Forward and Back

Richard woke up early the next day like normal. He’d gotten a great night’s sleep like normal. He’d even woken up with a beautiful woman in his arms, which was becoming normal.

What was that last part? The last of his grogginess cleared as he jolted awake and realized his surroundings. Over the course of the night, he’d rolled onto Maeve’s side of the bed and was holding her chest. It was from below so there was a bit of fabric separating her and his hand, but still. He carefully slipped his hand away, hoping to avoid waking her.

Maeve Petrov, +6 VP (Handsy) (First Bonus)

He slipped out of bed and into the bathroom, hoping that he’d be able to step away before she woke and saw how hard he was. A shower later and he was almost ready for what the day brought him. Maeve was gone by the time he was getting dressed, but she’d left him a note before leaving.

Morning. I went back to the Stone House to get dressed before breakfast. If you decide that you need me for the conversation with Genet, then just send me a text and I’ll let you know how quickly I can be there. If not, then I’ll likely be with Aubrey for most of the day.

-Maeve

***

He made a quick stop to help his stepsister, then Hazel came with him to grab breakfast and bring something back for her boss. She handed him a thick file folder with her name on it as they were crossing the plaza. “I added an index of when anyone else on the island makes an appearance in the file. If you’d be able to avoid showing the others those parts until we get a chance to, I’d really appreciate it. They will be shown their own files, just one at a time. Everyone but Luna should know by the end of next round, we’ll be telling her sometime in the two days between now and the challenge.”

He didn’t like lying to his friends. It didn’t come as naturally to him as he was learning that it did to Helena. But if she was making an effort to change, then maybe he could meet them halfway. He flipped to the index, and saw that not even Helena showed up before the halfway point. “As long as you tell everyone, I’ll let you two take your own pace.”

“Thank you sir.” She smiled at him, relieved.

“Hazel, you really don’t have to call me sir.”

“I know sir. Ready to go in for breakfast?”

Most of the group were already there. Genet was sitting at the corner table near the stairs up to her apartment, sipping from a mug of coffee that’d come from a machine at the buffet table. Ava, Aubrey, and Luna were at one of the tables closer to the kitchen together. Through the window to the kitchen, he was seeing glimpses of Stella flitting about.

Hazel went to the window to see if she’d be able to get two of whatever was being served to go, and he sat down with his friends. Luna was drinking her coffee with just a touch of creamer, while Aubrey had a touch of coffee to go with her sugar. Ava looked incredibly tired, but hadn’t poured a cup for herself yet. She had a cup of water she was drinking from instead as she ate.

Plates of the pepper fried eggs from the Fence&Post’s brunch menu were in front of the girls. Cheese and fried egg mixed with diced veggies, sitting in rings cut from yellow and red bell peppers. Luna was almost done with her plate, and was spooning the last of the jalapeno seeds added to her version onto her remaining egg ring. Across the table Ava was working on her third plate, and next to Luna Aubrey was gingerly cutting the bits of broccoli out of the eggs and quarantining the rogue veggies. He was about to join them all before Genet waved him over.

“Sit, sit. I heard that you had some concerns you wanted to talk to me about?” She said as he sat down.

“Maeve already told you?”

“No, I was watching from the cameras. I would’ve answered things then, but you two were having a nice moment together. Assuming you didn’t have plans for breakfast, we can review your list now.”

He didn’t have anything concrete planned. It was a little annoying to be reminded that he was always being watched, but it’s not like there was anything he could do about it. “I suppose this is a good time.”

“Great. If I remember correctly the first thing on your list was the possibility of me being replaced?” She waited for his acknowledgment. “I’ve had a lot of practice at this. As long as you keep having entertaining sex, then I’ll be able to finish the season with you. There’s other ways I could theoretically lose the host position, but I’ve prepared countermeasures for any of the less orthodox ways I’ve seen happen before to my peers.”

“How often does that happen?”

“More than you’d expect. There’s been a string of seasons while I’ve been on break where the host suddenly got added to the harem. But my partners would be pissed if that happened, so you’ll have to settle for the other women of the island.”

That certainly wasn’t a problem. He still wished he could just send Hel home and anyone else that wanted to. Aubrey, Felicia, Hazel and him could figure out what their life could look like if that would satisfy Genet. He was about to see if he’d be able to negotiate for anyone when the buxom director of the show spoke first.

“It’s nice of you to think of that, but I’ll skip to your last worry. The only way that anyone is leaving before you is elimination. But that’ll only happen if anyone breaks the rules or if the audience loses interest in them. That interest is the ace in your sister’s hole. Whether it’s positive or negative, she’s talked about almost as much as Felicia.”

While her phrasing was unpleasant, the message was helpful. There was a way out for her. He wasn’t going to lose her too. “Then the challenges?”

“Yes. I can’t give you all the details, but I can try to reassure you at least about the first three challenges. This round won’t have any danger to anyone in the harem. Some drama, but no danger. The second challenge will be even safer. I am so looking forward to how hot that one’s going to be. The third challenge does present some risk, but it’s entirely in your girls’ hands. If they make good decisions, then they can get a lot of catharsis from it.”

“And if they don’t?”

“Then they’d live with their decision. But your friends are smarter than you keep giving them credit for. While they have their own anxieties, you all have three weeks with nothing to do but have sex and bond. Have faith in them.”

He wanted to, he really did. But he still couldn’t shake the idea that the third challenge would hit someone.

She seemed to realize that something was still wrong for him. “I can see you getting cloudy. Go sit with your friends and I’ll bring breakfast over in a moment.”

So he switched tables. Aubrey was the first to bring attention to the file that he’d set on the table next to him. “What’s that?”

“It looks like one of Hazel’s surveillance files. She made a bunch for us during the campaign a few years ago.” Luna speculated.

“Kind of.” Richard explained. “This is supposed to be Hazel’s life story She asked me to read it when I have time.”

She just gave it to you?” Ava asked. That sounds horrifying, having everything down in writing like that.

“She asked that I keep it to myself, but yeah.”

After Genet brought over a plate for him, the four of them talked about their plans for the day. As he knew already, Aubrey mentioned that Maeve had asked to spend the day together. They were going to go down to Murphy’s for another darts lesson and whatever the therapist wanted to do.

Ava said that Stella had agreed to help her test out Roid Rage again. She’d been excited when Dick told her about the gym and said that if they could get the transformation under control, then she could use it to her advantage during the challenge.

“Did you want a few hours to read? I’d originally planned on starting our day after breakfast, but I can wait a few hours more as long as you’re alone.” Luna offered as she gestured to Hazel’s file.

“I’d appreciate that, sorry for making you wait. I don’t know when I’d have time if I didn’t do it in the morning.”

“Sure. I’ll be waiting for you at eleven for an early lunch.”

***

After finishing breakfast and getting back to his room, he laid the file on the desk and started at the beginning.

April fourteenth, nineteen-ninety four: A baby found, dropped off at the Pasadena police station. Officer Robert Santos found the infant with a blanket and a note giving her name. The next morning, Hazel was given into the custody of the California state foster system.Neither Officer Santos nor the Turner network was able to trace the origins of the infant, although Ms.Turner would note here that the trail was twenty-three years old before any exploration could be made.

“So Hazel was adopted?” He kept reading. As he’d expected, an entry detailed that.

April seventeenth, nineteen ninety-four: Hazel placed in the custody of Jake and Amelia Clark.

But there was another entry right below it.

June sixth, nineteen ninety-six: Hazel returned to state custody.

And there were several more entries like that.

June twenty-third, nineteen ninety-six: Hazel placed with Harrison and Emma Bethel

August eighth, nineteen ninety-nine: Hazel returned to state custody.

September tenth, nineteen ninety-nine: Hazel placed with Mary and Jeremy Masters

November first, two thousand and two: Hazel returned to state custody

November fourteenth, two thousand and two: Hazel placed with Eliza and Brian Johnson

March seventeenth, two thousand and five: Hazel returned to state custody.

March twentieth, two thousand and five: Hazel placed with Ethan and Elise Emper. With the Emper’s encouragement she joined the women’s cross country and basketball teams when starting high school at Sycamore High.

July fourteenth, two thousand and nine: After Ethan’s hospitalization, Ethan’s sister Elsie and brother-in-law Paul took in Hazel to prevent the state of California from needing to take back the teenager. Despite the Emper’s effort, she handled the most recent transition poorly. When an Air **** recruiter toured her school, she made arrangements to sign up on her eighteenth birthday.

That was her childhood. Eighteen years in four pages. Ignoring how confusing it must have been a child to go between three mothers with such similar names, this was a failure. He knew from his time in adoption law that the foster system aimed to keep children with the same guardian for as long as possible, and she’d had four years with her longest set of parents. He needed to make sure when he got home that there weren’t any cases like this back in his state.

The next fifty pages detailed her time in the military. It started in boot camp and then continued as she climbed up the ranks, ending as a Captain after earning her degree and a commission. There was a picture that Hazel must’ve added that was of one of her first solo flights.

As hard as she could be to read sometimes, back when they first met she felt so cold. She hadn’t even reliably called him sir back then, he had just been “Mr.Turner”. He wasn’t sure exactly when she’d been willing to start letting her hair down.

A number of pages as he read further were redacted. He found one that just read Captain Singh flew to Brisbane, then the rest of the page was black.

As he was reaching the end of the first half, he hit a turning point.

December seventeenth, twenty sixteen: Captain Singh decides she wants more stability and begins steps to exit the Air **** and prepare her replacement.

May twelfth, twenty seventeen: Hazel Singh started a job with young businesswoman Helena Turner. (For more information, see file two)

He decided to stop there. He already knew a lot of the story that would follow. Besides he needed a break after all those war stories and it was almost time to meet Luna for her shopping trip and whatever else she had planned