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Tisha still worried, since her brother was supposed to be back in time for two big family events that night. Brielle's wedding and her graduation party. "Not the night before the power went out, Marco. The night it did. He was supposed to give Brielle away at her wedding, since her father wasn't there, and then come to the house to celebrate my graduation. He didn't make it home before I left the house the next day to go to the mall with my friends, who were smart enough to decide to go home while I kept going." She kissed him lightly as she looked into his eyes. "But if I had gone back, I wouldn't have met you. Despite I hate what happened just before we met, I'm glad we did. And then we didn't see a sign of him by the house, or Tris either, and neither Aunt Melanie nor Brielle mentioned anything about him being at the wedding. And from what Black Elk said, the wedding didn't happen."

Black Elk nodded, "No, it didn't. Bri got caught on the road in the Limo according to what Theron said. That's why they'll be having it up here just as soon as we can organize it. Theron is nearly going crazy wanting her." He laughed and shook his head.

Marco sighed, "Just keep up faith that they'll have made it through. You have to trust that they're alright, and that sooner or later they'll make their way up here with us."

Tisha looked at Marco for a moment, smiling then nodding before laying her head on his shoulder again before turning her eyes to Black Elk. "Not to mention the one you need to talk to your father about, Black Elk. Stir the stew so the pieces don't stick, will ya?"

Black Elk gave a melodramatic sigh of suffering and got up, going to the stove and stirring the rabbit stew, which smelled even better than the one that Marco, Selina and Tisha had shared in the cave on their way up here.

Marco grinned at Tisha and the way she seamlessly transferred the tending of the cooking over to Black Elk, so that they could spend some quiet time together there at the table. The Indian nodded though, "Yes, not to mention that one. You two go well together. I'll talk to him about it the first moment I can. You'll need to talk to your cousin to make sure it's ok that you have it at the same time, or if she would rather you wait a bit."

Tisha frowned at that reminder, knowing that Brielle had always thought that Tisha and Black Elk should get together, but the two of them were too close, more like brother and sister, or maybe stepbrother and stepsister. There was no way the two of them would even consider a relationship between them, especially now that Tisha had found Marco. Ever since Tisha had told Brielle that there would be no marriage between her and Black Elk, Brielle had stated that the two of them would not get married at the same time. She looked up at Marco, and sighed softly, nuzzling into his neck for a moment. "Brielle told me a while back that she didn't want to have her wedding with me since I wasn't going to marry Black Elk. Black Elk is too much like my own brothers for me to even consider it!"

"If we have to wait, we will. But I don't want to," Marco said softly. He felt that was just damn silly. Just because Brielle was marrying into the tribe and Tisha didn't want to, that didn't mean that they couldn't wed on the same day. It wasn't fair to Tisha to have to wait for such a happy occasion just because her cousin was upset about that. He sighed out and rubbed her back while she nuzzled up to him, "It will be ok, darling."

Tisha looked into his eyes, her lips curving up into a smile. "I don't want to wait either, Marco. My cousin is just... selfish, at times. Apparently, who I marry is one of those times. Besides, Black Elk is going to talk to his father about the tribe adopting you. If they do that before the wedding, Brielle can kiss my ass!" Her inner spirit was back and she was getting into a feisty mood now, ready to take anything, or anyone, on.

He laughed and shook his head, "She better be too busy kissing someone else's ass after the wedding." He laughed again and tickled her side, "I love you, Tisha. I know you won't let anyone stomp all over you when it comes to stuff you believe in. I don't want to cause trouble with your family though, either, so if it comes to that, we can wait as long as we need to. Within reason, of course," he grinned.

"After she saw us together the other day at the stables, she better understand. Especially since she knows I never brought any of my city friends to the stables to hijack our own horses, or would have dreamed of letting anyone else try to ride Brute," Tisha grinned back at him before leaning up to flick his nose lightly with her tongue. "And I know you love me, as much as I love you, and I love that you aren't hiding it from me. I think when we talk to them, we should talk to Bri first before we talk to Black Elk's father. That way, we can get everything out in the open."

Marco got up after she kissed him, and he went over to the drawer of silverware and pulled out three spoons. He carried them back to the table and laid them out, then sat down once again, knowing that Tisha would get the bowls of soup laid out for each of them and that they would be eating soon. His stomach was rumbling and he knew they were all hungry.

Tisha set the bowls in front of both the guys, then her own bowl before sitting down. "There's plenty left, so if you're still hungry after the first bowl, feel free to grab a second serving." She herself dug into her bowl, the flavors of wild and domestic vegetables and wild rabbit mingling on her tongue and bursting within her mouth. This particular stew was even better than the last one she'd made.

He smiled as his bowl was set in front of him and it made a delicious smell as it steamed. He sighed out deeply and then grinned and dug right into the savory looking and smelling dinner. There wasn't much talking to be done over the three hot bowls of soup. All three of them seemed to take their time and enjoy it as much as they possibly could. When he was finished, Marco got up and headed to the stove for a second.

Tisha grinned as she watched Marco, then she gave him a pleading look. "Marco, since you're up, will you get me another bowl?" She used every bit of feminine wile that she had, batting her eyes at him, the slightly pouty look to her lips, and the puppy dog look in her eyes. Black Elk laughed as he saw her look, shaking his head as he waited to see what Marco would do.

Marco paused halfway to the stove and turned around to look back at her. He saw the look, laughed and shook his head, then came back over to the table and took her bowl as well. Chuckling, he shook his head the whole way over to the stove, then ladled them both out a full bowl of steaming hot stew, and brought it back, setting hers down in front of her, "Hell, if I can't do that, what kind of husband will I be?" he laughed.

Tisha grinned as he came back for her bowl, then chuckled herself. "One that would be finding a very cold bed after I took the covers for myself. But since you are such a sweetheart and got me more, you get covers tonight." She gave him a quick kiss as he sat back down with his bowl, then turned her attention to Black Elk. "And what are you guffawing about over there, boy?" she said in a mock-stern, yet still laughing voice.

Marco flopped over into his chair, still laughing, "I thank you, madame, for allowing me to have some scrap of covering this evening when I join thy fair person in bed." He laughed some more, trying to arrest it before he choked, then at last got himself under control and took a few sips. Back Eelk nearly choked, then cleared his throat, "Nothing. Just that look you gave him."

Tisha shook her head at the two of them. "Geez, you two. There's only one of me, so don't you both start choking at once here. I can only save one of you at a time!" She tilted her head to the side for a moment, thinking. "Okay, we need to scrape all three hides, and dehair the deerskin. Both of the rabbit skins, we'll leave the fur on. Those we can use to make pouches for those collecting herbs and wild vegetables." She paused to look at both of them, then continued, "We also still have to plant the fruit seeds and maybe hunt up some more meat. The more deer meat we get now and in the smokehouse, the easier it becomes on the tribe's hunters when they get here, since they won't have to immediately go get meat for us."

Black Elk nodded his head a few times, "I can go hunt tomorrow while you teach Marco how to work with the hides, if that's ok with the two of you." Marco laughed again, but didn't choke this time and managed to keep eating while paying attention to her and the Indian. He nodded his head, "It's pretty late, you're talking about doing all this tomorrow, right?" He smiled.

Tisha laughed. "No, I meant for us to go out in the dark with just oil lamps and candles to see by, and try to plant the trees or work the hides in the pitch black darkness," she said with a smirk before laughing softly. "Of course I mean tomorrow, love. We need our sleep before we tackle another busy day." Her attention slid to her best friend and she nodded. "Take a couple of the horses with you to help carry back the deer. We'll hold off on mashing those brains until after the hides are smoked and the meat cooking."

Black Elk laughed and stuck his tongue out, "My least favorite job." He sighed and went back to eating. Marco had laughed again at her, and he reached over to poke her in the side, "Ok, so it was a bit of an obvious question." He grinned and took a few more bites, "I'm tired anyway, I probably would fall asleep out in the yard and you would have to leave me there till morning."

Tisha shook her head at Black Elk. "Too bad. Next batch we're gonna need your help with that job. Especially if I'm working the hides. I'll be needing both of you to mash. Oh, and get some more rabbits while you're hunting. I want to make pouches for each of us, and two rabbit hides just won't cut it." Her eyes turned towards Marco. "Oh, no you don't, mister. I'm not sleeping without my big soft fur pillow!!"

Black Elk just nodded to her instructions about what to get, and took the rest of it in stride as well. Marco laughed at her and shook his head, "I have no intention of letting you sleep without it. I was meaning that if you drug me out to work this late, I would probably fall asleep on the ground and you two wouldn't be able to move me."

Tisha gave Marco a quick kiss, then leaned back. She knew why Black Elk wasn't balking about her instructions and smiled. She knew it seemed odd to Marco that she was taking control of things, but she was raised around the combined tribes who were living the lifestyle of the old Lakota nation. Looking up at the husky, she started talking, "In the old days, the Lakota nation was ruled by their chief, but it was really the women who ran everything. The Lakota nation was a matriarchal society. Since the women were the ones that cooked the food and made the clothes, they knew what was needed better than the men. Quite often, the women gave the men a 'grocery' list, for lack of a better term, at least meat wise. They would give the younger boys a list of root vegetables and herbs they needed for the food."

Looking at Black Elk, she smiled, then turned her eyes back to Marco. "The men would go hunting, the boys would gather the items the women needed, then the women would do the 'household' stuff, mending clothes that needed mending, cleaning the houses - yes, tipis could be cleaned inside - even getting the pots ready for the food to be cooked. Often the younger boys would come back with rabbits as well as the herbs and vegetables that the women had sent them out for, and they'd make dinner from that, and the deer would often be smoked or roasted for longer times after the men came back. The women would work together to clean the hides and make the pouches and deerskin clothing the tribe wore."

Shaking her head, she gave a slight snort, then grinned. "One woman was always the spokeswoman for the rest of the tribal women. Sometimes it was the chief's wife. Other times it was an older woman who was respected among the tribe. When it came to war, she would go around to the women and get their opinion of the men going to war with another tribe or the whites. Every female had a say in it, since it was her brother, lover, father, husband or son who was going off to war and might not make it back. She would speak up in the tribal war council and let the men know what the women's decision was. If the women voted no, then the men didn't go to war. But if the women voted yes, then the men would get ready to go to war."

Another kiss was shared, and she looked at Marco. "I was raised to take charge like this, to secure the food that would be needed for the people who live here. And Black Elk was raised to listen to a woman on this matter. We'll have to see what happens when everyone else gets here, if it's just my aunt and cousin and the tribe, or if we have others coming up from the city as well when we go get food. But before either of you do any other work tomorrow, I want both of you to move the deerskin out for me to work on, and check to see if there are any wagons on the property, as well as if they work. We might need them for the trip to town."

Marco listened to her entire explanation, happy that she was so secure in the way that she had been raised, and grateful for her explanation of how the Lakota society worked. He bit his lip and then nodded, hoping that she didn't have any designs on controlling their love life the same way. Though he wouldn't think that she did. He smiled at her softly and rubbed her shoulder with his paw, kissing her once more, "We'll handle it. I'll be here to help you with whatever while he's out hunting."

Tisha nodded to Marco, then looked around, seeing that the sky outside was dark. "Time to get these dishes done, and hit the hay. With as big a day as we have tomorrow, we'll all need our rest tonight. Working deerskins is a hard job, just as hard as hunting, just in another way." She looked at the two of them, then grinned. "Who wants what part of the dishes tonight?"

Marco and Black Elk looked at one another, then laughed and both said, "We'll switch." The two boys got up and headed over to the sink, each taking up positions opposite of what they had the night before so that their work wouldn't get tedious. Marco took up the station in front of the sink full of rinse water, while Black Elk got to washing up. Since Tisha probably wanted the drying, they both let her have it with no problem.

Tisha grinned at their speed at getting to the sinks, and she walked up next to Marco, nuzzling into his neck as she picked up the drying towel. She waited for the dishes to be washed and rinsed, then dried them off and put them away into the cabinets for the next day's use.

He smiled as she nuzzled up to his neck, and chuckled at the affection she was showing. He loved it and was glad that they could at least do that. It was too bad that they couldn't do more, but he respected the way that things were done and felt that they should wait anyway. He wanted to make sure that she was mentally ready for sex again before they did anything.

Giving a small yawn, she wrung out the drying cloth, then hung it on the oven handle to really dry overnight before being used again. Slipping her hand into his paw, she smiled up at Marco and said, "Time for bed, guys. We need our sleep for the long day we all have coming up tomorrow." She tugged Marco to the stairs, pausing to grab a candle before walking up them.

Black Elk followed them out of the room as they headed up the stairs. Marco let Tisha tug him along, and this time when they got up there, he didn't have to undress her himself. He smiled at her warmly and stripped his shirt off, kicked off his shoes and then took down his pants, leaving him in his underwear like normal.

Tisha said a quick good night to Black Elk as he passed their room, then shut the door, undressing herself, at least down to her bra and panties. She slid into the bed, and waited for Marco to join her before blowing out the candle and snuggling up with him. Her night passed a little smoother than the previous nights, but she still woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and shook for a few minutes. She finally settled down again, falling asleep for the rest of the night.

Day 5 After Power Outage

As morning rolled around, once again, Tisha woke before dawn and she shook Marco, her enthusiasm for the day riding her hard. She was eager to get them going on the coffee brewing and getting the hides tanned. Slipping from the bed, she dressed, and made sure to pull on her hoodie, since the morning was rather chilly, though she knew with the work she and Marco would be doing soon, she'd be stripping down to a tank top, or just her bra.

Marco woke smoothly from his sleep, no startling or jerking as she woke him up. He yawned, then stretched and rolled out of the bed, finding his own clothes and pulling them on quickly. Once he was dressed for the day, he followed her down to the kitchen so that they could get working on the hides and on breakfast.

Tisha gave him a quick kiss before they headed down the stairs and into the kitchen. She set the coffee pot on the stove and started the fire going again so the coffee could brew while rummaging through the canned food and meats for something to get them going to start the day. Finally, she sighed, setting out smoked rabbit and canned fruit for breakfast, giving him a rueful grin.

"We definitely need that flour and stuff from town. We're starting to run low on supplies here, and I'm getting tired of the same food every day." When the coffee was ready, she poured them both a cup, then held out a hand to Marco, ready to take on the day with him, starting with watching the sun rise over the valley.

Marco took the cup from her gratefully and smiled as she spoke, "I am too, but at least we have coffee, and we can share it with one another while looking out at the morning sun." He smiled and slipped an arm around her waist as they headed for the door. They walked out onto the porch like they had the past few mornings and then stood there, looking out over the valley. They had gotten up just before the sun it seemed, and they got to watch as it peeked out, then burst forth in glimmers and then brilliant rays of yellow and gold.

Tisha smiled up at Marco, and once they got out on the porch, she slid her free arm around his waist and leaned against him, watching the majesty of the sunrise while the early morning scents rose up to greet them. Cool water, fresh earth. Suddenly her nose wrinkled as the wind shifted to blow from behind the barn towards the house. "We need to clean the barn out too. Those stalls are starting to get a little too ripe."

Marco smiled and his fingers rubbed her side as they stood there together, holding one another and sipping the coffee. He smelled it a moment after she did and his own nose wrinkled up. He chuckled, "I suppose we should do that too. Gets stinky after a while, don't it?" He laughed and shook his head, giving her a squeeze as they stood there together. "I love watching the sunrise..."

Tisha giggled and sighed as she looked up at the sky. "It is so beautiful, coming up over the ridge and turning the trees to an early golden shade. I think it looks better golden than the reddish shade the trees look at sunset. You can't get these colors in the city. And one of these nights, we should come out to see the stars. They are so wonderfully beautiful up here, and you can see them so much more clearly than down in the city."