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What Was Broken -

Chapter 13

"Oscar winning Malamute actor Denton Seward was arrested in Hollywood today on charges of human kidnapping, smuggling, and engaging in an organized sport known as 'beast baiting', which pits unarmed humans against non-humans, usually to the death." The radio announcer rattled off in a flat though cheerful sounding monotone while Sean waited in his idling car. "Following leads discovered during investigations that followed the discovery of a human slavery ring operating out of the Las Vegas Diamond Mine casino. The primary witness was able to positively identify mister Seward as one of those who regularly frequented the kennels in which she was being kept until her rescue in April." Sean chuckled drily as he listened to the news report of yet another break in the case that he had no small part in starting. "Mister Seward, well known for his Oscar winning role in Executioner; Justice be Damned, and its many sequels, refused to make any comment and attempts to contact his legal counsel have not been returned. With the arrest of Seward directly linked to the Las Vegas investigation--"

Sean punched one of the other preset buttons on the radio, switching over to some smooth jazz. If there was one thing he really, really didn't want to hear about now, it was Vegas. He slapped the steering wheel in frustration, more angry at himself than anything else. He'd have to make it all up to Taws, some way. If she let him.

His realization that she was still not back, that she had in fact been gone quite a long time, was cut off by as his phone began to ring. "Hey, Oda." He answered after reading the caller ID, "Any news?"

"Yeah," the wolf's voice was grave from the other end of the line, "Photographs landed on my supervisor's desk yesterday, and the regional director's, but they had not told me yet." He gave a snort and a long sigh, "It's not going to be good, I'm afraid."

"Not good meaning what?"

"Disciplinary action, to be sure. I - well - fraternized with a witness while on their protective detail, to put it lightly. It won't get me fired, but it's going to be a kick in the balls."

"Do you have any idea who the fucker was who did this?"

"I do. My hunch was right. One of the traffickers I busted hinted that he had damning evidence that would hurt me if I didn't shut up and didn't show at his arraignment." Oda sighed heavily, "I didn't know what that could be; I didn't imagine he had hired someone to follow me around. Fuck!"

"How'd they find us?

"Another hunch. I had the motor pool pull the car apart. Didn't take them long to find a tracking device." Oda paused and Sean could make out the sounds of him likely taking a drink from a bottle of beer. "That's how he knew where the safe house was. Bosses were particularly pissed about that part. Needless to say, that location is no longer viable so it'll just get sold, now."

"God damn, Oda, I'm so sorry!"

"None of this was your fault. You were just... there at the wrong time."

"You did show up at court though, right?"

"Of course, that's why you got those photos. Now I'm going to have another charge to throw at him - blackmail or extortion, if I don't just flatten his face on a table the next time he's interviewed."

Sean rocked his head against the headrest, bouncing it off several times. "I'm still sorry you're having to go through all this, Oda."

"Sean, hey, don't worry about it okay? Like I said, I shouldn't get fired over this. Shit, I've know people to do way worse things and they're still here," Oda said reassuringly. "If I had the choice to make again I would make it the same." There was a slight pause, then a rueful chuckle, "You're pretty good in bed."

Sean could not help but guffaw at that, the first laugh he'd had for most of that day. "Yeah, right. Look, if there's anything I can do, Oda, you just ask, okay? Anything, and I'll make it happen."

"Just wish me luck, Sean. Oh, and something else that should be a concern for you."

"What's that?"

"This wasn't just about embarrassing me to my bosses, otherwise you wouldn't have received the photos. If this private detective could find Taws and send them to her, then he'll already know who I've worked with; who my partner was."

"Partner? You mean that suit we saw you with outside the plane?"

"No, he's my section chief, and I've already touched base with him - like, as soon as I got off the phone with you. No, I mean Lazarus."

Sean blinked, his jaw hanging open in shock. He had not thought about Lazarus at all! "Oh, shit! If he gets those photos of us -"

"He may see that as a betrayal of your relationship with Taws, and my abrogation of it."

Sean wiped a hand down his face. "Shit. I'll face that music when he kicks in my door, Oda, nothing to be done about it now. Just cover your ass, okay?"

"That's what the gods gave us bushy tails for." Sean could hear the grin in the wolf's voice, the attempt at levity. "Enjoy what you've got with Taws, I'll be all right. Give her my love, will you?"

Sean suddenly remembered how late she was running and realized she still wasn't back at the car. "Yeah, Taws..."

Oda picked up his concern right away. "What about Taws? What's going on?"

"She forgot her valise upstairs and had to get it. She said she'd be right down."

"Should she be taking this long?"

Sean was already pulling off his seatbelt and going for the lockbox under his seat where they kept the gun in the car. "No."

"Shit. Get going then, let me know that everything's alright after."

Sean punched off and quickly got the lockbox open. It was a fingerprint model, very quick to open for the right people. In moments he had the gun out, loaded, and in his pocket. He was jogging back to the elevator when it dinged open. The momentary relief that had come over him when he thought it was Taws just running late was dashed when he saw it was the usual garage security guard. The man's gaze roved Sean as he approached, holding up a hand to stop him going further.

"Mister Garret?" The man asked. That was unnerving in itself; they had almost always passed with just a courteous nod and a good-night in all Sean's time there but had never exchanged names.

"Yeah?"

"Sir, I need you to come with me." The man turned slightly and swept an arm toward the elevator that was waiting, doors still open long after the usual timer had expired. The knot of apprehension that had been gnawing at Sean's guts turned to a solid block of ice. That something bad had happened to Taws, something that was his fault and that he wasn't there to stop, was foremost in his mind.

"What's the problem?"

"There is a collie up on the twenty first floor who demands to see you. She's refusing to accept help from anyone."

Sean blinked and broke into a trot, forcing the security guard to hasten as well with a jangle of gear. "What's happened?!" he snapped with fearful irritation.

"I'm not sure, sir." The man shrugged, "An assault occurred, I believe, but I only heard what was on the radio." Stepping in with Sean the officer used a key to open the service panel and tapped a few keys on the pad within. Closing the panel he pressed the door close button and withdrew as the elevator doors closed. Sean grabbed the handrail as the elevator shot up at a swift clip, far faster than he was used to. It slowed to a swift halt a couple of moments later and Sean stepped out into a scene of carnage.

Blood was spattered in small droplets across the floor and the receptionist's desk across from the elevator. When he emerged he heard a whining gasp and jerked his gaze from the spatters of blood toward the sound to see Taws sitting on the floor near one wall, a bloodied rag held to her nose. Crossing the distance in a couple of strides, ignoring the two security officers standing near the desk, he dropped to his knees and swept Taws into a tight embrace.

"S- Sean!" She yowled loudly and clung to him, dragging him further down. He could feel her body shaking violently and the sobs in his ears made him want to cry in return. After killing the cause of those wracking cries.

"I'm here!" He said quickly, drawing her close, ignoring the blood staining the shoulder of his suit, "I'm here, love, it's okay." He turned to look over the muzzle pressed into the hollow of his neck and shoulder. "What the hell happened?!"

"She was assaulted by another employee, sir." One of the officers, both of them human, offered. The other merely looked on with an expression of distaste at the display.

Sean cast his gaze around, noting only a tall ram standing to one side. His gaze hardened to a glare, "Him?!"

The officers glanced toward the ram and then shook their heads. "He stopped it. She would not... ah, well, sir, she was all teeth and wouldn't let us get anywhere near her." The man offered gamely with a helpless shrug, "She told us you were waiting downstairs."

"Trev - Trevor," Taws managed to gasp brokenly, "It w- was Trevor."

"I'm here, now." Sean hissed angrily as Taws sobbed raggedly against his shoulder, snuffling past the blood dripping from her nose. "The mailroom guy did this? Where the hell is he?" A more than small part of him itched to go for the gun in his pocket and empty it into the setter until he stopped being a problem.

"Removed and detained until the police arrive, sir. Our security room saw the fight taking place and we got here as quickly as we could. The lead custodian stepped in before we arrived and broke them up." Another pair of elevator doors whispered open and a couple of paramedics emerged. They carried only their medical kits rather than bringing a gurney with them. After a brief glance they spied Taws and approached but Sean waved them off.

"Sir, we need to ascertain her injuries." One of them, a stocky beagle, explained gently as they set their kits down nearby and dug examination gloves from their pockets to pull them on. "M'am, what's your name?"

"Her name is Taws." Sean growled warningly at the Beagle who squatted nearby. His partner walked over to speak with the guards. "Are you okay with this, hon?"

Taws nodded jerkily and pushed herself to sit upright against the wall. Shuffling on his paws the beagle moved closer. "Can you tell me what happened, ma'am? How were you struck, where?"

"Face." Taws lifted her head and dropped the bloodied rag away. Her nose had stopped bleeding leaving her muzzle caked with half congealed blood. "Slapped me, punched me a couple times. Tried to bite me."

"Where did he bite you, ma'am?" The beagle's ears pricked up in alarm.

"Neck." She heaved a great breath and sagged into Sean's arms, "He only got fur." She tilted her head to one side and ran her fingers through the dampened fur of her ruff. With delicate fingers the beagle combed through the dense mane of fur to examine the flesh beneath.

"I can't see any signs of injury or blood." He declared after some moments and sat back on his heels. "I cannot determine what injuries may have been caused by being struck, other than the nosebleed. I would suggest you at least get X-rays."

"Yes, thank you, we'll do that." Sean huffed with a look at Taws. She seemed to have gotten over her frightened crying and was simply exhausted. He stood and gently helped her up only to discover that her legs had become so unsteady she could barely stand. Without a second thought he knelt and scooped her into his arms. A year ago such a feat would have been beyond him.

"When you're done there, sir, you'll have to file a report at the police station if you want to press charges." One of the officers called to Sean's back as he carried her to the waiting elevator.

They had to wait almost an hour at the hospital before Taws could be seen. While she was off getting x-rayed, Sean took the opportunity to fire off a series of texts to Oda, letting the wolf know about the situation. Oda was naturally sympathetic, returning some advice on how best to handle matters with the police. The X-rays revealed only a few small cracks in the fragile bones of Taws' nose and no more major injuries. The soft tissue injuries from being punched would bruise, they said, but her fur mitigated any lasting damage. Her dress suit fared far worse than her flesh, torn and scuffed so badly it would have to be thrown away. From there it was off to the police station where Trevor was already detained to press charges.

It was almost midnight by the time everything was finished and the streets were as clear as they were going to be for a weekday evening.

"Sean, thank you." Taws murmured from the passenger seat, her voice muddied by the prescription painkillers she had been given. There would be swelling, the doctor had told them, and perhaps more bleeding if she was not careful or sneezed. "For being there."

Sean frowned and glanced aside at her, "But I wasn't there. Not when you needed me."

"You were." Taws sighed as she reached down to rest her hand atop his on the gear column, "There was no way to know that he'd pick a fight. But the training helped, so in a way you were there." Her fingers tightened gently as she turned to look at him. "Sean, what am I to you?"

"What?" He looked toward her from the corner of one eye, "You're my life, Taws. Moreso than Ashley was. I figured that out within weeks, long before we went to Vegas."

"I'm not your pet, then?"

Sean blinked and frowned, slowing the car to ease onto the shoulder. Once he had finally stopped he turned and reached out to brush his fingers into the fur of her throat ruff, "No, Taws. Never that. I could never think of you as a pet." He scowled and he held her golden gaze as it flashed bright and dimmed in the headlights of passing cars. "Is that what he said, that you were a pet? Christ! Taws, love, my love, you're the half of me I never knew was missing! Yeah, okay, so you're a collie. I never expected that, I never looked for it. But you found me, you complete me, and that's all there is to it." Leaning across the armrest he touched his lips delicately to the side of her muzzle. "If anyone's the pet here, love, it's me." He smiled reassuringly and dropped his hand to stroke her leg. "I'm hopelessly, head over heels yours, Taws. No one else's."

Taws nodded, trying to smile but finding her lips quivering, her breaths quickened as she leaned her muzzle against his cheek and sighed, "So, if a human version of me -"

"There is no human version of you, love. You're you, and the fur and fangs and heart is part of the package." He turned to settle back into his seat and put the car back in drive. "No human woman will ever get between us." He paused, then chuckled as he gave her a wink, "Nor wolf, for that matter, okay?"

"Okay, love." Taws leaned back, too bone weary to even smile at his joke, and closed her eyes.

"You just relax. We'll be home soon enough, get you cleaned up, then you can sleep in. I'm sure our teams can manage without us for a day or two."

They settled on a nice, hot bath, Taws getting the tub and Sean sitting beside to help her wash up. He was just finishing the delicate job of cleaning off her muzzle, the wash cloth having developed a fair size rust-colored spot in the process.

"There you go love," he concluded, carefully brushing off a few lingering drops with his fingers. "Clean and regal once more."

"Thank you," she replied with a subdued smile. Her eyes held a twinkle of greater appreciation though, before she turned and slid down into the water more. Sean reached in and took her hand, idly working on cleaning that and her arm. "I never told you about Dawson, did I?" she asked quietly after a few minutes.

"Hm? No, who is he?"

Taws sighed deeply, closing her eyes and laying back against the tub. "He was my first boyfriend in college. We met during the first week, he was another collie like me, and I thought we clicked really well. He was my first real... adult relationship, I guess you could say. Turned out he was a lying piece of shit that broke my heart, too."

She went on to describe what happened, how her almost blind love and young naivety had caused her to miss what should have been obvious signs of problems. Some were blatant, like the redolent musk mingling with his own when he came to her dorm room late at night. Others were not, such as when they had sex it usually involved her muzzle or her ass but seldom anywhere else. And he had never brought his muzzle anywhere near her as Sean did. "I suppose you had wondered how I found out that I enjoyed it under the tail as much as I do. Now you know. That is the only thing I could conceivably thank him for."

The truth of the matter, though, was that Dawson's love had never been mutual. When he had been in high school, he learned to hide his homosexuality behind a string of girlfriends to prove to the 'Guys' that he was as straight as they were. In college, he came to realize that wasn't necessary but only after a whole string of boyfriends on the side, on the sly. He broke up with her almost six months into the school year, unceremoniously dumping her, when one of his paramours had asked him to move to Hawaii to attend college with him there. He had thrown it in her face and laughed about it, about how dumb blind she was never to have seen it, and walked out. Dawson, a perfectly charming, handsome collie just like her, standing at the door laughing coldly in her face before walking off. In the dorm parking lot, while she watched, he boldly kissed the German shepherd that had become his newest boyfriend before getting into his car and roaring off, out of her life. "I was so devastated by the whole thing I almost failed out of most of courses that semester. I spent that summer getting my shit together and thankfully never had to endure a breakup that bad again."

She felt wet fingers touch her chin, very gently, and turned her head with them, her eyes opening once more. Sean's brow was furrowed, the anguish clear on his face. "I'm so, so sorry to hear that, Taws. I can't believe that someone would do that to you."

A brief smile twitched at the corners of her mouth at his concern. "Now you see why those pictures hurt me as much as they did."

Sean nodded, looking down briefly before meeting her eyes once more. "I do understand, love. Believe me when I tell you that I could never do something like that to you. I could never understand the contempt required by the people who do."

Taws wrapped her hand around his, squeezing tightly. "After seeing what you did for Ashley, I can believe that. And I forgive you for Oda, my love. You did it for the right reasons, just... not the right way. Promise me that nothing like that will ever happen again. You're not alone, Sean, we're together in this. Promise that you'll talk to me and we'll work together to solve whatever problems arise, okay?"

She smiled back at Sean's obvious sense of relief and accepted his promise. It was a promise sealed with a kiss, albeit a careful one, worth any discomfort it may have caused. Taws settled down on the back of the tub once more. "He is a handsome devil, though, isn't he?" she joked with a smile only to earn a reproving stare from Sean and a snort of mirth.

They only took the following day off, though Sean fielded calls at his house from both teams while Taws rested. The aches and strains made themselves all too apparent after a night of heavy sleep and she hardly wanted to stand. The thought of going into work just made her groan. The chief of building security called as well, to report that Trevor was barred from re-entering the building, or any property belonging to the Firm, and advise them to exercise caution should he come by the house once he was released from jail.

Sean assured him that making a visit would be very detrimental to the setter's health.

He went into the bedroom to retrieve the pistol from his bed table while Taws slept, carrying it in a holster on his belt for the rest of the day, just in case.

He was preparing soup from fresh ingredients when a knock distracted him a few hours later. Wiping his hands on a towel he made his way to the door, glancing out a window to the driveway and street as he passed. He saw Lazarus' truck parked at the curb so, when he opened the door, he did not have his hand on the pistol holstered at his side.

When he opened the door he immediately knew what was up just by the look on the collie's face. Stepping back and to the side he invited Taws' brother into the house. The collie walked stiffly, the ruff of his neck bushed and tail held straight out behind him, unmoving. He glanced around briefly. "Where's Taws?" He growled.

"Asleep." Sean answered as he quietly closed the door. "Yes, I know why you're here."

Lazarus rounded on him with a glare, ears backed and teeth gleaming, "Do you?" He snarled furiously.

"I do." Sean nodded, passing the collie with a sigh and a contrite look on his face. "Let's take it out back." Lazarus stalked along in his wake, his breath hissing through clenched teeth. Sean pushed open the door to the porch and stepped out behind him, carefully closing it with a quiet click.

"What the fuck, man?!" Lazarus barked once Sean turned around, pacing in a wide circle around the porch and swatting the back of a deck chair he passed so solidly it moved a few inches. "What the god damned fuck?"

"Pictures?"

"A whole god damned envelope of them!" Lazarus flung up his arms, "Do you know what will happen of those photos go to his superiors?" His voice became louder as he spoke and Sean had to wave a hand admonishingly for him to be quieter.

"They went to Taws too, Lazy. At work. And, yes, to Oda's supervisors too." Sean sighed with a nod.

"Why?" Lazarus snapped like a pistol shot. He stalked to the porch railing and clutched it as he growled and Sean merely stood by the table. "Did he come onto you? Did he force you? Fuck, he wouldn't do that." Lazarus was rambling and Sean let him. "Why the fuck did you let him? Do you know how much that will cost him?"

"He didn't. I asked."

Lazarus rounded on him with a look of shock, "You what?" He grunted, wide eyed. He snapped one arm out in a wave toward the house, "What the fuck about Taws? Did you think about her at all when you asked him?" He bellowed and Sean winced at the volume.

"It's a long story, Lazy." Sean sighed, "I had - a problem. I couldn't find a way out, so I asked for his help. For Taws, not because I wanted to try some fling on the side."

"Help?" Lazarus leaned back with a scowl, "Help? What fucking kind of help do you need that has you getting fucked by that god damned wolf?" Lazarus turned back toward the yard and leaned on the railing. "That son of a bitch."

"Fucking is precisely why I needed his help." Sean offered.

"Don't bullshit me, asshole, I'll knock your cheating bastard teeth in." Lazarus snarled back over his shoulder.

Sean made his way over to the railing and stood a few paces away looking out over the yard. "Ever deal with shell shock, Lazy? Post-traumatic stress? Rape victims?" He turned his head to look over at the angry, confused collie. "Ever been shot and had to look down the barrel of another gun during a sting?" Lazarus turned his head to glare at him, his whiskers and ears backed. "That's why, Lazy. That's why I got shit faced drunk and asked Oda to help."

"What, you couldn't ask Taws?" Lazarus snarled with another wave at the house. "Or by the fucking gods ask her first, before you went off for a weekend joyride on a wolf's dick?"

Sean grimaced and sighed with a nod, "I should have asked her, yes. I was selfish, too caught up in my nightmares." Sean wrung the towel in his hands and looked out across the yard. "I didn't even know I was going to do it until I did it. And it wasn't a joyride, by any stretch. I was scared - terrified! And it hurt. It hurt a lot."

"Didn't hurt half so much as what I want to do to you right now, Sean."

"I'd deserve it."

"And someone took fucking photographs!" Lazarus exploded with a fling of his arms that made Sean start a pace further away, expecting the collie to come at him with fists flying or teeth biting. He would not raise a hand in his own defense, he knew, even though he had a gun on his hip. "Do you have any idea what they'll do to him for banging a fucking witness in his protection?" His barking voice rose to a deafening bellow and his arms waved but, thankfully, no blows came Sean's way.

"Demote, from what he told me."

"Demote? Demote?!" Lazarus gaped at him, "Sean, you dumbass, they could fire him outright! Wipe out thirteen years of law enforcement over a few nights banging your ass because you 'had a problem'!" The collie stalked over as he yelled, until he was standing nose to nose with Sean who did not retreat or raise his hands to defend himself. Lazarus' angry gaze raked him up and down, then stopped. "What's with the fucking gun, Sean?" His yelling dropped away to a level rumble as his eyes stared fixedly at the pistol securely snapped in the holster on Sean's belt.

"Maybe to protect me?" A soft, tired voice came from the house snapping both men's heads around. "Lazy, what is this row all about?" Sean strode quickly around the deck furniture to gather Taws up in his arms where she stood just outside the back door with a sheet draped around her shoulders.

"Protect you?" Lazarus grunted, "From what, him?" He scoffed angrily, waving an arm at Sean. His eyes narrowed and he leaned forward, looking Taws up and down before taking a few steps forward. "What the hell? How? Who?" Angry golden eyes snapped over to Sean with a glare as his hackles seemed to bush up even more than they already were. His hands curled into fists and he approached a little more swiftly, stopping only when Taws held up a hand for him to stop.

"Sean didn't do anything." Taws murmured, leaning sleepily against her man's chest. "I got beat up by a guy at work who didn't know when no meant No."

Lazarus glowered, "Who? He tried to -"

Taws shook her head slowly, "No, at least I don't think so. He wanted to muscle in, convince me to drop Sean for a fling with him. He got pushy, petulant like some spoiled little schoolyard bully who wasn't getting his way. When I pushed back he just went nuts." Turning toward Sean she bowed her head and rested her hands against his chest, then pushed gently. "Sean, go back into the house, hon. My brother and I need to talk."

Sean nodded and leveled a warning look at Lazarus, "I'll be in the kitchen, hon." He said after a moment and withdrew, closing the door Taws had left open behind him. From the kitchen window he looked out, seeing Lazarus leaned back against the rail and Taws sitting on the side of a deck chair. With a heavy heart and a sense of dread he turned back to the soup he had been preparing.

Twenty minutes later Lazarus stalked through the back door, growling murderously, and crossed the house with only a passing glare at Sean. The front door hissed open and then slammed shut as Taws came in from outside much more slowly. Sean set aside what he was doing to embrace her while Lazarus' truck coughed to life and roared away. "He didn't like any of it, Sean." Taws sighed against Sean's shoulder. "He's furious about what you and Oda did." She leaned her head back slightly to look up, "I think he's blind jealous, honestly, and angry that he wasn't Oda's only... I don't know." With a slow shake of her head she sank into one of chairs at the dinner table with Sean's help. "He has to know that Oda's been with others besides him! And, still, he's terrified about what might happen to Oda because of those photographs."

Sean sighed and drew a chair over to sit down facing her. "I know, hon. I knew he'd be angry, and I would have to face it when he found out." He held her hands and leaned forward until the brows of their bowed heads touched. "I hope he doesn't hate me because of it all, but he has to know why I did it. I tried to explain, but I don't think he was hearing it."

Taws shook her head, "He doesn't want to hear it. He won't. He's convinced himself it's a pure horse shit rationalization for a fling."

Sean winced and sighted, "But you do, I hope?"

Lifting her head to meet his gaze Taws smiled, "I know better." Her nose quivered and she cast a glance toward the kitchen. "What's for dinner, I'm sore famished."

By the next day Taws was almost fully recovered, though still sore, and they returned to work. She called her brother to try easing the raw edge of his anger again but made little headway. He did not come by that weekend, as he often did, nor the next, nor for many weeks afterward.

The fight, as expected, was the top subject of office gossip for days, until it came to light that one of the executives was caught doing things in his office with his secretary that he probably should not have been, regardless of the fact that she was also his wife. Within a couple of weeks other gossip replaced even that and Taws' altercation with the late mail dog passed out of mind.

It took a couple days, but Taws eventually did call Oda. They leaned that there was going to be a disciplinary hearing for his actions. He had been kicked out of the undercover program and confined to his desk until then. There was talk of demotion and reassignment, but nothing for certain until the hearing. She asked Sean to leave after that, as she wanted to speak with Oda privately. Taws had explained to him beforehand that while she wasn't angry with the wolf any more, she didn't want Sean there to unduly influence her. The only part Sean caught was at the end, just before he knocked on the door to see how she was doing. "Thank you for giving him back to me whole."

A few days later Sean was called at work and had to set aside two whole hours so he could explain to the Internal Affairs office what had happened between himself and his protection officer while he was in Las Vegas, and why it had happened. He told the truth, and repeated it over and over again despite the questions changing, trying to lead him astray. Throughout it all he tried to stress the fact that he had made the choice, he had made the advances, and the whole thing should be placed squarely on his shoulders.

Unfortunately, Sean could not be punished for the wolf's failure to adhere to department policy in relation to on-duty interaction with persons in his custody, protective or otherwise, but Oda could. They refused to tell him what sort of fate was ahead for Oda and it left him feeling horrible. It would be another month before Oda called to give them the details of his punishment.

Because of Sean's assertions that the liaison was purely consensual and took place during 'nominally' off duty hours Oda would not be fired, though the ruling was hardly that much better. He was dismissed from his duties as an undercover agent, dismissed from the Las Vegas division of the department, and demoted a full three grades with a two year probation. He was also being reassigned to the Arizona border patrol as a uniformed officer; quite a big step down, but he still had his job.

With the weeks becoming days leading up to the California vote Taws' workload increased exponentially. It left her frazzled and distracted to the point that only Sean's diligence had kept her from once more taking on the appearance of the frowsy dowager he had first spied when he looked up from Ashley's disastrous breakup text. She was spending more time at the office than at home, returning long after Sean had left for the day. On those days he left her the car and took a cab ride home.

One day he didn't was the Tuesday night of the California vote. Sean stayed with Taws and the core of her team late and watched the voting results long enough to be confident which way things were going to go before they headed out. With the time differences and the wrangling that would take place at the end, the final numbers wouldn't be out until the middle of the night their time. Even so, she spent the evening curled up on the couch with Sean and a couple boxes of good Chinese takeout, watching the talking heads on the news give their opinions as the results flowed in.

The following day was fairly unremarkable. In spite of the predictions of the pundits and the far right, marriage as it was known did not cease to exist overnight. The apocalypse did not happen, God did not come down from heaven to smite the United States, despite the prophecies of the religious fundamentalists. The only thing different that day was that in the state of California, for the first time, men married men, women married women, and humans married non-humans. And vice versa.

Proposition 12 passed with a final approval of 54% of the vote. It had always been a highly contested idea, the majority of people not as willing to accept same sex relationships. Early polls in the state had been mixed, above fifty percent one week, and then plunging into the forties the next before bouncing back up. Conservatives were already gearing up for the inevitable court battles.

Proposition 12a was on more solid ground, garnering 63%. No matter fangs and fur, people seemed much more comfortable with the idea of opposite sex marriages, the whole reason for the proposal split in the first place.

"Hey, hon." Sean smiled as he wandered into her office early that Friday morning. Despite it being two days later, Taws' team was still being swamped with post-campaign data from out west. They were planning out over fifty commercials and ad spots playing through various media up to that point to, as one of her team had said 'rub their noses in the issue' for the citizens of New York state.

Worrying a pen in the corner of her muzzle Taws looked up and smiled. "Hey. What's up?" She set the pen aside and stretched before pinching the bridge of her nose and then rubbing her eyes.

"Not much. I'm going to take the car in for service at lunch." He came around the desk to stand behind her chair and give her a warm hug before rubbing her shoulders. "I probably won't come back to the office. I've arranged a ride, though, so you won't have to drive."

She leaned back into the massage with a throaty rumble, enjoying the fingers digging into her thick fur to ease the tension from her neck and shoulders. "Good. I'll probably be half blind from staring at all this information all day." She waved one hand at the three monitors crowding her desk and the paperwork neatly arrayed all over the desk and office walls.

Leaning down Sean nuzzled between her tall triangular ears, "I figured. I'll have a nice dinner waiting for you, and then we can enjoy a couple of days of peace." He flicked his fingers toward the monitors. "After this week it's the least you deserve."

"Ugh, gods yes." She sighed, tilting her head back against his chest and lifting her muzzle to share a kiss. "But I fear this is only the beginning. The coming year is going to get rough."

"Don't you worry, hon. You're carrying this campaign marvelously. They'd be lost without your creativity."

She chuckled and flicked a lick across his lips, "And yours, love. You've shown me a few tricks that I've used."

Opening his mouth Sean captured her tongue between his lips with a smile, "Learned some tricks of your own, dear." Tightening his arms he gave her a last hug before breaking the kiss and straightening. "I should go, hon. I'll see you later tonight." Walking around the desk he made his way toward the door, "When do you think you'll be shutting down?"

"It's Friday... the earlier the better. Six, I hope, Seven at the latest." She smiled with a flash of teeth, "And when I get home, love, I'm going to want something... more." She licked her whiskers slowly and smiled.

Sean laughed, knowing exactly what she meant, and blew her a kiss, "Perfect! I'll have a ride waiting. See you soon!"

Chapter 12 < ** > Chapter 14 **