Point Three – Missus Cruger
"Doggie," a voice called.
Cruger spun on his heel in surprise. The past day and a half had been miserable and uneventful. The rangers refused to speak with him past business, Boom all but hated him, and Kat never did return the message he had left her. "Isinia?—where have you been?"
"Doggie, I must apologize," she sighed. She followed him to a bench as he gestured to sit. "When I left, I'm afraid I didn't give proper thought to you, and I'm sorry about that. In my panic to escape how I was feeling I blatantly neglected to consider you."
"Isinia—" Doggie began but was cut off.
"Please, let me get this all out. I've done some thinking the past two days. I had been having issues since I returned. At first, it was fine, but as things settled back into a sense of normalcy here, I found myself out of place. I was finding a dramatic change of environment, after spending years in Troobian captivity. Not only that, but I'm afraid that you and I are just too different from the people we were before Sirius fell. I am not at all the same woman you married those decades ago, and you are not the same man. I know you want to be, because you are a good man, Anubis, but you can't. We have spent the last fifty years apart, Doggie, to think we'd be the same would be foolish." Isinia took a steady breath and looked into her husband's eyes. "I don't recognize your eyes when I look into them and you don't recognize mine. I've sealed myself off for forty plus years, and I can see you have done the same, to an extent. It's wrong to, though. You have good people here with you, Doggie."
"You're here," he said helplessly, at a loss for what to say next.
"Not in the way you need me to be," Isinia shook her head. "We can't do this, Anubis. We have changed too much to stay like this. We're not happy, being married to memories of how we used to be."
Against the part of him that screamed for him to be a "good husband" he sighed and nodded. "I suppose in some way, I know you're right."
"I'm sorry, Doggie," Isinia reached a hand towards his muzzle but stopped, feeling them both tense at the thought of the action. "See?—we're just not comfortable with each other."
"I suppose, I still wish there was something I could do though," Doggie sat forward again. "If it's any consolation, Kat was only helping me out as a friend. She doesn't feel that way about me."
"What?—you and Katherine?" Isnia looked surprised.
"Yes, she told you," Doggie said in the affirmative but Isinia still looked confused. "She told me that she let it slip that we had been together, and that was why you left."
"Doggie, I had the idea to leave before then, she just happened to run into me and tried to stop me," Isinia corrected, still looking surprised. For the first time in weeks, a smile cracked on her muzzle. "So, you and the young Felid lady?"
"A couple of times," Doggie nodded numbly. Kat had lied to him? Of course she had—she had thought she was protecting him. This only made him more of an ass. "I've made a horrible mistake."
"What?" Isinia asked, feeling at ease with her husband for the first time in literally ages.
"I fired Kat when she told me you left. I wasn't thinking straight," Isinia smacked the end of his snout, making him yelp. "Gah!—I said I made a mistake!"
"Damn right, you did, that young lady loves you, Doggie," Isinia laughed a bit, thinking how ironic it was that she was telling her husband of the love of another woman. "She loves you and you love her."
"I told you, she doesn't feel that way about me," Doggie mumbled, rubbing his sore nose.
"You feel that way about her, though, and don't try and deny it for my sake, please," surprisingly, Doggie didn't object, but just looked forward intensely. "If you feel guilty because we're still technically married, don't."
"I just...I don't know," Doggie attempted.
"I know, and I guess I can relate. This is just the way things are, I suppose. You love Katherine, she loves you, and you and I are...friends," Isinia met Doggie's eyes if a bit timidly.
"Yes, I would like that," he nodded. "What will you do now?"
"I'm going to look into trauma centers I heard were stationed all over the galaxy for victims of the Troobian campaigns. I should get treatment, and when I heal, I can help there. I'm still a nurse," Isinia smiled, settling into the bench more comfortably now. "We can sign...is it dissolve papers?"
"Divorce papers," Doggie corrected. "You sign them, then send me my copies and it can be done with immediately. We can keep in touch."
"Yes, we can," Isinia stood and smiled at her soon to be exhusband for the last time. "Good luck, Doggie. I hope you do well, here. Take care of yourself, and the young lady, Kat."
"Goodbye, Isinia," Doggie smiled, still on the bench as she walked away. Something inside him came to rest, as if a storm had brewed inside of him and he hadn't noticed until now, when it ceased. He felt at peace, in a surreal kind of way. Then he realized something. "B–Squad, I don't believe spying is in the cadet manual."
"Morning, sir," Z was the only one to greet him as they emerged from the shrubs behind the bush.
"Rangers, I have several apologies to make, first to you, and also to Boom, and most of all, Kat." Cruger nodded, willing to concede that he was wrong...in this particular instance. "Isinia told me that Kat never actually told her about us. I have made a horrible mistake, but while I tried contacting Kat, she won't return my calls. B–Squad, Kat has been sent a contract by Head Quarters for a job position that would lead to a permanent rank. If she signs that contract, we've lost her forever. Would you be willing to...?"
"We'll get her back, sir," Jack nodded.
"Thank you, rangers, and I am very sorry," he sighed.
"Forgiven, sir," Sky cracked a carefully measured smile.
"Please...bring her back," Cruger's voice softened considerably.
