In the Arms of Angels

This is a continuation of In The Arms of Angels Pt. 9.

Recap - After a long 3 1/2 hours at the local municipal building, Jason, Paige, and Elaina walked out as newly christened Belgian citizens, and they immediately jumped into house-hunting mode. It was a long and arduous process, with properties that didn't seem to fit just right, but they pressed on. During a lunch in an outdoor setting, Jason suggests that they change their last name wanting to erase the last vestiges of his father from their lives. In doing so, he suggests a return to Elin's maiden name, van der Elst. Elin panics, reacting poorly as the thought of returning to the woman who had been the mother of her three spouses scared her. She is adamant that she is no longer that woman and will never return to being that woman. Elaina suggests that they consider building their own home the way they want it, while Elin finds a large house just outside of Ghent. The four must decide if they want to spend more money to move into a large home quickly or find something temporary (or fly back and forth from L.A.) until a house can be built. When pressed for her input on the large home, Paige's reaction is strange, and she suddenly becomes withdrawn. In a discussion with Elaina later, Paige begins to explain her concern.

Sadly, there's no sex in this one. Sorry. :(

All characters in this story are 18 years old or older. This is a work of fiction.

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"What's gone?"

Paige let out a shaky breath, then moved her hand around the side of her head. "All of it. It's just...gone."

Elaina gawped down at her. "Wh--how can...WHAT!?"

"Exactly," Paige muttered.

"But...how?"

Paige sighed, sitting up. "No clue. It's been weeks, I think."

Elaina had no clue how to react. For as long as she could remember, Paige had this other side to her that just let her know and do things that a child her age, and then the young woman she was now, shouldn't have been able to pull off on their own. For a part of anyone that had been with them for so many years to suddenly be gone must have been like ripping out a part of themself.

She pulled Paige close, squeezing her. "I'm sorry, Paige. I don't really know how to respond to this because, well, it was always such a mystery. But it can't be easy for whatever was going on in that beautiful brain of yours to just...stop."

"It's lonely. The silence is deafening and uncomfortable." Tears continued to fall. "It's just me now."

Elaina pulled back to look at her with concern. "It's not just you, Paige. It's never been just you. How could you say that?"

"That's not what I meant," she whispered with a frown, laying her head against Elaina's shoulder. "I've always had you and Elin, and now master. But in the in-between times, when it was just me," she patted the side of her head, "it wasn't just me. It, they—whatever--was always there."

"Weeks," Elaina repeated what Paige had said. "Weeks? What happened weeks ago? Or did anything happen weeks ago?"

"Normal stuff. Swimming, teaching the kids to swim, sex with you, Elin, and lots of sex with master--"

"Oh shit!" Elaina whispered, pulling Paige's head up. "Paige! What if that's when you got pregnant? Would that change things, somehow? You know, 'There can only be one'?" She made a face, muttering, "God, I can't believe I just quoted that dumb ass movie."

"That would be the only thing that had changed in me, though. There's no way to know when I actually got pregnant." She half-grinned. "He cums in me so much."

Elaina snorted. "Well, you guys were in full-on babymaking mode. But, yeah, so much cum." She grinned. "I like it."

Paige's half grin turned into a small smile. "Me too."

"Okay, so it could be that your pregnancy caused this. What does it mean? Is it temporary? Like, baby girl pops out and

whoosh

it all comes back?"

"There's not an out of office message, El. I have no...idea..." Her voice trailed off just before her eyes shot wide open. "Oh no. Oh no, oh no!"

"What?"

Paige suddenly looked scared as more tears dropped from her eyes, and her body began trembling. "What if it's in my baby now?" she whimpered. "I...I don't think I want that, El! It—it helped me, but that was different." Her hands fell to her stomach, and she rubbed lightly. "She won't need it, and I don't want her to have it!"

"Okay, shh, okay," Elaina said, hugging Paige's shivering body to hers. "Hey, listen babe, unless there's a note or something explaining things for you, we won't know until that gorgeous little girl is born. And is it so bad? It helped you, Paige. I know that things were different for us, and you needed it, but I don't ever recall you saying that it was bad to you, or malevolent."

"It was so confusing, and scary at first. It was hard enough being who I was at five years old, only to find that I had some sort of hitchhiker or a neurological condition going on." Paige shook her head. "Yes, it was always helpful, and it wanted me to be me. But sometimes it made things harder."

"Harder how?"

"My head doesn't hurt, El," Paige said, taking a moment to wipe her face on Elaina's shirt.

"I swear to God, if you just wiped snot on me, I'm going to toss you off the balcony," Elaina growled. Her voice then softened. "You mean while you're talking, right?"

Paige nodded.

Elaina kissed Paige's head. "I wasn't going to say anything yet, but it is odd hearing you speak so much like this." She paused before adding, "I--I don't mean that to be an insult, or anything. Please don't take it that way."

"It's okay, but you're right. I never could figure that part out, though. Talking too much, normally, made my head hurt so much. That's why it was easier to talk like I did. Short bursts or trying to describe things with pop culture references you guys would get."

"It really was the beast at Tanagra," Elaina replied, smirking. "But we were like Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra."

Paige sat up, giving her a flat look. "And you guys thought

I

watched too much TV?" She chuckled. "Who's the nerd now, you weirdo?" She then poked Elaina in the ribs lightly.

"Loving Star Trek doesn't make me a weirdo, you skank." Elaina stuck her tongue out.

"I still don't know why it was easier with you and Elin, and even easier with master," Paige continued. "Our connections to each other, or just the physical act of love, maybe?" She shrugged. "I don't know. The whole thing leaves me with more questions than answers."

"But you've still been speaking like you used to, at least on occasion," Elaina pointed out.

"Habit?" Paige offered. "I'm going through periods of that and periods of word vomit just because I haven't been able to in so long." She chuckled ruefully. "I'm also a bit scared to say too much. You know, just in case the pain suddenly comes back out of nowhere."

"As long as you never shut up, I don't care." Elaina kissed Paige's cheek and pulled her back into her arms.

The mood had lightened, but not completely. Paige was still worried that the being, or voice, or her imagination if that's what it was, would wind up in her unborn child. She didn't know how to deal with that, but what could she do about it? There had been no EULA for her to arbitrarily click 'Accept' on, and nothing had asked for permission. It had, in fact, terrified her for several months until she suddenly realized that it was on her side, and would never harm her. Still, for those few months as a five-year-old, she thought she was going crazy. She didn't want that for her daughter. She didn't want her child to speak in memes or allegory in short bursts. She definitely didn't want her child to be asocial by choice only to keep from being the target of bullies.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier," Paige said quietly.

"It's okay. We've had worse arguments than that, but it's been a while." Elaina smiled wistfully, remembering the young women they used to be. "But I wasn't lying earlier. I've loved you for a thousand years, and I'll love you for a thousand more, Paige Kitty."

"I love you, too, El. I have for a long, long time." She intertwined her fingers with Elaina's and sighed. "I guess I should tell master and Elin."

Elaina nodded. "Get your swimsuit. They went to the hot tub."

"What!?" Paige shrieked. "You let me sit up here and whine about my jacked-up brain while I could have been in the water!?"

"Well, at least I know it wasn't the brain sucker that made you love the water so much."

Down in the hotel's hot tub, Jason and Elin were luxuriating over the massaging effects of the jets. They hadn't realized how much stress they'd felt the last few days that even the loving caresses from their spouses hadn't completely taken care of. Both stole glances at each other, Elin enjoying her husband's wet, muscular body, and Jason grinning at the sight of Elin's bikini-clad breasts jostling just above the waterline from the power of the jet on her back.

"When we get back up to the room, I'm going to pull a report on all of our finances so I can crunch some numbers," Jason said, closing his eyes as he relaxed in the steaming water.

"Already done, husband. I updated it this morning."

He opened one eye and looked at his wife. "I don't know why that surprises me, but it does." With a chuckle, he reached out through the water to find her hand. "I'm so glad you're in my life."

"So, you

do

like my spreadsheets!" she laughed.

In the silence that followed, only the gurgling of the hot tub to be heard, Jason frowned. "What if I make the wrong decision?"

Elin abandoned her own jet and slid close to him. "Don't worry about the money. We can afford the options we've laid out. And, personally, I think the only wrong decision would be to move back to L.A. forever." She made a face. "Yuck."

"I wish--" he began but stopped himself. "Never mind."

"Don't do that, master. You can talk to me."

"I was going to say that I wish you'd tell me what to do," he frowned, "but that's not you anymore. I realized it as soon as I said it. Sorry."

They'd just had a bit of a blow up about how Elin was no longer their mother, and how she would never return to being that woman. Which meant that as much as Jason wanted the old Elin to tell him what to do, she wouldn't. The caterpillar had gone into its chrysalis and emerged as a butterfly, and you could never get the caterpillar back.

"I will always give you my opinion, Jason," she said softly, her wet hand touching his face, "but, no, that's not me anymore. You are my master, and I will follow you wherever we go."

The two sat together in the hot tub listening only to the sound of the bubbles. It was like white noise attempting to lull them to sleep. But sleep wouldn't come because a tiny cannonball soaked them to the bone, followed by giggles they would know anywhere.

"Dunk her?" Jason asked as he wiped water from his face.

"Dunk her," Elin confirmed.

Jason stood, placing his hands on the small, wet shoulders of Paige and pushed her under the water. She was all smiles as she went under, not resisting at all.

Like a fishing bobber, she popped right back up and was once again wrapped in her lover's arms as Jason held her, pulling her down with him to his vacated seat.

"Hello, beautiful," he smiled, kissing her wet face.

"Hello, master. You went here without me. Not cool."

"I'm sorry. You and El were talking, and I didn't want to disturb you."

She suddenly looked a bit apprehensive, and only looked away from him once Elaina emerged from the entrance.

"You just ran off and left me, you brat!" Elaina said.

Jason smiled as his very pregnant wife made her way in, set down her towel and a small bag, then stepped into the tub. Her all-black two-piece swimsuit accentuated her full breasts, which had grown quite a bit as the pregnancy progressed, along with her growing stomach.

She saw the look in his eyes and smiled proudly. "You love my sexy pregnancy body," she said, waggling her eyebrows at him.

"Fuck yes, I do," he grinned wolfishly as she slid against his left side. With Elin on his right, and Paige in the same revealing swimsuit she had purchased when he'd taken Paige and Elin shopping, any man who saw him would be in awe.

"I love you, husband," she said, "but sex in a hot tub isn't a good idea."

"Doggystyle would fix that. You'd be standing and out of the water," Elin suggested, making three pairs of eyes turn to her in surprise. She blushed. "Um, but we are technically in public, so..."

"Paige has news," Elaina interjected, amused at Elin's comment and poor attempt at backpedaling.

"Oh?" Jason asked.

The apprehension returned, but she soldiered on. "Other Paige," she said, instantly grabbing his attention. "It's gone."

"Gone? Wait—Paige, did something happen? Are you okay?" His tone was urgent, and he checked her face, eyes, and even her head in a panic. "Did you fall, or hit your head?"

"We believe something did happen, but not to my head, master." She gently pulled his hands away, kissing them gently.

"Then...what?" Elin asked. In times like this, it didn't matter that she would never be the woman she was. Paige had been her daughter, and she'd raised her with this battle being waged in her little head, seeing the effects of it throughout the young woman's life. Sure, whatever had manifested had helped Paige press on through the trauma of losing her brother and father virtually overnight, and from that point on, but to have it simply be gone now?

"Don't worry," Paige said as she took Elin's hand. She then turned to Jason, smiling softly. "I think it happened when you got me pregnant. I don't know why, or how, or even what it means, but it's been gone a few weeks and that's the only thing I can think of that has changed in that amount of time."

"I'm sorry--the only thing

who

could think of?" Elaina asked, looking pointedly at Paige.

Jason's eyes never left Paige, the depth of his confusion and worry clear to everyone as his face worked to settle on an expression. "Paige, your headaches." He placed a hand on the side of her blonde locks. "You're talking. Like, really talking."

She nodded, warmed by his genuine concern. "It doesn't hurt. Not anymore. It's just me in here now," she added, placing her hand atop his, still touching her head. "I don't know if it's gone forever. It will take some getting used to, though."

He continued to study her. She tried to look relieved, possibly happy, even, but her smile hid something, and he needed to know what that was. Having something in your head for thirteen years was one thing. But having it just disappear without a trace was something else altogether.

"There's more," he said. "You're worried."

Her smile faltered as she pursed her lips and nodded. "I don't know if this was just my mind coping, if I had some sort of brain infection, or, I don't know, maybe some alien taking up residence."

"You had MRIs," Elin said, clutching at Paige's arm. "No anomalies. That's what they said."

Paige smiled warmly at the memory of her mother being so worried, taking her from doctor to doctor to make certain she was okay. "I remember. You--" She paused to correct herself. "My mother took very good care of me."

Elin teared up, nodding.

"I just worry that whatever this was, coinciding with being pregnant," she let out a sharp breath, "that it might move to our baby." She shook her head, tears now forming in her eyes. "It was never mean to me, but it scared me in the beginning. The bullying, the strange looks, the feeling of isolation with only my sister and mother who would truly put up with me..." Her words trailed off as she pressed her forehead to Jason's. "I don't want that for our child."

Elaina and Elin couldn't restrain themselves, both wrapping their arms around Paige and Jason for a group hug.

"It won't be the same as it was for you, Paige," Jason said softly. "Our children will have their father, their mothers, their siblings, and they will be loved. Even if our little girl has her own Other Paige--"

"Prue," Paige softly said, then pulled her head back. "If that's okay?"

He smiled happily. "Prue. I love it." He nodded, then continued. "Then little Prue will be loved, cared for, and understood by all of us, even if she has an Other Prue in there."

Paige scowled. "I still don't want it for her."

"Neither do I, but we will face it head on and together. Okay?"

She nodded. "This is why I love you so much, Jason. You never give up on our happiness." With that, she gently pressed her lips against his, then gazed deeply into his eyes. "That's why I'll always be your girl, and you'll always be my master."

"And don't you forget it," he grinned. "Any of you. You're mine, and that's final."

Satisfied smiles and a group hug slowly receded into the four relaxing, taking advantage of the entire reason for the existence of the large tub they were in. There were still some stressors amongst the four, but they were minor now that Paige's conundrum had been addressed—not fixed, but she knew she had her family's love and support, no matter what happened in nine months, and that was good enough for her.

"Still thinking about our housing situation?" Elaina asked, stretching a leg out to rub against Jason's thigh. "You look more thoughtful than relaxed, my love."

He glanced at her, pressing his lips into a worried line as he nodded.

Elin spoke up. "Our master is under the mistaken impression that he might make a poor decision. I have told him any decision he makes is fine by us, and we will follow him no matter what he decides."

"Works for me," Elaina replied, flashing him a supportive smile.

"Yep," Paige added, not opening her eyes as she rested her head against the edge of the tub.

"Okay, but hear me out," Jason began, but Elaina pushed her foot further to stroke his crotch.

"Master, if you're going to bring up my photography business again, please don't," she said now that she had his attention. "I just like to take pictures. If I happen to make some money with it, great. If not," she shrugged, "who cares?"

"But you started a legitimate business, El," he argued weakly.

"So? I can bring it over here when we're ready. If that's in two months, or two years, then so be it." She removed her foot and leaned forward, reaching for his hand. "I'm serious, husband. If that's your hang up, or one of them, please strike it from the list."

He inhaled deeply, then breathed it out through his nose in a long sigh. "Okay, then Paige—"

"Nope," she said, drawing out the word and still not opening her eyes. "I finished my job with the little swimmers. That was for them, not for me."

He frowned. His last few, lame excuses for putting off a decision, or asking for help, were just that: lame. And he knew better than to bring up Elin since she only wanted to be a housewife, full stop. She would do that anywhere they moved, so that was even worse than a lame excuse. In the end, the reality was that he was nineteen, a millionaire, and being put into the position to house his family and not lose all their millions in the process, leaving his family destitute. How many nineteen-year-olds had to face that type of decision?

The idea of making the wrong decision messed with his head. Yes, they could afford the big house outside of Ghent. Yes, they'd still have several million in the bank afterward, as well as what they had in stocks, bonds, and the trust fund for the kids. Just the idea of working with that large amount of money was ridiculous, though, so he had to liken it to the $100 bill problem. If you had a $100 bill in your wallet, you always had $100. But as soon as you broke it, it would disappear in the blink of an eye. In this instance, he was worried that if he plonked down the money for that big house, they'd burn through the remainder of what they had just as quickly. It wasn't likely, but it was a concern for him.