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Dinner was relatively uneventful that evening. Our bedroom smelled of sex and that wafted a little into the hallway, but the most we got about it was a question from John about couldn't we stay away from each other long enough to care for Stu? Stu defended us by saying he had napped, which was true. We played board games and talked about old times-- for those of who knew the old times, anyway. Luna, Rose and I found some of it enlightening. Soon everyone was getting sleepy. Some pre-emptive packing was done, but we mostly just went to bed. It had been a long day for everyone.

The morning sun rose to the usual chaos of tearing down a rental cabin - pulling sheets off beds, scrubbing down the kitchen and bath, bagging all the trash, so there really wasn't much talking time. Stu put his gear in Toby's Jimmy to ride home with us, and the others adjusted their packing accordingly to the new space. We had a light breakfast of yogurt and granola in paper bowls, and then hit the road.

The car ride was pretty quiet. Not the awkward tension of The Morning After, but the tiredness of a trip well spent. Since everyone had their own gear, we decided to break up at the cabin rather than staying together for the drive, which meant everyone stopped where they needed to for fuel and food. Stu knew a little town almost exactly half-way between Winter Park and St George, where a his father's college roommate lived and ran a tasty little greasy spoon that his sister had left him. We stopped there amidst much fawning and cooing over the injured Marten by the owner's daughters, over which we had to tease Stu quite a bit for the next hundred miles or so, but the car got much more sober as we passed the exit to Cedar City.

Fortunately, the road was clear most of the way down the Western Slope, so it was only about six o'clock by time we got back to St. George. Toby dropped Stu off amidst more fawning and cooing from his family as we unloaded his gear for him. There were promises to hang out passed about, and then we found our way back to Toby's house, road weary and glad to be home. Toby warned me to be ready for a feast and a very impressive welcome home, and he surely wasn't kidding. His parents met us in the driveway, which had been lined with Mylar balloons declaring both "Welcome home!" and variations on holiday greetings. I marveled at the idea of a family that was that eager to see each other. They exchanged hugs (and included me in that pile) and immediately started grabbing gear. Bags were sorted out and my things were deposited in Teagan's room, camp and winter gear were left in the laundry room for sorting after dinner, and Toby's gear was taken up to the main floor and set in his room. What food had survived the road trip was mostly snack goodies, so those were stowed in the TV room on the ground floor for consumption during movies.

Harper and Jamie had outdone themselves with a welcome home meal, cooking a large spread of Toby's favorite Chinese dishes: sweet and sour chicken, fish-scented pork, kung pao, cucumber salad with peanuts and hot peppers, stir-fried chao mian, sweet-sticky puffed rice rinds, and there were even a few sides that were hard to find in North America, like blood pudding and tofu skin for the veggie rolls. Harper had a full-sized lazy Susan that she'd set on the table for traditional style service. The crowning piece came out of the oven once everyone settled into the kitchen, as Jamie placed a simmering soy-roasted trout in the center of the table, straight from the oven. My tail was thumping hard, and all three cats' tails were twitching eagerly. Everyone sat down and dug in, while Toby and I reported on the doings of the last semester, and his parents told us about life in southwestern Utah.

Finally we had mostly had our fill, and sat about picking tastes of our favorites directly from the serving dishes. Harper looked at Jamie and he nodded. They put on serious expressions.

Harper began. "Guys, there is something we need to talk about with the both of you. And it may not be the most comfortable conversation."

Toby and I exchanged our own look. I could see his ears were as flat as mine.

"Detective Holcombe came back through town on another case, and he found me at the hospital," Harper began. "When he did, he brought me some documents to look over, since I was the nurse overseeing Craig after that first night." I looked at Harper as Jamie retrieved a manila envelope from the counter and handed it to her. She took out a paper and passed it to me.

I looked at it. My name was on top, but that's the only thing I really recognized. There were a bunch of numbers I didn't really understand, and a chart in the middle with several columns of thick, black lines. "What am I looking at," I asked.

"It's a DNA test," said Jamie.

"Mine?"

"No. But the sample came from you," explained Harper. "When you were beaten, we did a complete work-over on you. Sometimes, hate beatings lead to sexual abuse, so they checked you for that, and found foreign DNA in your tail hole."

"I wondered why they swabbed my butt," I said. It was the only thing I could think to say. My head was reeling.

"The DNA wasn't canine," Harper continued. "It was pantheric."

Toby dropped his chopsticks.

"Detective Holcolmbe asked us to help him find leads. There are no Tigers in the Dawgs. Following his instructions, I took some fur from one of Toby's brushes, and had it tested." Jamie took another paper out of the envelope. The graphics were identical.

There was a pregnant pause in which everyone looked around at everyone else, but avoided looking at the same person who was looking at them. Finally, Jamie leaned forward and rested his arms on the table.

"The point is, we know whose it is. And we're pretty sure that you wouldn't have behaved the way you did all summer if Toby had raped you-- and I raised my sons better than that, anyway. But... maybe you would like to tell us something, boys?"

"Yes, I very much would like to tell you," muttered Toby, looking down at his plate. "About five years from now, when I'm ready."

That broke the tension and everyone laughed. It was a family line that I had heard them use several times this summer for various conversations, sometimes when the speaker was having trouble making a decision like vanilla or chocolate, or less often, when they had something uncomfortable to say. But always as a preface to the fact that yes, they were going to give an answer in short order.

"When you said last summer that you didn't want Craig corrupting me with his ways, I figured we would do our best to behave, and follow the rules under your roof. But I also knew that he wouldn't be corrupting me, no matter what, because I was already pretty sure I liked guys."

Harper nodded once, slowly. Jamie closed his eyes and sighed.

"You can imagine why I was not willing to come out here," Toby continued. "Just look what happened to Craig. Saint George isn't that far from Cedar. We're pretty much the same kind of super-conservative little Podunk."

"I hope you didn't think that we would do that," said Jamie.

"No. I just couldn't bear to face disappointing you," said Toby, looking his father right in the eyes. "And I wasn't a hundred percent sure, myself, until last summer. Craig is the first guy I've ever touched. No sense opening a can of worms if I didn't need to."

I could see some relief in both parents' faces at that comment.

"I guess that's better than thinking you couldn't trust me," breathed Jamie. His shoulders were lowered, now, but he still wasn't smiling.

Harper took the envelope and took out one more piece of paper, which she handed to me.

"What's this one?"

"STD check. You're negative, all the way around. I think we can assume the same for Toby, if he's never touched anyone else?"

Toby nodded. "Craig was my first."

"Well, we would be lying if we said this made either of us happy," Harper said. "But you're our son..."

I let the implications of that wash over me. This was his step-mother. They weren't blood related.

"...and we love you. That will never change. And Craig, here is a pretty good young man." She actually smiled at me. Jamie opened his eyes and nodded his approval. "So while we maybe would not have chosen this relationship for you, neither are we going to pretend it's not happening, or refuse to welcome Craig into our home. You do still have to behave yourselves while you're here, though. Especially since our bedrooms share a wall."

"Hey, I've heard your side of the wall shake in the past," said Toby. Now he was smirking.

"Yeah, but we're your parents. We're supposed to gross you out. We're not supposed to hear you having sex."

"And not in Teagan's room, either," added Jamie. "That won't be fair to him, since he'll be home in a few days. If you boys can't wait a couple weeks while you're home, go rent a hotel."

"Actually, we do have that hotel," said Toby, looking at me.

"Right, for the deposition. I guess we can behave ourselves while we're here for a few days." Harper threw up her hands in mock defeat. Jamie smirked.

"We mean it, though," said Jamie, suddenly looking very stern and leaning forward on his elbows again. "We love you, Toby, and nothing is ever going to change that. And Craig, if you're going to end up being part of the family, well, I think we can safely say that if Toby has to be gay--"

"Bi," Toby corrected.

"Whatever-- if you're committed to Craig, is there any practical difference?"

"No."

"Thank you. If Toby has to be gay, I'm glad he found you, Craig." He stood up and came around the table, extending his paw to me. I looked at Toby, who nodded, then gave my paw to Jamie. He shook it firmly. "Welcome to the family." With that, he pulled me up into one of those bone-crushing hugs that Tigers seemed so fond of. Harper came around the table then and hugged me in turn, while Jamie moved on to his son. Once they had both hugged Toby, he looked at me and handed me a napkin to wipe the tears from my eyes.

"You OK," he asked.

"I just... this isn't something I dared dream of," I said around the paw as I wiped my eyes and muzzle.

"My parents are both pretty amazing. It's why I keep them around," said Toby. Harper stuck her tongue out at him.

"So you'll both need to give a statement to Detective Holcombe as to where that DNA came from and why it was there," said Harper. "He didn't have authority to take the questions across state lines, which is why he didn't reach out to you directly. Plus, if he did seek interstate warrants, it would hit the news, and he's done his best to be very sensitive about that."

"Hotcha," said Toby as he took the envelope from her.

"Go put that in your room," Jamie instructed, "then let's get these leftovers put in the fridge and the kitchen cleaned up."

* * *

Once the kitchen was clean and Toby's parents settled in to do their usual after-dinner activities, Craig and I cuddled together on the couch downstairs, in front of the TV, where we could keep an ear on the laundry.

"That... did not go at all how I expected it to," I said.

"No, thank the Winds," said Toby. "I still would rather have done it on my terms, and not be dragged out of the closet like that."

"Were you going to tell them this winter," I asked.

"I honestly don't know," Toby pondered. "I'm sure it won't surprise you that I have been thinking about it daily, pretty much since we left. With or without you present, it was going to have to come out eventually. I was thinking some time after Teagan's visit, maybe a day or two before I left, so if things turned ugly, I could just go. Not that I thought they would be nearly as bad as what happened with your folks, but sometimes they do surprise me. Around here, though, the silent treatment is about the worst that it gets."

"I could deal with the silent treatment, if it meant being able to go home."

Toby looked me right in the eyes. "As far as I'm concerned, you are home, every bit as much as you are in our apartment in Lincoln."

Harper came down at that point. "Suits us, fine, too." She ducked into the utility room, but called from inside, "And by the way, we won't let Teagan's girlfriend sleep with him here, either. So we're not singling you out." She came out with the box she had come down to retrieve.

"Understood," I said. "And thank you."

"Of course," Harper said. "I meant every word I said this summer about what your parents did. Family comes first. Always. Any other issues, you deal with. As. A. Family." With that, she headed back upstairs.

Toby yawned in that intimidating way that only felidae seem able to do. "You tired as I am?"

Yeah. What say we hit it when this load is out?" I jumped as the dryer buzzed at just that moment.

"First," Toby pulled me up into another bone crusher hug. "I love you, Craig Azeria." He kissed me, slowly and passionately.

When he finally let me up for air, I kept my arms around him and said, "I love you, too, Toby Katt."

* * * End of Book 2 * * *