School Girls' Stories: New Generation - Finale

Chapter 12 – 11 Hours Remaining (3:00 AM)

“Link, what are you doing here?” Bliss’s surprise was nothing compared the voice of her companion, Lilis, who seemed calm on the exterior, though her voice shook. Bliss wondered who she had been speaking to on the phone. Bliss had received a very good idea, but she could not be sure. She had a pretty good idea of what they were talking about, but … was Link the father? Had he made it before Lilis and that was why she was nervous? Bliss’s sick feeling only grew.

“The party broke up early,” he shrugged his shoulders. “When I called Mom to see how things were going here she asked me over. Turns out she is an absolute wreck that her baby is in the hospital so she went to see Yuna there.”

Lilis sighed. “I should have figured she would be at the hospital…”

“Can we come in or are we just going to stand in the doorway?” Bliss snapped, pushing past the golden couple and into the foyer of the Inperiaru mansion. She looked about and was greeted by Fuji who was casually turning a corner. She smiled at the younger generation and gave a small wave.

“All of the children are sleeping,” she said. Almost as if on instinct she had reached forward and hugged Bliss closely and clung to her for a second. She greeted Mercedes and Lilis with casual hellos that were sweet, for Fuji, but never touched them the way she had Bliss. Fuji had shown Bliss the love of a parent since she was young, though she had shown her own children a different sort of love. In the end Fuji had been the one to sympathize with Danko and Kaori and so was the one who loved Bliss unconditionally, though Shai was a great mother that could not have been any better to Bliss. Bliss had been surrounded by adults who loved her, but the one person whose love she wanted stood in the foyer glaring at her.

“Didn’t Lisa come back here?” Mercedes asked casually of the man who was adjusting his glasses.

“No,” Link snapped. “She thought it best she get her beauty rest.”

“Because she needs it.” Bliss and Mercedes smiled at one another, the words rolling off their lips. It was in that instant that Mercedes felt sick to her stomach while Bliss was happy to have found a kindred spirit.

“You know,” Mercedes suddenly said, stepping towards the door that Link had left open, “I think I’m going to go back to the hotel now and get some rest. I can tell this is going to be a family thing, and I’m hardly family.”

“Of course you are,” Fuji laughed. “Just because Shai does not know you does not mean I won’t welcome you.” Mercedes had met Fuji on several occasions when she had come to visit Rhapsody, especially after the incident where Rhapsody had been welcomed, and Rhapsody had quickly grown attached to Mercedes so that they became friends. Meeting Fuji had been a casual day but had shaken Mercedes because it meant power, this woman reeked of power from every pore. Would Shai be as intimidating? Shu had told Mercedes many stories of the woman being tough on him, but he also said she was very sweet. Mercedes only knew she dreaded actually meeting his mother.

“Thank you, Fuji,” Mercedes had learned from the beginning not to address the older woman as ‘Mrs. Inperiaru,’ “but I think I really should leave. Have a good evening; I will see you all tomorrow.”

“Coward,” Bliss hissed at the retreating Mercedes. Bliss could have sworn that Mercedes gave a brief nod and a wink before rounding the corner and hailing the limo driver to come back for her. He never hesitated in picking her up to bring her to the hotel room.

“Should I go to the hospital?” Bliss asked of Fuji, looking to the elder woman for guidance, though it was most likely the wrong place to look.

Fuji looked thoughtful before shaking her head. “No,” she admitted. “Shai may not be happy with Harmony’s choices, but she will not be happy either that you have endangered the life of the baby.”

“How do you feel?” Bliss could only begin to guess that Fuji knew Ashe was the father.

“Link, stop letting the bugs in,” Fuji snapped at Yuki’s son. “Either come in and out, you too Lilis. You three should sit down for a while, I’m sure when Yuki or Shai know something they will come back and tell you. Actually, you three should not even concern yourselves with it and just go back to the hotel room.”

“I can’t,” Bliss sighed, “Not until I know what damage was done.”

Lilis shook her head. “And I need to speak with Yuki and Shai.”

Link just shrugged his shoulders. “I’m just here because the party was a bust and I was checking in.”

Bliss caught Link’s gaze and for once it was not condescending Link, it was a direct gaze trying to tell her something. Bliss raised an eyebrow and Link eyed the kitchen that hid behind thick door so as the servants’ noises would not be heard through it. Bliss stood and asked Fuji, “Do you mind if I get something to eat? I’m ravenous after a few hours in jail.”

“Was it enough time to find you a girlfriend?” Link asked in his condescending tone, teasing for appearance now more than anything, even Bliss understood that. “You may need someone to protect you if Harmony or Yuna decide to press charges.”

Bliss stuck out her tongue and went into the kitchen, childish, but it was the only thing she could think of to do in the circumstances. She was truly opening the refrigerator looking for anything to take a bite of when a hand wrapped into her long tresses and yanked her head back and her mouth was covered by Link’s before she could even begin to think to protest, though at that moment she would not have. He had the good sense to shut the fridge door before slamming her body into it and pressing his own against hers. Bliss wrapped her arms around him and tore at him, clawing at him as if he was air and she was drowning without him. Their bodies pressed hard and rough against one another, their lips finding a rhythm they had not forgotten in the long years their bodies had been separated from one another.

“I talked to my mom today,” Link whispered hoarsely into her mouth as he devoured her. She melted against him and pulled him closer. His mind reeled at the touch of her, his hands over her breasts, his knee between her legs and inching up the leather skirt she had decided to wear. “I would tell you more, but I think right now this describes how I feel.”

“Not enough,” she nearly cried out, pulling at his pants. “This doesn’t explain enough yet.”

Link took her meaning and lifted her to the counter, her head narrowly missing the pans that hung above her, and neither stopped to care for even a moment they were in the Inperaru household and he was tearing her panties off of her body. It was fast and hurried but this time when they met, when he entered her and slid deep in, there were no mistakes. Unlike their childish adolescence and their honest mistakes at being with one another the two of them met with a force this time and a need that outranked nerves and all else. He slid deeper into her and she was fighting not to scream with a pleasure she had missed in the four years she had been ignoring him. Brian was sweet, Brian was kind, Brian was no tiger in the sack and he definitely did not have the brain that Link had deemed his best asset. As he shoved in and out of her, thrusting her against pots and pans, her leather boots banging against the counter, she would argue with him about his best asset.

He pulled her from the counter and the two of them slid to the floor, him on top of her, never stopping, his hands and body moving over her with a need that was unquenchable. His lips met hers once more and all the years were gone. They had never left one another; they had never stopped loving one another; all the time up until now had been only moments leading up to this precise second, this meeting of heated bodies. Two bodies with raging needs from a night of surprises and ill wishes. They needed something good, even if that goodness was only each other and for one restless night.

He filled her and she cried out, unable to stop herself, her nails scraping over the tile floor, cracking under the pressure. Link thrust hard one last time into her then nearly fell over onto her body. He curled up around her, still inside of her, and they smiled at one another.

“That was stupid,” he said honestly.

“Yeah,” she agreed, “but when do we ever do anything smart?”

Link could only laugh.

~*~

“I thought Link was here,” Darrke explained when he walked into Fuji’s house a short time after Lilis had called him.

“He and Bliss are copulating in the kitchen,” Fuji explained calmly. Then she grimaced. “I hope Rosalina can clean up the mess they make before people are traipsing through the house during the wedding tomorrow.”

Darrke shook his head, slightly amazed at Fuji’s bluntness, and then just amazed at the whole night. “I take it my mom is still at the hospital?” he asked of Fuji.

Fuji nodded solemnly. “Yes. Lilis is in the back with Lily if you want to see her.” Darrke stared at Fuji, who only shrugged. “I know nothing; I am only an old woman.”

Darrke was in no mood to question exactly what it was that Fuji knew. He went into nursery and saw Lilis sitting in a rocking chair, cradling her daughter to her chest, singing sweetly, if not slightly off-key, to her daughter. She looked up at Darrke when he entered the room and smiled at him sweetly. “She’s so sweet,” Lilis whispered. “She was barely disturbed when I came in and picked up her up. I just had this sudden urge to hold her.”

Darrke sighed and walked over to his wife, wrapping his arms around both mother and daughter and loving them more than he could explain. He remembered vividly how it was he had won the woman before him, the manipulation that had gone into it, and the confusion he had felt in choosing between his heterosexual or homosexual nature. He leapt at the conclusion that it was Lilis he loved and had never regretted it even a day since then. She really was the most precious thing to ever happen to him, and he might have ruined all they had.

“Lilis…” Darrke trailed. He had no idea how to tell his wife the words that were on the tip of his tongue, the words that had no desire to spill from his lips and ruin the lovely lifestyle they had built. He would love to tell his mother and Yuki that he was married to the ice-blonde before him, that he had been in love with her before he even knew it. He had been waiting for Lilis to decide this day for years, and she chose tonight, the night that seemed to feel like the end of his life, to explain to the ladies what had truly happened all of those years ago.

“Shhh… don’t wake Lily,” Lilis shushed in her sweet voice that never rose into a yell. “Let’s enjoy this moment until Yuki comes back.”

“Lilis, I really need to talk to you before that.”

She was not like the women in romance novels who would brush it off as unimportant and pay only attention to the moment at hand. She heard the urgency in his voice, saw his sad dark eyes, and knew what he was saying was not just a ploy for attention.

As hastily as a worried mother dared Lilis returned Lily to her small little bed and ushered Darrke out of the room. The two of them stood in the hallway between the sitting room and the nursery and stared at one another for a very long time, words going between them, unsaid. Finally Darrke leaned forward and wrapped his arms around his robust wife, her figure heavier than before and still lovely with every curve, his lips meeting hers in a passionate kiss without force. It was passionate for the love, it was passionate for the need, and the two of them nearly melted against one another and still remained solid and stoic. They did not bang against walls, they did not cling to each other for dear life, they stood with arms around one another and softly kissed each other with lips completely in love.

“What happened?” Lilis asked, breathless after the kiss.

Darrke stared into her eyes and opened his mind to speak, but the other cliché of romance novels beat him to his words. Yuki stepped into the hallway and glared over at Darrke then glared further at Lilis. “I want to know exactly what happened tonight and I want to know now,” Yuki snapped. To Darrke’s utter surprise her heated words were aimed at Lilis and her eyes were filled with hatred.