Double Helix Ch. 23

I thought for a moment. "I'll break a bit early today and come to you. We'll need to go somewhere private. I'll need you to show me what happens and we'll see if I can guide you."

I could sense her indecision. She trusted me, viewed me as a friend and a mentor, but the problem she had was awkward and embarrassing to her. She didn't want to feel vulnerable in front of me.

"My room is fine," she said at last. "And Tilly? Even if it doesn't work, it means a lot that you want to help me, really."

We parted ways as we entered the house and she went to find Nock before her daily session with Nissi. Nissi was just finishing up a meal with Sasha and Nonna, and she stopped for an embrace and a kiss before going back down to the lab.

While I was making my own food, Stansy came in, said a quick hello, and went down to the lab herself. She and Stan had volunteered to be the first to undergo the gene therapy to remove the genemod markers from their DNA. Stan's treatment had only taken a few days, but Stansy had asked if she could undergo a more extensive procedure. Rather than just targeting her mucous membranes, Nissi was replacing the marker in all the tissues in her body.

Nissi had agreed to it after arguing the point that it would take longer and slightly increase the risk of unforeseen side effects. Stansy had replied that if she could return fully to the outside world, without fear that a blood or urine test would unmask her, she could do a lot of good for us and for the agency. She was nearly done with her treatments and so far appeared to be suffering no ill effects.

Once I finished eating, I went back to work, stopping early just like I had promised. Kurt, of course, teased that maybe genemods weren't so superior after all. I just ignored him and leapt to the top of the retaining wall, trying to make it look as effortless as possible. A glance back at his expression revealed his chagrin, and perhaps a bit more attraction than I had previously thought. I shot him a grin and took off at a sprint that would rival the fastest Olympic sprinters.

I slowed before I had gone far, not wanting to arrive a sweaty mess. My body was humming, my spirits soaring. Helping people, bringing them happiness, was what excited and motivated me more than anything else. My work on the farm would help many, many people, but not on a personal level. Likewise, my nights with Norm and Nissi were incredibly satisfying, but that was a consummation of our mutual joy. To help someone with a material problem, to help them to solve it and feel happier--that made me giddy in anticipation.

I arrived just as I had planned, as Gena was finishing up for the day. Stan eyed me curiously as I ascended the stairs behind her, but I sensed that it was nothing more than superficial interest.

Gena opened the door and stepped aside to let me in. She closed the door, took a step, stopped, and turned to lock it. "Um, should I just lie down and, uh..."

I walked over to a chair across from the foot of the bed and sat down. "Just get comfortable, try to forget I'm here. I'll be quiet, but be listening if I need to tell you something. I'm going to tell you now, I'll be feeling everything you do, so I might make a bit of noise."

Gena's eyes went wide at that. Most people at the farm had some idea how my ability worked, but few knew the full extent. "You mean, when I start to feel good, you..."

I nodded. "That's right. And I should be able to feel whatever is stopping you from reaching orgasm."

"Oh." She bit her lip, sighed and started to undress. She had a nice body. A long, slender neck, toned limbs and a pretty face. Her breasts were a bit larger than mine and had cute, pink nipples and areola. I caught myself taking this in and wondered if my nervous excitement wasn't purely about helping her with her issue.

"Okay, so I'll just lie down..." she said, covering her breasts with one arm while her other hand covered her mons. Her embarrassment burned up her neck as she froze, only now coming to grips with what she had to do, perhaps just as mortified by the idea of backing out after accepting my help.

"It's okay, really," I said. "You've nothing to be ashamed of. You're gorgeous." I said it to reassure her, since most women have at least a little anxiety about their appearance, but it was simply the truth. I enjoyed looking at her, in or out of her clothes.

"Okay, You can do this," she said under her breath, letting her hands drop away.

She sat on the bed, closed her eyes, and lay back. For about two minutes, she just breathed deeply, but I could see and hear her pulse increase, her blood flow through her body change. Slowly, her hands slid over her body, trailing pleasant sensations in their wake. Her fingers bumped into and slid over her erect nipples. I heard her quiet sigh as I felt the flare of pleasure go straight to my groin.

Her fingers circled her nipples. She was teasing herself, pushing her arousal higher. So far so good. Her legs had spread open and slowly but surely, one hand trailed over her stomach, circled through the pale, wiry hairs of her moms, then dropped lower. She inhaled softly as her fingers finally touched her very aroused sex.

I pressed my hand to my mouth to muffle a moan as my mind recreated what she was feeling. Her lips moved without sound, but I read the words as she encouraged her imagined lover. She delved a finger inside herself a few times before focusing on her clitoris. Pleasure blossomed inside me as her fingers fluttered. We sighed together, my hands gripping the chair to keep me from sliding to the floor as my body moved in response to what we were both feeling.

It took her some time, but I could sense when Gena was starting to peak. Her breathing grew shallow and her hips thrust upward in time to her fingers. She seemed just seconds away when I heard her gasp and jerk her hand away. The flare of pain, though not unexpected, still surprised me at how suddenly it appeared. My groan of disappointment echoed Gena's, which caused her to laugh. "Not much fun, is it?"

"No, it isn't," I agreed. The unwelcome sensation had faded after a few seconds, but I completely understood why it always put a stop to her masturbation. "We--you--were very close. Just another second or two, really." My own arousal had me tingling between my thighs. My body desperately wanted to be touched. And I wanted to touch the pretty blonde in front of me. That realization shocked me.

Gena's words broke through my troubled thoughts. "That's what happens every time."

I considered for a moment, using the time to push back at my unexpected desire. "I don't think an injury or infection is causing this. Have you tried pushing past it?"

Gena seemed to be at ease now being naked in front of me. She turned on her side and propped her chin on her palm. "Sure, a few times. The pain just gets worse."

I glanced at the clock and sighed. It had been a good twenty minutes since I had arrived. I could probably stay longer, but I wanted to put a little distance between us while I struggled with these new feelings.

"I probably should get back to the big house. They'll be missing me at dinner." It was a lame excuse, but Gena didn't argue. "But I'll think about what happened. Maybe we can try again tomorrow."

"Sure, we can do that." She tried to hide her disappointment, but I saw through it easily.

I stood and walked to her bedside. It was an effort to keep my gaze on her face when my eyes wanted to wander. "Hey, I'm not giving up. I'm going to think over this. Maybe do some research tonight."

"Do you think it's because they reverted me?" she asked, the words coming out in a rush. "Like, maybe they damaged my nerves or my pleasure centers or something?"

The thought hadn't occurred to me, but I could see that this was her real fear, that this was something permanent and irreparable. From what I had been told of the procedure to revert G's, it wasn't implausible.

"I honestly don't know, but I don't think so. I don't think there's something wrong inside your head." I wasn't sure how I knew that, but it felt correct.

She looked visibly relieved at that. "Alright, thank you. Same time tomorrow, then. Hey, don't tell my big brother about this, please?"

I was already struggling with the need for secrecy. It was undeniable to me now that I felt attraction for Gena, but there was no way I could tell Norm and Nissi about that without revealing why I had come here. I was going to have to hold it in, to lie by omission, which made me feel slightly nauseous to think about. Worst of all, I sensed, if not real attraction, then a certain degree of curiosity from her when she caught me looking at her body. I could not let things get out of hand.

"Of course," I promised. "I won't tell anyone."

I was a little late getting back for dinner, but no one commented on it. It wasn't unusual for me to take some extra time at the work site. I sat next to Nissi and put my hand on her thigh, which got me a knowing glance. When one of us was especially, well, horny, that was our signal to eat quickly and reconvene in bed. She must have done the same to Norm, because he turned and smiled at her. Then her other hand slid up my thigh. Had I been wearing a dress, she would have found my panties soaking wet. As it was, I couldn't be sure I hadn't soaked into my jeans.

We excused ourselves before anyone else, getting a "Could they be any more obvious?" thrown from Wendy as we hurried upstairs.

I all but attacked Nissi, pushing her against the wall and stripping the clothes from her body while I kissed every inch of exposed skin I could reach. Norm's hands were on me, loosening my own clothing. I didn't begrudge him that, but right now, I was craving the touch and feel of a woman.

"What's gotten into you?" Norm asked with a laugh. I had pushed Nissi's bra up so that I could get my lips and teeth around her nipple, and yanked her panties down so that I could push three fingers inside her.

"Don't know, don't care," Nissi said breathlessly. She opened her eyes and met my gaze. "And don't stop."

I loved Nissi, and I loved to make love to her, but I also loved her company. We could just sit for an hour without speaking and enjoy being in the presence of the other. None of that had changed. I was still deeply, madly in love with her, with both of them. But now there was a blond-haired, blue-eyed girl that I somehow couldn't put out of my mind.

I threw myself into making love to Nissi, bringing her to orgasm twice with my tongue while dragging myself along for the ride. Norm played at our periphery with his lips, tongue, and fingers. I lay back and let her lick me while Norm penetrated her from behind. My climaxes flowed together and overlapped, some generated within my own body, some empathetically with my lovers. I sought to drown my thoughts of Gena by immersing myself in Norm and Nissi.

And it worked, to a degree. We went at it for nearly two hours, slept, then resumed when Nissi woke me and we started all over again. Norm fell asleep sometime after midnight, but Nissi kept up with me while he slept, feeding my suddenly insatiable sexual appetite until morning.

Nissi was sleeping soundly when I woke up, and I left her to her rest. I wasn't like Nock. I needed a good seven or eight hours every night normally, but could get by on less when I needed to.

I would be spending most of the day in the greenhouse. After we had been forced to collapse the structure just before Christmas, we had scrambled for the next several weeks to restore it to full function, replanting from our seed stock. We had enough surplus stored back to last three months, and could go back to buying food through Andy if needed, but we wanted to avoid that if possible. I had been gratified to see us recover so quickly after a worst-case event, but it had set all of our projects back about two months while we put all our efforts into the greenhouse.

Then, two weeks after our first planting, at the start of February, Ed had found Rot infection in compartment 3, probably the result of incomplete sterilization of the interior surfaces. We had to pull up the entire crop in that compartment, resterilize the soil and hit all the surfaces with fungicide a second time. It did put further strain on our food supply, but it was well within acceptable margins.

Today I was doing a personal inspection of every compartment. I could have asked Ed to do it, but as meticulous as he was, my eyesight was better, making me both faster and more capable at the task. Though it took me less than a second to inspect each plant, there were thousands of them, so most of my day was eaten up. I had a half hour to spare in my ten hour workday when I signed off on compartment 16, sighing in relief that we were, so far, Rot-free.

I left the greenhouse with mixed feelings. I felt excitement at the prospect of another attempt at helping Gena with her problem, but it was tempered by guilt. I knew that my choices were basically limited to helping or not helping her, but it still bothered me.

I got to the west house a bit early, and Gena acknowledged me with a wave. She finished up what she had been working on, her mesh routing software, by the look of it, and excused herself a few minutes early. Stan was definitely eyeing us as we went upstairs, but again, he had no way to know what we were up to and no reason to be suspicious.

Gena locked the door as before. This time, there was no hesitancy as she stripped nude and lay on her bed. I sat and waited while she mentally aroused herself, but then she raised her head and spoke aloud. "Would it be better if you came closer? That chair is a good six feet from the bed."

I had been holding my breath without realizing it. I let it out and drew another to answer. "I can see you just fine from over here, but you're right, if I'm closer, my ability to read you will be better. I guess I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

"Why would I be? Geez, you're the one that has to sit there and watch me. At least I can close my eyes and pretend I'm alone."

That comment managed to temper my buzzing excitement, if only a little. "Okay, where should I sit?"

She patted the bed next to her. "Right here, if you want. Just try not to make any noise, so I don't get distracted."

I got up and came forward, getting a better view of her lovely, naked body. She was already turned on, with no trace of the nervousness she had shown yesterday. I sat on the edge of the bed, no more than a foot from her left hip.

"Did you find anything out in your research?" she asked, reminding me of our conversation yesterday before I had left.

"Uh, no, I didn't have time."You were too busy screwing Nissi's brains out while you tried to forget about Gena, my thoughts accused.

"Okay, I'll get started," she said, and closed her eyes.

There was no slow buildup this time. She parted her legs and her finger slid between her nether lips, gathering moisture that she used to glide her fingertips over her little button. I couldn't quite stifle a moan at the delicious sensations I felt from her.

"You feel that, don't you?" she asked, her voice low and husky.

"Yes," I whimpered. Her musk filled my nose. I desperately wanted to taste her. Pleasure rolled through me in waves as she masturbated. I kept having to force myself to stay on task and monitor what was going on with her body. I need not have bothered. The change in sensation was abrupt and snapped me to full awareness.

"Gena," I rasped. "You need to slow down, you're..."

She either didn't hear me or didn't understand. A moment later, she groaned and jerked her hand away as though it had been burned. "Damn it!"

She was looking up at me with a frown, but I shook my head and smiled. "I see what's wrong now. As you approach orgasm, you get much more sensitive. If you keep going at the same pace, it gets painful. All you have to do is slow down, go lighter, and it should happen."

She laughed at that. "Really? That's the opposite of what I feel like I should do. I get so close and I just want to push through to the end."

"I think it will work," I assured her.

She frowned again. "I can try it. We've still got some time. Maybe...maybe you can put your hand over mine, show me what to do?"

My heart skipped a beat. Was she truly unaware of the effect this was having on me? I knew that others couldn't read me the way I read them, and I was trying to hide it as well as I could. But she needed my help.

"Alright, but only when you start to get close. Let's try again."

Her sensitivity had dropped enough while we talked that she was able to touch herself again, but she was still aroused and stimulated enough that it only took a few minutes for her to start to peak.

Trying not to think too hard, I put my hand over hers and slowed her furious pace. I moved her to stimulate her clitoris more indirectly. The feeling of imminent release retreated, but she followed my guidance and the tension continued winding upwards, just less quickly.

"Oh, God, Tilly, it's...I think it's..."

"Almost there," I panted. I sensed that it was going to be a big one, so I lay on my side next to her, managing to keep my hand over hers the whole time.

She gasped a breath, her eyes going wide in surprise, then closed them again as she finally crested. Her expression was one of pure rapture as we came together.

A warm wave rose from my center, tickling, tingling pleasure rolling up my body. My muscles twitched without conscious thought and my voice came out in a wail. Gena writhed and moaned next to me, her triumph amplified by the pleasure of orgasm. My own pleasure continued to grow until my senses faded, blinded by a white haze.

I came back to myself slowly and heard her voice calling me from far away. "Tilly? Hey, you there?" Her hand touched my cheek and warmth spread from that spot, rippling down my body and triggering an aftershock that lasted several seconds.

I gathered my shattered wits together and managed a nod. A bit more time and I said, "That was intense."

"It was amazing," she said, her emotion surging once more. "Thank you, thank you! God, I can't tell you how much this means to me."

"It was my..." I started to say, but then realized that my hand was resting directly on Gena's labia, with nothing between us. "God, I'm sorry," I hissed, jerking my hand back.

"Don't be," she sighed. "I kind of lost my rhythm there at the end, but you took over and pushed me that last little bit. I might have to practice, but I get it now." She closed her eyes. "This is such a relief." Then she smiled. "In more ways than one. I was so worried about my wedding night."

"I'm just glad I could help," I said. It was a lie. Iwas glad to help. In fact, I was brimming with positive energy thanks to my happiness drive. But my emotions were in turmoil. I wanted her more than ever, and that made me feel guilty. I was also disappointed that she had no interest in me beyond that streak of curiosity that still peeked through. And that disappointment brought a renewed wave of guilt.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "I know this was probably pretty weird for you."

"I'm fine," I said, lying again. Would this attraction fade? Or would I always struggle to ignore these giddy feelings I got every time I saw her? "I'd better go."

Gena got up as I did and came around the bed to give me a naked hug. "Thank you again, I mean it. I was really freaking out about this."

"As I started to say earlier, it was my pleasure." I turned to go, but she touched my arm.

"Uh, I was wondering if...." She bit her lip, steeled herself, and went on. "Would it be alright if I told Nock what you did?"

I didn't bother hiding my surprise. "I thought you didn't want him to know about this problem."