Disclaimer: Smeyer and DC Comic's characters.
Diana... Needed and Loved
Slutty much, Bella thought eying Charlie's shirt. That was my cue to turn around.
"Hi," I replied.
"Hey." Crap. She can read minds. Bella shuffled her feet, looking at the floor. "I –uh, couldn't sleep."
"Me neither. Something tells me you're over the pleasantries, but do you want some of this before I put it away?" I asked, holding up the pitcher of tea. I knew Bella was not fond of BS, much like Charlie. Kissing up to her would do neither of us any good.
"Sure."
I turned and grabbed a glass out of the cabinet.
She sagged into one of the kitchen chairs.
Bella's thoughts were all over the place, but still focused on me. She was not pleased that I knew my way around her kitchen. She was not pleased that I was wearing Charlie's shirt and nothing else. She was not pleased with me at all.
I slid the glass on the table and put the tea back in the fridge.
"So should we even bother to talk? I mean having you read my mind wouldn't really make me feel secure with a heart to heart." She said to my back.
"I don't have to read your mind," I told her. I kept my distance, hopping up on the counter.
"But you will," she shot back. Part of me should have been upset, insulted, but all I could feel was pride. This was exactly the way I had talked to my mother all those years go. Bella had turned out wonderfully. She was a fighter.
"No. I can block your thoughts," I told her, hiding my smile.
"Really?" The sarcasm dripped from the word.
"Yes. Bella, I can't lie to you." Her eyes brows shot up.
Bullshit.
"I'll block them right now," I continued, closing mind to her completely. "What do you want to know?"
"Fine. You know what Charlie and I talked about?"
"Yes, about how we met," I replied.
"Yeah well I guess – damn I don't know. What the hell is your deal?" I had to laugh at her candor. Bella and I were so much a like.
"You care to elaborate?"
"Where do I start? Charlie. Esme. Your mom. Me. Alice. Well Alice actually makes sense to me. But I just don't get it. Why?" she pleaded.
I thought for a moment. I hadn't had to explain myself, fully, in over twenty years. How to phrase the words – to my daughter? My life before her, my life with Charlie, it was simple, yet so involved. So many rules and so many circumstances, but there were things that were simple and concrete. I loved my daughter. I loved her father, I loved my wife and I would continue to love the three of them in equally parts for all of eternity.
How could I make her understand the necessity of it all? Where it all started, how it went wrong and all Charlie, Esme and I tried to do make it right again.
I figured I'd start with the most basic of details. The real reason we were both here, right now.
"My mother hates me."
"Why?" Bella gasped. For a moment I was grateful that she hadn't let her feelings about me cloud be her thoughts of how others should perceive me. Her disdain was hers and hers alone.
"I'm the only Amazon born of a man. All of the other women, like Esme were immaculately conceived or fathered by a god. My father –" I paused rolling my eyes, knowing the absurdity of the words I was about to say. "My father is Adam. As in the first man." Charlie had never dragged Bella to church, but she was well read. She knew where I was pulling from Christian theology. She leaned back in her chair, and rubber her temples. She was Charlie's child for sure.
"Why am I not surprised," she muttered. "Go on."
"I'll give you the abridged version. Your great grandfather, Ares was at one point in great favor with the Alpha. - You know what? I'll give you the even more abridged version. My mother was given her pick of mates. She chose Adam. I was conceived and Adam screwed her over and she's sworn off love and men ever since."
"So she hates you cause you're the constant reminder of the one who got away?" Bella inferred.
"Exactly. And the island. It used to have men on it, but after Adam wronged her, the island she claimed as her own as restitution for his wrong doing."
"Hmmm." Bella's brow contorted as she looked down. Just like Charlie.
"The Alpha, I guess you can call him God, he loves me and he knew that if he didn't protect me that the Queen would have me killed. He made me more powerful than her and he gave me a purpose. She didn't like that much either."
"And I take it she wasn't too excited when you came home pregnant by a mere mortal."
"She is okay with things now, but at the time she wanted me to kill you," I told her frankly. "And when I refused she banished me from the island all together."
"What?" she nearly yelled. I knew that her bond with Alice, all the things she had seen, even the way she felt connected to Esme gave Bella a taste of what it would feel like to have it all taken away. She understand the weight of my mother's decision.
"Esme appealed to the Alpha and he overruled the Queen about me and about you. I wouldn't have left you there though. You needed to know Charlie. You needed to know his love. I knew I couldn't be in your life, but I wanted him to be."
"He was my whole life," she said softly.
A strange silence filled the room. Above our heads, Charlie, turned in his sleep. He drempt of me. And fishing. Alice's thoughts since the moment she'd met her, were of Bella. I could never be thankful enough for Alice. I would also appreciate the way she was loving Bella.
"I thought you'd just left us," Bella admitted.
"I know."
"I really hated you." Even if our bond had been different she still would have said the words.
"I know. I do love you, Bella. I have not been living life without you on my mind. I sent money all the time. I sent presents. Charlie just couldn't tell you who there were from. When your music class sang 'Shiny Happy People' at your second grade recital, I was there."
"You were?"
"Yes."
"Why— well I guess I know." She quickly changed stream.
"Why, what?" I encouraged.
"I was just going to ask why you didn't talk to me, but I guess that may have confused me even more."
"Bella, your father wasn't joking when he said I have very powerful enemies and not just in this realm. There are those who protect even the island, to keep Alice and Esme safe. I couldn't risk someone using you or Charlie as leverage against me. These aren't the kind of bad guys seeking a ransom. Do you understand what I am telling you?"
"Yeah," she murmured.
"And if I saw you and you asked me who I was, I wouldn't have been able to lie to you. I meant what I said. You are of my flesh and of my soul. For our kind it is impossible for us to lie to our loved ones. That's why the moment I realized my feelings for Charlie I told him everything."
"Yeah about that. Really, how does Esme feel about all this? I know she's super understanding, but I mean, come on. The way Alice explained it to me, she wouldn't even regard Charlie as a human. How does she handle the fact that you're – in love with him, that you had me with him. Better yet? I thought you didn't even like guys," Bella insisted.
"First off, you, young lady who have ended up being a lesbian even if you had decided to stay here. So when Alice told you that you would have never liked boys, she wasn't talking about just in our world."
Her mouth hung open for a moment or two, but she snapped it back shut, letting me continue.
"All of the women on the island are simply sexual beings. They only exist among women, so they love only women. But even the Queen can't deny the necessity for male beings."
"Hence Sun and the boys," she confirmed.
"Correct. And see Esme is grateful for Charlie. I was miserable before I met him. Horribly lonely. It tore her apart that I was in this world alone for so many years. I have – colleagues now, some mortal and some from other worlds, who do what I do. But for a long time I was alone."
"How long have you been here on Earth?" she asked with genuine curiosity.
"Sixty-three years. Earth had was facing one if its hardest times and The Alpha chose that time to let me follow my destiny." I could see it on her face, doing the math, thinking what my role could have been in the war.
"How old are you?"
"268 years old. Esme and I both. We had been bound for a long time. We both had to sacrifice a great deal. And Tanya too. She could not stand to see Esme alone."
"Right," she said quietly. "Well what now? We went back a few days here. How many days does that give you on the island when we get back?"
"Our week runs nine days. You will notice that our nights are longer than they are here on Earth. So I will have five days when I return with Alice."
"I don't know if I'll be all that far behind you," Bella told me.
"Why is that?"
"Well I'm guessing you know Dad well enough to know that we're not gonna spend the whole day chatting. It might just be better to go. Get it over with." My heart broke in that instance. I had been putting it off, letting myself acknowledge these feelings. It had been Bella's decision. She had fallen for Alice, she had decided to stay, but ultimately I was taking her from her father. She was a smart kid. She knew herself and she knew Charlie so well, but it would hurt them both. Quick and painful might be the best way for them.
"It's your choice." I agreed.
Diana. Charlie was calling to me in his sleep. I stood and carried my glass to the sink.
"Will you see him more now that I won't be here?" Bella asked, a bit of sad hope in her tone.
"What do you think would be best? I know what I want, but you know him better than I do," I asked, leaning against the counter.
Need you. Charlie turned again. His dreams were close to waking him.
"I guess as long as it's safe, then yeah. He's gonna get lonely."
"Then I will see him more often. I would like to."
"I just don't want him to be sad," she said.
"Neither do I." There was more silence then. I think the both of us knew that for right now, there was nothing more to say. She could know everything thing now and whether it was I or Esme or Alice who told her, she would know the complete truth. It would be my only gift to her.
I turned and headed for the stairs.
"Mom." I sharp tingle shot over the crown of my head and down my spine. It was the first time in her life, she had ever said the word. I turned and looked at Bella. My little girl.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you – for Alice. Thank you for her."
"Maybe it was the least I could," I said, winking at her. And finally she smiled.
I took the stairs slowly, torn between leaving her and going to Charlie. Now that things were - better, I wanted more time her. Time like this. Hopefully at some point I could really get to know her.
When I reached the top of the stairs I could sense Charlie waking up. He and I had already made love. We tried to wait until the girls went to sleep, but we couldn't. We'd been apart to long.
As I entered his room he sat up, trying to look at me through drowsy eyes. He'd pulled on a t-shirt and his boxers before he fell asleep. Just a habit I guess, after spending so many night alone in this drafty house.
"You alright?" he whispered.
"Yes, I'm fine. I was just talking to Bella."
"Oh yeah?" He yawned. "How'd that go?"
I started walking towards the bed, but stopped and played with a loose piece of wood on his dresser.
"Good actually. She heard what I had to say and she seemed a little less angry with me. I think we'll be okay in time."
"I think so too. You want to come back to bed?"
"Yeah, sorry," I chuckled. "Just thinking." I ambled over and climbed under the covers with him. He was so warm. I turned my back to him, laying on my side.
"Diana." I could hear the smile in his voice. I curled into his pillows, hiding my face and the giggle that was threatening to escape. I loved teasing Charlie.
"Yes?"
"What do you think you're doing exactly?"
"Going to sleep."
"Like hell you are. I'm awake now," he whispered in my ear. The laughter burst out of me as Charlie grabbed me by the waist and pulled me on top of him, my backside pressing into his stomach. I playful fought him off, letting him tickle my stomach and my sides. I was careful every second to mind my strength with him, careful to let him be in complete control.
Suddenly his rough grabs of his fingertips slowed. I could feel the three days worth of stubble against the crook of my neck. I could feel is strongly callused hands slide up under his shirt across my stomach and up my breasts. And then I could his erection straining to break through the fabric of his boxers.
"I know you heard me," he breathed, low and deep in my ear. His hand quickly reached between my legs and pulled his erection through the slit in shorts. The head of him began to rub against the inside of my thigh and suddenly I couldn't breathe. "You know I need you."
I reached between our legs and gripped him. He swallowed lightly, breathing deep. His hands came up around me and slowly began undoing the buttons on his shirt. With low hard strokes my hand went up and down his length until the last button was released.
"Come on," he whispered, sitting up with me and I moved forward. Every time Charlie touched me, it was with love, but when I was with him I needed him to love me a certain way. I needed him to be a man with me. I needed him to be hard and rough. I needed him to handle me in ways that Esme couldn't. I had only let Fire inside me once and although the feeling of him was pleasurable, the emotion wasn't there. Charlie loved me and he was the only man who could love me the way I needed him to.
He was the only man who could ever make me feel like a woman.
When I returned to the island I would thorough make love to Esme. And Tanya. But I was here now and now all I could think of Charlie and things he was about to do to me.
I braced my hands on either side of Charlie's legs and pushed myself up on my knees. Charlie legs slid out from under me and in the next moment his behind me, removing his shirt. It slid off my arms and he tossed it on the floor. I didn't turn around, but I saw his boxers and his t-shirt land on top of the long sleeved flannel. I slid my panties off and added them to the pile.
His arms came back around my body and he held me close, one hand on my stomach, the other on my breast. The hair on his chest pressed into my back. His erection ground against me.
"I love you, you know," he growled into my ear.
"I love you," I whispered back. I knew it may have been some for hard to understand, but I did. Esme and Charlie were on two different planes of existence for me. Esme completed the me, filled every inch of my soul, but Charlie made so I could live the life I had to lead.
When I had saved a life or taken one, Charlie made it so I could breathe. I had no real life outside of him. My world in Washington, DC was one of duty. I served the world on behalf of the US government. I had no friends. I barely had a home, just an apartment where I slept. I had associates, Bruce and Clark, who were nice enough, but I couldn't never really get close them. Here in this world, Charlie was my everything and I loved him- completely.
I fell forward, gracefully landing myself on all fours and waited patiently for my lover. Charlie cupped me from behind with his strong hand and slowly began massaging me. My head fell between my shoulders and I shuddered as a moan rippled though me. My hair curtained my face.
Charlie never really spoke much and during sex he was no different. I listen to his gentle deep breaths, feeling his eyes on my body. He leaned forward over me and I felt his lips graze the length of my back.
"Charlie," I grunted. "I can't wait. Please don't make me wait."
His lips traveled to my side and pressed a single deep kiss to the spot right above my hip. "Never, baby," he whispered.
Every inch of that man slid inside me. I bit down on my lip trying to hold back my cries. Bella was still awake and I couldn't wake Alice. Charlie and I hadn't made love in a few months and Esme wasn't able to be inside me while I'd been back home. My core was tight, desperate for attention.
Charlie grunted as he thrust forward again and again. He needed the slow build. I was delicate to him, but soon he quicken his paced, the force behind his hips becoming more and more intense. I rode out my first orgasm that tore through me and buried my face into the sheets. Charlie was just getting started.
He pulled me up into his lap, resting back on his heels. His hand went back to my hip and the fingers of the other began working my nipples.
I could barely hold it together. Esme didn't have his grip. Tanya did have his rough precision.
His lips pressed in my neck as he grunted into my skin. We never lost connection between our thighs as he rocked into me.
"Charlie," I groaned. "I love you. I love you so much." He gripped my breast harder.
"I. Need. You." I knew exactly what he meant. "Come. Back to me. Soon." I'd been away toolong and now that he was losing our daughter his loneliness threatened to consume him. He would need me more, just as much as I needed him.
I dropped my hips onto him, my body begging for his release and soon he gripped me harder, his fingertips pressing into my skin. He came, filling me in ways only he could, moaning into my hair.
We fell back into the sheets together and pulled me into his chest. I could feel his heart beating and his warm breath against my forehead. In the morning I would have to go and I would have to set the time back right. It would be at least a week before I could see him again. My chest tightened at the thought.
"Charlie. I need you too."