Checkout
By the time my leg bones were sorted enough for me to walk again it was Deyha's turn to take some time off her hooves. Despite her asking Carolyn to make the downtime as brief as possible, I could tell it was going to take a while. The tail hadn't taken long. It turned out that the resemblance to a scorpion exoskeleton was mostly cosmetic, and the remoulding into her new lion tail had only been about a week long process. Already, the tip had floofed out quite majestically.
Said tail flicked idly as Deyha lounged on the bed.
"Hey baaabe." I pulled up a chair to the head where she was hugging a pillow. "How are you feeling today?"
She let her tablet flop and turned her head. "I'm bored."
"Yeah, I bet. Would you like me to take you anywhere?"
"Should you be pushing things this early?"
"Pssh." I waved, "If I can walk I can push a wheelchair, It won't be fast though so… are you in a hurry?"
"I do miss our walks. Did Carolyn okay this?"
"Ah, no. There is a non-zero chance of this putting one or both of us in the doghouse. Where should we go for a walk?"
Deyha chuckled. "Anywhere is fine."
"It must be bad if you are risking her wrath for some fresh air." I pulled the chair over and locked the wheels.
"When you phrase it like that I am less sure."
"Welllll if we go visit her first then I don't think she would mind so much, right?"
"I'm just desperate enough to risk it." She pushed herself up onto her knees and shifted to hang her legs over the edge. Like me, she had reverted to human skin, but because so many years had passed, Carolyn insisted on also reverting to at least four toes to be sure all her nerves were in good order. Presently, Deyha's feet were encased in gel sacks. Carolyn explained it as a whole nutrient delivery system but my insistence on calling them "my slime shoes" never caught on, least of all now that the slime shoe was on Deyha's foot.
I helped stabilize the wheelchair as Deyha did a sort of gymnastics routine to swing her legs in position without hitting them on anything.
She pulled her tail around and held it in her lap. "I couldn't do this before. I gotta say the flexibility is already well worth it."
"We should do a tail painting day some time. We can make nice abstract canvases to decorate the clinic or something. Bitches love abstract clinic art."
"Cleaning the 'brushes' sounds like murder," she made air quotes. "but I suppose as a one-off activity it would be tolerable."
"Maybe we can get Xander in on it too. Make it a craft day or something." I wheeled us toward the lab on a sort of auto pilot and in no time we arrived outside the door. It was closed, which was uncommon, and a quick peek through the window showed Carolyn laser focused on her desktop.
"She looks like she's in a bit of a work groove, should we interrupt?"
Deyha shrugged. "We could bring her some food and drink and make the interruption a bit more functional."
"True, true. What are her favorites? I think she's long overdue for a treat."
"There's no telling how much coffee she's had today, but it's hard to go wrong with a milkshake or hot cocoa."
"And I assume she takes her coffee with plenty of cream?" I laid the sarcasm on thick, but Deyha seemed to not notice.
"No actually, but she tells me your milk tastes like smiles so she probably wouldn't be opposed."
I stopped the wheel chair and stepped around in front of it. "That's not a quick snack, if we are going to detour across the farm and back then we need to tell her where we've gone first."
"Well if she's thirsty she might just prefer it fresh." Her eyes drifted down to my chest, as if trying to gauge how full I was at the immediate moment.
"I–"
"Hey babes."
I nearly jumped out of my skin as Carolyn peeked out the door.
"Did you say you were going to the barn?"
Deyha recovered first, pivoting her chair back around to face Carolyn. "That's what we were thinking. I wanted to make sure you knew where we'd gone, but Maddie really wanted to surprise you."
Carolyn folded her arms and leaned on the door jamb. "Uh huh." She looked over Deyha to me. "Is that what happened?"
"I– we were…" I wanted desperately to defend myself but it seemed both necessary and mean to point out that Deyha was lying. I grabbed the handles of the chair, trying to channel my displeasure toward Deyha through the inanimate object.
Carolyn chuckled. "Relax Maddie, I know she's fibbing. Even if I hadn't heard you as I was sneaking up to the door, I recognized her tells."
"You were sneaking?!"
"Well yeah." She laughed. "If I'd walked up normally you would have noticed. It's a little uncanny how high alert you always are."
"That's so mean!"
"It really is." She agreed. "And unfortunately for you, I might just make a habit of it."
"Whyyyyyy?" I whined. "Why are you like this?"
"Probably because you aren't using nursing pads."
"What pads?"
Carolyn stepped away from the door, drawing closer until she was backing me into a wall. "As a mercy, I am going to explain it to you simply. Every time I make you leak and wet your shirt I'm only going to want to do it more. So you can either get used to soaking your shirt for my amusement, or you can wear nursing pads."
"You'll be gentle, right? You won't just startle me constantly will you?"
She took my hands, weaving our fingers together before pinning them against the wall above my head. "All I can promise is that I won't start anything I can't finish."
She leaned in to kiss me, pressing her whole body against me as she held me there.
"Starting now, that is." In an instant she was completely back to normal. "I really do need to get back to work. Deyha--" she turned to our spectator. "You'll take good care of our Babygirl, right?"
"Always babe, always."
"Good good. Don't hurry back," she paused at the doorway "But I would like something sweet… Can you throw in a few cookies for me?"
"Sure, if they have them."
As they discussed treats I surveyed the damage. I was soaked and out of breath. It was hard to decide which of the three wet patches was most distracting though.
"Are you ready to go?" Deyha brought me out of my thoughts. "Yeah, yeah. Uh, we can go to my stall and… yeah."
I steered us to the barn on auto-pilot, dreading the sympathetic looks I would get from the other producers. They probably all used the pads, so the first couple times they might be sympathetic but eventually they would just know I was intentionally going without. Maybe I could claim it's a sensory issue? Though I'm not sure in what universe anyone would prefer wet cotton to a purpose-designed absorbent pad. Maybe I'd just wear them sometimes. Carolyn might end up disappointed occasionally but that would only make the wet days all the more special, right?
I took care to avoid bumping Deyhas feet as I maneuvered us into my stall and as soon as I had the door shut I peeled off my shirt and bra.
"Did you get clean cups and tubes?"
"Fuuuuuck" I groaned and pulled the shirt back on. Already new wet spots were forming and the old ones chilled my skin as I ventured out to collect supplies.
"Hey Maddie!" Xander was cheerful as ever and her polite smile turned into a coy grin as she assessed the state of my shirt. She opened her mouth as if to tease but seemed to think better of it.
"Hey Xander, how's it going?" I tried to pick up my practiced small talk as I rifled through the supply drawers.
"Not bad, not bad… I uh, don't want to poke fun, but–" she trailed off.
I debated my response, and for some reason, ripping the bandaid off sounded like the best plan. Besides, everyone could tell just by my mods that there was a lot going on so it's not like it would surprise them. "Yeah, in all likelihood it's probably gonna be a regular thing."
"It doesn't have to be–"
"Carolyn told me about the pads, but she also expressed her interest in me uh… not using them."
"Oh… oh my." Xander's tone dropped to conspiratorial.
I checked my shirt and frowned. It was like the fabric was just wicking the milk out of me now. Such a waste. I hoped it wouldn't stain but something told me I'd have to add a bit of effort to my laundry ritual.
"Should I just… pretend I don't notice?"
I collected the last of the hoses and grabbed the pulsing throttle. Xander was already taking stock of the collection in my arms and I had no reply, no defense whatsoever.
Still, she smiled kindly. "I'll try to read the room and go case by case, just let me know if I'm ever too much." She patted my shoulder. "Have fun~"
"Thanks, you too." I cursed myself and she giggled as she went about her business.
Deyha was sitting on the couch when I got back, considering the harness. "We might not need this today, honestly."
"Oh? Why not?"
"I'll be here to help keep them in place, and besides…" she reached over the armrest and there was a mechanical whirring noise as the motorized recliner lifted her legs and leaned back, going nearly horizontal. "We don't have the widest range of options for ways to arrange ourselves so that you aren't fighting gravity."
She patted her lap. I wavered for a minute before handing over the supplies to her and undressing. I grimaced once again at the cold sensation and pushed my pants and panties off my hips. My bell rang softly and then muted against my chest as I straightened back up.
"Nice socks." Deyha's eyes trailed slowly up, evidently finding several places to dwell before finally reaching my gaze.
"Is that sarcasm?"
"No, no. They're cute. I like the stripes.”
I pulled at the tops to try and get them roughly even. These had been my first pair and weren't quite big enough anymore, so now they barely reached past my knees. Still, I was fond of the pink, white, and blue stripes and figured I'd always have at least one pair like them at any given time. I wondered suddenly if Carolyn could just give me fur in these colors, but I doubted that would ever be worth doing instead of some temporary dyes. Or tattoos.
I fought off the rambling train of thought, Deyha had sorted out the tubes so I climbed up into her lap. I delighted in the feeling of her between my thighs, so warm and strong. I could scarcely wait until she made good on her promise of railing me.
Deyha was holding up the cups for me as I came back from my own little world.
"You're awfully distracted today."
"Can you blame me?" I took the cups and held them in place as Deyha reached to plug in the air line.
She shrugged as she dialed up the suction. "I'm starting to think you prefer the pulsing sensation." She mused.
"Well, I can hardly pretend I've gone for it by accident this many times."
Deyha rested her hands on my hips, caressing the curves of my belly for a moment before drifting down over my thighs. "If you wanted to pretend, I'd play along."
"Mhmm. You're a sweetheart like that."
As if to prove me wrong, she kicked up the suction a couple levels.
"I bet the cups will hold themselves in place, why don't you rest your head on my shoulder?"
I nodded and gasped as she kicked it up another notch and, as she predicted, I found that the cups stayed in place without any help now. I wrapped my arms around her neck and sighed into her shoulder as the cups tugged pleasantly at my breasts.
Deyha's hands trailed back up, rubbing up and down my back as I put more weight on her shoulders. I sat up for a moment and shifted my knees down the seat of the couch so that I could have my back be just a little more horizontal, but before I could lean forward again her hands cupped my chest. She rubbed lightly, but I was practically panting now.
"Deyha~" I sighed as I practically fell forward onto her.
"Yes, dear?"
"More. I need– Ah~!" I didn't have to finish the thought. She grabbed one breast with both hands, squeezing and pulling down firmly.
I collapsed, rocking forward into her as she pulled and I moaned into her shoulder, but the need between my legs only grew more and more unbearable. It was a violent desire. I needed to be filled just as much as I needed to be emptied, and the absence felt akin to pain in how I couldn't take my mind from it.
"Deyha please~" i whimpered
"Yes?"
"Fuck me, please just… something. I don't care what, I need you to–"
She was already moving, she pulled on the backs of my thighs and I straightened up just enough that I could move back toward her. My knees immediately gave out and I sank into her lap, dislodging the cups as I shook us with the impact. Dehya released me to fix them but i grabbed desperately for her hand, pulling it between my legs. "No." I gasped "Forget the milk I need–"
She curled her fingers into me, holding her other hand on my stomach as if to stabilize me. I pulled her hand up to rest over my heart and held it there as I rocked into her fingers. I gasped and whimpered, crying out and spasming as she brought me up to the edge and I coasted over. I relaxed into her touch as all the pleasant sensations softened and lingered. She pulled out of me a bit sooner than I would have liked, but I simply substituted one of my own hands to ride out the last flashes of warm glow.
I let my hands fall in my lap, feeling drunk and giddy as I checked back into my surroundings. Deyha was watching me with a fond sort of amusement.
I stretched and then picked up the forgotten cups, hugging them in place with one arm as I dialed down the suction.
"Hmmm." I sighed. "That was nice, thank you."
She laughed. "Happy to be of assistance."
"What?"
"I'm just amused. It was quite the show. Once I touched your chest it was like you went prompt-critical– ah, I'm not sure if that makes sense to you."
"It does, a little. That's when a nuclear reaction cascades or something, right?"
"Yeah, close enough. Though the analogy is pretty poor given you didn't just spontaneously make yourself cum."
"Hah. Yeah. It was pretty crazy though, it was like a switch flipped and having something inside me became life or death."
"Carolyn didn't mod in any breeding instincts."
"True, and this isn't the first time I ever felt this way, it's just never been much more than a sad, empty yearning."
"Is that going to happen any time you milk now?"
"No, no. That was all from the touch and feeling of being loved and petted. When I'm imagining people touching me it just gets me a little wet."
I took stock of the mess I made. I hadn't dripped all that much milk after the cups were dislodged but there was a dark puddle in Deyha's gown from where I'd worked myself up.
"Sorry about your gown." I looked around, "Did you guys stock this room with any tissues? Or some kind of towel?" I took my time climbing down from the couch, taking care not to disturb the slime shoes as I got my feet under me.
The milk bag was pretty heavy now and Deyha caught it as I dragged the tubes with me. "What kind of sex dungeon doesn't have a towel?" She laughed and leaned over the arm of the couch to check. "Ah, yes, Carolyn thought of that." She pulled a wet wipe from a tube dispenser and handed it to me.
"Thanks" I cleaned myself as well as I could before looking around for my clothes. At this point the only garments I hadn't dirtied were the pants. I winced at the thought of putting on the wet panties and bra.
"Did Carolyn also stash some clothes?"
"Uh… no."
"Do you want to text her for clothing delivery? Or should I?"
"I left my phone at the clinic."
"Fuck. We didn't even start the cookies. I think I'm just going to tough it out long enough to run upstairs and put on fresh clothes."
"Do you want to pre-heat the oven while you're out there?"
"Noooo." I grimaced as I got dressed again. "I don't want to get side tracked. Do you need anything from the room?"
"Nah, that's fine. I don't need anything, see you in a bit."
I hurried as fast as I reasonably could, exchanging soiled clothes for clean as I focused on getting back to the task at hand. This was all supposed to be an outting for Deyha, but one little jumpscare had derailed it to being all about me again. I desperately wanted to give Deyha the same comforts she gave me but nothing really seemed to interest her. Well, aside from back rubs. That was about the closest I'd gotten to giving her anything like the pleasure she and Carolyn seemed to dispense on me so readily.
I shook my head, as if the centrifugal force could sling the insecure doubts out of my brain through my ears. Wallowing accomplished nothing, and my loves needed snacks and enrichment.
I grabbed an extra change of clothes to stash and a towel for Deyha's lap before heading downstairs again. I made sure to slow down and take my time on the steps rather than busting my ass again. Altogether, I was thinking I made pretty good time.
And that bubble of positivity lasted exactly as long as it took to get from the stairs to my stall.
I heard Deyha's muffled grumbling from outside, which was indicative of sound isolation below par for a loud activity room, on top of just being a concerning thing to hear from someone recovering from a procedure.
Deyha was on the floor and there was a mess of blue gel. I forced down panic, slipping into triage mode as I took stock of the situation.
"Are you hurt?"
"Just my pride, I think."
I bit back a rebuke about the time and place for jokes. "What happened?"
"I tried to get back into the wheelchair and it rolled out from under me. I busted one of the gel sacks."
"Is the leak an emergency, or just a mess?"
I avoided stepping in the gel, not trusting how slippery it could be and how much of a problem it would be if I fell too. I separated my clothes from the towel I bought and tossed them on top of the plushie pile. That was officially a task for later.
"Just a mess I think."
I screened my questions, avoiding the pointless and accusatory ones in favor of just figuring out next steps. I repositioned the chair behind Deyha and locked the wheels.
"Here." I handed her the towel. "Dry your hands and focus on getting back into the chair. We'll go from there."
She obeyed, and I steadied the wheelchair as she crawled back up to the seat and situated herself.
I called Carolyn and she picked up almost immediately. "Hey babe, what's up?"
I tried to keep my tone light despite everything. "One of Deyha's gel sacks is leaking. I just wanted to check; is that an emergency, or just a bit messy?"
"How much did it leak?"
I gauged the relative sizes of the two sacks. "Maybe half."
Carolyn sighed. "I'll need to look at it. It's probably just a matter of replacing the sack. She didn't hurt her foot did she?"
I pursed my lips. I nearly said 'I'm not sure she'd tell us either way' but my pause in responding seemed to be enough of an answer.
"I don't know. I'll meet you in her room?"
"Yeah." Carolyn sounded weary already. "Hurry back, I'll see you in a bit."
"Mhmm. On our way."
I put my phone away and busied myself wrapping the towel around the split bag.
"I'm impressed that you aren't freaking out." Deyha broke the silence as I tucked the towel out of the way of the wheels.
I didn't know how to respond to that. Did I tell her that I was freaked out? Or how pissed off I was? Or would it be better to tell her about some of the traumatizing shit I'd lived through?
"Thanks." I kept my voice flat and pulled her out of the room. I did another quick check to make sure that I wasn't leaving a gel trail behind and then set out for the clinic.
Carolyn sat on Deyha's bed, knees crossed and arms folded as I wheeled her in. Like me, she didn't seem to be in any mood for humor.
"What happened?"
Deyha spoke before I could. "I snagged one of the gel sacks, that's all."
"Are you in pain?"
Deyha didn't answer.
"Gods…" Carolyn muttered and hopped off the bed. She unwrapped the towel and looked at the mess. I honestly wondered what she could even see or understand from it, but given the blue stains on other parts of Deyha's gown I doubted the low-detail recounting of events was going to fly.
"Maddie, baby?" there was a forced lightness in Carolyn's tone. "Can you grab us something to eat?"
"Yeah…" I felt like I was being sent away so they could argue, but I could hardly insist on staying. "I'll go start the cookies and clean up. Should be about half an hour."
Carolyn stood and pulled me into a hug. "Thank you so much."
I relaxed into the touch, feeling a bit of the anxiety melt away. I focused on the fact that she clearly didn't want me to worry. It would be fucking difficult, but I knew I could at least make my best effort to not be another issue on Carolyn's plate. It wasn't glamorous, but this is what I could do for them right now.
I kissed her cheek and stepped out of the hug. "I'll text you what hot food there is today as well. Let me know what you want, okay?"
I looked into her eyes, trying to telepathically beam the subtext of "text me back or I'll worry." I hoped she understood, but at the same time it made me wonder why I felt like I had to use subtext at all. I considered mustering the courage to be more explicit, but on the other hand, the sooner I left the sooner I'd be back.
The true challenge of the venture asserted itself as I stepped back into the hallway. I'd already walked in on one of their screaming matches once, and I wasn't sure how much rebuke Deyha could take before shutting down. The warning and experience just made it easier to imagine.
Simulated arguments plagued me as I made the trek to the barn again. My mood sank further as I spied a few globs of blue goo like a breadcrumb trail leading to my stall. There were only three or four spots I had to clean in the hallway, so I elected to table that issue in favor of preheating the oven. I felt several eyes follow me as I crossed the common area and pushed through the silver door to the kitchen.
"Hey Maddie!" Jake looked up. From the stovetop where he was tossing a wok. "Are you hungry? The fried rice will be ready in just a few minutes."
"No, sorry." I failed miserably to inject any lightness into my tone. "Carolyn is craving cookies so I just wanted to see if we had any frozen ones that I could toss in for her."
He nodded. "Sure, they should be in the pull-out drawer. I’ll set the oven to preheat."
"Thanks, Jake. I was thinking I'd do two each for Deyha, Carolyn and me. Should I put any more for you and other folks?"
"We can go ahead and do the baker's dozen. Just lay them out on the circles."
I nodded and set about arranging them. "There's actually a bit of a mess that I need to clean up."
"In your playroom?"
I narrowed my eyes and looked at him. "Yes. Deyha leaked gel."
"Oh… oh, is she… okay?"
"Carolyn is taking care of her so everything will be fine."
"I thought it was from–"
I cut him off. "I'm really not at the capacity for jokes at my expense. I realize now that the room isn't soundproof and I'll keep that in mind for the future."
I death-gripped the steel pan. Holding back tears through sheer force of will.
Jake didn't say anything. There was some shuffling as he turned off the burner and dumped the contents of the wok into a food warmer bin.
"I'll take care of the cookies when the oven is up to temp." He leaned on the counter next to me. "Do you know where the mop bucket and such is?"
"I… no. I don't– And I'm sorry for biting your head off, there it's just–"
"Don't sweat it. You actually did read my mind, so I'm just happy to not make a bad day worse."
"But I feel bad…"
"I don't want you to. You wanna hug it out?" He held out his arms, as though the answer was a forgone conclusion.
"Sure." It was weird being this much shorter for a hug with anyone other than Deyha but I didn't dwell on it.
"Pat. Pat." he narrated the action as he patted my back mechanically.
I busted out laughing at the absurdity. "What was that?"
"Awkward sibling hug. It's totally a thing and you're like a little sister to me sooo…"
"Okay, okay. I'm okay with this being a thing. It's just two pats?"
"Yeah. The more robotic the better. The mop is in the corner closet by the way."
"Thanks. I'll bring it back."
"I appreciate it. And uh, just a heads up. Unless you say otherwise, it's open season tomorrow for jokes at your expense, be sure to let me know if I should reschedule."
"You're marking the calendar?"
"Sure, but that just means that Thad will know as well. I'll put that today is a no-hunting-Maddie-for-sport day."
"Maybe I need to come up with an outfit or accessory of some sort to say when I'm available for hunting."
"The bell could work." Jake suggested. "On means open season, Off means not up for it."
"I'm not taking the collar off."
"Yeah, just the bell. It's detachable right?"
"Huh. Not a bad idea."
"I'll try not to get a big head about it. See you in a bit."
"Thanks."
Jake turned the burner back on and began another batch of fried rice.
Luckily the mop bucket was the rolling type, so It was fairly trivial to get some hot water and cleaner in to transport across the building. I checked the hot food area and texted Carolyn as I pushed the bucket to my room. The room was… a bit of a mess. The puddle of blue gel had spread to be a little larger than a manhole cover, but despite going under the couch it didn't touch the carpet, much less any of the sensitive plushies.
"Yikes." Ellen spoke from behind me, startling me out of my skin. "Oh, hey, sorry Maddie, didn't mean to startle you."
"It's fine." I took steady breaths. She was wearing their usual cotton loungewear that she wore around the barn. "Sorry, I'm just a little high strung right now–" I gestured at the goo, "Deyha popped one of her slime shoes so it kinda got everywhere."
"Let me grab the squeegee mop to start with then. I think that gel is thick enough that we can scoop most of it. Do you think we need to save it?"
"It would have to be made of kitten tears for me to even consider going to that effort."
"Fair enough. I'll be right back."
While she was away I tiptoed around the puddle to survey the damage. The couch recliners were motorized, so there was a pretty dense metal frame, easily far too heavy for me to be lifting right now. Ellen was back in a minute or so with another bucket, dustpan, and the mop. She set about pulling the goo toward the door.
"How do you already know where everything is?" I asked.
“I make a point to know these things. Besides the mess, did you have a nice time with Deyha?”
I rolled my eyes. "It was fine, rest assured I’ve been made aware of some deficiencies of this room that make it non-suitable for uh… activities."
"Live and learn." Ellen sighed. "Should that be refrigerated?" She pointed at the forgotten milk bag.
"Shit."
"How long has it been out?"
"Fifteen minutes tops, probably closer to ten."
"Ah," Ellen waved dismissively. "It's fine. It can sit for a couple hours before it needs to be either chilled or pasteurized."
I frowned, it felt like the sort of thing I should know, and yet Ellen was swiftly becoming an expert despite not so much as modding yet.
"It's actually… not going to be sold."
"Why not?" Ellen tilted her head to the side. It seemed to me to be an exaggerated display of innocent curiosity.
I let the question hang a few seconds too long before coming up with a passable half-truth. "Carolyn wants to test it."
"For flavor?" Ellen smirked.
I sighed. "Yes, for flavor. Sue me.”
"I’d never.”
We lapsed into silence as we got the worst of the goo out of the room and off the floor.
"Thanks for the help by the way, It's really cool of you to just jump in and solve problems."
"I'd like to think you'd do the same for me."
"Absolutely, it's just… I wouldn't have had a clue on how to actually contribute."
"Sometimes you aren't going to be able to do things perfectly. Just don't let it stop you from trying."
"It sounds obvious in theory but… I don't know."
"Oh, it's deceptively tricky in practice. People don't want to knit shitty scarves, paint crappy portraits, or cook dubious food. So maybe throwing a towel on the puddle would have been your best idea." She shrugged. "Personally, I'd ruin a towel to help a friend."
I wondered about the choice of word. At this point she was easily much more than a friend to me. But what had I been hoping she’d say instead?”
The scent of pine trees quickly overtook the scent of warm milk and sex as I wet the floor with warm water.
"Ah, the scent of nature–" Ellen spoke as though recalling a fond memory. "Disgusting."
I laughed. "You don't like pine sol?"
"Eh, the cleaner is fine. The trees make me stuffy. I think it's the pollen.”
“Carolyn might be able to help with allergies. I think Xander had the same issue.”
“Huh. I'll keep that in mind for when Carolyn gets around to me.”
“Ah. Yeah, I'm sorry about the timing. I didn’t think she would end up so busy by the time you got here.”
“Eh, it's fine. I’ve waited this long, ya know?”
“Still…”
“Didn't worry about it. Is this everything?”
“I think so. I just need to get some human food for Carolyn and Deyha.”
"I'll walk with you, this is too much for one person to carry. Do you think we should take the gel to Carolyn? Just in case it's hazmat or something?"
"Yeah, I can do that."
She made a meaningful glance at my feet "I think you are already kinda overdoing it, soooo no. You won't."
I led the way back to the kitchen. "Well at least you will get a cookie or two for your trouble."
"Oh hell yeah!"
I realized as the cookies finished baking that I did not in fact hear back from Carolyn. It wasn't unbelievable that she would just be focused but I dearly hoped that it wasn't because she and Deyha were in the middle of another throwdown. I went ahead and collected a large portion for the two of them to share, just in case. True to his promise, Jake held his tongue as I left the kitchen with a milk bag, a cup, and cookies. I took the relative calm of the clinic as a good sign as Ellen and I made our way to Deyha's room.
There wasn't even anything immediately concerning as we walked in. The overhead lights had been turned up and both Carolyn and Deyha looked up as Ellen and I arrived.
"Hey girls," Carolyn laid a blue cloth over Deyha's foot and spun in her chair to face us, not so subtly putting herself between us and Deyha. "Oh good, food. I'm fucking starving."
"Have you eaten– uh today?" I eyed the blue gloves with growing unease and frowned as Carolyn shrugged. "Okay, let's get some food in you. How's the foot?"
Neither Carolyn or Deyha seemed eager to answer.
"I'm just gonna put this here…" Ellen set the pail of goo down. "Thanks for the cookies Maddie, later!"
"Later." I waited until the door was shut behind me, looking between the two of them as they seemed to want to look anywhere but me. "Out with it." I set down the food and grabbed a chair, pulling it so I could sit beside each of them.
"There's a small complication." Carolyn spoke in measured tones. "It appears Deyha has uh… fractured a couple bones."
"From falling out of a chair?"
"From landing on her foot."
"So catching herself from falling broke her toes?"
"I didn't catch myself" Deyha spoke at last. "My foot folded under me when the chair rolled out, and I crushed it."
"Which is it? Fractured a couple bones? Crushed a couple bones? Will you two stop fucking sugar coating it and tell me what's broken and what that means for–" I waved at her legs vaguely. "All of that?"
Carolyn sighed. "So far I've discovered five broken bones and have set three of them. The gene instructions are proceeding too fast for me to splint or cast them so for now I need to go by feel to put the bones back in the correct places and hold them there until they begin to fuse."
"What, as if you were supergluing them together?"
"Actually not the worst analogy."
"And you're going to tell me you can't take a break to eat?
"I… no. not really."
"Okay." I collected the bowl of fried rice and a spoon. Carolyn winced.
"Maddie, I'm not going to be able to focus with the smell…"
"Back to work." I gestured with the empty spoon. Before scooping a small mouthful worth of rice and holding it in front of her.
"Seriously?" she looked between me and the spoon incredulously.
"Deadly serious. Do what you have to do, I'll feed you."
She took the bite and shook her head to herself as she lifted the cloth and repositioned Deyha's foot. Deyha winced and grabbed fistfuls of the sheets.
"Have you taken anything for the pain?"
Carolyn shook her head. "She refused."
"Deyha?" I stared at her levelly. "Why not?"
"I can handle it."
"Deyha, one Oxycodone is not going to turn you into an opioid addict, despite what my Mom would tell you."
"I'm not concerned about picking up an addiction."
"Then you'll take a painkiller? Excellent." I turned to Carolyn. "What are her options?"
Carolyn smirked. "We don't even have opioids to give her." She nodded toward a rolling tray table she had at the foot of the bed. "There's a local anesthetic there though."
"It's not even opioids." I looked at Deyha. "Take the fucking anesthetic."
"I don't need–"
"Quit being a baby. Your involuntary flinching is only going to make it harder for Carolyn to do her job."
Deyha's eyes narrowed. "You're assertive today."
"If you're proud of me, you should take the anesthetic." This caused a slight smile. "And even if you aren't, you should still take it. I love you, but I am stretching my imagination and cannot find a single reason you should get to sit through this in agony."
"Not even as punishment for fucking up?"
I turned to Carolyn, "She's delusional with pain, you should apply the anesthetic."
Carolyn chuckled. "I'm not going to just stick her because you told me to."
"Is it because it's a shot?" I turned back to Deyha. "I'll hold your hand if you're scared."
"I'm not scared of needles."
"Then take the fucking shot!" They were both laughing now.
"Fine." Deyha laughed. "I'll do it, but only because–"
I cut her off. "I don't care. Carolyn, she said she'll do it."
"I heard." she continued to hold the spot she was working on. "I'm not sure I can accept agreement under duress."
Deyha was cracking up now and Carolyn had to let go to keep from bumping anything out of place
I pointed at Deyha. "Take the shot or I'm eating your cookies." I turned to Carolyn "Give her the shot, or I'm eating your cookies and pouring the milk down the drain."
"Maybe you should have led with that." Carolyn reached for the anesthetic needle.
Deyha nodded. "I agree, cookies are pretty serious business after all."
"It's called resorting to threats, not defaulting to them. You know, like a last resort? When all else fails?"
"I'm sorry for pushing you to the edge." Deyha was still struggling to stay still while laughing.
"All of this because you couldn't wait two minutes for me to put on clean clothes and come back." I scooped up a bite of rice and held it up for Carolyn. "Why did this even happen?"
"I forgot to lock the wheels."
"I wouldn't have forgotten, and I would have been holding the chair steady too."
"Yeah." Deyha settled back into the pillows. "Hindsight twenty twenty and all that."
"That's not good enough."
"I'm sorry that I was careless–"
"Being careless isn't in the neighborhood of the problem here." I scooped some rice and held it out to Deyha this time. She tried to sit up but I gestured to her hand.
"Take the spoon, goofball. You two are too far apart for me to feed you both. Anyways, in my opinion it's fine that you fell, it could have happened even if I was there for all I know, but this fierce independence isn't cool."
Deyha took the bite and returned the spoon. "Carolyn gave me this exact lecture while you were gone."
"And?"
"And I'm sorry. I'll work on it."
"Good." I nodded. "For all I know these mods are going to make us functionally immortal as far as physical health goes so I'm expecting a century of living happily together. That all goes to crap if you die on me."
"A century huh? What do you think, Carolyn?"
"I think if I'm going to be a buzzkill about it then the human spirit isn't nearly built for that sort of longevity... But the notion is romantic, and I'm not one to shy away from a challenge."