FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

*****

I've given this story an extreme rating simply because I'm not sure where it will go, if anywhere. While most of this part is fairly tame, there's a distinct possibility of it getting very raunchy. Give me your thoughts, they're appreciated

**********

Now there's an image that goes with this part:

http://www.sofurry.com/page/267483/user

Enjoy!

**********

EDIT: I've changed the extreme to adult because I think the rating is hurting my hit count. If things truely do get extreme I'll make sure the chapters that are so get the proper rating.

*****

Julie had been in the bathroom for over an hour. Roger began to grow worried. He stood at the door for a moment and listened, all he heard was the shower. The spray sounded hard, she had it turned all the way up. He called to her.

"Julie, are you alright in there?"

Only the hiss of driving water answered him. He rapped on the door lightly.

"Julie?"

That time he heard something else, a stifled sob.

"Are you hurt, Julie?" A more open sound of weeping echoed in the bathroom. Roger tried the doorknob, it was locked.

"Julie, honey, I need you to talk to me, I need you to tell me you're okay." He could feel panic begin to clutch at his chest. Roger, you idiot! The panic chided. There's a whole fucking bottle of sleeping pills in there! There's drain cleaner under the sink! That stupid box cutter you keep in there for christsake! What the hell were you thinking? You knew she was going to be here!

Roger jiggled the doorknob, "Please open the door!"

He thrust his shoulder into the door. It gave much easier then he was expecting and he almost fell onto the bathroom floor. The bathroom was heavy with steam. Julie had not turned on the fan. Not only were the mirrors fogged up but condensation was dripping down the walls. Water soaked into Roger's socks because Julie had left the shower curtain open. The floor was sopping wet. Her black dress and panties were bunched up between the toilet and sink, soaking up what they could.

All that was only a minor concern to Roger. His niece was crouched in the corner of the shower, bawling uncontrollably under the torrent. The young ferret was hugging her naked body and shivering. Roger rushed to her side and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Julie, you're freezing!"

The shower had been running so long that the hot water tank was empty and now only ice cold water was coming out. Roger turned off the shower and grabbed a towel. He wrapped the towel around Julie and picked her up. For a moment she stopped crying, looked at him with her sorrowful eyes, and the realization of their situation hit him full force.

My God! Roger thought I'm all she has left!

Her lower lip trembled as she read the thought in his eyes. She threw her arms around him, buried her face in his neck and began to cry again. Her wet fur soaked through his good dress shirt almost instantly and the towel fell into the puddle on the floor. There was too much sorrow to feel awkward about the situation, Roger sat down on the toilet lid and held her close while she let it out.

Only hours before she had been at the funeral of her little brother who had died after ten days in intensive care. The week before she had attended the funeral of both of her parents who had died at the scene of the crash. Roger had watched her closely during both ceremonies wanting to comfort her but not knowing how. She had been aloof and distant. She cried some, but would speak to no one. Friends of the family who had been watching her during that time approached Roger. They told him that Julie had been terribly disruptive to their family, lashing out in anger and breaking things. They allowed her some leniency at first, but she had gotten worse. She had actually bitten one of their boys on the ear. They asked Roger if he could take her off their hands. He only agreed because he couldn't think of a tactful way to refuse.

It wasn't because Roger didn't love her, it's just that he had his own life to live. He lived a comfortable, solitary life with few distractions and little stress. He had never married because it required a degree of responsibility that he didn't feel he could live up to, plus he didn't know if he could share his life. Marriage also led to children, and he never thought he would make a great father. Now that he thought about it he wasn't exactly an ideal uncle either. He had visited her family occasionally, and bought her presents at appropriate times such as Christmas and her birthday.

Aw, shit! Her twelfth birthday is next week! What am I gonna do for that? What a fucked up year this has been! My sister, my nephew, my brother-in-law are all dead! My sister didn't have the decency to make a will, since her husband left everything to her in his will we had no clue what their wishes were if both of them happened to pass. Mom and I had to make all the arrangements, mostly me because her Alzheimer's is getting worse. Since Dad died she's been pretty useless in any serious matters even when she's lucid anyway. Shit, she called me two days ago to ask me where he went again. I hate having to tell her that he's been gone for almost six months, it's like he died all over again.

And now I gotta figure out what a twelve year old wants for her birthday.

Roger was starting to get uncomfortable. Not only was his shirt wet, but now so were his pants. The toilet wasn't exactly the best seat in the house either. She must have thought he was going to set her down when he stood up because she clutched tighter around his neck and locked her legs around his midsection.

"Don't let me go!" She sobbed, "Just...hold me." They were the first words she had spoken to him since the accident. When he had told her that she would be staying with him for a while she only nodded slightly with her hands in her lap, as if barely comprehending his words. She stared out the window on the drive home and didn't seem to be listening to him every time he tried to strike up a conversation. The drive was quiet and awkward. There was a faint smell in the car that he couldn't place. It was an odorless smell, which didn't make sense. He was sure it wasn't there before and it was aggravating him. When they arrived at his home she immediately went into the bathroom for a shower without saying a word.

She was still shivering. He wasn't sure if it was from being cold or from her emotional state. Probably both.

Birthdays are a worry for another day.

"I am honey." He assured her, "We're just going to find a blanket."

He carried her out of the bathroom and through the hallway to the living room. He happened to catch a glance at himself in the mirror. A thirty-five year old ferret with a wet, naked, pre-teen wrapped around him. He hoped he remembered to close the shades on the big picture window in the living room. The last thing he needed was the nosy neighbors to see this. Though it was late, maybe they were in bed.

The shades were drawn to his relief. The thick, afghan draped on the back of the couch was his warmest and favorite. He had curled up under it on many cold nights to watch television. It was a gift from his grandmother when he was young, a gift he didn't truly appreciate until many years later. He sat down on the couch and wrapped the afghan around them both.

"Your great-grandma crocheted this for me when I was your age," He explained, "She told me whenever I needed a hug from her to wrap this around me, I've used it a lot but I think there's still a few hugs left in it."

Julie curled up on his lap in a more comfortable position, her head resting on Roger's chest. She was beginning to calm down. The young ferret examined the throw, pawing at the intricate weave and bright colors.

"It's pretty." She sniffled.

"It's yours if you want it, I think she would have liked you to have it."

She bunched up some of it and buried her face in it's softness. "Thank you." She rested her head back on his chest, "Uncle Roger?"

"Hmm?"

She didn't speak for a moment, then she asked, "How did she die?"

Roger grimaced to himself. W_hy would she ask about that now?_

"Well, um... she got lung cancer and the doctors didn't catch it early enough. It spread through the rest of her body."

"Did she smoke?"

"No, no she never smoked. Sometimes it just happens for no reason."

"Did you love her?"

He smiled, "Very much, I still do."

She looked up at him, her bloodshot eyes filling up with another mournful outburst, "Why don't you love me?"

He felt like he had just been kicked in the gut. "Baby, why would you think I don't love you?"

The waterworks started up again, but she managed to talk though it, "I o...overheard Mrs. Johnson, sh...she said that Grandma was too sick to take c...care of me, an...and y...you didn't care about anyone bu...but yourself. I di...didn't believe it, bu..but I thought ab..about it. An...and you never took me to the z...zoo, or the mo...movies, or the m...mall, or fi..fishing..."

Roger clutch her tightly to his chest, he was starting to weep as well, "No, honey, please don't-" But Julie continued.

"An...and you said I wu...would be st...staying with you for a while, lu...like you didn't want me he...here."

_Oh, God. She was listening to me. I'm such a fucking idiot! _

"Mrs. Jo...hnson said I would have t...to go to a fu...foster home an...and I would nu...never see you or grandma or mu...my friends again!"

"Julie, baby, listen to me." Roger insisted, but the girl had begun to wail, clutching onto his shirt in a ferocious grip. When he pulled her away his shirt ripped, and she started to claw at him in hysterics, the afghan falling from her shoulders. He managed to snag her wrists before she could do any serious damage.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" She started to scream. Something in the back of his mind took note that the smell that was in the car had returned. A thick, but unremarkable smell. If there hadn't been a shrieking, flailing girl on his lap he might have noticed that he had an erection.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" she continued at the top of her lungs. If she kept it up she would wake the neighbors who would waste no time in contacting the authorities. He might be able to explain this situation away, but he doubted it. He quieted her with the first idea that came to mind.

He grabbed her by the face and kissed her.

It wasn't a quick kiss either, it was a lovers kiss. It surprised her so much that she bit his lip, but he didn't let up. It was unlikely that she had ever been kissed is such a manner and the shock silenced her protests almost immediately. She pushed at him weakly for a moment, but even that subsided quickly. He pulled away and opened his eyes. She was looking at him with wide, dumbstruck eyes. Forgotten tears brimming under the lids. A smear of his blood on her lower lip and chin.

"I'm sorry I had to do that, but I need you to listen to me now." He explained, still cradling her face, "Are you going to listen?"

She shook her head quickly, the daze from the kiss starting to fade.

"I love you very much, but you're right, I haven't shown it very well. That changes right now. You are now the most important thing in my life, and you will be for the rest of my life. I swear to you I will never forget to show you how much I love you. We'll go fishing and watch movies and even go to those boy-band concerts. Tomorrow we're going to make up a bedroom for you any way you want it, because you are going to be staying with me from now on."

WHAT THE FUCK AM I SAYING?

Julie pouted for a moment, then she held up the smallest digit on her right paw, "Pinkie swear?"

Roger hooked his pinkie onto her's, "Pinkie swear." He confirmed, "You can stay with me until you're fifty if you want."

She cried out happily and threw her arms around his neck, "I love you Uncle Roger!"

"I love you too." He said, rubbing her back, "But..."

She stiffened in anxiety at the last word.

"As soon as you turn fifty-one I'm kicking you out."

She pulled back and looked at Roger crossways. The wry smirk on his face gave the joke away. It was a stupid joke, but to her own surprise she started to laugh. Roger started to laugh as well and it made her laugh even harder. They clutch each other in mirth for a few minutes, finally they both settled down, sighing almost at the same time. She looked up at him and smiled wearily, her eyelids starting to get heavy. "I didn't know if I would ever laugh again." She told him. Then she pulled the afghan over herself and snuggled into his lap to fall asleep.

He looked down at her for a moment, she didn't look anything like the little monster that was trying to claw his eyes out a short while ago.

Maybe I can do this. Maybe it doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Roger started to snooze as well, but something kept waking him up. It was that heavy, odorless, scent again. It was familiar, but he couldn't place it. He looked down at Julie's upturned, sleeping face. Was it coming from her? He brushed a strand of the longer fur from the top of her head away from her face. He happened to spy something unusual on her ear. A mark, it looked like a small bruise.

I've seen that before somewhere, and that smell...

A sudden realization dawned on him. The horror of it grew with each passing second.

No fucking way! She's not even twelve yet!

There was no comfort in that fact. He was well aware that it happened to girls as young as nine on occasion. There was only one way to confirm his fears, he had to look.

As carefully as he could he pulled the afghan off of her. She was curled up against him with her knees in her chest and her tail tucked between her thighs. That wasn't good. It was a common position for a girl with the condition he feared to sleep in. Helps alleviate the discomfort. He gently spread her knees apart, trying not to wake her. She stirred a little, but didn't open her eyes. Finally, he managed to move aside her tail.

SHIT!

Somehow his trembling paws managed to put her back into a dignified position and wrap her up in the afghan again without waking her. He kissed her forehead and pulled her closer to himself. She muttered something incomprehensible and opened her weary eyes.

"Waz the matter?" She asked him.

Roger smiled at her, "Nothing, honey, go back to sleep. We'll talk in the morning."

She gave a small grunt in agreement and quickly dozed back off. Roger didn't think he'd be able to sleep at all. Not now that he knew the precious little creature in his arms was slowly dying.