Priorities and Boundaries

Henry had meetings with his production team before any of his appointments. They… didn't go as he would have hoped.

"So, Henry… As we all know, the recordings have taken somewhat of a turn in the past few weeks and we only have a few more weeks of recording before we take everything into production. We need to know what it is you want us to create with what we've been given."

"What do you mean?" He asked. "The stuff is right there. A look at my life and what matters to me. A look at who I am."

"Right, but the premise of this show was supposed to be who you are outside of these people, and all you've done is manage to show how much you can't live without them. Now, if we're making a reality show about your road to poly love, that's one thing, but if this is supposed to be Dr. Henry Hart, out of the shadows of his Swellview contacts, you haven't given us much to work with. Not to mention the heinously under-utilized opportunity we had to include Chloe and Bianca in this journey. We need more scenes with them, more footage of them, less footage of Charlotte and Jasper, more individual Henry, and for individual Henry to give us some of his juicier stuff from earlier in recording."

"There was never anything juicy. I've been being myself the whole time. I can give you solo stuff, but I'm mostly in the Man Cave whenever I'm not in an appointment or with Char and Jasper."

"THAT'S the problem. You spend too much time with them and not enough time giving us good content. Nobody is gonna watch a show about a sex doctor who is as fucked up as his clientele sexually and nobody is going to take relationship advice from a therapist that they discover is only just finding himself romantically, UNLESS you show us that despite these things, he is well rounded and capable. So far… You've managed to make yourself look even more inept than ever before and far more dependent than anybody would have guessed."

"I'm finally in a healthy relationship again. I feel human. That's my truth."

"Okay… But… There's more to your truth. What if… You unmasked?"

"If what." Henry said it with no facial expression or tone of voice. Surely, they were joking.

"We feel like the only thing that could really save this show right now is either a scandal or a sensation. I mean - let's be honest, Henry. You're enjoying this relationship right now, but in a few months, you'll be bored of them and want more. You'll remember how orgies felt and like and you. Will. Cheat. You're not going to remain in this relationship and therefore… you shouldn't prioritize it over the success of this show that you've put a lot of time and money into, and WE have put a lot into as well! We should work together on making a marketable product out of Henry Hart."

"Dr. Henry Hart," he said. "And… the product is as it is."

"Well, the product is defective, then!" Grumpy Cat said and got up. "Listen, you two can do this with him, but I'm not putting other projects on hold for something that all of the professionals in the room see going down the toilet."

He stormed out and Henry conferenced to the doorman, "Gooch, make sure that you collect all of Tyson's things. He's saying goodbye to this operation."

"Acknowledged," the young Gooch said.

Henry stood up, walked over to the door and locked it, cracked his knuckles and said, "I understand that there may be some frustrations about how things have turned out. I had a certain plan in mind for this project, as well. Have things changed, definitely? But, my goals haven't. So, maybe, just maybe there is no unknown Henry Hart outside of his friends. But, whoever I am, that's who you show. And, sure - if you want to try to film with Chloe and Bianca, I can't stop you, but I don't really have any reason to say anything more to either of them and my partners don't, either. One thing that I need for both of you to understand at this moment is this fact - whenever your team met me, I didn't have anything to lose, because I had lost everything, twice. I wasn't loved and I wasn't attached. There were boundaries that I never established, because I honestly couldn't have cared less. What you need to now understand is that I've gotten my world back. In abundance. I've got boundaries now. I have priorities. So, say your piece, do your dance - whatever you feel like needs to be said or done, but I will in turn do what I feel like I have to do to protect my world. What will never be acceptable is to be on the attack when it comes to either of the two of them, and God help you, if I feel like you're a threat to both, or to us…"

His intercom sounded and Young Gooch reported, "It's done boss. All of the subjects' Kid Danger and Mr. Feelgood memories have been removed from the revelation point through the present…" Both remaining members of the team gasped and looked at each other in horror.

"Gooooood. Report to Schwoz for a quality assurance survey for the changes in the new and improved memory swiper, please."

"Got it, Boss."

Henry noticed that his sleeve was unbuttoned, and casually corrected that. "You.. you stole all of Tyson's memories of you from the past three years?"

Henry furrowed his eyebrows, fixed his collar and corrected her. "I withdrew the privilege of him knowing my secrets. He gave up on me. He doesn't deserve them and he signed a waiver specifically detailing that memories would be removed should he leave the operation disgruntled."

"He was upset! You didn't even give us a chance to talk some sense into him!"

"I don't have room for the possibility of him walking out of here and calling the Swellview News. Swellview is way more dangerous than it once was. The secret of my identity can affect the safety of my lovers. I can't allow it. Thank you guys for this meeting, though. I can't WAIT to see what other ideas you might come up with for the rest of the show."

"Well… What… about the announcement? To… to your families?"

Henry smiled and clapped his hands together once, "See! He's still thinking. I love it. I'll talk with the others. You two have a wonderful day."

.

My parents both think that I am a sexual deviant who, I'm not sure if they think that I went into this line of work to meet all of the nymphos and whatnot in Swellview and surrounding areas, but as I've tried to tell them numerous times, having a healthy, even highly populated sex life is completely normal, especially when boundaries are established and agreements are clearly stated. A woman goes to hang out with her friends and everyone talks up a gangbang that she reluctantly agrees to - problematic and possibly assault, depending on the details. A woman WANTS a gangbang and speaks with several friends regarding their desires and compromises, whether she does this only once or forty more times - perfectly healthy. The idea and concept of respecting one's body and things of that nature are generally steeped in the socialization of the times. Now, the way that we internalize problematic socialization definitely can alter the normalcy of these examples. For instance if the woman in either example grew up watching porn - her viewpoint of a gangbang would be influenced by that. If she grew up in a church and wore a purity ring for all of her adolescence and was given abstinence only sex "education..." If she had no access to porn, but realistic parents and an excellent sex education system… there still would be some remnants of what society says about all of these things, but she would be in the position to make healthy, fulfilling decisions about her body and her sexual interactions. I too am capable of this! My family needs to know that because I have two partners now, that is perfectly safe and healthy… and hopefully, their parents can come to see that, as well.

.

Charlotte focused on her current records of the most recent findings with her project. There was no good way to tell her mother about Henry and Jasper. Her mother had never been the type of person who would be open to this. For all that she was conscious of and all that she believed Charlotte should have the independence to do… She never would be comfortable or supportive of a polyamorous relationship. She won't even CALL it that. Whenever Charlotte tried to tell her about before, she said something to the effect of, "That will never last, Honey. It's hard enough to dedicate your all to one man, much less two." Charlotte was trying to dedicate her all to two men. Not then, and not now.

What Charlotte did in a relationship was offer her partner a percentage of herself - selected energy, time, space, access, and in turn expected a certain amount from them, and in her mind THAT was the only type of relationship that made any kind of sense! What didn't make sense to her was that her mom thought that it was reasonable to be the type of person she raised her to be, but also simultaneously commit to another person in such a way that it could be described as "giving her all."

If I gave my all, what would be left for me? I'm giving you what you deserve, and that itself is on a "if you deserve anything" basis. If you don't, it's over. But, never will I ever give my all. That's reserved for me.

"Jasper… How would you say it? Like, if you and my mom were talking?" She asked. He looked up from his laptop and stared at her for a while, honestly lost, because this conversation came out of nowhere and moments before, he was researching the cosmetic benefits of breast milk. She'd mentioned it and he went down a rabbit hole. Now, he had to focus. What did she ask him? Jasper… How would you say it? Like, if you and my mom were talking? What did that mean? OH!

"Well, I would say, 'I know that this is a very strange arrangement from the outside looking in, but fortunately for you and your confusion, there's no necessity for you to understand it. All that is requested is your support and hopefully you don't have to fully understand someone that you love in order to give them that."

"WOW! Jasper… That was actually great."

"I'm gonna be honest with you, Char. I'm a little bit insulted by your decision to interject the word "actually" into that compliment."

"Gonna be honest with you, that's fair. Sorry, Booty Bear. I didn't mean because of you. I meant because I've known my mom my entire life and at least half of that, I've been poly and not able to figure it out and not able to figure out how to tell her. Now that I've figured it out… Trying to come out to her again, this time in such a serious capacity - it's terrifying. I just… Know that she'll disapprove. So the whole angle of the fact that she doesn't have to get it to support me is just what I need."

"Well, I never know what you've got going on. Whenever you talk about spirituality or science. Whenever you tell me about work and your interests… I try to keep up, but I rarely can, and it never changes what I think of you, how much I love you or support you. So, really, I was simply speaking from my personal experience."

She held her hand over her heart and moved to go hug him.

Henry came off of the elevator and smiled at them. "Okay… WITHOUT me?" He joked.

Charlotte unhanded Jasper and his arms missed her already. She told Henry, "Jasper just gave me the basis of my thesis to my mom about our relationship."

"Really? I thought that I had that covered," Henry said.

"You have the psychological and health portion, but Jasper has the bottom line. I already know from the last time that "Well, I'm a grown woman and I make my own decisions," will only lead to it being cited against me for the rest of my life. My mom is Petty Page with everyone but the one person she should have been petty with."

"Did you just…?" Henry asked.

"I love petty puns," Charlotte replied.

"Petty White. Petty Wright. Petty Wap. Petty Labelle. Peter Pettygrew. Pettycake, Pettycake Baker's Man…"

.

Mrs. Page looked really great. Henry hadn't seen her since he and Charlotte broke up… not like this, anyway. He'd see her around Swellview sometimes and he usually dodged her, because she'd warned him before that if he hurt her daughter, she'd have to hurt his feelings… and Henry didn't want her hurting his feelings. He'd seen her at the school before, at their job before, out in public when somebody did or said something to Charlotte… She was really good at hurting people's feelings, and he was someone who had very sensitive feelings, whether or not he would say so… about certain things, at least. Last thing he needed was for her to drag him in the street and talk about stuff that Charlotte might have confided in her with and loud talk him into dying of embarrassment.

So, any time that he noticed her in town, he hid and fled. He thought he was smooth with it until she opened the door of the house for them and said, "Well, well, well, if it isn't the front of Henry Hart's face and not his backside as he tries to run away before I have the chance to read him for filth…"

He turned red and laughed awkwardly. "It… Is… my face."

"Hmm," she said, unimpressed.

"Mama Page," Jasper said.

The woman squealed and threw her arms around Jasper and squeezed him very tightly, saying, "Son-in-Law! Now, you know that you can just say "Mama." Mama Page sounds like one of those old ladies in reality TV and I'm not even trying to have my face on there, much less have a nickname out there, in the world." She rubbed on his chest and asked in a low voice, "Why do you keep letting my daughter convince you to do crazy things? You know that she's going through something right now."

"I can hear you, Mom," Charlotte said and looked at Henry.

"Everybody come in," her mother said. When they were inside, she asked Charlotte, "You still mad at me?"

"I needed you and you refused to help me, but you let Dad be here. I'm not mad at you, but that is what happened and I should be able to feel things about it, whatever those feelings are. Let's not discuss it again, okay? That's not what dinner is about tonight."

Jasper's parents, Henry's parents and Charlotte's dad all were already there. Everyone hugged Charlotte, but Henry only hugged his own parents and Jasper's mom. Jasper didn't hug anybody else. Mama Page was enough for him, but he did smile and nod to his parents.

"The reason that my parents are here is more for solidarity with Henry and Charlotte than for this announcement, or for their support. Whenever Henry and I initially got together, my dad called me a "fruit" and my mom told me that a nice looking boy like Henry was probably just using me, that I needed to find an ugly boy with low self esteem, like she did… And she thought that was a nice thing to say… That it was helpful. So, even though she took care of me when I almost died, speaking to my folks about my relationships isn't really... a thing I care to do."

"So, should we all sit for dinner, then?" Mrs. Page asked and let everyone settle into their seats. She and Mr. Hart were seated next to each other, across from Mr. Page and Mrs. Hart. Jasper's parents were seated next to each other, though he could tell that they weren't getting along today, and he, Henry and Charlotte were seated across from them, with Charlotte in the middle. "I thought it was weird to arrange this dinner meeting. The last time these three families got together, I think you kids were in junior high."

"No, we've gotten together since then," Siren said.

"Not with the Dunlops," Mrs. Page said, and her tone was short with the woman.

Henry blinked and clapped his hands together once. "Well, we're all here now, is what really matters. There are things that have been mended and we just would like to celebrate that with all of you."

"What's been mended?" Mrs. Page asked, but she was looking at Jasper, a little bit worried.

Henry spoke, since it was he who'd said the thing she was responding to. "Well, Charlotte, Jasper and I no longer have the same negative feelings towards each other that we had not too long ago. We've been able to come together and fix things." He reached for one of each of their hands and leaned over Charlotte to make eye contact with her mother (who was on the other side of Jasper). "I'm making things right between the three of us. Atoning for things that I've done to them."

"Hmm," she said and glanced at Jake, then at her ex and Siren. "Well, that's nice, right? Nice that our children are able to fix things, after all of the betrayal and the hurt. Very mature." She stood and said, "I'm going to start fixing my plate. Jasper, there's peas over there. I couldn't bring myself to make fish sticks, so you'll have to settle for my pan fried fillets, instead."

"I love your pan fried fish, Mama P…" She threw him a look and he stopped himself from adding her last name. He looked at his mother and asked, "Can you pass the peas?"

Charlotte sang a little under her breath, "Pass the peas like we used to.." Her mom smiled at her and her dad chuckled. Henry felt left out of some kind of family joke, but invited it, because he knew that things were often awkward for her with the Pages these days.

When everyone's plate was full, Siren said, "So, Henry… You told me that you three have an important announcement. Was it the fact that you've gotten your friends back?"

He cleared his throat and said, "That's the first part of it."

She smiled and waited. He started eating. "Well? What's the next part?" Charlotte and Henry both looked at Jasper. Jasper had a mouth full of peas. Mrs. Page made THE BEST peas…

"Well…" he said, finished chewing, swallowed, took a sip of his beer and nodded his head, "We're in a relationship. The three of us."

"Like… Swingers?" Siren asked.

"No, Mom. Not like swingers. We're all in this relationship together."

Mr. Page said, "Well, Charlotte and Jasper have been in a relationship for like a year or more, so what, are you like their boy unicorn or something?"

"No. I'm now also in a relationship with both of them. It's a new relationship, not an add on to their relationship. It is called a polyamorous…"

"Why would you do this to yourself again?" Mrs. Page asked Charlotte. "You didn't learn your lesson from the last time? Of all the people that you would want to play this new age House game with, you'd pick the one that had you running across the country to avoid his face?"

"That was a long time ago," Siren said.

"I know! I had to visit my daughter out of town for many years. I know exactly how long it was. Time doesn't heal all wounds, though. If it did, then I would be fine with what happened in 1999, New Year's Eve. And, if you wanted to know, I am not fine with it." Siren wiped her mouth, looked at Mr. Page, then back to the three and said, "Well, I support the three of you, like a mother should."

Mrs. Page scoffed and laughed a little bit. Like a mother should be out there having so much sex around town that her husband had to eventually just start lying and saying that they were swingers, even though he had no idea she was even doing it FOR YEARS, with his dumbass…

"Mom…" Charlotte cut into her thoughts. "I know you and Mrs. Hart aren't the best of friends, but tonight isn't about her and Dad, or anything else."

"It kind of is, Charlotte. Where do you think you've gotten this weird habit of never being able to decide who you want to be with? You got it from him. You knew as well as I did what he was like and you internalized that. You normalized it."

"I. Am. Normal. I'm just not like you. Monogamy never made sense to me. Whenever you think about what you want in a partner, you think… one person might have it all? And if not, you think you should have to compromise away things that you expect or just be lonely while nobody meets your standards? If you do, that's you and you're normal too. We're just different types of normal. You're a normal monogamous person, and I am a normal other."

Her mom smiled gently, "I remember whenever you asked me about what if you liked two boys for different things. I explained monogamy to you and I remember the look on your face, so vividly. I remember it because I wasn't used to it. You were confused. It was weird to see. You were never easily confused and something that came as natural to me as air, your little genius brain couldn't cimprehend it." She sighed, "If you HAVE to do this, did you have to do this with… them? I love Jasper, you know that, but… I've been worried that he might leave you for another boy the entire time and you bring the worse boy to him and just serve him up."

"It isn't like that, Mrs. Page," Jasper said, not calling her Mama this time. Not while she was being this way. "It's like this. IF Mr. Page had come to you and said, I don't think that I can be with one person. I think I'm meant to spread my love to others and you would have said, 'Well, you do that right now and I tolerate it and act like I don't see it, so I'm glad that you told me about it," and you two remained involved and married and in love and he found whatever it was he was out there looking for and kept whatever he had with you and you, likewise, did the same, then someday, you both found something in the same person, and all three decided to share."

"Horrible example," she said. "I figured it was more like, Charlotte is very high maintenance and also likes to laugh. Henry's rich and you're funny."

"Whatever it takes for you to approve," Jasper said, chuckling.

She looked reluctant. "If… EITHER of you hurt her again, at all, I'm coming for you, and then I'm coming for your mothers, for good measure."

Siren said, "We are sitting right here."

"Good. That means that you know what will happen in the unfortunate event that your boys TRY me," Mrs. Page said.

Mr. Dunlop rolled his eyes and and mumbled something. Nobody seemed to hear him but Jasper, probably because he was used to him being discretely insulting. Something about "Dumb as dogshit" and "Banging fruits and coloreds." Jasper's eyes welled with tears and he glanced around to see if anybody heard him. The Pages didn't get up to beat the snot out of him, so he figured that they hadn't. But he had.

"Not the proper way to refer to people, Dad," he said.

Charlotte paused from spooning a huge chunk of baked vegan mac and cheese onto her plate and Henry covered his mouth and nose with both hands and said, "Please, let it go."So Henry had heard.

"No. He owes both of you an apology. He can say whatever he wants about me, but nobody is going to insult either of you. Not while I'M around."

"I apologize. I didn't intend to be heard. Moreso talkin' to m'self. And definitely talkin' 'bout YOU, not really them."

"You're a dick," Jasper said and dropped his fork on the table, trying not to cry.

Charlotte got up and marched towards the older man, but her mother caught her wrist and said, "Maybe the two of you should go?" To the Dunlops.

"I'll wait in the car. You keep eatin,'" Mr. Dunlop said. "I ain't takin' you out nowhere after this, so you better fill up." He left and Jasper let angry tears fall.

"He's why I was never that good at picking a man…"

Charlotte came back over to him and said, "Hey… Let's go talk to the stars about it, okay?" She rubbed his back and he nodded and got up. Henry and Charlotte made eye contact and somehow, he knew the look to mean that she'd take care of this, if he'd handle the parents. He was the therapist, after all and she was a woman. Jasper didn't need his man right now.

"What'd that tumbleweed even say?" Mrs. Page asked. Everybody looked at Henry, who sighed and shook his head.

"He said, should've named him Dumb as Dogshit, gonna die of AIDS banging fruits and coloreds."

The Harts gasped, Mr. Page rolled his eyes, Mrs. Dunlop kept eating like nobody said anything, and Mrs. Page asked, "Do those troglodytes still believe those stereotypes?" She shook her head, "You're a lot of things I don't care for, but I know that you're at least careful. I'll bet that you've never had so much as an STI."

"EVER!" Henry said, excited that for once, someone, even someone that kinda still hated him, realized that he would not just be transmitting things, willy nilly. "Thank you for realizing that."

"Swellview DEFINITELY would've been talking by now had anybody ever contracted anything from you," she said. "Mary Gaperman would've called me on threeway with Officer Walnut."

"Was not aware that they were associates, nor that you were friends with both."

"I work in public relations," she said. Why had Henry thought that she was an assistant of some sort? "I always know everything about everybody, whether I want to, or not," she threw Siren a look again. Siren rolled her eyes and bit a dinner roll aggressively.

Jasper and Charlotte came back and he looked better. "You okay, my baby?" She asked.

Charlotte answered for him, "He just needed to tell his problems to the stars, look up at their glory and realize that all of our problems are just so small when the universe is as big as it is."

Mrs. Page poured herself a glass of wine and asked Jasper, "Why do you keep on letting my daughter talk you into things?"

"She's so wise," Jasper said and winked at Charlotte.

His mother got up and said, "Thank you for the meal. Jasper… Call me if… You get sad again." He was going to ask her if he could just call her in general, but she rushed out, and probably was rushing right to a fight with his dad. He'd embarrassed her tonight. She would definitely give him lip about that, not like he cared.

"You're never gonna be like them," Charlotte said. "We're never gonna be like them."

"I know," he said. "I'm very lucky… to have both of you. Neither of you are like either of them."