Contort me against your body and mind - Chapter 19 (Not So Early Access) (Patreon)

Bonnie

A name listed in her appointment diary froze Bonnie in her tracks. Ellie Johnson. She was both euphoric and petrified. The pressure to help the Major become comfortable within the walls of her office. To encourage her to return. Regularly. She would find the room somewhere in her schedule.

Ellie had given a report to Slate regarding the incident. But Bonnie had heard from the nurse’s station that she had not spoken a word about the disastrous mission outside of his visit. Dr Nathaniel had referred her to Bonnie some time ago, but no appointment was ever made by the Marine major.

She may not be prepared to discuss the incident directly at first. What was crucial was that she came back. Trauma needed to be untangled slowly and carefully.

Perhaps Slate’s new cog tightening and shoe shining was getting to the Marine major. His intensity could be triggering to those already under the pressure of traumatic stress. She knew a couple of her patients had noticed the change already since The Sentinel pulled away from its position overlooking the almost-abandoned red planet. If only the commander would agree to come in and discuss his intense need for control.

Her newest patient was wheeled in by one of the ward nurses, appearing very disgruntled at her new hardware. A compromise had to be found, according to Dr Nathaniel, since the Marine major had become a flight risk. For a woman so battered, who shouldn’t be able to walk a metre without wheezing, she had a dizzying top speed. Moving as quickly and with such determination as she was, the medical staff were in unanimous agreement that it could not be helping her healing process to be pushing her body so hard. She had been unceremoniously ordered to the chair.

“Thank you for seeing me, Doctor,” Ellie said once the nurse had left them alone.

“You are always welcome,” Bonnie replied, arranging herself in her seat more comfortably. She had all of her forms laid out on her desk alongside her tablet to record additional data. “I am glad you are prioritising your mental health.” Ellie nodded with flat lips, revealing very little. Bonnie had expected no different. “I have some preliminary questions to run through as this is your first appointment. I will only trouble you with the questions that are not already answered by your medical history file. Are you happy to begin?”

“Sure.”

Bonnie reeled off her first few questions and received back the expected yes and no answers. Nothing popped up as out of the ordinary or requiring further investigation. Except, perhaps, Ellie’s disgruntled expression at every single question. A private woman, apparently. Every answer seemingly forced out of her with great effort.

“Do you consume alcohol and, if so, how many units would you estimate?”

Ellie’s tone shifted into one far grimmer for her answer. “I don’t drink.” The three words were said with a harsh finality.

“Do you use any substances that are not prescribed to you?”

“No.”

“Do you have any family history of diagnosed mental illness?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are your parents separated or divorced?”

“Unfortunately not,” Ellie grunted. Her tone had returned to that of the alcohol question. It piqued Bonnie’s interest immediately.

She took advantage of her first opening offered by the Marine major and deviated from her initial consultation list. “An unhappy marriage?” she asked monotonously, as though still reading from her paper.

“My father is a violent alcoholic. It makes a lot of things unhappy.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” But glad for the insight. “Have you ever struggled with addiction?”

“No,” Ellie said firmly. “I don’t drink.”

She felt the need to repeat her earlier statement, Bonnie wondered if she often had to remind others of her sobriety. The line of questioning had been blocked, so she returned to her sheet.

“Do you have siblings?”

“A brother.”

“Are you close with him?”

“As close as we can be given that he’s dead.”

Bonnie didn’t manage to completely hide her sharp intake of breath. Not because a familial death was out of the ordinary, but because Ellie’s tone had not allowed her to predict the last word until the sentence was complete. There was a heavy coating of sensitive topic repellent laced over the Marine major’s tongue. Possibly from extensive practice. Or it had become her natural instinct to hide her genuine emotions about everything initially. Common with children of abusive parents. Until you know the reaction you will receive from the other party in the conversation, it is safest to guard yourself.

“My condolences,” she said softly.

Ellie shrugged.

Bonnie lowered her paper and she caught Ellie glancing at it. Many patients seemed to hope for an indication of their therapy ‘score’, a way of knowing if they were answering correctly or making adequate progress. They never believed Bonnie when she reassured them countless times that there was no such thing. She didn’t feel the need to hide the paper from the Marine major’s hazel eyes; it contained only checks for the YES/NO tick boxes. She would add her proper notes into her tablet at the end of the session. What was more important was Ellie’s thoughts and feelings in that moment. With the possibility of only one session to get Ellie committed to regular therapy, Bonnie was feeling the pressure to not waste any time.

“I am getting a distinct feeling that you do not wish to be here,” she said slowly. “Which I only find strange because you chose to make an appointment and bring yourself here today.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to be here. It’s more that this,” she gestured to the paper in Bonnie’s hands, “isn’t the reason I’m here.”

Bonnie wasn’t sure what Ellie was referring to, so she gave a neutral answer. “Understanding your background is crucial to understanding your mental state.”

“I don’t want to talk about me. I want to talk about Effie.”

Bonnie hesitated. Once again Ellie had surprised her. “You must understand that is a conflict of interest and I cannot disclose anything that either of you say in appointments to each other,” she said, watching Ellie’s expression carefully as she spoke.

“She talks about me in her appointments?”

“Ms Johnson,” said Bonnie warningly.

“I’m not here to sniff out her dirty secrets. I just-”

Bonnie refused to fill the silence. She watched the woman with a gentle but unwavering gaze.

Ellie sighed. “It’s my dirty secret that I need to talk about,” she finally admitted.

“You’re welcome to tell me anything you like.”

“And it can’t leave this room?” Ellie checked with a reflexive glance at the closed door.

Bonnie shook her head. “Unless I believe you are a danger to yourself or others, and even then it would only be a fellow doctor or Slate whom I could inform.”

“I’m assuming that having feelings for Effie doesn’t count as a danger to her?”

“I suppose that depends on the feelings. Do you feel you want to hurt her?”

“What?” Ellie jerked her head back a little. “No!” she said firmly.

Bonnie shrugged. “I have a duty to ask,” she said casually. She didn’t want her words to lead the conversation away from Ellie’s topic.

“I would never want to hurt her,” she added with horrified eyes. “She’s like the Ailu’t Bambi.”

“How do you feel towards her?”

“How am I supposed to answer that?” Her light layer of attitude had returned quickly.

“However you want to.”

“I like her. And it feels different to how I like other people on board, so I’m pretty sure it’s not a work friendship. I want something more with her, but I can’t read her the way I can human women.”

“What is it that’s stopping you from being open with Effie about these feelings verbally?”

“It feels… taboo,” she answered slowly. “There’re no explicit rules about not coupling up with the aliens, but I can’t say I wouldn’t look at someone else weirdly for crossing that line. At least in such early days.”

“Whose opinion are you concerned about?”

“I guess the top of the list would be Commander Slate. He’s a great leader. I respect him a lot. I heard that he’s already been asking after me for missions after the trial if everything goes well. If I could get an opportunity like that, it would do a lot for me.”

“What has made you feel that Slate wouldn’t approve of a mixed relationship?” Bonnie asked, lightly peppering her voice with insinuation.

“It hasn’t been done before, so I don’t know how anyone would react.” Ellie did not seem to have caught the hint Bonnie had laid out as bait in front of her. “I get the feeling he already suspects something between Effie and I, but he’s giving me no cues. I can’t tell what he’s thinking, or if he’s secretly judging me, if he does know.”

Bonnie tried again, this time laying on the insinuation quite a bit thicker. “You think that he wouldn’t also… allow someone of the human race to catch his eye?”

Ellie stiffened with her head tilted at a slight angle. Her eyes were locked onto Bonnie’s face like a laser. Understanding brewed behind the hazel irises.

“I see. I guess I don’t have anything to worry about, then.” She rose from her wheelchair creakily and slightly lopsided in stance. “Thanks for the reassurance, Doctor.”

“Wait a moment, isn’t there anything else you’d like to discuss?” She flapped her hand, beckoning the Marine major to sit back down. “Your wheelchair-”

“Nope. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go make a blueberry smoothie out of your assistant.”

“What did I say about endangering others!”

Ellie choked on a laugh, clutching the injured side of her abdomen. As she pulled the door open, she called behind her, “She’s only in danger of death by orgasm, but I like to think she’s brave enough to take the risk.”

“You are in no physical capacity to be-”

The door was thrown shut behind her.

Bonnie slumped in her chair. It was unclear whether the appointment had been a success or a failure. She had been hoping to discuss the mission in which Ellie had gotten injured, and instead she had sent her on a new mission. One to steal the innocence of her darling Effie.

Bonnie scrambled to the comms tablet embedded at one end of her desk and quickly typed a message to Effie’s mobile communicator.

A knock on her office door interrupted her. She glanced up as it opened and smiled tentatively.

Slate mirrored her expression and stepped inside.

“Doctor Bonnie, are you busy?”

“Always.”

“Oh.”

“Take a seat, Commander.”

He shut the door and sat in the blue plastic chair opposite her desk, beside the abandoned wheelchair. It made him appear gigantic.

Pigs must be flying back home on Earth for her to have received visits from both Commander Slate and Major Ellie in one day. Although Bonnie was fairly certain Slate was not sitting across from her for the same reason as his second-in-command. She rounded her desk and perched on the edge, directly in front of him.

“How can I help you, Commander?”

“I kissed you again,” he said.

“You did.”

“And I want you to know that once again, I do not regret it.”

“I am glad to hear it,” she replied primly.

“You are?”

Bonnie released a soft sigh. “I like it when you kiss me, Slate.”

“I like kissing you as well.”

The words shouldn’t have felt as good as they did when they washed over her skin.

“I wish we didn’t kiss solely during key moments in a murder investigation,” she said.

The corner of his mouth crooked up in a sexy curve. “In my defence, you are the one who always ruins the moment,” he replied.

“I will do my best to break the habit,” she promised eagerly.

“I would like to see you try.”

“Why don’t you test me?” she suggested. Her voice had slipped into a sultry tone without her intent. Her body was reacting to his in the cramped office, beckoning him over with her eyes.

His palms reached for her knees where they dangled over the desk. His touch electrified her, even through her uniform. As he stood from his seat, drawing closer, he allowed his hands to slide up her thighs. His body brought a shadow over her, but she welcomed the blocking of the artificial light. No more headache, only Slate’s crisp scent.

His lips brushed hers gently at first. Then she surged forward against him, prying his lips apart with her own. He groaned into her mouth and his hands jumped up to her jaw, cradling her face and steadying the battleground for their tongues to fight over.

The deeper he kissed her, the further down she sunk onto the desk, until the top of her head overhung the ledge. Her braids pooled on the seat of the chair tucked beneath. He followed her down, never releasing his hands from her jaw.

As he disconnected their lips, Bonnie let out a mortifying whimper. Slate chuckled and she wanted to smack him with a stack of paperwork.

He watched her with humour-filled eyes, his face still close enough for Bonnie to notice every tiny dot of stubble and thread-thin scar. He had one much larger mark that ran from neck to cheek. One day she would ask him about it, she was sure.

He broke her from her thoughts with a quiet, knowing laugh. “No disasters yet? Or are you still trying to think of something?”

“Nothing is coming to mind,” she mumbled in a mild daze. How he was coherent after that kiss was a mystery. “I’m sure there’s a kid stuck down a well somewhere, but that’s hardly our problem.” His head tilt told her he didn’t understand the reference, so she smiled and shook her head. It didn’t matter.

He watched her for a few more moments.

“Nothing you need to tell me?” he asked.

“Plenty. But not anything catastrophic,” she answered. “Just little things. Like that I’m embarrassed by how attracted I am to you.” His grin widened far too much for her liking. “Or wondering if I’m the first human you’ve… entangled yourself with-”

“You are,” he said quickly. His steel-grey skin tinted with just a hint of rosy colour across his cheeks and nose. “And the only one I want.”

“Oh, you want me?” she teased, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead in faux fluster. She was still laid out over her desk like a damsel so she may as well pretend to be distressed.

“You have no idea,” he laughed huskily. It sent a flutter to her crotch and her thighs jerked together reflexively.

She wasn’t ready for that. They’d barely reached a point of liking each other. Slate had always been attractive, but he had been someone attractive that she hated until very recently. The ‘what are we’ conversation was rough enough between humans, she wasn’t sure how to even broach the subject with Slate. She decided to fall back on her training, always keep asking questions.

“How does this work… with Ailu’t?”

“This? Kissing?”

“No, I mean… how do you go about… courting?” She cringed and threw both hands up to her forehead. “I don’t know how t-”

“I think I understand.” He scratched at his stubble with one hand and looked away. His other remained planted into the desk at her hip. “You want to know how our romantic relationships progress, no?” He dragged his gaze back to her.

Bonnie nodded. Her cheeks were burning.

“I think it is similar to humans,” he said slowly. “If I understand correctly, that is, and if our training materials were accurate.” He scrubbed his hair back out of his face before continuing. A few rogue strands fell back over his forehead, but they only added to his rugged soldier charm. It was infuriating to try and concentrate on his words when he looked like that. Bonnie did her best, nonetheless. “We gain feelings for a person, then we confess those feelings, then we trial our… being mates?” He looked away again awkwardly. “I don’t know how you say it. Then, once we are sure we have the right person, we announce our decision to be…” He shrugged as he searched for the right word. “Only… together with your chosen person? Or people.” He rocked his head a little to each side as he considered how to word the next part of his explanation. “This can be between just two people, or more. And some don’t want to have an announcement at all. It is quite… formal?” He glanced back to her, gauging her reaction. “But that is the common way it is done.”

Bonnie bobbed her head in another stiff nod.

“It’s similar,” she agreed. “I guess… I want to know if you would be looking to… trial with me?”

He answered immediately. “I would like that a lot.”

“Just to confirm that it’s like humans dating,” she said carefully. She pulled herself up a little on the desk to attempt to force her brain to function again. She still had a slight horny haze over her mind. Her body knew exactly what it wanted out of any Slate trial period. “This would mean we spend more time together and get to know each other, right?”

“Yes.” His expression had slipped back to his signature stern mask. “And we kiss more.”

Bonnie grinned. The mask cracked once again, and Slate grinned back.

“Perfect,” she said.