*Oona's POV*

I was incredibly proud of Andy when he finally finished tailoring his little seed! It was very basic, but certainly workable. It was so good to see him so pleased with his accomplishment, finally gaining some confidence in his abilities! His handsome, wide smile was positively transcendent!

But reality came crashing down on me, hard, when Andy posed me his question. "So do I just stick it in your ear? How does it work?"

Abruptly, I felt incredibly apprehensive. Something about this wasn't quite right.

My thoughts came streaming like flooding river, and they started to pull me under. We couldn't do this; I couldn't just accept Andy's seed, not when when he hadn't consulted further with Juliet! I remembered her face as she cried, overwhelmed by all the changes I'd introduced into her life, and remorse for my responsibility consumed me. I couldn't make myself answer Andy.

He blanched, looking surprised. "But, but this seed is for you..." He looked like he was concentrating. "Oona, Jules said... Don't... Stop feeling guilty, ok? I thought we talked about this?"

Andy looked frustrated and a little angry. "You don't have much time! There are only six days left, I can't lose-"

I shook my head as the novel, horrible emotions ran amok. "Andy, you have to talk to Juliet again! This isn't right! This mating, it's a serious bond, and she was so distraught-"

Andy gesticulated furiously. "-I'm distraught! You could die! We need to try this now, in case I did it wrong! Then there will still be time to make another one!"

He just stared at me intensely, his black eyes burning. I assumed he was reading my thoughts and feelings, and I just let them flow. Words were too difficult.

I wanted him to talk to Juliet first; I wasn't comfortable... I couldn't ruin what they had. I felt the worry that he didn't actually love me, that his seed would be missing the final ingredient, sneak up despite my best intentions. I abruptly slammed a shield over my thoughts, ashamed.

Andy's expression had gradually softened. He sighed heavily. "I've been texting Jules, you know. She hasn't wanted to talk on the phone. She's just sensitive about things, I mean, you know? Not just the larger situation, but because she knows I can't... that my body doesn't want anybody but you right now. I mean, do you understand?"

He reached for my hand and took it gently. "Alright, I'll ask her if she'll come by. She already knows I can, in theory, have two mates. So I'll just ask her how she feels about it, the whole thing, what she wants to do. Would that be better? She's not angry with you, you know."

I hesitated, and Andy smiled. "Hey, the only thing she keeps getting really pissed about is that I haven't been doing the laundry regularly since she's been gone. And that's hardly new."

I couldn't help it, I giggled. Andy was such a goofball. And I knew what he said was true. For years, Andy had been terrible about keeping up with their laundry.

---

*Andy's POV*

Leaving Oona at her place, I mirror-warped (or whatever it was called) back tomy own apartment. With minimal difficulty, I demanifested. When my rather sad Bengals loincloth droppedto the floor without a tail to support it, I couldn't help laughing. Not that Iever planned to be some kind of supernatural spy or ninja or whatever, but theclothes thing was a nightmare.I'd have to start wearing nothing but roomy spandex.

Unsure what to wear, I ultimately took a risk and put some actual, intact sweatpants on. I marchedout to the living room, only to find both cats staring at me intently. It wasunnerving.

I frowned. "What? Ijust finished the seed and I was going to ask Mommy to come have a talk."

Femme groaned theatrically in a disapproving fashion before rolling on herside, away from me, and starting to groom herself. I looked at Crow andshrugged.

Crow rolled his eyes at me. "Andy, whatare you thinking?"

I hesitated. What was wrong with that? Was I missing something obvious?

Crow pointed towards the laundry room, his expression as though I was a smalltoddler that required endlessexplanations. "The litterbox hasn't been scooped in three days! Add that to thelaundry, and you're already starting off on thewrong foot-"

Irritated at them because they were totally right,I stomped off towards the litterpan. "-Fine!Anything else?"

Crow called after me. "You should probablytake out the garbage and recycling. It's too late to vacuum, but you couldalways spot-clean with the dust buster."

I shook my head as I lifted the top off the litterpan. Cheeky fucker!