The Middle Child

Gesturing her visitor to have a seat, June began this rather unexpected meeting. "What can I do for you, Ms. Johnson? Quite honestly, I am rather surprised by your visit here this morning."

"Yes, well I'm sure that there are a lot of people who would be surprised by me being here. I actually came in today to talk to Samuel, but I was told that he was not expected to be in. They suggested that you might be able to pass along a message for me."

"Perhaps. That will obviously depend upon the message to be delivered. As you can probably figure out from current events, he is really not that interested in talking to your family. Just so we understand each other, I have heard all the stories about you and your entire family. To be perfectly clear, I'm not really fond of any of you either after how you treated him."

"So, I take it that you two are close, then?" Steph inquired. Might as well get all the info she could on the new players in this game. Maybe if she could win over this woman and show that she really is sorry for her pervious actions, she might be able to convince her brother to help her.

"Yes. We are close, but probably not how you may be thinking. We are not dating. We are simply very good friends. Actually, he is more like a brother to me than anything else."

"Oh. Can you tell me how you met?"

"I could, but I really don't think that is any of your concern right now. Perhaps some other time, but I am rather busy preparing for the take-over by the new company, so what is the message that you have for Samuel?"

This was it. She needed to make the attractive woman before her understand that she was truly regretful of her previous behavior.

"Please tell Sam that I really need to speak with him I know what my past behavior was like, and I truly regret it. Unfortunately, I realized it about two weeks too late. He had already left by then. I know that everyone else is trying to plot a way of fighting his actions, but I am not going to be involved in that. I just want the chance to look him in the eye and tell him how very sorry I am for the way I acted. Yes, it is my hope that he may show some slight amount of mercy for me, but I am not even going to suggest that he exclude me from all the punishment that we have coming. My hope is that he will allow me to have some sort of relationship with him. I want him to know that I will be separating myself from the rest of the family. I want to do that because I realize that they were wrong, and I no longer want anything to do with them. I'm not even going to ask him to trust me. I just want to be able to see and talk with the brother that I stupidly threw away." Steph sobbed out.

June looked over at the crying woman and sighed. She had seen quite a lot of bullshit from people over the years and got quite good at detecting it. She had enough experience from some of her former lovers as well as employees she had to fire to see the difference between crocodile tears and real tears of sorrow and loss. She saw easily enough that Steph was sincere.

"OK. Listen, Sam is out of town for a few days. He won't be back until Monday. I'll give him the message and see if I can get him to schedule some time for you."

"Thank you. I appreciate it."

"Don't worry about it. I'll tell you what. How about we meet for drinks and some dinner this evening. I don't know anyone around here, and I would like to talk to you a little more and find out what exactly you are looking for from this."

To say that Stephanie was astounded at the offer would be an understatement. She found June to be a very attractive woman, and Steph was very attracted to women anyway. Yes, Samuel's little sister is a lesbian, although she had never let the rest of her family know about that. She had gone to parties and events with different guys to keep up the ruse, but whenever she was out of town, she searched out another woman to enjoy. Furthermore, this would give her the opportunity to find out more about this woman and her relationship with her brother. She might also find out more about the blonde and the redhead that helped ambush her and her family -- not that she had any intention of using that info to help the others in their fight. Quite the contrary, she wanted the information so she could use it to help her form a new relationship with Samuel. It would help if she could get some allies on her side.

"So, tell me more about what you are looking for here." June stated a few hours later at the bar she and Stephanie met at.

"I pretty much said it all earlier. All I'm really wanting is a new and better relationship with Sam. I know I screwed up, and I accept that. Believe me, at this point I will gladly accept any mercy he decides to show me, but even if he decides to throw me out into the cold, I still want to show him that I've changed and want to be a better sister to him."

"How do I know that you aren't just saying that to get information to use against him?"

"Honestly, you don't. You have no reason to trust me. Neither does Sam. I am curious about what has happened to him over the last 10-years. I can see that he is important to you, and that you have a significant relationship with him. Being totally honest here, I do want to find out more about you and the two other women. I want that because if I am able to get my brother back, I think that I should know the people who are important to him. If they are important to my brother, they should also be important to me. You said that you are like a sister to him. That means that I need to be like a sister to you as well. After all, if you are his sister, that makes you my sister as well. Maybe you can teach me how to be a better sister to Sam than I have been in the past."

"That's an interesting proposal. It does sound plausible, though."

"So, you are obviously an attractive woman, and you seem to be rather close to Sam. Why are you two not dating?" Steph asked. Something about that didn't make sense to her.

June laughed. "OK. There are actually two reasons for that. I can tell you this because there really is nothing about it that you could use against us anyway. The first reason is that Sam is already in a relationship with someone else. In fact, they are engaged. The second reason is that -- how shall I put this -- let's just say that you would be much more my type than Sam is." June smirked.

That threw Stephanie for a loop. "You mean that you are gay?"

"One hundred percent Rainbow Warrior."

"So, how did you two meet? I would really like to know."

"We met in the Army. He pulled me out of a wrecked vehicle and saved my life. He was also injured, but not as bad. That's how I hurt my leg, by the way. My family was appropriately thankful, and we kind of adopted him after we heard his story."

"Oh. Wow. We never even knew he was in the military. He just left without a word. Yesterday was the first time we had heard from him."

"Yeah. I know. He did that on purpose."

"I understand. We really didn't treat him very well. So, you mentioned that he's engaged?"

"Yep. As soon as he is finished here, they will be getting married."

"Can you tell me who she is? Is it the blonde woman?"

[Laughing] "No. She is actually engaged to my older brother. No, Sam is engaged to my sister. I think it was love at first sight for both of them when Sam woke up in the hospital in Germany."

"I really wish that I would have known he was injured. I would have been there for him."

"Yeah, well Becca really threw herself into nursing him back to health. Believe me, she is a mama bear when it comes to protecting him. Trust me, you do not want her thinking that you want to hurt him in any way. She's a badass lawyer, and I've seen the wreckage she leaves behind when she really wants to destroy her opponent in court. That is, if you actually make it to court. She may just tear you apart with her bare hands. I've seen her do that a few times as well."

"Sounds like I really need to meet her and make sure that I don't get on the wrong side of her."

"You've actually already met her, and, Sweet cheeks, you are already on her bad side."

"It's the redhead."

"Yep. She hates every one of you. It's her that you really need to win over."

Both being hungry, they went to a restaurant next door. The conversation continued as both women learned more about each other. June was very careful about what she said, as she wasn't going to give any information about Sam's plans. Steph did ask about SRJ Enterprise, but June refused to answer any questions about it. The meal was finished, and the two women were finishing the last of their wine.

"OK, June. You said that I need to win over your sister Rebecca in order to have any shot at any sort of relationship with Sam." Stephanie stated. She had been working her way up to this through the last half of her dinner.

"Yep. She's his gatekeeper." June responded.

"Well, I have a foolproof plan for that."

"Do tell." June smiled. "Just how do you intend to turn my barracuda of a sister from seeing you as a demon from the lowest depths of hell to the loving sister you claim to be?"

"Simple. First off, I'm going to win you over, then you will, win your sister over for me."

"Interesting concept." June smirked. "And just how do you propose to win me over."

"Oh, I think that will be fairly straightforward. Quite simply, my plan is to take you back home with me and fuck your brains out all night long. After that, you will call in sick tomorrow so I can fuck you all day as well as over the weekend. I fully believe that when you finally stagger into work Monday morning, you will be more than willing to tell your sister what an awesome woman that I am now, and that you would really like for her to accept your new girlfriend with open arms."

"I see. So, what's to stop me from refusing your advances and make me believe that you are serious about becoming my girlfriend?"

"Two things, actually. First off, you already mentioned that I am your type, and I believe that you really are attracted to me. Second, I just told you my biggest secret. None of my family or friends know that I am a lesbian. No one even suspects it. This will reveal my secret to the world. I've never done that before for anyone. Being willing to expose my true self and come out of the closet should convince you that I'm absolutely serious. If you have any reservations about that after this weekend, just watch my parents and Jimmy disown me when it comes out. I already told you that I will be rejecting them. This will just force the issue and prove my intentions."

"Holy Shit, Sis! What happened to you? You look like shit!" Rebecca cried to her little sister when June finally managed to stagger into the office Monday morning.

"Severe lack of sleep caused by three full days of constant copulation. If you think I look bad, you should see my new girlfriend." June replied.

"Wow. OK, so who is this new girlfriend, and how did this happen so fast?" Rebecca asked.

"Tell you what; let me get some caffeine in me, then I'll need to meet with you and Sam for a bit. I have some news for both of you. How about 20-minutes in Sam's office?"

"Sure. Go get some coffee. You look like you need it."

"So, June, what's this I hear about a new girlfriend?" Sam inquired as a bedraggled June came into his office.

"Well, I had a surprise visitor Thursday while the two of you were out of town. That turned into an even more surprising dinner, then full weekend. It now seems as though I have acquired an even more shocking girlfriend."

"OK, so who is it?" Becca anxiously inquired.

June let the suspense build for a minute as she looked back and forth between her sister and future brother-in-law. "Her name is Stephanie Johnson."

She watched the two faces in front of her as they went from happy and smiling to full on shock. It took a couple of minutes before either of them were able to form words.

"MY BITCH OF A SISTER???"

"Well, sort of, but I did find out some interesting information about her and the rest of your family, though. Before you get too wound up, I did some investigating between the time she left my office and when I met her later that evening. It seems as though she came to her senses just after you left. She is actually very sorry for how she treated you before."

"Surely, you aren't just taking her word for this, even if she did have sex with you all weekend."

"Of course not. And, my name is June, not Shirley." June giggled as Sam and Rebecca rolled their eyes as the lame joke. "Seriously, I did some checking on that. Several long-time employees have commented on how she acted for quite a while right after you left. She seemed very sad and despondent for several months and mentioned that she really missed you."

"Could that have just been people loyal to her that were feeding you a bunch of bullshit to help her out?"

"I doubt it. Remember Kate? Even she told me about it."

Sam did remember the long-time Accounts Receivable secretary. He knew that she and Steph really hated each other. If Kate had said that, it was probably true.

"OK, but I'm pretty sure that Steph isn't gay."

"Actually, she is. She's 100% lesbian. Trust me, she was VERY well versed in the intricacies of sapphic love. That's one of the things that helped convince me. She is coming out of the closet for the chance to talk to you and try to build a better relationship. She's completely abandoning the rest of the family."

"Sounds kind of mercenary to me. I'm thinking that she sees what's coming and is trying to look out for herself."

"I have no doubt that is part of it, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing either. I suggest that I hire her as my PA, so we can keep an eye on her. This will also help figure out how sincere she is. Worst case, we can always use her to get info on everyone else." June offered.

"Why the hell not?" Sam agreed. "We will obviously have tracking software on her computers, tablets, and phone to see if she tries to backstab us. Go ahead and set up a meeting with the three of us for this afternoon. We'll have your brother set up the software and offer her the job after the meeting if everything goes well."

"Just make sure that you are thinking with that highly intellectual brain of yours and not your pussy, you little slut." Rebecca teased her sister as they ended the meeting.

Sam sat behind his desk in shock as he listened to his sister talk later that afternoon. He was surprised at the vitriol she spouted when talking about their parents, brother, and especially Camile. She described her having to play nice for the last 10-years as she had no other options and needed to keep on the good side of the family. She also provided a wealth of information about the family's operation of the company, accounts, and plans to try to take back control. When asked about her seemingly sudden change in sexual preference, she was very candid about her past. She confirmed that she was now coming out of the closet fully, and proudly declared that she had no doubt that doing so would ruin any relationship with their very bigoted family.

"I've been miserable for the last 10-years. I'm so sorry that I didn't figure things out until after you left, but it was too late by then. Even if you reject me now, I'm just happy that I have the chance to finally apologize to you for my past behavior." Steph concluded.

"OK. I accept your apology. It seems really sincere, and I am even willing to try and see if we can have some sort of relationship. Unfortunately, there is the matter of trust. With all of your past behavior towards me and your relationship with the rest of the family, I simply do not trust you. You have every reason to be scamming us, since I pretty much took everything away from you. However, it seems as though my future sister-in-law thinks that you deserve a chance. Keep in mind that we will be watching you very closely, and any slip-up on your part will be met with dire consequences. Don't fuck this up."

"Oh, and what is SRJ Enterprise?" Steph asked. "I've never heard of it before."

"SRJ stands for Samuel, Rebecca, and June. We own the company, so it really didn't matter what we offered for our own stocks, we would actually just be paying ourselves with our own money anyway."

"Hmmph. Should have guessed that."

Six Months Later:

Stephanie never moved out of her house. Instead, June moved in and let her girlfriend live with her. Sam and Becca continued to be surprised at how well the relationship was building. It seemed that Stephanie really was attracted to June, and she did actually work at growing their relationship. Stephanie accepted the position of June's PA, and seemed to enjoy working beneath her (in every way, although Steph was on top occasionally after working hours). Sam did open up to her, and Steph and Sam are developing a better sibling relationship with each other. It helps that Steph and Sam are dating sisters and meet socially with their respective partners often as well. Yes, she was disowned by her parents and oldest brother when she joyfully told them that she was a lesbian and living with her girlfriend. She actually enjoyed hearing the scream from her mother when she informed them exactly who her girlfriend is.

Jimmy and Camile could only watch as their former house was taken over by Dave and his fiancé. Feeling slightly sorry for Jimmy and Camile's children, they were innocent victims, Sam relented on some of the revenge he had planned for his brother and ex-wife. Instead of perpetual unemployment and driving them into the poorhouse, Sam offered them jobs. Of course, it took a few months and being on the verge of eviction from the cheap apartment they were renting before the two of them finally sucked up their pride and accepted. Of course, the jobs they were offered were not what they were hoping for. Sam, being quite popular on the social scene had quietly made it known that he would do no business with anyone who hired any of his former family.

As for Jacob and Evelyn, they tried to bring a lawsuit against Sam to force him out and return the company to them. Truthfully, it was a pretty weak case, but they managed to find a struggling law firm desperate for cases to take up the challenge. That lasted for approximately 30-seconds into the first hearing. The two lawyers for Jacob and Evelyn watched the striking redhead stride into the courtroom to the defendant's table, looked at each other, then packed up their briefcases and inform their clients that they were withdrawing from the case as they practically sprinted out of the room. Later, when Jacob and his wife stormed into the law office to demand what the fuck happened, the two lawyers informed them of the disaster that was happening.

"Don't you know who their lawyer is?" One of the partners asked.

"Of course, we do." Demanded Jacob. "That's the bitch who represents the corporation that bought us out. She is also, apparently, our disinherited son's fiancé."

"So, you really don't know." The second partner stated as he shook his head. "That's Rebecca Caulfield. To be completely honest with you, your case is really weak. You only had a minor chance of winning anyway. We were actually hoping that they would decide fighting in court would cost too much and offer a settlement. Worst case, their lawyers would just work the merits of the case and probably get it dismissed. Rebecca is different. Especially since you just mentioned that she is engaged to your son that you clearly seem to detest. That makes this personal for her. She won't be satisfied to just win the case. She will chew you up, spit you out, then completely humiliate and destroy you. After that, she will turn her attention to whomever is representing you. We may be desperate for work, but we aren't desperate enough to get completely destroyed taking on an unwinnable case against the most ruthless barracuda on the planet."