"Mom, dad, I'm pregnant."
There was a brief moment of frozen silence and she wondered if they had been disconnected and she would have to work up her courage again. It felt like an eternity alone, in the spotlight, waiting to see how they would react, but it was only a few seconds before her mother's copper paws shot to her mouth and her ears twitched on her head.
“But you didn't invite us to the wedding. Is it that grey from down the street? What was his name? Voe? Something like that. He was always trying to get your attention, but I never liked him. You should have done more to please that Galliker buck in your class. He could have done a lot for you, but I heard he married the Youst's blonde last month. Even Bouer Smith would have been better than Voder Braun.”
“Mom!” The now frustrated bunny reached out to grab the paw of her chosen mate and pulled the young tiger into view. Her mother's confused expression was expected, so she clarified. “Nicolas is going to be the father of my children.”
“That's impossible! He's not a rabbit. It's … The genetics … It just can't happen. You shouldn't even be fooling around with him. It's just not right. What kind of deformed, mutant children are you creating? Born to suffer until they die because they can't exist. Kay, say something. This is just horrible.”
The black and white flop-eared rabbit on the screen beside her leaned closer, his right whiskers twitched once as they did when he was about to say something very serious. Looking at the screen below the camera made it look like he was staring at her belly and she began to feel terrified that her father would say something that she didn't want to hear.
“Does he make you happy?”
“Karem!”
The question caught her by surprise, but she was glad that he was being reasonable, “Oh, yes, very much.”
“And will he protect you and your children?”
Her mother was struggling to find words, but she knew she was out voted.
Ette pulled her tiger's arm around her and snuggled against his chest, “Definitely.”
“You can't be seriously considering letting this happen.”
Karem leaned back and put his paws on the table in front of him, “There are plenty of rabbits in the world; that's why we stopped at ten, remember? This is a miracle and I know I would like to see a tiger bunny.”
“We'll talk about this more when you get home; and you, this is not final. I will not watch you throw your life away like this.” Her mother disconnected abruptly and her father's side stretched to fill the screen.
“Don't worry. I'll talk to her and she'll be okay. Like I said, you take care of my minibun and let me know when those tiger bunnies arrive.”
She hated to disappoint him when he seemed so excited by the idea. “Dad, Nicolas isn't…”
“It's okay. I don't care. I love you and I'm glad you're happy.”
“I'm very happy.” She turned and kissed her tiger's lips, then got up and hugged him tight as she kissed him deeper. She sat on the desk in front of him and he kissed her passionately as they embraced.
Nic glanced over her shoulder and noticed the black and white rabbit smiling at them. He felt uncomfortable having someone watching him kissing their daughter and reached out to disconnect the call, then pulled her closer to enjoy their kiss again. He slid his paws down and teased the base of her little, fluffy tail, making her jump into his lap with a giggle.
“Oh!” She turned to look at the screen, but her father was gone. “I guess he didn't like seeing us kissing.”
“Oh, he did. I didn't.”
She turned back to her cat, “You hung up on my father?”
“He approves; that's enough. I'm glad I get to stay with you.”
“Of course you get to stay, it's your apartment; and I wouldn't have left you, even if they didn't like it.” She put her head on his shoulder and sighed, “I wish my mom was…”
He put his large paw on her head and stroked her soft ear, “She'll be fine. You heard your father; he'll talk to her.”
