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Chapter 21: Marcus

In the weeks that followed, Krystal's belly grew with their unborn pup, and her husband was there for every moment, experiencing sensations that no male in Lylat had ever been privy to. Some were not so pleasant. He experienced his wife's recurring need to urinate as Marcus pressed down on her bladder. And he knew intimately how sore her back was getting from bearing his growing weight.

Fox could also sense through their telepathic bond his pregnant wife's mood swings, which gave him an advantage that no other expectant father had. He knew how to ease her mental stress and fatigue, think to her the right thoughts, and be attentive without making her feel smothered. When he felt his wife develop a craving for tomatoes, Fox had a bowl of them sliced up even before she could think her desire to him.

It was a lazy morning and both were relaxing in bed. All three had awakened from a shared dream that had been hazy but full of love and affection. Marcus' infant mind was not yet capable of understand things such as colors, scents, or anything else to do with the world outside the safety of his mother's womb, but the mental bonds of love and empathy with his parents were already strong.

As Marcus' mind developed, it was obvious to both of them that their son was going to be a telepath like his mother. Fox worried. Should he be thinking sexual thoughts to his wife when Marcus would pick up on them? "Of course you can." Krystal thought back to him. "He'll just sense and feel that his daddy loves his mommy."

"But he's too young to be exposed to such adult thoughts."

"It does not matter. Because of his innate innocence, he'll comprehend nothing but the emotions of love behind them." Krystal assured him. "My own earliest memories were of mother and father making love. Because I did not know anything of sexuality at that age, all I understood were the pure emotions my parents had for each other."

She then took his hand and guided it down to her mound, encouraging him to grope her. When he began to tentatively rub his finger against her slit, Krystal sighed and whimpered in pleasure. And a burst of happiness radiated from her belly when Marcus sensed his mother's joy. This only encouraged Fox to press his finger into her slit and rub her sweet spot. Over her moans, he thought to his unborn pup. "That's right, son. Your dad loves your mom."

Joy and passion intermingled with a love for his soulmate and unborn son. Fox meshed his muzzle with his wife's, letting his tongue slide against hers while he continue to caress her everywhere his hands could go. With one hand still massaging her femininity between her legs, his other kneaded her breast, which had in recent weeks become swollen with mother's milk. With those thoughts, an image formed in his mind of his son nursing on those mammaries.

Still in the throes of passionate love, Krystal projected into her husband's mind an image of him nursing on her breast instead of their son. "Would you like a taste of what I'll be feeding our son?"

Fox's gasped into the kiss at the mental image. He pulled back and smiled down at his wife fondly for the gift she was offering him. In response, he slipped a second finger into her slit and probed her feminine depths, curling them up to press against her most erogenous areas. While her pleasure echoed into his mind through their telepathic bond, Fox drew his tongue across the swollen nipple nearest him, tasting a few drops of her milk, and reached around her to fondle her other breast.

Krystal hummed and whimpered. Her breath became heavy with each stroke of her husband's fingers in her neathers. Fox was breathing heavily as well, feeling his wife nearing her peak. He wrapped his lips around her nipple and began to suckle and was rewarded with the taste of sweet, creamy milk coating his tongue. It was quickly followed by an explosion of pleasure in his lower regions from Krystal's climax echoing into his mind through their bond.

Fox cried with his wife out in orgasmic bliss. His fingers, now thoroughly coated with Krystal's discharge, continued to rub in long, firm strokes against her sweet spot to draw out her climax. Milk coated his other fingers as well as his tongue as he endeavored to continue nursing on his wife's breast through his wife's orgasmic pleasure. Sexual tension washed out through her, making Fox's vixen sigh blissfully as she caressed his head while he continued drinking her milk.

When Krystal slipped into a sated afterglow, Fox moved from her nipple to her muzzle to kiss her languidly, letting her taste her own milk. Aware of her soulmate's arousal, a hunger for a different kind of milk welled up in the pregnant vixen. Breaking off the kiss, she bunched up the pillow behind her to prop up her head and beckoned her husband. "Climb up on my chest."

Taking her hand, Fox got up upon his knees and straddled his wife, sitting above her breasts with his wagging tail nestled in her cleavage. The sight of her lips wrapping around the tip of his maleness was as erotic as the sensation itself. The love he felt from her through their bond made the moment truly magical. _"I love you, Krystal. I love you so much."_Fox thought to his wife while breathing heavily from her fellating tongue.

Krystal so loved to orally pleasure her husband. She could not get enough of the taste of his maleness in her muzzle and wanted it all. Firmly gripping his rump in her hands, she pulled him forward, forcing his entire length into the warm, wet confines of her mouth. His moan of pleasure was music to her ears, and she hummed around his maleness even while her nethers sang with the echo of his male pleasure through their mental link.

Instinctively, Fox tried to rock back and forth, but his wife would not allow it. Feeling her hands tightly grip his rump to hold him in place, he happily resigned himself to letting her nurse on his length. A deep throaty moan escaped his muzzle from the sweet sensation of her tongue and throat massaging his maleness. Her suckling was slow and languid. With a deep breath, he sighed blissfully. "Oh Krystal, you are so good to me."

Krystal closed her eyes and hummed contentedly around her husband's maleness. The tender caress of his fingers through her hair and along her ears made her feel deeply appreciated. Throughout her pregnancy, he had been loving and attentive to her needs. It was an expression of her gratitude and devotion that she was determined to draw out his oral pleasuring for as long as she could.

Fox continued to caress her head while basking in the wonderful sensations of her tongue and throat moving along and around his maleness. The climb to the apex of his pleasure was wonderfully, achingly slow. Near the peak, his knot swelled and that exquisite tightness slowly started to build in his loins.

Krystal could feel her husband's impending orgasm echoing through their bond and slowed her oral ministrations to draw out the moment for as long as she could. With Fox now teetering on the precipice, she wrapped her hands around his knot and squeezed it while keeping a firm suction on his maleness and let her muzzle contract in a gentle suckle. A moment later, she uttered a long, drawn out grunt around her mouthful that echoed her beloved as she experienced the focused sensation of his loins throbbing down her throat.

Fox dug his fingers into his vixen's hair and cried out in joy while feeding her his essence. Krystal hummed throatily between swallows of her husband's seed. She went as far as to slide a finger into his back passage to rub against his prostate, milking him for every drop she could draw out of him. In the throes of his ecstasy, both sensed another burst of happiness from their unborn pup.

Having fed his wife all he could, Fox limply slid off her chest after she had released him and collapsed onto the bed next to her. Both snuggled together in a warm afterglow until midday when Kyrstal's personal communicator chirped with a reminder. The vixen reached over to her nightstand and read the reminder displayed there. "We have 30 minutes to get to my appointment with the obstetrician."

_"Then we best get ready."_Fox acknowledged while getting out of bed.

Forty minutes later, they were in the office of Doctor Florence Phoenix, wife of Andrew Phoenix, who was one of Fara Phoenix's uncles. Fara had nothing but glowing praise for her aunt and had recommended her to Krystal. The fennec vixen had dark chocolate brown fur except for a patch of white on her throat. Her eyes were hazel and full of compassion and devotion to her calling. Like all of her species, her ears commanded a large portion of her head.

Krystal was laying back on the examination table while Florence passed the scanners over her patient and inspected the pregnant vixen. "Well, it looks like everything seems to be proceeding normally in your pup's development. At this rate, I expect that he will come to term in about two weeks."

Fox, sitting on a chair next to his wife's examination table, gave Krystal's hand a squeeze. "That's wonderful, Doctor."

Like many expectant father, the tod was eager to attend to his pregnant wife, though Florence found it unusual that he was unwilling to part from her, even for a simple medical exam. She wondered how he would deal with what she said next. "As a precaution, since this will be your first child, I would recommend you be admitted to the maternity ward the moment you begin going into labor instead of having a midwife come to your home."

Krystal exchanged a look with her husband and nodded. She then addressed her obstetrician. "Yes, I agree, Doctor, but Fox will need to be admitted into the hospital with me."

Florence smiled and tried to placate her patient. "Missus McCloud, I find your devotion to each other to be a beautiful thing, but your husband will not be needing medical care. He is not the one who will be giving birth to your pup."

"Actually, in a way, I...I will be." Fox replied. He stood up and paced around nervously. "Doctor, what we are about to share with you needs to stay private. This is something nobody knows except for our close friends."

Fara's aunt remained still and spoke words that seemed to assure the anxious tod. "I am bound by the code of doctor-patient confidentiality, Mister McCloud. Nothing you say will leave this room."

Fox nodded, feeling some of his unease abate. "I must be by my wife's side at all times...and it's not just because I'm devoted to her." He stopped his pacing and sat down in his chair next to Krystal, taking her hand, which she used to reassuringly squeeze his. "While it is known that my wife is a telepath, and many have heard that I'm telepathically bonded to her, few know how deep that bond goes."

"Yes, I had heard that you two mentally communicate."

Krystal spoke up. "It is more than that, Doctor. Our minds are so completely linked that we share all six senses together. What one sees, smell, hears, tastes, or touches, the other will experience as well, and my husband also sees the world around him through my telepathy."

"Fascinating..." Florence exclaimed, and then what her patient said dawned on her. "...oh my...Are you saying that when you go into labor....?"

Fox nodded and swallowed nervously. "I will be experiencing my wife's birth pains as if I was the one giving birth to our son...I must be by her side while she brings Marcus into the world."

Krystal went on to explain. "Doctor, on my world, Cerinian fathers were always at their bondmate's side when they gave birth. Somehow, their mental presence helped the mother through her labor pains."

"How so?"

"I...I do not know. My parents died with my world before they could tell me."

"Well, we have medications and neural inhibitors that can alleviate the worst of the pains." Florence assured them.

Krystal shook her head. "I can already sense that my son has inherited my telepathy. I cannot have anything that might affect his developing mental powers."

"My wife and I are guessing that my being by her side, feeling her labor pains, will help her in some way." Fox closed his eyes and shivered while trying to fight off the anxiety that was threatening to overwhelm him. When he felt Krystal reach up with a hand behind his neck, he let himself be pulled down until his head rested against hers and felt a burst of her reassuring love flood into his mind.

Florence could tell that the tod was very nervous. The idea that a male was going to soon learn what it was like to give birth to a child was something that she had until now never imagined being possible. "I'll see what I can do."

Krystal took a moment from calming her soulmate and fixed a hard gaze upon her obstetrician. "Doctor, please understand. This is a non-negotiable demand. I will need my husband at my side on the birthing bed with me. If that is not allowed, we will opt for a midwife to come to our home."

"I'll let the hospital staff know, Missus McCloud." Florence reassured them. "I do not see why they cannot make an exception for your husband to be there with you."

*****

In the final weeks before Marcus' birth, Krystal was overtaken by a strong urge to clean and organize their home. Fox walked in from the greenhouse, carrying a basket of freshly picked strawberries and raspberries to see his very pregnant wife mopping the kitchen floor. "Krystal? What are you doing? That's ROB-16's job."

_"He didn't do a good enough job. The floor is not clean enough. There's dust everywhere. The living room couch cushions need to be shampooed. The windows need to be cleaned. Our bedsheets need to be washed."_Krystal mentally rambled.

Fox could sense her near manic obsessive desire to clean their home. As a newly expectant father, he had read several articles on pregnancy and raising children. He grinned to his wife, watching her tidy their home.

When Krystal sensed his amusement, she paused in her mopping and frowned in annoyance to her husband. "What's so funny?"

"It's so sweet to see you fussing about cleaning our home. It's a classing example of nesting instinct." Fox thought back. He walked up to his wife and kissed her forehead. He then called out, "ROB-16, ROB-32, ROB-48, initiate spring cleaning protocol."

Immediately, their androids began giving every surface of their mansion a thorough cleaning, removing drapes to wash them, shampooing the carpets, dusting and cleaning every surface, and so on. Fox turned to see his wife still holding her mop and could sense her reluctance to let go of it. He made no attempt to dissuade her from her task, feeling her need to clean. "How about I clean the kitchen counter while you mop the floor?"

Krystal smiled back gratefully to her love's devotion and understanding. While Fox took a bottle of cleaning solution and a sponge to begin wiping the already clean surfaces of their kitchen, Krystal resumed mopping the floor. Just as she finished, Krystal suddenly felt a dull ache in her back and lower abdomen, along with pressure in her pelvis. With it came a contraction that moved in a wave-like motion from the top to the bottom of her womb.

With that contraction Krystal heard a yelp and a strong burst of anxiety from her husband. She glanced over to Fox. He was tightly gripping the edge of the counter. She could sense him willing himself to calm down. A few minutes later, they felt another contraction go through her. Taking her soulmate's hand, they walked to the living room and sat down. When no further contraction manifested itself, Krystal thought to her husband, "False labor..."

"Yeah..." Fox thought while leaning against his vixen.

"I'm nervous too, Fokkusu. This will be our first child, but we'll have each other to lean on when I bring him into the world."

"They say that mothers forget all about their birth pains the moment they see and hold their newborn infant in their arms." Fox mused. "It is why many are willing to go through child birth again."

It was not lost upon Krystal that this feeling of maternal joy was one her husband hoped to experience as well on the day of Marcus' birth. Somehow, she sensed that it would be so, and that pup would be the first of many to come in the years ahead of them.

*****

Those last two weeks went by quickly for the expectant parents. Over the preceding days, Krystal experienced several bouts of false labor. Fox had become accustomed to the sensation, which was both reassuring and disturbing to him. Krystal's nesting instincts had now abated since their home was spotlessly clean.

They were in the living room, watching the news feed on their media center, when an incoming call chimed through their communication consol. Fox muted Walter Kent's editorial and answered the call on audio only, since both he and his wife were naked as they usually were in the privacy of their home. "Hi Fara. Just give Krystal and me a moment to make ourselves presentable."

"Why, are you two naked?" Fara asked mirthfully.

"Yes." they answered, eliciting a laugh from their fennec friend.

Fox quickly returned from their bedroom wearing his Cerinian loincloth and handed Krystal hers along with an extra-large bra. He then activated their com's video transmitter and brought up an image of Fara and Kei Phoenix. "Hey. Nice to see you two. How's married life?"

Kei grinned when he saw their idea of being presentable. "It's beyond wonderful, Cousin..."

From their home in Phoenix Manor, Fara immediately noticed the advanced state of Krystal's pregnancy. "Wow! Girl, that bun in your oven looks about ready to come out."

Krystal looked down at herself and ran her hands over her distended belly. "I can't wait for him to come out. Between his tumbling gymnastics and the false labor pains, Marcus has been keeping us up at night."

Fox added, "Though he does love it when we sing lullabies to him, and settles down."

"How often do you have those false labor pains?" Fara asked.

"On and off. I had a few contractions earlier this morning, but they went away when I sat down, here in the...unf...living room." Krystal grunted, again feeling another contraction.

Fox huffed at the echo of his wife's discomfort through their bond. Taking a deep breath, he asked. "So how have things been with you?"

Fara shook her head, amazed at how well Fox seemed to be dealing with the false labor pains she knew he was experiencing. "Well, Kei and I went to the hospital last week to visit Aunt Florence. Since we are different fox species, we wanted to make sure we'd succeed in having children."

"And now, we'll finally have those grandchildren we've been waiting for!" they heard Dietrich shout in the background.

"Daaaad! Fara and I wanted to tell them!" Kei complained to his father.

Fara burst into laughter and then smiled to Fox and Krystal when she saw them gaping at the news. "Yes, Kei and I just got back from our tests. I'm pregnant as of four days ago."

Krystal squealed, making her husband flinch even while he laughed. "Congratulations! That's wonderful news."

"So is it going to be a boy or...." Fox began to ask, but then he and Krystal gasped upon feeling another contraction, one that was noticeably stronger than the previous one. Fox glanced at the wall chronometer, and anxiously thought to his wife, "That was your third one in the last 12 minutes."

Fara watched anxiously from her end. The nervous, exchanged looks between Fox and Krystal did not go unnoticed by the fennec vixen. "How many contractions has it been?"

Krystal stood up and began pacing while Fox answered Fara. "Three, with each every four minutes..." He glanced up at the time. "Though it's been over five since the last...." he went on to say, but then yelped. Through their mental bond, he experienced another strong contraction. "I just...." he began.

Both Krystal and Fox gasped together upon feeling their unborn pup shift downward, quickly followed by a mild popping sensation in her lower region. This was followed by a gush of fluid that Krystal was unable to stop. Two hearts began to pound in synch. Krystal reached under her loincloth and felt the amniotic fluid flow down the insides of her leg, and made the pronouncement. "My water broke. It's time."

Fox glanced anxiously at the holographic image of the Phoenixes who had together witnessed everything. He could see the questions in his distant cousin's eyes. "I'll explain later, Kei. I need to drive us to the hospital and....Oh Spirits!"

At that moment, an even stronger contraction rippled through Krystal's womb. Fox stumbled and met his wife's eyes. He had like any good expectant father made all the preparations for this day: stocked up on household essentials, set up the nursery, filled out all the hospital paperwork in advance, packed a suitcase several days before, and plotted the itinerary to the hospital beforehand with all possible alternate routes.

But Fox had overlooked one critical thing. Experiencing each of her contractions, he would be in no better condition to drive than his wife. He glanced at the holographic images of the two who had been watching them. "Fara, I'm not going to be able to take Krystal and myself to the hospital."

Fara nodded. "Right. I'll be over in a few minutes with a shuttlecraft."

The two expectant parents stood on the verandah of their home. Fox had their suitcase in hand with all the essentials packed for their stay in the hospital. Their wait for Fara was not long. In minutes, a Cornerian military style shuttle landed on the grass in front of their mansion. The moment the craft had settled, the hatch opened and Kei raced out. The tod did not waste any time, grabbing his cousin's suitcase, leaving Fox to help Krystal traverse the short distance to climb aboard the craft.

Fox barely had time to settle his wife in her seat when she was beset with another contraction. His own legs nearly buckled under him at the sensation echoing to him through their bond. He collapsed into the seat next to Krystal and leaned against her and took hold of her hand. When Fox glanced up and met his cousin's gaze, Kei nodded back to him, "Fara told me on the way over here....I can't even think of what I can say or do for you."

"Your being here for us is what counts the most, Kei. Thanks to you and Fara, we'll be under your aunt-in-law Florance's care in no time." Fox said.

"We're family. We could not do otherwise." Kei declared as he sat down across from them and buckled himself in. "And you know the secret of your soul bond is safe with me as well."

The journey to Corneria City General Hospital took only minutes. Fara had called ahead and they were met by two orderlies on the roof of the medical facility, each with a wheelchair, just as they disembarked from the shuttlecraft. Krystal gratefully sat in one of the chairs though Fox looked at the other chair meant for him with misgiving. Could he risk arousing suspicion about his mental bond with his wife?

The orderly behind the chair saw his hesitancy. "Do not worry, Mister McCloud. Doctor Phoenix advised us that you were having sympathetic labor pains. She has instructed us to bring both of you together to the birthing room."

Fox nodded gratefully and eased himself into the chair just as Krystal had another contraction. He had to bite his lip to suppress a groan. Without any further questions, both were wheeled away, "We'll wait at home for news of the birth. Good luck, you two." They heard Fara call out. Neither Fox nor Krystal had time to shout back their thanks before the doors to the rooftop landing pad closed behind them.

After a brief lift ride, they were wheeled a short distance down a corridor to the birthing room where Florence Phoenix waited for them. Fara's aunt helped Krystal upon the birthing bed. Though made to accommodate just the mother, the bed was nonetheless just wide enough for Fox to climb up upon and lay on his side while pressed against his vixen. Krystal shifted over to give her tod a bit more room and turned her head to give the father of their son a slow, tender kiss.

Florence smiled wistfully at the romantic display of love while she raised the bed rail up on each side of the birthing bed, going as far as to place several pillows between Fox's back and the bedrail he was leaning against. It was at that moment that a nurse walked in and beheld the unusual sight of the father-to-be on a birthing bed with his wife. The grey vixen looked askance at the obstetrician. "Uh, Doctor? Isn't that against hospital policy?"

"I am allowing it." Florence stated in no uncertain terms. "Mister McCloud is having a severe case of sympathetic birth pains." She then gave Fox a motherly ruffle of his head fur and smiled reassuringly. "Hang in there, Sweety and give your wife all the love she needs. I have other patients to see to, but I'll be back when your son is ready to make his debut. Don't hesitate to ask Nurse Greyfur for anything you need."

After Florence had left, Krystal could sense strong emotions of disapproval from this nurse, but she could not bother herself with such trivial things. She had other concerns. "Fox, I thought Doctor Phoenix was going to keep secret how deeply we're mentally bonded."

In reply, she felt amusement and heard her husband mentally chuckle to her. "She's being actually clever about it by hiding our secret in plain sight." Fox elucidated. "Sympathetic labor pains is a psychological pain that some fathers in Lylat go through when their wives give birth. Our good doctor is just saying that the birth pains I'm feeling from you are just in my own head to hide the fact..."

Just then, both felt a strong contraction go through Krystal and cried out. Fox curled against his wife and whimpered while he continued his thought. _ "...hide the fact that I'm really feeling everything you're feeling."_

"Fox, I'm so sorry." Krystal thought, feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt. _"I shouldn't be putting you through this...I..."_but her thoughts were interrupted by her husband's adamant admonishment.

"Don't you dare apologize! I promised I'd be there with you through our son's birth, and I have no regrets. Yes, I'm scared. What male wouldn't be if he was facing what I'm facing now? But we've been in each other's heads now for almost a year. We've shared all the intimacy, happiness, and pleasures that our mental bond gives us, and I cannot imagine not being with you mentally now when you need me the most." Fox drew his wife into a slow, tender kiss full of love and a desire to comfort them both. "I love you, my dearest Kurisutaru. We are One Heart, One Mind, One Soul, and I will not leave your side as you bring Makasu into the world."

Over the next four hours, Krystal's labor pains steadily grew more intense. She sought some relief by shifting around, sitting up, or getting on her hands and knees on the bed. Fox never left her side through it all. Florence stopped by once to check up on Krystal's progress. Between contractions, Fox took a moment to relieve himself and quickly got back onto the bed just as his vixen had a particularly strong contraction.

Florence watched Fox curl in on himself with a groan while both he and his wife tightly gripped each other. The fennec vixen bit her lower lip. Never in her medical training had she been faced with a male patient that was actually experiencing his wife's labor pains. "Mister McCloud. Is there anything I can do? Any way I can provide you relief?"

Fox shook his head tiredly. "The only way I'd get any relief is if you gave Krystal some pain meds or the neural inhibitor, and we can't for Marcus' sake." He took his wife's hand and both gave each other a reassuring squeeze. "Like any good Cerinian husband before me, I'll stay at my wife's side for the duration."

Florence was deeply moved by Fox's devotion to his wife, which went beyond anything she thought she would ever witness. It also occurred then to her that Fox was in fact not a Cerinian. Would he be mentally able to deal with his wife's labor pains? If Krystal had any physical difficulties while giving birth, would he experience the same problems? How deeply did this telepathic bond go between them?

Krystal's brain and heart were already being monitored as was standard procedure, and her bodily needs had been attended to as well. She went to the room's intercom. "Nurse Greyfur, I'd like a neural and cardiac scanner and a catheter brought in for Mister McCloud."

"You will do no such thing, Doctor!" came a reply from the door. Krystal could immediately sense the narrow-minded mindset of a bureaucrat from the officious hospital administrator standing on the threshold of birthing room. "Despite Mister McCloud's fame, it is against this hospital's policy for him to take up space on a hospital bed when he does not need any medical attention." Behind the large, obese pig were two burly canids who were obviously security guards.

The threatened use of force was obvious to Fox, and in his state, he doubted he would be in any condition to fend them off. "I can't leave my wife's side. She needs me." He looked to their obstetrician for support. "Please, Doctor."

"Mister McCloud, you may sit on a chair in this room or stand by your wife's side, but you cannot simply be treated as if you are the one giving birth." Declared the unsympathetic bureaucrat.

Just then, Krystal had another contraction and both she and her husband cried out. Florence spoke up. "Porcos, I am aware of hospital policy. I made a judgment call to make an exception in this case because Mister McCloud is experiencing an extreme case of sympathetic labor pains."

"Psychological ailments do not qualify as needing medical monitoring, Doctor. I can call up a psychiatrist who can prescribe him a sedative to calm him down."

"Absolutely not!" Florence declared hotly.

"Doctor Phoenix, if you do not comply with policy, I will have you and Mister McCloud both removed and another obstetrician fill in your place!" Porcos shot back. He then glanced over his shoulder at the two security officers. "Gentlemen, if you will."

A new kind of fear gripped Fox's heart: fear of being separated from his soulmate when she needed him the most, of not being there when his son was born. That agitation was mirrored by Krystal, who tightened her grip on Fox. This was then compounded by another emotion of a fear, this one coming from their unborn pup, whose mind had been quiet while he had slowly traveled the tight confines of his mother's birth canal.

Something primal awakened within Krystal. In all mothers resides the deepest, strongest of instincts. It is the drive to protect their young and by extension their family. Seeing the two security guards approaching them, threatening to take away her son's father, lit a protective fury within her mind.

Florence had only a moment's notice that something unforeseen was about to happen. Krystal's brain on the scanner's monitor had naturally shown elevated activity due to her agitation. It was only because she was standing to the side, next to their bed, that she was spared. While gazing down wide-eyed at the monitor showing the vixen's brain activity, the readings went off the scale. In the next instant, she heard Krystal shout "GET OUT!" and felt a sudden gust blow by.

Hospital Administrator Porcos and the two security guards were not so fortunate. All three felt an invisible solid wall hit them with an unstoppable force that sent them flying out the door where they smashed into the far wall with such a force that their bodies left cracked imprints in the plaster. They sank to the floor in a heap, knocked unconscious by the impact. Amelia Greyfur, who had been waiting outside, gazed down gobsmacked and quietly cursed to herself, "Freakish vixen!"

Her expletive though had not been quiet enough for highly sensitive fennec ears. Florence stormed out of the birthing room and confronted the nurse. "So you think Missus McCloud is a freak? Is that it?" When the vixen did not answer quickly enough, she bared her teeth. "And should I presume that it was you who countermanded my medical judgement and reported this to Porcos?"

"I...I uh..."

"ANSWER ME!" Florence roared, making the grey vixen flinch.

"But the policy..."

"Enough!" Florence cut the nurse off. She glanced down at the unconscious swine and the two guards. "Nurse, call a medic to attend to these three. This is your mess, and I expect you to clean it up. I then want you off this floor and out of my sight!....NOW!!!!"

Amelia flinched again and quickly scrambled to carry out the furious obstetrician's orders. Florence then turned around, walked back into the McClouds' room, and shut the door behind her. She walked up to her two patients and tenderly stroked each of their heads. "I am so sorry for what those misguided fools put you through. I'm going to see to it that none of them bother you again."

Fox and Krystal both smiled gratefully. They watched her go to an intercom, pick up the receiver, and place a call. "Steven? It's Florence. I have a situation here with the McClouds that I need to stay on top of. Can you cover for me? Yeah. Thanks." She then placed another call using her personal communicator. A moment later, they heard a familiar voice answer.

"Florence? Is everything alright?"

"Yes Charles, though there's been a bureaucratic bungle here that I need your help making sure doesn't happen again."

Krystal and Fox though stopped listening to the rest of the conversation between Fara's father and her aunt. Fox had other things on his mind. "Krystal, what happened? One moment, they were going to take me away from you, and the next, it felt like you were shoving them out of our room."

"I...I don't even know what came over me. When Marcus felt our fear and got scared, I completely lost it and for a lack of a better word, willed that swine and his two goons away from us...." Krystal looked inwardly into herself and it then dawned on her. "Oh Spirits! I think I just did telekinesis!"

"Did you ever do that before?"

"No. I never did...or at least not that I know of. I did not even know I was capable of that. The ability is so rare among my people."

"Could it be because of the stress?"

Krystal pondered the idea. "I don't know. Maybe. Then again, my mental powers were never this strong before our bonding."

Fox gave his wife an affectionate smooch. "That's my super powerful wife. I must be bringing out the best in you." Krystal giggled, and then both grunted painfully when a particularly strong contraction went through her womb.

Less than a half hour had elapsed when the door opened. Florence grinned at her requested replacement nurse when he stepped in, reporting for duty. "Uh, Doctor? I'm not sure if I'm qualified for this."

Fox and Krystal turned their gaze to the door upon hearing a familiar voice and gawked at the unexpected, but not unwelcomed sight. There stood Kei, attired in a female nurse's uniform. Questions of his qualifications were settled when Florence declared. "When my niece told me you were formerly a nursing assistant, it was good enough for me. So get your cute butt in here and assist me."

Kei laughed and stepped forward, closing the door behind him. He walked up to the bed and rested a hand on his cousin's shoulder. "Hey. Holding up okay?"

Fox smiled tiredly to Kei and nodded. "Yeah, as well as can be for a tod who's under his wife's skin while she's giving birth to their son." He looked to the door. "Hopefully we'll get no further interruptions."

"We won't." Kei assured him. "Two of my shadows are standing guard outside."

Knowing that a member of Kei and Fara's protective detail, who were all former Cornerian Special Forces, was outside their door lifted a great weight of worry from the McCloud couple. "Thank...unnnnnngggg...thank you...." Krystal replied breathlessly.

Following Florence's instructions, Kei attached a neural and cardiac scanner to Fox and fitted him with a catheter. The obstetrician then observed in amazement the duel readout on the bonded couple. "Remarkable. Their heart rhythm and brain waves are identical. That should not be possible."

Kei asked Krystal and Fox, "Does Florence know?"

Fox replied, "She knows enough..." He looked around at the walls to their room. "but we'd rather not speak out loud about the rest."

Tired as she was, Krystal took the opportunity to speak up. "Doctor Phoenix, please look straight into my eyes."

When Florence locked gaze with the telepathic vixen, she gasped, hearing her voice in her head. "You know most of our secret already, Florence, and with how much you've protected us, it feels right to Fox and me that you know the rest. Our telepathic bond not only links our minds together, but our souls."

"I feel like there's a significant point to what you are implying, Missus McCloud." Florence replied.

"Yes. In the Cerinian language, there is no word for widow or widower."

It took a moment for the implications of Krystal's mental words to sink in, but when it did, the revelation hit Florence like a meteor strike. The utter absolute depth of the McCloud's bond was both frightening and wondrous. Never had she known a couple whose lives were so totally intertwined.

The next 17 hours would be the longest of Fox and Krystal's life, being that this was her first pup. Towards the end of her labor, Krystal found herself pushing with each contraction. Even though his wife was doing all the work, he could feel how extremely tired she was, and was feeling just as tired himself.

"I can see the top of his head." Florence said.

Tod and vixen cried out in pain together as one with the next push. Never had fox realized until then what females went through. He started to wonder if Marcus was going to be an only child. A burning, stretching sensation echoed through their bond to his groin. He felt like his crotch was tearing open from an intense pressure within.

"Almost there, Krystal. Keep pushing." He heard their doctor encourage.

Krystal didn't know if she could go on. She felt so incredibly tired and worn out, and was on the verge of giving up. Then she heard his voice in her mind. "Mama..."

It was a moment of intense pain and supreme joy for them. In a state of semi-delirium, Krystal cried out. "Mama is here, Makasu!" Fox sobbed, overwhelmed by the emotional experience. "Papa loves you, Son!"

With a gut-wrenching cry, Krystal gave a final push. In the next instant, they felt a great rush, followed by an incredible, strong sense of relief and euphoria. A moment later, the quiet mewl of a newborn pup was heard.

Florence held in her hands this wet, wrinkly fox pup. There could be no doubt about his parentage. Little Marcus had his father's facial and head markings and his mother's light blue fur. What happened next left her deeply shaken. A little mind reached out to hers, crying to be held by his mother.

When Krystal expelled the afterbirth with her next push, Florence wasted not a moment longer, placing the telepathic child in his mother's arms even before the umbilical was cut. The deed having been done, she collapsed in her chair and said to Kei, "Nurse, please clean up. I...I need to sit down."

Fox and Krystal were oblivious to the exchange between doctor and nursing assistant. Beholding his son, seeing him through his mother's eyes, he finally understood why mothers repeatedly went through the ordeal of giving birth to young. A product of his father's loins and his mother's womb, Marcus was a vision of precious beauty beyond compare in the eyes of his parents. When Kei came into his view to dry the newborn, Fox smiled tiredly to his cousin and took the towel from him. While Marcus nursed on his mother's teat, Fox lovingly dried his son.

Kei sat down heavily on a chair next to the doctor, emotionally exhausted from the marathon birthing session. He looked over at his wife's aunt and whispered. "When should we take the little guy to neonatal?"

Florence shook her head in response. "We're not. That infant is already a telepath. I'm no expert in such things, but my gut tells me that he needs to stay in physical contact with his parents." Her gaze rested upon the nascent family. The McClouds were already sound asleep in utter exhaustion. Marcus was nestled protectively between his parents, sleeping peacefully after having had his first drink of mother's milk.

While Kei called his wife to let her know the good news, Florence made the new sleeping parents comfortable. She lowered the back rest of the birthing bed and slid the vixen's feet free off the stirrups, letting her legs come down in repose. She adjusted the pillows under their heads. She then slid another pillow between them, and gently placed Marcus upon it. The newborn pup slept on peacefully. While Kei spoke to his wife and Florence attended to the McClouds, Nurse Amelia Greyfur quietly walked in, retrieved the afterbirth from the disposal pail and placed it in a bag, and walked out.