AN: Here we are, another chapter here.
I hope you enjoy! If you do, please do let me know!
111
When Jean-Luc stepped back into the bedroom, a part of him nearly wanted to step back out again. Laris and Beverly—his wives, though the word still felt odd to form, even in his mind—were appreciating each other. That was the only word that he had for it. There were smiles, and soft kisses, and even softer fingertip touches, as though each of them were just discovering that the other was real, and they were allowed to rejoice in that discovery.
He didn't step out, though. Instead, he watched them, and they knew that he was watching, because they both finally turned to smile at him.
"I know that—we're to respect the absolute privacy of this moment," Jean-Luc said. "But—are we allowed at least one holo-image, so that I might…always recall how truly beautiful you both are right now?"
Beverly looked at Laris and raised her eyes to ask, and Laris nodded her head.
"As long as nothing is revealed," she said, "about our truth."
"Just a holo-image to admire," Jean-Luc agreed.
They did take the time to capture a holo-image, and then Jean-Luc watched as Beverly and Laris took turns removing the headpieces from each other.
"Jean-Luc?" Beverly said, beckoning at him with a sweep of her hand and a smile. He moved close to her, and she slipped her hands under the loose black shirt that he was wearing. He helped her bring it over his head and she discarded it into a neat heap that she was building for recycling. When she came back to him, she placed her palms on his chest, and his skin felt like it was practically electrified under her hands. He rested his hands on her hips.
"This union is to be built on truth and openness," Jean-Luc said. "Therefore, I would be remiss if I didn't begin, at this very moment, in confessing my truth."
Laris joined them, standing to Beverly's side, and Jean-Luc dropped his hands from Beverly's hips. Beverly dropped hers, too, from his chest and looked at with him expectation.
"I did do a little research in anticipation of actually marrying," Jean-Luc said. "Which is something I never imagined truly doing and certainly not quite in this way. Consummation is the first physical act between newlyweds. It's a physical act of love, meant to reinforce the promises made during the vows. I am…honestly? Not sure how I'm meant to proceed. Or, honestly, even if I can properly perform all the duties expected of me."
"Well—I know you're not impotent," Laris offered. "As evidenced by the presence of Jack, and my own knowledge that he was conceived without medical intervention. And I know that you're comfortable being intimate with Beverly. I can only conclude, then, that the actual concern is me. If I can help you address that concern, I certainly will."
Jean-Luc turned toward her. She held his eyes and offered him a soft smile as he stroked her cheek.
"Just your offering does wonders," he admitted. "You are not the concern. At least—there is nothing about you that is an actual concern. The concern, rather, is more of an emotional concern, on my part."
"Are you afraid that…you can't love more than one person?" Laris asked.
"I would have believed that to be true," Jean-Luc said. "But, recently, I find my heart opening up in a number of truly unexpected ways."
Laris laughed quietly.
"They do that, you know? Hearts. They are incredibly…incredibly…adaptable and expandable," Laris said.
"What are your concerns, Jean-Luc?" Beverly asked. "Just—say them. Absolute truth. We'll work better, if we all know what we're working with."
Jean-Luc laughed nervously. He felt his face grow warm.
"I have, of course, physical concerns," he said. "Do I have the stamina to fulfill the needs of two women? I strongly doubt it. And certainly not in one go, if you understand my meaning."
"The good news is that you're not alone," Laris said with a laugh. "You have help in fulfilling all those desires. And we're not limited for time. There's no need that we should be limited to one go, as you say…or even two. We decide what pleases us. All of us. Also—you should know that there are no particular requirements. A consummation in a normal bonded triad simply requires that the act be completed. It is up to each of us to decide, within our relationship, what that means. In fact, there are many triads where…well…where only two choose to live together after the bonding. If that's what we decide, we don't have to even cohabitate."
"OK…" Beverly said quickly and sharply. "I don't like this conversation, and I don't like where it's going. That's my truth."
"It's just a conversation," Laris said.
"And I don't like it," Beverly responded.
Jean-Luc tensed. He placed a hand on the shoulder of each woman.
"I do not think that we're meant to have our first marital disagreement before the consummation of our marriage is even complete," he said.
"If we're talking about…about splitting up our marriage before the consummation is even complete, then I absolutely want to argue against that!" Beverly protested, clearly growing a bit distressed.
"We are not splitting up anything," Jean-Luc said. "We just finished declaring that nobody in this room actually wants to be alone and without the other two…not for any significant length of time, at least. So, although I respect Romulan culture and the possible decisions available to us as a bonded triad, I reject the idea of separate living on the behalf of our entire unit. And if either of you wishes to…to counter that, then I invite you to do so. Otherwise, we put that to rest, and we move forward."
Jean-Luc almost laughed. The expression that Beverly gave Laris was, in his opinion, at least a little threatening. Of course, he knew Beverly and her expressions well. Laris was clearly unbothered. She hadn't meant the piece of information as a declaration that they should go their own ways—rather, she'd simply offered it as a possible solution, if he found his anxiety too great to overcome.
"Fine, then," he said, when they'd had enough time to communicate to one another with eyebrows and eyes. "Let me explain myself better. My anxiety does not stem from any complaint about anyone. It does not stem from a desire to undo what we've done. It stems, rather, from the fear of undoing what we've done. It stems not from the desire to divide us, but the fear that I might divide us. I would not want to cause jealousy, or anything else that might hurt someone and…in hurting one of us, end up hurting all of us."
"You're afraid to make Beverly jealous," Laris said, smiling with clear amusement, but not any visible anger or hurt.
"Or, by extension, to make you jealous, should my attentions be focused on Beverly, and hers on me," Jean-Luc said. "Jealousy ruins relationships."
"Jealousy is only an emotion," Laris said. "Like sadness, or fear, or happiness. It comes and it goes. It doesn't ruin relationships. The way that people choose to react to their jealousy ruins relationships. Volatile reactions or keeping feelings bottled up until they turn into something much worse than what they really are. Those things ruin relationships. Passing feelings of jealousy aren't dangerous, Jean-Luc, especially not when we can openly say—I am feeling jealous. I recognize that this is my own feeling, and my own insecurity, but I am in need of…of some comfort and reassurance."
Jean-Luc saw Beverly visibly relax. He saw the forward movement of her shoulders, and he felt his own shoulders relax. Beverly wrapped her arm around Laris and nuzzled the side of her face. Laris closed her eyes a brief second and smiled.
"I like that," Beverly said. "We're going to feel jealous. And we just—feel jealous. And, then, we move on."
"Are you quite certain you're not Vulcan?" Jean-Luc teased. "All this logical talk of dealing with emotions…very un-Romulan of you."
Laris raised her eyebrows at him.
"Very stereotypical of you," she teased back. "If I were Vulcan, I would say that we should repress our feelings. Don't feel them. On the contrary, I acknowledge that we will feel them, some of us quite strongly, and, then, we should communicate those feelings to deal with them." She shook her head. "I am not always good at dealing with my feelings in a productive way, but…I am always trying to get better at it."
"Aren't we all?" Jean-Luc said with a laugh. "Well—what do we do?"
"Go to the bed, Jean-Luc," Beverly said.
He laughed quietly at her decision to take over as "director of events." He did what she asked.
"And take off your pants," she teased.
"Very direct," he said, still he was determined to do what she asked. She had decided that now was the time for action, and she'd clearly decided to be the one who helped that action along.
She gave him a look that only amused him. He watched as she removed Laris's dress. The dresses, though ornate, were simple enough to remove. After Laris stepped out of hers, Beverly allowed Laris to help her remove her dress. Neither woman was wearing anything under the dress—clearly something owing to the Romulan customs.
Both of them were beautiful—each of them appearing to be in a very different state of impending motherhood, though Jean-Luc knew that was mostly owing to differences in their species. The babies they carried—their son and their daughter—would arrive very close to one another.
Jean-Luc's heart pounded, and his breathing was naturally shallower as various realizations slowly flooded into his consciousness.
"I want to sleep in the middle," Beverly said, her voice light. "Just…in general. I would like to sleep in the middle. Any objections?" Nobody had any, of course. Both Laris and Jean-Luc responded with a smile and shook their heads. "I just wanted to get that out of the way. But—now is not time for sleeping. Laris?"
Beverly beckoned Laris to join her, and Jean-Luc sat up as all three of them gathered on the bed. Beverly moved over him, her body against his, and caught Jean-Luc's face. She kissed him. She kissed him long enough, and deeply enough, that he began to relax. Exchanging various kisses with her, he felt his body simply start to settle, comforted by the warmth of her body against him.
Everything was fine. It was better than fine. It was as he could have only dreamed it might someday be.
When she was finally through with the kissing that she intended to do for the moment, Beverly moved just off of Jean-Luc's body, barely putting distance between them, and reached for Laris who was, at the moment, simply casually reclining back on one wrist, unbothered to let Jean-Luc and Beverly have their time. Laris moved toward them and returned Beverly's requested kiss, and Jean-Luc watched, almost feeling as though he were intruding, but realizing that this relationship would require them all to become simply comfortable with a great deal of intimacy of all sorts.
Oddly enough, the moment that he realized that and settled into it, he felt the tension that had started to rise in him relax a little.
Beverly reached a hand out toward him and he let her have his hand. She guided his hand to Laris's breast and he cupped it, following her silent instructions, and massaged it. As she teased Laris, she also convinced her to move a bit closer to Jean-Luc.
"Lie down," Beverly said, her voice low.
Laris followed her instructions. Beverly helped her get comfortable, and then she teased Jean-Luc as surely as she had Laris, making sure that his interest was as piqued as it absolutely could be.
"This position will be more comfortable," Beverly said. "Our daughter's a little bigger than our son—though not much heavier, surprisingly."
Jean-Luc understood what they were being directed to do. He understood, too, that Beverly's decision to take on the role of something like director, for the moment, was meant to directly relieve his anxiety. He couldn't worry, after all, too much about her jealousy when he was doing what she asked him to do.
Taking his position behind Laris, with Beverly choosing a position in front of her, he kissed Beverly once more before, kissing Laris as she turned her face more toward him. Remembering what Beverly had told him, he stroked her ear, and she shivered as she kissed him. Like humans, her eyes were quite dilated, when he looked at her, giving Jean-Luc some reassurance as Beverly slowly moved the two of them like directing the movements of dancers.
"Jean-Luc…she's ready," Beverly said, directing his hand so that he could confirm that for himself. "Are you ready?" She asked Laris, her fingers brushing Jean-Luc's as they both teased their partner. Laris hummed in response, clearly a little overwhelmed, in a positive way, by the attention heaped on her body from both of them.
"I have never been with a Romulan," Jean-Luc admitted.
"The anatomy is the same," Laris said, a touch of amusement in her voice—slightly strained by everything she was clearly feeling and processing—Jean-Luc knew that, together, they had to be overwhelming her senses at least slightly.
"Except the muscles are stronger, Jean-Luc," Beverly said. "A great deal stronger. You might want to mentally prepare for that."
"I can't help that," Laris said.
"And nobody is asking you to," Beverly said. She stopped any further argument that Laris might have by stealing her breath and words with a kiss. Jean-Luc took that opportunity to bring them together, with Beverly tasting Laris's response through the continued kisses they exchanged. As soon as his anxiety started to rise up again, it was quelled by Beverly leaning over Laris to stroke his face with her fingers and kiss him quickly. She laughed—the soft sort of giggle that she reserved for when she was truly, unapologetically pleased with something. "See? We'll figure it out. In the meantime, let's all just relax and enjoy ourselves together. We've got all day."