Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Title: Nia Ch.  05


Summary: Nia & Jamie come to the end of their search.


Keywords: inc,fic



   Excerpt from the private diary of Nguye't Morrison

   Friday, 6th May, 2011

   On Thursday evening, Jamie and I spoke to this bloke in Toronto that
Limbu, his contact in Singapore, had given him, a Sergeant Louis D'Hérault,
a man who's spent the last 15 years tracking down illegally adopted
children funnelled into Canada from Asia, the former Russian hegemony, and
South America.  This man seemed to think we had a good chance of tracking
Hu'e as there were indications that one of the crooked adoption agencies
he'd made it his business to close down may have been the one that handled
the sale of the child.  My blood was boiling by the end of the
conversation.

   The Asian policemen we'd talked to, like prod-noses everywhere, had been
reluctant to use that word 'sale'; 'traffic' was the closest they'd allowed
themselves.  This man was under no illusions as to the transaction that
took place, and employed no euphemisms; as far as he was concerned, it was
a human being, a child, who'd been put up for sale, like a can of beans or
a sack of onions.  We talked for almost an hour, and afterwards, Jamie and
I had decided; we needed to go to Toronto, there was a good chance we could
pick up the trail there and follow it through to the end.

   This was always supposing we were actually following Hu'e's trail; I
tried not to think of the other possible fates she might have endured; I
could only manage to fit my head around the possibility that she'd been
adopted and brought up by a good family.  To think otherwise would lead me
to something I can't even begin to consider; the possibility of her death
years before, or life as a sex-slave or prostitute in some hell-hole. 
Either one of those possibilities can't be allowed into my head; to
entertain them is to despair, and I still have hope, as does Jamie,
darling, brave, caring Polar Bear that he is.  As long as I believe that
Hu'e had and is having a good life, I can keep on searching for her; to
even consider any other possibility is to lose heart and quit, and I won't
do that, not while hope remains.

   ++++

   Jamie

   Yesterday evening, Nia and I had a long and interesting chat with this
French-Canadian guy, a real, live Mountie, working with the Toronto
Organised Crime Squad, together with the Special Victims Unit of the Sex
Crimes Unit, of all things, digging into babies-for-cash adoption rackets,
both recent and historical, and he mentioned that he may have possibly
located Hu'e and the family who adopted her.  He mentioned the information
Limbu had sent him, and, in conjunction with the collated data from the
stuff I'd brought back with me from Da Nang, hinted he was almost positive
he had the right child, right age and gender, right timeframe, and was
waiting for confirmation of some things from the US State Department.

   He also mentioned that had been receiving some encouraging feedback from
various overseas and foreign adoption advisory bodies in the United States,
as well as some unofficial but very helpful intelligence from the FBI.  He
finished by stating that we could do worse than look over the information
and files he had, and invited us over to do just that.  That was all I was
waiting for, so this morning Nia trotted over to the Canadian High
Commission in Grosvenor Square, a short walk from Bond Street tube station,
to get our visa status confirmed.  Luckily, UK citizens don't need visa's,
so I was in the throes of sorting out flights for us to go to Toronto.

   Nia was excited at travelling to Canada, and keyed-up at the prospect of
possibly tracking down her sister, our sister, in the next few days.  I
didn't want to burst her bubble by telling her how unlikely and unrealistic
her expectations were; she needed this, she needed to feel as if she was
making headway against 28 years of silence and conspiracy in the
disappearance of her older sister.

   Last night the reality of what had happened to Hu'e finally seemed to
have hit home, kicked-off in part by this Mountie bloke's refusal to use
the term 'trafficking' in relation to the baby trade; he preferred to be
blunt, and told Nia that her sister had been bought and sold, like so many
hundreds of thousands of children spirited away from their families, a
commodity with a cash value.  She spent a good part of last night crying as
that truth finally came home to her.

   I managed to get us two standby seats for Toronto from Gatwick on Sunday
morning, so Nia packed a couple of flight bags while I booked us a cab for
the trip to Victoria so w could get the Gatwick Express train -- driving to
Gatwick was always an unrewarding experience, especially if the M25
motorway was playing its usual 'world's biggest Car-Park' game.

   I went to see mum while Nia was out doing some last minute shopping, I
popped over to give her a hug, and get one in return; I was starting to
feel the strain here; I wanted to get this over with, but at the same time
I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up.  There were just too many
long-shots to hope for here, and even Nia's breezy confidence, her
'million-to-one shots come-up nine times out of ten' attitude was starting
to grate on me.

   I lived in a world of certainties and cautious gambles based on an
informed understanding of the variables involved and the risk/benefit
ratio. It was a predictable world, and to be suddenly catapulted into a
course of action with no predictable outcome worried me, and for a very
good reason; I could see how emotionally invested Nia had become in this
quest of hers, how much she believed in the happy ending as an inevitable
consequence of our efforts; but what would happen if it all came to
nothing, if Hu'e had indeed been swallowed up and destroyed by this whole
thing years ago, or become one of those faceless women haunting the
meat-rack alleys and side streets of London, Paris, Tokyo, Odessa, Sao
Paolo?  What would happen to Nia then?  What kind of a fall was she heading
for?  That was my fear; that was what was keeping me awake at nights.  That
was why I needed mum, right now.

   Mum was fatalistic about our success or failure; like me, she was more
concerned about the effect this whole thing was having on both Nia and on
us as a couple.  Mum completely approved of our relationship, and to be
truthful, I had almost completely forgotten that Nia, quite apart from
being the absolute centre of my world, was also my younger sister, but now
a very big-brotherly concern was building in me, and I needed to share it
with mum.  She was pragmatic, but caring, and, as usual, managed to give me
a measure of calm and rebalanced perspective.

   "Little boy, you worry too much about how I feeling about this.  If you
want my blessing, I give it, but this thing you both have decided to do, it
is for Nguye't, not for me.  I am grateful and pleased my children want to
help me find my baby, but she gone a long time ago, I have other babies
here, now, and I worried about them, what this doing to them.  Nguye't have
strong passions, that is good, she will be good, strong mother one day, but
passion need to be...balanced?  yes, balanced, with other parts of life,
otherwise become obsession, that not good.  This is where my little boy
must help her.  If she not find Hu'e, or find out she is gone, that is when
she will need Huyn'h, she will need your strength."

   "If you not find Hu'e, she must learn to understand, then, and you must
help her, little boy, that I have not really lost Hu'e; every time I see
Nguye't, I also see Hu'e, so she still here, a small part of her, in
Nguye't, and I see her very day.  This is what Nguye't need to understand,
this is what little boy can help her to see; that both my daughters are
still here, they both have same part of me, and so I see them both every
day, just like I look at my little boy and see my sister every day.  No-one
ever really leave, it just how you look for them that count.  I not have
separate place in heart for each of my children, all of them live there
together, so little girl not really gone, for me she will always be in my
heart, maybe best place for her, yes?"

   I was far too big to lean on mum now, like I used to when I was small,
but I really needed to huddle up against her right now and whisper how
scared I was, like I did when I was little, but grown men can't do that. 
She sensed what I was feeling though, so she leaned on me instead, her arm
around my waist and my arm around her shoulder, still comforting, still my
mum.  I sat in silence, not knowing how to tell her what was wrong, but of
course she knew she knew something was bugging me; she'd been reading my
mind for years, after all.  She'd also perfected the art of the pointed
silence years ago, and now she was pointing it at me, forcing me to say
what was really on my mind.  Finally I couldn't hold out any longer.

   "I'm still worried about Nia, mum.  She's become this focussed, driven
thing, she's forgotten about the job she wanted so much, everything in her
is pointing at what we're doing to find Hu'e.  I sometimes wish we'd never
started this, because if it comes out any way other than us finding her
alive and well and happy, it will destroy Nia, and I can't allow that. 
Talk to her, please, mum, get her to damp it down a bit, make her see that
this may not have a happy ending, because I don't know how to!"

   I was nearly in tears over this.  Nia was worrying me no end with this
task she'd thrown herself into, this quest I'd that I'd promised I'd see
through with her.  The problem is, she couldn't see that sometimes things
don't end the way you want them to, and if you invest all your time, and
effort, and heart in them, where do you go if they collapse and fail?

   Mum patted me on the chest, her favourite comfort gesture.

   "Little boy not have to worry, Nguye't coming here from shopping, I talk
to her.  You go home, calm down, make sure you have everything you need for
trip, I make daughter see what she doing, not to worry!"

   Feeling much less pressure now that mum had agreed to head Nia off, I
went home and puttered around, checking and re-checking our ticket claim
documents and passports half a dozen times, adding and removing again
clothes from our flight bags, and checking and re-checking our documents
again.  Eventually I sat down and watched a film, getting half-way through
it before I realised I had no idea what it was about, nor did I care.  At
last Nia came flying in, calling out my name and tossing her bags and
packets aside to jump on me, a very gratifying feeling.

   "Oh Jamie, I'm sorry, baby, really, mum told me what you talked about, I
never realised you were so worried!  I'm sorry, Polar Bear!"

   All the while, she was kissing me all over my face and lips, pecking me
as she apologised, her smile back again as she saw mine, and the lump in my
pants was also a source of an extra large grin from her!

   She jumped off me, tugging me to my feet, and towed me into the bedroom,
where she began undressing, throwing her clothes off in her haste to get
naked.  When she got down to her underwear I stopped her; this was my area
of expertise, and I intended to apply my considerable skills in the area of
extracting a pretty girl from her underwear.

   I slipped my hands into the back of her panties, enjoying the feel of
her silky smooth bum, jiggling the cheeks slightly as I kissed her, and
pushing her panties down to free her lovely globes.  Nia kicked them off
and reached up to unhook her bra, but I got there first, peeling it off her
and dipping down to nibble and kiss her delectable little nipples.

   Nia was meanwhile undoing my jeans and unbuttoning my shirt, while
somehow managing to keep a firm hold of junior and giving him an
encouraging squeeze every few seconds, just to keep him alert and ready to
rumble...

   I managed to get stripped-off and my cock was able to stretch out at
last, instead of being confined.  Nia has this effect on me, and even after
three years together, all she has to do is walk in the room and I get that
old feelin' and Jamie jr.  unfurls and starts knocking on my fly.  Being
around her is definitely an on-going turn-on situation, with imminent
leg-over prospects!

   Nia took hold of me and pumped suggestively a few times, while curling
her hand up and around the back of my neck to pull me in for a long, slow
kiss, the kind she does so well, the kind that blow-torches my brain and
lights up my groin.  The combination of that kiss, and her hand on me was
enough to make my cock rock hard; she was so obviously into the moment,
and, from the feel of her cute little pussy, ready for action, that I
couldn't resist backing her up to the bed.  She smelled so sweet and
delicious I wanted a serious taste, right now!

   She backed-up until the backs of her knees contacted the bed, and sat
down, her face level with my cock, but I didn't want to go there, not just
yet.  No, I wanted some fun first, so I urged her back onto the bed, laying
her down so I could kiss her from tip to toe, starting with her legs.  Nia
loves it when I take my time, and pay attention to all her body, not just
the obvious bits, so I started kissing up along the inside of her right
leg, starting at the ankle.

   I brushed little feather kisses in a line up the inside of her leg while
she lay back contentedly, a small smile on her face as I played her
favourite game.  I kissed slowly, sometimes stopping to lick lightly,
especially the soft skin behind her knee, making her sigh aloud and murmur
"yes Jamie, oh yes, just there, like that, oh yes!" and so on up, until I
was kissing and licking the inside of her creamy, satiny thigh, my kisses
slowly approaching the sweet treat at the juncture of her thighs.

   Nia was slowly squirming on the bed as I took my time; this was a treat
for me, and I wanted to enjoy every second of it.  I kissed up to the
narrow strip of flesh that separate the labia from the top of the inner
thigh, then switched to the corresponding thin strip of flesh at the top of
the left inner thigh, blowing lightly on her labia as I passed, making her
jump and squirm.  Now I kissed down the left inner thigh, again soft,
feather-like kisses, a torment for Nia, but one she gladly endured as the
prelude to what she really wanted.

   Slowly I worked my way down her left leg, kissing and licking and
occasionally nibbling, enjoying the sight of her gently squirming and
undulating, the sounds of her sighs and muttered encouragement, and the
occasional giggle as a particularly tender or ticklish spot caught my
attention.  As I worked my way down, I could smell the scent of her
arousal, the fresh, tangy, musky sweetness of my darling little sister
bride-to-be as she waited for the next act.

   By the time I reached her ankle (and a sexy ankle it is too!) she was
shifting impatiently, squirming even more, her pussy starting to demand
attention, and her face starting to blush, the prelude to the alluring
flush she always developed when she was approaching orgasm.  I knelt up
between her legs, kissing her once on each of her sexy knees, looking down
and grinning at her to gently torture her, making her wait for what I
actually wanted to do most of all.

   "Jamie, please, don't..." she moaned, so I moved in for the kill.

   Her pussy was beginning to engorge, the hairless lips swelling and
blushing, her tantalising scent rising more strongly now as her excitement
increased.  I leaned in and kissed her softly on her labia, tipping my
tongue in the crease between the two lips, making her sigh and gently trail
her fingers across the top of my head.  I pushed my tongue between her
lips, hearing her gasp as I penetrated her, lapping at her as her labia
swelled even further and parted revealing her pink inner flesh.

   I licked along the length of her slit, tapping her hooded clitoris with
the tip of my tongue, making her gasp and writhe delightedly, rubbing her
vulva against my face.  I took the hint and concentrated on her hooded
clitoris, probing and stroking with my tongue until it fully emerged, stiff
and engorged, slick with her juices and my saliva.  I licked and flicked
the little fleshy button, making Nia jump and squirm, then retreated,
sliding my tongue between her labia again to lap and taste her inner
recesses, and flick her inner lips, something I know she particularly
likes. She showed her appreciation by gasping and murmuring my name, that
breathy murmuring that always gives me a raging erection...

   I changed tack now, sliding my tongue the entire length of her vulva and
beyond, from her clitoris to her little pink anus, long wet, sweeping
strokes that made her breathing deepen as she became even more stimulated,
pushing herself into my face, forcing my tongue to rasp faster at her
clitoris, until, with a long gasping groan, she orgasmed, her juices
flooding out of her to coat my face and chin.  She shook and quivered as
the waves of pleasure beat through her, her thighs quivering on either side
of my head as she clamped them tight in the throes of her orgasm.

   At last she came down, relaxing her grip on my head and allowing me to
surface, breathless but happy, my erection solid and needy.

   Nia smiled languidly at me.  "Your turn Polar Bear!" she husked, but I
already knew what I wanted.  Eating her delicious pussy had punched all my
buttons, and had built in me a powerful need to fuck her, hard, and nothing
was going to get in the way of that...

   She saw in my eyes what I wanted, once again that ability to sense what
I'm thinking and needing, and grinned, nibbling her bottom lip as I moved
up to rear above her.  She took hold of me and rubbed the head around her
sopping wet pussy, frigging herself with me before pushing me inside
herself, me following suit as I slowly slid the rest of the way into her,
enjoying the sound of her hissing intake of breath as I filled her.

   As I began to slide in and out, she laced her fingers behind my neck,
supporting herself as she rose against me, using me as leverage to hump
herself into me, rubbing her pussy against me and stimulating her clitoris
as I pounded into her.  I could feel the effect this was having, her pussy
was rhythmically contracting and squeezing my length as I slid in and out
of her, and her neck and chest were flushing deeper as she raced for
another orgasm.  I was close to the edge, and when she began to hitch and
gasp, I began to speed up, feeling that tightening in the pit of my belly
that told me I was going to come, and soon.

   Nia sensed this, her own pumping redoubled, the walls of her pussy
squeezing me in rapid pulsating ripples as her orgasm built, until; "Oooh,
YES!  God, Yes, Jamie, oooh, oooh, oooh, YESS!" she shouted, her head going
back and her juices squirting out from her, bathing my lower belly and
balls in her warmth, the sensation setting off my own eruption, long,
satisfying bolts of spunk exploding deep inside her as I came like a train,
my spunk powering into her again and again until I was emptied out, dry
heaving as I gave all my sperm to my gorgeous sister.

   I withdrew and slumped down, head ringing from the force and depth of my
orgasm, gasping for breath, Nia equally winded, both of our chests heaving
with our exertions and the intensity of our mutual orgasm.  At last,
though, we calmed, hearts slowing to normal, our breathing slowing, and we
held each other and touched, caressed and kissed lightly, gently,
maintaining connection and contact.

   Nia rose up on one elbow to lean down and kiss me once, firmly, on the
lips.

   "That's to say 'Sorry' once again, Polar Bear.  Mum told me how worried
you were, and you were right.  I'm sorry.  I forgot about us, baby, but it
won't happen again, ever, I promise!  If this trip takes us nowhere, then
I'll accept that, I'll know that at least we tried, and we can go back to
being us, and our life, and our future.  I love you so much, Jamie
Morrison!"

   That was all I wanted to hear, and I held her close to me, feeling her
warmth, her heartbeat, listening to her soft breathing sounds, and enjoying
the feel of her softness against me.

   "And I love you, Nguye't Morrison!" I said, kissing her once again.

   ++++

   We checked into our hotel, the Radisson Hotel Admiral on the harbour
front, not far from the famous CN Tower, but we weren't there to sight-see.
The flight was uneventful, more so clearing Customs and Immigration, and we
grabbed a cab to get to the hotel.  Nia called the Mountie bloke, speaking
to him in French, as his English seemed a little hit and miss.  We arranged
to meet at our hotel in a couple of hours to discuss what we'd found, to
match up with what he'd got, and, hopefully, to get our next move.

   While she was on the phone, I pulled out a change of clothes, stripping
out of my travel clothes as I asked Nia what she wanted to wear.

   "Nothing Jamie, you just keep going, I'll catch up with you in a
second!" she grinned.

   Young Jamie heard that, and immediately started clamouring for
attention, something not lost on Nia!

   "Oh Jamie, I knew you were a good boy-scout, you came prepared!" she
grinned, unzipping her light summer dress and letting it fall to the
ground, revealing not a stitch on underneath.

   I gaped, but I had to grin; she'd been sitting next to me on a crowded
transatlantic flight practically naked for almost nine hours; she had
style, I had to give her that!

   I dropped my last shred of clothing and moved to lie down, patting the
bed beside me, grinning like an idiot as my girl padded toward me, making a
show of climbing slowly and languidly up next to me.  We were both tired
from our flight, and hungry for a real meal, but some appetites have to
take priority, and right now I wanted to nibble my sister a little, and
hump her a lot, so dinner was tabled until we'd had a little canoodling
time!

   "So Princess, what do you want to do first?" I grinned, kissing her
delectable little nipples as I squeezed and fondled her silky firm
bum-cheeks.

   Nia grinned back at me, pulling my head down for a soft kiss, and
whispered "I want to practice making babies, Jamie; it's time to start now,
before we forget what we mean to each other!"

   I pulled back in astonishment, suddenly seeing a new side to her, the
adult inside the playful girl she'd always been.  She misread my reaction,
tears clouding her glorious eyes.

   "Don't you want children, Polar Bear; don't you want to make babies with
me?" she asked plaintively, and I nearly choked with all the answers that
tried to rush out of me, so I pulled her tight to me, crushing her against
me, letting my actions speak for me while I tried to say something
coherent.

   "Princess, I want to make babies with you more than anything in the
entire world, I've thought of nothing else for you and I for the last three
years!" I managed to choke out at last, afraid I'd hurt my Princess, seeing
her lovely eyes glitter as she smiled, her sexy coral-pink lips curved in
an arc of pure happiness.  She burrowed down against me, wriggling until
she was nearly underneath me, then grinned again, mischief and good-humour
restored.

   "What are you waiting for, big boy, come play in my lady-garden!" she
smiled, fondling me and rubbing my cock back to full stretch.  I dipped
down to kiss her again, slipping my tongue between her lips to roll and
slide it against hers.

   Nia lay flat on her back, pulling me over her, her need obvious and
apparent, holding me and rubbing my head over her damp pussy as our tongues
fenced and darted inside each others' mouths.

   Nia took a firmer hold of me and rubbed me more deliberately against her
dewy pussy, gasping at the sensation as I rubbed over her swelling
clitoris. As much as I wanted to lap at her for a while, to suck and nibble
that little nubbin of flesh that did such good things for her, I was also
feeling her need now.  I needed no more encouragement to lean in and slowly
slide inside her, enjoying the sigh of satisfaction as I slid home.

   Nia slid her arms around my neck and wrapped her legs around my thighs
as I began pumping into her, she responding by thrusting her pelvis back at
me in counterpoint, meeting me as my length slid in and out of her, her
pussy squeezing my cock rhythmically, delightfully, as I pumped.  I was
rapidly approaching the point of no return, as was Nia, her breathing was
hitching in short, rapid breaths, and that tell-tale flush was spreading
down her throat to blush her upper chest and neck.

   At last, though, her movements became rapid, ragged and forceful as she
jammed herself against me, and she went rigid, her body tense as a wire,
her head thrown back, as her pussy tightened around my length and squeezed
me remorselessly as her orgasm broke over her.

   "Oh God, Jamie, yesss, so good, oh fuck, yesss, yesss, YESS!!" she
screamed, release pounding through her, making her shudder and tremble as
waves of orgasmic pleasure coursed through her.  I couldn't withstand the
torrent of sensations shuddering through me as her pussy squeezed and
massaged my cock, and I erupted in jet after jet of sperm, long thrilling
spurts deep into her womb.

   Eventually, she stopped shuddering and quivering, and she rolled back
off me and grinned at me as I slipped out of her.  Her eyes were hooded as
she slowly rubbed her pussy, lubricating her finger until she could slide
it into her tight little anus, in and out, in an increasing tempo.  She
began to squeeze my still-hard cock, and I hardened even more as I realised
what she wanted.

   "Jamie...?" she moaned, and I leaned forward, pushing my cock against
the tight ring of her anus as she raised her legs up so I could hold her
behind the knees, holding her legs high enough to bring her anus into line
with my cock.  I slowly pushed forward, feeling the tightness engulf me
like a squeezing glove, her ring clamping down over me once the head popped
through, and then equal pressure along my length as her rectum stretched to
accommodate my girth.

   The feeling made me want to come again, immediately, and I had to grit
my teeth and think unsexy thoughts to back myself off; not easy when a
stunner like Nia was staring back at me with that little grin on her face!

   Now I began pumping, Nia pushing back against me, holding herself tight
to me to give herself leverage to pump back.  I could feel everything
happening inside her, the ripples and squeezing of her rectum as she built
toward another orgasm, the tell-tale flush showing me just how close she
was.

   Nia suddenly began to gasp and groan as her orgasm burned through her,
her anus fluttering and squeezing in sympathy with her vagina as it too
contracted and fluttered, rolling her orgasm on and on.

   "Oooh God, Jamie, oooh, yess, oooh yesss, Jamie...!" she groaned,
clamping down tight on me as her anus contracted.  The feeling of her
clenching and clamping me was too much, and I came in an explosion of
sperm, groaning as I came inside her depths, the sensation at once joyful
and extremely satisfying.  I came again and again, blasting my spunk into
the depths of her bowels, bathing her insides with my seed.

   We slumped back, sweaty and satisfied, to relax and bask in the
afterglow, muscles twitching and fluttering as adrenaline raced around our
bodies and only slowly dissipated.

   Nia raised up on one elbow and grinned down at me.

   "So, Jamie, are you going to marry me and make babies any time soon?"
she asked, her eyes twinkling, and I could only grin back as I gently
pulled her against me.

   "Princess, you just say the word and we go for it, I'm ready!" I
reassured her, hoping my words convinced her.  I felt ready for a family,
and I wanted one with her, so I hoped she got that from me.

   Suddenly her eyes opened wide and she looked at my watch as she jumped
up.

   "Ready!  Oh Christ, Jamie, that Mountie's going to be here in a few
minutes, up, Jamie, up!"

   We hustled off the bed and into the bathroom, Nia pushing me into the
shower first, telling me I should go first so I could delay him while she
showered, so after the world's quickest shower, just a lick and a promise,
really, I waited in the room while Nia did whatever it was that women did
in showers for the three hours it takes them to take a shower; I was
wondering if she'd decided to re-grout the bathroom while she was in there
when she finally made her grand entrance, and this Louis D'Hérault bloke
still hadn't made an appearance, so we decided to go see if we could
intercept him in the foyer.

   When we got to the main desk, I asked if there had been any messages for
us, and the clerk pointed us at a paunchy, rumpled-looking man, telling me
that my guest had opted to wait for us rather than be sent on up to our
room.  Nia and I walked over to introduce ourselves, and he jumped up,
suddenly all smiles, grinning appreciatively at Nia.

   "Your Pardon, M'sieur, for not coming up to your room, they told me you
had a beautiful lady with you, so I thought it best not to disturb you!" he
asserted, Nia smiling at the compliment, while I thought "Yep, this guy's
definitely French!"

   After a few amenities, and some lavish compliments to Nia, which she
politely accepted, he got down to the reason for us all being here, and it
was a bombshell.

   "M'sieur, I have been going through past investigations, witness
testimony, and trial transcripts, and I believe I know where the child you
are seeking was taken, and who she was adopted by."

   Nia gasped, and I leaned forward, eager to hear more, as he continued.

   "She was originally passed off as an orphan from a children's home run
by a family we had reason to believe was involved in people trafficking. 
This home was in Vancouver, but all records of her in Vancouver are
missing, probably destroyed in an attempt to disguise the true scale of the
operation in Canada.  However, a child closely matching her description was
legally adopted by a family in San Francisco through an agency in
Sacramento connected to, and possibly run by the same family.  My colleague
in the San Francisco Police Department and his contacts in Children &
Family Services have managed to locate the child involved, and are waiting
for a judge to rule on whether you can contact her, seeing as you are not
the birth parents.  As she's over 21 now, there may not be a problem, but
I'll have to wait for a ruling and the go-ahead from the District
Attorney's office in San Francisco before I can direct you further."

   I got all this second hand, as his English was too fragmentary for me to
understand what he was saying, so the body of the story was related to Nia
in French, but Canadian 'Quebecois' French dialect, which is a little like
a modern English-speaker trying to have a conversation about computers and
data processing with an eighteenth century Welsh milkmaid.  Nia only spoke
modern French, so she spent a certain amount of time screwing up her
forehead as she tried to puzzle out what he was saying through the maze of
anachronisms and local dialect shifts.

   We got the gist of it, though; Nia was trembling with excitement at the
thought of finally getting to meet her sister.  I, however was anxious in
case some judge in California decided that we had no right or compelling
reason to contact this woman who may or may not be Nia's sister.  If
necessary, we could fly to the Bay Area tomorrow; both Nia and I had
multiple-entry visa's from previous trips, I had a B1 and Nia had a B2
holiday visa, so the whole ESTA 72-hour thing didn't apply, otherwise I
think Nia would have gone berserk in the US Consulate in Toronto, a place
noted for its mind-numbingly long waits and legendary lack of urgency.

   We decided to take the sergeant to dinner as a thank you, Nia noting
with well hidden amusement his attempts to be charming as his eyes rolled
up and down her.  More than once she had to twist away from him as he
slipped his hand onto the small of her back and tried slowly sliding it
downwards.

   I watched this in amusement; anyone who tries to grope Nia usually ends
up bitterly regretting it; ask Mark Jameson if you don't believe me, but
eventually amusement ran out, and I had to have a word with him, something
along the lines of if he didn't keep his hands to himself, then copper or
not, I'd shove his head so far up his arse he could use his bellybutton as
a blow-hole, and even in my fractured French he got the message.

   After this, dinner went off very cordially, and we parted having agreed
to come and see him and his files at nine a.m.  the following day.  We were
both bushed; local time was 10 p.m.  but our body clocks were still on GMT,
and it was three a.m.  for us, on top of that the exhaustion from a
transatlantic flight, plus the fun and games earlier.  Right now, the
thought of bed and some sleep was uppermost in both our minds.  When we got
back to the hotel, we had the Room Service send us up some coffee and a
club sandwich to share; Thai-Nouvelle Cuisine fusion is all well and good,
if a somewhat odd combination, but there's nothing there to get your teeth
into, and tired as we were, we were already feeling the pangs.

   We sat and chatted and while we ate our sandwich and absorbed the fact
that we were in Toronto.  Nia idly played with her bracelet, holding it in
front of the lamp to watch blue glints cast by the diamond's spilling over
the tablecloth and my face, turning it in fascination to watch the stones
glitter and sparkle.

   "Jamie, look, the light on the tablecloth, look, it's exactly the same
colour as your eyes, or mine I suppose; how marvellous, you said you bought
it to match my eyes, now I believe you!"

   We finished up and got ready for bed, Nia yawning hugely as she
undressed and climbed into bed.  I followed suit and switched off the light
on my nightstand, while Nia kept her bedside lamp on, as she always does. I
was just falling asleep when I heard her stirring restlessly and muttering,
the click as she turned on the radio and the muted gabble as she hunted
through stations.  The sound of classic Philly soul made itself heard, and
she gave a sigh, relaxing as The O'Jays played softly in the background.  I
listened to the sound and drifted away, dreaming of Nia and her incredible
eyes.

   ++++

   Monday, 9th May, 2012

   10th & Anza, San Francisco

   Bethany woke with a start, realising she'd been dozing in front of the
TV again.  She'd especially wanted to see the episode of NCIS where Ari
gets nailed for murdering Caitlin Todd and attempting to kill Gibbs, and
now she'd missed it, again.  Her dream had been strange and confused, and
it was already fading as she woke; she'd been holding a bracelet with blue
stones sparkling in lamplight, and had wanted to hold the bracelet up to
the lamplight again, to admire the frosty blue glint, but the little boy,
Jamie, had appeared from nowhere and taken the bracelet away and said to
her "She's coming soon, you have to be ready, remember that, Bethany, and
wake up Bethany, WAKE UP!"

   She'd jolted awake to see Corey standing there, a cup of coffee for her.

   "Wake up, honey, you were snoring!  If you want to sleep, you should go
to bed!  Heavy day today, huh?" he grinned, passing her the cup as he
picked up his own off the side table.

   Bethany glared at him.  "I do NOT snore!  If you want to talk about
snoring, let's start with your mother, shall we...?  And I wasn't asleep,
just...contemplating, OK?"

   Corey grinned.  "Sure, baby, just look this way a second..."

   He wiped the corner of her mouth with his thumb.  "Little bit of
contemplation just...leaked out there...got it!"

   He grinned at her expression, and eventually Bethany grinned back.

   "Where are the kids, Corey?" she asked, luxuriously stretching out and
pointing her toes.

   Corey leaned back and stretched as well, enjoying the pleasant crackle
as his joints popped.

   "Jodie's waiting for you to tuck her in, and Ryan's playing some kid
game with orc's and wizards and dragons and shit like that on-line with his
new friend; don't worry, parental controls are on, and it's
age-appropriate."

   Bethany cocked an eyebrow at him.  "What new friend is this?"

   Cory closed his eyes as he leaned all the way back.  "Some kid he met at
school, little older than him.  Johnnie, or Jamie, or something.  Seems to
like him, I saw him, little oriental kid, dresses kinda strange, punky,
y'know, like something out of the 'Bad' music video, but he seems OK.  He
gave Ryan this." Corey flipped something to Bethany, and she caught it to
look curiously at it.  It was a small silvery medallion with a depiction of
a tiger surrounded by Chinese ideograms.

   Bethany turned it over between her fingers, stood up and went over to
the shelf and picked up the token the little boy had given her five days
ago.

   "Look at this, Corey, some kid gave it to me last week, he insisted it
was mine.  His name was Jamie, too..."

   Corey examined the token carefully.  "This looks real old, why'd some
kid want to give it to you out of the blue?  You say he gave it to you last
week?  Funny, I never noticed it.  And it's a tiger as well.  Looks like
we've started collecting Chinese tigers!" he grinned.  Bethany took it back
from him; as soon as Corey took it from her, she'd felt uneasy, a sense of
loss pervading her, disappearing as soon as she took it back from him. 
Strange that he'd not noticed something so gaudy in a room dominated by
neutral shades and pale tones, she mused as she walked out of the room to
tuck her daughter in and get Ryan off the Internet and into bed.

   ++++

   I woke gradually, lying on my side, without, for once, Nia's arm draped
across my face.  Instead, she was spooned behind me, her arm around my
midriff and her breathing slow and soft against my back.  I lay still, not
wanting to disturb her, and enjoying the absolute quiet and peace of the
room.  After a few minutes, however, she stirred and gently patted my
stomach.

   "Morning, Polar Bear," she murmured into my back.  How did she do that,
I wondered, how did she always know I was awake or asleep?  It was like she
was tuned-in on Radio Jamie and always picked up my current state.  Mum
tells me that whenever I'm dozing in front of the TV with dad, Nia will
come into the house quietly, telling mum she doesn't want to disturb me. 
How does she know I'm asleep before she's even come in the house?

   I put all that away as I turned to her.

   "Morning Princess, welcome to Canada, what's your pleasure this
morning?" I smiled at her, and she grinned back and slipped her hand into
my shorts, wrapping her warm little fingers around my hardening cock.

   "Oh, I see!" I smiled back, pulling her closer for a nuzzle and a grope,
slipping my hands inside her panties to cup and squeeze her delectable
little bum cheeks.  Nia continued to squeeze and gently slide her hand up
and down my cock while I squeezed and moulded her buttocks, pulling them
apart to slide my fingers along her damp slit, feeling the lips swell and
part as I lightly rubbed between them.  Nia pulled herself closer to me and
kissed me gently as she continued to rub and squeeze me, pulling me into
solid, throbbing hardness.

   I slipped her panties down past her hips, and she let go of me to pull
them all the way off, and sat up briefly to tug her t-shirt over her head,
before hooking my shorts and yanking them down far enough for me to kick
them off.  I gathered her into me, and she smiled and gently pushed me back
down onto my back, sliding a slim leg over me to pull herself on top of me.
My hands slid down her soft, smooth back to once again cup and fondle her
taut buttocks, and Nia smiled at me as she reached behind and found me,
pointing my hardness at her and sliding down to slowly impale herself on
me.

   The feel of her moist heat engulfing my head was incredible, as always,
the tight warmth slowly enveloping my length as she slid down me until I
was balls-deep inside her.  Now she began to undulate, sliding herself up
and down on me, gripping and squeezing my length as she did so, while
simultaneously rubbing her clitoris on the wiry hair at the base of my
penis.  Neither one of us could stand this long, and I watched as the flush
spread down her throat and across her upper chest as her arousal built. 
Her movements against me became more and more definite as she ground and
slid above me, the squeezing and clenching of her pussy walls becoming
harder as she moved faster against me.

   The end came for her with a loud, hissing groan, and she collapsed on
top of me, holding me tight as she shuddered and quivered on top of me, her
head buried in my shoulder and her teeth not quite breaking the skin of my
shoulder as she clamped down on me.  The pulsing and squeezing of her
vaginal walls and the sudden sharp thrill of pain from her teeth clamped on
my shoulder was too much to bear.  I came with a loud groan, filling my
darling sister-fiancée's pussy with my sperm as my balls tightened and
delivered their tribute into her.

   At last, my convulsing penis was stilled, the torrent of spunk reduced
to a trickle, and I lay back, satisfied, the afterglow feeling hazy and
warm, my Nia sprawled on top of me with my hands still holding her tight to
me by her delightful bum.

   All good things have to come to an end, and even though I would have
preferred to lie there all day with my girl held tightly against me, I knew
we had places to go and people to see.  I smacked her on her bum, lightly,
of course, just enough to make her grin.

   "Come on, you, we have to go and see Sergeant Happy Hands, I bet you're
looking forward with bated-breath to even more of his blue-chinned leering,
aren't you?"

   Nia grinned cheekily at me.  "But of course!  I live for middle-aged
Lothario's pawing at me; you're just a distraction until the right
combination of middle-aged spread and hair-loss comes along!"

   We showered in turns, Nia went first then she ordered breakfast while I
showered, then we took a cab to the Metropolitan Toronto Police HQ on
College Street to meet the sergeant again.  After the usual amenities,
enquiries if we slept well, that sort of thing, but this time without the
leering innuendo, we went to the office he shared with the Special Victims
Unit to talk about his progress, if any, with the San Francisco District
Attorney.

   The upshot of the discussion was that various state and federal agencies
had been informed and were assisting in California, and we should go back
to our hotel and wait.  Louis assured us that the various people involved
would work out a way for us to meet with the woman we supposed to be Hu'e.
He gave us a fairly detailed run-down on how it would work, but to be
honest, I soon got lost in the maze of legal and federal rules and
regulations governing these situations, but as this apparently had happened
before, legal precedent existed.  He was hopeful that we should hear very
soon, and advised us to sight-see and enjoy Toronto for a couple of days.
He ended the meeting with a promise to call us or leave a message as soon
as he heard.

   We left in good spirits; Louis was confident that all would be well.  He
explained that this wasn't unusual, and he expressed his hope that we'd
soon be on our way.  Nia hugged and thanked him, which brought a delighted
smile to his rumpled face.  I saw his hands twitch to go around her;
however, he also saw me watching him, and he'd obviously taken my quiet
word with him the previous night to heart, as his hands stayed firmly by
his sides...

   We spent the next two days sightseeing in Toronto, as suggested, and
lazing in our room, feeling useless but waiting for that word that meant we
could finally go and see if this was over, at last.  It had taken three
years of our lives, and to be honest, it was starting to become wearisome
and depressing; a resolution one way or the other would have been welcome,
whatever the outcome.

   I was really starting to feel like we'd come as far as we ever would;
perhaps she really was gone forever, and we'd followed a dud clue to the
wrong person?  The fact is, I'd lost hope, and I'd lost faith in Nia's
certainty that her sister as somehow still alive, happy, healthy and rarin'
to find her real family; supposing she was happy in her family here; had
Nia considered that?  I didn't think so...

   ++++

   Wednesday, 12th May, 2012

   10th & Anza, San Francisco

   Bethany and Cory were sitting in the kitchen, chatting about work and
drinking a coffee while they waited for the lasagne to finish, when there
came a ring at the doorbell.  Bethany looked accusingly at Corey.

   "If that's your mother again, I swear, I'm driving her up to Marin
Headlands and kicking her off!  Every time one of her 'relationships'
implodes, she comes here, loaded, and then I have to explain to the kids,
again, why Gramma's crying.  And she won't leave!  She drives me batshit
and she won't go home, and that drives me even more batshit!"

   Corey grinned ruefully as he headed for the door.

   "She doesn't mean anything by it; she's just trying to be part of the
family!"

   Bethany snorted.  "Why can't she be part of Jo and Eric's family, or
Carl and Lena's family?  I'll tell you why; it's because Eric and Lena both
put their foot down, that's why.  Visits I don't mind, turning up
unannounced and loaded is becoming a regular thing, like it's some kind of
right.  Your family saw me coming, that's the problem; your sister and your
brother don't have any problem keeping her and her drinking away, why don't
you?"

   Bethany turned and went back into the kitchen to check on the lasagne;
despite her objections, she knew she wouldn't turn Corey's mother away, she
never had, no matter how scary drunk she'd been in the past, so she
contented herself with muttering darkly about the family members who lived
inconveniently far away and so had a perfect excuse not to take on Maureen
Warren and her relationship issues.  Bethany heard the sound of voices,
male voices, not Maureen's slurred tones, Corey speaking with however it
was, and the sound of the door closing, and him asking someone to take a
seat.

   Corey appeared in the kitchen doorway.

   "Babe, turn that off, someone's here to see you."

   His tone and the expression on his face told her something was up, so,
setting the oven timer for another 20 minutes, she wiped her hands and
followed him into the living room.

   There were two men standing up as she came into the room, and they
introduced themselves as Detective Harry Regan, of the SFPD Special Victims
Unit, and FBI Special Agent John Davison.

   Bethany moved closer to Corey, unnerved by having the police and the FBI
in her home.

   "Corey, what's this about, why have...?" she began, but Regan was quick
to ease her fears.

   "Mrs.  Warren, we belong to a Task Force that's been investigating child
trafficking and babies for cash dealers, both here in the continental
United States, and in conjunction with other National, federal and local
police and law-enforcement bodies worldwide.  One of the items that came up
was the matter of your own adoption.  The Agency that arranged the adoption
with your parents was a front for an international criminal enterprise
selling babies on the black-market for legitimate adoption.  We believe you
yourself were obtained in this way, from an agency in Vancouver, smuggled
into the US, and passed off as another child, with falsified birth records.
Special Agent Davison has been in contact with a team in Canada
investigating the same organisation in Canada and worldwide."

   Special Agent Davison spoke up now.

   "Mrs.  Warren, the team in Canada were able to track you across Asia and
into Canada, thence to California due to the cooperation of several
dedicated and motivated teams in various countries.  A female child closely
matching your description, including the birthmark on the left side of your
neck, was stolen from a subdivision of Da Nang known as Hoa Hiep."

   "That child subsequently surfaced in Vancouver less than a month later,
and promptly disappeared, the child that was listed under that name and
adopted in Vancouver was the wrong gender and age, and then a child closely
matching the original description from Vancouver was adopted by John and
Phyllis Keyes of Pleasanton.  I understand your adoptive parents have
passed away, please accept my condolences.  I want you to understand, they
did nothing wrong; all the paperwork was correctly filed and notarized, and
they took delivery of what they had every reason to believe was an orphan
legitimately placed for adoption."

   He stirred, looking closely at Bethany.

   "Mrs.  Warren, your real family have never stopped hoping for news of
you.  They have been searching for you, and it was them who alerted us to
your case through their own investigations conducted in Vietnam, in Hong
Kong, Thailand, Laos and Singapore.  I was asked to show you this."

   He took out a photograph and passed it over to Bethany who looked at her
own face, her hair, even her birthmark, but it wasn't her, it was an older
woman.  She wordlessly passed the photograph to Corey, who whistled at the
resemblance.

   "Special Agent Davison, who is this woman?" she asked, her voice low and
steady.

   Davison looked at her steadily.  "This is Anh Thienh Lo, your birth
mother," he said, gauging her reaction.

   "I see.  Will you excuse me please?" said Bethany in that same low
monotone, rising and walking away into the kitchen, mechanically checking
the lasagne and getting the plates and glasses out of the cabinet.

   Corey apologised with his eyes and slipped into the kitchen.

   "Babe, don't you want to know more, anything else they might have to
tell you?

   Bethany looked at him steadily, and slowly shook her head.

   "I had a mom, and a dad, they're gone, but they were my mom and dad, not
some face in a photograph!"

   Corey tried a different approach.

   "Don't you want to know about the rest of your family, who and where
they are?" and again Bethany shook her head.

   "My family are here, and I know who they are!" she almost shouted,
lowering her voice to tell him, "I don't want to talk about it, Corey; I
just want to have dinner!"

   Corey nodded assent and rejoined the two men in the living room.

   "She's a little shaken by all this just now, let me have some time with
her, I'm sure I'll be able to get her to come round."

   The two men agreed, and left their cards with him.  As they were
leaving, Special Agent Davison added one thing.

   "Mrs.  Warren's younger sister is the one who finally helped us track
her down; she put the final pieces together, she's been looking for her
older sister for years; you might want to let your wife know that there are
others in this who are hurting as well, who want to see her again, perhaps
it may help her see things differently."

   Corey came back into the kitchen to find Bethany sitting at the
breakfast bar with tears in her eyes, the photograph of Anh on the counter
in front of her.

   "Why did I have to find out, Corey, why now?  I only just got over
losing her, now I have another one, when does this end, who else am I
supposed to lose before it stops hurting and just becomes normal?  How many
mother's do you have to lose?"

   Corey hugged her, understanding what she was saying, but his eyes kept
being drawn back to the photograph on the counter.  The woman in it was
definitely Bethany's birth mother, there was no doubt about that, the
resemblance was startling, with even the same quirk in her smile.

   Bethany noticed the direction of his gaze, and grimaced.

   "I know, and I accept she's my real mother, but if I accept that, then
what about my mom, where's she supposed to fit in all this?  She was my
real mom too, and I loved her, no-one's going to replace her!"

   Corey soothed her as she began to cry.

   "It's all right, it's OK to feel like that, mom brought you up, not this
woman, but she's also hurting.  You were stolen away from her, she didn't
give you away, and she's been hoping and waiting for her girl to come back
as well.  You have a sister, did I tell you?  She's the one who found you,
and she wants to meet you, just to know her sister is alive and well I
suppose.  How much could it hurt to meet this girl, your kid sister?"

   Bethany stopped crying to look levelly at him.

   "I have a kid sister?  Really?"

   Corey nodded.

   "That's what the FBI said.  She's the one who's been digging around the
world, looking for you, trying to trace you; are you sure you want to tell
her to go away?  Whether you accept her or not, she's committed herself to
finding you; you owe her something for that at least!"

   ++++

   I woke in the middle of the night, thinking Nia had called me, but she
was fast asleep, her breathing slow and deep, so I dismissed it as a dream.
As I drifted, Nia suddenly spoke, but she wasn't speaking to me; she was
dreaming, and talking in Ting Viet, or so I assumed for a second, then
years of listening to mum kicked in, and I realised it wasn't Vietnamese,
it was some other language.  I'd heard something like it once before, and I
struggled to think where, then an image of Nia kneeling, hands clasped in
prayer popped into my mind, and I knew where I'd heard this before.  It was
Cham, the Vietnamese Latin, and Nia had told me she didn't speak it, she
only knew the prayers.  Now she was having a conversation in her dreams,
and she was speaking Cham like a native tongue, having a long and involved
discourse with...someone.

   Whatever this conversation was, it was beginning to have an effect on
her; she was speaking faster, almost desperately, and her head began
whipping from side to side.  I switched on my bedside lamp, and reached
over to touch her, and her eyes snapped open, staring at me, but they
weren't her eyes.  Gone were her sapphire blue doll's eyes, now her eyes in
the muted golden light from the lamp seemed to flash light smoky amber,
golden and sharp.  Her eyes narrowed, and she said something to me, still
in Cham, then she smiled, and closed her eyes, her face relaxing as she
dropped back into deep sleep.

   I the morning, I asked her casually if she'd had a good night.  She
looked at me and pursed her lips, debating whether or not to share with me.

   "Jamie, I had the strangest dream.  I dreamed of Hu'e, but that's not
her name; her name's ...I can't remember.  In my dream, she had a husband,
and a little girl, and maybe a boy.  She lived...somewhere with lots of
wires overhead, I could see them in shadows on her face.  She looked just
like mum!  She asked me for my bracelet, and I gave it to her, and she gave
me a little coin in return, a red coin with a golden...thing on it, then I
was in the Linh Son Temple in Upper Norwood with mum, and I was looking at
the big statue of Hu Ye, and he spoke to me; he said 'You must go to her,
now she is ready'.  And I asked him where I was supposed to go, and he said
'You will know when you know'" and I woke up.  I tell you, when I have
weird dreams, I have world-class ones!  I suppose I'm just lucky it wasn't
carrots with teeth and an overwhelming fear of boots!"

   I looked at her, relieved she wasn't reading portents and omens and God
knows what into it.  She accepted it was just the usual type of hugely
significant dream that means so much while you're having it, and fades to
nothing after you waken.

   "You were talking in your sleep last night, which is a first, you were
gabbling away in Cham, long involved and noisy!" I grinned, and she grinned
back.

   "Bullshit, I don't speak Cham, and neither do you.  It was just garbled
dream nonsense!  What are we doing today?"

   We spent the morning poking around various markets and little shops, not
finding anything particularly unavailable in London, but Nia's addicted to
street markets, so we poked and prodded and rummaged, looking through
'genuine' Native American handicrafts with the 'Made in China' printing
still just visible, wobbly Mexican pottery from Taiwan, and bootleg CD's by
the box-load.

   When we finally got back to the hotel at lunchtime, Nia's appetite for
pawing through cheap tat finally sated, there was a message asking us to
call Louis at Toronto Police HQ.

   When I'd finished speaking to him, Nia looked at me questioningly, so I
grinned at her.

   "Let's get packed, we're going to San Francisco!"

   Nia squealed and jumped on me, then calmed down as we started to work
out the logistics of this.  I had a date and a place to meet this woman,
Bethany Warren; Friday, May 14th, at the FBI building on Golden Gate
Avenue. We were meeting Agent Davison, and a policeman, Detective Harry
Regan of the Special Victims Unit, at three p.m.  that day.  I had the
front desk arrange our booking for the Radisson Hotel on Fisherman's Wharf,
not a million miles from Golden Gate Avenue, and asked them to arrange
flights for us for that afternoon or early evening to San Francisco.  They
had our card details, and there was a knock at the door before we'd even
finished packing, a Customer Assistant with our flight details for later
that afternoon and ticket claim checks.

   We arrived at the hotel at seven p.m.  to be met by Detective Regan, a
pleasant man in his mid-thirties, who briefed us on what the meeting was
about.

   "Bethany Warren was not too happy about this meet," he explained, "she
grew up the daughter of a family from Pleasanton, in the East bay, Alameda
County, so she was understandably more than a little shocked to hear what
we had to tell her.  I showed her the picture of her birth mother, and I
have to say, the resemblance is startling, as it is with you, Miss
Morrison; there's no doubt in my mind that you and she are siblings, the
resemblance is extraordinary!"

   Nia wanted to know if Bethany would be amenable or hostile, and
Detective Regan shrugged.

   "I...think she'll be...approachable.  This is all a great shock to her,
but she's handling it as well as could be expected; just don't get your
hopes up that she'll run into your arms; she's still not comfortable about
how this has all come about."

   We had a quiet dinner at a superb place on Fisherman's Wharf, just a few
minutes' walk from the hotel, and watched the seals basking in the last of
the evening sun as we chatted about what the next day would bring.  Nia was
excited but pragmatic.  I thought she'd had some unrealistic expectations
from the start, but Detective Regan telling us that this Bethany wasn't
exactly straining at the leash to meet us had wound Nia down several
notches.

   After a restless night, Nia finally fell asleep in the early hours,
waking again with a start at nine o'clock, jittery and unable to relax. 
She paced, twiddled, chewed her lip and whistled tunelessly until I could
take it no longer.  As we had several hours to kill, and we were in San
Francisco, I decided that we might as well do some touristy things, so we
rode a cable car and a Muni train, took pictures of the city from Marin
Headlands, strolled back across the Golden Gate Bridge and took pictures of
the double-decked Bay Bridge.  We wandered down Market Street for Nia to
buy something for mum and dad, and by then it was time to go to our
meeting.

   At 2.45 p.m.  we were waiting in the lobby of the FBI building for
Special Agent Davison and Detective Regan.  We'd been given to understand
that Regan was here at the request of Bethany, which seemed odd, but it was
her choice.

   Agent Davison came and retrieved us and took us to his office, where we
waited for Bethany and her husband to arrive.  Eventually here came a knock
at the door, and Regan came in followed by two people.  As he stepped out
of the way, Nia gasped, as did the woman standing there.  I was speechless.
She looked exactly like mum, her expression, the way she held her head,
everything.  Nia was half standing, her hand pressed against her lips, and
we all stood there in silence.  Eventually, Bethany's husband gently nudged
her, and she gave a start, tearing her eyes away from her rapt study of
Nia's features.

   Once we were all seated again, Agent Davison introduced us all, and I
learned that the man with Bethany was her husband, Corey, Nia's
brother-in-law.

   Bethany began by asking us how we'd traced her, never once taking her
eyes of Nia, and Nia just sat there transfixed, so I made all the running.

   "Your mother, Anh lives in England now.  She escaped to Laos after you
were stolen, to get away from a police captain, a man named Thuyet.  He
wanted your mother to pass around among his friends, and he'd decided that
he'd had enough of waiting.  Mum went to the market one day, and when she
came back, you were gone, and so was your father, Vienh.  A neighbour
smuggled her into Laos after your father's body was found; he'd been
murdered, and you'd disappeared without trace.  Your name was Hu'e Vienh
Lo, and mum has never forgotten you, and never stopped wanting you back."

   I paused, trying to gauge her reaction, but Bethany's face remained
impassive while I unreeled what we'd been doing over the past few years

   "Nia and I first learned about you three years ago, just before Nia went
to university.  While she studied Law, I've been digging around in Vietnam,
Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong, using my connections, and friends, and
friends of friends, to try and get a line on you."

   "A little while ago, we caught a break.  I work in the Oil industry, and
while I was on a survey in Vietnam, I managed to find some records that led
me to Laos, then to Hong Kong and a gang of people traffickers.  My friend
in the Thai Border Force gave me some records and details, which I'm sure
Agent Davison here has copies of."

   Special Agent Davison nodded in affirmation.

   "The records and information we obtained from Mr.  Morrison and his
contacts have been invaluable in closing several other cases of this nature
here in the US and in Canada." he asserted.  He nodded at me to go on.

   "Mum, your mother, my stepmother, has been hoping for news of you for 28
years, and it's only now, because of the sharing of information between
several national and regional law enforcement agencies, that we've been
able together all the clues that led us here."

   I stopped, because something was wrong here.  Bethany looked
disinterested, almost hostile, and the way she was looking at Nia wasn't
sisterly at all; quite the opposite.

   "Can I ask you something?" she requested, sounding laconic and bored,
and I nodded.

   "What exactly does this have to do with me?" she asked, looking at Nia,
at me, at the FBI agent.  Nia looked like she'd been slapped, and I could
see from Davison's expression that this was not how he'd expected this to
go.

   "I'm sorry, Mrs.  Warren, I don't understand...!" he said, looking
mystified, and Bethany stood up, looking at Nia and I.

   "All this is very interesting, but it's ancient history and I'm sorry,
but really don't see that it has anything to do with me.  Corey, can we go
now?" she asked, her husband also looking equally surprised at her tone.

   Nia half-rose from her seat, looking at Bethany in something closely
akin to shock, while I moved to hold her as she wavered.

   "No, please, don't go, please...!" she murmured, reaching out to
Bethany, who looked at her outstretched hand, and looked away, disinterest
radiating off her.

   "Corey, this is nothing to do with us, the sitter goes home at six, so
we have to go!"

   "But you're my sister, don't you want to...?" began Nia, but Bethany cut
her off.

   "No I don't, and I'm sorry, but you're not my sister.  I have no family
except my children, I had a mother, and I loved her and she's gone.  Your
mother is your mother, not mine; none of this has any bearing on me or my
life, so I think you should just please leave me alone.  I want no part of
you or your family; they're not my family, and my life works just fine
right now without any of you in it.  It may have meant something 28 years
ago, but you're 28 years too late, and I have nothing for you, and you have
nothing I want.  Corey!"

   Now I felt like I'd been slapped, but the look on Nia's sweet face was
boring an acid hole in the pit of my stomach.

   "Please, you're my sister!  My mother...!" and again Bethany cut across
her.

   "Your mother missed me so much she wasted no time in replacing me with
you, is that what you were going to say?  I've heard enough of this; this
is your issue, not mine, it has nothing to do with me, and I have to go, my
kids need me!  Corey, we're leaving!"

   Nia was whispering "That's not true, it's not true, how can you say
that? Please, don't leave; I looked for you for so long, we all did,
please...!

   She turned to me, shocked and stunned.

   "Jamie, please...don't...Jamie...please...no ..." she whispered, tears
filling her eyes and spilling down her cheeks.  My girl needed me to make
this nightmare not be happening to her, and I knotted-up inside, because I
didn't know how.  Bethany resolutely looked away as Nia clung to me, my
heart breaking for her as the hurt from Bethany's rejection etched itself
on her face.

   I gathered her into me as she started to sob, Bethany's face still
impassive, unconcerned.  Her husband looked shocked, an expression almost
of distaste on his face as he stared at his wife.  Bethany waited for Agent
Davison to show her out, and she and Corey left, his look and shrug
apologetic as the door closed behind him.

   Detective Regan was shocked, confused, and sympathetic.

   "I'm really sorry it turned out this way," he stated, "I've never seen a
reaction like that before, it caught me completely off-guard.  I really
thought Mrs.  Warren was eager to meet her sister, obviously I was
mistaken. I'm so sorry."

   Special Agent Davison came back and said pretty much the same thing.  He
had no idea what had sparked-off Bethany's hostile, almost aggressive
response to us, to Nia in particular, and to be honest, I didn't really
care.  This was the fall I had been trying so desperately to avert for Nia,
the thing I had feared most of all, and now I had to try and salvage her
from this bloody mess.

   She'd spent three years of her life, all her spare time and effort,
boundless emotional investment, and she'd been rejected out of hand by the
one person in the whole world she wanted so much to find.  Bethany had
refused to even touch her, and I think that had hurt as much as the
outright rejection.  Out of nowhere the old aphorism popped into my head;
'Be careful what you wish for, you may just get it'.  Here was the living
truth of that.

   I was outraged at the callous rudeness and lack of common politeness
that woman had shown; what had my Nia ever done to her except search the
world over for her?  My girl was one step away from hysterics here, and
that woman had looked at her like she was a nasty stain on the sidewalk. 
If anybody richly deserved a slap right now, it was Bethany Warren, I was
certain of it.

   ++++

   Friday May 14th

   10th & Anza

   Corey sat tight-lipped in front of the television, staring blankly and
bouncing his keys, a pall of anger and shame surrounding him; anger at
Bethany for her callous cruelty, and shame for the way his wife had behaved
toward those two kids, who'd done nothing except criss-cross the planet
looking for her.  They'd looked like such nice kids, they'd tried to reach
out to her, and she'd slapped them away, instead spitting bile and
bitterness he never knew she had in her, showing a side of her he'd never
seen before; he'd always believed Bethany was the sweetest, most
compassionate, most loving person he'd ever met, so who was that obnoxious
bitch back at the FBI Building?

   Bethany was avoiding him, and even the kids had picked up that daddy was
in no mood to be trifled with; one look at his face and they'd faded into
their rooms; he'd been silent and uncommunicative in the cab back from
Golden Gate Avenue, and Bethany knew that he was mad at her; no,
correction, he was furious with her.  He sat pondering, not seeing the
images on the screen, instead seeing again and again the shocked anguish in
that young girl's eyes, in Bethany's sister's eyes, reminding himself again
that there had been no need for it, she'd lashed out at an innocent target.
Right now Corey wasn't feeling particularly friendly toward his wife; she'd
done a mean, cruel and spiteful thing, and he was ashamed of her, and
ashamed of himself for watching her do it and not stepping-in to call a
halt.

   He came to a decision, stood up, and headed toward the door, bouncing
his keys.  Bethany stepped in front of him as he fumbled with the door
latch.

   "Honey, where are you going?" she asked, although she had a fairly good
idea.

   Corey looked at her levelly.  "Please get out of my way Bethany, I have
to go out, I have to fix this and I may be a while." He brushed past her,
and yanked the door open, and paused, turning to look back at her.

   "Why did you hurt those kids like that, baby?  They did nothing to you;
nothing at all.  They came looking for you, all they wanted to do was see
you, so they could tell their mom that her daughter's alive and well; they
were reaching out to you, all you had to do was just smile, give a little
back, and walk away; instead you pissed in their faces.  I hope you feel
proud of yourself, you made that little girl cry for nothing.  Who are you,
and what have you done with my Bethany?  Because the Bethany I married
would never have been so cruel or callous.  While I'm gone, why don't you
go sit down somewhere and think of a really good reason why you behaved
like that, because I can't!"

   Bethany watched him leave, wanting to go with him, not daring to call
him back, and writhing inside with shame at the disappointment she knew he
was feeling right now.

   He was right; those kids had done nothing, and she'd felt a small, mean
sense of triumph at lashing out at them to demonstrate just how much she
didn't need them, to drive home that they weren't her family, in any sense.
Bethany knew anything she told herself right now was rationalisation, pure
and simple; the truth was, the thought of having another family had made
her feel that she'd never really belonged to her mom and dad, but even
thinking that had felt deeply disloyal to their memory; they were her
parents, and though they'd now passed away, she was afraid of anyone taking
her away from them.

   Feeling that way, it had been easy to attempt to drive these interlopers
away, these people who'd come to claim her for their own family when she
knew she wasn't and never had been one of them.  She wanted to keep on
being Bethany Keyes, married to Corey Warren, not this Hu'e whatever
persona they were trying to saddle her with.

   Even so, the look on that girl's face, in her eyes, the hurt she'd
caused her, hadn't made Bethany feel any better.  She'd set out to hurt
these people for intruding in her life, and she'd succeeded, and knowing
she was wrong had only compounded it for her, because having gone there, it
had been easy to keep lashing out, and that poor kid hadn't done anything
to deserve it.  Bethany felt wretched, and found herself wishing she'd been
less dismissive, less obnoxious, and a little more understanding of what
those two kids had been doing and where they'd had to go to find her.

   Now it was too late; she'd burned her bridges there, no doubt about
that. Corey had gone to try and make it right, but she doubted he could,
nor should he have had to; it should have been her, and that made her feel
even more wretched, that she'd forced poor Corey to go and try and undo
what should never have happened at all.  Bethany looked at herself in the
hall mirror.  She needed to apologise, but she didn't know how she could,
and Corey shouldn't be trying to do it for her.  The look on his face had
hurt her deeply, and she knew she'd lost a little of him because of this,
and that hurt even more.

   "I thought you were better than that..." she whispered to her
reflection, and the eyes that looked back at her were filled with guilt and
self-loathing.

   ++++

   Nia was crying, my baby was crying in the other room, and I couldn't do
anything about it.  Bethany's rejection of her had cut right through her,
and wounded her deeply, and I didn't know how to make it better.  Now I had
to call mum, tell her what had happened, and ask her how to comfort Nia,
because right now, I wasn't in a comforting mood; right now I wanted to
find Bethany Warren and tell her exactly what I thought of cruel bitches
that hurt my baby and made her cry for nothing.  I was just getting in the
right frame of mind to pick up the phone and make that call when it rang.
It was the Front Desk; I had a visitor, so I asked them to direct him up to
the suite.  A few minutes later there was a light knock at the door.  I
opened it expecting to see Regan or Agent Davison, but it was Corey Warren.

   "Hello James, I...I wanted to see you before you left," he started, "may
I come in?  This will only take a few minutes, I promise, please, just hear
me out!"

   I invited him in, and motioned him to a seat, and I sat down opposite
him.

   "What can I do for you...?" I began.

   "Corey, please, call me Corey; we are family, after all!" he smiled
gently, and I found myself warming to him.

   "OK, what can we do for you...Corey?  I asked, returning his grin.

   He clasped his hands together tightly in front of him, his fingers
interlaced.  "I came here to apologise for my wife's behaviour.  What she
did was uncalled for, and completely out of character, and to be honest, I
really don't want to see her for a while, not until I've apologised
properly to you, and to ...Nia?

   That little girl didn't deserve what Bethany did, and neither did you,
and I honestly don't know why she did that.  But it's done, and all I can
do now is try and make it right."

   I could feel the sincerity radiating off him, and I grinned.

   "Would you like to meet Nia, properly, this time?" I asked him and he
grinned back.

   "I'd like that very much indeed," he said, "she looks so much like
Bethany when she was that age!  Whatever's going on in Bethany's head right
now, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind they really are sisters!"

   "Wait there, I'll just be one moment." I said, and knocked on the
bedroom door before I went in.  Nia was huddled on the bed, clasping a
pillow tightly and staring into space.  Her face was stained where her
makeup had run and smeared, and her eyes were red and swollen.  She turned
to look at me, and tears welled up in her eyes again.

   "Mum was right; some things should just be left alone.  I was better off
not knowing; all of this has been a fool's errand, Jamie, and I dragged you
on it, I pushed you into the most God-forsaken places because of it, and
you never complained, you just did it for me, and it was all for nothing.
I'm sorry Polar Bear; I should have listened to mum, I should have just let
this all go years ago!  I wish I'd never heard of her, or come to this
bloody place!"

   My heart wrenched as I listened to the last of her hope and idealism
drain away, something else Bethany had taken away from her, but I still
smiled and slid her close to me.

   "We have a visitor, there's someone here to see you." I told her.  She
stared at me and I smiled encouragingly.  "Come on, princess, family
calls!"

   Nia jumped up, knuckling her eyes.  "Bethany...?  and I shook my head.

   "No, but her husband's here, he wants to meet his sister-in-law!"

   Nia smiled sadly.  "Give me five minutes and I'll be there, OK?

   I rejoined Corey in the sitting room.  "She's just making herself
presentable; give her a few minutes...about four hours ought to do it!"

   Corey grinned back.  "Bethany's the same, it takes her most of the day
to take a shower, and she always leaves the door tight shut, it's like a
sauna in there for the rest of the day, and the smell of wet hair and
conditioner is overpowering!"

   We chatted about nothing much until the bedroom door opened, and Nia
gingerly poked her head out.  Corey saw her, and immediately stood, smiling
broadly at her.  Encouraged, she smiled back and crept into the room to
huddle against me.  Corey offered her his hand, and when she took it he
pulled her close and gave her a quick hug, making her squeak with surprise.

   We all sat down, and Corey spoke directly to Nia.  "I came here to
apologise for my wife's behaviour.  I'm sorry you had to see that, I don't
know where that came from.  I've never seen her do that before in all the
years I've known her, and I don't know why she did that to you, of all
people.  I'm sorry."

   Nia smiled sadly at him.  "It wasn't your fault, I shouldn't have got my
hopes and expectations up; she had no reason to accept me out of the blue
like that."

   Corey demurred.  "Nevertheless, what she said and did was wrong, and she
knew it.  I can't explain it, I don't know what was going through her head,
but all I can offer is my sincerest apologies for what happened; you're her
little sister, and she had no right to behave like that!"

   Just then, the telephone rang again.  I answered it and was told we had
a visitor.  I was puzzled, but asked they they be sent up to our suite. 
Nia looked at me enquiringly, and I told her we had another visitor on the
way up to see us.  Sure enough, a couple of minutes later there was a knock
at the door, and I opened it to see Bethany standing there!

   I was momentarily wrong-footed, and even Corey gaped to see his wife
standing there.

   "I'm sorry for coming here like this," she said quietly, "I wanted to
apologise to you...and to my sister."

   Nia had risen from her seat, and Corey also stood, offering her his hand
to help her rise.  Wordlessly, I invited Bethany in, motioning her to sit,
while Corey watched her in silence.

   Bethany stood with her eyes fixed on Nia.

   "James...Nia, I want to apologise for what I said today; my behaviour
was inexcusable, and I'm truly sorry I hurt you.  I was wrong, you are my
sister, and you deserved better than what I offered; I'm sorry.  Can we
talk, please?"

   Nia waited in silence, her eyes big and fearful.  Bethany looked at
Corey, at me, for any clue as to how to approach her.  I nodded and pointed
with my chin in Nia's direction, and Bethany held her hand out to her.  Nia
tentatively reached out and took her hand, and smiled as two big tears
rolled down her cheeks.  Cory took Bethany's other hand and kissed her
lightly on the cheek.  "So there you are, I was wondering where you'd
gone!" I heard him whisper.

   We all sat down, Nia not letting go of Bethany's hand, but I think the
breakthrough moment actually came when Bethany leaned over and gently
blotted Nia's tears with her handkerchief, a 'mum' gesture I had seen a
thousand times when Nia was small.

   Bethany spoke first.  "Nia, I'm sorry, really, truly sorry, for the way
I reacted earlier.  I know I hurt you, and I apologise for that; I guess I
wanted to hurt you for trying to make me part of you, because I didn't want
to let go of my mom and dad, my adoptive parents.  Does that make sense?  I
guess I overreacted when you started talking about 'our' mother.  I
couldn't hear that, because if I accepted your mom as mine too, then I'd
have to let go of my mom, and I can't do that.  My parents loved me very
much, and I loved them and I miss them every single day!"

   Nia nodded in understanding.

   "I would never ask you to give them up; they brought you up, they loved
you, and it would be wrong and cruel to insist you let them go for a
stranger.  But my mum has a claim on you too.  She didn't give you away, or
abandon you, or sell you; she and her husband loved you very much, the
three of you were all that was left of her family, and then you were taken,
and they had to kill your father to take you away from him."

   "You were stolen, Bethany, by a man who's now sweltering in a hell-hole
prison, thanks to Jamie, and sold to another man who's going to hang in a
Chinese jail one day soon.  Jamie and I wanted to find you, but not so we
could tell you to turn your back on everything you know and love and come
with us because you belong to us; we came to find you so my mum, who lost
you so long ago, can finally know her little girl is safe, and well, and
happy; that's all.  I look at your face, and I see my mum; I look at you
and I see my features as well, so I know you and I are family, the children
of Anh Thienh Lo and all she's concerned about is the happiness of her
children; you, me, and Jamie."

   Bethany looked at me.  "You're my...brother?"

   I grinned.  "In a manner of speaking.  After you were abducted, mum had
to be smuggled out of Vietnam and into Laos, because the man who took you
wanted her as his own personal plaything, and he'd already had no qualms
about killing her husband.  She was still only a young teenager with no
family to protect her; her husband was dead, her mother died in the war and
her father died in a border skirmish, all she had in the world was her
husband, and you."

   "In Laos, she met a missionary family from England.  When they came back
to England, mum was still only a teenager, and she came with them.  The
missionary couple were my grandparents, and when they died mum and Laura,
their daughter stayed together.  Laura was my mother, she met my father at
university but she died soon after I was born.  When she found out how sick
she was, she gave me to mum, her adopted sister, to be her son.  Eventually
mum married my father, and they had Nia; she's your half-sister and my
half-sister, on both sides of the family."

   Bethany nodded sombrely.  "She's had quite a life, by the sound of it.
What's she like?"

   Nia looked at me, so I started.  "Mum is...mum; she's funny, wise,
smart, she's tiny and beautiful, a fabulous cook, she makes the best bread
on the planet, and I'll fight anyone who disagrees, she puts up with my
dad's awful jokes, she'll feed anybody at the drop of a hat, and she makes
mango ice cream all the time; I virtually live on it.  You'll like her. 
She calls me 'Huynh', which means 'Big Brother', but mostly she calls me
'little boy', which is a bit rich, coming from a tiny little lady like her!
How about you, Bethany, have you any children?"

   Her eyes went soft for a moment.  "We have two; Ryan and Jodie.  Would
you like to meet them?"

   Nia's eyes lit up.  "Oh yes, please, but when?" and Bethany grinned.

   "They're in the Lobby with Detective Regan; I couldn't get a sitter, and
I didn't know where you were staying, so I called him, and he offered to
bring me and the kids.  I'll go get them!"

   Bethany came back with two adorable little kids, a boy about six, and a
little girl maybe a year younger, Ryan and Jodie.  Ryan took after Corey,
with a shock of jet black hair and grey eyes, but Jodie looked amazingly
like Nia when she was that age, more proof, if any was needed, that these
were her family.

   We ordered dinner in the suite for everyone, and Corey and I watched Nia
connect with Bethany, talking about their lives, kids, college...and our
marriage plans.

   Bethany looked puzzled at that.

   "I thought you and Nia were half-siblings?" she asked, and Nia explained
how we'd come about.  Bethany was surprised and intrigued by our
relationship, but chose not to make an issue of it.

   "I won't hide anything from you," she'd told Bethany, "this is our
family, warts and all.  I've always loved Jamie, and he fell in love with
me, we got engaged a few weeks ago, and we intend to get married as soon as
we can.  In fact, Jamie, you may as well know, the date booked for the
church solemnization is July 16th, so no pressure, Polar Bear!  Bethany,
please come to my wedding, it would mean the world to me, and to mum, if
you would!"

   Bethany looked thoughtful for a moment.

   "Just over two months away, I'm sure we can work something out.  Corey?"
Corey agreed, and so we were set.  During our conversations one useful fact
emerged.  I happened to mention that we were getting married in Hong Kong,
as per Nia's original plan, and Corey asked why we didn't just drive over
to Reno and do it there.  Because we were foreigners, all they needed was a
photo document issued by a foreign government, and Nia and I both had UK
driving licenses, which were acceptable as ID.  They had different
addresses, in different towns, so the names could be explained as
coincidence, as Nia was not obviously my sister.

   One odd incident; While Bethany and Nia were chatting, Bethany suddenly
took hold of Nia's wrist and held up her bracelet, looking at it curiously.
Nia asked her if there was anything wrong and Bethany shook her head, then
said "I dreamed of a bracelet like this the other night, it was flashing
blue light onto a tablecloth, and then my dream got all garbled, but I'm
sure I've seen this bracelet before somewhere..." Nia looked oddly at her,
and spoke slowly.

   "I was...doing that...on Monday, in here, and I dreamed I gave you my
bracelet, and you gave me a...a coin, or a medal or something, red, it was
red and gold..." she trailed off as Bethany showed her the token the little
boy Jamie had given her.  Nia looked at me in confusion.

   "No it's not ...possible, just coincidence, a fluke...Jamie?"

   I made sure I was deeply in conversation with Corey so I didn't hear
her; whatever had happened between Bethany and Nia, I had no explanation,
and I wasn't about to start reaching for one.

   We followed Corey's suggestion, and two days later, we were legally
married in Reno, the chapel even taking our documents to the courthouse to
get the license for us.  Nia had finally decided that she didn't want to
work for UNICEF, she was wary of being posted abroad for years at a time;
we'd talked about starting a family and we couldn't very well do that if
Nia was seconded to Yemen or Djibouti or wherever.  I decided I needed a
legal advisor, and she had an International Law Diploma, so I asked her to
come and work with me.

   So now, because we suddenly had no pressing reason to return home, no
deadline date for Nia to start work, and I had a couple of weeks before I
had to go away again on any assignments, we based ourselves in San
Francisco for a few days, sightseeing properly, spending time with our new
family, and bonding closer with Corey, Bethany and the kids

   ++++

   Nia and I were pacing around the arrivals gate at Heathrow Terminal 3;
Bethany's flight had touched down almost 40 minutes earlier, and Nia was
getting impatient.  I was trying to be reasonable; Heathrow in the summer
is always a nightmare, it's the third busiest airport in the world, and it
shows.  The Arrivals lobby was heaving with people, and Nia resorted to
standing on a seat to see if she could spot Corey anywhere, but so far no
luck.

   At last, she pointed, and I looked in the direction she indicated,
seeing Corey's mop of black hair in among the crowd, so we waded toward
them, Nia in my lee, holding onto my belt to avoid being swept away by the
crowds.  We finally caught them, Nia and Bethany hugging and sniffling at
each other, and Cory and I exchanging handshakes.  We'd left mum at home,
waiting on tenterhooks, as we didn't think an airport was the place for a
family reunion, so we headed down to the parking garage to load up and get
back to South London.

   The reunion was kind of what I expected; Bethany had been quiet, almost
subdued on the drive back, but I noticed she had her hand tightly locked in
Nia's, and Corey was stroking the back of her neck and whispering to her
the entire time.  When we arrived home, Nia took Bethany inside while Corey
and I distracted the kids, unloaded the luggage and gave mum and Bethany a
little time.

   When we finally went inside, mum and Bethany were having their own
moment of non-verbal communication, and Nia was smiling and crying at the
same time, holding on tight to dad as her mother and sister reunited.  Mum
saw the children, and that's when she lost it, and I must admit, I had a
fairly sizeable lump in my throat while I watched her hold and kiss her
grandchildren for the first time ever.

   Eventually, mum noticed Corey and I, and beckoned us over.  Corey
introduced himself, and mum hugged him, then pulled my head down to kiss
me.

   "Thank you little boy!" she whispered, and patted my chest, "now all my
children in one place; I have my daughters here, and I have my little boy,
and new son as well, you have done well, my little boy, sister is very
proud of you, I can hear her laughing; listen carefully, and so will you!"

   The wedding, our proper wedding, went off perfectly.  We were married in
church in Streatham, South London, in a Church of England church so Nia
could have the bells ringing for her wedding day.  She looked absolutely
stunning in her white dress and long veil, with a silver tiara dad and I
had bought her, and a trailing bouquet of white and pink roses dotted with
vivid sky-blue Forget-me-nots.  Bethany was her Maid of Honour, and she,
Julie and Shelagh all wore pale blue gowns, Nia's favourite colour.  Ryan
was Page Boy, although he nearly rebelled when he saw the outfit Nia had
picked out for him, and only some fast footwork and a couple of twenties
persuaded him to accept his fate.  Little Jodie was our flower girl, in a
white crinoline dress and carrying a basket of rose petals (I know, but it
was Nia's idea, her wedding etc.)

   Mark stood as my best man, and Corey and Shelagh's boyfriend acted as
Ushers.  It was the wedding Nia had always dreamed of, the day we'd looked
forward to for so long now; Reno was to legalise our union, today was when
we would really become man and wife, in our eyes, and in the eyes of our
family and closest friends.

   We made love that night as man and wife, the culmination of all those
years of being so close, a lifetime growing-up together, and the final act
in our quest to be together.  When I took Nia home, she really was my wife,
in my heart as well as in fact, no longer my girl, not my sister anymore,
but my real, true wife, and she was everything I'd always wanted.

   I helped her out of her wedding dress, almost drooling with
anticipation. We'd stayed apart for the last week, Nia at mum's and me
staying alone in the flat.  She'd wanted our wedding night to be special,
and now I was bursting with the need to make love to my beautiful wife. 
Wife!  I still couldn't believe we'd finally gotten here.

   As I peeled her dress off her, I re-acquainted myself with every feature
of her body; her full lips, her smooth porcelain neck and flawless skin,
her small, beautiful coral-tipped breasts, her elegant narrow waist, and,
as her dress slipped down to the ground, her perfect, pert buttocks and
pussy accentuated by the tiny thong she was wearing.  She was wearing her
blue diamond bracelet and a pair of antique earrings, and a pendant from
mum's jewellery box, so that she fulfilled the 'something old, something
new, something borrowed, something blue' wedding maxim.

   She stepped out of her dress and let me admire her for a few seconds,
but she was also eager for this night, and she wasted no time helping me
unbutton and pull off my shirt, undo my belt and take of my trousers to
stand in just my shorts, my excitement plain to see.  I led her to the bed,
and urged her to climb on, and lay down next to her.

   Nia pulled herself closer to me, sliding her hands down to my shorts and
gauging my erection, grinning as I squeezed her lovely bum and dipped down
to lick and nibble her perfect nipples.

   She slid my shorts down as I hooked her wispy thong with my thumbs and
slid it off, Nia responding by kissing me firmly, determinedly, making a
production of it.  My cock responded, hardening even further against her,
and I slid my hand down to find her pussy wet and ready for me.

   "No foreplay, please Polar Bear!" she whispered urgently, "I've had to
wait for you all week, and now all day today, please, make love to me, just
fuck me, Jamie!"

   To hear is to obey, and I pulled her on top of me, wanting to see her
above me, so I could hold and squeeze her beautiful tits, suck her nipples,
and kiss her while I pumped her, but Nia had other ideas.

   "No, Jamie, like this, please!" she whispered, sliding off me to lie
next to me, beckoning me over to her.

   I moved between her thighs, Nia taking hold of my swollen cock and
rubbing herself with the end, the moist heat from her soaking pussy
delightful and very stimulating.  She grinned at me as she continued to
play with my cock, one of her favourite gambits before penetration, so I
let her have her fun before I moved over her and began pressing forward.

   Nia gasped as I slid into her, the feel of her tight hot pussy enfolding
my cock almost indescribable.  She began to move against me, the week of
abstinence obviously making itself felt, and as I pumped, she pushed back
against me, meeting me stroke for stroke.

   At first I was content to keep a steady pace; the feel of her was
incredible, and I wanted to keep hold of that feeling for as long as
possible.  Gradually our mutual efforts gathered pace and we moved faster
together, my cock hammering into her, and her pelvis meeting me at every
stroke as she pumped and ground against me.  At last I couldn't hold back
any longer, and as I felt myself gathering inside, that unstoppable urgency
rising, Nia's head lolled back as she groaned loudly, her pussy clenching
down tightly on me as she orgasmed.  As the waves of her orgasm pulsed
through her, I came in a surging tide of ejaculation, stream after stream
of spunk shooting into her and bathing her womb, more than I think I'd ever
come in my life.

   At last, we slipped into the calm on the other side of our mutual
orgasm, my ejaculation slowing to a trickle as I emptied out into my
darling sister-wife, and Nia's orgasmic after-shocks slowing and finally
dying away, and I slipped out of her and dropped down to lie next to her.
Nia pulled herself up against me, hugging me.  She leaned in and kissed me
once, to get my attention, and grinned happily.

   "OK Polar bear, I think we made a baby tonight!" she smiled, and I
looked at her quizzically.  She looked back with that cocked-eyebrow she
does so well.

   "Darling Jamie, I picked this date for a reason, for a very good reason.
It's the right time in my cycle, and I stopped taking the pill a while ago,
so hopefully we made our baby tonight.  I hope so!"

   She was right.  Four weeks later, I was woken at five in the morning by
the sound of retching, the flush going, then Nia coming out of the en-suite
wiping her mouth.  In my muzzy state I asked her if she was alright, and
she grinned happily.

   "Polar Bear, I'm just fine for a girl in my condition!"

   It took a second for what she was saying to sink-in, then I sat bolt
upright as Nia climbed on the bed next to me and hugged me.

   "I was right, Jamie, you shot and scored, pat yourself on the back,
we're having a baby!"

   ++++

   Epilogue.

   March 21st, 2011

   Nia groaned and panted in the delivery room, holding tight to my hand as
another contraction started.

   "OK Nia, big push now, nearly there!" encouraged the midwife, "Yes, it's
crowning, big breath ...and push, that's it Nia, Yes!" and the baby was,
out, placed in the bassinet and the cord clamped and cut, and one of the
nursing team intubated to clear the infant's lungs, allowing her to cry for
the first time but there was no time to stop and admire the baby, Nia was
having another contraction.

   "That's it, Nia, breathe...  breathe...  breathe...now!  Push, that's it
push, bear down, Nia, steady pressure, steady, keep bearing down...and
PUSH! That's it, that's it!"

   The other little body slipped out and was deftly wiped and wrapped and
placed on the bassinet to have the cord clamped, cut and taped and go
through the intubation procedure.

   Nia lay back, exhausted, but held her arms out to hold her babies and
the nurses put one in the crook of each arm.  She looked ...radiant is the
only word I have, absolutely glowing as she held her children for the first
time.

   Nia looked down at the two tiny little people in her arms.

   "Hello Jamie, hello Laura!" she murmured, and that's when I took the
picture that sits on our mantelpiece.

   "Alright Jamie, you can go now, we have ...things to do, and you're in
the way.  She hasn't finished just yet, so let her get a little more
presentable!  There's a whole room of people out there who want to see her,
go talk to them, we'll call you when we're done, go on, out you go!"
prodded the midwife, shooing me out of the delivery room.

   I wandered in a daze into the Family Room, and there was mum and dad,
Julie, Mark, Shelagh, all the people who meant anything to us.  Julie had
little Markie with her, and Shelagh had a huge floppy rabbit for each of
the babies.

   "All went well, a boy and a girl!" I announced, and mum grinned like
sunlight, and dad cried like a girl.  Mum handed me my phone, and I called
Bethany.

   "Bethany?  Jamie.  A boy and a girl!" I could hear the whoop of joy and
then Corey picked up the phone.

   "Jamie, we're leaving right now, her flight's in two hours, she'll be
with you tonight.  Congratulations, man!"

   I handed the phone back to dad as the midwife poked her head in and
nodded, so I went back to the room, to find Julie and Shelagh already
chucking and cuddling the two little people, MY little people!

   Shelagh handed Laura to me, and pecked me on the cheek, then went to
retrieve Markie from her father, because men are not really supposed to
handle newborns in case they breathe beer on them, or infect them with bad
habits or something.  I pondered on the fact that Julie had given birth
only two days earlier; that must have taken some nifty planning, I mused.

   Mum came in, so I handed her granddaughter to her, and leaned over to
kiss Nia.

   "Bethany's on her way, she'll be here in the morning.  How are you
feeling?  I asked, and she bit her lip and grinned as she kissed me back
tenderly.

   "Like someone just pulled a beach-ball out of my arse, Jamie, how do you
think I feel?  I love you more than anything in this world, but don't you
ever touch me again!"


   pics---->> http://bit.ly/1D1q3qp