Mike & Karen Ch. 29

"Oh, God," Jenny almost moaned, closing her eyes. The headache she was feeling crept closer to the surface.

"Yes, unfortunately," Mille seemed to lament. "Your son said they had an 'emergency' of some description to see to, and that they couldn't keep Percy with them and they were gone from my presence before I could even begin to protest."

"Meaning that the Lord and Lady Ravensworth told my son to take a long walk off a short pier and hug an octopus when he asked them to look after their great-grandson," the older sister grumbled. "As did Annie, no doubt."

"My guess as well, sis," Millie agreed. "So we were about to board when Little Lord Fathead here began complaining that he wanted crisps from the kiosk. I told him no, we were boarding, and he had a Ravensworth tantrum. He grabbed my phone and dashed off. By the time I caught him in the bathroom, the little prat had flushed it. I recovered it, but it's completely dead. Hence, I could not call you to warn you."

"It's okay, Mill," Jenny sighed. "This is Sammy's fault, not yours. Come, let's make the introductions, we've kept the staff waiting long enough..."

The sisters now turned to face the staff, each of them holding one of Percy's hands to keep him in place. He was wearing a little dress shirt, a tiny dress jacket, and school shorts. He was also wearing his habitual scowl as he almost glared at the strangers.

"Everyone, it is my pleasure to introduce you to my younger sister, Millicent Penrose, the baronetess of Sheppey, titled Lady Chudleigh," she said, gesturing gracefully to her younger sibling.

"Welcome, your ladyship," the staff all said in unison, bowing their heads, except for Trilby and Valentina, who both curtsied, since they were wearing skirts.

"Oh, please, just call me, Millie," the brunette said, holding up a hand. "You don't need to use my-"

"Don't bother objecting, Mill," Jenny said, shaking her head. "Kat insists that titled guests all be treated a certain way. And frankly, it no doubt just makes the staff's life easier. Think of it as being back at Heatherly, but rhotacisms everywhere."

"So be it," Millie sighed.

"And this distinguished young gent..." Jenny continued, pulling her grandson forward to greet everyone, with Millie still holding his other hand. "...is my first grandchild, Percival Harding. Percy, let's go say hello to the nice people."

She led her grandson forward, starting at the end of the line. Dave awaited them patiently.

"Who're you?" Percy demanded, looking up at the old, bald man. "Are you a duke?"

Dave took a moment to respond. "No, can't say as I am."

"Well I'm a earl, and that makes me better than you!" Percy almost spat. "Now kneel!"

"Percy!" Jenny gasped in shock.

Dave raised an eyebrow and looked at Jenny. "He's kidding, right?"

"Kneel!" Percy hissed.

"Stop that, you little prat," Millie scolded, her hand on Percy's shoulder and giving it a shake. "No wonder you're in trouble at school with your teachers and headmaster."

She looked at the landscaper now. "I'm so sorry, sir. He slept in the taxi on the way here, he must be tired and cranky."

"That's real tired," Dave muttered, still looking down at the snot-nosed punk.

"And I might have spanked his arse some when we got to Pearson for flushing my phone, and he had to sit on said arse all the way here," Millie added, trying to not scowl down at her nephew's child. At least she hadn't also been stuck with Joanna. "But I promise you, he's only this bratty while he's awake."

They moved on down the line, with Millie greeting the staff and Percy being compelled to keep his gob shut. He did, however, stare rather blatantly at Andrea's and Val's chests when he was in front of them.

"I'm sorry, my ladies," Val said quietly, blushing and trying to pull her skirt hem a little lower, to no effect. "If I'd known your grandson was coming, I wouldn't have worn my normal attire and put on something more appropriate."

"You couldn't have known, lovey, any more than I did," Jenny said, smiling and putting her hand on the housemaid's arm. "After all, my dear sister was robbed of the ability to forewarn us that someone was coming along."

"I really liked that phone, too," Millie muttered.

"Ari," Tatyana said, turning to look at the Manor's cybersecurity expert. "What are the chances of perhaps recovering some of her information from her damaged device?"

Ari had to think about that. "Hack a damaged foreign phone that got flushed down a toilet? There's a kick I haven't tried before. No promises, but I'll give it a whirl."

"In the meantime, my lady, I am certain we can furnish you with a Rubus, courtesy of our employers and safe behind our security systems," Tatyana added, nodding to Millie. "I regret they won't be back for some hours yet from the university, but let us get you both settled in, shall we? David, Tunde, the luggage, please."

"Well this does put something of a crimp in our plans," Jenny said, turning and heading toward the informal dining room, with Percy in one hand and Millie taking her other. Despite her grandson's presence, she was still very glad to see her sister. "However, I am certain we can recover."

She looked down at the young blond boy. "Did you have a good flight, Percy?"

"These people all talk stupid," he almost spat, making Jenny raise her eyebrow. "I don't know where I am and everyone sounds stupid!"

"It sounds like another nap is in order," she mused.

"I don't suppose our hosts have a tazer, do they?" Millie sighed, shaking her head.

***

The third floor, a little bit later...

"Well, that should keep him in a food coma for a bit," Millie sighed as she walked down the hallway with her older sister, holding her hand. She hadn't been to this place in probably thirty-five years, but she remembered how it felt. "I'm sorry, Jen. If I could've avoided bringing him, you know I would've."

"Tosh," Jenny said, smiling and giving Millie's hand a squeeze. "How do you like your suite, lovey?"

"I would've been just fine on the second floor, Jen," the brunette answered. "The rooms are still posh enough, without being excessive for me. Easier to keep track of Little Lord Prat as well. I don't want him getting used to the big rooms or he'll begin to think he's entitled. The little wanker will be demanding his own grand suite before long, and his own staff."

"Well at least allow me to show you my suite," the countess suggested, smiling. She was so happy that her sister was here, sharing this grand occasion that was approaching. She remembered Millie being intimidated by Kat when they were younger, not that Jenny blamed her. Everyone was intimidated by Kat.

She decided not to tell Millie about Mike yet. That encounter would be funny.

Once they'd reached the east wing, she brought Millie to her suite and led her inside. Millie closed the door behind her and shrugged off her bolero jacket, tossing it casually to Jenny's bed and then moaning as she rotated her neck. "Gnnnn, so glad that trip is over..."

She looked up at her sister now and held out her arms. "Well? Come and give me a Penrose Sisters greeting now that we're alone, I know you want to."

Jenny stepped up to her sibling and pulled Millie into her arms, kissing her squarely on the lips, hard. They wrapped their arms around one another and the kiss must have lasted a good ten seconds, their bodies pressed together. When it ended, Jenny sighed, smiling at her sister happily, while Millie made a show of wiping a finger at the corner of her mouth.

"Nice try, you tart, but I still play for the other team," she stated. "When I get to play at all."

"What, the baronetess of Sheppey is having a hard time getting it in?" teased Jenny, caressing her sister's cheek now. "Or are you just not trying very hard?"

"You've seen the people there, Jen, even you wouldn't fuck them," Millie pointed out. "All those round, wide faces, they couldn't fit their heads between your legs, no matter how much time you spend with them spread."

"True enough, Mill," Jenny snickered. "When was the last time you even had a proper groping?"

"The last time you gave me one," the younger sister sighed. "Stop laughing, Jen. So tell me about our hosts. Is she still as intimidating as I remember her to be?"

"Moreso, honestly," Jenny said. "But not where her friends are concerned, and she remembers you fondly."

"That still surprises me no end," Millie admitted. "After all, I was just your little sister, always getting underfoot when you were together."

"Given that Kat and I were usually trying to shag, yes, most of the time you were," the blonde quipped. "But even if I held that against you, Kat didn't. She's delighted to have another Penrose at the event, it helps balance out all the Gordons and Blackwells who will be here."

"Oh, Hastings isn't coming, is he?" Millie asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "It's no secret that he's quite off his nut."

"No, his son Bolingbroke and his daughter Belasyse are coming in his place," Jenny informed her. "And the Marquess of Huntley will be here as the ranking title."

"This sounds like it's actually a big to-do, Jen," Millie said, feeling rather out of place. "Is it?"

Jenny nodded. "The Blackwells are one of the three oldest families in the Empire, Mill, you don't need me to tell you that. Kat might have been the marchioness of the entire family now, if the elder line hadn't relinquished the titles to move here to the colonies and make new fortunes. Now it's the cadet branch of the family with the titles, and that stupid greyhound on their coat of arms."

"What was the animal on the coat of arms for the senior branch?" her sister asked.

"A griffin, if memory serves," Jenny mused. "You'll see it around Blackshack often enough, but also a lion."

"What, no dragon?" Millie quipped, smirking.

Jenny thought immediately of Mike. "Oh, trust me, Mill, she has a dragon."

"So what about her family?" the baronetess queried, sitting down on the edge of Jenny's bed and kicking off her ankle-length boots. "You said she has a husband, a son, and a sister, yes? I don't remember a sister."

"Alli, that is, Alexandra, was born when Miranda was in her fifties," Jenny explained, sitting down and removing her own shoes now. "It's a story long in the telling, one I won't attempt now. Kat's son is a charmer, certainly, you'll adore him."

"And her husband?" Millie asked. "What's he like? Not some boring business tycoon, is he?"

"I guess you'll need to make that judgement for yourself, my dear," Jenny answered, putting her hand on her sister's shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. Then she frowned. "Mill, you're so stiff. Was the trip over that bad?"

"I might've downplayed what a rotter your grandson was, for the sake of the staff," Millie sighed. "He had me right tense by the time we got to Pearson and he was still in a temper. Tried to convince airport security I was carrying a knife."

"He got you in trouble over Grey Dolphin?" Jenny asked, scowling.

"I brought it, just like you asked me to, for the event," Millie reasoned. "Wouldn't have been an issue if that little sprog hadn't made it sound like a threat in order to get me in trouble. Thankfully, once they saw the knife and I explained, they understood. It also helped that Percy was being rather intolerable and demanding everyone kneel and obey him."

"You said you beat his arse?"

"Mostly for the knife thing, really," the younger sister admitted. "One of the guards was very understanding, in fact. He pointed out a private washroom I could use, and said he would stand guard outside it for five minutes, no questions asked."

"Goodness," Jenny laughed. "No wonder he was so cranky, he couldn't sit down all the way here. But he's made you so tense, lovey. Let me give you a rubdown to relax you."

"I know you, Greymoor, you're just trying to get me out of my clothes," Millie warned, but she was already shucking off her cashmere sweater, revealing an almost unnecessary bra that held her small breasts in place. That came off next before she lifted her legs and worked her jeans off. Before long, she was naked.

"Took you long enough, Chudleigh," Jenny remarked, already not wearing a stitch of clothing while kneeling on her bed. Millie just rolled her eyes.

"Since when is your being naked for this a requirement?" she groused, making a show of it as she turned and laid down on the bed on her stomach, stretching her frame out. They always massaged one another like this. She was just playing her part and complaining, a counterpoint to Jenny's ready nudity.

"Why should you have all the fun, Mill?" Jenny said cheerfully as she reached over to her nightstand and got the massage oil that Miss Prospero used on her almost every night...

***

Tuesday evening, a certain dorm room, 1987...

Mike lay on his back, his hands behind his head, looking up at the ceiling. He was decidedly naked, but there was nothing unusual about that while he was in his own private living space. He'd slipped the condom off, wrapped it in tissue, and tossed it in the wastebasket he kept beside his bed. Nothing had been said, so he thought he'd break the awkward science.

"For what it's worth, you might be getting better," he offered. "Y'know, you barely whimpered at all this time."

Verna, who was lying naked next to him on the massive bed, felt positively deflated, as if she had no bones. Her frizzy platinum hair was everywhere, and she worried she must look like a scarecrow. A frizzy, deflated scarecrow, however that worked.

"Not funny," she managed to say, her voice still hoarse from the shrieking she did behind her hands during her orgasms. "I'll get you next time, buster. You will see the error of your ways and realize what a menace you are to this campus. That signature will be mine."

"I just don't want you to hurt yourself," Mike pointed out.

"Hey, I'm a free-thinking and liberated woman, thank you," she snapped, wanting to move her body but settling for tilting her head slightly to scowl at the infuriating man who she'd just lost yet another sex contest to. "I don't need some egotistical male telling me what's good for me and what's bad."

"So the sex is good, is that it?" he asked, trying not to smirk.

Verna didn't answer, turning her head back to stare at nothing and mutter at the uncaring ceiling. She'd prove herself right about the moral degeneracy on campus, no matter how much sex she had to have to get the point across.

Whatever it took.

***

Tuesday evening, Blackwell Manor's grand foyer, the present...

"Millie, it is so lovely to see you again," Karen chimed as she hugged her newest guest. "We're thrilled you will be here for the housewarming."

"I'm surprised you even remember me, but thank you, it's an honour," Millie replied, returning the hug. As amazingly attractive as Millie thought her sister was, Karen Gordon was an absolute goddess! Her voice was lyrical and addicting, her golden eyes captivating. She wanted to be intimidated, but this hug was driving all such thoughts from her mind and body. "It's been, what, thirty-five years?"

"At least," Karen replied, ending the hug but still holding Millie, looking her up and down now. "It has been intimated to me by your sister that you're now a peer in your own right?"

"Ah yes, the Lady Chudleigh, baronetess of Fraggle Rock," Millie sighed, making her hostess smirk. "We can thank my caring sister for that particular privilege. I suppose I should introduce the future earl of Ravensworth, hadn't I?"

She turned to look down now at her charge. "Percy, this is Mrs. Ekaterina Gordon, she is our hostess. Be nice and say hello."

"Hullo," Percy mumbled, supposedly to Karen, but his eyes were fixed squarely on her impressive bust, encased though it was inside her business jacket. Her chest was large enough that she had to leave the top buttons open, and she was sporting lots of cleavage.

"I'm up here, young man," Karen said kindly but firmly. "Look up here if to continue to be on live thou dost wish..."

Percy blinked and looked up at Karen's face now. He could endure her gaze for all of two seconds before looking away, blushing. Karen smiled at Millie now. "Clockwork Orange. Gets the young'uns every time."

"Jen said you had a penchant for distressingly esoteric references," Millie giggled. "Still, anyone who can cow his highness here into submission is doing God's work. And this must be your son and your sister?"

"Lady Chudleigh," Alexa said, stepping forward and hugging Millie now. "I wish I'd met you a lot earlier in both our lives, but things would've had to have been a lot different for a lot of reasons, right?"

"I'm getting to meet you now, Alli, so I'll take that as a win," the baronetess replied, loving how warm the hug this blonde goddess gave was. "Never would've believed someone could be as gorgeous as your older sister, but here you are. And please, call me Millie, okay?"

"I'll try, but no promises," Alexa said, smiling at her now. "The Blackwell streak is kinda strong in me. Will you settle for Aunt Millie or auntie?"

"If I need to, although it makes me sound old," Millie sighed, making Alexa giggle. The blonde girl moved aside now, letting Millie assess the other person present. "Heavens, boy, you can only be Kat's son..."

Millie looked at Karen. "How did this one come about? Parthenogenesis? I refuse to believe any mere male was involved."

"It's a pleasure, my lady," Alex said, stepping forward and taking her hand in his, clasping it warmly. His laser-blue eyes were intense and striking, with an infectious glint of humour, as opposed to the dancing joy in Alexa's sapphire eyes, or the unnerving and imperious golden colour of Karen's. His grin was almost painful to look at because it was so genuine. "Did your sister tell you about Alexa and myself?"

Millie nodded. "Yes, and while I may take some time to wrap my little head around it, I assure you, I am fully in support of you."

Percy was now staring at Alexa's baps as well. If the blonde noticed, she clearly didn't care. Millie ignored it, and would chastise the little twerp later. "So Kat, where is your husband? He's the only one I have yet to meet, I believe."

"He is entertaining your sister in the Spencer Lounge, methinks," Karen said, gesturing for the baronetess to follow her, along with Alex and Alexa. "This way, please, we'll find them and all have some drinks before dinner."

They walked down the Hall of Ancestors, and Millie smirked as Karen and Alexa both flipped off many of the old ogres who dominated the walls. She could see the space cleared at the end of the line of portraits, which was where Karen's portrait as the latest head of the eldest Blackwell line would go. It would be grand indeed, she figured.

Soon enough, they were approaching a lounge, and Millie could hear her sister's voice inside, laughing as she relayed an anecdote about their lives many, many years ago.

"That's not how the story goes, and you know it," Millie called out as they turned into the lounge. "You know perfectly well that- GODDAMN IT, JEN!!!"

Millie turned around and stomped out of the room, leaving Percy and everyone else inside. She leaned against the wall for a moment, taking deep breaths and pulling her hand down her face, her eyes wide and rather brittle with instant anxiety. She was going to kill Jen for this!

One more deep breath and she straightened up and composed herself, hoping she didn't look completely undone. She turned and walked back through the door, smiling as she approached the titan man who dominated the space, with Karen on his right and Jenny on his left. Alex and Alli stood nearby, and Percy was hiding behind Alex, looking rather intimidated.