FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

--Chapter One: Home

Alex bounded up the stairs two steps at a time, overlarge kangaroo feet lending her a loping bounce she could not yet control with finesse. After the top step, she failed to stop and her body glanced into the wall. Alex was small, light. She bounced off the wall, giggling wildly and zooming up to her top speed down the hallway.

From the bedroom came mother's stern voice: "Alex Ryan, you stop that running in the house! You're gonna knock out your teeth again!"

The little girl, busted and defeated, slowed her bounces until they became normal, plodding steps. She wasn't thinking about the gaps in her baby teeth or even her mother's reprimand. Her young mind was thinking about how best to mask her running. There had to be some kind of way to do it. Daddy was huge and heavy and he could move silently - even on the stairs! Alexandria Jamie Ryan was determined to find a way to both speed in the halls and avoid mom's scrutiny. It would be her mission in life.

For the time being, Alex set aside her ruminations and walked placidly into the master bedroom. Her mother and father had been in a fuss since they got up. Usually the weekend was fun - mom and dad would make breakfast and sometimes daddy let her help, usually mixing pancake batter or whipping eggs. This morning she was fed only waffles (the chocolate chip ones, her favorite) and syrup. Dad had one without any syrup, picking it up like toast and eating it on the move. Mom didn't have a thing to eat.

The girl climbed up onto the master bed, knelt beside the pair of open suitcases. One was empty. Daddy's clothes were folded neatly inside the other. She recognized some of his t-shirts, a pair of his jeans, and she giggled when she noticed his underwear. She was still grinning, idiot gaps in her teeth like black kernels of corn, when he came out of the bathroom brushing his long, black hair.

"Brushies!" Alex deliriously cried, paws flying out into the open air.

"No brushies today, sweetie," daddy said softly. "Sorry."

Alex huffed. She fell back on her butt, arms folded across her chest. Her hair was like his, long and dark, perfectly straight, a beautiful mane for a beautiful child. Her reddish eyes fixated on mother, the tall kangaroo from whom Alex had inherited her tremendous feet and stout legs. Mom put a few shirts, two pairs of jeans, a few pairs of panties into the suitcase alongside daddy's clothes. Alex watched, halfway interested.

"Where ya goin?" she asked them not for the first time.

Mom and dad exchanged looks. Alex was a perceptive child; she had noticed clandestine looks between her parents before and she knew they often precluded awful happenings like shots.

"We told you already, Alex," mom said with as much decorum as she could muster. Her demeanor seemed fragile, as if she were on the verge of trembling or screaming. "We have to go do something important. And you're going to spend the weekend with-," she hesitated, glanced at her husband's encouraging smile, "your grandmother."

"Grandma!" Alex squealed, giddy at the very thought. "Where's grandma? She here?"

"On her way," said daddy. He leaned like he was going to fall on the bed, caught himself with his paws. His weight still slammed the bed and Alex bounced, shrieking with laughter. Then her little paws shot out and grabbed his muzzle, pulled on his protruding saber fangs as though they were handles.

"Hey! Eash-y!" dad laughed, lower mandible moving against her grip.

Alex giggled riotously. She smooched daddy on the nose and then flopped back. Daddy, growling, climbed onto the bed and grappled with the little girl, sent her into spasms of laughter and shrieks. She swatted at him with her paws, kicked his belly harmlessly with her giant feet. "Let go! Leggo!"

"Nuh-uh, now you're done for," dad warned, pulling her close. "I think it's time for a wet willy. Gonna poke your brain."

"Daddy!" Alex shrieked, her grin enormous, the laughter wracking her body like a cough.

Down in the lobby, a booming yet feminine Australian voice called out for Alex. "Where's my little one at? Where's my kisses? Grandma's here!"

Alex's ears went suddenly erect, her body as still as stone as though she were at once a hunted rabbit in the bush. Then she kicked her father's gut with all her might, pushing the wind from his lungs, the air escaping him in a hoot of pain and shock.

"Grandma!" Alex brayed, scooting out from under daddy's motionless body. She hit the floor on all-fours then launched herself, zoomed off on bouncing, bounding kangaroo legs.

"Christ," dad wheezed, rolling onto his side with a moan. "That little girl can kick."

His wife smiled slyly, her frayed nerves calmed somewhat by the antics. "You're lucky I never kick you. I'd go for your balls."

The little girl took the stairs one at a time going down them. A tumble a year prior had broken her shoulder, and that had tempered her need for speed to some small degree.

"There she is! There's the little one," crooned the big, gray wolf. Long, pink hair glinting in the morning sunlight, teeth showing in a full, resplendent grin, Seg was not blood to anybody in the house but she filled the role of grandmother to Alex happily. She knelt on the floor, arms open wide, ready to receive the rambunctious missile heading her way.

"Grandma!" Alex shrieked, bubbly giggles from kangaroo and wolf filling the spacious foyer as the girl slammed into Seg's formidable body, her tremendous breasts under a sweater making for a soft landing.

They squeezed one another snugly, Seg peppering Alex's head and face with noisy smooches, one loving mwah! after another. And Alex took them, giggling and squirming, nuzzling then into Seg's fluffy, coarse fur the way she nuzzled into daddy.

"Oh, I love you," Seg cooed, finishing up with one final mwah! between the girl's eyes. "And we are gonna have a fu-u-un weekend. No mom or dad to tell you what to do, just you and me."

They exchanged grins. Alex was very good at grinning, Seg thought. Little imp looked just like her father when he had been at his sinister prime. Just thinking of Kahnso now all those years ago filled the wolf with a kind of bittersweet nostalgia. She gently brushed back Alex's mussed hair. "Gawd, but you're such a pretty little girl. Look just like your dad."

Kahnso came down the stairs, two hefty suitcases in his paws. "You getting my kid all dirty?" he gruffly asked, a smirk on his face. "Takes forever to get her in the tub, ya know."

Veronica - mommy - followed a few steps behind. She regarded Seg cautiously, saw her then as always as an insidious mother-in-law. Kahnso had been more or less raised by this tall, attractive wolf; Veronica knew she had been and still was his agent through all of that. It was her job to make Kahnso as profitable as possible. She saw no love in a relationship like that, only parasitism.

"Hello, Seg," the kangaroo said politely enough. She forced a smile. Seg noted the unease but chalked it up to the purpose of the trip. Estranged father, nasty business. Seg didn't envy the kangaroo. Maybe envied her for her husband, but not for her present business.

"Veronica!" Seg said, standing but keeping a paw on Alex's head. The girl leaned into the wolf's leg, nuzzling her. "And Kahnso. Going to Illinois, I hear. Leaving me with this little brat, is that so?"

Kahnso set the suitcases near the door. He smiled at Seg, then Veronica. "You can keep her even once we get back, if you wanna."

"Yeah," Veronica muttered, leaning on the banister. "Alex-, hey. Be good."

"Oh, she'll be fine," Seg cooed, stroking over the child's ears. Her eyes scanned over Kahnso, then Veronica. A great many years cutting deals and greasing palms had shown her what discontent looked like - and distrust too. Veronica always looked at her as though she were a dealer of used cars. And now the poor woman had to go confront her druggy father. "Alex, sugar," her eyes fell on Kahnso, "how's about you help your dad load up those suitcases?"

"Cool!" Alex said, and she struggled to lift one of the suitcases. Kahnso lifted them both, looked back at Seg just a moment, then walked out into the chilly morning air with his daughter.

"I know we've got only a few minutes," the wolf said to Veronica, "so I'll make this quick."

"You're trustworthy with Alex, I know that," Veronica said, halfway dismissive of Seg. But her eyes were interested, and she seemed to intuit more than a simple reassurance from the wolf.

Seg smiled patiently, moved a bit closer to Veronica. The kangaroo, quite proud of her own muscular figure, always felt inferior beside Seg and her herculean, yet still incredibly feminine build. She placed a meaty paw on the kangaroo's shoulder. "Look. It's not much of my business what you're doing. But I do know some of it. Not easy dealing with troublesome family, not like this anyhow. But you're a tough girl. You tamed that bloody idiot of a husband of yours and even I couldn't pull that off." She grinned and winked. Veronica smiled back slightly. "I get the feeling you don't always trust me. Now I don't know what exactly your reasons are, maybe it's because I've known your husband fifteen years longer than you have, maybe it's just you don't like us Aussies," she chuckled, "but I like you just fine, girl, and Kahnso? Kahnso's just about the closest thing to a son I've still got around. And little Alex, gawd, I love her to pieces."

Veronica's eyes grew wet. She tensed, hardened, huffed. The crying stopped before it could start. "Where are you going with this?" she asked, sounding weaker than she wanted to.

"Guess I'm not exactly sure," the wolf said, shrugging. Her breasts bounced along with her pink, bouffant hair. "Just, uh," she smooched Veronica's cheek, "if you need someone to talk to, a woman to talk to in these trying times, call me, all right? Kahnso's a good man, but sometimes you need a woman's insight. And maybe someone less personal than, say, your best friend."

"Thank you-, thank you, Seg," Veronica managed to say with some composure. She leaned in somewhat awkwardly and kissed Seg back, also on the cheek.

The wolf beamed a smile at her and clapped her shoulder. "You're gonna be fine, girl. Don't get worked up. Whatever happens, you're coming home to a ten-million-dollar house and a husband who eats ass. Buck up."

Veronica laughed, startling herself. "Thanks," she said, and sighed. Her eye gained a coy glint, her smile too. "Maybe sometime you can tell me all the things my husband's into. Knowing him as well as you do, I mean. Give me a reason to trust you, you understand."

Seg grinned. "I don't give advice, but I'd be happy to show you at some-."

The front door opened and Alex bopped inside, made a beeline for Seg and clung to her thigh. "Grandma! I got the suitcases in the ca-a-ar."

"Excellent work," Seg effused, not sounding at all condescending. She scooped Alex up effortlessly in her muscular arms. One hooked under the girl's butt. Its twin held her shoulders. "You know, I was thinking, we ought to curl that hair of yours. Do it up like mine." She shook her head and her curled hair bounced majestically.

"Oooh," Alex cooed. "Yeah!" She pawed through Seg's luxuriant locks. "Curls!"

"We're not even gonna recognize her when we get back," Veronica said dryly. "Grandma's gonna turn you into her mini-me."

Kahnso nuzzled up to Veronica, kissed her cheek. "You ready to get going, babe?"

The kangaroo said nothing. She watched Alex and Seg giggle and chatter, the wolf bouncing Alex in her arms, the girl pawing at Seg's face, pulling hair, ears; Seg never seemed to care even as Alex mussed up her painstakingly curled locks.

"They get along so well," the kangaroo marveled quietly.

Kahnso hugged her. "Seg's great," he said, also quietly. "I love her." Somewhat sadly, "I wish you did, too."

Veronica leaned against him. Her eyes locked with those of the wolf for a moment. A knowing look passed between them, and Veronica smiled slightly.

"I think I'm starting to." She leaned more heavily into Kahnso, her eyes closing, her mind reeling at what must be done next, the days of driving cross-country. She hated herself for fearing air travel but the fear was ingrained in her, a phobia, irrational and black and gnawing. Just the thought of being in a plane made her want to tremble and sweat. Her husband and daughter and other family flying didn't bother her at all. She could look at it rationally then. You were more likely to die in a car wreck than a plane crash, after all. It was when she was asked to be on the plane that logic went out the window and Veronica Ryan became a cyclone of panic and hysterics.

"I'm sorry about this," she murmured. "Making you drive with me-."

"I like driving," Kahnso said easily. "It'll be fun. Furthest I've taken the Lambo is Nevada." He kissed her cheek. "And as for why we're going - don't be sorry. Just don't be."

Veronica huffed. "It's my problem."

"Yeah," he grinned, "but that ring on your finger means I own you, so-o-o your problem is my problem."

Fuck you, she wanted to giggle, but not in front of Alex, not even in a whisper. "Oh, you're a jerk," she settled for saying, still giggling. "Let's go."

Alex was passed from Seg to Veronica. Big kisses from mommy and daddy, big mwahs! on her face, in her hair, on her ears. Alex gave them both big mwahs! back, daddy especially because she loved daddy so much, her favoritism not malicious. She still loved her mommy and gave her big kisses too, daddy just got more of them.

"Be good, sweetie," Kahnso said gently as he set her down. "I love you."

"Love you too," Alex cooed musically, drawing the ooh sound out for nearly three seconds.

"Love you, Alex," Veronica said, almost sighing the words. "Thanks, Seg."

The wolf winked. "Hang in there, girl. Got a good man to lean on. I'll try not to misplace your little one."

Alex and Seg watched the Lamborghini idle out onto the hilly road of the gated community. Alex leaned in close to Seg and sighed as if all the air, and all the energy, had been let out of her.

The wolf gently stroked through Alex's hair, over her long marsupial ears. "'Cha wanna do now, little girl?" she asked.

"I'unno," Alex huffed. She leaned closer to the window, muzzle in behind the curtain as she watched the silver car pass hedges, pass wrought iron fences, and finally pass the gatehouse. Then mommy and daddy were gone.

The tall wolf cracked a smile. She studied Alex's mussed hair a moment, then asked her, "How's about some brushies?"

And then, for a while, everything was all better in the life of Alex Ryan.

--Chapter Two: The Road

The Lamborghini pulled up to the pump around midnight. Fourteen hours driven in shifts brought it and its occupants to Las Vegas.

Kahnso pumped the gas. Veronica stood uneasily near him and watched the shadows. Her official job with Kahnso had been nebulous, somewhere between bodyguard and head of security for his mansion. Then she fell in love with him. Now somebody else watched Kahnso's property, but Veronica still looked out when they were out together.

"Usually I love Vegas," Kahnso said, and yawned. He watched the numbers tick up - dollars much faster than gallons, naturally. "Last time I was here I lost about ten grand on blackjack but got la-a-aid with that bat girl. You remember her?"

Veronica smiled. "Yeah. You kept telling me about how amazing that was, you dick." She kissed his cheek. "I liked it more when you were in France. That mare. Elaine, wasn't that her name?"

Kahnso huffed, blushed. "You just like seeing me with girls who have dicks. Kinky bitch."

The kangaroo softly laughed. She thought about a little fennec fox Kahnso worked with - his other job, an occasional director of pornography. Of all the girls with penises who her husband slept with, Veronica liked the fennec best. Maya was her name. Veronica thought it was a cute name to suit a cute, bubbly personality.

The gas pump kicked off and the total was somewhere north of one hundred dollars; Kahnso put only premium in his vehicles. He pressed the button for his receipt and climbed back into the low-sitting car. "You want to sleep soon?" he asked as his wife climbed in with him. He pushed the start button and the car purred to life without hesitation.

"Soon," Veronica said, buckling in. She closed her eyes and huffed.

"Thinking about stuff?" Kahnso asked her. He pulled out onto the road. Las Vegas was busy even at night. They crept along in stop-and-go traffic. This was probably the one city in America, Kahnso thought, where people didn't snap pictures of his cool car; high-rollers seemed to drive Lamborghinis and Porsches by default here.

"Oh, yeah, lots of stuff," said Veronica ruefully. She touched his wrist on the wheel, squeezed it briefly. "Nerves, I guess. Not sure what's gonna happen when we get there."

Kahnso smiled at her, though she didn't catch it. "I get you. But, you know, no matter what happens, you've got me, and Alex. And a nice house."

Her eyes snapped onto the fox. "Did you tell Seg to say that?"

"No," he replied, baffled. With the idea suddenly put in his mind, he asked, "Hey, what do you suppose she and Alex are up to?"

"Let's see," the kangaroo murmured. "Knowing Seg, Alex is probably done up like she's going to a beauty pageant."

Kahnso chuckled. "Christ, Seg just brushes her hair."

"Mmn," Veronica grunted. She leaned on the door and watched the city thin out. They were leaving the oasis and entering the desert again, slowly but certainly. "It just bothers me."

Traffic began to spread out. Kahnso pressed down on the gas pedal and the Lambo started to spread its wings. A road sign gave the speed limit: 70 miles per hour. "Jamie brushes her hair, too. So do I. She begs me to do it."

"I guess."

"We've been letting Seg watch her since she was born. Hell, right after she was born. Remember the hospital?"

"Yeah, I remember," Veronica groused. "Watching our baby on life support for us while we went home to sleep." She folded her arms over her chest. "You and I should've stayed there."

Kahnso felt like he was stepping into quicksand but he plowed ahead. "We were both awake for, what, forty hours? Seg just let us go home and get some rest." Veronica said nothing. He debated turning the radio on. A little dozy, getting a headache from hunger, he decided to step further into the muck. "It wasn't like we could've done anything there."

"God, Kahnso, her skin was fucking clear. You could see her little eyes right through the lids and you just wanted to go home-," she paused and seemed to be tugged back by some invisible reigns. Kahnso wondered if she imagined the quicksand too whenever they got into this argument. "I'm sorry. I'm-, I'm sorry." Her words were flat. "We were-, it was the best thing to do, you're right."

Kahnso finally turned the radio on after the silence settled back in. Late-night rock radio out of Las Vegas kept them company while the mile markers rushed by.

Eventually Veronica said, "I'm so sorry, Kahnso. I'm sorry about how I talk about Seg."

"She's a good person," the fox gently said. "She's like me, she came a long way. We used to bring out the worst in each other, now I just kinda look at her like-."

His pause amused Veronica somewhat. She rubbed his leg, smiling. "From what you told me about your mom," and Veronica thought now that what information she'd dragged out of him hadn't amounted to much at all, "you're better off just looking at Seg like she's your mom. She makes a great grandma for Alex. I'll admit that."

Kahnso rubbed her leg back. For a moment his paw seemed to be creeping to her groin; she allowed it. She found herself disappointed but resigned when he moved toward the safety of her knee instead. "Your folks, were they ever physical?"

"Physical, like - affection?" Veronica hopefully suggested.

"Like hitting," Kahnso clarified.

"No," Veronica answered quietly. She turned the radio down, touched his thigh. Suddenly she wished they were in a hotel room somewhere, having this discussion. Not on the road. "You did tell me that your mother-, she used to hit you."

Kahnso's eyes were focused on the road, both paws anchored to the wheel. "Yeah. She used to hit me a lot. Looking back, knowing what I was able to wheedle out of my family, my dad was a," he shot her an unsettling, brief smile she didn't care for at all, "traveling man. He raped her is what I'm getting at. I guess rape runs in my family."

Veronica grunted. She hated that she looked away. It made her feel like she was abandoning her husband, silly as the thought was. She was here with him, wasn't she? She didn't ask him to stop because please, Kahnso, this is making me uncomfortable.

"She didn't want me, I think you could understand why. She'd tell me I was a stupid goon and I'd ruined her cunt. Really nice to stuff to tell a nine year old, you know?"

"God, Kahnso," Veronica whined.

"I got really lucky with the music. It got me out of there. Seg scouted me out at some hole-in-the-wall in Iowa, place called the Small Bronx, some shitty New York City-themed place. Pizza was pretty good. Music acts got discounted beer so I hit that place a lot. Anyway..."

"Seg scouted you there?" Veronica said, hoping to get him on the rails again.

He nodded. "Yeah. Seg found me. Me, this twenty-year-old lying about my age for beer and showing up to perform with bruises and black eyes. She thought I had something special and she helped me cut a demo tape. Shopped me around to all the labels she could. Pretty sure she fucked some guys for my sake. Fucked me a lot, too. I told her what was up with my mom, one day - she kept asking why I had a shiner so I told her everything." He pulled onto an off ramp and said in a tone detached from his story, "I'm hungry."

"Me too," the kangaroo murmured. "What then? What happened?"

Kahnso looked at her again. His smile was less creepy to her; he seemed strangely satisfied that she was so interested in his tale. "Seg drove me home while my mom was at work. We went in she helped me pack up all my stuff. It didn't amount to much, just some clothes, my stereo." He uttered a hoarse laugh, a rattle in his throat which made Veronica flinch. "Get this, I didn't have any records to bring with me, my mom tried to beat me with those. She tried to break them over my back and my head. Real Looney Toons shit. When they didn't break she just threw them in the trash. Seg, she helped me pick everything up, though. In the trunk of her car. We just left. I slept in her apartment for a while. Never saw my mother again, she never came looking."

As Kahnso pulled into a parking spot outside the highway oasis, Veronica saw the glint of tears on his cheeks reflecting in the lights. Nothing else mattered then, her father least of all. She threw herself at him, clung to him, her own tears emerging in sympathy for the man she loved and abomination for the woman she hoped he'd never have to see again. "I love you," she spoke into his hair. "I love you so much."

He spoke nothing in return. His tears dripped into her hair. Her ears flicked the way they did when rain dripped on them. Eventually he wrapped his arms around her, squeezed her formidable shoulders. His tears stopped but then Veronica sniffled and Kahnso started again, fresh and hot tears rolling off his muzzle. "I haven't told anybody that," he spoke in a tiny, young voice.

It was easy, painfully easy for Veronica to imagine this pathetic little voice as the boy who had been dismissed as worthless and a detriment to his mother's body. She hugged him so tightly that she felt his bones give somewhat. And then she kept holding him, held him as much for his sake as for her. She whined, nuzzled him, cried against his neck. "I love you," she bleated, and again, a short-lived mantra. "Kahnso..."

"Seg's the only person who knew about my mother before you."

--Chapter Three: Rest

Kahnso sat heavily on the bed. He looked to his wife like an exhausted boxer: slumped in the corner, wrists on his knees, head hanging, too tired to go another round. A part of her wished he hadn't said anything about his mother. It was a selfish, awful thought and she wanted it out of her head, but it festered. She wanted her husband to be cheerful or at least deadpan. This was her journey, her problem, and now he was joining in on the misery.

As if he could read her mind, he said in a drowsy voice, "I'm sorry, babe."

Veronica's anger flared. She stared at him, marveling at her hatred, her capacity for it. Examining it made her rethink it and it simmered down. She saw her husband with the love and concern she felt earlier as she comforted him. "It's okay," she said quietly, miserably. "You hungry?"

"No," he answered.

She pushed. "Last thing you ate was a doughnut, and that was three hours ago. You had a waffle for breakfast. And I didn't eat anything at all."

He pulled off his jacket, pulled his t-shirt, barely got it off before he flopped back into the bed. He lay clutching the shirt over his muscular breast as if it were a teddy bear. "I just want to sleep and forget I said anything to you."

The kangaroo frowned. She disappeared into the bathroom, slid down her jeans and panties, and seated herself. When it was just Kahnso with her, she no longer bothered closing the door unless she felt ill. It was something she'd remarked upon to her best friend, that Kahnso was the first and only person she was comfortable peeing near.

A few seconds into her relief, Kahnso leaned on the door. He looked at her without really focusing on her. His eyes were still puffy, their natural redness underlined by an ugly pinkish swell of color. "I guess I'm kinda hungry, but it's-," he looked for a clock and couldn't find one, "it's pretty late. Doubt room service is still going."

She blotted herself and stood, flushed, hugged Kahnso. "I'll go get you something," she said quietly. "Been a while since I had some unhealthy fast food crap." She smiled wanly. "I could use the comfort food."

He smiled back without humor. He kissed her. "You comfortable going out on your own?"

"It's Salt Lake City. Not like we're in Detroit," she chuckled, winked. "I'm a big girl."

"I'm more worried about the innocent civilians," he teased her, still not much humor in his voice. She tried to kiss him but he pulled away, slunk off to the bed again. "Just get me something inoffensive."

Veronica slipped her coat back on. She jingled the keys in her palm the way she often did to summon Alex for a car trip. She was unconscious of it. "I'll be back soon," she calmly said. "Go ahead and nap if you want, hon. I'll wake you up."

"Yeah," he murmured. Then Veronica was gone.

As it happened, Kahnso did fall asleep only to wake up when his phone rang. He expected Veronica - maybe she was curious if he wanted such-and-such food or the car wouldn't start or she had locked herself out of the room. Answering without looking at the screen, he asked in a bleary voice, "Hello?"

"Oh, hell," came the Australian-accented reply. "You were asleep? I'm sorry!"

Kahnso rubbed his chin, yawned. "It's fine, Seg. What's going on?"

The wolf huffed. "You sound more than just tired. What's the matter?"

He glanced over at the clock beside the bed. It was three in the morning. "Veronica and I had a talk." His pause seemed like an ice age to Seg. "About my mother."

"Ooh, ooh, god," said the wolf, sympathy dripping from her voice like a syrup. "Gawd, Kahnso, I'm sorry."

In the background, Kahnso heard a small female voice say, "Grandma, I wanna talk to da-a-addy!"

The hint of Alex made Kahnso smile. Seg shushed her, "Hold on, now, little miss insomnia. Daddy's having a talk with his mama." She came back to Kahnso, asked him, "How are you two holding up, sweetie?"

"All right, I suppose. I've been crying more than she has. I guess I wasn't as over it as I thought I was." He closed his eyes against the dimly-lit room. Only the bathroom light was on, casting a rectangle glow into the entryway of the suite. "I feel like shit about it, Seg. I'm supposed to be here for her. I'm not-."

"Kahnso, you're there for each other, you bloody fool," Seg said in a motherly voice. "Don't start with the I'm-the-man nonsense - or do I need to remind you who used to cuddle you and run her fingers through your hair?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kahnso grumbled, annoyed and embarrassed and blushing. Quietly, "Don't say that crap in front of Alex."

Seg laughed. The little girl whined, "Gra-a-andma-a-a!"

"Oh, all right! Kahnso - honey, talk to your little girl before she explodes, would you? I swear, I had her full of pizza and juice and she was snoozing like a little angel. Then suddenly she wakes up and won't go back to sleep unless I call daddy for her."

Kahnso smiled. "Put her on the phone."

Seg did. Alex said giddily into his ear, "Daddy! I can't sleep. When are you and mom coming back?"

"Not for a few days at least, sweetie," dad said gently. "Mommy and I have to do some important stuff. You gotta be good for Seg."

Alex huffed. "It's we-e-eird without you and mom here."

Kahnso smiled as he listened to his girl's grievances. He had thought when Veronica first became pregnant that he would only be happy if he had a son to carve into his own image - the image of the sanitized latter-day Kahnso, naturally, not the younger monster he had been. Then when the sex of his child had been revealed to him via an ultrasound, he found that he didn't mind. In fact, a daughter had sounded like the most amazing thing in the world, and why had he ever wanted a son?

"I know you miss us, honey," he cooed to her. "You can call us tomorrow if you want to. Then you can talk to mom and I both, how's that sound?"

"I wanna talk to mom now," she grumbled. "Where's mom?"

"She's not here right now," he gently told her. "Alex? You gonna be a good girl and go back to sleep?"

A whine entered Alex's voice. He knew she was crying; he could tell it had begun just from the way her voice gained a slightly nasal twinge. "Want you and mom here," she whimpered.

In the background, "Sweetie, don't cry. C'mere, little Alex."

"Alex, it's all right, honey," Kahnso said. He was still smiling. It was not Alex's sorrow which pleased him but the familiarity of the whining voice. He thought about hugging her, smelling between her ears where she still had the musky youthful smell of her kangaroo ears. He smelled Veronica the same way. It was her unique smell and it had bonded him to Alex when she was still a tiny premature miracle.

His smile souring into a frown, he cooed, "Alex. Don't cry." When the sniffling began and as Seg shushed and cooed, Kahnso closed his eyes. He began to sing softly to Alex, reciting a lullaby of a poem he had written in the weeks leading up to her unexpectedly early birth. This was not the million-dollar vulgar voice he used on his albums and in stadiums but the gentle choir-like tones he reserved for nudging his daughter off to sleep, or for murmuring to his wife as she lay against him in the aftermath of sex.

Alex and Seg both listened to Kahnso's delicate lullaby. By the time he finished, Alex's eyelids felt heavy. She was still sniffing, but she was yawning too. She leaned into Seg's formidable body, head falling on the wolf's soft, warm bosom.

Seg gently spoke into the phone, her free paw caressing Alex. "Your little song worked. Girl's finally asleep." He could tell, just from his knowledge of her mannerisms, that she was smiling. "You ought to cut that as a single. I bet it'd sell a million copies. Imagine the profits."

"No," Kahnso said firmly. "No. It's for her. Not anybody else."

Seg chuckled. "I can respect that. Love you, darling. Stay strong, you and her both."

"Love you too, Seg," he said. He hung up the phone and walked to the bathroom. Turned on the water, showered himself clean. He stepped out into the suite in a terrycloth robe. Soon his fur would be plush and conditioned just the way Veronica liked it.

He felt rejuvenated by the shower. Not exactly one-hundred percent, but more awake, more alert than he had been. He sat down on the bed and turned on the television. He tuned into early-morning Salt Lake City news just for background noise.

His phone buzzed. He checked his new text. It came from Seg, no message but an image attached. Alex on the den sofa, a pillow under her head and a blanket pulled up to her neck. Kahnso smiled.

He dozed again. Veronica woke him with a touch on the shoulder.

"Hey. Wake up. You can't be comfortable sitting like that."

Kahnso opened his eyes and found the lids sticky with sleep. He yawned and reached out for Veronica but she had sauntered away.

"Everything go all right?" he asked.

"Mhm," she answered. Her paw rustled the paper sack. "Got you a couple cheeseburgers. Sound good?"

"Sure," he easily replied.

They ate together, sitting on the bed like a couple of teenagers. Veronica dipped a fry into the ketchup she'd squirted on her unfolded burger wrapper.

"Alex misses us," said Kahnso as he unwrapped his second cheeseburger.

The kangaroo frowned. "Yeah? We need to talk to her?"

"I did." He smiled sheepishly. "I sang for her."

Veronica smiled too, almost grinned. "I would have loved to have heard that. Your voice can be so pretty."

He rolled his eyes. "You can hear it tomorrow when she has grandma call us again."

The couple finished their food. Veronica fed Kahnso the last fry in the carton and wadded everything up into the bag.

"I'm tired," Kahnso said, and he sounded like a whining child. Like his own whining child. "Let's go to bed."

They undressed, Kahnso ditching the robe, Veronica her clothes. Naked was how they slept best and how they could rarely sleep since Alex became ambulatory enough to waddle into their room and wake them up. The kangaroo nestled into bed beside her husband underneath linen smelling faintly of lavender.

She nuzzled with him, kissed him in the darkness. Dawn would come soon but blackout curtains would keep it at bay.

"Do you want to christen the bed?" she asked, half-serious.

"Must you treat me like a cheap sex object?" protested Kahnso, also half-serious.

Veronica giggled. She cast off the blankets, rolled over onto Kahnso, straddled him. Her warm loins brushed his. She did all of the work for her tired husband, rode him until the moment came where they were finished and their taut bodies were joined in sweat and love.

As she lay against him huffing, she felt as if a demon had been exorcised from her - from him as well. He was tired, they both were, but they touched and fondled and kissed with the casual ease they'd enjoyed before the call from her father.

"I love you," she cooed into his neck, unnecessary but wonderful to speak.

"Love you, too," he answered, and pulled her in snug. They insulated one another against the chill of the unfamiliar room, and they slept in a snug embrace until noon.

Then the silver Lamborghini left Salt Lake City.