Answered Prayers: "Oh My Goddess!"

Unending BE - episode 498672

“EVERYTHING IS GOING to be okay.” Duncan said. He brought his right hand across and pulled with his left, hugging the beautiful dark-haired girl against his body in a comforting embrace. She tensed just a little, pushing against his chest with her small warm hands. His Tasha-girl wasn’t much for hugs, preferring to flow out of his arms like furry black quicksilver when he –

“Oh God. Oh God. This can’t be real.” He said.

In his arms, the pretty girl who had been his loving pet only hours before suddenly relaxed and pressed her face into his chest. She was always good at sensing his mood and inserting herself into his lap when he was feeling particularly down –

Duncan’s brain locked up, lost in the incredible sweet savor of the feel of her soft warm femininity against his body. His skin burned over every square inch of their shared contact. He could even feel the beat of her heart in the skin of his chest where her breasts pressed against his side. Helplessly he bent his neck and tenderly brushed his lips across her forehead. They’d shared kitty-kisses before, with Duncan pressing his lips against the top of her furry head and her returning the favor by licking the tip of his nose –

“Oh God.” Duncan said.

tweeeen!

A flare-bright light split the room. Duncan closed his eyes against the painful brightness. He felt a new weight settle on the end of the bed.

“Please, dear. There’s no need to be so formal. Call me Bast.”

Tasha twisted in his arms. She was trying to pull away, pushing against his chest with her hands, sliding her knee up and over. She’d twisted over onto her back before Duncan could react. He tightening his arms around her body protectively, feeling his hands pressing into her ribcage, feeling the soft weight of her breasts resting on his forearms, gasping in pain as one of her small heels scrabbled for purchase on the mattress and accidentally kicked him in the balls –

“Ah!” He said. “Ooooh…”

The pain in his crotch caused him to loosen his grip so that Tasha was able to slide up and back before he could get his bearings back. When he retightened his arms she was sitting up with her back against his chest and his arms were around her waist. She was still trying to escape – trying to dive out of the bed, probably so she could run and hide –

“Ka!” Tasha said. Duncan could hear the irritation in her voice. “Let me go, you big dummy!” she was saying. Any second now she’d dig her claws into him –

“Easy, little one.” The new voice said. “I know. There’s no need to be afraid, daughter. Hush now. That’s it, sweetie…”

The speaker’s voice was amazingly self-assured and reassuring, a crooning purr of affection and tolerant amusement. Duncan felt the tension of fear ease out of Tasha’s body. She was relaxing into his arms, letting her bottom sag into the fork of his legs, leaning back into his chest. He felt her hands come down to rest on his. She wrapped her fingers around his wrists. He brought his knees up on either side of her hips, crossing his ankles over her feet. He tightened his arms protectively and opened his eyes.

There was another woman sitting on the foot of his bed.

In contrast to the fair-skinned raven-haired (and definitely naked) girl in his arms, the woman had dusky golden skin and cinnamon-tinted dark brown hair. She was dressed to the nines in a very stylish and perfectly-tailored outfit. A short-waisted leopard-print bolero jacket with a high military collar accented her shoulders and narrow waist. Under the jacket she was wearing a midnight-blue silk chemise top with a shaped neckline that flowed over perfect cleavage. A thin braided cord of gold with a cat-head clasp held up a pair of sharply-creased coal-black pants that hugged every curve down to her calves, where side zippers drew attention to her small and beautiful bare feet. Her toenails and fingernails were exquisitely manicured and coated in matching metallic-gold polish. Several bright golden hoop bracelets ringed her left wrist. She sat comfortably on the corner of the bed with a straight back, turned quartering towards Duncan with a piercing expression of summation. Duncan watched her eyes play across the scene he and Tasha presented. He saw her linger on their overlapping hands, passing judgement in some indefinable but very certain way. The woman met his eyes again and nodded faint approval.

“Well met, Duncan Paul Matthews.” She said. Her eyes sparkled. “Long time no see.”

Duncan blinked. He wanted to rub his eyes, but there was no way he was about to disturb Tasha’s grip on his wrists. He knew this woman. The last time he’d seen her she had been wearing a long white laboratory coat, but –

“Doctor Bassett?” He said.

The woman smiled.

“Yes. And no. Bassett, Bastet, Bast… my little joke. But while we’re on the subject, you haven’t brought Tasha in for her yearly feline HIV shot yet. I know my office has sent you reminder postcards. Twice.” She said. Her voice was reproachful.

“I haven’t forgotten. I just haven’t had the time to get to your… office…?”

Duncan trailed off. This woman was his – that is, she was Tasha’s veterinarian! He’d been taking his little girlcat to see Doctor Bassett ever since –

“Ever since you stopped on the side of the highway one morning seven years ago, and got out of your Jeep and ran across three lanes of traffic to pull a tiny big-eyed kitten with a broken thigh out of the middle of the road. She remembers, you know. Cats don’t have much in the way of long-term memory. It’s one of their primary characteristics. But she remembers.” The Doctor said. “So do I.”

Not today. He’d said, speaking to Death. You don’t get this one, you bastard.

“Death really isn’t a bastard.” The Doctor said. “He’s got a job to do like all of us. But you caught my attention that day when you went out of your way to save a bedraggled little lost kitten and brought her to Doctor Bassett’s office. She made you late for work, if I recall correctly. You blew a six-year record for flawless on-time performance.”

“Like that matters.” Duncan said. “She needed me. Anyone else would have done it if they’d seen her first. When she came flopping out onto the road – when I saw how her little leg wasn’t working right –”

Duncan looked down at the girl in his arms. He focused on her left leg. He stared.

Halfway down were the scars. The two faint white scars that were the only sign left of where Doctor Bassett had installed the pins to hold her tiny leg together.

“Tasha…” He said. “You really are you…”

“She healed to perfection, Duncan. I did good work.” The Doctor said. Her eyes suddenly burned. “Your little black foundling cost you three hundred dollars and three hours of lost wages, not to mention the risk you took on the highway. Anyone could have done it – but very few people would have. That’s why I’m here, and it’s why you’re holding a princess in your arms.”

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Tue May 02 09:45:40 2006