Root CGD: Earth Day 3 in captivity - reset
CinT Ark Loc: Holding pen
Last night had progressed quickly and Garrett wasted no time coaxing the silk bag-like dress I’d been wearing off of me. I might have been a little slow to oblige, but eventually figured it was dark enough in the holding pen he wouldn’t see my fighting any embarrassment I had about being seen naked. The vulnerability I was battling in this new form of mine and the outright fear I had for what I decided I was going to allow to happen between us was pushing me to the breaking point.

I did want this and had absolutely convinced myself of that since being reunited with him. I wanted him, sex, and to experience everything I could. I wanted him to want me for who I was now – not before all these changes. Changes I was still battling with to understand fully, but I was willing to take a leap of faith with him.

I wanted Garrett to want me and not feel like he was being forced into anything because we were slated to be a couple by our hosts. It was all new territory, for the both of us, and I couldn’t help but feel anxious, nervous, and as if my brain was in some frenzied battle with every emotion swirling wildly through my body.

Memories of having been with a man completely had flooded my mind and served to reassure me that everything would be all right with what I was about to experience. I couldn’t place the setting—a ship maybe, possibly a dwelling of some type—or who this man in my remembrances was, as I never got to see his face. I could see Garrett’s though, and that too added a level of comfort and excitement to what was happening in the present.

With my dress removed I was straddling his waist completely naked. My heart wanted to explode from my chest, breathing shallow and slowly, every micro movement of my body reverberating through my breasts, delicious sensations begging my attention like a claxon gonging loudly, and his body warm between my thighs. My body was more female now and the unexpected confidence I felt because of that was oddly the result of sensing his wanting for me.

I was about to see what it was like on the other side of that sex coin after twenty-nine years of being a man. Thank you Ali! She was right I had reasoned – I’d hate myself for not taking full advantage of this opportunity on my terms.

In the end who was going to care? I had explored this role with Jessie before our escape attempt, so why not fully give myself to someone I felt a stronger attraction too. And everyone in the Exhibit Housing knew I liked Garrett – so there’d be no judging me, right?

Garrett’s hands on my hips moved slowly toward my breasts and I sucked in a strained breath. When he was holding them, single fingers from each slid over now erect nipples and my highly sensitive areolas. I couldn’t help but react and…

“Oaaaoh…”

OH FUCK ME!

That act had jolted me awake, and I’d moaned softly out loud as he’d done that. It also made me involuntarily squeeze my legs together against his hips briefly, which only heightened the feelings of his fingers on my breasts and made my new genitalia come alive!

In that moment I became acutely aware that beneath me and a thin layer of fabric that were Garrett’s pants and underwear, I was sitting directly on his fully erect cock. Between that flash of realization and his face beginning to rise from the pillow to suckle my breasts – I couldn’t help but shudder uncontrollably as another stained moan of pleasure escaped my lips.

This time a little louder and less restrained. Oh! Damn! It!

I felt a hand move and settle at the back of my neck, my face being pulled towards his, and just before kissing him I caught a glimpse of a smile as his lips met mine and my eyes softly closed. His tongue exploring, a hand at my hip, his body beneath mine grinding into my…

What?

“Ummahaa…,” I moaned pitifully as intense sensations of pleasure bolting through my pelvis.

Am I hearing things? I heard something, didn’t I? Huh?

“Cameron…”

Who said that? Where was that voice coming from?

“Wake up,” the voice whispered and I felt a warm hand on my bare shoulder, followed by a little shake.

“Ugh, wat?” I whispered, not wanting to open my eyes fully because I could see the lighting in the holding pen was at early morning levels and only going to get brighter by the second.

“Hey, you seeing this?” Garrett asked.

I forced myself to look down towards the foot of the bed to where he was looking and could see inside the Exhibit Housing. My eyes popped wide open; the desire to nap comfortably next to his warm body holding mine and lazily relive every detail about last night was instantly gone as I tried to understand what I was looking at.

There was a door leading from the holding pen to the exhibit!

“Oh crap… That’s the exhibit… They, they didn’t drug us?”

“Apparently not,” he said, rolling out of bed quicker than I was prepared for and was just able to catch the sheets so my naked body wouldn’t be exposed as they tried to follow after him.
I watched him fishing around for his underwear on the floor and getting them on before pulling his pants on before saying, “I think we should get out of here and back with the others before they change their minds.”

No sooner had he said that I could hear faint clicking noises coming from beyond the doorway. I watched Garrett look towards the door for a moment, put his shirt on, and then lay my dress on the bed for me. I wasn’t going to be as bold as he’d been dressing in front of me—though after last night, getting dressed in front of him would certainly pale in comparison given all we’d done together.

I sat up with the sheet tucked under my arms and was able to get the dress on enough until I could get myself seated at the side of the bed.

“You need help getting up?”

I thought about it, nodded, I didn’t, tried to stand, and wasn’t all that wobbly. I was able to take a first step, but the second would have had me meeting the floor had he not been there to support me. Damn it!

“Not bad… You could barely do that yesterday,” he said, smiling while helping me to get steady again for another attempt at walking.

I made it a couple steps before I needed to stop for fear I’d fall over—even knowing he was there to catch me if I stumbled.

“I feel like I’m ninety CGD years old,” I complained, turning back towards the bed, and made it just in time to plop down unceremoniously on my ass, none to lady like.

“Let’s get to our house. I’ll have Zenia figure out getting you some of the clothes you had back, and then we can work on getting you mobile and introduced to everyone.”

The front of his pants caught my attention, and I looked up at him questioningly.

“What?” he asked, concerned.

“Your, ah… You had an accident last night?”

His pants had a stain of some sort at the crotch, like he’d spilled water on them or something. I watched him examine it and try to brush the dried stain away, but he gave up when he couldn’t.

“I think it... Well, I know where I... You know, like ended things,” he stopped speaking because he’d thought what he was saying was obvious—he'd cum inside of me, not his pants. “I think, ah, this is from, when... You know, when we began last night and you were on top of me...”

Augh… I could feel the flushness of my face burning hot with embarrassment as my hands came to my face to hide how mortified I was that the stain on his pants was most likely due to fluids originating from my body. I had absolutely grinded my naked body against him last night, and he’d done the same in kind in those first few minutes before I helped him remove his pants. If I thought pre-vagina exploration with Jessie had been amazing, post-genitalia swap and being with Garrett had made that look like some barren, inhospitable planet!

Of course all I could think in this moment was, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ Yet, if I'm being honest here about bodily fluids being spread around last night, I can absolutely say his had leaked from my vagina after he’d ‘ended things’. As I recall, he was pretty damn vocal the first time he’d cum, and maybe louder when we’d done that dance a second time, slower and not so ‘teenagers in a rush’. During the night, I remember feeling his deposits leaking out of me and later trying to avoid a cold, wet area of the bedding while we were sleeping.

Whew, was it warm in here or is it just me?!

“Hey, it’s no big deal. Let’s get to our house; going around the back side of Liam and Zen’s, I’ll change, and no one will be the wiser,” he said, smiling. When I refused to look at him, he added, “Or, I’ll wear these proudly all day if we can repeat last night again.”

I dropped my hands from my face, mouth agape in shock, but was unable to keep a tiny smile from the corner of my mouth. I thought about how I’d like that; our bodies entwined, enjoying... It hit me hard, and I felt cheated all of a sudden. We’d never have anything like last night ever again! My head dropped, and a few seconds later the first tears fell into my lap.

“Whoa… Hey, hey… We’ll have plenty of chances to recapture last night’s magic, I promise,” he said soothingly, kneeling in front of me, lifting my chin, and kissing me softly. “Let’s get out of here first, and we can figure all that other stuff out later.”

Root CGD: Earth Day 3 in captivity—reset, 9:31 AM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing
Our return to the Exhibit Housing was received well by the others—when we got around to letting everyone know. That happened after Garrett had changed his pants, thankfully. It also made quite the impression on those viewing us from above, judging by the insane amount of clicking going on when we had snuck slowly around the back of Liam and Zenia’s house to Garrett’s. It could have been curiosity or that Garrett had a hold of me the entire time we made that slow walk to our place that garnered those choruses’ of clicks.

I hoped there would come a point I wouldn’t even notice their clicking, as everyone in here had repeatedly told me would happen the last time I’d been here. It was a stupid thing to focus on, but I was sure their clicking was going to annoy me until I was either out of here or dead. At least the noise they were making wasn’t that angry teeth grinding noise, and I shuddered remembering that horrible sound.

Shortly after the quick introductions in the courtyard area, Garrett left to go meet with the men, and the trio of women needing something to do with the ‘new’ girl converged on our house with extra clothing in tow for me to get my wardrobe situated. Fortunately, I was able to get two of them to leave without having to do a try-on event like I had done with Ali. I’d made a bigger deal about not being steady on my feet yet to help push the idea I’d deal with selecting a wardrobe later and alone.

Doing that was a red flag for one of the women who’d gathered, and Zenia had hung back, telling the others she’d be there in a few minutes to help prep for our welcome luncheon.

“How are you feeling, really?” she asked, taking me in fully with a critical eye.

“Alright, but it was a surprise to wake up and not really be able to walk at all. I get why; well, at least I think it’s because of being in stasis or some other state before being woken up this time around. Pretty sure I can make it from here to anywhere in the house though, so nothing to worry about. Garrett should be back soon,” I replied, trying to ease her worries and not make this meeting any more awkward since she’d been coupled with Garrett.

Since she had a medical background, I knew the group looked to her to keep an eye on everyone’s health—even without a single piece of medical equipment at her disposal. I hoped we could maintain at least that kind of relationship.

“I see the spots on your legs and arms, so at least they were smart enough to try and get your muscles in some form of working order before bringing you back in,” she stated.

“Yeah, guess,” I replied without much enthusiasm.

She looked like she had something specific she wanted to say and, after a moment’s thought, said, “Look, I'm...”

“I get it,” I interrupted her and reached out for her hand. “I really don’t want to think about having lost Ali, Cayline, Jessie, and Mike—so let’s just keep what’s important in front of us and concentrate on what’s next for us in here. Everyone did what they needed to do to survive; I know that. I can accept that.

She looked surprised I had taken her hand; maybe that I hadn’t mentioned her being coupled with Garrett, squeezed mine in return, and smiled before saying, “Fair enough... I’m good with moving forward. After Jessie and you didn’t come back, well, Ali was in a bit of a slump there for a while. I think she had banked a little too heavily on us getting out of here, maybe. I kind of stepped in for you as someone she could talk to. We talked a lot, and she told me about how you were struggling with all that’s happened to you. I can see an additional change since you were last here, which, if you’re curious, was five-hundred and thirty-one CGD days ago.”

I could only stare at her dumbfounded and was certain I’d either heard her wrong or she had miscalculated how long I’d actually been away. Then I remembered Ali had told me she had gotten bored early on and became the historian for this place and had a makeshift ‘tick-mark’ calendar tracking everyone’s comings and goings, major events, and what have you. I was certain I couldn’t have been gone that long, though.

If true, that meant it was closer to two CGD years since I was last on the Barrow Gar, the last time I’d been myself. That just can’t be!

“Look, you’re likely done getting much gain from the hormones they’re giving us, so other than normal aging and gaining and losing weight like the rest of us, you should be about through with the changes to your body. If you ever have any concerns or something feels off, I’m happy to talk with you about it, even if you just want to vent. Don’t let this place bottle up in your head, or it’ll make you spiral. Everyone here has had their share of weak moments, so if you’re not dealing with something or worried, come talk to me.

“I will say, you’re still a bit of a mystery though, and as to why they’d bring you here since you began life as a biological male,” and as soon as she said that, she read something on my face and quickly added, “Oh, seriously, no one here is going to care about that; it’s just not clear yet how that’s supposed to work with you and Garrett, that’s all, you know what I’m saying.”

Root CGD: Earth Day 531 in captivity, 10:25 AM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing
I told Zenia about the one change to my body that wasn’t evident while clothed—that part of me that was missing now. I thought she was going to lose her mind – she was so pissed after I’d told her that! Not at me, but at our hosts and them having subjected me to such a radical change. When she calmed down, she had questions.

“That’s a first! Did the, ah... Like, was what they did a castration and removal of, well, you know? Something more than that?” she asked.

That led to a few quick exchanges to level set that I was pretty sure what I had between my legs now was functional, as in I had the same genitalia she had. I skipped mentioning I was sure of it being fairly complete because I’d kind of put it through its paces last night, and there was no way given everything I felt during that experience, twice, that I wasn’t ‘complete’ down there. Being she was medically trained, I asked what I needed to be aware of now.

“Okay, I was worried you were telling me they had castrated you or you had some prehistoric Transgender genitalia mutilation to construct a pseudo-vagina. Transplantation is more likely what’s happened and would certainly be a better option, so you’re lucky in that sense if that’s what they did to you. With the advanced nature of the species of alien keeping us here, I’d bet you’ve been gifted some woman’s full reproductive system. As mind-blowing as that sounds, it wouldn’t be an easy operation to get right or recover from certainly. It’s interesting they’d hook our reproductive system in a biological male though; I can’t begin to explain that one.”

“So do I need to worry about this?” I asked, trying to hide any panic from my voice.

“No, not like anything is going to go wrong, at least this far into recovery from a transplant—if that’s what was done. Your body would have rejected the new addition long ago, and I’m betting the bulk of your time away was spent in recovery so your body could heal. But...,” she paused to think about how to put a concern that was written on her face. “Men don’t have childbearing hips. So if they hooked everything up correctly and let’s say you become pregnant—if that’s possible, that could be a problem because they’d need to operate on you to get your baby out and need to know that’s the only way for you to deliver safely. I’d worry about the stress on the baby during active labor and their not understanding you’re going to need surgery to actually deliver.”

I felt lightheaded, needed to sit and took the few steps needed to get to the bed and sat down harder than intended after hearing that. I hadn’t considered that what was now between my legs could lead to me possibly becoming pregnant, carrying a child, or... How had I missed that simple idea in all the thought I’d given to being with Garrett last night?!

“We don’t even know if that’s the case here; it’s possible you’re only partially complete. No egg-producing capability,” she said, trying to soften the message she’d just delivered.

“How would we know?” I asked more worried when I felt I could speak.

“I could check... See if I can figure that out.”

Root CGD: Earth Day 531 in captivity, 10:41 AM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing
I was on my back with my knees drawn up, legs spread, and on the bed after Zenia went and washed her hands. It wasn’t two minutes before she was looking seriously engaged in what she was doing, which was having a single finger inserted in what I assumed was my transplanted vagina. I could feel her finger tip touching something deep inside of me, and try as I might, I could help but complain about the discomfort I was feeling.

None of what she’d done examining my labia’s, clitoris, or even inserting her finger into my vagina's opening was the least bit pleasurable. I’d stiffened uncomfortably a few times, yelped softly three times, and got ‘Sorry about that...’ each time out of her. I’m sure she was trying to be gentle, but this experience was odd, if not the most awkward experience I’d ever endured. I wasn’t enjoying any of it—not that I expected I would.

“Relax,” she said, pressing her finger in deeper, moving it side to side slowly over something inside of me.

I sucked in a quick breath before straining to whisper, "I can… I can really feel… Ah, that really kind of hurts."

She was looking at me, but not looking at me, more staring through me as she pressed her finger onto something. While what she was touching inside of me might have been in the same general area I felt Garrett’s penis hitting while on top of him, this sensation lacked any of that excitement I’d felt last night during sex. The difference between the two experiences was easily light years apart. I just wanted what she was doing to stop!

I was beginning to open my mouth to complain and felt her easing up, slowly pulling her finger out from within me before fixing me with a more present gaze.

“That was your cervix; I was just touching,” she said, coaxing my legs flat before pressing areas of my abdomen and around my crotch. “This, and here... Lymph nodes and they feel,” she jiggled her finger on one of the spots a little while pressing, “Good… I’m impressed by the work they’ve done. This kind of work is easily 400K credits at a reputable facility plus the cost to the transplant family for the, well, everything you got now, so tack on another 100K. If they’re doing this kind of work, I mean damn... Someone has skill, especially with working outside their own species, right?”

She was looking at me as though she were both confused about my new genitalia’s installation and impressed by it all at the same time.

"Generally, what I just did would be done with a scanning instrument externally and would tell us things like whether your uterus wasn’t in a normal position, like retroverted or flexed. Best I can tell, your vagina is perfectly normal in its positioning. I couldn’t feel any lesions or erosions; everything felt like it was the right size, and when I was palpating, I didn’t feel any masses or enlarged areas. That’s pretty much what every woman wants to hear, so congrats,” she said.

“You could have led with everything being normal,” I quipped.

“Sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve done an actual exam on someone who wasn’t pregnant.”

“Can this be reversed?” I asked sheepishly.

“Certainly, but original DNA markers would be needed to put you back exactly as you were pre-transplant, or you could just go with some off-the-shelf version of something bigger or smaller than you had originally in regards to your penis. The hormones you’ve been getting have made some significant changes to your body that only with a map can you get back to where your body originated. Sorry to lay that on you.”

“So, do you think I could actually get pregnant?” I asked worried.

“Likely, we’ll know after you have your first period. If you have your period, then yes.”

“What?” I snapped, not sure I’d heard her correctly.

“Tell me you’re not oblivious to the human reproductive cycle as it relates to women,” she said staring at me. When I didn’t answer right away, she turned to go wash her hands.

When she returned, I got a refresher lesson on eggs and sperm, lectured on the four phases that would constitute my menstrual cycle and what each phase meant, what I could generally expect, and when I’d be most fertile.

“Perfect world, about 2 weeks before your period, that’s your window to become pregnant, generally speaking—though not set in palladium. About two weeks after your last period, which is in the middle of a typical 28-day cycle, is when you ovulate, releasing an egg. That’ll hang around in your fallopian tube waiting for sperm. You’ll ovulate for about 12 to 24 hours. If the egg isn’t fertilized, it’ll be reabsorbed by your body. Good so far? Listen carefully; anything deposited can live for up to five days within your body. If you’re counting days, understand there’s still leeway on either side.”

I nod that I got it, but none of what she’d said registered or was remotely on any radar I thought I understood about this new body of mine. The ability to get pregnant wasn’t lost on me now, and that was yet another scary aspect of this path I was on.

“Things will start rolling after 11 days of an egg being fertilized or you being pregnant, basically. That’s after the egg has seated itself, when your placenta begins forming, and pregnancy hormones will be bombing your system.”

“So, I’ll know I’m pregnant?”

“No, but there are signs—things you’ll pick up on once you’ve done this a few times. Like your urine might smell different, those lymph nodes I was just poking might be tender, but without a test or blood draw, we’re just guessing, and it’s still 50/50 that early into it. Most early pregnancy symptoms don’t appear until around eight weeks after the first day of your last period,” she said, stopping midsentence because I likely looked lost. “Look, rule one: pregnancy is different for every woman. Some symptoms may appear right around the time you miss your period. Light spotting, breast tenderness, being lightheaded—certainly fatigued by how quickly our bodies react to nourishing that egg. I always have mild cramping when there’s no reason I should be having them. Syn says she’s sensitive to the way food tastes and smells; sometimes she feels sick and throws up. Cekoo said her clothes start getting tight; she notices it in her breasts first; that’s how she knows. Every woman is different; trust me.”

I was feeling a little queasy, remembered her saying the word ‘deposited’, and shook my head. I was lightheaded before sitting am I…

“What?” she asked, but grinned. “You’re worried about last night with Garrett, aren’t you?”

“How did…,” I stopped speaking and threw an arm over my eyes. I couldn’t look at her.

“You’re a little red down there, so I assumed you two gave it a test run. Any pain or bleeding afterwards?”

I still couldn’t look at her. “Not that I know of... I leaked for a while, but I’m pretty sure that was his fault. Nothing in bed this morning caught either of our attentions when we left the holding pen; I’d have noticed any blood.”

Zenia chuckled, “Need to teach that man to get up and get you a towel. I didn’t have to do that with Liam; he just gets up. Beats rolling onto a wet spot in the middle of the night.”

Augh! Is it warm in here?!

Root CGD: Earth Day 531 in captivity, 1:22 PM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing
This version of my welcome lunch to introduce me to the others went a lot like the first one I had done. The only real difference was this time I didn’t have to repeat my story like I did that first time. Everyone knew my original story—the guy who was inserted to be one of the women by our hosts. The guy who was part of the failed escape attempt and the only one anyone had talked with that had actually seen our captors up close and personal—even if it was just long enough to be impaled and bleed out.

There was less questioning of where I fit in now because I shared I’d been modified by our hosts, telling them about the transplantation.

“And this wasn’t something you wanted to do originally?” Beck asked, unsure he had a clear picture of what I’d told them.

“At the time I’d agreed to take a dose of female hormones, I only did that to escape the pain when the Senian I’d been given did little to ease it. It turned out the other men in my crew had taken a second dose of Senian, and all of them had died. My first officer thought the women of my crew hadn’t been affected due to the hormonal differences. I didn’t expect to be where I am now after the last time I was in here,” I explained.

“What a mind trip this must be for you,” he offered, a little shocked.

I chuckled at that idea, saying after a moment, “That’s one way to look at it.”

Outside of that exchange, the luncheon had felt like a success, and I was made to feel welcome. I hadn’t tried to hide behind Garrett, but I certainly stuck close to him. I appreciated that no one looked at me funny or as Jessie had that first time, which was uncomfortable, but I understood why later. With Garrett, I felt safe, and I was going to rely on him to be my partner in all that was sure to come – at least until we could get out of here.

I was a little surprised to be able to walk out to the little courtyard area on my own. Zenia had mentioned I needed to keep at it, asking if I wanted to walk the perimeter of this place later this evening after dinner, before it got dark out. I agreed, but right after doing that, I caught Liam and Turpin nodding heads in some secret signal sort of way and looked at Garrett to see that he’d caught it also. What happened next was the splitting of us into groups, with the men off to huddle about ‘man’ things, while the women got to clean up.

Ridiculous they still held to this little bit of segregation, and it baffled me the women hadn’t ever called them on it.

This time around, though, I honestly didn’t care about the split; I knew I could get Garrett to tell me what was going on if I asked. Truthfully, after the last time I stuck my neck out for this group, I wasn’t anxious to repeat being involved with any planning or plans. I just hoped they weren’t considering another escape. I did not want a repeat of that disaster with anyone, especially Garrett. Not that I wanted to be here any longer than I had to, but pushing for an exit wasn’t something on my radar at the moment.

After the food had been divided, we each got a plate to take home. Syn had said she wouldn’t need to cook tonight, and that was a very déjà vu moment for both Zenia and me—we smiled knowingly about it to each other. When I left to go back home, Zenia joined me since the men were still gathered in her place.

“Funny, Ali and I did this same thing the last welcome lunch I attended; she came home with me after we cleaned up.”

“She told me... Also that you were pissed about this boys club thing,” she replied, smiling.

“Yeah, at the time that was probably wasted energy. You have any idea what they’re talking about? Do they do this planning crap often?” I asked.

“No and no... I think with you back there’s a renewed hope we could fly out of here if we could get to a ship. As far as I know, there are no escape ideas on the table.”

“I can’t express how dangerous that host was that killed Jessie, and I was sure it had delivered a fatal wound to me. I still can’t believe I’m alive or…” I figured she got the genitalia part, so I stopped speaking.

“I’m so sorry about how that went down, that you had to witness Jessie like…,” she stopped speaking before completing her sentence.

“I’m sorry too... Do we know if they changed the stores port at all?”

“It won’t open if there’s anyone out there or appearing to maybe want to make a run at it from your old house since it’s the closest to the port. The time it’s open is half what it used to be; think Liam told everyone that after watching it one evening a few CGD months back from our front door.”

“So, we’re kind of trapped here then?”

“For the time being, yeah,” she answered, sounding a little sad.

“How are you doing?”

“I actually might be pregnant.”

“Oh, how do you know?” I asked.

“I had some pretty extreme cramping after I was with you this morning, it’s my sign,” she said before turning quiet for a moment. “Garrett and I lost two children while you were gone... Not sure why I’m telling you that, to be honest. He took it pretty hard the first time; I think he just wanted something positive to hold onto after you didn’t return. I’m sure he never stopped thinking about you, Cam. Seeing him with you, he looks content, alive again, and he’s smiling.”

“He didn’t mention that. I’m sorry for your loss. None of this can be easy on any of the women or men. Thank you for telling me, I, I’m glad he seems like he’s happy again,” I said, feeling flush in the moment.

When she didn’t look to have anything to add, I asked, “Any idea how they’re pumping us full of hormones or whatever?”

“I’ve thought about that a lot, and I’m almost positive they’re doing it via the water. Not what we drink, but chemically when we bathe. There are a few compounds that, within their synthesized water, would make for easy drug delivery through our skin. I can tell the difference in how I feel when I don’t shower for a couple days. Liam doesn’t like that much, but it’s been something I’ve given some thought and a little research effort.”

“That actually kind of makes sense if you think about it. They control what comes out of the faucet and infuse that for whichever sex is. Now I don’t want to bathe,” I complained.

“I get it; you could maybe shower with Garrett, and that would slow the ingesting down some, but not completely. I think they’d switch to putting it in the water you drink at that point, unless Garrett got you a glass of water, and then you’d be taking on those things they meant for him. Could be dangerous; I wouldn’t recommend that.”

“True, but it would sure screw with our hosts if we did a bunch of that,” I replied with an evil grin.

Root CGD: Earth Day 531 in captivity, 8:58 PM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing
“You didn’t get enough to eat?” I asked entering the house after finishing a few slow laps around the perimeter of the Exhibit Housing complex with Zenia.

“I was just hungry for a snack,” Garrett answered tentatively; maybe embarrassed I’d caught him eating.

“Is there anything to do around here that’s fun?”

He gave me a look, which I promptly squashed with my own look of embarrassment at the idea he might think I was suggesting we could fool around.

“We could walk the perimeter or go play cards with the others. Liam usually has a card game going on nightly. Trying to figure out ways to annoy our hosts is always fun,” he offered.

“Hmmm… Just did a walk with Zenia; I suck at pretty much any card game or game of chance, and the idea of making our hosts angry—hard ‘no thank you’ on that one. Is there really that little to do here?”

“Afraid so… Come sit,” he said, gesturing to the small couch. “You’ve had a rough bunch of days; let me massage your feet or other areas of your body if that’s of any interest to you.”

I couldn’t help but smile, but made a dash to the couch as best I could, plopped down on it, and wiggled my toes up at him.

That got him chuckling before he said, “Ya could have drug me to the bedroom, you know.”

“I do, and if my foot massage is good, then maybe I’d do that.”

I was full on blushing hard, trying to smile, and trying to act nonchalant about the fact I was absolutely interested in being with him again tonight. He sat next to me, picking a foot to knead, squeezing it a few times, and I couldn’t help but groan my satisfaction softly. OH MY!

“Wow, you’re pretty good at this,” I said softly.

“Thank you; it helps when you’ve got cute feet.”

“Yeah, not how I’d describe these solar pontoons,” I replied, rolling my eyes at him.

Garrett chuckled, raised my foot, and kissed the top of it. “You have cute feet, and don’t you ever doubt that.”

I was flush again and warm all of a sudden in an area I hadn’t expected. That I could tell was both interesting and confusing. How was it he could push my buttons in an ‘Oh!’ so satisfying way and so easily?

We hadn’t really talked about the boys club meeting during dinner, so I decided to press.

“What was on the agenda for your little meeting?”

::: --- :::

Don't be afraid to click the "Kudos" (Thumbs Up) icon for this story if it's done anything for you. If you comment, I will reply, so let’s chat or not or whatever floats your noodle.

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I'm still growing as a storyteller; I'm far from perfect, so any help is much appreciated and valued. Thanks for reading...

Rachel M. Moore