Chapter 78: 77. Disengaged

"You're sure you wouldn't like anything, Feichin?" I asked. "A hot meal, a cold drink, anything?"

He shook his head slightly, "No m'lady. Thank you though, the offer is most generous."

The huntsman was obviously very much out of his element. He had his blanket spread out on the living-room floor beside the wood stove. He'd parked himself there once we were inside, and quickly got a nice warm fire burning.

Kelly and Keira and I each took a turn in the shower. Now we were all clean, warm, and comfy. All three of us were in nightshirts and fuzzy slippers. Then to the huntsman's amazement, I'd gone into the kitchen and made dinner for everyone.

It wasn't anything special, I thawed out and reheated the leftovers from our last meal. To stretch it a bit further I also made up a big batch of rice.

Now Colm was sitting on the recliner, Kelly and Keira and I were together on the sofa. The four of us had plates of hot food, me and the twins were sipping hard lemonades, and Colm had a can of cola.

Feichin stuck with his preserved meat and watery wine. I was pretty sure it wasn't that he actually liked that stuff. Much more likely he was just uncomfortable, or perhaps even scared of Earth food. I couldn't really blame him, after all I'd swept him off to another planet where just about everything was different and alien to him.

"So, we're crossing back over at dawn?" Colm asked.

I nodded, "Yeah. I guess. We'll get up early, head back down to the ravine for sunrise, and I'll take us back to castle Brádaigh."

"Feichin," Kelly asked softly. "Are you sure you'll be comfortable on the floor there?"

The huntsman nodded, "Aye lass, this is fine. I'll stay here and tend the fire. It's perhaps the only thing I understand in this place."

Keira looked at the knight, "Then you can crash here on the sofa after we've gone to bed."

Colm nodded slightly, "Thanks."

I had less to eat than anyone else, and I finished quicker. I excused myself and went back to the kitchen. I left my plate and cutlery in the sink for now, then picked up my phone. It was just past eight o'clock.

I had a seat at the kitchen table, then opened up my contacts app and tapped her name.

She answered after the third ring, "Hello?"

I smiled, "Hi dad. Or would you prefer I call you...?"

"Tegan!" she sounded happy, but lowered her voice. "You can still call me dad. I won't complain though if you use my name." With her voice at a normal level again she asked, "So you and the twins are back from your holiday?"

I sighed as my smile faded, "Not really. It's just a brief lay-over, we have to head back over again at dawn."

Elise sounded worried, "That doesn't sound good hon. What's wrong, do you want to talk about it?"

"Nah, its ok I guess. Politics, intrigue, that kind of nonsense." I sighed again. "I don't want to trouble you with it. I wanted to call though, to let you know I might be stuck over there for a while. I don't know how long. But I wanted you to know, so you wouldn't get worried. I will be back, and I'll do what I promised. I just can't say right now when that might be."

I heard her sigh faintly, "You stay safe Tegan. You hear? Promise me you'll stay safe."

"I'll be safe Elise, don't worry about me." I hesitated, then asked "Any progress talking with mom?"

There was a louder sigh this time, "Not yet. Whenever I try to discuss it, she deflects, finds some way to avoid the conversation. I know she's planning something. I think she wants to make it a surprise."

"Crap," I sighed. "I wish I could stay to help but... Yeah. Sorry Elise. I have to deal with stuff there, but as soon as that's done I'll be back here to help. Both you and mom. Have you been thinking about what you're going to do, after?"

There was some excitement in her voice as she replied, "Actually yes! There's a college program I'm interested in. The campus is only about fifty kilometers north of your place. It's close enough we can keep in touch, even see each other on weekends maybe."

I smiled "That sounds great! Email me the details, I'll have a look at it when we get back."

"You bet Tegan!" she replied. "And thanks for calling. If you've got to be up at dawn I won't keep you any longer. Take care."

I smiled, "You too Elise. I'll call as soon as I'm back."

We spent another minute or so exchanging pleasantries and wishing each other good night, then finally disconnected. I turned my phone off, and by then the twins and Colm had finished eating. I gathered up their dishes and washed everything up and put it all away again.

Then I made my way back upstairs and into the bedroom. As I pulled off my nightshirt I could hear Kelly and Keira both coming up as well. I slipped into bed and suppressed a shiver. It was cold, I couldn't wait till my girlfriend joined me and helped warm it up.

A moment later the tall beautiful redhead entered the bedroom. And right behind her was her sister.

For a moment I didn't know what to say or how to react, as both of them pulled off their nightshirts. Kelly moved around to climb into bed on my left, then I had to shift over out of the way as Keira slipped into bed next to me on the right.

I guess I assumed being back at home, things would go back to normal. This wasn't the enormous poster bed with room for six people, it was our comfy little queen-size. This wasn't Otherworld, this was Earth. This wasn't fantasy, fairy-tale, or vacation. This was reality, this was home.

Both twins started to cuddle up on either side of me, and I'm sure they could both feel the tension in me. They both sort of turned to look at me, to see what was wrong.

I sighed, "Ok... I guess the three of us have to talk."

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"What's wrong babe?" Kelly asked.

I sat up and looked back and forth between them, before finally fixing my eyes on Kelly. "When we talked about this, you originally asked me to keep Keira company now and then. And when we talked about her joining us for cuddling, it was only on occasion. Then suddenly she was with us every night. Suddenly it felt like you two were sharing me fifty-fifty. And all that seemed to start happening right after I made you both fully fae. It also started happening right when all the weird twin stuff began."

"So," I sighed again, "Ontop of everything else, the stress with my human folks, the stress with Maeve, the worry about Connor, all the fighting and politics and intrigue and everything else going on... Ontop of all that, I'm terrified that I've done something to you two that's messed you both up somehow."

I shook my head, "Then Colm told us about that fable and those legends. I'm scared that I've done something awful to you both. That my spell's merged your souls or blurred your personalities or..."

My voice started breaking slightly and I may have had some tears in my eyes as I trailed off. My stomach was doing flip-flops, as all the little concerns and worries I'd been suppressing or ignoring since Samhain all came back at once now that I'd put them into words.

Both Kelly and Keira had wide eyes as they listened to me, both sat up as well while I was talking.

Kelly shook her head, "Oh Gods Tegan no! I'm so sorry!"

"Tegan it's not like that," Keira said softly.

"Ok yes we've been playing up the identical twins stuff," Kelly admitted quietly. "Once we realized nobody could tell us apart it was too much fun to resist."

Keira nodded, "It reminded us of when we were young, like before we started acting different enough for people to tell us apart? We had a ton of fun back then messing with everyone. We've just been reliving some of that."

Kelly sighed, "You haven't done anything wrong Tegan. You've given us both a wonderful and amazing gift."

"Sorry it's been upsetting you Tegan," Keira apologized. "If we'd known earlier how much it bothered you we wouldn't have kept doing it to you."

I looked back and forth between them as they talked, then finally asked "Ok... So you're not both blurring together to become one being with two bodies? You're not losing your individuality or sense of self or anything like that?"

"Not a bit Tegan," Kelly stated. "I promise. I'm still Kelly, she's still Keira."

Keira added, "We still have all our own likes and dislikes. She likes the hard lemonade, I prefer wine. She likes romantic comedies, I like sci-fi."

"There are some things we have in common though..." Kelly said. She hesitated, then whispered "We both love you."

That brought a blush to my face, and another little lurch to my stomach. "Right... And that brings me back to the other point, about our relationship." I looked to my left and asked, "Kelly? Are you and I still girlfriends?"

"Absolutely yes," she stated.

I looked to the right, "Keira? What's the relationship between us?"

She sighed. "I'd like to think we've been pretty good friends for a while, Tegan. Since you let me move in here, I think we've been close friends. And... If you'll let me, I'd like to be your girlfriend too. I'd like you and me to be girlfriends."

For a few moments I wasn't sure what to say again. I glanced back and forth, then finally asked, "Kelly?" I needed to know what she thought or felt about this.

She looked thoughtful. "I know I originally talked about you spending time with Keira as an occasional thing. It never really occurred to me that there might be anything more. But if there is more, then that's ok with me. I don't think I'd be comfortable sharing you with just anyone? But I don't mind sharing you with Keira."

After a moment she asked, "But what do you think Tegan? And what do you want? Because nothing will work if you're uncomfortable or unhappy."

I took a deep breath, then sighed again as I thought it over. "I love you Kelly, and I have for years. I can't imagine anyone or anything getting in the way of that or coming between us."

I looked to the right and said "Keira... I've always wanted to be friends with you. And the past year, our friendship has grown a lot. We're close, and I definitely love you as a friend. I'd hate to lose that. I'm just... There's stuff I guess I don't understand, about all three of us being in some kind of relationship together."

"Hey babe?" Kelly asked softly. "Why'd this come up now? I mean, the three of us shared a bed together almost a full week at the castle, and even out in the woods we've all been cuddling together every night."

I shrugged slightly. "That was vacation. Otherworld. That was fairy-tale stuff. This is home." I hesitated. "Having you both stripping down and getting into bed with me here means that stuff wasn't just a short-term vacation thing. This makes it part of our real lives. This is our bedroom, our bed."

I added to Keira, "I'm not trying to push you away or make you feel uncomfortable. I'm just explaining why it feels different to me now."

"It's ok Tegan," Keira replied. "I get it." She hesitated a moment, then asked "Do you want me to go back to my room?"

I took another deep breath as I thought it over. Finally I shook my head, "No, I don't want to push you away. I guess I just need to have some boundaries defined, I need to understand the rules and stuff. Before our room and our bed also becomes your room and your bed."

I grimaced as I added, "I know this isn't the best time, and we're all going to be up early and probably have another long crappy day back in Otherworld tomorrow. But I think we need to work this stuff out sooner, rather than later. Ok?"

Keira nodded, "Ok Tegan. Thank you."

Kelly cuddled up closer on my left and smiled "Thanks babe."

I shifted so I had an arm around each of them, and all three of us finally lay back together as we all got comfortable. The bed was nice and warm by now too which helped a lot.

Once all three of us were comfy I sighed. "Ok. Let's try and figure this stuff out. Even if we can't come up with all the answers tonight, maybe we can sort out some basics..."

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