"What is this?!" Molly gasped as she noticed the cars parked in front of our cabin.
"It would appear that we have guests," I commented as I pulled into the spot in front of the garage door.
I then got out and opened the garage door and then got back in. Molly still had some things to say as I pulled Transit into the garage.
"George, I'm in no shape to entertain anyone!" Molly gasped, "about all I want to do is feed these two and then crash."
"I suppose they wish give you their congratulations and say hello to Machli and Michael," I said with a shrug, "besides, if all you have the energy to do is sleep, they wouldn't have let you out of the hospital."
"But... I just gave birth two days ago!" Molly protested as softly as she could manage, but still sounding very nervous.
"You're fine, Molly," I replied, "We brought you clean cloths and I'm sure everyone won't complain if you look a little disheveled. If anything they're likely to faun all over the cubs."
For the moment, no noise came from the carrying cases that Machli and Michael were in. They might have dozed off to sleep while we drove between Kalispell and Columbia Falls. As Molly got out and began to undo the straps that held the carrying cases in the seats she looked a little bit nervous. I slowly approached and nuzzled her softly.
"Everything will be fine, Molly," I assured her.
"If you say so, George," Molly replied and lifted up the carrying cases.
"We'll need to go in through the front door," I told her as I collected the bouquets of flowers that had been given to Molly while she was in the hospital.
"You planned this, didn't you?" Molly asked, sounding a little suspicious.
"A little," I admitted, "my parents did most of the work in terms of decorating and getting things set up."
And with that, I lead Molly to the front door. Being careful as I juggled the flowers, I opened it to let Molly in. She entered to a cry of "congratulations" from within. I then followed her in to see her looking to the preparations that had been done in expectation of Molly's arrival at Bandhavgarh Cabin with Machli and Michael. Hanging from the ceiling was a banner that read: "Congratulations Molly and George, and Welcome Home Machli and Michael". There were a couple of balloons here and there as well as that, family and friends were gathered there with their own welcomes.
Standing closest to the entrance to our living room was Frank Rhoer and his daughters, Nessie and Meredeth. Standing next to them and slightly in front of them were my parents, Jacob and Polly Wayne. Near the entrance to our kitchen was the Choir family, with Dave and Tabby standing by. Next to them and slightly behind them were Officer Frederick Barnes and Danielle Jenkins. Seated on the floor in front the Choir and Barnes/Jenkins family were Megan and Veronica, playing a game of "patty-cake". Next to them were Molly's coworkers from the school, Joseph Patten and Mrs. Fitzpatrick. And then between them and my parents was Rathik and Mugdha and their children, Aadi, Shanti and Kalamala. They stood quietly and politely, half as if they were in the presence of royal visit or something.
"Thank you all," Molly said slowly after a moment, "I don't really know what to say."
"There isn't much you need to," Patten spoke up with a soft smile, "you've earned the happiness of having your own family."
"George had the idea, but Jacob and I did a lot of the leg work," Polly said with a smile, "to let you introduce your children to friends and family and to celebrate a new beginning in your life."
"Thank you," Molly answered, "all of you."
"It is no problem," Rathik said with a nod, "it is an honor meet with people such as you."
"Danni and I took the day off to come," Fred Barnes gave a smile.
"Mostly so Megan could say hi," Danielle Jenkins added.
"HI!" Megan called into one of the carrying cases that Molly was carrying, recognizing that our cubs were in them.
"Rah!" was the answer from within, "Rah!... Rah!"
"Well... I suppose it'd be best set these down in a safe place then," Molly said weakly, "and make sure that the one who's woken up is okay."
Molly and I then made our way through the crowd and into our dinning room. I set the flowers in a large vase that had been prepared to receive the two bouquets of roses and one of tiger-lillies. Molly then set the carrying cases on the table and then undid the blinds on the one that was carrying the cub that had woken up. Its cries of "rah" continued. And it turned out that the cub was Michael.
"Hello, Michael," Molly said softly as she lifted Michael out, "are you hungry?"
He gave a positive response by half stretching a paw out toward Molly.
"If you'll excuse me for a moment, but this one is a bit hungry," Molly spoke and made her way upstairs with Michael trying to suckle through her dress.
In the meantime, I undid the shade over Machli's carrying case and carefully lifted her out. She slowly turned her little head, sniffed at my scent and then gave her little "purring" sounds.
"rrrrrr....rrrrrr," Machli gave that little contented noise.
"This is Machli," I announced as I carefully held onto the newborn cub, "and the one that woke up and was hungry is Michael."
"Her eyes are closed," Megan spoke as the gathered guests began to gather around, "is she awake?"
"rrrrr... rrrr," Machli repeated the little contented noise.
"She is," I nodded, "it'll take a little while for hers and Michael's eyes to open."
"How will they run?" Veronica wondered.
"Probably just like their parents run when they grow up," Patten said quietly, "right now, their muscles probably aren't strong enough yet for running and so forth..."
Veronica and Megan looked a little depressed at that.
"I'm sure they'll be your friends when they're old enough to do those things," I said to them.
"Okay," Veronica spoke in reply.
"She is cute," Megan also stated.
"Thanks," I gave a smile.
"She is precious," Patten said with a smile, "you and Molly both deserve some happiness."
I nodded, and the process of introducing Machli to the others went fairly quietly. She eventually passed from me to Meredeth and then to Nessie, and then to Frank Rhoer.
"You can call me Uncle Frank," Frank Rhoer said to Machli as he held her, "that's what your mom calls me. And know that you'll always have friends and family here."
He couldn't get much further as Machli had found one of his fingers by then and began to try and suckle on that finger.
"It would appear that she's ready to eat," Molly spoke as she returned, "I suppose we can trade off."
She then handed Michael to my mother and took Machli back upstairs. And the party sort of went that way. Guests took their turns holding Michael and did comment how "cute" he looked. After a few moments, Molly eventually returned with Machli and such discussions continued. It ended up Molly and I seated together with Machli and Michael in our arms, though by now they were drifting off to sleep again. But to a certain extent that didn't really matter. Friends and family were there. Molly was there, and we had our cubs. Everything was perfect and the both of us were very happy...
... END...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Endnote... I feel that this a good ending point for the "main cast" of "My Girlfriend is an Animal" as George and Molly have their "happily ever after" ending after everything that they've endured. I would like to thank, in order that they've posted in the saga, the Anonymous author who posted the first chapter, as well as a couple of other Anonymous authors who posted chapters along the way, Infernal Tobias, Nobody, and Bakuda for the chapters they posted. And I would especially like to thank Bahamut626 for all the chapters put in.
However, while this is a good "end" for George and Molly... that does not mean that there are not other tales to be told from this "world" within cyoc.net. "My Girlfriend is an Animal" is predominantly told from George's point of view. As a result, there are many things that couldn't be told in this saga because everything was from George's point of view. There were plot holes that simply couldn't be filled because of how "My Girlfriend is an Animal" was created...
However, with this being the ending of George and Molly's tale, I leave things open for some one to continue on with a new set of stories from within the same "universe". What about the plot holes surrounding the "unknown man" aka "Honorius" and the Office of Strategic Sciences? What about Clemens Patten and his upcoming marriage? What about Leon/Leona and how the Animatrix Serum was created? What of the tales of Changes other victims, or someone who took the serum after it was legalized?
George and Molly have been pet project for me for over a year (aiming at posting one chapter a day)... and so now, I'm opening things up for spin-offs. Someone can follow the lives of one of the other characters mentioned in "My Girlfriend is Animal" or simply a new character within this world created. My only request for each "spin-off" is that the author mention when the "spin-off's" tale starts in relation the main "My Girlfriend is an Animal" storyline in this particular "thread"