Thicker than Water

The morning brought with it a mix of feelings. On one hand, Rei's entire body ached; on the other it was a delicious ache she'd earned from having a full day's worth of mind-numbing sex. Shifting on the couch, where she'd been deposited the night before, her pussy screamed in protest about moving. The leather of the sofa popped and crackled as the dried cum, that she'd been coated in and leaked out of her as she slept, flaked away. Rei was sore, sticky, smelled of sex, and was still leaking semen and other fluids.

"Best...day...ever." She said to an empty living room. Her throat was dry and sore, making her words sound like brittle leaves crackling under foot. "Shit, need a shower and some medicine."

Gathering her resolve, she rolled off the couch and hit the ground on all fours. Her legs were too shaky and refused to hold her weight so she crawled her way into the bathroom. Turning on the water was easy, getting a Full Restore out of the medicine cabinet was not. After a minute of trying to force herself to stand long enough to grab the healing fluid she managed to grab it. Slumping into the hot water, she drank the bitter medicine in great gulping chugs. Within seconds her body started coming back to life. The deep throbbing in her ass and pussy lessened and her throat no longer felt like raw meat.

"Bloody hell. Must have gone past the elimination rate of the Ditto Extract. I lost track of how long it had been after the second time losing consciousness. Need to talk to Mummy about increasing the metabolic destabilization after prolonged use. Maybe we can adjust the protein breakdown to get an extended use version of DE, charge more for it too." As she spoke the medicine and steam helped her voice go from that of a rough chain smoker of several decades back to her normal chipper soprano. "That is so magical Mummy. Thank you for inventing Full Restores."

Several minutes later, after cleaning herself thoroughly and getting a fresh shave Rei stepped back into the house wrapped in a towel. She found her Rotom Phone and checked it. Several missed calls and texts from Ellie and Mummy. It was still too early to return the calls, but she looked at the messages.

Her silver-haired girlfriend had successfully had her two kittens and they were adorable. The delivery had been difficult on her however and her body needed time to recover. Apparently Zeraora have more than one evolution stage, as these looked similar to a Litten only with yellow fur and lightning patterns. Typing out a quick response of congratulations, love, and a few dirty things she knew Ellie would love she then flipped back to Mummy's messages.

She stopped, apparently during the examinations, Mummy had found out that Ellie was mistaken about her age. The girl was just petite, but was actually 16 almost 17, not 14 almost 15 like she'd thought. Not only that, but her young girlfriend's body had taken quite a bit of damage in delivering the two infant legendary Pokemon. Ellie would need a couple of months to recover before she would be back to full strength. Finally, Mummy had responded to her message about fixing Ellie's ability to reproduce with human seed. All findings were still negative, but she promised Rei a lab and full team of experts to aid her in research once she was in a position to utilize them.

That gave Rei pause. She was chasing a dream to become the Champion. Ever since she'd been a little girl the idea of being the strongest Trainer in the Region seemed so cool. Rei had no doubt that statistically speaking, her team was the most perfect versions of each Pokémon they could be. Since access to Training Supplements was endless and calculated, it was as simple as feeding them to her team each day. Now, however, she had a conundrum; if she saw her dream through and became the Champion, would she have the time or freedom to dedicate herself to the task of helping her young girlfriend? Just thinking about how adorable an offspring of Kassi and Ellie could be made her squeal out loud.

"What's got you in such a good mood Blondie?" Amber's sultry voice said from the direction of the hallway. "I thought for sure you'd be on your deathbed after yesterday."

The curvy redhead came out and sat on the kitchen bar. Nona (her Espeon seeing eye Pokémon) hopped up on the bar and started to look for something to eat.

"Close enough, but the power of a hot shower and some Full Restore is amazing!" Rei bounced over to the kitchen and fired up the espresso machine. "Coffee?"

"Please, and yes nothing beats a hot shower." Amber crossed her arms and leaned into the bar. "Seriously, you doing ok?"

Rei didn't turn from the espresso machine as she continued to make a cappuccino for Amber.

"That obvious?"

I couldn't help but see your worries and shared them with Amber. Sorry if that stepped over the line. Nona spoke directly into her mind, even as she rubbed herself up against Amber's chest and curled up into a ball like a cat.

Sighing, Rei turned and set the cappuccino in front of Amber. "Sneaky psychic types. Maybe I need to have Genos around me more to protect my thoughts."

"To be fair, from what I've gathered, most of the time they're just dirty thoughts." Amber took a sip of her drink and smiled.

"That's not untrue...but, I am more than just a nympho, you know."

Amber didn't respond, she just waited for Rei to continue on her own.

"Ok, ok. But you can't tell Kassi any of this, got it?"

Amber nodded and Rei showed pictures of Ellie and her new kittens to Nona to pass on to Amber.

"I'm conflicted on what I should do. I've always thought about being Champion and laying claim to that title. Now, though, with seeing what Ellie is going through...more of me wants to help her. To throw myself headlong into my work until I can find a way to help her."

"But you can't walk away from one dream part way through to chase another?"

Rei nodded, "More than that. What would Kassi think? I know she's my lover, but I know she also sees me as her rival."

"Kassi is a big girl. She would support you no matter what. But would you like my opinion?"

"Yes."

"There's not much time left in the Challenge. There's no guarantee that you'll win. Neither Kassi or Ellie would want you to drop out when you're this close. Speaking as someone who has only made it this far in a Challenge once before amongst seven different tries, success is not guaranteed."

"That's true." Rei looked down at her bare toes. The normally perfectly pedicured toes were dull and unpainted. Her feet had calluses on them from all the walking she'd done on her journey. Rei had never physically worked for something so hard in her life. For the first time since Mummy's company became successful, she had something that wasn't just handed to her. Other than her cosplay company, which was just a way for her to claim her own pocket money while doing a craft she loved. "Thanks Amber now how about…"

I would quit while you're ahead.

"Fine. Nosy Pokémon." Rei reached out and gave Nona a pat on the head anyway. "So today we've got to-"

A Rotom phone sped into the room and floated over to hover in front of Amber.

"Call from an unknown number Mistress Amber, it's collect. Would you like to accept?" The little rotom chimed.

Amber had a look on her face like she'd just bitten into a lemon, but reached out and let the phone fall into her hand. Nona lifted her head and pressed the accept button with her nose then the speaker button.

"Hello, you have a collect call from The Wyndon City Jail. Inmate Basile is trying to contact you. The charge is 100 Pokedollars per minute. Do you accept?" An automated voice said, the name coming out in a rough male voice that made the hairs on Rei's neck stand up for some reason.

"Yes I accept," Amber said, then put her chin on her hand as she waited for the line to connect.

"Amber?" Came the male voice on the other end.

"How the hell did you get this number dad?" Her voice was hot, but Rei focused on her face, something wasn't right.

"That doesn't matter. Listen, I heard you got yourself a fat new sponsorship. I need bail to get out of the Wyndon Jail. They're claiming I threatened some little girl with a knife. You know I'd never do something like that." His voice was oily and thick with a Kalosian (French) accent.

The rest of Rei's hair stood on end. It was him; the sleazy charlatan that had threatened Kassi and her at knifepoint when he couldn't successfully steal Hope's egg.

"You just come get me out. We'll take that nice fat sponsorship check and go live somewhere nice. Just the two of us. Finally live in the lap of luxury like I've always wanted for us. You know that's why I worked so hard to give you a better life, right my little Dragée." He finished by using the Kalos term for sugar plum.

Through the whole speech, Amber hadn't moved. While her eyes never seemed to focus on anything, they were now staring into the void and twitching as if recalling something. Her forehead was covered in a cool sweat and her mouth hung open slightly.

"So what do you say? Come help your old man out and we can finally be together as a family. No more schemes, or cons. Just you and me; together. As father and daughter."

Amber's hands were shaking visibly now. She didn't respond even when Nona licked her cheek to get her attention.

Rei was not as brash as Kassi, normally. This seemed like a good time to intervene in spite of that fact.

"Hey, arsehole! This is Rei, one of the girls you held at knife point. Why don't you get nice and comfy. I'm going to make sure my lawyers see you ROT for as long as possible after what you did."

"What the? Who is this bitch Amber?" The man had switched into speaking his native language, Amber now snapping out of it and looking at her phone once more.

"This is Rei; Amber's friend, one of the girls you threatened, and heiress to Pokéhealth. I hope you're settled in, because as soon as I let the company's lawyers loose on you, there won't be an attorney in the world that can get you off. You threatened me, my girlfriend, and now you're threatening my friend. Bloody piss off!" Rei answered in fluent Kalosian right back. She held a hand out to Amber and the stunned redhead just placed the phone in her palm. Rei slammed her finger onto the hang up button.

"Ouch! Not so hard!" Complained the Rotom Phone as it flew out of her hand and rubbed at its screen tenderly.

"Sorry." Rei acknowledged, then turned to Amber.

She sat in stunned silence for several seconds. Slowly, with each breath, she seemed to collapse inward on herself. Her body started to shake, her breathing became short and rapid, a cold sweat was breaking across her skin.

Shit, she's having a panic attack. Rei recognized all the signs and immediately went to action. Some of the things to do in response to a panic attack; keep calm, not surprise them, don't assume you know what they want, talk in short easy sentences, and make them realize they are safe.

"Amber, it's going to be ok. You're in a safe place. Concentrate on your breathing. Tell me what you need now." Rei slowly walked around the kitchen island and sat on the barstool next to her.

Her breathing was still ragged and she could see that Nona was also trying to calm her Trainer. Probably mind to mind.

"Amber, is it ok if I help you to the couch? Would you like a blanket?" Keeping her voice soft and calm, she desperately wanted to hug the redhead, but knew it could set her off into a downward spiral. No response. Shit, this is bad.

"Nona, has this happened before?" Rei pushed her mind towards the Espeon, hoping she was listening.

"Only once since we've been together. It...it used to happen a lot more to her before me, I think." The Pokémon's eyes never left her Trainer's.

"Does she take any medicine for panic attacks?"

"Yes. She has some in her bag just in case. Right pocket, green bottle."

"Amber. Would you like some of your medicine?"

A nod, that was shaky and forced, but it was something.

Rei got up and calmly walked towards the room Amber had stayed in. As soon as she rounded the corner and was out of the line of sight she ran. The doorstop screamed at her rough entrance, which made her curse and made Keifer sit bolt upright in the bed. Oh? Amber and Keifer had finally slept together? Interesting.

"Rei, what in the bloody 'ell?"

"Shut up, stay in here and stay quiet. If you can rouse Kassi, tell her the same thing. Or just go back to sleep, I don't care."

"I don't under-"

"You don't need to understand, you just need to listen." Rei was using her no-nonsense voice. The one her teachers at the Academy had drilled into her for years. It was the voice of a dignitary, a ceo, a person of power that left no room for contest. She located the bottle and quickly removed one pill from it.

"Ok." He said, shifting in the bed even as Rei rushed back out of the room.

She slowed before coming around the corner. After getting a glass of water Rei calmly approached Amber, who had now slumped out of her bar stool and was curled up into a ball on the floor next to her stool.

"Here Amber. Take this, then we can talk. You're safe and no one will harm you here. Nona and I are here to help." Setting the pill and water next to Amber, she sat on her heels and relaxed. Rei started to emphasize her breathing, taking in long slow breaths and letting them out slowly. Hopefully, this would help Amber regulate her own ragged breathing and get her to settle down a bit. After a solid minute of this, not saying a word, Amber's breathing settled enough for her to reach for the pill with trembling fingers.

"Would you like help with that? You can just nod. But I will have to touch you."

Amber nodded and Rei reached for the pill. Helping Amber lift her head up, she placed the pill on her tongue then gave her a small sip of water.

"There, good girl. You can get through this. Would you like to rest your head on my leg?" Rei lightly tapped her thigh and held a gentle open hand to her.

Amber didn't say anything. For a second she looked at Rei's naked thigh as though it would attack her. With a series of rapid blinks she finally scooted over and rested her head in Rei's lap, nose facing out. Nona padded over and Amber scooped the Espeon into her arms, cuddling her like a Teddiursa Bear.

"See? It's not the place that's bothering you. It's the thoughts. Is it ok if I touch you? I just want to fix your hair." Rei was trying to sound as soft and maternal in her tone as she could. She got a miniscule nod from Amber and then she started to softly run her fingers through her hair. The top of her head seemed to have some sort of strange soft lumps, but Rei didn't have time to worry about that now.

They sat there in silence for several minutes. Rei continued to practice a steady breath to help Amber calm down. She kept her touch light and made sure to keep it innocent. During the wait she felt Kassi brush against her mind.

"Rei, what's going on? Keifer woke me up in a panic about Amber. I can't feel her at all. Nona has her mind wrapped up in a steel shell."

"Just stay where you are Kassi. Something happened with Amber's father. Get Keifer to your room quietly in case she wants privacy. We'll talk later. I love you."

"Oh, ok. I love you too." Kassi paused and Rei could feel a warm pink colored heat come from her. "You know babe, I like it when you use that mommy tone, kinda sexy."

Rei let out a mental chuckle, "Oh? Want me to be your mommy? I can do that, but later. I need to focus on Amber." An image of Rei and Kassi holding a beautiful baby girl in their arms leaked across the connection making Rei lose her concentration on her breathing for a second.

"Ok. Good luck. I'll tell Keifer to just teleport with Gardevoir. That room should be clear in a minute or so...try singing Alouette. I think it might help." Kassi closed the connection and Rei was left alone in her own mind once more.

Taking the advice, Rei started to slowly hum the Kalosian nursery song. Amber tensed for a second when Rei had started to hum, but quickly relaxed. Her labored breathing softened and then, it turned into the soft gasping breaths of someone starting to cry.

Well, that's a step in the right direction. At least she's not in fight or flight response anymore. Rei switched from humming to softly singing the words in as perfect Kalosian as she could. Her fingers trailed through Amber's beautiful bright red hair in soft petting strokes. She moved her other hand up to rest on the crown of Amber's head softly, nails gently scratching at the scalp underneath, that's when Rei noticed what those strange lumps had been, ears; cat ears softly furred and laying flat against her head.

With two shuddering sobs, the dam broke, and Amber started to cry in earnest. Her face twisted and she buried her eyes into the soft flesh of Rei's thighs. Her hot tears poured into the honey blonde's lap. Nona shifted in her arms as Amber curled into the fetal position around her and she had to remember to not crush the little Espeon.

Rei kept singing softly and didn't move; wanted to let Amber know that it was safe and that she wouldn't be going anywhere until she was asked to. The red head openly wept. For several minutes a flood of tears and body-shuddering sobs filled her lap and her ears. That was fine, she just worried about her friend. Nothing else mattered except Amber right now and seeing what she could do to help.

Finally, long after Rei's legs had fallen asleep from her sitting on them, Amber's cries of anguish became choked gasps for air.

Rei stopped singing, but continued to slowly pet her friend. "There there. It's ok. You're safe. The danger isn't here. No one can hurt you here. It's just you and me."

"T-t-thank you," Amber said, shuddering and wiping her eyes with her hand.

"When you get calmed down, would you like to talk about it?" Rei kept her voice soft and loving.

"M-my mère used t-to s-s-sing that song to me every n-night before bed." She paused, her breathing slowed and the shuddering lessened. "That's one of the only memories I can still remember of her clearly. I don't even remember her face. I lost my eyes so long ago. All I remember was her hair was red like mine, she was pretty, her voice was beautiful, and she tried so hard to protect me from him." The hand that had been resting on Rei's thigh clenched, her long nails digging into Rei's soft flesh and leaving red welt streaks behind.

Rei didn't even wince. A bit of pain was fine, as long as Amber got to feeling better. She kept gently petting Amber's hair.

"I feel so stupid. Breaking down like that. All because that asshole called me that nickname," she trailed off, clearly fighting with her mind.

"You don't have to talk about it," Rei turned Amber's head slightly and ran her thumb along her jawline, "if you don't want to that is. But, I'll listen if you do." Amber's beautiful green eyes stared at her face, only barely missing the mark of where her own eyes were.

"C-can we go to a room? I really want to lie down. This medicine always makes me sleepy." Amber sat up, her bright red hair cascading down her back and across her shoulder.

"That's fine. I got Keifer out of the one you stayed in. Here, lemme help you." Rei stood up and held out a hand to the redhead, which sat in open space for a second. "Oh! Right, I'm holding a hand out."

"Blondes." Amber said, taking the offered hand and weakly getting to her feet. Nona followed close by as the two of them walked into the bedroom and Rei got Amber settled in.

Rei wasn't sure what to do at first, so as soon as she pulled the blankets over Amber she sat on the side of the bed.

"What are you doing? Get in here and cuddle with me. I just- I just don't want to be alone." Nona looked at her Trainer with a scowl, "Not what I meant. I want a human companion here too Nona."

Rei slid into the covers and pulled Amber's head to rest on her chest. Not for the first time, Rei regretted having smaller breasts and not the large comfy pillows of the other women in the house. "Are you feeling any better?"

Amber nuzzled her head on Rei's chest, getting comfortable in a very cat-like way. She finally found a comfortable place right atop the soft fleshy pillow and let out a contented sigh. Lifting a leg up, she draped it over Rei's torso and relaxed.

Rei noticed as the side of her head brushed over her chest, there weren't ears on the side of her head. Unable to stop her curiosity, she reached up and began to gently knead at the base of one of Amber's ears.

The redhead froze, she'd forgotten in her panic about her ears. Well the secret was out for Rei at least. Relaxing, she let her ears stand up naturally, the soft triangular points poking out of her thick red locks. The rubbing did feel really good though.

"You don't tell anyone about those, got it?" Amber's voice was a growl.

"I can keep a secret." Rei said, switching to the other ear. She had not expected something like this, but that also explained why Amber never put her hair up. "So do you want to talk, or just relax?"

Amber let out a big yawn and pushed her head into Rei's kneading fingers. "Not really, but you helped and you deserve to know at least part of it." She paused, gathering her strength to talk about something she'd dreaded for years.

"Take your time."

Letting out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, Amber started, "my dad is a piece of shit. All the time growing up we kept moving for him to chase his cons and get rich quick schemes. He'd get involved with bad people, lie, cheat, steal, or anything else he thought could make him rich. My mère did her best to make it all seem normal and fun but she," Amber choked on a sob, "she couldn't take it. After my accident, the challenges of raising a blind daughter and having such a terrible man for a husband got to her and she-" Amber's body tensed and Rei pulled her into a tight hug.

"Just relax. Go slow. I'm proud of you for sharing like this."

"S-she took her own life one day. Dad never told me how, just that mère was gone. Even now, that fucker won't tell me." A tear rolled out of her swollen eyes and down her cheek, to be lost on Rei's soft chest. "But, things only got worse from there. Once mère was gone, he started to drink, and do drugs, and get abusive. He blamed me for the longest time for her death. I still feel it too, I still blame myself a bit." She wiped away and tear and took a couple of long breaths to steady herself. "Then one day, when he was deep in his cups, he came into my room and he…r-raped me."

Rei pulled Amber in closer as the strong woman broke down once again. "Shh, it's ok. You're safe. He can't get you here." Rei kept speaking small bits of encouragement to Amber as she wept once more. This time, it was shorter, she guessed that either Amber was running out of energy or the medicine was having an effect.

"It happened more than once and as soon as I could, I got the hell out of there. But he's always been a spectre. And his damn nickname..he'd whisper it every time he'd violate me. Over and over again into my ear it just…"

"Hush, Amber. It's ok. That part of your life is in the past. Look at where you are now. Look at where he is. I wasn't kidding when I said I'll get him buried in a hole if that's what you want." Rei lifted Amber's head and pressed her forehead to Amber's.

"Heh," Amber gave a sobbing chuckle, "Can I piss on the hole when you're done?"

"Save the piss for me. We'll all take turns shitting on it, the Pokémon too." It was the weirdest thing Rei thought she'd ever said that led to a kiss. Amber's lips were still trembling with her fatigue and grief. They tasted salty and wet from her tears. It was a kiss of desperation, Rei knew, but it was also filled with passion. Not lust, just desperation for grounding.

"You're such a fucking pervert." Amber chuckled as she pulled away. "Thank you, Rei," she put her head back on Rei's chest.

"You're welcome Amber."

"You know, there's one thing that's always bugged me. Why do I shut down like this, have a panic attack when thinking about those awful times, but rape play is my biggest turn on? Guess I really am fucked up." Amber was running her finger in an idle circle around Rei's belly button.

Trying her best not to giggle at the tickling finger, Rei thought on it. "Actually, that's a fairly standard situation. Enacting rape fantasies in search of liberation is not uncommon among rape survivors, who try to master their trauma by turning it into something positive. And it can yield positive results. If they play out a rape fantasy and don't get hurt or scared, and they only get aroused, it creates a positive interpretation of the action. The fear and uncertainty gets replaced with an erotic association. It's a way of rewriting history and claiming it."

Amber lifted her head and looked at Rei, Nona did too.

"What?"

Shaking her head and chuckling, Amber laid her head back down. "Nothing, guess there is a brain locked in beside the sex monster."

"Oh, no. They are one and the same." Rei said, giving Amber's ass a playful pinch.

Amber didn't respond, she just snuggled in closer to Rei and tried to relax. Soon, the redhead had drifted off to sleep, but not without a few more tears falling quietly from her eyes.

Rei thought about what challenges Amber's life had put before her. So different from Rei's, other than having daddy issues. It reminded her of a famous saying that was often misquoted. "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb," she whispered to the softly sleeping older woman. "The family you choose is more important than the one you were born into, and I consider you family Amber." Rei kissed the top of her head, then relaxed in the warmth of her soft curves, drifting back to sleep herself.

***This was originally written as a one Shot for InfiniteMisses, the woman behind a great deal of my success. She is the brain behind Amber and the one who helps me with editing larger projects as well as running the discord server. I couldn't imagine running the GTiG fandom without her and I hope that she enjoyed this bit of love given to our favorite redhead.

The next chapter will be somewhat delayed due to life and another writing project I am attempting, but rest assured that fun stuff is just around the corner. Join the GTiG discord server if you like this story and want to hang out with us. We're quite active. /vU8qTF2