Homecoming? Ch. 01

To his credit, Galen was only momentarily immobilized by the shock. He recovered himself quickly, and moved to offer comfort to the distressed woman. Holding her tightly and rocking gently, he asked "What do you want to do?"

She drew away and looked him in the eye, saying "It's your baby. What do you want to do?"

"I want to create a situation that we can both be reasonably satisfied with," he responded firmly. "In order to do that, I need to know your feelings on the issue."

She lowered her eyes, and said, "As you wish, Master. For my part, I would love to have your baby - but if you don't wish it, then I won't." She burst into tears again. "I don't want to, but if you say I must, I'll terminate the pregnancy."

He drew her back into his arms, saying, "Becoming a father wasn't on my radar, but I'm not terrified of the idea." Lifting her face, he kissed her passionately.

"If you want this baby, I want you to have it. What I don't want, is for you to feel that I'm forcing it on you, or that it's being forced on you by circumstances."

Her reaction was predictably dramatic, hugging him tightly and covering his face with kisses.

"You won't be sorry, Master," she vowed, excitedly. "I'll be the best mother for your child that any baby ever had."

"I'm sure you will," he said reassuringly, "but this makes finding alternative housing an even greater priority." Looking for Angel, he found that she had withdrawn a bit, and looked a bit tense.

"Angel," he said, "are you okay? You seem upset..."

Shaking her head, her gaze fell and she replied, "I'm sorry, Boss. I guess I'm just a little jealous. I know I'm being petty, but... you let her call you Master... and now she's gonna have your baby... and I feel a little left out!"

"Come here, Angel," he told her. Reluctantly she shuffled over to his side and prepared to await her punishment. He took her arm, and she flinched. [She thinks I'm going to hurt her, punish her!] He pulled her closer and kissed her forehead.

"Angel," he sighed, "if it means that much to you, you can call me Master, as long as we're in private. I don't think it would be a good idea for both of you to be pregnant at the same time, however."

"Oh, thank you Master!" she gushed, throwing her arms around both him and Justine.

[Damn! I'll bet she took that as a promise to get her pregnant, after Justine delivers...] "Listen up my lovelies, we've lost a lot of time, and Helen will be here for breakfast any minute! Let's get dressed!"

That sent them scurrying for their clothes, and while they dressed, he went to the kitchen to begin preparing breakfast. He'd no sooner begun to work, than he heard the doorbell ring. With a sigh, he dropped everything to go let Helen in. As he opened the door for her, her face was set in a grim expression.

"Come on in," he told her, stepping aside to let her enter. "The ladies are getting dressed, and will be out shortly. Have a seat while I start breakfast." With that, he closed the door and returned to the kitchen.

Instead of seating herself in the living room, however, Helen followed him into the kitchen/dinette area, and sat at the table, watching him. After a few moments of silence, she huffed, "At least you aren't making them fix your breakfast!"

With a wry grin, he responded, "Well, they'll probably pitch a bitch when they catch me in here. They seem to think that feeding me is some kind of privilege." Helen's expression darkened considerably, following that statement.

"What's taking them so long?" she demanded. "Did you send them away, so they couldn't talk to me?"

That angered him. He whirled toward her and shouted, "Justine! Angel! Get out here NOW!"

The women came piling out of the bedroom with frightened expressions, saying "Yes, Master!" in near unison. They were mostly dressed, but had apparently decided that having a visitor demanded complete makeup, and they were still holding some components in their hands. Hearing their supplication, Helen glared at him in anger.

Steadily holding her gaze, he spoke gruffly. "You wanted them here, now. They're here. Ask them anything you want. I'm going to cook now." He turned back to his task, ignoring them all.

Helen sensed a subtle, but disturbing shift in his attitude toward her. She turned toward the two concubines, and was surprised to find them glaring at her, also, apparently angry that she'd upset their... Master! With a quick glance at Galen, who continued to ignore her, she addressed the women. "I'm sorry for rushing things. I was concerned that he might try to scuttle our talk..."

"And what if he did?" Justine demanded angrily. "We are his! If he doesn't want us to talk to you, we won't!"

Helen was taken aback by the vitriolic response. Turning to Angel, she asked, "Do you feel the same way?"

Angel nodded, and, in a more conciliatory tone, added, "He isn't forcing anything on us. This is just the way we are." Glancing around at the others, she ventured, "Maybe we should just tell her the whole story." Justine and Galen were still angry, but both nodded their agreement.

Angel went over to Galen and kissed him, then nudged him away from the breakfast preparations with her hip. "Perhaps you should begin," she suggested, as she took over the cooking, "by describing how we came to meet?"

Galen sighed, and sat down opposite Helen. Justine was still standing at the entryway, so he waved her into another chair. Turning back to his guest, he started to talk.

He told of the automobile breakdown on I-16, and his hike toward the nearest town. He told of stumbling across Mary's Game Room, and subsequently discovering that it was a lesbian biker bar. He finished by describing Justine's entry to the bar, trailing Angel. As he concluded, he looked at Justine and nodded.

Justine picked up the story, to describe her anger at his obvious reaction to Angel, and how she attacked him. "He kicked my ass!" she almost bragged.

Angel joined the telling then, as she continued to prepare the meal, to describe how they had been kicked out of the bar. She told how Galen had taken the women back to their apartment, and the events leading up to Justine's being broken to slavery.

Justine picked up the tale again, to describe how Galen had inadvertently broken her will, and how he had gently inducted her into her current position as his concubine. The distracted smile on her face, during the telling, attested to her pleasure in that status.

Angel finished the tale, describing the concubines' fears that Galen might desert them, and how he had assuaged those fears, instructing them to move to Atlanta.

"So you just moved here on his say-so?" Helen asked, horrified.

"Of course!" Justine responded hotly. "I told you, we are his!"

Angel added, more gently, "Both he and we knew that we didn't have a future there. The only practical way for him to take care of us, was for us to move here."

"But... but... he controls your entire life!" Helen was completely nonplussed.

"Yes... and we like it that way," Angel asserted. Justine nodded her agreement.

Helen stared at the table silently, for long moments. Finally she looked up at Galen and said, "I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions. I should have known you wouldn't treat anyone badly, at least without a good reason. Rising from her chair, she continued, "I'm still not happy with the idea that you have slaves, but I guess I'll get used to it."

Galen stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Please sit," he asked. "We invited you to breakfast, and besides, we have more to tell you." Reluctantly, she complied, and stared at him expectantly.

"First, the bad news, I suppose," he began. "This apartment is obviously too small for this many people. We are going to have to move into something bigger. The girls and I will be looking for a house to buy, hopefully somewhere nearby."

Hearing this, Helen's face fell. [He's leaving me?] She felt like heart had dropped through the floor, and her eyes began to fill with unshed tears. Neither she, nor Galen, who was watching, understood her reaction.

He was mystified. [I didn't know we had that kind of relationship...] He reached over and touched her hand. "I hope we can continue to stay in touch..." She nodded her acceptance, and he went on. "Justine also has some news. It's a bit more positive..."

Oblivious to Helen's distress, Justine announced perkily, "I'm pregnant! I used an OTC test kit, but the result was extremely positive! I'll start looking for an OB/GYN on Monday."

As Angel served up breakfast, Helen stared blankly at Justine. [That tears it. He isn't likely to want a Plain Jane like me, when someone that pretty wants to have his babies...] She picked at her food for a few minutes while the others chattered on, ultimately giving up the pretense of eating.

Rising from her chair, she announced, "I'm sorry, it's delicious, but I'm just not very hungry right now. I think I'll just go back to my apartment and lie down for awhile." She paused, looked at Galen, and said "I hope you are all very happy together." With that, she turned and left the apartment and its mystified occupants.