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Chapter 27 :

The Broken Girls

Eli woke up before the others the next morning. He lay in bed for a few long minutes to gather his thoughts, then carefully extracted his arm from Cassidy's grasp to rise up out of bed. He watched for a moment as the girl almost instinctively curled toward Millie instead, and the pair tangled themselves up in each other the way he always seemed to find them.

It was odd, he thought. He liked Millie, and she seemed to make his girlfriend happy. Still there was a part of him that wondered what it would be like to be so connected to another person. Not just to love them, but to practically be a part of one another.

It was almost enough to make him jealous, if only because he didn't have Cassidy all to himself anymore. He didn't like feeling that way though. It wasn't a feeling he had any right to.

It was a powerful thirst that has woken him though, so he put those thoughts out of his head to make his way to the kitchen. Megan was already up, and he could hear the hair dryer coming from the bathroom as she got ready for the morning shift. He made his way to the sink, taking up the only glass he ever drank from, a tall mug with a faded and unreadable beer company's logo on it, and a handle large enough that he could actually get his massive finger's through it. He filled it about halfway from the tap and tossed it all back in one go, letting loose with a sigh once it was done.

"We need to talk."

Eli about jumped out of his skin, turning to find CB just a few feet away with her arms folded sternly.

"Jesus, Miss Clairibelle. You about startled the life out of me." He looked away from her nervously. She always made him uncomfortable somehow. Like living with a tiger, he always thought. It's all fun and friendly until it decides you look like dinner, "What did you want to talk about?"

She looked back at him in silence for a moment, one finger tapping against her crossed arm. It didn't do much to help with his discomfort, "You do realize how lucky you are, yes?"

"You mean Miss Cassidy?" He said, somewhat surprised, "Of course I do. She's about the best girl I ever could have hoped for."

"Is that right?" She said, tilting her head to one side curiously, "She's a good kid. Brave, adventurous, cheerful. She likes to try new things... Especially on you."

He wasn't sure how to respond, as he wasn't entirely sure what she was getting at. She took note, and lowered her eyes seriously...

"You need to eat that sweet little girl's pussy, Eli."

"What?" Eli's jaw about hit the floor, "I... I mean..."

"She's done the reverse for you. Several times now, by my count." She cut him off, "You need to man up and return the favor. Do you understand me?"

He almost said something, but no words appeared at first so he swallowed hard to get control of his voice back, "It's not like I... I haven't thought about it. I just... What if I screw it up?"

"So what if you don't do it right the first time?" She huffed back at him, "She didn't know what she was doing the first time either. She wanted to do it for you. She wanted to let you make love to her. Now she's even willing to let you take her up the back passage, and she's willing to do that... For you."

"I... I know. I know." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I'm not trying to be selfish, I'm just nervous."

"Then do it." Clairibelle turned away now, heading back to the hallway, "Don't make me tell you again."

Eli watched her leaving, and an thought came over him. A question he could ask that no one on the farm would be able to answer better than this one woman. He was embarrassed. He didn't want to ask it, but she was right. He needed to man up.

"How do I do it?"

She paused, one eyebrow raised in surprise that he had just mustered up the courage to ask that, but a smile on her lips just the same.

"If I'm gonna... Then I want to do it well, Miss Clairibelle." He said quietly, reaching up to rub the back of his neck nervously, "I could use your... Advice."

Clairibelle was almost proud of the boy.

She came back slowly at first, one hand coming up to her chin as she considered how to proceed. This was an important lesson, after all, at least to someone as hedonistic as herself. Eventually she paused to hop up on the kitchen table to sit, crossing her legs dramatically in a way meant to show a little more leg than made him comfortable.

"Tell me, Eli..." She finally said, her words calm despite his reaction, "Do you know what a clitoris is?"

He looked back at her, catching himself staring at her legs for a second before he could stop himself. He cleared his throat, briefly made eye contact and finding her giving him a wicked grin that he couldn't help but look away from, "I... Uh. No?"

"I'm sure you've noticed when she plays with you that certain parts of it are more sensitive than others." Clearibelle leaned forward a bit to place her hands on the edge of the table, "It's the same for us ladies. If you want to get a girl off and make it count, you need to know where her clit is."

He nodded slowly, not wanting to say anything about the first half of her comment. She was right about that, and Cassidy had pretty well worked out all the most sensitive spots along his shaft by now. No one told her how to find them, but she was a smart girl. She figured it out.

"So how do I find it?"

She leaned in a little closer, narrowing her eyes at him now, "Don't you dare look away."

A bit of panic came over him, and well it should. She leaned back again and her legs came apart and up to place her feet up on the table out wide to either side of her. The dress she was wearing fell upward, and there she was. All of her. No panties, since she was on her way to the barn for the morning shift anyway. Just her striking black flesh, the labia always slightly exposed from the attentions it had received since her change, slightly glistening from the excitement of it all.

"Miss Clairibelle!" If a whisper could yell, that how it sounded, "If someone walks in..."

"Megan is brushing her teeth. You girlfriend is asleep." Again her powerful ears made her far more aware than most, and she knew it was safe, "Don't worry. Just look."

He wanted to look away, but found he couldn't. As he watched, her hands came down to it, one of them spreading herself open, up high along the crease to expose her hood, then pressing back on it until the little button popped into view. It was right at the edge of where her dark colored pigment ended, starting dark at the top and fading into pink flecked with tiny spots near the bottom. Her other hand came down to poke at it, both pointing it out and giving it a little rub at the same time so he could watch her shudder.

"This..." She said with a long breath, "Is the clitoris."

It was a lesson he would never forget.

"Okay, I got it!" He nervously glanced down the hallway for a moment, then back to her again, "Just put it away!"

"We're not done yet." CB gave it a couple of little swirls, followed by a light pinch that made her gasp before going on, "It's not like yours, Eli. Going at it harder won't make it feel better. You have to find a balance. The right speed, the right pressure... It's going to take practice."

He swallowed again, staring openly despite himself, "How do I... How do I know?"

"Listen to her. Watch her." She shuddered again, already so close to orgasm that she could nearly taste it. That wasn't the point though, and she let her hands come away to sit back up again, her dress fluttering to cover her legs once again as she leaned back up off the table, "She'll tell you what she likes. With words or whimpers... I promise you that."

He nodded again, "I... Uh. Thank you."

She hopped down off the table, moving in close to reach up and stroke one of his arms now. It wasn't like he expected though. It was a look he'd seen before in Penelope's eyes as she looked up at him months before. A look of pride, heaped with wistfulness.

"I so wanted to be your first." She said quietly, "To feel you on top of me, pounding me... I wanted it so bad."

"Miss Clairibelle, we couldn't possibly..."

"No, we can't. It wasn't meant to be..." She said, letting her eyes drop, "But it would have been wonderful."

He watched as she turned away from him to take a couple steps back to the table with a sigh. He couldn't quite read her reaction, "Are you alright, ma'am?"

"Eli... I'm happier than I've ever been in my entire life." She'd said the same words to Megan just the night before, and she could still hardly believe how true they were. She turned back to him again, "And I think you are too. If nothing else, maybe that's what makes me feel like you and I share something. Maybe that's what makes you and I family."

She was right.

He'd spent half his life worrying about his place in this world. Hating his destiny. Hating his future. Hating himself. Right up until a little blonde girl with an irregular jaw gave him a reason to love.

He never realized before how similar that tale was to the one Clairibelle was living. Ignored and dismissed by her friends. Alone. Hating herself. Until a little blonde woman...

"I am happy." He finally said, giving her a slow smile as all of those thoughts came to him, "Thank you, Miss Clairibelle. For everything."

He started to move away back to the sink, still holding his over-sized glass from earlier. As he stopped to start washing it though, she came up to take it from him, taking a step back once she had done so.

"There is one more thing that Megan really likes." She said with a chuckle over about what she was planning to do, "I bet Cassidy will too."

He regarded her a moment before speaking, "What's that?"

She brought the glass up to her lips, letting her eyes close as she did so. It was empty, but she wasn't holding it like she wanted a drink. She had it completely over her mouth instead, and Eli startled a bit as her tongue shot out, slapping against the deep bottom of the clear glass with an audible slurp. It rolled over on itself a couple times, all clearly visible and she tongued out the lucky vessel. His eyes went wide at the sight of it.

They went even wider when he saw Megan standing just outside the hallway, watching them with an expression that mirrored his own.

"Miss Megan!" He started to stammer, "She was just... I mean..."

"I don't want to know." Megan turned away to start toward the door.

"I was teaching him how to..." CB started to chuckle.

"Don't want to know!" Megan called back, "Pretty sure I said that already!"

All Clairibelle could do was laugh as she started to jog after her. She had heard Megan coming out of the bathroom, cleaned up and ready to head off to work. She'd done her little demonstration anyway.

She was who she was, and she liked to tease.

Eli watched them go, then turned to regard the glass she had left behind on the counter curiously. He shook his head as he turned the sink on, then fetched it to give it the washing that it really needed now, then paused. He lifted it up to give it a sniff... Then wondered why he'd just done that. It didn't smell like anything, and now he just felt stupid about it as he went about scrubbing it up.

He started wondering to himself when exactly he was going to be able to try out his new knowledge though. Cassidy and Millie were almost never apart anymore, and he wasn't about to try and start something with the dog girl in the room. That question answered itself as he started back toward the bedroom, as the door opened before he could get there to find Millie stepping outside. She met him about halfway down the hall, and much to his surprise she just sleepily slipped up close to him to wrap him up in a tight hug around the waist.

He couldn't help but return it as best he could, but towering over her as he did it was more awkward than anything else, "Miss Millie?"

"I like you, Eli." She said, finally pulling away with a yawn as she made her way past him to leave, "What she told you how to do... It's not really hard. You'll do fine."

He thought about that for a second, then realized everything that statement implied, "You mean... You've..."

"They made me learn." She said it with a shrug, collecting the blanket off the couch to wrap it around her shoulders. She planned on heading outside, and she didn't own a coat, "Fiona is my friend though. It was... A happier day."

The contrast between the two women struck him. One so knowledgeable, and so willing despite her lack of chances to apply her skills. The other with knowledge forced upon her, and no shortage of partners that she never wanted. One so willing to embrace her sexuality, and one practically desensitized to it.

"Thank you, Millie." He finally said. He wasn't jealous anymore, and he never would be again, "I like you too."

She nodded, not really looking at him but with a gentle smile, then made her way out the door into the chill morning air.

He walked to the bedroom quietly, stepping inside to find Cassidy still sleeping. She was on her back now, only about half under the blanket. Cold as it was outside, it was nice and toasty in here and she was always having a little trouble staying comfortable now that the baby was getting so big. He watched her for a few long moments, and Clairibelle's question came back into his mind...

You do realize how lucky you are, yes?

"Yes, ma'am." He whispered, "Yes I do."

He moved forward to kneel at the end of the bed, slowly pulling the blanket the rest of the way off of his girl, causing her to shift a little in her sleep. She started to rouse as he reached his hands up to grasp either side of her panties at the hips, slowly starting to drag them down.

"What are you doing, silly boy?" Cassidy asked with a sleepy giggle.

He didn't answer right away. She finished removing her undergarment, which she made easier by lifting her legs helpfully. He put his hands between her thighs to draw them apart, then slid them up toward her sex, using his thumbs to part her the way Clairibelle had done to herself earlier, then rubbing around the hood for a bit until he figured out how to make her little clit pop out so he could see it.

"I'm doing something I should have done a long time ago, Miss Cassidy."

She gasped as she felt his lips press against her. She was awake now, and she was smiling. He licked gently at her nub, noting the way it made her shudder. He figured out quickly that she seemed to like it more the less of it he tried to stimulate at once, and he was just flicking at it with his tongue in a way that already had her breathing heavy.

"Oh Eli..." It was all she could think to say. It felt wonderful.

There was one other thing CB had told him to try though, and he decided it was as good a time as any.

Her eyes went wide. At first he thought he might have hurt her from the reaction, and the surprised squeak that accompanied it. His tongue had hit her deepest reaches in one quick movement, slapping against the limits of her easily. His first though was to pull away, but his worries were quickly put to rest as she hooked her legs over his horns, pulling his face tighter against her.

"Oh god..." She gasped the words as the muscle inside of her started to roll around, "Don't stop... Don't ever stop..."

He didn't. He could still feel her little nub now pressed against his upper lip, and he started to nuzzle it as best he could as he explored inside of her. It was about all it took to send her over the edge. Her body was wracked with spasms.

Cassidy came, and her mind could only manage a single thought...

No wonder her mother liked it so much.

Millie hadn't wandered far. For a few minutes she just stood on the porch outside the guest house, considering what to do. She'd been thinking about getting to know the children a little better, and wondered if it would be alright to visit them. She always liked kids.

They still knew how to play.

She decided against it though. It was awfully early yet, and she figured she should probably ask for permission first anyway. Instead she made her way across the road to Henry's house to gently knock on the door.

Henry opened it a short time later. He was dressed and ready for the morning shift, but he still had a few minutes before he and Elsie would head out. Even Megan wouldn't have left as early as she had if it hadn't been for the fact that she had just witnessed her lover teaching a young man how to orally satisfy her daughter.

"Oh, hello Millie. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Cassidy and Eli needed some time alone." She said, yawning again before going on, "Can I take a nap here for a bit?"

"Of course." He stepped aside to let her pass, watching as she made her way to the couch to start settling in, "You don't have to sleep there. Feel free to use the room I set you up in."

Millie was sort of half laying down now, but not completely, "I don't like it in there, Mr. Hoyt. It's like someone else is supposed to be there. It doesn't feel right."

Henry nodded slowly. He knew what she meant, "Well then take my bed upstairs. We're off to work anyway. We don't need it anytime soon."

She thought about it for a few seconds, then decided that wouldn't be too bad. She stood, and started toward the stairs, "Thank you, Mr. Hoyt."

"Please... Call me Henry." He said with a little chuckle, wondering if she would ever stop calling him that.

She stopped.

He watched her for a moment curiously, "Are you alright, Millie?"

She turned to look at him at first. Whatever was on her mind was masked by sleepiness and calm, but she was clearly considering something. After a bit she started to walk back toward him, still wrapped tightly in the blanket around her shoulders as she closed the distance in silence, then leaned her head right up against his chest. He wasn't sure what to make of it. It wasn't a hug. She was just leaning against him.

"Pet me."

That didn't help with Henry's confusion, "I... Don't think that would be appropriate."

"I used to love it. That place took it from me. They made it something bad." She sighed heavily, letting her eyes close, "I want to take back the things I love. I want to make them feel right again."

He looked down at her, stunned by how sincere she was. He didn't know what to say.

She lifted her head to look at him, and there was a sadness in her eyes now, "Please pet me, Henry?"

She said his name, and he couldn't help but smile. She wasn't just asking him for something frivolous. She was reaching out to him. She wanted them to bond, and she needed his help. She needed this.

It had been a decade since he'd done it, but all it took was feeling the fur behind her ears for his fingers to remember how. Her eyes closed again as he did so, leaning in against his chest again. How long they stayed that way, he couldn't say... Gently scratching her, rubbing her neck, the rough at the sides of her cheeks.

"It's like a fingerprint, or the sound of a voice..." She said with a sigh, "Everyone does it differently. It's personal. It's special to them."

He didn't say anything. He was practically mesmerized by it, and by the way she reacted to it. As if he could spoil it with a word.

Millie heard Elsie coming down the stairs before he did, but there was no rush. They weren't doing anything they needed to hide. The older woman slowed as she saw them to watch curiously though, and eventually the little dog pulled away, looking up at him with a sleepy smile.

"I don't feel like I can really know someone without that. Not truly." She said quietly, then turned to walk to the stairs, "Thank you, Henry."

She gave Elsie a little smile but said nothing as she passed her on the stairs. Elsie smiled back, but was still rather confused. She came the rest of the way down the stairs to regard the man she loved now.

"What was that?"

"I think it was... Therapy." Henry shook his head, unable to contain a smile of his own...

"But I'm not sure for which one of us."

"Where did you learn to do that, anyway?"

Cassidy was lounging in the tub now. It had started as a shower, but she had changed her mind and was now just sitting peacefully. The water was helping ease the weight of the life growing inside her for a bit, and she was silently praising herself for that decision.

"Yeah, uh... I always aim to be forthright, so I really ought to say." He cleared his throat a little, looking away nervously, "I asked Miss Clairibelle how."

She chuckled a little, letting her eyes close again, "Remind me to thank her."

"Yeah, but... You know her. She does everything naughty." He reached up to rub the back of his neck, "She told me about how women have special spot that feels awful nice, and then she kinda... Showed me. Hers, I mean."

Cassidy's head came up, eyes open as she looked at her embarrassed boyfriend. Soon she started giggling again, the way she always seemed to when it was the most inappropriate time, "Clairibelle flashed you?"

"I didn't touch it or anything!" Eli looked back at her, wondering how nothing ever seemed to bother her regarding things like that, "Wasn't anywhere near as pretty as you anyway."

"Aw..." She reached out to touch his arm, letting her fingers gently stroke it, "It's okay though, Eli. She is who she is."

"You're pretty new here, Miss Cassidy." He said with a huff, "You don't know the half of it, but... She's a lot better now."

Cassidy made a little noise, letting her eyes close again with a sigh, "Did you want to try the... Other thing, today?"

"No, I've been too selfish with our time together as is." He said, reaching up to capture her hand in his to lift it to his lips for a little kiss, "Today we do what you want to do. Anything you want."

"Anything?" Her eyes didn't open, but one of her brows came up curiously, "I like the sound of that."

He nodded, even though she couldn't see, "You name it."

She thought about it for a little bit, but she already knew what she wanted. She was just taking a moment to see if any other ideas came up that sounded better. When none did, she rose up a bit, popping the plug on the tub to let the water start draining out, but then just laying back again against the porcelain, looking up at him through seductive lashes.

"I want to watch you masturbate, Eli."

It caught him by surprise, "What? Why that?"

"You said anything." She was smiling wickedly now, and being the man he was, there was no getting out of it, "Or are you going to go back on your word?"

"Well I... No..." She had him dead to rights.

"I've been thinking about it ever since our first time." She said with a little giggle now, "There was so much of it... Warm and sticky... All over me. I liked it."

He was just staring at her now. Truth be told he kind of liked the sight of it too.

"I want to do that again. I want you to do it for me, this time." She said quietly, "Take off your clothes, Eli... Show me."

He was silent, still a bit uncomfortable as he rose to his feet to begin disrobing. He wasn't wearing much, just a big shirt that wasn't buttoned up and a massive pair of shorts that he slept in. Soon he was just standing in front of her naked. He'd been half hard all morning, starting right about the time Clairibelle had exposed herself to him, and never quite going away completely afterward now that he'd been watching his naked girlfriend bathe.

She turned a bit in the tub to sit up on her knees now, watching as it bobbed in front of her. One size fits all, she thought to herself. So pointy even a tiny little thing like her could handle it, but growing thick near the base in a way that would have been able to satisfy even the biggest of the Changed cattle around the farm.

He watched her admiring him for a few long moments, half expecting her to reach out and touch him the way she always did before remembering her request. He was a bit timid at first, just gripping around the tip of it to give a few quick stroke to try and help it muster its full length and stiffness. The way she smiled at him when he did so made him a little more willing, though. The way she looked at him always filled him pride. She made him feel like a man.

He didn't know what she wasn't telling him though. He didn't know the other half of this little plan. She wanted him to learn to be comfortable with himself. To accept that what he could do for his kind wasn't shameful or wrong. Cassidy loved this man, and she wanted so much for him to love himself.

"Don't be afraid of this, Eli..." She looked up at him, one of her own hands now between her legs to stroke herself gently. She wasn't trying to get herself off, but she was really turned on and it felt good just the same, "It's beautiful."

When she said it like that...

Soon he was stroking himself fully, and really all it took was the sight of her watching him to keep him focused. It didn't take long even. A few minutes in he started pumping his fist back and forth, feeling the pleasure build and wanting it.

She took note of his impending explosion, and of a slight oversight on his part.

"At me, Eli! Point it at me!"

The warning came just in time, and so did Eli. It shot out at her thick and heavy, catching her shoulder and then down over her breasts at a bit of an angle. As always she could never stop being amazed not just by the volume of the blast, but by how long it sustained itself. It took more than two full seconds of a single lob of his seed to complete, to the point where it was downright impressive.

As the second one began she leaned into it, letting her eyes close and her mouth open to hit her square in the face. It got her good, forehead to chin, splattering and dripping off under its own weight dramatically. She got more than enough on her tongue as well, and made a point of letting him watch as she swallowed it down. She'd come to love the taste, and while they'd never let on... She'd been using him to help stave off her hunger. A load of his could feed a family of five, or the one very hungry young blonde girl that he'd gotten pregnant.

She took it all willingly, all over her body and into the tub around her. He sank to his knees as it ebbed, his legs too weak to keep standing after the exertions. He leaned on the tub on his arm to catch his beath, watching now as she started to play in him. Wiping it around into her skin, drinking it off her fingers, rubbing it into her sex...

Eli never masturbated. It reminded him too much of his destiny...

But now it would remind him of this.

It was a full half hour and a second bath later before Cassidy was finally done. She hadn't brought any clothes in with her, and was just wrapped now in a big white towel as she brushed her hair in the mirror.

"You planned that, didn't you."

She looked over at Eli curiously.

"You said not to be afraid of it." He had been fairly quiet for a while, considering what had happened, "That's why you wanted this, isn't it? You're trying to help me."

She smiled, but was having a hard time reading him, "It's not the only reason. I didn't lie. I really did like it."

He looked away a bit, collecting a thought, "I'm scared, Miss Cassidy."

Now she was concerned, "Eli?"

"They all need me. My entire kind needs me." He shook his head slowly, "But what if I'm just like the others? What if I can only have girls?"

He sighed, letting his eyes close, "What if I disappoint everyone?"

She moved to him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug he so desperately needed.

"There will always be at least one girl in this world you could never disappoint."

His arms came up more slowly to take her up in a hug of his own. It was what he needed to hear, "I love you, Miss Cassidy."

They stayed like that for a while, but eventually she let go and they smiled at each other. He stood to put on his shirt first, and she watched as his mostly limp member bounced a bit as he did so.

"You said anything, right?" She asked curiously, admiring the view, "All day?"

"That was the promise." he said, wondering what she had in mind now, "Is there something you want to do?"

She smiled up at him, "There's something I definitely want to do again."

It took him a second to put that together, but soon he was smiling right back at her, "Well, I do suppose I could use the practice."

She giggled to herself. He started to try and get his shorts on, but she moved forward to grab him by his member and all but drag him to the door. She peeked outside toward the living room to make sure no one was there, then they darted across the hall and into her room, slamming the door closed behind them.

They didn't see her.

A young girl, standing by the back door having just stepped inside. She'd been practically hidden in the dim thanks to the mostly black markings she shared with her mother, and the dark clothes she was wearing.

They didn't see Mimi, but she saw them...

And she saw Eli. All of Eli.

Something was wrong.

She made her way out to the living room in a daze, dropping to her knees in the place she always sat on the floor to watch cartoons. She lifted her hands up to examine them. They had started to shake and she couldn't make them stop. A pit started to form in her stomach... An uneasiness that quickly grew into pain that doubled her over.

Something was very wrong, and she wasn't the first to know it. For the first time in her short life the broken mechanism in her brain that she shared with Clairibelle had been triggered. She was still young. She hadn't matured enough for it to take on the same sexual nature it had in her mother, but it also left her surging with all the adrenaline her little body could release and nowhere for it to go. She tried to cry out and couldn't. She tried to crawl and fell, barely able to get back to her hands and knees without doing so again.

She was too terrified of it to even cry properly. The tears streamed out of her to the floor without a sob or a whimper. Just heavy breathing as she tried to make sense of something that couldn't ever be made sense of.

Millie walked in on her like that, once more wrapped in the blanket she had left in. She stopped in her tracks at the sight of the girl, but once she realized something was wrong darted to her side.

"Mimi?" she reached down to put a hand on the girl, barely a touch at all but enough that she fell to her side, "Oh no... Mimi!"

"Mom..." Even saying the word caused her pain, panic clear in her eyes as she looked back at the little dog, "I need... My... My mom..."

Millie only paused a second, then she was back out the door, off the porch and across the farm like she'd been shot out of a gun, on all fours like no one else on the farm was capable. The barn was almost two hundred yards into the heart of the property, but she closed that distance faster than the fastest Olympic runner would ever match. She slid to a stop outside, nearly smacking right into the door as she reached up to pound on it.

"Help! Someone help!"

She darted past Penelope as she opened the door and into the room. The shift was mostly over, and all the girls were clothed again, not that this particular girl would have been offended in the least. She glanced around quickly until she saw Clairibelle coming out of the shower room to see what was going on.

"Mimi!" Millie dashed up to her to take her arm, "Something is wrong with Mimi!"

"Oh no..."

Clairibelle wasn't an athlete. She wasn't a runner, and her shoes weren't designed for it.

But she was a mother, and her daughter was in distress.

She burst in the back door of the house barely a few moments later, dashing into the living room to find her daughter still laying and shaking there, now with a puddle of what was once her breakfast nearby. Cassidy was kneeling beside her now, just trying to figure out what to do, as was Eli as he just stood there dumbfounded.

"Momma..."

Clairibelle rushed to her side, leaning down to pick her up into a cradle, "It's okay, honey... It's going to be okay... Shh..."

The little girl curled into her, finally finding the strength in her mother's arms to start weeping, "What's happening to me?"

"I know it hurts. I know..." She started to rush past the others toward Megan's bedroom, quickly going inside and shutting the door behind them, "It will pass. I promise Mimi... Just be strong... It will pass."

They stayed in Megan's room the entire day. Clairibelle wouldn't let anyone in. She just stayed with her daughter to help her through it. Keeping her talking. Telling her it was going to be alright. They didn't come out again until it was late, but when she did she shot Eli a look of pure venom. It was one she would regret later, but she knew what had happened now. She knew what Mimi had seen.

No words were spoken. She just carried her daughter out the back and toward the bunkhouses to put her to bed. The episode was long passed now, but she was exhausted. They were met with silence as they entered. The children were all in bed, but they rolled over or sat up to watch as Clairibelle set her daughter in her bed, and set about tucking her in. She knelt down to kiss her on the forehead and stroke her hair, not wanting to leave.

"She's going to need your help... I'm going to need your help." She didn't look away from her little girl, but she spoke to the room, "Promise me... Always be her friends... Always love her... No matter what."

It was quiet for a moment, but only for a moment.

"I love you Mimi."

Emily...

"I love you Mimi."

Morgan... Gracie...

"I love you Mimi."

Collete... Candice... Violet and Lilly...

"We love you Mimi."

The twins, Zoe and Vera... Their little sister Bridget soon after.

All of them. All of her half sisters, making a promise they would forever keep.

Clairibelle smiled. It was sad, but she knew... It would be different this time. They wouldn't push her away. They wouldn't ignore her. They wouldn't give up on her.

"Thank you, girls..." She said quietly, "Thank you."

Clairibelle was at her station in the barn now, sitting on the ledge below the rail and leaning against the post that supported it. She'd managed to keep from crying the whole day. She didn't want Mimi to see it, but she had been crying now for nearly an hour and it had only just started to let up.

She sat there sniffling for a bit, not sure what else to do. She would have done anything to stop this from happening. She had hoped and prayed this curse would pass her daughter by, and now here it was... Plain as day.

Prayed...

She didn't know much about faith, but she knew desperation. She looked up, as if she could speak directly to whatever god might be out there, and she prayed.

"Please... Don't do this... Not to her... She doesn't deserve this..."

"I don't think it works that way."

Clairibelle jumped at the sound of Henry's voice. No one snuck up on Clairiblle, but with as out of sorts as she'd been she didn't even hear him coming.

He moved over to lower himself down next to her, "At least it never worked for me."

They sat in silence for a long minute like that before she finally spoke, "It hurt so much at first. It took me time to learn how to control it. It took me time to learn to relieve it."

"I remember."

It was all he said, but it meant a lot to her. The others never acknowledged it.

"But she's so young." She shook her head sadly, "She doesn't even have that yet, and I don't even think I'd want her to. I don't want her to be... Like me."

"Don't worry." He sighed, "We're not going to make the same mistakes as last time. We're not going to let that happen again."

"Thank you, Henry..."

Another silence, and another long minute. There was something she wanted to say. Something she had hinted at sometimes, but no one ever seemed to really understand.

"I did this to her."

Henry furrowed his brow and looked over at her, "Now, that isn't fair."

"You don't understand. She fixed me." She shook her head, "Getting pregnant, giving birth, nursing her... Something happened. It was never as bad after that. She stopped it."

He regarded her curiously. He'd never thought about it before, but right about that time was when Clairibelle had started to impress him. It was when her wit and wisdom started to become something he valued. He had never made that connection before.

"She carries the curse now." She was starting to cry again, "She carries it so I don't have to. She carries it for me."

Henry put his arm around her. It was something he did with all of the girls on the farm. Everyone but her, for reasons that had long since been forgiven and forgotten. She needed it now though, and leaned in to place her head on his shoulder.

"What do I do, Henry? I don't know what to do."

"Clairibelle... You are the wisest woman I think I've ever met." He gave her a little squeeze, "You know exactly what to do."

She sniffled, and he went on.

"Be her mother." He leaned in to kiss the top of her head, "Just like you always have been."

He paused, and even through the tears she smiled. He spoke again...

"Love her."