Chapter 30

The van turned out to be rather useful earlier than they expected.

Vil had parked it out by their apartment, or more to the point had had the dealership park it there. It was a Ford Freestar, like Hannah's van, but Jessie's van was dark blue with a tan leather interior and just about every extra and perk there was for it. It had power everything, XM satellite radio, a CD player for the driver, a DVD player with multiple screens for the passengers, an integrated GPS monitor in the dash that had van functions as well, LoJack vehicle protection service, Vil had even had an infant car seat bought and put in the back, an omen of things to come for the couple. Jessie was very appreciative of the van, and after inspecting it and driving it, she parked it and basically forgot about it… until the very next time she drove her Corolla and had to work herself down into the seat. After that, it was the Corolla that Jessie parked, for she liked the roominess of the van, and she declared that she needed to learn how to drive it anyway. Gas prices were high, though, so Kit more or less gave up his truck and drove the car, since having to gas up both the truck and the van was a very expensive undertaking when gas was nearly $3.60 a gallon. So, to save them some money, Kit parked his Pathfinder and drove the car, and Jessie drove the van.

But, the truck and the van turned out to be extremely useful, because the day after they returned home from Jessie's birthday trip, the contractors declared they were finished, and allowed the residents to start moving into their new apartments. Everyone already knew exactly where they were going to live, and Kit and Jessie weren't the only ones that immediately started ferrying things over to the new apartments on the very day that Lupe made the announcement by putting flyers in everyone's mailboxes. Lupe made the announcement on Tuesday morning, but Kit and Jessie already had the keys to their apartment, and had several boxes moved over into their new apartment before anyone else knew what was going on.

Good Lord, did they have so much space in that apartment! It was a four bedroom with a small basement and a small attic, both more or less meant for storage. The attic was for long-term storage, with one of those pull-down folding stairs that retracted up into the ceiling. The small basement, actually more of a cellar, was perfect for a small wine cellar or storage room. The basement was curiously unique in that it had been dug as a single room between the two apartments and then walled off, but it wasn't the same size as the duplex's foundation, it was smaller. The basement was about half the size of the first floor of their apartment, basically under the back half of the apartment, which left the front half untouched, probably where all the utilities came in underground. Kit and Jessie moved their first boxes in on Tuesday night, mainly the gifts she'd received that they'd yet to unpack, as well as some of the wedding presents they'd honestly had no room to put up or use and had been boxed and kept in storage. But now, in the new apartment, they'd have room for everything.

Tuesday, Kit left work after the morning meeting with Rick, foisting all the research off on Pat because he had a lot of running around to do. First, they had to get the utilities put in their names, though they were already turned on in the complex's account. They had to put the electricity and the gas in their names, and call to have the cable installed and a cable modem set up. They had to change the address on their licenses, had to put in an official change of address form at the post office, and Kit had to call ADT to have them install the new alarm system over there and then remove the one from the old apartment once they were out of it. They also needed to get boxes, and they had furniture to buy for the new apartment using the gift Vil gave them. They had decided to do the move themselves rather than hire a moving company, and the complex had organized something of a pool of moving labor. Kit and Jessie would get help moving from Lupe, Dan, Mickey, and Sheila, and when they moved, Kit and Jessie would be there to lend a paw as well. Similar "moving buddy" groups had formed in the complex, where clusters of families and furs would move at the same time and help each other. When six furs were moving furniture, it got moved quickly. But they intended to move a good deal of it by themselves, getting help only on the big things. And since Jessie currently wasn't working, she had plenty of time to ferry over a box here, a box there, all day, slowly but surely getting their things moved over.

Her plan was simple. Once ADT had the alarm installed, they would move their bedroom and the kitchen first, getting help from friends with the furniture. Once those were set up, they'd move over, and Jessie would ferry over little things during the day, then she and Kit would move over larger things in the afternoon. On Saturday, the six of them would all band together and move everyone's furniture over to their new apartments, using the carts Lupe bought as well as a flatbed truck that Dan borrowed from his job, which would let them load up a large amount of furniture in one shot and move it the half a block over to the new apartments. Lupe had put the three of them in the luxury units beside theirs, with Sheila beside Kit, Dan by her, and Mickey in the next one over, so they could park the truck in one place and move all the furniture to where it had to go easily, and also so they were very close to Lupe, Kit, and Jessie. Dan, Mickey, and Sheila were Lupe's best friends in the complex outside of Kit and Jessie, so he liked keeping them very close. Lupe was giving Dan and Mickey a break on the rent so they could afford living in the luxury units, but Lupe expected Dan to help out when it came to fixing things, since Dan was a mechanic by trade and had been a contractor, so he was very good at fixing things and could do general maintenance, and Mickey was a air conditioning technician, so he could fix any AC unit in the complex if necessary.

Jessie split up their errands, and they got to work. Kit was tasked with ADT, the cable company, and the running while Jessie would be doing all the calling, but first they had to get their licenses changed, so they went to the DPS office and waited in line for over an hour with their official letters from Lupe and the county stating that he had moved them to a different apartment in the complex, and the county letter gave the new address. They were moving from 1642 Guadelupe Apartment 1-B to 1664 Guadelupe. Each of the luxury apartments had its own address, mainly because Lupe had bought out the entire block and freed up all the address numbers, which had to be reassigned by the county. When the fur arrived from the Texas Emergency Commission, which handled both 911 services and allocating addresses to new buildings, he had granted Lupe's request to give the community center and the luxury units their own individual addresses, mainly because the luxury units were stand-alone homes set up in a duplex system, not multiple homes in a single building. The community center was 1660, Lupe's was 1662, and they numbered evenly around the ring from there. The large buildings surrounding the center had the low numbers, and all buildings on the block, even those closer to other streets, were all assigned Guadelupe street number addresses. The TEC fur could have given the buildings near other streets numbers from those streets, but it was a long-standing practice to give all apartments in a complex similar addressing as long as there were enough numbers to accommodate it so as to make it easy on the postal workers, police, firefighters, and utility workers. Generally, whichever street where the rental office was located was usually the street from which addressing numbers was assigned, and since Lupe owned the entire block, they had access to 50 addressing numbers… and there were only 32 buildings in the complex that needed addresses. That was more than enough to give every building in the complex a Guadelupe address.

It did put some residents in a kind of lurch, though. On Friday, three of the existing buildings would lose their official addresses, once the new addressing scheme was officially adopted by the county, because those addresses would be claimed by buildings built next to the existing old buildings. The old buildings would be address-less, and everyone in the complex would have to start using the addresses of their new apartments, as well as pick up their mail from the new mailboxes on the other side. Everyone already knew where they were going to be living, had their new addresses, but they'd have to go get their mail from the new mailboxes, which meant they'd be walking for a while.

Fortunately for Kit and Jessie, ADT was always quick. When Kit called them once they got home, they set up an appointment to install the alarm for the new apartment the next day. After that was done, Kit jumped in Jessie's Corolla and started the running. He stopped at the post office first to turn in an official change of address form, which would have their mail start delivery to their new address as soon as the post office could make the switch. After that, he drove down to the office for the cable company and discussed packages with them, then arranged to have the cable installed in the new apartment, which was put on the schedule for Thursday. Kit would use the same box he had, but he wanted a second box for cable they'd install in their bedroom, and the cable modem would be installed in the den on the first floor. Kit also changed their service package to include a few more channels, including spending the money to buy a Video On Demand service for Ohio State college football games. Any time an Ohio State game was televised, anywhere, it would both broadcast live on a special channel on their converter boxes, and they'd also get it digitally recorded by the cable company and accessible via an on demand channel, viewable until the next Saturday, when the game would be erased and copied over by the new game. That way they could always watch Ben play, and if they weren't home, they could watch it when they had time. Kit had already bought a bunch of blank DVD-R discs to record Ben's games, ready to build a library of Ben's football career.

Kit was also waiting for Ben's jerseys to arrive. Kit had copied Vil's idea and had left the money with Ben, Ben had bought them, and they were in the mail, five jerseys. Two for Kit, one for Jessie in maternity size, and two in her regular size. It was a well spent $220, because they were special jerseys made by the same company that made the play jerseys, only altered so they were wearable without football pads but authentic in every other way, that Ben could buy for $44 each through the school. Ben had bought them that morning when he went back to school, and the company was going to next-day air them out as soon as they made them, which they expected to finish by tomorrow. So, they hoped to have their new jerseys by Wednesday. John was going to send them some Ohio State decals for their car windows as well, but he also demanded that if they were going to put up those, they also had to put up the Cincinnati Bearcats decals he was including with them. John did work at that school, and he had his school pride, even if his son was playing for an in-state rival school.

After finishing at the cable company, he had to warn Alice that his address was changing. And that was also a problem. Kit had to move his plane by the end of the month, because the space he was using would be needed by the company. Alice had warned him that the jet that occupied that spot would be back on July 24th, back earlier than expected because they were getting their new jet a little early, so he had to find other accommodations for his plane. This… was a problem. There was no hangar space available anywhere in Austin, and everywhere he'd called had waiting lists that were ridiculously long. Once they kicked him out of the Avia hangar, he'd have to tie up the plane out on a tarmac. There was available space at Bergstrom, but it was much more expensive to rent there than it was at Georgetown, and the Cessna mechanics were at Georgetown. But, that was a good forty minutes of driving, where it was just 15 minutes or so from Bergstrom, depending on lights and traffic. Odds were, he'd just eat the higher tiedown rental spot at Bergstrom and fly the plane to Georgetown when it needed maintenance, paying for the convenience of having it close at paw.

It was almost silly, the hangar situation in Austin, and if he had the money, he'd see it as a prime business opportunity to buy some land near an airport and build a huge T-hangar complex, but the problem was there wasn't really anywhere to do it. The four airports in or around Austin were all encircled within developed land, so there was nowhere available to build.

So, after July 24, his plane was going to be out in the elements, and he'd be back to tying down the plane after getting home.

He lingered at Avia maybe a little too long, chatting with Alice and her maintenance furs. Alice was still going out with Lupe, surprisingly enough, and the small collie seemed quite content about it. "He pretends to be a player, but he always heels when I call," she told him with a giggle. "We have a date tomorrow night."

"Glad to hear it, Alice," he told her. "I see you have planes in," he noted as he looked at the two jets in the front bays of the hangar. One was a Citation CJ2, the other was a Lear 450. The old Cessna turboprop was gone. It had been sold, and now that spot was taken by a Citation CJ1, one of the older ones before they came out with the CJ1+ model.

"That's the plane that goes in the spot you're renting," she told him. "It's going out to L.A. after it gets the overhaul for a couple of weeks to replace that CJ two, then it's back here permanently. I wish we could get it back fuckin' now, but they need it in L.A. They have booked passengers and no jet to fly them."

"Ah, so, that's the plane I have to crash," he mused.

She laughed. "I know you did it if it happens," she winked. "So, you're rated on Citations now?"

He nodded. "All the single pilot CJ plus models, the Mustang, the Encore, and the ten," he answered. "My sis gave me six weeks to get as many ratings as possible. So I got those, and also got my CFI ratings, type one, type two, MEI, MEII."

"Nice! You gonna freelance?"

"I might," he answered.

"Hmm, you rated to instruct on Citations?"

"Yeah. I can teach everything I'm rated for. I got my rate requirement hours in on everything."

"I might do a little business with you," she told him. "We sold the old turboprop and the company's talking about basing that old CJ one here permanently. We still do enough business here in Austin to keep two planes here, at least after we get our Lear back. Rather than ship any new pilots off to our trainers in Jacksonville, I could have you train on the CJ one. We'd pay you the same rate we pay our in-house instructors."

"I couldn't do it full time, but if you need me to fill in for a couple of days or something, that's cool."

"Well, how long do you think it'd take to train a pilot already rated for another type of jet on a Citation?"

"Two or three hours a night? Maybe two weeks," he answered. "Depends on how well they know the Collins."

"That CJ doesn't have the Collins, it's one of the older ones," she answered. "It's not a plus model, it's a standard model. It has the combo Rockline suite."

"I don't know that suite, I'd have to train on it to teach that jet," he laughed. "I think that my rating covers the older versions of the jet, I'd have to ask Amanda. If it does, I'd just need training on the older avionics and I'd be good to go."

"Well, we can let you do that when it's in, that way you can charter it from us the next time you need a jet," she winked. "You're a CFI and Cessna trained, our insurance will cover you no sweat."

"Fly something that old? Never!" he said with mock outrage, grinning at her.

"Well, we can't have all the shiny new toys like our new competitor," she chuckled.

"Eh? Who?"

"AV Charters," she answered. "According to airport scuttlebutt, they're opening for business next week, cause it seems that they're done remodeling that old hangar, all the contractors are gone. They towed a brand fuckin' new CJ one into their hangar yesterday. The serial number on it was literally the last produced jet, I looked it up. And one of the airport admins says that they're expecting delivery of a Mustang, one of those new real small Cessna jets. That surprised me, they must have been planning opening here for a while. There's like a two year list for those Mustangs, they had to put the order in back in two thousand six."

"Hmm, and I know for a fact that they have a brand new CJ three too, cause I rented it," he mused. "Cessna made a deal with them to let me charter the jet and fly it before they took delivery, while Cessna technically still owned it. Sounds like they're gonna compete with ya, Alice, they brought in small jets for short jumps or lone customers and a bigger one for more distant charters or larger groups."

"Actually, there's enough business for both of us," she admitted with a laugh. "We're booked up for the next two months, and if Avia had a third jet to send down here, they would. I'll bet my tail that's why AV opened, cause there is a market for two small charter outfits here. That's why they moved that Citation in after selling off that old fuckin' dinosaur turboprop. Nobody wanted to charter it anymore in the age of jets. This is a rare day for us, Kit, to have the jet in and sitting idle. When we're at full strength, have both planes, usually one of them is out, and the CJ one will be going out at four. Some suit chartered it to take him to Florida."

"There's that much demand?"

"Yeah. Between the businesses here and the state government, we're usually pretty busy. We've been trying to get them to get us a third jet for fuckin' ever, and then they go and yank our four-fifty and send it to London and leave us with nothing but a turboprop and whatever jet's in for maintenance that can handle a charter before it goes back to its home base. I'll be happy when we get both our planes back, then maybe I can show them how many clients we're turning away and convince them that we could use a new jet instead of them buying jets and sending them everywhere but here. They just don't wanna, cause they get higher fees at our other locations. They'd rather send the jets to where the bigger fees are than make up for the lower fees here with quantity. Which would you do, one client for a thousand bucks or three clients for five hundred each?"

"Eh, there is fuel and maintenance to think about," Kit noted.

"I know, but still, profit's profit. AV will make money, and we'll make money, but if they send us another jet, we'll make more money than AV will."

"Well, I'm glad to hear you're not afraid of the new company," Kit chuckled.

"Nah, not really. They'll have more jets than us, though. That might spur the home office to send us a third charter jet, maybe even have them buy us a new one. That CJ one is old, and the Lear isn't much younger. We could use a new Lear or Cessna, maybe even an Eclipse."

"I thought there were some major issues with the Eclipses. Didn't the FAA ground them last month?"

"They did, and there were, but I think they got it all ironed out, cause they're not grounded anymore. They're not bad little jets, I checked one out at the last airshow I went to. They're ridiculously quiet."

"I've never seen one except in pictures," Kit said as he waved to Mike, one of the maintenance furs.

"They're kinda cramped inside, but they're pretty nice. It'd be the perfect jet to ferry a single client."

His personal phone rang, and he saw that it was Jessie. "Yeah love?" he asked.

"Where are you?"

"Over at Avia, talking with Alice."

"Get back to work," she teased lightly. "And bring home some french bread when you're done."

"Actually, I've done all the running, so I'll be home in a bit," he told her.

Kit picked up the needed french bread on the way home, and then caught up on the work he'd shirked to get the running done today, pulling it off his desktop at work and working on it in the den as Jessie finished making calls. He was still working on the history of the conventions, and had pulled his work from the office to finish it up. He had all the information, he just needed to organize it and send it to Barry. He did look up a little more information about the infamous 1968 Democratic convention and the riots that happened outside of it, included that, then formatted it, finished it, and sent it back to the office to Barry's workstation. When he came out into the living room, he saw Jessie in the dining room, packing the good china into a box. "You all finished, love?" he asked.

"Yeah. The utilities switch to our names tomorrow. As soon as I finish this, let's get to work."

"With?"

"Going down to Frontage Auto and furniture shopping, silly," she winked at him. "And we need to get our bed from Lupe's show unit and get it over to the new apartment."

"Oh, yeah, I ordered a second converter box, love," he told her. "Since we have the tube TV, I figured we could put it in our room, and what use is a TV without cable?"

"Did they have that College Gameday thing?"

"Sure did. We're set up for Ohio State games this season. We'll get them all, both live and on DVR, watchable any time during the week."

"Cool! Now we can always see Ben play!"

"When's his first game?"

"August thirtieth," she answered. "Remember, we're gonna go up and watch him play!"

"I'll warn Rick. I just hope you like the five hour plane ride up," he winked.

"I hope you enjoy being a passenger," she teased as he came over to help, kissing him on the nose playfully.

"Put in the right seat of my own plane. It's a travesty of justice," he sighed morosely as he knelt down and grabbed the next stack of plates.

"You're the one who started it," she laughed. "All you had to do was keep me from getting my license."

"And deny you what you want? What kind of husband do you think I am?" he challenged with a smile.

"The very best kind," she said with a loving smile, then she kissed him on the cheek lightly.

"Boy, do I have you fooled," he said flippantly, which made her laugh helplessly.

They did have to go out one more time, to make three new keys to the apartment, and also to pick up the key for the van for Kit from Frontage Auto, where Vil had bought the van. She'd only brought one key and remote for it, but there was a second set for Kit that the dealership was holding. Besides, Jessie had to go sign the papers for the van to finalize everything, since Vil had bought the van in Jessie's name, and she couldn't fake everything the way she could with Kit. Vil had bought Jessie's Corolla at Tucker's Auto, which was about a mile from Frontage, and it was something of a curious departure from the norm for her. She had a preference for Fords, but she had bought Jessie a Toyota, and had bought Kit a Pathfinder mainly because she knew that Kit rather liked Pathfinders. Maybe the fact that Tucker's sold both Nissans and Toyotas had something to do with that. She'd bought the Pathfinder there, and just picked up the Corolla from the same place as a matter of convenience. Frontage was waiting for them, and it was a quick hour there for Jessie to sign the papers, pick up her temporary title and registration, and get the second key and remote. Kit wouldn't use the remote because he used his Pathfinder remote and that was just too many things to put in his pocket. Fortunately though, the alarm was set to automatically disengage when any door was unlocked, and automatically engage when all doors were locked.

Once that was done, they stopped by Lowe's and had new keys made for the apartment, then headed for the furniture stores. Jessie had a list with her, and she already knew exactly what she wanted and where to find it. Kit had taught her the power of researching, and she was very good at it when it came to shopping for deals. They visited five different furniture stores all over Austin. They bought a cheap but nice bedroom set from Value City for one of the empty bedrooms to go with the bed they already had, then bought a kitchen table they could use in the large kitchen for informal meals and a couple of matching pieces for the living room suit at Wentmoore's. Then they went all the way across the city to Dickerson's Furniture and bought their very first purchases for Laura, her bedroom suit that would be hers when she was old enough to use it herself. It would go in her room, and though she'd start in a crib, they also bought the bed that went with the suit, which they'd store in the basement until she was ready to move from a crib to a bed. Then they went to Capitol Furniture and bought two new pieces for their bedroom that matched the current bedroom suit, an armoire and another dresser, and also bought a matching china cabinet to go with the china closet for the dining room and two wine racks to put in the cellar, to make part of the cellar into a wine cellar. After that, they made their last stop at Yeager Furniture, and bought a nice cherrywood gun cabinet for the shotguns, one that had the safety features that Jessie wanted yet also matched their bedroom suit. It had both a door lock and a locking bar that locked the weapons into the rack, which used different keys. That made it that much harder for a curious child to get hold of one of the weapons in the rack… and there would be more. Jessie was already professing an interest in buying a .22 rifle and maybe a pawgun to use for target shooting… something that both was good for sport shooting and also had considerable stopping power if used in self defense, such as a .40 caliber. Rick had saved Kit's life because he had a concealed carry permit, and Jessie had never forgotten that. She saw the value of having a weapon in the house for personal protection, she was already trained in the use of them thanks to her father, and a firearm was perfectly safe in a house occupied by children so long as proper precautions were taken. Jessie arranged to have all the furniture delivered on Thursday, when she'd be there to accept it and have them put it where it was going to go. They started with $5,000, and when they were done, they had $360 left, because Jessie had done her homework when it came to planning what to buy and from where, finding both furniture that matched their existing pieces and going where what she wanted was the cheapest.

After they finished that, they went home and went back to packing. They packed everything they didn't use, things like their china, the utility closet, a good portion of the kitchen, most of their decorations and knick-knacks, and then started moving it. That was where the van was really useful, for they packed the truck and the van both with boxes, drove the half block over to the new apartments, then started carrying them in. They stored all the boxes in the corner of the dining room, and Jessie realized that they had more things they needed to buy, things like hooks for the pictures they hung on the walls, and she decided that a grandfather clock would look just perfect over in the corner of the living room. The truth of the matter was that they had money left on the gift card Vil gave them for furniture, and Jessie was just looking for a reason to use it. But, he had to admit, having a grandfather clock in the living room would look rather nice, and kinda classy. And there was a pretty nice one at Value City that was $400. Once they got the non-essentials stored over in the new apartment, Jessie cooked dinner for four, since Sheila had called during lunch at flight school and asked if she and Allison could come over. Kit was curious as to how Allison's date with Terry went, so he was more than amenable to the idea. Jessie made goulash, homemade french garlic bread, and asparagus, and was just taking the bread out of the oven when Sheila opened the front door without knocking. "We're here!" she called as she marched in.

"How was it today?" Jessie asked from the kitchen as Kit came out from the den.

"I did my first cross country solo today!" Sheila called. "I went to new Braunfels and back!"

"Nice! Get lost?" Kit teased as Allison came in.

She laughed and slapped him on the arm. "As if I'd get lost!" she challenged. "Ally does hers tomorrow."

"When's your check ride?" Kit asked them as Allison kissed him on the cheek.

"Two weeks from today," she answered before Sheila could.

"Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, what happened in New York?" Kit asked immediately, which made Allison laugh.

"Can I even sit down first?"

"No," he said bluntly.

She laughed again. "Then come to the kitchen and I'll explain as we help Jessie set the table."

"That works."

They did just that. "I really had a good time," she began as they came into the kitchen and Jessie gave Allison a fond hug, but she didn't interrupt. She wanted to hear it, too. "We changed on the plane and went straight to the show from the airport."

"What did you go see?" Sheila asked.

"It was a premiere of a musical called One Fine Day," she answered. "It was really fun, and funny, too. I had a great time. Afterward, Terry took me to this incredibly fancy French restaurant in Manhattan, called Renoir's."

"Holy crap, he took you to Renoir's?" Kit said as Sheila grinned hugely.

"Yeah. The food was amazing!" she said with a dreamy smile. "We sat at the table and talked for hours," she continued. "About anything that crossed our minds. We were the last furs to leave. After that, he took me on a limo tour of Manhattan. He showed me the Chrysler building and Times Square, then we went to the Waldorf Astoria, showed how pretty they were when they were lit up at night. The Astoria!" she exclaimed. "The next morning he picked me up, and we went on a carriage ride in Central Park, then he took me to the Statue of Liberty, then we got on a jet and flew to Norfolk and he showed me one of the Vulpan shipyards because I was really curious about what a shipyard did and how it worked, so he took me to one and showed me. We flew back, packed up, and he flew me home. He even saw me to my door like a proper gentlemale," she said with a light laugh and a gentle smile as she remembered it. "And he was the absolute soul of courtesy! He didn't even try to kiss me goodnight or goodbye all weekend."

"Oh, tell me you didn't let him get away with that!" Sheila laughed.

"Of course I didn't," she said with a wicked little smile. "I curled his toes quite satisfactorily on the front porch of my house. After all the hard work he put in to give me such a wonderful weekend, he definitely earned that kiss. But it wasn't all fun and games," she said with a sigh. "Terry's dad kept trying to call him all day on Sunday. I think it was because of me."

"Don't worry about any of that," Sheila told her immediately. "What Terry does is Terry's business. Remember what Vil said. Did you break Vil's rules over the weekend?"

"No!" she said immediately. "We didn't talk to any press, we didn't announce ourselves, and we didn't cause any trouble. Terry didn't throw his name around, but he must have called in a favor to get us into that restaurant," she mused. "We took the public ferry to the Statue of Liberty and everything!"

"Then that's all you need to worry about," Kit told her. "As long as you obey Vil, don't worry about the rest of the Vulpans. They can't do a damn thing about it."

"Still, I don't want to cause him any trouble, Kit. He's a sweet male, kind and wonderful, and I'd feel awful if your family gives him too much grief over me."

"Terry knows the score, Ally," Sheila told her as they sat down. "There will be some friction in the family, but Terry fully knows it, and remember that he did take you out anyway. He thinks you're worth the trouble it'll cause, and so do I."

"So let Terry manage that, Ally," Kit agreed as Jessie brought the goulash out in a huge bowl and set it on the wicker pad in the center of the table. "If he's willing to deal with the family to go out with you, then you can honor that effort."

"Oh, I will!" she said quickly. "Kit, Terry was so wonderful! I've never gone out with such a considerate or engaging male before! We must have sat in the restaurant and just talked for six hours! We already have our next date planned. He's coming down here and we're going out this weekend. I just wish he wasn't so far away," she sighed.

"Well, Vil can feel your pain, her boyfriend lives in England," Kit chuckled. "But Terry's rich, Ally. He can afford to fly down here every weekend and spend it with you."

"Well, even rich, he can't keep it up forever," she said. "Maybe I should move to Boston."

"No," both Kit and Sheila said in unison. "Don't move into their territory, Ally," Kit told her. "You're just asking for trouble. Besides, you set the stage like this. As long as Terry has to come down here or pays to bring you up there, it's very clear just who is courting who. If you move to Boston, you'll raise the gold-digger alarm."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," Sheila agreed. "Terry can buy a jet if he wants, Ally. He certainly wouldn't be the only Vulpan with a private jet, I know Vil and Uncle Zach have their own jets, and there are like six different charter companies in Boston where a Vulpan can charter a private jet any time they want, even on a moment's notice. I know I could call and get a jet in ten minutes to take me to the beach or skiing or something. Terry's even richer than me, don't forget that. Just let him worry about how he gets down here to see you, as long as he does come down to see you."

"Yeah, I guess so," Allison nodded.

Jessie put the last of the food out and sat down. "I think you should listen to them," Jessie agreed. "Terry sounds like he's working very hard for you. Don't ruin it with a whole lot of what ifs. Just let him be the male and you get to be the femme and let him do things for you," she winked. "If Terry is anything like Kit, he'll bend over backwards for you."

"Don't use Kit as a measuring stick for the Vulpans," Sheila giggled. "Most Vulpan males wouldn't be quite so, well, romantic. Then again, most Vulpans marry who the family says they'll marry, so they don't take romance seriously. We marry our matched partner, then screw anyone we want on the side. That part's fun," she said with a wicked grin. "But it certainly sounds like Terry's gonna play this by normal furs' rules and court you."

"He'd better," Allison laughed. "If I want that kind of treatment, I can go back to work at the Top Hat."

"Wash your mouth out with soap!" Jessie told her. "You're never going back to that!"

"Oh, I never would. But Terry'd better get it through his head that despite my past, I won't stray and I won't let him stray either," she chuckled.

"One date and we're already sitting around talking about marriage," Sheila laughed. "Let's get back to reality and eat!"

"And who's the one changing the subject? The one that can't get a date with the guy she wants," Allison teased.

"Oh, kiss my furry ass, Ally!" Sheila growled, then she laughed helplessly. "I keep trying, but Ben won't play with me!"

"Ben's a very smart young male who knows better than to get involved with girls like you," Jessie told her with a slight smile as she spooned goulash onto her plate.

"Sure he will," Sheila grinned. "I've gotten quite a few hot kisses out of him, and I've put my paws in places no respectable girl would dare go."

"And that's about as far as you'll ever get with him," Jessie told her. "Mom taught him which girls to avoid, and I think she had you in mind when she taught him."

"Pshaw," Sheila snorted. "I'm not that bad."

"Yes, you are," Allison and Kit told her in unison, which made Jessie giggle. "Ben will never give you anything but meaningless kisses so long as you look at him as a piece of meat, Sheila," Kit told her mildly. "You should take a long look at Terry and Allison. Would you like it if Terry treated Ally like a piece of meat, to take to bed then toss aside after he had his jollies?"

"Hell no!"

"Then why are you looking at Ben like that? Until you start thinking about something other than his body, he'll never let you so much as get your foot in the door. Hannah's teachings are too deeply ingrained into him."

"Pft, that's how you get hold of a male," she challenged. "Males are slaves to what femmes keep in their underwear."

"And as long as you think that, you'll never get anywhere with Ben," Jessie told her bluntly. "Think about something, Sheila. Ben's a football star, he's devastatingly handsome, and he's modest and polite. The girls at our old high school used to follow him around like puppies. He can have any girl he wants. Why would he want to go out with someone who'll just toss him aside the minute she gets bored with him? If he wants an empty physical relationship, he can more or less take his pick of almost any girl in Ohio."

"Well, I'm cuter, and I'm rich."

"Those things mean nothing to Ben, Sheila," Jessie told her as she passed the basket of bread down to Kit. "Mom didn't raise just one of her kids to be traditional. Jenny's the odd one out, not me. Ben's just as old-fashioned as I am. He's a modest, unassuming sweetheart who'll make some girl deliriously happy someday, but only a girl he knows will be there for him as much as he's there for her. You won't give him that, and he knows it. That's why he won't go out with you."

"I'd listen to Jess, Sheila," Kit chuckled. "She's his sister. If anyone knows him, she does."

"Hmph," Sheila grunted, taking a bite of the goulash. "I'll show him that I'm after more than just his bod."

"You'd better do it some other way than just going after his bod," Kit chuckled.

"Well, it's always a good jumping off point," she explained. "Sleep with the guy and see if he's any good, and if he is, then get to know him."

"Sheila, most girls like to know a guy more than a couple of hours before jumping into bed with them," Jessie protested.

"Well, I'm not most girls. I'm a Vulpan," she declared.

"And that's not going to help you here. Ben's not impressed by your name or your face or your body, Sheila. I'm sure there's a ton of girls at Ohio State that are just as pretty as you, who will throw themselves at him. They won't impress him either. What will impress him is your determination. You have to win him. He's not going to fall into your lap."

"Well, I could win him a lot faster after I get him into bed."

"That won't work."

"He wants it. All males do. So do I. What's wrong with going after what you want?"

"Because Ben won't respect you," Jessie told her directly. "Ben wants a girl like me, Sheila. He wants a loving wife that will be faithful to him, someone he can share his life with, someone to be his lifemate, not just someone sharing his bed. And he knows that you won't be faithful. So, if you want any chance at all with him, you have to show him that you're willing to commit to him, and only to him. You'd have to swear off all other boys and show him that you can commit to a monogamous relationship, and I'll guarantee he'll test you by not sleeping with you either."

"Go without sex?" she asked, sincerely mystified. "For how long?"

"For as long as it takes to prove to him you can be faithful to him," she answered. "Months. Maybe years."

"What? No way can I go that long without sex!"

"Then you'd better look for another boy, cause he'll never look twice at you," Jessie said with a simple shrug, then she took another bite of her goulash.

"She's gotta be joking!" Sheila protested to Kit. "Go without sex for that long?"

"I'd say she's serious," Kit said mildly.

"That's like impossible! No one can go that long without!"

"Uh, Sheila. I was a virgin before I met Kit," Jessie admitted, her cheeks ruffling slightly as she glanced at Allison. "I went three years after leaving home without sleeping with a male."

"Well, you didn't know what you were missing. I do!"

"I've told you what you have to do. What you do next is up to you." Jessie pointedly changed the topic by looking at Allison. "So, what are you going to do with Terry next week?"

"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me," she answered, taking a bite of goulash. "He just said that he hopes I like it."

"Well, that could be almost anything," Kit chuckled.

They talked through the rest of dinner, grilling Allison for a more detailed accounting of her date with Terry, which she supplied with a surprisingly demure smile. Kit saw that Allison had been quite bowled over by Terry, how he had been nothing but polite and respectful to her, treated her like she was special, and she'd probably throw herself at him the very first time he invited her, judging by that look she had in her eyes when Sheila remarked that Terry had a reputation for being quite a vigorous lover. Allison was a little shocked to be treated by a handsome male as more than a hired hooker, to be treated like an intelligent and sophisticated femme, to go out on real dates where there were no preconceptions or conclusions, and she was quite overwhelmed by how it made her feel. But she wasn't quite so emotional for her to lose her common sense or wariness. So far, Terry was doing everything right to earn Allison's loyalty, but Terry had better be careful and understand that Allison's loyalty would never be undying. She was far too worldly and cynical to believe in endless love. He would have to prove to her every day that he was worthy of her, which actually wouldn't be all that difficult. All he'd have to do would be to love her, and she would be his for as long as she knew that love was there. But the instant she felt that the love was gone, then she'd be gone too.

It would be good for him, Kit felt. Allison was probably the second most interesting unrelated femme Kit had ever known, second only to his wife, and she was definitely worth the effort of keeping her. Allison would make Terry's life rich and vibrant, and he'd love her for it. Few things could hold Terry's attention for long, because he was so intelligent, but Allison seemed to be able to challenge Terry's mind, and that would keep him glued to her. Terry would get a femme able to keep up with him, and Allison would get a male that would worship her. They'd be good for each other.

After Sheila and Allison left with Jessie to go pick up Sam and get in a quick eighteen holes of golf before sunset, trying out Jessie's new clubs, Kit called Vil and found out things weren't quite so rosy up in Boston. "I'm not surprised Tom tried to get hold of Terry all day Sunday," she grunted, the acoustics telling him she'd put the Blackberry on speakerphone. "Ally's little secret is out up here, and you would not believe the uproar."

"Already?"

"Zach was digging as soon as he saw her, and her past isn't hidden that well," she said pointedly. "The elders are all in an absolute hissy fit. Tom was trying to get hold of him all day Sunday, and Zach was waiting in his office when he came to work this morning. Terry…" she trailed off, then she laughed. "Terry's secretary called security. Terry decked Zach, Kit. Punched him dead in the face."

"Holy shit," Kit gasped. "What happened?"

"Well, from what I managed to piece together, Zach made all kinds of ugly threats, but Terry basically blew him off. Well, that pissed off Zach, Zach pushed Terry and knocked him down, and Terry hauled off and punched him. Put him on his ass," she said with a little chuckle. "So, right now, Terry's just got home after getting arrested, but Zach didn't press charges so he's been released, Zach's already trying to get Terry fired, Maxine's blaming Tom for his son being so out of control, Jake's stating he'll kill Terry before he lets him go out with a hooker, Tom's blaming Zach and Jake for trying to threaten Terry, Sarah's waiting to see who's gonna win so she's on the winning side, and Brian's staying way clear of the whole thing. Oh, and Terry asked me for something that piqued my curiosity, something I think I'll grant."

"What?"

"He asked to be transferred," she answered. "Well, as you know, I'm in New Orleans right now, I just signed the papers that bought Avondale like two hours ago and finished up the tour about ten minutes ago. I'm in a limo heading for the airport to go home. Terry asked me to be transferred to Avondale to either run the facility or act as a liaison between the Avondale facility and the home office. He wants out of Boston, and I guess I can't blame him," she sighed. "Zach's already made it abundantly clear that he's going to make Terry's life absolute hell until he dumps Allison. He's already put a resolution on the schedule for tomorrow's board meeting to get Terry fired, which I'm going to pre-empt, since Zach thinks he's got me hanging over his barrel at the moment. Zach's already threatened to lean on the state to cause problems for Terry in any way he can, and he's already talked to his lawyers about suing Terry for hitting him, even though Zach started it by pushing Terry and knocking him down. And, if he moves to New Orleans, he'll be that much closer to Allison," she added. "I think I might just do that," she mused, mainly to herself. "I could use a good fur there to oversee the reorganization of Avondale to our system, and Terry is definitely competent. It would be a good test of his abilities, since he did such a good job whipping the safety department into shape. It would get him out of Boston at least temporarily and give me someone I can trust in New Orleans to handle things for me. Yeah, I think I do like that idea. I can assign Terry to New Orleans temporarily as temporary director to coordinate the conversion of Avondale to a Vulpan facility without even having to run it through the board, too, they can't interfere. I can have him there by Wednesday," she said, clicking her teeth together. "And the sooner I get him out of Boston, the better. If Zach confronts him again, Terry might do something more than just punch him."

"Criminy," Kit sighed. "I knew the elders wouldn't like it, but that's a little ridiculous. That's like what Dad did to me."

"I think Zach learned the wrong things from the wrong brother," Vil grunted. "He's absolutely livid. I've never seen him so angry. And I'm sure you'll be overjoyed to know that he blames you," she chuckled. "That was part of his tirade when he stormed into my office to demand I do something about it. He said that you're destroying the family, little bro, and giving the other cousins all bad ideas that make them forget that they're Vulpans. Then, after he found out I approved of Terry's courting of Allison so long as they keep it very quiet, he went off on me. He even threatened to try to take me out of the chair by any way he could," she noted dryly. "So, you're destroying the family by making us cousins rebel against the traditions the family's built on, which basically boils down to do what your elders tell you, and I'm in your pocket, cheering you on. I've never been one to adhere to that old meme," she said clinically. "The old family's rulebook was thrown out the window the instant Dad put me in the chair. As far as I'm concerned, as long as you don't sully the family name, live your own life."

"Terry gets close to that line," Kit admitted.

"Yeah, and I'm still not entirely happy about it, but as long as they obey my rules, I'll let them see each other," she said. "If only because Allison suitably convinced me that she wants nothing to do with her old life and hopes to start a new and better one with Terry. That really moved me, bro," she chuckled.

"What are you going to do about Zach?"

"Pull his leash," she answered in a grim manner. "He threatened me in his little diatribe too, and I don't respond well to threats. I think Terry is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate to the elders once and for all just who controls this family."

Kit was quiet a moment. "You planned it like this, didn't you? That's why you let Terry go out with Allison, even though you don't entirely approve."

She laughed. "I cannot tell a lie, I was hoping that I'd get just such an opportunity when I gave Terry my blessing," she admitted. "I'm tired of the elders skulking around behind me and trying to push me out of this chair, especially uncle Zach. You would not believe what he's been trying to pull, trying to undercut me, and it's not just Zach and Jake, it's now six other members of the board as well, which gives them a voting majority on the board. Zach and Jake and Maxine have bribed six of the other board members to help them unseat me. They've formed this nice little alliance to try to get rid of me. Kit, they're willing to hurt the business, even drive us to the brink of bankruptcy, in order to make me a disaster as the CEO and force me to quit, which would let Zach step in and lead the company back to profitability," she told him seriously, which sincerely startled him. "I can't let that go on anymore, bro. So, I want a nice little open confrontation so I can show them just who wears the crown around here."

"What are you going to do?"

"Start clearing out the hostile members of the board, one by one," she answered. "I let the elders buy those furs, now they're gonna find out how far their money went."

"I thought you couldn't fire any member of the board without a vote from the board."

"I can't. But I can make them retire for personal reasons," she said smugly. "Kit, bro, Dad kept files on all the board members, and so do I. I don't think they realize that I know what's going on around here. What's really going on around here."

He laughed suddenly. "You're gonna blackmail them!"

"Blackmail is such an ugly word," she said lightly. "I prefer to think of it as using available assets against a business rival to gain a tactical advantage. I have enough on three of them to make them take an early retirement package, that or they'll be staying in Club Fed for the next few years and change their titles to convicted felon."

Kit laughed brightly. "Mean femme!"

"I'm a businessfemme, bro, I'm supposed to be mean," she told him. "I'll start with Rogers. I've already sent him a memo telling him I want to see him in my office first thing tomorrow morning. I guarantee you he'll be clearing out his office by lunch. That's a board member that the elders spent good money buying, and now he's gone. I wonder if they'll demand their money back," she mused with a wicked little chuckle. "And I won't give them a chance to even think about it, because I'm going to see Lewis after lunch. He'll be gone by quitting time."

"So, you're sending Terry to New Orleans to protect him from Uncle Zach, and declaring war on the elders," Kit noted dryly.

"That about sums it up," she said, then she laughed. "But this has been brewing for a while. Since you left the family, really. Actually, it became inevitable the instant Dad died, and the fortune was divided up among all the Vulpans, and not just the elders. The cousins don't have to listen to the elders anymore, and the elders don't want to admit it. It's not really necessary to control them like they're children, in my opinion. As long as the cousins don't do anything outrageous, just let them be themselves. The elders are totally unwilling to abide by Dad's wishes, or the agreement, so the gloves are coming off. They've been trying to undercut me, and now they're going to try to do harm to the company to force me out. It's time for a reckoning." She blew out her breath. "Reckoning my ass. It's time for war."

"I think I'm not accepting any offer you make to come to Boston anytime soon," he said seriously.

"You're right. Stay out of Boston, bro, no matter who invites you. And I'll tell Terry to stay out too. You two are the focal point of the elders' wrath right now, so just stay out of their sight."

"I can do that."

"And don't tell Sheila anything I plan," she added. "Anything you tell Sheila will end up in Sarah's ear. Sheila tells Sarah what goes on in Austin, at least what she thinks isn't important. But sometimes big things can be learned from a conglomeration of little things."

"I didn't know Sheila rats us out."

"She doesn't rat you out, bro, she just gossips with her mother. Unfortunately, Sarah knows that Sheila still wants her approval, so she pumps Sheila for information by being nice to her and getting her to gossip," she sighed. "Sheila will tell her about things that she thinks don't matter, but Sarah's very clever. She can pick through the gossip and get real information."

"I didn't want to hear that," he grunted.

"She never means harm, Kit," she said, a bit defensively. "She's not telling her mother anything secret. But I can learn a lot by listening to her talk about daily life in the complex, with you and Jessie, and with the furs from your company, and your friends. I don't want any hint of what's coming to get to the elders."

"Alright," he answered. "I'll keep it quiet, but I will tell her that Terry's moving to New Orleans."

"That's fine, I have no doubt she'll find out like ten minutes after I tell Terry. And remember. Stay out of Boston, Kit. No matter what."

"You know how I feel about Boston, Vil," he said bluntly.

"Good enough. Let me call Terry and tell him to start packing."

"I'll tell Allison when they get home. They're out playing golf right now."

"She's trying out her clubs?"

"Yeah, I hope I got the right size," Kit laughed.

"They looked about right. She won't be playing golf much longer with her belly expanding."

"She'll play until she has to stop, she loves it," Kit chuckled. "I'm already looking at a country club. They've been playing at a public course here, I want her to play on a nice course."

"You should play. You're pretty good."

"It makes my back ache around the sixteenth hole," he answered.

"Then cut some strokes off your game," she teased. "I should get out on the course before the season's over."

"Go play in Scotland this weekend."

"Hmm, that's a good idea. Lemme call Ken after I talk to Terry and arrange a trip to Saint Andrews."

"Have fun, sis. I'm gonna call Jessie and break the news."

"Enjoy," she chuckled, and they said their goodbyes.

Kit held onto the phone for a moment, pondering what was coming. Vil was right in that this was basically inevitable. None of the elders wanted Vil in control of the company from the start, and it was no surprise that they were going to try to force Vil out of the CEO's chair. It was surprising, though, that they were willing to go to such extremes, to damage the company in order to make Vil look so bad that she had no choice but to step down… for the board could unseat her from the chair with a unanimous vote. That was a stipulation of her takeover of the company. They couldn't take her stocks, but they could force her out of the company and remove her voice from how the company was run. So, the positioning and the threatening were over now. Vil had actually incited Zach to do something overt in pushing Terry, and now she was going to attack, go after them before they could go after her.

It was going to get ugly in Boston very soon. Terry was wise to ask to leave, and Vil was granting his wish in sending him to New Orleans. Though Terry had no idea what Vil was planning, he really didn't want to be there when Vil started cleaning house. Heads were going to roll, and when the family realized what Vil was doing, they'd fight back. But in business, just like in war, the fur who fired the first shot from surprise often had the advantage. All Vil had to do was hold out against the elders once she swept two hostile board members out of the company, and she'd eventually win… because she was just as ruthless as her uncles.

Yes, putting Vil in that chair rather than him was the best thing. She wanted it, he didn't. She could have it.


Terry was in New Orleans the very same day.

As soon as Vil told him, he literally ran home, packed an overnight bag, had his butler pack up the rest and follow him to New Orleans, and he was on the company jet to New Orleans at 5:00pm. And when he arrived at 8:00pm, Allison was there to meet him. Somewhat surprisingly, Allison convinced Jessie to fly her to New Orleans as soon as Terry called down and told them he was leaving Boston. Jessie reluctantly agreed, but only with the understanding that she would be flying home first thing in the morning, and Allison would be coming with her. Kit thought about going with them to see Terry, but he decided against it. He had absolute faith in Jessie's flying ability, and her IFR rating allowed her to fly at night. He was totally comfortable letting her fly to New Orleans for the night.

Though, her being out of the apartment for the night made it hard for him to sleep that night.

She called him from the plane at 7:45 the next morning, as he was on his way to work, the droning of the propeller audible in his ear. "Hey pretty kitty, on the way home?"

"Sure am, handsome fox," she answered. "About to taxi out and take off now. I should have Ally at AAIA right on time. I think it'll be the first time one of their students was delivered to the hangar from the flight line," she giggled. "Here, talk to Ally, I gotta do the pilot thing."

"Hey Kit," Allison called. "Thanks for letting Jessie fly me to see Terry."

"She doesn't need my permission, hon, she's a licensed pilot and that plane is half hers," he chuckled. "How was the trip?"

"We got here at eight, and we literally met Terry on the flight line," she laughed. "He took us out to a nice restaurant and we had a nice meal, then he put us up in a hotel downtown. Jessie got us up early so we could fly back in time for me to get to school," she said sourly. "I wanted to stay here today, but Jessie won't let me," she laughed. "She said I paid too much money to skip out on school."

"You did. Just think, once you get your license and your instrument rating, you'll be able to fly to New Orleans yourself, no matter what time of day and what kind of weather."

"Yeah. Yeah!" she said brightly. "Let's get back, Jessie, I need to get to school!"

Jessie delivered Allison to school right on time, and as Kit worked, she continued packing. He left early so he could meet the installation furs from ADT at 2:00pm, and he and Jessie signed the contract and received a training session with the new system. They were installing three keypads for the alarm, one by the front door, one by the back door, and one in the master bedroom, and it was a slightly better keypad and system Kit had bought, so the installation team spent nearly an hour with them explaining the system and its features and functions. After they had that done, they cancelled the contract at their old apartment and scheduled a Monday appointment for ADT to come in and remove the system from the old apartment, and they were ready to move in. Dan, Lupe, and Mickey helped them move their bed, dresser, and dining room table over to the new apartment and set it up, and then Kit and Jessie spent the rest of the afternoon moving over the other important rooms, the kitchen and the bathroom. They intended to spend the night in the new apartment, so they needed enough to live over there. After they got in the boxes and brought over a couple of chairs, Kit put up the shower curtain in the master bedroom while Jessie hung her spice rack Terry gave her and started putting her cooking equipment up in the new kitchen. Kit went back and cleaned out the refrigerator and pantry, then brought over all their food. He left Jessie to unpack as he, Dan, and Mickey helped Lupe move his bed over to the new apartment as well, the four of them laughing as they wrestled with the king size bed.

"Such a big bed for such a little dog," Dan teased as he and Kit picked up the box springs.

"Brah, I need plenty of space for my love harem," he said, smoothing back his hair.

"Such a liar," Kit laughed. "Alice has you on a leash and you know it."

"She's just in the dark about the rest of my girlfriends," he said grandly.

"She'll shave your fur off if she finds out about them," he warned with another laugh.

"Brah, I can handle Alice," he said with a grin.

"So, we still on schedule this weekend?" Mickey asked.

"Yah brah, eight o'clock on Saturday mornin', be at the office. We'll get everyone's furniture moved all at once. We got a flatbed comin'."

"Yeah, I'm bringing it from work," Dan affirmed.

"Who are we moving?"

"All of us and Sheila, but furniture only," Lupe answered. "Anything small enough to be put on the carts stays behind, we're mainly after couches, beds, big dressers, washers and dryers, that kind of stuff."

"I can't believe Sheila's taking a luxury unit for herself," Dan laughed. "One little girl in a four bedroom townhouse!"

"Brah, you can't talk, you and Mickey are takin' units too!"

"Well, I'm a big guy, I need lots of space," Dan said airily, which made Lupe chuckle.

"She's used to living in a big place," Kit said. "And I'm sure she can afford the rent."

"Yah, she ain't got no problem payin' the rent," Lupe chuckled in agreement. "I did make her sign a one year lease for it, though."

"A year?" Mickey said in surprise. "Why so long?"

"So she won't decide to move out next month," he answered. "She wanted the apartment next door to Kit, so I made her pay for it with a long term lease," he chuckled.

"Eh, I won't mind," Kit shrugged. "I get along with Sheila."

"Ah, so she's my duplex buddy," Dan chuckled.

"Yah, and Mickey's in the next one over. That keeps the poker gang all close to each other," Lupe grinned. "I got an interesting call yesterday, too."

"From who?"

"Kev. He's lookin' at a luxury unit. I think he's gonna pop the question to Sammy."

"Good, those two would be a good couple," Mickey said, to which they all nodded.

"I thought you had the luxury units all booked," Dan noted.

"Nah, I was keeping one in reserve," he answered as they wrestled the mattresses out of Lupe's apartment and towards Mickey's waiting pickup truck. "Just in case. And Kev was kinda why I was keeping one held back, just in case a friend wanted one."

"Can he afford the rent?"

"Brah, he's a lawyer," Lupe laughed. "You should just be glad I'm givin' you a break on the rent, or you wouldn't be able to afford it!"

"Yeah yeah, I know, and I also know that we keep it quiet," Mickey chuckled. "If anyone asks, I'm paying twelve hundred same as everyone else."

"That's about six hundred out of my price range," Dan chuckled as they waited for Kit and Mickey to pull the box springs up onto the truck. "I have no idea what to do with all that space. I'm gonna end up closing off some rooms. I don't even have enough furniture."

"I know that feeling," Mickey laughed in agreement. "They're gonna be echoes in my pad for like a year."

"Take on roommates, make them pay a portion of the rent, live there for free," Kit said idly.

Dan and Mickey both laughed. "Dude, that's an idea!" Mickey said brightly.

"I ain't got a problem with that, but remember that these aren't the old units, guys," Lupe said. "The inner ring has to maintain a certain appearance, cause I got snobby professionals moving in here. So there can't be no beat up thirty year old cars in the carports, and you'd better find responsible furs that won't bust shit up. The party jocks an' shit have to stay out in the main complex. I gotta keep these luxury units in top shape."

"No sweat, Lupe," Dan assured him. "Alright, let's go get the dresser so Lupe has something to wear tomorrow."

By the time they were done moving Lupe's bedroom over, Kit went to his own apartment and was greeted by a large, empty living room, with boxes stacked in the far corner. Where he'd go left and through the dining room to get to the kitchen, now he'd go through the short hallway almost across from the front door, which had the stairs going to the second floor, a tiny closet under the stairs, and a door for the den all on the right, a large utility closet and the door to the bathroom on the left, and the hallway ended in the kitchen, with the back door visible at the front end of the hallway. He padded back to the kitchen and saw Jessie bent down, stacking her baking tins into a lower cabinet in the island. "What a way to greet me," Kit teased, patting her on her rump as he went by, to which she responded by swatting him with her tail.

"Get Lupe's bed in?" she asked.

"Yah, and his dresser. He's going back for his bathroom stuff now, but that's his problem. Lupe said that Kevin called him about one of the luxury units, he's gonna rent the last one available."

"Really? That's awesome news!" Jessie said with a bright smile as she stood up. "That means that he's gonna propose to Sam! He doesn't want to try to move her into that little efficiency he has, so he's finding a suitable house for them!"

"Did you really think he wasn't going to propose?" Kit chuckled. "He was waiting until he was established at the firm, and now he is. He's billing hours now, a lot more than the other rookies in the firm. He wanted to be stable and secure, and he's stable and secure. I hope we hear the good news soon. He'll have to pop the question quick after Sam finds out about the apartment, or she'll know something's up."

"Well, here's hoping it's soon," Jessie smiled. "Now let's go get more stuff."

They did that, moving some small furniture and several more boxes, anything they could fit in the van and the truck. They wanted to move as much as they could on their own, leave only the heavy furniture and appliances, and also so they could accept delivery of the furniture they bought over the next two days. Most of it was coming on Thursday, but the overhead rack Kit bought for Jessie's birthday was coming tomorrow, and the furniture store from which he'd bought it was going to install it and run the wiring from the light in the center. That was why it was so important to get ADT over here today, because they had things coming that were going to be installed in the apartment, and they needed the alarm installed first.

They managed to move quite a bit over in the four hours they had before they planned to stop, and Jessie made their first meal in the new, much bigger townhouse. She decided to fry hamburgers on the grill attachment that came with her new six burner stove, a layover grill that went over two burners, one of three layovers. She also had a flat griddle layover for pancakes and other griddle cooked food, and a large pot layover so a large pot could be set stably over two burners. It was just one little feature of their new restaurant-style stove, a stove which had cost Lupe a lot of money to buy and install and therefore would cost them since Kit had agreed to buy all special appliances that Jessie wanted in the apartment and pay Lupe back in installments, but a stove that Jessie absolutely demanded. And after seeing how useful it could be, Kit didn't mind paying for it all that much. He'd have to see if the other appliances built into the kitchen, large-volume washer and dryer, jacuzzi tub in the master bedroom, and the tankless water heating system that Jessie wanted and Lupe had installed would be worth it in the long run. But, he figured they would be. Jessie was very savvy about appliances and what should be in a nice house, and had been quite insistent about Lupe installing exactly the appliances she wanted, and installing several amenities that hadn't been part of the original design. But, she'd been so insistent, and Lupe had seen the practicality of her insistence, and that had made Lupe install a few of her demands in all of the apartments as standard amenities. The tankless water heating system, the small baking oven in the island, the enclosed microwave cubby by the spot for the refrigerator, the larger, family-sized refrigerators that Jessie wanted rather than the smaller apartment-standard refrigerators he initially intended to install, the intercom system in the house that had outlets in the living room, den, kitchen, master bedroom, and the front door so they could query visitors before opening the door, the laundry chute that ran from the hallway on the upper floor and into the basement, and the dumbwaiter that ran from the attic to the hallway just outside the master bedroom to the kitchen and then to the cellar, these were all original Jessie demands that Lupe had standardized for all the luxury units, for they seemed to be reasonable ideas for everyone in his eyes. He especially liked the idea of the dumbwaiter, put something in it and press a button for the floor the item was going, and one didn't have to lug it up the stairs.

He didn't have the heart to tell Lupe that the dumbwaiter was actually his idea. Dumbwaiters were quite standard in mansions, and were very, very useful, if a little pricy to install. The location of the dumbwaiter ate a little bit of attic and cellar space, but it let it run from the attic to the basement, which would give them a useful means of moving awkward items between floors. Instead of hauling a box up the stairs, they could put it in the dumbwaiter and let it take it up for them. The dumbwaiter carriage Lupe had installed had a load rating of 150 pounds and was three feet wide, two feet deep, and three feet high, which let them put a fairly good size box in it. It had also been very easy for the contractors to integrate into the designs, because of where it was located. They only had to reroute one electrical wire and an air conditioning duct to make room for the dumbwaiter shaft, since the motor was installed in the attic.

Vil called as they were eating, and Kit put it on speaker on the middle of the table. "Hey sis, how goes it?"

"It's on," she answered, a bit grimly. "Rogers and Lewis both retired today, effective immediately. Uncle Zach realized what I did as soon as Rogers cleared out his office, and he couldn't move fast enough to keep Lewis from following him out the door. In one day, I've taken away Zach's voting majority on the board, and now he knows he can't get rid of me easily. So, the elders are now on the warpath. Zach's put two names into consideration for the vacant board seats that are basically his yes-males. So there's gonna be open warfare in the boardroom tomorrow. Aunt Maxine visited me personally in my office and more or less just told me that Boston wasn't big enough for both of us, and one of us was going to be gone by Christmas. And she wasn't hinting that one of us would be moving. I got Terry out of here just in time, because Zach was looking for him this morning, and I intercepted an order out of his office to try to get Allison arrested in Austin, arrested for prostitution, but Zach learned quickly that he can't have someone arrested on a whim in a city I already control. So the gloves are now off. I'm already under lockdown. Stav and Marcus won't let me so much as walk by a window, and they hired some security guards for my house from the company they used to work for, so now my house and grounds are filled with large males wearing body armor and carrying assault weapons."

"Holy cow," Jessie breathed. "Are you going to be alright, Vil?"

"I'll be fine, Jess," she answered confidently. "I've actually been preparing for this for a while, so I'm ready."

"What's going to happen, Vil?" Kit asked.

"For now? The key to taking control of the family from me is to take my chair, so that's where the main fighting will take place, over my position as CEO. I'll be openly opposed in the boardroom by Zach and Jake, over absolutely everything. Even if I want to buy a new toner cartridge for my printer. Zach's now making it publicly clear that he thinks it was a disaster that I was put in the chair, and he wants me out, effective yesterday. He'll try to convince the board to vote me out, but I'll keep weeding out his sycophants one by one and either making them retire or having them arrested," she said grimly. "I've already sent a few very interesting documents to the FBI over Simpson, because I found out she's doing some pretty bad things. That old vixen bitch is going to get arrested as soon as the feds realize what I sent them. I'm sending a clear message that nobody that sides with the elders is safe from me. They're going to attack me. I'm going to ignore them and strike out at anyone who sides with them against me, because they really aren't important in the scheme of things. They need support to get rid of me, so I'll attack them through that need. The rest of the board will learn quickly that anyone who openly opposes me won't be working at Vulpan Shipyards for long. I don't have to fire them to get rid of them."

"What about the other three elders?"

"Well, Tom's still seriously pissed at Zach for getting into a fight with Terry, so he's too angry to be very useful. Sarah's still riding the fence, as she usually does, waiting to see who's going to win so she can support that side. Brian is actually washing his paws of this. He told Zach that the shipyard made a record profit last year, and he sees no reason to rock the boat. He told me earlier that Terry going out with an ex-stripper doesn't come close to what Bess has done, so he sees that as no reason to start a war in the family over it. He certainly doesn't approve of it, but he thinks a more diplomatic approach would be better than the older elders basically trying to unseat me from the chair."

"What about the cousins?"

"As soon as the word got out, Boston cleared out quickly," she answered with a grim chuckle. "Nobody wants to be in the middle of this, and they certainly don't want their parents to know that they don't agree with them. They want their freedom, but they're more than happy to let me do the fighting so they can stay out of it. Every cousin in college decided to either go back to campus or go on an impromptu vacation. The femme cousins are bunkering down with their kids, and some of them left for summer houses. Bridgette took her kids to Florida, Chris sent his wife and kids to their vacation house in the keys, Louis sent his wife and kids to England to visit Matty's parents, and Wendy moved her family to their vacation house in Puerto Rico, getting way away from Boston. The short of it is that the others don't want to get pulled into this, so they're clearing out of Boston. They're giving me and the elders plenty of room to fight."

"Well, be careful, sis," Kit said seriously. "Don't underestimate the uncles."

"Oh, I'm not. But I'll have to leave them alone for now, until I cut away their support in the company. After I force out all their lackeys, then I'll push them out of the company. Maxine's right that there's not enough room for them and me in Boston. I won't stop until I'm the only Vulpan left on the board. Zach's made it clear that he won't stop until I'm gone, so I'm going to play by the same rules. By the end of this Zach and Jake will be out of the company. I may even force them completely out of Boston."

"What if they try to do to you what you're doing to them?" he asked in a roundabout way, fully understanding that if they were now at war, then no phone call was safe from tapping, at least on his side. He was fairly sure that Vil's phones were secure, but no cell phone was secure. So he had to be careful in how he phrased certain things.

She chuckled. "They're not ready to try that with me," she said. "If they want to blackmail me, they'll find that I have a hell of a lot more dirt on them than they have on me. They've had more years to build the skeletons in their own closets. All I have is a bone or two." She was silent a moment. "I've called Vanguard and told them to tighten up security in Austin, just in case," she told them. "Stav and Marcus have also suggested a bodyguard to send to Austin. And I'm sending him down tomorrow. He'll live in the complex so he's close to you, but outside of that he'll only be there if you need him. His name is Nick Lawson, and he's a veteran of the same company where Stav and Marcus used to work before they became freelance bodyguards."

"Vil, you don't have to go that far."

"It's for my peace of mind, not yours," she told him immediately. "I want a seasoned fur down there in case Zach goes crazy and does something insane, and also a seasoned security expert to be available for when me and Terry visit, someone that can make sure everything's safe and normal. And the boys assure me that Nick is one of the best in the business. He just finished a contract working in Japan, and I contracted him for the next six months. He has extensive experience in this kind of thing, and has impeccable references. He'll be very discreet, guys. He'll be in the building right behind your apartment, so he'll be close by if you need him. I've just finished talking to Lupe, and Lupe's already agreed to rent him whichever apartment he wants."

"I can't believe you think it'll get that out of control," Jessie said fearfully.

"Actually I don't, but furs in our position never take chances, hon," Vil answered. "I'm sending Nick down there just in case. I don't think he'll be needed, but I'd rather have him there if you need him, than have you need him and him not be there."

"Oh. Okay," Jessie said, taking Kit's paw and squeezing it.

"He'll be calling you in about ten minutes. He should be there sometime tomorrow. Like you two, he has a pilot's license, and he'll be flying in using his own personal plane."

"Well, we'll have that much in common with him," Kit laughed.

"He's not the only one. Both Stav and Marcus are pilots too, though they don't often fly. It's considered a necessary job skill in their line of work. It's hard to bring your weapons when you're flying commercial, so most of them fly privately. A high-level bodyguard or mercenary usually has a pilot's license, and most of them own their own planes."

"They never told me," Kit chuckled.

"They don't tell anyone much of anything, Kit. If furs knew what they could do, it would make it harder for them to do their jobs. They like to keep their secrets, and one of those is that those two can fly my jet, and they can also fly the helicopter I often use for short trips around Boston."

"I guess that's a good idea."

"It's a matter of my safety, that way one of them can take over if my pilots get sick or hurt," she said simply. "When I hired them, one of the things both of them did was find out what jet and helicopter I fly in and get rated for them."

"Smart."

"They're professionals, Kit. Now, I'm gonna go ahead and go, I have some reports to read, and I have to get ready for battle tomorrow," she chuckled. "Nick should call you very soon."

"Alright."

"Before I hang up, I want you to do one thing, bro."

"What?"

"Make this very clear to Allison, bro. Make it clear that the family is after her, and that she must not, for any reason, leave Austin without either of you two, Sheila, or Terry with her. Zach's already tried to get her arrested, then he found out that I control the DA and police down there. He may try to get the Texas Rangers or the FBI after her. I can prevent it, but it's a lot easier if she stays close to my base of power, and that's Austin. My protection doesn't extend much past Austin. She has to stay close to the city unless she has a Vulpan with her, for her own good."

"I'll make sure she understands that."

"That's what I needed to hear. Be good you two."

"Be careful, Vil," Jessie said in a fearful voice.

"I'll be very careful, sis-in-law," she promised. "Don't you worry about a thing. Like I said, I've been waiting for this, and I'm prepared for it. I'll be fine."

"I'm still going to worry."

"Don't worry too much. It's not good for the baby," she said. "Be good, bro."

"I will. And do be careful, sis."

"I've been planning this almost since I took the chair, bro. I'm more than ready for Zach and Jake," she said confidently. "Bye guys. Love ya."

"Love you sis," Kit said, and the call was over.

"I hope she's right," Jessie said worriedly, squeezing his paw.

"Vil's not one to not be prepared for what she knows is coming, pretty kitty," Kit told her. "From the sound of it, she has a plan, and that's always a good thing."

"Do you really think that your uncles might try to hurt her?"

"I once thought they tried to kill me, love, I think they're more than capable of it. But, Vil's ready for that too. If they try, they'll find themselves in a world of hurt."

"Do you think we'll be safe?"

"They have no reason to come after us, love," he told her. "We have nothing to do with this. This isn't so much about me as it is about Vil's willingness to let the cousins do things the elders won't tolerate. I may have started it, but it's Vil that's letting it happen. Sure, they could threaten us as a means to blackmail Vil, but to do something like that, you have to have credibility… and they don't. Remember, Vil said that Zach tried to get Ally arrested, and he found out Vil utterly controls Austin. There's nothing the elders can do down here, so we can just basically stay out of Vil's way and let her crush our uncles. That she can do it, I have no doubt."

"I hope she'll be okay."

"She'll be fine, pretty kitty. Vil's a big girl, she can take care of herself."

"I think I'll worry more about us," she said fearfully. "You two were right about your family. They did go after Ally."

"And Vil saw it coming, so she was ready for it," Kit nodded. "She'll be fine as along as she stays in Austin, love. Vil made it clear she's protecting all of us, and that includes Ally and our friends. I'll be Zach never saw that coming," he said with a wicked chuckle.

The fur Vil hired was quite punctual. About ten minutes after Vil called, the phone rang again, and Kit answered it as Jessie picked up her plate. "Hello?"

"Mister Vulpan?" a male voice, deep, asked in a definite Australian accent.

"That's me."

"Nick Lawson, sir, did Miss Vulpan call you?"

"She did."

"Good, good. As she told you, I've been hired to make sure you can go on about your business without a care in the world, and that's exactly what's gonna happen. That's my mission in Austin, Mister Vulpan, to make sure you and your wife never feel a whit like anything's wrong. I won't intrude on your life in any way until it becomes necessary for me to take steps to keep you safe. Unless that happens, just consider me to be your neighbor. I'll always be around to help you, even if it's just to help your wife carry her groceries into the house."

"Alright," Kit said.

I'll be arriving in Austin tomorrow at five o'clock, at Bergstrom. Now, I've been told you know the general aviation section of the airport. I've bought a tiedown spot out by Signature Services. Can you meet me there?"

"We can do that," he answered.

"Good. I fly a Beech King Air. Now, may I speak to your wife please?"

"Sure. Jessie!" he called. "Nick wants to talk to you."

She hurried from the kitchen and took the phone. "Hello? Mister Lawson? Nick," she said with a light giggle. Kit picked up his plate as she listened. "Yes, that's fine. I've never seen that plane before. Really? Yes, I have my multi rating. I'd love to!" she said with growing enthusiasm. "He offered to take us flying in his plane!" she told Kit. "Yes, we're in the middle of moving to a new apartment right now. Yes, we have an alarm already, we wouldn't move until it was installed. No, that's fine. It was nice to talk to you, Nick. Here," she told Kit, holding the phone towards him.

Kit took it, and Jessie took the plate from him and headed for the kitchen. "Hello."

"Nice lady you have there, Mister Vulpan," he chuckled. "She sounds like a sweetheart."

"That's a good description."

"I need to ask, Mister Vulpan, do you keep a firearm in your house?"

"My wife shoots skeet, so we have two shotguns."

"I see. Have either of you ever had training with a pawgun?"

"I haven't. Odds are Jessie has. Pretty kitty, have you ever used a pawgun before?"

"Yeah, I used to go target shooting with Dad before he got into skeet shooting," she answered from the kitchen.

"She has."

"Good. Next week, both of you need to keep a day open for a training session. I doubt you'll ever need a pawgun, but I'm a huge believer in firearm safety, so I train all my clients in the safe use of firearms as a matter of course. Consider it a free service I provide."

"Well, that's nice of you, Nick, but why do we need firearm safety training?"

"Like I said, I'm a big safety male," he chuckled. "I carry a firearm as part of my duties, so I make sure that my clients are well versed in firearm safety in case they ever touch my weapon. I'm a firm believer that anyone that is even near a firearm should be trained in its safe and proper use, and you will be near my firearm. I don't want you to visit me in my apartment and pick up my weapon by accident and not understand exactly how to be safe with it."

"Well, when you say it that way, it makes much more sense," Kit said with a nod to himself.

"I'll let you get back to what you were doing, Mister Vulpan. I'll meet you tomorrow at Signature at five."

"We'll be there."

"G'day, Mister Vulpan."

Kit disconnected the call and chuckled. Nick sounded like a nice guy. "At least he didn't sound all professional like Stav and Marcus," he told Jessie.

"I love that accent," she laughed from the kitchen. "What's a King Air, love?"

"It's a twin engine turboprop, and a very nice one," Kit answered as he came into the kitchen. "One of the few turboprops still actively produced. If he wanted a plane with a lot of cargo capacity and good all-around usefulness, he picked a good one. He can take off from a dirt runway with a King Air, where a jet can't do that. I flew one of those when I was in flight school," he chuckled. "We called it the old son of a Beech. It was an ancient King Air, made back like in the seventies. I swear, it had duct tape holding it together," he laughed.

"That was the plane you always flew and made everyone else mad at you?"

He nodded. "Yup. An old Beech King Air, but if you just say you're flying a Beech, pilots will automatically assume you're talking about a King Air. I lived in that thing for about a year. I was logging twenty or more hours a week in it, and the other students could never get it, cause I always had it," he chuckled. "Now let's get the dishes done. We should start the dishwasher," he laughed.

"For two plates and a skillet? Please," she snorted, turning the water on in her brand new twin sink with a third smaller bay for washing vegetables, complete with its own sprayer. "Okay, so, what's on the schedule for tomorrow?"

"The Lowe's furs are gonna install the rack," he said. "Outside of that, we meet Nick. That's it. The rest of the furniture comes on Thursday."

"Alright. What time are they coming to install?"

"Two, I think. If they're still here when we go get Nick, I'll have Lupe watch 'em for us while we're gone."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll be busy in here for a bit, love, can you go make the bed up?"

"I surely can," he smiled in reply.


Nick Lawson wasn't what Kit expected.

Kit had expected a dingo or other Australian breed, but Nick Lawson was a wolf, a black-furred wolf with amber eyes, fur so black that it looked like it was spun out of a moonless night. He was also huge. His voice was deep but wasn't that deep, leading Kit to believe that he was maybe around six feet tall or so. But Nick Lawson was nearly seven feet tall, a huge, muscular, powerful wolf that had a nick taken out of his right ear and a small but visible scar on the end of his nose, the physical indications that Nick had seen combat in his life. He pulled in at Signature at 4:50pm in a white King Air with a large black stripe along its side, clearly his own private plane. It was one of the newer King Airs, one of the C90B's, and probably had a glass cockpit… and had cost Nick a couple of million dollars. That he could afford a plane like that said much about his qualifications. This was a very high-priced bodyguard and security expert. Despite that professional pedigree, he got off his plane wearing bermuda shorts and a plain black tank top instead of a suit. "G'day!" he called as they came up to him. "Nick Lawson, nice to meet ya!" he said, shaking Kit's paw energetically.

"Nice to meet you too," Kit answered, and he shook Jessie's paw.

"Hi," Jessie said to him shyly.

"Well, bless me, I'll be looking after a mommy to be!" he said with a toothy grin. "When's your due date, Miss Jessie?"

"September thirtieth," she said with a sudden smile.

"Wot, I'll be here for the delivery, then!" he said brightly. "Let me lock up the plane, and we can go in. I should have a rental waiting here for me. What you can do for me is lead me to your complex, so I can talk to, uh, Lupe. That's his real name?"

"It is," Kit chuckled.

"Odd name there."

"Lupe's an odd chihuahua, but he's a cool guy," Kit laughed.

"He should have a lease for me to sign, as soon as I look over the complex and decide where I want to settle in," he added. "Then it'll just be a matter of makin' myself cozy."

"I'm hoping you were hired for nothing," Jessie said, then her cheeks ruffled slightly. "I didn't mean I'm not happy you're here, it's just, you know."

"Of course I do," he smiled. "Believe me, Miss Jessie, fellas in my line of work never want to actually work. As long as we're bored, it's all good. I'm here to make sure you never have to worry about a single thing. As long as I do my job right, the only time you're gonna see me is when you wave to me in the parkin' lot."

"I don't think it'll be quite like that," Jessie giggled.

"Not really, but seriously, I'll just be your neighbor, and I hope that's all I'll ever be. Miss Vil hired me just in case. She said odds are I'd not have to lift a finger after I got everything all set up to my satisfaction, but she wanted me here to see that you're not hassled or bothered, just in case."

"That's what she said to us," Kit said. "Just in case."

"Yah yah yah," he said with a nod. "I'll do a few inspections, install a couple of cameras, make some contacts with the police and other fellas in my line of work that are here in Austin, then it's just settling in and earning my paycheck without you ever seeing a thing. That's what guys like me love, when our clients never know we're here, and yet you're kept safe and sound."

"Sounds good to us," Kit told him.

"But, if you need me, I'm here for ya," he told them. "I'm here to help in any way I can, even if it's to help you move or unstick your garbage disposal or change that pesky ceiling light you can't quite reach without a ladder. Twenty four seven, I'm always just a call away."

"That sounds good, Kit can't change a light bulb," Jessie giggled.

"Hey! I can so! Just don't expect it to work," he said flippantly, which made both of them laugh. Kit was rather pleased that this Nick Lawson wasn't quite so serious as Stav and Marcus. It made him much more affable.

Nick and Kit tied down his Beech, and then they went in. There was indeed a rental waiting for him, and it was a big Ford Expedition SUV. He followed them to the complex, and he looked around with a nod after he got out, parking on the curb in front of the house rather than pulling into the driveway. "Nice, nice," he said approvingly, looking around. "Just built?"

"Yeah, they just let us start moving in on Monday," Kit answered.

"Okee, take me to Lupe, and let me look around," he said.

Kit did just that, since Lupe was in their apartment. The Lowe's furs were just finishing installing the rack over the island, and they had it up when Kit and Jessie came into the kitchen with Lupe and Nick behind them. "It's gorgeous!" Jessie squealed in delight, clasping paws before her. "Oh, Kit, it's just perfect!"

"It did turn out very well," the ocelot leading the three fur team nodded from the ladder where he was installing the wiring for the light in the island. "We installed the island on the same circuit as the main kitchen lights, Misses Vulpan, replacing the light that was here before we installed the rack," he added with a point at a slender chain hanging down from the center. "But this chain is the switch for the light, so you can turn it on or off by itself. Just remember, the main lights have to be on to turn on the island light."

"That's fine, I wouldn't use it without the main lights being on anyway," she assured him. "Oh, Kit, I love it! I can't wait to hang my pans up on it!"

"I'm glad you like it, pretty kitty," he told her, putting his arm around her and kissing her lightly.

"Brah, they didn't tell me you'd be so tall," Lupe laughed to Nick, shaking his paw.

"I get that a lot," Nick grinned in reply. "Now, I need to look over the units in the building behind this apartment, so I can find a good one."

"No prob, brah, Vil explained what you'd need, and I'm ready," Lupe said. "Said you might want to install a couple of cameras and would give me some recommendations of security I could install here."

"Yah, I'm a licensed security analyst. I'll inspect the complex and give you some recommendations, free of charge."

"Cool, brah, cool. Lemme get my keys and we'll take a walk."

Lupe and Nick left, and Kit and Jessie watched as the installers finished with the rack. They tested the light and found that it worked, and Kit signed the installation form as the ocelot's crew packed up their tools. "There you go, folks, we hope you enjoy it," the ocelot smiled.

"I already love it!" Jessie gushed. "It looks perfect with the kitchen!"

"It does indeed," the ocelot nodded. "You chose a very good piece for the kitchen."

Kit and Jessie walked the installers out, and Kit saw Lupe and Nick come out of the community center, where Lupe had his new office. "Did the cable company come today, love?"

"Uh-huh," she answered as he closed the door. "They ran a line to the living room and our bedroom, and the cable modem line is in our den. He tested it with his laptop and it's working. So, we can move the computers over today."

"I'll call Mickey and see if he can lend us his pickup."

With Mickey's help, they moved the computer desk, printer table, and bookshelf, and Kit moved over the desktop. It took him over an hour to set up the cable modem and get the home network set up. He came out of the den and walked into the living room to see Lupe and Mickey talking with Nick. "Dude, how can you not have a home?" Mickey asked in surprise.

"I live where I'm needed," Nick told him. "I keep my gear on my plane. When I take a new contract, I move in where I'm needed, like here. I'll go out and buy a car and furniture tomorrow, then sell it all off when I'm done here and move on."

"So, you're here to guard Kit and Jessie like the way those panthers guard Vil?" Lupe asked.

"Nah, nah, I'm here just in case," he answered. "Miss Vulpan wants some added security down here for a few months, because of the baby coming I'd guess, so she hired me to assess the situation and stay down here a while to make sure everything's fine. She made it clear I'm only here as a precaution. I'll be staying in the background unless I'm needed. Just makin' sure," he said with a smile.

"Well, that's cool," Mickey said with a nod.

"It's an interesting way to make a living," he chuckled. "I get to see the world, and if I do my job right, nobody notices a thing. That's the way we like it," he said with a smile. "Now, it's a little late, so I'll be headin' to a hotel for tonight, Mister Vulpan."

"Please, just Kit," he corrected.

"Kit it is," he nodded. "I'll be back here at around nine tomorrow morning. Will you be here?"

"Jessie will," Kit answered.

"Ah, good, she can let me in to do my initial walkthrough, and then I'll assess the complex. Then I'll go buy what I need to settle in. After that, I'll sit down with Lupy here and give him my assessment of the complex from a security standpoint."

"You got your apartment?"

"Yah, I found the one I want, and lucky for me it's not already rented," he laughed. "It overlooks the privacy fence, lets me make sure everything's okay."

"I guess he's gonna be a peeping tom," Kit laughed.

"It's my job," Nick grinned.


Nick was affable enough, but he was also all business.

Jessie told him about it during lunch. He came in and inspected their townhouse, and found it initially good. He liked the alarm package options that they'd chosen and the locations of the keypads, and his only real suggestion was the installation of locking bars to place in the tracks on the sliding glass doors leading to the deck and a deadbolt lock on the back door in the kitchen. He did not ask for the combination to the alarm, for a simple reason, Jessie said. "He said that if he needed to enter the house without our permission, he wanted the cops to come," she told him, which Kit could understand as smart. The police were not Nick's enemies. Kit was a law-abiding citizen whom Nick had been hired to protect, and the police and Vanguard security were part of that protection, so he would more than welcome their assistance. After inspecting the townhouse, he inspected the complex with Lupe, which took a good two hours. Nick pointed out possible problems to him, and they talked about a camera system that Lupe could install that would cover the entire complex but not be outrageously expensive, and they discussed the possibility of hiring a security guard to keep watch mainly over the community center, which might not be a bad idea given there was some expensive equipment in it. Nick even offered to help him set up his security, which Lupe rather liked. Additional security features like cameras, gates, and guards lowered the insurance for the complex. The one thing Nick liked was the gates that Lupe had installed on the inner ring, preventing unauthorized cars from entering the luxury apartment area. After the inspection, Nick left to go buy what he needed for his apartment, which was a two bedroom on the second floor of the building behind their townhouse, which would let him stand on his small balcony and see the backs of the townhouses. He was also going to meet with furs from Vanguard and the police, make the contacts he'd talked about the day before. "He said that he could be at our back door in thirty seconds from his apartment if we need him. I don't see how unless he jumps off his balcony and jumps the fence," she giggled.

"I'll bet that's exactly how he'd do it," Kit said seriously. "A wolf that tall could jump off a second story balcony without hurting himself, and I'll bet he could get over the privacy fence in about ten seconds."

"Maybe. He's out right now buying furniture for his apartment, and buying a car. He must have a lot of money to just go out and buy things like that, then sell them when he's done," she laughed.

"He's an elite bodyguard, love, I'm sure he's very well paid for what he does. I'm just glad he didn't try to move in with us."

"Well, he said he's here just in case. He doesn't need to be in the house with us unless things are for real."

"True," Kit nodded in agreement.

"He did say that he might move into our townhouse if he thinks he needs to be there to protect us," she added.

"I'm not surprised. Is the furniture there yet?"

"The bedroom pieces, gun cabinet, and the kitchen table are, the rest of it'll be delivered around one or so," she answered.

Nick was a professional, though. When Kit got off work, he saw the wolf arrive in the complex with a brand new Ford Expedition with temporary tags, the car he bought, and it was filled with suitcases, boxes, cases, and items from his plane. Some of those boxes and cases looked decidedly oddly shaped. Kit figured that they were filled with equipment, and probably weaponry, not available to him here in Texas, and maybe not even in the United States. Nick was an ex-mercenary and was now a personal bodyguard for hire, so Kit had no doubt that he was highly trained in military-grade weaponry, and most likely owned some… which was why he moved it all around in a private plane. He put it all in his apartment, and then a furniture truck arrived, pulling into the drive on the far side and disappearing behind the building. That had to be Nick's furniture. Later, as they were moving more furniture and boxes to the townhouse from the old apartment, they saw Nick and Lupe up on the roof of the community center. Nick was installing a very small, almost invisible camera under the eaves of the roof facing their row of townhouses, Lupe on the roof and Nick on the ladder, securing the mount into place with a screwdriver. Nick motioned towards the townhouses while talking to Lupe, then both of them waved to them when they got out of their cars. After they finished, both Lupe and Nick helped them carry boxes and the small furniture they'd brought over from the apartment into the townhouse as Jessie fussed over the furniture that had been delivered earlier that day.

"You know, I should interview you," Kit chuckled as he and Nick carried the coffee table into the townhouse. "I think it'd be an interesting article."

"I'm a ham," he grinned. "As long as you don't ask me about trade secrets or what kinda guns I own, sure. I'm not a secret, Kit. I want anyone that might want to tangle with you to know that I'm here."

"Odd position to take. Won't that make them more careful?"

"It stops more trouble than it starts," he answered seriously as they put the table down near the wall, since the other furniture wasn't in the house yet. "Besides, how can I stay a secret? I'm just a tad easy to identify," he grinned. "Anyone who works in my profession, or the professions my profession is hired to stop, already knows I'm here, they know exactly who I'm contracted to protect, and they know that me being here makes any attempt your family makes to cause you trouble much more expensive. Me being here may not stop the two-bit hoods that might try to steal your car, but me being here will scare away the professionals that might try to bug your car or try to hack into the state system to make it look like you didn't pay your taxes or try to frame you for some crime so you get arrested."

"Ah. I didn't know you ranged out into those kinds of things."

"I don't personally, but I have mates that do," he grinned. "When you hire me, Kit, you don't hire just me. You hire me and any mate I call to ask a favor. I have a couple of mates makin' sure your computer records don't mysteriously change or vanish, and another mate is doing me a favor and making sure your IRS status doesn't suddenly change. I also have a few mates that are in my direct line of work I can call and have them come down to help out if I think I need it," he added. "Paying them comes out of my fee, so don't you worry a bit about it. But I seriously doubt that you'll ever need me to do that. Miss Vil hired those nutty panthers, and they're very good. They won't let anyone sneak anything up on me down here, because odds are they'll nose it out and have Miss Vil take care of it before it ever gets down here. I'm only here just in case something gets past them… which is highly unlikely."

Kit chuckled. "You know, I should be much more nervous that Vil thinks she has to send a bodyguard down here, but for some reason I feel much safer."

"Then I'm doing my job," he said seriously. "I want you to live your life without a care in the world and without ever feeling like you're being protected."

"Well, there's one reason I'm glad you're here."

"What's that?"

"I can slack during the move and let you do the heavy lifting."

Nick gave him a look, then laughed brightly.


The day of the big move came with more than just the six of them ready to move some heavy furniture. Nick was glad to put a paw in, but they also got help from Sam, Kevin, Rick, Martha, Jeffrey, Mike, Danielle, and Lisa, basically most of the crew that didn't work on Saturday. Savid had to bow out because he was taking his wife to Dallas, and Patrick wanted to come help, but Kit made him go to work and get some research done. They all met out at the old complex at 8:00am, and Jessie and Sheila greeted them all with homemade donuts made in Jessie's deep fryer, one of the gift appliances from the wedding that they'd left in a box for lack of space for it. But if Jessie had anything in her kitchen now, it was space for anything she wanted. The helpers were warned that they were moving a cluster of five apartments, which they didn't mind doing.

Lupe had a plan, and it worked out very well. Nick, Dan, Mickey, Mike, and Lupe moved the big, bulky items from apartment to flatbed while the femmes moved boxes, packing them into vehicles, and Kit, Rick, Martha, Jeffrey, and Kevin all moved smaller furniture on the paw carts, loading up an item or two and wheeling them over. Every single box or piece of furniture was either marked with the owner's name or tagged with a small colored paper tag, which indicated which fur owned it and which townhouse to which it would be taken once moved over. Once the truck and cars were full, they drove over, parked in front of Sheila's apartment, and they started unloading while Kit, Rick, Jeffrey, and Kevin continued ferrying over furniture on the carts. They would then unload, putting the furniture in the proper apartment and in the proper room but not setting it up while boxes were stacked in the living rooms of the appropriate apartment. Once the first load was done, the paw cart team traded with the box team so they didn't have to constantly walk back and forth, and they loaded up a second load. They moved the second load over and stopped for lunch, pizza, breadsticks, and soda bought by the six getting moved. After lunch, they started on the third load, which Lupe estimated would just about do it for the big stuff. They'd moved all of Kit and Jessie's furniture, Lupe's furniture, and Sheila's furniture, so they were working on Dan and Mickey's big furniture. Kit and Jessie's apartment was officially cleared out after Sheila and Martha brought out the last of the boxes and stacked them in Martha's van, and then Sheila's apartment was completely cleared when Kit and Jeffrey brought out a stand-alone full length mirror wrapped in blankets and put it on a cart, then started wheeling it the half block over to the townhouses. They managed to move all the big furniture with two more loads-more like one and a half-and then they used the flatbed to load up everything that was left. Lupe pointed to four moving vans out in the complex and chuckled. "I see we weren't the only ones that thought it was a good day to move!" he declared.

"So, when's the pool gonna be open full time?" Dan asked as he loaded a box of cookbooks from Sheila's house onto the flatbed.

"Monday," he answered. "I finally got a third lifeguard. That's why it was closin' early, brah, I didn't have enough guards. Next time I won't try to hire them in June, they ain't none left by then," he laughed.

"Could just go without guards, you know," Mickey noted.

"Not in Texas you can't," he answered. "At least not a pool used by kids. If it wasn't nothin' but adults then yeah, I don't need lifeguards. But Texas law's strict, brah. Any public pool a kid can use has to have a lifeguard on duty or the pool can't be open, even just open to adults. The only way I could get around that is to permanently ban kids from the pool, and I won't do that."

"Didn't know that," Mickey mused.

"Welcome to business, brah. They's always somethin' you don't know."

It took them about another hour to finish up. The flatbed and cars hauled over the last of the boxes, and they carried them and the small pieces of furniture into their respective houses. After the last box was carried into Dan's house, they all gathered out in Sheila's yard, then headed over to the community center. There, Jessie, Sheila, and Martha grilled steaks bought by the beneficiaries of the move, and they sat out on the outside tables, ate steak, baked potatoes, and grilled corn and sauerkraut, drank beer or juice, and relaxed after finishing a good day's work. All five of them were fully moved into their new apartments, though a few hours of work waited for them to put their new houses together to their satisfaction. "The rest of my stuff will be here tomorrow," Sheila said as she gave Kevin a plate holding a steak and a grilled ear of corn. "I had my apartment's furniture packed up and shipped down, as well as the rest of my things. The townhouse should be just big enough for it."

"What did you have up there?" Danielle asked her.

"A three bedroom condo with a den near the campus," she answered. "I may be putting some furniture out, since I have a living room suit coming, but I can fit the rest of my stuff in the new townhouse."

"Well, we could always use a new couch over at the sorority," Danielle said with a smile.

"I think I could see fit to have you guys hold it for me," Sheila grinned. "Since I'm not going back to Boston for a few years, I decided to just have my stuff sent down."

"I thought that your apartment was given to you by your mom," Lisa noted.

"The apartment yeah, but Higgins furnished it for me, and I bought the furniture. Hmm, I could hire myself a butler now that I have a spare bedroom," she mused. "Maybe I'll send up a call and see if any of the Vulpan servants want to come live in Austin for a while. I'd much rather have a family servant than hire someone I don't know."

"Never hurts to ask," Kit nodded.

"A family servant? You almost make it sound like a slave," Jeffrey noted.

"You've heard me talk about Clancy MacArren. The MacArrens have served the Vulpans for four generations, Jeffrey," Kit told him. "A MacArren has been the chief butler at my family's manor, Stonebrook, literally since it was built, and I think Clancy retired with nearly four hundred thousand dollars in the bank. It's not slavery, it's literally an institution, a tradition, for children to work for the Vulpans after their parents, and the Vulpans actually prefer it. They grew up with us, they know us and know what to expect, and we can trust them to keep the family secrets. In return for that loyalty, we pay them very well and give them good benefits. I think some of our servants have servants of their own," he chuckled.

"Yah," Sheila nodded. "Higgins is the third Higgins to serve my family. His grandfather used to work in Stonebrook, and his father left Stonebrook to serve in my mom's manor. My Higgins came to work for us after he got out of college, and he came to live with me when I went to Harvard to be my butler."

"Stonebrook isn't just a big house with one family in it," Kit explained when Danielle gave Sheila a curious look. "Some of the servants live on the manor grounds as well, and they have husbands, wives, children. Since some of the servants that work there also live there, much of what they do around the manor is for themselves as much as it is for the Vulpans who live there. I used to play with the servant kids when I grew up. There's like fifty furs working at Stonebrook, and about twenty who live there, mostly the senior staff. It's a matter of some prestige for a servant to be allowed to move to the manor. There are only like five Vulpans there."

"Wow, all the rich talk again," Lisa smiled. "I used to dream about being rich when I was a kid. Then I met you, and you ruined the fantasy," she laughed.

"Being rich doesn't solve your problems, dove, it just introduces a whole different set of 'em," Nick chuckled.

"Yah, when you cross over from earning money because you love what you do and enter the realm of earning money for the sake of earning money. That's when you get into the curse, when greed overtakes ambition. Ambition is good. Greed can corrupt it."

"Do what you love, hon, not what pays," Rick told her, taking a cup of beer from Lupe with a nod of thanks.

"What are you majoring in, dove?" Nick asked her.

"Geology," she answered. "I want to be a vulcanologist."

"Ah, now that's an interesting field!" Nick said. "What got you interested in volcanoes?"

"Well, I'm from a town in Washington State called Puyallup, and we have Mount Rainier and Mount Saint Helens near there," she said. "Mount Saint Helens erupted long before I was born, but I was always curious about it, and I've been interested ever since. So, I'm not going to school for the money," she giggled.

"Sam and Danielle are the sorority brains," Lisa laughed. "The rest of us are taking much easier majors. I'm majoring in anthropology, but I don't know what I want to do with it. I just like the classes."

"Nothing wrong with that, dove," Nick smiled. "Just don't go into criminal justice. You're too cute to be a cop!"

Lisa's cheeks ruffled. "What do you do, Mister Nick?"

"Just Nick, dove, and I'm in the professional security business," he answered. "Have you ever met Miss Vil?" Lisa nodded. "Notice those two wonky panthers with her?" She nodded again. "That's what I do, dove. I'm hired by furs to make sure they're safe. Miss Vil hired me to come down and check over the security here in Austin for her brother and Jessie, and also for herself when she comes visit them, and she hired me to be down here for six months. So, after I finish what I'm here to do, I'll just kick back and take a vacation until my contract is done. So you'll be seein' a good deal of me if you come to see Jessie."

"So you're a bodyguard?"

"More or less, dove, but mainly what I do is assess security for a fur and a location, make recommendations on how to improve it, then make those changes if the client wants them. For Kit and Jessie, I'm more of a consultant than an active guard, because they don't need me to guard them that way. I'm only down here just in case. Miss Vil wants a comprehensive analysis of Austin, so she hired me to come down here and inspect the city, inspect the new apartment complex, and assess possible security problems for her brother and sister-in-law, and also for Vil for when she comes down. But she also wants me on paw for a while, kind of on reserve, so she hired me for six months." He chuckled. "This is a dream contract for me, wot," he admitted. "I'll do a month of real work and have a five month vacation, with pay."

"Well, I certainly don't want you to have to work," Kit laughed.

"Too right," Nick nodded. "Oh, by the way, I'll be giving firearm safety training classes while I'm here, once I find a good shooting range to conduct 'em. I'm always happy to teach anyone. Free, all you have to do is pay for any ammunition you use during the training."

"That sounds interesting," Danielle said.

"Always worth it," Rick said mildly, giving Kit a slight smile.

"Thank God you thought it was," Jessie smiled, looking at Martha.

After the steak grilling party to thank the helpers, the real work began. Kevin and Sam stayed to help Kit and Jessie get the furniture just right while the rest of the helpers went home, and Jessie unpacked boxes, hung pictures, and set up the house to her personal tastes. Kit had already given the house to her, more or less, to decorate as she wished, because he loved her sense of style and it would make her very happy to be surrounded by a place that was wholly and completely theirs. And it was truly theirs. Jessie had chosen the paint and carpeting, Kit had included some of the amenities, and Jessie had customized the kitchen to make it a serious cook's dream. She had bought the furniture, and it was by consensus that the two of them placed it in the house. Kevin and Sam were good sports about helping them try several layouts for the living room before deciding on one with the wall unit against the wall near the door, opposite the hallway, and the couch and love seat flanking their chairs, which faced the TV and stereo. A small tea table stood between their recliner chairs, Jessie's knitting bag was resting under the small stand, and the coffee table was in the middle. The stand with the capitol building was on the wall near the opening to the dining room, and beside it was a new stand with the model Grandma Pearl had given them for Christmas, a model of their Cessna 400. Over it was their little "wall of achievement" holding their type rating certificates hung in a circle and the silk banner upon which their wings were pinned in the center. Jessie had mirrored the layout of the old dining room for the new one, the table dominating the center of the room, with the china cabinet and china closet side by side on the far wall, and the chandelier she'd picked out hanging over the table just so. The kitchen only held one piece of furniture, a small table set near the window and right beside the sliding glass door. Kit went down and hooked up the washer and dryer in the basement, their hookups not far from the laundry chute and the pillar-like shaft of the dumbwaiter. The basement had been cordoned off into two sections. One was clearly the laundry, with a rack for detergents, a clothes hangar pole, the washer and dryer, and room for an ironing board, all close to the stairs. The wall under the stairs held three wine racks setting side by side, running from the edge of the stairs to the wall, which would eventually hold their wine collection. A draw curtain had already been installed so the wine could be kept in the dark. The other side of the basement held several boxes and totes that they were storing, mainly some Christmas decorations that Hannah had sent them, old ones she no longer used in her extravagant Christmas trees. Hannah went through decorations like crazy, buying them, using them only once or twice, then storing them away to eternally collect dust, so her unused decorations were enough to decorate three trees. Jessie's old things from her room were also down there, but those were going to be sent to the attic once Jessie went through them and decided what to keep and what to store.

And the dumbwaiter would make that easy when they attended the matter… just load them in the basement, press a button, take them out in the attic.

Getting that washer and dryer down into the basement had been fun, and exposed one of the small design flaws of the house. The stairs came down to a landing and then turned and came down two more steps before reaching the basement floor, and that turn had been something of a bottleneck. The washer and dryer had been too big to easily navigate that turn, because of the banister pole.

The upstairs was much easier. They'd put all their furniture in the master bedroom where they wanted it when it was moved in or brought in by the furniture store furs, so there was no moving around, and the furniture furs had set up and placed the baby's bedroom furniture and the first guest bedroom furniture already. That only left them to set up the bed in the second guest bedroom, and that was basically all there was in the room. They'd not bought any other furniture for the room quite yet, nor did they really plan to do so anytime soon. But that was furniture, and there were boxes to move. Kit and Kevin carried the lighter or smaller ones, but Jessie would load one of the heavy or large ones into the dumbwaiter and send it up. Once they got every box into the room where it was destined to go, Jessie made them fruit smoothies, which they enjoyed on the back porch, which was a spacious deck with a built-in propane grill, built right into the deck, and with the bricked patio beneath it with the large barbecue pit. The deck grill was their personal grill, the pit was for old-fashioned barbecue and also for parties. The deck had a family picnic table built into the deck near the grill, and also had a retractable awning which would cover the deck with shade. The retractable awning was something extra that Kit had bought after first seeing the deck, but Lupe was thinking of buying one for his own deck.

"So, Lupe told me that you're renting the last inner unit," Kit noted as he showed Kevin the retractable awning, which rolled overhead to cover the deck with a sheet of sturdy nylon cloth.

"Yeah, I'm signing the lease for it tomorrow," he answered. "It's gonna be a bit empty for a while," he chuckled. "I can afford maybe three rooms of furniture, and that's also using my credit card."

"Dude, I know you make more than that," Kit pressed.

Kevin coughed uncomfortably, then came close to him. "If I hadn't bought a ring, I'd have more money," he said quietly.

"So the truth is revealed," Kit laughed. "Congratulations in advance."

"Dude, she's gotta say yes," he said nervously.

"You won't know until you ask," he pointed out.

"But then she can say no," he said, scrubbing his muzzle nervously.

"Kev. Ask her. I can say with some authority that you'll like what she has to say. Remember, she's one of my wife's best friends, and my wife talks to me."

"Really?" he asked with hope in his eyes.

"Trust me. Ask her tonight."

"I'll be so nervous I won't be able to get it out," he chuckled ruefully.

"Don't say a word, just hold the ring case out. She'll know what you're going to say. After she says yes, it's much easier to ask properly," he smiled.

"I may do that," he chuckled. "I asked her over to my place tonight. I was going to try, but I wasn't sure if I'd have the nerve. I've never felt this way, Kit."

"In love?"

"Terrified," he answered with a wincing smile. "I'm terrified she'll reject me."

"That's love alright," Kit chuckled. "All I can say is the longer you wait, the longer you'll not be married. And it gets to a point where you want that more than anything else in the world. I swear, the last week of my engagement to Jessie was hell. Not because we weren't already intimate, but it was that she wasn't mine. I wanted that ring on her finger worse than anything in my whole life."

"I remember, you were bouncing off the walls," he laughed.

"Don't get that bad, ask early," he advised with a light smile.

"Well, since we're basically done here, maybe I'll ask her as soon as I get her home," he said as Kit retracted the awning.

"Works for me, we still have some things to put away, and we don't really need any help. I certainly don't want you to see Jessie putting her underwear away," he grinned.

Kevin laughed. "I'll have to get used to five bottles of shampoo in the shower."

"It's worth it, bud, it's worth it," Kit told him sagely.

Kevin did just that. He collected up Sam abruptly, almost pulling her out of the kitchen as she helped Jessie put away some of her rarely used utensils, and Sam looked a little annoyed as he hustled her out of the house. "Well, what was that all about?" Jessie asked from the kitchen, looking down the hallway as Kevin closed the front door.

"Kevin wants to take her home," Kit told her. "He's going to propose to her tonight."

"Really! That's wonderful!" she gushed, clapping her paws happily, then giving him a quick hug. "That poor male, Sam won't even let him finish popping the question before she says yes," she laughed.

"He's really nervous about it," Kit told her. "I told him to just take out the ring box and let her see it, then ask after she says yes."

"That's a dirty trick, taking away Sam's moment," she accused, then she laughed.

"If I remember right, a certain overenthusiastic kitty proposed to me," he noted playfully.

"Well, I did let you ask properly afterward," she replied haughtily.

"Then nearly burst my eardrums screaming," he teased.

"I had every right to be excited, my deepest wish had just come true," she said with a smile, sidling up against him and kissing him on the muzzle. "Well, my second deepest wish. The deepest wish is in here, keeping me from seeing my toes," she laughed, putting a paw on her rounding stomach.

"Eleven weeks and four days," he purred in her ear, nuzzling her, which made her purr for real in reply. "And you are not fat."

She laughed helplessly. "I'm not that big yet," she told him. "We'll see what you say when my belly's all the way out to here, and I can't even get out of my chair without help," she grinned at him.

"I'll think you're the most beautiful femme that has ever lived," he told her. "Hmm, I wonder if I can carry you up the stairs."

She giggled. "After we finish. I want us to go to bed with everything in place. I want to go to bed in our new home, and not have to get up and have to unpack a single box!"

"We're almost done," he noted.

"Yeah, we are," she winked. "So, the more you help, the sooner we get done," she said invitingly.

Kit bent to the task with exaggerated enthusiasm, which made Jessie laugh. But he did get back to business, because he rather liked the idea of going to bed knowing that the unpacking was done.

It took them nearly four hours to get everything finished, because they weren't just unpacking, they were also hanging pictures, tweaking furniture arrangements, and completely finishing all the little things that would make them officially completely moved in. It also took them longer than they expected because they took quite a few things that had been stored in boxes since their marriage, gifts from friends, things from home, Kit and Jessie's things from their respective prior homes, all those things they'd been keeping in boxes because their two bedroom apartment just didn't have the room. Kit went through the boxes he'd gotten from Boston and took what he wanted out, and boxed what he didn't want and sent it to the attic. Jessie did the same, going through the things from her high school days, keeping some of it, boxing the rest. She kept out her collection of plush and figurine unicorns and putting them in Laura's room. Around 11:00pm, Jessie carried the last box to the dumbwaiter, a box filled with broken-down boxes they intended to keep, stuck it in the dumbwaiter, and sent it to the attic. Kit, who was in the attic, took it out and set it with some of the other boxes they'd put up there. Jessie met him in the upstairs hallway as he came down the attic steps, folded them up, and pushed it back up and into the ceiling. "Well, we're done, handsome fox," she said with a naughty smile.

"So we are," he noted with a smile, slipping a paw around her waist and pulling her into an embrace. "Well, fancy meeting you here, Misses Vulpan," he said as he nuzzled her cheek. "Aren't you supposed to be home?"

"Why I am home, Mister Vulpan," she said teasingly, her fingers seeking out the scars on his back, tracing the lines she knew so well with her fingers. "Congratulations, handsome fox. We are moved in. Completely, totally and irrevocably moved in!"

"May we never move again," he said seriously.

She laughed and nodded. "Once is enough!" she agreed, then she squealed in surprise and delight when he bent down and pulled her off her feet, picking her up. "Well now, it was so nice of you to come upstairs so I wouldn't have to carry you all the way up."

"I should make you take me down just so you could," she winked.

"I'll just put you in the dumbwaiter and ship you up," he grinned.

"You will not!" she declared with a laugh.

"I dunno, I'm sure you'll fit, and you certainly don't exceed its maximum weight rating… yet," he hummed, which earned him a smack on the shoulder.

"That way!" she said imperiously, pointing towards the door to the master bedroom, at the end of the hall, with her longhaired tail.

"I thought you'd never ask," he hummed, turning and carrying her in the direction she wanted to go.


They woke up that Sunday morning and knew they had nothing to do.

It was a glorious feeling. There were no boxes to pack. There were no pieces of furniture that needed to be moved. There was nothing to do but enjoy their new house, their new four bedroom, two story townhouse with the big swimming pool literally right across the street, the kitchen Jessie could get lost within, the big deck in the back, the jacuzzi tub in the master bedroom, the new TV in their bedroom, and still with that new house smell that told them they were the first furs to live here.

And Kit hoped they were the only furs that would be there for a long, long time.

It would take a while to adjust to the new townhouse. They'd been there since Wednesday, but before it had been half empty, and all of their stuff had been over at the old apartment. But today, Kit woke up with Jessie curled up against his back, her arm thrown over his side, and saw their furniture in the new room, which was twice as big as their old room, saw the picture of the vase and ivy on the wall, saw Jessie's robe tossed over the back of the vanity bench, saw the dressers with the pictures of Vil and Jessie's family atop them, saw his alarm clock and little lamp on the nightstand, and saw that it was 10:17am. Neither of them were used to sleeping so long, but they'd done a lot of work yesterday. There were new things, though. Things like the ceiling fan over the bed which turned silently and slowly, circulating the air. The soft blue pile carpet was definitely different from the beige, worn-out carpet in the old apartment. There were new pieces of furniture flanking the vanity, and the new gun cabinet was over in the corner, Jessie's skeet shotgun locked safely inside it. The ADT alarm pad was on the wall across from the bed, right near the door, and on the right wall was a pair of doors. One went to the large bathroom, the other went to a very large walk-in closet. There were windows on the wall behind the bed, flanking the bed, windows that looked out over the pool, and a single window on the left wall that looked out into the area between their townhouse and Sheila's townhouse. Sheila's townhouse was mirrored in layout to theirs, so the window over on her townhouse was to her master bedroom, which would let them wave to each other over the carports and the strip of grass between them.

Their first morning waking up to being officially moved in.

Naturally, that meant that they'd be disturbed. The doorbell rang, and Jessie groaned beside him and put her paws over her face. "Whoever that is, I'm gonna shave their fur off!"

Kit was mindful enough to realize that they had the new toys now. He got up and went over to where the ADT pad was, for right beside it was the intercom. "You have thirty seconds to run before Jessie chases you down with a pair of clippers," he said in a weary tone, which made Jessie explode into laughter from the bed.

"But I brought beignets!" Allison cried through the speaker.

Before he could even turn to look, Jessie was by him, her finger on the button. "Ally!" she said excitedly. "Wait right there, I'll come unlock the door!"

"Robe!" Kit called warningly when she opened the bedroom door and moved to run down to the front door.

Jessie laughed and skidded to a stop, and caught the robe Kit threw towards her. He turned off the alarm as she pulled on her robe and hurried down the three steps then made the turn, vanishing from sight.

Kit put on his shorts and grabbed a tee shirt, and padded down the stairs to the living room to see Jessie already giving Allison a tour of the house. Allison was wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a tank top, and she looked lovely, as usual… but she was still only second fiddle to the absolute perfection of his wife. "The living room just came together perfectly!" Jessie gushed, waving her paw towards the living room set. "Oh, and you have to see my kitchen!" she said, grabbing Allison by the paw.

"Woah, woah!" Allison laughed. "You can give me the grand tour tomorrow," she declared as the door opened again, and Terry looked in. Terry was wearing a simple white tee shirt and a pair of knee-length shorts, the kind with the oversized pockets on the outside near the hem.

"Hey cousin," Kit called, "come on in."

"Sorry to disturb you guys, but we were in the neighborhood and wanted to see the new place," he said.

"Not a problem," Kit assured him.

"You guys hungry? We just got up and I need to cook breakfast," Jessie invited.

Allison looked to Terry, he looked to her, then they both laughed. "Sure, why not?" Terry said. "We're not doing anything we can't postpone."

"What are you doing today?" Kit asked.

"Dunno, it's Ally's turn to pick the things we do," he smiled in her direction. "Yesterday I picked the activities, now it's her turn. She told me to dress this way, so I guess we're gonna be outside today."

"How's New Orleans?" he asked as Jessie and Allison went upstairs, chattering like little girls.

"A mess," he grunted. "The employees just let everything go when they found out the owners were negotiating with Vil to sell out. The first thing I had to do was assure everyone I'm not clearing them out," he grunted as he came in and sat on the couch. Kit sat in his chair and listened. "Right now I'm going through their paperwork trying to get a sense of where things stand. Yesterday I had to deal with a threat of a general strike by the shipyard workers," he said with a groan, leaning back. "I think I got in over my head with this."

"You'll do fine," Kit chuckled. "Why were they going to strike?"

"Because when Vil bought the shipyard, their contract was voided," he answered. "Right now they're working at the same pay and benefits as their original contract, but you know Vil will never keep that contract. The union furs know it, so they're trying to get the workers to strike now, and cause all kinds of problems during the transition, which just totally mystifies me. I mean, why start off like this? They're doing themselves no favors making this confrontational not even a week after the sale."

"Well, Vil said the prior owners had lots of problems with this union."

"Yeah, but this is dumb," Terry snorted. "Do they really think threatening to shut down the shipyard not six days after the new owners take over sets a tone of cooperation? I had to call Vil to tell me how she wanted it dealt with. I can't make a call like that on my own."

"I know Vil," he chuckled. "Did the union reps pee their pants when you called them into your office?"

"Just about," he laughed. "I told them that anyone who striked would be immediately fired and not hired back, then I told them that if the union went on strike, I would fire every member of the union on Friday, whether they honored the strike or not, which means that anyone who wants to work at the shipyard will quit their union. Classic Vil union-busting tactic. When they laughed at me and said we'd never finish our contracts on time, I showed them a faxed schedule of moving workers from our other facilities to Avondale to replace them. Then I told him that they weren't dealing with a little company that didn't know how to play the game, that they were dealing with Vulpan Shipyards, and if they didn't want to adhere to our high standards and be part of our family, they could walk. They're supposed to have their vote at a meeting today. I expect the vote will pass, but I also expect that quite a few workers will quit the union and cross the picket line. We've made it clear we can build ships without them, and anyone who doesn't want to be part of Vulpan Shipyards can walk. If they want to keep their jobs, they'll be at work tomorrow morning."

"And if they strike?"

"Let them," Terry shrugged. "We'll bring in a security company and clear them out. They're not striking over the contract, they're just trying to force us to accept that bloated piece of garbage they managed to bully the previous owners into accepting. These Louisiana furs are about to find out what bullying really is."

Kit laughed. "Vil said that the previous owners sold out for a song because of the union," he mused. "I guess this is their way of getting revenge, selling to someone that will crush the union that basically ran them out of business."

"What will piss them off even more is after we've swept out that union, we'll allow the union from Jacksonville to send representatives to form a new one," Terry grinned. "Vulpan Shipyards isn't anti-union, it just won't tolerate it when unions try to blackmail us for benefits far beyond what they deserve. We treat our workers well, and we expect our workers to treat us well in return."

"The paw of the Ice Queen reaches far," Kit said sagely.

"It feels weird being the paw of Vil in New Orleans," he laughed. "I wonder if she'll put me there permanently after I finish the transition. This interim shipyard director title feels clunky."

"Who knows? If you do a good job, maybe she will. After all, by then, you'll know more about Avondale than anyone in the company. Who'd be better to run it?"

"If I want to stay there," he laughed. But the way his eyes softened when Allison came down the stairs in front of Jessie, who was now wearing a pair of sweats and a tee shirt, Kit had the feeling that Terry would want to stay close to Allison, and keep Allison away from Boston for the same reason that Kit kept Jessie away from Boston.

"Hey boys," Allison said with a smile, seeing the appreciative look that Terry was giving her. "What do you want for breakfast?"

"Jessie, love, we have the stuff for crepes?"

"Sure do," she said with a smile and a nod. "Come on, Ally, you can see my kitchen in action!"

"I need to see this kitchen," Terry noted, his eyes never leaving Allison until she vanished into the short hallway back to the kitchen.

"Come on, I'll give you the dime tour," Kit offered.

Kit showed Terry the whole apartment, from the cellar to the attic, pausing in the kitchen to goose Jessie and nearly make her spill a cup of milk, and also got them chased out of the kitchen with a wooden spoon. Terry seemed quite impressed by their townhouse, both in its construction and its decoration. "It's a little small, but it seems to have everything," he noted as they walked out onto the deck behind the house.

"Small? Terry, this place is huge," Kit protested. "Room for four bedrooms on the second floor, and with the master bedroom taking up almost half the floor by itself! That's big out here in the real world."

"The real world!" Terry laughed. "What, Boston's not real?"

"Real as in the world most furs live in, not the fantasy world the Vulpans occupy," he said, leaning against the picnic table. "Out here, furs don't own four houses, ten cars, have money in Swiss banks, and have servants doing everything for them."

"I only own two houses, thank you very much," Terry laughed. "My house in Boston and a vacation home in Vale. But I'm looking for something more permanent in New Orleans. I found a nice apartment in the central business district that's a fairly straight shot to Avondale, just get on the expressway, over the bridge, and it's an easy drive to the shipyard. It's a little small, but it's got a lot of amenities that'll make it feel more homey. I've already found a nice place here too," he smiled. "Out on Lake Travis, in a community called the Vineyard. Five bedrooms, garage, private pool and basketball court, pool house, private boat dock, boat house, two acres of grounds, fenced and gated and in a gated community, a cozy little place, for one point six mil cash up front. I had an agent buy it at auction, it was a foreclosure, and I sign the papers for it tomorrow morning before going back to New Orleans," he announced. "God I love the housing crisis, that same estate was going for two point nine mil at its highest, then came down and down and down, and finally went to auction," he laughed. "But I guess it's a sign of the times when luxury houses in exclusive communities get foreclosed upon."

"You bought a house here?"

"A vacation house, yeah," he answered. "I want someplace mine when I come to see Ally."

"Sounds like you're settling in," Kit chuckled.

"Nah, I'll sell the house after I'm done with it, or just keep it so I have someplace to stay when I come visit you. I'm sure Vil would love having a place to stay, and I could earn some bonus points letting her use my vacation house," he grinned.

"Careful or she'll make you give it to her," Kit teased.

"Eh, if I'm not using it, she's welcome to it. Besides, it's five bedrooms, I'm sure we could share it if we're here at the same time. But we'd fight over the master bedroom I suppose," he laughed.

"So, what did you do yesterday?"

"Yesterday we went all over Austin," Terry answered. "I drove all over the city, exploring it, then we went out to a local ranch and went horseback riding. We went to New Braunfels to swim and float down the spring river, to get rid of the smell she said," he laughed, "then we came back and went to the baseball game, the Express. I had no idea that Allison loved baseball, and the team here isn't bad for minor league. We went to the Blanton museum, then I took her out to one of my favorite sports."

"They play polo here?"

"Of course they do," he smiled. "We went to watch a polo game, and then we played a round of golf. I had to let her keep it close," he laughed. Terry was extremely good at golf. Just like Muffy had taken many lessons in ice skating and had become very good, Terry had loved golf when he was in his teens and spent a great deal of time and money taking lessons and practicing, just as he'd learned to play polo, and was actually pretty good. Terry was a very physically active Vulpan. "After that, we went to a nice dinner, then I took her to a movie. That surprised her," he chuckled. "From polo and golf to going to see a movie. After the movie, we went to a few bars that had local bands she likes, then I took her home. I had no idea she was so into heavy metal music," he chuckled.

"Quite a shock to a blue-blood," Kit laughed. "I wish Jessie liked metal. I have to listen to that God-awful pop music tweenie crap when Jessie gets her paws on the radio dial."

"Hey!" Jessie protested as she opened the sliding glass door. "You leave my good music alone, or no food for you!" she warned.

"There's a Denny's about two blocks from here," Kit noted to Terry, which made him laugh and Jessie give him a hot look.

"Oh, inside, you tin-eared curmudgeon!" Jessie said, pointing behind her.

"I think you're gonna pay later," Terry said slyly.

"Eh, I pay every day, it's the price I pay for what I get from her in the bedroom," he said flippantly, then squeaked in surprise and a little pain when Jessie reared back and slapped him hard on the rump, then he laughed brightly as he rubbed his backside with both paws even as he waggled his tail at Jessie teasingly.

"We have two beds that don't hurt your back now, you treacherous male!" Jessie warned. "You can't keep me from tossing your tail out of the bedroom!"

"She has a point," Terry noted as he followed Kit into the kitchen.

"I wouldn't be there long, I'm just too loveable," he said haughtily, which made Allison giggle.

Jessie swatted him again on the rump, more lightly this time, then kissed him on the side of his neck. "He is loveable," she agreed in a kittenish voice. But then her claws came out and sank into his shoulder and side, giving her a grip on him that would cost him some fur, skin and blood to break. "But he forgets who has the claws in this family," she added, which made him explode into laughter.

"One of the dangers of being married to a cat," Terry noted clinically to Allison, to which she nodded sagely.

"Well, at least she can't bite him that hard," she added. "That short little muzzle has no character."

Jessie laughed. "Stop the racist comments," she giggled, pointing at them. "I can't help it if I'm a cat living in a world of foxes. Blame this handsome fox here for chasing me down and making me marry him," she giggled, nuzzling Kit's neck from behind.

"Well, at least you're part fox," Kit told her. "We'll give you an honorary membership into the snobby fox club."

"I don't need in a club like that," Jessie laughed, letting him go with another kiss. "Now let's eat."

Terry got to enjoy Jessie's crepes at the kitchen table, the four of them sharing it, with a selection of syrup, blueberries, strawberries, and bananas, and they listened as Allison told them about all the places they went yesterday, then smile when Jessie asked them where they were going today. "I made sure he wore his outdoor clothes," she said with a wink at Terry. "I'm not going to ruin any of the surprises, but let's say that he'll be going to bed with sore feet tonight," she laughed. "Gotta work the rich boy," she winked at him.

"Baby, you're looking at the most outdoorsy Vulpan of them all," he said challenging in reply. "I fly fish, deep sea fish, ride horses, ski, ice skate, backpack, ride snowmobiles in the winter and motorcycles in the summer, play polo, golf, tennis, and hockey, I do almost everything!"

"We'll see," she said with a slight little smile, taking another bite of her crepes.

"That sounds like a challenge to me, Terry," Kit said mildly.

"I do believe you're right, cousin," Terry answered. "A Vulpan never backs down from a challenge," he said with a smile at Allison.

"Yo! Anyone home in there?" Sheila's voice came over the intercom, and then the front door opened. "Kit! Jessie!" she called.

"In the kitchen!" Jessie shouted back.

Sheila strutted in from the hall, wearing a pair of workout shorts and a halter. "Hey!" she said with a smile. "So you two are taking a break from the whirlwind?"

"A little," Terry chuckled. "How you doing, cousin?"

"Doing great," she answered. "I'm gonna go get a workout in, then come home and unpack. I'm still getting my place set up. Good news!" she said with a grin. "Higgins caved! He's coming down!"

"Higgins is moving to Austin?"

She nodded. "I had to give him a raise, but he's agreed to come down and keep my new house. But I told him we're sharing the cooking duties," she grinned. "Higgins is actually a good cook, so it'll rock to have him right there to help me learn. I think he refused earlier because of the apartment I was in," she laughed. "But when I told mom about my new place and how it's more suitable for a Vulpan, Higgins asked for some pictures of it. When I sent them to him, he agreed to come down. He's gonna live in the first floor room, so I have to go out and buy him some furniture tomorrow after class."

"All that work to make you normal, and it's all gone," Jessie laughed.

"I'm a Vulpan, Jess. I've been slumming down here since I came to get away from Cybil, but now that I've decided to stay here, I'm settling in properly. That means a nice house, a butler at the very least, and being waited on in a manner more suitable for a fox of my station."

"Listen to this," Kit noted to Jessie, who laughed at his tone. "Your station, eh? You're a whiny little brat. I didn't realize that was an official station."

"You're the brat, Kit," she retorted. "And Terry would agree with me. It's a crime you don't have a butler, and you make Jessie clean everything!"

"He doesn't make me clean, he does half the cleaning himself!" Jessie protested.

"And that's a scandal!" Sheila announced, giving Kit a grin. "A Vulpan does not clean."

"Afraid I'll have to side with the brat on this one," Terry chuckled. "I have a butler, a maid, and a cook. They're still up at my house in Boston, but if I move to New Orleans permanently, they'll either come down or they'll fold back to Stonebrook and I'll be hiring new servants."

"Kit, any word on things from Boston?" Sheila asked. "I talked to my mom yesterday, and she's all kinds of pissed off."

"Nothing since Friday," Kit answered, "after Vil shot down the board nominations that Zach was trying to push through, then adjourned the board until next Tuesday, when she'll nominate her own board members. She went to England for the weekend, and hasn't called me since she left. What did your mother have to say?"

"Just what you'd expect," she grunted sourly. "You've set a bad precedent and Terry followed it, you two are destroying the reputation of the family, us kids have no idea of the proud traditions of the family, we're all a bunch of whiny ingrates, yadda yadda yadda and all that shit," she said. "I spent nearly an hour listening to her spew. I think she's majorly overreacting," she frowned, leaning against the island, her tail slashing to her side. "The tabloids don't say a word about you and Jessie up in Boston, and while the tabloids are wondering who Allison is, they're not sure where she comes from. She came in with Kit and nobody saw her either arrive or leave, so they have no idea who she is and where she's from… and they're searching for her," Sheila chuckled, giving Allison an amused look.

"They are?" Allison asked.

"Yeah, but don't worry about it," Sheila chuckled. "The tabloids think that Terry got in trouble with Vil and she shipped him out of Boston, so they're not quite so curious about it now as they were. They're more interested now in the juicy gossip of why Terry got thrown out of Boston. Sure, that'll come back to you, but once they know, they'll basically let it die. After all, Terry's not in Boston, and how can they hold attention on him the next time they get shots of Bess doing her best to make Paris Hilton look like a nun?"

"How do you keep up with the Boston tabloids down here?" Terry asked curiously.

"Muffy, George, and Joy, they call me a lot," she answered. Joy was the fourth child of Uncle Jake, 18 years old and had graduated from Weston last month, the elite high school for rich kids that just about every Vulpan had attended since the family struck it rich back in the early 1910's, building iron and steel battleships for the Navy. Joy was a Party Pack member in training, far more interested in parties and boys than she was in attending Yale in the fall. George was the second youngest child of Maxine, 19, and was starting his sophomore year at Harvard. As Vulpans went, George was pretty typical. He was intelligent, but had little ambition or motivation to do anything other than chase girls and play games… though Kit had to admit, George was very good at hockey, playing goalie for Harvard. His problem would be when the NCAA finally realized they were getting the run-around when it came to testing George for banned substances. George indulged in drugs as much as most of the other younger cousins, and he'd get suspended the first time they managed to test him. "Muffy said that her dad's staying out of it, but Joy got into a fight with her mom and dad when she defended Terry and Kit. She said they called her a harlot, which Joy thought was funny," Sheila laughed. "She shot back that her parents had slept with everyone but each other since she was twelve. Her mom almost slapped her, she said."

"Well, they don't have anyone to blame but themselves," Jessie said simply, taking another bite of breakfast. "Kids learn by watching their parents, and what do your parents do? Nothing. So the kids do nothing."

"Well, I can't argue that one," Terry laughed. "My dad certainly didn't do anything. I don't know why I grew up to have actual ambition. That's something that's like nonexistent among the cousins. I think only like six of us actually work, work for real and not just pretending to work in black hole departments in the shipyard, and I think me and Kit are the only ones that have jobs that actually matter."

"The only elders that work are Uncle Zach, Uncle Jake, and Uncle Brian," Sheila said. "My mom's never worked a day in her life, and if Jessie's right, I guess that's why me and all my brothers and sisters don't do shit."

"It's more than just not working," Jessie said. "If the way your mother treated you when she came down here is any indication how the other parents treat their kids, well, I'm not surprised so many Vulpan kids hate their parents so much."

"Hey, my mom's getting better," Sheila said defensively. "She hates the idea I moved down here, but she does like the idea that I have a plan to do something with my life now. She thinks a restaurant is a silly idea for a business venture, she thinks I'd do better starting another kind of business, but at least I'm not cutting classes because I'm hung over from a night of raves and chasing down guys to screw."

"See, if they'd just let you do what you want, you and your cousins would straighten up," Jessie said darkly.

"Well, not all of us," Terry chuckled. "Some of the Vulpan cousins are hopeless, and I'll be the first to admit it."

"Bess," Kit said with a nod.

"Mary," Sheila nodded.

"Victor," Terry added.

"True, but look at Sheila and Muffy. They're in the Party Pack, yet each of them has a plan," Jessie motioned at Sheila. "The parents want to control the kids like they were controlled, but that's not going to work. The kids have money, they don't need their parents, and they're rebelling against that control. The parents should just let them go and be who they want to be."

"That will never happen," Terry sighed. "So long as we bear the name Vulpan, our parents will try to control our lives."

"And that's why Vil has gone to war against the elders," Kit said simply. "They want to control her too, and she's tired of it. So she's showing them that they are no longer necessary in the family."

"That's why I think you're the lucky one, Kit," Sheila said without much humor. "I've never seen you happier, and if you ever really, really need anything, well, Vil's there. And so am I."

"You introduced me to Ally, so I guess I owe you a little something too," Terry chuckled, reaching over and patting Allison's forearm fondly.

"I've said it thousands of times, Sheila. The Vulpan fortune is a curse, and I want no part of it."

"That's not entirely true, you know," Terry said sagely. "The Vulpan fortune bought you your plane, and most of the furniture in this house, and your flight training, and you're living off your dividends from the stock Vil sold you… which she sold to you for like a hundredth of what they were worth, I might add," he chuckled. "You seem to have no problem getting some of the benefits of the family fortune, you just don't seem to want the burdens that come with all that money. And if you had the money yourself, if Vil hadn't have let you split it up among us, I think it wouldn't change you too much, if anything because you truly understand just what it really means to have that money. I think what you should really say is the curse of the Vulpan fortune is that it's become an institution rather than a family, and those of us who were born into the name never had to work for what we have, all we had to do is obey rules that are ridiculous today. That makes us jaded and robs us of our ambition. That's something you've always had, Kit, and that makes you immune from the most sinister part of having money. I think you dreamed of flying fighter jets the first time you ever saw one, when you were like five," he chuckled. "And after your accident, you just refocused that dream on your magazine and on your wife. You still have ambition, and that makes you safe from the family curse."

"Well, the curse will be broken, then," Sheila said sagely. "Vil will break it when she kicks our parents' asses. She doesn't seem to much care what we do, as long as we don't stain the family name."

"Vil's a realist, Sheila. She knows she can't change the cousins, so she's letting them go," Kit told her. "The ones that want to end up in an early grave from overdoses and diseases are being released to pursue that early grave. The ones that want to work and make something of themselves will get that chance, because Vil won't stop anyone from doing what they want to do."

"In a strange way, Vil's doing the same thing our parents are trying to do, just from the other direction," Terry noted, lowering his fork and pondering a second. "Vil is restoring the family's honor by releasing the cousins from the control of the elders, and letting them be who they really are, be it bad or good. There'll be some scandals, that's for sure, but in the end, the cousins will be happy. And happy cousins will probably be more productive, more respectable, and less apt to be daily fixtures in the tabloid rags. You're perfect example of that, Sheila. You went from devoted member of the Party Pack to a femme with a plan for the future, all because you felt like you got free of your mother's control when you came to Austin and realized there is a life beyond what you knew. And we have Kit and Jessie to thank for coming to that epiphany, they taught you how to live, not just exist. Our parents want the family to be this mythical construction filled with foxes who all think the same way and march lock-step with the wishes of the family's leader. Vil is taking an entirely different approach, one more sensible in today's culture. But in the end, both approaches end up with the same result, a family that appears united on the outside and moves with a single purpose on the inside when it comes to family business. And Vil can pull that off because once she frees us from our parents, the cousins will obey her, obey her in ways we'd never obey our parents. Our parents use a stick, Vil will use a carrot. And when it comes to family business, well, the cousins who are pursuing their own interests aren't dead weight dragging the family down. Vil and move forward with a much lighter ship. She'll truly become the matriarch of the family, because she'll have control over everyone. She'll gain control by letting us go."

They were all quiet a moment, then Sheila laughed. "So deep," she grinned. "We should all be wearing togas and debating Socrates."

"I think Terry hits the nail on the head," Kit nodded in agreement. "Vil can control the family by giving them a longer leash to be themselves. She'll free the cousins because they'll break free of their families after they realize that their parents can't stop them, but Vil will put her foot down and lay out the new rules, which basically say do what you want as long as you don't tarnish the family name. That's how she'll control the cousins, by reining them in when they get too wild, but other than that she'll just let them go on with their lives. Everyone's happy in the end except for Jake, Zach, and Maxine."

"They could use some misery," Sheila grunted. "They've given me enough of it since I moved down here."

"How so?" Jessie asked.

"Uncle Zach tried to get me thrown out of Harvard," she said with a dark frown. "Mom stopped it and smoothed it over, but he still tried to do it. Uncle Zach seems to think he's Uncle Luke, and he uses the same ham-fisted tactics." She laughed. "But I guess Vil will fix that."

"God, the last thing we need is another one like my bastard father," Kit sighed.

"Just another reason to root for Vil," Terry chuckled.

"I swear, they're better than the midday soaps, aren't they?" Allison asked Jessie, which made all three Vulpans explode into laughter.

"The green eye is for intrigue, the amber eye is for scandal," Terry said cheekily. "That's how we keep our eyes on two things at once."

"Well, let's finish breakfast so I can make those eyes focus on one thing," Allison smiled at him.

"And which part of your lovely body should I stare at today, hmm?" Terry asked, which earned him a smack from Allison.

"I'd say you walked into that one, Ally," Sheila laughed. "But that's a point. I got a lot of work to do, and I'd like to have it all done before Higgins gets here Tuesday. My last hurrah doing my own work," she giggled. "So lemme go get my workout done, then tackle those boxes in my living room."

"Don't break a claw doing that manual labor, Sheila," Terry teased, which caused Sheila to flip him off.

"I'll let myself out, later guys."

"You should, you let yourself in all the time," Kit noted.

"Bite my furry ass, cousin," she called as she left the kitchen.

They finished breakfast quickly after Sheila left, and Jessie forced Terry to help her with the dishes afterwards, make him do a little manual labor, which made him laugh, but he also did it. Afterward, Allison begged off another attempt by Jessie to give her a tour of the house. "We have to go, Jess, we have things to do!" Allison laughed, taking Terry's paw. "And we're wasting daylight!"

"I guess here comes that twenty mile forced march," Terry laughed. "Eh, I'll live, I have to prove to Ally that I'm no creampuff," he winked at her.

"I've seen the pads on your feet, you'll be begging for mercy after an hour," Allison challenged, but she was smiling.

"I'm from Boston, dear, my pads may not be calloused, but I guarantee you that they're five times tougher than yours," he said with a smile. "Unlike most furs in Boston, I don't wear shoes in the winter."

"Then let's see who gives up first," she teased.

"I'll put twenty bucks on you quitting first."

Allison's eyes lit up noticeably. "So, you'll put money on it, will you?" she asked with a dangerous smile. "If you're going to put your money where your maw is, it has to be real money. I'll bet you a thousand dollars you'll give in before I do."

"I thought you said real money," he teased flippantly. "Ten thousand."

"You're on," Allison said immediately.

Kit exploded into laughter, almost falling over.

"What?" Terry asked, a bit annoyed when Kit wouldn't stop.

"She just boonswoggled you, cousin!" he wheezed. "You didn't ask what you're going to do!"

"So? I can out-march her on a hiking trail no problem."

"She just said you'd quit before she did. She didn't say what you were quitting!"

"Kit!" Allison said warningly.

"She just has to pick something that you'll refuse to do!" he laughed. "And you lose the bet!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I think you'll look quite smashing pole dancing, or walking the jogging path along the river in a bikini, Terry," Kit wheezed, which made Jessie explode into laughter herself. "You left the conditions up to her!"

Terry gave Kit a strange look, then laughed helplessly. "So I did, so I did," he admitted, giving Allison an amused look. "But she wouldn't do that. Allison likes to fight fair. She wouldn't cheat me out of the bet."

"You don't know me very well, Terry," she purred. "Get your checkbook out, you're going to need it," she warned, which made Terry laugh helplessly.

Chapter 31