Family Tails

A Story of a Mixed Family in the Genetic Age

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

Story and characters © 2013 Ronald J. Lebeck

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Chapter 25

Ron and Lupina took Rosie along with them on their honeymoon, flying from Fairbanks to Los Angeles, and then flying from LA to Honolulu, Hawaii, where they spent a few days seeing the sights, including the U.S.S. Arizona memorial. From Honolulu, they flew on to Australia and spent several days enjoying the beach along Australia's Gold Coast, and taking in the nightlife in Brisbane. On the way back, they took a cruise ship out of Sydney to Los Angeles. Lupina rather enjoyed basking in the sun in the chase lounge chairs during the day, and Rosie spent some time there, too, though Rosie's curiosity had her wandering all over the ship, sampling the buffet tables, and watching the shows. Lupina and Rosie had a few of the usual comments and looks from those with misconceptions about G.E.L.F.s, though for the most part, those who took the time actually to talk with Lupina, Rosie, and Ron were simply curious and well meaning. Still, there is truly no place like home, and upon entering their house, they knew after all the many sights they had seen and distance traveled, home is where they wished to be.

For the rest of January, the three returned to their normal routine, for it would not be long before normal and routine would both be turned upside down.

Shortly after the beginning of February, Lupina began to notice the telltale signs that she was coming into season--right after Ron noticed the subtle change in her scent. By the end of the first week, it became quite obvious Lupina was in full heat. Rosie was fixing supper, and Lupina was about to get the plates to set the table when Ron came over to get a cup of coffee. As soon as he put his hand on Lupina's lower back to let her know that he was behind her, Lupina moaned and suddenly put her hands on the counter, arched her back in such a way that thrust her backside out, and whipped her tail up and over to the side.

"Oh...do it!" Lupina whined, her body trembling with desire.

"Uh, Lu...it's time for supper...can't...it...um...*sniff!*...wait? Oh, bloody hell, what's...*sniff!*...happening?" Ron asked trying to figure out what was affecting him so.

"Take me...please, oh please, please, please???" Lupina whined, trying to back into her mate.

"Uh, oh...um, guys...why don't ya head off to the bedroom or something. I'll keep your food warm," Rosie suggested, knowing to keep a bit of distance.

Ron looked at Rosie, who pointed firmly towards the bedroom. He nodded his head and grabbed Lupina's hand.

"Come on, luv," Ron said giving her arm a gentle, but firm tug.

As they headed out of the kitchen, Rosie called after Ron, "Don't let her get in front of you, big guy!" and then more quietly she added, "At least not until you get into the bedroom."

Rosie shook her head, and got the kitchen's step stool so that she could get the plates down from the cabinets.

While Rosie set the table, she quietly talked to herself.

"I hope they're not going to take too long, because I'm getting hungry. Hmm, now that Ron's got a bit more wolf in him, I bet this is going to be a new experience for him--poor guy isn't going to be able to think right as long as he's around Lu, and she's going to have a one-track mind for a while. I wonder how they're going to manage it at work."

Rosie snickered to herself, imagining Lupina trying to sit at her workbench in the shop, and keeping her mind on her work. Rosie then thought about one other aspect of the situation.

"Geez, I hope they're not going to get gnarly with everyone. Hmm, maybe I'd better let Rob know."

She thought about it for a few seconds, and then went to the intercom between the two houses.

*Buzz!*

[Rosie]: "Hey Rob, ya busy? It's me, Rosie."

Rob: "Howdy Rosie, what's up?"

[Rosie]: "Um...just thought I'd let ya know...Lu's full into it tonight, and...um...ya know they're not going to be thinkin' straight for a while."

Rob: "Oh, okay."

[Rosie]: "Yeah, and they might get, you know, gnarly with other people. You know how wolves get during mating season. Ooo, that reminds me, I think I'd better sleep in another room for a while--don't wanna chance Lu snappin' at me."

Rob: "You think she might get aggressive towards other women?"

[Rosie]: "Um...yeah, she will. The big guy's liable to be the same towards any guy who gets near Lu."

[Rosie]: "At least next month he'll be able to keep his mind on things at work...until he gets home." (snickers)

[Rosie]: "Yep, every year from now on. Oh, and it'll be your turn eventually, I think." (snickers)

Rob: "Thanks for the reminder."

[Rosie]: "No problem, guy. Oh, hey, sounds like they're heading back towards the kitchen. Catch ya later!"

Rob: "Okay Rosie, 'night."

"Are you two finally ready for supper now?" Rosie asked, leaning against the counter with arms folded.

"Um...mmm...yeah, I think so," Lupina replied with a slightly embarrassed grin.

When Rosie looked at Ron, he said, "I definitely worked up an appetite."

"I bet you have," Rosie muttered under her breath. "Well, get yourselves sat down while I put the food on the table," she said aloud, and then Rosie started getting the serving dishes out of the stove's warming box.

Keeping an eye on Lupina, Rosie put the food on the table, and noticed how Lupina reacted when she got around Ron. "So far so good," she thought to herself, though she remained wary just in case.

Tensions normally run high in wolf packs during mating season as the dominant pair strictly enforce the pack hierarchy. Rosie just hoped that Lupina would be out of season by the time it was her turn. Skunks, especially females, tend to get vicious during during mating season, with lots of growling, hissing, biting, and fighting.

"Yep, could get interesting," Rosie thought.

Later that evening when it was time for bed, Ron noticed Rosie seemed reluctant to join him and Lupina as usual. Even though his thoughts seemed to be more on another subject, Ron was still quite aware of Rosie's feelings.

"What's the matter, Rozer?" Ron asked, after Lupina went into the bedroom.

"Um...I'm just wondering if...maybe I should...sleep in another room for a while," Rosie replied, fidgeting a bit.

"Why would you want to do that for, Rosie? It's your bed, too," Ron asked, slipping his arms around her.

"Um...well, I know how Lu gets this time of year, and...," Rosie started to say.

"...And you're concerned that she might get a bit testy," Ron finished.

"Yeah, somethin' like that," Rosie agreed.

"Rosie...," Ron said, pulling her closer, "It's your choice, luv, though...that bed is going to feel mighty empty without you."

"Aw, you're not making this easy for me...," Rosie said, looking up into Ron's eyes.

Ron smiled gently and said, "Rosie, you've been Lu's best friend for a long time, and it stands to reason that you know her pretty darn well. However, things are a bit different now since you two were living at The "Center--you both have the same mate, which you didn't back then. Whether that will make any difference or not, I guess we'll find out. This is a new situation for all of us--maybe next month Lu will be having this same conversation with me when it's your turn." Ron grinned and then continued, "I understand your concern, luv, and if you don't feel comfortable sharing the same bed at this time, you're certainly free to do what you feel is best, and I won't think any less of you for it. All that I can suggest is to do what your heart tells you."

Rosie thought about it for a while, holding her head against Ron's chest.

"Ron?"

"Yeah, Rosie?"

"Can we go to bed now?" she asked.

Giving Rosie a kiss, Ron took her hand with a grin and said, "Come on, Rozer."

Over the next few weeks, Ron did his level best to not only keep up with Lupina's urges when feasible, but also to keep the peace. As Rosie feared, Lupina did have a short fuse, no thanks to a shift in her hormones, though Ron spent a lot of time talking with both of his mates so that there wouldn't be any major blow ups and hard feelings. For three days in the middle of the month, Lupina seemed to be at the height of her cycle, so she and Ron stayed home during those days. From then on, it gradually diminished, and things began to return to normal. By the end of the month, everyone gave a sigh of relief...but the respite was short-lived.

The first indication that round two was hitting fast and furious, was when Ron and Lupina came home from work one evening in March, Rosie jumped on Ron as she had done when they first met...and then she promptly bit him. It wasn't a serious bite, just a "love nip" as she called it, on his shoulder. Still, her very sharp fangs left marks, penetrating easily through his sweatshirt and t-shirt. In the interest of fairness, Ron returned the "love nip" with one of his own, though a little less enthusiastically, not wanting to harm his mate, and added a slight growl for good measure.

"Ooo...you catch on quick!" Rosie said, flashing a feral-looking grin.

Still hanging onto her mate with arms around his neck and legs firmly wrapped around his hips, Rosie kissed Ron rather forcefully, causing him to wince a couple of times. Ron felt something tapping on his back--he turned his head to see Lupina jabbing a finger towards the bedroom.

"So much for getting a cup of coffee first," Ron thought to himself. "Um, Rosie...maybe we ought to go somewhere more...appropriate," he suggested.

"Lead on, big guy!" Rosie said enthusiastically.

When it was clear that Rosie wasn't going to let go anytime soon, Ron went up the stairs from the garage and headed towards the bedroom with Rosie still clinging to him like a starfish.

"Let me know if I should call the paramedics!" Lupina called joyfully after them as they disappeared into the bedroom.

"I'll keep tha in--OW!--mind, dear," Ron called back. "Rosie, mind the claws, will ye?!"

Lupina shook her head and sat down, taking her winter boots off.

"Ah, that feels better!" she said to herself, massaging her feet.

She had only been relaxing for a short while on the couch when a mixture of growls, hisses, thumps, and a few exclamations tossed in, erupted from the bedroom.

"Poor guy, if only he had fur...," Lupina snickered.

While they were busy, Lupina got up and went to the kitchen to see if Rosie had anything started for supper. Sitting on the wood cook stove was one of the large chef's pans with the lid on it, simmering away. Lupina lifted the lid so that she could check on the contents.

"Let's see...cabbage, green beans, tomatoes, Polish sausage chunks, macaroni, vegetable juice, wine, garlic, *sniff* sweet basil. M-m-m smells good!" Lupina said quietly to herself. "I gotta hand it to Rosie; she sure knows how to cook! Ha, well, Ron's been a pretty good teacher in the kitchen...and in other things, too," she thought happily.

Lupina's thoughts turned to other things while she set the table. Stopping briefly and giving her abdomen a rub, she thought aloud, "I wonder how long it'll be until we know for sure."

"I guess supper must be ready," Lupina said to herself, testing the doneness of the food cooking on the stove.

"I suppose I should give them a yell and see if they're ready to eat."

Putting the cover back onto the pan, Lupina went back towards the bedroom. Noticing the door was still open, she called out to Ron and Rosie.

"Hey guys, I think supper's ready. Are you going to eat now, or should I put some in the warmer for you?"

"Yeah, be out in a minute, Lu," Ron replied.

"Okay," Lupina said, "I'll go ahead and start dishing up."

A short while later, Rosie came bouncing into the kitchen, her fur in need of a brushing and her fur-hair looking like it had been hastily tied back.

"Wow that was fun!" Rosie exclaimed, making an almost purring-like sound.

Before Lupina could say anything, Ron slowly walked into the kitchen and said, "Yeah...fun like taking a cold shower with a dozen cats and a Doberman."

Lupina nearly dropped the pitcher of water she was bringing to the table. Ron only had on his fleece pants and slippers--his upper half had various bite and claw marks all over it.

"Oh...my...word!" Lupina said quietly, a hand going up to her mouth. "Rosie, what on Earth did you do to him?"

Ron held up his hand and said, "Don't worry, Lu, I heal quickly."

"Yeah, right after I get the first-aid kit!" Lupina said firmly, and then went off to the bathroom to get it.

By the time she came back to the kitchen, Rosie was already filling her soup bowl.

"Would you mind filling ours while you're at it, Rosie?" Lupina asked nicely while she began to clean the various bite marks and scratches on Ron's body.

"Yeah, yeah, hold your tail, Lu; don't get your fur in a bunch!" Rosie said sarcastically.

"Rosie!" Ron said sharply.

"What?" she asked just as sharp...and when she finally looked up, both Ron and Lupina were giving her "the look."

Rosie's ears dropped when she saw two pairs of amber eyes staring intensely at her.

"Hormones or not, there's no reason to get snippy with Lu just because she asked kindly if you would fill our bowls, too," Ron said quietly and evenly, still staring at Rosie.

"Oh," Rosie said meekly, "sorry, Lu."

Lupina gave a quiet little snort and went back to cleaning Ron's bites and scratches. When Rosie reached for Ron's soup bowl, he intercepted her hand with his and held it, giving it a gentle squeeze. He softened his expression and made a kissing gesture to Rosie, bringing a grin back onto her face.

After a few days, most of the initial bites and scratches on Ron had healed completely, much to Lupina's amazement, though fresh ones had been added to the collection. Thankfully, Rosie didn't stay in heat nearly as long as Lupina had, so after a couple of intense weeks, things began to get back to normal for a while. By the end of March, Ron and Lupina had some good news--Lupina was pregnant! When the initial excitement subsided, it was time for more practical thoughts to prevail--how many will they be having, where will the delivery take place, what special needs will a human / wolf G.E.L.F. hybrid baby have, getting the house "child proofed", and so forth. In mid-April, there was more good news in the Daugherty household--Rosie found out that she was pregnant, too!

"This place is going to be a madhouse," Ron quipped good-naturedly when they received the news.

Helga finished all of her courses in April, and took a temporary nursing job at the University of Texas hospital until she could attend her official graduation ceremony after the "capping and pinning"[1] ceremony for the nursing students. Ron, Lupina, Rosie, and Rob flew to Texas in the business jet, bringing Miki along with them, so that they could attend Helga's graduation, get checkups, and so that Miki could visit Willie. Not long after they got settled into their hotel room, Rob received a text message from their former pack mate, Jack Heyworth, asking for Rob to call him when it was convenient. He motioned to Ron to come over after reading the message.

"What's up?" Ron asked quietly.

Rob didn't say anything--he just showed Ron the message. Ron pulled the earpiece out of the holster for his phone, and then used a little hand signal to inquire about doing a conference call. Rob nodded his head once, so Ron let Lupina know that he and Rob were going to take a little walk and would be back shortly.

Once outside, Ron and Rob walked around the building until they found a quiet spot away from any windows, and put in their earpieces. Rob initiated the conference call.

Rob: "Howdy Jack, I got your message. Ron's on with me."

[Ron]: "Hey Jack."

[Jack]: "Evening, guys."

Rob: "What's up?"

[Jack]: "Got that intel you wanted. We've been keeping eyes and ears on the place."

Rob: "Good. Up for some company?"

[Jack]: "Sure. Mike, Jeff, and Dave's here already. I've got the grill fired up, and we've got brewski's on ice. How many do you have with you?"

[Ron]: "There's five of us, Jack--Rob, myself and my two gals, plus a friend of the family."

[Jack]: "Gotcha. Anything special we should have?"

[Ron]: "Rosie tends to eat more veggies than meat, so don't get too big of a piece for her. Oh, and no hot peppers, either."

[Jack]: "Can-do. You staying at the same hotel as before?"

Rob: "Yep, same one."

[Jack]: "I'll come by at eighteen hundred hours[2] to pick you folks up."

Rob: "Okay, we'll be waiting for you."

[Ron]: "Yep, see you in a few."

"So they've got something to share, eh?" Ron asked Rob after they finished the call.

"Apparently so," Rob replied.

"Hmm, well I got something, too--remember my little 'friend' that I turned loose the last time we were out there?" Ron asked.

"Yep."

"During Willie's concert, The Center had a live feed streaming the show so the G.E.L.F.s could watch. Well, holes work both ways--something squirts in one way, something else squirts out the other way," Ron grinned deviously.

"So it found something?" Rob asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah...and it put a nice little back door in for us, to boot, courtesy of Sumter's computer," Ron said, rather proud of himself.

"Nice. I hope you have something pleasant in store for him," Rob said.

Ron smirked, "He's doomed...he just doesn't know it yet."

"Ladies, we've been invited to a barbeque dinner over at a friend of ours who happens to live near here," Rob said when he and Ron returned to their room.

"That's nice of your friend to do that," Lupina said. "I hope the food won't be too spicy."

"I told him no hot peppers, luv," Ron said with a grin.

"Is this friend of yours gonna pick us up or somethin'?" Rosie asked.

"Yes, Jack's coming to get us at six o'clock," Rob replied.

"Is this friend of yours a business associate?" Miki asked.

"We served together in the military," Rob replied.

Lupina and Rosie perked their ears up at that.

"So we get to meet one of the guys tonight?" Rosie asked.

Ron held up four fingers on one hand and said, "all of the Alpha Pack, luv."

"Alpha pack?" Miki asked, not sure what was meant by the term.

"That was the name of our team in the special ops unit we served in," Ron replied.

"Oh," Miki said, but before she had a chance to ask any more about it, Lupina leaned close to Miki's ear.

"Best not to ask too many questions about it," Lupina whispered.

At ten minutes before six o'clock, Jack arrived at the hotel, sending Rob a text message to let him know that he was pulling up.

When Rob's phone beeped, he said, "That's probably Jack." When he checked the message, he said, "Yep, he's here."

They met Jack in the lobby, and after Rob and Ron greeted their old friend, Ron introduced him to Lupina, Rosie, and Miki.

Up until now, Fairbanks had been the farthest south Miki had ever been, and also the largest city. As they went through Dallas to one of the suburbs in the northwest part of the city, Miki was amazed to see so many people packed into one place. Even with the air conditioner going in Jack's "cross-over" vehicle, and wearing a tank top under a thin, unbuttoned short-sleeved shirt, shorts, and trail shoes, Miki felt rather hot. The outside temperature was still thirty degrees Celsius.

"Nice place you have," Lupina commented on Jack's contemporary three-bedroom home as they pulled into the driveway.

"Thanks, I've been thinking of selling it and moving back up north when I retire again," Jack said.

"Oh?" Lupina asked.

"Yeah, the company I've been working for is starting to push early retirement on us older employees, so I've been thinking of taking them up on it. About time for a change in scenery anyway, and I could do with a little peace and quiet, too," Jack replied.

"Not to mention not having to put up with nosey neighbors only a couple of meters away on either side," Ron added.

"Or crap from the HOA[3]," Rob said.

"Don't get me started on that subject," Jack said, rolling his eyes.

Once inside the house, Jack stuck his head out the patio door to let his other guests know that he was back. When they came back into the house from the back yard, it was nearly a family reunion--this was the first time in several years that all six original "plank owner"[4] members of Sea Wolf Alpha Pack had been together. The two other female G.E.L.F.s--Lizzie, the blue morph Arctic fox with Dave Idelzhye, and Tacey, a coyote with Jeff Williamson--were friends of Lupina's. The other man, Mike Johansson, a stocky, dark-haired man whose family originally came to the U.S. from Sweden via Iceland, was the only other pack mate besides Jack not currently seeing a G.E.L.F. female. He was the one who had delivered the supplies to Rosie when she was in Georgia.

"Lizzie! Tacey!" Lupina called out excitedly upon seeing her friends again.

While the three women hugged and nuzzled each other, Jack said to Ron with a grin, "Small world, eh?"

"Aye, that it is," Ron agreed.

"Long time no see, Master Chief!" Jeff said enthusiastically as he and Ron greeted each other.

"Hey Jeff, you ol' sea dog, thought you were chasing tuna out of North Carolina," Ron said.

"Nah, I quit doing that a few years ago. I sold the boat and headed to Wyoming--that's where Tacey and I met. I decided to go see Yellowstone, so I found an open spot at one of the campgrounds, and parked the camper. After getting set up, I went to the little store to get something, and there she was, working the till. I'll tell ya, as soon as she handed me the change, it was like a thunderclap as soon as our hands touched!" Jeff explained.

"That's because there was a thunderclap, silly!" Tacey giggled. "It was storming and lightning struck nearby. Hi, I guess you've figured out I'm Tacey," she said, holding her hand out to Ron, introducing herself.

"Nice to meet you. Ron Daugherty--I guess you already know my two mates, Lupina and Rosie," Ron said as he shook Tacey's hand.

Her eyes widened in surprise at hearing Ron's name.

"Oh, my...you're him!" Tacey gasped. "Lizzie! Lu's mate is the author of our favorite books!"

"What? No way!" Lizzie exclaimed.

"He's mine and Rosie's mate," Lupina said, emphasizing the 'and' as she hooked her arm around Rosie's.

"Yeah, and we're both gonna have little ones," Rosie added.

"What?" half the people in the room asked in surprise--aside from Rob, Miki, and a few others, no one else had been told yet that Lupina and Rosie were expecting.

"Yep, the ol' log cabin in the wilderness is going to be a busy place," Ron chuckled, putting his arms around his mates.

They spent most of the time before and during supper talking about various things. After supper, the women went inside to enjoy the cool air conditioning, leaving the men outside to talk quietly about certain other things. Jack filled Ron and Rob in on the information he, Jeff, and Dave had managed to gather. Ron took his turn telling about the worm program he had slipped into the computer network at The Center, the "backdoor" it had left on Sumter's computer, and the subsequent data he had found.

"Holy smokes! Sumter's trying to recreate Project: Hunter using the G.E.L.F.s this time?" Dave exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yep, and he's apparently using our DNA to backward engineer the process. The thing is, though, he's been told not to do any further research on it. Oh, and an interesting bit of info I ran across--for some reason or another, nobody has been able to reproduce the exact procedure that was originally used to make us the way we are," Ron said.

"Geez, wouldn't they just have to go back through all of the notes and results from the original experiment?" Mike asked.

"That's the thing--there aren't any records of it; there was a fire of some kind that wiped everything out after we went operational. The official cause was an electrical fire that started after a lightning strike, followed by a gas explosion. It seems that every attempt afterwards has met a similar fate with all records being destroyed due to fire caused by a lightning strike," Ron explained, "and it's never a little bolt, either."

"You ain't yanking our chains are you, dude?" Mike asked skeptically.

"Nope. Got the data right here," Ron replied, pulling a flash drive out of his pocket. Everyone was silent as they sat and looked at the little storage device. It was a stick type flash drive with a little keypad on it--it was an encrypted unit that required the correct combination to be entered via the keypad. If the combination was entered wrong just once, or if there was an attempt to open the case, the data would be irrevocably wiped automatically.

"Oh, I might add, there's no coincidence that all twenty-four of us just happen to be compatible with the female G.E.L.F.s," said.

"What? How do you know that?" Jeff asked.

Ron waved the flash drive and said, "Courtesy of Dr. Harvey Sumter."

"You mean, that little comment Lu said about Helga and I being made for one another...," Rob started to say.

"Exactamundo."

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[1] http://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/hx-cap-pin-171280.html

[2] Eighteen hundred hours = 6:00 P.M.

[3] HOA = Home Owner's Association

[4] http://www.navy.mil/navydata/nav_legacy.asp?id=180