by Mary Jaine
I was shocked and appalled at my appearance; I'd lost so much weight I could barely recognise myself, I looked like I'd just come off a radical crash-diet, or something that lived in a crypt and only came out at night; my skin looked dry and sallow, my hands were like skeletal claws, the tendons in my neck were taut and clearly visible, and my hair was lank and lifeless. Teruko slowly pulled me away from my horrified study of myself, slipping the cover back over the mirror; now I really believed mum's story, now it all seemed real; no wonder none of my clothes fitted!
"You not need mirror, you still my Jakku san, eyes not changed, still beautiful, still Jakku san eyes! Everything else need time only, you are back, and you are well, that is all I need. I help you, mummy help you, all your friends help you, very soon you be OK again, I promise!"
Mum and Teruko led me back downstairs, where my food was waiting for me, almost forgotten in the shock of discovering what had happened to me. Mum's Cottage Pie was as savoury and delicious as it had always been, and I stuffed unashamedly, mum filling plate after plate as I wolfed it down; I was owed this, I rationalised; after having been fed God knows what for six months in the hospital, mum's cooking was a joy and a feast for the senses!
As I ate, mum filled me in on what had been happening while I was busy being comatose; she told me about Harry and his unflagging faith that I'd pull through somehow, of grandad and his distress and despair, tugging yet another string in my heart, of Teruko's months-long vigil by my bedside, heartbroken, but undefeated, that small spark of faith and optimism guttering low but never quite extinguishing, keeping her there by my bedside even as hope languished and despair crept in. I looked at her, unable to believe how lucky I was to have her for my own, Teruko turning away and blushing as she saw my thoughts in my eyes.
Eventually I'd had enough, mum and Teruko grinning as I finally pushed my plate away, stuffed to the gills and satisfied in a way that I couldn't remember being for a very long time. Teruko stroked my face as I finished eating.
"It good to see you eat well again, I have missed you do that, I never thought I see again! It is good you eat well now, Jakku san, you must put weight back on, you must exercise, but not now, gradually, little by little. Headmaster at school say you can use gymnasium there if you wish, he is happy to hear you getting better, all school send good wishes for you!"
While Teruko and I talked, mother had poked the fire back up in the living room, and now she beckoned us through, a single table lamp and the fire filling the room with a soft golden glow. I plumped down on the couch in front of the fire, Teruko taking up her usual place huddled against me, her feet tucked up under her and her arm through mine. We sat there companiably, mum smiling happily as we talked in low voices about what came next, our immediate plans, such as they were, and how we were going to celebrate Christmas, normal, family things, no more trauma and weirdness, well no more than usual, given the history of my family...
Finally, mum yawned for the last time and stood up, wrapping her robe tightly about herself.
"Kids, I'm going up; I can barely keep my eyes open, don't forget to put the fire-guard on when you go to bed. Goodnight, darlings!"
She trailed her hand across my cheek then stroked Teruko's hair and went upstairs, leaving the two of us cuddled together on the couch, enjoying the warmth of the fire and the softness of the couch. The shock was receding as I began to emotionally accept that I had lost half a year, my rational side gradually overruling the emotional side, some sort balance beginning to assert itself. Eventually Teruko climbed off the couch and pushed the fire-guard into position, making sure it was locked in place, then took my hand.
"Come Onii-san, it is very late, must get rest. I am going to Telford in morning with Sai Fong, you cannot come, please to spend time with mummy, I will not be long! Come, bedtime now!"
With that she took my hand, and I willingly followed her, switching off the lamp as we passed, and looking around the room in the warm firelight, my home.
Teruko went to go to her room, but I pulled her into mine, listening to her suppressed giggle as I gently tugged her along the corridor. Mum knew about us, she had no real problem anyway, as far as I knew, so I saw no harm in having my girl stay with me for the rest of the night. She seemed to feel the same way, dropping my robe from her shoulders to stand before me in just a bum-skimming Tee-shirt and tight panties. I was almost drooling when I saw this, it was my favourite sleep-wear, apart from her bare skin, that is, and her cheeky grin only served to make her look even more desirable and, to be honest, madly fuckable.
I beckoned her closer and lifted the hem of her Tee, Teruko lifting her arms so I could pull it over her head to leave her standing there in just her little pussy-cupping panties. As I slipped my hands around her to clench and squeeze her lovely, firm bum cheeks, she grasped hold of my almost supernaturally hard cock and squeezed, making me groan with the need to unload something inside her, soon!
Teruko unbuttoned my jeans and pulled down the zipper, her hands slipping inside to squeeze me through my shorts. That did it! I pushed down my jeans and kicked them off, tugged off my sweater and pulled her close, my hands pushing down her panties and pulling her cheeks apart, making her gasp into my mouth as our lips crushed together. My steely cock was trapped between us, something she took into account as she began rolling her hips from side to side, rolling my cock between our bellies as we kissed like mad things, consumed with lust and need. Her hip motion was torturing me, inflaming me as images of us making love, of the things we'd done, and still wanted to do, rose up and danced in my head; right now, I wanted to fuck her in every hole, I wanted to fill her up as never before; they'd told me I had been in stand-by mode for six months, but I was awake and aware now, and that meant I had a lot of catching up to do; Teruko said I needed exercise; good, right now I knew exactly what exercise I wanted to do the most!
Teruko felt my cock stiffening even further as I thought about her and what we could do, and broke our kiss to turn to the bed, obviously intending to climb in. I had other ideas, snaking my hands up her torso to cup and squeeze her breasts, feeling her bullet-hard nipples as I pulled her in close to me, kissing her neck and nibbling her ear as I groped and plundered those spectacular breasts. She moaned and pushed back against me, trapping my cock in the deep, warm valley between her cheeks. I could only hold her like this for so long; I wanted more, I wanted her, I wanted to be inside her, making love to my love, and so, reluctantly, I released her, leading her instead to the bed.
As soon as we climbed under the covers, Teruko turned to me, pulling me in for a fierce kiss, her arms locked around my neck. She surprised me with the intensity of her kiss, but I kissed her back with equal firmness and commitment; I loved this girl, and kissing her was still my favourite pastime!
As we kissed we drifted down the bed until she was somehow under me, and it was the most natural thing in the world to slide my aching cock into her warm tightness, the feeling drawing a mutual gasp as we coupled. Her lips were a magnet I couldn't escape, nor did I want to as we made love, our sexes drawing together and breaking apart as I pumped into her and withdrew, to pump in again, and again and again. Her gasps were becoming shorter, breathier, her hands holding my back as she writhed underneath me, her wet pussy sucking and clasp at me as she raised her pelvis to pump back at me, meeting me stroke for stroke as we raced and strained to meet in fulfilment.
She came first, her orgasm breaking over her like a crashing wave, her voice a scream of release as her pussy clamped down on me, halting me in my tracks. At the sudden constriction, the sensation of heat and pressure on my cock pulsing and rippling along my length, I too gave in to the orgasm that claimed us both, sperm blasting out of my over-stimulated cock to paint her insides with my milky seed, pulse after pulse, long, satisfying spurts of life-giving seed filling her up, coating her cervix.
At the feel of my heat filling her, Teruko erupted in orgasm again, a hot spray of her own sweet-scented ejaculate coating my lower
belly and cock as she came on my cock all over again.
Her rippling, milking pussy squeezing and wringing every last drop of my seed from me, the sensation of ejaculating continuing even after I had given up the last of my seed for her, my body wrung dry.
I slumped down next to her, gasping for breath, my heart thudding and hammering in my chest as the emotional intensity of making love to my girl crashed over me. My chest was rising and falling like a bellows, trying to gulp in enough air, and my body was so depleted of strength I felt like I'd just run a marathon in lead boots.
Eventually my strength began to return, but not much; I still felt like the last noodle on the plate, limp, flaccid, and not much use to anyone. Teruko slid closer to me and kissed me gently on the side of my mouth. I turned to her, my hand reflexively coming to rest on her rounded rump, pulling her closer to me, suddenly feeling the need to hold her close to me. She smiled at that, placing her warm hand on my hip as she held herself against me, her heart fluttering against mine.
"Yesterday we have sex; today Jakku-san make love to me; it mend my heart to know my husband know me and love me again! One day perhaps Jakku-san forgive me for lose hope; I love him very much, nothing else matter to me except he come back and love me again. I let Jakku-san go, I never let him go again, I promise!"
I wiped away the tears as they rolled down her cheek, concerned for her; how much more could she beat herself up, how much more could she take? Mum had said she was exhausted, that she was close to the edge, she needed to be cared for now as well, and I certainly had no need to forgive her for anything; quite the opposite; she'd kept her vigil over me even as she lost hope that I'd ever return, she never left me alone in that place for one minute; no, I had nothing to forgive her for. Perhaps it was time she learned that for herself.
I sat up (discovering for myself just how weak I really was, it took a real effort...) and urged her to sit with me. She did so, sitting cross-legged in front of me as I caressed her face, her lips, her hair, drinking in every detail of her, and seeing, really seeing for the first time just how much weight she'd lost, the hollows under her eyes, the tiredness in the back of her eyes. My heart broke for my beautiful girl, so much loss and heartache, fear and loneliness showing in her eyes, her big, beautiful eyes, and yet, with all that, she'd still stuck by my side, love for me keeping her there when hope had finally died. I reached out and pulled her close, hugging her tightly as I kissed her hair, her neck, her shoulders, enfolding myself in her as I wrapped myself around her.
"Never again!" I whispered, "I'll never leave you alone again, I swear! You mean more to me than anyone or anything, and I'll never let you go, or give you reason to cry, I swear on my soul! I love you Teruko, in so many ways I don't know how to say them all!"
Teruko looked up at me, her eyes huge and mysterious.
"Jakku-san ask me before to marry him, and I say yes; I still say yes! I want to be wife of Jakku-san more than whole world, there only one thing I want in this life, and it is my Jakku-san. I will marry him, and we will have many children, strong sons to take his name and be our joy and pride, many sons to please ancestors and make sure name is not forgotten. I will marry Jakku-san, if it pleases him, when time is right, and we will be happy, this I promise!"
She reached out to touch my chin, caressing my cheek, and pushing my hair back out of my eyes.
"And now you must rest! I see tiredness in your eyes; I feel it in your body, you still not strong, must rest and grow strong again, please to lie down, you must rest; not to worry; I not go anywhere!"
I allowed her to push me back down (although, right now I felt as weak as a kitten, she could have done it anyway and I couldn't have stopped her!), and luxuriated in the feel of the bed beneath me, the soft pillows, and the soft warmth of her body as she slipped under the covers and pulled them up over the two of us. I fell asleep to the feel of her hand slowly rubbing my back, the smell of peaches from her silky hair, and the soft sound of her breathing.
I woke late; the clock on the dresser said it was almost 11 a.m., and Teruko was nowhere in sight. I panicked for a second, before I remembered she had said she was going in to Telford do some shopping, so I climbed out of bed, staggering slightly as I stood up; I still felt washed-out, but hungry and ready for some of mum's cooking; there better be some of that Cottage Pie left, because I was having it, if I had to fight everyone else in the house for it! I made my way to the bathroom to shower and brush my teeth, and then, refreshed, wide awake and starving hungry, staggered downstairs to raid the fridge.
As I got to the foot of the stairs, I heard voices from the kitchen, and upon peering in, saw Harry seated at the kitchen table chatting to mum, and then I heard Grandad's voice. He and Harry were talking about me, and I will admit to a small lump in my throat as I heard Grandad tell him how much he was looking forward to seeing me again. I pushed the door open, Harry jumping up to grin at me as I walked in.
"Jack, your mum told me what happened! How are you, any after-effects?"
I had to grin; this was Harry, my best friend since I was an eight year-old prep at Kingsland, looking as handsome and friendly as ever. Subjectively, I'd only seen him a couple of days ago, when we'd arranged to have him and Sai Fong over for dinner; it was weird to think that had been six months ago, at Midsummer, and now it was a couple of days shy of Christmas. The strangeness and sudden disorientation was a little disconcerting, but I guessed I was going to have to try and get used to that. A small sound behind me, someone shifting in their chair, and I remembered I'd heard Grandad's voice, so I turned, and there was the old man, looking suddenly, shockingly older, his face lined and worried, his eyes rimmed with tears.
"Hello son, I...I...!" he faltered, the tears spilling over, shocking me even more; I'd never seen him give more than a wry grin, and now...
Wordlessly, I held my arms out, and he embraced me, pulling me to him strongly, still no hint of frailty in his tough old frame.
"It's good to see you son, I thought I'd...I never...I was so...oh Jacko, I thought we'd lost you...!" he faltered, his voice thick with emotion, and for once I didn't object when he called me the same name as his foul old dog, caught up in his emotion as I was. He continued to hug me, wordlessly pounding me on the back, and I was immensely glad, and immensely comforted, to have my Grandad here, along with my mum, the only constant in my life as I grew up. I glanced up, to see mum and Harry slipping out of the kitchen, giving me some time alone with him.
At last he let go of me, turning his back to mop his eyes, and then turning back to me to take me by the shoulders.
"Let me see you, Jacko, let me look at you!"
He looked long and hard at me before sitting back down at the kitchen table, motioning me to take a seat, his gaze flicking over me, subjecting me to the closest scrutiny, his sharp old eyes not missing a thing. He poured me a coffee, and handed me the toast-rack and the butter-dish.
"Your mother will do you a cooked breakfast in a minute, you and Harry both; he deserves another one, he's a good lad; he came with me this morning after breakfast to Ludlow to help me cut and load the tree, the two of you can put it up later. How are you feeling, lad? Honestly?"
I was so glad he wasn't fussing around, that he was just being himself, a little more talkative than his wont, but not intrusive, just friendly and concerned.
"I feel fine, Grandad, just weird; six months have just vanished, and suddenly I look like something out of 'Nosferatu'; I've had better awakenings, believe me!"
He grinned at that, and passed me the marmalade pot.
"A couple of weeks of your mother's cooking should take care of that, don't you worry! There's no rush to head back down to London, Harry has to go back just before Christmas, give him your keys and he'll check on the flat for you, and pick-up any bits and pieces you want; he'll bring them up when he comes back to spend Christmas with that lovely little girl of his. In the meantime, rest, eat, sleep, get your strength back. If the weather's still acting-up aft
er New Year, take the Trooper back down to London; I've still got the Land-Rover to cope with whatever the weather throws at us up here. Otherwise, your mother will take the pair of you back down when you're ready to go."
He poured himself another coffee.
"Thing is, though, why do you need to go back any time soon? You're on the binnacle list, and will be for a while yet, Teruko's already deferred university until March, you could stay here a while and let us look after you; Harry is going to be spending a lot of time at Woolwich over the next few weeks, so he'll keep an eye on your place, actually, it was his idea, so you can rest, relax, and recuperate here at home, and you don't have to worry about anything except getting back to normal. More importantly, Teruko needs to stay here, near her mother; she needs some serious care too; I look at that little girl and all I can see is exhaustion and fear; she needs her home, and she needs her family. Think about it, son."
I already was; that was probably the longest speech I'd ever heard him make, and he was making all sorts of sense; I'd talk to Teruko when she came back from this mysterious shopping trip to Telford.
At that point, mum came in, with Harry in tow, asking what I wanted for breakfast. I plumped for the full English, Harry's eyes lighting up at that, so we adjourned to the sitting room to sit in front of the fire and enjoy the smell of fresh pine needles from the wrapped Christmas tree leaning against the wall while mum set about making my favourite breakfast.
To occupy ourselves, we set up the tree in a corner, Harry and I lifting the tree, an eight-footer, while Grandad slid the tree-jack into place and tightened the clamps. Mum and the girls had already brought down the lights and decorations, so Harry, Grandad and I whiled away the time untangling and testing the lights while we waited for breakfast.
Mum called us in to eat, and it was as good as the best of all the breakfasts she'd ever cooked; sweet-cured bacon, butcher sausages, none of your supermarket rubbish, fried eggs, grilled Irish White Pudding, mushrooms, crisp fried bread, and a jug of coffee, the food of the Gods!
