Chapter 40

Tennessee Waltz

Their eyes locked and neither one of them moved. Greg was sending out the most primal feelings of sexual attraction I have ever felt in a man and Suzie was reciprocating. If Furey and I hadn't been there, it wouldn't have taken much dialogue to get them to adjourn to a bedroom. I was used to men fawning and being attracted to Suzie, but it took a lot for her to take an interest in a man. She wasn't just interested in Greg; she was Nancy to his Sid. I couldn't breathe; the emotion of it all was overwhelming. I started to get extremely anxious until I saw Furey's little face out of the corner of my eye. He was looking over at me, clearly worried. I suspected it had something to do about the baby. Just when I was going to send him a message to ask him what was wrong, I felt it. The baby fluttered for the first time.

"Oh! Oh!" I grabbed my abdomen.

Greg turned and looked at me, his face beet red from blushing. He closed the door, took a quick glance up at Suzie, who was walking slowly down the stairs, and then back at me. "What is it?" He asked.

I grinned and jumped for joy, "I felt the baby! I felt the baby move!"

Greg smiled and took off his coat, hanging it on a hook by the door. He walked over and gave me a peck on the lips, "Good, maybe you'll stop worrying." He looked over at Suzie, who was now standing by the couch handing Furey a wrapped gift.

I knew the polite thing to do was to introduce them, but I couldn't' help thinking I was signing my own death warrant. I hesitated and then cleared my throat, "Greg, this is Suzie, Suzie, Greg."

Greg didn't smile, he just nodded at her. She put out her hand and shook it, gently.

"I'm glad to finally meet the man who picked not one, but two psychics to get involved with. You must be quite a man."

I waited for some cutting or snappy retort, but there was none, "Thank you. So Furey, what did you get?"

Furey was pulling out a perfect model of a Star Trek communicator, "Whoa! A communicator. Look, Dad! Wow, thanks Suzie, really, it's awesome."

I was happy for Furey, he loved the gift; it was the perfect choice for him. Greg looked around a little. I spoke up, "Your Mom is upstairs."

He nodded, took another look at Suzie, concentrating on her breasts, and then went into the kitchen. "When's dinner?" I heard him yell.

"As soon as your mother gets down. In fact, Furey, come help set the table honey."

Furey looked up and nodded. After first planting a kiss firmly on Suzie's cheek, he got up and went with me into the kitchen. I kept rubbing my tummy, hoping I had really felt the baby move and not just having a reaction to the stress of what I had just witnessed. I was leaning on the counter, my hands gripping the edge, trying not to think about it, when Furey put a hand on top of mine and squeezed. His hands were already longer than mine. I looked over at him and he gave me the sweetest smile.

Auri, it was the baby you felt, don't worry, he's okay. Just think, in a few days, you and Dad will be married and this will all be over.

Oh sweetie, thanks. I'm just stressed out over all the things I have to do.

I know why you're stressed. I felt it too.

I didn't respond. I pulled down the plates and watched as Greg went out to the living room to sit on the sofa. The dining room was sandwiched in between the kitchen and the living room. I wasn't as fond of the townhouse as I was my little house, but I discovered after numerous conversations that getting Greg to move or buy another house was like pulling teeth.

We sat down for dinner and naturally, the conversation turned to the wedding. Suzie and Greg tried to avoid looking at each other as much as possible, but I could feel the sexual tension between them. I couldn't take it; I listened into Greg's thoughts.

Auri noticed; I saw it in her face. She's probably reading my thoughts now…get out of my head Auri; I deserve to think about this in private.

His eyes flashed on mine as if he knew I was in his head. I blushed and pulled out, hoping that they could control whatever it was going on between them. I heard Blythe ask me something, but didn't actually catch the question.

"Auri? Where are you going on your honeymoon?" She asked again.

"Uh…I don't know. Greg is in charge of that. He just said to pack walking shoes and clothes for fall."

Blythe smiled at her son, "Then I'll ask him later."

I caught Suzie smiling at Greg and immediately looked to catch his reaction. He was amused, smiling back until he saw that I was looking. I hardly got through dinner, trying hard to be a good hostess and all the time a trusting fiancé. Suzie had always been a tremendous flirt. It didn't take much of her charm to hook the guys. It was one of those things that you both loved and hated about her. You knew if you went out with her, men would hover around, but then, you also knew she'd pick the best for herself and you'd get her rejects.

We spent the next two days running around finishing the details for the wedding. Greg came home early both days and even offered to chauffeur Suzie to the mall when she moaned that her new shoes were killing her. I wanted to run with them, but I was due at the bakers to pick up the candy for the tables. They were Jordan Almonds with A & G printed on them.

I kept trying to access Greg's thoughts, but when I opened the gate, the stress and traffic in my brain from everyone trying to contact me, was like a huge traffic jam. I only received impressions. Mostly, they were impressions of Greg having a great time. He was laughing and relaxed; something he hadn't been in the last month around me.

That night, I knew I had to stay home and relax. The exhaustion and anxiety were just too much and my stomach was nauseated, my legs were swelling and my head was pounding. Greg was with a patient and indicated he would be home late. Jim and Jen had offered to cook dinner for all of us, but it ended just being Blythe and Furey going over. Suzie and I stayed home to get some chores done. They called and let me know that they were all going to a movie after dinner and would be home around eleven. At eight-thirty, I was dead on my feet so Suzie sent me to bed with a hearty bowl of soup and crackers which I quickly ate and then fell asleep. When I woke up around nine thirty, I could feel Greg nearby. I got up, still groggy, put on my robe and walked barefooted down the stairs. No one was in the living room, but the television was on. I went through the dining room and into the kitchen. Opening the door, I gasped. Standing at the counter, Suzie had her hand on Greg's cheek and was reaching up, eyes closed to kiss him, mouth open, tongue moving forward. Greg saw me and jerked back. I'm not sure if he was jerking back before he saw me or after he saw me.

Greg pushed Suzie away, "Auri!" He ran after me as I shot out the door and up the stairs. I heard him follow, so I slammed the bedroom door closed and locked it.

Pounding on the door he begged, "Auri, let me in. Auri, damn it!"

I ignored him and then I heard Suzie's voice, "Auri, don't blame Greg, it was my fault, please let us in. We need to talk to you."

I yelled through the door, "We? Is that the royal we, or do you two have something you need to tell me about your relationship?"

I was pouting when my head exploded with Greg's voice. Don't do this. Open the door and let me in, you owe it to me to talk about this. You need an explanation and I have one.

I blasted back, You're doing fine telepathically. What do you have to say for yourself?

Bam! The door jamb splintered and the lock popped. Greg pushed open the door, a large wrench in his hand which he had used as a battering ram. Behind him was Suzie, looking more anxious than contrite. He walked over to the bed and grabbed my arm, clinching his teeth.

"Greg, don't bother. I've known from the minute you looked at her that you were attracted to each other."

He rolled his eyes, "Auri, look at her. I'd have to be eunuch not to be. But, I'm not marrying her, I'm marrying you. I love you. I shouldn't have let her get so close in the kitchen, but you know me, I was curious to see if she would betray you. I'm sorry, we both failed you. It was an experiment that went horribly wrong."

"And in this experiment, how far were you going to go? Were you going to kiss her? Feel her up? Fuck her?"

Suzie rushed forward, "Auri, I'm sorry, I've just never felt this way about a man, especially so quickly. I don't know why. I hate what I did, but I had a dream a month ago. I saw Greg and I living together, not you and him. I thought it was meant to be. I didn't realize all the pain it would cause for it to come true."

I almost passed out. Suzie's dreams were almost always correct, unless someone intervened and shifted fate. Greg is supposed to be with Suzie, not me? Not me? I was freaking out until I heard his voice blast through my thoughts.

Greg was standing with his arm extended and pointing out the bedroom door, "Out! Get your crap and leave, I want you out. I don't care where you go, what rock you climb under, but get!" I'd never heard Greg so angry. I honestly thought that he was going to hit Suzie.

She stepped towards him, "Greg, we belong together, not you and Auri. Please, it's your …our…destiny. I love Auri, but you and I have one of those attractions that goes beyond words."

"Oh, I can think of a few words, Glen Close, Fatal Attraction." He pointed to the door, "Now get out, I won't tell you again."

She turned, her eyes pleading, "Auri, you know that when I have these dreams, they're almost always right."

"Screw You." My hand was raised, finger pointing to the door.

She ran down the hall to Furey's room and slammed the door.

"I want you out too, Greg. At least out of the bedroom, I don't want to be around you."

"Auri, I was an idiot, my curiosity got the better of me. I admit it, when I first saw her I wanted to screw her silly, but that doesn't mean that I would or that I care about her. It's a guy thing."

"Whatever it is Greg, I feel like you've cheated on me."

He shook his head and gave a sigh of exasperation, "I wasn't going to kiss her or screw her. I just wanted to see how far she'd go behind your back. She started talking to me about this stupid dream of hers, that she knew the minute she saw me that I was the one in her dream, that she and I were supposed to hook up. Auri, don't do this to us. Read me, go ahead, see if I'm telling you the truth."

I didn't have to read him; I could tell that he was being truthful. After all, how many men admit that they want to screw the maid of honor two nights before their wedding? But, the fact that he even tempted fate, combined with her dream, I felt torn. It didn't help that I was exhausted, hormonal and stressed beyond belief.

"Greg, please leave for a few minutes. I really need to be by myself."

He refused to budge.

"Look, the door is busted; you can come back in at any time. Please give me a moment."

He frowned, but then he got up and left the room. A few minutes ago I heard screaming downstairs. He and Suzie were fighting, I listened into her thoughts.

I'm so alone, I've been so alone lately. This is my last chance to get him to leave her, come with me. He had to be the man in my dreams, that connection when we met, it was too hot. It must have been him in my dreams. I need to convince him.

Her thoughts were chaotic, coming from several directions, maniacal. If I hadn't been so stressed, I would have probably seen it or felt it earlier-- felt that she had been acting strange since she had met Greg. It was only then that it dawned on me that she had been wrong about the dates of our wedding. Her premonitions were off.

She isn't sure the dream had been about Greg! She was only guessing because of that sexual connection on the stairs. Oh my God!

I ran downstairs where they were still yelling at each other. I looked over at Suzie, crying "Oh my God, Suzie, you're not even sure if your dream is about him! How could you do that? How could you make a move on my fiancé when you didn't even know if he was the one you had seen? Something isn't right. You need help. I'm serious; I can hear that chaos in your mind, you need to fly home and see a shrink."

She looked at me with horror in her eyes, "But, Auri, it seemed so real, the connection felt right. I just thought…"

Greg got in her face, "Get the hell out of here before I do something you'll sue me over."

Looking between us, she knew she needed to leave, "I need a ride to a hotel."

"Tough, goodbye." He grabbed her luggage and tossed it outside. Suzie followed, looking back at me with tears in her eyes.

I went over to the phone, dialed a cab for her and then walked back up the stairs.

Greg yelled up the stairs, "Auri, please."

"Greg, I need some space, just let me have some space."

About ten minutes later there was a loud noise from everyone coming through the front door. I heard Jim and Blythe's voices and then Furey's.

"Auri?" He called out. "Auri?"

Greg's voice tried to calm him, "She's a little upset, leave her alone."

I walked to the top of the stairs, but everyone had gone into the living room. I could hear them, but not see them.

"We were in the middle of the movie and Furey started hyperventilating, yelling at us that we had to leave, things were bad at home. He seems to think you were kissing Suzie and that Auri was thinking about calling the wedding off."

"Dad, is Auri leaving us?" Furey's voice broke my heart, he sounded so scared, so worried.

Blythe spoke up, "Honey, everything will be okay. Where's Suzie?"

Greg's voice was final, "Gone."

Jim's went up an octave, "Then he's right, you made a move on Suzie!"

"She made a move on me!"

"Dad! Why did you do this? To Auri, to me, to my brother? Don't you love us?"

Blythe sounded distressed, "Greg. How did you let it go that far?"

"Will anyone listen to me? I wasn't the one who made the pass! Suzie did!"

Wilson's voice was distressed, "And you expect us to believe, no, you expect Auri to believe that you had nothing to do with it?"

Greg's voice was angry, "Furey, go upstairs to your room, she's not in there anymore."

I stepped quietly back into the bedroom and heard his steps come up the stairs and down the hall. He came immediately to the bedroom, his eyes huge.

"Did Dad do that?" He motioned to the door.

I nodded and held out my arms. He ran into them and hugged me like he was drowning.

"I love you pumpkin."

"Auri, Dad loves you. I could feel it the whole time. He wasn't going to kiss her. He kept seeing your face, he kept feeling how much he loved you and he didn't. He really didn't kiss her."

"I know honey. It's just that it hurts to know that he could let it get that far, he should have told me something was wrong with Suzie. She needs help, not your Dad's tricks."

"Auri, are you going to marry us on Saturday?"

Furey knew just how to get to me. He was even better at it than his Dad. He wanted me to know I was marrying the family, not just his Dad. I had to give the kid credit; he was already a master manipulator, just like Greg.

"Yes, I'm going to marry your Dad. I still love him a lot, love you too. We better go down and put him out of his misery, huh?"

He nodded and grinned.

As we went down the stairs, Furey practically ran announcing, "She's going to marry us. She's going to stay!"

I looked at Greg's face and it was covered with relief. Everyone else was still angry at him, but their postures began to soften. I looked at his mother and Jim, "Greg is telling the truth, Suzie made the pass. It didn't help that Greg let her get close enough to kiss him, but he did not make the overture." I went over and sat next to Greg, who lifted an eyebrow up and offered me his hand. I squeezed it. "I think it's best if we all just forget that this happened."

"Now you're without a maid of honor." Jen pointed out.

"I have the dress, though. Jen, how would you like the honor?"

"Auri, there's no way I'm going to fit into Suzie's dress, she's far too petite. I'm sorry. But, you know, Lisa Cuddy is about her size."

I nodded. Lisa had been good to Greg and we tended to get along well. I called her a few minutes later and explained the situation. She wasn't too surprised, mentioning something like, 'If it can happen to someone, it will happen to House.' But she agreed to come over the next day and try on the dress.

That night Greg stood, staring at the battered door, "Crap, now how are we going to have sex?"

I snickered, "Quietly."

"Bathroom sex?"

"Let's cuddle and see what happens."

"I almost lost you today, I need to pee on the hydrant, reclaim my property. I need possession sex."

"Possession sex?"

"I put my mark on you to let all the males know you're my mate."

"I think the ring does that."

He wrinkled his nose and eyes, "That's not necessarily true for all males. No, they need a strong scent of an alpha male, me, marking the female's genitalia, that would be you."

"Go to bed and be grateful you're still allowed to get your alpha male pheromones on my sheets." I thought for a second, "Greg, did you notice that you communicated with me telepathically without piggybacking on my thoughts? I think you have a high psi factor which is probably why the baby is so intuitive."

"Well, whatever I did, I don't know how to do it again. I was really agitated. I didn't know what I was doing."

As soon as the lights were out, a hand slid up my pajama top to my breast, first just feeling under it and massaging it with his hands, then he pinched my nipples and pushed his hard-on into my back.

"Knock, knock. Alpha male calling."

I was tired, with all the drama and tears, I just wanted sleep. But, I was on my side and he was at full salute with a hard on that had to be tended to. I sighed, slipped my panties off and leaned forward, lifting up my leg, he turned, grabbed some lubricant and lathered up. He pulled my leg up in the air and found my slit, penetrating as much as you could from the side. I know this sounds horrible, but I fell asleep while he was slipping in and out. When he started the slide from third to home and the pounding picked up, I woke up too. His grunting was loud and I was afraid the people down the hall might hear so I took up the rhythm and brought him to climax quickly. His grunts as he came were always primal, very male, very much like someone pounding a railroad tie into the ground. He started playing with my clitoris, but I grabbed his hand.

"Honey, I'll take a rain check, I want to sleep."

"As long as you don't wash. I need that scent to permeate so that all the other alpha males get the signal at the wedding."

I nodded, "Right, when they all go to smell my genitals, they'll immediately know you were there first."

"You got it."

"Goodnight honey."

"Auri. I love you."

I turned over and looked up into those sad, repentant eyes, "I know, believe me, you wouldn't be here if I didn't know how much you love me and need me."

Dear Readers- Only two more chapters and we're done! Thanks for staying with me-I hope you've enjoyed the story! Gorby