Molly and I continued mating through the morning hours. Molly had said that she thought that she had ovulated after our first coupling that morning, but the rest was an "insurance policy" of sorts. The mating would insure that if she had ovulated, there would be plenty of sperm there to insure a pregnancy. It was the thing Molly and I wanted. Medical confirmation of a pregnancy would take some time, or at least I guessed that much. Pregnancy wasn't detectable in the first few days after conception in humans, though Molly and I weren't entirely sure on Tigers. The books and websites that I had researched to help Molly didn't have a lot of that sort of information. Largely because they dealt with the things and issues related to tigers in the wild.
But our situation wasn't exactly like a wild tiger's. Some of it was related to the facts around our diet and the rest related to the various issues surrounding the Animatrix Serum. Tigers in the wild had a mating season that lasted about a week, but according to what we got from Clemens a zoo tiger had a longer mating season because food was more readily available and the Animatrix Serum seemed to lengthen this time even further. Clemens' guess, based on the data he had was that Molly's "season" would last between eighteen and twenty-one days. The only thing that would end our mating season earlier would be Molly becoming pregnant, and we were well on the way to having that happen. The only issue that really remained was to confirm that our mating was successful.
Confirming Molly's pregnancy could be an adventure of its own. We didn't know how soon a pregnancy could be detected with tigers. Doc Stimson might have some answers, but as a local vet, he likely had experience with domestic House Cats, and I didn't know for sure if people who owned cats took them took them to a doctor to see if they were pregnant. The other option would be to send another Email to Clemens. Zoos were involved in the conservation efforts to save endangered animals in the wild. Now, while zoo animals would never see the wild of their "native" lands, zoos did work on projects involved in artificial insemination efforts. If they proved successful, the large gene pools in zoos around the world could be artificially introduced into the wild populations and hopefully save them from extinction.
And even if artificial insemination projects weren't successful as a means to save those in the wild, zoos still needed to keep stock of their animals. In the past, many zoos got a lot of their new specimens by going out and hunting them. The animal would be trapped and taken to that zoo. Now, potentially among new and undiscovered species, that process was still done, but for the most part the zoos relied on breeding programs to insure that they weren't continuously harvesting animals from the wild to put on an attraction. So they had to have the equipment to detect and monitor the pregnancies of the animals in their care.
"We may need to send another Email to Clemens," Molly said as lunchtime approached.
We were in the middle of another break after a mating session, though it had lasted longer then previous breaks, and from what I could tell, the mating scent Molly had been producing for the past week was growing weaker. Instinctively that was a sign of success, but it still wouldn't hurt to get the test results that confirmed that Molly was pregnant.
"To figure out when we can confirm the pregnancy?" I asked.
"Yeah," Molly nodded, "I think we've been successful in mating, but I'd still like to know for sure that we've succeeded."
"Of course," I nodded, "Go on ahead."
I then took a sniff of our bed. Molly's mating scent and the scent of sex there was still fairly strong. With Molly's scent beginning to show that we were successful, keeping the sheets and things that carried the scents related to the mating season was no longer necessary.
"I'm going to take these sheets and things down to the laundry room," I then continued.
Molly nodded, "Yeah... I think I'd prefer to get cleaned up before doing anything on the computer."
I then set about cleaning our bed while Molly headed for the bathroom. I had just gotten the pillow cases off of the pillows when I heard the water come on. Putting the bed linens through the wash would have to wait until after Molly and I had showered, but that wasn't too big of an issue. There would be plenty of time for that. As I took them downstairs, I picked up faint traces of the scents of arousal and mating related scents in the other parts of the house.
A lot of that would be unavoidable. Molly and I did our best to clean and disinfect things, but to anyone that had a good enough nose, they'd probably easily detect that our cabin smelled heavily of tiger. Cleaning and so forth would make these sorts of things bearable, but couldn't remove everything.
The process of showering and cleaning up took about an hour. Molly went in first while I had stripped the bed and put out new sheets for it, and when she got out, I took my turn in the shower. Molly was vigorously rubbing a towel on her back to help dry the water out of her fur. And all physical signs showed that we had been successful. The mating scent on Molly was weaker still, and her nipples weren't erect, and very nearly hidden under the white fur on that portion of her breasts.
"We still have hot water?" I asked.
"We should," Molly answered.
I then turned the water back on and checked the temperature. The water was still warm. I was about to get in when Molly said something else.
"Thank you, George," Molly said to me.
"You know I've wanted kids as much as you do," I told her. I wanted to give her a nuzzle, but I didn't want to get her dirty after she'd just finished showering, "successful mating was the best gift we could give each other this year, and I'm not referring to the pleasurable parts of the act."
"I know," Molly nodded, "all the same, thank you."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I found Molly dressed and putting the finishing touches on putting the new set of sheets and things on our bed. They smelled clean and smelled like detergent, and with Molly's mating scent growing weaker, I could smell the detergent in it clearly.
"Did you get the Email to Clemens sent out?" I asked as I turned to the dresser to get out my clothes.
"No, I've mostly puttered around and finished up some of the cleaning around the cabin while you were in the shower," Molly answered, "we've left a pretty heavy scent around the house while focused on mating."
I nodded as I pulled up a pair of shorts and fit my tail through the hole in the back.
"I also figured you'd want to be there to send the Email," Molly added.
"You didn't have to do that, but thanks," I commented, "we'll need to thank him for the help he gave us in regards to the information related to the questions related to conception."
As Molly moved to start our computer she nodded in agreement. Once everything was started up, Molly got onto the Internet and moved to check her Email. There was nothing from Leon and Jacki, which meant that Jacki hadn't given birth yet. She had been five months along in November, and while her doctors expected that her pregnancy would last about six months, that time hadn't completed yet. Though our contact with her in November had been close to the eleventh at the start of the month. We were now near the end of the next month. Even if Jacki's sixth month hadn't been completed yet, I guessed she'd have to be close by now. But there was no Email from her, yet.
Most of the new stuff that was there was junk, which Molly deleted. There was one Email from my folks, which was likely their "Merry Christmas" message to go along with a couple of things they had mailed to us. Molly ignored that for the moment and clicked on the message we had gotten from Clemens earlier. Once there Molly clicked on the reply button and began to type out our reply.
It read: "First, I would like to wish you, your girlfriend, and Joseph a Merry Christmas. Things are still cold here, so I suppose you're happy in Florida, the sunshine state. The second thing is a thank you for the information you provided George and I. It was quite helpful and on some level a relief for us. And on an instinctual level, I believe George and I were successful. I believe I am now pregnant, which has us very happy, but I would like to be able to truly confirm that I am to be a "mother-to-be". Do you know how soon it will be before a blood or urine test or some other procedure could be done to confirm if I am pregnant? Or do I need to wait until I start having morning sickness or something like that? Again, thank you for your earlier help, and I apologize if I am bothering you too much... PS. It would be nice to see you again if you come out to visit next summer."
"So, what do you think?" Molly asked.
"I think it looks good," I commented, "Nice, direct, cheerful in a way."
"So, shall I send it?" Molly asked.
I nodded. Molly then clicked on the "send" button. Hopefully the message wouldn't be seen as an annoyance, and that they were all in good health.
"And now, on to lunch," Molly gave a slight smile as she began to shut the computer down.
"Right," I nodded.
While the computer powered down, Molly and I went downstairs and prepared our lunch. As we reached the bottom of the stairs, there was a soft knock on our door. We figured it might be Dave and his family or Frank Rhoer and Molly's cousins come to wish us a Merry Christmas. As we answered the door, we found it wasn't them. They were two Cat-People. One was the brown and black tabby coated Maine Coon, Marcella. She wore a festive looking green dress with a piece of holly pinned to a shoulder. Beside her was a male Cat-Person. Amy had taken her dose of the Animatrix Serum and transformed.
He wore a pair of jeans and a cotton sweatshirt. As a result I couldn't tell what the pattern on his body was like, but from what I could see on his face, hands, feet, and tail, I could tell that he didn't have a tabby's coat the way Marcella did. His eyes were ice blue in color, though the iris got darker the closer one looked to his pupils, the same vertical slit that was the common pupil among "little" cats... though some "little" cats had round pupils like "big" cats did.
The rest of his face was a mixed coloring of fur. His muzzle was a cream/white color, while the area around his eyes was a very dark brown in the same sort of pattern seen on Siamese cats. His triangle shaped ears were also the same dark brown as the "mask" on his face. The rest of his fur on his face was a lighter shade of brown. His tail slowly moved side to side behind him. It was largely a solid brown color, though it got darker the closer you got to the tip of his tail. So much so that the tip looked like it was black to me. His feet and hands were the same cream/white as his muzzle.
The big thing, though in this winter weather was the length of his fur. Marcella as a Maine Coon was a long haired breed, and the winter weather didn't seem to bother her at all. Molly and I had shorter fur and we could feel the cold more, but due to our larger size we were able to withstand it. The male Cat-Person was a short haired breed, and he shivered a little.
"Come in! Come in!" Molly said quickly as she saw the male shivering a little, even under the sweatshirt and jeans.
Marcella and "Amy" came in and I shut the door behind them.
"I'll say you look well, Amy," I said to the male that had come with Marcella, "Though, I'd suppose "Amy" isn't an appropriate name anymore."
"No..." "Amy" gave a chuckle, his voice was deeper and lower then it had been when he was female but was actually still on the high end for a male. Not that that was really something wrong. General George Patton supposedly had a high pitched voice, hence why he used so much profanity, "My name is Amos now."
"Amos?" Molly asked.
"It's a Hebrew name, and the only truly male name that started with an A...m, which I kinda wanted to stick to, as Amanda is a girls name as far as I know," Amos said slowly, "Amos isn't common today, but it's close to what my name was when I was female, so that was the name I settled on."
"I'm sure there shouldn't be too much of a problem," I commented, "I knew a guy at the police academy named Ahab."
"So uncommon names aren't so uncommon out here," Amos chuckled weakly.
"So how are you feeling?" Molly asked, "other then being a bit cold?"
"Alright, although there are some things that it may take a little while to adjust to," Amos said weakly, "suddenly having a penis after being a girl for eighteen years is kinda weird... not bad, but different."
"It'll be okay," Marcella said to him and nuzzled Amos, making both Cat-People purr, "You helped me get used to having breasts. I'll help with you where I can."
"Thank you," Amos gave a soft smile, "So, Marcella's told me you to wanted to do something for us for Christmas?"
"Mostly to thank you for all the help you've given to Molly and I," I said, "I know, you didn't blame me for the attack that was made on you, but this isn't really related to that. This is a thank you for what you've done to help give Molly a good future here."
"You wouldn't have any trouble with a "thank-you" lunch, would you?" Molly added, getting at where I was going.
"No, no trouble," Amos replied.
"Would you be okay with beef or pork, or would you want seafood?" I asked.
"We'd have no problem," Amos answered, "We may be House Cats, but we're still carnivores."
Molly and I nodded.
"I'll go get some steaks then," Molly spoke and headed off through our laundry room toward our garage.
I ushered Amos and Marcella into our living room and let them sit on the couch for a moment.
"So, Amos, may I ask what breed are you?" I asked, "I've never seen a cat like that... sorta like a Siamese... yet not..."
"I'm a Snowshoe Cat," Amos explained, "originally bred from the Siamese and fairly rare..."
"She saw the name somewhere and thought it was a breed that did well in winter climates," Marcella gave a chuckle.
"Turns out the "snowshoe" in its name is a reference to the white paws," Amos sighed, "but all the same, I think the breed looked good... and to be honest, Marcella's had some difficulty in getting her fur to lay right under clothing, so I figured a short haired breed would do better. We'll do okay, so long as I have Marcella by my side."
"And hopefully the two of you will do well together," I told him, "and hopefully you've both had a very Merry Christmas."
"You guys too," Marcella replied.
"Though I need to ask, Mr. Wayne, what is that smell... it's sorta musky... arousing... though fairly weak right now," Amos asked.
"Molly's been in heat of late, and we've been fairly proactive in starting a family," I said slowly.
"Kittens?" Marcella asked, looking up.
"Cubs, tigers have cubs," I corrected, "and for warning Amos, I don't know what Marcella's cycle is, and I won't try to... but for warning, when she is in heat, she will smell very good to you."
"I'm sure... but it'll be years before things get that serious between us," Amos replied, "and, congratulations if you and your wife are going to have a family."
"Thank you," I answered.