

“Presence of semen confirms regular intercourse.  Volume of semen suggests, erm…”  The fennec raised an eyebrow and an ear and stared at Tommy.  He glanced at his sister and then the dog, before looking away, ears down.  When Katie did the same, the doctor raised her brow higher.  “Volume of semen suggests puberty,”  she finished smartly, glancing at the dog herself.

Katie squirmed on her back, head to one side and blushing.  “Am I gonna be okay, Valerie?  And the baby?”

The doctor gently removed her fingers from Katie, then pulled the gloves from her paws with a snap.  She stood up and turned to Julian.  “Katie has a nasty little tear in her cervical membranes, but nothing serious.  A few days of bed rest, observation, and she should be right as rain.  And no sexual intercourse for 2 weeks.”  Julian’s looked aghast; the cubs shrank away, mortified.  An awkward silence descended.  She tutted and adjusted her tail.  “Oh come now Mr Fleck; let’s be realistic here.  Your son and daughter are sexually active.  The least we can do is see that they’re safe.  Would you rather they ran away again?” Julian glared at her for a moment, tail lashing, and then looked away with a pained expression.  Valerie spoke up, “Now the abortion--“  

Katie gasped.

“--Is no longer possible.  And I’d not do it anyway, not with this injury, not unless it was a medical emergency.  And you can have that on record, Mr Fleck.”  Valerie’s tone hardened. “We’ll be into the third trimester before she’s recovered, so legally my paws are tied.  Oh Katie sweety, you can pop your knickers back on now.”

Julian sat on his rump, crumpled, and stared off into the dark woods.  Emotions rolled across his muzzle and he wrung his paws together, not speaking for a long time.  When he finally looked back at Tommy and Katie, they exuded sadness and shame, ears down and tails limp.  His cubs wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“I just want my Tommy and Katie back.”  His voice broke, and now it was his turn not to meet their eyes.

The twins scurried up to him and each held one of his paws.  “But we’re right here, Dad.”

He shook his head and looked down, rubbing his eyes and trying to force a smile.  “I know…  I know.  But I want things how they used to be.  Our happy family.  I just don’t know who you are any more.”  The leopard tried to hide the tear that fell.

Tommy squeezed Julian’s paw tighter, mortified.  “But Dad we’re still the same!  You just know more about us now.  But we’re still the same!”  A pleading tone crept into his voice.

Katie chimed in, looking up at him earnestly.  “I’m still your Katie, Dad.  I promise I am.”  Her voice cracked a little.

Julian looked from one leopard cub to the other, looked deep into their shining eyes.  He hefted a deep sigh.  “Oh Tommy.  Oh Katie. “  He swept the both of them into a tight hug, pressing his muzzle against their heads and closing his eyes, ears perking a little.  “Whatever am I going to do with you?”  

Only King noticed Valerie wiping her eyes.

*******

The rain had started when they’d all got back to the car, and had worsened continuously ever since.  They’d taken what they could easily carry and left everything else for another day.  The four plus the dog drove in silence for a while, down the dark and wet twisty roads back to Valerie’s office.

“I’ll pay for the damage of course.”  Julian fidgeted and fiddled with his tail in the front passenger seat.

The fennec kept her eyes on the road, ears on the ceiling.  “Of course you will.”

“Thanks for patching me up.”

She glanced at him.  “Just doing my job.”

Another awkward silence.  Rain pelted the car from outside

Julian turned to her, ears folded.  “So what happens next?”

“I should think that’s entirely up to you and your wife, Mr Fleck.”

He grimaced, wringing his paws.  “No, I mean with Katie.”  Julian swallowed.  “And the baby.”

Valerie glanced at him again.  “Oh!  Well I’d thank you to bring her in once a week, from now on.  Due to her age, she’s going to need careful monitoring, and we we can make a start on the prenatal scans too.  Drop us a bell tomorrow and we’ll make the arrangements.  She can even bring her dog along, if she likes.”  The wipers sang noisily across the windscreen.

“He’s not our dog.”  Katie piped up from the back seat, stroking King’s ears.

“You positive, sweety?  He sure acts like he is.”

Katie shook her head.  “King belongs to my cousin Peter.  We have to give him back, I guess.”  Her ears flattened.  Tommy touched her paw.

The fennec tutted.  “Good heavens; every boy and girl needs a dog.  I don’t care what people say: the original dog is best friend to all species.  To fennecs, leopards, foxes, tigers, cats, dogs, to all walking creatures of the earth and sky.  I trust you’ll be correcting this omission, Mr Fleck.”

Julian stammered,  “Err…”

“Good.  I look forward to meeting the new chap.”  She leaned over and whispered so only Julian could hear, ears scraping the car roof.  “These kids need all the stability and happiness you can give them right now.  I think the wee girl has grown rather attached, if you know what I mean?”  Louder now,  “We’re nearly here!  Everyone ready to go?”

Tommy and Katie gathered up the few things they’d carried and prepared to get out.  King’s lead was attached to his collar.  The rain was hitting the windows hard now as Valerie pulled into the small car park.  The car pulled up, came to a stop; everyone unbuckled their seatbelts and started getting out.

Julian stepped into the rain and came around the front of the car to Valerie’s side.  “I’d like to thank you, Doctor Shoemaker.”  He tried to shield his head from the rain.

She shrugged, grasping her great bush of a tail and climbing out.  “I think you already did.”

He shook his head and rubbed at his bandaged arm.  “I don’t mean that.  I mean everything.”  Julian rubbed the back of his neck.  “And I’m sorry for everything, too.”  His ears flattened.

“Nonsense.”  Valerie shook her head, rain droplets scattering  She locked the car.

“I’m sorry?”

“You acted like any loving father would.  I think love makes us all a bit mad, sometimes.  Makes us do mad things.  Isn’t that right, Tommy, Katie?”  

Three pairs of ears swivelled round.  “Huh?”  The cubs and the dog were dancing together in the rain.

Valerie folded her arms and gave Julian a serious look, water dripping down her muzzle.  “What counts is what you do next.  Now go and take these two back to their mother; I’m sure she’s worried sick by now.  I’ll see you at Katie’s next appointment.”

With that, the fennec bustled off through the rain, patting the twins on their heads as she passed, reaching down to pat the dog too.  Treading gingerly, she picked her way through broken glass and debris, back into the medical centre and her dry office.

The three leopards looked at each other, then at the smashed front doors of Valerie’s office, then at King, finally at Julian’s car where it had been abandoned in the middle of the pavement.  There was a large yellow parking ticket stuck to the driver’s side window.

“Let’s go home.”  Julian took all their paws and walked them over to the car, the German Shepherd faithfully in tow.

*******

Tommy and Katie cringed from their perch at the top of the stairs, listening to the argument below.  King was shut away in Tommy’s room; they were finally home, but it didn’t feel like it.  Angry voices wafted up to them.

“You knew they were safe, hours ago?  When were you going to tell me?”  Mum’s voice trembled with barely checked emotion.

“Alison, listen--“

“No, you listen!”  The thump of a paw on a table.  “Right from the start of this horrid affair, you’ve kept things back from me.  What next, hmm?  What’s the next Julian bomb-shell?”

“Please just--“

“And that doctor woman, what business of hers is any of this?  What on earth was she thinking, leading you on that merry goose chase?  You should have phoned the police Julian, you really should have.”

“You don’t--“

“I’m not having it, Julian, I’m not.  I won’t have them under this one roof, not now, not yet.  And we’ll phone the hospital first thing.”

Katie stifled a gasp.

“Alison…”  A low growl crept into his tone.

“That dog can’t stay either; you know I don’t like it in the house.”

“Alison,”  She tried to interrupt again, he raised his voice, “Alison, our children are safe!”

A snarl.  “No thanks to y--“

A louder thump against a wall.  Tommy and Katie hugged each other, tails together.  “Every thanks to me!  They’re home, safe and sound; why can’t you see?”

There was a long pause, then the twins heard a loud sob, followed by another.  “Julian, I…”  They could hear their mother crying.

Much softer now.  “Alison, our children are home, our family is back together.  I love you.”

No response for a long time but a soft sniffling.  Tommy and Katie looked at each other with ears back, afraid.

After a long time, Mum’s voice, cracked and wavering.  “You’re hurt.”

A snort.  “It’s nothing.”

“What did she--“

“I smashed her front door in.”  The twins could hear the smile in Dad’s voice.

Mum gasped.  “Julian!”

“She patched me up.  Took it rather well, I think.  Better than this hot headed leopard.”

“But you…  Didn’t she call the police?”  Mum’s voice sounded less raw now.

Dad gave a soft chuckle.  “No.  She’s a good person, Alison.  Decent, professional.  She did what she had to do, and the cubs wouldn’t be back here without her help.”

Tommy and Katie turned and frowned at each other with a look of betrayal.

“We will need to rebook the hospital appointment.”  Her tone was suddenly grave again.

Dad tutted.  “Let’s talk about it in the morning.”

“But Julian--“

“In the morning.  Please.  Right now what we have to do is get some rest.”

They heard Mum sigh, then they heard the soft sounds of a hug.  A few minutes later, the creak of the first stair.  Tommy and Katie jumped up, wide eyed, and tried to slink back to their rooms as fast and as quietly as they could.

“Tommy.  Katie.”  Mum’s voice.  Unsteady.

The twins turned and gave a sickly grin.  “Yes?”

“Come kiss your mother goodnight.”

Awkwardly, the two cubs trudged back down the landing to their parents, not meeting their eyes, tails limp.  Without warning, Mum scooped the pair into a tight hug and kissed both their heads.

A cracked whisper.  “I missed you so much.”

Dad joined the hug, and for a moment the family was whole again.  But the moment passed, the embrace was broken, the leopards separated.  Tommy and Katie made their way down the landing and to their separate bedrooms.  Mum and Dad retired to bed.  Silence descended upon the house.

*******

King snored quietly in the corner, curled up on a pile of clothes.  Tommy lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.  Night permeated the room - thick, suffusing, comforting.  Not like the woods.  This was a different kind of night: safe and familiar but yet, no longer with the same sense of belonging.  Nothing would ever be the same again.  They both knew that; they all knew that.  Here and now was a queasy kind of limbo, the calm before the storm.  So, what now?  The baby was safe, he hoped, Doctor Valerie had seen to that.  They were back at home, sort of together, but how would Mum ever accept it?  He fretted a little, turning ideas and possibilities round in his head.  Not only did there not seem to be any good answers, there didn’t seem to be any answers at all.  If Dad hadn’t come around and seemed to accept things, there’d be no hope at all.  If Dad hadn’t been okay, Tommy would be planning a runaway all over again.  But now things were…  complicated.

King lifted his head from a balled up t-shirt and gave a soft ‘wuf’.  Tommy heard the soft footfalls a moment later, and then the quiet click of his door opening.  The rustling of sheets, and then someone slipped under the covers beside him.

He turned to the side.  “You can’t sleep either?”

Katie murmured and rolled over to face him.  “Mmm.  I can’t stop thinking about it, Tommy.  What do you think’s going to happen?”

Tommy sighed and rolled onto his side too.  Only her outline was visible in the dark.  “I don’t even know what’s going to happen in the next few minutes Katie, let alone tomorrow or the next day.”  Despite his tone, there was a little smile in his voice; he reached out to stroke his paw down her side, pushing the covers out of the way.  Soft fur under soft pads; she gave a different kind of sigh.

Katie propped her head up with a paw.  “I never thought Dad would turn around like he did.  It almost feels like he’s okay with everything now.”

He leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on her muzzle.  “Maybe not everything, Katie.”

Now there was a little smile in her voice.  “Mmm.  Just means we have to be more careful.  No more risky business.”

Their lips met as Tommy kissed her again, stroking a paw down her warm muzzle.  That paw kept going, down the nape of her neck, up her shoulders, along her side.  Everything about her was soft, so soft, just like a girl should be.  He took a deep breath and inhaled the familiar scent of his sister, let it wash over him, let it carry him away.  Hesitantly, he let his paw skid down her body, over her unmissable bump.  Too dark to see, but he could feel every inch of it.  Impossibly large, impossibly firm, and yet not so much.  It stood out on his sister’s lithe frame, but you could still pretend it almost wasn’t there.  Almost.  Nobody was fooled any more though.  A strange squirmy feeling went through him as he thought once again: it had been his mating her that’d done this.  Every time he’d put his willy inside her, every time he’d squirted his seed so deep, it had led towards this.  It only had to work one time, and then poof, a baby was started.  Despite all the trouble it had caused, the idea of it was still terribly exciting.

Katie gave a happy sigh as her brother continued feeling her up.  That paw roamed round and around her stretched belly, then higher, up her chest; things were starting to happen there too.  From being as flat as Tommy’s chest, soft roundness was beginning to form, yielding under his paw.  It was a little scary, and yet that’s what girls had, right?  She’d need them for the baby; Tommy knew that much.  Hard as all the evidence was to ignore, he tried not to focus on what that eventual day would bring.  

Tommy gasped as Katie took his paw.  She tugged it down between them all of a sudden, then pressed it firmly between her legs.  Against her warm slick vagina.  His willy was achingly hard now, but she wasn’t finished.  Squeezing his paw there with her own, she rolled over to face away from him, curling him right up against her in a tight embrace.  Tommy shuddered and pressed against her firmly, paw between her legs, stiff willy against her bottom.  The twin’s naked bodies fitted together like yin and yang.  King gave a sigh and rolled over onto his back.  Tommy tucked his muzzle up alongside Katie’s, gave a happy sigh of his own.  She was wet; he pressed with one finger and it easily slid inside her.  Another moment and he parted her tender flesh with a second, making her shiver.

He loved that feeling, of his fingers sinking deep inside her vagina.  Of that silky warmth, of the way she pressed against him, of the way she squeezed on him as he dug deeper, of the way her breath quickened whenever he fingered her.  Tommy groaned, grinding back against her, his willy digging firmly between her buttocks.  Reluctantly he slid his fingers out of Katie, moving his paw back around to grasp himself.  Her wetness still coated his fingers and so he rubbed it in, finding he was once again producing his own wetness too, even more than last time he’d noticed.  This all left him very slick, perfect to rub down her crevice from back to front.  She gave a little gasp and he did it again, in the other direction, leaving a nice slick trail up her bottom. Finally he pressed himself lower, lower, grazing her vagina, his tip just starting to catch…

Katie stiffened.  She whispered, “Tommy we can’t…”  Her voice was dripping in disappointment.

The cub froze, not pushing any deeper, denied that thing he loved the most.  His ears flattened as Valerie’s words rang in them.  ‘Two weeks’, she’d said.  And they didn’t want to hurt the baby.  He blushed deeply, pulling away, wondering…  That paw rubbed up between her cheeks now, from front to back, to under her tail.  She grunted as slick pads met delicate skin, feeling her opening, feeling her most private spot.  His ears flattened further and he blushed more, taking his willy and positioning it where his fingers had just been.  Tommy pushed, very gently, and they both gasped.  Katie became very still.  He wasn’t sure about this at all, but he couldn’t help himself.  Another nudge, and he could feel his pointy feline tip nudging in a little.  There were definite advantages to being this shape.  She squirmed as he pushed a little more, and started to actually sink under her tail a little.  So tight.  So warm.  He began panting, gripping his willy tightly.  Pulled back a little.  More slickness oozed from his tip, and he pushed back again, sinking nearly an inch deep.  Tommy was amazed she was letting him try this.

Katie hissed, tipped her muzzle back against him.  “Gentle…  Please.”

He whimpered and nodded, pulling back out again.  It seemed like the more aroused he was, the more he leaked.  A grunt, and he pushed back in, very slowly.  Deeper and deeper.  Slickness spreading all the way.  The deeper he got, the wider he got.  Katie squeezed on him and he stopped.

“Easy Tommy, easy…”

After a moment, she relaxed again; he pulled back and then eased a little deeper.  He couldn’t believe he was doing this.  It felt amazing; so different and extra naughty too.  Both twins squirmed as Tommy continued to sink his willy under his sister’s tail.  Slick but not too much, not as much as her vagina.  This time he was doing the job, but it seemed to be enough.  It felt good.  Too good; he shivered, pushed, and finally took his paw away.  She was so tight, but a little more, just a little more, and…  His crotch met her bottom.  Tommy groaned and hugged his sister tight against him.  She whimpered, ears flat, paws clenched, squeezing on him.  He groaned again, grinding his paw against her slit.  She squeezed a second time and his willy gave a hard twitch.  Tommy took a deep breath and grew absolutely still.  She squeezed a third time.

“Nnngh…”  Tommy’s tail flopped and twitched and starting making a staccato beat against the bed sheets.  Two fingers sank deep into her vagina, and then…  His seed began splashing into her rectum.  Squirt after thick squirt, they covered her walls in slippery mess.  That tight fit suddenly became slick, and slicker, and both of them could feel the difference as his ejaculation made the whole thing much more slippery.  He grunted, hips twitching to and fro, thrusting in and out of Katie a little bit as he filled her with wetness.  He whimpered, feeling it spreading.  She was suddenly squishy.  Katie gave a soft moan, pushed her rump against him and squeezed on him.  Tommy gurgled, his squirts slowing and stopping.

He’d put his sticky up Katie’s bottom.  He’d really done it.  And she hadn’t minded, either.  Tommy gave a little shiver, staying deep inside her.  Somehow it was naughtier than normal, something you were even less supposed to do.  Less than mate your sister, anyhow.  He blushed and ground up against her, stiff willy twitching.  It was different, but just as nice.  A different kind of nice.  A brief thought popped into his head: King giving her the same treatment.  The image of King on her back came to him quite often, despite the scary ending they’d had.  Mating with the German Shepherd was a form of naughtiness so far out there, it seemed to blow a fuse in his mind.  Tommy didn’t quite know what to think, but he knew he liked it, and he knew he really liked how sloppy she had been afterwards.  King sure put out a lot.  Tommy shivered again, feeling his own sloppiness this time.  He couldn’t help himself, and began to thrust.

Katie squeaked as her brother set about mating her under the tail for a second time.  He thrust, and already things were easier, nicer, more slippery than before.  Those two fingers dug into her and, growling, those thrusts quickened.  Harder, faster, deeper; he forced every slick inch of his into her hole before pulling back for the next thrust.  Tommy groaned, pressing fingers into her vagina in time with his thrusts, pressing his sister deliciously from the front and back.  She mewled.  His hips worked hard, pistoning in and out of her, those thrusts starting to make lewd wet sounds now.  Slippery sperm clung to his stiff shaft, oozed around her anus; it made every second perfect and exquisite.  Katie began to writhe, squeezing and clenching on him with both holes, making him whimper as his thrusts kept up unabated.

It was no good, she was just…  Katie’s tail wriggled between them, trapped but unmissable.  She gasped, trying to catch her breath, took another gasp, then a third, then…  Her tail set about pulsing, as did her abused opening under it.  Tommy gave a muffled cry as she clamped down hard on his willy, and again, and again.  The squeezing just wouldn’t stop and his desperate thrusts became uneven, unsteady; too slick to be stopped but too good to carry on.  He gave a long guttural moan, hips spasming, tail thrashing, and then that tail was pulsing like Katie’s.  Hot sperm began spraying inside her as Tommy, helpless, lost it for the second time.  Her rectum received a fresh coating of his slick seed as his ejaculation ran its course, making things more slippery than ever.  She squeezed him again and again, milking him as her release ran its course.  The cub mewled, lost to the sensations as her brother emptied his balls into her backside again.

Her vagina was safe, except from his fingers.  Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.  Their worries forgotten for now, Tommy writhed and groaned, spurting wetly under Katie’s tail, making everything a very lovely mess.  They hugged each other until the only sound, the only movement, was their panting.  The panting gradually got quieter, until they were asleep.

*******

Katie woke with a start, entangled in her brother’s paws.  King woofed.  Panic briefly welled up in her; it was daylight; why wasn’t she in her own bed?  Would they get caught again?  Loud voices outside reminded her why she’d woken up at all.  It was Mum and Dad.  Not even outside; the sound was travelling all the way from their bedroom and along the landing to Tommy’s room.  She cringed and folded her ears back.  It didn’t sound good, not at all.

*******

“I can’t believe this.”

“Alison, they ran away.  Our children ran away because we split them up.  I won’t risk that again.”  He stood with his arms folded, tail stiff.

The leopardess bristled.  “You wont risk it?  What about me?  Where do I come into all this?”

Julian sighed.  “Look: you didn’t see how they were when I found them.  But you saw how sad Tommy was.  We can’t split them apart again.”

“Julian, I love you; I know you’re trying to go easy on them, but this really isn’t the time.  They need tough love, or they’re just going to keep on as they were before.  I won’t allow it, not under my roof.”

He wrung his paws.  “Alison…”

She paced.  “But just what on earth got into your head last night?  I was worried sick, I nearly called the police; you couldn’t have taken one minute to pick up the phone and even tell me you’d found the twins?”

“I didn’t--“

“No, we’re taking them straight back to the doctor; a different one this time I think.  I can’t believe you waited till now to tell me this doctor was refusing.  Surely you agree she must have the abortion, Julian.  I won’t let this doctor mess up her life.”

Julian growled, shaking his head and staring at the ground.  He spoke in a quiet voice, ears back.  “She wants to keep the baby, Alison.”

Alison tossed her head dismissively.  “Nonsense.  She’s just a girl, she couldn’t possibly know what’s good for her.  Stop being such a soft touch.”

His tail lashed.  “She’s keeping the baby, Alison.”

That stopped her in her tracks.  “What?”

“You heard me.  We’ll look after it, we’ll do something, but I’m not forcing Katie to go through that.  It has to be her choice, or she’ll never forgive us.”

The leopard snorted.  “Oh, and you’d respect her choice to walk off a cliff too, would you?  Julian, wake up!  This is too important; you can’t go easy on them.”

He growled again, looking up at her.  “Alison…”

She stamped her foot in an unintentionally childish gesture.  “We’re the adults here, and she is not having that baby!  I won’t allow it!  If you’ve got any decency you’ll agree.”

Julian shook his head.  “I won’t let you do it to her, Alison.”  His paws curled into balled fists.

She glared back.  “I won’t let you ruin her life!”

He forced his paws to relax again, uncurling his fingers.  “They’ll back me up.  I already told you; Doctor Shoemaker has already ruled it out on medical grounds.”

She drew in a breath with a sharp hiss.  “Nonsense.  I think this doctor has you wrapped round her little finger.  Just listen to yourself.”

“Alison, you can’t just…  You can’t force her!  This is terrible, I know it is, but we can’t decide for her.  I won’t let you.  I’ll stop you.”

Alison put her paws on her hips, breaking eye contact to pace a moment, tail lashing behind her.  Her muzzle set in a tight grimace.  “So it’s come to this.  My own husband would rather cave in to a child’s sick demands than stand by his wife.”

He shook his head.  “Alison, don’t do this…”

She pointed her finger at him, fuming.  “You’re the one doing this!  You’re the one who wants them to keep that child, borne of the most sickening act imaginable.  Oh yes; that doctor told me that on the phone too:  It’s definitely Tommy’s, the paternity test came through.  You’re the one who wants to keep them both under this roof again, so they can carry on with their perverse ways.  I bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Alison!”

She shook her head, tutting.  “You knew they were mating, long before any of this happened, and you kept it from me, told them a load of nonsense.  Why is that?”

Those paws became fists again.  “No!  I told you; It wasn’t like that!  I only want the best for them.”  He struggled to reign himself in, remembering how out of control he’d been at the doctor’s office, remembering how hard it had been to restrict his violence to just the doors.

She slapped him.

Julian gasped and staggered back a little, dumbstruck.

Alison turned away, covering her muzzle with her paws.  When she eventually turned back, her eyes were red rimmed and her voice unsteady.  “You know what, why don’t you just keep your perverted family.”  She sobbed, and the tears began to fall.

He unballed his fists again and reached out towards her.  “Alison…”

She shrunk away.  “Don’t you dare touch me!  I’m n-not going to listen to your nonsense a m-moment longer.”  She turned away and started to fumble clumsily in her handbag.

He put his paws up over his stinging muzzle, staring with wide eyes.  “Alison, please.”

She waggled one trembling finger at him, a mobile phone pressed up to her other ear.  Her voice was warbly.  “Susan.  I n-need you to p-p-pick me up right now.  What?  I don’t care if he’s in school!  Please…  Just please…  Oh God please…”  She crumpled to her knees, slumped forwards and started sobbing again, trying and failing to form words.

Gently, Julian slipped the phone from her paw into his own.  Now held up to his ear, he gently rubbed his wife’s back.  The leopard tried to keep his voice steady.  “It’s Julian.  Yes.  I think you really should, right now.  I’ll arrange a taxi for Peter; don’t worry about that.  You’re an angel, Susan.”  He ended the call and gently set the phone down on the bed.  

With a start, Alison shrank away from his touch again and stood up, tail limp.  Mechanically, she walked over to her wardrobe, pulled out an overnight bag, and began to pack.

*******

Tommy and Katie and King stared out the window and watched aunt Susan’s car pull away.  A moment later they heard the creak of their bedroom door.  Neither were wearing any clothes, both were in Tommy’s room, but that didn’t seem to matter right now.

“Mummy’s going away for a little while.”  Julian’s shoulders were slumped and he looked suddenly very old.

They both gasped.  “But why?  Where’s she going?”  The twin’s tails gently bumped together.

He shook his head, muzzle set in a hard line, trying hard to maintain his composure.  Without another word, the older leopard turned around and left the room again, closing the door behind him.  Tommy and Katie turned to each other with wide eyes and hugged each other tight.  A moment later, King nuzzled up to them both.  Katie started to cry.

