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 12

"Oh...no...," Rosie whispered.

Her eyes were wide with fright and her ears laying flat against her head, her upright tail twitching nervously. She knew that these were not tame animals, that they were still very much wild, and powerful predators. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Rosie vaguely remembered something that wolves typically won't come close to people--human people that is, but she isn't a human. Skunks can only use their spray a limited number of times, and it takes a few weeks for the chemicals to build back up again if depleted. It works great against one opponent at a time.

Pushing her back up against the doorframe, she looked at the wolf closest to her. It was eyeing her suspiciously. Rosie heard a sound to her left and her heart nearly leapt out of her chest--the white wolf came up onto the deck! Rosie now had two wolves, one on each side of her. She didn't think about the other two she'd seen earlier...until they came up the steps and circled around to the front of her, followed by two more! They stood in a semicircle around her, looking intently, sniffing. Rosie didn't know what to do.

"H-H-i g-g-guys...p-pl-please...d-d-don't...," she stuttered, holding her hands up in front of her defensively, still firmly holding the coffee mug.

The all white wolf was closest to Rosie, and she took a cautious step forward, staring intently, though holding her tail out, but not up. Three of the other wolves also took a step or two closer, following the lead of the white one. Rosie squeaked out an "O-o-oh...," just as her legs began to give out on her. She slowly slid down the door until she was sitting with her knees up, and she buried her face in her legs, covering her head with her arms.

"N-n-n-no...d-d-don't...eat...me...p-pl-please!" she wailed quietly.

Sesi cocked her head and looked at the black and white furred stranger, her nose working to catch a whiff of scent. Sesi could tell that the stranger was afraid, and didn't look like anything she'd seen before. Looking past the stranger to her mate Atka, who was on the other side of the deck, she silently communicated with him though facial expressions and body language. Atka turned his head and faced Kapik, and gave a little "whuf" before turning his head back to the stranger. Sensitive Kapik warily stepped toward the black and white furred stranger, eyeing carefully, sniffing. Closer and closer, Kapik made her way towards the stranger. Stretching her neck out, Kapik got her nose near the stranger's arm-leg, sniffing strongly.

"Other scent, Man-brother nice scent, man-brother mate nice scent, man-brother den scent," Kapik smelled on the stranger's fur. "Other, friend man-brother?" she wondered.

Cautiously, Kapik touched the stranger's arm-leg with her nose and quickly pulled her head back to see how the stranger reacted. Only a little flinch. Kapik took a little step closer, while her mother, father, older brother, and two younger siblings watched intently, ready to take whatever action might be necessary. Kapik nosed the stranger again, this time a little firmer using the top of her nose to push with, and then pulled her head back a little to watch. No reaction. Kapik perked her ears up and cocked her head a little to one side. She could definitely smell both Ron's and Lupina's scent on the black and white furred female stranger, and it was their "nice" scent--the gentle scent they gave off when relaxed and snuggling, and not the strong scent of anger or fear. Kapik determined that this black and white furred female must be a friend of her man-brother and his mate, and had the smell of their den about her, so they must accept her. Kapik drew closer and gently laid her chin on the stranger's arm, relaxing her ears, and wagging her tail. She held that for a bit, and felt the stranger trembling. Lifting her head a little, Kapik looked at her father briefly, before turning back to the stranger. She felt the stranger cringe as she carefully leaned in and gently gave a little lick near an ear.

Quietly, Kapik said, "Woo," and nuzzled the black and white furred female as she wagged her tail.

Rosie thought for sure she was going to feel strong jaws ripping into her at any moment. When the one wolf approached her, sniffing strongly, and touched her arm, Rosie thought, "I don't wanna die!!!" She almost cried when she felt the wolf's breath on her ear, but then the wolf nuzzled her affectionately just like how Lupina had done many times before. Slowly, Rosie lifted her head a little--the gray and white wolf leaned gently against her, wagging her tail in a friendly manner.

"H-Hi," Rosie said quietly.

"Wuf," Kapik said, wagging her tail a little faster.

"Y-You...you're not gonna...bite me...are ya?" Rosie asked

Kapik cocked her head a little and gave Rosie a gentle lick, which greatly surprised her. Rosie slowly took the coffee mug into her left hand, and then reached carefully with her right hand to stroke Kapik's head.

"N-Nice wolfie...," Rosie nearly whispered, relaxing just a little.

Upon seeing her daughter and the stranger making nice to one another, Sesi relaxed her stance and came over with an expression of greeting on her face. The black and white furred female froze momentarily when Sesi came up to her and sniffed carefully. Sesi could also smell the scent of her human friend and his mate upon the strange female, and since Kapik "broke the ice", so-to-speak, with no trouble, she decided that maybe this stranger might be okay after all. Sesi gave her a nudge and a quick lick, before going around to the other side to be by Atka. Amaguq took his turn at giving a quick greeting, and then both Iluq and Mumik came bounding over and gave a more enthusiastic greeting. Kapik stayed next to her new friend the whole time. Finally, Atka came over from where he had been watching the whole time, leaned over Kapik, and sniffed the new female intently up and down her whole side. When he was satisfied that the only other scents were of his man-friend, his mate, and their den, he looked her straight in the eyes and quietly said "Woo", before giving her a little friendly lick. Atka allowed the new female to stroke his fur a little, before turning and heading towards the stairs that he had came up. He paused long enough to give the rest of his pack a quick look, before heading down the stairs. One by one the others looked briefly at the black and white female sitting on the deck by the door, and with a wag of their tail, they followed Atka down the stairs. Kapik was the last to leave. She slowly got up and gave her new friend a wolf hug and a few gentle licks to the face, before leaving to catch up with the rest of her family. Kapik paused for a moment to look back and wag her tail a few times, and then disappeared into the forest with the others.

Rosie sat there for several minutes shivering, more from the effects of the adrenaline that flooded her body than from the crisp autumn air. Eventually she managed to get up though her legs felt rubbery. Rosie got inside and locked the front door, and then stumbled her way over to the couch where she curled up and cried herself to sleep.

When Ron and Lupina got home from work and got inside, the first thing they noticed was that none of the lights was on. Becoming concerned, Ron tapped the switch just inside the door from the garage, turning on the light in the stairwell, and went up the short flight of stairs to the great room. He tapped the switch there to turn on the overhead lights.

"Rosie?" he called out, listening carefully.

"Mmmff...wha...?" Rosie groggily said as she eased herself up on the couch.

Noting that the fire was down to just coals in the big fireplace, Ron looked quickly around the room as he went over to the couch.

"Rosie, are you okay?" he asked when he saw her start to sit up.

She still had on the light jacket she had worn out on the deck earlier after lunch, and the coffee mug was sitting on the floor next to the couch. Just as he got around to the front of the couch, Rosie looked up at him, rubbed her hand over her face, and blinked a few times.

"Ron...?" she asked as recognition slowly trickled through her mind.

"Yeah, right here, Rosie," he said.

Before Ron could sit down on the couch, Rosie launched herself up and threw her arms tightly around him, whimpering his name.

Lupina shut and locked the door to the garage, picked up his briefcase that he left on the landing by the door, and went upstairs. She stepped out into the great room just in time to see Rosie throw her arms around Ron. Seeing his mate, Ron shrugged his shoulders with an "I don't know what's going on" expression. She sat the briefcase and her purse down in the recliner next to the stairs and came over to put one arm around Ron and her other around Rosie.

As he held Rosie, Ron smelled some rather familiar scents on her, and he quickly surmised what must have happened.

"I see that you must have met my friends outside today," Ron said quietly as he nuzzled Rosie.

He smelled mostly Kapik's scent on her, though he could tell that the rest of Atka's pack had also greeted her--a feat that most humans would not be able to do; they would simply have smelled something akin to a woodsy, dog-like scent, and not be able to detect six individual wolf scents.

Rosie, still with her head against his chest and half-buried into his open coat, nodded and murmured something that sounded vaguely like "Yeah."

"Did you have a gray and white wolf come up to you first, and then stayed close to you while the others came up?" Ron asked quietly.

Rosie lifted her head and had a confused look on her face.

"Yeah...how did you...," she started to ask until Ron gently put a finger to her lips.

That was Kapik, she's a real sweetie...and kinda special. She must have figured out you were okay, so she stayed close in case any of the others got other ideas. Who was the next one to come up and check you out?" he asked.

"Uh...um...a white one, yeah," Rosie said blinking her eyes as she looked up at Ron.

He smiled gently and said, "That was Sesi, Kapik's mother and Atka's mate. If she accepted you, then the others would too, even Atka. Sesi is sweet, but she's also a strong alpha. I'm surprised that they came up to you without me being there. I figured that if they saw you, they'd probably just watch you from a safe distance without you even knowing that they were there."

"I-I've never been...so scared! I-I thought I'd...be...," Rosie said haltingly, shuddering as she remembered what happened.

Ron and Lupina both soothed Rosie's nerves and she started to relax a little in his arms.

"Shhh, it's okay, Rosie...they just must have been extremely curious about you for some reason. If they didn't growl, or act the least aggressive, then they didn't consider you a threat. You've got nothing to worry about now. They'll greet you normally from now on whenever they see you outside again," Ron explained and gave Rosie a kiss on the side of her muzzle near her nose.

Rosie opened her eyes wider in surprise...that was the closest he'd ever come to kissing her on the lips. She quickly glanced at Lupina and then placed her hand on the side of Ron's face as she licked the place on her muzzle where he kissed her. The three of them had a group hug and nuzzle for several seconds, before separating.

Ron attended to the fire, adding some more wood to it, and once it was burning, he headed off to the kitchen. Lupina went back to the master bedroom and Rosie walked with her as far as her room.

"Lu?" she asked quietly, touching her friend's arm.

"Yeah?"

"Um...you mind if I took another shower? No offense, but I've got wolf slobber all over my fur, and I feel kinda funky," Rosie asked.

"Yeah, it's okay, I understand. You gonna be okay?" Lupina asked.

"I about peed myself out there!" she said in a hushed voice. "They had me surrounded and...and...the way they looked at me, I thought I was a goner!"

Lupina hugged her friend and said, "I was kinda nervous the first time I met them, too, but Ron was with me. I can only imagine what it was like for you with nobody else around and not knowing what they might do."

Rosie went into her room and got her things for taking another shower while Lupina hung her jacket on the wall peg and took her shoes off. She was rubbing her feet when Rosie came in.

"They bother you, too, huh," Rosie commented.

"Yeah. Even though they're supposed to be made for our feet, it still feels good to get them off," Lupina agreed.

"I suppose it's better than picking some human's nasty chewing gum out from between your pads," Rosie quipped.

"Yeah, or when they do that gross thing of spitting," Lupina added.

"Eeeww, that's sick! I'd see guys down in Georgia spit some sort of brown crap out of their mouths on the sidewalk all the time. That's just plain makes me wanna hurl!" Rosie said, with a disgusted look on her face.

Lupina grimaced at the memory of seeing human males do that, too.

Rosie went on into the bathroom, peeled out of her tank top and thin sweatpants, and then got into the shower. Lupina removed her own clothes and put them into the laundry hamper, and then started brushing her fur. Rosie didn't take quite as long of a shower this time since she mainly just needed to wash her face, neck, and the long, thick, silky smooth white fur that resembled hair on a human. Ron came back to the bedroom to ask Lupina what she wanted for supper when Rosie walked in from the master bathroom, brushing her fur.

"Hey, Lu...would ya mind...brushing...," she trailed off as she saw Ron standing next to Lupina, rubbing her shoulders.

Ron froze when Rosie walked in not wearing anything. At that particular moment, Ron was the only one who was wearing clothing. Neither Lupina nor Rosie was embarrassed by the fact that they weren't wearing clothing--after all, their fur pretty much covered everything, and they didn't have the usual human hang-ups concerning nudity. The only reason why Rosie stopped talking was because she saw the look on Ron's face. Not that he was particularly embarrassed himself, since Lupina had told him about how the G.E.L.F.s viewed clothing. It was just that seeing Rosie in all of her curvaceous, sensual, furry glory, definitely got his attention...whether he wanted to admit it or not. Despite all of his military training and conditioning, the adjustments the military had made, and his mental discipline, he was still a male...and Nature made sure to remind him of that fact by triggering certain primal responses in the primitive part of his brain. Ron closed his eyes for a few seconds while he, by sheer strength of will, he tried to force his body to calm itself.

"Ye gods!" Ron thought to himself. "Do they have any idea what this is doing to me?"

Lupina looked up at Ron and saw that he had his eyes closed and heard the quiet, slow, deep breaths he was taking.

"Ron? What's wrong, dear?" she asked, not immediately understanding his situation.

*cough* "Just...a...sec...," he said slowly.

Lupina stood up, turned around, and put her hands on his chest. Rosie walked right up, not thinking, and put her left hand on Ron's upper right arm. When he opened his eyes again, they were both looking rather puzzled.

Ron smiled and said, "I'm okay...just had to...think of something else."

"Think of what?" Lupina asked, lifting her muzzle towards his face.

"Oh...just...working on a second order partial derivative in my head," he said.

"A who?" Rosie asked, wondering what the heck he was talking about.

"It's a type of math problem," Lupina said with a little frown. She cocked her head and asked, "What made you want to do that?"

Rosie, being her usual affectionate self, put her arms around him and nuzzled his chest for a moment, before looking up all sweet and innocent. Lupina pressed against her mate, which elicited a little cough.

"Um...okay, ladies...either I'm going to go make supper now...or...," Ron trailed off.

"Or what, baby?" Lupina prompted, batting her eyes and smiling.

"I think I need some water...cold water," he replied trying very hard not to want to toss both of them into the bed and dive in after them.

Ron carefully extracted himself from the two females, excused himself, and left the room somewhat quickly.

"Geez, Lu, what's with him all of a sudden?" Rosie asked, jabbing a thumb towards the door of the bedroom.

"I don't know. Wait here and I'll go find out," she said with a mixture of curiosity and concern.

Ron had his head in the refrigerator when Lupina came around the corner into the kitchen.

Without so much as a backward glance, he said, "You never did tell me what you want for supper tonight, luv," as he rummaged around inside apparently looking for something.

Lupina grabbed the waistband of his jeans and tugged on it, saying, "Come on, Mister Chef, talk to me a minute. What's got you acting fidgety all of a sudden? This isn't like you."

Ron stood up slowly, shut the door to the refrigerator, and faced Lupina who still wasn't wearing anything.

"Uh, it should be rather obvious, luv," he replied.

She cocked her head and asked, "What should be?"

"Heh, let's see...a guy standing there admiring his drop-dead gorgeous mate, who isn't wearing anything...and then her seriously hot looking best friend just pops in, also not wearing anything. The two gals snuggle up to the guy and next thing he knows, he's got a sequoia growing in his shorts...are you following so far, luv?" he tried to explain with a slightly embarrassed grin.

"Um...sequoia...that's a tree, right?" Lupina asked.

"Y-y-y-e-e-e-s-s-s," Ron drew out his reply.

"What does a tree have to do with it?" she asked.

Ron smacked the palm of his hand to his forehead, and rapidly shook his head a few times.

"Lu...of all the things I've done in this lifetime...being with two women at once hasn't been one of them, well, at least not yet, anyway," he tried to put it a little more plainly.

"You...you mean you thought...the both of us?" Lupina said, her eyes widening as it finally dawned on her what he had been trying to get at.

"I was trying not to think of that, luv," he said with a sigh, lowering his head.

Lupina wrapped her arms around him and hugged her mate tightly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, baby," she said quietly.

"Lu...I...just wasn't expecting that. I understand that you prefer not to wear anything around the house when we're alone, and that's not a problem. I mean, if you and Rosie would both rather not wear anything while it's just the three of us here, that's okay. As for the other thing, being with the both of you at once...*cough*...ah, if you really want to do that...um, well, it's going to be a little weird for me, but...," Ron said.

"Ron?" Lupina asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Haven't you ever...just slept in a pile before, you know, with other people?" she asked.

"No. Well, unless you want to count the time I was with Atka and his pack--we'd been walking around together and they decided it was time for a nap, so I found a spot for myself. Kapik came over and curled up next to me, and then both Iluq and Mumik did, too," Ron said.

"Well, that's kind of what I'm talking about, dear, just sleeping in a pile like that...not doing anything else," Lupina said.

"Oh. So...since I have a big bed, we should be able to just all pile into it, curl up and snooze together like it was nothing...right?," he asked.

"Yeah," she agreed.

"That might take a bit to get used to, but...okay," he said.

Lupina grinned.

"Now...what do you want to have for supper...food wise?" Ron asked, arching an eyebrow.

The rest of the evening was much calmer. After supper was over and the dishes washed and put away, Lupina and Rosie played an old arcade game on the big screen while Ron worked on another story project at his desk. When it was time for bed, he went downstairs to get ready. Lupina and Rosie finished their current round of the game they were playing and saved it for another time. Ron added some more wood to both fireplaces for the night, shut the lights off and headed to his room. Passing by the door to Rosie's room, he stuck his head in and they said their goodnights, and then went on into his own bedroom. Lupina was just getting into bed when he came in. Ron shucked off his t-shirt and sweat pants, removed his slippers by the bed, and slid between the covers.

They held each other, kissed, and talked a little, before turning out the light on the nightstand. About a half an hour after they went to bed, the wolves outside started howling. Rosie sat bolt upright in her bed and gasped, suddenly afraid after the memory of what happened earlier that day flared up. The vivid thought of how she felt when the wolves had come up onto the deck, made her too nervous to go back to sleep.

"Geez, this is worse than my first night alone in that nasty ol' apartment!" Rosie said to herself, shaking. "Oh, this is so stupid...but I don't wanna be alone!"

Rosie thought for a moment, and then tossed the covers back and got out of bed. She stood there for a second, thinking, "Ooo...I hope they understand!"

A light knock on the door, instantly awakened Ron.

*doorknob turns*

*creeeeak*

"You guys awake?" Rosie whispered.

"What's up, Rosie?" Ron asked softly.

"Um...mind if I come in?" she asked.

"Yeah, come on in," he replied.

Rosie quietly padded over to Ron's side of the bed, seeing only by the light from the fireplace. Ron turned onto his right side and patted the edge of the bed for her to sit.

"What's the matter, Rosie?" he asked, just above a whisper.

Sitting down on the padded edge of the frame, Rosie said, "Your buddies outside were howling, and...and...I got...scared."

Lupina woke up and asked, "Rosie? What's wrong, dear?"

"Rosie heard the wolves howling and it must have reminded her of earlier today, and she got scared," Ron said quietly.

Lupina scooted herself over towards the other side a bit, and Ron had Rosie stand up so that he could get up to let her into the bed between them. When she situated herself next to Lupina, Ron slid back into bed, pulling the covers up, and then rolled onto his left side to face Rosie. She was trembling with nervousness, so both Ron and Lupina held her close, with their arms crossing over Rosie, and nuzzled her.

Ron whispered into her ear, "You're safe now, Rosie, we got ya."

Rosie quietly whimpered a little as she nodded her head. He felt the warm, silky softness of her fur against his skin, and her scent filled his nostrils. It took a little while for Rosie to calm down. When she quit shivering, Ron gave her a little kiss on her cheek, and said goodnight again.

They spent the rest of the night snuggled close together, sleeping soundly.

When the alarm clock went off at 06:00 a.m., Rosie was startled awake.

"Wha...?" she said groggily, trying to figure out what that noise was that woke her up. Ron propped himself up and reached over to tap the snooze bar on the robotic alarm clock.

"Just the alarm clock, Rosie--time for Lu and I to get up," Ron said quietly, not wanting to get up yet.

He snuggled back where he had been and laid there thinking about the present situation.

"I'm surprised in a way that Lu let Rosie sleep with us, but, then again I guess they do see things a bit differently than humans do. It's not very likely that the average human woman would have tolerated this. It's kinda cool in a way, no pressure, no worries, just three who care about each other piled together. Care about each other. Hmm...I suppose I do care about Rosie, though maybe differently than I do about Lu. Still, Rosie's a sexy babe, and she hasn't been very subtle about displaying her affections, or desires for that matter. Geez, I've never been in this situation before...now WTF? What was that Lu said the other night...'maybe we could make Rosie a part of our family'. I don't even know if it's legal for Lu and I to get married. As far as we're concerned, we're mates, and that's for life, so in our own hearts and minds we already are married. I want to get her on as my beneficiary and so forth, but she has to be my legal spouse. I'm going to ask her if she wants to get married...and by the gods I hope she says 'yes'! Then we'll have to see if we can. I'll do whatever is possible to make it so--phone calls, write letters, get petitions going, get some face time with the politicians...yuck, that's not my thing, dealing with politicians, but if it ultimately allows us to get legally married, I'll do it. What to do about Rosie, though? I guess we'll just have to see what works out. No matter how it does_, I still love Lupina, she's still my mate, and I'll do anything for her...even getting tinkered with again. I'm_ not looking forward to the process, especially if it's anything like what Rob and I and the other guys went through before. Well, I guess I'll find out about that soon enough, too."

Beep. Beep. Beep. BEEP! BEEP! BEE...*smack!*

"Bloody hell," Ron mumbled to himself.

He worked his way up on his elbow and leaned over Rosie and kissed Lupina awake.

"'Mornin' luv. Time to get that sexy tail of yours up and about," Ron said as he was kissing her.

"Mmmumph...*yawn*...It's morning already?" Lupina mumbled, partially opening one eye.

"Yeah. Time to wakie-wakie, baby," Ron smirked.

"What time is it?" she groaned.

"Zero-six-oh-nine," Ron replied.

"Huh? In English!" Lupina growled.

Ron stuck his tongue out at her and said, "Nine minutes after six."

"If you stick that tongue of yours out at me again, I'll make you use it!" Lupina admonished, wagging her finger at Ron.

"Mrrrrr, somebody mention tongue?" Rosie said sleepily, licking her mouth.

"Don't get him started on that, or we'll never get to work today!" Lupina exclaimed.

Ron grinned and said, "Oh we'll get there...eventually."

"I don't know about you, but I'm heading to the bathroom. Are you going to get the coffee going, dear?" she asked.

Yeah, it's primed and ready, just gotta pour the water, and stand back," Ron said.

Lupina let out a long sigh, shook her head, and then tossed the covers back on her side of the bed. She worked her way over to the edge and sat up on the padded rail, rubbing her eyes a moment.

While Lupina was in the bathroom taking care of her morning business, Ron continued lying there looking at Rosie for a minute.

"Did you sleep any better last night?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," she replied, touching the side of his face with her hand. "Thank you...for makin' me feel...not so alone."

Ron took hold of her hand and kissed the back of it, and said, "You're never alone, Rosie. You got Lu, and me. Don't worry about the wolves, they have accepted you, so they'll watch out for you, too. Speaking of which, I wonder what made them come up and check you out in the first place. Usually when they see somebody they don't know, they stay out of sight in the trees and watch from a distance. I guess you didn't spray any of them...I probably would have smelled it if you had."

"I thought about it, but then they surrounded me really quick and my back was up against the house. They were sure sniffin' a lot," she said.

"Hmm. I guess they must have smelled something on you that they recognized," Ron said, wondering why they had acted that way about her.

"I-I, um...maybe they must have...smelled you or Lu on me," Rosie said turning her eyes away a little.

"Possible," Ron admitted, noting the way she acted. "Well, like I said, it's really strange that they got anywhere near you. Kapik, that's the one who came up to you first, she's really sensitive about things, I've learned. Being accepted by her, I guess you could say that it's as if Nature herself has accepted you. Humans may have created you, but you're part of the world now--at least my little corner of it."

Ron gently stroked the side of Rosie's face, looking at her as if he was deep in thought...and indeed, he was.

Just before Lupina came out of the bathroom, Ron gently kissed the back of Rosie's hand again, smiled, and then got up out of bed. After getting his slippers on his feet, he got his heavy robe off the wall peg and put it on, tying the belt of it around his waist in a square knot. He paused for a moment by the door, giving one quick look towards the bathroom, and then stopping on the sight of Rosie lying in the middle of his bed. He grinned wryly when she looked at him; the covers still pulled back, exposing part of her body. He made a little kissing gesture, and then headed off to the kitchen.

Lupina padded out of the bathroom, and saw Rosie staring towards the door. She slipped on her own, lightweight flannel robe, putting her tail through the gap in the back and tied the belt in front.

Stopping for a moment at the foot of the bed, Lupina said with a grin, "A raisin for your thoughts."

Rosie looked up at her friend and smiled.

"Lu?"

"Yeah?"

"How come Ron's so much different than any of the other humans we've met?" Rosie asked.

Lupina looked at the wall between the kitchen and the bedroom for a moment, and then shook her head slowly.

"I don't know," she replied.

"Lu?"

"Yeah?"

"He never...you know...all night," Rosie said.

"Yeah. When you came out of the shower last night before supper, he told me in the kitchen later that...he thought maybe we both wanted him...at the same time, and he's never done that before. He also said that he's never just slept in a pile with other people before, and it'll probably take him a while to get used to it," Lupina explained. Getting a big grin on her face, she added, "Oh, yeah...Ron said that you are 'seriously hot looking'."

Rosie's eyes opened wide at that comment.

"He said that...to you?" Rosie asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Lupina replied with a grin. She suddenly sniffed the air for a moment, and then took a deep breath in through her nose, letting it out slowly. "I can smell the coffee...and he's got breakfast cooking, too. Eggs...*sniff, sniff*...sausage, too. You going to eat with us, or stay in bed a while longer?"

"I'll be there in a minute, Lu," Rosie said.

Lupina nodded her head and then left the bedroom for the kitchen.

Quietly to herself, Rosie asked, "But what if both of us do want him?"