Care Management

Richard awoke on the second day to Felicia flopped over him. Let’s see if I can get up without waking her this time. It was certainly going to be harder now. Last time she’d only had a hand on him, but this time her upper body was draped across his. Her boobs were still as big as last night, and so he could feel the swell of her left breast against the edge of his crotch. He shuffled half an inch, then another.

“If I open my eyes and the clock says any time before seven thirty, I swear to God I’m going to fucking stab you.” Felicia complained from on top of him.

Dick looked over at the clock on the nightstand. Six ten. “Maybe don’t open your eyes.”

She kept them closed, but kept talking as well. “I didn’t go back to normal last night.”

“I wasn’t going to mention it, but yeah.”

“It was only supposed to last a few hours.” Felicia paused. “You’re getting up, right? When you’re at breakfast, could you find out from Genet how much longer I have until this goes away?”

“I’ll come back and let you know, as soon as possible.” He vowed.

His date from the previous night still hadn’t opened her eyes. “It’s going to be a few hours until Ava’s awake. After giving you what’s probably going to be the best date this round and being woken up by my robot werewolf boyfriend, I want to go back to sleep. Text me when you find out, I’ll probably be hanging out with Ava and Stella by the time you’re back here.”

He nodded, which felt silly a moment later when he realized that she still wasn’t looking at him. “Sounds like a plan.” Then he reached for one of the pillows that he’d been laying on and tried to slide it in place while he slid out, pulling off a Montana Jones-like maneuver to avoid jostling her. Then he was left with his thoughts in the forty minutes he needed to get ready.

Boyfriend. He didn’t pay much attention to the other words she’d used to describe him, they were normal for her. But boyfriend was a bigger step, one from what he’d initiated last night. Between here and the dynamics with the others, I don’t know how I’m supposed to act as her boyfriend. This would be so much easier if we’d started before the show.

***

Shortly before he arrived, several people had gathered at the dining hall. Dr.Petrov was quietly eating by herself at the table closest to the entrance. Helena and Hazel were together at the corner farthest from everything, and Luna had just approached Genet with a small to-go box as the host came down from her apartment.

“Can I help you with something, Kiddo?” Genet asked.

“Do you know about the gifts we received in our fanmail?”

The buxom host nodded. “Of course. Everything needed to be approved by me.”

“Good.” Luna opened the cardboard box and showed the raspberry tart she’d been given. “Do you know how this is supposed to work? How strong it is, and how long it’s supposed to last?”

Genet was eager to explain. “How strong is easy to explain. Imagine that arousal is on a ten point scale. One is not being horny at all, while ten is being on the edge, only moments away from orgasm. This thing would prevent you from ever dipping below a four, preventing any health drawbacks along the way. You could keep going for hours without feeling anything worse than a little dehydrated.”

“What about the duration?” Luna repeated.

“That, I don’t know." Genet answered. Seeing the latina start to get visibly frustrated, she quickly interjected. “But I can find out. Let me just text Sally. How long does the tart last?

It took a moment for her to get a response: I’ll tell you… after she’s used it.

“Alright, she’s trying to hide it. I should be able to get her to spill, she loves embarrassment.” Genet started to narrate her lie as she typed. She’s used it and it’s way stronger than expected. She’s humping one of the tables. How much longer do we have?

The response came quickly this time: Lol, no.

And a second message came quickly after: She’s at your stairs. Your lovebirds are in the corner, nothing sexy is happening yet.

“For the love of me… Is she watching the live feed? That’s Mentor only!”

In response, she received an emoji of the impish host at a keyboard.

“Bad news. She won’t tell us until after someone eats it.”

Luna grimaced. “Thanks for trying. I should be able to make it work.” Then she sat down across from Hazel and started quietly talking to both women at the table.

A few minutes later Dick came in, sitting down across from his therapist. “I think I need your help.”

“Is this about what I instructed you to do yesterday?” Dr.Petrov asked. She unconsciously slid her near-empty plate over and began stroking his arm.

“I- no, you were right. I needed-” He stopped. “I’m sorry, that’s kind of distracting.”

“What is?”

Richard gently caught her hand. His therapist turned scarlet and immediately let go of him.

“I apologize. With this round’s transformation I’ve found myself struggling with boundaries. Please tell me if you notice anything else I do by accident.

He nodded.

She started speaking again, trying to recover from her realization. “What happened?”

“I told Felicia I love her last night.”

“What!”

Helena blurted it out from two tables over. “Can one of you- never mind, I can get there myself.” She hopped off the bench and crawled across the room, twisting up to sit next to her stepbrother.

“Was it a spur of the moment thing? What happened? Have you told Aubrey yet?”

Richard tried to defend himself. “I’m nervous about it too, but you’re making it sound like I proposed.”

“How did it happen?”

“Be gentle.” Maeve chided.

“We were in the woods last night being intimate, and I wanted the moment to feel nicer. She said something cute and very her, and so I told her how I felt.”

Helena cringed through the description. “I guess I asked, but still. Have you considered how this’ll affect both her and Aubrey?”

“Aubrey said she understands.” He countered.

“And you know she has trouble advocating for herself.” His stepsister shot back. “You first picked her up when she was crying over being cheated on. How do you think she feels about all this happening?”

At this point, Luna and Hazel had both moved tables to listen. Luna decided to get involved. “You’re being too hard on him. Aubrey needs to learn to not be so territorial.”

“Hel’s right.” Dick admitted. “I don’t know how I’ll be able to be fair to her.”

“I’ll help, of course.” Hel volunteered. “She already had us braiding each other’s hair last night, and she helped me get dressed before she went to the library before breakfast. I can buy you time to work on a plan. I’m used to managing her.”

“I’m not sure that managing her is the right approach.” Maeve pointed out.

But she was ignored in favor of Helena’s next question. “How are you going to avoid hurting Felicia?”

“She responded well last night to it, right?” Luna asked.

Hazel finally decided to participate in the conversation. “I think what Ms.Turner is getting at is that for the ‘sharing’ category on Genet’s board, it’s still just the two of us.”

“Thank you.” Hel took over. “We all know how competitive she can be. Now that you’ve taken this step with her, do you think she’d be fine just being one of a crowd?”

“I know.” Richard said.

“You know?”

“Yes. That’s why I wanted to get Dr.Petrov’s advice. I keep telling you not to eavesdrop if you’re not going to listen to the whole thing.”

“Oh. Good idea then.” Shit.

Helena tried to cue her bodyguard to escort her away, but Hazel stayed.”Sir?”

“Yes?”

“We were hoping to be able to go down to the tennis courts. Would you be able to help with that?”

How would I- oh. Her leash has been so helpful I almost forgot how it worked. “Of course. Run around, do whatever you want today.” He tried phrasing it in an indirect way to avoid acknowledging why he needed to help.

“Thank you.” His stepsister murmured, even more embarrassed than he was.

“I’ll see you later, Miss Lopez.” Hazel said, as both her and her girlfriend deposited their empty plates at the collection bin and left.

Luna slid her to-go box towards Dick. “I’m heading out too. Either of you can let me know if you need me, but I’m hoping to visit the tower before our date. Eat this and text me whenever you’re ready to see me, it’s a sexual stamina booster I got in the mail.”

“You think we’ll be doing that much?” He asked incredulously.

“We don’t have to, but I’m trying to set up some options I think you’d like.” She winked at him as she walked out, leaving him to the conversation he’d wanted to have when he sat down.

Genet, who’d watched the whole thing become the verbal trainwreck it was, finally approached. “I’ll make this quick. I know you agreed to find out how much time Felicia had. She currently has eleven hours, and whenever she wakes up I’ll let her know how much is remaining.” She disappeared into a puff of smoke that smelled strangely of brisket.

“Maybe we should have found somewhere with fewer potential interruptions.” Maeve considered quietly. “I apologize for all of that. You said you were worried about the ramifications of making that step with Felicia?”

He nodded.

“I’m going to try using what happened for the better. After listening to the others, tell me what the worst case scenario is.”

The worst case? “Felicia and Aubrey start fighting. It escalates, and I can’t get either of them to listen to me. Both of them hate each other, and me, because I tried to avoid picking one of them.” I don’t want to lose either of them.

She offered her hand, and he took it. The feeling was somehow both more mild and more intimate than what she’d unconsciously tried earlier. “Now, I want you to tell me what the best case scenario is.”

That took longer. “They’re friends, and they accept each other. Aubrey doesn’t think she failed me, or is hurt that I’m arguably cheating on her. Felicia doesn’t feel the need to compete with anyone but me.”

“And how realistic do you think either of those are?”

“I don’t know.”

“Can I tell you what I think?” Dr.Petrov offered.

“Please.”

“I think both of them are possible. But the second feels more likely to me. I don’t want to discuss specifics since I don’t like the idea of sharing my patients’ secrets, but they’re both working on the parts of themselves most likely to bring each other into conflict. I believe there’s room for it to turn out well, as long as they trust you and you continue to treat them with respect.”

“It still doesn’t feel fair to ask this of them.”

“That’s fair. What’s important to remember is not to make them feel obligated to accept.”

“Would you be able to help me figure out what to say?”

“Of course.” Maeve said. “I’ll always be here for you.”