Two days later Lou and Sarah came home with their babies. The slaves all seemed happy and volunteered to help with changing diapers. Derek overheard a couple of the younger girls lament that with their mandated implants they could never have a baby of her own but could at least participate in raising these two. Clarice was beside herself pumping her own breasts frequently to induce milk, wanting to do her part. Derek had to tell her to relax and just let it happen. She laughed saying she also hoped milk production would "make her tits bigger." That comment had Bev wanting to volunteer. A couple of the other slave girls volunteered as well, but the consensus was three lactating slaves plus the two mothers would be more than sufficient. "Hell, we don't plan to run a dairy around here. We'll be giving milk away as it is." Derek said at dinner that night to the others amusement.
Derek and Wanda helped Bonnie pack her clothes into her car for her return to college. She had only one semester left to graduate and would return in December. Derek had arranged for her car to be fully serviced the week before. Her gas tank was full and she had plenty of cash. The night before she had boldly entered Derek's bedroom, pulled off her nightshirt and climbed into his bed. He came out of his bathroom from brushing his teeth to find her waiting for him, sitting up in bed. She had pulled up the covers far enough to cover her to the waist but her luscious breasts stood out proudly. She was indeed her mother's daughter. "What are you doing?" he asked, although her intentions were obvious.
"I wanted to make love before I left boss. Outside of my fingers and maybe a toy this is going to be my last sex until I get back. No girls and certainly no guys!" she said, grinning. Derek told her she is a big girl and does not have to be celibate. "Don't tell me what to do when I am up there BOSS!" she said grinning. "I'm part of this group and I'm not gonna fuck outside it. Now come over here and let's get busy."
The next morning Bonnie joined Derek in the kitchen for coffee. A few minutes later she started counting on her fingers. "September, October, November, December..." Derek asked why she was counting months. "Oh just figuring when the baby will be born if you got me pregnant last night." she said softly. Derek about choked on his coffee. "Just kidding, boss!" she said laughing. "I'm not ready to get pregnant." then after a pause, "YET"
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A week passed and it was time for Lou to think about going back to work at the office. She started doing a little work from home talking to clients via video conferencing but it was just not the same. Cheryl and Clarice went to the office to finish assembling the bassinets and the changing table in Cheryl's former office to prepare the nursery. Derek, Clarice and Bev had delivered the items the previous weekend. They wanted to be as low key as possible. That morning Cheryl also needed to pick up some paperwork for a client's case Lou had been working. She was sitting at her desk going through the files when Leanne Waddsworth walked in.
"Are you back to work?" she asked Cheryl. Cheryl told her she was there to take care of a few files for Lou and her partner. Plus finish setting up the nursery. "I thought you were attending to Lou and Sarah until they got on their feet." Leanne offered, pushing for information. Cheryl answered she was but she was needed at the office. "Hmmph! So Wanda can't come to work but you can even though you are part of the baby detail. I see." Leanne turned and left.
"She is obviously keeping tabs on the office." Derek offered. "Watching who is coming and going. I think we are under close scrutiny. She is watching to see when we start getting busy on Wanda's case. I'll bet she has other feelers out. Damn! I was hoping we could stay under the radar. And she is rankled and thinks Wanda is avoiding her by staying home." He laughed, "And she's right!"
They constructed an elaborate ruse to try to keep Leanne from getting to Wanda. The group had planned to schedule the hearing late on the Friday before a weekend party. Leanne never missed a party and usually left her office early on Fridays to get ready. Louis Fontenot was apprised of the situation and onboard with their plan. He was going to try to get Wanda's case on the docket at the very last minute possible in case Leanne had a contact in his office. He voiced his opinion that he did not think this would be easy but he would try. Plus he knew Leanne had access to the docket schedule. It was open to anyone with computer access anyway but you had to look to find it. Wanda would be posted as W. Lesser to possibly throw anybody scanning for 'Wanda' off track.
Derek had talked to Rachael Dubois who ran the auction itself or at least coordinated the slaves going on the block. She could not circumvent the auction process but if Wanda had to go onto the block, Rachel could get her there while Leanne was busy across town. Everybody who worked around the local slave trade knew slaves sentenced or arriving at the induction center on Friday waited through the next week before going on the block. Rachael planned to push that up and get Wanda sold the next morning after sentencing. She hoped to rush Wanda onto the block without Leanne knowing. Perhaps even before the mens' sale. The women were usually sold towards the end of the sale. The idea being the crowd would stick around longer. Often many buyers uninterested in buying males would wait until later to even show up. Wanda hoped one way or the other, their subterfuge would work. She was terrified of Leanne.
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Late Tuesday night, almost two weeks later Derek got home only to find Lou up rocking little Lucas or Luke as they decided to call him. "Couldn't sleep or are you feeding?" Derek asked.
"Already fed him and just wanted to sit here for a while. I was waiting for you to come home." Lou said. "We have a little problem. You know we planned Wanda's hearing for this Friday afternoon. Well one of the judges needs to go out of town so they pushed our hearing to the day before. Just after noon on Thursday."
Derek was not happy to hear that. "Damn! I am not going to be ready! I've found even more stuff but I need the extra day and could really use more! Can we postpone a couple weeks until the next party and try again?" Lou shook her head and said it was now or never. Too much had been set in motion to get a continuance at this point. The court decided, not them. "Well, I'll see what I can get tomorrow. I have some good leads. Wait til you hear what I found." He began to explain the results of his investigation.
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Mid-morning Thursday Derek parked his car on the opposite side of Lou's building from where he usually parked. He was wearing a long sleeve shirt and a tie. He decided to carry rather than wear his suit coat as the temperature was approaching 100 degrees and the humidity was close to 95 %. He was already sweltering as he walked into the building accompanied by Wanda. He knew his manner of dress was so radically different from his usual tee shirt and jeans that anybody who knew him would immediately realize something important was going on.