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(The following is a work of fiction. Desert Mutt is copyright myself. Marina and Damien Lakor are fictional characters not intended to be based off of any particular individuals.)

Marina paced slightly in her room, rubbing at her mouth with one paw. Her eyes shifted over to the two forms of infant otter cubs slumbering peacefully in their crib together. A small smile slid over her lips before slipping out and heading to a different phone so as not to disturb them, though she sincerely doubted she could have short of yelling in the room with them.

The otter woman picked up her phone and hesitated, looking at it and wondering. Was this a good idea? They had seen each other a little from time to time since they were neighbors, but they had not really seriously talked or anything since the night she had the girls. He had asked about them some, enough to find out they were Aqua and Sandy, but he had not seen them since the day the were born. Nearly a year.

Some of that was her fault. She was doing her best to be careful with the two of them. They were her first children, and now it seemed like they might be the only ones she ever has. It was partially Desert's fault as well. After he left the hospital, the canine kind of became a little distant and unresponsive from them, like something was going on with him. The fact that the canine had punched Damien when her husband arrived at the hospital did not help either.

Damien was the main reason though as far as she was concerned. He was so mad after the canine punched him that the male otter had told his wife that he did not want that "mongrel' anywhere near him or her. Damien had even said that if Desert stepped on their property, he would call the police. Marina had been grateful she had talked him out of getting a restraining order against their neighbor since it would be a slight problem with him living so close.

Marina sat the phone down and sighed, thinking how strange it was. At times it seemed as if it had been so long since they last did anything together, and at others as though it had only been just a few days ago.

She sighed and set down the phone, going back to the girls' room. If she was going to have to talk to him, and about something like this, she was damn well going to do it face to face.

Desert's floppy ears perked as he head someone knocking on the door. He turned around, looking at the hall toward the sound a moment before finally getting up and going to see who was there.

The canine froze some as the door opened to reveal the female otter standing there. One arm was wrapped around her stomach, looking like she was hugging herself. The other held onto the handle of a double stroller where two small young bodies were covered by blankets and the top putting them in the shade.

"Come on," Marina said, trying to sound firm but friendly, "It's a nice day out for a walk and I need to talk to you about something important."

The canine looked at her a moment, chewing on his lip slightly. He finally gave a nod and went back inside, grabbing his keys and wallet to stick them in his pocket.

The two walked along for a while, not quite saying anything. Marina would look ahead or down at the stroller, thinking some. Desert would glance to look at her or down at the two sleep pups from time to time, more often then not looking out at the yards and houses they were passing. Eventually, they reached the playground, stopping as the otter woman moved to sit down on a bench.

"Please sit down," Marina said, looking up at him until he finally sat next to her. "My husband had a check up a few weeks ago. We found out that he had an STD. He's had it for a few months now and it turns out that he been infected for months and it has rendered him infertile." She bit her lip, looking down and away. When she turned back to him, her eyes were filled with tears.

"The girls and I had a check up ourselves not too long after we found out," she continued, "Sandy and Aqua are fine and healthy, but it seems I have the same thing Damien does." She took a deep breath, trying to keep from sobbing. "While it is most likely that I came down with it after I had the girls, there is a chance that I got it before I had them and my body just kept them safe from it or something. So I need to ask you Desert. Do you know if you have any STDs or not?"

"Yes, I know," The canine responded, rubbing at his leg, "And as far as the test can show, I'm clean and healthy." He turned to look at her a long moment quietly, hearing the start of a gasp.

Marina pulled her legs up to her chest. She moved to press her back against the side of the male next to her, reaching out with one paw and gripping the stroller to pull it closer and rock the two slumbering pups gently. The other hugged her legs against her as she set her chin on her knee.

"He's still cheating on me," she finally said in a barely audible voice, "I put up with it when I found out because I was pregnant. I thought that was the problem for him and that once I had recovered from giving birth, we would go back to how we normally are and he would stop sleeping around. We would go back to sleeping only with each other and finally have a happily ever after. Was that stupid?" She looked at him a moment, wanting an answer.

"It was a very sweet and loving thing to believe," Desert said, trying to be diplomatic. He did not want to actually say it was stupid, but with something like this, someone would have to want to change, and he saw nothing about Damien that indicated the otter would ever change unless he was forced to for some reason. He came across as shallow and selfish. Not something he would want to say about to the woman who married him, but he still thought it.

Desert tensed as Marina suddenly turned around and grabbed him. She buried his face in his shirt, holding him tightly as she cried. Her arms wrapped around the warm body, holding it out as she let out a lot of pain and grief she had kept in her and building up without even her realizing it.

The playground was pretty active with parents as they watched their children having fun and playing around while some of the older children were still in school. No one seemed to come near the bench with the double stroller and the tense and nervous canine male who was gently rubbing the back of a crying mustelid.

Marina eventually finished, holding still for a long moment before finally pulling back. She reached out to the stroller, going to the compartment at the bottom and pulling out a wet nap. The otter woman wiped the tears from her cheeks and around her eyes. She took a deep breath, collecting herself again.

"I think I've reached my limits with all this," she finally said, "I can't put up with what Damien is doing any more." Marina shifted leaning against Desert. "Tomorrow I'm going to start looking for a lawyer and set up plans to file for divorce."

The canine gave a small nod, but chewed his lip not saying anything just yet. He looked out into the park in front of him as his paw continued to rub Marina's back gently.

"I'm not going to keep the house," The otter said suddenly, throwing the mutt's thoughts off where ever they were headed, "I don't think I'll even stay in town. I have a sister up in Seattle. If I get child support, I can live with her and take care of Aqua and Sandy until they are old enough to start school, then look for a job of my own."

"So, you're going to leave," Desert mumbled, feeling a small sense of loss. He had barely known Marina, and had not talked to her much lately, but all the same he felt like he was losing a friend.

"You only have yourself to blame," Marina teased, "You were the one who was nice to me and raised the standards on what I was looking for in a guy." She grinned and hugged him. "In seriousness though, you have been a good friend. I want to thank you, but the truth is that after all that has happened, I want to forget about this, start over, and spend some time to stand up on my own two feet. I think we might have had something, but it is not this time." She gave him a hug and kiss before standing up. "Thank you Desert." She gave him a smile and took a hold of the stroller, pushing it back out of the playground and heading back home.

Several months later, Desert gave a small smile and wave to the new neighbors as they were working to move in. It seemed that Damien had no interest in keeping the house either after Marina had left him and went to live with her sister. He grabbed the mail as he walked, shutting the door behind him.

The canine sifted through the mail in his hand, setting it down and finding a very large and thick envelope with the return address saying it was from Marina in Seattle. He gave a small smile as he opened the envelope and looked to see what she had sent him.

Inside was a short letter from the former neighbor, saying that they were all doing well. The Aqua and Sandy were happy and healthy and Marina herself felt like she had a whole new lease on life. She had even decided to take some online college classes so she could advance her education while staying at home with the girls.

The other was a CD, which when the canine put it in his computer, found it was filled with photographs of Marina, her sister, the girls and the whole family. Three drew his interest a little more than others. One was of Sandy and Aqua with stuffed doggies that looked just like him. Underneath was written that the girl's had chosen them out themselves. Another one was of Marina with one of her own. The last one was the one that caught his interest the most. In it the two girls were next to a sign that had "We" followed by a drawing of a heart and "Uncle Desert" written on it. They may have been too young to draw it themselves, but it was a cute thing to see.

Meanwhile, elsewhere Damien sat at his fold in couch as it was set as a couch in the living room slash bedroom of his small apartment. He growled to himself as best as an otter could as he wrote out the checks.

One was to that traitorous slut of a now ex-wife. Just because he had strayed once or twice was no reason to leave him. It did not seem right that she would take everything from him for no good reason even if he had made one or two mistakes. If she really loved him, then she should have stayed with him even if he could never have children again.

Unfortunately, that second one had not quite been true soon enough, which brought him to his other check. He grumbled more as he wrote out a separate child support check to his former secretary. Apparently he had still been fertile enough to get her pregnant, and when he found out, he thought it best to end their personal and professional relationship. The bitch of a cat did not take it well, going so far as to testify on his wife's behalf, and even had the offspring undergo a paternity test to prove he was the father, forcing him to pay for that kid as well.

There was an upside to it all though. He was able to sell the crappy house which did not even have a fucking pool. So he no longer had to live in such a lousy neighborhood, or next to that violent faggot of a mongrel. He may have been paying money out, but he was able to move into a smaller place and actually save a lot more money for himself.