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This is the story of two furs as they go through their lives together, a decade at a time. It's a project I've been working on for a while now, in my head and on paper, and I'm so glad to be posting it for the furry public to see at long last. I can't remember the last time I ever invested so much emotionally in a series.

I really hope that you'll give it a read, and follow these two in their life together from start to finish. Hopefully it'll reward you at least a fraction as much as writing it has rewarded me.

The characters of John and Samantha were created by me, Jeeves, and should not be used without permission.

Decades - '74'

Monitors beeping. The smell of sterile walls, faecal matter and urine. Patients weeping, screaming and rambling incoherently. This was the nightmare of a hospital which John and Samantha had always feared in their old age.

Thankfully for both of them, times had moved on since the early 20th century they'd read about in history class many, many decades ago. Indeed as John sat propped up in an exceptionally comfortable hospital bed, resting in a private room with his wife sat in an incredibly comfy armchair beside him, it was all that the raccoon could do not to invite his dear wife into bed with him for a nice long cuddle. They could lie together, and chat, and sleep. It would be like a vacation!

A vacation, except for one key point of difference.

There came a knock on the sliding glass door of this particular hospital room, and through that door a few seconds later walked a young nurse; a hybrid of some sort, coloured like a jaguar but with several decidedly canid characteristics about his person. He greeted Samantha warmly, smiling as the lemur looked up from her crossword and wished him a good afternoon, and then turned his gaze towards John, his eyes twinkling with mirth and yet his posture stiffening in an almost military fashion.

"Good day, Mr Douglas, sir."

John chuckled, shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

"For the tenth time, when I said I liked how polite you were during my first examination, I didn't mean you had to keep being so formal. Loosen up, live a little! Go smoke some weed, then come back and change my I.V. Call up my granddaughter, Bryony. I've caught her smoking that stuff in our old back yard enough times to know she can get you some."

The nurse smiled, winking at the raccoon.

"I think I'll pass on the joint, John. But thanks anyway. Now, how are you feeling today? And how pretty did you say this granddaughter of yours was?"

Samantha snorted with laughter from where she was sitting, and John grinned at the nurse.

"Don't you even think about it, Bob. Even if she wasn't dating someone already, her mothers would tear you apart before you got within fifty feet of their little princess. But, on the understanding that you know you don't stand a chance in hell...? She's twenty years old, currently working as an assistant chef in London, and the most radiant creature ever to be born onto this earth."

Grinning from ear to ear as he thought about the kind of woman the children of this lovely old couple might produce, a child whom, by the sounds of things, had been raised in a home with two female parents, the nurse stepped further into the room and began to examine the various pieces of medical apparatus around John's bed. The readings on his monitor were stable and strong, indicating a man in otherwise very good health for his age, and his chart indicated that the doctor's last visit had yielded no news, either good or bad. Nevertheless, the nurse still checked the output of John's catheter, lifting the bag to which the tube was connected and peering in at the small quantity of yellow, almost amber coloured fluid gathered there.

Turning his head to face the raccoon, who along with his wife was already looking with anticipation for some sort of update, Bob couldn't help but feel a little guilty for the news he brought as he shook his head.

"Still not much output, I'm afraid. Don't quote me on this, I'm not a doctor after all, but I know they sometimes give folks the run around on dates and estimates. Looking at this, you may be in here for a few more days... maybe even a week. I'm sorry."

John looked at his wife, who smiled encouragingly. He sighed, and turned back towards the nurse, clearly forcing a smile.

"A week? Ha! Screw that and my faulty bladder. Who needs to piss anyway!"

The raccoon jumped slightly as his wife lightly slapped him on the forearm, more of a tap really, not painful or forceful in the slightest. Samantha murmured a fond but stern reprimand to her husband, who looked sheepish almost instantly, and addressed the nurse with that same soft, polite and oh so peaceful manner which all the nurses had commented on over the past eight days which she had been here, sitting with her husband from first thing in the morning till last thing at night. They all found it hard to believe that this was the legendary Samantha Walsh, one of Britain's most respected food critics, former Michelin inspector and writer of countless cookbooks, guides and star of several series of hit TV shows all about where to find the best affordable food in the world. On screen and in her writing she was such a force of nature. Powerful, uncompromising and more than occasionally rather biting in her reviews to otherwise celebrated chefs. She certainly didn't seem anything like that person now, as she spoke to Bob with such apologetic warmth.

"I'm sorry for my husband, he can get awfully crude when he tries to be funny. Besides, he's only kidding. You've all been doing a wonderful job taking care of him, and we both really appreciate it."

The nurse smiled, shaking his head and raising his hands to indicate that no apology was necessary. Indeed it wasn't. He liked John, and he could tell that the raccoon was just acting out as a defence, to keep from showing that however comfortable he may have been, he didn't like being stuck in this hospital twenty-four seven. In fact, as John opened his own muzzle to add something to his wife's commentary he too looked rather openly apologetic, and with every word the nurse felt as though he understood the reasoning for the male's slight sorrow better and better.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, coz I really don't mind it here that much. I get to sit around all day talking with my dear Samantha, reading books and sleeping whenever I feel like it. Heck, it's close to a vacation. I just... I wish that I could go home with her at night, you know? I haven't slept alone this much since before I went to university, and me and Sam were both living with our parents."

Nodding in understanding, it took Bob a few moments to digest that sentence before he realised something that it implied. He frowned briefly, not sure whether it was okay for him to ask this as someone who'd chatted with them a fair bit, but who still didn't really know them and certainly wouldn't have if it wasn't for his professional involvement. He soon found himself without choice in the matter though, for his expression betrayed him and led to a curious query from Samantha.

"What's on your mind, Bob?"

Feeling his cheeks reddening slightly, as though he'd been caught leering at a woman's breasts, the hybrid male cleared his throat.

"Uh... nothing really. It's just something that John said. Forgive me for prying, but... were you guys together _before_university?"

The lemur and the raccoon looked at one another, smiling fondly, as though lost in a momentary flashback to those earliest days of their relationship. It was Samantha once again who answered on their behalf, nodding as she turned back to meet the nurse's curious gaze.

"Oh my, yes. John and I have been best friends since we were seven years old, and dating since we were fourteen. In October this year, we'll have been married for fifty years, and together as a couple for more than sixty."

Bob's eyes widened. He knew the ages of this couple, John from his chart, Samantha from having heard the lemur say that she was the same age as her husband during a previous conversation several days before, but only now did he know how much of those seventy four years had been spent in one another's company in one incarnation of affection or another. It was incredible to consider that these two furs had been in a relationship for sixty years, and rather daunting too. They had been together for more than twice the amount of time he'd been alive. Heck, they'd probably been sleeping together for about double the number of years which this twenty three year old nurse had been alive!

"Oh wow. Oh wow. And... after all that time, you're still happy together?"

It was only a moment after the question had left his muzzle that Bob realised, to his horror, just how inappropriate and completely personal a question that was to ask anyone , never mind two seventy four year olds sitting in a hospital room together!

To his abject relief though, not that this did much to assuage his guilt, John and Samantha seemed to take the question rather well. They looked at one another, and simultaneously reached out with one arm, holding hands and lacing their fingers together with practised ease.

"I live for this silly old man."

"I'd die for this gorgeous lady."

Slowly but surely Samantha rose from her comfy chair, folding her newspaper onto her lap with her free hand, and shuffled forward to the side of her husband's bed. She leaned over, resting her free hand on the bed's guard rail for support, and with Bob bashfully standing nearby the lemur kissed the raccoon gently upon the lips. It was a longer kiss than he was accustomed to seeing from furs of this age, and while she didn't use any tongue or anything even remotely lewd like that, it was clear that this was an immensely loving, joyous lip lock.

The lemur shuffled back to her seat, her cheeks flushed a little and a smile playing broadly across her face. Bob's eyes briefly flitted over to the heart monitor on the wall, and sure enough it had leapt up by about twenty beats per minute for the bedridden but still amorously active raccoon.

Clearly, the answer was yes. After all that time, they were still both very, _very_happy.

"That's great. Really, I'm glad for you guys. I just hope that when I meet the right girl, I'll be half as happy with her as you two are together."

Still red in the face as she settled back down into her chair and brought her crossword back onto her lap, Samantha kept on smiling while turning her gaze towards the nurse.

"Just so long as you're willing to put the work in, Bob. We didn't fall in love like this overnight, you know. We were friends for years before we started dating, and dating for years before we became intimate with one another. Then there was marriage, kids, work, arguments, accidents, nights full of tears and angry words, and many long, hard conversations trying to sort out things that just weren't working in all those aspects of our lives. If we weren't totally dedicated to one another, I dare say we'd just be another one of those statistics in the numbers that get divorced every year. We're both proud of the effort we put into the last five decades, and if you want that for yourself and your own lucky lady, you should make sure that in everything you do, you can be proud as well."

As the nurse stared, rather stunned by the clarity and again the completely candid attitude with which he was being addressed about the most personal details of these two furs lives, he couldn't help but find Samantha immensely attractive. Not in a sexual way, obviously, she was seventy four to his twenty three years after all, but the attitude, the confidence and the pure passion on display in the lemur's eyes and in every word to leave her muzzle was... absolutely intoxicating. He could see why she'd been something of an icon in her days on TV, and he could _definitely_see what attracted John to her, especially if that energetic, confident streak had always been there inside her.

It took a few more seconds before Bob slowly found his thoughts drifting back in the direction of reality, and it was round about that point he realised that no longer was he just looking at Samantha. She was looking at him, no longer smiling, but smirking, while the hybrid male's ears rang with some strangely familiar sounds. No. Not just sounds.

Words.

"...-re you okay, Bob?"

John could barely contain his laughter as the nurse's head slowly swivelled to face him, the male's cheeks burning crimson beneath his fur and his eyes widening in shock and shameful disbelief as he realised that he'd just been staring at another man's wife in front not only of the wife, but the husband too. Never mind that she was a seventy four year old visitor to one of his patients, he could get his ass kicked, not to mention sued, for that first part alone!

"I... uh... I'm... y-yeah..."

It took the nurse almost ten seconds of stammering, stuttering and trying to work out if there was any possible way to recover from his immense faux pas before he realised that neither of the furs resting before him were in any way vexed or even visibly annoyed in any way by his actions. In fact both John and Samantha seemed every bit as amused by what he'd done as they did by his reaction now. Finally though, and much to Bob's relief, John uttered a single sentence which totally put to rest any worries about lawsuits and angry, torch wielding mobs calling him a pervert who took advantage of the ill and the elderly.

"Kinda makes you fall in love with her when she says things like that, huh? Believe me, I can't remember the number of times she's reduced me to a grinning, goofy ball of fur and flesh just by telling someone about some little detail of our relationship, usually something I'd completely forgotten had even happened."

Feeling much better, but still blushing brightly as he nodded silently, Bob began to make his way back around John's bed and towards the door. He'd finished his check up ages ago, and in the wake of that rather awkward, bashful moment the hybrid male felt as though he might be able to put himself to better use elsewhere. Maybe he could go stick his head in a bucket of morphine. Then, at least, he wouldn't care about feeling so embarrassed.

"Yeah. Yeah, John, she's great. Actually, you're both great, and I really mean that. Now... I think I'm gonna head off to carry on my rounds before I do something even more stupid like calling your granddaughter a fine piece of tail or something."

Samantha and John's eyes widened slightly, their muzzles twitching upward with yet another pair of amused smirks. The nurse groaned under his breath.

"Oh god... see you tomorrow guys, if I haven't slipped into a coma from shame."

The raccoon and the lemur grinned at one another, then back at the nurse.

"Have a good day, Bob. I'll try to cook up a nice big bag full of urine for you tomorrow."

"See you soon, Bob, dear. Try not to think about me all day."

With another shameful groan as he heard Samantha address him playfully, then burst into a fit of squeaky, rather cute giggling, the nurse slipped out of the room leaving John and Samantha alone once more.

Still grinning broadly, the lemur turned to her husband once more.

"He's a good kid, isn't he?"

John nodded, shifting in his bed so that he could lie with his head propped up on the pillows, tilted to look at Samantha.

"Yeah, I think so. A little awkward and goofy, but hell, so was I."

Samantha beamed.

"And I love you for it to this day." The raccoon sighed a deep, contented sigh, and reached out towards his wife with an outstretched paw. She took it, squeezed, and they both sighed happily once again.

"So... should we call up Bryony and ask her to 'visit' tomorrow? Maybe around eleven? That's usually just before the nurses do their rounds, right?"

Chuckling at her husband's candour, saying so simply what they'd both been thinking ever since that nice young nurse playfully questioned them about their granddaughter, Samantha tilted her head from side to side in an uncertain, _weighing the options_sort of gesture.

"I don't know, John. I mean, they do seem so suited for one another, but... you told him she was seeing someone. Why would you do that, if you want to introduce them?"

John's eyes sparkled mischievously.

"Because that way, if he asks her out regardless of whether or not he has to fight for her, we'll know that he really likes her."

With her amber eyes gazing into those of her husband, Samantha snorted with mirth.

"You crafty old man..."

She squeezed his hand tightly in her own, beaming as John squeezed back fondly.

"And you love me for it, right?"

Samantha giggled, feeling her heart thumping and her stomach fluttering just as it had when they were a couple of silly little fourteen year olds sneaking smooches in their bedrooms when their parents weren't looking.

"Always, John. Always."

By Jeeves