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A Wonderful Life

Book 5: Little Us

Chapter 1 Suppose

Fifteen months later, Fort Reynolds, Conakry, 1549 Military Time

Something could always be said for Sarah's tenacity and pure inability to give up a fight, but there was something even more impressive about Sean's drive to do what he felt was right, and to make things as he felt they should be. This all came into play the night of their marriage, and continued to play a vital role in their lives well into the next year.

The day after they married, right before they had gone on their honeymoon, Sarah had reestablished with herself that she wouldn't stop a pregnancy in the future, but opted to take one last morning after pill for that instance. Afterwards, she paid more attention to her own body, but much to her own dismay, at least after the act, she ended up going into heat with an almost semi regularity.Â

In the end, it couldn't be avoided, and this morning it finally happened that, after checking herself in the bathroom, Sarah feel down on the floor and leaned against the wall.

Unfortunately for her, Sean didn't come home for another hour or so, finding his cream colored rabbit with her ears pinned back still sitting on the bathroom floor.

Leaning against the bathroom doorframe, Sean asked in a confused voice, "You okay?"

Sarah looked up with a slightly vacant stare and whispered, "I- it's- we're-" too much was on her mind to say anything.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for Sean to get it. He made a soft, serious smile and sighed. He kneeled down and padded over to his wife. Carefully the fox pulled her against him, she was completely limp.

"So... really?" Sean asked.

She nodded.

With the moment finally here, Sean wasn't sure what to do. He'd had more than a year to consider all these things, thinking of it now and again just as Sarah had, and he wasn't sure if he was ready for that himself. The situation somewhat said that didn't matter but then again that wasn't necessarily true either.

It took a few minutes but Sean whispered in a quiet tone, "We'll do whatever you want, Sarah, it's your choice."

"Oh God Sean..." she groaned and rolled her head on his shoulder, "I don't know what the hell to do."

"Well," he began with a calming sigh, "Do... I mean do you want a baby?"

Sarah still was a tomboy at heart, and had more male instincts than female ones, and maternal ones were pretty few and far between. It wasn't that she didn't like children, or wasn't affectionate, it's just the urge to have and protect children didn't factor into her mind. At least not yet.

"Hmm?" Sean urged, Sarah having spaced out in thought for a minute or so.

"I don't know," the rabbit replied, Sean believing that answer this time.

A few minutes past of silence.

Pretty much entirely to herself, although she said it aloud so that Sean could hear her thoughts, Sarah whispered, "You know this is the first time I've known that I'm..." she couldn't actually say the word, then in a moment of helplessness she added, "I couldn't stop it now, I wouldn't feel right. I mean if I don't know then I don't mind but I know now."

"Well do you want it?" Sean repeated.

The rabbit shrugged, "I don't know," then looking at him she said, "What about you? What do you think?"

"I don't know either," he replied.

Another period of silence past.

"What about... hmm," Sean thought aloud, "Well what would it be like?"

Speaking as if she were reading out of a textbook, Sarah replied, "I'll get big for a few months while is grows, then-"

"That's not what I meant," Sean interrupted softly, "I mean what would it be like to actually have a baby. I mean having it sit right there in front of us," Sean made a gesture to the doorway.

The two furs stared at the spot he'd pointed to and thought. In Sarah's mind she saw a miniature version of Sean, for that was really the only offspring she could picture coming of herself and Sean. He looked the same as Sean, or at least the same as Sean did at around five, six years old. Sarah's imagination saw this kit sitting cross-legged, rather at attention, bushy red tail swaying behind him and looking rather confusedly at his figurative parents.

Sarah couldn't help it; she had to smile at that apparition. He was cute, just as his father was at that age. She actually had to force herself to not want to hug him, purely out of worry of liking the concept too much too fast.

In Sean's mind it was a similar view, a young male kit, although his view of the offspring was much happier, from the kit's point of view. He saw it playing happily, in a miniature combat uniform for some reason, and yet his own outlook was somewhat different from Sarah's. Sean was actually fearful of it. It was a growing trend with him, worry that is, for his loved ones. He wanted to make sure they were always safe and secure, hence why he'd moved his and Sarah's housing orders over to the farthest side he could manage, trying to put the greatest distance between her and any live ordinance.

His strict sense of safety even drove him to not keep a single round of ammunition in the house other than a single clip for Sarah's own gun, which he had no control over. The precaution itself was a joke, Sarah was more than qualified around guns, and would never do anything stupid with one, but Sean just felt, "better safe than sorry," was the best motto and when he thought of offspring, he saw himself worrying terribly over its safety.

Sarah had forgotten Sean's question and instead just asked one of her own, "Do we really have a choice now?"

"Is that a question or a statement?" Sean whispered.

For a moment she considered it and shrugged into his pelt.

"A little of both," she replied.

"Well we do, but that's if you- we really don't want one now," Sean said quietly.

The rabbit shook her head, her pinned back ears swaying with it, "I couldn't do that, not knowing its there. If I didn't know that would be one thing, but I couldn't now..." she gave the matter an extra second's thought and added, "I won't unless- well do you want one?"

"I'm- hmmm..." Sean sighed, then petting the fur on her exposed arms he whispered, "I can't explain what I want to say."

Very, very softly, she nuzzled his chest and whimpered, "Please try Sean, I need to know."

Although he felt slightly pressured, Sean managed to compile his thoughts and in a serious, yet soft tone he said, "I want to be with you," smiling he added his pet name, "I want to keep it being little us, and I want a family too, I just don't-" he stopped himself.

Sean knew Sarah's main fear, or at least what she had said was her main fear about offspring, and now it was the same as his. If he voiced it, her worry would feel necessary, and she would spend the next period of time completely afraid of offspring, and of all things it was rather selfless, worrying over their safety.

Sarah could sense his inhibition and in an even weaker tone than before, now almost begging, she whispered, "Please tell me, I won't be angry at what you say."

"Oh it's not that," Sean replied quickly, then shook his head, "I mean it's not anything bad like that or anything."

"Then don't worry," she whispered, "just tell me what it is you want."

Sighing, the fox submitted, as his lowering ears attested to, and he replied, "That's just it, Sarah," then hit bit his lip and prayed she wouldn't have the reaction he was mentally dreading, "I'm worried about this. I can't help but think that something would happen to it."

Sarah looked like someone had died. Her whole face drooped. Sean frowned as he watched, mildly angry with himself for having felt that way.

The fact was things did happen to young. Whether still in the womb or in the process of growing up, bad, unfortunate things happened, and it was always a loving parent's worst nightmare.

The rabbit made a long, discontented sigh, "You didn't answer my question though..." she was trying to push her worry away.

"That was?" Sean asked, having genuinely forgotten given everything on his mind.

"Do you want to have children, now, with me?" Sarah said in a finalizing tone.

It didn't take much longer than a second for the fox to answer, "Yes, I do want to, I'm just worried right now is all."

"We both are I think," Sarah replied, then realizing what he had answered with, the rabbit made a somewhat broken smile and turned her body to hug his.

So it was decided, they would let things happen. They would worry the whole while, but they were going to submit to whatever was to come of this.

A month later, Fort Reynolds Health Office, 1314 Military Time

It hadn't taken long for, at least for Sarah, the pregnancy to take hold of her. She had requested only one thing of Sean, and that was that he was barred from telling anyone. Not his friends, not his superiors, and, who Sarah had been the most clear about, both of their parents.

That command was purely fear based. Sarah's mind had decided that if something wrong did happen, and the parent's didn't know, somehow her mind had concluding things wouldn't be as bad as they could be if everyone was aware of everything.

Sean didn't object all to this. Sarah's fear was completely justifiable and understandable; no one in her position could be frowned upon for being afraid. The only thing he didn't like was that he couldn't ever tell his parents, not until the last moments, which meant if he needed help he was up the proverbial creak without a paddle.

Regardless, he, rather they, had decided to keep their normal routine of work for the majority of the time of her pregnancy, all the while keeping up a guise of nothing out of the ordinary, and in the last few months they would slip away for a quick vacation, and figure things out from there.

At the moment, only one person aside from them knew what was going on, and that was Sarah's doctor, and obviously he wasn't allowed to disclose that without strict permission, which he would never get.

The one thing that they were making a special point of and that was vigorous checks and rechecks on the developing young's health. About the only thing they didn't want to know was the sex or type of young growing inside of Sarah as they wanted that to be only known at birth.

Right now, Sarah was half asleep on her husband's shoulder, who himself was half asleep and leaning into her, keeping the pair up.

Once they'd been at the office about a half hour and orderly came out into the waiting room and said, "Mrs. Reynolds? The doctor's ready for you now."

Both of them stood up but the orderly, a gray female cat, held up her paw, "It's better if you wait out here for the first part of the exam."

Sean nodded and gave Sarah a kiss before letting her go into the office. It was about ten minutes until the same cat came out and ushered the fox into the examination room. As he walked in Sarah was pulling her pants back up.

In a passing thought Sean realized that things like this must be very uncomfortable for Sarah, since she was both physically and emotionally sensitive when it came to the lower half of her body.

The pair sat down in the chairs in the room and the doctor, a dark black buck, leaned against the wall and smiled at the pair.

"Well Sarah's coming along quite fine," the doctor began, and picked up her chart to further review, "From what we can see th-" he had to choose his words wisely, "you should expect delivery in oh say," he pondered it for a moment, "another four months? Possibly five but should be around four."

"And everything's fine?" Sarah asked, eagerness and mild worry evident in her voice.

The other rabbit nodded, "Yes. No defects, your both clean genetically, chromosome scan shows everything normal, and development so far is text booked perfect."

The doctor had been overly dramatic, knowing that's what his patient needed to hear, and it had work. Sarah released a breath, feeling a certain amount of pressure release from inside her, and she was able to relax some of her muscles.Â

Sean was also visibly relaxed, although his was half from hearing the doctor's reading, and seeing his wife calm down even just a little.

"Now in here," he pulled a packet out of the desk next to him, "has everything about..." being careful with his words once again the black rabbit paused to think of the correct words, "the development, health and all that, but, there are parts of the form that if you read it it's gona reveal some things such as sex and species that I know you don't want know yet."

"Could you just pull those pages out then?" Sean asked.

Forcing an amused chuckled the doctor flipped though the packet and replied, "That'd be... yep every page but one."

They both sighed, disheartened, and Sarah voiced the obvious question of, "Well what does it say then?"

"It says what the whole packet says, 'healthy, easy pregnancy, and not to worry,'" the buck replied.

They both got the message. There wasn't anything to worry about, and unless they were willing to learn the more intimate details of the growing young that was all the information they could have.

In that respect, they were satisfied, but of course there was a burning desire to know everything about the young as soon as possible, but that urge was suppressed by that traditional feeling to wait until the birth for those details.

So, with that said, Sean and Sarah stood up, shook the doctor's paw in turn, and left the doctor's office without the packet.

They went home, Sean had the day off. He'd decided to return back to Weapons and Technology Design and Testing, figuring his whole training and career was best used in testing the various items made by Federation scientists. And even though some, if not most of the items he tested were dangerous, Sarah trusted in Sean's judgment in this matter, as she knew he would never do something genuinely stupid or dangerous.

At the moment though, Sarah was pondering their situation as a whole, and was actually quite satisfied. Sure she was still fairly scared of her own pregnancy, but she had been humbled after thinking for awhile about what was really going on, that there was something inside her that was going to be alive, do things she'd done, love people and be loved. It was a humbling thought for anyone.

Sean grabbed two sandwiches for them and they sat on their couch to have a nice quiet lunch. Sarah ate hers while sprawled out on the couch, her shoulder and neck lying on Sean's hind legs which where laid across the opposite direction.

"You still worried?" Sean asked quietly.

"Yeah, a little," the rabbit answered, "but I do feel better. You?"

"Same," he replied.

A calm few minutes past then Sarah blurted out, "I just wana do a thousand things right now."

Smiling very softly, and patting her lazy ears, Sean asked, "And what are they?"

"Names, rooms, clothing... all that stuff," Sarah answered, countless, ideas coursing through her mind.

All the fox heard though was "names," the concept interested him too.

"Any thoughts?" he said quietly.

"On?"

"Names."

Sarah giggled, "I'm trying not to."

A little confused by the answer, the fox pat her face a little harder and asked, "How come?"

"Well cause if I start thinking about names then I start thinking about what it'll be, and then I'll go nuts," the rabbit explained.

Sean chuckled softly and shifted himself so that Sarah's face was closer to his and, in giving her a soft nuzzle, he replied, "It's driving me nuts too," and he softly pet her stomach with his paw.

Liking that, she held his paw in hers, and they both pat her belly, which was still by this point flat. Visibly, she showed no signs of being pregnant, but emotionally, she was different, but in a good way.

Chapter 2 Lark

Two Months Later, Sean and Sarah Reynolds' Home, Fort Reynolds 0146 Military Time

Sarah was pacing back and forth. She was quiet upset needless to say, being that it was almost two o'clock in the morning and Sean still wasn't home. He hadn't called, no one knew where he was, and the only thing keeping her from going completely insane was the fact that after she'd called, she'd found out that Sean wasn't at the hospital, in one form or another.

She had been so nervous that every pair of headlights that came down the road, whether other officers or MP patrols, she'd rush to the door and look out and watch eagerly.

When Sean did finally drive up, Sarah burst out the door and ran to his paws.

Almost in tears she yelled into his chest, "God damn!?! Where were you!?!"

Sean clutched her and rubbed her back, whispering, "I'm fine, I'm fine. They called me into an emergency briefing and wouldn't let me call you."

Her body had gone limp against his and he limped Sarah back into the house. He leaned against the door, a rather apprehensive look on his muzzle while she took a seat on the couch.

"Your not gona like this," Sean began.

"I knew I didn't like it from the start!" the rabbit exclaimed and rolled her eyes, "I was so worried something had happened! Who knows with all that stuff you test."

"No it wasn't that," he tried to continue, "I- they want me to go out."

Sarah perked up, ears alert and stared at him confusedly.

"I can't say where or why, but I have to go, the real thing, in two days," he whispered.

It took a second but Sarah's attitude turned serious and in an equally quiet voice she said, "How bad?"

Sean didn't reply.

"Comon Sean, tell me," she said in a full voice, "You can tell me."

"I can't," he replied, although it was clearly half hearted.

Trying to ease him in, Sarah asked, "Why not?"

There was no good reason why not. It was fear, that was about it. Fear by the generals and admirals who believed that even the loving spouses of their junior officers couldn't be trusted with information of certain levels of secrecy.

The only answer Sean could come up with, and he thought for a good two minutes, was, "I was ordered not to."

The rabbit let out a low growl but controlled herself, "Please Sean, I'm your wife. I have to-" she stopped herself.

As much as Sarah wanted to know everything about what was going on, she knew it wasn't fair to use something against Sean, make him question his duties. She would still get it out of him, but she make sure she didn't have to trick or cheat him into saying it.

Her comment still had an effect on him, and Sean knew that she was right.

"Please just tell me Sean, I need to know this. At least just tell me how bad it is," Sarah bargained.

Sean licked his teeth nervously, "I'm not sure how to answer that."

"I'm not sure how to ask that," Sarah commented, trying to lighten the mood, "Would... is it bad enough your dad would be proud after you were done."

The fox understood the metaphor and nodded, "Yeah, it's that bad."

"And in two days... Ranger thing?" Sarah asked.

In just staring at her, not saying anything in the way of an answer, Sean had done just that.

Continuing with her questioning she added, "Would I not want you to do this?"

"I really don't know," Sean replied.

Forcing a weak laugh, "Would your mother kill you if she knew what it was?"

"Sarah how much more are you gona ask me?"

The rabbit didn't break her stare at his eyes, "You understand, I know you do."

"I do, and that's the problem."

They didn't say another word. For a few more minutes they just remained there silently, then they both walked into the bedroom, not even undressing, and got into bed.

As soon as they were both under the covers Sarah was instantly upon him. She coddled against his body, wrapping her hind legs and arms around him. Poor Sean was fighting the urge to tell her, and losing bitterly.

It wasn't much longer than ten minutes before, after softly petting her, Sean said in a sad voice, "If you don't want me to go, I won't."

"Depends, Sean," Sarah whispered into the fur on his shoulder, "I trust you, you know that. I know what your capable of and I believe that you can do what you need to do to stay alive. I don't doubt it, but, I mean can you blame me? I don't wana lose you."

Forcing a weak chuckle, he replied, "I don't wana be lost."

They both felt his tail twisting beneath the covers, a sure sign of his nervousness.

Moving her face closer to his, Sarah licked his lips, getting his full attention, "So just tell me, is this something you think you couldn't walk away from. If it isn't than I won't worry, I don't have to but if it is... just tell me either way."

Sean considered it. He thought hard on the briefing and was just drawing a blank.

Three Hours Early, TORUS Program Testing bay, Fort Reynolds, 2158 Military Time

A long day made longer by the fact that the new prototype, an armor system designed for any and every soldier, wasn't quite in working order, was weighing heavily on Sean's ability to not just walk home and crawl into bed. Needless to say, the TORUS sucked. It didn't do anything that the Predator Series could do, and in Sean's opinion, was probably more hassle then it was worth.

In fact the only reason he'd stayed as long as he did was so that he could conclude the testing once and for all, write his report as he was doing now, and hopefully see this project shelved where it belonged.

At his desk in one of the small office of the testing bay, Sean sat and banged out the last few paragraphs of a scathing report on the armor system.

He read over the report quickly, content that it displayed his complete dissatisfaction with the new armor system and he sent it to his superiors. Once cleaned up the Captain walked as quickly to his car so that he could get home, kiss Sarah, and go to bed as soon as possible, and so that he could avoid Doctor-

"Captain Reynolds!" the mouse called out and ran to now dejected fox.

Sean hung his tail and ears in as unhappily way as he could to get the point across to Doctor Kreiswirth, but the mouse continued running over to him, completely oblivious to the display.

"Captain Reynolds," he repeated, slightly out of breath from the ten-meter sprint, "I read your report on the TORUS."

Now Sean understood and wanted to run, knowing that there wasn't a chance in hell that the mouse could catch him.

"Do you really think it's that bad?" Kreiswirth asked, clearly puzzled by the Captain's disgust with his armor system.Â

In his sarcastic tone, Sean replied, "You read the report?"

The mouse nodded.

"Well then you already know how I feel."

"Yes but 'completely useless?'" he quoted, "I think your expecting it to do what the Predator can."

Sean growled, he rarely growled, but something about this doctor above all others he'd worked with just angered him, and in a combative voice he said, "It can't do anything, doctor, except get in the way."

Kreiswirth went to argue him but the Captain raised a paw to stop him.

"And I'm done with it and, God willing, so will my superiors, so if you don't mind," the fox opened his car door, "I'd like to get home to my wife."

Defeated, the mouse scurried away back into the research facility. As he walked in he passed an MP, a dog, who asked curtly for Captain Reynolds. Kreiswirth didn't even answer, he just thumbed in the direction of the fox and continued walking to his office to pack up his supplies.

Outside the MP manage to stop Sean just before the fox put the key in the ignition.

"Yes Sergeant?" Sean asked, his patients running thin.

"Sir, General Wheeler of FRCOM requires you right away," the MP said as if he were a machine.

In a semi fit of rage the fox banged his head on the wheel but he forced himself out of the car and followed the MP to a waiting truck. At first Sean had thought that they'd be going to the FRCOM office on the base, but to his surprise the truck stopped at a transport base and within minutes they were airborne to a carrier in orbit over the planet.

Working off of bad coffee and a cheese sandwich he'd had that afternoon, Sean trudged through the halls of the carrier, following the MP until he stopped and ushered Sean into a briefing room.

Managing to appear almost interested, Sean stood at attention the moment he saw the General looking over papers on the desk in front of him.

Looking up, General Wheeler, an officer Sean had served under numerous times, smiled and gestured to take a seat. Sean didn't move till he saw Wheeler's eyes lower back down to the desk.

General Craig Wheeler, an aging yet still night black panther, had been in the military from about the time of Sean's father was just winning the war, having only been a major at the time. He'd been appointed commander of the Federation's Reconnaissance Command, or FRCOM, which was basically a special operations unit tasked with assessing any possible problems before a serious threat arose.

The panther sighed, leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples hard with his paw.

Baying his teeth in pain, clearly with a headache, he whispered, "Tired of tinkering with new toys?"

"Depends sir," Sean replied quickly.

"On?"

"On if those toys actually work."

Wheeler chuckled, "Yeah... running out of ideas from what I hear," then shifted himself higher in his seat and added, "Everyone seems to refuse to believe we've peaked."

"Oh I don't think that, sir," Sean replied.

Surprised by the answer, not how it was said, Wheeler perked up and looked the fox in the eye, "And why not?"

"I wouldn't be in this office if we had peaked," Sean replied with a slight grin showing some of his white teeth.

"We could be on our downfall," Wheeler pointed out, refusing to let the junior officer out do him, but having the subject matter mentioned, the panther became serious and, in picking up a stack of papers off his desk he cleared his throat and sat up straight.

Sean followed suit and in a careful look, noticed all the pictures on the desk were of land, relieved already to be avoiding space action.

"Simple job as always, Captain, you go in, tell us what's going on, jump out," Wheeler began.

"It's never that easy," Sean though, and aloud answered, "And what should I be expecting."

Grinning softly, the panther replied, "You shouldn't expect anything."

"What are we expecting, sir?" Sean clarified.

"We are expecting to find a local warlord who is building an army," Wheeler explained, "tanks, artillery, armored suits, spacecraft, you know, the works."

"And where is this?"

"Deneb, Alpha Quadrant. So be ready for a long flight," Wheeler answered, "troop strength minimal... we hope, but keep in mind this is just pure recon, no targets. We wont be able to keep anything in orbit without raising suspicion so if you start throwing shit around, we can't help you."

Continuing with his questions, Sean asked, "How long will I be down there?"

"Exactly one week," the panther answered and handed Sean his orders form, "You will be pod dropped in four days at 0100 hours, picked up exactly seven days later at 0100 by a single drop ship. We don't have an LZ in place so you'll have to mark one a few hours before we pick you up," then smiling he added, "Try not to make us fly into hell to grab you. You leave in two days"

"If I do have to engage-"

"If you do have to engage be careful, aside from a lack of reinforcements for this Op, we can't scare these guys away," Wheeler explained, his tone serious, "Now this is key: if you feel that we need to come down there, kick some ass right away, your gona set off a transponder. Now keep in mind, when you set that thing off, everyone in the galaxy can hear it, so you better make sure it's what you want."

"Anything else?"

"Yes," and in an even more serious tone, "Strict, nonnegotiable orders. Absolutely no damage to civilians or civilian casualties. That means you put civilian lives above the primary objectives."

Sean frowned, that complicated things infinitely.

Seeing the Captain's frustration, Wheeler nodded, "Yes, so you just gota keep that in mind. Mission equipment is anything you want and I'll let you go now cause I'm sure your tired as shit."

Still stunned from this new information, Sean just nodded and stood up at attention.

"The one thing you wont like is that you must keep this information on a need to know basis," then looking the fox very forcefully in the eye, Wheeler added, "That means anyone, father, mother... wife... no one knows."

Sean clenched his teeth. This wasn't good.

"All I need you to do is go down to the ship's quartermaster and tell him what you need for this, so that we can get everything ready and on station," Wheeler stood up and saluted the fox, "Dismissed, Captain."

Sean saluted, turned on his heal, and strode out of the briefing room. Even though he had his orders, and a better idea at the moment would be to think of his coming operation, but all he could think of was Sarah and how on Foc he'd explain this to her.

An hour later, Sean and Sarah Reynolds' Home, Fort Reynolds 0215 Military Time

Sarah, watching her husband carefully, laid her head down further into his chest and submitted to go to sleep. It appeared that Sean's thinking trance had sent him into sleep and Sarah figured she'd further question him tomorrow.

Moments before the rabbit had drifted into a troubled sleep, Sean whispered in a strained voice, "I'm not worried about myself for this one," Sarah picked her head up and watched him carefully, "I mean I am. How couldn't I be? But I don't think I'll be hurt... I- I can't explain what's bothering me."

There was no avoiding it, and Sarah knew it, so as lovingly as she could, she kissed his forehead and whispered, "Promise me you'll tell me when you come back."

Sean nodded held the sides of her face, giving her a deep kiss.

"I love you," he whispered.

Nuzzling his whole face with hers, Sarah replied, "And I love you."

They slept a bit more peacefully, but with the dark cloud of war looming overhead.

Chapter 3 Quarrel

Six Days Later, FN Pegasus in far orbit over Deneb, 0038 Military Time

The weapon's locker was eerily silent. Sean sat, straddling a bench, cleaning and preparing his S-M6. Along the walls were countless weapons; rifles, carbines, shoulder fired missiles, pistols, and cases upon cases of ammunition. As cluttered as the room was, Sean felt a sense of peace. He was going to work, in a weird way, and he felt natural doing so.

"Twelve minutes to drop, sir," a voice said over the intercom.

With that he finished putting together the S-M6, grabbed his ammo belt, and made his way over to the drop pod bay.

This room was filled with a series of red tubes, roughly twenty of them, along an outer wall of the ship. Sean stepped into the closest pod, strapped himself in, and awaited the drop command.

Ten minutes of quiet solitude enveloped the fox. He thought hard for a moment. He knew everything he had to do. He would drop about fifty miles from his target, a seemingly innocent complex of warehouses that was suspected as being the primary storehouse and factory for this warlord's growing army.

The warlord in question, a kangaroo named Richard Ryker. The self-proclaimed general had already been convicted not once, but twice by the Federation's courts for both possessing an exceedingly large supply of military grade materials and for suppression of his home planet's population. Of course, each one of these cases had been treated separately, not considering the fact that he was using his stores of war materials to take hold of the planet.

The one thing Sean took into account though, in this whole situation, was that if he had to make contact with any of the of this kangaroo's forces, it'd end with him either having to kill most of them quickly and quietly, or getting the hell out of Dodge as fast as he could. It's not so much that he thought that there was anything in their possession that could defeat his armor, but he didn't want to get into a prolonged firefight in the middle of a city populated by oppressed civilians.

Carefully, Sean gripped and rechecked his gear, making sure he had a blindcracker at the ready to stun any possible welcoming parties.

"Captain," a disembodied voice said over Sean's personal COM line, "launch pod in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, detach!"

Sean felt the pod shutter violently, which was followed by a sudden sense of vertigo as the craft sped straight down to the surface of Deneb.

It's odd, but the fox actually enjoyed this, there wasn't anything like being inside the small pod, screaming down at hundreds of miles an hour, with nothing between you and the ground.

Sean was so engrossed with the feeling of unstoppable falling that he didn't brace himself for the sudden deceleration as the reentry jets fired. The fox was rocked inside the pod, but he braced himself by pushing his paws on opposite sides of the falling room.

Knowing there was less then a minute of falling left, Sean turned on his Predator armor. As the plates enveloped his body, Sean felt the self-contained environmental systems cool him down; he hadn't realized how hot his fur had been getting from the reentry process.

The sensors were ticking down to zero so fast Sean knew there was less then ten seconds until touchdown, so he broke off his restraints, and pressed his armored paws against the sides of the pod, and carefully balanced his legs on the front hatch.

Carefully he watched the gauge. It hit forty meters and Sean thrusted his legs out and launched himself out of the pod. It was falling so fast that as his armored head left the pod, it touchdown with a loud bang. Sean landed on his legs about twelve meters away and launched himself into a full sprint, not even taking into account he had just hit the ground moving roughly two hundred meters a second.

Sean had seen the Intel on the planet, orbital images, but none of that had really given him an idea of how the surface was. Deneb was a tinny mudball of a planet on the far reaches of the galaxy. Its surface was pretty much a dust bowl desert, with few trees and little cover, not something Sean liked. Even still though, there were hundreds of small colonies all over the planet, with a sizeable population. To add to this problem, beneath the mile deep layer of unusable soil, was a deep core layer of gold and silver, one of the few planets with such stores, that the many small towns all had mining operations to dig up these stores.

It was all these facts, plus his orders for absolutely zero civilian or civilian property casualties that had Sean worried. Still, he was sure he could finish this, if he did his job right.

He had dropped far enough from the target that no one should have been alerted to his presence; yet close enough, considering his enhanced speed from the Predator armor, that he should make his target in an hour or so.

About twelve minutes into running Sean stopped atop a dune and looked around. Dead ahead, far in the distance, was a large warehouse complex, a small town about half the distance to his right, and endless desert to the left. Using his helmet integrated sights he scouted out the various positions in both the town and the complex, seeing that neither appeared to be particularly designed to be well defended, and while the town didn't appear to be any different than his own, Sean did notice one thing about the factory complex he didn't like; he didn't see anything or anyone.

The Captain considered it for a moment. He could continue and run it out to the complex, drop minicams and bugs all over the complex and set up his own base of operations either near the town or under a dune, but that would involve entering the complex in broad daylight, for every possibly hostile fur to see. Instead though, the fox could just hunker down and wait for night to come to run his recon, but then he'd risk possibly higher, and more alert night sentries.

It didn't take long for Sean to make his decision, he'd go now, this way if the shit really did hit the fan, he'd have part of the day to fight it out, then the entire cover of night to run and hide, where that was of course, Sean still wasn't sure.

He ran down this dune and up the next, placing himself roughly two miles away; a short sprint if he really gunned it. Sean took one last look around, seeing no one.

In a gray flash he ran as fast as he could at the nearest warehouse, and in about three minutes later he was leaning against the wall, not even breaking a sweat, waiting to see if he'd been sighted.

Four minutes past. Nothing.

Carefully he dashed along the side of the warehouse to its edge, and using his S-M6, peered around the corner and further checked for movement. Still no one could be seen.

Something really was wrong, and Sean knew it. He switched to ultraviolet sights, which were clear, infrared too, which only raised more questions. Why the hell was a warehouse completely empty?

Taking a moment, he set up two cams, looking up and down the side of the warehouse. Then he swiftly ran to the next warehouse. Checked it with the same sensors, and found nothing.

The obvious thought came to Sean's mind, if there was something here, it wasn't ground level. Still, it was a good idea to set up observation cameras around the outside, so Sean continued going around each and every warehouse setting up enough miniature cameras so that ever angle was covered.

At this point though, there was little choice in other options. Sean dashed to a far side of the complex, set down a short metallic cylinder on the soft dirt, and dashed to the farthest side of the base.

About twelve seconds later the cylinder pushed itself about ten feet into the ground and detonated. It wasn't a large explosion, but it was big enough that the shock wave traveled through a half mile radius, the readings being sent to Sean's HUD.

Just as he'd suspected, about twenty feet underneath where he was standing, a large, bowl shaped object pinged. All that the sensors manage to pick up though was a single large disk underneath the ground, and only part of it, it appeared to extend in an elliptical patter as far as at least half a mile.

Sean didn't like it, worse of all the location of the subterranean object wasn't anywhere near the surface faculties which raised a question; if it was a base, how did anyone get to it?

At this point though Sean knew he had to make breaches, but now at least he knew what to look for.

The first of the five huge warehouses, all appearing to have originally white, were stained a light brown from constant bombardment for dirt and wind, had only one entrance Sean could find, and the satellite images showed that the roof might not be strong enough to support a ranger in full Predator armor, so that meant he had to make a classic, bang entry into the warehouse.

Being that to his knowledge, the Captain still had the element of surprise, Sean didn't use a flashbang on this first one, instead he rested his foot on the door, readied his S-M6, and pushed his whole, 2-ton weight down, snapping the metal door from it's frame, and in an agile move, he rolled forward to his knee and swept the whole room in about a second.

No targets.

Sean got up and quickly scampered to the nearest wall and kneeled back down, further looking around to make sure the warehouse was secure.

It was.

Carefully he got up a swept the whole building. There were stacks of freight crates, dozens of meters high in places, all over the floor. Sean didn't take time to look inside them but the printed information on the side said:

Federation Food Outsource

Sean would assume for the moment that it was just stored food in the crates; he'd do a more thorough check later.

Once he was satisfied that there was no personal inside this first building, Sean carefully exited, placing a sensor and camera at the doorway, and moved to the next one.

At this warehouse he took more care, this time, not breaking the door down but only ripping out the handle and lock.

Quickly he opened the door, and taking two quick steps in and one to the right, he scanned the room like a machine, seeing zero targets here as well.

What he did see though, that caught his eye right away, was that there were lights on this warehouse, unlike the last one. There were the same, identical crates here that had been in the last one, but that place appeared to be completely abandoned, this one at least seemed to have some life in it somewhere.

In looking around though, Sean discovered exactly what he suspected and was looking for, a lift. Simple enough looking, but as Sean could see, the tracks for the lift didn't run up and down, but at a slight angle right towards where the underground anomaly should be.

Still though, he wanted to check all five warehouses before he made any serious incursions, so the Captain just set up more cameras and motion sensors around the lift and building before moving on the check the remaining three warehouses.

As he expected, the others were all empty, except the second to last warehouse had less of the common crates and a single, tremendous crate roughly two stories tall. Sean was tempted to open it to peak inside, but should something happen it would really suck to blow the operation in it's first four hours.

Instead he made his way back to the second of the warehouses and, checking his cameras to see if it was clear, entered it and did a check on the lift. It was ordinary enough; granted that it worked on an angle rather than a vertical rail, but Sean was smart enough to know to take it to the bottom would be a bad idea. Instead, he mounted another camera, being that he had about seventy of the little dots in his gear, pointing in the direction he assumed was the exit off the lift and, standing behind it, sent it coasting empty down the shaft.

Quickly and silently he followed the lift down, roughly a half a mile down the dimly lit shaft. Whoever had built this thing hadn't taken much care, the soil dropped and disintegrated from the metal beams holding back the earth as the lift moved lower and lower.

It took about five minutes of almost aggravatingly slow progress for the lift to come to a rest at the bottom of the shaft, the fox taking cover behind a girder roughly twenty meters away.

In the pitched black of the tunnel Sean stared at his HUD, looking through the eye of the mounted camera. He could see that the lift exited directly into a subterranean warehouse, to large for the camera to focus on the far end, and filled with crates, although these were different from the ones topside, these were clearly marked:

Federal Army Property: Only Use or Open if Authorized

Sean gritted his teeth, he'd still been hoping this would be a wild goose chase and he could get back to Sarah ASAP. Unfortunately the countless marked cases proved otherwise.

He watched for a good ten more minutes, and was amazed to see zero movement and zero signs of life.

"Storehouse..." the Captain muttered to himself, and submitted to the fact he was going to have to do physical recon.

Moving as if he were a shadow, Sean dashed along the side of the tunnel and hopped the side of the lift. He cleared the lift area, and, slipping a camera out the exit, saw the immediate vicinity was clear.

Remembering the constant drills from the academy, Sean pulled out from the exit and checked every angle. Not a soul was around.

He turned a pile of crates and almost stopped short at what he saw. Past the initial entry point the room bulged into a tremendous cavity. It was large enough that to see the far wall Sean had to set his visor to twelve times magnification. A small Federal destroyer could fit in her, much less the millions of crates of varying sizes.

On the far right side of the cavern Sean saw a line of main battle tanks, moreover new main battle tanks. There had to be at least forty of them. On the opposite wall there was a line of artillery pieces, about ten of those. And in the middle of the room were countless crates of what Sean assumed were small arms and machine guns.

Granted, there wasn't nearly enough here to mount an insurrection against the Federation, but there was certainly enough weapons here to control the surface of this planet. That much Federation Intelligence had confirmed, but they were going to have a field day figuring out how this warlord managed to acquire so much of the newer, some barely produced, war materials.

For the next few minutes Sean dashed around the huge underground compartment setting sensors, cameras, and motion trackers everywhere. By the time he was through he was no longer convinced that a small destroyer could fit in here, he was starting to believe it was more along the lines of a small frigate. Just a guess said to him that this structure was about two miles long and about two thousand feet wide, just about the dimensions of a single Echo-Class frigate.

A warning alarm went off in his helmet, and for an instance he thought it was a motion sensor, but it was only his memory counter, he'd run out of video on this particular chip. He wasn't going to change it down here though, so Sean dropped his final micro camera and started off, just as carefully as before, toward the exit.

He sent the lift up ahead of him as before and followed it up. Still no problems. That was bothering him.

Things went perfectly after that, the Captain practically strolled out of the warehouse and dashed for a dune about a mile away.

He decided to set up there, and dropped his rations and monitors down. Taking one last reading of the area, and a visual scan, the fox lowered the face portion of the Predator III armor, revealing his slightly matted red fur.

Taking a moment to relax, Sean leaned back and scratched his ear. The environment of Deneb wasn't that bad. The landscape was terrible, just endless piles of dirt with little or no vegetation, but the air was great. Its single sun was the perfect distance away so that the air felt like a nice air-conditioned starship, and Sean was tempted to remove the remainder of his armor, but the realization that this was a hostile planet reminded him against that.

This was the part of recon that Sean, and everyone who ever had to do long range reconnaissance before him, hated; the waiting. The simple fact that it was a waiting game meant that it was entirely possible to be waiting with absolutely nothing to report on for the next seven days.

The fox made a large, toothy yawn and leaned back with the monitor on his lap, set to progressively scan all four hundred of the camera's he'd set up but to alert him the moment something came into view.

It only took about an hour of boredom to start to affect the fox and he began dreaming. Of course, he thought of Sarah. Of all the things he could be doing now, of everything he'd done in his whole life, at this moment, the only thing he wanted was to be asleep in his own bed with his beautiful wife Sarah in his paws.

Sean drifted into sleep, thinking of Sarah, knowing that somewhere she was thinking of him.

Two Day's Later, Outskirts of Lang, Deneb, 1337 Military Time

The red lights in Sean's helmet blinked so rapidly that the startled fox thought he was being shot at. Turns out that a camera had spotted movement. The sub image on his HUD shifted to a camera mounted on the side of one of the warehouses, and low and behold, it was another tumble weed.

Sean leaned back in the dirt, defeated. By now he was actually hoping to be shot at, it would at least give him something to do. By now he'd disassembled, cleaned, and resembled every piece of equipment in his possession. Hell, he'd taken apart his S-M6 so many times now that he feared that if he did it again he'd have to replace the firing pin.

Sean turned over and looked over the edge of the dun back at Lang, the small town near the complex. He'd been watching it, being that it was the only sign of life, for the past two days.

It didn't seem so different from his own, if not a tad more backwater. There was a single main street that ran up the center, with a few side streets moving around and behind, with a long thin one that ran off into the horizon. Main Street itself had the cliché look of a small town; barbershop, food store, a few others, and dozens of small, single floored houses speckled all around. It's inhabitants, a mixture of coyotes and roos, appeared to be completely unaware that there was a whole galaxy outside their small town. They barely appeared to be aware of the huge warehouse complex a mere few miles from their town.

That was another thing that had been bothering the fox.

Not a soul ever left the town. He hadn't seen a single vehicle either. They had to get supplies from somewhere though, as there was no livestock or farms to be seen.

A small pup walked down Main Street and caught Sean's eye. He'd seen this pup now every day, walk up Main Street the same way, and stop in the same place every day, a toy store or candy store Sean suspected, and never walk out with anything.

In his mind, the Captain played games with the pup. He thought up stories and tried to imagine why and what he was doing every day in that store, and what Sean had concluded was it had to be a candy store, and the pup was stealing small bits every now and again.

That thought made him smile. He couldn't help though, to make the next jump, and that was to think of Sarah and their coming kit or bunny. Yet every time his mind wandered in that direction Sean checked the thought, he couldn't do that, not in the field. Sean knew if he got caught up and thinking of his own situation, he'd get relaxed, and that was exactly when the shit would hit the fan.

Slipping back into the boredom of waiting, Sean leaned into the dirt dune and watched the images of the warehouse complex skip along, rotating and waiting for something to happen.

He sat like that all day and well into the night, nothing happening. Eventually the fox laid down, staring at the sky. Luckily for him the opposite happened than what is to be expected, time went faster. He just focused on a single cloud, watching it creep across the sky, which slowly changed from a light gray to a slightly darker gray, to an almost brown.

By the time the cloud had made its way to the horizon, the sky was blackening, and Sean finally became aware of the time.

The fox yawned widely and scratched his chin. There was nothing else to do now that it was night, so he set the alarms on the sensors to the highest frequency, so his sensitive fox ears would catch any disturbances right away.

Sean leaned back into the pile of dirt. As he did a huge clump about five feet uphill of him broke off the dune and landed right on his head. Immediately he stood up and angrily shook off the muck.

"Home..." Sean thought, "Please get me home soon, Sarah."

All he wanted to do was end this stupid assignment. The Captain was absolutely sure that there was a clump of dirt attached to every inch of fur on his body, even those beneath his armor.

Dusting himself off a little bit more he sat down more carefully, and pulled his space blanket over his head; a better alternative to just closing up the helmet of the armor.

Sean sat for a few minutes. Figuring it was better to turn the monitors off, so that he'd draw zero attention and have no light to keep him awake, he padded over to the monitors and turned them off.

For all Sean knew a giant had picked up the planet and shook it violently as he was thrown onto his side and everything rattled, even his body inside the armor casing. Then he felt it, a rough heat all over his body and without hesitation, in a lightning fast move, he sealed himself within the armor and grabbed his rifle.

At first he stumbled, slightly disoriented and extremely confused, but Sean knew better than to stand still. He dashed up to the top of the dirt dune, and he actually paused for a quarter second before running twice as fast down the other side.

What he'd seen could have been translated into the pure manifestation of hell. Sean had no idea what had happened, but all he was sure of was that the entire warehouse complex didn't exist anymore in the strictest sense. All that the Captain could see as he dashed towards the nearest warehouse at about seventy miles per hour was mountains of fire.

Another explosion rocket the ground, this one worse than before and actually managed to cause the fox to trip into the dirt. Sean laid down and grabbed his distress beacon; this definitely counted as a worthy cause for its use.

Pushing himself back onto his paws Sean shoved the beacon into the dirt and continued towards the burning warehouses. Less than a quarter mile away Sean's heat sensors were picking up massive spikes in heat. Nothing that he had to worry about in the Predator III, but still abnormally high.

Sean's mind was moving twice as fast as his legs though; he already figured that something must have detonated by accident. There were countless numbers of bombs and other explosive ordinance, it only took one accident to possibly set them all off.

Another rumbling began and this time Sean was able to brace himself, and the fox stood clenched while a burst of super heated air swept past him and a massive shock wave rocked his feet. Had he not prepared for this one Sean would have been thrown a good twenty meters in the air.

Once it past Sean finished his run to the inferno. Standing inside a fire was always an interesting experience, especially considering it was a perfect seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit inside the armor, but Sean was too busy to pay attention.

Using the mental image of the complex, Sean made his way over to where he believe the warehouse containing the elevator had been. A single back wall stood right by what could be best described as a tunnel into hell itself. Sean didn't care though, it wasn't like he could feel the flames, or that anything down there could damage him in his armor.

This time he dashed down the tunnel without a care, covering the quarter mile distance in about 10 seconds, looking like an ancient knight running down the throat of a dragon.

At the bottom Sean was met by even more flames and small explosions going off without intervals. It seemed that every round of rifle, tank, plane, and spaceship ammunition was cooking off and exploding, plinking into his armor and making Sean's back teeth jar inside his mouth.

He walked carefully though the inferno; towards what he thought was the epicenter. A few dozen meters in Sean tripped over a corpse, which confused the hell out of him. The body was charred black, completely indistinguishable of species or sex, so Sean kneeled down and pressed his thumb into the burnt remains.

There was barely enough left to get a clear reading but his sensors identified the body as that of a male coyote. Sean flipped the corpse over and found a slightly charged rifle underneath. He checked the magazine; it was filled, meaning whatever happened, happened so fast that no one could have reacted. Sean still wasn't sure how this single coyote had managed to be in the subterranean warehouse without setting off his sensors but it really didn't matter now, there wasn't anything left to recon at the moment.

Sean continued into the center of the cavern, finally reaching the edge of a crater that extended down.

Looking around Sean realized this was going to take a full inquiry with a cleanup crew to figure out what happened, there wasn't a damn thing he could see that could have caused all this.

Sean turned and started walking out of the room. Towards the edge of the cavern he spotted a group of four more bodies, at least they appeared to be bodies.

They were all blackened and fused to a silver crate, appearing to have been trying to climb over it, another sign that this had been unexpected. Sean proceeded to check them for clarification, get any evidence that he could produce later. The first one was a kangaroo, male, the second another male coyote, and the third happened to be none other than General Richard Ryker.

Updating the mission info on his wrist keypad, Sean set the dead warlord's status to "deceased-confirmed."

The last body was that of another kangaroo, all three armed except for Ryker. In what Sean thought was his paw he held a charred black box, couldn't be much larger than a wallet. Sean forced it out of the paw and had to make a mental effort to not cringe as a substantial part of Ryker's paw and arm came with the box and crumbled away into the flames.

Sean studied it for a moment, then placed it in a storage compartment on his leg. Figuring it was worth a check, he yanked the remains off the crate and saw that, behind the crust of dirt and tar it wasn't, in fact, a crate.

What Sean saw chilled him to the bones, and angered him terribly for not noticing it before; it was a bomb. Moreover it wasn't a normal bomb, this was a tactical nuke, Hercules Class.

The fox didn't waste a single second, he turned and ran. Granted he was trained in disarming bombs, but it looks like that had been tried already, and Sean had no idea how long the timer on the bomb, if active, had on it, and he had to make minimum safe distance from that weapon. His armor could survive it going off next to his head, but the residual radiation would turn him literally into a furry fox puddle.

Crashing through other crates and fallen objects Sean ran for the lift, ignoring the bullets and smaller bombs going off around him, and just focusing on running. That was all that his mind focuses on, was running, he had to get away, he had to get at least two miles away, then he'd be safe.

A fleeting thought entered his mind, and Sean gripped his wrist, not taking his gaze away from where the lift was, and set his armor's homing beacon on, for the worst-case scenario.

The lift came into view and the Captain pushed harder, he was close, so close.

Something heavy went off behind him, forcing him to kneel down with his back to the explosion. Shards of metal and flaming wood plinked off his armor.

Sean stood up, shook his head, and started running again. Then the strangest thing happened. Every single fire in the cavern went out at once, and the fox knew what was about to happen..

He couldn't help it, curiosity got the best of him, but he turned around just in time to see the small sun erupt less than a quarter mile from him.

All Sean managed to get out was a dejected, "Shit," before he felt himself enveloped by an amazingly hot white light, and in his mind Sean knew he was dead.

Ten Years Ago, the Atric's Home, Foc, 7:56 AM Local Time

"Oh... God..." a voice whispered in the darkness.

Sean tried to open his eyes, they didn't work. He tried to bring his paws up to his muzzle but they were stunk underneath something. Managing to free one of them, he rubbed his eyes softly, and while he did that he became aware of someone beneath him.

"Oh God," Sean whispered back, the memories of last night coming back.

Beneath his furry body, Sarah lay, clearly embarrassed and confused, her paws holding her muzzle nervously.

Sean became fully aware of what had happened and pushed himself off her body, feeling his slightly hard cock pull from inside her body.

Watching him, but in a way different than she had ever before, Sarah mumbled, "We- we really did that..."

"We did..." Sean mumbled back.

Not sure if that was a question or statement Sarah stared at him, hoping he was as scared as she was. In a strange way though, she could tell without words that he was.

A downpour of emotions hit Sean and he became fully aware of everything. Last night, Sarah's 16th birthday, they'd realized finally what they truly meant to one another.

The young fox pushed himself back on top of Sarah, well half on top of her. They stared in each other's eyes for a long moment, the confusion melting away. The slightly fear remained though, as Sarah's nervous eyes attested to.

His face about seven inches from hers, Sean said in an amazed voice, "I love you."

For him, this was a dream come true. In one way it was a new dream, having only thought of his young rabbit friend possibly on this level for about a week, but in another way it was a long-standing dream, to be as close as he could to her.

It took her a second, but Sarah tilted her head softly at her new lover and whispered back, "I love you too."

She reached up and traced the lines of fur on his face. It was a strange gesture, but she'd never studied his face. Sarah had always seen Sean as her friend, and had an image to go along with that, but feeling his warm body against hers, knowing in her heart how he felt, her whole view on him changed, as did her mental image of him.

Also, her feelings of herself had change. In not so many words, Sarah, in a passing thought, realized she was a woman now. Sarah never thought of herself as a girl, but now in her mind she'd made the jump way past that and felt, for a change, very adult.

The rabbit continued softly petting Sean's face, but Sean soon placed his paw over hers and nuzzled them softly.

Sean kissed her paw at first, slowly and softly, then moved down her arm, then neither able to wait, they shared a short, but deep, kiss.

Not even thinking of it, Sean slipped a paw beneath Sarah and started grinding the petite rabbit against his body. It didn't take long for them to notice though, starting with Sarah moaning in an intrigued way right into Sean's muzzle.

Glancing down Sean caught sight of their naked bodies, and for a moment felt a little embarrassed to be completely nude with her, and that she was nude with him, but Sarah's appearance of calm had an effect on him, but he was still compelled to speak.

Sean forced a weak laugh, "I... I can't help it but I'm a little scared."

The corner of the rabbit's mouth turned up in a slight smile, "I'm a- I'm a little scared too."

"Did you like it?" Sean asked, peaking at her furry tits out of the corner of his eye; he wanted to pet them but he didn't want to look too eager.

Sarah nodded, biting her lower lip. Even though she had relatively zero experience in sex, she had a preconceived notion somewhere in her mind that she shouldn't like it that much, but she had, and she knew that she had.

"Really?" Sean asked again, he was hopping it had been the best thing for her too.

Still not wanting to give a blatant answer, Sarah nodded again, but something about Sean's soft face made her feel okay and a moment later she whispered, "I can't- It was like to much for me to think about."

The answer made sense to Sean; furthermore it was exactly what he was hoping, that she had enjoyed it, not because it would make her more likely to do it again but because he wanted her to feel good.

Sean leaned in to kiss her again but Sarah pulled back.

She was smiling though and whispered, "What am I doing?"

Confused, the fox just stared at her, his ears standing up perfectly still.

"You're my best friend, Sean," Sarah whispered, it was an odd comment but she was still smiling, so Sean just listened carefully, "Is it okay that we do this?"

He went to say something but she interrupted him.

"Its nothing about you, I mean I don't wana lose you as my best friend is all," she continued, "I like you too much and I do," she put her paws on his chest, "I know I love you, but your to important to me to lose, I don't know what I'd do."

"Why would you lose me?" Sean asked, not able to imagine why they wouldn't be friends.

Sarah couldn't answer that one, she couldn't imagine why either, and told him so.

"I'm still your best friend," Sean said in a soft, reassuring tone, "just... well I guess I'm your... boyfriend too, now."

He had only hesitated because it was so cliché it was mildly stupid in his mind. Sean knew he wasn't going to see himself as her boyfriend, but on a concept level he was. Sarah got the idea though, and nodded.

"So what do you want to do now?" Sean asked, gesturing to the clothing strewn on the floor.

"Can we just lay here for a little while?" Sarah asked in an oddly sweet voice.

Sean couldn't say no to that, and pulled the covers back over their bodies. After a few seconds Sarah pushed the fox softly onto his back and laid her body onto his. She like cuddling with him, something about it just made her feel so good and comfortable there was only one thing she could think of that was better.

"That's right," Sarah thought, "There is something better."

Although the fox didn't see it, Sarah smiled softly and licked her lips. About the only reason she figured in her mind, to do what she was about to do, was because she liked being close with Sean, it had nothing to do with the pleasure, at least not enough to factor into her value system, not yet at least.

Carefully she started to run her paws down his chest, feeling the soft fur that she still was surprised she hadn't noticed before.

Sean caught on right away though, and looked down at her with a slightly amused look, whispering, "What's up?"

Sarah just smiled.

Raising an eyebrow Sean cleared his throat and asked, "Can I... can I try something, Sarah?"

That caught her off guard, but since she was excited and most importantly, she trusted Sean, she just nodded and ceased her motions.

Sean pushed his way from beneath her and laid her flat on the bed. After pushing the covers away, leaving the naked rabbit, now a tad nervous, open to the whole room.

"What are you gona do?" Sarah asked quietly, still trusting him, but she wanted to know.

At the moment he had been looking down her body but when he looked up at Sarah and met her eyes a huge grin was splayed across his face, but he pushed it away and answered, "Well... I kinda- hmm there's no real way to say this," he chuckled.

"Don't worry," she replied, "Just say it."

"Well I want to- I want to explore you I guess," then he chuckled and shook his head, "it doesn't sound right but, I mean you have to be curious too right?"

The rabbit nodded.

"We can take turns then?" Sean whispered, and saw her nod again, "We don't havta do anything right away, but I do wana-" embarrassedly Sean added in a quiet tone, "-play with you..."

Sarah couldn't help but giggle, it was a weird thing, but not in a bad way.

The nervous feeling of inexperience returned to Sean's mind and the fox hesitated for a few seconds. He regained his intrigue though when his nervous eyes shift down his new lover's body, resting softly on her two poofs of fur that were her breasts.

At a sideways angle to her, Sean padded as close as he could, his head hovering right over her tits. Carefully he reached out and took hold of one, so softly that it had no effect on the likewise nervous rabbit. Only the second time touching a female, Sean took greater care to really realize what she was "made of."

Sean was sure that her tits were even softer than last night, and he massaged them softly, a little for Sarah and little for his own curiosity. On Sarah's end she was surprising herself that she was actually enjoying this. This time she was really getting all the attention, and being that she'd never been massaged before, this new sensation was amazing.

Satisfied, so to speak, with exploring her chest, Sean changed his angle so that he was basically on top of her, and he moved himself down to where Sarah's now glistening pussy lips were.

For a moment he stared at it, stopping himself from drooling at the sight. For a moment he thought to try licking her, but he wasn't sure if she would be okay with that. Instead he again, carefully cupped and massaged her body, this time her pussy lips and clit.

Sarah was so intrigued by the touching that she let her neck give out and she murred to herself as she let the feelings warm over her. She felt so good that unconsciously she began rubbing her own belly and sides, although she didn't take it to the next level and play with her own breasts.

A second later though she yelped not in pain but surprise as Sean penetrated her with his paw, now exploring inside of her. He paused for a moment, to check that she was okay, then continued feeling around inside. Sarah now grabbed the sheet covers in pleasured distress, trying to get a hold of herself, but it was all for not.

As the rabbit began moaning in a high-pitched tone Sean slipped more of his paw deeper inside of her, and using his other paw played with her clit, realizing that the little nub above her slit seemed to get the greatest display out of her.

Now practically clawing at the sheets Sarah couldn't stop herself from grabbing her own tits, shifting her head side to side as more and more building waves of pleasure shocked her.

She tried to tell Sean she was about to cum, but all that came out was the same distressed moans. She rotated the soft mounts in her paws, only making the overall feeling better.

Sean felt her pussy quiver faster, and draw his paw deeper still inside her body, and then from the top of her lips came a soft, hot stream of femie cum soaking the fur on his arm. His muzzle was mere inches from it, and the smell was indescribable for the young fox, making his whole lower body almost itch and a sensation of pins and needles so bad on his cock that he had to reach down with his free paw and stroke himself a little.

Sarah's whole body twitched through her aftershocks, leaving her weak and tired. Sean made his way back up to her face, both panting slightly.

For a moment he looked at her, pausing to think of how much he loved her and wanted to make her cum like this as much as he could, the young fox leaned in and kissed her softly. Sarah couldn't quite kiss back, but she made the attempted to swirl her tongue with his.

As the last of her aftershocks past though, she became aware of his hard member digging into the fur on her leg and, deciding she wanted to explore him too, pushed Sean softly onto his back, and without a word began the same experiments.

Sean on the other hand, was probably more nervous than Sarah had been. The idea of letting Sarah explore his idea was intriguing yes, but scary in others. Sean was somewhat worried that he might not be as physically pleasing to her eyes as she was to his.

This wasn't the case though, and Sarah gulped as she looked Sean over. After having spent the previous night making love with him, Sarah, now viewing her friend in a completely new light, was even more aware of how attractive he was.

As softly as he had been, Sarah pat her paws all the way down his body, feeling the already strong, yet still developing muscles on his chest, the soft fur that covered it, and when she made it that far down, his pink, hard cock.

The rabbit hadn't really realized last night, to her view, how large Sean was, a little over seven inches and fairly think. Softly she gripped it and she heard Sean let out a held breath.

Sarah bit her lip, it was kind of funny that he was so easy to manipulate like this.

As she continued slowly pawing his crotch, Sarah continued looking the fox over. She was starting to realize he was very good looking, and her pussy lips were starting to drool a little.

For a second Sarah considered the moment, and the wall of reality slammed into her. She was laying in bed, completely naked with her best friend, her paw gripped around his hard cock, jerking him off slowly... and not a single part of that bothered her. It was all okay because of the simple, yet amazingly complex fact that she loved him.

She stopped playing with his sex piece and padded back up to his muzzle. Sean noticed she seemed a little calmer now, and they kissed a soft, long, open mouth kiss.

They parted lips and Sarah nuzzled the soft fur under Sean's neck.

As she did so, Sean pat her shoulder and said in a caring voice, "I love you, Sarah."

"I know," she whispered back, almost to herself.

Then in an inexperienced, yet pretty well applied, sensual voice, Sean added, "I love your body too."

Grinning to herself the rabbit looked up and nodded, "I like yours too."

For a few moments they stared at each other, not sure what to do next. Carefully Sean made the first move and pulled her atop him and slipped himself under her.

Sarah, submissively, allowed him to take over but did however say quickly, "How are we gona do it this time?"

"You want to try it on top?" he whispered, feeling the tips of the fur on her rear pressing on the aching tip of his cock.

The rabbit shrugged and held her creamy brown sides, "Okay..." then nervously added, "How?"

Sean moved her down a little bit farther on his chest and pushed himself up, so that they were both sitting with their pelvises grinding against each other. His cock poked its way up through the pressed red, white, and cream brown fur.

Giving his new lover a quick kiss, Sean wrapped his paws around her and pulled her closer to him, grinding himself against her until his cock managed to hit home, pressing against her tight passage.

"Stop Sean, stop," Sarah said, although it was calm and controlled.

He pulled back and looked at her confusedly, "What's wrong."

"Nothing, I just wana know how this is gona work, that's all," she replied.

"Well," the young fox began, "I know this is good."

Sarah looked at him with a raised eyebrow and said at a draw, "Comon Sean... just tell me," she could sense his nervousness, it was actually a slight turn on for her, since he was cute when he got nervous.

Clearly anxious, Sean looked away and whispered, "I figured you could like..." he couldn't say but forced himself, "you'd bounce, I mean... I don't know..."

Not sure on any positions, Sarah just nodded. The only reason she'd asked was because she at least wanted a heads up to the situation, she would have objected though even if it was something that might have scared her, she trusted Sean enough that she knew he wouldn't do anything bad to her.

This time Sean just reached down, and carefully inserted the tip of his cock into her warm pussy. The softness and warmth of her passage made him want to just slam it home, but aside from the fact that he didn't want to scare or hurt her, she was to tight that he'd probably just slip out.

Instead he hugged her close and drew her in, slipping himself deeper and deeper inside her. Sarah hugged him back, mouth agape, moaning not quite painfully but in such a pleasured state that it was almost painful.

His muzzle resting on her shoulder Sean whispered, "You ready?"

Panting a little, she whispered in a strained voice, "Just give me a second, okay?"

"No problem Sarah," Sean replied and kissed the side of her face; she was quite tight.

Being held though was oddly comforting for her, Sarah really liked it. He was so warm and soft, yet his grip was strong and secure. It was so comforting that she rested against him, and forgot the unbelievable warmth radiating from his buried cock.

It was thrusted back into her mind though, as Sean started rotating his hips.

Her pussy hadn't adjusted yet and it did hurt a little, so she whispered, "Sean don't move yet, it hurts a little."

Sean stopped right away and pulled his head back a little and nuzzled her face, figuring that maybe if he calmed her down enough she'd loosen up, and it wouldn't hurt anymore. He couldn't help it though; he really wanted to fuck her. It just felt so good and he loved seeing her cum, but Sean kept repeating in his mind that it was Sarah, and he couldn't hurt her.

Meanwhile, Sarah was trying to relax her parts, feeling her pussy muscles straining against Sean's girth. She wanted to fuck him too, it did feel good after all, but she wanted to be softer about it.

They both felt her push out on his cock, and as she did it slipped a little deeper inside her.

"Okay," she began in a still weak voice, "lets start... but slowly okay?"

"Okay," Sean whispered and gave her a quick kiss.

As slowly as he could manage, the fox rotated his hips, feeling her pussy quiver which each turn of his hips. His cockhead rolled over her special spot though and Sarah grasped onto Sean's pelt tightly, yelping at the sudden rush of pleasure.

Still not aware of how female bodies worked Sean got scared and gripped her asking, "Sorry! Are you okay!?"

Sarah breathed hard into his chest and looked up weakly saying, "I'm okay, just right there..." she moved her body so that his cock tip was just barely touching that spot, "there, that area its- I can't describe it..." the rabbit thought for a moment, "It makes my whole body tighten up."

"Sooo... you don't want me to go there?" Sean asked, not sure if what she was describing was a good or bad feeling.

"No," Sarah replied.

"Okay," Sean answered but Sarah shook her head.

"No, as in don't not avoi-... I like it when you push that part, its just... sensitive I guess," she nuzzled his neck then licked his lips, "so just be gentle there."

Sean was impressed by that. This new side of Sarah was very different, she seemed a little more carefree but at the same time much more conscious of everything. Sean liked it, she was more willing to try things and less worried about keeping up or impressing him, that much he really appreciated, but the biggest thing he noted was that she wasn't acting like a guy. Sean didn't know what she was acting like, he never was this close to a girl so he wasn't sure, but she was certainly acting like what he thought a female would act like in this situation.

A few seconds later Sean started rotating his hips again, making sure that when he passed over her special spot he did so carefully, so that it didn't overpower her. He still didn't understand how the pleasure part of sex for a female worked, but he was glad enough to know that at least she was enjoying this.

Pausing, Sean asked in a careful and slightly embarrassed tone, "Think you can... bounce now?"

"I'll try," she replied, a bit scared by what was apparently real sex, not just the soft caressing they'd been doing all morning.

Sean shifted his paws down her back and held the sides of her thin tummy and Sarah positioned her legs under her so that she was able to spring up and down on her knees. She pushed herself up all the way, so that only the tip of his cock was still inside, and softly came down, slowly yet forcefully, feeling every inch of his warm cock slide inside her folds.

They both moaned in the pleasured bliss, loving the warm wetness of each other's sex pieces.

Sarah sprung herself up again, but on the down stroke she lost her balance and slammed down, resheathing his cock all the way inside her all at once.

"Oh God!!!" she screamed and gripped onto Sean.

That one had actually hurt a little, being that it was too much, much too much, too fast.

Sean understood the reaction and, realizing she was still adjusting to him, just gripped her body against his and softly pat her, calming the already out of breath rabbit the best he could.

Sarah realized though, that while yes it had hurt, behind the pain had been some pleasure too, and she knew now it would just take time. Sooner or later she'd be able to really have sex back but she had to loosen up first, and she sure as hell wasn't going to stop now, not with her lover's cock still warming her insides.

Gripping her sides Sean lifted her softly and slowly, then even more carefully he brought her down again, making her groan again, this time more pleasurably rather than painfully.

Unable to move herself at the moment, Sarah just wrapped her paws around his neck and rested her body against his as Sean pushed her up and down. It took a few minutes but soon her femie juices got worked out enough that it lubed Sean's cock.

Sarah looked up as Sean brought her down on another soft stroke and whispered, "I can do it now."

Her fox nodded and moved his paws up her back, running them through the soft fur. Carefully Sarah pushed herself up, feeling his cock glide along her insides and, taking a deep breath, let herself fall down upon it and instantly felt electricity flow through her whole pussy, up her back, into her mind.

She moaned in such a high pitch Sean was sure it had hurt but it hadn't. Quite the contrary it had felt amazingly good for the rabbit. She brought herself back up and down again, this time a bit faster and more forcefully.

"Ohhhh..." she groaned weakly, yet she continued humping him, loving the warm, pins and needle feeling that she felt every time his smooth cock ran its way and spread apart her love folds.

By now Sarah had worked up a good rate, enough that her tits were bouncing between their hot bodies, and whenever the pleasure almost overwhelmed her she would clutch onto Sean, pressing her tits against his chest, an arousing feeling that made the moment even more pleasurable. Everything was moving; Sarah's ears, her tits, Sean's tongue as he panted in pleasure, even his tail behind him seemed to follow the rabbit's motions as she slammed down each time.

Even Sean was groaning now, the tightness of her pussy and the heat of the friction between their bodies was almost too much for him.

Sarah was now bouncing on his lap hard enough that her juices in conjunction with his slippery cock made a slapping sound that added an even larger level to the sex, both feeling completely immersed in the other.

On a down stroke Sarah paused and rotated her hips, whispering in an almost breathless voice, "I want you to cum with me okay? Inside me too, I really like that."

Sean nuzzled her and whispered, "So do I."

They shared a quick kiss, Sarah starting to hump him again, although when she came down Sean would push up into her, filling her even more with his cock. The interesting thing was that neither was really that close to cumming at the moment, they were to busy enjoying the feeling of having sex so far, not quite its culminating point yet.

Again the rabbit paused, but this time with part of Sean's cock still outside of her, and she reached down and slide her paw up and down it.

Panting, Sean asked, "What's up?"

"I just wanted to see if it really as warm as it feels," she answered.

"You are," the fox said.

She tilted her head in confusion, "I meant you."

He thought for a moment then replied, "I guess we both are."

At that they both smiled and their tongues met mid air, trails of spit dripping on each other's fur but they didn't notice.

Sean's cock pressed on her special spot though, ending the kissing and sending the ravaged rabbit into a series of increasingly high-pitched moans. Sean didn't remove his cock from her special spot this time though, he kept his focus there and if anything, with her aid, sped up and they actually fucked her faster and harder.

Sarah could barely take it, and dug her muzzle into his chest, repeating in a breathless voice, "Oh God! Oh God! Ohhh Fuck!!"

A thought passed through his mind Sean gripped her for dear life. For a split second, in the intimate of intimate moments, he was terribly afraid. He surprised himself with the thought of how much he loved her, that this was someone that he'd never want to be away from, and that their love would be different than all those before him, it had to be, in the fox's mind.

The rabbit's weakening voice broke his train of thought, moaning, "Oh God Sean cum! Please cum! Oh God I love you Seannnn!!!" she buried herself even deeper into his chest and moaned, "Cum in me my lo- Oh God! Cum in me! Cum in me!! Cum in me!!!"

Hearing that removed his fear, he didn't have to be afraid of being in love with her, she did love him back, and from there anything was possible.

With this understood Sean's mind shifted back to the moment just in time to realize how close he was.

He slowed down, and made more forceful tugs down on her body.

In an equally strained voice he asked, "You close?"

"God yes! Cum Sean quick! Cum with me please!!!" she yelled, begging, wanting to be filled literally and metaphorically with his love.

Sean focused on the feeling, the soft seal around the base of his cock, the tightness along his shaft, the way her pussy held him and quivered as it slid in and out. They both felt his knot form and Sean pressed her all the way down, so that they would tie again. By luck he locked her in a way so that he pressed right against the most sensitive area of her pussy, so that the tip was practically pushing it like a button.

Knowing it was about to happen Sarah raised her head so that she could breathe and felt her whole body clamp down as the first gush of cum slammed into her insides, sending her pussy into a series of quivering concussions. She couldn't see it, but Sarah was sure that gallons of both their cum was being emptied inside her pussy, and dripping down outside of her onto the bed. Every inch of her body tickled, from the tips of her pinned back ears, to her stiff nipples and breasts pressed against Sean's chest, to her paws wrapped around Sean's neck gripping onto him in the debilitating pressure of her orgasm.

For the fox it was just as powerful, he felt like again, his whole body was being pressed inside her pussy, and he wanted to shake his head back and forth but it was locked in place on Sarah's shoulder. He came so hard his balls actually hurt a little, pumping in what felt to him to be too much.

They both groaned and yelled, their linked orgasms reverting their conscious minds to a more animalistic state, and the only thing aside from the shear white hot pleasure they both felt that they were aware of was that if this is what it meant to be in love they couldn't think of a single reason why not to let everyone know they were now more than friends.

Sean's orgasm began to subside first, leaving his body somewhat crippled, resting his full weight on Sarah's still ridged shoulders. His chest heaved with heavy breaths but Sarah, Sarah was still cumming hard, and gripped him just as tightly as before. Her hips rocked his hard and fast, involuntarily trying to prolong her orgasm as long as possible.

Her orgasm finished with a final high-pitched scream and groan, leaving her completely limp, and the linked pair feel back, Sarah on top of Sean, both breathing hard. Sean was so out of breath that as he breathed as hard as he could Sarah actually was lifted up and down on his chest.

The intoxicating after effects of their orgasm enveloped both of them, making it hard to get a full thought, as both their physical and mental bodies were handicapped for the moment. Sean did manage a clear thought, and lifted Sarah's head up so that her chin was right below his, so that she could breath.

Panting as he was, Sarah pushed herself up and licked his tongue, not sure why, but she wanted to. The gesture had an effect on him, and further cleared his mind.

Still out of breath he whispered, "I- I love you Sarah."

They both knew neither could ever repeat that enough times for its effects to diminish or even to become tired of hearing it.

She couldn't speak, not yet, but managed to get her reply across with another soft lick to his panting tongue.

A few minutes past, though time was passing without notice for both of them. When both their breathing returned to a more manageable state Sarah pushed herself up, as far as she could before the strain of Sean's knot would pull her back, and nuzzled his face.

Poking fun in their linked, tired state, Sean whispered, "So I guess you are my girlfriend now, huh?"

Sarah couldn't be obstinate now, her softer personality was free to do what she really wanted and she whispered back, "Yes, because I love you."

The answer surprised Sean a little, but he replied a moment later, "I love you too..."

A few minutes past and then the rabbit asked, out of nowhere, "Just promise me that we'll always be friends."

"We will, we always will," Sean replied, and pat her face, "but where gona be this too, I mean that'll be good too right?"

Sarah smiled and nodded meekly.

Another silent period passed by, broken by Sarah who asked, "You really think we'll always be together? I mean cause that's what this is gona end up being, I always want to be your friend you know."Â

"I know we will, cause... I can't tell you why but I know we always will..." Sean thought then the young fox added, "I think its cause I love you... yeah... I know I'll always love you," he chuckled, "I don't know if your parents are gona be thrilled though."

Not caring about that, Sarah made a soft laugh, then snuggled into his chest, "Just never leave me, I don't know what I'd do... I love you too much"

They both drifted to sleep after that, their thoughts echoing in their linked minds.

Chapter 4 Collapse

10 Years Later, Sean and Sarah Reynolds' Home, Fort Reynolds, 1929 Military Time

The rabbit sighed; this whole week had been one constant stream of depression for her. She knew that she was too, which only made it worse. The only comfort she had was knowing why she was depressed; Sean out on a mission, and a side affect to the pregnancy.

On that subject, she hadn't gone to see a doctor lately, but she knew it wasn't going to be long. Her once tone stomach was bulging a little, she was having cramps every now and then, and her back was stiff. It couldn't be much longer, she knew it.

Still though, Sarah had forced herself to go to work, as she liked working at the hospital, and it kept her mind off of Sean's absence. Now, coming off the day shift, she dug herself into the couch and napped on a throw pillow.

It had been a long enough day, and the fact her feet and back hurt had made it slightly worse, so soon her napping turned into full on sleep.

Odd images passed through the sleeping rabbit's mind, nothing she could specifically discern, but the feelings they emblazoned onto her person were all bad, making her rather upset.

Sarah woke with a shudder though, to a knocking at the door. It was probably the neighbor, a rather anxious jackal who just desperately wanted a friend. She was knocking on their door all hours of the night, hoping for some company while her husband, a Colonel in the Intelligence Community, was off doing whatever it was he was doing.

Forcing herself up from the couch, she sort of stumbled towards the door. When she opened it though it took her eyes a moment to adjust, there was a bright light, from a car she thought, in the driveway, shinning right in her eyes.

"Mrs. Reynolds?" a voice in front of her asked, she couldn't see him; it wasn't that the lights were to bright it was just that the house was dark, and she'd been sleeping.

"Yes?" she lowered her ears forward to make a visor so that she could see.

The officer in front of her, a Colonel, was a very short jackal, and was hard to see in the darkness but the light from the car's headlights silhouetted him enough that Sarah could figure out what he was.

He wore Army Medical Battalion patches so Sarah instantly said, "Look Colonel, I know my husband disagrees but the military life isn't for me."

Even in the blinding light Sarah could see him frown, "It's not that ma'am, could you please come with us?"

Sarah looked around and didn't see anyone else, she assumed they must still be in the car, and she replied, "Why?"

The jackal paused for a moment and answered, "We shouldn't discuss it," he made a pronounced look around the neighborhood, "here."

She thought for a moment then asked, "If you don't mind, its pretty late. Can we take care of this tomorrow?"

"No ma'am," he replied.

For a moment she waited for him to explain a little more but the Colonel stood motionless. Bored as it was, and although tired and sore, not quite sleepy now, she reached inside, grabbed a small jacket, and followed the Colonel to the staff car.

She sat in the back alone where she saw the driver, a collie whose rank she couldn't see, and the Colonel got into the passenger's seat. A moment later they were moving, at a pretty brisk pace, down the roads to where Sarah knew the Administration buildings were.

It took a few minutes, but soon Sarah's boredom turned to interest and she asked, "Sooo... can you tell me now?"

"To be honest ma'am I really don't know all the details," the jackal replied without turning around, "and I don't want to give... false information trying to fill in holes."

She rolled her eyes, "Well what's this generally about?"

"Can't say, ma'am," he replied, clearly not wanting to answer, but he didn't know Sarah Reynolds.

"Tell me what you know, and when I get to someone that does know the whole deal, I'll fill in your holes," she reasoned, trying to coax him to speak up.

This time the Colonel just refused to answer, giving her the silent treatment. Huffing, Sarah slumped back in the seat. The only thing on her mind was how tired and annoying this was. Mindlessly, she rubbed her pregnant stomach, wondering how long it would be before she could feel the growing young.

It was about twelve minutes till they arrived at their destination, the base commandant's Administration building. The parked and the two soldiers got out of the car, the collie, a Sergeant, opened the door and offered his paw to help her out but in her determined manner she got herself up and out of the car. The only paw that she'd let help her was Sean's.

They lead her, silently, into the building but Sarah grabbed the shoulder of the Colonel and asked in a pretty commanding voice, "Is this a meeting with the Commandant?"

"Yes, ma'am," the Colonel replied.

"Well I know the way," she answered, not wanting the annoying jackal near her anymore.

The two soldiers looked at each other for a moment, and the Colonel turned to Sarah and said, "Fine, ma'am. He needs to speak with you right away though."

With that they turned and walked away, Sarah standing still and waiting for them to be out of earshot. For a split second she considered to just walk away, go home and go to sleep, and tell the officers where to go when they came to "reprimand" her, but she didn't want to give Sean trouble, which the base personal would undoubtedly give him, when he returned from Deneb.

So, submitting partially to the situation, Sarah walked up the next flight of stairs to where the General's office was. The new base commander was a throwback to an older age of the Federation, to the time of legendary General Osing, where the job was loved and there was less concern for the letter of the law and more for the safety of its upholders.

Knocking on the door, Sarah heard his voice usher her in and she walked up to and sat down in front of his desk, not even waiting for him to offer a greeting.

Still though, the General stood up, waiting for her to get comfortable in her seat.

Sarah stared at him rather annoyed and asked, "What do you need General Wayne?"

The General, he was a middle-aged mouse with thick-rimmed glasses, sat up and put his paws to his muzzle to think for a moment. He did that all the time, and it drove Sarah nuts whenever she had a conversation with him, making her have to wait for his responses.

This time though, General Wayne took much longer to offer a response. Usually it was about twenty seconds of a thoughtful pause, but an increasingly nervous and awkward silence persisted for about two minutes.

Finally Sarah's anger overcame her and she leaned in on the desk and said, "General, I hate to burden you with details of my life but I just came off an eight hour shift, I'm pregnant, and I really don't want to wait four hours for you to tell me what it is you find sooo necessary to wake me up over."

The General frowned and pushed himself up in his chair, "I was trying to find a..." he paused but sped up his thinking process for the moment, "...better way of saying this."

"And that is?"

"There was an... incident, with Captain Reynolds where he was stationed," the mouse began.

Sarah sucked her teeth for a moment and asked quietly, "And?"

"He's... he's not..." the general couldn't say it in an eloquent way, there really wasn't one, "There was a large explosion in the direct vicinity to where he was operating at the time."

"So where is he?" Sarah asked, the reality was something that she couldn't think of; it honestly didn't register with her.

General Wayne paused again, "We don't know."

"Well he was using the Predator armor right?"

The mouse nodded.

"That thing has a tracking chip, you numb nuts haven't thought to use that yet?" Sarah replied, still failing to see the bigger picture.

Shifting uncomfortably, he tried to be as nice as possible to the less than pleasant rabbit, given the situation, and he said, "We've tried, there's no signal, emergency or otherwise."

"Then just go and look for him. You have to go get him, you can't just leave him there," Sarah said, now a little frightened, but not for the reason she should have been.

He cleared his throat and continued, "We can't... we think-"

"What do you mean 'can't'? You can't just leave him stranded somewhere," she said, feigning mild humor trying to brush her bad feelings away.

"This is hard to say..." the mouse whispered, then paused, and after a few seconds looked up, "the explosion that he was near was a... a very large nuclear bomb."

Now denying everything in her own mind, Sarah asked in a dry voice, "Well then why don't you go look for him? He was in the Predator and those things can survive that."

The mouse's eye twitched, "Mrs. Reynolds... He's- we only got the report in about an hour ago, but before the explosion was recorded he set off a long-range distress signal. We traced the signal epicenter to a few hundred yards from the point of the explosion, about," he read the paper on his desk, "a quarter mile from the two points."

Voice shaky, Sarah whispered, "So-so go look for him, I'm sure he-"

"Ma'am..." the General shook his head; "Captain Reynolds' own report said that anywhere within a few miles of the explosion the user of the armor wouldn- wouldn't survive the radiation."

Gritting her teeth, "What if he ran, what if he dropped the thing and ran..."

The general, more than appearing sad, shook his head and replied, "The explosion itself, ma'am, covered about a one hundred square mile area, not including the areas affected by a shock wave."

Sarah shook her head, she wouldn't hear it, "No, he's somewhere down there, I know Sean, I've known him all my life, he's fine."

Not trying to be rude, but trying to get the point home, General Wayne ignored her retort and answered with, "We've already called his parents... their coming here right away."

"He's not dead, General," Sarah replied.

Denial was always predictable, and in Sarah it was more pronounced, but she genuinely didn't believe him. There was no way in her mind that Sean, her best friend from birth, her lover, her husband, could be dead. It didn't fit into her mind, she couldn't even think of it. She'd find it easier to understand the concept of a tree breaking the barriers of time travel than thinking of Sean dead.

The discussion however, was having its toll on General Wayne, as he'd almost hoped that the rabbit would have reacted badly, and her adamant denial was making it hard, as he didn't want to give a mean, blunt answer to her. He'd already been forced to do that on the phone with the fox's mother, which was a phone conversation that Wayne knew was going to scar him for life.

"We are sending a crew down to look for survivors ma'am but..." there wasn't any other way, "there's no way anyone could have survived an explosion like that... he's gone."

Sarah just stared at him, refusing to believe it all.

"Is there anything we can do for you?" he asked, unable to think of anything else to say.

"Yeah, go find my husband, he's there somewhere," she said, pushing the battering ram of reality away.

Twenty Hours Later, Sean and Sarah Reynolds' Home, Fort Reynolds, 1612 Military Time

After their discussion, General Wayne had sent Sarah home. She was still denying what she'd been told, and of the two, the general was the one more emotionally disturbed as the whole situation was terrible. A pregnant wife widowed who was denying her husband's death.

Unfortunately she couldn't deny it forever, and about an hour after returning home Sarah felt her heart speed up and her whole body started shaking, and she fell on the floor. She still didn't believe it consciously, but subconsciously she was breaking down and lost control of her body.

Hours after that, there was another knocking on the door, but she didn't notice it, she couldn't. It knocked more but she still didn't move.

About twenty minutes later though, the door was opened, an MP standing in the doorway who rushed over to where the fallen rabbit lay. Behind him were Steve and Cathy, who, already being terribly upset, were absolutely terrified when they saw Sarah seemingly lifeless on the floor.

The MP checked her, and Sarah managed the weak response of, "I'm fine, I just... I just fell..."

Cathy pushed past the MP and checked Sarah; barely noticing the bulge of her pregnant belly, and after a few seconds was satisfied that the rabbit was fine, and nodded for the MP to leave them.

With Steve's help, the vixen picked Sarah up and sat her down on a couch, and took a seat next to her.

"It's okay..." Cathy whispered and pat Sarah's paws.

"What is?" she replied; the rabbit was completely out of it.

A few minutes of silence past before Cathy became really aware of Sarah's overall condition and said in a sad, quiet tone, "Oh God... honey are you...?"

With empty eyes Sarah looked up from her own belly with a clearly confused gaze.

She didn't have to answer; it was more than obvious, so Cathy just asked, "Why didn't you tell us?"

Steve had caught on by well and kneeled down in front of both of them, "Not now, Cathy," and he turned his gaze to the still stunned rabbit, "Sarah, talk to us."

Something about her father-in-law's voice brought her to attention and Sarah seemed to come back, it might have been that it was so similar to Sean's, or maybe that she wished it was Sean's, but she looked up and whispered, "He's fine, I know it."

Cathy held her eyes closed for a moment, forcing herself to not cry, if only for a few more seconds, and whispered back, "Sarah don't do this to yourself... you can't, not now..."

"I'm fine, I'm just going to wait for him to come back," she replied without hesitation.

It wasn't her fault, in so many words, but Sarah was upsetting Steve and Cathy more, purely because she didn't believe it. The situation was the most terrible for these three furs. For Steve though, this was terribly stunning. One thing that he'd never known in his life, or ever in his family's history as he was aware of, had someone been killed in action on a battlefield. For a second he cursed himself for having to have had all the "firsts" in his family but this certainly wasn't a time for self-loathing, not now, not with his wife and Sarah so upset.

Cathy tried to give Sarah a hug, and while the rabbit didn't stop her, she didn't make any effort to hug her back.

"He can't be," was all that Sarah said, unable to really say anything else.

The fact that Steve and Cathy where here was causing the facts to start to really dawn on Sarah.

"He can't be..." she repeated, then blankly looked at Cathy and said, "There's no way. Sean always wins."

"This isn't a win, lose thing honey," Cathy whispered, "He just... he just... he's gone..."

"He can't be..." Sarah repeated one last time, but when she did she shut her eyes to force herself from crying.

It was a terrible thing, but Cathy was actually glad to see Sarah crying, at least it showed that she wasn't comatose.

"No... no no no... no no no no!" Sarah bawled and almost fainted into Cathy's paws.

The reality kicked in for everyone. In a weird way they'd been waiting for Sarah, more afraid for her than anything else. Cathy gripped onto her daughter-in-law like nothing else, now crying just as hard. Including Steve, they were the closest friends, family, anything, to Sean, and this news was killing them inside.

Then, as if the cosmos were trying to make each of them fell worse, after a few minutes, Cathy whispered into Sarah's shaking shoulders, "Why didn't you two tell us?"

Hearing that only made Sarah cry harder, and she moaned out, "Oh God no!"

In the heat of the moment Steve hadn't even noticed that Sarah's stomach was clearly larger, in a pregnant fashion, and he lowered his head and shook it in absurd self-loathing.

Cathy wanted to say it would be okay. Steve wanted to say it would be okay. But how could it? Too many bad instances in a row. In a cascade of thoughts another worry gleamed into Cathy's mind and she knew that she and Steve had to stay and watch Sarah for the next while. She was a steady kid, but this might put her over the proverbial edge; if anyone knew where that edge was, it was Cathy.

"It can't... It can't..." Sarah repeated again and again, her mind was shot.

***

It was about four hours later that someone managed to say something, or move even. All the while each had cried their bought, except for Sarah who had practically passed out from tears from crying the whole time.

Finally though Steve got off his knees and, with Cathy's help, picked Sarah up and went at first to bring her to her bedroom, but then Steve and Cathy realized that might not be best, and instead brought her to the kitchen where the vixen tried to get her to eat or drink something while Steve opened the pullout bed of the couch. It just wasn't a good idea to have Sarah sleep in her own bed, hers and Sean's bed.

Once she was tucked away, the twenty-six year old pregnant rabbit who had been reduced to a broken child, Steve and Cathy sat down in the kitchen and had their own total emotional release.

This time Cathy fell to her knees and cried in Steve's lap. The human pat her head while he cried himself. Neither of them wanted to believe it was so either. It was their little fox, their son, how could they outlive him? It brought horrid memories back to the surface from another time, a time when it was a different Captain Reynolds that was in danger of being killed in action... only this time it had actually happened.

All of a sudden the real shock of the event slammed into Cathy and she began showing the same mental distress that Sarah had, repeating, "This can't be happening... not my baby... not my baby..."

Steve got up and wrapped his hands around Cathy's paws, holding her from behind and clutching her in a way that he hoped would comfort her, and himself.

"This can't be- it can't be..." the vixen moaned through her hysterical tears, "No... not my Sean... not my little Sean..."

Steve just clutched her; there wasn't anything else he could do. He wanted to run and hurt something, someone. He wanted to kill the bastard that had done this. Gripping Cathy tighter Steve could only think about killing whoever had taken his son from him.

The one thing, the only thing, that Steve could comfort himself with, was that there would be a time where he could get that revenge.

Six Hours Later, FMCOM Conakry, 2312 Military Time

"Sir!" the sentry said with as much effort as he could muster as Steve practical stormed past him into the command center.

Steve Reynolds didn't have to check in; the concept of doing so was below him. Everyone who was anyone knew who he was, and it wasn't like they could stop the human at the moment. Bursting into the primary command center of the Federation Military Command building on Conakry itself sent the message home to the officer on duty.

After walking over to the seemingly diminutive Colonel, Steve said in a clearly angry and upset tone, "Whose in charge here?"

"General le Flay... sir," the Colonel said, not sure what to do in this situation.

"Never heard of him..." Steve whispered, "Where's his office?"

"General le Flay's office is upstairs and to the right, sir," the Colonel gestured to the stairs in the back of the command center.

Taking to the stairs the human couldn't help but run. Everything felt so urgent to him, like he had to do this as fast as he could, as if Sean's life depended on it. It was a sad thought but Steve didn't care, he was going to do this and no one could stop him.

He walked down a short corridor where at the end was a door marked, General le Flay. He opened it and saw a tall, female squirrel.

"I need to speak to General le Flay," Steve almost grunted at the squirrel.

Raising an eyebrow she replied, "I'm General le Flay."

That caught him off guard; he hadn't expected a female to be running FNCOM, especially one that looked to be about half his age. He shook that off though and without permission or another word he sat down and stared for a moment at the squirrel.

"What do you need..." le Flay looked the human over for a moment, "Captain Reynolds?"

"I think you know."

The General sighed heavily, "I can't beg-"

"No, you can't," Steve was hot as hell, and he knew just about every likely response he'd hear, and exactly how to counter it to get what he wanted, "but you can tell me everything about what happened to my son.

"Mr. Reyno-"

Steve put up his hand, no matter where he was or who he was talking to, that hand of his always had the same effect, "You're going to tell me everything, because trust me on this there isn't anyone anywhere that's gona stop me."

"No offense, Mr. Reynolds, but you aren't in the military anymore. We'll tell you what we can but some information is still... sensitive," the squirrel explained.

Managing an angry smile Steve whispered, "General le Flay, I served with the Rangers for about twenty years, I was consoler, I ended the war single handedly and I've been a father for twenty six years. If you really think there's anyone that can stop me, or would even make an attempt for that matter, try me."

He did have her there. For all le Flay knew, Reynolds could probably have the current consoler eating out of his hand. She may be the highest military authority, but she was still second banana to the consoler, who then had to answer to the senate on occasion, and it was just as likely that Reynolds had favors there too.

All the General attempted to do was stare the aging officer down, but to no avail; he was a hero of the Federation, and most of all a grieving father; too many things for le Flay to just turn down.

Sighing, she pressed her intercom and said, "Thomas, please print out all relevant-"

"I want everything, I don't give a shit if it's a harebrained idea on a fucking napkin, I wana see it."

The squirrel nodded, "I need all information pertaining to the Deneb investigation."

She wasn't happy about it, but it seemed that Reynolds was assuming command. For the moment, le Flay would permit it.

They sat in silence for about a minute, Steve's face appearing to have been chiseled in stone. Then a short fox, the orderly, walked in with a small file, too small in Steve's opinion.

For a second she started to look through it, then shrugged and surrendered it to Captain Reynolds who took it and starting reading it furiously.

No sooner had he lifted the cover page then an orderly entered the room, carrying a single envelope with an "Eyes Only" printed on the top; top secret. He handed it to General le Flay.

She waited for Steve to continue reading the file but he just stared at her, so the squirrel opened the envelope and removed a single orders sheet. Right away, she tilted her head, clearly confused. It peaked Steve interest.

Then, as a even bigger surprise, the same orderly as before plus a lieutenant burst into the General's office and yelled, "Uh... Captain... Reynolds, your wife called, she needs you to come to the hospital right away!"

"God why?!" Steve said, standing up nervously, not able to imagine what else could be going wrong today.

"She didn't say, she sounded frantic though," the lieutenant replied.

Steve didn't hesitate a moment, he ran as fast as his old legs could carry him, he had his ideas as to why Cathy needed him at the hospital, knowing Sarah and all.

Unfortunately, General le Flay tried to call after him, she even sent a MP to chase him down but it was no use. She knew why his wife had called from the hospital, and it was probably best he heard it here rather than drive there with worry.

Chapter 5 Wish

Two Days Earlier, Twenty-Eight Meters from Nuclear Detonation site, Deneb, 0934 Military Time

"Just never leave me, I don't know what I'd do... I love you too much"

The voice echoed through his mind.

"Just never leave me, I don't know what I'd do... I love you too much"

The taste of copper, that meant blood, all inside his mouth, he could feel it dripping down his throat.

"Promise me, it'll always be... little us... little us, right?"

His whole body felt like it was liquid, inside a water balloon waiting to burst.

"I've loved you, I've always loved you... please love me..."

Nothing was working, he couldn't figure out what or where he was, but he knew movement was something he should be capable of, yet it didn't appear he had the means to move.

"I never want to leave you again..."

Nothing hurt though, that was a bad thing. Things were broken and out of place and feeling strange, but nothing hurt.

"I want to marry you, and I want to be your wife for the rest of my life."

Everything felt weird; vertigo and its bells and whistles made his whole body feel strange.

"Little us... I like that..."

That voice, those words again... something wasn't right though, he couldn't figure it out... who was he though?

"I love you... I always have..."

It was warm and welcoming, but the feeling of being liquid was stopping him from feeling anything.Â

"Please come back to me!"

Now he felt scared, things were coming back to him. Feelings, sensations, thoughts, although no memories.

"I-I-I love you Sean..."

The Captain's eyes opened but he couldn't see anything. All of a sudden he felt as if someone was smothering his whole body with hundreds upon hundreds of heavy blankets. He tried to shake them off, but nothing worked. Nothing hurt either. Sure there was this indescribable pressure, and the weird liquidy feeling, but nothing hurt.

Eyes still not working, Sean tried with every ounce of strength to move, but nothing budged, and he could tell it wasn't from the pressure, his body wasn't working. Although he couldn't see anything, he still felt like he was spinning, and it as making an already uncomfortable fox feel worse.

He had to move though, he had to move, he knew he had to, he just couldn't. Sean thought of everything, he dug as deep as he could into himself but nothing would pull him over the crest of the hill to get up.

Then his mind drifted to a rabbit, his rabbit, his best friend, his lover, his wife; Sarah. Then the only thought on his mind as to go to her. He had to start running; he had to go to her right away. He didn't know why, he didn't know how, but he had to get to her.

That urge was just what his mind needed, and the fox, although mentally unaware of it, managed to push himself up. It turned out he'd been laying face down, buried under about half a foot of fine dust and ash.

The fox still couldn't feel himself moving, yet he knew he was. He could see the blackened dirt beneath his scorched battle armor crunch and break under his weight. He could even tell that he was stumbling and walking in semi-circles, yet this deep underlying urge was telling him to get to Sarah. She needed him. He didn't know why but she did.

Time drifted away from him though. For hours this blackened ghostly apparition walked around the spinning vortex of sand and dirt that was still in the air from the explosion, going no more than about twenty feet from where he'd started.

It took long enough but finally he clunked to the ground, breaking through the top layer with a crunch of broken glass.

Both in his suit and in his body, systems started twinkling on. In his armor first it was his environmental, but that didn't mean much because Sean still couldn't feel anything. In his body it was his brain, that turned back on first.

All of a sudden Sean realized that he should be dead. That was a nuke, it definitely had been a nuke, and it had gone off less than a few feet from where he'd been standing. Sure the armor would've survived, but then again the Predator III was the first creation by anyone that could be declared "unbreakable." The radiation should have killed him though. Then it hit him, it was going to kill him. In all likelihood, it probably had already, then he realized why he felt liquidy. Sean would have shuddered at the thought if he could, but he physically couldn't.

Help; he had to get help, medical help, right away. He managed a weak shake of his head to wake himself up, and Sean tried to reach to his wrist. He fumbled with the cover of his keypad. It was fused shut. It took every ounce of strength he had to open it, and when he did he was relieved to hear it beep with a confirmation that it was functional.

Still unable to see, Sean just tried to see the mental image of the keypad, and he typed in a distress signal. He waited to hear the pulses of beeps in his helmet but he couldn't. There wasn't anything else he could do though now but wait and pray.

***

All of a sudden the fox felt the whole planet move, and in a terrified though he was worried another bomb was going off, to finish him off for good, but then he realized there were others around him.

He couldn't move now. He felt really immobilized, but now it was like he was being held down, rather than just his body not responding. Sean could look around either, he couldn't see anyway, but he couldn't move his eyes anyway. His mind shook though; he felt vertigo and a strange dizziness that wasn't so much as unpleasant as it was scary. For some reason he wanted a soft hug at the moment and he had images from his childhood, Sean didn't know why.

FN Pegasus in Orbit Over Deneb, 1234 Military Time

"And why can't we get reports from the surface?" Captain Evans asked.

"Radiation, sir," Ensign McCormick replied, "we barely picked up the distress signal and it's about the strongest beacon we make."

Captain Evans sighed, and the old cat took a drink of coffee, then turned to his communications officer, another, yet much younger, cat and said, "And ensign Carter, has an updated signal on the mission been sent to FNCOM? A letter for Captain Reynolds next of kin?"

"Yes, sir," Carter replied, "Although our transmitters not working well, so our upload time is half it should be."

"Well get on that," Evans replied and whispered quietly, "what a shitty day..."

The cat reclined in the captain's chair and looked at the various monitors, half of them with images of the blackened surface of the planet. Clearly it had been a nuke, nothing else could do damage like this, and the triangulated signal was right at the glassed surface's center. So, guessing time of signal to recorded time of detonation, it had been about thirty minutes, meaning Captain Reynolds had set off the distress signal, and something else had happened between then, and when the nuke had detonated, obviously killing the Captain.

That part pissed Evans off the most, although not exactly for compassionate reasons. While he knew that the Captain's death was a great loss of an excellent soldier, the fact that he had been killed on a mission that Evans was the senior ranking officer on was going to stain the cat's record. Now he had to run the investigation into the detonation, report on the death of another officer, and worse of all, he had to continue with the original mission of figuring out the warlords plans, which will obviously be made tougher by this recent development.

Evans sighed again and sat up, "When's the Surface Recon Team due back?"

"Two hours, sir," Ensign Carter replied.

The cat nodded to himself and waited. It would be a long two hours.

"Goddamn... sir, emergency flash report from the ground team!" Carter said urgently, clearly surprised, then actually ignoring the Captain he turned to the bay control station and yelled, "John, open the doors and get a med team on deck now!"

Now fully awake, Evans sat up and yelled, "What's going on Ensign Carter?!"

Before he could answer, ensign McCormick broke in and said just as urgently, "Transport coming in hot, one causality on board!"

Evans would let this laps in control go, for the moment, and without a word the cat got up and ran off the bridge, down the corridor, to the primary landing bay. He entered just soon enough to see the medical teams rush out towards the medical bay. Deciding to follow them later, Evans walked over to the ground team commander, still dawned in his radiation suit.

"What the hell happened Sergeant?"

The shorter fur, a coyote, removed his helmet and after taking a few breaths of clean air replied, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you sir."

***

Another dazed voice broke into Sean's mind, this one was unfamiliar though; "Son... son can you hear me."

Sean couldn't react though, he just laid in the mixed state of consciousness and sleep.

"He isn't conscious, sir... fuck he shouldn't be alive," another voice said, this one more mechanical.

But Sean was alive, and he knew he was alive, but like the mechanical voice, Sean knew that he shouldn't be alive. That nuke went off to close... now he remembered. The blinding flash, the sudden burst of heat, the fox remembered it all.

Sean tried to move but he couldn't, not even his eyes worked. For a second he thought he was in a coma. It was so frustrating for the fox, he wanted to move, he wanted to speak so that he could tell them what happened, but nothing was working.

"We can't take him out of the armor, sir," another voice said, "his cells are going through later stages of radiation poisoning... it's the only thing keeping him from..." the voice paused and tried to think of a more eloquent word but settled for, "...melting."

The room was silent for a few minutes; at least that's how Sean perceived it. The worst part was though, Sean was completely aware of all this, for the most part. He could hear and understand every word, or at least he thought he could, but he still couldn't feel his body. He was starting to understand why though.

"Alright, put him under and get him in a stasis tube... we'll have to fix him back at Conakry, we leave right now."

Two Day's Later, Sean and Sarah Reynolds' Home, Fort Reynolds, 2102 Military Time

Cathy awoke, still sleeping on the kitchen table, with a bit of a fright; she heard movement in the other room. Maybe Sarah was up, maybe Steve was back, she had no idea. She was about to get up but decided not to, she couldn't anyway; she was too mentally drained to move.

It didn't take long for the sorrow to return and she put her paws to her eyes, trying as hard as she could to not cry but it was no use. Her little baby was dead, it couldn't be, he couldn't be. She'd nursed him, cared for him, loved him, raised him; Cathy couldn't fathom that all being for nothing, for him to die far away, so young.

The vixen's thoughts were interrupted though by the sound of the front door opening and shutting. She forced herself up and walked out of the kitchen into the den. No one was there. She walked in to check on Sarah but was instantly worried when she didn't see the rabbit in the bed.

Running, she exited the house just in time to see two MP's put the still comatose Sarah into a staff car.

Speaking with her former military tone, Cathy yelled, "Soldier! What are you doing with her?"

The two MP's looked up, both cats, and the one closest to Cathy walked over to her, leaving the other to finish putting Sarah into the car.

"We need her down at the hospital ASAP, ma'am," the MP explained.

"For what reason?"

The cat hesitated; Cathy certainly didn't appear to have any authority here.

"You know who I am?" Cathy asked carefully.

He shook his head.

Sighing, hating to use it like this, she replied, "I'm Steve Reynolds' wife, and I'm a retired officer, so tell me..." she checked his rank, "Sergeant, why are you taking her?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I can't say, I don't know, and we need her there right away," he replied and not waiting for Cathy to voice an objection, turned and walked back to the staff car.

Freighted, but not showing it, the vixen just stared as they drove away, taking Sarah lord knows where to do lord knows what. Acting fast though, Cathy walked inside the house and got herself dressed. She rummaged around for the keys to Sarah's car but couldn't find them.

It was tempting, but Cathy wasn't sure if she could hotwire the car, or if it was wise to do so on a military base, but she had to follow; she knew that the only two hospitals that they could be going to was the bases or where Sarah worked, both equally likely locations to where she was being taken.

She still wouldn't let herself think of why they took her though; she didn't want her mind to wander too far yet.

Looking around outside, Cathy dashed for the nearest house, Sarah's neighbor. A short female jackal answered the door, looking rather confused.

She studied Cathy for a moment and asked, "Hello?"

"Hello... I need your help," the vixen replied.

"Ohh... with what?"

Looking down the road she said, "I need a ride to the hospital right now."

The jackal put her paws to her muzzle and said, "Oh God is someone hurt?"

"No... or I don't know, my daughter-in-law was just picked up by two MP's that said that they were taking her to the hospital."

She looked past Cathy and asked, "Sarah?"

Cathy nodded.

"Your Sean's mother?"

Cathy felt a little shy at the moment, she had to keep focused and find out where Sarah was. She nodded though, just to acknowledge her.

Sensing something was really wrong the jackal reach to the inside of the door and produced her keys, "Comon, which hospital is it?"

Following her to the car Cathy replied, "Either the base's or wherever Sarah works... my names Cathy by the way."

"Mine's Kiki," the jackal replied, and gestured for Cathy to get in the car.

Moments later they were driving towards the base's hospital, it was closer after all. They took a little longer than Cathy would have liked since Kiki didn't drive very fast, but Cathy knew better then to criticize a stranger who was helping her.

Interestingly though, Kiki wasn't asking question, although she was clearly concerned.

Trying to ease the moment, and her own mind, the vixen asked, "Are you a friend of Sarah's?"

There was a slight hesitation in her response, but she replied, "Yes."

Cathy decided to leave the conversation at that; she didn't feel like speaking anyway.

The car had barely stopped before Cathy got out and ran inside.

At the admission desk she said breathlessly, "Did two MP's bring a rabbit in a few minutes ago?"

The desk clerk, a short mouse, looked Cathy over with a raised eyebrow and told her no.

"What about a Sarah Reynolds? Was she admitted?" Cathy asked, now a little worried that this was the wrong place.

The clerk, still not quite sure on the frantic, disheveled vixen in front of him, looked up on his computer the list of recently admitted patients.

"Well," he began, "I have a Reynolds that was admitted about an hour ago... no information other than a room number and a last name though."

That confused her; they'd only taken Sarah about twenty minutes ago, maybe. Cathy shook her head, she was rather confused anyway, maybe her mental clock was off.

"Okay what room is she in?"

The clerk eyed her.

"Goddamn it..." the vixen whispered under her breath, then in a tone denoting every bit of anger in her she whispered, "Listen to my, I'm a doctor, a former Captain in the Army, and that girl's mother-in-law, give me the fucking room number now!"

Not sure what to do, call the orderlies or run, the mouse blinked his eyes twice and whispered in a frightened tone, "R-r-room 213."

Cathy quickly ran outside and waved for Kiki to go. Reluctantly, the jackal drove away.

As it turned out room 213 was on the far side of the hospital, in a wing of the hospital dedicated to the odds and ends of medical treatment. Room 213 itself wasn't so much a room as it was an entire medical bay, complete with a blood lab and what appeared to be a stasis chamber.

Cathy knocked on the door and tried to look around, all she saw was dark clothed doctors, Cathy assumed, blocking her view from the rest of the medical bay. A moment later the next door down the hall opened and Sarah walked out, tears in her eyes and appearing even more terrified than before.

The rabbit dashed over to Cathy and feel into her arms, gripping her tightly.

"What's wrong, honey, are you okay?!" Cathy asked, just as terrified, if not more.

Sarah looked up, you could tell she'd been crying for awhile since her cheeks were soaked, "He-he-"

That was all she could get out, she broke down completely, sobbing like a baby in Cathy's arms who could do nothing more than rub her back in confusion. A moment late a male artic fox, in a doctor's coat, came out and walked over to the pair.

With Sarah still crying in her arms Cathy looked up and asked, "What happened? Is she okay?"

"She's fine, ma'am," the fox replied, then asked, "Your Mrs. Reynolds, correct? Sean Reynolds' mother?"

Cathy nodded, part of her hurt terribly.

He nudged his head towards the door he and Sarah had come out of, "Come with me please."

She almost screamed; Cathy hated not being told things, but she practically dragged the limp Sarah along into the room, up the steps into an observation room overlooking the medical bay. Carefully she set the rabbit down in a chair and turned to see the doctor nervously typing away at the computer.

Once again he made a silent gesture, this time to the bay itself, "I know... well actually I can't imagine what you've been going through today, and I hate to make it worse but...your son was picked up about two days ago," Cathy felt faint, "just after the message saying he was KIA'd went out and the ship carrying him went into radio lockout during its jump. We received him a few hours ago and-"

Looking around frantically Cathy screamed, "Is he okay?! Where is he?!"

"He's down there," he pointed to the cluster of doctors, "he was in a direct vicinity, as you know, to a rather large nuclear blast."

One of the doctors turned and looked right into the observation bay and said, "He must've received about 825, 850 REM's, that's about 5 Sv's."

Cathy's medical field wasn't radiation treatment, but she knew that was a lethal dose, or it should be at least.

"His armor," he gestured again to the medical bay, to what Cathy had thought was a pile blackened plates, now turned out to be her son, "took the major brunt, but it wasn't designed to do that, so he got a very heavy dose, now, now," he held up his paw in a calming gesture, "we can help him, but its going to take a lot of work."

"So get to it!" Cathy said, surprised by lack of enthusiasm he said it with.

Out of breath, and still weeping, Sarah yelled, "They want to let him die!"

Out of anger, the vixen had to hold herself back, she wanted to strangle the doctor in front of her.

"We can do a lot for him, we may even be able to save him... but it will be incredibly painful and he may not survive," the doctor explained, "he'll need a bone marrow replacement from cloned material in the next few hours, his entire circulatory system including his heart needs to be rebuilt, and his skin and fur has literally fused to the insides of his armor, becoming almost like a second sin, which will be incredibly hard to remove and extremely painful. Eyes and most of his sensory organs have been seriously damaged and we're not sure yet but there could be brain damage that could be permanently debilitating."

Cathy turned and looked at Sarah, who was now sobbing again in a fetal position on the chair. This was too much to take all at once, she had to go deep into herself and try her best to separate this to keep a clear mind, but how could she? It was her son, her only child down there, and they wanted to kill him, effectively.

Continuing, the doctor's face didn't change, Cathy didn't like him already, "Projected recovery time after treatment would be six, seven months, his earliest point in returning home being about two months. Now to do what needs to be done can't take longer than four, five days, any longer and he'll just go, there's nothing we could do to stop that. We already lost the two days it took to find him."

"For the love of God why do you want to just let him go?!" Cathy couldn't fathom a single reason.

This time the doctor sighed and said in a lower tone, "The amount of work needed to be done, in the amount of time it needs to be done, will make this so painful on him... we don't know if that's humane to do to someone. Moreover it could be so detrimental that the pain itself could put him into a shock that he wouldn't recover from. We can only use so many painkillers on him during procedure, his body could just fail," taking a deep breath he said with actual optimism, "Now instead we could give him enough medication to make this not painful at all, and he can just go on his own, and he won't have to suffer in the process."

"Is he in pain now?" Cathy asked.

"In a manner of speaking, no. His nervous system has shut down. He's not brain dead or paralyzed, but the pain receptors have been bombarded by enough radiation that he physically can't feel anything, but as soon as we start working on him he will, and as far as I know, it probably would be the most painful thing imaginable. He's basically," he chanced a look down at the scorched figure, "a liquid body inside that armor, organs floating around, and he made it worse on his skeletal structure by, we think at least, walking around right before he was picked up."

Cathy couldn't help but think how strong her son was, to still be alive after all this, to still move after being nuked. She wasn't that strong, she knew she wasn't. Steve might be, that's where Sean got his heart from, his father. Cathy immediately felt weak.

"I... I need to call my husband..." Cathy whispered, feeling lightheaded.

Hearing the word "husband" sent Sarah into an even louder series of cries.

"No problem ma'am," the doctor replied and handed her a phone.

***

It didn't take Steve long to dash from the FMCOM to the hospital; he didn't waste time taking a car, the ageing human still could dig deep and run the two miles fast enough. Besides, his frantic mind needed the run, it helped force out some pempted up steam.

Steve didn't even stop at the admissions desk, he just ran on past down the various corridors. Cathy had told him where to go on the phone, so Steve ignored the flurry of orderlies trying to chase him down as he searched for the right wing of the hospital.

When he finally saw the Medical Bay labeled Room 213, Steve stopped and looked in through the door. A moment later the artic fox peered out from a door down the hall and gestured for Steve to come over.

He followed the white fox into the door and up some stairs, finding Cathy and Sarah crying softly, gazing out a huge pane of glass into the medical bay below. Steve stepped up next to them and followed their eyes down to a set of technicians, next to a pair of doctors, trying to remove some blackened plates off of what Steve already inferred was his son.

Wrapping an arm around his wife's shoulder, Steve asked, "Th-that's him?" he couldn't believe it; rather, he didn't want to.

Cathy nodded and rested her head on his shoulder.

"What's going to happen?"

"We don't know," the vixen whispered and they both heard Sarah whimper a little more.

Steve turned to the doctor and asked, "Well... what's going to happen to him?"

For the next twenty minutes, the doctor explained the whole situation to Steve, brining new details to the table that even Cathy and Sarah, both being doctors themselves, weren't aware of. During his answer, Steve and Cathy sat down listening in terror to the whole situation.

When he was through the bare facts tortured their collective brains; either let Sean die peacefully now, or try and save him and risk causing him even more pain and probably killing him in the process.

It was hard to tell, form an observer's point of view, who was really in the most pain, Sean, Steve, Cathy, or Sarah. In Sean's case he was obviously dieing, but he had the comfort of at the moment, not feeling pain or really being aware of anything, Steve and Cathy were terrified of losing there son, but Sarah, Sarah really stood to lose everything. Sean was everything to her; her partner in life, her best friend, her lover, and the father of her unborn young, which weighed heavily on her mind. How could it not though? If Sean died Sarah would be dead too, essentially, but she wouldn't even be able to waste away herself, which she already thought was going to be the end result, because she couldn't just let a newborn be completely orphaned, no matter how much she mourned its father's death.

Of all times in his life, Steve wanted to get down to business right away, and said, "Well then we have to try and save him, I know my boy, he'll-"

"I'm... sorry sir but it's actually not up to you," the doctor explained, he clearly didn't want to say that but had to.

Very taken back by this Steve almost yelled, "I'm his father, I do believ-"

Shaking his head, the mouse replied, "The only two furs that can make that decision are Captain Reynolds himself or... his wife."

Sarah actually didn't react that time, for the past few hours she'd known this was coming, and she'd been dreading it the whole time. The moment they had told her that there was a choice, essentially a life or death choice for Sean, she knew it was going to fall to her and it was killing her.

"She has the legal obligations as his wife in a matter like this, not his parents," the doctor continued and turned to Sarah who was still crippled in a fetal position, "I know it's tough ma'am, but it's up to you what we do, and we need to know fast, because every second we wait makes the possibility of brining him back less and less possible."

It was a terrible situation, and empathetically, Cathy looked at Sarah.

With Sarah's mind more confused than it ever had been before in her life, Steve voiced his objections, "Well she'd obviously want to save him right?"

An awkward few seconds past and Steve turned to the rabbit who forced herself up in the chair.

"Right?" he asked again, although Cathy picked up a slight hint of fear in her husband's usually strong voice.

"I can't be selfish about this..." Sarah whispered, pretty much only for herself, "can't I talk to him?"

The doctor shook his head, he couldn't believe how bad this was, he wanted to quit his job because of it, "We can't let you anywhere near him ma'am, your pregnant, and his body has absorbed so much radiation you'd have a stillbirth in about five minutes."

Sarah put her paws back to her eyes; she had a splitting headache and was terribly thirsty.

Voice weak, she whispered, "How... I can't... I don't want to put him through more pain than he needs..." then she turned to the doctor, "not unless he can be saved. I would do anything to save him, but... but I can't force him to suffer if there's no reason, that's not fair to him."

Surprised, Cathy and Steve stared at the rabbit.

Still basically philosophizing with herself, Sarah continued, "There has to be a way, there has to be a way," Sarah thought back to every class, every moment of medical school, trying to remember something, anything that could be used to save him.

The mouse checked a monitor on the side of the observation room, "If we're going to start cellular reconstruction they have to start now. They've gotten the armor free of his body, and can remove it entirely and are prepared to begin reconstructing him... or bandaging him and administrating pain medication."

Sarah gazed, looking dead, at Cathy and whispered, "I'm not doing this for Sean, or for myself, just for it," she laid her paws on her pregnant belly, "please believe me Mrs. Reynolds," she spoke the way a child speaks to a friends mother, not a daughter-in-law to her husband's mother, "please forgive me no matter what okay? I'm just doing this for our child okay..." she turned to the doctor and whispered, "Please, I beg you, save him... don't make our baby grow up without a dad."

It took a moment but the doctor sighed heavily, nodded, and walked out of the observation room. Then, for the next half minute, the group stayed silent.

Feeling compelled to speak, Steve quietly asked, "What's that poor bastard's name?"

"I don't know," Cathy replied, and both she and Sarah felt instantly guilty for putting such a weight on the artic fox's shoulders, "We didn't ask."

Six Hours Later, Medical Bay, Federal Hospital at Fort Reynolds, Conakry, 0909 Military Time

"Ohhhhhh God!!! Ahhhhhhhh..... Ohhhhhh Jesus!!!!!!"

The scream echoed through a significant part of the hospital, even through the medical bay's concrete walls. Sean groaned and tried to fight against the restraints on the medical table, which only hurt him more as it was direct pressure on unskinned muscles.

Sean couldn't hear what the doctor said but a moment later he felt something pump into his arm and some of the pain melted away. His whole body felt like it was on fire, as if someone had ripped every piece of fur out and rubbed sandpaper on his skin.

"You - av to - alm down or - e - an't hel - ou!" was the only sounds that Sean could make out now.

The only thing he was sure off, his mind barely thinking on the terms of self or nonself, was that he was out of his armor, and the moment he was everything was on fire. He didn't doubt he was alive anymore, the pain told him so, but the feeling was so terrible that Sean had already resigned that he must be in the last throws before death.

Watching in anxious terror, Sarah stood vigil, watching as Sean's ravaged body was slowly cleaned, using a tool that even to her medically trained eyes appeared to be nothing more than a barber's razor. While two radiation suit clad orderlies held Sean down, the doctor took this instrument and slowly cut off every bit of blackened flesh, leaving nothing but a slop of blooded flesh and burnt fur on the floor which now looked closer to the floor of a butcher's shop rather than a medical bay in quite possibly the best hospital in the Federation.

All the while Sean had about seven IV's and blood pumps hooked up to him, as he was bleeding profusely.

Sarah could barely watch, but she had to, she had to be strong. There was no way she would let herself make the decision to put Sean though all this and then be squeamish and back out. Still though, the sight of pretty much the most important individual in the universe to her experiencing indescribable pain was killing her internally. What's more she couldn't comfort him. She couldn't hold his paw, she couldn't kiss his cheek, she could whisper to him that everything would be fine; she couldn't even simply wipe his brow, which had a layer of disgusting white puss forming on it.

It took about forty minutes of unspeakable carnage for the doctor to be satisfied that all the dead skin, muscle, and fur had been removed from Sean's body. Aside from the barely noticeable rise and fall of his chest, and the occasional pained moan, Sean looked more like a freshly skinned animal rather than a hospital patient.

He was weakened now, and completely immobile, so the orderlies were able to back off and let his tightened body try and relax. It didn't though, it was clear. Since his muscles were actually visible, all the skin on them having been removed, their tightness could be seen from Sarah's perch and she desperately wanted to be down there. She couldn't though, she really couldn't. The only reason she'd agreed to do this was for the child, and it would be beyond irresponsibility to walk down there and risk its life, it would be blatant cruelty to both the unborn child and Sean.

Unable to watch, Cathy and Steve sat anxiously in the chairs, not looked down into the bay, just listening in horror as their son was literally pulled apart slowly and methodically.

Steve had seen combat, he'd seen men and women and furs killed. Cathy had seen the same. They'd both seen and been involved in the most brutal things done to soldiers that either of them could imagine, hell that was how they'd met and came to this moment in time, and the screams from their son below them wasn't even close to anything they'd ever heard of or seen in combat.

Carefully, the doctor had Sean picked up and placed in a clear glass tube. A small hose was stuck down his throat, with a collar around it to make a seal in his mouth. Seeing that he was getting sufficient air, the tube was filled with a clear blue liquid, a cell division stimulant. For complete rebuilding of the skin it would take about a day, day and a half, and would be terribly painful for the fox, but with two IV's in both arms pumping him with the maximum safe dosage of the most powerful legal painkillers, the brunt of it should just pass over him.

The doctor left the bay and entered a decontamination shower. The REM detector still read at about 225, enough to kill a fur in about thirty days and would definitely kill Sarah's unborn baby. The fact that the doctors couldn't actually touch him also made this whole procedure infinitely more complicated.

The next step though, ironically, was the easiest part, removing the excess radiation from his body. They could rebuild everything they wanted inside of Sean, but the residual radiation still in his body would slowly destroy any new tissue added. To do this they would keep him in the glass tube an extra half of a day, where the cellular reconstruction fluid would be brought to a lower concentration and, basically, starship reactor coolant would be pumped in, which should be able to absorb every bit of residual radiation in his body.

All the while, Sarah didn't leave. For the next two days she not only stayed at the hospital, but in the observation room, only leaving for the bathroom or to shower. She even ate there, although with little interest. In fact yet again the only thing that made her eat was the fact she wasn't just eating to keep herself alive, there was another life at stake here.

That fact was slowly eating away at her though. The terrified thought of having put Sean through this and for it to fail would destroy her worse than the seemingly simple concept of him just being KIA'd on a distant battlefield; to watch him struggle and die would leave her a hollowed out shell. The only time she smiled in two days was when she came to the realization that her life, Sean's life, and their baby's life was so intertwined it was amazing, if any single one died, they all would be basically dead. Sarah couldn't live without Sean, the baby was the only reason Sarah was taking care of herself or putting Sean though all this, and in Sean's clouded mind the primal feelings of love and comfort extenuating from Sarah was the only thing he could clutch to at the moment.

On the third day the radiation levels had been brought down enough that Sean's procedure could continue, although they were still to high to allow a pregnant female near him. The rabbit watched intently and hopefully though as the tube was drained.

What she saw was so strange yet oddly relieving that it scared her. A completely hairless fox, seemingly okay, laid in the empty tube. Sean was removed and laid back down on the operating table.

At this point the doctors were going to replace, basically, every major organ in his body, which normally wouldn't be so hard but they had to remove them pretty much all at once. That entailed entire systems being removed entirely and quickly replaced before replacements would be impossible to place.

The first system was the one with the smallest damage, his digestive system. His large intestine had burst and his liver was leaking bile throughout his body cavity. As a doctor Sarah had seen this kind of procedure dozens if not thousands of times on both living patients and cadavers in medical school, yet, of all times during the ordeal, she had to sit back and not watch. If Sean were to die now, Sarah didn't want her last living image of him to be laying on some table with half his guts hanging out.

This part of the operation was relatively fast, but very trying on the doctors. Steve and Cathy came by right in the middle of it, and Cathy became sick to her stomach when she looked down into the bay at what was happening to her son. Hell Steve had been barely able to hold onto himself. At this point they were both sure beyond any doubt that their son and Sarah had to be the two strongest furs ever born in history, to go through this seemingly together.

Interesting though, Sarah's parents showed up today with Steve and Cathy, although they couldn't looked down into the bay, they didn't want to see Sean that way either.

Emily held onto her daughter who couldn't even cry anymore, she could only stair in unblinking terror as her husband was ripped up and rebuilt numerous times. This really was Sean's whole family when you got right down to it, and they were all there, hoping and praying that he'd be okay.

The parts that they were replacing in Sean were cloned organs of his own, so they should work perfectly once they were in there. His new intestines were in, but they were just in. Along with everything else it would be impossible to know if these new organs would work and were placed correctly until they were used.

An alarm went off and everyone was at attention. They looked down and saw the doctors with a crash cart, zapping Sean's body. Sarah almost passed out but forced herself to watch, the only thought coursing through her mind was for him to live.

Luckily, on the second zap, Sean's new heart started again. A collective sigh of relief was heard and everyone sat back down, continuing their almost silent vigil over Sean.

Although she wanted to say something, Emily couldn't really think of anything to say to her daughter. The older rabbit tried desperately to think of anything that had comforted through her own troubles, but, in a sad realization, Emily felt a moment of pity for her daughter. Even with her tremulous start with Sean, Emily hadn't had to endure anything even remotely like this. Sean had never almost died, he hadn't ever left her side for any real extent of time and probably most importantly, Emily hadn't known Sean her whole life. Sarah and her Sean had known each other from birth; they had total history with each other, and one in a position like this hurt both in an indescribable way.

All Emily could really do for Sarah was pull her limp daughter onto her chest and let the younger rabbit rest. What's more Emily wanted to be happy for her daughter, she was pregnant. She hadn't even mentioned it but Emily knew the mere concept of saying something about the young might send Sarah over the edge.

Meanwhile Mr. Atric couldn't help but be intrigued by the fact his daughter was pregnant. That isn't to say that he wasn't terribly upset over Sean possibly dying, but his mind did go to his daughter's direct situation first, and the fact that she was pregnant just blew him away.

Either way though, nothing would be said until Sean's fate was sure, for better or worse.

Six Days Later, Medical Bay, Federal Hospital at Fort Reynolds, Conakry, 1331 Military Time

"Sarah... Sarah?" Emily whispered into the dark observation room.

She heard a rustling sound and peered into the darkness the best she could. Then by the observation windowpane itself, Emily could just make out the covered figure of her daughter.

Sighing, the older rabbit walked over to Sarah and pat her head, "Honey please come stay with us okay?"

Sarah was awake, but she ignored her mother.

"You staying here isn't helping him," she past Sarah and down at Sean.

Barely anything was helping him. In the past six days he'd gone into V-Fib twenty two times, once for almost five minutes, coming dangerously close to brain damage.

"Pease Sarah, come and stay with us," Emily whispered, "If you want, me or your father will stay here and watch him, but you need too get out of here."

"Why?" Sarah asked, not moving or even blinking her eyes.

The older rabbit sighed, "Because you're pregnant, because you've been laying here for eight days, because you're absolutely filthy; there's hundreds of reasons Sarah, take you pick."

"I have to be here..." Sarah whispered.

"Why? Because you think he'll...." Emily thought for a moment, "Sarah even if he wakes up you couldn't just run down there into his paws... he's still giving off radiation, you know that."

A few seconds past and Emily heard a weak sigh come from Sarah.

Not going to let her daughter say no, Emily reached down and tried to pick her up from under her armpits, saying, "Comon, you just come with us for a few hours, and we'll drive you back, but I want you to sleep and shower and eat in a nicer place just for a few hours?"

There was little resistance from Sarah, physically at least. She couldn't. Like Emily had said she'd been laying there for eight days, and it was starting to take a toll on her.

Practically cradling Sarah in her paws, Emily managed to coax her to her feet, and limped her out of the hospital down to Cathy who'd driven over her to pick them up. Once in the car they drove to Sarah's home, the place still a mess from the confusion ensuing a week ago with the first news of Sean's impending demise.

Although it wasn't preferred, Sarah was ushered into her own room, and was carefully tucked in by her father and mother, much the same way they had when she was just a little bunny. She was asleep before they left the room, meeting Steve and Cathy who were still in the kitchen.

All seated at the table, Sean spoke up first and said, "We're uh," he cleared his throat, "gona get a room just off base, so we can stay as long as we need."

Steve nodded slowly, "I think we'll do the same... We should be here if... no matter- no matter what we should just be here."

Voice heavy, Cathy chimed in and asked if there was any news about Sean.

Mr. Atric shook his head, "They didn't say anything..." he turned to Cathy, "I don't know what that means... if anything."

A few minutes of silence past, but then in an oddly full voice Emily said, "We have to watch her, we all know that if one goes, they both go," Emily was ever the blunt rabbit, "doesn't matter the order... they can't do it..."

The words made sense to all of them, and they all knew it was true, but none of them wanted it to be true.

Although not trying to be humorous, Sean whispered, "Make it so number one."

"I'm serious, we all know what'd happen," Emily replied.

Sean nodded.

"We could-" Cathy tried to begin, but they all heard movement in the other room.

As one, they got up and saw Sarah wandering around the living room.

"Whaaaats up, honey?" Emily asked rather confused, yet calmly.

The younger rabbit looked up rather blankly and whispered, "I know you guys want me here... but I can't stay here, I need to be with him. Even if it's sleeping at the hospital, I need to be able to go to him quickly."

Her father sighed, "N-"

"Dad I'm a grown up now, and this has to do with my husband. I mean what would you do if the same thing happened to mom?"

Sean didn't have an answer to that, it was probably the same. Steve and Cathy surly couldn't voice an objection, Sarah's words penetrated them like bullets; they'd already had the same situation happen to them.

Not wanting to give her parents a chance to stop her, Sarah grabbed her keys from the doorway and walked out. Moments later they heard a car start and drive away. Sean regretted right away not going with her, at least to drive her their since in her mental state she might have an accident.

***

The fox wasn't quite conscious, although he wasn't quite unconscious either. Sean was floating in that unknown world between the conscious and the subconscious, the real world and the dream world. Two things were certain though, he was aware of himself and he was more than aware of the terrible pain he was in.

He couldn't see anything, big surprise. The pain was terrible though; it was hurting deeper than just the flesh, or even bone, it felt deeper than that, and all over. He felt cold too, like a cold breeze was flowing all over his body. The only thing that bothered him though, about all this pain, was that he couldn't rub it, he couldn't move, he couldn't even look and see why he was in so much pain.

Suddenly he was instantly aware of his paw, his right paw. Something was gripping it, and he knew right away what it was. It had to be Sarah, he didn't know how he knew, but he knew it had to be her.

The one thing that bothered him though was the paw, Sarah's paw, didn't feel like a paw. It felt like a plastic glove. That must be it; Sarah must be in some kind of suit.

Outside the confines of his mind, Sarah was in fact standing there, clad in a radiation suit, holding her husband's paw, praying to herself that he'd be okay.

Sean wanted to get up but he couldn't. It didn't matter, he couldn't perceive her past the feeling of her paw in his, but then again that's all the fox really needed at the moment, he needed to know that someone, the someone, was concerned for him, and was there for him.

Even though he couldn't hear it, and she knew he couldn't, Sarah whispered in a begging voice, "Please Sean, please, please get better... I need you... just little us..."