Wednesday night:
"Did you get anything useful?"
"Some. From his description it seems to be the same car, Skulky. He is 'pretty positive' that it had an Ohio license plate. That narrows it down to 'only' a few thousand possibilities."
"Hmmm, too bad. And you did not have any other sightings?"
"No, at least none that I know about. There are probably quite a few furs out there who wonder if they should have their eyes or their mind checked, but unless they get in touch with us, it won't help us a lot."
"Any chance of just finding them?"
"Not a lot. I have furs out there, but the area is too big for a search. They were heading towards Erie, but if they went on, they could be practically anywhere in New York state. They probably won't be able to cross into Canada, we alerted the border guards. But until we have another sighting or two to narrow down the area, our chances of finding them are pretty slim."
"Hmmm, I think 'Data' is still here, working late as usual. Maybe he can come up with something. Cross-reference the files or whatever it is that he does."
"Why not. I'll authorize him to access the files for this case and you get him on the case."
"Will do. Good night, Moulder."
"Good night, Skulky."
# # # # #
Thursday early morning:
"Yes? What is so important that you woke me up, Evita?"
"I have a possible lead to the alien, Doctor. One that I think the FBI does not know about. Yet. If we act quickly, we might be able to snatch it without them even noticing it."
"I'll be with you in a minute."
"All right, Evita, what have you got?"
"Yesterday the FBI learned that he was most probably driving around in a white Kia Sportage with an Ohio license plate."
"I already know that."
"Well, this picture was taken by a speed trap on I 79 yesterday evening. The time is consistent with the sightings. Not the car in the middle lane, the one that set off the speed trap, but the one on the right lane, a bit further up the road."
"Ok, the car is white. Are you sure it is the correct one?"
"Look here." She zoomed in and for a moment the image on the screen got pretty blurry. It cleared somewhat as the image processing routine did its thing "That car has an Ohio license plate."
"Too bad we can't see all the digits and the ones we can see are pretty fuzzy."
"Well, no problem. With some tweaking I could get the numbers identified or narrowed down to two possible numbers. With the digits that we can't see, that leaves us with less than a thousand possibilities. I did a search on the registration database and there is only one Kia Sportage among the possible numbers." She pointed at another area and zoomed in "Look here. It is pretty much at the limit of the resolution of that picture, but with a little image processing we get that." She brought up another picture "I'd bet quite a bit of money that this head does not belong to any regular fur. At least not to any species I know about."
The doctor studied the picture "You may well be right. Now we only have to find out where they are going."
"I have a pretty good guess on that as well, Doctor."
"Yes?"
"The car is registered to a certain Sarah Carolinae." She paused a moment for effect "And her parents live in the Erie area. I'm pretty certain she is heading there. Or at least it would be a pretty good guess."
"Very good, Evita." He clapped her on the shoulder "Alert our team and send them there to pick the alien up. Preferably without alerting the FBI. If you are right about this, you'll get a nice bonus."
"Thank you, Doctor. Will do. I could modify the picture and upload it to their server, that should keep them from finding this if they do a search on this."
"Do it. If there is nothing else, I'll go back to bed."
"I think that covers it. Sleep well, Doctor."
# # # # #
I was woken by a sudden movement followed a few seconds later by the slamming (not extremely loud, but still...) of a door. And I was suddenly uncomfortably cool. Sarah was not in bed with me any more. I opened my eyes. The sun was not up yet, but it was already light outside. It was a little too late to go back to sleep but too early to get up. I pulled the covers closer and waited for Sarah to return from the bathroom.
When I did not hear any noises for several minutes, I got a little impatient. Finally I got up and padded to the door. I knocked "Are you ok, Sarah?" When there was no answer, I tried again. When I did not get any reply, I opened the door a crack and peeked in. Sarah sat on the closed toilet. She did not wear anything she had not been born with, but then again, neither did I. She sat there, shoulders slumped, trembling a little, her face in her paws. "Sarah, are you all right?"
She looked up at me, her eyes were bloodshot, and the fur on her muzzle was matted with tears. "No." she answered in a hoarse whisper.
I quickly closed the distance between us, knelt and took her paws "What is wrong, Sarah?" I brought her paws to my face and kissed them gently.
"I..." She tried to speak but her voice failed her. She stared at me helplessly for several long seconds, then she grabbed something from the board that had our toiletry articles on it and held it out to me. "What do you see?"
I took it and studied the item. It was a plastic strip for medicine "Some kind of drug. There are four left."
"Yes. There should be only one left. This is the kind of pill a femme has to take every day."
I stared blankly at her for several seconds before I made the connection "You mean... something like... birth control." I suddenly felt a little woozy. It was a good thing I was not standing.
"Yes." Her eyes filled with tears again "The contraceptive I take."
"And you think... I got you... When?"
"Yes." she fell silent for a few seconds, then she sobbed once and went on "Yesterday my stomach felt a little queasy when I woke up, but it passed in a few moments. Today it was much stronger. I could not heave, but..." She fell silent again.
I just sat there, holding her paws, my emotions in a wild spin, not able to think anything coherent.
She went on "I feel so stupid. I should have noticed this." She pulled one paw away from me to wipe away her tears. When she could look at me again, she went on "The day I met you and the next two days." Her laugh was half a sob "We probably killed the rabbit on our first night together." Fresh tears running down her cheeks, she went on "I usually take the pills right after breakfast. The day I met you, I had to flee the motel I slept in, so I forgot about them."
I kissed the paws again "And the next day I pulled that stunt with the gun."
She laughed / sobbed again "Yes. And the day after felt so good and I could not stop thinking about you. I just forgot about this completely."
I squeezed her paws and kissed them again "I would so much like to tell you 'Don't worry, everything will be all right.', but... I just don't know."
"Yes. Thank you." She gave me a little squeeze "But there is more..."
I stared at her, suddenly even more apprehensive "More? Good or bad?" The look on her face was not exactly reassuring "That bad?"
"Yes." She took several deep breaths, then she went on "I have a regular monthly cycle, not seasonal heats like some furs do, but... There are special pills that you have to take when you stop taking the contraceptive, to prevent you from going into heat... Since I did not notice that I had stopped taking it, I did not take those either... Not that I had them with me..."
"So... you went into heat? And you... did not even notice it?"
"Yes. I did not realize it, I thought I was just falling into love with you really hard."
I could not answer. "Somebody please get the number of the mule that just kicked me in the stomach." My eyes filled with tears. Fighting down a sob, I asked "So... you are not in love with me? This was all just a lie? You would have just... fucked any available male?" I hung my head, tears streaming down my face. The pain and anger threatened to overwhelm me.
"Ow! That hurt, Chris." She put her paw on my head and ruffled my hair "It's not that bad."
I looked at her "How can this be 'not be so bad'?"
"How long have we been together, now?"
After a few seconds I answered "Not quite two weeks. Twelve days."
"Exactly. I've been really affected by my heat for perhaps five or six days of that, starting with the day after I met you. After that I stayed with you because I wanted to. Because you made me feel good. I enjoy your company very much."
"Really?"
"Yes. I would not have jumped into bed with you that quickly if this had not happened, but I enjoyed your... attention. And I still do. More than ever."
I felt a little hope return as I looked at her face. Sarah's eyes were filled with tears and the fur on her muzzle was matted, but there was a wan smile on her lips. "You still love me?" I asked, with hope and anxiety in my voice.
She did not answer in so many words. She put a paw under my chin and lifted my head, then she leaned forward and kissed me, full on the lips. Some time later we parted again, severely out of breath.
We regarded each other, then she suddenly laughed "I must have been giving off pheromones like crazy. I think you were affected a little as well."
"Well... So that's why you smelled so good and exciting!" I sniffed her paws "I still like your scent, but it's nothing like it was those first few days we were together."
Sarah laughed again "Those poor males at the shopping mall!" A bit more sober "And I thought I turned all their heads because I was so beautiful."
I snickered, then "You!... Forcing me to perform unspeakable acts of debauchery with foul chemistry!"
She laughed, then she gave me the best innocent look she could fake and asked in a quavering voice "I'm so sorry, Chris. Whatever can I do to make you forgive me?"
"Well..."
"Maybe perform some more acts of unspeakable debauchery?"
We shared a laugh at that, then I shivered violently. The coldness of the tiled floor was finally catching up with me "I'm cold." I said and shivered again.
"Let me help you get your blood warm again." Sarah stood up and helped me get up as well, then we padded back to the bed. Even without using the covers, I soon felt nice and warm again.
Sarah lay next to me, I was playing with a lock of her hair. "Sarah?"
She smiled at me "Yes, Chris?"
"Thank you. This meant a lot to me." At her inquiring look I went on "When you told me that you were in heat, I thought you did not love me any more. This... it was not a nice feeling."
"No, it does not change that I love you. Well, I think we jumped in much faster than we should have, but then... You have not given me any reason to regret doing it."
"And I'll pray every day that I never will." I kissed her. A long while later I asked her "About our other problem. Do you really think that you are... pregnant?"
"Well, I can't be sure yet, I'll visit a doctor to have it checked when we get back to Columbus. But... I'm pretty certain. If we are... compatible enough to have children together. If we wanted to have a child, we could hardly have chosen a better time to... make love than while I was in heat."
"I see. If you aren't pregnant now, then we probably can't have children together at all?"
"Yes."
"Ok, assuming you are with child... what are you going to do about it?"
"I... do about it?"
"You could have an abortion if you wanted to, couldn't you?"
"Yes. I could."
"Then the first thing you have to do is to decide if you want to keep... our child."
"I? What about you?"
"Well, the way I see it, this is your decision. I can give you advice, but since you are the one who is affected by it the most this has to be your decision."
"You'll go along with whatever I decide?"
"Yes. Well, I'm not really in favor of having an abortion. Actually, I really want to have children when I settle down with a woman. With you. But I would not try to ruin your life by forcing you have a child you are not ready for." When Sarah did not say anything, I went on "Do you remember the book and film we talked about a few days ago? The best I can put it is 'In this I am Sam.' I really mean this. Completely."
She looked at me blankly for several seconds. I could nearly hear the 'click' as she made the connection "Oh." Slowly a smile spread across her face "You mean that you'll leave it up to me to make a decision and then you'll support me?"
"Yes. As long as you want me to, I'll be there, next to you and give you what help I can."
Sarah considered me for several seconds, then she put her arms around my neck, pulled me down to her and did her level best to suffocate me.
Some time later Sarah asked "What do I tell my parents?"
"Hmmm, difficult question. Well, as long as you are not sure, you don't have to tell them."
"I don't like to lie to them."
"Understandable. Of course, until you are sure, you won't really be lying to them if you just stay silent. Unless they come right out and ask you. You can at least think on it a little more and decide on how to tell them. Have you considered how they would react? Would they try to push us into doing something that we might not want to do?"
"Well, they are pretty conservative. They can't stop me, but they would be very unhappy with me if I had an abortion."
"That's what I am talking about. If you decide to do have an abortion, it might be better not to tell them or at least think about how to tell them. Hmmm, how do you feel about a shotgun wedding?"
"What?"
"Well, you know the classic line 'You got my daughter pregnant, now marry her, or else...'. Your father showed me his collection yesterday."
Sarah laughed "I can just picture daddy going for his gun cabinet..."
"Exactly. I don't mind marrying you, but I'd prefer to do it because we want to, not because someone pressures us into doing it." We looked at each other for several seconds, then I went on "Then again there's the big question. What is going to happen to me?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I've been flying under the radar for now. But what happens when I come out of the woods? Will I get a citizenship and a green card or whatever papers you issue to immigrants. Or will I be imprisoned as a dangerous threat? Or even killed? Or maybe taken to a secret lab somewhere and experimented on? Or whatever?"
"Oh." she sobered as she thought about this "Yes. There's that. How can you be so calm about it?"
"There's not a lot I can do about it, is there?"
"Our government would not do something like that!"
"Maybe. But I'm sure there are plenty of bigots around. There are plenty of organizations or maybe corporations that have the resources to kill or abduct me. Maybe I'll be given a citizenship and then one night the 'Men in Black' come and abduct me. I can't really do very much about it, except play along and hope for the best."
"I won't let anything happen to you!" she pulled my head down and kissed me again.
# # # # #
A long time and a thorough shower later, we emerged from our room. Sarah's father had already left for work. We were in the middle of breakfast when Alan arrived. Sarah got up to greet him and to warn him about me. "There is another femme with him!" I realized when I heard them talking in the hallway.
Then they padded into the kitchen, Sarah first. She put her arm around me and said "This is Chris, my new boyfriend."
Alan and the petite mouse femme who had arrived together with him stared at me, then at each other. They shook their heads and looked at me again. After only a few heartbeats Alan got himself under control, closed the distance and extended his paw "Hello, I'm Alan, Sarah's brother."
I shook his paw and said "Christoph Saepin."
He pointed at the mouse femme "And the lovely femme is Penny Nibbles. She is a good friend of mine."
"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you, Penny."
"Ummm, hello." The mouse femme stammered and turned to Sarah's mother "Could I have some water?"
"Sure." She said and filled a glass "Here you go."
Penny took the glass and padded to the couch. She sat down and slowly sipped from it, staring at me the whole time. Alan sat down next to her and put his arm around her. "You know, some furs consider us odd for dating out of species, but it seems you just have to take it a step further, Sarah." She finally said.
"Well, maybe. But I don't think I did it because of that. It just happened, kind of." She sat down as well and gave them a short account of how we had met. "So, that's how we met and got together. I have been wracking my brain for days, but I have not really had a good idea on how to proceed, how to get him accepted officially."
Penny looked at me and said "Sorry for being so rude, but your appearance shocked me a bit. Give me a minute to calm my nerves a little."
"No problem. I do look quite a bit different from you, so I guess I'll have to get used to a bit of staring. As long as you give me a chance to show that I'm not a monster..."
We chatted a bit and tried to decide what to do with the rest of the day. "Hmmm, we could visit Betty Lakeside." Penny suggested.
Alan considered it "Betty Lakeside? You know, that might be a fantastic idea. Why don't you call her."
"What do you two think?"
"I don't know her. What's so special about her?" I said.
Penny explained "She went to high school with me. Her parents are pretty rich, they have a house near the lake and their own private beach. Her father is a river otter, her mother is a polar bear, and so she is a hybrid, obviously. When her parents married, mixed species marriages were rather unusual and they faced quite a bit of hostility. They became quite active, lobbying for acceptance for mixed couples and hybrids. They have good connections to several charities that help mixed breeds and other disadvantaged furs. They might be able to help you. Or at least put you in contact with furs who can."
We thought about that and Sarah answered "Well, if you think she would help us, then it's certainly worth a try."
"I'll call her."
Penny smiled when she came back "Betty is staying at her parent's house. She would be delighted to meet you. We can go there after lunch. Is that ok with you?"
"Yes." I said.
"How long are you going to stay there?" Sarah's mother asked.
"I'm not sure yet. Late afternoon, unless they invite us to dinner, then we would stay longer. Did you have anything planned?"
"Well, the Canids invited us to dinner tonight. I did not really want to go, since you were staying here, but if you folks have something else planned for tonight... Sarah?"
"Hmmm, if what Penny told us about them is true and they can really help Chris... get a normal life here, then I'd like to get to know them."
"All right, I'll call the Mrs. Canid and tell her that Harold and I will go there. Can you keep tomorrow evening free for us, Sarah? I'd like to catch up a little more with what happened to you since your last visit. And get to know Chris better. There is still so much I'd like to find out about... your boyfriend."
"Sure, I'll keep tomorrow open."
We chatted some more, then Sarah's mother went to prepare lunch while we packed our things. After lunch we four got into Sarah's car and headed out to Betty Lakeside's house.
End of Chapter 11