A Twist of Destiny Bk. 01

After we'd recuperated from our sexual exertions (and I was sure that our son was asleep while our daughter had gone back to her apartment on the other side of town), I and my wife began to talk. "I really missed you," I told her with a happy and satisfied smile on my face.

Kathy smiled back at me with a cocked eyebrow. "Really? I hadn't guessed."

"Well, we could go for another round or two to make sure you get the point," I said as I leaned in for a kiss.

Kathy giggled while holding up a restraining hand and pushed me back gently. The refusal wasn't tinged with disgust at all but, rather, exhaustion on her own part. "No way, honey," she said. "As it is, I don't think I'll be able to walk straight for the rest of the week. What the hell happened to you while you were away? You're like... I don't know how to describe it... like you're on fire or something. I've never seen you so energetic before! Not that I'm complaining, but I just don't get it. Something's changed about you."

I fixed my wife with a long gaze and remained silent for a moment. I knew that she'd eventually notice something different about me but I didn't expect her to pick up on it so quickly. I took a deep breath and nodded in resignation. The moment of truth was, as they say, at hand. I got up off the bed, slipped on my sweat pants and held my hand out to her. "Come outside with me. I need to show you something."

Kathy gave me a perplexed look but followed along. A few moments later we were both outside, bathed in moonlight and a light, dewy mist. Kathy had donned a nightgown and was looking at me curiously as she followed me to the car, where most of my Army gear had been left with the intention of unloading it the next morning. "Did you bring something home that you shouldn't have?" she asked.

I walked to the back of the vehicle and shook my head. "Watch," I told her. Without another word I bent down, gripped the underside of the car and lifted the back end of it about five feet into the air. I didn't even grunt with the effort, though I did feel the strain of it to a degree. I held it there, the car tilted in a way that shouldn't be possible, and looked at her. My wife's mouth hung open in astonishment. She was totally speechless. I gently placed the car's back end on the ground and approached her casually. "There's more," I told her.

"Honey, what-?"

I gently pressed a finger to her lips, silencing her and then pointed skyward. She followed the direction I was pointing and, with her gaze directly overheard, I pushed myself up into the air and hovered there above her, smiling down. "Be right back," I said playfully and then willed myself to zoom south as quickly as I could manage. I suppose that I went about two miles in a matter of seconds and then turned back, taking a few seconds longer than expected to find my house (I hadn't actually seen our home from that vantage point before and things looked considerably more different up there). When I touched back down on the ground before my wide-eyed wife, I said, "Well? What do you think? Cat got your tongue?"

Kathy just turned away from me and said, over her shoulder, "We should probably discuss this inside."

Of all the reactions that my wife could exhibit, this was the last one that I expected. With a good deal of doubt hanging over my head, I followed her back inside the house. Darren, our son (my step-son), was such a sound sleeper that a grenade could go off outside his bedroom door and he probably wouldn't notice it. I didn't know what kind of hysterics my wife might experience as I closed the door of our bedroom behind me, but I was quick to tell her, "Honey, I'm still the same guy. And it's not what you-"

Kathy cut me off and turned to face me. "You know what I'm thinking?" I shook my head in reply. "I'm thinking that... I don't know what I'm thinking. I just saw my husband-with-the-bad-hip just lift our car off the ground and zip around through the air like Superman. What the hell am I supposed to think?!"

That brought me up short and I shook my head again. "Honestly, I don't know, honey. I knew it would be a shock-"

"A shock? David, you have no idea! What the hell happened over there?"

I sat down at the edge of our bed and then told her the entire story about my visit with NightShade. She was quiet the entire time and didn't ask a single question or interrupt in any way. She just soaked it all in and listened carefully to my every word of explanation. By the time I was done I just looked at her, not sure of what else to say.

"So I guess that's it," she said after a quiet moment of thought. "You're going to Belgium and that's that."

"What? Just like that?" I asked with surprise. "I thought you hated the idea."

Kathy sighed heavily. "I do, honey. You have no idea how much. But if what you just told me is true, I don't see how you can't go. If he went, then you must, too."

"So we just keep on going as planned and see what happens?" I asked. "What about Holly? Do I still take her with me?"

Kathy fixed me with a peculiar look, one that I couldn't translate just then. "Do you want her to go with you?"

I didn't hesitate to answer that one. "Of course I do! The opportunity for her to see Europe is a golden one and, as I've told you before, I'm not too keen on going there alone. You've got your job and career, we bought this house, Darren's about to go to high school... we've already hashed that out. But if something happens in Belgium, are we sure that Holly won't get mixed up in it? What if something happens to her? Honey, I couldn't live with myself if she got hurt because of me."

"Did your future self indicate that anything bad would happen to her? If you were in his place, and you one day will be, if something bad happened to our daughter, would you try to change that?"

I gave it a great deal of thought then. It was something I hadn't considered until just then, but I already knew the answer. I wasn't above saving my loved ones from harm or death, no matter what the costs. "Definitely, I would. I wouldn't hesitate. But if I somehow end up with the ability to time-travel, if anything bad happened to her or you or anyone else I love, I'd just go back far enough to stop it from happening in the immediate sense. I'd stop the event, not necessarily the chain of events that lead up to it because doing so might undo some necessary factors in the flow of time."

"But if something bad happens to her, honey," my wife countered, "to any of us, and you're aware of it, doesn't it fit that you didn't change the event after all? That, for some reason, you couldn't change that event?" I just stared at my wife, feeling very stupid all of the sudden. Kathy had never been much of a science fiction fan, but she seemed to have a pretty firm grasp of temporal mechanics just the same. She placed a warm, loving hand on top of mine and said, "Take her with you, honey. She still wants to go and you still want to take her. I have a feeling that nothing bad will happen to her. If anything, it'll give you two a chance to grow a little... closer."

I perked an eyebrow up at her when she said that. "Closer? We're pretty close as it is, honey. As I recall, you've pretty much been her arch-enemy since she was twelve. I've always been the one she talked to."

"A lot's happened in the year that you were gone, actually," she said cryptically. I said nothing and waited for her to say more. She looked down at her hands and began to fidget slightly. "She found your stories on the 'net," Kathy said quietly.

I took in a deep breath of apprehension. I'd written a lot of incest-oriented erotica over the years, most of it before I'd gotten married to Kathy, all of it under an assumed 'net identity which was mostly anonymous. The last year away in Afghanistan had left me with lots of time to write. And I wrote a lot. Most of it was fantasy and idle imaginings, but some of it was based on my real life. Anyone who really knew me would be able to recognize the author if they read those stories. "And, naturally, she knew who wrote them," I added. Kathy nodded subtly, silently. For some reason she seemed shameful and I couldn't figure out why. "So... what? She's not scared of me now, or something, is she?"

Kathy again took a deep, calming breath before answering. "No... not exactly," she said. "Actually, I'd define her state of mind as being... intensely curious. After reading the stories myself, I can see why."

I waited a beat as I took that in. On the one side I was elated with excitement but, on the other, I was deeply troubled. I desperately love my wife. Kathy is my best friend, above all else. I've had plenty of opportunities to cheat on her and never took a single one, all without a moment's pause, due solely to my devotion, respect and love for her. I'd never betray my wife and that was final, a binding spiritual pact that I'd made not only with her but with myself. But there I was, faced with this new and unexpected turn of events.

When I'd written those recent stories while I was away, I'd done so with, at first, the intention of keeping them private, for my own enjoyment. But, as I went back to edit them, I realized that they simply begged to be shared. After all, what purpose has a writer if there isn't an audience with which to share his tales? So I'd hacked our servers to allow me, and only me, access to a certain website where such stories were welcome and published them there. Perhaps a small part of me considered the possibility that someone I know might stumble upon them, but the notion that my step-daughter might be one of them seemed remote if not astronomically implausible. For one thing, she wasn't much of a reader. For another, she had never, even in passing jest, indicated an interest like mine- and I knew her interests well by virtue of our many frank conversations regarding sex. As I pointed out to my wife: I was the one that Holly preferred to talk with and seek guidance from ever since she was a young girl. I wasn't her biological father but I'd proven over the years that I was as much her dad as any man could ever hope to be and I was in it for the long haul. Nevermind the fact that it's normal for a daughter to get along more with her male father-figure, I'd made myself available to her in ways that her mother never could; I listened and rarely ever showed judgment.

I widened my gaze at my wife as the full import of her revelation struck home and said, "How... uhm... wow, honey. I don't know what to say. That's... I'm sorry, my love. I promise that-"

Again, she cut me off. "She got my blessing, actually."

And those words hung there for an interminable amount of time as my brain stupidly, slowly tumbled them around like the mental version of a kid oafishly staring at a rock that had just hit him in the head from some unseen direction. Being gifted with super powers was small potatoes compared to this discovery! It took me a few seconds to find my voice and I was surprised to hear myself saying, "Okaaaaaay..."

Kathy actually smirked at that. I honestly don't know how she felt at that moment, but I don't think it was any really negative emotion. She seemed, for all the world, more amused than anything. "Of course, nothing may come of it," she said off-handedly.

Finally my wits kicked in. "Why on earth would you... condone that? Honey, I love you! And despite all of the issues between the two of you, I know that you love her. So what on earth were you thinking!? And why the hell didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

"First of all," my wife said coolly, "this isn't exactly a topic to be discussed over the phone when you're eleven-thousand miles away. Secondly, I sure as hell wouldn't discuss it over an unsecured phone. As for what I was thinking... you once told me about a time when you asked your dad if you could try one of his cigars when you were a kid. But instead of simply letting you take a puff, he gave you a whole cigar and had you smoke it while he enjoyed his. You said that it made you sick to your stomach and put you off cigars for good. You still enjoy the smell of them because they remind you of him, but you won't touch them because of that memory, right?"

I blinked at her owlishly. "But I do smoke cigarettes. Anyway, what does that have to do with this? I don't see the connection, honey."

"You asked for an inch, you were given a mile, and you found it too overwhelming. It broke you of your interest and curiosity. But if your dad had said no, it probably would've gotten you even more interested in trying it and you might've found yourself addicted to tobacco much earlier on in life. So, my thinking is that, if Holly wants to try and seduce her dad, I should let her take a shot and you should try to seduce her right back. That alone might call her bluff and put her back in her place."

I shook my head in disbelief. "But what if it doesn't, honey? What if... things go further than that? Sex and seduction are worlds apart from the lesson dad tried to teach me about smoking."

Kathy shrugged indifferently. "Then it happens," she said casually, which compounded my disbelief and she could see it writ large on my face. "Look," she went on, "you're going to be gone for two years. You've been gone for most of a year already. I know you, honey. You'll end up missing sex as much as I will, possibly more. But me, I'm like most women: I can go without sex for years, like a camel can go without water for a long time. Frankly, I'll miss you more than I'll miss the sex, which I'll miss quite a lot, too, mind you. But I'll miss you more. But you're a guy and eventually your resolve might crumble. And if you're going to put it in anyone, it might as well be someone we both know and love, someone we both trust to be discreet about it. If it happens, then it happens, but it won't change how I feel about you."

Again I shook my head in wonder. "I just can't believe I'm hearing this..."

Kathy took another deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Imagine my surprise when you come home with super powers and a story like the one you told me. I'd say we're even, then. But, here's some consolation: between now and the time you go to Belgium, you're all mine. I don't want you discussing any of this with Holly while you're here. As far as she's concerned, you won't know about any of this and she'll be free to make her own decisions once she's got you to herself. And I'd prefer it that way. I love you both too much individually to want to bear witness to anything... untoward happening under this roof. In the abstract I can justify it, but I'm not sure that I could actually face it in person. And, to be honest, it's anyone's guess which way she'll go, but I'm hoping that, between now and then, her interests will change."

"But, honey," I persisted, "you know me. You know my... fetishes. And you know her natural tendency towards fertility is no more diminished than yours was before the hysterectomy. But you don't know her fetishes."

My wife's eyebrows shot up in mild surprise. "And you do?"

I grimaced. "When I was here on Leave six months ago, she, uh, caught me surfing some adult websites while you and Darren were out shopping. I started to hide the window, but she stopped me, told me to leave it be. 'Besides,' she'd told me, 'it's not like I don't look at that kind of stuff, too.' So, being the good dad that I am, I asked her what she meant by that. I wanted to make sure she wasn't, you know, into weird shit, okay? So she took over the computer and, next thing I know, we're looking at some of her favorite video clips on the 'net. All of them were creampie videos. Every single one of them. Honey, I'm not sure if you really understand the can of worms you opened by giving her carte blanche like that."

Kathy gave that some thoughtful and quiet consideration, finally realizing the implications of what I was now telling her. After a moment she simply said, "Oh. Shit."

"So now do you understand my concern here, my love? I mean, what if..."

Kathy nodded. "What if she gets pregnant," she finished for me. She stared off into space, thinking it over for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders. "Well, it's not like she hasn't been through that before. The only difference would be that the father would be someone who's worth a damn and won't run out on her like Billy did. Anyway, like I said, we don't even know that she'll actually try it. Maybe, now that she's been given the go-ahead, she won't find it a challenge and will just lose interest."

I sighed. "Maybe. I hope you're right. But if you're not..."

Then Kathy leaned over and kissed me deeply, a sign that she was about to end the conversation. When our lips parted she said firmly, "If I'm not, I don't want you to turn her away. That, more than anything, might be more harmful. I love and trust you. I also know that you love her, despite the lust you've had for her all this time." I opened my mouth to protest that, which would have been a lie, but she silenced me with a finger to my lips. "I'm not an idiot, honey. I've known for a while and, after having read those stories, it just confirmed everything for me. But I'm not bothered by it. The fact is, you kept your hands and your thoughts to yourself, and I know exactly why. It wasn't because you were afraid of anything bad happening; you were being loyal and faithful to me and I love you more for it. But I'm letting you off the hook now, honey. While you're in Belgium, and if Holly makes any overt moves in that direction, I want you to give her everything you've got and more, if you're able. Either satisfy her curiosity once and for all, help her get it out of her system, or do your outright best to get a reasonably legitimate grandbaby in the bargain- I don't care. Just, please, don't give me the details. What happens will happen. For now, you're mine and I'm yours and she's... well, she'll be your problem come October. Now... all this talk has got me in a different sort of mood. Still feeling like you've got some energy?" She batted her eyes at me playfully and gave me a seductive smirk.

How could a guy resist a woman in wanting?

Chapter Four : Temptation

Present time

The rest of the day after my meeting with General Hannis had been spent at my leisure. He'd told me, very bluntly, that my assignment to the Signal unit was merely a cover and that I shouldn't bother interacting with them. The subtext of that was simple enough to understand: my interacting with them would cause complications. So, when I came in to "work" the next day, I would report to the General's office first, get my instructions from his secretary and then go wherever I was ordered to from there. The first few days, I'd been told, were going to be low-key, but next week would be something of a different story. When I asked for clarification on that, the reply was to wait and see and not worry about it. It would be a good idea to explain to my daughter, I'd been told, that next week she would not be seeing me and a handler would be checking up on her periodically. I knew she wouldn't like that, but I could always fall back on the whole "the needs of the Army" routine and she'd stop squawking.

So I got to our apartment that early afternoon and found the place quiet. I noticed her jacket laying on the couch, which told me that she was either still there or she'd just stepped out a few minutes for some reason. Feeling the back of the TV set we'd brought with us, which was still very warm to the touch, confirmed my guess. I went down the hallway towards my bedroom and paused by her door, which was closed. I couldn't hear anything coming from behind the door, so I gently opened it and peeked inside. Well, she definitely hadn't left.