Chapter 18, Part 5: Baby Foxes

        She carried the twins, one in each arm, as they walked to the Psych labs the next morning. Tracker held his arm around her waist, resting his hand on her hip. At the entrance to the Psych hallway, she kissed him and waited until he vanished into one of the rooms. Then she walked back to the Plaza and sat near the pool, cuddling and playing with Phillipe and Marie. Friends came by, stopped to talk, and remained, fascinated by the twins, so fox–like, and yet so obviously not foxes. Soon a small crowd had gathered.
        ”How do you feed them?” Maude, one of the secretarial staff, asked.
        ”With a bottle for now, but the doctors have given me a shot to stimulate lactation.” She said it carefully, proud of her new word. “In a couple of days, I will be able to feed them myself.”
        Later, she took them back to the room for a nap. Tracker hadn’t returned. She sat, playing her guitar softly and watching the sleeping twins, until Tracker arrived. To her eye, he seemed tired, worn. As she hugged him, nuzzling his fur, she caught the scent of his fear and anger. She looked up into his eyes. “Tracker, what are they doing to you in the lab?”
        ”Nothing. Just testing,” he replied, but she could see the evasion in his body language. They are doing things to him, she thought, but he is not ready to talk about it with me.
        ”Let us go eat, mon coeur,” she said, turning to the comm unit by the computer monitor and punching for the nursery.
        ”Grannie. Tracker and I are going to the cafeteria to eat. Could you listen here and call me if the twins start to fuss?”
        ”Why, sure, I’d be proud to,” Grannie said. “You just move your comm vid to cover the little ‘uns and we’ll watch them for you. They’re in their crib?”
        ”Yes, they are. Thank you, Grannie. We will not be long.”
        ”Now don’t you go getting yourself strangled eatin’ too fast. We’ll watch them until you get back.”
        ”Thank you, very much,” she said, leaving the comm line open.
        She put her arm around Tracker and they went to the cafeteria for lunch. There, she picked out another healthy meal for him of baked chicken and cornbread stuffing, with vegetables, milk, and a large piece of cheddar cheese, and only one piece of nearly raw beef. Afterwards, they returned to their room.
        ”Tracker?” Antoinette said as she settled into his lap on a lounge. “You seem … distracted. Are you all right?”
        ”Fine, love,” he replied, crushing her to his chest. He touched her forehead with the tip of his tongue. “I just can’t forget what the General had his men do to you. I want to rip his throat out again. I want to chew on the man who tortured you, make him feel the pain he gave you!” His ears had gone back in rage.
        ”It is over, Tracker. He cannot hurt either of us any more.”
        ”True. But there are others who still want to hurt you. I won’t let anyone get away with hurting you, Antoinette! And if I ever find your torturer, I’ll make sure he feels your pain.” His eyes were feral.
        ”Non, Tracker. If you do that, you will be no better than the General. You must let the law take care of him. You did say that what he did to me was on the tape?”
        ”Yes.”
        ”Then let it go, mon cher. Rest now.” What was behind that, she wondered as she caressed the fur of his neck. His anger, she thought suddenly, her fingers stopping in mid-caress. The doctor was asking about his anger, and now this. They are testing his violence index, deliberately trying to goad him into a rage, and he is both angry and afraid of his anger. And he is unable to talk about it, either.
        She resumed her stroking. “I love you, coeur de mon coeur. With all my heart. No matter what.” He smiled and bent his head, touching her lips with his tongue.