Quaranteam Se Team Davies Ch 02

This is a spinoff from the Quaranteam Universe created by CorruptingPower. Reading his work, as well as stories from many other excellent authors such as BreakTheBar, Agathon, Ronan, OtterlyMinBlowing, The_Licentious_Laureate, SilverRyden, BronanTheLibrarian, and others inspired me to start my own story. Thank you CorruptingPower for letting me join in the fun, and to all of rest for their help and support as I wrote this story. Please check out their work! This work is written with the consent of CorruptingPower. Enjoy!

All Characters depicted in sexual situations in this story are over the age of 18.

****Gainesville, FL - 0700, Monday, July 27, 2020****

When his alarm went off at 7:00 am, Miles struggled to shut it off. Two hours of sleep - not a lot to go on, but he'd try to grab a nap, here and there. Physically, aside from being fatigued, Miles had not felt this good in more than a decade. His fever had cleared while he was sleeping. His breathing difficulties and cough were subsiding. He definitely felt like he was on the mend.

Emotionally, Miles felt like he was midway through a wild roller-coaster ride. He briefly catalogued all that he had endured in recent days; his eldest son had passed away, as had his brother-in-law Raul, and his eldest niece Mary Beth. Pandemic lockdowns had prevented funerals or wakes, so there was no telling what they would eventually be able to do to find closure, let alone when.

He looked to his left - oh yeah, and his sister-in-law was now his wife, at least in practical terms. Not legally, of course. He wondered how that would even work in what was bound to become the new cultural reality.

Miles grimaced at the thought of what might come next. He might be getting out over his skis here. Would Penny want to go back to her house and arrange regular hook-ups for dosing, or would she bring Ellie and move in with him and Sean? And what was going to happen to the broader world around them? A major outbreak seemed to be unfolding in Gainesville. The Air Force had mobilized in response and was likely going to begin implementing some sort of emergency containment protocol soon, if they hadn't already done so. Meanwhile, here at Casa Davies, everyone had some major life events to process.

Stretching while trying to stifle a yawn, Miles got out of bed and went to get the shower water running. Shit. Shave. Brush Teeth. Shower. The usual routine. Fifteen minutes later, he came out of the shower to get some clothes on and check on the kids. And he ought to check in with work - he should still be on bereavement leave, but he was going to extend it by a few days, due to Raul and Mary Beth's passing. Oh yeah, and he needed to dry Penny's clothes. Or maybe he'd take Ellie over to her house to pick up some things... shit, should he tell Ellie her mom was in his bed? That sounded bad. It would look bad, too. He just didn't feel bad about it. Not now. Maybe later. Fuck it.

He got busy working through his tasks. He confirmed via Workday that he was still on bereavement leave, so he left it at that - he'd take care of work later. He put Penny's clothes in the dryer. Even if he ended up going to her house to get more clothes for her, he reasoned, it still needed to be done. The kids were still asleep, but he doubted that they would stay that way for long. He definitely didn't want to update either of them about Raul or Mary Beth - not until Penny was awake. He decided that a Star Wars movie marathon was a great way to keep them occupied while he tended to things that needed to be done.

He made his world famous (or at least locally infamous) breakfast casserole and woke the kids up about 20 minutes before it was done. He instructed them both to make their beds, brush their teeth and shower, get dressed, and report for breakfast in twenty mikes. The kids thought it was funny when Miles used military jargon, so they grinned and got busy. Just before the oven timer went off, his niece came into the kitchen. "Uncle Miles," she asked, with her big fucking Disney eyes, "have you heard from my mom?"

Miles had considered his options while cooking - it had been his experience in life that, when confronted with an idea he wasn't prepared to address, he'd put it on the back burner until he had an epiphany, referring to this process as 'putting it in the rock tumbler' - he knelt down to look into her eyes, and told her a half-truth. "Your mother was dropped off here earlier this morning," he explained to the girl. "She's doing better, but was exhausted, so the doctor gave her some sleeping pills. She should be awake by about dinner time. We're going to let her sleep until then. And I don't have any updates on your father or Mary Beth," he fibbed, "I think maybe you and Sean, and I will drop by your house later today to grab you and your mom some spare clothes. Sound good?"

Ellie looked unhappy but nodded her head. "Do you need any help, Uncle Miles?"

"If you could set the table, that would be great," he said. "Plates and forks should be fine - nothing fancy."

Ellie got out three plates and forks and put them in front of three places at the kitchen table. When Sean came in, Miles tasked him with putting a pitcher of orange juice on the table, along with three glasses. When the timer on the oven went off, he pulled the casserole out, sprinkled a cup of shredded sharp cheddar on the top, then put it back in for another five minutes. "Could one of you please put a trivet on the table for me?" he requested.

A few minutes later, Miles placed the casserole on the table and began to serve out big heaping squares of breakfast. The three of them ate heartily - his casserole being a family favorite, in both families.

Later, once the dishes were cleaned up, he had them both get ready to take a ride. He'd placed an order at the supermarket for some extra grocery items and wanted to go to Penny's house to grab some clothes, and then back by the market to pick up the food order. He made one last online order, for a dozen boxes and packing tape at the hardware store. He could do curbside pickup there as well. No way he was taking the kids inside any public place - that would be criminal, at this point.

He saddled the kids up in the Beast - so named, because it could hold at least six full grown adults with full camping kit in its belly, but got shit for gas mileage - and headed out to complete the errands. First stop - Penny's house. He found the extra key right where they usually left it, and let himself and the kids inside, placing the key on his keyring. He asked Sean to do a quick check to make sure all doors and windows were properly shut and locked, and all window blinds closed. He went into Raul and Penny's room to grab a duffel bag out of their closet, then put several pairs of things, bras, tops, and bottoms into the bag. He checked the medicine cabinet for any prescription drugs - nothing with Penny's name on it - just Lisinopril for Raul - no idea he had blood pressure issues. Grabbing her hair care products, deodorant, and perfume, he headed back out to check on the kids. Ellie had just about finished packing her things - Miles told her to grab her laptop or any books she'd like to bring, as he suspected she'd be staying with him for a bit. She paused to look at him with struck eyes but did as she was told.

Doing one last check, Miles made sure all the lights were off, and locked the door behind them as they exited, loading the bags into the middle row of the Beast, along with Ellie. Pulling out of the drive, Miles turned back towards the hardware store, deciding to go there next, saving the market for last. Two uneventful stops later, they were headed for home. He saw a white government van parked out front when he turned into his private lane. He waved at the van occupants as he backed the Beast into the garage, reminding the kids to Mask up for him. They grabbed the bags from the market while Miles brought in the duffel bags, leaving the boxes and packing tape for later.

Once inside, he asked the kids to put away any perishables and head upstairs for now. He then went to the front door, to find his two favorite ladies from the 144

th

Medical Airwing waiting outside, once again in their bubble suits. "Spaceman Spiff, and her trusty sidekick!' he playfully said, "Welcome to planet Davies!"

"Get a sailor laid, and he's all kinds of happy," he heard the Staff Sergeant mutter.

"Please tell me you didn't take those kids anywhere public," Lt. Jansen hissed at him, a look of concern mixed with angst apparent in her eyes. "That would be a huge fucking nightmare!"

"No, of course not. You ladies want to come in?" he offered. They stepped in, moving once more to the dining room table. SSgt Mitchel was already opening the case as Jansen squared off in front of Miles.

"Why did you leave the house with the children?" she wanted to know. "You do understand that they could spread this shit, don't you? Shit, you could probably be charged with attempted murder, or worse. I am serious, Davies. You must not take them anywhere again, anytime soon!"

Miles grimaced. "Yes, I understood the risk. I made sure not to take them anywhere public. I needed to pick up spare clothes for Ellie and Penny. And I needed some packing supplies - gonna box up Marcus' stuff today. And I needed some groceries," he explained. "So, for the last two stops, it was all curbside delivery. No public contact. I don't see another partner, so I'm guessing you're here to test me?"

"Test you both, yes. Let's start with you. Have a seat in front of Mitchel and get swabbing," she said with a rueful grin at her poke at the navy man. "We'll get to Penny next. Oh, and today we'll do a blood draw on both of you, in addition to the swab."

Miles took the swab from Mitchel, ran it around the inside of his cheek, then handed It back. Putting the swab into the test kit, she handed him another. "Care to go grab a sample from Penny for me?" she asked, giving him an exaggerated batting of her eyelashes. Chuckling at her cheekiness, he took the second swab into the bedroom. Returning a moment later, he handed the swab to her, and she inserted it into the test machine, next to his sample.

"Any orifice will work, right?" he asked innocently? Jansen shot him a warning look that screamed 'you didn't!' while Mitchel just made a 'yuck' face inside her helmet. He chuckled to himself, making an air finger motion as if adding a point to his score.

"Make sure you miss the vein a few times," Jansen suggested to the staff sergeant. Turning to Miles, she took a good look at him. "You sure do seem pretty chipper today, compared to the last time I saw you."

"I'm probably a little loopy," he posited. "I only got about two hours of sleep after... you know, so I am running on fumes right now. Let's get these tests done, though. I feel a strong urge to nap soon!" he said while stifling a yawn. Miles was exhausted, truth be told. Not physically, it was more like he was emotionally wrung out. He'd passed through a crucible earlier with Penny, and was feeling an almost giddy sense of relief, like a free diver who'd struggled to reach the surface, almost blacking out, finally drawing in that lungful of fresh air upon breaking the surface. He realized he was probably putting up a front to the wing commandos, here, so as to avoid thinking about dark things at all.

"Don't worry, Commander," the lieutenant soothed him. "This won't take too long."

Miles narrowed his eyes slightly at her use of his rank. He made a show of looking down at himself, then looked back up at her. "I'm not in uniform, Lieutenant. Why address me by rank? Heck, I'm in the last year or so of my naval reserves' commitment, so I'm almost not even a commander anymore."

"Well, that might not be quite true," she replied with a sly grin. "I heard a rumor that you are about to be recalled to active duty. Just a rumor, mind you."

He guffawed at that. "Now why in all that is great and good would Uncle Sugar want to go and do something that fuckin' stupid?"

"Again, sir, just a rumor," she replied, "but it's being suggested that we're running low on senior command personnel, and you possess certain knowledge and skills that offer specific advantages to a certain program that is about to be spun up. Or so I've heard."

Mitchel finished drawing his blood, popped the tube out of the syringe, disposing of the latter in a medical waste bag while labelling the former, then grabbed another syringe and tube before heading for the bedroom.

Miles grew sober. He looked at Jansen with an earnest, no bullshit expression. "Okay, lieutenant, in all seriousness, when will this change in my status likely occur?" he inquired.

"I'm told the paperwork is already being routed, sir. Your employer should be notified no later than tomorrow, and you should also be receiving your new orders hand delivered before the close of the day tomorrow at the latest. Oh, and you'll likely be getting another partner, probably later today, tomorrow morning at the latest, depending on how your tests turn out. Speak of the devil," she said.

Miles looked to his right to see the lights on the test machine glowing green. "What about the kids? Is there an available treatment, or will they forever be carriers of the virus?" he asked.

"The science is out on that," Jansen responded, "but we're hopeful that, since they never got sick, they won't become symptomatic when they hit... age 11 and up." She winced for a moment, seeming to choose her words with care. "As for being carriers, we think that they are only carriers during the initial two weeks post-infection, but we're not sure about that. There's also been word of a variant strain. It's quite possible that the infection-carrier cycle would repeat with exposure to a new strain - hopefully we won't see too many kids experiencing that. In the meantime, it's probably best to keep them either isolated, or wearing masks and social distancing until the Quaranteam program goes mainstream here locally, just to avoid your kids potentially initiating another spreader event."

Miles frowned for a moment, considering what he'd just heard. The kids would have to continue to endure the same conditions as before they'd all gotten sick. Wait a second... "Speaking of masks and social distancing, we all have to continue to do all that as well, right? Even though we're vaccinated - whatever you're calling it - to keep up appearances, yes?" he asked, trying not to sound annoyed.

The Air Force officer nodded grimly. "That was part of the NDA you all signed. You cannot communicate, by any means, information alluding to the existence of the Quaranteam program. Imagine the shitstorm that would happen if word of this leaked out before we have enough stockpiled - we'd probably see a huge uptick in civil unrest, which equals spreader events."

"When does the Air Force plan to go public with this?" he asked.

"Not our call - that decision rests solely with the POTUS. But ultimately it will depend on the availability of the vaccine for mass distribution," she responded, shaking her head. "But for this trip, looks like we're all done," she said, as she saw her companion coming out of the bedroom flashing her a thumbs-up. "As I said, we'll likely be back with your next partner later today or tomorrow. No more middle of the night shit if we can help it. See you soon, Commander!" she said, this time with a shit-eating grin.

"Okay, but next time, lose the spacesuits - they creep me out!" he responded, her grin infectious. He saw the Air Force's ladies out and shut the door behind them with a sigh.

He debated whether or not to grab a quick nap. It was a short debate. The nap would have to wait. Wanting to get some tasks done while he waited for Penny to wake up, Miles decided to tackle squaring away the bedroom situation, beginning with packing away Marcus' room. He avoided the melancholy thoughts this threatened, choosing instead to look forward to using this as private time to say 'goodbye' to his son. Gathering boxes and packing materials, he went upstairs, checked on the kids for a moment, and then got to work.

It took him right up to just about lunch time. He'd started by going through Marcus' clothing - everything deemed in good condition was set aside - the rest went into large black garbage bags. He would add them into the garbage run to the city dump he planned for the next few days. The saved items could either become 'hand-me-downs' for Sean, or donated to charity, depending on how Sean felt about the matter. Bed clothes were piled into a basket for laundering. Some items were set aside to be donated to the local Good Will collection center. He took down the posters - the boy loved Marvel! - and carefully packed away the few toys the boy had held onto - he'd go through those with Sean on another occasion - some might be kept as remembrances, but he didn't want to make such choices today.

Miles grimly reflected that these same tasks had awaited him following Beth's death, but he'd gotten through the pain then, and he would survive it now. He swallowed the momentary surge of anguish and focused on completing the room.

Once all personal items were dealt with, he took a break to consider what to do with the room. There would be more partners joining the team, and the possibility existed that more children would come along with the partners. It was a good thing that Miles' home had a few extra rooms, but they might eventually need to consider long-term options for how situations might evolve. In the end, he remade the bed with clean sheets and a comforter, cleaned out the drawers with Lysol wipes, and generally left the room ready for some yet-to-be-determined occupant.

After finishing Marcus' old room, he took a break to grab lunch with the kids. Sean and Ellie were getting along well, all things considered, which was a tremendous boon, and PBJ's and Fritos make everything seem better! Miles watched with a grin as Sean and Ellie traded good natured ribbing or talked about their new online school classes that would start soon. He didn't want to think about the emotional bomb that would be dropped on them later.

After lunch, the other upstairs bedroom was targeted - working quickly, he got the room sorted, removing all unnecessary items, emptying the closet, and setting up the guest bed to a serviceable status, much as he had with Marcus' old room, and for the same reason.

The final step was to restore the upstairs bathroom to a state of cleanliness. Marcus had not been a fastidious cleaner, and Miles had not forced the issue in the past. About an hour of elbow grease was needed to clean the room to his satisfaction. The home theater and adjoining bathroom were hardly used anymore, so both just needed light dusting.

Miles was done with the upstairs - save for the game room - by about 4:00 pm, and decided to go check on Penny. He grabbed a bottle of water on his way to the bedroom - thinking she'd likely wake up thirsty. When he entered the room, she was still asleep - it didn't look like she'd moved much, if at all. He put the water bottle next to her on the nightstand, cleaned up what clutter there was in the room, and went into the closet. The 'her' side of the his-n-her walk-in closet was mostly empty. He'd cleared out all of Beth's things shortly after her death, donating it all to Goodwill. There were still about two dozen empty hangers there - no doubt he'd need to order more from Amazon, or possibly get them from Penny's house. Along with other items, he thought wryly to himself. It took him very little time to square away the closet - the biggest issue would be the gun safe, but that was mostly taking up space on his side anyway, and he wasn't about to move that any time soon.

He was just starting to clean the master bathroom when he felt two arms wrap around him from behind. "Mmmmmm, nothing so sexy as a man cleaning my bathroom!" he heard Penny say.