Lost and Found Ch. 01

I hugged Liz and kissed the top of her head, then turned back to Alex. "I need to get you home and take care of you now." I told her. Alex smiled big and joined the pile on top of me.

***

Alex and I noticed a black SUV that seemed to be following us home, but she didn't recognize it as one of Ashraf's cars, and it broke away, so we didn't pay it any mind. The police were still parked outside of my apartment, and nothing seemed out of place, so Alex and I checked the security cameras from our phones before we went inside and locked up. I even put a kitchen chair under the front door and garage door.

Alex and I talked briefly about kids. She knew she wanted them one day, but Ashraf had paid a doctor to put an IUD in her, and she couldn't have them until it was removed. 'Babies were for his wives,' he had told her, 'not girlfriends.'

I was worn out from sex with Brooke, and still satisfied, so when Alex seductively stripped her clothes off, and gestured for me to join her on the bed, I started by kissing her, then I made my way down her body, giving her nipples plenty of attention before I made my way to her honey pot.

Alex's fingers twined into my hair, and she directed my mouth where she wanted it. I sucked her clit into my mouth when she directed me there, and her hands shot up to her nipples, tugging at them. I worked one finger into her wet pussy, and she shook through an orgasm as soon as I massaged her g-spot.

I worked her up to several more orgasms before she cried out "no more" in Russian. I climbed up her body, and she licked her own juices off my face before passionately kissing me. She settled into a cuddle, her head on my shoulder, and my arms around her. I checked that the shotgun was still in its place as I turned off the light and fell off to sleep in Alex's arms.

***

I was woken by the sound of a car revving its engine, and the sounds of a police siren. I was suddenly thirsty, and sat up to get water from my night stand.

The first kicks on the front door woke me from my half-asleep state. I immediately grabbed the shotgun, and tapped the safety off.

"Alex, call 911." I told her, dialing for her, and tossing her my phone.

There was a banging on our front door, and I ran down the hall, naked, but holding my shotgun ln front of me. I crossed into the kitchen as the door gave way, and took aim as the man raised his gun. We shot at the same time. I was spun around by something hitting my right shoulder, but there was no pain, so I didn't think I'd been shot.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as the head of the man who had shot at me exploded in a spray of red. Immediately behind him, another man was coming through the door, and he was thrown backwards.

I remembered to pump my shotgun, then ducked behind the opened refrigerator door as I could see a hand with a gun blindly stuck through the door frame, and start shooting. I waited until the clip was empty, then shot at the wall where I knew the man should be standing. The shotgun slug tore a hole through the wall, and I could see light through the round space left by the slug.

I barely had time to pump before another man came running into my apartment, gun raised, and firing blindly. I squeezed one more round off, and felt my right arm go numb. The man was thrown back adding his own spray of red blood to the already dripping door frame.

I stood, staring for what felt like an eternity at the two bodies on the floor, and the feet of a third man outside on my stoop. I pumped again, and sat waiting for more to come running in, but there was no movement. I could hear Alex screaming in the bedroom, and suddenly remembered that I had left her all alone. I carefully moved past the door, and down the hall to our bedroom.

Alex was hidden behind the bed, mumbling Russian to the 911 operator. When she saw me, she jumped on the bed, and crossed the room, screaming. Surprisingly, the first thought that ran through my mind was how hot she looked, jumping naked on the bed.

"Ben..." Alex struggled with English in her agitated state. "What is address?" I spoke my address into the phone, and the operator asked us to stay on the line. I turned back around, and walked back to defend my home and my girl from the next wave of invaders.

"Police! We're coming in!" I heard from the other side of the door. I had the sense to drop my shotgun, even putting the safety on before I leaned it against the wall.

Two uniformed officers stepped over the bodies on the ground, pointing their guns at me. I held my hands up. One man covered me while the other ran down the hall. Alex screamed when he entered the bedroom, then he checked the bathroom and yelled "Clear!"

I looked over my shoulder at him, and saw brown spots all over my carpet. I was angry with the police officer for dragging so much mud into by bedroom, then followed the trail, and realized it led to me. I looked down at my numb right arm, and saw a rivulet of blood running from a hole. I checked my chest, and saw another hole higher in my shoulder, and one down on my lower left side.

"Shit." I managed to say, before the world turned black.

***

Alex's face was smiling down at me as I woke up. She held my hand in hers. At first I thought she was laughing, then I realized she was crying. It broke my heart to see such sadness, and I couldn't remember why she was so upset. I blinked my eyes several times, trying to get them to focus.

I raised my head, and I could see Liz and Brooke on a sofa on the other side of my bed. I was in a hospital, and there was an IV in my arm.

Suddenly, the whole shootout came rushing back to me. I immediately looked for the bullet holes, but bandages covered the damage.

"Shh. Don't move." Alex told me in her adorable Russian accent.

"How..." It was hard for me to speak, my throat was dry and sore. "How long?"

"Two days." Alex said. "You lose too much blood. They have to transfuse. I give you my blood."

I smiled up at her. "Thanks. How are you?" I asked Alex.

"Scared. I've never been that scared in all my life. When I saw you bleeding, and the police officer was yelling but wouldn't let me touch you, and you wouldn't wake up..." Alex sobbed. "I thought I had lost you. I never want to feel that again."

I tried to reach my arms out to hold her, but found them heavy and unresponsive.

"The doctors have you on some heavy painkillers. You may not want to move for a while." I heard Liz say.

"Thank you two for being here for me. How much trouble am I in?"

"You mean legally, or with your family?" Liz asked me.

"Let's start with legally." I answered.

"Not a lick. Colorado has a 'make my day' law, which states that you can't be held legally liable for killing home invaders. Add the video evidence to that from your new security system, and you won't even have to give a police statement." Liz said. "As for the rest of us, don't ever scare us like that again."

Liz proceeded to tell me the whole story. Ashraf's men had paid teenagers to speed past my apartment. The police officers stationed outside were bored, and decided to make a traffic stop. Once they were out of the way, four men had kicked out the deadbolt, and knocked down the door.

My first shot had decapitated the same man that I had fought up on the trailhead, and whose phone and gun I'd stolen. The assailant directly behind him caught the bullet in his chest as he followed through the door. The third man blindly fired, and I had killed him when I shot through the wall. The fourth man I shot directly in the heart, killing him instantly as he entered my apartment.

I was hit by three bullets. One hit my humerus, and cracked it, but didn't break through. One was lodged in the muscles of my shoulder, and one went through the side of my abdomen. None of the bullets were life threatening by themselves, but they bled heavily, and I passed out from blood loss. I had needed 2 units of blood just to be stabilized, and more during surgery.

Alex was by my side the whole time, and looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep. I asked her to rest, and Brooke suggested that they go get some food in the cafeteria before she fell asleep.

Once they were gone, Liz took her seat, and held my hand. "So, how are you feeling?" She asked.

"Groggy, like I'm on drugs." I answered.

"That makes sense, because you are on drugs." Liz laughed. She looked pensive for a moment, and I asked her what was on her mind. "So that's two marriages you've screwed up for me."

"What?" I asked. "You and Brooke?" Liz nodded. "No, that was my very first stipulation... no one gets hurt."

"Relax, babe. We're going to be fine. You've just given us a lot to think about, and a lot to talk about. Being asexual was always something that Brooke and I had in common. We had each other, and that was enough. You are just enough of a stud to have woken something up in Brooke that two decades of therapy couldn't reach.

"Now, she's having fantasies, and getting turned on, and she couldn't stop talking about the next time we could get you to come over and try again. When we got the call that you were in the hospital, we were both crushed, but I think Brooke took it even harder than Alex. We've all been leaning on each other a lot the last two days here."

Liz was silent, subconsciously rubbing circles on the back of my hand, and I let her stew without asking. Finally she spoke.

"I've loved you since that first day of middle school youth group. My parents made me go, and I thought it was going to be nose-picking losers in there, but you took my breath away the first second I saw you, and I could never understand why you wanted to be my friend. Dad razzed me when I didn't put up a fight the next week, but I was looking forward to seeing you again.

"I've been in love with you ever since. I know that we can never live together, and that we can't meet each other's needs, but I still want to be more than friends with you.

"When Brooke and I started our relationship, I know she was jealous of you. You still had my heart, and it took us a long time to find our relationship, and come to terms with everything that it entailed. After you and Alex left us, we talked all night. When Brooke crumbled at the news that you were in critical condition, I realized that she loved you too."

I started to talk, but Liz just put a finger to my lips.

"Please, just listen. She loves you. I know that Alex is in the picture, and she loves you too. It's only a few days into your relationship, but I can see the deep feelings she has for you, and I'm no longer worried that it's some sort of hero complex. She's an amazing woman, who has been through so much, and somehow seems stronger for it. It makes Brooke and I feel inferior for the problems we have from so much less.

"We like her. She's good for you. We've talked with her a little, and once you're feeling better, we'd like to propose some future plans together that we hope you and Alex will go for."

I nodded. "I'm looking forward to hearing about them. Thanks again for being here for me and Alex."

"That's what family is for, right?" Liz said, and kissed my forehead. "Go ahead and sleep. Oh, one more thing. Your parents called when they heard. I told them the whole story, but got pretty catty with them when they started asking if you were going to turn your life back over to god."

"Thanks." I told her, and I lost consciousness again.

***

Alex was sleeping on my left side when I woke up the next time. Brooke and Liz were not in the room, and I assumed that they had gone home. There was food on a tray in front of me, and it looked amazing, but my right arm was immobilized in a cast, and Alex had my good left arm wrapped around her.

I was saved by a nurse coming into the room, and waking Alex. "I'm sorry miss, I just need to check his bandages." She told Alex, who groggily climbed off me, and curled up on the couch.

"Can I eat this?" I asked, pointing at the meal.

"You could, but it's cold. I'll get food service to bring you a meal." She offered, and handed me a menu. I felt like I could eat one of everything, I was so hungry, but I just ordered a few items that sounded the best. "I'll send a doctor in to talk with you, now that you're awake." The nurse said. "You were awake for a little while yesterday, but back out by the time the doctor was free."

"So today's Sunday?" I asked.

"That's right." The nurse answered as she lifted my gown, and started removing bandages. The doctors had pulled the skin back together with stitches, and it looked like I would have a little star-shaped scar on my stomach and shoulder. "You got lucky with these. Nothing major hit, and they were shooting smaller caliber bullets with less penetration. I've seen GSWs where they take out bone and organs. You were easier to put back together again."

I didn't know what to say to that. The nurse replaced my bandages, and offered me a small cup full of pills. She scanned my bracelet, and did a bunch of typing on her tablet, and left, saying that the doctor would be with me soon.

The food beat the doctor, and I was digging in when she entered the room. Alex woke at the sound of the doctor entering the room, and sat up in the chair next to me.

The doctor explained that I would need some physical therapy, but would be discharged from the hospital within 48 hours as long as my pain was manageable, and I didn't develop an infection. Once she left, Alex started crying.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Your home." She answered.

"...Our home." I corrected her. "It's not liveable is it?"

Alex shook her head. "There's so much blood, and holes in the walls and kitchen. It could be fixed, but..."

"You wouldn't really want to stay there anyways, would you?" I asked.

Alex shook her head. "Liz asked me to call her once you were awake. They want to come visit after work."

"That'll be nice, I wish I could wear real clothes, and get up off this bed." I grumbled.

Alex put a hand on my chest. "They understand. You were shot three times. You will be in hospital at least another day. No one is at their best in hospital."

Alex made a phone call in the hallway, then we talked and cuddled most of the afternoon until Liz and Brooke showed up.

I thought that they would be happy, but they had ashen looks on their faces.

"Ashraf was seen at your apartment the night you were attacked. He drove away when his men were killed. They caught him at his apartment, but the government of Abu Dhabi demanded that he be released to their embassy, and the state department gave in. They are demanding that all charges against him be dropped. So far, the charges stand, but security has been added to your hospital room, and will need to follow you once you leave here." Brooke said.

"Which is the next thing that we want to talk about." Liz jumped in. "Brooke and I have been saving up for a house. We both make really good salaries, and wanted something that we could raise a family in. We realized this week that you are family to us, and will be family to our children. We are about to put in an offer on a really cute little townhome with two units in it. We would love for you two to come live in the other unit."

"We know that your apartment isn't liveable right now, and I can't imagine you'd be very comfortable there. This townhouse is in a gated community, and its 30 minutes closer to your work, Ben, right at the base of the mountains in Golden." Brooke added.

"There would be two separate living spaces, one for us, and one for you. You two would get your privacy, and we would get ours, but we would be within reach of each other, and could look out for each other. What do you say? Will you come live with us?" Liz begged.

I looked at Alex, who was smiling, and looked thrilled. "I think we would like that. Thank you." I answered for both of us.

Brooke jumped on the bed, and gently pulled me into an embrace. "Thank you!" She whispered into my ear, and kissed my cheek. I looked over to Alex, who was watching with a smile. Brooke sat up, but stayed on the edge of my hospital bed.

"We hope you don't mind..." Liz started. "...but Alex has been staying with us for the last 2 days while you were unconscious. Our townhouse won't be closed on for another month, so we hope you'll stay in our guest room until we can move."

My mind swum with the idea of going back and living in Liz's mess. It would only be for a month, and I would be with Alex. I hoped that she could help me stay sane living in that home once again.

Liz could see the conflict on my face. "Alex will be with you, and we can clean up some... plus you'll have your own room, and we'll give you and Alex lots of time together..." She was practically pleading.

"Okay!" I relented. "Fine, we don't have anywhere else to go, and we appreciate your hospitality. Thank you Liz, and Thank you Brooke."

"We'll hire some movers to pack up your bed and clothes, and move them to our house." Liz offered. "By the time you're released, it will feel just like home."

The three women stayed in my room for several hours, Brooke stayed close, touching me often, which still felt strange. In the three years I had known her, I had never touched her with more than a handshake before a few days ago. Now she seemed to be actively flirting with me. At one point Brooke and Alex went to find a vending machine, and Liz came to sit on my bed.

"You make Brooke happy. I've never seen her like this." Liz said. There was a mix of emotions that I couldn't read on my ex-wife's face, and I worried for her. "She's happy, and I'm happy for her. I hope that when you are with us that you and Alex will be open to a relationship that includes Brooke.

"That's one thing that she and I never had a problem with, but since you made love to her... she hasn't been the same. She's been happier than I've ever seen her, but it's like you flipped a switch inside of her, and I'm no longer enough for her. I just hope that you can fill that role, and that Alex doesn't get jealous. She was so sweet the other night, but Brooke and I just don't know how to bring it up with her..."

"I'll talk to Alex. You know I love Brooke, but I never imagined a physical relationship with her. I can't promise either of you anything until I talk to Alex, but we're family, and I'll do my best to look out for everyone." I said. Liz gave me a chaste hug and I returned it with my left arm.

Alex and Brooke came back into my hospital room, and I could see that both women had been crying, but they had their arms around one another.

I held my arm out to Alex, and she came and cuddled up to my side. Brooke came and sat on Liz's lap, and they were whispering to one another.

Alex took my earlobe in her mouth and gently sucked it, and then whispered to me in Russian "Brooke needs you. When you get home, I will be your girlfriend, but Brooke needs you as a friend too. You must make both of us happy, and we will make you happy." I looked down and Alex was smiling at me.

I leaned to her ear and asked in Russian. "In the car, when you thought Liz and I were married, you were angry. Now you are willing to share me? What changed?"

Alex giggled a little. "I wanted you. I was worried that she would not share you with me. It would be wrong not to share you with Brooke, now that she is my friend and family. Brooke says you are the only man that she would make love to. She asked me to share you, and I told her 'only if you're willing'. Do you not want to make love to Brooke again?"

I smiled at Alex. "Only if I get to keep you too." I said.

"English, you two." Liz chastised us.

Alex giggled again. "I was telling him that he needs to make love to Brooke when he gets home. He has agreed." She told them in English.