Rest

A message is sent to your mother saying that you and El would be spending another night at Peggy’s. The rest of your day is spent between sleep, rest, and being doted upon by a fanatically grateful Elsie. She hadn’t been out as long as you were and her recovery would be quicker and more straight forward, but she too had been through surgery and she was pushing herself way too hard. Eventually you have to stop her.

“El.” You say as she sets a fresh ice water and a small tray of sliced fruit on the bedside table. Reaching out you take her arm. “Stop. Please.”

“I’m okay.” She says brightly, though you could see the fatigue in her eyes.

“You’re recovering too.” Your aunt says from the doorway. “Listen to your brother Elsie.”

Without a fight El nods, her shoulders slump, and she lets on how tired she really was. “Okay.”

You shift over in your bed and pat the space beside you. “Come on. Hop in.”

She nods again and moves around to the opposite side of the bed and crawl in. Peg tucks the blanket up around your sister’s shoulders. Sitting on the side of the bed she checks your temperatures with the back of her hand under your neck then just sits looking at you for a time, as relieved as you were that everything seemed to have gone well.

You squirm and grip your hand as you resist reaching to scratch yourself. The hot ache in your groin was relentless as your supercharged healing process did its thing. You knew you had to endure it though if you didn’t want to spend weeks in recovery.

“Do you want an ibuprofen?” Peg asks.

“No. I’m okay.”

“Now that it’s done.” She says, more to El this time. “You two will have to tell the others soon. I still think you should have talked with them first.”

El shakes her head. “No, it’s better this way. They can’t stop us now that it’s done.”

“Please don’t tell them.” You say. “Let Elsie and I break the news.”

“Of course.” Peg replies.

“We want to surprise them.” Elsie smiles with a twinkle of playful humor in her dark eyes. It was so nice to see that twinkle back again after these past few years.

Peg chuckles. “This isn’t really a surprise kind of thing, you should discuss it with them seriously. But…I’ll leave it to you two.” Leaning over you she kisses your forehead then does the same to Elsie. “Now sleep. You should notice things getting better by the morning.”

“Auntie Peg.” El says.

“Yes my dear?”

“I love you. I love you so much.”

Peg’s heart melts to El’s irresistible sweetness. She kisses her again. “And your auntie loves you too, very much.”

“I love you.” You say, wanting to get in on these warm feelings.

Peg laughs warmly and pats your cheek. “I love you too Jesse.” She then points a stern finger. “Now sleep! That’s an order.”

“Yes Ma’am.” The pair of you say in unison followed by giggles. “Good niiiight!”

Peg rolls her eyes and gets up. She shuts off the light on the way out but leaves the door partially open. The moment you were alone the pair of you move together. Elsie snuggles up to you, careful to only touch you from the waist up, and lays her head on your chest as you wrap your arms around her. Holding Elsie’s soft body always felt so pure and so right.

“We did it.” El whispers.

“Yes we did.”

“You’re…you’re my hero Jesse.”

You laugh softly. “Stop that. Any brother would have done it for his sister.”

“Get his dick chopped off?”

“Ha! Okay, maybe not any brother. But I am no hero.” You hug her tight. “I’m glad I could be there for you.”

She sighs. “It’s cool. Knowing I’ll always have some of you inside of me. Like, you’re a part of me now. It feels…I don’t know…”

“Like it was always supposed to be this way?” You say, knowing exactly the feeling she was talking about. “Like we were always a part of each other?”

“Yeah.” Her slender finger traces a little circle on your chest. “So…how should we tell the others?”

“I’m not sure yet. Peg’s right though, we should take this seriously.”

“That’s no fun.”

You chuckle. “Very true.”

“We’ll figure something out.”

“Let’s at least wait until we heal up.”

“Yeah, good idea.” Her voice was softer now, her body relaxed, the first hints of sleep creeping in.

You shift deeper into your pillow, readying yourself for the cozy slumber to come.

“Jesse?”

“Mmm?”

“Any regrets?”

“None. Not even a little.”

“Good.”

You kiss her head. “Good night Elsie.”

“Mmmm.” She hums happily, nuzzling into you even more. “Good night Jesse.”