TREMBLING ON THE EDGE OF SANITY
Chapter 11: The Light of a New Day
They woke a few hours later to the sound of Feral's alarm. Yawning, Feral reached out and shut it off then leaned over T-Bone's still slumbering form and nuzzled the tom awake.
"Wake up sleepy head!" Feral rumbled playfully.
T-Bone groaned and pushed the big tom away sleepily. Snorting in amusement, Feral kissed the reluctant tom awake. The tabby moaned, still more asleep than awake as he reached an arm out and drew Feral's face closer to him to deepen the kiss. Feral reciprocated by wrapping his arms around the hard body, enjoying the intimacy. Knowing it had to end, he pulled his face away, nipping T-Bone's nose.
The SWAT Kat woke completely and gaped at Feral's smirking face. Pushing the tom off him and rubbing his sore nose, he grumbled, "Okay, I'm up...I'm up...sheesh what a wake up call."
He looked up at the Commander and was pleased to see a relaxed and happy expression. The release of his bad memories coupled with the wild bout of sex had taken the haunted look out of the tom's eyes.
"Well you certainly look a lot better. How do you feel?" T-Bone asked.
Feral thought a moment before answering. 'How did he feel' he wondered. He remembered what had happened to him and was rather calm about it. The memories were bad and uncomfortable but bearable at last. With an amazed smile, he answered, "Surprisingly good! I remember what happened but it isn't sending me screaming or hiding. It's not perfect but it's definitely an improvement."
"That's really good news. Dr. Fresco will be very pleased. You need to go see him this morning, no delays. I don't care how much you feel you need to get to work, this takes precedence." T-Bone told Feral firmly.
Sighing and feeling a little put upon, Feral nodded in agreement and headed for the bathroom to shower.
Smiling in pleased relief, T-Bone got dressed. He would take a shower at home. He would have to stop by and give Dr. Fresco his report as well so he might as well go along with Feral and do that before heading back to the yard.
He had called first while Feral was still in the shower and had been lucky to catch the doctor seeing patients at the hospital at this early hour. Feral was following him in his own vehicle as they pulled into the parking lot. Setting the security on the cyclotron, T-Bone met up with Feral and they walked into the hospital. Ignoring the odd stares they got as they caught an arriving car.
Getting out on the psych ward floor, they went to the reception door and T-Bone pressed the button.
"Yes," Came the receptionist's voice.
"T-Bone and Commander Feral to see Dr. Fresco!" He told her.
"Yes sir, just a moment while I locate the doctor," She told them, hitting the security lock to allow them to enter the holding area.
They stepped in and waited. Feral was a little nervous, paws clasped behind his back and rocking on his feet a bit. T-Bone let him be to gather himself for the debriefing that would be a bit traumatic for him.
The secure door to the ward opened and Dr. Fresco stepped out, a warm smile on his face.
"Good morning, you are looking well, Commander. Shall we go to my office? You might be more comfortable there." He suggested.
They both shrugged and nodded that that was okay and followed the doctor back out of the secure ward and to the elevators again. They went to the second floor, down a carpeted hall lined with soothing landscapes until they reached his office door.
Dr. Fresco said good morning to his receptionist as he ushered them into his inner sanctum.
Feral seated himself in one of the comfortable chairs while T-Bone took a seat on the leather couch.
"Well, according to T-Bone, you had a breakthrough yesterday. Why don't you tell me about it?" He asked as he prepared to take notes.
Shifting his shoulders nervously, Feral gave a flat, emotionless report of the incident, his memories, his reaction and their resolution. After a momentary pause, he also described his morning romp with T-Bone.
The doctor rapidly scribbled notes for some minutes after Feral stopped speaking. The room was quiet except for the soft noise of the aquarium nearby. Feral turned and stared at the fish for a while, using it to calm himself. Relaying that horror again had left him drained and edgy.
"Alright, T-Bone would you give me your impressions of what occurred?" the doctor asked startling them both.
"Oh sure!" T-Bone said, clearing his throat self-consciously. His account matched Feral's pretty much but told from his perspective.
"Excellent! Well, Commander, I'm pleased to say that from now on things should start to get much better for you. The ugly memories will haunt you but shouldn't cause you anymore distressing flashbacks, except for the occasional odd nightmare. Now, that isn't to say you won't suffer a traumatic flashback if you were placed in a like position again. Your job is such that that might happened. Keep your support system in place for those occasions. If you need me don't hesitate to call. I think we can cut your therapy sessions to just once a month for a while then longer as I deem you able to handle things on your own." Dr. Fresco pronounced.
Feral sighed in relief as did T-Bone. They got up to leave.
"Thank you for all your help in giving me back my life," Feral said with a heartfelt handshake.
"You are entirely welcome, Commander but most of the work was your own, I merely guided. I'm truly glad to see you well again. Good luck to you and see you next month." Dr. Fresco said warmly.
Feeling more buoyant, Feral moved easily to the elevators with T-Bone close beside him. They had the car alone so T-Bone spoke privately to him.
"I'm glad too that you're much better but just like the doc said, don't forget to seek me out if you really need me don't wait till it gets overwhelming or you'll end up back in here." He warned.
"I know. I'm not completely cured yet and there could be problems sometimes so I won't forget." Feral promised quietly.
T-Bone smiled warmly and clapped him on the back just before the doors opened to let them out into the lobby. They walked together out to their vehicles.
"Have a good day, Commander." T-Bone called out as he made for his bike.
Feral just waved at him as he unlocked his car. As he made his way to Enforcer Headquarters he couldn't help replaying in his mind the sex he'd had earlier that morning. Just the memory alone gave him strength to ignore the bad that was still in his brain.
He strode briskly into his office, ready to get to work. His Sergeant looked up from some reports he was sorting, a relieved smile wreathing his face.
"Good morning sir, so glad to see you looking well." He said looking his Commander over thoroughly and pleased to see the horror gone from the golden eyes and the powerful body relaxed and ready for work.
"Thank you, Sergeant. I had a breakthrough last night. I'm far from completely well but I am able to function better now that the walled memory is finally released and dealt with. Dr. Fresco gives me a conditional clean bill of health. The only thing that could cause trouble is if I get caught in a similar situation. If that happens, you'll do just what you did for me yesterday along with T-Bone. The only difference will be I should recover much quicker when I'm released from whatever the situation was and comforted quickly." He explained easily.
"I'm very glad to hear that, sir and I'll be ready if it should ever happen. But truthfully, sir, I sincerely hope it never does." The Sergeant said fervently.
"I agree with you on that. So...what's on the agenda for today?" Feral said sitting down at his desk.
The Sergeant handed him the night reports and the preliminary investigation report from Pumadyne. The damage was well on its way to being repaired and wasn't as bad as they feared. He sighed at that, at least something else good had come of that mess.
As he dug into his work with a relaxed mind, he couldn't shake the momentary wistful thought that passed through him... 'How do I get T-Bone in my bed again? I really liked having him there. He was one really hot tom.' He shook himself mentally and pushed the wishful thinking aside to concentrate on his day's work..
T-Bone rode down the hidden ramp into the hangar and parked the cyclotron, hanging his helmet on the bars. He stretched and went to his locker to strip his G-suit off and tossing it into the hamper nearby. Wearing only his boxers and t-shirt, he climbed up to the apartment above. Jake was in the kitchen eating breakfast when he strolled through.
"Well, you look okay for having spent a night with a traumatized Feral." Jake said raising an inquisitive eyebrow.
Chance went to the fridge and grabbed a can of milk then turned and leaned against the nearest counter to face his partner. "He had a breakthrough...man...what he suffered at that mad kat's paws..." Chance grimaced then told his partner what had happened in that old armory.
Jake stared at him in shock then shook his head in anguished disbelief. "Crud, Chance that's terrible. Feral's lucky to even have a mind left after all that."
"You're telling me. That wasn't the end of it though. Turns out, what Dark Kat had done to him had also prevented Feral from being intimate with anyone after he was better. I didn't learn that until he whimpered when I moved my erection away from him this morning. He pleaded with me to be intimate with him. God! I don't know how I missed that but I took care of it. I let him dominate me and damn was he ever good. It was a great morning workout." Chance said with a smirk.
"Ahh...so that's why you reek of sex!" Jake smirked back. "I was wondering how the heck you could have done that after last night. Poor Feral what a thing to add to his already serious problems. Glad you were able to help him. How was he this morning then?"
"Great. We stopped to see Dr. Fresco and he was very pleased with Feral's success and says he is well on his way to being back to near normal. Flashbacks could happen again if he was placed in a similar situation but he should handle it better and recover quicker if I comfort him immediately afterward. I got him to let me know when a problem might be overwhelming him emotionally before it gets too bad." Chance said throwing the can away.
"Well that's a relief. Now we can really get back to normal or as normal as this city gets." Jake said with a smile.
"Yeah, you got that right. Anyway, I need to shower and eat something. See you in the garage in a few." Chance said as he headed upstairs.
"Right, see you in a bit." Jake agreed as he put his dishes in the sink and headed downstairs to open the garage for the day.