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Quaranteam-Northwest: Part 22

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Quaranteam-Northwest: Part 22
The fallout commences..

Based

on a post by Break The Bar. Listen to the
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at Explicit Novels.



Otherwise, Leo tried to help

ease the tension by talking, telling stories to the two women about when he and
Harri had lived in Portland, how much of a disaster the two of them had been as
'city boys' and how much things had fallen into place when they'd moved out to
the country. Dani helped out, talking about the differences between city living
in California and Australia, and living outside of a city when she was growing
up back home. Much of the time, even though they didn't want to admit it, their
eyes were roving the tree line at the end of the parking lot towards the
driveway and the unseen highway beyond the trees.

All three of them almost

jumped out of their skin when Erica's phone went off. She'd texted Vanessa for
a bit at the start, keeping her updated, but had set the phone down
purposefully after a few minutes like she didn't want to be nervously checking
it. Erica quickly picked it up and thumbed it open, reading quickly.

"They're safe,"

Erica sighed, letting out some of the tension she'd been holding. "But
there was an attack on the Rez. Women and children were taken by someone; Kyla
says Harri thinks it has to be the same militia people who raided the site. She
also says Kara and the two women with her are missing and it doesn't look
good."

"Shit," Leo

grunted. He closed his eyes and let himself hurt for Harri for a moment. The
guy would take that straight to heart. All of it, not just the people he knew
but every woman and kid.

"What are they doing

now?" Dani asked.

"Looks like they've got

the National Guard there now or something, they're searching the Rez for anyone
else who needs help," Erica said. "After that, Kyla says Harri has
some ideas of where to look for information."

All three of them were quiet

for a bit, not sure what to say. There wasn't much to say, and
Leo didn't like feeling that way. There were lots of things he loved about his
best friend, and a few things that bugged the shit out of him, but one of the
things Harri was really good at was having a purpose. He always found something
that he was working towards, something that he was doing. Even if that thing
was having a relaxing day, it was like Harri had to put effort into doing that
to make sure it happened the way he wanted. Sometimes that was a great thing,
and sometimes it was frustrating. At the moment, though, it was worrying. 

Leo couldn't do what Harri

was doing. Well, he could try, but their skills and experiences and lives were
different. Leo knew he was good at a few specific things, but what did cabinet
making, or being pretty good in the kitchen, or being weirdly good at
remembering song lyrics and book quotes do when the shit was hitting the fan?

Here I am, on watch,

protecting the family, he thought to
himself. And it still feels like I'm just floating. I need to find my
purpose.

Leo could feel eyes on him

and turned to see Erica looking at him. Their eyes met and the siblings just
looked at each other for a long moment before both sighing at the same time.
Maybe there were more important things going on than Leo's self-realizations.

The quiet was disrupted,

however, not by either of the siblings or Dani striking up a new conversation,
but by Aria coming back up the ladder. "Movie's started," she said.
"Ivy is being a little firecracker, getting everyone together. I think she
practically forced Abi to sit right in the middle of the group so that she
couldn't sneak out once the lights were off."

Erica snorted softly and

smiled. "Harri gave her a job, and she'll go at it like a pit bull. Just
FYI; Harri and Kyla are Okay, but still working."

Aria nodded and sighed.

"Now tell us what's

wrong," Dani said, looking the other woman up and down.

"Actually, I was kind of

hoping I could have a couple minutes with Leo?" Aria asked.

"Yes," Erica said

and turned to Dani. "That actually gives me the chance to grab you, babe,
and have a conversation."

"Erica,” Leo said.

"Oh, shush," Erica

said. "Who said it was about you?"

"You did," Leo

said. "Earlier."

Erica rolled her eyes at her

brother and waved him off as she stood up, then she pulled Dani to her feet and
they grabbed their chairs and started walking over to the far side of the roof.
Dani shot Leo a questioning look and all he could do was shrug.

"Sit," he said,

gesturing to the empty lawn chair and sitting up himself. "Dani was right,
something's obviously going on. What's up?"

Aria sighed, sitting down on

the lawn chair and slouching. "Is that other conversation going to bug
you?" she asked.

"Everything my sister

does bugs me," Leo smirked. "So no more than normal."

Aria smiled a little and

shook her head. "You're a good man, Leo."

"Thanks?" he

responded. "Why does that sound like the start of a breakup speech?"

"It's not," Aria

said. "Seriously, you are. Look... I know things are weird between us.
Dani and you, India and me, you and me... we all know it's not exactly going as
smoothly as Harri and Erica and them, right? It's the big open secret."

"It's not a secret when

you say it out loud," Leo said.

"Well, I'm saying it

because I don't want it to be," Aria said. "I want it to get fixed.
Look, I'm; I'm not in love with you. But I'm in like with you. Big, heavy,
sweaty, lusty Like. I think you're a very sweet man who cares about me, and
India, and you're good in bed, and I think that once we're not all living out
of borrowed rooms or RVs you'll be the kind of man I would want to live with.
So what's wrong is India and I are arguing about that, and she's being kind of
a bitch about it."

"Fuck," I sighed.

"I'm sorry. Is this about this morning?"

"Partially," Aria

said and then sighed. "It's more about her than you. Look, she's got stuff
that I don't have the right to tell you. But you already know that we both
'worked' as sugar babies before the whole vaccine testing thing. Well, while
I'm... I don't want to say 'nesting' with you or anything 'cause we're
definitely not there, but while I'm settling in and getting
comfortable she thinks we should be using Sugar Daddy Rules for you."

"Okay," Leo said.

"I get not wanting to tell me her past stuff, but you're gonna need to
spell that one out for me."

"Fair," Aria said.

"What I mean is... When we were working as Sugar Babies, we could have sex
with the guys. Alone or together. That wasn't against the rules in our own
thing between us. But there was a business to it. We weren't dating them, or
living with them. Sex was a reward for the guys, even if we enjoyed it as well.
And when I say sex, I mean like... everything above flirty texts. We didn't
give away anything for free. And India thinks we should treat you like that
because, in her mind, you're just another guy getting your rocks off with us,
and the promise of the big house and surviving the pandemic in safety doesn't
seem to compute as enough in her mind. But I'm not thinking that way at all.
I want to fuck you. I want to have fun with you. So she's
acting like a bit of a bitch to try and get her way."

Leo sighed and groaned

slightly. "For the record," he said. "I like spending time with
you too. Sex and not-sex. And I really like the sex. And I like India too, I
just wish she'd..."

"Take the stick out of

her ass and mellow out?" Aria suggested.

"Towards me," Leo

said, a little chagrined. "She's pretty mellow with everyone else except
Harri."

"Well, that one I can

tell you about," Aria said. "It's purely because he's a cop now. She
was raised by hippy anarchist parents, so the only good cop in her eyes is a
fired cop. The fact that you're his best friend, and the whole housing
situation is thanks to him, makes her feel awkward as hell. Especially when she
overhears him talking about helping people, or people doing really shitty
things, because it challenges her perspective."

"So what are we doing

then?" Leo asked. "Do you want to back off on stuff? Because however
much I like spending time with you, I don't want to press your relationship
with her."

"The opposite,

actually," Aria said, sitting up now and leaning forward. She was wearing
a sweater and shorts, and she leaned forward and planted her elbows on her
knees. "I want to be more open with you. I want to have fun with you when
we feel like it, and when we want to be close to each other. And despite what
she's saying, India wants that too. She likes you, Leo, but she doesn't respect
you yet. She likes sex with you, she likes being around you, but her past is
getting in her own way."

"I'll make more of an

effort with her," Leo said. "Meet her where she's at."

"That's where to start,

but..." Aria hesitated. "Honestly? She's acting like a brat and I
think you need to treat her like one. We're not BDSM people, obviously, but
that's sort of how we handled things with Sugar Daddies. She was the bratty,
demanding one and I was the casual, sometimes motherly one smoothing things
over. I think you need to fuck her, and just her, and make it a big one. Fuck
her like you want to erase every other guy from her memory. Make her focus on
you, and see you. Don't let her bitch or bully, make her be her
and not the act she puts on."

Leo let out a long breath.

"That sounds great in theory, but in reality she might just flat
refuse."

"Maybe," Aria said.

"But I don't think she will. If you pull her aside and whisper in her ear
that you can't wait a minute more for her, you'll hook her."

"That easy, huh?"

Aria smiled softly. "It

would work on me or Dani. It'll work on her."

With a grunt, Leo stood up

and stretched, then leaned down and kissed Aria on the cheek before pressing
his lips to her ear. "I can't wait a minute more, Aria," he said
quietly. "I'm stressed out and you make me feel like the world can melt
away."

Aria pulled back, looking

into his eyes for a long moment, before kissing him hard. Then she pulled back
again and looked in the direction that Erica and Dani had gone. They were
pretty much invisible in the dark of night, the lights on the exterior of the
building illuminating the grounds and the parking lot but making the roof even
darker. "Hey, ladies?" Aria called. "Stay over there for a bit
more unless you want to get a show. We're fuckin'."

"Go for it!" Dani

called at the same time Erica said, "Gross!" And they both laughed.

Aria pulled her sweater off,

revealing she wasn't wearing a bra under the hoodie as her tits were freed. Her
pale skin with peachy pink nipples were a contrast even in the little light
they had. Leo was drawn to them and Aria was quickly groaning happily as he got
his lips over one, tonguing the nipple hard as he sucked.

The problem, it turned out,

with fucking on the roof was that there was gravel everywhere. As soon as they
both stood up to disrobe the challenge presented itself. Even the lawn chairs,
sturdy as they were for one person, felt like a not-great option for two. In
the end, Leo sat super low in the sturdier of the two chairs with his ass
pretty much hanging off the front and his feet braced firmly. This let Aria
straddle him facing away and sit down on his cock as she moaned happily and
started bouncing.

"God, yes," Leo

groaned, giving her meaty butt a swat.

"Do that again,"

Aria panted.

Leo gave her another spank,

this time on the other cheek, and she leaned forward to get a different angle
as she bounced faster on him.

"Fuck, I wish I could

see more of you," Leo grunted.

"Feel me then,"

Aria said. "Get your hands all over me."

He did just that, grabbing

her ass and then exploring her in the near-dark, feeling every curve from her
thighs to her waist. He teased every nook and cranny of her ass, even sliding
his fingers across her stretched cunt where he was entering her, and up to
tease around her butthole. It was a very, very poorly kept secret that Harri
was getting anal on the regular from Ivy, but Leo hadn't done that with any of
the three women he was with and he was more than curious. He filed some new
information away for later when Aria groaned pleasurably when he teased a
finger into her ass, feeling it squeeze on his digit, but that also made her
slow her riding of him.

"Gawd, Leo," Aria

groaned, pushing her ass fully down and grinding on him. "Fuck, I'm going
to come."

"Fuck, I want to get to

your clit but I can't reach," he laughed, not able to sit up for fear of
the whole chair tipping forward.

"Hold on, just play with

my tits instead," Aria said, leaning back carefully until her back was
pressed to his chest. Leo did as requested and got ahold of her tits, mauling
them a little roughly as she used her hips to continue stroking his cock inside
of her though the odd positioning wasn't allowing for a lot of depth. Neither
of them particularly cared though, because the stimulation was bringing them
closer and closer.

Leo had learned a lot about

what Aria liked from the fact that usually their sex was a threesome with
India, who knew her really well. That was why, as she let out a little girly
whine and exhaled heavily, Leo knew to grab her nipples firmly.

Aria moaned, full-throated,

as she came, shuddering like she always did. Leo couldn't watch her really
because of the dark, but what he could do was feel her body pressed against
his. He could feel her cunt clenching the ridge of his cock head. He could feel
her fingers clawed and holding his thighs tightly.

Leo came, thrusting up at

her, just as she was coming down. It wasn't fair, really, doing that to her. As
soon as his cum rocketed up and out like a hot geyser it pushed Aria right back
into another, even bigger orgasm and her moan was even louder.

Her second orgasm lasted

longer than his did, and he held her through her shaking and quaking until she
let out a big breath and relaxed.

"Fuck," she said.

"That was good."

"Damn straight,"

Leo grunted.

"Is it weird that I want

this for India?" she whispered

Leo was interrupted by

clapping and a wolf whistle from over in the direction of Erica and Dani, which
made both him and Aria laugh softly.

"It's not weird,"

Leo said. "Or at least, I don't think so. I want this feeling for her, and
you, and Dani. And me. This is; Maybe it's not love. But it's something
special."

"Thanks for saying that

spooging in me is special," Aria said, the smirk audible on her lips.

"If you start calling it

that, you're starting a war you can't win," Leo said. "Cause I really
liked dropping my swimmers off in your pool."

"Oh, gross," Aria

laughed. "Alright, no calling it spooge." She grunted and leaned
forward, then stood up and turned, taking Leo's hand and pulling him to his
feet as well until they were standing in just their shoes and hugging each
other. "Thanks for being my government-regulated cum dispenser, Leo,"
she said.

"That is not better,"

Leo laughed, hugging her back.

"Yeah, probably,"

Aria said. "But if we use that phrasing then I can be your
government-mandated cum bank, and you can make deposits at all hours."

"Are you trying to

get me hard again?" Leo asked.

"Only because Dani

deserves a turn," Aria said, then kissed Leo on the cheek. "Thanks,
babe. For being you, and hearing me out."

"Thanks for telling me.

I feel like I should have asked sooner what I could do."

"Honestly, that might

have made it weird," Aria said. "You waiting was the right
call."

"Well, it's not going to

happen tonight, but in the next few days I'm going to do what you
suggested," Leo said. "Let me process what you said, get my mind
around it, and I promise I'll make the attempt."

Aria rested her head on his

chest and they stood, naked in the dark, holding each other until the feeling
of Aria's tits pressed against him started Leo's cock rising again. Then,
chuckling, they got dressed. "Alright," Aria called. "It's safe
again."

Leo was just sitting down

when Erica and Dani came trudging out of the darkness and set their chairs down
next to him.

"That sounded like

fun," Dani said.

"You're lucky I didn't

throw things at you, or tell an embarrassing story," Erica smirked.

"It was, and thanks for

not," Leo sighed. "The talk was about India. The sex was about
us."

"Want to know what our

talk was about?" Erica asked.

"Not while you're still

here," Leo laughed. "I'll talk with my partner without the
immediate influence of my sister, thank you very much."

"Fine, fine," Erica

chuckled.

It was past midnight when

Kyla texted again. They were safe, but Harri had only been able to drum up one
potential lead. Erica had wanted them to come back to the Falls, but Kyla had
insisted that they were heading back to the site and RVs; she and Vanessa would
'take care' of making sure Harri's immunities were up.

"Didn't need to think

about that," Leo sighed.

"Oh, come on,"

Erica snorted. "Kyla is hot as hell and Vanessa isn't far behind."

"You are evil," Leo

said. "Evil, I say."

After some discussion, it was

decided that the evening watch could be cancelled. There never really had been
any real risk, they'd been up on the roof more for Harri's benefit than for
safety. Still, as they packed up they left the lawn chairs at the bottom of the
ladder in the storage room just in case, and the firearms got split between
Erica and Leo to store in their rooms for the night at least.

Most of the compound was

quiet, the ladies having headed to bed, but Ivy met Erica and Leo overheard
them whispering. He smiled to himself, listening to Erica tell Ivy how she'd
done a good job, and Ivy telling Erica she was proud of her for not worrying.

"Leo," Dani

whispered, catching his attention back.

"What's up?" he

asked, coming to her in the doorway of their room. The door was still shut and
she was leaning back against it. When he got close, Dani grabbed him by the
front of his shirt and gently pulled him closer as she smiled until their lips
were pressed together. The kiss was long and slow and only ended when she moved
her lips to his ear.

"I've been wet since I

watched you and Aria this morning," she whispered. "And then I had to
listen to you fuck her."

Leo groaned softly. "You

could hear that much?"

She laughed in her chest

without making a noise. "We heard enough," she whispered. "No
one should be downstairs. Come fuck me on one of the cafeteria tables."

He groaned again, a little

louder. "I guess we can sleep some other time."

Dani looked at Leo across

their breakfast table and grinned, her eyes dropping to the table and then back
up to him.

"I know," he said

cryptically and rolled his eyes.

"Know what?" Rachel

asked as she came and sat down next to Leo, while Spencer sat down next to
Dani. Rachel was wearing a unitard with jean shorts over top, the thin layer of
the almost swimsuit-tight top hugging her body and showing the dull bumps of
her nipples underneath. Spencer was dressed almost the opposite, wearing one of
her usual bulky sweaters and pajama lounging pants.

"Nothing," Leo said

quickly, definitely not wanting it to spread around that he and Dani had made
use of that particular table last night without getting caught. The last thing
they needed was for Abi or Sara to get pissed that they were taking advantage
of their kindness to house them, especially after the raised panic level
surrounding last night's events.

"Have you guys heard

anything from Harri and Kyla?" Spencer asked. "Ivy keeps saying that
they'll be fine, but you should have heard something, right?"

"Harri and Kyla texted

last night," Leo said. "They were safe, and crashed back at the
construction site because they had to make sure their vaccines were dealing
with any outbreaks."

"What about the ladies

from the Rez?" Rachel asked.

Leo glanced at Dani, not sure

how much he should reveal; on the one hand, the truth wasn't some big secret,
but on the other it could scare them more than needed. Dani shrugged softly and
turned to the ladies. "There was an attack, sort of like what happened at
the construction site and why we're here, but worse," Dani said.
"Kyla said people are missing."

"That's awful,"

Spencer said, getting a pained look on her face.

"Is Harri doing his cop

thing, then?" Rachel asked.

"I can't see him not doing

that," Leo said. "I haven't heard anything from them this morning
though."

"Well, I'm glad we've

got you here for us," Rachel said, putting a hand on Leo's shoulder and
rubbing it for a moment before going back to her food. "Honestly, it's
good to have a guy around in general. Too much estrogen packed into one place
is not something I'm used to. I grew up with five brothers.
I'm not used to this many feelings being expressed in ways other than shouting;
happy, sad, angry, whatever."

"How are they?" Leo

asked. "Your family?"

"Umm, fine so far. The

ones that are worth keeping up with, anyways," Rachel said. "My Mom
and youngest brother are socked away down in Dallas and keeping safe. My Dad
and oldest brother were in prison, have been for years; they got it in their
heads to try and rob a bank to fix their fraud issues. Turns out they were both
gambling addicts, ruined my Mom's life and everyone's credit in my family by
opening up fake credit cards. I could give a fuck if they're alive or not. My
second-oldest brother got into gangs and tried to recruit my second-youngest,
so I beat the fuck out of him myself. He ended up getting killed when he was
doing a drive-by and the people shot back, so serves him right. My
second-youngest brother is the brainiac of the family. He graduated from
college in April, full ride all the way but no ceremony or anything, and he got
an immediate job offer from the CDC. Surprise-surprise, they need a hell of a
lot of bodies right now for all the research and contamination control and shit
they're doing. He's got a biochem degree so I guess that helps. He can't say
what he's working on or where, but he shoots me a text every few days letting
me know he's safe."

"Jesus," Dani said.

"And I thought my family had issues. Sorry about your older brothers and
father."

"It's in the past,"

Rachel said, waving her off and shaking her head.

The conversation was

interrupted when Erica came over. "Hey," she said, joining the table
as she slid in next to Spencer on the bench and gave the blonde a wink before
leaning forward to look at Leo and Dani. "Harri texted good morning, but
Kyla and Vanessa gave me more details. They have a big lead on a lead, and
Harri and Kyla are making a deal with some bikers. If it works out, they'll
probably be doing something about it today. I'm thinking we should try to meet
them back at the site instead of getting them to come here."

"Absolutely," Leo

said. "We can pile into your car, be there in fifteen minutes. Whenever it
makes sense."

"Okay," Erica said.

"I'll make sure Ivy and I are ready."

"Do you think I can

come?" Spencer asked, a little embarrassed. "I; Harri and I were
supposed to chat last night but he had to rush out."

"Maybe," Erica said,

putting a hand on her back and rubbing softly. "I'm sure he'd appreciate
it, sweetie, but there's only so much space in the car and if we take a second
then we're probably overwhelming him and Kyla before something big and possibly
dangerous. And, honestly, I think Josie is kind of feeling wrung out still
emotionally and the only thing that helped was Harri, and she feels like she
didn't even get to thank him."

"Okay," Spencer

nodded, looking just a little disappointed. "That makes sense."

"If she doesn't want to

go, you can have the spot in the car," Erica assured her.

"Thanks, Erica,"

Spencer said.

"No problem," Leo's

sister replied, wrapping an arm around the younger woman and hugging her around
the shoulder. Then she glanced at Leo. "I'll let you know when? I was
supposed to be doing a tattoo design for Melina but I'm going to push that
back."

Leo nodded, and Erica slipped

back out from the bench seating and headed to grab some food from the light
spread Sara had prepared for breakfast.

"You sister kinda scares

me," Rachel said.

"What?" Leo asked.

"Why? She wasn't even being intense."

"I dunno, she's just

like... a big female personality. She's like Abi, but I don't understand her as
well," Rachel said. "Everything about her is just like, 'I am Woman, hear
me roar.'"

"I get that," Dani

laughed. "I love her, but she does definitely come off
that way."

"I think she's kind of

awesome," Spencer said. "Scary, but awesome."

Leo snorted, smirking and

shaking his head. "If you only knew the stories I do about her being a
massive dork."

All three of the ladies

immediately wanted to know those stories, but Leo held up his hands. "I
will tell the stories," he said. "When it's appropriate. Meaning when
I can watch my sister squirm as I embarrass her like a good brother
should."

"Sounds like the same

rules apply in your family as mine," Rachel laughed.

"Family meeting,"

was all Leo had needed to say, and Aria and India had agreed and brought their
breakfasts with them outside. They'd gotten up later, having lounged in bed
longer than Leo and Dani.

Leo led the way, circling

around the side of the Valkyrie Falls building to where a few picnic tables
were set up. They would have privacy for their conversation since it was out of
hearing range of the outdoor gym. It was cooler than the past couple of days
and overcast, the sound of the wind in the leaves making a constant rustle. As
they approached the table Dani slid onto the bench first but Leo turned and
embraced Aria with one hand on her back and kissed her on the cheek. "Good
morning," he said.

"Morning, babe,"

Aria said with a little smile, giving him a peck on the lips.

Leo then made sure to make

eye contact with India, stepping to her as well. She wasn't a short woman, but
she was the shortest of the three he was partnered with. Where Aria was dressed
casually in a loose t-shirt and yoga pants hugging her curvy hips and thighs,
India looked ready for a day at the beach already. She was wearing a pretty
yellow string bikini top with orange accents, the cups giving her fantastic
tits full coverage, and she was wearing jean shorts over the bikini bottoms,
the yellow-and-orange ties in messy bows high on each hip. Her brown hair was
loose, intermixed with braids and a bunch of fake dreads; he'd watched Aria
help her take them out before so she could do a proper hair washing and then
put them back in, and it was a process, but it was also her look. Beads, a
feather, and a couple of metallic rings were woven into the dreads and braids,
and she was wearing big mandala earrings.

"Good morning,

India," Leo said, keeping eye contact. She had beautiful grey eyes and
playful features, but he could see the calculations going on behind her
expression. He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek, just touching her
hip lightly as he did it before backing off.

"Good morning,

babe," she said. It didn't sound cautious, but now that he knew what Aria
had told him he could see the guardedness of it. She went to sit, and Leo sat
across from her and Aria, next to Dani.

They took turns giving Aria

and India the latest update on things, which didn't take very long.

"If Josie wants to go, I

guess there's no room for me," Aria said. "I would go
if there was room." Leo noted that she dropped a hand beneath the edge of
the table and touched India's leg, reassuring her wordlessly.

"I'm sure Harri would

appreciate it," Leo said.

"He'll understand

though," Dani nodded.

"There's something else

I want to talk to you gals about," Leo said. This took Dani a little by
surprise, and she pivoted to look more at him. Leo pressed his lips together
for a moment as he let out a breath. "So; I've been feeling a sort of...
not a depression or anything, but a malaise. Like I'm being way too lazy, and
vacation has lasted too long. And I think that's been affecting me in some
not-great ways. The first thing I want to do is apologize to all three of you;
you each got matched with a me that hadn't been forced into losing his paycheck
when I filled out the Oracle survey, and a me that was just doing more
than we have been since you each got here. Dani, you got more of that me,
but Aria and India... well, you especially deserve to know I can see where I
might not have been meeting the initial matching compared to where I've been
at."

"Thank you," Aria

said. "And we understand. Things are wild right now." She looked at
India, who was chewing on the inside of her cheeks as she poked her oatmeal
with her spoon.

"Okay," India said,

acknowledging. "I mean, things haven't exactly been bad, so I
don't know why you feel the need to apologize. We live in a tricked out RV,
sure, so that's kind of weird but it's only temporary."

"It's not about where we

live," Leo sighed as Dani started rubbing his knee under the table.
"It's about being the sort of man that you three deserve to have around,
whatever that means to us. We've been living off of Harri's coat tails and
that's not Okay. So, I just want to make a couple of promises; I'm going to
find my purpose in all these changes that are happening. Maybe that means I
sign on with the construction crews and go back to doing cabinet making, or I
pick up framing or something. But I'm also going to find my purpose with us,
or be more purposeful to make sure I'm pulling my weight to be a good partner
to you all."

"Thank you, Leo,"

Aria said, nodding sincerely as she looked at him. "That's really; I
believe you." India didn't say anything, just nodding as she looked a
little curious and a little skeptical. That was just a challenge that Leo would
need to overcome.

Maybe Aria was right about

how to deal with it, Leo thought. But
that was something for another day.

"Thank you, babe,"

Dani said, turning on the bench next to him and lifting a leg over to sit on it
sideways so that she could hug him with both arms. Leo got an arm around her as
well.

"You ladies deserve my

best efforts, not just me letting it ride," he said.

Dani sat back up. "And

speaking of effort... I think we need to talk about one other thing. All of
us."

"What's that?" Leo

asked.

Dani took a breath and

glanced at the other two ladies. "If Harri is going on a rescue mission to
save a bunch of women and children, I want to go with him. And maybe you should
too. We're both decent shots, and he's going to need more backup than just
Kyla. I keep thinking of a bunch of scared kids and I can't not do
something."

Leo nodded. "I was going

to wait for us to know more, but... I agree," he said. Then he swallowed
the little claw of panic in his throat. "Harri has been running into the
fire for weeks helping people. We need to step up, and maybe that's part of me
finding myself. But,” He cut off, letting out a long breath and looking at Aria
and India again. "It's dangerous for all of us, not just me or Dani. If I
were to get badly hurt, or killed... we know that there's supposedly something they
can do with my body to help you three out, but not really what."

Aria frowned. "I want to

tell you you're overreacting on your search for purpose, babe," she said,
reaching across the table and grabbing his hand. "But I actually saw the
people on the Rez that first time Harri went up to find out if Kara was alive
after the fire. They're just people, trying to make things work. And I saw the
way they were together... Harri will take risks, even bigger ones than usual,
for her. He needs people to help him make good decisions. My vote is that he'll
need you, so you should go. For the people who need it."

"My vote is obvious, I'm

going with you," Dani said.

"I would too if I could

shoot the broad side of a barn," Aria smirked.

All three of them turned to

India, who was making an oddly conflicted face. "I feel like shit, with
what I want to say," she finally sighed.

"No one's going to judge

you," Aria assured her.

India took in a breath, her chest

rising and falling heavily. "I don't want to die because you decided to do
something stupidly risky," she said, looking at Leo. "I get that it's
a good cause, and he's your best friend, and you need to feel purposeful or
whatever. But you don't have any training to do some sort of wild west shootout
or Call of Duty bullshit. You could just make things worse and get killed doing
it, and then we'd all be fucked."

Leo took that one like a

punch in the chest, but he knew she was right. In the balance of things, would
he even make a difference?

"So that's a No

vote," Dani said. "Two against one."

"I don't think that's

fair," Leo said, looking into Dani's eyes, and then over to India. "I
feel like maybe there should be some Veto power for anyone at risk when a
decision like this is being made."

"Fine," Dani said,

focusing on India. Her Australian accent deepened as she let out some of her
frustration. "Don't be a selfish bitch. Ladies just like you, me and Aria
got kidnapped. Their kids got kidnapped. Orphans who've been
watching their parents die from the pandemic got kidnapped. By backwoods hicks
for some unknown reason. Awful things might be happening to
them right now. Torture. Assault. Rape. They might be getting sold to
other people. Killed. Hooked on drugs to keep them pliable. Pimped out. And Leo
and I might be able to help save them from that. Because what are
the chances that they took all of those women and children for something else?
Best case scenario is, what, it's some whackadoo doomsday cult? Great, they all
get fed poison Kool-Aid and get murdered instead of being raped. So do you want
to veto us helping, or,”

"Enough," Aria said

sternly, cutting Dani off. India had tears running down her cheeks, her chin
and lower lip shuddering, and Aria grabbed her and hugged her close, cradling
her head with one hand. "She gets it, Dani. "

"Good," Dani said.

"Then,”

"She gets it!" Aria

practically snarled.

"Dani," Leo said,

reaching up and turning Dani by the chin to look at him instead of glaring at
India and Aria. She was riled up and he could see it in her eyes, but they
softened a little when their gazes locked. Leo wasn't sure what to
say, or how to say it, without betraying some trust. Aria had hinted that India
had some shit in her past that wasn't her story to tell. What were the chances
that Dani had hit closer to home than she realized?

After a long moment Dani's

eyes softened some more, seeing the conflict in Leo's, and she let out her
breath. Another moment and she nodded, reaching up to wrap her fingers around
Leo's and pull his hand down into her lap. She turned to India and Aria.
"I'm sorry," she said. No excuses.

"Go," India said,

suppressing a sob. "Just; Fuck, just go. You're right. I can't just; me
versus dozens of other women and kids? Me versus any of them?"

Aria's look had softened as

well, and she glanced between Dani and Leo and took a deep breath. Then she
nodded away, back around the corner of the building. 'Go,' she mouthed.
'Be safe.'

Leo reached out this time and

she accepted his hand, and they squeezed a little as they looked into each
other's eyes. Then he and Dani stood and left the two so that Aria could
console India. Once they were around the corner, Dani stopped and looked up at
Leo. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just,”

"Shush," Leo hushed

her, pulling her into a hug. "You were right, Dani. You just hit her where
it hurts, I think."

"Fuck," Dani

sighed, hugging him back.

"We'll fix it when we

can," Leo said. "That just probably won't be today."

Piling into the car took a

little longer than Leo thought it would when Erica first gave him and Dani the
nod that it was time to go. The delay was a conversation between Erica, Josie
and Spencer. Josie was apparently still unsure about whether she should come or
not even though she'd done herself up. In the end Spencer had hugged the taller
blonde and then pretty much pushed her into the car.

"So," Erica said as

she started driving her car out through the woods and towards the highway.
"Everyone think of ways to tell Harri that he better bring his ass back
safe and sound?"

"I know how, if we had

more time," Ivy said from the back middle seat, the smallest person
getting the most-squished seating.

"Ivy, he doesn't need to

fuck your butt right now to remember how good it is,"
Erica smirked.

"Jesus," Leo

coughed, still not exactly used to how open the ladies of the Black-La Costa
group could be. Erica, Dani and Ivy all chuckled, though Josie remained quiet
and Leo could see in the rear view mirror that she was blushing as she looked
out the window.

"Leo and I aren't

wishing him off," Dani spoke up. "We're going to go with him."

That brought a silence to the

car.

"I don't know about

that..." Erica finally said.

"We can help," Leo

said to his sister. "And he needs it."

"Kyla texted and said

Miriam got him help, though," Erica said. "And that Agent who leased
the place originally sent someone too."

"How many people are

going with Kyla and Harri?" Leo asked. "If it's not, like, twenty
then it's probably not enough."

Erica grimaced and glanced

over her shoulder. "Really?" she asked Dani.

"Kyla is going, I don't

see why Leo or I shouldn't," Dani said.

Leo saw a flash of something

pass over Erica's features, but it was there and gone so quick that he really
wasn't sure what it was. "Dani's right. Kyla might have been the resident
action sidekick for Harri, but she isn't any more trained than
either of us. We can shoot a rifle, so we can help."

Erica sighed heavily. "I

really don't think it's a good idea. Harri won't go for it."

"We're not taking no for

an answer, sis," Leo said. "We'll keep him as safe as we can."

"Well, it's on you to

sell him on it," Erica said while glancing at Leo out of the corner of her
eye. He knew she wouldn't want him to go; who wanted their
sibling to run towards danger? And the fact that she was already dealing with
Harri going off didn't help things. But she pivoted the conversation, talking
to Josie about getting to be off of the Valkyrie Falls grounds for the first
time in months, and how she'd get to see the construction site. Ivy took over
parts of the conversation as well, promising to show Josie where their House
would go up. Leo wasn't sure how easy that would be considering that it was
looking more and more like a storm was going to break at any minute; they could
show Josie the RVs for sure, but hiking up to the spring didn't seem like it
would be in the cards.

The drive wasn't long and the

closer they got the more tense Leo felt. They hadn't been back to the site in
almost a week, and it felt weird even thinking of it as 'the site' and not
'home' or at least 'Harri's place.' It hadn't even been two and a half months
since that Agent had come to make a deal for the land. It felt like
it had been ages.

"Well, that's new,"

Erica murmured as they came around the last long bend in the highway and within
view of the main entrance to the site. The last time any of them had seen it,
the little portable shack had still been up off to one side of the graded
gravel road and there had been trees pretty much up to the shoulder of the
road.

The biggest change was that

trees had been trimmed back, creating a V-like open space to make more room for
what Leo could only think of as little bunkers. The trees they'd felled, plus
more that must have been brought down, had been chopped into lengths and laid
sideways into a roughly half-hexagon shape on either side of the driveway.
There were a half dozen airmen reinforcing the positions, lining the wooden
walls with sandbags as they were filling them with dirt dug out from in front
of the bunkers to make a trench.

The most eye-catching of the

additions weren't the little bunkers themselves though, it was the dark green
Humvee with the big fuckin' gun on top of it. Harri would probably be able to
rattle off exactly what it was, what size ammunition it shot and how much
damage it could do to a man at a hundred yards, but Leo didn't have the
experience or the care to know what it was. It was big, it was mounted on top
of a military vehicle, and that meant it could probably cut a civilian vehicle
in half without much trouble.

And it was pointing right at

them.

Well, maybe not right at

them, but the soldier manning the gun was definitely tracking them, and all of
the airmen stood up and were vigilant as Erica slowed the car and signaled that
she was turning in. One of the airmen filling sandbags waved for her to stop as
he climbed up onto the gravel road. It didn't take long to show they had
clearance onto the base, even if they didn't have badges or anything. Apparently
'the Sheriff's family' was fairly well known.

"Guess you are one of us

now, Josie," Ivy said with a grin, nudging the athlete with an elbow. The
way Ivy said 'Josie' was with a soft J and more like 'Joh-see,' making it sound
way more French.

A lot of work had been done

in the last week that Harri hadn't really mentioned, but he'd been busy so
maybe he hadn't noticed. All of the off shooting roads from the expanded
driveway weren't just cleared dirt anymore, they had pressed gravel to better
support the big trucks hauling logs and brush out of the way. It looked like
they were also starting to clear out lots, especially closer to the highway;
one large swathe on either side of the driveway could hold an entire strip mall
already and workers were still going.

Up closer to the camp, they

saw that the third barracks was well on its way in construction, and the site
was buzzing with activity. Erica avoided the main drag straight through the
camp even though there was a gravel road they could have taken, instead
skirting around the outside of the camp and sliding onto the roughly graded
dirt of the cleared area. It was a lot more of a bumpy trip, but it meant not
needing to slow down for pedestrians and that close to seeing Harri, Leo knew
Erica didn't want to slow down one bit.

There was activity around a

couple of trucks sort of near the RVs, well-spaced away from the camp, and
Erica headed for it since Harri's police truck was there, and the man himself
quickly came into view.

Erica brought the car to a

jarring halt and didn't even bother taking the keys out of the ignition before
she was getting out of the car. Leo had to reach over to get the car in park
himself before turning it off. Ivy had basically scrambled out of the car over
Dani's lap even faster than Erica. By the time Leo, Dani and Josie managed to
get out of the car as well Harri had already had a couple of smooches planted
on him.

"Hey," Harri said

as Erica managed to peel herself away from him. "You guys didn't need to
come out."

"Of course we did,"

Leo said, shaking his head and grabbing Harri, pulling him into a hug. Classic
Harri, trying to make a big thing look like a little one.

"And we're not just here

to see you off," Dani said as she came up behind her partner. "Leo
and I are coming with you.

Leo had just let him go so he

could hug Dani and Josie, but he could see Harri physically tense up.
"Okay," the big guy said. "Hold on,”

"One conversation at a

time," Erica said. She distracted Harri from his immediate arguments by
kissing him again and telling him to go hard on the hunt. Then she passed him
to Ivy, who said something in French, and then she gave way to Josie. Watching
Harri and Josie hug was like watching a couple of awkward fourteen year olds
who everyone knew were crushing on each other, but they didn't realize it was
mutual. They spoke quietly as Harri held her, and Leo took a moment to check
out the other people who looked like they were going to be part of the mission.

There was a lithe black

woman, a short and stocky guy, a tall blonde guy, and... a soccer mom? Or like,
the mom from the Brady Bunch?

"What the fuck is going

on?" Leo muttered to himself.

"Guys,” Harri started,

having separated from Josie and turning to Leo and Dani again, but he got cut
off as a woman came out of the RV compound and called Erica's name.

It took Leo a long moment to

connect the face to the situation; he'd met Julia before. She was a client of
Erica's. He was pretty sure he'd even made a tipsy pass at her at a bar once
when they went out, but was pretty sure she'd ended up going home with Erica
that night and that had definitely scratched her off the
'possible hookup' list because he wasn't about to be Eskimo siblings with
his sister.

Erica recognized her faster

than Leo though, and they basically ran at each other and collided in a flash
of womanly hugs and speed-talking at the same time.

Harri, on the other hand,

decided to let the reunion be and turned to Leo and Dani. "Come on,"
he said, nodding towards the closest barracks, and started walking. Leo
followed, taking Dani's hand and giving it a squeeze. Harri stopped maybe
thirty yards from the trucks and everyone else, turning and opening his mouth
to tell them exactly what he thought of Dani's declaration.

"Harri, we're not

letting you do this alone," Dani cut in before he could say no. "Leo
and I both know how to shoot."

"And there's no fucking

way that you're talking us out of it," Leo continued. "You've got
what looks like some experts along with... Is that a soccer mom?"

"Apparently she's a

psychopath with a hatred for human traffickers," Harri said with a rueful
look. "Which, I mean, is pertinent in this case. Guys, I appreciate the
offer but I can't let you come. If something happened,”

"If something happened

to you, do you think we could forgive ourselves either?" Leo asked,
feeling his frustration rising. "I mean seriously, Harri."

"We both love you,"

Dani said, taking Leo's hand again and squeezing it hard, making it a unified
front.

Harri sighed and wiped at his

forehead, clearly frustrated because he was torn. He knew they'd cornered him
emotionally, and the logic of taking more people wasn't exactly a failing case.

"You're thinking too

hard about it," Leo said.

"We've both been hunting,

and we can both help," Dani said, dropping her voice as her accent went
more Australian. "You keep taking everything on yourself, Harri, every
time something bad happens. But we're all a family and
families fight together."

"Ugh," he grunted,

looking to the sky. He turned and called over to the others. "Erica, can
you come over here?"

Erica said something to

Julia, then to Ivy, and came over at a jog. "What is it, babe? I told them
you'd probably be against this idea."

Harri turned back to Dani and

Leo. "You're right, Okay? There are a lot of reasons to say yes, and
there's probably a few less reasons to say no. But there's one major reason
I need you to stay back, Leo." He looked at Erica and they seemed to have
a moment before nodding, which confused Leo heavily. Then Harri turned his
attention back to Leo, looking him in the eyes. "Remember how we were
talking about the fact that we'd be brothers now, if Erica and I ever manage to
actually tie the knot? Well, you're also going to be an uncle."

It took Leo a second to parse

past the 'no' and hear what his best friend had just told him. He looked at
Erica as his eyes went wide. "You're...?" he asked his sister, not
able to finish the sentence.

Erica nodded, breaking into a

grin, and Leo crashed into her as he wrapped his arms around his sister and
squeezed her just about as tight as he could, burying his face into her
shoulder. "Oh my God, Erica. Oh my God," he said. "Mom and Dad
would be so happy for you. Oh my God!"

"I know," Erica

sobbed softly, holding him back just as tight. "I know, Leo. I'm sorry I
didn't tell you yet, we just wanted to wait until we were all back home."

The secret didn't matter. It

was their news to tell, and it had to still be pretty new. Leo squeezed her one
more time and let her go, turning to Harri as Dani took her turn to crash into
Erica with a little suppressed squeal of joy for her. Leo grabbed his best
friend and pulled him tight. "You bastard," he laughed, shaking his head
as he tried to run through everything he was feeling. "You fucking
bastard."

"I promise not to let

your niece or nephew be a bastard, Leo," Harri chuckled. "But this is
why I need you to stay back. Nothing's going to happen to me, but just in case,
I need you safe. I need you to be the man in my son or daughter's life if I
can't be. Putting us both out there in danger would take us both away from
Erica and from the kid."

It was dirty pool. "Fuck

you," Leo sighed, thumping Harri on the shoulder softly with a fist.
"God, you're such an asshole. Yes, obviously, Okay. When you put it like
that, how am I supposed to argue?"

"That doesn't mean I

need to stay back," Dani said, wrapping one arm around Leo as she hugged
both men. "It just gives me more reason to go. I need to make sure you
come home, Harri."

Erica came around and joined

the group hug from the other side. The conversation was full of quick updates;
she was only a few weeks pregnant so it was still early days. She was already
researching and trying to find a good doctor who also happened to still be
alive and taking patients, but thought she might end up needing to contact
Miriam since there were questions about the vaccine and the baby. Leo and Dani
were both thrilled for her.

Leo also watched Dani

closely. They hadn't talked about kids yet; Dani had an IUD that would need to
be removed for that to happen, and they didn't even say 'I love you' in a
romantic way. Sure, they loved each other, and worked really well as partners,
but it was sort of a heightened version of what he had with Aria. He didn't get
any sort of feeling from her either way of whether the first baby in the group
was turning on her own biological clock or not, so he decided to try to put it
out of his mind for now because there was something else dominating his
thoughts.

Erica was pregnant, and Harri

needed him to be the backstop. He needed Leo to pick up the pieces if something
bad happened, and Erica would need him more than ever in that circumstance as
well.

Dani made the argument that

if Leo was staying back, she should still go. Her risking herself wasn't as
problematic vaccine-wise as Leo, and now she had extra reason to want to keep
Harri safe for Erica. Harrison reluctantly agreed and things started moving
quickly as Dani rushed to the RV to change, and Leo followed Harri back to the
main group where introductions had been getting tossed around, wanting to find
a private moment with his sister but not getting it immediately.

Erica re-introduced Julia to

Harri, filling in how they knew each other. Then there was a lot of
reorganizing, and during the press Erica pulled Leo into a hug and whispered in
his ear, "We're not telling anyone else right now, so don't spread it.
Please?"

"Of course," Leo

said, hugging her firmly before letting her go as they looked into each other's
eyes. He couldn't stop himself from grinning despite the tense moment going on,
and Erica smirked a little back. He was going to be an uncle. His sister was
going to be a Mom.

Dani came back out, changed

into some darker clothes and wearing a jacket over the bulletproof vest she was
borrowing from Kyla. Leo met her first, pulling her into a hug before she got
wrapped up with figuring out what firearms she'd be using and whatever else the
professionals needed to tell her.

"Leo, babe," Dani

said. "It'll be Okay."

"Just be careful,"

he told her. "I'm staying back because of what they asked me to do, and
it's making me feel like I'm failing you."

"Shush," she

shushed him softly.

"I'm being serious,

Dani," Leo said. "Earlier this morning I made some promises to you
and the girls. Now I'm feeling like; I feel like I'm paying the price for
figuring that out. I can't be everything. I can't be Harri. But I can be me.
I'll be the backstop for our families. I'm going to make sure our family is on
course and healthy and provided for, and I'm going to make sure Erica and Harri
have that as well."

"You'll be the

Godfather," Dani said, pulling back a little as she smiled at him. They'd
watched Old School a few weeks ago while going through a 'Will Ferrell but just
his secondary roles' movie marathon.

"Sure," Leo

smirked. "I'll be the Godfather. I'm taking control of our future. If
Harri is going to be some big fucking hero for everyone else, I'll be the hero
we need at home."

"Then I need you to do

something for me," Dani said.

"Anything," he

promised immediately.

She hugged him tightly again,

pressing her lips to his ear. "I need you to start flirting back with
Yvonne and Rachel. Even start sleeping with them now, so that when the vaccine
is available for them they'll pick you right away. You need more partners,
babe, and they would make good ones."

Leo swallowed.

"Okay," he said a little hoarsely. "I understand." When
he'd first filled out the Oracle survey, the idea of having a bunch of women in
a wild harem situation had sounded like a hot fantasy and he'd put that he was
open to it. The reality was different than he'd imagined. Maybe he shouldn't
have been surprised that Dani was pushing him towards it though, based on his
matching with her.

Dani kissed him on the cheek,

then pulled back a little again and kissed him on the lips firmly. "My
Godfather," she said and winked. "I'll be home soon with a story to
tell."

"I'll have a naked

massage ready for you when you get back, to ease all the aches and pains my
sexy action hero partner accumulates while kicking ass and taking names,"
Leo promised.

She kissed him again.

"That sounds amazing, but depending on what happens I might just need a
good cry instead."

"Then I'll be ready for

that too," he assured her.

"I need to go."

"I know," Leo

sighed, then let her go.

He felt like he should tell

her he loved her, but the words felt weird in his mouth. It just wasn't them.
One last look between them, Dani smiling a little, and she went and joined the
Rescue Team.

In minutes they were loading

up in the trucks. Leo stole one last kiss from Dani through the rolled down
window of Harri's truck, and then they were driving away.

"Shit," Erica

sighed. She was standing with one arm around Ivy and the other around Josie,
pulling both women tighter to her.

"It feels like it got a

lot more quiet, real quick," Leo said.

"Tell me that's not the

last time we see him," Josie said quietly. "I couldn't handle
it."

"Harrison will come back

to us," Ivy said, sticking her chin out confidently. "He will come
back a hero, but will need to be taken care of. We'll do that for him."

"And we'll take care of

whoever he comes back with," Erica said, then glanced at Leo. "You
might want to think about volunteering for Imprinting duty, Leo. If,” She had
to clear her throat, emotion suddenly surging through her. "If Kara and
Gerty and Tanaya are all Okay, I'd bet my left tit they'll all want to choose him.
But there might be a whole bunch of women who need partners before they succumb
to the virus."

Leo grimaced but nodded.

"I'm willing," he said. "Do we know,” He was cut off by a
spatter of rain drops, and he looked up and saw that the heavens were about to
open up. The clouds looked heavy in the air, and another
smattering of raindrops hit. "Are we staying here or heading back to the
Falls?" he asked quickly.

"...Falls," Erica

said. "We can't do anything here except wait."

They all rushed for Erica's

car and piled in as the rain started coming down like someone turned on the
faucet.

"Better get us onto the

gravel road," Leo said. "Before we get stuck when this turns to
mud."

"Fuck," Erica

grunted, putting the car in drive and getting it turned around. "I really
need to get a jeep or something, living out here in the fuckin' sticks."

They drove through the middle

of the camp this time, meaning to head for the road out, but a waving figure
stopped them as it approached out of the rain. Seeing it was Vanessa, Erica put
it in park and Ivy and Josie squeezed over in the back seat as the
already-soaked woman climbed in, taking off her hard hat as she entered.

"You guys Okay?"

she asked.

"Did you get to say

goodbye?" Erica asked her in reply.

"Yeah, I caught them on

their way out."

"And?" Erica

prompted.

"And I'm freaking out,

but I can handle it," Vanessa said.

"Same," Leo said.

"Yeah, same," Erica

sighed.

"I am not freaked,"

Ivy said. "I have faith."

"Well, I'm

freaked," Josie chuckled dimly.

"Vanessa, I had a

thought," Leo said, deciding that if he was going to keep his mind off of
the danger his partner and best friend were heading into, he might as well
start acting on his decisions. "There's going to be at least a few hundred
houses built eventually, right?"

"Yeah," she said,

raising an eyebrow.

"How are they all being

furnished?" Leo asked.

Vanessa frowned. "I...

actually don't know," she said. "I assume that's on someone's radar,
but definitely not mine."

"Could you find out for

me?" Leo asked. "I know you've got all those untrained apprentices;
I'm thinking I could grab a few of them and start up a workshop to start
churning out custom dining room tables and chairs. Even if the rest of the
houses are full of Ikea furniture, if everyone is going to have a big family then
they'll need big tables to fit that many people around. That's something I
could get started on as soon as I can get some work space."

"I'll talk to my Dad,

see what the plan is," Vanessa said. "But I think that's a great
idea. We can probably get you a contract or something, and if you're training
some of the ladies that's all the better because I've got too many to begin
with and more on the way."

"I'd like to put in an

order for a custom bed," Erica smirked from the driver's seat.

Leo snorted softly, almost

unhearable over the beating of the rain on the roof of the car. "Maybe I
should start working on some designs. That might be a hot item in the near
future."

"I've got a question

back," Vanessa said. "Or a favor, I guess."

"What's up?" Leo

asked.

"I need someone to come

make sure the chicken coop isn't currently blowing away or that this rain is
going to kill the chickens," Vanessa said.

Erica, Leo and Ivy all said,

"Chicken coop?" at the same time.

Vanessa grinned. "Our

man got us fresh eggs for life," she said. "I just need to make sure
I'm not currently murdering them."

Leo sighed. "Alright.

Where is it and how wet am I going to get?"

"Around that barracks

there, and very," Vanessa said.

"Let's go save some

chickens," Leo said, and got out of the car into the heavy rain. The chill
of it hit him, but he didn't mind. Harri brought home the chickens, but by God,
Leo was going to backstop him and make sure they were safe. That was the job he
could do, and he'd do it.

"You guys are

back," Yvonne said, raising her eyebrows and smiling hopefully as Leo,
Ivy, Erica and Josie tramped in from out of the storm and into the front
vestibule of Valkyrie Falls. She'd been laying down on the same bench she and
Leo had been talking at the night before, reading Leo's copy of The Two Towers
as she listened to the rain on the window.

"The rescue party is off

on their mission," Erica said. "And we're all drowned rats. Come on,
ladies, I think hot showers are in order." Ivy and Josie mumbled in
agreement and started heading down the hall, but veered into the gym change
room instead of heading up the stairs.

"Did it go Okay?"

Yvonne asked Leo.

He sighed and nodded.

"Dani went with them to help. Harri asked me to stay back and keep things
handled in case anything went wrong."

"Was he protecting you,

or trusting you?" Yvonne asked.

Leo blinked and looked at the

younger woman curiously. She was almost a decade younger than he was, and yet
she could see all that so easily. "Both," Leo said. "Yvonne, I;
Can I sit?"

She nodded, rotating around

so she was sitting up on the bench properly instead of lounged across it a
little. Leo sat, his shorts squelching wetly on the wooden bench, but he didn't
care. He took a breath, looking at Yvonne. She didn't look away, frowning
slightly as she met his gaze. She also didn't say anything, comfortable letting
him figure out his words.

But Leo didn't know what to

say. He didn't want to say anything.

He leaned forward slowly but

deliberately, giving her every opportunity to back away or tell him to stop,
but she didn't. He kissed her.

Yvonne kissed him back.

It wasn't extremely

passionate, or messy, or anything more than a firm kiss. But it was a connection.
And he could feel that she'd wanted it just as much as he'd been telling
himself he didn't.

"Is that Okay?" she

asked him as they pulled apart.

"I've wanted to do that

for a while now, I think," Leo said. "I wasn't sure you'd be
interested."

"I wasn't sure you would

be interested with three women already filling your bed," she said.
"And you sort of have a type."

"What's that?" Leo

asked.

Yvonne held up her hands over

her chest. "Tits," she said, miming large ones. Much larger than
hers, which weren't tiny but he could see where she was going.

"That was just

happenstance," he said. "Unplanned. I think you're,” He took a
breath. "Yvonne, I think you're stunning, and intriguing, and funny. And
insightful as hell. And I have the green light from Dani to go as far as we
want."

Yvonne looked at him

carefully, her eyes scanning his face, before she leaned in and kissed him
back.

It felt good to be wanted. It

felt good to know what he was doing again. Family, house, home; those were his
goals. Those were his purposes. He could see Yvonne fitting into that. He could
see things getting better with India. He could see it all.

He just needed Harri, Dani

and Kyla to come back safe.

"Pushing the D-side

entrance," I said. The words felt thick in my throat as I stepped out of
the grave I'd been hiding in. There were seven of them, it looked like, turned
into muddy patches of ground from the rain. The excavator had been carving out
another four.

"Wait," Dylan said

over the comms. "We aren't in position."

Julia looked at me, and then

at the holes, and then back at me as she made the same realization I already
had. Her face was graven but she put a hand on my arm, stopping me.
"Tactical awareness, Harri," she said. "Slow is fast."

"Fuck," I grunted,

clenching my jaw. Jedidiah was looking at me with a commiserating grimace.

Dylan and Maggie came sliding

around the front of the old church building from the direction of the
outhouses. "Two confirmed down over here," Maggie said quietly.
"Good shooting, security."

All we got back was a double

click, and I wasn't sure if that was Kyla and Dani being brief, or if one of
them was dealing with the fact that they'd just killed two people. It wasn't
the first time for Kyla, but I was pretty damn sure it was for Dani.

"I've got a firelane

from up in the barn covering the front," Jeanine cut in over the comms. I
glanced towards the barn across the U-shaped compound and saw that she'd
unblocked one of the second-floor windows and had her rifle propped on the
wooden sill.

"What about the kids,

Jeanine?" Dylan asked his wife.

"They're being

good," she said.

My focus was complete fucking

toast. It had gotten a little shaken in the garage when we found the older
female captives, but the graves had me all twisted up.

"Okay," I said over

the comms as I followed Jedidiah towards our side of the church building. Its
heavy stone walls were well cut and placed and I had a feeling the thing was
more like a bunker than most churches. Someone had built the place as a partial
fortress sometime back in the 1800s and I wondered if it had been to hold off
people like my family, or Kara's. "I need ideas here," I said
quickly. I turned, covering the stone steps down into what had to be a basement
entrance. Julia was covering it with me, while Jedidiah watched the big main
double doors along with the others.

"Three options,"

Dylan said. "Shock and awe, we breach both entrances at the same time,
hope we get all of them faster than they can start killing hostages or us. Or
we try and do a sneaky peek and get more intel."

"What's the third

option?" Julia asked.

"Siege," Dylan

sighed. "Kill anyone who comes out until they surrender."

"But we don't know

enough about these b-a-s-t-a-r-d-s to know if that will work in our favor,"
Jeanine said. The fact that she spelled 'bastards' meant that the
kids must be able to hear her, and for some reason she thought they might not
be able to spell.

"Only problem with a

sneaky peek is that we're almost as likely to lose the element of surprise,"
Jedidiah chipped in.

"More intel is better

than none," I said. "Alright. I'm taking the basement door, everyone
else hold the front while I take a look."

"I'm coming with

you," Julia said. "You aren't going in without backup."

"I should be the one going

in," Jedidiah countered.

"No," I said.

"If you guys need to breach up here then you need to be up here. Same with
Dylan and Maggie."

He turned and glanced back at

me, giving me a look. He knew I was making excuses. He knew I just wanted to
fucking get in there.

But he didn't say it.

"Alright," he said.

"You're the boss, hoss. Team Two, let's back off a bit and get some
crossfire position."

It only took them a minute to

spread out, scattering so that no one would be in each other's fire lines if
they needed to open up on the door from cover. They also didn't want to get too
far away either, though, in case they needed to breach the front doors.

"Going down," I

said once we'd all checked in.

"Be careful," Kyla

said softly through the comm.

"I will," I

promised her.

I led the way, my MP5 tight

to my shoulder as I took the stone steps down. The rain had made them a little
slick, and a pool had formed at the bottom; the door was raised about a foot
from the base, so it must have been a common problem. I stopped on the bottom
step and blew out a breath.

"Did you seriously think

Erica would forgive me if I let you do this alone?" Julia asked from
behind me, but not over the comms. She was tight to my back, shotgun ready.

"Wasn't really thinking

of that, but you're probably right," I said. "Trying the door."
It was a steel door, much newer than the building, and had a simple vertical
pull handle and a heavy-duty deadbolt lock. I wrapped my hand on the handle and
pulled gently, but didn't get any give. Shit, I thought. Am I
seriously going to need to have Julia shoot out this lock?

I gave it another tug,

though, and it moved.

"It's sticky," I

said. "We're going to need to enter fast. This'll make some noise."

"So make some

noise," Julia said and patted my shoulder.

I yanked the door hard and it

squealed as it ground slightly against the stone frame.

We were in fast, skipping

over the water into the dark of the basement.

The inside looked like it

must have been renovated over time; cinderblock walls had been added, and we
were looking down a short hallway that opened into a dark interior room. The
ceiling was almost ten feet up, but the place still felt like a cave. We pushed
forward quickly as I hugged the left wall and Julia hugged the right. The room
beyond looked like it was the cluttered dumping ground of every generation that
had occupied the building since its construction. Piles of random crap were in
boxes and crates and scattered on old wooden folding tables. Fabric partitions,
stacks of wooden chairs and what looked like corrugated metal sheets blocked
the view going deeper in. Still, everything was at least illuminated... barely.
Ancient, yellowed bulbs with pull strings were dangling from the ceiling, and
the muted thrum of a generator was coming from somewhere ahead and above us.

To be continued, Based on

a post by Break The Bar for Literotica

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