The first week after their return from Lockwood Manor Ava could barely get out of bed. Eli didn't even press her for sex at first, and for most of her waking hours, she laid there, listless and withdrawn. Any attempts he made at conversation were ignored. Day in and day out, Ava lay there staring up at the ceiling, sleeping on one side or the other to give her back a break.

Her stomach grew, but the pregnancy felt even more foreign to her now than before. It had been the cause for this renewed rift between them, his dirty little secret he didn't want Mr. Lockwood to know and now he did. Ava told herself he must think of her as the cause for his embarrassment in front of his boss, and even though she knew it wasn't her fault, she was too mentally fragile to do anything but sleep.

After a week, Eli tried to press her more frequently to talk to him, to connect, but she just stared blankly over his shoulder. Once, when he tried to kiss her, she stiffened but spread her legs in a silent gesture for him to do what he must. He'd pulled away in frustration and left the room immediately after. Before, that might have made her smile, but now all it did was extend her reprieve from his advances.

At night, he tried to encourage her to shop online for things that might provide her entertainment; books, clothes, baby items. She merely looked at the tablet screen as he scrolled and then rolled over onto her side to show her back to him.

Every day Ava expected him to snap at her, to slap her out of this borderline catatonic state, but he never reacted as she expected. Before falling asleep he would snuggle up to her and stroke her tummy, then whisper, "Good night," before rolling back onto his side of the bed.

One morning almost a week after their return, he left her tablet on the nightstand before he kissed her forehead on his way out to work.

"Try to eat something today, please," he asked her, "Otherwise I'll have to start coming home on my lunches to make sure you do."

Ava just stared at him, then noticed the tablet. His eyes followed hers and grinned.

"I uploaded some new shows for you, a few shopping apps. My payment information is already saved, you can buy whatever you want."

Her eye flicked over at him but she didn't answer. She just closed her eyes again and rolled back over to her other side so she wouldn't have to look at him.

For whatever reason, he was really pushing this patient and understanding act, but she knew just beneath the surface was a heart of ice ready to bend her to his will the second he tired of waiting for her to respond to his overtures. It was a dangerous game she was playing, and yet, it didn't feel like a game at all. She was simply exhausted from the monotony of what her life had become and knowing that she had no means to escape him, and now no outlet of escape to look forward to.

Later that morning, she lay there staring at the ceiling when she heard his voice come over the bedroom speakers.

"Alright Ava, time to get up and take a lap around the house. Don't make me come back and pull you out of bed."

She glared towards the cameras in the corner of the room and he chuckled, "That's my girl. Get up and move around a bit. Go downstairs and make some toast. If you haven't gotten out of bed within one hour I'm coming home to get you up."

The speakers went silent, but she knew he was still watching. Out of spite, she refused to get up right away, although she knew she needed to. Aside from trips to the bathroom, she had barely left the bedroom since their return from the manor. Eli conceded to bringing meals to their room, but only as a means of guaranteeing that she ate. While her belly continued to grow, the rest of her seemed to shrink and she knew she was not gaining weight appropriately - but refusing food was the best way she could think of to punish Eli at the moment. She still hadn't felt the baby kick yet, and while the next ultrasound was scheduled a few days away, it felt like a lifetime since she had seen that tiny wap-wap-wap on a screen. Not yet knowing if the pregnancy was still viable made it easier to disassociate from any potential harm she might cause the baby via her pseudo-hunger strike.

Of course, if anything were to happen to the baby, Eli would undoubtedly blame her for not eating or exercising. With that sobering thought in mind, she managed to hoist herself out of bed and head downstairs.

It was while she stood in the kitchen waiting for her toast to be ready, that she leaned against the counter and allowed herself to really think back on her time at Lockwood Manor and what she had enjoyed so much about being there.

The night before, when Eli was attempting to make conversation and getting nowhere, he had posed that question to her. What did you like the most about being at the Manor?

On the surface, it was hard to quantify. There was the overarching sense of more freedom at her fingertips. Not being relegated to the same building with no one else to talk to had certainly been a balm to the soul. Being around Maisie, Iris, and Mr. Lockwood, having conversations with new people, seeing fresh surroundings, enjoying simple pleasures again like painting...

Ava paused. That was it. Something she could do that might provide some imitation of the relief she had felt there, however briefly. Painting. Painting had filled hours of her time there and felt like mere minutes.

The toast shot up and startled her. She grabbed it and slathered on the butter as fast as she could then bounded up the stairs, too excited at the thought of this new venture to care if Eli could see her first glimpse of renewed happiness on the cameras.

That night when Eli returned from work with a bag of takeout in hand and a dozen roses in the other, she was sitting on the couch in the living room watching painting tutorial videos.

"I ordered some things," she offered, chewing her thumbnail as she watched the video with rapt attention.

"I'm glad," Eli said from the doorway as he plugged in the codes to lock it behind him. He came closer and kissed her on the top of her head, setting his hand with the roses in it on the back of the couch for her to see.

She barely looked up, "Thank you," she murmured, watching an artist demonstrating proper brushstroke technique.

He took the roses and their dinner to the island to set them down while he pulled clean plates from the dishwasher, "What did you order?" he asked conversationally.

At first, she didn't respond, still concentrating on listening to the video. He was about to ask again when she piped up, "Some art supplies."

Eli already knew, of course, he saw everything she did on her tablet and everything that went on in the house while he was gone. He was merely looking for a way to enter her world and connect over something of interest to her, but at the moment she was too engrossed to care.

Over the next several days, the art supplies began to arrive. Every evening when he came home Eli would walk in lugging several packages in varying sizes and carry them up to the 3rd floor where Ava directed him. First came the paints and brushes, then the easel and canvases, then more paints and brushes, followed by even more paint and canvases.

Ava kept waiting for him to make a comment about how much of his money she had spent but it never came. If anything, he seemed delighted that she was spending his money at long last.

She didn't come out of her funk immediately, indeed, it almost seemed that she went from one stage of unresponsiveness to another, but this one was less worrisome, and so he encouraged it as best he could. While she worked he would often come upstairs to ask her about her paintings, or to compliment something even though they both knew he had limited knowledge of art.

Now that she had a purpose again, she felt her appetite return, and it didn't feel like such a laborious task just to pop down to the kitchen for food. She even partook of meals there with him again, when she could be pulled away, and usually while her hands and arms were still covered in spots of paint.

The sex resumed as well, though not at the frequency from before and nowhere near the intensity. She allowed him (as if she had a choice) and she lay beneath him and let him make her cum, but often only to fulfill whatever requirements he had for the encounter so she could get back to her painting.

By the time Eli told her he needed to return to Lockwood Manor for the weekend she barely registered it. Either that or the painting gave her a good reason to be occupied and conceal her true reaction to hearing that he was going without her.

"Alright," she had said as indifferently as possible, "Have fun."

She waited to hear if he would say anything about her being allowed to join him, but the offer never came. Instead, he placed his hands on her shoulders in a silent gesture that she was to leave the desk where she was working on a piece and come join him.

The next morning before he left, Eli woke to discover she had already vacated the bed. He found her upstairs, of course, bent over some fresh canvas she had pulled out. The stack of already finished ones was growing higher.

"Come down for breakfast," he said from the landing.

"In a minute."

He knew well enough by now that meant an hour. When he returned bearing two plates of eggs and toast he set one down on the desk in front of her, and sat on the couch where he proceeded to eat slowly, trying to engage her in any form of conversation that he could. She pecked at her food and answered him when necessary, but otherwise seemed content to stay up here in companionable silence while he ate.

With his breakfast complete and his departure imminent, Eli set his plate on the table. "Come here."

The movements of her paintbrush on the canvas stopped. Her back went rigid, but then she set down the brush and stood to her feet before turning towards him.

He grinned and patted his lap to indicate where he wanted her. Obediently, she walked toward him, pulling down the waistband of her leggings and panties as she did. His eyes widened to see how compliant she was being, then began fumbling with his own pajamas to pull them off.

Ava said nothing when his half-erect cock sprang free, she merely put her hands on his shoulders and mounted him, letting his hands guide the appendage inside her, hardening as it went. When he was seated fully inside her she leaned into his chest and sighed. One thing about Eli she could count on, he never had any trouble rising to the occasion, and if she played her part well, she could be finished with this in a matter of minutes and get back to the one thing she had that still brought her joy.

Her hips rose and fell as she rode him, trying to make it quick enough that he would come without forcing her to, but after 4 months as his captive that still had yet to happen. It was as if he thought bringing her orgasms even when she resisted them would eventually wear down her defenses and change her mind about him. Up until their nasty fight leaving Lockwood Manor, it had looked to be somewhat true, but now she clung to her catatonic state as the last mental shield she could use against him. Even if and when he made her cum, she distanced herself from the sensation mentally, trying not to feel it as an active participant.

She knew Eli probably sensed this and was just humoring her until he tired of doing so, but as her hips rolled on his lap and her knees dug into the couch cushions she felt his hands on her waist lifting the hem of her shirt up, up, up until he had an unrestricted view of her bare breasts and swollen belly.

"God, you're so gorgeous," he whispered, stroking her stomach with his hand and then pulling her closer to bring her breasts to his mouth.

A familiar sensation- one of pure, unbridled lust shot through her at his proclamation, and unconsciously she began to rut on him at a quicker pace.

His hands roamed her bare back, scratching and kneading her shoulders which ached from being hunched over the desk for hours each day. He opened his mouth wide to accommodate her breasts which seemed to grow every day. His teeth worried at her nipples in conjunction with his tongue, blowing on them until she bit her lip and suppressed a moan.

"That's my girl," he said, then drove his cock up into her, hard.

Ava cried out. She hadn't actively sought pleasure from him since those early days at Lockwood Manor, but now he was reawakening something she had thought finally lay dormant. His fingers snaked between her legs and began to tease her clit in time with his thrusts while he tugged her head down to kiss him.

She moaned into his mouth and he smiled, releasing her from the kiss and removing his hands abruptly. Before Ava could ask what he was doing he hoisted her over so that she was the one seated on the couch while he knelt on the floor in front of her and began to pummel her insides as she writhed and moaned beneath him. From this vantage point, he could work her clit and tease her nipples without putting too much weight on her tummy, but he could watch the way it rose and fell in time with his thrusts. When she looked down to see where they were joined she saw the hungry way his eyes looked at her belly and placed a possessive hand over it. That final act was what sent her over the edge, crying out her climax as he readjusted his thrusts.

Eli came himself moments later, his look of utter concentration gave way to relief and then finally, bliss. Ava felt weak again, but grabbed the sleeves of his t-shirt and pulled him down to kiss her.

She knew better than to ask him to take her with him this time. Better that she stay here and entertain herself. He would see everything from the cameras and she would have the freedom to paint interrupted for a few days.

When he withdrew from between her legs, Eli looked down at the mess he'd made of her.

"Hold on, don't move."

He reached down to pull up his pants and tucked himself in before he went into the bathroom and came back with a towel. Ava lay there, still grappling with her renewed enthusiasm for the act with him.

Eli bent over with the towel and helped to wipe up the remains of his pleasure leaking out of her, then reached behind the coffee table where her leggings and underwear had been hastily discarded in her rush to fuck him as fast as possible so she could get back to her work. Now she lay here, breathless and reeling from the pleasure she had willingly sought when the urge overcame her again.

He helped her don her clothes once more, searching for her shirt he had dropped on the floor and finding it halfway underneath the couch.

Once they were both fully dressed, Eli retrieved her breakfast from the desk where she had left it and came back to sit on the couch with her. At first, Ava was uncomfortable. She had already given him more hope today than she ever planned to, but he pulled her against his chest and began feeding her bacon while she rested her head on his shoulder, and at that moment she allowed him the extra intimacy.

Part of it felt nice, being held in a non-sexual context after fucking. If she could only get out of her own head in regards to how he was interpreting it. That might be the worst part of what Eli did to her day in and day out. Forcing her body to do the things he wanted and training her to enjoy it was bad enough, but teaching her mind to second guess and analyze every single action, each word spoken and unspoken, was perhaps the realest torture he had inflicted.

"I have to leave soon," he reminded her, and she nodded with a mouthful of bacon.

"I'll miss you." His words hung there awkwardly, but if he thought rousing her from the funk she had been under for one earth-shattering sex session would suddenly catapult them back to where they had been at Lockwood Manor, he was mistaken.

Ava made no move to get up, nor to give him a response. She simply sat there leaning on him and enjoying her breakfast as she mentally tallied which art pieces she hoped to get done this weekend.

Undeterred, Eli tried again, "We'll have the next ultrasound the day after I get back. She assured me the baby is big enough to see without using the wand transvaginally this time, so..."

She almost laughed, mostly because hearing the word 'transvaginally' come from Eli's lips felt so sterile and foreign. He used words like fuck and cock and cunt. Not medical terms she might hear in a doctor's office.

With her breakfast finally finished, Ava got up without a word, allowing him the freedom to leave as she made her way back to the desk.

Unsure of himself, Eli waited a moment before standing to leave too. He hovered in the periphery of her view from the desk and she smiled inwardly at his discomfort.

"Right then," he came over and kissed her goodbye on the cheek like they were old friends and hadn't just finished fucking on the couch 6ft away.

"Bye," he murmured in her ear, then turned to head down the stairs.

"Bye," she echoed, and he paused his descent momentarily, then kept going.

The weekend passed in a blur. Ava hunkered down at her desk or stood at her easel every moment she wasn't eating or sleeping, which she did on the couch they had recently fucked on whenever she reached the point of exhaustion. From time to time, Eli would check in, sometimes via video call on her tablet, but usually through the upstairs speakers. He called to let her know he had arrived and that everyone was asking about her, that he missed her, etc. At first, she rebuffed his attempts to manufacture a connection by reminding her of the people she actually missed seeing. It seemed ridiculous to feel that way, she had known them all of 2 days - but the connection they represented, as the first people to converse with her and not expect anything in return in months, was hard to part with, and that was the crux of her devastation. A lifeline had been extended to her, under precarious circumstances, and through mistakes made under duress, she was now being punished for it.

Before he had left, he even suggested (again) that they go away somewhere together, just the two of them, as if that would solve her depressive state. He couldn't, or didn't want to understand that it wasn't just isolation digging her into a deep pit, it was loneliness, and that wasn't something that could be solved just by him, as he actively contributed to it.

By Sunday afternoon she had finished 2 canvases and was on track to complete a 3rd before he returned. Around noon, she heard his voice through the speakers, along with the sound of distant voices in the background.

"Hey, how's it going down there?"

"Fine," Ava didn't look up from her task. Her tongue peeked out between her lips the way it did when she was concentrating intently. She completed the brushstroke and leaned her head back, then to each side, listening to it crack from too long hunched over the desk.

"Good, I'm on my way back soon. I'll be there around dinnertime. Anything you want in particular or is pizza good?"

"Pizza's fine."

More quietness between them except for the faint voices she heard on the other end.

"Please tell everyone I said 'hello'."

Ava winced. She should have just left it at the response for pizza. He probably would not relay the message at all, or if he did...

Eli's muffled voice was speaking away from the phone, but she could just make out, "She said to tell all of you 'hello'."

Maisie's animated voice could be discerned from the others. It sounded like she was coming closer.

"Will you ask her when she'll come again?"

Eli chuckled, "Did you hear that?" he asked.

"I did. Although you would probably be the one to answer her, not me."

Ava felt a pang in her chest at the truth of her words. It was painful to admit, even now, how little control she had over any aspect of her life. The bulging expanse of her belly was proof enough of that.

Now Eli's voice was distant too as he was making his goodbyes but had yet to hang up. Of course, Ava had no way of ending the call given that he was on the speakers installed on every floor of the house, so she had to listen to the shuffling and echoing of voices in the Lockwood Manor entryway, bringing back all the memories of when she had last stood there with him bidding farewell to her new acquaintances.

She rolled her eyes in irritation at the way she was forced to listen without being able to distinguish more than a handful of words and yet Eli wouldn't hang up either. At last, she heard the sound of a soft wind followed by the crunch of gravel and a car door shutting.

"Right then. On my way." His voice sounded hopeful like he thought she had missed him enough to encourage him to stay on the line with her, but what he received in response was intentionally lackluster:

"Mmkay."

Their call finally ended and the hours passed. As the sky darkened outside the windows she looked out at the glittering skyline and felt her stomach rumble in anticipation.

Ava thought to talk to him through the speakers and ask how long until he would be back but she didn't want him to think that she missed him. A few times she glanced at the clock on the wall, mentally calculating the remaining time it would likely take him before his return. She told herself the thought of pizza for dinner was what really got her excited, rather than the encroaching loneliness since he'd left her here.

By the time she heard his footsteps on the stairs it was well past dark and she worked by the light of the desk lamp up until the moment she heard him ascend, accompanied by the familiar sound of cardboard boxes shuffling against each other.

She turned eagerly and felt her stomach tighten when she saw him there, 2 boxes in hand, with his curly hair disheveled and a grin on his face. Fuck, why did she feel excited at seeing him?

He sauntered over and kissed her on the forehead, "Miss me?" he asked in a light tone, and she pointedly ignored the question as she leaned toward the boxes and gave an exaggeratedly deep inhale.

Eli chuckled and backed up, heading toward the couch where he deposited the pizzas on the coffee table and sank into the cushions, waiting for her to join him.

By now Ava was so hungry it took no convincing for her to follow him. She made a point of not sitting too close to him, allotting a few inches of space between their positions on the couch as she reached into the top box and exhaled a sigh to see pepperoni with pineapple, her favorite. Of course, she didn't bother to ask how he knew. At this point, she just chalked it up to another piece of information he had gleaned from his stalking of her pre-captivity.

Too hungry to refuse out of spite, she dug in. Within minutes, she had devoured 3 slices and sat back with a groan while Eli was still working on his second. His lips quirked into a smile watching her lean into the couch and set her hands on her stomach as if that would help the uncomfortable fullness she felt from eating too much too fast. Ava wiped the grease from her mouth with the back of her hand and closed her eyes, suddenly feeling the effects from hours of being hunched over the desk working at her art.

Eli finished his second slice, then looked at the box as if considering a third, before he spoke, "What have you been busy painting while I was gone?"

She opened her eyes and looked at him. He had taken an interest in her art here and there, but she knew it was mostly for the benefit it provided him of giving her something to live for in spite of her role as the woman he forcibly fucked and kept as his captive breeding slave. He never complained about the money she spent on supplies, but it still felt intimate to be asked about her pieces and she rarely showed him unless he asked questions over her shoulder while she was in the midst of working on them.

"Not much," she answered, "A few landscapes. I tried to paint Lockwood Manor from memory but I got frustrated and shelved it." A subtle dig at his cruelty in refusing to bring her back with him, but one which elicited a smile on his part.

"Come here," he reached for her and pulled her over to lean on his chest, an intimate gesture they hadn't shared in weeks. Eli had undone the top buttons of his shirt and left his tie on the arm of the sofa, so his chest hair tickled her ear and she heard the sound of his heartbeat interrupted by his voice.

"I missed you while I was gone," his hand splayed over her stomach possessively, "Both of you."

Ava swallowed but didn't answer. It didn't seem to matter to Eli, who traced circles over the swell of her belly as he continued.

"I know I said it would be a while before I could take you back to the Manor, but I forgot that Thanksgiving is next week, and I usually spend it with the Lockwoods."

Her heart sped up and she stiffened, though she tried to act nonchalant. It was pointless though, she knew he had felt the change in her demeanor, and without looking at him she knew that arrogant smile he was already wearing at her reaction.

Eli let his statement hang there for a few minutes as he moved his hands from her belly to her arms, putting her on edge with his feather-light fingertips on her touch-starved skin.

"So? What do we think?" he asked at last.

"About what?" she could be coy too when she wanted to be.

"Do you think you can behave yourself at Lockwood Manor this time if I take you back sooner than I intended?"

Ava gritted her teeth and dragged out the silence while she thought of something appropriately cutting to respond with.

"Are you sure you don't want to muzzle me and keep me in a cage while I'm there so I don't embarrass you?"

His hand slipped into her pants and she gasped, suddenly much hornier than she had anticipated as he parted her folds and dallied between them leisurely as she began to squirm.

"I think I'll be able to keep you sufficiently entertained this time," his free hand was suddenly in front of her face while the other continued its torture of her below. Eli stuck first one finger between her lips, pressing down on her tongue, and then, after she did not nip at it, another followed.

She sucked them without being told to. It was probably all part of Eli's plan to make her mindless with arousal and then butter her up with promises of an earlier taste of freedom while he finger-blasted her on his couch, but she grabbed his wrist and held it in place as she turned her head and looked at him at the same time she sucked his fingers as deep into her mouth as she could.

This time it was his turn to close his eyes and moan. Ava felt his cock straining against his pants and she used her other hand to fiddle with his belt as the thrusts of his fingers in her cunt faltered in response to her treatment of his fingers in her mouth. It was fun to torture him for once, she rationalized, and although she had never once reciprocated oral sex with him, the irrational impulse she felt to do so now was impossible to ignore.

With his belt undone, she unbuttoned his work pants and pulled his cock through the fold in his boxers to sink her mouth onto it. He seemed shocked, his fingers which had hitherto been lodged hallway down her throat rested on the back of her head in wordless encouragement as she bobbed her mouth on his dick and cupped his sac.

Eli made a noise halfway between a shout and a groan, fisting his hands in her hair and squeezing her ass cheek with his other hand, all thought of teasing her forgotten. Ava scratched the inside of his thighs with her nails and wrapped her hand around the base of his shaft. She wasn't one for swallowing, but as she tortured him further and further she considered whether this would be the time she made an exception. No sooner had the thought occurred to her than his hand in her hair pulled her off, tugging her mouth towards his as she clambered onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Fuck, you are amazing," he gushed in between kisses, flipped them so that she was beneath as he began to tug her pants off and part her legs to return the favor.

"No," she whined, "Please. I need you inside me."

This time, at least, her enthusiasm didn't fill her with self-loathing. Eli's grin stretched from ear to ear as he left a soft kiss at the top of her pubis and licked a strip all the way up her torso, then settled himself between her thighs where she felt his cock begin to split her open. She wrapped her legs around him and moaned when he lifted her shirt to lick and kiss her tender breasts.

"Don't stop," she whined, tangling her fingers in his curls to bring his mouth to meet hers. The kiss was brief, he was breathing so hard as he held himself off her stomach while moving between her legs. Ava watched him as he jolted over her, the way his eyes locked onto her face, watching and listening for her pleasure before allowing his own, seeing the way his hair bounced across his forehead and she smiled, closing her eyes as she felt her climax begin to crest.

She came hard, and Eli with her, staring at her in a mix of awe and lust. He didn't collapse on top of her, merely stilling himself as she felt his muscles slacken and loosened the grip of her legs around him. Both gasping, Ava pushed his hair back from his face and softly kissed him, letting her lips linger on his as the pounding in her chest lessened.

He still looked as though in a daze, "Oh, you are definitely coming with me next week," he promised in a huff to her snort of laughter.