Janace and Anubis sat quietly watch the sun set, and Janace could feel it happening. Anubis as friendly and kind, a bit of a flatterer, but shi had a way with words that was winning hir over. As they sat, Janace also remembered Sally's instructions and how the speed Kats fell in love came into it.
"And now it's happening to me," Janace thought to hirself, "I'm falling in love... again..."
"It's beautiful," Anubis commented as the sun's rays bounced off of the mountains around Janace, "Very different from Egypt... but beautiful."
"Will you miss your homeland?" Janace asked curiously.
"I'll miss people, but no, I cannot go back," Anubis said slowly.
Janace turned hir head. There was an almost hurt tone in Anubis's voice and Janace didn't need six ears to hear it.
"Did they hurt you?" Janace asked, placing a hand on the Jackat's shoulder.
"No, my people were very supportive... but.." Anubis began trying to think of a cover, but saw the look in Janace's eyes and realized shi couldn't lie to hir. "But I must admit that you are not my first love... I had a mate in Egypt... she was willing to become a shi and I loved hir very much..."
"What happened?" Janace asked, fearful of another nasty divorce.
"When I retired as Egypt's President we were to start our family," Anubis said slowly, "but just when shi was ready to give birth...shi was eaten by a crocodile."
"I'm sorry," Janace spoke.
"There is nothing anyone could have done, I only hope hir soul is in heaven and is smiling on us," Anubis assured hir companion, "Shi would like you and I'm sure shi would approve."
"I won't push you if you're still mourning," Janace stood up.
"No!" Anubis got up as well, "I am over my mate's death and I have recovered... don't worry..."
"You're sure?" Janace asked.
"Yes, my exotic mountain flower," Anubis hugged hir and cuddled hir head up to Janace's head, "I am sure."
Janace found hirself smiling and returned the hug. "You can always talk with me if you ever have trouble."
"I will, my love," Anubis replied, "And I thank you for doing the me the honor of accepting me."
"How could I refuse a Kat who thought I was beautiful as an old human woman," Janace smiled.
The two then kissed, slightly awkward due to the fact that their muzzles didn't easily allow for human kissing, but they managed. Janace felt hir hearts flutter. Shi could tell shi was in love and it felt good.
"Though... I must admit rejecting that man simply because he is human sounded rather racist or speciesist," Anubis commented, "Kats and humans can breed together and can love together, and Raul as a Taur is like a human in that he has a single gender."
"It probably was a rather... mean statement... but Maurice, Snowy, Justin, Charles Senior, Nikole and I grew up together," Janace admitted, "I know Timothy Chakat, and while a lot of Maurice's "hippie" free love ideas comes from hir father, Maurice still holds a great deal of personal love and personal bonds. Maurice will probably accept an additional lover aside from Snowy, but it would only be with Snowy's consent and prior knowledge. If Snowy says no, Maurice will say no. Timothy Chakat, by contrast had a hard time taking no for an answer and was very much a playboy with a bit a perverted streak..."
There was a silence as the romantic moment seemed to fade.
"And here in Janace... saying one has to be a Kat in order to be with a Kat... any human can rather easily do that," Janace sighed, "I agreed to become a Kat rather quickly so that I could be with my grandchildren and not die of old age while they're little... Timothy can just as easily become a Kat as I did... but I've learned we have instincts very different from normal human "instincts." We love more and fall in love quickly. I felt my love for my family grow... my children, my grandchildren, my great grandchildren, my sither, hir children... and here we are... falling in love after only just meeting."
"You think he will fall in love with someone else if he becomes a shi?" Anubis wondered, raising an eyebrow and lowering an ear.
"Maybe, but more likely that Timothy would realize that when one loves someone, they do not abuse that love, they do not take advantage of the ones they love," Janace answered, "and when that happens... "shi" will understand why I didn't accept his advances and accepted yours."
"Thank you," Anubis said weakly and they looked to the mountains where the sun was setting. Janace soon gazed in the same direction. Shi then sighed and turned back toward where Charlie and Sally's home was.
"Come on, Charlie and Sally will be starting dinner soon," Janace commented.
"You're taking me home with you?" Anubis asked, sounding hopeful.
"Yes," Janace smiled, "so you can get to know the family you'll be joining."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile, Jacob (Jake) Cain and his sither, Justin, made their way through the main UN offices that were there in Janace. Justin had loaned Jake some of hir own clothing, with several "I insists" and several promises that the clothing wouldn't irritate the new Hyenakat's fur as much as anything Jake already owned. The two walked quietly for a few moments.
"You know, you don't have to come with me," Jake told Justin.
"Nah... it's been years since I've been in on a real policy meeting," Justin answered, "It'll be fun... and since Francine and I did help, I will let the President know on a point of protocol..."
"I thought as Kieen you don't have to do that?" Jake wondered.
"As Kieen of France, I have to listen to a lot of reports... France is a constitutional monarchy, and Francine and I did insist it remain as such," Justin answered.
"Ah... the "I want to keep my head" speech," Jake giggled, "I DVRed that."
"Good to see that your sense of humor hasn't changed," Justin replied, "so... as VP... have you given any thought to running for President when the current President's term is up?"
"I actually hadn't thought of that," Jake commented, "for the moment, I've still been trying to work our how to tell my wife about all this..."
"Francine and I can help," Justin offered.
"Thanks," Jake said, "I'd like that. You two will be okay to travel? Wouldn't doing a lot of that be stressful on your pregnancies?"
"We should be fine," Justin placed a hand on Jake's shoulder, "We came here for Midnight and Talia's wedding and to be with our children for awhile... we came to be with family, and you are family. You were my brother and now you're my sither."
"I could get Marsha to come here, she'd actually jump at the chance at seeing her nieces again... or would that be niphews?"
Justin shrugged. They then slowly made their way into the main office area where the American political leaders were waiting. They looked fairly serious but polite. Jake moved to stand before the president while Justin moved to sit to a side.
"You're okay?" the President asked to Jake.
"Yes, thanks to my family," Jake answered.
"Why were you helping them in the front lines?" the President then asked, "suppose they decided to kill you instead of rape you?"
"I felt that they needed the help, sir... our men were spread thin and had only gotten replacement stocks of the new vaccine when they arrived," Jake answered, "and to see my brother... sither... however you want to put it, and one of his children... I decided to help my family," Jake answered.
"Damn it Jake, you're the Vice President of the United States of America," the President groaned, "Neither you..." he then looked to Justin, "... nor you, your Majesty, should have been there..."
"My mate would not hold you responsible if something had happen to me, sir," Justin spoke up, "In fact shi helped get Washington DC under control. The worst shi said shi had to deal with were fangurls who wanted hugs and pictures with hir."
The President only rubbed his head, "I thank you both for the help... but as heads of state what you did is not our job. Our job is to keep things under control and be in a position to lead our nations. Had any one of the three of you died... or all of you died, there would be chaos... as France looks for a new Kieen or goes back to a Republic and as I need to pick a new VP."
Justin didn't answer to that. Shi and Francine had had children together, and in six months they'd have more of their own children, but Francine also had Alexis and Justin also Sally and Jessica. Even with a constitutional monarchy, setting a line of succession would be a good idea, since while Justin and Francine were physically much younger than their age, they were certain that old age would claim them before it would claim their children. It'd be a good idea to gather Sally, Jess, and Alexis and ask them if any of them truly wanted to be in line for the throne. Justin didn't think Sally would, as hir focus was almost entirely on raising hir children and caring for any orphan or rejected child (human or kat) shi came across. Jess might once dealing with all the outbreaks was over, as shi had devoted so much of hir work to that, but while Alexis at times seemed to reject from hir rank even before the Paris outbreak, shi was responsible and shi still loved Francine fiercely (and the two were on excellent terms). But that would be something to sort out later.
"You'd manage, and besides a leader should care for his or her or hir people," Jake answered, "wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes... but..." The President paused for a moment, "Jake, you're a good friend of mine. I know you got into politics to honor your big brother..." he then turned to Justin, "the State Department has put your picture... when you were human...in a place of honor and respect. Not just for marrying royalty, but for doing a good job for us when you were just a civil servant."
"Thank you," Justin said with a polite smile.
"Anyway," the President turned his attention back to Jake, "I know you were surprised to be picked to be VP, but I've grown to like you Jake... as a friend... but all the same... I don't want to see you hurt."
"I'll try to be safe, sir," Jake answered.
"Thank you," the President sighed, and gave a joke, "and Jake... try not to flaunt your breasts at cabinet meetings."
"I'll try not to, sir," Jake laughed.
"In the meantime... we have the issue of North Korea," the Secretary of Defense spoke up, "Radar indicated that the cause of the outbreak in DC was a missile fired from out in the Atlantic. And I believe two of the Kats that went there reported to the Pentagon that they found the missile and that it was of North Korean manufacture..."
"And they kidnapped the South Korean UN ambassador and placed a very convincing lookalike in his place," the President grumbled. "What would France's position be?"
"France's position is that this amounted to an act of war with a biological weapon," Justin answered, "the problem though... is that while the North Koreas have thoroughly managed to irritate everyone in the area... even the Chinese and the Russians, is the fact that it's the Kat Virus that was the weapon..."
"But Li Sang was caught!" one of the President's secretaries pointed out.
"Yes, but his organization survived," spoke the President's CIA chief spoke, "I've been in close contact with the UN offices here in Janace, and well... they're focused on trying to get these outbreaks under control... They want the capture of what remains of Li Sang's organization and the capture of the scientists supporting it to be the top priority. If we declare war on North Korea... even if China and Russia help us... or more likely look the other way... they're afraid that these guys will disappear and go into hiding and wait another six years, as seems to be the pattern."
"And what do you think of that?" the President asked.
"I'm not opposed to finding the guys... but they want a trial... if we are to say this is war, I'd say find them and then hit them with a few tons worth of incendiaries. The heat would kill the people, the virus, and any computer records they have... the problem though is that despite all the rumors... we haven't been able to get a person in to find them yet. The only thing that might work would be to have Mr. and Mrs. Chakat pretend to go rogue and are joining Li Sang's organization..."
"My children have told me that they wouldn't consider that," Justin spoke up, "part of their guilt over what happened in Fee City..."
"My predecessor pardoned them for that," the President answered, "legally they have no worries."
"That doesn't take their guilt away," Justin shrugged.
"What if we did just declare war and got Russia and China to at least close their borders," the Secretary of Defense asked, "We can gather forces... granted we'll have to weaken other sectors... but we can gather forces and strike and crush them. We'd then take out both the political enemy and these scientists."
"Assuming they don't hide or sneak out while we're gathering our strength and the Chinese and Russians are closing their borders," Jake spoke.
The President only sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
"Let's tighten the sanctions before we do anything else," he spoke, "we can move troops in... in name to protect South Korea, but we don't want to provoke a war... at least not until we know for sure where those scientist are holed up and that they don't have an army of horny Kats at their disposal... Though we'll also wait until we can reopen Washington DC..."
"That could probably done tomorrow, sir," the Secretary of Defense answered, "The teams managed to vaccinate the Kats that were there and with the all clear the people that left DC will know it's safe to return."
"Okay then," the President nodded, "we'll do that... but let's still try and keep in contact with the UN offices here. They might the only ones who can help us train a spy to get into North Korea... if Mr. and Mrs. Chakat won't be the spies, surely they can give someone enough "book-learning" to someone that they could wing it with regards to the science."
Everyone nodded in agreement. They had a basic agreement on what to do, but it wasn't much. As the President prepared to leave, Jake caught his arm with one hand. The president then turned to the Hyenakat.
"What is it Jake?"
"If you don't mind, sir, I'd like to stay in Janace for a little while," Jake spoke, "Visit family and send for my wife... hopefully they can help explain to her what's happened to me."
"Take all the time you need," the President said to hir and then left.