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Tales of the Meridian Society! (TheCorsair, Madame Mim)

Anne Marie made a noise of surprise when Jean-Luc pulled her to her feet. The unfamiliarity of the situation made her nervous and she moved experimentally around the fire in the unfamiliar steps. Man, woman, woman, woman, man, man; everyone danced with everyone and she found herself getting lost in the rhythm as she began to get used to the way of this strange dance. She found herself smiling, laughing even. Interacting with the others helped as they wordlessly guided her through what to do. As she got closer to the fire she grew warmer and shed her coat, then her turban as her head grew hot, the silk fluttering to the ground as her hair fell wildly about her shoulders and back.

A good portion of the revelers were half-naked and though Anne Marie had no problem with this she was hesitant to shed her clothes herself, painfully aware that Algie would be watching to make sure she stayed safe. Still, she didn't risk drawing attention to herself by not going along with the rest of the ceremony. Hands lingered, bodies touched, and Anne Marie joined in the more sensual aspects of the dance as it was required. Always she kept one eye on Sam, but the Ranger appeared to be finally enjoying herself. A man appeared in the center with Mama Cecilia who Anne Marie hadn't noticed before, but she said nothing. Questions could come later. Then he pulled her close and there was another change.

Anne Marie saw two women converge on Sam before feeling herself pulled against a tall, hard body who she discovered was Jean-Luc. Tall though she was for her sex, Jean-Luc still had to bend over to kiss her. He pulled her body against his and her hands ran over his large, muscular frame. He'd already removed his shirt long ago and his skin was hot against her hands as they ran up his chest and held onto his shoulders for balance and support. Surely what felt like an erection pressing insistently against her thigh couldn't really be that, not truly; it was enormous! As their lips explored one another's flesh she ran one hand down to try and find any other explanation and her eyes widened when Anne Marie realized that it was his cock. She'd barely had time to process this before Jean-Luc pulled open the back of her dress with an animalistic noise, scattering the her buttons into the grass, and yanked it down and off.

Jackie had made sure to stay near Samantha. The girl was disturbingly familiar and maybe through this ceremony could find out why they'd been brought together. She kissed her fiercely, hands roaming over her body as another woman--Sarah--came up from behind to cup Samantha's breasts. It was bad form to tell someone to piss off, so Jackie didn't, but God how she wanted this woman to herself! She ground their hips together, still gyrating to the music as her lips roamed over Sam's face and neck then, once she'd pulled off the chemise, her shoulders and breasts. Sarah's hands slid lower to strip Sam of her skirt and rub her clit. Jackie kissed her over Sam's shoulder and moved her hands around to grab at Sarah's ass to pull her closer, sandwiching the white girl between them. In a trice the three had pulled each others' clothes off to be nearly naked and Jackie was once again lavishing all of her attention on Sam.

"No shame in it," she assured her softly, sensing a bit of hesitation as they sank to the grass together. "It's natural for us all to want to be a part of one another. That's the way of things." She began to kiss lines over Sam's body, gradually making her way lower and lower, as Sarah knelt over Sam and stretched her way down her body before sliding her hands over Jackie's flesh.

~*~

"What? What's happening?" They only had three pairs of binoculars between them, and Kieran had drawn the short straw.

"It...appears to be some sort of...of ah...ritual..." Erik said slowly, unable to tear his eyes away from Sam while trying to subtlely shift to hide his growing erection.

"Well no shit it's some sort of ritual," Kieran groused before snatching at Colin's binoculars. "Here, gimme!"
 
God, but it was that sexy , familuar Indian woman. Sam might have put up more of a fight if it had been someone else, anyone else, but she'd been haunted by a sense if familiarity ever since they'd net. A sense of familiarity that had wanted to make her do exactly this. Even so, there was some hesitation as Jackie and the other nameless woman stripped her clothes away and laid her down next ti a mauseloeum.

"No shame in it," Jackie assured her, kissing her hungrily. "It's natural for us all to want to be part of one another." Her lips trailed down Sam's skin, tracing her throat and lingering iver her breasts. "That's the way if things."

The nameless woman knelt over her face, and Sam tugged away her skirts and caressed her firm thighs and generous ass as she stroked Sam's shoulders and breasts. Sam gasped as Jackue's tongue traced her slit, and then the nameless woman slowly lowered herself along her body. Gripping the naneless woman's ass she began lapping at her pussy and sucking her clit, moaning and bucking her hips as she felt two different tongues taking turns on her.


Jean-Luc's eyes explired Anne Marie's bare body for a moment, then his hands joined them. "Mon Dieu," he growled, tongue forcing its way pst her lips as he kissed her with an animal hunger. "You are eeven mire magnificent than I thought!" He pushed her back against an angel-topped obelisk, devouring her mouth as he ran hot, hungry hands iver her smooth flesh.

White teeth flashed in the firelight, dazzling in contrast to his ebon skin, as he bit at her throat. "I wanted you," he murmured against her olive skin as his dark hands cupped her breasts. "From the moment you entered my home. She wanted you, too." He reached up, turning her head so she coukd Mama Cecilia. She was on her knees, arms braced against a tombstone as the iron-haired man pumped into her from behind. Even from here, her cries of rapture were audible.

"Do you like that?" he griwled inti her ear as he wotked at his pants. He,is cock, erect and hard, pressed against her belly like an iron bar. "Shall I have you like that, on your knees so you can praise God?" Another man joined Cecilia and her partner, and her mocha hnd wrapoed around his cock as she took his kength in her mouth. "No," he added, voice sly. "I think not."

Muscles writhed in his arms and back as he lifted her, wrapping her kegs around his waist. He moved his hips, letting her feel his thick shaft sliding against her lips. "I think I shall have you like this, so I can watch your face as I fuck you."



Colin's eyes were wide as what he was watching sank in. "A... a ritual?" He swalliwed. "Well, that's hardly CE, is it?" Kieran snatched the binoculars from him, staring at the activity in the graveyard, something he found both irritating and relieving. It was certainly entertaining, but somehow... wrong. Watching his teammates get fucked was awkward. Then a thought struck him. "Should we... intervene?"

"I think not," the Professor said, sliwly. "They have not signaled, and..."

"But..." Colin gestured towards the graveyard, unable to finish his thought.

"Your concern is noted," the Professor said. "But they are adults, and they have a mission. If thus is what they must do to infiltrate this cult, then..."

"But..." Colin sounded aghast. "But it's hardly, I mean... it,s nit..."

"Right?" the Professor asked. "Is it somehow more immiral than the times we have been called on to kill? Or do you mean 'consensual'?" He offered Colin his glasses. "Observe for yourself, and tell me if this appears to be rape."

Then he glanced at Erik, and his expression softened. "Nevertheless, if you wish, you need not be here Herr Schmidt. Would you prefer to keep the engine idling, just in case?"
 
Sarah gasped and moaned when Sam grabbed her hips and licked her soaked slit. The black woman and the Indian took turns pleasuring their new pet before getting caught up with each other. Sarah tangled her hands in Jackie's hair and they sat up a little straighter. It took her moaning into the kiss for Jackie to remember Sam and pull one leg over her hip so that they were scissored and grind her pussy against Sam's. Jackie moaned and let her head hang back at the exquisite pleasure of Sam's cunt against hers and Sarah took advantage of the exposed skin to pepper her throat with kisses.

"God she's good!" she murmured against Jackie's flesh, grinding her clit against Sam's mouth insistently.

"Mmmm...." Jackie moaned in agreement before reaching down to rub Sam's clit. The two women made out over their third when without much warning Sarah arched her back and cried out. Jackie leaned forward to suckle on a dark nipple as she shuddered through her orgasm then shook her head in disapproval. "Too soon," she chided before pushing at Sarah gently. "Gimme." They grinned at each other playfully before Sarah moved off of Sam's face and Jackie fell to her with gusto. Sam's arousal was still fresh on her lips as Jackie laid claim to her mouth, her breasts, her tender cunt. "I wanna fuck you for hours," she moaned against Sam's pussy before gasping with surprise at the feeling of Sarah's tongue inside her and her fingers on her clit. "Wanted it as soon as I saw you, knew I had to have you..."


Anne Marie grinned lasciviously when Jean-Luc claimed that he and Cecilia had both wanted her and turned her face toward the other pair coupling on a gravestone. Thoughts of Algie weren't necessarily gone, but considerations for him had taken a back seat in the heat of the moment. He'd sent her into this situation; surely he would understand. She would simply omit that they had ruled out this cult as performing human sacrifice before the orgy. She moaned when Jean-Luc asked her whether she liked watching Cecilia and the grey-haired man, then another coming to double-team her. It wasn't Anne Marie's first orgy, either, and she'd discovered quite the voyeuristic tendency in herself at a previous event.

"Shall I have you like that, on your knees so you can praise God?" he asked.

"Only if you enjoy sharing," Anne Marie answered with a grin as his wife deep throated her new partner. The feeling of his enormous, throbbing length pressing against her was making her needy and she moved on it, grinding her clit against his head as he wrapped her legs around his waist. "Monsieur you underestimate me," she said, raising her hands to grip the feet of the angel, "that you think I am not fucking you." She kissed him deeply as she slowly lowered herself onto his thick cock. Anne Marie needed to pause and relax once when she felt his tip pressed against her cervix before taking the rest of him. Her belly bulged slightly at the deep penetration but she moaned as she moved on his cock. She'd found she enjoyed being fucked so deeply but had rarely found a partner with a cock big enough to satisfy her occasional craving for the novelty of such exquisite pain, even Algie big as he was. She tightened her thighs around his waist and slid herself up and down once more, peremptorily.

"What was that you were saying," she said with mischief in her voice, "about fucking me?" Anne Marie leaned forward to nip at his neck then his lip before murmuring, "I'm waiting for you to make me scream the way your wife does, chere."

~*~

"Holy..." Kieran trailed off, eyes wide behind his binoculars. There was Sam getting double-teamed and Anne Marie...being split in half, frankly. He'd fucked her several times before, when she was helping him work out his sexuality, so it was odd to see another man doing it. He was distracted, however, by two men on all fours near the fire. He'd never been with a black man--not by design but just by circumstance--and it appeared they were all enormous. The pirate was half-tempted to join them just to see what a big, black cock tasted like. While Colin argued with the Professor he licked his lips but eventually pulled his gaze away and waved a hand at him, annoyed.

"Just leave it be!" he demanded before bringing the binoculars back up to his face. "Everyone's having a good time, no need to be a spoil sport."

Erik realized that the Professor had spoken to him, and at the same time realized that his mouth had been slightly open. He closed his mouth and lowered his binoculars, unsure what to do with his offer. It was a rare showing of mercy...but he and Sam had talked about things like this. He'd still only ever seen her with Anne Marie so these two, completely unaffiliated women pleasuring his almost-wife and each other...

"Er...danke, Professor," Erik said eventually, deciding that he wouldn't possibly be able to get up without his throbbing erection becoming very apparent, "but I promised Sam I would look after her and protect her. I can hardly do that from the car." He smiled weakly, praying silently that that would be a good enough cover for a recently-discovered kink.
 
"Gawd, Ah fuckin' wanted you too," Sam moaned, tangling her fingers in Jackie's long hair. She pushed herself up a little, wanting to see what the delicious black woman was doing. Goddamn if she wasn't kneeling behind Jackie, eating her out from behind while Jackie licked her. Then Jackie's tongue found her clit and she leaned back again, spreading her thighs wider to give the Indian more room to work. As she did she found her back arching, pressing her mound against Jackie's mouth and moaning for her. "Fuck," she breathed. "Do Ah taste good? Gawd, Ah wanna taste mahself on y'all." A sharp cry escaped her as she arched against the Indian woman's skilled tongue. "Gawd, when yer done Ah wanna lick mahself offa yer body."

Suddenly, the rhythm of Jackie's tongue changed. It was still sliding over her, but now her mouth was pushing rhythmically into her cunt. And something else was there, a new gasping sound that matched the rhythm. She opened an eye and looked up, to find the black woman - still eating Jackie out from behind - had been joined by a brown-skinned man of some mixed race who had come up behind and was fucking her energetically as she did. The sight was hypnotic, but then she turned her attention back to Jackie. "Gawd," she whispered. "Ah wanna taste you."


Jean-Luc grinned, teeth white against his dark lips. "I believe," he said, shifting his hands to cup her ass, "that I was going to watch your face as I fuck you. But did you think you had taken all of me?" With that he pushed deep into her, pulling her hips tight against his as he slowly drove the remaining length of his thick shaft deep into her. He laughed as he saw the surprise on her face, then bit her throat in return. "Ah, but to take me so easily? You are amazing."

With that he began to handle her easily, fucking her hard and long and slow. Sometimes he would press her body against the stone, his weight pushing him balls deep into her body as his head pressed against and then into her cervix. Others he would lean back and use her, lifting her up and down as if she were a toy designed to pleasure his cock. "So good, ma chere," he groaned, kissing her deeply as he pressed her into the stone once more. Then one hand caught her wrists and pinned them above her head, forcing her back to arch into him. He kissed and then bit at her breasts, rhythmic strokes of his thick cock driving deep into her again and again as he did. "Is it too much?" he taunted, his head pushing once more into her womb as he drive his length deep into her once more. "Shall I stop? Or will you cum for me, cum hard for me as I fuck you?"


"Very well," the Professor said, nodding. "But the offer remains."

He turned back to peer towards the firelight. Without the glasses he couldn't make out the details of what was happening at this range, but the sounds and the shapes against the firelight were certainly suggestive. Despite himself, he felt his fists clenching. Brave words about duty or no, he was emotionally involved now. And even though he'd made his peace with Anne Marie's profession, and even though he knew that this was necessary, he found he hated it. Hated the necessity of sitting by and allowing his lover, his love to be used by another man.

Somehow, it was different when it was part of a therapeutic intervention. This was... Damnit.

Hopefully, it would be over soon.
 
Jackie found herself slightly annoyed at Sarah eating her out in a new rhythm. She refused to look behind her because she knew what she would find there and it would put her off her appetite. It was disgusting. Instead she simply adapted, thrusting her tongue inside Sam and sucking on her clit rhythmically as her countrywoman moaned about tasting her. Jackie grinned and flicked the tip of her tongue over Sam's clit before moaning into her cunt as Sarah found a particularly pleasurable spot.

"Then taste me," she demanded, pushing and pulling at Sam in the grass until her face hovered over Sam's and she kissed her hard. She moaned against her mouth before breaking away the kiss and pulling at her hips until she could dive into that wonderful pussy once more. Jackie wrapped her arms around Sam's thighs to spread them wide and gripped her hips firmly, opening her completely. At the feeling of two women on her cunt she moaned into Sam, thoughts of the male intruder driven from her mind by the sheer pleasure.


Anne Marie gasped and her eyes widened a bit when he drove the remainder of his impossible girth deep inside her. Jean-Luc laughed but complimented her still. "I told you that you underestimate me," she groaned, letting her head fall back that he could more easily reach her throat.

Clearly he was used to women who couldn't handle as much as she could. Anne Marie cried out in pleasure and moaned no matter how he fucked her, whether it was for her pleasure or for his. She wrapped her fingers around the feet of the angel again when he pinned her wrists above her head and kissed him deeply. Her walls squeezed him gently as she slowly approached orgasm, but she was in no rush for the finish line. When he asked whether it was too much she laughed and shook her head, pushing herself down onto him as he penetrated her womb once more. The visual effect not only of their skin but of his thick cock moving inside her was bizarrely sensual. When he asked her about cumming, however, she was presented with a moral dilemma. Algie was watching.

If he'd watched this far, and if he'd truly made peace with her professions as he'd said he had, then surely he wouldn't begrudge her getting a little pleasure out of it. "Don't stop," she breathed. "But you will have to make me cum for you." She leaned up and bit his lip, moving her hips in small circles with his length driven entirely into her. God but the novelty of it was incredibly hot!
 
"Make you?" Jean-Luc's voice was teasing, but there was an intensity to it born of the way Anne Marie's hips circled and moved on him. Most women simply couldn't take him, not without a great deal of time and effort. Not that he begrudged it, mind you. Hours spent making his Cecilia howl and moan for him were hours well spent. But not since Paris had he fucked a woman who not only took on the first try but who egged him on to give her more! "And here," he laughed, sawing his massive girth into her as he kissed her roughly, "I thought I would take you!" His hands slid over her face, stroking her lips as he fucked her with long, deep strokes. "And make no mistake, you will cum on me!"

A soft hand stroked down his back to grip his ass, and another caressed Anne Marie's chin before lips sticky and flavored with cum covered hers. "He means it," Cecilia whispered. "He can be very persuasive." Her slim coffee-colored body glistened with sweat in the moonlight and firelight, and pearlescent streaks of semen beaded her throat and breasts. She kissed Jean-Luc hungrily before Anne Marie, the kissed Anne Marie once more as her hand stroked the French woman's stomach. "Mon dieu," she purred. "I can feel him in you."

Slim fingers traced lower, finding where Jean-Luc's girth stretched Anne Marie around him. "I want to taste him on you," she whispered, stroking her ckit in time to Jean-Luc's thrusts.


"Ain't... ain't enough..." Sam complained as Jackie pulled away, turning her attention back to her achingbpussy. Not that Jackie wasn't doing enough, though. God no. But close as she was,, she wanted a taste of the Indian woman. So, with a measure of self control, she pulled Jwckie up and away and began shifting around. Jackie seemed to pick up on what she wanted quick enough, and soon she was staring up into the Apache's pussy and gripping her ass as the black woman ate her out.

It was a little awkward at first, trying to coordunate two tongues. Awkward, but fun, because sometimes it meant sucking Jackie's flavor from the other woman's mouth before returning to the delucious smooth slit over her mouth. Besides, both of them were a little distracted - Sam by the attention Jackie was giving her with her sweetly skilled mouth, and the other woman by the frenzied fucking she was getting. At one point, gasping, she rolled her head back and watched the thivlck dick pumping in and out of the other woman.

Womder if Erik'd fuck another woman while Ah watch? she thought briefly, before a particular trick with Jackie's tongue curled her toes. And then the other woman screamed in pleasure as the man behind her grunted in orgasm, and Sam had Jackie all to herself. "Gawd," she moaned into Jackie's dripping sex. "Ah... Ah'm close... you..?"
 
Jackie took to her new toy with gusto, thrusting her tongue deep inside Sam and moaning at the way her walls clenched around her tongue. Between Sam and Sarah her legs were beginning to shake a little with the effort of not collapsing under the pure pleasure of it all. Her fingers dug into the sweet flesh of Sam's ass as she sucked at her clit. God but she tasted good. She tasted right.

"Ah...Ah'm close...you...?" Sam managed.

"Mmmm..." Jackie moaned in affirmation. "Still talk too much, kemosabe," she teased, flicking the tip of her tongue quickly over her clit. Sarah had left Sam alone in charge of her orgasm, but Jackie found she didn't mind so much. That was why it took her by surprise when her entire body convulsed and she screamed, pressing her hips more insistently against Sam's mouth and burying her tongue more deeply inside her. Jackie's fingers worked frantically against her clit in an effort to make Sam join her before the aftershocks of her pleasure faded into sensitivity and fatigue.


Anne Marie kissed Cecilia back, biting at her lip and groaning. "I never said I wouldn't," she assured them. "But after the hundreds of lovers I've been pleasured by did you think I wouldn't make you work for it?"

She grinned, but when Cecilia touched her she gasped and arched her back. She'd been close anyway, but now? Now she had to fight against what she thought would be cumming too soon. But this wasn't one of her clients, she reminded herself, and it wasn't someone about whose pleasure she particularly cared. With this realization Anne Marie allowed herself to fall over that edge, crying out and letting her head fall back in her absolute luxurious pleasure.
 
Sam's moaned with satisfaction as Jackie convulsed above her, gasping as she shouted her pleasure into her pussy. She hung on frantically, her own hips bucking into Jackie's lips and fingers as she felt her own orgasm approaching. Jackie was still moaning, still moving on her mouth, when she finally peaked. Her own sharp cry of release echoed through the graveyard as she arched her hips into the air, clinging to Jackie's brown body with all her strength as she writhed with pleasure. "Damn," she breathed, collapsing back against the cool grass and enjoying the warm weight of the woman atop her. "Damn."

She ran her hands over the sweat-slick skin of Jackie's back, enjoying the feel of firm muscle and the way she still trembled from the force of her own orgasm. "Fuck," she breathed, gently biting Jackie's inner thigh. "Good thing... we did this... inna graveyard," she mumbled. "Cause Ah... think y'all done... done killed me." Her head thumped back against the grass. "Gawd, what a way to go," she grinned.



Jean-Luc threw his head back as Anne Marie came on him, reveling in the feel of the French woman's orgasm as he drove himself into her depths. Then he gripped her hips and pulled her tighter onto him, uttering a gutteral cry as his thick cock pulsed within her and he pumped his own pleasure deep into her. Cecilia, meanwhile, continued to stroke her clit. "Oui," she murmured, tongue tracking Anne Marie's ear. "Oui, madame. Show me how much pleasure my husband's cock brings. You look so, so good, stretched on his cock, madame." Then she kissed her way down Anne Marie's body, lapping at her pussy as her husband's semen dripped from her, running her tongue over his shaft and her clit until he pulled away. Then, with a sound of hungry pleasure, she positioned herself between Anne Marie's thighs and sank her tongue into her dripping depths.

"You must tell me if it is too much, madame," she breathed, running her tongue over a rivulet of semen that trickled down Anne Marie's thigh. "But I want to taste my husband on you."
 
Jackie chuckled and rolled onto her back so as not to put her full weight on Sam. "Your man wouldn't like me too much," she panted back, "killin' the both of y'all like that. Even if it is the best way to go." She laughed again and kissed Sam's thigh weakly. "God...you ever get tired of him you call me, yeah? We'll have a whole night all to ourselves, play some real fun games." She ran her fingers lightly up and down Sam's shin. No, the other woman had never mentioned having a boyfriend but after tasting her Jackie thought it was obvious and so didn't think it a breach of etiquette to offer a way out...or even just a night of fun.


When Jean-Luc emptied himself inside her something in Anne Marie awoke. She grimaced and grunted as he let her legs down and felt his seed come spilling out of her. She ached in ways which were now less than pleasant and it was hard to concentrate on Cecilia's attentions. He'd cum inside her. She could almost feel his seed seeking out its treasure in her ruined womb. Mangled and scarred though she believed it to be, and as much as she disliked children, Anne Marie still fostered deep inside her that tiny glimmer of hope which somehow had not been stamped out as a teenager. That hope was meant for Algie and Algie alone...and she'd betrayed that. She absolutely hadn't been raped--had she not begged of her own free will?--but now she was left feeling used in a way that she hadn't felt in a very long time. Decades. She felt sick.

Now the colors of the clothes scattered on the ground were gaudy instead of festive, the firelight was too bright and too yellow. Anne Marie herself felt grey and detached even as she pulled her fingers from Cecilia's hair and pushed her away. "That's enough," she said, feeling as though it was someone else saying it. "I said that's enough!" she snapped, pushing her away more firmly and sidestepping the pair. She tried to summon some of her old composure but could only manage a weird sort of politeness as she pulled on her clothes. "It was lovely, thank you," she said vaguely as if thanking a host for a particularly dull dinner party. Without another word she walked away, pulling on her shoes as she went and stuffing her turban into her coat pocket.

"Come on Samantha," Anne Marie said firmly but not unkindly. "We're done. We need to go."

"Where's the fire?" Jackie asked, looking up at her with a grin and enjoying the view up her skirt. She stroked Anne Marie's calf. "Plenty of time for round two."

"We're done," she said a little more sternly, staring Jackie down until the Apache looked away--no small feat. Her tone softened when she addressed her friend again. "Get dressed and let's go."
 
Sam stared up at Anne Marie wide-eyed, startled by the other womzn's words and expression. Then she grabbed herr handbag, feeling the comfortable weight of her automatic within as she hurridly pulled on blouse and skirt. "What's wrong?" she asked, eyes narrowing and growing hard as thought of several things that could have happened. Just because she'd had a wild, fun time didn't mean... "Do Ah need ta kill someone, Anne Marie?"

Hesitating, she pulled Jackie in for a quick kiss. "Ah'd stay, but mah friend here..."

As she rose, all of the fun of the evening faded away, replaced by the no-nonsense Ranger the Society depended on. "What happened?" she asked softly, stepping close. "Someone here... force you?" She scanned the darkness, stepping into her flat-heeled shoes as she did. "Or did they say somethin', an it tipped y'off that they're who we're lookin' fer?"
 
Anne Marie shook her head when Sam asked whether she needed to kill someone and stood a little apart to let her say her goodbyes. Jackie turned the quick kiss into a longer one, but made a shooing motion. "No problems. I'm stayin' in the 9th ward if you ever wanna look me up. If not..." She just shrugged and ran her hand over Sam's lower abdomen. "Jackie's a good name. You should think about it." She winked before disentangling herself and allowing Sam to leave.

When Sam asked whether anyone had forced her Anne Marie laughed shortly as they picked their way around the headstones. "Samantha, believe me when I tell you that you are not the only one in the Meridian Society who has killed. I daresay you're no more a killer than your Erik; I am. The last man who tried to force me died in agony. I do not tolerate it." That much was true; foxglove when used properly kills slowly but is quite painful by the end. Anne Marie had taken pains not to put herself in a position to be around men like Gustav ever since. She pushed her hair out of her face before sliding into the driver's seat and turning on the engine. "No I just became painfully aware of everyone watching us. Not everyone at the ceremony. I mean our teammates." She glanced sideways at Sam and gave a small, rueful smile. "You know that I am no prude but it struck me as the epitome of unprofessional and we already had the information we'd been looking for. I am very sorry for spoiling your fun, particularly since I know Erik must have enjoyed it as well, but I just would not have felt right leaving you there alone."

At the hotel they gave their report: that this particular cult didn't engage in human sacrifice but that there were bokor in the city who did, and that if the other name Mama Calypso had given didn't pan out then asking the Apache woman at the ceremony for a name may be of some use. Once she had given her report and answered questions Anne Marie wordlessly locked her pistol and heater in the safe in the parlor--as she always did wherever she went--and retired for the evening. Her attitude with Algie wasn't exactly cold but it was apparent that there was something wrong which she refused to talk about. Anne Marie appeared to bathe more thoroughly than usual, scrubbing all over until her skin was red and raw, before toweling off, combing out her hair, and going to bed without another word. In the middle of the night her usual whimpering and unintelligible mumbling turned into thrashing, lashing out at some unseen assailant and crying out in alarm or fear.
 
"Everyone watchin' us..?" Sam repeated, feeling a little slow in the uptake and a little annoyed at being dismissed as 'not a killer'. It sounded too much like the bullshit she'd put up with in the service, and so it took Anne Marie's explanation for the import to sink in. And then her eyes went wide as she gasped, covering her mouth. "They... they were all a'watchin', weren't they?"

If it had just been Erik watching, well... hell, they'd agreed to that kind of thing. But.... "Oh. Mah. Gawd," she groaned. And the realization gnawed at her as the two of them hiked along the graveled road of the cemetary and back to their car, as if she could feel the team's eyes on her. Not because she felt ashamed if what she'd done, but... well, it was hardly a spectator sport, was it?

The drive back to New Orleans was silent. Sam watched for tails just in case, and watched Anne Marie. She said nothing had happened, but something had clearly happened. She was too calm, too controlled. Twice, Sam considered saying something and then stopped. Calling her a liar sure wouldn't help. Besides, tense as Anne Marie seemed? Anything she said would likely cause a fight.

By the time they got back to the hotel, she'd settled her stomach and her nerves and was able to swagger in past the rest of the team. Colin and Kieran both awkwardly avoided making eye contact, although she noticed a different look in Colin's eye when he glanced her way. A bit speculative, and a bit appraising. So she paused deliberatly to put her engagement ring back on, then shoved Erik against the wall and kissed him deep and hard before joining Anne Marie for the report.

"No sir," she added at ine point, "Ah agree. They ain't th' ones we're a-lookin' fer." At the Professor's questioning glance, she continued. "Ah reckon ain't nobody likely ta murder folk in front o' th' newbies, but these folk..? No sign o' anythin' like. Jes' talk 'bout death as parta life, an' celebratin' life, an'... well..."

"Yes, well," the Professor agreed, then moved on to a discussion of other topics.



They maintained a fascade of... respectability, perhaps? So it was that Algernon missed his lover's unusually energetic scrubbing. She had assured him that she was unharmed and unaffected by the evening, and for all his intelligence he was somewhat out of practice in matters of emotion. And so he completed his notes, committing the details of Samantha's and Anne Marie's reports to paper before joining her in bed. She seemed distant, but he attributed that to fatigye and so kissed her goodnight and fell asleep.

It was the cry that awoke him, followed by a glancing blow to the face. He awoke instantly, keeping his eyes slitted until he knew that there were no external sources of light, groping for the pistol on his nightstand as he did. But by the time he felt uts weight in his hand, he knew there was no intruder.

Or, at least, no corporeal intruder. And his pistol was no proof against nightmare and memory.

"Anne Marie," he murmured soothingly, stroking her bare arm. "Anne Marie, you're safe. You're safe."
 
There was no safety from what haunted her tonight. Nightmares--more memories, really--of a time when she had been an innocent preyed upon by the wicked. Of the agony and torture of that backalley butcher when he--

There was a snarl in the dark and Anne Marie was kneeling on Algie's chest, her fingers tangled in his hair to yank his head back unpleasantly before she realized it had been she who had made the animal noise. Her chest heaved and it was a long minute before she remembered where she was and why he was here. Her eyes adjusted to the dark in time to see a dark trickle of blood against his skin where her knife pressed gently against his throat and she dropped it next to him on the pillow as if it had burned her. Her other hand disentangled from his hair and covered her mouth. She croaked something unintelligible before all but scrambling out of bed and, after pulling on a robe, retreating to the parlor. She would get no more sleep tonight.

Vague noises of pleasure came from behind the other doors connecting to the parlor and Anne Marie made note of that. It would be wise, should they choose to make love while in New Orleans, not to do it when the others were in. Nervously she checked the safe to make sure it was still locked before taking up a book and trying to read. She didn't know whether she wanted to have this conversation with Algie so soon. She didn't want him to think she blamed him, or to blame himself, but she couldn't see any other inevitability. She often had nightmares, but certain events always triggered these, the worst of them, and she'd nearly shot three people before she'd learned to lock up her firearms rather than sleeping with them next to the bed. But she thought it foolish to remain completely unarmed and so kept a knife on her nightstand. A knife would ensure that an assailant was close enough that she would know that he was an assailant quickly enough before killing or wounding him...and now even that had nearly cost her everything.

Anne Marie gave up on the book and moved to the window. It was no use trying to concentrate when she'd nearly killed the man she loved and when she knew he would be out presently anyway to discuss it. The gas and sodium lights reflected in the tears shimmering in her eyes before she blinked them away. God this was all her fault...
 
After a few minutes Algernon entered the parlor, wrapped in a dark blue robe and still holding a cloth to his throat. He padded across the carpet, footsteps muffled by his slippers, and carefully rested his free hand on her shoulder. At first he said nothing, content to watch her reflection in the darkened window. Finally he stirred, moving the cloth and examining it. "Hardly life-threatening - even semiconscious you have more control than that." He froowned a little, and dabbed at his throat once more. "Messy, though. Not as bad as a scalp wound, but I'll look like I slashed my throat shaving if I don't apply more pressure."

He winced a little as he pressed the cloth back. "Too large for a stiptic pencil, too shalliw for stitches." He caught her expression in the window, and smiled - a trifle thinly, but honestly. "And you needn't look at me like that. We both have our nightmares, and oerhaps I should have understood the meaning of your little ritual with the safe?"

Frowning, he inspected the cloth and tucked ut away. "Finally. Now," he wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder, "what troubles you? It can't merely have been the sexual act itself." His grip tightened for an instant, posessuvely. "I certainly didn't enjoy watching, but... well, big as he was you could have snapped that man's neck had you felt the need. So, what..?"

His voice trailed away. "I'm... sorry. I shouldn't interrogate you, my love. It's just..." A pause, as he gnawed his lip. "Do you want to talj? Or... should I just, well, hold you?"
 
She didn't want to be held. She didn't want anyone to touch her and when he had she'd stiffened a little before forcing herself to relax. Algie seemed to need this and so she put her own needs aside for him--and only for him. Anne Marie's focus shifted from the late-night revelers below to his reflection in the window as he assured her that she hadn't hurt him terribly badly. Worst case scenario he would look as though he'd been clumsy with his shaving. Still she was mortified that she'd laid hand to him at all, regardless of how he tried to reassure her. She went stiff again when he wrapped his arms around her then relaxed and took a slow, deep breath when he tightened his grip momentarily.

When he apologized Anne Marie shook her head. "It seems LaMonte will never leave us alone," she said hollowly. She was searching for the words to tell him. How could she tell him after all the time she'd spent with Maggie? After he'd told her about Helen?

"I can never have children." Her own voice sounded foreign and far away. Anne Marie hadn't planned on being quite that blunt, but it had managed to slip out through her mouth from her brain unfiltered. "This hasn't been confirmed by a doctor, but through the years it's become my firm belief. I don't even like children...but I think I could love my own. So that chance, that slim, tiny little chance however small a glimmer that may be...you own that, and only you. And ignorant though he was Jean-Luc tried to steal that chance." And here she was nearly at the heart of the matter and her throat tightened at the mere thought of the memory she had so long run from. "And years ago LaMonte he g--....he made me--"

She couldn't do it. Anne Marie couldn't tell the man who had lost his infant daughter to that monster how she had lost her son. She couldn't bear to see the pain in his eyes. But these terrible secrets she'd been keeping from him for a decade and a half overwhelmed her, consumed her, and she lost herself in them as she occasionally did when no one else was around. She found herself slipping through Algie's arms, sinking to her knees in the plush carpet, covering her eyes though tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Mon fils, mon fils..." she muttered to herself, wrapping her arms around herself, "mon pauvre petit garcon..." Anne Marie sniffed and tried to pull herself together, aware again that Algie was with her. He deserved an explanation but she wanted so badly to save him from that pain. "I still have nightmares about..." she started before shaking her head and starting again. "I was five mo--...he brought me to..." Anne Marie clenched her teeth and pressed her lips tightly together and shook her head again. "I can't. I...it's..."

She sniffed and wiped her eyes with the heels of her hands, bringing herself to bear again as best she could. "I cannot have children, Algernon. This is a thing I can feel in the very core of my being, that it would take nothing short of a miracle. But on the off-chance that nature deems me worthy of such a miracle I would be devastated, positively broken, if it were to be with anyone but you. I ah...I was not used tonight, and I know that, but...well, he didn't even ask or warn me and it left me feeling used as I haven't felt in many years. That is what triggered that particular nightmare." Anne Marie took a deep, shuddering breath and leaned her weight back on him. "I didn't know how to tell you, after Maggie..."

She was, after all, more concerned about him and his needs than she was about the nightmares she'd had for years. Her nightmares were predictable: if and when she woke up in a cold sweat she would retire somewhere quiet for wine and a book. The wine would not help her sleep--she wouldn't be able to sleep the rest of the night--but it would at least take off the edge. Algie, however, had also suffered at the hands of her late husband just as deeply as she had. They had not yet brought up the topic of having children. She knew he would never marry her, not while Maggie lived, and she'd made her peace with that. Marriage was an antiquated institution anyway, and having a child out of wedlock would have been a shock she would have been delighted to deliver to her mostly-estranged in-laws. But she didn't want to give him the false hope that some day a happy accident might happen and though he deserved to know at least some of what Gustav had done to her she didn't want to bring guilt or blame into any of it.
 
Algernon closed his eyes as she spoke. The pain in her voice was nearky unbearable, and he couldn't stand seeing it reflected in her expression. He had done this to her, when she'd presented her mad plan to get close to LaMonte and he'd agreed. His singke-minded quest for revenge had scarred her far, far worse than he'd ever dreamed.

With the sorrow and self-loathing came a thread of rage. Damn the man! Why was it impossible to kill someone more than once!

"My dear," he finally said when he could trust himself to speak, "I... my hopes of children were dashed before we met. My hopes of love were dashed befire we met." Carefully, gently, he turned her to face him and embraced her again. "Anne Marie. My love. If you cannot bear my children, than so be it." He stroked her cheek gently, and kissed her. Then, in the distance, he heard a distant shout of muffled feminine pleasure. "And it would seem," he said with a snort of laughter, "we have acquired children anyway."

His expression turned serious again. "We both have sorrows, my heart. But the joy you have brought to my life makes mine easier to bear. And now..?" He kissed her again, gently. "Perhaps I may help you bear your own?"
 
Anne Marie leaned her head on Algernon's chest when he turned her to face him again, swinging wildly from not wanting to be touched to suddenly needing his embrace. His acceptance of the facts without question, without complaint, caused a strange sort of relief to wash over her. The moment was interrupted by a distant cry and she sniffle-laughed and shook her head.

"You say that as though we have never been so loud," she pointed out with a watery smile before Algie turned serious again. He offered to help her bear her sorrows and she swallowed hard. She could trust him with her life and with her heart, with her secrets and her feelings. But how could she trust him to take these scars from her? These wounds which he would never understand? "I..." Her lip trembled and she leaned against his chest again. "You may try, and I will let you," she finally acquiesced softly. "But my love, please do not take this the wrong way when I say that you can't understand. You, too, have lost a child but you have never had one. You couldn't feel it growing, living inside you, being a part of you. You don't know the feeling of its quickening and the hope...and feeling that hope shattered..." She sniffed and shook her head, still leaning against him. "I will let you try," she promised.

After a long moment she straightened and lifted her face out of his chest, leaving his robe damp and wiping at her eyes. She sighed and looked around as though she had forgotten for a moment where exactly she was. "You are welcome to stay out here," she said, "but I wouldn't blame you if you chose to go back to bed. I'm afraid I do not sleep on nights like this."
 
"I would never profess to understand your pain, my dear." Algernon wiped a tear from her eyes. "Sympathize, yes. But understand?" He shook his head. "Never. And as to returning to sleep..?" Gently, he led her to a chair. "I would not dream of it, not while you remain awake under these circumstances." As Anne Marie took her seat, he clapped his hands together. "Although I believe I may have a sovereign cure for your sleeplessness! One moment, please."

With that he departed, disappearing througn the door that joined their rooms. After a few minutes he returned, bearing a bottle of wine, two glasses, and a book. "A recent publication," he declared, shoving the second chair over next to her. "The Book of the Damned, a rather turgid volume of speculations upon unusual phenomena, compiled by a Mister Charles Fort of New York." He sat down, opening the book theatrically. "It may serve as a distraction, and who knows? It may even prove tediius to lure you into the arms of Morpheus."

Hesitating a moment, he perched his specticals on his nose. "Ready? Then let us begin. 'A procession of the damned. By the damned, I mean the excluded. We shall have a procession of data that Science has excluded...'"


Colin looked up from his newspaper as Sam entered the hotel restaurant, barely managing to cover a jaw-cracking yawn with her hand. "I took the liberty of ordering you coffee," he said as she took a seat. "The both of you, really. You take it black, yes?"

"Ah think Ah'll have some tea first," she grimaced, rubbing her stomach. "Settle mah stomach down. An'..." She blushed a little as the import of Colin's words sank in. "Ah Gawd. Again?"

"Don't worry about it," he assured her, pouring some tea. "Last night was... unusual." He and Kieran had been rather enthusiastic last night as well, although they had managed to be more duscrete about the sounds they produced. "One hesitates to judge. Are you sure you're well?"

Sam grimaced, and sipped her tea. "Dunno. Ah thought it was jes' bein' airsick, but..." She shrugged. "Erik said he's gonna talk to th' desk clerk later, get a recommendation fer a doctor. Y'know, make sure Ah'm all right."

"You certainly didn't sound sick last night..." he deadpanned, then winced as a booted tie bounced off his shin.

"Idjit," Sam muttered
 
Erik shuffled in shortly after Sam did, handing her a bit of paper on which the desk clerk had written an address. "He said this is the closest reputable doctor," he said, examining her closely for other signs of illness. He hated that she had taken ill in a city she would have surely otherwise enjoyed. A trifle selfishly he also worried about whether this illness would still be lingering by the time their wedding came round.

"Mornin'." Kieran flopped into a chair across from Colin, pouring himself some coffee before taking up the menu. "You kids were up late," he commented casually from behind the menu. Last night...well, it had been nice of course. But there had been something off about it. Something missing that had been there at the beginning, that had been there earlier this week when he'd taken home that burly Frenchman. In any case he didn't feel like talking about it so he chose to preemptively deflect attention onto the two lovebirds. "Hope you didn't break nothin'." He put down the menu and grinned slyly.

"Coffee and a pastry, please," Anne Marie said briskly to the approaching waiter before seating herself, waving away the men's manners. There were light shadows beneath her eyes which she had mostly managed to conceal with makeup. Mostly. With a sigh she shook her head and began handing out documents to the others at the table in a very businesslike manner. "I hope none of you were planning on a heavy breakfast."

"Why so serious?" Kieran asked cheerfully. "Why, just last night you--" At a severe look he shut his mouth and leafed through the packets. "What's this?"

"There was another murder last night, during our own investigation," she informed them. The letter along with the documents had come in the wee hours and though she had managed a brief twenty minute doze on Algie's shoulder she had still been awake well before dawn to receive them. Copies of the crime scene photos had also been sent by the Sheriff's department and she deliberately only handed them out to the other gentlemen. "Samantha...I know you haven't been feeling well. Why don't you rest today, hm?" Silently Anne Marie hoped she would just take the order-suggestion at face value, but she knew Sam better than that. She would probably think she was being trivialized or something, but she didn't want to disturb her with this. Worst case scenario the Ranger would take it personally and make finding the killer a personal vendetta.
 
"It ain't nuthin'," Sam insisted, sipping her tea and looking at Anne Marie curiously. The French woman's expression was guarded, carefully controlled. What was in those pictures? "Jes' a bug, Ah reckon. New Orleans is bad fer that kinda thing. Ah'll be fine."

Colin, meanwhile, opened his folder. "Mother of God," he whispered, the blood draining from his face.

"Indeed," the Professor agreed, joining them. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he yawned hard as he poured himself a cup of tea. "Indeed."

Before anyone could stop her, Sam snatched the file from Erik's hand. "Lemme see that," she snapped, opening it. Then, staring at the pictures within, she went very, very still for a moment. Silently, she flipped the next one over. And then the next. And then the next. Then, still silent, she picked up her mug and drank down the rest of her tea as she read the report within. Then she looked up, expression grim and hard. "They know," she said. "They know we're - Ah'm, at least - involved." Carefully, she closed the folder and poured herself some more tea. "This is a warnin'," she said, adding some honey. "No. Ah said that wrong. It ain't a warnin'. It's a threat."

"Samantha," the Professor began.

"If'n y'all are gonna say Ah kin step back," Sam said, "y'all kin hold yer tater Perfessor." She took a swallow. "Ah don' scare off. Wouldn't be worth spit as a Ranger, if'n Ah did. Ah done been threatened before. Lost track o' how many suspects done threatened ta rape me or murder me, thinkin' it'd put th' fear in me."

"Actually," the Professor said mildly, leaning back, "I was simply going to ask if you needed a moment to regain your objectivity, before visiting the coroner. I assume that would be your next step, after all, and I don't want our experienced criminal investigator working with a clouded mind."

"Oh." Sam leaned back, sipping her tea thoughtfully and staring at Anne Marie. "Reckon Ah do, yeah. Lemme eat breakfast first, an' Ah'll be fine."

"You can eat?" Colin asked, pushing his own folder away. "After that?"

"Yep." Sam signaled a waiter. "Somethin' Ah ain't gonna be able ta do fer a bit, once Ah see the body. So Ah'd better tuck in now."
 
Erik's stomach turned as he looked through the pictures. He glanced over at Sam while Anne Marie talked to her, silently hoping she would just do as she was told for once. This was personal now, and he didn't want her in the thick of it when this cult was sending a very clear message. He let out a noise of protest when she snatched the file from him, but it was no use trying to get it back. All eyes went to Sam as she flipped through the pictures, and Kieran seemed to be the only other one capable of eating.

Anne Marie noticed Sam staring at her and knew she'd been defeated on that issue, but her expression didn't budge. "Doctor first," she insisted flatly, daring Algie with a sideways look to contradict her. The nature of their relationship may have changed, but she hadn't and did take a stand against him when she thought it necessary. And if she were honest she was rather irritated that he'd undermined her authority so blatantly. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep despite his being so kind to her in her insomnia, but he'd had a habit of doing this before. As now partners in every sense of the term she intended to break him of it. "New Orleans may be recognized as more likely than other port cities to pass illness on to visitors, but if it's infectious I won't have you spreading it to others or to the rest of the team. Being around a dead body--and God knows what she--had may only exacerbate it." Her pastry finally arrived and she tore it in half before ripping off pieces to eat. "Threat or no, Samantha, you're no good to us unhealthy."

Sensing the tension, Erik cleared his throat and nibbled at a bit of fruit while Kieran hid his face in his coffee mug. It was never pleasant when Madame and the Professor were at odds or made the occasional power play against each other as they occasionally had in their long years together. It was like two parents fighting in front of the kids. Clearly Madame LaMonte didn't think Sam should be involved in this part of the investigation, but though her authority was recognized Professor Swift did have the final say in all matters. It was obvious she had chosen Sam's health because any objection Professor Swift might raise would make it clear that the argument was over authority and not the well-being of their team.
 
Sam watched the brief interplay between the team's two senior members, sipping her tea as she did. It was, she imagined, rather like watching your parents argue. Infirmative and uncomfortable, all at the same time. As Anne Marie ordered her to see the doctor first, she took in her hard expression and the Professor's slightly narrowed eyes, and nodded once. "Yes ma'am," she conceeded, not really wanting to but recognizing the point. "Ah'll lett'em have a look."

"Has our mission changed in any way?" Colin asked. He gestured at the folder that lay next to the plate with his half-finished breakfast. "In light of this?"

"Yes," the Professor said, voice hard. "We will..."

"No," Sam interrupted, mildly. "It ain't." Looking up, she met the Professor's hard, angry eyes unflinchingly. "We're still lookin' fer a group o' rapists an' murderes, an' what they done to this here kady an' her baby don't change nothin' 'bout that. If'n we go off half-cocked 'cause it was a mite more terrible this time, we'll make mistakes."

"They're animals!" the Professor snapped back, the fury all the more shocking in contrast to his usually calm demeanor. "They..."

"They ain't," Sam countered. "Animals din't know no better. An' if we go howlin' off fer vengeance, we're ginna make mistakes."
 
Professor Swift went to argue but Anne Marie put a hand on his arm gently but firmly. "She's right," she said a touch more gently than she had a moment earlier. She had a feeling that her pushing back was part of what had made him so furious about this. "If we let ourselves get emotional just because they're targeting one of us we're going to make mistakes. As it is they haven't gotten to any of us--yet--so we need to keep level heads. So I suggest Samantha go see the doctor," she looked at Sam then back to the Professor, "then proceed as we would have had this young woman looked like anyone else."

~*~

"Well Miss Cavendish," the doctor said, looking solemn as he pulled off his glove, "there's a number of folks I can recommend for a young woman in your situation. I know a lot of times, if the family has any sort of money, a girl'll go off to Europe for a year or so..."

~*~

"All I'm saying, Algernon," Anne Marie said with an air of forced patience, "is that I would appreciate it if you would at least wait until we were in private before you contradict me. It undermines my authority when we need to present a united front! You're a man so you don't realize how often you do it or how damaging it can be."
 
"I..." Algernon hesitated, thinking over the events of breakfast. "That is, I hadn't... I mean..."

They had returned to her suite, to discuss the day's agenda while the doctor attended to Samantha. Anne Marie had seemed off during breakfast, but this seemed extraordinary. Or, did it? Finally, pursing his lips in thought, he settled back into his seat. "I did, didn't I? Have..? That is..."

Finally, he checked himself. Rising to his feet, he bowed . "Madame LaMonte, I assure you it that it was not my intention to undermine you. You are my second command and, although I may override you, I certainly should not do so for thoughtless reasons. Please, accept my apology." Only then did he crack a small smile. "Have I really done it so frequently, my love?"



"A young woman in mah situation?" Sam repeated, baffled. "Whut in tarnation are y'all talkin' ' bout? Ah was jes'... in... Europe..?" Her voice trailed away as she began to make sense of what the doctor was saying.

"A few tests may be done to confirm it, if you wish," the doctor said, sympathetically. "But I believe you are somewhere between fourcand six weeks pregnant, Miss Cavendish."

"Pregnant? That's... Ah mean, Ah..." She stopped, because everything she was about to say was foolishness. Of course she could be pregnant. It wasn't like she'd led a sheltered life and didn't know where babies came from. And there'd been plenty of opportunities. She just hadn't expected...

"Ah ain't doin' no such foolishness as hidin' this," she declared firmly. "But Ah thank y'all kindly fer th' thought. Uhm... are we done?"

"Well, yes," the doctor said. "Unless you wish to have a test, or have some other..."

"Nah," Sam interrupted, jumping to her feet. "But Ah've gotta go tell, well..." she threw open the bedroom door to see Erik, trying not to look as if he'd been worrying. With a cry of joy she threw herself into his arms as he rose. "Erik," she laughed, hugging him. "We're gonna have us a baby!"
 
They'd been in there an awfully long time. And behind the door it was awfully quiet. Erik would know; he'd put his ear to the thick mahogany several times in vain effort to hear what was going on. Sam rarely got sick and he hadn't been worried until Anne Marie had brought up that it might be infectious. He wasn't worried for himself, of course, but for Sam; if it were infectious then what was it and how harmful was it?

"Sit down mate," Kieran commanded lazily. "You'll wear a trench in the floor. Besides, you're making me nervous."

"Sorry." Erik threw himself onto the setee. "It's just--"

"Look, whatever it is Sam's too stubborn to let it hurt her any," the pirate insisted. "She'll be fine." He himself was a little concerned, but nothing near what Erik seemed to be suffering.

The door flew open and Erik jumped to his feet again. He caught her up in his arms and hugged her tightly. "Oh Schatze, I--what?" He blinked, confused for a moment. He'd been preparing himself to comfort her, for the worst possible diagnosis. "A b...a baby?" Dazed, he sat down again even as Kieran stood up.

"Ha! Told ya she'd be fine!" he declared. "Congratulations! I ah, I expect you'll be asking me to be godfather then?" He straightened and tugged his lapels, teasingly attempting to look respectable.

"A baby...ein Kind..." Erik muttered, still unable to believe it but a slow grin creeping across his lips all the same. "I'm going to be a father..."

~*~

Anne Marie did her best to keep irritation out of her expression as her lover struggled to recognize his own idiosyncrasies. When he did she was a little surprised; she'd been preparing for a fight. But they'd not had any sort of serious argument yet, and it didn't look like this was to be the first. She raised her eyebrows in surprise when he stood and bowed, addressing her as Madame. For a moment she feared insincerity and anger, that he was going to distance himself from her again as he had all these years. But Algie smiled and with relief she smiled back.

"Apology accepted," she said, rising and hugging him. It always felt good to hug him, but this time felt inexplicably good. Relieving, even.

"Have I really done it so frequently, my love?"

"Not so frequently as lesser men than you," she assured him, "but still frequently enough to be deserving of irritation. I've not found a man yet who isn't guilty of doing it every now and then. Even Erik. Speaking of..." She kept her arms around him but looked toward the door as a bit of a rumpus erupted in the parlor. "It sounds as though Samantha is done with her exam. If we've got our itinerary sorted, shall we go see whether we ought to put her on bed rest for the day?"
 
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