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Cruise Control, Part 2


Tammy was more than a little worried about Annie. The sylph had an intensity all out of proportion to her height.

But she was hardly abrasive to Cruiser at all. But rather than treat him with kid gloves, she seemed to accept him as a grown up. And Cruiser was responding to it. He stood straighter.

Annie was out of sight most of the time. Cruiser was teaching Pet how to play the game. And talking to her. And staring at her. He didn't quite respond to Annie's attacks with 'huh, what?' but it was a near thing.

Pet seemed quite taken with Cruiser, too. Tammy didn't think that one visit would make them a couple, but maybe time here would make him more confident in his reading class.

The game rattled along until Cruiser was down to his cruiser. He wasn't especially tied to that piece. Frankly, he had more of an investment in the submarine, once he found out that the real ones operated almost invisibly.

But it was gratifying to see that the sylphs were interested in protecting him, however unnecessary. Pet leaned on his shoulder and enticed him into calling the game.

"Cruiser, you wanna call it a draw and go get food?" Pet said. "Pretty please? I'm STARVING!"

Stronger men than her pet would have melted under those eyes, Tammy judged.

She let them decide, then picked them up when they called her over.

As she carried them over to the buffet, she asked Cruiser about the game. He gave short but happy answers about it.

She kept asking and he kept answering, even as she broke a hamburger patty into three pieces and added condiments as each sylph requested.

He was describing how he found Annie's carrier when someone bumped the table at the far end. The ketchup bottle tipped a bit and struck a bowl of potato salad.

There was a glassy tink. Then there was a piercing wail as Cruiser took off running.

Arms flailing and legs pumping, he shot off of the end of the table and into empty air.

Pet screamed, Annie shrieked. Tammy jumped into the air and grabbed him, dropping to the floor to skid on the linoleum.

She cupped him tight to her bosom and tried to soothe him. He cried for a bit, grasping at her blouse and rubbing his face against her.

If he's landed, his panic could have taken him anywhere, she thought. All the doors were open, leading to grounds, parking lots and the roads. Her heart was probably pounding as fast as his.

Ray and his father helped her to her feet. Both were solicitous of her grip on her sylph. They just grabbed her arms, made eye contact and heaved.

"I think we should go," Tammy said.

"Yeah, I'll get your things," Victor offered.

"Hey?" Annie called. She gestured at the cupped hands holding the sylph.

"Oh. Sure," Tammy replied. She peered down at Cruiser. "Do you want to say goodbye to Pet and Annie?" He nodded, still sniffling.

When she leaned down to the table, Pet waved and said goodbye. Annie stood with her arms crossed.

"I'd have kicked your ass, Cruiser," she said. The immediate area went dead silent. Tammy had just been thinking about how Annie wasn't bullying the young male!

Cruiser raised his head. "The fuck," he replied. Tammy gasped. Then she realized, Annie still wasn't bullying. Rather, she was still approaching him as an adult. Which made him act grown up...

When Cruiser realized what he'd said, he clapped a hand over his mouth and looked up fearfully. There had been a few talks about words he shouldn't say around her coworkers. And a longer talk about what to say around Mildred.

Tammy just she shook her head. "Well?" she asked her sylph. "Are you going to let her talk smack like that?"

Cruiser grinned. "No, ma'am. I'm going to kick her ass! Um… If I can, please?"

"You'd better," Tammy said. She smiled and picked up the plate with the hamburger pieces. Ray picked up his girls and followed her back to the game boards.

------

After they finished, the rematch was started. Enough people had become interested in the game that they moved it to an empty table.

The crowd oohed and ahhed as the game progressed. Annie's first shot hit his destroyer.

That meant her attack pattern had a bit more luxury than his did. Tammy could see him sweating as he ran back and forth before the board.

Pet and most of the guests cheered him on. Of course, most of the guests cheered Annie on, too.

Annie herself cheered Cruiser. "GOOD shot! I was really hoping you'd fall for that L shape of my ships. Teach me to underestimate you, boyo."

"She's not mocking you," Pet assured him. "If she were, you wouldn't have to wonder if she were mocking you." He glanced over to where Tammy sat. She nodded and he looked a little less agitated.

Cruiser lost, but by exactly one hit. If he'd had one more turn, he'd have finished sinking Annie's elusive destroyer.

Everyone assured him that it was a well-fought game and he had nothing to be ashamed of.

Annie even told him he was a better player, she was just lucky. Then she hugged him. And Pet hugged him.

Tammy loved the expressions that crossed his face. He was shocked, he was happy, he was afraid, then he looked guilty. She smiled and he was happy again.

"Hug them back," she stage-whispered and he did his best to hug them both at once.

The human audience broke up, congrats offered to both players (and, somewhat infuriatingly, to the owners of both players).

Annie announced that she's worked up an appetite, Pet and Cruiser allowed as to how they could eat, too. Tammy laughed and took them to the food table once more.

This time, she held all three in a Styrofoam cup. The sylphs pointed to about five pounds of deserts that they absolutely had to try.

Tammy laughed and put a brownie, a few cookies and a chocolate-dipped strawberry in another cup and carried it all back to their table.

Annie worked her brownie and talked with Tammy while the other two sat by the strawberry, talking soft and giggling.

"So, how do you like owning a sylph, Tammy?"

"It's pretty incredible, Annie. Just knowing him, I find myself looking at the world, wondering how it appears to him. How he would see it. Either from his perspective or his lack of experience."

Annie nodded. "Yeah, Ray's mentioned that. Of course, he usually phrases it as 'what was going through your alleged mind,' but it's very similar."

Tammy laughed and took one of the untouched cookies. As she ate it, Pet stood up. She looked at her partner who shrugged. A few looks passed back and forth. Tammy felt like there was a conversation going on just out of her reach.

She reached out to stroke Cruiser's back.

"Tammy?" Pet finally turned to her and spoke. "Would it be okay with you if Cruiser and I... were alone?"

"Alone?"

"Special case," Annie said. "I think you need to be very explicit here." She stepped in front of her partner.

"Pet is very taken with Cruiser. And it's clear that you two love each other, but he's also pretty taken with Pet. That doesn't bother you, does it?"

"No," she said, sweeping her gaze to look all three of them in the eyes. "No, of course not."

"Are you sure, Tammy?" He looked scared and hopeful.

She picked Cruiser up. "I want you to be happy. If that includes....liking another sylph, that's great! I won't be jealous."

A part of her wondered if that was really true. She thought about it, petting her sylph. She was fond of him being dependent on her. She loved coaxing smiles and laughs from him. She loved him.

But she really didn't think of him as a boyfriend. She kissed him and placed him back down next to the blonde.

"So, do we ask Ray if you two can...?" she started to ask. The girls exploded into giggles.

"Not if you want an answer this week," Annie said. "Wave at Denise, please?"

----

Tammy watched as Denise moved a few things back and forth between her purse and the Foster's sylph carrier.

She was surprised to learn that the other woman actually carried protection around for her sylphs. "Better safe than hitting a drug store at midnight," she said with a shrug.

Tammy made a note to add something to her purse in case Cruiser got lucky again.

When Denise was done, she had a cozy little love nest. There was even a ziploc bag of ice from the cooler to keep it comfortable. Then the two sylphs were collected. Denise nodded at Tammy and carried it back to the kitchen where she was supervising some deserts.

It was an odd feeling right then. For the first time in quite a while, Tammy wasn't responsible for Cruiser's immediate well being.

She had nothing to do.

No paperbacks were in progress of being read, she didn't knit, all her work ended when she clocked out...

My God, is Cruiser my whole life? she asked herself. And then, And is that a problem?

Maybe she crowded Cruiser? Sure, he was dependent on her. And she knew he still had some mental and a lot of emotional land mines... But would he ever build up confidence like Annie's if she never, ever left him alone?

For that matter, would he ever be as confident as Annie? Or even as confident as Pet, sitting in Annie's shadow?

She'd have to think on that. More autonomy for him, more distance for her? She needed a hobby.

But that would have to wait until they got home for now.... He eyes circled the Hall.

Ray's mother was at the other end of the room setting something up on a table. Tammy drifted over to help, maybe to talk. What was it like raising Ray and Annie? How do you make a confident sylph?

And if they got too confident, was it possible to shut Annie up?

-------

Cruiser had something of a permanent grin on his face when Denise handed him back to Tammy.

She smirked and put him away in the carrier. Ray had already put away the Battleship game. Tammy gave him a goodbye hug and giggled at his blush.

His wife also laughed and wrapped her arms around him.

Pet and Annie gave her a bit of last-minute advice on what Cruiser really needed in his life. Tammy promised she'd try while Ray protested that half of the shit didn't even exist.

Then there was the trek to the car, trading goodbyes to everyone she recognized and many, many more people she didn't.

"We may have to do this again, some time," she told Cruiser. He sighed and agreed.

Back at the room, she knew she smelled of sweat. She didn't really want to think of what Cruiser probably smelled of. So she filled the sink, put a dollop of liquid soap where he could reach it and placed him on the counter.

"Okay," she said. "I can bathe you, like always, or you can bathe yourself while I shower. What'll it be?"

He stared, shocked. "Tammy? Did I do something? Are you... Are you mad that I... spent time with Pet?"

"No!" she said. She bent down to pet him and smile at him. "You're not in trouble. But I was wondering if we might...give you a little more room, you know?

"Let you do things for yourself, let you make the decisions. Maybe spend some time alone, if that's what you want. I think you can, and should grow a bit."

"Oh," he said, thinking about it. "If I try being alone, and I don't like it...?"

"You don't have to do it. You can also choose to be with me, to have me do things. Up to you. Okay?"

"Okay," he said. He sported a small smile. "Okay. Then..." He jumped over the side of the sink and slid to the drain. "I'll do this for me, then."

"Good," she said. Then she grabbed a bath towel and her nightshirt.

Cruise Control, Part 1
Cruise Control, Part 3

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