Fic: Soul Deep - 4/12

[xanthefic]

Soul Deep
By Xanthe
Book Two: Parted

1983

Tony lay on his back, gazing up at the sky through the dappled canopy of trees in the small wooded area at the bottom of the school sport field. It was a hot day, and Shanti was lying beside him, the sun warming her golden fur.

“DiNozzo! Hey…DiNozzo!” He could hear them calling for him in the distance, but he ignored it.

“You’ll get into trouble,” Shanti told him, nibbling on one of her paws.

“Don’t care.” He turned his head and grinned at her.

“When you get paddled, I feel it too,” she reminded him crossly.

He just laughed. “Last time you roared so hard they had to call in two housemasters to stop you killing the headmaster’s daemon.”

“I don't like you being hurt, and the headmaster’s daemon is an idiot. Anyway, why are you hiding down here?” she asked.

“Dunno…I feel…weird. Been feeling it all day. Kinda jumpy…restless…anxious…like something big's about to happen.”

“Nothing big ever happens,” she said sulkily, laying her head on his chest. “But you’re right about the feeling. I keep wanting to howl, and I have no idea why.”

“Me neither.” Tony continued gazing up at the sky, one hand gently stroking Shanti’s cheek. He rubbed behind her ear, and she purred.

If he closed his eyes he could imagine he was in his happy place, by the creek in the woods at Stillwater. Jethro was there, sitting on that green and red checked blanket with Tessa by his side, and Shanti was romping around in puppy form, happy and carefree.

Tony opened his eyes. “D’you think you’re gonna stay a lion?” he asked Shanti, tweaking the ear he’d been rubbing.

“I have no idea.” She turned into a cockatiel to illustrate that point and flew up into a nearby tree. “I like being able to fly!” she called down to him.

“Me too!”

He closed his eyes again and allowed himself to experience flying through her eyes. She swooped through the air towards him and landed on his forehead. She strutted around on his head and then hopped off and changed into a dog. She wasn’t such a small puppy these days but mid-sized, her paws enormous compared to the rest of her. They were both always tripping over their own large feet.

“Why do you think my feet grow faster than the rest of me?” he asked her.

“Do they?” She trotted around him, sniffing at his hands and feet. “I think all of you is growing fast. You’re tall. Like your father.”

He fell silent at that, feeling sullen. He was about to say something biting in reply when a wave of the most intense joy spread through him.

“Oh my God!” He sat up. “Do you feel that?”

“I do!” Shanti got up and ran around in circles. “Oh…that’s…it’s so beautiful!” She jumped up into the air in lion form, changed into a butterfly in mid-air, fluttered her wings, changed into a cockatiel, flew onto his shoulder, and jumped down to the ground as a dog.

Tony gazed at her in wonder. “Such happiness…so much joy…what is it? Why do I feel like this? What does it mean?”

“I don’t think it’s you. I think you are feeling someone else’s joy,” Shanti said quietly, becoming a lion again and sitting down beside him.

“Who? My father?” he said that with a snort. “I haven’t even seen him in months. And hell, I never know what he’s feeling even when I’m with him and can see him with my own eyes. Although *that* doesn't happen very often.”

“Not your father.” She gazed at him solemnly.

He felt his breath catch in his throat. “Jethro?” When they were alone they often talked about that time, five years ago, and what had happened in Stillwater. They would mention his name in whispers, as if it was sacred, and share a memory of him.

“Jethro.” Shanti nodded. “That urge to howl I felt…”

“Tessa?”

“Yes.”

“Why would I feel what he’s feeling? Why would you feel what Tessa’s feeling? I don’t feel what anyone else is feeling,” Tony said, frowning. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“He touched me with his bare hands,” Shanti said quietly. Tony went very still, remembering that terrible night in the motel room, when Jethro had touched his daemon so gently and kindly to bring him back to life. “I think…we are somehow connected now.”

The sensation of joy slowly faded, and Tony found he missed it. “I wish I could hang onto it,” he whispered. “I wish I could just hang on to a tiny piece of *him*. Why now? Why did we suddenly feel him NOW, after all this time?”

“Maybe because the emotion was so strong?” Shanti nuzzled at his neck. “So much joy,” she said wistfully. “So much happiness.”

“What do you think it was? Why was he so happy? First he was anxious, restless – that’s what I was feeling all day; then that explosion of joy.”

“A newborn cub?” Shanti suggested. “I wanted to howl at the moon and welcome a new daemon to the world. I think that is what Tessa was feeling.”

“A baby? Jethro and Shannon had a baby?”

“It would make sense.” Shanti rested her head on his chest again, and suddenly he felt lonelier than ever before, separated from the only person he had ever felt he belonged to. Yet he had no rights over Jethro. They weren’t blood kin. Jethro had his own family; and he had his.

“Jethro will be a good father,” he muttered, and he couldn’t keep the hint of bitterness out of his voice.

“DiNozzo! Anthony DiNozzo!" the housemaster's voice yelled angrily in the distance. "This is the last time we’ll call for you – get your ass back here, right now! You’ve missed the entire day’s lessons!”

Tony turned to look at Shanti, a twisted little smile on his lips. “How long has it been since I last saw Dad?”

“Over a year,” she replied. “Last summer he sent you away to camp, and then you came straight back to school after. You didn’t see him at all. And you spent Christmas here with Mr. Mongoose and all the ugly little mongooses.”

‘Mr. Mongoose’ was Shanti’s uncomplimentary title for the headmaster; she hated his mongoose daemon with a vengeance, and she loathed his brood of small children and all their annoying little daemons too.

“Well, maybe it’s time we forced him to pay us a visit,” Tony told her.

She raised her head and looked at him questioningly. “You’re going to do something stupid, aren’t you?”

“Yup!” He grinned.

“If they hit you again, I don’t think I’ll be able to stay quiet,” she warned.

He laughed out loud. “Oh, I’m counting on it!”

Half an hour later, he found himself being dragged by his shirt collar across the quadrangle and into the school building; trust his father to find the most ludicrously old-fashioned boarding school in the entire country to send him to, complete with headmasters and housemasters and a level of discipline that wouldn’t be out of place in the military.

He spat and cursed the entire time, throwing out as many insults and curses as he could remember. Beside him, Shanti was a lion, roaring as the housemaster’s rottweiler dragged her along in her big, solid jaws.

They were deposited in an unceremonious heap on the headmaster’s carpet. The headmaster sighed and surveyed Tony over the top of his glasses, while his mongoose daemon leaped onto the desk and gave Shanti a disappointed glare. Shanti hissed at her, and Tony laughed out loud when the mongoose took a startled jump back.

The headmaster stood up, looking seriously annoyed. Tony winced – this was the part of the plan that was always going to be the hardest – but his courage didn’t fail him. He was going to see this through, come what may.

“You missed an entire day’s lessons?” Mr. Mongoose looked furious. “And you used obscene words to Mr. Woodford when he eventually found you?” He glanced at the housemaster.

“He didn’t find me. I turned myself in.” Tony smiled sweetly. “He deserved it anyway. He’s a fuckwit.”

“What did you say?”

“I said he’s a fuckwit. Just like you.”

Tony braced himself and sure enough, seconds later he found himself face down over the headmaster’s desk taking ten from the paddle, while Shanti roared and hollered from where she was being cornered by both the rottweiler *and* the mongoose. Unable to contain her, the headmaster called for another housemaster to join them, and his raven demon pecked at Shanti repeatedly to keep her still.

This wasn’t enough though – Tony had to take it further to get what he wanted. He resisted the punishment, struggling against the headmaster’s hand where he was trying to hold him down. He wasn’t going to take this punishment like a good boy. He screamed, yelled, wriggled and twisted as each stroke fell, and he could hear Shanti roaring at the top of her voice.

Then all hell broke loose; Shanti managed to bite the mongoose’s ear – hard – and Tony used the ensuing mayhem to kick the headmaster’s shin and make a break for it. He was pursued by one of the housemasters and found himself being lifted up bodily and flung into a room…without Shanti. The door was locked behind him, and he heard Shanti’s roars of distress as they got her under control and herded her away from him, along the hallway.

Tony was panic-stricken – this wasn’t what he’d intended. He’d just wanted to make enough trouble that they sent for his father, so at least he got to see him again. Instead, they were dragging Shanti further and further away from him, and it was starting to hurt. It hurt far more than the headmaster’s stupid paddle, and he screamed and flung himself against the door.

“Stop! Please! I’m sorry! Shanti…please…I’m sorry!” He bashed his fists against the door, over and over again, and then fell to the floor, feeling weak, lost, and horribly, desperately alone. “Shanti!” he whimpered, feeling the connection between them stretched so taut it made every fibre of his being ache. “Shanti…Shanti…please…please…I need her…”

He sensed her changing into a butterfly to try and escape from them, but the raven caught her in her beak. She changed into a mouse to run away, but the rottweiler easily caught her between her big jaws and shook her. She was thrown into a room somewhere and the door was locked behind her. She scuttled towards the door in beetle form to crawl under it, only to find they'd thrown something in front of the gap to prevent escape.

In a state of frustrated anguish she changed back into a lion again, and he heard her wild, keening roars of agony at being separated from him. She was out of her head with anxiety, as scared and desperate as he was right now.

Shanti roared for over an hour as he sat there, pressed up against the wall closest to where she was being held; his fingers were splayed against it, his cheek pressed up against the hard surface.

It hurt so much. He needed to be near her, to feel her under his fingertips. She was his daemon… surely they couldn’t keep him from his own daemon?

~*~

Leroy rocked his newborn daughter in his arms, feeling exhausted but happy. It had been a long day, although Shannon had obviously endured the worst of it. At one point it had been touch and go, but his daughter had been delivered safely an hour ago, and he really did think he was the happiest man alive.

He placed little Kelly back in her crib and then looked down on Shannon where she was lying fast asleep. He smoothed Shannon’s red hair away from her pale face; she looked tired but content. Pell was fast asleep, perched on the headboard above her, his head under his wing.

Leroy sat in the chair beside the bed, and gazed at his newborn daughter with her tiny, perfect pink fingers and toes. Next to Kelly, a tiny white rabbit daemon lay fast asleep.

“She is beautiful,” Tessa said, gazing into the crib too. “And her daemon is perfect too.” She nuzzled the little white rabbit gently and it changed into a turtle and then back into a rabbit again, in the lighting fast way of small babies' daemons. Kelly gave a soft little murmur, her fingers curling in the rabbit's soft fur.

“Yes, she is.” Leroy gazed at her proudly. “I’m a dad,” he said. “Can you believe that, Tessa?” He shook his head in astonishment, feeling a surge of fierce, protective love for this newborn creature. “I won’t ever fail you, sweetheart,” he said, putting his hand in the crib and stroking her cheek gently. “I promise.”

He wondered what her daemon’s name would be. That was something only she could tell them, when she was old enough to talk. Daemons seemed to be born with their names, and each child instinctively knew the name of their own daemon.

He withdrew his hand and closed his eyes, deciding to grab a nap while he could – and then opened them again as he felt a wrenching sensation inside.

“Tessa!” He looked around for her blindly. Damn it, where was she? Why wasn’t she here? Where had she gone?

“I am here,” she said, nudging his leg with her head.

“Shit…” He wrapped his arms around her to reassure himself – something he hadn’t done since he was a kid. “Then why does it feel like you’re gone?” It was the same sensation he’d had when Tessa had got locked in a cupboard by accident when he was a kid, and he couldn’t get her out. It hurt, and yet she was here, safe and sound.

“I do not know.” Tessa pushed her head against his and rested it there, and they held on tightly to each other.

Leroy glanced at Shannon and at Kelly, but they were both fine. What the hell was this? Where was this sensation coming from?

“I am thinking of Shanti,” Tessa told him quietly. “She is in my mind.”

“Tony’s daemon?” Leroy hadn’t talked about Tony in years. Tessa knew how he felt about the pack member he’d lost – there was no need to discuss that particular sadness. They both carried it with them every single day. “Is Tony in trouble? If his father is beating up on his daemon again…”

“What would you do?” Tessa asked. “You don’t even know where he lives. I do not think he is in danger though – just very unhappy.”

Leroy knew that Tessa was right – he didn’t know where Tony lived and besides, he had more pressing responsibilities right now, with a new baby to take care of.

"I'll give it tonight – but if this sensation gets any worse, or I think Tony is in real danger, then I don't give a damn how hard it is – I WILL find him."

~*~

Day turned to night, and nobody came to give Tony food or water. He could hear Shanti crying inconsolably along the hallway, and he hated that he’d done this to her with his stupid damn plan. He began shaking uncontrollably, going into shock from the distress of being separated from her, and he knew she was feeling it just as much.

Shanti's angry, bellowing roars turned to lonely howls as the night wore on. Then they became the anxious, quivering yelping of a terrified puppy. Tony kept calling to her, his voice hoarse as he croaked out words of comfort that he knew didn't convince either of them.

He didn’t get any sleep during that long, lonely, painful night, and he was still lying against the wall, aching and shivering, when they finally unlocked the door the next morning. All the fight had been crushed out of him; he just wanted to be reunited with his daemon and stop hurting like this.

Mr. Mongoose had to know how he felt; it had to be obvious from his tear-streaked cheeks, shaking body, and desperate eyes, but still he refused to let Tony go. He marched him back into his study and stood in front of him, looking down on him while his mongoose daemon strutted around importantly, tutting to herself and shaking her head.

“Please, let me see Shanti,” Tony begged. "Please! I'll do anything." She could obviously hear him because she started roaring all over again, her voice raw with the pain of their prolonged separation.

“You can see her when you’ve apologized and not before.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called you names. I shouldn’t have said or done any of those things yesterday. Now please…I have to see Shanti,” Tony begged weakly. He hated himself for that weakness, but if it relieved the terrible aching inside and helped Shanti then he’d do just about anything.

“We called your father last night. He will be here shortly to take you home. You’re expelled,” the headmaster told him.

Not the result he’d been aiming for – he’d only been angling for a suspension – but he didn’t care right now. No doubt his father would find another school to take him, and while he was looking they’d get to spend some time together. It wasn’t much, but it was all that was on offer so Tony would take it. He tried to look suitably contrite, but he was pleased with the result – at least he would get to see his father again.

The headmaster appeared satisfied with his contrition. He left the room with his horrible mongoose daemon and walked along the hallway. Tony heard a door being opened, and then Shanti was barreling her way along the hallway towards him in lion form. He ran to meet her, and she threw herself into his arms, knocking him over.

A wave of the most intense relief flooded through him as he hugged her against his chest, and the aching in his body subsided. She turned into a dog and wagged her tail like it was about to fall off, licking him all over until he could hardly breathe from the happiness of being close to her again.

When his father arrived he ushered Tony silently to his car. Nala tried to bite Shanti’s flank, but Shanti turned into a lion and snarled at her, and she backed off. Tony smiled to himself; he wouldn't allow his father to bully him anymore.

“The headmaster told me what you did,” his father said as he got into the car beside him.

“Yeah?” Tony gazed sullenly out of the window. “Well, I wanted to see you. This seemed the only way.”

“You could have just called,” his father replied, starting the car and driving towards the school gates.

“You’re never in – and they’re always taking my phone privileges away.”

“Because you’re a pain in the ass, and you can’t control your daemon,” his father said, glancing at Shanti, his lip curling in distaste.

“I can control her. Just sometimes I choose not to.” Tony pulled Shanti onto his lap and held her tight.

His father gave a dry laugh. “You’re a damn nuisance, Tony."

“I know.” Tony glanced at him. “But you’re stuck with me for the next few weeks until you find somewhere else to warehouse me.”

His father sighed. “Fine. How about we go on a vacation together?”

“You mean it?” Tony turned to look at him, feeling happier than he had in a long time. “A vacation? Just you and me? Together?”

His father nodded. “Yup – I was thinking…how about Hawaii? I’ve heard it’s a good place to do business.”

Tony’s heart sank at the dreaded words ‘do business’, but it was better than nothing. When his father was in a good mood, he could be a lot of fun.

“Sounds good.” He held Shanti close and rested his chin on her doggy head.

“Shanti hasn’t settled into one form then?” his father asked, glancing at her. “Won’t be long now. Any idea what she’ll be?”

“Nope.” Tony stroked her silky ears.

His father looked at him. “You’ve grown. My boy is growing up.”

And you aren’t around to see it, Tony thought to himself, but he said nothing. His father seemed to be in a good mood despite the fact he’d got himself expelled, and they were going to Hawaii on vacation.

“Was it worth it then?” Shanti asked him quietly as his father tuned on the radio and began humming along to his favourite jazz station.

Tony thought of the terrible night spent shivering in that room, lost and alone, separated from her. Had it been worth it, just to spend some time with the father who barely seemed to notice he existed most of the time?

“I don’t know,” he told her. “I really don’t know.”

~*~

Leroy couldn't sleep all night. The initial sharpness of the sensation dissipated until it was a dull ache, but it was too distressing for him to get any rest. He worried about Tony, wondering what kind of ordeal the child must be going through to feel like this. He glanced over at his own sleeping child; he would do his best to make sure she never suffered anything like this. He would be a better father to her than Tony's father had ever been to him.

When the morning came, Leroy felt a burst of joy and then the ache disappeared as fast as it had come.

“Well, we said we wouldn’t forget him,” Tessa murmured softly, pressing her head into his hand. “And he is making sure that we don’t!”

“Sounds like Tony,” Leroy said with a wry chuckle. “You think he’s okay now?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think it had anything to do with Kelly?” Leroy gently stroked his daughter’s soft, baby head.

Tessa looked puzzled. “You think Tony’s distress last night could be connected with Kelly’s birth? I do not see how.”

“Neither do I.” Leroy shook his head. “Just…seems like a coincidence, and I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“We might never know. But Tony and Shanti are both fine now.” Tessa nuzzled at his hand again. “I think we would feel it if they were not. All is well.”

~*~

1990

Tony bounced the ball across the court, leapt up high in the air, and threw the ball into the basket. A load roar went up from the watching crowd. He showed off mercilessly, milking it for all he was worth as his team mates mobbed him. He was on fire tonight! He was winning this game almost singlehandedly.

The Ohio State supporters in the crowd watching the game went into a frenzy, chanting his name. He played up to them, bowing repeatedly and doing a little victory dance. Shanti loved it – she bounced up into the air and threw herself around, milking it shamelessly until she crashed into the benches in a surfeit of exuberance and banged her head.

Tony rubbed his forehead ruefully and looked into the crowd. He could see Jason Elliot sitting next to Sarah McMillan, and he let his gaze wander from one to the other, trying to figure out which one of them he’d sleep with later. He’d been pursing them both for the past few weeks, and he was sure that tonight was the night; he just didn't know which one he’d finally persuade to tumble into bed with him.

Sarah had long dark hair and laughing brown eyes, and he loved the way she liked to tease. Jason was more serious, with short blond hair and earnest grey eyes. Finally getting him into bed would be an achievement. Tony always loved it when the quiet ones gave in – they were usually the most uninhibited in bed once you got them there. He hadn’t told Jason or Sarah that they were rivals – he liked to have more than one potential conquest on the go at any one time so that if he failed with one there was always a back up.

He took another bow, to the combined cheering and catcalls from the crowd, and then ran back to start playing again. Damn it, but he was smokin’ tonight!

“And also modest!” Shanti laughed.

“Hey – why shouldn’t I be full of it? I’m winning this game all by myself. I’ll be the hero of Ohio State by the end of the night – and I’ll get laid,” he told her with a wink.

“You get laid all the time,” she said. “Twice as much as your friends.”

“Well, that’s one of the advantages of being bi.” He grinned. “Twice the number of potential mates.”

“Anyone would think being bisexual was a seduction strategy on your part, not a sexual orientation.” She lolled her tongue out at him, and he laughed and chucked her under the chin.

“You love it as much as I do,” he told her, leaping up to wrest the ball away from an opponent and then bouncing it expertly across the court.

“Yes, I do!” Shanti was by his side, matching him leap for leap, full of exuberance.

Tony paused, ready to spring up and claim another basket, but just as he launched himself into the air his opponent slammed into him, knocking him sideways. He fell awkwardly, heard a popping sound, felt a ripping sensation, and then he was completely overwhelmed by the terrible pain in his left knee.

Beside him, Shanti went down like a felled tree, toppling over and landing next to him, howling in pain. As he lay there, clutching his knee and whimpering, she managed to move her head and lick his cheek. “I do not think,” she said solemnly, “that you will be getting laid tonight after all.”

Tony managed to somehow laugh and cry at the same time while a crowd gathered around him, watching as he rolled around in agony. The team doctor rushed onto the court, pushing through the throng to reach him. Tony blinked the sweat out of his eyes – there, in the crowd gathering around him, he could make out Jason’s worried grey eyes, and Sarah’s concerned brown ones.

He moved his head and winked at Shanti. “Wanna bet?”

~*~

Leroy stayed holed up in his foxhole for most of the day. He was deep behind enemy lines, and it wouldn’t be safe to move until night fell.

Luckily, he had the perfect temperament for being a sniper. He could wait patiently for days if need be, ready to move swiftly when the need arose. He was quiet, stealthy and deadly – just like the wolf daemon by his side.

He leaned back in his foxhole and took off his helmet. There, nestled inside under a piece of elastic, was a photograph. He pulled it out and gazed at it happily. It was a bit the worse for wear from being stuck inside his helmet, but he ignored the tattered edges and smiled at the two people smiling back at him.

Kelly was seven years old, with her daemon, Evan, perched on her head in sparrow form. Shannon had one arm around Kelly, while Pell was sitting on her shoulder, where he usually was.

“We will see them soon,” Tessa said calmly.

“Yeah. I know. Seems like it’s been a long time, that’s all.” Leroy replaced the photo in his helmet and stuck it back on his head. He glanced up at the darkening sky. “Dusk. Might be a good time to make a move; we’ve got some distance to cover tonight.”

Tessa nodded. “I agree. We want to be in place by dawn.”

Leroy shouldered his pack, grabbed his rifle, and then began climbing out of his foxhole – only to stop when a terrible pain shot through his knee.

“Fuck it!” he hissed, falling back down.

Tessa fell beside him and began gnawing on her back left leg. “Hurts,” she whimpered.

“I know. Damn it…I thought this old knee injury healed years ago!” He rubbed his knee over and over again, trying to ease the pain. “I know it still aches when it’s raining, but nothing like this…shit…”

The pain began to subside a little, and he leaned back in his foxhole. “I don’t get it. I wasn’t even doing anything. Why did it go like that? I didn’t even hear it pop.”

Tessa paused in her gnawing and looked up. “Concentrate,” she said. He raised an eyebrow at her. “See – there – it does not feel like our pain,” she said. “I don’t think it’s your knee that has been injured.”

“Shannon?” he asked, blinking sweat out of his eyes.

Tessa thought about it. “I am not sensing Pell,” she said.

“How about Shanti?” Leroy asked. It had been years since he had last felt anything from Tony, but that didn’t mean he’d forgotten about him; he thought about the kid a lot.

“He’s not a kid anymore,” Tessa told him.”He would be twenty now – the same age you were when you first met him.”

“And also the same age I was when my knee got busted up,” Leroy pointed out.

Tessa looked up at him in surprise. “There is a synchronicity between you,” she murmured. “This is like the night Kelly was born, and we both felt that something had happened to Tony and Shanti.”

The pain in his knee began to ease, but he couldn’t risk going anywhere just yet, with this unknown variable. “I’m going to hunker down here for the night,” he told Tessa. “I’ll radio in and tell them I won’t be making the rendez-vous until tomorrow night.”

~*~

Tony lay back on his bed, grimacing. He had spent half the night at the hospital having X rays taken and receiving treatment for his injury. A dislocated knee had been diagnosed, and his patella had been strapped into place with a brace. He had an icepack on his knee, and the doctor had told him to keep it elevated, iced, and rested. Apart from that there was nothing to be done but wait for it to heal.

“Damn it – and everything was going so well,” he told Shanti with a sigh, gazing mournfully at the crutches beside his bed.

She settled down on the bed beside him, her back leg sticking out awkwardly.

“Looks like I’m out for the rest of the season.” He rubbed her ears sadly, and she leaned into him.

“I’m sorry. I know how much you like throwing that stupid little ball around.”

“Hey!” He pinched her ear and his own tingled in response. She laughed at him, and he managed a little chuckle too.

There was a knock on the door, and then it was pushed open and his roomie, Matt, poked his head around it. “Hey – there’s a couple of people here to see you.”

“It’s nearly 2 a.m!”

“I know, but they’ve been waiting for you to get back from the hospital.” Matt winked at him and his dragonfly daemon batted her wings cheerfully. “This should be fun,” he said, opening the door to reveal Sarah standing there…with Jason.

“Oh shit.” Tony winced.

“Yeah – that sounds about right,” Sarah said, striding into the room. Jason followed her, and Matt made a completely insincere “I’m sorry!” face at him and then shut the door, laughing hysterically the entire time.

Sarah glared at Tony. “See, Jason and me, we both thought we’d come back here to wait for you to get back from the hospital. We wanted to see if you were okay. And then we got talking…”

“And it would appear,” Jason said, coming over to the bed, “that you’ve been stringing us both along at the same time.”

Tony could feel himself flushing, and Shanti covered her eyes with her paws in embarrassment.

“What can I say?” Tony gave his most charming smile and spread his arms helplessly. “You’re both gorgeous and, you know, I thought if one of you didn’t work out then the other would.”

“You didn’t even tell me you were bisexual!” Sarah scolded.

"Well…you never asked!" Tony said, and that sounded lame even to his own ears.

"I'm surprised I didn't notice," Sarah mused, glancing at Shanti.

There was no particular stigma attached to it; it would be hard to hide your sexual orientation while walking around with a daemon, so people were accustomed to different kinds of sexuality.

"Well, Shanti's always been a good undercover agent," Tony replied, smiling softly at a memory.

Sarah didn't look impressed. “Luckily Jason's daemon is easier to read. Jason's bi too – and he's cute. I like him. A lot.”

Jason’s crow daemon puffed up her feathers, looking very pleased with herself. Sarah’s frog daemon rolled his eyes a little.

“So we thought up a way to punish you,” Jason told him, placing a hand on Sarah's hair and stroking. Sarah pulled him in close and kissed him on the lips. He moved his hands down to her hips and slid up her skirt to reveal her long, toned legs. Tony swallowed.

"You can watch," Sarah told him. "But you can't touch or join in. That's your punishment."

Sarah pushed Jason down on the foot of the bed and undid his jeans. Then she slid off her panties, crawled on top of Jason, and kissed him again.

Tony sighed and leaned back on his pillow, putting his hands behind his head so he could get a good view. He winked at Shanti as Sarah began riding Jason hard, just out of reach of him and his damn sore knee. Tony was a player, and he knew when he’d been outplayed; he didn’t hold a grudge. Besides, they looked good together, and he got to have a ringside seat.

“You know, as punishments go, I’ve had worse,” he chuckled, reaching into his pants to free his own rampant erection.

~*~

Leroy sat back in his foxhole and gazed up at the stars. The pain in his leg had receded considerably after the first shock. Now he could definitely tell that it wasn’t real – at least not real for him. Once he realized that, he was able to rationalize it and handle it better. He was sure he’d be able to block it out completely before long.

Tessa rested her head in his lap, and he was surprised to realize just how horny he was. His cock was hard and aching.

“Uh…I think…seeing as there’s nobody here…” He undid his pants and then stopped. “Oh shit – this is him too, isn’t it? The horny little devil! Damn it, why am I so open to what’s going on with him right now?”

“I think the pain made you more aware of him,” Tessa told him. “It will fade.”

“Why do you think it happened?” he asked her. “I mean…I know we went through that one intense experience but it was years ago. Why do I still keep feeling him?”

Tessa looked thoughtful. “You are connected. I think what happened that night in the motel room somehow opened you up to each other and that is what linked you. The intensity of the experience, the manner and circumstances in which you touched his daemon, his age at the time…maybe they all worked together to create a permanent link between you."

“But…I don't feel it when something goes on with Shannon, and I've touched her daemon too. Isn't it a bit weird that I feel what's going on with this kid that I only knew for a week all those years ago?”

"There was something different about Tony," Tessa mused. "I have never known a child able to control their daemon's shape the way he did with Shanti. He also had a curious form of empathy. He believed his dead mother's daemon told him to call for you when his father was hurting him – so he called your name, and we heard." She gave a little shiver. "That is why we went to the motel room that night."

"You're saying Tony's psychic?" Leroy gave her an incredulous look. "You know I don't believe in that crap, Tessa."

"Well, I don't have any other explanation." Tessa rested her chin on her paws, looking supremely unconcerned. “And maybe it's not important anyway. It is what it is.”

“It’s damn inconvenient. Also…” Leroy wrinkled up his forehead in a frown. “How can he possibly have busted his knee *and* be getting laid all in one night?”

“Well, he IS Tony!” Tessa replied, and then she threw back her head and laughed. He stared at her for a moment, and then he couldn’t help joining in.

“Damn kid, trapping me in a foxhole behind enemy lines with a busted knee and a raging hard on! When I see him again, I’m gonna slap his head so hard for this!”

~*~

End of Part Four
Part Five
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