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Footnotes Of A Life

Chapter 5

A Walk to Remember By

Cody sat down on the hard wooden locker room bench, sighing in relief as he wearily removed the shoulder straps his utility harness so that he could massage the spots where the straps had begun biting into him. It seemed that no matter how many ergonomic factors the folks upstairs tried to add to their tool harness designs, eight hours of grueling work could make padded leather chew into anyone.

The augmented fox sat tiredly massaging his shoulders, occasionally checking his fingers for signs of bleeding when he heard Len's voice behind him. "Hey bud, wanna grab a beer?"

Cody half turned on the bench so that he could see the augmented brindle colored akita before flashing him a soft grin. "Can't bud, I need to get home. Ara came into season last night."

Len chuckles, a wry grin crossing his muzzle. "Grats man, me and the rest of the guys will catch up with ya soon then." The akita turned to his own locker and began whistling as he started unfastening his utility harness, turning back as he thought of something. "Go ahead and get tomorrow off Copper, the boys and I can finish the job up, nothing but grunt work left to do anyway."

Cody nodded, he didn't particularly like the nickname his crew chief gave him, but unfortunately it stuck and now he had to live with it. "Yeah...Yeah, that's good idea. Thanks Len."

Cody finished removing his harness in silence, storing it in his locker before making to go and turn in his tools, stopping when the brindled akita put a hand on his arm to stop him. "Hey man, everything alright? You've seem kinda distracted lately, and not just because your mate is in heat."

Cody looked away from his friend, trying to decide what to tell him. He loved Aralynn and he wanted children, someday, but not now, and not a chimera. The whole reason why they got together in the first place, beyond a healthy douse of lust, was the fact that they couldn't have kids together. Now, however, she was talking about having a litter, not just adopting but also going through the whole pregnancy and everything. She was even talking about going to the AHL and trying to have them help her conceive a chimera with him.

Cody sighed, looking up to his friend once more. "I'm thinking of not renewing my contract with Ara." When the surprised look crossed the Akita's face, he quickly explained his doubts. "Look, man. You know I love her but she wants to go through the whole pregnancy thing, to give birth. We're just not capable of having a litter together and she doesn't want to find another skunk to have kids with, she wants to carry my kits, man, like Chimera kits and I don't know if I can deal with that. I mean we all know the stories, what if we have some kind of abomination that can't even move, or worse dies shortly after the birth. I don't think Ara could recover from that."

Len's muzzle scrunched up as he digested what Cody had said. "Why does she think that its even possible? I mean you guys have been together for a few mating seasons now and no kids."

Cody shrugged noncommittally. "She's been doing research up at the embassy for her graduation paper, and evidently they have some kind of medical procedure that can make her pregnant with my kits."

Len shook his head and returned the shrug. "Shit man, no wonder you've been distracted lately. Look, I know its not what you want to hear, and it's not my call or anything, but I say cut her loose now, let her find a skunk to form a mating contract with if she wants to get knocked up, both of you would be better off if she did."

Cody's gaze fell to his tools on the bench briefly before he looked back up to the Akita, matching his eyes with his. "I know it's for the best, but I love her man and I... just don't want to give up what we have together."

Len leaned in close, harshly whispering. "Yeah, but Chimera buddy? You know the chances of you guys having a healthy kid together?"

Cody's lips pulled back into a soft snarl. "Yeah, I do! That's the reason why I'm seriously thinking about this. Listen man I'll talk with ya later, once I get back from being with Ara."

Cody quickly grabbed up his tools angrily, almost throwing them in the depository as he left the locker rooms and headed to their chiefs small office and knocking on the frosted glass window pane before cracking it open and peering inside to make sure the lion was inside. "Seb, got a minute?"

Sebthys looked up from the paperwork on his desk before motioning the fox to take a chair and leaning back in his own chair, doing his best to stretch his fingers and back out in the cramped room. "Yeah cop, what you need?"

Cody nervously took the offered seat, he never liked to ask for time off, especially for "personal" reasons such as this. "Ara came into season last night. I know it's a little early but I was wondering if I could start my week off tomorrow and not Monday."

Sebthys leaned forward, searching for, then grabbing, some papers as he did. "Depends on what needs to be done and since I needed a status report I might as well get it from you now."

Cody shrugged tiredly. "Pretty much everything's done. I was able to finish welding the tubing, as you know, and the guys where able to feed all the cables that the AHL wanted fed through it. Only thing left to do really is concrete work and adding the maintenance hatches."

The older lion nodded as he wrote down what Cody was telling him. "Sounds good then, you sure Len and the guys can handle it?"

Cody's ears swivel forward and he was about to defend his friends and co-workers when he realized that Sebthys was fucking with him. The fox visible relaxed before chuckling. "They better, I don't want our team's workload backed up by a full week because I took some personal time."

The lion nodded to the fox dismissively, a wry grin spreading across his thick muzzle. "Alright Copper, see you the following week."

Cody returned Sebthys' nod before silently getting to his feet, calling a "Thank you Sir" back over his shoulder as he left the small cramped office.

A few feet beyond the frosted glass windows of Sebthys' office the male paused shortly to breath a heavy sigh of relief and to stretch out and ease some of the tension from his back and shoulders before heading down the slate grey stone corridors of the builder's guildhall. Thankfully, the halls occupants were thinning now that the shift change were starting to settle, either into their briefing rooms, or for those who just got off, went about getting to their lives after a long days work.

Since he was going to be off for the next week Cody made point to nod, wave or exchange a few quick pleasantries to any friends he encountered on his way out of the building, usually catching them as they were making their way to one of the guildhalls communal lounges or eateries. A warm smile crept to Cody's muzzle as he thought back over his own time here at the guildhall and how much richer his life had become with Ara in it, her scent, her gentle touches, warm embraces and the way she softly sighed in her sleep.

As the rusty, copper colored fox hit the open air outside of the male builder's guildhall he took in the airborne scents of the surrounding area and gazed upon the rapidly darkening evening sky, it was getting late and he could smell the humidity on the air.

II

Realizing that he had spent too much time saying his farewells and now needed to quicken his steps in order to reach his home, and his mate before nightfall, Cody dropped down to all fours, his claws scrabbling and clicking against the red bricks as they gained purchase and he slid into a soft cantering gait. As the male fox made his way through the semi vacant streets he began replaying the conversation he and Len had had.

He truly did love Aralynn and didn't want to give up on everything they had built together over their year together but he didn't know if he was ready to have children yet, especially a chimera.

His muzzle dipped into a frown as his mind waded through the excuses of ending their relationship, finally forming into a singular base for all of his self-doubts. He was afraid, not of having children really, but of losing the last of his perceived freedoms. If he were to have a chimera child with Ara while still under their mating contract he would no longer be able to just walk away, he would be financially responsible for any children they had together. Having a child now, especially a chimera child with all of its medical needs, would affect his future stability if he chose to remain with Aralynn or not after their contract ended.

Cody skidded to a halt, his mind frozen by what he had just thought. Did he actually care more about his financial future then the female he had been mated with for the last year, the female who now want to actually have children with him.

But that was just it, wasn't it. Why did she suddenly want to have kids? As the rusty, copper colored fox began to slowly make his way forward again he let his mind wander, trying to unravel Aralynn's sudden insistence on having a litter. He remembered hearing that a female would sometimes have sex, even giving up something as important to them as their virginity, just to try and save a failing relationship. Was Ara's sudden desire to have children a similar case? Was he giving off some unconscious signal to Ara that he wanted out of their contract?

That couldn't be right though. He only started thinking of not renewing their contract within the last few weeks, when she really started pressuring him to come with her to the embassy to see if they could "help" them to conceive.

Cody's ears folded back and his muzzle scrunched up, what if the AHL could do more then that. What if they were actually able to give them a child, a chimera without any of the health risk? He wouldn't be to surprised if they could, after all most of the shit they could do seemed like magic to him anyway, and they did create the process to make the El...ELFs or what ever Aralynn said the ancestors of the augmented were called.

Cody hit himself so hard in the forehead it felt like he was trying to cave in his skull, that's the reason why Ara was trying to have him go with her to the embassy. Not only to see if they could help them but to see if they still had the ability to combine species like they did nearly a thousand years ago when they first created the augmented.

The fox's brooding thoughts where interrupted when he heard a feminine voice calling to get his attention nearby.

"Excuse me...Sir?...Excuse me!

III

Cody followed his ear's orientation and turned whole bodily to see an Ahl woman standing on the opposite corner from him, her arm raised above her heard, energetically waving to help capture his attention. The fox's ears fell halfway back against his skull before he could suppress the displeasure he felt at the sight of her. There was nothing wrong with her per say, he just didn't like dealing with Ahl on a personal level.

When he first started working with the Ahl he attributed it to their "superior then thou" attitude, but as his crew began working with them more and more, and he began meeting some who seemed decent enough, or at least willing to treat him better than some kind of intelligent pet, he realized it was something more then that. He wished that he was above such things, but somewhere deep down he knew it was because he couldn't see their faces behind their mask, their thin, insect like appearance, the living environmental suits they were forced to wear only helping to augment the resemblance, didn't help either.

The fox silently studied the female's thin form as she hesitantly crossed the brick roadwork to come over to him, noting a pair of feelers trailing behind her, feelers that marked her as a medic... Or scientist. There might be more but as far as Cody could tell, there were four types of Ahl environmental suits.

The first type was the basic suit model, a simple suit that only covered them up to prevent exposure to the everyday bacteria everyone born on earth was resistant or simple immune to. These where not the most common suit type though. The most common type was the type like the one the approaching woman was wearing. It feelers coming off of the back for extra or analytical sensory data collection.

The next most common type was a bulky model, with large plating over what looked like natural muscle fiber that magnified a worker's strength tremendously. On one of the first jobs, his crew had worked for and with the Ahl, he had seen several of the Ahl workers wearing the suits easily lifting and moving impossible weights, even a near ton of brickwork once.

The last types, and least common, were the warrior's model of suits. Those bastards were just terrifying. He had only seen one in action once, when an augmented rabbit tried to attack a sexual rival while on a work site. The suit seemed to augment the guard's strength and speed as he chased down the fleeing idiot. The warrior suits are also equipped with claw like blades that can extend from the forearms or back, the guard had used these to impale the rabbit through the legs, pinning him until some members of the defenders guild showed up to arrest him.

"Err... sorry to bother you Mr.... umm, Fox..." Cody's ears perked forward and his attention refocused on the Ahl woman before him as she began speaking to him. "But I seem to be lost. Could you show me the direction or help me get back to the embassy?

The woman stopped a few feet from him as she finished asking for help, her feelers continued slinking forward however, quickly sweep over his rusty, copper colored fur with a feather light touch, sending an exotic, slightly erotic shiver up along his spine as they collected information from the "unknown specimen".

"No...it's...no problem...Did you say that you're lost?"

The young Ahl woman slipped into a very feminine pose and brought her stray hand up to cover her mouth as she giggled. "Yes, yes I did."

She slipped a little closer to the fox and he suddenly felt a stirring within his groin. He hadn't missed how the suit clung to her like a second skin, showing everything yet revealing nothing. "I was visiting a friend and lost track of the time. She's a fox like you..."

The unidentified young woman reached forward and traced a finger along Cody's clavicle, stopping at the cream-colored tuft of fur on his chest where the two meet to run her fingers through it. "Well a vixen anyway, her name is Nan if you know her..."

Cody closed his eyes, whining softly to himself as he felt his growing erection leave his sheath fully. He couldn't understand why he was having such a strong reaction to the Ahl woman flirtatious administrations, but he needed to regain his composure before she became aware of how aroused she was making him. "Anyway, as I said she's not feeling too well at the moment so I came by to check up on her and visit with her..."

The Ahl woman stopped speaking as she noticed the dire look of concentration on Cody's muzzle, but the fox had stopped listening to her altogether by then. He had sampled the rich, fertile spicy-cinnamon scent of a vixen in heat too heavily and lost himself to his baser animal instincts, and was slowly approaching her lithe form. "Are you all right, Mr. Fox?"

The young woman gasped as Cody forcibly grabbed ahold of her and pulled her closer, His hands sliding down the leathery flesh of her suit as he leaned down and began to nip at the bony plating along her suit's shoulder joint. She resisted only momentarily before melting into his amorous embrace, moaning aloud as his hands slid further up her back and flanks before they came to rest at the edge of the plating covering her ribs.

The young Ahl woman moaned as the fox's movements became more assertive, more dominating with her. As he laid them down in the small patch of grass between the brick road and sidewalk, she grabbed ahold of his shoulders to steady herself as well as to align herself to his descending body.

The suits feelers slowly slither up along Cody's back as the fox ground himself against her, crisscrossing before coming to rest along his shoulders. Cody grunted in frustration as he pressed his throbbing member against the woman's groin repeatedly, finally being met with the wet warmth of her passage after ripping through the suit's thin protective membrane that protected her sex.

Cody stopped rutting suddenly, he was so close it hurt but his mind screamed for him to stop, to not betray Aralynn's trust. He shuddered violently within the Ahl woman beneath him, his instincts screamed for him to finish mating with her, to breed her, yet the cool logical side of his mind was yelling back to him that this was wrong. That this entire situation was wrong.

She was human. She wasn't in heat. Why was she allowing this to happen to her?

Cody shook his head to try and clear it, a low pitched whine escaping his shuddering form as he pulled himself from her grasp, her body. A viscous snarl came to the fox's muzzle as he backed away from the panting woman, she had planned this...this trap. She had nearly made him betray everything he held dear by playing against his weaknesses. But why?

His questioning thoughts were broken by a cloud of pain as one of her feeler's pinched him painfully on the thigh near his left hip as they clung to his retreating body. He screamed at her then, calling her a whore and whatever similar vulgarities that readily came to his mind as he dug into his hip pouch for his scent mask. "What the fuck is wrong with you!? Get the fuck away from me you crazy Bitch! If you want to get your brains fucked out go to one of the male dorms."

The fur along Cody's neck, back and tail started bristling as he continued his verbal assault on the woman. The Ahl woman recoiled before the angered fox's fury, but Cody didn't care though, she had wanted this encounter, had probable bathed in some vixen's musk in order to seduce him. The fox's fury quickly turned cold as his mind churned out several dark thoughts on the woman's reasons behind this, most of them concerning blackmail or such manner of deceit. "Get the FUCK out of my sight, you BITCH or by what ever gods you hold dear I swear I will kill you!"

Once the woman's fleeing form was out of his sight Cody did his best to relax, cursing himself for allowing the situation to get as far as it did. The fox turned to continue on his way home and his true mate, shivering as the adrenaline began to thin out his bloodstream.

What was that Ahl bitch up too exactly? What did she want from him, what could she possible gain by seducing him. If it was blackmail then she would need some kind of proof, an eyewitness or a recording or something and he hadn't sensed anyone else nearby. Besides, he was just a low-level construction worker...

A low-level construction worker working on a guarded Ahl project. The fox shook his head dismissively, that didn't make sense though. He had finished up the welding already and the rest of the crew had almost completed the project already. Besides the only thing the Ahl really guarded was the pumping station and she would know better on what was in it then he would.

Was it Aralynn?

Did she want Aralynn and him to break up? The blackmail angle could still fit, but didn't seem right, they could just have him have an accident if they wanted him out of the picture... unless they needed her not to want him in the picture anymore.

But why?

Cody let his mind wander down that path of reasoning as he continued down the avenue leading to his home. However, he tried though nothing ever seemed to lead to anything that made a shred of sense to him. "By the faiths, this is driving me crazy."

One thing he did know was that he needed to get the scent of sex and a vixen in heat off of him or else he and Aralynn were going to separate. Cody quickly glanced towards the sky, he was going to be late as it was but between being truly late and going home and trying to explain why he smelt of a strange female and sex, he was going to chose to be late. So with that in mind he veered off his course, making for a bathhouse where he could wash his sheath and groin, praying that his fur would be dry before he made it home.

Epilogue

The Ahl woman only ran a short distance from the enraged fox before coming to a stop and leaning against a low built fence wall to regain her breath, once composed she reached up to her suit's communication device and switched it on.

"Echo to Base, do you copy Base?" she repeated herself when only silence greeted her.

"You're on an unsecured frequency Echo."

The Ahl woman stood up from her relaxed position against the wall and began pacing along the brick path. "Understood, Base...Subject have been tagged and the package delivered."

Ss the silence from her contact's line began to stretch Echo could feel sweat beginning to collect on the palms of her hands. "What of the secondary objective Echo"

Echo stopped her pacing, a hand falling to her hip as her posture shifted to that of one of annoyance. "I was unable to get a sample."

"No matter... return home, Echo. Good work."