The Empath Cycle: 2010 Carpe Diem - Book 2

"Sure thing. That won't be a problem at all. With the amount of work you do, nobody will begrudge you the equipment to be more productive. Just talk to Jules to see what you need and I'll sign the requisition. Are you sure you want to do this here, though?"

"Here is the requisition. I have the list of materials in stock and I'm the one who orders what we need. These are the best prices on the market for what I need. As to working full out, that's the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. I need Anne-Marie to be with me when I do it. I'm not yet secure enough to do it on my own. Would it be possible to switch her office nearer to mine so she could come sit with me when I need her without being too obvious and setting tongues wagging for the wrong reason? Also my office is getting cramped with the extra filing cabinet I had to bring in when I took over Project Management for the five teams. I hardly have any place left for the people who stop by."

"Funny you should mention that." Sylvie grinned. "It's already been brought to my attention by some of those very people. I suppose you have prepared a proposition to resolve the situation."

"As it so happens..." Sylvie grinned too as she deposited a file on Sylvie's desk. "I've already spoken to most of the people involved in the various moves and since I've optimized the office space and most get more if they need it or less if they don't and don't mind losing a little unused square footage, it's almost ready to implement. I even found movers to come help us move around and workers to shift the walls to a different configuration. They are professionals who come highly recommended. They are a little more expensive, but, with their help, we could be done in a single day, on a Saturday so we don't infringe on the regular working hours."

"Is there any other way in which you wish to revolutionize the division to suit your needs?" Sylvie laughed.

Ann cleared her throat. "You will probably hear from the other team leaders in the near future. Some of our people have been talking to some of theirs and they asked me for more details, so I gave them a copy of the file I just gave you. They were suitably impressed and asked if I could do the same for their office space. I told them I didn't have time to do it at the moment, but that if they liked what I've done in our area once it's finished, they could get permission from Mr. White for me to work with them on optimizing their own office space."

"Did you get permission from Jack... Err... Mr. White for this project?"

"Of course not. That's your job, boss. Anyway, it's only on paper for now. I haven't committed to anything yet... except..."

"Out with it now. Except..."

"Somehow or other, everyone is convinced the project is a go and is eager to start working in the new office configuration."

Sylvie laughed long and hard.

"You didn't tell me 'what a great help' I would be to everyone if I could present this file to J... Mr. White."

Ann looked intently at her fingernails. "That was the conclusion of my presentation... after you agreed to do it."

"Consider it done, you con artist. You bring to mind an old Chinese curse 'May you live in interesting times'. Now get back work."

"You ain't seen nothing yet." Ann murmured under her breath as she walked out.

Ann could hear Sylvie laugh all the way into her office where she high-fived Anne-Marie.

The following Friday evening, when the two women arrived in St-Jovite for the week-end, Ann had a large plan carrier which she deposited in Sylvie and Ryanna's office when she stepped in the house.

"Patricia, I need your help with this." Anne-Marie declared after she had finished her round of hugs and kisses and had been disrobed a little more at each station.

"What is it, dear? What did she do this time? Give you real hickeys all over?" Her surrogate mother asked once Anne-Marie was seated on her lap and she had received her own kiss.

"The meanie promised me she wouldn't work tonight if I let her cram Wednesday instead of taking care of me."

"Did she now?"

"Don't listen to her. She worked on her Doctorate while I scanned the database of the Faculté d'Architecture of the U de M. She didn't miss me one bit. And you can ask Sylvie. The next day, she was yawning all morning at work because I 'took care of her' when I was done."

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Children, children. Be nice now. Ann, is it true that you willfully did not respect the agreement you entered into of your own free will, then tried to suborn this poor angel to your nefarious designs by making love to her until all hours of the night, depriving her of her beauty rest?"

"Well, when you put it that way... But she wasn't complaining at the time. She's the one who kept asking for more."

"Did you intend to work with my wayward wife this evening or not? Speak clearly, dear. I can't understand you when you mumble."

"I said I only need a couple of hours because we won't be able to work tomorrow because we are getting married and we will all be busy. There! Are you satisfied?"

"See? I told you she was a meanie. She should be punished properly."

It took a moment for Patricia to process the information and find her voice. "Don't pull out your tongue at her, dear, it's unseemly for a young lady. Is it true? And when were you both going to tell us this great news, pray tell?"

Nobody could hold it back any longer and they all guffawed. They had to hold on to each other or sit down. Jade raced to the bathroom, a hand between her legs when she couldn't hold it in she was laughing so hard.

Anne-Marie tried to roll off Patricia's legs, but she wasn't fast enough.

"Hold on there, missy. I require an explanation. What is going on here?"

Sylvie came to her, but prudently stayed out of her reach.

"It's a surprise, dear-heart. For legal reasons, they needed to enter into a civil marriage sooner rather than later. They will still be married before the Mother in December as planned before all their friends and family with us standing in for Anne-Marie's."

"That's true, Patricia." Ann explained, also staying out of reach on the advice of her new family. "I called my parents this week and explained everything to them and they are all right with it. Karlie wrote our marriage contract and arranged for a Notary friend of hers to come over to officiate and to submit the paperwork to the Palais de Justice Monday morning. The rest of the family organized everything. Jack will be my witness and we hoped you would be Anne-Marie's."

"And you all thought it would be funny to keep me out of the loop and spring it on me like this?"

"Well... actually... yes, mom." Jade said as she wrapped her arms around her mother's neck from behind. "We wanted it to be a surprise because we knew that you would want to take over. We wanted you to relax and enjoy the event because we love you so very much."

"I don't know what to say. Really. This is so overwhelming." She wiped a few tears of joy... while keeping a firm arm over the squirming Anne-Marie who was definitely rethinking the advisability of having sat on Patricia's lap as her part of the act. When they all thought they had got away with it, she grinned at them. "You all do realize that I will get even with you, one way or another. You won't know when. You won't feel it coming, But I will get every. Single, One. Of. You."

She punctuated each word with a resounding slap on Anne-Marie's fleshy bottom. When she continued, she rubbed and caressed the reddened skin. "And to think that you pulled this of right under my nose. That. Is. So. Not. Nice."

Ann would have rushed to spare her other half the pain which had tears streaming down her face, but Julia stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"Listen with your link. Look at her. She's loving every second of it and Patricia knows it." She whispered in her ear.

Anne-Marie was actually smiling if tremulously. She was also grinding her pelvis on Patricia's leg and pushing back on the hand caressing her tender derrière. Ann felt herself getting wet as she felt Anne-Marie's pleasure reverberate within her.

Patricia milked the moment for all it was worth, alternately slapping Anne-Marie's ass as she berated them all for being so inconsiderate and caressing it lovingly as she told them how happy she was for Ann and Anne-Marie.

She knew Anne-Marie was loving every minute of it. In fact they could all feel her projecting a combination of surprise at finding herself in this position, pain at the sting on her tender bottom, surprise at not feeling threatened in anyway, quite the opposite, pleasure as the slaps warmed her flesh most pleasantly and at the grinding of her pearl on Patricia's legs as she jerked at each deceptively hard slap, and, most predominantly, a deep happiness at feeling as a full member of this loving family.

Sylvie noticed an echo of Anne-Marie's projection because she had been on watch for it. It had been coming faintly from Ann and then, when she touched her, also from Julia, but it was amplified considerably. At first, she thought it only a sympathetic reaction from two avowed aficionados of the practice. On closer observation, they mirrored Anne-Marie's projection too closely to be so. Herself an avid spankee, she decided to try an experiment. She quietly approached the two women while they were fascinated by the spectacle of the third member of their special group being spanked. She was just about to touch them to see if she could join in their second hand pleasure when an arm slipped around her waist.

"It won't work, you know." Ryanna whispered in her ear as she nibbled on it. "The physical circuit is not complete. We are not complete. The link is strongest between Julia and I, and between Ann and Anne-Marie, for different reasons, but it doesn't leak as you might think unless we all touch and are one."

"I knew it. Will you explain it to me? Can you explain it to me?"

By that time, Ryanna had pulled Sylvie into their temporarily shared office.

"Up until now, we deflected all of your observations and those of our other wives, not to keep anything from you, mind you. We were not ready. Simply put, we first had go beyond instincts and become self-aware, then we had to go through what you could call the different phases of infancy. After that, we had to learn to crawl before we could we could learn to walk. We are still at the stage of the toddler, but we grow by leaps and bounds."

"Are you ready to communicate or are you still learning?"

"You were in the meld at your office, our version of it. We asked you to find Ann because we did not control our abilities sufficiently to do it ourselves and you had so much more experience at being the spearhead of a meld. We will be forever grateful for your help."

"You know I would have done it anyway because you are my wives and they were our friends."

"We know. That is one of the many reasons we love and respect you. The mammies joining us gave us another boost of growth and we are now fully aware as one. That's what mammy Catherine meant in her message to you."

"I guess I'm going to have to ask Patricia to slap me again."

"Not another of your off the cuff remarks?"

"Yeah, well, I guess I'll never learn, will I? It doesn't matter. Will I be able to communicate with the... One soon?"

"Always in such a hurry." Ryanna chuckled. "Can you wait a little while longer? We have some business to discuss with Ann and Karlie tonight when the fun is over, then tomorrow is a big day for Ann and Anne-Marie. What if we promised to divulge what we know to you and our other wives Sunday? Is it soon enough?"

"You are such a meanie. All right. I guess I can rein in my curiosity until then."

"We are worth the wait. I promise. And you will have all the opportunities to help us study ourselves. A whole section of the laboratory will be dedicated solely to research on us. We don't know how we will staff it yet for the same reasons we kept your abilities secret. Plus the observations will only be on a part-time basis since Ann won't quit her job working for you and where Ann goes, Anne-Marie goes for reasons that will soon become clear beyond the obvious ones."

"How in the Mother's name do you expect me to sleep either tonight or tomorrow after springing this on me and teasing me like that?"

"You can always try warm milk." Ryanna laughed as she walked back to the kitchen to join in the festivities.

Chapter 13

"On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world, and the first country outside Europe, to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition."

The Notary officiating let the cheers die down before continuing.

"It is my proud pleasure to be here with you all to witness the union of two destinies into one, to celebrate the love of these two wonderful women..."

"That was a beautiful ceremony, my love" Anne-Marie said to her wife as she held her tightly. She hadn't left her side since the Notary had declared them officially married.

"I can't believe how many people came. Half the guys and girls from the office are here. That settles our concerns about your office being near mine. We'll be able to combine both without raising a fuss."

"That's a relief for sure, but I'm also happy that we are now officially adopted into the Clan. I almost cried when Jack made his speech."

"You did, you softie. Do you think anyone noticed when the mammies manifested?"

"Our adoptive family did, that's for sure. They all had tears in their eyes. I'm certain most of the Family had an inkling too, especially the children."

"Do you think you can let go of me long enough for us to eat while there's anything left? I think Jade is squirreling away food for the winter."

"I'm never letting go of you. Who needs two hands? We can feed each other from the same plate."

"Did you see the blue nimbus around them when they kissed at the end of the ceremony?" Sylvie asked Patricia.

"That was the mammies' blessing I'm sure. As if we needed another proof that they were meant to be in our lives."

"You don't know the half of it. If Ann hadn't found such a niche for herself at the firm, I'd be sorely tempted to drop engineering and come work with them at the laboratory."

"Ah! And how long would that last before you a project caught your eye and you'd begin to work crazy hours to do everything at once again, dear? We've been through it before and I won't risk your life again. You're fine where you are. Let Ryanna and Julia take care of it. You can help on the week-end."

"You're right, as always. What would I do without you?"

"Baby, I've been thinking..."

"Uh ho! That usually means trouble for me. I'm kidding! I'm kidding! What's wrong, honey?" Jade dropped her fork and took Karlie in her arms when she saw her quivering lips and teary eyes.

"Everything is fine. It's just that..."

"Come on. You can tell me. Even if I couldn't feel it, I can see you're upset about something."

"I've been meaning to bring something up for a while, but I didn't know how you'd react. I was afraid you'd laugh at me."

"You should know by now that I would never laugh at you. What is it?"

"Would you mind terribly if I... If I wanted to have a baby?"

Jade was stunned for a moment. She sat there, staring at Karlie as she held her by the shoulders.

"If you don't want to, it's not a problem, you know..."

"What? No! I mean, yes! I mean... Of course! I mean... I wish it could be mine, but we can adopt or find a sperm donor or... Oh! You're going to be such a perfect mother."

"I asked Ann to research it for me and she says it's now possible to use one strand of chromozones from one of my eggs and one from yours and to have a baby together. She says it's not going to be easy with the hormone treatments to produce extra eggs but that women do it all the time. What I mean is I want to have your baby."

Jade stared at her, speechless, then hugged her tightly.

"Ungh! Baby, I need to breathe."

"I know... I mean... Yes... You..." Jade let her go and held her again as if she was made of porcelain and could break at the wrong move.

"Breathe, honey, breathe. You're hyperventilating."

"I am... I have to... When... Do I have to..."

Everyone was only mildly surprised when Jade jumped on the table without regard for the food she was stepping on.

"Listen all! I'm going to be a mother! I mean Karlie's going to be a mother... I mean... We're going to have a baby!"

The result of the announcement was a thunderous cheer, then a rush to congratulate the future parents.

"Don't you girls want to spend your honeymoon night alone together?" Patricia asked when the new members of their family followed them up the stairs.

"We will always be together and we will never be alone again either." Ann told her, then she laughed. "We want to share this night with all of you. We couldn't let Sylvie spend another sleepless night."

Ryanna and Julia joined the couple and wrapped their arms around them.

"Sylvie already guessed and deduced much of it, so we wanted to share a wonderful event with you all." Ann went on. "It may take a while, so why don't we adjourn to your island where we will have all the time we need?"

Only Sylvie noticed that the four women kept in physical contact as they undressed each other, used the bathroom, then slipped under the covers.

"From what Ryanna and Julia told us and how we did it last time, your normally cuddle in your original couples, then Sylvie mentally 'picks you up' so she can translate you all to her island." Ann told them. "We would like to try an experiment with you."

"Does it have anything to do with the instruments Ryanna hid under the bed?" Sylvie asked.

Julia poked Ann in the ribs. "I told you we couldn't fool her."

"Yes, Sylvie." Ryanna explained. "We worked all summer on augmenting the sensitivity of the existing measurement instrument. That was the best we could do at the moment. Ann has been studying electronics so we can create others for our specific needs."

"We'll give you more details later. For now, we want you all to touch. You can still cuddle in couples, but touch the couple beside you, even if it's only holding hand. Okay, Jade, your hand on Patricia's boob is all right too."

They all laughed as they arranged themselves as Ann directed.

"Now, relax your minds as if you were entering a healing meld, but don't go all the way in."

From one moment to the next, the women found themselves in the meld they remembered from Sylvie's office. They were in an amorphous space where they could perceive each other's presence. There were no bodies such as on the island, only their essence.

'I posit that this is essentially where we are when we go to Sylvie's retreat.'

'Who are you? Where are Ann, Anne-Marie, Ryanna and Julia? Are you the One?'

'Yes, Sylvie. I am. They are me.'

"Why am I not terrified, or at least surprised?'

''Because I love you, Jade. I expected that it would be a shock which is why I chose this environment to reveal myself to you. You are not afraid because you can feel that I am not a threat to any of you.'

'Of course you are not, dear. As much as I like this, could we continue our journey to the island? I can't wait to hug you.'

'I wanted to show you something, Patricia, but it can wait. Let Sylvie lead us to her mental construct.'

'Wait a minute. I want to see. The island can wait.'

'Still in a hurry, Sylvie.' There was a sense of vast mirth. 'We have all of our lives ahead of us.'

The women were once again on the familiar lounging chair on the porch of the beach house, but an unfamiliar woman had joined them.