July 20, 2020
“Howdy, y’all.”
She bounded up to the porch with a slightly swaying gait, coming to stop at the foot of the steps. “I’m Alyssa. Alyssa Matthews. I’m hoping one of you two fine gentlemen is Mike.”
At this revelation, expected by Aaron, if not anyone else, Jenny audibly gasped and tensed. After a pause, Mike stepped down, hand extended. “I’m Mike, and this is my wife Jenny.”
Everyone could see that Mike’s marital status was a surprise to Alyssa, who took a small step backwards. “Wife?” she managed after a moment, looking at the others to make sure this wasn’t some sort of joke. Seeing Aaron’s gentle nod and sympathetic expression, she turned back to Mike and Jenny. “I had no idea you were married. Your Oracle datasheet didn’t say that. It had some background information, likes and dislikes, jobs and hobbies.” She trailed off, struggling to rein in her spiraling emotions. “It said you had one current partner and that we were strongly compatible as a group. Nothing about a marriage. I guess, I just assumed…” she trailed off.
Everyone’s attention remained on the dread-stricken Alyssa, but nobody knew what to say. Eventually, the fraught silence was broken by the most unlikely source.
“What did you mean by that?” Jenny asked. At Alyssa’s look of confusion, she continued. “Before. Just now. You said Oracle indicated that we were strongly compatible as a group. What does that even mean?”
“The machine said that I am 95% compatible with Mike individually,” she explained. “But if a man already has partners, then Oracle doesn’t stop there. It also analyzes how a new person would fit into the existing group. The system said that the three of us were 94% compatible as a unit. You two were by far my highest group score, so I chose you. I wanted to be in a stable team. One that could be fun and loving and great. But I didn’t know you were married. I didn’t want to mess up someone’s marriage.”
A thick blanket of silence again fell, smothering and oppressive. Not even the usually buoyant Corporal Smith had anything to say to relieve Alyssa’s angst. Suspicion, sympathy, fear, and a host of other emotions all flickered across Jenny’s face as she watched the other woman, trying to figure out a response.
Resignation and acceptance won out in the end, and she stepped off the porch and offered Alyssa her hand. “Welcome to the family, I guess.”
There was a soft whoosh as everyone released breaths that they didn’t know they were holding. Mike stepped down next to his wife and shook his new partner’s hand before scooping up her duffel and leading the pair into the house. Aaron signed Alyssa’s DA 6969-R Form before returning the tablet to Corporal Smith.
“Have you been seeing a lot of that, Corporal?” asked Niamh.
“No, but I’m sure we’ll be seeing it a lot more soon. Second-wave partners are starting to be matched with married men this week. It’s gonna be a long week.” Her chipper façade vanished for a moment, revealing the embattled and exhausted reality underneath.
Sam spotted this immediately and pulled her into a hug which she reluctantly returned. “You’re doing good work, Corporal Smith. Important work.”
“Stay strong, but take care of yourself too,” added Niamh.
“Tell Ernie that if he doesn’t give you a long massage tonight, I’m gonna make Mike kick his ass,” Aaron said. At his partners’ inquisitive look, he continued. “Look, nobody cares what the awkward loner threatens to do. Mike was the big shot quarterback, the prom king, and the class president. Nobody wanted to get on his bad side, not that he had much of one.”
Energized by their warmth and caring, Corporal Smith regrouped, gave Sam one last squeeze, and returned to her Humvee to continue making her deliveries. Joining hands, Aaron led the women into the house, simultaneously eager and afraid of what he might find.
Reality, as it so often was, proved to be far more boring than his imagination. Mike, Jenny, and Alyssa sat at the dining room table, sipping coffee and getting to know one another. Aaron’s trio paused in the front hall to observe the tableau.
“I wonder how that’s going,” murmured Aaron, hoping that whatever happened at that table wouldn’t ruin the easygoing balance that had somehow developed since Niamh’s arrival.
“Not great,” whispered Sam, her hot breath tickling his ear.
“But not terrible,” added Niamh in a quiet voice. “Alyssa is starting to calm down, but Mike’s clearly in over his head.”
“Jenny’s somehow both panicking and calming down at the same time,” mused Sam.
Aaron’s head whipped back and forth between his partners. “How the hell could you possibly know all that?”
“Body language,” they said in unanticipated unison.
“Jinx!” blurted Sam, giggling at Niamh’s baffled incomprehension. “I’ll explain it to you later,” she told the younger woman. “Right now, we need to figure out how to save Mike and Jenny from themselves.”
Both women stared expectantly at Aaron. “What?” he asked defensively. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Fix it,” said Niamh. “They’re your family and they need you.”
“Not to mention we all live here together. Whatever shit they go through is going to impact all of us.”
Looking dubious, Aaron approached the dining room table and sat beside Jenny. “How’s it going over here guys?” he asked with obviously false cheer.
“We’re fine,” said Jenny.
“I totally believe that. Everyone here seems super fine. Suuuper chill. Not stressful at all. Yep. Checks out.”
His sarcastic goofiness was the perfect balm for the moment. Mike snorted and started to choke on his coffee. His sputtering and coughing made Alyssa snort and giggle, covering her face in embarrassment. Jenny tenderly wiped the drips of coffee that splashed into Mike’s beard and he responded by pulling her close and gently kissing her forehead.
The brief physical affirmation of their relationship seemed to settle Jenny down. Sitting back, she gave Mike a decisive nod. “You have to do this, Mike. We have to do this. I’m not letting you die just because I’m too timid or too afraid or too jealous. That’s not happening.”
Mike slowly nodded, reluctantly agreeing with Jenny’s decision. Turning his methodical mind towards the next question with mounting concern, he locked eyes with his wife. “How do you want to do this?” At her confused glance, he continued. “The actual…bonding process. Event. Thing. Do you want to be in the room where it happens? Somewhere else in the house? Do you want to…participate?”
She blushed fiercely, punching Mike hard in the arm. “No, I don’t want to participate. Are you crazy?”
“Hey, don’t knock it ‘til you try it,” interjected Niamh, with Sam nodding in support. Jenny blushed harder seeing the woman gently caressing her old friend’s cheek.
Silence fell across the room as Jenny struggled with how to proceed. Taking Henry’s admonition to heart, Aaron stepped in. “Mike, why don’t you take Alyssa back to the room she’ll be using and get that whole thing…taken care of.” Turning to Jenny, he placed a hand on her shoulder and looked solemnly into her eyes. “Come with me if you want to live,” he said with a terrible Austrian accent. Tugging her upright, he half led, half dragged her out the door, yelling back over his shoulder. “I’ll be back.”
Aaron led Jenny out to the barn and placed his hand against a patch of the wall. Reading his fingerprints, the biometric lock beeped twice before a section of the wall swung slightly forward with a gentle whoosh. Startled, Jenny gaped at the unexpected array of weapons displayed in the hidden gun safe. Considering his options for a moment, Aaron nodded decisively and grabbed his case holding his AR-15 and several boxes of ammunition.
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Closing the safe with a clunk and a beep, he led the way back to his truck. Stowing the rifle and ammo in the back seat of his crew-cab, Aaron helped the confused Jenny climb into the passenger seat. They rumbled off down the driveway, but Aaron slowed and turned down a dirt track halfway to the street. They drove in silence, Jenny lost in thought and Aaron respecting her process. Circling the edge of the property, Aaron pulled the truck through a small copse of old-growth oak trees.
Emerging from the shade of the trees, Jenny was surprised to discover a simple, though well-built, gun range set up on the property.
“Has this always been here?” she asked, finally breaking the silence.
“I built it five years ago,” Aaron answered. “Henry got tired of hearing me complain about the lack of a good range in town. Having to set up shooting benches and targets with sawhorses or straw bales just isn’t as much fun. He told me I could build something more permanent here as long as it couldn’t be seen from the house. Those trees help act as an acoustic barrier for the house. You can hardly hear anything out here unless I’m using something on full auto.” He grinned, recalling one particularly memorable weekend when one of his Navy buddies brought out a belt-fed M60 that his father had “liberated” when he returned from Vietnam.
“And what are we doing out here?”
“Jenny…what do you think we’re going to do out here? On a shooting range. With these guns.”
“Shut up. You know what I meant.”
“I pretty much never know what women mean. That’s the advantage of having two of them. One can help you interpret what the other one is thinking. Except for when they gang up on me. Then I’m twice as lost.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“What else is new?” He chuckled and grinned boyishly at her. “To be clear, we’re going to shoot things out here. On the shooting range.” He dug through a wooden crate next to the bench, pulling out a stack of old plates and several large aluminum cans. He put each of the plates up on a stand and then built a small pyramid with the cans.
He walked back to the bench and handed his rifle to Jenny. “Need any help with this?”
Jenny glared at him before expertly checking the weapon over and loading it. Without any hesitation, she raised the rifle to her shoulder and quickly shattered each of the plates in a line before disassembling the pyramid, one can at a time. Clearing the chamber and removing the magazine, she laid the rifle on the bench and stared at Aaron with a cocked eyebrow.
“Ok. You don’t need any help with these. Got it.”
“You should know better. I’m not one of those city girls that you like to date, Aaron. I grew up just down the street from you and Mike. I know how to hunt and fish at least as well as you do. Hell, I'd bet I'm better than you at field dressing a deer these days. It's not like you've participated in hunting season the past several years.”
“Ah. So you’re saying that you and Mike have a shared upbringing. A compatible background. And that's important to you. Hmm. You don’t say. Veeeery iiiiinteresting.” He gave her a faux-contemplative stare.
She gawked at his antics. “You are a truly terrible therapist, Aaron,” she eventually managed.
“No shit. I’m just trying to give you a space to get your thoughts together. Nobody else is out here, and I’m not in any kind of position to judge you.” At her skeptical grimace, he continued. “I’m serious. You guys are family and we’re all in this together. Who else can you talk to about this? This whole program is a fucking secret, so you can't talk to anyone outside of this town. And I'm pretty sure you don't want to be sharing your deepest fears with the well-intentioned but aggressively nosy folks around here."
"That's fair, I guess," she said. "It's just pretty weird to realize that you, of all people, are the person I'm going to open up to."
"The prodigal son has returned, baby. Pretty sure that's one of your Bible stories. Probably. Anyway, hit me with it."
"I'm a little surprised that you actually remember something from Sunday School, Aaron. I mean, you kind of missed the point of the parable, but still. You were close."
"Partial credit. Nailed it. I was pretty sure that was a Bible thing. Excellent."
"OK, now that sounds a bit more like what I was expecting from you." She paused, looking down at her feet and chewing her bottom lip. "What if I lose him?"
"Jenny, you literally cannot lose him. He's permanently bonded to you now. On a chemical and biological level."
"That's not what I mean. What if he stops loving me? What if he loves one of those other bitches more?" Tears dripped slowly down her cheeks.
Aaron pulled her into a tight embrace and she started sobbing into his chest. He gently rocked side to side, holding her tight and murmuring soothingly. Slowly, her sobs quieted and she stepped back slightly, using Aaron's proffered handkerchief to clean her face.
"A handkerchief is surprisingly old-school of you, Aaron," she said.
"I may not get along with my parents, but some things from my old man did stick with me. A gentleman always carries a handkerchief. You never know when you might meet a damsel in distress, after all."
She snorted loudly at that.
"In all seriousness. Mike loves you more than anything, Jenny. He was willing to skip this whole vaccine program because he didn't want to hurt you. Do you understand what that means? He would rather risk death than hurt you. Him not loving you anymore is just not a possibility."
Jenny nodded slowly, wanting to be convinced but not fully there. "Did you see that woman? She's gorgeous. And young. And perky. How the hell am I supposed to compete with that?"
"You can't compete with that," answered Aaron. She stared at him blankly. "I mean, you shouldn't need to compete with that. Why would you compete? You three, along with a bunch more people, are going to end up being one great big family. We both know that I've got my own issues with the whole family thing, but you and Mike don't."
Jenny snorted at Aaron's admission. Ignoring the jab, Aaron continued. "You going to tell me that you and your sisters all compete with your mom for your dad's love? For the love of each other? Because it sure doesn't look like that from the outside."
"I mean, sometimes it felt like I was competing with my sisters. It used to, at least. Not so much now that we're all grown and out of the house. And I guess I never felt like I had to compete with my mom."
"Right. Because family is there to support each other. To love each other. To work together. At least, that's what they tell me."
Jenny silently contemplated his points. Her rigid posture relaxed as calm washed through her whole body. "I think I can work with that," she said. "It's not going to be easy." After another pause, she turned to face him directly. "I have to say, this conversation has gone in some unexpected directions. I never would have guessed that you, of all people, would lean into the whole 'family supports each other' thing."
"What can I say? I'm growing." He wondered how to continue, before resolving to be open and honest with her. "Really, I owe a lot of it to you. You kicked it all off. When you moved in, I was hesitant about being in such close proximity with you guys. After everything that happened back then, I didn't see how it could possibly work. And then you tore into me right away, cutting me to pieces."
He blushed and looked away before speaking again. "For the first week or two, I was just angry as hell. Pissed at you, mad at Mike, angry at everyone who cut me down growing up. Eventually, Father Dominic called me to check in on things. We talked for an hour, maybe more. It helped me see that you were more right than wrong."
"Getting right to the root of things is pretty much his superpower," said Jenny. "Well, that and his ability to mobilize the Catholic granny brigade to shame people into maintaining quarantine."
"Amen to that. Since then, I've been thinking a lot more about the past. About family and about the town. Niamh and Sam have helped put things into context. Everything that happened to me, everything I've done, it all led to this point. To having those incredible women in my life. In my bed." Jenny punched him in the arm, but his grin could not be restrained. "So yeah, my perspective on family has changed. For the better, I hope."
Jenny considered his words. "You have changed. Don't think I haven't noticed. Even in my hyper-stressed freak-out panic attack, I have seen the differences." Nodding to herself, she continued. "You're right. I can do this. This will be fine."
"Good. Hopefully this all helped. Now, do you wanna do some more shooting? Just head back? It's totally up to you."
"Let's get this over with. Knowing Mike, they are probably done by now."
"Gross. Things I didn't need to think about. Thanks a lot, jerk."
"Grow up, ya giant man-child. The way things are going in this country, we're gonna have to get a lot more comfortable talking about sex."
The pair cleaned up the range and packed everything back into the truck before setting out back towards the house. The closer they got to home, the more the calm that had settled in at the range vanished. By the time Aaron parked his truck and returned his weapon to the gun safe, Jenny was almost as anxious as she had been when they set out.
"Remember, Jenny. We're all family. We're all in this together. We're all here to help."
His reassuring words fell on deaf ears, and Jenny approached the front door like it led to the electric chair. Her hand froze on the doorknob, unable to bring herself to enter the house. Aaron covered her hand with his own and opened the door briskly.
Thankfully, silence filled the house. Aaron breathed a sigh of relief that Mike and Alyssa had apparently finished bonding. Niamh and Sam spotted them and stood up from the couch where they had been chatting. As they approached, he gave them an inquiring glance. Niamh slid under his arm, nodding towards the bedrooms. Sam, meanwhile, gave Jenny a warm hug.
Several seconds later, Mike emerged from the back hall, a troubled expression on his face. He lit up as soon as he spotted Jenny and rushed over to her. Sam stepped away and slid under Aaron's other arm, while Jenny leapt into Mike's arms. The couple clung desperately to each other, alternating between kisses and whispered endearments.
"Get a room, you two," said Aaron, unable to keep a smile from his face. "We'll take care of things out here. You two need to reconnect. Go."
Tossing a grateful glance over her shoulders, Jenny turned back to Mike. "Come on, big boy. Someone owes me an orgasm or three."
"Gross," shouted Aaron at their swiftly retreating forms.
"You owe us a few orgasms as well," said Sam.
"Very true," said Niamh. "We had to listen to Alyssa's screaming priming and imprinting orgasms. It was very traumatic."
Aaron allowed himself to be towed to the bedroom by the pair of predatory women, fully prepared to pay whatever price they might demand.