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Disclaimer/Warning: This work is not mine. Contacting the original author is impossible, but I like to think they would be okay with my posting it here for as many people to see as possible. This work is NOT complete and it will NEVER be complete. I'm sad too.

With that said, enjoy.

- - -

I watched the airplane land. Melisa, Doris Alex and Janet stood behind me.

"That should be her plane," Melisa said sadly.

I nodded.

"You should wait here, David," Doris Alex said. "Janet will bring her to us."

I turned my head to watch Janet walk towards the terminal gate. Melisa grabbed my hand and leaned her cheek against my shoulder.

"It'll be okay, Melisa," Doris Alex said stroking my First's hair.

"I know," Melisa whispered. "I know."

A half-hour passed before Janet, followed by a woman who towered over her, returned. They walked towards us until they stood a couple of feet from me. I turned towards them; Melisa and Doris Alex slid into position behind me.

"Brother," the woman said.

I studied her. She was a couple of inches taller than Doris Alex with a deeper shade of red hair. Her clothing was chosen to display a feminine body while hiding the details. The effect was to let me know what was there but only because I already knew what was there. I reached up; her muscles tightened as I pulled her sunglasses off. The bruises had not faded completely but her makeup hid the discoloration well. There was fear in her dark green eyes but she did not break our eye contact. I watched as she took a deep breath pulling strength from me. I put the sunglasses back on her.

"Welcome, Stephanie," I said softly.

"I have something for you, Brother," she said extending her hand.

I put my open palm underneath her hand; she dropped something into it. Melisa gasped stepping forward. I looked at the Sibling ring in my hand. The only differences between a Brother's crested ring and his Sibling's crested ring were the white and black backgrounds. My crest was composed of white and gray lines with the black of the ring being used as a third color. It would have been invisible on a Sibling ring. The artist had inverted the colors of my crest on the Sibling ring to solve the obvious problem. I smiled thinking only someone that knew about the inversion would recognize my crested Siblings.

"I will not accept this," I told Stephanie.

"David, you must," Melisa said almost angrily.

Stephanie's eyes looked lost for a second. I turned towards Melisa; her eyes were pained. She planned to be my first crested Sibling but Stephanie's wounds were too obvious for Melisa to deny her. I smiled as the girls moved to stand in support of Stephanie.

"A Brother cannot refuse a crest," Janet said.

"Cannot?" I asked.

"Does not," Doris Alex corrected.

"Do not mistake tradition with law, Siblings," I told them. "I will not accept that ring."

"David," Melisa defended. "Stephanie needs you."

"You can't live up to what it means, can you?" I asked looking at Stephanie.

"I can," she replied weakly.

"Look at Melisa," I said. "She will bear that crest with you someday. Tell her, not me, that you will live up to it the way she will. Tell her it means as much to you as it does to her."

A tear crawled from underneath her sunglasses down her cheek.

"What about the woman you were before this happened?" I asked her. "Could you look her in the eye and say you are not trying to buy my protection with that crest?"

"What she is doing is no different than why I chose the white ring, David!" Janet insisted. "I buy what I need from the Brotherhood."

"And what do you pay us with?" I said staring at her.

All of them looked away from me.

"The white ring is a commitment; a crest even more so, Stephanie," I said. "I will live what the crest on my ring means to my Brothers, can you live what a crest on your ring means to Siblings?"

"What does it matter if she can't, David?" Melisa argued. "You would never ask her to do something she doesn't want to. Crest relationships don't have to be based on sex."

"Does it matter, Stephanie?" I asked.

She shook her head slowly. I smiled gently at her.

"Does it matter to you?" I asked.

Stephanie turned her head to shake it again but froze. Doris Alex grabbed her hand. Stephanie swallowed a sob.

"It's not about me. I'm..." I said and hesitated. "A lot of things mean nothing to you right now, Stephanie. Hold on to the things that still do."

I turned around when the girls wrapped Stephanie in their warmth.

"What am I supposed to do?" Stephanie asked finally. "I can't even sleep in my old apartment. I can't go back there. It's not my home anymore."

"I didn't say you could not stay," I said without turning around. "Anna is my Brother; nothing else is needed for you to be welcome in my home."

Everyone was waiting when we got to the house. There seemed to be some form of ritualistic greeting that Stephanie had to go through with each person; even Rachel gave her a tight hug and a kiss on each cheek. I was fairly certain Rachel had no idea what had happened to Stephanie. I ignored the question in Rachel's eyes.

Heather gave Stephanie a tour of the house with everyone following in her wake. Stephanie stepped into the room that had been assigned to her. She looked around for a second and then backed out slowly. Heather continued the tour until we reached the 'not-quite' room at the end of the hallway. The room was slightly bigger than a king-sized bed. Everyone on the second floor used it as an extra closet.

Stephanie stood in the middle of the room for a long time.

"Empty it for her," I said.

"That's not necessary," she said.

"Let's go get you a bed, Stephanie," I said. "I like a daybed for this room."

"It's not necessary, David," Stephanie insisted. "The other room is fine."

"I know a great furniture shop," I said walking out the room. "They make everything by hand so their products are solid. Something in oak, I think would be nice. It'll probably be too big but so what."

A daybed proved undoable because of Stephanie's height. They had a marvelous single bed that was low to the ground and looked unmovable. When I offered the owner a bonus to deliver it that day, he was very pleased and arranged for immediate delivery.

By sun down, Stephanie was completely moved into her new room.

I was sitting in the living room surrounded by the Siblings. Rachel was keeping Stephanie company in her room. For some reason, Stephanie was most comfortable around the non-Siblings in the house.

"That's a very small room," Malia said thoughtfully. "The big one was better for her. I would think the room she picked would feel confining."

"It's easier to completely control a small space," I said without looking at her.

"I don't understand," Heather said confused.

"In a tiny room, you can choose everything's place," I said. "Even dust can be controlled. She didn't bring anything from home, not even her clothing. This is a new start and she wants tyrannical control over everything that enters her environment."

"She only brought a carry-on bag and the clothes she was wearing," Melisa said with nod. "I've got a huge room and I still need a storage locker."

"You've got a lot of shit, Melisa," Malia teased. "No, girlfriend! You've got a LOT of shit."

"Take Stephanie clothes shopping tomorrow," I said. "Don't take no for an answer."

"Yes, David," Doris Alex said obediently.

I turned so that I could look at them individually.

"I don't want her left alone," I commanded. "Not for one minute. I'll tell you when there's no need to watch her anymore."

"How will you know?" Janet asked curiously.

"She'll be annoyed at you," I said.

"I annoy a lot of people!" Janet pointed out.

"Yes, you do!" Melisa sniped.

"There won't be any anger or fear," I said. "It'll be a clean burst of annoyance."

They nodded.

"She won't let any of us touch her," Melisa pointed out. "She's going to have to be alone while she sleeps."

"Susan will be spending her nights here," I told her.

"Does Susan know that?" Malia asked.

"I'm sure she was planning on it," I answered.

"David, Susan is a professor," Janet said. "People will talk if anyone finds out she's sleeping here every night."

I turned to stare at her.

"Okay, I'm wrong," Janet said with a pout. "DDLE will take care of the talking."

"DDLE?" Melisa asked not able to help herself.

"David's Deadly Laser Eyes!" Janet said sticking her tongue out at me.

I sighed as they broke out into laughter. The Siblings whispered among themselves until Rachel entered the room. She stared at me for a minute and then passed her blue eyes over everyone else. They exited the room quickly to leave the two of us alone.

"What happened to Stephanie?" she asked with a lot of insistence in her voice.

"That's for her to tell you if she wants," I said.

"She won't tell me," she replied sitting down next to me.

"What do you think happened to her?" I asked.

"Rape."

I did not say anything.

"Stephanie's not married. No one here has a significant other. They're all very attentive of you but only Doris Alex is committed to you."

"Not Melisa?" I asked turning towards her.

"David, I'm only here because Melisa thinks you want me."

"Melisa doesn't just think it, Rachel," I corrected.

She nodded slowly.

"That isn't commitment, David," Rachel said carefully. "The world doesn't make sense to Melisa without you in it."

I shrugged.

"Stephanie feels to me like she used to be exactly like everyone here. She looks at them with this bitterness, almost like she resents them for having something she lost. I doubt there was a boyfriend or even a serious relationship," Rachel said. "Those bruises aren't domestic violence or clumsiness. She flinched when I brushed her accidentally."

I tilted my head and studied her. Rachel did a good job of hiding her brains from other people. I wondered for a second if she realized she had never done it around me.

"I was there once," she said.

My eyes lost focus for a second and then it felt like I was looking at something behind her.

"It didn't get far," she said staring at me. "You always said you appreciated my thickness, especially in my thighs. By the way, women prefer athletic. I have athletic thighs, NOT thick ones. The asshole wasn't even bigger than me. One kick and it was off to the races. I won."

"Who was he?" I asked with a charming smile.

"I'm not stupid, David," Rachel said smiling back. "It was a long time ago. I've forgotten it so don't even think about it."

"You haven't forgotten it or you wouldn't have told me," I whispered.

"That's why she trusts you, isn't it?" Rachel asked knowing she was not going to get an answer. "You took care of whoever did that to her."

We stared into each other's eyes for a couple of seconds.

"I'm glad," she said fiercely.

She stood up and headed out of the room. At the door, she stopped and turned around to make sure I was looking. She smiled mysteriously before continuing out.

Stephanie's psychologist visited the next day.

"I don't like this small space," she said looking around Stephanie's room.

"She does," I said to her while looking at Stephanie.

"Hmmm," the head-doctor replied.

She was the same blonde that administered my psych evaluation for the Brotherhood. Stephanie was very nervous around her.

"I don't want to go see you," she told the psychologist.

"You will," I said to Stephanie.

"Yes, Brother," she replied bowing her head.

"Hmmm," the psychologist said looking between us. "Brother, I will be staying at Susan's house while Stephanie and I work together."

I smiled as she walked out of the room; sometimes a Brother needs a translator with a Sibling but rarely when it comes to sex. Any Sibling can make a conversation about the weather sound like an invitation to fuck at the Brother's earliest convenience.

"Was I ever like that?" Stephanie asked quietly.

"I didn't know you before," I said. "I have a feeling you were though."

"Will I ever be like that again?" she asked plaintively.

"Is that what you want, Stephanie?"

"No," she admitted reluctantly.

She sat down on the floor and sobbed for a long time.