Falling For A Girl, Too Pt. 02

*Bigots

Cassie and Jessica sat together in freshly ironed paisley colored dresses. The surface of the desk was a glossy particle board fixed atop a functional metal frame. They easily met the gaze of the man sitting across from them. This was not the first time they had found themselves in this situation. They no longer felt the tremors of nerves as they awaited the decision.

"You do realize," the man spoke in a calm, smooth, aggravatingly patronizing tone, "that this is the..." he flipped through the papers before him, "...eighth time you have applied in this office alone."

Cassie opened her mouth to speak but Jessica cut in, "Do we look like the type of people to forget how many hoops we have been made to jump through?" She pursed her lips, pressing them into a thin line of displeasure.

"Well," he formed a steeple with his fingers, "your . . . how do I put this, your persistence gives us pause." He scratched at the side of his nose with his middle finger, a sly smile playing at his lips.

"Could you explain to me why our "persistence" gives you pause?" Cassie asked softly.

"Ms. Hadley."

"Mrs. Hadley." Cassie corrected. She lifted her hand. "See the wedding band? It's official and everything."

Mr. Suit-Tie-and-Glasses grimaced sourly. "Yes, well. The fact remains that people in your situation are going to have a more difficult time with this sort of thing." He cleared his throat. "I'm sure you understand."

"I understand." Jessica added tersely but before she could launch into an attack Cassie took over.

"You don't like seeing us here, right?" Cassie asked.

The man smiled. "I'm always glad to see people wanting to get involved with this process."

"Subterfuge does not help in this situation. We can tell that you do not like having to deal with us over and over."

The man crossed his arms and relaxed back in his chair.

"All you have to do is put your signature to a piece of paper and we will be out of your hair. There will be others that will have to check up on us, but you will no longer have to deal with the abominations sitting before you." Cassie took Jessica's hand. "Wouldn't that be easier on everyone?"

"Ms. Hadley," Suit-and-Tie said with a sneer, "I think you know the process well enough at this point. You will hear back from us in 8-10 business days about our decision." He looked at Jessica, his eyes full of disgust, "Have a pleasant day."

Jessica ground her teeth angrily. Cassie's stomach turned sour within her. She spoke softly as she stood, "Thank you. We will wait patiently for your decision."

The ride back home passed in tense silence. Himeros seethed, grinding her teeth biting back the venom she so desperately wanted to spit. Her anger consumed her. At that moment she wanted to be a part of the world's destruction. She knew that once her anger subsided she would feel guilty for her viciousness, but at that moment she wanted to be a cause of pain instead of merely a recipient.

Cassie could feel the outrage pouring from her lover. Himeros was not usually easy to anger, but in the past months they had been called upon to fill out mountains of paperwork, defend their marriage to one another, and stand-by while "impartial" officials sifted through every detail of their private and professional life. She put her hand atop Jessica's. She could feel the girl trembling as she fought to control her emotions.

Jessica could feel her wife's hand flexing against her own. Cassie knew and respected that Jessica sometimes needed silence to process her thoughts. They sat in silence as they passed through the familiar neighborhoods and intersections which would, eventually, lead them home. Jessica let her mind go where it may with no fear of getting lost in her own thoughts. She knew that just the touch of Cassie's hand would keep her grounded; would bring her back if she wandered too far.

They pulled into their drive. The houses around them - once forming a picturesque neighborhood - seemed intrusive, oppressive figures representing the disgust of the caseworker and those like him. Jessica wanted to tear the facade apart. She knew what she had to do. She knew that Cassie would understand. She walked to their room and changed into her dirty and worn clothing. She wore unflattering canvas loafers and had her hair pulled tightly into a messy bun.

"I thought you might." Cassie said easily.

"It's what seems to help the most," Jessica looked into Cassie's eyes, "Aside from knowing how much you love and support me."

"I do, you know."

Jessica looked at her questioningly.

"I love and support you, unwaveringly. You are my wife. My love. My everything."

Jessica lifted one of Cassie's hands and kissed the tips of her fingers. "I'll try not to be long." She spoke quietly.

"Take your time." Cassie replied.

Jessica nodded once and made her way to the basement of the house.

Sweeping her arms wide she cleared the untreated wooden table. Empty containers, cardboard boxes, and cans of spray paint fell to the floor in a rush. Jessica hefted a large gray block of clay to the tabletop. She spritzed the surface with water and began working the material.

The clay was cold, hard, tough to mold at first. Jessica's fingers were tired and aching by the time the clay was workable. She swept the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand as she continued her work. Hours passed in minutes. The passage of time was marked with gasps of breath and drops of sweat.

Cassie had spent her time cleaning house. Jessica had her anger relief ritual, Cassie had her own. After putting the finishing touches on her cleaning, Cassie had retired to the bedroom, dusted off one of her favorite books, and read until she heard Jessica emerge from the basement. She trembled with excitement as she dropped her dress to a pool around her high heels.

They had done this dance many times. Jessica always turned to her artistic nature to work through her anger. Invariably, her work left her so emotionally drained that she needed something to bring her back to normal. Cassie's spine tingled as she remembered the last time she had helped Jessica recharge. She bit her lower lip as the cool air kissed the tight skin of her stomach.

Jessica walked into the bedroom. Her bare feet moved across the thick carpet as she made her way into Cassie's arms. Smears of clay dotted her clothing as she melted against her wife. Cassie lifted Jessica's chin and pressed her lips to her lover's mouth. At first she did not respond, but as Cassie continued to plant kisses on Jessica's lips and face, the girl began to stir as new life was breathed into her.

The kiss deepened, their tongues rolling together as they pulled one another closer. The scent of Jessica's sweat did nothing to reduce Cassie's attentions. She would gladly and eagerly lick the sweat from Jessica's skin given even half-a-moment's opportunity. She planned to make absolutely certain that Jessica received everything she needed. She couldn't wait to begin.

Cassie's hands shook as she slowly lifted the hem of Jessica's shirt. The material was rough, stiff, the fibers in the early stages of dry-rot. Cassie marveled that even though she and Jessica had been together for years, had made love countless times, she was still breathless at the beauty of her lover. Her hands trembled because she knew these moments were special.

The shirt fell to the floor. Hime's breasts covered with goose bumps as cool air kissed sweat covered skin. She shivered. Cassie watched as Hime's nipples hardened. Her mouth watered with longing to pull one of the eraser sized nubs between her teeth while her fingers were kept busy elsewhere.

Cassie dropped to her knees and worked Jessica's pants and panties down her legs. She planted soft kisses on her lover's hips and legs, following the path of the cloth as it moved lower. Jessica stood still and let Cassie do as she pleased. This was a moment for both of them. By the end, they would both have satisfied their needs. By the end, they would both be happy.

Jessica stepped free of the jeans, and panties. She helped Cassie back to her feet, loving the way the high-heels brought out the definition of Cassie's legs. Now, it was Jessica's turn to work.

Cassie trembled as Jessica undressed her. She took her time removing Cassie's bra and panties, savoring the view of her beautiful wife standing naked before her. The only thing Hime left on Cassie was her high-heels. Cassie gave her a questioning look, but did not pull away when Jessica led her to the shower. She suspected that the heels would not survive the shower; she didn't care. They made her feel sexy and the fact that Hime wanted her in them, made her feel alluring.

Jessica led Cassie beneath the spray of the steaming water. They both liked their showers hot. They often laughed at the pink hue of their skin when drying off. Tonight, they would laugh for different reasons.

"Hime." Cassie moaned as her wife rolled her tongue against Cassie's neck.

"Yes?" Hime asked with a purr.

Cassie looked into her lover's eyes and could feel their hearts beating in unison. "More?" Cassie asked in a whisper.

Hime growled low in her throat in response. She didn't need words, her eyes, her teeth, and her silent tongue would be answer enough. She trailed her painted nails down Cassie's spine knowing that little bumps of goose flesh followed her progress in tingling succession. Cassie shivered and pressed her body closer to Jessica.

"Don't tease me!" Cassie whimpered.

"Mmmmm," Jessica leaned in putting her mouth beside Cassie's ear. "But I love watching you squirm for me." She cooed. She scraped her teeth roughly against Cassie's shoulder as a shiver ran up her own spine.

"Problems?" Cassie asked cheekily.

Himeros rested her forehead on Cassie's shoulder. She was silent for a cascade of moments.

Cassie opened her mouth to speak. Hime's voice got there first.

"You have been everything for me." She didn't look up as she spoke. Her grip intensified as if she feared Cassie may slip from her grip and be lost forever to a dark, all-consuming abyss. "You didn't have to do any of it, but you were always there. Even," her body shook as she tried to hold back the tears.

Cassie knew the images flashing through Hime's mind. The night her father had beaten her, disowned her, and sent her out of the house with nothing but the clothes on her back and her car. She had arrived at Cassie's parent's house bruised, crying, and completely destroyed. Her life had been shattered around her by his words, fists, and feet. Cassie welcomed her in and took her time re-building her piece-by-piece.

"When he,"

"Shhh." Cassie pulled her close. "It's over."

"It's not." The tears fell to Cassie's shoulder. "Every day we put up with people like . . . like that case-worker, I can feel him hitting me again."

Cassie didn't know what to say. She knew that the meetings with the case-workers were stressful for them both, but she didn't suspect the depth to which they bothered Jessica.

"There are times at night when I lie in bed beside you and I can't sleep. My mind is abuzz with thoughts and I can't quiet the chorus. I've tried everything I could think of and the only thing that helps . . . is you." Jessica raised her face to look at Cassie. "I rest my hand on your stomach, your side, or even on your hand and suddenly there is nothing but quiet. I can see your chest rise and fall as you sleep. Your scent fills the room. Then, I can fall asleep."

"I love you." Cassie whispered.

"I love you, too." Jessica replied.

Cassie pulled Hime close to her and kissed her lips with all the passion she held within her. Hime was motionless for only a moment until her body responded to her lover. She raked her nails down Cassie's back as the kiss evolved from something intimate and sincere to become something more primal, something hungrier.

Hime pulled away. Though she was breathless from the kiss, her body was desperate for more. Just as she went to make her move, Cassie dropped to her knees in front of her. Jessica looked down at her lover. Cassie looked into her eyes as she moved her face closer to Jessica's vulva. Jessica could hardly pull her eyes from Cassie's head but she longed to trace the lines of her lover's body as the sensations rolled through her.

The spray of the shower continued to fall on Cassie's back as her tongue swept gently over Hime's delicate, delectable lips. She slid her tongue between the dewy folds and was instantly rewarded with Hime's hand on the back of her head. Water was all around them. The spray of the shower splashed on the walls of the stall, and the steam from the heat pervaded the bathroom. Small beads formed and raced down the glossy surface of Cassie's high-heels. These events passed unnoticed by either of the women as they pursued, with closed-eyes, something far more Earth-shattering.

The taste of honey and spice spread across Cassie's tongue as the first drop of her lover's juices touched her tongue.

The first contact.

This moment in time.

It resonates. Reverberates.

It's like the striking of a gong.

One single motion which in being enacted leaves everything around the point of impact trembling with intense purpose.

Cassie closed her eyes and savored the taste of her lover. She could feel her pussy responding in turn. Her own arousal dripped from her tender and tingling lips, but she denied herself the attention her body insisted she needed.

She swept her tongue around Jessica's clit, drinking her lover's sighs and moans as she sought to make Jessica scream for her. She folded her tongue making it resemble a tube. She had read online that this was a game-changer for most women. She wrapped her tongue around Jessica's clit and lightly flexed her muscles.

The article she had read said this was somewhat similar to how a guy feels when his girl goes down on him.

Whatever. Like Cassie would know that.

Judging from Jessica's reaction, it must have felt wonderful.

"Fuuuuuuuccccccckkkkkk!" Jessica screamed.

Cassie opened her eyes. She could, through the fog, make out Jessica's open mouth as her orgasm washed over her. Cassie could see the twist and roll of the muscles in her wife's stomach. She knew what was coming next. She didn't have to wait long.

"Shit shit shit shit." Jessica called.

Right on time, Cassie thought to herself just before the first spray erupted from between Jessica's velvety lips.

Over and over Jessica squirted as her lover drank her down. Cassie had her upper lip pressed tightly against Jessica's clit as she drank from her wife.

Jessica collapsed to the shower floor and took Cassie in her arms.

"Stop! Stop! Oh, God! God!"

Cassie giggled as her lover relaxed back on the floor. She reached up and turned the water off. "How about we continue this in our room?"

"Mmmmm." Jessica replied.

"On our nice, comfortable mattress."

"Oh, yes." Jessica replied.

They rose from the floor and walked, hand-in-hand, through the house.

If anyone had been in the basement work-space, they would have been able to hear the giggles and satisfied moans of the lovers above. The dank cement area was shrouded in darkness concealing the creation Jessica's hands had formed from the clay block.

The sculpture was of three heads. Two were adult females beaming with joy beyond compare. Love radiated from the women. The other face; a sleeping face of hope for something more from life.

A baby slept beneath the mothers' watchful, protective, nurturing eyes.

Next to the sculpture sat a stack of official papers. Most people would bypass this stack as detritus amid creativity. If they only stopped to read the first line of the paper, they would see the connection to the art.

Application for adoption: Denied.

Many of these papers bore the same signature.

None of the papers listed a reason.

Recovery

"The Global Artificial Intelligence Academy was implemented by our CEO as a proactive means of preventing cyber-attacks, confidential information loss, and helping to predict problem areas within the services we offer our customers." The tour-guide spoke in a loud confident voice.

"How does it work?" A woman in her mid-thirties asked.

The tour-guide waved her hand loosely in the air. "There is an extremely technical answer to that question for which I would be fired. Suffice to say that it uses a large amount of memory, a statistical analysis system, and a logic program to take in massive amounts of information in an attempt to recognize patterns that would otherwise be overlooked." She took a deep breath.

"Artificial Intelligence? A.I.? Like, iRobot?" A late-twenty-something male asked.

The tour-guide had been waiting for a question like this. She always had to answer a question about malignant, humanity-dominating-artificial-intelligence. "Who can tell me what artificial intelligence means?"

The crowd looked back at her blankly. Another common factor in these groups.

"What it means is that we - the programmers and users - tell the computer system what to look for and then it works off those instructions. We do have a localized computer center which can advise the users to pay attention to certain factors, but just as a layperson can ignore the anti-virus warnings on their pc, we can ignore the advice."

"Oh."

What a response, she thought to herself.

"So, what does it mean to be a Global Artificial Intelligence Academy?" A face in a sea of faces asked. "Is this system spread across the world?"

"No." The tour-guide responded. "Just as the human brain has two lobes, so does our computer system. The job of one system is to question the analysis of the other system. That is its only function."

She was met with a sea of confused faces.

"In this way, the computer prevents itself from making wild-calls without having significant proof of a threat."

"How long does the system need to assess a risk?"

"Eris," the tour-guide said, "what we call our system, can assess a risk in a minimum of 17 seconds."

"On TV, they can hack through firewalls faster than that."

The tour-guide suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. She collected herself. "I assure you," she said jovially, "that many things on television are embellished for dramatic effect."

Spencer watched the tour as it passed through the building. Tours of Gaia had been a board suggestion to foster investor confidence in the company. Spencer couldn't have cared less about investor confidence, but she knew that it was a necessary evil of generating overwhelming income. She turned her attention to the worker in front of her.

"How did this happen?" She asked tersely.

"Well..." the young man's face blanched.

"I don't have time to waste. Can you tell me how our system was breached without Eris alerting us to the attack?"

"I, I don't want to lose my job."

"Why would you lose your job?" Spencer narrowed her eyes at the worker. He was pushing the limits of her patience.

"He doesn't want to tell you that the attack originated from your computer, in your office."

Spencer snapped her head around to face the speaker.

Paul, a mid-forties techie-geek who was world-renowned for his abilities with a computer, met her fierce gaze unflinchingly.

"What do you mean, my computer?"

"I don't know how to be any clearer in my statement." He sipped from his coffee cup. "The attack originated from your computer. This means that a virus was uploaded to our system from your office. The office you designed to have limited access and personalized entry codes." He stepped closer to her. "Entry codes which we would be able to analyze to pinpoint the time of attack if the database had not been wiped. Expertly, I might add."

"So, we have nothing?"

"No, we have next to nothing." Paul replied. "Thanks to me, however, we have a point of entry and a team of skilled programmers and ex-hackers who can turn Eris' powerful gaze onto our own system."