Day Trip

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

09/23/1999:

Rhea looked more than slightly annoyed, picking at the hem of
her blouse, as she tried to adjust herself on the chair. It was
the first time she had spent any length of time in her morphic
form since she and Fox had separated, and she didn't care for
it.

I smiled at her as I settled Adric down in his crib, and tucked
him in. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my husband standing by
the nursery door, a smile on his face as he rested against the
door frame.

Stroking a finger down my son's face, I smiled, and turned to
face Rhea. "Are you going to be all right here with the kids?" I
asked her.

She smiled and nodded, a bright look crossing over her face.
"I'll be fine," she replied.

I nodded looked back at my children once more, then walked over
to where Fox was standing. "Ready to go?"

He shuffled his feet a bit, and nodded, a bit reluctantly.

Taking his hand in my paw, I led him out of the nursery, and
towards the fold room. He shuffled behind me, slowing us both
down. He wouldn't have admitted that he was doing it, but I
still noticed. He picked up his pace slightly as he walked past
the living room, in deference to Samantha's parents, who were
visiting for the week, but once they were out of sight he went
back to shuffling.

"Shouldn't Rhea be coming along with us?" he asked as I keyed in
the lock code on the door to the fold room, "She is our wife as
well."

"With Kalie already at the Temple, and Sora at school, there's
no one left to watch the children," I replied as the hydraulics
on the door hissed open. He was right about Rhea, she was my
wife, just as much as Fox was my husband, something I often
forgot. Instead I ended up treating her more like a pet than a
person.

He snorted slightly as we walked into the room. "I could have
stayed instead of her, I really don't have to go with you," he
mentioned wistfully as he walked over to the shelves, pulled off
a matrix chip, and slid it into the controller that doubled as
his watch.

"You don't have to be there for the actual Blessing, Hon," I
said, walking over to him, and touching the side of his face. "I
just want you to know what it entails."

He sighed and shook his head. "Right, right. We've done this
little dance before. I promise to pretend to like it," he
replied, glancing over at Ravindar. The tiger stood at the door,
his arms crossed, as was the look on his face. My bodyguard
stood just behind him, and looked just as annoyed.

I waved towards the fold. "Shall we?" I asked.

Fox nodded, and reached out with his hand. A moment later the
fold rippled to life in front of us. With a smile, he took my
paw, and walked us through it. It tingled as it ran over my fur,
like a cold blast of air, and then we were through, standing in
an alley a few blocks away from my sister's House.

"We'll drop in to see Rose. I want to pick up a few things while
we are here," I said, starting down the alleyway.

Fox didn't bother with the matrix chip just yet. The people in
the area were familiar with seeing strange things like humans
and dragons about. They had learned to ignore it.

Though there was that time a picture of him had ended up on the
front page of a national tabloid. It was something I had never
told him about, knowing how he would take it. He would have
laughed it off, but would have tried to hide himself after that,
and I didn't want him hiding when he came to my world.

We casually walked down the street, heading towards the back
door of the House. The door was opened for us as we walked up
the steps. Behind it was a busty young lady by the name of Tara.
She was dressed in some thin clothing that was barely decent.
"Hello, Lady Oriana," she said, as we approached the door.

I blushed slightly. That was a title I hadn't held in over a
year, not since I signed the house over to Rose. Some of the
older girls who had worked at the whorehouse when I ran it,
still insisted on calling me that.

"Is my sister here?" I asked, walking through the door and into
the kitchen. Fox followed just behind. He tried hard to keep his
eyes on Tara's face, and mostly succeeded, but still glanced
down at her exposed breasts. I had spent so much time around
scantly clad women, that I had become immune to them, mostly.

"Lady Rose is in the front room, with some visitors."

Fox raised an eyebrow, "A client?" he asked, sounding slightly
surprised. I was surprised as well, Rose did sometimes service
the customers, but it was a rare thing.

She shook her head, as she picked up a robe from a hook on the
wall, pulling it over her shoulders. "I'm not sure who they are,
they look like a couple. The Lady was rather flustered to see
them."

I nodded, wrapping my arm around Fox's shoulder. "Well, if she's
busy, we can come back later. We have an appointment at the
Temple we have to keep."

Tara nodded, closing her robe, and removing most of the
distraction for Fox. "I'll tell her when she's done."

A moment later Rose nearly burst into the room, her long black
hair blowing behind her. It settled down over her shoulders as
she came to a halt. She looked flustered, and worried, a deep
frown crossing her face as she saw me.

"Go," my older sister ordered, looking slightly panicked, as she
glanced over her shoulder "before it's too late."

"Why, what's wrong?" I asked.

The last thing I ever wanted to see in my life then appeared, as
my father walked up behind my sister, an angry look on his face.

"Oriana," he said with a soft growl, ice hanging from the words.

I blushed, and dropped my eyes downwards. Fox jumped at my side,
grasping my paw with his hand.

"Hello, Father," I said in a soft voice.

"I think a measure of explanations are in order," he said,
crossing his arms, and glaring at the pair of us. Tara had left
the room as soon as my Father had come in, but Fox stayed at my
side.

A few seconds later my heart fell even further as Mother Selina
walked up behind Father, and placed a paw on his shoulder. A
look of surprise crossed her features when she saw Fox.

"Hello, Draxs," Fox said, trying to sound casual.

I sighed, motioning towards my Mother, "This is my mother,
Selina."

Fox nodded, and offered her his hand. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm
Fox, Oriana's husband."

Mother blinked, and took the proffered hand "You're Fox? I heard
you were strange, but I had no idea."

My husband just smiled and kissed the back of my mother's paw,
before he let it slip away.

"What's going on here?" I asked, looking between my parents and
my sister.

"Maybe we should go back into the living room," Rose said, "I
can finish my explanation there."

Father nodded, and turned back, motioning for us to follow him
as he started down the hall. I followed a few paces behind, the
tuft of my tail brushing over the carpet of the hallway. Fox
remained at my side, still holding my paw in his hand.

We all filed into the living room, and found places to sit. My
Father and Mother Selina settled on the couch, Fox and I sat
down in the love seat, and Rose took a chair off to the side. We
sat there, uncomfortably, waiting for someone to say something
first.

"Rose," my Father finally said, "Are you a whore, like your
sister?" He wielded the words like a knife, using them to cut at
me, and my sister.

My sister lowered her head, her hair falling forward, partially
obscuring her face. Almost inaudibly, she whispered, "yes."

I was expecting Father to explode in rage. He had disowned me
when he found out I had become a prostitute, and now to find
that his oldest daughter had taken up the same job! Strangely,
it was the first time I had heard her refer to herself in such
terms.

"She's not like me," I protested, "She's only done it a few
times."

My fathered turned to glare at me. "And how would you know?" he
asked in a cold voice, the tone making it clear that it was
hardly a request.

I blushed, lowering my ears until they were flattened to my
hair. "Because I helped arrange her first time," I answered
honestly.

The anger that was simmering just under the surface nearly broke
free, but my Father held it back, barely.

"It was my choice," Rose protested, "I'd been running the House
for a year by then, and I wanted to understand all of the
business. It was good for the girls. They were already looking
to me for advice; I had to know it. Yes, I'm a Lady, and a
hooker, just like Oriana, but it's something I've only done a
few times, so if you want to get angry at someone about it, you
had damn well better get angry at me!"

She was the only one of us kids who could stand up to Father
like that, and it flustered him. For just a moment the anger
broke the surface, causing him to start to rise up to his feet.
It lasted just for an instant before he gained control, and sat
back down.

Mother Selina looked worried, placing one of her paws on
Father's leg, and holding him gently.

"So, this is the new family business," father said with
contempt, his anger coloring his voice.

"It was my choice," I said, looking hard at him, "and it was
Rose's choice. She offered to take over running the house when I
left to find myself. It was her idea, deciding to take ownership
of the house, and to become the Lady, and it was her choice to
take up the job as well. None of which she had to do. We are
both adults, we are allowed to make our own choices."

"It's the wrong choice," he snapped. "It always has been the
wrong choice." He turned his attention to Fox. "I was under the
impression that you had convinced her to stop working here, now
I find that I was wrong."

Fox finally spoke up, "I never asked her to stop, that's true,
but she hasn't worked at the job since she and I become a
couple."

My Father sucked in his cheeks as he prepared to verbally cut
into Fox, but my husband stopped him when he stood up and said,
"Draxs, can we talk in private?"

My father looked surprised, his jaw clenching under his mane. "I
don't--," he started to say.

"Well I do. I know where a private room is, follow me," he said
in that calm, cold and emotionless voice that meant he was
holding his own anger in check to keep from exploding. Without
even a further look to my Father he turned and walked out of the
room.

"Go, talk with him," Mother Selina said to my Father.

He frowned, looked at her, and then back at the door as it
closed behind my husband. With some reluctance he rose to his
feet, and followed him, his tail moving so fast it was almost
twisting into a knot as the door closed behind him.

Silence fell over the room as the three of us exchanged looks. I
finally cast my eyes downward, to watch my paws as I twisted
them in my lap. I didn't want to be the first to say anything,
and neither did Rose or my Mother.

Mother Selina finally sighed, and spoke. "I'm disappointed, in
both of you," she said in a quite voice.

"I'm sorry Mother."

She sighed again, "Both of you, please come here," she said,
patting the couch with her paws.

Both Rose and I walked over to her, each of us sitting down on
one side of her. Her hair was short, and deep red, natural,
unlike most redheads I had seen. Small gems were braided into
the length of the hair, which caught the light as she moved.

Unlike the rest of my family, she wasn't in a 'respectable' job.
Instead she ran, but did not own, a small bookstore a few miles
from my parents home. She had been out an a business trip when
Fox and I had visited the family, which was why they had never
met.

She was so unlike Mother Tamra and Mother Varna: less serious,
more impulsive, though she had stopped talking with me like the
rest of the family when she found out I had dropped out of
college to work at the House.

"I never lied to him," Rose said, casting her eyes down. "This
is a successful business, one that I've keep in the black. I had
hoped that Father could respect that, even if I was running a
cathouse."

Mother sighed and shook her head. "You never told him the whole
truth, and that is as good as a lie. Your father takes business
very seriously, but he's angry that you lied to him about what
it is you do. You know how he felt about your sister."

She nodded, "That's why I never told him."

"It's understandable," she replied, "but I wish you had tried
harder to keep it hidden. You should never have given him this
address. If you hadn't, he wouldn't have decided to drop in to
see you."

"It's too late now," I said with a sigh. "Now we all have to
deal with it.

She nodded, and touched my leg. "I'll deal with this back home,
but none of us ever expected to have to deal with this again."

"I'm sorry," Rose said, nearly in tears.

"Don't be sorry," Mother Selina said, "just do what you feel you
have to do. I'll make sure we don't cut you off the way your
sister was. I can't bear to see that happen a second time."

I nodded.

"At least you're out of the business, Oriana," she said to me.

I shifted uncomfortably. "Only because Fox is uncomfortable with
it. I would like to return to it as it's a large part of who I
am," (as was being an assassin, but I didn't need to tell her
that.) "We've talked about my returning to the job, and when Fox
is ready, I will."

She sighed and nodded, "It's really part of you isn't it? You
never did it to get back at your Father, or any one else, you
did it because you loved your job?"

I smiled at her. "It's the same reason you work at the
bookstore. It is part of me; it's how I define myself."

"That I can understand," she replied, letting out a soft purring
of thought. "I hadn't know that before. Thank you for telling me
about it," she said, and then turned to look at Rose. "Is it the
same with you?"

My sister shook her head. "No Mother, I enjoy it, but it's a
benefit of the job, not why I do it. To be honest, I do it
because I like running the House, and I like the girls."

Mother smiled one of her knowing smiles. "Let me guess, you have
the hots for one of them?"

Rose giggled and shook her head. "Not really, but there's so
many sexy women around it's hard not to be smitten by a few."

Mother laughed and ruffled Rose's black hair. "Well, tell us if
you find yourself a girlfriend," she said with a smile.

Rose blushed and tried to hide a small smile.

A moment later Fox and Father walked back into the room, both
looking slightly rumpled. There was some blood in Fox's beard
from a small cut on his lip, and his glasses were hanging half
off his face. Part of Father's shirt was torn, and his collar
was pulled at an angle. It wasn't that hard to see they had been
fighting.

Neither one looked happy, but Father's anger had gone, at least
for the moment. Fox took a seat on the couch, and Father took
the chair that Rose had abandoned.

"I'm going to have to think about this," Father said, adjusting
his shirt. "I can't say I accept it, but your husband made some
good points... ones I have to think about." He rubbed the side
of his muzzle slightly, as if it hurt him to speak.

I glanced at Fox. He just shrugged, casually keeping one of his
hands on his side, and trying not to wince in pain.

Rose brushed her hair from her face, and looked at Father. "Dad,
I'm sorry I didn't tell you what I was doing, but I knew you
wouldn't accept it. Can you at least accept that I'm running a
successful business, no matter what it does?"

He sighed, and ran his fingers though his mane. "I'll try, dear,
but it's not easy. I don't like this business, I don't like what
it's for, and why it's here."

"It's not illegal," I said.

"No, not illegal, but on the edge of the morality laws. On the
other paw, from what I understand, you have to bribe officers to
keep from having problems from them, and that is illegal."

Rose shook her head. "Not bribes, not any more. When I took
over, I tried to arrange something better... something that
wasn't so risky. Instead I have signed up most of them as
clients for your company, commission free. They are happy making
money, and it's all legal."

A dark look crossed his face to know that his company was
involved with the House. "That's still on the edge."

She nodded. "On the edge, but not illegal. We've also cleaned up
all the problems they had with the House as well. We're even up
the restaurant code, so we can serve meals to the clients. They
like that."

Father sighed, and shook his head. "If this blows up on you, you
keep me out of it, understand."

Rose nodded, "I understand Father, I've already arranged for
that. I don't want to hurt you."

He started to say something, but bit it back, shaking his head
instead. "I love you both, but I can't stand the thought of you
being whores, selling your bodies for money. It makes me sick."

Mother Selina stood up, and walked over to him, placing her paw
on his shoulder. He reached up, and covered her paw with his.

"Your Mothers and I are going to have to have a long talk about
this."

"Just don't cut us off," I said.

He shook his head. "No, not this time. Fox convinced me of
that," he rubbed his jaw again as he spoke, and I had to
suppress a smile. I wasn't sure who got the better of the fight,
but I was going to get Fox's side of it as soon as I could.

"Thank you," I replied. I still remembered the pain I felt when
he had hung up on me the last time. It was years before I talked
to him after that, and even now it was still fresh in my mind.

With a sigh, he stood up. "I wasn't planning to stay here this
long. I just wanted to tell Rose the good news while we were
near by."

I nodded.

"What good news?" Rose asked.

Mother Selina broke into a warm smile that I hadn't seen from
her in ages. "I'm pregnant," she said as a flush crossed over
her face.

In an instant both Rose and I we're on our feet and hugging our
Mother tightly. "Congratulations," we both told her in unison.

She hugged us both in return, before I slipped out of her grasp
and went over to my Father, hugging him tightly as well.

He seemed torn for a few moments, but returned the hug. It was a
little stiff, and slightly formal, but the familiar warmth of
his large arms was still there.

As I broke out of the hug, Rose came over and hugged him
tightly. "I know you have to go, but don't be a stranger," she
said.

"I'll try," he replied as they slipped apart.

"I'll come visit you whenever I'm in town," Mother Selina said
to Rose as she gathered up her jacket.

"I would like that," my sister replied.

Mother nodded, and took Father's arm. "We're already late for
your meeting, so we shouldn't dally too much longer."

He nodded, and smiled at her. "I love you both, no matter what
you do, never forget that" he said to us. Then he and Mother
walked out of the room.

Fox slumped down as the door closed, holding his side a bit more
firmly and wincing slightly in pain.

Rose sighed and dropped down into the chair, running her fingers
through her hair. "That could have gone better, but it wasn't as
bad as I expected it to be."

"I think we can thank Fox for that," I said, sitting down next
to him, and placing a paw on his shoulder. "I hope he didn't
hurt you too badly."

My husband shrugged, and smiled at me. "Nah, a couple cuts and a
few bruises, but I got through to him."

"Looks like it took a left hook," Rose said.

Fox chuckled, and shook his head. "Right hook, not left, but
pretty much. He had to get his anger out, so I keep goading him
until he swung at me."

I shook my head, "That may not have been the best idea, Love.
When Father gets going... well, he has a bad temper."

He smiled back at me, and chuckled. "I think mine is just as
bad."

"Thank you, Fox," my sister said, giving my husband a critical
look. "I'm not sure I could have handled this alone, I'm glad
both of you were here."

"I'm sorry that it happened at all," I said.

Silence fell over the room for a few seconds, all of us
recovering from what had just happened. Finally it was Fox who
spoke up, "Love," he said, in a cautious voice, "I remember you
mentioning something about expecting another child in your
family in the next few years; is this normal?"

I blushed slightly, and nodded. "It's pretty common to have a
second generation of children once the first are grown," I said.

He nodded, biting his lip slightly. "Not in mine, but you live
longer than we do, don't you?"

I nodded, "By about sixty years," I answered, which caused Rose
to raise her eyebrows. "But that's nothing you have to worry
about, you'll live twice as long as a normal human, remember?"

"Right," he replied, "I'm glad for that, it has always been
something that worried me, in the back of my mind. Right now our
age difference isn't too bad, but it could have been in twenty
years."

Reaching out, I ran my fingers over the edge of his beard. He
was five years younger than I was, but his maturity nearly made
up for it.

A small smile played over his face, and he gave me a wicked
look. "Is that what you were planning for your bet, waiting till
the kids were grown before knocking me up?"

Rose, having no idea what this bet was about, looked a bit
befuddled at his words. "Maybe," I replied, I hadn't actually
thought about it yet. It depended on a dozen different things.

Silence fell back onto the room, the three of us looking between
each other, but no one saying anything. I wasn't sure why, but
just being there with each other seemed proper.

It was Fox who first noticed the time. "We're late, Love," he
said, touching the side of my leg.

I frowned, looking at the clock on the wall, and then sighed,
"Right, we are."

He paused, looking between me and my sister. "Do you want to
stay here with Rose tonight? I guess you two have a lot to deal
with right now."

My sister and I glanced to each other, and she gave me a short
nod. "I think that would be a good idea," I said.

"Right," he said in reply, standing up from the couch. "I'll run
to the Temple. We were suppose to meet Kalie there anyway, and I
can at least learn something about what is suppose to go on."

I nodded, "Thanks, Fox."

A smiled played over his face, as he started for the door, then
he paused and glanced back at me. "Before I take off, can we
talk for a moment, in private?"

"Of course," I said with a smile. He offered me his hand, and I
took it, rising from the couch. Together we walked out of the
living room, and into one of the small private rooms that lined
the hallway.

Turning to me, Fox sighed, and deflated slightly.

"What's wrong, Hon. Did Father hurt you?" I asked, reaching for
him.

He shook his head, shrugging away from my touch. "It's not that,
Hon. It's just I've been thinking."

I frowned, the tone of voice as he spoke made me uncomfortable.
"About what?"

He sighed, and sat himself down in a small chair. "Well, it's
just that, with your decision to go back to the Guild, I've been
thinking a lot about your jobs, and this stuff with your Father
kind of brought things into a sharp focus."

I nodded, but didn't say anything.

He sighed again, and ran his fingers though his black hair.
"I've come to realize, that I'll never be ready for you to go
back to working here at the House."

It was my turn to sigh, I had known that Fox could decided
something like that, but it still came as a shock. "I
understand," I said.

Rising his hand, he stopped what I was about to say next, slowly
shaking his head. "There's more, Love. I know you, and I know
how much you love the job, I know it's still how you think of
yourself. Keeping you from it would be wrong, it would hurt you,
and I don't want to hurt you."

He looked up at me with his crystal eyes, the ice blue irises
looking deep inside of me. "I'll never be ready, Love, but I've
decided to forgo that," he paused, taking a deep breath. "So,
you now have my permission to return to being a whore, if you
wish," he spoke the words in a rush, like he was afraid that if
he paused to think about what he was saying, they would never
come out.

I could feel my heart pounding, as the words sank in, I had been
waiting almost a year to hear him say those words, but now that
he had... I wasn't sure I could live by them.

"Oh, Fox," I said, shaking my head. "It would hurt you."

He shook his head, "No, Oria, hurting you would hurt me, and I
can't live with hurting you. It's not easy for me. it goes
against the culture I was raised in, but that's not really mine
now, is it? Your culture is a lot more open, and I should be,
too. Just keep yourself safe, and keep me informed about
anything fun that happens."

"Fox," I said again, but he just shook his head.

"Don't give me a chance to think about it Love," he said. "If I
do, I'll probably change my mind, and then I'll never allow it.
I think... I think once it happens, it will be better for me. I
know that doing this won't lessen your love for me, and brings
you great pleasure and joy, even if I don't quite understand
it."

A wicked idea crossed my mind, and I dropped to my knees in
front of my husband, taking his hand in my paw. "We can fix that
part. Your lioness-self would do quite well around here, and
Father did say it was the new family business."

A blush rolled down his cheeks as surprise crossed over his
face. "Me... working here... ah... oh, my! I'll have to think
about that," he stuttered out.

I smiled and nodded, "Well, it would let you know what the job
entails, and it would help you understand why I enjoy it so
much," I gave him a wink, "and I have a couple old clients who I
know would like a pair of ladies in their bed."

Fox gulped and shook his head, "I'll really have to think about
it, but for now, you go talk with your sister, and work out the
issues with your parents, or at least what you want to do about
it. Find yourself someone to have fun with tonight, and tell me
everything about it," he smiled as he spoke, and it was a real
smile, not one that he had forced for my benefit.

"Fox, you are crazy," I said, hugging him again.

He laughed and returned my hug, "I know," he said, purring into
my ear, and pawing around my tail. "Go have some fun, I insist
on it! I'll go talk to the priest, and I'll see you tomorrow."

I nodded, and kissed him full on the lips. He returned the kiss.
Once it was over he stood back up and I escorted him to the
front door of the house.

I didn't know what I was going to do. I would have to talk to
Rose first. It was almost too good to be true, to have this
suddenly fall in my lap. Maybe he was offering me one job to
keep me from returning to the Guild, but he was sincere.

As for what happened that night... well a girl doesn't kiss and
tell, except to her husband.

-----

This story is copyright 2004 by Fox Cutter. Hardcopy reprints
limited to one per 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.