[Book Four] Chapter 42: Sinning out of love again

Chapter 42: Sinning out of love again

Two earrings and a collar made of nanobots was the best he could make. Once activated, they melted into a mass of bots that united and formed his usual helmet wrapped around his head. With the exception of night and thermal vision every feature was there. He even added a special x-ray vision that he had taken from Alec when he showed him what his omni-tool could do. He also merged his own scan to the one Alec’s had developed. With a simple thought he could use his nanomachines to communicate with others through radio, mimicking perfectly his own voice.
In other words, Rick Wald was pretty happy with how his project turned out. The only thing left for him to test was the shock absorption and the viability for the hazardous environments. The results were beyond his expectation for the shocks and unsatisfactory for the hazardous environment. It could deal with toxins, change in temperature (if they were not too extreme) but couldn’t deal with radiation. That implied nanobots made of heavy metal and he wouldn’t make those, as they were too rigid. Absolutely no flexibility.

After this success with his helmet he started to work on the body armor. He used the latest material in his catsuit and that proved to be a good idea. The shocks were absorbed perfectly and in consequence went back onto his helmet and changed the material of the bots for this one. He also made some with the camo technology and everything blended well. The cost for everything was astronomical and it wouldn’t be given to the very first grunt joining the army. Any army. His plan was to make one for every member of his family who was fighting and stop there. Sara of course would get one too since she was now Sara Shepard, wife of Arianna Shepard as of two weeks ago. It was a very intimate and nice wedding that nearly didn’t happen.

While Sara’s relationship with her father, Alec, had been recovering slowly but surely, his own relationship with Arianna had taken a nosedive. She was blaming him for his relationship with Sandra and has been quite vocally violent about it in private. Even EDI and Dorothea, who were the chillest person ever, were shocked by the vitriol the young redhead threw at her father. Usually, Rick would not have let anyone speak to him like that. Certainly not his daughter but he did, because Arianna was voicing everything he has been telling himself since 2210. As he fell deeper and deeper into depression because of it and isolated himself more and more. Arianna simply threw herself into her research and lived as if he didn’t exist anymore. It lasted three months before Sara put a stop to her behavior with drastic measure. She called off the wedding indefinitely.

“I love you Arianna but not the woman you currently are. The woman I fell in love with would never had spoken or treated her father like that nor torture him like you are doing. So until you pull yourself together I think it’s best that we’re postponing our wedding.”

Whatever mood Arianna was in changed on the spot at the news. Immediately she went to her mother and aunt for help. She didn’t like the current relationship she had with her father and she was about to lose Sara. She wanted to change it.
After multiple long talks, it turned out that Arianna was jealous of Sandra and felt betrayed by her father. Sandra got to experience something with Rick that she didn’t. Not like she wanted her father that way but the very principle that she, the daddy’s girl, didn’t have something that her younger sister got, was making her mad beyond belief. That turned up to eleven against her father who she has always been the closest to of all the children and believed subconsciously that she was the favorite despite Rick never favoring any of his kids. It was a hard slap to the face to find out she wasn’t.
After a lot of work on herself she came to a solution that she didn’t like. Sharing it with her mother and aunts they advised her to talk to Sara about it before going with it. Pervert that she was the brunette accepted immediately, especially if that meant getting the love of her life back. That very same evening, Rick was ‘assaulted’ by his eldest daughter and soon to be daughter in law in his own bedroom. Both father and daughter apologized to each other and cried like two idiots as they tried to outhugged to death the other.

Rick agreed on the spot to Arianna’s demand, which shocked her as he was still feeling reluctant towards Sandra.

“I don’t care anymore. I’m a shitty dad, I admit that.”
“You’re not…”
“But I’ll do better. And if doing better is making love to you and Sara this one time so everything can be right again then I won’t hesitate.”

None of the young women knew what to say in answer to that and in the end simply started. They lasted well into the night and everyone was very satisfied with what happened.

“Yeah… So I’m not into men much but I wouldn’t mind making an exception for you again, Rick.” Sara said as she eyed the man’s erection the morning after.
“I… I still feel weird about it. Not wrong but weird… I get why everyone is happy in the morning after spending the night with you, daddy.” added Arianna as she too, was looking at the towering cock, hidden by the bedsheet.
“And limping. Gosh! What did you do to Jane for her not being able to walk at all?”
“I tied her her legs up with her ankles above her head and fucked her mercilessly like that all night.”
“Damn!”
“The butt plug didn’t make things better for her.”
“Ari…”
“Yes, yes, we’re getting a butt plug for your birthday. Shessh why don’t you ask my dad for some pointers while you’re at it?”
“Actually…”
“I was joking!” shouted Arianna, making Rick laugh.
“Ari! We’re using a strapon the size of your father's but I never felt as good and I bet never did you!”
“... Okay, that’s a fair point. Daddy…”

The current situation with the word ‘daddy’ made ‘small’ Rick lurched noticeably. It wasn’t the first time.

“It’s funny how it reacts every time Ari says ‘daddy’.”
“It’s not a conscious reaction.”
“I… In a way, I guess I’m flattered… Anyway, back to my question.”
“It’s simple, you see the dildo just as… a big tube that goes in and out. I think… you need to see it as an extension of yourself and listen to the subtle hints the partner you’re… plowing, is giving you. The way she gasps, grunts, and moans, the way her body answers. Change the rhythm, change the strength and speed, change the spot you hit. When you’re eating each other out, isn’t it what you're doing?”
“Well… yes.” admitted Sara
“It’s the same with a dick. It’s not rocket science. Had you some experience with men, you’d know.”
“We do know. Thank you for that, daddy.” teased Arianna purposefully.
“Stop that.”
“Stop what, daddy?” she asked innocently, batting her eyelashes while Sara could barely contain her laughter.
“... Like mother, like daughter. Remember, it’s with shit like that that your mother couldn’t walk for a day.”
“Yeah, no. I’m drawing a line there. That’s my job.” Sara said as she left Rick side to shift above his body to reach Arianna on the other and take her in a very protective hug. “You can have her back only as a Christmas gift.”
“Oh? You’re not a package? Shame.” he joked back as he stood up. "More seriously, please do not ask me for that again. It’s already so difficult with Sandra…”

"Don’t worry daddy. It was just this one time. It was either that or years of therapy to overcome my stupid jealousy."

"I would have preferred if you’d picked the therapy. You do realize, it’s…"

"Insane and unhealthy? Yes but now I know how much you love me and that you’d do anything for me."

"I always have and always will. Must have failed somewhere if you don’t know by now.”

"I know that! I just… I needed proof I guess.”

"Silly girl.” he said, shaking his head, then left for the bathroom.

"Nice ass, Rick!" Shouted Sara saying word for word what Rick himself had said to her all those months ago when he caught her and Arianna eating each other out in the latter’s lab.

"Thank you! Lots of hard work!”

He answered in kind and Sara simply laughed while Arianna just rolled her eyes.

"You’re good now? Is the love of my life back?” the brunette asked.

"Yes. I can’t say that jealous me won’t be back ever again but for now, she’s gone. I just can’t believe I had to sleep with my dad for that though".

"The reasons you gave… that wasn’t all, was it?”

"No. Mom looks like my grandmother’s younger twin and I look like my mom’s younger twin…”

"Ah! You didn’t take it well. Instead of your father going for you when he went to your mother and grandmother he went to your sister who looks nothing alike."

"Grandma, mom but not me? I felt like a failure.”

"And now what? You feel vindicated?”

"I guess so.”
“I hope you realize how much it hurt him and how much he loves you for doing it.”
“Somehow… I don’t think I or anyone else will ever truly know.” replied a saddened Arianna.

While she still had some unresolved problems to deal with, the one with Sara and her father were not one of them. From there, the wedding was back on track and it was a very happy Arianna and Sara that were walked down the aisle at the same time by their fathers. The father-daughter dance felt like a goodbye to the both of them. It was Rick that had taught Arianna how to dance because she wanted to learn after seeing her parents doing it one evening when she got out of bed to get some water. Once the dance was over and that the celebration really kicked in, Rick discreetly eclipsed himself to get some time alone. He didn’t get much as Jane joined him and gave him silent support by simply being by his side.

Back to the present, Rick hesitated to send a message to Hackett with a video of his new achievement. It was best if it was kept a secret. Instead he pulled up the report Arianna made on the healing effect of the nanobots. She didn’t understand either what was happening with the cells but she knew two things for sure. One, the cells were truly rejuvenated and two they didn’t get a longer life span. Meaning that a regular human could potentially live up to 150 forever young but would still die. Anything else necessitated more research.
Now that his tech military project was done he switched back to healing nanobots though not the same topic of research as his daughter. He was more interested in how fast they could heal. So far a simple cut healed almost immediately and he was very satisfied with that. Now for graver wounds he could only do simulations. He had plenty of questions he wanted answers to, like, would a severed limbed (cleanly or not)  could be reattached without problem with the nanobots? Could a shot to the head be recovered in a flash? Could  nanobots regrow a limb or an organ if the basic materials were provided?

A time consuming work that was often interrupted by Sandra making sure he did his whole job properly. As the leader of Project Eden, a husband and a father. EDI was even partnering up with the young woman to make sure Rick had a healthy life and that everything was going fine.

Regarding Project Eden, he wondered what would be the council’s next move against him. The Milky Way relay was still in construction and their effort to colonize worlds were disparate results wise. Some colonies were settling fast, others not so much. Not good enough results for the council who expected more and made a big deal of those excursions publicly.

With all the work he was doing he was tempted to take a break and go exploring but there was no way anyone would let him go. So, diligently, he began to work on an excursion that everyone would approve of. A planet not too dangerous and of course a good team to deal with any possible trouble.