A&A/ AU

This may not me to everyone's taste, but give it a try.

I think it's interesting and worth writing down.

The Ties That Bind

1.

~ Arthur looked out at the sea of faces he had known most of his life. Young men and women he had grown up with as a child. Their world, perfect and sheltered, was changing now. Their life's purpose was becoming real. They were no longer children, or young people in their 20's. At least, the men weren't.

A bell rang and everyone at the large, elegant dinner party stood as Arthur's father and several other elders read from the sacred text.

It was the same thing over and over again. Nothing he hadn't heard before, yet tonight, it moved him more than he remembered as a young man. The promise of new life, the continuation of a legacy. The trust and love of child and parent that is felt more strongly by the people in this room, than by outsiders.

When the toast came, Arthur was the first to raise his glass.

"For our sons, for our daughters." came the cry of the hall.

~ "So glad you came back into the fold, Arthur." Richard said as father and son walked away from the fancy party. Men and women dressed in splendid evening wear as they talked lightly and discussed future plans. They were the lucky ones, the chosen ones.

"It's good to be back." Arthur sighed as he looked around the elegant dinning hall of the high end apartment building he had spent his boyhood in.

The Demeter* wasn't just another Park Avenue address with hundreds of spacious apartments and lush services, it was private and exclusive. No one could rent an apartment there, or even gain entrance inside, no one.

"Tell me, do you have a potential mother in mind?" Richard asked hopefully.

"Dad, I was thinking of going outside the group." Arthur said.

Richard stiffened.

"An outsider, Into our way of life would not be good, Arthur. What about Helen? She's a lovely girl and already had a child with Tom, an old friend of yours. She weathered the pregnancy beautifully and the baby was perfect." Richard offered.

"No." Arthur told him.

"Arthur, an outsider would be too much work. To find a suitable candidate, to test and screen them, to bring them in. What if she changes her mind and refuses to give the baby up? What if she tries to go to the press?" Richard told him.

"We've done it before. My mother was an outsider." Arthur told him.

Richard hung his head.

"Yes, and had she been brought up in our ways, things would not have happened the way they did. A child born here, never belongs to us, does it? A woman who is an outsider will never be able to understand that." Richard told him.

Arthur looked at the beautiful women at the party tonight. All of them were of the age to fulfill their birth right, all of them capable of providing for Arthur. Yet, none of them appealed to him.

"I want an outsider." Arthur told his father.

~ Ariadne took forever with these intelligence tests and felt drained just now. She had answered an ad in the paper of a fertility clinic, offering a lot of money to sell her eggs. It had been a little strange to respond to an ad like this. But, the operation seemed alright. She was interviewed at a clinic where her blood work was taken, her personal information recorded.

Then there were IQ testing and physical endurance testing. Her complete medical history was looked over, and all she could think about was that she needed a nap now that it was almost over.

Her last tuition check for school bounced and her student aide had been declined. She made good grades, but she already owed too much money and would have to leave school soon if she couldn't pay.

The $10,000 that was being offered for her eggs would go a long way. She didn't think about the fact that there would be a child out there and she would be it's mother. But then again, no she wouldn't. It was just her eggs, she wouldn't be pregnant. It was no different than a man giving sperm. She had never, and most likely would never be pregnant. Having a baby was not on her to do list. Babies were messy, smelly, demanded a lot of attention and took even more money. It was hardly worth it.

She liked her freedom and intended to keep it.

She put her pencil down and her test was taken away.

A clerk came into the room and brought her some water to drink and some fruit to eat. They were always giving her only water and healthy snacks. Always asking if she needed more to eat.

She was glad it was almost over when an older man came into the room and sat down in front of her.

"Ariadne, is it? Like in Greek mythology?" he said with a pleasant smile.

"Oh, yes." she said and tried to look professional.

"My name is Richard." he said and looked over a thick folder which she realized was her tests and lab work.

"Tell me, have you ever engaged in prostitution?" he asked.

"No." Ariadne said shocked he would even ask such a thing.

"I'm not trying to offend you, dear." Richard said. "It is standard."

"Oh." Ariadne told him shifting uncomfortably.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No."

"Have you ever had an STD?" he asked.

"I had mono once." Ariadne told him. She meant it as a joke, but the older man glared at her. "No, sir." she whispered.

"Tell me about your sexual partners." he demanded.

"What?" she gasped in alarm.

"How many sexual partners have you had? Oral sex included." he said.

She stood up to leave.

"Please don't go." he asked.

"Pervert." she hissed at him and stepped away from the well dressed man with a dirty mind.

"Ariadne, your bank account is at negative, you owe a lot of money to school already and you are still a year away from graduation. In a month, you'll have nowhere to live." he said after her.

She stopped and turned on him.

"So?" she challenged.

"So." Richard said smoothly. "Sit back down and lets finish this interview."

Her instinct was to leave anyway. But everything he had said was true. She was scared of how deep in debt she was in. How her loans were not going to pay for school and how she couldn't work and go to class at the same time.

Reluctantly, she sat back down.

"Thank you." Richard said kindly. "I know some of these questions are odd, but they are standard."

"Fine." Ariadne said with an air of 'I don't give a damn'.

"How many sexual partners have you had in your lifetime?" he asked.

"Three." she said.

"When did you become sexually active?"

"I was sixteen." she said feeling uncomfortable.

"Have you ever been pregnant?" he asked and looked at her. His body tense and alert for the answer.

"No." she told him honestly.

"Did you use birth control? A shot or the pill perhaps?" he asked.

"No, we always used a condom." she said and looked at her shoes.

"Always?" he asked.

"Yes." she told him.

"Good." he said cheerfully. "Your lab work came back clean of any STD's and your exam showed no abnormalities. Your standing at school is very good and your intelligence tests are off the charts."

"So, does that mean I'll get paid for harvesting my eggs?" she asked hopefully.

"What if I told you I could do better for you?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked and leaned away from him.

"What if I told you, that you would be provided with a very nice place to live for a year, full medical and all the bills provided? You wouldn't have to worry, only go to school and your student loans would be repaid in full, with enough left over to travel or even go to graduate school if you like." he said.

She was suspicious.

"What's the catch?" she asked.

"There is a catch." he said knowingly and looked at his folder.

He let out a long sigh.

"Your end of the bargain would be to have a baby. To carry a child to term and then give it up." he said.

"Surrogacy?" Ariadne laughed.

She stood.

"I came here for egg donation. I hoped to make enough to go to school but what you're suggesting is out of the question." she said and shook her head.

"It's a year of your life, Ariadne. A year where you will earn more money than most people make in ten. You'll be debt free, and with your degree. How many young women can say that? You'll be provided with a place to stay on Park Avenue an you'll be able to finish school and not have to work a full time job just to live. You can do as you please with the money left over. I urge you to think about this." Richard called after her.

Ariadne stopped in her tracks. She turned back to the man.

"How... how much money left over?" she asked.

~ Arthur was watching the girl with the dark hair from the security room next door. He had watched her take her tests, even observed her during her medical exams through the tiny hidden cameras.

The clinic was a blind his father set up for him to find the right girl. It had been useful, after three months of searching, he found her.

"Arthur, are you sure?" Richard asked as he came back into the room to see his son watching Ariadne.

"I'm sure." Arthur said numbly. "She's the one."

"I've no doubt she would provide you with healthy, beautiful offspring." Richard sighed. "It would just be a lot easier to have you couple with a girl who knows how these things go."

"She can be brought in. She has no family." Arthur told his father.

"All the more reason why she won't give the child up when the time comes." Richard argued. "Now, Arthur, she is beautiful, I'll grant you that. It's my opinion that you are only interested in bedding the girl, not serving your purpose. Your purpose is to provide a legacy, a child, that will enable us to endure. Remember, for our sons, for our daughters." his father said.

"Dad, if I was looking for sex only, I could have had her." Arthur grumbled.

"Do not talk to me about the filth you partook in before coming back to the fold, Arthur. Sexual relations without procreation is a vice. This girl participated in it to and it will make your offspring weak and rejected by the group." Richard argues.

"Dad, she's the one I want. She's the one I want to be the mother of my child." Arthur told him.

Richard sighed.

"What I do for you." he said.

"I am your only child. How many men in the Demeter can say that?" Arthur told him.

"Not many." Richard said. "It will take a great deal of money. Her student loans, not to mention the half million to send her on her way after the child is born."

"I know." Arthur said.

"I need you to be certain. Have a long talk with her, and be sure she's the one. Once you've impregnated her, she and the child will be your responsibility. An expectant mother is almost as much to deal with as a spoiled child." his father said. "Your mother-"

The older man fell silent.

"Maybe Ariadne won't take the money. Maybe she'll stay." Arthur offered sadly.

"Arthur, they always take the money. I thought your mother would stay with our group because she loved me; because she loved you. But, in the end, she wanted her freedom and her money; she left us." Richard said. "We were fine, we had our real family."

"Why did you never find another woman?" Arthur asked.

"Because no woman ever measured up." Richard laughed.

Arthur was silent.

"This Ariadne, she's willing to negotiate. She's with a lawyer and he's explaining her rights to her and what will be involved." Richard said as he tried to compose himself.

"Not all the details, I hope." Arthur chuckled as his father handed him the folder with Ariadne's personal information.

"No, that's for you to do." he said.

* Demeter. Goddess of fertility