Paws

Epilogue

(Pic of Kessa. Technically a chow chow puppy lol)

Sam-

"Kessa! Get your bum back here!" Richard grumbled as he ran after our new boggie. It bounded down the hall, peeing the entire way until it stopped in the kitchen next to its empty food bowl. I followed after them, getting there just in time to see Richard fasten the diaper onto the black cotton ball.

Grinning, I walked up to Richard and gave him a peck on the cheek, then took Kessa and snuggled him against my chest. Since I'd gotten fixed a few days after having him, we've been bottle feeding him goats milk and recently started mixing it with small bits of ground meat in a bowl. Unlike Coda, he had easily taken to the new food and sometimes didn't bother finishing the milk in the bowl after he'd eaten all of the meat.

"Well, he's done peeing." I said after Richard returned from the diaper garbage bin. He looked exhausted, but as his eyes fell to our new baby, they immediately lit up with pride. I handed him over, the boggie eager to go to his father's strong arms.

"We make a pretty adorable cotton ball." I said before scooping up Coda. He had finally been spending more time in his human form and even said his first word last week. It was sock. Richard's bear had been so excited that it forced its way out and took out every single sock from Richard's dresser and made a pile for its boy to have its pick. Thankfully Coda didn't eat it, though he does sleep with it each night next to his pillow.

Not really sure how I feel about him having a sock instead of a stuffed animal, but if he likes it and doesn't eat it...

Mentally shrugging, I looked outside at the backyard. We'd sold the kennel and chain link awhile ago and after winter passed, the grass had started coming back in. I'd also graduated the high school program I took online, with a lot of help from Richard. He didn't do the work, but paws only went so far when you had to actually type your answers.

"You're spacing out again, Sammy." Richard said, drawing my attention back to the present as he leaned over and pressed a kiss to my nose. Kessa licked it, too, adding his own kiss to his dad's before panting happily.

"I swear he's just a cotton ball that someone dyed black and added a tongue." I said, rustling the fluffy, soft fur on his head. He didn't really make any sounds yet except for a grumble when he was really hungry or startled, but I could see him trying to figure out how to bark when Coda did. It was only a matter of time before he started.

Walking over to the fridge, I set Coda down on the floor, then opened the door and took out a large cake. It was shaped like a sock and read Happy Birthday to the Best Sock Bear. When I turned back around with it so that I could set it down on the counter, I saw Richard's chubby black bear sitting with its legs out to the side and paws in front. It was staring at the cake and drooling, large droplets plopping down onto Kessa's head as he mirrored his father's awkward sitting position to a T and panted.

"Yup. I got you a giant sock for your birthday, you big lug." I told Richard as his bear rolled onto its side over the torn shorts he'd been wearing, then got up and waddled over. Kessa followed, easily climbing his father's fuzzy arm with his large paws and claws. He ended up leaning over Richard's head as I removed the lid from the cake and they both leaned forward to sniff.

"Let me just cut some pieces for myself and the ki---"

Jess appeared in the outfit she'd gone to change into for the small birthday party we'd planned right as Richard swiped the whole cake off of the counter. Somehow it landed without being flipped or splattered anywhere. Richard's bear wasn't very interested in keeping the festivities clean, however, as he reached down and scraped a huge pawful of cake out, then hurriedly began munching away.

Seeing that the cake would soon vanish, Jess hurried over and grabbed a fork from the drawer by the sink and began to dig in. Coda was soon there, too, not bothering for a fork as he grabbed a handful of cake and promptly shoved it into his mouth with an excited giggle as he sat in nothing but a diaper.

Seeing an opportunity for a very entertaining family photo, I grabbed Richard's smart phone and got the camera set up. I was just lifting it to snap the photo when a large paw tapped the phone and Richard grunted. "Huh?" I asked, confused as to what he wanted. When he tapped the phone again I turned it, and he poked a small picture at the bottom left of the screen with a caked-claw. Leaning closer, I realized what it was and grinned.

Grabbing some tape, I carefully secured the phone at the perfect angle on the counter after using a few boxes to fasten it too, then set the timer. I figured that it would take us a minute to get into position so that's what I put before turning and walking over to them. Richard's bear had just shoved a large piece of cake into its mouth when I reached him. He tilted his head at the camera and grunted, then reached out with a huge paw and wrapped his fuzzy arm around my waist, easily pulling me back onto my backside against him. Kessa grumbled from the abrupt movement and it drew Coda and Jess's attention.

"Come here Coda, Jess. Family photo time." I said, opening my arms to my boy, even though he was covered, somehow in only a few short moments, head to toe in cake. He jumped into my arms at the same time Jess scooted in against my side. Finishing the pose, Richard leaned over after finishing licking his free paw clean and roared at the camera as he wrapped us all up in his arms... and cake.

There was lots of cake when that camera flashed, but looking back on that day as I stared at the photo enlarged and framed on the living room wall, I knew that I couldn't have gotten a better representation of our family than that simple photograph.

End-

(Thanks for reading another random story from yours kind-of truly! I think those cocky lions might need to find someone soon...Until then. *waves*)

(I'll also be putting my Ko-fi link at the bottom of the final chapters of my books from here on. It's totally optional, of course :) See you guys on the next story!)

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