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Siblings - The Series

Episode Twenty

© 2017 Carlos Penguin

Editing and Creative Consulting by the long suffering

Victoria Fox

Preface

Complex and much research was done for this episode. None of which I could have achieved without Victoria Fox. Though I had done only up to page 12 at the time, so any mistakes after is all my fault. Enjoy!

--

It was a very beautiful spring morning. The seeming eternal clouds and rain finally gave way to all the sights, sounds and smells of the season in textbook perfection.

Elise was returning from her morning walk feeling more invigorated than tired, given she spent more time out than usual. Definitely better than being stuck behind her desk all day.

She looked at her phone and it was 11:30. Normally she returned around eleven and was slightly curious as to why Ethan didn't contact her with his worried, "Are you OK?" if she was so much as a minute late on the weekends.

There wasn't a visitor parking space available at the apartment. While not unusual for the weekend, what was unusual was she knew all the people the cars belonged to. "Ethan never mentioned a gathering?" She mumbled to herself, turning the key to open the lobby door.

As the elevator arrived at her floor, she stepped out and saw Aunt Eugenia in the hallway, waiting for her.

"Auntie!" She said happily and gave her a hug as tight as her soon-to-be-due baby-belly would allow.

Eugenia's face was flushed and bore a most peculiar smile.

"What's.... going on?" Elise wondered, suspiciously.

"Ohhhh....." Eugenia said with a squirm. "A courier came today."

"Huh?" Elise said and opened the unlocked door to her apartment.

As she walked in, her and Eugenia were greeted by a standing ovation and applause. Cheers and whistles. Ethan rolled out a short length of faux grass coloured red for them to walk on as they entered.

Elise's face was still blank, then the crowd raised their copies of Magnificent MILF and cheered again.

Uncle Rick, Al and Cerise, Gary and Marie were there, as was her mom and dad. However, they weren't there for copies, just the support.

"Three for me." Gary said, smiling. "Need to send one each to Tonya and her dad."

The cover of the magazine was what was completely unexpected. BOTH Eugenia and Elise were featured on the cover. She gave a gulp and her cheeks flushed as much as Eugenia's.

The picture on the cover was the one of Eugenia in a red with black lace trim babydoll lingerie, sitting on a Victorian era love seat. Her hair was done in the same period of French influenced high-style with long ringlets. Elise was in a white lace babydoll and was reclining stretched across, her head on Eugenia's lap. Her hair was brushed out long and flowing onto the carpet. They smiled adoringly at each other.

Ethan opened his magazine to show the centrefold. A full length image of the same scene, only both ladies had their breasts fully exposed.

"Autographs, please?" Ethan said as all the others held out their copies.

Elise's mouth hung open on her wide-eyed face.

"Maybe we should let her at least take her jacket and shoes off?" Eugenia suggested.

Gary whispered to Marie, "And her shirt and everything else?"

This elicited a giggle from the wolfess, as well as an icy glare from Alice.

There was a knock at the door. Elise took the diversion to scramble into the washroom and Eugenia jumped with a squeal.

"Cake's here!" Uncle Rick said. Ethan opened the door to find a grocery deliverer bringing a large, rectangular celebration cake.

"Didn't have time to pick it up myself on the way in, so I called the store for delivery." Rick said with a smile.

"Uhhh, Uncle Rick?" Ethan said, placing the cake on the counter and pointed.

In very bad cursive writing across the top of the cake, were the words, "Congratulations Eugese and Elenia."

A moment of silence followed by laughter. "Minimum wage help." Mark, the sibling's dad said, amused.

"Oh God, let me fix that." Alice, their mom said and began going through the cupboards.

Looking over at her son, "You don't have by chance a cake decorating kit?"

Ethan gave a blank expression.

"Piping bag?"

"One more time, in the King's vernacular?" He shook his head.

"Empty squeeze bottle?" She asked, getting frustrated.

He nodded, opening a drawer and handing it to her.

"Food colouring?"

He shrugged.

Rolling her eyes, "Icing sugar?"

Ethan was looking pretty helpless.

Alice growled a low, vixen "Grrrrrr...." As she lowered and shook her head.

"C'mon Alice, it's funny. Don't need to get all OCD about it." Rick knew how perfectionist she could be when it came to cakes for her kids.

Mark threw his hands up in the air, knowing his brother hit the perfect troll at his wife.

Alice snapped around, mouth open ready to retort when Elise returned. "I guess Auntie and I will need a pen?"

They all offered something from a ballpoint to a Sharpie.

Elise and Eugenia just finished signing the last of the covers. The initial embarrassment gave way to a feeling of importance. "Didn't think I'd feel this way. Been a bit of a roller coaster the past few weeks, actually." She remarked.

"Have you seen the pics?" Al said as he was flipping through.

"Zey are beautifuls!" Cerise added, while she hugged her copy.

Of course Elise hadn't. She began to flip through the magazine and saw the artistic poses of high merit. "They definitely aren't porn."

"Told ya so!" Ethan said, sticking his tongue out at his sister.

Eugenia was holding it open to a page and covering her mouth.

"Which one is that, Auntie?" Elise looked over her shoulder.

It was the most difficult pose for Elise that the director had her do. Eugenia was standing in a "third position", her left hand lightly upon her niece's right hand as she stood in a "second arabesque" position. Elise's arm out meeting her aunts, with a leg up and tail outward at perfect 120-degree points, head tilted back and eyes closed. Her breasts hung down straight, her brushed out hair acting like a thin veil over them. It flattered every part of her body.

"Ohhhhh, that's my favourite! But my ankle still hurts from that." Elise said, considering getting that image enlarged for her bedroom wall.

"But.... you can see my..." Eugenia then whispered, "Pussy!"

Unlike several shots of Elise, it was the only photo where Eugenia's white-belly-fur-dusted pink labia were showing in their glory.

"And it's a beauty!" Rick said as the other's chuckled.

"Auntie, I think we can all agree that you're a Goddess." Elise said encouragingly as everyone agreed wholeheartedly.

"Cake time!" Marie shouted. "Sugarrrrrrrr!"

"Oh, these came in the packages, too. They're marked 'Confidential'" Ethan said as he handed the ladies envelopes with their names on them.

Eugenia tucked hers in her purse for later. Elise opened her and read it as she munched cake.

"Ummm, Auntie? You'll want to open yours." Elise said with an expression of complete disbelief.

Dear Mrs. Redd,

Magnificent MILF is pleased to inform you that you have not only been chosen for a pictorial, but cover and centrefold. In reflection of this, we have remunerated you accordingly. Cheque is enclosed.

The Magnificent MILF Team

Eugenia opened hers and found the same letter, formatted and addressed in the same way. But her face also joined her nieces in complete disbelief.

"What's up mah little sugarbum?" Rick asked curious, coming over and continuing to stuff cake down his gullet.

"Uhhhh...." Eugenia just grunted and handed him the statement that was attached to the cheque.

Pictorial Payment: $10,000

Centerfold Bonus: $50,000

Cover Bonus: $90,000

Cheque Enclosed: $150,000 USD

Rick promptly choked on his cake, other's sputter out mid-gobble. "Holy crap, woman! That's like $200K in our money!"

Then it hit. His head raised up, mouth hanging open. "HOLY SHIT!"

The room went quiet and everyone turned their attention to him.

"Niece, you get the same thing?" He asked Elise, who nodded her head, tears of joy running down her face.

Everyone scrambled over to see what the commotion was all about. Gasps and whistles followed.

"That's, uhhhh....." Ethan stared at the paper in wide-eyed amazement. Then he noticed a pool developing under his sister. "Excitement a little too much?" He chuckled.

Elise shook her head back to reality from the note and looked below. Just as she did, the trickle became a splash.

"OH GOD, HONEY, NOW!" She screamed.

Ethan's heart skipped a beat or three. "Now?"

"She means NOW!" Mark said, grabbing his jacket. Taking his daughter's arm, "Can you walk?"

"Of course I.... can...." In a matter of seconds, she went from smiling too teetering. If her dad had not already been holding on to her, she would have hit the floor.

With an expression of panic, he turned to the guests, "Someone, call 911!"

--

One member of the group couldn't be there for the afternoon's party, as much as she wanted to. Kiana had split shift that day covering lunch and dinner and she was off at two.

Having finished up and clocking out, she stood by the bust stop and awaited for the 2:20 to come by. It was still fifteen minutes away, but being a sunny day, she didn't mind being outside.

Tim came over from his station across the street. "Hey Kiana!"

"Oh, hi Tim!" She greeted him happily, having accepted her mom's new love interest. "I thought you didn't work weekends?"

"I don't." He replied. "But we had our yearly audit and I had to come down and decipher the tank readings the night crew left them."

"Sounds like fun." She said sarcastically.

Tim shrugged. "I'm the only one that can read 'Grahamese', besides Graham himself."

They chuckled. "I'm done in about five minutes. Do you want a ride home?"

"Sure!" She said enthusiastically. "Maybe I can find out how the party is going. No one's responding to my texts."

"Work had you miss out on a party? That sucks!" He said, knowing full well the inconvenience shifts can have on a social life.

"Well, more of a congratulations and a magazine signing." She replied. "One of my friends got picked for Magnificent MILF magazine!" She chittered happily.

"Sweet!" Tim said. "I've seen the odd issue. I'm more of a vintage pin-up guy."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Kiana smiled with a quirked brow.

Kiana and Tim went back to his station. She was looking around the odd products she had never seen or considered buying before. Not unusual giver neither she or her mom owned a vehicle.

Getting a tad bored after a few minutes, she pulled out her phone. Realizing she had shut it off for work, she turned it on and let it do it's boot-up while looking around some more. Shortly, it was bleeping with a plethora of missed messages.

She scrolled through her messages and notification of a voicemail. "Wha...? What kind of sick joke...." Kiana began to shake with distress.

Tim was grabbing his coat and saying goodbye to his manager when they heard what they thought was the sound of scraping metal. As they went to investigate, they found Kiana hyperventilating and shaking, then fell to the ground before either of the men could reach her.

She was still conscious, but was having what appeared to be some sort of seizure. Tim sat her up against a shelf, waved his hand in front of her face and she didn't respond.

Within seconds, Tim's manager was on the phone with the ambulance. He looked over toward Tim who was staying with Kiana, "Any idea what caused it?"

Tim shrugged, "She was fine a minute ago." He leaned his head over to check her breathing, which was now quick, but shallow.

It was then he noticed her phone on the floor, slid almost completely under the shelf. Taking it, he saw the screen was cracked, but a quick tap on the power button made the backlight come on.... and revealed the cause.

"Hey Paul?" Tim shouted and stood up. "I think I found the reason." He brought the phone to his manager. "Someone named Elise... died."

Paul wedged the store phone between his ear and shoulder, taking Kiana's phone from Tim. The screen was already going black from the damage to it as he tried to scroll through the rest of the messages. Before it did, he caught sight of one that read, ".....taken to I.C.U."

Handing it back to Tim, he took the store phone in his hand and relayed the info, "The young lady, I believe is in shock."

Unbeknownst to them, the messages had been sent hours earlier.

Noon

Elise was laying on the floor, gasping for air. Ethan and Mark were both kneeling beside her, propping her head up. She had confusion and fear in her face, as did her brother and dad.

"Zey are on zere way!" Cerise said and joined the boys on the floor, taking Elise's hand, giving her a comforting smile. "It will be all rights." She whispered and gave Elise's ears a stroke.

Elise smiled and seemed a little calmer for a few moments, then gasped, "Th... they're coming!" She let out an elongated yip of pain.

Fortunately, she preferred looser fitting clothes the past week and that particular day, she was wearing a long skirt. Cerise rolled it up and moved Elise's apart by bending her knees.

"Mon Dieu!" She squeaked. "Get ze towels! GET ZE TOWELS!"

1220

The ambulance arrives and the EMT's discover upon entrance to the apartment, Cerise had successfully seen the delivery of one of the kits. The umbilical cord not yet severed, was causing complications for the second.

"You've done this before?" He asked Cerise in an impressed tone.

"Non." She replied. "Zis ees my first anthro. I did helps ze human lady back home in France deliver her child on ze train."

He nodded and smiled. "Well, a first for both of us then?"

His attempt at humour didn't inspire confidence.

The second EMT fortunately had an anthro-kit on board and placed an non-rebreather oxygen mask on Elise, who is barely responding to stimuli. He was also puzzled by the redness in her eyes and swelling, making breathing difficult.

"We need to get her intubated if this swelling gets worse." Was the deduction he made.

His partner checking Elise's vitals commented, "Her HR is ridiculously elevated and BP dropping. I'm calling a code and getting an advanced unit here. We have to stabilize her." She got on her radio.

Moving over to Cerise's side, the first EMT clamps the cord and cuts after the pulsation stopped. He pinches the kit's toe and she begins crying. "One success, at least!" He smiles.

"There's two!" Ethan shouts.

Both EMT's look at each other.

"Shit!" The second EMT shouts, grabbing an otoscope and examining Elise. "She's dilated fine, but the swelling is really bad down here, too!"

She looks up at the crowd. "Does she have any allergies? What did she eat?"

"No, no allergies that we know of!" Alice said in half panic.

The second kit's nose was almost out when the swelling inhibited his exit.

"He's stuck!" She shouted.

The other EMT tried to assist by forcing her vagina open, but even with some pressure, the second kit could not be extricated.

"We need a rapid transport for a load and go." He looked up at his partner, "Is there any room for a helicopter out there?"

Looking out the front window quickly, the response was, "No!"

"We're on our own, eh?" He replied calmly.

"Extracting forceps, please!" The EMT said with growing concern.

"Not on our truck!" The other replied with annoyance.

Rick began to rifle through the kitchen drawers, hands shaking. He grabbed a pair of plastic salad tongs, "Saw this in a movie! Tell me it works?"

1235

The second, an Advanced Life Support unit arrived, having been in response to the 911 call originally.

Just as luck would have it, one of the second unit's EMT's was a veteran pediatric responder.

"Who's her doctor?" He asked, not looking up from examining the shrieking kits.

"Grewal" Mark answered, barely believing this was happening.

"When you're done intubating the lady, hit her with 500 micros of epinephrine and 50 diphenhydramine." He said calmly after examining the girl kit.

Ethan was shaking too badly. Cerise took his daughter in her arms as the pediatric EMT examined the boy.

Elise's body became spasmodic as fluid squirted from her breathing tube. "She's aspirating... need suction!".

"Get her loaded, now!" The senior ordered.

"You're the father?" He asked Ethan, who nodded.

"OK. You and the kits with us." He said to Ethan.

Looking to the EMT's that arrived first, "Can you handle it?"

Both trucks speeding to the hospital, Ethan looked terrified. "Is this really happening?"

"Not to worry Mr. Redd, all in a days work for us." One of the EMT's smiled confidently after examining the kits yet again. "And your children appear to be quite healthy!"

The radio came alive with jargon Ethan didn't understand, except one, "Code blue arrival."

1250

They arrived at the hospital ambulance entrance. Ethan was met by Dr. Grewal, who also had just arrived. "I need to know everything, no matter how small of a detail. When did Elise collapse?" He said and guided him to Trauma.

"How are the kits? Are they going to be okay?" Ethan asked, half in shock that any of this was happening.

"They've been rushed to pediatric emergency. Alex, err, Doctor Wojciechowski is on her way." Dr. Grewal replied.

Ethan filled the doctor in on the details of what happened as they walked at a hurried pace to Trauma.

"Dear God, she had a reaction to the children!" Dr. Grewal said and entered the Trauma room with Ethan.

There, the attending physician was standing and looking at his watch. There were the ambulance EMT's and two nurses with him. "Time of death, 1251 Pacific Daylight Time." The physician sighed heavily.

"NOOOOO!" Ethan howled and fell across his sister.

The room went silent. The only sound was Ethan sobbing as he lay on her torso, her shirt torn off, exposed hastily shaven areas where they attempted to use the defibrillator.

He had never seen a deceased fur before, other than as a CGI graphic on his game. The short moment he caught sight of her lifeless eyes half shut with mouth open, was burned into his mind like a nightmare.

"Bloody nonsense!" Dr. Grewal shouted in his heavy accent. "10ccepinephrine, NOW! Restart CPR. Get ice on her head, please." He said confidently and pulled at Ethan. "Let me save her now, move please."

He tried to get up, but slid off of her and collapsed to the ground. One of the EMT's helped him to his feet and steadied him out of the way.

The nurses hesitated and looked at the doctor that called the Time Of Death on Elise.

"Well, snap to it, nurse! Baldev is her doctor." The attending doctor bellowed.

1300

Taking the Redd family van, the others arrived at the ER public entrance. Gary drove as Cerise sat in the back comforting Elise's parents, aunt and uncle and Al comforted Marie, who had her head buried in Al's chest. "Is this really happening?" Al asked rhetorically.

"The family is here." A nurse whispered to the ER physician, who stood by to assist Dr. Grewal.

"Mom? Dad?" Ethan spoke shakily.

"Go to them." Dr. Grewal said. "We're not giving up, here."

Still requiring assistance to walk, the EMT helped him to the waiting room. But his expression sent Alice into hysteria and the rest into expressions of shock-related emotion.

"Sh... she's gone." He hoarsely uttered. "They're trying to bring her back."

Marie slumped. The emotional overload caused them to cease. It was like for the first time in her life, she felt nothing... at all.

Pulling out her phone, she sent one text:

At the hospital. Elise is gone.

1315

"Doctor..." The ER physician said to Dr. Grewal, who was exhausted from CPR.

He stopped, panting, stood up and uttered something no one heard.

"Call?" A nurse asked.

Looking utterly defeated, Dr. Grewal looked at his watch, "TOD at thirteen.."

*beep*

One pulse on the heart monitor. Everyone snapped their heads to it, bodies awash with hopeful adrenaline.

But there was the only one.

"Coronary arterial spasm." The ER physician said, dispirited.

Dr. Grewal looked again at his watch.

*beep, BOOP!*

"Epinephrine!" Grewal shouted and the team with renewed hope, watched the monitor as Dr. Grewal massaged her heart.

1322

A nurse came to the waiting room to tell the family the good news that Elise once again had a pulse.

She however was witness to more than an aggrieved anthro family.

Alice was syncope and receiving oxygen. Mark was holding his chest, breathing heavily. He kept shoving away the oxygen offered, arguing with his brother Rick, who was lecturing him on his angina.

"Ummm... we have a pulse back on your daughter, Mr. Redd."

They went silent and looked up at her, almost in disbelief.

"She's still critical, but one immediate family member at a time can..." She hadn't finished before Ethan was heading for the door to the ER.

Marie excitedly updated her previous text:

Elise is back! Ethan is in with her now.

Ethan stood in the entrance of Trauma. He saw his sister with a mask and wires all over her body to the machines.

He stepped closer and noticed her uneasy breathing. The machines showed a rapid heart rate with low blood pressure in yellow numbers.

He jumped as Dr. Grewal put his hand on his shoulder and gave a pat. "She's not out of the woods yet, but she's with us again."

"Wh... what happened?" He said in a whisper.

"I have a feeling the answer is complex. But it appears she had an anaphylactic... an allergic reaction to your children while giving birth." Dr. Grewal answered. "I will need to run tests and consult with Dr. Wojciechowski, but it appears miracles still do happen!"

Ethan was puzzled by the remark, however he was more mindful that the love of his life was before him living, once again.

"Be gentle, no hugs, sorry." The doctor said. "CPR has broken her sternum and probably several ribs." He left him to be alone with her.

Her head was to the side, facing him. Eyes closed now, the canine mask on her face held her mouth open with a slot out the side for her tongue. The exposed part of which was wrapped in a wet cloth to prevent dehydration.

Gently, he placed his hand on her shoulder. "I've never been so scared before." He whispered, knowing in all likeliness, she couldn't hear him. "The thought of losing you, was unbearable. Is unbearable." He nuzzled her as tears ran down his face. "I love you so much!"

Gently stroking his sister's head, "You're such a part of me. I don't care what the world thinks, I want you to be my wife and I your husband."

"CODE BLUE IN WAITING! CODE BLUE!"

An announcement over the speakers came as staff scurried and hustled about behind him. He barely noticed.

1335

As much as Ethan didn't want to leave his sister's side, he knew his parents, aunt and uncle needed to see her.

Gathering himself enough to stand, he left the room to see a stretcher being raced by him. A male nurse was straddling him on the gurney, performing CPR.

"Dad?"

As if the day hadn't gone bad enough.

Ethan followed, but far enough behind to stay out of the way.

By the time he arrived at the cardiac unit, one of the nurses shouted joyfully, "Aaaaand he's back!"

"This bloody hell isn't happening!" Shock was beginning to overcome Ethan.

1340

The emotional anxiety and exhaustion finally caught up to Ethan. He tried to move, but colourful sparkles filled his vision before everything went black.

An Hour Later

A half-hysterical Kiana arrived at the hospital with Tim right behind her. She saw all her friends, plus Rick and Eugenia in the waiting room.

"Oh my God! What's happening? Elise... is gone?" She shrieked.

They all began to talk at once before Rick gave a loud whistle and held up his hand to silence them.

"Elise is critical, but back with us. Mark had an anxiety induced angina attack, but he's back too. Alice is with him. Ethan is doped up, all this shit overloaded him. Eugenia is at his side." Rick filled her in.

Kiana just stared, processing what he just said. Marie got up and held her. "Elise had the babies. As far as we know, they're doing fine."

Kiana gasped, "She did? They are?"

"The only good thing that's happened today." Gary commented.

"Zey are ze strong family." Cerise said. "Zis ees ze stuff of movies, non?"

Kiana's eyes went wide as she noticed Cerise's clothes and fur had blood stains.

Al saw her expression. "It was an adventure, today."

"I'll go park the car. I'm in the loading zone." Tim said and went to leave the group to themselves for a while.

"Uh, this is Tim MacKinnon, everyone." Marie introduced him before he turned to leave.

"Oh yes, sorry. He's my mom's new boyfriend." Kiana explained.

Late Afternoon

Every moment anxiously passed as if it were hours for the family. Everyone stopped looking at the clock, or their phones for the time, as it just didn't matter any more.

Rick offered to buy everyone dinner, but no one had an appetite for anything more than water, coffee and muffins from the cafeteria.

Doctor Grewal and Eugenia came through the ER doors with smiles that brought miraculous hope to everyone as they stood to greet them.

"I have good news." Dr. Grewal said as he clapped his hands. "Mr. Redd is awake and will make a recovery. But he needs rest. We are going to keep him for just a few days."

"Can I go see my brother?" Rick asked hopeful.

Dr. Grewal nodded. "Yes, but he's concerned he'll get the 'third degree' from you, so please be kind."

He continued, "Elise is by miracle of miracles, stabilizing. We still have her listed as critical and she is still unconscious. I recommend no visits from anyone but her parents or Ethan tonight. She will be staying with us for some time." He gave a sigh, "I cannot over emphasize how close this was." He rubbed at his beard. "I believe she had an unusually severe allergy case known as Pemphigoid Gestationis. She seems to have responded well to antihistamine and steroidal treatment."

"What abouts Ethan?" Cerise asked.

Before Dr. Grewal could answer, the tall, young fox clumsily staggered out the doors, rubbing his head.

Eugenia gasped and said in her scolding tone to him, "You get back to bed!"

"He will be fine Mrs. Redd. He's just recovering from the sedatives. Walking will be good for him now, hm?" The doctor said, encouragingly.

"I'm not leaving." Ethan said, groggily.

"I didn't think so." Dr. Grewal said. "You can stay in one of the overnight family rooms for now."

"The kits?" Kiana asked hesitant.

"Are doing better than the rest of the family!" The doctor said with a large grin. "I was saving the best news for last. They are strong and healthy. More so than usual for the circumstances."

Eugenia put her hand on her chest, "That is a relief. Can we see them, or is that only for mom and dad?"

Dr. Grewal looked uncomfortable. "Well, in a few days." He smiled again, "But they are fine, believe me!"

"If you go home and get rest, we will call you if anything happens, to anyone." He finished.

"Go ahead guys, you all need the rest. And thank you so much for being here." Ethan said. "Thank... you... all..." He broke down in tears on his aunt.

"Do you want to stay, or come home?" Tim asked Kiana.

"Well.... oh God! Mom will be worried sick! My phone is broken." She said in a panic.

Tim pulled out his cell and handed to her. She smiled appreciatively.

"We're kind of stuck here." Al said. He, Gary, Cerise and Marie came in the Redd family van.

"I got a big, old boat." Tim said, offering a ride for all.

Ethan, Rick and Eugenia waited until the others left before talking to Dr. Grewal, who knew they'd have questions.

"Why is it we can't see the kits? What... is... wrong?" Eugenia growled.

"Seriously, nothing with them." Dr. Grewal nodded. "But the reaction happened when Miss Redd's water broke. There has been some speculation that we're confirming now that the kits.... may not be.... clinical anthropomorphs."

The three Redd's looked at each other, then squinted at the doctor. Rick asked, "What are you saying?"

"I am saying that we don't know for sure, but Miss Redd may have given birth to ... this sounds crazy, but a new species of anthropomorph. One that is devoid of genetic modification traits." Dr. Grewal said not sure he believed it himself. But his colleague, Dr. Wojciechowski as far as he knew, had never been wrong on such evaluations.

"An evolutionary jump?" Eugenia asked as the doctor shrugged, unsure.

"So, why can't we see the kits? Would our germs or somethin' be dangerous to them?" Rick scratched his head.

"Not dangerous to them, but we need to confirm that they aren't toxic to clinical anthropomorphs. They are in pediatric quarantine. We saw what happened to Elise. We need to confirm that their existence won't pose a threat to the anthropomorph population as a whole." The doctor replied.

"Nuh-uh. If that was true, Cerise would be dead. She delivered the first one!" Ethan said. "I want to see them!" He demanded.

"And you can." Dr. Grewal assured him. "But only you for now."

"Go on Ethan. We'll check up on your mom and dad." Rick gave him a pat on the shoulder.

Dr. Grewal led Ethan to the pediatric centre. As Ethan feared when he heard the word 'quarantine', Dr. Grewal insisted he dress in those ridiculous outfits he saw on TV; similar to the ones used for handling Ebola patients in Africa. The doctor wore a simple mask, as did the human nurses.

"I'm going to scare the hell out of them in this thing." Ethan lamented.

"Their eyes won't open for a week." Doctor Grewal stated.

"Seriously? Like a cat?" Ethan said in surprise. "I must have skipped that in my 'Daddy HOW-TO' book."

Once inside, Ethan looked down at the two, furry creatures wrapped comfortably in small blankets. "They're grey?"

"Yes, grey. The colour comes later."

Ethan reached over and gently 'booped' ones nose. She wriggled and her tiny hands moved to 'wipe away' the offence. This made Ethan chuckle.

"That's your daughter." The doctor said.

Going over to the next crib, he gently rubbed his son's chin. The kit smiled.

Then he noticed the difference from himself.

"Doc, the hands...." Ethan said with some amazement. Are they usually like that?"

"No. They are different." He replied.

"I... I think you're right!" Ethan looked over to the doctor. "About the new species, I mean."

"There are many factors, Ethan." The doctor explained, "The hands could be the new species theory or they could... well... be an anomaly of the fact...."

"That we're brother and sister." Ethan finished the doctor's sentence.

"I have two DNA tests on the go. One will take a week, the other quickly and is a comparative analyses. It's not accurate, but can show the differences between parents and young." Dr. Grewal admitted. "Come, we all need rest."

They left the unit and Ethan reluctantly scrubbed down. Not that he disliked the shower, but it made him feel less-of-a-father to 'wipe off' his children's traces.

Before retiring for the evening, he checked on his dad. He was sleeping peacefully and his mother in the chair beside him. He didn't see his aunt and uncle.

The Next Day

Ethan awoke, thinking he was in his own bed.

"What a nightmare!" He mumbled and threw back the blankets. The coldness of the floor on his foot paws as he swung his feet over made his eyes open with a start.

Disoriented for a moment, his heart sank in realization it wasn't a dream.

Rubbing his face, he thought of the kits and smiled.

"Oh good, you're awake!" The duty nurse said as she walked past the doorway and saw him. "I'll get the doctor."

"Huh?" Ethan thought, then he stood up, adrenaline pumping, thinking something may have gone wrong.

He darted out of the room and looked around to get his bearings.

"Everything is OK." A human said, reading Ethan's expression. "Someone needs to see you, though. Follow me."

Ethan padded quickly as the doctor walked at a hurried pace. He was led to a room adjacent to the Trauma unit and there was his sister looking at him and smiled. But then she gave muted yips of pain.

The doctor whispered, "We've given her a mild sedative and narcotic to control the pain, so she may doze off on you." She then left them to their privacy.

"Hey." Ethan said gently and sat down close to her face.

He saw her mouth move ever so slightly, but no sound came out.

He put his hand on hers and she gently gripped with her fingertips. "The kits are fine."

She closed her eyes and tears ran down her cheek in relief.

He gently kissed her nose, "I love you." He whispered.

She smiled.

After a few moments, Ethan thought she drifted off into sleep, but her eyes again popped open. Her mouth moved again, but he couldn't hear. Leaning his ear over her muzzle, he heard weakly, "Yes."

He smiled, "Yes... to what?"

Leaning over again, he heard her say, "I... I'd... marry... you."

Elise drifted off into a gentle, painless slumber.

Ethan, filled with a new found strength, gently stroked her ears after standing up, "One day, we can be."