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I Love You Twice: Alone at Last By Green

The sun shone in through the window, and dust motes danced in the warm, soothing beam of light before vanishing back into invisibility as they passed out of the edges. It wasn't the largest apartment in the world, and the walls were painted a very light blue-green that looked, to its new occupants, to be the exact colour of a particularly bland toothpaste brand from their childhoods. It was only about halfway up the building, so the view was alright, but not amazing. And yet, as the door opened for the thousandth time that day and Kelly Parrish walked in, carrying yet another heavily-laden cardboard box, just looking around the humble front room put a small smile on her face. Setting her box down atop several others, she walked over to the window and simply stood there, looking out at the city. The Maine coon was in her mid-twenties, and though she appeared perfectly relaxed on the surface, the twitching of her whiskers and tail, and the way her ears kept rotating around at the slightest sound from within the building, suggested there was excitement quietly burning in her heart. When the door opened again behind her, Kelly didn't even turn around, but the smile on the cat's face grew a little larger.

As Dave Parrish stepped into the apartment, he let out a quiet sigh of relief and blindly nudged the door closed with a foot. His midnight-black fur glistened with perspiration, and there was a distinctive satisfaction in his voice, a release of tension, as he spoke. "Well, that's the last one," he said, "We did the 'moving' part, now we just need to put everything where it's supposed to be, and that will be the 'in' part. But that can wait for a bit..." Carefully setting down his box off to the side on the floor, Dave placed his hands on his lower back and stood up straight, then leaned backwards. He sighed happily as the joints in his back popped from the stretch. Looking up, he saw Kelly by the window and walked up behind her, as silently as their feral ancestors. Stopping directly behind her, he reached forward and gently laid his hands on her sides. "Well, little sister," he murmured, "It may not be Australia, but I think we can make it home. Do you like it?" Kelly looked over her shoulder at him and beamed happily. "I love it, Davey!" she replied, stepping backwards against him, "I can't believe we finally did it." The black cat embraced her happily, reaching down and taking hold of her left hand with his own - causing an almost-imperceptible clink as the simple metal bands on their left ring fingers touched together. "Good," he replied, "because I promise, this is really happening." He put his right hand onto her smooth stomach, and Kelly placed her own hand on top of it. With that, Dave leaned in towards his sister's neck, bending in to plant a kiss on her throat, and just before his lips made contact, he whispered a single word that made the younger feline shiver from head to toe. "Mine."

Kelly began to purr as her brother, her lover, continued planting a garden of kisses on her neck. "Mmmm, this is great," she murmured, "The kissing and the apartment. It's so much bigger than the last place, and the building isn't as skeevy." Dave somewhat reluctantly leaned away and rested his chin on her shoulder, beginning to run his fingers along the fluffy female's slender left hand. "I'm so, so glad to hear it," he said, "Things are gonna be awesome here, little sister, I'm sure of it!" Down below, his hand stopped moving. "...Huh, that's weird," Dave said, softly, "Kels, could you hold your hand up for a second?" Her ears flicking curiously, Kelly let her hand fall away from Dave's, and held it up to the window, well illuminated from both sides. It looked the same as it ever did to her. "What?" she asked, frowning slightly, "What is it?" Dave reached up and began gently kneading her third knuckle. "Oh, now I see what it is..." he muttered, as if to himself. "Come on, Davey, what is it?" Kelly pressed, straining to see anything at all out of the ordinary about her hand. Then, without warning, Dave let go of her hand, took hold of the ring on her finger, and slid it up and off in one smooth motion.

"Hey!" Kelly protested, grabbing for the ring and failing to get it as the black cat pulled his hand out of reach. "Davey! Gimme that!" Naturally, her brother turned away and walked further into the apartment, holding the ring up to the light and examining it closely as if he'd never seen it before. Storming up to her brother, Kelly crossed her arms indignantly, her ears folding back towards her head as if she anticipated a fight. "That's not funny, Davey, that ring is very important to me," she said, in a calm, even voice that wasn't supported at all by how rapidly the tip of her tail was flicking back and forth. Dave nodded distantly, seemingly unbothered by his lover's quiet fuming. "Yes, I would certainly hope so," he mused, "I will never forget the look on your face when I gave it to you, you know that? To the day I die, that face will stay with me. And then dancing under the fireworks, the music in my ears, you in my arms... God, that was a great night." Finally turning to look at her - while keeping the ring held up above his head - Dave smiled slightly.

"Feels like a lifetime ago, doesn't it?" he asked, "Things were so different then. We were practically kids, trying to figure ourselves out as much as the world, trying to hide this big, important secret from everyone around us, as if we were superheroes or something. I'd never felt more_alive_ than I did the night I gave you this promise ring. But now..." Kelly frowned and narrowed her eyes as Dave casually slipped the ring into his pocket. Through the science of Morphic Inheritance, Kelly had much faster reflexes than a human woman her age, owing to her feline heritage. But she'd been sent so far off-kilter by her lover's bizarre behaviour that she was still caught by surprise as Dave suddenly stepped forward and grabbed both of her hands with his own, their faces inches apart. His eyes were similarly Inherited, in that they were solid yellow-green with narrow slits for pupils, and right now, they had a sparkle to them that kindled a warmth inside Kelly even though she didn't understand just what her lover was so delighted about. "Now, though, Kelly Rose Parrish," Dave said, reaching into a different pocket, "I think what we have together is a little stronger than a promise, don't you?"

Kelly was still gazing into her brother's eyes as she felt cool metal against her finger, and as Dave let go of her and stepped back, she blinked, as if a spell had been broken, and looked down at her hand. Her eyes growing as big as saucers, Kelly raised her right hand to her mouth and gasped. The ring now adorning her left ring finger wasn't a simple band of smooth steel, it was a golden ring with small, glittering gemstones set into it. "Oh - oh my God, Davey!" she breathed, "It's beautiful!" Her chin wiggled slightly as she tried to express herself, but she was flooded with emotions and couldn't find the words. Dave took hold of her wrist, brought her hand in towards himself, and gently planted a kiss on the back of her hand, like a gentleman in a noble court or something. "Happy anniversary, darling," the black cat said, without the slightest hint of sarcasm or irony, "I love you... twice." Feeling tears of happiness forming in the corners of her eyes, Kelly trembled under the strength of her emotions. "You remembered!" she managed to say, "Oh, Davey!" Throwing herself at her brother, Kelly wrapped both arms around him and hugged him tight, nuzzling into his chest affectionately. As he returned her embrace and began rubbing her back, Kelly closed her eyes and took a deep breath of his scent. "I love you two, big brother," she murmured, mentally using the cheeky word substitution they'd been putting in texts for years, "I love you two!"

Since Dave and Kelly were not - could not be, in fact - legally married, they did not commemorate their anniversary in the traditional way. And as brother and sister, they did not celebrate on the day of their first date, since they'd had to wait for months for the stars to align such that they could both get out of the city without suspicion. Therefore, the two of them decided to celebrate their anniversary on the day they'd both confessed their newly-blossoming feelings for each other. It was also the day they'd made love for the first time, and Dave's impassioned words had convinced a tearful Kelly that they could find a future together, and that it was possible for their love to survive. Dave put a hand on the back of his sister's head, slipping his fingers into her long, brown hair, and leaned in to kiss her, sharing a warm, gentle moment with the woman he loved. The distant sounds of the city seemed to disappear as their universe became a bubble filled with purring.

When they broke it off, Dave smiled down at the shorter feline and brushed a lock of hair away from her eyes. "I, uh, the designs are supposed to be a bit more personal than promise rings, so I didn't get one for me this time," he said. Kelly managed a smile, but it quickly fell away as she averted her eyes, one ear twitching. "Ummm... I don't suppose you still have the website?" she asked, self-consciously. Dave chuckled and kissed her on the crown of the head. "I'll send it to you," he said, "But you don't have to do it just because I got you one." "Are you kidding?" she asked, holding up her hand again, "Look at this thing! All I got you was a signed copy of Centurion #87!" To her surprise, her brother's face lit up. "Seriously?! That's a collector's item!" he said, his eyes sparkling with delight, "That's so awesome!" Kelly giggled, feeling infinitely relieved. She'd felt downright horrible there for a minute, worrying how he would react to her less exciting gift. "You wear what you love on your sleeve," she said, trailing a finger up his arm, "So it's easy to know what I share company with." Dave frowned for half a second before he caught up with that and then smirked. "Thank you, Kels," he said, nuzzling against her cheek, "That means a lot to me. Great find, too, especially for us... if you know how to read between the lines, anyway." Kelly giggled and shook her head as he winked lasciviously at her. "I still think you're reading too much into it," she replied. The lanky male shrugged, clearly unbothered. "Okay, so it's not a popular interpretation, but portions of the Internet agree with me!" Kelly refrained from commenting on exactly what portions he was talking about. "Mark my words, sis," he said, "One day, the writers are gonna tell the world that I was right about the Roman twins all along!"

Kelly giggled and took his hands in her own, then frowned slightly as she held up his left hand, examining the plain steel band. "I know you don't want me to feel obligated, Davey," she said, "But I want to get you a nice ring. I mean, look at this big step we just took, moving way out here together... I can't just leave you with this simple thing, big brother, the one you gave me is practically a wedding ring." The black cat nodded sagely. "That's true..." he said, lifting his gaze to look her square in the eye, "But then, I would be honoured to make you my wife, Kelly." She was remarkably fluffy to begin with, but the Maine coon's tail poofed up even more as she shuddered from head to toe and let out a high-pitched, joyous whimper. Blushing, she averted her gaze, unable to stop smiling. "Stop it, Davey," she said, meaning the opposite, "You're gonna make me cry if you keep doing that..." Her brother chuckled again, and Kelly looked up and nodded towards the plain bare table in the kitchen area. "C'mon," she said, "Maybe we don't have a fancy dinner, but I've got some champagne for us to celebrate with."

The Parrishes took their seats, and Kelly felt a strange delight that this was the first time she was sitting down at the kitchen table in their New Apartment (emphasis hers). Meanwhile, the black cat fiddled with the champagne, trying to get it open. "You know, sis, one of these days, we should just hire a boat to take us out to international waters and have the Captain marry us," said Dave, "I hear they'll marry anyone to anything out there." Kelly's ear twitched curiously. "Does that count?" she asked, "I mean, is that even legal?" "Arrr, there be no law 'pon the sea, missy!" Dave replied in a terrible pirate voice without missing a beat, "Won't be no landlubber to say we canna be wed!" Kelly tried to keep a straight face, to not dignify that with a smile, and failed, snickering even as she buried her face in her hands. "Of all the men I could have fallen for, it had to be you," she sighed, as if it were a terrible fate. "Love you too, Kels," he replied cheerily, "Love you t-" POP! Dave was interrupted as the cork was sent shooting off into the apartment, bonking off a cardboard box and falling harmlessly to the floor. "Huh," Dave said, retrieving two wine glasses from the box next to him, "Guess it's a good thing we didn't get these breakables out yet..."

Soon, the drinks were poured, and Dave raised his glass of sparkling golden wine for a toast. "To making it ten years," he said. Kelly smiled and raised hers in turn. "To making it ten more!" she added. They clinked their glasses together in celebration, speaking as one. "Cheers!" After taking a sip, they relaxed in their chairs. Kelly was already staring off into space, lost in her memories, as tends to happen on anniversaries. After a few moments of rolling her wine around in her glass, she looked up to her brother. "...Davey? If you could do it all over again, would you do anything differently?" she asked, softly. "Differently?" the black cat replied, perhaps unnecessarily, "Like what?" Kelly shrugged. "Well, like... I probably wouldn't have tied you to a chair that one time," she said, self-consciously, "Particularly if I'd known birth control pills don't work the way I thought they did..." Dave smiled slightly and nodded, but made no snarky comments. To this day, Kelly was quietly ashamed of the way she'd gone overboard on that particular birthday. Her brother scratched his chin, pondering the question. "Hmmm... I'd start by getting a different apartment than the last one we lived in, one with better soundproofing," he said, "You remember that time we did it on the couch by the door, but we forgot we invited -" Kelly interrupted him with a single surprised laugh. "Yeah! And she told us she could hear us all the way down the hallway!" she tittered, blushing, "Jeez, that was such an awkward conversation!" Her laughter quickly turned to cringing as she remembered the smug smile that had accompanied that bombshell. "We were so lucky she already knew," the Maine coon sighed, "If it had been anyone else..."

As she trailed off, Dave nodded. "Speaking of which, I guess I'd have let a certain someone in on the secret in a less... direct way, too." Kelly's smile returned and she giggled. "I kinda thought her head was going to explode," she reflected, "But oh God, I was so mad at you!" Dave snickered. "Oh, I didn't mean her, but, uh, that too," he said, "No, I was talking about, ah, someone else..." Kelly blinked, thinking about it, and then she suddenly burst out laughing again. "Oh! Oh my God, I almost forgot about that!" she cried, "I don't know who was more horrified, him or me!" "Him or us," Dave corrected, "I wasn't exactly thrilled either, remember?" Kelly's titters calmed down, and she cleared her throat as the memories from after that incident came back to her. "Yeah... he didn't take it as well as she did," she murmured, "That was... that was the first time in a long time I'd seen you cry."

After a sombre moment, Kelly put her hand on her brother's. "Davey?" she said, softly, "Thank you for not being one of those guys who keeps everything inside to try and deal with it yourself. Thank you for leaning on me when you need it." He turned his hand over and gave hers a squeeze, smirking distantly. "Well, after all the encouraging speeches I've given, I felt like it was only fair," he joked, but then swallowed and added, more seriously, "You're welcome." Kelly frowned slightly, leaning forward a bit. "No, I mean it," she said insistently, "I've seen my friends date guys who think it's 'unmanly' to show their feelings or share their problems, guys who bottle everything up inside, and it always seems like once things start to go wrong, the bottle breaks, and nothing works anymore!" She sighed, looking down at their entwined hands. "All the pressure inside just explodes, and either they break up and end up hating each other forever, or they both have to put everything they have into picking up the pieces just to get back to where they were before," Kelly continued, before pausing a moment to swallow. When she spoke up again, her voice was lower, quieter. "With... with all the secrets we've had to keep, with everything else we've had to deal with on top of our relationship, I... I don't know if we could have done that."

Dave, clearly feeling put on the spot, cleared his throat and stared down at the table between them. "Well, if I was gonna go the traditional 'manly man' route," he said, "I probably wouldn't have fucked my own sister in the first place." Kelly laughed once, caught off-guard by that, and bapped her lover lightly on the shoulder. "Davey! I was being all serious!" she protested, trying and failing to hide her smile. Giving him a Look, she poked him in the chest. "You know, that is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about," she said, a hint of warning in her tone, "Reggie dated this guy once who covered up everything with a joke, which was cute, until his dad died and he still tried to bury it. All of a sudden the jokes turned all passive-aggressive and angry..." Dave nodded sympathetically. "Was that the guy who worked at the nightclub, the one with the tribal tattoos?" he asked. Kelly shook her head. "No, that was Eric, I was talking about Paul, the taxi driver," she corrected, "...I liked Eric a lot, wished they'd stayed together. But man, when things went bad with Paul, they went all the way bad, and he refused to let Reggie help him. That was one seriously messy breakup."

"Okay, okay, I take the hint," Dave said, holding up his free hand in surrender. "I'm just saying, it's not like we're perfect or anything, we fight just like other couples, and sometimes I'm not great at sharing things with you. I lost count of how many times we pissed each other off and didn't speak for a couple days. And then there was the pregnancy scare..." He sighed, and Kelly gave his hand a squeeze. "That was not a fun time," she murmured, understating the matter quite dramatically. After a moment, she looked up and met his eyes. "Maybe the reason we're good at sharing our feelings and stuff with each other is that for a long time, we didn't have anyone else to talk to about 'us'," she said, "I don't know about you, but if I didn't talk about my problems with somebody, I think I would have exploded." Dave smiled at that. "Yeah, I suppose that's true," he said, "and neither of us had ever been in a relationship before, so we had to, you know, figure it out as we went along. We kind of had to talk it out between us." After a moment, he nodded sagely. "I guess the moral of the story is that more guys should fuck their sisters," he deadpanned, "It'd make them much more open emotionally." Kelly burst out into delighted giggles, and her lover gave her a happy wink.

When Kelly finally calmed down, Dave began to rub the back of her hand with his thumb. "You know," the tall male said, his smile returning, "I have wished sometimes that I'd found a more, uh, dignified way of showing you how I felt than, uh... the way I did it." "Oh, you mean by letting me find my panties soaked in come?" she asked, brightly, delighted that she could still make him blush. "I don't know," Dave said, rubbing at the back of his neck as his ears lowered, "maybe I could have gotten you flowers, or sent you some anonymous emails, or just, you know, told you I thought you were hot." Kelly giggled, her tail flitting back and forth as she took a sip of champagne. "Cut yourself some slack, big brother," she said, "We weren't in love right away, remember? It was just sex for the first little while, and that's not really a 'flowers' kind of thing." Dave shrugged. "I guess it all worked out for the best anyway," he said, "You didn't flip out and tell everyone, and we ended up getting together. God, I'll never forget how content I felt that first time we napped together, after we did it for the second time." Pouring a little more wine into her glass, Kelly sighed happily. "That was nice, wasn't it?" she asked, rhetorically, "I'd never slept with a person like that before. You were so warm and soft, and I could hear your heart beating in your chest, put me right to sleep."

Setting his glass down, Dave stood up and walked over to the collection of boxes, checking first one pile, then another. "Davey?" Kelly called, remaining exactly where she was, even as her ears stood straight up, her whiskers twitching curiously. "I bought a thing before we left," he said, distractedly, "Not as an anniversary present, just as a, a housewarming thing. Can you give yourself a housewarming gift? Whatever. I thought it would be nice." Kelly smiled softly, silently enjoying the view of her brother's ass in his tight jeans while he rooted around in the boxes. "Ah, here it is!" Dave said, standing up straight at last. He held a small object obscured by bubble wrap, which he quickly discarded, to reveal a metal plaque. "We may have eaten and slept in that last apartment," he said, "We may have talked and laughed in that last apartment. And yes, we may have done The Deed on pretty much every single piece of furniture in that last apartment... but it still never felt like 'our place' to me." Kelly took another sip, and resisted the urge to flinch. Truth be told, she didn't really like wine, being much more fond of hard drinks mixed with other things to mask the potent taste of alcohol, but somehow, piña coladas or Bahama-mamas seemed much less appropriate for celebrating their anniversary than champagne. "Because of the secret?" she asked. "Right," he agreed, "because anybody could just drop by, so we still had to keep up the pretense of being brother and sister." Kelly smirked, but before she could even open her mouth, Dave continued "And yes, we really are brother and sister, you know what I mean." Kelly sniffed indifferently. "You should have said 'just'..." she muttered, very mildly annoyed to have been denied the chance to snark.

Dave walked back over, cradling the thing in his hands, which meant Kelly couldn't see it clearly. "Here, though, here we can finally drop the act," he said, "finally live the way we want to. We can hold hands in public, we don't have to act distant when friends are around..." He paused for a moment, smiling playfully at her. "...We can finally share one bedroom..." he added. As Kelly giggled, he turned his hands around and showed her the plaque, which read 'Home Sweet Home'. "This time, it's just you and me, sis," the black cat said, turning and walking back towards the door, "This time, we can really make this place our home." He set the plaque up on the mantle, leaning against the wall, and started heading back. "Don't you traditionally hang those up?" Kelly asked, innocently. "Sure," Dave replied, "But that would need a nail in the wall to hang it from, or screws to hold it in place, and I might have those, but I'd need to dig through all those boxes to find them, and right now I'd rather drink wine with the woman of my dreams. Actually, I'd usually rather do that, but right now especially." The Maine coon giggled as her soulmate sat back down. She might not admit it out loud, but deep down, she was pleased that he could still make her blush, too.

As Dave took a sip, Kelly returned her hand to her brother's, giving it a squeeze. When he squeezed back, she smiled, as another memory came to mind. "I remember the first time we did it, I was so, so nervous," she murmured, "I knew it was supposed to hurt, but I didn't know if it was like the 'giving a blood sample at the doctor' kind of hurt where it's kinda drawn out but it's not too bad, or if it was the 'walking into a stop sign while you're texting' kinda hurt where it's over real fast, but your nose aches all day afterwards." As often happened, her brother was clearly amused by the wording she'd chosen, but at least Dave had the decency to poorly disguise his snicker as a cough. "You squeezed my hand and told me it would be just fine, and I believed you," Kelly whispered, gazing shyly over at her lover, "I think, when you look me in the eyes, I can see how much you love me," she mused, "You've always made me feel so safe, so protected, just by being there. I've never trusted anyone the way I trust you, Davey. I don't think I could have made it this far without that."

The black cat gave her a broad Cheshire grin, and she could almost swear he was quietly purring. "God, look how far we have come," Dave said after a moment, looking around the apartment, "We have a life together now, it's kinda hard to believe this all started with sneaking over to each other's rooms for handjobs and kissing." "If you'd told me back then that we would have people we could talk to about this," Kelly said, "I would have thought you were crazy." "Exactly!" Dave said enthusiastically, "Hiding the secret from everyone we knew was so hard!" "Made me feel guilty for lying sometimes, too," Kelly added, "But hey, out here we won't have to plan weeks in advance if we want to go on a date, we can just, you know, go outside and find something to do." "Well, jeez, Kels, you make us sound almost normal now." They shared a quiet laugh over that, and then a lull fell over the conversation. "Normal..." Kelly repeated, softly, as she gazed upon the bubbles in her drink. "It has been a long, long time since I've felt 'normal', Davey."

The elder feline averted his eyes, ears lowering slightly in shame. Kelly knew that her brother carried a lot of guilt beneath the surface for what he perceived as all the things he'd taken away from her; a relationship she could share with the world, a big, fancy wedding, biological children... Kelly reached out and put her hand on the side of her brother's face, teasing his whiskers and turning him to face her. "No, don't you get it, baby?" she asked, caressing his cheek, "This, moving here, this is our chance to finally be normal. To mention that we're together to other people and not worry about it, to hold hands in public without looking around for people we know..." She swallowed. "You were right, this isn't just a new apartment," she whispered, "We made it through everything that the world threw at us, and this is our first chance to have an actual life."

Dave sighed quietly through his nostrils, raising a hand and cupping it over his sister's. "Everything we've been through... watching what we say in front of everyone, dealing with people finding out, moaning into a pillow out of necessity instead of as a courtesy..." Kelly snickered at the deadpan way he delivered this, which may have been a mistake, as it of course encouraged him. "...Listening to your friends doing karaoke..." he added with a playful smirk. Kelly made a face, but said nothing. He wasn't entirely wrong, after all... "What I'm trying to say is that things haven't been easy for us," Dave continued, more seriously, "but... we did it." He looked away for a moment and laughed once. "Son of a bitch, we actually did it. I've been so stressed over the move that I never really took a moment to think through what it meant. You're right, sis, we've been through the crucible... and now we're out of the fire, free on the other side."

Kelly began to scratch at the fur along his jaw, and Dave nuzzled against her fingers, purring quietly. "We could have given up at any time, just broken up, seen other people, and it would have been so easy," he said, "Nobody would even have known we'd done it." Kelly slipped out of her chair and stepped closer to him, raising her other hand to his other cheek. She resisted the brief urge to skoosh his cheeks forward and make him look silly because this felt like an important moment. "But we didn't," she said, "We stuck it out through the worst parts, even when we had to cry on each other's shoulders to do it." Dave reached out, put his arms around her waist, and gently pulled her forward until she was sitting in his lap, straddling his legs. "We put up with going way out into the city just to go on our first date," Kelly said, "coming up with excuses for why we weren't seeing anyone..." "Almost breaking up because of bad dreams..." Dave added. He seemed a little self-conscious about that one, avoiding eye contact as he said it. "Getting into fights because of relationship stuff and not being able to bitch to anyone about it!" Kelly came back, "We didn't give up no matter how hard things got, and our reward is..." As she struggled to find the words to express the importance of their relationship, Dave reached up and booped her on the nose. "Our reward is each other," he whispered, simplifying the matter.

The black cat put his arms back around his little sister and slowly pulled her forward, his intentions obvious... not that they weren't written all over his face. Kelly blushed slightly, but eagerly moved to meet his lips. "Oh, Davey..." she whispered, closing her eyes. Dave paused a moment to tenderly nuzzle against her, whispering in her ear. "I love you, Kels," he breathed, "I couldn't ask for a better prize than getting to be with you." Kelly whimpered happily and for once, took the initiative, closing the distance between them and kissing her brother. For once, there was no ardour in their movements, no desperate need to feel their bodies moving together, just the soft, sensual love they felt for each other. Dave's 'addiction' to lip balm, as he put it, meant that his lips were very soft and smooth - for a guy's, anyway - and Kelly savoured the feeling of their lips moving together for a moment before they even got their tongues involved.

The Maine coon sighed through her nostrils and relaxed a little more as one of Dave's hands slipped upwards, into her hair. It played among the silken locks for a moment before gently cupping the back of her head, something Dave did often when they kissed. Kelly's tail whipped back and forth, brushing silently against the underside of the table and occasionally bonking not-so-silently into one of the table legs. Fortunately, it was fluffy enough that she barely felt anything, so she could continue focusing on the man she loved. Breaking off the kiss, Dave leaned in and pressed his forehead against hers, their whiskers meshing together as he scratched his lover behind her ears. "So, how do you want me to introduce you to people?" Dave murmured, "My girlfriend, my fiancée, my wife..." Kelly swallowed, shocked. "Your wife?" she asked, her cheeks lighting up, "We only j-just got here!" "Well, I guess I could keep introducing you as my little sister if you wanted," he teased, "I mean we just got done talking about how nice it is not to have to keep the secret anymore, but -" Kelly silenced him with a finger. "Let's start with girlfriend," she said, smiling, "And maybe escalate from there." "I think that's a fantastic idea," Dave agreed, purring louder than before, "Now c'mere..."

As their tongues danced merrily together, Dave's hand slipped down from the small of Kelly's back to rest on her hip for a while. Kelly was focused on scratching the black cat behind the ears, so she didn't give it a first thought, much less a second. She only really took notice when the hand resumed its downward movement, ultimately culminating with Dave reaching under her skirt and slipping his hand into his sister's panties, to firmly cup one of her soft, pert buttocks. Under other circumstances, Kelly might have moaned into the kiss to encourage him, or shivered from the tips of her trembling ears down to her clenching toes. She might have started rolling her hips, grinding against her brother's lap to coax 'Little Dave' into getting nice and stiff. She might even have flagged her tail upwards in the hopes that Dave would slip his fingers inside her, working her as they kissed and getting her more and more turned on. But these were not those circumstances, and Kelly reacted by - reluctantly - lowering her ears and breaking off the kiss. "Oh, I'm sorry, Davey, but... we've worked so hard moving in today that I'm kind of exhausted," she admitted, "I don't think I have it in me tonight." Dave swallowed and nodded. He was usually a gentleman about such things, almost always let the matter drop, but she was expecting him to unconsciously flash the Sad Kitty Eyes at least a little. But instead, he just sighed and nodded, removing his hand from Kelly's panties and placing it back on her bum, but safely outside her skirt and underwear. "That's okay," he replied, "To be honest, I'm not sure I have it in me either. We did a lot of heavy lifting... I just thought, it's our first night here and it's our anniversary, we should probably, you know, break the place in."

Kelly smiled warmly, her ears rising back up. "Silly kitty," she said, "you make it sound like an obligation. This is our new life, remember? The next step? We're not obligated to do anything." She caressed his cheek. "We'll have plenty of time to break the new apartment in, once we're both rested and feeling better," the Maine coon assured him. Dave was already returning her smile, but now it took on a playful edge. "Yeah," he agreed, "on every flat surface and against every wall in the place!" Kelly giggled at his waggling eyebrows, and she planted a kiss on his nose, making it twitch. "See, you say that like it's a crude and shocking thing to say," she said, "But I entirely agree." They both had a laugh at that one, and then spent a moment just enjoying being close, enjoying each other's proximity. Then, as she reluctantly stood up again (and Dave reluctantly let her go), Kelly frowned slightly. "So, uh, what are we supposed to do tonight?" she asked, "All our stuff is still packed up." Dave looked over to the couch which faced the wall between the two windows. They'd arbitrarily picked that spot for the TV and all the doodads which go with it, so the TV stand was already in place, and the widescreen box stood just next to it, along with a few boxed videogame consoles. "We already got the Internet package, right?" he asked, "How about I go and set up the essentials for some Netflix and chill, and you go and order takeout, and we'll make a night of it on the couch." Kelly smiled even as she gave her lover a mild Look. "Davey, you know that 'Netflix and chill' means sex, right?" she asked, "What did we just say?" The black cat's eyes widened disingenuously and he placed a hand over his heart as if shocked. "Oh, is that what that means?" he asked, as Kelly snickered and shook her head in mock exasperation, "Well, little sister, I'm practically thirty, I'm an old, old man, unable to understand the youth of today."

The Maine coon rolled her eyes even as she smiled, despite herself. "You're just hoping we'll change our minds and jump each other quick and dirty on the couch," she said. "Well, I wouldn't be averse to it..." he said, shamelessly. Kelly giggled again, sighed exaggeratedly, and started walking to the front room, where she'd left her purse (and by extension, her phone). But she'd only taken two steps before Dave sprang out of his chair, reached out and grabbed her left hand, stopping her. "Oh, wait!" he said, "I forgot to show you!" Kelly turned around, curious, and watched her brother slip her new ring back off her finger. "Easy come, easy go..." she muttered, but he either didn't hear or ignored that as he stepped closer, turning the ring away from her and holding it out. "Check it out, Kels, I got them to put an inscription inside," he said, proudly. It was true; the inner curve of the ring was decorated with flawlessly etched characters in a fancy, yet effortlessly readable font. Kelly wasn't surprised by the message, but it still made her heart flutter pleasingly.

I Love You Twice

She felt her lip wobble as emotion welled up inside her, and fought off the happy tears which threatened to escape. "Oh, Davey..." she whispered, putting her right hand over her mouth as Dave returned the ring to its rightful place on her finger. Once it was on, he kissed her on the back of the hand again. "I put it inside so that even when we're around people who know us as brother and sister, we'll always know those words are there, just like our love is always there," Dave said, softly, "Thank you so much for coming on this journey with me, Kelly. You're my world, and I don't know who I would even be without you." As he let go, Kelly began to reconsider her stance on the 'and chill' part of their evening, but said only one thing, the only thing she could say, after being so moved by the inscription. "I love you two, big brother... I love you two."

And so, the two of them set off to carry out their tasks, and before long at all, Dave and Kelly were curled up together on the couch in front of the TV, an array of Thai food laid out on the coffee table before them. It didn't really matter what they were watching, as they were only half-paying attention to begin with. Their attention was much more focused on each other as they cuddled together, holding hands and occasionally nuzzling each other's cheeks. They'd relocated their champagne to the same table, not wanting to move back and forth between the kitchen and the front room, and now Dave reached forward and lifted a neglected wine flute. "A toast!" he said, "To Ms. Kelly!" His sister giggled and retrieved her own glass, clinking it against her lover's. "And to Doctor Davey!" she replied. After taking a sip, Dave smiled self-consciously. "It's been weeks since I graduated, but it's still gonna be a while before I get used to that..." he admitted. "Well, I love that you've got a proper title now," she teased, "so you're gonna get plenty of practice getting used to it." Instead of answering, Dave set down his drink and pulled Kelly in close for a kiss. Brother and sister lost track of the movie in the warmth of each other's arms, reflecting back on the last decade, and idly wondering where the next ten years would take them, somehow knowing it would be as much of a surprise as their current life had been when it started. But here and now, all that mattered was that they were together, and they were happy, so the Parrishes relaxed and enjoyed their first night in their new home, surrounded by a comforting aura of purring.