Coalescence - SF3

by Meagher, Susan X

  As soon as her feet hit the ground, a massive grin broke over her face, and she raised her arms like a gymnast and took a bow.

  Jamie was too stunned to move. Her mouth hung open and she tried to force sound from her lips, but nothing would come. Ryan gave her a quick look saying, "I almost had it, Babe. Next time for sure!" as she bounded back up the stairs.

  She repeated her little ritual, bearing that same confident look as she began her approach. This time she hit the railing with more force than her previous attempt. She got down lower in her crouch and leaned back a bit, centering her weight over her butt. As she hit the first curve she leaned into it like a racecar on a track. She settled her weight again as she careened down the straight section of rail. The next turn was at a 90-degree angle and Jamie assumed she would jump down. But when she got close she jumped in the air, still in her deep crouch and made a half turn, coming down the next section backwards. As she slid off the end of the rail, Jamie saw a bank guard come huffing out of the side door. "Hey!" he called. "Get off that rail!" As he came running down the steps, he stopped for a second, and with a look of surprise he shouted, "How old are you, anyway?"

  Ryan shot him a grin as she ran past Jamie. "Run like hell!" she shouted as she blew by. Jamie heeded her advice and took off down the street; running as well as she could in her sandals. When she trotted into the store, completely winded, Ryan was already sitting in a chair trying on the shoes in her proper size. "I gotta have these," she said, with a look in her eyes that reminded Jamie of Caitlin with an ice cream cone.

  The winded blonde plopped down next to her and admonished her firmly, "You have to warn me earlier when there’s chance we’re going to be arrested." She pulled in another deep lungful of air, "I could at least have worn my running shoes." When her breathing returned to normal, she looked at Ryan with concern, "Are you sure these are a good idea, Ryan? You know you can’t take many more blows to the head."

  "I’ll be careful," she promised with a wide-eyed look of pleading.

  "That’s a laugh!" Jamie said with a shake of her head. "You don’t have a careful bone in your body!"

  Ryan just gave her a little shrug, along with a sheepish grin, as she handed the shoes to the clerk to ring up. She insisted on paying for the shoes herself, reminding Jamie, "If I do break my neck, do you really want to be responsible for purchasing the instrument of my demise?"

  As they walked back to the car with their purchases, Jamie stopped and turned to her, giving her a big smile as she shook her head. "What was that for?" Ryan asked as they resumed walking.

  "You just never cease to amaze me," she said simply. "I mean, I really don’t like you doing things like that. I love you so much that it frightens me to death to think of you getting hurt."

  Ryan started to interrupt, but Jamie placed both hands flat on her chest, stopping her rebuttal. "You will get hurt, Ryan. You have before, and you will again. Let’s be realistic," she said firmly.

  Ryan pursed her lips before giving her a reluctant nod. Jamie continued, "Despite that, your wild side is so much a part of who you are, that I can’t ask you to give it up just to keep yourself safe for me." She leaned in and gave her a small kiss on the lips, "To be completely honest, I think you look really hot when you do crazy things like that."

  Ryan gave her a broad grin and hugged her soundly as people passed by, staring at them as they went. "Hot, huh?" she whispered.

  "Very," Jamie whispered back. "You look all wild and untamed, and your face breaks into this sexy, confident smile that just makes me want to ravish you."

  "I’d love to be ravished," she hummed into her ear.

  "Um...Tiger?" she asked as she felt her knees beginning to weaken. "We’re kinda in a public place. Can I ravish you at home?"

  "Well," she said with a grin as she pulled back. "I’d love to be seduced in public, but I guess home’s okay too."

  Jamie gave her a firm pinch on the butt as they started up again. Ryan just casually tossed an arm around her shoulders as they sauntered down the street.

  As they passed a good-smelling coffee shop Jamie looked into Ryan’s eyes and begged, "Can we stop here for a jolt? Getting up at 4:30 is hard on this little body."

  "Anything you want, Babe. You run in. I want to check something out." Jamie did as requested and, just as she received her drink, Ryan sidled up to her, looking a little smug.

  "Where’ve you been, Sweetie? You look like the cat that swallowed the canary."

  Shifting a paper bag from one hand to the next, Ryan pursed her lips and puffed out her cheeks, feigning the removal of something from her even, white teeth. She gulped audibly, and smacked her lips together, looking at Jamie with dancing eyes. "Got a feather stuck between my teeth," she grinned, unwilling to reveal anything more.

  Seeing Ryan’s purchase spurred Jamie on to buy a little something, so they walked around for a while, looking in the little shops. Jamie finally decided on a cute pair of board shorts for her long-legged lover. They were quite a bit shorter than the men’s style, and were a very bright red, with a white design of pineapples and palm trees, and a white waistband and lace that pulled steel grommets together to hold them up. She looked terribly cute in them, and Jamie was completely pleased with the purchase.

  Heading back to the Boardwalk, Ryan decided she needed a little blow out to test her new wheels. She got back into her blades, kissed Jamie lightly on the lips and wiggled an eyebrow. "Back in a minute," she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

  She took off down the path, heading away from the populated section. Within three strides she was bent forward at the waist, her extended arms crossing in front of her with each long stride. Surprisingly, she didn’t use her knees much at all. She had them flexed, but her real movement came from her powerful hips. She propelled herself by pushing out strongly toward the side with long, deep strides. When she was whisking along at her desired speed, she placed her hands behind her back, grasping one lightly with the other. Jamie watched her with amazement. Is there anything she can’t do well? She looks like every sport was just made for her. As she watched, she began to get a familiar tingling and she mentally rebuked herself. If you get hot every time you watch her do some activity, you’re going to spend your whole life turned on! After a moment she gave herself a mental slap and thought, What’s the problem with that?

  Ryan returned after about 15 minutes, winded and slightly sweaty, but content. Jamie couldn’t help but give her a strong hug, smiling to herself at Ryan’s puzzled expression.

  Ryan was starving by now, so they stopped at the first place that looked non-lethal and loaded up on fast food. Exhaustion overtook them both, and without a word they agreed to head home. As soon as they reached the house they collapsed into bed, fully clothed.

  When Ryan woke, she slid out of bed and stretched for a few minutes. She was rested and ready to do something, but Jamie looked like she’d be out for a while. Rather than leave the room to look for entertainment, she decided to investigate the bookcases of her partner’s childhood room. There were a number of family portraits placed around the room, and Ryan spent a few minutes studying them. She was particularly taken with one of the whole family when Jamie was about a year old. The resemblance between her lover and young Caitlin was really astonishing, and Ryan barely moved for a few minutes, studying the photo closely. Jamie came up behind her and slid her arms around her waist, laying her head against Ryan’s back. "You were such an adorable baby," Ryan said as she turned and wrapped Jamie in her arms. "Of course, given how adorable you are now, that isn’t surprising," she said with a grin.

  "Flattery will get you everywhere," she replied with a crooked smile as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss her partner. She continued the hug, nuzzling her face into Ryan’s chest for a full minute. "When do you want to start our family?" she asked casually, releasing her hold and stepping back to look at her lover.

  Ryan stood stock-still and tilted her head before she asked, "Where did that come from?"
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br />   "There were quite a number of kids at the beach this morning, and it just started me thinking. How do you feel about having kids? I mean, I know you want to, but I don’t know when or how."

  "Hmm," the dark woman said, addressing the issue seriously. "Well, being with you has changed my mind about that a little bit," she admitted. "Before we got together, I was pretty sure I wanted to have a child right after I graduated. But now I’m not so sure."

  "I don’t understand why you would change your mind because of me?" Jamie asked, a small frown forming.

  "I used to think that I would raise a child alone, and it seemed like a good idea to do it before I started a career. With you, I’m not in as big a rush. I won’t have the same worries about child care, being able to afford it, and things like that."

  Taking Ryan’s hand in hers, Jamie led her to the window seat, where Ryan leaned up against the side wall, extending one long leg and bending the other at the knee. Jamie sat between her legs with her torso resting against Ryan’s chest. "Much better," the smaller woman sighed, as Ryan’s arms encircled her body. "Do you think it will bother you to let me pay for a lot of the expenses of child-rearing?" Jamie asked.

  Ryan’s deep laugh rumbled through Jamie’s body. "I’m sure I’ll have a few issues," she admitted. "But if we’re going to have kids, my primary concern is to make sure they’re well cared for. I think I’ll be able to put my concerns aside to make that happen."

  "That’s good to hear," Jamie said. "I’ve been afraid that we would argue a lot about things like that."

  "Oh, we probably will," Ryan chuckled. "I have a sneaking suspicion that you and I have different standards about what constitutes the necessary expenses of raising a child. We’re going to have to come to some agreement about things before going forward."

  "Details, details," Jamie assured her. "I certainly don’t need to raise our children in the style I was brought up, and I don’t think we need to stick with your family’s austerity, either. We’ll come up with our own little model."

  "Sounds like a deal," Ryan agreed. "But, I would like to give you one little piece of reality, Babe. My youth was not austere. We were very average in our neighborhood, and I can’t think of anything I ever really needed that I didn’t have."

  Jamie squeezed her partner’s arms as she quickly apologized. "Oh, Baby, I didn’t mean that like it sounded. I just meant that your upbringing was austere compared to mine. I was given everything—far too much, in reality. I don’t want to raise our kids like that. But I also don’t want them to have to work like you did for every little extravagance."

  Ryan returned her squeeze and leaned over to nibble on Jamie’s ear, "We’ll see," she murmured, closing the door on the money issue for the time being.

  "Given that, when do you think you’d like to start?" Jamie asked, returning to her initial question.

  "I guess it still depends a little on what I want to do professionally. And of course, on what you want to do, also. I’m not in this alone anymore," she said with a smile.

  "Is it important for you to give birth?" Jamie asked, assuming that it was.

  "As selfish as it seems, yeah, it is important to me. I know I would love any child of ours the same, no matter which of us gave birth to it. I just feel that there is a connection to my mother that I can only have if I actually give birth myself. I want to feel that primal, instinctual connection that childbirth gives you."

  "I can’t imagine how cute you would be pregnant," Jamie mused, picturing her partner’s perfectly flat tummy expanding to massive proportions.

  "I feel the same way about you," Ryan replied, as she nibbled Jamie’s neck. "You would be devastatingly sexy."

  "Do you find pregnant women attractive?" Jamie asked in a surprised tone, as she turned a little to make eye contact.

  "Totally," Ryan said firmly. "And I’m sure you would be so completely hot looking that I’d be on you like flies to honey."

  "So if our sex life gets boring, I could just get pregnant to spice it up?"

  "Well, that’s one of the worst reasons I’ve ever heard of to have a child, but I bet it would work," Ryan conceded with a leer. She gave her a firm hug as she asked, "Is it important to you to give birth?"

  "I’m certainly not averse to the idea," Jamie mused. "I always assumed that I would, since I would be married to a man, and they’re not very good at doing that. Now that I have a built in baby-making machine, I’m not so sure. I think I’ll just have to wait and see if I have a real need to reproduce. There is a part of me that might prefer to adopt a couple of kids."

  "I’d be more than happy with that arrangement," Ryan agreed. "Although I have a very strong desire to have a cute little Jamie clone running around the house."

  "I’d love to give birth if I could actually have a child with you, Ryan. But my desire is much less strong if I just have to use some stranger’s sperm."

  "Well, there are a couple of near clones that you might be able to hook up with," she said with a wiggling eyebrow.

  "Do you mean your brothers?" Jamie asked in surprise.

  "Yeah. Conor has already offered. He told me years ago that he’d be happy to help out."

  "Wow!" she replied with excitement. "That puts a whole different spin on the issue. That would almost be like having a child with you."

  "It’s a close as you can get without cloning," she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

  "Gee, I don’t know, Ryan," Jamie hedged. "Having Conor for a dad and you for a mom could be really dangerous."

  "And just why is that?" she asked somewhat indignantly.

  "You’re both so wild and full of energy! I don’t know if I could keep up."

  "Yeah, but your moderating influence would be important, too. Maybe the baby would take after you."

  "Have you paid any attention to the dominance of the O’Flaherty genes?" Jamie demanded. "Everyone but Rory looks like they came from the same mold. Even your cousins don’t look like their mothers. Those are some powerful genes, Baby."

  "I guess you’re right, there. Maybe you would do better to just go to a sperm bank."

  "Uh-uh," she said with a determined shake of her blonde head. "I love every little O’Flaherty gene," she insisted, as she turned to kiss Ryan soundly. "I would be pleased beyond words to bear a child that resembled you in any way at all."

  Part 11

  They sat in the window seat for a long while, each silently musing about their future children. Ryan’s libido woke up after a bit and she started to caress Jamie sensually. Her partner gave her a devilish little smile and said, "Let’s go somewhere else. We’ve done this room thoroughly."

  Ryan gave her a crooked grin and asked, "Where to?"

  "Well, first, you need to hop in the shower," she decided. "I want to munch on every little part of you, but you’re still salty and sandy."

  "Be right back." Ryan smiled as she hopped to her feet and scampered into the bath.

  When she emerged, she noticed that Jamie had set out a little outfit for her to wear. "Mmm, dress up time?" the dark woman asked.

  "Yep," the green eyes danced. "I love having my own life-sized dress-up doll." Ryan was still drying her hair with the towel, and as she paused to comb it Jamie asked, "Did you play with dolls when you were little?"

  "Yeah, but not much here," she mused, sliding the wide-toothed comb through her tresses.

  "Here?"

  "America," she clarified. "Aisling and I played mummies and daddies all the time in Ireland."

  "Mummies and daddies?"

  "Yeah. Playing house, you know?"

  "Oh, right," she said. "Why not here?"

  "Which of my cousins do you think I could get to play house with me?" she asked, blue eye twinkling.

  "Riiight," Jamie drawled, finally realizing the problem. "Didn’t you have any little girl friends?"

  "Nope. I didn’t make friends with girls until I was in grade school. Sara was actually my first real girl friend in America."

 
"Sara?" Jamie interrupted. "You didn’t have girl friends until high school?"

  "No, no," Ryan laughed. "I think I told you that we were friends in grammar school. She was in third grade when I was in second, and we were on our school’s pee-wee soccer team."

  "I don’t remember if you told me that, Honey," she said softly. "But it makes it even clearer why losing her friendship was so horrible for you."

  "Yeah," Ryan nodded, unwilling to go into the incident again.

  "So tell me more about this mummies and daddies thing," the blonde asked, trying to lighten up the mood.

  "It was funny," Ryan recalled, apparently content to continue talking about her youth. "In Ireland, all of my friends were girls because of Aisling. But in America, it was all boys."

  "Which did you like better?" Jamie asked.

  "Neither. I liked them both. They were just different. I did different things and played different games, depending on whom I hung out with. I was actually quite good at playing mummies and daddies. Guess which I always was?" she asked with a wide grin.

  "Hmm, how many guesses do I get?" Jamie teased, slapping her partner hard on her bare butt.

  As Ryan stood surveying the outfit that had been prepared for her, she held up a tiny scrap of fabric and asked, "Is this a hankie?"

  "Nope," the blonde head tossed in denial. "Those are your panties."

  "Panties?" Ryan asked as she held the fabric up, spreading it with both hands. The little elongated triangle of shiny black material, would actually have been too small to be an effective handkerchief, Ryan had to admit.