A-Cup Angst

If you haven't read chapter fifteen, then this will make little sense.

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A little after noon passed, two beautiful, young women exited the Carabinieri base in Florence. They huddled together for warmth as soon as they stepped out the front gate. The thinner girl with light brown hair shared her coat with the buxom brunette. The Sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, but the wind was freezing and the snow that was shoveled into tall piles on the edges of the sidewalks wasn't going to be melting any time soon.

The two shivered together and glanced around for shelter when Jamie Jacobs suddenly appeared, not ten yards away from them.

"C'mon, girls," he said, "get in!"

They took a few steps towards him, but then he disappeared, leaving them confused. Suddenly, the doors to the car, that had been parked in front of them the whole time, were opened and Jamie called from inside, saying, "I've got the heater on! Get in!"

Mara O'Donnell and Caitlin Ford separated and gingerly walked over the icy sidewalk to get inside the car. As soon as they got in and closed the doors, they sighed and relaxed. The seats and the cabin were toasty.

"Are you ok," Jamie asked.

"Peachy," Caitlin said, smiling at him.

"I'm fine," Mara said from the back seat. "Thanks to you."

"Good," he said. "I'm glad you're both ok. I was so worried about you."

"Yeah, Caitlin told me how you nearly went mad trying to find me," Mara said. She leaned forward and put her hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, Jamie. Thank you so much."

Jamie looked down and cleared his throat. "Yeah, don't mention it, I, uh..."

"Caitlin told me you blame yourself for what was done to me," she said. "You do realize that's stupid, right? I was pimped out long before you came across me."

"Yeah, but if I hadn't shown up that night, then you wouldn't have been kidnapped and-"

"Seriously, Jamie, give it a rest," Mara said and scooted forward until her breath was in his ear. "You did nothing wrong and you saved my life. I owe you big time."

"I, uh, ok," he said.

"And I still owe you, too," Caitlin said.

"What? No, you don't," he said.

"Oh, hell yes, I do!"

"You helped me save Mara, so we're even."

"Nuh-uh," Caitlin said. "I got myself taken prisoner and needed you to save me again, that means I still owe you my life and sanity. Actually, I owe you twice over, now."

Jamie had to suppress a wince at hearing her say that. He guessed she would deeply regret her words after they asked her. "So, uh, I don't know if you've been fed in there," he said, gesturing to the Carabinieri base, "but if you haven't, I know of this nice, little trattoria with great food and the two of you are invited for lunch there today."

"Sounds good," Mara said. "They only gave us some bread and jam this morning. I'm starving."

"Yeah, me too," Caitlin said. She squinted at Jamie in suspicion, making him face forward. "This trattoria wouldn't be the one owned by Laura Rossi, would it?"

Jamie cleared his throat and started the car. "Yes, yes it would," he said and put the car in gear.

"Oh, Jamie," Mara mournfully said and sat back in her seat.

"I don't believe it," Caitlin said, shaking her head.

Jamie pulled out of the lot and began weaving through the dense, milling, rush hour traffic of Florence. The girls sat quietly for a few minutes.

"No, I literally can't believe it," Caitlin said and turned towards Jamie. She lifted her hands and began chanting.

"What are you doing," he said. She was obviously casting at him, but his senses told him it wasn't anything dangerous. He wasn't worried about himself, not with the protective spell on him, but he feared the spell might hurt her if she wasn't careful. "Uh, I don't think you should cast against me."

Caitlin finished her spell and her blue eyes flashed with a pink light. She looked at Jamie's aura. It shone so brightly that she had to look away and raise a hand to protect her eyes at the same time. She let go of the spell and her eyes returned to normal.

"Are you ok," Jamie asked.

"Yeah, fine," she said. "It's just... Wow, your aura is bright!"

"Yeah, I've got the magic of hundreds of casters protecting me at all times."

"The fuck," Caitlin sputtered. "Since when?"

"Since the other day," he said.

"You've got to explain this to me," she said.

"I, uh," Jamie said and then sighed. "You remember about me destroying the Syndicate?" Caitlin nodded. "Well, part of the reason the Syndicate had been so successful was because they kidnapped casters' kids and held them hostage to make the casters do their bidding. When I toured the world and destroyed the Syndicate, I also freed all those kids. Alessandra Rossi was one of those hostages and her mother is very grateful to me for freeing her."

"Yeah, grateful enough to make a baby without your permission," Caitlin snarked.

"Hey," he said.

"Sorry," she said. When he was about to continue, she said, "Two babies."

"Caitlin," he said, reproachfully.

"If there aren't any twins involved," she said.

Jamie bit back a growl and continued with his tale. "Anyhow, after I told her how the French vampire took me out, she got in touch with every other caster that had been in the same situation as her and whose kids I had saved and they all agreed to cast this protective spell on me. She cut my hair and sent it all over the world so everyone could cast on me."

"Holy fuck," Caitlin said.

"Yeah," Mara said. "So, Jamie, you're planning to raise kids with this chick that routinely makes life-altering decisions behind your back. And her daughter." Her voice was pure sarcasm as she said, "Great plan, Jamie! I see many happy days in your future."

"It's not like that," Jamie said.

"Could've fooled me," Mara said with a snort.

"Then what is it like," Caitlin asked. "Please, illuminate us!"

Jamie huffed and gripped the steering wheel tighter. He bit back his retort and asked, "What were you looking for," instead.

"Traces of love spells, enchantments, potions, or anything like that," Caitlin said.

"Why would you go looking for that," he asked. "I'm immune to compulsions because of the protective spell they're casting on me."

"Yeah, I can see that," she said. "Which makes this all the less logical."

"Makes what all the less logical," he asked.

Mara piped up with, "You getting back together with the Rossis."

"What the fuck comes over a guy to make him get back together with the two bitches that got pregnant with him without his knowledge and after the witch repeatedly assured you that she'd use magical contraceptives on them both," Caitlin asked.

"Yeah," Mara said. "Plus, they're mother and daughter, for God's sake!"

"I think that's a selling point for him, my dear," Caitlin said.

"Your kids with them will be each other's half-siblings as well as uncle and nephew," Mara said. "Or aunt and niece. That's not normal, Jamie!"

Jamie sighed and said, "A lot of things aren't normal."

His voice was sad and small, so Mara and Caitlin decided to stop asking him questions and let him focus on negotiating the narrow and clogged streets. Fifteen minutes later, Jamie cleared the city limits and the X5 started to eat up the distance to his town and trattoria Rossi.

"So, what did they say to get you to forgive them," Mara fired off from the back seat.

"It's... complicated," Jamie said.

"I'm a fairly bright girl," Mara said. "Why don't you see if you can't explain it to me!" Caitlin cleared her throat. "And Caitlin. We're both bright."

"Look," Jamie said and then paused. After searching for words he said, "What it comes down to is that the kids are mine, too."

"Jamie, imagine, for a moment, if the situation was reverse," Caitlin said. "Imagine if you were a woman impregnated against her will. By rape, for instance. Would you see things the same way?"

"I wasn't raped," he said.

Caitlin rolled her eyes and said, "Imagine, for a moment, that you are watching a movie. A Lifetime special. The lead is a girl who's in a relationship with a guy who says he'll get a vasectomy so they can have sex without condoms and pills. And then she winds up pregnant one day and he says he loves her and they can be together forever now. He lied to her about the vasectomy and impregnated her without her consent. Would you consider this movie to have a villain and a victim? If so, which would be which?"

Jamie refused to answer her question, or make any comment. Caitlin crossed her arms over her chest and faced forward with a frown.

Mara reached forward to put her hand on Jamie's shoulder and softly said, "Hey. You look very different than you did last night, when you rescued us. We'd just like to know how you spent the night and what happened while we were poked and prodded by the Carabinieri."

After a few seconds, Jamie reluctantly said, "Laura..." He cleared his throat. "Laura's father was a seer. A magician and a seer. He could see the future, practically at will, and he was a living legend in his time."

"Was?" Caitlin asked.

"He died about twenty years ago," he said. "Anyway, to cut a long story short, Laura used some war trophies of mine to look beyond the veil and make sure her father's spirit had moved on to Heaven. He had not."

Caitlin twisted he head around and shared a look of astonishment with Mara.

"He had been waiting beyond the veil for twenty years," Jamie said, "just so he could deliver a warning to Laura."

"Holy fuck," Caitlin whispered.

"What was the warning," Mara asked.

"The warning was that..." Jamie sighed and drew a deep breath. "The end of the world is near. The final fall of civilization and humanity." He spared the girls' shocked faces a glance. "But it's not yet a done deal. It can still be stopped. Armageddon averted."

"How," Mara asked.

"We don't know yet," he said.

"How does the world end," Caitlin said.

Jamie grimaced and hesitated, but then answered, "We don't know yet."

Caitlin faced forward. She knew what this meant. She knew Jamie meant to get her to pay her debt to him by summoning the spirit of Papa Rossi and allowing it to possess her, body, magic and soul.

Jamie could see the realization dawn on her features and he grimaced as he drove on. Considering the horrible time she had being possessed by two angry, vengeful spirits in the past, he knew she must be very loathe to do that, but he had to persuade her, somehow. He just kept glancing at her and hoped she wouldn't jump out of the moving car.

"So, what do you know," Mara asked.

"Laura's father said that it goes down and he can see it unfold because my children and she are the first victims of the cataclysm."

"Fuck," Mara whispered. "That is harsh." After a few seconds of silence, she said, "Could he be lying? You know, trying to scare you off of his daughter and granddaughter? Fathers can be overprotective like that. Or, so I'm told."

"We're all fairly certain he isn't," Jamie said.

"So, you're just together to save the kids and the world," Caitlin said, her tone of voice small and lifeless, belying the tempest raging inside of her. "You're not going to stay together after you ensure their safety?" She looked over to him and her heart pounded as she wished him to say it was so.

Jamie drew a deep breath and slowly let it out. "We've," he said and trailed off. "We were shook up by the news last night and we, uh... we've rekindled our relationship."

Caitlin faced away from him. A tear escaped her eye and she looked out the window to hide it from him. Her hopes of winning him over were dashed. She wanted him like she had never wanted anything before in her life and here he was, sitting next to her, yet completely out of her reach.

She had spent the morning talking with Mara, almost exclusively about him, and she knew the buxom beauty shared her infatuation with the boy. When she first heard Mara confess her feelings, she had nearly gouged her eyes out in a jealous rage, but the two of them had been surrounded by cops and had no one else to talk to while they were being submitted to the most thorough physical on the planet. Slowly, they started talking about Jamie and his relationship with the Rossi women and they came to the conclusion that the mysterious male obsession with girls that make out with one another was a hurdle neither of them could clear in their efforts to seduce him.

Not on their own, at least.

Mara was the one that suggested they work together in seducing him and making him forget about the mother-daughter threesomes by getting him into a threesome with the two of them. Caitlin didn't need to look into the back seat to know Mara was as heartbroken as she was, right now. She could hear it in her voice as she asked Jamie about his mother and sister and how he had nearly had to leave them behind because of Laura's actions.

Jamie ignored the pain he and his family had gone through and focused on the gladness and relief they all experienced when he visited his mother and sister earlier that morning.

Jamie started prattling about how duress makes people see things differently and how a person reassessed their priorities when faced with losing what they love and he used that to justify getting back with the Rossis. Caitlin closed her eyes and tried to ignore his words, but they kept invading her ears and stabbing her in the heart.

"We're here," he said and parked the car. Caitlin blinked her eyes and looked around. They were in a small town with narrow streets. The houses were made of stone and looked to be centuries old, though still in good repair. In front of the car, at the end of the narrow street, was a square with people strolling about. "You're about to have the best meal of your lives!"

Jamie opened his door and stepped out of the car. A split second after he closed his door, his senses told him of imminent danger. He didn't even have time to consciously react. His body twisted out of the way and a dart slammed into the car door's window to crack it. Running on pure instinct, Jamie crouched and spun to face whoever had fired it. His senses stretched out on alert, but felt no hostility towards him. Another dart flew at him and he telekinetically stopped it in mid-air.

Caitlin opened her car door to step out and help him, while Mara squealed in fright. "Get back in the car," Jamie yelled as he reached for his own door handle. Two more darts flew at him and he slammed them aside with the Force before getting into the car. He immediately reached over and pulled Caitlin back into the car.

"We're sitting ducks in here," Caitlin exclaimed. "We've got to get out and fight!"

"Stay here," Jamie commanded. "The car's warded!" He pointed at the crack in his window and it vanished right before her eyes.

"That's impressive, but what about when they break out the big guns," Caitlin said. "We've got to move!"

"The car's warded against any notice," he said. "Just sit here and let them come to us!" Caitlin looked to be panicking. Her eyes were darting all around, trying to spot the attackers before it was too late. Jamie spared Mara a look and saw that she was doing the same. "Just relax, girls! We're safe and sound in here."

Before long, a man exited the trattoria and walked towards the car. Jamie couldn't sense his intentions, even though he could plainly see he was scanning the street for any sign of him. He hadn't seen people resistant to mind reading like that since the last time he had tangled with Section. He counted dozens of people in range of his Jedi senses and he now realized that they could all be hostiles and he wouldn't know it until they acted against him.

Jamie's heart rate shot through the roof as he realized he couldn't sense Alessandra, or Laura. He had been stretching his senses out to find the attackers and he should have sensed them by now. His face set into a grim cast and he put his hand on the door handle. Whoever this guy that was coming his way was, Jamie was going to make him pay. A small part of him told him they could have ran away when this guy and his friends came calling, but he knew the girls weren't so tough.

As the guy came closer and Jamie got ready to pounce, others started to exit the trattoria, or walk across the square. They all wore raincoats with thick sweaters underneath. Under their raincoats, they hid long-barreled weapons. Jamie's senses could give him no glimpse into anyone's mind, no matter how hard he looked. He counted more than twenty of them as they congregated around his car. He knew he couldn't take on so many at once and he silently cursed them for it.

Caitlin and Mara squealed in terror, filling the cabin with the sounds of their panicked breathing. "Calm down," Jamie instructed. "If they could notice us, they already would have. Keep still! Keep your doors closed and your windows up and we'll be fine!"

The men gathered around the car and one crouched down to pick up the four darts that had failed to hit Jamie. "Our intel was wrong," he said, speaking with an American accent. "Target has magic again." He sighed and looked up and down the narrow street.

"Are you sure, sir," another man asked.

"Well, let me see," the leader said. "He appeared out of nowhere, swatted the stun darts right out of the air, as if they weren't enchanted, and then he vanished from our sights in a flash. But you're right, of course. Might not be magic. Might just be he has a bad case of dermatitis!"

The other man looked stymied and the leader stood up. "We're pulling out. Contact Ops and tell them they have to go with plan B!" He huffed loudly. "Management isn't going to like this."

The men took up a tactical formation and slowly moved away from the car. Jamie put the car in gear and began to crawl after them. He sized them up, looking for a hole in their formation and seeking one he could snatch for questioning. He growled in frustration as they moved without leaving anyone exposed for even a second. He saw one of them using a satellite phone. He grabbed his smartphone and activated his server to try and trace the call. He didn't have much hope of success, though. He was no Nova and the phone was probably heavily encrypted.

"Holy fuck," Mara said, sounding like she had been holding her breath for the past few minutes. "Did they really miss us? How could they not see us? They were looking right at us from two feet away."

"Jamie," Caitlin said, "you said you didn't have magic."

"I don't."

"That's not what that guy said," Caitlin insisted.

"Never mind that," Mara exclaimed. "What about the Rossis?" Caitlin shot her a pointed glare. "This is their trattoria, isn't it? This is where half the men came out of."

"They're not in there," Jamie said.

"How can you know that," Mara asked.

Jamie focused on following the men and heaved a big sigh. "Alright, listen up! I'll only say this once, so if you miss anything, tough! Back when the French captured me, their vampire-eating vampire took my magic away from me. But I also knew how to make permanent enchantments-"

The girls gasped as one. Making a permanent enchantment was utterly impossible, even Mara knew that. "How," they both asked at the same time.

Jamie carefully took a particularly tight corner and continued following the men. He wondered if they were going to walk all the way back to where they came from. They sounded like Americans, but he didn't know if they were Section, or someone else.

"I don't know how," he said, continuing his tale. "All I know is that I knew how and now I don't. Not anymore."

"How is that possible," Caitlin asked.

"I enchanted this car, back when I had power. It's still enchanted and it'll be enchanted forever. After the vamp took my power, she modified my mind to be unable to think of how to make permanent enchantments anymore. I can't remember how I used to enchant things and if I ever encountered such an idea again, I'd discount it as impossible before even trying it."