Normal Morning

Like always, we’ll be starting the day with David waking up. This time, he was greeted with the sight of Stella staring at him. Once she realized that his eyes were open, she blushed and averted her gaze.

“Good morning Stella. I take it you were enjoying the view.” Stella rolled her eyes and tried to fight back a smile.

“Ok, I’ll admit, I was. You’re very attractive, even if you don’t seem to notice.”

“I’ve noticed that people find me attractive. Otherwise, Rachel wouldn’t be with me.” Stella blushed some more and looked up at the ceiling.

“You’re no beefcake, but I find all those muscles a little gross anyways. I much prefer someone with your build. And obviously you’re not perfect, but you’re a great guy.”

“Well, perfection doesn’t exist, and that is a hill that I am willing to die on. Hell, I literally wrote multiple books with that as one of the main themes.” Stella started to nervously tap her fingers together.

“Um, about last night, I’m sorry for punching you in the balls.” David gently grabbed her wrist and rolled her over so that they were facing each other.

“Stella, you don’t have to apologize for that. I know you get panic attacks. But, what brought it on? It wasn’t me, was it?”

“FUCK NO! Sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled, but it wasn’t you. Something, I don’t know, but my mind just went somewhere that I didn’t want it to go. I kept hearing voices, and seeing things like I was there, and it was terrible. But I truly don’t know why any of that happened.” Stella's hands began to shake softly, so David held them.

“Stella, I might be way off base here, but I feel like it also could be the reason. It’s possible that what you’re experiencing is a repressed memory.” Stella looked at him with confusion clearly in her eyes.

“During Never Have I Ever, you said you don’t remember ever having sex with multiple people, yet you were magically forced to drink like you have. So yes, it’s possible that the reason you don’t remember is because it’s a repressed memory. And whenever I try to get information out of Esmeralda, she refuses to give it.” Stella took a while to take all of this in before nodding.

“Esmeralda, can you come here?” The host appeared in a flash.

“Yes dear, what seems to be the problem?”

“Is David right, do I have a repressed memory?”

“That is something that you have to find out for yourself, dear. I cannot simply tell you something like that.” Stella crossed her arms and glared slightly at Esmeralda.

“How do I find out?” Esmeralda held up a finger for a moment before answering.

“I had to double check the rules to make sure I’m allowed to tell you. If you buy the Dream Hall on your date night, you can find out.” Stella’s hands tightened into a fist, but she nodded.

“Fine, I’ll do that next time.” Esmeralda nodded, and disappeared. Stella took a deep breath, before wrapping David in a hug.

“This might be a stupid question, but are you ok?” he asked her. She smiled and kissed his cheek.

Cheek kiss +2 VP

“It was a stupid question, but I appreciate it. No, I’m not ok. I have a stupid question for you too.”

“I’m listening.”

“Will you be there with me when I do all of that?” David smiled and gently cupped her cheek.

“Of course I will.” Stella wrapped her arms around his head and kissed him before sitting back down on the bed.

“Um, David, there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about. It’s important, given that we’re going to be together from here on out, regardless if it’s what we want or not.” David sat next to her and waited for her to start.

“So, I never really brought this up before, as I never thought it was important when we were just friends, but I’ve noticed that you’ve been pretty critical of religion in your books. So I guess I’m just wondering if being christian will be a problem.”

“First off, I’m honored that you’ve read my books. Second off, that kinda depends. Yes, I don’t really like religion, but I’m also not going to expect all of you to conform to my values when it comes to that. So if you’re ok with us just believing differently, and not trying to force it on each other, then no, it shouldn’t be an issue.” Stella visibly relaxed when he said this.

“Thank god. I was worried you wouldn’t be ok with it, and that it would develop into a big thing.”

“Well, there is one thing that I’m pretty big on. I don’t think that anyone should try to dictate what other people believe in when it comes to religion, which includes kids, our kids.” Stella looked away, not seeming to like this all too much.

“Yeah, that might be an issue. Bringing kids up in the faith is pretty important in my family. But I can see how that would also be a problem within the harem, as it wouldn’t make sense to only bring up a few kids in the faith but not all of them, or have them all brought up in different faiths while still having the same non religious dad. Wow, that is going to be really complicated in the long run.”

“Believe me, I know. Things are going to get very complicated once kids start getting added to the mix. But for now, I’m just trying to build a foundation with all of you.” Stella smiled and rested her head against his shoulder.

“Well, you’ve done a great job with me.” He smiled and gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders. The two of them stayed like that for a while, simply enjoying each other’s company.