Reaching Out Ch. 02

"I think I've got it worked out. I won't know for sure for a couple weeks, but I am pretty sure it will go through." He said, his smile wider than ever.

"James, please tell me what is going on. I like seeing you happy, but I would like to know why you are happy." She said. She was smiling, but blushing and looking at his chest. His excitement seemed to make her feel a bit more shy, a bit more introverted. He forced himself to calm down a little. It wasn't easy, but he managed it.

"I talked to my manager today, and drove over to the office to fill out the forms. But the point is, I filed a request to work from home. If it goes through, I can work from where ever I live. Even if where I live is here, in this town." He said, his voice mostly even. Dana could hear a slight waver to it that she thought was his fast and hard heartbeat. She couldn't blame him. She felt nearly over whelmed with emotion at his news.

"You could work from here." She said softly.

"Yes. I even looked around town on the net, and I think there are a couple small houses I could qualify for a loan for. It might take a couple checks to get situated and established after the move, but that's normal. But all that is secondary to me. What I am worried about is you. Would you want this? Would you want me to be in town?" He was fairly certain of the answer, but he was going to ask anyways. He felt it was just the right thing to do.

"Yes. Oh yes. I want that James." She said quietly. He could feel her muscles thrumming under his hands on her back, her fluttering pulse, her fast shallow breathing, could see the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. He kissed her and held her tight. He felt like he might be the luckiest man in the world. He still had a few more days off, and did not know how many days he would be at the office while his paperwork went through, but he knew he would have an answer soon, and he was pretty sure it would go in his favor. He took Dana's hand and they went up the stairs, into Dana's room. Sitting on her bed she felt better. James found that he was now feeling better when sitting here as well. He thought it was probably an association with the woman he had fallen in love with.

They spent the rest of the afternoon next to each other on the bed, laying down. James held her in his arms, his face deep in her hair, the way it had been the first he had held her like this. She still giggled every now and again when his breath tickled. They heard the door below open, and they both groaned, sitting up and separating. James wondered how he would concentrate on his work when they were together in their own place. If he was alone with her in a house, he did not think work would take a very high priority on his list compared to Dana.

---

Dinner was quiet and relaxed. James felt almost none of the nervous tension coming from Dana that he usually did, none of the jitters, the sharp movements, the careful glances. She looked mostly at her plate, but when she did look up, it was calm and casual. He felt like he was really making a difference in her life. That he was helping.

"Thank you for taking care of the roast for me, Dana. I don't like to put it in the slow roaster on low all day unattended. I always feel like the house will burn down if I do." She said with a little chuckle. Dana looked up to her mom as she spoke, James noted, and she held her gaze as she responded.

"You're welcome. If I am here, there is no reason for me not to." Dana said. Her voice was quiet, but it did not waver, and it did not have the stilted, hesitant cadence that she usual had. Mom smiled and went back to eating and talking with dad and James about whatever.

After dinner James gathered the dishes with Dana's help, and they washed and dried. It was becoming a routine for them, and James liked it. It was peaceful, in its own way. They did not speak, but they did not need to. A few glances and light touched were all they needed to let the other know what they were feeling. They both had wide smiles throughout. Afterwards, Dana went to check on her posted artwork and draw some more. James went to talk to mom.

"She seems more, I don't know, relaxed, at ease, I guess." She said when they sat down in the living room. "I haven't seen her this calm since she was just a little girl. I don't know what you are talking about, but I'm starting to think you should have gone into psychology instead of accounting." She said with a grin.

"I think it's more her than me that is doing it. I'm just a safe person to talk to. She is the one that does the talking. I just try to keep her calm when she gets scared. She is getting more confidence, though, from what I have seen. I just hope that it is in general, and not just with the family, you know?" James said, voicing his primary concern with her improvement.

"I hope so too. I think she will do better in general, in time. I just wish you could stay longer and keep working with her. When you leave, I don't know how she will do. I mean, she knows you are only here for a few days, but she might be a bit sad about it." Mom said, frowning. James could see the tension in her jaw, a slight flex and relax, flex and relax, when she wasn't speaking, and the frown line was staying between her eyebrows. He could hear in her voice a slight waver at the beginning of her words. He thought that might be from her breathing, which was a little fast.

"Well, I think I may have a way to avoid that problem. I have filed the forms asking to work from home. If it goes through, I was going to get a place here in town, close by. That way I could work with Dana all the time, like I am now." James said, watching her carefully. She smiled and relaxed a bit, but he could see a little curious confusion on her face as well.

"They would let you do that? I mean, isn't there stuff you have to actually be there for? And why didn't you ask to do it earlier? If I could have worked from home when I was your age I would jumped on it as quick as I could." She said, her excitement putting a little rush into each word, a little breathiness that was rather charming.

"Well, I just found out I could. If I had found out earlier, I would have done it earlier." He held his hands out, palms up, like a scale. "Work in cramped, craptastic cubicle, or sitting on my sofa in my boxers? Hmmm." He said with a grin.

"Well, you better be wearing more than boxers if you are going to be working with Dana. I can only imagine how embarrassed she would be if you answered the door in your underwear. She would probably run away and hide." Mom said, only slightly serious, confident that James would not answer his door in his boxers. James imagined Dana's reaction if he did, however, and he thought she would respond very differently from what mom had said. James had to keep from laughing outright, letting only a chuckle out.

"Don't worry, I'll be very proper." He James said, glad that his mom was on board with the idea.

"I know. Have you told Dana yet? I'm sure she will be thrilled." Mom asked.

"Yes. I told her this afternoon. She was indeed thrilled. I'm just glad that I will be able to keep helping her." James answered.

"Me too. I feel bad, sometimes. I mean, we were told by the doctor 'just give her time and let her reach out on her own' but she never did. We didn't really know how much time to give, and did not want to force her and maybe make it worse. I feel like your father and I are at least partly to blame for how bad the problem is." Mom was speaking softly. The frown line was back and deeper. Her shoulders slumped a bit and she looked down at her hands morosely. She did not seem to realize that in that moment she looked like an older version of Dana; looking to her hands sadly instead of the person she was talking to.

James was a little startled to see the similarities so starkly. He had always thought that mom and Dana had looked a bit alike, but in that instance it was almost eerie. Mom looked up and the moment was broken. James was relieved. It felt strange, like looking forward in time.

"I don't think you guys did very badly. Most parents probably would have kept her in doctors' offices until one of them could wave a magic wand and make it all better. Most would have pressured and pushed, doing damage instead of helping. Maybe talking to someone as a kind of safety could have kept her from getting this bad if she had been able to in high school or before then, you know, but I think you guys did the best you could, the best way you knew how." James said. He did not want his mom to feel like Dana's anxiety was her fault. He didn't think it was accurate or fair to think it was.

"Well, thank you. I just wanted a chance to thank you for helping Dana these last few days. You've done a lot for her, and she seems to be responding quite well to you." Mom said with a small smile. It was a little sad, a little proud, that smile. A mom smile.

James just nodded, and stood up. He went upstairs to see Dana.

---

"Do you really think they will let you do this?" Dana asked. Her lips brushed across the skin of his neck, and her fingers toyed lightly in his hair.

"I think so. I hope so. I don't see why they wouldn't. I qualify for it and everything." James said. He was making his small circles on her back, rubbing gently. Dana leaned back and looked him in the eye, her stare sharp.

"If you get a place here, what then?" She asked. He could feel she was relaxed, but she was watching him carefully. He smiled a little gave her a little squeeze.

"Well, that's up to you. If you want to stay here and visit me whenever, I am okay with that, if you want to move in with me, and try to convince mom and dad that it is so that we can work together and so you can try a step into independence, I am okay with that. However you are comfortable doing this." James answered. He was watching her as carefully as she watched him. He saw concern run across her face, only to be quickly chased away by happiness. She smiled wide, her eyes softening and alight with pleasure. James loved it when Dana smiled.

"You would be okay with me living with you?" She asked, the nervousness in her voice clear. It was in the shaky lilt at the end of her words, and the hushed tone.

"Are you kidding? I would love it." He said, kissing her gently.

Dana nodded and held him tight, letting her tears get absorbed by his collar as she nuzzled his neck. She was going to be free. In a home with no judgment, with the person she loved with no judgment, on their own. She was going to be free.

---

After the lights were out and James had waited for his parents to settle in, James made his way up stairs. He was silent, but he had to go slow and concentrate on how far each step was in the dark. Still, he thought he was getting better. He had reached Dana's door when it opened for him. He saw Dana's face peeking out at him, smiling.

Once inside with the door closed, he asked how she had known he was there.

"It's quiet out there, but some steps make other boards make little sounds sometimes. The boards at the top of the stairs make the wall behind my bed creak a little." She explained, grinning a bit.

"I imagine that comes in handy for knowing when mom or dad is coming if you need to hide something." He said, chuckling.

"Yes. It is my early warning system when I touch myself." She whispered, looking a little embarrassed. James smiled a bit at that.

"Really? How often do you do that?" He asked, sitting on her bed. She sat next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Not too often, I suppose. Every few nights or so." James could hear in her voice a little fear, a little excitement. He thought she might like talking about it more than she thought she would.

"Tell me more." He said quietly, gently.

Dana was quiet a moment, long enough for James to think that maybe he had been wrong. Then she started to speak, her voice quiet but clearly aroused. He could hear her excitement, feel it in her breathing where she leaned against his arm.

"Sometimes, when I am in here, I feel good. I don't really know how to describe it. I feel sexy, but it's more than that. I feel silky. I feel warm. I feel like rippling water." She sat up a little as she spoke, her hands running down her thighs slowly, as if trying to feel the textures there. "When I get to feeling like that, I can't think straight. It gets so warm. The feeling of my fingertips, it is magnified. I can brush my neck," and she did, breath shuddering as she did, "and I can feel it throughout my body. Every time I move, I can feel my clothes rubbing on me. It feels good. But I usually take them off." She said, pulling her shirt over her head. James was entranced. He could only watch and listen.

"When I get my bra off," and it went, "I can run little lines under my nipples, here, and here." She said, dragging her fingers just under her nipples in a shallow arc, then a little lower in a wider pass.

"I like to flick them a little. Even when I am not going to touch the rest of myself, sometimes I will just flick my nipple for a little bit. It makes a little jump each time." She explained, letting her fingers swipe lightly at her nipples, her breath catching a bit each time, breaking up her words a little.

"My stomach is a bit sensitive as well, and I like to rub it a little." She said as she slipped her sweatpants off and stretched out on the bed. Her hands made slow, lazy trips around her stomach, reaching up to her breasts and nipples occasionally. Her breathing was getting deep and rough. James was breathing a little heavy as well. He caught his breath a bit when she reached down and slid her panties off. The sight of her laid out, fully displayed for him was stunning. His eyes followed her fingers as they wandered around, from stomach to breast to thigh to hip to shoulder.

"I like to let my hands go everywhere. See what feels good each time." She whispered, her eyes closed and a small smile on her lips. Her hands worked their way down together, pausing just above her slit.

"I am always a little scared to start. A little nervous. Like I will get caught, or I am doing something wrong." She said, frowning a little. She didn't seem to be too concerned about it though. Her fingers began rubbing up and down on either side, pulling her lips open slightly.

"Once I start, though, it feels nice, and I don't feel scared anymore." She said softly. James noticed she had opened her eyes and was looking at him. She was watching him, smiling slightly, as her fingers toyed with her lips. James smiled back, and ran his hand along her calf lightly.

"James. I don't feel scared anymore." She said, speaking with a soft emphasis. Her legs opened a little wider as she did. James ran his hand higher, all the way up her thigh, and asked if she was sure.

"Yes. I want to. I want you to. Please." She whispered. James nodded let his hand join hers.

Dana closed her eyes again as he started to trace his fingers gently up and down between hers. She gasped a little every time his fingertip grazed over the tip on her clit. James was paying more attention to her this time around, wanting to be sure that she was alright with it. He let his hands rub a little harder, his fingers sliding in a little, increasing the pressure in small increments. He watched her face; her little smile, eyes closed, mouth open a little. He watched her breathing; faster now, and a little uneven, doing wonderful things to her breasts. He could feel the thrum of her muscles under his hands, and he loved it. He was happy he could make her feel so good. He lowered his head slowly, and let his tongue replace his finger. Careful to go slowly, He eased his way along, watching her closely as he began to kiss and nuzzle her clit. She was clearly excited, that was obvious, but he saw no tension or fear, no negative reactions. He relaxed a little and began to lick and kiss and playfully nip a little more, letting his finger work with his mouth. He reveled in her gasping breathing, her muscles tensing and releasing quickly, her low moans. James felt her body reacting more and more strongly, her hips lifting a bit off the bed in a steady rhythm, pressing tight to his face each time. Her breathing was soon jagged, but not like it was last time.

"James. Yes, please James, yes." Dana said softly. It was almost more moan than words but James could make out what she was saying. He pushed a little more, went a little faster, and her hips began shaking. Her legs crossed behind his head, her heel digging into his back. He watched her back arch a little, hiding her face for a moment. When she relaxed again, he saw the wide smile on her face.

"Was that better?" He asked quietly.

"Oh yes. Thank you James." Dana said softly. She let her legs release him and leaned down to kiss him. She pulled back after a moment, and looked at him with a little smile.

"I have never tasted myself before." She said. James could not tell if she liked it or not. "I was always scared to. I thought it would be gross, or be something wrong, like drinking pee, I don't know. It's not gross. It tastes different, but not bad." She said, and kissed him again.

Soon James undressed and they slid into bed, turning out the light. In the dark, with her in his arm, James felt like this was exactly where he was supposed to be.

"What about you?" Dana asked, pulling James back from starting to doze off.

"What about me what?" He asked, confused.

"What about you? You gave me an orgasm, shouldn't I give you one?" She asked, turning over in his arms to face him.

"Well, if you want to, but only if you want to." He said. He would not pressure her in any way, not after the scare they had the first time they had tried his tongue. He felt her hand slide down his stomach and wrap around his already half hard shaft, holding lightly.

"You made me feel very good. Better than I can make myself feel with my hands. I would like to make you feel good too." She said. Her voice was a little tense, but steady. Her body was mostly relaxed, and her hand was still holding him lightly, slowly stroking up and down.

"If you want to, you can touch me any way you want. You know that." James answered. He felt her face at his neck, nibbling at the skin there and at his earlobe, before she spoke.

"I want to make you feel good." Her voice was just a whisper, but it had a rather powerful effect on James, being coupled with a slight squeeze on his dick. She kissed him, hard and passionate, before she started to kiss her way down his body.

With no light, James was focused solely on the sounds and tactile sensations. It was wonderful. Her hands were feather-light on his skin, her lips soft, her hair tickling. She giggled a bit as her hands explored him. James felt his dick jump a little when her lips touched it. She kissed along the base of the shaft, taking her time, letting her fingers roam to explore his balls, his hips, his thighs. She kissed her way up to the tip and paused.

"I don't know if I am doing this right. I am just guessing." She said softly.

"Please, keep guessing, you are doing great." James answered. Dana giggled and he felt her breath on his head. She began using her tongue, with long stokes up and down. At the head she would flick her tongue across tip each time, looking for pre-cum. James was breathing a little heavier. His hand was resting on Dana's thigh, and his fingers were gently stroking there. He felt very serene.

He sighed deeply, and little shaky, when he felt her lips close over his head. She chuckled a little, which sent pleasant little vibrations down his dick. Dana let her tongue roll around his head a bit, and started to take a little more into her mouth. James wasn't sure how much longer he would last this way. If she did not know what she was doing then she was guessing well enough that she could bluff her way to a victory on Jeopardy. He felt her take a bit more in before her throat hitched a little. She had gotten most of his dick before it happened. She went back to even strokes up and down, her tongue kind of thrashing around as she went, her hand around the base of his shaft.