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The doorbell rang. Venn set down the basket of laundry he was taking to the loft at the foot of the stairs, looked at the time, and headed for the door. He had to pick up his sister and Gareth at the airport in a few minutes, so whoever it was at the door had better not expect to stay long.

Opening the door he paused in shock to see Tara and Gareth both standing there smiling at him holding their luggage. "Wha--?"

_"Surprise!"_Tara dropped the handle of her suitcase and threw her arms around her flabbergasted little brother. "We rented a car. You know how much I hate those little hatchbacks you're so fond of." She kissed his cheek lightly then let him go to pick up her bag and push past him into the house. "You haven't changed a thing I see..."

Gareth was a little less dramatic with his greeting, holding his hand out to the younger stallion for a moment before Venn, who finally managed to gather his wits about him, grabbed his hand and pulled him into a full hug. "Its good to see you too, Vince." The older lizard chuckled as he wrapped his arms around his brother in law. "Better get in there, or she'll give you the white glove test, and you know you never can meet her idea of cleanliness."

Finally able to speak again, Venn grinned. "Oh, I think, this time, you might be surprised. I hired a maid service to come in and clean the place from top to bottom." With his arm companionably about the older male's waist, Venn took one of the suitcases and walked into the house with him. "Why do you need so many suitcases? You're only staying a week, right?" There was a slightly panicked sound to his voice as he realized that they were all carrying fairly large pieces of luggage.

Gareth chuckled but it was Tara, as usual, who answered. "Yes, we're only staying a week. Don't get your panties in a bunch. We just needed the extra space." As per usual, she changed the subject almost immediately. "Who did your cleaning for you? You never get it this spotless." She ran her fingers over the sides and top of the television as she spoke, examining the lack of dusty residue with a pleased smile.

"What makes you think I had someone else do the cleaning?" For just a moment, Venn considered telling her he'd done it himself, but he knew better than to lie to Tara; she always found out the truth somehow. "It's a local service; they spent three days going over every inch of the house to make sure it was ready for your visit. I was just about to put clean sheets on the bed in the loft for you." He indicated the basket at the bottom of the stairs with a wave of his hand.

"No," was the unexpected reply from Gareth. Both Tara and Venn looked at him in confusion for a moment. He cleared his throat and added, "We are not going to kick you out of your own bed this time. You've shown you're a full grown man, and you don't need to be giving up your bed when you have a perfectly serviceable one down here that you aren't using." It wasn't often that Gareth put his paw down, but when he did, the O'Brien siblings listened.

"If you say so, Gareth."

Though Tara, as usual, had to have the last word. "It'll be nice to have some privacy for a change, not having to worry about curious little brothers opening the door to listen to what we're doing..." She couldn't seem to keep herself from teasing him about that _one time_when he was fourteen and curious.

Venn chose the path of valor and ignored the jibe. "Well, I was expecting to go get you, so dinner will be a while. I already put clean sheets on the bed down here so you can just go in and unpack, if you feel like it, or hang out here while I work on cooking." Gareth collected two of the three suitcases and headed for the guestroom door, leaving Tara to make her own mind up what she intended to do.

The mare looked after her mate for a few moments, then turned to Venn. "He gets some of the oddest notions in his head these days." She walked over and pulled out one of the stools that stood on the open side of the kitchen counter, while Venn went to the kitchen side and began pulling things from the refrigerator. Usually, he made do with take-away or things that were easily prepared from packaged foods, but aware of his sister and her husband's tastes, he'd stocked up on fresh fruits and vegetables as well as natural grains and pastas.

Knowing they'd be tired from their flight, he chose something light but flavourful: A tabouli salad with baby spinach and cherry tomatoes, and a selection of bite sized pieces of fresh fruit to go with it. Tara watched him in silence until Gareth came back for the third suitcase. Once he was back in the guest room, she leaned over the counter and whispered, "Alright, who is he?"

Venn nearly cut his finger before he managed to regain his composure. "Who is who?" He tried for nonchalance but feared he was falling short of the mark. She knew him so well. But what would she think of him seeing a prostitute?

Tara snorted derisively, "Don't make me beat it out of you, little brother! I haven't seen you this... content since Adam..." She trailed off into silence before she finished her sentence.

For a few moments, Venn couldn't breathe. The memory surfaced, and he pushed it forcefully away. He would not give into the pain today! It had been four years. Yes, he could talk about it. He _would_talk about it. He would not break down! He had Rocket now. He had the kits on the swim team. He had a star swimmer in Kris. He had Rocket and Kris... he would not break down. Finally, air filled his lungs, and he was able to set the knife down on the counter with trembling fingers.

Tara, who had watched while all these thoughts rolled through him, reached out and touched his forepaw softly. "I'm sorry; I didn't think..."

"No, it's all right. I'm all right." He managed a weak smile for her. "It just caught me off guard is all." He went to the fridge and got a bottle of water, which he drank down without pausing for breath. By then, the shaking had stopped, and he felt a little more stable on his hooves. "Would you like a drink, Tara?" At her nod, he pulled out another two bottles of water and handed one to her as he returned to the counter.

They both sipped their water in silence for a few moments before he picked up the knife and went back to preparing dinner. Hesitantly, she asked, "Is there anything I can do?"

Which he choose to take as an offer to help with dinner. "No, I think I have everything under control. The tabouli is steeping in boiling water, the vegetables are all ready, and I'm just cutting up the fruit to go with them." The tone of his voice begged her to stay away from the previous topic, which she did, bless her heart.

"At least you haven't forgotten everything I taught you." The light bantering tone in her voice helped him settle his mind, once more letting him get back to being happy they were here.

About that time, Gareth came back from the bedroom holding a black t-shirt in his hands. "I found this in one of the drawers." He unfolded it and displayed "Depeche Mode World Violation" across the front in a cursive scrawl, and "Local Violators" across the back in the same font, a shirt that Venn obviously hadn't worn since he was a colt, judging from the size.

Tara laughed at the stricken look on Venn's face. "Good lord, I thought I'd cleared all that stuff out of there. Just stick it back where you found it; I'll deal with it later." He looked pointedly at his older sister. "And you stop laughing. What, you don't have any memorabilia from when you were a filly lying about your place?"

Gareth arched a brow at that and smiled wickedly, "Oh I wouldn't say that; there is a box in the attic that has several rather embarrassing photos and some interesting bits of clo--" He broke off when Tara punched him in the shoulder. "OWWW!" But the grin stayed on his face.

"Hush, you!" was his wife's comment before she turned to her younger brother once more and pointedly changed the topic. "Dinner almost ready?"

The evening settled into friendly bantering and teasing, but the topic of Venn's love life was left unexplored for the time being.

* * * * *

"Kris, get your head down! What's going on with you today? You haven't been this distracted since the summer!" Venn, pacing down the length of the pool with the raccoon, yelling at him to be heard through the water, did not see Tara and Gareth enter the pool and find spots on the lower tear of the stands. "Marcus, you are slow as molasses, move your furry tail before I get in there and kick it!"

It was Thursday, and the kits were all acting like they'd never seen a pool before, let alone become one of the best teams in the region. "Audio!" Venn threw his hands up in disgust; the kit had let his tail fur grow out into the typical fox brush again and was letting it drag behind him like a dead weight in the water, slowing him down. "We've talked about your tail! Get it moving, or get out of the pool!" The boy's vanity was going to be the death of him.

Unable to stand the ineptitude of his swimmers any more, Venn blew his whistle. "Get out! Everyone, out of the pool!" The boys scrambled toward the edges nearest them and hauled their young athletic selves out of the pool, shaking water everywhere as they came to cluster around him. "I don't know what's gotten into you all, but this is useless. The only one of you who even has his head in the water is Dastinon. Hit the showers, and we'll see if you can't do better tomorrow morning!" He pointed toward the locker room door and stepped out of the way as his waterlogged students headed that direction. "Kris, I'd like to speak to you. Dastinon, good job today."

The otter boy patted Kris on the back as he passed him, which made Venn want to bare his teeth, but he kept himself under control. When all the rest of the boys were out of the pool enclosure, Kris looked up at him. "What's up, Coach?"

The horse slipped an forepaw onto his shoulders and sighed. "What's wrong, Kris? I've never seen you so distracted before." He tried to maintain eye contact but the boy dropped his eyes and shifted nervously.

"Nothing... not really anyway." Kris mumbled.

He was displaying all the signs of being distressed about something, and without thinking about what he was doing, Venn pulled the raccoon into a hug. "Kris, you know you can talk to me about anything, right? No matter how small or silly you think it is." Even with the chlorine from the pool in his hair, the boy smelled wonderful to Venn, and he rested his cheek on the mop of dark gray curls.

He felt the boy's arms slide around his waist, and the pressure of his softly furred cheek resting on his bare shoulder, those stiff little whiskers of his tickling the horse's much shorter fur. "I'm sorry, Coach. It's just that, yesterday, I met with the counselor and he wanted to know who was involved in the gym incident last year. I... I told him about you and Mr. Mitsuda." He hastened to add, "But I didn't tell him you kissed each other!" As if that was the part that might get him and the rabbit in trouble.

Venn put both hands on the boy's shoulders and pushed him away making him meet his eyes. "Kris, if that's all that's worrying you, don't let it. Mr. Mitsuda and I are both adults and able to stand up for ourselves. If the new counselor wants to talk to us about the situation, then we'll talk to him and tell him that we went to make sure one of our student's wasn't in danger. It's as simple as that. We both made reports to the school about the incident and have your mother to back us up, as well as the Foxworthys. Don't worry about that; just get your head back in the water. All right?" He watched those chocolate colored eyes until the boy nodded, accepting the older male's word that he and Kasador would be all right.

Again without thinking, he pressed a soft kiss to the boy's forehead and hugged him tight for another few moments. "All right, off to the showers with you." He turned the boy and gave him a gentle shove toward the locker room door, watching him go before he headed toward his office.

He didn't notice Tara standing abruptly and walking out, a bemused Gareth a few steps behind her.

* * * * *

When Venn got home Thursday evening, he was surprised to see three suitcases packed and waiting beside the front door. "Tara? Gareth? What's going on? I thought you were staying a week?"

The two of them, sitting on the couch, looked at him silently for a moment before Gareth spoke. "Tara wants to meet your new boyfriend. She's convinced that you won't want her to meet him, and if you don't, she's determined to leave tonight." He sounded exasperated, like he had been arguing the point with her all day.

"Ah... All right. Give me a few to see if he's free this evening." He stepped outside and pulled out his phone. When Jerome answered he started as usual. "It's Coach. Is Rocket free this evening?"

The old badger chuckled, "I wondered when you'd be calling for him. Yes, he's free for you this evening. The blue room, as usual?"

Venn got a sudden mental image of what his sister would think if he took her and Gareth to the blue room to meet Rocket and blanched. "Ah... no. Actually I was wondering if he'd make a house call."

The badger was silent for a moment before he cleared his throat and said, "Can you afford that kind of appointment? It's more than twice what your usual costs."

Venn nodded without a hint of discomfort at the sum, which would house a family of four for a month. "No problem, as long as he'll make a house call for me."

Jerome sniffed once then added, "He'll have to bring a bouncer with him. It's policy when one of the dancers makes a house call."

Venn considered that for a moment then nodded to himself. "Can you have the bouncer dress like a limo driver? It will be easier to explain."

"If there are going to be other's involved, there'll be an extra fee, and I have to pass it by Rocket first; he has the right to say no." Jerome sounded rather stern, or perhaps disappointed.

"Oh no! No, no, this is just a dinner and possibly a movie with my sister and her husband. They... wanted to meet my boyfriend." Venn uttered a sickly chuckle at the thought of Tara and Gareth getting it on with him and Rocket. "No, there won't be any sex tonight."

Jerome was silent for a few moments before he said, "Let me get this straight... you want to pay Rocket more than twice his usual fee, just to have dinner with you and your guests?" At Venn's affirmation, he muttered something under his breath before clearly stating, "Give me the address. He'll be there in a half hour. Any specifics on what you want him to wear?" They hammered out the details, then hung up. For a moment, Venn felt a little queasy, but it passed when he considered taking Tara and Gareth to In the Raw.

Taking a deep breath Venn walked back into his house. Tara was in the kitchen working on putting something together for dinner. "We're feeding five; he's bringing his driver. He has to be on stage at 10:30, so it's just easier to have his driver along so he can change in the back of the limo."

Tara arched a brow at him and snidely commented, "Are you sure his parents will let him come over on a school night?" The comment floored Venn he stood there with his mouth open, staring at her for a long few moments. "Don't give me that look! I saw you with that child this morning. I can't believe you would do that to some innocent kid. Especially after what Father did to me!" She looked away from him and continued to precisely chop the vegetables for dinner. Venn looked over at Gareth, who had wisely chosen to set the table instead of getting involved with the coming storm.

"W-what are you talking about? What child?" Venn looked from his sister to her husband and back again, clearly at a loss as to what Tara was talking about.

Tara snorted, "The boy on your swim team. You were all over him! Have you no shame at all?" She set the knife she was using down a little harder than was needed and spun on her heel to open the refrigerator.

"Boy? Swim team?" Venn frowned then blinked in shock. "Kris? You were there this morning and saw me talking with Kris?" He couldn't keep his jaw from dropping. "Tara, he's not my boy friend."

"No? Well it sure looked like you were being all touchy feelie with him from where we were sitting!" She crossed her arms under her matronly bust and stared at him as if she was trying to make him tell her the truth, when the truth was he didn't know how she had come to the conclusion she had.

"Kris... he's going through some really rough stuff with his family right now, and it's affecting his swimming, his class work, hell, his whole life is crashing down around him!" He took a slow breath and tried to calm his spinning mind enough to sort this out. "Do you remember last year when I told you that a bunch of guys and I helped pull a kit out of a bad situation?" He paused to see if she recalled that sketchy explanation about the bruises he'd had. At her nod he went on, "That was Kris. His Dad had him in the MMA practice ring at the local gym and was letting the boy be beaten by all comers. Regardless of skill level. Just because he got in a fight with another boy his age at school who was smaller than he was."

Gareth hissed in a disapproving breath and looked at Tara. "Sounds like a kit who needs a little extra coddling, don't you think?"

"It gets worse. His Dad seems to hate gay men, and it seems like Kris is gay, or at least bi. He's been struggling with his feelings about boys for the last year or so, and he doesn't have any kind of support at home since his mother is rather more distant than one could hope for." Venn's disgust with both the boy's parents was obvious in his voice and facial expression.

Tara slowly took a step forward and placed her hands on the counter, leaning against them. "You mean that what we saw was just you comforting a boy who doesn't have a stable home life? But Venn, you kissed him!" She seemed at least willing to hear him out even if she didn't like what she was hearing.

"No, I..." He paused and thought back over the events of the morning. "I guess I did, didn't I? Shit. Well I hope I didn't cross any lines with him. He really needs to feel safe with someone, since he doesn't when he's at home." He hung his head for a moment, then heaved a sigh since he couldn't change what had happened.

Tara frowned thoughtfully for a while, obviously thinking over what Venn had told her and how it fit into her perception of him. She looked at Gareth who shrugged slightly; his own council on the matter had been to ask Venn about it when it had first happened. "All right, I guess. But you really need to be careful around kits; you can't just hug them and stuff like that people will get the wrong idea."

Gareth muttered, "Case in point," but quietly enough that only Venn heard him.