With Her by my Side

Story by Blindseer on SoFurry

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#4 of So Close and Yet so Far


Please enjoy and feel free to leave feedback. I promise a true sex-scene in the next chapter.

I don't know how long Dan and I were in the bathroom for, but by the time we got back to our room Danielle was sleeping peacefully, and when I woke up the next morning, despite the loud blaring from my alarm, she was still sleeping just as soundly. I gave her a soft kiss on the cheek and headed off to class.

When I returned I saw she was absent mindedly flipping through television channels while Dan and Jack sat figuring out some complex math problem. "Hey babe," she said getting up and giving me a kiss. "How was class?"

"None too shabby," I said stretching and dropping my backpack next to me. Danielle picked up her phone and began texting someone. "Well thanks for saying high too assholes," I joked to Dan and Jack, who both looked up from the paper they were looking at.

"Oh Mike! Thank the Lord your back, I thought you may never return!" Dan said as he got up and gave a wink to Jack. He skipped across the room and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Better?" he laughed.

"I'd say. That was hot!" Danielle laughed hysterically. Jack was laughing so hard his face was red and tears were streaming down it.

"Quiet from the peanut gallery," I said as I proceeded to make a show of wiping his kiss off. "And for your information I prefer it better on the lips," I said sticking my tongue out at Dan. He flipped me off before returning to Jack and whatever math problem they were working on.

"So what are you doing cutie?" I said holding myself close to Danielle. I leaned down and gave her a kiss.

"I have class in a little while... I should probably head back to get-"

"Mike!" Evan said bursting through the door with the power of a tornado. "Oh. Hey everybody," he said giving a wave to no one in particular, but rather the room in general.

"What's up?"

"Dude, check this out!" He handed me a flyer with a picture of the most gorgeous, scantily clad vixen leaning up against a stripper pole. It read 'Free admission this Friday only! Best girls in the city!', and at the bottom there was an address and telephone number. I looked at him like he had just asked me if I knew my name.

"Are you that dumb?" I asked.

"What?" He seemed genuinely confused, so I decided to point him in the right direction.

"Honestly, I would expect something like this from John. I'm a bit surprised you would do something quite this stupid," I said as I pointed towards Danielle.

"What?" Danielle asked. "What is it?" Before I had time to react she snatched the flyer from out of my hand. Her eyes widened and then narrowed in a mischievous manner. "So what were you going to ask him?" Danielle asked Evan, who was now looking at the floor in shame.

"Is this...?" Evan asked.

"Why yes it is! Danielle meet Evan, Evan meet Danielle."

"What were you going to ask him?" she repeated, a smug grin now firmly planted upon her muzzle.

"Nothing." I held my head in my hands and rolled my eyes.

"For some reason, I don't believe you. Now. What were you going to ask him?"

Evan looked at the floor, to me, to Danielle, and then back down to the floor all the while opening his mouth as if he was going to speak but never saying a word. "If he wanted to go," he finally admitted.

"And what would you have said, Mike," she said, obviously enjoying the moment like a cat who has just caught a mouse.

"I would say no, because I have the most beautiful and loving girlfriend in the entire world who I hope would give me the pleasure of her company this evening."

"I don't believe that either," she chuckled.

"I would say yes," I muttered.

"Well! I have good news for you boys. You can go alright," her gaze shifted from Evan to me, "But you have to bring me," she let drop with the force of an atom-bomb. "In fact! I want to go."

"This is why we do these things in private..." I said glaring at Evan. Dan and Jack were clearly amused by the entire situation. "Fine, we can go. But on one condition," I said holding up a finger in front of Danielle's face to emphasize my point.

"Oh?" she asked, cocking her head to the side and narrowing her eyes at me as she did so.

"You have to get a lap dance." Everyone in the room burst out laughing, but much to everyone's surprise, she agreed. "Then it's settled," I said holding my hand out. She shook my hand firmly.

"You sir, have a deal. I really have to get ready for class now, so I'll see you later." She stood up on her toes and gave me a kiss.

"Wait, before you go. What do you want tonight? Gin, vodka, rum...?"

"I'll take vodka and cranberry juice if you don't mind."

"Vodka and cranberry..." I heard Dan repeat in a mutter as he wrote down Danielle's request.

"Thanks boys. Love you," Danielle said, giving me a wink as she left the room.

"Love you too," Dan responded. Danielle's head poked back in along with one of her middle fingers before she disappeared in a flash.

"She is ridiculously hot," Evan said when he was sure Danielle was gone. "I mean like there's hot, but then there's her and she's on an entirely new level." This statement caused one of those rare moments where I actually had nothing to say.

"Thanks?" I offered in what I hoped was an appropriate response. I decided that it was time to change the conversation. "What do we want tonight?"

"Any dark beer, it doesn't really matter."

"Dan? Jack?"

"Oh, I don't think we're going. Are we?" Jack asked turning to Dan. He shook his head. "We don't really need anything then. I guess we'll just enjoy the peace and quiet from when you're gone for a change."

"Well then I'm going to head to the store. Dan you wanna give me a ride?" Dan let out a sigh.

"I suppose."

"Excellent. Evan, I'll let ya know when the festivities begin."

"Cool. See you guys later.

A few hours later Danielle, Evan, and myself sat drinking in her room. I was not a lightweight by any stretch of the imagination, but Evan could put down drinks almost as fast as they were put in front of them. Danielle was slumped up against me and nuzzling into my neck. I leaned down and kissed her. "Love you," she slurred. She drained the remaining contents of her cup. "Wanna pour me another?"

"I think you're pretty drunk already."

"I'm not drunk... Just a little tipsy," she said as I caught her when she attempted to stand up. Suddenly the door handle started to jiggle, and there was a flurry of activity as everything was stashed under the bed. I was surprised to see Dana walk in.

"Hello beautiful," Evan said after she had closed the door behind her. I saw her wrinkle her nose.

"Wonder what's going on in here," she said sarcastically. "And do I know you?" she asked Evan with a certain amount of disgust.

"Dana," Danielle yelled excitedly. She attempted to run and give Dana a hug but only managed to stumble into her arms. Dana smiled at her. "Want a drink? Mike was just gonna pour me another one."

"I think you've had enough."

"That's what I told her."

"Okay..." Danielle said flattening her ears to her head. She sat down next to me again.

"You guys want to go yet?" Evan asked.

"Go where?" Dana asked.

"To a strip club!" Danielle said excitedly.

"You're going to a strip club?" she asked with skepticism. I probably wouldn't have believed Danielle either given the circumstances. "Is she serious?" she asked looking towards me. Evan beat me to it.

"Yeah. You should come," he said. Dana rolled her eyes and sat down next to me on Danielle's bed. Danielle had made herself comfortable on the floor.

"Don't do anything too stupid," she warned. "And make sure she's okay. I've never seen her this drunk."

"Don't worry, she's with me," I said wrapping an arm around the vixen.

"That's why I'm worried," she chuckled. Evan glared at me.

"She'll be fine. She's certainly been worse, I've seen it."

"Are we ever going?" Evan asked impatiently.

"Please be careful," Dana said as I stood up.

"Okay. Why are you so worried?"

"I don't know... Just a feeling."

"Come on you," I said helping Danielle to her feet.

"It's about time," Evan said.

Two busses later, and following a bunch of drunken wandering, Danielle, Evan and myself stood before the strip club advertised in the flyer. A large neon sign proclaiming the name of the joint along with an almost useless overhead light provided the only light in the area. Outside of the door stood a large tiger. He was absent-mindedly checking ID's, not really caring if the patrons inside were of age. His main purpose was probably to intimidate and stop any trouble from brewing. Most of the people appeared to be older anyway. "ID's?" he asked as we approached the door. "Enjoy your evening folks," he said after casting a terse glance over our identification.

As we walked inside we were greeted by a wall of smoke so oppressive I actually coughed. There were three floors, only two of which were currently occupied, one with the vixen seen in the flyer and the other with a ferret. Evan practically vaulted over the crowd to get to a front row seat of the ferret. I looked down at Danielle who looked more than a little disgusted. "I don't get what satisfaction you morons get from these places," she slurred. I shrugged at her as we made our way towards the vixen. To my disappointment however, she was just leaving the floor.

"Hey hot stuff," she said coming towards us. Danielle glared at her. "I didn't see you during the show."

"Just got here," I said matter of factly.

"What's your name cutie?" she asked, sitting down in the unoccupied chair next to me.

"Mike."

"Mike hmm? Well I'm Fire," she said draping a black socked arm around my neck. I could tell Danielle was getting annoyed. "We don't get to many young, good looking kids in here. I like it though, makes us look good." She continued to cozy up next to me. "Who's this hottie?" she asked nodding towards Danielle.

"This is Danielle, my girlfriend."

"Oohh, that's a shame. You're a lucky gal. Mind if I steal him for a bit?"

"Yes," Danielle said angrily.

"What if you come with? We can give him a real good show."

"No... You can have him. I don't want him anyway," she joked.

"Goodie!" Fire exclaimed rather enthusiastically. "How bout it sweetheart? You want a dance?" I looked over at Danielle.

"I'll be back in a few," I smiled as the vixen led me by the arm to a backroom.

"Much more private here," she said as she sat me down and then placed herself into my lap. As the next song started, Fire began to perform her routine through a strip tease. By the second song she was nude and grinding up against me, and by the third she was kissing along my neck. "You wanna finish?" she asked coyly at the conclusion of the third song. She rubbed herself against the bulge in my pants. I considered it for a moment but thought better of it.

"I can't."

"Understandable. Next time don't bring your girl, kind of a turn off," she winked as she began to redress. I handed her a twenty and she pushed the money back. "I'm sure I'll see you around again sometime no?" She gave me a swat on the butt as we left the private room. I walked back to Danielle who was being accosted by the ferret who had been dancing when we came into the club.

"You are just adorable!" she said. "You would make a great dancer."

"She is one," I said with all intentions of making the situation worse for Danielle.

"Really? What club?" she asked.

"Ignore him. He's a moron. I'm part of our school's dance team is all."

"What school do you go to?" To my surprise, we had a rather intelligent conversation with the ferret, who's name I found out was Patty. She went to the same school we did and was doing this as a way to pay her way through. Even she admitted it was rather cliché. I paid her to take Danielle into one of the backrooms, and when they returned, Danielle's face was a bright red.

A couple of dancers later I could tell Danielle's patience and temper were on the breaking point. I decided to find Evan and get out of here before she took it out on me. Selfish? Yes, but also effective. "Come on buddy," I said yanking him by the ear away from a doe who was currently spread eagle in front of him.

"Aww come on man. We just got here!"

"About that. We've been here for a while and Danielle's ready to go."

"Then just leave without me," he said waving a hand at me, his attention fully fixed on the doe.

"Don't be stupid. Come on," I said giving his ear another tug. Reluctantly he stood up and followed me as we retrieved Danielle from Patty.

Everything was covered in pure ice outside as we made our way to the bus stop. We sat down on the cold bench and watched as a surprising number of people made their way about. An old man tripped and fell by the curb and no one helped him up. Sometimes humanity is just unbelievable. I sighed and stood up as the light began to change yellow at a nearby intersection to help him. Just as it was changing I could see a car trying to beat the light. I immediately ran towards the old cat who was desperately trying to get to his feet.

"Mike!" Danielle yelled out. I managed to pick him up and shove him onto the sidewalk, but the car skidded on a patch of ice as it slammed on its brakes. The next thing I knew I was lying on my back looking face up at the sky. I crowd of people gathered around me.

"I'm fine," I said brushing people away, but as I tried to stand up I noticed my leg wasn't responding. Looking down I saw that it was twisted in an angle normally reserved for horror movies.

"Someone call 911!" someone in the crowd yelled. There was a flurry of activity as my brain finally made contact with my leg and was telling it to hurt like a motherfucker.

I yelled out angrily, "Stupid son of a bitch, like beating a light would save that much time!" I saw that the offending driver had sped off quickly after the incident.

"Mike! Baby," Danielle cooed as she leaned down next to me. She rested my head into her lap. "Are you okay?"

"With the exception that my leg is fucking mangled, just peachy."

"Hey, hey over here!" I heard Evan yell out. "Mike, dude. Just got a cab, he's gonna take us to the hospital." With a couple of others help, Evan managed to get me into the back of the cab along with Danielle.

"Evan. Wait here for the cops. You saw what happened and you can answer their questions. I wanna see that fucker pay." Evan nodded and slammed the door shut. The cab sped off and Danielle gripped her hand tightly in my own. I could see tears in her eyes and brushed the back of her hand lightly with my thumb. "I'm fine," I said leaning up to kiss her.

"Baby I was so scared! You have no idea how close you came to dying!"

"Well if it hadn't been me it would have been that old man. What's done is done right? No one got killed, so don't worry yourself about it." I kissed her again and squeezed her hand tightly.

"We're here," the cabby said as he pulled up in front of the ER. Danielle went to pay him as two orderlies helped me onto a stretcher and began to wheel me into the building. "Absolutely not," he said handing the money back to Danielle. "Just glad I could help." Danielle thanked him as he pulled away. I was rested in a bed and told a doctor would be in to see me shortly, which meant at least another two hours.

About half an hour short of my prediction, a graying bear with gold rimmed spectacles came into the room. "I'm Dr. Fisk," he said shaking my hand. "Now can you tell me where it hurts," he joked as he looked at my leg.

"You're a real cut up, you know that," I snapped.

"Mike," Danielle scolded me with a light tap on the arm.

"As bad as it hurts now, I'm afraid it's going to hurt much worse when I set it. You may want to leave," he said nudging Danielle's towards the exit. When he saw her reluctance, "It'll only be for a couple of minutes and then you can come right back in."

"Immunity for swearing?" I winked at her.

"Granted," she said leaving and closing the door behind her. The doctor handed me a towel to bite down on. I screamed all sorts of words into it as he worked to set my leg, some I wasn't even sure I knew.

"We're done," he said standing up. "Unfortunately I can't get it perfect. We're going to have to put you into the OR for that. Judging by your smell, I'm going to say you were around alcohol tonight. And I'm pretty sure you didn't try to sterilize your leg with it either."

"You're hilarious, but what the fuck does that mean?"

"It means," he said as he walked towards the door and let Danielle back in, "That you're going to be here for the night before we do the surgery. Don't want a bad reaction with the anesthetics. I'll get a nurse to take you to a room soon. Have a good night," he said closing the door as he left the room.

"You okay?" Danielle asked.

"I'm alive... But definitely not kicking." She chuckled and grabbed my hand. "I have to call Janet and Dad. Do you have your phone?"

"Of course," she said reaching into her purse. I filled my dad in on the situation. He was of course, worried, and said he and Janet would come as soon as they could. I told him not to bother, that I wasn't alone and would be fine. I saw a stocky coyote come into the room with a wheelchair as I was just finishing consoling Janet.

"Look, I'm fine and I have to go now. I have a friend here and she'll take good care of me I promise. I love you too, goodnight." I hung up the phone, and with the help of the nurse and Danielle made it into the wheelchair. She wheeled me down the hallway and into an elevator before taking a seemingly endless number of corridors and into a room.

"Okay. One, two, and three," she counted down as she helped me get onto the bed. "Is this your wife?" she asked me with a straight face.

"Sometimes it seems like it, but no."

"Then I'm afraid she has to go. Hospital policy says no visitors past 10." I glared at her, practically begging her to stand behind the rules so I would have someone to vent my anger on. She took a look at my face and quickly changed her mind. "But that won't be a problem, at least not on my watch. I'm Beth by the way. I'll be on duty tonight and should you need anything," she said pointing towards a red buzzer next to my bed, "Just push that button and me or one of my colleagues will help you out. I'm just going to hook you up with an IV and then I'll get out of your hair."

True to her word, as soon as she was done with the IV, Beth turned to leave. The coyote turned around and gave me a smile. "Have a goodnight. Oh, by the way. No food or drink, even water," she warned. I thanked her for her help and wished her a goodnight as well.

After she had closed the door, Danielle hopped into the right side of the bed alongside me. She kissed me and we had begun to make out when the door flew open and we both sat up. "Oh! Sorry. I just thought she might want a cot... Guess she won't be needing it. Sorry," an agitated Beth apologized as she quickly made her way back out.

"Heh, guess we should be more careful," Danielle said shying away from me.

"Don't be a baby," I said snuggling her close again.

"Sheesh I didn't think you'd want to after all that you've been through tonight," she smirked.

"Hey, I broke my leg. Not my libido." She laughed and kissed me again. Her tail wound its way around my good leg and brushed against my cast.

"Oh that does not feel good," she said pulling her tail far enough away from it. "Mmm, now where were-"

"Is this a Michael Thompson's room?" a scruffy rat in a police uniform asked as he barged in. I quickly nodded as Danielle pulled away. "And is a Ms. Danielle Syra present?" Danielle nodded as well. "Got a few questions for you folks."

I answered his questions as best I could, I honestly didn't know anything more than saving the old man and then landing flat on my back. Danielle however, gave a description of the car and the entire incident. When he was finished, he thanked us and left without another word.

"Christ! I don't think I'll ever get a moment alone with you."

"Maybe it's a sign," she laughed. "Does seem like we get interrupted at the worst times no?"

"Tell me about it. So close and yet so far."

"You still interested," she said tossing her tail over the two of us. I let out a loud yawn, the medicine must have started kicking in.

"No I... I'm really tired. Goodnight," I said kissing her again.

"Well that's a first!"

"You know I feel a second wind coming on," I joked.

"Too late, I don't feel like it any more," she winked. "Goodnight. Feel better love." I threw an arm around her and she wrapped her tail tight around my chest and snuggled up against me. "You are going to have a long day tomorrow."

"I know..." I loathed hospitals and I really didn't want to be here. I intended to get out as soon as I could. I thanked God again and again for letting me bump into Danielle again as I drifted off to sleep. With her here, nothing seemed as bad as it really was.