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Brizz scooped an oversized helping of crispy, seasoned crickets into his muzzle, crunching on them loudly.

"Mmf. Mmh! Wan' some?" the pale white-and-pink bat asked, his Australian accent quite strong. He nudged the bowl across the table.

"Um ... no, thanks," Field demurred, whiskers twitching as he intently analyzed his cards.

"Y'sure?"

"You know Field doesn't eat bugs, dad," Adelaide reminded, taking the bowl for herself. Standing behind the harvest mouse, the pink-furred bat whispered something into his ear.

Field nodded at his mate's advice.

"This is between him an' me, Addie," Brizz insisted.

"I'm just here to keep you honest," Adelaide told her father.

"Oh, right, right." The ghost bat winked and licked his lips with his long, wily tongue. "Okay, then! How 'bout let's end this." He moved a stack of wheat pennies into the middle of the table. "You all in, Fieldy?"

"He's bluffing," Adelaide stage-whispered to Field.

Brizz maintained a straight, unreadable face.

"I don't know," Field replied hesitantly, looking down at his cards again. And then to Brizz. "He ... he looks so serious!"

"He's trying to spook you. Don't fall for it."

"If I lose, he's not going to take my pennies, is he?" Field continued.

"I'll make sure you get them back," Adelaide promised. They didn't have poker chips so were using Field's wheat penny collection instead.

"Well?" Brizz demanded. "Call or fold?"

"I, uh ... I think I'm gonna call."

"Y'think?" Brizz clicked his tongue, trying to sow doubt in the mouse's mind.

"I'm going all in," Field insisted.

"Bold move, bucko! Let's see your cards."

Field laid down his hand after a nudge from Adelaide.

"Heh!" Brizz nodded and smiled, tossing his down. "Damn. I _was_bluffin'. Ya got me!"

Field smiled and corralled his pennies, scooping them into a clear quart jar.

The game over, he got up and left the kitchen with Adelaide, going into the living room. Adelaide's mother, a red-furred American 'Indiana bat' named Marian, was watching the 90's hit dramedy 'Belfry Bats.'

"When are they going to reboot this show?" she asked Adelaide as they came in. She was lounging on the couch. "They've redone everything else!"

"I keep hearing rumors but nothing official." Adelaide sat on the opposite end of the couch. Brizz, on late entry, sat between his mate and daughter.

Field remained standing, watching the assembled roost of bats. He held his tail in his paws. Adelaide's parents lived out of state, so they didn't see them in person very often. Whenever he was with her family, he felt a little self-conscious. Did he fit in? Did they really like him? Or were they only putting up with him because they had to?

"We still having Thanksgiving with your family, Field?" Marian asked.

"Mm?" He blinked. "Oh. Yeah."

"Any word on what we should bring? I have some good recipes!"

"They're still haggling over the menu," Adelaide said, giving Field a look.

His whiskers twitched.

"We almost got wrecked back there," Field said, pulse still racing. He'd taken a roundabout and a car had pulled out in front of him at the last second. They'd missed by inches.

"Did we, dear? That's nice," his mom said from the passenger seat, distracted by a video on her phone.

"Mother. I was talking about Adelaide's parents coming to town ... we're having Thanksgiving together. Both families. Remember?"

"Mm? Oh, sure, mm-hmm."

"We'd like to know the menu. The grocery stores are going to be swamped next week. We want to get our supplies soon. What are you making? What can we bring?"

No reply.

"Mom."

The older mouse turned the volume on her phone up. A royalty-free generic jingle started to play.

Field twitched and gave her a side-glance. "What are you watching?"

"A recipe video."

"For what?" he asked.

"Deviled eggs."

"You don't even like deviled eggs."

"But it was on my 'wall'," she said, of her social media page.

"Oh, well, then. You have to watch it. That's internet law."

After a pause, she said, "You know who does like deviled eggs?"

"The Devil?" Field guessed dryly.

"Food for thought!"

Field sighed.

"Mice are so passive-aggressive," Brizz observed, after hearing the story.

"Tell me about it," Adelaide said.

Field made a face.

Adelaide shrugged.

He couldn't get mad, though. It was true.

As a prey species on the lowest end of the social totem pole, mice tended to avoid conflict, even when they were upset. It was a self-preservation instinct. But it had a tendency to come off as, well ... yeah.

"I'll text her tonight," Field promised, of his mother. "Maybe if I tell her we're bringing a bug dish, she'll respond."

"I've always felt your family doesn't know how to approach us," Marian insisted. "Like they're afraid we're going to bite or something."

"I bite," Brizz insisted with a grin.

Marian smirked.

"They've always been wary of me," Adelaide said. She pressed her wings together and put on a waif-y tone. "'He would've married a sweet, simple farm mouse if she hadn't come along and captured him with her vampiric charms'!"

"Field, are they upset that you're ... " Marian lowered her voice, as if talking about a state secret. "Bisexual?" she whispered.

The mouse blushed. "They, uh ... they don't really know about that." He'd actually forgotten that Adelaide's parents knew. Adelaide mentioned she'd told them. Had she told them about Kody, too?

"Why not?" Brizz asked.

"Why do they need to? It doesn't affect them."

"Exactly why it's no big deal if they find out," Adelaide insisted.

"They won't listen. They won't acknowledge or accept it."

"How do you know?" Marian asked.

"Because I do. Mice are quiet. We're listeners. It makes me a good judge of how people will react to things. It's just ... it's just not worth the tension." The mouse flopped down into a cushioned chair in the corner of the room.

"You're already tense, mousey." Adelaide went to him, standing behind the chair and leaning forward, draping her wing-arms over him. Her wingtips rubbed at his belly, discreetly inching even lower. "Maybe we should go to bed early?"

The mouse cleared his throat, eyes widening as he sat up straight and looked for the TV remote. "Speaking of ghost bats, there's a show called Ghosts I think you guys would like ... "

Field removed his underwear and flicked off the lamp, wriggling into the left side of the bed.

Adelaide, preferring the right, was already naked and beneath the sheets.

The couple laid there for a minute, staring at the dark, stucco ceiling.

Adelaide then rolled onto her side, pressing her nose to his shoulder. "Mousey," she breathed.

"Mm?" he went.

"I want you," she insisted in a husky tone.

"I picked up on that when you propositioned me in front of your parents."

"Don't pretend you don't feel the same," was all she said.

Field swallowed. He didn't. He couldn't. "I thought you were gonna ... do something to me earlier. When I was in the chair."

"Something?" she murred. "Like what?"

"If I give you ideas, you'll do it to me now," he said.

"You make that sound like a bad thing." She slid a wingtip down his belly. As before. Only, this time, there was nothing to stop her from cupping his fuzzy balls.

He squeaked.

"I want you, too, Adelaide, b-b ... but ... "

"But what?" she breathed, her batty thumb coaxing him to an 'excited' state. Upon which she began to stroke him.

"But your ... ah, they're in the next room!" Referring to Brizz and Marian. "Ten feet away!" the mouse whispered in the most paranoid fashion. Since the house only had one bedroom, her parents were on an air mattress in the study. Adelaide had volunteered their bed to them but they'd refused.

"This isn't about them. It's about us," Adelaide said. "It's been four days!" And her parents were staying with them for eight. Until the day after Thanksgiving.

"That means we're halfway to the finish line," Field said, trying for a positive spin.

"I can't last four more," the bat insisted. "Can't we just ... mm, y'know ... real quick? It'll just take a few minutes!"

"Between my squeaks and your chitters, they'd hear us." They weren't exactly a quiet couple when making love. "They can probably hear us now," Field added, lowering his voice even more. "Besides, our bed creaks. And the headboard taps the wall. And--"

"Stop making excuses," she jabbed. "I want to hear you say it."

"Say what?" the mouse echoed. "That I want you? That I want your wings around me? Our hips colliding, lips meeting? My paws on your breasts? While I thrust in and out of your warm, wet ... perfect ... " He cleared his throat. "Of course I do! I want you ... I want your ... mm, everything! More than I can describe."

Adelaide began to press her body against his. "That's the spirit."

The mouse huffed, sitting up, the bedsheets spilling off his chest. "I know your family's more open about sex than mine, but I don't really want them to hear us doing it. It makes me embarrassed."

"Why?"

"Your dad would probably ask me about it in the morning. How would I even respond to that?"

Adelaide giggled, looking up at him in the dark.

"It's not funny!" Field insisted.

"It is, though. The more flustered you get, the cuter you get, and the more I want you." The bat reached for him, trying to drag him back down. "Let me un-fluster you."

"Un-fluster ... mm, sounds like a ... like a euphemism ... " Horizontal once more, his paws began to slide along her two-toned pink body. He almost didn't realize he was doing it.

"Thaaat's it." Putting her muzzle to his dishy ear, she whispered, "A little quickie, yeah? If you're worried about the mattress creaking, maybe we do it standing up? Against the wall? Ooh. Maybe we can go outside!" It was chilly but not freezing. "It's a full moon, too," she murmured in a singsong tone.

"We ... we can't." The mouse sat up again, suddenly too hot to be underneath the sheets and covers. He kicked them away. "We can't."

Adelaide laid back, breasts rising and falling with her heavy breathing. She scrunched her muzzle with annoyance. Field could be so damn stubborn sometimes. "Alright." She paused, trying to be understanding. "I'm sorry for pushing you."

"No." Field shook his head and laid back down, getting onto his side and facing her. "No, I'm sorry for being difficult ... "

"I forgive you. But there's a price," Adelaide said, warming up again.

"Let me guess: make-up sex?"

"Outside. Under the stars. As soon as they leave. Once December comes, we won't get another chance until spring."

"Then I guess I've gotta make it extra memorable for you."

"I'm holding you to that," Adelaide said, pecking a sweet, little kiss on her mate's lips. "And don't be so scared of dad."

"He's literally a ghost bat. When he looks at me, I feel like he's seeing through me or something."

"Psh. I'm half-ghost bat, and you're not scared of me."

"Cause your mother's side evens it out."

"He's harmless. Well, except to bugs."

Field nuzzled up to her, yawning in a whisker-quivering way.

Adelaide wrapped a wing-arm around him.

Just when it seemed like he'd fallen asleep, the mouse piped up again, voice soft and airy. "You know how, in the background, there's always ... " He trailed off, trying to find his words. "There's this wall of soft sound? Behind everything?"

"White noise?" Adelaide asked, closing her eyes.

"Only, with me, it's pink noise. It's you." He pressed his nose to her shoulder. "You're always there. Underneath my thoughts, my desires. In the air I breathe."

"My sweetheart," she whispered.

When they finally fell asleep, their dreams were fever hot.

"You've been quiet, mouse man. What's up?" Kody asked from the driver's seat. He turned the volume down on the radio, which was playing local sports talk. It had just gone to commercial.

"Mm?" Field went, blinking and looking out the passenger window.

It was the next day, late-afternoon/early evening.

The remains of orange and burgundy leaves scuttled off the city sidewalks and across the street as a blustery breeze blew. It was no longer just autumn. It was late autumn. Which was almost winter. Which mean the year was practically over. Which meant he was another year older, which meant--

I should've taken Adelaide up on her offer.

His whiskers twitched.

Sex outside, beneath the full moon? When you're in your prime and your libido is raging? You're a romantic at heart. What's more romantic than that?!

Now, it was drizzly and grey. A cold front had moved in. He'd missed his chance.

Guhhhh!

"You seem distracted," Kody said.

"Do I?" Field echoed, trying to quell his existential crisis. He changed the subject. "Are we there yet?"

He and Kody were going to a Butler basketball game. Field's favorite basketball team. It was the home opener, in fact. The campus was in the 'Midtown' region of Indianapolis.

"Naw, few more minutes. Where should I park again?"

"On the side streets. It's free."

"Sweet."

"Since we're getting there early, we should be able to get pretty close to the Fieldhouse." Field fiddled with his seatbelt.

"Field. Fieldhouse. Heh. The house that Field built!"

The mouse, not cracking a smile, insisted, "I've brought you to a Butler game before."

"Yeah, but you drove. I never pay attention to the route when I'm not driving. Now, if I had to get to a Pacers game? I could do that. NBA is my jam. Heh, get it? NBA Jam?" the rabbit said, rather proud of his joke.

Field looked out the window again. It was getting dark.

"Hmm. Alright. Spill it, dude."

"Nothing to spill," Field insisted.

"You can't fool me. Lemme guess." The white-and-black Himalayan rabbit might not have been good at Jeopardy, but he knew the signs of what was bothering Field. "Classic blue balls situation, huh?"

"What?"

"Stands to reason."

"How?" Field shook his head in confusion. "I haven't said anything remotely sexual."

"I'm a rabbit, remember?" Kody tapped a paw on the side of his nose.

"I, uh ... yeah, I remember," Field mumbled.

He'd had a crush on his hunky friend for years. This had culminated in a spontaneous foursome with him, Adelaide, Kody, and Kody's mate Ketchy ... in which Kody's dick had wound up in Field's mouth.

"You got Addie's folks over, right?"

"Yeah ... "

"Sooo ... probably haven't had a chance to get frisky?"

"Well. No ... not really." Field's whiskers twitched. "Our house is pretty small, and bat ears are ... well, they're even better than mouse ears. They hear everything."

"Gotcha." Kody drummed his clawed fingers on the steering wheel, slowing and stopping for a red light. "Seems simple enough. Just rub one out, man!"

Field blinked and looked straight ahead, not sure how to respond to that.

"Y'know, like Butler's going to rub out a W!" the rabbit added cheerfully, foot-paw back on the gas pedal.

Field was quiet for a moment before saying, "I think we can officially retire that phrase."

"Shower's probably the best place for it."

The mouse gnawed on his lower lip as Kody drove them past the well-lit Fieldhouse and turned onto a darker side-street.

"Or, hey, you and Addie can come over to our place. We can get a little somethin'-somethin' goin' on. I don't want you to think I'm only about getting muzzle. I can give it, too. And it's good." His chest puffed out and his ears stood tall, bending against the ceiling of the car. "Ketchy will vouch for me."

Field's ears burned bright red. "I'm sure. And I appreciate the offer, but, um ... " He took a deep breath. "It's not just that I'm horny right now. I'm horny for her. For Adelaide. I'm thinking about her all the time. Even at work."

"Love is a powerful drug, man," Kody said, as if stating something truly profound. But he followed it up with, "We'll take a rain check on Foursome 2.0."

Field scrunched his face. "Do we have to call it that?"

"Why? What would you call it?"

Put on the spot, Field could only come up with, "Happy Friend Circle?"

"That sounds like a Japanese porn." Kody found a parking spot and turned into it. "Not gonna lie, though. I'd watch the fuck out of it!"

"Field said what?"

"Yeah, Kody told me!" Ketchy said, sitting on the checkout desk. It was a day after the game (Butler had won by double digits), which made it the day before Thanksgiving. It had been another rainy late-afternoon, and the Sheridan library was empty except for the two of them.

The library would be closed from Thursday to Sunday for the extended holiday. They were both really looking forward to the time off, and it was hard not to slack knowing it was almost here.

Adelaide, seated behind the desk, took her eyes off the computer (where she'd been reading up on entertainment news) and raised a brow. "Field said 'I'm so fucking horny for hot bat pussy'?"

"Well ... okay, that doesn't sound like Field."

"Sounds more like Kody."

"He's been known to embellish things," the brown-and-silver fox squirrel admitted. "But you get the gist!"

"I picked up on it myself," Adelaide defended. "I don't need 'breaking third-hand news' to know my mate's pent up. I'm pent up, too."

"Cause your parents are staying over?"

"Yeah." Adelaide leaned back in her chair. "Field's afraid they'll catch us doing it."

"Would they?"

Adelaide shrugged. "Yeah. Probably."

"Doesn't seem to bother you," the squirrel observed.

"My family's more liberal than Field's. Less hang-ups."

"Bats aren't afraid to let the freak flag fly," the squirrel stated with a knowing nod.

"I'm literally the only bat you know."

"Yeah, and you're also the freakiest!"

Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"Surprised you haven't found a _work_around," Ketchy continued, emphasizing her pun.

"What? You mean, like ... doing it here?" Adelaide looked around the empty library.

In addition to the weather, it was also holiday break for the schools, all of which was keeping the foot traffic down. There was something satisfying about those quiet days on the job. No stress. No pressure. Just being present. On the other paw, time really dragged when you weren't occupied.

"A lot of nooks and crannies. Study rooms. Tables. Couches." Ketchy listed off the possible love-making locations.

"Check-in desks," Adelaide said with a twinkle in her eye.

Ketchy's eyes widened. "You did it on the desk? Right here? You didn't tell me that!"

"I did, too."

"You said 'a desk,' not 'the checkout desk'."

"Point is, we've done it here lots of times," she said, not confirming any more specifics. The library was a cozy, intimate environment. There was something very titillating about doing something loud in a designated quiet space. "But it's not convenient right now."

"Why not?"

"Field's working all day at the orchard. His job is closer to our house than the library, and we close before they do. I'd have to wait around. Field would have to drive up here in the dark. Gotta fix supper for my parents."

"There's your answer."

"What?"

"If he can't come to you, go to him."

"The orchard?" Adelaide asked, raising a brow. "Hmm ... haven't done it there before."

"Seriously? Seems unbelievable," Ketchy insisted, "given your 'proclivities' and how long he's been working there. His first year was the year you got together, right?"

"Yeah. But it's a different degree of difficulty, isn't it?"

"How?"

"Trying to fool around in a lazy library with mazes of tall shelves and private reading rooms versus, say, a busy, open-floored farm market with security cameras and always more than two staff members on duty," Adelaide said, gesturing between Ketchy and herself. They'd been running the place themselves all day long.

"Do it outside, then. In the apple trees."

"Apple trees are short and scraggly. You can't lean against them."

"Since when?"

"Since always? There are three sizes of fruit trees. Dwarf, semi-dwarf, and standard. Orchards mostly have dwarves. They're small and compact and ... " She trailed off, realizing she sounded like Field. She'd picked up all that information from him.

"It's a freaking farm. I'm sure there's plenty of places to get lost. They have a corn maze, right?"

"Corn maze. Mm. That would be hot." Adelaide nodded, pondering the possibilities. "Actually, I remember him telling me that they harvested it last week. So, that's out."

"You'll have to start making plans for next year."

Adelaide nodded distractedly.

The squirrel gave a bucktoothed grin. "Heh. Why don't you start a blog? 'Bang-Up Jobs,' where you rate workplaces based on how easy it would be to fuck at them?"

"You joke, but you know that would go viral or something."

"We can monetize it. Sell t-shirts and mugs!" Ketchy said. "Only, since it's my idea, I get a bigger cut."

"Yeah, but I'd be the face of it. Stars always get more."

"You drive a hard bargain." Ketchy crossed her arms, tail fluffing upright. "So, Miss Expert, what would be the hardest job to fool around at? Airline pilot, astronaut ...?"

"Well, the 'mile high club' is probably a myth, at least for non-billionaires without private jets." A pause. "But I know astronauts have done it," Adelaide insisted.

"Where's the proof? If it's happened, it's a bigger secret than Area 51."

"I mean, think about it logically, right? You can't tell me they wouldn't have at least staged it 'for science'."

"Go on ... "

"If there's ever a lengthy deep-space mission, or society has to flee the planet cause of climate change ... there'll be sex. Tight, closed spaces? Presumably fit people? Survival of many species at stake? So, inquiring scientists gotta know the effects and details for the future! Our collective survival could depend on it."

"Hmm ... "

"They just can't tell the public because some conservative politician would try to cut their funding for using tax dollars for 'salacious space sex.'"

"Okay. That weirdly makes sense." The squirrel tilted her head, unable to stop from imagining it. "You know it would be _way_messier in zero gravity."

"Mm-hmm. You'd gunk up the equipment with globs of fluid, and you'd never collect all the shed fur drifting around."

"Also, what would you be thrusting against? If you're floating?"

"You'd have to be braced against something," Adelaide reasoned.

"Kody would hump me into a somersault. Then I'd slam into a console ... the ship would crash." The squirrel stopped and blinked. "See what you've got me going on about? You've definitely thought about this before!"

"Field watches a lot of sci-fi," Adelaide insisted, not denying it.

"Uh-huh. And do you ever roleplay as space officers?"

Adelaide smiled slyly. "He's a commander and I'm a lieutenant-commander. Aboard the starship Luminous."

Ketchy giggled. "I bet he's better at roleplaying than Kody. It always falls apart with him." Her tail fluttered. "It's never boring, though."

"I know. You've told me about some of the attempts." Adelaide slumped back in her chair, thoughts returning to Field. She wanted her mouse. Maybe she could surprise him at his work? No harm in stopping by to say hello. "It's the slow season."

"Huh?"

"At the orchard. End of harvest time. They shut down for winter in a few weeks. At this time of year, they're lucky to get thirty customers a day, so if I could get there before they close ... it would already be dark out, there'd be no customers. Staff, though." Adelaide made a face. "That's the problem. He probably wouldn't be alone."

"You're such an exhibitionist, Addie."

"And you like hearing about it, so what's that make you? A voyeur?"

"I didn't say I was a saint!" the squirrel replied, randomly rearranging a pile of miniature decorative gourds on the desktop. "But, uh, since it was my idea, you can repay me with the details?"

"Deal."

"Promise?"

"What are best friends for?" Skipping a beat, the bat confessed, "Field would self-combust if he knew what we shared with each other."

"Oh, Kody wouldn't. He'd probably just puff out his chest and say 'that's not the half of it'!"

"Heh."

Ketchy glanced at the clock. The library closed at 5:30 today. It was 5:10. "Hey, you never said what you're doing tomorrow."

"For Thanksgiving? Pretty sure I did."

"You said it was up in the air."

"We're going to Field's parents'. It's just that they were dragging their feet about the planning, but his mom finally texted him this morning and told him what foods to bring."

"Maybe you could get together with Kody and me sometime? Friday afternoon? Oh, wait, we're going to get our Christmas tree on Saturday. You can come along! You're still putting up a live one, right?"

"As long as it's not too big, yeah."

"Great! We'll get out trees together."

"What time?" Adelaide suggested.

"Probably should leave mid-morning. The farm we're getting our tree at is a forty-minute drive. We'll get our trees, go out to eat, bring them home, and then maybe meet up at one of our places for supper."

"Just prepare for lots of cookies. Field likes to bake, and our freezer is stuffed with them. He swears he's going to unload them during the holidays."

"Don't worry. Kody is a cookie monster," Ketchy promised.

"How about you? Are you spending Thanksgiving with his family?" Adelaide asked.

"Nah, mine. We alternate. One year, his family gets us for Christmas and mine for Thanksgiving. Then we flip. We're currently on a 'Kody family Christmas' cycle.' They give better gifts than my family, though."

"More thoughtful?"

"More money."

"Right. Kody doesn't seem like he comes from the upper crust."

"I wouldn't call them upper crust. Upper middle-class? He's the misfit of the bunch," Ketchy admitted. "Not just socially, but physically. He's a head taller than his parents. His siblings are taking over the family business, so he's sort of on the outside looking in."

"Does that bother him?"

"Not outwardly. But, inside, I can tell he wants to impress them ... "

"Can they be impressed?"

"I mean ... they're nice enough, but they're very set in their ways. They're all about keeping up appearances, and a rogue, handyman son with his non-rabbit mate ... we don't exactly get showered in public hugs and kisses."

"Interspecies mate-ships are harder than people think," Adelaide sympathized, knowing from her experience with Field's family.

"Preaching to the choir, Addie."

"When you really commit to someone outside your species? When family ties become involved? Having to adapt to and juggle different biological behaviors and cultural expectations ... " She shook her head. "Then there's the 'baby' stuff."

There was a reason why flings and dates were often interspecies, but most mate-ships wound up same-species. If you wanted your own kids, which many did, you ultimately had to be with someone genetically compatible. So, like paired with like.

"They still give you grief about that?"

"No. Field's brothers have kids, now. They have their grandchildren."

"Yeah, Kody's siblings are still popping 'em out. So, I've never on the hook for that."

Adelaide leaned back in her chair and said, with a helpless grin, "That hasn't stopped Field and I from making countless attempts."

"So, are you going to ambush him at the orchard? Tonight?"

"Ambush is such a sneaky word." The bat considered her tactics. "I'm going to pounce on him. Like an animal. Though like any good pouncing, I'll be subtle until the right moment ... so I don't miss."

"Mmf. I better go start closing down before you work _me_up," Ketchy said, hopping to her feet and wandering off.

"Someone has to spread holiday cheer!" Adelaide insisted.

Field put his paws in his coat pockets, blowing out a breath and looking at the timer on the main register screen.

5:43 and seven seconds.

Eight seconds.

Nine

Ten.

Eleven.

He watched the clock inch closer to 6 PM, which was closing time.

The farm market was devoid of customers, but he'd kept himself busy until now.

He'd organized and dusted the shelves. Jars of homestyle apple butter, bags of rainbow popcorn kernels. Old-fashioned egg noodles and ten different kinds of fruit salsa. Fall décor galore. He'd also restocked the cider cooler with gallons and half-gallons.

Out back, the orchard was completely barren, the apples and leaves having dropped from all the trees. The sun had set around 5:30, and the property was shrouded in darkness, giving it a spooky aura.

It was a huge change of pace from just a month ago.

August, September, and October, every day was slammed, buzzing with noise and activity. Apple picking! Cider pressing! Pumpkins! School tours! Birthday parties in the pavilion! Corn maze! Snack barn! Cider donuts! It never ended. Nonstop activities, endless stream of customers, always a potential crisis to be averted.

Harvest season was exhausting.

Which is why Field wasn't complaining about having nothing to do right now. He'd put in plenty of time in this agri-tainment pressure cooker. Besides, mice didn't get bored. As he often bragged, they were experts at quiet. He could keep himself occupied mentally, especially for fifteen more minutes.

Right?

Yeah.

Like ... thinking about Adelaide, maybe?

And what he wanted to do to her.

Or what he wanted her to do to him.

"Mm."

He swallowed, adjusting his jeans.

At 5:45, he went to the back room, closing the sliding doors that led to the outside portion of the farm. Latching them shut, he then went to the breaker box and turned out the lights. He left the retail lights on. For now. Maybe he should pull the till, though? Then he'd be able to get out of here exactly at closing time.

Just as he started to do this, however, headlights swung into the parking lot and pierced into the store. Field squinted and shielded his eyes.

His whiskers twitched.

A last-minute customer?

Great ...

The headlights dimmed as the car was turned off, a figure getting out and approaching the door. They pulled it open and came inside.

"Adelaide!" Field exclaimed, blue eyes widening in surprise.

"Mousey," the two-toned pink bat replied, the glass door softly swinging shut behind her.

"What ... what are you doing here?"

"Thought mom and dad might like some cider slushes. Been a while since they've had 'em. The machine's still running, isn't it?"

"Of course. But you could've texted me. I would've brought them home," Field insisted.

"I have to drive past here on my way back from the library," she reminded, ears at full attention. Who else was working with him? There was _always_more than one. Cozying up to the checkout counter, she saw the till open. "Closing up early?"

"Oh. Well ... " The mouse resumed pulling the cash out. Once that was done, he started to bag up the coins. "We haven't had a customer in forty minutes. Thought I could risk it."

Adelaide nodded, plum-purple eyes continuing to rove. It was almost as quiet as the library in here. If you didn't count the soft, steady background hum of machinery. Coolers, freezers, the aforementioned cider slush machine.

"What are you, uh ... looking for?" Field wondered, seeing her head on a swivel.

"Mm? Oh, nothing." She paused. "Just wondering who else was on the clock."

"Just me. I sent Herkimer and Talkeetna home." The blue-ish house mouse and red squirrel were a mated couple who had worked at the orchard for almost five years, now.

Field had been here sixteen years, which he found hard to believe sometimes.

"Oh?" Adelaide perked, delighted in her luck. "You can do that, huh?"

He nodded. "The owner went home early. Manager had the day off. Herk and TK don't have a key, but I do, so ... as senior staff member present, I just, uh, made the decision."

"Mmm. Such authority," the bat said with a toothy smile.

He blushed.

Adelaide wandered toward a nearby shelf to check out the candy selection. Tubs of candy corn and jelly pumpkins. 'Buy one get one free!' Leftover cider donuts. 'Dollar each!' She was trying to be nonchalant, but her pulse had quickened.

Field was alone!

They could get away with this!

The harvest mouse squinted.

Something about the way the bat was moving.

Sauntering?

Her curves.

Those hips.

The farm market being an old barn, it was almost as chilly indoors as outside. But Field was suddenly feeling a tad ... warmer. His prehensile tail, adorned in a royal blue 'thermal tail-sock,' whipped about.

"What, um ... what are you doing here, exactly? Again?" he pressed, staying behind the checkout counter. As if it would shield him from whatever shenanigans the bat had planned.

"I told you."

"Yeah, I don't believe that."

Adelaide spread her wing-arms in a gesture of innocence. "Can't I visit you just because?"

"Well, you can, but ... I'll be home in ten minutes. What's so important it can't wait?"

"Been a while since I've been in here," the bat said evasively.

"You were here for the year-end staff dinner _three_weeks ago."

"Was I?" Adelaide picked through some round, glass candy jars. "Fudge?"

"Caramels."

"Mm."

"Look." Field rubbed his cheeks. "It's not really the best time for a tour. Stock is low, shelves are getting bare. Outside's even sadder." The farm shut down in early December. In two more weeks. It opened up again in late-June, when the tart cherries were ready to pick.

"I know," Adelaide said, impatience creeping into her tone. "Soon, you'll only be working one job." The mouse also helped out on his parents' farm. "You won't know what to do with yourself."

"We need the money."

"There are more important things ... "

"Are you saying I'm a workaholic?"

"I'm saying you wouldn't be able to relax without my ... guidance," she said, trying to find the right word. "You could do with more fun."

"Fun?" The mouse finally caught on. The light bulb flicked on in his head. "Kody ... he blabbed, didn't he?!" Eyes widened. "He told Ketchy and then Ketchy told you. Oh, my gosh." The mouse began to pace back and forth.

"Come on, Field." Adelaide reached for him with a wing-arm. He didn't stop moving. "Like I didn't already know? We literally talked about it in bed the other night. Anyway, you know hot rabbit boys can't keep secrets," Adelaide chided lightly.

Field stopped. "I guess I didn't specifically tell him to keep it quiet ... "

"Not denying he's hot, either. Progress!"

"I told him I was thinking about you at work ... not about us doing it here!"

"Details, details."

"Adelaide ... "

"Fiiiieeeelllld," Adelaide pouted, leaning forward. "This is such a golden opportunity!"

"Ha, ha," the golden-furred mouse replied dryly, stealing a glance at her breasts.

"You're here alone. You have a key to the doors." The bat started counting on her digits, but she only had two, so she gave up and lowered her wing-arms. "Let's do it."

He hesitated.

"We'll make it quick!" she promised. "No one will ever know."

"I'll know."

"Maybe you'll forget after a mind-blowing orgasm," the bat suggested, licking her fangs seductively.

"M-mind-blowing?" he stammered, taking the bait.

"Would I promise something I couldn't deliver?" the bat asked, gaze capturing his.

"No. Well ... but there are cameras, though," the mouse said, tail pointing at one in the corner of the room. Up on the ceiling.

"I know. But do they collect audio?" Adelaide asked, undeterred.

"No ... "

"And are they in every room?"

"Well ... not quite."

Adelaide leaned in and whispered, "Which rooms _aren't_recorded?"

"Anywhere customers don't go."

"Like ... ?"

"Um, the attic, the warehouse, the kitchen."

"The warehouse," Adelaide decided. "I'll lock the front doors. You turn out the lights and then take me there."

Field didn't argue.

The warehouse was a big room with a tall ceiling and three garage-like doors, two of which led to 'loading docks' for semi deliveries. The main freezer was nestled against the north wall, but most of the room served as impromptu storage for dry goods.

Bags of empty cider bottles, boxes of assorted jam and jelly jars. Stacks of wooden pallets and empty twenty-bushel apple bins.

It was against one of those overturned bins that Field was currently slumped against, muzzle hanging open, head pitched forward.

"Ah ... ah ... "

He looked down at Adelaide.

The bat was on her knees on the cool, concrete floor, head between his legs. His jeans were around his ankles, and her long, wily tongue had captured his thick dick like a snake.

She proceeded to slide her muzzle down his shaft. Completely. Taking all of him in and staying there for a second before pulling back, bobbing and twisting, moving up and down.

Field was sure he was going to melt.

He had to grab her shoulders to keep his balance.

"Ohh!"

The bat kept going.

Smooth and easy.

His flesh glistened with her saliva.

"Ah, ah, Ad ... Adel ... ahhh," Field moaned, getting louder. He gripped her shoulders tighter, trying to warn her. He was too sensitive!

Adelaide got the message and eased up, pulled off him but licking his glans as a playful last measure.

His eyes rolled back, maw hanging open. A heavy spurt of pre dribbled out of him.

"You okay up there?" she asked lightly.

"I ... I think so. You pushed me r-really close!"

"It wouldn't be a proper tease if I didn't," she said, standing up and dropping her own pants. Panties, too. "Now ... who's been a good boy?"

"Me?"

"Mmhmm. Now, claim your prize."

Wiggling her bubblegum ass, she bent over the apple bin. Her stubby, little tail lifted upwards.

There was a single active light bulb in the room, glowing above the tool bench in the far corner. But it was enough to entice the mouse's eyes. He could see her soft, silken pussy in the dim light.

Field didn't need further instruction, grabbing hold of his erect shaft and pointing it right at her flower. His blunt, sensitive tip kissed it, and then he pushed inside her. All the way. Soon, her body had swallowed him up. He nudged her forward, sprawling her out on the apple bin.

The bat, wing-arms spread, groaned at being filled by her mate. "Yess ... "

Field shivered hotly, weakly grabbing her hips. He stood in place. How could anything feel this good?! The pleasure short-circuited his brain.

"Give it to me, mousey," Adelaide begged, breaking his trance. "I need you. Don't hold back!"

He squeaked and nodded, starting to move, to thrust, pounding her hard enough to make the apple bin creak and scoot across the floor. Adelaide shuffled forward with it and Field followed, the warehouse filled with slick, squelching noises, and the rhythmic sound of his huge rodent balls slapping at furred loins as they bred doggystyle.

Time blurred.

A minute passed like nothing.

Then another.

They were already nearing a powerful crescendo.

"I'm ... ah, ah! AH!"

"Do it ... do it," she squealed, starting to chitter.

Field gasped, losing muscle control. Everything felt jerky. "Addie!" he gasped, burying himself in his mate's warm, wanting sex. She clenched and rippled around him, and he cried out as he ejaculated. Each spurt a lightning bolt to his body. He twitched, seeing stars.

"Mmm, I needed that," the bat murmured when it was over.

"Yeah," Field echoed dizzily, pulling out of her body. His cock bobbled in the cool air, and he shivered. "Me, too." His ears swiveled as he suddenly heard a dripping sound. He looked at the floor. A small puddle of their love was forming between Adelaide's still-spread legs. "Um. I ... I _really_gotta mop this up."

Adelaide nodded. "I need a minute to catch my breath anyway."

Field, pants back on, secured his belt and leaned in to turn his mate around, pecking a dainty kiss to her muzzle. "Thank you."

"I should be thanking you," she murmured, wing-arms going around his neck.

"Yeah?"

"I came twice."

The mouse beamed proudly. "Really?"

"Yup."

He looked into her eyes. "I love you so much."

The bat smiled at her mate. "I love you, too."

They touched noses, nuzzling warmly.

He kissed her again, deeper this time.

She kissed back, using some tongue, and then spontaneously mumbled against his cheek, "Can you go again?"

Field took a deep breath.

They drove home separately but arrived one after the other.

Once out of the car, Field stuck close to Adelaide as they walked through the wet, cold yard to the front door. In the spring, the house would be surrounded by tulips. Hundreds of them. In the summer and fall? Zinnias. Now, it was just dormant grass, dried, crinkly leaves, and naked trees.

"I shouldn't have let you convince me to do it again. I'm such a mess," he complained. He'd lewdly ended up churning his own seed into a foamy mixture that had gotten all over his loins and thighs. Not so erotic after-the-fact!

"I'm more a mess than you," Adelaide argued, as if it were a contest. "I have it inside and out. Besides, you didn't need much convincing."

His ears blushed. "Well ... you're very persuasive."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"It was meant as one," he assured.

They walked up the steps of their front porch.

"They're going to smell it on us," Field said, back to worrying. He was clutching a box filled with Styrofoam cups of apple cider slush. One each for her parents, and two more for him and Adelaide.

"So what?" Adelaide said. "It'll just reveal how deeply in love we are, even after all these years. It's romantic, really."

"I mean, technically, but--"

Adelaide unlocked the front door and swung it open.

"What's that ... noise," Field said slowly, figuring out what it was even while he was asking. His dishy ears swiveled. He shuffled inside, cheeks getting hot. "Oh, my gosh!"

Adelaide stifled a giggle. "This is too good."

"We should leave!" Field insisted, trying to tug her back to the door.

"We live here, Field," Adelaide said matter-of-factly, taking the point, walking from the living room to the central hallway. She flicked on the lights. The door to the study was half-open. Adelaide leaned toward it and said, in a loud, playful tone, "Everything okay in there?"

Field hung back, burning with embarrassment.

"Oh! Hey, kids!" Marian said, panting, stumbling into the hall clutching a bedsheet to her otherwise naked body. "You're home already?"

"Already?" Field echoed in a high-pitched, squeaky tone. He could see that Adelaide had gotten a lot of her 'attributes' from her mother, who was in great shape despite being in her 50's.

"We've been gone all day. It's after six," Adelaide told Marian.

"Oh? Completely lost track of time!"

"I'll bet." Adelaide smirked.

Brizz emerged next, adjusting his boxers, which he'd clearly just put on.

"Hey', Addie." Brizz looked past her and to Field. "Ya bring us somethin'?"

"Um ... c-cider ... apple." Field shook his head, trying to clear it. "Cider slushes."

"Neato!"

"Well, you two go get ... presentable," Adelaide said diplomatically, like she was the adult in the room. "I'll prepare something for supper. Then we gotta get our ingredients ready for the morning." They'd be doing a lot of cooking before joining Field's family for lunch.

"We should probably take a shower first," Marion said, giving Brizz a flirty look.

Brizz nudged her with a wing-arm. "Eh?"

Marian giggled.

"Field and I have dibs on the shower," Adelaide quickly claimed. "You can use it when we're done."

Field looked around, as if wanting to hide somewhere.

Brizz sniffed the air and winked at Field, chuckling as he pulled Marion back into the study.

Adelaide and Field exchanged glances.

They went to the kitchen to put the cider slushes in the fridge.

"I can't believe we caught them doing what we've been wanting to do all week!" Field lamented. "They've probably been doing it every day."

"Like we could've been? I told you it was no big deal." Adelaide shrugged. "Bats aren't bashful."

"Well, mice are. My ears are on fire!"

"And it's cute as hell," the bat insisted, touching her nose to his.

Field softened at that.

"And, besides. We did get to do it. Just not where you expected."

He hugged her close. "Well. At least you got to check my workplace off your 'exhibitionist bingo' card. I know that's your biggest kink." Which he somehow always ended up indulging her in.

"Don't be silly. I don't have a card." She stuck her tongue out. "Just a lengthy wish list."

They moved to the bathroom.

Once there, Field stripped (tail-sock and all) and helped Adelaide do the same. Together, they got into the shower, the warm water quickly building up a small amount of steam.

Field mentioned, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I just can't figure out who you take after more: your mother or father."

"You do know about apples," Adelaide had to admit, grabbing a shampoo bottle. She lathered up her mate's fur. "What apple would I be?"

"Easy. Pink Lady." He took the bottle after her and worked on her pelt. "Pink, a juicy sweet-tart combination. And they originated in Australia."

"That so, my Golden Delicious?" she said, rotating with him beneath the shower head.

"I've always thought of myself as a Gold Rush," Field said, showing off his 'deep cut' apple knowledge.

"Nerd. Less talking, more making out," Adelaide decided, wrapping his wet body in her wing-arms, muzzles nuzzling.

Field, water streaming off his whiskers, kissed his mate. He felt so warm and safe, desired and loved. It was a heady cocktail.

Thanksgiving was tomorrow.

But tonight?

He already had everything to be grateful for.