Measure of a Man Ch. 01

She then looked at her hands, and noticed they were beginning to wrinkle.

"Miss Trisha?" she said.

"Yes, Kitty." Trisha replied.

"May I get out of the bath before I become a prune?" Kitty asked her.

Trisha and Jake laughed as Kitty allowed a small smile to cross her lips, then she was being helped out of the bath and wrapped in a ginormous fluffy towel that was more like a bedsheet and it was wrapped so thoroughly around her it became like a dress or a wrap. Despite Kitty's meek protests, Jake then lifted her up and carried her to their bed and she was laid down, with Trisha sitting on the bed beside her as Jake went off to make some herbal tea.

"You'd best start at your beginning, Kitty. So we can get the lay of the land so to speak. Jake and I knew we'd be needed at some point, but we need to know what's going on before we go into a potential war zone." Trisha said, holding onto Kitty's hand as she lay there, feeling warm and cozy, and safe again.

Kitty told her about Charlene's leaving, her and Tad going to bed that night, but him not touching her, then the feelings of loss and her rage that had earned her, finally, a hard spanking from her Master, but still, no intimacy the way she expected it. She told Trisha about the oral sex they had enjoyed, but how it left her very unfulfilled, even as a part of her enjoyed serving Master that way. She let Trisha know that Tad was probably drinking his pain away even as she talked, and she was worried, because he had begun to get angry and was prone to violence, not against her, but she was afraid it might progress there, and that it reminded her of JJ.

Somehow, during the telling of her tale, Kitty was unwrapped and put under the duvet so she was warm and in bed, Trisha was naked and in bed with her, and Kitty found herself enveloped in warm coffee coloured breasts and arms that made her feel physically and emotionally safe.

She fell asleep, being held and cuddled by Trisha and did not even stir when the older woman slid out of the bed to go and be with her man as he was in the kitchen busy making them a meal.

"What do you think, love?" He asked as she sashayed up to him and planted a kiss on his lips as his arms enfolded her curvy naked waist.

"I think, my tall dark man, that we are going over there tomorrow and we are going to begin rebuilding this family unit so that Charlene will have something to come home to." Trisha said, leaning back against her man as his arms crossed in front of her, one to gently cup a breast as the other, fingers splayed, pressed against her stomach.

Kitty came back to the house with Trisha and Jake the next day to find the place a mess, and Tad passed out on the couch, two empty bottles of Scotch lying beside him.

"Oh God, no." Trisha said as she looked around, nose curling at the strong smell of alcohol. Jake shook his head, then leaned down and helped Tad to his feet.

"Come on, Sir Dragon. We need to get you back on your feet." He said, then helped the other man into the bathroom while Kitty got the shower going. Both Kitty and Trisha stripped and washed Tad, then got him cleaned up and tucked into bed while Jake got the mess cleaned up and a pot of coffee brewing.

The difficult part was keeping an eye on Tad. He woke up that night while the other three were sleeping, and drank a fifth of whiskey on the deck. Trisha woke to find him sitting on the deck, bleary-eyed, shivering in the cold, and had to almost fight with him to pull the bottle from his fingers.

Part of him knew what they were trying to do, but the sense of loss was just overwhelming. Charlene was gone, Siobhan was gone, he had lost two babies, and his life was a wreck. The three of them began to take shifts, making sure somebody was always awake to ensure Tad could not slip out to get his hands on Whiskey until they could sober him up enough to begin to see straight.

For Kitty this was the most difficult. She could not shift out of her own submissive mode, even to take care of Master and be firm with him. So she ended up being the one on who's watch he managed to get alcohol, because she just couldn't fight him. Luckily, Jake was not a heavy sleeper, and Kitty's crying woke him and he was more than a match for the angry and drunk Scotsman who he managed to subdue and then get back to bed to sleep it off.

Four days after the drunk began, Tad was finally back in a rational state and sitting around the table with the other three, he began to look somewhat like himself again.

"Any idea where Charlene is, Tad?" Jake asked softly as Tad finished his fourth cup of coffee and Kitty went to fill it for him.

"Phoenix. A ticket on the hound was bought to there a couple of days ago. Last time I had checked." Tad replied, then thanked Kitty with a murmured word and a slight smile that brought butterflies to her stomach as the old Master came out, just for a moment.

"Well we're moving back in, until this mess sorts itself out." Trisha said.

"I dinna ken your help, We're just going through a rough patch right now." Tad objected.

"I dinna think the Scotsman heard us correctly." Jake said with a decent approximation of Tad's accent. "It was not a choice, friend. We are moving back in."

"Aye." Tad said with a sigh. "Ye always did know how to help, Jake. You and Trisha are good friends, and yon Kitty needs all the help she can get. I'll be fine though."

"Tadius Ewan McDragough, don't you dare try to bullshit me." Trisha said, leaning over the table to take Tad's hands in her own and gripping them tightly enough to make him wince so that he had to meet her eyes.

"Charlene has gone off to God knows where. Kitty is drifting without an anchor, and you are getting sodded on malt whiskey. You do not, you would not dare to tell me you are fine. Sir Dragon. Now you best shape up, or I will go Domme all over your Scottish ass." Trisha said, fire flashing in her eyes as she ensured Tad understood just how serious she was about this entire situation.

Tad nodded, and once Trisha let go of his hands, drank most of the cup of cooling coffee in front of him as he tried to get his thoughts together.

"Jake will be here and gone, he's on call right now so he'll be off when they call him in, but it's as required, not full on right now. You need us a lot more than the Seattle PD does. I'm not even worrying about work at this time, Kitty was so distraught when she came to us it took an hour in a hot bath to calm her down enough to even talk. Tad, you're scaring her in some ways worse than JJ ever did." Trisha said, holding Kitty's hand as she spoke.

"I dinna mean to be worrying anybody, Trisha. I feel the loss and I be hurting. What do I do?" Tad asked, then got up and walked over to the enclosed deck where he stood, watching the sun drifting down towards the edge of the treeline as afternoon began to segue into nighttime.

"Charlene said she would be back, right?" Jake said, putting a hand on Tad's shoulder as he stood there with his own cup in his other hand.

Tad nodded and finished his coffee, then looked into the empty mug with a forlorn look like it was a picture of a long lost puppy.

"Then for her sake, you better keep it together." Jake finished. "What would Charlene say if she came through the door right now?"

Tad snorted. "She'd call me a bloody fool, among other things."

"Then you'd better not disappoint her, Tad. She will be coming back, and you said you'd be here waiting for her. Do you want her to come back to a loving partner who is ready to get on with life, or a drunken mess who is feeling sorry for himself?" Trisha said from the table.

"I'm no feeling sorry for meself, Trisha." Tad snapped.

"Then what is wrong with you?" Jake said, taking Tad by both shoulders.

"This is all happening over again. I dinna ken I can take it twice in me life." Tad said, beginning to shake. Jake got him to sit down on the carpeted step before he fell, and sat with him while Kitty and Trisha came to sit on the couch close by.

"What happened before?" Trisha asked quietly.

"I was married before, back in Glasgow." Tad said, then his voice trailed off. Just as Trisha was going to to prompt him, he continued. "Her name was Siobhan. She was lovely, the girl of me dreams. We fit well together, and things were wonderful. I loved her. I loved the lass with all me heart. I never loved anybody like that before, and nobody since, until Charlene." Tad explained softly.

Kitty got up and replaced his cup with a fresh coffee, then sat on the floor in front of him, her hands gently resting on his shins as she listened quietly.

"Siobhan got herself pregnant. I thought she wanted the babe, she seemed so happy. Then she was gone, and it happened so fast. She managed to get herself an abortion, and hooked up with another man back in London. I never saw her again. The divorce was done by post." He finished, then took a long draught of the hot coffee.

"She didn't take anything from you?" Trisha asked quietly.

"Nay. She divorced me clean, and went back to her earlier life. I was just a memory to her, one that was already fading." He almost whispered.

"Tad?" Trisha said, then waited until he looked at her.

"Consider this, if you would. The babe may not have been yours." Trisha told him quietly.

Tad narrowed his eyes, that thought had never entered his mind, in all the time that he had thought about things, this was a twist that he had never even considered.

"Why would you say that?" He finally asked.

"A woman who drops a partner that quickly, has an abortion and then just goes back to a former life. I may be off base with this, but my gut says she had something to hide, Tad. I think it was another man's child." Trisha said, then got off the chair and also sat on the floor, taking Kitty into her arms so the younger woman was held even as she continued to rest her hands on Tad's shins.

"You never talked to her again?" Jake asked him.

Tad shook his head. "Once the divorce was final, I lost my bearings, was brought back by my friend Terry, then I began to travel, and ended up here, just less than two years ago."

"I'm glad you're here, Master." Kitty whispered.

Tad smiled and took her hands in his, the first sign of real affection she'd seen in more than a week. "I am glad for you as well, pretty Kitty. You are the reason that I got Charlene."

He sighed and his gaze went glassy as he looked into the distance.

"She will come back, Master. Mistress did not abandon us. I know she didn't leave me." Kitty said, pleading with him with her teary eyes and her words.

"Jake, take Kitty and give her what she needs. I'm going to take care of this man." Trisha said, getting to her feet and handing Kitty off to the off-duty policeman who she was enamoured with.

"You got it, love. Let me know if you need anything." Jake said, always of a good nature when it came to intimacy. The two of them had been together for a number of years and as they were always fully open, no jealousy or issue ever came up. They were a stable and happy couple.

Trisha stood watching Tad as Jake led Kitty out of the living room and off to the deck where they were soon sitting in the hot tub enjoying each others' company and Jake was working magic with his fingers to relax the 19 year old as she cuddled up to him.

"Tad, come with me." Trisha said softly. Tad slowly rose and allowed for Trisha to lead him off to the master bedroom, then into the large en suite where she fired up the jacuzzi while he stood listlessly.

She undressed him quickly, then sat him in the jacuzzi and while he watched, she shed her own clothing to reveal her coffee cream coloured body to him. Trisha was about 5'4", C cup breasts on a slim waist, an ample and wide bottom, and long curly blonde hair that was just above her waist. She kept her pubes trimmed down to a soft fleece, much like Charlene did. The two women had known each other since they were 12, and were the same age. They had been best friends for ever, and Trisha had supported Charlene through the difficult phases of bringing up Kitty after her parents had been killed.

Tad watched as Trisha stepped into the jacuzzi, then planted herself on his lap, facing him.

"I know what you be trying to do, Trisha. I promised meself I won't do anybody else until Charlene returns." He said, but did not resist her placing his hands on her breasts, and he did not move his hands from their new handhold either.

"I am Charlene's best friend, Sir Tad. She and I have been through the sexual Olympics together, and I know how she likes her men. She has suffered a very personal loss, and she feels terribly guilty right now. I also know that she will return to you. She has to find her own way through this and she will. You miss her. That is fine. Missing somebody is normal. Getting yourself sodden drunk and passing out on your couch, not so good."

Tad could feel her hands busy caressing him and stroking his cock, but wasn't sure if he was able to respond, so he put it out of his mind. He knew that she was trying to help, and God knows he needed help right now.

Tad slipped his hands off her breasts and onto her hips, which earned him an immediate frown. "Did I say you could take your hands away, Sir Dragon? You put them back right now." Trisha said lightly, but with a firmness to her voice that Tad obeyed. His hands returned to her breasts and he cupped them, lightly caressing her nipples as they began to rise.

Trisha leaned in and kissed him firmly. "I do not care what your thoughts are, or what you think Charlene would do or say. I know what she wants, Tad. I have known that girl for more than twenty years. She does not expect you to be celibate, nor does she expect you to drown in a pool of whiskey and vomit. She said she would be back for you, and by God, you will be waiting for her." Trisha finished, then slid home, driving her hips down so that Tad's erect cock slipped up into her warm pussy.

Tad was in no shape to resist, and Trisha's warm tight pussy was not long in milking him of his orgasm. But she was not done. She took him to bed, got him ready for action again, then proceeded to seduce him into another strong orgasm that wiped him out and left him sleeping soundly as she carefully got up and padded out to sit in the kitchen, naked on one of the stools, a mug of hot coffee in her hands, and a cellphone sitting beside her.

"You doing OK?" Jake asked quietly as he came up beside her, just in a pair of shorts. Trisha turned and kissed her man with a smile. "Things are so messed up here, Jake. I'm doing fine. Tad needs that feeling, he needs to know he is wanted, and Kitty is just not able to do it for him, she's too much into the sub to be a proper replacement for Charlene."

"I didn't think we were looking to replace Charlene." Jake said as he poured himself a coffee and sat beside her on a stool.

"I worded that wrong. Kitty can give him the physical comfort, but he needs the emotional support. That man has been burned so badly, and part of him thinks Charlene won't come back to him." Trisha said, then her phone began to buzz. She looked at Jake, then picked up the phone and had a brief conversation.

"How is she?" Jake asked as Trisha clicked the End Call button and put the phone back on the counter.

"Charlene is doing as well as can be expected, love. She is safe, she is doing the things she never had a chance to do, and it sounds like she is finding herself again. She will probably be back in a few more weeks. We just have to keep these two functioning until she comes home." She said, then stood, finished her coffee, then gave her man a passionate kiss.

"Can you live without me in your bed for a few days?" She asked him.

"For Charlene and Tad - I'll even give it a week, love." Jake said with a wry smile and a firm slap to her bottom. They parted company to share beds with the two people who mattered to Charlene the most, and who desperately needed the company that could be freely offered without hangups or restrictions.