CHAPTER 1
I was having a really shitty day. My job can be really shitty. Most of the time I enjoy it, but that day, I had been up to my neck in shit. Like most engineers I spend most of my time in front of a computer, but some days you have to get your hands dirty. Shit happens, and Victorian sewers burst and collapse. Shit certainly happened that day. The River Thames is one of the cleanest, capital city, rivers in the world, and part of my job is to keep it that way. I had not meant to fall in, and my crew whipped me out pretty fast, before I swallowed any. I came out with a loud squelch, my expensive wellies lost forever. But I was covered. It was in my hair, my nose and my ears, and I suspected, my pussy.
I didn't cry. My major blubbing days are, mainly, behind me. I stripped naked, despite the bitter wind, and ten men watching me, and got under the "shit shower", attached to our mobile unit. A thin screen offered me a tiny bit of dignity. When covered from head to toe in shit, being naked is simply not an issue. The boys, bless them, formed a defensive wall in front of me. They were totally inured to the stink. I was not quite so, and Georgia would probably not touch me for days. I have a supply of really cheap T shirts, and knickers, for shitty jobs, and a clean change were waiting in the van.
The breach was plugged, and a million fish did not die. Job done.
As I stood on the bus, I could hear sniffing and shuffling behind me. I bet I still had some sewage, in one of my ears. I got off, a mile from home, and walked in the icy rain.
Shit, I thought, and stifled a giggle, she's home early.
"Hi, honey. You looked like a drowned rat."
Georgia hugged me, and stepped back, nose wrinkled.
"And smell like one. Unclean. Dirty bitch. Don't move."
She rushed to the kitchen and returned with a bin bag, and the Sunday paper.
"Strip, bog monster."
"But, I just need to redo my ears. My body's OK...ish. You are not throwing out my favourite suit. Get a separate bag. It can go to the dry-cleaners."
Georgia walked up the stairs in front of me, dropping sheets of newspaper, and heaving.
As I got into the shower, I invited her to join me. I still love shower sex.
"No fucking way, Shitgirl. And get that pussy clean; you know where we are going tonight."
Slightly deaf and raw, I emerged five minutes later.
"Touch your toes."
And she sniffed me, like a dog.
"Now, who's the dirty bitch?" I asked coyly. I was getting moist.
"Get back in the shower, Charley, and turn it cold. We are not going out with you on heat."
"I'm supposed to be on heat, stupid."
I was trying to distract myself, from what was going to happen later. I was scared and just a little humiliated, and the animal images kept going through my head. Georgia was going to take me to be inseminated; made pregnant; knocked up. Like a prize mare.
CHAPTER 2
We arrived at the clinic early.
I had a sudden pain, in my right side. I winced and Georgia frowned.
I just smiled. "Mittelschmirz. A good omen." I get ovulation pain most months. Georgia never has.
Two other women were waiting, at the clinic. I guessed that the crop haired woman, who glared at us, aggressively, wasn't the hopeful mum. Or maybe I was jumping to conclusions. Georgia knew them somehow, but not in a friendly way. She does a lot of pro bono work, for a charity that supports victims of domestic abuse.
Georgia couldn't help herself, and glowered back.
The plain, slightly plump, woman, started to cry, and I waited for the earth to swallow me.
I had surprised myself, when Georgia had asked me what I wanted for my 27th birthday.
"A baby." I blurted out.
And so, nine months later, here we were, for my second intrauterine injection of donor sperm. Kindly provided by Georgia's gorgeous brother; Michael Clarke, QC. We had seriously considered being "done" together. Obviously Georgia would need somebody else's sperm, and I didn't have a brother. Her career trajectory was becoming stratospheric, and she would likely be called to the bar, in the next twelve months. Georgia, two years my senior, had overcome enormous prejudice, as an openly gay, barrister, and would have loved to appear in court; as a gowned lesbian, with a bump.
She wasn't ready for motherhood. She was going to find parenthood difficult. I was ready. I had grown up. Dr Charley Matthews. I have a PhD in hydraulic engineering, and work, for a large water company. Mainly in sewage. Well someone has to.
It was soon our turn. I put on my gown, got on the couch, and put my feet in the stirrups. Georgia had returned to goddess mode, and held my hand, gently crooning in my ear. The procedure took minutes, and was painless. Then we were driving home. I could feel the fear grow.
As soon as we got in, Georgia grabbed me and kissed me, fiercely. But it was not enough to prevent the flashback. To my first insemination. I was, again, an eighteen year old virgin; raped in a Swedish hotel room; mounted like an animal; too petrified to resist. I must have dissociated, as next thing I knew, I was in bed, in a nightie, with my head on Georgia's bounteous chest.
"That was a long one kid."
"Sorry." I whimpered. "I love you so much. Make love to me Gorgeous."