Summoned Again?

I took in a long deep breath as I opened my eyes. I felt a deep warmth on my right side and that something had my right arm pinned. I turned my head to look, only to see both Crystal and Nat had my arm under their shoulders and were on their sides and cuddled in close. I had to smile at that, considering Nat's and Crystal's personal views were quite different, and they both looked to be quite content to snuggle up to me.

I turned my head to the other side to look at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was eleven o'clock. I had some time before having to go and have my hair cut, so I turned my head back to look at the girls again and closed my eyes. I was going to enjoy just laying there and not doing anything for a few hours. There was no rush, nothing urgent to do, and no need to wake anyone else up.

I was a little surprised that I had woken up so quickly, considering how much sleep I had actually missed, then I didn't question it any further. It wasn't necessary to overthink it and I drifted off to sleep with two women that were very important in my life. I honestly couldn't imagine any better thing to experience in that moment.

It only seemed like a few minutes later when I felt movement on my side. I opened my eyes and looked to see Crystal roll onto her back and spread her arms and legs out in a star pattern. One arm and leg went over me and her other arm and leg when over Nat. Her breathing hadn't changed, so I checked the time and an hour had passed.

I looked back at her and closed my eyes. Only two hours left to enjoy this. I thought and then had a neat idea. I stored Teddy and sat him on the floor in front of the bed. I stored my cell phone, took it out and started recording, then popped it over on the dresser by the far wall for a few seconds as I pretended to be asleep. I popped it back into my hand and stopped recording, checked it to make sure it got us all, then put it back on my nightstand.

I put Teddy back on the couch and closed my eyes again. I think Crystal's going to like that video. I thought and fell asleep with the image of her happy face floating through my mind.

*

Nat slowly came to wakefulness and she felt not one, or two, but three warm things touching her. She opened her eyes and was relieved to see that it was Crystal's arm on her torso and her little leg on her thigh. She wasn't sure how she would have reacted if Damon had been touching her like that. Despite their teasing about tempting each other, and her having quite a bit of fun with that, she was sure that she didn't want him to take liberties with her.

That would make things awkward between them and that wasn't something that she wanted to happen. Establishing a great friendship was what she wanted and they were definitely on the path to that. He also seemed to genuinely want the same thing and didn't even come close to pushing things, even when he joked about artificially creating an 'oops' moment between them in the shower, just so they could see each other naked and to get it out of the way.

It almost made her laugh as she thought about their exchange, especially since it had been her idea that she had mentioned to the principal of Crystal's school to distract her. She didn't think Damon would grasp her offhand comment and would toss it back at her randomly. She had to smile at that, since their banter was some of the best that she had enjoyed in a while.

Nat also liked that there wasn't a lick of sexual tension. She had even cuddled on the couch a couple of times with him and it hadn't given her the willies or made her uncomfortable, like it had nearly every other time she had tried it. She had no idea why he seemed to have gotten through her defenses like he had, and so easily, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to question that.

She was worried that if she poked at it too much, it might lose its magic. That thought made her smile, since he was using his storage capacity to do magic tricks. It was both childish and brilliant, considering what an ability like that could mean for the government, the military, or even secret criminal organizations or something else that she couldn't imagine.

Stop it, Nat! Nat thought to herself and turned her head to look at Damon. He's a good man.

His warm and muscular arm under her shoulders was a comforting presence and she looked at his sleeping face. He could very easily rob everywhere they went, and he didn't, despite the ability to do so. They could never prove it was him, even if they had security footage of him being there, because he never had to physically touch anything to store it.

It was an amazing power and he didn't abuse it... too much. Nat's thoughts went to the FBI and the cars he had delivered back to them. That had been the most hilarious thing she had seen in her life and she had almost peed herself from laughing so hard. He had told her afterwards that he avoided the cameras somehow and only their retreat would have been seen, because he wanted them to know that he did it.

Nat had warned him that he was playing a dangerous game with them and he nodded, said they had started it, and he was going to show them what it meant to hurt his family and the people he cared about. It had touched her heart, because she really wanted to be included in something like that.

Then he told her what he was going to do.

She had been left speechless by the audacity of the scope of the plan. It was amazingly ambitious and so dangerous that she didn't know if she wanted to help him or smack him good for even thinking of it. So, she decided to do both. She whacked him good and hard a few times, which only made him laugh, and then she agreed to do what she could to help him.

His sincere thank you and his tender hug had made her blush a little. Of course, he teased her about it and claimed that his manly charm was working on her, even though she was supposed to be immune.

“I am immune to your manly charms, you dunce.” Nat had responded and smacked him again. “It's your old friend vibes that I'm having a hard time dealing with.”

“Don't worry. I told you before that you'll settle down and it'll feel like we've always been friends soon.” Damon had said. “I trust you with my life and with Crystal's life, and there's no higher compliment that I could give you.”

At the time, she didn't really understand what that meant. Now, though... she knew that little girl meant more to him than his own life did, and that was saying something. She also knew that his sister had hurt him a lot by betraying him.

Nat looked at Damon's sleeping face and thought back to the other night. She had called Jenny and asked for her help with the party, just so she could get the two of them in the same room together, and then maybe try and negotiate some kind of truce between them. They both needed to confront what happened and they both needed to forgive each other.

Although, she knew that they were both emotionally scarred by it and there was no way that it was going to be solved in one night. It took work, time, and patience to get through things like that. All that Nat had tried to do that night was to get the process started. They needed to start from somewhere and she had hoped that their common ground with Crystal was the best way to start.

Nat hadn't imagined that that was the worst decision, because Susan had shown up unexpectedly and threw off everything that was supposed to happen. Instead of starting the healing process, it actually derailed it to the point that even Nat was having a difficult time trying to find a way to get it back on track. It shouldn't have been possible to make things worse, and yet it had happened.

The rift between Damon and his sister was so wide that Nat wasn't sure that they could see each other in person without one of them blowing up at the other, and there wasn't anything that Nat could do to ease any of that tension, because Jenny saw her as the cause and hadn't returned any of the texts she had sent.

Nat turned her head to look up at the ceiling and let out a sigh. Her first genuine attempt at trying to help her new old friend with his problems had backfired spectacularly.

*

I woke up when I heard Nat's sigh and opened my eyes to look at her. “Why the sad face?” I asked in a whisper.

“I don't want to say.” Nat whispered and tried to make her face happy.

I reached over and poked her cheek. “Don't lie to me or I'll kiss you when you least expect it.”

Nat smiled and turned her head to look at me. “I was just thinking about Jenny and how it was my fault that she stormed off from the party.”

I chuckled and she looked surprised. “It's not your fault. It's mine. I should have planned better and made even more backup plans and stashed cash reserves all over, just in case anything happened. When I disappeared this last time, everything I planned and had in place, didn't mean anything.”

“I invited her over to try to work things out between you.” Nat said.

“I didn't even see her until she came into Diane's old apartment.” I said and Nat looked surprised. “Yes, she avoided me completely before that.”

“But... I... well, damn.” Nat said and I chuckled.

“I learned not long ago that if you try to force anything with Jenny, she'll fight tooth and nail against it, whether it's good for her or not.” I said. “She needs time to think things over and she won't listen to anyone that's trying to reason with her, not after everything that's been pounded into her head by those other people.”

Nat nodded her head. “I'm sorry about all of it, even if you don't blame me for it.”

“Thanks for telling me something so obvious.” I said and she smiled. “Now, do you think we can get this little beauty to stop faking being asleep and get something to eat, or should we stay in bed until we have to leave?”

“I don't know. It depends on if we can hear her stomach growling.” Nat said and slid down the bed a little and pulled up Crystal's pyjama top to expose her belly. She pressed her ear to it and listened. “I can't hear it, so I think it needs some stimulation.” She said and turned to press her lips to the skin and blew a raspberry.

Crystal burst out laughing and waved her arms and legs.

“I still can't hear anything.” I joked and Nat kept going.

Crystal laughed and laughed as Nat tickled her and blew raspberries for several minutes. “PEE! I'M GONNA PEE!”

“That's got it!” Nat laughed as she picked her up and carried her into the bathroom to avert the emergency.

I sat up in bed and could hear the tinkling water. It lasted for nearly a full minute and that made me laugh, because now I had to use the bathroom, too. I stood up and went over to the bathroom as they came out. Crystal still had a happy beaming smile and I pet her head as I passed her and went into the bathroom to use it myself. I gave my hair a quick brush and used Cleaning Hands to wash up. When I was done, Nat used the bathroom, too.

We ordered room service and had a nice afternoon lunch, cleaned ourselves up, then we had to decide how to get across town. Nat thought about a taxi and I reminded her that it was expensive for out-of-towners.

“Then call Derek's driver. I'm sure he'd appreciate a few extra bucks in his pocket.” Nat said.

“That's a great idea.” I responded and sent a text to Derek. He quickly responded that the car would be there in ten minutes. I thanked him and then thanked Nat, and we got changed into nice outfits. Crystal had on a cute white dress, Nat wore jeans and a t-shirt, and I copied her. We put on thin jackets and as we left the hotel room, I stored our bags and Teddy. The room was booked until tomorrow, so we could come back later and relax before we had to fly home.

The car showed up on time and I gave the driver the address for the cancer treatment center. We drove there and the car avoided all of the major traffic along the way and parked in the parking lot. Nat, Crystal, and I went into the building and the moment that the receptionist saw me, she shot to her feet.

“Just a minute!” She exclaimed and picked up the phone. “Henry! Get your ass out here with the camera!” She paused. “Both! I've never seen hair like this before!” She paused again. “We only have one appointment for today, so of course this is it! Get out here now!”

“I think she might be a little excited about getting her hands on your hair.” Nat whispered and Crystal giggled.

“You don't say?” I whispered back and Nat laughed softly.

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