NOVEL FROG 100. Disorientated
"I said I was sorry," Elise stated with a slightly exasperated sigh. She had another sip of coffee and added, "It won't happen again."
I continued frowning at her, "It's not about apologizing to me, although I'm still upset you took the car without asking. The point is, you could have gotten yourself hurt. You're not as strong as you were before. The changes to your body aren't just cosmetic, Elise. You don't just look like a small nineteen-year-old girl, that's what you are now. Going out clubbing for the first time all by yourself was entirely irresponsible."
She grumbled, "I couldn't ask about the car, you were away."
"We were in Vancouver and you knew it," I stated. "You could have called or texted. It's not like we were in Otherworld. And like I just said, it's not about the car it's about keeping you safe. You need to learn to think like a young woman now, you have to be a lot more careful."
Elise sighed again but rather than continue arguing she stuffed the last of her pancake into her mouth.
The twins were already finished eating, and both of them got up to leave the table.
"Thanks for breakfast babe," Keira said.
Kelly nodded, "Yeah, thank you Tegan."
I did a double-take, and switched on my sight as the two of them headed for our home office. I needed to check, because that was maybe the first time Keira called me 'babe'. And the way she did it sounded exactly like Kelly would have said it. They had me second-guessing which of them was which again.
"You're welcome," I replied as they disappeared into the office.
After their two-week vacation turned into almost two months away in Otherworld, they'd both fallen way behind on their studies. Rather than write off the semester both of them decided to put in the hours to try and salvage it.
This past week had been busy, and that was just the start for them. We'd returned to Earth on Monday. Tuesday I took Elise and Kaitlyn shopping and also made the arrangements to get them both new legal ID, while the twins contacted their mother and their profs at university. Wednesday and Thursday the twins were both at school while I was babysitting their grandfather and helping my cousin get settled in to her new self. And yesterday me and the three redheads spent the day in Vancouver while Elise decided to go down into the city for a night on the town.
We'd also forgotten about the twins looking younger now, so they didn't try and hide or disguise it when they went on campus. Fortunately nobody freaked out. They each received a few comments about 'looking different' but that was it.
We figured since being suddenly younger is impossible, people just assumed it was something else. New hair style or different clothes or whatever. Kelly said they'd claim it was a new skin-care routine, if anyone seriously questioned them about it. The main thing was it seemed like it wouldn't cause them any trouble after all, which was a relief.
Now the university was officially on winter break until January but both twins were planning on working from home pretty much non-stop through the holidays to catch up. They'd probably be burning the candle at both ends well into January, maybe even into February. Which meant I probably wouldn't see much of them for a while, outside of meals and in bed.
With the two of them disappeared into the home office, that left Elise and Kaitlyn at the table with me.
My cousin and I were sipping our coffees but were otherwise finished eating as well. Kaitlyn still had half a pancake on her plate but I was pretty sure it was cold. She didn't eat much at the best of times, she actually had a smaller appetite than me. But this morning she was even less interested in food than normal.
"Hey Kaitlyn?" I said in a gentle voice. "If you can't finish that, don't worry about it. Try and finish your milk though please."
"Yes Lady Tegan," she half-whispered. She drank the last of her milk, then asked softly "May I be excused?"
I nodded, "Sure."
She mumbled a quiet thanks then got up and headed back upstairs.
Elise watched her go, then looked back at me and asked quietly "Do I want to know what that's all about? I thought the whole point of your outing yesterday was to leave her there?"
I sighed and had a deep sip of coffee, then replied "She begged me not to leave her with the twins' mother. She was convinced it would have ended badly for her, and maybe me and the twins too. So we did what we had to do with Kelsey, then brought Kaitlyn back here with us. I'll try and find somewhere else for her, but if I can't then I guess I'm going to be stuck raising her myself."
That brought a frown to my cousin's face. "So if she wanted to come back here, why's she acting like she just lost her best friend?"
I lowered my voice and leaned closer to her, "Our trip out west and back triggered a sudden attack of conscience in her last night. She's finally starting to understand how awful she was, how horrible the things were that she's done. She's dealing with guilt, grief, remorse."
I sighed and added, "And she knows there's nothing she can do to fix things. No way for her to make things better or undo the things she's done."
After a moment I shook my head, "I don't know, this is Kelly's area of expertise. She could probably explain it better and maybe help the kid work through it better? But Kaitlyn's hurt both the twins in the past so they can't really be the ones to help her. That's why I'd prefer to find her somewhere else to stay, because there's so much baggage between her and the three of us."
Elise frowned as she listened. She finished her coffee then asked, "What sort of outcome are you hoping for? I mean you haven't really told me what she's done, just hinted at things. I take it there's some unpleasant stuff in her past though."
"It's pretty terrible," I nodded. "As for what I'm hoping, I guess it's that she'll become a good, functioning, contributing member of society? I'm hoping she'll be reformed, rehabilitated."
I shrugged again, "I don't know. She did horrible stuff for a long time. Keira and I did some horrible stuff to her to make her stop. It was either that or kill her, and I don't want to kill people. I've seen enough death already."
I sighed once more, "I guess if she can do one good thing, or help one person in this new life of hers, that'll tell me I made the right choice. In the meantime, she's going to go through a lot of suffering, and I guess I'm going to try and help her get through it."
Elise smiled at me. "I'm proud of you, hon. I don't understand half the stuff you have to deal with in your uh, 'other life' over there. But I'm proud of you for wanting to make things better, and for being so compassionate."
She stood up and added, "C'mon. Let's you and me tidy up and take care of these dishes. I've got a bunch more questions for you."
It took us a few minutes to clear the table, then we stood next to each other by the sink and got to work. She was washing, I did the drying, and the two of us continued our conversation.
"Tell me if this is none of my business Tegan," Elise was speaking quietly, and between her lowered voice and the noise of the tap running it was pretty good cover to make sure nobody would hear us talk. "I'm kind of dying to know what's going on with you and Kelly and Keira. I mean first off they look younger than they used to, and even more identical? And the three of you are sleeping together now?"
I could feel my cheeks burning, and nodded "Ok... Younger and completely identical in every way was an unexpected side-effect of some magic. I'm not going into all the details but the short answer is, it's a weird fae twin thing."
Elise nodded slowly but accepted that. "And uh, about you three sharing a bed?"
I took a deep breath then started to explain. "Keira was lonely, and for reasons I'd rather not get into she wasn't comfortable dating humans anymore. She'd kind of resigned herself to a life alone? Then Kelly asked if I'd consider spending some time with her now and then, just to give her some intimacy. Since Keira and I were already pretty close as friends and everything. We already had a strong bond, we trusted each other."
I added, "I thought it was pretty strange at first. But it was really important to Kelly, and I knew Keira was lonely, so I agreed to try."
Elise listened quietly as she continued with the washing. She looked like she had questions, but she didn't interrupt.
I told her how things played out the first time we tried, with Keira and I just talking and cuddling. I didn't go into what we discussed of course, I just explained how it led to me feeling bad she'd been so alone for so long. And I told her how that quickly turned into Keira basically moving into Kelly's and my room over there.
Finally I explained how we all came up with some rules and boundaries and things together, so we all knew where we stood with each other, nobody would do anything that might upset anyone else, and we'd all stay comfortable with how things were progressing between the three of us.
I finished with, "It was a bit weird and awkward at first. Like it sort of went against everything I thought I knew about relationships? But now, I couldn't really imagine it any other way. I love them both, they both love me. Me and Kelly are girlfriends, me and Keira are girlfriends, and all three of us together are a 'throuple' according to Kelly."
When I was done she was quiet for a few moments, then finally asked "And you're all ok with it? Nobody's jealous or anything?"
"Yes. We're all happy, there's no jealousy, no trouble." I added, "It's only been about a month and a half, but as far as I can tell it's brought all three of us even closer together? Like as friends, as family even."
I blushed as I added in a half-whisper, "Right now the only problem is sometimes they wear me out at night. Like, the two of them each get to take a break in between but there's just the one of me."
Elise's cheeks went red as well but she grinned, "You don't sound too upset about that, Tegan."
I smirked back at her, "Yeah sorry I wasn't complaining. Maybe bragging a bit though."
The two of us finally finished the washing-up and started putting everything away. As we got the last of the kitchen tidied up she asked "Can you still tell them apart? Now that they're completely identical?"
I shook my head, "Not at first. There were a few uncomfortable days when I constantly had to ask because I had no idea. But now I have a sure-fire way of knowing who's who."
"Will you let me in on the secret?" Elise asked hopefully.
I tried to suppress a smile, "Sure, but it probably won't do you much good. Kelly's aura has a bit more purple in it, Keira's aura is a little deeper red."
Elise turned and stared at me, "Their auras?"
"Yep," I nodded. "Yours is pretty by the way. Looks like a tie-dye, shades of pink, purple, and blue."
She was still staring at me as she asked, "My aura is the same colours as the bi pride flag?"
I giggled, "It's not the right shade of pink. And I don't really think that flag is..." I stopped grinning and gave her a quizzical look. "Wait, is that an appropriate flag for you?"
Now it was her turn to smirk as she shrugged, "I wouldn't say it's inappropriate."
After a moment she giggled, "Don't look so shocked, Teeg. Considering you've just been telling me about your experiences with polyamory I didn't think you'd be so prudish finding out your cousin's bi."
Elise continued smiling as she headed into the living room, while I just stood there and stared at her in surprise.
