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It was the middle of the night in Harold's studio apartment, and Harold and Cutie slept on the bed. Harold awoke first, as he heard the soft whimpering from Cutie.

Cutie jerked around in his sleep as he cried out in a small childish voice, growing in volume. "Nu-uh... no... I... want... Bumper..." he whimpered. Suddenly, he tensed up and yelled out in his sleep "Bumper! Duck!"

Like so many prior nights since Cutie came to live with Harold, he rolled over, wrapped his arms around Cutie and gently cuddled Cutie against his own body, as Cutie struggled in his sleep.

Cutie jerked and kicked as his nightmare played out in his head. He yelled out "Bumper! Bumper!" before his eyes popped open. Finally realizing it was a dream, he shut his eyes and gently sobbed while he gripped Harold's arms for security.

Harold gently held Cutie in his arms while Cutie cried. He worried about the rabbit that he so loved, and tried to care for.

The past three weeks had been absolutely grueling on Harold and Cutie, since that fateful day the 'West Coast Chubby Fur Convention' ended, when Harold rescued Cutie from Steven.

On that day in the bank parking lot, Harold managed to buy Cutie from Steven by forking over his entire life savings, and rescue him. Unfortunately for Cutie, Steven wounded Cutie harshly by shooting Cutie's only friend in the world, his beloved stuffed raccoon doll named 'Bumper'.

Cutie sat on the pavement, weeping and sobbing, next to his stuffed doll. Harold managed to guide Cutie to his car, and gently transferred the wounded raccoon doll to his car trunk, and then made the long trek home. Cutie continued to weep, curled up in a ball on the passenger seat, while Harold drove home.

Once Harold arrived back at 'Metro City', he contacted Zippy at the police station and told him about all that happened. Very angry because of Harold's stupidity, Zippy agreed to take the doll named 'Bumper', and lent Harold enough money to take care of rent, along with enough for a few odds and ends. Then, Harold drove to his studio apartment, and carried Cutie inside. Later on, Zippy came by with a lock expert from the police to remove Cutie's collar.

With absolutely no possessions or clothes, Cutie worked hard to adapt the best he could to his new home, but remained in perpetual shock from the events. He kept the small studio apartment spotless while Harold went out daily to get any day labor job he could get, along with searching for a regular job. After a week, Harold managed to secure a three month contract job as an Ostrich programmer. It didn't pay much, but allowed the two of them to survive.

Harold managed to scrape together a few clothes for Cutie by shopping at a thrift store, and raiding the clothing free box. To help Cutie with the loss of Bumper, Harold bought Cutie a new raccoon stuffed doll. Cutie tried hard to accept the doll, but after a few days, it lay abandoned and forgotten in the corner of the apartment. Harold ended up returning the doll to the store. Nothing seemed to work, as Cutie continued to grieve for his loss, his dear friend 'Bumper'.

Almost from the first day, Harold began to use his knowledge as a mental health therapist to give therapy sessions to Cutie. Through the sessions, he found out that Cutie took his name 'Cutie' when he ran away from home at the age of fifteen, to remember his mother who died when he was only seven. It was her nickname for him. Harold also found out that Cutie trusted only two other furs completely and fully in his life: his mother, and 'Bumper', a gift from his mother when he was two. Harold also found out that Cutie fell in love with Harold, in part due to his resemblance to Bumper, and the wisdom that Harold possessed. As Cutie told Harold, Cutie would talk to Bumper hours on end, and share a great many secrets. Bumper helped to guide Cutie through life as best as he could. On that horrible day in the bank parking lot, Bumper died due to the gunshot wound, and a part of Cutie lay wounded.

Also, whenever Harold referred to Cutie by his name, it would cause a relapse, where Cutie would cower in the corner and cry. As Harold inferred, it brought up all the bad stuff that happened when he was with Steven (and before). Harold had to cease referring to Cutie by his name, and called him 'My love' instead. It seemed to calm down Cutie, but worried Harold. Harold felt that Cutie's mental stability was tenuous at best.

Almost nightly, nightmares haunted Cutie's sleep. Harold dedicated himself to helping and comforting Cutie through the anguish, but it left Harold completely exhausted. He worked and took care of Cutie non-stop, and had no time for anything else.

Harold found himself to be insanely jealous of Cutie. He had no desire to invite anyone else over, fearful that other furs would look at his Cutie. Harold figured that Cutie had that effect on others, and Harold was the worst affected. He worked to temper his irrational jealousy of his rabbit, and live as normal of a life with Cutie as he could.

But whenever Harold thought back to that day, and asked himself if he did the right thing, he knew in his heart he did. Every time he looked into Cutie's beautiful eyes and innocent face, he knew that he would give anything to help Cutie, as he did so now.

In bed, Harold comforted and hugged Cutie until he stopped crying.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Cutie looked to Harold and said in a small voice "I... I had that dream again..."

Harold kissed Cutie on the head. "I know, my love. You're safe now."

Cutie nodded as he tried to take comfort in those words. "Th-thanks... Harold... I... love you..." he said while he gripped Harold. He held himself tense as he tried to be brave.

Harold worried about Cutie. The shock of a changing environment is rough for anyone, reflected Harold. But, the death of Bumper, and losing his identity didn't help matters along. He wished he could help Cutie, both with the loss of Bumper, and the loss of his name.

Harold's eyes went wide as an idea struck him. It might work, he thought to himself. With excitement, he said "I'll be right back, my love." He got out of bed and made his naked way to the closet, while Cutie spent his time looking around the apartment to make sure that the evil monsters that killed Bumper were gone. Harold retrieved a box and walked back to bed with a joyous smile on his face.

Harold got back into bed next to Cutie and gave him the box. "Here, my love." He said with a warm voice.

Cutie sat up and looked at the box with a somber expression. "What... is it?" he softly asked.

Harold smiled and said "It's a gift." He leaned over and kissed Cutie.

Almost afraid, Cutie opened the box and pulled a stuffed animal in the shape of a rabbit. It was old, but still in pretty decent shape. Most of the fur had been rubbed off, and had buttons sewn on for eyes, as the original eyes probably flaked off long ago. It had long droopy ears, and a perpetually happy smile. It was the kind of toy that any kid would treasure to ward off monsters.

Cutie held the doll while he looked deep into its face. Slowly, a wide smile stretched out on Cutie's face as he took it all in. "He's beautiful." He said in his sing-song voice. "Is he yours?"

Harold nodded. "Yep. Now that's a loner until your better. OK?"

Cutie nodded as he carefully hugged the rabbit. "OK Harold. Thanks." Cutie smiled with the same innocence and joy that Harold first knew when they first met.

Harold put the box under the bed, and the two of them nestled down in bed, with the doll between them. Harold felt relieved that the rabbit doll seemed to give comfort. And now, for the second part, Harold thought to himself. "And... um... there's something else I want to give you, my love... that is very dear to me... from this rabbit..." He motioned to the toy rabbit between them.

Cutie nodded as he pulled the blanket over him. "What is it?"

Harold hoped that this would go well. He hesitantly spoke "Well... I want to... if you want, of course... give you his name..."

Cutie glanced at the doll with a blank expression, and then back to Harold. "OK. What is his name?"

Harold breathed a sigh of relief that he was receptive to the idea. "Well, his name is 'Peter Bently'. I've had him since I was a kid, and he has always been there for me. Now, you are here with me, Peter."

The white furred with no name looked off to space as he thought about the concept. "My name is... 'Peter Bently'." Peter smiled again as he made the internal switch.

To Harold, Peter seemed to gain a bit of self-confidence, and seemed less child-like. He looked a bit older, and less insecure. Instinctively, Harold knew that Peter would be all right. Harold's heart warmed as he watched Peter grow up a little.

Peter looked into Harold's eyes and said "Thank you. I love you, Harold Spinster." He spoke with less of a sing-song voice, and more of an adult voice.

Harold smiled at Peter. "And I love you, Peter Bently."

Harold Spinster and Peter Bently fell asleep in the bed with the doll between them.