Wes cursed the sunlight as it slowly crawled into Myri's bedroom. They were a tangle of arms and legs, skin on skin on top of the bed sheets that were soaked from the hours and hours of lovemaking that had occurred over the night. In his entire lifetime, Wes hadn't been able to use more than two of his signature moves that he prided himself on. With Myri, he went through his entire repertoire twice. His entire body was burning with fatigue. Myri, on the other hand, slept quite soundly in his arms, her head snuggled against his shoulder.
"To be young again," he murmured softly, then chucked. At the moment, he felt as if he had gone back in time and was reliving his entire reckless post-adolescence of debauchery with one gorgeous woman. She may have not yet lived two full decades, but Wes was sure that she was more of a woman than any female he had ever met. She had the body, brain, and skills to prove it. It just happened to be very disconcerting that all these things were a product of Wedge Antilles.
Wes had gotten so wrapped up in his thoughts while staring at her that he hadn't realized the room was now fully lit by the morning sun. He shook his head sadly and gently stroked his fingers down her cheek, "Myri, I have to go."
He regretted his words the moment she opened her turquoise eyes. He wanted to stay all day. Wes began to pull away, but Myri's legs tightened around his hips.
"Don't go yet," she purred, "Not like that. Leave me with something special."
Wes laughed softly and pressed her back against the pillows that surrounded them. E held himself above her for a few moments, long enough to quip, "Can't deny a beautiful woman," before plunging deeply into another passionate tryst with her.
Out in the hallway, Syal was heading for the stairs. She had to get to the lab early to make preparations for the few days that she wouldn't be able to be there. As she passed her younger sister's room, she could hear Myri calling out. Concerned, she opened the door, "Myri, are you alright? I heard y—"
He was naked, but she couldn't see his face; his bare backside was to her. Syal recoiled in horror as it hit her like a ton of ferrocrete what she had just walked in on. She exited the room as quickly as possible, shutting the door softly behind her and putting a hand against her chest. She walked away from the door at a fast pace, trying to put as much space as possible between her and what was going on in her sister's room.
Later that evening, Myri had the gall to parade around in a lounging gown that look more like a slightly-too-long tunic as the family made dinner. As Syal peeled tubers, she tried her best not to pay attention to her younger sister. It was hard to ignore her dancing and twirling around the kitchen as she got ingredients to make a salad. Apparently, the scene that Syal walked in on that morning had warmed up her icy exterior, and all the while their parents were thinking nothing of it. To save them their dignity, Syal stopped what she was doing and turned to face Iella and Wedge, who were mixing ingredients for a meatloaf.
"Myri had someone over last night," the words sounded quite childish coming from the 21-year-old scientist.
"Whatever are you talking about?" Iella asked, flanking from Syal to Myri, who had looked up from the head of lettuce she was breaking up.
"There was a man; he was here this morning when I left for work. I heard noise coming from Myri's room and I went to check it out—"
"How dare you!" Myri exclaimed, shooting her sister a look that would have killed her if it was possible, "Just because you're slaving your life away in the lab doesn't mean that you have to go making up ridiculous stories to bring me down with you!"
"You lying little harlot!" Syal snapped, moving forward to try and threaten her. Had Myri not been so furious, she would have laughed. She wasn't exactly built to seem ominous.
"Now, now, calm down you two," Wedge said, grabbing his older daughter's shoulder and holding her still. Myri slammed the head of lettuce down on the countertop and stepped right up to Syal. She wanted to see how her older sister would react if she called her bluff.
"No Dad, I'd like to see what her next move was."
"Glad to see nothing has changed," Iella commented. Wedge threw her a look of sarcastic thankfulness. Though he was well aware that this was careening past the point of no return, he still didn't want to see Myri wipe the floor with Syal.
"Now girls, can we not have you rip each other's hair out all over our dinner?" he asked them, trying to lighten things with a carefully placed joke. The two paid him no attention and just kept glaring at one another.
"Yea, Myri, how would you attract your customers while you've got patches of scalp showing?" Syal spat bitterly.
"Syal!" Wedge bellowed, "You're being completely out of line! Get out of my sight until you can act like a sensible adult."
Syal turned to her mother, hoping to win some amnesty from her, "How can you let her come back and destroy our family again? It's only gotten worse since she's walked back through that door!"
That little plea sent Myri right off the deep end. Years of loneliness and frustration, fear and sadness boiled to a massive explosion as she plowed through her father with ease and shoved her sister into the far wall of the kitchen. Syal hit the wall hard, taken unexpectedly by what felt like a stun bolt hitting her. Dazed, she was helpless as Myri took hold of her thick blonde hair and slammed her head against the wall.
"You have anything to say now?" Myri yelled as her sister erupted into hysterical screams and pleas for help. Her hair was already reddening with blood from a gash that had split right at her hairline.
Wedge and Iella could believe the melee that was their younger daughter. Wedge moved first, struggling to pull Myri off of Syal as she brutally punched her in the stomach..
"By the Gods, Myri, you're out of your mind!" Iella exclaimed as Wedge pulled her arms behind her back and held them there. She instantly regretted what she had said when Myri's manic eyes turned on her.
"I didn't ask to come back to this," she shouted, "My work may not have been respectable in any of your eyes, but I got more respect there, more love, than I ever did in this house!"
She thrashed backwards against Wedge, sending him tipping and he let go of her. Myri stormed up the stairs as Iella ran to help Syal, who had made a mess of herself and the floor as she curled up into a ball, sobbing hysterically.
Wedge followed his younger daughter, and as he came to her bedroom, he could clearly hear her slamming her clothing trunks and knew that she would be leaving. He pushed open the door, glancing around at the terrible mess she had made of her room in the short amount of time she had been in there. When she whirled to face him, the tears streaming down her cheeks nearly shattered his heart.
"How could you bring me back here?" her voice was hoarse and all she could manage was a weak whisper, "I can't live under this roof with that wench. I refuse to believe that we share the same gene pool."
Wedge sighed, shaking his head sadly as he realized that he had failed her miserably, "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I wanted so badly for us to be a whole family again—"
"It will never happen," Myri returned to her packing, zipping her bag, "I can't stay here."
"Where will you go?" he knew very well that his daughter was loose ion cannon. He couldn't let her just walk into the night on her own.
"I'll go stay with We—" she sighed when her father's face fell, "With Hobbie."
Wedge nodded, disappointed with her and with himself. He let the sickening feeling of his failure simmer for a moment into a contentedness with her decision on staying with Hobbie. At the moment, he trusted him more than Wes, judging by the short-lived relationship that had existed between him and Myri, "Just let me know that you get there safely."
Myri walked to her father, wiping her tear stained cheeks and reached out to give him an exhausting hug. Wedge returned the embrace strongly, running a hand through her dark hair and kissing her forehead. He gave her a gentle, reassuring smile as they pulled apart.
"That was a great drop you had on her, by the way…"
"Thank you, daddy."