No Chance, Ch 2
No Chance
Chapter 2
copyright 2005 comidacomida
The room was as cold and as impersonal as it had been since the beginning, but Daryl didn't pay it any attention. With the simple huff of a breath his fur pressed outward and puffed up to provide an extra amount of insulation against the coldness. At first it was an odd sensation but after two weeks of it the action was more reflex than anything else. Just like his fur, his ears and tail were becoming an afterthought; as he took a seat he lowered himself at just the right angle to allow his tail to slide backwards through the opening in backing of the metal chair.
He tapped his claws on the metal table as he thought. Courtney had been with them for two days. While she took the whole story well, Daryl still couldn't help but feel guilty for her predicament. He had used her-- used the woman he loved and she could have been seriously hurt or worse. He shook his head as he smoothed down the fur along his chest.
"A penny for your thoughts." offered a mild, neutral voice from the side.
"Bringing her here was a mistake." Daryl responded.
The figure lurking at the doorway to the impromptu meeting room finally detached from the shadows and moved into the half-light. Though Daryl's feline eyes could easily identify the humanoid ferret, it wasn't necessary; the calm and collected voice of David was distinct within the bunker. "Why do you say that?" inclined the ferret, taking a seat across from Daryl. The ferret's black eyes peered out at him from behind a dark brown mask of fur.
"She could have died, David. There were any number of ways to get Division Six's attention and she didn't have to be involved." David clenched and unclenched his paw, watching the claws extend and retract.
"She didn't die, Daryl. She's alive and we got the papers back. I'd say that gives us the upper-hand in matters."
"Upper-paw even." offered the panther, the thought of Courtney's correction made him smile... if just a little. He ran a paw through the short but plentiful fur that almost formed a mane where his hair would be, "But she could have been hurt... and that's what's bothering me."
"We took precautionsâ€"" the ferret offered.
"If we were that prepared she wouldn't have been hit by the taser." countered Daryl.
"What I'm saying, Daryl, is that she wasn't hurt seriously, none of us were injured, and no one saw us. I'd call that a pretty successful assignment no matter how you look at it." David removed a pair of nose-hugging glasses from a pouch resting over his shoulder and placed them on his muzzle. While hardly made for the purpose they did serve better than the glasses he had with arms; his ears were simply not in the right place.
"'Assignment', huh? You sound like this is all business as usual for the FDA." the panther flicked a speck of tuna off of the table. A few weeks ago he wouldn't have been able to identify the minuscule piece of day-old food, but his much more sensitive nose could pick up its distinctive scent without him even trying. Daryl glanced over at Rex who moved from his position in the corner to sniff about, seeking the tiny fleck of fish and devouring it.
"It's up to us how much we're changed, Daryl." responded David, standing up to let his long, bushy tail uncurl from its position on the chair, "Our bodies are different, yes, but who we are doesn't have to be altered."
"Try saying that to Fred." offered Daryl neutrally, "I think he's still bitching about the irony of having his own theme song."
"If you don't call him Fred Bear then I won't, it's that simple." the ferret hazarded a faint smirk, "but right now I think we're discussing Courtney and where things should go from here."
Daryl nodded in agreement, rubbing the pads of his paws together, "Yea."
David eased himself up into the table, oozing with an almost surreal grace granted to him by his ferret form. He let his hind paws hang over the edge as he used it for a bench, "She's been here two days and you've spoken with her once."
"I want to give her time to think." responded Daryl after a pause.
"Think about what, Daryl? I heard the whole conversation... it's not very hard to with ears the size of tea saucers. She sounded relieved to hear you're still alive and she's happy you're okay. Are you afraid that she's going to stop loving you because of some minor setback?"
"If this is a minor setback I'd hate to see what you consider a major one." the panther offered blandly. In the three years Daryl had known David he had never seen the man more than mildly disturbed. Of all the agents Daryl had been assigned to as a record keeper or reporter David had to have been the only one he'd never seen skip a beat. Well... at least he can help keep Fred under control. Daryl glanced to the clock on the wall, "It's nine."
"The same time it was twenty four hours ago." offered David, "But you're avoiding the topic. If Courtney loves you then she loves you for you, plain and simple. If she's glad you're okay then it must mean that you're okay... don't you get it? She's relieved, so whatever happened to you is something she can cope with, and it's better than any number of alternatives."
Daryl ran a paw along either side of his head as he leaned back in his chair, letting out a long breath as he closed his eyes. He remained facing the ceiling, paws on either side of his face as his mind worked faster than he could keep up with. After many long moments he spoke up, not even looking at the ferret, "Is there any reason why you didn't becomea psychologist? Seriously, Dave... you'd make more money."
"They wouldn't let me carry a gun." responded the ferret in the dead-serious tone he was well known for, making it impossible to know whether he was joking or being blatantly honest. Daryl looked at him just then, trying to find some indication in his expression just how much humor was there but received no help' David, no matter what his form, remained unreadable.
"Well... I'm glad you have one... if you didn't there's no telling how far those clones would have gotten with Courtney."
"Have we gone back to that again?" inquired the ferret, sliding off the table, "Daryl... don't look back-- look forward." and with that, David made for the exit, "I think I heard Fred moping about... I'm going to go make sure he doesn't break any more doors."
"In the wind... I hear... I hear Fred Bear." The panther offered in a mock-up of the oldies rock song.
"His hearing isn't half bad, Daryl..." the ferret said on his way out, "and he's just out-of-touch enough to cause some serious problems for us if you rile him up."
"Right... I'll keep it civil." the black panther noted. He stood up once David left, smoothing out the loincloth he had been able to fashion out of his ruined clothes and a dress belt he had found in the office. Daryl let out a deep breath and walked from the meeting room and into one of the adjoining halls. He padded down the corridor, slowing as he approached Courtney's room. The panther almost held his breath as he walked by, smooth movements as stealthy as any hunting cat as he peeked in on her through the bars in the door, looking to her sleeping form on the cot they had provided.
The corridor was originally made to secure unruly patients; ten roomsâ€"five on either side, fully equipped with doors that locked from the outside and metal sliders that could be opened to provide access for deposited food, or withdrawn waste. The accommodations weren't comparable to a five star hotel by any means, but they were sufficient for the needs of the group. Daryl worried that they weren't good enough for Courtney, however. Were he still human he might find the rooms cold and dark, and Courtey, unlike the rest of them, WAS still human.
His paw went for the door handle but, after a long pause with just the pads on his fingers touching it, he withdrew his arm, and continued down the hall, finally letting out a breath he didn't realize he was still holding. God damn, Daryl... get a grip. he told himself, shaking his head silently as he made his way to his room.
The abandoned building had been used by the same agency that was responsible for Daryl's current form and he didn't miss the irony of hiding from them in one of their own compounds. Daryl knew that there wouldn't be many places as safe or secure enough for them to use without notice, but he was well aware that their hold on the premises were tenuous at best; if Division Six found any reason at all to reoccupy the base then their position would be horribly compromised.
The panther turned the corner and went to his room, a section of the base that had once been an ample sized office, perhaps for one of their executives or higher-class personnel. He closed the wooden door, carefully latching it shut so it wouldn't slam, and moved to his makeshift bed: a lounging sofa that worked well enough if he wanted to stretch out. The panther rolled onto it from a standing position, tucking his forward-facing shoulder as he twisted his body, going from standing to laying on his back before his hind-paws left the ground. He let out a deep breath.
"Do you still love me?" he asked aloud, his own voice only now just starting to become familiar again after the alterations it went through during his change. He could still feel the process sometimes; he still dreamt about it. The ordeal wasn't painful like he would have imagined and he couldn't wholly describe the sensations as an ache either. His whole body itched... swelled and itched like a pimple too-close to the surface of the skin to be comfortable until finally it popped. That's how it went... his body just popped, and things were changed from then on.
"Could you still love me?" he asked again, closing his eyes as he thought of his wife-to-be, wondering if she would ever embrace him again... ever kiss him... ever be close. He let out a silent sigh, mind still replaying the events of her shock as she walked from the room to stand there in the hall, gazing at him; he couldn't figure out if she was mortified, or merely surprised. He hoped that she would still see him as who he wanted to be and not some monster; it hurt him horribly when she called Rex a 'thing'. ~Am I a 'thing' too, Courtney?~
Daryl reclined on the sofa, looking at one of his paws as he clenched and relaxed it, the action almost a habit now as he observed the claws and the ways in which they moved. He gazed down the length of his snout, not nearly as prominent as David's, nor as wide as Fred's, whiskers cascading out of either side, so finely thin that he could tell when someone opened a door merely by the change in the air pressure and the shifting in the wind. He ran the now at-ease paw down his chest, the fur there slightly thicker and marginally lighter than elsewhere on his body. As a human he didn't wax his chest, but he wasn't particularly hairy either. Regardless, fur was something entirely different.
The panther closed his eyes and rolled his head around once, then twice on the armrest he had been using as a pillow. ~It's my body now... but it still feels like it doesn't belong.~ He traced his paw down through the lighter fur of his abdomen as his tail flicked several times from its position, hanging off the edge of the sofa. Daryl closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the air fill his chest as he would have were he human; not everything had changed.
He rolled his tongue about in his muzzle, sharp teeth pressing up against it from any number of angles, the rough, sandpapery texture of it predominantly felt against the roof of his mouth, and against the backside of his gums. He opened his muzzle and let out a wide yawn as he crossed his paws on his abdomen. "Courtney... I don't want you to run away... but I don't want you to have to settle for this kind of life." he said aloud. Eyes still closed, he took in a deep breath, and exhaled again slowly, "God, I wish things had been different."
At the same time, however, Daryl realized that things were different-- complete different. He was there, a humanoid panther, and Courtney was down the hall in a barren room, suffering because of his schemes. There had been no wedding, no celebration, no honeymoon, and no happiness since things first began... and not even government provided health insurance is going to cover this. Eyes still closed, the panther cracked a smile at the thought.
The smile did not last long, and a frustrated sigh escaped him, one hind paw laying atop the sofa, the other brushing the floor as he let it hang down, "Courtney, please don't hate me..." he whispered aloud, "I don't want to lose you."
He rested his head against the armrest again, thinking back to when they first met, at the movies. They had each been a third wheelâ€"out with dating friends. Daryl could still remember when their eyes first met and the instant click they shared from across the room. He could still remember when their hands first met, walking arm-in-arm as the now-three couples joined one another on the pier. Daryl could remember when their lips first met, followed immediately by a surge of electricity or a spark being set to gasoline.
Once the dates had ended for their respective friends, Daryl and Courtney's date was just beginning. An involuntary purr eased its way out of Daryl's throat as he remembered, that night, when their bodies first met. He could still remember the feel of her atop him, the attentiveness in her eyes and the eagerness in her body.
Daryl rubbed his head against the arm rest as his tail began twitching more rapidly, "Courtney..." he breathed, and the breath was accompanied by a deep, rumbling purr as he recalled the feel of her fingers entwined with his, her long hair tickling him as it cascaded down her body and across his... the taste of her tongue and the sensations of her insides tugging at him while they lay writhing on his apartment floor. His memory of her smell... the sight of her body glistened with sweat as they made love for the first time. She was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
The panther closed his muzzle, a purring mrr escaping between his teeth even as tears began falling from his eyes. Daryl rolled over, buring his face in a pillow as he tried to banish the multitude of thoughts from his mind. ~Courtney, please don't hate me. I love you... don't let my memories be all I have left.~ It took too long for him to drift off to sleep, the many memories flowing through his mind, taunting him with things that had been; he didn't know if they could ever be again.