An Unplanned Bonding

"So, years ago, back when I was still in high school, my older sister got hooked on that TV show called Sister Wives. It had just come out, and was really only popular because of the shock factor, I think. My mom absolutely hated it, and refused to let her watch it in the house. Mom found the concept disgusting, even though she was raised in a very religious family and had to admit that polygamist families were kind of the norm in the days when most religious texts were written.

"I was always on the fence. One thing I kept coming back to is that I could never be okay with sharing my husband, or boyfriend, or whatever. I'm definitely a one man woman, and I was sure that I would be too damn jealous to see my guy with another girl, too."

I broke in, "Of course! I don't plan on..."

Katie interrupted me. "Yes, I know, just let me finish."

She waited for me to nod before continuing. "Something I didn't expect, though, is that it doesn't feel that way with you, Abby. Last night, then this morning in the shower, then what we just did... None of it feels like I'm sharing Justin.

"In my mind, the reason I had a problem with the whole Sister Wives concept is that it felt like I'd be giving up my partner half of the time. Like having a part-time husband. I'd be lonely, and couldn't do anything about it because it wasn't my night with him, or something. A bit like having a husband that is away on business trips half of the time and knowing that he's off screwing another woman while he's away.

"That would be infuriating. I wouldn't stand for it."

She stopped for a moment, gathering her thoughts.

"But, with you two, it doesn't feel like that. It's like... I'm not sharing Justin with you, Abby. It's more like the other way around, like Justin is sharing me with you."

We were all silent, digesting this idea.

"So, while I felt lots of jealousy when you first showed up, it's all gone. If anything, it kind of feels like Justin should be jealous of what we just did. But I know he isn't, because even if we don't touch him, he's still part of what we do. He still gets the affection, the pleasure... he even made a mess on himself that proves it!

"Anyway, to get back to what I was originally talking about... Abby, by most people's definition, you're still a virgin. I won't argue either way on whether or not what we just did constitutes as sex, it isn't important. What I want to focus on is that you've never done it with a man."

My face was reddening with embarrassment again, and I was struggling to not bury my face into Justin's neck to hide. Katie was using her thumb to rub the side of my hand where they were clasped together, trying to keep my attention.

"So, the part I keep thinking about is when that will change and how."

She looked up at Justin briefly before continuing. "If you think about it, there are really only a few ways things could go in the future, right?

"I expect sooner or later you're going to want to do it, regardless of the reason. Which means you either need to have sex with Justin, or with some other guy. Right?

"The Bond really complicates things, though, because Justin is going to be experiencing what you do. So if it isn't with him, we'd need to find a guy that he's comfortable doing that with..."

She shrugged, giving a sheepish little smile.

"I don't see that happening," he finally spoke up, and we all chuckled.

"Exactly! So I think we should make this decision right now and stick with it going forward. If this is going to be a long term relationship with the three of us, we need to know up front what the rules are.

"So... Do you and Justin plan to have sex? Not that we need to make an appointment and write it on the calendar or anything, and we aren't setting a deadline. It could be tonight or five years from now. We just all need to agree ahead of time."

Of course, I didn't have to look at Justin to know his thoughts on the matter. He was truly terrified that even the kissing we'd done earlier today would cause a rift and make Katie jealous. The idea of going further than that seemed completely off the table.

"I don't think either of us are ready to decide that, Katie," I said. "But you make a really good point. There really aren't many ways things could go."

Katie nodded in agreement, then added, "If it helps you decide, I don't think I'll be upset or jealous, as long as I'm there, and hopefully participating."

I frowned, going through various scenarios in my mind.

Justin brought up his own feelings on the matter, saying, "I think that's going to be the most important rule. Abby and I can't keep secrets, so if either of us goes off to have some fun alone with you, Katie, the other will know. There certainly won't be jealousy there."

The conversation went dead, all three of us lost in our own thoughts. I began to get an idea of how much mental effort Katie had put into this since I arrived.

I came up with a diplomatic way to express my thoughts. "I think I speak for all of us when I say that we don't want secrets to ruin us. Which means, Katie, you have to be aware of everything. So, I agree with you. Anything sexual has to be done with your approval, either by being part of it, or being fully aware and giving your consent."

It was an easy thing for all of us to agree on. While Justin and I couldn't yet make a commitment about whether or not we'd be actually having sex together, agreeing right now that Katie would have to consent beforehand made it unnecessary to decide now.

No secrets, and hopefully no jealousy or suspicion. It felt like the best foundation to build our relationship on.

Over the next two weeks, the three of us made tremendous progress together.

I was pleased to discover that Abby had all the legal documentation needed to fast track her driver's license application. She basically had no chance of failing the test, since I was right there in the back seat while she did it, and could have easily guided her through anything she wasn't confident about.

More shocking was her bank account. I hadn't paid attention to the balance on that first day while she was using an ATM. She only told us at one point that she had money from her trust fund to start her life with Paul. If she had been more descriptive, she would have mentioned that she could afford to buy a small house in the suburbs, in cash.

Abby gained confidence being around me in public. By that first Wednesday, she would come into the building where I work and hang out in the break room (with my boss's permission), so she could plug in Katie's laptop while she continued her self-education.

Beth avoided her the first couple days, but her need for gossip eventually brought her to sit with us while we were chatting and eating sandwiches on my break.

"I won't pretend to understand what you have going on," she had said, almost succeeding in hiding her disgust, "but, I've talked with Katie and she's obviously on board, so I guess I can't really argue."

Abby and I just stared at her for a minute.

She shrugged and glanced away from us before saying, "I mean, it's not like you're breaking any laws..."

We thanked her, but didn't give her any juicy details, so she lost interest and left us alone again after that.

Around that time, I started to feel sick with symptoms I wasn't familiar with. Mostly abdominal pain and a short temper, which I unsurprisingly shared with Abby. Katie also noticed that we weren't acting normal and insisted that we get to bed at a decent time and see if some extra rest would help. The following morning, before she left to go to work she suggested that maybe I take the day off if I'm coming down with something contagious.

Abby actually laughed, insisting that I was just being a baby. She said that I could suck it up and go to work, and Katie didn't need to worry about us spreading anything because PMS wasn't contagious.

Never in my entire life did I ever think I'd ever have to personally cope with the rollercoaster of the menstrual cycle.

I realized then that if she chose to have children at some point in the future, I'd also be there to share in childbirth, and I'm sure I went as white as a ghost with horror.

We'd already figured out that Walls and Blocks were a skill, ones that you had to develop with practice. Now I had a damn good reason to devote more time to working on them!

Throughout these two weeks, the engagement ring sat unmoving in its box on the table. Nobody specifically brought it up, so it wasn't like anyone was actively dodging the topic. It was just clear that a decision hadn't been made yet.

I was actually considering bringing that up when we had another important and unexpected event.

It was Friday after work and Katie and I had just finished taking a shower together, dried off, then got dressed and headed out to the living room to see what Abby was up to. I found her laid back on the couch watching television. She was turned sideways, so that one leg was out straight along the couch and the other was down with her foot flat on the floor. She looked comfortable, so I copied her pose and sat down just in front of her, except rather than leaning against the arm of the couch, I was leaning against her. Naturally, she consented to my unspoken cuddle request, and wrapped her arm around me.

Seconds later, Katie came in from the kitchen with a drink, saw the way the two of us were stacked, and joined in. She sat down just in front of me and leaned onto my chest.

"Mmm. Justin sandwich," she said in a cheeky tone.

"That means you girls are the bread and I'm the meat?" I asked with a grin.

I felt them both chuckle as their only response.

Even after watching for a few minutes, I still hadn't figured out what in the world Abby was watching. Admittedly, part of that was due to the way Katie's cute little butt was pressed against my crotch, which was capturing nearly all of my attention. I could have probably poked into Abby's head for a second and gotten a recap of what I'd missed while I was in the shower. Hell, I could have just opened my mouth and asked, but it just didn't seem as important as the feel of Katie's body against mine.

A knock on the front door broke the mood.

Katie hopped up and casually went over to look out the peephole after putting her drink down. She gave no indication that she recognized whoever was in the hallway, and also didn't seem concerned. If it had been a police officer or something, she would have definitely shown some reaction.

Instead, she just unlocked the door and pulled it open.

From my position, I could tell that there were at least two people out in the hallway. The one closest to the door was clearly a man, but due to the angle, I couldn't see his face. There was also the vague outline of someone else's shoulder off to the side.

I saw the man's demeanor visibly deflate as soon as he saw Katie. He was disappointed for some reason.

He turned to his partner and with an open-handed gesture towards Katie said, "That Jefferson guy is a total moron! She doesn't even look like her!"

The man's voice seemed oddly familiar, but I couldn't place it. The woman then said something back, but it was too muffled to make out any of her words.

He turned back to Katie and said, more calmly and quietly, "We're trying to find my sister, and we were told that she lived here now, but you're obviously not her..."

I was intrigued by his strange initial response, and I was already walking over to stand behind Katie. The woman watched my approach, and then the man looked up into my eyes. I felt Abby mentally recoil at the sight of his face. Before I was even aware, her words came out of my mouth.

"Cliff!? Sarah!?"

Their eyes widened at my recognition. Naturally, they didn't know me and didn't know how I knew them.

Cliff shook his head once and blinked before recovering enough to talk.

"You know Abby? I mean... you have to! She's alive? Is she here?" Cliff said excitedly. They were both showing hope and relief.

Cautiously, I answered. "She's fine. I don't think she wants to see you, though. It depends on what you want with her. To be honest, she trusts you very little, and I trust you even less than that."

Their smiles drooped and they turned to face each other. Now that I knew that this was one of Abby's brothers and his wife, I was aware that they were Bonded. The silent conversation they were having was obvious to me, though I had no way of knowing what they were saying.

One nosy neighbor across the hall had opened her door and was watching the exchange. I guess we had been loud enough to rouse her curiosity.

Abby, through my eyes, saw my concern over having this chat in public and agreed with me. She had already turned off the TV at this point, and retreated to the bedroom and closed the door while I waved at the two of them to come in from the hallway.

I felt better after the door was closed, and Katie led them to the table, setting them on one side while she and I sat on the other. They both briefly looked at the engagement ring on the table with interest, but didn't say anything about it.

I was going to act as Abby's conduit so that she could talk without confronting her brother. I knew that he would figure that out quickly enough on his own, so I took a moment to introduce Katie and myself, and then explain to Katie how I recognized our guests. I went on the offensive after that.

"Abby wants to know how you found her," I started abruptly.

Cliff blinked. "I'm guessing that you are Bonded to her?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied, making no effort to hide my irritation. I sighed, pretty certain that I was channeling Abby's mood. "Abby kind of... fell into our life. I'll tell you the story later if you need to know. But for now, she'd like you to explain how you found her. She's listening."

They both nodded, now knowing that Abby was going to participate through me.

"Well, it started with Paul showing up at the house a couple weeks ago. Mom was watching the calendar, she knew that Abby was running out of time. She kept nagging dad to do something about it, but he said he already had everything taken care of. He said that he had some people in the village keeping an eye on her.

"Dad believed that she was already bonded to some guy named Paul, and told mom that she had nothing to worry about. We all hoped that she'd come back home to announce wedding plans, at least. Our family hasn't really gotten along well in years, especially Abby, but we hoped that something big like that would have brought us together.

"Instead, Paul showed up, alone. He was acting really guilty, apologizing over and over, saying that he was a coward. He said that he couldn't bring himself to leave his family to run away with Abby, and he wanted one of us to go out and find her and bring her back.

"It was even worse than he thought, though. He kept delaying coming to us, too afraid to admit that he'd abandoned her. By the time he showed up at our door, it was past her 240 lunar months. We were all devastated, and we had to tell him that she was probably already dead, he'd waited too long.

"He had a major emotional breakdown, right there on our floor."

Sarah looked crestfallen at this point, reliving the memory of that moment and fighting back tears. A single tear was sliding down Cliff's cheek, though he seemed unaware of it.

"Dad sent us out to find Abby's body," Cliff continued with a shudder.

"There were fourteen of us out looking for her, including Paul, who was there to lead us to the meeting place at the river. We found the spot where she'd been camping, and vague tracks toward a road nearby, but no sign of where she went after that. We found no body or signs of scavengers. We knocked on every door in the area, talked with anyone we could find, showed pictures, nobody could say they'd seen her. Our guess was that she'd flagged down a car to hitch a ride with a stranger."

At this point, he looked at me, trying to ascertain if they'd guessed correctly, but I didn't give him any confirmation.

He continued, "Dad hired an investigator, a guy named Mr. Jefferson, and gave him all her details. He quickly came back and told us that someone had used an ATM and drew money from her account. He didn't have any luck getting camera footage to see who it was. If she'd been hitchhiking on the highway, it was possible that someone had stolen her card, so we needed proof that she was the one that used it.

"Then yesterday, he showed up to give us this address. He claimed that he saw someone fitting Abby's description enter this apartment. That's why I was so upset when I saw her," he gestured at Katie, "when I first opened the door."

Abby and I both accepted his explanation, everything fit. I nodded to him and quickly asked Abby's next question.

"So, assuming you see Abby with your own eyes, alive and well, will you leave? Is there something you want beyond that?"

Once again, Cliff and Sarah looked at each other for a moment. Only this time, it was Sarah that spoke up.

"Well, we were asked to bring Abby back, if we could. I mean, she ended up Bonding to a total stranger, as a last resort, right? We can fix that if you two come back with us."

Abby rushed in from the bedroom, shocked by what she was hearing second-hand through me. She stood just inside the room, with everyone's eyes on her. She obviously wasn't eager for the confrontation, holding her hands clasped in front of her and trying to look small, but she was acting brave for the sake of this information.

"What do you mean, you can fix it?" she asked, voice cracking. "I thought there were no wizards left that could create or break a Bonding spell."

Cliff and Sarah had both brightened visibly as soon as they saw her, clearly alive and unharmed. At the sound of her voice, they both stood, and Sarah quickly ran to hug her.

"Hey Abby, it's good to see you're well," Cliff began, while Sarah smiled and nodded in agreement with one arm still around her shoulder. She was gently guiding Abby up to the table to join the conversation.

"To answer your question: there aren't," Cliff continued, "but a wizard isn't required. The Bonding spell we've always used is cast by the dryads in the forest around the village. As far as we know, no living human has the ability to cast that spell, but anybody can make changes to it."

Abby was fascinated by the conversation, and absentmindedly looked around for a place to sit. Our little dining room table set only had four chairs. Rather than have her run off to the other room and grab our desk chair, I just pulled her down onto my lap. Sarah seemed pleased as she released her sister in law and resumed her own seat. Katie scooted her chair a little closer, though I wasn't sure if that was her showing solidarity or jealousy over my closeness with Abby.

Sarah resumed the conversation once she was settled. "Look, Abby, there's a lot of stuff you weren't taught about the Bond, because you were too young at the time. Some of it is stuff that Cliff and your other brothers weren't told until after they were Bonded. Then you ran away from home before you completed your Bond, so you didn't have a chance."

"Such as?" Abby asked impatiently.

"Well, for one, if you plan on having children, you're going to need to bring them back home so they can be protected just like you were. There may be other dryads left alive in the world, but who knows whether or not they'll know how to cast an open Bonding spell the way we do," Cliff answered.

Sarah continued, "Technically, you could choose their partner and Bond them from infancy to someone, but who knows what that would do to a child's development. The open Bond your family uses lets you grow up normally and pick your own partner when you're ready. It really is a good way of protecting yourselves from the family curse."