Summoned Again?

Nat came home from 'lunch' two hours later and she had a huge smile on her face.

“It looks like somebody had a nice meal.” I commented and she laughed.

“Oh, my god, she was hot.” Nat said as she plopped down onto the couch beside me. She snuggled into my side like a lazy cat and almost purred. “She really downplayed her looks with her work uniform.”

I chuckled. “Don't you dare tell me you're a big breast man... ah, woman.”

Nat chuckled, too. “She strapped the damn things down! It's such a shame.”

“I can imagine.” I said suggestively and she elbowed me slightly.

“Don't get any ideas in that big head of yours.” Nat warned me with a grin. “Those boobies are all mine!”

“Yeah, that's what I'll do to my new old friend, trying to poach her newest girlfriend as soon as she gets one.” I joked. “Give me a week at least.”

“Hey!” Nat laughed. “You better not!”

“You don't have to worry, Nat.” I said and put my arm around her shoulders to hug her. “Even if I reacted like I have with a compatible woman, I've got enough self control now to not let it turn my brain completely off.”

“That's a relief.” Nat said and let out a nice long sigh. “She was really eager, too.”

“Uh huh.” I said. “Next you're going to tell me you haven't finished so many times in a while.”

“How did you know that?” Nat asked and her grin returned.

“She wasn't the only one that was eager.” I said with a smirk and Nat nodded.

“It was so nice to just let go, you know?” Nat said and settled next to me like she had always been there and hadn't just sat down.

“I do.” I said and changed the channel to something I thought she would like. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke.

“Thanks for letting me do that.” Nat whispered.

“As if I was going to try and stop you.” I said.

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes, and that's also why we're spending the next hour or so just relaxing, so you can bask in the afterglow.” I said and she laughed softly.

“I definitely can't concentrate on work right now. I'm tingling all over.” Nat said, happily.

“We have to pick Crystal up after that, then we're hanging out for the day.”

“You were serious about that?” Nat asked, a little surprised.

“Definitely.” I said. “The last time I came back, I was working a lot and didn't have much free time, so this time I'm not letting it get in the way of what's important. Friends and family.”

“You haven't contacted them yet.” Nat said.

“No, not yet. I'm waiting for a few things to settle before I try to open those floodgates of potential misery.”

Nat snorted and laughed. “You do realize you're making it worse by delaying even more, now that you're back, don't you?”

“Yes, and I wanted to get things with Jenny to a good point before talking to my parents.”

“Do I even want to know how you're going to do that?” Nat asked.

“No, because it involves a few things that I haven't told you about. Or her. Or anyone, really.”

Nat shook her head. “You're just chock full of secrets.”

“Some of them are so unbelievable that even you aren't going to believe them.” I said and she turned her head to look at me with raised eyebrows. “I'll tell you if I can, assuming I can get a few other things done first.”

Nat lowered her eyebrows and looked back at the television. “You don't have to be so mysterious all the time.”

“For now I do.” I said and she sighed. “Don't worry, I've got a handle on things now and I'll keep my promise.”

Nat nodded and we watched television until it was time to go and get Crystal. I paid a silver coin to clean and repair Teddy and put him into the backseat of the car in the appropriate spot.

Nat sat on the front passenger seat. “Where the hell did you get that thing?”

“Toy store. It was the only one they had.”

“The only...” Nat barked a laugh. “You're going to spoil that poor girl.”

“Hey, I stopped myself from having the store order more.” I said in my defense.

“I take back the spoiling comment. You're going to exhaust her trying to play with them! Ha ha!” Nat laughed and I laughed, too.

I drove us to the school and we went inside to get Crystal. We had the same reception as that morning from some of the teachers. A few happy, a few neutral, and a couple frowned. Luckily, Crystal's teacher was a happy one.

“DAMON!” Crystal yelled and I bent down to receive her hug and to pick her up.

“Hi, sweetie.” I said and kissed her cheek. “Do you have any homework?”

“Nope!” Crystal beamed a smile at me.

I looked at her teacher and she came out of her class among the other students.

“I thought they could use a couple days off, since it's so close to the weekend.” The teacher said.

“Thank you.” I said. “I've got a trip to Washington D.C. planned for the weekend and I'm glad that I can bring her along and relax, because I won't have to worry that she's missing her studies.”

“That's a bit of a long drive, isn't it?” The teacher asked, concern in her voice.

“It would be if I was driving there.” I said, a bit cryptically.

“He means that we're flying.” Nat said and the teacher looked surprised. “Not commercially. It's a private plane. His, in fact.”

The teacher's mouth dropped open and stared at us. “Wh-wh-what?”

“Thanks for shocking her, Nat.” I chuckled. “See you tomorrow.” I said to the teacher and carried Crystal out of the school with a laughing Nat beside me.

“Are we really flying?” Crystal asked.

“If you want to come along, yes.” I said. “That reminds me of something important, actually.”

“What's that?” Nat asked.

“I need to change some of the food offered on the plane to make it more... well, normal.”

Nat smiled. “You can put Crystal in the car and I'll handle that.”

“What? Really?” I asked.

“I figured we would be travelling a lot for the company and I made sure to get Miss Carlyle's number, since she manages the plane.”

“Ha, you're already thinking ahead of me.” I said and gave her an appreciative nod. “I'll leave it to you.”

I went to the car and set Crystal up in the front passenger seat while Nat texted back and forth with Miss Carlyle, then she came over to me.

“I told her a few things to stock in addition to what she already has, since we don't know who we might be bringing around later.” Nat said.

“Yep, you are definitely thinking ahead more than I am.” I said and she chuckled.

“I also told her to not make special trips for it or to take time out of her personal time to do it.” Nat said. “You know she's going to do that, though.”

I nodded and took out my own cell phone. I sent off a quick text to my bank and had them transfer a thousand dollars into Miss Carlyle's personal account with a 'thank you tip' notation.

“She's going to try to return it.” Nat said with a smile.

“You should text her and tell her that there's no take-backsies.” I joked and she shook her head.

“Just get in the car.” Nat said and did her best to crawl into the backseat with Teddy in the way. It made me laugh to watch her struggle and she flipped me the middle finger where Crystal couldn't see it.

I drove us back home and we spent the rest of the day hanging out with Crystal and Teddy. I know that sounds weird, and it kind of was; but, I loved Crystal and would do anything for her. Embarrassing myself... and Nat occasionally... was worth it, just to see Crystal's bright smile and to hear her unrestrained laugh. It was like music to my ears and eventually Nat started to be infected by it, too.

Nat and I cooked supper together, since we were both independent people and knew how to cook for ourselves, and we enjoyed a nice meal. We relaxed for part of the evening and then we both tucked Crystal into bed. After that, we could have gone our separate ways and done our own thing. We didn't. Nat and I changed for bed and piled back onto the couch, then laughed a little as we got comfortable.

We watched a movie all the way through and I was having a great time, so I whispered that to Nat. To my surprise, I discovered that she was sound asleep and I had no idea how long she had been that way.

I didn't waste any time as I equipped my original Clarity pendant that didn't have a time restriction and moved my hand up to her head that rested on my shoulder. I touched her forehead with the ring of Memory Manipulation and copied the first memory I had of hers, which was her appearing in the other world.

I didn't question why there was no memory of the goddess, since I assumed she had removed and destroyed the memories of her, rather than save them. I used up all four rings, tucked them into my pocket and switched them out for fresh ones as I kept going. I used up the rings I had available and would need to wait for an hour. The problem was, I had barely given her a single day of her memories back.

I looked at the piles of rings on the coffee table and let out a low sigh, because it was going to take a long time to give her back everything that had been taken from her.

Nat stirred slightly and I stored all of the rings, then eased her onto my lap and picked her up. She put her arms around my neck automatically and I carried her to her bedroom. She didn't react much more than that as I laid her down and then tucked her under the blanket. I left her room and walked back to the living room, then took all the used rings out and put them back onto the coffee table.

I sat there for an hour and waited for them all to recharge as I debated editing the memories to only give her the essential bits. I shook my head and decided that it was either give her everything or nothing, because only giving her part of it wasn't going to work. I stored them all and went into Nat's room. She was still asleep and I knelt by the side of the bed and placed my hand on her forehead. I cycled through the rings fairly quickly as I gave her back another day of her memories.

I left again and took them all out to let them recharge, then did it again and again. By the time the morning had arrived, I had given her back a whole week's worth of memories. I went back out to the living room and didn't bother taking the rings out, since there wasn't enough time to let them recharge, except for the ones I wore, so I would change them out every hour to charge the others up.

I looked at the time and started to count down to when the alarm would go off. I didn't hear it and didn't need to. I heard Nat's startled yelp instead and the bedroom door open. She ran into the living room, her short dark hair a mess, and her eyes were wild and she looked both panicked and excited.

“Did something happen?” I asked with as blank of a face as I could manage.

“I... I don't know how... but... but...”

“But what?”

“I'm starting to remember.” Nat said, her voice full of wonder. “It... it's almost as if it was yesterday.”

“Or last night.” I said and she took in a sharp breath.

“Damon, you... did you... somehow...”

“I told you that I'd do my best to make things right, didn't I?” I asked her and she nodded. “Last night was an experiment. I wasn't sure if it would work, considering how long it took.”

“How long?” Nat asked.

“I finished just before you woke up.” I said and her eyes immediately went to the pendant around my neck.

“I... I don't know what to say.” Nat said, softly.

“I do. You can tell me about what you remember, so I can be sure that it's holding properly.” I said and stood up. “I'll get Crystal up first.”

Nat nodded and waited for me to get her and after a quick trip to the bathroom, we ate breakfast and Nat told me everything she remembered, which included two other people... and not me. I sent Crystal to brush her teeth and motioned for Nat to speak.

“Did you lie?” Nat asked as she put the cereal and milk away.

“No, the four of us were taken at the same time. I just left out the other two when I mentioned it before because I didn't want to confuse you.”

“Well, I'm pretty damn confused right now.” Nat said. “Where the hell were you?”

“I was in another part of the country and we won't meet in your memories for about two months.”

Nat closed her eyes and took several breaths. “Damon, you can't seriously think...”

“I could only manage a week's worth last night, so... if I only take naps during the day and keep working at night...”

“It'll be eight or nine days before I remember you.” Nat said and I nodded. “Well, skip the rest and give me those memories!”

I shook my head. “Giving them to you out of order might cause problems.”

“I don't care about that!” Nat exclaimed.

“I do.” I said, calmly. “I made a mistake of rushing things before and it almost got me killed. I'm not making the same mistake this time.” I went to her and put my hands on her shoulders. “I'm not going to mess things up and I'm giving you back all of your memories and in the proper order.”

“Damon, what if I don't want to remember most of it?” Nat asked.

“When I finish giving it all to you, you can tell me what you don't want.” I said with a smirk and she sighed.

“You're not going to budge on this, are you?”

“Nope. You're stuck with my limited capabilities just as much as I am.” I said. “So, suck it up and get ready. We have an appointment with a pissed off and probably excessively horny principal.”

Nat opened her mouth to respond to that, shook her head, and left the kitchen to go get ready.

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