FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

First of all, I'm so sorry for the wait. I had to stop writing for a bit because of finals. Now that those are out of the way, I can continue this series! Speaking of that, I've mapped out the rest of this and it should go until part 10 and then the epilogue. But enough about stuff that you don't care about, let's get on with the show!

**************************

Kyle and I made our way back up to Mike's hospital room. My mind was still clouded with all the new things that I just learned about Kyle. I felt horrible for Kyle and everything that happened to him. This came with a growing hatred towards his father. Then I remembered the way that I treated Mr. Grey mistaking him for Kyle's actual father. I made a mental note to talk to him after seeing Mike once more.

Once Kyle and I entered Mike's room, I noticed that Kyle's family was no longer in there. It came as a sort of relief to me because I just avoided an awkward moment for the time being.

Mike noticed us as soon as we stepped in. I heard the beat of his tail against the bed and that helped me feel better.

"I was wondering where you went off to." Mike said with his usual enthusiasm.

"Yeah, sorry about that." I said.

Mike lifted up his paw, "Don't worry about it. So, anything new going on since, you know, last time?"

Oh yeah, a lot happened since the last time we had spoke. I looked over at Kyle and knew that he was thinking the same thing as me. "Nope, not really," I answered.

"At least I didn't miss anything," Mike said without noticing the glance that Kyle and I shared and grabbed a deck of cards for the small table next to his bed and started shuffling them. "You guys want to play some poker? I've been dying of boredom here."

"Alright," I said, "you got chips?"

"Already taken care of," Mike said pulling out a case of them from a bag, "one of the benefits of being in the hospital for saving someone else is that a lot of people like to give you gifts."

"Can I join in?" said a voice from behind me.

I looked around and saw John standing there leaning against the doorframe with his tail swinging behind him and a smirk on his muzzle. It was really good to see him again and it had been a while since I had seen John and that made me feel a little guilty. John walked up to the bed.

"It's good to see you again," he said to Mike holding out his paw. Mike took it and pulled John in and they both used their other arm to give a brief half-hug.

John grabbed a chair and we commenced to play poker. Mike took the deck of card and started shuffling them like a pro. "Alright bitches," he said, "This here is Texas Hold 'Em." We played for what seemed like hours, but we didn't care about the time. It was the first time that all of us were together happily for a long time. After I had taken just about everyone's chips, a nurse walked into the room.

"I'm sorry," The feline said, "but you all need to go. Mike needs his rest."

Mike chuckled, "Come on Laura, I just came out of a coma, I've had plenty of rest."

"Don't you use that tone with me," Laura replied with a playful smile on her face.

Mike blushed under his fur after Laura spoke. I wasn't sure if anyone else noticed it but me, but I kept quiet. I looked back at the nurse. She seemed young and by judging from her looks, she seemed only a couple years older. Mike looked at me and I looked back at Mike and gave him a quizzical look raising one eyebrow and darted my eyes between him and Laura. Mike got the message because he turned redder. He then shook his head slightly and said to everyone, "Sorry guys, but I can't say no to her, otherwise I wont get extra pudding."

We all said our goodbyes to Mike before stepping out of the room and down the hallway making our way around other visitors, doctors, and nurses. As we walked I turned to John.

"Hey John?" I asked him.

"Yeah," he answered.

"I'm really sorry for being so distant lately. If it seemed like I was pushing you away or avoiding you, know that that wasn't what I was trying to do."

"It's okay Allen, you're going through a lot right now."

I put my arm around John and pulled his shoulder against mine and he did the same to me as he returned the bro hug. We let go and with a smirk on the fox's muzzle he looked over at Kyle, "you better watch out Kyle, Allen's a player."

I gave a teasing punch against John's arm, which he overplayed and acting like his arm was broken. I then felt Kyle take a hold of my paw.

"Don't worry," Kyle said, "no one's going to take my wolf."

We made it to the lobby and saw that Kyle's family was still there waiting for us. Kyle went to talk to them as I went to get a drink from one of the water fountains.

I lapped up the water, even though it had on odd taste to it. I stood upright to join everyone else when I saw Kyle's dad standing right behind me.

"Oh!" I jumped, "Mr. Grey, sorry, I didn't see you there."

"It's okay Allen," he said. "I wanted to talk to you."

He made is way to a secluded part of the lobby out of earshot from anyone else. I followed half a pace behind him. Once it seemed like he was satisfied with the privacy he stopped.

"Allen," Mr. Grey said, "it has come to my attention that you know more than you let on."

I knew exactly what he was talking about. My ears drooped down and I replied, "Yeah. I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier today."

"Don't worry about it Allen, Kyle told me about what you heard with the Detective. Personally, I don't think that that detective should have brought you along. That's not what concerns me right now though. I does have me worried is that Kyle also said that he told you about his past, from his actual father to how he ended up here.

"Yeah he did," I said, "he," I paused, "he told me everything." I lowered my head not in shame, but sadness.

"It's a tough story I know," Mr. Grey said as he put his paw on my shoulder. "As his father now, it's hard to hear." I could see his eyes water a bit, but he wiped them with his paw and continued, "But now that you know everything, I have to implore you to keep quiet about all of this. I know you want to get justice; I do too. To be honest if I saw his actual father, I'd strangle him in a second, but you have to keep your head down. A lot of work has been done by a lot of people to keep Kyle and Cole safe. If anyone hears about this, then you put both of their lives in danger. Kyle should have never told you, but since he did, you have to swear to me that you will not breathe this to another soul."

"I swear Mr. Grey," I said, "I won't do anything to harm Kyle or Cole."

"I know you wont," he said.

--x--

The bus came to a squeaking halt downtown. I made my way around a couple people and hopped off of the bus. The doors closed behind me as the hunk of metal rolled away. I turned to my left and made my way down the couple of blocks downtown to where the police station was. The familiar sight of the stations met me as I entered through the double doors and stepped in.

I walked over to the receptionist at the front counter. "I'm here to see Detective Bosh," I told her.

"Do you have an appointment?" the sheep said without looking up from her computer.

"Uh, no," I answered, "but it's important that I see him right away."

"Are you here to report a crime?" she said in her monotone voice.

"No," I answered again, "I just need to talk to him. He knows who I am just say that I need to speak with him,"

She finally took her gaze from the computer and looked at me, "I'm sorry, but Detective Bosh is busy right now and can't see anyone unless he has told me of it in advanced."

She then looked away and went back to her computer. I stood there for a second to find something to say but nothing came to mind. I turned around and took a few steps away when I stopped to look down the hallway. People in suits and others in casual clothes were walking through the hall and coming in and out of doors. I took a quick glance over towards the receptionist whose eyes were still transfixed on the monitor.

I took a few steps closer to the hall while still looking at the sheep to make sure she didn't see me. When she made no indications that she saw me, I headed down the hallway to Bosh's office. I had to weave my way around a bunch of people in the hall until I saw the door with Bosh's name on the front.

The door was ajar and I didn't hear anything going on inside. I hesitated for a moment as I contemplated whether or not I should open the door. I figured that I had already gone this far, so I put my paws against the door and opened it slowly.

Bosh didn't notice me open the door and walk in. He sat reading papers in a manila folder. I took a few steps closer to Bosh's desk and said, "Detective Bosh?"

Bosh looked up quickly when he heard me. He quickly closed the folder when he saw that it was me and hastily pushed it to one side. "Allen," he said, "What are you doing here?"

"I, uh, I came to see what you found out about Kyle's dad." I answered.

Bosh had a confused look on his face for a split second, but it then went away as fast as it came. "Well, I looked into it and I couldn't find anything on Mr. Grey. I know this must be hard to hear but-"

I cut him off, "I mean about Kyle's biological father."

Bosh raised an eyebrow at me, "so you know."

"Yes," I answered, "Kyle told me everything. I figured you would have found out too. Now, what are we doing about it?"

"We?"

"Yes, we!" I yelled, "I'm not going to sit here and see what happens, I have to do this for Kyle, for Cole, and for Mike."

"What about yourself?" Bosh asked

I paused for a moment after hearing that question. I wasn't sure what to say to it. All that could come out of my muzzle was, "What?"

"Allen, you've gone under enormous stress since I first saw you. Everything that has happened to you is sending you into something very profound. You feel as though you are responsible for everything that has happened. What you need to realize is that you can't always take care of things by yourself. As hard as that may be to hear, it's the truth. You're a college student, you need to be worrying about your finals and not Kyle's father."

"Not care?" I asked, "How the hell am I suppose to not care about Kyle? He is everything to me. Not just my boyfriend, but he is the reason I haven't gone insane. The only thing that can completely put me at ease is if I can resolve this somehow."

"Trust me, if it were up to me, I'd let you in on what's going on and have you help out because you've got a knack for this sort of thing. But the fact of the matter is that you cannot legally do anything. We have professionals that can do this sort of thing and I cannot let you do anything with me. The one thing that you should do is to be with your boyfriend and with Mike. You can give them support."

Frustrations took over all emotions. I wanted to burst and yell at him for not letting me get involved, but I knew that I had to hold back. I just stood there. Then a tear formed in my eye as I realized that there was nothing that I could do about it. I stormed out of Bosh's office and slammed the door behind me and into the hallway. I saw a restroom across the hall and I pushed the door open and walked in.

No one was inside, which was perfect for me. I went to the door of one of the stalls and punched it in my frustration. The impact from my knuckles against the door made a sizeable dent in the door and my knuckles hurt really bad. I shook my paw in pain as I instantly regretted doing it. I walked over to the sink and ran some cold water. I cupped my paws to collect some of it and splashed it on my face and muzzle a couple of times. I grabbed some paper towels and dried off my fur. Once I threw the last one away, I looked at my reflection in the mirror.

My reflection looked back at me in a kind of defeated expression. The feeling of giving up started to win me over. I closed my eyes and shook my head saying, "No. I am not just going to sit around and hope for the best." The feeling of giving up started to subside and my confidence came back a little. Only one thought stood in my way, How?

My mind raced as I thought of different ways that I could get back involved, but nothing came up. I felt the anger rising up again when it hit me, "the folder," I whispered to myself. I closed my eyes as I started to think back on my entry. As soon as I entered, he looked scared and tried to hide it as soon as he saw that it was me. Would he have looked so nervous if it didn't involve me or Kyle? There was no harm in trying, but I had to figure out how to get a look into the folder.

I put my paws on the sides of the sink and I racked my brains on how to get Bosh out of his office and me in. I thought about creating some sort of disturbance to distract him, but then I'd have to get someone else to do it and I didn't know anyone here that would be willing to help. I slammed my paw against the counter and squinted my eyes shut in hope that I would think of something.

I heard the door to the bathroom open and I jumped. I whipped my head around to see that it was just a squirrel that walked in. The squirrel seemed confused as to why I was jumpy. I put my head down and walked out of the bathroom back out into the hallway.

Once the door shut behind me, I looked at Bosh's door, which remained closed. I turned to my left and headed down the hallway to an unoccupied bench. I sat down and put my head in my paws trying to come up with something. The sound of a door opening caused my right ear to twitch and I looked up to see Bosh leaving his office. He pushed the door behind him to close it, but it didn't close all the way. Bosh seemed to be unaware of that and kept walking down the hall where he then disappeared behind a corner.

I didn't want to waste this luck. I immediately stood up as soon as Bosh was out of sight and headed towards his office door. I push the door open slowly afraid that there was someone else inside, but found that there was no one occupying the room. I headed straight for the desk and walked around it and stood next to the chair and searched the surface. I found a manila folder and opened it. Inside was about some sort of robbery case. Seeing that it was unrelated to what I was looking for, I closed it and motioned to put it back when I saw another manila folder that looked like it was shoved under a pile of papers. I pulled it out and read that the tab had nothing written on it, but across the front read, GREY INVESTIGATION. I opened it and inside was Kyle's face accompanied with a list of basic information about him such as eye color and his previous name. I flipped the paper and saw another sheet of paper with a small photo of a Doberman attached to it by a paperclip. The paper consisted of a bunch of small notes that read "OFFICER JOHNSON" "UNDERCOVER FOR 3 YEARS" "ASSOCIATED WITH FRANZ" I looked around at the other notes written down and then I saw the number 555-3327.

I looked around for a sheet of scrap paper that Bosh wouldn't know was missing when he got back. I opened up the drawer directly underneath the desk and saw some sticky notes. I figured that Bosh wouldn't notice a sticky note missing so I grabbed a pen and hastily wrote the number down. I looked back on the sheet of paper in case there was anything on it that I should know. I saw, scribbled below the phone number, "GOES BY ZIG" and "CODEWORD EVEREST." I wrote those down on the sticky note and shoved it in my pocket. Fearing that Bosh was coming back soon, I closed the manila folder and place it back under the papers and tried to align it so that it seemed like it was undisturbed.

Once I was satisfied with how it looked, I quickly walked around the desk and to the door. As soon as my paw rested on the doorknob, I went back into stealth mode. As quietly as I could, I opened the door and stuck my muzzle out of the door. I check to my left and my right to make sure that no one paid any attention to me. To my gratification, no one seemed to notice or care that I came out of Bosh's office. I took off down the hallway toward the front entrance. I was about thirty feet from the reception desk, when Bosh came around the corner.

My heart missed a beat and I immediately turned around so that only my back faced him. I saw a water fountain a few feet in front of me and I took refuge to it. I bent over and lapped up the water coming up as I heard Bosh walk past me without noticing. My body shivered a little as I thought of how close that was. Once Bosh was well past me, I stood back up and headed out of the station.