Revelations by IndigoNeko

After the afternoon's events, Alex, Liz, Raenne, and David enjoy a relatively normal evening. However, they all still have one more lesson to learn about Love.

WARNING: This story contains adult-oriented content. Check the tags before you continue reading.

Chapter 20 – Lessons in Love, Continued

=^.^=

Saturday Evening, May 30th, 2015

Lizzy smiled to herself as she quietly closed the master bedroom door behind her, then ran back into Alex's room, sitting down at the chair in front of the computer. Lexi was sitting on the edge of her bed, fumbling with putting the skirt and then her shirt. 

“Do you want any help?”

“Nah, I've got this,” the tiger cub mumbled as she finally got her skirt on and started pulling on her shirt.

“No panties?” the little stoat asked, pointing at the tiny pile of fabric on the floor.

“Too much work,” Alex said as she finished pulling her shirt on. “Stupid cast.”

Lizzy giggled, then turned around to the computer and moved the mouse. “I don't think I like Starbound. It's too hard.”

“It's not that hard...” Alex replied as she stood up and used her crutches to move over to the computer.

“Well, okay, it's not, but it's boring,” Elizabeth said, quitting the game. “It's the same thing as Terraria.”

“Well, they are pretty similar...Oh! You have to play this game I got yesterday,” Alex said pointing at an black icon with a weird shape on it.

After a few moments, the game started up with a tiny white icon running across the middle. Then the game loaded up. “Ori and the Blind Forest?”

“Yesss...” Alex said, turning up the volume, then grabbing the mouse pointer and quickly starting up a new game. Lizzy watched in silence as a tree swayed in a thunderstorm, and the glowing lights hanging from it.

“This reminds me of some of the anime that Charlotte has...”

“Shhh,” Alex said, picking up Lizzy's paws and putting them on the keyboard and mouse. Then she stood back and watched as Lizzy went through the intro, listening to the pretty music.

=^.^=

Lizzy had just made her first save point when Alex's parents' door creaked open and David stumbled out, adjusting a t-shirt and shorts. Raenne followed him out a moment later wearing a summer dress, tail swaying behind her.

“Hey, you two...”, David said as he walked over to Alex's door while Raenne headed downstairs. “You're playing Ori?” he asked walking over to stand next to Alex.

“Yeah,” Alex replied quietly as her dad put one arm around her shoulders. “She just got past the intro.”

“It's a truly fantastic game. However, your mom is going to start making dinner, so if you want to do any swimming at all today, you should probably head down there now. It might be too late if you wait until an hour after you finish dinner to go swimming.”

Alex blinked. “What time is it?” 

“About four o'clock.”

Oh. Apparently she'd slept longer than she thought while Dad was in the shower.

Lizzy tilted her head back, looking up at them. “That late?”

“Yep. So if you decide to go swimming, I'll be sitting outside by the pool until dinner. Oh, and there's no hot water right now, so you don't have to take a shower before swimming if you don't want to.” he said, walking back to his room for a moment to grab a book before heading downstairs.

Lizzy quit the game and walked over to her backpack, pulling out a few piles of clothing and laying them on the floor next to the bed. Then she pulled out a pair of thin strands of white fabric. Then she quickly stood up and tugged at the bows on her dress again, letting it slip to the floor.

“You're not going to change in the bathroom?” Alex asked

“Why? You've seen me naked lots of times now, and I don't think it would bother your mom or dad too much. I mean, your mom and dad were naked earlier, and they didn't mind me seeing them.”

“Well...I suppose you do have a point.”

A second later, the sports bra and her panties joined it, and she grabbed the thin strands of fabric while Alex watched, slipping one of them up her legs and the other around her chest and then tying a bow behind her back and neck. Alex was watching with her head tilted.

“New swimsuit?”

“Yep. Mother made it for me last week,” Lizzy said while adjusting the straps.

“I like it,” Alex said. “It makes you look...grown up. And sexy.”

Lizzy grinned at her, then they both started walking downstairs.

=^.^=

David had finished taking off his shirt and just settled down to read on the lounge chair, waiting for the Tylenol to dull the painful throbbing in his face when the glass door slid open. Lizzy stepped out carrying towels, followed by Alex on her crutches. David glanced up from his book, then did a double-take when he saw Lizzy. It looked like she wasn't wearing anything at all for a moment. Then he saw the hints of white string buried in the brown fur of her growing summer coat around her neck and waist. Damn. Even now that he knew what to look for, it still almost looked like she wasn't wearing anything. 

He watched as she dropped the towels off on the lounge chairs and padded across the warm concrete and stood for a few moments on the steps in the shallow end, getting accustomed to the temperature, while Alex swung herself with her crutches until she was standing next to the lounge chair next to him.

“New swimsuit?” he asked as Alex sat down, swinging her broken leg up, but leaving the other one the ground. She leaned back with a sigh.

“Yep. Her mom made it. I think it looks sexy.”

Hearing his daughter call something sexy was...new. He had to agree though, it was very sexy...like most string bikinis. There was no way he'd let Alex wear a string bikini. Then again, she had extra parts to hide, so that wasn't an option anyway. Alex's current swim-suit was a black two-piece with a swim skirt was short on one side and long on the other, also something that Julia's mother had made. She wasn't wearing it though; no point since she couldn't swim with a cast on. Instead she had on a white t-shirt and black skirt. She was also fumbling with her smart phone.

“Okay Lizzy, ready when you are!”

Once Lizzy was swimming, David picked up his book again and started reading, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his fur, especially since he still felt slightly chilled after his latest incident. Alex lay on the lounge chair next to his, calling out lap times every few minutes. The pool was exactly 41 feet, making it exactly four laps to one long course lap. Lizzy's pool at home was standard short course, which was better for training, but she was doing it for health purposes, so it didn't really matter.

Once he got into his book, time seemed to fly, reading about thieves and allomancers, the immortal emperor and the plot to end his reign. It was almost enough to distract him from the constant ache emanating from his left cheekbone. He wondered if Mistborn would ever get made into a movie; it was far better than some of the trash that Hollywood seemed to think worthy of making into a movie.

The sound of water splashing onto the cement near him brought him out of his trance. Lizzy was standing in front of Alex, using her paws to wick the extra water from her fur. Without the extra bulk her fur gave her, she was frighteningly skinny. Still, she had definitely put on weight from the first time he'd seen her in the pool a year or so ago. He made a mental note to make sure she ate more. Then he noticed just how loose the bikini was on her now that she was wet; it was a miracle that it hadn't come off when she was doing laps.

“Umm...Lizzy?” he asked, interrupting their conversation about lap times. “You might want to make sure you tie the strings on that bikini a bit tighter. You might accidentally give someone a show you didn't intend to, or worse, lose that bikini while swimming.”

She looked down. “Oh. Sorry,” she said as she tugged the patch of fabric to better cover herself. “I'll tie  it tighter next time. I'm done for today.”

“Hush, silly stoat, and come over here.” Alex said, leaning forward. “I'll fix it.” 

David tried to ignore them as Alex undid the strings on one side and re-tied the bow, then did the same for the other side. Then Lizzy sat down between Alex's legs as Alex redid the bows on her back and neck. 

After that, Lizzy went and lay on the lounge chair across from Alex, letting the sun dry her fur out. David went back to reading his book until he heard Raenne call from inside.

“Okay you two, time for dinner,” he said while placing a bookmark. “You can shower after dinner. Just put a towel down over the chair.”

The three of them made their way inside, sitting around the table. David quickly laid out silverware and plates as Raenne began bringing out dishes of home-made Chinese food. Jasmine tea, dumplings, noodles, hot and sour soup, sesame chicken and stir-fried veggies.

“Oh yum!” Lizzy exclaimed when she saw the dumplings. “I love those so much.” 

“Eat as much as you like, Lizzy,” David said, “You still need to put on a few extra pounds and make up for all that swimming.”

“Thank you, Mr. Andreyev.”

After Raenne was seated, they all started ladling food onto their plates.

“New swimsuit?” Raenne asked conversationally as she poured herself a cup of hot and sour soup.

“Yep! Mother made it for me last week.”

“It looks very adult. I'm somewhat surprised she made a bikini for you. Especially one that matches your fur so closely.”

“Umm, well...she said I couldn't wear it except here and at home,” Lizzy said as she stuffed a dumpling in her mouth. 

Raenne grinned, she couldn't resist the opportunity to tease her husband about his newly revealed weakness. “Well, I know Alex and David here definitely like it.”

David coughed, nearly spitting out the chicken he'd just put in. To her surprise, both David and Alex started blushing under their fur, ears and noses flushing pink. 

“Really?” the tiny stoat asked after she finished swallowing, looking at Alex and David. 

“Yes, really,” Raenne replied with a smirk. “They both like seeing you in the fur, and it's very revealing.”

Lizzy looked torn between embarrassment and pride, sitting straighter in her chair with a smile on her face, while tucking her head down a bit. She squirmed a bit on the chair before picking up another dumpling.

Mission accomplished, Raenne returned to her meal, unsuccessfully trying to hide a wicked smile.

=^.^=

As the two cubs finally finished stuffing themselves and stopped adding food to their plates, Raenne asked them both if they had cleaned up after doing sexy stuff and swimming.

Alex looked puzzled, glancing down at her chest, then looked quizzically at Lizzy.

“Umm...Not really. I mean, I used a towel to wipe up, but...but her fur still had some stuff in it.”

“In that case, since the water will most definitely have warmed back up by now...It's shower time. If you want to take one together, you can. And don't forget to cover that cast up, kiddo. No half shower today. I want your fur squeaky clean, got it? And once you're both out, you can play games in the living room while David and I work out in the basement.” 

“Okay, mom,” Alex said as she grabbed her crutches and stood up. Lizzy yawned and snagged the last dumpling before also standing up and tugging her towel off the chair to follow Alex upstairs.

Raenne watched David's head swivel to follow Elizabeth out of the corner of his eye until she was out of sight, and sighed. She'd accepted that he had problems, but it still made her...disappointed? Envious? Something. She stood up, gave David a peck on the cheek. She almost regretted it when he winced away, and started clearing the table. She hoped to catch the girls before they started their showers.

By the time David started loading the dishwasher, Raenne was on her way up the stairs. Alex's door was open, so she walked over. Alex was in the process of taking off her shirt, and Lizzy was helping. Lizzy's bikini was already lying atop the towel draped over the computer chair. She knocked on the door frame, and both of them looked over at her.

“Mind if I come in?”

Lizzy and Alex looked at each other for a moment, then back at her. “Sure. What's up, mom?”

Raenne quietly closed the door behind her as she stepped in, then took a seat on the computer chair, swiveling it around until she was facing both the girls. 

“I said I would talk to you two later. It's time that we had that little talk.”

Lizzy glanced over at Alex, then turned around and sat down on the bed next to her.

“Both of you are well aware now that having sex with an adult is illegal. It's not just a little bit illegal...it's very, very illegal. If someone found out about what David had done with you two this afternoon, he could go to prison for up to twenty years.”

Both their eyes went wide.

“Yes. Twenty years. Ten years for each of you. Lizzy, the same goes for your parents. You have a medical condition which would count as extenuating circumstances, but until they got everything figured out, your parents would wind up in jail as well until the investigation was finished, even though we all know they did it only to keep you alive.

They were both silent for a moment, before Alex said “But that's not fair...”

“Life isn't fair, kiddo. Sometimes bad things happen to good people,” she sighed. ”In this case, those laws are to protect kids from bad people, and in the eyes of the law, an adult who has sex with a kid is a very bad person. Only, your dad isn't a bad person. He's a very good person. Better than any other person I've ever known in my entire life.” Which wasn't saying much, Raenne thought to herself.

“I'm fairly sure that the reason that he ran away from you two and got in the shower was because after he realized what he'd done with you two, he thought he had become a bad person. He was so ashamed of what he'd done, and afraid that he might hurt you, that he stood in the shower even after it got cold. He was punishing himself, standing in the cold water until it got so cold that he fell unconscious from hypothermia. If he had been in that cold water for another hour, he could have died. After I woke him up, he was still afraid that he might hurt you two. He doesn't ever want to hurt you two. He would rather die than hurt you two. Do you understand that?”

Alex and Lizzy nodded, both of them staring at her with wide eyes. Alex started to talk, but Raenne held up a hand. 

“Let me finish. So, now you know that he's a good person. But nobody is perfect. Everyone has flaws. Sometimes it's something wrong with their bodies. Sometimes it's something wrong with their minds. David's flaw is that he...um...that he wants to have sex with you two, even though it's illegal. He wants it so much that he can't stop himself, and he's afraid he might hurt you two, either physically or mentally, trying to have sex with you...and he would rather die than do that. So, that being said, I'd very much appreciate it if both of you avoid doing anything that might make him want to have sex with you, such as letting him see you naked,” Raenne said pointing at the two of them. “At least until we can figure out a way to help him get over this.”

Elizabeth squirmed a bit, clearly wanting to say something.

“Yes, Elizabeth?”

“Well...I know he's afraid...and I guess that makes sense, since Alex still has her hymen, but he's not that much bigger than Father is, and I can take Father all the way now. I think I could-”

“Stop.” Raenne held up a hand. “First, your parents have already stated that you are not to do anything sexual with anyone else without their permission. That's twice you've broken that rule; once with Alex last weekend, and again with David today. I will not let you break that rule again. Lizzy, you have to obey your parents on this. If someone tells the police that you know too much about sex, the police will have Child Protective Services investigate your parents. Child Protective Services can and will take you away from your parents for months while they investigate. You could get sick or even die before they decide to give you back.”

Alex wrapped her arm around Lizzy, pulling her close. Strangely enough, Raenne approved: courage under fire and all that. 

Lizzy was practically in tears at this point. “I know Mrs. Andreyev! I really do...But you and Mr. Andreyev already know about me, and you won't tell the police. Will you?”

“Well, no, we won't. But that doesn't change the fact that it's your parents' rule, and there's a very good reason for it.”

Lizzy was quiet for a moment, chewing her lower lip. Then she wiped a tear from her eyes and looked back up. “Mother always tells me that rules have a reason, and that I should never break those rules unless I have a better reason. You and Mr. Andreyev already know that I have sex with Mother and Father, so that reason doesn't matter. If Lexi's dad wants to die because he thinks he'll hurt us, and I can prove he won't hurt me, then that's a better reason.”

Raenne stared at the little stoat, stunned. Had a nine-year-old just come up with that argument? What the hell. “Look...he's not going to die, okay? He just feels badly that he did something that he thinks is wrong. I don't want you to break your parents rules, even if you do think that it's a better reason. How do you think your parents would feel if they knew you had sex with David, huh? Your mom was so upset when I told her that you'd had sex with Alex here that she had a heart attack and had to go to the hospital!”

Lizzy was actually shaking at that point, and Alex was holding her tight, glaring at Raenne. Well...it was Alex's turn now, anyway. “And as for you, Alex, you should damned well know better than to do something illegal just because you want to know what it feels like. You nearly killed your father this afternoon because you wanted to know what having sex with him felt like!” Alex gaped at her, completely shocked at that complete turn-about. 

“Now, I know you love us, and you want to make us happy, but you shouldn't break the law just to do that-” Raenne broke off as Alex's chest began to shake and tears rolled down her face. Then the little tigress began wailing, bawling like she hadn't since she was five. Shit. She hadn't intended to literally drive them both to tears. Then she heard a clatter from downstairs and thunder coming up the stairs. Oh fuck...now I've done it.

Less than four seconds after Alex had started crying, the door burst open with David standing there, fur puffed out, immediately walking over to Alex to see what was wrong. “What happened?”

Raenne rubbed her forehead. “I was telling them why it was a bad thing to try having sex with you earlier,” she said, having to raise her voice to be heard over Alex's wailing. “I'm afraid I was a little too effective at getting my point across.”

At this point both of the pre-teens were hugging each other and bawling like it was the end of the world. David stood there for a moment, then sat next to Alex, awkwardly putting his arm around her  and gently rubbing her tummy. “Alex, alex...it's okay, sweetie. It's okay. Please stop crying. You're scaring daddy.”

After a moment, Raenne came over and sat next to Elizabeth, joining the hug. Now that she was thinking about it, maybe she had gone more than a bit overboard. It really wasn't nice to tell your kid that they'd nearly killed someone, when it wasn't all their fault. She sat there, rubbing Elizabeth's back and feeling like shit, waiting for them to crawl back from the edge of despair. It took a minute, but eventually Alex's wails turned into a litany of apologies interrupted by sobs, then eventually sniffles.

When Alex realized that David was holding her, she awkwardly turned around and grabbed him around the chest. “Please don't die, daddy! Pleeease don't die! I love you and I'm sorry, I'll never ask you to have sex with me again!”

A puzzled expression came over David's face as Alex began to beg...then changed to comprehension. He flashed an angry look at Raenne, then gathered Alex up in his lap with a grunt of effort, leaving Lizzy hunched over and miserable looking as Raenne rubbed the little girl's back and gave her a quick hug.

“Shhhh, It's okay, kiddo.” David said as he settled Alex on his lap. “It was an accident. I didn't mean to stay in the shower that long. It wasn't your fault at all, okay?”

“But it is!” she wailed, “If I hadn't begged, you wouldn't gone in the shower. It's all my fault...”

“Oh God...Raenne, what did...shit...” he whispered under his breath. “Look, Alex...Look at me,” he said holding her by the chin so she would look up at him. “I thought I was bad...very, very bad...for having sex with you two. I thought I was a...a child molester for...for playing with you two that way. That I was abusing you, and taking advantage of you to satisfy my...my baser urges. Not only that, but I was...playing with you and Lizzy without Raenne knowing about it. I was cheating on her. I was being unfaithful to her. I was ashamed for being unfaithful, and I guess I thought I could wash that shame away if I stood in the shower long enough.”

Alex continued to sniffle through his explanation, but at least she was listening, and looking up at him, blinking away the tears.

“Only, now I know that I can't wash it away; Nothing will wash that shame away. I can only try to do better, to be faithful no matter what happens. And now, thanks to you, I know that...that sex isn't always a bad thing between an adult and a child, even if...Especially if you're related. It can be just another way to express your love for one another, as long as you're careful. Okay? So don't be sad anymore. It was an accident. I didn't know it could be a good thing, and you didn't know it could be a bad thing.

He took a deep breath, continuing on.“However, I still can't be unfaithful to your mom. So if she doesn't want me to have sex with you, I can't. That's what being faithful is: always doing what you know your partners would want you to do, even if they don't know what you're doing. Especially when it comes to having sex.”

With that, he grabbed a tissue from the box on the nightstand and wiped the last of the tears from her eyes and the snot from her nose.

“So, if you still want to discuss having sex your mom and me tomorrow, we can. But for now, you and Lizzy should be having a sleepover, with talking and movies and board games and pillow fights and ice cream and all the other stuff you two love to do together. Okay?”

“O-kay,” Alex mumbled, quietly.

David gave her a kiss on the nose, then picked her up off his lap and sat her on the bed next to Lizzy, who was watching with wide, wet black eyes.

“But for now, you two need to take a shower. And I need to finish the dishes...and the laundry. Shoot. I forgot about that again. Now...Do you think you'll be okay?”

“Uh-huh,” she nodded. 

“Good,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “I love you.” 

“I love you too, daddy,” Alex said, giving him one last hug.

With that, David stood up and quietly walked over to the door. He glanced back at them for a moment, then opened the door and walked out, heading back downstairs.

Raenne stood up as well, feeling like she'd kicked a puppy. Two puppies. Now she felt so guilty she was sick to her stomach. “I'm sorry I made you two cry. It was unnecessary, and mean, and you two didn't deserve it. I guess...I guess I was more upset with what happened than I thought, and I took it out on you two unfairly. You're both good kids, and I apologize. I'll have ice cream waiting for you downstairs when you get out of the shower. Play all you want tonight; you deserve it.”

Raenne stepped out of the room, hearing the faucet turn on in the downstairs kitchen as she went past the stairs and over to the master bedroom. Then she closed the door behind her, leaning up against it and sliding down it until she hit the floor. She had been wrong about the kids. She'd been wrong about David. She'd seen it all in his eyes, the way he moved, and when he stood up after it was over. He hadn't even noticed the kids were naked or close to...all he had seen was that they were in pain, that they needed comfort, and he had given it to them. 

He truly hadn't mean to hurt her. He'd practically killed himself, not because of the cubs, but because of her. Because he couldn't live with knowing he'd been unfaithful. And she'd been tormenting him ever since for his...weakness.

She pulled her knees to her chest and tucked her head, wishing that she could cry. Wishing that she had some form of release for the pain that wrenched her heart.