Paradise Threatened Ch. 08

*Dana*

"Welcome home, Jason," she called, coming out to meet Malcolm and Charlie as they helped him into a wheelchair. He winced a little in pain from getting jarred, but when he looked at her, he smiled.

"It's good to be home," he replied, taking hold of one of her hands as she walked behind him to push him into the house. "Do you know how uncomfortable it was to get a sponge bath?" He shuddered.

"Don't you worry," she told him, patting him on the shoulder. "I'm going to be in charge of that now."

"I like the sound of that," he purred. "But still, I can't wait to be fully better."

"You want something to eat?" she asked when she finally got him inside. "Or would you prefer to take a nap?"

"I'd love to have a little something to eat with you," he replied.

"Coming right up," she purred, getting him out of the chair and onto the couch, making sure he was comfortable.

After making a couple of sandwiches, Dana brought them out, handing him one.

"Thanks," he sighed, biting into the sandwich as she sat beside him.

They sat, watching television and enjoying their lunch in quiet. When he finished, he placed an arm around her shoulders. She moved as close to him as possible, holding him back. The two of them ended up falling asleep that way. When they awoke again, it was dark. Thunder could be heard outside.

"Power must have got knocked out again," she sighed, getting up. "I'll get the candles."

Jason stopped her.

"That's no thunderstorm," he whispered. They sat in silence for a little longer. "It's a raid. Come on, help me into my chair."

Dana helped him into his wheelchair and pushed out the front door. Outside, there was chaos. Several homes and shops were ablaze. Several groups of activists were chasing down morphs to beat and cage them. Growling, Jason got up out of the chair. Before she could say anything, he charged at the raiders, pulling them off of a couple of young children. Seeing her, they ran towards her.

"This way," she said, quickly taking them around the back of her house and to a large oak tree. Popping out a secret panel at the base of the tree, she opened up a secret shelter.

"Get inside and don't open the door for anything. I'll be coming back with others to hide with you. It's going to be ok."

Resealing the entrance, she ran back out towards Jason, who had just freed several families from the cages.

"Take them to the shelter," she said to Jason. "I'll run up to your parents' and make sure they're ok."

He nodded, showing them the way. She took to the sky and flew as fast as she could to her in-laws. The house was on fire, his family out on the lawn with a couple of their neighbors. Seeing a struggle, she landed nearby, jogging the rest of the way. Malcolm and Tanya were being held back by their neighbors.

"What's going on?" she asked. Malcolm looked towards her, eyes wide and full of fear.

"Tristan and Tiffany are still in the house!" he exclaimed fearfully, "We need to get them out!"

"Where are they?" she asked.

"They're trapped upstairs, in the boy's room," Tanya replied.

Nodding, Dana rushed into the house. The living room and kitchen were burning steadily, but the stairs were still intact. She rushed up the stairs. Several of the rooms were on fire or full of smoke.

"Tristan!" she yelled, coughing when smoke filled her lungs, "Tiff! Where are you?!"

"In here," Tiffany said weakly through the door beside her.

Opening the door, she ducked as a torrent of flames came at her. When they were gone, she entered the room, flames coming up from the far right wall and the floor. The children were flat against the floor under the bed closest to her. Pulling them out from under the bed, she gasped. Nearly all of Tiffany's fur was burned off and her skin was bubbling. Tristan was a little luckier, some of his fur only singed.

"This is going to hurt, Tiff, but I have to pick you up in order to get you out, ok?" she asked.

Tiffany could only nod, her breathing growing shallower. Picking both of them, she turned to leave, but the doorway was filled with smoke and fire, the floor slowly falling through. Going over to the window, she found some of the neighbors holding a large blanket stretched wide. Taking a deep breath, Dana backed up and jumped through the glass, tucking herself around Tristan and Tiffany to protect them. They landed squarely in the blanket, glass showering them and cutting them shallowly. When they were lowered to the ground and could move out of the glass, a couple of the volunteer firefighters ran up, taking the children from her and carrying her over to the fire truck. Fitting an oxygen mask on her face, one of them sat with her to make sure she was getting plenty of air back into her system.

*Jason*

The rapport of the local military's gunfire put everyone at ease. The raid had been short-lived and stopped pretty quickly. No one was abducted, but there were a lot of people injured. The paramedics had to run Tristan and Tiffany to the hospital. He and Dana went and sat with his family, hoping and praying they would be ok. After five long hours, a doctor came out and walked over to them. All of them stood up at once, crowding around him. His face looked grim.

"Your son has a few nasty first-degree burns on his arms and chest. We had to shave his fur off to apply some ointment and bandage him, but he'll be just fine. Your daughter...I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for her. The burns are all the way down to her bones in over 70% of her body. Her lungs have been cooked. We have her on some painkillers, but I'm afraid she won't live through the night. You may go in and spend what time you can with her." The doctor hugged his dad briefly. "I'm so sorry."

When the doctor left, all of them walked into Tiffany's room. He was nearly sick when he saw her frail and blackened form in that huge bed. She looked up at them, her body shaking uncontrollably as she struggled to breathe. He stood on her left side, Dana right beside him, Charlie next to her. His mom and dad were on the other side of the bed, Amanda and Crystal beside them.

"Are you in pain, sweetheart?" his dad asked, his voice cracking.

"Yes," she sighed, her voice hoarse. "Daddy...I'm scared."

"It's going to be ok, beautiful," he replied. "I promise you, you...you won't be hurting for much longer." He placed his hand over hers carefully.

"Dad's right," he added. "Tomorrow morning, you're going to wake up in a beautiful place. Everyone that's ever moved on, they'll be there to welcome you and love you as much as us. And one day, you'll be there to greet each of us when it's our turn. Yes, it can be scary, but everybody goes through this eventually. It's a part of life, and nothing to be afraid of."

She smiled a little, her eyes slowly closing. Everybody else got to talk a little bit. She looked out the window just as the sun peeked up over the horizon. Tears rolled down her burned cheeks as she watched the sunrise.

"I love you all," she whispered as she closed her eyes. When the monitor alarms started going off, a nurse came in and shut them off. All of them filed out as she covered Tiffany's body. Dana sobbed as they walked out.

"I'm so sorry," she choked out. "If I would've gotten there sooner, she would still be alive."

"Don't do this to yourself, Dana," he said to her, holding her tight. "There's no telling how long she was trapped in there. You did what you could and I'm thankful for the few precious hours to say goodbye to her."

They were silent the whole way home. When they finally got home, they went to bed together, sleeping fitfully, not once letting go of one another.

*Dana*

The next few days were spent making the arrangements for Tiffany's funeral, everyone chipping in to help. Uncle Nathan was hard at work on their case against Dana's parents and their activist group. He'd had a hell of a time keeping them away from the hospital when they transported Tiffany's body to the funeral home. On the morning of the third day, everyone in the valley was gathered at the cemetery, under a large white sycamore tree, overlooking the river. The priest led a beautiful service and as they lowered the casket into the grave, everybody walked by and each dropped a daisy, Tiffany's favorite flower, inside.

"We'll miss you, peanut," Jason whispered as he went by, still limping very slightly.

Back at their place, everyone had come over to offer condolences and sign the guestbook. She was just about to sit down when Jason pulled her onto his lap. Dana stayed there, knowing he needed her close at the moment. She couldn't imagine how it must feel to lose a young sibling. He was trembling all over and crying silently, his head burrowed into her breasts. Dana kissed the top of his head and ran a hand through his hair while he wept.

She never realized he'd stopped crying until she felt his mouth close over her nipple through her shirt, sucking lightly. His hands ran down her back, to her hips and back up again. Before she could say anything, he picked her up in his arms and snuck away to their bedroom. Tossing her onto the bed, Jason got on top of her, kissing her feverishly, passionately as he got his pants unzipped and around his ankles.

"Jason," she gasped, feeling herself get wet as his cock rubbed along her pussy lips, teasing her now erect clit.

Growling low in his throat, Jason pushed deep inside her roughly, panting heavily. When he was finally inside her, he stopped a minute, looking her in the eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, kissing her softly as he ground his pubic bone against hers. "I...I just need you right now. I need to be as close to you as I can."

"It's ok," she replied, stroking his hair and face. "I can't imagine how hard this is for you. And if you need this to get through your grief, then so be it. I love you more than anything, Jason."

"I love you too, Dana," he panted as he started moving.

He didn't last as long as he usually does, but she did get to come just as he did. As he spent himself inside her, Jason laid flat on top of her, holding her tight to his body. She gently rolled him to where he was beside her.

"What's the matter?" he asked, his tone slightly playful. "Am I too heavy for you?"

"No. It's just..."

"Just what?" he asked, looking a little concerned.

"I'm pregnant, Jason," she replied. "My doctor told me we can't have so much sex because there could be difficulties. He said my hormones have been very unbalanced lately. I'm taking supplements, but he advised me to take precautions."

He looked at her, totally stunned. After a couple minutes of the staring routine, he smiled.

"Mom and Dad will be happy to hear this. I can tell they've been wanting grandchildren," Jason said, one hand moving between them to rest on her still flat belly.

"Even though you and your brother are still pretty young?" she asked.

"They would never say it outright, but as you can tell, they love children. If Mom's uterus hadn't have fallen and needed to be taken out, they would've had more kids. And maybe this news will help them get through their grief as well. Don't get me wrong, I loved Tiff. We all did. But I know she wouldn't want all of us to be sad forever. She really loved life and would want us to live ours as much as we could."

"Come on," Dana said, getting up and straightening her clothes. "Let's go tell your parents the good news."

Jason smiled and nodded, standing up and pulling up his pants, re-tucking his shirt. They found his parents sitting out by the pond on the edge of their property.

"How are you two doing?" Jason asked sitting next to them, pulling her back onto his lap.

"Alright, I guess," his mom answered, his dad just staring at the pond. "What about the two of you?"

"Ok," Jason replied. "We've got some news."

His mother and father both looked at him, their faces expressionless.

"I'm pregnant," Dana announced, both her and Jason with big smiles on their faces.

After a minute, both his parents' moods lifted, both of them very happy and excited. His dad even came over and hugged them both. Jason then made his dad look at him.

"Dad...you need to try and pull yourself out of the funk you're in. You know that Tiff wouldn't want you to be like that. Tristan, Crystal and Amanda still need you too. Charlie needs you. We need you. Besides, you're going to be a grandfather," Jason told him.

"I know," he sighed heavily. "I...I just need a little more time."

"That's cool," Jason said, patting his father's shoulder. "We love you, dad."

"I love you guys too," he replied softly.

Together, the four of them sat there, discussing both their wedding and the baby, the promise of a new life and a brighter day keeping their spirits up.