Caleb 38

Author's note.

Once more , please recognise the editing skills of Dr Mark, without whom you would probably get conjunctivitis reading this. (see what I did there?)

PM

Caleb 38 - Gloryhole

It was strange. The days seemed to be flying by, but the weeks were dragging their feet. There were not nearly enough hours in each day to accomplish what I wanted to do, and yet the date that Ness was going to join us, marked on the wall calendar in the kitchen - which Mary had insisted upon - as well as in the diary on my phone and laptop, seemed never to be getting any closer.

I was lying in bed, having just woken up, contemplating my day and week ahead. I had been jumped by the twins the previous night. They'd been so happy that Dianna had been forgiven that, even though we had all had a long and cum-filled afternoon, they'd been insistent on showing me and Jules their gratitude. Since Jules was 'off' at the time, they'd showed her by swamping her with their powers, which had had the smaller girl basking in an almost ecstatic haze.

One thing that Mary did point out to us both was that Dianna had dropped a not-so-subtle hint during lunch. Mary was delighted that I'd lowered my shields for her grandmother, and that Jules had trusted her enough to share a memory with her; she cautioned us, though, that both might expose 'Fuck it' moments that Dianna either might have to report, or might inadvertently let slip to the Council. That explained why Amanda had described the situation with Louise and Keenan rather than simply showing her the memory.

"It's one thing trusting Grandmother," she'd explained, "but just remember that she is only an Empath. At least one person on the council is a Telepath, and they might be able to extract memories from her that we wouldn't want them to see."

I slid out of bed, shivering slightly in the cool air, before showering and heading to the dojo.

I had considered reaching in and taking all the knowledge that Kevin had on martial arts, and then training on my own. It certainly would have been far more efficient than what I was doing. But the thought of doing that to him, without either his knowledge or permission, repulsed me. The feeling had been similar to what I'd felt when I'd first realized I could force people to have sex with me using my powers, though not nearly as extreme.

I recognized the hypocrisy; sometimes I had no qualms about violating someone's privacy, and other times the thought appalled me. I couldn't explain it to myself. As much as I wanted to believe that there was some rhyme or reason to it, I couldn't be sure of that. I had to admit that my decision-making could be infected by bias, prejudice, the vagaries of my emotions, and even just a plain failure to think things through.

Stealing Kevin's memories wouldn't have done any harm, but it wouldn't have helped anyone besides myself - at least in the short term. Still unsure if I was acting morally or just arbitrarily, I decided to keep doing it the hard way.

I was making breakfast when Josh and Louise came into the kitchen. "Morning," I said. They returned the greeting as they sat down at the table, waiting for breakfast to be ready.

"How was Nana Babi?" I asked.

"She's a wicked old girl," said Josh with a grin. "You should hear some of the stories she told us about her younger days. She was quite the man eater."

Louise smiled. "She's taken to Josh," she said to me. "They were as thick as thieves."

"When are you going up again?" I asked.

Louise grimaced. "Probably in a couple of weeks," she said. "I want to go at least every two weeks. Claire says she hasn't got long left, and I missed so much time with her since Keenan and I broke up.

"She also asked when you guys were going to go up and see her again."

"Us?" I asked. "Why does she want to see us? We have no connection to her."

"She's a lonely old lady," said Josh. "She likes company."

"She's a rich old lady," I countered. "I'm sure she gets all the company she can handle."

"That's just it," Louise said. "She wants company from someone who doesn't care that she's rich. She knows that you guys are not after her for her money, or just being nice to get something in the will."

"I'll speak to the girls," I said.

"About what?" asked Amanda as the three of them entered the kitchen.

"Louise wants us to go up and see Nana Babi with them in a couple of weeks," I said.

Mary grinned. "Great," she said. "I like her. I'll bet she has some great stories to tell."

Louise smiled. "Then you'll come?" She looked from Mary to Amanda to Jules. They all nodded. She looked at me. "Caleb?"

"Sure," I said, finishing up the bacon and putting it on a plate in the middle of the table. Louise squealed in delight.

I had a full morning of hypnotherapy appointments on campus, and a single class in the afternoon. Since I had nothing else on, I went to it. The professor made no comment about my spotty attendance. They were starting a revision schedule for the upcoming year-end exams, which were just over a month away.

I made dinner as soon as I got home; I only had a short time before meeting Jeevan. I was looking forward to it, but also dreading it, in a way. He had assured me that I had cured the little girl with the brain tumour, but I was terrified that he was wrong. At that moment, I felt like if I if I never saw her again, I could believe that I had saved her life and not think too much more about it. If I returned to the hospital and found that not to be the case, it would break me.

Jeevan was waiting for me in the parking lot. I had dressed in the janitor's uniform, so there was no need for me to get changed. He smiled at me when he saw me.

"Are you ready?" he asked. I guessed that he could feel my anxiety. Logic told me that everything would be okay; fear begged to differ. I felt nauseous as we once more climbed the stairs to the fifteenth floor. I didn't even have the wherewithal to complain about not using the elevator.

When we arrived on the ward, I almost turned around and walked away, but it was too late. I had already seen her mother, standing outside of her room. She was talking to one of the doctors. She spotted Jeevan and called to him.

"Mister Jay?" she called. "Are you here to fix the dripping tap?"

I saw that he had planted the thought in her head that there was a dripping tap in her daughter's bathroom, and we were there to fix it. The fact that there were two of us, neither of whom had any tools of any description, didn't register with her. Jeevan nodded. "Is it all right for us to go in?"

"Yes," said her mother. "Christina is napping, but if you're quiet, you'll be fine."

We opened the door quietly and walked into the room. Christina was sitting up and watched us enter. Her face split into a smile when she saw us.

"Mister Jay," she yipped. "Mister Kay."

I looked at her with my Empathy. I could see that the tumour was almost gone. Christina herself looked much better. Her colour was good, and she had even managed to put on some weight. She almost looked like a normal six-year-old girl.

Waves of relief washed over me, and once again I could feel tears coursing down my cheeks. I turned away, trying not to show her. I tried to push past Jeevan to go into the bathroom, but stopped when a small hand took hold of mine.

"Mister Kay?"

I looked down. Christina had hopped out of bed and was holding onto my hand.

I wiped my face with my free hand. "How are you feeling?" I asked her, trying hard to keep my voice from breaking.

She looked up at me, her eyes the brightest blue. She beckoned, and I dropped to my haunches in front of her.

"I'm better," she said. "Thank you." Then she let go of my hand and threw her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly.

"I won't tell," she said into my ear. "I promise."

I enveloped the little girl in a hug, holding her for a second before standing up, lifting her with me, and carrying her back to her bed. I laid her back onto mattress and tucked the bedclothes around her.

"I'm so happy that you're better," I said, recovering myself. "You make sure you look after your mom, okay? She's had a hard time."

"I will," she promised.

After we left Christina's room, we went to the cafeteria so I could grab a coffee and compose myself.

"I told you she was okay," said Jeevan, "but I also knew you wouldn't be sure until you saw for yourself."

I nodded. "It just seemed so unreal," I said. "Of all the powers I have seen, this seems the most unbelievable. I know I have seen you Heal, but she's a little girl."

"I know," he said. "Believe me, every Healer has the same doubts - the same response the first time, and often beyond. The fact that it is a child only compounds the emotions. Be happy, my friend; you have given that little girl her life, and she will always remember you."

"Will she?" I asked.

"I believe so," he said. "I'll bet if you run into her in the street in a dozen years, she will still remember her 'Mister Kay.'"

I shook my head.

"Come," he said. "Tonight, I want to go to the ER and see what's going on down there. I'd like to show you how to deal with trauma if there are any suitable candidates."

I finished my coffee, took a deep breath and stood. I smiled at Jeevan. "Let's go."

We took the elevator down to the ER. It seemed that Jeevan had no issues with using the elevator to go down; it was going up he had a problem with. When we arrived in the ER, there were a stack of patients waiting for treatment, and we spent the evening using up both our powers treating sprains, strains, and a few broken bones. He was disappointed that there were no major traumas that night.

"How screwed up is it," I asked him, "that we are sitting here hoping for someone to have a major accident just to make our night more interesting?"

I also took the opportunity to ask him my other outstanding questions. He outlined to me how I could resolve the issue of Fiona's excess skin. He said I should do it sooner rather than later, as then the skin would shrink as she lost weight and people wouldn't comment so much. I resolved to do something about it as soon as we went up there.

With regard to my 'extra inch' he told me that it was easy to achieve. I could, in a relatively short time, change my size. "There is a disease called Peyronie's disease," he said, "that results in a painfully curved and scarred penis. The technique for doing what you want is the same as for treating that." He showed me. "Don't be too ambitious with your own size. Most girls may drool over a picture of a twelve-inch penis, but if you went near them with it, they would run away from it as fast as they could. Trust me, anything between six and nine inches is fine. More than that and you are going to be looking for a size queen to use it with."

My final question concerned Dana. I asked him if I'd be able to use my powers to help her transition.

"Yes and no," he said. "You could do much for her that Norm science also could - except, with experience, you could do it better, and faster, and with less recovery time, I am quite sure. How much experience? Quite a lot, I am afraid. I bear no inordinate loyalty to nature; I do not view transitioning as some kind of sin or abomination. Nature is what you will be fighting if you seek to use Healing to help her in that way, though. You will not be getting any help from her physical body - quite the opposite.

"Given that it would also expose you," he said, "I might recommend letting the Norms do what they do. They are not so bad at it these days. If she and her doctors are both struggling, perhaps you could offer a helpful nudge from time to time; perhaps she has larynx surgery to alter her voice, and just-so-happens to get exactly the voice she always dreamed of having. Perhaps her surgically-constructed vagina experiences pleasurable sensations that her surgeons dared not even suggest might be possible. Perhaps, if she chooses to have her body hair removed, the procedures go better than expected, and she is left completely smooth everywhere she wants to be after only a few sessions.

"Even then, I would caution you to do your homework. Nature is a formidable opponent."

Knowing more or less what I could do, I spent my journey home thinking about what I should do. I almost grew out my cock as I was driving - a 'little' surprise for the girls the next time everyone was horny - but then I wondered if I should be asking their opinion. They were the ones that had to accommodate it, after all. I had never had cause to complain about my size before, and the idle thought that I couldn't make Dianna gag on my cock didn't strike me as a good enough reason to add an extra inch.

Then I had the thought that if I asked the girls and they all said yes, how would that make me feel? That sent me spiraling a bit. I worried that their eagerness to play with Josh was down, at least in part, to his bigger package.

Then I remembered Ness - how difficult it had been to even get inside of her. Amanda loved anal, but Dean's girth had hurt her. She hadn't really complained - she'd almost viewed it as a challenge to overcome - but that wasn't the point.

By the time I arrived home, I'd talked myself out of it. I left open the possibility of doing it temporarily someday as a special surprise.

Tuesday was a 'schedule' day. It contained no highlights whatsoever. I went to the dojo, to PSU, and then back to the dojo to teach. My class was doing really well; most of them had learned the first kata. We ended the session with a sparring practice, during which Josh got his ass handed to him by Jules. Like her sister, Jules was feisty when she had to be.

Wednesday morning was Ethics. We were picking up where we'd left off: superheroes. Dana sat at her desk, not particularly looking at anyone and not participating in the discussion. I decided to poke her a little.

"In the end," I said when called on to speak, "it doesn't matter. As a superhero, I will do what I want, since nobody can stop me. I don't need their permission, and if they don't like what I do, then that's just too bad."

"Might makes right?" The voice was cutting, scornful, and Dana's. Inwardly, I grinned.

I spent the next five minutes being 'educated' as to the error of my premise before the lecturer took pity on me and intervened.

"There are some that say that the US takes this attitude," he offered. "That we think that because we have the military might to do so, we force our rules and beliefs on others. It is certainly a point of view." That, too, brought out a storm of comments from many of the class, including Dana, and took the spotlight away from me.

As the class were arguing the point, I caught the professor's eye. He glanced quickly in Dana's direction and nodded. It seemed that he knew what I had done, and why, and had appreciated it.

Once the class was over, I was heading for the door when I heard her.

"Caleb?"

I turned. Dana was standing about ten feet away. I got jostled as people tried to go around me, and I stepped to one side.

"Can we talk?" she asked once I'd managed to get out of the flow of traffic.

I nodded. "Of course. When?"

"After school?" she asked.

"Want to come over for dinner?" I asked. "The guys would love to see you."

She bit her lip, uncertain. "They all know?" she asked nervously.

"They know," I said, "and it makes absolutely no difference to them. I promise you."

She stared at me for a moment, and appeared to steel herself. "Okay," she said. "What time?"

"Up to you," I said. "You can come back with me, or we can come get you a little later. We usually eat between about six thirty and seven on a Wednesday."

"On a Wednesday?" she echoed. "Is it different other nights?"

"Mondays, I volunteer, so we eat early," I explained. "Tuesdays I teach Karate, Thursdays we go to the gun range and Fridays is a night out. So yes - Wednesday is our only week-night in."

"Can I meet you in the parking lot again, after class?" she asked.

"That would be perfect," I said.

I had some more hypnotherapy sessions booked for the afternoon, and I worked through those, all the time completing a couple of assignments while the 'clients' were asleep and their chaperones sat through an illusion of me talking rubbish to their charges. I had time after the last one to email the assignments to the professors concerned, and then I went to the parking lot to meet Dana. She was waiting by my truck when I arrived.

"Sorry," I said. "Have you been waiting long?"

"Just arrived," she said. I opened the door for her, and she climbed in. I went around the truck and got in the driver's side. She didn't wait for me to open the door when we arrived at the house, hopping out as soon as I turned the truck off. Then she waited for me at the front door, looking a little embarrassed that she hadn't thought that far ahead.

Jules and the twins were home; Josh and Louise were yet to arrive. The girls welcomed Dana, and Mary was just making coffee when Louise came into the house, Josh following. Louise's eyes lit up when she saw Dana, and she hurried over to give her a hug.

We took our drinks into the living room. It was warm enough to sit out on the deck, but I wasn't sure if our neighbors would be 'observing.' I didn't think that Dana would appreciate an audience.

She sat, nursing her drink and looking around at us.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry," she began, "for running out on you guys like that, and for lying to you."

"Lying?" asked Josh. "What about?"

She looked at him incredulously. "A-about me b-being a..."

"Dana," Josh asked softly, "which is the real you? In your heart. Are you Dana or are you David?"

I was impressed, and even a little surprised. He usually didn't take the lead on anything serious, and I think we'd all convinced ourselves he was a bit thicker than he really was just from all the jokes we told about it.

"Dana," she said, her eyes locked with his.

"Then you didn't lie," he said. "You came to us as Dana - the real you. That's who I met, and that's who I had fun with. If there's one thing that being around Caleb has taught me, is that what's inside someone is more important than anything else. I'm not going with the cheesy Avatar line, but I will say this: you are a great girl and you make me laugh. You're far too intelligent for me to talk to - but even so, I like being around you. Nothing else really matters."

Louise sniffed and wrapped her arms around Josh. "It looks like Jules beat some sense into you finally," she said, kissing his cheek.

"I don't know what to say," Dana said. "I came here with a whole speech prepared, but..."

"Jamie spoke to me," I said. "She asked me what we wanted from you. My answer to her, and to you, is friendship. I know that from the outside, our living arrangement can seem a little daunting. Everyone here is having sex with everyone else, and yes, that includes Josh and me. That doesn't mean that we expect to have that kind of relationship with every single person we meet. We can, and do, have friends.

"You have a journey ahead of you. It's going to be challenging enough without having to take it alone. We still have a lot to learn about each other, but isn't that half the fun of meeting new friends? Finding out new things? We are at PSU for another year. After that - who knows where any of us will be? But do you really want to spend the next year sitting in your room and staring at the door, hoping someone will want to borrow a book?"

She shook her head. "No," she murmured.

The room lapsed into silence.

"So," I said after a few minutes. "What's wrong with 'might makes right,' might I ask?"

I saw Dana's eyes flash. She opened her mouth to respond, but then caught herself and smiled. "Bastard," she said. "You only said that to get a rise out of me."