“Most of you know this already, but in my old world, I didn’t exactly look like I look now.”

“Not true! Master was always sexy!” Lydia declared.

“Mmm! Mmm!” Miki nodded.

Lydia was the only one who had seen me how I looked when I first came here. I was fat and slovenly. I had lost a lot of weight by the time I met Miki, but I still wouldn’t say I was attractive. I hadn’t finished losing all the weight and put on muscles until about the time I met Terra. At that point, I probably had reached the level of being fit. Of course, that was still nothing to how I looked now. I still shot the girls an appreciative look and then continued.

“I didn’t have friends, and I wasn’t very popular either. The only one in that world that mattered to me was my mother. Simply speaking, I had no one else in that world that would have cared if I lived or died. Well, I had a cousin, but I was distant with her. She even refused to see me over the last year, so I was pretty sure she stopped seeing me like family. I also have an estranged half-sister, but she had no interest in me at all. She doesn’t even consider me family, so I don’t either.”

“Okay, but what about your mother.”

“She moved on.” I smiled sadly. “There is not much else to say about it. After crossing the country with Bernice, Carmine, and Garnet, I came to my old house. The yard was cut and she had done repairs on it that hadn’t been done for ten years. In fact, it looked better than I had ever seen it. So, did she.”

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“You… saw your mother?”

“Mm…” I tried to make my smile look happy, but tears formed in my eyes. “She was happy. She has a new guy. Young. They were flirting happily. Then, I approached her…”

“Wh-what happened?” Miki asked, her eyes wide.

“She… um… she didn’t even recognize me. The guy accused me of being a scam-artist and then attacked me. I… defended myself. I guess I went a bit too far. I had trouble controlling my anger as Deek. The guy got hurt. You… should have seen the way she looked at me. She called me a monster. My mother didn’t recognize me, and she…” I stopped, tears falling down my eyes. “Well, that’s the past. I guess there really is no going back. I had no home on Earth.”

“Deek, I’m so sorry,” Lydia responded tearfully.

Most of the girls were crying.

“It’s fine…” I splashed water on my face. “I’m fine. She’s happy. She looked good. She looked better than I had ever seen her when I lived with her. The house is taken care of. Her life seems better off without me. She doesn’t need me there complicating her perfect life. Besides… I have you guys. You are my life.”

The girls all blushed at those words, a few taking the opportunity to bridge the distance between us. I felt flesh pressing against me from every side as the girls held me comfortingly.

“Are you sure it’s okay?” Miki asked worriedly.

“Yeah… before we left, I took everything I thought might be useful. Books, tablets, technology, seeds, the works. I can always go in a few years and check up with her, but I have more important things to do here. One day, maybe I’ll return. It’s more of a comfort knowing no one is worried about me.”

I held my girls closely and slowly began to feel better. I didn’t like talking about that disaster, but I felt a bit better now that they all knew. I had dealt with the past. It was now time to worry about the future.