Chapter 7
They took good care of him in the hospital. He was carted straight into the emergency room, and then he was surrounded by doctors. They asked him all kinds of questions, examined the wound, even X-rayed it to look at the internal damage… which wasn't as bad as it could have been. When Kit flinched when he saw the gun, it literally saved his life. The bullet hit him in the back of his shoulder, near his arm, and had exited just under his collarbone, near the sternum. The bullet had missed everything vital, but the collie that was the attending lead doctor did tell him that he'd be having some surgery so they could repair some tissue around his sternum that had been torn by the compressive force of the bullet as it went through him. "It shouldn't take very long," he told Kit as they applied a temporary bandage to the wound.
The pain medication had really kicked in by then, reducing his shoulder to a dull throb rather than it feeling like someone drove a red-hot spear through him, but the medication combined with what the doctors called a mild concussion made him a little dizzy and made it hard to think. They had him in the bed, sitting up so his shoulder was elevated, when the lioness that had been down at the office came into the treatment room. "They said you're up to answering a few questions now," she said. He nodded. "I'm Sergeant Elizabeth Rivers, Mister Vulpan."
"I wish we could have met under different circumstances… even a speeding ticket," Kit mused, which made her laugh.
"Alright, Kitstrom–"
"Kit."
"Kit. Let's start at the beginning. Just tell me what you remember, and take your time."
He went through what he remembered, having to backtrack a couple of times because his memory was a little fuzzy about the details of that mess. "After I bit him, I don't really remember all that much. I think he pistol-whipped me or something. Is he dead?"
The lioness nodded. "Your boss carries a concealed weapon," she told him. "He shot the leopard. You should thank him, Mister Vulpan. He saved your life."
"Oh, I will, trust me."
"Now, I have to ask this, Mister Vulpan. Is there anyone you know that might have reason to hurt you?"
"You don't think it was a robbery?"
"Most robbers don't kill their victims before robbing them," she said. "And certainly not in broad daylight on a city street. We think this might be personal."
He sighed. "Well, I could say that I'm shocked, but not surprised," he told her grimly. "My family has very extreme views, and I'm violating them."
"The Vulpan family? You really think one of them would hire a hitman to kill you?" she asked.
"Ah, so you know about my family."
"We are the police," she grinned. "It just took a couple of ID checks to dig it up. It's not exactly hidden."
"Well, let's say that I wouldn't be totally stunned if one of them did," he said. "I can think of a couple of uncles that might try it."
"Which ones?"
"Zach and Jake–er, Kitstrom Zachary and Kitstrom Jacob. My grandpa named all his boys Kitstrom," he explained as he saw her eyebrow raise. "My dad continued the tradition when he named me."
"Ah. Well, I'll call up to Boston and ask around a little bit. Just to make sure."
"Tread very carefully, officer," he said with absolute seriousness. "The Vulpans own the Boston Police. Expect to be stonewalled."
"I'll keep that in mind, at least until the detectives take the case from me," she said with a smile. "I'll tell the doc I'm done, and you're ready for visitors, okay?"
"Thank you, officer."
"De nada, Kit. I'll come check on you in a while."
The doctor returned, and not alone. Jessie and Rick rushed in behind her. Jessie's eyes were sheened and red, and the fur on her cheeks was matted from tears. She tried to hug him but recoiled when she saw the bandages, so just settled for putting her cheek against his own, nuzzling him. "I'm alright, my pretty kitty," he told her. "See? Still here and kicking."
"I was so worried," she said, her voice trembling. "Are you okay?"
"I'm just fine," he said.
"He'll be fine, miss," the collie told her. "He'll be going up to surgery in–"
"Surgery?" she gasped.
"It's alright, they just want to repair some damage to the tissue under the exit wound, miss, ah."
"Jessie," she answered.
"Jessie. Like I said, they're going to fix that, and then he'll be in a hospital room and well on his way to a full recovery. The bullet didn't hit anything important, and the injury is easily treated. He'll be up and about in no time," he said with a chuckle. "All he'll have to show for his adventure is a scar nobody will see under his fur and an old arm sling he can hang on the wall and use as a prop for his story," he smiled.
"Doc, I have enough scars, I don't need another one people can see," he chuckled, pointing with his good arm at his injured ear.
"Well, that one's more spectacular anyway," the doctor chuckled. "You should play the lottery, Mister Vulpan. This is the second major incident you've survived. Now, steal your kisses while you can, Mister Vulpan, you'll be off to surgery in just a few minutes."
Jessie nuzzled him tenderly. "I'll be right here waiting," she told him.
"You have school tomorrow, little missy," he told her in a weak but playful voice. "And they're not going to let me go anywhere."
"Just try and make me go home," she said adamantly, taking his paw in hers and holding it.
"I don't think I have the arm strength for it at the moment," he smiled weakly.
"Son, I have your things. Do you want me to keep them or give them to Jessie?"
"Give her the phone, Rick," he said, his eyes steady.
Rick nodded in understanding. "I'll put the rest of it in your office then," he said, giving Kit a wink behind Jessie's back. "They only let two at a time in to visit, and the whole crew's waiting outside. So I'll give up my spot so they can take turns until they take you up."
"Officer Rivers said you saved my life, Rick. Thank you."
"Any time, son, any time. Thank Martha, actually," he chuckled. "She was the one that didn't feel comfortable with me working the hours I do without protection. She's the one that got me to get the permit."
"Well, I owe her a big kiss on the lips."
"I might get jealous," Rick grinned, but he filed out.
"Vil called me," Jessie told him. "Right after Rick did. Rick called her, then called me, then she called me. She told me to tell you that she's already on her way down, and don't worry about the hospital bills. She already called the hospital."
"She just needs to take out health insurance on me," Kit sighed.
"What happened, Kit?"
"I'm honestly not really sure. The police don't think it was a mugging. They think it was a failed hit, which I guess is possible, if my family decided I committed a sin too grievous to forgive."
She gave him a stricken look. "You mean they tried to kill you because of me?"
"If they really did do it, they tried to kill me because of me," he said unflinchingly. "Don't ever think that this is your fault, my pretty kitty. But, I do want you to call that security company that Vil hired and tell them what happened, and they might want to keep a much closer eye on you. I don't want you going around alone. Not right now."
Marty was the first to visit. He looked very grim and serious, expressions that seemed alien on his face, and he patted Kit on the good shoulder. "Keeping the faith, soldier?" he asked in a surprisingly quiet and positive tone, much unlike his usual flamboyant melodrama.
"The docs say I'll be just fine, Marty, and right now I'm too keyed up on morphine to feel much of anything," he said with a smile. "Is Lilly okay? I heard her screaming."
"She was a little freaked, but she's better now," he answered. "Don't you worry, Jessie, we'll be right here with you. You'll have lots of friends there while we're waiting."
"Thanks, Marty," she said, giving him a look of profound gratitude.
"Hey, I gotta watch out for the only femme around that looks better than me in pumps," he said airily, which made her giggle.
Okay, Marty was feeling better now.
Before Marty could send the next person in, two orderlies returned with the collie. "Alright, Mister Vulpan, let's get you up to surgery. If you two will wait in the waiting room, the receptionist can tell you when he's done, and what room he'll be in."
Jessie leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, her eyes worried.
"Relax, pretty kitty. As you can see, I'm not in any danger, and I'll be just fine."
"That he will," the collie agreed. "Now if you two will go to the waiting room, we can get him going."
"Come on, Jessie, let's go tell the others he'll be okay," Marty said, patting her on the shoulder.
She gave him a longing look and blew him a kiss as Marty walked her out, and the orderly transferred the IV hooked up to his arm to a stand attached to the bed. "Alright, Kit, away we go," the doctor said. "You'll be in and out quick, and we'll get you settled into your room."
Kit had been through enough surgeries in his day to know that for the patient, it was a very undignified business.
The first thing they did was shave off his fur. His fur was one of his few vanities, for it was thick and glossy, and it looked quite nice. Not satisfied with just shaving away around the area to be worked on, the doctors had gone on a veritable orgy of clipping, shaving away almost all the fur on the entire left side of his chest, both the white fur on his chest and the reddish fur on the sides of his shoulder and outer pectoral. Not satisfied with peeling his chest like an apple, they also shaved off the fur around the entry wound on the back of his shoulder. As if the half-missing ear wasn't bad enough, now he'd look like he had mange until his fur grew back in.
The surgery itself wasn't really that bad. The surgeons were professional and polite, and they had him under within minutes of putting him on the operating table.
It was the aftermath that was the embarrassing part.
For one, anesthesia wasn't quite as serene as most people believed. Every time he'd been put under, when he woke up, he was violently ill. And this time was no different. It was hard to be dignified retching into a pan, and even less so when one did it to an audience. A vixen nurse helped him through most of his indisposition, which had to be as distasteful to her as it was to him.
For another, doctors couldn't operate on one's finger without stripping the patient completely naked, then putting them in a flimsy little hospital gown that would open in the back with the slightest flick of the tail. Being in a bed with a blanket over him didn't change the fact that he knew what he was wearing, which would make any trip to the bathroom more of a show for the nurse than anything else, who would have to help him out of bed and over to the bathroom.
One could manage only so much dignity with one's bare butt hanging out the back of a hospital gown.
But, at least it was over. They had him in observation in a private room in the hospital, and though his shoulder and chest were in pain, it was dulled by the drugs dripping into his arm through an IV. The doctors had given him a glowing report when he was coherent. The repair to the tissues in his chest was done without any complications, and he'd have no movement or health problems at all once he healed. He'd have to undergo some physical therapy once the muscles pierced by the bullet mended, and also because his arm would be in a sling for a few weeks.
It already was, actually. His arm was literally strapped to his side to keep it immobile, to prevent any movement from torquing the wound and possibly tearing his stitches.
But, even though the injury itself wasn't serious, the implication behind it was. Officer Rivers stopped by soon after the surgery, before they allowed anyone to visit him, and filled him in. The leopard that was killed was one Josh Ruger, a.k.a. Spots, a mid-level hood in the Atlanta mob. Unless Spots was on vacation in Austin and decided to keep himself in practice when it came to shooting furs, then he was there on business, and his business was Kit. It was a very strong indication that someone tried to have Kit killed… and the list of those who might want that was decidedly short.
Vil was going to blow a blood vessel when she found out… and may God help the family. She'd come down on them like an avalanche. For the first time since he was sixteen, he found a sliver of sympathy for someone in his family other than his sister. Vil was a vindictive bitch when she was angry, and the family was about to see the Miss Hyde that lurked beneath that witty exterior.
Whoever did it certainly seemed to sense that, for they'd dug up someone far, far from Boston to do the deed. And they must have warned the guy. He didn't fly or take any kind of public transportation into Austin the cops could find, and no cars were rented in Austin under any known alias Spots used. They thought he drove in from Atlanta to cover those tracks, and would have driven back after it was done, so they were looking for his car, and had an APB out on his car that covered all of Texas and Louisiana. Austin was pretty much well smack dab in the middle of Texas, so it was going to take anyone driving that car several hours to get to virtually any border, even Mexico's.
So… it seemed that the family did take exception to his relationship with Jessie, and decided to voice that displeasure with the business end of a gun. It was shocking to him, but not surprising. It was shocking that they went straight for that very dangerous and extreme option immediately, without the usual attempts to sway, intimidate, or blackmail him into breaking it off. No, they went straight to the ultimate solution, killing Kit to prevent him from marrying someone that many in the family would consider little better than livestock.
God knows, it shouldn't have been a surprise. Not only was Kit disowned and poor, but he was thriving. That had to be an anathema in their eyes, a cancer on their souls, that Kit didn't just eke out a meager existence eating out of garbage cans, he instead had built a good life for himself without their money, without their power, without them period. He didn't need the Vulpan family to be happy, and that had to eat at them like acid poured into their eyes.
The collie doctor came in. "And how are we feeling?" he asked as the vixen nurse handed him Kit's chart.
"Exposed, half-naked, and doped up," he answered.
"In other words, normal for someone just out of surgery," the collie grinned. "How much fur did they take off?"
"Too much," he replied with a grunt.
"Yeah, they love to go nuts with that shaver," he chuckled. "Oh, if nobody told you, I'm Doctor Randy Barnett, the chief physician around here. You can call me Doc. I know, it's a terribly unimaginative nickname for a doctor, but if I was more creative, I'd be working in Hollywood instead of Austin."
Kit chuckled. "It's not much more creative than Kit."
"Hmm, well, all these squiggly lines and mysterious marks look all in order," he noted, handing the chart back to the vixen, who was giving him an amused smile. "Now, let's see if they put your heart on the right side of your chest like I told them to." He put the stethoscope in his ears, and probed Kit's chest for a moment, as the nurse took his blood pressure. "Well hell, they didn't do it again. I really need to go down there and straighten the surgery staff out," he said. "But that's a healthy heart, no doubt about it. BP?"
"One ten over eighty," the nurse replied.
"Now let's see if that concussion didn't knock some sense into you," he said in a jovial manner, taking a pen light out and shining it in Kit's eyes. "Well damn, you're just giving me nothing to do. Couldn't you at least pretend that you need me here, Kit?"
Kit laughed.
"I guess I won't be able to keep you locked up in this prison, I suppose. You look ready to handle that pack sitting out in the waiting room. Let me trot out there and sell them some tickets, and they'll be in in a few minutes."
Kit laughed again, which his shoulder didn't agree with. "I'd appreciate it, Doc." He gave a short wave, and swept out of the room as quickly as he entered.
"Don't let his Patch Adams act fool you, Kit," the vixen said with a smile. "Doctor Barnett is one of the best doctors in Texas. You're in the best care around, and we'll take good care of you."
The vixen left him alone for about a minute, then the door opened again. Jessie literally ran into the room, her paws on his face and kissing him all over his muzzle, cheeks, and forehead. He had to laugh at her display, which made her cheeks ruffle as she looked coyly down at him. The whole crew filed in behind her, and as she pulled the stool over to his bed, he shook paws with everyone and got a kiss from Lilly. "You really scared us there, Kit," Mike told him. "The doc said you'd be just fine though, so that's good news."
"Yeah, he told me the bullet went right through and didn't hit anything vital," Kit nodded.
"Is it hurt much?" Savid asked.
"They have me on too many drugs right now to feel it," he answered, motioning with his muzzle at the IV dripping into his right arm.
"If you wanted some time off, you should have just asked for a vacation," Jeffrey grinned at him. Lilly and Barry gave him a shocked look, but Kit laughed, which broke them of their feeling he'd said something out of bounds.
"Well, Rick complains I don't get enough rest," he noted, looking at his boss, which made him laugh.
"We'll be a little short-handed without you, but we'll manage," Rick grinned.
"Well, I hope I'm back at work soon. We have too damn much fun there for me to want to stay away."
"Shh, don't tell the boss we have fun!" Lilly protested, giving Rick a sidelong smile. "He might decide to stop paying us!"
"I'd have to stop paying myself, and Martha might have something to say about that," Rick said with a mild smile. "Have the docs given you a date for getting out of here?"
"Not yet, but hopefully not long," he said. "If I'm lucky, I'll be back home in a few days."
"That soon?" Jessie asked in surprise.
"There's really not much they can do around here but stick needles in me, pretty kitty," he told her. "I can sit on my couch at home and watch TV the same as I can sit in this bed and watch TV. Besides, you ever taste hospital food?" he asked with a shudder. "I had almost five months of it, and it's not something you wish on your worst enemy."
"We'll smuggle you in some real food," Barry promised with a grin.
"That would be nice," Kit assured with a nod.
Jessie's phone rang. "Vil! No, I'm right here with him right now. He's out of surgery, and the doctor told me he's going to be just fine. Sure, hold on." She held the phone out to him, and after looking at the IV, she instead put it right to his ear.
"Hey sis," he said.
"Are you okay, Kit?" she asked fearfully.
"I'm alright. I was shot in the shoulder, and I'm feeling about as good as one can under the circumstances. Until the meds wear off, anyway."
"I'm on a plane right now," she told him. "I'll be there about three hours. We're somewhere over Tennessee right now."
"Well, it'll be nice to see you, even if I'm not quite happy about the circumstances."
She gave a humorless chuckle. "I've already got in touch with the Austin police," she said, her voice turning icy. "They told me what they think."
"Uh oh," he said quietly.
"Yeah, uh oh," she said. "When I get home," she said, then was silent a moment. He could almost imagine seeing her bristle in her seat on that plane. "I will find out who's at the bottom of this," she declared in a cold, sinister tone. "And then I'm going to skin him with a rusty butter knife and hang his mangy pelt on my wall."
"Just be careful, sis," he said seriously. "I've told you before. Don't underestimate the uncles. They will fight back, and they have lots of money to do it with."
"We'll just see about that," she said with a hiss.
Oh, God. Vil was going to be a nightmare. He'd heard that tone before, and she would destroy anyone that got in her way.
"Did they put you in a private room?" she asked, getting her temper back under control.
"Yeah, they did."
"Good. Don't you worry about a thing, baby bro. I've already picked up the tab for this. I'll let you get back to Jessie, and we'll talk when I get there."
"Alright. Love ya sis."
"Love ya bro."
He nodded to Jessie, who took back the phone. "Vil? No, I'm okay. Thanks, that's sweet. Do you need someone to pick you up? Okay. Okay, see you soon. Bye." She hung up the phone. "Vil said she'd be here in a couple of hours," she told the group.
Kit enjoyed the visit with the crew, as they kept probing him over whether or not he was really feeling okay, and joking and kidding him and each other, at least until the vixen nurse came into the room. "Alright, people, afraid open visiting hours are over," she told them.
"Can I stay?" Jessie asked in a frightened tone. "I don't want to leave him!"
"Are you family, hon?" she asked.
"She's his fiancée," Rick told the nurse.
"Then you're welcome to stay. But the rest of you, shoo!" she told them. "Open hours are from eleven to eight. Come back tomorrow, eleven o'clock, if we don't send him home first," she smiled.
He shook their paws, and Lilly kissed him on the cheek, and then they waved their farewells as the vixen herded them out of the room. "Now, let's check that blood pressure, Mister Vulpan."
"Kit," he corrected as she pulled a blood pressure cuff from a slot on the wall behind the bed.
"Kit. Any sharp pain?"
"No, just a dull ache."
"Alright," she said as Jessie moved, and she checked his blood pressure. "Nice and stable," she said with a nod. "I'll leave you to your visitor, Kit. You've got two hours until visiting hours are over, honey, so get your kisses in now. And no shenanigans in here," she added with a naughty little smile as she left the room and closed the door.
Kit chuckled as Jessie's cheeks ruffled, and she sat back down and took his paw in hers. "I'm fine, my pretty kitty. Don't look so worried."
"I have every right to be worried!" she protested.
"I know, but look. I'm fine. Really."
"If you were fine, you wouldn't be in the hospital," she challenged.
"Okay, I'm fine in relative terms among people who are in hospitals," he said with a grin. "You'll see, pretty kitty, they'll have me out of here in just a day or two. They could probably send me home right now, but I guess they just want to make sure there weren't any complications from the surgery." He frowned. "They shaved off my fur. I look like I have mange."
She gave him a startled look, and actually laughed. "You're nearly killed, and all you can worry about is your fur?" she asked him.
"This is nothing compared to what it was like after I was hit by that car. If I seem a bit blasé about this, well, there ya go."
"And you're not afraid? I mean, someone tried to kill you!"
"And Rick shot him," Kit said simply. "I'm not afraid for me, I'm worried about you. Did you call that security company?"
"Yeah, I did. They have someone in the waiting room right now. He'll escort me home, and they said they'd keep a guard with me if I wanted it."
"Well, I want it."
"I know. So I told them that it'd be okay for a few days. Because I knew it would make you worry if I didn't." She sighed. "Besides, I'm a little scared, Kit. I feel safer with the guard, but–"
"Don't worry about it, pretty kitty," he told her. "Vil is coming, and she's pissed off. You've never seen my sister when she's angry, Jess. It's not pretty. You'll find out why they call her the Ice Queen."
"Yeah, when she called me back, I could tell she was mad," she agreed. "She sounded like the clock on a time bomb."
"That's a pretty accurate description," he chuckled. "Vil will find out who tried to kill me. And when she does, well…"
"What?"
"Let's just say that there's a good chance the police won't be bothered about it."
She gaped at him. "You mean–"
"Yup," he nodded. "Vil will play at that level."
"I'm… well… wow," she said, blowing out her breath.
"This isn't the little league, my pretty kitty," he told her. "Vil may decide that the law isn't good enough. And one thing you need to learn about rich people is that to them, the law is nothing but a minor inconvenience."
"That's really surprising."
"It shouldn't be, given where I'm sitting right now," he told her seriously. "Odds are, one of my uncles decided that following the law wasn't sufficient to get what he wanted, and well, here I am."
"But to have someone killed?"
"You're dealing with people who don't have the same morals as normal people, Jess," he told her seriously. "I've told you before that money is a curse. Well, you're getting a look at one of the ways that curse works. My uncles think they're the highest form of life on Earth, and believe they're above the law of the puny mortals. The only law they really fear is my sister, because she holds the reins of the family's power. And though I love my sister, Jess, she has the same mindset. She'll obey the law of us normal people, until it gets in her way. She can be just as ruthless as any other member of my family. In a way, she has to be. You have no idea what really goes on behind the doors of a huge company like the shipyards. Vil breaks the law on a daily basis, I'd wager, and when it's something personal like this, well, she may throw the law out the window and deal with it in the way she feels is appropriate. Just like whoever tried to have me killed, she'll be judge, jury, and if needs be, executioner."
Jessie was silent a long moment.
"Does that surprise you?"
She sighed. "Yes. She didn't seem that way. I thought she was very nice."
"Oh, she is, Jess. I love Vil a lot. She's a sweet, charming, and loving vixen who has a big heart and a kind disposition. She's the nicest member of the family, and very generous and caring. In that way, she's much different from the rest of the family. But there's another Vil lurking behind what you see, a calculating, ruthless vixen who will crush anything and anyone that gets in her way. That is the Ice Queen, and you're going to get your first good look at it when she gets here. Just don't let it affect your opinion of her too much. This isn't a part of you you'd ever see unless it was serious, like right now," he noted, motioning at his injury with his right arm. "Once her sense of justice has been satisfied, she'll go right back to the funny, charming vixen you've come to know."
"Well, she's only doing it because she loves you," Jessie reasoned.
"Just so," he nodded, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. The ordeal of the day was finally catching up to him, and he was starting to get sleepy. Before he could even say a word, though, he felt her paws brushing his hair away from his face.
"Getting sleepy, my handsome fox?" she asked in a gentle voice.
"Tired," he answered. "I've had a busy day."
She laughed in spite of herself. "I remember when you were there for me, Kit," she said in a low, gentle voice. "Now it's my turn to be here for you. Just rest, my love. I'll be here, and I'll take good care of you. I will always take good care of my handsome fox," she breathed, taking his paw and squeezing it gently.
"I'm going to hold you to that," he said with a weary smile.
"Feel free," she whispered, kissing him on the forehead. "Now get some rest."
"I will. Have I told you today that I love you, Jessie?"
"I can never hear it enough," she told him with a gentle kiss.
"Well, I love you, Jessica Desdemona Williams," he declared in a tired voice.
"And I love you, Kitstrom Lucas Vulpan," she returned, patting the back of his paw.
Her presence soothed him, soothed away the pain in ways the medicine could not, and he fell asleep after a few minutes.
Jessie sat at his bedside silently, holding his paw, relief warring with concern inside her, and more than a little fear.
Jessie was fearful, but she was intelligent, and her mind was already working through what she'd learned. She saw now that Kit's fear of his family had been totally justified. Though they had no proof of what happened, Kit seemed convinced that it was his family that had arranged to have someone try to kill him, and she'd trust his judgment in the matter. It made her reflect on his family, and him, and even her relationship with him.
She looked down at him and asked herself a simple question. Do I love this fox? she asked, to which the answer was immediate. With all my heart, she answered herself, feeling her heart melt just looking at him, his face composed and looking totally vulnerable laying in that hospital bed. She felt relieved he was going to be alright, fearful for him, worried about his recovery, concerned that there might be complications. But under it all was that simple love. Since their first meeting, she'd been swept off her feet by him.
It really had been love at first kiss, right there in that skating rink. It had just taken her a while to come to see it, just like her father had said. That was when she fell in love with him, when he kissed her.
She didn't believe in love at first sight… but her own experience was making her doubt that position a little.
She stroked the fur on the back of his paw. Now that she knew where she stood, she had to look at the situation. Someone had tried to kill him because of their relationship, and they might try to kill her too. Maybe even her family. Is it worth it? she asked herself, staring down at him. Is it worth risking my life over to stay with him? Is it worth the chance that they might come after my family?
That was a hard question to answer. She loved him completely, and she had no real concern for herself. To her, it was worth the risk to see him, because he was worth it. He was perfect, the male God had put on this Earth for her to find and love. Her devotion to him was unswerving, as unswerving as his own was for her, but her family was a complication. It was more than just her in this, she saw. Was it fair to her parents and siblings to drag them into this?
No. It wasn't fair to them, really. She had to admit that to herself. But, she was an adult. This was her life, this was her choice, and she wasn't going to be afraid of Kit's family.
It won't drive me away, she vowed to herself. I can warn my folks what happened and what it might mean, but I won't run away. I'll just have to take precautions. Vil will help me, I know she will. She can keep my folks safe. I trust her. Kit was willing to risk everything for me. I have to be just as strong as him.
She made her decision. She would stand by him. She would face the future with him together, because she loved him.
And she knew just how to tell him.
The nurses and doctor that checked in on them periodically were quiet and cordial. They didn't wake Kit up when they found he was asleep, but the did check his temperature and replace his IV with a new bottle. Jessie stayed right by his bedside, not leaving him for a second, just watching over him while he slept. Even after even her visiting hours were over, for some reason, they didn't make her leave. As the time and the silence and the energy expended over the day caught up with her, though, she got more and more tired, until she leaned down onto Kit's bed and fell asleep with her head on his stomach.
A light touch on her shoulder woke her up. She sat up blearily, putting a paw over her face. "Do I have to leave?" she asked in a low whisper.
"Not if you don't want to," came a low reply, slightly amused.
Jessie sat straight up and turned around. It was Vil!
She hugged the smaller vixen fiercely, and Vil patted her on the back. "I just got in. How is he?"
"The doctors say he'll make a full recovery," she answered, holding onto Vil's paws as she pushed away a little. "They did surgery on him after he got here."
"They've been keeping me up to speed on that," she told Jessie, sitting down on the stool, and reaching out and stroking back Kit's hair, her fingers lingering on the two white streaks in it that were from when he was hit by the car. "Hey, baby bro," she called in a low, tender whisper. "I'm sorry it took so long for me to get here, and I'm sorry this happened to you. But don't you worry. Your big sister is here, and I'm going to take care of it." She stroked the hair back from his face the way a mother would, then rested her paw on his shoulder as her other paw gently squeezed his left paw, jutting out from the sling that kept his left arm immobilized. She bowed her head, and Jessie clearly heard her sniffle. She put her paws on Vil's shoulders, and much to her surprise, Vil whirled around and grabbed hold of her, crying into her stomach and chest.
To see that kind of emotion from someone Kit said was ruthless when she was angry surprised her a little, but then again, her love for her brother should have told her that that was a stupid assumption. She cradled Vil's head and comforted her, being there for her, and held her for long moments as she let her grief run its course. Vil's weeping ceased, and she just held onto Jessie for a long moment, unashamedly showing that she wasn't as cold as the world believed her to be.
"Thank you, Jessie," she said in a more composed voice, letting her go. "I guess it didn't hit me until I could sit down and see him. See what they did to him," she said, her voice turning to ice.
Maybe Kit really wasn't exaggerating.
"Are you alright, Jessie?" she asked pointedly.
"It scared me, but I'm okay."
"That's not what I asked," she said, looking at her directly. "Now you know. Now you know just what kind of family he's from. Now, I'll ask you again, are you alright?"
She knew what Vil meant, and she nodded. "I won't leave him, Vil. I'm afraid for my own family, but I won't leave him. I'm not going to let them win."
"Don't you worry about your family," Vil said in a steely tone. "This is all my fault. I thought I had them all well leashed, but I see now I was in grievous error. I'll make sure your family never gets dragged into this. They'll be just fine." She turned back around to look at Kit. "And thank you, Jessie. Kit really did find his soulmate when he met you. You have the right stuff, femme. You're strong enough to be the wife of a male like him."
"He hasn't asked me yet," she said, her cheeks itching.
"Oh, he will, Jessie. He will."
"I hope so. After this… I don't want to lose him, Vil. I want to marry him."
"It should happen soon. I can't wait, actually. I'm as impatient as you are. I'll be honored to call you sis."
"That's very nice of you to say," Jessie said modestly, her cheeks ruffling.
"Well, I meant it," she said, stroking Kit's paw with her fingers. "My brother is my family, Jessie. He's the only member of it I care about, and the only one that really matters. Before he met you, all he did since college was wander around, looking for a purpose, but having no real desire to find it. Just drifting through life. I thought for a while that it was going to end up killing him. It was a rough life, hon, a lot rougher than he ever let on. I know, I kept an eye on him. Then he met you, and inside three days, he had a job, he had an apartment, and he had hope. That was something he hasn't had any of since the accident that ended his dream to go into the military. You changed his life, Jessie. In many ways, I think you saved it," she said softly. "I think if he would have gotten on that bus and moved on instead of trying to find you, he'd have been dead within two years."
"Well, I'm glad he stayed," she whispered, leaning over Vil and looking down at him. "I think I would have spent my whole life looking for him, and would have never been truly happy."
Vil reached up and patted her paw. "Well, let's give him a chance to get some sleep, hon. Come take a walk with me. We have some things to talk about."
"But–"
"He'll be alright on his own for a few minutes," she said with a soft chuckle.
They walked down the hall, towards the small sitting area for visitors by the elevator, near the nurse's station. While they walked, Vil explained everything the police had told her in greater detail, telling her where the assailant came from, how they were looking for his accomplice, and she theorized about how it came about. "I'm not sure who did this, but I will find out," she declared in a growling hiss, keeping her voice low. "And when I do, God help them."
"Vil," she said, stopping them. "Kit told me some of that, but he also said what you might do."
"What I might do? What I will do," she said seethingly.
"No," she said quietly, but firmly. "Don't do that."
"It's what they deserve!"
"Then you'd be no better than them," Jessie said with quiet dignity.
Vil started to say something, but came up short.
"Please. For me. All I ask is you don't stoop to their level. I don't want to wake up some day in the future and feel like I have blood on my paws."
Vil's eyes flashed, but she blew out her breath. "You're asking me to tie my paws, hon. You can't fight fair against these people. They cheat."
"I never said be an angel, Vil. I just said don't kill them over it. Punish them, yes. But do it the right way."
"There is no right way," she retorted.
"Yes, there is, Vil. Think about it. If you kill them, what does it prove? Did you ever see the movie Trading Places?"
"I don't think so."
"Well, in the movie, a rich boy and a poor boy get humiliated by a pair of rich brothers. In revenge, they make them poor. Don't you think that would be justice? Find a way to take away their money. Do to them what they did to Kit, just without the guns."
Vil opened her mouth, then closed it. Then she rubbed her chin with a furry finger, her eyes deep in thought. "Well, I have been exploring invalidating Dad's will," she mused. "But that probably wouldn't work. The other members of the family will just give them money."
"But what kind of use is all that money when they're in prison?"
She snorted. "Uh, Jessie, sweetheart… I hate to tell you this. But if a Vulpan ran into a Starbucks and hacked everyone inside to death on live national television, no jury in Massachusetts would ever convict."
"If Massachusetts is their playground, then perhaps you should look into making them play on your playground, then," Jessie urged. "Kit once told me that if you snapped your fingers, the President himself would jump. He said you have all the power in the family. Use it."
Vil's eyes narrowed, and she gave an almost imperceptible nod. "So, you want me to destroy them," she said in an offering tone.
"They deserve it for hurting Kit," she said with surprising vehemence. "Just do it legally. I don't want to live my life knowing you had someone murdered over me and Kit. I'd never be able to live with it."
She gave Jessie a long, serious look. Then she put her paws on Jessie's arms. "I never make a promise I can't keep, so I won't promise. But I will promise you that I'll try."
"That's good enough for me, because I know you'll succeed," she said with a gentle smile.
"You really are something special, hon," Vil smiled, then gave her a brief, warm hug.
"Vil… my parents. I'm worried about them. I'm willing to walk through hell for Kit, but they don't have anything to do with this. My mother would probably have paid half of what it cost to hire that hit man," she said with a sour frown. "She hates Kit, with a passion that's almost holy. But I'm worried that me and Kit might cause my family trouble. I don't know what to do."
"Well, I do," Vil said. "Leave it to me, Jessie. I'll make sure they're safe and sound, and they'll never know they were being watched over."
"I appreciate it, Vil, really," she said with a grateful smile. "You're so good to us."
"I'm just being motherly," she winked.
"Well, don't stop on my account," Jessie smiled.
"Well, in that case, see what you can do to talk Kit into letting me mother him a bit more," she said with a sly smile. "I don't like him living in that apartment. You two need a house. A nice big house, with a big yard and plenty of room for your kids, and a maid and cook to free you from all those menial chores, and–"
"Take what you can get, Vil," Jessie teased.
"I'm a Vulpan, dear. I get what I want."
"At least until you come up against another Vulpan," Jessie winked.
"Don't make me not like you, femme," Vil grinned.
"It's too late for that."
Vil laughed, then put her paw over her mouth when the black-furred dog nurse behind the desk gave her a harsh look. "You're almost too good for my brother," she told Jessie with a smile.
"Nah. We're just right for each other."
"True enough," she agreed as they returned to his room. He was still asleep, sleeping peacefully, and Jessie's heart melted when she saw him. He was so strong, such a strong fox, but here he was, totally vulnerable, and yet… he still seemed strong. Even laying in that bed, she remembered how he didn't worry a whit about himself, his only concern was for her. His only worry was for her. He had tried to comfort her from a hospital bed.
How did she get so lucky to have a male like him love her?
"Come on, let's go watch over the most important male in our lives," Vil said with a gentle smile and a nudge. "He needs us."
Kit was very unhappy with Jessie, because she ditched school.
He could understand that she was worried about him and was upset, but still, there was little she could do for him, he was just fine, and there was no real reason for her to miss classes. She should have gone, even if she couldn't concentrate, because an absence was an absence, and they'd hold it against her. He didn't want her to mess up her school for his sake.
But it was a losing battle, and he knew it. When he woke up, both she and Vil were with him in the room, Jessie sleeping literally at his bedside, and Vil in a chair by the little table next to the window. Both of them seemed to know he was awake before he even got to put his paw on Jessie's gorgeous blond hair, and he was smothered in kisses from both his sister and his Jessie. The doctor checked in on him before they could talk, though, taking his blood pressure, and bringing in a nurse to change his bandages. Kit got his first look at the wound, which was now a line of stitches about two inches long just to the left of his sternum and literally just below the edge of his left collarbone. It didn't look all that bad, but it was oozing a tiny bit of blood after the scabbing that was stuck to the bandage was pulled free. But that bleeding stopped before they even put on the new bandage.
After they left, Vil sat down and talked to him. She told him everything she knew, and speculated on which uncle was the on that did it. There wasn't much more she could tell him that he already didn't know, but what she did tell him was what she promised Jessie the night before.
What surprised him even more was that she agreed to it. "I owe her that much, little bro," she stated. "This does involve her too. If she wants me to play nice, well, I'll try it her way first."
"That's all I want," Jessie nodded. "I know it may not bother you, but it bothers me."
"And that's why I'll try it your way first."
Then came the argument… such as it was. When he realized it was ten, and Jessie's first Wednesday class was in session, he told her she should go to school… and he almost got his head bitten off by both of them. He endured a ten minute tirade from the two of them about how she was worried about him, and her place was there, and so on and so on and so on. He shut up just so they'd give over on the nagging and give him some peace and quiet.
They weren't the only ones playing hookey, though. The entire crew showed up at eleven, when visiting hours began, and they stayed for nearly three hours. Lilly brought a camera and they took quite a few pictures of him, the room, the crew in the room, Jessie and Vil, even the doctor and the nurses that came to check on him. Mike put quite a few of them on a memory card, to add to both the website and two that would go into the magazine.
It had hit the news last night that he'd been shot. It wasn't that big a deal, just a news blurb on the local channels, but on campus it was big news. Lone Star was a popular magazine on campus, and to hear that one of the staff had been shot rippled across campus by ten. He received quite a few cards and even three bouquets of flowers once word got out, and Mike told people on the website where they could drop off the cards.
Kit kept watching Vil. She would spend quite a bit of time over by the window as the others kept him engaged, on her phone. He wondered what she was hearing, what orders she was giving. The Ice Queen was going to rampage across Massachusetts like a tornado, he knew it, and he just wondered how much she was going to adhere to her promise to try to do it legally once she was back home, and no longer had Jessie right there to remind her of it.
The collie doctor from last night showed up around two, and he shooed everyone but Vil and Jessie out of the room. He examined Kit and asked quite a few questions. "Alright, Kit, here's the deal," he said, closing the chart in his paws and looking at him. "We're going to take you down and give you a CAT scan to survey the injury and make sure the surgeons did everything right. After that, if everything pans out and there's no sign of infection, and with luck, we'll probably be releasing you the day after tomorrow."
"Yes!" Kit said happily.
"Don't get too happy about that," he grinned. "Part and parcel with an early release is a nurse that comes twice a day to check up on you and change your bandages, and I'll be stopping by once a day to examine you and make sure you're behaving. You'll also be restricted to your house and put on extended rest. That may not be a big hole, Kit, but it does go all the way through, ya know," he grinned. "The key to a quick recovery for you is to keep as sedate as possible and limit how much you move. Now, I'm willing to let you go home and do your recovering there, but if I see you're not healing, I'll haul your furry butt right back in here so fast your tail won't know where you went."
"Understood," Kit chuckled. "Why two days? Why not tomorrow?"
"The simple truth of it is, we could probably release you right now and you could do alright," he said honestly. "But right now, we're much more worried about infection than the possibility you might tear your stitches. We're keeping you over to make absolutely sure that wound doesn't get infected, and if it does, you're already right here so we can stomp on it quickly."
"Well, that makes sense."
"What are the chances of that happening, doctor?" Jessie asked.
"Right now? Pretty slim. We're over the hump as far as the risk of infection goes, but we're not taking any chances. Sometimes the sneakier bugs take a couple of days to start showing up. Now, have they let you out of that bed today, Kit?"
Kit laughed. "Only to go to the bathroom. Which they won't even let me do alone," he added, giving Jessie a cool look.
Her cheeks frizzed when the doctor grinned at her.
"Well, then I think you'll be up to moving to a wheelchair. I'll have a nurse come get you in a minute, and we'll take you down to the CAT room. So, pretty ladies, help him sit up and baby him while I go fetch a wheelchair for his drag race down to the second floor," he grinned, then he left the room.
Kit had seen TV shows about CAT scanners, but the reality of it was… big. It was a huge machine that took up the back half of the room in which it was placed, looking like some kind of mutant plastic donut. Kit was placed on the moving table in the middle, and a camera-looking device orbited around him behind the cover of the device. It was a rather dull experience, actually, for he had to lay in there and be still for a quite a while. "So, this is like an MRI?" he asked the technician as the machinery hidden inside the machine continued to hum.
"Kinda the same principle," the rabbit replied from behind his shielded position. "But CAT scanners are actually X-ray machines, where an MRI uses magnetic fields. CT scans are good for what they're looking for here, damaged tissues around the sternum. Those will show up in the imaging very clearly. They could have used an MRI to do it too, but they won't put you in an MRI because of the screws in your back."
"But the screws in my back are supposed to be titanium. That's not magnetic, is it?"
"Nope, but there's also some radio waves used, which would cause the screws in your back to heat up," he answered. "It wouldn't make them melt or anything, but given where those screws are, I can see why the doctor didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. If they thermally expanded too far, they might crack the bones they're in… and those bones aren't in a very good place for such a thing to happen."
"Ah. I didn't know that."
"Well, now ya do," the technician chuckled.
The CAT scan took about thirty minutes total, and he was back in a wheelchair being pushed by a rather burly bobcat nurse or orderly, he wasn't sure, who chatted amiably at him while taking him back up to his room. "You should talk to some of the docs about fixing that ear," he noted as they came out of the elevator. "It doesn't look like it would be all that hard for them to make as good as new."
Kit was quiet a moment, recalling what Jessie said about his ear. I can't imagine what you'd look like with your ear whole, she'd said to him. It's almost like this was how you were meant to be to me, you know?
"No," he said as the orderly pushed open his door. "I like my ear just the way it is."
Jessie eventually lost the battle, because Kit cheated. Outrageously.
While she and Vil were down at the cafeteria getting something to eat, Kit called the nurse, who called Doctor Barnett for him. He told them he was worried that Jessie was going to flunk school if something wasn't done, so he asked the doctor to force Jessie out of the room after visiting hours were done that night. She just had to go back to school, she couldn't miss two days in a row. She'd be so far behind that it would take her a week to get back up to speed, and that didn't count the bad grades from missed work, the possibility of doing poorly on tests, and having absences on her record that might cost her if she had another emergency this semester and had to miss more classes.
"So, you want me to step out in front of that semi, do ya?" Barnett laughed over the phone. "Don't answer that. Sure, I'll be the evil meanie for ya. If worrying about her is keeping you from getting your rest, well, something's gotta be done about it."
And so it came to pass. The crew came back after work and hung out in his room for a while. Rick and Savid brought a laptop and showed him the layout of the next issue, including the front page picture of him in his hospital bed, with Jessie and Vil sitting on each side, and him giving a thumbs-up to the camera. Barry had done a story about the shooting, which read almost like something out of Newsweek given its detail and the number of interviews he did with the police and the hospital. It ran three whole pages, which created an issue with 26 pages rather than the usual target of between 20 and 24. He told them he'd be out by Friday, which relieved everyone greatly, and caused Barry to furiously edit part of the story he'd written about it.
They hung around for a few hours, and then drifted out one by one, until Rick was the last one. And much to Kit's happiness, Martha stopped by to see him. Martha was a surprisingly tall great dane, which made her a pretty good match for Rick. But she was a plump as she was tall, a middle-aged woman who enjoyed eating the food she cooked, and had a very matronly and caring personality. She'd raised three sons with Rick, all three out of the house now and two in college. Martha had been a part time worker before their youngest left for school at LSU, but now she'd taken up working full time in a crafts store, for she was exceptionally good at sewing and was a good expert to have about for questions asked by customers.
"Martha!" he said happily as she came into the room.
"Hello dear," she said with a smile, bringing in a fruit basket and a covered box. "I brought you some dinner, I thought you might be about sick of hospital food."
"You're a lifesaver, Martha," he said with a laugh. "What is it?"
"Meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, and some homemade rolls," she answered. "And how are you feeling?"
"Fine, just a little achy, and the bandages itch," he grinned, his eyes locked on that box in her paw.
She laughed. "I take It you're hungry?"
"For real food? You bet I am. Jessie won't leave long enough to cook me anything."
"Oh, don't push this on me, you silly male," Jessie laughed. "You never asked for me to make you something."
"But you know I hate hospital food," he said, looking at her. "You should have sensed my hunger and distaste for hospital food and taken action!" He sighed. "And here I thought we were perfect for each other. I'm starting to re-evaluate the foundations of our relationship, pretty kitty."
She whacked him with the spare pillow, albeit gently and carefully, little more than a light tap to his muzzle.
"I'll give you foundations for our relationship when I get you home," she threatened, though she was smiling. "You seem to forget who's going to be the one taking care of you when you're out of here."
"Uh, Rick, think I can borrow Mickey's old bedroom?"
Martha laughed. "Oh no, you made that bed, young'un, time to lay in it," Martha warned.
"Maybe they'll hold me here for a few more days," Kit mused, which made Jessie laugh.
"Well, it's good to see you in such high spirits," Martha said, taking Rick's paw.
"High spirits is a good term for it," he grunted. "The meds they had me on made me as high as a kite up until about this morning. I think I'd rather take the pain over that."
"I kept saying that while I was pregnant," Martha chuckled. "Then the contractions came. They couldn't give me enough painkillers after the truth was staring me in the face."
"My reasoning is a little different, Martha," Kit said.
"When Kit broke his back, they had him on some pretty strong stuff," Vil said. "After he started to heal, they had to wean him off of it."
"Yeah," Kit nodded. "Martha, this is my sister Vil. Vil, Martha, Rick's wife."
"It's nice to finally meet the legend in person," Martha smiled, taking Vil's paw.
Vil laughed. "A legend in my own mind maybe," she winked.
"I'm sorry it took so long for me to come see you. I was in El Paso yesterday to see Brian. When Rick called and told me what happened, I wanted to come back to see you, but I couldn't trade in my plane ticket," she said with a sigh. "And I wanted to make you something nice when I did get back."
"I'm so glad you did," he said as Jessie unpacked the box for him, and before his eyes was real food. "How was Brian?" he asked.
"Same as always. Like a big teddy bear. He sent you a get well soon card, by the way."
"Tell him thank you from me. How did the interview go?"
She smiled. "He hasn't heard anything solid yet, but he had a good feeling about it. To think our oldest is going to follow his old man into the journalism business. I would have hoped for something better for him," she said, giving her husband a smile and a teasing poke.
Kit laughed. "Well, tell him congratulations from me."
"Dear, working at KXEP is a hell of a lot different from what we do," Rick chuckled. "Brian has a face for television. A mug like mine's best served staying in print."
"What is Brian going to be doing? Reporting?" Vil asked.
"Brian's a meteorologist," Rick answered. "He's going to be doing weather forecasts for a TV station in El Paso. It's his first big break since getting out of college."
"He's our oldest," Martha added. "Our younger boys are still in college."
"You sent three kids through college? That must have been expensive," Vil noted.
"It was a challenge, that's for sure," Martha said. "You're looking at the two biggest misers in Texas, Vil honey. We don't make pennies squeak, we make the beg for mercy."
"Well, I'm impressed. That's quite an accomplishment. Congratulations."
"Well, now I can say I know a TV weatherman," Kit chuckled.
"He'll be doing weekends and off hours stuff for a while, but after he's been there a while he might move up," Rick said modestly. "Brian's a handsome boy, and he's actually pretty good at his job. It just in the TV business, looking good on camera's almost as important as predicting the weather."
"Yes, Brian doesn't look like a patchwork quilt like his father," Martha said, which made Vil laugh.
"If I recall, dear, my fur is what me got me my first date," he told her.
"Well, not everyone has good taste like I do," she said.
Martha got to know Vil as Jessie tried to feed him, and he kept slapping her paw away. "There's nothing at all wrong with my right arm, you silly kitty," he told her teasingly.
"Well, excuse me for worrying about you," she returned with a slight smile.
It was a wonderful meal, almost tasting heavenly after two days of hospital food. Martha was a good cook, and he was ever fond of meat loaf. After he finished eating, Doctor Barnett came into the room. "Well, I hate to break up this little party, including food," he said, glancing at the plate on the little wheeled tray, "but Kit's going to need a good rest for tomorrow. So I hate to tell you all this, but his visiting hours are over. For everyone," he said with a smile, but quite firmly, staring right at Jessie and Vil.
"But he–"
"Doctor's orders, little lady," Barnett said firmly. "He's going to be busy tomorrow, so it's best to just wait until he's ready to be discharged before you come back."
"So that means you will be in school tomorrow, young lady," Kit said adamantly. "Vil, make sure it happens."
"I'm not going to be able to concentrate at all," she complained.
"That doesn't matter," he said. "What matters is you show up, so they don't mark you absent again. I'm sure we can arrange it so they don't discharge me until after you get out of your last class."
"What time is that?" Barnett asked.
"Around four," Kit answered for her.
"Oh, definitely. He probably won't be discharged until around five," he said with a nod.
"See? So go to school tomorrow, and Vil can come pick you up and come back just in time to take me home."
"Alright," she sighed. She leaned down and gave him a lingering kiss, then Vil kissed him on the cheek and patted him on the shoulder.
"I'll take her home," Vil said.
"I drove here."
"Give your keys to Marcus, he'll drive your car back for you," she said. "I'd rather take you home myself. We have some things to talk about."
"I–okay. See you tomorrow, my handsome fox," she said. "You can call me if you get lonely."
"I'll be fine," he told her. "I'll call you before I go to sleep, just so you know I'm okay."
"You'd better," she said, nuzzling him.
Barnett herded them all out of the room as they said goodbye, and he leaned back against his pillow and sighed. Truth be told, he'd rather have his sister and Jessie with him, but it was for their own good. Jessie had to go to school tomorrow, and Vil would be too much of a worrier to get much rest. He appreciated their concern, but in this case, it was more of a detriment to them than it was a boon for him to be comfortable to allow them to go on with it. Jessie needed to go to school, and Vil needed a night in a bed so she could get some real sleep. Those two femmes meant a great deal to him, and he'd make damn sure they were both okay.
Fortunately for him, things went very smoothly in the hospital. All the tests they did showed that the surgeons had repaired the damaged tissues around his sternum perfectly, and there was no sign of infection. The wounds were already healing, and things looked quite favorable. Favorable enough for them to return his pants to him–his shirt and coat had been cut off of him and were trash now–and Vil had one of her panther bodyguards bring an oversized shirt she bought for him to put on, his arm lashed to him by a sling under the shirt. He felt a heck of a lot better after he had on real clothes, even if they didn't want him moving any more than absolutely necessary. He felt a little lonely, that was certain, but he could handle it.
It did make the time crawl by, though. They wanted him to rest, to not move around, and he wasn't used to that. He was an active fox, and he didn't realize how active he was until they didn't want him to move around. He laid in bed for a while and tried to watch TV, but TV never really interested him and he could only watch so much news before he got depressed about the sad state of the world. After that petered out, he sat at the little table by the window and read newspapers the nurses brought him, then started on one of the books from home that Vil had had her panther guards go retrieve the day before.
Some people watched inane TV. Kit read history books about Rome, Greece, and the ancient civilizations.
But his heart wasn't really in it. He basically drifted through the day, waiting for them to let him go home, waiting to see his sister and Jessie again. He guessed it was a delayed reaction after the fact, but now he felt strangely vulnerable, and being alone was more unnerving than it was restful. All he wanted was to be around his family and friends, to be near them and know they were alright, and know he was alright.
A cat orderly did bring him a present around noon. It was a copy of Lone Star, and there on the cover was a picture of him, Vil, and Jessie, and underneath it read the title He's Okay!
That was sweet of the crew, really.
He got curious, and read the article. The article read much like what he'd heard Rick and the officers say, and it did specifically state that it was Rick who had shot and killed the attacker, and that the accomplice was up to the time of printing still at large.
The last two paragraphs were what caught his attention:
Kit is slated for release from Austin General on Friday afternoon, and is expected to make a full recovery. We hope to have him back in the office keeping our facts straight very soon. Well-wishers are encouraged to drop him an email here at the magazine. Letters can be emailed to kit@lonestarmagazine.com.
A $50,000 reward has been offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the accomplice that participated in the attack. Anyone who has any information about this attack should call the Austin Police, the Texas Rangers, or Crimestoppers.
A reward? Naturally… that had to be Vil. But he wouldn't say anything about it. He wanted that other bastard to be found and thrown in jail, and if there was a big bounty on his head, the chances he'd be caught were much better.
He leafed through the magazine, knowing what was in it but having nothing better to do than read it… until he got to the mailbag. The School Daze strips were gone. In their place was one of Jeffrey's drawings, a three panel comic that took up the entire top half of the page. In all three, there were very realistic sketches of Jessie, In a dark, gloomy kind of background. In the first, she was standing far to the left side of the empty page, in the distance, her head bowed and her paws before her. The caption read I didn't know what you meant to me until I almost lost you. In the second panel, she was closer, her back to the viewer, looking into the distance. The caption read I thought we had forever. In a second, I almost lost forever. In the third, it was a close-up of her, her expression hopeful. Life is too short, and love is too precious, my handsome fox. Will you marry me?
He was stunned.
Either Jeffrey was playing the worst joke in the history of the universe, or Jessie had proposed to him using the magazine.
It took him almost five full minutes to wrap his mind around what he was seeing. When he did, when he finally got his senses, he was on the phone so fast he almost tore his stitches reaching for the phone with his bound left arm, forgetting it was in a sling. He called the office first, and heard Marty's voice answer. "Lone Star," he called.
"If you don't get Jeffrey on the phone right now, I'm going to come down there and strangle you with a mouse cord," Kit said in a deadly voice.
Marty laughed. "I can do that, honey," he beamed over the phone, then he was put on hold. Jeffrey picked it up almost immediately, and Kit could hear that it was on speaker. "Kit, I thought you might call," he said, then Kit heard almost everyone laughing in the office.
"If that was a joke, I'm gonna–"
"No joke!" Jeffrey told him. "Jessie wrote it and asked me to draw it. It's serious, bud. She proposed to you."
Kit was silent a long moment. Shy Jessie had proposed to him… by using a public magazine? That was almost… almost… insane! In both regards! It was insane that she would propose to him, since she was so traditional, but it was even more insane that she would do it literally in the public venue!
"Kit? You there?" Mike asked, snickering.
"I'm here," he said woodenly, which caused even more laughter. "So, what's the answer!" they all shouted in unison.
"As if you even have to ask that," he snorted, then he laughed. "Rick?"
"Yeah, son?"
"Why did you let Jessie go through with that?"
"It was what she wanted, son, and besides, I wasn't going to say a word. It wasn't my place."
Kit sighed. "You realize I'm going to get all of you for this."
"Such are the declarations of males who can't do a damned thing about it," Lilly laughed. "So answer her!"
"My answer is in Rick's desk," Kit said. "Can you bring it to the hospital, Rick? I'd like to have it handy."
"I'll bring it right now, Kit," he said with a chuckle, as the others all started demanding what he meant. "Kit bought Jessie a ring," he said, meant for the others, but audible to him. "A damn fine one at that. He had it with him when he was shot. He was attacked more or less on the way to go propose to her."
That wasn't quite the way it happened, but Rick had planted that seed before Kit could even say a word, and he realized that it would be impossible to get that idea out of their minds. They all begged to see it, and Kit relented. There was a pause, and then came gasps from the crew as they must have been looking at it. "My God, Kit, how much did that cost?"
"A lot," Kit answered. "Why do you think I've been walking to work the last month?"
"You sold your truck? Damn!" Barry gasped.
"No, I was just saving money on gas," he laughed in reply.
"I'll be there in about fifteen minutes, son," Rick told him. "Just hang in there."
"Yo, Kit. I'm saving the original board for you," Jeffrey added, then he hung up the phone.
Kit spent that fifteen minutes in a bit of a daze. He'd already bought a ring, and if he wouldn't have been shot, he would have looked for the right opportunity to propose to her. But this, this just overwhelmed him. Jessie had gone against her personality, her nature, even her training as a young lady in what she did. He was amazed. He was astounded. He was… happy. That she would do something like that for him, so much against her nature, it showed how much she loved him. She proposed to him! She beat him to the punch!
God, what a femme!
Rick arrived while he was pondering it. He came in and shook Kit's hand, then produced the little box holding the ring. "Here it is, son," he said. "Now, when are you going to give it to her?"
"The first thing when I get home," he grinned in reply. "Now I want you to back me up if she asks about the ring," he said. "You're my witness, boss, I had the ring before today. I had marriage on my mind long before she had Jeffrey draw that strip."
Rick laughed. "You surely did. And I'll make sure to tell her when she shows it to me."
"I knew you were a good guy," Kit grinned.
Kit's waiting grew almost unbearable after Rick went back to the office. He wanted to see Jessie. He wanted to see her now, but she wouldn't be there until after four. And having to remain calm and sedate made it worse. Five separate times, he got verbally spanked by the nurses for too much moving around. At one point, they even called in Doctor Barnett, and they threatened to tie him to the bed if he didn't either sit down or lay down and remain stationary.
It was an eternity. He almost started watching the clock, waiting… waiting… waiting. The time between three and four was absolute hell, knowing he'd see her soon, but knowing it was so far away. He was like a hyper child waiting for Christmas, unable to sleep, unable to get out of bed for fear that Santa would pass his house by, trapped into an eternity of waiting for the desired prize at the other end of that long tunnel. Doctor Barnett threatened to medicate him if he didn't calm down around about 3:15, when they gave him a final checkup, took his blood pressure, and drew blood one final time to test for any infection. They sent it off to the lab while the nurses changed his bandage, and Barnett stayed in the room to keep him from pacing while they waited for the reply.
That was the torture. Barnett kept him solidly in his chair, where all he could do was tap his foot and wait for the lab to do whatever it was they did.
A few minutes after four, the answer came. "Well, your white count is normal, no unusual spikes anywhere," he said. "That's that, Kit. You're outta here. Call your ride, and I'll have the nurse get the papers ready."
He was on the phone seconds after Barnett left the room. He called Vil's cell, and she picked it up before it could even ring once. "Hello?"
"Sis, I'm being released!" he told her happily. "Can you go get Jessie and come pick me up?"
"I already have her. I just picked her up from school. We'll be there in about twenty minutes."
"Don't be late, I need to talk to Jessie!" he told her. "I mean I really need to talk to Jessie. Put her on."
"I rather thought you might," she said in an amused voice, then hung up before he could press her.
That bitch! Oh, she was gonna get it!
Calling back would be pointless. Vil just wouldn't answer the phone. He was forced to wait.
He did get a little sidetracked when Barnett came back in with a nurse and some papers. He basically allowed Kit to sign out of the hospital, then sign some agreements about his home care. A nurse would come twice a day to check on him and check his bandages, and once a day, about 8:00pm, Barnett himself would be making a house call to check his progress. He'd have to return in two weeks to have the stitches taken out, but that could be done at the outpatient clinic, which was in an annex building across the street from the hospital. Barnett brought him an extra sling, just in case he had to remove the one he had, and explained to him how to put it on by demonstrating with the spare, as his nurse put it on him.
He didn't hear the door open, but he definitely heard her voice. "Kit?"
He turned around, and she hurried to him. She stopped just before him, reaching out but afraid to embrace him, but he didn't give her a chance. His good arm reached out and dragged her into an embrace, and he put his right arm around her, holding her shoulder, and did nothing more. He just held onto her, tightly, his cheek against the side of her head. She put her paws in the only place she felt safe to hold him, low on his back, and just leaned against him contentedly.
"Jessie," he breathed.
"Yes, Kit?"
"I'm going to murder Jeffrey," he told her.
She giggled. "So, you saw it."
"And we're going to talk about that when we get home," he told her. "There's something I want to say to you, but it can wait until we're in private."
"An answer?"
"You'll find out." He let go of her, and looked to Vil. "Take me home, sis."
And she did. There was a limo waiting in the pickup lane. Vil's two panther bodyguards helped him into the limo, and Vil and Jessie got in behind him. Jessie kept giving him expectant looks, but Vil just sat over there with a little smile on her face. She knew him, she knew him well.
He kept his peace until he was home. They helped him out, and Jessie opened the door for him and led him into the apartment. Vil stopped at the door, but did not come in. She just gave him a knowing smile, and then slowly closed it, leaving them alone.
"Kit, I just–"
"No, my pretty kitty, don't say a word. We've always joked about marriage, and I've talked about it, but I've never done anything to prove to you how serious I was." He dug into his pocket. "The day I was shot, Jessie, I was bringing you this. I'd just picked it up that day."
He held out the box to her.
Her fingers trembled when she took it from him, and then her eyes widened and she gasped when she opened it. "That's why I was walking to work, pretty kitty. And why I've had no food in the house for the last month. I was saving for this. I wanted to propose to you, Jessie, but you beat me to it."
He put his paw over one of the paws holding the ring box, and he knelt down. "Jessica Desdemona Williams, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"
"YES!" she screamed, dropping to her knees and kissing him passionately, even as she was very mindful of his injury. She put her chin on his shoulder, and behind his back, she took the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger. "I love you, Kitstrom Lucas Vulpan, and I want to be together with you always. I want to have your children, and watch them grow, and grow old with you. I want the forever that was almost taken from us."
She kissed him again, and he heard Vil chuckling at the doorway. "That's not something you do on your knees, you two. And congratulations."
Jessie's cheeks frizzed, and she laughed helplessly. "Did you buy him the ring, Vil?"
"Nope. If it was me, it would have been a hell of a lot bigger. Rick told me about the ring yesterday, but swore me to secrecy. Kit bought it before he was shot."
"So now you know, my pretty kitty," he breathed in her ear. "I was touched by your proposal, I really was. But the traditionalist femme in you can rest easy knowing that I was half a heartbeat from it. If not for being shot, I'd have proposed already."
"I love you!" she said happily. "When can we have the ceremony?"
"Oh, I don't know," he chuckled. "After I heal for one, and after you're sure you can handle such a big change in your life without it affecting school for another."
"So, a month?" she offered.
"Oh, hell no," Vil called. "My little brother's getting married. You're not going to run to some judge somewhere and get married in a little office! Oh no, this calls for a real wedding!"
"Hell no," Kit growled, looking at his sister.
"Come on, I dare you to fight about it," she said pugnaciously. "You want to deny Jessie a chance at the kind of wedding little girls dream about?"
That bitch. She knew exactly how to attack him. He could reject her help all day, but as soon as Jessie's happiness got involved, he just had no defense. He couldn't deny her anything.
"Then I'll leave it up to her. Jessie gets to plan the wedding."
"Actually, that's my parents' job," Jessie giggled.
"The way your mother feels about me? It would likely involve machine guns and land mines."
Jessie laughed, then got up and helped Kit back to his feet, but she kept her arm around him and stayed in his embrace. "I'll have to tell them," she said. "Want me to tape it for you?"
"I should be able to hear it clearly if I just go outside," he said dryly, which made both Jessie and Vil laugh.
"I think she might calm down a little once she knows we're engaged, my handsome fox," she said. "Not much, though. I guess I should get used to that," she sighed. "It's going to make visiting my folks a little tense."
"It'll all work out," Vil assured them. She came over and put an arm around each of them, hugging them both. "I'm very happy for both of you," she told them. "And I'm going to go back home now, Kit. You're going to be okay, and I can go home knowing that you're home, you're going to be just fine, and you've done what you should have done a month ago."
"I wasn't ready a month ago," he said, looking into Jessie's eyes adoringly. "I didn't have a ring. I couldn't propose without a ring."
"I would have said yes," she told him with a loving smile. "Ring or no ring."
"I'd never take anything you deserve away from you, my pretty kitty," he said softly.
"Then never leave me," she told him, her heart in her eyes.
"Never."
"I'll make sure of that," Vil told them with a chuckle. "It's a guarantee." She kissed Kit on the cheek, then kissed Jessie on the cheek. "Now then, it's time for me to go. I have a lot to do, a wedding to plan, and some family members to castrate."
"Behave," Jessie told her seriously.
"I promise to do my best to do things the way you want," she said honestly. "But I reserve the right to deal with them in the way they deserve."
"Just remember what I said."
"I won't kill them. But when I'm done, they'll wish they were dead," she said in a cold, deadly voice that made Jessie physically flinch.
Jessie laughed. "I think I can live with that."
"I'm glad you can. Jessie, call your parents tonight and tell them."
"I will. I'll call them right now."
"Good. Be good to each other, you two. And call me, both of you. Every day."
"We will," Kit assured with a nod.
Vil left then, left so abruptly that it surprised him a little bit. He expected her to stay at least until tomorrow… but then again, Vil was still bristling mad, and that made her a little unpredictable. Now that Kit was safely home–no doubt with an army of security guards surrounding Westwood, all out of sight–she felt it was safe to leave him now, and get on to the business of rabid, no-holds-barred, bare-knuckled payback.
May God speed her on that journey.
Kit leaned down and kissed Jessie tenderly, just reveling in the thought of it. They were engaged. They were going to be married… and all he could think was finally!
"Well, what now, Kitstrom Lucas Vulpan?" she asked with a light smile but loving eyes.
"Now, you call your parents," he told her.
"I want to move in. Tonight. Now."
"I want you here," he returned. "But your parents need to know."
She looked down at the ring on her finger, then she looked up at him. "I love you, my handsome fox," she said simply, nuzzling him.
"And I love you, my pretty kitty."
Vil settled herself in the limo, feeling very satisfied. It seemed that her gentle nudging had been all it took to get those two together, and now that they were engaged, she was quite content about.
But there were things to do. From what she'd learned so far, the orders had come out of Boston, but so far her investigators had not narrowed down exactly who gave the order. Whoever did it was very, very careful, obviously fearful of being discovered.
Not fearful of the law. Fearful of her. Vilenne Vulpan was fifty times worse then the law.
"Marcus, laptop please," she called. The panther took her laptop from the front seat and passed it back to her, and she set it on her lap.
"Shall I call the airport, madam?"
"Yes," she answered as her laptop came up. "Tell them we're not going straight to Boston."
"Where are we going then, madam?"
The system came up. She open a file, a detailed report sent to her just in the last hour, showing the current progress on several projects, from shipyard business to her building legal challenge over the will to the search for who shot her brother. "Cincinnati," she finally answered. "I think I want to meet Jessie's shrew of a mother face to face." She went to another file, holding the telephone numbers of certain individuals that the law would very much like to see disappear. "And step on her."
"Very well, madam," Marcus acknowledged.