong too. What were we thinking?"

"That five kilometers seemed easy," Randy supplied. "In spite of the sign which was apparently trying to tell us that the difficulty rating for this trail is 'Mount Doom.'"

"Fucking nerd," Sabrina huffed.

Lily grinned and said, "But you love him for it."

"I really do. We should dress up for him sometime. I'll be Arwen and you can be Eowyn with huge tits."

Lily swatted Sabrina's arm and said, "They're not that big."

Sabrina reached out to boldly grope Lily's breasts momentarily before saying, "Those are easily double D's. And here I am, flat as a pancake."

"Bullshit! You've got at least C-cups."

"How do you know?" Sabrina asked coquettishly.

Lily glanced around before reaching for Sabrina's breast, causing the latter to sigh in contentment. Lily released her and said, "Definitely C-cup. And much firmer than these flabby pains in my back."

"Ladies," Randy chided. "Can we just all agree that you both have perfect breasts for your spectacular personalities? There's no need to argue."

Lily nodded, but Sabrina said, "I move we suspend negotiations until all of us have had a proper chance to make a detailed assessment."

"Have it your way," Randy huffed playfully.

They continued on to the top of the mountain, which Randy gave thanks was far from the tallest peak in Yosemite. Upon arriving, they all dropped to the ground and fought to catch their breath. Eventually, Sabrina and Lily moved to Randy's side and cuddled up against him as the combination of the high altitude, the steady breeze, and an inconvenient cloud obscuring the sun combined to give them a bit of a chill. They happily shared the silence, gazing in wonder at the spectacular scenery surrounding them.

"Thank you for bringing me here," Lily whispered.

"Thank you for joining us," Randy replied just as quietly.

"This tiny tank top Sabrina gave me seemed like a great idea an hour ago. I figured Randy could check out my boobs..."

"And me," Sabrina interjected.

"I figured you both could check out my boobs. But now I wish I'd brought a hoodie."

"We'll keep you warm," Sabrina whispered confidently. "If your hands start to feel numb, just wrap them around the heat sink Randy keeps with him at all times."

"Pardon," Lily asked with a playful grin.

"You know..." Sabrina chided as she reached down the leg of Randy's shorts to grip his manhood.

Lily smiled shyly and said, "Is it really that warm?"

"Not as warm as you are," Randy whispered before pulling her close and kissing her neck. He felt her hand slide along the leg of his shorts before jerking away when they felt Sabrina's fingers wrapped around his length.

"We're pressing," Randy said softly before loosening his grip on Lily.

"No!" she said sharply. "I'm just still getting used to the idea that I'm allowed to touch you. Both of you."

"You can do whatever you want to us," Sabrina breathed before leaning over and kissing Lily chastely. "We are yours and you are ours. If you get it in your head to grope a tit or grab a cock, do it. We'll love it as much as you will."

Lily nodded firmly and said, "Same." She gripped her ample breasts and said, "These belong to you. I hope you'll get more enjoyment out of them than I have."

Randy pulled her close again, running his tongue along her earlobe as he teased her nipple through her shirt. He whispered, "I won't rest until you get more enjoyment out of these magnificent beauties than we do."

"Jesus," Lily breathed. "How far away is the hotel?"

"Too far," Sabrina sighed.

***

Despite their anticipation, they did not tear through the hotel like a hoard of locusts in desperation to reach their room. Instead, Randy urged Sabrina and Lily to go ahead without him once they arrived, promising to pick up a few items they'd likely be loath to venture forth in search of later. After kissing them goodbye, to the gasp of a pensioner in the lobby, he headed first for the restaurant. A quick scan of the menu at the bar allowed him to place a to go order that he thought they'd have a decent chance to bringing back to life if they got hungry later. Next, he went to the gift shop to pick up a hoodie for each of his ladies, more because he thought it would delight them than because they desperately needed them. While he was there, he also grabbed a few other odds and ends that they had been forced to abandon during their adventures.

By the time he was finished, he needed the assistance of a bellhop to get everything to the room. Fortunately, the common area was empty when they arrived, and Randy quickly tipped his helper before sending him on his way. After securing the door behind him, Randy went in search of his ladies. By process of elimination, he found his way to the master bathroom. The delighted giggles he heard from within went straight to his cock. He stared at the door in confusion, unsure if he should join in or leave them to get acquainted.

Fortunately, the debate quickly ended when the door opened a few centimeters and Sabrina yelped, "He's here!"

"Oh, shit!" Lily exclaimed. "Where'd I put the thing?"

Sabrina, who was very obviously nude from the waist up (or, as his grandfather would have said, nekkid because her pebbled nipples left little doubt that they were, in the previous century's vernacular, 'up to something'), said, "Three minutes. And lose the clothes!" before pushing the door closed.

Randy quickly ducked into the second bathroom to brush his teeth and give himself a quick rubdown with a damp cloth to wash away as much sweat and mud from their hike as possible. Task complete, he returned to the bedroom and climbed onto the bed to sit patiently against the headboard as the anticipation built. Every whispered oath, gleeful giggle and passioned sigh from within the bathroom seemed to go straight to his cock and by the time the door handle began to turn, he was painfully hard.

The light within the bathroom had been extinguished before the door started to open, and the only light in the bedroom came from the rapidly fading sunlight coming through the windows, so Randy could only see a pair of silhouettes when the door first opened while both women could see him quite clearly.

"Oh my God!" Lily sighed, a not insignificant amount of fear in her voice. "He's huge!"

"He knows just how to use it, lover," Sabrina whispered confidently. "I promise we'll give you nothing but pleasure. Tonight is all about you, Lily."

"I love you so much!"

Randy watched as the two silhouettes embraced passionately, and he could not resist the urge to stroke his manhood languidly at the sight.

Sabrina entered the light first and moved to Randy's side. She was wearing a demure negligee which had satin stretching to the tops of her thighs in an A-line from her bust, but only concealed her breasts with the most delicate lace. She kissed him hungrily as she relieved him of the need to stroke himself, her hand gripping him tightly and milking a bead of precum from his tip.

She lowered her head and lapped up his pleasure before turning to the bathroom and saying, "I can't wait to share this with you."

Randy looked up in time to see Lily step into the light, and he gave thanks that he had had the forethought to take a breath before he saw her. Otherwise, he would have surely lost consciousness from lack of oxygen based on just how long she literally took his breath away. She was wearing a lingerie which was cut very high on the side, nearly to her bust, with a neckline that revealed her navel. She turned slowly under Randy's breathless inspection to demonstrate that the back of the garment was little more than a few wisps of lace holding everything together.

As she turned back to face him, the true majesty of her breasts became evident. He had, of course, technically seen them previously when she had stripped the first night they met in anticipation of fucking him for money. But all he had seen that night were her haunted eyes. Now, he allowed himself to bask in the true magnificence of her beauty.

"I think he likes them," Sabrina whispered, taking a break from lazily licking the head of his cock.

"I think I love them," Randy stammered after taking his first breath in what felt like several minutes.

Lily approached the foot of the bed before crawling up to meet them. Randy's hand met her breast in time with her hand wrapping around the base of his cock, causing them to sigh in unison. Their lips met eagerly, picking up where they had left off on the mountain top.

"I want you inside me," she whispered as their lips met.

"All in good time," he replied.

"But..."

"I made you a promise," he almost growled.

"Oh..." was all she managed before he leaned forward and pulled her toward his lap.

Sabrina snickered playfully as she dodged her incoming lover, holding the base of Randy's cock to ensure it would not be captured between them.

As soon as Lily was ensconced in his lap, Randy cupped her breasts lovingly before freeing them from their lacy confinement and deftly sucking one of her nipples between his lips. He felt it harden at his attention, and Lily sighed as she leaned into him. As he switched to her other nipple, he brought a hand up to tease the one his lips had just relinquished.

"That feels incredible."

"Not good enough," Randy grunted before rolling her over and placing her on the bed.

He nestled up on Lily's starboard side and began lavishing attention on that nipple while Sabrina eagerly took control of Lily's port side. Their free hands roamed over Lily's incredible body as they feasted on her breasts, constantly leaving trails of goosebumps wherever their stroking fingers traveled. But they silently agreed to leave their lover's pussy untouched, never allowing anything to distract from the pleasure they were bestowing on her incomparable breasts. Lily's breathing quickened and she began writhing beneath them, spurning them onward.

"Please," she sighed. "It's too much. Please touch me."

Sabrina caught Randy's eye, and he spotted an undeniable eagerness there. Their hands met across Lily's taunt stomach, clasping briefly before moving down her body as one. When they reached the junction of her thighs, Sabrina deftly slid a finger up the moisture beaded along Lily's drenched slit. Her fingertip touched Lily's clit just as Randy sank a finger deep into her soaked core.

"I'm cumming..." Lily sighed softly as her inner muscles clenched around Randy's finger and her back arched off the bed. Wordless moans flowed from her lips, heedless of the hotel's other residents, as wave after wave of pleasure ravished her body.

She dropped onto the bed with a satisfied groan as her pleasure receded. She looked down at her lovers with a mixture of awe and affection.

"That was wonderful," she murmured.

"That was the appetizer," Sabrina replied with a wink.

"Oh, no. I couldn't. That was the best orgasm I've ever had. I need, I don't know, a month? At least a month before I recover from that."

"It's ok, honey," Sabrina assured her with a kiss. "But will you stay with us while Randy takes care of me?"

"Of course, baby. You two are... will be... so beautiful together."

Sabrina laughed heartily before saying, "We saw you, that night."

"You did?" Lily exclaimed.

"Of course. It's part of what brought us together."

Randy slid down the bed and between Sabrina's thighs before gently teasing her clit with the tip of his tongue. Her head rocked back, and a gasp of pleasure escaped her lips. Her arousal was absolute, and within moments she was nearing her peak. Lily watched with open interest as Randy pleasured their lover. Sabrina pulled the straps of her negligee down to tweak her own nipples and it did not take long before Lily was caressing her lover's breast.

"Oh baby," Sabrina sighed as Lily bent to lick along her lover's nipple.

Lily kissed her way up Sabrina's chest, each contact between the women becoming more bold, more lurid. When she reached Sabrina's ear, Lily licked along the lobe before sucking it loudly between her teeth.

Sabrina gasped, "Please... kiss me."

The passion of their kiss was undeniable. Randy felt Sabrina's pleasure approaching and slid two fingers into her velvety channel to hasten its arrival. His lover bucked beneath him, her legs snapping closed around his head. Moisture surged from her core, soaking his face as he greedily tasted her essence.

As her pleasure shakily receded, Randy surged to his knees and sheathed himself within her.

"Holy fuck!" Sabrina gasped, her head flying back into the pillow and breaking the kiss with Lily.

Randy thrust languidly into his lover, savoring the way her most intimate embrace cherished his manhood.

"Touch me," Sabrina whispered, holding Lily's face in her hands.

Lily smiled lovingly at her and slid her hand toward Sabrina's clit. Their lips met as Lily's fingers met her lover's pleasure bud, and Randy had difficulty distinguishing the moans of pleasure leaking out of their passionate kiss.

Lily broke the kiss and moved to feast on Sabrina's breasts while still pleasuring her clit. The look of rapturous bliss on Sabrina's face was nothing short of heavenly for Randy. The woman he loved unconditionally was happier than he had ever seen her, and the cause was a combination of the woman they were both falling more in love with each day and his own meager contributions.

Sabrina smiled up at him and said, "I love you."

He returned her smile and said, "I love you too. Both of you."

His lover looked pensive for a moment before quietly saying, "Lily?"

"Yes, my love," Lily said around Sabrina's nipple.

"Can I taste you? Its ok if you're not ready, honey. Or if you're still too sensitive. Or..."

Lily grabbed Sabrina's face and kissed her quickly, but thoroughly, before saying, "I'd love that."

"Oh, thank God."

Lily rose to her knees and finished removing her negligee before carefully positioning herself over her lover's face. Her eyes, which had been locked onto Randy's manhood thrusting into Sabrina, rolled back in her head when her lover's tongue grazed her clit.

"Oh, baby," Lily sighed.

Randy leaned toward her, kissing her passionately as he caressed her breasts.

Moments later, Sabrina began spasming beneath them as her pleasure crested. Lily made to rise from Sabrina's face, but the latter firmly pulled her back down. Randy slowed his thrusts when he felt her muscles relax and ultimately pulled out to allow Sabrina a chance to recover.

As he did, Lily dropped forward and tentatively licked along Sabrina's seam. Her second lick was more confident. Her third parted Sabrina's labia, allowing her to truly taste her lover. When her tongue grazed Sabrina's clit, her lover spasmed beneath her and murmured, "That feels incredible."

Lily paused for a moment to glance up at Randy and smile. When she spoke, her voice was barely audible. "Will you take me now? Like this?"

Randy knelt down and kissed her gently before saying, "It would be my pleasure. I'll go slow."

"I know," she replied quietly before returning to her lover's pussy.

Randy rounded the bed to where Sabrina was eagerly pleasuring Lily's clit. She glanced up at him, an irrepressible smile in her eyes, but never stopped her ministrations.

Randy positioned himself at Lily's entrance, pausing to ensure she was ready. She shook her hips lasciviously at him, much to Sabrina's delight, so he sank into her with exquisite patience.

When he was fully sheathed, he took a moment to appreciate the incomparable feeling of joining fully with someone he loved without reservation. There was nothing between them. No secrets, no condom, no jealousies. They had not discussed the use of protection, but Randy knew without question that this was how she wanted to be loved, how she deserved to be loved. Between her lovers, both of whom were fully focused on her pleasure.

Randy began thrusting into the buxom beauty beneath him. He loved the way her breasts, just visible on either side of her toned torso, rippled each time their centers met. His eyes flowed up the creamy skin of her back to her long, auburn hair which was spread out on the bed between Sabrina's thighs. He loved her delectable ass and the perfect curve of her hips. Most of all, he loved the obvious pleasure she was experiencing.

He looked down and caught Sabrina staring up at him each time he pulled back. He smiled down at her, ecstatic that they had transcended the threesome she had hoped to check off her fuck-it list by finding someone they could truly love together.

Her tongue flicked playfully along his balls and his pleasure surged. He steeled his resolve, determined for Lily to find her release before he sought his own. Sabrina, already perfectly in tune with him after such a relatively short time together, focused her attention on Lily's clit. In no time, Lily's moans filled the room, and he felt her heated core clenching along his length. He sped up his thrusts until the slams of their flesh meeting filled the room.

"Oh, fuck!" Lily gasped, her back arching as she fell over the precipice into bliss. Randy wrapped his arm around her midsection, whispering his love into her ear as he held fast to her. As one, he and Sabrina continued to devote their entire being to the pleasure of their lover. Just as he felt Lily's muscles begin to relax, he felt his own orgasm arriving. He pulled back, unable to grip his length due to his unwillingness to release Lily from his embrace. He groaned in pleasure as his throbbing manhood erupted onto Lily's dripping pussy. He nearly passed out when he felt Sabrina run her tongue along the underside of his shaft before sucking one of his balls into her mouth. His hips thrust of their own accord, emptying himself onto his beautiful Amazonian blonde's eager face and his spectacular curvy redhead's quivering femininity.

At length, he rolled onto his side and sighed mightily, a spasm of complete contentedness running the length of his body. He then hopped off the bed and made his way into the bathroom.

"Where's he going?" he heard Lily's tired voice ask.

"Our man always takes care of his women," Sabrina replied happily. "You'll see."

The smiles that greeted him when he returned with two warmed, moistened towels meant far more to him, and would stay with him far longer, than either the erotic sight of Sabrina's cum covered face or the way Lily lazily slid her finger through her creamy slit.

Thirty-Seven

"Must they carry on that infernal racket?" Cnychwr grumbled from the passenger seat.

Randy glanced in the review mirror, spotting his still partially clothed lovers kissing passionately on the bed in the van's rear. He looked at his co-pilot and said, "I get that you're an alien, but surely you've been here long enough to realize that there are exactly zero straight males, who are of sound mind and body, who would ever interrupt a scene like that."

"Hardly. I have seen your information programs. The humans in them tend to be very excitable, but one thing they all seem to agree upon is that intragender coitus is considered extremely distasteful."

"I said 'sound mind and body,'" Randy replied angrily. "Not those fascist morons who try to overthrow the government because they're terrified of brown people."

"I see. Thank you for educating me."

Randy thought for a moment before asking, "Do you have racism where you're from?"

"How do you mean?"

"I'm not sure what you'd call it," Randy prompted. "I don't even know if you're kind are all blue."

"That's hardly relevant considering I am not blue. I merely appeared like that to you. I could be chartreuse; or lavender; or even taupe." With each mention of a color, his fur changed correspondingly.

"Point taken. But is there some other attribute which foolishly divides your kind? Maybe back before you worked out star travel?"

"Not as such. We've had the ability to change our appearance since long before we left our home world. But I take your meaning. Long ago, we had a caste system wherein the powerful attempted to justify their position based on anything other than wealth."

"How'd you get past that?" Randy queried. "I can't imagine you're still ruled by the one percent if you freely travel the stars."

"They were all killed brutally by the masses they had oppressed for a millennium, and their corpses were preserved so the next thousand generations would learn from their avarice."

"Sounds reasonable," Randy replied with a nod.

"Is that it?" Cnychwr asked as the van crested a ridge on the highway and they spied the valley before them.

"No," Randy huffed. "Just like it wasn't it the last twenty times. I've told you. Silicon Valley is more of a region than an actual valley, although I suppose it is generally that as well. Also, the degree to which Silicon Valley even still exists is basically irrelevant to your needs. You don't need to go to a computer chip manufacturing facility. You need to go to the headquarters of the companies that own those factories. San Jose, to be specific. And we should be there in about a half hour. Unless you ask me if we're there yet again, in which case I'll lawn-dart us into the next bridge embankment I see."

"No need to be dramatic," Cnychwr drawled. "I'm merely anxious to get away from the constant moaning."

"We're not moaning," Sabrina called out from behind them. "We're making out. I promise... you'll know when we're moaning."

Cnychwr sighed and sank down into his seat but, to Randy's delight, he stayed quiet for the remainder of the trip. After arriving at the hotel and getting settled in their suite, Lily ensured everyone was using the best possible means of obfuscating their searches from the government before they divided and conquered with the goal of building a list of places they could visit.

An hour later, the group left the hotel. Randy wore a backpack in which Cnychwr begrudgingly agreed to hide. Randy tried to hide his glee at the cultural resonance of this arrangement and instead focused on the map he had drawn at the hotel. Upon reaching the first headquarters, they made their way inside and found that a tour would be starting shortly.

The tour took ninety minutes and showed a seemingly unending carousel of beautiful people in their twenties working on computers that cost more than a hatchback while drinking potions whose polysyllabic names required a Rosetta stone to decipher. When they finally got to an observation area overlooking a clean room in which the latest and greatest gadgets were purportedly being assembled, Randy's backpack jostled violently as Cnychwr struggled to get out. Randy gave a youngster with a mohawk and enough jewelry in his face to forge a sword a shrug before moving to the other side of the room.

"Would you calm down?" Randy whispered urgently. "You're going to get us kicked out!"

"Never mind that," Cnychwr replied calmly. "Just set this cursed bag down and pretend to fiddle with it."

Randy did as requested before saying, "What are you going to do?"

Much to his chagrin, no answer was forthcoming. He looked around urgently before remembering they were supposed to try to keep a low profile. Fortunately, Lily had had a bit of foresight in that area and both of his lovers were dressed in a way which ensured every eye in the building, regardless of sexual orientation, was glued on them. Both were wearing matching white tank tops, which did little to conceal the lacy black bras they wore beneath, and agonizingly short jean shorts.

Randy stood apart from them, both to increase the degree to which he blended into the background and to appreciate the devastating beauty. It had been three days since they had joined together in Yosemite. Each day they traveled steadily west while carefully steering clear of built-up areas. They had seen no sign of pursuit, but they suspected the first moment they allowed themselves to relax would be the moment the men in black hats showed up.

Their nights had been spent in rapturous bliss as they made love until the wee hours of the morning. Frequently, one of their number passed out during the course of the evening only to wake up refreshed and ready to rejoin the fun. Randy was constantly amazed at the degree to which the three of them had fell into lockstep. There was never a hint of jealousy between them. The trip into San Jose had not been the first time two sides of their troika had paired off in the back of the van, nor had that been the only combination to take advantage of the integrated bed.

Randy was snapped from his reverie by Cnychwr's disembodied voice grumbling, "A sodding Potemkin village, is what that is. Come on. We're leaving."

"Oh... um... ok," Randy stammered.

He collected the girls with his eyes, and they made for the exit. Fortunately, Cnychwr's telepathy allowed them to carry on a one-sided conversation surreptitiously.

"It's all just a bunch of bloody nonsense. Like those plastic interlocking toys the children play with."

"Makes sense," Sabrina murmured. "All their real stuff is assembled in China."

"Great!" Cnychwr exclaimed. "I certainly hope they aren't all like this."

***

The mood that evening as they shared a meal in their suite was tense. For much of the meal, Cnychwr had refused to acknowledge their presence at all, but that changed when he polished off his second pizza.

"I should have known better than to trust a human."

Randy glowered at him but said nothing.

"We'll go to Silicon Valley, he says. They'll have everything you need there, he says. What do they have here? Bloody bollocks, is what. A bunch of pretend laboratories built to appeal to the vanity of your appallingly moronic kind."

"We're sorry," Lily began.

"Be silent, human!" Cnychwr thundered. "I have had quite enough of your kind's mindless babbling."

Randy shrugged and got to his feet, offering his hands to his lovers in an obvious prelude to retiring for the evening.

"Where in hell do you think you're going?"

"You said you didn't want to talk to us anymore, so we're going to bed."

"Typical humans. A fellow sentient is in jeopardy, but all you can think about is your sodding cock."

Sabrina snickered and said, "Has anyone ever told you your accent becomes more pronounced when you're angry?"

"Silence!"

Randy shook his head and said, "You can't have it both ways. Either you don't want us to speak, in which case we're going to bed. Or you'll settle the fuck down so we can figure out what to do. I had no way of knowing those labs were all fronts. I've been reading prospectuses for years which touted the state-of-the-art work they're doing out here. I put in sell orders on those duplicitous assholes the second we got back. But none of that gets us any closer to solving your problem."

"There is nothing else for it. We must get to my ship."

"Wait a minute," Sabrina interjected. "You have a ship? You never told us that."

"It is damaged," Cnychwr replied diffidently. "It seemed more prudent to just arrange to be picked up rather than travelling to it. But it seems we now have no choice."

"Fine," Randy agreed wearily. "Where is it?"

"Far to the north. I believe you call it Alaska."

"How in hell are we going to get to Alaska?" Sabrina pleaded. "The only way to get there is to fly or travel through Canada. Either way, the second anyone gets a look at our ID's, any government agency looking for us will know exactly where we are."

"Then they won't look at them," Cnychwr replied confidently. "It will be the same as when we enter these hotels."

Randy shook his head and said, "What about transport. It's nearly Halloween. Roads up there are sure to be impassible soon if they aren't already. And I'm loath to rely on surface transport. Too long in one place with no easy escape."

"Then we will take one of your aircraft," Cnychwr snapped. "They travel relatively quickly, considering your lack of scientific acumen. We could be there by tomorrow afternoon."

"It might work to get up there," Randy allowed. "But how do we get home after you get picked up? I'd have you remember; we'll still be fugitives even when you're a million light years away."

"It's not that far," Cnychwr muttered.

"Whatever! You could be on the moon, and we'd still be fucked. I know I told you I'd help you get home, but we've still got to live here after you're gone."

"Stay in Alaska, then," Cnychwr suggested. "I got the impression quite a few of the humans there were attempting to evade official notice. In point of fact, the place seems perfect for you."

Lily, who had thus far been sitting quietly by Randy's side, stood quickly and headed into the bedroom. Randy looked to Sabrina, who shrugged and began to stand. Randy stood as well and said, "Hold that thought."

"You needn't bother going after her," the alien muttered. "She's just going to slow us down."

Randy stabbed a finger in the alien's direction and said, "You go before she does."

He closed the door behind him after entering the bedroom to find Sabrina embracing Lily on the bed and stroking her long auburn hair soothingly.

"What is it, honey?" Sabrina asked gently.

"I can't," Lily sobbed.

Randy joined them on the bed and said, "Whatever it is, baby. We'll figure it out. We do this together, or not at all. Just tell us what's wrong."

"I can't fly."

"You won't do anything you don't want to, Lily," Randy vowed. "We just need to understand why. Is it a medical issue?"

Lily shook her head angrily and muttered, "I wish." She dropped her eyes to her lap and said, "You'll think it's stupid."

"We will not," Sabrina assured her. "We love you, Lily. That means we accept every part of you. No matter what."

"I'm afraid," Lily whispered so softly they barely heard her. "We flew to the Holy Land once when I was a girl. We had never left Utah before. I knew of planes of course, but I never imagined we'd ever board one. No one told me what was happening, I was just expected to obey. When the plane took off, I felt as though my heart was exploding and I couldn't breathe. My father told me I was being foolish, but it just kept getting worse. Eventually I passed out, but the flight was endless. Each time I awoke, the fear returned. I have no idea how many times I screamed until I lost consciousness, only to awake moments later and start the awful cycle over."

"Oh, baby!" Sabrina gushed. "I'm so sorry you had to endure that."

Lily shook her head and said, "That wasn't even the worst part. After we arrived in the Holy Land, I spent a week knowing I would be made to do it again. It felt like I had a death sentence. I cannot face that again, my loves. I'm so sorry, but I just can't bear the thought of it."

Sabrina pulled her close and whispered, "It's ok, honey. We'll never ask you to endure that ever again." She snickered and said, "Besides... we've got an awesome sex van now. We'd be crazy to fly."

Lily looked up at her, a smile hidden behind her tears. "But you must take Cnychwr to his ship. Randy promised."

"I've fulfilled my vow to him a hundred times over," Randy declared. "We'll get him to the airport and pointed in the direction of the right flight. He's more than capable of taking it from there."

Lily sobbed gratefully and said, "Are you sure."

Randy pulled her close, kissing her forehead gently. "I'm never leaving you." He wrapped his other arm around Sabrina and added, "Either of you. I've waited my whole life to find my soulmates, you think I'm going to let a silly little alien separate us now that I've found you?"

Thirty-Eight

"It's a no-go," Randy said evenly as the trio returned to the living room.

"I'm not sure I heard you properly," Cnychwr replied menacingly.

"Yes, you did. We can't go to Alaska. We'll do whatever we can to help you get there, but we're staying here."

"That is unacceptable. Make the arrangements for us to leave first thing in the morning. I'd like to arrive in this Alaska before sundown tomorrow."

"No," Randy said forcefully. "We're not going. We'll take you to the airport where you can slip onto a plane if that would help. Or we can try harder around here to find what you need. But we," he gestured to himself and the girls. "Aren't going anywhere. Our part in this is coming to an end."

"How dare you. After all I've done for you."

"Seriously?" Randy scoffed. "You completely upended my grand tour. You basically entrapped me into committing sexual assault, which only missed rape by the slimmest of margins. And let's not forget, we're all now wanted by the government!" He was nearly shouting by the time he stopped speaking.

Cnychwr laced his fingers together in a very human looking gesture before saying, "I understand what is happening now. This is a ruse intended for comedic effect. Sometimes I still struggle with the finer points of that which passes for humor amongst your species."

"I'm not kidding Cnychwr. We've done far more than you could have reasonably expected for you. But it ends here."

"What of your enhancements?" Cnychwr sputtered.

"You can keep them. We never asked for them anyway."

"Untrue! Your mate insisted I modify her food hole to accommodate your coupling gear."

"I didn't insist," Sabrina huffed. "You insisted I let you change something, so I chose that. But I agree with Randy. If you're so precious about all these changes, take them back."

"And the diseases your other mate acquired while selling her body?"

Randy growled, "Tread carefully, sir."

"I don't think I will. You owe me a debt. All of you. You will take me to Alaska, and any other place I might need to go. You belong to me, until I decide otherwise."

"No," Randy replied firmly as he sat down demonstrably on the couch.

Lily and Sabrina quickly joined him, and they glared as one at Cnychwr.

"Do not cross me, humans."

"Why on earth not?" Sabrina asked dismissively. "Besides, why are you being such an asshole? We've done a ton for you. Just let us take you to the airport and you'll be in Alaska before you know it. If you must have a human's assistance to get to your ship, just find some asshole up there who's dodging child support. I'm sure he'd be more than eager to take you wherever you want to go in return for a different face."

Cnychwr shook his head and said, "I do not wish to find a new pet, earthling. Not when I already expended so much time and effort finding one who is merely tolerable." He turned to Randy and continued, "I care not what becomes of your mates. But you will accompany me."

"I already told you that's not happening."

"Yes, it is."

"What makes you so sure?"

Cnychwr's gaze bore into Randy in a way which nearly made him flinch, but he managed to hold his ground. At length, the alien stood and said, "This is for you alone, Randy. Your mates cannot hear me. We leave at sunrise tomorrow. If you betray me, the price will be more than you can imagine. Look around you. These women are with you because of my intervention. The body I gave you? The things I have done at your request? Those are the reasons they are with you. Don't forget, human. I can hear their thoughts. If you force me to withdraw the gifts I have given you, you will lose far more than your looks. Everything which you now hold dear will slip through your fingers until you are left with nothing but regret. Leave them to their own devices for a few weeks while you accompany me. What is that compared to the lifetime of happiness which will be yours with my help?"

Randy considered Cnychwr's offer silently. He had no doubt of his love for Sabrina and Lily. They were the pieces his life had always been missing. He genuinely could not imagine life without them. And he truly believed that they loved him just as sincerely. But a troublesome voice in his head, which sounded not unlike Jennifer, was quick to point out that neither of his recently found loves had ever known the forty-something man with the first hints of male-pattern baldness and a bit of a paunch that was his true self. How could any of them truly know if they would still desire him, Randy wondered. Furthermore, he reasoned, could any relationship forged in the fires of white-hot passion truly survive if that attraction dried up altogether? Randy glanced in the direction of the two women who had so quickly become indispensable to him, had truly become an inexorable part of his life, and wondered if what Cnychwr demanded of him was not a reasonable price to pay for such treasures as Sabrina and Lily had proven to be.

Then he considered the alien's sometimes slippery sense of fairness, not to mention the nature of time. He could recall several circumstances where Cnychwr had told him he only needed one more thing, then Randy would be rid of him. What truly stood in the way of the alien insisting he required more from Randy after this enigmatic ship was located (if indeed it was even located in Alaska)?

'No!' Randy declared in his own mind. 'Enough is enough. I have to draw a line in the sand, or I'll never be free of him.'

This internal debate seemed to last eons, but Randy suspected the true duration was closer to a few moments. Decision made, he said, "Goodnight, Cnychwr. We'll finish this discussion in the morning."

"As you wish," the alien replied diffidently before retiring to his own room.

***

"What are you doing, babe?" Lily asked sleepily from where she lay entwined on the bed with the still sleeping Sabrina.

"Packing," Randy whispered. "We're leaving."

"I thought you said we'd talk in the morning."

"I know," he sighed. "I'm sort of trying to sneak out before our little blue 'friend' wakes up. So try to keep your voice down."

"Sorry," she whispered. "Should I wake Sabrina?"

"Sure. I'm nearly done."

The women rose quickly and silently helped him cram their meager possessions into their suitcases. To Randy's enormous relief, neither of his lovers demanded an explanation. Not that he was opposed to explaining himself, he just hoped to delay such conversations until they had placed many kilometers between Cnychwr and themselves.

They completed their packing moments later and Randy opened the door to their room with agonizing slowness, each tiny movement sounding like an explosion to his ears. They slunk deftly across the common area, tiptoeing in a way that would have seemed comical had they not been so convinced they were in deep peril.

Upon reaching the main door to the suite, Randy turned the deadbolt with agonizing slowness before sighing in relief when he felt, rather than heard, the lock disengage. He turned and smiled at the girls before opening the door. As he pulled the door open, the Do-Not-Disturb placard caught noisily against the door jamb before snapping free of the door handle and shooting across the hall like a grade-schooler's spitball before loudly thwacking against the door across the hall.

"Shit," Randy whispered fiercely. The girls looked at him with wide eyes. All he could think to do was shoo them into the hall before closing the door louder than he intended. He turned to find them looking at him expectantly, so he growled, "Go!"

They raced down the hall together, foregoing the elevator in favor of the dimly lit stairwell, which they thundered down toward the building's exit. Bursting into the deserted parking lot, they quickly realized their van was parked just a few meters away and moments later they were racing east along nearly empty streets.

"Fuck," Sabrina gasped. "That's a hell of a way to wake up."

"I'm sorry things turned out like this," Randy offered. "Last night, Cnychwr drew a line in the sand, and I realized this was the only way we'd ever be free of him. I would have discussed it with you, but none of us know how his quote hearing unquote works. Regardless, I can't imagine a door would be much of a hinderance for him."

"It's fine, Randy," Lily soothed. "We trust you."

Sabrina nodded and said, "Agreed."

Randy sighed in frustration and said, "You keep acting as though I'm in charge of this insanity. I'm just another inmate."

Lily smiled and said, "You are our leader, my love. That does not mean you value yourself above either of us. To the contrary, you always put us before yourself. But, when the cards are down, someone must lead, and you are a natural at it. Sabrina and I are agreed upon this."

"I appreciate it," Randy sighed. "But now that we've gotten away, I have to know if either of you have any reservations."

"Cnychwr seemed pretty pissed," Lily pointed out.

"Indeed," Sabrina observed. "And he sounded like he wouldn't stop at just reversing our enhancements. Goodness knows what he's capable of."

"That occurred to me as well," Randy said wearily. "So, you're not pissed?"

"Of course not," Lily replied, leaning up from her seat in the van's midsection to kiss Randy's cheek.

Sabrina gripped his hand and said, "What she said." She looked around the quickly dwindling signs of civilization as they left the city behind them and said, "Is there a plan beyond getting away from Cnychwr? Not that I'm being critical, just want to know if I should be looking for another hotel. Or perhaps I should say, now that we've lost our walking talking Jedi mind-trick, a motel."

"If y'all are up for it, I vote we keep going for a while. I can't explain it, but I just have this feeling that the more distance we put between him and us, the better."

"Fine by me," Lily replied agreeably. "So long as you promise to let us spell you if you're sleepy. Let's not have another state route sixty-nine incident."

Sabrina chuckled and said, "That sounds so much sexier than it was. I vote we go back there and just drive up and down the road, wantonly fucking each other's brains out, until we've balanced our chi."

They shared a laugh before lapsing into an easy silence. The kilometers slid beneath them for nearly an hour before Randy convinced the girls to get some rest, assuring them he was far too keyed up to sleep. They agreed after setting an alarm for two hours so Lily could relieve him. As they slept, Randy considered for the first time what their next step should be. He assumed they were still wanted by the government, which likely ruled out a return to any of their hometowns. It also meant they would need to continue to stay off the grid to every degree possible. But he knew they could not continue to live in hotels, or the van, indefinitely. So, he spent the hours until the sun brightened the eastern sky building the beginnings of a plan for something more permanent. He even went so far as to turn north when they arrived at a major highway.

He heard an alarm tittering from the rear of the vehicle and shortly thereafter saw Lily dropping into the passenger seat beside him. He softly asked, "Sleep well?"

"I always sleep well in the arms of one of my lovers," she sighed happily. "Even better when I have them both. Have you decided on a destination?"

"Nothing more specific than north. I worry about the day when Ariana will show up on our doorstep. Maybe it seems insane to solve that by sneaking into Canada, but it's the best I've come up with so far."

"It's not insane," she replied sleepily. "I'd come to much the same conclusion."

"Great minds think alike."

"Indeed. Shall we swap? You must be exhausted, and I happen to know of a delightfully comfortable place to get some rest. It comes fully furnished with a saucy wench with the most incredible legs."

"You drive a hard bargain, my love. Very well, I'll pull off at the next exit."

The sun climbed above the eastern horizon just as the van came to a stop. Lily hopped out as soon as they parked and stretched quickly next to the van. Randy wearily stepped out and stumbled around the rear of the vehicle. Just as Lily came into view, he heard her yelp in surprise. He whirled around, ready to face whatever threatened them but all he saw was an empty parking lot.

As he started to turn back to her in confusion, he heard her terrified voice gasp, "Randy? Is that you?"

Thirty-Nine

"That fucking asshole," Randy grumbled bitterly as he glared in the mirror of a fast-food establishment's restroom.

"Sir?" a voice timidly asked behind him.

Randy whirled to see a man in his late twenties standing with a young child.

"Begging your pardon, but if you wouldn't mind toning down the language, I'd be much obliged."

"Of course," Randy sputtered dejectedly. "I'm very sorry."

"Thanks."

Randy quickly made his way back out to the van in spite of the feeling of dread in his gut which pleaded that he go literally anywhere else.

"Hey, babe!" Sabrina gushed as he approached. She rushed to his side, her considerable assets bouncing luridly with each step.

Randy tried to ignore the display and said, "Everyone ready to go?"

Sabrina nodded brightly and said, "You want me to drive? I know Lily would love to snuggle up with you in the bed."

"I've got it."

"But babe... you've been driving all night. Have you slept at all?"

"It's fine, Sabrina. Really. I got some coffee. Why don't you two take the bed?"

Sabrina eyed him suspiciously and said, "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah," he said too quickly. "It's just this change. Takes some getting used to. I really thought we'd gotten away with it."

"Honestly, Randy. I hope you're not up in your head about all this. It really isn't a big deal."

"I know," he muttered as he climbed into the driver's seat, hoping she would not call him out on his dishonesty. He sighed in relief when she slid into the bed in the vehicle's rear without another word.

He glanced into the rearview mirror on the way out of the parking lot and grimaced at what he found there. Before leaving home and beginning what he now believed to be an ill-fated grand tour, he had never found himself the object of affection for the fairer sex. He was blessed with good genes and made an effort to take care of himself, but he never made it through an annual visit to his local sawbones without an admonishment that he could stand to lose a kilogram or ten. He had also just passed the point where he had made peace with the fact that while he intended to age gracefully, he would almost certainly be making that journey without the benefit of his hair. Despite all this, he had never felt the need to justify his appearance. Up until she had asked for a divorce, he had never had reason to believe that Jennifer found his appearance particularly unappealing. It would be a stretch to say they had a rich and fulfilling sex life, but they did have sex with a frequency which he had found, if not ideal, then at least not disagreeable.

As he stared at his reflection in the mirror, he had difficulty remembering the details of his appearance when his adventure had begun. After all, he had been wearing the face, and body, of a late-twenties movie star for the past month. But even making allowances for his fuzzy memory in light of all that had happened to him recently, he was incapable of believing that Cnychwr had, as he had threatened, simply reversed the changes he had made. The grim visage that now stared back at him in the mirror was not the face of a forty-two-year-old man who had lived a comfortable life and tried to take care of himself. It was, instead, the face of a man who had lived at least five hard decades, if not more. Jowls fought with psoriasis to see which could make his face less appealing. His wispy hair had the look of a failed combover, which after Randy had angrily swiped it off his clean pate now just stuck out wildly at odd angles. Glancing down, he could barely spot the safety belt beneath his prodigious belly. Not to mention the discovery he had made when using the restroom. He had never wanted the monster penis he had been given, but he was certain that the equipment he now sported came closer to four-year-old Randy instead of his pre-adventure memory of his cock.

Merging onto the highway, he heard the first sigh escape the rear of the van. A glance in the mirror told him what his heart already knew: Sabrina and Lily were exploring their new bodies.

He sighed despondently and muttered, "Touche, you fucking blue piece of shit."

Cnychwr had threatened to revert the girls along with him and Randy was fully prepared for that. He would have been furious had he restored Lily's STDs, but they could have dealt with that easily enough. But, as Randy had discovered in shock when he had rounded the van at their stop earlier that morning, Cnychwr had apparently thought of something much more sinister.

He had, at first, not noticed anything different about Lily. But, as she came into the light, he had first noticed her hair as it had gone from auburn to light brown. He next noticed that her cute freckles, which both he and Sabrina had spent long hours worshiping, were gone in favor of flawlessly tanned skin. Her face was slightly more rounded and now featured strikingly green eyes rather than blue. Her breasts were also, impossibly, even larger and sat noticeably higher on her chest.

The change in Sabrina was even more profound. She had shrunk by at least ten centimeters and had gone from slender with an alluring curviness to legitimately buxom. Her C-cup breasts had grown at least two cup sizes. Her hips had also widened while retaining her toned figure. Her dirty blonde hair was now so light it could be fairly called silver, and her soulful hazel eyes had shifted to a piercing blue.

The girls had accepted these changes with a youthful exuberance. To their way of thinking, there was no downside. Neither had been unhappy with their appearance before, but both seemed quite pleased with their transformations. As Lily had put it, it was only fair that after Randy had gotten to enjoy having a porn star's body for a while that they get a turn.

Another glance in the mirror confirmed that they were most certainly enjoying their new bodies. The last of Sabrina's now ill-fitting clothing had just hit the floor and their sighs turned quickly to moans as her lover sank between her thighs.

Randy huffed and averted his eyes. Countless times in the past, such an action on their part would have certainly led to his inclusion. Be it one of the girls slinking up to take him in her mouth or someone changing places with him so he could take a turn, his participation would have been as certain as day following night. But staring down at the disgusting body Cnychwr had given him, he no longer felt the warm blanket of confidence surrounding him. Cnychwr's words, and his own insecurities, left little space for any other thought.

They had been firm in their insistence that his new appearance did not matter to them. Sabrina had even coquettishly murmured something about a long-repressed daddy fetish she looked forward to exploring. He genuinely tried to maintain a positive outlook and trust that their love was more than skin deep. But, as they traveled steadily north, the thought which shouted repeatedly in his head like a child's broken toy was, 'how long until they're only with you out of pity?.'

***

That evening at the hotel just south of the Oregon state line, Randy pretended to allow the girls to talk him into turning in early. He could hardly deny he was exhausted as he had been up for over forty hours straight. He slipped into bed without even pausing to take off more than his shoes and sleep found him instantly.

He awoke before dawn in a situation which should have delighted him, delectably wedged between two achingly beautiful, impossibly curvy women who loved him. But, despite this, he felt no joy. He carefully extricated himself and retired to the bathroom to get cleaned up.

His self-inspection during the shower did not improve his assessment of his situation. Absent a cataclysmic health emergency, he decided everything was, for want of a better term, wrong. Everything was either too big or too small. To add insult to injury, he found that after finishing the shower and drying off, his clothes would not fit him properly. He angrily tugged them on, accepting the discomfort they provided as part of his penance.

Exiting the bathroom, he found the girls still sleeping. He could not help his eyes drifting over their accentuated curves. They both truly now had bodies which men would kill for, and women would waste a fortune trying to attain. Lily shifted slightly and Sabrina moved to pull her closer, cupping the younger woman's impossibly full breast in the process.

His better nature argued vehemently with him to join them, promising they would accept him regardless of his appearance:

Would you reject them if Cnychwr had done as promised and taken their youth?

Of course not!

Then why do you not trust their love?

I didn't say I don't!

Then join them. They yearn for you.

They yearn for a version of me that doesn't exist anymore.

Randy silenced any further attempts by the troublesome inner voice to reason with him and instead collected his phone and earbuds before settling into the uncomfortable easy chair on the opposite side of the room.

Queuing up his go to music for times of mental disharmony, he quickly lost himself in the timeless masterpiece. As one track seamlessly flowed into the next, he increasingly got the sense that it was speaking to him. The psychedelic angst of the opening movement; the anxiety of the second track which perfectly matched the unsettled feeling which had overcome him; the eerie message of the third song which seemed to reach out to him from five decades previous to warn him about the ephemeral nature of time; the ethereal, yet devastating beauty of the fourth track which never failed to bring tears to his eyes.

As the echoes of Claire Torry's brilliant vocals faded, he felt a touch on his arm. He looked up to see Lily's unfamiliar face looking down at him worriedly. He pulled his earbuds out and looked at her expectantly.

"What's wrong?" she whispered with so much care and affection that it took his breath away.

"What do you mean?"

"You looked so sad."

"This album," he evaded. "Gets me every time."

She frowned before slowly sinking onto her knees before him. She regarded him for a long moment before saying, "While I do not doubt what you're telling me, I think we both know that was not the whole truth. Is it the changes Cnychwr made to our bodies?"

His eyes went to the ceiling as he nodded slightly, unwilling to see the pity in her gaze. Or, worse, the disdain. He felt as though his worst fears had been confirmed when he felt her stand and move away. He sighed in defeat, closing his eyes in an attempt to keep the visible signs of his emotions at bay.

As he reached for his phone to restart his music, he felt her return and sit in the chair at his side. Her hand found his, their fingers lacing together, before she gave him a comforting squeeze.

"Can I listen with you?" she whispered solemnly.

"We shouldn't wake Sabrina."

"I could just listen to one of the earbuds."

He shook his head ruefully, despite his grim mood, and said, "This album doesn't work like that. You'd miss a lot with only one channel."

"We could go sit in the van," she offered. "I could leave a note for Sabrina."

He glanced over at her, noticing that she had dressed in some of his clothing which did an admirable job of concealing her curviness. In that moment, he felt something pop deep within his subconscious and knew with absolute clarity that he would sooner lop off his own arm than disappoint the remarkable woman before him.

He smiled wanly at Lily and stood before taking her hand. "That sounds like a great idea, honey."

Forty

"That was..." Lily whispered, her hand gripping Randy's tightly. "I do not have the words.

"Wait until you listen to it for the hundredth time. Or the thousandth. For me, it just keeps getting better."

They sat on the captain's chairs which sat amidship in the van and listened to the soft crackle of the vehicle's speakers, which Randy had turned nearly all the way up, and cherished what, for Randy, came closer to a religious experience than anything he had ever done in a church. For the last forty-three minutes and change, he and Lily had sat completely still as he shared his favorite work of art with her.

Music had always been his escape, his passion, even though he could only play a few chords on a guitar. He had had the great fortune to room with a progressive rock fanatic during his first year in college and had become a quick convert to the genre that featured tracks which spanned an entire album side composed by artists who truly believed they were the greatest musicians to ever live (and were not shy about proving it). But more than the epic length songs and constantly changing key and time signatures, it was the lyrics which really resonated with Randy. When other bands were writing songs about getting laid or driving fast, his heroes were writing about dystopian futures saved by the re-discovery of music or prophesizing the world's descent into capitalistic madness.

Lily interrupted his thoughts by asking, "How old were they? When they made the album."

Randy smiled in the darkness and said, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Why? Were they like fifteen?"

"Hardly. I was going to say they were roughly your age. But even that is remarkable, considering that they were recording what would become, in the opinion of nearly everyone with more than two brain cells to rub together, the greatest album ever made."

"I never listened to music much when I was younger. It was not forbidden, but it was discouraged. Later... well I was much too busy. But nothing I ever listened to made me feel anything. I think I had just come to believe that all music was like our hymns."

"There's so much more to music, honey. No other art form creates such an instantaneous connection to your soul. A million different people could disagree on their favorite kind of music or whether or not a given pop song sucks. But if you played them Pavarotti's rendition of Puccini's Turandot, the response will be universal. Or if anyone dissents, you know straight away that they're a sociopath. Come to think of it, that would be a pretty reliable test we could perform on people before they're permitted to vote." He chuckled and added, "Certainly would have disqualified a couple of recent presidents."

"There he is," Lily murmured happily.

"There who is?"

"The man I love. I lost him there for a little while."

He smiled shyly, this time managing to resist the urge to look away. After a moment to collect himself, he said, "It's a lot to deal with."

She squeezed his hand again before saying, "I started to say I know, but the reality is I don't. Not really. But what you must keep in mind is that Cnychwr changed us all for the same reason. And to be honest, I pity him for it."

"Whatever for?"

"Because he thought that this change would drive us apart. That Sabrina and I would look at our new bodies, and yours, and decide we could do better. I pity Cnychwr because it's obvious to me that he's never been in love." Randy started to speak, but she stilled his words with a look. She continued, "I know this because if he had ever been in love, he'd know that little could mean less to us than your appearance. We love you, Randy. Not your body. You."

"I know, honey. And I feel the same about you. It's just... there's this voice in the back of your head, and he's a fucking bastard. It's hard to go from a ten to a one in an instant and ignore that voice which says no one could ever love what you've become."

"You should have talked to us. It never even occurred to us that you'd think our feelings had changed until this afternoon. We were talking after you fell asleep and realized we'd both noticed a difference in you and felt terrible we hadn't noticed earlier."

"The blame lies with me. You two are perfect. I should have had faith in you rather than behaving like a spineless weakling, which is apparently what I am because when I saw you two playing in the back seat, I wasn't able to convince myself that it wasn't because you just wanted each other now."

"Randy!" she huffed. "We were doing that for your enjoyment. And our own. That's who we are. We've done that tons of times."

"I know," he sighed. "I already told you it didn't make any sense. But that doesn't change the fact that I owe you an apology. Both of you. You're so much better than I deserve."

She leaned close and whispered, "Don't talk like that, babe. We're human. We make mistakes. If you won't allow yourself to make a mistake with us, that means you won't tolerate any mistakes from on our part." She quirked her head to the side and gave him a playful grin. "Doesn't sound fair. I can't speak for Sabrina, but I grew up in a deeply broken community and then spent a decade as little more than a slave. I'm effectively guaranteed to step in a bucket with your children at some point. Will you banish me if that happens? Should I refuse to meet anyone else you love for fear of making a mistake?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Randy huffed. "You could never do anything which would make me love you less."

"Ditto," she whispered just before leaning forward to claim his lips gently.

Their kiss lingered for time uncounted before she slowly sank back into her seat.

He smiled at her and said, "I can't believe how much I love you, Lily."

"Ditto," she replied with a grin. She then pulled his hand up to kiss his knuckles and said, "I have a suggestion. A game, if you will. Are you willing?"

"Anything for you, my love."

***

"This is hardly necessary," Randy scoffed as Sabrina rifled through her bag.

When Randy and Lily had returned to the room, they had found Sabrina busily tapping away on her laptop, planning out possible strategies for their next move after departing California. Lily had, upon their return, pulled Sabrina into the bathroom for a brief whispered conversation. Sabrina's face as she exited was stern, but Randy sensed her ire was pointed inward at least as much as it was toward him. He had cut off her path to her suitcase, holding her by the arms so he could stare into the eyes which were at once comforting and unfamiliar.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I should never have doubted you."

She sighed before replying, "You're right. You shouldn't have. But I should have never allowed that doubt to fester in the first place. I love you, babe. Nothing can change that. Certainly not looking a bit older. I think you just look more dignified. Now sit. We have something to show you."

He had taken a seat on the bed and watched their search with interest. When he inquired as to their goal, he was told to butt out, so he contented himself with resting his eyes for a moment.

He was awoken by the sensation of fabric wisping across his face, causing him to startle.

"Shh," Lily whispered before kissing his forehead gently as she secured the blindfold.

"What are you doing?" he asked with a chuckle.

"I told you. We have something to show you."

"But I can't see."

"Your eyes can deceive you; don't trust them," Sabrina quoted before kissing his temple.

"God, I love you," Randy gushed.

He felt their hands on his body and it quickly became clear that their objective was the rapid and thorough divestiture of his clothing. He quieted his impulse to tell them to stop, recognizing those old insecurities for what they were. Soon, he was naked on the bed, and he could feel his lovers moving around him as their clothing joined his on the floor.

Moments later, they laid down beside him and he felt their lips on his chest and neck. He slid his hands along their backs, pulling them closer. Lips descended upon his, quickly followed by a tongue demanding access. He sighed into the kiss as their tongues twined unhurriedly.

Kisses from his other lover trailed slowly down his chest until reaching his groin. He caressed her cheek as she took his manhood in her mouth, surprised to find that she also wore a blindfold. A quick check of the lover kissing him confirmed she was similarly dressed.

He broke their kiss and said, "Why?"

Sabrina chuckled and said, "Because she loves to make you feel good, my love. And because she wishes to try a new technique I read about on social media."

"That wasn't what I was..." he gasped as Lily took him to the root. "... talking about," he managed to conclude as Lily temporarily released his cock from the heavenly confines of her mouth.

Sabrina apparently decided he needed more time to consider his next words, because she rose up above him and straddled his face. He dove into her folds with gusto, licking along her hairless mons with steadily deepening swipes of his tongue until her heady aroma filled his senses.

He focused on Sabrina's pleasure in hopes of staving off his rapidly approaching orgasm thanks to Lily's expert ministrations. Soon, she released his cock from the warm embrace of her mouth, eliciting a gasp from Randy. This was quickly followed by a groan of pleasure as she sheathed his hardness in her molten core.

He heard a thwack, quickly followed by a giggle. Based on his available senses, his best guess was that Lily had leaned down to kiss him and slammed into Sabrina's backside. The giggles soon turned into a sigh as Sabrina leaned forward to allow both of her lovers to stimulate her orally at once.

In moments, Sabrina's thighs took yet another of Randy's senses as they snapped closed over his ears. The sensation of pleasuring her with his tongue without the benefit of sight or sound, while Lily energetically rode his cock, was like nothing he could have imagined. His other senses came alive. Every tiny movement of Lily's inner walls, every tiny detail of Sabrina's taste and smell, combined to bring him rapidly closer to release.

Sabrina rolled to their side, aftershocks of her orgasm still rippling along her body. Randy leaned over to kiss her, finding Lily had beat him to the punch. He licked along her neck, savoring the tiny droplets of sweat he found there.

"I love you, baby," he whispered, confident that each of his lovers would know he was speaking to them both. "This is... you are... perfect."

Lily shifted over to kiss him, a chuckle rumbling in her chest when she got his nose on her first attempt. The movement of her hips was quickening, and he knew it would not be long before she joined Sabrina in bliss. He pulled her close, his fingers sliding through her hair as their kiss deepened in time with the thrusting of her hips.

"I'm close," Randy grunted as she relinquished his lips.

"I want you to cum inside me," she whispered desperately.

"Are you sure?"

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

"It's what we want," Sabrina sighed, her lips against his ear. "We are soul mates, my love. Seems like it would be a shame to not also be a family."

"But," he began.

"Do you love us?"

"With all my heart."

"Do you want us to give you children?"

He paused only a fraction longer at this question, but he knew in that instant that he wanted nothing more.

"Yes!" he whispered fiercely.

"Then what's the problem?" Sabrina whispered triumphantly.

"Randy," Lily began. "I want this. We want this. Please, baby."

"I want this too, honey. I want it all."

She claimed his lips hungrily and he knew her release was imminent. Reaching down to grasp her hips, he thrust into her eagerly.

"Oh, Randy," she whispered just before falling over the precipice into bliss.

His own orgasm arrived seconds later as he thrust up into her heavenly embrace a final time before erupting deep within her womb. Their moans filled the room as he emptied his seed into her. Through wave after wave of pleasure crashing over him, Randy felt the all-encompassing love of his soulmates surrounding him and cherishing him. He reached out to them, embracing them tightly and trying to wordlessly convey that his feelings matched theirs with perfect synchronicity.

As their pleasure receded, Lily lay her head down on his chest and tried to regain her breath. Sabrina snuggled up against him and kissed him deeply.

As their lips parted, he whispered, "Next time, it'll be your turn."

"I can't wait," she murmured sleepily before they all sank into a dreamless sleep.

Forty-One

"Welcome home, my loves," Lily said brightly as Sabrina and Randy entered their hotel room. "Any luck?"

"Maybe," Sabrina shrugged. "I want to check it out again on a weekend night. Lots of college students seemed to live there. I want to make sure it isn't like the apartment I lived in my junior year."

"What's the matter, babe?" Randy asked jovially. "Don't want to watch coeds streaking across the street every weekend?"

"It's not the eye candy I mind. It's the noise. Especially now that we're trying to make some money again. Can't have a sales call getting interrupted by a twenty-year-old screaming from the courtyard about how he got hammered and forgot where he put his keys."

Lily snickered and said, "Fair point. Other than the neighbors though..."

"It's great," Randy answered. "Three bedrooms so we can have a dedicated office as well as an extra room."

"Finally planning on asking the kids to visit?"

He frowned and said, "I still worry about the government finding us if we do that. It's killing me only talking to them over encrypted and VPN'd video chats, but it's for their protection as much as ours. Maybe someday we'll decide the powers that be have moved on from Fucky McAssFace and its safe to visit our families. In the meantime, I figure we'll need an extra room because while I hope you'll both share my bed every night, apartment master bedrooms just don't have the storage space three people require."

"You just try keeping me out of your bed, buster," Sabrina declared aggressively.

"Easy, tiger," Randy replied with a smile. "We're on the same team, here."

"And don't you forget it," Sabrina replied, her rancor gone as quickly as it had appeared. She then looked pensive for a moment before saying, "How long, do you think?"

"I just don't know, honey. I keep thinking about it, but the only thing I can come up with is that there are only two realities: one where we exist as we are now; and the other where we're caught and thrown into a jail no one's ever heard of, never to be heard from again. Unfortunately, the only way to know if we've worried ourselves over nothing is to expose ourselves irrevocably to option two."

"I know," she replied despondently. "I asked my folks if anyone had come around asking about me. But the fact that they said no might not mean anything."

"I wish there was a hotline we could call," Lily muttered. "To tell the government where he is so they'd leave us alone."

"I don't disagree with your sentiment," Randy nodded. "But that little bastard's almost certainly moved on by now so all we'd do is remind the government that we're still at large. And we don't share his ability to disappear. I just hope he made it to his ship."

"Why?" Sabrina exclaimed. "He deserves to spend the next century getting anal-probed for what he did to you."

"What he did to us," Randy reminded her gently.

"He changed all of us, babe. But he did it to hurt you. We're just collateral damage with huge boobs."

"They are nice boobs," Randy agreed with a wink. "I suspect Cnychwr would be rather disappointed to discover the details of how you two molested me last evening."

"Molested?" Lily guffawed. "You were the one hanging on to them like a drowning man with a life ring while you covered us in cum. I found some on the ceiling, this morning. The ceiling! I hope this apartment works out. I hate making memories like this in a hotel."

"All that matters is that we're making them," Sabrina assured her. "Even the apartment will be temporary. Someday, we'll move home to Charlotte and make a real home."

Randy kissed them both before taking a seat before his laptop to catch up on work. But he found his attention wandering even before his email program finished loading. 'Home'. It was a concept whose meaning had changed beyond measure over the last few months. He had lived in Charlotte since before Holly was born. It had become such a forgone conclusion that, even as he prepared for his grand tour, he would return eventually. This despite the fact that he owned no property there, other than his business, which had seized the opportunity created by his grand tour to once again thrive, and a condo he had obtained after the divorce but spent only a short time in before his departure.

As Randy thought about it, he realized Charlotte held nothing for him beyond being close to his children who, he now realized, were no more wedded to their hometown than he was. Holly had just moved to an apartment in a northern suburb to be closer to her job and Peter had moved across the state to go to college. As his soulmates took seats across from him in their makeshift office, he realized that they were home. Be it California, North Carolina or whatever godforsaken planet had birthed the rat bastard, Cnychwr. Home was undeniably wherever they chose to be, and the rest was just travel arrangements waiting to be made.

"I can see smoke coming from your ears," Sabrina mocked. "What are you thinking so hard about?"

"Home," he replied simply.

"I just said that. We just have to wait until we're more confident we're not fugitives."

"I'm sure we'll go there someday, honey. But it won't be home unless you two chose for it to be where we raise our children."

His lovers' eyes dropped at his statement. Their hopes of their perfect night of making love blindfolded, and the many that followed it in the weeks since, resulting in pregnancy for one or both of them had come to a screeching halt the morning before when their menses had arrived. All three had been saddened, but their love was as strong as ever and they vowed to keep trying.

He reached out to squeeze their hands comfortingly and said, "We'll keep trying until we succeed. In the meantime, there are certainly less fun ways to fail."

They returned his smile warmly. A comfortable silence stretched between them which gradually led to a hitch at the corner of Randy's lips. This began a smirk from Lily, which begat a grin from Sabrina, which begat a snicker from Randy. Before they knew it, they were all cackling in the way only those deeply in love will ever know.

As the hilarity faded, Lily wiped her eyes and said, "So, if not Charlotte, then where?"

Without a second thought, Randy looked at her intently and said, "Wherever you want."

"Don't be ridiculous," she deflected.

Sabrina caught Randy's eyes for the briefest of moments before saying, "He's right. It has to be you. We've both lived lots of places. We went to college where we wanted and then moved to a town we hand-picked. You've never gotten a say in where you lived, baby. Until now."

The smallest hint of worry flickered across Lily's face before she murmured, "I wouldn't have the first idea where to live."

"Then get to it," Randy declared, shoving the laptop he had acquired on her behalf across the table to her. "Time's a wasting."

She glared at him with a mixture of apprehension and appreciation until their reverie was broken by a notification popping up on Randy's computer. He glanced at it and saw that he had received a message from his office manager, Betty.

He smiled and said, "Welp, time for me to go to work. You girls try not to get into any trouble."

Sabrina winked at him wickedly and said, "Why? Will you spank me if I'm naughty?"

"I just might."

Randy did not quite catch her reply other than the word 'Daddy,' and he had learned the hard way that it was best not to push for clarification in these situations.

A short time later, Lily departed for a job waiting tables she had gotten nearby. Randy still had several thousand dollars left in cash and gift cards, but they had been forced to start thinking more long term. It had led him to focus more time each day on his work and Sabrina had ended her sabbatical with the understanding that she would, henceforth, work remotely. It had taken some practice to do her makeup so she would not appear to have changed too drastically, at least through the reasonably low resolution of her laptop's webcam. Randy had continued to rely upon the team he had built at his home practice while occasionally weighing in on strategic decisions related to his firm's high-dollar investment portfolios.

Later that evening, Randy and Sabrina departed their room to take another look at the apartment complex. It was a Thursday, rather than Sabrina's preferred weekend evening, but they decided that they would collect sufficient intel upon which to make a decision. They had both realized as dinnertime arrived, that they were loath to eat yet another takeout meal. They had tried to cook in their room's meager kitchenette, but something which could be prepared using nothing but a microwave was hardly a step up from commercial grade food. Randy especially felt this deficiency as he had been desperately trying to lose the extra weight Cnychwr had 'given' him. But, despite lowering his caloric intake down to twelve hundred per day, he had not lost so much as a hectogram. He was certain the troublesome alien was to blame, considering a brief time where he had thrown caution to the wind had quickly led to weight gain. Regardless of his lack of success losing weight, they were all still anxious to have an honest-to-goodness kitchen again. Thus, the hastiness to make a decision on the apartment that would become, if not their forever home, then at least someplace where they would not feel so temporary.

Their inspection of the apartment complex revealed some mild shenanigans on the part of the students who lived in some of the units, but they decided it was acceptable and agreed that they would sign a lease the following day.

Driving back toward the hotel, they soaked in the energy of the bustling college town. Randy had seen many a football game broadcast from the nearby stadium, but he had never guessed just how much like his native foothills of Carolina central Oregon was. The town was situated in a valley just east of the Cascade mountains and the beauty of the place was overwhelming. He could scarcely imagine the way settlers must have felt centuries earlier seeing this valley for the first time after enduring years of hellish cross-country travel through desolate terrain. They had all agreed to stop upon arriving in Springfield even though their original plan had been to push on to the border. There was just something about the land, and the people they had met, which resonated with them.

They swung by the diner where Lily worked on their return trip to keep her company during the typically slow night shift. As they slid into a booth, Lily caught their eye and smiled brilliantly. Another feather in this town's cap was the fact that they had yet to get a single raised eyebrow or muttered comment regarding their relationship. They made no attempt to hide their feelings when in public. Behavior which, at best, would have gotten them talked about in Charlotte and likely would have led to the local preacher revising his upcoming sermon. But here, their relationship was not only unscandalous; it was unremarkable.

Lily sauntered over to their table, exaggerating the sway of her hips, before placing a cup before each of them and a carafe of steaming water on the table. They thanked her and each set about preparing their tea in their preferred fashion.

Randy leaned back in his seat, hooking an arm over the seat back. He raised his cup and said, "To our noble selves."

"There's damn few of us left," Sabrina finished.

He smiled at her and said, "I love you."

She returned his smile and said, "I love you..."

"Would you two please shut up," an unwelcome voice interrupted in a grating cockney accent.

Forty-Two

Randy's head whipped around so fast he felt something pop in his neck.

"Fuck!" he gasped, his eyes still scanning the diner anxiously heedless of the reproachful looks he was getting from the other diners. Much to his chagrin, he spotted nothing noteworthy.

His eyes found Sabrina's and, for a moment, her concerned expression made him worry that he had hallucinated the entire thing.

"Did you hear that?" he whispered fiercely as he rubbed his neck.

She nodded solemnly before mouthing, "What do we do?"

Randy answered by looking at her and saying, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't call in the feds right now."

"And just whom do you propose to call?" a still very much invisible Cnychwr asked nastily.

"I still have Ariana's number," Sabrina interjected.

"Of course. The little one. I suppose you could call her. Although I suspect you'd find that conversation to be rather more disappointing than you're imagining."

"What do you want?" Randy spat.

"To see how you're doing," Cnychwr replied with obviously feigned offense. "I've missed you, my friend."

"Don't. You. Call him that," Sabrina seethed.

"You behave as though I am not the aggrieved party here. It was he who refused me in my moment of need. After all I did for him."

"I can't talk to him," Sabrina huffed.

"Then keep quiet," Cnychwr snapped. "Randy, there are things we must discuss and I have no desire to expend the effort it takes to stay concealed. Collect your other mate and meet me at your filthy hotel room as quickly as possible."

There was no sense of his departure, but Randy had no intention of allowing that to influence their behavior. The thoughts firing through his head threatened to overwhelm him. He sighed and said, "What do you think?"

"I think we wring his skinny neck until he makes things right."

"I mean, why do you think he's here after all this time."

"I can only imagine that he thought of something else he needed. Or, perhaps, he intends to give you quote another chance unquote."

Randy sighed despondently and stared out the window to the quiet street outside.

Sabrina reached out to grip his hand and said, "I thought we had gotten past this, babe. Lily and I love you, not your appearance."

He frowned slightly and said, "It's not that."

"Then what?"

"You can't visit your family. I can't see my children. We can't give Lily the family she deserves. All because we're terrified that the government is searching for us. What if he could fix that? Use his particular set of skills to give us back our freedom. Wouldn't it be worth whatever price he's likely to demand?"

"Maybe. If he could even do such a thing. If we could trust him. If whatever he wants from you now isn't something which would place you in unacceptable danger. That's a lot of if's, babe."

"I know. I just can't help but think that we don't have much of a choice. We could get that apartment. You girls would be safe here. Maybe it's just like before and he'd just want an escort to run up to Alaska and I'd be back in a few days."

"Or maybe he'd want a hell of a lot more. He sounded pretty pissed. And I'm not comfortable with any plan which requires that we separate. I just found you, babe. I plan on keeping you for quite a while."

"I guess all we can do is see what he says. I'm just saying I'm not sure we can afford to not keep an open mind."

Sabrina nodded solemnly before saying, "How long until Lily gets off?"

***

No sooner had the door to their hotel closed behind them before Cnychwr appeared, sitting on one of the room's beds and guzzling a sugary soda. "We meet again," he drawled drunkenly.

Randy gestured for the women to take a seat in the room's chairs before taking up position standing before the bed on which Cnychwr sat.

The alien hiccupped and said, "You're looking... well."

"Fuck you," Randy replied stiffly. "What do you want?"

"I missed you. And your mates. You would not believe how many unreasonable humans live in your Silicon Valley. All they care about is their precious devices."

"How did you find us?"

"Does it matter?"

An awkward silence descended, and the air was charged with tension. At length, Randy huffed and said, "Fine, at least tell us what you want."

"I want you to take me to my ship."

"What are you prepared to offer in return?"

"Does the owner offer his pet recompense for obedience?"

"Yes, actually. And fuck you very much for the comparison. Where, in Alaska?"

"Ah, I see you've come around. Again, I struggle with your species' baffling methods of navigation, but suffice it to say my ship is rather far to the north."

"No," Lily declared. "It's nearly winter. Humans don't go to far northern Alaska in the best of times unless they're expertly trained and provisioned. No one goes there in winter."

"Would you prefer I stay with you until the weather improves?"

"I'd prefer that you undo this evil you've visited upon us!"

Sabrina said, "You behave as though you believe that you're reasonably intelligent." Cnychwr nodded agreeably. She continued, "So why'd you leave your ship in a place where you couldn't return to it? Didn't you at least have a semblance of a plan?"

"If you must know, I was unaware that the climate was so inhospitable. On the planet from which I hail the climate is almost intolerably warm for my kind, so we only populate the polar regions."

Sabrina sighed wearily and said, "Lemme guess, you fucked your planet just like we're fucking ours and global warming forced you to move north."

"Hardly," Cnychwr chuckled dismissively. "We saw the dangers of burning fossil fuels long before we did permanent damage to our planet."

"Then why'd you have to live so far north?"

"Is it really beyond your feeble mind to imagine that I was born on a planet from which my species did not originate?"

"No!" Sabrina snapped before muttering, "Such an asshole."

"That reminds me," Cnychwr said cheerily. "What is with your kind's juxtaposition between your epitaphs and the things you do to each other purportedly for pleasure?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

Cnychwr laughed and said, "There is another. Words like asshole, dick, pussy. They are things which context suggests are an insult, yet your mouths are attracted to them like moths to a flame when you're engaged in intimacy. And this 'fuck,' it seems to perhaps be the most versatile word in your language, yet it is somehow deemed as verboten?"

"I'm in no mood to debate linguistics," Randy grumbled. "Lily's right. Heading to northern Alaska in late November is insanity."

"Unacceptable. I must get to my ship."

Sabrina groaned in frustration and said, "Then find some air force sergeant with a complex about the size of his cock and work out a trade. We'll even drive you to the closest base. You'll love it there, tons of small-minded idiots for you who'd love nothing more than to be tempted by Faustian bargains. But you must do something for us first."

"Assuming I find your terms agreeable, which is unlikely, what is it you ask in return?"

"Give them their lives back," Lily declared firmly.

Cnychwr chuckled cruelly and said, "I cannot imagine how challenging it has been for you to feign attraction to him these last few weeks."

"That's not what I meant, you pitiful weakling," Lily retorted firmly. "I meant their freedom to see their families, relief from constantly looking over their shoulders."

"And what of yourself, flesh merchant? Do you not wish to..."

Cnychwr's words were interrupted when the back of Randy's fist slammed against the side of his head, and he tumbled across the bed before slamming into the wall.

Randy stood menacingly over him and seethed, "You will not talk to her like that. Apologize!"

"I should kill you for your impudence. How dare you strike me!"

"It's about to happen again if you don't apologize!"

Randy was shaking with rage above the much smaller alien. Cnychwr looked to Lily and said, "You would have him sacrifice his life on your behalf?"

"You truly are a wretched creature. Obviously, I would never ask him to place himself in danger for me, but I could no more prevent him from leaping to my defense than I could prevent myself from doing the same for him."

"But why?" Cnychwr asked dismissively. "I made you the epitome of human beauty. You could have any man you desired. What makes this man so special?"

Lily shook her head and regarded Cnychwr with pity. "Because he makes me happy. They both do. I love them, Cnychwr. Just as they love me. Perhaps many will find this body you gave me desirable, but I only care that they desire me. And I know they will do that regardless of my appearance."

"You humans are so bloody confusing."

"Perhaps we are," Sabrina interjected. "But I suspect what truly confuses you is something else altogether."

"And what is that?"

"Does your kind know nothing of love?" she asked gently. "Or is it just that your cruelty has prevented anyone from ever getting close to you?"

"You know nothing, primate!" Cnychwr growled.

"Why are you here, Cnychwr?" Lily pleaded. "There must be more to it than simple malice, rather toward Randy or all of us."

"You are the key," he sighed disconsolately. "My last, best chance at completing my thesis and finally going home."

"What are you talking about?"

"This love, you speak of. I must gain an understanding of it."

"Does your kind truly know nothing of love?" Sabrina asked dismissively.

"Of course not. Why would we?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Randy snapped, still very much aware that Cnychwr had not apologized.

"I don't know," the alien wailed. "That's why I'm here."

"Does your species have gender?"

"Yes, although not as you know it. We are what you would call hermaphroditic. Any of my kind can either birth or father children, depending on what is required. But why should that matter?" He gestured to Sabrina and Lily before continuing, "You two share a gender, and yet claim to love one another."

"What about your lifespan?" Randy asked pointedly.

"Our natural lifespan is reasonably short, only a few of your centuries. But our scientists have made significant advances in antigeria techniques over the last millennia. It has been some time since one of my kind died of what you would call old age."

"Did your kind used to fall in love?" Sabrina asked.

"Our histories are unclear on the matter."

"What of your art?"

"Our what?"

"There's your problem," Randy muttered.

"Music? Fiction? Painting? Sculpture?" Lily elaborated.

"My species do not waste time on such frivolities," Cnychwr replied dismissively.

Randy shook his head and said, "That is why you fail. Good news, you rat fucking bastard. Your thesis will fit on an index card. Love and art are two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist without the other."

"It cannot be that simple."

Cnychwr's alien face scanned across the pitying expressions of the humans facing him before he appeared to deflate. He shook his head and said, "Incredible. I must do more research, of course, but if you're correct, this could be the answer. I could finally leave this cursed place."

"Awesome," Randy replied with mock cheer. "Great. I'm so fucking happy for you."

"I sense sarcasm."

"Holy fucking shit with this guy," Randy exclaimed in irritation before dropping onto the second bed.

"What's his problem?" Cnychwr asked dismissively.

"He hasn't seen his children in person in nearly three months."

"Why on earth not?"

"Because," Sabrina exclaimed, "thanks to you, we're wanted by God knows how many shadowy government agencies!"

It began as a snicker but within moments Cnychwr had worked his way up to a full-throated laugh which echoed off the walls of the room. When his laughter had faded, he gasped, "Great Maker, that's funny."

"I fail to find the comedy in this," Randy seethed.

"That's because you still think anyone besides the four of us knows of my presence on this planet."

Forty-Three

"Explain," Randy seethed after he had taken a moment to pour himself and his ladies a stiff drink.

Cnychwr, who was still not done giggling, said, "Why on earth would I have allowed anyone to know of my presence here? That would have been an unacceptable risk."

"You were hardly in any position to allow anything, you ungrateful cur. You were unconscious and trapped in some kind of containment vessel."

"How long have you known me?"

"Too long."

"And, in all that time, have you ever known me to allow a human to do anything to me?"

Randy chuckled and said, "Well... I did just knock you across the room."

"Indeed, although who's to say I did not allow that as well? Back to that night though, what possible explanation could you have come up with for them capturing me?"

"I don't know, maybe because you were hammered?"

"Hardly. But, thinking back, your mistaken impression is not even the funniest part."

"This ought to be good," Randy muttered.

"Did you genuinely think that you, a middle-aged human possessing no significant training in combat, could defeat a battle-hardened soldier? Any of you, really."

"What are you saying?" Sabrina asked.

"Nothing which transpired in that hotel room did so without my knowledge or, in many cases, my intervention. Your little human friend is, as she said, a government agent. But she is charged with hunting down human aliens. None of them have even the slightest doubt that humans are the supreme species in the universe, if you can believe that. They latched onto you because they overheard young Olga telling her brother about the unfortunate understanding which befell her, and decided you were smuggling humans into the country. None of them ever had the slightest inclination that anything extra-terrestrial was taking place."

"But that's not what she said!" Sabrina shouted. "She was clearly looking for you."

"Merely a bit of creative license on my part. Something which, I assure you, she has no memory of. In fact, none of your assailants know what truly happened that night."

"What of the one I killed?" Lily asked worriedly. She hastened to add, "I'm not overly troubled by it considering he was intent on murdering Randy. But I have to know."

"I repaired the damage you did before he discorporated," the alien replied in a tone which, coming from anyone else, would have been comforting. "I find people, humans or otherwise, tend to ask questions when their fellow sentients turn up dead. Instead, he along with his comrades merely woke up with devastating headaches and the firm conviction that they went to that suite to arrest someone bringing humans into the country illegally from, if I remember correctly, Norway."

"Ha!" Randy exclaimed. "That's the last place our government's immigration officials would concern themselves with. Too many white people."

"My sentiments exactly. I suspect those involved have tried very hard to forget that night ever happened. They certainly aren't looking for any of you."

"There's something I don't understand," Lily interrupted. "We spoke about how we believed we were fugitives, both in your presence and with you directly. Why did you never tell us we were worried over nothing?"

"Because this whole silly enterprise was nothing more than a test," Randy muttered bitterly. "Dumb bastard decided the best way to research love was to find its breaking point."

"In my defense," Cnychwr offered weakly. "It was a reasonable hypothesis. And, in a way, it bore fruit. Despite my failure in forcing you apart, I have learned a great deal from you. All of you."

"Fuck off," Randy growled. He then had a thought and said, "Wait a minute. When I found you. Those rednecks..."

"All part of my research. I was curious as to your species' bisexual nature, especially how some of you, such as your companions, are intimate with both genders while the rest insist on only favoring one or the other. I decided to run an experiment wherein I enticed some humans who were firmly in the second camp to expand their horizons, as it were. Turns out one of their number was significantly more amenable to my proposal than the rest, which led to an altercation between them where he eventually claimed I had, how did he put it, brainwashed him. I decided at that point to abandon that experiment, which is when I met you."

"Jesus, you're a sadistic bastard."

"Come now, Randall. You must try to see the bigger picture."

"The only picture I want to see is your blue ass walking out that door, never to return."

"There's no point in harboring a grudge, sir. I am fully prepared to restore your god-like physique, so you'll more closely align to your mates."

"I don't want anything from you beyond never, ever seeing you again."

"Very well," Cnychwr grunted as he rose to his full height. He trotted around the bed to the door before turning to gaze at them a final time. "You're sure? Maybe I could just change you back to the way you were when we met?"

Randy glanced at Sabrina and Lily. In their eyes, he saw no doubt or regret, only love. He turned to the alien and said, "Nothing. Just go and let us live our lives in peace."

"Ok," Cnychwr replied with a very human-seeming shrug of his shoulders. "I know when I'm not wanted." He reached up to grip the door handle, pulling it open before glancing back at them forlornly. Upon getting no reaction from them, he sighed and said, "See you around," before he stepped through the doorway and vanished into the night.

"I certainly hope not," Randy whispered as he closed the door behind the meddlesome alien. He leaned against the door as he exhaled a weary breath before looking up at Sabrina and Lily.

The latter said, "Do you really think he's gone? Like, gone for good?"

"And can we trust him about the government agents?"

Randy shook his head and said, "I don't trust him any further than I could throw him into a woodchipper. But you've got to admit, there is a certain logic to what he said. Think back to that night. They looked all over that suite for him and found nothing. Then they suddenly show up with his unconscious, and not invisible, body? How many times did we see him get absolutely annihilated on some pizza or fried chicken? In any of those times, did he even come close to getting discovered?"

"I remember once in Yosemite," Lily said softly. "He was very drunk on soda and chicken wings and the cleaning crew showed up very early while I was in the shower. I raced into his room, certain they would find him, but there was no sign of anything out of place."

"I remember that day," Sabrina agreed. "He didn't come stumbling out of the bedroom until after sundown."

Lily nodded and said, "Yet he still managed to evade detection."

"The question is... do we assume that he's lying, or that he's telling the truth? And, if it's the latter, do we figure out a way to test his claims, or just stop hiding altogether?"

Lily yawned and said, "I, for one, vote we take up this discussion tomorrow. I don't know about you guys, but I'm bushed."

Randy glanced at the clock and was stunned to see that it was several hours after midnight. He smirked and said, "I second the motion. Any objection... seeing none... dibs on the middle of the bed!"

Sabrina pouted and said, "But it was supposed to be my turn."

He leaned in to kiss her gently before whispering, "I could never say no to you."

***

Randy awoke feeling better than he had in weeks. He laid in bed for a moment, savoring the feeling of Sabrina's lithe body against his before rising to attend to his ablutions. He emerged from the bathroom feeling refreshed and padded quietly through the darkened room to begin the process of making coffee. A glance at his watch told him it was mid-morning, something which the surprisingly effective blackout curtains their room featured made it impossible to tell through more conventional means.

Once his coffee was ready, Randy settled down at his laptop and checked to see if there was anything which required his immediate attention. Twenty minutes later, he heard Sabrina rise from the bed.

"Morning," he said quietly.

Her reply was a wordless groan which unnecessarily reminded him that she was an unapologetic non-morning person.

He smiled in her direction before going back to his work. She emerged from the bathroom moments later and belatedly replied, "Morning, handsome. Where's Lily?"

"I thought she was still in bed."

"Nope," Sabrina replied, popping the last syllable. "Is she working this morning?"

"Not to my knowledge. Maybe she left a note."

A quick search reveal that they were most definitely the only people in the room. It also produced nothing in the way of a note until they checked their phones and found a text in their group thread.

My true loves, we must know the truth of Cnychwr's words. We cannot find peace until we discover whether or not his assurance that we are safe is fact or fiction. You both have families, so I am the logical one to expose myself. I sincerely hope that he was right, and that I will return to you soon, but if this was another of his lies know that I will love you both always.

"I'm going to kill her," Sabrina whispered angrily.

"Be reasonable," Randy said soothingly. "We will kill her. But only if we can find her. What do you think her plan is?"

"Well, my phone was on Ariana's contact when I unlocked it, so I've got a pretty good idea. She's going to fuck off to somewhere plausibly far away from here and give her a call. Then, knowing her impossibly beautiful, yet annoyingly self-sacrificing ass, she'll likely wait around for a few days to see if the men in black hats show up."

"That's hardly scientific. I'm just going to call her."

Moments later, the sound of a ringing phone tittered from beside the television. Sabrina stalked over to it and groaned in frustration after she picked up Lily's phone and ended the call. Randy hunted around beside him for a moment before picking up a small satchel where they kept their stash of burner phones.

"She must have taken one of these."

"God damnit!" Sabrina huffed. She peeked outside and said, "The van's gone too. We've got to go after her."

Randy nodded and said, "I agree... but how?"

"I don't know! You've recently demonstrated a dusting of the self-sacrificing gene. What would you do?"

"Besides calling Ariana? I'd drive for a few hours, to the closest major city, and take a flight. If the federal government is looking for you, they're certain to find you then."

"But she's terrified of flying. You don't think she'd... fuck, she's just that crazy, isn't she?"

"Maybe. Only one way to find out."

Randy raced from the hotel room two minutes later to catch a ride share he had hailed which would take him to the closest rental car lot. Sabrina's own ride share picked her up sixty seconds later to take her to the local commuter airport where she'd catch a flight to Seattle. Their plan was to meet up there and hope that either Randy passed Lily on the highway, or Sabrina somehow spotted her before she departed. The thought of Lily boarding a flight, considering her well-earned fears, was something that drove both Randy and Sabrina even faster.

Randy's visit to the car rental lot almost certainly placed him on some kind of watch list. After all, he pondered grimly, how many times could a person announce the only thing they cared about was leaving as quickly as possible without setting off alarm bells. He knew from a hurried call he had received from Sabrina that she had had a similar experience in the airport, made even worse by her absence of luggage.

The drive to Seattle would have been pleasant were it not for the terror he felt on Lily's behalf. His anxiety level eventually grew so high that his right foot seemed to grow incrementally heavier. This would not have been of note had the rental car agent not responded to his impatience by renting him what was unquestionably the fastest car on the lot. When Randy saw the flashing lights behind him, a startled glance at his dashboard informed him that he was traveling at nearly one-hundred and fifty kilometers per hour.

He accepted his citation humbly, informing the officer that his girlfriend was about to do something foolish, and he was rushing to stop her. The officer smiled and wished him luck, along with the obligatory warning to slow down.

Randy entered the vicinity of the Seattle airport slightly less than four hours after he had rushed from their hotel room. He parked quickly and rushed inside, looking around anxiously in hopes of spotting Lily. Walking quickly around the ticketing and baggage claim areas turned up no sign of her. He was making his third circuit when his phone rang.

"I'm on the ground," Sabrina whispered over the noise of the taxiing airplane. "Any sign of her?"

"I just got here about twenty minutes ago. So far, I've got bupkis."

"Ok, I'll check out everywhere I can that's on this side of security. You keep your eyes open and..."

"I know, call if I see her. Good luck, baby."

"You too."

For the next six hours, Sabrina and Randy had the same conversation every thirty minutes. As darkness fell outside, Randy started to feel weariness overtaking him. He refused to give up on Lily, but he was starting to suspect that they had either guessed wrong, or they had gotten here too late. His phone rang, and he wondered briefly if it was Sabrina calling to tell him she had come to the same conclusion, but then he saw that the call was from an unknown number.

He answered it at once and gasped, "Lily?"

"Hey baby... guess what?"

Forty-Four

Randy affectionally patted the dashboard of their trusty conversion van as they pulled off the highway to head toward the condo he had moved in to following the divorce. It had been three glorious weeks since that frantic day in Seattle and the throuple was more in love than ever. Their trip home had taken a southern swing, thanks to the snowstorms already coating parts of the Great Plains. The drive had been as leisurely as the first leg of his grand tour had been so many months prior; driving for several hours each day but never missing a chance to see something new.

The trip had begun somewhat haltingly. Their first hiccup was the fact that Lily was in Canada, having entered using nothing more than guile and a tank top that was two sizes too small. She had giggled upon recounting the story of how the young man charged with checking her identification had merely gaped at her spectacular breasts while babbling like an infant until he had ultimately been chastised by a superior and waived Lily through without delay. Once there, she had gone to the closest coffee shop and called Ariana. The conversation was perplexing, but Lily quickly verified that Cnychwr's claims had been accurate. She had then done some research before making additional calls, all of which seemed to suggest that they were likely in the clear.

The irony that the throuple had seen in hindsight was that, while Lily's efforts likely would have been sufficient to ease their concerns, the anxious efforts undertaken by Randy and Sabrina had made the question moot. Between Sabrina's flight, under her own name, and Randy's traffic stop, the last of their doubts was put to rest.

They had rendezvoused in Seattle shortly after Lily's call, which led to a stunning revelation. Randy met Sabrina in baggage claim before they hurried to the parking deck where Lily had just arrived. As they approached their trusty van, Lily burst from the driver's door and began racing toward them. However, to his great surprise, she skidded to a halt just a few meters from him.

She eyed him suspiciously before saying, "Randy?"

"Who else would I be?" he asked in genuine confusion.

"Holy shit!" Sabrina gushed. "In all the excitement, I didn't even notice!"

"What do you mean?"

Both women dug into their handbags for their phones. Lily won by a whisker, but Sabrina managed to get her photo app open quicker and he found himself staring at his own image on the screen. It took him nearly a half minute to notice what Lily had seen immediately. In Sabrina's defense, they had only spent a few moments together in a darkened hotel room earlier that morning, and their attention had been focused on Lily. So it was hardly surprising that the face which stared back at him was the same one he had been wearing at the start of his adventure. He looked down at his body, relieved that he could once again see his shoes without leaning forward. An unstoppable movement of his hand also confirmed that, while he was once again starting to lose his hair, most of it was still with him.

More surprising, and more unforgivable on his part, was the fact that it was only at this moment that he realized that Sabrina and Lily's appearance had also changed back. Sabrina was once again willowy, standing just a shade taller than him, showcasing that perfect mix of slender and curvy. Lily was also once again her devastatingly buxom, redheaded self with the dusting of freckles that he and Sabrina found so irresistible.

"I'm not the only one who changed," he whispered huskily.

This was quickly followed by a wave of tears, and a round of grateful embraces. After many apologies on everyone's part they retired to the van. Initially, it had been their intention to retire to an airport hotel, but none of them could muster the patience so a night of lovemaking none of them would ever forget took place in the back of their beloved Intrepid.

The next day, they had dropped off Randy's rental car, packed up their hotel room and headed east.

***

Randy had asked Holly and Peter to meet him at the condo for dinner. Peter was staying with Jennifer, their break for the holidays having started the prior weekend, and Holly's apartment was only a few minutes away. As they pulled up to the driveway, he saw that Holly's car was parked outside.

"Oh, great," he murmured.

"What is it?" Lily asked with concern.

"Holly beat us here. I was hoping we'd have a chance to get settled, maybe drink a beer. Or ten."

"What are you worried about?" Sabrina asked. "We've talked to your children on the phone several times. They are aware we are in a relationship. What's the problem?"

"Holly is a very mature young woman, but she is still young. And this is a big ask for her. For both of them, really. I just really want this to go well."

"I know," Sabrina whispered before kissing his cheek. "She loves you. So do we. In the end, that will see us through this."

"Ok," he huffed. "Let's do this!"

He exited the van and ambled around to hand his girlfriends out. He then led them up to the condo and opened the door for them to proceed him inside.

"We're here!" he called out.

Upon receiving no response, he led the way to the kitchen where he found Holly adding a healthy belt of vodka to juice of unknown origin.

"Careful, there," he snapped. "Let's wait until you're legal before you start making cocktails with more liquor than mixer. Everything ok?"

She nodded and murmured, "Just a little liquid courage."

"Funny. I had the same impulse."

"Want me to make you one?" she asked, still keeping her eyes firmly on her father.

"Thanks, but no. I want to be able to remember my name tomorrow. Speaking of which, are you planning on spending the night?"

Her eyes flickered to where Sabrina and Lily stood huddled together before returning to her father. She took a breath and said, "Not planning on it, no."

He nodded and said, "Then go easy with that jet fuel." He crossed the kitchen to her side and pulled her into his arms. She squeezed him tightly, almost urgently. He whispered, "I missed you, baby girl."

A muffled, "I missed you too, Dad," whispered against his chest.

He held her tightly for several moments before pulling back and giving her a once over. He smiled and said, "You're looking well. How's work?"

"Fine," she sighed. "I got promoted again."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Yeah," she huffed. "But I'm not sure how much longer I can justify taking classes. They're all starting to seem a bit redundant."

He shrugged and said, "Either way, I support you. Just don't work too hard or you'll lose your mind in your early forties and take off across the country on some kind of insane vision quest."

She chuckled and looked intently at Randy's companions for the first time. After a brief inspection, she said, "It sure seems from my perspective like your quest was pretty lucrative."

Randy reached for his girlfriends and said, "I know you've met over the phone, baby girl, but I'd like to introduce you, officially, to Sabrina and Lily."

Hands were shaken all around before an awkward silence descended. At length, Lily said, "I'm sorry, my love. This isn't working."

"What?" Randy and Sabrina gasped in unison.

"A handshake isn't sufficient. Holly, I'm sorry to put you on the spot, but would you mind terribly if I hugged you?"

"Um, I guess not," Holly stammered.

Lily pulled Randy's daughter into her arms and held her tight until Holly relaxed against her. Lily released the younger woman and said, "It's very important to me that you trust us. I hope we'll become good friends one day. But please believe that we only want what's best for your father."

"Me too," Holly replied quietly as they parted. She glanced at her father before adding, "He looks happy."

"I am happy," Randy said solemnly. "Or I will be when Peter gets here. Where is he?"

"I can't imagine," Holly huffed. "Doubtless there's a girl involved. Or more than one." She then caught Sabrina's smirk and said, "Oh! Um, sorry."

Sabrina smiled and said, "It's quite all right. None of us planned this, and we know it will take some getting used to. But we love each other very, very much. Would you mind terribly if I hugged you too?"

Holly shook her head solemnly before embracing her.

"Whose rad van is that parked outside?" Peter called from the entryway.

***

"What do you think?" Randy whispered as he closed the door to the condo following Peter's departure. "Seven out of ten?"

"Nine," Sabrina countered. "At a minimum. They're wonderful, Randy."

"Are you nuts? Peter practically got up and drew a diagram when Holly asked about sleeping arrangements for Christmas Eve."

"It was funny," Lily interjected exuberantly. "Besides, it's not like they're children. They're both sexually active. I'm sure she understands everything perfectly fine."

Sabrina took Randy's arm, leading him toward the bedroom. As they entered, she said, "She doesn't care about how we make each other happy, babe. She only cares that you are happy."

He smiled, pulling Lily into their embrace, and whispered. "I am happy. Because of you two perfect humans."

Lily quirked an eyebrow and said, "Are you sure we're human? It has been a while since you performed a thorough examination. Perhaps you should be certain."

He pulled her tighter, claiming her lips briefly before giving Sabrina a chance. Lily gasped into her kiss as he flicked her earlobe with the tip of his tongue. He whispered, "I know every square centimeter of your perfect body, and we're going to taste it all."

"Oh my goodness," Lily breathed.

Sabrina and Randy quickly pulled Lily's demure, yet sexy, sundress over her head before dropping to their knees before their auburn-haired lover. Sabrina ran her tongue along the seam of Lily's panties before tugging at them with her teeth. Randy slid the panties down Lily's legs allowing Sabrina to taste her lover. He circled around behind her and licked up the back of her thighs before nibbling on her well-rounded ass.

Her knees buckled when his tongue slid between her cheeks. Randy chuckled at her reaction before delving deeper. Sabrina's hand slid between his thighs, struggling to free his manhood without wresting her attention from Lily's pussy. She ultimately groaned in frustration at her failure and returned her attention to Lily.

Their buxom redhead bucked in pleasure as Sabrina's fingers entered her core, and her moan filled the bedroom. Within moments, her moans became a wail and her legs failed her with the arrival of her orgasm. Randy held her thighs, holding her upright as he and Sabrina continued to pleasure her.

At length, Lily pleaded, "It's too much!"

Sabrina backed off with a final flick of her tongue, allowing Randy to carry Lily to the bed. Once he finished laying her down, Sabrina slid between him and the bed and roughly yanked his trousers to the ground. She beheld his manhood with lust filled eyes before sticking out her tongue to lap up the pleasure pooled there.

"Does it make me a bad person if I'm not the least bit sorry that Cnychwr couldn't help but leave us with a tiny bit of proof he existed?"

Randy smiled down at her as she beheld his once again absurdly sized penis and said, "Well, not tiny."

She grinned and said, "Certainly not tiny," before wrapping her lips around the head of his cock and taking him all the way down to the root with tantalizing deliberateness. He slid his fingers into her hair as she lovingly deep-throated him, cherishing the loving desire to pleasure him in her eyes even more than he savored the magical things she was doing to his manhood.

Lily rolled over and looked up at him eagerly before whispering, "I want some."

Sabrina slid lower and took one of his balls into her mouth, allowing Lily to swallow his cock with the same talent Sabrina had demonstrated. The sight of Lily's staggering voluptuousness laid out before him, as though nothing would make her happier than for her lovers to gain pleasure from gazing upon her, stunned him. Her impossibly full breasts with their smattering of freckles gave way to her flat stomach with the dazzling emerald navel piercing Randy had gifted her. His attention was drawn to her glistening sex by the movement of her hand as she lazily rubbed her clit. Their combined attentions, along with the sight before him, brought him to the brink of orgasm in no time.

He regretfully pulled back and groaned at the sight of Sabrina and Lily's pout at the loss of their plaything. He pulled Sabrina to her feet and slid the straps of her dress off her shoulders. Her bra and panties soon followed, and Randy claimed her lips hungrily. He laid her down on the bed on her back and spread her thighs.

She gazed up at him lovingly and said, "I need you inside me, babe. Please."

Her legs wrapped around his hips and pulled him closer. He sank into her with a groan and bent to taste her nipple.

"God, you feel good," she sighed.

He took her quick and hard, feeling through their unbreakable bond her aching desire for it. Lifting up onto his knees, he gripped her thighs and lengthened his strokes. With each thrust of his hips, a grunt of ecstasy escaped her lips and her breasts shook enticingly.

Lily obscured his sight of Sabrina, bending over to lavish attention on the taller woman's firm breasts.

Sabrina flung her hands above her head and gasped, "I'm so close!"

Lily's hand slid down to her lover's clit and flicked it lovingly just as Randy's hips slammed home. Sabrina's velvety channel locked around his engorged manhood as moisture surged from her femininity.

"Fuck!" Sabrina screamed as her hips lifted off the bed.

Lily giggled playfully as she was thrown free, and Randy fought to calm his breathing as he gazed in wonder at the beautiful, sated woman below him who loved him without reservation. He slowly withdrew from the heated embrace of Sabrina's womanhood and stood beside the bed panting.

Lily said, "Come lay down, my love."

Randy happily agreed. As soon as his back touched the bed, Lily was above him positioning the head of his penis at her entrance. She sank onto him with a soft sigh, the smile on her face more than sufficient to light up the Queen City.

"I'll never get used to that feeling," Lily whispered as she began moving her hips.

She built her pace slowly, her eyes never leaving his. Each time his hands moved to caress a different part of her supple body, the breathtakingly sensual sounds escaping her lips changed slightly. But there was never a doubt that she loved every moment of their joining.

As he neared the precipice, he pulled her close to claim her lips. It was not necessary for him to warn her of his impending release, she was as aware of it as he was. Just as he was aware that she was also on the brink. She kept her movements steady but never broke contact with his lips.

Their orgasms arrived so close together that it was impossible to tell which began first. Lily's inner walls rippled along the length of Randy's throbbing manhood as he filled her womb with his seed.

"That's it," she sighed as his warmth mingled with her own.

Lily dropped into his arms as their pleasure receded, kissing him languidly before sliding to the bed. Sabrina claimed his other side and kissed each of her lovers passionately before she rested her head on Randy's shoulder.

"That was perfect," he sighed happily.

"You are perfect," Lily whispered before kissing his chest gently. "I never even imagined it was possible to be this happy."

Sabrina reached out to caress Lily's cheek before murmuring, "We're just getting started, my loves."

Epilogue

Ten Years Later

"Pop Pop?" a small voice called from near Randy's feet. He glanced down to find his granddaughter tugging at the pocket of his trousers.

He knelt down and said, "Yes, my dear? What is it?"

"George told me I have to call him uncle again."

"He did? Whatever gave him that idea?"

"He said that since he's your son and Mama's your daughter, that means he's Mama's brother and that makes him my uncle."

"And what do you think?"

"I think he's just George."

"You know what?" Randy asked conspiratorially. "I think your right."

"That's what Aunt Lily said too."

"I'm glad we agree." Randy cocked an eyebrow and said, "I think I hear Uncle Peter."

His grandchild ran away shouting with such excitement that Randy almost felt bad for his oldest son. With a smile on his lips, Randy headed out to the backyard carrying a cooler. As he looked across the assembled group, his smile grew larger.

The pool was filled with those he loved most in life. Lily was playfully splashing with their daughter Vivian while the aforementioned George stood regally on the diving board as he lectured Sabrina on how to properly throw him the football as he leapt into the water.

A hand clapped down on his shoulder and Peter enthused, "How's it hanging, old man?"

Randy turned to embrace his son and muttered, "Same as always. How are you, son?"

"Father, I am splendid. I'd like you to meet Ygraine."

He turned to indicate a woman who appeared roughly his same age. She was petite with long black hair and soulful eyes. He was instantly struck, not by her beauty, but by the light in her eyes when she looked at Peter.

Randy smiled at her and stuck out his hand. "Randy. Pleasure to meet you."

"I've heard a lot about you."

Randy chuckled and said, "I bet you have. Can I introduce you to my family?"

The introductions produced no fireworks. Randy had no doubt Peter had prepared her for their particular brand of family, but they had seen countless instances through the years of people who could accept something intellectually, yet still run for the hills when they came face to face with Randy, Lily, Sabrina and their 'twins.'

It had been Lily to first joke about twins, ten years prior when she and Sabrina had discovered they were pregnant within minutes of each other, and the label had stuck despite the fact that George and Vivian were born two weeks apart.

Randy idly wondered if Peter and Ygraine had discussed adding another child to the mix over whom George could attempt to establish dominion. He hoped so, for his elder son's sake. Peter had declared his intention to stay a lifelong bachelor after Holly had followed in her parent's footsteps when her boyfriend married her after they discovered she was pregnant. Randy hoped Holly's marriage would last longer than his had with Jennifer, but regardless of their marriage's fate, he rejoiced at the fact that she was undeniably happy now. Her face never failed to light up when her daughter entered the room, or her husband stole a kiss. The only thing that even approached the happiness Randy felt when he saw his daughter with her immediate family was how happy she was to spend time with her two best friends, who also happened to be her stepmothers.

Later, as Randy manned the grill, Peter approached him and said, "Need any help?"

Randy shook his head and said, "I got it. Go have fun with that lady friend of yours."

"Lily and Sabrina descended on her like hungry wolves. I swear, it wouldn't surprise me if they were trying to load our trunk up with baby clothes."

"That would be difficult considering they gave them all to Holly."

"I guess there is that. In any case, they seem to like her."

"You seem to like her."

Peter grinned and said, "I really do. I finally found my Librina."

"Pardon," Randy chuckled.

Peter shrugged and said, "I could never have two wives, Dad. I'm not sure how you do it. But ever since you got back from your grand tour, I knew I would never settle for a girl who was good enough. Not when I saw how happy you were with them. I got snipped so I wouldn't pull a Holly."

"Or your mom and I."

"Or that," Peter agreed with a smile. "I made sure I wouldn't stop looking until I found her."

"Does she know?"

"Are you kidding? She knew months before I did. Thank God she was patient enough to stick around until I figured it out."

"So when's the wedding?"

"Why bother?" Peter prodded. "You never did."

"It's hardly an analogous situation," Randy replied smartly. "Even in the reasonably enlightened state of Oregon, official recognition of our family structure is still stuck in committee. Besides, we had all the wedding we'll ever need. You and your sister were there."

"So were George and Vivian, unless my math is off."

"Indeed. So is that what you aim to do?"

"As soon as she'll say yes. I've already scheduled the de-snipping."

Randy pulled Peter close and said, "Congratulations, son. I just can't tell you how happy I am for you."

Peter smiled warmly and said, "It's all thanks to you, Dad. And Sabrina and Lily. I always thought you and Mom were the perfect couple. And maybe you were, in an f-ed up suburban kind of way."

"You turn thirty in a month, Peter. I think you can safely drop an F-bomb around your old man. As long as it isn't the actual F-bomb."

"Fuck that," Peter replied with a grin. "I mean it, Dad. You and Mom did a great job raising us. But it wasn't until you met them," he gestured toward the pool where Sabrina had just plucked a beach ball from Lily's grasp, offering a kiss which left no doubt as to their feelings for each other in return, "that I truly learned what love is, and why it's the most wonderful thing in the universe."

Randy looked skyward briefly before looking back to his son and saying, "I couldn't have said it better myself."

The End

Thanks so much for taking the time to read Randy's tale. If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to leave a review.

Incorrigible

by Jake Lazarus

Copyright © 2022 Jake Lazarus

All rights reserved.

This book, or any portion thereof, may not be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the author (except for the use of brief quotations in a review).

This is a work of fiction.

Names, characters, business, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.