An Awkward Alliance

"I really, really hope you know what you're doing here Joey" Charlie frowned, her hands on her bare hips "If it had been up to me you wouldn't even have taken the call."

"I know" he admitted as he stroked his lover's shoulder gently "But you don't understand Kayleigh like I do. We've been friends for a very long time. It's entirely in character for her to do something a little crazy and, yes, pretty fucking stupid if she thought it might help humanity. But if she'd wanted to screw me over she could have played that recording I made her the moment I picked up. I knew she would never do that."

"And you also know I would have fucking ended her if she did."

"That too. Plus, she agreed to let me bullshit her without any complaints."

Telling Kayleigh he wasn't willing to fully trust her without using his powers to ensure she couldn't lie to him again had been hard for Joey to do, but he'd felt he had no choice under the circumstances and she had been extremely understanding about his demand. Above anything else, she sounded relieved he was still talking to her.

"So what commands did you put in place with her?"

"She can never use that recording, in any form, on either you or me at all. or on anyone else without my permission. She has to be completely honest with us both regarding everything she knows about this whole mess. She can never share the location of your safe house with anyone and she will forget it herself the moment she arrives."

"I can't believe I'm going along with this. Letting her of all people come here of all places."

"She's bringing Liv and Dawn with her so we can deprogram them. It's got to be worth it just for that. It also means, with those three here, there is no more Naked Truth. No way for Senator Adams to mind control anyone. Even if Kayleigh and I weren't so close, tactically this would be a no brainer. You know that as well as I do."

"I still think you're putting a huge amount of trust in someone who has already proven they can't be trusted." the nude agent sighed unhappily, though it seemed she had grudgingly accepted Joey's reasoning.

"Just think of the huge leap of faith you asked me to take with you, Charlie." Joey reminded her "I did it, and it was the best decision of my life. And you're still my ride or die. My everything. Once the others arrive, I'm going to tell them all that you and me are together now and break up with Liv. I'm done romancing four people when I'm only in love with one."

"No, don't" Charlie urged him "It will only make an already weird situation even weirder. Our love life shouldn't be a distraction here. Just carry on as you were before. I'll be okay, I'm used to it."

Joey nodded reluctantly in agreement. He felt a huge surge of guilt as he thought back to all the time he had spent trying to be with four women at once without ever fully considering the emotional impact that might have had on each of them. But Charlie was right. There were potentially world changing matters at stake here that needed to take priority. The romantic entanglements Joey had got himself caught up in could be resolved further down the line.

"I still want that recording you promised me though." Charlie insisted "And I'm telling you now, the moment she does anything I find even slightly sketchy, I'll be using it on your buddy. I have no intention of fucking with her but I need to protect myself."

"Of course, give me your phone"

Charlie threw her mobile over to Joey. He spent a couple of minutes negotiating the numerous menus and apps she had on there before finding a function to record his message.

"The beautiful blonde lady playing you this is called Charlie. You completely believe every word Charlie says without question."

"Beautiful is subjective" Charlie cautioned Joey as he passed back her phone.

"Not in your case" he winked "And I wasn't just flattering you. I need there to be something that's going to disqualify ninety nine per cent of people from being able to use the message if it gets into the wrong hands."

"Either that or the person listening will start seeing whoever is playing the clip as a beautiful blonde lady and still believe whatever they say" she pointed out "But it isn't going to fall into the wrong hands so it doesn't matter."

There was no doubt Charlie had been a little sulky with Joey ever since he had invited Kayleigh and the others to the safe house against her wishes. But he had decided that, for once, he was going to be the one to make a major call. Despite his power, he had started to feel he was always doing what everyone else wanted him to in order to keep the people he cared about happy. The results from that up until this point had been mixed at best.

"Oh, and another thing" Charlie folded her arms across her chest "Nobody gets to wear clothes here. Especially Kayleigh. I'm not going to be naked while she's strutting around in one of her power suits,"

"They already know the rule, they're fine with it"

Joey gestured for Charlie to come over to him. She was reluctant at first but walked to where he was and let him wrap his arms around her. As he did, her posture began to soften as at least some of the tension she had worked up left her body.

"I'll be okay with this Joey, I just need time to process it" she reassured him as she rested her head on his shoulder and he stroked her hair lovingly "I'm not used to letting civilians make important tactical decisions for me. But I trust you. I really do."

---

It was getting late when Joey heard a knock. He opened the door to find Kayleigh waiting outside. She threw her arms around him for one of the longest, tightest hugs he had ever experienced, despite his nudity.

Liv then practically jumped into Joey's arms and made out passionately with her boyfriend right in front of a poker-faced Charlie "I'm gonna let you fuck me so hard tonight!" she promised.

Dawn made a more reserved entrance, stroking Joey's arm and shooting him a wink as she walked past "It's good to see you, partner."

Joey was about to shut the door when he noticed a fourth figure approaching. He gasped audibly and threw his hands down in front of his dick and balls as quickly as was humanly possible.

"It's nice to see you again. Joey" the Vice President of America told him, before casting her eyes downwards "All of you this time, it seems."

---

Sometime later, Joey and Charlie's guests were all huddled together in the main room of the cabin, which was proving to be something of a cosy fit for them.

There was not a stitch of clothing between them - even Clarissa was now fully undressed, and Joey realised he had a new inappropriate crush.

The VP hadn't been deprogrammed yet, though Kayliegh had agreed to pass control of her over to Joey. It wasn't as if he had any intention to take advantage of that, but Clarissa was considered too important an asset to lose, and the chances of one of the most powerful people in the world wanting to sit around naked in a cabin in the Maine wilderness would probably be slim if she were allowed to make all her own decisions.

Kayleigh no longer had any control over Liv or Dawn though, and the latter could no longer be ordered around by her former 'talent agent' Charlie either. There was doubtless a little tension in the room once all suggestions had been removed and everything that everyone had done to each other had been explained and apologised for. Dawn, pragmatic as ever, was quietly coming to terms with the fact she had been used as a very naked public pawn by both Kayleigh and Charlie without making a scene, while Liv admitted she found a lot of what had been done to her 'hot'.

The most important thing was that the six of them were on the same side now and shared a common enemy. Any conflict within the group needed to be put to one side. Old scores could be settled once the true villain had been vanquished - though even then the fact it was Liv's father required some degree of restraint.

"So this is interesting" Dawn raised an eyebrow as she checked her phone "the next episode of Naked Truth isn't just going ahead, they've brought it forward. It's going live any minute now."

"What? But how?" Kayleigh looked flummoxed "They don't have any of us there. They need me to make people believe what they want to hear. Don't they?"

"I guess we'll find out soon enough" Charlie sighed heavily as she fiddled with her laptop.