“Look.” A gruff voice pierces through the silence, darkness barely lit by the red and blue of the police car’s lights. “I know you need some good information.” The man says as he kneels on the wet pavement, the rain cascading down from the sky, glinting in the light of the police car’s headlights.


 “Information or not, your charged with, at the very least, eighteen counts of murder.” One officer states simply as he places handcuffs on the man’s wrists. “You, my friend, are coming with us to the station.” The two officers lift the man, rather roughly off of the ground, and into the back of the car. The door shuts, and the car drives off into the darkness. The back of the police car is almost pitch black aside from the brief illumination from the street lamps. The fox handcuffed in the back sits patient, waiting. 


He takes a deep breath, and lets his eyes close, slowing his heartbeat. The pattern on his orange fur softly reflecting under the street lights. “Here’s hoping he gets it for life.” The officer driving says, looking to his partner. “I’d be surprised if he gets anything less, with what this whole city had to go through trying to find his ass.”


“I don’t think the Judge is going to go lightly on his sentence.” The other officer says in a softer voice “However, I do think that he’s going to be walking free before too long.” The passengers of the car shift a bit as the vehicle turns into the station’s parking lot. “You really like taking that turn at fifty don’t you, Winston.” The driver cracks a small smile and pulls into a parking space next to the building. The driver’s partner gets out and opens the back door. “Alright you, time to get out.” She says simply as she ushers the convicted into the building.


“Can’t wait to get home, take off this uniform and just relax in the shower.” Winston says taking off his hat and matting his hair back, tossing the hat on the passenger’s seat. “We get called in almost every day for this fucking guy and we finally got him. Don’t even care at this point how he got caught in the act.” The door opens and the female officer gets in, setting the hat on the center console. “Everything all good Felicia?” He asks and she nods. “Good, let’s get home for the night. Gods know my wife is sitting in the chair by the door waiting for me.”


Winston, Cayde, breakfast is ready. A voice calls from downstairs. A figure curled up in a grey blanket shifts underneath at the sound. “You getting up son?” Winston says with a toothbrush in his mouth. “Or am I going to have to get you up?” The grey furred puma leans against the door brushing his teeth, holds up a paw then puts one digit down, then two, three, four, five. “Cayde!” The male’s voice booms and the figure jumps upright with a yelp, fur standing on end, and the blanket landing on top of his head. “Good morning.“ Winston walks back to the bathroom to rinse then downstairs.


“You are going to give him a heart attack one of these days.” The Lioness says her fur slightly ruffled as she gives Winston a kiss on the cheek.


“Nonsense it builds character Lia.” He says in rebuttal as he pours a cup of coffee.

        “Fine then. You are going to give me a heart attack” Lia scolds as she licks her paw then mats down the tufts of standing fur on her head while checking the mirror. “Or my boss if he sees me like this.” 


“Well I for one think you look sexy.” Winston teases as he sets the cup down and wraps his arms around Lia’s waist, who just smiles and gives a small shake of her head.

        “You always think that.” She says as she leans into his embrace. “I could be wearing nothing and you’d...  Right never mind. Still”  She pulls away and grabs a small plate of pancakes. “I need to look professional if I’m going to get this promotion.”

        “You are going to do fine Hun, you’ve been working at this for, what the last few weeks?” Lia nods. “More than enough time to know what you're talking about with your clients, and boss.” Winston looks over at the stairs to see the younger, lighter furred puma walk down rubbing his head with a yawn. “Awake I see. Teeth?” He asks and the young one just sighs and walks back upstairs, his tail hitting the side of the wall as he does, and groans a bit from the pain. “What are you worried about?” Winston asks his wife.


“Honestly. I’m not. It’s just.” She sighs as she finishes her food and sets the plate in the sink. “It’s a lot to think about, and a lot is riding on this promotion.” She leans into the male’s ear. “We can finally send Cayde to that private college we’ve wanted to.” She pulls back and Winston nods. “I could help my mother with her medical expenses and I’d be Rosan’s boss.” 


Winston cracks a smile just as the ring of his pager goes off. “You’ll do fine Hun. Got to go, duty calls. Love ya” He says with a mouth full of food, grabs the pager off the counter, gives Lia a kiss, and heads out the back door.


Lia allows herself a small chuckle, wiping her cheek of the syrup and sets the other plate in the sink. She takes a deep breath and pulls out two tea bags, dropping them in a travel mug. She looks over her shoulder to see Cayde once again walking down the stairs, this time also dressed in more than just his underwear. “Dad wasn't too rough on you this morning, right?” She asks.


“It’s effective.” The younger male starts as he grabs some pancakes. “But man does it scare me.” The mother just gives a soft smile and pulls her son into a tight hug, almost making him drop the plate. “Hey, easy Mom.” He complains but sets the plate down and reciprocates the affectionate gesture. “Everything alright?” He asks and the Lioness pulls back and smiles.


“What? A mother can’t hug her son in the morning?” She asks sarcastically. “Just a bit nervous I guess.”


“Right. You have that interview with the CEO today right?” He asks, sitting down with his plate. “It’ll be fine. You know way more about your job than even they do sometimes. They always ask you, even when you're home, to help them with something going wrong in the technology at that place.”


The mother nods and gives her son a kiss on the forehead. “They do. Don’t they.” She picks up the mug. “When does school start back up again, we still need to get you your supplies.”


        The puma swallows his food and thinks for a second. “I’m pretty sure it’s next week, Thursday.” he says, taking another bite. “And I’m not in grade school anymore Mom, I can grab my own things. Besides I actually have been for the past month after work.” She smiles. “This is my Senior year. Everything will be fine.” 


        She gives him another hug and mats his head fur back just as her phone goes off. “Got to go sweetie. I love you. Tell Jet I said Hi.” She says picking up a backpack off the floor and grabbing a set of keys, heading out the back door.


        Cayde looks at the clock and then takes care of his plate, washing the other two dishes, then setting them in the strainer to dry. “Another hour to not do anything before work.” He says aloud as he walks to the living room and flops onto the couch. 


        A knock wakes the sleeping feline from his nap, as he looks out the window and sees the white leopard he’d been friends with since kindergarten, then looks over at the clock. “Ah fuck, I fell asleep.” He rushes to grab his things and heads out the door, still being careful to lock it.


“Jeez man, I thought you weren’t going to wake up there.” Jet says lightly punching Cayde’s shoulder. “C’mon we’re probably going to be late.” He hops through the open window of his car, as Cayde opens the door and gets in the passenger seat. The car drives off down the street. 

        “I know we’re going to be late, but you going fifteen over the speed limit isn’t going to help if we get pulled over.” Cayde says matter of factly. 

        “If we do just stick your head out the window and wave.” Jet replies nonchalantly. “You are the Chief of Police’s son after all. Doesn’t that give me a few perks too?”

        Cayde rubs his forehead and sighs. “Just drop it by ten miles.”

        “I’ll do five.” The leopard says coasting.

        “Sure. Fine.” Cayde shakes his head a bit.

        “Everything OK?” Jet asks, slowing down more. “You normally fight me back more on my driving.”


Cayde sighs and looks over at the Snow Leopard. “Yea.” Jet raises an eyebrow. “No.” Cayde sighs again. “Aron broke up with me last night.” Jet’s eyes widen and he looks back over at the road. 


“Fuck man. I’m sorry.” He says reaching a hand over and gently rubbing Cayde’s shoulder. “I know things were getting a bit rough with you too but. Fuck.”

        “I can’t even really be mad either. He said it was because his parents didn’t like him dating a guy.”

“But, you're not a guy. He knows that right? Like you guys have. You know?” Jet hints.


“No, we haven’t. But yes I’ve told him.” Cayde sighs again. “I think he just thought it would make things even more complicated than they already were if he told them that.” Jet nods. “I don’t blame him, and I’m not mad. I just wish my life could be simple sometimes. Like yours.” 


Jet laughs “Ha. My life is far from simple. Mom left, Dad's dead, and my grandmother is barely able to supply for herself anymore, let alone me too.” Cayde winces a little but curtly nods.


“Right. Sorry, I just...” He tries to apologize but gets cut off.


“Nothing for you to be sorry about Cayde.” Jet responds “You’ve been my rock through all of that and still are. You have literally, nothing to be sorry about. I should be thanking you if anything.” Jet pulls into the back parking lot of the retail store that they both work at. “Look. Let’s just get through today, and we can talk after work, or on lunch if you want to. OK?” Cayde nods and gives Jet a hug before getting out of the car.


They ended up being only two minutes late for their shift and no one noticed. Their friendship works wonders in their respective positions at work. Jet stocks the shelves on the floor and Cayde works in the back room ensuring the product that needs stocking gets out to the floor. They had both applied at the same time, and their manager Richard saw the connection they had, pulled some strings, and got them both under his department. Working freight isn’t easy and requires a bit of heavy lifting, which took Cayde a bit to build the muscle for. But for the money it was well worth a few score nights. They both have a lunch break at the same time too which was nice as they could talk and more than likely complain about the other employees not working as hard over food for an hour.


After work both boys were a bit sweaty but because of their light frame it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as some others. They clocked out and were headed out when Cayde was stopped. “Cayde!” Their boss’ voice echoed down the hallway and Cayde looked over to see the Rhino motioning him over. “You too Jet.” Jet took a breath to steady himself as they were led into Richard’s office. 

        “Sit.” Richard says simply as they both do. “I know that school is starting back up and you boys won’t be able to work this shift full time till you graduate.” They both nod. “However I’d like to offer you a proposal.” They both look at each other. “Would you be willing to do six hours a day, Monday through Sunday, working the night shift?”


Both boys shift a bit on the plastic chairs. “That would be thirty-six hours a week on top of school though, when would we sleep.” Cayde asks.

        “Dude does it matter. More hours means more money.” Jet retorts.

        “Well yes to both of your responses, however, I’m sure you know that my wife is a counselor at your school, yes?” They nod and the Rhino passes over two manilla folders. “These are your senior schedules. You both have only four and five classes and the rest are study halls.” He leans back on his desk causing the legs to bow a little from the weight. “You’d get out of here at four in the morning, and have three hours before your first period, allowing you to shower and get ready for school. Then you’d leave school at Noon letting you go home, get some sleep and then make it back here for your shift at ten at night.”  


He pauses to let the information and proposal sink in. “If you’d rather not. I understand. It is a lot to put on two young men.” He pauses again and opens a drawer on his desk. “Regardless of what you say. I’d like to give you this.” He says handing them each a few pages stapled together. “You guys earned it this summer.”

        The boys take the pages and read them. “A raise? Sweet!’ Jet exclaims.


“Jet, this is a dollar and fifty cent raise. Sir are you serious?” Richard just sits down and smiles.


“You guys earned it.” He repeats again ”My department has been cleaner, and running more efficiently than it has since I've worked here, in the same position as you both.” He stands and opens the door. “Think about it and let me know what you each decide to do before Wednesday, alright?” They both nod and he ushers them out. “I have to get back to work. “Enjoy your two days off, both of you. I’ll see you both Friday.” He says heading back to the receiving area.


“Did that just…” Jet starts.

        “Yep.” Cayde responds.