The attraction and possible mating between related Kats was still incestuous, just as it would be between related humans. However, Maurice and Snowy had both completed tests on Marta and Marka after they were born, and while the virus or serum didn't change the DNA of family lines and meant that Lia and Luna WERE still blood relatives, it gave them much greater resistance to potential problems... likely a result of the fact that they had yet to find anything outside of weaponry, Kats didn't seem to have much in the way of vulnerabilities. They didn't get sick, and Marta and Marka were proved to be perfectly healthy. While Charles Sr, now Trigger, knew that shi would probably be the butt of several jokes, given what Charlie and Brent had told hir when they visited hir while shi was still a he and recovering in the hospital, shi didn't figure there would be any serious opposition to hir being with hir own cousin.
"So where are we going?" Sarah asked after a moment as they walked along, their hooves "clopping" along as they did so.
"We'll start with Jess and Nikole," Trigger answered, "I may not be related to hir, but... shi is still Charlie and Brent's mother..."
"You're not going to go back to hir?" Sarah questioned, and ran a hand down Trigger's black furred back and even playing with Trigger's mane, which went all the way down to hir taur half, "wouldn't you rather have someone who is literally hung like a horse?"
"Nikole and I essentially burned all those bridges when we divorced," Trigger answered, "This is more for being with my soughters, which will mean being on better terms with Nikole and putting the old hatchet in the ground."
Sarah only nodded, and they continued on their way until they came to Jess and Nikole's home. They quickly approached the door and knocked. It was actually Jess who answered. Shi looked to Sarah and then to Trigger and lowered an ear in confusion.
"Hello," Jess spoke, moving to sound friendly, "is there something I can do for you?"
"Hello, Jess, I'm actually here to talk with Nikole for a few moments, may I come in?" Trigger asked.
"Charles?" Jess gasped.
"Trigger, now," Trigger chuckled, "I figured if my family is going to be Kats... I might as well be one too... as well as putting aside the bad blood between Nikole and I."
"Sure," Jess answered, "Come on in... Nikole and I are giving Silky some "mommy" lessons right now, but if you're here to put aside bad blood, I don't think there is anything wrong with it... but let me warn you, you insult my mate and I will hurt you."
Trigger nodded, though Sarah was curious about something.
"Mommy lessons?" Sarah asked, "Aren't your soughters only six?"
"That would be Shasta and Heather," Jess answered, "Silky and Foxy are twelve... and Silky rescued a little Boarkat infant in Hawaii and has said shi wants to be the little Kat's mother now."
"A twelve year old adopting an infant?" Trigger gasped.
"Technically Nikole and I are the adoptive parents, and we'll only have custody so long as the biological parent doesn't come to ask for the child back," Jess explained, "Sally and Charlie got the paperwork in order and have been making inquiries to local authorities in Hawaii about the Boarkat, but since shi is an infant and cannot speak yet, we don't have a name, and thanks to becoming a Kat, we can't identify hir by hir fingerprints or anything like that..."
"But Charlie and Sally's orphanage states that they will take in any abandoned or rejected child," Sarah commented, "it's been one of the things that Janace's city council has sold and why I came to Janace. The add made it all the way to the New York newspapers."
"Well... yes... that is what they advertise and have won some support from Colorado's government for their actions... but the Hawaiian outbreak caught us a little flat footed as most of us were on the east coast at the time... and at least on the island of Oahu, most if not all of the people there were transformed. And the rescued Boarkat was wounded, which means hir transformation was the result of being clawed by some Kat... and likely meant that the parent was transformed at the same time. We thus don't know for sure whether or not what happened was abandonment and rejection or an accident... we won't know for sure for a while... and since the mother is a Kat now as well, shi could decide to change hir mind, which by law would mean we'd need to surrender the infant back to the mother, assuming that there is no legal reason not to give the biological mother custody."
They eventually made their way into the kitchen where Nikole was helping Silky hold the infant Boarkat. Silky had one army underneath the infant's taur half and bounced the baby slightly, but had the Boarkat positioned so that hir little torso was leaned against and supported by Silky's upper body. Silky was feeding the baby from a bottle with a very proud smile on hir muzzle.
"This is how you and dad feed me and Foxy?" Silky asked to Nikole.
"When you two got your teeth in, yes," Nikole smiled, also feeling proud in hir soughter.
Nikole then looked up, noticed Trigger coming in with Jess and Sarah following along behind. Shi seemed to recognize Trigger immediately. Either shi heard the conversation at the front door or shi instinctively knew who Trigger was.
"There are jokes I could make, Charles, but my children are present," Nikole said slowly.
"Silky, honey, why don't we take Pumba into the living room, let mommy and Trigger talk," Jess said to Silky, who nodded.
"Okay, daddy."
Trigger only watched as Jess and Silky left the room, taking the infant Boarkat with them.
"I didn't come to fight, Nikole," Trigger spoke slowly, "and call me Trigger, now. Charles is a boy's name."
"Charlie and Brent still go by their birth names," Nikole pointed out, "and as hermaphrodites we are both male and female. We can have names of from either gender."
Trigger only shrugged, "I intend to stay for awhile. Going by Charles would only raise confusion between me and our son... soughter... however you wish to put it."
Nikole nodded, but didn't say anything.
"You know I love Charlie and Brent," Trigger spoke as shi sat down and Sarah sat down beside hir, "regardless of our differences and the way I handled things with regard to you... I do love the children you gave me..."
"When you weren't distracted by other women or fish," Nikole answered.
"Well... I don't think I'll be going fishing again for a while," Trigger answered, "I think something I did in competition rubbed someone the wrong way... when I "disappeared" I remember getting hit upside the head by something, but I can't really remember any more than that... and I'm not going to risk anything more..."
"And you won't cheat on hir?" Nikole then asked to Trigger with hir eyes focused on Sarah.
"I don't plan to... and maybe I should have been more honest with regard where we were," Trigger admitted, "and I'm sure nothing I say will make you happy with regards to how our marriage ended outside of saying that I allowed you to hook up with Jess... but I do still wish to be with my soughters. You do understand that I do love Charlie and Brent?"
"That I can admit to," Nikole nodded, "So where do we go from here, then? What you did HURT, Trigger. Maybe not physically but definitely emotionally?"
"First, I'll apologize, I probably wasn't thinking, and you well know that both Charlie and Brent are smarter than I am," Trigger answered, "and from there we start over. Instead of being mates, we can try being friends... besides, according to some of the stories Brent has told me, you aren't a prude anymore..."
There was a some humor in Trigger's voice and Nikole actually blushed a little. Kats were highly sexual creatures, and mated pairs found it to be the ultimate display of their love for each other. Some Kats took a while to mate for the first time, as Talia waited years for Midnight to grow to physical and legal maturity, but once they mated for the first time, mating again would come shortly. Nikole knew that as clearly as the whiskers on hir face.
"Just be loyal to hir," Nikole instructed, "We Kats love sex... but we're also loyal to our mates."
"So we can try being friends?" Trigger asked.
Nikole nodded, knowing in hir heart that Jess was the best thing that ever happened to hir. And once all the outbreaks were over, shi looked forward to getting pregnant again.
"Be good to our children and don't teach my younger soughters any bad habits," Nikole instructed.
Trigger nodded, "I will."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Most of the rest of the family tour proved to be rather short lived. With the school year getting much closer, Talia and Midnight were busy with school work and visiting the Kats that had been rescued from Antarctica. That meeting just long enough to show them that Trigger became a Kat, just to join hir family and that Trigger wished them well. Brent and Charlie already knew about hir transformation. Shi also met with Janace and Anubis, as while they weren't blood family, Janace was Sally's mother and Sally was Charlie's mate, so Trigger figured it was appropriate to introduce hirself formally. That went rather well, but Trigger also found that Janace didn't have time for anything more than a quick hello as shi was looking after hir sither's infant soughters (both the three that hatched from Casey's eggs: Sara, Janet, and Missy and the one that Ryles gave birth to: Lara). It wasn't too hard, but it appeared that they preferred to be in sunlight when they cuddled with their Auncle. There were supposed to be some older children around somewhere, but Janace reported that they had told hir that they had gone to play Alpha and Centuri.
After that, Trigger and Sarah made their last stop, at the orphanage that Charlie and Sally ran, to meet with the one family member who didn't know about Trigger's transformation, yet. Shi found the orphanage to echo with the cries of children, both Human and Kat as they played, watch television, tickled each other, with Snowflake, Janice, Pinkie, and Alia eagerly helping. Though, many of the kids seemed rather excited about the new Unikat. Shi ultimately found Sally tending to twenty one infant Scorpkats. The infants were surprisingly mobile and moved around a bit, and Trigger noticed plastic caps around their stingers. Reca, Diamond, Fluffy, and Mary were also all present and eager to look to the little Scorpkats as they made little clicking noise as Sally shuffled baby bottles to feed the baby Scorpkats.
"So, I see you decided to join us," Sally commented as shi noticed Trigger approaching.
"Well... I'd stick out like a sore thumb if I stayed human," Trigger answered, "You remember Sarah?"
"Sarah... Charlie said something about a cousin..." Sally tried to remember.
"I'm Trigger's cousin," Sarah introduced hirself, "Though I didn't get see Charlie and Brent all that much..."
"And it looks like you two will become mates," Sally commented, as shi noticed the look between the two Unikats, "treat each other well and you'll be a happy family."
Sarah and Trigger both gave a polite smile. No one had so far seemed to seriously be worried about their relationship.
"So, who are these little ones?" Trigger asked looking to the infant Scorpkats that Sally was feeding.
"They're Brent's children," Sally commented, "Shi gave birth a few days ago, and these twenty one are your youngest grandchildren."
"They're adorable," Trigger found hirself saying as shi looked at them, "What are their names?"
"Well... Brent gave many of them male names, I guess because so many of us Kats have either taken "cute" names or female names shi wanted to be a bit more unique," Sally commented, "and their exoskeletons have a mark that shi wrote to get them... ah here..."
Trigger looked to see little bits of white athletic tape placed on their exoskeletons with a name written in marker on them.
"Okay, going from left to right and from back to front," Sally began, "we have Brian, Brianna, Marius, Marion, Lucius, Lucy, Kevin, Karen, Samuel, Saul, Simon, Iris, Ezekiel, Ezra, Frank, Francine, Leon, Stinger, Samantha, Eddie, and Brock."
"Kila's getting more milk, mommy," Reca reported.
"Thank you, Reca," Sally commented.
Trigger and smiled and looked at the infant Scorpkats. Shi also noticed that Sally's pregnancy was starting to look like it was starting to show.
"How far along are you and Charlie, now?" Trigger wondered.
"Three months," Sally said with a smile, "we have about six months to go... though I may give birth early..."
"Early?" Sarah asked, sounding half nervous.
"I'm carrying triplets," Sally smiled, "Charlie, Midnight, and Talia are only giving birth to a single child... and Trigger... hopefully you'll love being pregnant when it happens. Charlie has loved it very much."
"I think I'll fully get used to being part of the family again before I start adding to it," Trigger answered, "In the meantime... can we help?"
"Sure."