Chapter Seven - Easy

With only a few weeks until the wedding, Kevin was so glad his responsibilities ended with attending the wedding. He'd offered to contribute as much or as little as Fatima wanted, but it turned out that when her father's show had offered to pay for the wedding, they'd taken on more than a little bit of control of where and how everything was going to happen.

The last thing Fatima wanted was for her wedding to go full-blown reality television, but it offered them a chance to promote all sorts of things. Fatima would be promoting GDGear, albeit indirectly, and a bunch of the B-roll footage they'd taken over the last few weeks played like a massive trailer for "The Desperate Disintegration," Emily Rouchard's new movie, set to open just a few weeks after the wedding episode would air. Thankfully, because the wedding episode was going to be her father's "season finale," they would go from filming straight into editing and then airing it just a month or so later.

They'd chosen the Bella Blanca Event Center in North Hollywood, and Kevin had picked out his tuxedo a few months ago, as well as organizing his groomsmen, which consisted of Dandy Randy, his best and oldest friend Bill Hitch and Kerry, who looked more natural in a tux than she would've in a dress. Kev had offered her the option, but she'd insisted on playing the part. Fatima had appreciated that because Kevin had kept his groomsmen list so short, it meant she could only have three bridesmaids as well, and if anyone bitched about how they should've simply had more people in the wedding party, Kevin would immediately have his tragic upbringing story at the ready, the only child of two parents who'd died when he was just twenty, and usually that was more than enough to stop even the most overbearing of wannabe bridesmaid.

The only thing Kevin had been adamant on was his ability to set the playlist for the ceremony and the reception, because while he didn't care much about the particulars of the wedding, the last thing he was going to do was let someone insist he march down the aisle to some bloody Ed Sheeran song that was having a trendy moment. The licensing department of the show had been somewhat adverse to it, claiming they wouldn't be able to get permission to use some of Kevin's choices, but Kevin was willing to call in literally every favor he was owed to make sure all of the music was of his personal choosing, and a sizable chunk of the budget had gone in to getting Robert Smith and the rest of The Cure to come and play a handful of songs live at the reception. The fact that he and Fatima would walk out to The Cure's "Halo" was a personal point of pride for him. Smith was still working on his band's latest album, and had, in fact, been at it for years, but they had some mutual friends in production, and had decided that a little gig for a friend of a friend was something they could do. And Fatima's father was enough of an old school Brit that he couldn't bring himself to argue with The Cure.

Because of the location, the guest list had been very heavily cultivated and curated, simply because too many friends and coworkers of Fatima's father had wanted to attend, and Kevin's circle of influence wasn't all that big, although there were a handful of celebrities who'd RSVP'd as yes.

All of that, however, was still a week away, and all the planning was done, as far as he knew. Every so often, Elizabeth or Fatima would ask him about something in terms of seating, but for the most part he could just stay focused on his own work instead. He was in full composing mode for Robert Rodriguez's new film, having seen some of the dailies, able to start putting together early sweeping approaches at melodies and themes, but not so much that he could score minute by minute yet. He was also starting to listen to demos that'd been sent to him so that he could line up projects he wanted to work on after he'd gotten back from his honeymoon, something he knew absolutely nothing about. He'd told Fatima to surprise him with whatever she'd always wanted to do, and he would be happy with whatever she'd had in mind.

His soon-to-be wife had tasked nearly all the women of the house with helping her get prepared for everything, and that included Jade, who'd moved into the house after Midas Day had either been beaten or gone on hold, Kevin still wasn't sure which, but it had been a few months of utter quiet, something Kevin had been massively thankful. There were hints that Midas Day wasn't gone for good - little notes from Merlin telling him to "enjoy his holiday" - but it was clear that Midas Day wasn't happening every month for a while. He wasn't sure what to make of the mystical tattoo that read "+1" on Jade's ass, one that it turned out only appeared when he was nearby. When he was within a few feet of her, it glowed like it was beneath her skin, and it wasn't anything small either, almost the size of his fist on her left ass cheek. But when she moved away from him, it disappeared, like it wasn't even there. Jade had insisted she was part of the family now and forever more, something Kevin had been more than a little surprised by, but the tenacity of her claims made it clear he wouldn't win the argument. And Jade had proven to be a great assistant to Fatima, almost as if she was trying to emulate Elizabeth's position with him. It helped keep his mind from thinking too much about the wedding.

It was all still in a week's worth of time, however, and the last thing he wanted was to be distracted by problems along the way, or things pulling his focus off trying to get through all his work before the wedding and the honeymoon. So he'd been spending as much time as he could in the studio, applying himself to one task or another. So much so that it was starting to burn him out, and when the light started flashing, indicating someone was outside of the studio door and wanted to come in, he welcomed the distraction, and moved to open the door, a little surprised to find Fatima, Elizabeth and Miriam standing outside of the door together.

"Love, we have a problem," Fatima said, "and I know we all promised to let you hunker down—"

"I need a break anyway, baby," Kevin said to her, leaning in to give her a soft kiss. "What's the problem? Something with the wedding?"

"No, it's something much more personal than that, Mr. Bishop," Elizabeth said. "I'm afraid we're having a problem talking to Ashley."

Kevin arched an eyebrow in concern. "What do you mean you're having a problem talking to her? Is something wrong?"

"Well, yes and no, sir," Miriam said. "I think it would be best if perhaps you went and talked to her. The only person who's been with you longer than she has is Elizabeth, and even that, only by a matter of hours. In fact, you fucked her before you did any of us. She's... she's got a problem, one that I hope you can help her with, sir."

Fatima smiled, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I don't understand all the rules of your little pact with the sorceress, love, but I'm sure you'll find some solution that's to everyone's satisfaction."

"Any of you want to go in there with me?" Kevin asked, optimistically.

"I will go, Master," Elizabeth volunteered. "As the keeper of the gift, it's my job to be around when the rules and expectations are being discussed."

"This isn't my place to decide, beloved," Fatima said. "So I will trust your judgment to do the right thing, not just for yourself, but for the entire family."

"And your health is in no danger, Master," Miriam said to him. "Your physical health, at the very least. Should emotional damage result from this conversation, well, that isn't the sort of thing Strazo and I can protect you from. She's in her room, and Natalie is with her."

"Alright," Kevin sighed, stepping over to power down the console, his amp and his instruments, so that nothing was consuming power and/or heating the room while he was away. Everything had been saved or written down before he did, and the last thing he wanted was for a fire to catch while he was away dealing with some problem.

Kevin and Elizabeth headed towards Ashley's room, a place Kevin hadn't spent much time in. One of the rules the members of his house had asked of him early on was that they each get their own bedroom, and that whatever sexual hijinks they got on with, they didn't do so in the girl's private bedrooms - that was their space and their space alone, a rule Kevin was more than happy to accede to.

Ashley's door had a whiteboard on it, where she'd written out her class schedule, along with her designated appointments with Kevin. Every one of his partners liked to see him for a few hours twice a week, once by themselves and once with a partner of their choosing. This was a time she was supposed to be in class, but even with her door closed, he could tell she was in there.

She was crying.

Kevin hoped like hell he could solve her problems when he knocked on the door. "Ash? It's Kev. I'm here with Elizabeth. Can we come in?"

"Aw gawd, I guess," she said in between sobs. "It's open."

Inside her room was the sort of thing he expected it to be - a college girl's first apartment. Posters all over the walls, pizza boxes scattered across the floor, dirty clothes draped over things instead of put in the hamper, and loads of drawings plastered across the walls. The one thing Kevin was surprised by was the fact that his cat Stu was curled up on Ashley's bed alongside her, with Natalie, the house's cook and fitness instructor, on the other side of her. Natalie was in workout clothes, as was Ashley, and Kevin wondered if maybe something had happened when they were in their morning session. Both had their hair up in ponytails, and the slightly older Asian woman had her arm around the blonde's shoulders.

"Hey Ashley, what's wrong?" Kevin said, walking into the room.

"I'm sorry, Kevin," Ashley said, looking up at him, her eyes reddened from obviously having been crying for a while now. "I know you're supposed to be trying to get work done before your wedding, and here I am, making a mess and distracting you."

Kevin walked into the room and crouched down, kneeling in front of her, looking up into her baby blue eyes. "Well, I'm here now, so let's talk about it. What's the problem?" He took her hands in his own, finding her fingers trembling, as she looked down at them before forcing herself to lift her gaze to match his own.

"It's... I shouldn't have any reason to complain about it, sir," Ashley sighed. "I knew what it was going to be when I signed up for this, but..."

"But what Ashley?"

"It's... it's silly, because it's still years away, but..."

Kevin waited, and then finally prompted her again. "But what Ashley?"

"But... but I don't wanna go, Daddy," Ashley said, tears starting to spring up in her eyes again. "I knew when I got into this that I was just going to be with you for a few years, for the length of my college career at the max, but in the year I've been with you... I've grown attached. And I don't like the idea that sooner or later, it's all going to end. I don't want it to end."

"Does it have to?" Kevin asked, first looking at Ashley before turning to look at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth nodded. "I can't talk too much about the rules of the Gift, sir, but I can confirm that the 'fucktoy' position is meant to be a rotating one, and that by the end of her college career, her pendant will simply fall off, and her attachment to you will fade."

"I don't wanna, Master!" Ashley said. "I don't like the idea that it's hanging over my head, like this deadline where I gotta go. I want to stay! With you! And Mistress Fatima! And the rest of the house! I... I love you, Kevin!" The blonde teenager whimpered, balling her hands into fists. "I didn't think I was going to, but you've been so fucking nice to me, when all you really had to do was just fuck me and pay my bills! But you've been helping me with my schoolwork, you introduced me to Christy Fucking Zen, and Fatima's been so fucking kind and generous with me."

"But I'm going to keep getting older," Kevin told her. "Wouldn't you be happier with someone your own age?"

"No!" Ashley shrieked. "And I'm getting pretty fucking tired of people telling me I'd be happier if I did what they told me to do!"

"Whoa! Whoa there, Ashley," Kevin replied. "I'm not telling you what to do!"

"You said I'd be happier—"

"No, I asked if you'd be happier with someone younger," he corrected. "I didn't say that you would. I know far better than to tell you what you, or anyone else for that matter, would or wouldn't want. I'm just trying to figure out how to help."

"How to help? How to help? You can find a way to keep me in the family! You can find a way to prevent the gift from rejecting me!"

"What recourse do I have, Elizabeth?" Kevin asked, standing up, Ashley still clinging to his hands with her own.

"I'm... I'm honestly not sure, sir," Elizabeth said with a frown. "The rules of the 'fucktoy' position are very clear, in that it's a position that has to be held by a college student."

"And?"

Elizabeth's brow furrowed. "And what sir?"

"And what other conditions are there?"

"That's it, sir."

"Really?"

"Yes sir."

"Well then, we can at least buy you some time while we consider the matter, Ashley."

"Sir?" Ashley said, cocking her head.

"You told me when we first met that you wanted to become a veterinarian, didn't you?"

"Yes sir."

"Is that still the plan?"

"Yes sir?"

"Well then, we can technically keep you in the family another seven years while we're figuring it out."

"Sir?"

"Since you're planning on becoming a veterinarian, you're going to need a four-year undergraduate degree, and then another four years in veterinary school, which could be considered just an extension of your college education, and therefore, still in college."

Ashley smiled a little bit, sniffling a big drippage back into her nose. "It's a start, but I don't want to leave at the end of that, sir."

"It buys us time, Ashley," Kevin said. "What else can you tell me, Elizabeth?"

"About which part, sir?"

"Let's start with who the last necklace is supposed to go to. I assume there's a role intended for that person, like how Natalie took on the trainer/chef role, Miriam took on the bodyguard role and Leah is our lawyer."

"The last role that's supposed to be on staff is physician, sir," Elizabeth said quietly. "I've been working to screen through potential candidates, looking for someone who would be a good match, not only for you, but for the rest of the family as well."

"So there's another option for you, Ashley."

"Sir?" the blonde asked him.

"Instead of being a vet, you could instead become a real doctor, with me instead of pets being what you're practicing on."

Ashley frowned a little. "I don't think I could do that, sir," she sighed. "Working on animals, that's one thing, but working on people? That's something entirely different."

"Well, we aren't exactly in a massive rush, as seven years is quite a long time," Kevin said to her. "Is that enough time that you'll at least stop crying?"

"What do you think the odds are we'll find a solution between here and there?" Ashley asked him, trying to get herself to stop crying.

Kevin couldn't help but laugh at that. "If you'd asked me a year ago, what were the odds that I'd be living in the Hollywood Hills because I'd saved the life of the world's most powerful sorceress? I'd have told you that you were insane. So I don't know what we'll be like in a few days, much less a few years. But we have the greatest weapon of the ages on our side."

"What's that?"

"Hope."

He'd meant it in the most positive and optimistic way, but the moment the words left his mouth, he'd known they'd sounded more than a little corny and hokey, especially when the girls started to laugh at him.

"This! Is! Our! Independence Day!" Natalie teased, as all the girls laughed. "No no, it was a good speech, Kev. I'm just saying the saccharine levels might have been dialed up a little high. I feel like you were about to ask us to go marching into battle alongside you."

"I just don't want you to think we're giving up on you, Ashley, because if you want to stay with us, if that's what you truly want, I'll do everything I can to make it happen."

Ashley threw her arms around Kevin's neck and clung to him so tightly, he was afraid she was trying to choke him out, but he could tell the tears running down her cheeks were tears of joy. "I was just worried that you'd tell me 'Rules are rules,' and that I had to go because it was what Morgana decided for you."

"Morgana's Gift is very powerful, Ashley, but I decide what happens in my own life, and that means if you want to stay, and I want you to stay, we will find a way for you to stay, alright?"

Ashley grabbed his head and kissed him with a feeling he'd never felt from the teenager before - gratitude. He'd felt her growing closer and closer to him over the year, but it wasn't until that moment that he had realized that she'd grown increasingly attached to him beyond just the physical and sexual aspects of it all, and in hindsight, he'd been kind of an idiot for missing it for as long as he had. She'd organized her entire class schedule around spending as much time with him and the rest of the members of the house, ensuring that when she left for the day, she'd only leave the once, with all of her classes concentrated together in a block, as if she was worried that coming and going too much might make her too much of a hassle. "I love you, Kevin," she whispered to him. "I was scared about saying it before now, and I know you think I'm too young to know what true love is, but I'm true and I do love you. I'll find someway to repay this to you, I promise."

"I know, Ashley, I know."

The rest of the day proceeded mostly quietly, but when it came time for bed, all Kevin's partners decided to pile into bed with him at once, something they'd never done before, but it seemed important to everyone, considering the sort of stressful day that Ashley had, that she be smothered in love, everyone surrounding her in a pile of human flesh, making sure someone was hugging each and every part of her.

Kevin had intended to be right at the center of it, but in the middle of the night, his bodily needs had come a calling, and he'd gotten up, sliding out of the pile so he could make his way to the bathroom. As much as he disliked it, he wasn't as young of a man as he once was, and he was starting to get the sense that getting up once or twice a night to take a leak was going to become a new habit for him rather than something that happened when he'd been drinking too late at night.

But after doing his business and flushing the toilet, he peered from the bathroom at the pile of bodies sleeping in his bed, tilting his head to one side, as he counted them. Once he'd double checked his count, he went about seeing who was missing. Ashley, check. Fatima, check. Natalie, check. Miriam, check. Leah, check. Jade, check. Elizabeth? Elizabeth?

Hm.

His majordomo was nowhere to be found, something that caused him great consternation.

(Also, his cat Stu wasn't on the bed, but that was less concerning. Stu liked to wander.)

He was a little nervous at first, but realized, it was his house, and even if Miriam was asleep, some of Fatima's security were always tending to the perimeter, and he could wander within the walls of his home and castle with impunity. He'd just never really gone walking at night since he'd moved in. But he needed to figure out where Elizabeth had gone, and so he slowly started checking the house room by room.

Around the fifth room, it occurred to him - he had a big fucking house. It was going to take him another ten minutes or so to check all the rooms, and even then, he was going to have to be moving quickly. But thankfully he didn't have that many more rooms to check, as he saw the light on coming from the room they'd used as Elizabeth's office. He headed down the hallway towards the low luminescence he could see wafted through the air towards him. The light seeping into the hallway had been a cool yellow at first but had shifted into a lustrous lavender before returning to a neutral soft white just as he reached the door.

When he opened the door, he saw Elizabeth in her nightie standing in front of the original box she'd brought with her, something Kevin hadn't looked at in months. The box was closed, but on top of it was a piece of paper with glowing letters, the paper itself floating a few inches above the top of the box, as if waiting for someone to pluck it from the air it was suspended in the middle of.

"Kevin?" Elizabeth said, rubbing her eyes. "Where am I? What am I doing?"

"You apparently sleepwalked down to your office, Elizabeth. Or, more likely, you were summoned down here by Morgana, who left us a note," he said, gesturing to the piece of paper, which was starting to lift a little higher off the box now, as if it was annoyed that its levitating trick wasn't getting the attention it deserved. "Maybe you should grab it and read it?"

"What? Oh. Oh!" She finally noticed the piece of paper and grabbed it from the air, as the glow from the letters on the paper lit her face from below, almost like he'd done around the campfire as a kid when telling ghost stories. "You're right, it's from Mistress Morgana. Should I just read it aloud?"

"That would be best."

Elizabeth smiled a little bit and began to read the note aloud to him. "Dearest Kevin. It seems there has been something of a minor ripple in your household, and your first chosen fucktoy is having regrets about not asking for a position with a bit more longevity to it. I also understand that Merlin has decided to add onto your gift, something I am uncertain whether was intended in the spirit of mischief, the spirit of gratitude, or perhaps the spirit of both. I have checked out Jade, this new +1 you seem to have, and she seems to have no malice in her heart towards you or any other member of the house. There are no hidden motives there, no plots lying in wait to disrupt your life. In fact, she's never met Merlin - never seen him, never talked to him, never even been within a hundred feet of him, so I am hoping that you can simply allow her to be a member of your household in good conscience. I wouldn't trust that his 'addition' is over yet, though, so I urge you to be vigilance. +1 certainly implies there is likely to be a +2 and so on, because that's completely in line with the sort of thing he would get up to. I have loved and hated that man in equal measures over the centuries, and although I think I know him better than any other on this planet, I think that's somewhat comparable to saying I'm the greatest weatherperson on the planet - I'm right more often than I'm not, but sometimes we all get taken off guard. Merlin, like the wind, is a fickle bitch. Regardless.

"Back to the issue at hand. I have slipped into your house, reviewed the facts of this matter and spent some time pondering what to do with Ashley. Many options were before me, and with my level of power, there were several things to weigh before I chose any particular path. I decided against changing her mind for her, simply because that felt like intrusion, an invasion of her mind, an attack on her thoughts and feelings. While I'm certain I could've rewritten them entirely and left no trace of what I'd done, I somehow felt that I would be doing a great disservice to Ashley and her feelings, all of which she came by naturally. One of the differences between me and Merlin is that I am a great deal more concerned with the outcomes of my magics than he is. The old fool likes to kick the beehive just to watch the bees grow angry, whereas I'm more interested in making sure the hive survives. As such, I jettisoned the concept of wiping her mind or her feelings.

"Instead, what I have decided to do is offer you a singular addition, one additional pendant, which you will need to place around Ashley's neck after removing the other one. Also, as part of this, she will be required to find you a new fucktoy to fill that role, and it is she who is responsible for finding someone who is a better fit for the expected responsibilities of that role, one that is meant to be without emotional attachments, purely focused on transactional pleasure. She must set the expectations correctly for whomever she gets to take on her old responsibilities, and as such, she will also be responsible for their dismissal at the end of their tenure, and for the procurement of each and every woman who ever steps into your college girl fucktoy position henceforth. She wanted more than she had, and I can respect that, but there is a price to be paid for ambition, and it seems unfair to ask you to pay it, since all of this was a gift to you for your moment of heroism and kindness. Her new role in the family is 'fucktoy catcher,' but it will still allow her the freedom to continue chasing her dream to take care of animals, a noble pursuit if ever there was one. That said, if I learn that she is not taking her new responsibilities seriously, my wrath will come down upon her like the fury of a thousand suns, so encourage her not to shirk from this.

"I thought about waiting for a few years and stringing this out, seeing if it would change her mind at all, but in peering inside of her thoughts, I saw that prolonging my decision would simply bring both her and you more grief, and my gifts are not meant to cause pain. I will not allow them to. Talk to her in the new light of the morning, make her read this letter and then change her old pendant out for the new one resting loose in the box below. By the time you return from your honeymoon, she needs to have found her replacement, or the pendant in the box will disappear and she will lose her place among your house. ... Just kidding. But it will mean I will need to stop by and have a conversation with her about not fulfilling her duties, and nobody wants that.

"Other than that, I hope all is well. The Ostrogoth says to say hello. Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials. I didn't receive an invitation, but I assume that's only because you didn't know where to send it. Maybe we'll show up, maybe we won't. Either way, thank you again for your kindness, Kevin Bishop. You truly are 'one of the good ones.' Toodles!"

Elizabeth held out the paper to him as she reached down to lift the cover of the box and revealed the inside of it, where the one remaining pendant had been joined by another that was sort of casually laid atop the spots where the other pendants had been neatly tucked away. A little smile crossed her lips as she looked at it. "You think she's going to be happy?" she asked him.

"I think she's getting exactly what she asked for, so if she isn't, I think I'm going to have to paddle her ass red," he chuckled.

As it would turn out, Ashley was so happy she began immediately bawling, throwing her arms around Kevin's neck, clinging to him as she giggled, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'm going to get you the best fucktoys ever, Kevin," she told him. "I promise you I'm going to make sure you're never unhappy with whoever I bring in, and that she understands it's only for a good time and not for a long time, so that nobody gets too attached. And if they do get attached, well, I'll deal with it, or I'll talk to Mistress Morgana about what it would take to solve the problem." Ashley was so happy she was practically trembling as she clutched at him, refusing to let him go for the longest point. "I was so afraid I was going to have to go, Daddy, and I don't ever, ever want to let you go."

"Now you don't have to, Ashley," he said, stroking her blonde hair. He was a little surprised how attached she'd grown to him, but there was also a sense of relaxation that surged through him in realizing she didn't have to leave their family. She'd carved a place among all the others, and all of the women hugged to her tightly.

"By the time you're back from your honeymoon, I'll have a fine young piece of eager teenage ass ready and lined up for you to play with," she purred into his ear.

How, he wondered, had his life ever come to this...