Chapter 22

It had been a great day to fly.

Jessie had given over gawking out the window to settle in with a book, one of her reading assignments, a cockpit light turned on that was basically a map-reading light for the copilot's side and her oxygen tube affixed over her nose. It was 8:42pm by the clock on the dashboard, and the GPS window in the Garmin display showed them at 47 nautical miles south-southwest of Heather Municipal Airport, which was six miles northeast of Cincinnati. They'd be landing in about twenty minutes, and Kit was about to begin his descent and swing around to the east side of the city to avoid restricted airspace around the city and its main airport.

They'd left on Friday rather than Saturday, leaving after only three hours at work, which he spent securing a day and time to interview Lamar Smith and do some easy research jobs for both Lilly and Marty. Kit had arranged to work on Monday to cover his Saturday, and Rick had also given him some flex time off, given he'd worked for nearly 17 straight hours on Allison's article. Then again, Rick was in love with that article, and right now Kit could burn down his ranch house and rape Martha, and Rick would just tell him he was a naughty boy and don't do it again. Everyone else in the office thought it was a great article, too. Barry had been speechless, it made Lilly and Marty cry, and Savid spent nearly an hour sitting at his desk, tapping his template pen on his temple, lost in contemplation. Kit still felt that it could be better, but Rick had locked the article in literally as is, and printed it on page four, taking up ten pages once it was reformatted into the template format and the font was dropped down to the magazine's standard, but not editing out a single word. Rick had left the entire article just as it was written, printing it contiguously, and just pushing back the other usual features of the magazine to pages further back. Kit wasn't the feature article, though; Barry's outstanding interview with the head of the Texas Election Commission was the lead article, taking up the entirety of page three and one column of page four.

Kit had a copy of the magazine with him, since it was printed and distributed today, packed in his overnight. They'd left the apartment at three, telling Lupe to keep an eye on things–Lupe had a key to their apartment and the code to the alarm–and were in the air by 4:45. Kit had to file a new flight plan because he intended to try the plane out at its maximum service ceiling, but that was not meant to be; there was some kind of snafu going on with the flight plan servers. It usually only took thirty seconds to get confirmation, but for some reason the system wasn't working. Kit abandoned trying after twenty minutes, deciding to fly under VFR, and then it took twenty minutes to get into the air since he'd already done the packing and preflight inspection of the plane before coming to get his flight plan in. Jessie had spent most of the flight looking down at the ground, or staring at the clouds around them as they flew over most of them, having to ascend through a partial cloud deck when they took off… which was why they got off the ground so quickly. The cloud cover grounded all the VFR pilots, giving Kit a quick line to the runway. She got to watch a gorgeous sunset out of the left side of the plane, having to look across Kit, a sunset at 17,500 feet, the sun sliding behind a rippled horizon of gentle hills. Once the sun went down and she couldn't see the ground, she started reading.

The plane was a dream to fly. The Garmin made navigating ridiculously easy, and the autopilot was both very easy to use and very versatile, allowing the pilot to control virtually all aspects of the flight while the autopilot was engaged. Kit let the autopilot fly for about an hour, but had kept manual control of the plane for most of the rest of the five hour flight, just so he could get completely used to the unusual stick placement. On the trip home, the autopilot would be doing a great deal more work. Kit had flown most of the flight at 17,500 feet, just on the upper edge of VFR airspace, where they had a steady tailwind and clear, cloudless skies both above and below. They averaged 170 knots relative airspeed to ambient air, what was called TAS airspeed–which translated to about 185 knots true speed relative to the ground, or around 250 miles an hour–with a very efficient fuel mixture thanks to the favorable weather conditions. They'd land with enough gas in the tanks to go another hour, where he expected to land with only enough gas for another thirty minutes, not counting reserves. They wouldn't get that kind of efficiency at lower altitudes, which was why they had gone high enough to require oxygen. The oxygen breathers themselves weren't uncomfortable to wear, slim nose tubes much like the portable oxygen tubes worn by people with lung problems, much better than wearing a full mask and much more efficient, and the plane's superior climate control kept them nice and warm in the frigid air nearly 18,000 feet over northern Kentucky on a late February night.

"Alright, my pretty kitty, we're gonna start descending," he warned. "When we get under fourteen thousand feet, you can take off your breather. After that, you need to pack up your books and stow them. And after that, it'll be time to pull out the winter coats and boots from the back seat."

"Sure thing, love," she said. "Should I put my seat belt back on?"

"Not yet," he answered. "But I do want you to have it on when we land."

"It doesn't bother me, love, I just couldn't slouch down in the seat to read with the belt on," she said, giving him a smile. "I'll be glad to get on the ground, though."

"Yeah, I have to pee, too," Kit laughed. "I've been holding it for the last half hour. I knew I should have bought a portable urinal, but it's been a crazy week, and we got a late start because of that damn flight plan server. I don't want your folks to be up all night waiting for us. They certainly sell them out of the little store there at the Georgetown airfield, and the shop at Heather should have them too. I've never seen a terminal shop that doesn't. I'll have to get one before we fly home."

"Well, you're a boy," she said, almost accusingly. "You could do something like that. Girls don't have that option," she said primly.

"Well, you do, actually," he said. "They sell female urinals too."

"They do? How would a girl, umm, you know."

"You'd hold it in place, I imagine," he shrugged. "They're specifically designed so you can use them sitting in a seat. They come with this flared and shaped opening, so I guess you could just hold it tight up against yourself and prevent any leaking. They also sell bedpan-style ones that you can actually sit on, which seal so nothing leaks out. You could put it on the back seat and sit down if you don't like the idea of holding a urinal to yourself."

"That's a creepy thought," Jessie mused. "And kinda embarrassing."

"Well, it's an option. And think, love, there's nobody up here to see anything except me," he chuckled as he turned the plane and started descending, following the Garmin's suggested course correction. "You can just drop your jeans and have a seat, or hold the urinal in place. It's not like you've never done it with me in the bathroom before." He clicked his teeth absently. "I'll have to find one for our return trip. Trying to hold your knees together isn't good when you have to put your feet on the rudder pedals. I should have thought to get one before we started up, but we were in such a hurry, I forgot it."

"That or a soda bottle," she winked.

He chuckled. "That would work for me. It would be a bit of a challenge for you."

They were on the ground about fifteen minutes later, and the ground controller directed him to an open space he could rent for the weekend. Jessie was out of the plane as soon as the propeller stopped, not even putting on her winter boots and running with her coat in her paw, running for the terminal. He followed her and saw the terminal clerk to pay for three days of parking and a recharge of the oxygen tanks on the plane, whose desk was right inside the lobby of the small terminal, so visiting pilots could not possibly miss it. "Your shop still open?" he asked the badger.

"Yeah, closes in twenty minutes."

"Good. I didn't have time to buy a urinal for the plane," he grunted. "We had a late start, and we just got our plane a few days ago. This was our first long distance trip in it."

"Well, congratulations," the badger said with a smile. "Ah, so, that would explain why that cat ran through here," he laughed. "She with you?"

"My wife," he nodded. "I'll be following her as soon as I pay for parking," Kit confided, which garnered another chuckle out of the badger.

While Jessie called her parents, Kit used the bathroom, and got to their shop before it closed. It was filled with everything a pilot might want in or for a plane, from sunglasses to clip-on map holders to little hand-held electronic maps to portable DVD players to decals to Game Boy and Playstation Portable games to magazines to puzzle books to clip-on battery powered book lights to 12 volt outlet adapters to run small devices and such. They did have portable urinals, as he knew they would. Jessie came in with him, and blushed a little when he pointed out the urinals, since the clerk in the store was a male.

Kit spent nearly two hundred dollars in that shop, but it was money well spent. They bought two hybrid male/female portable urinals that Jessie didn't think would be too embarrassing to use, two power adapters for their laptops; airplanes were just like cars, they had 12 volt DC power outlets in the cockpit to run external devices. He was a bit surprised that they had power adapters for a Sabletech at first, but then he thought about it and realized that most people who could afford to fly their own planes could afford a laptop like a Sabletech. He bought a nice pocket pilot's atlas so he'd always have a map and it wouldn't add much weight to the plane, and even bought a copy of the FAA flight plan program to install on his laptops so he could file flight plans from his laptop.

Jessie gave him a curious look when they came out of the gift shop carrying two huge bags. "I realized we don't have power adapters for our laptops that'll work in the plane," he explained.

"I never said a word, love," she chuckled. "I'm the one that went out and bought that camera when we were poor. And they are kinda necessary. The battery in my laptop won't last five hours." Her phone rang, and she dug her Blackberry out and answered it. "Mom, what's wrong?" she asked, and listened for a moment. "Do you want us to take a cab instead?" She giggled. "Oh, okay. Just go to the terminal building when you get here and call, we're going back to the plane. Kit has to tie the plane down, and he bought some toys for it and we have to put them in the plane, so we may still be there when you get here. You know how boys are with their toys," she giggled. She put her Blackberry back in her purse. "They're going to be a few minutes late, there was an accident down on Wilkerson and they're waiting for the cops to let them through."

"I hope everyone's okay," he said as they walked back to the plane under the bright lights of the tarmac.

They returned to the plane to stow their purchases and get the luggage. He gave Jessie a sly smile and set the urinal down by the center console, which made her cheeks ruffle and made her laugh. "You are so not watching me use that!" she teased.

"Let's just say that I'm glad the plane has autopilot," Kit told her, which made her laugh helplessly.

To their surprise, Jessie's family didn't wait at the terminal when they arrived. They instead drove right up to the plane from the back side, along the car path, and got out. Jessie ran over and gave her parents a big hug, and Kit climbed down and embraced Hannah warmly. "Hello, Hannah. We're here," he chuckled.

"It's good to see you, dear," she returned. "And I'm glad you got here safely."

"Thanks for coming to pick us up. We really appreciate it."

"Well, I have to make good use of the van your sister gave us for Christmas," she said with a light laugh.

Kit shook John and Ben's paw in quick succession as Hannah started animatedly talking to Jessie about her pregnancy. "So, this is the plane," John chuckled. "Care to show us the inside?"

"You're going to fly in it tomorrow," Kit said with a smile. "But sure. Step right there, and get up on the wing, but stay within the line you see right there. That's the safe zone where the wing can support you," he cautioned. John and Ben were going to just look inside, but Kit had them climb into the front seats, and Kit pointed things out from the outside, showing them the control surfaces, and letting Ben push the rudder pedals. "You won't do anything, the plane's turned off," he said with a chuckle. "The plane is fly by wire, the controls don't work with it shut down like this."

"Ah, good, I was afraid I would accidentally deploy flaps or make the plane lurch or something," Ben chuckled. "But it's really cool."

"Very, very nice. Almost like the inside of a car," John noted.

"Just about. Now get out and help me with the luggage," Kit said with a grin.

"Isn't it neat?" Jessie called from the ground. "Kit's going to teach me how to fly it!"

"She wants a pilot's license," Kit elaborated to her father and brother. "She's already addicted," he winked.

"Ya know, it's not a bad idea," Ben said speculatively. "If I make it in the NFL, I could afford to buy a plane, and it would be kinda nice to be able to fly down and see the folks whenever I want."

"How long did it take to fly here?"

"About seven hours total, if you count it from the minute we left the apartment, since the airfield where I keep the plane is thirty miles from my house. The actual time in the air was a smidgen over five hours."

"That's not bad at all," John said with a nod. "When you compare it to about sixteen hours by car, and the five or so hours it would take by airliner given you can never get a nonstop flight, that's really nice. How much is gas for planes?"

"About five a gallon right now," Kit said as he helped John back to the ground. "Ben, can you close that side? Just pull it down, I'll come around and lock it before we go."

"Sure thing, Kit."

"Anyway, I don't really have to pay for the gas, Vil does. So all it cost us was time."

"And two hundred dollars in the terminal shop," Jessie added.

"Yeah, but we need everything I bought," he challenged. "Or would you like to spend another hour flying back waiting to go to the bathroom?"

Jessie's cheeks ruffled, then she laughed helplessly.

"What does that mean, Kit?" Hannah asked.

Kit climbed back up onto the wing, and as Jessie protested, he reached in and pulled out the urinal and showed it to them in the floodlights of the tarmac. John and Ben laughed, and Hannah's fur seemed to want to stand up for a second. "We were in too much of a hurry for me to buy one when we started out, but this little eight dollar piece of plastic is one of the most important things you can ever have in a plane when flying cross country. It prevents all kinds of unscheduled stops."

"Not much privacy in there," Ben noted with a chuckle.

"Well, then it's a good thing we're married," Kit replied urbanely.

The Williams males helped him finish tying the plane down, then they transferred the suitcase and two carryons to the van in the brisk February night, and then they were all in the van as Hannah drove them out of the airport. "Any trouble finding this place, Hannah?"

"No, dear, I've been past here many times," she said.

"Don't let him drive your van, eh?" Kit noted.

She glanced back at him through the rearview mirror. "He has his SUV, I have my van," she said calmly, which made both Kit and John chuckle.

"How's the Mustang, Ben?"

"Heavenly," Ben said from the back row. "Of course, I don't think I've ever driven it faster than sixty miles an hour. All my friends accuse me of being an old femme," he said, which made everyone laugh. "Miss Vil asked me to be careful with it, and I'll do just that."

"I'm glad I have at least one responsible child," Hannah noted.

Jessie bristled. "Hey!"

"Jenny isn't nearly so careful," John said sourly. "She's had it all of three months or so, and she already has two speeding tickets."

"Why does that not surprise me," Kit chuckled lightly.

"I've visited the apartments your sister arranged for them, Kit," Hannah told him. "They're very nice."

"Heck, are they," Ben said in agreement. "I went with her to check out mine. It's huge! It's got really nice furniture in it, and it has everything but a TV and a stereo as far as appliances go. It even has its own little washer and dryer, no Laundromats for us," he said happily. "It's in a fenced compound, I have an assigned parking space inside the fence so my car is safe, and there's a pool and a gym in the complex. It's only a mile from campus, and it's a straight shot. You turn right coming out of the complex and the street goes straight to the east side of campus. I can easily walk it, cause I've heard trying to park around campus is absolute murder."

"Jenny bought a bicycle," Hannah told them. "It must be cold to ride in the winter, but she uses it to get to campus when it's not raining. "She also bought this ridiculously large TV and stereo system for her apartment," she said disapprovingly. "It cost her nearly three thousand dollars!"

"Sounds like she's trying to burn up all the money Vil gave her at Christmas," Kit said with a grunt.

"At the rate she's going, she will," Hannah said with a little heat in her voice. "I mean, Vil bought her that DVD combo player and that very nice portable stereo and that Playstation with all those games and that portable TV, but that does not mean she has to go out and buy a three thousand dollar home theater system to use them on," she complained. "She could have bought an entirely decent thirty two inch widescreen television for five hundred dollars, and a very nice component audio system for three hundred. That little girl needs to have me pull sharply on her reins. She's being entirely wasteful and disrespectful of the wonderful gifts that Vil gave her."

"Let her learn from it, Hannah," Kit said calmly. "When she uses up all that money Vil gave her, when she calls home begging for money, snub her. Let her learn that if she can't manage her money, then there will be times when she's going to starve."

Hannah nodded sharply. "I can agree with that advice, dear," she told him.

"Well, you won't see me doing that," Ben said. "I haven't used a penny of the money Vil gave me yet."

"Well, you'll need to buy a TV and stereo and a few other things, son," John told him. "And you will need to eat and buy gas when you're at school, and there are also expenses like books and such. And for that, Vil's money will be very useful. But you don't have to follow Jenny's example. If you manage that money wisely, you'll easily get all the way through the year."

"I hear ya, Dad," Ben nodded. "Since I'm not paying rent or utilities or car payments or insurance, if I can't live off ten thousand dollars a year, I should be shot."

"Well said, Ben," Kit said with a sober nod.

The Williams house was a warm place which Kit rather liked. It hadn't changed a bit outside of a little table that had been in the basement now standing in the place where the Christmas tree had stood when Kit was there last. Kit and Ben carried the suitcase and carryon bags up to Jessie's old room while Hannah made some coffee and put water on for tea, and put some leftover roast beef in the microwave. "I know you must be hungry," she told Kit when he came back down.

"A little, thank you," he said. "Are we going to have our long talk tonight or tomorrow?"

She gave him a look, then laughed. "Well, I think we can save that for tomorrow," she told him. "There are a great many things for us to talk about, and they aren't joking matters."

"I know they're not, Hannah, and I'll welcome your advice. This is unexplored territory for both of us. I don't know how Jessie will take it, but I'll take any advice you and John can give me."

"I'm very glad you feel that way."

"This is my wife and child we're talking about. You better believe I'm serious about this."

She gave him an approving pat on the arm as she took some green beans in a glass bowl out of the refrigerator. "Would you like some potato salad too?"

"Please," he said as John wandered into the kitchen at the smell of coffee emanating from the coffee maker.

"Mmm, thanks dear," he said as he pulled his mug out of the strainer in the sink and standing near the coffee maker, waiting. "So, you're taking us flying tomorrow?"

Kit nodded. "I can only take three of you at a time, though. So we can do two trips."

"I think Jessica can wait for us in the terminal, or here at home," Hannah said sharply. "After all, she gets to ride in the plane whenever she wants."

Kit chuckled. "Good luck convincing her," Kit told her. "She really likes that plane."

"You're right I do," Jessie giggled as she came into the kitchen. "It's a little scary right at first, then it's just awesome!" The water started to boil for tea, so Kit took down two cups while Jessie fetched the tea from the pantry.

"Well, I think you can sit out a ride, dear, so Kit doesn't have to take two trips."

"I don't mind, Hannah," Kit assured her. "Heck, I could fly to Columbus and pick up Jenny. I could take two with me on the way to get her, and two with me on the way back."

Hannah's eyes lit up. "Can you really do that?" she asked quickly.

"It's about an hour to Columbus from here," he shrugged. "I could leave tomorrow morning and get her, and take her back the next day. I could take Ben and John tomorrow to pick her up, and you and Jessie when I take her back."

"John," she prompted.

"I'll call her right now," John chuckled, pouring himself a cup of coffee and scurrying towards the living room.

"Heck, from now on, we can fly from Austin to Columbus first to pick her up, then drop her off on the way home," Kit added.

"That's very thoughtful of you, dear," Hannah said with a nod. "I'm starting to understand you when you said that Kit's plane could be very useful, Jessica," she added to her daughter.

"Yeah, it's really awesome. It just opens up so many possibilities," Jessie agreed.

"I'll need to get back to the airport early tomorrow," he said. "The earlier I go get Jenny, the more time we have together."

John came back into the kitchen, holding the phone to his face. "Kit, which airport does Jenny go to?"

"I won't know until tomorrow, when I get to the airport and look up Columbus," he answered. "We can call Jenny after we know so she can meet us there."

John relayed that, then asked another question. "She wants to know if she can park her car at the airport overnight."

"Sure. She might have to pay for it, but I've never heard of an airport or airfield that didn't have extended parking."

John relayed that, then hung up after a minute, and after telling Jenny to go buy a road atlas of Columbus, so she could find the airport. "She sounded excited at the idea of it," John said. "And Kit, thank you very much for this. You certainly don't have to go so far out of your way for our benefit."

"John, you're family," he said simply. "I'll be happy to do this for you. Heck, I like Jenny, I won't mind at all," he chuckled.

Hannah's cooking was as good as he remembered. The whole family sat at the table with Kit and Jessie as they ate the offered leftovers, chatting over little things. Jessie did tell Hannah about Kit's article and Allison, so Kit pulled out the magazine so they could read the article. To Kit's delight, Jessie made sure to refer to her as Foxy to maintain Allison's anonymity. "She doesn't work in that place anymore," Jessie said. "Well, not after tonight, that is. She's supposed to call me when she's done, so I know she's alright."

"You associate with this femme, Jessica?" Hannah said, a bit coldly.

"God knows she needs someone to be her friend, mom," Jessie replied. "She may not be an angel, but she's a nice girl, and I'm worried about her."

"I don't see how a tramp can be nice," Hannah said frostily.

"She's not a tramp, Hannah, she's a realist," Kit said simply. "She saw that the only real way she could get her degree was to do work she found repugnant. She made a very logical decision and swallowed her repulsion to do it. That's the story of quite a few prostitutes, you know. I've never known a prostitute that liked doing it. They did it because they had to. Foxy may have had other choices, but none of them would have let her do what she wanted. So she made a practical decision."

"And just how many prostitutes do you know, Kit?" Hannah challenged.

"Quite a few," he said honestly. "I met a bunch of them in homeless shelters as I was working my way towards Austin. I have a bunch of stories they told me in my journals about what it's like, people they've met, so on and so on. But none of them had a story anywhere near as interesting and unique as Foxy's."

"Well, I don't approve," Hannah announced.

"I'm sure she doesn't entirely approve of her old life either, Hannah, else she'd have kept doing it after she graduated from college, or just dropped out of college to focus only on that. But she did it. She did it because she couldn't see any other way to achieve her goal. You can hate what she did, but you can also respect her determination to achieve her goal."

"Not at that price, I won't," Hannah said bluntly, crossing her arms beneath her breasts and putting on an affronted expression.

"Just read the article, Mom, then you'll understand what Kit's saying," Jessie urged.

"Well, I'll read it," she said. "But I doubt that it will change my mind."

"I think I'd like to meet her," Ben mused.

"You will not!" Hannah snapped. "It's bad enough that Kit's cousin is chasing after you! I won't have another tramp trying to grab your tail, Ben!"

"Still?"

"She calls me at least twice a week," Ben said dismissively. "She wants to fly me down to Mexico during spring break, but Mom won't let me go."

"She's not the only one," John said mildly.

"Well, at least she's not giving up," Kit chuckled. "The new Sheila is quite a bit more tenacious than the old one."

"We didn't tell you, she's staying in Austin for good," Jessie added. "She's going to get a degree in cooking at U.T. and open a restaurant after she graduates. So she's down with us to stay."

"She left Harvard for U.T.?" John asked in surprise.

"Not entirely," Kit said, a bit delicately. "She's going to do her business degree requirements at Harvard by correspondence and internet classes while she takes culinary arts classes at U.T. Her plan is to get two Bachelor's, one at each school. Her plan is actually pretty good," he said approvingly. "She really put a lot of thought into it."

"I don't mind, I really like Sheila," Jessie said. "She's wild, but she's also very sweet and thoughtful. She's been a good friend."

"Hmph," Hannah sniffed.


Jessie's old bed still didn't agree with him, so he was quite stiff when he woke up at six to go to the bathroom, and decided to just stay up since he'd need to get up in about a half an hour anyway. Hannah was still asleep–the first time he'd ever woke up before her–so he invaded her kitchen and started cooking breakfast, using Hannah's well stocked refrigerator and pantry to start quiche. He had all the vegetables cut and the bacon and sausage cooked by the time Hannah appeared, wearing a full length terrycloth bathrobe, hurrying down to find out what was going on in her kitchen. "Morning," he said pleasantly as he swept a cutting board of onions into a bowl. "Want to help?"

"I've told you about this kitchen, young male," she told him, her face stern.

"You've cooked for me so many times, Hannah, let me do something for you, at least once," he smiled.

"What are you making?"

"Quiche," he answered. "I have everything cut up and the meats cooked, now I just need to mix up the egg filler, sauté the veggies, and pop it into the oven."

"Well, let's see how you're doing this," she said professionally.

Hannah quickly took over his attempt to cook, relegating him to a purely helping position, but she did follow his recipe instead of trying to finish it using her own. Between the two of them they had the quiche in the oven and merrily baking in short order. Hannah went on to make coffee while Kit reheated the teapot, for he knew Jessie wouldn't be asleep much longer. Kit cut grapefruits into halves to go with the quiche as Ben and Jessie appeared at the same time, Ben in a pair of shorts and a tank top and Jessie in a long nightshirt and pajama bottoms, which she only put on to come downstairs. Jessie slept nude, even here at her parents' house. "That smells great, what is it?" Ben asked.

"Quiche," Kit answered as he poured water into a cup for Jessie's tea.

"It's Kit and Jessica's recipe," Hannah said, almost disapprovingly.

"Well, it smells good," Ben said. "When are we leaving, Kit?"

"After we eat, so go wake up John if you don't mind."

"He's already up. He should be down in a second."

They all dressed while the quiche was baking, and then Hannah got a little offended when John and Ben complemented her on such a good breakfast. But, after they were done, Kit herded Ben and John into Hannah's van, and John took them back to the airport. "This is gonna be soooo cool," Ben said expectantly as they pulled into the airport.

"Where do I park, Kit?"

"You can park behind my plane, same as last night. That parking space comes with the airplane spot, so you don't have to pay anything."

"Okay."

It was rather chilly as they piled out of the van and walked over to the terminal. John chatted excitedly with the terminal clerk while Kit used their computer to look into the flight. Columbus wasn't far, only about 120 miles, or about 100 nautical miles, so there was no earthly reason to go over 18,000 feet and require a flight plan. He'd fly on VFR. They could be there in 35 minutes… and that was with him piddling along. He could be there in 20 minutes if he opened the throttle to max and hauled ass over there in an arc that let him gun it through thinner air.

"So, how does this work, anyway?" Ben asked.

Kit chuckled, and gave Ben a brief explanation of the computer. "I'd use it to file a flight plan if I was going to fly over eighteen thousand feet, but I'm not going to do that. Columbus is only 95 nautical miles out, that's like a hop, skip, and a jump from here. There's no reason to go over eighteen thousand for such a short trip. Besides, you'll get to see more if I fly low. John!" he called.

John scurried over. "Yes?"

"Call Jenny, I know where I'm landing," he said, clicking up a map of Columbus on the computer and pointing. "Here. Bolton Field Airport. It's not that far from Ohio State's campus, and I won't have to go through all the procedural crap I would if I landed at the international airport. Hold on, they link to Mapquest, we can get driving directions for her."

John called his daughter, and then read off the instructions to her when Kit brought them up on the monitor. "How long 'til we get there?" he asked.

"Tell her it'll be about an hour," he answered. "I have to gas up the plane before we leave. Oh, and tell her that the terminal employee can tell her when we land, so she can wait in the terminal and we'll come get her there."

They went back to the plane, and after Kit unlocked it, Ben and John had a bit of a row over who got to sit up front as they removed the tie downs. Kit listened to them jostle for position, then chuckled and broke it up. "You can switch in Columbus. Jenny can ride up front when I take her home, and Hannah can ride up front on the way back. Jessie can stay in the back seat, she gets to fly home," he told them.

They both laughed. "I'll flip you for it," Ben offered. "I sure as heck don't want to be back there when Jenny's in the plane."

They did indeed flip for it, and Ben won the toss. That put John up front on the flight over. They loaded themselves into the plane, and Kit turned on the electric heater for them so the plane could warm up as he stayed out in the cold and did the preflight walk around inspection. After that was complete, he climbed into the plane and performed the preflight checklist, which included starting the engine. "So, we're on the way?" Ben asked as Kit released the parking brake.

"Not quite yet. I told you, I need gas first, and that means we head to the pump," he answered. "This isn't an airliner, Ben, us private pilots pump our own gas in airports where they don't offer a truck fueler or I get it at a service hangar, and I'm not. I'd rather just get it myself. I don't want to wait around for the fueler or attendant, not since they have a self-serve station right over there."

"I didn't know that," he mused.

Kit followed the signs to the fueling station, and had to wait as a little Piper gassed up. After it was done, the pilot waved to him before he climbed into his little two-seater, then Kit replaced him at the fueling pump. "So, how do you pay for it?" John asked curiously. "I don't see an attendant."

"It's a credit card pump, John, just like at a regular gas station," Kit said, pulling out his wallet and removing his Transport card. "But it's a lot more expensive."

"How much will it cost?"

"Well, I'm about to put about sixty gallons in this thing, and it's, um, four sixty a gallon," he said, looking at the pump before he opened his gullwing door.

"Ouch!" Ben said. "That's like three hundred bucks!"

"About that," Kit agreed. "Flying isn't a cheap hobby, Ben," Kit chuckled as he climbed out.

"Actually, if you compare it to driving, it's really not that much more expensive," John said after a second's contemplation.

He gassed up the plane in the cold morning, as the sun peeked through some wispy clouds near the horizon. It takes a little bit of time to pump seventy gallons of fuel, so Ben and John had to wait inside for a bit. Kit finished up and took his receipt, closed the fuel tank cap and door, then climbed back into the plane. "Now we're ready to go," he told them as he restarted the engine, then disengaged the parking brake. "We'll be in the air about half an hour or so, guys, so if you need anything, say so now."

"I think we'll be alright,"' John said, reaching down and picking up the urinal. "After all, we have this," he chuckled.

Kit had them in the air about ten minutes after fueling up. Both of his passengers were reverently silent as they took off, Ben gaping down at the ground as John looked out the front windscreen, wincing against the sun. "I should have brought sunglasses," he complained.

"Jessie left hers in her nook," Kit said. "They may make you look a bit silly, but it's better than your eyes watering for the rest of the flight."

"Where is that?"

"Reach down the side of the center console, there's a little nook down there," he prompted.

He reached down and produced Jessie's sunglasses, then put them on and sighed in relief. "Much better," he noted. "Okay, explain this dashboard while we're flying."

Kit chuckled, and spent much of the flight explaining the flight instruments and how he navigated using the Garmin and GPS. He explained the MFD, which showed them where they were, showed them the locations of other planes on the map which were his responsibility to avoid, and pointed to Bolton Field in the top right corner of the MFD map. "We'll be there in about five minutes. I guess you could call Jenny and tell her we're almost there."

"You can use cell phones in planes?"

"Sure, it won't mess with my avionics, and we're low enough for you to get a signal," Kit assured him.

"How high up are we?" Ben asked.

"Four thousand and thirty seven feet," he said, pointing at his altimeter. "Let me radio Bolton Field and get landing instructions, they have a tower there."

"You make it sound like not all of them do."

"Nope," he said. "Most airfields don't have towers. That's one of the main differences between an air field and an air port. Some airfields have control towers, most don't, it depends on how much traffic the airfield has. But all airports have a tower, no matter how large or small they are."

"Wow, there's a lot more to this than I thought," Ben said musingly.

"You should see the written test you have to take to get your license," Kit chuckled. "And that's just the beginning. If you want to get rated for flying only by instruments, you have to know a heck of a lot more. And you have to know a heck of a lot more than that if you want a commercial pilot's license. And it only gets worse as you go up. The test for an air transport license, the airline pilot's license, is an absolute beast."

"What kind of license do you have, Kit?" John asked curiously.

"A commercial license," he answered. "I got it because if you apply to military flight school and you already have a commercial license or better, they give your application much more weight. So, I went to a flight school that did commercial pilot training, called a one forty-one school. If you ever want a license, Ben, I highly recommend you do a one forty-one. The requirements to get a commercial license are much less stringent if you do it in a one forty-one program, since you're being specifically trained for it. If you get a standard license first and then try to upgrade, it's a headache."

"I'll remember that," Ben said, "cause I guess I'm like Jessie. Seeing this plane and how you just flew up here for the weekend, it seems awfully convenient."

"It is at that," Kit chuckled. "Now excuse me while I do the pilot thing and radio in."

 He set the radio so they heard it on their headsets as well so they could hear the tower, and they listened in interest as Kit got landing instructions. Kit landed behind a Citation jet, which was taxiing back towards them on the ramp as they landed, heading for a small hangar near the terminal. Kit was directed to a short-term parking area near the terminal, for he told the ground controller he was just staying long enough to pick up a passenger, and John called Jenny and told them that they were on the ground. "She's in the terminal waiting, and she says she's already got a parking place."

"I told you they'd have them. It probably cost her about ten bucks."

John told Jenny that, then he laughed. "She said you're way off, it cost her twenty."

"Then this airport's a ripoff," Kit noted. "God help me if I wanted to park my plane overnight, if they charge that much just for a car."

Kit parked, and they didn't have to go in after her. She must have been waiting at the doors, watching planes, for she ran out carrying a small carryon as soon as Kit and John appeared behind the opened doors. John climbed down and hugged her when she reached them, and she came around and gave Kit a crushing hug. "Hey, you! This is gonna rock!" she said happily. "I've never been picked up in a private plane before! Oh, and congratulations!"

"Thanks. I hope you like it," he said as Ben climbed over the center console and got into the copilot's seat. "Now let's get you in, you're in the back."

"Aww! I wanna sit up front!"

"We already drew up a schedule," John told her with a chuckle as he went around the plane.

"You get to sit up front on the way back to Columbus tomorrow," he promised her.

"Oh, okay! I can live with that," she said. "Where do I put my bag?"

"There's a compartment behind the back seat, or I can put it in the trunk. Your call."

"I'll keep it, I wanna take some pictures!"

"I should have thought of that!" John said, slapping his forehead as he climbed up onto the wing, preparing to get back in the plane.

"No sweat, Dad, I'll sell you a few of mine," Jenny winked as Kit helped her up.

Jenny was almost annoying excited as everyone got in, Jenny took off her coat in the warm cockpit, and everyone buckled up. Kit got in line to take off as he tried to cope with about a thousand questions spewing out of Jenny's mouth, thrown out at blazing speed as she snapped pictures of everything; the cockpit, her father beside her, the tarmac, the taxiway, everything. She gave an excited yell as Kit, who was idling at the end of the runway waiting for clearance, throttled up. She screamed and laughed when the plane lifted off, then took pictures out her window at the ground below as Kit did a slow banking turn to point them back to Cincinnati, which dipped the wing on his and Jenny's side of the plane. "Are we going up really high? Can I still see everything? How long will it take to get there? What happens if the engine quits?" she rattled at high speed.

"I'm getting a muzzle for you when we fly back," Kit told her, which made her laugh.

"Can we fly over the campus? I'd love a picture of it from above."

"Afraid I can't, the campus is back there," he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder, towards her. "And I'm not turning around. Besides, it's restricted airspace, I'd have to be so high over it that your picture wouldn't really show anything."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

"There's a ceiling over most big cities we can't go under except when we're in set flight lanes," Kit told her. "Not since nine-eleven. If their radar caught me flying too low over a city, they might think I was going to try to crash into a building or something, and I'd get in big trouble. They have me on radar and the transponder in the plane tells them exactly who I am, so they'd bust me when I landed."

"How high is it?"

"Depends on the city, but most of them are two thousand feet, which is too high to get the kind of picture you want," he answered. "Some really big cities don't allow private planes over them at all, like Washington D.C., but other big cities will let private planes fly over, as long as we stay high enough."

"Cool," Jenny said energetically, accidentally kicking the back of his seat. "Can you do a loop the loop?" she asked with a giggle.

"I'm not sure everything's stowed for a move like that, I don't feel like getting whacked in the head by your carryon. But, if you just want a ride, well," he said, looking to make sure everyone still had their seat belt on, then he jacked the stick hard to the left. The plane rolled, rolled hard, well past vertical, turning the plane upside down. Ben grabbed the dash and John cried out in alarm, but Jenny was laughing. He ran inverted for nearly ten seconds, then turned the plane back over, which caused John to give a startled cry, but made Jenny give an excited whoop.

"Yes, this plane can do a loop, by the way," he said lightly. "It's rated for 4 Gs, that lets it do a few stunts. But I'm also not going to give myself a concussion or plow my plane into the deck just to amuse you, Jenny."

"Warn an old male next time!" John complained, which made everyone else explode into laughter.

They got back to Columbus at a fairly decent clip, and landed and taxied back to the same parking space. Jenny was too excited to sit still as they drove back, and then ran into the house. "Such a spazz," Ben sighed as they got out behind her, which made Kit laugh.

With Jenny there, it was like a little family reunion. Jenny gushed over Jessie's pregnancy for several minutes, then settled down some. Kit and Jessie showed them pictures of their honeymoon, and Jenny showed them pictures of her apartment, proudly pointing out her "awesome TV and theater." John and Hannah took her to task for wasting so much money, and Hannah threatened her quite effectively by making it clear that between the debit card Vil got her and the campus card she got from her parents for Christmas, she would not receive any more money from them. She had to survive on her own on the money she had. That made Jenny quite flabbergasted at first, then she turned sulky, despite the fact that she said she still had nearly six thousand dollars to last her until next September. "Vil said we could enjoy her gift!" she protested.

"Enjoying it is fine, but you are wasting it. You could have bought a much cheaper TV and stereo and still had quite good ones, but instead you go out and buy something entirely too expensive," Hannah told her frostily. "Are you determined to show your sister-in-law how much like her family you can be?"

That brought Jenny up short. She turned to Kit for support, but was snubbed just as flatly as Hannah had. "Don't look at me, I think you're being a touch ridiculous," Kit told her. "Your mother is totally right. Enjoying money doesn't mean going nuts with it."

"So says the guy with his own plane," she pouted, then she stalked off.

"She'll get over it," Jessie giggled. "She always does."

Ben went to work out, and Jenny went to see some old high school friends to give them a little space, and Kit and Jessie sat down with John and Hannah and had that serious talk, that lasted over three hours. They were very frank, explaining that they were very worried about the pregnancy because the two of them were young, Jessie was still in school, and Hannah was still not convinced that their marriage would last. Kit and Jessie had to talk quite a while, assuring them over and over that they were okay, their marriage was still strong, and they were taking the pregnancy very seriously. Jessie told them about her visit to the obstetrician, and how Kit was both making her do everything the obstetrician said, and also making her go to school. Both of them stressed heavily that Jessie's education was still a priority, and while she would lose a semester when she delivered and their baby was newborn, she would finish her degree. After she got her Bachelor's, then Jessie's future was much more ambiguous. John spoke of seeing her go on to get her Master's a teach, or even get her Doctorate and be a professor like him, while Hannah favored her settling down to be a housewife, devoting herself to her baby as Hannah had done with her own children… but still absolutely adamant that Jessie get her Bachelor's, so she would always have it and the doors that it would open for her if she ever had to work. "The baby's just a delay, not a derail," she said for the tenth time. "Not that I'm not overjoyed to be pregnant," she said with a giggle, "but I do still want to teach. I can do both, I know I can. Femmes do it all the time!"

"I'm torn about that idea," Hannah said honestly. "I would like to see you devote yourself to the baby, but I know that's just impossible nowadays. But, I've seen you work so hard and come so far, to see you abandon it now, so close to earning your degree," she said, then trailed off and sighed.

"Don't ever think I'd never think my child doesn't come first, Mom," Jessie said, with a little heat. "But I can be a good mommy and still go to school, and then to work. We've already discussed how we're going to handle it. Kit can take care of the baby when I'm at class, because I'm going to arrange to take afternoon and night classes after I deliver. We may not see much of each other for a semester, but I'll graduate by then. I'm going to take some time off after I graduate to care for the baby, then start my Master's program."

"I'm already supporting both of us, so I'm not too worried about money," Kit continued. "Jessie can still work on School Daze for money, that's not very hard, and that's at-home work. But, it's her decision about all of that," he told them. "If she wants to work, I'll support her. But if she wants to be an at-home mother, then I'll support her. My only position in this is to make sure Jessie gets to do what she wants. That's what being her husband is all about," he said, putting his paw on Jessie's arm. "Making her happy."

"Aww, you're so sweet, my handsome fox," she smiled in reply.

"Well, you did think about it," John noted approvingly. "Thoroughly."

"But there's a lot more we haven't considered, mainly because we haven't thought about it," Kit said. "And that's where we need you. I expect to be burning up the phone lines between here and Austin over the next seven months."

Hannah sat up a little straighter, unconsciously assuming the matronly role. "As well you should," she told them. "We've been through three pregnancies, dear, we've experienced most of it. And you should also talk to Rick and Martha. They're also quite experienced, and they can help you with the little problems that takes being there to best address them."

"Oh, we will, that's a promise," Jessie said with a nod. "Martha thinks I'm her long lost daughter, she won't let me get away with not letting her be involved with my pregnancy," she laughed.

"She hosted you and helped you put on your wedding dress, Jessica, and you two have been very close to her and Rick for as long as Kit has worked at the magazine. Of course she sees you as all but her own daughter. Martha will make sure I know what's going on, even those things you'll either forget to tell me or refuse to," she said flintily.

"I knew there was a downside to having in-laws," Kit said morosely, and he laughed as she ducked out of range of Hannah's paw.

"The big question is, Kit, can you afford to support three?" John asked. "A baby is a very expensive addition, if a welcome one. Jessica might have to work. And then there's the expense of raising the child, and then there's college. You really need to think this through, and come up with some kind of plan, because I haven't heard either of you mention that yet."

Kit and Jessie looked at each other, then Kit shook his head. "We have nothing to worry about, John," he said.

"Not anymore," Jessie agreed. "Our baby's future is set."

Kit told them about the bonds. "I'd never take a damn penny from my family, but the bonds are different. My mother bought them for me, and Vil was smart to tell me that when she sent them. I'd never turn down something from my mother, because she loved me," he said simply. "I'd insult her memory if I threw them back in Vil's face. So, I took the bonds, cashed them, and invested them. We have ten thousand dollars in the bank for emergencies, and the rest of it is invested so our children can go to any school they want when they graduate."

"That money belongs to our children, not to us," Jessie added.

John and Hannah looked quite surprised, and were silent for a long time. Finally, John leaned forward on the table. "A hundred thousand, you say?" he asked.

"More or less. The invested portion is closer to eighty-five thousand, but that'll mature nicely in the investment portfolio that me and Vil hammered out. Our children will want for nothing, and the interest off the investments will more than support us as a second salary in case Jessie wants to be a stay-at-home mom. She doesn't have to work. We have the investments for the future, the ten thousand put back in case of a disaster, and now we just sit back and let the money do the work for us."

Hannah looked… strange. He wasn't sure if she was happy or angry or what. "And how is this money arranged, Kit? In your name?"

Jessie almost knocked the chair over as she jumped to her feet. "Mother!" she gasped, utterly outraged.

"It has to be asked, Jessica," Hannah said, a bit sternly. "If your marriage fails, then what happens to this money?"

Kit gave her a hard look. "If you want me to sign a contract right here and now that sends every dime of that money to Jessie if we divorce, then go type it up," he told her with an intense stare. "But don't ever assume that I'd leave my child hungry and abandoned."

John put his paw on Hannah's forearm. "I think that's about enough discussion, before you say something that causes your daughter to punch you in the mouth," he said mildly.

"I can't believe you, Mom! Hasn't he proved himself to you by now? Has he ever lied to you? Doesn't he bend over backwards for you? Has he ever given you any reason to doubt him?"

"No, he hasn't. But I had to ask, Jessica, for the sake of your child if nothing else. I had to be sure." She looked at Kit and nodded. "And now I'm sure that he will be a responsible male should your marriage fail and take care of Jessica and your baby. I believe you, Kit, that you'd sign all the money over to Jessica."

"Thank you for that much, Hannah," he said, not very cordially.

"Alright, let's all go calm down before we have a war here," John said in a commanding tone. "Jessica, Kit, don't be too angry."

"I'll get over it," Kit said. "I'm sure Hannah didn't mean it the way it sounded."

"No, no, I didn't mean to offend, Kit," she said, just a little placatingly. "But I did have to ask, and we did deserve an answer."

"I'll admit that you did," he nodded.

Kit took Jessie down to the basement while Hannah cooked and calmed her down. Hannah had been quite tactless, but Kit wouldn't begrudge her her right to know the answer to that question. She just should have been a little more diplomatic about bringing it up. Kit soothed Jessie for over an hour, after Jenny and Ben both came back and wisely stayed upstairs, until he had to resort to her own tactic; laying her down on the couch with her head in his lap. One paw tousled and played with her hair, while the other kneaded through her silky longhaired tail, and he kept her contained until she calmed down. She surrendered to him, let him pay special attention to her, and nearly dozed off by the time John came down the stairs. "Dinner will be ready in a minute," he said. "Are you coming up?"

"We'll be up in a minute, Dad," Jessie said, sitting up.

"I'm sorry that happened, sweetie," John told her sincerely. "Your mother just said it wrong, that's all."

"It's… it's alright, dad," she said with a sigh. "I can believe that she didn't mean to sound that shrewish. Maybe four months ago I'd have believed it, but not now."

"Alright, we'll set places for you," he said, then went back upstairs.

"I'm sorry, Kit," Jessie said, snuggling up to him and putting her muzzle under his chin. "I'm sorry she said that to you."

"It's alright, love," he told her. "She took a question she was entitled to ask, and just had it come out wrong. I don't blame her."

"I thought you were going to come over the table at her," Jessie said.

"Only to get between you and her," Kit told her, which made her giggle. He caressed her shoulders and back, which made her start to purr. "Now, ready to go up and be nice to your mother?"

"I guess so," she told him.

"Come on, I'm hungry. And I'd much be up there eating than down here with you."

"Why you little jerk!" she barked sharply, and he laughed when she bulled him down to the couch and started tickling him. "More concerned about your stomach than your wife? Just wait 'til I get you home!" she shouted as he laughed helplessly, squirming under her. "I'm making you a meal from that spice rack! Then you won't have to worry about being hungry anymore!"

"P–P–Pizza," he wheezed, which made Jessie laugh and collapse on top of him.

"I love you, Kitstrom Lucas Vulpan," she told him, then gave him a lingering kiss.

"And I love you, Jessica Desdemona Vulpan," he returned with a loving smile, patting her on her waist. "Now let's go get some dinner. You have to keep our baby healthy and developing."

"I just hope the morning sickness bug passes me by," she laughed as she got off of him.

"Keep dreaming," Kit noted as they went upstairs.


Since there was no football, there was little for John to do on Sunday. Since Ben was training for Ohio State, though, he had started going out with his son on Sundays to help him practice, since he knew how to throw a football, and despite his small and wiry frame, he could put some surprising air under a pigskin.

While John and Ben were out in the cold, Jessie and Hannah, who were speaking again after a rather contrite dinner, had a long and in-depth talk about what Jessie could expect as the weeks went by and her pregnancy progressed. Kit didn't listen too much to that, since he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know what kind of physical changes Jessie could expect, so he and Jenny spent the early morning and afternoon down the basement playing X-Box, in what Jenny cheekily called the "no pregnancy talk zone." She'd calmed down a lot since the flight, and was back to the normal Jenny he remembered, all smiles and energy and a wicked paw at Halo 3. Jenny would make some guy out there either the happiest male in the world or unbelievably jealous, since Jenny was a total sports nut and was a hardcore gamer femme, the mythical "femme who likes video games and sports." She wasn't the only one, though; Vil had been known to pick up a game controller from time to time, and she was no slouch herself.

Not many Fortune 500 CEOs had an X-Box 360 in their offices and Civilization IV installed on their work computers. Vil loved simulator games like that, where her amazing analytical mind and attention to detail could shine.

About two, though, after an indulgent early dinner of beef shish kebabs, it was time to take Jenny back to Columbus, since she had some homework to do. It was Jessie and Hannah's turn to go, so, Kit found himself in a van with three femmes, who all talked about "femme things" all the way to the airplane. But Hannah and Jessie got quiet, sharing the back seat, while Jenny asked a zillion questions and had to resist the urge to press buttons up front as Kit taxied out of the parking space after his preflight inspection and checklist. "Don't we need gas?" Jenny asked as they pulled out onto the main taxiway leading to the runway, getting in behind a Citation and with a Cirrus pulling up behind them.

"I filled up when we came to get you," he said, pointing to the monitor. "I still have plenty of fuel, enough to fly to Columbus and back twice with plenty to spare."

"Oh. I guess you'd pay attention to that," she giggled.

"Checking your fuel status appears three times on the preflight checklist," he said calmly as he pulled up to take the place of the Citation that pulled out onto the runway, preparing to take off. "So you can't possibly miss it unless you're stupid. Now excuse me as I get us airborne," he said as the control tower called him, and he bent his attention to the task at paw.

They were airborne and heading northeast, and Jenny went right on asking him a thousand questions. He answered them as best he could, then when she asked how hard it was to fly, he chuckled and looked at her. "Want to try?"

"Would I!" she said with a squeal, almost reflexively reaching for the control stick. "Um, can I grab it?"

"Kit, this is not a good idea!" Hannah said with sudden concern from the back seat, leaning forward.

"Trust me, Hannah, I won't let her crash us. My sister would kill me," he said, which made Jessie laugh. "Alright, now, grab hold of the stick. Don't bother putting your feet on the pedals, you won't need them."

"Okay," she said, taking hold of the stick in her right paw, since it was on the right on her side of the cockpit. "Now what?"

"Now hold it steady and in the center, centering a stick makes the plane go in the same direction," he instructed. "It's spring loaded, so just let it go back to its rest position."

"Okay, it's there," she told him, relaxing her grip on the control.

Kit toggled a switch on the center console to enable the controls on both sides of the cockpit and let go of the stick. "There, you're flying," he told her with a smile.

"I am? I am! I'm flying the plane!" she said with a laugh. Her laugh caused her paw to shift on the stick, and that shift caused the plane to shift a little, rolling just slightly to the right. Hannah gave a sudden cry of alarm, but Kit didn't shout at her. "No problem, see this white line right here on the dash? Make it level by pushing the stick just a little to the left, then center it when you get there. Just nice and slow," he told her.

She did as he ordered, slowly leveling the plane, and she did a fairly good job of it to boot.

He let her fly for nearly five minutes, pointing out the other planes on the MFD. "Each blip is a plane," he explained, "and these letters pointing to it tells me who it is. It tells me if it's a private plane like mine, or an commercial airliner, or military."

"This plane has radar?" Jenny asked.

"No, that's too expensive and heavy. It gets all this information from transponders and a radio," he told her. "Transponders are little radios that broadcast a unique ID signal that identifies us. Each plane's transponder radios to a beacon, which includes who we are and where we are. Our GPS location, altitude, speed, and direction are all part of the information the transponder sends, which the transponder takes off the flight instruments in the plane. The beacons all combine the information with a common computer, and then the computer sends data back to the beacon. Then the beacon sends out what you see to all the planes so we can see each other without needing radar for each plane. It's not radar, but it's just as good."

"Ah, that's pretty smart," she said approvingly.

"The skies got much safer when the FAA mandated the upgrade to Mode S Transponders, which are what allows what you see on that monitor," he told her. "Now let me take back over, we're getting close to Columbus."

Kit did get Jenny one thing, and that was a flyover of Ohio State. He had to stay above two thousand feet and stay inside a narrow corridor arranged by a controller since he was close to an approach path to the international airport, but Jenny had a good zoom on her camera. She got a few good pictures of the campus and the stadium, and then they turned around and landed at Bolton Field. He again parked in a temporary parking zone near the terminal, then killed the engine. They all got out of the plane, and then they hugged Jenny by turns. "You be good, sis-in-law, or at least good in comparison to how you usually act," Kit teased when it was his turn.

She laughed. "I'll try," she grinned. "Thanks for letting me–uh, for doing that for me," she said, looking around.

Kit laughed. "It's our little secret," he whispered in her ear, then kissed her on the cheek.

"Woo, baby," she said with a grin, throwing her arms around his shoulders and slashing her tail behind her aggressively. "Soon I'll be having an affair with you! You do have the sisters fantasy, right?"

"Jennifer Ophilia Williams!" Hannah barked, which made both Jenny and Jessie laugh.

"Be good, sissy," Jessie told her, giving her a hug.

"I'll never be that boring, sissy," she winked. She waved to them and shouldered her bag, then hurried towards her Mustang, which was visible in a parking lot beside the terminal.

"Someday that girl will grow up," Hannah complained.

"I don't know, Hannah, sometimes when you act young, you feel young," he chuckled. "Now let's get out of this cold and back into that warm cockpit."

"I still can't believe you let her handle the controls," Hannah said, a bit accusingly.

"Well, I'm going to let you fly too," he grinned as they turned back to the plane. "If I can trust Jenny not to crash us, I'm positive you won't."

Hannah's cheeks seemed to ruffle slightly. "Well, I might give it a try," she said speculatively.

Hannah wasn't that bad at it, actually. He let her fly in a straight line for a while, but when it came time to make a course correction, he let her do it, walking her through the process of stick, rudder, and throttle involved in making a turn. She really didn't have to use anything but the stick and rudder pedals–the stick itself actually–but she did well. Kit let her control the plane for about ten minutes, but took over when it was time to get serious about it, when he started descending and circling Cincinnati to get in the proper landing lane for Heather, which was using its southwest approach for landing today.

"Well, that was quite interesting," Hannah said in her manner as they slowed to a stop in the parking place, and Kit turned the plane around to face the tarmac. "It was much different looking out the front window rather than a side window."

"Yeah, gives you an entirely different perspective," Kit agreed as he killed the engine. "Alright, we're done, let's go back to the house."

It was a very enjoyable afternoon. Hannah was still just a little contrite about her faux pas the night before, so it made her very accommodating. She made them a big dinner, and then they all sat around the Bengal Den and watched movies while they talked. Jessie talked about the baby, Ben talked about his excitement at the idea of going to play for his favorite college team, and John talked about the cruise that he and Hannah were taking next month through the Bahamas. Vil had very thoughtfully set the cruise date so one of the two weeks fell on Cincinnati's spring break, so John had to arrange replacement teachers to cover his classes for the other week he'd be gone. The university wasn't entirely happy about his extended vacation, but he had been there for nearly twelve years without missing a single day of work and he had tenure. The fact that he was the head of the English Department made him just a little hard to replace, so they wisely gave him his week off.

Kit did talk a little bit about his work, telling them about their election coverage, which surprised Hannah. "Why would a student magazine cover something like that?"

"Because Rick wants to bring substantial information too, Hannah, not just where the cool bars are. He believes in providing everything a student might want to know, and some students are interested in politics. Besides, perhaps the election series will make us youngsters get interested in politics," Kit added. "I've been registered to vote since I was eighteen, but this will be the first year I actually do it. Covering politics made me interested enough in the process to want to take part in it."

"Well, then I'd say it's a good thing," John said with a nod. "Young furs need to be involved. If they don't use their voice, they let all the old fogeys make their decisions for them," he chuckled. "So, who are you voting for?"

"I'm something of an independent who'd like to see some real change in Washington, so I'm supporting Ron Paul," Kit grinned. "My sister and most of my family are hardcore Republicans, but that should be no surprise, since she's rich. She's all for Mitt Romney."

"I've never thought to ask her about politics," John chuckled.

"Don't tell me you're one of those nutzoid liberal college crackpot professors," Kit teased.

"Nutzoid crackpot, no, liberal professor, yes," he smiled.

"And he's entirely wrong, of course," Hannah said simply. "This is a true mixed marriage, Kit. He's a liberal Democrat, I'm a moderate Republican."

"That must make for some fireworks come election time," Kit noted.

"On the contrary, our debates are quite calm. I tell him how much he's wrong, and he keeps refusing to listen," Hannah said loftily, which made Kit laugh. Hannah had a very subtle sense of humor.

"Well, I'm going to register to vote when I get home," Jessie said. "I'm going to register as an independent, since I'm not really swayed by either party."

"Thought about the election, Jessica?"

She made a noncommittal sound. "I'm still listening to all the candidates. I haven't really made up my mind yet."

"Always good to keep an open mind," John nodded.

"Did you read the article about Foxy, Mom?" Jessie asked.

"I did," she answered. "And I have to admit, Kit, you did make her sound like something more than a tramp. I still say she's a tramp, but she has much more of a story than I believed at first." The phone rang, and John reached over to pick it up. "But I still can't agree with her decision. She seemed a smart femme, she could have found some other way to get her education. Student loans, work, something."

"Well, we'll have to disagree on that point, Mom," Jessie said. "You haven't met her, or talked to her. She's nothing like what I expected."

"I'm afraid this isn't a good time to talk," John was saying into the phone. "Yes, I can understand that, but we have company right now. No, Monday evening is fine. Talk to you then. Goodbye," he said, then he hung up the phone and gave Kit a serious look. "Kit, that was your uncle."

"Uncle? Who?" he demanded.

"He said his name was Brian," he answered.

"What did he want?" Kit asked, a little suspiciously.

"To talk," John said honestly. "He said he wanted to get to know us. He said right up front that he wanted to try to reconcile with you, so learning about us was one step towards it."

Kit frowned. Brian was… well, he was a wild card in the family. He was an uncle and as such he was fully cognizant of what the family did to him, but he was also the only elder in the family that showed any kind of remorse or reluctance. Kit had no idea what he was up to, calling Jessie's family, but he was also damn well going to find out. "Let me call Vil," he said, standing up. "They know better than that. They are supposed to leave me alone, that's part of the deal. I didn't make this agreement and give them back their money just have to have them start interfering with my life."

Kit retreated upstairs to make the call. Vil answered on the third ring, and from the sound of it, she was on board her jet. "Hey bro, what's up?"

"Vil, Uncle Brian just called here," he said.

"I know. He asked for their number," she said calmly.

"What? You let him?" Kit asked, almost astounded.

"Of course I let him," she answered simply. "Brian seems quite sincere, Kit. Of all the elders, he was the only one that ever showed any real concern for you. That's why I tried so hard to get him to help you," she explained. "You know, it's really weird. Sarah was so close to Dad, I always thought that she was the one that would have been easiest to convince. But, I guess she was in Dad's pocket too much," she sighed. "Of course, Uncle Brian never went against Dad either, but he did show some concern for you."

"Sis, we had a deal," he protested. "They leave me alone, I leave them alone. I don't want Brian nosing around my life. I will never forgive him. You tell him that."

"I think you're being a little too harsh, bro," she said honestly. "The will is voided. Let him at least try to prove himself to you."

"I think I'm not being harsh enough," Kit returned. "Where was his concern when I needed him? Where was he when I had a broken back? Protecting his money, that's where," he snapped. "He only decides to try to get back into my life after it's safe for him to do it. He never risked anything the way you did, sis. He made his decision, and now he has to live with it. He chose his money over me, and I'll never forgive him for it. So tell him to back off. I don't want him contacting Jessie's family, I don't want him contacting anyone in Austin, I don't want him anywhere near me."

Vil sighed. "Are you sure you won't even hear him out?"

"I won't even give him the time of day," he declared bluntly.

"Alright, I'll talk to him," she said, in a disappointed voice. "But I think you're being too stubborn about this, Kit. I worked very hard to get you back into the family, and despite his disapproval of your marriage, Brian is at least trying. You should at least try in return."

"He's trying about two years too late," Kit said bluntly.

"Alright. I need to hang up real soon, bro, we're about to take off in a minute or so, and I've found that my phone doesn't get good reception in the air."

"Where are you going?"

"Washington. I have to testify in front of the Armed Services Committee tomorrow, and I didn't want to fly down on the same day. I have a friend down there I want to see, anyway."

"A friend? Who?"

"A friend from Oxford," she said, suddenly demure. "He's over visiting some friends who work in the English embassy."

"Oho, is this the answer that that ticking clock you were hearing around Christmas?" he asked lightly.

She laughed. "Maybe," she admitted. "His name is Kendall Brighton."

"The Brightons? As in Brighton Industries?"

"That's them," she affirmed. "So it would be a marriage of equals, and a good business arrangement. They're Britain's version of Vulpan Shipyards, so at least he's someone I have a lot in common with." She laughed. "His father introduced us at a mixer at Oxford, which I didn't completely appreciate at the time, since I had the feeling he was throwing his son at me. That opinion changed after I talked to him, though. Kendall just graduated in December. He's tall and handsome, with this little black dot under his chin that's cute," she said with a surprising giggle. "Outside of that, he's exactly what you'd expect from a British fox from a family like the Brightons. Sophisticated, well mannered, educated, and intelligent."

"I've never heard you talk like this about a male," he teased.

She laughed. "I've been too busy being the Ice Queen to act like a femme," she said. "I certainly don't love Kendall, at least not yet, but at least he's interesting enough for me to see what's there."

"Well, good luck, sis."

"You should come meet him," she said. "Can you fly over?"

"No, we'll have to do that some other time," he told her. "I have to fly back to Austin tonight, and I'd rather spend this time with Jessie's family."

"Okay then. But you do need to meet him, bro."

"He's the rich guy, he can fly down to Austin."

Vil laughed. "Say the word, and you can be rich too," she told him.

"No thanks," he said dryly. "I'll earn my own millions, thank you."

She laughed. "Then get to work, bro!" she teased. They said their goodbyes, and Kit went back to the living room.

"What did she say?" John asked.

"Brian won't call you again," Kit said, a bit sternly. "I want him nowhere near me, and nowhere near you."

John and Hannah traded a brief look, then Hannah changed the subject. "Have you decided where you're going to live? Jessie mentioned that the apartments will be under construction."

"We're still talking to Lupe about that," Kit said. "We can stay in our old apartment until the new ones are done, that's not a problem, but I'm not too keen on doing the move into a new apartment close to a construction zone with a newborn. We'll either stay in our apartment until they're totally done on the far side of the block, or we'll move into another apartment somewhere else temporarily if we can't do that."

"How long is it supposed to take them to do the construction over on the other side?"

"Lupe says they'll be done in about five months for the duplexes, and six months for the other buildings," Kit answered. "He has three contracting companies over there working under the architects. One company will be building the community center, one will be building the duplexes, and the third will be building the apartment buildings to give the current tenants somewhere to live when they tear the old ones down. They're putting so many workers on the project because the bank demanded that the construction schedule had the entire project completed within a year in order for him to get the loan."

"That's a strange condition," Hannah noted.

"Not really," Kit answered. "Apartment complexes don't earn any money if they can't hold tenants. The bank wants to see some returns on their investment, so they were willing to loan Lupe enough to hire enough workers to get the work done in a year. That assumes that there are no delays, which are common in construction. But that's not Lupe's problem. The bank can't penalize him if the actual construction takes longer than a year if it's an issue with the contractors. But that'd be the contractor's loss. They get a bonus if they finish on time, and an even bigger one if they finish early, and they'll lose it if they run over."

"Won't that encourage them to cut corners?"

"You've never built anything in Texas, John," Kit chuckled. "The regulators there are pretty strict. They'll inspect all of the contractors' work before they sign off on it and let Lupe start moving furs in. If the contractors cut corners, they have to fix everything, and that runs them over time and they lose their bonus. They're best off just doing the work and doing it right. They'll earn much more money than if they try to cheat."

"I hope you move before the baby comes," Hannah said. "A baby needs a stable environment."

"I hope so too," Kit agreed. "The three companies are supposed to combine into a single force to build the rest of the complex after they finish that part of it," he continued, reciting what Lupe had told him a few days ago. "Lupe said there should be a small army there doing the work. It's going to take an army to build a complex that takes up an entire city block from the ground up in a year."

"Lupe's sure they can do it," Jessie added. "He said his project manager is positive they can finish, that they've set up a schedule that finishes in eleven months."

"Well, we'll see," Kit noted.


It was a great visit.

Kit and Jessie enjoyed a wonderful early dinner prepared by Hannah, and then, at six o'clock, Jessie's family drove them back to the airport. There were the usual goodbyes and promises to call, but there was also reality, the reality that Kit had work in the morning, and Jessie had school.

For the flight back, Kit did manage to get a flight plan filed, and that let them fly home with him trying out the plane at its service ceiling of 25,000 feet, where he would get some serious fuel efficiency. Flying that high again required oxygen, and also introduced Jessie to one of the little annoying parts of altitude flight… pressure differences. She spent nearly ten minutes trying to get her ears to pop, but once she finally did and the cockpit warmed up, she was comfortable flying at such high altitude. Kit felt a little restricted flying on a flight plan, but it was worth it with that gallons per hour number on his display. He didn't have the tailwind this time, but he was still going to get home without stopping for gas, and do it without landing while running on fumes.

She did her homework in the plane, balancing her laptop on her lap and typing on it as Kit took advantage of the autopilot and used his own laptop to surf the net… just because he could.

Jessie didn't let him get away with it, though. He'd let Jenny and Hannah fly the plane, so after she finished her homework, she demanded her own turn. Kit laughed and complied to her request, teaching her the rough basics of the idea of flight, about the three axes and the controls that moved the plane along them, then enabled the copilot controls and let her have at it. She flew the plane for nearly twenty minutes, and he let her make a couple of very slow and gentle turns in a zigzag that put them back on their original course, then let her descend to 23,500 feet before going back up to the cruise altitude of 24,500 feet… then getting bitched out by the traffic controller for deviating from his flight path's assigned altitude. He passed it off as an autopilot snafu, which made Jessie giggle as he lied baldly over the radio. After that, they put it back on autopilot, and Jessie finally broached a subject she'd been avoiding.

"Alright, my handsome fox," she said in the tone of a femme about to do war, reaching down and picking up the portable urinal. "Look out the window."

Kit almost knocked the plane off course laughing. It was a good thing it was on autopilot.

He certainly didn't make it easy on her, giving a grinding vocal rendition of stripper music, which earned him a smack, but she did eventually manage to get her business completed satisfactorily. "I'm putting a towel or a bag in here to hide these when we take them out of the plane," she declared, which made him laugh again.

They got home a little after midnight, landing in the chilly night as Jessie took video of them landing to send back to her parents. They were in the door about 1:00am, and since Jessie had napped on the plane, she wasn't as tired as Kit was when they carried their luggage into the apartment. "I'll make you a cup of tea, my handsome fox," she offered.

"No, I'm just going to bed," he told her. He then found her all over, him, giving him a crushing hug, and receiving a passionate kiss.

"Thank you, my handsome fox," she smiled. "Thank you for taking me to see my folks. And thank you for being so wonderful."

He laughed. "You can show your gratitude by coming to bed," he told her, dropping their suitcase by the couch. "I can't sleep without someone to snuggle, and I'd rather not go wake up Sheila."

Jessie laughed and took his paw, then shooed him towards the bedroom. "I'll lock up and set the alarm," she told him.

Kit showed pictures of their trip at work the next day, and even showed them the video Jessie made of them landing at Georgetown. They were all impressed, and he had to field quite a few questions and inquires as to if he could fly them out to South Padre Island or Houston. But the serious part of the day happened after that, when the office was visited by two male furs wearing dark suits.

Kit was working on the questions he was going to as Congressman Smith tomorrow at their interview when they came into his office. One of them was a cat with gray tabbied fur and the other was a badger, and they came in and closed the door. "Kit Vulpan, I'm Sergeant Brown of the Austin Police," the cat said, showing him his badge as he approached his desk. "My partner, Sergeant Wilson."

"APD? What can I do for you?" Kit asked, in a bit of confusion.

"It's about the article you wrote," the badger told him. "The one in your Friday issue."

"What about it?"

"We'd like for you to answer some questions about this femme you called Jane Doe and where she works," the cat told him. "The commissioner of the Austin Police read your article, and he wants to find and shut down the illegal brothel if it's operating in this city."

"I'm sorry, I can't help you," Kit said immediately, quickly forming his thought so he gave away nothing about Allison, not even her gender. "That fur was an anonymous source for a journalism article. I won't reveal anything about him or her, nor will I answer any questions about the article."

"Aren't you interested in helping the femmes that might still be forced to work there?"

"What I want or don't want makes no difference," Kit told them. "I made a promise to keep my source's identity a secret, and I will not break my word. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you anything. It's nothing personal, I assure you."

"Your article said you met her somewhere between here and Atlanta. Is she even in Texas?" the badger asked. "If you tell us that much, we can leave you be and refer the matter to another state."

"I'm sorry, but if I answer one question, you'll expect me to answer other questions. So I'm afraid I will answer no questions about my source or about the article. It's a journalist's right to protect his sources."

"I'm not entirely sure we're willing to take that answer, Mister Vulpan," the cat said. "The DA is already starting an investigation. He may subpoena you."

"Let him, I'll just sit on the stand and repeat what I just told you. Like I said, it's nothing personal, but I cannot help you. Now, in the interests of keeping things cordial and polite, I'll ask that you kindly take your leave and let me get back to work. Because I'm afraid I can't say anything more."

The two officers looked at each other, and the cat nodded. "Thank you for being polite, at least," he said, offering his paw. Kit stood and shook it. "I'm obligated to leave you my card in case you change your mind."

"I understand," he said, taking the officer's card when he offered it. "And thank you for being polite as well. It raises my respect for the Austin police. Have a good day, now."

"We will, thank you. By the way, off the record, I thought it was a damn good article," he smiled.

Kit chuckled. "Thanks," he said.

That was the first indication that the article had caused a reaction. He found out around lunch just how much it did, for Marty was inundated with emails about it. Furs commenting on it, asking questions about it, asking where this femme really was, both emails asking to help Allison and a few crude ones asking to hire her, there were hundreds of emails about it, many of them requests for the magazine to put the article up on their website. Mike had done so, as well as opening a forum on the site so furs could discuss the article on a message board… and boy, did that stress the servers. All those different viewpoints flying around, from religious zealots who denounced Allison to the snarky cheeseballs who were asking for her number to the femme-rights militants who used the article as a springboard to spout rhetoric about how unfair the world was to femmes. Quite a few furs supported Allison, quite a few denounced her, much as Hannah did, unable to look past what she did no matter how logical a decision it was for her. Mike had to go in and moderate it when the messages started becoming flames.

But, the one thing that mattered to Kit was that a great many furs thought it was a very thought-provoking article. It made furs think, it made them take an issue and see it in an entirely new light, from a startling new direction, letting them look inside something dark and unpleasant and see that things were not what they always appeared to be.

And that was one of things journalism was all about.

Rick told him that there wasn't an issue to be found anywhere on campus, and for the first time ever, it had sold out in College Station and San Antonio in the limited news stands where it was sold. But, Rick told him, it wasn't just Kit's article that did it, for Barry's election piece had also generated quite a bit of email traffic.

But what was most flattering to Kit, ten separate magazines and websites had contacted the magazine, looking to lease the right to reprint it. Rick would earn some money by selling those rights, and the magazine and Kit himself would get more visibility because the article would retain his byline and give credit to Lone Star as the original publisher. But, what mattered more to Kit was that Allison's intriguing story would reach more readers.

"It's not just this one," Rick told Kit, who was working on Monday in place of the Friday he took off, as Kit sat in Rick's office and Rick both talked to him and typed on his workstation. "The statewide magazine The Texan asked to lease reprint rights on all the election articles we've done so far and for ones we're gonna do, and I also got an offer from the American Statesman to reprint the articles for a section they're going to do starting next Monday, since we're coming up on the primary. They said we did a lot of their work for them," he grinned.

"Are you going to do it?"

"Sure, they're paying for it," Rick chuckled. "And we keep the byline, so it's also free advertising."

"Well, both of those are good. Does that mean we're getting raises?" Kit asked with a playful grin.

"You wish," Rick growled in reply. "I'm going to reinvest that money."

"Hey cousin," Sheila called from the door. "Wanna do lunch?"

"Sheila, it isn't even ten yet."

"Yeah I know, just lockin' you down," she told him.

"Well, sure then. Where do you wanna go?"

"I got plans," she winked.

"Alright, I'll let you surprise me," he said, then Sheila padded off when Savid called for her. "Okay, now back to this raise," Kit prompted.

Rick laughed. "I'm going to invest that money in the magazine," he repeated. "I'm going to expand our pages per issue, increase our circulation, and I'm thinking of hiring someone with professional photography experience. Lilly and Rick are good, I'll never take that from them, but I'd like someone with some formal training on staff, so they're not always running around taking pictures when they could be doing their normal jobs."

"Sounds good. Where's the extra money coming from?"

"I'm gettin' a hell of a lot more advertising offers," he said. "That's one reason why I'm plannin' on expanding our pages per issue, that's more net revenue. Always before, fillin' those extra pages with viable content was the trick, but that's not hard anymore. Things have really grown here, son. Lilly's started doing some real writing, I have your journals, School Daze, you're a damn good writer on top of researching, Barry's work has become fantastic since you came on and took the researching pressure off of him, and that lets both of you put out a lot more content than before. There's that, and I also want to start both a photo spread and a submitted reader photo page, just random nice shots, as well as a couple of new weekly features I'll be introducing at our next major staff meetin'."

"Which is why you want a staff photographer."

"Yeah. Things are really moving here, son, and I want the magazine to keep pushing the envelope. I want us to be a magazine for school kids that's read by more than just school kids. I want to see expanded circulation, more sale units distributed, and thirty-eight pages per issue as our new target length."

"I've noticed. You're putting Barry on more and more real news, and there's the election special, and Lilly's been pulling some actual writing assignments on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when she'd usually just spend all day dicking around with the Scene page or going out and taking the pictures you need."

Rick nodded. "It's not going to be entirely cheap to expand, but I think we can make it. It's gonna be tight for a few weeks, when our expenses outrun our revenue until it all evens out."

He said it impulsively. "Well, Rick, if you're interested on taking on a partner, I'd be willing to invest," he said. "I work here, after all, if I can't believe we'd turn a profit, I should get another job."

Rick gave him a serious look. "You mean that, son? I thought you were broke."

"Not as broke as I was two weeks ago," he said, then he explained about the bonds. "I have fifteen thousand bucks sitting around waiting for an investment opportunity, at least I will after three months when the CDs mature, and what better opportunity than right here?"

"Son, you and Jessie need to come over for dinner tonight," he said quickly. "Let's sit down and talk about it."

"I'd be happy to. I'll bring over a business plan I wrote up a while ago, and we'll see if my ideas for the magazine come close to yours."

"Bring it. I'd love to see your ideas."

"I keep it in the bottom drawer of my desk," Kit laughed.

"Go get it. I'll look it over and we'll discuss it at dinner tonight."

"Sure."

Sheila's lunch plans were not for an intimate family affair. They went to the Burger King by campus, and as they sat down at a booth, Allison came in. She waved to them, then came over and sat down. "Hey," she said.

"Heya," Sheila smiled. "I brought him."

"Thanks. It's good to see you," she said, shaking his paw.

"How you been? Enjoying the lightened workload?" he asked carefully.

"Yes, school is much easier now that I'm not working," she told him with a light smile. "I saw your article. I liked it very much."

"Thanks," he told her. "I didn't know you knew my cousin."

"Well, she's very interesting," Allison said mildly. "I find her easy to talk to and fun to be with, so we've been palling around since we, ah, met each other last week."

Kit gave Sheila a surprised look, and she nodded with a grin. "We get along well together. Ally rocks," she winked. "Way more fun than you two," she teased.

"I'm, I'm really glad to hear that, Allison, and Jessie will be too. She's really worried about you."

"That's very kind of her. Your wife is very sweet. A little naïve, but very sweet."

"Well, I like her that way," Kit said with a chuckle.

Allison ordered some food, and they had a very nice lunch. Again, they made smalltalk, leaving Allison's article and her history alone since they were in public, but Kit was just glad to see her, and what was more important, overjoyed that she'd found someone to be her friend. Sheila wouldn't care a whit that she was a former stripper and prostitute; in Sheila's eyes, that just made her more fun. Sheila would be a good friend that would push Allison and try to make her have fun, keep her engaged, and help her try to find herself by being someone she could talk to about anything, someone with whom she could be honest without being judged.

After looking at it for a moment, he realized that Sheila was the perfect choice for a friend for Allison. Someone fearless and fun-loving, and someone that knew the truth of her and didn't care a bit. Sheila would reintroduce Allison to the world, slowly integrate her into her circle of friends, which were also Jessie and his friends, and slowly wear down the protective shell she kept around herself until she could break out of it and be her own femme. He realized that Allison would slowly become part of the circle of furs that were their friends… and he didn't mind at all.

Chapter 23