Qt: Aisling's Antics (ch. 7)

Part Seven - "The surface of the sun"

December 12

th

, 2020

When Fiona woke in the morning, most of the other women had gotten out of bed already, everyone sleeping

around

Andy without sleeping

touching

him. That had been a lot harder for some of them than others, and several of them had wrapped themselves up in each other's arms, so Moira had wrapped herself around both Fi and Aisling for much of the night, but Mo was an early riser, and by the time Fi was rousing from her slumber, she and Aisling were the only two people left, along with a note telling them that whenever they were going to leave, to call one of the other fiancées, so that they weren't leaving Andy alone without someone keeping tabs on him.

It was odd, seeing him in the midst of regeneration. As soon as he woke up, they were going to have to wash the sheets and maybe even all the bedding, including possibly replacing the pillows. His body was sloughing off excess defective flesh and fluids in order to replace it with new and improved aspects. That meant there was a lot of discarded aqueous humor from his eyes and drained earwax and other fluids from his ears, all of which had sort of smeared into the pillowcase, rather disgustingly. There was also quite a bit of shed skin on the pillowcase as well, probably where Andy'd been bald before his scalp had been retraining itself to grow hair. The bed itself was filled with dead skin flakes, both small and large, as his body had shuffled off things like moles and skin tags, as well as a long scar that Andy had gotten as a child than had run along the length of his left calf.

To most of the women of the house's satisfaction, though, his body hair hadn't thinned or fallen out. Andy was a hairy man - not quite Robin Williams hairy, but his chest had always had a thick thatch of dark brown curls over it, and even the bits of hair on his back made him more appealing, not less. While a couple of the younger girls thought maybe Andy should shave his back, or even go so far as to shave his chest, the older, more experienced women had told them that they would come to love the sense of a mature and more primal man. Even if the hair on his head had regrown, he'd probably just keep shaving it, as it was as much tradition as anything else at this point.

"And we're

sure

this is totes normal?" Hannah asked Fiona, as she moved into the room, coming to sit on the edge of the bed, looking on at Andy with great concern. The Asian teenager had been more than a little nervous about Andy's regeneration, having been one of the people who had made it the biggest point to talk to Alexis after she'd come through hers. Hannah was doing her best to become an expert on the Quaranteam serum as she could, because she felt like

somebody

in the house should have as much knowledge on the thing that had brought them together as possible. As such, she'd been spending any of her free time reading up on it, talking to Phil about it or studying whatever paperwork Andy had been allowed to bring home detailing the effects, side effects and any other details she could get about it. But information on the regeneration side effect was still somewhat inconclusive and vaguely apocryphal, so Hannah had been in Andy's room every couple of hours, taking pictures and making notes.

"Niko assures us this sort of thing happens all the time, Hannah," Ash said. "And you saw it when it was happening with Alexis."

"With Alexis, it was a

lot

bigger, Ash," Hannah sighed. "Like, I could see all the heavy scabbing over her arm and chest, but with Andy, it's all happening in such a small amount in so many places all at once."

"Lexi had a couple of major injuries, and as such, all the healing was concentrated in one centralized place," Ash said. "Andy's got a handful of minor injuries and nothing like all the burns that Lexi had. So it's harder to look and see specifically where the changes are coming at him, but you can see it all adding up."

"What's with all the liquid?" Hannah asked. The Asian teenager was easily the bustiest member of the household, and as such, always filled out any of Andy's borrowed t-shirts better than anyone else. Andy had one of the largest collections of band T-shirts Fiona suspected existed anywhere on the planet, and as such, all his partners loved borrowing them, because it let them carry a bit of Andy's smell with them throughout the whole day. Hannah currently had on a T-shirt that said, "The Mighty Lemon Drops" from an album called "World Without End" and it would've hung down to her knees if her massive tits weren't pushing it out a sizable amount.

"According to Phil, it's the building block that the serum uses to repair and replace damaged cells, muscles, organs, etc. It consumes spare water and fat and converts that into whatever it needs, but a lot of the 'bad' genetic material gets pushed out with water, because that's the easiest way to get rid of the waste - sweat it out, shed it out," Ash told her. "You want to keep tabs on him for a few hours before somebody else takes over?"

"Sure, I can do that," Hannah said. "What should I do if he wakes up?"

"Come get one of the STBW's and we'll gather everyone who needs to be around while he's coming to," Ash said. "But I wouldn't bank on him being up for several more hours. Sarah's going to come around eleven and is on watch until four when it's Em's shift."

"Okay! I'll just be studying up in here anyway."

Fiona tilted her head to one side as she threw on some clothes, stealing one of Andy's shirts as well, but this one was for an Australian band named Powderfinger. "I thought all the universities were still closed?"

"I just got word yesterday that Stanford's going to open back up for classes in January, so Asha and I are both going to be in that first class that goes to on-site classes again. Apparently, they're going to be sending a bunch of people who wouldn't normally have gone to college to take some college classes, helping them prep to take over industries that are in need of educated people. It's not gonna be

full

student bodies like they used to be, but it'll be a start."

"So if you haven't got classes yet, what are you studying?"

"This is more like figuring out how to build what I want for the first couple of years."

"You going to take all this study and apply it later?"

"I think I'm finally settled that I'm gonna specialize in pediatrics, but I think that's going to require a very good understanding of the Quaranteam serum, so I've been doing as much studying into it as I can on my own," Hannah said. "I had Phil clear me to be able to read all the paperwork Andy's been bringing home about the serum, the virus and, y'know, like, everything, so I'm reading all of that stuff any chance I can. But we got, like, all the class options a week ago, and now we're all figuring out the classes we want to apply for. So, like, I should've been done with this yesterday, but I'm still tweaking and twisting, since I've got a few days before it's gotta be in."

"A'ight, well, we'll leave you to him," Ash said, as she left with Fiona, walking out into the hallway, closing the door to the master bedroom behind them. Ash turned to look at Fi with a smile, rolling her eyes. "I know they must be murder on the back, but I would

kill

to have her tits, even for just a few days. I think each one's the size of my bloody head."

"She

really

stuffs Andy's shirts, doesn't she?" Fiona said as they headed down the stairs. "But yeah, I wouldn't want those boulders strapped to my chest twenty-four-seven. Bet they really make a bunch of noise when Andy goes to town on her, though, don't they?"

"She's a wildcat chasing a laser pointer," Ash said with a nod. "But it's good for Andy to have someone that young and energetic to keep up with, who's so eager and happy all the time. Girl's like a cocktail of ADHD, camaraderie, incredibly sharp intellect and a desperate FOMO, just happy to see everyone, full of excitement and enthusiasm, wanting to be part of everything any chance she can get. No matter how much shit we're all collectively in, Hannah's a love bomb full of optimism, and it's nice to have someone that unflappable around, 'cause that sure ain't me."

"Let's get back down to your painting and my story," Fiona said, as they continued down to the lower floor. The two women continued down to Ash's studio, and Fi stripped back down before getting into her pose once more.

* * * * * * * *

Everything started to get really crazy for us as a family starting with the Halloween party that Andy and Phil decided to throw. As far as I know, Andy's not a big party thrower, but he wanted to celebrate us all being safe and sound behind the walls of New Eden, and the fact that we could walk around and see other people and places. Honestly, I knew we were all going a little stir crazy, and when we went to see the tiny 'downtown' of New Eden, we were ecstatic.

We were still dealing with the addition of Taylor to the family, but the house had felt massively empty, because the place is

huge

, as you well know. But imagine what it was like when it was just five of us, plus Nicolette, Katie and Jenny. It felt... well, it was almost creepy, this giant fucking house with nobody really in it. I know how silly it sounds saying that eight people is empty, but even before we'd found the basement, you're still talking about a house that was clearly designed to support at least a family of ten, plus a staff of half a dozen. With just eight people, you could wander into portions of the house and be out of shouting distance of everyone else in the mansion.

All of this meant that having a party would give the house some real sense of purpose. Everyone got dressed in their costumes, and we were all trying to put on a fun show. I was dressed up as Lois Lane, y'know, the Amy Adams one - I hated those movies, but I did like seeing a ginger as more than just a damsel in distress, like they always were in the Spider-Man films, with Mary Jane practically being one step away above a housewife on a chair bitching about a mouse on the floor. Lauren joined in geek solidarity with me, getting dressed like Black Canary from the Birds of Prey and Green Arrow comics. I know Andy loved seeing her in fishnets, and you should've felt how hard he was when he first saw her.

The star of the show, however, was Niko, who came down dressed as one of his characters, the coroner for SFPD, Dr. Erika Shirow. She'd become much more of a fan of the books since joining the family, and wanted to display that devotion to Andy. I thought it was sweet, actually, seeing her putting her affection for our man on display like that, and it showed off to Andy's friends that she was making the effort to learn as much about him.

It seems weird saying this now, but I think all of us were looking at it as an opportunity to establish our importance within Andy's family to Andy's friends. We all sort of knew Phil, but the rest of Andy's gang, this was the first time we'd gotten a chance to meet most of them, and there was something still... unsettled about our positions.

You've known Andy, so you know how important his friendships are to him. We'd talked to a bunch of them on Discord or through FaceTime, but this was our chance to show off to the local friends that even if a solution was found tomorrow that would unpair us, we weren't going to go anywhere. Andy had been a little hesitant to talk about it, but his last previous relationship - well, we didn't know much about her, other than all of Andy's friends basically hated her, that she was a spoiled brat who thought she was better than everyone else. I don't want to get ahead of the story, but we sort of knew that whatever relationship Andy had had before all of us entered into his life, it had done some serious damage, and left him more than a little embittered. He

really

didn't want to get into it, but we were well aware that the scars ran very deep, and that whoever she was, she'd hurt him so bad that he'd basically given up on dating on the whole. We'd changed that, taught him that he was worthy of love, but, beneath the surface, we all knew the damage was still there, and that his friends were all going to be on high alert of anyone they thought was taking advantage of him.

None of Andy's local friends were anywhere near as intense as Xander was, but we at least had the advantage that Xander was halfway across the country, so if we

really

fucked up, he wasn't nearby to yell at us. Still, we'd definitely gotten the third-degree from Eric, and this was the first time most of us had gotten to spend more than a little bit with Phil, Andy's friend who it seemed like knew something about everything. There were plans to have another party later where we'd meet the rest of Andy's local friends, but this was sort of a test run, and a chance for Andy, Phil and Eric to sit and play poker again, which had been one of their favorite past times before the plague had cut everyone off from each other.

The other advantage was that it let us see children again, something we'd all been lacking for a while since we'd been put into quarantine. We didn't know the exact stats of what was happening outside, but we did know that kids under the age of ten seemed to be immune from DuoHalo, and that meant they could go out trick or treating.

It also meant we were sort of dressed in our sexiest costumes to show off for all the local moms and dads, so they would know we were a houseful of hotties, and that Andy was a very lucky man. We didn't really know much about the people who lived in New Eden yet - we hadn't really gone door-to-door or anything, at first because we were told not to, but now just because we hadn't really gotten around to it - so we wanted to make sure we were leaving the best first impressions on them that we could get away with.

During the time the trick or treating was going on, I started to notice a very distinct pattern of the people coming by with children. It was inevitably the same mix of people - a man in his fifties or sixties, a woman in her early forties, a couple of women in their early to late twenties, and then a few kids between the ages of three and nine. The population of New Eden, it became apparent, was comprised entirely of vaccinated people, and they were using the Halloween holiday as an excuse to wander around and check out the neighbors.

It was a pretty sharp idea, honestly, but we didn't have any kids to use to let us scope out who lived around us. I'd idly wondered if there was a rent-a-kid service where we could borrow a tike who wanted a second pass at gathering candy.

It had also been something of a weird day, as Niko had come back from a shift at the base with a certain sense of nervousness to her, and she didn't really want to talk about it, which was strange, because I'd thought she and I were getting along pretty well at that point. Something had really rattled her, though, and it was wearing her down like I'd never seen. I tried pressing her about it, and she said I'd know soon enough, so I just needed to wait a few hours, and then the whole sordid thing would come out.

When I saw Andy, Phil and Eric were playing poker, I decided to go check with Andy about something. I waited until they were between hands and then slipped down onto his lap. "Hey sexy," I whispered to him. "Got a question I wanted to ask you."

"What's that, love?"

"I know we can't fool around with other men..."

"Phil made that

abundantly

clear, love."

"Aye, he did," I purred into his ear quiet enough so only he could hear me. "But he didn't say there was anything about us not being able to fool around with other

women

, did he?"

"Am I not enough for you, Ash?" he teased me.

"More than plenty, love," I whispered into his ear. "But I figure it doesn't hurt to have a friend and a playmate in someone else's House, just to establish some better alliances. And you know I wouldn't do anything that would hurt you, or without asking you first."

"Who did you have in mind?"

"Phil's girl Linda," I teased him. "She's quite the stunner, and she seems like she's pretty much in the know around here, so I figure getting into her good graces couldn't hurt. And I like playing with girls now and then." He looked at me a little dubiously. "I won't try and

keep

her," I giggled. "I just figure I can offer a laurel, and hearty handshake to a fellow teamer."

"Don't you try and using

Blazing Saddles

to get your way with me, missy," he said, which made me giggle even further. "Alright, but make sure you don't get hurt, and try and keep it out of sight of everyone else. The last thing I want you to do is make a scene about it."

"Where should I keep it out of sight?"

"You know the secret private library I found hidden behind the bookcase that I didn't tell you about, the one that I know you know about anyway?" he said to me.

I knew exactly what he was talking about. He'd been exploring on his own not long after we'd moved into the place and found a bookcase that opened to reveal a concealed stairwell, leading up to a third story library with a deck overlooking the front of the house, concealed within a nestled nook, so it was nearly impossible to see from the ground level. He hadn't told any of us about it, but I'd

also

stumbled across it when I was exploring the house. It was a neat little surprise, and I guess it should've been a sign for us to search the place far more thoroughly than we did, as you know we'd find out later when one of the cats stumbled onto the entirely hidden basement

level

we'd missed. There's not much on the third story - there's the hidden library on one side, and there's a guest suite on the other, with an attached bathroom, but nobody's decided to move into that particular room yet. Andy's sort of big on keeping that one open, so that if people need to stay over, we're not booting them to a hotel. It's only the one big bedroom and the bathroom, but it had a double queen in it when we moved in, so we suspect it was meant to be a 'backup' master suite.

"I might know

of

it," I whispered with a mischievous grin. "You think that'll be an okay place for a tryst with a specimen of Linda's caliber?"

"I think if you need somewhere better and more secluded than that, I can't help you."

"And you're

sure

you're okay with it?"

"As long as you're not catching feelings or trying to move away from me or the rest of our family here."

"I assure you, baby," I whispered in between kisses on his cheek, his lips and his neck. "You couldn't get rid of me if you fucking tried."

I slid off Andy's lap and headed out of the poker room and into the main dining room, where all the various ladies of the three Houses were mingling or trying to anyway. Niko and Lauren were chatting with Lily and Jenny (Eric's Jenny), but Phil's partners were mostly keeping to themselves, at least until Ari and his family showed up, at which point, I watched Niko make a concerted effort to try and push the groups to mix between them, especially as Andy's friend Jenna stopped by, with her partner, an FBI agent named Dale Wilson who looked so bulky he stood out, considering most of the men were playing poker, but apparently he didn't have any interest in gambling, so while Jenna was sitting at the table, Dale was trying to make friends among the other houses, but after a few minutes, even with me trying to chat him up a little, he went to go spend time at the poker table with his soon-to-be wife. That was the point where I decided to make my move onto Linda.

Linda was dressed as Cammy from Street Fighter, and I can tell by the look on your face that that means as much to you as it did to me, so I'll describe the outfit. She had her long blonde hair down into two braided tails than hung down to the small of her back, and the main feature of the costume was a one-piece green leotard that left her arms and legs almost completely bare, except for black leather boots on her feet and red leather gloves on her forearms. She also had on a red beret atop her head, and her legs had some green camo paint on them. I didn't know the character, but she looked pretty damn hot, there was no denying that.