Book 1, Genesis: Chapter 14: The Options
#15 of The Chronicles of James Travant
A short 10 minutes later found Tanya standing next to James in the Doghouse, James decidedly more at ease and back to his usual self as the Captain, a Malamute, addressed the two of them.
"I must apologize, once again, Miss Sonatte, for the experience you had to go through today. Starfire has agreed to your severance pay, plus a hefty fee for the conditions of your retirement, and the money will be in your account shortly, the three ringleaders are already booked and will be standing trial soon."
"Thank you sir." The woman sighed, still self-conscious while standing next to James in front of another Kaynine who knew the specifics of their relationship.
"If you wouldn't mind stepping out for a bit, me and Travant have a few things to discuss." Tanya turned away and, at a command from James, Ronso followed her, the large Husky standing close to her as she stepped out and closed the door.
James sighed as the door shut. "What's to be done with her?"
"No solutions yet." Captain DeBasa replied, scratching at his ear."She's a fine young woman, Travant, and you know we don't look down on such relationships here, I'm not going to ask you to abandon her."
"Then I won't ask for my resignation papers." The Kaynine replied evenly.
The Captain regarded him for a moment, then turned towards his window. "Go ahead and take her to her house to get her things, then bring her to yours and take the rest of the day to settle her in, I'll be on the phone figuring out what can be done with her."
"Appreciate it sir." James turned to the door and left without another word.
Tanya seemed to be distressed, even though she was knelt and scratching Ronso's ears as he had come out to take her hand and leave.
"James, I'm sorry. I didn't want anything like this to happen, apparently one of the guards saw you taking me to dinner, and made the right assumptions and got people together. If you are in trouble, I'll make it up to you. But retirement?! What the hell am I going to do? Sit around at my home doing nothing?! Come on, we both know I'm way too active for that, I'd go mental in a month."
She scratched vigorously at the back off her neck until she was satisfied with the itch going away. Ronso cut her off and she let out a slightly annoyed grunt and looked at him as he gave a bark, of what she assumed was an apology.
"Woof to you too, Ronso. Just don't make me trip and look like a fool, would you?" She smiled and took James' hand. "I love you." She whispered, almost barely audible.
"I love you too, I'm not in trouble, stop freaking out, it's only retirement from Starfire, you can work somewhere else, Ronso's being protective, and did I mention I loved you?"
James led her down the stairs to the front door below, stepping outside and guiding her to his cruiser. "Come on, we'll be going to your house so you can collect your things, and then you're coming to live with me."
"Coming to live with you!? I hope they didn't just throw that on you. But I guess you'll have someone to give you a proper welcome home every night." She smiled,
"He's... being protective because?" She didn't understand why he was being that way, he was loyal to his partner, but he didn't exactly have to like her at all, let alone feel the need to protect her, though she couldn't deny that it made her warm inside.
"Thank you, Ronso. Don't worry, I love you too." She smiled getting into the cruiser and waiting for James' to get in and start her up.
She leaned over and kissed his cheek and settled back into her seat.
"I'm glad to know that they accepted me loving you, even though I'm not a Kaynine." She looked back at Ronso the entire ride, petting and scritching him affectionately. She'd grown fond of having him around, but not really as a pet, it was hard to explain for her.
She got out on her own accord when they arrived at her house and she slipped in quickly, rounding up her things, the bird fluttered to her shoulder as it found her in the bedroom.
"I am leaving here, little guy. I'll be at James' place from now on. Find us there if you want. I don't want to have to miss you." It twiddled and flapped its wings a few times but didn't fly away. She packed a zip up sports duffle and another suitcase of clothes, personal hygiene things, and finally her movies.
"I can't exactly get my home entertainment stuff out right now, what are we going to do with it? Sell it, put it in storage?" She turned around to look at the apartment, a frown upon her lips.
"Lock the place up tight for now; I have my own system at home anyway." James replied, glancing out the window for the 5th time to where Ronso was sitting just outside his cruiser, keeping an attentive eye out for any intruders. When she was finally finished James backed the cruiser up to the door and they discreetly threw her things into the trunk under the guise that James was pulling out investigative equipment.
"Alright, let's get out of here." He said after putting his cases back in and closing the trunk.
Tanya gave one long, last look at the interior of her apartment, her bedroom, kitchen and living room and turned to smile at James as she came back out after her final sweep.
"Yeah, let's go." She moved and let herself in the cruiser and sat looking in the mirror. "I'll miss this place." She whispered to James as he got in and closed his door while Ronso sat happily in the back. "Do you have other work to do today?"
"Just settling you in." James smiled as he shifted gears and pulled away smoothly, the vehicle bouncing a bit as it jumped the curb back onto the street.
Hargus DeBasa sighed as his phone chimed yet again, pressing the answer button and flicking his ear to activate the piece clipped onto it, he went back to the paperwork he was filing. "2/7 Doghouse, DeBasa here."
His right ear flicked a bit as the other line began talking, another call about Travant's issue. The malamute picked up a small sheaf of reports and tapped them together before slipping them into a file folder. "And that's the only option we have?"
He placed the file in his outbound tray and went to the next.
"What of a partner?" More papers, more signatures. "That can be done?"
The Captain could swear one of these days he was going to sign away his life with how often he signed reports without looking.
"Very well, He's off for the day; I'll inform him of the option tomorrow. Thanks." A final barked closing and he flicked his ear to end the call.
James keyed and opened the door to his small home that was wedged between two buildings in the Ro district.
"I apologize for the mess, I'm afraid when I went to work this morning I'd no idea I would be bringing my lover back home with me that night, so it's a wreck."
He collected her bags from the trunk before nudging the door open and inviting her in, Ronso happily nudging at the back of her legs to move her along.
Tanya giggled looking over her shoulder at Ronso, "Okay, okay, I'm getting in, but I don't want to enter flat on my face!" She started walking, looking around she smiled. "It's a fine place, and I'm not bothered by the mess. You are a busy man, I know."
She moved a controller from the couch and looked to him, "What kind of games?"
James grinned, showing off his canines as he let her bags down.
"C'mon, who are you talking to? Shooters, and a lot of 'em."
He went about the living room, quickly snatching up the dirty laundry on the floor and dropping it into the hamper in the hallway on the way to his bedroom, where he pushed the loose magazines and other riff raff into drawers before snapping them shut.
"Can I get you something to drink?" he asked as he opened his closet, got buried by the stuff looming on the other side of the door, dug his way out, and began shoving clothes aside on the bars to make room for hers.
She chuckled watching and listening to him, "If I could have some water, love. Would you let me help you?"
She stood up, walking to him and leaning in to kiss his neck.
"I'm sorry for causing so much trouble. Should I have back down and denied that we had anything more than a professional and casual friendship?"
James smiled, kicking most of the clutter back into his closet to clean another time, then turned to her and surprised her with a wet lick right across her nose.
'You did exactly what I'd do in the situation, so no worries there." He replied warmly, freeing himself from her grasp to disappear into the kitchen and reappear with a glass of water in his paw.
Graciously she took the glass, and took a big gulp from it.
"Thank you." She looked at him, a smile wide on her face.
"I'm glad to hear that I didn't do anything wrong in that situation. I wanted to fight back, but that wouldn't have gotten me anywhere."
She twirled around and stopped in the middle of the room and took another step. "Hmm, this place I can get used to."
"Well, I hope to have it cleaned by the evening so that you can get used to the house and not the clutter." He padded around the small bedroom, picking up the clutter from the floor and sorting it into various boxes and drawers.
The bed was as over sized as he was, but, being Kaynine almost made a King size bed a necessity. This he quickly picked the thick comforter up from and righted it, shaking out the folds and letting it fall nicely over the bed, he poked Tanya gently in the ribs as he sidled past her to grab her things.
Tanya growled to her surprise as he had poked her and smiled to him. "I'll bite that the next time you poke me with it."
She let the thought of something else being bitten linger as she ran to jump and flop on his bed, wrinkling it again a little.
"You worry too much, I already feel at home. And you've only seen my place AFTER I've cleaned up a bit." She gave a shy laugh with her cheeks rosed.
"So come here and lay with me a while. I want to know the options I have, with this whole situation. I hate feeling helpless and so dependant all of a sudden."
James brought in her bags and dumped them, taking a minute to neatly stack them before turning to crawl onto the bed beside her and laying down on his front, looking the bored image of his parent species as he blew a breath out his nose.
"We're still working out new work options for you, you'll stay here with me until there comes a time that you wish to move out or find work elsewhere, until then you have full access to my house and surrounding neighborhood, welcome to Ro district by the way."
Tanya smiled and rolled over, leaning into him, half of her body draping over his. "Well I don't know if I'd want to move out... that is unless you don't like the thought of living with me, as a permanent thing. To which I can understand if you don't."
She kissed his shoulder and shifted to be more comfortable against him. "Thanks for the warm welcome, although I think there is something missing in that welcome, but it'll come to me later I'm sure."
She hummed in comfort and a sound of love couldn't be helped but filling its feeling.
"Thank you, for helping me out of that situation, be it was your job or not."
James flicked an ear.
"It was nothing really, thanks for being proud of who you are and who you're with."
He smiled.
"I think we can go on that movie date together now."
Tanya's cheeks visibly went a deep red, "How could you ever think I'd not be proud with you? You are something to brag about. A real gentleman, you treat me like an equal, you don't play around, and you don't talk down to me like I'm a small child. You love me, and I'm proud at that fact... and most of all, even after everything. You took the chance of a hard rejection, to come see me again..."
She leaned forward in a natural movement and brushed her cheek against his in a nuzzle.
"I love you James, I really do. And that movie date sounds good; we'll make plans later for it." She lifted up on her forearms and started to nibble idly on his ear tip.
James smiled a bit and flicked his ear tip from her teeth occasionally. "Yeah, I suppose we'll have to." He lifted up a bit, waiting for Tanya to shift off his bulky form before flipping over onto his back and capturing the young woman in his arms before she could shift away.
A brief kiss on her forehead, and he settled her to lay against his chest, shifting a bit to make them both comfortable before visibly relaxing.
"So, welcome to my home then." He whispered quietly.
She smiled, snuggling up against his body while lying on his chest, one leg sliding its way between his own.
"Thank you for the welcome, I already feel like I've lived here for a long time. You know, I think you were just trying to keep me away from your house before." She giggled, poking his ribs with a soft laugh.
"I appreciate all this you've done for me, James. I hope we find a way to be together in public without you having a bunch of hassle to deal with."
"Mmm." The Husky replied as he and she both slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, James awoke running a bit late, he kissed Tanya good morning, then extricated himself from her grip and pulled his uniform from his closet to dress while cooking up a quick breakfast.
"If you do resort to cleaning my house, please do me the favor of putting sticky notes on every drawer so I can know where you've hidden everything." He chided her around a mouthful of sausage. She grinned and poked him as he slipped his uniform shirt on and zipped it up before tucking it in.
"Alright, out I go, love you." He kissed her once again and collected his bag, pausing only long enough to get the wanted response from her before stepping out his door and locking it behind him.
A short 5 minutes later saw him clocking in five minutes late and dropping his bag at his desk, where a small note requested his presence in Captain DeBasa's office.
James neared the Malamute Captain's door and gave a brief knock, opening it only when he received the response from inside; he stepped in and closed the door behind him. "Whatcha got for me Captain?"
DeBasa smiled and indicated the seat in front of his desk as he closed out the conversation on his phone and flicked an ear to close the line.
"I know you've got little time or patience for getting the run around, so I'll give it to you straight." He said quietly, leaning forward on his desk.
"We've got a couple options for Tanya, most involve moving and placing her under the Witness protection unit to keep her safe, while these are good ideas, they also mean that you'd both be limited on when and how you could see each other, and we're not too accepting of that, because it's just letting this speciest movement win."
James nodded his assent, crossing his arms and flicking an ear as the Captain continued.
"Our genetics department, however, has called up and offered another solution."
James blinked. The Genetics Department? What the hell could they want w- It clicked just as Captain DeBasa opened his muzzle and finished.
"They're offering to put her through the Kaynine program and turn her into one of us, and after that, I'm more than willing to allow her to work here in Doghouse or at any one of our satellite groups."
James was shell shocked. Turn her into a Kaynine? Would she ever really accept that? "Sir, I-"
DeBasa nodded. "I know it's a rough decision, go home to her and let her maul it over for a bit, then come back to me about it sometime in the afternoon. I hate to rush you, but we're running out of time, Starfire's starting to raise questions, and we've currently got no answers for them."
James nodded, then disappeared without another word. He collected his things and closed out his desk, then headed for the parking lot. A small protest had started outside the front gate, another speciest rally telling the Kaynines to get out or burn in hell or whatever the phrase of the day was.
James shook his head and turned over the engine, driving out the front gate and right through the middle of the group. They seemed to be getting smaller and smaller with each passing rally, proof positive that Ro was gradually becoming accepting of their continued presence.
Five minutes later saw him walking back through his front door, with a lot on his mind, and no way to easily get it off his chest...
End: The Chronicles of James Travant, Book 1: Genesis