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Chapter 12 :

The Space Between

Cassidy was throwing up again. It was the third day in a row, and Megan was starting to become concerned. It had only been a couple of weeks since she and Eli had first been together, and morning sickness usually didn't kick in until the second month in humans. Still Megan couldn't help but worry. The changed grew and matured quickly, and she had seen these symptoms before.

It couldn't be, Megan kept telling herself. It's impossible.

"Are you going to be alright, honey?" She asked. She had already finished getting ready for the evening shift by now, and was only still at the house because of the state Cassidy was in.

"I'll be fine." She said with a weak smile, having washed her face clean and now drying it with a towel, "It's just a little stomach bug, mom. I'll just lie down for a while till you get back."

Megan nodded and watched her shuffle down the hallway to her room, sighing heavily once she was out of view. She turned to leave, getting as far as the door before stopping.

If she really was...

She turned back to move to the kitchen counter where her daughter's bag was sitting, glancing down the hall as if she might get caught. She opened it up and picked around for just a moment or two before finding Cassidy's latest 'last pack' of cigarettes and her lighter. She took it out of the bag and looked around, before deciding to just stick them in her pocket instead of bothering to hide it somewhere.

If what she feared was true, Megan wasn't about to let her put off quitting any longer.

She made it to the barn a little late, still lost in thought as she wandered in and started washing up. She didn't even think to apologize, which Clairibelle and Henry noticed right away.

"Megan?" Clairibelle asked, leaning over the rail as she watched the woman curiously, "You look a little out of sorts, honey. Everything good?"

"Huh?" She said, realizing how spaced out she had been now, "Oh, sorry. I just have a lot on my mind right now."

Henry had started to walk over toward her, looking a little concerned himself, "Anything I can help with?"

"No, I..." She stopped to think about that, "Well, maybe. Are any of the stores in town open late tonight?"

Henry shook his head, "Afraid not, but there's always the Pump & Junk about eight miles the other way. Has a little bit of everything, but I wouldn't put much faith in the perishables."

Megan had finished washing up and was drying her hands, seemingly unaware that she was being stared at now. She remembered the station, now that he mentioned it. She and Cassidy had driven past it on their way to the farm that first day when he interviewed her.

"Henry, could I trouble you for a ride out there tonight?" She finally asked, looking up at him, "My car might not make the trip."

"Of course." He said with a single nod, "What is it you need?"

Megan looked away, putting the towel in the laundry bin and moving around him to get to work, "I'd rather not say, if that's alright."

"That's fine." Henry and Clairibelle shared a look that confirmed each other's read on the situation. Megan was clearly not herself right now, and as the two closest to her they were worried by it.

"Right." He finally said, clapping his hands to get everyone's attention, "Lets get to work."

Megan had been almost completely quiet the entire shift in the barn. That hadn't changed afterward. She just sat in the passenger seat of the truck, silently staring out the window at the unchanging waves of grain passing endlessly by.

Henry pulled up at the gas pumps once they arrived, hopping out and giving a wave to the clerk that was leaning over the counter to see who it was. The man waved back and turned on the pump for him. There weren't many places left in the world that allowed someone to pay after fueling anymore, but out this far in the country there were always exceptions.

Everyone knew Henry, and Henry seemed to know just about everyone in turn.

He topped off the tank and started inside to pay, stepping aside as Megan was coming back out of the building with a small paper bag in hand. She didn't even really look at him. She just made her way back to the truck and got in.

"Evening, Lonnie." Henry said as he stepped inside, giving the clerk a nod.

"Been a while, Henry. Good to see you." Lonnie was a heavy man, older and a bit unwashed but still a well liked local icon.

"Likewise." He replied, getting his wallet out to produce his bank card.

"Pin pad is broken again." Lonnie said, waving a gnat away from his face, "ATM works though if you need cash."

"Right." Henry said, shaking his head as he turned to walk to the cash machine on the other end of the store. Everyone liked Lonnie well enough. It was the reason no one called him out on this little ploy he ran now and then. It was a privately owned ATM with a three dollar fee, and the main register tended to conveniently have issues any time the store needed a little extra money.

"So I see you got yourself a new girl." Lonnie called over to him with a grin, "She's a cutie, my friend. Nicely done."

Henry shook his head, "It ain't like..."

"You two trying for a baby, then?" The clerk said, cutting him off.

Henry's head came up to look out the window at Megan, still sitting motionlessly in the truck outside. Something was starting to make sense.

"What did she buy, Lonnie?" He said quietly.

"Pregnancy test." Came the reply, though a little more quiet now, "I take it you didn't know?"

He walked back to the counter, tossing a couple twenties down and shaking his head, "She and I aren't together. It must be for one of the girls. I know Penelope is itching to have another kid."

It was a deflection. He was starting to understand exactly who it was for.

"Well now that's too bad." Lonnie said, snatching up the money and cashing out the transaction, "You need to get back on the horse, Henry. You can't live in mourning forever."

Henry didn't want to get back on the horse. He wanted to get back on the cow. One in particular, but that wasn't the sort of thing one mentioned in polite company.

"I'll take that under advisement." He said, waving dismissively as the clerk started to hand him back his change, "Keep it. Maybe one of these days you can afford to fix that register."

Henry got back in the truck, and they were on the way home shortly after. Still they said nothing. She stared out the window, and he watched the sunset on the road ahead of them. About half way he finally came to a decision.

"It's for Cassidy, isn't it?" He said quietly.

She turned to look at him, blinking as if stunned by the break in the silence.

"She and Eli..." He continued, shaking his head, "You really think it's possible?"

"I don't know." She looked away again, "But I see the signs, and it seems like she has to be... To be..."

"Pregnant." Henry finished for her with a sigh, "If she is, it changes everything we know about the changed. If people find out..."

"Stop the truck." Megan said abruptly, breathing heavy as if about to have a panic attack, "Stop the truck!"

Henry did as he was asked, pulling to the dirt shoulder to let her out. She took a few paces away, holding her head in her hands to catch her breath. He stepped out slowly and moved around to the truck to join her, leaning back on it to let her gather herself.

"I should have listened to Daisy. I should have stopped this." She finally said, still facing away, "I let this happen, Henry, and now it's going to risk everything you and the girls have built together. When people find out..."

"We're not going to let that happen." Henry said, letting his voice drop deep, "If she is with child, then it's no one's business but our own."

Megan turned to look at him, eyes watering a touch from the episode she had just fought off but not actually crying, "Was it a mistake? Hiring me?"

Henry tilted his head at her. At first he wanted to just tell her no, but it didn't feel like that would be enough. He'd spent many nights now thinking about all this. Her effect on the farm and on the other girls, as well as the changes it had caused. A simple no wouldn't do.

"You've changed everything, Megan." He finally said, giving her a reassuring smile, "That needed to happen. It needs to keep happening."

She relaxed a bit, letting her eyes drop to the ground between them, "Change isn't always good."

"But it is necessary. A lot has to happen soon, and we've been pretending like that isn't the case. The fight over what happens with Eli was always bearing down on us." He shrugged his shoulders, thumbs slipped into his pockets as he did so, "You're arrival didn't set this stage. It just set it in motion."

She looked back at him, but he was staring off to the sunset again which drew her gaze that way as well. It was a long silence, lost in the beauty of red and gold as it played on the horizon. It was calming, and it helped.

Eventually she walked over to lean on the truck next to him, close enough that her arm was touching his, "Thanks Henry. For everything."

"Don't mention it." He said, still looking off toward the sunset, "Hiring you... It wasn't a mistake. It was probably the best thing that's ever happened to us."

It was a long moment before Henry looked back at her, and when he did it was to see what she was up to. He heard a noise, and much to his surprise found the small woman lighting up one of her daughter's cigarettes. She took a long drag off it, her eyes closing before letting the smoke escape from her lungs again.

"This is new." Henry said, watching her curiously.

"I gave it up before Cassidy was old enough to remember. It used to help me deal with stress." She shook her head, taking another hit before speaking again, "Please don't tell her I lapsed."

Henry nodded, looking away again with a little chuckle, "You're secret is safe with me."

"Thanks." She said, watching the glow from the cherry of her cig for a few moments, "Any progress with you and Elsie?"

"Yes... And no." He said. She had worried he wouldn't want to talk about it, but as always found him to be rather open with his thoughts, "She came to see me a couple weeks ago at the house. We... She shared my bed."

Megan turned to look up at him, eyebrows raised, "Well that sure sounds like progress. What happened?"

"Once it was over, she went right back to it. She needs time. She's not ready. Wait for me." He sighed heavily, shaking his head, "I almost wish we hadn't done it. At least before..."

"You didn't know what you were missing." Megan said with a slow nod, "Sorry, Henry."

"What am I doing wrong, Megan?" There was clear sadness in his voice now, "I love her and she loves me. It seems so simple, but for her it's the most difficult thing in the world. I don't know what to do."

"It's damn near cruel the way she's treating you." Megan said with a snort, "I don't think she knows it. She thinks she's protecting you from the world by staying away."

"Fuck the world."

Megan was startled by the statement. She'd never heard him proper swear before. Even when the farm had been raided his curse had been more reactionary than intentional, and this time it sounded almost as if the act seeing your grandmother naked was represented by a noise. It was just wrong.

"Henry?" She said with concern.

"You know what I mean." He started to clarify, "The prejudices of other men have no place in my... In our bed."

"No, I suppose not." She was calmed by the answer. It made sense, and it led her to something else she had been thinking about a lot lately, "I think I'm starting to have a thing for Clairibelle."

Henry just nodded, "I know."

She looked back up at him again, "Wait, you know?"

"Everyone knows." He replied with a shrug, "You want to talk about changes since you arrived at the farm, that's a great place to start."

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't know Clairibelle before, but she was far worse then than she is now." He said, shaking his head, "Whatever it is that causes desire to burn in her the way it does never had focus before. She'd go after anyone and everyone if she thought there was a chance of satisfying it, even for a moment."

He smiled and looked down at her, giving her a little nudge with his elbow, "You changed all that. She actually likes you for reasons other than just the prospect of sex, enough that she's willing to wait for it. You have no idea how mind blowing that is for the rest of us."

Megan couldn't help but blush, stubbing out the last of the cigarette and poking it back into the pack. She didn't want to just flick it out into the grass with as hot and dry as it had been, "I've never been attracted to a woman before. It's taking some getting used to."

"Well, it is what it is." Henry leaned up off the truck, stretching a bit, "We should probably get back, though. You feeling any better?"

She nodded and straightened back up as well. He was right. This was the middle of nowhere, but it had been the ideal place to talk about things the like of which they just had. No one for miles to overhear or judge them for their curious relationships.

No one would ever know.

She stepped in front of him, pushing him back against the truck with one hand. Something was glinting in her eyes, like a reflection of the thoughts she was having behind them.

"Megan?" Henry's eyebrows were raised with surprise, "What are you..."

"Shut up, Henry." She said, dropping to her knees in front of him and starting to work his fly. He started to stop her, but she slapped his hands away in irritation, "Stop that. Just let me do this."

She pulled his jeans open, reaching inside to fish his still limp manhood out of his shorts. It barely had a taste of the warm evening air before she had a taste of it, clamping her lips right over the length of it and rolling it around with her tongue. He weakly put his hand on her head as if to push her away, but she was having none of it and snatched the hand up in her own. She laced her fingers between his and pushed it back against the truck to hold it there.

He wasn't soft for long. She had started to move her head up and down over the shaft and soon she couldn't quite press her nose against the little tuft of hair sticking out of his underpants without feeling the tip of him pressing against the back of her throat. She moved quickly once he had fully stiffened. She had no desire to tease him or draw this out. All she wanted was to get him off, and while it had been a long time since she had done this sort of thing she was pretty sure she still knew enough about it to make that happen.

Henry was breathing heavy now, unable to look away from the little woman kneeling before him. Her hair was still tied back from their last round of work, frizzy and bobbing on the back of her head like golden pom pom cheering him on. He wanted to resist, but he couldn't. Elsie had him so bound up that he felt like he was about to burst some days, and the feeling of Megan's warm lips around his neglected member was just too much to turn down.

She paused, letting her mouth draw back until just the tip was inside and swirled her tongue around his glans, causing him to nearly buckle at the knees. She shot her head forward again quickly to take as much of it inside as she could, then back slow to do it again. She could feel him getting close, and she wasn't about to let up now. Her free hand came up to grip the shaft and start stroking, leaving just the crown in her mouth, her head and tongue twisting and licking at it to demand his completion.

It still almost caught her by surprise when he went off. His whole body twitched abruptly as he swelled and exploded into her, filling her mouth to the brim before she could react to it enough to swallow all but a little dribble that escaped down her chin. She was able to match him after that, taking each long ribbon of his seed in stride and drinking it down. She'd forgotten the taste after all these years, and she'd forgotten how much she liked it. Like a bitter coffee that a person has to get used to, but doesn't want to do without once they learn to enjoy it.

Henry came down slowly, panting as he leaned back against the truck. He'd forgotten about everything else by that point except the relief that he had needed so badly. He just stayed like that, even as Megan licked his softening member clean and tucked it back into his shorts.

She stood up slowly, leaning over to brush the dirt off her knees and give him a smile as she wiped the little bit of his cum off her chin, "There you go."

"Megan..." He said, suddenly remembering everything and hit with a pang of guilt, "I shouldn't have..."

"This never happened, Henry." She said with a little chuckle.

"But you know how I feel about Elsie." He said, shaking his head, "You and I can't..."

"It wasn't about us." She said, putting one hand on her hip to look him over, "She's got you so tied up in knots that it's practically killing you. I couldn't just stand by any longer."

Henry looked away, doing up his pants now with a bit of embarrassment, "This... Never happened?"

"Nope." Megan said, moving forward to take him in a tight hug that he couldn't help but reciprocate, "And if you ever need it to not happen again, just let me know."

He held her like that for a while. She really was a good woman. If it weren't for the fact that he was in love with someone else, he thought to himself...

"Thank you, Megan."

It was mostly dark by the time they got back, and Megan made her way into the guest house to find Cassidy curled up on the couch under a light blanket. She was watching the television, but turned it off once her mother entered.

"Hey." Cassidy said curiously, "Where did you run off to?"

Megan moved to the kitchen table to start taking off her overshirt and hang it over the back of a chair, setting the little brown bag she was carrying down as she did so, "Henry ran me to the store."

"Okay." Cassidy was looking at her curiously, "Did you... Take my cigarettes?"

Megan nodded, turning to look at her but staying right where she was, "I did. Sorry, honey."

"Is this a thing we're doing now?" She asked, still unable to read her mother at all, "What's going on, Mom?"

"I'll give them back." Megan replied, moving over to drop the bag on the coffee table in front of her daughter, "Just... I want you to do something for me first."

Cassidy looked at her a moment longer, before leaning over to pick up the bag, reaching into pull out the small blue box from within.

"A pregnancy test?" Cassidy scrunched up her face in confusion, "But mom, I've only been with..."

Suddenly it all dawned on her. The sickness...

"No..." She said quietly, her eyes having gone wide in shock, "No, that's not possible. Eli and I can't..."

Megan moved to sit next to her, putting and arm around her daughter to pull her in, "No matter what... I love you."

Cassidy leaned into it and started to cry. "Mom... If I'm... What am I going to do?"

She stroked her daughter's hair and kissed her forehead.

"I don't know."