Room Wanted Ch. 01

"Dad's another mega-planner," she said, "he sits in the study surrounded by books and folders and he'll spend whole evenings doing it."

"I have enough to be getting on with," she smiled, "but not too bad."

"Dad leaves his to the last minute," she said then looked at down the corridor, "If you want to escape, I'm sure he wouldn't mind you using the study."

"No, that's fine, thanks for the offer though Darling," she sipped her tea, "I said I'd keep an eye on things down here."

"Cool," said Carolyn looking relieved, "I'll leave you to it then, I've got dissertation stuff that I need to start looking at to be honest."

"No problem," said Naomi, "it's never too early to start and if you want me to proof read anything, just let me know."

Carolyn paused, "That would be good," she grinned, "I can't ask Dad because he has so much else to do."

"Just tell me when Darling."

"Thanks Nomes!" said Carolyn with a genuine smile of gratitude.

Naomi finished one particular work stream and loaded all of the paperwork into her rucksack. Carla appeared rubbing her eyes and finally admitting defeat after her long day.

"Can you put me to bed please No'mee," said Carla.

"Of course I can Darling," she said holding out her hand, "come and show me where everything is."

Carla took her hand and led her to the first floor and the bathroom and with much hesitance admitted that she normally washed her hands and face and cleaned her teeth before putting on her pyjamas. This she did and ran back to her bedroom and pulled on her PJ's and rolled into bed.

Naomi knelt on the floor by the bed, and taking a book from the shelf read a few pages to Carla, watching until her tiny eyes started to droop. She pulled the duvet up to her cheek, and without even thinking pecked a kiss on her cheek, wishing her a 'night-night, God Bless' just as Mum always had with her.

She put on her own T-shirt nightdress and carried out a final inspection of the downstairs. It was evident that Rob had returned and had put Mattie to bed. Despite her own kitchen in her room she still found herself in the main kitchen getting a glass of water.

Rob appeared, and although he looked tired, he looked really pleased to see her. She hoped it was because the nightdress was quite fitting and she was wearing nothing beneath it!

"Thank you so much Nomes," he said with a huge grin, "everyone has said what a great day they've had."

"I had a great day too! Went to the castle, got a few ideas for a lesson and day trip combined for the year eights next year."

"Yeah, so Lizzie tells me; AND," he said with a slightly raised voice, "You're Carla's new knight in shining armour!"

She had a brief moment of panic, she hadn't even figured that Rob might not want his eight year old daughter taken to the scary castle.

"Well..." she said, "It was there and so were we..."

"Carla loved it," he said with a smile, "She's told Carolyn how brilliant you were and how you scared the nasty man away." He looked her up and down, especially her long brown legs exposed by the nightdress.

She felt a bit exposed but smiled through it. "Yeah, Tosser of a performance artist thought he'd try it on, soon put him straight."

"Thanks Nomes," he said, "really, thank you; the kids, they've all..."

"Aww, your welcome Rob," she said and wished him a good night, stopping at the foot of the stairs to see if she had the nerve to go back in and talk to him some more or whether he might come after her. Neither happened, but they had all summer.

After a week or so, she felt that familiar tingle in her loins that let her know she was due on. Oh shit, something else she might have to explain.

Ever since her first period nearly eighteen years ago, she'd had a particular reaction -- tears. On the first or second day she'd have a huge burst of hormones and everything from a baby rabbit to a nice sunset would have her blubbing. God forbid someone put on a weepy film.

She decided that chances are she could go out for the day and at least she had the chance shut the door and lock herself away in the flat.

The second thing was the raging horniness that followed two days after she finished. She'd thrown away her last vibrator as she knew that Mr Bastable had messed around with it. She thought about going into town to buy a new one at the Anne Summers shop. Terrible thing was that she just knew that she would be bound to meet any number of her pupils amongst the throngs of people flooding the town centre and an Anne Summers bag would be bound to raise some discussion among them. Even a quick 'Just saw Miss Williams walk into/out of Anne Summers' would be Facebooked and tweeted within seconds of it happening by any one of the 900+ young adults all on summer holiday.

She growled; that bastard of a landlord; fucking nuisance. Internet? No, it would be delivered here and trying to explain to the gorgeous little Carla why she couldn't open the parcel for her wasn't a discussion she wanted to have either!

Fuck it; or not as the case may be.

She put on a pad a let nature take its course. She managed to get through the day with only feeling a slight twinge towards tears. The family were all out at various places for the day and she left her loft room for the space and light of the kitchen and living room of the main house, conscious that it wouldn't be long now. She fought off the tears, she knew that if she just cried for the sake of it, the hormones would still jump out on her and make her cry and it was just a case of waiting. She knew that there would be plenty of things to set her off in this lovely house.

Matt, she just knew one look at his ever cheerful face would have her brimming with tears; dear little Carla, sweet and probably a couple of years away from puberty herself. Lovely Lizzie, a living embodiment of Joie de vivre if there ever was one; she felt her eyes fill with tears then wiped them. Another five minutes, ten minutes, perhaps an hour and she could run upstairs lay on the bed and get it out of her system for another 28 days.

Many of her friends knew about it and even joked, talking about sad things, or cute things just to make her cry and get it out the way. Her brother Pete had known and when he saw it coming, he'd just hug her until she cried and that was that. Bless him, she should ring him and tell him about this fantastic place she got herself into. That would do it, a tearful chat with her big brother, all done.

She heard the rattle of the front door, conscious of the family noise going on around the rest of the house meant that they were all back and she ran upstairs. Rob was in the kitchen and cooking something delicious into the bargain. Shit, what a night to have to lock herself away from everyone. Whatever he was cooking smelt wonderfully of chicken and she thought it was probably a curry or the like. Her mouth watered, but she lay on her bed like some kind of werewolf not wanting the world to see this tear stained monster she became every month.

She was congratulating herself it when her unlocked door opened and she was greeted with, "Surprise!"

It was Carla; who leapt on her bed with huge grin and what looked like some art work she done at the club she'd gone to, it had a gold sticker on it.

"Look No'mee!" burst out Carla, "It's a castle like the one we went to!" It was a lovely picture and Carla was over the moon. It was too much.

"That's wonderful Darling," was what she wanted to say, but she barely got 'That's...' out of her mouth before she started to cry.

Carla, a bit shocked, looked like she might cry as well and jumped from the bed and tore down the stairs leaving her homework on the bed. Naomi tried to go after her but slumped exhausted onto her bed and wept.

About five minutes later she heard a light tap at the door. "Naomi?" it was Rob, "Is everything OK honey?"

She wiped her face with a tissue and called him to come in.

"Carla said..." he saw her red eyes and walked to where she was, and just put an arm around her, no explanations necessary. It was enough. She blubbed all over again, weeping into the strong wonderful shoulder she'd already so admired.

"Sorry Rob," she said catching her breath, "nothing to worry about, it's..." she sniffed, best thing was just to spit it out, "it's just my time of the month," she panted and tried to smile, "my PMT is this. Anyone else wants to tear off the head of the next nearest person; me, I cry my heart out for an hour."

"You're sure you're OK?"

"Positive," she said, "once a month every month, like it or not. Sometimes more sometimes less but always some tears."

"Carla was really worried, she thought she'd done something terrible."

"Oh no," her tears had subsided but this made her start over again, "please, send her back up, I'll have a chat with her and explain."

"OK," he grinned, looking happier himself, his arm stayed around her shoulder.

"Thank you for your concern though," she said, "the arm around the shoulder is normally the best treatment for it."

"You are most welcome," he said giving her a slight squeeze, "I'll send Carla up with a coffee; dinner tonight is chicken curry, one of my signature dishes - won't you join us?"

"Oh I don't know," she said thinking about the five faces downstairs that would all need some explanation.

"Look," he said, "my ex would go chocoholic psychotic, Carolyn becomes snappy and Lizzie get paranoid. Me and my boys just put up with it; it's nothing new and nothing to be ashamed of, honest. Put a tick on the calendar in your favourite colour if you want -- just so the males know when to shut up, Carolyn and Lizzie both do; Carla's even picked out the colour she wants when it's her turn." He gave her a huge smile.

"Oh; well I..."

"I'm sending up my Carla," he said with a shrug, "argue with her if you can." He squeezed her shoulder once more, kissed her cheek and stood and headed downstairs. She smiled and rubbed her cheek where he'd kissed her.

Five minutes later another red eyed face appeared at her door, "Is everything OK No'mee?" she said, as if still not sure if she'd done anything wrong.

"Of course Darling," she braced up, "it's just my 'time of the month' thing, not your fault at all. You just caught me when I was ready to burst honey, that's all."

She came into the room carrying a thermal mug which she proudly handed across to Naomi.

"That's OK then, I was a bit worried..."

"You don't have to be Darling," she threw in quickly, "so tell me about this great picture!" she brightened her voice.

"The helper said it was just like the castle in town, and I said you'd taken me there last week. She said it was the best she'd had all summer."

"Not surprised," Naomi whispered back, "come here and give me a hug."

Carla leapt onto the bed and squeezed Naomi as hard as she could, and without doubt it was the best medicine. Carla even went so far as to kiss her on lips.

"Daddy says you've got to come down for tea," she added.

"OK Princess, just for you." She gave her cup to Carla, picked her up from the bed and carried her down to the kitchen. Her tiny figure weighed almost nothing, and she thought Carla weighed the same as a five year old not eight pushing nine.

"Sorry for all the upset guys," said Naomi.

"Oh that's nothing," said Lizzie, "if you want PMT you should speak to the incredible hulk over there."

Carolyn stuck out her tongue but couldn't stop herself grinning, "Yeah well, with a drama queen like you in the house, how can I stop myself getting a little angry."

The stuck out tongue was greeted by another one and they both smiled.

"Research suggests that they're all going to coincide after a while," said a male voice in that most female of discussions, it was Paul.

"Oh shit yeah, sorry Rob," she put a hand to her mouth, "pardon my language guys."

"My thoughts exactly," said Rob, "we'll suffer won't we fella's?" He looked at Paul and Matt. Matt shrugged the matter off, while Paul looked a little concerned.

"It doesn't matter though Daddy," said Paul, "there's nothing the girls can do about it, it's only natural hormone imbalance."

If any other fourteen year old had said it, Naomi would have laughed.

"Thank you Paul," she said, "we need our men to be understanding - don't we ladies."

"First time for everything," said Lizzie with a grin.

Perfectly normal, like Paul had said. She looked at the large calendar with the two coloured ticks a day or so apart. "OK if I take green girls?"

His curry was fantastic, and she had seconds, and for the first time she sat in the living room with the whole family all evening, first with a glass of wine then a second, and then finally a hot chocolate before she followed the children upstairs at bedtime. It was one of the first of the many lovely nights she had with them all.

She would never know what made her stand outside the bathroom that particular evening. She was conscious that tonight Carla, Lizzie and Carolyn would be out until later and she knew she might get a few more precious moments with just her and Rob. Despite her period, she'd dressed for the occasion even, wearing skinny jeans and low cut but most of all pretty top.

There was something wonderful between Rob and Matt, a male bonding thing that was sweet yet serious, good natured yet witty and it was fun to hear the banter that went on between Uncle and Nephew, even though they had been much more for many years now. Matt was almost nineteen so she couldn't just intrude but she was still enchanted by them and would listen at the door to the same discussion each night, as she slipped further and further under this strange family's spell.

Matt would describe his day either at college or the day centre or hospital. It was this way that she learned that while Matt struggled with his speech he had lots to say. He was learning to use a machine that would talk for him, and he could programme in certain sentences already.

She had been sitting on her sofa sipping tea, when she heard the familiar whine of the stair lift bringing Matt and his chair up the stairs. She padded down to listen to today's discussion thinking that this time she would offer Rob a cup of tea as Matt sat in the bath, because tonight was a bath rather than shower night. She sat on the bottom step listening to the gentle ribbing that each gave the other waiting for a suitable time to knock the door.

There was a high pitched whine and an almighty splash and a thump and as she stood Rob's shout of 'Matt!' had her opening the door.

Rob was on the floor pinned between bath and toilet pedestal trying to stand, his hand glued to his bleeding forehead. In the bath it was evident that Matt was in trouble and splashing around in the shallow water. Gently pushing Rob aside she knelt over the bath and with a gentle 'Hey Mattie, No'mee's here Darling,' she grabbed him around the shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position bracing one knee against the other side of the bath oblivious to the water. She unclipped the hoist used to lower him into the water.

"Shit," said Rob.

"You OK Rob?" said Naomi her knee sliding down into the water.

"Yeah," he said, "How's Matt,"

"We're fine darling, aren't we?" she said hugging the boy, knowing that right now all he needed was a warm shoulder and a pair of arms.

"No-mee," Matt managed to say.

"I'm so sorry about that," said Rob, "the ratchet that controls the strapping must have completely stripped out. It's so lucky you were here," he made to stand up, "Oh shit, bit blurry still."

"No problem," said Naomi, "glad I was here to help." She realised that Matt was very slight and bracing herself lifted him into her arms, and stepped out of the bath onto the vinyl flooring with water running down her leg and sat Matt on the seat by Rob, and wrapping him in the towel that was already there. She stood, "CAROLYN! LIZZIE! Bathroom, now!" She knew they were out on this night but figured she try anyway. She took the small hand towel and pressed it to Rob's forehead.

"They're not back from picking up Carla from dance class," said Rob, placing a warm wet hand over hers.

"Let me have a look," she said, leaving Matt for a second and pulling the towel away from the cut, "Not too bad," she said, "An A&E job though I think,"

She looked in the bathroom mirror and realised that her blouse was all but translucent from picking a very wet Matt out of the bath, and showed every curve of her quite brief lacy brassiere and her fantastic bosom it contained, not worried for a second that Rob had a great view of her breasts, in fact she figured she didn't mind at all.

"Go and get dried off Naomi, I've got him, it's fine really."

"Don't be daft Rob," she said, "you've got a head wound." Matt had stopped trembling and Naomi figured that her arm around his shoulder and her big smile was doing him as much good as the towel she was rubbing across his chest and arms. "Anyway, I think my mate Mattie should be the judge."

"No... mee... stay," said Matt shaking the tiniest bit with the shock and a touch of cold.

"There, see?" said Naomi with a smile.

"Democracy in action," said Rob, "the people have spoken."

Naomi looked down at her hips noticing that her 'pulling jeans', the really tight low-riders that showed off her curves to the best advantage, seemed to be more tight fitting than before. She turned to make sure her bottom was at its best. For one crazy moment she tried to think of a way she could get her trousers off -- she was wearing white high cut shorts that matched the bra and hid the sanitary pad she was wearing. The towel he had pressed to his forehead was virtually covering his eyes anyway.

She dried Matt and lifted him from the chair and into his wheel chair, still wrapped in towels and kissed his cheek, "you sit quiet for one minute darling boy, I've got to see to Daddy." A thought struck her and she decided to go with it.

"Sorry about this boys," she said, and without preamble peeled off her jeans, "look fantastic but they're wet and have shrunk three sizes, and I still need to breathe." She took a deep breath and undid the button and fly, working hard to make sure her panties didn't come down, well, not to far at least.

One of the things about being an impoverished student was that you rarely put on a lot of weight, and what she had stayed where she wanted it, and kept her a very curvaceous 36-24-36. Some running and some gentle exercise at the school had kept her toned.

She came back to Rob pressing the towel to his head, she looked to her right and saw Paul, eyes wide open.

"Hello Paulie," said Naomi in a very day to day voice, and throwing another towel over Rob's head to cover the bloody one. "You'd think we were all a bit too old for having water fights."

"You've... you've no trousers." He looked confused and slightly worried. Matt grinned.

She bent to pick them up, "Yes I have," she said matter of factly and in her best school teacher voice, "they're here look."

"Oh," said Paul wiping his glasses with his T-shirt, "So they are; when are the girls back?"

"About half an hour honey, getting Carla from dancing; it's Tuesday don't forget," said Naomi.

"Oh yes," said Paul, a look of resolution across his face and his faith in the surety of the goings on in his big strange house partially restored at least, and he headed back to his room.

"That was fucking genius," said Rob, reappearing from under the second towel.

Naomi smiled, then thinking of her strange dress, bowed slightly to check his head wound and happy that he'd get to see straight down her cleavage and breasts. "It's all in the presentation Rob," she said, straightening and giving him a big smile.

Matt looked crossly at Rob, "Dadd, Bad wor'," he said.

"Dad didn't mean it mate," said Naomi turning on her knees and putting an arm around him, happy that her bottom was on perfect display to Rob.