“I guess we should clean up, so that the next cook doesn't have to start cooking in a mess,” I stated.  Do not worry about it,” he told me, “I am cooking dinner.”  “Oh.  Do I get to help you now?” I asked.  “Sadly, no,” he answered, your guests are leaving and you need to go see them off with Aris.”  “Where is he?” I asked.  I hopped down off of the island.  “In the dining room,” he answered.

I walked out of the kitchen and into the dining room where he was talking to Frederick.  “Thank you for dinner. It was wonderful,” Frederick praised.  “I am sorry that we were both otherwise detained,” Aris apologized.  “It is quite alright,” Frederick told him patting him on the shoulder.  “Theo and Antony are going to take you home,” Aris told him.  We led them to the back door.  We waited while they put on their outerwear then went outside.  The road had been plowed up to the cabin and two vehicles were waiting.  We all said our goodbyes and watched as they made their way to the vehicles.

Aris lit me a cigarette, then one for himself.  “Did you finish your desert?” he asked me.  “Yes.  Ripley helped,” I answered.  “I am sorry Jade.  I got detained.”  “It's okay.  I will show you another time,” I told him, “I hope you like it.”  “I am sure that I will,” he answered.

“Do you want to take a nap until dinner is ready?” he asked.  “Sounds good to me,” I answered.  We finished our cigarettes then went back in and headed to our room.  As soon as he shut the door, I changed into a tank top and shorts and he changed into shorts.  He peeled back the covers and we climbed in.  He pulled me flush against him and covered us up.  He got up on one elbow and his face hovered just above mine, “now to kiss you properly, with no interruptions.”  I felt my heart beat quicken and that familiar knot in my stomach.  Is that knot in my stomach anxiety or anticipation?  Aris put his hand on my belly and it went away.  “What does it mean?” I asked him.  “I do not know,” he answered, “It is for you to find out.”  He removed his hand and the knot came back, but it was fluttering.

He kissed my forehead, both eyes, my nose, then hovered just above my mouth.  He just stayed there.  “What are you waiting for?” I asked.  He just smiled.  “I am about to get called away,” he said.  “You’re kidding me,” I was a little annoyed.  “So you want me to kiss you?” he asked.  “Yes,” I answered, pouting.  He slid his free hand around behind my head.  “They can wait a little while,” he kissed my already open mouth, with passion that I had never felt from him before.  We kissed like that until we had to come up for air.  “I am going to have to go now,” he panted out.  “Should I come with you?” I panted.  “No, not for this,” his breath calming, “Do you want to help Ripley cook?”  “Yes,” I answered, calming down.  We got up and got dressed.

He walked with me to the dining room, then we parted ways.  I walked into the kitchen.  Ripley looked up and smiled at me.  I walked over to him, “What are we making?”  “Blackened Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo,” he answered.  “That sounds really good,” I told him.  “Would you mind taking a smoke break with me first?” he asked.  “Let's go,” I answered.  We went to the back door.  Ripley put on his boots and coat and stopped me from going out the back door.  “We should go to the front,” he told me, “there are things going on in back that you should not be around.”  “Like what?” I asked.  “Right now they are just arguing, but sometimes fists fly.  I would not want you to get hit.”  “What are they arguing about?”  “Petty things.  Do not worry about it.”
We reached the front door and went out.  Lia was there.  “Where is Max and Desi?” I asked.  “Desi is playing with the other kids.  Max is out back helping with crowd control,” Lia answered.  Ripley handed me and Lia lit cigarettes.  “Fortunately they will all go home for the holiday.  Unfortunately, they will all come back after,” Lia stated.  “What do they want?” I asked.  “Yaris and Ripley's position with you,” she got out despite Ripley's attempt to quiet her.  “What, Rip?  She should know,” Lia told him.  “Know what?” I asked.  “That they are fighting over you,” she answered.  “Why are they fighting over me?” I asked, confused.  “She does not know, does she?” Lia asked Ripley.  He just looked down at the ground.  “Honey,” she started, “whomever holds you, holds power.  They all want some of that power.”  “What if I don't want to share?” I asked.  “I do not think that you get a choice,” Ripley answered.  “How is this power passed on?” I asked.  “Through sex,” Lia told me.  “Then I do get a choice,” I told them.  They both looked at me confused.  “One of them just has to force you,” Lia told me.  “They can't force me,” I told them, “It is physically impossible.”  “What do you mean?” Ripley asked.  “I wear a chastity belt,” I answered, “no one can just take it.”  “Can you be manipulated?” Ripley asked.  “I just have to love the person,” I answered.  I could feel the skin working as I spoke.  He stood in thought for a moment.

“We should go make dinner,” Ripley told me, “I need to talk to Yaris before we do anything.”  “Okay.”  We put out our cigarettes and went in.  We went to the back door so that he could take off his boots and coat.  It seemed to be quiet outside.  We went to the kitchen where Aris was waiting for us.  “Yaris, did you know that she wears a chastity belt?” Ripley asked, heading for the stove.  “Yes,” Aris stated.  “Did you put it on her?” Ripley asked.  “No,” Aris answered, “she already had it when we retrieved her from Rosa and Jeffrey.”  “Who put it on her?” Ripley asked.  “I do not know,” Aris answered, “I suspect the one who took her memories.”  “Can we take it off of her?” Ripley asked.  “No,” Aris answered, “I have tried more than once.”

“I don't want it removed,” I spoke up.  They both turned and looked at me.  “It helps to keep me safe,” I said quietly.  “It is not natural,” Ripley stated, “What if you want to and it will not open.”  “It will if I want to and I’m in love,” I told him.  “How do you know?” he asked.  “Because it opens for Aris,” I answered.  He started slapping chicken down on the grill.  Clearly I said something wrong.  He turned and faced Aris, “then why have you not?”  “I was waiting for her to be ready, then now that she is, I can not even kiss her without being interrupted,” Aris explained.  “You should be staying at your cabin,” Ripley told him.  “We will once Desi goes with her parents,” Aris stated.

“So, Desi will be staying in the cabin with us when she comes back?” I asked.  “Jade, Desi will not be coming back to stay, only for visits,” Aris told me.  “Oh,” was all I could manage to say.  “I am so sorry Jade,” Aris apologized, “she is ready and they are ready.  They promised to bring her back for visits though.”  I don't know why, but I was just stunned.  I should have known.  She talks about them all of the time.  I wonder if she will talk about us like that when she is with them.  “I should be packing her things,” was all I could get out.  “It is okay.  Lia is handling that.”

He growled in frustration.  I looked at him, startled.  “I am so sorry Jade,” he apologized, “I have to go again.  I promise we will talk about this later.”  I just nodded my head yes.  He turned and walked out.

“What do you need help with?” I asked Ripley quietly.  He turned and looked at me, “right now, I just need a hug.”  He came to me and wrapped his arms around me, “I think you do too.”  I hugged him back and cried silently.  “It is okay Jade, we will be alright.  Just give it some time.”  He rubbed calming circles on my back and just held me for a few minutes.  Then he backed out of it and put his hands on my face, wiping my tears away, “I promise.  It will be okay.”  I looked into his sincere eyes and believed him.  He backed away slowly, “I have to check the chicken or we will have burnt chicken fettuccine alfredo.”  I nodded my head yes. 
He turned the chicken and got out a large pot.  He filled it with water and put it on the stove to boil.  He went in the cupboard and got some jars of alfredo sauce.  “What?  You don't make your own sauce,” I smiled.  “Usually I do,” he answered, “I just do not feel like it right now.  This is good as long as we add some spices.”  He got out a large sauce pan, dumped the jars in and put it on the stove to heat up.  He picked a bunch of spices and stirred them in.

“What would you like for me to do?” I asked.  He came to me, took hold of my hips and sat me up on the island.  “I want you to sit right there and talk to me until Desi gets here,” he told me, “She wants cheese pizza for dinner.  I told her she needs to come make it herself.  You can help her.”  “Okay,” I agreed, “I don't know what to talk about though.”

“What do you like to do?” he asked.  “What do you mean?” I asked.  “Before we took you from Rosa and Jeffrey, what did you do for fun?”  “Oh.  I would read.  I liked to paint.  I would hang out with Brandi.  She was my best friend.  I liked to sleep,” I answered.  “Did you have a boyfriend,” he asked.  “No.”  “Why not?”  “I didn't like dating.  I guess I was just waiting for the right person to come along,” I answered.  “Why didn't you like dating?” he asked.  “I went on one date.  It didn't go well.  I ended up walking a half a mile home on a dark stormy night,” I answered, “That was my one and only date.” “I am sorry,” he consoled me.  “Then he told a bunch of people at school that I was easy, the next day,” I went on, “I walked right up to him and punched him in the nose.”  Ripley smiled at me, proud, “What a jerk.”  “I knocked him out for about a minute.  Never heard anything out of him again.”

“Have you been on a date before?” I asked him.  “Several.  Some good, some bad, but never any as bad as yours,” he answered.  He put several boxes of pasta in the boiling water, then took the chicken off of the grill.  He stirred the sauce and brought the chicken over to the island.  He got out a knife and cutting board and started cutting the chicken into strips.  “What was a good date like?” I asked.  “Usually dinner and a movie, “he answered, “Those seemed to go the best.  Or just talking over dinner.  I didn't like the ones, so much, where we would go dancing.  I always felt like they were just wasting time with me while looking for someone else.”  “I’m sorry,” I consoled him.  “It is okay.  It led me to you,” he told me.

“I am ready,” Desi announced as she and Lia walked through the door.  “Just in time,” Ripley told her, setting the oven to preheat.  He went in the cupboard and brought back a pizza crust, then got sauce and various types of cheese out of the refrigerator, and brought it all to the island.  He handed me a large wooden spoon, “To spread the pizza sauce.”  I got down off of the island and lifted Desi up.  This should be pretty easy.  I opened the crust and poured some sauce on it.  “You spread the sauce with this,” I handed her the wooden spoon, “spread it out all over.”  She started moving the sauce around.  “You're really good at that,” I told her when she finished, “Good job.”  She beamed with pride.  Then I started opening bags of shredded cheese.  “Now you put cheese all over, like this,” I showed her how to spread it out, “you put all of these different cheeses on just like that.”  She copied what I showed her.  When she was done, I told her that it was the most beautiful pizza I had ever seen.

Ripley came over to put it in the oven, “It is fabulous Desi.  It will have to cook for a little while.  Lia will take you out now.”  “Okay.”  I helped her down off of the island and she ran out with Lia following.