Tension

Robert Helm woke. In the darkness, he could hear his wife breathing softly, steadily, and he smiled. He couldn't have made a better choice of partners. His love for Shiloh had been immediate and intense; he could not have fought it even if he had wanted to. But since getting to know her better, he was delighted to find that she was a strong, independent woman, quite unlike the one he'd witnessed at Wellesley. This was a relief, because he thought he'd have to push her out of the house and tell her to be her own person. It seems that once clear of Montoya, Shiloh was quite able to do this herself.

Rolling over, he lay on his side, watching her sleep. He was so happy she was carrying his baby. His *son*. Then he chuckled, thinking what Montoya's reaction would be when she finally gave birth. Helm had had a choice, and had wished for a boy, but Montoya's child was apparently conceived naturally. It was a girl. Helm knew Montoya was just snobbish enough to want a son. HE had wished for a boy because Abby was already having a girl, but he thought any child would be a wonder.

Suddenly, the happiness of the past few days came crashing down around his ears. He was brought up sharply, the memory of his last trip to Wellesley coming back to him like a dose of cold water. How could it mean nothing to Abby! How could the child inside her only represent the other men who bore his face and body, with no *specific* affection for himself or what they had had?

Shiloh moved in her sleep, and he looked at her with affection. At least he had her, he reminded himself again. But the brief rush of happiness this thought brought changed quickly to confusion. What in the hell was wrong with him? One minute he thought of his happy marriage, the next he was complaining because another woman was not paying him enough attention?

It was ludicrous.

Shiloh seemed to sense his unrest, because the next time she moved in her sleep, she opened one eye to regard him, silently, in the darkness. "Robert?"

"Hmn?"

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Go back to sleep."

She moved over and kissed him, gently, on the cheek. Her long, dark hair fell across his face and he breathed in the scent of her. She smelled of the outdoors, of wood smoke and wildflowers. It was a heady aroma, and one that thrilled him.

"I can sense your restless spirit, Robert. Won't you tell me what it is?"

If only he knew.

"Perhaps it was watching you sleep. You looked so peaceful," he smiled, "but at the same time, you made me anything but sleepy." He grinned. Shiloh's hands went slowly down his strong, muscular body. When they found what they were looking for, he was erect enough to pull off the charade.

She chuckled softly. "Is that all it is?"

"Would you mind not putting it in those words?"

She laughed warmly, and the sound made him harden the rest of the way. Taking her into his arms, he was once again convinced that he was the luckiest man on the earth, and thoughts of Abby were far from his mind.

***

Over at Wellesley, Crystal waited for Adam to come home. She felt out of sorts and edgy. Everyone was nice to her, but she felt they were all waiting for her to explain herself, and she wasn't quite ready to do that yet.

That made things a little tense, she thought, though maybe she was just imagining it. When Adam finally got home, she was so happy to see him she rushed to hug him. "Whoa! Hey, nice homecoming, I must say." He kissed her ear.

"I missed you," she said dismissively, as if that explained it all.

Adam looked at Methos and Abby, who both shrugged. "That's great. I guess. How about you come up with me while I wash up for dinner? You can tell me what you did all day."

Crystal seemed to think of her day for a moment, then, not wanting to admit to the Barry Manilow thing, she kept the same bored tone and said, "Didn't do anything. That's why I missed ya."

"Oh. Okay." He laughed. "Coming or not?"

"Coming."

Nodding, Adam went toward the stairs. Crystal hurried up to follow, and the way she did so made him stop and chuckle, "I think you might have to wait outside while I empty my bladder first."

Crystal flushed. "Fine, I'll go back down, then."

"No, really. I can leave the door open if you don't peek," he joked, but she only scowled. "I do want to hear about your day."

"Told you, nothing happened. I wanted to hear about yours." She turned and walked back to the stairs. "See ya at dinner."

Adam turned to catch up with her, but she was already gone. "Dammit," he berated himself.

***

Abby seemed better at dinner, so it went rather well, and while Crystal still did not say much about herself, she was certainly not morose. There were too many handsome men paying attention to her! Adam tried to speak to her a few times, but one of the others always seemed to win out. He wondered if he'd lost his chance with her already.

After dinner, however, Crystal said she was tired and wanted to go to bed early. "That's understandable," said Terrance Shepherd. "You still have to acclimate yourself to your surroundings."

Crystal stood, and so did half the male population. She smiled, showing fetching dimples, and Adam was ready to throw in the towel. There was no way he could compete with those dimples. The entire male population of the house would be out to win her now.

But, to his surprise, she stopped at the door and asked, "Adam? Are you coming?"

He nearly fell out of his chair, rushing to follow.

Up in the room they had shared the night before, she asked, "Are we gonna talk now? Or should we try fuckin' again?" He was bowled over, and had to sit on the bed.

"I think we should take it slow. Unless you want the fast track, and ditch me for one of the other Lotharios out there."

Crystal moved her head to one side. A smile slowly emerged. "You're jealous."

Adam shrugged, as if it didn't matter, but of course, it was written all over his face. "Nah, not me. Just don't want to see you rushing into anything. It didn't work last night, remember?"

"Didn't know I had to get busted again," she said reasonably. "Busted now, though. C'mon."

"Crystal," he pushed her back, "I could easily give in to you. But you've been through a lot! Don't you want to talk about it first?"

"No," she said definitely. "I wanna move on. I *have* to move on." Looking away, Crystal admitted, "If I don't, I don't think I'm gonna make it."

"What d'you mean?"

"I didn't choose t'come here," she said. "I wanted t'stay there. I had things t'do. People I loved . . . Dammit, Adam! Please don't remind me of what I left behind!" And she dissolved into tears.

Adam rushed to hold her. "Oh, crap," he said.

***

"It's time," said Max. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I'm sure. How else can we have the baby we want?"

"You could pick one."

She shook her head. "No. Then . . . I don't know for sure, Max, but I think Abby is trying to do that with the SIMs. Trouble is, she knows the father is Robert Helm and she misses him. Even though he is married and happy and she loves Methos and Sharpe . . . just knowing the baby is Helm's has got to affect her. You can see it! I want it as 'blind' as it can be, so I won't spend nine months thinking of him, and the rest of the baby's life, knowing he isn't yours."

Max shook his head doubtfully. "That's a lot of men."

"Oh, Maxy! If you don't want me to . . ."

"Oh no. I was thinking about you. You could get hurt."

"I'm hoping the medallion will help me. I'll have Rayden there, you know."

"Him too?" Max joked, and she turned quickly to see his wry smile.

"Get over here, you luscious piece of foliage!" she giggled, rushing him. He let her catch him, gladly, and they decided a little practice wouldn't hurt, even if it would not give them the baby they so desired.

***

Well, it did not take long for word of Constance and Max' plan to get out. And, of course, it made it right back to Rodzin, where quite a few Vims resided. The problem was, Melissa lived there, too.

"Did you hear?" she asked Brenda, her eyes full of tears.

"Hear what, dear? Are you all right?" She wondered what could be getting the girl into such a state!

"Oh it's terrible! Constance wants to have a *baby*!"

As she tried to figure out why this would be something negative, the older woman asked, "But why would that be terrible? Having a baby is a wonderful thing! She and Max will make wonderful parents."

"Max can't have babies, so she. . . she's going to use one of the *other* VIMs! My guys . . . umn, they . . . shit! They ran to town like signing up for auditions! There won't be a single one LEFT!"

Brenda now saw the problem. "Oh . . . well, Melissa, you don't have to worry about such things for a while yet." At least she hoped so. She still worried the girl would do the wrong thing and end up breaking her own heart.

"But that's the PROBLEM!" she cried. "If she gives it out freely, what will they want ME for? I have to . . ."

Brenda's eyebrows went up. "You have to *what*, Melissa? Are you telling me that you are afraid that if you don't have some sort of 'sexual gift' to give these men, that they won't want to be with you?" She couldn't believe her ears.

The young girl nodded. "Why should they put up with my teasing if they can get relief from Constance!"

To say that Brenda was surprised to hear this from her youngest boarder was putting it mildly. "Oh Melissa. . .men don't like women only for what they can get from them, at least not the ones that are worth it. They like women who can talk, who have a wit about them, who they feel comfortable talking to. . . like you! You don't need to resort to such things to hold onto any man, believe me." She raised the girl's chin so that she was looking at her, to see how much she meant what she said.

"But they still want . . . that."

"Of course they do; they have from the beginning of time, and they will until its end. But any woman with one tenth the intelligence that you have will know that that is not the way to truly keep a man interested. You have so much more to offer than that. . . and that is what will keep them coming back, not how good you are in bed." She really hoped the young woman heeded her words; she hated to see such low self esteem, and was already trying to think of ways to help her build it.

Melissa sat heavily on the edge of the nearby sofa. "Meanwhile *she* gets all the fun and I wait for them to . . . finish." She was clearly very jealous.

Brenda sighed. "Melissa. . .why are you so convinced that after Constance's baby is fathered, she would keep seeing these men in that way? She loves Max, and she is doing this to have a child for him. I believe that after she becomes pregnant, she will return to Max exclusively." She wondered if she'd thought of that.

She had. But it didn't make her feel any better *now*. She was a teenager, and she had trouble looking past the moment. "Even if she does, she's still having the fun now," she said tearfully.

Brenda smiled softly, "You are so young . . . you will have plenty of 'fun' in your lifetime. You are certainly beautiful enough, and have a lively personality that any man would find easy to get along with. I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you. Just try to have a little patience, and things will happen before you know it."

"And sit and watch my guys go off with another woman? Would that be easy for you?" she challenged.

"Of course not. But they are hardly going off with her. As I said, her heart belongs to Max; her whole heart, and I don't think she feels like sharing." She smiled sympathetically at her.

"Well, neither do I, right now." She pouted, bringing her legs up to her chin. "I guess I don't have a choice, though."

"You will have, take my word for it. You will have so many choices you won't have time to even think about things the way they used to be," she smiled encouragingly.

Melissa shook her head. Nothing about the future was going to make it easier to live through the next day. From what she had heard, all of the VIMs were going to be meeting Constance in a hotel room in town!