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Special thanks to @kemosabe for co-writing this chapter with me.\n\nFrancine \"Frankie\" Hart and Lewis Henshaw & family © @kemosabe.\nJordan Rikkers and Ross Goldmane © @talon2point0.\nAyden Calibhin, Arelia Fletcher, & The Dark Riders © @Neosate.\nRashi Kanayurak © @Tanna.\nAll others © me.\n\nThumbnail art by @RisingDragon.\nLewis and Tatiana art by @QueenKami.", "description_bbcode_parsed": "At long last, the next chapter in the lives of Ethan and his growing family. Special thanks to @kemosabe for co-writing this chapter with me.

Francine "Frankie" Hart and Lewis Henshaw & family © @kemosabe.
Jordan Rikkers and Ross Goldmane © \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Ayden Calibhin, Arelia Fletcher, & The Dark Riders © \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Rashi Kanayurak © \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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All others © me.

Thumbnail art by \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Lewis and Tatiana art by \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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.", "writing": "[center]~~~ This chapter of Ethan’s Tale co-authored by kemosabe ~~~[/center]\n\n[u]November 26, 2013[/u]\n[b]Manticore Middle School[/b]\n\nLewis Henshaw sat forward at his desk, leaning on both elbows, his pinkies and ring fingers interlocked as he motioned with the rest of his paws. The Dalmatian’s blazer was hung across the back of his rather large chair, being older and cooler-natured and unable to handle the temperature his students required this time of year. His cuffs were rolled up Italian style, neatly to avoid wrinkles. His tie hung loose around his neck and the top button of his shirt was undone, occasionally revealing the grey of his chest with his movements. “-bellum omnium contra omnes. War of all against all. If you’re really interested, you should read Leviathan, and then read everything Locke wrote. There’s a collection in the library but you’ll have to ask for it.”\n\nAcross his desk stood Kaitlyn Ashbacher, one of his more insightful pupils. The girl seemed to grasp the more complex concepts with a maturity that defied her 13 years. Where most students asked a million questions, she had no problems, and often stepped in to help her peers when Lewis was tied up with other children. “Do you have any plans for the holiday, Mr. Henshaw?”\n\nTo Lewis’ right, removed from this conversation, was Christian Lefebvre, listening to a rather long and boring lecture about why cellphones in class are detrimental to everyone involved, on his phone, after the bell-ring. The otter was frustratingly apathetic, obviously not paying attention to the words as he bobbed his head and tapped out a drum beat on his desk with his thumbs. As the video finally ended, Lewis, without turning away from Kaitlyn, pushed a dry-erase marker in front of Christian. “Now if Mr. Le[i]Farv[/i] will write down on the whiteboard what he learned from that little video, he and I will both be able to go to our respective homes and enjoy our respective breaks. How are you planning on spending your break, Miss Ash[i]backer[/i]?”\n\n“I’m having Thanksgiving dinner with my parents tomorrow, because they’re volunteering at the homeless shelter on Thursday, and I’m still too young to help,” the ferret girl explained. “Thanksgiving Day, I’ll be with my sister, Kiki. Then for the weekend, a little shopping, and hanging out with Jordan.”\n\nAs the two spoke, the teen boy begrudgingly walked up to the dry-erase board and began writing out a list of cons regarding the presence of phones in the classroom. “Aww, well I’m sure you’ll have fun when the time comes. I know that the Blacks and I are looking forward to it.” Lewis leaned back, keeping his eyes on Christian as he kept up with Kaitlyn. \n\n“All set, Mr. Henshaw,” the otter called out after almost ten minutes.\n\n“Happy Thanksgiving, Kaitlyn,” the Dalmatian said, “If you’ll excuse me, I must assist Mr. Lefebvre. I’ll see you on Monday.” Looking at the whiteboard, Lewis glanced over his student’s summarization of the lesson. Most of the examples were obvious and it didn’t surprise the Dalmatian to see them on the board. Nor did it surprise him that many of the lesser-known detriments were absent from the list, considering Christian’s lack of attention to the video. It did, however, surprise him that Mr. Lefebvre had added a second column to his list with the header ‘pros.’ Again, most of the examples were obvious, but one in particular stood out:\n[i] - voice recorder to help with my ADHD[/i]\n\nLewis stood up and walked around to the whiteboard so he could read better. He smiled slightly when he got to the end, a part where Christian had actually put effort into. “If you feel that a Dictation Machine will help you learn, we will get you a Dictation Machine. I’ll make note of it and bring it up at your IEP meeting, alright?” The tall, older Dalmatian patted the otter’s shoulder. “Until then, try to do without your phone. More distractions will only make your retention worse.” \n\n“Yes, sir,” the teen answered with a slight smile as he realized he wouldn’t be in any further trouble.\n\nAt 3:20, Lewis finally left his classroom, holding the door for Christian and letting him out before locking it for the day. His things tucked safely in a rather large and well-worn leather satchel, his blazer on, his sleeves back down, and his tie tightened again, he made the walk through the school with a smile on his face. For the last few months he’d been dating, actually dating for the first time in nearly 25 years. He felt like back then too, like that gangly kid he was in high school trying to date a cheerleader, anxious to make a move, to make a mistake. Of course it was different this time than it was then. The stakes were higher than they had been before. He was older, what he wanted and what he needed was different. And Tatiana was a higher class of woman than Jo-Anne Hamby ever was. But he was smiling. He hadn’t made that mistake yet, he hadn’t made any big moves either, but it felt like he was finally doing things right. \n\nAnd it had gotten him this far. Thanksgiving dinner with Tatiana and the family, bringing food with, and going with them to volunteer at a shelter. He wasn’t sure what it meant to the Blacks, but bringing someone home for dinner, let alone on a holiday, meant something special, and he didn’t take it lightly. He was sure Tatiana felt the same way he did as much as he did, and his smile stayed light on his face as he drove away. \n\n[center]~~~~~[/center]\n\n[b]Chimera Preparatory Academy[/b]\n\n[So, have you decided yet if you’re going to the Winter Formal?]\n\nSvetlana tried her best to be discreet as she read the note, not wanting to draw attention to herself. Mr. Ferris was lecturing at the front of the classroom about how to determine the sine and cosine of an angle. Sparing a quick glance to make sure she wasn’t being watched, the raccoon-hare hybrid jotted her reply down in the notebook, right below the question.\n\n[Not yet. I want to go, but the only guy that seems interested in me is Ayden.]\n\nShe cautiously slid the notebook to her left, over to where Rashi was seated, waiting for a reply. She put up a good facade of being attentive, watching the equine man as he paced the width of the classroom. She’d occasionally scribble something in her own notebook if it sounded important. When he turned away, Sveta felt a gentle tap on her shoulder as her neighbor passed the notebook back. \n\n[He’s cute, though. What seems to be the problem?]\n\nIt was difficult to argue with that logic; Ayden Calibhin was one of the hottest boys in her grade. The fact that the Stoat was from Ireland and had the most irresistible accent made him even more desirable. Any one of her female classmates - or at least the straight ones - would kill to be the object of his affections. Yet he was focused solely on her.\n\n[He tries too hard to impress me, and keeps making an ass of himself in the process. I get enough compliments on my looks, and I don’t care about his athletic abilities. I don’t even like sports.]\n\nSvetlana hastily passed the paper back to Rashi and kept taking notes. She was struggling with trigonometry; in fact, with an 87%, it was the only class she didn’t currently have an ‘A’ in. She was putting in nearly triple the effort as her other subjects, and it was really beginning to cut into her spare time at home. She was determined to earn summa cum laude this quarter, but she was starting to miss designing clothes.\n\n[Well, why don’t you ask someone then?]\n\nSvetlana considered this option for a moment, upset that she hadn’t thought of it herself. She was definitely a forward-thinking girl, and didn’t believe in the old traditional values. She didn’t want to rely on men to hold the door for her, or to pay for her meals, or yes, even to ask her out.\n\n[What about you?]\n\nShe passed the note back to her neighbor. Hopefully, she hadn’t missed anything critical while she was distracted. If she could do well enough on the remaining homework and the last quiz, she could still pull out all ‘A’s’. While Mr. Ferris was writing out an equation on the whiteboard, Rashi passed the note back. \n\n[No one wants to take a mute girl to a dance.]\n\nThe reply stung Svetlana. All too often, she’d get into a funk about her own issues, but compared to not being able to speak, or hear, or see, she really didn’t have it all that bad. In fact, the only major thing missing in her life was a father, but considering the man Walter Black had been, it wasn’t a huge loss. What stung even more was the misinterpreted message.\n\n[No. I mean what if I asked you to the dance? As friends. Since we’re both available.]\n\nMoments later, an excited squeal sounded from beside her, accompanied by the rapid tapping of Mary Jane shoes on the hard tiled floor. Mr. Ferris spun around to see what the ruckus was about, his eyes coming to rest on the energetic girl seated next to Svetlana.\n\n“Miss Kanayurak,” the equine man said with a hint of irritation to his voice. “Perhaps you’d like to show the class how to solve the problem?”\n\nRashi looked up from her notepad with her pencil clutched in her paw mid-reply and a deer-in-the-headlights expression on her face. The cute snow leopard swallowed nervously as she tried to compose herself before standing up and walking to the whiteboard. Picking up the red dry erase marker, she wrote [How many decimal places would you like me to round it to?]\n\n“Four would be fine, Rashi,” Mr. Ferris replied.\n\nThe mute girl deftly scribbled out the formula, doing the long division on the board before arriving at her answer:\n[i]cos a° = 6,750/8,100 = 0.8333[/i]\n\n“Very good, Rashi,” Mr. Ferris said with a smile. “Miss Black, would you care to solve for the tangent?”\n\n“Y… Ye-yes, Sir,” the raccoon-hare hybrid stammered nervously. Rashi gave her an apologetic pat on the shoulder as they passed one another. She took a deep breath and tried to relax as she stood before the entire class, staring at the whiteboard. She couldn’t recall if the tangent of an angle was the result of dividing the lengths of the opposite side by the adjacent side, or vice-versa. Just as she was about to go with her second guess, she remembered Mr. Ferris teaching them about “SOHCAHTOA.”\n\n“Tangent equals opposite over adjacent,” Svetlana muttered to herself before proceeding to solve the equation:\n[i]tan a° = 4,477/6,750 = 0.6632[/i]\n\nUnsure of herself, she stepped away from the board and quirked an eyebrow at her teacher questioningly. The equine man stood there silently with his paw on his chin, analyzing her work. Gradually, a grin appeared on his muzzle as he said, “Very good work, Sveta. You may sit down.”\n\nSmiling uncontrollably to herself as she walked back to her seat, Svetlana was barely aware of Ayden’s comment as she passed by him. “Now you’re suckin’ diesel, ‘Lana.”\n\n“Mr. Calibhin,” Mr. Ferris called out, “perhaps you could show the class how to solve for the angle ‘a?’”\n\nThe young Stoat walked up to the board with his notebook in one paw. He flipped back and forth in his notes as he scribbled on the whiteboard and counted on his fingers. After a while he stepped back and muttered, “That ain’t right. I made a bollocks of it, Mr. Ferris. I don’t get how you use the same equation to get different answers. May I get my calculator?” \n\n“Please return to your seat, Ayden,” the teacher remarked as he looked over the room, his eyes coming to rest on a Snowshoe cat. “Mr. Xiao, you’re up.”\n\nAyden hung his head in defeat as he returned to his seat. As he passed Svetlana, he glanced up with a weak smile, shrugged, and whispered, “Maybe you can tutor me, sometime”\n\n[center]~~~~~[/center]\n\nEthan and Claire were both waiting for her in the student parking lot as she descended the stairs. She couldn’t suppress her grin as she crossed the asphalt to join them, and Claire picked up on it immediately.\n\n“Someone’s in an awfully good mood,” the red squirrel quipped playfully.\n\nEthan closed the back hatch to his CX-5 and turned to face his cousin. “Really?” he asked, studying her body language for a moment. “Something exciting happen today?”\n\n“Well,” she answered, suddenly feeling embarrassed by the scrutiny, “I have a date to the Winter Formal.”\n\n“Did you finally break down and give in to that Ayden guy?” Claire asked, half-teasingly.\n\n“God, no,” Svetlana scoffed as she rolled her eyes at the suggestion. “I’m taking Rashi Kanayurak.”\n\n“The mute Snow Leopard girl?” Ethan asked, surprised by his cousin’s answer. “Is Illyana’s influence starting to rub off on you?”\n\n“We’re just going as friends,” the younger girl explained as they climbed into the car. “We both want to go, but don’t have dates. Besides, maybe if Ayden thinks I swing that way, he’ll back off some. Speaking of wanting to go, Claire, are you sure you can’t watch Illya for me tomorrow?”\n\n“You’d rather work your tail off in a soup kitchen than watch your sister?” the red squirrel asked. “I take it that the Parkers are going to be busy?”\n\n“Apparently, they’re going back to North Carolina for the weekend. She’s old enough to be on her own!” the raccoon-hare crossbreed complained. “But instead, she’s been sneaking money out of mom’s purse and getting high with it. And I’m the one being punished!”\n\n“Just be thankful it was only weed -,” Ethan started to say, before she cut him off.\n\n“So she says.”\n\n“And that Arelia said something to her mother about it,” he continued. “If Mrs. Fletcher hadn’t called, who knows how bad this could have gotten?”\n\n“I know,” Svetlana protested weakly. “But -”\n\n“Hey,” he responded, “she’s had it hard ever since your dad died. She misses him, and she’s acting out to try and cope with it. I know he wasn’t perfect, but don’t tell me you didn’t love him. Remember your Gamine phase?”\n\n“Ugh,” the teen girl scoffed with a roll of her eyes. “Don’t remind me.”\n\n[center]~~~~~[/center]\n\n[b]Shaw’s Market[/b]\n\nLewis walked up and down the aisles of his favorite supermarket, collecting ingredients for tomorrow’s big dinner. He had more baking supplies in his cart than you could shake a stick at as well as vegetables and other fixings for stuffing and side-dishes. He was almost unrecognizable out of his teaching attire, looking more like some bumpkin down from the hills in his worn-in carpenter pants and a faded red pocket-T. An old desert camo cover rested on his head with a nametag reading “Henshaw” on the back. In his right paw, resting against his ear, was an ancient silver flip-phone, something like from the late nineties.\n\n“Okay, so I have everything for tomorrow except a spare turkey and a ham. Yes, I’m going to make a ham. No, Tiana, I’m sure you’re a great cook, but- If anything doesn’t get eaten we’ll just take it to the shelter with us, right? So we’ll eat your delicious food first and save my slop for an absolute emergency. Hahaha, sure, sure. You think I should go ahead and make a Chess Cake? I know it’s pretty rich but- Haha you’d be just as adorable if you were, but no, I promise I’m not trying to make you fat. What can I say, sickeningly rich and overly sweet is part of my culture. What chocolate pie? LORD, I FORGOT THE CHOCOLATE PIE! Thank you so much Tiana. Listen I’m just going to grab the fixings for a pie and a turkey and a ham and I’ll spend the rest of the night cooking. Call me before you go to bed for the night? I’ve gotten used to hearing your voice.” He smiled and his tail wagged lightly behind him as he shut his phone and dropped it into his left side pocket, walking on to finish his shopping trip.\n\nBut he paused, raised an eyebrow and thought for a second, then fished his phone from his pocket again. A few clicks and it was ringing again, and he was walking again back towards the baking supplies. “‘Ey brother! Yeah, I’s jus’ gon’ ask if’n y’could get momma’s chess cake rec’pe f’r’me. Yeah. Nah. Well, a’course I’m gonna vis’t church. I’m gonna ‘ave dinner first. Well… Nah I ain’t fixin’ a dinner f’r m’self. F’r m’lady-friend. Yeah, yeah, yer a decade older’n me but I’m th’old man, sure. Well I ain’t gonna call’er my girlfriend now am I? Ain’t in high school n’more. A few months. Well I ain’t gotta tell you’ns e’erythin’ I’m doin’ do I? No I ain’t doin- Okay you just quit your laughin’ now n’get me that rec’pe. ‘N ‘ey, don’tell momma ‘bout this. List’n, things’re ‘bou’ta get ser’ous ‘n well… Jus’ list’n, if’n things go alright I’ll tell you the day after Thanksgivin’ ‘n y’c’n tell’er, kay? Jus’ go ‘n’ get me that rec’pe.” As the Dalmatian walked up and down the aisles, something in a refrigerated island caught his eye. It was a hard root beer in six packs, dark brown bottles with black caps and high cardboard walls to protect it from encroaching and damaging light. He thought for a second then loaded it into his buggy alongside everything else.\n\n[center]~~~~~[/center]\n\n[u]November 27, 2013[/u]\n[b]Summers Household[/b]\n\nLaura Summers stood at the island in her kitchen, prepping the turkey for the next day’s family feast. She had a warm smile on her lips as she worked, glad to have two of her three children there to help her. Not that she needed any assistance; it reminded her of old times, back when they were younger and would curiously hang around, hoping to learn how to copy her delicious recipes. It had become an increasingly rare occurrence with Julia getting married, Jeremy going off to college in Tennessee, and Claire with a serious boyfriend. Today, though, she was thankful to have this moment.\n\n“Jeremy,” she asked her son, “do you remember how to make the green bean casserole?”\n\n“I fink tho,” he said, with his mouth full of marshmallows. “Fo cand of gween beend, two cand of cweam of muthwoom, an da fwied oniond, wight?”\n\n“Hey!” She laughed, “Save some of those for the yams!”\n\n“Dere’f plenny leff,” Jeremy replied as he walked towards the pantry.\n\n“Okay,” Laura said, backing off a little, “but you know how much your father likes his candied yams. I don’t want to have to run out to the grocery store the day before Thanksgiving. People are nuts.”\n\n“Anything else while I’m in here?” he called out, having swallowed his snack.\n\n“If you could grab the walnuts for the stuffing, that would be great,” the older red squirrel responded. “Claire, how are the potatoes coming?”\n\n“Two more left to peel, then I can toss them in the water,” her youngest daughter answered. “Can I help with anything else while they boil?”\n\n“Since you’re going to the stove, can you get two more pots going?” Laura asked. “One for the macaroni and one for the cranberries?”\n\n“Okay.”\n\n“So,” Mrs. Summers asked, “what are your plans over the break?”\n\n“I’m going to Skype with Frankie for a bit tonight,” Claire answered, “then early dinner with Ethan’s family tomorrow.” Seeing Laura’s slight frown, she continued, “Don’t worry, I’ll save room for dinner and should be home in time for the four o’clock game. Let’s see, shopping with you, Julia, and Elise on Friday morning, and then I need to work Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, and Sunday.”\n\n“You got a job?” Jeremy asked.\n\nWith a slight shrug, the younger red squirrel explained, “Just something seasonal. I’ll be working at the mall as one of Santa’s helpers. I figure I can use the money to buy gifts for everyone.”\n\n“Who’s playing tomorrow?” Laura asked. She honestly wasn’t interested in football unless the Patriots or Titans were playing, but if the matchups were good, the men would be spending most of the day in front of the television. “I know the Lions and the Cowboys, since they play every Thanksgiving, but who else?”\n\n“I think it’s Detroit and Green Bay; Dallas and… San Diego? No, Oakland; and Baltimore against Pittsburgh,” Jeremy answered as he mixed the ingredients for the casserole into the pan. “Mom? Pass the pepper, please.”\n\n“Dallas and Oakland is the four-thirty game?” she asked as she handed the pepper grinder over to her son.\n\n“Yeah, I think so,” he said.\n\n“Good, that should be a boring game,” Mrs. Summers mused. “It’ll be easier to get your father to the dinner table with everyone else. What are your plans, Jeremy?”\n\n“I’m supposed to meet up with some of the guys tonight and catch up,” he explained. “I’m going to see Ross in the morning tomorrow before dinner.”\n\n“What’s going on with you two?” she asked. He was the only one of her three kids not in a committed relationship, and while she understood that he was still a young man, she was beginning to yearn for grandchildren. Claire was still too young, and even if she was older, her odds of carrying a baby to term were slim after her childhood bout with leukemia. Julia had made it clear that her career was more important than having children, at least for now. And while she adored Elise and Sienna, neither one was truly hers. “Anything serious?”\n\n“Nah, we’re just hanging out,” her son answered. “I’m not really looking for a commitment, and she’s not ready to get into anything serious after her last break-up. Besides, those long-distance things never pan out.”\n\n“Well, just be careful,” Laura reminded him. “If you don’t plan on staying with this girl in the long run, you’d better use protection.”\n\n“Jesus, Mom!” he exclaimed while his sister practically fell over, laughing. “Can we please talk about something else?”\n\n“Fine, fine,” the older red squirrel chuckled. “What about the rest of your visit? Anything going on?”\n\n“Not really,” Jeremy replied. “I’m gonna work out a little, but no definite plans, just relaxing until I go back to Knoxville.”\n\n“How are things going down there, by the way?” Laura asked. “Your Uncle Kevin told me about some pretty gruesome murders.”\n\n“I don’t know anything about those,” her son answered. “Between practice, classes, and my friends, I don’t have much time for television.”\n\n“Be cautious anyway, okay? As your mother, it’s my job to worry about you,” she said as she wiped her paws and ruffled his hair. “So, tell me about these friends of yours.”\n\n[center]~~~~~[/center]\n\n[b]Black Household[/b]\n\nEthan smiled warmly at his daughter sleeping soundly in his lap, her belly full and warm after her afternoon feeding. The Black residence was unusually quiet, which was a welcome change. Not that he minded having everyone else at home, but sometimes some peace and quiet helped. Aunt Tatiana was in town getting her hair styled for tomorrow’s big dinner while Illyana was hanging out at the Flour Shop with Skyla and Abby. Svetlana was so excited to have a “date” for the Winter Formal that she rushed upstairs as soon as they got home from school the day before and began designing a dress to wear to the dance.\n\nHe sat on the couch watching the previous night’s matchup between his New Jersey Devils and the Winnipeg Jets. His phone vibrated on the side table, but he ignored it, trying to savor the quiet; instead of leaving a message, though, the caller tried again. He recognized the number as Mr. Henshaw’s. Being careful not to disturb Sienna’s nap, he leaned over and picked up.\n\n“Hey, Mr. Henshaw. Is something wrong? No, she’s not home right now, just me, Svetlana, and the baby. Now? I guess. Let me just check with Sveta to make sure she doesn’t mind.”\n\nSlipping his phone into his pocket, the young father carefully stood up as he did his best to not disturb the sleeping infant. Cradling Sienna to his chest, he crept upstairs and stopped outside Svetlana’s bedroom. Giving a soft knock on the door, he said, “Hey, Sveta, can I come in?”\n\n“Sure.”\n\nPushing the door open, he saw his cousin laying on her bed, surrounded by colored pencils and sheets of paper. “Hey, Lew wants to talk to me about something, and I’ll have to step out for a bit.”\n\n“Is everything okay?” she asked.\n\n“I think so,” he answered, “but I was wondering if you could keep an eye on Sienna for me while I’m out? I just fed and changed her, so she should still be out cold by the time I get back.”\n\n“Of course I’ll watch her,” the teen girl said as she broke out into a wide grin. Sliding off her bed, she walked over and held out her arms. “This precious angel is never any trouble at all.”\n\n[center]~~~~~[/center]\n\nLewis was sitting in the driveway, one of the first times Ethan had really seen the man in a completely casual outfit. Usually, he was at least dressed in khakis and a nice polo but right now he was wearing a pair of carpenter pants that looked older than Ethan and a white t-shirt bearing the logo for some radio or TV station he’d never heard of. Lew was wearing a hat as well, some toolbox manufacturer or something, which was a stark contrast to the man’s meticulous attention to keeping his hair styled. His vehicle wasn’t exactly the type of car one would typically see in the Manticore parking lot, either.\n\nThe old Suzuki Samurai had no roof, no doors, no tailgate, a winch, tow hooks, a full cage, spotlights, a lift kit with a stance that could only be described as ‘baby monster truck’, a snorkel, an aluminum dashboard, and plastic seats. It all looked so well-used but also well maintained, kept clean outside of mudding season and seemingly still carrying the factory paint. It spat obvious diesel smoke from its stack and had a powerful rumble that belied the definitely non-factory motor that lived under the hood.\n\n“Hey, son! I hope I’m not interrupting anything, I just got ahold of something I needed to talk to you about. Man-to-man,” Lewis said, looking down to Ethan from his perch in his 5-point harness, one arm lazing across the steering wheel and his other paw resting on the rather tall shifter which was knobbed with a grenade.\n\n“You have pretty good timing,” Ethan answered as he walked around the light four-wheel-drive and climbed in, pulling himself up by the roll cage with his arms before swinging himself into the seat. \n\n“Glad to see you haven’t lost any of your athletics with that leg, son,” Lewis said warmly as he put it in gear and started easing backwards out of the driveway. “It was amazing to watch you on the football field. Don’t know if I’ve ever seen someone that was that much of a natural athlete.” He pulled onto the street and started driving towards Marblecliff proper.\n\n“Football wasn’t really my thing,” the raccoon shrugged as he buckled himself in. “I played to get Headmistress Gaithers and Uncle Walt off my back, but my real passion was… is free-running. So, where are we headed?”\n\n“Well, I’ve got some chores to take care of, but that’s not what I drug you out for.” The old dog fidgeted in his seat, and had an uncomfortable look on his face. As long as he’d known the Dalmatian, Ethan had hardly ever seen him out of sorts. Ethan could recognize something was unsettling him. “I wanted to talk about me and Tiana. Man-to-man.”\n\n“That’s not necessary, Mr. Henshaw,” Ethan replied. “My aunt is her own woman. Why talk to me about her?”\n\n“You’ve been through a lot already, Ethan. You’ve always been mature for your age, and since I’ve become closer to your family I’ve seen that you’re quite a young man.” Lewis paused for a moment and chuckled lightly. “More’n twice the man I was at your age.”\n\nEthan’s head tilted and he raised an eyebrow. “Really? Me, a teen dad and public nuisance?”\n\n“Look, when I was young, I was wild. Drinkin’, fightin’, fornicatin’, smokin’ racin’... When I joined the Army I did it for all the wrong reasons. Go to foreign places, sleep with hot foreign, women, drink strange new liquors, and kill mothrf-... bad guys. I wanted the bragging rights. When I got back I hadn’t changed much.” He stopped at a red light and turned to look at Ethan as they talked. “My little brother died in Mogadishu, my big brother lost his legs in a car wreck, cancer took my dad… I was s’posed to die in Somalia and I missed it and I was just waiting ‘till my turn came around again, you know?”\n\n“I get that,” Ethan said with a grim expression. “It’s how I felt after the accident.”\n\nThe light turned green and Lew hesitated for a moment before getting on the gas again, as if he were recollecting himself. “I’m trying to come clean, I guess, because I want to you to understand. I haven’t done your aunt the way I’ve done any other woman I’ve been with. I’ve kept my paws to myself, kept my mouth clean, tried to keep my head clear too. And, without all of that in my head it’s left room for other things, better things. Things I’d never thought about before.” They stopped at a hardware store just inside city limits, and Lewis turned to look at Ethan, waiting on him to react somehow, to comment, to question, something.\n\n“You’ve made peace with your demons,” the teen said with a nod. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her happier.”\n\n“I’m glad you understand, Ethan. I’m an old man and in all of my years I’ve never felt for a woman like I feel about your aunt…” He pulled the keys out of the truck and reached down underneath the shifter. He unlocked and opened a storage box tucked away beneath the center console, producing a small felt box which he passed over to Ethan. “Family means a lot to me… I don’t want to come between Tiana and hers.”\n\nEthan opened it, and inside was an ornate yellow gold ring. Its band was made of fine vine work between solid corners with petite light emerald leaves. They were delicate and fine, and with light visible behind them the fact that this wasn’t a simple engraving on a solid band made it that much more impressive. The set was a flower in bloom, each golden petal crowned with a rose quartz stone, smooth and shimmering a star-like pattern.\n\n“Wow,” the raccoon boy said as he held the ring up into the light for inspection. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ring this unique or beautiful. Does this mean what I think it does?”\n\n“I want to know that if I offer this ring to your aunt, that it won’t damage her relationship with you, or your cousins, or your child or Claire. Ethan, I love Tiana with everything I have.” Lewis sat, looking to Ethan adamantly as he waited for his answer.\n\n“If it makes her happy, then I don’t see how it would damage her relationship with any of us,” Ethan explained. “If you didn’t seem like a stand up kind of guy, we wouldn’t have set her up with you. I guess I might have to start calling you Uncle Lew.”\n\n[center]~~~~~[/center]\n\n[u]November 28, 2013[/u]\n[b]Sonbeam Soup Kitchen[/b]\n\n“Thank you, Miss,” a young caracal girl smiled up warmly at Tatiana, her innocent eyes sparkling with appreciation and gratitude. “You’re very pretty.”\n\n“Zhank you,” Tatiana said, returning the smile. “Happy Zhanksgiving.”\n\nAs she scooped more mashed potatoes for the next person in line, that expression of joy remained on her lips. She cast a quick glance towards the kitchen where Lew was busy pulling fresh pans of stuffing and macaroni and cheese. Briefly she wondered where he was back when she was younger, before she had met Walter. If only they’d met sooner… She shook the thought from her mind, though. If not for Walter, she wouldn’t have her treasures, her pride and joy, Svetlana and Illyana, or her nephew. No, even though he mistreated her towards the end, Tatiana could not resent her deceased husband.\n\nAs she continued serving the line of those less fortunate than herself, the former model spotted Ethan entertaining a small crowd of children with stories. He was so much like his father had been, and she knew that Bill and Hannah Black were looking down from Heaven with pride. He was the first positive male influence in her daughters’ lives and despite everything her husband had put the boy through, he had grown into a fine young man.\nA shiver rushed up her spine as Lew playfully grazed the back of her paw with his finger and she shot him a sultry look that said, ‘Behave yourself now and I will reward you later.’\n\n“The two of you make a cute couple,” an elderly dik-dik woman remarked, holding paws with her husband. “Have you been together very long?”\n\n“It’s funny,” Tatiana answered as a contented grin formed on her lips. “Ve’ve only known each ozher for four monzhs, but I feel like I’ve known Loovis forever. How long have you been married?”\n\n“Fifty-four years this past September,” the husband answered as he kissed his wife’s cheek.\n“Would you like some free advice?”\n\n“Sure,” the hare woman grinned. “Vhy not?”\n\n“Here it is,” the elderly man remarked. “When you go to bed at night, it doesn’t matter how angry or sad you are; you don’t have to say anything but you always, [i]always[/i] touch toes. Just a little reminder to say, ‘I’m here and I still love you, no matter what.’”\n\n“I vill keep zhat in mind,” Tatiana said warmly. “Zhank you.”\n\n“You’re welcome, Hun,” the wife said with a playful smirk. Leaning forward as far as she could, the old woman added, [i]“Plus, there’s nothing like a little footsie before bed to get each other worked up.”[/i] She giggled and gave Tatiana a coy wink. “Happy Thanksgiving.”\n\nThe next hour or so was just as pleasant, but gradually the serving line thinned out and the sounds of pleasant conversation between strangers filled the dining room. “I think everyone’s just about had their fill,” a voice said from her left. Turning to see who had spoken, she spotted a middle-aged Sable man walking towards her. “Why don’t you make yourself a plate and sit down to enjoy a meal?”\n\n“No, it’s okay,” Tatiana replied. “My family and I had a very nice dinner before ve came here, but zhank you, Mister…?”\n\n“Ashbacher,” he answered and held out his paw, which she accepted and shook. “District Attorney Roger Ashbacher.”\n\n“Tatiana Rosenov, formerly Black,” she returned.\n\n“Well, Miss Rosenov, why don’t you help me take the pans to the kitchen? A few of the others are boxing up the leftovers for the guests to take home,” Roger suggested. “Then you and your companion can sit down, relax, socialize, and have a bite of some pumpkin pie.”\n\nThe Hare and Sable walked together towards the kitchen where Lewis was busy working alongside Mayor Archer preparing to-go containers full of leftover turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and rolls. She gave him a playful bump with her hip as she passed, giggling as he tried to swat her back with his tail. “Here you go,” another Sable, probably the DA’s wife, said as she held out two small plates of pie with whipped cream. “You and Lew should relax. You guys earned it.”\n\n“Zhank you,” Tatiana said as she set down the pans she had been carrying and accepted the offered dessert. “Loooooovis,” she called out playfully, “Come and eat some pie vizh me.”\n\n“How could I refuse?” Lewis asked, taking his own slice and shouldering up next to the hare. \n\n“Zhis has been a very nice night,” she remarked. “Zhank you for suggesting it. Do you zhink zhat doing somezhing like zhis could help Illyana? She’ll be old enough next year.”\n\n“Can’t hurt. I’m only glad it was just some grass.” He chuckled and had a spoonful of whipped cream. “When I was a kid we were passing around a jar of clear. Buddy Billy Driscoll went blind off the stuff.”\n\nAs they sat down, Tatiana replied, “I don’t like asking zhis of you, but I never touched anyzhing like zhat. I don’t know vhat it’s like. Could you talk to her for me, sometime? Please?”\n\n“I mean… I can.” He scratched his neck, showing himself a little anxious. “If you think I should. I’m afraid I might not help as much, but I can try.” He crossed his legs and ate some more of his pie.\n\n“I’m her mozher,” she explained. “As far as she’s concerned, I’m supposed to be strict, and she knows I’ve never done drugs. But she’s used to seeing you as an auzhority figure from school, and you also know more about vhat could happen.”\n\n“Mmm… well… with weed, not much.” Lewis said with his mouth still a little full. “If she was my daughter, I’d be happier with her getting into weed than cigarettes or liquor. Can’t get angry on weed, and it don’t mess over your insides in the long term.” He wrapped his arm around Tatiana’s shoulders and gave her a light squeeze. “It’s just a little escape. The problem to solve is why she’s escaping her problem instead of trying to solve it. And that’s a character issue, I think.”\n\n“I just vorry sometimes zhat zhe marigwanna vill lead to somezhing vorse, you know?” Tatiana sighed. “Zhere are some awful stories about drug abuse zhat all started vizh pot.”\n\n“And most of those stories involve parents that don’t pay attention or care as much as you are.” He stroked her shoulder and pressed their heads together softly. “You’re doing everything right. She’ll be okay.”\n\n“Zhank you, Loovis,” she said softly as she laid her head on his shoulder. “Sometimes I feel like I don’t know vhat I’m -”\n\n“Fuck! Shit fuck! Fuck! Bitch!”\n\n“What the fuck did you call me!?”\n\nAll heads in the dining hall whipped around to see the cause of the outburst. A tall, shaggy Buffalo stood towering over a cowering mongoose girl with only Ethan separating the two protectively. The smaller girl couldn’t be any more than thirteen and she clung fearfully to the raccoon’s good leg with wide, tearful blue eyes.\n\n“It doesn’t matter what she called you, man,” Ethan said, trying to calm the giant man down. “You’re more than twice her size. Hell, you’re more than twice my size. I’m sure she’s sorry. Look at her; she’s scared to death.”\n\nTatiana, Lewis, Mr. Ashbacher, and Mayor Archer all rushed to the scene to keep things from getting even more out of control. As Tatiana scooped the girl up into her welcoming arms, the young mongoose said, “I’m sorry. Really.” As she apologized, her head tilted back and shook side-to-side rapidly. “I wasn’t talking to you, or about you.” Her head trembled again. “It’s called Coprolalia. I can’t control it.”\n\n“She has Tourette’s,” Ethan explained, speaking to Lewis instead of the Buffalo.\n\n“I’m sure it was just a simple misunderstanding,” Roger said to the angry giant. “Let it go. It’s Thanksgiving.”\n\nAfter a moment’s silence, the man huffed and muttered, “Fine. But you should get seen about that before something worse happens.” As he trudged off, he paused and looked back over his shoulder. “Happy Thanksgiving.”\n\nLew and Ethan helped Tatiana and the trembling child up to their footpaws, then the group of six sat down at one of the nearby tables. The mongoose girl sat close to her protector, cuddled tightly against his side while Tatiana soothingly stroked her fingers through the girl’s hair.\n\n“Th-thank you,” the little mongoose sniffled before she broke out into a fit of blinking. “I’m sorry for the trouble.”\n\n“Don’t worry about it, Sweetie,” Mr. Ashbacher said as he leaned forward over the table. “What’s your name?”\n\n“Calliope,” the girl answered softly, “but my grandmother called me ‘Callie.’”\n\n“You said ‘called.’ What happened to your family, Callie?” Steven asked. “Are you here alone?”\n\nAs her head shook again, Callie let out a high-pitched squeak before answering the question. “I don’t know where my dad is; he abandoned my mom when she told him she was pregnant. She died in childbirth. I was raised by my grandmother, but she had a heart attack last year. My aunts and uncles don’t want me because my condition embarrasses them.”\n\nMrs. Ashbacher came up behind them and handed a mug of hot chocolate to Lew, which he passed across the table to Callie. “Where are you staying then, Callie?” He asked.\n\n“There’s a house over on Poplar,” she explained. “The people that lived there got kicked out, and there’s been a ‘For Sale’ sign in the yard for months.”\n\n“Foreclosure,” Roger said, looking at the Mayor. Glancing back at Callie, he asked, “What about medication? Are you taking anything?”\n\n“I used to take Paxil,” the girl answered, “but I can’t afford it now.”\n\nRoger and Steven stepped away from the group for a moment to hold a private conversation. Callie’s fearful grip on Ethan’s arm had visibly relaxed, and Tatiana stopped stroking the girl’s hair. “Good job, [i]izskatīgs[/i],” she said softly as she mussed with her nephew’s hair.\n\nA moment later, the two men returned to the table. “Callie,” Roger explained, “we can’t let you keep sleeping in empty homes. But Mayor Archer and I think we know a place that will take you in and help you with your medicine.”\n\nWiping her eyes, the mongoose asked, “Really?” After a brief pause as she had another tic, she added, “I don’t want to be a burden on anyone.”\n\n“I’m sure they -”\n\n“Cock fuck! Shit!” Callie shouted before blushing deep crimson. “Sorry.”\n\n“Trust me,” Mayor Archer said with an amused grin. “You’ll fit right in with the Dark Riders.”\n\n[center]~~~~~[/center]\n\n[b]The Home of Lewis Henshaw[/b]\n\n“I can’t vait to clean myself up,” Tatiana said with a tired sigh as she walked into Lewis’s home. Her usually luscious blonde hair was tied back in a frizzled, disheveled ponytail and her clothes had more than a couple of stains, unavoidable consequences of serving so much food to so many people.\n\n“Hah, I don’t know, the look suits you,” Lewis said, clicking the lights on as he stepped in the door. “I like you in a ponytail.”\n\nThe familiar loveseat sat next to the familiar, pock-marked hardwood coffee table, underneath the open media cabinet which held his few-years-old, fairly large television. It smelled like it always did: smoke from the fireplace, a little hint of bourbon, boiled linseed oil and beeswax. The light dents that covered the dark-stained maple floor massaged her soles through her favorite old pair of Sauconys as she walked in. The light of the living room was dim and warm, most of the fixtures adorned with Edison Bulbs that glowed with soft, pulsating shades of orange and yellow.\n\nTatiana leaned back against the loveseat and looked at him, patting her hair with both paws. “It’s a frizzy mess!” She tugged the edges of her blouse and shook her head at him. “My blouse is ruined, my shoes are soaked, I’m sweaty-”\n\nLewis’s nose pressed against hers and his arms wrapped around her waist. “You’re beautiful.” He pecked her lips and rubbed his nose against hers, smiling as he gazed into her eyes. “I love you…” He pushed his nose into her neck and squeezed her tighter, taking a deep breath of her soft fur. “And you smell amazing.” \n\nTatiana smiled and shook her head, her cheeks turning a little pink as he nuzzled into her neck. “Zhat’s just zhe mashed potatoes…” He hadn’t been so vocal before, he hadn’t been so active before. Holding her, touching her, kissing her. He was always polite, reserved, even with his affection. The change in mood didn’t escape her. Her arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him deeper, pressing their bodies tighter. “You don’t smell so fresh eizher, Loo.” Her paws combed through his headfur and played with his ears. She nuzzled under one of his ears, getting up onto her tip toes as she pulled him down as well, and whispered, “Vhy don’t ve vash each ozher, darling?”\n\nShe had teased him before, and he always had some out, some excuse, some clever aside to put it off. It was refreshing and charming, but after months she had wondered if the time would ever come. His rough paws softly trailed down from her waistline, his left stopping at her bush of a tail, the right moving down to palm her rump. “Rest for a minute down here for me. I’ll just take a second to run the bath, darlin’.” He kissed her neck before he stepped back, smiling as if nothing had just happened, and walking towards the stairs. \n\n“Zhat sounds vonderful, Loovis.” She was too worn out to notice that he was completely prepared to run a bath for her. “I vill be along as soon as my shoes get off my footpaws, if zhey cooperate.” It took a few minutes of tired kicking as she struggled to remove her tightly-laced sneakers without using her paws, but Tatiana finally succeeded. With a weary half-grin, she forced herself up off the couch and trudged her way towards the welcoming embrace of a hot bath and a hot man.\n\nUp the stairs was a short hallway, two rooms on the left and one on her right. The door on the right was open, not the hall bathroom she had visited before, but actually the door to his bedroom. His bedroom set was rustic, but clean. His bed was made almost perfectly with dark brown skirting, quilts, and large pillows. A bench at the foot of his bed had a huge, well preserved moose-skin rolled up and tied with a single thin leather strap, ready and waiting for the next chilly night. The entire room was lit by candles, in jars, in holders, on every flat surface in the room, making the whole room warmer with a deeper, more sensual red light. She stopped dead in her tracks as she took in the sight, hey eyes the widest she could recall them ever being. It was as if Lew had taken the entire village of Riga at Christmas and placed it inside his chambers.\n\n“Alright~” Lewis walked out of the bathroom, down to his undershirt and his belt hanging open. He smiled when he saw her and his tail began to wag, and he walked to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’m going to go downstairs and get some refreshments. I’ll be back in just a minute. You should go ahead and get comfortable in the bath.” He walked past her, giving her a quick squeeze on her tail again as he passed.\n\n“Loovis, vhat are you up to?” She giggled playfully as he stepped out of the room.\n\n“Just going a little out of my way.” Lewis blew a kiss back at her before he bounced down the steps.\n\n“Vell, I definitely appreciate it,” she called out. “It’s very romantic. A girl could get used to zhis.” She briefly pondered waiting for him to return and allowing him to watch her disrobe slowly, but the Dalmatian man clearly had a plan and she didn’t wish to derail it. She was genuinely excited to find out what he had in mind. She casually pulled her t-shirt up over her head and dismissively tossed it into the sink. She didn’t care; she was tired and sore and the hot water was calling. Reaching behind her back, she unsnapped her most comfortable bra and freed her 34C breasts. She looked down at her boobs and felt a small surge of pride. Unlike many other women her age, she had managed to retain her figure despite birthing two children and having an abusive ex-husband.\nWith a little shimmy of her hips, Tatiana wiggled out of her blue jeans, taking her bikini panties along with them. Pulling her underwear out from her pants, she decided to give Lewis a playful tease and draped them on the outside doorknob to the bathroom. The surface of the water in the tub roiled as the jets softly stirred it, sparkling reflections of the candlelight all around. The hare woman let out a soft, relaxed sigh as she slid down into the hot water. The warmth soaked through her fur and gave comfort to her aching muscles, and she couldn’t help but close her eyes and rest the back of her head on the edge of the tub.\n\nTatiana heard Lewis’ footsteps coming down the hall and into the bedroom. The sloshing rattle of ice and glass met her ears before the shuffling of clothes hitting the floor. “I’m coming in. Might want to avert your eyes, or something.”\n\n“Loovis, you silly man,” she said sultrily. “I have two children. I know vhat a penis looks like. Zhere is no reason for you to be shy. I vant to see you.” \n\n“Mm…” Lewis grunted quietly, anxiously as he pulled the door open. A wooden bucket full of a few buried bottles peaked through first, followed by the old man himself.\n\nLewis Henshaw had kept himself together quite well for a man his age. His stomach wasn’t flat and hard anymore, but his chest was still broad, his arms were still thick and strong. His sheath wasn’t particularly long, but it was thick, and his balls hung just a little lower than they would have a decade or so ago. She had expected the scar, she’d felt it through his clothes so many times, but somehow she was still unprepared. From the top of his chest down to just below his navel, running diagonally across his chest was a very old burn scar. He was strong, masculine, virile… In short, he was everything that Walter had not been. A soft shiver shook her body as a sudden surge of arousal traveled from her brain to her nethers, demolishing any sense of exhaustion along the way.\n\n“Very nice,” Tatiana murred.\n\n“Don’t think I’ve ever heard a bunny murr before.” Lewis said with a wink as he stepped into the tub, lowering himself in across from Tatiana, his legs straddling hers. He sat the bucket on the edge of the tub between them and pulled out what looked like a beer to her. “I know you don’t usually care for beer, but I thought you might like this stuff.” He gripped the top and popped it off with a claw, tossing it to clang on the bathroom floor and holding the drink out to her by the neck.\n\nTatiana tentatively reached out and took the bottle. Giving the label a brief looking over, she said, “Alcoholic root beer?”\n\n“If you don’t like it, I still have what’s left of that wine from last week.” The corners of Lewis’ mouth curled up into a small smile as he started to relax, popping the lid off of a hard cider. “Then again, you got a little grabby on it last time…” His free paw moved down underneath the water, stroking the outside of her calf softly with his fingertips. “In this compromised position, I don’t know if I could defend against your advances.” He hid his smirk behind his bottle as his fingers crept to the back of her calf, claws stroking through her fur.\n\n“Or perhaps I let you zhink you vere able to defend yourself,” the hare woman grinned with a playful wiggle. “Vhen in reality, zhe longer you vait, zhe harder you vill break.” She took a cautious sip of the beverage and scrunched up her face. “No zhank you. If it’s all zhe same to you, I’ll stick vizh vine and champagne. Besides, I never hear you complain vhen I get ‘grabby.’”\n\n“Mmm…” Lewis nodded and squeezed the back of her calf. “I was wanting to talk to you about something tonight, Tiana.”\n\n“You know, you can play hard-to-get all you like, Loovis,” she teased, “but I vill vin eventually.”\n\n“True,” Lewis said with a smile across his lips, scooting back up in the tub and putting his hard cider down on the tile. “But before we get to anything like that I think you wanna hear what I want to say.” His eyes locked on hers and he hesitated for a second, trapped in her eyes. \n\nSending his nervousness, Tatiana became serious. “Oh? Vhat is it? Is somezhing wrong?”\n\n“These last few months have been… amazing, Tatiana. I just don’t know how I made it without you before now.” He sighed and scratched his head. “Every night I take you home I feel like I’m leaving a little bigger piece of me with you and I go home and feel small. My couch is too big without you on it, my car doesn’t drive right without you in the passenger seat, and my bed feels empty without you next to me. Any moment of my life when you’re not there, now that I know how much better it can be I just can’t stand it.” He reaches down over the side of the tub, reaching into the ice tub.\n\n“I know vhat you mean,” she sighed. “It’s almost like I am fourteen again and everyzhing is brand new all over again.”\n\nLewis sat back up with a clenched fist and sighed, looking at her across the rolling, glistening water. “I’m in love with you, Tatiana Rosanov. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He held out the clenched paw and opened it to reveal a box, a small ring box. Without him having to open it, she knew what was inside and clapped a paw over her mouth. “I know it’s little, and it’s old, and it doesn’t have any diamonds in it, but three generations of fine women have worn it, and you’re the only woman in the world that I can ever see myself giving it to-“\n\n“Yes!” Tatiana exclaimed. “Yes, Loovis, I vill marry you.”\n\n[center]~~~~~[/center]\n\nThe candles were half-burnt, wax dripping onto the floor from the shelves and the counters, and down the sides of the tub. Deep, smooth red like silk flowed down the outside and pooled on the floor while other streams flowed into the tub, making little islands along the sides, some breaking off and flowing atop the warm water, blending with the sunflower petals and tea leaves that had been in it from the very beginning. Lewis laid back against the corner of the bathtub, his body and mind still reeling from his and Tatiana’s first time together.\n\nTatiana stood in the flickering light before Lewis drying herself, one towel wrapped around her long blond hair; her ears laid free from either side of it as another towel slid across her body, held by its corners in her dainty fingers. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from her, not that he tried quite hard. She moved gracefully, like a dancer, without even thinking about it. Her body was still as perfect as the day she had stopped modelling, if no more so now that it had a greater patina of age, that extra sweetness and golden glow that can only come from more time in the cask. Tatiana Rosanov was a woman, no doubt about that. As fine a girl as she had ever been in her youth, her time as a mother to two wonderful children, as an adoptive to a fine young man, and wife to an abusive malcontent had forged her into a monument of femininity, an embodiment of strength, of kindness, of grace, of responsibility, warmth, and goodness.\n\nHe loved her. It made his stomach turn cold and his throat clamp shut to think it, but he loved her. He’d spent so long dreading that simple word, raised in the pinnacle of excess and the generation of promiscuity, that it was hard to fight that ingrained, trained gut reaction. The joy of her acceptance rang in his ears like a million trumpets playing the Marriage of Figaro. The sight of her glory before his eyes, the joy of her requited love, the lingering warmth of her body against his and surrounding him conspired easily to distract him from his upset stomach.\nTatiana turned as she tied the towel around herself. The knot rested just to the side of her breasts, and the lower edge only barely covered her. The white fur of her muff and her plump cheeks barely peeked from under the terry cloth toga. “I am going to bed, Loovis.” She gave him a wink before turning to the door and swaying her hips even more than usual as she walked out of view. “Do not make me vait long.” \n\nHe wouldn’t. He couldn’t. But still, for just a few moments still he had to sit, reflecting on what had brought him here. On his past. On his future. On his future wife laying in his bed, wet and waiting for him. He’d long given up on trying to justify it, trying to find any satisfactory answer to, “what have I done to deserve this?” He was done looking his gift horses in their mouths. He stood up slowly, his legs even still shaking a bit, more from nerves than anything else. He avoided the mirror as he dried himself off. If anything would scare his arousal off it would be seeing himself naked and being reminded how gnarled he was.\n\nLewis stepped out from the candlelit bathroom, leaving that warm light behind for the silver moonlight cascading through his bedroom window. That pure light washed over his lagomorphic lover as her straw-blonde hair poured out across the bed, wrapping her body in radiant shimmering gold. Her towels were unfurled beneath her exposing her body to him. Tatiana’s deep malachite gaze locked on his dark walnut orbs, a fire behind them that she’d set herself, a fact that wasn’t lost on her. Her eyes trailed down from his, catching his nervous smile on the way.\nTatiana examined his scar, the initial shock of seeing it having passed. She wasn’t surprised, she had felt it before, the bare flesh under his clothes and pressed against her back just minutes ago, but she hadn’t dared to ask and didn’t care to now. Whatever caused it must have been excruciating. She bit her thumb as her eyes spied his length for the first time as well. She’d felt it inside herself, every vein and muscle of it stretching her wider than she’d ever been before, every scar along his length and his blunted tip, but seeing it was another matter. His trunk was thick, with a very noticeable swell in the middle, and his knot was still fully engorged. A quiet, dainty whimper of longing and desire escaped her glossy lips. As he walked towards the bed her legs spread slightly, exposing her moist, still-needy pussy.\n\n“You’re so beautiful, Tiana,” Lewis said as his paws braced on the bed and he moved onto it on his knees, crawling up from the foot. She booped his nose with one foot playfully, shutting her legs as she began to feel bashful once again. Making love was one thing, but having his eyes pouring over her completely exposed body was something else. “Stop that,” he said, giving her a kiss on the sole of her footpaw as he spread her thighs once more and held her down gently. His fingers slightly sunk into her soft thighs, her silken fur caressing him as he looked at her.\n\n“Vill you stop staring at me, Loo?” Tatiana begged, both paws at her face, hiding her blushing cheeks. “It is embarrassing.” She whimpered as her nectar dripped onto the sheets beneath her, her hips wiggling against the mattress and her thighs trying in vain to close against his hold.\n\n“Of course.” Lewis said as he shut his eyes, promptly burying his muzzle against her dripping wet pussy. Her back arched off of the bed and the heels of her paws pressed against her eyes, a deep moan escaping her lips as his tongue slid between her. His hot breath blew across her clitoris as he tasted her for the first time. A deep growl escaped his maw, rumbling up through her and making her whimper.\n\n“LoooooOooOOoooOOoooo-” She cooed out as his tongue reached deeper into her. It had been more than twelve years since a man had tended to her needs like this, and never quite so enthusiastically. Walter had treated it like a chore at best.\n\nLewis’ lips caressed her slick petals, the coarse fur around his lips tickling her as his warmth washed over her. His kisses, soft, tender, slow, and gentle, every one savoring the feeling of her flesh against his. As soon as his paws slid up towards her stomach her thighs gripped the sides of his head, embracing his cheeks as he moved up to kiss her neglected treasure. He looked into her eyes as she did. It was almost as if he could feel her green eyes in the top of his head throughout his worshipping of her womanhood. He met her gaze quickly as he was done, a look of accomplishment on his face as a rosy glow rose through the fur of her cheeks. “You taste wonderful, Tiana.”\nHe meant it. Tatiana didn’t question it for a moment; she couldn’t with his eyes locked onto hers with no sense of hesitation of deception in them, and that made her blush even more and turn away, hiding her face behind the rise and fall of her bosom. She felt his tongue begin to travel up across her trimmed creamy-beige muff and put her paws on his cheeks, lifting his face up to look into her face again, though her eyes timidly avoided his gaze. “Loo, zhat vas amazing…” she hardly needed to say it. Her panting breath, the heat radiating from her, her attentive nipples, and her sparking green eyes expressed her pleasure silently. She whimpered silently as he followed her guiding paws, his body caressing hers as he trailed up it, the muscles in his arms and thighs brushing against her sides and the insides of her legs, and the heat of his steely rod radiating against her own growing need. He had been so tender, so gentle, and so kind. He worshipped her body with his own, with everything he had to offer; but as his face met hers, their noses softly touching and her paws softly caressing his cheeks, she dared to ask for more. She pulled him closer to her, his muzzle into her neck as she nuzzled up his jaw underneath his flopped ear, and whispered, “Take me, Loovis.” Her arms wrapped around his neck and held him tightly against her as her legs hooked behind his thighs, pulling him closer to her, bringing flesh to meet needy flesh yet again...\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "
~~~ This chapter of Ethan’s Tale co-authored by kemosabe ~~~


November 26, 2013
Manticore Middle School

Lewis Henshaw sat forward at his desk, leaning on both elbows, his pinkies and ring fingers interlocked as he motioned with the rest of his paws. The Dalmatian’s blazer was hung across the back of his rather large chair, being older and cooler-natured and unable to handle the temperature his students required this time of year. His cuffs were rolled up Italian style, neatly to avoid wrinkles. His tie hung loose around his neck and the top button of his shirt was undone, occasionally revealing the grey of his chest with his movements. “-bellum omnium contra omnes. War of all against all. If you’re really interested, you should read Leviathan, and then read everything Locke wrote. There’s a collection in the library but you’ll have to ask for it.”

Across his desk stood Kaitlyn Ashbacher, one of his more insightful pupils. The girl seemed to grasp the more complex concepts with a maturity that defied her 13 years. Where most students asked a million questions, she had no problems, and often stepped in to help her peers when Lewis was tied up with other children. “Do you have any plans for the holiday, Mr. Henshaw?”

To Lewis’ right, removed from this conversation, was Christian Lefebvre, listening to a rather long and boring lecture about why cellphones in class are detrimental to everyone involved, on his phone, after the bell-ring. The otter was frustratingly apathetic, obviously not paying attention to the words as he bobbed his head and tapped out a drum beat on his desk with his thumbs. As the video finally ended, Lewis, without turning away from Kaitlyn, pushed a dry-erase marker in front of Christian. “Now if Mr. LeFarv will write down on the whiteboard what he learned from that little video, he and I will both be able to go to our respective homes and enjoy our respective breaks. How are you planning on spending your break, Miss Ashbacker?”

“I’m having Thanksgiving dinner with my parents tomorrow, because they’re volunteering at the homeless shelter on Thursday, and I’m still too young to help,” the ferret girl explained. “Thanksgiving Day, I’ll be with my sister, Kiki. Then for the weekend, a little shopping, and hanging out with Jordan.”

As the two spoke, the teen boy begrudgingly walked up to the dry-erase board and began writing out a list of cons regarding the presence of phones in the classroom. “Aww, well I’m sure you’ll have fun when the time comes. I know that the Blacks and I are looking forward to it.” Lewis leaned back, keeping his eyes on Christian as he kept up with Kaitlyn.

“All set, Mr. Henshaw,” the otter called out after almost ten minutes.

“Happy Thanksgiving, Kaitlyn,” the Dalmatian said, “If you’ll excuse me, I must assist Mr. Lefebvre. I’ll see you on Monday.” Looking at the whiteboard, Lewis glanced over his student’s summarization of the lesson. Most of the examples were obvious and it didn’t surprise the Dalmatian to see them on the board. Nor did it surprise him that many of the lesser-known detriments were absent from the list, considering Christian’s lack of attention to the video. It did, however, surprise him that Mr. Lefebvre had added a second column to his list with the header ‘pros.’ Again, most of the examples were obvious, but one in particular stood out:
     - voice recorder to help with my ADHD

Lewis stood up and walked around to the whiteboard so he could read better. He smiled slightly when he got to the end, a part where Christian had actually put effort into. “If you feel that a Dictation Machine will help you learn, we will get you a Dictation Machine. I’ll make note of it and bring it up at your IEP meeting, alright?” The tall, older Dalmatian patted the otter’s shoulder. “Until then, try to do without your phone. More distractions will only make your retention worse.”

“Yes, sir,” the teen answered with a slight smile as he realized he wouldn’t be in any further trouble.

At 3:20, Lewis finally left his classroom, holding the door for Christian and letting him out before locking it for the day. His things tucked safely in a rather large and well-worn leather satchel, his blazer on, his sleeves back down, and his tie tightened again, he made the walk through the school with a smile on his face. For the last few months he’d been dating, actually dating for the first time in nearly 25 years. He felt like back then too, like that gangly kid he was in high school trying to date a cheerleader, anxious to make a move, to make a mistake. Of course it was different this time than it was then. The stakes were higher than they had been before. He was older, what he wanted and what he needed was different. And Tatiana was a higher class of woman than Jo-Anne Hamby ever was. But he was smiling. He hadn’t made that mistake yet, he hadn’t made any big moves either, but it felt like he was finally doing things right.

And it had gotten him this far. Thanksgiving dinner with Tatiana and the family, bringing food with, and going with them to volunteer at a shelter. He wasn’t sure what it meant to the Blacks, but bringing someone home for dinner, let alone on a holiday, meant something special, and he didn’t take it lightly. He was sure Tatiana felt the same way he did as much as he did, and his smile stayed light on his face as he drove away.

~~~~~


Chimera Preparatory Academy

[So, have you decided yet if you’re going to the Winter Formal?]

Svetlana tried her best to be discreet as she read the note, not wanting to draw attention to herself. Mr. Ferris was lecturing at the front of the classroom about how to determine the sine and cosine of an angle. Sparing a quick glance to make sure she wasn’t being watched, the raccoon-hare hybrid jotted her reply down in the notebook, right below the question.

[Not yet. I want to go, but the only guy that seems interested in me is Ayden.]

She cautiously slid the notebook to her left, over to where Rashi was seated, waiting for a reply. She put up a good facade of being attentive, watching the equine man as he paced the width of the classroom. She’d occasionally scribble something in her own notebook if it sounded important. When he turned away, Sveta felt a gentle tap on her shoulder as her neighbor passed the notebook back.

[He’s cute, though. What seems to be the problem?]

It was difficult to argue with that logic; Ayden Calibhin was one of the hottest boys in her grade. The fact that the Stoat was from Ireland and had the most irresistible accent made him even more desirable. Any one of her female classmates - or at least the straight ones - would kill to be the object of his affections. Yet he was focused solely on her.

[He tries too hard to impress me, and keeps making an ass of himself in the process. I get enough compliments on my looks, and I don’t care about his athletic abilities. I don’t even like sports.]

Svetlana hastily passed the paper back to Rashi and kept taking notes. She was struggling with trigonometry; in fact, with an 87%, it was the only class she didn’t currently have an ‘A’ in. She was putting in nearly triple the effort as her other subjects, and it was really beginning to cut into her spare time at home. She was determined to earn summa cum laude this quarter, but she was starting to miss designing clothes.

[Well, why don’t you ask someone then?]

Svetlana considered this option for a moment, upset that she hadn’t thought of it herself. She was definitely a forward-thinking girl, and didn’t believe in the old traditional values. She didn’t want to rely on men to hold the door for her, or to pay for her meals, or yes, even to ask her out.

[What about you?]

She passed the note back to her neighbor. Hopefully, she hadn’t missed anything critical while she was distracted. If she could do well enough on the remaining homework and the last quiz, she could still pull out all ‘A’s’. While Mr. Ferris was writing out an equation on the whiteboard, Rashi passed the note back.

[No one wants to take a mute girl to a dance.]

The reply stung Svetlana. All too often, she’d get into a funk about her own issues, but compared to not being able to speak, or hear, or see, she really didn’t have it all that bad. In fact, the only major thing missing in her life was a father, but considering the man Walter Black had been, it wasn’t a huge loss. What stung even more was the misinterpreted message.

[No. I mean what if I asked you to the dance? As friends. Since we’re both available.]

Moments later, an excited squeal sounded from beside her, accompanied by the rapid tapping of Mary Jane shoes on the hard tiled floor. Mr. Ferris spun around to see what the ruckus was about, his eyes coming to rest on the energetic girl seated next to Svetlana.

“Miss Kanayurak,” the equine man said with a hint of irritation to his voice. “Perhaps you’d like to show the class how to solve the problem?”

Rashi looked up from her notepad with her pencil clutched in her paw mid-reply and a deer-in-the-headlights expression on her face. The cute snow leopard swallowed nervously as she tried to compose herself before standing up and walking to the whiteboard. Picking up the red dry erase marker, she wrote [How many decimal places would you like me to round it to?]

“Four would be fine, Rashi,” Mr. Ferris replied.

The mute girl deftly scribbled out the formula, doing the long division on the board before arriving at her answer:
cos a° = 6,750/8,100 = 0.8333

“Very good, Rashi,” Mr. Ferris said with a smile. “Miss Black, would you care to solve for the tangent?”

“Y… Ye-yes, Sir,” the raccoon-hare hybrid stammered nervously. Rashi gave her an apologetic pat on the shoulder as they passed one another. She took a deep breath and tried to relax as she stood before the entire class, staring at the whiteboard. She couldn’t recall if the tangent of an angle was the result of dividing the lengths of the opposite side by the adjacent side, or vice-versa. Just as she was about to go with her second guess, she remembered Mr. Ferris teaching them about “SOHCAHTOA.”

“Tangent equals opposite over adjacent,” Svetlana muttered to herself before proceeding to solve the equation:
tan a° = 4,477/6,750 = 0.6632

Unsure of herself, she stepped away from the board and quirked an eyebrow at her teacher questioningly. The equine man stood there silently with his paw on his chin, analyzing her work. Gradually, a grin appeared on his muzzle as he said, “Very good work, Sveta. You may sit down.”

Smiling uncontrollably to herself as she walked back to her seat, Svetlana was barely aware of Ayden’s comment as she passed by him. “Now you’re suckin’ diesel, ‘Lana.”

“Mr. Calibhin,” Mr. Ferris called out, “perhaps you could show the class how to solve for the angle ‘a?’”

The young Stoat walked up to the board with his notebook in one paw. He flipped back and forth in his notes as he scribbled on the whiteboard and counted on his fingers. After a while he stepped back and muttered, “That ain’t right. I made a bollocks of it, Mr. Ferris. I don’t get how you use the same equation to get different answers. May I get my calculator?”

“Please return to your seat, Ayden,” the teacher remarked as he looked over the room, his eyes coming to rest on a Snowshoe cat. “Mr. Xiao, you’re up.”

Ayden hung his head in defeat as he returned to his seat. As he passed Svetlana, he glanced up with a weak smile, shrugged, and whispered, “Maybe you can tutor me, sometime”

~~~~~


Ethan and Claire were both waiting for her in the student parking lot as she descended the stairs. She couldn’t suppress her grin as she crossed the asphalt to join them, and Claire picked up on it immediately.

“Someone’s in an awfully good mood,” the red squirrel quipped playfully.

Ethan closed the back hatch to his CX-5 and turned to face his cousin. “Really?” he asked, studying her body language for a moment. “Something exciting happen today?”

“Well,” she answered, suddenly feeling embarrassed by the scrutiny, “I have a date to the Winter Formal.”

“Did you finally break down and give in to that Ayden guy?” Claire asked, half-teasingly.

“God, no,” Svetlana scoffed as she rolled her eyes at the suggestion. “I’m taking Rashi Kanayurak.”

“The mute Snow Leopard girl?” Ethan asked, surprised by his cousin’s answer. “Is Illyana’s influence starting to rub off on you?”

“We’re just going as friends,” the younger girl explained as they climbed into the car. “We both want to go, but don’t have dates. Besides, maybe if Ayden thinks I swing that way, he’ll back off some. Speaking of wanting to go, Claire, are you sure you can’t watch Illya for me tomorrow?”

“You’d rather work your tail off in a soup kitchen than watch your sister?” the red squirrel asked. “I take it that the Parkers are going to be busy?”

“Apparently, they’re going back to North Carolina for the weekend. She’s old enough to be on her own!” the raccoon-hare crossbreed complained. “But instead, she’s been sneaking money out of mom’s purse and getting high with it. And I’m the one being punished!”

“Just be thankful it was only weed -,” Ethan started to say, before she cut him off.

“So she says.”

“And that Arelia said something to her mother about it,” he continued. “If Mrs. Fletcher hadn’t called, who knows how bad this could have gotten?”

“I know,” Svetlana protested weakly. “But -”

“Hey,” he responded, “she’s had it hard ever since your dad died. She misses him, and she’s acting out to try and cope with it. I know he wasn’t perfect, but don’t tell me you didn’t love him. Remember your Gamine phase?”

“Ugh,” the teen girl scoffed with a roll of her eyes. “Don’t remind me.”

~~~~~


Shaw’s Market

Lewis walked up and down the aisles of his favorite supermarket, collecting ingredients for tomorrow’s big dinner. He had more baking supplies in his cart than you could shake a stick at as well as vegetables and other fixings for stuffing and side-dishes. He was almost unrecognizable out of his teaching attire, looking more like some bumpkin down from the hills in his worn-in carpenter pants and a faded red pocket-T. An old desert camo cover rested on his head with a nametag reading “Henshaw” on the back. In his right paw, resting against his ear, was an ancient silver flip-phone, something like from the late nineties.

“Okay, so I have everything for tomorrow except a spare turkey and a ham. Yes, I’m going to make a ham. No, Tiana, I’m sure you’re a great cook, but- If anything doesn’t get eaten we’ll just take it to the shelter with us, right? So we’ll eat your delicious food first and save my slop for an absolute emergency. Hahaha, sure, sure. You think I should go ahead and make a Chess Cake? I know it’s pretty rich but- Haha you’d be just as adorable if you were, but no, I promise I’m not trying to make you fat. What can I say, sickeningly rich and overly sweet is part of my culture. What chocolate pie? LORD, I FORGOT THE CHOCOLATE PIE! Thank you so much Tiana. Listen I’m just going to grab the fixings for a pie and a turkey and a ham and I’ll spend the rest of the night cooking. Call me before you go to bed for the night? I’ve gotten used to hearing your voice.” He smiled and his tail wagged lightly behind him as he shut his phone and dropped it into his left side pocket, walking on to finish his shopping trip.

But he paused, raised an eyebrow and thought for a second, then fished his phone from his pocket again. A few clicks and it was ringing again, and he was walking again back towards the baking supplies. “‘Ey brother! Yeah, I’s jus’ gon’ ask if’n y’could get momma’s chess cake rec’pe f’r’me. Yeah. Nah. Well, a’course I’m gonna vis’t church. I’m gonna ‘ave dinner first. Well… Nah I ain’t fixin’ a dinner f’r m’self. F’r m’lady-friend. Yeah, yeah, yer a decade older’n me but I’m th’old man, sure. Well I ain’t gonna call’er my girlfriend now am I? Ain’t in high school n’more. A few months. Well I ain’t gotta tell you’ns e’erythin’ I’m doin’ do I? No I ain’t doin- Okay you just quit your laughin’ now n’get me that rec’pe. ‘N ‘ey, don’tell momma ‘bout this. List’n, things’re ‘bou’ta get ser’ous ‘n well… Jus’ list’n, if’n things go alright I’ll tell you the day after Thanksgivin’ ‘n y’c’n tell’er, kay? Jus’ go ‘n’ get me that rec’pe.” As the Dalmatian walked up and down the aisles, something in a refrigerated island caught his eye. It was a hard root beer in six packs, dark brown bottles with black caps and high cardboard walls to protect it from encroaching and damaging light. He thought for a second then loaded it into his buggy alongside everything else.

~~~~~


November 27, 2013
Summers Household

Laura Summers stood at the island in her kitchen, prepping the turkey for the next day’s family feast. She had a warm smile on her lips as she worked, glad to have two of her three children there to help her. Not that she needed any assistance; it reminded her of old times, back when they were younger and would curiously hang around, hoping to learn how to copy her delicious recipes. It had become an increasingly rare occurrence with Julia getting married, Jeremy going off to college in Tennessee, and Claire with a serious boyfriend. Today, though, she was thankful to have this moment.

“Jeremy,” she asked her son, “do you remember how to make the green bean casserole?”

“I fink tho,” he said, with his mouth full of marshmallows. “Fo cand of gween beend, two cand of cweam of muthwoom, an da fwied oniond, wight?”

“Hey!” She laughed, “Save some of those for the yams!”

“Dere’f plenny leff,” Jeremy replied as he walked towards the pantry.

“Okay,” Laura said, backing off a little, “but you know how much your father likes his candied yams. I don’t want to have to run out to the grocery store the day before Thanksgiving. People are nuts.”

“Anything else while I’m in here?” he called out, having swallowed his snack.

“If you could grab the walnuts for the stuffing, that would be great,” the older red squirrel responded. “Claire, how are the potatoes coming?”

“Two more left to peel, then I can toss them in the water,” her youngest daughter answered. “Can I help with anything else while they boil?”

“Since you’re going to the stove, can you get two more pots going?” Laura asked. “One for the macaroni and one for the cranberries?”

“Okay.”

“So,” Mrs. Summers asked, “what are your plans over the break?”

“I’m going to Skype with Frankie for a bit tonight,” Claire answered, “then early dinner with Ethan’s family tomorrow.” Seeing Laura’s slight frown, she continued, “Don’t worry, I’ll save room for dinner and should be home in time for the four o’clock game. Let’s see, shopping with you, Julia, and Elise on Friday morning, and then I need to work Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, and Sunday.”

“You got a job?” Jeremy asked.

With a slight shrug, the younger red squirrel explained, “Just something seasonal. I’ll be working at the mall as one of Santa’s helpers. I figure I can use the money to buy gifts for everyone.”

“Who’s playing tomorrow?” Laura asked. She honestly wasn’t interested in football unless the Patriots or Titans were playing, but if the matchups were good, the men would be spending most of the day in front of the television. “I know the Lions and the Cowboys, since they play every Thanksgiving, but who else?”

“I think it’s Detroit and Green Bay; Dallas and… San Diego? No, Oakland; and Baltimore against Pittsburgh,” Jeremy answered as he mixed the ingredients for the casserole into the pan. “Mom? Pass the pepper, please.”

“Dallas and Oakland is the four-thirty game?” she asked as she handed the pepper grinder over to her son.

“Yeah, I think so,” he said.

“Good, that should be a boring game,” Mrs. Summers mused. “It’ll be easier to get your father to the dinner table with everyone else. What are your plans, Jeremy?”

“I’m supposed to meet up with some of the guys tonight and catch up,” he explained. “I’m going to see Ross in the morning tomorrow before dinner.”

“What’s going on with you two?” she asked. He was the only one of her three kids not in a committed relationship, and while she understood that he was still a young man, she was beginning to yearn for grandchildren. Claire was still too young, and even if she was older, her odds of carrying a baby to term were slim after her childhood bout with leukemia. Julia had made it clear that her career was more important than having children, at least for now. And while she adored Elise and Sienna, neither one was truly hers. “Anything serious?”

“Nah, we’re just hanging out,” her son answered. “I’m not really looking for a commitment, and she’s not ready to get into anything serious after her last break-up. Besides, those long-distance things never pan out.”

“Well, just be careful,” Laura reminded him. “If you don’t plan on staying with this girl in the long run, you’d better use protection.”

“Jesus, Mom!” he exclaimed while his sister practically fell over, laughing. “Can we please talk about something else?”

“Fine, fine,” the older red squirrel chuckled. “What about the rest of your visit? Anything going on?”

“Not really,” Jeremy replied. “I’m gonna work out a little, but no definite plans, just relaxing until I go back to Knoxville.”

“How are things going down there, by the way?” Laura asked. “Your Uncle Kevin told me about some pretty gruesome murders.”

“I don’t know anything about those,” her son answered. “Between practice, classes, and my friends, I don’t have much time for television.”

“Be cautious anyway, okay? As your mother, it’s my job to worry about you,” she said as she wiped her paws and ruffled his hair. “So, tell me about these friends of yours.”

~~~~~


Black Household

Ethan smiled warmly at his daughter sleeping soundly in his lap, her belly full and warm after her afternoon feeding. The Black residence was unusually quiet, which was a welcome change. Not that he minded having everyone else at home, but sometimes some peace and quiet helped. Aunt Tatiana was in town getting her hair styled for tomorrow’s big dinner while Illyana was hanging out at the Flour Shop with Skyla and Abby. Svetlana was so excited to have a “date” for the Winter Formal that she rushed upstairs as soon as they got home from school the day before and began designing a dress to wear to the dance.

He sat on the couch watching the previous night’s matchup between his New Jersey Devils and the Winnipeg Jets. His phone vibrated on the side table, but he ignored it, trying to savor the quiet; instead of leaving a message, though, the caller tried again. He recognized the number as Mr. Henshaw’s. Being careful not to disturb Sienna’s nap, he leaned over and picked up.

“Hey, Mr. Henshaw. Is something wrong? No, she’s not home right now, just me, Svetlana, and the baby. Now? I guess. Let me just check with Sveta to make sure she doesn’t mind.”

Slipping his phone into his pocket, the young father carefully stood up as he did his best to not disturb the sleeping infant. Cradling Sienna to his chest, he crept upstairs and stopped outside Svetlana’s bedroom. Giving a soft knock on the door, he said, “Hey, Sveta, can I come in?”

“Sure.”

Pushing the door open, he saw his cousin laying on her bed, surrounded by colored pencils and sheets of paper. “Hey, Lew wants to talk to me about something, and I’ll have to step out for a bit.”

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

“I think so,” he answered, “but I was wondering if you could keep an eye on Sienna for me while I’m out? I just fed and changed her, so she should still be out cold by the time I get back.”

“Of course I’ll watch her,” the teen girl said as she broke out into a wide grin. Sliding off her bed, she walked over and held out her arms. “This precious angel is never any trouble at all.”

~~~~~


Lewis was sitting in the driveway, one of the first times Ethan had really seen the man in a completely casual outfit. Usually, he was at least dressed in khakis and a nice polo but right now he was wearing a pair of carpenter pants that looked older than Ethan and a white t-shirt bearing the logo for some radio or TV station he’d never heard of. Lew was wearing a hat as well, some toolbox manufacturer or something, which was a stark contrast to the man’s meticulous attention to keeping his hair styled. His vehicle wasn’t exactly the type of car one would typically see in the Manticore parking lot, either.

The old Suzuki Samurai had no roof, no doors, no tailgate, a winch, tow hooks, a full cage, spotlights, a lift kit with a stance that could only be described as ‘baby monster truck’, a snorkel, an aluminum dashboard, and plastic seats. It all looked so well-used but also well maintained, kept clean outside of mudding season and seemingly still carrying the factory paint. It spat obvious diesel smoke from its stack and had a powerful rumble that belied the definitely non-factory motor that lived under the hood.

“Hey, son! I hope I’m not interrupting anything, I just got ahold of something I needed to talk to you about. Man-to-man,” Lewis said, looking down to Ethan from his perch in his 5-point harness, one arm lazing across the steering wheel and his other paw resting on the rather tall shifter which was knobbed with a grenade.

“You have pretty good timing,” Ethan answered as he walked around the light four-wheel-drive and climbed in, pulling himself up by the roll cage with his arms before swinging himself into the seat.

“Glad to see you haven’t lost any of your athletics with that leg, son,” Lewis said warmly as he put it in gear and started easing backwards out of the driveway. “It was amazing to watch you on the football field. Don’t know if I’ve ever seen someone that was that much of a natural athlete.” He pulled onto the street and started driving towards Marblecliff proper.

“Football wasn’t really my thing,” the raccoon shrugged as he buckled himself in. “I played to get Headmistress Gaithers and Uncle Walt off my back, but my real passion was… is free-running. So, where are we headed?”

“Well, I’ve got some chores to take care of, but that’s not what I drug you out for.” The old dog fidgeted in his seat, and had an uncomfortable look on his face. As long as he’d known the Dalmatian, Ethan had hardly ever seen him out of sorts. Ethan could recognize something was unsettling him. “I wanted to talk about me and Tiana. Man-to-man.”

“That’s not necessary, Mr. Henshaw,” Ethan replied. “My aunt is her own woman. Why talk to me about her?”

“You’ve been through a lot already, Ethan. You’ve always been mature for your age, and since I’ve become closer to your family I’ve seen that you’re quite a young man.” Lewis paused for a moment and chuckled lightly. “More’n twice the man I was at your age.”

Ethan’s head tilted and he raised an eyebrow. “Really? Me, a teen dad and public nuisance?”

“Look, when I was young, I was wild. Drinkin’, fightin’, fornicatin’, smokin’ racin’... When I joined the Army I did it for all the wrong reasons. Go to foreign places, sleep with hot foreign, women, drink strange new liquors, and kill mothrf-... bad guys. I wanted the bragging rights. When I got back I hadn’t changed much.” He stopped at a red light and turned to look at Ethan as they talked. “My little brother died in Mogadishu, my big brother lost his legs in a car wreck, cancer took my dad… I was s’posed to die in Somalia and I missed it and I was just waiting ‘till my turn came around again, you know?”

“I get that,” Ethan said with a grim expression. “It’s how I felt after the accident.”

The light turned green and Lew hesitated for a moment before getting on the gas again, as if he were recollecting himself. “I’m trying to come clean, I guess, because I want to you to understand. I haven’t done your aunt the way I’ve done any other woman I’ve been with. I’ve kept my paws to myself, kept my mouth clean, tried to keep my head clear too. And, without all of that in my head it’s left room for other things, better things. Things I’d never thought about before.” They stopped at a hardware store just inside city limits, and Lewis turned to look at Ethan, waiting on him to react somehow, to comment, to question, something.

“You’ve made peace with your demons,” the teen said with a nod. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her happier.”

“I’m glad you understand, Ethan. I’m an old man and in all of my years I’ve never felt for a woman like I feel about your aunt…” He pulled the keys out of the truck and reached down underneath the shifter. He unlocked and opened a storage box tucked away beneath the center console, producing a small felt box which he passed over to Ethan. “Family means a lot to me… I don’t want to come between Tiana and hers.”

Ethan opened it, and inside was an ornate yellow gold ring. Its band was made of fine vine work between solid corners with petite light emerald leaves. They were delicate and fine, and with light visible behind them the fact that this wasn’t a simple engraving on a solid band made it that much more impressive. The set was a flower in bloom, each golden petal crowned with a rose quartz stone, smooth and shimmering a star-like pattern.

“Wow,” the raccoon boy said as he held the ring up into the light for inspection. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ring this unique or beautiful. Does this mean what I think it does?”

“I want to know that if I offer this ring to your aunt, that it won’t damage her relationship with you, or your cousins, or your child or Claire. Ethan, I love Tiana with everything I have.” Lewis sat, looking to Ethan adamantly as he waited for his answer.

“If it makes her happy, then I don’t see how it would damage her relationship with any of us,” Ethan explained. “If you didn’t seem like a stand up kind of guy, we wouldn’t have set her up with you. I guess I might have to start calling you Uncle Lew.”

~~~~~


November 28, 2013
Sonbeam Soup Kitchen

“Thank you, Miss,” a young caracal girl smiled up warmly at Tatiana, her innocent eyes sparkling with appreciation and gratitude. “You’re very pretty.”

“Zhank you,” Tatiana said, returning the smile. “Happy Zhanksgiving.”

As she scooped more mashed potatoes for the next person in line, that expression of joy remained on her lips. She cast a quick glance towards the kitchen where Lew was busy pulling fresh pans of stuffing and macaroni and cheese. Briefly she wondered where he was back when she was younger, before she had met Walter. If only they’d met sooner… She shook the thought from her mind, though. If not for Walter, she wouldn’t have her treasures, her pride and joy, Svetlana and Illyana, or her nephew. No, even though he mistreated her towards the end, Tatiana could not resent her deceased husband.

As she continued serving the line of those less fortunate than herself, the former model spotted Ethan entertaining a small crowd of children with stories. He was so much like his father had been, and she knew that Bill and Hannah Black were looking down from Heaven with pride. He was the first positive male influence in her daughters’ lives and despite everything her husband had put the boy through, he had grown into a fine young man.
A shiver rushed up her spine as Lew playfully grazed the back of her paw with his finger and she shot him a sultry look that said, ‘Behave yourself now and I will reward you later.’

“The two of you make a cute couple,” an elderly dik-dik woman remarked, holding paws with her husband. “Have you been together very long?”

“It’s funny,” Tatiana answered as a contented grin formed on her lips. “Ve’ve only known each ozher for four monzhs, but I feel like I’ve known Loovis forever. How long have you been married?”

“Fifty-four years this past September,” the husband answered as he kissed his wife’s cheek.
“Would you like some free advice?”

“Sure,” the hare woman grinned. “Vhy not?”

“Here it is,” the elderly man remarked. “When you go to bed at night, it doesn’t matter how angry or sad you are; you don’t have to say anything but you always, always touch toes. Just a little reminder to say, ‘I’m here and I still love you, no matter what.’”

“I vill keep zhat in mind,” Tatiana said warmly. “Zhank you.”

“You’re welcome, Hun,” the wife said with a playful smirk. Leaning forward as far as she could, the old woman added, “Plus, there’s nothing like a little footsie before bed to get each other worked up.” She giggled and gave Tatiana a coy wink. “Happy Thanksgiving.”

The next hour or so was just as pleasant, but gradually the serving line thinned out and the sounds of pleasant conversation between strangers filled the dining room. “I think everyone’s just about had their fill,” a voice said from her left. Turning to see who had spoken, she spotted a middle-aged Sable man walking towards her. “Why don’t you make yourself a plate and sit down to enjoy a meal?”

“No, it’s okay,” Tatiana replied. “My family and I had a very nice dinner before ve came here, but zhank you, Mister…?”

“Ashbacher,” he answered and held out his paw, which she accepted and shook. “District Attorney Roger Ashbacher.”

“Tatiana Rosenov, formerly Black,” she returned.

“Well, Miss Rosenov, why don’t you help me take the pans to the kitchen? A few of the others are boxing up the leftovers for the guests to take home,” Roger suggested. “Then you and your companion can sit down, relax, socialize, and have a bite of some pumpkin pie.”

The Hare and Sable walked together towards the kitchen where Lewis was busy working alongside Mayor Archer preparing to-go containers full of leftover turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and rolls. She gave him a playful bump with her hip as she passed, giggling as he tried to swat her back with his tail. “Here you go,” another Sable, probably the DA’s wife, said as she held out two small plates of pie with whipped cream. “You and Lew should relax. You guys earned it.”

“Zhank you,” Tatiana said as she set down the pans she had been carrying and accepted the offered dessert. “Loooooovis,” she called out playfully, “Come and eat some pie vizh me.”

“How could I refuse?” Lewis asked, taking his own slice and shouldering up next to the hare.

“Zhis has been a very nice night,” she remarked. “Zhank you for suggesting it. Do you zhink zhat doing somezhing like zhis could help Illyana? She’ll be old enough next year.”

“Can’t hurt. I’m only glad it was just some grass.” He chuckled and had a spoonful of whipped cream. “When I was a kid we were passing around a jar of clear. Buddy Billy Driscoll went blind off the stuff.”

As they sat down, Tatiana replied, “I don’t like asking zhis of you, but I never touched anyzhing like zhat. I don’t know vhat it’s like. Could you talk to her for me, sometime? Please?”

“I mean… I can.” He scratched his neck, showing himself a little anxious. “If you think I should. I’m afraid I might not help as much, but I can try.” He crossed his legs and ate some more of his pie.

“I’m her mozher,” she explained. “As far as she’s concerned, I’m supposed to be strict, and she knows I’ve never done drugs. But she’s used to seeing you as an auzhority figure from school, and you also know more about vhat could happen.”

“Mmm… well… with weed, not much.” Lewis said with his mouth still a little full. “If she was my daughter, I’d be happier with her getting into weed than cigarettes or liquor. Can’t get angry on weed, and it don’t mess over your insides in the long term.” He wrapped his arm around Tatiana’s shoulders and gave her a light squeeze. “It’s just a little escape. The problem to solve is why she’s escaping her problem instead of trying to solve it. And that’s a character issue, I think.”

“I just vorry sometimes zhat zhe marigwanna vill lead to somezhing vorse, you know?” Tatiana sighed. “Zhere are some awful stories about drug abuse zhat all started vizh pot.”

“And most of those stories involve parents that don’t pay attention or care as much as you are.” He stroked her shoulder and pressed their heads together softly. “You’re doing everything right. She’ll be okay.”

“Zhank you, Loovis,” she said softly as she laid her head on his shoulder. “Sometimes I feel like I don’t know vhat I’m -”

“Fuck! Shit fuck! Fuck! Bitch!”

“What the fuck did you call me!?”

All heads in the dining hall whipped around to see the cause of the outburst. A tall, shaggy Buffalo stood towering over a cowering mongoose girl with only Ethan separating the two protectively. The smaller girl couldn’t be any more than thirteen and she clung fearfully to the raccoon’s good leg with wide, tearful blue eyes.

“It doesn’t matter what she called you, man,” Ethan said, trying to calm the giant man down. “You’re more than twice her size. Hell, you’re more than twice my size. I’m sure she’s sorry. Look at her; she’s scared to death.”

Tatiana, Lewis, Mr. Ashbacher, and Mayor Archer all rushed to the scene to keep things from getting even more out of control. As Tatiana scooped the girl up into her welcoming arms, the young mongoose said, “I’m sorry. Really.” As she apologized, her head tilted back and shook side-to-side rapidly. “I wasn’t talking to you, or about you.” Her head trembled again. “It’s called Coprolalia. I can’t control it.”

“She has Tourette’s,” Ethan explained, speaking to Lewis instead of the Buffalo.

“I’m sure it was just a simple misunderstanding,” Roger said to the angry giant. “Let it go. It’s Thanksgiving.”

After a moment’s silence, the man huffed and muttered, “Fine. But you should get seen about that before something worse happens.” As he trudged off, he paused and looked back over his shoulder. “Happy Thanksgiving.”

Lew and Ethan helped Tatiana and the trembling child up to their footpaws, then the group of six sat down at one of the nearby tables. The mongoose girl sat close to her protector, cuddled tightly against his side while Tatiana soothingly stroked her fingers through the girl’s hair.

“Th-thank you,” the little mongoose sniffled before she broke out into a fit of blinking. “I’m sorry for the trouble.”

“Don’t worry about it, Sweetie,” Mr. Ashbacher said as he leaned forward over the table. “What’s your name?”

“Calliope,” the girl answered softly, “but my grandmother called me ‘Callie.’”

“You said ‘called.’ What happened to your family, Callie?” Steven asked. “Are you here alone?”

As her head shook again, Callie let out a high-pitched squeak before answering the question. “I don’t know where my dad is; he abandoned my mom when she told him she was pregnant. She died in childbirth. I was raised by my grandmother, but she had a heart attack last year. My aunts and uncles don’t want me because my condition embarrasses them.”

Mrs. Ashbacher came up behind them and handed a mug of hot chocolate to Lew, which he passed across the table to Callie. “Where are you staying then, Callie?” He asked.

“There’s a house over on Poplar,” she explained. “The people that lived there got kicked out, and there’s been a ‘For Sale’ sign in the yard for months.”

“Foreclosure,” Roger said, looking at the Mayor. Glancing back at Callie, he asked, “What about medication? Are you taking anything?”

“I used to take Paxil,” the girl answered, “but I can’t afford it now.”

Roger and Steven stepped away from the group for a moment to hold a private conversation. Callie’s fearful grip on Ethan’s arm had visibly relaxed, and Tatiana stopped stroking the girl’s hair. “Good job, izskatīgs,” she said softly as she mussed with her nephew’s hair.

A moment later, the two men returned to the table. “Callie,” Roger explained, “we can’t let you keep sleeping in empty homes. But Mayor Archer and I think we know a place that will take you in and help you with your medicine.”

Wiping her eyes, the mongoose asked, “Really?” After a brief pause as she had another tic, she added, “I don’t want to be a burden on anyone.”

“I’m sure they -”

“Cock fuck! Shit!” Callie shouted before blushing deep crimson. “Sorry.”

“Trust me,” Mayor Archer said with an amused grin. “You’ll fit right in with the Dark Riders.”

~~~~~


The Home of Lewis Henshaw

“I can’t vait to clean myself up,” Tatiana said with a tired sigh as she walked into Lewis’s home. Her usually luscious blonde hair was tied back in a frizzled, disheveled ponytail and her clothes had more than a couple of stains, unavoidable consequences of serving so much food to so many people.

“Hah, I don’t know, the look suits you,” Lewis said, clicking the lights on as he stepped in the door. “I like you in a ponytail.”

The familiar loveseat sat next to the familiar, pock-marked hardwood coffee table, underneath the open media cabinet which held his few-years-old, fairly large television. It smelled like it always did: smoke from the fireplace, a little hint of bourbon, boiled linseed oil and beeswax. The light dents that covered the dark-stained maple floor massaged her soles through her favorite old pair of Sauconys as she walked in. The light of the living room was dim and warm, most of the fixtures adorned with Edison Bulbs that glowed with soft, pulsating shades of orange and yellow.

Tatiana leaned back against the loveseat and looked at him, patting her hair with both paws. “It’s a frizzy mess!” She tugged the edges of her blouse and shook her head at him. “My blouse is ruined, my shoes are soaked, I’m sweaty-”

Lewis’s nose pressed against hers and his arms wrapped around her waist. “You’re beautiful.” He pecked her lips and rubbed his nose against hers, smiling as he gazed into her eyes. “I love you…” He pushed his nose into her neck and squeezed her tighter, taking a deep breath of her soft fur. “And you smell amazing.”

Tatiana smiled and shook her head, her cheeks turning a little pink as he nuzzled into her neck. “Zhat’s just zhe mashed potatoes…” He hadn’t been so vocal before, he hadn’t been so active before. Holding her, touching her, kissing her. He was always polite, reserved, even with his affection. The change in mood didn’t escape her. Her arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him deeper, pressing their bodies tighter. “You don’t smell so fresh eizher, Loo.” Her paws combed through his headfur and played with his ears. She nuzzled under one of his ears, getting up onto her tip toes as she pulled him down as well, and whispered, “Vhy don’t ve vash each ozher, darling?”

She had teased him before, and he always had some out, some excuse, some clever aside to put it off. It was refreshing and charming, but after months she had wondered if the time would ever come. His rough paws softly trailed down from her waistline, his left stopping at her bush of a tail, the right moving down to palm her rump. “Rest for a minute down here for me. I’ll just take a second to run the bath, darlin’.” He kissed her neck before he stepped back, smiling as if nothing had just happened, and walking towards the stairs.

“Zhat sounds vonderful, Loovis.” She was too worn out to notice that he was completely prepared to run a bath for her. “I vill be along as soon as my shoes get off my footpaws, if zhey cooperate.” It took a few minutes of tired kicking as she struggled to remove her tightly-laced sneakers without using her paws, but Tatiana finally succeeded. With a weary half-grin, she forced herself up off the couch and trudged her way towards the welcoming embrace of a hot bath and a hot man.

Up the stairs was a short hallway, two rooms on the left and one on her right. The door on the right was open, not the hall bathroom she had visited before, but actually the door to his bedroom. His bedroom set was rustic, but clean. His bed was made almost perfectly with dark brown skirting, quilts, and large pillows. A bench at the foot of his bed had a huge, well preserved moose-skin rolled up and tied with a single thin leather strap, ready and waiting for the next chilly night. The entire room was lit by candles, in jars, in holders, on every flat surface in the room, making the whole room warmer with a deeper, more sensual red light. She stopped dead in her tracks as she took in the sight, hey eyes the widest she could recall them ever being. It was as if Lew had taken the entire village of Riga at Christmas and placed it inside his chambers.

“Alright~” Lewis walked out of the bathroom, down to his undershirt and his belt hanging open. He smiled when he saw her and his tail began to wag, and he walked to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’m going to go downstairs and get some refreshments. I’ll be back in just a minute. You should go ahead and get comfortable in the bath.” He walked past her, giving her a quick squeeze on her tail again as he passed.

“Loovis, vhat are you up to?” She giggled playfully as he stepped out of the room.

“Just going a little out of my way.” Lewis blew a kiss back at her before he bounced down the steps.

“Vell, I definitely appreciate it,” she called out. “It’s very romantic. A girl could get used to zhis.” She briefly pondered waiting for him to return and allowing him to watch her disrobe slowly, but the Dalmatian man clearly had a plan and she didn’t wish to derail it. She was genuinely excited to find out what he had in mind. She casually pulled her t-shirt up over her head and dismissively tossed it into the sink. She didn’t care; she was tired and sore and the hot water was calling. Reaching behind her back, she unsnapped her most comfortable bra and freed her 34C breasts. She looked down at her boobs and felt a small surge of pride. Unlike many other women her age, she had managed to retain her figure despite birthing two children and having an abusive ex-husband.
With a little shimmy of her hips, Tatiana wiggled out of her blue jeans, taking her bikini panties along with them. Pulling her underwear out from her pants, she decided to give Lewis a playful tease and draped them on the outside doorknob to the bathroom. The surface of the water in the tub roiled as the jets softly stirred it, sparkling reflections of the candlelight all around. The hare woman let out a soft, relaxed sigh as she slid down into the hot water. The warmth soaked through her fur and gave comfort to her aching muscles, and she couldn’t help but close her eyes and rest the back of her head on the edge of the tub.

Tatiana heard Lewis’ footsteps coming down the hall and into the bedroom. The sloshing rattle of ice and glass met her ears before the shuffling of clothes hitting the floor. “I’m coming in. Might want to avert your eyes, or something.”

“Loovis, you silly man,” she said sultrily. “I have two children. I know vhat a penis looks like. Zhere is no reason for you to be shy. I vant to see you.”

“Mm…” Lewis grunted quietly, anxiously as he pulled the door open. A wooden bucket full of a few buried bottles peaked through first, followed by the old man himself.

Lewis Henshaw had kept himself together quite well for a man his age. His stomach wasn’t flat and hard anymore, but his chest was still broad, his arms were still thick and strong. His sheath wasn’t particularly long, but it was thick, and his balls hung just a little lower than they would have a decade or so ago. She had expected the scar, she’d felt it through his clothes so many times, but somehow she was still unprepared. From the top of his chest down to just below his navel, running diagonally across his chest was a very old burn scar. He was strong, masculine, virile… In short, he was everything that Walter had not been. A soft shiver shook her body as a sudden surge of arousal traveled from her brain to her nethers, demolishing any sense of exhaustion along the way.

“Very nice,” Tatiana murred.

“Don’t think I’ve ever heard a bunny murr before.” Lewis said with a wink as he stepped into the tub, lowering himself in across from Tatiana, his legs straddling hers. He sat the bucket on the edge of the tub between them and pulled out what looked like a beer to her. “I know you don’t usually care for beer, but I thought you might like this stuff.” He gripped the top and popped it off with a claw, tossing it to clang on the bathroom floor and holding the drink out to her by the neck.

Tatiana tentatively reached out and took the bottle. Giving the label a brief looking over, she said, “Alcoholic root beer?”

“If you don’t like it, I still have what’s left of that wine from last week.” The corners of Lewis’ mouth curled up into a small smile as he started to relax, popping the lid off of a hard cider. “Then again, you got a little grabby on it last time…” His free paw moved down underneath the water, stroking the outside of her calf softly with his fingertips. “In this compromised position, I don’t know if I could defend against your advances.” He hid his smirk behind his bottle as his fingers crept to the back of her calf, claws stroking through her fur.

“Or perhaps I let you zhink you vere able to defend yourself,” the hare woman grinned with a playful wiggle. “Vhen in reality, zhe longer you vait, zhe harder you vill break.” She took a cautious sip of the beverage and scrunched up her face. “No zhank you. If it’s all zhe same to you, I’ll stick vizh vine and champagne. Besides, I never hear you complain vhen I get ‘grabby.’”

“Mmm…” Lewis nodded and squeezed the back of her calf. “I was wanting to talk to you about something tonight, Tiana.”

“You know, you can play hard-to-get all you like, Loovis,” she teased, “but I vill vin eventually.”

“True,” Lewis said with a smile across his lips, scooting back up in the tub and putting his hard cider down on the tile. “But before we get to anything like that I think you wanna hear what I want to say.” His eyes locked on hers and he hesitated for a second, trapped in her eyes.

Sending his nervousness, Tatiana became serious. “Oh? Vhat is it? Is somezhing wrong?”

“These last few months have been… amazing, Tatiana. I just don’t know how I made it without you before now.” He sighed and scratched his head. “Every night I take you home I feel like I’m leaving a little bigger piece of me with you and I go home and feel small. My couch is too big without you on it, my car doesn’t drive right without you in the passenger seat, and my bed feels empty without you next to me. Any moment of my life when you’re not there, now that I know how much better it can be I just can’t stand it.” He reaches down over the side of the tub, reaching into the ice tub.

“I know vhat you mean,” she sighed. “It’s almost like I am fourteen again and everyzhing is brand new all over again.”

Lewis sat back up with a clenched fist and sighed, looking at her across the rolling, glistening water. “I’m in love with you, Tatiana Rosanov. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He held out the clenched paw and opened it to reveal a box, a small ring box. Without him having to open it, she knew what was inside and clapped a paw over her mouth. “I know it’s little, and it’s old, and it doesn’t have any diamonds in it, but three generations of fine women have worn it, and you’re the only woman in the world that I can ever see myself giving it to-“

“Yes!” Tatiana exclaimed. “Yes, Loovis, I vill marry you.”

~~~~~


The candles were half-burnt, wax dripping onto the floor from the shelves and the counters, and down the sides of the tub. Deep, smooth red like silk flowed down the outside and pooled on the floor while other streams flowed into the tub, making little islands along the sides, some breaking off and flowing atop the warm water, blending with the sunflower petals and tea leaves that had been in it from the very beginning. Lewis laid back against the corner of the bathtub, his body and mind still reeling from his and Tatiana’s first time together.

Tatiana stood in the flickering light before Lewis drying herself, one towel wrapped around her long blond hair; her ears laid free from either side of it as another towel slid across her body, held by its corners in her dainty fingers. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from her, not that he tried quite hard. She moved gracefully, like a dancer, without even thinking about it. Her body was still as perfect as the day she had stopped modelling, if no more so now that it had a greater patina of age, that extra sweetness and golden glow that can only come from more time in the cask. Tatiana Rosanov was a woman, no doubt about that. As fine a girl as she had ever been in her youth, her time as a mother to two wonderful children, as an adoptive to a fine young man, and wife to an abusive malcontent had forged her into a monument of femininity, an embodiment of strength, of kindness, of grace, of responsibility, warmth, and goodness.

He loved her. It made his stomach turn cold and his throat clamp shut to think it, but he loved her. He’d spent so long dreading that simple word, raised in the pinnacle of excess and the generation of promiscuity, that it was hard to fight that ingrained, trained gut reaction. The joy of her acceptance rang in his ears like a million trumpets playing the Marriage of Figaro. The sight of her glory before his eyes, the joy of her requited love, the lingering warmth of her body against his and surrounding him conspired easily to distract him from his upset stomach.
Tatiana turned as she tied the towel around herself. The knot rested just to the side of her breasts, and the lower edge only barely covered her. The white fur of her muff and her plump cheeks barely peeked from under the terry cloth toga. “I am going to bed, Loovis.” She gave him a wink before turning to the door and swaying her hips even more than usual as she walked out of view. “Do not make me vait long.”

He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. But still, for just a few moments still he had to sit, reflecting on what had brought him here. On his past. On his future. On his future wife laying in his bed, wet and waiting for him. He’d long given up on trying to justify it, trying to find any satisfactory answer to, “what have I done to deserve this?” He was done looking his gift horses in their mouths. He stood up slowly, his legs even still shaking a bit, more from nerves than anything else. He avoided the mirror as he dried himself off. If anything would scare his arousal off it would be seeing himself naked and being reminded how gnarled he was.

Lewis stepped out from the candlelit bathroom, leaving that warm light behind for the silver moonlight cascading through his bedroom window. That pure light washed over his lagomorphic lover as her straw-blonde hair poured out across the bed, wrapping her body in radiant shimmering gold. Her towels were unfurled beneath her exposing her body to him. Tatiana’s deep malachite gaze locked on his dark walnut orbs, a fire behind them that she’d set herself, a fact that wasn’t lost on her. Her eyes trailed down from his, catching his nervous smile on the way.
Tatiana examined his scar, the initial shock of seeing it having passed. She wasn’t surprised, she had felt it before, the bare flesh under his clothes and pressed against her back just minutes ago, but she hadn’t dared to ask and didn’t care to now. Whatever caused it must have been excruciating. She bit her thumb as her eyes spied his length for the first time as well. She’d felt it inside herself, every vein and muscle of it stretching her wider than she’d ever been before, every scar along his length and his blunted tip, but seeing it was another matter. His trunk was thick, with a very noticeable swell in the middle, and his knot was still fully engorged. A quiet, dainty whimper of longing and desire escaped her glossy lips. As he walked towards the bed her legs spread slightly, exposing her moist, still-needy pussy.

“You’re so beautiful, Tiana,” Lewis said as his paws braced on the bed and he moved onto it on his knees, crawling up from the foot. She booped his nose with one foot playfully, shutting her legs as she began to feel bashful once again. Making love was one thing, but having his eyes pouring over her completely exposed body was something else. “Stop that,” he said, giving her a kiss on the sole of her footpaw as he spread her thighs once more and held her down gently. His fingers slightly sunk into her soft thighs, her silken fur caressing him as he looked at her.

“Vill you stop staring at me, Loo?” Tatiana begged, both paws at her face, hiding her blushing cheeks. “It is embarrassing.” She whimpered as her nectar dripped onto the sheets beneath her, her hips wiggling against the mattress and her thighs trying in vain to close against his hold.

“Of course.” Lewis said as he shut his eyes, promptly burying his muzzle against her dripping wet pussy. Her back arched off of the bed and the heels of her paws pressed against her eyes, a deep moan escaping her lips as his tongue slid between her. His hot breath blew across her clitoris as he tasted her for the first time. A deep growl escaped his maw, rumbling up through her and making her whimper.

“LoooooOooOOoooOOoooo-” She cooed out as his tongue reached deeper into her. It had been more than twelve years since a man had tended to her needs like this, and never quite so enthusiastically. Walter had treated it like a chore at best.

Lewis’ lips caressed her slick petals, the coarse fur around his lips tickling her as his warmth washed over her. His kisses, soft, tender, slow, and gentle, every one savoring the feeling of her flesh against his. As soon as his paws slid up towards her stomach her thighs gripped the sides of his head, embracing his cheeks as he moved up to kiss her neglected treasure. He looked into her eyes as she did. It was almost as if he could feel her green eyes in the top of his head throughout his worshipping of her womanhood. He met her gaze quickly as he was done, a look of accomplishment on his face as a rosy glow rose through the fur of her cheeks. “You taste wonderful, Tiana.”
He meant it. Tatiana didn’t question it for a moment; she couldn’t with his eyes locked onto hers with no sense of hesitation of deception in them, and that made her blush even more and turn away, hiding her face behind the rise and fall of her bosom. She felt his tongue begin to travel up across her trimmed creamy-beige muff and put her paws on his cheeks, lifting his face up to look into her face again, though her eyes timidly avoided his gaze. “Loo, zhat vas amazing…” she hardly needed to say it. Her panting breath, the heat radiating from her, her attentive nipples, and her sparking green eyes expressed her pleasure silently. She whimpered silently as he followed her guiding paws, his body caressing hers as he trailed up it, the muscles in his arms and thighs brushing against her sides and the insides of her legs, and the heat of his steely rod radiating against her own growing need. He had been so tender, so gentle, and so kind. He worshipped her body with his own, with everything he had to offer; but as his face met hers, their noses softly touching and her paws softly caressing his cheeks, she dared to ask for more. She pulled him closer to her, his muzzle into her neck as she nuzzled up his jaw underneath his flopped ear, and whispered, “Take me, Loovis.” Her arms wrapped around his neck and held him tightly against her as her legs hooked behind his thighs, pulling him closer to her, bringing flesh to meet needy flesh yet again...










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