Braided Lives

by A. R. Moler

  Trevor's instructions had gone something like, "Tie him to the bed if you have to, but make sure he rests. Feed him, if he's up to it, and I'll be back in about four hours to change the IV. Call me if you think he's getting worse." Resting didn't seem to be an issue at this point; Peter had barely roused when Trevor put the IV line in.

  "Is this any better than having him take a swing at me or walling us both out?" Danny asked softly. He was stretched out on the bed with one arm wound around Peter's torso and Jen's hips.

  Jen considered the question for a moment. "Yes. It means some form of processing is going on. There's this Zen metaphor thing about having to empty the cup before you can fill it up again. He has to let some of the pain and guilt out before there's any sort of acceptance."

  "I wish I understood the guilt part. He placed himself at serious risk for her. It's not like they were tight or anything. I mean, Peter always seems to know everybody at least a little bit, but they weren't exactly friends," Danny said.

  "Try to think about it this way -- he's good at what he does, yeah?"

  "Yes."

  "And what he does is so out there off the scale impossible by most people's standards, he's viewed as the one who can fix anyone, heal anyone," Jen commented.

  "I guess so."

  "Think about the pressure. Peter's not particularly vain or selfish. He does this because he wants to be the one people believe in, and he cares deeply. It seems like he's feeling like the ultimate failure, thinking he's dropped the ball in the unfixable way. It doesn't matter that it's possible nobody short of a deity could have saved her. He thinks it was his job, his responsibility. Add in the fact he's so far beyond exhaustion, and it's putting him in danger. It only compounds the stress."

  "Do you think he's going to get through this?" Danny's voice was thick with emotion.

  "I don't know. I hope so. I think step one is fixing the physical part of the problem." Jennifer ran her fingertips through Peter's short hair. He was still a limp sleeping weight on her chest, but he had stirred enough to clench his hand lightly in the fabric of her shirt.

  ***

  The office-wide email indicated that Division P's director Andrew Bottman was chartering a jet to take anyone who wished to accompany him to Isabelle's funeral. Danny skimmed down through the information on departure and return for the flight. He felt duty bound to go, but the thought of leaving Peter when he was so weak and vulnerable made him feel sick. There was a second email from Bottman sent to Danny only.

  Danny,

  Do not feel pressured to attend Isabelle's funeral. I am far more concerned with Peter's health and welfare. He is one of Division P's most precious resources, and I am extremely loath to do anything that would endanger him further.

  Andrew

  Precious resource? Okay, that made Peter sound like a commodity rather than a person, but Danny couldn't find too much fault in a boss who realized that protecting the living was more important than honoring the dead.

  Danny was at the desk in his quarters, his chair set at an angle so he could see into the bedroom. Peter was awake after having slept another five hours. The IV line was still in his arm and surprisingly, he hadn't balked at its presence or the fact that Trevor had hung another bag of dextrose.

  The TV was playing softly in the bedroom, and Danny could hear abrupt changes in tone as Peter was channel surfing. Jennifer had gone to her room to get her sketch pad and a box of the type of tea she preferred. She'd probably be back shortly.

  Danny walked into the bedroom and sat on the bed beside Peter. "You feel any better?" It was a relatively neutral question.

  Peter nodded. Danny gingerly put his arm around his lover's shoulders, and was mildly surprised that Peter had no shields up. He could sense a heavy resigned feeling of guilt and an overlay of sadness. Peter twisted sideways and laid his head on Danny's chest, as his hand traced a random pattern along Danny's ribs. To Danny, this felt far closer to normal, much more like Peter's frequent need for contact.

  "I'm sorry I lost it and hit you," Peter whispered. His fingers grazed across Danny's mouth, and Danny felt the warm electric tingle of the healer's talent begin.

  "Don't," said Danny, pulling Peter's hand away from his bruised mouth.

  "I hurt you. The least I can do is fix it," Peter said.

  "No. I don't want you blowing what little energy you've gotten back on something so insignificant."

  "It won't take very much…" Peter protested a little.

  "No. Just let me hold you, and feel like you're safe."

  ***

  Another forty-eight hours passed before Peter returned to his duties. Even then, the rest of the medical staff kept a watchful eye on him. Stephen Benford returned from his trip to Memphis and the funeral. The psychologist spent a couple of hours in his office with Peter that afternoon.

  It had been nearly a week since Peter's near miss. As she walked from the residential wing across the open courtyard to the office wing, the mid-afternoon heat of the day made Jennifer think about the beach. Having gone to the Virginia Beach oceanfront once with Danny, she knew the drive wasn't a particularly long one. Maybe she could convince Peter and Danny to go there. Peter would probably benefit from some hours away from the complex. She had an hour before her shielding session with Sumiko, which should be time enough to swing by Danny's office.

  The interior hallway was cooler and darker. She found Danny in his office. He was tapping away at the keyboard of his computer.

  "Do you have plans for this evening?" she asked.

  He looked up. "Not really, just probably dinner with Peter."

  "Let's go to the beach, the three of us. We could probably even do dinner there."

  Danny looked thoughtful and she skimmed the images of them walking on the beach in the dusk from his head, followed by something she assumed might be a hotel room. The gaze he gave her made her know he was very aware of what she was doing.

  "Pack a change of clothes and I'll coerce Peter," he said.

  ***

  As far as bribery and coercion went, it didn't actually take much to convince Peter that a night away would be a good thing. Finding an available room in a decent hotel, though, took Danny a good half dozen phone calls.

  They found a tolerable restaurant facing the boardwalk, and went walking in the surf on the beach. In the light of the setting sun, the number of people on the beach was diminishing. They ambled a mile or so in the direction of Rudee Inlet before Danny's forays into the edge of the surf splashed a surge of water up the leg of Peter's shorts. Danny caught the flutter of aggressive amusement from Peter and a moment later Peter was chasing him through the surf, seeking revenge. Jennifer rolled her eyes and followed at a slower pace. Dashing in and out of the water's edge, Danny managed to stay mostly out of reach of Peter's splashes, not that he was trying all that hard. He hadn't anticipated the tackle from Peter however, and they landed in the sand, Peter's arms fastened around his hips.

  Peter rolled Danny over, crawling up his body and straddling his waist, pinning Danny's wrists to the sand. They were both still breathing fairly hard as Danny stared up into Peter's hazel eyes. He felt suppressed laughter and a hefty dose of lust from Peter. God, this was so much closer to normal for Peter that Danny felt a sense of relief. Peter's face dipped toward his and a soft kiss was placed on his mouth.

  "Gotcha," Peter said.

  Danny gave him a grin, and bucked up under Peter's spread legs grinding his groin against Peter's balls. "You can have me any way you want me," taunted Danny.

  "Oh? Is that a fact?"

  "Well, buck naked out here on the beach might pose some problems…"

  Peter laughed and gave Danny a hand up as Jennifer was catching up to them.

  "Are the two of you done with the rough housing?" she asked.

  "Maybe," replied Danny. "I was thinking maybe we should head back to the hotel and stress test the mattress." He grabbed Jen and flung her over his shoulder so her torso hung down his bac
k. She let out a squeal of indignation and beat her hands against his butt as he began walking down the beach. He barely caught the devious revenge thought before she implemented it. Suddenly, he was being given a serious wedgie as she yanked hard on the waist band of his briefs.

  "Jesus God damn it!" he shouted, as his nuts were being squeezed between the fabric and his body.

  "Put me the fuck down! Or I'll pull harder!" Jen shouted.

  "Okay, okay!" he yelped, noticing that Peter was doubled over in laughter. Danny let Jennifer's body slide down his back slowly as he kept hold on her legs until he could see her hands hit the sand behind his feet. "What is this? Gang up on me day?"

  "Oh hell, that was priceless," Peter snickered. Danny grabbed his shorts and adjusted himself to relieve the pressure.

  "So says the guy whose nards are still intact," groaned Danny.

  "Oh come on, I could have pulled a lot harder," replied Jen, sticking her tongue out.

  "Don't stick it out unless you intend to use it," Danny said.

  "What makes you think I won't?" she taunted. Oh, that got Danny's attention.

  Peter was laughing again. "How 'bout I kiss it better when we get back to the hotel?"

  ***

  Inside the hotel room, Danny, Peter and Jennifer flopped onto the king-sized bed. Peter heaved a sigh as the other two bracketed his sides, arms overlapping on his torso. It felt like he was only just beginning to emerge back into reality after a handful of days in the underworld. Whether that underworld consisted of hell itself or just purgatory, he still wasn't certain, but he was sure he couldn't have done it without the two people snuggled against him.

  "Those are some awfully literary images," Jen said. Her fingers were making little circles on his chest. She was obviously seeing the images in his head.

  "You're being pretty quiet after all our joking around out on the beach," said Danny. His teeth nipped at the corner of Peter's jaw.

  "Sorry, I'm just… the past week was…" Peter couldn't find an adequate description, so he settled for, "bad."

  Jennifer placed a kiss on Peter's mouth. There was a lot of care invested in that simple gesture.

  "I think you offered to put your tongue to good use," Peter suggested, trying to lighten his own mood a little.

  "Mmm, and I seem to remember something about kissing my balls all better," Danny followed up.

  "In that case, we all have way too many clothes on," replied Peter.

  It took no more than a few minutes for all of them to strip. Peter noticed that Danny had fished lube and condoms out of a suitcase and put them within easy reach on the bedside table, along with a towel.

  Danny, horny bastard that he was, slouched against the headboard, legs spread and pointed at his crotch. He was already half hard.

  "Somebody needs to kiss them better," Danny said, giving both Peter and Jennifer a leer.

  Peter glanced at Jennifer, and she smiled. They both began a slow assault. Lips, tongues, a hint of teeth…the two of them executed a delicate torture of Danny's cock. Soon he was moaning and twisting, and thrusting against either mouth as the opportunity permitted. One last lick up the side of his prick was all it took to tip Danny over the edge and he blew his load up his belly with a harsh groan. Peter reveled in the wash of pleasure from Danny's mind. It mixed with the softer emotions from Jennifer and sent an electric tingle through Peter's body. The rush of psychic sensations left him achingly hard, and he was torn between wanting to hump Danny's leg and grinding against Jennifer's hip just to get some relief.

  Danny groped for a towel and mopped up most of the stickiness, then he slid down from the headboard to curl himself along Peter's side, one arm draped across Peter's back and Jen's leg. Peter squirmed around until he was face up. Jennifer began kissing along his collarbone up toward his throat. God, he wanted to be in her, in Danny, on top of her or Danny or… or…

  "Slow down," Jen whispered. Her hand glided along his chest. Danny's long arm was pulling all three of their bodies tighter together, and the increase in skin pressure was somehow calming. Peter took a deep breath. Why had he felt so close to flying apart?

  "You're safe," murmured Danny, "And you can have anything you want."

  "I… I want both of you… together at the same time, I think," Peter managed to say.

  "Mmm, that might require a certain amount of acrobatics," commented Jennifer.

  "It might work best if you start with Jen and then I join in, otherwise I think this is going to require more planning than any us want to bother with. Okay?" Danny had released his hold on Jennifer and he skimmed his hand down over Peter's belly to brush across his erection.

  A condom on and a certain amount of body rearrangement, and Peter snugged his hips between Jen's legs and began to kiss her, hands caressing her face and shoulders and moving lower. Danny lay on his side, one arm under Jennifer's neck, the opposite hand running along Peter's back and side. Peter happily found it easy to twist just a little and kiss Danny, too. Oh wow, that was such a delicious contrast.

  As Peter pushed into Jen's body, her legs flexed and curled around his hips. Danny scooted further down and his face was now awkwardly out of reach to Peter. Oh but hell… a cool slick fingertip pressed between his butt cheeks, circling his entrance and sliding in.

  It was an amazing combination of sensations, thrusting forward or pulling back. He could feel the arousal of both lovers' minds as well as all the physical sensations. Fuck, this wasn't going o last anywhere near long enough.

  The climax tore through him like a runaway avalanche and Peter collapsed limply on top of Jen. Danny's hand petted Peter's back.

  "Any brain cells left?" Danny murmured.

  "Huh-uh," was all of Peter's response. He slid off of Jennifer and flopped bonelessly onto the far side of her.

  ***

  "Some of us are not as fast as you two," groused Jen. Her hand gripped the back of Danny's skull and pulled him down toward her hips. "Mouth, tongue, fingers, damn it, do something," she ordered.

  Danny snickered. "Demanding little wench aren't you?" He slid further down the bed and buried his face between her thighs. Oh hell, she smelled good, and tasted even better. He drew his tongue along her slick wetness. There was a hint of latex in the flavor from the condom Peter had used but that was inevitable. He slipped a couple of fingers into her and she shuddered. Danny found himself grinning with her pleasure. There were no shields between them at this point, and he was fully aware of her simmering arousal. He intended to ramp that up as high as he could take her.

  Long laps with his tongue and twists of his fingers soon had her writhing. The wash of pleasure from Jennifer’s climax was filling his cock again.

  "Hey, glove me," Danny mumbled to Peter who was satiatedly nibbling at Jennifer's fingers.

  Danny rolled over and pulled Jen with him so she was sprawled on top of him. It took a moment to draw her knees up so she straddled him, and she sank slowly down, taking him in. Fuck, she felt good. He gripped her hips and guided her up and back down. Her breasts bounced a little with the motion. Peter began sucking at Danny's nipple and Danny bucked hard up into Jen, body responding to the dual stimulation. Jennifer moaned and met Danny on the next stroke, their bodies crashing together. Closer, closer, Danny felt the impending explosion and he came hard enough to steal all his breath away along with most of his vision.

  He felt Jennifer slump down over his chest, her pulse pounding at least as hard as his own. Peter's head lay on Danny's shoulder.

  With bare minimal shifting they all drifted toward sleep.

  Chapter 5