 
 
The flat-screen television burbled away in the corner, ignored.  Tommy and Katie lay spooned together on the old sofa in Tommy’s room, their clothes discarded on his bed, their tails twined together.  She tipped her muzzle back against his.

“It’s so good to be back home.  With you.  I never thanked you--“

Tommy piped up.  “I’m sure you did.”

“--For rescuing me.”

His ears perked up.  “Oh.  Are you sure?  Well I had to, you know?  And Peter helped.”

Katie gave a little chuckle.  “He really did.  And King.  I’d be lost without all of you.”

“I miss him.  King, that is.  And Peter too, I guess.”

Katie chuckled again.  “I know what you mean.  But Aunty Susan said he can come stay again any time.  With Peter.”

Tommy hugged her nude form against him.  “Doctor Valerie was right.  We should have our own dog.  Do you think Dad would ever go for it?”

“Mmm.  He has to, I think.  Doctors orders.  But what kind of dog, Tommy?”

He stroked a paw down her bare side.  “German Shepherd.”  The leopard answered without hesitation.

She settled closer against him, twitching her ears.  “You not even interested in any other breeds?”

“Nope.  They’re the best breed of dog.”

Katie rolled her eyes.  “You’re just saying that because you like King.”

He shook his head. “No!  Well.  Maybe a little bit.  But you’ve got to admit they’re awesome.  And lovely.”

“I guess so.  I’d love a dog like King. Would we get a boy or a girl dog though?”

Tommy gently stroked her hair as he mulled that over for a minute.  “Hmm.  Good question.  I mean…”  He hesitated a moment, blushing.  “Well, boy dogs are nice, because they’ve got a willy, like King.”

“I knew it!  You want his willy inside you!  A dog’s willy!  Eww!”  She stuck her tongue out, wriggling and giggling.

He huffed, squirming a bit.  “Don’t be silly, Katie.  And anyway you’d want that just as much…  Right?”

She stifled more giggles.  “Nasty dog willies, all red and slimy and making a mess on the carpet.”

“Katie!”  His ears flattened.

The girl held paws over her muzzle.  “Yeah I guess.  But what about a girl dog?  She could have puppies with King, and we could watch!”  Tommy didn’t respond to that, but his ears did.  “Ooh, ooh, I know.  What if you mated with a girl doggy?  Put your willy up her.  I wouldn’t mind!”

“Katie I don’t know…”  But he did know, finding an erection stiffening between their snug embrace, no clothes to hide it.  “Do girl dogs even like that?”

“Sure, Tommy! I bet they like it a lot.  And, um, a dog’s willy is real big.  I bet yours would fit a lot easier.”

He bristled.  “I’m not small!”

She paused, hastily backtracking.  “No Tommy, of course you’re not!  You’re the perfect size, in fact.”  The cub wiggled, shifting her tail, giving no sign she’d noticed his warm erection pressing up against her rump. “I bet you’d fit a girl doggy real nice.”

He murmured, shifting against her, no longer hiding the fact as his stiffness grazed between her soft cheeks.

“You’d fill her with sticky too, right?  But save some for me.”  Without waiting for a reply, she wriggled in their embrace, sliding against Tommy’s erection until it lodged right under her tail.

He grunted with ears back, closing his eyes, drawing in a sharp breath.  “Mmm.”  Already he was leaking slipperiness against her.

She gripped the edge of the couch and pushed back against him, gently, pressing his stiff tip against her sensitive opening.  “No getting her pregnant.  Leopards can’t get dogs pregnant, anyway.  But I guess it doesn’t hurt to try, right?”

“Mmmhmm.”  His paws wrapped around her as he reciprocated, gently pushing, easing in a little way before easing back, making things slicker.  They were getting good at this, and being naked on the couch in Tommy’s room wasn’t going to stop them.

“You wouldn’t get stuck in her like boy dogs do.  But you could make up for it by mating her a bunch of times.  Maybe Peter could help.  Maybe King.”  Her ears fluttered.

Tommy shivered at the lewd conversation, licking her ear and nudging in deeper.  “Maybe you.”

She ear-flicked, giving a little shiver and rubbing her thighs together.  “Oh?  Help guide you in?  Sure I can do that.  Line you up with her little dog vagina.  You ever seen a dog’s vagina, Tommy?”  Her paws found their way down between her thighs.

He groaned as the precum-slicked tip of his penis sunk a decent way into her.  “Umm…  Not up close.”

Katie bit her lip, squeezing, relaxing, pushing back against her brother and feeling him sink ever deeper.  “They’re real nasty, Tommy.  All puffy and a funny shape.  Like a triangle.”

“Uh-huuuuuuh.”  Tommy nuzzled into his sister’s neck as he slowly but surely sank the rest of the way into her warm tight rump.  They rested like that for a while, close and snug in their embrace, Tommy’s willy twitching with a life of its own.  A perfect moment, the world grew still, they savoured the silence--

The door to their bedroom banged open suddenly.  “Tommy, did you see where I left my wallet?  I’m sure I saw it on the kitchen table, but I just can’t…”  The leopard trailed off as the scene unfolded before his eyes.

“Dad!!”  The twins howled in unison, collectively trying to disappear into the couch, paws covering their modesty.

“Oh!  Oh I’m sorry!  Oh…  What are you…  Oh.  You’re.  Oh.”  A troubled expression crossed Julian’s muzzle and he started turning away.

Tommy and Katie stared with ears back, stock still, waiting for the anger.

The older leopard paused, taking stock of the situation, ears raised.  “You’re…  You’re mating?”  He didn’t look at them.

A long, awkward pause.  Finally, Katie squeaked out, “Y-yes?”

Dad stood with his tail limp, half turned away, and didn’t speak for a moment.  “Do you…  Do you remember what Doctor Valerie said?  About the two weeks?”

Katie spoke up again, brightly, “Oh don’t worry, Tommy didn’t put it there!  He put in my bum.  Umm…”  She wiggled, then gasped as Tommy lost the last trace of arousal and slipped out.

Tommy looked mortified; Dad turned back and glanced at the twins again, eyes wide.  “Oh…  Well then.”  Without another word, he turned and left the room.

It was some time before the twins moved again, and Katie let out a breath she didn’t realise she’d been holding.  “Phew!  That was awkward!  I can’t believe he just…”

Tommy wrapped his paws around her and hugged tight, pressing her against him, pressing his muzzle against her neck.  “I love you, Katie.”

“Mrrp.  Love you too, silly brother.  Mmm.”  She pressed back against his warmth, tipping her head back, the tension easing from her body.  In contrast, the tension seemed to be easing back into his.  In one special place.  She wiggled at the feel of his erection returning, swelling, pressing against her.  “Mmmm.  Now, let me tell you everything I read about dog vaginas…”

-------

Dad sat in the corridor outside their room with tail curled around him, staring at his paws, ears pricked.  His heart fell as he heard the first soft noises of pleasure come unbidden from behind the door.  The sound of his children mating, while he just sat there.  And unbuttoned his trousers.  And found his erection, painful and hot in his paw.  Julian closed his eyes and very quietly began to masturbate, listening desperately for the sharp sound of their relief.  He didn’t have to wait long.

-------

Tommy bit into the last slice of pizza, frowning at Katie.  “I’m worried about Dad.”  He swallowed, trying not to talk with his mouth full.

She nodded softly.  “I know.  But he seems to accept us being together, right?”

The cub gestured about the room.  “But just look at the place!  Mum would have blown sky-high by now; I’ve never seen it so messy.  And when’s the last time we didn’t have a takeaway for dinner?”

She paused, taking a long hard look at their surroundings.  “I guess it is pretty bad, isn’t it?”

“And he seems so sad, all the time.  And I miss her too.”

Katie touched his paw.  “Oh Tommy…  But she…”

He nodded at her with wide eyes and flat ears.  “Doesn’t mean I don’t still miss her.  I don’t know how we can fix things.  I don’t know if we can fix things.  I just don’t know.”

“I love you, Tommy.  And you saved me, and the baby.  Hold onto that.  And Dad.  We’ll see Mum soon, with Aunt Susan; they’re arranging it soon.”

The cub blushed gently, taking her paw in his own.  “I did what I had to.”

She stood up.  “Come on.  Let’s take this into the kitchen and get ready for bed.”

Tommy dusted off his paws, closed the pizza box and stood up, nodding.  As a pair they weaved their way across the living room, through the discarded clothes, newspapers, takeaway food boxes, detritus.  The twins crept into the kitchen, and then stopped, ears flattening.

Dad was crying again.  Sat at the kitchen table, shoulders hunched, head down, ears down, tail limp.  His paws covered his muzzle; he hadn’t heard them.  The pizza box bumped against a cupboard.

The leopard stopped and cast a red rimmed eye their way, sniffing.  “T-Tommy.  K-Katie.”  They froze, until he gestured them in, beckoning with a paw.  “Just put it there.  It’s alright.”

Hesitantly, reluctantly, they crept in, crept past him, added the pizza box to the large pile of unwashed dishes in the sink.  Behind them, Dad let out a sob.  Tommy and Katie cringed.

Through trembling muzzle he forced the words out.  “It’s-- okay.”  They slowly turned around.  “P-please.”  He sniffled, hardly trying to hide the tears now.  “S-sit.”

They came round either side of him, Tommy on the left, Katie on the right, and sat down.  Dad’s strong paws reached around them both, pulling them towards him, and he started to let the sobs rack his body.

Tommy’s voice came out as a squeak,  “D-Dad!  It’s okay.  W-we love you.”

“We love you.”  Katie repeated, looking scared.  She met Tommy’s eyes and saw the same.

“I know…  I know.”  Every word was an effort, but he kept forcing them out.  “I’d be l-lost without you.”  Those paws came back to cover his face as the tears ran freely, and now the twin’s arms wrapped around him from both sides.  There were no more words.

-------

Tommy and Katie sat together on the landing, in the dark, tails curled round each other.  They were in the same place they’d been when Mum and Dad had had their final argument, overlooking the stairs, the light from downstairs spilling into the gloom upstairs.

“Tommy I’m scared.”

He gave a little sigh and nodded, leaning against her.  “I know.  I’m scared too.”

“That’s every night this week.  And I think I can still hear him going.  What are we going to do?”  She took his paw and squeezed it.

Tommy gave another sigh, and seemed to straighten, his posture suddenly resolute and his ears raised.  “I think you know what we have to do.”

She blinked.  “I do?  We do?”

He nodded at her in the gloom.  “Aunty Caroline.”

A long pause.  The cub let out a soft breath.  “Aunty Caroline…”  Tommy’s paw rubbed hers.  “But she--“

“I know.  But who else?”

Katie chewed her lip.  “Doctor Valerie?”

He gave a little chuckle.  “Mmm…  She’s been so good to us.  But it wouldn’t be right.  Would it?  She’s got her own life.  She’s not family.”

She sighed.  “I know…  But Caroline…”

“She’s all he’s got.  We’ll make it work.  For Dad.”

“For Dad.”  She nodded.  They squeezed each other’s paws tightly.

-------

“Aunty Caroline?”

“This is Caroline.  Is that…  Is that Tommy?”

“Yes!  It’s Tommy!  And Katie’s here too.”  The twins huddled together next to the telephone, ears flat against their heads.

“Tommy and Katie!  Well, this is a pleasant surprise, you don’t normally call me.  How are my favourite niece and nephew?  How’s J--  How’s your Daddy?”

Tommy swallowed, squeezing the phone a little tighter before continuing.  “Well, that’s why we’re calling.”

“Is everything okay?  You sound worried.  What’s happened?”  Her bright voice shone a little sunlight into the cub’s gloomy world.

Katie piped up, pressing her muzzle close to the receiver.  “He won’t stop crying.”

“What?!  Is that Katie?”

Tommy continued.  “That was Katie.  And she’s right.  We...  Aunty, we’re scared.”

The tone down the phone suddenly became all business. “Tell me what’s happened--“

“Mum walked out!”

“--What?”  A gasp.  “Your mother?  She’s walked out?  Why?”

Tommy swallowed, lips suddenly dry; he stammered into the phone but couldn’t get the words out.

Katie drew nearer.  “Aunty Caroline…  M-me and Tommy did something we shouldn’t have.  And now Mum’s left because of it, and Dad won’t…  He just won’t stop crying!”  She gave a little sniffle herself.

A long drawn out breath down the phone.  “Tommy.  Katie. You hold on tight; I can be there tomorrow.  Don’t tell your Dad, okay?  You know…  You know what he’ll say.  But I’ll be there, and then you can tell me everything that’s happened.”

Katie buried her muzzle in Tommy’s chest and squeaked, starting to tremble.  Tommy wrapped a paw around her and stared, mortified.

Her voice resonated tinnily out of the handset, “Tommy?  Katie?  I need you to be brave for me, okay?”

Tommy mumbled uselessly into the phone, trying very hard to keep his composure.

There was a sudden clattering noise down the phone, and when Caroline spoke, it was with steel in her voice.  “Okay, bugger this.  I’m coming there right now, you hear me?  I will be there in six hours, I promise you.  I’m coming to get you.”

“T-t-thank you aunty Caroline…” Tommy managed to get out, and then the line went dead.  He hung up, collapsed against Katie, and from both cubs tears now fell.

-------

“He’ll be furious, you know.”

“Well, he couldn’t be any worse than he is now.”

“True.”

“I wish we were seeing her under better circumstances.  It’s been too long.”

“It’ll be the middle of the night when she arrives.”

“We’d better keep an ear out, you know, try and let her in.”

The cubs drew the covers even further up, almost over their heads, sharing Katie’s bed for a change.

“Do you mind when I touch it?”  Tommy’s paws roamed, gliding over the downy soft fur of her underbelly.

“I like it.” she answered softly.  “And, um, I like that you put it there.”  A soft blush coloured her cheeks and eartips.

Tommy coughed.  “Um…  Put what there?”

She put her paw over his, over her soft round tummy.  “The baby.  A part of you growing inside me.  I just know it’s gonna be okay, Tommy.  You know?”

He smiled at her.  “I feel it too.  And I like to feel it.”  They bumped muzzles and his paws continued to roam. With every day the mark of just what they’d done grew bigger and bigger.

“Do you remember what today is?”  Katie nuzzled softly at his neck.

His paws gently combed through her fur.  Soft touches with soft pads.  “Mmm…  Bin day?”

“No!” She gently bumped noses with him.  “Well, yes.  But other than that.”

Tommy dipped his muzzle down to rub against her developing chest.  “Mmm.  Don’t know, Katie.”

“Oh Tommy…  I thought you’d be counting the days.”  She gave a soft chuckle, grasping one of his paws and leading it down between them.  She touched it gently against his own willy, firm she noticed, and then pressed his paw up against her vagina.  

He gasped and brought his muzzle up for air, ears wiggling.  “Two weeks?”

Before Katie could reply, there was a soft knocking at the door; both twins flinched and drew the covers up even tighter.

“Hey.”  Dad’s soft voice crept around the door, followed by his muzzle, as he let himself in.  Always soft now, worn down like old boots.  Under the soft glow of the bedside light, there was no disguising where the twins were, nor their closeness.  They’d given up complaining of the intrusions, and Dad seemed to have given up commenting on the situation.  “Did I leave my mobile in here?”  He started scouting around the girlish bedroom.  “I think it’s on silent, so I can’t hear it when I ring it.  Don’t mind me; I’ll be gone in a minute.”  Hair dishevelled, ears flat, the leopard got down on all fours and started groping around under Katie’s dresser.

Tommy and Katie turned to face each other again.  If Dad wasn’t going make a deal of it, then neither were they.  Suddenly it was Katie’s turn to let her paws wander; Tommy stifled a gasp.  Soft girl paws stroked down his chest fur, claws lightly touching.  He shivered, tail twitching under the covers, eyes widening at the strangeness of this whole situation.  Dad was still scrabbling round on the floor, searching.  Her pads grazed down his sides, making him shiver.  Down and down, down through his pale belly fur, down past his tummy.  Katie’s paw cupped his balls and curled around his willy, finding it stiff and warm, making him gasp.

There was a loud bang as Dad hit his head on the underside of Katie’s desk.  “Ow!  Dammit!  I think I left it downstairs.”  He stood up quickly and rubbed his head, ears back and tail swaying.  “I’d better go and look.  Goodnight Tommy.  Goodnight Katie.”  Without another word, Dad padded out of the room, leaving the door ajar behind him.  Katie squeezed, and Tommy gasped even louder.  She pushed at his shoulder and rolled him over onto his back.  The covers came off next, and then Katie got up onto her knees, tail up high.  Tommy looked up at his sister with no shyness as she appraised her brother, eyes filled with love and need.  She scooted a little lower down the bed, parted his legs and then knelt between them, licking her lips.  He lay before her, spreadeagled, spots running all the way down and stiff willy pointing all the way up.  That tail of his with a life of its own ran between his legs; she stroked along its length.  A paw found his balls and cupped them again, lovingly; they were the source of so much pleasure and so much trouble.  He gasped, but then gasped even louder as Katie bent forward and took his penis all the way into her warm muzzle.  The cub stiffened and curled his toes, hips straining and tail dancing.

Katie’s nostrils flared as she drunk in his musk, from the boyish scent of his crotch to the taste of his willy.  It had been a long time, entirely too long, and she eagerly wound her tongue around his warm stiff flesh.  Tommy moaned, and she detected a new hint of flavour.  That new slipperiness he produced now, fresh from the source, musky and warm.  Katie held his soft scrotum and took him even deeper, soft lips pushing his sheath all the way back, nose pushing hard into his crotch.  He moaned louder, tail wriggling, back arching, pulsing and throbbing against her tongue.  She pulled away suddenly and reclined back onto her knees, licking her lips, stroking his tail, and smiling.  Tommy stared at her pregnant form, dazed and panting, his willy all shiny and red between his legs.

The girl’s smile turned naughty as she came forward onto all fours, stepped over her brother and crouched above him with her tail raised.  Her head dipped down and her hair fell forward as she planted a soft kiss on his lips.  Katie began to sit, lowering her rump, tail held up high and off to the side.  Tommy watched her with wide eyes as she lowered herself down onto him.  With one paw to hold his willy, she eased down, down, bringing their groins together in an unmistakable movement.  Tommy hissed as the straining tip of his penis kissed the vaginal lips of his sister and then spread them wide.  They both groaned as he sunk all the way in, until their bodies pressed together, her weight settling on him.  She spread her paws on his chest and tossed her head back; he groaned louder and started trembling.  Katie knew it was coming.

She felt him swell and throb deep inside her; his willy starting to twitch, and then that most delicious feeling of all: a hard squirt against her cervix, then another, and another, hot and wet and sticky.  The clank of the bedroom door made them both jump, and the mumbling form of Dad ambled in.

“--I just know I left it on the window sill.  Sorry to keep barging…”  The words died on his lips, as Julian’s eyes skated across the scene before him, then skated back.  His two children, naked on the bed, Tommy spread out on his back and Katie on top.  Copulating.  More than that, the tell-tale tail twitch of Tommy, the curling of his toes, the pushing of his hips.  He was…  He was…

Dad turned tail and fled out of the room, leaving Katie to let out a groan she’d been holding, feeling Tommy’s sperm running back down his shaft as he continued pumping it into her.  She’d missed this so much, in her bottom was nice but just didn’t feel the same.  The twins carried on like nothing had just happened, and now it was Katie’s turn.  If she knew Tommy, she knew he’d enjoy this, and maybe…  Katie brought a paw down between her legs and gently lifted up off her brother, before settling back down again.  His frantic twitching and spurting had died away, and so she was just left with all that wonderful semen deep inside.  She rose and fell a second time, and felt things get slicker and slicker.  Tommy stayed stiff and warm as he often did, and so very gently, she started to ride her brother’s shaft.

The cub’s tongue lolled out and he made soft whimpering sounds as Katie drove his willy in and out of her; she smiled down at him with love.  Her paw remained between her legs, making sure everything stayed in place, and her head fell forward, spilling soft locks of brown hair.  Tommy’s ejaculation was making quite a mess, spilling out of her easily in this position, dripping down onto his own crotch.  Their bodies began making lewd wet noises as their lovemaking continued apace; Katie shivered and squeezed on Tommy.  He squirmed and twitched inside her, showing no signs of being spent yet.  Katie leaned back, dragging paw pads through Tommy’s chest fur, shifting backwards on his erection and pointing him at more of an angle.  She chewed her lip at the new feeling, his hardness rubbing against the front wall of her vagina.  That movement never sped up, gently rising and falling on him, savouring that warm, snug, slick feeling his very presence gave her.

Tommy however had other ideas, and with a soft grunt began pushing up as she sat down, trying to nudge himself deeper.  His paws found her hips next, and with a determined look on his muzzle began to pick up the pace.  Katie shivered and happily went along with this new turn of events, closing her eyes and squeezing on him as her own pleasure grew.  She reached back and found his furry pouch with one paw, rubbing it and then holding it.  Tommy groaned and gave a couple of harder thrusts, twitching against her, a surge running through his balls and shaft.  She squeezed back, biting her lip, trying to ride this one out.  But something about that wonderful slipperiness, of his wonderfully throbbing willy, of this new position…  Hell, even Dad seeing them.  Something about it all was getting to her fast, and that familiar tickle started rising in her crotch.

Katie shivered and sat down firmly, tail quivering, grinding herself against Tommy, forcing him deep.  He writhed under her now, panting, giving a strong twitch followed by another.  She was close, so close, and then...  Her vagina squeezed, she could feel his furred balls drawing up snugly beneath her paw, she could feel it, she...  His willy start pulsing in her and Katie moaned, writhing, tail beginning its dance behind her.

“Oh yes…”  Katie moaned, the first spurt of his hot ejaculation drenched her vaginal walls, and then she lost it.  While her brother pumped a second load deep inside her, wrenching pleasure exploded deep inside the girl.  Waves of contractions ran up and down her vagina as release found her.  She cried out and writhed, tossing her head around, tail flagging, each new squirt of hot seed another great rush of pleasure.  No longer afraid who might hear, their troubles forgotten for a little while, both cubs voiced their pleasure with loud moans and groans, tails writhing.  Creamy white sperm leaked freely between Katie’s legs now, too much for her to contain.  Every time she squeezed on him, he shuddered, grunted, and fired another volley into her.  Only as her pleasure slowly ramped down and her contractions faded away, did Tommy finally slow his copious ejaculation.

Katie squirmed and he slipped free, landing his last few white squirts against her tummy, completing their thorough mess.  Pleasure drained from her slowly like his warm seed, shivers running up and down her body.  She slumped forward, coming down to lay on top of him, and then she pulled them both to their sides.  Tommy’s muzzle found hers, they kissed, pressing their bodies together.  She reached down and slipped his slick willy back inside her, murmuring in sleepy contentment.  Entangled and intertwined, sticky and wet, the cubs fell asleep together.

———

Dad stumbled away from his hiding place just outside the door, streaked with semen and spotted with shame.  As quietly as he could, he retired to bed.

———

The cubs woke with a start, to the sound of the doorbell ringing.  Silence reigned through the house.

“She’s here!”

It was still dark, and Katie scrabbled to turn on her bedside lamp.  Another moment later, the doorbell rang again and they heard movement from the other end of the landing.

“We’ve gotta get up and help!”  Tommy peeled himself away from his sister, cringing a little at their messy fur.

She nodded, rolling off the bed and quickly finding her clothes scattered about the room.  The twins got dressed quickly, checked each other over, then cringed at the sound of raised voices coming from downstairs.

———

“I’ve nothing to say to you!”  Julian growled, pushing one paw through his sleep-mussed hair.

Caroline glared, ears folded back and tail lashing, bumping the front door shut behind her.  “And how do you think I feel?  You couldn’t have at least let your sister know?”

“Fifteen years…  Fifteen years and you think you can just waltz back into my life, just like that?”  The leopard started pacing, tail lashing behind him.

She gave a deep sigh.  “Julian, look.  Look!  I’ve just driven all night to get here.  Do you know why?”

He scowled, muttering, avoiding her eyes.

“This isn’t about you!  It’s about them.”

That stopped him in his tracks, and he finally looked at her.  “What?”

She sighed again.  “Julian, they called me.  They’re scared, really scared.  I don’t know what’s going on here, and I don’t like this any more than you, but we need to put our differences aside.”

He turned towards the kitchen and walked away.

“Julian?  Julian what’s the matter with you?”  She hurried to catch up, dropping her bags in the hall.

The leopard paused at the doorway to switch on the kitchen light, turning back towards her as if nothing had happened.  “Tea?”  He ambled onwards, kicking rubbish out the way.

She blinked.  “Julian!  You, um.  Sure.”

He scrabbled sleepily through the mess and detritus covering every surface, digging out first the kettle and then a couple of cups.  Caroline surveyed the room with growing horror.  Finally the kettle was on, and he gestured expansively at her.  “Go on.  You may as well sit down.”  His shoulders slumped, his ears fell, and he didn’t meet her eyes.

Caroline looked around until she found the chair that had the fewest number of pizza boxes stacked up on it.  As careful as she was, she wasn’t able to prevent the entire unwieldy stack topping to the floor.  Joining all the others.  Dusting it off, she gingerly sat down and looked over her brother with some concern, curling her tail around her side.  It was obvious he’d not groomed his fur in weeks.  He looked dishevelled.  Granted, she’d got him up out of bed, but his eyes held a haunted look.  She’d like to say she knew how he normally looked, but that would be a lie.  It had been fifteen years.

The kettle made a bang and whistled, making them both jump.  He made the tea and stood by the sink, looking down at the ground.  “What happened to us, Caroline?”

She blinked.  She’d imagined this reunion, this conversation dozens of times in her head over the years, and never had she imagined it’d be this easy.  Something about his state put her off guard, and it was difficult to hold onto the anger or bitterness.  “Well, you left us.  All of us, when you were sixteen.  That pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it?”

He sighed and poured the milk.

“Mum and Dad forgave you, but don’t think that I have.”  He didn’t answer.  Caroline’s eyes widened as she saw his shoulders start to shake; she stood up quickly.  “Look, that doesn’t matter right now.  What on earth is going on here?  Where’s your wife?  What did Tommy and Katie do?”

The sun rose, and the cubs fell asleep under a blanket at the top of the stairs, and the tea went cold and more was brewed.  A great many words were said, and a good many tears were shed.  By morning, Julian was on compassionate leave from work, and Caroline was settled in for a longer visit.  They crept upstairs to sleep, sending the cubs back to bed, and the house fell silent.

-------

The fox leant back in his train seat, running one paw through his shock of blue hair.  Ear buds in, music blaring, he was in the zone.  It hadn’t taken much digging to find out just where those cubs had gone missing.  After all, the authorities wanted them to be found.  But then what?  He’d hoped to help, originally, but since the news they’d been found, safe and sound…  A strange feeling twisted in his gut, fluttery and nervous.  He just wanted to see.  Wanted to see them again.  Like he’d seen them so many times, on that security camera video tape.  The teen squirmed.

