34. No Matter What.

Mariella didn't understand that job at all now, and Damon was quietly holding the blood tube still in his hands. Damon was thinking of something, and Mariella frowned as she tried to wrap her mind around what had just happened.

Damon sighed in his mind. He thought he had accepted that Mimi was no more of his but that damn Cornick, and knowledge of what they are doing. No wonder Mimi didn't want any relationship with him. He was now so fucking obvious about how he was treating Mimi. Like an unruly child. He did not treat or see Mimi as his wife but as a burden. He did not mean it, not always. 

When something he always had to get on his nerves about, always had to be strict, always had to command, then Charles had come along and wrapped himself around Mimi and taken her away. He sighed. He could smell not a tomato in the blood, but panic. Nightmares. He had gotten this all wrong and the connection that he thought he once had with Mimi was no more. Maybe it never had been, because of Damien and now Mariella.

Charles must have taken Mimi to bed. To sleep. To be safe. Mariella came to Damon and wrapped herself in this. She had seen the complete scene too, and she could feel Damon's frustration. Damon reacted quickly and didn't think at all, and there were always consequences.

Damon gave Mariella a blood tube and said, " What do you smell?"

Mariella sniffed. There were some deficiencies, quite many of them, adrenaline, cortisol, few neural stress indicators too, almost a flight or fight reaction. She looked at Damon questioningly and handed the tube back. Damon drank the tube and grimaced. The panic made the blood a little bitter.

Damon said, "Just look around. Mimi won't bother you and neither will Charles." 

Damon's voice was bitter, his self-loathing clear again. He was a failure as a husband, at least for Mimi, not to mention as a safety, or confidant, partner.

Mariella said, " Do you want to go and look? "

Damon sneered. That was the last thing he wanted. He didn't want to see that vision. He shook his head. He went to the kitchen to see again one very well-stocked kitchen with the best appliances, pots, pans, and rabbit stew that was in the oven. 

That vision was the last thing he wanted to witness. It had already burned into his retinas then, driving him so deep into the abyss that Damien could rant about it for so fucking long. He understood now. It had been a balancing act. When he'd had a stab or a flank, he'd gained strength and been able to stay afloat, but when Damien did a session or ruined something, he gained strength.

Mimi had been right all along, and he was just too stubborn to listen to her. If he had only listened and believed in her, maybe they could have destroyed Damien with their love and Charles would never have come into their live. But then again, he had gotten Mariella. and she was the most important to him in the entire world.

Mariella didn't know how to help. Damon had a moment and grabbed Mariella before they teleported to another house and went to one room and just fuck, and Damon didn't want to hear a word about Mimi now.

Mariella let Damon vent and talk. They fucked for a week. She always got Damon talking, mostly about all the bad things Mimi had ever experienced, and Damon said, " You will probably never hear this stuff from Mimi. I remember the first time I sensed a protective shell on her, and I couldn't get it off, and then it kept getting stronger, repeatedly. Jobs gone bad or something Bran did, but she never talked to me much about them. In one job she told me about, one or more credit fleas died in it, but I couldn't get that memory out of her head. She had hidden it."

Damon looked in the distance. He sighed and carried on.

"Sark had developed a remotely explosive, poisonous bullet, and Mimi's team went into one facility to rescue them, and they were shot at, but Mimi had given them all a tube of her blood so that if they got hit, they could heal. And this trusty, his name was Jake, he had been with Mimi decades and he was very important to her, had been hit, and Mimi had saved him herself by giving him the blood, and they were heading for the exit when this man had just grunted, and when Mimi had turned to look, the man had looked her in the eye, and then a stream of blood had come out of his mouth, and he had fallen dead to the ground, and then Sark had shown Mimi how he had captured one woman in Mimi's group and slit her throat in front of Mimi. Sark had fired all the bullets, and then everyone died." 

Damon was silent and Mariella said, "No wonder she doesn't want to be with us. She doesn't want anyone to hurt anymore. She doesn't want you to break her heart. She has been through so much shit and this whole Damien thing. She just does not want to be part of a love triangle on top of all of this. Her soul must be so fucking bruised."

Damon sighed and said, "So what if I don't want to feel this blow in my heart every time I see Mimi and Charles or Adam, and I know she will never be with me again? What about my heart? I can't deny that I have some feelings for Mimi because I'm just lying to myself. But darling, don't worry, you'll always be number one, my number one."

Mariella said, " You don't see it yet, but you are Mimi's best protection because you keep Mimi in check. You understand. Boundaries and love. Charles and Adam love Mimi, but don't keep her in line. She is not their alpha female. And has Charles ever managed to take any nightmares from Mimi away? No one but you."

Mariella stroked Damon. He liked to be touched.

She whispered in his ear," I know it is painful to see Mimi relying on Charles and not on you, but you have to be patient. Show Mimi what you can do. That you two still exist. You understand. Mimi has to see your feelings, feel them. You have to use your bond and send it through it. Or with some kind of sign to remind Mimi. Now, I don't know how she's hidden her feelings or where she's hidden them. But Damon, the song."

Damon had gotten Bertie Higgins' Casablanca back to its place, but it had been decades since he'd used it. Damon was quiet, but he was not so sure if he should make Mimi love him. If he again makes Mimi fall for him, then he sees only Mariella. And once again, Mimi is left alone, but then again, his feelings for her are real. He needs to have a chance with her, to show her he is still around. 

Charles quietly went to eat. Mimi was having another difficult time, and he was needed now. It had been a week, and it was not yet ready, not at all. He had given her energy transfers so she would not lose weight as she slept and recovered. But he needed to eat and go the shower to himself. He was so ready to continue to do this. 

When Mariella and Damon came into the kitchen, he tried to be as normal as possible, but he knew what a demanding time this was. He had nursed Mimi out of these nightmares several times, always long enough for her to feel safe, protected, loved, and not alone. He had an enormous pile of food in front of him. He was eating fast and efficiently. He had not yet gone into the shower, as he liked to smell like Mimi. Her strawberry scent on his skin felt so natural. 

Mimi truly needed him, even though she was reluctant to ask for help. Charles knew that was the one thing that always triggered the nightmares. When Mimi felt like she had to be strong, had to stand on her own. And it could take a long time for Mimi to know how to cover her condition before Charles had the hang of it all. Now the whole Damon thing, the shed sessions, Damien, it had all come crashing down on her, and even Damon had helped. He had finally left, leaving Mimi alone. That is when Mimi has to wake up alone, in medbay, weak, not in her full power left there days ago, maybe. That was the trigger that caused her to get this reaction on.

And that was the one thing that caused the stress, which led to nightmares and insomnia. If he knew Mimi at all, it wouldn't be long before she pulled missions, on the field or started enjoying herself at the gym. He did not want her to go mission in this state; she was a too-fragile state and if something would go wrong, she would blame herself and this damn rat race would get so much deeper.

Damon took out from the fridge that had been linked to, a plate made for Mariella, warmed it up, and gave his wife an enormous plate of food and sat by her, she ate most of the food of herself but she would also feed Damon when he nibbled on her neck and ear. Charles wished Damon and Mariella would just focus on each other and not on him.

Damon looked at Charles. He could smell Mimi on his skin, which made his blood boil. He kept his voice low, quite quiet too as he said, " Nightmares or what? How long has Mimi had that problem?"

Charles raised his head, and the telepath spied a little. Fine.

He said shortly, he was soon eaten enough, " Decades, that's how long I've been with Mimi. They take their time, but she'll be fine. I'm going to have to go before she wakes up. It is just not just nightmares, it is the whole freaking thing. We, Me, and Adam call it MDNS, which is short for Mimi Distress Nightmare Syndrome. It is a very nasty rat race and a difficult thing to solve if it gets bad enough because you can never know when the next world-saving gig or something will come along, I try to get that stopping as soon as I can sense it, but she hides it so cleverly. "

Damon said, "So what it will entail? She has nightmares, so I can do something about those, but why it is a bad vortex for her? Let me go and see if I can banish any of those nightmares. "

Charles said, "She has troubles when she wakes alone, utterly alone in the med bay, not in the best shape, and she knows she needs to get herself back in shape. So she goes to the gym as she is using a fair bit of rage to get herself going, not sleeping, eating well, not so much as she should. Not sleeping because she is just not feeling safe at all. And she was about to hit missions that in that state, well, if there had been a bad gig, she would have hardened herself again and it would take me and Adam some serious work to get that armor off. You see armor on her. We have gotten a lot off from her, but it builds back up. So this is a need for safety, first and foremost." 

Charles was hesitant. Now Damon was telepathic and strong as well as a pack leader, but then again, he felt Mimi's anxiety and pain so acutely and didn't want to make it worse. He had tended her before in this state and it was nothing personal per se, only his feeling that he knew what he was doing.

Damon looked at him and said, " Oh, that does not sound so good at all. Just show me which room, and let's see what I can do. It's not good if she doesn't sleep at all. I can try to see if I can mitigate that nasty syndrome at all. "

Charles sighed and got up from the table. They went first into an isolated part of the house. Damon opened the door permanently. Charles said nothing. He led Damon to one of the more secret lairs, Mimi's sanctuary, where old duvet covers were from the bedroom downstairs in Chicago.

He had moved her here to give her a maximum feeling of security. Mimi was sleeping, but her brows were furrowing, and she was sighing her sleep, grabbing the blanket. The nightmare was on and Charles kept himself under control, feeling Mimi's distress more acutely.

Damon removed his shirt and got into bed beside Mimi, pulling her close. Charles, though, saw Damon insert the syringe into Mimi's lung and press the plunger. Mimi groaned once and went limp. Mariella wrapped her arms around Charles, put her hands under his shirt, and began to lead him away.

Mariella said, "It is good that Damon got those nightmares. He has them now, he can help. Come on, let's go to the kitchen to make some food."

Charles led Mariella into the kitchen and started to look through Mimi's freezers and fridges too, pulling stuff out of there. 

Damon sighed as he went into Mimi's mind. He had gotten her out of a nasty nightmare where Damien had jellied her. With the help of his flank, he tried to isolate this part of her mind so none of these nightmares would get on. Her mind was a mess. It was filled with larger and smaller bouts of fear, nightmare tangles, and remnants of memories. He began patiently cleaning them away. It was not a straightforward job at all. Mariella joined in to help an hour later, after Charles had gone to make food properly once she'd directed him to that task.

Damon cleaned up memories and nightmares, eating most of them, getting a boost to his telepathy from them, and Mariella wondered about the strange tangle. Another one and Damon unraveled it. Oh, the guilt in this tangle was now such that Mimi herself felt she had destroyed her relationship with Damon because of the fleas, that their relationship had been destroyed long before Mariella.

In other tangles, the same continued. There was the self-recrimination for not spending time with men, and she was always just working. How she herself annoyed Damien over the years with shed sessions. Damon was genuinely amazed. Yes, he could self-flagellate like anyone else but Mimi. My God, this girl blamed herself and always found fault with herself, even in shed sessions. No wonder she was such a neurotic mess. 

Mariella looked at Damon for a moment and said, " Honey, you need to remind Mimi about you now. To get Mimi to relax and enjoy sex with you, too, just to get your charge into my energy grid. "

Damon was silent. He knew that this had been one thing about why Mimi had not gotten close to him. She did not feel that she deserved it or that there was anything to come back. This would need some work.

Mariella said to Damon, "And then, Damon, that's what we need for the next phase. Good, honest sex is just between you two, so both of you enjoy it, just for fun. I know we're going to have kittens somewhere in between, but Mimi didn't get any heat in between and would need some alpha male substances again, which will start to mature her sexually. But you need to seduce Mimi first. And then give those substances until you have won her will, until she is reproductive."

Damon laughed and said, "How about darling? I'll just take you and fuck your brains out."

Mariella replied, "Not yet. Mimi keeps her breeding away with her will. Remember how you told me how Mimi kept her heat at bay for a long time? She still does it. Build a relationship with Mimi first. Get her to fall in love with you so that she doesn't always deny her feelings for you. That's the key. You know Mimi is already capable of some pretty fucking amazing things as an example of physically rejecting other people's organs."

Damon fell silent. He would not tell Mariella that when he originally went to see Mimi after his shed session and touched her, blisters appeared on Mimi's skin. He knew all too well how amazing Mimi's willpower was and it would be good to share it with the pack, too.

He remembered the feeling from his old days, which had always brought him to the surface when Damien first assaulted Mimi. Mimi could still become allergic to him. It had been a stark reminder of that.

Mariella looked at Damon. He had some doubts, fine. Time to sell this properly.

She said to Damon. "Honey, do you remember Mimi's shells? There's a solution for what's left over, and it will be a pretty damn wild ride. You need to breed. Mimi needs embryos. We're looking for cheetah wizards. So you get Mimi's eggs out and fertilize them, but they shrivel up and go into the tissues and hide, and then there are all kinds of kittens that you two or we two create."

Damon was silent and said, " Really, breed, but Mimi won't accept that. And what if they don't go to sleep?"

Mariella smiled and turned on Damon, and kissed him. They teleported to another room for a while. Then she explained the whole thing long and hard, and then Damon had to practice first on her and then on the wolves before it would be the alpha's turn. Mariella explained that cheetah wizards would eat the shells and any bacteria they could find, but you would have to work long and hard to get them. They would be the rarest of the cubs and one day they would be born too, but first, they would munch on those shells and everything that they could find in them, they would get powers from them, so they would be real powerhouses.

Mariella said, " This is why you have to prepare, Mimi. So that we can have her, you can breed her. And Damon, when you put that stuff in, you watch Mimi's hormones. I know you know how to make a real hormone-filled bump, and now that you two are going to get your relationship right, fill Mimi with the right hormones. "

Damon began to get aroused at the thought of Mimi breeding under him, helpless but willing.

How Mimi would learn to accept her fate when she had no other choice. At that moment, Damon felt a change in himself. Something inside him was being completed. He was ready and realized that he was now of breeding maturity. But because he was methodical and precise, he had to ensure his ability to procreate, and Damon already knew the appropriate victims.

Then Mimi would have more to ponder and if he could still do it in a way that she could see. Oh, yeah. But now for step one: win back your wife by fucking her brains out. And he knew how to do it. Mimi didn't want or deserve to make love on the beach. No little bitch needs a good disciplinary session in the basement. And Damon wanted Mariella to watch it for as long as she could. He hadn't gone that far with Mariella yet, and it had been a while since he'd done it.

Mariella could see and smell the change in Damon, how he finally became an alpha male, and how capable of breeding. The thought of breeding and Damon being on top of her, breeding her, controlling her, made Mariella wet herself. After their little powwow, they returned and Damon went back to bed where Mimi was still sleeping. But she didn't understand when Damon sank his teeth into Mimi's neck and velveted her.

Mimi wouldn't have fallen in love with Damon if Mimi had been knocked unconscious. But Damon had a whole new aura—dangerous and controlling. Damon was the ruler.

He looked at Mariella for a moment and said, " Darling, we're going to Texas Castle. You take Adam and Charles with you. I know the wolves are in the woods. Let them be. Now you're going to see something I've never done with you, and you're going to want to watch it. Then you can decide if you ever want that kind of treatment. But for now, darling, go and get Adam and Charles. Tell them the little bitch is in for proper treatment, and there's a viewing area for you. They'll be able to bring you there."