Mike & Karen Ch. 28

"Welcome to my home, Nanu..." he said cheerfully.

She looked like she might faint.

"I hear you're due to get married, Alex," Becky mentioned, taking the pressure off Nanu before she expired. "Your aunt?"

"Yep," Alex said, rising while gesturing for Becky and Nanu to sit again, which they did. He then eased onto the chesterfield next to Becky while Valentina brought in some drinks. "Mom's sister that I'm named after. I take it you've heard the whole crazy story?"

"Crazy stories seem to be the theme of this past year," Becky agreed. "Damned if I can get into mine, though. Your mom and dad have mentioned her over the years, the fact that she was missing from your lives. She and your grandmother were gone by the time I knew them."

If his parents didn't know what Becky meant yet, then Alex just assumed he'd find out as circumstances allowed. He was easygoing about this sort of thing. Besides, Becky was as hot as he remembered her being from his preteen years. Not off-the-charts like Alexa, but damned hot all the same, on par with the Countess, certainly.

"Speaking of my baby sister, would you happen to know her whereabouts?" Karen asked.

"She went with Aunt Jen to the pub while I was in class," he replied, nodding to Val as she handed him his Romulan Ale. "Aunt Jen had a bunch a followers, so she took them all for a drink."

"Meaning it'll somehow magically happen on my tab," Karen muttered while Mike patted her shoulder. "When was that?"

"Alexa only had a half day, so they're probably almost home by now," he replied. "Aunt Jen really likes Theresa's coq au vin."

He looked at Becky and Nanu now. "You two staying for dinner? Theresa makes killer food."

"Well, your chef's bologna hasn't had any disastrous effects on Nanu's digestive tract, so I assume fresh poultry ought to be fine," Becky mused.

"Nitrates and preservatives are the enemy, eh?" Alex laughed.

They were all touring the temperate produce greenhouse (called the 'Orangerie') some while later when two people joined them.

"We're baaaaack, and we're not even hammered," Alexa chimed musically, the air around her lightening with her presence. Even the resident butterflies of the Orangerie seemed to dance about when she was near them. She walked right up to Becky and hugged her. "You must be Becky! I've heard a lot about you."

"I've heard a lot about you too, but I never would've believed anyone could be as stacked as your older sister," Becky replied, happily returning the squishy hug. "Let me introduce Nanu. Unless you speak Coptic, you'll need to speak Latin to her."

"Hi, Nanu!" Alex almost sang as she knelt and hugged the shorter girl. Nanu's eyes looked like they might just spring out of her head before she swooned, not even having a chance to get on her knees and avert her eyes. "I'm Alexa!"

"A... leks...aaaaa..." the Egyptian girl murmured as the tall, blonde goddess finally released her. She didn't go to her knees, she simply gazed at Alexa in quiet awe. This had been quite a day, even by her standards recently.

"And I'm Jenny, lovey," the countess said, walking over and giving Becky a hug. "Delighted to have you around. Have the lord and lady of the manor made their proposal to you yet?"

"They have, and I've accepted countess," Becky replied, enjoying yet another squishy, sexy hug. She had no doubt she'd end up fucking these two women eventually, if not Alex. She'd never had sex with a countess before, just a French noblewoman that she was reasonably certain was her own ancestor. "I could use the pay upgrade, certainly. Gotta pay for the classes to keep this bod toned somehow."

"Delighted to hear it," Jenny said cheerfully, the two women still holding one another by the waist as they smiled at each other. Mike and Karen looked on, trying to not smirk. "And you're quite lovely, my dear. Certainly it won't hurt to-"

"Omigosh..." Alexa breathed, looking at the floor as an epiphany shivered through her. She looked up at Becky and Jenny. "We've gotta do that."

"Do what, darling?" Jenny asked, looking at her but still holding Becky, their hips touching.

"Well, look at us," Alexa said, coming over and inserting herself into the small hug, which was now a three-way. "Three tall, gorgeous blondes... we need to form a clique, or a union or something."

"I've never belonged to a union," Jenny pointed out.

"I've never not belonged to a union," Becky added. "Don't think I've been in a clique, though."

"Yeah, but where's this ever happen?" Alexa said, pointing between them all. "Three natural blonde goddesses all together, none of us made of plastic or silicone... we're the world's most awesome and exclusive clique."

"A Trinity," Alex added rather unhelpfully.

"YES!" Alexa said loudly, turning and pointing at Alex in excitement while Karen favoured her son with a sour look for encouraging this. "The Trinity! That's it exactly!"

She took Becky and Jenny by the hands and began pulling them out of the Orangerie, confusing the butterflies. "C'mon! We've gotta go take pics to celebrate our formation..."

Alexa was the tallest and strongest of the three, so the other two just got willingly carried along in her wake.

"Take care of Nanu for me," Becky called back. "Feed her or somethin', that'll keep her occupied."

Mike, Karen, and Alex all stared at the door of the greenhouse before looking down at Nanu. She stared back at them awkwardly for a moment before opening her mouth and pointing at her gullet, then licking her lips and rubbing her belly. She really did look like Nibbles the Mouse.

"Well, let's go see if Theresa can scare up some more bologna for her," Karen mused, holding out her hand for the small Egyptian girl to take.

"Ba-lo..." Nanu said eagerly as she followed the bronze-haired goddess out of the greenhouse. "Ba-lo..."

"Sounds like you had a helluva day," Alex mused as he walked along with his father just behind.

"Minor understatement," Mike chuckled. "I know I say this almost every day, but life probably just got more interesting, Alex."

The young man sure hoped so, he was always up for some fun.

***

Basement level of the university Sciences Faculty, Friday night, 1987...

Karen walked down the hallway, carrying a small attaché case and wearing a determined expression. DeBourne was gone to one of his infernal D&D sessions, and she had exactly four hours and forty-five minutes once the game began to accomplish her mission. She knew she had that long, because Janet and Mona had both been complaining bitterly about having to do without his 'services' on this particular evening. To that end, they were making do with some young man whose parents owned a Portuguese chicken restaurant.

She arrived at the metal door, frowning at the sloppy paint job that had been done some time ago. She hated sloppiness. She'd need to make DeBourne strip the paint and repaint it, because this was unacceptable. Given how OCD he could be, she was actually rather surprised that he hadn't seen to the problem already.

She turned the handle, frowning as it stopped, indicating the room was locked. No matter. She bent down and pulled a hairpin from her bronze hair, inserting it into the lock and fiddling with the mechanism. A smile flashed across her lovely face as she felt the lock comply, and she opened the door and stepped quickly and quietly inside, closing the door behind her. She didn't bother with the ugly overhead lights, instead pulling a small lamp from her case and turning it on.

She had the time she needed, as long as she stayed focused.

She settled into the huge chair, muttering about how it didn't move under her at all, stiff as titanium. Then again, it probably had to be, supporting DeBourne's weight constantly. She hit the switch she'd seen him use the other day, bringing the Dayraven Cluster to life. It almost sounded like one of the energy backpacks in that Ghostbusters movie powering up.

She scowled as the Airwolf theme assaulted her ears. It was time to get moving.

***

The hot tub in the solarium, Friday night, the present...

"So are we expecting Aunt Jen back tonight?" Alex asked as he sat in the bubbling, foaming water. Alexa sat snuggled into his flank. On the other side of the tub, his mother and father looked back at them. The tub was one of three on the estate large enough to easily accommodate father and son at one time.

"It's hard to say, really," Karen mused, sipping her champagne. "If the students can keep up with her, she may not appear until tomorrow morning. If they all flake out relatively early, she may simply come home. Penrose doesn't do well without an audience, it kills the bard in her."

"The student body is quite enthralled with her, and her body," Alexa remarked, holding a Bijou in the hand that wasn't wrapped around Alex. "And she's an eager member of our new little clique."

"Ah, yes, the Trinity," Karen sighed, shaking her head. "You three took off in a hurry, once you'd chartered the heresy."

"Well, we had to go and take pics together and come up with a pledge and everything," Alexa reasoned with a shrug, which lifted her breasts slightly out of the water, something that was not lost on Alex.

"Yes, and such lovely pictures you took, Alli," her sister muttered. "Make sure those aren't leaked, will you?"

"You're jus' jealous that you can't belong because you're not a natural blonde," the younger sister sniffed. "I'm sure today confused the Hell out of Nanu, the poor thing."

"Becky says she's got a long learning curve ahead of her, but it was next to impossible for Becky to explain why," Mike elaborated, thinking back on the day. "Ultimately, we just stopped asking, and she stopped trying to articulate. It seemed safer that way."

"And you've got a brand-new professor at the uni for next semester," Alex said, grinning and holding up his glass in toast. "What did you need to bribe her with?"

"She seemed happy enough with the pay raise, certainly, and I think young minds have exasperated her enough to look for a change, one student in particular," Karen answered. "Yes, she'll be teaching the first-year introductory courses for now, but she seemed to be fine with that. She seems to have developed a particular interest in quantum crystallography, so Michael and I promised to make all our resources and findings available to her. She seemed so excited by that prospect that she almost micturated all over my Persian rug."

"Yeah, you nerdy types are something," Alex chuckled. "Kinda cool that she's a Seventies rock chick, though, even if she's only in her late twenties."

"Oh, is my disco suddenly not sexy enough for you, young man?" Alexa asked, turning her head to look at him.

"You're unbelievably sexy despite the disco," Alex replied, smirking at her.

"Well played, Alex," Mike and Karen both said, holding up their glasses in a toast to their son.

"In any event, I would expect to see a lot more of those two now," Mike posited, his massive arm around his wife, who sighed dreamily and snuggled into his side. "Becky believes that maybe we can help Nanu adjust to life."

Alexa snickered. "Riiiiight. She seems to think we're gods, and this is quite possibly the last place on Earth I'd ever send anyone to try and learn about what a normal life is like."

"Fair enough, but Becky also reasons that she will be safe here, and if babysitting a tiny Egyptian girl is what I need to do to bribe my prize student into taking the teaching job, then so be it," Karen said. "One less thing to worry about. At least that lazy little troglodyte Anson flaked out about being a secretary for our department."

"Wouldn't have anything to do with you scaring him so bad that he can't control his bowels any more, would it, mom?" Alex laughed.

"His lack of intestinal integrity has nothing to do with me," Karen replied. "I guess we'll just wait and see what space oddity they replace him with next week, since they're determined to move forward with this crime against human progress."

"C'mon, Alex," Alexa said, standing up now, water cascading off her glorious, naked body. "Let's go to bed and you can practice putting a baby in me."

"Duty calls," he replied, grinning as he let her stand him up and lead him out of the tub and over to the wall, where they slipped on plush robes. "Mom, dad, see you in the morning!"

Mike and Karen lifted their drinks in acknowledgement and then waited while the younger couple slipped out. Silence reigned for some time and then she sighed happily and put her head on his arm.

"What is next in order to make life better, lord-husband?" she asked in a dreamy voice.

"We stay the course until the girls get here, I guess," he reasoned. "I think life will fall into a much more predictable structure once the housewarmings are done with, even if we begin filing the petition to change the law. There's order and process to that. Tonight, though, we should wait up for Jen."

"You think she'll end up coming home early?" Karen queried, tilting her head slightly to look up at him. "They'll quit on her? That seems unlikely."

Mike smiled. "Call it a hunch that she'll be home by midnight. C'mon, we'll wait in the Arne and I'll start teaching you how to play guitar."

"Now how can I refuse a romantic date offer like that?" she giggled as she stood up and turned to straddle his lap.

***

Just after midnight...

Their watches notified them of a car coming up the driveway.

"It's two minutes past midnight, you were wrong, good sir," Karen teased as they stood and headed to the Grand Foyer. Once they were there, Mike unlocked the front doors and opened them. A cool breeze poured in, followed by two young women, supporting a third one between them.

"Special delivery," Heather said, tilting her head at Jenny, who was sagging between her and another student. The countess was barely holding herself up on her feet, and had the two girls not been there, she would have been a puddle on the floor. "Anyone willing to sign?"

"Oh dear," Karen sighed, watching as they stood still and waited while Jenny tried to stand. "Do I even want to know?"

"I thought she was good at dancing, but boy, can she drink," the other girl Sylvia, one of Mike and Karen's senior students, replied. "Pretty sure she outdrank all of us combined, and there must've been thirty of us at the club with her. Yeah, some people had a single beer or shot, but still. She must've done at least fifteen body shots and hooter shooters, not to mention real beverages."

"I am not the least bit surprised, Sylvia," Mike said, towering over them all. "Did you bring her back in a cab?"

They nodded. "It's still out front," Sylvia confirmed.

He handed them each a hundred-dollar bill. "Tell the cabbie to take each of you directly home, give him that for following instructions once you're safe."

"Thank you, ladies," Karen said, smiling at them while Jenny righted herself slowly. She pulled her arms off their shoulders and tried to stand, her eyes closed. It looked like the Fonz trying to compose himself. "We'll take it from here..."

Sylvia and Heather nodded and went back out, while Mike closed the doors behind them. Karen was still observing Jenny, who didn't speak, but finally opened her brown eyes, which were large, glassy, and unfocused. Her skin was pale, and covered in sweat. Her normally immaculate chignon was looking absolutely wilted, undone in some places.

"What did you do to yourself, Penrose?" Karen asked, without a trace of sympathy in her voice. Even when they'd attended St. Eve's together, Jenny had a reputation for getting inebriated.

Jenny just looked at her, as if she couldn't comprehend what her beloved friend and host was saying. Her breathing was getting heavy, her skin shining with sweat. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out.

"Well?" Karen pressed. "You look like an ostrich trying to gobble a brass doorknob. Speak, woman."

Still Jenny said nothing, but her skin was going slightly green, her breath audible.

"Did you teach some poor bartender how to make the Stations of the Cross and then pound it back to show off for the kiddies?" the bronze-haired matriarch asked, her arms folded under her large bust.

That memory was too much for Jenny. Her eyes widened and her cheeks puffed out as she began shaking. Without a word, she clapped her hand over her mouth and began dashing-staggering toward one of the washrooms on the main floor.

"Go to bed, Gordon, I'll wait until she's done and then put her in her room," Mike sighed.

"Thanks, DeBourne," Karen said quietly, giving her husband a hug and then letting him kiss the top of her head before she turned and headed up the stairs to the third floor and their grand suite in the east wing. "Don't keep me waiting."

Mike watched her disappear up the stairs and then went to check on the countess.

***

Saturday morning, the Byron Study...

"Gnnnnnffffff..." Jenny moaned, lying on the chesterfield with a cold pack against her forehead. She was wearing a very soft robe, and nothing else. Why was the world still spinning? Why were there gremlins attacking her brain with ice picks? "Gin... sherry... port... brandy... pudding wine... a substantial dash of bitters... shake and strain... it's called 'Death Comes For The Archbishop'..."

"Why is it called that, my lady?" Tatyana asked, standing nearby at a small serving cart and mixing the hangover beverage as instructed.

"Because it's what killed some Archbishop," Jenny sighed, still in a swoon. "Oh, God, me head..."

"Good morning, one and all," Karen chimed loudly and pleasantly as she strolled gracefully into the room, followed by Valentina. "And how are we today?"

"Kat, you tart, not so loud!" Jenny groused, shielding her eyes with her forearm as if it somehow could somehow keep away her friend's radiant disposition. "Have you no respect for the dead?"

"None when said death was voluntary," Karen answered, watching Tatyana shaking and straining the hangover cure that was sure to have Penrose drunk again within minutes. "Poor Trilby had to clean up that bathroom this morning."

"You pay her well enough," Jenny grunted. "If I paid my staff that well, they'd become lazy and insufferable."

"And yet they haven't unionized," the matriarch pointed out. "You're not as young as you used to be, Penrose; you probably can't tank the Stations of the Cross anymore."

"Gnnnnnnn..." came the pained response. Karen hoped Jenny wasn't peeing on her chesterfield.

"Stations of the Cross, Mistress?" Val inquired, standing next to her employer.

"A rather potent beverage that Penrose and I illegally learned to make while we were in prep school together," Karen replied, still watching her guest stir in self-inflicted pain. "One small glass, and you're on your knees. It only gets worse after that."

"Mio Dio..." Val whispered, crossing herself.

"So, drinking everyone under the table aside, how many students did you manage to defile yourself with, you strumpet?" Karen asked.

Jenny paused in moaning, holding her hands in front of her face and staring at them dumbly while she tried to count. "How many fingers am I holding up, Kat?"

"That can't be a good sign," Karen muttered, pressing a button on her smartwatch and speaking to it. "Glenda? Please meet me in Byron when you can."

Jenny was only slowly getting up into a sitting position when the chauffeuse arrived just a few minutes later, pulling on her uniform jacket. "You rang, ma'am?"

Karen gestured to the chesterfield with a graceful wave of her hand. "The Countess Greymoor challenged her mortality last night and nearly overcame it. I would rather be safe than sorry and make sure she didn't harm herself. Would you be so kind as to take her over to Kerkyon and see if they can restore her to some semblance of normal operating parameters?"