Quaranteam Ch. 49

He was glad that they'd closed the cats in his writing room for the time being, so that they wouldn't be freaked out by the large number of people moving around the place. They'd done the same to Maya's dogs, making sure they weren't going ballistic either.

The Halloween party had felt like it was ages ago, even though it had been less than a month earlier, but the change in scale likely had a lot to do with that, Andy suspected. In the end of October, they'd only had around thirty some people with almost the same number of families. There were so many new names and faces to learn, Andy found it a little overwhelming, although having name tags on everyone certainly helped a great deal.

Of the board game group, most of them were telling stories about the first few days with their new partners, stories that were only a few weeks old, and Andy found himself joining in. He even got talked in to recounting the poker game for the entertainment of Jenna, Ari, Xander and Phil, although both Phil and Xander had heard large parts of it before. The person most annoyed by the poker tale, however, was Linda. She wasn't mad at Andy, nor at Phil, but at her inability to stop Covington's partner Rachel from manipulating the system to her gain.

"I swear, if it were up to me, I'd cuntpunt that bitch into Easter Sunday," Linda grumbled. "I've tried complaining up the food chain about it, but I've been told again and again that until some of the women file a complaint about it, there's not much I can do about it."

"I'll happily file whatever you want me to," Piper said. "It worked out in the end, but it very easily could've all gone horribly wrong, and I don't think anybody should ever be sent to that prick again."

"There's also a chance that Katie Couric's going to be talking about it in the special airing in, oh, two hours," Phil said. "I know she told Andy she would just to the President about it, but you have no idea how rough the people coordinating all of this can get. They're going to play hardball to get what they want, even if none of us know exactly what the fuck that is."

"Yeah, I don't think she's going to break my confidence, Phil," Andy told him. "Rachel seemed like she was trying to throw you and/or me under the bus, and I wasn't going to let that happen. I think Rachel expected me not to go full disclosure, which bought me a lot of goodwill from Katie Couric. I wasn't pleased with all the things I did, but I admitted to them, and explained my reasoning for them. Katie kept going back to things Rachel had told her, but I think she found my story completely plausible, and the fact that I was so open about it gave her loads of reasons to believe me."

"Well, I hope you're right, Andy," Linda said. "I just fucking wish that we could've gotten an advance copy of the 60 Minutes show so we'd know what we're going into."

"Fuckin' A," Niko agreed.

Xander nudged Andy, speaking quiet enough so that only the two of them could hear him. "Hey, looks like something's got Em upset. She's heading over here like she's on a mission."

Andy nodded, just as Emily approached them. She was dressed in a gorgeous powder blue dress that clung to her slender form in all sorts of wondrous ways, her blonde hair hanging in curly ringlets down to her collarbone. The look on her face was one of consternation and frustration, but as she got closer, he watched her force on a smile, moving over to Andy's side, slipping her arm around his waist, and he could feel her exhale a nervous breath against him, as she looked to the small crowd of people.

"Pardon me, but I need to borrow my soon-to-be husband for but a few minutes," she said, her British lilt smoothing the words over. "Andrew? If you would?"

"Sure, Em," he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead, simply because her lips were painted up a brilliant shade of cherry red. "I'll be back in just a little bit. Pretty soon we need to start moving people downstairs so we can watch the President's speech."

"We'll be back in time, Andrew, I promise," Emily said, pulling him away. Niko moved along with them, although Emily looked at her with a bit of annoyance.

As they started walking through the crowd, Andy said to her, "What's up?"

"Not here, Andrew. Just wait," she said to him, much more curtly than he'd ever heard from her before. "Niko, might I ask you to wait outside of the room for just a little bit?"

"I'm supposed to be by his side all night, Em," Niko told her.

They walked up from the ground floor to the upper floor, Emily walking much more quickly than she normally did, her fingers intertwined in his hand, squeezing it, as she led him to the room that Em and Sarah used as their working studio. "He'll just be on the other side of the door, Niko," Emily pleaded. "It's important."

Niko sighed, then nodded. "Okay, I get it. I'll be right outside, though, okay?"

Emily hugged Niko. "Thank you. We'll be out soon enough." She tugging Andy into the room before closing the door behind them, and suddenly wrapping her arms around him, clinging to him as she started to cry.

"Whoa! Whoa! What's up, Em?" Andy said, smoothing his hand against her back, letting her sob against his chest for a moment.

"Goddamn it, Andrew!" she said, stamping one of her feet against the floor with a loud clack, having put on high heels to make her stand taller, although still not even close to his height. "What is it going to take for me to shake the image of Dahlia Hairtrigger? Everyone expects me to be such a goodie two-shoes, all prim and proper and innocent and doe-eyed and I cannot fucking stand it any longer! It was a goddamn character, just a fucking part that I played! I am an actress! That character is not me! Why is that so hard for people to understand?"

"Hey, it's okay, Em," he said, trying to comfort her, his hand rubbing her shoulder a little bit, her body still heavily slumped against his. "It's just a testament to what a good actress you are that people completely bought into that character. You should take it as a compliment rather than an insult. What happened? What set all this off?"

She sniffed in heavily, wiping tears from her cheeks. "It's silly, I assure you, but I was talking with a couple of Phil's newest partners, and they were fawning a bit about how much they loved how I made it acceptable to be a bookworm, which, I mean, yes, lovely, fine, I am always happy to meet a fan, but then they asked me why I did not pair up with Rupert Talbot once the pandemic set in, how we had seemed so in love in the last Dagger Academy picture." She threw her hands up in the air as she pulled away from him. "I mean, naturally I did! That was the script! That was the bloody part! I was fucking acting! I never would've dated Rupert! Why is that so difficult for people to understand?"

Andy chuckled a little, stepping over to slide his arm back around her waist again. "Because you're just that good, okay? You know what you should tell them, though?"

She smiled up at him, still pushing back the tears. "What's that, love?"

"You should tell them he died in the last movie. That's why you didn't hook up with him."

"But Will Crimson, his character, he was the one who died, Andrew, not Rupert the actor."

"That's just it, hon," Andy laughed. "You can use that to point out that you're not Dahlia, and it was a fucking movie. I think they'll get the idea."

Emily started giggling fiercely at that, smiling up at him, her eyes finally starting to dry up a little bit. "You're a very wise man, you know that?"

"I'm just trying to keep you half as happy as you make me, Em."

"You know what I think Dahlia Hairtrigger would've never done, Andrew?"

"What's that, Em?"

"This," she said, dropping down to her knees, unbuttoning his pants quickly. "We have to hurry, but I cannot help myself. I want to make sure you never look at me and see Dahlia, just me, just Emily." She maneuvered him to press his back against the door to the studio, so that they would feel if anyone was trying to open the door to come in and interrupt them. "And Emily can be a wicked little trollop when she wants to."

"She can talk about herself in the third person too, I see," Andy teased back.

"Shush, Andrew. Let me blow the image of that naive, wide-eyed damsel from your mind, and enshrine who I am, what I am," she said, pulling his cock out, finding it already good and hard, the position of looking down at her on her knees while she looked up at him with those kind blue eyes. "I'm not a girl. I'm a woman. I'm your woman, and you're my man. Dahlia was always nervous and shy and terrified even to kiss a boy. Me, Emily, I'm going to suck my man's cock until you show me what a good little cocksucker I am."

Andy was going to interrupt her, but she wrapped her lips around his dick and pushed her face down onto his shaft, keeping her cool blue eyes looking up at him while she smeared that bright red lipstick all along his dick.

"Jesus, Em," he laughed quietly. "There's almost a hundred people not more than fifty feet away right now. Niko's right outside."

She popped her lips off his cock, grinning up at him with that wicked, mischievous look upon her face. "Oh, Andrew, I know. It turns me quite a bit, and while I wish we had time for me to fuck you properly, we are a bit pressed for time, so I'm just going to get what I want and then we'll have to get back downstairs. As for Niko, well, I'd invite her in, but I don't feel like sharing today." She winked at him, licking the head of his prick with her tongue. "You can struggle if you like. It won't matter. I'll win out in the end."

He was about to say something again but then she shoved her face back down onto his cock until the tip of it was lodged against the back of her throat, holding her place there for a moment while her tongue coated whatever parts she could, her eyes closing for a moment before she pulled back, sliding her head off.

"I love you, Andrew, but quit mucking about and fuck my face already," she giggled. "We're on the clock, love, and we GLUCK!"

Andy interrupted her by grabbing her head with both of his hands pushing her face back down onto his shaft, feeling her moan as both of her hands reached behind him and grabbed onto his asscheeks, mostly just for handles than to try and increase the tempo, as he started to do as she asked, thrusting towards her mouth even while she vibrated her throat in whimpers and groans along his shaft. She also started dragging her fine nails against his flesh, and when she looked up at him again with those kind blue eyes, she nodded, and that was all it took.

His cock was most of the way inside of her mouth when he started to cum, and that taste of his jism quickfired the release of her own orgasm, her eyes rolling back into her skull, that induced release being just as strong as his own, but she refused to take her lips off his shaft, nursing on him, licking off every droplet of his sperm before finally pulling her mouth from his prick, giving a few final flicks of her tongue, as she looked up at him with a playful smile. "You're covered in lipstick, Andrew," she giggled. "But you don't have time for a shower. Still, we must simply get you a change of shirts while I'm reapplying my makeup. I've cried my mascara all over your chest."

He helped her back to her feet as she tugged his pants back up, fastening them even as he leaned his head down and kissed her tenderly, although the intensity of it picked up a great deal once his pants were rebuttoned, her arms wrapping around his neck. "You feeling a little better now? Not the cum thing, but emotionally," he asked her. "You'll get past that role eventually, and if you don't, well, fuck'em, they don't know any better, do that?"

She giggled a little, nodding as she leaned her head against his chest. "Sarah was right. She told me you would know exactly what to say to make it all better," she said, pulling him back from the door. "Come, let's get cleaned up and get back down there."

They stepped out of the studio room, seeing Niko leaning against the wall on the far side of the hallway, a wicked grin on her face, as she brought her hands almost together, miming a silent clapping of applause that made Emily slap her hand over her mouth to quell a ferocious blast of giggles.

The three of them headed down the hallway to the master bedroom, as Emily stepped into the bathroom, the sound of the faucet turning on, as she started to quickly wash her face. Niko stepped close to him. "Everything all good?"

"Just an emotional crack from someone thinking she was her character, but I think we're all good now," Andy said.

"And the state of her makeup?" Niko teased. Emily's make up had truly been something of a mess, between the mascara streaks from the tears and the utterly demented state of her lipstick.

"She cried for a bit, which is why I'm changing shirts," Andy said, tossing his shirt into the hamper. "Nicolette's a wonder at getting makeup out of my clothes anyway."

"And her lipstick?" Niko said, teasing her fingers through the thatch of hair on his chest before he pulled on a new shirt.

"Well, that was from after I made her feel better," he chuckled.

"Lucky girl," Niko said. "I would've helped, you know."

"Oh I know," Emily replied, walking out of the bathroom, turning off the light as she did. "But I wanted him all to myself tonight, even if just for a few moments. You understand."

Niko nodded. "I do, Em, but I'm just saying you can turn to me too, any time you need to."

Emily smiled, stepping over, kissing Niko tenderly for a moment. "Thank you, dear. I know, but it's nice to be reminded now and again." She seemed to be quite adept at applying a small amount of makeup in a quick hurry, having washed her face and done up enough for her to feel comfortable in the amount of time it took Andy to toss his shirt into the hamper, find a new shirt and put it on.

It warmed Andy's heart to see that the girls were strengthening their relationships with each other as much as they were with him, so that they all had each other to turn to in moments of need.

For as quickly as Emily had put on a new layer of makeup, she hadn't put on any lipstick, because when she came back to join him, she kissed him again, a full-bodied lock of lips, full of an endless well of emotion before they finally parted, her soft blue eyes looking up at him in adoration. "I know that you think you are the luckiest person in this household, Andrew, but you would be wrong in that assumption, because all of us are even luckier than that, because we have you. I love you, Andrew. You're the most remarkable man I have ever known."

"Awww. Emily, I love you too. And I think we all need to stop comparing. You're happy, I'm happy, that's all that matters, alright?"

"Certainly," she said, hugging him. "But can you tell me one more time?"

"What, that I love you?" he chuckled. "I love you, Emily Stevens. Satisfied?"

"Mayhap one more for the road?" she giggled.

"I'll tell you as many times as you need me to, Em. I love you. I love the absolute shit out of you. I love everything about you."

"That'll do, love. That'll do. Hurry, we cannot be gone any longer than we already have been."

"What about me?" Niko laughed.

"I love you as well, Niko," Emily said before Andy could get a word out. "And I'm very glad we're going to spend the rest of our lives together. You're one of the most remarkable women I've ever met, and certainly one of the sexiest."

Niko swallowed a bit, blushing bright red. "I, uh, I actually meant Andy..."

Andy almost snorked in laughter before he controlled it enough to grin at her. "Of course I love you too, Niko. And I can keep telling you more if it'll help."

"Just one more, for the road?" she giggled.

"I love the absolute shit out of you as well, Niko."

"Excellent," Emily said. "Everyone loves everyone and we've been gone too long. Let's get back downstairs."

Andy crooked out both of his elbows, with Niko taking his right arm and Emily taking his left. The three of them made their way back downstairs and Andy noticed that Nicolette was starting to corral people downstairs towards the large living room, where the television was already on and set to CBS News, which was vamping before the President's speech started.

Fiona made her way over to them to walk with them down the stairs. "Everything okay?" she asked them, clearly having noticed that Emily's make up had completely changed from before, as had Andy's shirt, although nobody had mentioned it.

"Just needed a bit of emotional support," Emily told her. "But we pushed through it."

Fiona leaned over and kissed Emily's cheek. "Just remember, it's a great big family, and we're all happy to help."

"I know," Emily said. "Thanks Fi."

"Hey," Phil shouted. "C'mon! Looks like she's walking up to the podium!"

Andy drew in a deep breath, as the three of them moved over to a couch that Sarah had kept mostly saved for them, sitting down in the middle of it, as Ash and Sarah crowded in on the ends, the two women on each side of him pressing against him, making sure he felt almost cocooned in friendly female flesh as President Pelosi walked down the hallway stepping up to the podium for her first speech regarding the state of the nation.

"Good evening, America..."