Our Forbidden Love 2

19: Starley

Daddy and Piper have sort of switched places, though not entirely. Now he's sitting in the chair beside Alex's bed but she isn't standing where he was. Instead, she's sitting on him. I feel like I'm going to be sick which is why I grab hold of the doorway for support. Piper's head whips around away from Daddy's face... his lips. Her eyes grow wide with guilt and as Daddy looks at the door, his do the same.
"We... uhh..."
"It's not..."
"We didn't..."
They're lost for words, obviously not expecting mine and Lilliana's talk to be that short of a time. Again, I feel a sudden urge to throw up, just like when I'd woken up after the Reverse Reading vision.

"Starley, what's wrong? Are you okay?" asks Lilliana, hidden slightly behind the door and therefore can't see what I'm seeing inside the room, but can see me, visibly struggling wth the reality. Slowly, I regain the power to respond and nod. I turn to her and move slightly forward so that she doesn't have to see what's inside the room.
"Yes, thank you Lilliana." I smile at her but it's wobbly. She smiles back and reaches her hand out to touch my arm in a let me know if there's anything I can do kind of way. I nod and she leaves me to it. I close the door behind me and turn around again.

Daddy and Piper haven't even attempted to pretend what I'd seen hadn't happened. She is still sitting in his lap and his hands are still looped around her waist. I gag. That's something Alex and I do, not something I expected my forty-nine year old dad and his forty-nine year old mum to do. I move back to my seat but as soon as I hit the chair I ricochet back up, anger bubbling. 
"You said you'd do it only the once! You said the one time was for us!" I gesture in between Alex and I. "What the hell do you guys think you're doing?" Piper gets off his lap and turns to look at me.
"It's not what you think it is, Starley," she says calmly.
"Not what I think it is?" I ask incredulously. "How else can you interpret a situation where you're sitting on my dad's lap and making out with him?" I cross my arms across my chest. Hopelessly, Piper throws her hands in the air and they slap back down against her tail. Silence.
"We're still doing it for you guys," Daddy says, getting up from the chair and gesturing for Piper to sit back down.
"There shouldn't be a 'we're still' or present tense in that sentence," I point out, angrily. "If you do this, it puts Alex and I in so much wrong. We got there first."
"We know," Piper says, but I don't believe her one bit. She wouldn't have done it again if she felt the same way as me. "Starley, we're only doing this so we can stop missing the ones we still love-"
"And I can see it's working fabulously," I interrupt, sarcastically, rolling my eyes. I turn my attention away from Piper, ignoring anything she's saying.
"Daddy, look, I don't mind if you want to look around the city and try and find someone else to love like you loved Mummy, but can it please not be Piper? Because if it's Piper then Alex becomes my step-brother and for me and Fate that's just way too wrong."
They both nod, begrudgingly.

Alex begins to stir and I abandon the argument to be there for him. I sit back on my chair and reach out for his hand. I take it in both of mine and comfortingly move my thumb across them.
"It's okay, Alex. I'm here, Starley's here," I whisper. His face screws up and his eyes slowly open, struggling against the light.
"Alex!" I exclaim and he smiles weakly. His chest is slowly rising and falling, coordinated with each breath. His blinking is slow and is staying closed more than open with each blink.
"My head," he moans, putting his hand on his forehead, hoping it would help.
"I'll go get Lilliana, let her know he's awake," says Daddy and I nod, avoiding looking at him. I hear the door open and then shut behind him.
"Did it work?" Alex manages to ask. I remove one of my hands from enclosing his and brush his bleached-blonde hair off his forehead. Then I lean forward and gently plant a kiss where I've moved the hair from.
"Yes, it did," I say, tenderly lifting his right arm up and showing him the screen that's grown on his arm in the past twelve hours.
"Woah," he breathes. He takes his own arm back disconnecting with my hand to look at his screen. He's completely unaware of Piper in the room as well, and I like it that way. I want it to be only him and I, but I doubt I'll be able to get his own mother out of the room, so we just ignore her presence entirely. Once he's finished looking at the screen, he hands me back his arm and opens his hand for me, which I slip my small hand into and watch it disappear against his.
We hear the door click open again and I look over my shoulder at the door and see Lilliana swim through, Daddy behind her. I avoid Daddy's eyes, and only look at Lilliana.
"How do you feel, Alex?" she asks, kindly. He shrugs in response.
"I'm alright. My head hurts like hell but the shockwaves have stopped now."
"That's expected but at the rate you're going you might be out of here quicker than we thought. Your head hurts so much because you're gaining your natural talents. You've basically been reborn as a full merfolk at seventeen years old, Alex."
He nods, but he looks like he's focussing on something else other than what Lilliana's saying.

Starley! Babygirl! It's me!
A new voice breaks through my head. I've heard the voice a million times before just never in my head and I turn to the speaker smiling at him. He smiles back at me and the smile reaches all the way to his bright green eyes.
It worked! I say.
Actually, the more I use this new thing and the more you talk to me in my head, it's actually reducing the pain in my head, he says, excitedly. I smile. He's so happy. I'm glad he's this happy, I was worried he was going to regret his decision or not want to live with me anymore, but I'm glad that's not the case.
I focus back to the room. Lilliana's talking.
"- may have more than one talent. Otherwise, it shouldn't be taking this long for your body to add onto a talent you already possessed."
"More than one talent?" asks Alex and Lilliana nods.
Then a burning sensation starts in the back of my right hand; my symbol is burning. I look that the other four Government members and theirs' is burning too.
"Alex, we'll let you rest."
I lean forward and kiss him gently on his lips.
"I'll be back baby," I whisper.
I love you so much Starley, he says, telepathically.
I love you too.