(Took Pepperjack instead of my other dog, Raquetball, to my parent's house for the holidays since she does better with dogs. My roommate failed to tell me that she MUST have a pillow of her own... or she'll steal yours.)

An unfamiliar chime slowly woke Ranger from his deep sleep. He didn't open his eyes right away, though, because he could tell that he was being carried. It wasn't cold, so he knew right away that he was still inside the house, but he couldn't quite figure out why someone would be taking him somewhere else.

Where did I fall asleep again?

"The sofa, love," came Heian's deep, whispered voice from above.

Right, they had fallen asleep on the couch... right in front of his brother and his bear.

Embarrassment welled in his belly, but before he could dwell on it he felt his back softly settled against his bedsheets. His heavy blanket was soon to follow as it was tugged up and over him, but when he realized that it was just himself in the bed, he finally did open his eyes.

Heian was leaning over him with a warm smile, but Ranger's attention was quickly stolen by the little flashing red light beneath the man's shirt.

Come to think of it, I've seen him wearing a small electronic locket before. Is it a medical device? Is he okay?

A hand settling on his head brought his eyes back up to Heian's before the man began to speak.

"I'm fine, love. It's an alarm to let me know when Nia is at the door."

Ah, that makes sense. He did mention that she had shifted and sat outside before without him knowing.

"Yes, so I got this device for when I'm not home."

Ranger tilted his head on his pillow, wanting to ask if that meant that Heian would be leaving now, but of course, the answer to that was obvious.

"Okay," he whispered quietly, not wanting to seem upset.

He had no reason to be jealous over the man's own daughter, anyways. She should always be first... he just wasn't used to wanting attention, at least not from another man.

And one with his priorities as straight as a line. Who is unfairly hot. And could probably get just about any—He cut off his thought process after a hesitant look up at a smirking Heian. He'd totally forgotten that the man could read his mind and he'd just went on about how amazing he was.

Yanking his blanket up over his head, Ranger bit back a groan and waited for the guy to tease him, but when he felt the bed depress on either side of his legs, then upper body, he froze. The person above him stopped moving, too, until Ranger felt his heart slowly calm down a little.

That's when he felt Heian's hand gently peel back the blanket he'd pulled over himself and lean down.

"I just wanted to amend that last thought of yours," he said quietly, his words nearly a whisper, yet still so loud in the dark room.

"I don't care who I can get, because there's only one person I want, and all I want to do is keep him happy and one day hear that he'd like to spend the rest of his life with me."

The kiss to his hair that followed that statement had Ranger's brain short-circuiting from heat.

"Sorry, a bit too much," Heian said with a quiet chuckle as he mussed up Ranger's hair, getting a growled warning in response.

"There's my Kit."

Ranger scoffed and yanked his blanket back up and over his head.

"Get lost, you perverted horse."

Another chuckle met his ears but Heian did as told and made his way to the door, drawing Ranger's attention enough to pull down his blanket to peek at him again.

"Nia and I would love to have you over for dinner this evening if you'd like to come by after your nap," Heian said with an inviting smile before he stepped out of the room.

When Ranger couldn't find words to reply, the other man gave him an understanding nod and quietly closed the door.





Blurriness met his vision as he awoke a few hours later.

Wait a minute... why am I walking?

He focused past his confusion and realized with an unsettling feeling that he had shifted while asleep!

How the hell?

His cat had already managed to open the door to his room and was downstairs fiddling with the turn lock on the front door. It didn't take him long.

Please don't go after the horses again. You know you're just going to get kicked in the face.

His cat seemed to heed his words, at first, but Ranger quickly realized why it didn't seem as interested in the horses. Chicken was on the menu. It approached the coops, its eyes examining each panicking bird as they bolted to or from the buildings.

One, in-particular, caught its attention.

Oh no. Not Henrietta!

Before he could reign in his beast, it had the poor thing between its massive teeth. He didn't kill it, or really injure it enough to cause a problem, yet, but the poor bird was likely to have a heart attack before it was released... or eaten.

Satisfied with its catch, his cat turned and began confidently trotting toward Heian's ranch.

You know, he did invite us for dinner... but I'm pretty sure that he is plentifully stocked on food to cook, Ranger reminded his animal, which, of course, took no heed to his words.

The frightened hen clucked in time with his smilodon's gate, making an awkward soundtrack to their little romp through the woods and fields. Soon enough, they were standing on their neighbor's porch, nubby tail swishing to the side every few moments as his massive paws paced the hardwood flooring.

"Hello, my sweet kitten," came a voice by the door a few minutes after his arrival, making his cat immediately dart toward it with excitement.

Heian was ready, thankfully, and quickly knelt down to catch his large feline in a hug. He was careful to avoid the chicken as he gave Ranger's cat a few good scratches, dodged a playful swat of its massive clawed paw, then patted its head before standing back up.

"Did you bring that for me?" he finally asked, addressing the hyperventilating chicken between Ranger's cat's teeth.

It grunted affirmatively and when Heian reached down, gladly handed him the startled bird.

"I do already have everything already almost done for supper, so how about we leave her out here for tonight and I'll make sure to cook her for you next time?" he said, holding the chicken so that it couldn't just dart away.

Smart. He'd be after it if it tried to run.

It took his cat a few moments to process the offer, but thankfully, for Henrietta's sake, he bobbed his fuzzy head and allowed Heian to let the chicken go. It ran a few feet, then looked back at them, released a large amount of droppings, then promptly hopped off the porch to go strut around the horse pasture.

"Kit?"

Ranger's cat quickly returned its attention to Heian, who gave it a rewarding couple pats of on the head.

"I'd like you to meet my daughter. Would that be okay?"

At first, Ranger was hesitant and tried to take control back, but when they both heard a snort come from their left, both heads turned.

Nia...

Her mare was as beautiful as ever and was eyeing him with a nervous but sure caution. She bobbed her head as her hooves stopped a little ways from the porch, then shook out her mane and huffed out a breath.

Ranger's cat scented the air first, then slowly made its way off of the porch. The moment its front paws touched the grass its claws dug in, but instead of attacking, which Ranger had honestly expected, it took another sniff, then continued forward.

Nia wisely turned and gave it her back end, waiting and watching in case she needed to kick.

It took Ranger's cat a whole two minutes before it was no longer interested in trying to make a meal out of the horse. Besides, Heian was watching him, and he clearly didn't want to upset the man. Thus, he returned to sit beside Heian on the porch, staring up at him, seemingly hoping for praise.

"You were a good boy. That went much better than I thought it would," Heian said as he walked forward, then descended the few steps leading to the ground.

Nia ran forward to meet him, but so did Ranger's cat. As soon as Heian gestured with his hand for him to stop, however, his cat immediately put on the brakes and didn't set a single paw on the steps.

He watched with a few grumbles as Heian paid attention to the horse, but then suddenly, there was no horse. His cat took a few moments to figure out that the horse had been a shifter and that Nia was actually his biological daughter.

That seemed to fry its brain, because after another minute, it finally released its hold on him and shoved Ranger into control. Nia was peeking over her father's shoulder when the transformation had happened, and when she saw that it was actually him, her face lit up with a big smile.

"I bet you had a feeling that it was him, but his cat's definitely not one to be trusted too soon. You did very well, Nia," Heian praised as he carried her over once Ranger had gotten one of the spare blankets near the door wrapped around his waist.

He held one out for Nia, too, and helped Heian secure it around her before following them both inside.

The smell of cooked meat immediately brought saliva to his mouth. He wanted to head straight for the kitchen, but did have at least some manners, so he continued to follow them upstairs. When Heian headed for Nia's room, though, he stopped early and slipped into Heian's, then quickly found himself a pair of black silk sweatpants and pulled them on. He was just about to tug on a light blue shirt of similar fabric after a slightly longer search, when he felt warm arms wrap around his waist.

"Wearing my clothes..."

The husky whisper had Ranger fighting back a shiver.

"I could go naked, if you want," he said sarcastically, only to want to smack himself for how obvious Heian's answer would be to that.

"As much as I'd love that, and will hold you to the offer another day," Heian mumbled against Ranger's neck. "My daughter will be joining us for dinner tonight."

He knew that Heian was trying to get a rise out of him, either verbal, or probably physical, but Ranger couldn't help but hear the general excitement as he spoke, too.

"How long has it been since she's had dinner with you?" he asked, curious.

Heian slowly guided him with his hands until they were chest to chest, and, of course, his hands had slid down to firmly grasp his backside.

"With me? Last week. With me and someone else? Years. She doesn't trust people... but she really likes you."

A wave of nerves started making Ranger's palms sweat at the thought of how far he was stepping into Heian and his daughter's little family, but of course, Heian didn't let him stress about it for long. He, quite skillfully, distracted him with a gentle but firm kiss.

I will never tie you to us if it stresses you too much, love. Let's just take this one day at a time.

Ranger was about to break the kiss to reply when his stomach growled loudly, impatient for the food cooking downstairs.

I suppose we can take it one dinner at a time, too, Heian thought with humor before leaning away with a grin.

Feeling awkward with the guy still happily grapping his backside, Ranger glanced toward Nia's room down the hall and nudged Heian with his hand.

"Aren't you going to go help her?"

Heian tilted his head, a knowing look in his eyes as he released Ranger's butt, clearly regrettably, and lifted one hand to sift through his hair.

"She wanted to take care of herself so she pointed for me to wait here. She will tell me, in one way or another, what she wants or doesn't want... but you need to start doing that, too, please," he said, making Ranger flush with embarrassment.

"I'm more than a bit obsessed with touching you, and I really like your butt, in particular, but if that bothers you, or anything I do bothers you, I need you to tell me."

I feel like a kid in front of him. He's so mature, and here I am getting embarrassed about him touching me.

Ranger blinked out of his thoughts as he was tugged over to the bed. Heian stopped them right before they'd have to climb into it, then turned and looked at him sincerely.

"Ranger, you're not a kid, and I know that saying this usually doesn't help, but you have nothing to be embarrassed about when you're with me. I like you. All of you, even your fuzzy side."

Pursing his lips, Ranger thought through his words before taking a deep, calming breath and looking up. He was just about to open his mouth to respond when he saw something familiar out of the corner of his eyes.

"You... have my lasso hanging above your bed."

Heian's grin returned to his face as he stared at the length of nylon he'd curled perfectly on a hook above his bed.

"Didn't want to lose it," he said sheepishly, clearly hiding something.

Ranger leaned forward slightly, making Heian hesitantly lean back.

"You didn't do anything untoward in front of my precious baby, did you?" Ranger asked before he carefully got up onto Heian's bed and started making his way toward his lasso.

He wouldn't be forgetting it this time!

It was within reach only a few moments later, but right as he was lifting his arm to retrieve it, a slightly longer arm moved past his own to twine its hand's fingers with his own, effectively halting his retrieval.

Ranger glared at the man on his right side, who proceeded to pull their entwined hands away from the lasso and hold them up between them.

"I don't know if I can bear to let it go yet, unless..."

Ranger narrowed his eyes, but bit anyways.

"Unless what?"

Heian's grin widened slightly, but right before he was going to respond, the little necklace he wore around his neck chimed to tell him that Nia wanted his attention.

Just like that, he released Ranger's hand and turned to start walking off of his bed, but finding a hint of courage all of a sudden, Ranger lunged forward and caught Heian's hand right as he stepped down from the bed, making the man turn and look up at him.

"Unless what?" he repeated, wanting a darn answer. He was going to take his lasso home tonight. No matter the cost!

Heian seemed to think over his answer, then eventually replied with an eager tone.

"Unless its owner would like to keep me company in my room at night, instead."

The man's words left Ranger speechless, so Heian simply leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the hand he was still holding, then went to tend to Nia. Ranger remained where he was, perched standing on the edge of the bed, until Heian returned several minutes later with his daughter in his arms.

"We'll see you downstairs for dinner, love. Don't forget your shirt... or do," Heian said with a wink before disappearing from the doorway.

It took Ranger a whole five minutes to figure out how to move his body again, and when he looked back at hi lasso hanging neatly on the wall, he hesitated... then hopped off the bed.

I'm starving. I'll grab it after dinner.