Sandy came around from reliving that dreadful moment, around the time, when the hydraulics of the Aircraft she was on, started whirring, and extending landing gear, which signaled the final descend towards SeaTek International. This retrospect did not bring her any consolation, however it helped her realize that this relationship never had solid fundaments to build on, and coupled with Taylor's inability to compromise, or at least to see things from different perspective were the pivotal causes of this dissonant partnership. The fall was inevitable, Sandy's commitment to help her brother at the cost of straining the relationship she positioned herself in, was merely a catalyst that sped up the fracturing process. And she had to face the fact that Taylor himself turned out to be a colossal pile of manure, when instead of being compassionate partner, he turned 180 degrees and in all secrecy started another relationship, without a shred of decency to let Sandy know it's over, before she had to witness it firsthand. Yes, He was smart and had certain charm, but selfishness and inexcusable lack of character were blatantly obvious reasons why she should have never vested any trust and time in pursuit of a relationship. She had her priorities straight- Work and help out her brother, a person who was closer to her more than 13 Taylors combined. She made the right choice and she honestly believed that life is going to do right by her. All she has to do is to present her research at that darn conference, and then her and her brother can spend their time exploring the metropolis of Pacific Northwest.

Washington's biggest Airport they landed on was slowly waking-up into weekday's early morning, despite the dark blue-ish sky, the baggage trucks and loaders were already in full swing to get the plane unloaded. It felt weird seeing the morning so early- it was few hours ago she was dropped-off at ABQ with the last bits of sunlight fading. "Duh-different time zone" -Sandy muttered to herself.

She felt tense, and a little unnerved thanks to realization she needs to speak on behalf of the UNM, presenting a rather dry, boring, presentation at the world scientist convention. "Soliciting and selling" was not her strong suite, in fact, she was merely supposed to support Lisa, a Spokesperson in charge, by answering any in-depth questions regarding the research of Nanoscale restructuring of Polymers. She did not know how to capture the crowd with a smile, grin and use the proper gestures. She could explain the production of Poly-composites and support the thesis with the experiment she'd been conducting. But such is life- Lisa gave birth of two Giraffe twin boys and UNM Department reps were unable to substitute the gap with any other speaker, simply because they already were tasked with conflicting presentations in Calgary and Osaka. "Do your best, miss Cheeks" -they said "We need to face the fact-The funding of your research in these trying times is heavily dependent on corporate donations-and -as you know- the board has complete confidence in you." That was not an encouragement pep talk, as much as warning- "if you fail, the research will be on hiatus and you'll likely get re-assigned to a different project. Likely"

She was rubbing her temples, while waiting for her brother to relieve himself at the airport restroom. The Lyft drive should have taken an hour to get to the hotel, however the traffic was becoming thicker and more congested. There ain't much time left before the start of conference at 5pm, and to address her aching headache, she'll need to catch some winks, and maybe painkillers mixed with coffee. Randy, studying the guide through Seattle he grabbed from the airplane, seemed to be wide awake. That wasn't surprising, given the fact he kept badgering the young stewardess for coffee practically the entire flight. When he wasn't glued on the window, he was gazing in a subtle cleavage of the flight attendant's uniform every time she was leaning over to hand him the beverage across Sandy. Sandy felt embarrassed at first, soon noticed that this teen-looking Koala stewardess smiled with a mild blush, appreciated the attention her brother was giving by handfuls. Despite Randy being her brother, she was aware that he was handsome, good genes were passed from parents on both of them, further complimented by his physically-demanding construction job. The envisioned stage 2 of her brother's transformation was, in fact, the idea of hooking him up with a responsible girl, that will take over the reins from her, and will offer him affection and care he deserves.

Judging by her brother's recent fondness for interaction with the opposite gender, it wouldn't be long before it was going to happen, with, or without her involvement. Despite Randy's initial shy demeanor, she knew underneath he was boiling with testosterone, surfacing just a bit every time he was in proximity of his feminine peers. She remembered the moment when he had transformation from a boy to a man. It wasn't long after their 15th birthday, she was doing chore of picking -up laundry, hanging them from the clothing line, so they were flapping in the early afternoon summer breeze, as she was listening her favorite music from her new discman she got as a present. Their parents went to nearby town to restock on food, and her brother was tasked fixing a fence close to the barn. After she sorted out the clothes and folded them to neat piles, she put them into her and her parents bedrooms. While taking Randy's clothes to his room, she neared half-opened door and witnessed something she wasn't even remotely prepared to see. Randy was standing backwards, unable to see her coming, with his briefs were around the feet. He was leaning over a desk with an adult magazine sitting on it. Despite the obvious hand movement, she was luckily spared of seeing the firm grasp around the private part of his. The shy squirrel girl desperately wanted to turn back in and running downstairs as fast as she could, but the sheer shock made her paralyzed, unable to move, hardly breathing. She firmly closed the eyes and slowly was coming around, but a strange rasping gasp coming from the room made her open them. Despite all the years she tried to forget, she still remembered that moment when she saw the wide arc of the discharged fluid had travelled. That prodded her to turn sharply in an instant and race downstairs, faster than ever did before. There was nothing even remotely arousing she felt, in fact she wanted to gag at first thought of it. She was aware he inevitably noticed her running away, and not just by the noise of her thundering steps, but that the sight that she'd also bore witness of his horrible shame, causing him to evading so much an eye contact with her for months on end. He never even tried to talk about that and she was thankful he didn't bring that episode up to this very day. The chapter of their prepubescent childhood was sealed shut that day, and honestly, it was the second most embarrassing moment of their youth she would love to forget.

The cab they were sitting in for well over an hour, started slowing down, pulling around a front entrance of an impressively tall Hotel building bearing name Fairmont Olympic. The size and the look of the structure made Randy admiring it with an open mouth. "No friggin way! Is your college shitting gold to pay for stay at that luxurious hotel?" -He quipped while throwing an inquisitive look at sister.

"No Randy, they.."she started with an annoyed tone and paused , looking for a polite answer, however it was the chatty ageing panda Lyft driver who responded in her stead-

"Well-you almost there, Folks. It's the hotel next" he answered with a thick oriental accent. "West-hotel is still very good". Randy's slight disappointment vanished the moment he noticed how his sister looked. The eyebags and noticeable dark circles testified to her lack of good sleep, and he was aware, that despite her having the eyes closed throughout the duration of flight, she hasn't dozed-off for a minute. He started to feel remorseful-

"This ain't a vacation for her" he realized. "She was very frustrated when she got that email from her boss, leaving her dead in water with the whole presentation thing". The vehicle stopped at the destination. She opened her reddish eyes, and upon noticing her brother's troubled look, Sandy made an effort to camouflage her apparent mental and physical exhaustion with a forced smile. "We're here- can I help with your bags?" The driver suggested, but Randy already sprung out of the vehicle. "No need-just pop the trunk, willya?" he replied with his Texan accent. They travelled lightly, and upon grabbing both bags with one hand, he started mining his wallet out of his back pocket. "I'll meet ya at the lobby, after I cover the cab fare." She wanted to object and pay for it off the travel expense budget, but felt too exhausted to make her stand. There was a comfy bed calling her name in this building here somewhere and few hour of sleep became paramount in her priorities list.

A spacious lobby with a check-in desk, staffed by a curvy cheetah woman in formal purple uniform who seemed to be preoccupied with a guest who was checking out, asking one too many questions about his next month's reservation. Randy came back and started wandering around the lobby, inspecting large framed photographs, hanging on the lobby walls while they both waited. The male squirrel started chatting with a tall male hotel staffer after pointing at one photograph depicting the Space Needle at an unusual perspective. The patience was wearing thinner with every passing minute of Sandy standing next to the check-in, left waiting even after the annoying guest left. Her mood started corresponding with droves of dark blue clouds, which started to cover the skies over Seattle. The peaked agitation culminated as she slammed the ring bell so rough it left a noticeable print on the palm of her right hand. Another 5 seconds passed until the receptionist cheetah lady adjusted her name tag "Karyia" and slowly turned towards Sandy, establishing eye contact her the rudest piercing glare Sandy ever experienced. "How can I help you?!" receptionist replied in a slow, yet loud manner.

At that point squirrel strived to stay as calm to de-escalate the tense atmosphere between two women. "I'm here to check in for my reservation fer today." Sandy involuntarily started to speak with noticeable draw "..reservation's made for Sandra Cheeks, and it's supposed to be two rooms." The odd silence was interrupted by tapping noise of receptionist's ridiculously long fingerclaws, colored in migraine-inducing hues. "Oh, yeah. We've got the reservation, however it's one room, Queen bed." she corrected the squirrel with subtle patronizing tone. Sandy shook her head in disbelief, and as she fully lost her temper. "Check again, would'ya?". That was the spark that triggered Karyia to a point where she shook off the shoddy cover of politeness she tried to keep for the sake of her job -"I ain't gonna check a-damn thing, missy. If you got a problem, go and…" The sentence got unfinished as Sandy lunged, trying to grab receptionist, which started to back up in unexpected physical confrontation from this considerably shorter, hothead rodent girl. The sudden confrontation happening at the reception caught attention practically everyone present at the lobby, and Randy started rushing back to her sister, with tall male staffer in close tow.

"Hey-hey-hey! Ease-up, sis-please!" The squirrel male companion spoke while trying to hold the squirming female, which started to calm down just as fast as she flared-up.

"Sot over here and Lem'me take care of the reservation." In the meantime the tall male staffer tried his utmost to defuse the fuming receptionist, inaudibly whispering something to her ear, as he walked her past the employees-only door behind counter. A few moments later the tall puma male manned the counter, he made somewhat grotesque gesture of wiping his sweat from his forehead and dedicated attention to the young pair of squirrels. "Phew. Ehm- On behalf of the hotel, I would like to deeply apologize for this unpleasant situation and I'll be glad to accommodate you in the best way I can." He started in soothing deep tone which did sound genuinely apologetic and surprisingly professional. Sandy, while still trembling, also apologized for her outburst, with a notable shame and repeated the reservation inquiry for him to re-check. He checked it in system and after a short pause, he nodded, while responding to the girl with puppy eyes focused straight to her. "I am very sorry, miss Cheeks, but the reservation was unfortunately downsized to one queen bedroom, day prior to your arrival, by the person who was booking the stay on your behalf. I am very sorry". Sandy heard all he said, however at this moment she was hitting rock bottom-she needed to crash into bed, and turn herself from dysfunctioning trainwreck into a functioning spokesperson- all in the matter of several hours. All what she was capable of was to look at Randy in the most defeated look she had ever worn.

Her brother felt helpless, however trying to encourage her. "That's a'right, I'll just book my room outta my own pocket, no big deal." He looked back at the receptionist, hoping to arrange the necessary reservation, however Mr."puppy eyes" was ahead of him. "It pains me to let you know, that despite my best effort there is no rooms available- we, as well as the surrounding hotels in downtown, are currently fully booked by members of Budapest philharmonic orchestra, which is being hosted in Seattle this week. I ..I..am so, so sorry." The squirrel brother smiled at his crushed sister, telling her he can sleep on the ground, if that's what it takes, heck, even going to one of budget motels scattered around outskirts of Seattle. The awkward silence was filled with fervent tapping of keyboard, stopped by male receptionist's look at his wrist watch.

-"Actually-That might not be necessary". Two pairs of squirrel eyes looked at the receptionist with confusion.

"Here's the thing"-he lowered the voice while leaning towards the two." I have the ready-reservation for a Room with two king-sized beds at 11 AM, which happens to be basically the identical layout as the room which just got vacated by a couple which departed short while ago." He chuckled with friendly smile, explaining patiently to the confused faces before him- "Although I'm not supposed to do that, I can tweak your reservation to be this particular room, while helping out prepping the other one to be available for the reservation." He shrugged his shoulders apologetically. "I know it isn't what you originally hoped for, but that's really the best I can do". Both squirrels looked at each other, and nodded almost simultaneously, with notable relief.

"We'll take it- how much extra it's gonna.." Sandy's question was halted by the raised finger of Panther's finger.

"No extra cost. Courtesy of West hotel. Please accept this as a heartfelt gesture of an apology for the unpleasantness caused by unprofessional attitude one of our staff members." Sandy was in shock-the turn of events suddenly turned in her favor, somehow. This tall panther there -"Alan", as the tag suggested- instead of waving them away, the actually friendly dude went out of his way to make things work. And although it wasn't ideal, she can share a room with her brother-no doubt about it. She felt little bad for Randy, he could've had a little privacy after months spent under her roof. But what really mattered was that they both have bed of their own to crash on, and nothing-NOTHING on this Earth tempted her more than burying herself under the blanket. Moment after Alan got two keycards prepped, he let glaring Karyia take her spot, and accompanied the two siblings all the way to their room on 7th floor.