Officer Barnes agreeing to set a "dinner date" took a loud of pressure of my mind. With the other things going on in my life, and the apparent lawsuit that I was certain would catch the attention of all the people the Animatrix Fun House victimized, the last thing I wanted was end up in the middle of some romantic difficulty between my partner and the normal desk officer. Especially since so much of it seemed to be something that people in high schools went through.
I did sincerely hope that things would go well between Officer Barnes and Officer Jenkins. There was no procedure that said two officers couldn't date one another. The rules forbid partners from dating, but that wasn't an issue in this case. And even if it was, what would happen would simply be a reassigning of who Officer Barnes and Jenkins worked with. It was a standard policy to cut down on potential mistakes, and a lot of agencies that worked in law enforcement, or worked like law enforcement commonly had similar policies.
With her business concluded, Officer Jenkins slowly approached me and clocked in as well, while I waited. She turned back to Officer Barnes once she was done with that.
"Did Officer Howard have any explicit instructions for George and I?" Officer Jenkins asked.
"It is Officer Wayne while on duty," Officer Barnes corrected, "but, no. He didn't have any message for you two to meet with him, so I'd assume you're both free to begin your morning patrol."
"Okay then," Officer Jenkins nodded, "we'll be heading out then. Hopefully all is quiet around here."
"Things seem to have been over the past few days," Officer Barnes replied and waved as Officer Jenkins and I then went out of the station to move to the patrol car we would be using for the day.
Once outside Officer Jenkins started with a little bit of a skip as we headed to the patrol car that we would be using. Again, it was behavior I wouldn't have associated with a grown woman, but I wasn't about to judge her for it. Doing that would have been no better then R.A.M.'s judging of Molly and I because our fur.
"Thank you, George," Officer Jenkins said after a few moments and then paused, "you don't mind if I call you "George" while on duty, do you? A lot of the formality is another thing that I prefer about the patrol work then desk duty..."
"I do not mind," I said with a shrug, "with my form, there are probably a ton of procedures and rules that have been broken or bent to let me even function here... I don't mind if you prefer a more informal reference."
She then nodded, "thank you, then, George. You were right."
I silently nodded.
"Of course, we don't know WHEN it will be yet, but he will come over to dinner sometime," Officer Jenkins continued as she opened the back door to the patrol car letting me get in.
"And all you needed to do was ask," I commented when she came around to the driver's side front door and got in, "no matchmaking or middleman required."
"Or middle-tiger in your case," Officer Jenkins quipped.
Again I nodded as she backed out and we began our patrol.
"I can't really explain why I've been like this," Officer Jenkins commented, "I mean... I haven't been this nervous, anxious, excited about such a thing since I was in high school..."
"From what you've told me, you and Officer Barnes were already fairly friendly," I replied, "maybe some of that is because you two were familiar with each other."
"Maybe," Officer Jenkins gave a shrug, "but again, I have to thank you."
"I really didn't do much," I told her.
"You've listened, that's always good," Officer Jenkins retorted, "and you actually gave me the encouragement to actually ask him... I'd think that that counts for something."
"I'm not sure on how much though," I shook my head, "Some of it is experience on my part. If you get an opportunity to meet Molly, I'm sure she can tell you some stories of the crazy things I did before I was actually brave enough to go from being friends with her to dating her..."
"So, was the marriage proposal hard, or did that come easy?" Officer Jenkins teased.
"That actually came easy," I shrugged, "it was last Christmas and Molly and I were still settling into Bandhavgarh..."
"Huh?"
"The name we gave the cabin we're living in," I explained, "named for Bandhavgarh Reserve in India."
Office Jenkins then whistled the National Geographic theme.
"Anyway, we had just moved in and money had been rather tight for us at the time," I continued, "I didn't have much to give Molly... so I gave her the only real gift I had... me. And we've been happily married since."
"You two seem to have everything," Officer Jenkins then chuckled as we continued on.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The morning's patrol was very quiet. The only real "call" that we had was from an elderly woman who's cat had ended up stuck up a tree in her yard and she happened to see us coming down the street and flagged us down rather then calling the fire department or someone else. It wasn't that hard a rescue. The tree wasn't that big and I could easily reach it. The hard part was that the house cat did not want to be picked up by a tiger. It hissed and clawed at me as I brought my paws around it. Ignoring the instinctual urge to "punish" the cat for attacking me, I handed the animal to its owner and let her go inside. The cat seemed to calm down once in the woman's arms.
"You certainly have a way with animals," Officer Jenkins joked as we slowly returned to our vehicle.
"Ungrateful ball of fur," I grumbled as I flexed my fingers and checked the backs of hands where the cat had clawed at me.
"You okay?" Officer Jenkins asked as I got back into the car and we resumed our patrol.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I answered with a nod, "it doesn't look like it drew blood."
"Your fur must be tough there," Officer Jenkins commented, "I tried to pick up a stray once as a kid, and the cat let me have it... and it did draw blood."
"Ouch," I commented.
She nodded in response and we moved along. After a little while, Officer Jenkins got to a question that was probably in the back of her mind for awhile.
"Did you and Molly see the news report about the lawsuit about the serum that transformed the two of you?" Officer Jenkins asked slowly.
I sighed heavily in response to that. I had been expecting a question like that to be coming from someone.
"Yes, I saw it," I sighed, "though their facts are mixed up... Molly was the only one injected with the serum. It was that injection that started it all for us. I was transformed because the retrovirus used latched on to Molly's DNA and when we had our wedding night... well, that was when I was exposed to it."
"My question has more to do with the lawsuit itself rather then the details of how you two were transformed," Officer Jenkins commented, "I was just curious about what you thought about it?"
"I think it's nuts," I answered simply, "that's all I can really say."
"That it's nuts?" Officer Jenkins wondered, "doesn't that fly in the face of everything Beauregard and R.A.M. did to you and Molly?"
"What Molly and I wanted was equal and fair treatment," I answered, "and if we could be human again, we'd take it. The people that have filed this lawsuit want to get rid of their humanity... and Molly and I... well, we agree with Leona's argument. They don't understand the consequences of becoming an animal person."
"Like your size, which while very attractive in terms of your build, is still... large?" Officer Jenkins asked.
"Not just height and muscle mass," I sighed, "the people that have filed this lawsuit seem to be part of what would be called a "furry fandom" among some people... I haven't seen much of that out here... but they're the sort of people that tend to wear animal suits at times... sometimes in public. Some that Molly and I saw from time to time in Peoria event went really deviant with it..."
"And now they can be the animal they fantasize about," Officer Jenkins commented, "scientifically, anyway... it's possible."
"Yes, but they seem to think that humanity's norms and mores no longer apply," I sighed, "which is part of the consequences that they do not understand. I mean... with our fur, most clothing is actually an irritant to Molly and I. Think of it like a stocking cap during the winter. At some point, it itches."
"So, from a comfort level, you two would probably prefer to be nude?" Officer Jenkins asked, "you are a sly one... next I suppose you'll tell me you have cubs on the way."
"Molly isn't pregnant," I sighed, "and while being naked would be more comfortable for our fur... Molly and I aren't about to become nudists, and the law won't suddenly ignore our nudity. If I were to take off all my clothes, you would have to take me in for indecent exposure... the only way these laws would become different would be if there were races of animal people that had evolved alongside man and helped shape the laws of the societies that formed."
"But that didn't happen," Officer Jenkins nodded, "humanity evolved on its own and the "races" of animal people only just appeared because of the Animatrix Fun House."
"Which means if these people win and are allowed to become animal people, they will still be expected to wear clothing in public, and to only have sex in the privacy of their own homes," I nodded.
"Or hotels," Officer Jenkins quipped.
"And they could cause a lot of trouble for themselves if they win, simply from the problems of animal instinct," I sighed, "take a couple, one who has some "connection" with wolves and the other with mountain lions. They then take the formula and become anthropomorphic versions of those animals... now, while they might get along, they will also gain the instincts of those animals. The wolf is a highly social animal that seems to need to be with other wolves. The mountain lion is a solitary cat that would naturally tend to avoid a pack of wolves."
"They could drift apart because of instincts?"
"Possibly... possibly not, most likely, I'd think it could make their relationship more difficult then it has to be," I sighed, "and if one becomes a prey species... such as a deer species... those instincts might become confrontational when the predator's instincts begin to see his date as dinner. And the people starting the lawsuit don't understand that."
"This may be something that people will simply have to learn," Officer Jenkins then sighed, "and I mean learn the hard way."
I only gave a frustrated sigh.
"I'd prefer it if people didn't "have" to learn this lesson," I sighed.