Quaranteam: SE - Team Davies Ch.11

Quaranteam: Southeast – Team Davies

By 2charlie

 The Quaranteam Universe is the creation of CorruptingPower, used with permission.

Thanks to BreakTheBar, AgathonWrites, RonanJWilkerson, The_Licentious_Laureate, BronanTheLibrarian, OtterlyMindblowing, SilverRyden, BirchesLoveBooks, Reader737b, and the other QT Writers for their feedback and contributions with this work. Be sure to check out their work.

Chapter 11

All Characters depicted in sexual situations in this story are over the age of 18.

***Gainesville, FL – 1900, Tuesday, August 11, 2020***

Barney the Rottie was a hit with the kids. The minute he scrambled into the house at the end of his leash, Jan called the children to the kitchen. As soon as all five were present, she introduced them to the newest member of the team. “Kids, this is Barney. He’s a Rottweiler puppy, about eight months old. We’ve adopted him to help protect the house, but he’s part of the family now. I want each of you to come up to him and hold out your palm to him like this,” and she held her hand out, palm up, just below Barney’s nose so he could smell her. After he sniffed her hand and licked it, she scratched his ears, before turning back to the kids. “Letting a dog sniff your hand is a polite way to introduce yourself. Take it very slowly so that you don’t spook him, now.”

When she nodded to Sean, he stepped forward very seriously, extending his hand as she’d demonstrated, and let Barney give him a good sniff. Afterward, he petted the pup, then stepped back to make room for the next in line.

Ellie was next, followed by Trent, then Emma, and last came Noah. All of the children were excited at the new puppy, so Jan carefully unhooked the leash from Barney’s collar and turned to the kids. “Okay, listen up – Barney’s new to this house, so he may want to explore. It’s okay to play with him, but no roughhousing. And don’t try to make him mean – he’s to be your guardian, not some mangy cur to be taunted.” Giving them each a hard stare, she waited until they all indicated they understood before continuing. “If he starts sniffing around a lot, let me know. He might need to go out for a walk. Understood?”

Following a chorus of “Yes, ma’am”, she let go of Barney’s collar, and the dog was off, playfully running around and amongst the group of laughing children. Turning to the refrigerator, Jan added a note on the weekly calendar to ‘Start Obedience Training with Barney’. For now, she put it in the Wednesday slot, given that Scouts usually occupied Tuesdays or Thursdays. Sometimes, she wished for more days…

Ava walked in from the pantry just then, carrying three family-size boxes of Rice-a-Roni over to the countertop near the stove, where Debra was busy shredding a half-dozen large chicken breasts that she’d boiled earlier. Looking to see where he could assist, Miles went to the cabinet and started to count out plates and utensils for everyone, ruefully noting that there were now a dozen mouths to feed at each meal. He paused for a moment to consider the impact on mealtime and cleanup logistics – the option to get a larger anything right now was off the table, so he’d have to give thought to how to scale capacities out instead of up.

Sophia chose that moment to walk up and pinch his ass, bringing him back to the present. “Mom called. Says she’s looking forward to the barbecue this Saturday. Something you were planning to mention, perhaps?” she asked him, with one eyebrow arched as she pretended to be aggravated with him.

Smiling at her cheekiness, he bent down slightly to kiss her. “I’m sorry, dear. I assumed you were in the loop. Your mother and her team will come by Saturday afternoon for a barbecue dinner we are hosting.” Turning away, he went to the formal dining room and began setting places there for the adults, then returned to the kitchen to set the table there for five, substituting smaller plates for Trent and the twins, as they tended to eat smaller portions.

Dinner went well. The kids all liked Chicken Rice-a-Roni, as did Barney. The pup found that, if he sat and gave Emma his big sad-eye stare, she’d give him bites of chicken. On several occasions, one adult or another happened to be looking that way or was passing through the kitchen and needed to remind the children not to feed Barney from the table. Many times, the women looked to Miles for support, but his attention was elsewhere. His mind was already working on ideas about how to handle the upcoming Town Hall, assuming it happened.

After the fourth incident involving Barney, Penny took matters into her own hands. Finished with her meal, she took her dishes into the kitchen to give them a quick rinse, then stacked them in the sink. Turning to address the children, she asked them to give her their attention. “You’ve all been told not to feed the dog table scraps, and yet it keeps happening. That stops now. As a reminder, you all get to wash the dinner dishes by hand. Beginning with yours. Please muck off your plates into the trash, then begin washing them. Sean, Ellie, as the oldest, please show the others how this works, and make sure you wash and dry all of the dinner plates and utensils.”

“But, we’re too little to do that!” little Emma protested, whining as she did.

“Not in this house, you’re not,” Penny told her sternly. “Plus, you were the one feeding Barney the most, so the other kids are getting extra chores because of your disobedience. No more back talk, now. Rules exist for a reason, and actions always have consequences. Please do as you’ve been told.”

Penny turned to walk away, brushing her hand through Ellie’s hair as she went. As she left the room, she heard Sean and Ellie take charge over the groans from the younger children, and smiled to herself, glad for the values that had been instilled into them.

Moving to stand behind Miles, she began giving his shoulders a massage, gently bringing his attention back to the table. As soon as he reached up to pat her hand, she stopped, leaning down to whisper into his ear. “If you have a few minutes, I’d like to have a word with you, dear.”

‘Oh shit,’ he thought to himself, “I’m in trouble for something.”

****

Having followed Penny to the Outhouse, Miles was curious about what she had in mind as she led him upstairs. He was enjoying watching the slow sway of her backside when he noticed Penny doing something on her cell phone before she put it away. At the top of the stairs, she paused to look at him. Putting her finger to her lips, she shushed him, then told him in a firm voice, “Go in there,” she pointed toward the first bedroom, “remove your clothes, and lay face down on the bed. I will be with you shortly.” Waiting for a moment to ensure he followed her directions, she then turned and went into the bathroom.

As he started to remove his clothing, Miles heard a faucet running in the bathroom. Curious at what she was doing, he nevertheless did as she’d instructed, carefully folding his clothes and placing them in a stack on the nearby dresser. Having stripped naked, he climbed onto the bed and lay face down in the middle, awaiting whatever Penny had planned for him.

Next door, the toilet flushed, the faucet turned off a moment later, and he heard the bathroom door open, then close again. He heard something being set on the nightstand next to the bed, and then he heard the sound of a lighter being ignited. Miles saw the flickering glow of a candle, understanding that Penny was lighting the aromatic candles in the room. He heard her set the lighter down and then heard soothing tones issuing from her phone. She must have started some sort of relaxing playlist, he surmised, feeling the mattress shift beneath her weight as she joined him on the bed.

Working gently, Penny pulled the pillow from under his head, tossing it off to one side before doing the same with the other pillow. Immediately thereafter, he felt her straddle him, sitting lightly on his lower back before her hands made contact with both sides of his head. Tugging at him softly, she directed him to straighten his head and tilt it slightly, then she began to gently massage his head, rubbing her thumbs in little circles and spiraling out from his temples, eventually working her way through his hair, then down his neck. Stopping for something, he heard a few odd noises that he could not identify at first until he heard her rubbing her hands together when he understood that she must have opened and applied oil to them.

He sighed as he felt her hands begin to apply the warm oil to his shoulders, her fingers working on the knots there. Slowly, as she worked her magic on him, he felt the muscles in his shoulders and upper back begin to relax. Methodically, Penny worked her way down his back, eventually scooting herself down a bit so she could dig into the tension in his lower back and glutes. Turning completely around, she began to work on his calves, kneading the stress from them as she worked her way up his legs slowly, abolishing all tension from his legs before once again reaching his glutes, where she chose to stop her massage.

Hearing him let out a long sigh filled with relief, she shifted off of him and coaxed him to roll onto his back. As he did so, his cock, half-inflated, flopped onto his abs with a plop. Ignoring it, she once again straddled him, still facing his feet, as she resumed the massage, this time working her way up the front side of his legs. Lying beneath her, Miles was fascinated with the sway of her hips and the ripple of the muscles in her back and shoulders as she worked on him. Without volition, his cock began to inflate, swelling to fullness in a matter of minutes, but Penny chose to ignore this.

Watching her ass was getting to him. To distract himself, Miles picked up the bottle of oil – it was a light oil, and after careful examination, he confirmed that it was non-toxic. Popping the lid open, he thoroughly coated his thumb with oil, then set the bottle down as he reached for Penny’s posterior. Grasping a cheek with his left hand, he carefully placed his right thumb upon her rosebud, gently massaging the crinkled entrance with his slick digit.

Penny paused for a moment, looking back over her shoulder at him, then returned to working on his thighs. He continued to play with her anus, fascinated with the way he could slip his thumb into her if he was gentle, work it around just a bit, then slip it back out again. Right after he repeated this for a third time, Penny paused once again, then scooted her ass toward him by about a foot as she reached back for the bottle, applying more oil to her hands, before closing it and setting it down on the bed.

Miles was moving his thumb back to her starfish once more when her oily hands gripped hold of his manhood, drawing forth a gasp of pleasure from him. Slowly, she began to wring her hands around his cock, twisting them back and forth as she moved them leisurely up and down, carefully covering him in oil as she massaged his throbbing prick.

After only a few moments, she rose up onto her knees and shuffled away from him, moving downward until she was able to grab him and place the tip of his cock against her rear entrance. Taking her time, she rubbed his cockhead in tiny circles around her rubbery orifice, until she slowly lowered herself – just a bit, at first – pushing the head into her, until it was in with a pop. Once the head was fully in her, she began to steadily lower herself onto him, pausing for a moment to adjust, before continuing. Before very long, she was resting her beautiful ass cheeks on him, having taken him to the root.

Sitting there, his cock buried in her back door, she began to flex her sphincter, gripping and releasing her vice-like grip upon him. Very slowly at first, she began humping on him. Lifting herself up ever so slightly, then lowering herself back down. Again, up slowly, then back down. Soon, she began to lift herself higher, only to drop back down hard with an audible “Oof!”, and then do it again. Over and over, gradually increasing the stroke length until she was almost pulling off of him, she fucked herself on him, pleasuring them both wordlessly.

It was then that Miles noticed her watching him in the mirror above the dresser at the foot of the bed. He’d not noticed her reflection in it before, being so transfixed by the sight of her glorious backside. Finally seeing her watching him, he smiled, enjoying the sight of her wicked grin as she gave him as much pleasure as she was receiving. Reaching his arms up to support her, he suggested to her, “Shift your legs so that they’re out in front of you. I want to roll us over.”

Smiling at him in the mirror, she leaned back on him and shifted her legs, slowly, to not dislodge him in the process. As soon as her legs were extended atop of his, he eased her back to lay upon his chest, then twisted his body to roll them both over, ending up on top of her in a prone position. Lying there for a moment, he inhaled her aroma, enjoying the scent of her hair. Slowly, Miles began to withdraw from her tight rear, then pistoned back into her.

“Ooooh, that feels good, dear. A little harder would be nice,” she cooed to him from over her shoulder.

With a slight grunt, Miles lifted himself into a plank, resting his upper body weight on his elbows as he began to work his hips a bit faster, fucking himself into Penny’s backdoor with increased vigor as requested. “Better?” he asked her, still hesitant to go too fast for fear of hurting her.

“Mmmmmm, a bit harder would be nice,” she purred, as she reached her hand down beneath herself to play with her clit.

Bringing his knees up and out slightly to give himself better leverage, Miles began to stroke into Penny’s ass in earnest, enjoying the feel of her anal orifice hugging his shaft so tightly, yet so slick.

This started to produce the desired results for Penny. She began letting out moans, each one slightly louder than the last, bumping her ass backward to increase their collision with each stroke. After a few more moments, she let out a breath in frustration. “Dammit, Miles, FUCK. MY. ASS. I’m not fragile! Give it to m-… oh! Ooh! Oohhh, yesssss!”

At her urging, Miles kicked it into high gear, rearing back and beginning to genuinely assault her rear passage, enjoying the double slap of her ass cheeks rebounding with each collision as his hips battered her from behind. “Is this better, dear? Am I pounding your ass hard enough? If not, let me know, and I’ll fuck you through this mattress!” He banged her just a bit harder with that last, forcing her to emit a series of grunts as she absorbed his punishing thrusts, eyes clenched shut as she neared her peak.

Feeling his desires amp up with this renewed pace, Miles picked up the tempo one last notch, pounding into Penny with gusto, excited by hearing her crying out “Ah! Ah! Ah!” as he pistoned into her over and over.

Finally, as his climax exploded forth, he drove himself into her as deeply as possible. Leaning down, he clamped his mouth onto her shoulder, biting her while sucking at her neck, as she screamed and joined him in orgasm. Her entire body arched and bucked beneath him, shuddering through multiple convulsions, as he erupted within her over and over. After at least a dozen powerful emissions, he felt himself relax, though he did not soften immediately. Relaxing a tad, he lowered himself to lie upon her back, using his knees and forearms to absorb some of his weight so he wasn’t crushing her.

They lay there for some time, as their panting eventually slowed to something more akin to normal breathing. After a few minutes of silence, Miles stirred at last, nibbling on her neck, while asking her, “So, what brought this on?”

Grinning to herself as she enjoyed his aftercare attention, she moaned softly, before responding, “I should be starting my cycle tomorrow or the next day and wanted to get in something a little extra beforehand, just to let you know how deeply I love you.”

He could see a tear forming in the corner of her eye and leaned in closer to kiss it away. Inadvertently, as he did so, he accidentally drove his still-hard cock fully into her ass again, eliciting a deep moan from her.

“Oooohhh, you’d better stop now, sailor, or I’ll make you do it all again….” she moaned, laying her head down on her crossed arms and tilting her hips up at him.

Smiling to himself, knowing his refractory interval had dramatically shortened over the last two weeks, he was starting to pick up the pace for round two when she raised her head. “Miles,” she said softly, a touch of regret in her voice, “we really should stop and get cleaned up. I told the girls earlier that I was planning a surprise for you, but promised to get you to bed early, so you could be fresh tomorrow for the Town Hall prep.”  He looked like he wanted to protest, but she gave him a stern look, then said, “Okay, slowly now, off. Easy… okay. Now, please hand me that washcloth on the nightstand, and then go start the shower. I’ll see you in a minute!”

Taking the washcloth he handed to her, she reached back to stop the mess in her ass from leaking out, as she leaned over to kiss him, then shooed him away.

Turning, he left the bedroom and entered the bathroom, reaching into the stall to turn on the water. The tankless heating system made the water nice and warm almost instantly. As he stepped into the shower, Penny walked quickly behind him, stepping into the crapper closet to relieve herself of their mess. Miles grinned when she flushed, as the water pressure and temperature in the shower remained unaffected. He was truly pleased with how things had turned out with his experimental residence.

Joining him in the shower, he felt her arms envelop him as he turned to face her. Staring deeply into Penny’s eyes, he mirrored her smile for a moment, then leaned forward, engaging her in a deep kiss.

Pushing Miles back from her, she grabbed the soap and began to wash him, getting him nice and fresh, then allowed him to do the same for her, avoiding getting her hair wet before bed. Once they were both clean, she bade him to shut off the water. Stepping out of the shower, she wrapped herself in a towel, then handed one to Miles so he could dry himself off as she went to get dressed.

Back in the house, they arrived just in time for the nightly hugs-and-kisses ritual with the kids before they all went to bed. As soon as the children had scampered off to bed, Jan grabbed the leash and called for Barney, who came to her eagerly, tail wagging in excitement. Clipping the leash onto his collar, she motioned to Miles to join her and took the dog out through the front door. Miles stepped into his den and grabbed a small flashlight as well as a handgun from his desk, tucking them into his pockets, then followed Jan outside, closing the door behind them.

The private driveway was lit by solar-powered lights that Miles had installed years before, with no bright streetlights to illuminate the area. Miles pulled out the flashlight, activating the red illumination to preserve his night vision, and lit the way for Jan and Barney.

“I take it you enjoyed Penny’s surprise?” Jan asked, her naughty smile firmly in place as she glanced at Miles, letting the dog lead her down the quarter-mile driveway.

Miles shook his head – what’s with these women? They must communicate telepathically! “Very much, yes. It was a nice diversion – her way of getting me out of my head. I guess I’ve got a bit on my mind, lately.”

“That’s understandable. You’re being asked to put theory into practice on a massive scale in less than optimal conditions, with thousands of Teams here in Gainesville who are depending on you to get this right. No pressure,” she stated ironically, waiting as Barney sniffed with interest at a particular bush, before moving on down the driveway a bit.

“Well, it’s not like I haven’t been preparing for an opportunity to put my plans to the test, but, yeah – I would have preferred less dire circumstances as the catalyst,” he agreed.

Ruminating on it a bit more, he was still struggling with a salient point. “You know,” he said, somewhat distracted, “the part that I both love and hate about my plan is that, ultimately, it depends almost completely on the participation of the public. At least, the initial phases will. Even in the later parts, when we start building the poly-pod communities, we will need a well-trained workforce to help out. Somehow, I just don’t see the Chair Force, or Uncle Sugar, sending me large numbers of folks to help us out.” He walked along next to her silently for a few moments, pausing frequently for Barney to investigate some new scent he’d discovered.

Eventually, they reached the end of his driveway and turned back toward the house, walking along the other side of the blacktop so Barney could have fresh territory to investigate. Still mulling things over, Miles had one final thought that he quickly gave voice to, not caring whether Jan agreed or not, just needing to get it out of his head. “Of course, what I am proposing is not something very many people have ever attempted to do before, except some of those Mars Habitat wackos, so it’s not like there’s some workforce already out there who can come to our rescue. We’re talking about brand new approaches, so wherever we get the workforce from, they will have to learn many new skills.”

Jan nodded as she walked along next to him. “That seems to worry you,” she observed quietly, before adding, “But you’re forgetting something. This is a college town. Lots of people came here to learn all kinds of new things. Rumor has it that you’ve actually taught more than a few of them,” she said, nudging him with an elbow as she grinned at him. “So cheer up, Charlie Brown. It’s not as bad as you think.”

Pausing next to her, he turned and took her chin in his hand, leaning in to kiss her softly, but deeply. “God damn, but I love smart women!” he exclaimed, grinning at her as he waggled his eyebrows.

Pushing him away, she laughed. “Keep it in your pants, Romeo. We don’t need to create a scene from Sybil. It’s time we got back.”

The two of them let Barney lead them back to the house. Miles took one final look back the way they’d come, then pulled the door shut behind them and locked it. Turning off the front lights, he helped Jan get Barney settled in his doggie bed, then they joined the other women, heading to their own bed.

***Gainesville, FL – FOB Waldo - 1100, Wednesday, August 12, 2020***

The morning call with the executive committee for Operation Endure had gone well enough. Representatives from the State and Federal Governments had debated the merits of a second lockdown of Gainesville, deciding they would compromise with a soft lockdown. All communications outbound would be subject to monitoring and censorship. Residents would be strongly encouraged to avoid all travel outside of the vicinity unless previously approved by the local council, of which Miles and the mayor would share joint responsibility.

After the call had ended, Mayor Curry called him directly, asking if he could meet with her later in the afternoon to iron out the details of the upcoming town hall meeting, which was being scheduled for Friday, August 14th at City Hall. Miles agreed to meet the mayor at her office at 3:00 pm. He still had a few details he wanted to address before he went to meet the mayor.

Gathering his team in their offices, he laid out action items to solicit volunteers or assign tasks as necessary. First up, he wanted a virtual meeting scheduled with the Chief Engineer at Tesla to discuss evaluating the effectiveness of combining the Tesla Powerwall with the new Tesla solar roof tiles to power most, if not all, of the energy loads within the new poly homes. Maddie agreed to run with the Tesla action items.

Next, he needed to set up a virtual meeting with Jason Ballard or someone in leadership at Icon to discuss whether and how they might be able to assist with new home creation using their 3D home printing approach. Miles was thinking that he could 3D print the core home unit and then add on expansion modules as needed to increase the home’s capacity. In addition, he also needed to meet with modular housing manufacturers such as Box Homes or Factory Expo to discuss options to get one or more of them to retool their nearby manufacturing centers to produce added capacity modules as independent units that could be attached to the core unit via standardized service adapters. Such modules should include added sleeping/bathroom units, added utility units, perhaps added kitchen/food prep units, added entertainment units, and possibly others. Sophia and Ava volunteered to work on those items as a team.

Lastly, for now, at least, he wanted someone from his team who could function as an ongoing liaison with the local government and vendors slated to contribute to the Tranche 1 activities. Debra said she could help with that, although she also suggested that it might be a possible activity he should offer to Penny, given that she had a history of working in that area in her capacity at the Office of the Alachua County Tax Assessor. Miles agreed to reach out to Penny to determine her level of interest in that item.

Privately, Miles was wondering what level of availability Penny might have to offer. He hadn’t pressed her on the matter, but he had assumed that she would want to mainly work from home, so that she could be there as support or backup for Jan, helping to wrangle the children, as well as manage the household. In all likelihood, that would be a fairly significant draw on her time, so he didn’t want to ask her to commit to helping him out with anything that would require more than perhaps ten hours a week from her. He made a mental note to discuss this privately with Penny that evening before making any further assumptions.

This line of thought jolted him into another epiphany. He had not even bothered to ask Jan what she wanted to do. He had assumed that she was taking charge of the kids’ homeschooling and had not even considered asking her if she wanted to do more, or something else entirely. Fuck. He was better than this. He took out a pocket brain – his term for the pocket-sized memorandum notebooks the military seemed to have an endless supply of, and wrote down his notes about speaking with Penny, and another about speaking with Jan.

“I’m about to head over to the Mess Hall-“

“Chow Hall, sir.” Ava and Debra reminded him in unison.

“Right, Chow Hall, to grab a bite. Would any of you ladies care to join me, or would you prefer to scheme behind my back while I’m otherwise occupied?” he asked them, a wry grin breaking his poker face.

“We can scheme about you at any time, sir. But a gal’s gotta eat,” Debra answered, garnering agreement from the others.

“Well, great, but let’s get going so we beat the rush. I’d like to get a bit more done before I have to go to City Hall to meet with the mayor. Speaking of which, Debra, I’d like for you to accompany me today. I’ll rotate through bringing other team members to future meetings, but I want to get you established ASAP as a point of contact for future engagements.”

“Can do, Miles,” Jansen replied, turning to make a quick update to her calendar so her availability would be correct. “Let me know as soon as your briefing presentation is finished, and I’ll shoot a copy over to the mayor’s admin – she can decide whether they need to print some copies or not.”

Locking his laptop screen as he got up, Miles grabbed his cover and headed for the door, calling out to his crew, “Alright ladies – let’s grab some chow,” he said, holding the door while the four of them filed out of their office.

***Gainesville, FL – City Hall - 1500, Wednesday, August 12, 2020***

The meeting ran just over two hours at city hall. Miles and Debra had carefully itemized the agenda items that were planned to be covered during the upcoming Town Hall meeting. All that remained was for the mayor to arrange for all the major local businesses to be in attendance or otherwise represented at the meeting.

“I like this plan,” Mayor Curry said, reviewing the printout in front of her, going through the major elements of Tranche 1, “but we’ll have to be very careful how we sell it to the local businesses.”

Miles nodded, agreeing with her concern. “They’ve already been told some disturbing things this year, so hopefully, we can give them something positive to invest in.”

“I’m more concerned that we’ll have pushback from a few of the usual suspects,” the Mayor sighed. “Those who will challenge the legality of seizing the property of others, those who will evoke the constitution and claim government overreach, that sort of mentality.”

“Well, we’ll just have to get them to be rational about it – explain that we don’t have the time or resources to chase down every possible heir or claimant,” Miles shrugged his shoulders, rubbing his temples. Property law was not his strong suit. “I expect the mortgage holders will be just as outraged by all of this, given that they stand to lose just as much as the possible heirs of property owners.”

Shuffling through his stack of papers, he came back to the recent projections detailing the estimated changes to the population of Gainesville. The numbers lost were stunning, and the idea that business as usual could continue had to be reexamined and discarded immediately. He planned to drive that point home at the Town Hall; he just needed to do so in a constructive way that would encourage folks to support his proposal rather than discourage them.

“We’re just asking for some of them to close voluntarily or at least reduce their workdays to no more than three days a week so that their workforce can be leveraged to assist with Operation Endure,” he said, restating his point in a slightly different way. “It’s a compromise that will enable us to launch our efforts while giving the business folks leeway to assess how much they can afford to contribute, vs. how much they need to restructure to survive – if survival is even in the cards for them. I mean, some of them might agree to furlough their operations for some initial period, such as ninety days or more, allowing their workforce to work for us, and conduct the initial harvesting operations. I’m personally hoping for this, given the spate of lootings we’ve got going on.”

“Well, I’ll leave it to you and your team to sell them on your idea,” Curry said, shaking her head slightly as she reviewed the same data sheets Miles had been looking at. “Fair warning: I expect at least a few local businesses will oppose your plan if history teaches us anything. Hopefully, they’ll see the long-term value of investing in actions to stabilize and secure Gainesville. Your general tells me that cities have been hit so hard in other parts of the country that they’ve failed – some burned to the ground, others simply depopulated. I don’t want to see that happen here.”

“Agreed. I plan to hammer that point home and hopefully get some of the more reasonable folks to side with us right out of the gate. After I make that point, we’re pretty much at the Q&A session. We’re still planning to do this on Friday, right?”

“Correct. This Friday – the Town Hall will begin at 7 pm, and we’ll screen at the door – only those who’ve signed the NDA and been partnered up will be admitted,” the mayor confirmed, checking her notes. “Although, I was thinking that we might want to have a booth standing by outside to deal with any locals who’ve not yet done either. Not sure how many that might be, but there’s a chance we’ll have a few holdouts. If so, we probably shouldn’t let them leave without being vaccinated or partnered. This kind of gathering would normally be a perfect spreader event.”

“It’s hard to believe that there could be anyone that fits that profile,” Jansen opined, thinking of how hard the Air Force had worked to get the word out to everyone in this area, “but you never know. It’s probably better that we have someone standing by, just in case, I suppose.”

Nodding in agreement, the mayor turned back to Miles. “Is there anything else we need to discuss today, Capt. Davies?” she asked, checking her phone.

“No, Madam Mayor, I think we’re good for now.” He rose from his chair, along with Jansen, preparing to leave. “Please let me know if anything changes between now and Friday. I’ll plan on being here with my team about an hour before the start of the town hall so we can do any final prep work.”

Standing, the mayor reached out to fist-bump Miles, and then Jansen. “Sounds good, Captain. Now, if y’all will excuse me, I’ve got an orphanage to check up on.”

Miles snapped his fingers, her comment reminding him of something. “Mayor Curry, about the orphanage – could I have some time to discuss that matter with you separately, either later this week or early next week? I’ve been giving some thought to how we might incorporate the orphans into the broader scheme of things in the future.”

“Of course,” she said, walking them to the door of her office. “Just reach out to my admin, and she can schedule some time for us and reps from the state agencies. Until later, good afternoon.”

*** Gainesville, FL – 2120, Thursday, August 13, 2020***

Date night with Sophia and Maddie had been pushed off for a few days as Miles and his team had been dealing with getting the twins settled into a routine, and Miles was pushing to get the ball rolling for the next steps in Operation Endure. Knowing that the Town Hall was the next day and that things were bound to get busy again immediately afterward, Sophia and Maddie had worked with Penny to arrange for the time to have their date.

As soon as the nightly bedtime routine with the children was complete, Sophia and Madison headed over to the Outhouse to make their final preparations, with instructions that Miles should give them a few minutes and then come join them. Taking a moment to get into comfortable cargo shorts, an Aloha shirt, and boat shoes, Miles brushed his teeth, washed his hands and face, ran his hands through his hair – gotta get this cut, soon – and headed over to the Outhouse.

Climbing the stairs to the second-floor living area, he smiled when he heard music from the Piano Guys playing ahead of him. At the top of the stairs, he paused, as he saw that the girls had set up a chair in the middle of the room, and were waiting for him patiently, Sophia standing behind the chair, and Maddie sitting on a stool next to the chair. On the living room table, he saw several wine bottles set out, along with a few dozen small plastic cups. Next to the beverage array, he spied a charcuterie board with a mound of cubed cheeses and a basket of baguettes.

Smiling, the girls directed him to have a seat in the chair. No sooner had he sat down than Sophia moved behind him and began to turn his shirt collar in, tucking it into his shirt. Next, she draped a large white barber’s cloth over him, wrapping it around his neck and fastening it in the rear with some sort of clip. Sophia picked up a spray bottle from the nearby kitchen table and began to wet his hair, as Maddie began to explain the bottles to him.

“So, we decided that for our date night tonight, we would attempt to multi-task,” Maddie began to explain to him, with a mischievous smile in her eyes. “First, you are in dire need of a haircut, and Sophia just happens to know how to cut men’s hair.”

“My mother used to cut my father’s hair when I was younger, and I sorta picked up the practice, cutting his hair when she was away on assignment,” Sophia explained as she ran a comb through his damp hair. “I’m thinking a simple barber cut will suffice. A number four on the sides, taper the back and sideburns, and blend in the top with a scissor cut,” she finished, not asking.

“Second,” Maddie continued, “We know you don’t appreciate wine, but you will have guests over this weekend who do, and the ladies and I agree that we won’t allow you to embarrass our team. So, tonight, we will walk you through a wine tasting.”

Sweeping her hand in front of the bottles all in a row, she continued her explanation, “On this table, we have a Moscato Sweet Wine sampler pack. I know you don’t particularly care for wine, but like wine coolers, so we opted for a sweet set to start with. Ideally, we want to identify at least three wines for Saturday – one for before dinner, one for with dinner, and one as a dessert wine. Now, I know that Penny is planning to have a few dishes ready to accompany the meat – potato salad – why that face?” she asked as Miles made a ‘yuck’ face.

“I hate potato salad. Total waste, if you ask me,” he replied.

“Well, there’s plenty of folks who like it, so we’re having it… where did I leave off? Oh, yeah - corn cobbs, chips (for the kids), and probably a tossed salad, or possibly a Caesar. I think Jan has a couple of pies planned for desserts, so we just need to have wines selected.”

While Maddie had been speaking, Sophia had been getting ready. Taking advantage of the brief pause, she began running the cordless Wahl clippers up Miles’ head, beginning in the back and working her way to the sides, with damp hair clippings showering around the two of them as she worked.

Selecting one of the already-uncorked pale-colored bottles, Maddie inspected the label before continuing. “This is a Yellow Tail Moscato, hailing from Australia.” Holding up one of the bottles that bore a kangaroo on the label, “We’ll start with this and work our way from light to heavy as we go.”

Replacing the bottle, she returned to her task of uncorking the bottles. Selecting the next bottle, she peeled back the seal, then carefully worked the corkscrew to remove the cork, setting it aside as she returned the bottle.

“While we let the wine breathe, let’s play a little game of ‘Would you rather’, shall we?” she suggested, pulling out her cell phone and opening it to read from it. “Oh, this is an interesting starter,” she smiled, arching an eyebrow. “would you rather people laughed or cried at your funeral?” Putting her phone down, she began to pour three small sipping cups of the first wine.

“How does this work? Do we all answer the questions, or take turns, or..?” Miles asked.

“Just you, dear,” Sophia suggested. “This is our night to get to know you better. This way, we get some insight into how you think.”

Miles nodded, earning him a bop on the head from Sophia as he almost caused her to make a mistake. “Okay. Let’s see, then – I think I’d like my legacy to be a happy one, so I’d prefer all those at my funeral to be laughing. Hopefully, they can share good or funny stories from a life filled with happy memories. Yeah – that’s my answer. Laughing.”

“Okay, laughing it is. Here, try this – tell me what you think,” Maddie said as she handed him the small cup of the Yellow Tail. She passed one to Sophia, who had paused the haircut to try the wine. Watching the others, she slowly sipped at her own portion.

“Hmmmm,” Miles said, having downed the sampling. “Not too bad. Kinda sweet, kinda fruity – melon flavors, maybe? I’m not sure. It’s okay, I guess….”

“It’s got a zing to it. I think maybe passionfruit flavor… hard to tell, but it’s not too dry,” Sophia nodded in approval, tossing the plastic cup into the small waste bin next to the chair.

Maddie wrote something down in the little notepad she’d acquired from Penny, then re-corked the bottle, moving down the line. “Next up, Candoni. We’ll let this one breathe for another moment – time for a palate cleanser,” she said, as she popped a cheese cube into Miles’ mouth, then passed one to Sophia before taking a bite of one.

“Next question, Mads,” Sophia prompted, resuming her work with the clippers.

“Okay, okay. Next question – let’s see, would you rather…,” she searched through the list, looking for something intriguing, “be a star player on a team or a coach leading a championship-winning team?”

“Too easy,” Sophia clucked, shaking her head. “Our man’s a leader…”

“Yeah, but as a coach or a team captain?” Maddie wondered aloud.

“Definitely a coach,” Miles answered without hesitation. “A star player can no doubt have an impact, but the coach gets to influence the entire team and can lead and inspire them all to exceed their own expectations.”

“Ah, you see? Our man’s not a ball-hog – he wants to orchestrate the successful game, not make the winning plays,” Maddie said with a smug look on her face.

Pouring the next sample, she once again handed out a sip of the Candoni Moscato to the others, keeping one for herself. Raising her tiny cup, she said, “Cheers!” then downed hers.

Miles took his time, sniffing the wine first, remembering that he’d seen folks do that on TV – smells like honey, he thought – then sipped the wine. He remembered at the last moment to keep his head still, only allowing himself a grunt. “This one smells like honey, but tastes like peaches,” he said. “Not bad.”

“That’s funny,” Sophia said, a puzzled look on her face, “I taste apricots.”

“So do I,” Maddie added with a frown. “I’m not a fan of apricots. Bleh.” She made another note in her notebook, then recorked the wine and passed out baguettes.

“Next up – oh, this one sounds pretentious as fuck – Castello del Poggio Moscato d’Asti,” she announced, holding up the bottle for a moment, then removing the cork and setting it down.

Picking up her cell phone, she once again scanned through the list of questions before finding one to her liking…. “Hear we go,” she said, a look of interest once again in her eyes. “Would you rather have a family tradition of making homemade pizza every Friday night or going on a nature walk every Sunday morning?”

“Hmmm, good choices, both,” Miles said, considering his answer as Sophia was changing out cutter guards to taper the hair on his neck and around his ears. “The kids are going to be doing plenty of hiking through the years as part of scouting, so it wouldn’t hurt to establish that as a habit, but I like the idea of a regular pizza night. Maybe not Fridays, though, or the routine will be broken as we the kids get older and start wanting to go to Friday night football games and such.”

“Regular pizza nights it is, then,” Maddie concluded, before pouring them each a sampling of the Castello del Poggio.

Sophia insisted on finishing the taper cut before pausing, but then all three had a moment to sample the third wine.

“Again with the honey smell,” Miles frowned, before adding, “but this time I taste oranges. Hmmm, not bad.”

He tried to sneak a glance at his watch, but Maddie noticed. Aware that tomorrow was important, she decided to pick up the pace slightly. Recorking the Castello del Poggio, she moved on to open the next three bottles, allowing each of them to breathe as she again passed cheese cubes to her partners, then poured them each a sample of the next bottle.

“This one is Saracco Moscato d’Asti – another Italian wine,” Maddie announced, passing the samples on to Sophia and Miles before trying her own.

“Hmmm, this one smells a bit like the others, but with a stronger citrus aroma – maybe lemon as well as orange?” Miles observed, then drank his serving. “Oh, no – too acidic for me. Not a fan,” he said after he swallowed, looking like he’d tasted something too sour for his liking.

Maddie once again jotted down a note as Sophia switched out the power trimmers for a pair of scissors and a comb, beginning to work on the top part of Miles’ hair. Combing out each section before gathering it in her off-hand between her forefinger and middle finger, she took off a good inch, setting that as the new desired length, before moving on to the next section of hair.

Once again, after cleansing their palates, a fresh sample was distributed, and a new question was asked.

“This one is also Italian, called Bartenura Moscato – from the blue bottle there. Let’s see, would you rather… oh, this is intriguing. Would you rather have the ability to travel to the past or see into the future?” she asked, setting her phone down and sampling the wine.

Waiting for Sophia to pause before sampling the wine, Miles mulled over the question. “That’s a tricky one,” he replied, after considering the question for a few moments. “It begs the question, can one alter events in either circumstance, doesn’t it? I mean, if I can see the future, can I alter a choice, and thereby change the outcome to something new? And can I see the result of those changes before I commit to making them? Same with traveling into the past. There was a movie like that a few years ago with Rachel McAdams and what’s his name – the actor who played the older Weasley brother – the one who married Fleur… Bill. Bill Weasley. Oh, and he played General Hux in the latest Star Wars trilogy. Anyway, in the movie ‘About Time’, he learns upon turning 18 that the males in his family possess the ability to travel back in time, but each time they do so, they risk altering their timeline, with their present being changed as a result, and not always in a predictable way.” He shuddered at the memory, then shook his head, to Sophia’s frustration.

“Yeah, pass. Neither. I want neither.”

“If you don’t hold still, I’m going back to the trimmers and you’re getting a bootcamp cut,” Sophia threatened.

Taking the moment to try the wine, he made a surprised face. “Not bad,” he said. “Put this one down as a keeper.”

Maddie scribbled a note and then passed out more baguettes before pouring the next sample.

“Let’s see,” she said, looking at the label for the next bottle. “This one comes from California, called Barefoot Moscato.” She passed along the samples to the others.

Waiting until Sophia paused, Miles tried the next sample. “Smells like peaches and apricots,” he said, then drank the wine. “Mmmm, not bad. Just a bit of citrus taste at the end, there. A definite maybe.”

Reading the next question, Maddie’s face blanched and she recoiled from it.

Seeing her reaction, Miles asked her with concern in his voice, “What is it, Mads? What’s wrong?”

“Yeah, no. I don’t like that question,” she said flatly, shaking her head and looking away for a moment to compose herself.

“What was the question?” Sophia asked, wondering what had upset her so much.

“Nope. I’m done. Stupid game,” she said, almost to herself, before getting up and excusing herself as she rushed to the bathroom. Miles and Sophia looked at one another as they could hear what sounded like vomiting coming from the bathroom.

Concerned for her friend, Sophia stepped around Miles and picked up Maddie’s phone to read the offending question. Shocked by what she read, she handed the phone to Miles as she stepped away for a moment, her hands trembling as she also fought with her emotions.

Looking down at the phone, Miles read the question. ‘Would you rather die before or after your partner?’

Closing his eyes, he was assaulted by a series of thoughts all at once. His first thought was that he hadn’t been given this choice in reality – his partner had already died before him. Then he realized the reason for Maddie and Sophia’s reactions. As their partner, if he died first, they wouldn’t live much longer, unless they could be partnered with someone else. What a fucking grim question, he realized.

Setting down the phone, he got up and walked over to Sophia, checking on her first. Holding her for a moment, making sure she was okay, he then went over to the bathroom door, knocking softly. He heard the water in the sink run for a moment, the toilet flush, and then the door opened, and Maddie was in his arms, sobbing.

He held her tightly, stroking one hand through her hair as he tried to soothe her. “It’s okay, Maddie, it’s okay. I’m not making any plans to die anytime soon. Hell, as far as I know, I’m fucking immortal, but don’t you get any ideas about testing that theory out.”

This last made her giggle just a bit, and he laughed with her, making her laugh louder. Sophia joined in the hug, chuckling herself, making the other two laugh harder. Eventually, they were all laughing so hard that they were almost crying again.

“Okay, no more questions. Let’s finish with the wine tasting and the haircut, shall we?” Miles suggested, steering them all back toward the chair he’d been sitting in.

It was a few moments before Sophia trusted her hands enough to continue his haircut, so Maddie passed out cheese and poured the next sample. Peering at the label, she announced, “Another one from California – this one is named Barefoot Pink Moscato. Cheers!” she said, tossing back the sample and pouring herself another.

“Mmm, this is nice,” Miles said, surprised at the flavor. “Cherry, raspberries, a bit tart, but not too bad.”

“I kinda liked the other one better,” Sophia said, tossing her cup into the trash and getting back to the haircut. She was almost finished but wanted to make sure he looked good for tomorrow, so she took her time.

Passing out another palate cleaner, Maddie went ahead and poured the next sample. “This one is also from California – called Quady Red Electra Moscato.” She passed cups to the others, then took a sip, then finished it, looking pleased.

Miles smelled his first, as he had been doing, “Hmmm, smells a lot like the last one – cherries and berries.” Taking a drink, he also finished his quickly, licking his lips. “Nice – tastes like a bowl of cherries. I like it.”

“Definitely a dessert wine,” Sophia said, enjoying her sample.

“Ah, fuck – this last wine is a lighter wine – we should have tasted it earlier. Now its taste will be tainted by that red we just sampled. No big deal – we’ll save this for another time.” Recorking the bottle she was holding, she glanced down at her notebook, “By my notes, it looks like we’re having the Candoni first, the Saracco with dinner, and the red for dessert,” she said, then went about corking up the other bottles but leaving the red open. Reaching for some larger wine glasses, she poured three healthy draughts of the red, before passing one to each of the others.

Sophia set hers down for a moment and quickly finished cutting the top of Miles’ hair. Grabbing a handheld mirror from the kitchen table behind her, she offered it to Miles.

Holding the mirror up, he turned his head from side to side, examining his hair carefully, before smiling and handing the mirror back to Sophia. “That looks fine, dear. Perfect, and just in time for me to look good for the cameras,” he grinned as he said this last bit, having already been teased earlier by his partners about him going to be televised to the local viewing community.

“We can’t have our partner looking bad, now, can we?” Sophia asked in jest. “That would reflect poorly on us all.”

Grabbing a small can of shaving gel and a safety razor, Sophia squirted a dollop of gel on her fingertips and gently applied it to the back of Miles’ neck. “Hold still, now. We’re almost finished,” she told him.

Taking the safety razor in her right hand, she carefully shaved his neck bare, removing the stubble the trimmers had left behind. Grabbing a small hand towel, she carefully wiped the residue from his neck, then leaned over and kissed him. “All finished, love,” she proclaimed before unclipping and removing the barber cloth, careful not to dump his hair clippings onto Miles’ lap. Grabbing a broom and dustpan, she quickly cleaned up the area before cleaning the clippers and scissors, folding the chair cloth, then putting it all away into a carrying case.

At last, they all three finished the last of the Quady Red wine, savoring the sweet cherry flavor, before all three helped Maddie to put away the bottles of wine and the charcuterie board, having finished the cheese and baguettes along the way. As soon as the room was clean, and everything put to order, the two young women each took one of Miles’ hands and led him to the bedroom, turning out the lights as they went.

Stripping slowly, the three of them silently got into bed. Maddie looked at her two partners, her eyes still slightly puffy from earlier, and asked, “Do you think we could just maybe cuddle tonight? I need to be held, and I’m too wrung out right now for anything else.”

“Of course, Mads,” Sophia said gently, concerned for her friend.

“Whatever you need, sweetheart,” Miles assured her, making her smile just a bit.

The three of them got comfortable under the covers, with Miles making sure an alarm was set to wake them up at 0600 before he turned off the lights. The wine helped them all nod off quickly.

*** Gainesville, FL – 0600, Friday, August 14, 2020***

Miles slowly woke up to the sensation of being ridden from above. Slowly opening his eyes, he was greeted by Maddie smiling at him as she gently bounced up and down on his cock, making the best use of his morning wood.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” she beamed at him, picking up her pace now that he was awake.

Closing his eyes again for a moment, he luxuriated in the tight warm squeeze of her pussy as it glided smoothly up and down on his shaft. Opening his eyes, he looked to his right to see Sophia still asleep next to him, drooling slightly on her pillow.

Looking back up at Maddie, he grinned at her morning enthusiasm and then reached up to grab two handfuls of her breasts, gently squeezing them while rubbing his thumbs across her hardened nipples. He watched as she screwed her eyes shut, sucking in a quick breath as he felt her velvety walls quiver around his manhood, a trickle of her juices running over his ball sack.

Pulling her down to him, Miles held her close as he kissed her neck, along her cheek, and then her mouth, uncaring about morning breath. Holding her close, he shifted his legs beneath them and rolled them both to the left, ending up on top of her. Giggling at him, she drew her legs up and wrapped them around his waist as he began to fuck her in earnest.

Feeling himself nearing his peak, Miles grabbed Maddie’s legs and lifted them to his shoulders, bending her nearly in half. He drove himself into her with powerful strokes pistoning into her until his climax overtook him, sending volley after volley of his cum into her, triggering a powerful orgasm within Maddie at the same time. Squealing out her pleasure, she stiffened beneath him, her legs pushing him upright as her orgasm rocked her taught body.

Next to them, Sophia must have finally awoken during their throes. Sizing up the situation, she rolled onto her belly and drew her knees beneath her while raising her ass, ending up in a downward dog pose. Reaching between her thighs to lazily diddle her quim, she softly called out “Dibs on round 2.”

Looking over at her, Miles and Maddie both laughed at their partner’s morning minimalism. Lifting himself off of her, Miles moved so that Maddie could jump in the shower, leaving him to tend to Sophia’s needs.

Knee-walking over to her, he sidled up behind her and ran his still-hard member up and down between the petals of her womanhood, ensuring she was sufficiently slick before spearing himself into her, eliciting a long, loud moan from her. The cum still on his cock from his tryst with Maddie was enough to trigger Sophia’s first orgasm of the day, which was just fine with her.

Miles stroked himself fully in and out of Sophia, letting her come down from her serum-induced orgasm. Satisfied that she was now fully awake and fully aroused, he reached down and took firm hold of her hips, pulling her ass back to him a bit, and then he started to jackhammer into her.

The squishing sounds from her pussy were barely loud enough her be heard above her moans as she quickly rose onto her elbows, leaning her weight back into him, enabling Miles to drive even deeper into her sodden depths.

Pounding away at Sophia from the rear, he felt his nut sack tighten as he neared his second climax of the morning. As his orgasm hit, he thrust himself as deep as he could into Sophia, lancing her cervix with his spend, sending her into a screaming orgasm of her own as he sent jet after jet of his cum into her.

His vision temporarily filled with stars, Miles held himself close to Sophia, waiting for the aftershocks from her climax to subside. Finally, when they ceased, he gently withdrew and slumped over onto the bed next to her, wrapping her up in his arms and hugging her to him tightly, kissing her lovingly, then just snuggling for a few moments of aftercare.

Finally, Miles disentangled himself from her and rose from the bed, passing a towel-wrapped Maddie as he headed into the bathroom to finally take a piss. Groaning with relief, he finished and flushed, then went to the sink to wash his face and hands. Realizing his shaver was in the master bathroom next door, he decided to just put on his shorts from yesterday and head back over to the main house to shave and shower.

As he was pulling up his shorts, he looked over at his partners – Maddie getting dressed in her clothes from yesterday as Sophia still lay in the bed. Smiling at them, he cleared his throat, then smiled at them. “I want to thank you both for a wonderful date last night. Maddie, I don’t normally enjoy wine, but the way you blended the wine tasting into the other activities worked for me. Sophia, I finally have a SAT haircut again, thank you. You saved me from having to swallow my pride and seek out an Air Force barber, and I know I enjoyed the experience of you cutting my hair far more than I would have with one of them. Next time, though, I want to hear more from you guys. I’m gonna head over to the big house to shave and shower – do you guys know yet if you plan to come into the office today or not? The Town Hall isn’t until 1600, so you could take the morning off if you want.”

Sophia and Maddie exchanged a glance, and then Sophia turned back to Miles. “We haven’t decided yet, dear. You go ahead and get ready, we’ll let you know in a bit.”

“Fair enough. Love you both!” he waved as he headed for the stairs.

“Love you, too!”  they both called out after him, making him feel warm as he hurried to get ready.

This was going to be an important day, and he was anxious to get it behind him.

****