Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/968604. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Rape/Non-Con, Underage Category: F/M Fandom: Phineas_and_Ferb Relationship: Ferb_Fletcher/Gretchen_(Phineas_and_Ferb), Vanessa_Doofenshmirtz/Monty Monogram_(non-consensual), Phineas_Flynn/Isabella_Garcia-Shapiro Character: Ferb_Fletcher, Gretchen_(Phineas_And_Ferb), Vanessa_Doofenshmirtz, Monty Monogram, Perry_the_Platypus, Heinz_Doofenshmirtz, Phineas_Flynn, Isabella_Garcia-Shapiro, Baljeet_Tjinder, Ginger_Hirano Additional Tags: Alternate_Universe_-_Slavery, Slavery, Indentured_Servitude, BDSM, Non- Consensual_Slavery, coerced_sex, Enthusiastically_Consensual_Sex, Spanking, Whipping, Computer_Hacking, Auctions, Inheritance, Wakes_& Funerals, Virginity, Evil!Monty, Porn_With_Plot, More_plot_than_porn, Way More_Plot_Than_Porn, Power_Exchange, slavefic, Trope_Bingo_Round_2, Community:_trope_bingo, Community:_kink_bingo, Kink_Bingo_2013, The Author's_Head_Is_A_Sad_And_Scary_Place Collections: Trope_Bingo:_Round_Two, Kink_Bingo_2013_(Round_Six) Stats: Published: 2013-09-16 Completed: 2013-09-28 Chapters: 13/13 Words: 20698 ****** Under Contract ****** by foobar137 Summary Alternate Universe: Slavery. Gretchen finds herself unexpectedly sold as an indentured servant in a world where that’s a euphemism for slavery; can her boyfriend Ferb rescue her and keep her safe? Meanwhile, Vanessa has been framed for a crime she didn’t commit and sentenced to indenture as well. What would Doof offer Perry for his help in freeing her from the clutches of Monty Monogram? Trope bingo: slavefic; Kink bingo: power exchange. Notes Careful with the tags. This gets darker than most of what I write. Some of the on-screen sex is enthusiastically consensual, but the slavery isn’t, and some of the sex is coerced at best, which is why the story is tagged non-con. The rules of indenture are more or less spelled out in the first chapter, but some details show up later. Tagged as ‘underage’ because the main characters start at seventeen. Yes, it’s marked ‘Explicit’, and there is porn afoot, but there’s more way more plot than porn here. (Seriously. Twelve chapters and an epilogue, and there’s three and a half sex scenes. First one is in chapter four.) If you're here looking for happy Montnessa...this isn't it. Really. The 'evil!Monty' tag is there for a reason. ***** Auction ***** Gretchen shifted her wrists as much as the cuffs would allow, and rolled her neck around to the limits of the leash attached to her collar. The leather cuffs around her wrists were attached to a leather belt around her waist; the high-tech collar was the only other thing she was wearing. Here she was, five minutes from being auctioned - how much had her life changed in one short week? Just a week ago, she’d been living with her father, dating her boyfriend Ferb, and trying to figure out how and when she and Ferb could lose their virginities to each other. And then the horrible car crash that had taken her father’s life had torn her world asunder. With her mother dead giving birth to her, and her father an only child, custody of her - for the three months until she turned eighteen - had gone to her mother’s brother, her Uncle Bill. Bill hadn’t gotten along well with her father, but he was the closest family she had now. The day after the funeral, Bill had signed an indenture contract for her. He hadn’t been able to look her in the eyes as the indenture induction crew had restrained her and led her away; all he’d been able to do is look away and mumble about how it was for the best. Two days later, she still didn’t know why he’d done it. The older woman preparing the newly-indentured for auction came into the room and picked the leash of the young man in front of her off the hook holding him in place. “Come with me, dearie,” she said. Gretchen would be next. She’d written a research paper on indenture for her social studies class last year. Her research had been correct so far on what the experience was like. She’d been given a medical exam, which had confirmed she still had her hymen while evaluating her overall health. She’d been given an IUD and then sent to a ‘preparation room’ - a cell. A recorded video told her the official version of her new legal status - her collar could not be removed except by court officials, and had a tracking device in it, along with a shocker and various sensors. She had no right to refuse a legal order from her contract-holder that would not permanently harm her. If she refused, her contract-holder could punish her as he or she saw fit. Her contract-holder was required to provide adequate food and shelter. If she chose to do so before her nineteenth birthday, she could renew her contract. Once the renewal was signed, it was under the same terms as adult indenture - five-year renewals at the discretion of the indenture-holder. She would no longer have any choice in the matter. 83% of underage indentures “chose” to sign a re-indenture before their contract expired on their nineteenth birthday. Proponents of indenture claimed that was a sign of how much indentured servants appreciated the security and comfort of indenture; indenture opponents pointed at the same rate and claimed it as evidence of coercion, brainwashing, and flat-out forgery. Her research was pretty clear on what happened then. Typically, contracts were renewed until the servants were no longer useful (for workers) or attractive (for sex slaves), at which point they were cast out and left to fend for themselves with no useful skills or worldly goods except the pittance paid for each re-indenture. Most ended up homeless, if they couldn’t find family to help them out - but after ten, twenty, or even thirty years, they may not have any means of contacting their family at all. She had been sufficiently outraged by what she’d found that she’d joined the high school branch of the Indenture Reform Coalition shortly thereafter. After all her research and work for the IRC, she was not amused by the irony that she now found herself naked and about to be auctioned. She’d probably be bid on as a sex slave, sold to a middle-aged man who wanted to feel young again. If she was lucky, she’d be a present to a teenage boy from his parents. In either case, the virginity she’d been planning to give to Ferb wasn’t going to last the night. Being a virgin would drive up her price, meaning more money for her uncle. The going rate for an attractive teenage virgin was in the range of fifty to eighty thousand dollars; if she'd just slept with Ferb, it would have cut that number in half. The older woman came back in and unhooked Gretchen’s leash from the wall. “This way, dearie,” she said, gently tugging on the leash; Gretchen had no choice but to follow. “Now, just so you know, there seems to be something up with the bidding computers, so final bids are low today. So don’t take it personally.” The woman held a scanner up to Gretchen’s collar, and her vital statistics showed up on a screen on the wall: 5 foot 3 inches tall, 133 pounds, 34D bra size, auburn hair, blue eyes, virgin (hymen class 3). Gretchen sighed at all the numbers - each of them likely to drive her price up. Even the hymen class - 3 meant ‘likely to cause painful first intercourse but not impede it’, and some men considered it the most valuable category. “Okay, you’re a virgin. I think we go for the innocent look for you, then. So no heels and very light makeup. Open wide, dearie,” the woman said, holding up a ball gag. Gretchen sighed and opened her mouth, and the gag was fastened behind her head. “Turn around,” the woman said, and Gretchen turned to face away from her. Her hands twitched in their cuffs as the woman took a leather strap and wrapped it around her elbows, pulling them together. They couldn’t touch with her wrists still bound to the belt, but the effect made her generously-sized breasts stick out even more. “Oh, they’ll love that,” the woman said. “Turn back, please.” The woman applied a small amount of makeup, just enough to smooth her out a bit. “Just one little bit left,” she said, and wiped a cold pad over Gretchen’s nipples, making them turn stiff and stick out. “There we go. Now you go out there and get yourself a good contract, okay, dearie?” The woman led her over to a door on the other side of the room; the door slid open, and a male guide in a tuxedo waited there. He scanned Gretchen’s collar as well, nodded, and accepted the leash from the woman. He led her down a short hallway; the door at the other end slid aside, and she was on a glass-enclosed stage. She could blurrily see a sweaty, overweight middle-aged man in a suit sitting directly in front of the stage, frantically tapping on a bid controller as the man in the tuxedo started reciting her vital statistics. She tried to look around, but her eyes kept jumping back to the sweaty man. She knew he was trying to bid on her, and the thought of spending the year and a half until she turned nineteen - or even longer, if he could force her to re-indenture - serving him made a chill run down her spine. The guide made her turn around; her eyes were watering now, and without her glasses, she couldn’t see very well to begin with. She’d been told her glasses would be delivered to her contract-holder; hopefully, he or she would let her have them. She turned full circle and was facing the sweaty man again; he was shouting at an apologetic-looking man in a vest. The guide said, “And, sold!” and led her out the other door from the stage. “You did well,” the guide said, “but the bids came in really low. We’re having computer problems, but by law we have to run the auctions anyway. But, on the plus side, whoever indentured you won’t get as much money.” He led her into a room where he checked a readout. “Okay, your contract-holder specifies...no gag,” he said, removing the gag from her mouth. She stretched her jaw and licked her dried-out lips. “Minimum restraints for handover, and some clothing,” he continued. He unclipped the leash from her collar, removed the strap from her elbows, and unlocked her wrists from the belt, removing the belt entirely. He pulled a long T-shirt from a cabinet and handed it to her; it was thin and white, and barely covered her ass, but it was the most covering she’d had since she’d arrived at the indenture facility two days ago. Once she’d put it on, he took her wrists and clipped the cuffs together behind her back, then reattached the leash to her collar. He dropped a pair of thin sandals on the floor for her to step into. “Let’s go meet your new contract-holder,” he said, leading her down a short hallway to a waiting room. Her contract-holder was looking at her; she recognized him immediately, even without her glasses. ***** Just Doing My Job ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes Earlier the same day Perry the Platypus jumped as his watch beeped. A new mission. Time to go. He looked up at Phineas and Baljeet, busily working on their laptops. I think they’ve got this well in hand. And if they don’t successfully rescue Ferb’s girlfriend, then I’ll see what I can do to pick up the pieces. He put his hat on and slid toward the secret panel next to Phineas’s desk. Phineas nodded to him as he passed; Perry tipped his hat as he vanished into the tunnel system. Life got so much simpler once they figured things out. And it doesn’t really matter any more, now that Heinz is too busy to try to take over the Tri-State Area. He slid down the tube, coming to a rest in his chair as always. The screen turned on, and Perry felt the familiar shame at what he saw. Lieutenant Monty Monogram sat in his command seat, as always, ready to give Perry the day’s mission. And, as always, his indentured servant, Vanessa Doofenshmirtz, was kneeling next to the seat. At least he’s letting her have clothes now. Although I’m not sure the Slave Princess Allyra outfit from Space Adventure 6 really counts as ‘clothes’. Vanessa stared out at Perry, and he sighed. It was all his fault she was there. Monty had pressed him to plant the evidence that had been used to convict her and sentence her to forced indenture; Perry knew he should have refused and made Monty go through with his threats. Better to be reduced back to a mindless pet than to be used to forcibly enslave an innocent young woman just to get revenge on her father. I’m sorry, Vanessa. I know that doesn’t mean much to you. But I truly am. Monty had then gotten Perry to rig the bidding on Vanessa’s contract; as an indentured criminal, she could only be bid on by government agencies. Perry had arranged a preferential auction where OWCA got a preferred bid as arresting authority, and then made sure she was assigned to Monty as personal servant. He hadn’t realized the depths of Monty’s plans for the young woman until the next day, when she’d been kneeling next to his chair, naked and tightly bound, whip marks covering her. Eventually, as she’d become more and more compliant, more and more broken, the welts had become fewer, the restraints less confining. Now, six months into a four-year indenture, her only restraint was the chain from her collar to Monty’s chair, and she’d been allowed scant clothing for several weeks now. Perry shook his head and refocused on Monty. He really should pay attention to the briefing, but it was always the same these days. Doof was trying to ‘subvert the indenture system’ - trying to free his daughter. Some day, Monty, I will make you pay for what you made me do. =============================================================================== Heinz sighed. Perry was due any minute now, and what little progress Heinz had made would go away. This was his life now. He’d try to find some way - any way - to rescue Vanessa from...him. He’d been working on a device to neutralize the tracking and alarm systems in her collar, but his heart really wasn’t in it any more, and it wouldn’t be remotely near complete when Perry showed up for the daily press of the self-destruct button. It was all for the best, anyway, since if he made any real progress he was likely to end up arrested and indentured himself. Taking over the Tri-State Area was one thing, but messing with the indenture system got you in serious trouble. The doorbell rang, and Heinz got up and opened the door. Perry walked in, tipping his hat to the disheartened evil scientist. “It’s over there,” Heinz said, waving vaguely in the direction of his partial collar-disable-inator. “Go ahead and blow it up. I don’t know that I have the heart to stop you any more.” He sat on the couch and sighed deeply. “It’s ironic that I find myself wishing that Roger were still mayor. Here I hated my brother and his political popularity so much, but now that he’s retired, I’d gladly use his influence to help Vanessa. My ex-wife blames me for all of this - she's filed another request to cut off my alimony, you know.” Perry jumped up onto the couch next to Heinz and put his arm around him. “Thank you, Perry. It’s just hard. He sent me another video of the things he’s doing to Vanessa. I don’t know why he keeps sending them - I can’t watch them, it’s too painful, but just knowing that he’s done something else he’s proud enough of to send it to me is bad enough.” Perry winced. “If only I could get her loose and sneak her to Drusselstein. There’s no indenture there, so they won’t extradite runaway servants.” Perry nodded, and patted Heinz on the arm. “I know you work for justice, Perry,” Heinz said, and the platypus looked away. “You know that Vanessa’s innocent. If you find any way to free her...I’ll swear off evil forever. I promise.” Perry put out his paw to shake on the deal; Heinz shook. Chapter End Notes The first pass at this chapter ended up as the story 'Just Doing My Job', but I pulled that out because it was far too fluffy for the A plot. ***** Rescue ***** Ferb tried not to pace or look nervous as he waited. If this worked, he’d be walking out of the Indenture Transfer Facility with Gretchen, and not looking back. If not...he wouldn't leave this building a free man. Forced indenture as punishment for crime had been one of the first things to happen once the indenture laws had passed, and the first crimes they’d been applied to had been attempts to subvert the indenture system. Hacking their computer system, as Phineas and Baljeet had done, would certainly qualify. He ran his hand through his shaggy green hair, trying to keep calm. He’d seen her naked for the first time when she was up on the auction block; while she’d taken her shirt off and he’d had his hand on her bra before, that was as far as they’d gone. He wasn’t even sure she’d seen him, between not wearing her glasses and her focus on the overweight man who’d grabbed the front-and-center seat. Ferb had seen the man’s notes; he had a picture of Gretchen in them, and had clearly specifically wanted to bid on her, but fortunately Phineas and Baljeet’s trickery had let Ferb’s bid win. The man had been yelling at an attendant about the problems with the bidding computers when Ferb had left to go sign the paperwork and write a check. The door on the far side of the room slid open, and a tuxedo-clad man led Gretchen in on a leash. She was just as beautiful as ever, even covered by the loose white shirt. Slightly below-average height, short auburn hair, piercing blue eyes, and more than a bit on the chesty side - it was like somebody had asked Ferb for his ideal woman, and then provided her, and that wasn't even getting in to how well their personalities meshed. She blinked suddenly, and her eyes went wide as her mouth dropped open. Ferb rushed over to her and took her in his arms, saying, “Thank God, you’re really here. I was afraid I’d lose you forever.” She tried to hug him back, but her wrists were bound behind her. He reached around and unclipped her cuffs, and she clamped her arms around him. “I thought I’d never see you again,” she murmured into his shoulder. The grinning man in the tuxedo cleared his throat. “Mr. Fletcher? I just need you to sign this receipt, and she’s all yours.” Reluctantly, Ferb let go of Gretchen and took the offered clipboard. He skimmed the paper quickly; it was a standard triplicate form indicating he was taking receipt of one (1) indentured servant per the terms of the indenture forms he’d already received when his winning bid had been accepted. He signed at the bottom; the guide tore the yellow copy out of the middle and handed it to him, along with Gretchen’s leash and a small package containing her eyeglasses. Ferb handed Gretchen her glasses, which she put on. “I can see again! I haven’t had these for two days now.” “Let’s go home,” Ferb said, removing the leash from her collar, taking her hand, and leading her out of the room. “How did you manage to win the auction?” Gretchen asked as they walked toward the parking garage. “I got lucky,” Ferb said. “They’re having computer problems today, and a lot of bids weren’t going through. I got a bid in relatively low, and then apparently all the bids higher than that got rejected. I don’t know how it happened, but I’m not about to complain.” Gretchen shuddered. “That was too close. There was a guy front-and-center who really wanted to buy me. I’m happy it was you instead.” “Me too.” They arrived at Ferb’s car, and he unlocked her door before going around to his own. Gretchen unbuckled the cuffs on her wrists as Ferb drove out of the parking garage. On the way home, Gretchen looked over at him. “So, now that we’re out of there...was it really just luck?” Ferb smiled thinly, and looked at the attractive young woman next to him. It wasn’t just because she’s gorgeous that I fell in love with her. I love her for her brains as well. “Phineas and Baljeet may have had something to do with their computer problems today. But we can’t ever tell anyone about that.” “No, of course not. Should we have pretended we didn't know each other?" "No, that would have looked suspicious when they try to figure out what happened to their computers. We want to look like a couple who just genuinely got lucky." =============================================================================== There’s nothing to be nervous about, Gretchen told herself as Ferb turned onto Maple Drive. Ferb’s parents think you’re wonderful. They’re not going to blame you for your uncle selling you. Ferb pulled into the driveway, and parked the car. Gretchen found herself frozen from fear as Ferb walked around to open her door. He looked at her, concerned. “It’s okay,” he said. “They’re all waiting for you.” He held out his hand to help her up. With a wan smile, she took it. As Ferb opened the front door, Isabella, Phineas, Ginger, and Baljeet all turned toward them from their seats in the living room. “Gretchen!” Isabella and Ginger shouted as one, rushing to greet their friend. She found herself briefly swarmed and overwhelmed by the relief flowing from her friends. Drawn by the noise, Ferb’s parents came in from the kitchen. Gretchen looked at them, concerned, but they both broke into wide smiles. “Nicely done, Ferb,” his father said. “You didn’t spend all of your college fund, did you, Ferb?” his mother asked. “There were computer problems, so I won with a remarkably low bid,” Ferb said. "Seven thousand." His mother nodded. “Good to hear. First time I’ve been happy to hear about computer problems. Dinner’s almost ready, Gretchen; are you hungry? I seem to remember hearing they don’t feed you well there.” Gretchen said, “No, they don't. I didn’t have much of an appetite anyway.” The older woman came over to her and gave her a hug. “I can understand that. It’s okay now. You’re safe here.” =============================================================================== Baljeet and Ginger had chosen not to stay for dinner, but Isabella wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to spend more time with Phineas. The couple had been going out just a little longer than Ferb and Gretchen had, and Gretchen knew they’d already taken advantage of the Flynn-Fletchers’ relaxation of the rules on keeping bedroom doors open. Indeed, after dinner, Isabella practically dragged Phineas upstairs once the dishes were taken care of. Ferb’s parents - Gretchen supposed she really should get used to calling them Linda and Lawrence as they always insisted - were quietly talking at the other end of the kitchen. “Gretchen, could you come here for a minute?” Linda asked. Gretchen walked over to see what they wanted. Lawrence, looking somewhat embarrassed, said, “Um...not that I want to get into your and Ferb’s business, but we need to know what you would like for sleeping arrangements. He may be your owner at this point, but he’s still our child, and this is still our house. If you’d like to sleep on the couch, that’s fine, or we can bump Ferb into Phineas’s room while we sort out a long-term plan. “Or...if you and Ferb agree to share a room, I don’t think we can really argue against it under the circumstances.” Gretchen looked across the room at Ferb, who raised an eyebrow and smiled at her. “I don’t really want to be alone tonight, if you don’t mind,” she said. Linda nodded. “I understand.” She gestured Ferb over. “Ferb...are you okay with Gretchen sharing your room? Or would you rather bunk with Phineas for the night and we can figure out something longer-term tomorrow?” Ferb looked at Gretchen, his eyes full of love and hope. “If she’s willing to share with me, I’d be honoured to do so.” Gretchen grabbed onto his arm. “I am.” =============================================================================== Ferb entered his room wearing his pajama pants. Gretchen sat in his bed, wearing one of his shirts as a nightshirt. Perry was sitting on the end of the bed; Ferb picked him up and set him outside the door, saying, “Not tonight, Perry. Maybe Phineas will need some company now that Isabella’s gone home.” He closed the door and sat down next to Gretchen, putting an arm around her shoulders. She melted into him briefly, then pushed him down onto his back so she could curl up next to him. “Tonight, Ferb...just hold me?” she asked, her eyes moist. “Absolutely,” he said, gently stroking her hair with his free hand. Her shoulders shook as the tears she’d been holding in for the past week tore through her. He whispered reassurances in her ears as she shuddered, and eventually the trembling stopped as her breathing slowed. He reached over and turned off the light, then wrapped his free arm around her and tried to join her in sleep. =============================================================================== Perry snuck down the hallway. Gretchen had been rescued, so Ferb wouldn’t need him to hold onto tonight after all. He’d go spend the night with Phineas, but he had business to take care of first. He slipped through a secret panel in the staircase and down to his secret lair. Lieutenant Monogram had gone to his quarters already, so nobody was watching. Perry slipped into the indenture facility's computers and pulled up the access logs for the day. Phineas and Baljeet were good, and had left almost no traces in the systems. Perry wanted to be sure, and removed what few traces they had left behind. Hopefully, nobody would be able to prove it was anything but a random computer error now. Job done, he slipped back upstairs and into Phineas’s room. Phineas was curled in a ball on his bed, looking lonely. Perry slid in under an arm, and Phineas sighed peacefully as he slipped into a more relaxed sleep. ***** Lawyers and Love ***** Gretchen woke up to a view of a bare wall and a feeling of somebody resting back-to-back with her. She was lying on her side in a narrow bed - Ferb’s bed, her brain filled in. Rolling over to her other side, she saw that Ferb was facing away from her. She could hear his slow breathing as he slept. She’d cried herself out in his arms last night, wept for her lost father and how close she’d come to losing her freedom, until she’d fallen asleep. Now she was awake, and in her boyfriend/owner’s bed, wearing one of his spare shirts. And the idea of continuing where they’d left off before her father’s accident was awfully tempting right about now. She needed to feel loved, to show Ferb how much she loved him, to make love to him before the chance got stolen again. The fact that he hadn’t taken advantage of his authority over her was arousing; the knowledge that he could was a turn-on in an entirely different way. She curled up against him, feeling his warmth through the shirt, then decided she wanted to be even closer. She sat up and took the shirt off before pressing her bare skin against his as she slid an arm around his chest. He woke slowly at first, pressing back against her in his sleep before rolling over and wrapping her up in his own arms. His eyes flickered and he smiled sleepily as he looked at her from a few inches away. His hand stroked up and down her back before his eyes suddenly widened. She leaned in to kiss him. “It’s okay. I just wanted to get closer to you, and the shirt got in the way.” “But...I don’t want you to feel like you have to...” “I don’t. I want this.” “Are you sure? I’m willing to just hold you as long as you need me to,” he said. "I just got a rather sharp lesson in the hazards of waiting too long. We almost lost this chance, and I don't want to lose another one." "We've got plenty of time now, though." She reached up and took his chin in her hand, forcing him to look her in the face. “Ferb, if you’re trying to talk me out of this because you’re not ready right now, that’s okay. Tell me that and I’ll put the shirt back on and go take a cold shower. But if you’re just trying to confirm that I really want this, consider it confirmed and show me what you’d like to do to the naked and willing slave girl in your bed.” Ferb’s eyebrows went up, then he smiled. "I would very much like to make love to her." He leaned in to kiss her some more, trailing kisses down her neck, across the collar, and onto her shoulders as his hand slid up and down her bare side, leaving a trail of quivering sensation behind as it passed. He gently rolled her onto her back, his hand now sliding over her stomach to cup her breast. She gasped as his thumb brushed over the nipple, rapidly stiffening under his touch. “I want to see you,” she said with a hitch in her voice. She slid her hand along his chest to the waistband of his pajamas, then started pulling them down. His erection twitched slightly as her hand brushed past it, nestled in his forest-green pubic hair. He kicked the pajama pants the rest of the way off, and now they were both naked in his bed. She pressed herself to him, feeling his skin, so hot against her own, and his erection firm against her hip. His hand slid along her bare back, cupping her ass and pulling her leg up to wrap around his thigh. She could feel herself getting wet with desire, and then his fingers slid over her hip and found her pussy from behind. She whimpered into his neck as he gently stroked up and down, from her entrance to her clit and back. “Ferb...” she whispered. “I need you. Now.” “Just enjoy this,” he said. “Come for me. I want to make sure you get off before I do something that’s going to hurt. Come for me, love.” Gretchen surrendered to the feelings he was causing in her. One finger slid into her, with agonizing slowness; she pressed herself against it, trying to get it deeper. Ferb chuckled evilly as he slid it out of her, then back along to circle her clit, causing her hips to buck. He held her tightly, his skin ablaze against her own, the height difference between them gone as they lay side-by-side. She pressed against his fingers, and then a stroke across her clit sent her over the edge, clinging to Ferb tightly as her orgasm swept over her, pulling him tight as if to merge them into one being. She caught her breath and rolled over onto her back, making Ferb loosen his grip slightly. His eyes were full of wonder as he looked at her. “Wow,” she said when she found her voice again. “That...was amazing.” “It looked like it,” Ferb said. “Your turn now?” Ferb nodded. “We can just...” “No, Ferb. I want you. All of you. Inside me. Now.” She reached down and stroked his cock, making his breath catch. Ferb gently pressed her thighs apart, kneeling between them. His fingers slid up and down her slit again, gently entering her as if confirming she was wet and ready. “Ferb...if you don’t...I’m going to come again without you...” she said, thrusting up against his fingers. With a low chuckle, Ferb pressed his cock against her opening. “Oh...yes, Ferb. Yes.” She hissed as he thrust into her. The pain, expected but still unexpected, felt like something tearing into her, and Ferb paused to look her in the eyes with a questioning expression. “I’m fine. Just give me a moment to get used to this,” she said. He pushed himself up on one arm, the other sliding between them to rub against her clit. The pain was fading quickly, replaced with arousal as her body adjusted to the man rubbing her from inside and out. “Okay,” she said. “Keep going.” Continuing to stroke her clit with his fingers, Ferb began to gently thrust in and out of her. The pain was rapidly forgotten as she found herself hooking her heels around the backs of his thighs and urging him to go faster and deeper and harder. He pulled his hand from between them, and she looked up at him, slightly disappointed until she realized how close he was. She pulled him down to her, holding him as his thrusts reached a crescendo. Finally, he peaked, giving a barely-audible gasp and burying himself inside her as his cock pulsed out his orgasm. She wrapped her fingers in his hair as he collapsed on top of her; after a moment, he pushed himself up and slid out of her. She shivered at the loss of her covering and the sudden emptiness inside of her. “Do you need more?” he asked, his hand sliding down along her side. She nodded, not entirely trusting her voice, and his hand slid between her thighs and began to caress her again. His finger slid inside, and this time he inserted two and even three fingers, causing her to buck and moan as he took the fluids - his and hers now - from inside her and rubbed them around her clit. The excitement of having had Ferb inside of her and now trying to bring her off again was more than she could take, and again she pulled him to herself tightly as her thighs clamped down, trapping his hand as she moaned into his shoulder. Spent, she gently pulled his hand out from between her legs, then curled up in his arms to rest for a while. =============================================================================== Ferb lay back in bed, thinking about their first time. He loved her so much, and things had gone so well. Now he needed to see about rebuilding her life. She was going to need clothes, school supplies, re-registration in school...so much more. She stirred in his arms, leaning up to give him a quick kiss. “Mind if I go take a shower?” she asked. He shook his head. “Care to join me?” “I’d love to,” he said, “but I don’t think the rest of the house would appreciate it so much. Maybe when we get our own place, or at least somewhere where we have our own bathroom.” She laughed and reached above him to grab the shirt she’d slept in. “Okay. I’ll go take the first shower, then.” She sat up and donned the shirt, then blew him a kiss on her way out the bedroom door. Downstairs, the phone rang. A moment later, he heard Phineas clomping up the stairs. “Ferb, phone call. Some lawyer,” he said through the door. Ferb got out of bed, opened the door, and took the cordless phone from Phineas. “Hello?” he said into it. “Hello, am I speaking to Mr. Ferbinand Fletcher?” the dry voice on the other end of the line said. “Yes, yes you are.” “Excellent. Did you purchase the indenture contract of a Miss Gretchen Schneider yesterday?” Ferb started to worry. Had their scheme been found out? He kept his voice calm as he said, “Yes, yes I did.” “Very good. I am Isaac Campbell, the attorney for Miss Schneider’s late father. May I speak with her?” Ferb barely managed not to sigh from relief. “She’s in the shower right now. May I have you call her back?” “Actually, could the two of you come meet me at my office? Any time today would be fine.” “I think we can be there in about an hour, will that do?” “That would be excellent, Mr. Fletcher. I look forward to meeting you.” Ferb hung up the phone and lay back on the bed again. A few moments later, Gretchen returned wrapped in a towel. “You can steal one of my shirts if you’d like,” he said, “and we’ll see if you can borrow a pair of shorts from Phineas until we get a chance to stop at a store. His are more likely to fit you than mine are. Your father’s lawyer called - he wants to meet up with us for some reason, so we’ll go do that, then go get you some clothes.” She gave him a quick kiss and said, “Oh, Mr. Campbell? I’ve never met him, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about him from Dad. Let’s go see what he has to say.” =============================================================================== The secretary smiled at them. “Mr. Campbell will see you now,” she said, gesturing to the door behind her. Gretchen followed Ferb into the office, and her eyes went wide when she recognized the man behind the desk. He was the sweaty man from the auction. He smiled at her and indicated a pair of chairs in front of the desk. “Miss Schneider,” he said in a dry but comforting voice, “I’d like to express my condolences on the loss of your father. Jim Schneider was a good man and a good friend.” Gretchen’s eyes watered, and she thanked him in a small voice. “Also,” the lawyer continued, “I need to apologize. One of my duties in managing your trust fund was to purchase your indenture contract if it were ever an issue, and I was unable to do that. I attempted to, but there was some sort of computer problem. Fortunately, Mr. Fletcher was able to purchase the contract. Jim spoke very highly of you, Mr. Fletcher, and felt his daughter had made an excellent choice in dating you.” Ferb nodded his head. “Thank you, that’s nice to hear.” One of the things Mr. Campbell had said finally connected in Gretchen’s brain. “Excuse me. Did you say ‘trust fund’? I wasn’t aware of any trust fund.” “When your mother, Samantha, died giving birth to you, your father was awarded a significant sum of money in settlement for a malpractice and wrongful death lawsuit. He placed most of the award into a trust fund for you; as is required by law, the trust fund will become fully available to you when you turn nineteen, assuming you are eligible at that time. In addition, when your father died, all of his assets went into a separate but similar trust.” Gretchen knew what ‘eligible’ meant. Indentured servants couldn’t own property; her research had found several cases where people had been indentured while underage, and then (allegedly) forced to renew their indenture, just so that the next person in line could steal their inheritance. “How much money are we talking about?” she asked, the pieces of a puzzle finally coming together. “The trust fund from Samantha Walker Schneider’s death, after careful management by your father, is now worth approximately thirty-four million dollars. In addition, your father’s assets were worth another fourteen million dollars. You were not aware?” “Dad never talked about money, and if I asked, he just said there was ‘enough’.” Mr. Campbell laughed. “That there was.” “Thank you,” Gretchen said. “That makes certain things make more sense now. If I for some reason am forced to renew my indenture, who would those funds go to?” Mr. Campbell’s smile vanished. “Your uncle, William Walker. Which would explain why he indentured you. I tried to call you the day after the funeral, to schedule a meeting; he said you weren't in at the moment and he didn't have your cell phone number handy. From the timestamps, he filed the indenture paperwork about half an hour after getting off the phone with me.” Gretchen nodded. “I hadn’t been aware of any reason why he’d have done it. Now I know.” Mr. Campbell turned to Ferb. “May I inquire what your plans are for Miss Schneider, Mr. Fletcher?” Ferb sat up, and said, “I had intended to let her continue as close to her normal life as possible. School starts in a week and a half, and she’ll attend normally. Afterwards, her indenture should expire partway through her freshman year of college. Will the trust fund be able to pay for her college expenses? My parents were a bit concerned about having to pay for college for three people all of a sudden.” “Unfortunately, no,” Mr. Campbell said. “As the contract-holder, you’re required to pay for her expenses, and by law her trust fund can’t provide funds to her contract-holder unless the trust fund holds the contract itself.” Ferb nodded. “I suspected as much. I have no desire or intention to renew the contract; if I could cancel it today, I would.” Mr. Campbell said, “Actually, today wouldn’t be a good choice. Custody would go back to her uncle, and he could re-indenture her before I could get a petition filed to remove his custodial rights. Once she’s eighteen, then we should see about cancelling. That will depend on which judge the case ends up with - some will cancel pretty much any contract that comes before them, some won't. “A question for you - would you be willing to sell her contract to the trust fund? It means that someone acting on its behalf would have to handle any financial transactions for her, but the trust fund would then be able to pay for things for her.” “I’m sorry, no,” Ferb said, shaking his head. “Nothing personal, but...her uncle just tried to sell her as a slave. I’ve just met you, and while I’m sure you’re looking out for her best interests, right now, I don’t trust anyone - anyone - with her contract. Until it’s expired or cancelled, I will hold onto it for dear life.” Mr. Campbell nodded appreciatively. “Understandable. In that case - what can I do to help you two?” Gretchen said, “I need clothes. A larger bed would be nice. And I’ll probably need a new laptop for school, unless we can get my old one back from Uncle Bill. But clothes are the top priority right now, since all I have is what I can borrow from Ferb and his brother, and one white shirt that they gave me when I was sold.” “I can contact your uncle and see if I can obtain any personal effects from him, if you’d like. Any items left in your father’s house would clearly belong to the trust now, and be inaccessible while Mr. Fletcher holds the contract.” “If you could get my things from Uncle Bill, that would be wonderful. The clothes there would be nice, but I’d really like to get back my laptop and cell phone.” “I’ll see what I can do and contact you later today, then. I'll also have a larger bed delivered - is queen size okay? My gift to you, in apology for being unable to purchase your contract.” ***** Computer Access ***** Vanessa poked listlessly at the computer in Monty’s quarters. He was off working, and had recently given her access to his computer while he was away. “For good behavior,” he’d said, and she’d felt pleased with herself for an instant before quashing the feeling. It’s just the Stockholm Syndrome talking, she thought. That’s what he wants. He wants you to fall in love with him before the indenture ends. But, now she had access to a computer. Unfortunately, it had been locked down so much that she couldn’t do much with it at all. Any social media or communication site was off-limits; pretty much any way that she could try to communicate with the outside world was unavailable. So she had her choice of various types of mindless pap, but nothing substantial; news sites were similarly out-of-bounds to keep her ignorant and dependent on Monty for information. She’d pondered trying to bypass the restrictions, but they appeared to be applied by the network rather than this computer. She’d have to crack into Monty’s account to get further, and while she did have some skill at making computers do what she wanted them to, she wasn’t anywhere near good enough to do that without any tools. A rattling noise from the vents over her head distracted her from the stupid kids’ show she currently had showing. She looked up just in time to see that a vent had been opened; a small item flew out of the darkness toward her, and she caught it by reflex. It looked like a thumbdrive attached to a small USB passthrough; puzzled, she looked up to see the vent closing and a flash of teal behind it. She separated the passthrough from the thumbdrive and plugged the thumbdrive in. It was empty except for a program and a text file labelled ‘Read me!’. Intrigued, she opened up the ‘Read me!” file. Vanessa: I know you’re innocent, and were framed by Monty. I think, with your help, we can prove your innocence and take him down. We need proof that he ordered Perry to frame you, but that can only be found from Monty’s account. If there's a video of the briefing where he gave the order, that would be ideal. The other device with this thumbdrive is a keylogger; put it between the keyboard and the computer. Then, after Monty has logged in, run the program on this drive to retrieve his password from the keylogger. After you have the password, remove the keylogger and hide it so you can use it again if he changes his password. There's another thumbdrive in the vent; to communicate with me, put whatever data you want to give me on it and hide it where you got it from. Make sure you only log into Monty’s account when you’re sure he isn’t using it! If he’s logged in at two places at once, a security alert will trigger. Good luck. I hope I don’t need to tell you to keep this hidden. If Monty finds it, we’re both in trouble. It’s magnetic, if that helps you find a good hiding place for it. Sincerely, A friend Vanessa felt a surge of hope within her. Somebody on the outside was trying to help. She popped the keylogger in place, then went to look for a good hiding place for the thumbdrive. =============================================================================== Ferb carefully drove home after their shopping trip. They’d bought her some clothes; she was wearing a light sundress that showed her off quite well, in a steel-blue shade that did incredible things to her eyes. They’d also bought her a few special pieces to wear at night, which Ferb assiduously tried not to think about while he was driving. They arrived home just as Mr. Campbell drove up. “Oh, excellent, I was hoping to catch up with you. I was able to get all your belongings without paying anything - your Aunt Karen told me to take them. Apparently she did not approve of her husband’s actions; neither did your cousins. Your aunt asked me to apologize to you for what had happened.” “Thank you so much,” Gretchen said as Ferb carried the box into the house. “This will make things so much easier.” “Glad to help,” Mr. Campbell said. “The mattress should be showing up shortly - I took the liberty of picking up some new sheets for you as well.” =============================================================================== Gretchen was annoyed to find that her cell phone had been smashed, but everything else seemed okay. She fired up her laptop to find several days of email awaiting her. One recent one caught her eye; it was from Bill and Karen’s older daughter, her cousin Becky, who was two years younger than her. Hey Gretch -  Glad you got your stuff back. I’m real sorry about what my Dad did. Mom’s totally pissed at him about it - she’s talking divorce. I guess it had been brewing for a while, and this was the last straw. :( We all knew he didn't like your father, but nobody guessed he'd sell you off to get back at him. Total dick move. 8==> I’m also real sorry about your cell phone. Dad tried to give it to me as an upgrade to my old one, since he said you wouldn’t need it any more. I threw it at him, saying I’d rather have my cousin back. He ducked and it hit the wall and broke. ;P The lawyer said you got bought by your boyfriend? XD Is it that hot guy you brought to the Fourth of July barbecue, with the green hair? Is his hair green everywhere? Details, girl, I want details! Keep me in the loop, ‘kay? Beck Gretchen smiled. She’d talk to Ferb about fixing the phone, or getting a new one. It was nice to know that some of her family was on her side here. She started writing up a reply to Becky. =============================================================================== The new mattress arrived just before dinner, and as they were getting ready for bed, Gretchen asked Ferb what he’d like her to wear to sleep that night. “Um...the green lace thing that we picked up today would look nice on you.” he said. “Sounds good,” she said, picking it and a robe up and preparing to head to the bathroom. “Before you go,” Ferb said, “what was up with Isabella tonight? She seemed grumpy about something.” Gretchen snickered. “She asked her parents if she could sleep over here tonight, since I get to. Her father asked if he should look into indenture contracts for her.” Ferb winced. “So, no, I take it?” “Nope. She’s not happy about that.” “She’ll figure something out eventually,” Ferb said. ***** Don't Mess With Nana ***** Chapter Notes I envision Nana Walker as being played by Diana Rigg, similarly to how she plays Lady Olenna Redwyne on Game of Thrones. Two days later, Gretchen got a call from Mr. Campbell. “Your grandmother was admitted to the hospital last night with breathing issues. They don’t think she has too much time left. She’d like to see you.” “I’ll talk to Ferb, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem,” she replied. =============================================================================== Gretchen led the way to her grandmother’s room; the old woman had finagled a private room somehow, and smiled at her as they entered. “Oh, good, you made it,” Nana Walker said. “How do I look?” Gretchen looked her over. Her skin was drawn and pale, and the oxygen tube into her nostrils was clearly not just an accessory. “Like hell,” she said. Nana snorted. “Sounds about right. So, tell me your side of this story,” she said, pointing at Gretchen’s collar. Gretchen shrugged. “I’m not really sure. Two days after Dad’s funeral, the inductors showed up, tied me up, and threw me in a truck. After Ferb bought me, I found out that I’m apparently in line for a fat trust fund if I can keep from signing a renewal contract.” Nana’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, your father did well with the money he got from the doctor's insurance company. Which was the main reason he and Bill didn’t get along; Bill, for some reason, thought he deserved some of the money from his sister’s death. He probably has this justified in his head that he’s just getting back the money that’s rightfully his. Foolish boy. I should have indentured him when I had the chance.” Ferb covered a smirk with his hand; Gretchen didn’t bother hiding hers. “So, Ferb,” Nana said, turning toward him, “what are your intentions toward my granddaughter? Isaac said you refused to sell her contract to the trust fund.” “Yes,” Ferb said, “I don’t trust anyone but myself with it. I intend to hold onto it until it expires or we can get it cancelled. And then...,” he looked at Gretchen, “I intend to stay with her, if she’ll have me.” Nana nodded. “Good answer. I assume you’ve lowered her resale value by now, anyway.” Gretchen blushed, but Ferb said, “It’s just like a new car. Resale value gets cut in half as soon as you take it for a drive.” Nana laughed and turned back to Gretchen. “I like him.” Gretchen looked at him and smiled. “I do too.” =============================================================================== Vanessa let herself go, surrendering to the orgasm that Monty wanted her to have, cursing him in her head all the while. She screamed and clutched at him as her vision went white, holding him tightly as he removed his fingers from her clit and kept thrusting into her. She rode the crests of the orgasm, and then felt his as well as his hips pinned hers in place and he let out a low cry. Damn, but he’s good at that. I don’t know what’s worse - that he knows when I’m faking, or that he does such a good job of giving me the real ones. With a smile that was only half-feigned, she said, “Thank you, Monty,” as he required her to after any orgasm. He kissed her, probing her mouth with his tongue, and then broke away to look her in the eyes. “You’re welcome, Vanessa,” he said. He’d begun using her name instead of just calling her ‘slave’ recently. Trying to get me thinking this is just a normal relationship, and not legally-sanctioned rape. He rolled off of her and onto his back, pulling her over to rest her head on his chest. She knew how the routine went from here, and he followed it exactly. Two minutes later, his grip loosened as he went to sleep, and she got up to clean herself off in the bathroom. He was out cold as she returned, so she slipped over into the living room and turned on his computer. She’d gotten his password off the keylogger that afternoon: VanessaMonogram#1. I should have guessed. They’d dated briefly when she was still in high school, but she’d broken it off when he started getting too controlling and tried to pull her away from her family. He’d kept bothering her for years, claiming they were destined to be together. It wasn’t until the police showed up to arrest her that she’d realized the depths to which he’d sink to claim her as his own. She logged into his account, tensing as she waited to see if an alarm was triggered, but nothing happened. Let’s see what I can find in here, she thought, and dug into his archived files with a will. =============================================================================== Nana died three days after their visit. Ferb and Gretchen went to the funeral, and she saw the family reaction to her collar - and the glares at Bill when people saw it. She wasn’t even the only servant there - she was just the only one there as family, rather than property of family. Aunt Karen brought Becky and Anna, and after personally apologizing to Gretchen, pointedly sat with her rather than with Uncle Bill. Mr. Campbell was there as well, which Gretchen thought odd. Various people spoke briefly about Nana, her long life, and all the things she’d accomplished. Finally, Mr. Campbell got up to speak. “Eleanor Walker was a unique individual, and she asked me to do something unusual here. She asked me to read her will at her funeral - she said she had some final messages in there she wanted to make clear.” He read through the boilerplate information before getting to the bequests. “Barring the exceptions I state below, I leave my entire estate to my three granddaughters: Gretchen Schneider, Rebecca Walker, and Anna Walker, to be divided evenly between them. In the event that any of them are under the age of nineteen, their share of the estate is to be held in trust until their nineteenth birthday. In the event that any of them are ineligible to inherit due to death, indenture, or any other cause, that person’s share of the estate is to be donated to the Indenture Reform Coalition. “I leave the amount of one hundred thousand dollars to the Indenture Reform Coalition, in hopes that this horribly-abusive system can be fixed or abolished.” Gretchen noticed that there were more people glancing at her, and glaring at Bill, who was fuming. “To Ferbinand Fletcher, the man who rescued my granddaughter, I leave seven thousand dollars as reimbursement for the cost of purchasing her indenture, and the same amount again in gratitude. “To my son, William Walker, I leave thirty pieces of silver. He will know why.” Bill stood up and stormed down the aisle and out the door, everyone in the funeral home watching him go. ***** Things Hit The Fan ***** Perry dropped into his chair with a sigh. Heinz had pretty much given up; he was building -inators just so Perry had a reason to come blow them up, without ever intending to use them. But, Monty still had to keep sending him out as part of showing Heinz who was boss. The monitor turned on; apparently Vanessa had fought back a bit more, because she was naked again, and fresh welts covered her breasts. Monty looked slightly worried, which was unusual; given Vanessa’s state, Perry would have expected him to be insufferably smug. Did Monty find the keylogger? “Agent P,” Monty began, “we’re dispatching a backup agent to Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s today. Your services have been requested by the Indenture Transfer Facility; they apparently had some computer issues about a week ago, and they said you did such a good job last time, they’d like you to help them again.” Perry began to sweat. The last time he’d worked on their computers, it was to plant the evidence used to convict Vanessa, under the guise of helping them track down the computer break-in he’d committed. And a week ago would put it at right about the time that Phineas and Baljeet had done their work to help Ferb purchase Gretchen. On the plus side, this meant Monty hadn’t found the keylogger, he was just stressed because any dealings with the Indenture Transfer Facility meant Monty’s crime could be revealed. “I’m sure you’re aware just how important trust in their computer systems is, so please help them in any way possible.” Perry nodded, and the screen turned off. =============================================================================== Perry knocked on the office door of Eddie, the head system administrator at the Indenture Transfer Facility. A voice within yelled, “Come on in!” so Perry turned the knob and opened the door. The room inside was dark and covered in anime posters and empty soda cans. A tall bearded man said, “Hey, Agent P. Good to see you again. Come here, let me show you what I found.” Perry sat in the chair next to the man and looked at the screen, which displayed a file comparison tool. “So, about a week ago, we had an issue where legit bids were being rejected due to packet corruption. It looked like it was just a random bit error in one of the core routers, but I grabbed a copy of the logs anyway just in case. So I was looking at them last night, and happened to compare them to the current logs, and I found that the logs on the router got changed after I grabbed my copy. I can’t find anything on where the change came from, but this pretty clearly shows that somebody was messing around in there, and tried to cover their tracks.” Perry hoped he looked interested, and not terrified. His attempt to conceal the boys’ actions had accidentally brought their efforts to the attention of Eddie. “But I can’t track the info from here. All I know is that the old IPs in the logs are international - somewhere in Brazil - so I can’t get info on the machines they came from. The new ones are garbage - they’re in RFC 5737 example space, so clearly junk. Can you help?” Perry nodded. Things were still open enough that he could find somebody else to pin things on, perhaps. Or declare failure and say that the trail went cold. “Here’s the logs I have,” Eddie said, handing him a thumbdrive. “Let me know what you find, okay?” =============================================================================== Gretchen had always looked forward to the first day of school before, but this year she was quite a bit more concerned than usual. “It’ll be fine,” Ferb said. “I will be with you as much as I can, and your other friends will be there to cover when I can’t. After a couple days, the people you deal with should be used to it.” “I know. It’s just...I’ve seen how the school’s servants get treated. It was part of my research paper. And I know that there are folks who’ll assume anyone with a collar is school property.” “I’d give you pepper spray if I could, but...” “I know, illegal to arm a servant.” “Best I can do is this,” he said, handing her a small box with a recessed button on it. “It’s a pocket panic button. If you press this, it’ll send an alert to my phone with your location, and we’ll come help as quickly as I can.” She smiled at him and leaned in for a hug. “Thank you,” she said. “That means a lot to me.” =============================================================================== Gretchen tried to slip through the hallways unnoticed. This was the one spot in her schedule where Ferb couldn’t easily accompany her, and while it was reassuring to have Ginger with her, it wasn’t quite the same. “Just relax,” Ginger was telling her. “If you look like you don’t belong here, people will think something’s up.” “Maybe I should just do online school for the rest of the year,” Gretchen replied. “Hey, looky what we got here,” a boy said, stepping into her path. She looked up at him - a long ways up, as he was well over six feet. “You’re a new servant, ain’t you?” “She’s not yours to play with,” Ginger said. “I wasn’t asking your opinion,” he said with a sneer. Gretchen tried to step around him, but he blocked her. “I asked you a question, servant,” he said. “I’m not school property,” Gretchen said, far more quietly than she’d intended. “Am I supposed to care about that?” the boy said, starting to reach for her. “Yes,” Ferb said from behind the boy. “Keep your hands off of her.” The boy turned around and looked down at Ferb, who was still a couple inches shorter than he was. “And you are?” The other students in the area scattered, emptying a circle around the four. “Her owner. She’s here with my permission and under my protection.” “Ooooh. Your protection. Am I supposed to be scared?” The boy reached out to push Ferb's shoulder. His hand never connected. Ferb slipped under his arm, twisted it, and flipped him across the hall. The boy shook his head as he lay in a heap. Ferb looked at him and said, “Yes.” The crowd around them started to giggle, and a teacher arrived telling everyone to break it up and go to class. Gretchen gave Ferb a quick hug and walked with him the rest of the way to class, separating just at the door. ***** Jackpot ***** Gretchen opened her email to find another message from Becky. Hey Gretch - Dad lost his job. (I’m sure you’re totally heartbroken.