Mikkie, Danna, Sammy, and Gloria sat quietly in the living room of Mikkie and Danna's home. Tris and Sirt were playing with some of there Christmas presents on the floor while Danna and Mikkie fawned over Emerald, Opal, and An-Bai. Dao-Ming was busy in nursing from Gloria at the moment.
"You two might want to consider weaning them off of you and getting them on a bottle," Danna commented as shi tickled An-Bai's belly which got the infant Dracokat to reach up and playfully nibble at hir Auncle's fur, "They are starting to get their teeth in..."
"Yes..." Mikkie agreed, "they maybe babies... but they prefer to get a firm grip on what they're suckling on. By the time they start getting their teeth, it starts to hurt when the suckle. Trust us... we know this from experience."
Mikkie and Danna paused to look to Tris and Sirt, where Tris was trying to get a Superman action figure to "date" Sirt's Barbie doll. It actually made Mikkie smile with pride at hir soughters, while the idea of the "date" was rather stereotyped and actually involved Tris having Superman save Barbie from Lex Luther AS the date, it was very cute. Shi wished that hir sither's eggs had hatched sooner, as shi felt that they would also make great playmates with Tris and Sirt, but then they couldn't change the past. And Emerald, Opal, An-Bai, and Dao-Ming were all adorable and Tris and Sirt wanted to play with the infants a lot to, though it was commonly to show they were "big gurls" in helping to look after their cousins. They also listened very closely to their parents and Auncles on being gentle with Sammy and Gloria's hatchlings.
"We'll need to buy some bottles," Sammy then said to Gloria as she wrestled with preening some of Opal's feathers.
Much of this was heavily necessary in many ways for all Kats. Mammalian based Kats, like Mikkie and Danna kept brushes to keep their fur clean and free of problems and parasites. Dracokats, Dinokats that had feathers, and any Avian (bird) based Kats had to routinely preen and comb feathers to make sure they lay correctly and that death feathers didn't get caught in them. Reptilian based Kats periodically shed their skin, though thanks to having their hands, they could easily peal off the old skin with no problem. For adult Kats and for most Kat children, this was all rather easy as it fit into the daily routines of keeping clean. Younger Kat children and infant Kat children commonly needed help from their parents or babysitters, and that was what Sammy was engaged with with Opal. Opal, however, didn't quite feel like being preened at the moment and was trying to wrestle with hir mother's hands.
"Oh you could even borrow some of ours," Danna offered, "Tris and Sirt aren't going to be needing them anymore."
"But... the issues with the outbreaks are over," Gloria answered, "the last criminals and scientists have been tried and sentenced. You're free to become pregnant again."
"And we look forward to getting ourselves pregnant again," Danna said with a smile, "but Mikkie and I agreed we'd wait until after Tris and Sirt turn eighteen. After all... if Janace is right and we're going to live to be over a thousand years old before we die of old age... Mikkie and I can wait until our present children are grown ups... Maybe by then... they'll be ready to take Tres or Sert as their mates and they'll become mothers too."
"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!" Sirt protested while Tris joined hir in saying, "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"
Being only seven years old, Tris and Sirt weren't yet old enough to really see Tres or Sert as anything other than friends, but the two sets of Chakat/Skunkat hybrids loved each other on the same level as had been noticed between Janice and Snowflake. Mikkie, Danna, Alexis, and Flake had been working on a close plan to make sure that when the two sets did begin to grow up and feel more "adult" urges that they recognized that they had to wait until they were eighteen. Much of the plan was based on the standard Kat rule of "no sex until you're eighteen," but had also incorporated some of the refinements that Charlie and Sally were changing for Fluffy, Mary, Diamond, and Reca and Maurice and Snowy were changing for Alpha and Centuri. Even with that though, Danna and Mikkie also couldn't resist having a little fun with their kids.
"Your thoughts on that may change when you grow up, dears," Danna reminded them.
"So you've both agreed to wait?" Sammy asked.
"Yes," Mikkie nodded, "Just because the outbreaks are over doesn't mean we're going to spend all our time breeding..."
"No matter how fun it is," Danna gave a giggle.
Sammy and Gloria both nodded, as Dao-Ming finished hir lunch. Gloria set hir soughter down between hir forelegs on the couch shi was on, and Dao-Ming began to snuggle up to hir mother. While Gloria buttoned up hir vest, hir soughter began to drift to sleep.
"So what will you two be doing now that the outbreaks are over?" Mikkie asked after a moment.
"For the moment looking after the animals on the ranch," Sammy answered, "though in the long term... I was thinking in that we'd go back and set up a new zoo... in Northern Australia..."
"You won't be going with us?" Mikkie gasped, "Talia has said we'll all need to go into space so we're not over-populating Earth..."
"Most of Earth's Kats are going back to being human and Maurice and Snowy are going to be working on the Retrovirus Vaccine so that the age limit regulations aren't necessary," Gloria answered, "And I'd thought that you'd want to remain here on Earth to keep in touch with your fashion interests..."
"Our designs are predominantly for Kats," Danna answered, "if all the Kats go to another planet... we'll need to with them."
That actually hit something inside Sammy fairly hard. Shi had always loved hir sither and Danna had been a good friend by association, and since they all became Kats, those bonds had become closer, particularly when Danna became family by becoming Mikkie's mate. It was not as if Sammy couldn't let go of hir sither, as shi had done that before, but now, as a Kat, it seemed more as if shi didn't want to... not as much as shi had been in the past anyway.
"What about Mom and Dad? They'd surely want us all to stay close," Sammy argued, wanting to keep hir sither close.
As if on cue, the doorbell rang. It was Danna who got up and went to the door. Shi really didn't want to not have Sammy and Gloria around either, but it really wasn't hir place to set their plans and they might have to accept having distance between them. Shi handed An-Bai to Gloria and made hir way to the door. Shi found a man, likely in his late fifties to early sixties standing there with bags and with a woman of equal age beside him.
"Can I help you?" Danna asked.
"Are you Danna Lis (pronounced Lees)?" the man asked.
"Yes...?" Danna asked curiously.
"Wife/Husband of Mikkie Mire?" the man then asked.
"Yes..." Danna again said slowly and was then surprised when the woman leaped forward to hug hir.
"It's so good to finally meet you face to face, how is our little Mikkie?" the woman asked.
"You're..." Danna began.
"General William Mire, now retired, this is my wife Lydia, mother of my daughters Mikkie and hir twin Sammy."
"Oh, hello!" Danna gave a friendly reply and returned hir mother-in-law's hug, "what brings you here?"
"I told Sammy that we'd come to visit when everything was over," William Mire answered, "and with the war avoided I was able to end my carrier on a high note. It took a little while longer than I'd anticipated to get things in order, but I am here now and am here to see my daughters and their children."
"Oh... and they're all here, so you have great timing," Danna answered, "Did you come to become Kats too or..."
"No," Lydia Mire answered firmly, "we want our daughters to be happy and we'll support and love them no matter what they are... but we are ready to live out our lives in peace."
"You'd live longer as a Kat," Danna commented.
"We all have to go sometime," William answered, "besides do we need to Kats to be happy?"
"No," Danna nodded and understood that they had made their decision in that regard, and shi was okay with that, "Well everyone is here... come in, come in..."
They followed Danna in as she went in from the entryway at the front door of hir home and made a right turn into the living room. Before they entered, Danna began to announce them.
"Tris! Sirt! Be on your best behavior, grandma and grandpa are here!" Danna announced as shi lead them in.
William and Lydia both entered to see two Skunkat/Chakat hybrids playing on the floor as well as two Dracokats, one laying on a couch with largely blue feathers, the other seated on the floor with largely red feathers, and one adult Snow Leopard based Chakat with some blue highlights in hir fur. The Dracokat with red feathers and the Chakat looked to them closely.
"Mom! Dad!" Sammy and Mikkie both cheered happily and came forward, though with an infant Dracokat in their arms they couldn't give them hugs, but simply seeing their parents made them happy. And made them forget the potential issues of different future plans.
"I told you we'd come to visit when things quieted down," William said with a smile.
"You both look beautiful," Lydia smiled, "We hope you're happy..."
"Happy with each other and with our mates," Sammy answered, "and since you've met Mikkie's mate, Danna, let me introduce you to my mate, Gloria."
Sammy then gestured to Gloria who climbed off the couch to stand beside hir mate with An-Bai, and Dao-Ming in hir arms.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Mire," Gloria spoke politely, "You have come for a visit?"
"Yes," William smiled, "and to hopefully avoid the insanely complex games of phone tag."
Sammy and Mikkie both ended up chuckling at the endless string of messages they ended up leaving on each other's answering machines trying to get in contact with each other. It wasn't really funny, but still they had to laugh, a little. Danna meanwhile brought up Tris and Sirt so that they were seated in front of hir and Mikkie.
"And these are all your little ones?" Lydia asked.
"Yes," Gloria replied, "These are the two Dracokats that hatched from the eggs I layed... An-Bai and Dao-Ming."
"I'm holding Opal and Mikkie is holding the other Dracokat that hatched from an egg I layed, Emerald," Sammy said with a smile.
"This is the soughter I gave birth to," Mikkie then pushed Tris forward, "Hir name is Tris."
"And this is the soughter I gave birth to," Danna motioned to Sirt, "Hir name is Sirt."
"Hello Grandma, Grandpa," Sirt and Tris said together, and then Sirt added, "Did you bring us presents?"
"Did you?" Tris added.
"Gurls!" Mikkie protested firmly, "Manners!"
"It's okay, dear," William smiled and got down carefully on one knee, "We brought ourselves. To come see our daughters and their apparently bright eyed children. Shouldn't that be more than gift enough for both of us?"
Tris looked to the older man kneeling to hir. He looked old, but friendly, and he had a nice smile. And so shi did the only thing a grandchild would do when meeting a grandparent, shi hugged him. That made Mikkie and Sammy both smile. Danna smiled as well. They'd probably have plenty of things to talk over with regard to planning for the future and they'd also have some more work with searching for the remaining pieces of the Ark now that the "excitement" was over, but that would take time and as Kats they'd had more than enough of that to come to a decision. And while they would surely outlive William and Lydia Mire, on some level that was the way things were supposed to be. And Danna knew that even if hir soughters' grandparents died in the next thirty to fifty years, preferably of old age, that good memories would always make death easier to take. Shi knew that from experience with hir own family... and even that possibility would still be in the future. For the moment, they were all together and they were happy. That was all that mattered.