Falling

Rules of BDSM Manor - safety, respect, and consent.

Note to reader: You will get more from these characters if you read the stories in order, but it's not compulsory.

Tess-O'Meter -- Green

-X

I knew I was in hospital before I opened my eyes.

There is a smell and an unnaturally bright light that irritates. Then there's the squeak as people walk and the hushed voices as they speak.

Oh, and the ever present non bird-like cheepy cheep of bleepers going off and doors carelessly slamming shut.

I sighed and forced my heavy eyes open, ready to face the music.

Three people were stood watching me.

First was a doctor, the scrubs and the stethoscope half hanging out of her pocket provided a clue. A tidy brunette, her hair in a long tail down her back.

She was watching me with an expression of concerned expectation. On her top was a large yellow badge with 'Hello, my name is Dr Price' in clear black letters.

Next to her was my friend Casey. Something about her seemed different. Like she had lost weight or changed her hair. She looked tired, which may have been the issue. Her expression was a little teary eyed and worried.

Next to Casey was a tall, slender, scruffy but extremely handsome young man in ancient jeans and a tee shirt which was tight enough that I could make out the definition of what looked like very lickable abs.

Well, hello there, my name is Leslie. Yum!

The expression in his eyes, which were the darkest blue I've ever seen, was fear.

Which was odd. I'm used to inspiring wariness and respect, but not fear. Not even during play do people fear me.

"Hi?" I offered to all three of them.

Casey clearly wanted to speak but turned to look at Dr Price, who stepped forward a little.

"Leslie. Good evening. My name is Dr Susan Price. You've had a bit of an accident."

"Okay?"

"I just need to ask you a few initial questions if that's alright."

"Sure."

"Can you tell me your full name, date of birth, address?"

Dr Price read through a folder in front of her as I rattled through my details, smiling when I added my star sign, blood type and gym membership number. Casey rolled her eyes.

"Okay, that's great. Can you tell me what day it is?"

"Yes it's, um." No, I couldn't. I frowned and rubbed my forehead, switching to my right hand as my left was connected to a drip.

"Don't worry, nothing to worry about," Dr Price reassured me.

"What happened? What sort of accident?"

Dr Price gave Casey a friendly nod.

"You got clonked by a golf ball," Casey told me.

"What the hell? I hate golf!"

Casey laughed, "You weren't playing, you were there for a meeting. Some kid took a swing in the car park."

"Jesus Christ," I muttered.

"How bad is the headache?" Dr Price asked, "Out of ten."

"Six," I offered.

"Eight to nine," Casey told Dr Price.

"Casey!" She just glared at me.

"Good job I came prepared," Dr Price smiled, and programmed something into a machine next to my bed, she was looking at me thoughtfully.

Walking back around the bed she said, "That will feel better in a few minutes. Leslie, can you tell me? Do you recognize this man?"

She gestured towards the guy still hovering by Casey.

"Um. No, sorry have we met?" I asked him, surprised at the flash of pain that crossed his face.

"Oh God!" Casey said.

Dr Price stepped forward, forcing them both to step back a little.

"It's fine. Not unexpected at all. Leslie you've been unconscious for a couple of days. A little bit of confusion is to be expected."

"What was I? In a coma?"

"Not really. You just didn't wake up," she said. Completely confusing me as I thought that pretty much was a coma.

At that point there was a tap on the door, and I heard my cousin's voice asking, "Too many people?"

"No, one more is fine for a couple of minutes," Dr Price ushered Casey and 'hot as fuck guy' back to their chairs and Sadie came in.

"He'll be sleeping soon," Dr Price told Sadie, "Don't worry if it's sudden."

"I'm not sleepy," I protested, but she just smiled at me as Sadie perched on the bed.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, kissing my cheek.

"Not sleepy," I said and winced, when had I turned into a ten-year-old brat. "Sorry."

Sadie rubbed my wrist, "It's okay, you must have a killer headache.

Dammit, I was starting to feel sleepy now.

"Sadie don't forget I'm a donor," I reminded her urgently.

She reared back, her eyes opening in shock, "What?"

"We really don't need to worry about that," Dr Price said, moving forward again, "You would be in ICU if that was an issue."

"Jesus, Leslie," Sadie was distressed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," I squeezed her hand gently, relieved when she squeezed back, "Sorry, Sadie, that was clumsy, but it is important to me."

I looked at Dr Price, "I didn't mean anything bad, it's just with Sadie being my next of kin."

"What? I'm not your next of kin."

"Of course you are."

"No!"

Dr Price held up a hand, "Ms Morgan, Sadie. It seems like Leslie is having a little memory lapse, which as I've already warned all of you is not unexpected." She turned and looked at me, adding gently, "Nothing at all to be concerned about at this stage."

She nodded at Sadie who glanced at Casey and mystery (can you all please leave so I can bend him over my bed?) man, before taking a deep breath.

"Leslie. Honey. I'm not your next of kin. Your husband is."

I just stared at her. I mean. What the what?

"You're married. You and Alex. He's your next of kin," she said very slowly and carefully.

"I'm married?"

She nodded.

"Since when?"

"Err," Sadie looked at the ceiling, "Couple of years, ish. Um."

"Two years, and fifteen days," said cute guy.

"What he said," Sadie hooked her thumb at him.

I looked at the guy, maybe early thirties, "We're married?"

"Yep!"

"To each other?"

He grinned, throwing out dimples that made my stomach do a strange swoopy thing, "Yep, to each other."

"Wow. You're really fucking hot!"

Now he laughed, doing delightful things to my chest.

I blinked a few times and looked at Sadie ready with another question.

For some reason she was swaying on the bed.

"He's going," Dr Price said to her.

"I'm not sleep-."

-X

When I next woke up I was hungry, and it was clearly daytime.

Dr Price was reading my notes. Her hair and clothes were different. So it was obviously a new day.

Alex, whose clothes were the same, just more rumpled, was sat having a quiet, intense conversation with a very pretty young Asian girl. She looked familiar, but I couldn't place her.

"Good morning, Dr Price," I said. She looked up and smirked at me, pulling her yellow badge from her pocket, and pinning it back on.

"Very clever," she said and pointing at Alex she just raised a brow.

"Alex," I said, "Two years, and fifteen days. No wait, sixteen days, right?"

"Excellent, and?" she pointed at the young lady who moved forward and gave me a quick hug.

"Hi, Leslie. Do you remember me?"

"No, I'm sorry," I admitted. "But I feel like I should?"

It was like a catch at the edge of my mind. It slipped away when Alex cursed but Dr Price patted his arm in reassurance.

"Please try not to worry," she looked at me, "We're trying to get an idea of how far back the memory loss goes."

"I'm Keira," the young lady said, "We're good friends."

"I'm sorry, Keira," I said, my head giving a nasty throb.

"Don't be," she said giving my hand a squeeze, "I'm sure it's only temporary."

"It's certainly too soon to be concerned," Dr Price said, which I thought was side stepping the issue a bit.

"I don't suppose you remember Pamela?" Alex asked me.

"At work? Yes of course."

Alex grabbed his phone and glanced at Dr Price, "Pamela is Leslie's PA. She's worked for him for years. Leslie, what's the last project you remember working on?"

"Maxington's bank," I answered without hesitation. It was driving me crazy so I should know.

Alex stepped outside and I could just make out his voice and Dr Price asked more questions and Keira answered a few of mine. She seemed really nice, but cautious in her answers, which made me think I knew her from the manor.

Alex stepped back in looking pale, "The Maxington's bank project was completed almost nine years ago," he said.

My hand trembled in Keira's. Nine years?

"I've lost nine years?" I looked at Dr Price.

"Temporarily," Keira said with a determined look on her face.

"Not unexpected, you need to rest," Dr Price insisted.

I found myself staring at Alex. A stranger who was also my husband.

He gazed back for a moment a combination of sympathy and nerves in his eyes, but then walked forward and gripped my shoulder.

"Temporarily," he agreed with Keira.

Jesus. I surely hoped so.

-X

That afternoon Sadie and John arrived, and John immediately sent the still hovering Alex home.

"Alex, you look like crap. Sadie take him back to the apartment, feed him, chuck him in the shower and make him take a nap. Then bring him back."

"I don't need a nap," Alex said testily.

"That grumpy face says you do!"

Alex rolled his eyes and cursed. I sat and watched; fascinated, and amused.

"Why don't you take him so I can talk with Leslie?" Sadie asked.

"I want to talk with Leslie," John told her, "Plus I don't trust myself to be alone with Alex, you know what will happen," he gave Alex an exaggerated salacious leer which made Alex's pout turn to another eye roll and grin.

"Wait. What?" I asked, "You and Alex?"

"Many, many times," John said sitting on the edge of my bed and waving Sadie and Alex away, "Piss off you two, we'll see you later."

I must have looked concerned because Alex came over and gave me a quick hug before he let Sadie pull him from the room, "I'll just be a couple of hours, I should probably shower and change." He glanced between me and John, "It's all good, I promise."

"Okay," I managed weakly.

"Get out of here before I lose all control," John joked and Alex just grinned at him, muttering, "Idiot!" fondly as he left.

"He loves me," John advised, smirking at me.

"Apparently so?"

"Oh not like that, ewugh, weird. I mean like friends. The sex is just for fun and always at your command."

"What?" I was stuttering now, "I married a sub?"

John was laughing. Thoroughly enjoying himself, the bastard.

"No, Leslie. You married your slave."

I dropped my head into my hands, "This makes no sense."

I had never expected to marry. I've dated a couple of doms, but two dominants in a relationship never really clicked for me, I always felt like there could be no power balance, and we would both need to go elsewhere for our needs.

That's fine for fun and sex when you have a kinky lifestyle like mine and a facility like the manor, but not for emotional needs. There are two people in a marriage and those two people should be committed to each other.

But to marry a submissive slave? And if John's taken him then Alex must be a sex slave and into pain, how could that ever work?

"John, this makes no sense. What kind of relationship can this be?"

"You and Alex are awesome together," John said quietly.

"But how can I be married to a sub, to a slave. Where's the equality?"

"Jesus, you really have regressed haven't you?"

"Hey!"

"Listen up," John said, his tone making me feel like a kid again.

"I understand that this must be somewhere between disconcerting and fucking terrifying, but trust me when I say, you and Alex are equals. He's an amazing young man and you know better than to think submissives are weak. Their ability to give themselves entirely into another's hands makes them stronger than we will ever be."

"I get that but," John just held up a hand to stop me.

"I had my doubts, I'm not going to deny, but the two of you. You just work. Alex is a full partner in the manor now as well, since you married."

"He is?"

"We gave him the estate tenants!"

"That's just evil."

John laughed, "I know right. Endless complaints. Sadie was convinced they would eat him alive, but he's really good. No pushover, thinks outside the box and he's fair."

Dr Price came in at that point and cut our conversation short, but John leaned close and told me, "Trust him. You couldn't have chosen a better, or better matched, life partner."

I nodded, as Dr Price was watching, but John understood. I would trust John with my life, which meant I would also trust Alex. Or do my best to be open minded at least.

"Everything okay?" Dr Price asked.

"We're good. I'm just helping Leslie negotiate the bizarreness of being married to someone he doesn't remember."

She half laughed, acknowledgement of the strangeness of the situation.

"You're Sadie's husband, right?"

"Partner. John, Hi."

"Partner, sorry."

"No problem. So can I spring this one yet?"

I pulled a face, but her next words surprised me.

"Actually, that's what I came to talk about."

"What? Really? I can leave?"

Dr Price pulled over a chair and sat down. "There isn't any medical need to keep you here, at this point you're just bed blocking. I'll give you some instructions and a few things to look out for, but really there's no reason you can't continue to recover at home."

"But my memory?"

"Don't push it. You need to rest and take it easy for a couple of weeks. Sleep when you need to, take the painkillers if you need to, meet people but mostly just relax. If in a couple of weeks you still have this gap, or only patchy recovery, we will discuss the next step."

Dr Price instructed a nurse to start the discharge and then talked John and I through the care plan. She then went off and called Alex to talk him through the plan while I got dressed and waited for some medication.

There really wasn't any point in Alex coming all the way back just to take me home.

It took another four hours, but finally I walked into my apartment.

Just strange.

It wasn't completely different, but there were a lot of changes.

Alex was in the kitchen cooking and chatting to Sadie who was sat at the counter drinking wine.

The kitchen looked exactly the same.

"Why don't you look around a bit?" Sadie suggested, as Alex eyed me nervously while pretending to concentrate on cooking.

"Hmmm, thanks," I accepted a glass of water from John (Dr Price had forbidden alcohol for now) and wandered.

"Carpet's new."

"It's exactly the same as the old carpet," Sadie commented.

"Yep, but better condition," I crossed the room," Why is this couch so big?"

"It's a sex couch!" John offered.

"It's like a mile long."

"Alex is a mile long; you needed a bigger couch!"

John's comment made Alex blush which struck me as completely adorable.

"How tall are you?" I asked.

"Six-four."

I eyed the couch again and grinned before wandering over to some framed pictures on a shelf.

"Hey, is this the Kostantina? She's finished?"

John came over and stood with me as I gazed at the photograph. It was me and Alex, both tanned and super smiley sat on the back platform of a boat in diving gear, squinting in the sun.

I was as fascinated by the happy smiles as much as by the little I could see of the boat.

"Yea you finished the yacht," John told me, "That's from your honeymoon. The Kostantina does really well."

"We look so happy," I mumbled, before Alex called across.

"There's a better picture of the Kostantina in there," and pointed at the spare room.

I walked into what had been a spare room (Okay, this apartment is pretty spacious) and was shocked to find myself walking into a well set up office.

There was a desktop with five screens and two keyboards, equipment I had no clue about and on the far side of the large room a small sofa looking out over the park and a double bed. A door led to a small bathroom.

John followed me in and spoke quietly, "When Alex moved in you set this up as a workspace and a little flat within a flat. You were concerned that working and living here, being your slave and your boyfriend would be unhealthy for him."

"So this is Alex's space?"

"Very much so."

"Good."

John smiled, "Behind you," he said, and I turned to see a wonderful photograph of the Kostantina at anchor, surrounded by turquoise waters in a beautiful bay.

"Oh, wow. She's gorgeous."

"Yes she is," John agreed.

We went out and Alex grinned at me, "Cool picture, huh?"

"Yea, wow."

"You like Alex's rooms?" Sadie asked.

I nodded, "Yea, you work mostly from home?"

"Yep."

John helped himself to some more wine, "He only sleeps there when you have a fight."

"Do not," Alex protested and threw some carrot peel at him.

John just laughed.

"Actually, he only sleeps there when you are away. He was meant to sleep there when you had flu a couple of months ago, but he actually slept in the chair in your room and just rucked up the duvet to make Sadie think he had been getting proper rest."

Alex's stared at John in astonishment even as Sadie slapped his arm, "You promised me you were getting some sleep."

"How do you even know that?" Alex demanded, "Have you got cameras in here or something."

John just winked.

"Why do you sleep down here when I'm away?" I asked him.

Alex shrugged, looking embarrassed. "It's only a couple of times when I've had work and haven't been able to come with you. I miss you too much if I try and sleep in our bed."

"Awwwwww!" John teased, and this time Alex threw half a pepper at him.

I laughed and went to sit on the stool next to Sadie, but a wall of pictures that had been behind me caught my eye.

I was there in an instant.

They were placed to be seen from the kitchen. An area I suspected we spent a lot of time.

It was our wedding.

It looked so beautiful, but I struggled to tear my gaze away from the central and largest print.

It was a kissing shot. Lips just meeting in a tender kiss that no doubt turned filthy in seconds. Our lips were just slightly parted, like we were breathing each other in. We were slightly smiling, and petals were falling through the air behind us, lit up in the sun.

It took my breath away.

"Hungry?" Alex asked quietly and I turned and slipped onto the stool.

"Yea," I whispered, half to myself as he dished up the food.

I realized how hungry when we all dug into the fragrant veggie stir fry and I lifted the chopsticks to my lips for the first taste.

"Okay, I get it now," I moaned around the first bite.

"Get what?"

"Why I married you. I thought it might have been to get my hands on that cute ass, but now I know. It's for your cooking."

Alex let out a delighted belly laugh, then gave me a flirtatious look from under his lashes. "Trust me, you didn't need to marry me to get your hands on my ass!"

I grinned back, enjoying him.

The meal was delicious, but I was swaying on the stool by the time Alex was making coffee and my cousin sent me to my bed.

"Go on up, Leslie. We will see you tomorrow. You're knackered."

"Yea, I guess I'll jump in the shower then crash," I said, and slipping off the stool I hugged Sadie goodnight before heading up to the second level.

Half an hour later I was sat up in bed, freshly showered and trying to focus on my e-reader. Feeling unsettled and waiting for some painkillers to kick in.

Alex came in, "They've gone. Did you take your painkillers?"

"Yes, Mum!"

He smirked and went into the bathroom. I sat and tried to imagine him flossing. Mainly to try and deflate my hard-on.

It didn't work.

Alex wandered back out of the bathroom flickering the light off and walking to the other side of the bed. Then he stopped and just looked at me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I can sleep downstairs if you want."

I frowned at him, "I thought we were supposed to be married. Why would you want to sleep downstairs?"

"I just don't want you to be uncomfortable," Alex said quietly.