Apocalypse Wow, Pt. 16

Maddy brought them inside and showed them around as someone from the local livery arrived to take care of Pillar. The tour was mostly for his and Bonnie's benefit, Marcus and Simon having Serviced in Simonia several times before.

They were each assigned a bedroom and Luke was pleasantly surprised at its size and comfort. There was a common room that was a private space for their use only, although they were of course free to make use of all the facilities the community had to offer. Every community in the Network was known for their hospitality, Luke knew, although each one expressed it in their own inimitable way, but no guest in any community was treated as well as a visiting Servicer.

Each Servicer was also assigned to a Servicing suite, separate to his bedroom. As Luke looked around the suite assigned to him, he noted how similar it was to the Training suite back home, with warm, inviting colors, plush fabrics, comfortable furniture, soft lighting and a huge, solid-looking bed.

After they'd settled in and eaten a hearty lunch, they sat down with Maddy for their pre-Servicing briefing. To give them time to rest and prepare, there would be only one Servicing session that evening, the usual schedule would begin the following day. When Maddy handed Luke the three files containing the pre-Servicing forms of the women who would be the first to be Serviced by him, they felt heavy in his hands and he was grateful for the reassuring smile and encouraging hug he got from Bonnie as he retired to his Servicing suite to study them.

As he opened the first, he couldn't help but notice immediately that it contained very little. From his training, he knew the purpose of the form was for the women being Serviced to give him, her Servicer, whatever information she wanted him to have in advance; her likes or dislikes, her preferences or details of her past Servicing experience, for example. But as he did an initial flick through the pages he could see that most of the spaces available for adding information had been left blank, or almost blank. He furrowed his brow, trying to remind himself that his Training had prepared him for this eventuality as he moved back to the front of the file.

When he finally noted the name on it, he gulped hard. Danielle Fernazza Sullivan. Though he'd felt it before, at the beginning of his Training and at several moments during it, the weight of his responsibility hit him hard at the thought that, in just a few hours, the woman he was to Service, his first ever real Servicing, was the daughter of the most celebrated founders in all the Network.

***

"Yeah, I gotta get back," Dani said, smiling hesitantly. "There's a bunch in town from Haven for Servicing for the next couple days."

"And you're...?" Jim asked, a little surprised, though he wasn't sure why.

"Yeah... I think so... I mean..."

"How long's it been?"

"DJ's nearly 18 months now," Dani said, smiling at the thought of how much her youngest child had grown and developed in so short a time.

"Wow. Time flies, huh?"

"That is does."

"Well, have fun."

"I fucking hope so," Dani said, smiling warmly as she stood.

"Hey Dani?" Jim said, reaching for his daughter's hand as she gathered the recorder from the table.

"Yeah?" Dani furrowed her brow and saw the pained expression on her father's face.

"I'm... I'm sorry... about before... I... I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

"It's OK Jim, really," she said, settling back to her seat as she took her father's hand, smiling reassuringly at him. "I know this isn't easy for you. You still OK with me talking to...?"

"Sure... I guess."

Jim sat back, his brief smile replaced with something closer to a grimace, his arms folding quickly across his chest.

"It's gonna be so awesome!" Dani said enthusiastically, standing and picking up the recorder again.

"Get the hell out of here, before I change my mind."

She clicked off the recorder carefully and moved around the table, looking down at Jim with a raised eyebrow. And despite his outward show of skepticism, she could sense in the warmth of his embrace as he hugged her what he really felt.

She was still smiling at that thought as she made her way down the steps of the old house. Although much of its once massive structure had been dismantled so the materials could be recycled and reused when the community moved years before, it was still huge, way too big for one person. But no one, not even her, could convince Jim to leave it. Still, she looked back at it and smiled before she got on her bike. It was the place she was born and it would always hold warm memories for her.

Mostly warm anyway.

She wondered if it was the prospect of being Serviced again that turned her thoughts to the past as she started down the house's long drive on her way back to town. She had many happy memories in that house, of course she did, but harder ones were never too far from the surface either. The day her mother died, in Jim's arms, as Dani held her hand so tightly. The memory of the bitterness of her father's tears as he clutched his beloved wife's lifeless body to him still made her eyes tingle. The long, grief-induced depression her father had slipped into after, the distance, the darkness of it. Long nights, laying awake in bed, wondering if she'd done something wrong, if there was something she was meant to do to help him, knowing that if her mother were there, she would know what to do. She always knew.

And then the strange repetition of that pattern, years later, nearly twenty years later, when he once again seemed to retreat to that house, to close himself off from the community. At least, she hoped, he at last seemed to be emerging from it now, as he finally told her his story.

Ultimately then, as she made her leisurely way along the tree-lined road, a smile emerged. Things were getting better. He was opening up to her and now, although her making the suggestion had almost been a disaster, her play had worked with much less of a push than she'd thought would have been necessary, and he'd agreed to start teaching again. She knew her decision to bring the kids from her house to visit him a few days before had been a good one.

She had to admit that she'd been nervous starting out with his account, in a way that she hadn't been with any of the other originals from all over the Network she'd done it with before, wondering at the wisdom of gathering his testimony herself. There were any number of others involved in the project who'd have jumped at the chance. This was Jim Sullivan, The Jim Sullivan after all. But something had told her that it should be her, needed to be her. And she knew she'd been right as, with each session she could see the light in her father's eyes, the light she'd feared may have been going out for good this time, was coming back, more and more, brighter and brighter with each visit she made to that old house.

She stopped by the Servicing Centre briefly on her way home, just to check with Maddy that everything was OK, that the Team from Haven had arrived safely.

"All good, safe and sound. They're just resting up before we start with the first session this evening," Maddy said, but Dani thought she felt a note of hesitation in her old friend's voice.

"But...?"

"But... well... Listen Dani," the older woman said, coming round from behind her desk and lowering her voice to almost conspiratorial levels, "there's a... a new Team member, his first time out. I've... I've assigned him to you, I hope that's OK. It's just, well, some of the others who signed up, it's their first time to be Serviced and, well, you've done this before and..."

"Ah jeez Maddy, that's no problem, honestly. It was a good idea."

"You sure?"

"Of course, don't be silly. Younger the better I say!" Dani said, smiling.

Still, as she made her way home to ready herself, she couldn't avoid a hint of disappointment.

She couldn't deny that her sex life had been less than inspiring since DJ had been born. She still spent the night with Mike pretty regularly, but he was more or less her oldest friend and with him, although it was always warm and familiar and he knew her body and what it wanted as well as anyone, and although she resisted the feeling, it just didn't excite her as much as it once did. She'd tried to branch out a little, including with Danny Wolf, an experienced medic who'd transferred to Simonia from Harbortown a couple of years previously and quickly made no secret of his attraction to her, but he was just a little too selfish a lover for her taste, despite his impressive stamina.

So given all that, and given the reputation of Haven Servicers, she'd been looking forward to being Serviced by an expert. She still remembered her first Servicing, remembered it very clearly, when her eldest daughter Chloe was conceived. Alex was an older man, older than her at least, older than she'd ever been with before he Serviced her, but she struggled to remember any man who'd made her feel like he did over those four days. She'd been nervous, reluctant even, but he'd made her feel so calm, so comfortable. And then he'd worshipped her body, made her feel things she hadn't known she was capable of. Sometimes even now, eight years later, when she made herself cum she still pictured that look in his eyes just at the moment he filled her.

She'd been Serviced three more times since, twice successfully, but never again by a Haven man, not since Alex. And while she wouldn't describe any of her other experiences of being Serviced as negative, nothing had come close to that first time.

Still, as she showered and changed into a simple, loose fitting cotton dress, foregoing underwear for the sake of later convenience, she tried to shake off the feeling. Maybe he was new, but he was still from Haven. You never know.

***

He'd worked on it with Jenna of course, talked about how to manage it at length during their journey with Marcus and Simon, even sought Alex's advice before he left Haven, but as the time of his first ever Servicing session rapidly approached, Luke was almost cripplingly nervous.

Although he could plainly see that the Servicing suite he was assigned was in immaculate condition, he'd still gone over every square inch of it, fluffed every pillow, smoothed every crease, dusted every piece of furniture. He'd prepared refreshments, as was customary, and jugs of water and one of wine stood ready.

Marcus and Simon smiled warmly and had some final words of encouragement for him as they made their way from the common room to their own Servicing suites. Bonnie's services as Aide were not yet required, but Luke was still grateful for her presence and he was almost surprised at the strength of the calming influence of her gentle hand on his chest as he readied himself.

"You're gonna do great," she said, smiling broadly. "I'm so proud of you Luke. I love you so much."

The movement to take her face in his hands was automatic as he saw her eyes glisten. He kissed her softly and he felt his strength and confidence grow as she wrapped her arms tightly around him.

"I love you Bee," he said. "Guess I'll... see you later."

As he sat alone in the suite in those final minutes before his first ever Servicing appointment arrived, Luke felt his nervousness start to edge towards excitement. He closed his eyes and tried to focus his mind, revisiting his Training, all the lessons Jenna had taught him. The pride and support and encouragement of everyone in Haven came back to him and through it he felt, not the weight of expectation, but renewed confidence in his ability. Just as he pictured Jenna's face, the pride in her eyes, just at the very end of his final exam when she'd taken his face in her hands, there was a gentle knock at the door.

"C... come in," he said, standing and approaching the door.

Though, like everyone in the Network, he'd seen plenty of images of her parents, there had been none of her in her pre-Servicing form so he really had no idea what to expect of Danielle Fernazza Sullivan, none at all. Jenna had made it clear during his training that, regardless of his initial impression or later feelings about the relative attractiveness of a woman he was going to Service, he needed to make her feel desirable, right from the outset. A false start on that score could have catastrophic consequences for a Servicing session.

So he was steeling himself as the door opened slowly and the broad smile that broke out across his face was a genuine one as Dani entered.

Very simply, his initial impression was that she was effortlessly beautiful. He figured, from what he knew of her lineage, that she must have ten years or more on him, but he found it very hard to judge her age from looking at her. Her dark hair hung loose around her head, with just a hint of a kink to it, and her skin had a kind of olive tint that he attributed to her mother's Italian heritage. The simple, white cotton dress she wore was cut pretty low in front, and even lower in the back he saw, as she turned to close the door behind her, and he couldn't help noting that she'd likely chosen it because it would be very simple to remove.

When she turned back to face him, there was a moment of silence as they regarded each other. Luke's first instinct was that her bearing was confident without being smug and her smile of greeting, he felt, was genuine if not entirely fulsome. Still, he couldn't stop his eyes wandering back to the low cut of her dress, to the obviously generous proportions of her unsupported breasts and he didn't resist the urge to allow his tongue to wet his lips.

Dani couldn't really say what she'd been expecting, other than someone young thanks to Maddy's warning, and as she looked at him now, she noted, he certainly was that. Maddy had told her he was nineteen and her mind couldn't help compare him with the only other guy that much younger than her that she'd ever been with, Andy Colson, a little over six months before. He'd been pretty much the same age as her would-be Servicer then, when she'd given in to temptation after getting a little tipsy at a birthday party at the Meeting Place. She hoped the comparison was limited to age though, as she recalled young Andy's fumbling and largely unsuccessful attempts at pleasuring her once they were in her bed.

Still, she had to admit, her instant impression was generally positive. She was attracted to him, that was safe to say and that, she thought, was something at least, a reasonable starting point. He was tall, which she found somehow reassuring, with short brown hair and a total absence of facial hair. The light grey t-shirt and dark shorts he wore seemed, to her, to contain a body that was reasonably well built and lean without being overtly muscular.

She was a little bit surprised to find his smile, warm and wide and genuine, turned her mind instantly to that first experience she had of being Serviced, to Alex. Maybe, she thought, it was because there was something else in that smile too, the same thing she'd sensed in Alex's all those years ago.

As she'd gotten older, not far now from her middle thirties, she was occasionally conscious that, the older she got, the younger and more desirable other women seemed to get. She'd never really been self conscious about it, but she noticed it sometimes, especially at social events or parties. There just seemed to be fewer guys who looked at her the way they used to. Like they wanted her. Like young Andy Colson had that night. Maybe that's what had convinced to take him home with her, the rarity of it. But she knew that was the other thing she saw in her Servicer's smile. Desire. And she couldn't deny that she felt just a hint of excitement because of it.

"Welcome Danielle," Luke said finally, stepping forward to greet her with a confidence he only barely felt. "I'm Luke. It's very nice to meet you."

"Hey Luke, thanks. It's Dani actually," she said, stepping towards him.

The traditional Servicer's greeting had been designed conceptually to break the ice of a Servicing session, to establish an instant connection, an instant understanding between both parties as to why they were both here. From her previous experiences, Dani had also always thought it wasn't a bad barometer for what lay ahead either.

She was thinking that again now, as Luke brought his lips to hers. She tried not to over-analyze it, to read too much into the tentative nature of his initial touch, but even as that thought went through her mind, it became not so tentative pretty fast. She was a little surprised that there was no hesitation on her part to open her mouth to him and his hands felt soft against her skin when he cupped her face gently as he deepened their kiss, their tongues lacing together. She didn't resist the urge to allow her own arms to reach behind him, nor the one to press her body against his.

Although for some reason she wished she hadn't, she knew she made a little noise as she felt him ease back from the greeting. He's no Andy Colson, she thought, that's for sure.

"Come in Dani," he said, and she noted that same warm, eager smile on his face, "make yourself comfortable. Can I get you something? Water? Some wine?"

"Sure, thanks," Dani said, deciding on the couch to her left, against one wall, perpendicular to the bed, "maybe some water."

"Sure," Luke said, but something in Dani's mind clicked.

"Actually... um... maybe I will take a... a little glass of wine."

"Sure, of course."

She wasn't sure what had made her change her mind. She knew it wasn't that she was in need of some liquid courage to go through with being Serviced, she'd done it too many times to be worried about that. Still, she definitely felt something stir as she licked her lips and tasted Luke there.

Dani had taken up station in the center of the couch, another choice she couldn't explain, and after Luke handed her the glass, he sat next to her, against the side of the couch, careful to leave plenty of space between them.

"So, um... Dani," he began hesitantly. He'd discussed this part with Jenna too, and with Marcus and Simon, and all had agreed with his instinct that it was better to let the woman know this was to be his first Servicing at the outset. If he didn't, he reasoned, he'd just be worried about it, not to mention, as Jenna had taught him, that honesty and openness were fundamental to building trust and creating a rapport, a connection with the woman he was about to Service.

"It's your first time?" Dani said with a soft smile, catching Luke off guard.

"Oh... ah... yeah... I... yeah. How did you know?" Luke had a moment of panic as he feared he'd somehow already given away his inexperience, when she'd barely even walked in the door.

"Relax Luke," she said, and he appreciated the warmth and genuine nature of her smile, "you're doing fine. Maddy told me before, she's an old friend."

"Right, of course," he replied, hoping that his relief wasn't showing too clearly on the outside. "Well... I... I thought it was better to tell you and I'm... I'm glad you're aware. I just wanted to assure you that... that I've been through extensive training..."

"Luke, I..." Dani said instinctively. Obeying her urge to be reassuring, she didn't hesitate to rest a gentle hand on his leg just briefly. "It's OK. I've done this a few times already, you don't have to give me your credentials."

Luke felt some of his anxiety melt away as Dani removed her hand from his leg and took a casual sip of wine.

"Thanks Dani, I... I appreciate that," he said, taking a deep breath before he went on. "So, you've been Serviced before?"

"Sure," Dani replied, matter of factly, "three times actually. Well, four, three times successfully. First time was eight years ago."

"Wow," Luke said, with genuine enthusiasm, "so you've had three kids?"