Chapter 21

When Phil showed up, he looked crestfallen. Andy's first impression was that his friend had bad news for him, but he wasn't sure how bad of news, because Phil looked more bleak than Andy could ever remember seeing him. It was either Phil winding him up for some epic prank, or the kind of horrible news like he couldn't possible even imagine.

"Jesus Phil, you look like shit," Aisling said to him. Andy was glad that it wasn't just him who was rattled by his friend's appearance.

"Yeah, thanks for that," he grumbled. Phil had bags under his eyes, like he hadn't had a good night's sleep in a week. He gave Charlotte a soft smile, his weary face growing kind for a moment. "Heya, Doc. I hear you're going to be happier with me, so I hope you don't end up regretting that."

"Thank you for agreeing to take me in, Mr. Pak," Charlotte said to him as he walked up to the porch. "Andy's a sweetheart, but I'm simply not attracted to white men. You, on the other hand," she said, moving to wrap her arms around him. "I'm going to take you home and gobble you up whole."

Phil laughed a little bit at that, leaning down to kiss Charlotte, only for a moment, and clearly not for as long as she would have wanted. "I need to talk to Andy for a little bit first. I'll be back in just a little bit."

Now Andy was beginning to get very worried. It wasn't a prank. It was damning bad news of the worst sort. He was starting to wondering if one of their mutual friends had died and he just hasn't heard about it yet. "What's going on, Phil?" he asked him.

"Let's go for a walk," Phil said to Andy as Charlotte pulled away from him, starting to load her things into the car.

"Yeah, okay."

The two men started walking along the side of the house, heading towards the back, when Phil suddenly said "You got a private place we can talk for a bit? Some place where nobody will find us?"

"Sure," Andy said, as he led Phil into the house.

One of the places that Andy had discovered and kept to himself about the house was that there was a private study with a small balcony. The study was concealed behind a bookcase that popped out to reveal a secret passageway. He hadn't told any of the girls about it yet, simply because it was something he'd discovered on his own, and found it a nice little getaway. He'd only used it once or twice, and never for more than a few minutes, but for the time being it was still his private space. He'd tell the girls about it soon enough, although he was tempted to let them just discover the space like he had.

The study had a couch, two chairs and a desk, and the balcony was concealed from the ground level, so that if you didn't know it was there, it would be completely overlooked. On the desk when he'd found it was a simple bottle of incredibly expensive whiskey, two crystal glasses and a note that read "good luck" on it. He still wasn't sure who'd left him the bottle or the note. He didn't recognize the handwriting, and he asked Nicolette about it, and she hadn't known either, although she had known about the presence of the room. She'd been the first to arrive at the house, a day before Katie and Jenny, and three days before Andy had showed up. She'd agreed to keep the room secret for the time being, just to give him a little hideaway.

"We going to need a drink for this?" Andy asked him.

"Yeah, and don't be skimping on the pour."

Andy poured a large glass of the whiskey for Phil, and a smaller glass for himself, holding out the small one to Phil, but his friend reached over and took the lesser glass instead. "You're going to need the bigger one."

"I don't drink that much, Phil."

"Trust me on this."

"Okay. Phil, now you're scaring me. What the hell is going on?"

"So let me give you the good news first, so you know that there's something to hold onto," Phil said with a sigh. "They've developed another vaccine, one that can be transported cheaply and is going into mass production, unlike the one you and I have been getting for some time delivered second hand from our partners." Phil shrugged a little. "It's progress, I guess. We'll be getting shots of that vaccine too, and as long as the population goes and gets vaccinated, the quarantine will start to slowly get lifted in about three or four months time. At this point, Congress is so desperate to keep people alive that they're going to do anything they can think of, what's left of Congress, anyway."

"That's great news, Phil! So why are you so glum?"

"They're going to announce that vaccine next week, and people should start getting shots in about a month, but with that news, they're going to also release the death tolls, the *actual* death tolls... and it's very, very bad."

"Like, how bad, Phil?"

Phil lifted the glass and drank all of the whiskey. He waited for what felt like an hour before he spoke again. "Three million women dead. *Eighty* million men dead."

Andy poured Phil another glass worth, because he didn't even know what to say to that. He could feel his jaw wanting to drop to the floor. "That's... that's over half the men in America dead. How the hell have they been keeping all this quiet?"

"Lots of suppression at the hospitals, of the media. Anything they can do to prevent a panic. Shit, I know I'd panic. I *am* panicking. Fuck, I panic each and every day. I mean, fuck, we're having to do mass cremations just to prevent the whole fucking system from collapsing. Too many people refused the first vaccine and those people each became a Typhoid Mary, infecting thousands of others. Hell, like a third of Congress is dead, although let's be honest, we won't miss most of the fuckers who died there from their own fucking stupidity. Teach them to say the whole goddamn thing will just *disappear* one day. Fucking morons."

Phil was clearly getting angry about the whole thing, not that Andy could blame him. Phil had had a front row seat to all of the political backseating that had gone on for months now, hearing all the mistakes people had been making in the reactions to the virus, and Andy suspected it had been eating away at him. For months now Phil's temper had grown shorter and shorter, and wasn't allowed to talk about it. Hell, Andy was certain Phil wasn't supposed to be telling him any of this, but his friend had clearly boiled over and just couldn't bottle it in any more.

Before Andy could say anything, Phil continued. "Why couldn't they just do their fucking jobs, just fucking tell people to stay the fuck at home, and we could've weathered this whole thing with only a couple of thousand people dead instead of *this SHIT!*"

Andy was half afraid Phil was going to throw the glass to the ground.

"Is it... is it this bad around the world?"

Phil shook his head. "Most places took this threat fucking seriously!" he shouted loud enough that he was sure people in the house could hear him, although he doubted they could make out what he'd said. "They hunkered down, bubbled up and took the advice of their fucking doctors! Doctors know more about medicine than braindead politicians! So in the parts of the world not run by fucking morons, we're looking at most countries losing only about five to ten percent of their male population, although there are a few outliers. India has numbers like ours, UK's got about half our losses per capita, maybe more, and China, well, nobody fucking knows what's going on in China, but the working theory is they're about as fucked as we are, if not even more so. Nobody will fucking tell us anything, though. The phone keeps ringing and ringing at their embassy but nobody's answering, so that's fucking scary as shit..."

Andy took a deep pull off his whiskey. "Goddamn, who's going to recognize this fucking country once we're on the other side of this? Hell, how does this fucking planet go on from this?"

"None of this is public information yet, so don't go talking about it to anyone outside of your household. You're still going to probably get a few more girls added to your household before all of this is done, if for no other reason than to start bringing our population numbers back up. A lot of the surviving males in this country are currently under sixteen. The children, it seems, could handle the virus better than us old farts. The country's going to go through a whole 'Give Birth To A New Generation To Save This One!' campaign soon. It's post WWII on crack. Polyamory's going to be the lay of the land with the announcement late next week, encouraging men to be married to multiple women and to be getting them pregnant as soon as possible. They've already got the rewritten laws ready to be passed as soon as the announcement hits. Our generation, the generation before us and the generation after us are all mostly wiped out. Pretty much anyone we went to high school or college with is probably dead."

"No wonder it's been impossible to get a hold of people for the last few months," Andy muttered. "There's nobody fucking out there."

"Yeah, all of which brings me to the real reason I'm telling you all of this, Andy," Phil sighed. "Conner and Samantha are okay, your mom's fine, but Matty died this morning. I'm so sorry man."

Andy didn't know what to say to that, so he took a long draw from his glass of whiskey. "Do you know anything more?"

"Shit, Andy, I shouldn't even be telling you this much. I know it was quick and he didn't suffer. He was barely in the hospital 48 hours before he passed," Phil said. "They had him on a ventilator for a bit, but his body just couldn't take it. I know you've often told me you guys weren't all that close, but he was still your brother."

Andy wanted to cry, scream and collapse all at the same time, but the varying emotions kept conflicting with one another and he found he couldn't process any of them. "He was nine years older than me, and he went off to college out of state when he was 16. Smartest son of a bitch I ever knew, but that meant I was seven when he left, so we never really bonded like proper brothers." Andy slumped back in his chair. "He was a good man, though. Always called on Christmas, or my birthday, and always trying to find new things I might like. He always told me he was so proud of chasing my dreams and becoming a writer. He was always a little pissed at himself for staying to the safe route, selling real estate and not chasing his dream of working for NASA and going into space, but his family was so goddamn important to him. Christ, Conner's only eleven and now he doesn't have a fucking father any more? God*damn* this fucking virus. Do you know how he caught it?"

"One of his neighbors was trying to get their storm doors shuttered before a lightning storm and he went out to help them. Apparently caught it from them."

Andy sighed, rubbing at his eyes, knowing they could burst into waterworks at any moment, but the shock was still too great. "Typical fucking Matty. Always willing to help out, never quite thinking it through before he did. I assume Sam knows? And my mom?"

"They've both been told. Your mom's in intensive care herself, but it looks like she's going to come through it relatively okay. She's on a breather, but she's showing steady signs of improvement. That's why I'm here telling you instead of her telling you over the phone. Sam's a total mess, and said even talking to you would set her off crying all over again. She and Conner will come out okay on the other side."

Andy nodded. He couldn't find much more in terms of words. "Well, I guess I'm glad the news came from you, then."

The two sat in silence for a couple of minutes.

"You going to be alright?"

"We weren't close, but he was still my fucking brother, Phil." Andy threw up his hands. "No, I'm not fucking alright. I'm fucked in the head!" He drew in a deep breath, held it as long as he could, then slowly let it out. "It's a fuckload to take in."

"I'll come by in a couple of days and make sure you're coping as best you can. We can play poker if you want."

Andy laughed a touch bitterly at that. "Let's take a few weeks off from poker, alright?"

Phil echoed his laugh, immediately understanding why. "I mean, you're never going to get a prize like that ever again. You're banging Emily Stevens, which I would love to break your legs over, but I can't say I fault you for."

"Did you know she and Sarah Washington are already a couple? Like, they were together long before they got here?"

"What?!" Phil chuckled, thankful to take Andy's mind off of the pain for even a split second. "No! And you landed them both!"

"Well, Emily made sure I landed Sarah and then was delighted to see she came along for the ride. I'm sure she'll tell you the story at some point, but she had more of a hand manipulating things than I think any of us knew, even Niko, who had her fingers in stirring that pot as well."

"At least you're going to have plentiful beautiful bodies to drown your misery in."

"I suppose. Eventually," Andy frowned. "Right now, I just want to break down crying, and yet I can't feel the tears coming."

"You're in shock, man," Phil said, giving Andy a hug. "You're just in shock. There's no one set way to grieve. It'll sneak up on you, or it'll hit you in waves, or it'll just come at you a little bit at a time again and again and again. Nobody can tell you that you're grieving wrong. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and you'll get through it, day by day. And tell the girls. Tell them what's going on, what you're going through. Don't hide any of it from them, or try and underplay it." Phil patted him on the back. "You'll get through it, even if we have to carry you through parts of it. That's what friends are for."

Andy patted Phil's back in return. "Thanks man. I'm going to sit and have a think for a bit, if that's okay? You know the way back?"

"You kidding? Finding your way out of here's got to be easier than finding your way in. You want me to send any of the girls up?"

"Nah, I'll be down soon enough and talk to them then."

"Got it. Sorry to have been the bearer of bad news."

Andy shrugged. "Better you than some stranger."

Phil headed back down the stairs and then opened the bookcase door, closing the door behind him, leaving Andy alone with his thoughts.

For a good ten minutes, Andy had himself a good cry. He wasn't ashamed of it, he wasn't embarrassed by it, but he needed to let it all out before he could regain his composure. He spent a couple of minutes on the balcony, and he could see Phil's car driving off. He expected Phil had stopped and told the girls the news, and was glad they didn't come racing to try and find him. The sun was starting to set over the tree line, and Andy regretted most of all that he'd never be able to talk to his brother again. He couldn't remember the last time they'd talked, or what they'd talked about. It had probably been about Conner, Matty's son, Andy's nephew. Ash had talked to him a few times via Facetime, and Niko and Lauren had both talked to him just the once, but not for all that long. They'd all looked forward to seeing each other on the other side of the pandemic, something that was never going to happen now.

After another ten minutes or so, Andy slipped back down the hallway and opened the bookcase, stepping out, closing it behind him. He wasn't sure he wanted to see anyone, but he also knew that hiding and sulking wasn't good for him, so he wandered down towards the dining room area, since it was getting close to dinner time.

As soon as he set foot in the room, Aisling and Niko immediately rushed him, both of them wrapping their arms around him, hugging him tightly, refusing to let him go. "We're here for you, babes," Ash said to him, kissing his cheek. "And we're never letting you go, okay?"

"I mean, none of you even got to meet him in person," Andy sighed. "One of the only people who knew me growing up, and he's just... he's just fucking *gone*." He was trying hard not to cry, but both Niko and Aisling started crying, which set him off as well.

He was a bit of a zombie throughout dinner. It was lovely, Jenny had made chicken fettucine alfredo with prosciutto, one of his favorite things ever. But even with the marvelous food, Andy was sleepwalking, shellshocked from the news.

Lauren and Taylor came in later, and obviously either Ash or Niko had called them earlier and told them, because neither of them talked much, other than to check on where Andy's head was at, a question he couldn't really answer. They even made an exception and let Taylor eat sitting at the table, although Lauren still hadn't let her put clothes on.

Asha, Emily and Sarah were all still very deep into the imprinting process, and it looked like Piper hadn't finished either, even as they were getting ready for bed, which surprised Andy. His general estimate these days was that the imprinting process took somewhere between 12 and 18 hours, but Piper had been deprived of completing the innoculation/imprinting process longer than anyone was supposed to be, so maybe she needed longer for everything to take hold in her system.

When it came time for bed, Niko made sure Andy stripped bare, not letting him grab pajamas, and then Ash pushed him in between Emily and Sarah. Niko then moved to roll Emily partially onto his chest on one side, while Ash pushed Sarah on the other. Then both girls climbed into the bed and also wrapped their arms around him, followed by Lauren and Taylor, until Andy was basically being smothered in girlflesh, all of them hold onto him tight, until everyone fell asleep until morning.

Chapter 22

In the morning when he awoke, Andy had expected that the girls would've scattered some around the bed, but instead, found all of them had moved in much closer instead. Sarah's face was against one side of his neck and Emily's face was against the other. One of his hands was folded into Niko's and the other was folded into Aisling's. Amusingly enough, Lauren and Taylor had actually slept toe-to-head with him, and were hugging his legs and each other.

The biggest problem was that he desperately needed to take a piss.

He started by drawing his legs in, gingerly slipping them out between Lauren and Taylor's arms without waking either of them. Two down, four to go.

Andy slowly drew his hand out from Niko's, skating his arm slowly back towards him, working to roll the two women back, which he found he was able to do without too much trouble. He was about to do the same to Emily and Aisling, but saw that Aisling was awake and gave him a little wink, letting go of his hand and pulling Emily back and away from him enough for him to slip out, standing up, placing his foot on the headboard, using it as a sort of precipice, stepping up just long enough to pivot out and reach the edge of the bed, hopping out of it quietly.

Aisling moved to lay Emily against Sarah, then moved to follow him into the bathroom, where he was already sitting on the toilet. They'd long ago gotten comfortable enough to talk to one another while they peed, although she still closed the door behind her, mostly to keep their conversation from waking the others.

"Feeling any better?" she asked him.

"Still mostly in shock," he sighed. "I mean, it's not just my brother. Basically any of my guy friends from high school or college is likely dead. That's a hell of a thing to lay on a person, and not be able to tell anyone."

"Sure, but that's too big a thing to think about, so your brain's focusing on Matty, love," Ash said to him. "And that's okay. He sounded like a great guy, even if you two weren't that close."

"He was. I was really looking forward to introducing everyone to him. I don't really have much family left at this point, other than this one, I guess. At least my friend Xander is staying safe back in Cleveland."

"You talked to him Monday on FaceTime, remember?" Ash reminded him. "He was giving you shit about watching 'The Ipcress File' again."

"God, I have to call him and tell him about all of that mess out there," Andy laughed, standing up, flushing the toilet. "He's probably going to fall down laughing."

Aisling grabbed the back of his neck, forcing him to bend down enough for her to kiss him. "Good. Mourn your big brother, but don't lose sight of the good things in your life either. Everyone's taken the day off work today, so everyone will be around if you want to talk or fuck or cuddle or whatever. You should do some of all of that."

"You want to hop in the shower with me? There's something else I wanted to talk about with you."

"Awright, love," she said, reaching in to turn on the warm water. "What's on your mind?"

Andy stepped in and did a little adjustment to the water temperature, turning it down just a little bit. For some reason, most of the girls loved it searing hot, while Andy didn't want it quite so scalding. "So, there are more changes coming with the announcements next week that I don't know if Phil told you about."

Ash stepped in to let her fiery mane pass under the water, getting it good and soaked. "Just about the mass US casualties and that your brother was one of them. I immediately called home to make sure all me family was fine, but all my kin's staying boarded up, so they're safe."

He moved to wrap his arms around her, holding her in a firm hug. "They're going to change some of the fundamental laws here in the states, and encourage things that would've been heresy just a few months ago. And Phil was encouraging me to think about the future, about what life's going to look like going forward."

Ash looked over freckled her shoulder at him with a wry smile. "Sounds like some heavy shit."

Andy laughed a little. "I suppose so. The whole polyamory thing is going to be codified in laws, so pods will be actual families and such. Anyway, uh, well... damn, you know I never thought I'd be doing this in my life, but Aisling Blake, will you marry me?"

She immediately spun around in his arms and kissed him harder than she ever had before, her body pressing against his like she was afraid if she let go of him, all of this would disappear in a dream. That kiss lasted for a long moment before she finally pulled back, smiling up at him.

"So, is that a maybe or...?"

She reached around and swatted him on his ass. "Of course I'll marry you, you utter git!" she giggled. "But I do have two conditions that are completely non-negotiable."

Andy smirked, tilting his head a little. "If one of them involves you getting to peg me with a strap on, this marriage is over before it's even started."

"No, you big dummy!" she said through laughter and tears. "One is that you have to ask both Lauren and Niko today, like today today. If we're going to be an actual family, it's not right that I get to be your wife alone."

"Of course," Andy said. "I was going to talk to them over the next few days, but I can make it today. What's the other?"

"You have to promise me you won't feel bad if Lauren says no."

Andy arched an eyebrow. "You think she'll say no if I ask her to marry me?"

Aisling sighed a little. "I think you need to talk to her first. I think she wants to marry Taylor. She loves you, don't get me wrong, but it's a different level of love than what she feels for Taylor. If you bring it up to her, I think she's just going to want to remain your concubine or fuck buddy or whatever, and then her and Taylor get married. But when it comes to soul-to-soul connection, I think she feels a little guilty that she's not as close to you as Niko and I are, and that's not her fault, not your fault, not anybody's fault. I don't want you to guilt her into this next level."

He nodded. "It's okay, there have been signs of that over the last few days. I know she said that she's moving her and Taylor into another bedroom since she gets up so early, but I also feel like it's to give them a bit of space on their own. I'm not mad. I'm genuinely not. I get that. And I suspected that something like this might happen when I saw how angry Lauren got at Taylor's arrival. You have to really care about someone for them to get that far under your skin."

Ash squeezed him a little more. "On the plus side, Niko's totally going to say yes. She said she's been suspecting that men were going to have multiple wives sometime soon, so as soon as she finds out that it's happening, she'll fall over herself to accept."

He leaned down and kissed her again. "We'll wait for the ceremony until we're on the other side of all of this, but we may want to do all the legal stuff as soon as we're able to."

"Mmm," she said. "And then wait for all of us to have one giant ceremony, you and your multitude of wives."

"Two's not that many."

Aisling giggled again, rolling her eyes. "You're an idiot, you know that, right, love?"

"What do you mean?"

"Sarah and Emily are absolutely going to demand to marry you as well, and that's just for starters. Who knows how Piper, Asha, Hannah and whoever's next is going to feel?"

Andy shook his head. "You're awfully confident that Sarah and Emily will want to marry me."

"Of course I am, you daft git," Ash smirked. "I saw how Sarah looked at you yesterday, and, shit, we all *heard* Emily say as much last night. So you've got at least four wives already in the wings. And I'm never going to say this again, but I'll always know I'm the first," she giggled, kissing him once more.

Fifteen minutes later, they were getting out of the shower, and Andy peeked his head back into the bedroom, seeing nobody else had woken up yet, so he quietly grabbed some boxers, some jeans and a t-shirt, got dressed, and slipped out into the house. Behind him, he could hear the sound of the hair dryer turning on, even though the bathroom door, and he suspected the other girls would slowly be getting up.

The first thing Andy did was walk down the hall and peek his head into Piper's room. She was awake and dressed, having clearly slept for a long time, dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, reading the letter he'd left in her room.

"I didn't want you just to awaken in a strange home without some idea of what was going on," Andy said, leaning against the doorframe. "You were so out of it that--"

She rushed him suddenly, clutching at him in a firm hug. She was crying a little, but the way she was holding onto him said they weren't tears of sadness. "Thank you for rescuing me from that bastard," she whispered. "I woke up a couple of hours ago and have mostly just been reading and rereading this letter you left me."

In the letter he'd left in her room, Andy had explained who he was, and how she'd come to be in his home. He'd detailed her experiences with Covington, in case she couldn't remember them, and how he would've like to just taken her away from him and gotten her to choose a man of her liking, but that she had been in such a lust rage that he hadn't had that option. He'd also explained how his arrangement with the staff of the house worked, and that if she simply wanted to have that distant level of engagement with him, he would completely understand.

"I'm sorry we had to meet this way, but here we are," Andy said.

She turned his head and kissed him, soft, tender, vulnerable, but for a long moment before pulling back. "It's... it's all a lot to take in," she mumbled. "I don't have to make a decision now, do I?"

Andy smiled warmly at her and shook her head. "You've got plenty of time to figure out what you want to do here, and how you want to engage with me and the rest of the household. How are you feeling? People aren't supposed to wait that long to get imprinted, so we were a little worried there might be unforeseen complications."

"Not that I noticed?" Piper said, still mostly whispering. "Although there's one thing..."

"If there's a problem, definitely let me know and I can call my friend at the base. We can have some of the doctors check you out."

"It's not a problem so much as just a weird thing..." she said. "I could... I could smell you? Coming down the hall? Like, I knew it was you, because the smell made me feel warm and tingly inside. Like, a little buzzed, in a good way. But it kinda makes it hard to think clearly? Maybe it'll pass. But I feel a definite connection to you, like I'm safe around you? I don't even know you, but I feel safe. How weird is that?"

Andy shrugged a bit. "It might just be some part of the imprinting process that's functioning on a deeper level because of what you went through. I don't know. One of the doctors who's responsible for developing the process is now the partner of a friend of mine, so we'll have her check you out."

"Is it okay if we wait a few days before we fuck again?" she asked. "I know I have to do it regularly, but I want a few days to clear my head, if that's cool."

Andy pulled back and kissed her forehead. "You have at least a week before you'll feel any real need for my cum, and if you're still not ready by then, you can just blow me, or have one of the girls jerk me off into your mouth. Whatever's easiest for you."

"Oh, I'm ready to fuck you right now," she laughed. "Maybe it's just the process, but I was ready to fuck you the second I smelled you walking down the hallway, but I want a few more days so I'm not in so much of a daze the first time we fuck. Well, the first time that we fuck that I remember." She had an easy grace about her, a sort of stoic confidence that he had to admit he found attractive. "Your letter makes me sound like I was quite a handful the night you rescued me."

"Yeah, you can ask Niko about it, but you basically just pinned me down, climbed on top of me and rode me like I was an oversized sex toy."

She giggled fiercely at that, blushing a dark red. "Well, I'm sorry about that, I guess, but, not gonna lie, it also sounds fucking hot. I'll talk to Niko about it." She looked at the room then looked back at him. "So is this my room for good then?"

"If you want it to be, or you can move into the master bedroom as well, if you want. And you don't have to do just one or the other. You can have this as your personal room, but sleep in the main bedroom any time you want."

She nodded. "Okay, I'll sleep here for the next few days while I'm sorting my head out. I need to call my friends and family and explain what's happened and where I'm at. Is that okay?"

Andy gave her another short hug then pulled back. "Absolutely. Do whatever you need to. The letter included a list of everyone who's in the house right now and a short description of them. If you need help finding something, feel free to ask Nicolette. If you're hungry, just tell Jenny what you want and she'll whip something up for you."

"Thank you again, Andy. I have a feeling I'm going to be saying that a lot in my life moving forward."

"Call your family. We can talk more later."

Andy headed out of the room and stepped back into the hallway, heading downstairs, where he found Lauren having a breakfast omlette that Jenny had put together for her. Over the next few minutes, while Jenny made him a breakfast burrito, Andy talked to Lauren about her and Taylor. Andy mentioned that he had asked Aisling to marry him. Lauren agreed that she wanted to marry Taylor eventually, but was glad that Andy had asked her nonetheless, and reiterated that while she still loved him, she wasn't in love with him the way she was with Taylor, and she appreciated his being understanding about that.

After that, Andy went to go write for a while It helped clear his head, and his two cats seemed to have made his office their regular sleeping spot. Whenever he was there, they moved to sleep closer to him, by his feet, on his legs or nestled into the excess room between him and his chair.

A couple of hours later, he saved the file and got up, heading towards the kitchen to get lunch when he ran into Niko, who pulled him aside, saying she wanted to check up on him. They headed into one of the lounges and as soon as they were in the lounge, Niko dropped down to one knee.

"Andy Rook, will you marry me?" she said, holding up a small ring box. Inside the box was a simple titanium band with a folded cabling pattern on it.

Andy's jaw was on the floor, then he started laughing. "Of course I'll marry you, Niko, as long as you're okay sharing me with Ash, and maybe more." He hadn't even thought to get rings for Ash and Niko, but it was definitely a thing he needed to do soon.

"Oh, sharing you's not a problem," she said, kissing him as she slipped the ring onto his finger. "I know Emily and Sarah are definitely going to insist on it. I thought I'd just ask you quick and take the pressure off. I take it Lauren's hitching up with Taylor instead?"

"Yeah, I think we all saw that one coming. It's fine."

"Is it fine or is it *fine*?" she asked him.

"It's completely fine," Andy laughed. "Genuinely. To be honest, it means one less anniversary present I have to worry about."

"I'm torn between wanting my own wedding day and wanting to share it with all the other girls," she teased.

"Oh please, god, let me just have *one* giant ceremony, so that I only have one anniversary to remember," he pleaded, which made her laugh.

"Alright, but only because it means I get to watch all of your two starlet fuckpets' friends look on in jealousy when we're all marrying you."

"Wow, are *you* optimistic," he muttered. "I haven't asked either of them yet, so there's no guarantee--"

"Andy. *ANDY.* They're both gonna say yes. Shit, Sarah migh cum just from you asking her, based on how she's been any time I've talked to her about you. I had to avoid telling her I was involved with you, but she was rereading a copy of 'The Trouble With Were-Bears' when she arrived at the base."

"Why is it the crappiest book in the series sold the most fucking copies?" Andy groaned. "But let me tell you, Emily is one clever lady."

Over the next few minutes, Andy explained to her what Emily had done, how she had manipulated all sorts of people to ensure that Sarah would be paired up with Andy in the end, and how she was incredibly thankful to be with her as well.

"See?" Niko said. "Emily even said you should marry her, so she's going to definitely say yes. So that's two more. A five person wedding sounds wild, but a lot of fun. You given any thought about talking it over with Piper or Asha?"

Andy shook his head. "Piper's awake but I don't want to overwhelm her, so we'll let her get comfortable with the house in her own time, and Asha's too young to be ready to make that kind of decision."

Niko tsked him. "You're gonna have to get over that, Andy. She's part of your family now, so the only question becomes how and at what level."

"Fine, I won't rule it out, but we're certainly not bringing it up to her for at least a few weeks until after she's settled. I'll talk to Em and Sarah about it over the next few days, since they've both made it extremely clear how they're feeling about it."

"And don't forget, you've got Hannah showing up tomorrow."

"And we'll see whatever other surprise Watkins has planned with her arrival."

The rest of the day was quiet. It had begun raining around lunchtime, and the rain kept falling into the evening, when Andy finally held a group dinner, the entire family having a big meal, using the largest ballroom they had, the banquet dinner table having enough seats for sixteen. With the three on staff, they were at twelve already, so Andy made the decision in his head not to grow the family by more than three more, one of which was already reserved for Hannah.

At dinner, Andy told the gathering that he'd proposed to Ash and Niko, which Niko corrected saying that she had done the asking. Regardless of who asked who, Andy told them, the three of them were going to get married eventually, at which point Emily and Sarah had chimed in, asking Andy to marry them as well, to which he immediately agreed. Lauren also told the gathering that she and Taylor had agreed to marry each other, but that didn't mean they were leaving the family. Neither Piper or Asha chimed in, both looking content to wait and see how things moved forward before jumping in feet first.

The dinner turned into a sort of get-to-know-each-other party, and the girls intermingled a bunch, talking to one another, trying to spend time with everyone, although all of them made a point to come back and check on Andy regularly.

He felt weird, being at the center of a party exclusively populated by beautiful women he'd all fooled around with, and they were all getting along. He even saw Niko lean in and kiss Emily, both of them smiling and blushing afterwards.

They all talked shit with one another well into the evening and eventually when Andy decided it was time to head up to bed, the girls were still talking and said they would be up to join him in bed eventually. Andy must've looked a little sad at that, because as he turned to head upstairs, Niko and Ash both darted over to walk up with him, and the three climbed into bed and fell asleep together.