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"Lay still, hon." Arden held Mark down with one paw and carefully pulled out a long, thin shard of glass with the other.

"I still can't believe she'd do that to her own son," Mrs. Halinen said. She was on the porch again, tying Mrs. Heeley's still-unconscious form with some rope she'd brought from the kitchen. "Well, at least the police will be here soon."

Just as she was finishing up the last knot, an ambulance and a police car pulled up into their driveway.

"What seems to be the problem, here?" A fox, dressed in a sharp uniform, stepped out of the police car and greeted Mrs. Halinen.

"This wolf needs to be taken into custody." Mrs. Halinen gestured to Donnah. "She assaulted her son, her husband and then tried to break into my house."

"I'll be needing more details than that, ma'am." The fox looked over the claw marks on the door.

"Well, at least put some pawcuffs on her." Mrs. Halinen retested the knots she'd tied. "I'm not sure how long this rope will hold."

The fox nodded in agreement. He pulled a pair of pawcuffs from his belt and fastened them around the wolf's wrists.

While he was doing so, Mrs. Heeley began coming around. She was disoriented, but no less fierce. "Let me go!" she wailed, flailing her arms, trying to break the pawcuffs.

"Now Ma'am," the fox pulled a Taser out of his belt, "if you don't calm down, I will have to use force."

The wolf stopped flailing and fixed Mrs. Halinen with an icy stare.

"Now, we were talking about a more detailed report..." The fox pulled out a pen and notepad.

Arden came out then and told him everything that had happened -- Katelyn's visit, Mrs. Heeley's reaction and Mr. Heeley's attempt to save them.

"I think that's sufficient to arrest her." The fox cleared his throat and put away the notepad. "I will, of course, have to visit the victim's house to further confirm the story; but it's safe to say that Mrs. Heeley will be spending the night in jail."

Mr. Halinen's Tuareg came to a screeching halt next to the house. The otter jumped out and rushed over to his wife.

"He's alive, but very badly hurt," he said, trying to whisper as much as he could to keep Mark from hearing.

"Sir..." Mrs. Halinen approached the EMS otter, who was busy tending to the remainder of Mark's injuries. She pulled him aside, out of the wolf's earshot. "There is a wolf at sixteen, Gordon Street. He's this boy's father. He's very badly hurt. We'll watch Mark; please see to him."

"Will do, Marm." The otter bowed slightly and touched a paw to his ear as an otter's sign of respect. "This one will be fine. He was fortunate enough not to get a concussion or any serious cuts. Just keep icing the bruise and monitoring the wounds for bleeding." He ran off to the ambulance; Mr. Halinen joined him, and with sirens blaring, they took off down the street.

Mark tried his best to stay awake, but ended up dozing off. Arden thought he'd passed out again, but then the wolf turned on his side and curled up into a ball.

The otter sighed, tears in his eyes again, and put his arms around the sleeping wolf. He held on and let all the tears that had built up over the course of the evening go. His only wish at this point was that Mark be okay. The future was always uncertain; but now, it was more uncertain than ever. Would Mr. Heeley live through this? If he did, would he want to raise a gay son? Where would Mark go if he got kicked out of the house for good? The tears got stronger; he pulled his arms tightly around Mark, wishing that his embrace were enough to protect the wolf from all those who meant him harm; but he knew it wouldn't suffice. He felt small and helpless -- like a beetle clinging to a flower in a rainstorm, doing his best to hold on, but at the mercy of forces too powerful to truly contend with.

Arden wasn't sure how long he lay like this. When he opened his eyes, it was morning; sunlight streamed through the windows, highlighting every speck of dust in its path. He tried to move and realized that a blanket had been put over him and the wolf.

Mark was slowly stirring and coming awake. Once his eyes were fully open, he turned to Arden.

"How are you feeling?" Arden asked, mentally kicking himself for having posed such a difficult question.

"I'm okay." Mark touched a paw to his head and winced when he found the bruise. "What about my dad?"

"He's fine." Mr. Halinen came down the stairs. "He is in the hospital; broken bones, mostly. We can all go visit him this afternoon."

"What about..." The wolf trailed off.

"She's in jail." Mr. Halinen's eyes hardened. "The trial will be on Friday. You will have to testify."

"I...I don't know if I can." Mark's eyes were wet before, but now he was definitely crying. "She's my mom; she raised me."

Mr. Halinen sighed. "Yes, but then she tried to kill you." He walked over to Mark and put his arm around the wolf. "I know it's difficult to hurt the ones we love, even if they don't love us back; but this needs to be done."

Mark didn't reply. He rested his head on his knees and sobbed, looking aimlessly down at the floor.

Arden pulled the wolf into a hug and gave him a kiss on the cheek-ruff.

Mark didn't turn to face him. "Why didn't you tell me about Katelyn coming over?" He rested his head wearily on Arden's shoulder.

"I didn't want you to worry." Arden felt a sting of guilt at having lied to the wolf. "I really thought we saw the last of her."

"What does she even want with us?" Mark looked at Arden, clearly hoping that he had all the answers. "Does she still like me?"

"No." Arden bitterly recalled the phone conversation with Katelyn. "She wants to use you to become more popular."

"Well, that's what I get for not wanting to be gay." The wolf chuckled dryly through the occasional sobs. "God, if I hadn't decided to prove how straight I was by dating her, none of this would be happening."

"It's okay." Arden did his best to smile. "We'll get through this."

"How can you even know that?" Mark drew back from him, his eyes full of fear and doubt. "In the past week, I was dumped by my girlfriend, almost outed at school, almost killed by my mom... My own mother!" He fell silent again, the silence broken only by his own pitiful sobs.

Arden put his paws on Mark's shoulders. "Yesterday, I promised myself that I would never let anything bad happen to you." He looked straight into the wolf's blue eyes, fixing his gaze. "I realize how stupid such a promise is now; but I do promise you this: as long as it's within my power, I will always stay by your side. No matter how bad things get, I won't abandon you. I know it's not much, but that's all I have. In the past week, you have made me understand more about myself than I have in my entire lifetime. Remember how I said I love you? I mean it now more than ever."

They sat there for what seemed like ages, looking at each other, Mark's eyes overflowing with tears and Arden's not much better.

Finally, Mark pulled the otter in close and hugged him tightly. "Thank you," he sobbed. "Thank you so much."

They ate breakfast in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Once in a while, Arden would put his paw over Mark's and smile at the wolf. It wasn't a happy smile, but an encouraging one. He had already tried telling Mark that everything was going to be okay, but the wolf's current predicament made that promise very difficult to believe; but he wouldn't give up. He would continue to hold Mark and be his support until the wolf stepped out of the fog enough to see his bright future.

Mikey stayed back, claiming that he didn't want to intrude, while Mark and the rest of Arden's family got into the car and drove down to the Saint Matthias General Hospital.

Arden had only been there once, when he gashed his chin open rollerblading. He didn't remember much of that ordeal, except when the doctor tried to stitch him up with a piece of concrete still lodged in his muzzle.

The orderly on duty was a petite weasel. "Yes, can I help you?" Her uniform was pressed and starched. She managed to perfectly balance that sense of authority with a softer side that made her easily approachable.

"Yes, we're here to see Mr. James Heeley." Mr. Halinen showed her his ID. "I'm a coworker and friend, and this," he said as he gestured to the young wolf beside him, "is his son."

"Ah yes, he's in room 214." She pointed to the elevator. "Second floor, then take a right."

They rode the elevator in silence. Arden noticed that Mark seemed to get more and more nervous with each step he took towards his father's room. He decided to comfort the wolf the only way he could think of -- by taking his paw. Mark panicked at first, but then, seeing that nobody was watching, he grasped Arden's paw and held it tightly.

The room was quiet and well-lit; Mr. Heeley was sitting propped up in his bed, watching television.

His face was covered in lumps, and one of his eyes had swollen shut. There were scratches all over his neck, and one of his arms was in a cast.

He smiled at them when they came in, and motioned for Mark to come closer. Slowly, the wolf let go of Arden's paw and approached his father.

Once he was close enough, the older wolf pulled his son into a big hug. "I'm so sorry I let her do that to you," he said with tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, Dad." Mark, too, was beginning to cry. "Thank you for protecting me."

"Where is she?" Mr. Heeley's voice grew icy cold.

"They're holding her at the station for now," Mr. Halinen said. "The trial is scheduled for Friday. A friend of mine knows the guy at the prosecution office and he pulled a few strings to speed things up."

"I hope, for her sake, that she has a good lawyer." Mr. Heeley's voice was seething with hatred. "Or she'll be lucky to get ten years."

"You really want her to go to prison, Dad?" Mark broke up the hug and met his father's eyes.

"Son, she tried to kill you for something that you had no choice over." His tone was soft now. No doubt, he understood how much Mark loved his mother. "It doesn't matter how much she loved you before; she's dangerous. Please understand."

"So... So, you're okay with me being gay, Dad?"

Mr. Heeley's gaze wavered. "Son, I've made many mistakes in my life, but pushing you away will not be one of them. You are gay... and you've found someone who loves you." He looked over at Arden and smiled. "And that... that's a beautiful thing. Also, this whole predicament may give me a chance to fix some of my own problems." He took Mark's paw in his. "Son, you trusted me with your deepest secret. It would be terrible of me not to do the same. I'm gay, Son." It was as if he just got ten years younger. His eyes began to shine again -- not as lively as Mark's, but more than Arden had ever seen them. It all made sense, especially the awkward glances at Arden in his Speedo.

"But... Dad..." Mark grasped for words. "You married Mom... and... you had me."

"Because I wanted to prove to the world how straight I was. I felt the same way you did. I didn't want to be gay; I believed, at the time, that I had enough problems... but seeing you hold up Arden's paw and proclaim to us that you were gay and that you loved him... It made me feel like a coward. You did something I was never able to do -- you admitted the truth. It took me a lot longer than you to become wise enough to do so. I was miserable for a very long time, and it hurt so much. I know I'm older now; but maybe I, too, will be able to find love. I hope you can accept me, Son."

Mark didn't respond. He just hugged his father and sat there. For the first time since their night at the carnival, the young wolf was smiling. The smile was weak, but like with any wound, healing would take time.

"There was only one good thing that came out of all this," Mr. Heeley whispered. "I had you."

Arden came up behind Mark and squeezed him gently on the shoulder. "Take as long as you need to, hon. We'll be outside."

"Wait," Mr. Heeley called after him. "Thank you for protecting my son... and for being there for him."

"Wouldn't dream of doing anything else." Arden kissed Mark on the cheek.

He walked out of the room and shut the door gently.

***

Several minutes later, Mark joined him.

He gave Arden another kiss, stronger and more passionate than before. The kiss did what words never could. It communicated his love and appreciation for one of just a small pawful of people in this world who loved and understood him.

Arden parted the kiss gently, suddenly remembering that he was standing in the middle of a hospital hallway. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah." Mark smiled at him again. "I think I'll visit him at least once more before he's released, though."

"We will." The otter corrected him.

"We... I like that." Mark followed him into the elevator.

The drive home was silent again, but it was a much happier silence.

"You don't have to drive all the way to my house, Mr. Halinen," Mark said as they approached Arden's house. "I think I'd like a walk. I need to do some thinking."

Mrs. Halinen waited for the wolf to get out of the car and then embraced him. "Well you can go ahead and take your walk...but if you think that you're staying in that house all by yourself, you've got another thing coming!"

"Oh, I couldn't..." Mark began before she cut him off.

"You can and you will." She parted the embrace and took Mark's paw. "Consider yourself a member of our family."

"Thank you." Mark squeezed her paw gently. "I'll just drop by to pick up some of my stuff."

"I'll come with you." Arden walked over and took the wolf's other paw.

Mark shrugged. "If you want." He sounded so small and unsure of himself, and it hurt to hear him sound like that.

Arden stood on tip-toe and kissed him on the cheek. "That wasn't a question, that was a statement. Come on."

They walked down the street together, holding paws. Both of them would have been extremely uncomfortable with this before; but now they didn't care. No matter how much hatred there is in the world, no matter how many people reject you, there will always be those who love you for who you are... just for who you are.

Walking back into Mark's house after all that had happened felt surreal. The whole house was dark and quiet -- as if it, too, was recovering from the tragedy.

Mark stopped in the living room. He stood there and stared at the remains of the coffee table -- a testament, along with his scars, to the fact that what had taken place was real. "I just can't believe it." He tore his eyes from the broken glass and shook his head. "Why would she do this to me?"

"Mark." For once in his life, Arden didn't have to look for the right words; they found him. "There are people in this world who are so set in their ways that there is simply nothing we can do to overcome them. Like the Crusaders, who would burn entire villages full of females and cubs to the ground in the name of their god. They believed that what they were doing was right. We look back on them now and shake our heads. Maybe one day we'll be able to look at homophobia the same way. For now, we just have to make the best of what progress we've made."

"I guess you're right." The wolf heaved another heavy sigh and padded quietly over to the kitchen. He opened the door and descended the staircase.

They packed all the stuff he thought he would need into a suitcase and a small duffel bag and headed back to Arden's house.

Arden chuckled. "Heh. I guess I've missed my run two days in a row." Running was the furthest thing from his mind during the ordeal.

"Well, we can still go." Mark looked over at him. "In fact, a little exercise might be good to help me clear my head."

They dropped the wolf's things off in Arden's room and headed over to the track. Their cares were not forgotten, just put on hold.