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The Only Rules That Matter: Bloodlines (Corsair&Madam Mim)

May nodded at Grannie Sparrow's pearl of wisdom. It was true: all you could do was offer a lost soul help, and it was up to them what they did with it. That's what she had been trying to do. She only wished that those men deciding to hang themselves with the rope she'd given them hadn't strangled her too.

"'Course, y'kin always kick 'em back in th' hole if'n they get damn stupid once y'get 'em out," Jack added to Grannie Sparrow's moral lesson. May sniffled and laughed, squeezing Jack a little.

"Your grannie sounds like an interesting woman," she said. "Maybe she can come visit some time, see what we're all about. Sounds like she'd get along pretty well here. Dunno about that kickin' 'em back in, though." May laughed a little. "We're kinda about keeping people out of holes once we got 'em out." She sighed before taking the pipe back for another hit. "It's been a long day. Why don't we just try and get some sleep, hm? Tomorrow's another day. A better day."
 
“Both of them are,” Jack agreed. “But yeah, she’d agree with teaching people to not fall into a damn hole in the first place, and definitely not fall back into one when they’ve gotten out, and...”. He took a hit on the pipe, then considered it. “Must be some good shit. I don’t know if I’m making any sense any more.”

May sighed, then took a hit herself. “It's been a long day. Why don't we just try and get some sleep, hm? Tomorrow's another day. A better day."

“Sounds good to me,” Jack declared, taking the pipe and tapping the ashes out. “Both of us could use the rest, I think.” Settling back, Jack dragged the blanket over both of them and closed his eyes. He hadn’t thought he was especially tired, but the pleasant buzz of the weed had really relaxed him. “Night, baby...” he murmured as he drifted off to sleep.

-*-

Max was wired up.

The news Jesse had brought, for all that he’d been able to sooth his friend’s fears, had been distressing. Jesse had smoothed our problems for the Faith before, but to be called by the God-Soul to kill four Disconnected was... troubling. It had been a righteous act, he was sure of that - like him, Jesse has been cleansed by the Scarlet Woman Herself and had heard the call of the Universal God-Soul to preach Truth to a Disconnected world. But the instruments of power that kept mankind in chains would never see it that way.

He needed to seek communion once more. Needed to know the true will of the God-Soul.

Gritting his teeth, he wrapped the surgical band around his forearm until the veins stood out. Then he lifted the syringe, inspecting the clear fluid within. Heroin, real heroin made from the sacred flower - not the synthetic bullshit that profaned the gift of the God-Soul. The bite of the needle was an offering, as was the chill, painful rush as he drove the plunger home. A meditative trance washed over him as he untied his arm, letting the divine elixir surge through his blood.

“I... I understand...” he said, after a time. It was an effort to sit up, but the God-Soul has given him to understand he was not yet worthy of a true vision. He had unburdened himself, but to one of the lesser priestesses. Not to the Person-Mover All-Goddess, who despite her sin was the closest to the Scarlet Woman.

Dry-swallowing a handful of uppers, he waited for them to take effect. He needed the Person-Mover All-Goddess. He needed May. Only then, unburdened and cleansed, would the God-Soul reveal itself to him.
 
May was awakened by a soft kiss. She groaned and tried to roll over, but a hand rested on her shoulder gently but firmly. The pain of movement brought her the rest of the way to consciousness and with another soft groan and a pout she pulled her eyelids open. It was dark, but the sort of dark that accompanied the dead of night rather than the hint of the grey light of dawn she was used to. Even in the dark, however, she could see Max. His eyes were wide and glassy, his pupils were pinpricks, that much was visible. She frowned and lifted her head from the pillow.

"Max...?" she whispered, trying not to wake Jack beside her. "What's wrong?"

"Sssshhhhh." He put a finger to her lips and kissed her forehead. "I need you, All-Goddess," he whispered back. Max pressed his lips to her forehead and leaned back as she carefully sat up. It was difficult not to make the waterbed move, but she tried to make as few waves as possible. Once she had perched herself on the wooden edge of the bed he leaned back. "The God-Soul has denied me a true vision, May," he whispered, "because I am impure. It isn't good enough to unburden to a lesser priestess; the All demands no less than the Person-Mover All-Goddess. It cannot accept anything less than total purification."

"But my penance..."

"I know, I know." He nodded sagely and raised a hand. "But I've thought of that." He seemed to stand in slow motion, or at least it seemed that way to him.

It took a very long time for May to be as far away from his face as he thought she ought to be. His thinking was clear, too clear even, but his body had to work to catch up. He didn't know when he had pulled his zipper down, nor when May had leaned over from the edge of the bed, but her sweet mouth taking away his sins made that loss of time irrelevant. He thought he saw Jack's eyes open a crack and smirked at the false savior even as he slid his fingers through May's hair and came closer to purification. He moaned softly as her tongue slid along the underside of his shaft and his head touched the back of her throat. How could anyone deny the love of the God-Soul when it so clearly had created a paradise on earth for them in its perfect Person-Mover All-Goddess? He looked down and met her eyes, which looked tired. The thought of the Disconnected defiling the gifts of the All had disgusted him...but the way Jesse had described the man he had found bending her over a trashcan...

With a soft grunt Max came. He bit his lip to avoid making too much noise, but gripped May's hair hard at the base of her skull. He thought he felt a bit of a panicked struggle, but held her firm until she had taken all of his sin to purify and put back into the world as positive energy. He sighed as his cock slipped from her lips and, after tucking himself back in, knelt down to kiss her fiercely.

"Thank you, May. You don't know what this means for me, for us." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "I love you. You know that, right?"

"I love you too, Max." Her voice was hollow but he didn't pay much attention. Instead the church leader kissed her again before straightening and retreating back to his inner sanctum.

May bit her lip, trying to swallow the burning ache in her throat. Everything Max did was for a reason; he'd never intentionally hurt her. And besides, whatever physical or emotional distress might come from purifying the High Ascender it was in the name of perfecting their relationship with the All. He did love her, and she loved him. She loved him. This was what she kept repeating to herself as she carefully slid back into the waterbed, under the blankets, and curled back up on Jack's chest. He loved her and she loved him. May worked very hard not to question this even when leaning up to gently kiss Jack's cheek while he was sleeping felt more meaningful than anything else that had just occurred.
 
Jack woke feeling rested, with a redhead nestled up against him. Sometime in the night, it seemed, she’d wrapped herself in his arms and had managed to stay there. It was a nice feeling, waking up like that. And not just because of the hard-on that resulted from feeling her bare skin against his. She felt... good. Right.

It was a strange feeling, wasn’t it? If he really stopped to think about it, he didn’t know her all that well. Just a bubbly redhead who was high priestess for a free love religion, and a tiger in the sack. Did he really know that much else about her?

Did he care?

Shit, he thought. He was falling for her. And that was a real potential problem - she and Max were an item, right? And whatever the Suprene Court had decide, most folks weren’t up for seeing a white woman and a black man together - in either side. Hell, he’d gotten shit for having an Indian grandmother. He could just imagine what folks would say about this.

But, he realized, he wasn’t all that certain that he cared. But he sure as fuck wasn’t going to break up May and Max over a crush...

Fuck, he groaned to himself, then yawned. It was still pretty damn dark in here. What time was it? Answering that required him to work his left arm free - carefully, so as not to wake up May.

Oh-five-ten. Jesus Christ. He was still on Army time. And he was wide fucking awake. Maybe he could get out of the waterbed without waking May up? And then he could go read, or something.

Carefully, he rolled over and slipped out from under the covers. The bed sloshed and swayed, but he made it to the edge and groped for his foot. So far, so good.
 
"Morning, you." May smiled at Jack from her place behind him on the bed, but she looked tired. Carefully she sat up and kissed a line up his spine to his neck. "Couldn't sleep later either, huh?" she murmured, planting slow kisses along his neck and shoulder.

Even as she did so, May struggled to understand the message the All was giving her. As she put her hands on his shoulders and slid them down over his chest her stomach twisted up in pleasantly unpleasant knots. Her lips tingled whenever she kissed him. It was the sort of crush feeling that she hadn't felt in years, the sort of charge she used to get being around Max and Jesse but wasn't willing to admit to herself wasn't there anymore. There was a certain steadiness about him that didn't make her feel like she was on tenterhooks, something that made her feel... Safe. Stable. She had been denying it for so long but after last night May was forced to admit to herself that safety and stability was something she needed, and something Max couldn't provide. The Savior, on the other hand, was the eye of the hurricane; the calm in the storm.

"What, this botherin' you, honey?" she teased quietly with a smile, slipping her arm under his and wrapping her hand around his shaft. May peppered his shoulders and back with more gentle kisses while she slowly stroked him. Her heart pounded while she worked up the courage to say what she wanted to say. "I know Max grounded you," she murmured, lips brushing his ear, "and forbid you from communion for a while, to purify your intent. But the God-Soul has sent me visions, signs, and you've got a touch of destiny about you, Jack Sparrow. My purpose in this world is to help you to that destiny. There are more ways to purity than abstinence." She craned her neck over his shoulder and looked at him seriously. "Do you understand what I'm saying, Jack?" Her hand worked over his head and she kissed his lips slowly. There was a brief spark of green between their lips as she pulled away. "I've been missing you."

It was a direct defiance of Max's orders for both of them. But May had been feeling closed off from the world, from the All, these past few days despite the purpose of abstinence being to bring her closer. After Max had left last night she had been unable to sleep and had instead laid on Jack's chest and watched the auras of his chakras glow over his skin. She had experimentally moved her hand over each, and although they already glowed brightly the light as she moved her hand over them was enough to make her worry about waking him up. His heart and sacral chakras had been particularly bright the closer she got to them, and strangely enough his solar plexus and throat chakras felt like they had tugged at her own. She didn't understand why the God-Soul felt like she wasn't speaking her truth, like she needed to reexamine her gut instinct... But clearly communion with Jack was the key to understanding these messages from the All.

"We're linked, Jack," May whispered even as she untangled herself from him. "Perhaps the only one able to cleanse the Person-Mover All-Goddess..." She carefully moved off of the bed to stand in front of him then straddle his lap. "Is the High Holy Seeker." She kissed his lips slowly, sweetly, savoring the feeling of his lips and clinging to the sense of calm he exuded. It was entirely unlike the manic energy gradually consuming Max's qi. Her lips moved down to his throat as she slid her slick lips against his shaft. After three days--had it really only been three days?--being denied her connection with the All, she ached for him to complete her.
 
“Morning, you." May murmured. Jack sighed at the words. Damnit, he’d been careful to try not to wake her up! And now she was...

His brain seized up as he felt her lips on the small of his back, and her hands gripping his shoulders as she kissed her way up his spine. "Couldn't sleep later either, huh?" she whispered.

“No, uhm, still kinda on an Army schedule I guess.” He shifted a little and she moved with him, sliding her hand into his shorts and gripping his cock. “Beats revile, though,” he sighed, closing his eyes.

Her hand slid up and down, slowly stiffening him more. “What, this botherin' you, honey?"

“Not... not bothering me, no,” he declared, leaning back into her embrace. Soft lips traced the side of his throat, and a warm, soft body molded to his bros back. “Not at all.”

“I know Max grounded you," she murmured, lips brushing his ear, "and forbid you from communion for a while, to purify your intent.”

“Did he?” Jack tried to remember. God, May was distracting!

“But the God-Soul has sent me visions, signs, and you've got a touch of destiny about you, Jack Sparrow. My purpose in this world is to help you to that destiny. There are more ways to purity than abstinence." She craned her neck over his shoulder and looked at him seriously. "Do you understand what I'm saying, Jack?"

“No,” he started to say, but she swallowed the words with a lingering kiss that made him pulse in her grip.

"I've been missing you,” she breathed as she drew back.

“Been missing you too, baby,” he replied, watching her move as she climbed off the bed and stood before him. “Real bad.” She was a damn good fuck. But... there was more to that. A connection of some sort. Something that made him look for her when she wasn’t around.

“We're linked, Jack," May whispered. "Perhaps the only one able to cleanse the Person-Mover All-Goddess..." She straddled his lap, molding herself to him, breasts flat against his chest and slick lips sliding against his thick cock. "Is the High Holy Seeker."

Linked? That was... heavy. But not too different than what he was thinking. “I don’t know much about that,” he replied, enjoying the sight of her creamy skin against his dark fingers as he explored her. “But I think I remember how you cleansed me.”

Cupping her rear he gently lifted, sliding her over the length of his cock. “How’s it go, Person-Mover All-Goddess?” he whispered, tone half-teasing. His head stroked against her folds as he held her above him, letting her arousal drop down his shaft. “Seek? Seek in me the way to the Universe?”

How the hell was he remembering this? Why the hell was he remembering this? He’d been tripping and fucking horny when May had said it to him a couple of days ago. But the words flowed as he lowered her slowly, giving her time to adjust to his length as she stretched around his cock. “Cling to me,” he gasped, breath coming short as she clenched around him, “to pull yourself out of darkness...”. He felt her take him completely, and gasped at the sensation, “and be one with this beautiful light around you."

God, she felt so good on him. So right on him. Make love to me," he whispered, slowly moving her on his shaft, moaning at the delicious friction of her body on his. "Make love, Person-Mover All-Goddess, and find the truth I see in you." He focused amp n how dam good she felt stretched around his girth, how good she felt gripping his thighs and shoulders. "Let me fill you with energy, and gain from you, truth and together we will be one."
 
She smiled when Jack half-teased her, knowing that deep down he wasn't teasing at all. When he held her above him, teasing her folds, May couldn't help but take her breath in little gasping sips, gripping his shoulders with a surprising strength. Her cunt ached when he told her to seek within him, echoing the words of his own baptism into the way of truth. His strong, dark hands controlled her as he slowly lowered her onto his thick, throbbing cock and the contact was a blessed relief.

"Cling to me," he gasped, and she did, "to pull yourself out of darkness..." May took him entirely and they gasped in unison at the sensation, "and be one with this beautiful light around you."

"It's so beautiful," May gasped, nodding fervently. A pure white aura surrounded them the moment they joined in their union. Jack moved her on his shaft and she moaned as he filled her over and over, letting her head loll back a little. The fact that he could remember what she'd said at his initiation, that he initiated her back into the fold now after going for so long separated from the Universal God-Soul, made her walls clench momentarily around him.

She gripped Jack's shoulders tightly and pulled her head forward, leaning her forehead against his and staring into his eyes. Her pupils were the size of dimes and they saw everything in those dark, deep eyes. She saw the war, and the only way out of a nowhere town; deeper she saw so many fights, protecting not only himself but also the helpless; even deeper still she saw a childhood fraught with those who would mean him harm, those who inadvertently taught him how to fight. All of this in a single moment and May felt as though she were even more a part of him. She moaned and nipped at his bottom lip, moving back down onto him again, in love with the way he felt as he filled her completely. Each time it was as though she had been an incomplete person, and being one with Jack made her whole again.

"Together we will be one," she echoed in a reverent whisper, still leaning her forehead against his and cupping his neck with both hands. "We are one, Jack. We'll move toward the bright light of truth together."
 
“Together we will be one," she echoed in a reverent whisper, still leaning her forehead against his and cupping his neck with both hands. "We are one, Jack. We'll move toward the bright light of truth together."

To be perfectly honest, Jack had no real idea where the things he’d been saying were coming from. They just seemed to be there, lurking in his stomach bconscious. He wasn’t sure he believed in this ‘bright light of truth’ stuff, but May sure did. And he believed in her, and how good she felt on him. How right she felt against him. “Together,” he agreed, stroking one hand over the swelling curve of her rear and the other along her spine.

His mouth found hers, tasting and teasing her as he encouraged her to move on him again. “God, you feel so damn good baby,” he gasped, pulling her close. Her breasts slid over his chest as she moved up and down his shaft, and he moaned her not her lips. “Like that, May. Fuck, yeah. Like that.”

He kissed her again, drinking down her soft sounds of pleasure. She leaned back, taking more of him into her depths, and he kissed her throat and shoulder. “I... I’m close, baby,” he gasped, gripping her hips and helping her move. He traced the curve of her breast with gentle bites, then kissed her again. “Tell me... you are too.” A gasp cut off his words as he throbbed within her. “Fuck... I want to... to feel you cum... on me...”
 
"Ssshhh." May gently shushed him when he moaned her name and urged her on. The blue light of dawn could barely be seen outside, but that didn't mean people wouldn't hear them. "Someone could be awake," she murmured softly before losing herself in another kiss.

And really, she lost herself in it. She felt the lines on Jack's lips the way a fortune teller felt the lines on palms. In his kiss she read her entire future. May read a life of love and pain and an eternity of salvation. A tear escaped from her closed eyes when she became overwhelmed with the possibilities presented by the Savior, many of which she didn't yet understand. Gripping his shoulders, she leaned back to take Jack deeper and tilted her chin back to expose her throat to his lips.

"I... I’m close, baby,” he gasped, gripping her hips as she rode him and nipping gently at her breasts. Now just as at his baptism a gentle, nourishing light seeped slowly from them “Tell me... you are too.”

"I am," May gasped, struggling to form coherent thoughts and force them to travel out of her mouth. "I'm... I'm so close...baby. Oh God I'm close..." She brought herself down harder on his throbbing cock, craving the already familiar warmth of his yang. Suddenly nothing else in the universe was so important as purifying him.

“Fuck... I want to... to feel you cum... on me...” Jack gasped, moving her hips on him and pulling her down hard.

"Cum... With me... Baby... Please... Jack!" His name escaped as a restrained squeak while her walls clenched hard around him and her entire body was wracked with shudders. May grit her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut tight against the blinding pleasure, her nails biting into Jack's shoulders as she rode him through her orgasm. "Cum for me, Jack," she begged. "Oh god please cum inside me."

She leaned her forehead against his again and forced her eyes open, cupping his face in her hands and studying his face intensely. She gasped when Jack came and her eyes widened when a brilliant white light followed the path of his yang before continuing and blossoming into a blindingly white lotus flower just below her naval. Overwhelmed with an intense, all-consuming feeling of love both for humanity and for the man beneath her, May leaned in to crush a hard kiss to his lips. By the time she felt she'd properly conveyed the intensity of her emotions, the lotus had faded into a dully glowing symbol of interlocked diamonds; the same symbol she had seen over Jack's heart when he had been initiated into the church of the Universal God-Soul. She didn't know why they had been chosen, why he had chosen her and why the God-Soul had chosen him... All she knew was that the future would be a more beautiful place for it.

"... Wow..." May was shaking and panting as she slowly came down. She kissed Jack again, far less intensely this time, before shakily and clumsily clambering out of his lap and falling with a slosh and a giggle onto the bed. After taking a few moments to recover, she looked at him. "Ever been to the boardwalk?"
 
Jack moaned into May’s lips as she climaxed on him, tasting her words as she begged him to join her. Then, with a cry muffled by her tongue, he gave in. She clenched rhythmically around him, milking his pleasure from him as she stared into his eyes. “God, baby,” he gasped. “Oh... oh god...”

"... Wow..." she breathed, kissing him gently as he spent the last of his pleasure into her. He agreed weakly, then made a sound of disappointment as she climbed out of his lap. It turned quickly to laughter as she overbalanced and sprawled across the bed. “Ever been to the boardwalk?"

“No, never been,” he assured her, flopping backwards and making the bed ripple like the tide. “Could be fun, though,” he added with a grin. “We allowed, though? I’d think Max’d frown on it, call it a frivolous thing the Disconnected do.” Another grin. “Not saying no, mind. I’m just wondering how careful we’ll have to be.”

It took a few tries, but he managed to sit up. This time he found his foot, still stuck down in his boot. “Gonna need breakfast before we go, though. And a shower before that.” He gave her a sideways look and a smile. “Wanna join me? I could always use a hand scrubbing my back.”
 
"Max isn't the boss of us, you know," May assured him. "He's just been, y'know, chosen as a vessel for the ultimate truth. He's the one who receives the divine will of the Universal God-Soul, and that's the boss of us. No human has authority over another human. So when we say that Max said something, really that's shorthand for Max interpreting messages from the All." She scooted next to him and concentrated hard on the waves and ripples they made in the bed. Did he not hear the sea calling out to him? Did he not hear her love song just for him, pleading for him to come back to her? Or had she been pining for him so long that he just ignored it anymore?

May pulled her attention back to her own body, which felt suddenly foreign with its new inner Life. "The boardwalk isn't a frivolous Disconnected thing," she assured him. "Just because we work hard doesn't mean we don't play hard." She smiled and nudged him. "I can work on my penance later, after we get back."

Jack tried to get up, but it took him several tries, creating more waves. Again May felt the overwhelming yearning of the ocean for him, and now it called to her, too. No, not her... Her new Life. The song would never be for her. She put her hand over the interlocked diamonds which still glowed dimly below her navel and looked down at it. A deep part of her panicked, didn't want to be chosen for this. But a much larger part knew that she had been chosen for a reason, though that reason escaped her, and her overwhelming love for humanity made her heart ache so badly that any thought of un-choosing herself was banished instantly. They all had their part in the story of human history, and this was hers; it would be fantastically arrogant to defy the will of the All on something so important as this.

"Wanna join me?" Jack offered with a smile. "I could always use a hand scrubbing my back.”

"Oh it's your back you need help with, is it?" May returned the smile. Jack's smile always felt like sunshine on her skin, and she felt like she could never quite match it for beauty and warmth. "Not your front?"

In the shower May allowed Jack to unbuckle and remove her collar in a move which felt to her infinitely more intimate than letting him undress her. As the freezing water slowly sobered her up, the symbol etched into her skin by the divine light slowly faded. She remained convinced of its meaning, and thought she could almost feel it there in her flesh despite the dissipating effects of the sacrament. What surprised her was that even after she had sobered completely, she still felt like one with Jack as he pinned her back against the cold corrugated metal of the shower and she tightened her thighs over his hips to pull him in deeper. The feeling of oneness with a man, of being so connected at the heart, in the absence of communal sacrament was a completely foreign experience.

"I want to know more about you, Jack." It was foreign territory, and May didn't know a way to communicate with him except bluntly. Her fingertips played gently with his as they waited for the bus. "I wanna know about your life before the Army, about your time there. I wanna know about your favorite food and your first memory and the things that make you laugh the hardest." She looked at him and her usual bubbly confidence wavered. "Like, have you ever had a girlfriend?" It was a stupid question, and it was stupid that her stomach was twisted into knots over it. But it seemed like a very important question to ask, so she asked it.
 
Waiting for a bus shouldn’t have felt exciting. But it did. It felt like the kind of excitement that came from ditching school to go swimming in a beautiful spring day. Which, in a sense, is what they were doing. Because Jack didn’t really think Max would approve, no matter what May said.

"I want to know more about you, Jack,” she said. Her small hand held his, fingers entwined and playing.

“Oh? Like what?” It was a kind of strange-feeling question. Happy-strange, like he was glad she asked.

"I wanna know about your life before the Army, about your time there. I wanna know about your favorite food and your first memory and the things that make you laugh the hardest." She looked at him nervously, like he’d laugh in her face. "Like, have you ever had a girlfriend?"

“Sorta,” he confessed. “I mean, I mostly grew up on the rez, with my grannies - mom and dad traveled a lot for work. So I never quite fit in, you know. Not Indian enough for the Apaches, not black enough for the blacks, too black for white folk. Oh, and my grannies scare two shades of shit outta folk - they call ‘em brujiera, and avoid ‘em a lot. Right until they need then, y’know?”

He glanced down the street, looking for the bus. “Still, it wasn’t all bad. I had a few friends, and a couple of girlfriends in high school. Teenage crushes, rally, but I got to second with one and third with another.” A grimace. “That’s what got me sent to Nam. Her daddy didn’t approve of his little girl getting corrupted by a damn nigger, and she cried ‘rape’ even though she was sucking my dick when he caught us.”

He chuckled darkly, rubbing his jaw. “Bastard beat seven shades of shit out of me, too. I couldn’t see outta my right eye in court, and I’m lucky I lived to get there.”
 
May frowned when Jack described how his racial identity had defined his life. She herself had gone to a whites-only school, so some of her first experiences with non-whites had been after she'd dropped out and run away to Baltimore. She couldn't imagine the sort of life he'd led that his skin had been that much of a factor.

"Well, you're just Jack enough for me," she assured him with a smile and a firm nod. "I never would've thought your parents were Indian though. How much Apache and white are you?" When he answered, he added that his grannies had scared people and she laughed when her half-remembered eighth grade Spanish came in handy. "Witches? Are they really that scary?" She shook her head. "I guess they'd have to be, to raise you. So your parents met on the rez?"

When Jack moved on to how he'd gotten sent to Vietnam, May scowled. Though she hadn't known any black people growing up, she had known a few girls who'd done the exact same thing to innocent boys then had the audacity to brag about it. The bus pulled up, and although it was mostly empty in the middle of a Wednesday morning she still headed toward the back.

"She oughta be the one got sent over," May said bitterly. "Girls like that only make people not believe actual rape victims." A pause. "So here I am with a convicted rapist, and a black one at that." She smirked and leaned against him. "Almost worth goin' and finding my dad just for that. He'd be furious." She leaned up and kissed his cheek, either unaware or unfased by the dirty looks a few of the people in the back of the bus shot her way. "So if that was right after high school..." She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him, grinning. "Was I the first time you ever got properly laid? Or did that honor go to some Vietnamese prostitute?" She wasn't upset or judging, more amused than anything.
 
“So here I am with a convicted rapist, and a black one at that." She smirked and leaned against him. "Almost worth goin' and finding my dad just for that. He'd be furious."

“Maybe.” Jack laughed. “What’s up with your dad, anyway? I get the feeling you two don’t get along.”

Her response was to kiss his cheek, something he’d have enjoyed more if people on the bus weren’t eying him coldly. May just didn’t seem to understand how much trouble this could buy him. But, he found himself thinking, it’d be worth it.

“So if that was right after high school..." She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him, grinning. "Was I the first time you ever got properly laid? Or did that honor go to some Vietnamese prostitute?"

“Well, I won’t say I didn’t rent a few prostitutes,” Jack said, leaning back and skipping his arm around her shoulder. “But the first time I got properly laid was in San Francisco, right after Basic while I was waiting to be deployed. There were some girls that had decided to make it their mission to make sure every GI knew exactly what he was fighting for. So this cute brunette - never learned her name - spent my entire two-day leave fucking me good and hard every way she could think of.”

He shifted in his seat, trying to ease the sudden pressure in his jeans. Just the memory of those two days made him hard. “And in country, there was this nurse at Tan Son Nhut. A sister, stacked and packed. You’d probably have liked her.” He grinned. “It was technically fraternization, cause she was a Second Lieutenant and I was a Sergeant at the time, but she never seemed too worried.”

Another chuckle. “How about you? Any past boyfriends I gotta worry about wising up and trying to get you back?”
 
Not getting along was an understatement. He'd seen the effect her dad had had on her. Instead of answering his question, she merely kissed his cheek and asked Jack more about his life. May liked the way he slipped his arm around her as though it were the most natural thing in the world. She leaned in against him, taking comfort in his body heat on the chilly bus. She nearly laughed when Jack shifted to try and ease the discomfort of his sudden erection and put her hand on his thigh. Something akin to dislike for this woman she'd never met flared up briefly in her chest. She didn't like it, and pushed it back down again without saying anything about it.

"How about you?" he asked. "Any past boyfriends I gotta worry about wising up and trying to get you back?"

She shook her head. "Not unless Jimmy Schatzman suddenly decides that clumsily kissing under the bleachers during the eighth grade dance was the highlight of his love life," she replied with a smile. The smile slowly faded and May chewed her lip. If they were going to do this she needed to be honest. She needed to tell Jack at least as much as Max, Jesse, and Nate knew. "Leland didn't let me date," she said after a thoughtful silence. "After Mom died when I was twelve he uh...he started drinking real hard. Started hitting me, got real possessive. She died from cervical cancer, some disease that attacked her reproductive system and turned into cancer, and I think he thought she got it from cheating on him. He said he didn't want me ending up the same way as her so he didn't let me date." She shrugged. "Then when I was seventeen there was this business deal he was trying to make go through, but the dude wouldn't do it. Not unless I..."

May straightened up and looked out the window at the city going by them. She couldn't look Jack in the eye while she talked about it; she didn't want to see the pity. "I guess I'm worth $47 million, so that's something at least." She shrugged again, trying to shrug off the past. "But before anything could happen I dropped out, ran away. Came here. Jokes on him; it's amazing how many guys will give you rides or a meal and a bed for a blowjob. Fucking patriarchy and its fucking imaginary value of female virginity..." She clenched her jaw and shook her head, then took a deep breath and finally made herself look back at Jack. "Jesse was really the first guy I was ever actually with. Him and Max took me in off the street, and I haven't had any regrets since. I'm a new woman." Her smile was back, but there was a touch of something sorrowful about it. "New May, new life. So no, the only man in my old life you gotta worry about comin' around is Leland. But he doesn't know where I'm staying since we came to live at the Chapel, so no worries about that either."

May scooched up against him again and put her hand back on his thigh. "So what was the res like? Your mom and dad's families must be pretty close for both your grannies to raise you like that. My only family's in Paris, though not for lack of Grandmere trying to get custody."
 
“Man,” Jack said, unsure what else to say. “Your dad’s an asshole.”

May scooched up against him again and put her hand back on his thigh. "So what was the res like? Your mom and dad's families must be pretty close for both your grannies to raise you like that. My only family's in Paris, though not for lack of Grandmere trying to get custody."

“I never met my mom’s folks,” Jack laughed. “Not that I remember, anyway. Her dad’s English, and her mom’s Egyptian, and they lived in, uh,” he thought hard. “Tunisia, I think. But both of them died when I was three or four. So, just Granny Sam and Granny Jackie, when my folks had to travel for work.”

Craning his head, he checked what stop was coming up. “The res was... poor. Dusty and hot, and a lotta folks worked temporary work and scratched out gardens to try and supplement, and waited for welfare checks.” A grin. “Nah, don’t look at me like that. You don’t really think about it when you’re little. Not unless you get around white folks with money. And I had a couple of friends, enough I didn’t feel lonely.”

Another laugh. “Didn’t get bored, neither. Gramma Jackie was a big believer in finding work for me, if I said I was. And I could always get them to tell me stories about China, or the war.” A shrug. “Mom and dad, too, although dad always swore the best stories were classified. Hell, I think most of his life is classified.”
 
May nodded when Jack declared her father an asshole. "You're not wrong," she said. "I've forgiven him--for my own sake, not his--but it's like Max says: always forgive, never forget. You forget, you keep making the same mistakes." She leaned back against him and slid her hand onto his thigh again. "So what was the res like? Your mom and dad's families must be pretty close for both your grannies to raise you like that. My only family's in Paris, though not for lack of Grandmere trying to get custody."

When Jack clarified that his maternal grandparents had died when he was young, she raised her eyebrows in mild surprise. When he had talked about his grandmothers May had always assumed one was his mother's mother and one his father's, but this was an interesting development. A frown tugged at her lips when he described the abject poverty on the reservation. She had long been against reservations anyway, and of the opinion that the First Nations had had their land violently stolen from them by a foreign power. This only reaffirmed her opinions, despite what Jack said about not really noticing.

"So your dad has two moms, huh? Right on." She nodded and pulled the cord for the next stop. "My grandparents were in the war, too. Spies for Free France and the Australian government. They refuse to tell me anything about it though, other than some interesting stories about people they knew. I think they spent some time in Algeria and Tunisia during the war, but they both always got kinda cagey whenever I asked them direct questions about the war. So I get that, when their whole life is classified." She smiled slyly. "I suspect they may have done some work that wasn't exactly sanctioned by their respective governments both before and after the war. Grandmere still occasionally disappears for a week or two at a time. She's pretty spry for 80."

May led the way off of the bus and down the street toward the boardwalk. "So is that why everyone thinks your grannies are witches?" she asked after some thought. "Coz they're lesbians? And was your dad adopted, then, or...?" She wasn't entirely sure what "or"' was. Adoption was pretty much the only way two women could have a child, wasn't it?
 
“Your gramma did stuff in Wirld War Two as well?” Jack laughed. “So’d mine. Gramma Jackie was a code talker, an’ Gramma Sam...”. He purses his lips. “I don’t know exactly what she did. Something for the Pentagon. She doesn’t talk about it much.”

He followed her off the bus and then, with a cautious look around, smiled as she slid her hand into his. “So is that why everyone thinks your grannies are witches?" she asked. "Coz they're lesbians?”

“Nah. But Gramma Jackie’s a two-spirit and the daughter of a medicine woman. And Gramma Sam?” He shrugged. “She sees things, sometimes. And talks to spirits. And sure as Hell seems to get answers.”

“And was your dad adopted, then, or...?" May’s voice trailed off, uncertain.

“More of an or,” Jack replied. “Way she tells it, Gramma Jackie got drunk and experimented.” A shrug. “She don’t have much use got men, not that way at least. Gramma Sam’s a bit more, uhm... experimental?” A grimace. “Least, that’s the impression I got from reading between the lines when they talk.”

He paused, checking the streets. “Which way?”
 
It sounded to her like maybe Gramma Sam was more mentally ill than gifted... But that was a very Disconnected way of looking at it, wasn't it? May had never met the woman; for all she knew, she really did see and talk to spirits. It was strange, she thought, that it sounded like Gramma Jackie was probably the Indian but Gramma Sam was the one in contact with the spirits. May was struck with a sudden intense desire to meet these two strange, interesting women. Would they like her?

When Jack clarified the circumstances of his father's birth, however, she couldn't hold in the burst of laughter. "No wonder you've been so open to everything," she said once she'd recovered. "If your grannies are that open about sex, probably not much of this is new to you." She giggled again and, shaking her head, tugged him around the corner toward the boardwalk.

The man at the ticket booth looked at them both suspiciously, particularly when May pulled a few crumpled bills out of her pocket and paid for both of them, but he said nothing and allowed them inside. Being 10am on a Tuesday, the place was all but deserted. Even the food vendors were closed and likely to remain so until lunchtime. They had the place to themselves.

"So what do you wanna do first?" May asked, looking around excitedly at all of the rides which were operational but had no lines. "Roller coasters? Or are you a Round-Up kind of guy?" May took both of his hands in hers and stood in front of him. With a grin she pushed herself onto her toes and pulled him down to kiss him slowly. There was no one around to start a fight over it, stupid thing that it was.
 
The midway was pretty deserted, which made sense. It was a Tuesday morning, after all. And a school day. Which made Jack feel a little guilty. He’d blown off registering for classes, which meant he’d probably have to go through the registration process again next semester. At least the GI Bill wouldn’t be wasted.

“So what do you wanna do first?" May chirped, breaking into his looming funk. “Roller coasters? Or are you a Round-Up kind of guy?"

“Well, I...”. May took his hands and pulled him down into a leisurely kiss. For a moment he felt worried, acutely aware of kissing a pretty white girl in public. But there was nobody around to protest, so he relaxed into the moment.

“Well, I got some ideas now,” he grinned. “But how about the Ferris Wheel?” Gripping her hand, he headed down the midway towards the looming ride. “I’ll bet there’s a great view from the top.”

-*-

Jesse felt extremely out of place, here in n the midway. It wasn’t his scene. It had never been his scene, even before he and Max had met The Woman. He’d grown up on the streets, ever since he’d knifed his old man for hitting him, and places like this didn’t cater to kids who ran drugs and roughed up shopkeepers who didn’t pay protection. But here he was, because Max had asked him to follow the Person-Mover All-Goddess.

And the Person-Mover All-Goddess has come here. With Jack. And they were holding hands. Max wouldn’t like that. He wouldn’t like that at all. Which could be a problem, because Max might want him put away. And Jesse didn’t want to see May hurt. The Person-Mover All-Goddess was the closest he’d ever see to The Woman in his mortal flesh again, and he’d die for her.

But he’d kill for Max. Again.

-*-

“Shit,” Jack said, staring up and up at the wheel that rise into the sky above him. “That’s bigger than I expected.” He grimaced. “All the wheels I’ve ever seen were portable, county fair deals. Not like that.”

This wheel was huge, with enclosed seats and mesh over the windows and doors. It was probably safe. Hell, it was probably a hell of a lot safer than the choppers he’d flown in. And it didn’t go anywhere near as high. But it still looked freaky as hell.

Forcing a laugh, he squeezed May’s hand. “Well. You ready?”
 
"What?" May laughed, looking up at the ferris wheel. "Scared of heights? C'mon!" She tugged him toward the ride and asked the operator to let them stay at the top for a while since there was no one else around. She took his non-committal grunt as acknowledgement and maybe even consent.

On the slow way up she asked Jack endless questions about himself, as though she could never know too much about him and what made him tick. What was his favorite color? What movie made him laugh the hardest? Pineapple or oranges? Did he ever want to have a family? That was the real question, wasn't it? May was usually forthright, none of this beating about the bush, but she had slipped back into old habits in the face of so important a topic. She was afraid of his reaction, afraid he would be scared away, afraid that someone so close to knowing the ultimate Truths of the Universe would fall away from the path of light. It was okay if he wasn't ready; she wasn't, either. And though her personal feelings would be devastated to see him go, even that would be okay in the end. But if she pushed Jack away from the All? That was something she could never forgive herself for.

The view at the top was stunning. May didn't want to ruin it. But she felt safe up here, like this was a private moment Max no one would ever be able to take from her. It was away from the commune, away from the world, just the two of them. She wouldn't hide the joyous news, of course; she'd tell Max in her own good time, and he would tell the Church. But she felt like she Jack deserved this sort privacy. He wasn't yet used to sharing absolutely everything, down to their very souls; it was best to start him out slow, with just the two of them, for something so important.

"It seems like we've known each other longer than two weeks," May said, leaning her head on his shoulder and playing with his fingers. Even though they could see traffic in the city below, they couldn't hear it. With the city on one side of the view and the ocean on the other everything seemed peaceful. "This morning was... It was so incredible, Jack. I've never experienced anything like it. Nobody can open my meridians the way you can; it's incredible." She squeezed his hand and tried to find the words and the courage. "The All granted me a vision, you know. During. Jack I um... The All has chosen me to bear a Savior's child. I uh..." Why could she not just say the word?? Well, Grandmere had taught her that it was an inappropriate word, for one, and especially not one that well-bred young ladies ought to say. Knee-jerk defiance of societal convention gave May the courage. "I'm pregnant," she blurted.

She gave him a few minutes to digest this. Hell, she needed a few minutes. She had known that it was a divine universal Truth, but saying it aloud made it real. This was a reality she wasn't ready for. But was anybody?

"It happened this morning," she said numbly at last. "The All granted me a vision to know the exact moment it happened. Jack I um..." He wasn't Disconnected anymore, but he still struggled to let go of their ways. She felt a deep, spiritual connection with him that outlined the Truth of their lives, their combined future. But the Disconnected ignored such intuitions and generally needed more time to know that Truth was Truth. Finally she lifted her head from his shoulder to look at him as seriously as he'd ever seen her.

"You don't... I'm not expecting anything from you," she said, feeling the cracks growing in her heart as she spoke. "That's not fair. Not when you haven't known me long, if the All hasn't spoken to your heart. I still mean what I said, I still feel the same way I did this morning. But I'm not gonna hold you back if this changes your feelings. You don't have any obligation toward me, or the child, or anyone; the best way to push you away from me forever would be to try and cage you. I won't do that. But you deserve to know what I know, when I know it, so that you can make those choices for yourself." She held his hands tightly, searching his eyes, rare lines of worry etched across her brow.
 
“What? Pregnant?”

Jack snapped his attention away from the scenery - he’d been right about the view - to stare at May with some confusion. She didn’t look pregnant, and he’d had a pretty close look at that sleek belly of hers, just this morning. If she was far enough along to know, wouldn’t she be showing? Just a little, at least? “Are... are you sure? And.., who’s the father?”

"It happened this morning," she said at last.

“This morning?” He hope he didn’t sound as incredulous as he felt. “How would you...”

"The All granted me a vision to know the exact moment it happened. Jack I um...". Her voice trailed away. Then she lifte her head from his shoulder and looked at him, looked as if she was searching his soul. “You don't... I'm not expecting anything from you,"

She kept talking, but he wasn’t really listening. Oh, sure, he heard every word she said. But he was tangled up in his own thoughts. But then, h realized, she had stopped. “May...” he began, unsure. Then he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “Come here, baby. I’m... you understand I’m a little skeptical, right? About you being pregnant?”

Lifting her chin, he stared deep into her eyes. “But I promise you this,” he smiled. “If you’re carrying my baby, I’ll be the best damn daddy I can be. And you’re right, I haven’t known you long. But you know what?” He grinned. “I’ve known you long enough to know you’ll be one cool momma.”

Still grinning, he kissed her lightly. Then a thought struck him. “Probably need to lay off the weed and the acid, though. If you’re pregnant, that stuff can’t be good for the baby.”
 
May's face was tight with uncharacteristic anxiety. Had he even been listening? Finally Jack clued in that she was waiting for him to say something. She could have cried in relief when he pulled her into a hug.

"I’m... you understand I’m a little skeptical, right? About you being pregnant?” Jack asked. May smiled a little and nodded without lifting her head from his chest.

"You have yet to see the wonders of the God-Soul," she replied with a shrug. It wasn't his fault. "A month from today exactly, I'll go the doctor and he'll say the same thing. You'll see."

Jack lifted her chin for her to look at him. He promised to stay for the child, to be its father. When he insisted she was going to be a cool mama she smiled and laughed a little.

"Maybe," she said with a shrug. "I mean, I always thought I'd have kids someday, but... I'm not ready, Jack. I'm only 22, I haven't done hardly anything. I uh...I guess mysterious ways and all that. The All knows when we're ready, even if we don't."

Jack grinned and kissed her lightly. "Probably need to lay off the weed and the acid, though," he said. "If you’re pregnant, that stuff can’t be good for the baby.”

May shrugged. "Mum smoked cigarettes with me," she said. "But I'll cut back, if it makes you feel better. Once the baby's big enough, once a test comes up positive, I'll tell Max and ask him for guidance about Communion. I can't imagine being unable to commune and truly connect with the God-Soul and the Ancient Aspect for nine whole months." She sighed and took his hand again. "Just promise me now, Jack. Promise me that if you ever feel our connection to be broken, that you won't let the child keep you bound to me. I lo-- I feel our souls connected to each other, and I only ever want what brings joy to your life. If I ever stop bringing you joy, you should leave and there'll be no hard feelings. I wouldn't put the child in the middle of that and make them choose; we'd both still be parents just like before, just not... Lovers." She looked up at him and smiled slyly. "But if I'm entirely honest, I hope we never stop being lovers. Don't tell anyone, but I feel more connection to you when we make love than I ever have to anyone else. Not even Max or Jesse or Nate."
 
Jack held May’s hand, listening to her talk. This baby thing, it was nonsense. Right? Wishful thinking on her part? It had to be, because there wasn’t any way to know this early. He really hoped it was nonsense, anyway.

Part of him hoped it wasn’t.

“May,” he said, “you don’t gotta worry about that. Not at all. And I won’t go telling anybody, not until that test comes back and we decide what we’re gonna say.”

The car rocked as the Ferris wheel came to a stop, and the attendant opened the door. Jack stepped out, and offered May his hand. “You like roller coasters?” he asked. “Or the Tilt-a-Whirl? Nothing’s too good for a mommy-to-be.”

-*-

“Nothing's too good for a mommy-to-be.”

Jesse pressed his face into the mesh window of the car, staring down at Jack and the holy Person-Mover All-Goddess. Mommy-to-be? Was that true? Had the God-Soul really bestowed the gift of life through her sacred person?

He watched the two of them exit the ride, and made a note of which way they turned as the wheel lurched, lowering him slowly towards the ground. The faithful needed to know. Max needed to know.

Just as soon as they all got back.

-*-

“You know what?” Jack observed, picking pink strands of sugar off his nose. “I always end up liking the idea of this stuff way more than I actually like it.”

He examined the pom-pom of cotton candy critically, then turned it at an angle and took a bite. “I always think it’s going to be light and fluffy and delicious, and it always melts into a chewy lump when I bite it.” Chewing thoughtfully, he took another bite. “I really should have got the candy apple instead.”
 
May giggled and picked a strand he had missed off of his cheek. "Well then don't bite it, silly," she said. "Pull it off and let it melt." She demonstrated, pulling off a small tuft and popping it into her mouth. Max would probably have had some profound lesson about patience, or forcing your will, but much as she wished for his wisdom she wasn't Max.

"Max would say we're poisoning our bodies with non-food," she said after a while, turning back to her funnel cake, "so don't say anything, alright? He'd be disappointed, since I should know better." The two of them were amassing a startling amount of secrets between them in the space of a day. She didn't like having secrets from Max... But she liked spending time with Jack more. He was easy to be with, after years of Max and Jesse's intensity. "Mum and I used to go to the fair every year with Dad," she said slowly, "and we'd always get a funnel cake right before going on the rollercoasters. She always complained about how undignified it was to puke on a fair ride, but she always risked it anyway." She smiled wistfully and looked at Jack.

"What about you? Your grannies ever take you to the fair or anything?"
 
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