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A Ranger's Tail

Book 7: Family

Chapter 1 Hatred

The Reynolds' Cabin On Earth 12:09AM Local Time

"Cathy?" Steve asked out loud, looking around the ribbons that had been their nice cabin a few seconds ago.

"I'm alright Steve, we have to move!" Cathy replied, her voice was clear, a bit shaken, but clear.

Steve turned to see an armored figure jump about six feet in the air out of the smoke. He ran in the same direction and they both covered the two hundred yards to the tree line in about eight seconds. The Predator 9 Armor was a Godsend.

They reached the tree line and jumped to the ground.

"You okay Cathy?" he asked her, looking over her armor.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. What the hell was that?" she asked, looking around feverously.

"A charged round, there must be wolves here..." Steve replied. He had wished so much that he'd never have to say that again.

"Ohhh shit..." Cathy said, and pointed to the wreckage on the ground.

The first explosion had taken out their ship, their only way to call for help or get away.

"Turn on your tracking chip, the Federation's likely looking for us anyway, and if we get separated-"

"We're not getting separated," Cathy interrupted, her voice stronger and clearer than before.

"Right," he said, reaching out for her.

She took his armored hand and he, to her surprise, picked her up and put her on his opposite side. The strength added by the armor made her light as a feather.

A series of automatic fire rang out and bounced off his armor, he turned and fired in the direction.

"Move up the right, quick!" he said, his instincts reverting back and forth from soldier to husband.

The fox stood up and ran along the opposite tree line, to flank the firers.

Steve took aim with his Thompson, saw a muzzle flash, and let off a five round burst. He heard the trees groan and noticed the fire lessened.

"There's six wolves firing at- five wolves firing at you Steve," Cathy reported over the radio.

Steve heard Cathy's M101 Carbine, an experimental weapon, let out a long burst of fire.

"Clear Steve, move up," she said over the intercom.

She was a good soldier.

Steve ran up and found her kneeling over the wolf corpses.

"Good job Cathy," he said.

She nodded but kept her head on a swivel.

"I wonder where these guys came from..." she muttered, kicking one of them in the head.

Pointing to the south Steve replied, "Those first shots came from that directions, I think we should take a look."

Cathy nodded and the pair marched in the direction. Even though a mere few minutes ago they were close to fucking each other on the beach, they were both right back into their combat mode.

"What are we going to do Steve?" Cathy asked as they made their way carefully along an old road.

"I don't know, let's just make sure the area's secure," the Ranger replied, reloading his Thompson.

It was the second time in roughly three thousand years the submachine gun had been in the hands of a Reynolds, on this beach, securing the area, and this time it's purpose was almost as important.

Steve heard something ahead and put up a fist, they both came to a sudden halt. He motioned with his hand ahead and Cathy took cover in a bush by the side of the road, as did Steve.

A group of six more wolves walked down the road. Steve saw in the shadows of the bush Cathy move to take aim, but he silently raised a hand. The Captain let the wolves walk right next to him, and he took aim. When they past him, and were about three feet away, he opened fire, followed by Cathy a second later.

It only took about ten seconds of their combined fire to bring down all the wolves.

Steve stepped out first, then made a cross on his chest letting Cathy know it was safe.

"Good job, we just keep moving up the road for now," he said to the fox.

She nodded and her exposed tail made eager circles behind her. The armored plates that formed over her head looked strange. She looked like a stone sculpture, no real details, but he knew her beautiful face lay just below the indestructible armor.

They walked in silence up the road for a few minutes. They both heard it at the same time, a loud motor about thirty meters away. This time Cathy jumped down next to Steve, not wanting to be away from him. A tank rolled down the road, slowly, and neither knew what to do.

"Can we take it?" Cathy whispered.

"Maybe, I don't want to risk it," he replied.

Wolf tanks were tough, but not someplace he wanted to be stuck in if they stole it. Either way they had to knock it out, whether or not they used it was debatable. Steve turned and winked at Cathy, and realized it was a stupid thing, she couldn't see his face. He motioned with his arm to stay down and he jumped out just as the tank passed.

The Ranger landed atop the tank without making a sound. He reached back into his pack and pulled out a det-pack, placed it on the top of the tank, and jump off.

He crawled back next to Cathy and handed her the detonator.

"I'm going to run down the road, you wait four minutes, detonate, and run to me as fast as you can. We need to keep them going down the road, but they have to think we're not advancing on them," he ordered his wife.

She nodded and watched the tank drive off. He leaned in and pushed his faceplate against hers, she knew what it was for. She smiled inside her armor, and knew he was smiling back at her.

Steve stood up and ran down the road as fast as he could. He knew Cathy would catch up; she was probably faster than he was, without the aid of her armor.

After running about a quarter mile, he heard another rumbling, followed soon by the sight of a tank rolling down the road. This time he jumped on top, but sat atop it. He set up a det-pack on a four-minute delay, one minute longer than the other tank.

He jumped down and continued running down the road.

"Cathy there's another tank coming down the road, just ignore it I have a det-pack on it already," he said into his COM channel.

"Roger that Steve," she replied.

About a minute and a half later he heard a rumbling; tank one was down.

He slowed his pace a bit, and another minute passed; the second explosion reverberated through the air. He stopped and looked down the road in Cathy's direction. About thirty seconds later he heard a rustling ahead of him and he jumped to the ground. To his surprise it was Cathy, somehow she had gotten ahead of him.

"I guess Major Rodina was right, there is a good sized resistance around..." Cathy said, a noticeable amount of resentment in her voice.

"Ya, we're going to have to chat about this later on," Steve replied.

A series of rounds struck the pair hunched down on the side of the road and they both rolled in opposite directions. It wasn't standard wolf rifle rounds, it was heavy machine gun rounds.

Just then a third tank rumbled down the road at a fast rate. Cathy stood up and fired at its treads, but it didn't do anything except cause the tank to drive right at her.

"Cathy roll!" Steve said, and she did, but the tank followed her roll.

Steve held for a moment, then jumped and pushed Cathy out of the way. The tank rolled over him, and he heard Cathy scream over the COM channel.

"Steve! Oh God Steve!" she yelled, fear in her voice.

"I'm fine Cathy, draw his fire for a moment!" he replied, pushing himself up from the body sized imprint in the dirt.

The fox ran across the field next to the road and the tank followed, it wasn't fast enough to catch her. Seeing that it couldn't run over her, it fired it's main gun at her, but it missed and blew up about thirty feet in front of her.

She jumped through the crater and heard and explosion from behind and anticipated another shot but none came. Cathy turned to see Steve walking towards her and the tank, a wreck, behind him.

Tears, although unseen, in her eyes she ran over and clutched him.

"Don't do that!" she cried out.

"It's okay Cathy, the armor can take a lot more than that, I just don't want to test yours, it's experimental and your tail's exposed," he replied, rubbing the armored shoulder of his wife.

"I don't care about my tail, I'll rip it off to save you, just don't do that again!" she said, giving him a push in the shoulder.

"I'm fine, and I won't okay, just don't worry. They rarely come in units more than three, so that should be the last one. If they had more than three tanks anyway that means they have more than twenty, and they do their not going to use one tank at a time," he replied.

She nodded and the pair walked back to the road and continued walking up it. She stayed very close to him; apparently he had scared her to death. It wasn't the first time he had been run over by a tank in combat, he wasn't even afraid of it himself, he just feared Cathy being hurt. He had vowed to protect her, and he planed to.

They walked up the road for another three miles, but didn't encounter any other wolves.

"Let's head back," he said, bringing them both to a stop.

"Why? There's nothing left," she said, in an unhappy tone. Their paradise had been ruined.

"Because that's where they think we are, and we have to play into that. As long as we stay in our armor we're safe, but if we can't find them..."

"We can't beat them, alright," she finished for him.

They turned and walked back towards what had been their "love nest" for the past two weeks. Two weeks of constant contact with each other, and Cathy couldn't get enough of it.

"Fuck those wolves," she thought to herself, "they ruined everything. All the time too."

She was walking very quietly and Steve came next to her and rested his armored arm on her back.

"You okay?" he asked, picturing her furry face below the armor.

"No, no I'm not," she replied.

"I told you, the armor could take it and I only did it to sa-"

"I'm not angry at you," she replied, "I'm pissed at those fucking wolves. Why is it every time I get something nice, like a week or two with you they ruin it? One day I'm going to get back at them for this, I swear it."

Steve lowered his head armor, revealing his sweat-drenched face.

He stopped and held her arms, "Cathy, never kill in anger, never fight war for revenge. If you do that you run the risk of making mistakes, and I won't let you make a mistake."

She went to lower her armor as well but he stopped her. She just nodded, he must be right; he had seen too much combat to not know for sure.

The armor on his head reformed and covered his face, and about a half hour past before they returned to the beach.

"Damn..." he said as he looked at the completely destroyed cabin and fighter.

Cathy sat down in the sand, and although she sank she still sat there with her head hung down.

"There's nothing left..." she murmured.

Kneeling in front of her he held up her armored head, "Yes there is, your safe and I'm safe, that's all that matters."

She nodded into his hand but still felt bad. She had plans for this time. She was going to keep him here as long as she could, but now it was going to be cut short.

He picked her up by the arm and walked over to the rubble that had been their cabin, and rummaged through what was left. She had been right, there really wasn't anything left. There were a few magazines for their rifles, but that was about it. There was one thing that hurt her the most to lose, a picture that had been taken of the pair as they kissed the first time as husband and wife.

They walked back out the beach, he held her armored wrist in his hands; she was really angry, angrier than he had ever seen.

"Cathy, be honest, what's wrong... exactly?" he asked, sitting them both down in the sand.

She sighed and wanted to lower the iron mask that covered her face but like he said, it wasn't the time for mistakes.

"I just wanted to spend a long time with you here. I wanted to..." she tailed off.

"Wanted to what Cathy?" he asked, rubbing her armored paws.

"I wanted to have our offspring here. It's such a nice place, I figured we'd spend the entire time here and then return, with our kits or baby," she said, the dream leaving her.

He put her head to his and knew she was upset. It was a nice gesture, and it wasn't a bad idea either, if only to spend a few months alone with her, but the fact was they couldn't stay here, now they had no supplies.

"Why is it every time I get something nice, someone or something takes it away?" she repeated.

This time he lowered his face shield and kissed the place where her lips would be, and hugged the armored body.

"You need to understand Cathy, they didn't take anything from you. All you need to worry about is that your okay, I'm okay and," he moved his armored hands to her stomach, "their okay. Nothing else matters. We could go anywhere in the universe, but as long as we're all safe it doesn't matter."

Even though it was a bad idea she lowered her armored face and looked at him. She had dried tears in her eyes and on the fur on her cheek.

She didn't say anything, she couldn't. She just hugged him and nuzzled his face. It still wasn't fair in her mind.

Cathy was more hurt than he had thought, and now he was angry. He knew how to deal with his anger, he dealt with this kind of anger most of his life, and while she had anger for other things, an enemy needs to be viewed as that, but she wasn't viewing it in the right light. She saw this as a personal attack, not as soldiers trying to kill soldiers. He was getting angry at the fact she was so upset.

He laid down and placed her head on his, her soft fur warming both their faces.

"Should we put up our armor?" she asked, trusting his judgment.

He thought for a moment and then stood up, she followed suit. Steve walked her into the knee-deep water and, to her surprise, turned on his armor and laid down. She followed suit once again, but couldn't understand why.

"Why are we in the water?" she asked, her head slipping under the waves, which felt weird to say the least.

"It's safer, we're out of sight, and since this is salt water, it will feed the power cells and we'll have constant air supply. Plus, it's a different experience," he replied.

It was very weird, looking up at the water, yet being inside a warm suit. Steve held the fox in his arms, but realized her tail was actually exposed.

"Oh shit, your tail..." he said, giving it a rub.

"It's okay, the water's warm," she replied, and snuggled into his arms. She didn't really like it, she couldn't feel him, but he was there, so there was some comfort.

It took about a half hour for her to fall asleep, and Steve wouldn't rest until he was sure she was. The two feel asleep, now having a new, and hated test before them.

Bridge Aboard FN Trident Over Foc 0808 Military Time

"Why on earth did I think they'd be here?" Osing asked himself.

It had been a possibility. Not a likely one, but over the past two weeks they'd been trying to find the Reynolds and all planets seemed to be possibilities. The second massive search in a few weeks had been taking place, and this one was conducted with a bit more... anger. The officers were a bit annoyed that the Consular had just disappeared, regardless of the fact that it was, as they perceived, a honeymoon.

Sean and Emily looked at the General staring at the star map, they were more worried about the Reynolds' safety rather than their duties.

"Sir, has anyone tried his home planet?" Sean asked.

"Ya, we tried that early on, no good. They must be somewhere else," Osing replied.

Obviously they had to be somewhere, but where? The fleet had been semi-mobilized, as they figured that wherever they were, they should be okay, Captain Reynolds would never let harm come to his new wife. That fact however, brought up the question if he was okay, since he would likely do the same thing again to save her, if he needed to.

"Okay, we need to think like the Reynolds, we need to think where they would go to hide from everyone, but first, how long they plan to stay away," Drake said, looking over a planetary list.

"I have an idea," Sean replied, "but it's a long shot."

"Of what? Their location?" Osing asked, scrutinizing the fox.

Shaking his head the fox replied, "No, well, sort of. She's pregnant, and she said she wanted to stay somewhere peaceful with Steve when she found him. Well, she's found him, and they've obviously found someplace nice and quiet to stay, which means a few things. One, they're likely going to stay for a long time; neither are ready to return to their 'normal' lives. Two, wherever they are, it's nice, which means we can narrow our search a bit."

Drake nodded in agreement as did Osing.

"All right then," the General said, his tone a bit more enthusiastic, "we keep looking, but keep our search smart. By the way Captain, when can we expect you and Captain Gates on a honeymoon," the General added, grinning.

"Soon, very soon, but I want to wait until Steve and Cathy are back, they both mean a lot to Emily and I."

To the surprise of Osing and Drake the fox had replied in a strong voice.

Karl Devon and Lucy Grant's Room in the Consular's Estate 12:49 AM

"I love you Karl..." Lucy whispered into the pup's ear.

He lay next to her, still shaking from his after shocks. He didn't look happy, he was a nervous wreck. Karl had been so since Cathy and Steve had gone missing two weeks ago. At first he thought it was nice for the pair to get away for a little while, for a day or so maybe, but he missed them and became worried when they didn't return. To only add to his fears Admiral Drake, Captain Atric, and General Osing had been asking him questions, and the pup knew that meant they were worried too.

Lucy was a little worried for the pair, but more for Karl. She did her best to "comfort him" in the same way she had comforted him after his parent's murder, but to no avail. Karl still was a bit adverse to her comforting "tactics," and the fact he was worried took all of the little interest he had away. Lucy still enjoyed it though, and the fact that he had started enjoying it the night after Cathy and Steve were married made her like it even more.

"I hope their okay..." he said to himself, aloud however.

The female pup held her lover, but it was clear his mind was else ware.

"What happens if they're hurt or something?" he asked, but this time he turned his head to look at Lucy.

"Wasn't he one of the best soldiers in the history of the Federation?" she asked.

Karl nodded.

"Then they're both safe," she concluded, trying to push the thoughts as far as she could from the pup's mind.

He still looked worried, so, doing the only thing that kind of worked, she rolled over and hugged him again.

The Next Day, Earth, 1:26 AM Local Time

Waking up was almost as strange as going to sleep. Cathy looked about, it was pitched black, and the world looked wobbly. She remembered they were underwater and allowed her head to break the surface. The fire and smoke from the destroyed cabin and fighter had gone out, but a tall tower of smoke could just be made out in the distance, from the three downed enemy tanks.

"Steve, Steve wake up," she whispered into the COM system to her sleeping husband.

He awoke to the similar sensation she had felt and looked about. Through the waviness of the water he saw the dark outline of his armor-clad vixen.

"Morning Cathy," he said, trying hard to sound cheerful.

Sleeping incased, fully incased, in P9 armor was okay, just okay. It fit both of them fine enough, but if paled in comparison to a nice bed, and each other's arms.

Carefully the pair moved up and out of the water, both being cautious not to stir the water. The image enhancers on their armor didn't show any warm bodies in the vicinity, but Steve knew better than to totally trust his gear.

Looking about carefully neither he, nor his fox, saw any movement or signs of an ambush, and they moved quickly back to the tree line.

"So what's the plan Steve?" she asked, looking around and up the dirt road.

"We need to find and kill all of the wolves before we give them a chance to do the same to us," the Captain replied, readying his Thompson. The ancient weapon cocked and the sound brought a certain type of comfort that both of them appreciated.

They stood up and walked, very carefully, down the road. It was still pitched black out, but dawn was coming soon and they needed to do as much as they could before light struck them. The armor offered numerous advantages, but nothing beats stealth.

For about two hours they walked in silence up the road, passing the various wrecks and bodies from the previous day's fight. Cathy was still angry inside, and they both knew it, but right now there was little he could do to calm her. Steve desperately wanted to, but it was a risk, and he knew better than to take risks in combat.

"What are we going to do?" she asked, trying to find out his intentions, if he had any.

Sighing into his mic, Steve replied, "I guess we have to find a way to call down the Federation, they're still in this system, so it shouldn't be hard, but we need a radio."

He added, "I'm sorry Cathy, I know how much this meant to you, I promise to make it up to you."

Now she felt worse. Her apparent anger and sadness had hurt him as well; he didn't like seeing the vixen like this.

"Steve, I'm not angry at you, I don't think I could ever be, I hate those wolves..." she replied, walking closer to her husband.

"I know Cathy, but there were other places, any of them would have been better," he said.

He was technically right, but she was glad in his choice, up until when wolves ruined it.

"I wonder what they were planning to do?" she asked, trying to get off the subject.

Realizing what she was doing, and that it might help her mentally, Steve played along.

"I guess they would have tried to end this peace. Its pretty uneasy to begin with, a small skirmish could bring it toppling down. In the long run, this might be a good thing, this could stop the war from restarting," he replied, his answer actually calming both of them.

After another half hour of walking, Cathy came to a sudden stop, holding her arm up in the "halt" position. Steve stopped on a dime and kneeled down.

"Hear something?" he said into the COM channel.

She nodded ahead of him and took a side step, which he copied, into the nearby bush.

They sat in silence for a full six minutes until a large wolf patrol came walking, trying to be sneaky, down the road. Her ears were better than both of them thought; she had heard them almost 800 yards away.

They waited for them to come right next to them, and the pair took aim. Steve motioned with his free hand for Cathy to work far to close, and he would work close to far.

"Three... two... one..." he whispered into the COM channel, and after "one" he shot his hand down and they both opened fire.

There had been more wolves than they could kill in the single ambushed moment, and the three surviving wolves rolled and evaded their fire.

"Cathy cover!" he yelled, and jumped on top of the farthest fleeing wolf.

He landed knee first into the wolf's head, crushing it from the armor's weight. He rolled in one move and kicked the ankle of one of the other two fleeing wolves. The wolf dropped and let out a growl. He turned and punched Steve in the head, but broke his paw; nothing could penetrate the armor, certainly not a fist. The Captain replied with a punch to the jaw and the butt of his Thompson to the wolf's chest, causing the wolf to fly back about five feet, his ribs and skull crushed.

Steve turned to see the final wolf point a rifle at him, but about half a second later the wolf vibrated violently and fell to the ground, with about thirty rounds imprinted in his body.

Cathy jumped out of the bush with her rifle still smoking and walked over to him.

"Nice one..." she commented, looking at the two broken bodies on the ground.

He nodded and the pair continued moving down the road.

"How long is this road?" she commented, both realizing they had been walking for some time and quite a long distance.

"Well, we're about seven miles inland, and there's supposed to be a small, ancient city about twelve miles in, so we should see some buildings soon," he replied, looking about as they walked.

"A city?" she asked, eager to see a true, human city.

"Yes, called Bayeux, we're in a part of the world that was called the European Federation, but I like this area because it's close to where my ancestors fought during one of the greatest wars in the history of this planet. I think back then this place was called France. Either way the towns abandoned, except for maybe the wolves, the entire planets been abandoned for about two thousand years. The temperatures just increased to much and there were better, safer planets out there, with new and better species," Steve replied, smiling at the fox. Her tail was vibrant, and being it was the only part of his wife he could see, he wanted to touch and hold it.

"A city..." she thought.

She had been to hundreds of worlds, but she rarely saw towns and cities that belonged to a species, a single species. They weren't common, people moved around and exchanged cultures, and things mixed, so single-species cities were a rarity and often were things of interest. They tended to best show a single-species ideas and architectural ideas. She had seen three cities, out of thousands, that fit into this category, and none of them had been that of humans. And although she had lived on a single species planet, because they were of her kind she never really acknowledged that fact.

For the next forty-five minutes they continued walking up the road, both looking carefully in various directions. It was likely, to Steve at least, that the wolves must be holding back, thinking they've been discovered, and would likely hunker down and see if the Federal force attacked. Steve was never one to disappoint an opposition and knew there was no way he and Cathy could lose. Two soldiers in Predator Armor were more than enough to take on, literally, hundreds of wolves, all at once no less. In the history of this rendition of full body-armor, only three soldiers had been killed, and it was the same thing each time; EVA battle, and the exploding reactors of nearby ships and the ensuing electro-magnetic pulses disabled the armor.

A few minutes later, the city came into view. It was technically a city, a small one though. Steve made the pair take the long way around, taking them on a far right hook to, if needed, attack on the city's flank.

"Not very big..." she commented, looking at the small city.

"There's a huge city a bit father to the south, but it's a few hundred miles inland, this one's just smaller. Keep in mind though, its older than the Federation, a lot older," he replied, scrutinizing the large town, or small city.

They managed to reach what the Captain designated as their start point just as the sun was starting to come out.

"Damn..." he said, looking at the glowing orb.

He had made the miss calculation of placing them with the sun to their back. There were some advantages, but more disadvantages.

"What?" Cathy asked, not as tactically sound as he was.

"The sun, it's to our backs. We'll be silhouetted if we stand up," he replied.

She shrugged and commented, "Well the sun's in their eyes, maybe they won't notice."

"I guess we'll see," he whispered and, with his hand motioning for her to stay down, he stood up to observe the city.

When he was upright to the ground, he grunted loudly and fell flat on his back on the ground. A moment later a gunshot rang out, but he was on the ground before the sound reached them.

"Steve!" the vixen yelled and jumped on top of him to cover his body, worrying that there might be more fire.

He groaned painfully and shook off the pain in his head; he tasted blood.

"Steve!" she yelled again.

"I-I'm okay, what the hell was that?" he said, pushing his head up.

"Must have been a sniper," Cathy said, looking at the dent in his armor, "are you okay? There's a big dent in your head armor."

Steve lowered his hand armor and felt the side of his armored head. She was right, there was a decent sized depression in the side of his head, and it frightened him. He had taken tank rounds to the face, and kept running, this was a simple rifle shot.

"Stay down Cathy," he whispered as the vixen remained on top of him, trying to cover his body with hers.

She nodded and looked him over.

"Alright, new plan. This guys a good shot, and I'm not risking this again. I don't know what he hit me with, but it might penetrate the armor if we're not careful. I'll draw fire to the left; you hook right and fast, don't stop no matter what. As soon as you find out where he is, nail him," Steve told the fox, who didn't like the plan one bit.

"No, let me draw fire," she said, worrying for her husband.

He shook his head, which hurt, "No, you're faster than I am, I can't cover that much ground quick enough."

She sighed and nodded. The fox wished she wasn't fast.

He pushed his head against hers, and made a kiss sound into his mic. She hugged him with her armored paws and he jumped about three feet into the air and ran as fast as he could to the left. The ground by his feet exploded and a shot rang out a moment later. Cathy jumped to her feet and did as she had been told, covering thirty-five feet a second. In about half a minute she almost slammed through a wall of the closest building. She looked back and saw Steve running around franticly, the ground near him exploded once again.

Cathy listened carefully; a loud shot came from her right side. She turned around the side of the house and saw a huge barrel protruding from a nearby building. Not hesitating a second she primed a grenade and lobbed it into the window. She also dashed at the building, almost beating the grenade to the window. The fox kneeled, wrapping her tail beneath her, and felt the explosive device go off inside. Cathy stood up and fired a burst into the widow, and jumped inside.

She hadn't needed to fire; the single wolf sniper inside had caught the grenade with his teeth... and the rest of his head.

"Clear Steve!" she yelled into the COM system.

A minute later he came into the room, breathing heavily.

"Good job Cathy, thank you," he said, walked over and hugged his armored wife.

She nuzzled him, which was weird incased in the armor, but the meaning behind it worked.

"What kind of gun is that?" Steve asked, looking at the slightly destroyed wolf gun.

"Don't know," she commented.

She had worked for a few years in intelligence, but she had never crossed paths with this weapon, neither had Steve.

Cathy walked out the door, followed by Steve, and fanned out in the street. The city was being taken back by nature, and the vines and grass growing everywhere attested to that. They cleared every single house they could, slowly. The better part of the day was over and they had barely gone through half the city.

"Steve this is taking to long," the vixen commented as they started to walk out of the house.

"I know, but there's no other way. All we have to do is skip one, lower our armor and..." he trailed off.

She nodded and they continued clearing houses.

At about 5:30 the sun began to set and the shadows overtook the city. Now about three-fourths of the way done with the city Steve realized they needed either hunker down, or find the enemy, and they needed to do it fast. He looked around; all the buildings were the same.

"Cathy," he began, "Pick a building. If the enemies there, we kill him, if not, we hunker down."

She stopped and kneeled down. She looked around carefully, knowing that with her luck setup, the building she ended up picking was going to have the enemy, and so, as if it was a cosmic joke, she looked for the easiest building to clear.

"That one," she replied, pointing to a medium sized store. I had a glass window with words in a language neither of them knew. He nodded and, carefully, moved the pair around and to the side of the building.

"Quiet or fast?" he asked, holding up his Thompson.

"Quiet," she answered, and laid down on the ground, and crawled to the door under the glass window. She pushed open the door; it made no sound, and crawled inside, very carefully.

Steve was close behind and kneeled over her and looked up and down the two stairs by the door.

They both heard it at the same time and froze. It was the hiss and gurgle of a radio, just what they needed, but they also heard voices, gruff voices of wolves.

"Cathy," he whispered. It was actually a funny thing to do, no one could hear him outside his armor and not on his COM, but it was a habit that few could break. "We have a problem."

"I know," she replied, "What do you want to do?"

"Well, if we destroy that radio, we might be stuck here for a long time, but we might have a problem with those wolves if we try and take them directly, they may have one of those rifles," he reported, rubbing the side of his head.

For the first time in a long time, Cathy did something that she knew was wrong, but in the long run would be for the better. She held her last grenade, primed it, and looked at Steve. She saw him sigh and make a small nod, and she tossed it down the hall.

A moment later the house shook with an explosion and nothing else was heard.

For about ten minutes the pair sat their, laying on the ground, waiting. It was clear no one had survived that, but they worried of another counterattack. None came.

Steve chuckled, "Pick another one Cathy."

She stood up and put out her paw. He took it and brought himself to a standing position, his head was starting to hurt a lot.

The pair walked out of the house rather casually and down the now dark boulevards. When they reached a house they had cleared early in the day Cathy lead him inside. There was a simple, dusty, bed with no mattress and a single cupboard.

Steve looked around for blankets but found none. He sighed and sat down against a wall. She sat down next to him and snuggled against his armored frame.

"You okay?" he asked, looking through at the armored figure he held. He had barely seen her face in a full day and a half and he wanted to stare at her and take in her beauty.

Cathy, almost hearing his prayers, reached down to her gauntlet, lowered the head portion of her armor and one of her paws.

"Ya, I'm fine. Let me check your head," she said, looking at the depression on the side of his armor.

He reached down and lowered the same parts as she did. Steve heard a slight gasp and looked at her eyes.

"What?" he asked, a bit worried at what she must see.

"Your-your head..." she replied, rubbing her face against his.

Steve moved his unarmored hand up to his temple and felt it. His hand was immediately met with the sticky dried blood there, and felt a burning sensation of the wound. The dent in his armored head had left a decent sized depression on his skull, but it wasn't the worst wound he had gotten.

"I'm okay Cathy, it's not bad," he replied, stroking her soft cheek.

Not waiting a second longer he picked her head up and kissed her, he had been waiting to long to do so. The vixen held the sides of his face and moved her head in circles as she kissed her husband deeply, she was missing him too.

They had seen enough combat for one day, and finally feeling each other, or at least a little bit of each other, they felt the exhaustion roll over them all at once.

"We need some sleep," he commented, drowsily.

She nodded into his face, her fur warming his cheek but staining with the blood dripping from his temple. Cathy didn't care, she was glad knowing he was under her, and not on top for a change, she wanted to make sure he was okay.

A few minutes later he was asleep, her fur was just to soft on his face and she just made him feel so much better. Cathy remained awake however, for another good hour, just looking at the pitch-black room. She gripped the rifle still locked in her paws, and left it on her armored leg.

But then it finally hit her, they were "stuck" here now, he was all hers again. She smiled and snuggled into him, this vacation wasn't over yet; this had just been a simple snag.

Chapter 2 Discovery

Bayeux, France 8:22 AM Local Time

Cathy awoke once again before Steve, but this time she just lied there and let him sleep it out.

The fox just looked at her husband's face. He was handsome, and looked the same way as he had when he had saved her many weeks ago. The wound on the side of his head had dried out a bit, and it looked like he would wake with a headache. Lowering the armor on her other arm she held the sides of his body and snuggled into him, but the cold metal armor plates scratched and creaked against each other.

"I hate this..." the vixen whispered to herself.

Steve shifted in his sleep and Cathy remained silent, just laying her head on his. The fact was this situation did stink, she loved waking up with him, but everything was wrong now.

"Hands up," a voice whispered to her from behind. A cold metal object pressed against the back of her head and she froze.

"Hands up!" the voice commanded again, but still hushed, not wanting to awake the Captain.

Cathy did as she was told and lifted both her exposed paws over her head. A paw reached around and held her by her armored collar and pulled her off Steve's body.

With the metal object still digging into he head, she heard the voice command again, "One word out of you and I'll kill him, and then you."

The fox sniffed the air and knew it was a wolf, a wounded one though, that now held her captured. She wouldn't say a word though, lest she provoke him to carry out his threat.

"Out the door," he whispered into her ear, and dragged her outside and started walking down the road with Cathy, who was now very, very frightened.

When they had gone about three blocks away, Cathy was crying softly at this point, he pushed her onto her stomach and mounted her from behind.

"Oh God!" Cathy screamed, but a paw shot over her mouth.

It was followed by a hard punch to the back of her head, which put her into a daze. She felt the wolf fumbling around her armor, gripping her tail and searching for a way to disable the armor. Carefully, Cathy rolled her wrist so that the wolf wouldn't see the controls on it. Unfortunately for her though, it made a scraping sound on the pavement of the ground.

"Here we go..." he said, humor and eagerness present in his gruff voice.

Cathy tried to scream but his paw was still holding her snout shut. There was no way this was happening, not again. His fumbling at her wrist managed to click and lower the chest portion of her armor, and the wolf immediately groped at her breasts, which were completely exposed since she wore nothing but the tac vest over them.

She bit down on the wolf's paw and he released his grip for a moment.

"Steve help!!" she yelled out, as he punched her once again, this time shoving her snout into the pavement and making her loose breath for a moment.

"Do that again and I'll shoot you now and fuck your body," the wolf said, lowering more of her armor.

To her horror she felt him begin to remove his pants and play with her tail hole.

She let out a muffled, "No! No! Noooo!"

The wolf tried to insert part of his paw into her tight ass, but Cathy thrashed about and managed to roll him off.

As she did she heard about five shots ring out and ran, stark naked, in a weaving pattern, worrying that the wolf was firing at her. She realized a few seconds later that it wasn't from behind her that the shots were coming from, but to her left. She rolled and ducked around a building's corner.

"Cathy!" she heard her husband's voice yell out.

Carefully she looked around the corner and saw Steve running towards her position. Cathy leaned back against the wall and slid down it.

"Oh my God Cathy! He didn't hurt you did he?" Steve yelled, a look of pure anger, and this time, hatred, in his eye.

"He-he tried, but I got out and you..." she trailed off as he came closer.

Steve kneeled down and hugged his wife. She clutched onto him and wept.

"Why? Why do these things keep happening?" she cried into his armored shoulder, "Why can't we just be happy and safe somewhere? What's wrong with these animals? Why..." she continued crying.

Steve was even angrier now. That was the last straw in his book. They could try and hurt him, hurt the Federation, but when harm came to his wife, the kind of harm that was so extreme as this, that ended it for him. He had a job in life, and that was to protect her, and this made him feel like he failed, it made him feel the same way he had felt back onboard Consular Otho's ship.

He held her quietly and tried to comfort her.

"Cathy, Cathy listen to me," he said, holding her as softly as he could in the armor, he didn't want to risk lowering it.

"You need to put your armor back on, and stand strong. I know it sucks, but we need to be strong, just until we can get out of here," he continued, pushing his lips against her forehead.

She nodded and turned it on. She felt the cool plates weave a protective layer around her and encase her body. It didn't make her feel better.

Steve stood her up and, turning to make sure that the wolf was dead for sure this time, walked the pair to the building they had grenaded last night. Sure enough, a small trail of blood ran from the room, out the door.

The sight angered Steve even more, enough that he punched the wall, nearly knocking it down. It was his fault. He hadn't policed the bodies and one had comeback to life to nearly rape his wife. He always knew mistakes in combat were dangerous, and now it had damn near cost him the dearest thing to him in the universe.

Steve looked and saw the fox leaning on the wall. Even though her face was covered, he knew she was upset and crying, obviously she would be, but Steve knew she was upset with him. He had been sleeping sound enough that her movement of standing up hadn't woken him, and didn't wake up until she started screaming.

"Cathy I'm sorry, I failed you..." he said into the COM channel, hardily a way to apologize to his wife, but he couldn't wait till a more appropriate moment.

She stared at him and saw his shoulder's slump. She didn't blame him, but she knew it was his fault, but she didn't think he had failed her. It was a mixed emotion, but, for all intensive purposes, she forgave him, as she always would, for anything bad that happened to her. Cathy still was upset though.

"Steve," she said, sliding down to the ground, "we need a plan, a long term plan I mean."

He walked over to her and slid down the wall next to her.

"I know, but I can't think of one," he admitted as he came to rest on the floor.

She put her head on his shoulder and rested. The day was barely eight hours old and Cathy was already tired.

"Where can we go, what can we do?" she asked, a bit to herself and to Steve, "we tried a planet that was supposed to be clear, and that didn't work; we tried planet no one lives on, and we found the one group of wolves that did, what does that leave?"

Steve sighed and tried to think, where else was there?

"Cathy, I know we will be okay. You might not know it, but I do, and I will make sure I find a way for you to realize it," he said, rubbing her armored back.

She smiled inside her armor and laid her head on his chest.

FN Colossus in Orbit Over Earth 0958 Military Time

"Uh sir, I just picked up a S&R beacon on the emergency band," the deck officer reported.

"Where?" the captain asked.

"On the surface of the planet. It's a Predator 9 signal, two of them," the officer answered.

The Colossus' commander walked over to the Intelligence Officer, "Anything going on down there that I should know about? Anyone we need to help, or ignore?"

"Not that I'm aware of sir, but I'll check in and find out for you," the Officer replied.

"Alright. Lieutenant, mark the signal and send it to Fleet COM, low priority," the Commander ordered.

Shooting Range Aboard FN Endeavor 1429 Military Time

"Have you ever seen something like that?" Drake asked.

"Nope," Osing replied, chuckling to himself.

Six rounds rang out and Karl hugged his friend.

"Good shot Lucy, aim a bit higher and you'll be perfect!" he said, patting her on the back.

The female pup smiled and re-shouldered the assault rifle. She let out a long burst of fire, and managed to completely sever the top portion of the target off.

"Perfect?" she asked, turning to meet Karl, who was smiling.

"Perfect," he whispered.

She smiled back and kissed him, which surprised everyone who was watching, and there were a lot watching.

"Haven't ever seen such a thing like that either," Drake commented again, scratching the back of his head.

Osing chuckled and sighed, "Me neither, kinda cute though..."

Drake rolled his eyes.

Karl shifted himself behind Lucy and wrapped his body around hers, which gartered some strange looks by the on looking crowed. He placed his paws over hers and helped her aim, and it was an innocent gesture, but, being the kind of gawkers that were standing there, everyone's' mind went to the obvious.

The pair let off a controlled burst of fire, this time all the rounds striking one part of the target. In a rare event Karl took the initiative and kissed the side of Lucy's face, to which everyone, particularly Lucy, was taken aback by. She smiled broadly and shifted their coddled bodies back and forth.

At this point people and furries started to walk out, it was getting... to close for comfort. It had been an attraction to watch the pups shoot, but it was clear there was more to these prepubescent puppies than met the eye.

Drake and Osing remained, watching the pair shoot. The two pups didn't care at all that they had been watched, or that the observers had left, they were enjoying playing with each other. They had been exploring around, Karl showing off quite a bit. Lucy tried hundreds of new foods. While most people thought military-grade foodstuffs were deplorable at best, the pup couldn't get enough of the strange, self-contained meals.

A squirrel, a major, walked onto the shooting range and saluted the two officers.

"General Osing, Admiral, we just received a low priority message from the Colossus, still in orbit over Earth. Apparently they've picked up two signals that have been identified as Predator 9 S&R beacons. Its been checked out with Intelligence, there are no off-world operations taking place, anywhere, so I think that kind of limits who it's likely to be," the Major reported.

Drake sat there and looked at Osing who nodded, "Thank you major. Fred, I think we need to move, now."

"It will take some time to warm up the jumper engines," Drake commented, standing up.

"Well get on it fast, I doubt the Captain would end his honeymoon so soon unless there was a problem, particularly by using P9 Armor, and both pairs at that."

The General turned to the Major, "Send a message to the Colossus to land troops on the surface and find and secure the Reynolds."

The Major saluted and turned on his heel, and walked off the range.

Karl and Lucy had both heard the conversation, and turned to watch for a moment.

"Are they okay?" Karl asked from the shooters box.

"I'm sure their fine Karl," Drake replied, "but we're going to find them as fast as possible to be sure."

Bayeux, France 4:12 AM Local Time

The city of Bayeux belonged to the Reynolds. They had now cleared every single building, to be sure, and had been glad to not find another wolf, but it was better to know they were safe than to assume they were.

They walked down the streets and boulevards, still encased in their armor, but at a somewhat more relaxed state. It had been quite the last few days, and at the end of this one, they both needed a vacation from this vacation. It was that feeling that was angering Steve the most, he had wanted so much to have a nice, romantic time with his new, beloved wife.

Cathy on the other hand was actually feeling better, although that didn't mean much. She was pretty low from the last few days. She was now just enjoying seeing a human city. The concept had interested her the other day, and now she was realizing that humans did have a... unique taste. He kept insisting that the town was thousands of years old, and that it's style was very different from most other human cities, but she thought they must be similar to this.

"We'll go to..." he thought for a moment, "uh... oh ya New York, on another continent. When people left Earth that was about the biggest and most modern city on the planet. I've never seen it, but I've seen old vids and pictures of it, and it was pretty impressive."

All the fox could think was that when he said humans abandoned Earth, he had meant just that. Nothing was left in the town; only empty shells that had been buildings. The Captain said in other cities he had been in there were similar things, just empty homes and buildings.

"Where do we go now?" she asked.

It was a broad question and he wasn't sure how to answer.

"Can we go back to the beach?" she added, clarifying what she had meant.

He nodded and the pair walked down the road, but being careful as they did.

It took a few hours, but right before the sun was all the way down they reached the warm shores. Seeing the sunset on the horizon was enough to get Cathy to fall down to her knees and lay back in the sand, she wanted to feel it, but she wouldn't lower her armor until Steve said so.

He sat down beside her and laid with her.

"We need to find some food..." he said, almost to himself.

That was an understatement, neither had eaten for almost three full days, and it was starting to have an effect. The P9 Armor could lower the workload for the wearer, but it caused an increase in metabolic rate. If the user didn't eat regularly, starvation could set in about five days. Also, to add to the mess, they had both drunken barely any water.

Steve patted her leg and sat up. She went to follow but he motioned for her to rest. He walked over to the tree line and looked around. The sun had basically gone down and he couldn't see anything. He gripped his Thompson and thought for a moment of hunting something, but they hadn't seen any wildlife in the past two weeks, a few birds but nothing big enough to eat, so that idea was out. His throat was dry and his stomach was aching, but he could deal with it. He was a Ranger, he was trained to go long durations of time without food, but Cathy wasn't a Ranger, and she was pregnant, two things that worried Steve.

He walked around pointlessly, he couldn't think of a damn thing to do.

"Alright Steve," he thought, "you need to think; what do you do when your cut off? You find food. How do you find food? Hunt first, forage second."

The Captain looked around, and saw the trees, they were apple trees.

"Oh Thank God," he whispered to himself.

He picked at least twenty apples, ripe ones too, and carried them to Cathy.

"Here," he said, handing her a juicy red one, "you eat first, and I'll cover you. In the meantime I'm going to build some embankments for us to hide behind."

She nodded and, although a bit hesitant, lowered the head portion of her armor. She looked so beautiful, and she didn't look so sad anymore. Upset, but not sad. That made Steve happy.

He turned and using the butt of the Thompson began building sand embankments around the pair. He didn't know it, but this was the second time the Thompson had been used for just this purpose, on just these very beaches, with a slight amount of time between the events; roughly three thousand years.

Cathy ate quickly and heartily, she was starving to say the least. She ate three or four apples in about six minutes and only slowed when she saw Steve starting to slow up. He was as tired as she was, but he was going to make sure they were safe before he relaxed. She ate another apple and helped him make the barriers. Their combined efforts made it so that it took only about a half hour before a two-foot by three-foot embankment surrounded their selected spot.

"You must be hungry, here," she handed him an apple, "you need to eat."

He lowered the face portion of his armor and ate a few apples as fast as she had. It was one of the best meals he had shared with her in awhile and it definitely lightened and improved their mood.

When he had eaten enough, he laid down and lowered the armor on his lower legs, arms, and shoulders. He made a come hither motion with his hand and Cathy, who smiled broadly, crawled over on her paws and knees. She followed his lead with her armor, but left her legs protected. She took to his side and felt him cradle her body. The fox nuzzled her husband's face and felt him nuzzle her back.

"Are you okay Cathy?" he asked quietly, rubbing her paws.

"I am now," she said, and gave his lips a lick.

He smiled weakly and kept rubbing her paws, but they both felt themselves falling asleep. They wanted to sleep, but as close to it they came, a fear loomed over them both and they found themselves stuck in a state of insomnia.

They both kept their respected weapons close, loaded, and cocked. Cathy was the most frightened, but Steve was the most fearful. Every movement of a tree in the shadows or rustling of a bush worried him, and he would feel safer with Cathy's head in her armor, but he felt better with her fur on his face. She was warmer than the air or the soft sand, and it made him feel much better about, what he still felt was, a failure on his part.

Just as they were both actually beginning to fall asleep, Steve looked up and saw the stars. He wasn't so much a stargazer, but noticed a few of them moved in opposite directions. They were starships in the distance and they danced in the sky. One caught his eye, it move more erratically than the others and was extremely bright.

"Oh crap..." he moaned and gave Cathy a slight tap.

"What?" she asked quietly, realizing something was wrong.

He didn't answer but pointed above.

She looked and rolled her head in a semi-circle, "Ohhhh... we can't even sleep."

He held her up and pushed both their armors on full, not before giving her a kiss. Not even sure how they were able to, the pair moved into the tree line and stared at the falling star as it came closer and closer.

"Who the hell keeps doing this?" Steve asked, now feeling just as mentally exhausted as Cathy was.

The ship was heading right towards them, or that's what it seemed like.

"They can't be..." Cathy whispered, "They can't."

Whoever they were, they were doing just that. They headed straight towards the beach and every second let them see more and more of the craft. It had the same angular features as a wolf dropship, but was bulkier and similar in shape to a Federal Assault Craft. This made Cathy and Steve's mind parallel, they couldn't move until they saw who stepped out.

The crafts engines rumbled and it came to a hover about a hundred feet off the ground. It hovered for a moment, then descended to the ground. The aft hatch opened and out stepped about thirty armor-clad soldiers; clad in Predator 9 Armor.

"To either of the Captain Reynolds, this is 2nd Lieutenant Donald Steele, do you read me?" said a voice over Steve and Cathy's private COM channel.

"This is Captain Reynolds, where are you?" he asked.

Right now Steve didn't trust them, even though they wore his armor. He couldn't make it seem like he and Cathy could see their drop zone.

"We just touched down on a beach roughly thirty yards from a wrecked F98 and something else," the Lieutenant replied into the COM line.

"Do you have my position," Steve asked, looking at the group of soldiers, noticing they tended to look in his direction.

"Yes sir, you can come out, as can your wife," the Lieutenant reported, in a careful tone.

Turning down his armor, and motioning for Cathy to follow suit, he told her verbally, "You stay down for a moment, and wait, just sit tight."

She nodded and rolled her armor back up, as did he. Steve stepped up and out of the bush they were in and walked, carefully, over to the group of soldiers, who saluted at the officer.

"Which Captain Reynolds is this?" one of them, obviously the platoon leader, asked.

"The Consular," Steve replied, watching the soldier's reaction, it would tell him their truth.

He snapped a crisper salute at hearing that and ordered a medical team called, but Steve put up his hands in objection. The Captain lowered his hand and made a sweeping motion along his back, and he knew Cathy would come up behind him soon.

"And you must be Catharine Reynolds, ma'am," the platoon leader saluted Cathy as she walked over to the group, "We're here to return you to the Colossus, we're under orders straight from General Osing."

"Alright Lieutenant, but we need a cleanup crew down here, whatever was left of the Wolf Forces made their home down here," Steve mentioned, and, with Cathy by his side, boarded the Assault Craft, never loosening his grip on her or his Thompson.

Captain Atric's Stateroom Aboard FN Trident Enroot to Sol System 2021 Military Time

"I love you so much..." Emily whispered, holding her lover's furry arm.

Sean just kissed her and held her close. Things had been like this for the last three weeks now, and Sean liked it, he liked it a lot. He liked the sensualness they had right after sex, he loved her fur, he loved the way she played with his fur, and most of all, he loved his little rabbit.

She rolled back on top of his chest and rubbed his face.

"I love you too Emily," he replied finally, kissing her once again.

She rubbed the fur on his chest and the back of his head. Her paws ran through his short haircut and he did the same to her, but played with her tail. He really liked her tail.

"Captain Atric, please report to the bridge immediately," a voice said over the ship's intercom.

Emily sighed, "I think I now understand why the Reynolds ran away, both times, when can two furries just lay with each other?"

Sean smiled and stroked the fur on her body, she had warmed up to him entirely, and they were starting to think that they both wanted to just retire. They were both young still, but neither really wanted to spend time away from the other, and they knew in the Army they wouldn't get enough of that.

He sat up and sighed, "I know, but we'll have our time, don't worry about that."

Emily nodded and pulled him back down; the officers could wait a few minutes. She flipped him on his back and straddled his body, wrapping her legs around his.

"Emily-"

She hushed him with her paw and replaced it with her lips. They kissed passionately and fell into each other's arms.

"Captain Atric, please report to the bridge immediately," the PA repeated.

"Damn it!" Sean said to himself, Emily stroking the fox's fur.

"Go, but come right back..." she whispered, giving his bottom lip a kiss.

She rolled off his body and scooted him out of bed, smiling at his strong body. She remained under the covers, and watched him dress. When he was he walked over to the door, turned and winked at the rabbit in the bed, and walked out.

Sean arrived on the bridged, steaming to say the least, having been interrupted from his and Emily's post coitile state. On the deck he saw the normal personal scurrying about, and General Osing and Admiral Drake at their command chairs.

"Do these guys live here?" the Captain thought to himself.

"Captain Atric," the Admiral said, and noticed the fox's irate state, "we didn't interrupted anything did we?"

Sean started to say something but checked himself, "No sir, I was just sleeping off a training injury," he replied, rotating his shoulder.

Drake knew he was lying but let it go; it wasn't a big secret to what he must have been really doing, so everyone just let it go.

"Well we just received some good news, and some bad news," the Admiral began, "the good news is that the Reynolds are safe and onboard the Colossus. The bad news is that they were honeymooning on Earth, in the Sol system, and that they discovered what we now believe is the hideout for what Rodina is calling the 'loyalists,' those that still want an Alpha Wolf. We need to clear out that planet soon, but Consular Reynolds has ordered that we cannot commit a Delta 2 Zero, so that means a ground assault. Now he claims they cleared out an old city, but Rodina says that there's at least 10,000 troops that left the old ranks of the Wolf Forces, and that's a good sized force to deal with."

"And you want me to go Sir..." Sean asked at a draw.

"We need you to go," the General chimed in, looking the fox in the eye, "we need you, your Rangers, and anyone and anything else you can think of that will get this job done."

"How long until we arrive sir?" the Captain asked, standing a bit straighter for the General.

"About..." Admiral Drake thought for a moment, "...three hours, but we have to wait a few hours after that, Reynolds wants to talk to us, and likely you, about any ground operations. He's quite protective of that planet."

Sean, not usually one to question officers, took a chance, "Sir, why aren't you attached to it? Isn't it your race's home planet?"

Osing nodded, "Yes, it is, but we left it and filled the universe, there's nothing on that rock that's worth saving. No one lives there, and there's almost no materials left to use."

"I meant more of a sentimental feeling sir," Sean added.

The General shrugged, "I was never the sentimental type."

"What about for love, that seems to effect you quite a bit," Drake commented.

"Shut up Fred," Osing replied, angry that the Admiral had caught him.

Drake chuckled and said no more, he just thought it was funny how easily his friend flew off the handle.

"So what do you need to do this?" Osing asked, returning his attention to the Captain.

Sighing, Sean replied, "Well, some tanks wouldn't be bad, air cover would be nice, and since were using our P9 units en'mass so much, might as well use them too."

"Captain Reynolds has requested that he help," Osing added, watching the fox's reaction.

"Then that's one very, very useful soldier to have, but I don't think Cathy will let him," Sean replied.

"I hope that's not true," the General commented, "because he's still a damn good soldier, and he really wants to make sure that planet's clean."

FN Colossus in Orbit Over Earth 2311 Military Time

"Here you go sir," the sergeant reported, opening the door to the room, "are you sure you want a normal room? The Commander Jason told me to offer you a suite of sorts."

"No thank you Sergeant, we're both fine," Steve told the ferret, who saluted and walked away.

"It's okay right Cathy?" Steve turned to his wife, who looked like she was going to keel over.

She nodded in reply and they walked inside, shutting the door behind them. Cathy trudged over to the small bed and fell face first into it.

"I never thought I would be so happy to see one of these beds again," she said into the covers.

Steve walked over and lifted his wife's legs, and laid them in the bed. He sat down beside her and rubbed her furry cheeks. Seeing him she pushed herself over and rubbed the bed, which he almost feel into. He laid down facing her and she instantly latched onto him.

"You know this isn't that bad," Cathy said, resting her muzzle under his chin, "maybe we can go around hiding in rooms," she giggled.

Steve smiled and brought her head up to match his and kissed her. She shot her mouth at him like a magnet, she had wanted to rub her face into his, and feel his body next to hers, not that lifeless metal hulk that he was encased in the armor. She didn't like that, she wanted to never have to see him in that armor again and she really never wanted to know he had to carry a weapon again.

They kissed for a long time, both very tired but very gracious to feel the other. When they did stop, their mouths barely moved away from each other, they really just wanted to stay like this, this feeling forever.

She moved her muzzle back down under his chin, rubbing her fur against him, warming the pair up. Her tail moved under the covers in happy circles, which made Steve chuckle, it was a nice way to always be able to tell if his wife was really happy.

"I take it your feeling better about everything?" he asked quietly, holding the sides of her face.

She nodded and replied, "I do now I guess. I just want to sleep with you. I think we need to find a nice house somewhere..." she whispered.

He smiled and held her face, "I think after this that's not a bad idea. How 'bout Texas?"

"Texas?" she asked, confused.

"It's a joke honey don't worry about it," he smiled, kissing the top of her head.

Cathy rolled her eyes and held him closer, "I think a good idea would be someplace quiet, but not cut off. What worlds have you been on that would be like that?"

"Not many. Places that are quiet are usually cut off. Look at Earth or Chyane, quiet and nice, but both seem to harbor problems."

Cathy bit her lip and Steve felt her squeeze him harder.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He could sense something going on within her.

"I thought of a planet like that, quiet but not cut off..." she said, tailing off as if the rest was too heavy to bear.

He rubbed her back to urge her to continue.

"My planet..." she finally concluded.

"Oh Cathy, I don't think-" he started but she cut him off with a look of dismay.

He sighed and continued, "Cathy, your minds barely at peace in paradise- somewhat paradise, I can't let you put yourself through that."

"It's a backwater planet with some of the lowest crime rates," she flinched at that thought. That rate referred to violent crimes, not sick ones; "It's almost all foxes, who are peaceful, and they mind their own business."

Steve shook his head, "Cathy I'm your husband, and it's my job to protect you, and that's not just from physical harm. I can't let you live like that. You would never feel safe there, you would always have bad dreams, I know you, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you were like that."

Cathy made a frowning smile and hugged him tighter. She knew he was right, but not in the way he thought he was. She thought it was the nicest way to lay out his duties to her, that he was taking charge to protect her, but he didn't know what he was protecting her from.

"Don't worry about us Cathy, I swear whatever happens, I won't let it be bad, no matter what. We're going to live at the Consular's Estate for awhile, and then we'll worry about where we'll go, but lets just have some peace for a little while," he said, kissing the top of her head again.

"I want to have our offspring on Foc," she whispered, taking a lot of willpower to get that out.

Afraid to ask why Steve answered, "And that won't cause you to have regrets?'

Shaking her head into his neck she replied with a simple "No."

"Then we'll do that when the time comes, but we won't go there yet," he replied, "not yet."

He rubbed her face and then pulled them both under the covers more.

"Now just go to sleep, we've done enough today," he whispered into her ear.

She smiled and felt herself falling asleep, loving the feeling of his protecting arms around her.

Chapter 3 Return

Seven Weeks Later Conakry Senate Building 4:35 PM Local Time

"Thank you Senator for brining that up, once again, for the third time," Steve said, a bit annoyed at the way this job was going. No wonder they gave Consulars such a great place to live, they'd kill themselves if they went home each day to anything less than a palace.

"Yes well Consular Reynolds, after your," the Senator ginned, "actions, we've seen a severe increase in crimes and offenses pertaining to relationships and, now the most common, lude and lascivious behavior between Officers and Enlisted personal, a serious offense by any standard. We need to know if and how to persecute those many officers that are being collected and reported on this offence."

"What are you doing now?" Steve asked, not seeing the point to the question.

The senator sighed, "So far we've just been trying to even things out, let those who aren't particularly needed out of the military, and promoting couples so that, since we now preserve it okay, officers can be with each other."

"And the problem is..." Steve suggested, already knowing what should be done.

"That we now have many more officers, most of which don't deserve the rank or it's privileges," the senator said.

"So do this," Steve began; glad this was the last part of the day's preceding, "instead of promoting the enlisted personal, demote the officer. Those officers that are really in love with the enlisted personal will take the demotion without much problem. Those that think twice are more dedicated to the Federation, and are just looking for a quick job, which means they just need to be clarified in the way the Federation does business."

The senator began to say something, but thoughts left him. There really wasn't any answer or objection to that one, it was a good answer. Nods of approval went through the other senators and, seeing his plan was likely accepted, Steve stood up, nodded to the senators and without a word walked out of the Senate building, he needed to see Cathy.

About ten minutes later he was knocking on their bedroom door. Cathy called him in and she was doing some exercise on the floor. Not too rigorous, but enough that she was breathing hard.

Steve smiled at his wife; she was having a very easy, calm pregnancy. Being a fox she didn't develop the classic "belly" that human females developed, and her mood and health was pretty normal, nothing to extreme. Although he told her not to, she had insisted to do low level exercises, reasoning its better for the baby. That was another thing they had figured out; it was likely going to be a baby, not a kit. She wasn't getting big, and that meant there was only one inside her, and that meant it was a baby. They would have been just as happy either way; they were both looking forward to it as well.

She stopped her exercise and sat up against the big bed, whipping a bit of sweat that was beneath her fur.

"Long day?" she asked, noticing her husbands look of dismay.

He chuckle led, "Ya, you'd believe they couldn't think for themselves."

Cathy smiled and walked over to him. She hugged him and licked his cheek.

"What about you? Finding things to do?" he asked, kissing her forehead.

She sighed and shrugged, "Not really, I can't think of much to do. I went to see Karl do some trick shooting with Lucy, but those two look so cute together I end up missing you..." she said, giving him a tighter hug.

"You'd find it even more boring, but you can come down to the senate with me," he proposed, more for himself. The meetings were about the hardest things he'd ever done; he wanted to kill every single senator merely to shut them up.

She knew better than that, she had seen a few of the meetings on vids, and she giggled and shook her head, "I think I'd fall asleep the whole time. I can't imagine how you do it."

She sat down on a chair and rubbed her belly, he smiled as she did.

"How you feeling?" he said, taking a knee in front of her.

"Okay, I can feel them coming though," Cathy said, shifting her feet.

He kissed her stomach and then moved his face to hers.

"How long?" he whispered into her mouth.

Kissing his lips she pulled back and replied, "Another two months, maybe three."

Steve remembered what she had requested, where she wanted to give birth, and he still thought it was a bad idea.

"Cathy, are you still sure about going to Foc? To have it there?" he asked, looking her in the eye.

In a rare instance she looked away, he knew she wasn't sure of it either.

"Actually I want to talk to you about that," she said, still not looking him in the eye.

Steve put his hands on her face and forced her to turn to look at him, but she still adverted her eyes.

"Cathy," he said, and drew her attention, "you can say anything to me, don't worry."

She nodded and took a deep breath, "I want you to come with me, soon, like in the next few days to Foc. I want you to see my home world too, before we have our offspring."

Steve sighed and rubbed her paw, "Cathy, do you think that's a good idea? First of all seeing my home world didn't exactly turn out really well. I don't think this will go that bad, but it wouldn't go well. I can't let you hurt yourself like that."

"Then go with me and protect me like you did back on that beach," she replied, looking him in the eye.

He shook his head, "No Cathy, that's not what I meant. I don't know how to say it but I don't think it's a good idea. I might be wrong, but if I'm right... I don't want to think what could happen if I'm right."

The fox clasped his hand in her paw, "I know things will be tough, but I also know that as long as you go with me, nothing terrible can happen. Not to me at least."

"Cathy, I have to put my foot down on this one, for your sake, we can't go to Foc until we are really, really ready."

Two Days Later Landing Pad Outside Lima on Foc 10:52 AM Local Time

Steve shook his head and Cathy clenched onto his arm.

"How did I let you convince me to let you do this?" he asked her, seeing the ground come into view.

"You love me to much to say no," she replied, nuzzling his arm.

"That's true," he smiled and wrapped his arm around her.

Cathy squirmed in discomfort and held her belly.

"What's wrong?" Steve asked, looking his wife over.

"I can feel the baby kicking," she said, and smiled.

Steve put his hand on her stomach and indeed, he felt movement inside of her, but it was stronger than he would have thought.

"Isn't this a bit to soon for it to be able to kick?" he asked, not removing his hand from her.

Cathy shrugged in reply and leaned her head on his.

They were traveling as the Reynolds, not as Consular and Captain, in hopes of not drawing much attention, but Steve was starting to see that wouldn't matter. On the ground he only saw orange and red foxes walking about, going about their business. There was no way they wouldn't notice the fox and human walking arm-in-arm down the streets, looking around.

The ship came to stop on the pad and the various foxes got off. Cathy and Steve waited and left last. The air was cool and Cathy buttoned the top button of her shirt at the feeling. Steve held her close and walked off the pad, into the nearby town.

The pair acquired stares almost immediately, and for multiple reasons. First of all, most foxes on the planet rarely saw humans, and when they did the human tended to be off on his on, this one was walking embraced with a fox. Also, many of the foxes recognized Steve and Cathy. The pair was quite famous across the Federation, and as cut-off as Foc was, they hadn't not heard of the pair's adventures.

For their sake, Cathy and Steve didn't notice the stares at all; Cathy was too absorbed in seeing her old home planet. She walked him down roads and streets, through towns. They walked all day, not talking much. Steve hadn't ever been in to many single species cities; much less planets, either, and he hadn't ever seen so many foxes. He had fallen in love with a fox, and the species in general. While he had seen foxes that were less than admirable, Colonel Hushing being the most recent in memory, in general, Steve had become quite fond of the species. Sean was a great example of their dedication, as was Cathy of course.

They soon came to a housing district, a small one compared to what Steve had seen on his home planet. One home caught his eye though; it looked like his grandfathers house. Cathy on the other hand, came to dead stop about five minutes later and stared at a house.

"Oh boy..." Steve whispered and held Cathy's arms tightly.

Cathy just stood there, frozen at the sight. She had, in truth, brought the pair there fully knowing where they were, but it was still a shock. It was her old home, the home of her father, the place where he had brutalized her, and she had to see it. She had thought of it for many years now, but never had the strength or will power to bring herself to see it once again, but Steve did that for her, he gave her the strength to do this. For her, this was the final loose end that needed to be tied up.

Just by her instant reaction to the house in question, Steve knew what it was. It was what he had feared for the last few days and weeks, that she might have a breakdown on seeing it.

"Cathy..." he started but trailed off, she was gripping his hand so tightly that it was starting to go numb, but he didn't dare say a word about it.

She started to walk over to it and Steve held her back for a moment, but she persisted, so he let her go, but not releasing her paw. They walked up the porch staircase and stopped at the door. It was clear it was abandoned, just by the decay of the deck and house itself, but Steve still knocked on the door. Seeing no one was going to answer Steve pushed on the door and it creaked open. He felt Cathy shutter in his grip and he held her close.

"Cathy if you don't wan-"

"I don't want to, I have too," she interrupted and, still holding his hand, and walked inside.

It was dusty, dank, and smell hung in the air. No one had lived in the house since Cathy had been taken away by the police years ago, and that only added to the terror she had of the building.

They walked around inside, visiting each room. Cathy's mood didn't change, and when they went upstairs she froze up even more. Her snout was shut tight, her ears pined back, and her normally vibrant tail hid between her legs.

In the quietest tone he could manage, Steve asked, "Your room?"

"Mmm hmm," she said, beginning to lose it.

He rubbed her shoulders and held her close.

"It's okay, he can't hurt you, no one can," Steve whispered into her ear and he felt her crying quietly into his hold. He turned her around and she rested her face into his chest.

"It's okay, it's okay," he repeated, rubbing the fur on the back of her head.

"Why would anyone do that?" she asked, sobbing now, "How could he do that? Didn't he love me? I was his daughter, his only child! What kind of sick fox does that to his only child?"

Steve held her closer still and rocked her back and forth, letting her put her full weight into him. He wanted to say something, he really wanted too, but there really wasn't anything he could say. His father sucked, but this, this was something he couldn't even imagine.

Taking a deep breath he forced her to look up at him. She had trails of tears that jumped for hair to hair on her furry cheeks.

"Cathy, I know you don't want to believe it, but I know that deep down, your father loved you. He has no real excuse for what he did to you, but you shouldn't let him ruin and rule your life now. You're a grown fox, with a husband who loves you, and a baby coming that will need your love as well. I think you can move on. You helped me move on, and now it's my turn," he said, and walked her, taking a lot of mental strength to do so, into her old room.

It was very simple, a single bed and a nightstand. Faded blue plant could just be made out on the walls, along with posters whose images had bleached. The bed was too dusty so Steve carefully flipped up the top sheet to reveal a slightly cleaner bed sheet.

"Now Cathy, remember what you said to me the day we were married, back on Conakry?" he whispered, resting her head on his chest.

"Yes..." she whispered back, wrapping her paws around his torso.

"Well then this is your turn to tell me about you," he said in a full voice, rubbing her arms and back.

She brought one of her paws to whip a tear away and began recounting her life. Steve had read about it, just bits and pieces that were in her report, but things were worse, way worse, than the meager details in her service records could imply.

It took about forty-five minutes for Cathy to get out all that was buried deep within her. She had paused twice, breaking down in tears, to which Steve had patted her softly and rocked her in his arms.

"Oh Steve, I feel so tired," she whispered, drying her soar eyes once again.

Although he felt he might come to regret this, Steve pushed the top cover off completely, and laid down with Cathy at his side on her old bed. She was home, and he was going to ease her mind completely, and he knew this might do the trick.

Cathy on the other hand was a bit adverse to this idea. To many bad things had happened in this bed that made her want to take it outside and burn in it, much less sleep in it.

"No..." she said, shaking her head.

"Cathy, its only me. Remember, it's only me. You can come to bed with you husband no matter where we are, you must remember that," Steve said, kissing her paw.

The fox let out an unexcited groan and laid down in the bed. Carefully Steve positioned himself behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She instantly melted into him and snuggled his hand as it brushed past her neck.

The bed frightened her, but his touch calmed her, he calmed her enough that she felt herself falling asleep.

"Cathy?" he asked, "Are you okay?"

She didn't answer, just nuzzled his arm draped around her neck.

Smiling and warming his attitude he asked, "Are you awake Cathy?"

Once again she didn't answer, but wrapped her tail around one of his legs and pushed herself closer to her husband. For the first time since he mother had been killed, Cathy feel asleep in her bed, her real bed, and hadn't a worry in her mind.

***

She slept in this time. Usually the vixen awoke with or right before Steve, but today he awoke first but remained still, just feeling his wife's fur on his body. They were both still in their civilian clothes, or as civilian as Cathy could make them; to others they still looked causal military.

Cathy could feel his breathing change from sleeping to being awake, and she stirred herself up.

"You awake?" he asked softly, stroking her cheek.

She yawned widely and replied, "Mmm hmm, I don't think I've slept so well in awhile..."

Hearing that Steve was relieved. Up until this point he was still worried this trip was not going to well for Cathy, but it seemed this was the preverbal last card. He reached around and massaged her entire body. She moaned graciously as he moved his hands softly over her swollen tits and "poofed" fur belly.

She was enjoying his fondling, he had been very adverse to touch her lately, because of her pregnancy, and she had wanted him badly. He kissed the fur on her neck, kissed the back of her head, and even played with and gave love-bites to her ear. She giggled as he did, and moaned as he cupped one her breasts. The vixen moaned even more as he lowered his hand and slipped it down the front of her fatigue pants.

"Oh Steve..." she said at a draw, turning her head and licking his face.

He cupped and rubbed her pussy lips, letting her get all wet. It didn't take long, and soon he began finger fucking her, carefully, but enough that she rocked her hips against his finger.

With his free hand he kept massaging her front, petting the fur from under her neck, to the extremely soft fur right above her pink, moist cunny. Cathy did notice one thing, each time he moved his hand over her stomach she felt a feeling. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good, it was just feeling.

Her thoughts were interrupted by his fingers playing with her clit.

"Oh God..." she moaned and felt him smile into the fur on her head.

"I love you Cathy, I hope your feeling better," he whispered into her ear.

She was in such a level of content that she could barely reply; all she could manage was a strained, "Yes..."

He kept moving his finger in and out, and slipped in another finger and continued ditling her pussy.

"Oh yes! Oh yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Ohhhhh" the fox moaned, her mouth hanging open and panting rapidly.

Her red and white tail moved around on his leg, and excited him, and from her movements against his hips and finger, she was practically dry humping him, and it was starting to take effect. They both felt his hard on in his pants pressing against her lower back.

Cathy smiled and cooed, reached back, and rubbed his cock behind her. Using the softest part of her paw she rubbed his swollen cockhead and heard him groan.

He lost control of his hand for a moment and held onto her stomach. Cathy got that feeling again, but this time she felt a twinge of pain in her nether regions, but it went away quickly and was replaced with the ecstasy of his rubbing.

Her pussy muscles tightened up and sucked on his finger, trying to draw it as deep as possible. He rubbed her clit frantically and she pushed hard back onto him and he saw her mouth open wide. She let out her silent scream and her juices flowed from her pussy lips and all over Steve's hand.

This time she felt a stinging pain inside her pussy and overcame her silent scream; "Oh God Steve something hurts!" she yelled and he instantly froze.

Steve removed his finger and turned her to face him in the bed. Under her furry white cheeks he could see she was flushed.

"Cathy what's wrong?!" he said in a nervous voice, fearing he did something.

She cringed and replied, "Inside, something hurts!" and she held onto his hand tightly.

The fox breathed hard for about five minutes, not letting go of Steve, and then calmed down a bit. She still looked flushed and gripped his hand tightly, but she wasn't in pain anymore.

"What happened?" he asked quietly, rubbing her arm softly.

"I don't know," she whispered, clutching him closely, "I just had a really bad stomach ache and it went away."

It hit them both at the same time, and of all things, Steve was the one that almost passed out.

"Oh boy, we have to... ahhh, oh boy..." he said and carefully stepped out of the bed.

Steve took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He was as nervous as he had been right before he and Cathy had been married, and this one scared him more.

Cathy sat up carefully and Steve helped her out of the bed. In reality she was fine, for the moment, but his protective instinct had kicked in and he was going to make sure she was okay. The pair walked down the stares but halfway down Cathy gripped the railing and groaned.

"Hold on Cathy!" Steve said, picking up the light fox in his arms, she only felt a few pounds heavier, which Steve hadn't noticed till now.

He carried her down the stairs and opened the door. It was still pretty early, and no one was awake.

"Oh, it's going away," she said, breathing hard, "I can stand now."

She squirmed in his arms but Steve kept her in the air.

"No, let me carry you for now," he said and she settled back into his grip, resting her snout on his shoulder and wrapping her paws around his neck, to help support her light weight.

Steve walked down the road to the nearby town. The shop keeps were coming outside and opening the windows and doors, preparing for another day of work. One of them, a short, elderly female fox was setting up her vegetable stand saw a man carrying a vixen with a pained look on her face.

"Need help stranger?" the elderly fox asked.

"Yes, my wife is about to give birth, do you know where a hospital is?" Steve asked, trying hard to mask his nervousness.

The fox furled her brow and tilted her head, "Your wife?"

Steve rolled his eyes and replied, "Yes, yes, yes. Please, do you know anywhere I can take her quickly?"

"No need to get uppity sonny," the old fox replied, putting her paws up, "there's a phone inside and you can call the hospital, its about thirty miles from here."

The Captain sighed in relief, "You okay Cathy?" he asked, looking down at her.

She still had a pained look on her face and just nodded quickly, "It's coming soon, I can feel it."

"Take her inside uh... what's your name sonny?" the fox asked.

Acting a bit jittery the Captain replied curtly, "I'm Steve Reynolds ma'am."

"I'm Hazel Hutchens, and it looks like we need to get things moving," she said, looking at the vixen in the man's arms.

"Thank you ma'am," Cathy said quietly.

The elderly fox nodded and led the pair inside her shop. There were fruits and vegetables of all kinds inside, some breads and baked goods as well. Steve remembered, for about half a second, how hungry he was but he knew better than to think of himself right now. Hazel walked into the back room and pointed to a cracked and bleached leather couch.

"Put her down and cover her up for now, you can call the hospital right over there," she pointed to a phone on the wall, "Who are you honey?" she added, looking at Cathy who was between contractions at the moment.

"I'm Catharine Reynolds," she replied, looking up at the elderly fox.

Hazel scrutinized the vixen for a moment and tilted her head again, "You wouldn't happen to be old Cory Grey's daughter would you?"

Steve froze halfway done calling up the hospital, and turned to see Cathy. She was frozen as well and looked away.

"Yes," she murmured.

Realizing what was going on as, having lived in the town for many years, Hazel remembered what had happened between Cory and his young daughter.

"I'm sorry dear," she said, rubbing her paw against the vixen's arm, "I know what you've been through and I feel for you, I really do," Hazel turned and saw Steve turn back to the phone and she lowered herself to whisper in Cathy's ear, "but it looks like you won in the end, he's quite handsome."

Cathy smiled, she had. She was about to reply but another convulsion seized her and she gripped her stomach.

"Oh dear," Hazel turned back to Steve, "I think this ones coming soon. How quickly will the ambulance be here?"

"They said about twenty minutes, the driver isn't in yet," Steve answered.

The old fox bit her lower lip, "That's not going to be soon enough."

"Soon enough for what?!" Steve asked nervously.

"Well what do you think? Your wife is about to give birth. By the way, what's it supposed to be?" Hazel asked.

"We figured a baby," Steve answered, his nervousness peaking.

"Human?"

"Yes, but this is way to soon," he replied, feeling even more fearful for his wife and child that was coming.

Hazel shrugged calmly, mainly for the benefit of Steve, and said, "Well its coming, so here," she picked up a dirty cloth on the floor, "clean this and warm it up."

"You know what to do?" Steve asked.

"I've been a mid-wife more than once if that's what you're worried about sonny," Hazel replied not looking back at the nervous human.

Steve took a deep breath and did what he was told. He returned about a minute later to find Cathy without her pants on and her legs up on the couch, with Hazel holding her paw.

"She's going to be fine sonny, she's quite strong, her muscles will take the brunt instead of her organs and such," Hazel smiled and continued rubbing Cathy's paw.

Breathing hard Cathy managed to get out, "You see Steve, this is why I did that exercise."

"You did great Cathy," Steve smiled, and rubbed his wife's face, "Things are going to go fine."

The vixen forced a smile and nuzzled his hand. Another convulsion, a big one, seized over her and she yelped.

"All right Catharine, just let it come out," Hazel said.

While the elderly fox had helped with births before, she hadn't ever seen a baby be born and was eager to see how that would work, considering that it would be coming out of a fox.

"Take her paws," Hazel ordered Steve, which he did quickly. Cathy's grip was strong, and she clenched her eyes shut.

"It's okay Cathy, it's okay," Steve repeated.

"Almost there honey, just let it flow," Hazel repeated, and applied the warm cloth.

Cathy let out a ravaged breath and yelped. A few tears formed in the corners of her closed eyes and Steve, Hazel as well, could smell sweat forming under her fur.

"Another few moments," Hazel said and Cathy gripped down harder on Steve's hands.

Carefully, he leaned in and kissed the top of her head. She actually let up on her grip on him and look a bit calmer, even managing to open one of her eyes.

"Is it okay?" she whimpered.

"It looks fine honey," Hazel said warmly, "just a few more pushes on its part."

Cathy yelped again and Hazel saw it poke out. The birthing fox shot her head back and winched in pain. Steve, realizing it was about to happen, turned to glance at Hazel, who to his horror had a perplexed look on her face.

Looking back to see Cathy wasn't able to pay attention, Steve whispered, "What's wrong?!"

In a normal voice Hazel replied, "You said it was a baby... person right?"

"Ya, that's what it is," Steve replied.

Hazel started to say something but Cathy gave a good final push and the newborn came out.

Cathy breathed hard and went light headed.

Steve smiled and kissed her, "You did it Cathy, you did great honey..." he whispered.

"Well, I hate to say it, but you two were wrong," Hazel said, smiling.

"Wrong?" Cathy said quietly, "Is my baby okay?"

"He's fine, but he's not a baby," she finished drying off the newborn and brought it into view, "It's a healthy male kit," she added, and handed Steve the baby fox.

Steve looked down at the tiny fox and almost passed out. It was so sweet and it warmed his heart. Cathy forced herself up and put out her arms. Carefully Steve handed her the tiny package and the two held it.

"Oh my God..." she whispered with tears in her eyes, "He's beautiful..."

The kit was warm, very warm, but almost completely dry. He didn't cry or moan, but instead snuggled into his parents arms.

Hazel lowered and covered Cathy's hind legs, "What's his name?" she asked, brining the two parents out of their trance on the newborn.

"Sean Reynolds," Steve replied smiling warmly at Cathy.

Cathy smiled, "You remembered that one?"

Steve nodded and cuddled his wife. The kit cooed and, after being covered in a small blanket, yawned and snuggled deep into Cathy's arms, and fell asleep. Cathy wasn't far behind her kit, and laid down on Steve's arm and drifted in and out of sleep.

"Do you want me to call the hospital and tell them to hold off?" Hazel asked quietly.

Steve sighed and answered, "Ya go ahead thank you, we're fine," he looked at Cathy who looked very, very happy, "but I need to use the phone if you could just..."

The fox nodded and brought the phone to him. Steve dialed up the local Federal Office and informed them of his situation. They reported that they would have a shuttle on his position in five minutes, but Steve told them to wait a little longer, maybe twenty.

"He really is beautiful," Cathy said with her eyes closed, she could feel the kit's fur in her paws.

"I know, I know I am the luckiest man in the universe," he replied and kissed his wife's forehead.

The kit drew clean, full breaths and his ears danced on his head as Cathy nuzzled the newborn, both their eyes still closed. He was healthy, and he looked beautiful and adorable in both the minds and eyes of Cathy and Steve.

Cathy opened her eyes and stared at the kit for a moment, then let her eyes drift to Steve.

"He's our son," Steve smiled, "Our son. I have son. A fox at that," he said, his voice breaking.

Cathy nuzzled her husband now and looked back at the kit in her arms. He stirred and, to the surprise of everyone in the room, opened his eyes, looked up at his parents and tilted his head.

"That's not supposed to happen for a few weeks..." Hazel said, quite confused.

"What?" Steve asked.

"Open his eyes, kits don't do that for at least two weeks usually," Hazel reported looking at the baby fox.

"Well, I'm a man, so maybe that has something to do with it?" Steve said.

Hazel shrugged, "Possibly. I've never seen a mixed couple before, much less a mixed kit so this is all new ground to me."

To add to the surprise of everyone in the room, the kit yawned and, what Cathy and Steve preserved as, smiled at his parents.

"No, no, no, even human babies, from what I know, can't do that, not only minutes old," Hazel said in disbelief.

Cathy and Steve ignored the old fox for a moment and smiled back at their son. A few minutes later a pair of, to the embarrassment of Steve, armor clad soldiers walked into the vegetable shop.

"Sir, is everything okay?" one of them asked, looking over to Mrs. Reynolds laying with her newborn.

"Yes, but why are you armored?" Steve asked, looking the pair over.

"Orders sir, from General Osing," the one on the left replied.

Steve stood up and replied, "Okay, you two wait outside, we'll be there in a minute."

"Sir!" the pair said, saluted, and exited.

The Captain turned back to Cathy and kneeled down beside her again.

"Can you stand?" he asked quietly, figuring he was to carry her out.

Cathy nodded and, handing their son to Steve, stood up, took a moment to steady herself using her tail for balance, and took a step.

"Let me help you honey," Hazel said and took Cathy's arm.

Steve watched the elderly fox lead his wife out of the room, and he paused before following to look at his son.

The kit wasn't smiling anymore, but still looking about, but mainly at his father.

"I know your going to be a great son Sean," he whispered to the kit.

The newborn just stared at his father for a moment, yawned, and closed his eyes again. Steve felt the kit coddle his arm and it was asleep about a half a minute later.

The Captain emerged about a minute after Cathy and Hazel. Outside there was a massed crowd of on looking foxes and, rumbling on the ground, a Federation Assault Craft.

"Sir!" the two soldiers saluted.

Cathy turned and smiled at Steve holding their asleep son, and boarded the craft.

"May I?" Hazel said, looking at the kit.

Steve did hesitate for a moment, but let the elderly fox hold the newborn. She inspected the kit for a moment, almost as if it was an object and not a being, but then her worn face warmed and she smiled at the newborn.

"This is going to be a good one," she whispered to Steve.

"I know, he's my son," Steve replied proudly.

Hazel returned the kit to his arms.

Steve looked at her and asked, "Is there anything you want? I can't thank you enough for this."

"Oh don't worry about me sonny, I'm a bit old to be wanting anything now," she paused and looked at the town, "this place needs some fixen though, you think you can help?"

The Captain smiled and replied, "Don't worry, I think your going to see more than just this town fixed up in the near future, I think being the Consular's wife's home planet, you can expect some help really soon, 'specially now."

He nodded and turned quickly to board the Assault Craft, leaving a stunned elderly fox behind.

She called over one of the armor-clad soldiers and asked, "Wait, that man's the Consular? Like the Consular?"

"Yes ma'am," the soldier replied, and walked back inside the craft.

Hazel watched the ship take off and smiled.

"I just brought a Consular's son into the world..." she murmured to herself, and walked back inside her shop, she had some cleaning to do before the customers started coming in.

Chapter 4 Full

The Next Day at the Consular's Estate Conakry 12:45 PM Local Time

"We're home Cathy," Steve whispered to his wife.

She sat asleep with their son in her arms, also asleep, in the airbus.

Stretching one of her arms she whispered, "But is this really our home?"

"For now it is," Steve whispered back, smiling.

He gave her a quick kiss and then kissed his son's head. The gull-doors swung up and open, and taking Steve's hand, Cathy stepped out of the bus holding her kit. They walked inside the Estate and were met instantly by Karl and Lucy waiting anxiously at the door.

The two pups stared at the newborn kit in Cathy's arms and smiled.

"What's its name?" Karl asked, smiling at Steve.

"His name is Sean," the Captain replied.

A stiff breeze came up, "Comon Cathy, lets get him inside."

She nodded and the party walked inside and up the stairs. Parks meet them upstairs and brought the Reynolds to the nursery across the hall from their room. Inside the thankfully warm room were a rather lavish crib, a refrigerator, toys, and anything a new mother would ever think of in taking care of their child.

Parks left the party and went downstairs, to oversee food preparations. As he stepped out, the Atrics walked in, rather meekly, and took up position behind Karl and Lucy.

Cathy didn't want to put their son down, she had only released him to the one other person or furry she trusted and that was her husband, Steve. Instead she walked over to the chair near the crib and sat down.

"Can I see him?" Karl asked.

Cathy nodded, but kept the kit close to her chest, not letting him go. Karl walked over and looked down at the newborn. While Karl was looking at the kit, Steve walked over to Emily and Sean who were watching with much interest, particularly Emily. Over the past few weeks Cathy and Emily had become close friends and they had both been looking forward to being mothers, so this was a big event for both of them.

"A kit huh?" Sean said, grinning at Steve.

"I'm proud of that," Steve said confidently, "I'm glad that finally my family has something other than people in it."

"What's its name?" Emily asked, this question was going to be asked of him many times, and Steve was proud to answer each time.

"His name is," he looked at Captain Atric, "Sean Reynolds."

Sean smiled shook his head, "Oh you guys didn't have to do that Steve."

"I was the one who said it," he replied, "and I'm glad I did, you made it possible that we could have him, it's the least I can do."

Sean was taken by the gesture and shook his friend's hand. Steve took him in closer and the two hugged. They had become friends too, particularly since they had both met their partners in similar ways, and kept them in thanks to the other.

"He a cute little fox," Emily said, and carefully walked over, and kneeled down in front of Cathy.

She pat the kit's face and the kit yawned and looked about the room.

"He was just born yesterday?" Emily asked, realizing the newborn was aware of his surroundings.

Cathy nodded, "Yes, we can't figure it out. He's healthy, and his eyes are fine, he just opened them a bit earlier than they would normally. Steve thinks it has something to do with the fact that he's a man, and that's changing the way he develops, but he's healthy and that's the only thing that matters to me."

The kit looked up at his mother and smiled.

"Oh my God he smiled! Sean look he smiled!" Emily said, very surprised by the sight.

"He does that too, we can't figure that one out either," Cathy said, smiling at her son.

Steve walked over and stood next to Cathy, the kit's gaze followed him and smiled at his father as well, "He's a special little guy, that's for sure," Steve said, smiling at his son as well.

Emily held her husband's paw tightly; she couldn't wait to have their child as well.

The kit yawned again and snuggled into his mother's arms, and was asleep soon.

"He looks so sweet when he sleeps..." Cathy whispered.

Emily tapped the two pups shoulders and whispered, "Comon you two, we need to leave this happy family to themselves for a little while."

Cathy smiled at her friend as they walked out. She returned her attention to her son and brought him higher up, closer to her face. She nuzzled the kit softly and his little tongue, as he slept, licked his mother's nose and mouth.

Steve smiled at the little package. He was small, not small for a kit, but he was still small in Steve's eyes. He was no bigger than a loaf of bread, not including his fully formed and bushy tail, and weighed about as much too. His fur was as deep of a red as Cathy's, but his paws and legs looked more muscular, more so than most kits of the same age. Having a man for a father must really have given him different qualities. His coloring was the same as Cathy's as well; white belly, black tipped ears, white tipped tail, and black paws. He was just too adorable in Steve's eyes for words.

Cathy stood up and motioned with her head for Steve to sit down. He did and Cathy went to hand him their son, but Steve moved her onto his lap and she did. She snuggled into him the same way their son did to her.

"I have family now..." Steve whispered with a smile, "I really have a family now."

"We both do," Cathy whispered and nuzzled Steve's neck.

"He's the most beautiful thing I've seen, you both are the most beautiful thing's I've ever seen. I don't know if I deserve either of you..." Steve said in a daze, things were starting to sink in.

"Ohh, you deserve us," Cathy said warmly, "never doubt that. You're the best man in the universe and we're a testament to that."

Steve hugged her and pat his son. The kit, although still asleep, lowered his little head into Steve's hand, another thing he inhered from his mother. They both chuckled lightly at the sight, he was quite the kit.

"Cathy you look exhausted," Steve commenting, seeing his wife's face.

She nodded and continued nuzzling his face.

"Comon, let's put Sean in his crib so you can get some sleep," Steve said.

Cathy shook her head, "I don't want to put him down..."

"You don't have to worry, nothing bad will happen to him, not here, not as long as I'm here," Steve said reassuringly.

"It's not that, kits sleep with their mothers for a little while before they sleep on their own," she said.

"Cathy..." Steve said, he knew she wasn't being honest.

"Okay I don't want to leave him somewhere alone, he can stay with us for a night right?" she asked, hope noticeable in her voice.

"He can, as long as you're sure he'll be safe sleeping like that," Steve said warmly.

Cathy sighed happily and stood up off his lap. They walked into their room across the hall and she laid down in the bed almost as soon as they entered. Steve hopped on as well and they both laid in the covers. It was only a bit pass noon but they were both mentally and physically tired. Cathy laid Sean down between her and Steve and they both coddled their son.

Sean opened his eyes a fraction of an inch, saw that everything was good, and went right back to sleep.

Steve wrapped his arms around both Sean and Cathy, both of whom snuggled into his grip. His family loved him much, his son only a newborn showed him that.

It was mere minutes before they were all asleep. Steve thought of nothing other than how lucky he was, and Cathy dreamt of nothing other than her son and her husband, her two boys, and Sean slept soundly and quietly, not crying or stirring once.

Aboard FN Endeavor in Orbit Over Conakry 1419 Military Time

"So he's a cute little devil is he?" Osing asked, smiling broadly.

"Certainly an..." Sean thought for a moment, "...odd little kit. He can open his eyes already and smile."

"What's his name?" Drake asked.

"Sean Reynolds," Emily answered.

Drake gave Osing a puzzled look, "Sean?"

"Well ya..." the fox replied, "When I helped them leave back on Chyane, right before they left Cathy said they would name their first pup after me. I thought it was supposed to be just a nice gesture or something. I guess they were serious."

Sean felt Emily come close behind him and rub his back.

"And only one? That's a bit usual right I mean I thought foxes usually give birth to litters," Drake commented.

Sean shrugged, "Can't answer that one, your guess is as good as mine."

The officers nodded and stood in silence for a moment.

"So I take it he's going to be on leave?" Osing asked, scrutinizing Captain Atric.

"I would think so, Cathy didn't even want to put down the kit, we could all tell," Sean replied, smiling at the thought.

Drake huffed, "Well I think this is the end of his career."

Osing looked at Drake in surprise, "What do you mean."

"I didn't mean in a bad way," Drake commented, "but there's no way we can expect much out Reynolds now, he's not going to ignore his family for political duties, and why would anyone expect him to? He's gone through hell just to get here and if I was him I don't think I would leave my kid alone until he's old enough to run away," Drake chuckled.

"So Fred where does that leave us then?" Osing asked, agreeing with his friend.

Drake shrugged, "I don't know. Call the senate and ask them."

"Wait, wait, wait," Lt. Colonel Sterling interrupted, "We don't make any decisions without asking the Consular first, it's still his call. We can guess all we want but it's still up to him."

Drake and Osing nodded, they were acting too much like they were in charge.

Looking around Drake realized Sean and Emily had disappeared, "Hey where'd they go?"

"Who?" Osing asked.

"Atric and Gates."

Osing looked about and saw too that they were missing, "I don't know, I didn't even see them slip out."

Down the hall Emily led her husband up to their room, she needed to talk to him. It took about a minute for them to reach their room, and when they did Emily sat down on the bed and had him sit on the chair across from her.

"What's up Emily?" Sean asked, seeing a slightly nervous look on her face.

She took a deep breath and looked her lover in the eye, "I went to the doctor yesterday Sean, and it's going to be really soon for me too," the rabbit said, rubbing her stomach.

"Ahh," Sean sighed.

"Do we have any ideas for things for the baby? Like where to stay or even a name?"

Sean smiled, "I already thought of few so don't worry."

"Really?"

"Yep, and you'll like them, I know it," he said confidently.

In reality he wasn't sure about one of the names, it would probably be the best for Emily but it wouldn't be received without tears.

"And a place to live?" his wife asked, sitting down next to the fox.

Again he smiled and rubbed her body, "I set up a nice place down on the surface, its just waiting for us."

Emily reached out and hugged him, nuzzling his shoulder.

The Reynolds' Room in the Consular's Estate 3:52 PM Local Time

Cathy awoke to Steve stroking her arm softly.

Smiling she asked, "What's up?"

"Look," he smiled and she looked down at her kit.

The newborn was looking about, smiling broadly, which looked quite strange on such a small face, and making sniffing motions with his snout.

"I think he's hungry," Cathy smiled.

She picked up the baby carefully and lowered her shirt a little. While most humans had completely abandoned breast-feeding, and a few other species as well, most foxes knew better. The kit drank quietly and Cathy giggled as Steve watched.

"He's the lucky little fella isn't he," Steve said, smiling as broadly as his son.

Cathy giggled more and kissed her husband.

"Aren't you hungry too?" Steve asked, moving closer and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"Mmm hmm," Cathy nodded, "but I can wait for now, let him finish."

Steve laid next to her and patted her neck as the kit feed. It was only a few minutes before the young newborn had his fill, and he let go of Cathy's breast and, after his mother whipped his mouth, licked his lips and looked up at his two parents.

"Hi there Sean," Steve said, lowering his face carefully to be equal with his son's.

He kissed the kit and, carefully, picked him up in his arms.

"Such a cute little guy," he commented as he rocked the kit side to side slowly.

Cathy watched the sight and sighed happily. He was as protective as she was, and she knew that he was the perfect man, on more than one level, for her and their son.

"Oh boy..." Steve said, rolling his head, "Sean had a 'wee' accident."

Steve lifted the kit from his chest to reveal a wet spot on his shirt. Cathy stiffened a laugh and got out of bed. She was a little soar, but nothing serious. She walked around and held the kit while Steve got up and removed his shirt.

"I'll go and change him while you get washed up," Steve said, and, after taking Sean back, walked into the nursery.

Cathy sighed and went into their bathroom. She had given herself a once over while they had been enroot to Conakry, but she needed a real wash. The vixen undressed and turned on the water, felt it warm up, and stepped inside.

She washed her fur softly, focusing on her breasts and pussy. After she was clean she sat down on the shower seat and closed her eyes. Something was missing, she wasn't sure what it was but something felt... not done. She stood up and began to wash herself off, but she almost jumped out of her fur when she felt two hands move softly over her fur.

"Hi Cathy..." Steve whispered into her ear as she breathed a sigh of relief, "you don't need to be so jumpy..."

She turned around and gave him a soft push; "You scared the crap out of me, since when are you that sneaky."

He nodded to the water; she hadn't been able to hear him over the shower.

"Clever," she smiled mischievously but then did a double take, "Where's Sean?"

"After I changed him he went right to sleep in my arms so I covered him in his crib," Steve said carefully, realizing how protective she was of him.

"Is he-"

Steve quieted her with a finger to her lips, "Believe me Cathy, I wouldn't ever do anything that might hurt him. He's fine in the crib for now while he naps."

Cathy went to say something but Steve kissed her forehead and she sank into him. The fact was, with an exception to the other day, they hadn't gotten very close; both knowing it wasn't proper while Cathy was expecting, but Steve was only human. He had waited quiet awhile and she always looked and felt great in the warm water of a shower.

He lowered his hand and rubbed Cathy's steaming pussy. His touch instantly caused a reaction and she drew herself closer to him, resting her muzzle on his shoulder. Steve realized that her pussy felt as tight as ever, he couldn't understand why. She had just given birth, shouldn't it be... stretched?

Cathy on the other hand wasn't able to get a clear thought; she was just immersed in the feeling of the water on her back and his playing and caressing of her pussy lips and clit.

"Ohhhh," she moaned, and using her paw began jerking Steve off, she had been waiting to get this close for some time as well, uninterrupted at that.

Not wasting a moment she guided his cock to her luscious pussy lips and slid it inside. He brought her close, but seeing that he wasn't as deep as he knew she wanted, he lifted her up, she wrapped her legs around his chest instinctively, and bounced her up and down in the air.

"Oh God! Steve yes!" she moaned as she felt his warm cock slide in and out of her.

She lowered her face down to his and licked his mouth, their tongues meeting in air.

"Oh yes, fuck me!" Cathy almost yelled, "Oh yes fuck me hard!"

Steve took one of her breasts in his mouth and sucked, enjoying it and grinning. The stimulation caused Cathy to groan and she let her head hang on his. She squeezed her pussy lips as tight as she could.

Almost driven by lust alone, Steve moved the pair and rested Cathy's back against the shower wall. He pressed hard against her and she moaned graciously.

"Ohhh, yeeesss!!" she moaned, "God Steve make me cum all over your dick!"

He wrapped his arms around her and braced her back as he slammed her pussy hard.

Steve's cock pressed against every inch of her insides. She had been soar before, but now she felt great, and thrusted her mouth at his and kissed him as he fucked her tight pussy. She felt so good to him, and her lips fit onto his cock like a velvety glove. He made sure to pressure her special spot, and it drove her wild, as her tongue danced inside his mouth.

Cathy's voice got higher and higher but she kept repeating, "Oh yes Steve! God yes Steve!"

The pepped up sexual energy of both of them made it so it didn't take long for them both to feel their orgasms coming.

"Stevvvee!" Cathy screamed as she felt him clench down on her body.

His cum shot out and bathed her insides. Almost instantly after it touched her pussy's walls she came as well, and her cum bathed the pair as he kept thrusting. Cathy's wrapped legs tightened around his waist, and from his powerful cum, he was barely able to stand the pair up.

"Oh Cathy..." he moaned into her furry chest as their orgasms began to subside.

He kneeled down and Cathy pushed him on his back. He laid down in the water and Cathy, after striating out her legs, draped her body over his. She kissed him softly all over his face, neck and chest, and he stroked and massaged as much of her body as he could.

"I wanted this so much," she mumbled through her kisses.

Steve smiled and brought her face to his. He kissed her deeply, rubbing her back and feeling her against his body. Her wet fur literally draped his body and he felt immersed in her. Their lips played against each other's and their tongues dance in between.

When they finally broke their embrace, Steve helped the vixen up on her feet; she was so tired she had to lean on him. After they washed off they dried off, but he used a blow dryer on her for a change. Needless to say her fur frizzed and stood up on end, it was quite a spectacle. Steve couldn't help but laugh at the sight; she looked three or four times larger than she really was.

"You think this is funny?" she asked, a bit annoyed at the dilemma.

He walked over and gave her a good kiss, petting her fur down as he did, but most of it remained static. Steve chuckled at the sight and Cathy swayed her enlarged tail around behind her.

They walked back into their room and dressed quietly, Steve chuckling every now and again at his wife's predicament. Once they were she walked over and rubbed her self against his body, smiling as she did.

"We need to eat something, 'spatially you," Steve commented, and led her downstairs to the dinning room.

She gave him a sad look, "But I want to go see Sean."

Steve ticked and rubbed her cheek, noticing how she still coddled his hand as he did, "He's only a day old Cathy, he needs to nap, and you've barely eaten anything in two days."

She nodded but wasn't happy.

"If he doesn't get a nap, that's not good, you must know that," Steve said, hugging her. She was very warm from the shower.

"I just want to see him," Cathy said.

"So do I, but if we go in there we're first going to look at him, then pick him up, then wake him up, and that's not good, he needs to sleep," Steve said, starting to lose interest in objecting to see his son.

Cathy nodded again and the pair sat down in the dinning room. Parks came in with some food, simple stuff as Cathy and Steve always requested. It was the most light hearted meal they had enjoyed in awhile, the birth of their son had been building from that night on the lake, which had been most of their relationship, so things were quite different now.

They talked about their future as they ate, dreams and ideas for Sean.

"I can't wait until he can walk," Steve said, thinking of his son upstairs.

Cathy put down a half eaten chicken breast, "That's it, I can't wait any longer."

"Me neither," Steve replied and they both almost ran out and up the stairs to see their son.

They found their son still asleep in the crib, tucked in under the light blanket, which left nothing but his little head above it. His snout was so small and Steve and Cathy couldn't help but smile when they saw him.

Cathy picked up the kit, who stayed asleep, and turned to Steve, "He's the best thing you've ever given me Steve, I love you so much."

"I love you too Cathy," Steve said, and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "Comon, lets lay down with him."

She nodded and followed him back to their room, Cathy bringing Sean with them. Steve got into bed first and Cathy handed them their kit. He stirred a bit, woke up, and looked about. Steve smiled warmly at his son as Cathy laid down beside him. She went to hold Sean but Steve held the kit tightly.

Cathy giggle, "Oh and I'm over protective?"

Steve just smiled and shook his head. He patted his son's face and, funny enough; the kit did indeed move his head in the same way as his mother. Seeing this Steve pat Cathy's face in the same way.

"I'm around the best two foxes in the universe," Steve said, and kissed his son and wife.

"And we both love you very much," Cathy said, and cuddled onto Steve.

They both laid down into the covers and formed a close bond with their bodies. The little kit squirmed around and Steve brought the kit higher to be about the same level as his and Cathy's face. The newborn stopped instantly and just looked up at both his parents, then his father and continued squirming. Steve lowered his face to be right next to his son's and the little kit nuzzled his father.

Cathy smiled and rubbed her husband's back, "He's so beautiful with you Steve."

"Smart little guy," Steve said, unable to say any more.

Steve laid down and placed the kit on the pillow between Cathy and himself, Sean almost being squeezed between his two parents. He looked at them, yawned, and closed his eyes, falling asleep in about a half a minute.

Cathy and Steve rolled on their sides facing each other and, with Sean in the middle, slept embraced, very happy to be a full family now.

Chapter 5 Upbringing

Four Months Later Consular's Estate 4:08 PM Local Time

"I'm done," Steve said, sitting down in the chair across from the crib.

"Bad day?" Cathy asked, walking over to her husband. She rubbed his back and kissed the top of his head.

"Yep, and the last one too, I told them that I can't stay away from you two like this, not every day, and definitely not if I have to deal with those senators," he replied, a bit dejected.

Cathy walked back to the crib, picked up Sean and brought him over to Steve and set the kit, carefully, down on his lap. Sean looked up at his father, rolled forward, and hugged his leg.

Steve smiled and picked his son up to his face. The kit hugged his head and Steve gave him a kiss.

The kit had been developing fast, much faster than Steve and Cathy ever expected. He barely cried, only a little after eating when he had gas, he could crawl and was more than aware of whom his parents were. All that and he was a cute little kit and he already played games with his own tail which cracked Steve up every time.

"Better?" Cathy asked, smiling at Steve and their son.

Steve nodded and smiled, "I guess, he makes it worth it."

"But your still done?" Cathy asked, masking the hope in her voice.

"Ya," Steve said, shaking his head, "I don't want to do this anymore, I'm just to tired to keep this up anymore. But..." he trailed off.

"But what?" Cathy said, holding his head to her stomach.

The Captain sighed, "I don't want to quit, it's not something I normally do."

Cathy smiled and kissed the top of his head, the fact was she wanted him to quit; she didn't want to share him anymore with anyone. The fox kneeled down and kissed her kit, which was playing on Steve's lap. The kit looked up at his mother and made a milking motion with his face, and Cathy took him to another chair and started feeding him.

Steve watched them and smiled. The pair was cute and he pined to hold both of them at all times. His wife and son, two foxes; he had never dreamed he would make a family period. He figured he would have kids one day, but like his father, Steve figured it would be to keep his family line alive, not for love. He had hit the jackpot with Cathy and Sean, and was luckier than he had ever imagined. Of all the human women he had met in training, he never really liked any of them, not on any level as well, physically or mentally. Of all things he had fallen in love with a fox and each day he became more and more attached to both of them.

Steve walked over to the vixen and kit and rubbed her cheek.

"So soft..." he murmured and lowered his face to kiss her cheek.

Cathy turned her head and met his lips with hers.

"Quit for me?" she asked carefully.

The honesty in her voice caught Steve off guard, but he was hoping for this, "I did," he replied, "For Sean too," he added, kissing his son on the back of his head.

The kit stopped suckling and turned to see his father. The little fox smiled and cooed.

Cathy held him under his arms and gave him to Steve, adding, "Say thank you to your daddy."

The pup reached out and hugged his father's face. Steve reached out and held the small kit; he couldn't weigh more than twelve pounds, even with his abnormally larger muscles. The pup had quite the grip and could, although Steve would never try it, hold onto Steve upside down using his paws alone.

"So what are we going to do?" Cathy asked, making room for Steve to sit down next to her.

He did and she rested on him, using her fur to envelop him. He took a deep sigh and laid his head back, he really hadn't thought of anything. He had ideas, but most of them just passing thoughts, not plans, not places to live and bring up his son.

"Hmmm?" she asked sweetly, not really prying just trying to make conversation.

"I don't know. You tend to make better decisions than me..." he said, smiling at the vixen.

"Oh that's not true, neither of us make good decisions, but we make great ones together though," she said thoughtfully.

He sighed happily, she was right and Cathy always said something that made him feel better. Sean played in his father's lap with his own tail, grabbing it and rolling on his side. The kit giggled and brought both of their attentions right to him.

They watched and chuckled, Steve rubbing Cathy's back.

"Lets think," he said, not looking up from his son, "We both want to go somewhere safe, particularly for Sean, so there's a start."

"Okay, what planets are 'safe?'" Cathy answered, realizing Steve wanted to figure things out now.

Steve shook his head, "We need to narrow down more than that; we also want someplace... happy, I guess."

"And warm," Cathy added.

"Yes warm," Steve chuckled, rubbing his wife's back and side, "And lots of furries, I want Sean to feel at home."

"So where's that?" Cathy asked, more in general than to Steve.

Still rubbing he side he quoted, "Where's that?"

"No where," they heard a voice say from behind.

Steve clutched Sean up in his arms and covered his body. Cathy jumped up and kneeled down by Steve's side. They both saw that it was only General Osing.

"A bit jumpy Captains," he said, looking a bit surprise by their reaction.

Steve sighed deeply, "Sorry sir."

"No problem, I'm glad to see your protective of your son, that's a good thing," the General replied, choosing his worlds wisely.

Steve realized he had the kit clutched very close and he released his tight grasp and just rested him on his chest. The kit wasn't frightened but had a perplexed look on his muzzle.

"Sorry Sean," Steve whispered to his son and gave him a kiss.

"What can we do you for General?" Cathy asked, standing up.

The General walked over and looked at their kit that Steve held and smiled, everyone thought that he was adorable.

"I heard form the Senate that your husband's done, as Consular I mean," the General said, not looking up from Sean.

The kit turned and looked at the officer, twisting his head in a confused manner. The General chuckled at the sight and, careful of scaring either of the Reynolds, pat the small kit on the head.

Steve, watching the General pat his son carefully answered, "Yes sir, I don't want the job anymore, you can have it for all I care."

"That's no problem Captain, I only wanted you to have some time here, to clear the slate of the Consulars and such, I never thought that you would really want to serve the entire 'sentence,'" the General joked, "Its better this way, and I think I can help you."

"I thought you said 'no where' sir?" Cathy asked, sitting back down.

"Well sadly yes. Like they say, you can't have it all, but that doesn't mean you cant have anything," Osing replied, sitting on the chair across from the family. Steve sat down next to his wife and set his son down on his lap.

"I think I have a world in mind son," the General said, "You said you wanted a peaceful world, and realistically, now that's pretty much anywhere; you want somewhere warm, that's not hard either and there's plenty of planets that are many furries, but your request Steve, a 'happy' place, well I have an idea, but it doesn't fit that idea."

"Where?" Steve and Cathy asked simultaneously.

"Cathy's world, Foc," Osing replied, a bit regretful of that fact.

Steve rubbed Cathy's back softly, and put Sean on her lap, the kit held onto his mother.

Osing put up his hands, "Now I understand as best I can the nature of your ideas of you planet, but think for a moment. He was born there," the General gestured to Sean, "from what Steve says, he wants your son to grow up among his own kind and it appears Steve is quite fond of foxes himself."

All those reasons were true, but Steve won't say, "That's a good idea sir," without Cathy being 110% sure that it was okay.

"This is another thing you need to think about for awhile, and keep in mind this is only and idea, I'm not telling you to do it. You talk this over with your wife as you should and know that we'll help you no matter what," Osing said, saluted and walked out before the Captain or Cathy could answer.

As the General closed the door behind him Sean cooed up at his father. Steve looked down and saw the kit smiling and he felt a bit better. Cathy on the other hand wasn't quite mentally there; her mind was yet to really catch up with what the General had said. Every time he proposed something for the pair it was extreme, yet it turned out good usually. Through her attuned ears she could hear the general conversing with someone down the hall, she could swear it was the Atrics. Sure enough, half a minute later, Sean and Emily came to the door and tapped.

"How you two doing?" Sean asked, looking at Cathy and Steve.

"Comon in Sean," Steve answered, gesturing to the couch across from himself and Cathy.

They walked in and sat down, Emily was holding their daughter in her arms.

"How's Sean?" Emily asked, looking at the kit playing on his mother's lap.

Cathy reached down, cradled him and answered, "He's fine, but how's Sarah, we haven't seen her since she was born."

Emily gave her daughter a hug and replied, "She's fine, she's just a sleepy little bunny," she rubbed Sarah between the ears trying to keep her from falling asleep.

"General Osing told me his idea in the hall," Sean said to Steve, looking his friend over.

"It's not a bad idea," Steve began, "but like he said we need to talk about it."

Sean made a small smile, "By the way, I heard the senators finally overdid themselves; I'd would've shot 'em myself a long time ago," the fox chuckled.

Steve smiled and nodded, the senators just got to everyone, soldiers and civilians alike. Cathy moved closer to Steve and kissed the side of his head.

"So what are you two going to do?" Emily asked, shifting Sarah around in her arms as the tinny bunny squirmed.

"I think we're going to do what the General suggested," Cathy answered, surprising the hell out of Steve to say the least.

He rubbed her arm and whispered, a futile gesture among furries but it was the concept that he was trying to get across, "Are you sure your okay with that idea?"

"Ya, I mean Sean was born there, so was I, you thought it was a nice place right?" Cathy asked, forgetting that anyone else was in the room but herself and her family.

"I'll live where you want to live, so don't worry about me, are you okay with living on that planet?" he answered, avoiding naming the planet in question.

Cathy paused for a moment and thought. She wasn't sure about it, but it wasn't the first time she was going to do something and not be sure of it. If Steve was, so was she.

Steve felt her clench his hand tightly and she answered, "Yes, I think I would be glad to live there too. Get rid of bad memories..."

Everyone in the room except the younglings shifted uneasily, it wasn't an easy thing to think of, Cathy's past that is. She had come to terms, slightly, with it, and Steve tried his best to make sure that part of her life was gone but it was still a cold truth that her father had repeatedly brutalized her. Cathy wasn't going to let her crappy father to stop what was best for her and her family.

"All right Cathy," Steve said quietly, holding her tightly, particularly her paw, "What about you two?"

That caught Sean and Emily off guard, "I don't know," Emily replied.

"What kind of planet do you like?" Cathy asked, having never really discussed this with Emily before.

They both shrugged, "Warm too, I guess," Sean answered and smiled, "someplace with a view would be nice as well."

Emily smiled and nodded. While they had been talking, the two younglings had gotten a bit board and were both squirming; Sarah in Emily's arms and Sean on Cathy's lap.

"Oh come here," Cathy said and picked up her son. Sean cooed and kissed his mother.

The rabbit removed Sarah for her arms and held her up. The little bunny looked at her mother and squirmed.

"She's going to be a runner," Sean commented, "She loves to move about. Here," he said as he took his daughter from Emily.

Sarah didn't stop squirming, giving Sean a chuckle.

"Can she scamper about?" Emily asked, watching her daughter run on her husband's chest.

Cathy chuckled and nodded, "Sure, I think Sean might want to crawl a little too."

Each mother put their child on the carpeted floor and watched them like hawks. Sarah took off like a jet, faster than you would expect a three-month old bunny. Sean on the other hand sat and looked about, and crawled around his parent's legs. He looked about as if he was making sure things were safe, and ventured out into the room.

The kit moved quickly as well, not as fast as the bunny, but faster than a human baby. He rolled about and played with his tail, causing a small chuckle to go through the on looking parents.

Sarah took notice and, after watching for a second, began hopping over to the kit. Sean saw her and took what appeared to all of the on lookers, who were indeed all soldiers, a defensive "stance," but the kit didn't let up any ground. The bunny hopped within about a foot of Sean and stopped, and watched the equally young kit. To the surprise of everyone, Sean sniffed the air, took a small step over, not blinking but watching Emily attentively, and then another step. While on all fours he moved slightingly and slyly until he was right in front of Emily.

For a moment the two younglings stared at each other, and then Sean's tail, which had been still, almost parallel to the ground as he padded over to Emily, wisped around and came into his sight. Forgetting about Emily he lunged at it, spinning like a top on the floor until he finally hugged it between his hind legs and paws. The act scared Emily a bit and the rabbit had retreated back a bit, but watched the kit until Sean was satisfied he had beaten his tail.

Once again the kit became aware of everyone watching him and looked about. He smiled at his parents and looked back at Sarah who, to Emily and Sean's surprise, smiled back at the small kit and hopped over. They sat down about four inches from each other and looked each other over. The bunny tilted her head and sat forward, letting her paws rest on the carpet, and Sean, almost as if he saw this as a challenge, took an offensive "stance" and jumped at the bunny. He only got about three inches to her before she turned and hopped back, quickly, to her parent's legs.

Cathy and Steve were stunned, and almost feel over before they heard Sean and Emily chuckle.

"I guess your not going to squirm about uh?" Sean chuckled, picking his daughter up.

Sarah almost looked annoyed by the kit, who tilted his head and smiled at the bunny. His tail waged behind him, which after about three seconds caught his attention, turning him back into a furry top on the carpet.

When he caught it and began chewing on his own tail Steve called out softly, "Come'er Sean."

The little kit turned, and, almost at attention, padded over to his father and sat down at his feet, motionless.

"A soldier already?" Captain Atric asked, a bit surprised that the small kit actually acted like that.

"I didn't teach him that if that's what your wondering," Steve chuckled, "He actually does this on his own."

Cathy smiled as Steve reached down and cradled his son. The kit looked over his shoulder at Sarah who had calmed down a bit. He smiled and Emily returned the gesture.

"Friends I suppose," Emily said, patting Sarah's back.

The Atrics stood up, and Emily walked out, but Sean stayed back.

"I think we might go to Foc as well," he said, watching their reaction.

A bit surprised Cathy tilted her head and replied, "How come?"

"You make it sound so nice," he thought for a moment, "for the most part. And besides, we don't have anywhere really to go either, Emily's not comfortable going back to her folks, and I was never that close with my parents."

Cathy smiled, "That sounds nice, to have some friends be they're too."

Sean nodded and walked out with Sarah in his arms. Steve wouldn't say it, but he was sure he saw the bunny wave back at his son.

Once it was clear that the Atrics were gone, Steve stood up with Sean still in his arms and walked over to the window. He looked out over the wide city close to the huge Estate. Cathy walked silently over next to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"So when are we going?" she asked quietly, the idea exciting her a bit.

He made a small shrug, not wanting to disturb her head.

"How about in a few days?" she proposed.

For a long moment he thought and answered, "How about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" she said, quietly.

He chuckled, "The last time we did something in one day, it turned out great, maybe this will be the same..."

He felt the vixen nod into his shoulder, but he pried, "So tomorrow?"

"You think it will be okay?" Cathy said.

"Yes."

"Than yes," she answered.

Steve smiled and wrapped and arms around his vixen. By this point Sean had fallen asleep in his father's arms and they both smiled at the kit.

Cathy patted his head as he slept, "I hope he enjoys that planet."

"Did you?" Steve asked.

"Yes, it's a nice world," an answer she would only say to Steve.

Steve rubbed her arm more, "Hey Sean and Emily will be there, and it seems that Sean and Sarah are friendly with each other."

"Mmm..." Cathy answered, falling asleep in her husband's arms.

Steve realizing this, held Cathy but walked over to Sean's crib. He set the kit down and tucked him in. While their son liked sleeping with them, he slept fine by himself. Cathy looked at her son and leaned in and kissed his head. The kit didn't stir at all, just slept quietly.

They watched him for a few minutes in silence and then walked into their own room. Even though it was early they were both tired and needed to sleep. They both hopped into bed and met in the middle. She kissed his lips and laid her head down on his chest. It wasn't long before the warmth of sleep enveloped both of them, but not before an idea wormed its way into Cathy's mind, that followed her into her dreams.

An Hour Later the Atric's Stateroom Aboard the FN Endeavor 1729 Military Time

Sean and Emily walked into their room, various people and furries in the corridor murmuring as they watched the family. A few months ago they would have been court marshaled and likely kicked out of the Federation and would have been the talk of the Federation. Now they were accepted, but still a conversation piece. The truth was however, neither Sean nor Emily cared, they were happy to be with each other and taking care of their daughter.

They walked in and Emily sat down on their bed. Sean went into the other room, what they used as a nursery, and laid Sarah down in her crib they had brought up for her.

"I heard what you said to Steve and Cathy," Emily called out to him, tempering her voice.

"What do you think?" the fox replied, returning from Sarah's room. The bunny laid down and watched her father walk out and fell asleep.

Emily sighed, "It's not a bad idea, but it's not our idea."

"It wasn't Steve's and Cathy's either," Sean replied, shutting his daughter's door behind him.

The rabbit nodded.

"What do you want Emily?" Sean asked, not understanding her objection, "I thought you and Cathy were friends."

"We are, it's just I'm worried that we're 'following along' not doing our own thing," she replied, realizing to late she might hurt Sean's feelings.

He didn't take offense, the thought had crossed his mind. The fact was, although he hadn't said it or even remembered it, when Steve had told him about Foc he had liked it enough that he had done some research on the planet. He explained this to Emily and she was a bit speechless, and embarrassed.

"I'm sorry Sean-"

"Don't be, and even though we're not, following Steve's lead isn't that bad, they made him Consular for a reason," Sean reasoned.

Emily nodded again.

"Come here," he said and she got up and almost ran over to him.

He warped his tail around her leg and held the fur on her face.

"Your very beautiful and very smart and very, very strong, but you need to let me be the strong one once and awhile," Sean said and smiled, "You did back aboard that wolf dropship, and you did when Sarah was born and I named her and right now's a good time too."

Emily pinned back her long ears and laid her head down on his chest.

"I'm so-"

Sean held the sides of her face again, "You never need to be sorry to me, not over something like this. Now lets go get something to eat."

He released her head, to her paw in his, and walked to the door. As he went to open it he felt resistance from her by holding his paw.

"What's wrong?" he asked, turning to see her.

To his surprise she was on her knees in front of him, a playful look in her eye.

"Oh boy... Emily you don't nee-" he was cut off by her unzipping his pants.

"I think I'm okay now..." she whispered and lowered his boxers.

She hadn't wanted to do anything after Sarah was born for awhile, and Sean, not being overly physical, had waited as patiently as he could, and it didn't take much urging on her part to get him going.

His cock flapped out and Emily almost instantly took it in her muzzle. She licked it softly and let it go down her throat. It was a given she really didn't have a gag reflex anymore, and instead of dreading on it, she always saw it now as a way to see Sean squirm. She took his entire length down her throat and his hands shot to the sides of his head, not able to control himself.

With his member still in her mouth, she backed him up to the bed. Still not removing it from her maw, using her teeth lightly to hold onto it, she laid back and pulled him along with her. With her all the way on the bed, Emily finally released his cock, breathing hard behind it.

"I love you," Sean whispered and lowered himself on top of her to be equal with her face.

They kissed each other and Emily slowly jerked him off with her paw. He stiffed against her body and couldn't keep kissing.

"Oh God Emily..." the fox moaned as she rubbed his cock from it's tip to it's sheathed base.

The rabbit smiled and lowered her head back down onto his cock and took it in her mouth. To her surprise she felt Sean grab her hips and almost yanked her onto his face. He pushed her out of his mouth and sat her up, sitting on top of his face.

"Sean?" she asked confused.

He fumbled with her pants and got them down just far enough that his long tongue licked her back to front. Emily moaned and arched her back almost instantly and with his paw he played with her cute little tail.

Enjoying this immensely, Emily threw herself forward and sucked on his cock vigorously. She took his length again down her throat and felt his long tongue shake a bit inside her love folds.

She giggled on his cock, the rabbit always enjoyed making Sean get nervous and when they fucked, she could always get him going. She licked it from base to tip without removing it from her mouth and he took hold of her backside and held her down, making it so he could shove his tongue as deep as he could get it.

Emily removed his cock from her mouth for a moment but continued rubbing it quickly, "Oh Sean, you taste so good," she replaced his dick and bobbed up and down on it quickly.

"Mmm," he moaned into her cunny, "so do you."

Sean gave the rabbit's pussy lips a small bite, he felt her body tense for a change against his and he smiled, he loved getting reactions like that out of her. In turn for his playful attitude Emily took his cock all the way in and used her tongue to lick the base of his cock. He trusted without intent and she giggled onto his cock again, thinking, "touché my love."

In a change of their usual order, Sean took the initiative and started focusing his licks on where he had started to believe was Emily's special spot. She reacted almost instantly, losing control of her head and letting his cock go a bit deeper than she had intended. He licked furiously, causing Emily to start rocking her furry hips against his face.

No longer needing his hands on top of her soft rear, Sean moved his hands lower and fondled her tits. It was all too much stimulation for Emily and she released Sean's cock from her lips and moaned out load. By the grace of God their daughter's room was soundproof otherwise it might have turned out quite badly.

"Oh my God Sean, lick my cunny, lick my cunny!" Emily almost screamed as his cock still bobbed, somewhat ignored, in front of her lips.

Sean now knew it was her spot; Emily always tried to stay strong to the end and usually didn't react like that. He had her now.

Not missing a beat the fox used his long tongue to lick and pressure and sooth her special spot, and in no time she was bucking her hips so furiously against his head the fur on her rump was starting to get very hot from friction.

Emily bit down on her lip and let out a long scream, saying "Oh my God!!!!!!!!!!" and she came.

Her pussy clamped down on his tongue and Sean kept licking for a full minute and she was still cumming.

"Oh God yes Sean! Lick me lick me!" she moaned in a high pitch voice, so strained even with his excellent hearing he was barely able to catch it.

When she stopped cumming her libido was hardly shut down, which she demonstrated by getting off his head and lying down on her back, putting her hind legs in the air.

"Fuck me hard Sean!" she moaned, rubbing her tense pussy lips as he sat up and moved over.

He looked at her and then at his moist cock, "You know we may get tied."

"I don't mind, it feels even better sometimes," the rabbit replied, opening her legs a bit wider for him, using her paws to spread her pussy lips apart, revealing the soft pink tissue inside.

Sean smiled and positioned himself between her hind legs. He shoved his cock into her and she moaned deeply. He drew himself from her as far as he could get without removing the tip, and shoved himself back in. Her tits bounced lightly and Sean could feel her squeezing her pussy lips as tights as they could be.

Emily moaned as the fox fucked her faster and harder, feeling his hot cock move against her moist love folds. He saw that she was really getting into it, and Sean lifted both of her legs and rested them on his shoulders. The fox reached down and played with his wife's little tail, the feeling caused it to wiggle involuntary and Emily giggled.

She rocked her furry hips up and down, trying to get him going. He started thrusting again and she started moaning in turn. Using her legs as leverage, Sean pushed his hips without the rest of his body, able to watch the rabbit's reaction of pleasure. She moaned and groaned, letting her head rest back and Sean could have sworn he saw her eye's roll back as he thrusted his full length into her.

Sean reached down and, as he fucked her, played with her clit. The tensed gland sent a shock wave through her body and Emily shot her head up, giving off a high pitch moan as she did.

"Ohhh shit Sean!" she yelled.

Because he played with her clit, her pussy clenched down on his cock, restricting his movements a bit. The lessened space milked his cock and it was a mere minute before his knot welled up and surged inside her cunny. It bulged the insides of her cunt and caused her to scream in ecstasy.

With a final deep thrust Sean released his load deep inside the rabbit, groaning as he felt every ounce his cum fill her insides. As his cum cushioned her cunny she came as well, stiffing her legs which rested on his shoulders. His knot made it impossible for him to shift positions, and because they were stiffened on his neck, he lowered her legs around his body and let her body rock back and forth as they both came.

Emily could barely stand it and her ears pined down on the sides of her head as she moaned. His cum felt like gallons and she could feel the hot sticky globs seeping up into the deepest parts of her pussy. He shifted himself a little, mere inches, but because of her state it sent shock waves through her pussy and she came even harder.

With cum still shooting out his cock, Sean laid down on top of Emily and her arms and legs wrapped around him. Her mouth was wide open and he kissed her, at first feeling the vibrations of her orgasm induced scream go into his throat, then her tongue entwine with his.

When his orgasm began to slow, Emily's began to die down as well, but the aftershocks and feeling of being very, very filled continued to make her heart beat quickly beneath her breast. His knot was engorged inside her pussy, and it spread her, letting his cum circulate within her.

He let his lips break away from hers and stroked her ear, holding it up from the side of her head. Her brown cheeks look puffy and she breathed hard.

"I love you Emily..." he said, smiling at the rabbit. It wasn't often he saw her... submissive, and he loved it.

She nodded and through a gasped managed to reply, "I love you more."

Sean chuckled, she was the most competitive fur he had ever met, but he knew she meant well.

He nuzzled her face and ripped up the side of the covers, wrapping their tied bodies together. Both of their pelts were hot and sweaty, and the aroma from their sexes eased them both into a high-like state.

Being that they were indeed tied, and Emily loved that, she let herself ease up and Sean take over. She felt her fox pet her fur and rub the sides of her body. He played with her whiskers and closed her eyes, starting to fall asleep.

"My cute little brown rabbit, are you finally done?" he said warmly.

Emily didn't answer, she just fell asleep in his arms, quite content with the knowledge that her husband was going to do whatever he needed for her and their daughter, and that was all that mattered.

Hartsdale on Foc 5:32 PM Local Time

"Yes ma'am I'll make sure the house is prepared just as you ask by around noon tomorrow," Hank, the building contractor answered to the vixen over the phone, "I just hope you realize this won't be cheap."

She sighed into the phone, "Don't worry, we have friends that will help us if we need it, you'll be paid in full, if not more if you can really do this in a day."

"We will ma'am, you lived her for Pete's sake, you know how fast we work," the fox said, whipping his tail about, "but I have to go now, get crakin' and such. I'll see you tomorrow ma'am."

"Thank you Mr. Anderson," she said into the phone and hung up.

Hank put down the phone himself and sat back in his chair, letting out a long sigh.

"Jim, get in here!" he yelled out to his assistant.

A lanky adolescent fox stumbled into his office, a bit nervous looking, "Ya dad? What do you need?"

"You know that house on Barnaby Lane?" Hank asked his son, standing up and putting on his tool belt.

"Ya what about it?" the fox answered.

Hank put in the various tools he would need; hammer, nails, picked up a drill too, "Well I just got a call that we'll get quite the payoff if we can have it fixed up and ready by tomorrow at noon."

"Noon?! Dad we just finished off construction yesterday! Half the walls aren't painted yet," Jim said, not really believing his father.

"I know, so call the guys so we can get move'en," Hank replied, walking past his son.

Jim sighed in frustration, his ears pinned back in a somewhat angry way, "But dad I was going to go out with my friends today and tomorrow, on that camping trip remember?"

"Son, if we finish this job we can buy our own damn planet with how much she said she could pay," Hank said to the dejected fox.

He sighed again, "Okay, but you have to let me and Angela go out next Saturday, no questions asked and no time limit," the teenager bargained.

Hank smiled, "Deal."

Consular's Estate 6:42 PM Local Time

"Wake up Steve..." Cathy whispered.

The Captain awoke to the super soft feeling of Cathy's fur rubbing across his face. He opened his eyes to see her tail rolling over his face and a few feet in front of him, Cathy on all fours, with her rump facing him, looking over her shoulder with a sensuous look in her eye.

He pushed himself up on his elbows and realized she was wearing the same lacy panties, corset, and stockings she had on their wedding night, and it had the same effect now as it had then.

Cathy rotated her hips slowly in front of him, lifting her tail up behind her. It was more enticement that he needed and he got himself up on all fours, and as if he was a dog, padded over to her side and kind of "bumped" her.

She turned her head to meet his kiss. She shot her tongue inside his mouth and licked, and as in the past, had enough of an effect on him that he slipped, brining her down with him. He fell on his back and she feel onto his chest.

The vixen giggled as he rubbed her face and reached into the corset and rubbed one of her voluptuous breasts. Steve moved his hand down and pat her belly, causing her to coo happily. The sound was great, but he then moved his hand even lower, and rubbed the base of her tail, causing her to yiff. She couldn't control it, and she had tried to stiffen it, but it was loud enough that she was embarrassed. She felt her cheeks go warm and Steve chuckled, kissing her cheeks, which only warmed them more.

"A little fun on our last night here..." she said in a mischievous tone and got on all fours again, swaying her rump right in front of him.

Steve smiled and took position behind her. To horny vixen almost instantly started grinding her ass into his crotch, and although she had panties on, they didn't really cover anything and Steve could make out the lines of her moistening pussy lips.

He took of his pants and boxers completely and threw off his shirt. For a moment, about half a second really, he hesitated taking of Cathy's panties, they really, really looked great on her, or did she look great in them? He wasn't sure but it was a moment before he had them off and was rubbing her tight ass cheeks.

Steve rubbed the folds and crease of her ass and pussy, causing her to grind against his hand. His cock flapped in between them and rested in the soft fur on the inside of her leg. He took it and guided to her pussy lips but Cathy made a ticking noise.

"How about the other one..." she said deviously, followed by a giggle.

Steve couldn't help but chuckle and reply, "Your such a bad little fox sometimes..." and he gave her rump a mild tap.

Cathy moaned at his touch and awaited his response. What he didn't know was she was in heat again, and the horny vixen had spent the last hours preparing much for their family, but she spent a good deal of time for this.

To her excitement she felt him press his cockhead against her ass. Even though they had been together for many months, had a kit, they had only done this once before and they were both, they would confess, a bit nervous about it, but the prospect thrilled them enough to continue.

He managed to slip his cock head into her ass and she moaned deeply at his intrusion. She used a paw to spread her furry cheeks apart and felt him rubbing her back as he pushed himself deeper and deeper until she felt his entire length buried within her ass, his balls resting on the outside of her steamy pussy.

Steve thought for a moment and asked, "Cathy, are you in-"

Cathy moaned a yes and Steve chuckled. He loved it when she went into heat.

Not wanting to disappoint the fox, he drew himself, needing some effort to do so, and pulled her back onto him. Cathy opened her muzzle wide and groaned as he beat back her muscles, causing a flutter to run throughout her entire body.

"Oh ya Steve! Mmmm," Cathy moaned as he slowly drew himself again.

The fur on her back was so soft, and Steve couldn't resist the chance to rub this side of it, so he draped himself over her back, supporting himself on his arms right next to her. Her bushy tail would tense each time he would pull out and replace himself inside her ass.

Steve was fucking the fox's ass as if he was another canine himself, and she was loving it. She squeezed her ass cheeks together as tight as she could and felt the mussels straining to return to their normal position when he drew himself from her, only to be spread apart as he thrusted back in.

"Oh you feel so good inside my ass!" she screamed at Steve as he quickened his pace.

The fox was glad she had prepared for this. She had spent the last hour readying by cleaning and playing with her ass, carefully. Cathy had gotten it just right that it still was tight, but she wouldn't feel any pain, and the benefits were great, it was a different kind of pleasure, one she wasn't used to.

She squeezed her mussels again and Steve groaned as she did, which made her feel even better.

He kept fucking her doggy-style, loving how her fur cradled his pelvis and how warm it felt under his chest. Steve used one arm to reach around and slipped his hand up into the corset. He coddled one of her tits and she moaned out in front of him. Her reaction made him smile, and Steve kissed his wife's back as he filled her anal cavity once again, causing a quick follow up moan. Seeing she was really enjoying this he moved his hand lower and played with her dripping pussy. He finger fucked her as he butt fucked her, moving against each motion so she felt a constant stimulation.

"Oh shit, oh fuck me Steve!" she cried out, using a paw to push her ass cheeks even tighter.

"Oh God Cathy!" he moaned in reply, "Your ass is so tight!"

He used a free finger to play with her clit and the fox's head shot up in response, almost head butting Steve. He rubbed his face into the back of her head, feeling her warm fur cover his face.

His working of her ass and cunny was almost too much for Cathy and she started grinding against his cock, trying to get him to move as fast as he could. The vixen was breathing hard and she was panting, her tongue drooling and dripping on the pillow before her.

She felt him start to stiffen up and asked, "Are you going to cum? Cum in my ass! Cum in my tight sweet little ass hole!"

Steve bit down on his lip and his fucking became more fluid as he released his hot load deep into her ass. Cathy let herself go as well and felt a different kind of orgasm, this one feeling like it was in her ass itself.

The fox's mouth went wide and she let out a silenced scream. As her mind went white in ecstasy, her arms gave way and had Steve not been supporting himself he might have fallen with her. His orgasm kept him stiff above her for a moment, but he lowered himself and laid between her open legs as he filled her ass with his cum.

Steve's hand was still inside and cradling his wife's pussy and she came all over his hand, and midway through her orgasm he lifted his hand up and licked her fingers, stopping his moans for a moment.

Cathy's aftershocks began to roll over her but his cum was still pumping inside her, making her feel almost bloated by his cum. She felt it invading every inch of her anus and it sent strange feelings all through her body.

When they came to rest, both breathing hard, Steve kissed the fur on her neck softly, wrapping his arms up by her face. She cuddled up to his warm arms; she loved his skin as much as he loved her fur.

"Oh God Steve that was great..." she moaned happily to her partner, enjoying his soft kisses.

He pat her muzzle and moved his hands down the front of her neck and rubbed her throat, causing her to coo a little.

"You loved it?" he asked, wondering if she had done it for enjoyment for both or just his.

"Oh God Steve boy did I love it! It's fun to do different things every now and then..." she said in a slightly evil tone.

He chuckled softly and continued kissing her neck.

"You want me to get out?" he said quietly, offering it just incase it was going to hinder her sleep.

"No this is nice," Cathy replied, nuzzling his arm.

She shut her eyes and felt his weight on top of her, a very comforting thing. All Steve could do was marvel at how lucky he was to have found this fox who could and would do things like this with him by night, and be a caring and loving individual by day. He figured there wasn't anyone, man or fur, luckier than him.

Steve closed his eyes and rested his head on hers, with his still hard cock buried inside her incredibly tight ass, and he slowly began to fall asleep. Both were in a great state of comfort and togetherness, and the minutes ticked away like years, both enjoying the last few seconds they had together before they were asleep.

***

The Captain awoke first this time, his arms wrapped around his wife's furry body. He kissed her neck softly and realized she was still asleep, cuddling his arm. He marveled at how loving the fairly young fox could be, and how mature she had become which she would tell him, he made her.

Cathy's tail laid motionless wrapped around his leg, almost tying her to her lover. Her black-tipped ears slept on the sides of her head and although Steve couldn't see it, a content and happy smile was played across her face.

In his awoken state, Steve's body had realized he was still inside of Cathy's ass, which had full relaxed through the night and was quickly hardening. Steve quickly drew himself from her, not wanting to interrupt her sleep but it was too late. The vixen yawned and pushed out her paws in a stretch.

She opened her eyes and realized their positioning and turned her head as far as she could.

"Let me flip over..." Cathy whispered, a bit drowsy but with a smile.

Steve pushed himself above her and she sheepishly rolled underneath him, smiling as a sign he can lower himself back on top of her.

"Morning..." he whispered and gave her a small kiss.

The vixen nuzzled him softly, kissing and lightly licking his neck.

"A big day today," she said quietly, feeling his weight on her fur.

"Lets sleep in..." he whispered, much more comfortable now.

"I have a surprise for you though," Cathy added.

That caught his attention and he shifted his gaze to her face, where she held a sly look in her eye.

"Really?" Steve asked, interested what the fox had worked up.

"Mmm hmm, your going to love it too," she said, giving his neck a small love-bite.

He chuckled at her sign of affection and returned a similar one on her neck as well.

"Is it one for here or something else?" he asked, smelling her fur, which had a wonderful aroma coming from it.

Cathy smiled broadly, "Something else, but we still can have a little fun now..."

"Lets just rest," he replied softly, to the surprise of the vixen.

The Reynolds had a very playful relationship, and although they didn't base it on sex, they certainly weren't adverse to it.

"Okay," she said innocently and wrapped her paws up and around his neck, kissing him passionately.

The real reason why Steve just wanted to rest was that he didn't want to risk seeing anyone from the senate, or worse, high-ranking military officers. While Osing had seemed okay with his decision others might not and Steve didn't want to talk to any of them. He figured that if he slept with Cathy for most of the day he might be forgotten long enough for them to take their leave. Now he didn't see resting in arms with Cathy as a "waste of time," to him it was just about the best way to spend time, he figured it would be a good way to hide his true intentions, which did work, for a few minutes.

Cathy knew something was on her husband's mind, she could always tell. While most couldn't quite put a finger on what was on his mind, Cathy could read him like a book.

"What's wrong honey?" she whispered, nuzzling his cheek.

"Nothing," he replied quickly, Cathy noticing that his body stiffened a bit on her fur.

"Steve..." she said at a draw, looking him right in the eye.

"Nothing," he replied again, laughing now because he realized there was no way he could win this.

She moved her head up and gave his ear a small bite.

"Ow..." he said as she nibbled on it, "Alright, alright, I don't want to see anyone today."

The vixen giggled and had she been standing her paws would have been on her hips as she replied, "So you figured you'd hide all day in bed with me?"

"Sounds fine to me," and the man growled at the fox, kissing her neck furiously.

She giggled and they rolled around on the bed, Steve tickling the sides of her tits. As they rolled he slipped his hand behind her and tickled the base of her tail quickly, sending her into a series of "yiffs" which embarrassed her terribly. She hated that he knew how to do something to her she couldn't control.

With Steve out of breathe and Cathy panting they came to rest laying on their sides. Steve moved in and gave her a deep, long kiss. She accepted him entirely and went ahead and played with his tongue inside her mouth. All this foreplay was amounting to something and they were both quite horny now, and her submissive state attested to that. Her pussy was glazed in her juices and the aroma was too much for Steve to handle. As he kissed the fox he slipped a hand down and cradled her pussy, holding and caressing its soft lips.

"You want to..." he trailed off, barely separating their lips.

The vixen's eyes closed happily and she whispered in a seductive voice, "Mmmmmm yes, but can you give me one of those massages first, like you did at the lake."

"No problem my love," he whispered back and laid her on her back.

Steve removed his hand reluctantly from her warm pussy, pausing only to give his fingers a lick. He pat her fur on her belly, moving up and softly petting the sides of her two tits. He wanted so much to suck on one of them as he massaged her body but he controlled himself, barely. She opened her mouth and breathed deeply as he moved his hands done past her pussy to her thighs, almost down to the bottom of her paws. The reverse move brought his hands up to her cheeks; Cathy used her long tongue to give his fingertips a lick.

Steve ticked and tapped her snout softly, a small giggle escaping her lips. He continued rubbing his hands along her fur, purposely avoiding the white portions of her fur, those spots were direct points of pleasure, and this massage wasn't about that. When he softly massaged the sides of her tits she moaned softly and her head went back a bit. She had been fluffing her fur for months and he loved it so much, enough that he wished he had fur to do that with. He slowed his pace a bit and focused on the section from the sides of her breasts to the pelvis muscles, each stroke inviting a moan of pleasure from his wife's lips.

She couldn't figure it out, but Cathy could feel herself getting more and more aroused. Each movement across her stomach, each stroke of fur on her pelvis just tickled her in way that you'd think only touching her pussy of groping her tits would do.

"Oh God..." she moaned.

When he finger fucked her, Cathy was compelled to hump his hand but she was having the same feeling now, but didn't know what to do with herself.

Steve smiled as he saw her breathing go faster, her tits rose and feel quicker and quicker and her blood red fur on her face looked even darker as she blushed beneath it. Cathy's mouth was open and he started working her stomach and pelvis region alone, hoping to finish her off so he could kiss her contently.

It didn't take much more time for the massage to have its ultimate effect and as he softly pat her warm belly fur the fox climaxed. A jet of her warm cum shot from her pussy lips and bathed her legs, putting even more of their sex-smell into the air. Steve ceased his massage almost instantly and pat her face for a few moments as her cum went on.

".... Oh fuck! Ohhh!" she moaned as the stream continued.

Her climax died down and seeing his chance Steve locked lips with the panting fox. He kissed her softly, yet deeply; glad to see his wife enjoy herself.

They embraced like this for a good deal of time; Cathy was so happy that she forgot the day's plans.

When she broke the kiss she stared at him with loving eyes.

"I still can't figure out how you do that..." she whispered, still in her orgasms after glow.

Steve smiled and replied, "I can't do it if you don't want it."

"I don't think I ever wouldn't," and she kissed him.

Not loosening his lips the fox sat up and smiled.

"Come with me Steve..." she said deviously and crawled seductively out of the bed. She was still wearing the stockings from the previous night and she walked across the room, swaying her hips seductively.

She stopped by a tall leather chair and made a come hither motion with he paw. Steve stood up and walked over to her, his erection pointing right at her and her body started back at the beginning, a new sex act.

"What are we going to do?" he asked, drawing her close to his body.

"Sit down," she whispered, a nervous smile on her lips; she liked how he tried to put her in charge.

He obeyed and sat down, looking at her beautiful furry body walk in circles around him. The stockings wreaked havoc on his libido and her pussy was gleaming with her freshly liberated juices. She took another circle around him and almost jumped onto his lap. Her tits sat right in front of his face, and after she shook her shoulders he put his lips around one of them and played with it in his mouth. Cathy smiled and looked down at her very happy husband and guided his cock into her pussy.

He plucked her nipple from his lips and kissed her, breaking for a moment to say, "I love you Cathy, I really, really do."

"I love you too Steve," she replied and continued kissing him, impaled upon his cock.

The feeling of her nether regions spread across his cock was too much and he began working his hips against hers. She let go of his lips and moaned out into his face. Steve smiled and reached around and rubbed the base of her bushy tail.

"Steve don't- yiff!" she said.

"Oh I know you love it!" he replied to her and rubbed her tail again.

"I do but its embarrassin- yiff!" she repeated, Steve cutting her off once again.

He started hopping her up and down and she looked flustered over his instance of playing on her tail.

"Oh yes Steve oh yes! Oh yiff!" she yelled out again, "Leave my tail alone!" she whimpered, not sadly but still embarrassed.

"I didn't touch it that time, you're just enjoying yourself to much," Steve commented rubbing her hips to show that his hands were there.

Cathy yiffed again and moaned, "Oh God Steve you've got it stuck! Yiff!" she moaned again, but this time not so embarrassed.

"Cathy you shouldn't worry about that, I think that's cute when you make that sound," he said, bringing his hips up and down.

Cathy smiled and replied, "A human telling me it's okay to make a sound during sex? Your so quiet I'd think you'd be bothered by it."

"This human loves you to much to let such a nice sound like that bother him," Steve smiled and replied in turn.

She yiffed softly and kissed him as he continued fucking her on his lap. The fox was still a bit embarrassed, but now more from the fact that she let that habit bother her at all.

"Now just enjoy yourself Cathy," the Captain added, cradling her back and bringing her up and down as he fucked her harder.

Her pink pussy lips soaked the base of his cock. Both getting even more "into" the moment, each picked a part on the others body and gave it small nibbles. Cathy took his ear and Steve took her neck. The vixen moaned happily as he softly bit her neck, sending tingles down through her body. The feeling let her release herself even more and her body sent even more shivers and shakes of pleasure up from her pussy.

"Mmmm yes! Oh yes!" she moaned as she slapped up and down on Steve's lap. A warm slapping sound resonated from her husband's hips as she came down each time.

Steve kept nibbling on her neck but shifted one of his hands to play with her tits. He rubbed her nipples and softly rode his fingers in the valley between her furry breasts. She liked that, she liked that a lot and she released his ear from her muzzle and leaned her head back, moaning all along.

Because of their positioning, each time he brought the fox down her clit rubbed against the base of his cock, sending shock waves through her, and by some miracle Cathy had managed to hold back her own climax, waiting for his. She squeezed down as hard as she could, even going so far to reach back with one of her paws and massaging his balls.

"More! More! Fuck me more!" she yelled.

"Oh God Cathy, what a way to wake up!" he jested, but they were in too much of a state of coitus to react to the statement.

Cathy felt herself slipping away, losing control of her building orgasm and begged, "Cum please! I can't wait!"

Steve almost rolled his eyes, he had been waiting for her, enjoying himself nonetheless, but still awaiting her orgasm to roll over.

Barely able to hold on, he moved his hands to the fox's back and drew her in as close as he could grab, and making more powerful thrusts, slowed her down and with one last bounce, locked hips with the fox. It was the finishing touch for both of them and the vixen's pussy convulsed just in time to catch his first burst of cum.

"Ohhh Steve!!!!!!" she cried out as his cum shot into her belly, making her awaited orgasm all that much more powerful.

"Ohhh God I love you so much Cathy!!!" he yelled out in reply.

Cathy was barely able to bring her snout to his mouth and kiss him as their orgasm rolled over each other. They kissed deeply for their entire climax, ending with Steve weakly stroking her back and cheek. Her fur was soft and warm against his skin and they both slipped in and out of sleep for about a half hour, sitting embraced and connected. Cathy could feel his chest against hers and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I love you Steve..." she whispered, almost directly into his ear.

Steve turned his head and kissed her, whispering back, "I love you Cathy."

"Let's go home," Cathy added and, reluctantly, pulled herself back a bit, but he grabbed her paw and paused her for a moment.

Steve looked her right in the eye, as if he was looking for something. The fox sat quietly and let him stare. He looked her right in the eye and the fox only blinked once, but didn't look away. After what felt like an eternity, somewhat awkward for her but not bad, Steve smiled warmly and brought her all the way in, going nose to snout with the fox.

"What was that about?" she asked, smiling back at Steve.

"I just like admiring my wife from time to time that's all," he replied.

Cathy giggled softly and wrapped her paws around him. They sat, hugging face to face for a little while and Steve stood up, carefully standing her up before him. They separated and rushed into the shower, to clean up. It was somewhat early but they both knew, to an extent, that this day would be a big one in their lives.

They washed each other, Steve soaping up Cathy's fur like a big furry brush and she in turn rubbing her body all over him. They played a dirty game or two in the shower as well, but finished cleaning relatively fast. The military etiquette of both of them was slipping away, something Cathy had taken note of and was glad. She had loved having a soldier for a husband, but now she just wanted the man.

Dried and dressed, Steve grabbed Cathy's waist, dipped her and kissed her deeply once more, before they went into Sean's room. The kit had been sleeping soundly all night, which reminded Cathy to make sure wherever his room was in relation to hers and Steve's, there was a sound barrier, because she wasn't going to get any quieter, especially now that he made her "yiff" almost every single time.

"He's so cute," she whispered and pat her son's head.

The kit yawned widely and looked up at his parents, letting his eyes adjust. Seeing his father and mother Sean smiled and put out his paws, his bushy little tail swaying under his covers.

Cathy reached down and picked him up. The kit cooed and Cathy knew he was hungry she walked over to the nearby chair and fed him. The vixen giggled at the thought of how much the Reynolds men loved her breasts. When Sean had his fill the little kit put out his paws and Cathy, knowing what that meant, picked him up further to her face and he hugged her snout.

Steve walked over and sat down beside her. He pat his son's cheek and Cathy turned and smiled at her husband.

"I love you two," he whispered, moving his hand to her cheek.

She nuzzled his hand, just like she always had.

"Want your surprise now?" she said, putting Sean into Steve's arms.

Making certain he had a sure grip on his son, Steve nodded, his interests re-peaked.

Cathy giggled happily and stood up, all a twitter like a teenage vixen. She put out her paw and brought him from the room. She didn't need to bring anything, it would be sent for later on; one of the advantages to leaving the Consular's Estate. The fox brought down Steve and Sean and walked outside, where bus with the same Major who had brought them here that one night, which seemed like ages ago sat. Cathy nodded to him and they all boarded, speeding up into the heavens and into the Endeavor.

"Oh boy..." Steve said to himself.

"Hmm?" Cathy turned to see him holding the kit up above his lap; "Another accident?" she giggled.

Steve sighed, "Yep," and made a silly frown at his son, who giggled as well.

Cathy took the kit from him and cleaned their son, finishing just as they landed in the main bay. As soon as the doors shut behind them Steve felt the ship accelerate. They stepped out of the bus and were greeted by the Atrics, General Osing, Admiral Drake, Karl and Lucy, and a few other familiar faces.

Steve smiled at the two pups, over the past few months they had "cooled" down a bit, but not much.

"So this is going to be a quick trip," Drake commented, saluting the Captain, a gesture that was followed up by the rest of the party.

Steve returned the gesture and looked at Cathy, to his surprise was saluting as well.

"You don't need to salute me," he whispered to her, "if anything you deserve my respects."

Cathy smiled and kissed him quickly.

"We're going to Foc, and since it's kind-a close we should be there in about two hours," she said, barely hiding the excitement in her voice.

Steve smiled and kissed her back.

Osing walked over and put his hand on Steve's shoulder, "This is kind of a retirement party of sorts."

The Captain breathed a sigh of relief, no one had put it like that but he was glad to be done. Retirement with Cathy sounded glorious. A memory of the first night he and the fox spent together, on board the same ship he was on now, flashed through his mind. So much had happened and he had come so close to never even seeing it by, of all things, almost killing the fox who was now his wife and mother of his offspring. He wrapped his arm around her and drew her close, only Cathy noticing a definite amount of force and support needed on his part.

The next two hours passed by like seconds. They had food and chatted, all watching Sean and Sarah play with each other again, which brought laughter to the odd group of players. They all laughed hard as the bunny looked at the kit spin like a furry top on the floor. It was apparent that Sean's mortal enemy was his tail, and smiled broadly when he caught it and held it tightly in his paws.

Cathy giggled and put out her paws and the kit ran over quickly. She scooped him up and held him to her face, hugging the kit tightly. Steve let Cathy put her weight on his side and coddled her as well.

A few minutes later they felt the battleship decelerate.

"I guess it's about time we say our good-byes," Osing commented, smiling at the lovers.

He would always remember this one, above all the others, but not necessarily because of the fame and changes it brought on. It was the most pure and successful one he saw and he really felt like he helped them.

Cathy frowned and replied, "I think that's too final, I can't imagine not seeing you ever again General."

Osing smiled and nodded, "I didn't mean it like that."

Drake sat up and crossed his arms, "I think its kind of funny your retiring before us."

"Ehhh," Steve shrugged, "Few of people in my family have gone for desk jobs, and I can't- won't stay on active duty forever so it's the logical thing. My father, grandfather and such retired kind of young too."

"Thirty-two though..." Drake said, feeling old for a moment.

Cathy held her husband's arm, "I wouldn't take no for an answer if he tried to stay anyway."

The General and Admiral chuckled, she was probably right too. Steve chuckled as well and kissed her cheek, she was right.

All this time Lucy and Karl had been pretty quiet, both a bit depressed their mentors of-a-kind settling down somewhere where they couldn't stay. Karl had told them that Lucy and he were going back to Chyane, back to Karl's village, but it was apparent he didn't want to go. Cathy and Steve had been the closest thing to a mom and dad Karl had known since his parents had been murdered and he didn't like the concept of loosing them as well.

As they all stood up, Cathy and Steve made their way over to the pups, Steve thinking up something to tell them.

"Hi Cathy, hi Steve," Karl mumbled, shifting his feet about.

"Hi Karl, Lucy," Cathy nodded to each.

Steve kneeled down so that he was face to face with both of the pups.

"Listen you two," he began, "I know you said the other day you were going to miss us, and Karl," the pup looked up, "I think I know why your going miss us so much, but you should know, Lucy will take care of you now. Her parents may feed you and take care of you physically, but you should always remember Lucy loves you, and she'll always take care of you just like I know Cathy will always take care of me."

The pup smiled and Lucy rubbed her friends back.

"I will," Lucy said, and brought herself closer to Karl.

Steve patted Karl's head and stood up, Cathy had a faint smile on her face.

"That was sweet," Cathy commented, and kissed her husbands face.

"It's time Captains," the zebra said to them, and he started the airbus's warm up cycle.

The Reynolds boarded the airbus once again, for the last time, and the doors closed and they flew away, both not able to look back. Even though they would both see their friends again, they still would miss them terribly.

The craft landed at a small station in a very small town. Cathy and Steve exited and Steve shook the major's hoof. The zebra smiled and took back off, flying back to the Endeavor, which left immediately.

"Where are we?" Steve asked, smelling the clean air.

"Hartsdale, it's a town about forty miles from where I grew up," the fox replied, walking towards the homes a few blocks away.

She gave Steve Sean to hold while she looked about. While she had set things up, and she knew the relative area where their home was, she wasn't sure.

"Which one is it?" she whispered to herself.

"That one?" Steve answered from behind, surprising his wife that he could have heard her.

"Which?" she asked, and looked where he was pointing.

To add to her surprise he had pointed to a house that was a spot-on-spot match to what the contractor had described.

She gave him a curious look and asked, "How did you know."

"I dunno?" he shrugged, "Lucky guess?"

"You are the lucky fellow," she smiled and took a big step towards him.

They walked up to the house, which appeared empty, and Steve knocked on the door; no answer. He knocked again but again, no answer.

"I guess it is our home..." Steve trailed off, that was new way of looking at things. This was real, this was permanent.

Cathy smiled and turned the doorknob. She pushed the door open and the Reynolds where met with the sight of a well built, fully decorated and furnished home.

"After you my love," Steve said, gesturing with his arm for her to enter first.

The vixen giggled and did so, the air inside the home was cool and smelled... different. Steve followed closely and walked past her, looking around, a look of disbelief on his face.

"Surprised?" Cathy asked in a hopeful tone.

"Very. How did you have this done in one day?" he added, admiring the couches and fixtures.

"Offering a lot of money for one. I'm still not sure how to pay for all this," she answered, realizing that they both needed to do something for money.

Still transfixed by the home Steve answered without looking back, "Oh its no problem, I can pay for it out of my account, but look at all this work, the walls are painted perfectly."

"You can!?" Cathy asked, a bit surprised by his offer.

"Of course, I've got enough to buy this planet if need be," he commented, still not turning.

The vixen walked over to her husband and tapped his arm, "Huh?" she asked.

Steve turned and was surprised by the look on her face.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"You said you could pay for all this. You realize this was kind of expensive."

"Ya," he answered, not seeing her point, "I have plenty of money."

"You do?" she asked, not aware of that.

"Ya," he repeated, and began to see it, "I thought I told you about my families bank account."

She shook her head.

"No? We have a lot of money stored away," he answered, and patted Sean on his head, who was becoming a bit restless.

"How much?" she asked, now more interested in the conversation than the home.

He shrugged, "Probably a bit more than a few billion Federal dollars."

"What!? That much!?" she almost yelled.

"What? My family's pretty old and that accounts almost as old as the Federation itself," he answered.

Cathy had grown up pretty poor, and while she wasn't materialistic at all, the thought of being destitute always had loomed over her head.

"But your all soldiers," she said, stating the obvious, "we don't make a lot of money, certainly not that much money."

"Over a few thousand years you do, considering most of us don't spend that much," he gritted his teeth at the thought of his father, "so all that moneys basically sat and made interest. You picked the right man," he smiled, "I can support you pretty comfortably without needing to do much else. That's why I'm retiring, not just leaving the military."

Cathy smiled and gave his cheek a kiss, "I already knew I picked the right man, money doesn't matter."

"But it does help," Steve pointed out.

Cathy chuckled and hugged him. Sean whimpered and looked up at his mother.

"He's hungry again," she said, both knowing that.

Steve shut the door and locked it, and turned to see Cathy sitting on the couch feeding their son.

He sat down across from her and let his head sink into the soft chair and closed his eyes, "Our real home..."

"Our home..." Cathy whispered, smiling at her kit.

When Sean was done he yawned and feel asleep right their in Cathy's arms, which reminded her.

"Ohh, we have rooms!" she squealed, almost causing Steve to fall out of his seat.

"What do you mean?" he asked, waking up a bit.

"New rooms, a nursery and stuff," she said and almost ran with Sean in her arms up the stairs.

Steve was close behind and they ran, like children, into the room, which was more than obviously Sean's room. It wasn't nearly as big or extravagant as the one at the Consular's Estate, but it suited the Reynolds just fine, and it was theirs to boot.

Cathy laid Sean down carefully and Steve tucked him in, the kit cuddled a blanket that was put in there.

Steve took Cathy's shoulder and walked her into the hallway, shutting the door behind him. They looked in the rooms upstairs and found the master bedroom, a nice bed set off to one side with two dressers and a mirror adorning the other.

"Comon, I'm tired, you're tired, let's go to bed," Steve commented, holding his wife's shoulders.

She closed her eyes and nodded slightly. He walked her over to the bed and, to her mild surprise, scooped her up and laid her down, crawling in next to her. She giggled softly and lifted the covers; they didn't bother taking off their clothes, it wasn't the time for that.

When he laid down beside her the fox coddled his body, laying a leg over his.

"The end of our tale?" she asked, falling asleep in his comforting arms.

"No, a beginning of a new part..." he whispered, and kissed her furry head.

"Tell me our story..." Cathy whispered back, slipping into sleep.

Steve smiled and whispered, almost asleep himself, "A man met a fox one day, he saved her so she repaid him by trusting him, loving him, giving him a son and a home, and in turn he promised they would live happily ever after..."

-End

For my Cathy, may you always love me the way I love you, no matter what happens, no matter where you are.