Chapter 14

The ramifications of Sheila's talking to reporters wasn't felt by Kit and Jessie until Thursday, when the dress people came back to Austin to do the final fitting.

They brought a copy of the Boston Globe with the story in it with them, and while Kit tried on his tuxedo, the two foxes asked him all about everything. It was a little surprising how much they knew, and when he finally asked them how they knew all that, if Vil had told them, one of the vixens gave him the Tuesday newspaper to read, but asked to get it back.

The headline read Vulpans Comment on Lawsuit, and there were pictures of four of them in a square by the article. In the top boxes were himself and Vil, but in the bottom two were Cybil and Sheila, all of them obviously old file photographs. Much of the article read almost exactly as Sheila had described when she told him what she told the reporter. It stated that Kit was not an active part of the suit and really had no desire to be involved with it, which was news to most Bostonians. It explained the lawsuit and the players in it, and how the entire family was embroiled in a bitter fight over control of the Vulpan fortune. Vilenne was trying to wrest the fortune away from her aunts and uncles using Kit as a tool and an old will. Cybil was trying to take the fortune for herself using spousal rights and an attempt to declare Kitstrom Lucas Vulpan Junior as unsound when he made the will that disowned Kit. The uncles and aunts were fighting both of them to retain the current will, where the fortune was divided up evenly between the six surviving brothers and sisters of the deceased patriarch. It was an almost a soap opera, a delicious tale of greed and conniving where the Vulpans fought like a pack of wild dogs over scraps thrown from the table, and the whole city of Boston stepped back to watch their royal family act like anything but the social paragons they pretended to be.

Sheila got her digs in as well:

When asked why she had moved to Austin and had left Harvard University, Miss Vulpan answered "It's not safe in Boston. Someone tried to kill me, and while I can't prove it, I'm pointing my finger at Cybil. I overheard her talking to one of her lawyers the day I had to give my deposition, and not two days later, someone tries to shoot me on the street. Well, with all the craziness going on about the will and the lawsuit, I'm not going to assume it was a coincidence until it's proved that it was. After someone tried to kill , put a lot of protection down here for him to make sure nobody tries again. Since someone's trying to kill me, I felt this was the safest place to be. Kit wasn't that happy to see me, but he could tell I was frightened, and he's allowed me to move in down here until I feel safe enough to go home."
When asked about what she overheard, she replied, "from what I heard, they were planning on doing something to Kit, almost like they were planning to kill him, you know, get rid of the focus of Vil's case, since her case is trying to make Kit the executor of his dad's estate. Cybil saw me at the door, and like I said, two days later someone tried to shoot me. The police said that's not enough to go on to arrest her, and my family doesn't believe me, so I came , because it's safe here."
When asked about the contradiction in information concerning Kitstrom Vulpan III's part of the case, she explained the situation far better than the legal briefs released to the press. "It's really easy. Vil's using the original will that my uncle had before he went crazy and started trying to destroy Kit's life. In that will, Kit's the heir, so if Vil wins it un-disowns Kit. Kit doesn't have anything to do with it. He washed his paws of all of us years ago, and he doesn't want the money. But after Cybil made this grab at money she has no right claiming, I think Vil retaliated with this countersuit to block her, and using the original will was the only option she had to undercut Cybil. If you look at the cases, if Cybil proves her case, it actually proves Vil's case, and it makes her lose anyway because the children have much more of a claim on their father's fortune than a wife that signed a prenuptial agreement before they got married and was only married for like a year."
Sheila Vance Vulpan's observation is widely believed to be an accurate observation by many legal professionals. Dennis Withers of Harvard Law School…"

"Well, at least the reporter didn't get too exotic," Kit grunted as he stopped reading the article.

"So it's right? You really don't want the money?" the vixen asked as she had him raise his arms.

"Nope. I've been a normal fur for years now. I don't want to go back to that life. I'm quite happy here."

"Well, they always say that you have to do what makes you happy and go where your heart leads you," the vixen said with a smile at him.

"True enough. Say, you could do me a favor and answer a question."

"What is that?"

"Is Jessie's dress pretty?" he asked.

She laughed. "Oh, no, I'm not wandering out into that minefield. You'll find out on your wedding day, sir," she grinned.

"Well, I brought a camera with me…"

"No!" Both vixens said in unison, which made him laugh.

The clothes were made more or less perfectly, and Kit didn't need another fitting. His tux was bagged for him and left for him to take home. Jessie's dress, however, needed a couple of minor alterations, so the tailoring crew was going to stay overnight and complete her dress, and deliver it to her tomorrow. Jessie had already arranged things for the wedding. The day before, she was going to go over to Rick's house and stay the night, and that was where she'd get ready for the wedding so they wouldn't see each other on their wedding day before the ceremony, as was tradition. She'd take her dress to Rick's house, and there it would stay, hidden from Kit, until the day of the wedding.

When they got home, they started a period of unwilling separation. Jessie's finals were coming up in two weeks, and she had a ten page paper to write for her English Lit class as her final, and that required her to get to work on it. Kit gave her quiet and space to get ready for finals, surrendering the den to her and staying in the living room, cooking for her, and making sure she had nothing to worry about. Kit was almost like her butler for that time, doing all the housework, doing the cooking, making sure she had nothing distracting her from her schoolwork.

There were interruptions, to be sure. Sam and Sandy dropped by every couple of days to vent the pressure from their own finals by catching up with Jessie, and Sheila stopped by almost every day. Kit was helping Martha teach her how to cook, and she was often helping to cook three or four meals a day. She'd go to Rick's house during lunch and get a cooking lesson, then bring the result back to Rick for him to eat. Then she'd go back over and help Martha cook dinner, then come home and help Kit cook dinner, then go home and try her own paw at cooking in her own kitchen, which, if it turned out to be edible, she'd throw in a container and give to Kit for him to eat the next day.

Kit was surprised. Sheila was fascinated by cooking. She enjoyed doing it, and she was learning very, very fast, because it turned out that Martha taught her the basics of reading a cookbook, and she was good at following the directions either Martha or the cookbook gave her. Sometimes her food didn't look quite right, or it was a little burned, but she had the basic idea of it and her cooking wasn't poisonous.

The other main interruption was the wedding. Jessie was disturbed from her finals preparation by it a few times. On the fifth, the week before finals, they had to go have their blood test, and then the day after, they picked up the passing results and went down to the courthouse and got their marriage license. The next stop was the Department of Public Safety, Texas' version of the DMV, where Jessie spent two hours waiting in lines. But the end result pleased her to no end, for they walked out of there with her new license. There, next to her bright, glowing smiling picture, was her name.

Jessica Desdemona Vulpan.

"Well, I guess I can just call you Misses Vulpan now," Kit teased lightly as she held the license out before them.

"Not quite yet you can't, Mister Vulpan," she grinned in reply. "There's still that pesky ceremony to go do, you know."

"You're not married yet and you changed your name?" the badger behind the counter asked.

"It's legal," Jessie told him. "I just needed my marriage license."

"Yeah, I know it's legal, but most wait until after the ceremony."

"Well, I'm just making sure he can't get away," Jessie told him, giving Kit a teasing look. "This is concrete commitment," she declared, holding up her new license.

"I'm doomed," Kit said with mock resignation, and he laughed when Jessie whacked him with a sheaf of paperwork that was sitting on the counter.

Jessie split her time between classes, studying for finals, and the wedding after that. The license was a floodgate of activity for them. Jessie was on the phone every night with Vil as they made sure they had everything covered and everyone would do what they had to do. She got her school I.D. changed to her new name, finalized their wedding cake at the caterer that was doing the reception, confirming the style of cake they wanted and ensuring it would be ready for their reception, then they had their first meeting with Monsignor Duke at the church. Jessie gave the monsignor their scripted ceremony, which was actually a very simple and straightforward affair, a very traditional marriage. They toured the large, modern Catholic church, as Jessie described where all the decorations would go, and they talked about the mechanics of the ceremony, from the anterooms were Kit and Jessie would wait to which direction they'd go after the ceremony was over, since the front of the church was right on the street and their parking lot was actually behind it.

"We can go out the front door then just go around the building," Jessie offered. "It's tradition to go back down the aisle after the ceremony, you know."

"Oh, did you bring a copy of your marriage license?" the large bear priest asked. "I do need it for our records. Have to prove it was a legal ceremony, after all," he smiled.

"I have one out in my car, father," Kit told him.

"Very good. I'll send off the wedding form to the state after the ceremony, and they'll send you the updated license that shows the date and location of your wedding by mail."

"Texas has a weird system," Kit chuckled. "You have to have a license before you get married, then you have to get a new license after you get married."

"Well, it's the only real way to do it, son," the priest chuckled. "We can't marry you until you prove the state approves of it, but the state also needs proof you actually had the ceremony and got married. So they use the two-tiered system."

"Yeah, they explained all that over at the courthouse," Jessie told him as she stepped up on the dais, looking down at her feet, then looked around. "Oooh, I'm getting tingles," she giggled. "Twelve days, Kit. Twelve days and we stand up here for real. I can't wait!"

"Me either," he said, giving her a loving smile from the aisle.

"Now, you said that you wish a more secular wedding?" he asked.

"Yeah, father," Kit answered. "Jessie's Baptist, and her parents are kinda touchy. So we don't want a Catholic wedding. But my mother always wanted me to marry in a Catholic cathedral, and my family's Catholic, so we compromised."

"Well, it'll go against my training, but I think I can make it a generic ceremony," he smiled gently. "So, when was the last time you went to confession, my son? Have you been attending mass?"

Kit laughed. "I'm a CINO, father. Catholic In Name Only."

He tutted. "You shouldn't ignore your spiritual well being, my son. God is forgiving, but it's always best not to tempt fate, as it were."

Jessie laughed, but the monsignor was ready for her. "And when was the last time you went to church, young lady? Just because you're not Catholic, don't think for a moment I don't worry for your own soul too. Even if you don't follow our brand of Christianity, you are a Christian, and you should be attending to your soul's needs."

Jessie's cheeks ruffled. "Well…"

"I thought so," the father grinned. "Now, since you're holding your ceremony in my church, I have a request. I want you to attend Sunday mass before your ceremony, just once. It always makes me feel better to know I'm marrying a couple who come with the light of the Lord still shining upon them."

"Well, I haven't been to a mass since I was sixteen, but… but I guess I can do that," he acquiesced.

"I've never been to a mass before," Jessie said shyly. "I don't know any Latin. I won't know what to do."

"We don't do mass in Latin anymore, child," the father chuckled. "Just sit in the back and watch, that way the only one who sees you is me, and I won't say anything if you don't sit or stand at the right time," he winked. "I think you'll be quite surprised. Most people who aren't Catholic are quite moved by a mass when they attend one."

"Well, I guess I can. Just don't tell my parents. They'll have a conniption."

Monsignor Duke laughed. "A priest keeps many secrets, child. I'm sure I can carry yours."

Kit lost track of Jessie after their meeting in the church, for finals started on Monday, and she was very, very busy. He gave her her space, spent much of the time hanging out with Lupe or Sheila, who had, in the short time she'd already been in Austin, gone out with three guys and had sex with two of them, including the football player from U.T. Despite not going clubbing, she found ways to be herself, and it proved that you could take Sheila out of the Party Pack, but you couldn't take the Party Pack out of Sheila. Kit really couldn't say much about it. Sheila was an adult, and had the right to do whatever she wanted. But her talking about her sexual conquests while sitting on his couch drinking his wine wasn't one of his favorite ways to pass the time.

"Sheesh, Kit, it's not like you're a virgin," she protested when he took her to task about it.

"I never said stop, Sheila, just don't harp about it when you come visit," he snorted. "I don't need to know how many guys you're sleeping with."

"What fun is it to do it when you can't talk about it?" she grinned.

"Then go down to Jessie's sorority and tell them all about it."

"Hmm, that's an idea," she said with a naughty smile. "I've been meaning to ask to go over there anyway. I like Sandy and Sam, I'd like to meet the other girls they talk about." She dug her phone out of her pocket and dialed a number. "Sandy? It's Sheila. Hey, I'm a little bored, and I'd like to come down and meet your sorority sisters. Yeah, Jessie's busy studying for finals, and it's not much fun talking with Kit about girl things," she said, giving him a teasing grin. "Yah, I know you have finals too, but–okay. Sure, I'll be down in a few minutes."

She closed her phone and gave him a smug look. "I'll see you later, cousin. I'm gonna go talk to girls who care about my sex life."

"They'll be overjoyed," Kit said dryly.

It did, however, solve another problem. Sheila needed friends to talk to, and since she only knew Kit and Jessie, it didn't give her many options. After going down to the sorority, however, Sheila suddenly had a whole house full of other girls that she got along with almost immediately. Sheila was over there most of the afternoon, and came back well after dark all bubbly and happy. "I had a great time!" she said happily. "Jessie's friends are awesome!"

"I'm so glad you think so!" Jessie called from the kitchen.

"What are you doing, Jessie?" she asked as she flopped down on the couch.

"Cooking, silly!" she answered. "I've missed it, and I'm a little tense, so I'm doing a little cooking to relax."

"Oooh, what are you cooking?"

"I'm baking some cookies I'm gonna take over to the girls tomorrow," she answered.

"I don't smell any cookies."

"I just started, silly," she laughed. "Come on, I'll show you how to do it."

"You bet!"

Jessie taught Sheila the basics of baking while Kit knocked out the last bits of research for one of the major objectives of Project A, and was ready to start on the next project tomorrow. He had to get it all done before the wedding, because the gang had graciously given him nearly two weeks off for his marriage and honeymoon and Christmas. His last day at work before his vacation was Wednesday the sixteenth, because Rick figured he might need the day before the ceremony off to handle any possible last-minute problems that might arise, and also because Vil would be coming in that day… not that much work would get done at the magazine either. Rick already planned to have the issue put to bed on Wednesday instead of Thursday, and Friday they'd all be at the wedding, which was like an office-wide holiday. Barry and Lilly both already planned to do articles on the wedding, and Mike and Lilly had their cameras all charged up and ready for the event. He had the time off for four days of honeymoon in Florida, arriving on Saturday morning after a detour to Boston and leaving again on Wednesday morning, then they'd go straight to Cincinnati for Christmas with Jessie's family. That would give them all of Christmas Eve and Christmas to be with Jessie's family, and then they'd come home on Saturday afternoon after Christmas. Kit's normal days off were Sunday and Monday, so he'd be back to work on Tuesday the twenty-ninth.

Jessie had it easier. After finals were over, she would be free, and she'd be the one running around like a maniac to make sure all of Vil's plans were executed. She already had a binder full of phone numbers from different companies, florists, the photographers, everyone Vil hired for the wedding, and she'd already started making calls and confirming, double-checking things, making sure everything would be ready on time.

That wasn't until Thursday, though. Jessie had two finals on Monday, one on Wednesday, and one on Thursday.

Kit leaned back and went through some printed material about voting, some work he'd brought home with him, when the doorbell rang. "It's open!" he shouted without looking up, shuffling through the papers in his paw looking for the one that explained how the electoral college worked.

"How… quaint."

Kit jumped up to his feet so fast that papers flew all over the living room, and Sheila gasped in the kitchen, and the sound of breaking crockery followed that sound.

Standing in the doorway, wearing her typical pantsuit, was Sheila's mother and his aunt, Sarah Vulpan.

She looked much as he remembered. Sarah was a short, slender, aloof woman with a mask-like beauty, but she had a very unfriendly demeanor to most people. She didn't show emotion very often, much like his father had been, but she did have emotion. She had been close to his father, and he'd seen her compassionate side… but after he began fighting with his father, Sarah sided against him to try to rein him in and restore order to the house, and he'd had a very rough relationship with her since then.

"Sarah!" Kit barked in shock and almost instant anger. What on earth was she doing here? Did she come to get Sheila, or was there some other motive for her to fly halfway across the country? "What are you doing here?"

"Well, since you have my daughter, I think that's a question you just answered," she said as she stepped into the apartment. "Is she here?"

There was nothing but silence from the kitchen.

"What do you want her for?"

"To put an end to this nonsense," she said with a sniff. "Usually, just letting her run away is the best course of action. She always comes back. But this time she's latched onto you, and it's apparent she has no intention of returning anytime soon. I've come to take her home."

"Home? I'm not going anywhere near Boston while she's there!" Sheila shouted angrily as she came storming out of the kitchen. "She tried to kill me!"

"That's just a child's fantasy," Sarah said coldly. "Cybil may be a greedy bitch, but it's utter fantasy to think she may have tried to kill you. There's no earthly reason to hide down here. So let's go gather what things you may want to keep and go home."

"I am not going home!" she shouted hotly. "I don't care what you think about it, mother, I know what I heard, and I know what happened! Someone tried to kill me! Doesn't that matter to you? Don't you care?"

"It was a random mugging, you silly girl," Sarah told her in a commanding tone. "For which you should be grateful you weren't hurt! Now let's go back to your hotel. Higgins said he–"

"Why won't you listen to me!" Sheila screamed.

"Because you're not worth listening to," Sarah said coldly. "Not while you act like a stupid child!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Jessie said in outrage, stomping out of the kitchen. "How dare you speak to your daughter like that! No wonder she came running down here to Kit. He may not believe what she says, but at least he cares what she thinks!"

"Who are you, little girl, and by what right do you address me in such a manner?" Sarah asked in a dangerous tone.

"That's my fiancée you're about to threaten, Sarah. You'd better think very carefully before you say it," Kit said in a cold, dangerous manner, balling up both his fists.

"Fiancée? Her? My God, they weren't kidding! You really are going to marry a, a, a cat! Have you lost your mind?"

Jessie had to move very fast. Kit was already around the coffee table by the time she realized what he was going to do, and she was there with her paws outstretched, standing between them. "Kit, no!" she barked commandingly. "If you hit her and get thrown in jail before our wedding, I won't ever forgive you!"

"Hit me? I think not," Sarah scoffed, slapping Jessie's paw off her shoulder.

"He was one step from it," Jessie told her with a surprisingly calm voice, her eyes steady.

"You bet your ass I was," Kit growled, taking a step back from her. "Now get out of my house!"

"I think you need to leave," Jessie agreed, in a surprisingly cold voice that made Kit very proud. By God, she wasn't afraid of his family at all! What a femme!

"I will do no such thing," Sarah snapped. "I won't be ordered around by children!"

"You are standing in my house, Sarah," Kit hissed in a voice that almost sounded like nails on a chalkboard. "In under a minute, you've insulted me, insulted Jessie, insulted Sheila, and now you're making demands? Why don't you get off of yourself and look around. This isn't Boston, and your name and your money don't mean shit here," he sneered. "Now, you can walk out of that door, or I'll throw you out. Then I'll call the cops and have you arrested for trespassing. Take your pick."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me."

It hung there for a long moment, as Sarah's eyes seemed to weigh the situation. Then she sighed darkly and stepped back to the door. "This is not over, girl," she said, pointing at Sheila. "We'll talk again very soon, you mark my words."

"Why don't you try talking to her instead of ordering her around!" Jessie erupted on Sarah, no doubt speaking something she'd been holding back. "She's your daughter, for Christ sake! If my mom talked to me the way you talked to her, I'd slap her!"

"You have no idea what you're talking about, cat," Sarah sneered.

"Do I? You treat your daughter like she's a servant!" she raged at the older vixen. "You don't listen to her, you don't respect her, you insult her and denigrate her, no wonder she acts out against you! If you were my mom, I'd be getting bombed every night and sleeping with any guy with a pulse too! At least that would make the pain go away!"

"Jessie–" Sheila called, but Kit put an arm up to stop her as she rushed forward.

"Let her go," Kit said as Sarah backed up against the door in the face of Jessie's advance.

"You know why she came down here? Because she had nowhere else to go because you wouldn't even pretend to care that she was afraid!" Jessie shouted at her. "Kit's a better fox than your entire family put together! He took in a member of the same family that abandoned him when she needed his help, which is something you would never do! Does Kit believe her story? No, he doesn't. But at least he sees that she's really scared, so he's at least trying to do good by her by trying to make her feel safe and protected! Did you do that? Did you see that she's terrified and try to comfort her? Did you try to assure her she was wrong without treating her like a baby, or did you just tell her what you wanted her to do despite the fact that she was afraid?"

"It was preposterous–"

"THAT DIDN'T MATTER!" Jessie shouted at her, which made her flinch. "The only thing that matters is you didn't see that no matter what you believe, what you believe wasn't what really mattered, it was what she believed! All you had to do to avoid all this was say 'I don't think you're right, but why don't we do something so you feel safe?' But you didn't even do that!"

"You have room to talk, cat, telling me to treat her like an adult, but coddle her like a child, in the same sanctimonious declaration," Sarah told her with narrow eyes.

"Isn't that your job as a mother?" Jessie snapped. "To make her feel like an adult, but be there to comfort her when she needs it?"

"She needs to grow up," Sarah said coldly. "And so long as she acts like a child, I'll treat her as one."

"Then she has no chance!" Jessie said in exasperation. "The one time she did act like an adult, when she came to you with her worries, you treated her like a child!"

"That was the act of a child, a frightened little girl too stupid to see the truth."

"You know, when you call your kids stupid long enough, eventually they'll believe it themselves," Jessie said curtly, putting her paws on her hips and squaring off against the smaller vixen. "How can she ever prove she's an adult when all you ever do is denigrate her?"

"I'll not be lectured by a child of a cat in how to be a parent when it's clear you have no idea what you're talking about," Sarah said coldly.

"Then you can leave any time you like," Jessie hissed, her ears laying back.

"I will be staying at the Armitage," she declared in a cold voice. "So don't for a moment believe that I'll be leaving without you, Sheila. One way or another, when I fly home, you will be going with me."

"Not so long as that English bitch is in Boston I won't," Sheila retorted.

"We shall see, girl. We shall see."

She opened the door and swept out as if she owned the place, but she did slam the door as hard as she could.

Jessie turned around, and her paws were trembling, but her expression was a little defiant. "That's my pretty kitty," Kit said with absolute pride, giving her a warm hug. Sheila took in a ragged breath, then slammed into both of them. Kit and Jessie put their arms around her, comforting her, and she clung to them for a long moment. "Now you see what I put up with when I was a kid?" she said raggedly, trying hard not to cry. "Sometimes I think she'll never take me seriously."

"Well, you don't exactly help with your clubbing and shenanigans," Kit said honestly. "But as a former wild child myself, I can say I know exactly how you feel, and why you do it."

She gave him a long, earnest look, then she did break down into tears, clutching at them. "You're too good to me, Kit," she sniffled. "Even after I abandoned you, you still helped me. I can't thank you enough for that, ever."

"At least you never set fire to your mom's car," Kit told her, which made her laugh. "Now then, let's take care of your mother," he offered.

"Huh? How?"

"Silly cousin, this is my city," Kit told her with a chuckle. "Or more to the point, it's Vil's. I think it's about time for Aunt Sarah to get an ugly lesson in just who's in control down here." He patted Sheila on the shoulder and let go of her, then went to the bedroom and got his phone. He called Vil, who picked up on the first ring. "Vil."

"Hey, baby bro. What's up?"

"We just got a visit from Aunt Sarah," he announced as he went back to the living room.

"What?"

"She came down in person to get Sheila. Can you do something about her? She was very, rude."

"You bet your tail I'll do something about her," Vil said in an ugly tone. "I specifically warned them to leave you alone, and bothering you is bothering you, no matter what excuse they have for it. Let me make a few calls. I guarantee you, Sarah will be back in Boston by tomorrow morning."

"Thanks, sis. You're a lifesaver."

"No problem, bro. Let me get on this. Call you tomorrow, okay?"

"I'll be looking for it." He closed the phone and looked at Jessie and Sheila, who were still in an embrace as Jessie comforted the young vixen. "Vil said your mother will be back in Boston by morning," he told Sheila.

"Thank God!" Sheila exclaimed.

"How's she gonna do that?" Jessie asked.

"You don't want to know, pretty kitty. You really don't."


Vil was as good as her word.

By ten o'clock the next morning, Aunt Sarah was back in Boston.

Kit didn't know how Vil did it exactly, but whatever she did, it worked. Sarah was on a seven o'clock flight out of the city, and Sheila wasn't with her. Sarah made no other attempt to talk to Sheila after she left their apartment, but the visit had spooked Sheila so badly that she stayed over at their apartment and slept on the couch. That was something of a shock for Kit the next morning, because they both forgot she was there. Kit heard someone come into the bathroom while he was in the shower, and he turned off the water and threw the curtain back before looking… and found himself staring down at Sheila as she sat on the toilet, wearing a black tank top with one strap hanging down to her elbow and her panties around her ankles.

At least he didn't react like a little kid. He just calmly picked up his towel and wrapped it around himself, which made her laugh. "Sorry about that, I thought you knew I was here," she apologized.

"I thought you were Jessie," he told her, stepping out of the tub.

Jessie just added to it when she meandered to the bathroom door, naked as the day she was born. It was an increasing habit of hers as she settled into the apartment. When she first moved in, she wouldn't set foot out of the bedroom without a towel around herself, but as she got more and more comfortable in the house and with him, comfortable with the idea that the entire house was her personal, private domain, her willingness to leave the bedroom naked and take the six steps required to reach the bathroom from the bedroom door increased. She took no notice of Kit at all, but she gasped when she stepped into the bathroom and found Sheila already sitting on the toilet, ducking back out and peeking in from around the doorframe, using it to conceal herself. "Ohmygod, I'm sooooo sorry!" Jessie gasped, then she blinked and took in the situation, realized Kit was in there with her. "Hey!"

"My fault," Sheila laughed. "He thought I was you. And pardon me if I don't get up, or I'll be showing him what you just showed me."

Jessie's face frizzed out, and she laughed ruefully. "I shouldn't be so embarrassed. You're a girl!"

"Dear God I hope so," Sheila grinned outrageously. "Cause what Kit showed me when he got out of the shower doesn't match what I have down here at all!" she laughed, pointing to her lap.

"Flashing your own cousin? Shame on you!" Jessie laughed.

"I thought she was you," Kit grunted as he edged around Sheila's legs in the small bathroom and got out into the hall. He stopped and looked back, saw Jessie still hiding behind the doorframe as she started talking to Sheila, not seeming to realize that she was hiding yet she seemed to have no qualms about looking at Sheila… not that Sheila would care. Sheila would have no qualms about walking around naked in front of both of them, because Kit was her cousin and Jessie was her friend. Sheila was like that. There was that, and her bare bottom was both a beautiful and inviting target. He took off his towel, snaked it, then snapped it at that pretty posterior. Jessie squeaked in surprise and pain, jumping out into the doorway with both paws on her bottom, and she whirled around and glared at him. "You creep!" she accused as he laughed and ducked into the bedroom and moved to close the door. She charged at him and got to the door before he could close it, and tackled him as he tried to run away, driving him onto the bed. He laughed helplessly as she grabbed a pillow and straddled his back, beating him with it, covering his head with his arms and kicking at the mattress.

"What the hell's going on?" Sheila asked from the doorway.

"He snapped me with his towel!" Jessie told her, wailing on him with the pillow. "You sneak!"

"Does she beat you up like this often, cousin?"

"Yes!" Kit gasped for breath between gales of laughter. "I give, I give, I give!" he surrendered, putting his arms out. Jessie whacked him in the back of his unprotected head with the pillow one more time, then she gasped and laughed helplessly. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw she had the pillow pulled up against her chest, because Sheila was standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe in her tank top and panties.

"What's wrong with you, Jessie?" she asked.

"If you didn't notice, I'm naked, Jessie's naked, and we're not used to having an audience," Kit answered for her.

"That's the truth!" Jessie laughed nervously.

"Well, I can either go get dressed or meet you on your level," Sheila teased. "Unlike you two, I'm not afraid to show off what God graced me with."

"Go get dressed, you exhibitionist brat!" Kit told her. Laughing, Sheila went back to the living room to get her clothes. "Uh, can I get up now, love?"

"Let me think about that. No," she answered, leaning down to where her muzzle was by his ear.

"I do have to go to work. And you have school in an hour."

"I haven't decided how to punish you quite yet," she said archly, putting her paws on his shoulders to hold him down when he moved to rise up off the bed.

"I'm getting the bed wet."

"It'll dry off."

"Your leg's on my tail."

"It won't break."

"Uhhh, so, now what?"

"Now you think very quickly how to deflect my wrath," she told him quietly in his ear.

He laughed. "I'll just give you puppy-dog eyes until you forgive me."

"Oh, that's not going to work this time, baby," she breathed in his ear. He felt her take her weight off of him, and thought she was letting him up. But then he yelped when she slapped him on the backside, and she was not gentle. She literally spanked him, the first time in his entire life anyone had ever spanked him, and it wasn't entirely pleasant, even though he was laughing through most of it. "And you call your cousin a brat, you brat! Now get dressed!"

"Yes, mommy," he wheezed, scrambling across the bed. Jessie kept her stern demeanor up until he scampered to the fur dryer with both paws on his posterior to protect it from her, which made her burst into laughter.

Kit dressed and found Sheila and Jessie sitting on the couch having tea when he came into the front part of the apartment. Sheila hadn't dressed yet, and Jessie had put on one of her droopy nightshirts. "You two have a great relationship," he heard Sheila say as he went to the kitchen. "You play like kids, but nobody can look at you and not see the love there."

"We're made for each other," Jessie said with a giggle. "We've only known each other for almost four months, but it's like we've been together all our lives. When I went back home over Thanksgiving, I didn't know what to do with myself when we were apart. I couldn't even sleep."

"So you just jumped right into bed?"

Jessie laughed. "Oh no, that took a while," she admitted. "I had to make sure he was ready."

"Him? Usually it's the girl."

"I had to make sure there was just me and him," she told her. "When we first met, he was still terrified of your family. I had to coax him into declaring independence before I could deepen our relationship. I had to know he was coming to me his own fur, without strings tying him to the family that might pull him away from me."

"Ah. I can understand that. No doubt he'd get pretty torn up between those strings and your claws."

She laughed. "You see the points," she grinned, holding up her paws and showing Sheila her small yet sharp little claws. "I would have dug in and refused to let go."

"I'm glad you would," he said with a smile as he came out of the kitchen with a cup of tea.

"So, she let you out of your room, eh? I thought she was going to ground you there for a minute," Sheila grinned.

"She spanked me," he said sourly, rubbing his backside with his free paw, which made Sheila explode into laughter.

"You deserved it," she told him archly, but she was grinning at him.

"Eh, so I did," he chuckled. "I think I got a little too enthusiastic there. I think Sheila brings out the worst in me."

"Don't blame that on me!" Sheila protested.

"Your brattiness is contagious," Kit winked.

"Pft, what you call brattiness, I call taking what you want when you want because you can," she grinned. "If that makes me a brat, then I'm a brat. Guilty as charged," she giggled.

"I wish I could be brave like you, Sheila," Jessie laughed.

"Oh, I dunno, beating up your fiancée in front of his cousin while you're naked is fairly brave," she noted, which made Jessie's face poof out and caused Kit to laugh.

"You'd better get a shower, hon," Kit urged. "And you'd better get dressed, cousin, we have work in half an hour."

"Lemme run over to my place and get dressed. I'll drive myself in," she told him as she grabbed her jeans from the floor and started pulling them on.

"Works for me. I'm gonna go ahead and go," he said, leaning over the couch and kissing Jessie on the cheek. "Do me a favor, cousin."

"Yeah?"

"Pick up some bagels or donuts or something on the way in."

"Get it yourself!" she said indignantly.

"You're the intern. Grab a box and bring it in, the gang'll love you for it."

"Oh, well, that's okay then. I miss The Teacup," she sighed.

"What's that?"

"A little tea and pastry shop near Harvard," she answered. "They had the best tea there, and all kinds of great pastries." She pointed at the teacup on the coffee table. "Way better than that."

"This isn't tea country, cousin. You take what you can get."

"They gotta have something better. I need to go check out the grocery stores."

"They do, but it's expensive down here," Kit told her.

"So what? I'll pay through the nose for a good cup of tea."

"Hell, if you're willing to pay, get me some," Kit teased.

"Why don't you kiss my furry ass?" she retorted tartly. She turn turned her back to him and presented her panty-clad backside, sticking her tail straight up. "You want a road map, or did Jessie at least teach you where to go? Want me to pull my panties down so you don't get that silky aftertaste?" she added, hooking her thumbs into the waist of her panties, then deliberately pulling them down, mooning him.

Kit laughed. "Now that's the Sheila I remember from home," he grinned, then he hurried out the door.

"Hey, everyone else showed me their asses today, it was only fair you got to see mine," she teased, pulling her panties and jeans up as Kit laughed his way out the door.


The visit from Sarah was smoothed over and basically forgotten in the whirlwind of activity leading up to the wedding, a whirlwind that caught Sheila up with it.

Kit kept mothering Jessie through her finals preparation, and got help from Sheila to boot. Sheila helped him cook all week after coming back from Rick and Martha's, and on Friday, Sheila took Jessie, Sam, and Sandy out clubbing to help them relax. Kit settled in at home, at least until Lupe came over and told him to keep next Saturday night clear, because they were going to his bachelor party. Kit had honestly never thought about that, but clearly others had been.

"Well, I think I can handle that," Kit told him.

"Oh, brah, have we got something special in store for you!" the chihuahua laughed. "You're gonna love it!"

"I'd better, it will be a party, after all," Kit grinned. "But tell Mickey that strip poker is absolutely out of the question."

Lupe broke down laughing, pounding on the back of the couch with his paw.

Jessie and Sheila showed up at home around three in the morning, and they were totally smashed. It startled Kit awake because Jessie didn't turn off the alarm, and Kit had to get that off before ADT sent the police automatically. Sheila tried to get Kit to go back out with them, but she passed out in the dining room while trying to find her way to the kitchen to get some wine. Jessie just swayed in place near the door, her eyes unfocused and jittery, as her tail twitched behind her.

"I don't believe it," Kit breathed reverently. "Jessie, you drank Sheila under the table. I'm shocked!"

"Who is Sheila?" Jessie asked disjointedly, then she literally passed out where she stood.

Kit didn't get much more sleep. He put Jessie to bed and put Sheila on the couch, then had to help Jessie endure the inevitable effect of someone like her drinking so much so fast… nausea. He helped her to the bathroom so she could kneel in front of the toilet for a while, then carried her back to bed and tucked her in. Kit napped a bit, but when the loud sound of Sheila retching in the bathroom woke him up, he gave up trying to sleep and got up and went into the den. "Hey," Sheila said raggedly from the doorway. He glanced back at her and saw that she was half dressed, in her bra and panties, and that wasn't how he left her. "Sorry about the noise."

"You're coherent," he noted lightly. "I wasn't sure you'd be able to form sentences until sometime tomorrow. I had to scrape you off the dining room floor."

She grunted sourly. "I'm gonna have one hell of a hangover in the morning," she admitted, putting a paw to her head. "I never shoulda tried those Jäger bombs."

"Sheila, Jessie out-drank you. You're slipping."

"I had about ten times more than she did. She got that bombed off just two daiquiris and a screwdriver. You need to toughen her up, Kit. She's a lightweight."

Kit chuckled. "Did Sam and Sandy get home alright?"

"Sam was the designated driver, so I'm sure they did," she answered.

"I'm glad you thought ahead."

"Sam did," she said, then she gave a slight moan, then put her paw over her mouth. "Sczzmfh," she gurgled, then ran for the bathroom again.

Kit had to tend a pair of very hung over ladies the next morning. He called Rick and told him he'd have to come in late, and when he explained why, Rick just laughed and told him to take his time. Jessie didn't even get out of bed until after ten, and Sheila laid on the couch with a rag over her eyes all morning. When Jessie did appear, she was a mess. Her hair was wildly askew, going off in every direction, wearing a nightshirt and a pair of panties. She clung to the wall for support, squinting through bloodshot eyes. "Kit?" she asked weakly. "Am I dying? Please tell me I'm dying. I don't think any fur could live through this."

"Welcome to the morning after," Sheila groaned from the couch.

Jessie winced. "Don't shout!" she admonished, which made her wince from the sound of her own voice.

Kit collected her up and helped her over to the table, then sat her down and handed her a cup of tea. She took it in shaking paws, but didn't raise it to her lips. "I'm gonna throw up if I drink this," she warned. "I might throw up anyway."

"Trust me. People who drink like the Vulpans know how to nurse through a hangover. Small sips, love. Very small sips."

She raised the cup to her maw with trembling paws and took a very small sip of the tea, then put it down, pushed it away, and sank her head to the table. "I'm dying!" she moaned, her tail trembling.

"You just learned the first rule, love," Kit told her. "Never try to out-drink a Vulpan."

"She did this to me!" Jessie accused, her head coming up and pointing at the couch. "I'm gonna kill you if this doesn't kill, me, Sheila! I swear I will!"

"If my head doesn't stop pounding, I'll gladly let you take it off," Sheila grunted from the couch. "She wasn't the one I had to out-drink. That little chinchilla was a freakin' monster," she groaned. "I've never seen someone so small drink so much and still be able to dance, let alone walk!"

Kit just had to laugh. "So, spurred on by some twisted sense of pride, eh?"

"I thought I could put any femme under the table," Sheila groaned, putting her arm over her eyes. "How the hell did Sandy do it?"

"Odds are, Sandy's probably in about the same position you two are," Kit chuckled. "Ones like her don't get hit until after she slows down."

"I hope she spent all night with her face in the toilet," Sheila said spitefully. "I hope she drowned in the damn commode!"

"Such hate," Kit chuckled. "Come get some honeyed tea, cousin."

"If I can get there without falling down," she said, dragging herself up to a sitting position.

"You have to work today, don't you?"

"No, I have the same hours as Rick," she answered as she wobbled over to the table and collapsed into a chair. Kit made some honeyed tea for her and put it in front of her, and she took an unsteady sip and then buried her face in her paws. "Aspirin!"

"After you finish the tea."

Once they had something stable in their stomachs, he banished both of them back to the bed and the couch. "The best way is to just sleep it off," he told Jessie as he put her back in bed. "You'll feel better when you get up, trust me."

"I'm dying, Kit!" she said melodramatically.

"You're hung over. It only feels like death," he told her calmly as he tucked her in. "Now, I have to get ready for work."

"Don't leave me! You need to give me last rites or something!"

He chuckled. "Oh, and by the way."

"What?"

"Remember when you spanked me?"

"Yeah?"

"I love it when you get revenge on yourself, and I don't have to lift a finger," he said as he leaned down and kissed her on the muzzle, then wandered out of the room humming to himself.

"If I wasn't dying, I'd beat you up!" she called loudly from the bed, then she groaned when her own voice intensified her headache.

"Promises, promises."

"Grroah!"

They were both feeling much better when he got home after only four hours at work, though they were still rather indisposed. They were both sitting on the couch wearing nightshirts, watching a DVD when he got back. Sheila was laying on the couch, her feet in Jessie's lap, who had her own feet propped up on the coffee table. "And how do you two feel?" he asked when he carried his laptop carrying portfolio into the den. He still had some work to do, but he could do the rest of it from home, and Rick knew that he'd get everything done no matter where he was.

"My head isn't going to explode now," Jessie said. "But I still feel kinda groggy and queasy."

"Well, when you're ready for food, I'll make something hangover-safe for you."

"What's hangover safe?"

"Chicken soup, I'm thinking. Nothing greasy or heavy or spicy," he answered. "Pasta with it, maybe, depending. A light salad too. Until then, I have some work to do, so I'll be in the den if you need me."

There would be a reckoning for his dig on Jessie while she was hung over, and he knew it… but keeping things interesting was just one of the fun parts about living together.


Kit had all his work done on Project A by Monday, which basically gave him little to do and little to distract him from the upcoming wedding. The gang was happy to distract him, though, and Rick gave him a few small projects to do to keep his mind occupied, the main one of which was to do his first bit of real writing.

"What is this?" he asked when Rick handed him a file folder.

"Your first work as a reporter," he answered. "We've been publishing your writing for a while, but I want you to try your paw at doing something more traditional. I got you an interview with the assistant dean about the budget issues coming up next year that might raise tuition. Usually I'd send Barry, but Barry's working on the election project, and Lilly's doing a different story about what students will be doing during the winter break, so it's time for you to cut your teeth on actual journalism," he smiled. "So, now, instead of just researching what we bring you, think about what you want to ask him, do your research, and then go do the interview and write a report."

"Hmm," he said. "When's the interview?"

"Thursday," he answered. "If you need any help, I'm sure Barry and Lilly will give you some pointers on how to do an interview and write a report based on it."

"No, I think I can do it," he countered, tapping the file to his muzzle as what he needed to do began to collect in his mind. "Oh yeah, Saturday night, my landlord is giving me a bachelor party. Wanna come?"

"Did I hear those magical words?" Mike said excitedly from his office. The thin wall was usually no barrier to hearing what was going on between the two of them. "Did I hear bachelor party?" he shouted.

"Yeah, you heard right," Kit laughed as Barry, Jeffrey, Mike, and Savid all crowded in the hallway outside the door. "Lupe hasn't told me where or when yet. I'll let you know."

"I hope Lupe knows how to do it right," Mike grinned. "Strippers, booze, the whole experience!"

"We'll see," Kit chuckled. "I haven't heard anything about a party for Jessie yet, though, but I'm sure her sorority has something planned."

"Oh, they do," Sheila called from the office with a laugh. "It's supposed to be a surprise, so don't say anything!"

"I'd never do that," he called. "Are they going crazy?"

Sheila laughed. "They went beyond crazy about five days ago!"

"Oh honey, now that's my kind of party!" Marty called from the front.

"So, you counting hours yet?" Rick asked.

Kit laughed. "Nine days, seventeen hours," he looked at his watch, "and sixteen minutes."

"You're so whipped," Mike teased, then he yelped as Sheila slapped him on the rump as she went by.

"So are you," she told him as she went to Marty's desk out front.

"You tell 'em, sister!" Lilly called with a laugh.


Kit had never done his own story from front to back before, and it was a refreshing challenge and also kept him from going nuts with anxiety and eagerness waiting for the wedding. He had two days to prepare for it, and when he did finally talk with the dean, he had a mountain of researched data to use. The ferret was very kind and talkative, but she was also a bit surprised that Kit had dug up enrollment figures and tuitions from almost all the major colleges and collated them into a statistical trend that showed that U.T. was projecting a tuition increase higher than the norm for other major 1-A schools compared to enrollment rates.

"Where did you find all this?" she asked curiously as he showed her the graph on his laptop. "I haven't seen work this complete out of my own office!"

"I'm a researcher mainly, ma'am," he chuckled. "So I made sure to come prepared."

"Wow, did you!" she laughed, patting his wrist.

It was a good interview though. Kit was polite and friendly, he asked in-depth questions and allowed her to answer them fully, and he was sure to give her the chance to highlight what she saw were the good points even as he challenged her over the bad ones.

What was the ultimate complement for a researcher, the dean asked for a copy of his findings to take with her and study, and also to present to the president of the college as ammunition when they talked about the budget that might raise tuition.

When he got back to the office, he spent the rest of the day writing the article. He revised it several times, then had Barry edit it for him to see if he did it right. "Looks pretty good," Barry told him. "You've learned how to write a magazine article pretty well," he grinned, showing off his sharp teeth. "Go ahead and make those changes I suggested and send both the original and this revision to Rick and let him doublecheck my changes."

"You got it."

"So, the big party is on Saturday," Barry noted as he leaned back in the chair in Kit's office. "Has your landlord told you about it yet?"

"Only that it's not at the complex," he answered. "So it must be in some hotel or strip club. Lupe's a pretty lowest common denominator kinda guy, Barry. He's into football, beer, and don't tell Jessie this, but porn. I have no doubt he has strippers lined up for it."

"Jessie's in for a shock with her party," Barry laughed. "Sheila ain't telling you about it because she thinks you'll spill, but she told Lilly, and Lilly told me. Her sorority's gonna have a big party at their house for her tomorrow, complete with male strippers. The theme is virgin no more. They even went out got a big banner saying that."

Kit laughed raucously. "Oh, that'll be awesome. Are you going?"

"You bet I am!"

"Get some pictures!"

"Oh, I've got Mister Sneaky right here," she said, pulling a tiny digital camera out of her pocket, a very, very tiny model. "I'll get some great pictures!"

"Make sure you get a picture of Jessie giving a tip to one of the strippers," he said after looking around, then telling her in a low tone. "I have a plan."

"For what? Divorce?"

"No, no, it's gonna be a joke," he told her. "I'm gonna put that picture in what'll look like an email to Hannah and leave it on the desktop when I go to work. Jessie's last final was today, so I'm sure she'll find it next week when she's using the computer."

Lilly gave him a look, then erupted into helpless laughter. "Kit, that's mean!"

"But it'll be great!"

"She's gonna skin you!"

"That's what makes it fun," he winked. "If there was no threat of getting beat up, it wouldn't be worth doing in the first place. Besides, I have to keep life interesting for her. If I'm boring, she'll think our life will be boring too. So I have to misbehave from time to time, to keep her on her toes."

Lilly laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "You'll get your picture," she grinned conspiratorially.

When he got home, he found Jessie in the kitchen, elbow-deep in a mixing bowl and food scattered all over the kitchen counters. "Holy cow, what happened in here?" he asked.

"Finals are over!" she actually sang happily. "I think I did well, so I'm celebrating!"

"Celebrating with food?" he asked curiously, picking up a box of Bisquick.

"I'm making a big dinner for the girls at the sorority!" she told him. "Some of them still have finals tomorrow, so I'm gonna make sure they're all well fed! Homemade Italian bread, lasagna, chicken curry, a cake, salad, pasta salad, everything!"

"You'll never finish all this by dinnertime."

"I will if you help," she said, giving him a bright, innocent smile.

"And what payment will I receive for this service?" he teased.

"You got that payment last night," she said archly. "I wasn't exactly in the mood last night, love, but I'm not going to deny you when you're feeling frisky. Mom told us that's one of the fastest ways to poison your marriage."

"You didn't seem like you were against the idea," he protested.

"Well, I wasn't quite so against it by the time we got going," she giggled with her cheeks ruffling. "Girls are different than boys, love. Boys are on all the time. You have to get a girl going, and you kinda did, even if I wasn't ready to go when we started."

"Well, now that my masculinity has been appeased, let me help here," he laughed. "What's left to do?"

"I got two lasagnas in the oven and rolls and a loaf of Italian bread ready to go," she told him. "Can you chop the salad veggies, get the rotini on the stove, and put on the chicken for the curry?"

"Wow, you are going all-out," he laughed.

"I'm about halfway done here."

Kit helped her out, but excused himself to go to the bathroom. While inside, he took out his phone and called Sandy. "Jessie's coming over to the sorority tonight," he whispered. "You'd better–"

"She already told us she's coming to feed us," Sandy cut him off. "Said she made dinner for us."

"We're doing that now," he affirmed. "So hide everything."

"Who told you?"

"Silly girl, you're dealing with a Vulpan. We are omniscient!"

Sandy laughed. "Suuuure you are. Was it Sheila?"

"Nobody told me, you just need to keep better secrets," Kit teased.

"Does she know?"

"Of course not. You think I'd ruin this for her? She'll have fun!"

"I'm glad you're saying that now, cause you'll change your mind when she tells you all about it," Sandy laughed.

"Do your worst," Kit challenged. "Gotta go, talk to you later."

They finished the meal up by around seven, and it took Kit's Pathfinder to get it all over there in one trip. The girls were almost jumping around them like happy dogs when they brought in a meal capable of feeding eleven starving college femmes. Kit came back and let her celebrate with her sorority sisters, and went back to pick her up when they were all done and she was ready to come home. While they were pulling out away from the sorority, Jessie hummed and put her elbow on the side of the door. "They're up to something," she finally proclaimed.

"What do you mean?"

"Sandy was way too… bubbly. I think they're up to something."

"Well, did she finish her finals today like you did? Maybe that's why."

"No, I–I know them, love. Sandy's planning something. I think she's gonna throw a bachelorette party."

"I guess that's always possible. Lupe's giving me a party on Saturday… then we get to go to mass on Sunday," he chuckled.

"A week, baby," she giggled. "Only one more week! By this time next week, we'll be on a plane to Boston, and I'll be Misses Vulpan!"

"I can't wait either," he said, reaching over and taking her paw, then he had to let go to change gears. "Is everything ready?"

"Yup, it's all ready," she said with relief. "There's not much to do now but wait."

"We do have two rehearsals, remember. Tuesday and Wednesday."

"I thought they were on Tuesday and Thursday."

"The father called and changed them. He has to perform a wake on Thursday."

"When did he do that?"

"Yesterday. He called me at work."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, you stayed up til after midnight studying, then there was me being frisky," he said, ticking off his fingers. "Then you were up and at school before I even got up this morning."

"I wanted to get some cramming done," she told him.

"And I find you cooking when I get home," he told her. "So, that's why."

"Can't argue with that," she giggled, then saw he wasn't going home. "Where are we going?"

"You just finished the semester, love, and tomorrow's my late day, so we're gonna go celebrate in a way that doesn't involve you working your cute butt off."

She laughed. "Ooooh, lead on then, my handsome fox."

The first part of the celebration was something Jessie never expected in a million years, but she didn't mind at all. When Kit pulled into Northcross Mall, she was giving him a surprised look. "Oh no, you want to make me go home bruised!" she complained, but she was grinning at him.

"We never did finish that lesson," he smiled as he parked. He pulled a battered old pair of skates out of the back seat. "And these were in the stuff that Vil sent me from my apartment in Boston, so why not see if they're still good?" He got out of the car and went around to her and helped her out, giving her a warm smile. "And there's more to do after this."

"Oh really? And what other activities have you planned that involve things you like to do?" she grinned at him.

"You'll see."

They spent about an hour skating, as Kit taught Jessie more about how it was done, then they went back into town and to one of the larger and more well-known coffee bars near campus. Kit brought her in and ordered tea for them, just as a weasel got up to the microphone in the corner and began reciting poetry. "You said you like Milton, well, it's Milton night," he smiled.

"Now you're talking," she said with a glowing smile, and she held his paw as she listened to the recital. Kit wasn't particularly into poetry, but being a rich kid, he was more than good at feigning interest and zoning out until it was time to go.

She was excited and animated when it was done and he took her home at nearly eleven, and they shared a glass of wine on the couch in contented silence, Jessie snuggled up against him and purring between sips of wine. "Thank you," she said.

"Hey, I realized we haven't been out for a while, you know? What kind of marriage will we have if we just sit around at home all the time?"

She giggled. "Like that's a bad thing," she told him. "I like being a homebody."

"Mind being a teddy bear?" he asked. "Neither of us got much sleep last night, and I'm getting a little sleepy."

She laughed. "Sure, as soon as I finish my wine."

"Well, I'm gonna go get ready for bed," he announced, standing up with his empty wine glass. He put it away, locked the door, and set the alarm, and she joined him just a moment after he got into bed, undressing and slipping under the covers, the snuggling up against his back. "Kit."

"Hmm?"

"Sandy's planning something, isn't she?"

"I have no idea," he answered.

"Kit, you're a bad liar," she chuckled, digging her claws into his shoulder and side.

"I can state with total truthfulness that I have no idea if she's planning anything, and if she is, what it might be," he told her calmly. "And even if I did, you think I'd tell you?"

"I thought so," she giggled, rising up enough to nip playfully at his ear.

"Hey, hey, careful, there's not much left of that ear," he warned, which made her laugh.

"Then you'd better start talking if you want to keep it," she teased.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," he intoned, which made her laugh, pick up her pillow, and bop him with it. He rolled over to face her, and she snuggled into his arms and sighed in contentment.

"Now this is better. Hugging your back just isn't the same," she said in a dreamy kind of voice, then he could tell she was falling asleep.

He was right behind her.


Though Jessie suspected skullduggery, Kit didn't squeal. Jessie came over to the office that evening to bring an early dinner to him and do some writing for her part of School Daze, closeted with Jeffrey as they discussed strip ideas. She was surprised, but not too surprised when Lilly and Sheila intercepted her on the way out of the office and then dragged her off.

"It must be party time," Savid noted as Kit brought some slices of pie out for the others that Jessie had brought.

"Yup. I guess I'd better go get some honey for tea, cause she'll be hung over tomorrow," he chuckled.

"Your party is tomorrow?"

"Yeah, you coming?"

"I hope to. Any word where is yet?"

"Nope, Lupe said he'd tell us where to go tomorrow after work," Kit chuckled. "He's keeping it all secret."

"How many can I invite to your wedding?"

"Well, from the number of replies we got back, as many as you want," he laughed. "The church won't be half full, and Vil paid for an army's worth of food at the reception. So invite everyone, I'd hate to see all that food go to waste."

"Never tell an Indian that, Kit. I have lots of relatives."

Kit laughed. "Well, as many as you feel comfortable bringing," he amended. "And mind that they'll be serving beef there, in case any of your relatives are devout Hindus."

"Hamburgers even at your wedding?"

"I gotta have one," he laughed. "They're making one super-special deluxe hamburger for the reception, and that's mine. But they're also serving filet mignon, and that's beef. But they're also serving chicken and vegetable dishes."

"I will sure to warn," he nodded. "I hope your party has lots of fun."

"Lupe's a debased kind of guy, Savid. You'd better check your morality at the door, it's liable to be wild."

"Indians love wild parties," Savid grinned. "Indians are original party civilization. Who wrote the Kama Sutra?"

"Okay, you win that argument, if only for finding a way to mention the Kama Sutra," Kit laughed.

Kit went home and waited, but wasn't bored. He finished the last of the work he'd been doing that day, then talked with Hannah when she called looking for Jessie. "She's at her bachelorette party," he told her. "Her sorority sisters are throwing it."

"Oh dear, I hope she doesn't get too wild."

"I hope she does. It's her night, let her have all the fun she wants," Kit answered.

"I've never heard a groom say that," she noted.

"I trust Jessie, Hannah," he said easily. "So why wouldn't I want her to have a night to remember?"

"Because she may never forget it."

"Pft, if I can't keep her, I don't deserve her," Kit scoffed.

"That's not what I mean. She might be guilty."

"There's nothing she can do that she should feel guilty over."

"Even if she cheats on you?"

"She won't," he dismissed easily. "A marriage is built on trust, Hannah. I trust Jessie."

His trust was rewarded at five in the morning, when Jessie staggered home. She was absolutely and totally smashed. She was staggering towards the kitchen when he came out from the bedroom, barely able to stay on her feet, and he rushed over and steadied her when she nearly fell. "H-H-Hi," she stammered, collapsing against him.

"How did you get home?" he asked immediately.

"Caaaaab," she slurred as he collected her up. "Shoooo, wanna make thish little kitty purr?" she asked, then she literally passed out in his arms.

"Maybe later," he chuckled.

Kit had nursed her through one hangover, but this one was the mother of all hangovers. She spent nearly an hour staggering back and forth to the bathroom to throw up. When not throwing up, she laid in bed, at least until the headache came. Kit waited until she was more coherent, when the alcohol wasn't clouding her reason, and came back into the bedroom carrying a baby's sip cup. "Here," he said, as she pulled the wet cloth from over her eyes and looked up at him blearily.

"I don't even want to think about food right now," she groaned, putting her paws over her face. "I'm so embarrassed! I must look like an idiot!"

"No more than you did when you got drunk with Sheila," he chuckled. "Drink that as much as you can, it'll take the bite off."

"What is it?"

"A mixture of wine, tea, and honey. An old Vulpan family hangover tonic. I won't taste that good, but it'll help."

"Wine?"

"Think of a hangover as fast-track withdrawl shock," he told her. "Drinking more delays a hangover, but that's just it, delays it. It doesn't make the hangover go away. But, a little alcohol during a hangover does at least take the edge off that headache. You'll go from feeling like your brain is melting to simply having a bad headache."

"Gimme!" she gasped, taking it in shaking paws and attacking it.

Kit let the small amount of wine in the tonic take the biggest part of the edge off her headache as he got dressed for work. "I'm going to go ahead and go in," he told her. "Just sleep, love. I should be done by noon, so I'll be home early, okay?"

"I just hope I'm still alive by then," she groaned.

"I'm sure you'll live," he chuckled, kissing her on the forehead. "Tylenol's on the nightstand, and I made you a light lunch for when you're feeling up to eating."

"I love you," she said honestly, but weakly.

"I love it when drunk girls tell me they love me."

"I'm not drunk anymore, I'm hung over," she corrected.

"Well, be ready to give what you've received."

"Huh?"

"My party's tonight, so I expect to be nursed through my hangover tomorrow without any nagging or snide comments," he teased lightly as he turned off the light.

"Girls who get drunk have no right to throw stones," Jessie managed with a weak laugh.

"See you soon, love."

"Thanks, love."

Kit got the lowdown on the party last night from Lilly, who dragged into the office with bloodshot eyes nearly an hour late. "It… was… awesome!" she finally declared, then she laughed. "The sorority must have hired every male stripper in the entire state of Texas, and there were like fifty girls there!"

"How did they fit them all into the house?"

"I have no idea," she laughed. "It was awesome, though! Strippers, food, a band, and so much beer I thought they emptied out the distributor! They must have saved for months to pay for that bash!"

"So, you get any good pictures?"

"Oh, did I get pictures, or did I get pictures?" she grinned, holding her little digital camera up before her and waggling it like a prize.

"Well, pictures are for viewing!" Kit prompted, dragging her into the main office.

She got about a hundred pictures, and they showed the party in all its ribald glory. It was any college guy's dream; dozens and dozens of pretty coeds, boozed up and excited, posing for the camera when they knew it was there, but the pictures Lilly got by ambush were much better. One picture showed Sandy hanging all over one of the male strippers, who was without his G-string. When Kit made note of that, Lilly laughed. "They paid the strippers to go full nude," she explained.

"That's illegal in Texas," Kit chuckled.

"I don't think they cared," she grinned in reply. She cycled through a bunch of pictures showing the girls at the party going absolutely wild with the strippers, one picture almost making it look like one was having sex with a stripper right on the floor to an audience. "Oh, they weren't," Lilly chuckled. "The guy grabbed her and pulled her down onto the floor with him and pretended. That made the party go nuts!" she laughed. "I bet they could hear us screaming and cheering in San Antonio!" She plugged in a different memory chip with a grin. "This is the one you wanted," she winked. She cycled through quite a few pictures, until she got to the one she wanted. Jessie was sitting on a stripper's lap, her eyes hazy and her fur all disheveled, being handed a plastic cup of beer by a large paw that had to be the other Jessie's. "I couldn't get one of her giving them tips cause she didn't, but there's this one. The stripper tried to get her to pretend to give him a lap dance as practice for your wedding night, so she could give you a really sexy one."

Kit laughed delightedly. "Did she?"

"Nah, even drunk, she was too shy to do it," she laughed. "That's about as far as it went, what you see there." She snorted. "But there was one girl that wasn't afraid to do something like that," she laughed. She cycled through the pictures, and then showed him a picture of Sheila, totally naked, leaning over with her bare butt and tail pressed up against the stomach of a tall, muscular wolf stripper, who had his paws behind his head and his tongue lolling out of his mouth in an over-the-top, theatrical expression. "The strippers issued a strip-off challenge to any girl brave enough to dance naked with them," she laughed. "Sheila took them up on it!"

"I'm not surprised," he chuckled. He had to admit, despite being his cousin, Sheila had a hot body.

And damn, was she limber.

"She earned fifty bucks off a bet to boot," Lilly grinned. "I'll delete this one as soon as I have a chance, bud. I don't think your family needs pictures like this drifting around, but I just had to show it to you," she told him with an evil smile.

"That's forward-thinking of you, Lilly, but save a couple of copies. Now, whenever Sheila gives us backtalk at work, we just mention the picture and shut her up."

Lilly laughed delightedly. "Okay, okay, we save two copies, one of your and one for me. Sheila's not the only one that got caught on camera doing something naughty, though," she winked, showing the next image in the memory card. It was Sandy, also totally naked, standing straddled over a leopard stripper that was kneeling in front of her, both paws on his head and a surprised look on her face as the leopard bit her belly button. "Sandy couldn't let Sheila beat her in sheer audacity," Lilly laughed.

"So, it was a wild party," he noted. "Oh, you'd better hide that picture from Jeffrey," he added.

"I will, and yes, it was a very wild party," she grinned. "They'll talk about that party on campus for years."

"Any trouble?"

"Nothing major. A couple of instances of sex in the upstairs bedrooms and a visit from the cops to keep the noise down, but nothing noteworthy. It was wild, but it wasn't too wild."

"Wasn't it femmes only?"

"Well, a couple of girls negotiated some private performances with the strippers," she winked. "And, not all the femmes that went to the party were straight."

"Ah."

"So, I expect pictures of your party."

"I'm sure Mike's taking his camera," he replied.

"Here, take this one. Lemme get you some empty memory cards for it," she grinned. "I want good pictures!"

"I'm sure they'll be good." He stopped her before she went to the desk. "Take all the pictures and put them on a DVD for me."

"Including Sandy's?"

"Oh, you know I want that one," he said with an evil tilt to his voice. "I may need blackmail material."

Lilly burst out laughing. "Done, as long as you bring back pictures just as good!"

"I can't make any promises, but from what I know of Lupe, I think I will."

Kit made two copies of the DVD and left them the office, and took the original DVD back home with him and placed it in a conspicuous place in the den, where Jessie was sure to stumble across it. He then went about nursing his hung over fiancée. Jessie was still feeling poorly when he got home, but she was well enough to sit on the couch in nothing but a nightshirt and her panties, a quilt over her legs and a cup of honeyed tea in her paws. Sheila came over not long after he got home, as he was cooking French toast for Jessie, and she looked haggard but happy. "You look like hell," Kit noted as she came in.

"It was worth it," she laughed, sitting at the dining room table. "What are you doing?"

"Cooking," he said mildly.

"Show me!" she said, hurrying in. "What are you making?"

"French toast, and I saw quite a bit of you this morning," he said with a slight smile.

"Huh?"

"Lilly took pictures," he told her.

For the first time in his life, he saw his bold cousin's fur on her face stand on end. "She didn't!"

"Oh, you know she did," he laughed. "She got a great shot of you grinding your tail and naked butt into the stomach of one of the strippers."

"Oh, God," she said morosely, putting her face in her paw. "She caught that on camera?"

"Ohhh, did she," he chuckled.

"Please tell me she destroyed it?"

"Silly femme, and where would that leave us when we want something from you?" he asked mildly, stringing her along.

"Kit, if my mom sees that, she'll go nuclear! They know I party, but I've never crossed that line before!"

"What line, getting wild at a party?"

"No, getting photographed getting wild at a party," she told him seriously. "If a pic of that like me ever got to the tabloids, can you imagine what Mom would do to me?"

"True. Alright, I promise not to show it around. But I will keep it for blackmail purposes," he grinned at her.

"Where is it?"

"In an undisclosed location," he told her. "And I have lots of copies."

"Bastard!"

"I'll be sure to bring back some compromising pictures of me from tonight, so you can hold onto those," he winked.

She laughed then. "Alright, maybe you're not a bastard. Let the threat of mutually assured embarrassment hold us in check!"

"Sounds like I'll have to get crazy for my picture," he grinned.

"I expect nothing less than full frontal nudity and a compromising position with a naked stripper," she declared.

"He'd better not!" Jessie said sharply from the living room.

"And I have a picture for you, Jessie. It involves a naked dog and an attempted lap dance," he called teasingly.

"Oh my God! Lilly said her camera had no film in it!"

"Hon, since when does Lilly use anything but a digital camera?"

"I'm gonna kill that squirrel!" Jessie said angrily, then she laughed helplessly. "That's what I get for being drunk, I guess. I hope you'll forgive me!"

"Baby, I was hoping you'd have fun," he chided her. "I'm not so insecure that I'd think some hot stripper with better equipment than me would woo you away. I trust you, Jessie. You could have been naked sitting on his lap in that picture, and it wouldn't matter to me at all. I know you, and I trust you."

"Well, I'll remember that the next time a naked stripper's trying to get me in his lap," she teased from the living room.

"Be my guest," he told her.

Sheila helped him cook, and he brought Jessie to the dining room to eat. She ate slowly, and so did Sheila, but she didn't look sick when she was done, going back to the couch. "Alright, Kit, show me the picture," Jessie said.

Kit laughed. "Lilly gave me a DVD full of 'em, lemme bring out a laptop," he said.

Jessie's cheek fur didn't flatten itself for the next hour. Sheila laughed and commented on the hundreds of pictures, some of them very naughty, but few matched the downright sexuality of Sheila and Sandy's naked stripper challenge pictures. "I don't remember that!" Jessie gasped, blushing so deeply her tail fur frizzed as she looked at Sandy's picture. "She's naked!"

"Very naked," Kit laughed. "Now I can tell her I've seen her rack, and it's not bad at all."

Jessie elbowed him in the shoulder.

"When you have naked furs dancing in the living room in front of a crowd, it was a good party," Sheila laughed, then her cheeks ruffled when Kit showed her her picture.

"Naked vixen, naked wolf, naked vixen pretending to do the deed in the middle of the living room, cheering onlookers, yup, it was a good party alright," Kit chuckled lightly.

"How do you know we were pretending?" she asked with a grin.

"I don't think that's yours hanging right there," he noted, pointing at a part of the photograph that made Jessie gasp and blush anew, and made Sheila laugh riotously.

Sheila grabbed the front of her jeans, pulled them out away from her stomach, and looked down. "Nope, that's not mine. So I guess he just wasn't in the mood," she noted absently, which made Jessie erupt into embarrassed laughter.

Kit left them to look over the pictures themselves, Jessie making all kinds of surprising comments that made her seem not shy at all… but that was just the company. Jessie was very comfortable around Sheila, almost as comfortable as she was with her sister, and Jessie was much bolder when she was in private. Kit had all kinds of personal experience with Jessie's boldness when they were alone.

Sheila hung out with them for a couple of hours and then went home, but it was a short reprieve. About twenty minutes after Sheila went back to her apartment, Kit saw Lupe bounding towards his door. He opened it without ringing the doorbell, a wide grin on his face. "Yo brah, it's time! Let's go!"

"Where are we going?"

"A warehouse in south Austin," he grinned.

"A warehouse?"

"Trust me, brah," he said.

"Dude, I have friends who don't know where to go."

"Alright, call 'em and tell 'em it's the old Deuce Warehouse, off one seventy and Congress."

"That's not far from here," he realized.

"Then it won't take long to get there! Spread the word, I'll give ya ten minutes brah!"

Kit did that, telling the gang, then calling Kevin and asking him if he wanted to come. "Hell yes!" he laughed. "They got me doing this stupid defamation suit, I'd kill for a breath of fresh air!"

"Alright, know where the restaurant we ate at is? You go about two miles past that, over the bridge, and it's a big warehouse at the corner of Congress and state route one seventy."

"I'm on the way. It'll take me a bit to get down there, so save me a beer!"

"Remember cab fare, I don't want you driving back."

"Dude, I'm gonna park at the firm and take a cab from there, I'll be safe," he assured him.

"Smart male."

"I'm a lawyer, bud, I don't do stupid stuff like that," he chuckled, then hung up.

Lupe drove him there. It was an old warehouse, the parking lot overgrown, but the cavernous interior showed that it was actually a nightclub, with neon chaser strands, a disco ball at the top of a huge empty area, and lots of tables along one side of the warehouse, facing a large stage that had a deejay on top of it. "Welcome to the Underground, brah," Lupe told him as they entered, his brown face excited. "Dude, you're gonna love this!"

There were already quite a few males there, already drinking as the music blared in the background. Mike arrived about three minutes after they did, a camera in his paw as he greeted Kit and Lupe. About fifteen more males, and a few females, filed in, many of them Kit didn't know, and then the lights went low and the music changed to a techno beat. "Alright, guys, give a big welcome to the real stars of this bachelor party, the lovely ladies of the Top Hat Club!" the deejay called from the stage.

It was a mirror of the sorority party, he saw. About fifteen furs of different species sauntered out of a back door by the stage and strutted through the open space between the stage and the tables, all of them wearing skimpy little stripper outfits. One was dressed a cop, one wore a little-girl dress, one wore a sleek black teddy and carried a pair of fans, and other various costumes that were either based on real clothes or professions or were patently revealing and sexy. The males whistled and cheered as they strutted through the open area, then Lupe pushed Kit out into the open area.

"And here's our doomed male!" the deejay called, which got him some calls and laughter. "Send him into marriage with a smile on his face, ladies!" the deejay prompted. Mike took a ton of pictures of the strippers sliding against him, running their paws all over him, rubbing themselves against him, and then, while the other strippers held him more or less out by himself, one of them began to do her striptease act. She was a cute red fox vixen, a rather well stacked vixen, wearing a hunter's outfit. Kit smiled and enjoyed the show as she sensually stripped down to a G-string, but he was a bit surprised when she made quite a show out of taking that off as well, taking care to show him everything as she wiggled out of her G-string and bent down to step out of it. She picked it up and sidled around him, her tail caressing him as the other femmes backed off to give her room, then she gave him a grin and took her G-string and dropped it on top of his muzzle, which made the males watching cheer and howl in appreciation. It hung off his nose by its small waist strap, and Mike got a great picture of it.

Kit figured that was that, but she took his paw and dragged him back to his table, then climbed into his lap as the other strippers sauntered into the crowd to tease and mingle before they did their striptease dances, and the music began to play again. "It's a shame a handsome fox like you is taking himself off the market," she told him with a throaty purr, leaning back against him, grinding her tail against his lap and stomach. "Am I as pretty as your girl, baby?"

"Dude, this ain't no legal strip club," Lupe grinned at him, reaching over and brazenly cupping the vixen's breast, and she made no move to stop him. "You wanna touch, touch away. She'll even let you get a taste, but that's between you and her, and she'll charge extra."

"I thought strippers couldn't let you touch," Kit noted.

"These aren't just strippers, brah. This is both a strip club and a whorehouse. These ladies are both available and willing, if you got the money for a ride. And you won't find 'em any hotter anywhere in Texas."

"Where did you find this place, Lupe?" Jeffrey, who had just arrived, asked in surprise. "I always thought this was an empty building! I never knew it was a bordello!"

"Dude, I know people," he grinned in reply. "And don't you worry about nothin'. This is all paid for, even the beer. We got four kegs to drain before we gotta start buyin' drafts, so drink up!"

"I might have to give you a little something for free," the vixen said seductively, reaching back and putting her paws on his muzzle. "Seeing as you're about to trap yourself with one femme."

"Hon, you're gorgeous, you're sexy, and I'm quite flattered, but I happen to find the idea of spending the rest of my life with that femme to be the best thing that could ever happen," he chuckled in reply. "But," he said. "You can help me with one thing."

"And what is that?"

"I need a picture," he said with a chuckle. "A rather, compromising picture. Would it bother you to have your picture taken with me?"

"Ohh, we can do that," she assured him. "Go find a camera, I'll give you a picture that gives you wet dreams for the next ten years."

"Brah, I hope you're giving out copies!" Lupe laughed.

The stripper was more than happy to give him that picture. Mike snapped it, of her giving him a lap dance, looking right at the camera with a sultry look as Kit held her by her slender waist. Kit wasn't about to do what Sheila wanted, but a picture like that would satisfy her need to see her cousin misbehaving. The stripper surprised him by twisting around in his lap and kissing him on the side of his muzzle, and Mike caught that in a picture as well.

The party only got going at that point. Each of the strippers performed for them, not on the stage but in the open area before it, and then she would wander naked into the crowd to perform lap dances, mingle, and tease tips and money out of the party-goers… and a couple of them led males through the door by the stage to continue certain negotiations in private, Lupe being one of them. Kevin bought a lap dance from a black cat, which Mike caught on camera, and Jeffrey made a hilarious picture as a fellow mouse stripper who was sitting on his lap facing him, kissed him on the cheek as Jeffrey's arms were held out, his fingers straight as he reacted to her sudden act. Mike was there to get pictures of a raccoon femme dancing naked on a table near the bar, who kept looking down at him with inviting smiles and ghosting her tail over his face as she undulated atop the table.

They kept pushing beers at him, but Kit wasn't about to do what Jessie did. He drank in slow moderation, at least for a Vulpan, which got virtually everyone else smashed out of their minds. Vulpans were champion drinkers. Mike could barely keep his camera aimed after two hours, staggering around with a silly grin on his face, then falling into the arms of the raccoon femme who seemed taken with him earlier. She giggled and nuzzled him, whispered something in his ear which made his tail stick straight out, its fur frizzing, and then she gave him a deep kiss that made his tail go crazy.

Kit was sure to get a picture of that.

About midnight, everyone was drunk, and all inhibitions were gone. Kit got a picture of Jeffrey dancing on a table with the mouse femme that had kissed him, and a rather surprising picture of Savid with his paws on the hips of a naked ferret. Savid was happily married, so that was a surprise, and a picture that wasn't going to leave the club. He got a picture of Barry putting his paw on the top of the head of a short lynx stripper, making fun of her short stature since she didn't come up to his chest, but he got another picture of Barry's eyes all but popping out of his head when that short lynx put her paw in his jeans with an evil grin on her face.

Rick was there too, but Rick wasn't about to get tangled up with the strippers, for Martha would rip his fur out. He got there late since he had to finish dinner before joining them, and he sat at Kit's table and drank beer, laughed, talked, and had a good time without getting close to the strippers… but he did enjoy watching their stripteases.

The strippers were fun when they mingled, but the games were funny too. Kit had never seen naked femme wrestling before, nor had he ever seen naked karaoke, but the best part had to be their "let's shoot a porn scene" gig, driving the guys wild with it, then bringing a male from the audience up to join them. They tried to get Kit, but Kit backed out of that… Jessie would tear out his spleen if he went that far. The lucky male was Dan, and the lion had a ball having two sexy femmes hanging all over him, even undressing him. Kit had to snap a picture of that, too.

In all, by the time it started winding down around two in the morning and males started to leave, Kit had to admit that that was, by far, the wildest bachelor party he'd ever heard of. Lupe had outdone himself in spectacular fashion. Lupe was in no condition to drive, so Kit drove them back… though Kit wasn't entirely sure he was legal to drive himself. But he was the safest choice, and Kit was very careful to get them home safely. He walked the singing chihuahua back to his apartment, then went home himself.

Jessie was asleep when he came into the bedroom, but she stirred and sat up, turning on the lamp on her nightstand as he undressed. "How was it?"

"Lupe will be known as the bachelor party god from this day on," Kit said with amused reverence in his voice. "That was the wildest party I've ever attended. And I've been to some real doozies."

She looked at her alarm clock. "But it's only two!"

"We've been at it since seven," he told her.

"Oh. Did, you, uh, do anything wild?"

"No," he chuckled. "Because I knew you'd disapprove. I did get a picture for Sheila, though, of one of the strippers giving me a lap dance."

"Oh. Was she pretty?" she asked shyly.

Kit laughed. "You're jealous!"

"I'm trying not to be," she said quietly, looking away. "It makes me feel rotten to be jealous when you're not jealous."

"I'm a little jealous, I can't deny that," he told her, putting his paw on her shoulder. "But that doesn't mean that I don't trust you, my pretty kitty. I trust you to honor my wishes, just as I honored your wishes tonight by not getting too wild. I was even careful not to come home too drunk," he grinned.

"I see. Well, since you're home, and you've been looking at big-boobed strippers all night," she hinted, sliding her paw down his shoulder and back suggestively, "need to vent a little, love?"

"I thought you'd never ask," he said, climbing into bed and biting at her neck as she giggled and put her arms around him.

Chapter 15