Paradise Found Ch. 05

"Hmm?"

"This feels divine, but I think you're getting wet," I indicated her chest.

Looking down, she tried - and failed - to cover the wet spots on her chest. "Oh, God. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to... it's just that I'm so full."

Huh?

Reaching for a towel, she dried her arms and looked down at me.

"Alex, I can I be honest with you?"

"Of course, I'm your property for the next two days. You can do whatever you want with me."

"No!"

I started from her explosion.

"I mean...no. Alex, forgive me for my boldness, but my motives for selecting you, in particular, are not entirely unselfish."

Uh oh, here it comes...

"It was my hope that, for the next two days, we could spend time together as a couple. Not as giantess and slave, but as it used to be. No commands to force your hand or word, no unceasing demand for sexual services. Just two people who respect and admire each other. Two people who...love each other.

You've talked about your woman; I can see the passion with which you hold her in your heart. That passion was once mine as well.

Many years ago, before this whole business with the virus, I lost someone irreplaceable to me."

Her tears came then, validating her words.

"I will never know love as I had with him."

My heart broke for her. She must have seen some part of him in me.

Grabbing my naked frame then, she pulled me out and gently patted me dry with a soft terrycloth towel. A cotton robe was next, which she wrapped around me soundlessly.

"Alex, follow me. Please."

Moments later we were on her bed in candlelight. She laid down, resting on her elbow to meet my eyes. Her emotion was still thick as she resumed her unfinished thought.

"David and I had just had a baby girl - Leah.

"My husband always had a sharp business acumen. He owned his own company at the age of 25, and it was within spitting distance of the Fortune 500 by the time I became pregnant. Naturally, with the money coming in, we chose for me to stay home with the baby.

"Those early days were the happiest of my life. I cannot imagine you've had a child before at your age, but I can tell you that giving life is a powerful thing. The notion that, though mortal, you can touch eternity through your offspring.

"Naturally, our happiness was not to last. During a business trip out west, David was killed in a car accident."

Determined to do something to assuage the pain evidenced by her tears, I grasped as much as I could of one of her hands with in mine, offering silent consolation.

"And Leah?"

"Do you have to ask? She's with the Matriarchy now."

Another piece of the puzzle... she must be trying to make amends for her daughter's wrongheadedness.

"They don't realize it, but little girls need fathers too. Men and women...we need each other. No matter what our size is, no matter who is dominant. We are two halves of a whole.

"...like David and I."

Annette truly broke down now into weeping. Eye shadow running and face no longer composed, she somehow looked more beautiful for her humanity. I wanted to help this woman.

Giving her a minute, I finally tried to get her attention.

Gently, I probed, "Annette, what can I do?

"Do I remind you of him? Of David. Is that why you picked me?"

She nodded.

Collecting herself, she tried to laugh away the painful memory, "You noticed my shirt earlier...

"You're probably already aware that the virus affects people differently."

"Yes"

"Well I've been afflicted as well," she gestured at her breasts.

It started to dawn on me what she meant just as she elucidated.

"My body is relentlessly holding to the notion that I have just given birth to a child.

"What torment, then, that the virus has thrust upon me; my body seems locked in an age that I long to go back to - the time right after the birth of my daughter.

"I produce, but without a child to care for, the pain can be severe. I've been to doctors, of course, but they've found no permanent solution."

Taking it all in, I was torn between disgust and a desire to help this woman who was as lovely on the inside as her appearance showed the world.

Standing up on the bed, I pulled her head to my chest as she wept.

After what seemed like an hour, she calmed.

"Alex, will you help me? Just this once?" she implored, sounding much smaller than the huge woman that lay before me.

What kind of human would I be if I were refuse? I had to help her. To provide a fleeting cessation of the pain that plagued her every day.

"Of course."

She sat up and set me on her right thigh, facing her, pulling the pink shirt over her head. Taking a moment to unfasten the extensive clasp in the rear of the largest bra I'd ever seen, she pulled it free.

I was floored. The cups on this thing looked to be capable of accommodating medicine balls.

As the lacy garment fell away with the accompanying padded inserts, I saw that her breasts looked firm. Veins covered the surface, her nipples turgid.

"Alex, please. Make the pain go away."

The large hand behind my head guided me toward her hard, shot glass-sized nipple. I pulled back at the last second, uncomfortable.

When I saw her hurt look, I closed the distance, using my normal methods to bring her pleasure.

Annette's eyes were closed, and I could feel the deep breathing of her chest, but this was clearly not what she wanted. I had to indulge her.

Delivering the slightest suction to her erect nipple, I received a gush of creamy, sweet milk. The taste was actually quite good, though a part of me cringed at the thought of suckling a woman as a grown man.

The life-giving goddess moaned loudly as her letdown reflex kicked in, and her breast issued forth a torrent of heavenly sap.

Overwhelmed by her prodigious production, I sputtered and pulled away, again fighting the urge to retreat. Knowing the fragile emotional state she was in, however, I steeled myself to stay the course. She was clearly in another place as I attended her, but her pleasure was evident. To my surprise, Annette took the opportunity to reach down and unzip her pants below me.

Suddenly, it was as if my biology - or that of the virus - overwrote the programming of my thinking brain. Lust like I had never felt before overcame me. Lust for the supremely abundant creature towering before me. I had to suppress the dire urge to bury my now raging erection in her as far as it would go. To plant every drop of seed I could muster in her fertile ground.

Noticing that her other breast had started to dribble in sympathy with its twin, I attacked it feverishly, desperately trying to finish my work so we might enjoy each other in ways more befitting an adult man and woman.

My hands were tiny juxtaposed with each of her titanic breasts, but I nonetheless attempted to use them to assist my suction of the life-giving fluid by applying pressure.

Annette's hand assailed her most sensitive spot below me as her milk flowed. The sounds of her relief and pleasure eventually announced her ultimate satisfaction.

For twenty minutes more, I zealously extracted her milky effluent, until finally, she felt drained.

My cock desperately sought release, but she still appeared lost in her dream state, so I controlled myself. This moment was about a wonderful woman who had lost so much, and I didn't want to intrude on her reminiscence to sate my own needs. So I sat as she again clutched me to her breast. I could feel her rapture through her grasp.

For all her power and wealth, this beautiful giantess needed me, and that empowered me. I saw that my worth as a healer was more than simply practicing medicine as an M.D.

One could heal in many ways.

Elise

"24 hours?! Are you kidding me? He could be dead by then!"

"Miss, please, calm down. I'm sorry, but I have to go by the book, and the book says we can't open a missing persons case until 24 hours have elapsed from the time they were last reported seen."

The officer's patience was obviously wearing thin now.

"You have to understand how often this happens. It's tragic, but we can't afford to start investigating missing people the minute they disappear. We'd bankrupt the city!"

She must have sensed my outrage at the notion that this was simply a matter of dollars and cents. That, despite the dramatically increased suicide rates, sky-high abduction rates, and frequency of abuse and harassment of men, some councilwoman had relied on a cost-benefit analysis to set the bar on who lives and dies.

When she came back, her tone was more mollifying.

"Look, are you sure he didn't just leave on his own? You said he owns a vehicle, and that it's missing, right? And that you two had a disagreement?

Evidently he took the car, so maybe he just went to visit a friend. Is there any place you think he might go if he needed space?"

She was trying to be helpful, and it wasn't her fault, but I didn't care. This wasn't going anywhere, and I needed help, not lip service.

"Forget it! I'll deal with it myself!!"

"Miss-"

Stabbing the button on my smartphone to end the call, I continued to wear out the carpet in my bedroom.

What a load of BS! 'Standard operating procedure'? What the hell was standard about a virus-compatible infected man missing for over 12 hours? Without a woman to look after him, he was essentially a pork chop dangling before a pack of starving dogs!

Dammit Alex, you infuriating man! I was equal parts angry and terrified from the way he left without even a note. For all I know, he really might be with a friend.

But I doubted it. My anxiety flooded back as my anger receded; I knew he wouldn't have done that to me. It wasn't like him.

Think, Elise! He might be needing you right now! Forcing myself to calm, I mentally reviewed.

I got home yesterday around 5:30, and both he and his car were gone. His tablet and overnight bag were still here in my room where he had left them.

Mom didn't know anything; she got home after I did. I knocked on a few doors to check with the neighbors, but it wasn't much help. Only one lady was able to tell me anything: she hadn't seen a man's car on the street when she got home from her shift at around 2:30pm.

There were really only two possibilities: he left deliberately, or someone came to the house and took him and his car. A stolen car would be just another loose end for a kidnapper, so I ruled that idea out for now.

But where would he have gone? He was pretty upset with me yesterday before work, so I couldn't completely discount the notion that he might have visited a friend for the evening. Or maybe even go back to school early? No, his bag was still here. Wherever he went, he was planning to come back. And no note probably meant he intended to do so before I returned from work; he wouldn't have wanted me to worry.

Damn! If only his car had one of those tracking devices. I had just been thinking about making him get one after he told me about his job hunt outings. Looks like it wasn't soon enough.

Looking at my watch, I realized it was nearly 9am now. I decided to blow off school for the day since I'd gotten hardly any sleep last night. Besides, there was no way I would be able to focus on my studies right now.

Spending the next 45 minutes making phone calls, I had exhausted most of the low hanging fruit, and was really no closer to finding him.

Lena told me she hadn't heard from him in a week. I politely declined her offer to help.

Few of his friends were local, and I only had contact info for Eric. No answer there, but it was unlikely Alex would have seen him anyway - they had kind of fallen out of touch when Eric started seeing that new girl.

I wasn't getting any further here at home, so I decided to hit the street and see if I could at least find his car.

The brilliant blue sky and crisp fall weather somehow made me even more morose as I drove about town. Autumn was always Alex's favorite season. Why hadn't I blown off work yesterday to spend time with him? Or at least gone home to visit him at lunch. This whole thing could have been avoided.

No. This wasn't my fault. I needed to keep reminding myself or I would go mad.

After nearly an hour searching, I had visited the few places I thought me might have gone. The coffee shop where we started dating. My school, where we hung out to study when he was in town. Even the bookstore, where he liked to sit and read or check out photography magazines.

Nothing.

Getting desperate, I even drove by Alex's parents' old house on the other side of town. They had moved away a year ago, claiming it was the neighborhood that had driven them out. The real reason was obvious though - they were worried the virus would split them up. Their fear was certainly not unfounded.

Alex's dad had taken a job that allowed him to telecommute, and after severely cutting back their expenses, they moved to an isolated spot in the country. They would never cut Alex out of their lives, but they wanted to limit their exposure to infected as much as possible.

As I looked out the window of my car now, I saw the old, abandoned neighborhood for what it was - a used up relic that society had literally outgrown. A monument to how things used to be when men and women were equals - or close enough to it. Regardless, Mother Nature didn't discriminate, and was happily reclaiming it for her own.

It brought back some powerful memories though. Smiling a little, I thought of how I used to wait for Alex to get his butt out the door in the morning so we could walk to the bus stop together. Playing baseball together with the neighborhood kids in the field next to the Shermer place. Movie night Fridays in Alex's room, complete with popcorn and laughter.

The memories brought home just how close we had always been. The virus had changed our relationship in many ways, but I had loved him no less then than now.

My eyes welled up with barely contained tears as I hung my head and prayed that I would get the chance to hold him again.

(7 Days Later)

There. That was the last of them.

Posting missing person notices all over town had taken me hours over the last couple days. No calls yet, but I had to keep trying. I was relentless because I knew he was alive. He had to be.

It had been a whole week, and I was a wreck. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't study. I barely ate.

Mom was starting to get really concerned, but I couldn't help it. Every avenue I explored felt like another door closing on the possibility of getting him back.

The police had finally started investigating his disappearance, but so far, neither their leads nor mine had gotten us any closer to discovering Alex's whereabouts.

Arriving at home, I trudged through the front door.

"Mom, I'm home! I got the rest of the signs up!"

Her voice was faint from upstairs, "That's great honey. Dinner's on the table. I made a pot roast, but it might be getting cold. Sorry I couldn't wait. You know I have my rally tonight. I'll be right down if you want to talk."

Right, the rally. I heard her makeup case click shut.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with me, Leesie? Might be good to get out of the house and focus on something else."

'Daughters of Moral Progress', they called themselves. Mom had started attending after Dad left. I knew things hadn't been going swimmingly between them leading up to the separation, so I wasn't surprised when she didn't seem too shaken up about him leaving.

Soon, though, she came to realize how important he was to her. Those were difficult times.

A friend of hers finally got her to attend a meeting. Besides the rallies that advocated affirmative action measures for men and proposed mandatory safety measures, they mostly served as a support group for women who had lost husbands due to the virus - whether by their own action or otherwise. Many, like my Mom, had neglected their marriages for a variety of reasons, ended up separated, and came to regret it. Others had lost husbands to abduction or outright assault by other women.

Their common goal was to reestablish a tenable social and marital standing between the sexes. The current status quo, they asserted, could not continue indefinitely. Their cause resonated with me, but I just didn't seem to have the motivation to go along.

Sitting down at the dinner table, I found my meal cooling rapidly. I ate just enough to quiet my hunger, picking at my food with a fork while I brainstormed on what else I could do to get Alex back.

The loud clacking of heels on hardwood announced Mom as she came and sat down next to me at the table. Her look of concern was touching as she laid her hand on mine.

"So, how did it go today? Any leads?"

"No, still nothing."

"You'll find him. I believe in you. I've never seen a woman with more determination and strength in the face of adversity. Alex is very lucky to have you, sweetheart. I'm proud of you.

"We have a diverse group of speakers at tonight's rally, if you're interested in coming with me. Please consider it, honey. They always allow a few walk-on testimonials; you could be a powerful voice, if you wanted to."

Getting up to clean my dishes, I shook my head. "No thanks Mom. I appreciate you trying to look out for me, but I really need to catch up on my essay. All this investigating has been time consuming. I don't even want to think about how far behind I am.

"I guess I'd better get to it. Tomorrow I'm going to be putting out more notices to expand my coverage."

Her eyes were motherly, "Leesie, honey...you're killing yourself. I'm not suggesting you give up on Alex, but the police are on this. Why not let those women do their work?"

It went right in one ear and out the other. Giving up just wasn't an option.

"I'll be in my room. Have a good time." She sighed as I headed upstairs for my bedroom.

As I dropped my bag next to my bed, I heard the garage door close behind her. Mentally, I tuned out the world to engross myself in what had become my evening ritual.

Opening the bottom drawer of my dresser, I found Alex's small duffle bag. Reverently pulling it out, I sat on the bed and placed it on my thigh. My fingers struggled momentarily with the tiny zipper, but eventually managed to open it, grasping a blue t-shirt from the treasures within. Drawing it to my face, I inhaled deeply. His smell was still thick on it - a balm upon my soul. Studies showed that scent is the sense most intensely linked to memories, and the proof was right in front of me. It was the last shred of contact I clung to.

Not wanting to waste the precious notes that lingered within, I soon put it back and zipped everything up to prevent their escape. As soon as I laid back down, my cellphone rang. I didn't recognize the number.

"Hello?"

"Can I speak with Elise Pierce please?"

"Speaking."

"Ms. Pierce, this is the police. We believe we may have a lead on the whereabouts of the person you reported missing, Alex Gray."

My heart hammered as I sat up.

"Yes!? Has he been found?"

"No ma'am. But we did locate his vehicle at a physical fitness and treatment facility; Complete Fitness, on Mulver Drive."

That was my gym! Alex must have gone there to blow off some steam. The thought stung, knowing that he didn't wait for me. I'd been pestering him to join me for weeks.

"I don't understand. That's the gym I go to. I've been there at least a few times since he went missing, but I never saw his car there."

"Nevertheless, it was found there and impounded this afternoon."

"Any clues as to where he might be?"

"Not at the moment, but we do have additional leads; as you may know, the gym happens to be a licensed treatment facility, so we should have access to video surveillance for the day of the disappearance. We're in the process of interviewing the staff and reviewing footage.