Satisfaction Guaranteed By Darkwulf ------------------- Chapter Four ------------------- Athelind went about his morning tasks gingerly, careful not to disturb his overly full stomach. He put last night's dishes into the washer, and tidied up as best as he could. Then, hopping into the shower, he went about deciding how to conceal his condition from Lily. His thoughts were quickly interrupted, though, by the drum of warm water across his swollen midsection.... ------------------- Eight thirty rolled around, and Athelind still had no idea what he could do about Lillian. She was due to come by within the next half hour, and his stomach was still stuffed from last night's overindulgence, his belly visibly distended. Certainly he couldn't allow himself to be seen like THIS, especially by his own dietician! But, as the minutes ticked away, escape seemed less and less likely. He had been through every inch of his closet at least three times. Everything he owned fit into one of two categories. Either a garment wouldn't fit him properly today, or it did absolutely nothing to disguise the bulge of his middle. In some cases, the clothing even made it MORE apparent. Clad only in a pair of boxer shorts, their waistband pushed underneath the expanse of his gut, Athelind made one more desperate attempt to find something, ANYthing, to wear. And then the doorbell rang. Athelind gasped and spun around to look at his alarm clock. The momentum of his stomach nearly made him KEEP spinning around, but he managed to get his motion under control enough to see the clock. "Eight fifty. She's early!" Frantic, the dragon looked wildly around the room, and was suddenly struck by inspiration! He grabbed the comforter off of his bed, flinging pillows and sheets to the floor. Wrapping the blanket loosely around himself, he slumped a bit, and affected a slow, sickly shuffle to the front door. Stifling a nonexistent cough, he answered the door, trying to look as pathetic as he knew how. His ability to act must have been greater than he gave himself credit for. As soon as Lily saw him, slumped over and wrapped in the blanket, sympathy instantly /poured/ from her. Athelind felt a bit guilty about playing off of her emotions this way, but as she threw her arm around him to comfort him and help him to the couch, he found it difficult to regret doing it. "Oh, you poor thing!" Lily gasped. "Are you all right? What's the matter?" "Oh, it's nothing," the dragon assured her in his best sore throated voice. "I just picked up a little bug. I should be fine in a couple of days." "All right, then. I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to go out and buy you lots of orange juice, and a few other things. Then, I'll fix you up plenty of food and leave you alone for the rest of the weekend, so you can rest up," Lily smiled, heading for the door. "Well," Athelind stammered, "I suppose that would be for the best. That way, there's no real danger of you catching what I have. Thank you, Lily." The cat threw Athelind a smile and a cheerful swish of her tail as the door closed behind her. When he heard her car door slam, he fell back onto the couch, heaving a great sigh of relief. "I can't believe I managed to pull that off," he murmured. "All of that worrying, and an idea just /comes/ to me at the last possible second." The dragon grinned to himself, scratching his side gently. "And now I have the rest of the day...the rest of the WEEKEND, to recover from that." Hauling himself back off of the couch, he returned to his room to straighten up the mess that he made digging through his closet. In a surprisingly short amount of time, the doorbell rang again. He kept himself from rushing to the door, and put his hand on the knob before he realized he'd left the blanket back on the couch! Disaster barely averted, he quickly snagged the blanket and wrapped it back around himself before answering the door. "I keep forgetting how quickly you shop," he chuckled, letting Lily back in. "Oh, I should have just let myself in," Lily moaned. "I just keep making you get up and go back to bed...how inconsiderate of me!" "No, no, that's quite all right!" Athelind raised a steadying hand, shushing her. "Walking a bit does me some good, and I don't like having people wandering into my house when I don't know about it." Lily motioned to one of the bags she was carrying. "I got plenty of orange juice. You go back to bed, now, and I'll fix up enough food to last you the weekend. Promise me that you'll eat properly for now. You need plenty of nutrition to help you get well!" Athelind grinned sheepishly and promised that, yes, he wouldn't starve himself any more until he was well. After he asked whether he could help her any more, Lily shooed him back towards his bedroom, insisting that he go back to sleep. "I'll let myself out when I'm finished, and I'll leave you a note telling you where I put everything. Now go!" Properly chastised, the dragon shuffled back to his bedroom. Tossing his pillows and sheets back onto the bed, Athelind curled up with a book and read for a bit. He chuckled, inordinately pleased with himself for pulling this off. After a bit, he became drowsy, lulled to sleep by the gentle pressure still present in his belly, and the quiet sounds coming from his kitchen. The dragon placed his bookmark between the pages, set the book aside, and curled up underneath the comforter to drift back into sleep. ------------------- Athelind woke up a few hours later. Stretching luxuriously under his comforter, he listened for any sounds of activity in the house. He could hear none, but wrapped the blanket around himself as he got up, just to be safe. Adopting his slow, weary shuffle again, he wandered towards the kitchen. His precautions were in vain, though, because Lily had long since left. Discarding the blanket, he picked up a note he found on the dining room table. "Hmmm," he murmured. "Lots of orange juice in the refrigerator. Fruits and veggies, too, as well as some sandwiches and soup. Drink plenty of fluids, get plenty of rest, and make sure to eat well. See you on Monday, Lily." Athelind folded the note and set it back down, then peeked into the refrigerator to take measure of things for himself. Sure enough, there were two large jugs of orange juice in there, along with several small containers of soup, wrapped objects that could only be sandwiches, and lots of vegetables. The dragon grabbed a bag of baby carrots, slitting it open with one claw as he went to the living room. He idly munched on a few of the veggies as he opened up the day's paper, still pleased with himself for how well he'd handled things. ------------------- By the next morning, Athelind was slim and trim again. Or, at least, his belly was no longer so swollen that it looked like he'd swallowed a football. Stretching the kinks out of his muscles, the dragon took a quick shower and grabbed some of his casual clothes. Putting on a pair of his favorite jeans, he was startled to discover that they were unusually constricting. Warily, he tried on his button- down shirt, and discovered that it too was tight. Suddenly concerned, he immediately stripped back down and put on one of his suits. The jacket was okay, and the pants were only slightly snug, not nearly as bad as his jeans. But the shirt, again, was too tight. In fact, this time he had trouble fastening the buttons, and it looked like it might burst open if he took too deep a breath. Grumbling bitterly, the dragon put on some sweats, hanging the other clothing back up. "All right, this is NOT good," he murmured. "I'm not stuffed any more, but I've OBVIOUSLY gained more weight. This means that I'll either have to buy some new clothes, or hope it goes away." As he continued to talk to himself, he was already getting his wallet and keys. "And I know how likely it is to just go away...." Grabbing his jacket, he left the house, still grumbling. ------------------- After a couple of hours, Athelind was beginning to become concerned. He had only managed to find one pair of jeans and two shirts that he liked. "Can't I have any luck at all?" he griped. Sighing bitterly, he got back into his car. "All right, Athelind. You're going to have to do something you've been putting off for a long time." And with that, Athelind drove to Dan's Big and Tall shop. ------------------- A half an hour later, the dragon was extremely pleased with his purchases. He had found several more pairs of pants, some casual shirts, and even some white dress shirts to replace the ones he usually wore to work. "Now this is MUCH more the thing," he smiled. "Too proud to come here before. Hmmph." Paying for his purchases, he stopped at a fast food place for a late lunch on his way home. It was several hours before he realized what he'd done, and he regretted it. But, he mused, the damage was done. This was the first slip he'd made during the entire regimen, and it wasn't likely to have an extreme impact. ------------------- On Monday morning, Lily returned, anxious to hear how Athelind was doing. The dragon did his best to reassure her that he had, in fact, gotten plenty of rest, and he was feeling great. After that, the cat searched his refrigerator, and discovered that he had consumed most of the orange juice and sandwiches, as well as a great deal of the soups and vegetables. "I'm proud of you," she enthused. "You managed to keep eating well, even though you weren't feeling your best. Oh, I almost forgot! Since I wasn't here yesterday, we missed weighing you in!" Athelind nodded and went to change into his bathrobe, returning to find her waiting in the bathroom again. He mentally cringed, knowing that he was heavier than before. Still, he said nothing, waiting for her analysis of the situation. Lily manipulated the weights on the scale, trying to make the balance level. After a few moments, she gasped and nearly let her clipboard fall to the floor. "Oh my goodness!" she gasped. "Oh, no," Athelind moaned. "What is it this week?" "It's...three thirty-one," the cat said slowly. "Fifteen pounds since the last weigh-in." "FIFTEEN?" the dragon gasped. "How could I gain fifteen pounds in just over a week?" With supreme control, he managed to keep himself from falling over in shock. Lily was flipping through the contents of her clipboard, nearly in tears. "Something is horribly wrong here, Mr. Stormdancer," she stammered, slipping back into the formal tone she used when talking about business and the contract. "By all rights, you should have lost weight this week. Between the changes I made to your diet, the small amounts you were eating, and your illness this last weekend, there is simply no reason for you to have gained any weight at all, let alone that much!" "But what can be done?" the dragon demanded. "I know you're doing your part, and I'm doing mine." Lillian flipped through some more of the paperwork. "I'll have to do some checking, but I believe we have a procedure that is used in unusual cases like this one. It involves a special, intensive program. We'll have to contact your place of business and get you some medical leave; then I or another dietician will accompany you at all times, making certain that your nutrition is completely balanced and that no cheating whatsoever can take place." The cat blushed softly. "I believe you when you say you're not cheating, but it's company policy at this point." Athelind gasped, astonished. "What? I gain more than thirty pounds on the program that was supposed to make me LOSE thirty pounds, and now I have to take time off of work to continue? I think it might be best to cut my losses, and call me a lost cause...." Lily shook her head, tears still filling her eyes. She pointed a finger at one section of the contract. "I'm afraid that wouldn't be advisable," she cautioned. "According to the terms of the contract, if the first session doesn't achieve the stated results, then the company pays for the remaining sessions until the results occur. However, if you were to break your side of the contract by canceling before you have lost thirty pounds, you will be responsible for payment of all fees and groceries for all of the sessions, not just the first one. And, at this point, that figure comes to...." The cat turned a few more pages, then gasped, ears drooping. Rather than stating the number aloud, she simply pointed at the figure, letting Athelind read it himself. This time, Athelind took a seat on the edge of the bathtub, not trusting his legs to keep supporting him. "Well, then," he murmured. "I suppose I have no choice...." "I'm terribly sorry to have to break it to you this way," Lily said, trying to console him. "It's possible that the company will decide the intensive program isn't warranted here. It's even possible that they might consider breaking the contract themselves; then you won't be responsible for anything. It's not usual, but it HAS happened before." Athelind nodded. "Do what you have to, and keep me informed, I suppose. I started this, and it's my job to see it through to the end." Lily smiled and gave the dragon a hug, still trying to comfort him. "I'm sure things will turn out fine in the end," she sighed. -------------------