Time passed, and, as Danica caught up at school, there was gradually a change in the family's after-school activities. Danica had stopped studying with Consuela and Heidi and was instead spending all of her study time with Stavros. It wasn't so much that they were studying together as it was that they were spending the time they studied near each other. They hadn't planned it that way, but, rather, it had gradually evolved to that point. Even when she was practicing violin, Stavros could always be found reading nearby. They didn't spend all of their free time together though; It was still Paolo who took her to evening prayer, and she relished the time each day she spent talking to 'Suela and Heidi, and occasionally Sara, which took a load off the minds of the adults.
The adults had discussed the situation several times, even wondering if the two of them had somehow developed something like Separation Sickness. Fortunately, their worries dissolved when they realized that Danica was quite capable of being away from Stavros for hours at a time and at a substantial distance, and vice versa, without either suffering any ill effects. The latter had been proven when Stavros had run a message for Miranda to an agent at the army garrison at the far end of the valley. Eventually it was concluded that it was nothing more than that they were more comfortable when they were together.
Sara finally summed it up to everyone's satisfaction. "Actually they're acting like a couple who've been married for a number of years and are the most relaxed when they're together." On hearing that, and after considering her words, everyone nodded agreement. Yes, indeed, that was exactly how they were acting. Since they'd all independently come to the conclusion that they'd eventually be married, they dropped the matter entirely. From that day on, their discussions revolved around more pressing issues that needed to be dealt with.
The actuality was not at all what they believed. While it was true that Danica and Stavros could be apart for much of the day, or at a distance, without suffering the mental muzziness or severe anxiety that closely bound twins did, there was still some degree of background irritability on such occasions. However, it was small enough that they never consciously noticed it. What they had noticed was that they felt a greater sense of well-being, and had improved concentration, when they were near each other. It was that which had resulted in their spending whatever free time they had together.
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The first few weeks after it was decided that Danica would stay with the Donetti's had resulted in a feeling of "not quite relatives but not quite ordinary friends" growing between the two of them. What changed their relationship permanently began one Saturday night.
It was 2:03 am., and Mimi was walking down the hall. She'd awakened and remembered that she'd been called away while cleaning a cupboard and had forgotten to close the door. It was a trivial thing, but she knew it would nag at her, so she'd thrown on a robe and had gone to take care of it. While on the way back, she'd passed by the children's rooms and had heard faint moaning from Danica's.
She assumed that Danica was having a nightmare, but a long life of learning to ruthlessly discard assumptions caused her to quietly open the door and peek in. What she saw was Danica peeking back. Closing the door behind her, Mimi approached the bed and said, "Explain."
At first Danica didn't want to say anything, but the lectures she'd had from both Kaho and Sara immediately came to mind. Never in her life did she want to go through that again, so she complied with Mimi's command. "Well, it's not something big, really. It's just that...well, I've been having this sort of burning pain in my legs off and on for the past week or so.
Mimi nodded. "How much on, and how much off?"
"Oh well, ah...I guess most of the time when I'm awake." Danica shook her head. "No, not that. Actually they feel fine for a few hours after I soak in the bath every afternoon. Then it gradually comes back. It doesn't bother me all that much until several hours afterwards."
"I see." Mimi lifted the covers and grabbed Danica's calf.
"OW!"
"So, it's like that is it? Listen up child. It's all well and good to minimize thing when you're with strangers or in public, but not at home or when you're only with family. You don't seem to have taken Dr. Fukui's instructions to heart yet. Fortunately, things don't seem to be so bad that I need to inform her of your failure, at least not yet. BUT, there had best never be a next time. Am I understood?"
"Yes ma'am!"
"Very good. Now, here. Take off your nightgown and put on this robe. Once that is done, you'll take yourself to the bathing room and soak until 10 to 15 minutes after the pain is gone. You will do this every night for now. After 10 days or so, we'll re-evaluate the situation and do whatever Kaho decides is appropriate."
Dani nodded and hurried to comply. As she did so, Mimi turned to leave the room.
"Ah...Mimi. Don't leave. How am I going to get to the bathing room by myself?"
Mimi turned and looked at Dani with exasperation. "Obviously, Stavros will take you and bring you back. I'm much too busy to give up my sleep. Once I fetch him back, and explain what he's to do, there will be no problems."
"But...he's a boy. Seeing me naked would be..."
Mimi facepalmed. This girl was more dense that she'd thought. Or perhaps it was just lack of sleep that had turned off her mind. She decided that, at least this time, she'd explain.
Retracing her steps, she looked down at Danica. "Tell me, just what will he see that he hasn't already seen? Not only that, he's already touched, or been touched by, all the important parts of your body. More importantly, do remember how he reacted when that happened?
"Since you're not thinking at the moment, I shall remind you. His only response was to worry` for you. Knowing him as you do now, do you have any real concern that he might behave differently tonight? Besides, by now everyone in the family, except perhaps him, is well aware that you two will one day be married.
"That being the case, can you tell me of anyone in this household who is a better choice for helping you with your health needs than your future spouse? Not only that, giving him this responsibility will help him mature more quickly. Since he's more than two years younger than you, that will of itself be desirable."
Danica's only response was a subdued "Oh".
Mimi nodded, and went to wake Stavros. Her explanation to him was much shorter. After telling him of Danica's problem and the treatment needed, all she said was: "You're the only one who doesn't need as much sleep as the others, plus, you're the only child who can carry her without help.
"While in the bath, you are to hold her hand. She's strong enough now that, should she start to fall, you should easily be able to restrain her that way. Touching anything else intentionally is not allowed. I'm sure I don't have to explain what will happen to you should that occur."
Stavros frantically shook his head and obediently followed Mimi down the hall. Just before he picked Dani up, Mimi said, "I shall arrange for all the others in the house to not approach the bathing room while you do this each night. Now, get going. When she's finished, just wrap her in one of the heavy robes. That way you'll only need to dry her feet and lower legs. After you get her back to her room, she can change out of the robe into her nightgown...after you leave the room."
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Once they arrived, Stavros undressed, helped her take off her robe, rinsed her off, picked her up, and settled her in the bath. As instructed, he sat to her right side and held her hand. Not knowing where else to look, he stared at the ceiling. Thereafter there were several minutes of awkward silence...finally broken by Danica sighing, and saying, "Ah. The pain is already a bit better."
Stav turned to look at her and saw her smiling back. "Thank you for helping me again. The day we met I felt that you were a reliable person. Now I'm sure of it."
He didn't respond. In fact, he barely heard her. He was much too busy gazing into her lovely, golden eyes.
Several minutes later she was on the edge of sleep when the a thought floated across her mind, "My. This life is much more interesting than I'd originally thought it would be."
About 15 minutes after the pain had completely disappeared, Dani woke and squeezed Stav's hand. "Wake up maʻšūq. It's time to go back to bed."
"Oh, yeah, sure." Stavros shook himself awake, carried Dani out of the bath, dried himself off, wrapped and dried Danica as per Mimi's instructions, and then carried her up to bed. After that he took himself off to his own bed and fell onto it face first. He was asleep in seconds.
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The next morning, Miranda spoke before anyone else, "Danica, somehow, you look like you're feeling better this morning. Did something good happen?"
Dani answered, "Yes. As a matter of fact, it did. Normally, in the wee hours of the morning, I've been somewhat chilled. Mimi made a suggestion that helped me warm up. She brought me a bathrobe last night. I found that sleeping in it has made all the difference, and I didn't feel cold when I awakened. I'm much more comfortable this morning."
Stavros barely stopped himself from performing a massive spit take. Not a word she'd said was actually untrue, but she'd left out every single important detail. Once he'd calmed down, he realized that he was not only impressed but also proud of her. The two of them would make quite the team when they were older.
He spent the rest of breakfast wondering why he'd had that final thought and missed everything else than was said during the meal.
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It was approximately two weeks later that 'Suela and Heidi decided that they'd had enough suspense, and it was time for answers. They were sitting on either side of Danica in the bath and exchanged a glance...and then several more. Finally, 'Suela did a quick turn of her head and pointed her chin at Heidi, who shrugged her acceptance.
"All right Dani, it's time to spill it. Explain if you please."
Danica was almost used to this family asking about things without actually saying what they were talking about. "All right, all right. Let's pretend that we've gone through the usual 'what are you talking about' and 'you already know' stuff. Just say what you want me to tell you."
"Mother mentioned it at breakfast a couple weeks back. You looked better. Not only do you look better, but within two days after that, you stopped complaining of aching when we are at school.
"Not that we're the suspicious sort or anything..."
Dani barely restrained a loud guffaw as 'Suela picked up the conversation. "but both of us are fairly light sleepers. We've heard noises in the hallway early in the morning on several occasions lately. Usually whispers and the sound of someone passing by. Sometimes it's been your voice, sometimes Mimi's, but, almost always, we hear Stavros too.
"So...sister dear, what have the three of you been doing?"
"Oh...that..." Danica stared up at the ceiling. While she was, the others exchanged an "Ah-ha, got her!" look, then composed their faces and pretended to wait calmly for Dani to reply.
"Well, actually, it was Mimi who found me out. She discovered that I was having a lot of pain in my legs in the middle of the night. Every night since then she's had Stavros carry me to the bath so I can get in a second soak." She gave them a 'that's about it' look and hoped that they'd let it go at that.
Her hope was short lived as Heidi drawled, "Oh, I see. That explains it. It explains it if your brain is turned off.
"First of all, I've already discussed it with 'Suela. In all the years that she's worked here, nobody has ever seen Mimi except when she's fully dressed. Knowing her, there's no way that she'd be helping you in the bath, and we know that you still can't completely support yourself, even in the bath."
She pointed to herself and 'Suela. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be on either side of you right now."
It was 'Suela's turn. "Which means that Stavros has been helping you in the bath, just as he did the day you arrived here."
Looking at Heidi, she asked, "Did I leave anything out Heidi?"
"Nope, that about covers it. Since we figured out what you're doing, we've been taking turns listening at the door, especially when you come back to your room. Every single time we only hear you and Stavros. We only ever hear Mimi, occasionally, when you first head toward the bath. And that leads to our next question."
'Suela and Heidi might as well have been twins as they asked simultaneously, with a faint blush on their cheeks, "Just what have you two been doing in the bath besides soaking?"
After that, they alternated, "Have you been kissing?" "Does he stroke your breasts?" "Or maybe somewhere else?"
The final question was, again, together, as they stared at her with frantic eyes and almost panted, "Just how far have you gone, and what was it like?"
Danica spent less than a second to make her decision, then swiftly raised both her hands and firmly bopped each of the others on the head.
Her tone was one that an ice queen would envy, "Enough! I'd thought that you were young ladies who were at least beginning to mature. I see that I was wrong. You're just another two frivolous adolescents with their hormones out of control."
Shocked silence was the only response to her words. A few seconds later both of the others blushed to their shoulders and quickly slid under the water.
Looking down at them, Danica figuratively patted herself on the back. Job well done!
When they surfaced, Dani glared at them a bit longer, then relented. They were beginning to look like cowed puppies who'd gotten into trouble for chewing on someone's slippers.
"Now that we've established that your questions were extraordinarily rude and invasive, I'm going to answer you."
Seeing the astonished shock on their faces almost make her giggle, but that would have ruined the effect, so she firmly told her face to behave.
She smiled softly at them and, this time when she raised her hands, she gently patted them on the cheeks.
"Who else can I talk to about this? You two are the only people I can brag to and still trust to stay quiet, right?"
Seeing nodding, and a hint of the earlier stimulation returning, she laid her hands on their heads and shook them gently. "What did I just say about that?"
Heidi and 'Suela struggled to compose themselves and then turned their attention back to Dani.
"Very well, that's good enough, for now.
"First of all, what we do in the bath, besides soak is...."
She grinned at seeing the others vigorous nods. "Talk."
Astonishment, surprise, and relief ran across the other's faces. As intrigued and excited as they were, in the back of their minds they'd truly not wanted to find out that Dani was already having sex with their brother.
"Talk. Just talk?" queried 'Suela.
"Yes. I talk about Soba, and life there. Also about our experiences and what we saw as we journeyed here.
"Stav tells me more about The City, its people, trade, how the various religions manage to get along and things like that."
Heidi chimed in, disappointment evident in her voice, "You don't touch, at all?"
"Well, yes we do..." As Dani dragged out her response, the others leaned toward her.
"We hold hands, but that's so Stav can keep me from slipping under water when I lose my balance."
Blushing heavily again, Heidi queried, "But...ah...how can you manage to control yourselves when you're both completely naked and completely private? Especially Stav. He's a boy after all, and they, at least from what I've seen of how they behave, seem to have almost no control of their hormones at all."
"There are two reasons. Stav told me that he works at having 'clinical detatchment'. You both know how Dr. Fukui says that a physician needs to be able to step back from her emotions at times in order to do the best job with her patients. He says he's trying to do the same thing."
She tapped her cheek with her fingertips and added slyly, "That and, on the second day, I told him to look at me all he wanted, until he was completely satisfied. Which he did. Of course, I did the same to him. And, I can tell you that I enjoyed it. Both the looking and being looked at."
There were blushes all around after that, then Dani added, "After that, it was a lot easier. Neither of us had to go through the 'I wonder if they'll notice if I peek at them', or 'I saw, but it was an accident. I hope they won't get mad and think I was staring on purpose' situations. Not that we don't still look now and then. He is, after all, quite handsome and nicely built.
"Seriously though, seeing that the one you love enjoys looking at you as well as spending time with you is thoroughly satisfying."
Seeing half-belief and half-doubt on the other's faces, she gave in. "When all that doesn't work, I spend my time watching the water drops as they run down the wall, and he stares at the ceiling trying to find patterns in the cracks. That, and Mimi has started to blink into the room now and then. I'm sure you can imagine both how embarrassing it would be for her to catch us doing something and also how terrified we'd be of what she'd do to us if she did. Right?"
'Suela and Heidi shuddered, nodded, and thereafter were silent, lost in their own thoughts until it was time to get out of the bath.