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Friday, June 12th, 2015

David slung his backpack over his shoulder, then pulled the folded up wheelchair out of the back of the SUV and flipped it open. Once he'd set the wheelchair open all the way, he kicked down the brace in the back to make sure it stayed open. After pressing the button to make the rear hatch of his SUV close, he pushed the chair around the passenger side of the vehicle, where Alex was sitting and pulled the door open.

"Hold onto my neck, love," he said as he unbuckled the seatbelt and stuck one arm under her knees. After Alex leaned forward, he put his other arm behind the small of hir back and lifted hir out. He grit his teeth at the pained noise shi made as he took hir out and set hir on the wheelchair.

"I'm sorry, love," he said, waiting a few moments as Alex took several shallow gasps.

"It's okay, daddy," the tigress said after a few moments.

"Okay," he said, closing the passenger door and taking hold of the handles on the back.

"Good morning, Alex, Mr. Andreyev."

Both of the tigers turned, spotting Mrs. Eaglantine standing over by the front doors.

"Good morning," Alex replied as hir dad turned the chair and pushed it over to the front doors, which the Eagle was holding open.

"Well, it's good to see you again. Elizabeth was looking rather sad when you didn't show up at school on the last day. How are you doing?" the bald eagle asked as David pushed the chair through the doors and over the metal grating in the front half of the lobby.

"Sore," the tiger cub replied tersely. "Tylenol doesn't help much."

"Well, once you get back home, I'll get you some vicodin, kiddo." David said, wheeling Alex through the doors to the right side and through the main hallway into the library area.

Mrs. Eaglantine felt miserable for the kid. Unfortunately, with the way the grading system was set up there was no way around taking tests, unless she were willing to simply make make up test scores. Unfortunately, that was a quick way to get fired. She followed the two tigers across the school and down the hallway to her classroom.

Once they arrived, Alex slowly pushed hirself out of the wheelchair, using hir dad's arm for support, and sat down in hir usual spot. Mrs. Eaglantine had already peeled the name-tags off the corner of the desk in preparation for next year's class.

David took the backpack off his shoulder. "Here's your lunch, kiddo," he said, pulling out a small paper bag and setting it on the desk next to Alex's. "And your school stuff," he added, pulling out a binder and setting it in front of hir.

"Thanks, dad," Alex said.

"Good luck. Love you kiddo," the white tiger said, leaning down and kissing hir on the cheek.

"Love you too, dad," the tiger cub said, watching as he picked up his backpack and walked out of the classroom.

"I'll go wait out in the library, in case Alex needs to use the restroom or something," the tall tiger said, pausing at the entrance to the classroom.

"Okay," Mrs. Eaglantine said, nodding to him. "The light switches in the library are on the main office wall, but it should be bright enough with all the skylights."

"Thanks," he said, turning around and walking out.

"Okay, Alex. You've got five tests. You have forty minutes for each of them. No notes allowed, just a pencil," the eagle said, walking over from her desk with a stack of papers in hand. "Here's the tests. You can take them in any order you want, and you may take a five minute break between each test if you want. If you haven't finished them by 11, you can take a lunch break. Any questions?" Mrs. Eaglantine asked, as she set the stack of papers down on the desk.

"No," Alex said, taking a pencil out of hir binder before pushing the binder off to the side.

"Good. The math test has some scratch paper on the back if you need it, and remember to show your work. Once you're done with each test, let me know and I'll come pick it up to grade it."

"Okay," Alex said wincing slightly as shi reached out and picked the first test off the stack, pulling it over and starting by writing in hir name. The bald eagle nodded, then turned and went back to her desk.

=^.^=

Officer Hoffman put his car in park and flipped the ignition off. Officers González and Johansson were already parked and had gotten out of their vehicle. After unbuckling his seatbelt, he stepped out of his squad car and joined the black caiman and pine marten. The two made an unlikely pair, but worked well together.

The apartment complex was a very boring greenish-brown, and moss was growing on some of the rooftops. Hoffman would have laid money on the bet that this was low-income housing. The apartment complex's only saving grace was that it was literally across the street from Atfalati Park.

The canine glanced up at the building number, just to make sure, and peered up through the stairwells to make out the apartment numbers. He looked down at the paper notes he had folded up with the arrest warrant. Rabten Metok, age 12, tufted deer... ahhh, there was the address. Apartment 52. He glanced up. There it was... second floor on the left.

"Hey, González. You taking point?", he asked as he walked up to the two other officers.

"Yeah," the reptile replied in a deep voice.

"Kay," the canine said, nodding. He pulled out a pair of small-sized cuffs that he'd requisitioned just for this particular bust. Hopefully the kid was actually home instead of hanging with friends or something. It was summer break now, after all.

"Lead on, oh muscular one," the pine marten said, making a fluid gesture with her hands.

The crocodile walked up to the stairwell and started heading up. The stairwell was firmer than Hoffman had initially thought it would be. Even with the massive 300 pound reptile stomping up the stairs, Hoffman couldn't feel them shake.

When they reached the second story, the crocodile reached up with his hand in a fist, only to stop when Johansson tugged on his shirt. He looked down, and she pointed to the tiny button to one side.

With a slight frown, the crocodile reached out with his other hand and gently pressed the doorbell. A pleasant chiming noise came from within... also not what Hoffman had been expecting.

After a few moments, the crocodile pressed the button again, with a similar lack of response. He reached out and tested the doorknob, finding it locked. At that, the huge crocodile took a few steps back, taking a solid stance and bracing for a kick... only to stop when the pine marten held up a hand with a key.

"Damnit Johansson, I wanna break down a door," the croc whined.

"Yeah, but this way the department doesn't have to pay for door repairs. It's a lot easier to simply talk to the apartment manager for three seconds and get a key."

The burly crocodile huffed and folded his arms as the pine marten stepped in front of him and inserted the key, then turned it clockwise. She withdrew the key, and turned the knob, giving the door a slight push and stepping back out of the way.

González stepped in, loudly saying "Tualatin Police. We have a warrant."

The apartment seemed empty. It was a bit dusty and smelled slightly of incense. Tapestries hung from the walls, and the furniture was somewhat rustic. It looked vaguely indian. Or maybe chinese. The three police officers stepped in, careful not to disturb anything.

Hoffman also called out "Tualatin Police Department. If anyone's home, identify yourself. We have a warrant."

"Looks like nobody's home," the pine martin said quietly. The three of them went silent for a moment.

Hoffman's ear twitched. There was definitely someone home. Repetitive, rapid noises were coming from down the hallway. Walking over a few feet, he glanced down. There were three doorways, and the one at the far end of the hallway was closed.

He raised one hand, pointing down the hallway. The crocodile nodded, unsnapping his holster and resting his hand on his pistol grip. Then he walked down the hallway, glancing in the other doors as he went. The floor creaked under him as he walked up to the door and put one massive hand around the doorknob.

The two other officers had their own hands on their guns... You never knew what you might find, especially from someone who was hiding from police. Both of them watched from halfway down the hallway as the crocodile twisted the doorknob.

The huge crocodile pushed the door open and stepped into the room. The room was like anything that you would expect to see from a young teenage male. Posters from different movies and games, and the occasional near naked girl. An unmade bed was on one side of the room and across from it was a tv with one of the current gaming systems. The floor was littered with dirty clothes, junk food wrappers, and even some dirty dishes.

Facing away from the door was a desk, and seated at the desk was a tufted deer in boxers, whose arm was moving up and down rapidly, as he watched something on the screen. The deer let out something that sounded like a squeak and closed his eyes as he threw his head back. The moment that he had leaned back, his noise-cancelling headphones fell off, causing him to grumble a little. "Fucking headphones." he muttered as he reached for the box of kleenex on the corner of his desk, to start cleaning up.

"Well, that explains why he didn't hear us," Officer González said, glancing back at the pine marten who'd followed him into the room. Officer Johansson saw what was playing on the computer monitor and immediately covered her mouth and darted back out of the room with a squeak of her own.

"Wait..." The tufted deer said, turning in his chair and quickly pulling at his boxers, trying to cover himself. "What the fuck? Who the fuck are you?"

"Tualatin Police Department. Are you Rabten Metok, aka Randy?", the crocodile asked in a rumbling voice.

"Yes....but don't you people need a warrant to break in on someone?" Randy asked, nearly glaring up at the officers.

"Yes, and we happen to have one for your arrest," Officer Hoffman said, stepping around the hulking crocodile and holding out the handcuffs he had as he walked toward the kid in the chair.

"Do I at least get to put some pants on? And I want a lawyer." He said watching the canine walking up to him with the cuffs. "You can't let a brother walk out in just his skivvies."

"Actually, we can...But I think it might be better if we don't in your case." The crocodile said, turning to the open closet and taking out a pair of clean-looking pants and a shirt and tossing them to the deer on the chair. "Put those on and be quick, kid. We've two of your friends to pick up as well."

"Thanks." He said as he started getting dressed, his mind running a million miles a minute at this point. "What about that tiger....he had something to do with all this....It was just self defense...."

"Shi's recovering from surgery at the moment," the german shepherd said, waiting until the kid had finished getting dressed before pulling him around and slapping the child-sized cuffs around the kid's wrists. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..." he began reciting.

=^.^=

Almost two hours after Alex had started the first test, shi folded the last one closed and set down hir pencil. "I'm done, Mrs. Eaglantine."

"Excellent," the bald eagle said, standing up and walking over to pick up the last test. "And you got a 39 out of 40 on that math test; you didn't reduce the fraction all the way in question 12. Do you want to wait while I grade this one?", the teacher asked, kneeling down next to the tiger cub.

"No," Alex said, shaking hir head.

"Okay then. Give me a moment and I'll go get your father," the bald eagle said, standing back up and walking out of the classroom toward the library that occupied the center of the building.

"Kay," Alex said, quietly. More than anything right now, shi wanted to go home and take a vicodin and fall back asleep. Hir side throbbed with pain, and the bare skin under the bandage itched, too.

=^.^=

A rather rotund ring-tailed coati with russet fur walked over to the chair next to the tufted deer and sat down, panting slightly. "Mr. Metok, I'm Francisco Torrez. I'm your court-appointed attorney, since you requested one. Your parents have been notified of your arrest and are on their way over to the station..."

The lawyer trailed off as the door behind him swung open, and a harpy eagle and armadillo in police uniforms started to step into the small interrogation room.

"Hey, will you two get the hell out? I'm having a private meeting with my client here!" the coati turned around and yelled at the two cops. Both of them stopped, then backed out of the room, letting the door shut behind them.

"Where was I? Oh, right... As your court-appointed attorney, I advise you not to write or sign anything unless your parents or I are in the room. I also advise you to ask for your attorney if anyone attempts to question you. That prevents them from interrogating you unless I'm in the room. Have the police already read you your Miranda rights? Something about having the right to remain silent, that anything you say will be used against you..."

"They gave me the whole nine yards about rights and stuff, fingerprinted me and everything." The tufted deer said, sitting up in his chair, at least doing something to appear as something other than a hoodlum. "Just make sure you do your job, I don't want to stay in jail." He said rather flatly.

"Unfortunately, you probably will unless your parents can pay your bail. The district attorney's got a bee up his butt or something over this," the coati said, lifting a briefcase onto his lap and clicking the buttons on the front. The top opened up with a slight hiss as the hydraulics inside pushed the lid open. "I've already been given a copy of your case file... and normally I don't get one for like a week," he said, closing the briefcase again and setting the folder on top. "Give me a few moments to read this, okay?"

"I guess he just doesn't like me or something...." He said shrugging a little. "It was all in self defense." He said leaning back a little as he watched the coati reading through the papers. "I might have ran off at my muzzle....but she attacked first."

The attorney held up one paw, motioning for silence as he read over the first page, then flipped it over to the next page. After a second he flipped that over, and the next, and the next. He spent another minute reading the fifth page in the stack, the ticking of the clock above the door seemingly growing louder with every second.

Every little movement that the tufted deer made seemed to be louder than ticking of the clock. The nervous wiggle of his tail, he was sure that the rustle from that could be heard, eyes glancing around the room as he waited, never seemed to settle, and the twitch in his ear was about to drive him crazy. His eyes went a little wide as he came to rest on the mirror in the room, something told him that they could see him, they could hear him, this only fueled his paranoia.

Once he'd finished reading, he flipped the paper over, revealing a compact disc and a stack of grainy photos, apparently captures from whatever was on the CD. After flipping through the printouts, he found a set of transcripts at the back. As he started reading through them, the coati began muttering under his breath.

"Well, kid... I can tell you right now, that story won't hold water in court. Not with this video as evidence," the attorney said, looking back up. "I left my laptop back at my desk, unfortunately, so I can't watch it right now, but someone already did a transcript of it here," he said, pushing the papers across the desk.

"Well that's helpful." He said with a little huff, pulling the offered papers over to him, starting to look the papers, his eyes went a little wide as he saw some of the things that were highlighted. "I said some things to Alex, but I didn't say anything about smearing the queer." He said moving onto the grainy photos.

"Well, if you want, I can go get my laptop and we can watch whatever's on this CD," the russet-furred attorney said, looking up at the kid across the desk with a very serious expression. "Look at me, kid. This first page here lists some pretty serious charges. Obstruction of justice, aggravated assault, hate crime, and attempted murder. If I'm going to defend you, you're going to have to level with me so I can do my best to get you off with as light a sentence as possible. And there's no way you're going to get off scot-free, not with a video showing you and two other kids kicking a cripple on the ground."

"Fu.....he stopped himself." Taking a deep breath. "What is the obstruction of justice....and just where is the attempted murder charge coming from? I wouldn't have killed her....I didn't want to do anything like that.....and it wasn't hate....it was self defence....I've said that." He said looking over the papers again, the ear twitch starting up in full force again.

"Obstruction of justice... well, that's not quite what they call it here, but close enough... is when you've lied to investigators or tampered with evidence in such a way that it would have changed the outcome of the trial. That's just a misdemeanor," the attorney said, reaching up and loosening his tie a little.

"I'm guessing that this video's sufficient evidence to contradict whatever you told the investigator. As for the attempted murder... I'm guessing they're adding that charge to scare you or your accomplices... though apparently this other kid... Alex? Alexandrea? Required surgery to keep her from dying. That's why it's aggravated... er... sorry, I keep using the terms they use down in California... Assault 2. That's a class B felony," the coati said, setting the briefcase back on the floor and standing up to take off his jacket. "Sorry, it's a bit hot in here."

"Ok....." He said putting paws up to his face. "So I'm boned no matter what, just cause the other two got too carried away....I was just kinda there in case something happened or something....I don't want to end up in the pen, can I like sell them out?"

"Kid... Look at me. I'm not a cop. I'm here to keep you out of jail or spend as little time in it as possible. That's my job, and I'm good at it. But I can't help you if you don't tell me the truth. If self-defense is a viable defense, then that's what we'll do. But you've got to prove that this kid with a broken leg attacked you first, and that you had to kick her while she was down to keep her from further attacking you," he said, leaning forward, his shirt straining over his large belly. "As for selling your accomplices out... That's going to be up to the D.A. If, and I do mean if, he offers a plea-bargain for reduced charges of some kind, then we can talk about that. I'll bring it up when I talk with him, okay?"

"You just try to make that happen.....and I will tell you what happened." He said leaning forward, paws coming to rest on the table. "The three of us went over to her. Sara wanted to talk to her about the mess that went down between that stoat girl and her boyfriend." He said taking a deep breath. "They got to talking and...."

"Stop," the coati interrupted, holding his hand up. "Is this when the incident occurred? You hadn't met or talked to this tiger before this?"

"Yeah....I mean I passed her in the hall, but this is the first time that I got close to her, let alone talk to her." He said cocking an eyebrow a little. "She isn't the kind of people that I hang out with."

"Okay, go on."

"Well I was just standing there, Jimmy picked up the crutches and started messing around with them and making fun of her....that's when she got up and started to go after him and started it...and that's when we stepped up...and the fight happened." He said letting out a sigh as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"I'm going to have to watch the video with you then," the overweight attorney said, leaning back. "So we can figure out how to spin this in the best light. The only thing I'm worried about is the hate crime charges. Those aren't handled at the state level; they're handled in federal court. If you_did_ say something like what's mentioned in that transcript... well, we can talk about that later. I'll be back in a minute... I've got to go get my laptop," he said, standing up with a wheeze.

"Ok." Was all that the deer said as he leaned back in the seat, wishing that it was at the least a little more comfortable. Closing his eyes and taking a breath. "Fuck." Was all that he said.

About fifteen seconds after the door closed behind the attorney, the door opened again as the harpy eagle and armadillo stepped in. The armadillo sat down on the chair where the attorney had been, moving it a bit closer to Randy, while the eagle sat down on the chair directly opposite of the tufted deer, then brought his feet up and rested them on the table.

"So... Rabten... or do you prefer randy?" the eagle started, pausing a moment for the deer to respond.

The deer's head snapped forward, eyes darting open. "Randy is fun....but my attorney isn't here....I have nothing to say."

"Okay randy. You don't have to say anything. I just figured I'd let you know how everything's going to go down," the eagle said, holding his scaled hands out and inspecting his sharp, black talons. After a second he pulled out a small pad of some kind and began polishing them to a fine gloss as he talked. "You and your two friends made the mistake of going a bit too far while bullying someone this time. Picking on someone, I can understand. Kids pick on other kids, it's natural. Kicking the shit out of a herm with a broken leg though, breaking hir ribs and puncturing hir lung... that's a bit excessive. Especially for someone who you've never met before, who didn't do a damn thing to you three except try to get hir crutches back that your friend Jimmy stole from hir. Nice push you gave hir, by the way," he added, inspecting his left hand and then switching to polishing the claws on his right.

"I didn't think a kid your age could throw someone over ten feet just by pushing them. I don't think self-defense is going to work in your case, since it's pretty obvious you started it with that push. Actually, I'm damn near certain it won't, since Alexandrea never touched any of you at all. Didn't insult you. Nothing," the eagle said, pocketing the polishing pad.

"Anyway, back on topic... pretty nice push. Brave of you, defending your thieving canine companion by throwing a crippled cat over a dozen feet. But... What I want to know is why you deemed it necessary to kick the ever-loving shit out of hir after that, with hooves no less. Did you even realize that hooves count as a weapon, same as claws and fangs?" the eagle asked, tilting his head slightly.

For the longest time, the tufted deer didn't say anything, the only real proof that he was still alive was the fast rise and fall of his chest, and the ear twitch. "Don't you two have something else to do....this is intimidating." He said glancing from one cop, then the other.

The armadillo sitting next to him finally spoke. "Wrap it up already, Smith. Give him the charges already so I can get back to my desk. It's hot in here."

"Fine," the bird said, his beak snapping shut with a clack. "Because you lied to investigators about what happened, you're being charged with Obstruction of Justice. Because you performed an unprovoked attack against one Alexandrea Andreyev with hooves, which are a weapon, you're being charged with Assault 2. Because you spoke several clearly homophobic slurs during the attack, you're being charged with a federal hate crime. Because one Alexandrea Andreyev required immediate and heroic lifesaving measures to save hir life after the attack, you're being charged with attempted murder," the eagle said, pulling his feet down off the table and standing up, along with the armadillo.

Both of the two officers stood up and walked to the door, the armadillo pulling it open and stepping out, followed by the eagle. The door closed behind them with a metallic slam... almost like the sound of prison bars slamming shut.

Even after the door shut, jarring the deer, it took him a moment or two for things to sink in. It was about then that it all hit him like a ton of bricks. He knew that he messed up big, and that was an understatement. His mind racing at the mention of federal anything, he had heard horror stories from a member of his family about places like this. He wanted to get up and run, but he knew that it would do no good, that he would make it no more than a few feet out of the room. "Fuck." He muttered, burying his face in his paws.

The clock above the door continued to tick, the plastic clicking loud in the concrete-lined room. Another twenty seconds passed before the door opened again and the fat attorney waddled in, carrying his laptop this time. He sat down at the table and flipped the lid open. "Okay," he said, picking up the CD lying on the table. "Let's see what they've got as evidence on this thing," he said, sliding it into the slot on the side of his laptop. Then he glanced over at the tufted deer next to him. "You okay, kid?" he asked.

"Not really," he muttered, looking at the screen, waiting. "The two cops came in when you left and started trying to get me to talk, and then the one read me the charges," he said taking a deep breath. "I'm fucked."

"You're a minor, and I'm sure they can't get you with more than that assault charge at best," he said, patting the deer on the back. "Now... let's see what they actually have on this video..."

=^.^=

Alex had been laying in bed for the last hour or so, trying to fall back asleep. Shi'd been dozing on and off since getting back from school and taking a vicodin, and it seemed like it had all worn off. For a moment shi debated calling for mom or dad, but shi was sick of laying in bed... the same thing shi'd been doing more or less since getting back from the hospital two days ago.

With a pained sigh, the tiger cub threw back the covers with hir good arm and carefully swung hir legs off the side of the bed, then tried to sit up. By the time shi was actually upright, shi was gritting hir teeth and a cold sweat had broken out on hir paws. Shi sat there, hoping shi hadn't torn a stitch, then snagged one of the crutches propped against the wall next to the nightstand and used it to pull the wheelchair over.

With a little effort and a few small gasps of pain, eventually Alex managed to get hirself into the child-sized wheelchair. Using the toe-claws on hir one good foot, shi turned the wheelchair around and slowly made hir way down the hallway to mom and dad's room, where shi'd heard voices.

"Mom, dad?" shi asked when shi'd reached their doorway.

Both of them broke off the conversation they'd been having, mom sitting up while hir dad immediately rolled off the bed and stood up, walking over. "Alex... Love, you're supposed to be in bed. I hope to God you didn't pull a stitch trying to get into this by yourself," he said, pulling the wheelchair into the room and leaning down to inspect the bandages wrapped around hir side.

"I don't think so," shi said, lifting hir arm so he could see. "I couldn't sleep; I think the vicodin wore off and I need to pee. Also...can I sleep with you two again? Please?"

David sighed. "Okay, kiddo. Raenne, can you get some warm milk and a vicodin tablet while I help Alex?" he asked, turning to ask. She nodded and stood up, walking past the two of them and out the room. "Brace yourself, love," he said, reaching under hir legs and behind hir back, then lifting hir out of the chair and taking hir into the bathroom.

Since shi was only wearing panties, it was a simple matter to help hir out with the toilet. He stepped back out while shi did hir business, then stepped back in to help hir once shi was done, picking hir back up and carrying hir back out. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to let a kid with broken ribs sleep with them, but he and his wife didn't really move much while they slept, so it probably wasn't an issue.

Raenne walked back in just as he'd lay Alex down in the middle of the bed, propped against a couple of pillows. His wife handed their daughter the vicodin and a glass of warm milk, then sat down next to hir, glad that they had one of those high-quality mattresses that didn't jiggle much when someone else on the bed moved.

Once Alex had drained the cup, Raenne took it and set it on her nightstand, then they both helped Alex lay down before lying down themselves.

"So, before you came in, your dad and I were discussing what to do about school for you next year," Raenne said after she was comfortable again.

"What do you mean? I thought I'd just be going into fifth grade, right?" Alex asked, puzzled.

"About that..." David started, "Your mom and I don't think it's a good idea for you to be going back to Byrom. Not after what's happened to both you and Charlotte in the past couple of weeks-"

"What does Charlotte have to do with this?" Alex interrupted, starting to get concerned.

"Hush, love; let me explain. Both you and Charlotte were bullied, and even though the school knew about it, they did nothing to protect you two. Because of that, you wound up with broken ribs and a punctured lung, and Charlotte wound up with a shattered muzzle. Elizabeth's family filed a lawsuit against the school district, hopefully to make sure that these sorts of things won't happen again. We'll be joining that lawsuit," David explained.

"So... That's good though, right?" Alex asked.

"Yes. Though it might mean that some faculty may target you for retaliation for being part of a lawsuit against the school..."

"That's not very likely," Raenne said, rolling over to look at her daughter. "What I'm more worried about is if there's any other friends of those three kids who attacked you. Even if the lawsuit's successful and the school changed their policy, there's no way they can protect you all the time. It would take a kid one second to stick a knife in your back while you're in the hallway between classes, and you could die."

A shiver ran down Alex's back as shi turned hir head to look at hir mom. "But.. that won't happen... will it?"

"I didn't think you'd get beaten up badly enough to put you in the hospital. But that happened." Raenne replied. "Love, I don't want to risk you, and putting you back in Byrom is a risk that I don't want to take."

"But, mom-"

"Don't 'but mom' me. I'm not going to let you get beaten up again, or worse," Raenne said.

"Anyway, we were discussing taking you out of school and home-schooling you instead," David said, hoping to move on before the heavens fell.

"Love, I hate to burst your bubble, but there's no way I'll be able to raise another cub_and_ homeschool Alex. You remember how much work it was taking care of Alex when shi was an infant. We were_both_sleep deprived," Raenne said.

"Well... I guess that's true," the white tiger had to admit.

"You_guess_? You were the one who swore we were never having another cub again," Raenne pointed out.

"Well... Yeah, but it wasn't that much actual_work_; it was the fact that shi kept waking up every three hours and mewling for milk..."

"Oh, I remember how much work it was, even if you don't," Raenne said. "No. I'm not homeschooling Alex until this cub is at least three years old. Period."

David sighed. "You know that means we'll need to put Alex in another school district then, and that means moving."

"But...why?!" Alex cried. "It's not fair! I don't want to move; all my friends are here!"

"I'm well aware of that, love," the tigress said, reaching over and stroking her daughter's head-fur. "But life isn't always fair, or just. You just have to make the best of it."

The room went silent, except of the sound of Alex sniffling. Both hir parents felt utterly miserable about it, but... there was really no way around it. They couldn't risk Alex going back to Byrom, not with the enemies shi'd manage to inadvertently make through no fault of hir own.

=^.^=

Monday, June 15th, 2015

The door opened with a soft click, and a sea lion walked into the quiet meeting room where Randy, his parents, and attorney Torrez were sitting. Since neither of the tufted deer's parents had been able to afford the listed bail of $10,000, the kid had spent the entire weekend in county jail. He was still wearing the orange jumpsuit they'd put him in.

"Sorry about taking so long. I was meeting with the judge who's going to handle the case at the state level," the district attorney said, sitting down at the table across from the three tufted deer and their defense attorney. "Mr. and Mrs. Metok. I'm District Attorney James Walford," he said, reaching across the table with his right hand out, towards Randy's father.

"It's no trouble." The father said reaching out and taking the sea lion's paw and shaking it. "I just wish that it was on better....or different terms." He said glancing to his son before sitting down.

"As do I," the district attorney said, leaning forward and resting his arms on the table. "So... your son has indicated that he would be willing to testify against the other two children involved in this incident. After conferring with the judge, I believe that we've come to a conclusion regarding a potential plea bargain," he said, waiting for a moment in case anyone wanted to speak up.

"I hope that it's some good news." The mother spoke up, worry filling her voice. It was clear that she and her husband had tried to raise the boy better.

The sea lion sighed. "Yes, and no. The good news is that I and the judge have agreed that, if Randy here is willing to testify and plead guilty, he'll be charged at the state level as a minor, and only for assault 3, rather than assault 2 and attempted murder, and we'll drop the obstruction of justice charge as well. The bad news is that I can't do anything at the federal level about the hate crime charge."

The defense attorney let a small grin creep across his muzzle. This was exactly what he'd predicted: a simple assault charge at most. He said nothing though, listening.

"Well, we will just have to deal with that, when that comes ups." The father said turning to Randy. "I really thought that you would have known better....I thought that we raised you better." He said turning back to the sea lion.

"I'm sorry dad." He muttered, looking down at the floor before looking up to the DA and taking a deep breath. "I will take it."

The sea lion nodded. "Okay," he said, pulling a folded up piece of paper and a pen out of his suit-pocket and handing them over to the defense attorney. "Then if you're willing to sign this, once we have your testimony, we can have a court date set for the sentencing."

Mr. Torrez looked over the paper and nodded. It was a pretty standard plea bargain agreement. "Looks like everything's in order. As your attorney, I'd advise you to accept, but that's up to you," he said, sliding the paper over in front of the young tufted deer.

"I am." The young tufted deer said, reaching out and taking the offered paper and pen. "I know that I messed up....and I know that I'm deep in it....so..." he paused, looking up to his father. "If dad has taught me anything...it's to be a man...and it's time that I man up." He said unfolding the paper, taking a breath and signing his name.

"Well, that's that then," the sea lion said, reaching out and taking back the pen and paper. "From the footage, it looks like your friend Jimmy was the one who broke Alexandrea's ribs, so you'll only be looking at a Class C felony. That's a maximum of 5 years and $125,000. Your two friends, on the other hand, are going to still be looking at the same charges you were since neither of them seem willing to talk." he said, standing up as he slid the paper and pen into his suit pocket and turning back around, walking to the door.

The sea lion paused, hand on the doorknob and turned back around. "If I may... I recommend that you pick your friends more carefully, or you may wind up in jail for a lot longer than just 5 years next time. Also, you might want to be a bit more tolerant towards people who don't fit the binary-gender, heterosexual norm. They're a lot more common than you'd think," he said. Without waiting for a response, the sea lion turned back around and stepped out of the room, leaving the three tufted deer and their attorney alone once again.