Chapter 35:

Edwin P.O.V.

A few weeks after I introduced Jasiri to my mother, it appears that things seem to be going well and Jasiri and my mother seem to enjoy each other's company the next time we meet up with her…..Though we still haven't told her that Jasiri is a hybrid. I asked her about when we should tell my mother, a couple of times, but Jasiri recently told me that she will probably be ready to tell her in another week or two.

It's a funny thing that we recently accepted a favor where Jasiri and I agreed to help her house sit for her while she and Nelle go on vacation for a few days next week. So far, Nelle has still been 'too busy' to meet us and is still pretty camera shy since the only photo my mom sent of her was one of Nelle's hand whose wrist was wearing a bracelet my mom gave her…..but it did not show her face or any definitive features outside of their hand and wrist.

Anyway, this week was just a regular week of research and things were going pretty routine. Since it is early to mid-December, temperatures have gotten much colder and this will usually be the season where I drive more frequently to and from work. Alongside the frigid outside temperatures, the arrival of winter also usually means that the days get darker at earlier times.

So it was a Tuesday, and my lab colleagues and I were cleaning up our lab for the day. Though I did end up with a Coomassie Blue stain on my lab coat sleeve while I was staining a gel I ran through SDS-PAGE.

Pete and I were cleaning the stains we accidentally made on one of the lab benches. We started to hear familiar groans of pain coming from the back hallway. I looked at Pete knowing that this has been going for a few weeks now. We've gotten used to it by now.

As Pete and I were finishing up cleaning, we saw that the rest of our colleagues walked in in their anthropomorphic animal forms. They started to put away the glassware that Pete and I did not put away yet.

"Man, what a day." Vuruga said.

"I know right. Though I did get some Coomassie blue stain on my lab coat sleeve so that might take a while to clean off." I replied.

"Yeah, I got some on my lab coat too, even a little on my hand." Makini said.

"Yeah, that can be pesky to remove." Bupu said.

"Yeah, I know how you guys feel. Anyway, we got a lot done today." Ma Tembo said.

After we finished cleaning the lab for the day, we gathered our things from our offices and headed out to end our work days.

I saw that after my hybrid coworkers put on their coats, they started to put winter scarves over their faces. I was curious why they did this at first, but they and Jasiri told me it was a way to try to protect their anthropomorphic animal faces from winter and severely cold temperatures when they are outside during this time in the winter months.

After I grabbed and put on my coat, I went out through the exit of the lab and I started to head to the fossil preparation lab. As the temperatures have been getting colder, Jasiri and I started taking turns picking and dropping each other off to and from work when we drive to work. I was heading over to her work area because it is my turn to drive today.

I stood outside the doors of her lab for about five or ten minutes before I saw her come out in her anthro hyena form wearing her winter coat and a scarf around her face.

"Hi Jas, how was your day?" I said as I approached Jasiri.

"It was fine, it was just a long day. Makuu and I just had a particularly time-consuming project, and I am just ready to go home for today." Jasiri said as we gave each other a short embrace.

"I know how you feel, my day was exhausting too. We had so much done in our lab and I just needed some rest too." I replied.

We soon walked downstairs as we continued our casual conversations and then exited out the front door of the museum as we continued our conversations as we saw that it was already dark outside. We soon entered my car and I drove to drop off Jasiri at her place before I returned home.

On Friday evening, we had another meeting of the Human-Hybrid Alliance. It was pretty routine, some of us shared some stuff that is currently happening in our lives within the past two weeks, we did discussion activities and such.

After participating in today's activity, we concluded the meaning and as Jasiri and I were heading out, we happened to bump into Kiara and Kovu as we were exiting the main meeting room with their coats on, and in their lion forms.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" Jasiri asked.

"Hi guys, we are doing fine just heading to our car, what about you guys?" Kovu replied.

"Same, we are just heading back to Jasiri's car to head back home. What did you guys think of those discussions we had earlier?" I asked.

"I thought they were fine, though I thought that Wes the custodian might have gone a little too much into detail about his dating life. I don't why he had to describe absolutely everything about that aspect of his life." Kiara said.

"Yeah, I was also in the same group as you, and I felt that he over-shared….I'm not surprised that he has troubles in the dating aspect of this life based on what I heard." Jasiri said while she and Kiara shared a brief laugh.

"Man I cannot wait to get home, it was a long day for me. Why did today have to be the day where my steamer tool malfunctioned? " Kovu said.

"I feel that, yesterday, my lab ran out of Coomassie blue stain, so we do not have anything to stain future SDS-PAGE gels. Though we ordered a new container of stain, and it doesn't come until Wednesday." I replied.

We continued to have a casual conversation until we got close to our cars.

"Man, that was quite a walk. It is freezing out here. I don't know how we have done this our first couple of years here, lions are not meant for the cold." Kovu said.

"Neither are hyenas. I still don't know how I have survived Milwaukee and Chicago winters for so long." Jasiri replied.

"Well, it's been nice talking to you guys, see you next week!" Kiara said as she

"Yeah, see you guys later!" I said as Jasiri and I both got into her car and headed back to our places.

The next week was pretty routine, in addition to Jasiri and I coming to my mother's house once everyday to dust and water her plants as part of our house sitting .

On Saturday evening, Jasiri and I decided to come to my mother's house to do the usual chores she asked us to do while she and Nelle were gone. We watered her plants, dusted the living room, kitchen and bathrooms. We also did some other stuff which included helping her get the groceries she asked us to get for her house and picking up her dry cleaning.

We entered the house that evening, with Jasiri in anthro hyena form, and we just decided to order some take out for dinner. While I was on my phone to order the food, Jasiri went to the hall closet to put away the dry cleaning.

Third Person P.O.V.

Jasiri walked down the hallway from the living room. She opened a closet door to her right hand and hung up the dry-cleaned clothing items. While doing that, something in the closet caught her eye. Further towards the right of dry cleaned clothes, she noticed a black dress with a v-neckline. Though it is not the unique dress she has ever seen in her life….she suddenly had a feeling of déjà vu in her mind.

"Hmm….I'm not sure why…but that dress looks very familiar to me. Not sure why but I felt like I had seen it somewhere before…" Jasiri said to herself.

She then shook it off, dismissing it as probably something she saw in a commercial, advertisement or department store window somewhere. She then went back to the living room to wait for the take out she and Edwin ordered.

Edwin P.O.V.

After about twenty or thirty minutes of waiting and watching television, the food arrived. We got some food from a Mexican place that was not too far from here.

We ate our food on the kitchen table, and after we finished, we decided to have some to be intimate with one another…..just the two of us.

We started to get into a more romantic mood, so I moved most of the photos of the living room away from us because I don't think either of us would feel romantic with the people from the picture staring at us. After that, I turned on some music from a speaker in the room to set the mood.

A short while later, we started to passionately kiss as the music played. We were in a tight embrace with one another. After we stopped we just looked at each other in an embrace.

"Hey Edwin, I would like to get something in my car that I really think would set the mood for tonight. Is that okay?"Jasiri asked.

"Sure, would it be okay if I play some music from my phone to also add to the mood?" I asked.

"Yeah, funny thing I was about to ask the same thing." Jasiri said.

She left to get something out of her car while I was about to play music from one of my more amorous playlists on Spotify. Within a few minutes she came back and then went to the bathroom in the hallway.

I was starting to play the music and dim the lights when I started toI hear footsteps coming to the living room.

"Hi Edwin, I'm back." I heard Jasiri's voice say.

I turned around to find that Jasiri was standing not too far away from the couch where I was on. And I saw that she changed into a purple silk nightgown as they slowly walked towards me.

"So….what do you think?" Jasiri asked.

"I think it looks great on you. But to be fair, everything looks great on you." I replied.

"Well I'm glad you like it, I bought this last week." She said.

"As long as you're happy with it, then I am happy with it." I said.

She then walked to the couch to sit next to me and as she did, she started to slowly stroke my hair.

"It's great that after a busy day at work, we can finally get some alone time. Although I should tell you that you have a little stain on your shirt." Jasiri said.

"Oh really, I don't think I can see it let me che-" I said looking at my shirt….until Jasiri pinned me on the couch.

"Pinned ya again! That's two for two." Jasiri said before letting out a small laugh.

"Aw come on! You're not playing fair." I playfully replied.

"Well life is not always fair, Edwin. It's not my fault you're naive. I thought you were supposed to be street smart." Jasiri playfully said.

"Aw come on, I'm street smart. I just got put off guard by a fictional stain. But I like spending this quiet evening with you too." I replied.

"Yeah, and perhaps later we will get loud enough for the neighbors to hear us, if you know what I mean." She said, giving me a wink.

"Oh yes….. like at your place last week. I like the sound of that." I enthusiastically replied.

We then soon started to passionately kiss each other, preparing for what we are going to do next….But as soon as both of our heads touched the couch, it hit us…..the strong chemical smell that is associated with new furniture. This caused us to both sit up again and get off each other.

"Ughh!...That is such a strong smell." Jasiri said while covering her nose.

"Yeah, either this couch is newer than I thought and my mom never cleaned the couch after she bought it, or she used bleach to clean underneath the cushions before she and Nelle left." I said.

"Yeah, it kinda kills the mood around here. Do you think there is anything here to get rid of, or at least weaken the smell?" Jasiri said as she stood up from the couch.

I thought for a second and then I remembered that my mother had scented candles in her kitchen cabinet from when Jasiri and I were cleaning out her kitchen cabinets yesterday.

"Hey Jasiri, remember when we cleaned out my mom's kitchen cabinets and there were those 'ocean breeze' scented candles? Perhaps they could help with the smell?" I asked.

"Works for me, which cabinet the candles were in?" Jasiri replied as she got up and headed to the kitchen.

"I think they are in the cabinet below the microwave, I'm going to try to get matches or a lighter." I said while I also got up to the kitchen.

While Jasiri was getting candles, I was searching for matches or a lighter….which I was having trouble finding for some reason. After a couple minutes of searching, I gave up and decided to move onto the next possible location they looked at.

"I can't find the matches or lighter, I'm going to look in the bathroom cabinets to see if they are in there." I told Jasiri.

"Okay, no problem." She replied as she was bringing the candles to the living room.

I went to the hallway bathroom to see if I could find it anywhere. After two minutes, I found nothing, so the only place left is in the master bathroom, to which I have to go through my mother's bedroom.

I walked to the door to my mother's bedroom, opened it…but what I saw inside shocked me.

When I opened the door, I found my mom on the bed wearing a sky-blue shirt with long-sleeves and in her blankets, and next to her is some figure that is completely covered in the other half of the blanket, who I assume is Nelle.

Out of shock I let out a light scream.

"Holy shit! Mom?! What are you doing here?!" I said.

"I live here, what are you doing here?!" My mother replied.

"Well Jasiri and I were just doing some of the errands that you requested, and I was getting the matches….wait, I thought that you weren't supposed to get back until tomorrow?" I said.

"We initially were, but we eventually got bored and decided to come home a little early….wait, why were you looking for matches?" My mother replied.

That was when I started to hear footsteps coming down the hallway.

"Edwin? Are you okay? I heard you scream and some kind of commotion. Did something happen when trying to find the mat- Ahhhhhhhh!" Jasiri said as she entered the room.

As she screamed, she started to use her hands to try to cover the nightgown she was wearing.

Then I realized that Jasiri was still in her anthro hyena form. This is extremely awkward because we were planning to tell her later on, but it's too late for that now. I looked towards Jasiri and saw her expression of awkward fright, and then I looked at my mother whose eyebrows were raised and her eyes were wide.

I guess the only thing to do now is just come clean.

"Mom, I know this situation seems….unique. But we can explain it, there is something we need to tell you-" I was saying before my mother interrupted me.

"What are you talking about? I've been kinda waiting for you or Jasiri to tell me that she is a hybrid and see what you look like in your anthro hyena form. And I wanted to tell you that there is nothing to worry about. I think you look pretty good in your anthro hyena form." My mom said as she smiled and gave out a gentler expression on her face.

Wait!? She knows? How?

I just had a shocked expression on my face. I turned towards Jasiri who had the same expression on her face.

"Edwin…..did you tell your mom about me being a hybrid?" Jasiri asked inquisitively.

"No, I didn't tell her. I would never do it without your consent. Did you tell her?" I replied.

"No I didn't. I was not ready to tell her today or before that. So if neither of us told-" Jasiri said before a voice interrupted her.

"That's because neither of you told her." A voice from the figure under the other half of the sheets said.

Jasiri and I were a little intrigued because for some reason the voice sounded familiar to us somehow.

The figure soon slowly started to take the sheet off themselves, and when the person fully revealed themselves….are jaws were dropped to the floor, and our eyes couldn't have been wider.

It turns out that next to my mother was a person that we did know…or should we say lioness.

"I did," the lioness said.

She was wearing a mint green nightgown, and as we looked closer, we could see their recognizable blue eyes.

"Mrs. Furahi!?" I said in shock.

"Nala?!" Jasiri said in the same time and tone as me as Nala had an awkward expression on her face.

"I guess it's actually our turn to explain something to you guys." My mom said.