Almost Unreal

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

11/04/98:

Beca fussed slightly in her sleep, but didn't wake up. I
smiled to myself as I looked down on her from a few feet
away. Nearly a month old now, she was the cutest little
thing I have seen in ages.

Reaching down into the crib I adjusted the blanket over her
a bit, then went back to my watching. She was already
shaping up to be a smart girl. She seemed to watching
everything anyone was doing around her.

It was hard to describe how I felt right then. There was
still the sadness at the lose of Naomi, but also a great
sense of happiness that her daughter would live on.

It also gave me some comfort to know that one day she would
know her mother. Even if that day was many years in the
future, and the past.

I wondered if we could raise her right. Her destiny was such
a tremendous one, to rebuild a world. I wasn't sure when, or
if, we should tell her about it, but we also couldn't let
her find out on her own.

In the end I guess we had years until this became a pressing
issue. Still though, I worried now because I felt like I
should.

A bolt of thunder a few miles away rolled over the house,
shaking everything and rattling my ears. Tensing slightly I
watched Beca, she did open her eyes, and searched for a few
seconds. Once she found me though she seemed to relax,
closing her eyes again and drifting quickly back into sleep.

I let out a sort breath and slowly stepped out of the room,
closing the door almost all the way, I walked back into the
living room. Sitting down on the couch I turned on a
high-tech equivalent of a baby monitor. But this one did
more then just send the audio, it gave about a dozen status
on the rooms occupant. If anything happened I would be
alerted right away.

I sat there for a few seconds, before getting back to my
feet and walking to the front window. Outside the rain
pattered down, a hard, heavy, rain that came with the
thunder and lighting. It was cold and nasty outside.

And here I was, alone in the house. Jadith was off doing her
job on some other planet, Sora had gone with her. Rachel was
working late again, and Oria was on her world.

So it had been just me and Beca all day, we played a bit,
and some times I would read to her. Not to mention feeding
her from a supply of milk Oria had left just for that
reason.

Also, after much thinking, I had come to a very important
decision about the language in the household. I'm not
talking about the more explicit parts, but the language on
the whole.

It wasn't going to be much of a problem with Beca, but when
Adric and Romana were born it would creep up. As they learn
to speak they need one constant language around, and not a
hodgepodge that you usually get with a handful of people
with translators.

In groups the translator would settle on the most common
language. That most often being Prid Standard, but in
private it was the best match. Which meant that when it was
Oria and I, we spoke English. Though that's only sense she
got the language patch from Burke, before that it was her
language.

So, the only true way to keep from raising the kids speaking
three dozen languages was to limit what was spoken in the
house. To that end I had decided that unless totally
private, it would all be Standard, and Oria's language.

The choice of Oria's language was easy. Adric and Romana
will be more of her species then human. Where as they won't
fit in on Earth no one would notice there. So it was vitally
important that they spoke it fluently.

To that end, I was going to learn her language myself. I had
always said I wanted to learn more about her world, and this
would be the the perfect start. Once I know the language, I
can learn to read it as well.

Should prove to be an interesting project on both our parts.

Stepping away from the window, I walked over to the
fireplace. A real one, that had come with the house, and I
was glad to have. On days like this I just love the idea of
being curled up in front of a fire with something warm to
drink.

Or just someone warm, which was why I was waiting for Oria
to get home. I had plans for today, but she had to be there
for them to work. Over the past few days I had been in
contact with her sister, arranging some things, and if all
had gone well, Oria would be bringing me her own surprise.

After tending to the fire I wandered into the kitchen,
getting myself a cup of tea. Walking back into the living
room I settled down on the couch with a book of Shakespeare
and started to read.

I had only managed to get through a few pages before the
front door opened, and in walked Oria, half sopping wet.

Closing the book I stood up and went over to her. She smiled
to me slightly, blowing a wet strand of hair from her nose.

"Why didn't you take the fold into the house?" I asked her,
helping her take off her jacket.

"I had to pick something up," she answered, pulling her hair
back from her face.

"Ah," I said, noticing the small bag next to her feet. "Come
on your soaking wet." I started tugging at her shirt.

She laughed, slapping at my hands gently. "Fox," she said,
in a fake warning tone.

I smiled, "Don't worry, no one else is around. Just curl up
by the fire and dry yourself off."

She pushed me away a bit. "Ok, ok. Go get me a towel will
you? I can strip myself."

I nodded, then kissed her on the tip of her nose before
walking out of the room. I came back about a minute later
with a large fluffy towel, and a few brushes. Oria was down
to her panties and bra, and was sitting in front of the
fireplace, purring loud enough that I could hear it across
the room.

"So what did you pick up?" I asked, dropping the towel over
her head, then sitting down behind her.

"Your birthday present," she answered, taking the towel and
started to dry her hair with it.

"What?" I asked, feeling slightly startled.

Turning her head, she gave me a soft look from under the
towel. "Today, it's your birthday isn't it?"

I nodded slowly, "Yes," I answered. "I'm twenty-one, but how
did you know, it's not in any of my records."

She gave me a coy little smile. "Your sister told me."

It took about ten seconds for that to sink in. "How did talk
to Tina?" I asked.

"Well," she started in one of her sweet innocent voices, "I
was kind of playing around with the computer you have hook
up to the network back on your world."

I nodded slowly.

"So," she continued, "I asked the computer to translate your
language into Standard. I was playing around a bit when a
message came in from your sister. So I... well...
responded."

I laughed softly, it wasn't the worse thing that could have
happened. "How long have you been talking to her?"

"For about a month and a half now," she answered, pulling
the towel off her head and setting it to the side. Her hair
was sticking up all over and was a bit of a sight.

I nodded, picking up a brush and moving up behind her,
setting her tail in my lap. I stared to slowly brush her
hair, petting her neck as I did so. "How much have you told
her?"

She let out a soft sigh, sinking back against me as I
brushed. "Nothing that she shouldn't know. I have told her
that we are engaged, but not that I'm pregnant. I've also
made sure to sounds as human as I can when responding to her
messages."

I rolled my eyes, knowing that by now Mom would have found
out about it. I didn't know how she would react to it, at
least not until the next time I went back home.

"Hey," Oria said, jumping away from me as I caught a tangle
in her hair.

"Sorry," I answered, pulling me back against me and working
a bit slower.

"I can do that for myself," she said, titling her head up to
look at me.

I nodded, "I know, but I don't get to groom you very often,
I thought it would be a nice treat. You know, something
special."

She ahed, then nuzzled my cheek softly before kissing me.
"Thank you," she finally said, turning back around and
scutting close against me.

Her tone of voice implied the thanks was for more then just
the grooming. "For?" I asked not sure if she would give me
an answered as changed brushes and moving onto the fur of
her neck and shoulders.

No answer was forthcoming, she just relaxed a bit into my
arms. I could see the look on her face, how she seemed to be
thinking hard about what to say, or if to say anything at
all.

I didn't mind, I just used it as an opportunity to brush out
the fur under her chin.

She giggled softly, closing her eyes and almost melting
against me. In return, I kissed her right between the eyes
and continued to brush along her shoulders and arms.

"Have I told you about Tammy?" She asked softly, not opening
her eyes more then a slit.

"No," I answered truthfully. All I knew was how she had
died, nothing more.

Licking her lips, Oria leaned her head on my shoulders. "She
and I went to school together. She got into the business a
few weeks after I did, mostly as a break from school."

I nodded, taking a quick break from the brushing, and taking
one of her paws, slowly cleaning each claw.

"After you convince me to join a house, I tried to convince
her as well. She didn't want to continue at all, it had lost
what ever she saw in it and she was going to quit." She
paused, taking in a slow breath, and letting it out.

"A few days latter I found out she had disappeared one
night."

I hissed softly.

Turning her head, she opened her eyes up and looked at me.
"I thought she had been killed or something. I was sad for
her, and I missed her terribly. Then, about six months ago,
I found her again."

She had started to shake in my arms. Setting down all that I
was doing I pulled her close to me, hugging her tightly.

"Some guy," she nearly spit the word out, "had decided she
would be better working for him then freelance. When we meet
again, she had been... so used. He body deformed, stretched
out, and these huge implants. They had drugged her up on doe
so much that she couldn't even think." She paused for a few
seconds, "if you hadn't talked to me, hadn't made me join a
house, I would have been right there with her."

I nuzzled her cheek, holding her closer to me. Reaching down
she pulled one of my hands off, setting her paw in it, "keep
going."

I nodded, started to clean the claws of that paw as well.

"Doe is a nasty drug," she explained, speaking slow, almost
like she was thinking over every word. "A series of large
does ingrains itself into the mind. You need it, always need
it. It also starts to destroy your mind, taking away bits
and pieces of it every time you take some. Tammy, she had so
much in her system that there was no way she could ever get
off of it. When I found her, she had the mind of a ten year
old child, before she was a genius."

She sighed again, her voice catching slightly. "I think, for
one short instant, it all came back to her. She saw all that
had happened, and understood where it would go. That's why
she killed herself."

I nodded, kissing her cheek as I let her paw go, taking one
of the finer brushes and slowly working over the soft curve
of her belly.

She burst into a fit of giggles, which seemed out of place
with how she sounded just seconds before. Pulling away from
me she gave me a smile. "Come on Fox, if your going to do
this, you'll have to do it right!"

I smiled, wondering if she meant the grooming in general, or
if she knew what I was planning. "Oh? What did screw up?"

She shook her head, and with a smile, slipped out of her
bra. "You just can't skip a part," she explained, setting
back down against me.

Laughing softly in her ear, I licked the arc of it gently,
started to brush the fur of her breasts. Doing it slowly,
holding them gently in my hands as I worked over ever part
of them.

Oria broke into a few more giggling fits as I brushed, some
times elbowing me when I got a little to fresh for her
taste. Not that either one of us truly minded.

Slowly I worked back down to be belly, brushing it gently,
nuzzling her ear as I did so. I was finding that I was
enjoying this, the slow brushing of her. It was comforting,
and felt good, for both of us I think.

Though I did have an ulterior motive. We were engaged now,
but some how my asking her in tears just didn't feel right.
So I was going through the ritual to propose in her culture.
I had been grilling Rose about it for days, and the package
that Oria had brought back from her was there equivalent of
rings. Though I didn't understand why she needed a sample of
my blood.

There was one last part that I still had to do. I had to
bite her ear, hard enough to draw blood. I was reluctant to
do it though. I didn't want to hurt her, but I knew I had to
do this right. I even had a fake fang made up so I could
bite it cleaner then with my normal teeth.

I sighed softly as I brushed her sides.

"Problem?" she asked in purring voice.

"Not really," I answered, reaching down to run my hand over
her tail.

She nodded, pressing her head back a bit closer to my neck.
"Reluctant?" she whispered.

"Never around you," I answered.

She smiled up at me, her eyes twinkling softly in the
firelight. "Then bite me."

I laughed softly, some how I'm not surprised she knew what
this was all about. "Are you sure?" I asked.

She nodded.

"It will hurt," I said, taking the edge of her ear into my
mouth.

"I know," she answered back.

Gulping softly, I pulled the edge of her ear between my
teeth. Then slowly I started to bite down. She let out a
soft gasp, but said nothing more. I continued to bite down,
harder and harder until I could taste her blood slowly
starting to fill my mouth.

Pulling away, I swallowed what I had, then started to lick
at the wound. Oria pulled away though, turning to face me.

"Your turn," she said, nuzzling my cheek.

I nodded, turning my head and pushing my hair out of the
way. Giving her access to my left ear. Nuzzling me a bit
more, she slid up, taking my ear lobe into her mouth.

"I'm ready," I said. She bit down, harder then I had, her
sharp teeth easily breaking the skin. After a few second she
pulled away, lapping at my ear just like I had hers.

Wrapping my arms around her I hugged her tightly. "I'm glad
you except," I whispered into her ear.

She laughed softly, nuzzling my again. "I'm not done yet,"
she said, standing up.

"Oh?" I asked, watching as she walked over to the bag she
had come in with. Fishing around she came out with three
packages. One large one, and two smaller ones.

Sitting down in cross legged in front of me, she gave me a
wide smile. "You know, it's kind of funny, but I was planing
on doing the same thing."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

She nodded, opening one of the small boxes, and handing it
to me. Inside was a small gold ring, just the right side to
fit my finger.

I laughed softly. "Is this your way of asking me to marry
you?"

She nodded again, taking the box out of my hands, and
pulling the ring out. "I asked your sister what the proper
way was," she explained, taking my hand and slipping the
ring onto my finger.

I kissed her, picking up the other box and taking her ring
out, placing it on her finger. "We're now twice engaged," I
said with a smile, finding that I had started purring.

"Yes," she said, smiling just as wide as I was. Then
reaching over she opened the last box. Nestled inside was a
pair of silver necklaces. On each one was a small gold and
silver disk, with some find engraving around the edges. Set
in the center of each one was a single blood red stone. Both
necklaces were labeled at the top of the box.

"Is that what your culture exchanges?" I asked softly.

She nodded, taking one of them out and motioning for me to
lower my head. Doing so, she dropped it around my neck, it's
weight joining that of my pendent.

Taking her's out of the box, I did the same thing with her,
dropping it around her neck for it to settle right between
her breasts.

"There very beautiful," I said, taking mine in my hand, and
looking it over. I noticed that on the back there was an
indentation, like another stone could fit there.

I pointed this out to Oria.

"They're blood stones," she said, which would explain why
Rose needed some of my blood. "Mine is on yours, and yours
in on mine. The extra space is for the stone of the third
person we need for the marriage."

"Oh," I answered, slightly surprised. I never thought about
a third person. I had forgotten that Oria's culture required
it, and Rose hadn't said anything.

Oria slid over and hugged my. "I've been thinking about it,"
she said, "and I think we should ask Rachel. We're the most
comfortable with her."

"But I don't love her," I protested, "and if were to be a
threesome, how will you adjust to her being a vixen?"

"I think both of that will come in time," she answered,
kissing me softly.

I kissed her back, holding my future wife close to me, and
loving every second of it.

-----

This story is (c) 1999 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.