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Friday, May 22nd, 2015

"Father, for the last time, I'm not going back to New Jersey. Ever. If you want to see her, you come out here."

Raenne growled in frustration and held the phone out in front of her, then tapped the red circle at the bottom of the screen, silencing the stream of angry Russian-accented English coming from the device. She stared out the kitchen window, looking out at the circle of cement that formed the center of the cul-de-sac they lived at.

"Damn that man. 15 years now, and he still treats me like a cub," she muttered under her breath. She turned and stepped out into the main hallway and yelled up the stairs. "Alex! Are your ready for school?"

"Yes, mom. I've been ready for the last twenty minutes," came the exasperated reply from upstairs. Alex appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed in black capris and a white sleeveless button-up shirt, with her backpack slung over one shoulder. She pelted down the stairs to the front entryway before pausing to put on her black and orange sneakers.

"Don't take that tone of voice with me, kiddo. And it was only five minutes."

"Okay, mom," Alex replied while pulling open the front door and walking outside. "Whatever you say."

Raenne locked the door behind her before walking over to the black Nissan SUV parked in the driveway. As she double-tapped the unlock on the fob, Alex yanked open the back door before throwing her backpack in and diving after it and yanking the door shut behind her. Raenne calmly opened the driver's side door and climbed in, tucking in the skirts of the black dress she was wearing and taking a moment to position her tail gap that ran down the center of the seat. She glanced in the mirror to check that Alex had buckled the seat belt before starting the car up and backing it out into the cul-de-sac.

"You know, you might think a bit more carefully about being polite to your parents, especially since this is the last weekend Timberline Lodge will be open..." Raenne paused for the inevitable apology.

"Sorry, mom," came the subdued voice from the back seat. Raenne grinned to herself. She considered herself extremely lucky that she had at least one guaranteed surefire way to get Alex to behave.

"...and be careful when you get in. I don't want to have to take you to the hospital again for slamming the car door on your tail. You've got three students at your school who've already had to have their tails partially amputated, and I don't want you to be number four.

Raenne glanced in the rear-view mirror again, seeing Alex pick her fluffy striped tail up off the floor and clutch it to her chest. Alex was ridiculously vain regarding the orange and black appendage, and spent at least five minutes every morning brushing it out...more than she spent on the rest of her pelt combined.

"Are you trying to get fur on that blouse?"

Raenne heard an "Eep!" from the back seat and smothered a chuckle. She knew that Alex would spend the rest of the ride to school picking black and orange hairs off her pristine white shirt.

A few minutes later, Raenne brought the SUV to a stop mere inches from the curb, and turned around to look at Alex. "Got your phone?"

"Yes mom. No using it in class except for emergencies."

"You got it, kiddo. Have fun."

"Okay mom. Love you!"

Alex pushed the door open and hopped out of the SUV, pulling the black and orange backpack over her shoulders before walking up to the school door.

"Lexi!"

Alex braced herself for the inevitable impact as she heard her best friend yell. She grabbed the snowy white weasel around the waist in a tight hug before setting her down. "Hi Lizzy. That's a really pretty dress you've got today."

Elizabeth run her paws down the white dress she was wearing. "Thanks! Mom made it for me. She just finished it last night."

"I love it. The black trim matches your eyes and pretty black nose perfectly." Alex reached out and tapped a finger against her friend's nose as Liz smiled. "Come on, or we'll be late for roll call."

The two oddly mismatched cubs pushed their way through the rest of the students as they made their way through the entryway and took a right past the library to the 4th grade homeroom. The 1st period bell rang as the Alex was shoving her backpack into one of the cubby holes at the back of the room, and Mrs. Eaglantine stood up from her desk at the front of the room.

"Alexandrea?"

Alex raised her hand as she sat down at one of the child-sized desks that had been arranged into clusters of four around the room. "Here!"

=^.^=

All the fourth graders ran to the side of the room, lining up near the classroom entrance almost immediately after the first recess bell rang. Shelly shook her head in amazement. The kids never failed to impress her with how quickly they lined up for recess. She wouldn't let them out of the room until they were in line single-file, for recess...so the kids in turn made sure they were lined up as fast as possible. The bald eagle went over to the door and pulled it open, sliding the wooden prop under the door to keep it open, and watched as her students merged seamlessly with the other students that were already on their way to the recess courtyard and play structures. A tug on her blouse got her attention, and she looked down to see Alexandrea and Elizabeth standing politely behind her. "Right. Wall-ball again?"

"Yep!"

Mrs. Eaglantine walked over to the closet and pulled it open, grabbing the large burgundy rubber ball off the shelf before handing it to the tiger cub. "Don't pop this one, okay? I've had to replace it twice so far this year and I won't buy another one. If you pop this one, you'll have to wait until next year before you can play wall-ball again."

"Okay, Mrs. Eaglantine."

"And don't fall down in that dress, Elizabeth. Your mom would be very disappointed if you ruined it."

"I won't, Mrs. Eaglantine."

"Have fun you two."

Shelly watched the two cubs dart out the door and head to recess before heading over to her desk to grade the Algebra Graph tests that she'd handed out earlier, saying a small prayer that it was Friday, and Memorial Day weekend. She needed the three-day weekend; this last few weeks before school ended were always the worst.

Liz and Alex ran through the school before reaching the schoolyard. Most of the kids had already managed to make their way over to the play structure, but a lot of them were simply sitting or standing around near the walls. A lot of them had cell phones or hand-held game systems out and were playing games. There was a particularly loud group sitting on the grass who were playing a group game of Mario Kart DS.

Alex and Liz walked over to the wall they always used for wall-ball, the cement covered size of the gymnasium. Most of the other walls around the building had wooden slats that would make the ball bounce in weird directions, which made it hard to guess where the ball would go. There was already a line of a half dozen other cubs who played wall-ball with them frequently standing next to the wall. Alex grinned, since they had an even number of players today, and started yelling: "Today we're doing doubles. Black magic and white magic only. Liz and I will be on one team. Rob and Cedric on team two, Andy and Josh on team three, Maria and Estella on team four."

Rob and Cedric ran out onto the court as Alex threw the ball into the air and slammed it as hard as she could into the ground in front of the wall, yelling "Black Magic!"

The ball sailed through the air and bounced off the cement wall as Rob ran to the back of the court, getting ready to hit the ball before it touched the ground. The half-grown goat waited until the last second before hammering the ball back towards the wall, yelling "White Magic!"

=^.^=

"Bye Lizzy!" Alex yelled as she pulled open the back door to the black SUV in front of her. She threw the backpack into the back seat, and crawled in as the backpack fell off the seat to the floor of the car. Alex turned around and pulled the door shut behind her before squirming around a bit reaching for the seat-belt. "Ready, mom," she said as the belt latched into place.

"So, how was your day, kiddo?" Raenne asked as she pulled out into traffic.

"Boring, as usual. Mrs. Eaglantine had us working on graphs again. Stupid math."

"Do you have any homework for the weekend?"

"Yeah, but I already did the math worksheet before class ended. And we're supposed to read another chapter in To Kill A Mockingbird."

"I thought you already read that book," Raenne pointed out as they came to a stop in front of a red light.

"I did." Alex began swinging her feet, the sneakers thumping against the car seat.

"Anything else? Weren't you studying the Silk Road?"

"Yeah. Now we're studying about the Great Wall of China, and the Monkeys."

Raenne nearly didn't catch the mistake as the light turned green, then thought about what Alex had just said for a second. "You mean Mongols?"

"Yeah, them."

"The mongols weren't monkeys, kiddo. They were a mix of sheep, kestrals, snow leopards, gazelle, and wolves."

"...oh..."

"Well...if you finish reading that chapter on the Great Wall of China tonight, your Dad has agreed to drive you up to Timberline for the weekend."

"YAAAAY!"

Raenne flattened her ears at Alex's scream of excitement. It wasn't so bad in the house, but in the car it was practically deafening.

"Hooray, hooray, hooray, hooray, hoo-"

"-and clean your room." Raenne interjected, deliberately interrupting the endless litany that was bound to drive her crazy before they could even get back to the house.

"Aww....ooookaaaay." Alex continued to bounce up and down in the car seat in excitement all the way home, still way to excited about getting to go snowboarding again. Even having to clean her room and read a chapter on boring history couldn't dim her excitement over the prospect of shredding snow up on Mt. Hood.

"Your dad said he'll be a little late getting home tonight, so you're going to be on your own for an hour or so before he gets home. Don't drive him crazy tonight, or he'll be too tired to drive you up to Mt. Hood tomorrow morning."

"Okay, mom."

Alex grabbed her backpack and pushed open the door as the SUV came to a stop in front of the garage, and hopped out, slamming the car door behind her. She dashed up the walkway to the front door, pulling a lanyard out of her pocket and quickly opening the front door before Raenne had even managed to get out of the SUV. Raenne pressed the lock button on the fob as she stepped into the front foyer, hearing the car beep behind her. She locked the front door and then yelled up the stairwell, "Don't forget to clean your room!", before walking into the kitchen to prepare some juice and a snack for when Alex came back down from her room.

=^.^=

"I'm sorry Lizzy, I'm going to be going up to Mt. Hood tomorrow." Alex could imagine the ermine flopping back onto the frilly white lace-embroidered quilt that covered her bed, as she heard the dull thump on the other side of the phone. "What about tonight?"

The ermine stoat was silent for a few moments before responding. "Well, it's short notice, but I'm sure Mother won't object too much. Father is still up in Seattle for that silly business conference, and won't be back till Sunday. Let me go ask Mother if you can come over tonight."

"I'll go ask my Mom if it's okay too. She said something about Dad working late, so she'll probably be okay with it."

Raenne sighed as she heard Alex pounding down the stairs, making the entire house shake. It was amazing just how much noise a 65 pound kid could make. "Juice and snacks are on the table," Raenne said, pointing, as Alex came into the kitchen.

"Thanks mom, but...um...could I go over to Lizzy's place tonight?"

"If Mrs. Stouffer says that it's okay_and_ you've cleaned your room, then yes. I'll drop you off this evening, and your dad can pick you up in the morning. Ask Lizzy when I can drop you off."

"Yay! Thanks mom!" Alex said as she darted back out of the kitchen and pounded up the stairs back to her room. She sat down on the floor in front of her bed with the smart phone against her ear as she waited for Lizzy to come back to the phone. Alex still couldn't get over the fact that her friend still had phones that plugged into the wall. It seemed so inconvenient...you couldn't take them with you, and if they rang you had to stop what you were doing and go answer it. After an eternity of waiting...as much as a half minute...Elizabeth picked up the phone again. "Mother said you can come over at six o'clock. We'll be having meatloaf and baked potatoes with sour cream for dinner."

"Yum. I love your mom's meatloaf."

Elizabeth giggled. "I know, it's yummy."

"Okay, I've got to clean my room before I go. I'll see you tonight, Lizzy."

"Okay, Lexi. Hugs!"

"Hugs!" Alex said, before holding the phone out and tapping the red circle near the bottom of the screen. She threw the smart-phone up on her bed, then stood up and started walking around her room, picking up clothes as she went and tossing them in the hamper by the door. About ten minutes later, as she was straightening the black quilt atop her bed, she heard a knock and looked up to see her mother standing in the doorway, one knuckle resting against the open door.

"Wow. Did you hire a maid to clean your room for you?"

"Nope! It wasn't that dirty this week."

"Well, if you say so...I was sure it looked like a tornado had gone through it when I saw it last night."

"Can you help me with the bed? It's too big." Alex asked as she hopped off the bed.

"Sure, kiddo."

Raenne moved over to the bed and grabbed the far side and gave it a firm tug to get the coverlet into position. Then she sat down on the bed and looked down at Alex.

"Okay, what are the rules?"

"No playing dress-up. No changing clothes except in the bathroom. Lock the door before using the bathroom."

"You got it, kiddo." Raenne reached down and ruffled the fur atop Alex's head. "Now, pack up three changes of clothing, one set of pajamas, your tooth brush, tooth paste, shampoo, and your hair brush."

Raenne stood up as Alex dashed into her closet and started raiding clothes for the weekend. "And make sure those sets of clothing are warm, kiddo! It's still near freezing up at Timberline."

"Okay, mom!"

=^.^=

The black Nissan slowly pulled up to the black wrought-iron gate that closed off the driveway, and the driver's side window rolled down. An orange and black striped arm reached out, and a polished ivory claw reached out to tap the green button on the pillar in front of the gate. A few moments later, the gate began sliding to the side, and the SUV began moving around up the circular driveway before stopping in front of the steps that lead up to the front doors of the Stouffer's estate house.

Alex pushed open the back door of the SUV and hopped out, then reached in and pulled out her black backpack before shutting the door and running over to the driver's side door where Raenne was stepping out of the car. Raenne ran a hand down the front of her sleeveless black dress, absently picking a strand of white fur from it, then knelt down and hugged Alex and then gave her a kiss. "Love you, kiddo. Have fun tonight."

"I will, mom. Love you!" Alex said before jogging over to the double doors and reaching up to press the doorbell. The door opened after a few moments, and a young doberman girl in a black and white maid's uniform opened the front door. Alex turned around and waved to her mom before stepping inside the front foyer.

"Elizabeth is up in her room, dear," the maid said as she closed the door behind Alex.

"Thanks, Charlotte." Alex walked down the front hall to the stairwell, then began bounding up the stairs, taking them two steps at a time, her backpack bouncing crazily around on her back.

The maid shook her head slightly as she watched the tigress leaping up the stairs. She still had a hard time believing that the ridiculously athletic feline was best friends with the delicate little daughter of her employer. She pulled a cloth out of one of the pockets in the front of her uniform and knelt down to buff out a scuff mark on the marble floor.

Alex continued to bound up the second flight of stairs to the third floor, then walked the short distance past the elevator to Elizabeth's room, panting a bit. She paused a moment, then rapped on the door with her knuckles. A few moments later, the door opened and Liz jumped out at her. "Lexi!"

Alex caught cute little stoat with both arms and hugged her before setting her down. Lizzy was wearing a thin white summer dress this time. They both walked into the jill's room. Alex loved the girl's room, which was packed full of fluffy white pillows, stuffed animals, and the four-post bed with it's overstuffed down comforter and the gauze curtains that surrounded it on three sides. Alex dropped her backpack next to the door as Elizabeth walked over to the computer desk on the other side of the room and sat down in front of the huge Mac's screen. Alex grabbed the other chair from in front of the vanity dresser and set it down next to Elizabeth before perching on it herself.

"Minecraft?"

"Yep! Check this out, I just found out you can dye your sheep different color!"

"Neat!"

=^.^=

Two hours later, the two girls were sitting in front of the vanity, Alex sitting behind Elizabeth. Alex ran the wide brush down her friend's back, pausing at the end to pull the wad of fur out of the brush and put it in the waste basket next to them.

"Your mom is such a good cook. That meatloaf was delicious."

"I know...she and Charlotte are the best cooks in the whole world." Elizabeth sighed as Alex ran the brush down her back again. "I hate shedding."

"Me too. At least I don't change my entire coat every two seasons though."

"Yeah, it sucks...I wish I could have white fur all year long. I hate my brown coat."

Alex could hear Elizabeth nearly in tears over the inevitable seasonal change in her coloration, and leaned into Lizzy's back, wrapping her arms tightly around her smaller friend, holding Elizabeth tightly as the stoat sniffled mournfully. Alex stared at their reflections in the mirror. Elizabeth was always always so beautiful, and the white training bra she wore matched her winter coat so perfectly it was hard to tell she was wearing anything at all.

A faint musky smell tickled Alex's nose as she rested her chin on her friend's shoulder. She couldn't quite make out what it was, and sniffed a few times, trying to place where it was coming from. It wasn't the usual faintly musky smell of Liz's fur and vanilla or fruit scented shampoos.

"Do you smell something?" Alex asked.

Elizabeth stopped sniffling and grabbed a Kleenex from the dresser. She blew her nose into it, and then tossed the rumpled tissue into the waste basket. She paused and sniffed a moment.

"No, but I doubt I could smell anything right now."

Alex was on a hunt now to find out where the smell was coming from, and stood up, walking over to the dresser and sniffing around the cosmetics lying on the top of the dresser. Not finding what she was looking for, she leaned over and sniffed at the waste basket, only smelling the faint dusty scent of the fur she'd brushed out of her friend's pelt.

Elizabeth watched, somewhat puzzled as Alex wandered around the room, sniffing at everything. Eventually Alex made her way back to the dresser and got down on her hands and knees to crawl under the vanity. Elizabeth lifted up her legs and peered down under the vanity as her friend crawled under the chair she was sitting on. Alex suddenly turned around and looked up at Elizabeth from under the vanity, eyes intent and looked up at Elizabeth.

"Are you wearing some of your mom's perfume?"

"N-no..."

"You smell like she sometimes does."

"Really?"

Alex moved closer to Elizabeth, sniffing intently until she was within inches of Elizabeth's panties. The smell was musky and wild and strangely attractive. Alex felt her penis begin to stiffen of it's own accord, and she could feel a faint tingle between her legs.

"Oh. Um...it's just that I'm in season." Elizabeth blushed a bit as Alex leaned forward another inch, sniffing intently.

"What do you mean? It's spring." Alex looked terribly confused, and was paying far more attention to the smell coming from her friend's panties than she was to what Elizabeth was saying.

"Exactly. During late spring and summer, I can get pregnant."

Alex stopped sniffing and looked up at her friend, eyes going wide. "Preg...You mean you're going to have babies?"

"No, silly kitty. Only if I mate with someone."

"What does getting married have anything to do with babies?"

"Oh, silly kitty...come out from under that dresser and I'll explain to you."

Alex crawled out from under the vanity and sat back down at the chair, putting her hands over her crotch to hide that fact that she'd gotten so stiff that her pants felt painfully tight.

"So, a mate is someone you're married to," Liz began explaining, "but it's also something you do with someone. Sex."

Alex was wide-eyed at this. She'd heard some of the older kids talking about sex in school, but hadn't really paid much attention to it.

"Sex is when a boy puts his penis in a girl's vagina, and moves it around until it squirts. It feels really, really good." Elizabeth had a faint smile to her face and absentmindedly rubbed her fingers over the bottom of her panties.

Alex was getting kind of afraid at this point. Her male member was so hard she was afraid that it might burst through the zipper on her capris, and she really liked this pair of capris. Still, she had to ask: "How do you know it feels good?"

"Because I've done it, silly kitty."

"Reeeaally?"

"Yes, with Father...", she said dreamily. A moment later a shocked expression ran across her face. "...ummm...Shoot. Mother and Father are going to ground me forever now!" Elizabeth burst into tears and started crying.

"Shhh, don't cry, it can't be that bad!" Alex forgot about the stiffness between her legs sat down in the chair with Liz, hugging her tightly.

"But it is!", Elizabeth wailed, "I'm not supposed to ever tell anyone, even my best-est friend."

"Shhh, they don't have to know, I'll never tell anyone else, I promise! Cross my heart and hope to die. Shh, calm down now. I love you, silly stoat, and I'd never ever tell anyone your secret."

"Really?" Elizabeth sobbed, her black eyes looking up at Alex's.

"Really. And if it makes you feel better, I can tell you my most secret-est secret."

Elizabeth stopped sobbing and looked up at Alex, a tear dropping off her chin.

"Promise not to tell anyone?" Alex asked.

"Yes, I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die."

Alex looked down at her capris, somewhat awkwardly. Her maleness was still so stiff it was painful. "I'm both a girl...and a boy."

Elizabeth gasped. That was quite possibly the last thing she could ever have imagined her feline friend to have ever said. "What? That's not possible."

Alex nodded solemnly. "Yes, it is. I'm a hermaphrodite. I have both boy and girl parts."

"Show me!"

"What? No way. My mom told me I'm never ever supposed to take my clothes off unless I'm in the bathroom and the door's locked."

"Umm...What if I'm in the bathroom with you?"

Alex thought about that for all of about a half second.

"Okay."

Alex stood up and walked over to the door while Elizabeth picked her summer dress off the back of the chair and slipped it back on. Together the two of them padded down the plush carpet of the hallway to the upstairs bathroom, Elizabeth dragging her feline friend behind her. Elizabeth pulled Alex in after her, then closed the door and locked it behind her.

"Show me," the little stoat insisted.

"Okay, okay. Hold on a moment." Alex reached down to capris and carefully undid the button on it, then gently pulled down the zipper. She sighed in relief as the pressure on her penis lessened, then carefully tugged the capris down to show her white and orange striped panties. The bulge in the front of them made it painfully obvious that she wasn't just a girl.

Elizabeth knelt down in front of her best friend, black eyes fixated on the front of Alex's panties, and reached her hand out, nearly touching them before she looked back up at Alex's face. "May I?"

"Umm...okay. Just be careful, 'kay?

Elizabeth reached out and stuck a finger over the rim of Alex's panties and carefully pulled them out and downwards, exposing the tiger kitty's penis to the cool air of the bathroom. Elizabeth sucked in her breath at the sight of it.

"Woooow...It's so different from Father's..."

"What?"

Elizabeth didn't answer, as she was too busy pulling the rest of the panties down. A loud tearing noise came from the back of the panties as the velcro strap over Alex's tail gave way. She stopped when the panties were down around Alex's knees, and gently reached a paw up to touch Alex's maleness.

"So weird...", the little stoat muttered under her breath.

"What!?"

Elizabeth stopped and looked up at Alex, who was getting annoyed at Liz's lack of response. "Umm...It's a little smaller than Father's penis, but it's really pointy, and had those weird bumps around the back of the head."

"Those are where my spines were...my parents say they had them removed at birth. Most felines do these days."

Elizabeth gently let go of Alex's penis, and moved her hand down to cup the testicles hanging underneath. ".....and your balls are really tiny compared to Father's...during the summer his will grow to be nearly as big as a plum. Yours are more like grapes. Do you really have girl parts too?"

"Yep! Lift those up and..."

"Oooh, you do...Wow. I can't believe it." Elizabeth gently lifted the balls out of the way, and then then ran her other hand through the crease between Alex's legs, then gently used two fingers to spread the crease apart, revealing the pink inside of Alex's vagina. "And you're really wet down here too. You must be really horny." Elizabeth ran the pads of her fingers through Alex's slit, gathering plenty of slippery moisture on them.

"Oh God, that tickles." Alex's tail twitched wildly behind her at the strange sensation.

Elizabeth gently moved her hand back out from between Alex's legs, then reached up with her moisture-slick hand and wrapped it around Alex's penis. Alex gasped in unexpected pleasure at the sensation as her best friend began to slowly rub her paw up and down Alex's member. Elizabeth grinned in delight at the strange combination of gasps and purrs that her friend was making as she slowly stroked her best friend.

"What are you..." Alex gasped as Liz gently rubbed her thumb pad over the tip of Alex's penis. "Oh God, I think I've got...stop! Stop!" Alex turned around, jerking her member out of Liz's hand, nearly tripping over the capris around her ankles in her haste to reach the toilet. Her member bounced straight up once out of Elizabeth's hands and began to twitch wildly. A squirt of thin, watery fluid flew through the air, eventually coming back down before landing in a streak on the mirror above the sink.

Alex grabbed the toilet lid and threw it up, banging against the back of the toilet, and then spun around. The second jet of liquid landed on the wallpaper above the towel rack, nearly at the edge of the ceiling. Alex sat down hard on the seat, leaning forward and pushing her penis to aim into the toilet bowl. Her entire body shook and her tail twitched spasmodically as she experienced her first orgasm, sitting there on the toilet in her friend's house.

Alex eventually regained her senses to see her best friend sitting in front of the bathroom door, in a fit of giggles. Alex just stared at her, wondering what the heck Liz had done to her. It was possibly the best feeling she'd ever had. She felt so relaxed, it was as if she'd had a full body massage, then twitched again as another aftershock hit her. "Woooow."

That prompted another fit of giggles from Liz, who fell to her side on the plush bathroom rug and began laughing. Eventually Alex stood up and grabbed a tissue from next to the toilet, and wiped the tip of her penis before dropping it in the toilet. She felt really shaky. She looked down in it, puzzled. It certainly wasn't yellow like it normally was. Actually, it looked kind of like someone had spit milk into the toilet a few times. "What the heck was that!?"

Elizabeth eventually managed to get her laughter under control, though the expression on Alex's face nearly caused her to break into fits again. "Haha...You...you squirted your boy stuff. If you squirt that into a girl's vagina, she can have a baby."

"Huh. Does that mean if I squirt that stuff into my own vagina, I can have my own baby?"

"Probably. I wouldn't recommend it though...having a baby is really, really painful, and it's a LOT of work. Even after the baby is born, it's even more work to take care of the baby...years and years of work."

"...Oh."

The girls heard suddenly heard Charlotte calling from the stairwell. "Girls! It's time for bed!"

"Okay!" they both yelled back. Alex pulled her panties up and pulled the strap over her tail, then repeated the process with her capris. After flushing the toilet, she went to the sink and spent a few moments washing her hands, then drying them on the hand-towel before the two of them went back to Elizabeth's room.

Alex yawned before they even reached the bedroom door. "Jeez, I'm tired."

"I think I just saw your tonsils," Elizabeth said with a giggle.

"No doubt. I can barely keep my eyes open." Alex knelt down besides her backpack and unzipped the rear compartment where she'd stashed her pajamas, then pulled out a long sleeve pink and white shirt and a pink pair of pants that were dotted with Hello Kitty faces. She yawned again and slowly stood up and walked back to the bathroom to change.

By the time Alex had made her way all the way back to the bathroom, she felt like a zombie, and Elizabeth had already gotten dressed in her white silk nightie and was pulling at the handles of the trundle bed. Alex dropped her clothes and shoes next to her backpack, before turning to help.

"Here, I'll get it Lizzy."

"Thanks. It's too heavy for me."

Alex reached down and grabbed the other handle and gave it a hard pull. Elizabeth fell over as it suddenly started moving, and rolled to the side as Alex continued to pull it all the way out. Elizabeth stepped over the trundle bed and crawled into her own bed, taking a moment to throw a pair of pillows down to Alex.

Alex pulled the trundle's coverlet down and crawled under the cover, grabbing one of the pillows and dragging under her head. Elizabeth followed suit, pulling down the coverlet and fluffing her pillows. Then she reached over to the dimmer beside her bed and lowered the lights in the room until she could barely make out the desk on the far side of the room. Elizabeth's father always teased her about how she was afraid of the dark, but he'd also been the one to install the dimmer next to her bed, so she didn't have to suffer the indignity of a night-light.

After a few moments, she heard a quiet rumbling, like a car idling. "Lexi?" After a few seconds of uninterrupted muted rumbling, Elizabeth smiled and relaxed, lulled to sleep by the gentle vibrations of her best friend's purring.

=^.^=

A few minutes later, the maid walked by the room and glanced in to make sure the girls were asleep before continuing down the hallway to the bathroom to turn off the bathroom light. She glanced in and frowned as she noticed the splatter on the mirror. She pulled out a cleaning cloth from the pocket of her uniform and wiped it off before turning out the light and heading back downstairs to make sure everything was ready for breakfast in the morning.