Lance and Lila Knight sat comfortably together on the living room sofa. She nestled in her werepanther's fur, since females were encouraged not to shift into their fursonas while pregnant.
"You know," began Lance, as he started delicately stroking Lila's long hair with one paw, "I've been thinking about all the changes having cubs will bring to our lives."
"Oh?" said Lila, turning to stare deep into his feline eyes. "I have no problems with the concept of having another cub or two down the road, but we are definitely waiting until after this one's first birthday to consider the next my love," before kissing him on the muzzle.
"It's not that. I've been thinking about mini-vans, and perhaps even acquiring a bigger house."
"It may be a while before I can ride again, but I'm not completely giving up my motorcycle, and you shouldn't give up your Prius either. We can get a mini-van for when we take our little ones with us, but I certainly don't want to live in a monstrosity the size of your brother's."
"Me neither, although that used to be the family homestead when it was just my folks, me and Benton. He's added to it over the years," pointed out Lance.
"Well, I can see us with a big back yard for the children," conceded Lila, "or access to the woods so everyone can romp and play, even us grown ups," she added slyly, before reaching down to start caressing Lance's over endowed werepanther penis, "but I would still want a hot tub for sore muscles and... private moments."
"Agreed," said Lance, feeling the stirring in his loins. "Maybe we can have it enclosed for year round use?" he suggested.
"With a skylight to look at the stars at night?" asked Lila.
"Whatever you want my love," promised Lance.
Then Lila Knight moved down and began to orally thank her loving husband.
Despite needing to stay in her human form until after giving birth, Lance couldn't help noticing her skills at taking his entire stiff rod.
He was about to comment on that when his cellphone started ringing.
Unhappy to be interrupted, but needing to answer it in case it was important, Lance reached over to where he left his suit jacket, pulling out of his wife's mouth in the process, and retrieved his cellphone.
Seeing who it was, Lance answered, "Hello Ella. What's up?"
"I got your e-mail. Can you verify this?" asked Ella Alyn*, the Moon Lake Gazette's ace town and were reporter.
"Yes. The first photo I sent you is of Jack Crawford and his then fiance Kenya Adaeze, announcing their engagement. The second photo is of a Jack Ashford and a Kendra Smythe taken the year before, despite the fact both images are of the same couple," explained Lance.
"No miss identification or mislabeling?" asked Ella.
"Not on our end," replied Lance. "I'm going to ask Benton about it when I see him later this evening, since it was one of his charity events Ashford and Smythe attended. But the reason all this intrigues me is because I have it on good authority that the new Mrs. Crawford is planning to announce her candidacy to be Mayor of Moon Lake at the Labor Day picnic Monday."
"I see, and my orders?"
"Besides being at the picnic Monday to cover the story? Start doing as much background as you can on the two. Especially the lady. Find out whatever you safely can, especially in regards to the Ashford/Smythe disguise or whatever it was. Contact me as soon as you have concrete, reliable information and, depending what my brother has to say on the subject, we'll compare notes and see if there's actually a story here," replied Lance.
"Does this have anything to do with Samantha Twist announcing her desire to be mayor earlier today?" wondered Ella.
"Kind of," admitted her boss. "Officially, the Gazette should stay neutral in the belief a good newspaper only reports the news, we don't make it. On the other hand, Jack Crawford has a bad rep even without his dealings with my brother, so you have to wonder about any candidate he'd endorse, no matter what the potential family connections might be."
"Agreed. I've been hearing some scuttlebutt about him and the delays in the new elementary school, but nothing I've been able to prove or print."
"Me too. Just do the best you can and get back to me when you've got something," instructed Lance.
"Okay Chief. Take care, and say hello to your wife for me. Got to go cook dinner for my brood now," said Ella, before ending the call.
Knowing that the matter was in good hands, or paws, since Ella was a fellow were, Lance put his cellphone down on the coffee table, turned to his wife and asked, "Now then darling. Where were we?"
"Afraid I have to use the bathroom, and then we have to start thinking about getting ready to head to your brother's for dinner," said Lila, as she got up and kissed her husband on the tip of his werepanther nose before heading off to the bathroom.
Dang! silently complained Lance, enjoying the sight of watching his wife walk off, since he thought Lila was beautiful in any form or condition. Unless she's in the mood later tonight, guess I'll have to take matters into my own paws again, he realized, as he started picking up his human clothing.
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*The character of Ella Alyn was created in honor of the late Noel Neill, the first actress to portray Lois Lane in a live action production. While Ella has been established as a married were with teenage children, what kind of were she is remains to be seen.—tmw.