Family Tails

A Story of a Mixed Family in the Genetic Age

---

Names of actual businesses, their products, etc, are the property of their respective owners.

Story and characters © 2013 Ronald J. Lebeck

---

Chapter 8

Early the next morning Ron woke up to find Lupina still snuggled next to him. While he was contemplating on how he was going to wake her up, he frowned as he realized there was something in his mouth that didn't belong there. It turned out to be a few strands of hair--wolf hair, to be precise.

"Hmm, I wonder what she'd think if I got her a de-shedding rake?" he thought with a little smirk. "At the very least, I'm going to have to start making my organic shampoo in larger quantities, especially when Rosie gets here. Speaking of which, I think she's going to make things...'interesting'...to say the least."

At that moment, Lupina started twitching--at first just a little, and then her hands and feet started moving, her eyes were rapidly shifting under her eyelids, and she started making little snuffles.

"Must be dreaming. Heh, I wonder what she's dreaming about," he thought to himself again as he watched her face.

When the dream was apparently over and she had quit twitching, the look of peaceful contentment came back over her face. Ron lightly brushed the side of her face, along her muzzle to her cheek and going up behind her left ear, with the back of his fingers on his right hand. A hint of a smile formed on her lips, and she moved a little, sliding her left hand up a little higher so that her fingers ended up on the side of his neck. Ron smiled and kissed the top of Lupina's head. Her eyes fluttered open and she slowly lifted her head, bringing her mouth up to his.

"Good morning, luv," he said quietly.

"Mmm...," she said as she stretched, and then worked her way on top of him. "You know, I think you're right, this bed of yours does make certain--activities--interesting."

"Think so?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Lupina replied with a sly grin.

"And just what kind of 'activities' are you thinking of, my dear?" Ron asked.

"Want me to show you?" Lupina asked, kissing him tenderly.

"Sure."

A while later, they both lay there panting.

"Now it's a good morning," Lupina said happily.

"Let's go get some coffee going," Ron suggested.

"Okay, you go ahead, I have to make a side trip first," she said with a slight embarrassed grin.

Ron chuckled and said, "Okay, I'll alert the press."

Lupina gave him a little smack on the shoulder, saying, "Oh, get moving!"

"I can see it now, 'This just in: wolf woman in restroom...see exclusive live "streaming" video!'" he said laughing.

"RON!!! That's...that's...ooo! Get going, or...or...MOVE IT!!!" she exclaimed.

I'm going, I'm going!" he said, sticking his tongue out at her with a smile.

He quickly got out of bed and stepped aside as Lupina hurriedly got up. Just as she stood up, he picked up the water bottle on the nightstand and shook it a little.

"Want some water?" he asked playfully.

"Aaaah! You're terrible!" she whined as she rushed off to the master bathroom.

"Thank you!" he said after she got in there.

"I heard that!" Lupina said through the closed door.

Ron chuckled to himself as he took his heavy, Turkish cotton robe off the wall hook and slipped it on. As he walked towards the kitchen, he said quietly to himself, "Can't say I didn't warn her that I have a twisted sense of humor."

It didn't take him long to get the coffee going, since he had the maker prepped the night before. All he had to do was pour the water in and turn on the warmer plate. While it was brewing, he got their coffee mugs and set them next to the pot. While he was waiting, he turned on the little flat screen TV to see if there was anything on the local morning news about the incident the night before. Lupina came into the kitchen just as the coffee finished brewing.

"Did everything come out okay?" he asked with a smirk.

Lupina leaned into him, putting her arms around his waist.

"I made it, no thanks to you, you goof!" she said with a grin.

Ron wrapped his arms around Lupina and hugged her for a while, and then kissed her on the neck just under her ear, causing her to giggle a little.

"You keep that up and we're not going to get anything done today," Lupina said.

"Now there's a thought...," he said mischievously.

Running a finger down the middle of his chest, she asked, "Is the coffee ready yet?"

"I believe so. Ready for some?" he asked.

Lupina nodded her head and he kissed her on the lips. While he was pouring the coffee into their mugs, something came on the early morning local news segment.

[News reporter's voice]

Yesterday evening, Reverend Barnabas Blackburn, the leader of the highly controversial Church of the Holy Universal Divinity, was hospitalized after he allegedly attacked two people in a local business. One of the two people involved in the incident was a female G.E.L.F., or genetically engineered life form, that had allegedly become a target of the church leader. Reverend Blackburn and his followers have been involved in several protests against the G.E.L.F.s, as well as several other minority groups, military personnel and their families, and others. Phone calls to the church's office and the pastor's home have not been immediately returned.

In a related story, an unknown hacker group knocked the website for the church offline early this morning, after a blog entry was posted during the night, condemning what they view as an attack on their leader.

In other local area news...

*click*

"Well, at least they didn't sensationalize it," Ron said, turning the little TV off.

"Great, everybody is going to know it was me. I'm the only G.E.L.F. here." Lupina said glumly.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. Everybody thinks he and his followers are nothing but a bunch of crackpots anyway. I think there's a petition to get them officially listed as a hate group," Ron said waving his hand in a dismissive gesture.

"Are the rest of his followers like he is?" Lupina asked.

Seeing the worry in her expression, Ron pulled her close and held her.

"There's an old Irish saying, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree", and most of the people in that so-called church are related to that guy, either by blood or by marriage. So, it's a possibility, I'd say. Like I said, though, most folks think they're loonies, and don't want anything to do with Blackburn or his family and followers," Ron explained.

"I hope they aren't all like that," Lupina whined quietly.

"'They'?" he asked with a gentle grin.

"You know, the hu...mans...," she looked up and covered her mouth with a hand when she realized what she was saying. Lupina looked as if she was beginning to panic.

Very softly, Ron said, "It's okay baby, no worries." After quietly holding her for a little while, he added, "I don't think of us as being a human and a G.E.L.F.--I see us simply as two people, male and female, in balance and harmony with each other."

Lupina looked up into his eyes, her ears were dropped, and she was wagging her tail. Her eyes were searching his for something, and he knew then it was "right". Ron whispered one short phrase directly into her ear, one little thing that could sum up all that he felt about her. He had thought long and hard on it, not daring to utter the words too soon, lest they be thought frivolous, or too late, and be considered an afterthought. He spoke the words that came straight from his heart.

"Lupina...I love you."

She pulled her head back, hardly daring to believe what she had just heard, but she saw the calm, tender look in his eyes. It was no boast, no jest, just a simple, yet powerful truth; it was a declaration of fact. I love you. Tears started to flow from Lupina's eyes, and Ron gently held her face in his hands and wiped them away with his thumbs. She reached up and touched the side of his face, her hand trembling, her lips quivering. His words pierced her heart like the proverbial Cupid's arrow, and she understood in that instant what she had been feeling, and knew the only words that she could possibly say. Lupina stretched up and whispered into his ear the simple truth that she felt in her own heart.

"Ron...I love you, too."

After breakfast they had their shower together, and they ended up laying on the bed for a while talking quietly.

"Ron...how...how would you feel about...possibly having...,"

"Little ones of our own?" he asked, finishing what she had started to ask.

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm not exactly a young man, but...sure. If we could, and do, I will love them every bit as much as I do you," he replied.

"We...we might have to return to The Center...to see if...it's possible or not," Lupina said hesitantly.

"Okay."

"You would do that?" she asked looking directly into his eyes.

"Absolutely. When do you want to go?" Ron asked sincerely.

"Well, um...I will be coming into heat in February, and I hope you'll be able to put up with me then!" she said.

"So...when should we go down there to get tested? Ron asked.

"Um, I can call and find out," Lupina replied.

"Okay, when you find out, let me know and we'll make the arrangements," he said with a smile.

"Just like that?" she asked, not quite believing it.

"Yep, just like that, luv," he replied.

Lupina laid her head on Ron's chest and let out a slow, contented sigh.

Late in the morning, Lupina's phone went off. The ringtone was the one she had assigned to Rosie's phone number. When Lupina answered, Rosie was ecstatic over the boxes of goodies that were delivered to her little studio apartment. There were cans of soup, chicken, tuna, and beef, fresh veggies, and fruit, and quite a few other things, including a gallon jug of shampoo, kitchen items, laundry detergent, and other necessities. And on top of it all, was a one pound box of California raisins. She had enough food to get by on for at least two weeks, and there was a reloadable debit card with money already on it. When Rosie started to calm down a little that was when Lupina told her the latest news about her and Ron.

[Lupina] "You're not going to believe this, but this morning Ron told me that he loves me!"

[Rosie] "*Gasp!* No way! For real?"

[Lupina] "Yeah! He whispered it in my ear, and...I just knew it was right! It sent shivers through me! And...I told him that I love him too!"

[Rosie] "Geez, girl, give you a few days with a guy, and you're all ready to have puppies, or whatever!"

[Lupina] "*cough* Um...actually...we..."

[Rosie] "Oh, don't tell me you're pregnant already!"

[Lupina] "No, no, no! Of course not! Heh, we're going to try, though!"

[Rosie] "How do you know if you can or not?"

[Lupina] "We're going to go back to...where we came from, and see if we can, but I have to call them first."

[Rosie] "You sure you wanna go back?"

[Lupina] "I don't really fancy it, no, but it's the only way to find out if he's got that special quirk in his DNA that Dr. Nemeth talked about. You remember that?"

[Rosie] "Um...oh, yeah. She said that if a human had that, they would be compatible with all of us G.E.L.F.s--you, me, Holly, and even Maxine! Ha! He's gonna be a very busy guy!"

[Lupina] "Rosie! You just remember whose mate he is!"

[Rosie] "Aw, Lu, I'm just teasin' ya! Well, except for me. Ha-ha-ha! Seriously, he seems like a really good guy, and geez, Lu...I hope you can have little ones. I want some too, if I can ever find anyone who wants to be with a skunk gal...and is compatible to boot."

[Lupina] "Oh, I know, Rosie. The first thing we need to do is to get you up here and situated, and then we can work on finding you somebody."

[Rosie] "Lu?"

[Lupina] "Yeah?"

[Rosie] "Tell me everything's gonna work out."

[Lupina] "Oh, Rosie! They will, sweetie, they will!"

[Rosie] "Okay. Um, I'm gonna get off of here so that I can get all of this stuff put away. Would you please tell your guy I said thank you for all of this? I still don't believe he actually sent all of this to me!"

[Lupina] "I'll tell him, don't worry. Don't eat that whole box of raisins at once!" (snickers)

[Rosie] "Ha, I'll try not to! Okay, talk to you later! Nuzzles and snuggles!"

[Lupina] "Okay, be safe! You, too!"

*Click*

Lupina looked at her phone after she ended the call and sighed. She knew that despite all of Rosie's joking and playing around, she was trying to keep a brave face. And she was right on one thing, it was going to be hard for her to find somebody. She knew that some people had the little four-footed skunks as pets where they were allowed to, but being in the kind of relationship that she and Ron had, was something most humans wouldn't be ready for. Lupina was lucky in more than one way to be with Ron. "If he can accept me as I am, why can't another human accept somebody like Rosie? Don't they understand that we're smart and have feelings, too, and we can be loving mates just like human women?" she thought to herself.

Lupina was surprised by something brushing against her fur, which caused her to jump.

"Gah!" she exclaimed.

"Just me, baby," Ron said from behind her.

She turned around on the couch so that she could see him.

"How come I never know you're sneaking up on me, but you always know when I try to sneak up on you?" she asked with more than just a little bit of exasperation. "My senses are supposed to be better than yours!"

Ron sat on the back of the couch and grinned.

"Maybe it's because you're not paying attention," he said with a little shrug.

"I never had any trouble at The Center knowing when somebody was trying to sneak up on me," she pouted.

He leaned towards her and quietly said, "Maybe it's just because I'm special."

"Well, I know you're special to me, but...how special are you?" she asked coyly.

"Do you want a sandwich?" he asked with a grin.

"Don't change the subject! Come one, how special are you?"

"Special enough to have made a couple of turkey sandwiches for us and a bowl of soup," he replied still grinning.

"That's nice, but...," she started to say, but then Ron easily hopped over the couch and plopped down beside her. She looked at him in wonder.

He put his arm around her shoulders and said, "Hi!"

"Ron! You could hurt yourself doing that!" Lupina exclaimed.

"Heh, not likely. I'm in better shape than most folks half my age," he said with a grin.

"Um, well, I know you have rather strong legs...," she said with a sly grin.

"Yep. The other day when I picked you up at the cabin...I could have ran carrying you up to the road and back with no trouble," he said.

"No way!" Lupina exclaimed, not believing it.

"Wanna see me do it?" Ron said with a devious look.

"You are not going to fling me over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes and run anywhere!" she said firmly.

"Well then, our soup is going to get cold, so unless you want me to haul your tail into the kitchen...," he said, his grin broadening.

Lupina's eyes opened wider and she got a shocked look on her face. "Don't you dare!"

In one smooth motion, Ron stood up, and held his hand out to her. "Come on, let's go eat."

After lunch they took some time to do some chores around the house--dusting, laundry, vacuuming the rugs, and bringing in more wood. When all of that was done, Ron told Lupina to get her coat because he wanted to show her something. They set out walking in a westerly direction, and after they had gone about one hundred fifty meters, they came upon a small, narrow pond on the side of the hill that is fed by a creek. There was a rock about the size of a refrigerator on its side sticking up out of the ground, and Ron sat down on it, patting a spot on it next to him for Lupina to join him. It was gorgeous location, the air was nearly calm here, and only the slightest of breezes stirred the air. The scent of the forest was thick and heady.

"This is my favorite spot out of all of this," Ron said, waving his hand to indicate the sizable parcel of property. "This is where I met Atka and his pack the other night."

"It's beautiful," Lupina said quietly as she looked around in wide-eyed wonder.

"Yeah. I figure that, when the time comes, I want to be buried right over there," he said, pointing at a spot near a large, old spruce tree.

Lupina had not given that particular subject much thought, given that she was still relatively young.

"Oh, Ron...don't think about that yet! You still have a lot of years left!" she said with a concerned look on her face.

"Heh, well, that may be a possibility," he said with a little chuckle.

"Do the people in your family tend to live longer than some?" she asked.

"I have no idea," he replied quietly.

She got a perplexed look and asked, "You're not trying to avoid my question again, are you?"

Ron shook his head slowly and said, "No. I really don't know. I was taken from my biological mother at birth and was a ward of the state until I was finally adopted. I never got to meet anyone from by birth family. Unfortunately, the state of Iowa is one of the most bass-ackwards states in that regard--they absolutely refuse to allow people to know anything about it. Many other states have registries set up now where a person can let it be known that they're interested in getting in contact with their biological families, and if the family is also interested, they can eventually make contact. But not Iowa. So, unless something drastic changes, I'll never be able to find out. Even if I could, I wouldn't expect anything from any of them, it would just be nice to know who they are, and they could know a little something about me."

"I guess we're both sort of in the same situation, then--I don't have a family, period, and you never got to know your real one," Lupina said, sniffling just a little.

Holding her hand, Ron said, "Yeah."

"Can I ask you a question?"

He chuckled and said, "You just did...but, go ahead."

Lupina stuck her tongue out at him with a little smirk for being a smart-ass.

"What did you do when you were in the military?" she asked.

He looked off into the distance for a few moments before asking, "Lupina, do you trust me?"

"Yes, of course I do! What does that have to...," she started to ask before he gently put a finger to her lips.

"Then trust me on this, baby. It is in the best interest of both of us if you don't go asking about that. It's something that I just can't talk about," he said quietly.

"Can't...or won't?" she asked.

"Both. I can't talk about it because it's classified, and I won't talk about it because I swore an oath not to, and I take that very seriously. All I can tell you is what branch I was in and when, what my rank was, and that's about it. And don't go asking Rob, either, because he and I served together, and he can't tell you either, for the same reasons," he explained.

"Does...whatever you did then...have anything to do with what you did to that Blackburn guy?" she asked hesitantly.

With a straight face, and very calm, even voice, Ron said, "Yes."

"C-Could...you have...," she started to say, afraid of what the answer might be.

"Easily," he replied in the same manner, knowing what she was trying to ask. After a brief pause, Ron added with a look of deep care, "I meant what I said last night, and I want you to understand that, Lupina. I will never raise my hand against you, not for any reason." He got up and knelt down in front of her.

Taking her right hand in his left and holding it to his chest over his heart, he placed his right hand over hers and said, "Lupina, before all of Nature, I swear to you that I will love you, respect you, and protect you for all my remaining days in this life. No harm will I ever inflict upon you, though I will stand without hesitation in harm's way if I can give you even the smallest chance to draw another breath. And if we should be graced with little one's of our own some day, I will do the same for them and their little ones, for as long as I remain in this life. When our days are done, my love, we will take The Journey together."

The gentle strength of his words caused tears to flow from Lupina's eyes. She threw her arms around his neck and cried. All around them, as they held each other, the forest grew very still; not a leaf was disturbed. There were many eyes gazing upon them at that moment, as the various animals who called the place home, stood still and watched. Even the trees themselves stopped their quiet whispering. The oath was powerful, binding, and sworn with tremendous love and absolute honesty, a rare and priceless gift the world seldom sees in these times.

* * * * *

Many years from now, this site will be held as a very special place, where family and loved ones, lovers young and old, artists and poets, human and G.E.L.F. alike, would come and sit for a little while in "The Place."

* * * * *

When they returned to the house, Lupina called a special unpublished phone number and entered a long code. After several clicks, her phone was rerouted through two different connections, each requiring a security code. Eventually her call made it to an operator, and Lupina identified herself, and asked to speak to Dr. Darcy Nemeth.

*Click*

[Dr. Nemeth] "GDS*[1]* Lab, Nemeth speaking."

[Lupina] "Hi Dr. Nemeth, this is Lupina. How are you doing this evening?"

[Dr. Nemeth] "Lupina? This is a surprise! I'm fine. How are you?"

[Lupina] "Well, um, really good, actually. I...uh...I'm sorry to bother you, but I have a question about something that maybe you might know how to answer."

[Dr. Nemeth] "Okay. What's on your mind, dear?"

[Lupina] "Well...I met a guy, a human, and well, to keep it a little short, we've fallen in love with each other, and we've...mated...and I asked him if it was possible to, would he like to try and...have little ones. He said 'yes', and is willing to see if we can. He's not like other humans I've met...there's something a bit different about him that, well, he gets along with animals extremely well. There are some wild wolves that come right up to him, and they treat him as if he's one of their pack. He also has a wild porcupine that comes right up to him and they even touch noses! Um, oh, and he seems to have really good hearing and night-sight, too. Oh yeah, and he was in the military, too. I can't sneak up on him at all! He always knows somehow that I'm nearby, but he can sneak up on me! His name is Ron, and he's tall and older than me, and he remembers everything, word for word! He's got a friend up here named Rob, and they served together. He's got another friend named Mike in Florida who brought some stuff to Rosie to help her out, and he mentioned something about them being 'shipmates' or such."

[Dr. Nemeth] "Interesting. Has this man ever done anything you thought was unusual, besides the other you mentioned?"

[Lupina] "Um...yeah. Last night, while I was at the business he owns, a mean guy by the name of Reverend Blackburn, started shouting a bunch of hateful stuff at me just because of what I am. Ron ran up and got between me and that preacher guy and growled at him! When the preacher tried to attack me, he hit Ron in the face with something, and then Ron busted him up really fast. I didn't know humans could move so quickly!"

[Dr. Nemeth] "Wait, there was something about that on the news...that G.E.L.F. in the story, it was you?"

[Lupina] "Yes ma'am, it was me he was after."

[Dr. Nemeth] "Are you okay?"

[Lupina] "Yes ma'am, he never got the chance to touch me. Oh, and I asked Ron if there might ever be a chance that he...might get angry and maybe hit me."

[Dr. Nemeth] "What did he say?"

[Lupina] "He told me twice, once last night and again this afternoon, that he would never, ever harm me. In fact, he swore and oath on it...and he said it in such a way that I started crying, and it seemed like the whole woods got really quiet, and...well, it was just...really special."

[Dr. Nemeth] "Very interesting. Let me talk to some of my colleagues and I'll call you back tomorrow afternoon."

[Lupina] "Okay, thank you Dr. Nemeth! I really appreciate it!"

[Dr. Nemeth] "You be careful, young lady! Good night."

[Lupina] "I will. Good night to you, too. Bye!"

*Click*

[Female computer voice] "End secure communication."

*Click*

Lupina hung up her phone, got up from the kitchen table, and went up to the loft where Ron was sitting at his desk doing something on his computer.

"I called, and talked to one of the senior biologists. She's going to call me back tomorrow afternoon to let me know," Lupina said. "Doing something interesting?"

"Yeah, heh, I just launched a little campaign against those grocery stores that won't let Rosie come in and shop. They will be feeling the heat in a few days when the petitions start hitting them, and I got the media involved, too," he snickered deviously. "It won't be too long before every G.E.L.F. supporter will start boycotting those grocery chains and their parent companies."

"You did all that while I was on the phone?" she asked rather surprised.

"Yep," Ron looked up at her with a wicked grin on his face.

"Ooo...I'm glad you on our side!" Lupina said, giving Ron a hug.

"The only way to take on a corporation is to hit 'em where it counts. Go after their 'bottom line', and they'll take notice," he said.

"But won't they come after you for messing with them?" she asked.

"Hey, if they try, they'll think I'm in Tunisia...via a couple dozen proxy servers all over the world," he laughed.

"But can't they eventually get your IP address?" Lupina asked.

"Heh, won't do them any good," Ron smirked.

"Why not?"

"Because this ain't your ordinary satellite link...and best leave it at that," he said with a wink.

It was already past midnight when Rosie finally got into bed. The little studio apartment she had been living in was small, and old, and not in very good shape. No matter how well she tried to scrub things, it still looked dingy. She actually hated the place, and it made her depressed. It looked like one of those old tenement apartments you see on TV. As she quietly sat in her bed, munching on the box of raisins she got in the boxes of supplies delivered to her, she looked at the photos on her phone. When she got to the photo of Lupina, she stopped and looked at it for a few minutes, remembering when they took those pictures. "Happy times," Rosie muttered to herself, lightly touching the image on the screen. When she got to the last, and most recent picture, which was of Lupina's new mate, Rosie looked at it for a long time, having to push something just to get out of the screen saver. She ran the pad of her finger across the image, and then gently kissed it. "Thank you...for coming to my rescue, too," she whispered. After another several seconds, she whispered something else.

"Geez, I wish I could be your mate, too."

---

[1] GDS - G.E.L.F. DNA Sequencing