CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT:  

THE REUNION

	Christine glanced again at the scrap of paper on 
the seat next to her, referring for the umpteenth time 
to the directions Janine had given her to her apartment.  
She looked up again just in time to catch the turnoff 
that would take her to Janine's complex.  She cursed 
softly, for a number of reasons.  First, she'd had to 
make a sharp turn, causing the driver behind her to slam 
on his brakes.  Second, a rapid temperature drop and an 
unexpected couple of inches of snow had slowed her 
progress more than she'd anticipated it would.  Third, 
she was very late.  Janine was hosting a little get-
together for the ladies of the Lac-Station that had been 
scheduled to begin almost forty-five minutes ago.  Chris 
was running late not just because of the snow but also 
because of a little accident she'd had.  She'd come out 
of the shower, walked naked into her bedroom, and sat 
down on the bed next to the outfit she'd laid out there 
for the party.  As she bent over to pick a pair of 
panties off the floor, she'd spontaneously let down and 
squirted milk all over the dress she'd picked out.  
She'd had to quickly rinse out the dress and select 
another outfit.  This kind of thing was happening to her 
more and more often these days.  Her ability to mentally 
control her lactation was completely gone, and she was 
beginning to understand what it must be like for 
"normal" women to deal with having milk-filled breasts.  
Her production rate seemed to have gone haywire, too; 
she was never sure when she would next need to pump.  
She'd finally decided that she needed to resume wearing 
the nursing bras she'd bought when her milk had first 
come in, before she'd learned to control it.  She'd had 
to dig deep into her lingerie drawer to find them, and 
then she'd had to make a detour to the drug store to buy 
some nursing pads.  She hated how she looked now; the 
unflattering bra ruined the line of her magnificent 
figure, and the pads made her fantastic breasts look 
strangely shaped.  All this had made her late, which was 
frustrating.
	Mixed in with the frustration was a healthy dose 
of concern about what was happening to her body.  Why, 
suddenly, was having milk starting to become more of a 
hassle than the sensual, sexually liberating experience 
it had been for almost two years?  Had the galactogogue 
that Jonah had slipped her along with the Valium during 
the drive from Negril permanently screwed up her 
endocrine system?  (Had that really happened almost 
three weeks ago now?) Why was she sometimes getting just 
a couple of ounces during some milking sessions while at 
other times she could extract half a liter?  Why didn't 
manipulating her breasts automatically cause her to 
orgasm intensely as it had since the first few days 
after The Accident?  She was still coming almost every 
time, which still meant at least a few orgasms a day, 
but the frequency was beginning to noticably decrease.  
She made a mental note to voice her concern to Sherri 
when she next saw her.
	The thought of Sherri immediately caused a flood 
of warmth to rush through Chris's breasts and crotch.  
She was slightly surprised at the intensity of the 
feeling; she, who prior to The Accident had thought 
herself a firmly entrenched heterosexual, now couldn't 
wait to get Sherri into her bed.  Chris had not had an 
opportunity to see her since having returned from her 
Jamaica trip, and she missed her friend and sometime 
lover badly.  She was also looking forward to seeing her 
fellow colleagues again; a few she hadn't seen since 
some weeks before the trip.  In fact, she was not at all 
sure of the status of the Lac-Station, which was a 
secondary reason why she was so interested in attending 
Janine's little kaffee klatsch.
	She stole one more quick look at the paper with 
the directions on it for the building and apartment 
number.  She found a parking spot and carefully climbed 
the stairs to Janine's apartment.  Her frustration at 
being late vanished when she heard the laughter of her 
associates through the door.  She raised a mittened fist 
to tap on the door, but it opened in mid-gesture.  
Janine greeted her in a roomy sweater and skin-tight 
slacks, with her trademark grin and a steaming cup of 
hot cider, complete with cinnamon stick.
	"When I heard footsteps on the landing, I just 
knew it had to be you, darlin'.  Come right in, we're 
all here.  Just toss your coat on the kitchen table and 
join us in the living room.  I'm taking this in before 
it gets cold..." and away she went.
	Chris did as she was invited.  The living room was 
dominated by two large sofas, facing each other with a 
coffee table between them.  Seated there were Eleanor, 
Monique, Janine, and...Sherri.  When Chris's eyes landed 
on her, Sherri bounded up, rushed over, and caught Chris 
up in a hug.  The pressure of the embrace pushed the 
milk in Chris's breasts near the fore, and absently she 
hoped she wouldn't soak the pads quite this soon.  An 
electric charge shot from her pussy to her nipples as 
she felt Sherri's body press into hers.  It was all she 
could do to keep the hug short and friendly and not just 
melt into Sherri's arms in front of everyone.
	"God, I've missed you," Chris whispered in 
Sherri's ear.
	"I hope you show me how much later on," she 
whispered back.  "Welcome back, hon," she said aloud.
	"Gosh, Chris, you don't look as tan as I thought 
you'd be," Janine said.  "Did it rain in Jamaica?"
	"No, I just didn't get to lay out as much as I 
would have liked," Chris replied.  "As beautiful as 
Jamaica was, I'm kind of glad to be back, snow 
notwithstanding."
	She seated herself next to Sherri and accepted a 
cup of cider from Janine.  "I'm also glad you're all 
here today.  I have been wondering what's up with the 
business.  I've been back more than two weeks and 
haven't gotten a single call from Jeremy.  My fridge is 
almost at capacity with bottles of milk.  Is he pissed 
at me for having spent so much of his money on the 
vacation?"
	The other women passed looks back and forth, as if 
waiting for someone else to be the first to speak.  
Chris noticed immediately.  "What?  Am I fired?  Is that 
it?"
	"No, not at all," said Monique.  "Not exactly, 
anyway."
	The silence grew and became awkward.  "Well, come 
on, you guys," said Chris.  "I'm a big girl."
	Finally Eleanor spoke up.  "Well, there's no easy 
way to say it, so I'll just say it.  I'm afraid the Lac-
Station is no more."
	Chris almost choked on her cider.  "Wha-aat?  I 
was only gone a couple of weeks!  What happened?"
	"It was nobody's fault, really," Monique stated 
flatly.  "We've all just...developed other agendas, 
that's all."
	"What Monique is trying to say is that one by one, 
we've all decided we don't want to do this any more," 
Eleanor said.  "I for one was getting pretty disgusted 
with all those twisted people Jeremy kept introducing me 
to.  I joined the group really for just one purpose -- 
to provide milk to mothers who couldn't nurse at a price 
that undercut the milk banks.  If I had to do the 
occasional kinky, but expensive, thing to keep that 
price low, I considered it a minor evil.  Finally I 
decided that Jeremy was asking too much, and my husband 
didn't appreciate it much, either, so I left the group."  
Addressing Monique's frown in her direction, Eleanor 
added, "I acknowledge that I was the first to leave, but 
I categorically deny causing the demise of the company."
	"I wasn't accusing you," Chris said softly.
	"No, you weren't," Eleanor said sharply, staring 
at Monique.
	"Well, what did cause it?" asked Chris.
	"I suppose I was next to go.  You see," Janine 
said, blushing slightly, "I've met someone."
	The other women, except Monique, smiled.  Chris, 
knowing of Janine's situation as a single mother, was 
very pleased.  "Who's the lucky fellow?" she asked 
enthusiastically.
	"His name's Geoffrey.  He started out being a 
client," Janine replied.  "He was a patient at the 
hospital, in for a heart transplant.  Poor guy's only 
31, but his heart was a mess.  I couldn't even begin to 
pronounce what he had.  Anyway, he was having a lot of 
trouble with rejection -- I mean his immune system went 
crazy after the operation.  His doctors had read a study 
in which patients who are immuno...  immuno..."
	"...compromised," Eleanor assisted.
	"Right.  ...can benefit from having mother's milk 
as a part of their diet during recovery."
	Eleanor chimed in.  "Evidently the idea is that 
these people have immune systems that are kind of like a 
newborn's, so why not provide the same kind of thing 
that they use to get strong?"
	Chris shrugged.  "Sounds reasonable."  She turned 
back to Janine.  "Well?  So?"
	"Well, anyway, I became one of Geoff's milk 
donors.  One day I decided to visit him in the hospital, 
and took him some myself.  He started off by telling me 
he preferred the taste of my milk over all the others -- 
as if he could tell," Janine said, giggling.
	"We got to talking, and before too long we'd told 
each other our life histories.  We started kinda dating 
right there in the hospital.  I got to where I was 
seeing him a couple of times a day."  She blushed again.  
"I even started nursing him -- seemed kinda silly to go 
home, pump the milk, and bring it back.  Well, that 
turned us on so much we actually did the deed right 
there in his room, even though he wasn't supposed to do 
anything stressful.  The rest, as they say, is history.  
We're in love.  I couldn't see myself basically turning 
tricks for Jeremy now that Geoff and I are together."
	"I'll bet Jeremy was pissed when you told him," 
Chris said.
	"Yeah, he was.  My timing was lousy.  Eleanor had 
just quit the day before," Janine said.  "But screw 
Jeremy.  I'm in love for the first time in years, to a 
guy who loves me, my kid, and my milk.  Couldn't ask for 
a better situation, especially since the doctors have 
given Geoff a clean bill of health."
	"So that's why the company's kaput?  Couldn't 
Jeremy find two replacements?" Chris asked.
	"Three," Sherri said.  "I quit too."
	Chris was dumbfounded.  That seemed impossible.  
Sherri, with her wild and wooly sexual style, was 
perfectly suited for the kinkier aspects of working for 
the Lac-Station.  She had been the only one of the five 
of them who had had to work really hard to induce 
lactation:  Janine and Eleanor had had babies; Monique 
apparently had some sort of physiological predisposition 
toward galactorrhea; and Chris, of course, had had The 
Accident.  Sherri had been so turned on by Chris's 
having milk that she'd embarked on an arduous regimen 
that had paid off admirably, to where Sherri's 40-plus-
year-old breasts were producing milk like a 20-year-old 
mother of twins.  Lactating had become the centerpiece 
of Sherri's sexual existence, and Jeremy had been 
providing her with every conceivable means to exercise 
her new talents.  How could she just quit?
	"I got my reasons, which I'm not going to talk 
about right now," Sherri said, also staring at Monique, 
and Chris realized she'd voiced her question out loud.
	"Yes, I'll admit I was very upset with all of you 
for just backing out on Jeremy like you did," said 
Monique petulantly, ever Jeremy's defender.  "But I've 
since come to realize that you have every right to quit 
any time you want to.  Jeremy and I have decided to 
carry on, just the two of us, unless that is, you want 
to continue, Chris?  You were, after all, the Lac-
Station's charter member."
	The question took Chris by surprise.  Until just a 
couple of minutes ago, she had assumed that she would be 
taking up her duties at the Lac-Station again at any 
time.  Now it sounded like there really wasn't any Lac-
Station any more, and suddenly that was not a bad thing.  
Her decision was immediate, and easier than she thought 
it would be.
	"No, I don't think so.  I went on that vacation to 
get away, and now I find I don't want to come back.  
I'll be honest, Monique, Jeremy was a lousy boss.  He 
just didn't know how to treat his employees very well.  
Throwing me over for you didn't help much, either, but 
to tell the truth, he felt more like my pimp than a 
partner in a business."  There were murmurs of assent 
from Eleanor, Janine, and Sherri.  "I think it was 
inevitable that we each found something better and moved 
on."
	"And what have you found that's so much better?" 
Monique asked pointedly.  
	After a moment's thought, Chris said, "I guess, my 
personal freedom."
	"Amen, girl," Sherri said, raising her cup.  The 
others raised theirs in toast, and after a few seconds, 
Monique raised hers as well.