Zig Zag is Copyright © Max Black Rabbit. Sabrina, Darke Katt and R.C. are Copyright © Eric W. Schwartz. James Sheppard, Marvin Badger, Rhonda Badger, Yohni, Alexi, Michael, Esteban, Mia, Wanda Vixen and Tamara Rabbit are Copyright © James Bruner. Alex O'Whitt is © Tigermark. The B-Team is © Silver Coyote. Jean LeBrun, Gabrielle Ryder,  Timothy Bigglesworth-Farthington von Salzburg, Malcolm Grazer, Doctor Fox Jones,  Peter Spermophilus, Miranda Spermophilus, Dina Spermophilus, Leo Leon, Miriam Redtail, Lizzy Doe, Emma Grey, Professor Moose Nicholson, Professor Erica Belge and Pethouse Magazine is © Joan Jacobsen, 2005. All other characters appearing in this story, except where otherwise specifically noted, are likewise © Joan Jacobsen.

Legal Notice: This story is Copyright © 2005 by Joan Jacobsen. This story may not be sold or used for commercial profit in any form or fashion. This story may not be modified in any way. This story may not be posted on a mirror site or any other Internet site without the written permission of the author. This story may not be distributed on print, magnetic, electrical or optical mediums.  

Permission to use characters that are Copyright other individuals was obtained prior to the appearance of said characters.  

The author, Joan Jacobsen, hereby asserts moral right to be identified as the author of this work. 

This is an independent work of fiction with no connection whatsoever to Max Black Rabbit, Eric W. Schwartz, E.S. Productions or James Bruner and is in no way meant to imply any connection with Max Black Rabbit, Eric W. Schwartz, E.S. Productions, or James Bruner. This story contains characters created by Max Black Rabbit, Eric W. Schwartz, James Bruner, Tigermark and Silver Coyote. Events and characters occurring in this story should not be considered part of the storylines for either 'Zig Zag', 'Sabrina Online' or 'Sabrina Online - The Story'.  

In fact, as far as 'Zig Zag', 'Sabrina Online', 'Sabrina Online - The Story' and 'Zig Zag the Story' are concerned, this story does not exist. The artists disavow any knowledge of and do not officially sanction the events in this story. 

Today's the seventh of June 2007. I would like you, as the reader, to remember a year and a half ago, before I had posted more than a few chapters of AVC. Back when I still did a month of Transitions II, then a month of AVC and then a month of Transitions II again. Chapter 9 of this story, called 'Regaining something lost' started with a little note from me about Erica and Arty Smith, two of my good friends from England, who ran into trouble with social services because they asked for a spot of help with their kids, both of whom have special needs. 15 minutes ago, Erica called me to tell me...elated and barely able to grasp it...that the child protection review conference voted unanimously to take the children off the child protection register. It's taken a long time. A very, very long time. There have been some hellish prices to pay...the largest of which has been Erica's and Arty's marriage. But now it's time to look forward. To get back to living without constantly having to worry if a total stranger turns up at their door demanding entrance to check up on the children. Now, I realize that child protection is there for a reason and Gods forbid we should ever experience a world where no one cares about the plight of children...but this was one of the most horrible cases of bullshit I've ever heard of. Erica and Arty's kids didn't get put on the register because a teacher or a doctor contacted social services to say 'look, I think you need to make sure these kids are fed enough and that they are well stimulated'. They got put on the register because Erica and Arty themselves contacted social services, asking if there was some kind of help they could get since they have two children with special needs. As of today, justice has been done at last. It should not have taken over eighteen months. It should not have led to as much heartache and as many tears as it has. It should never have happened at all. But it did. I for one am happy it is over. Send them a happy thought. I'm sure they'll appreciate it.

A note from Erica herself…

Well, what a rollercoaster. As Joan said, it’s been a hellish 18 months. Yes, it has cost my marriage, but not at the expense of the friendship between my husband and I. We will be parting on extremely good terms. My kids continue to be happy, healthy, mischevious individuals, as any children are. They’re great kids, and both Arty and I love them VERY much. I must take the opportunity, though, to thank milady Filly for her unwavering support. She is a true friend, or as she herself would put it, a good, decent person. I’m extremely privileged to know her. Now, finally, after all the heartache, tears, anger and stress, we can finally, as a family, move forward. Enjoy the chapter, which I believe has a rather apt name… *winks*

Looking forward...

"Marveen, can I have couple of meenutes of your time?" Esteban said, scratching his cheek and looking slightly uncertain.

This was one of those terribly awkward moments. He needed to talk to Marvin but the badger was hurt and for good reason. Hurt and offended. So he should be, Esteban reminded himself. That was why he had been sent to talk to Marvin, rather than Wanda, Rafe or one of the other actors or actresses.

The badger turned and looked at Esteban. "If this is about more doubts in my abilities..." he muttered.

"Eet eesn't..."

"Alright then..."

Esteban sighed and ran a paw through his mane. "Leesten, tejon..." he began. He was already heading down the wrong road and he knew it, but he wasn't really sure how else to go about this.

Marvin sat down and picked up the skull and crossbones mug. "Go on."

For a moment, Esteban wondered whether that mug would crack his skull if thrown at him. He swallowed and sighed. "Evereeone ees sorree. No one..."

"No one intended for me to hear any of that, I know. And that's supposed to make me feel better? I've worked my butt off for this studio for years, Esteban! I did think the furs here had a little more respect for me than that!"

"They DO!" Esteban burst out. He wasn't sure how to explain all this. "You got eet all backwards..."

"Seemed pretty straightforward to me," Marvin grumbled and filled the mug with coffee.

Esteban swallowed again and wondered whether the mug would crack open his skull while the hot coffee scalded him, if the combination was thrown at him. He closed his eyes and tried to banish such thoughts. "Zeeg Zag ees like an older seester to almost evereeone here, Marveen..."

"Your point being?"

"She's moveeng away from home..."

Marvin nodded, sighing slightly. He couldn't help but feel the same way. It felt like family was going away. He looked up and sipped his mug.

"I still think you guys could have been nicer about it. I'm not going to run this place into the ground..."

"Of course not!! Nobodee here theenks you weell run eet eento the ground, Marveen...we are just sorree to see her leave. And some of us expressed eet stupeedlee..."

Marvin sipped his coffee. He'd come across some of the actors and actresses talking, and the things they had said had made him think they all believed ZZ Studios would be crashing in flames within moments of him taking over. It had hurt. But Esteban was right...it was a shock to everyone that Zig Zag was leaving.

"Half the gear ees packed up alreadee..." Esteban said, sighing. "We're almost done here..."

"Yeah. Not much longer now. Remember how we felt last time? Elated? Like we'd done something great...?"

Esteban smiled. "We've made sometheeng great thees time too. As good as AVC, een my opeeneeon. We feel deefferently thees time...because we know theengs weell be changeeng now."

Marvin nodded again. He had to agree with that.

###

"I think we can conclude, for an absolute certainty, that you are pregnant, Gabby..." Yohni said and smiled a sympathetic smile. She'd been home for just two days, and she had to admit, Gabrielle's eating habits were out of the ordinary already. Two weeks into the pregnancy, and the bronco was already eating weird combinations.

Gabrielle momentarily looked confused until she looked at her plate. "Did I just cover my strawberries in mustard...?" she asked, hoping her eyes were deceiving her. She hadn't even noticed what she had just done until Yohni made her aware of it.

"You did..."

"I'm pregnant, you're right. Ah well...we already knew that."

Yohni nodded. Gabrielle had done a home test which had come out positive, and she had gone to talk to the old feline who had helped with the procedure in the first place. He'd done a few more tests and they had come out positive as well. No question about it...she was about to become a mother. At least she would be, nine months down the line. She had talked to Colton before he had to leave, and Yohni over the phone just before the mongoose came home from Germany, and they'd all agreed that as soon as it was possible, they wanted to know the gender of the child. And how many there were.

"I still can't quite get over that Zig Zag is looking to change careers too," Gabrielle said after a moment. "Marvin will do a great job, no doubt about it...I just never thought Zig Zag would really leave..."

Yohni shrugged and tried not to look at the mustard-covered strawberries. It was almost enough to make her lose her appetite, but quickly looking away saved the situation for her. She did shudder, though, while unable to hold back a giggle.

"The worst part is you're going to eat those, I already know it..." she mumbled. "And no one thought Zig Zag would ever leave but that really turned out to be her biggest problem, didn't it? Explaining to us all that she isn't leaving, just expanding dramatically."

Gabrielle nodded and popped one of the mustard-covered strawberries into her mouth. "Hrm...an aquired taste," she commented, then looked down at her stomach. "Hey, you...whoever you are! You'd better appreciate this. I'll be reminding you of this when you're an obstinate teenager!"

Yohni laughed and nodded. "You would too, wouldn't you."

"Wouldn't think twice about it, in fact," Gabrielle chuckled and ate another one. "Hey, if my body tells me I need this, I'm eating it. What are you having?"

"Just something to drink. I'm not really hungry after seeing that..."

Gabrielle smiled widely. "How about a strawberry smoothie?" she asked and ducked as Yohni threw the napkin at her.

###

Alex looked at his cousin in complete bafflement. He had decided to go by the set, since he was in Germany on official business anyway, but he had found that the sets were mostly gone and that almost everything had been packed up. That was fine with him, since he wasn't planning on watching the filming anyway. He was there to see Zig Zag. She was happy to see him, and they had gone to sit somewhere quiet where they could talk in peace. What she had told Alex, however, made him both confused and uncertain.

"So you're leaving porn behind...or what is it you're trying to explain?" he asked and scratched his hair.

Zig Zag smiled and shook her head. "No Alex...I'm expanding my business."

"Right...but you'll be leaving ZZ Studios to Marvin. At least on a day-to-day basis..."

"That's right."

Alex nodded. So far he grasped it. What he didn't get was what 'Dogma' had to do with it all. As far as he was concerned, dogma was a religious concept. And somehow, Zig Zag didn't exactly seem the type to take up religious movie-making. For all he knew, there wasn't really all that big a market for religious movies in the first place.

"You're still going to have to explain the dogma thing to me again..." he said, chuckling. "I'm sorry, it seems a little strange."

Zig Zag smiled and held out a bottle of cold water for her cousin. It was still hot in the evening. And humid. It made it hard to sweat, but at the same time, it made most furs very thirsty. What few canids remained on set had been walking around with lolling tongues most of the day.

"Dogma-movies are a concept thought out by some Scandinavian movie-maker or other," she said. "It has nothing to do with religion. It's about dogmatic adherence to the basic principles of movie-making. No background music, no fancy visual effects, no artificial lighting on outdoor scenes and that kind of thing. It means that instead of concentrating on all the fluff and forgetting the bad acting, the viewer will be concentrating on the acting, meaning bad acting can't be disguised by all kinds of elaborate tricks."

Again, Alex nodded. "So nothing religious except for what one might...rather blasphemously...call 'the Gospel of Good Movies', then?"

"That's right. I like that though. The Gospel of Good Movies. I'll have to write that one day, y'know."

Alex chuckled. "Very well then, but why do you want to make that kind of movie?"

Zig Zag shrugged. At least Alex was up to speed on the term now. It was time to get a little more technical than that. "I don't think I will, actually. The reason why I've been looking into the whole Dogma-thing lately is because that movie-maker I mentioned...? He does that kind of movies, but he's pretty bad with finances, so he's got a business partner, y'see. And this business partner has set up this company called Zen-something-or-other. One branch of that company makes really high class pornography. The other makes really high class...and rather artsy...mainstream movies."

Alex digested that for a moment. "Okay. Does anyone take the mainstream movies seriously, then? I hate to ask, Zig, and you know I don't doubt your abilities...but you'll have to convince others than me."

"He won the Grand Jury's prize at Cannes, Alex. He's the favorite to win the golden palms there this year. He'd have won it last year if it wasn't for the fact that he's apparently deathly afraid of flying and the jury thought it was arrogant that he wouldn't turn up to receive the prize himself."

"Ooookay...that pretty confidently answers my question, then..."

"It's just the biggest movie-award in the world, apart from an Academy Award. I think it's pretty safe to say furs take him very seriously, Alex. And if he can do it, so can I. I'm not going to let prejudice stop me."

Alex smiled warmly and opened his bottle of water. "You never did. It'd be very out-of-character for you to let that stop you," he said and took a long swig of the cold liquid.

Zig Zag smiled and crossed her legs. It was nice that someone believed in her unconditionally. There were others who did. James for one. But it felt good to know that her family...however small a part of it she actually interacted with...supported her. She nodded again and sipped her own water. She felt better lately, after making the decision.

"How's Corrie?" she asked, matter-of-factly.

"Apples!" Alex replied, grinning a wide, whisker-twirling grin.

Then he laughed. The look of incomprehension on Zig Zag's face was a pure Kodak moment.

Sadly, he didn't have a camera at paw.

###

Jean wrote the last few lines and saved her work. Then she opened her email-account and sent what she had just written to herself. She immediately received it, and promptly checked it. It opened as intended.

Finally, having double-checked this, she leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. The sheer exhaustion coming over her was indescribable. She could feel a shiver run up her spine. Not one of the good ones, but the kind of shiver one feels when months of pent up stress and nerves were trying to force themselves on her. She had a lump in her throat. It wasn't that her work was done. Not at all. But now came the meta-writing and then the editing. She was done with the research part of her PhD.

Was it good enough?

She wouldn't be the judge of that, but she was confident that she had done a good job.

She had two and a half, maybe three months in which to do the meta-writing, the editing, the proofreading and getting it all printed. It was enough time, certainly. But it still felt very strange. Like...another chapter in her life was coming to its conclusion. And she had no idea what to do next. Or rather, she had plenty of ideas, but she didn't know for certain what would happen from then on in. She was exhausted and worn and soon, she and Esteban would be looking for a new home somewhere else...and possibly at adoption.

No, not possibly. Certainly. They both wanted children after all.

She rubbed her face and shook her head to clear it as she got up. Maybe a cup of tea would help settle those nerves of hers.

She could feel a headache coming on. Not surprising, really. She'd been coiled up like a spring since she came back to work. Probably more so than she'd really been willing to admit, even to herself. She took her purse and left her office, closing the door behind her. She walked down the hallways. For some reason, it felt different. Soon, her scene would have to change. But these hallways had been an integral part of her life for more than six years.

She knew every crack in the plaster on the walls. Every dust-covered historically significant face on the paintings up on the walls. She knew the smells...the way her footsteps rang out when the hallways were empty. The way she could find her way from her office to any lecture hall blindfolded.

It was almost like these halls were a part of her, and now she had to remove that part. It was not a nice feeling...and at the same time, she knew she had to. She wanted to chide herself for lacking a sense of adventure. She reminded herself that she'd learned not to be scared of taking that 'next big step'...and yet she clearly was scared. It angered her slightly. Annoyed her at least. She didn't want to feel that way. At all. She wanted to raise her head and go out there and know she would set the world on its tail. She had what it took.

But it was a lot of 'big unknowns'.

Growling at herself, she slammed her paw into the wall and turned the last corner, before heading down the stairs and leaving through the front door. It was a beautiful day. The flag was up...not that she ever really noticed it before. There were students milling about...coming or going on campus as they always did. A university never really slept. Not really. At most it had a few hours of semi-idleness during the night. But even then, the lights would be on in certain laboratories. Christmas Eve, Fourth of July, New Year...there would always be something going on somewhere. Summer Holidays were conditional. Some students or researchers would always be active.

It was like being a part of an ant hive. One small part, individually insignificant...but important because all the little parts made up a big, complex whole.

Some parts were more important than others, of course. She liked to think that however small her part was, she had been important to some of the students she had interacted with. And to some of the teachers. She knew Moose Nicholson respected her. That made her happy. He was more than a friend and supervisor. He was, for lack of a better word, a mentor. Someone she owed more than she could put into words.

If she could ever be half the scholar he was...she'd be more than content.

Chuckling to herself, she crossed campus. The moose would probably never change. He'd always wear his tweed jackets with leather patches on the elbows. He'd always smoke a pipe. Wear sensible shoes and walk with a slight stoop. He'd always look slightly befuddled even though his mental acuity was unsurpassed.

He would always look like everyone's mental archetype of a historian.

Some furs couldn't hide what they were even if they tried. The funny thing was that Professor Nicholson also had a well deserved reputation with the students for being able to down a beer faster than anyone else in the entire department. And he knew more than one four hundred year old bawdy joke that could still make most modern furs blush furiously.

Jean had written a number of papers with him as supervisor. Soon...she wouldn't have a supervisor anymore. Soon she'd be a full time supervisor herself. And lecturer. Maybe a writer. She had no idea.

The future was, as the song went, wide open.

But before she got there, she still needed to finish her PhD. She'd be back to work on it in a couple of days. Editing and so on. She'd get it done on time...and take it all from there.

###

Emma brushed her paws off against one another and nodded firmly. The room was starting to look like something she could live with...and in. William was busy in the bedroom, setting up the bed and cursing up a small, Caribbean hurricane in the process. Apparently, the store they had bought it at had been very bad at marking which screws went into which holes. There were a lot of screws...and a lot of holes.

William's annoyance was understandable, if slightly comical.

Emma smiled to herself and opened the next box of books, starting to put them up on the shelf. It was great having a boyfriend with much the same literary interests as herself.

"Edgar Allen Poe..." she mumbled and looked at an old, beautifully bound leather volume. It was almost a work of art in and of itself. The contents just added to it.

She put it on the right shelf and looked at a similarly sized book in the box to place next to it. William's taste in literature was slightly darker than her own, although she did pride herself on topping him in one area, since he hadn't read 'The Name of the Rose' yet. 'Yet' being the catch-word. He fully intended to, she knew that. She'd probably lay claim to that Poe-volume while he read about murders and intrigue in a North Italian abbey. All in all, there were enough books to keep both of them happily occupied for many years to come.

"I still think it was incredibly nice of Mrs. Tanner to do this..." William said, coming out from the bedroom with a look of 'I got it!' on his face.

Emma nodded. Mrs. Tanner had suggested that they take over her old apartment, and she, herself, would move into the smaller one where Emma had lived until now. Emma had been a little embarrassed by the generosity of that offer, but Mrs. Tanner had made a convincing argument by saying that she, living alone and at her age, didn't need a big apartment for herself. Cleaning the whole thing took longer and longer and what she needed was something that was smaller and comfortable and easy to take care of. And the extra rent she'd get from letting William and Emma take over the larger apartment would be nice too. She'd said something about setting a little aside for a trip down to her sister in Fort Lauderdale during the coldest months of the winter. Frankly, Emma could understand her landlady. Mrs. Tanner wasn't getting any younger, and Emma was more than happy to have the extra space. Having two furs live together in her former, smaller apartment would be very social...The other two nodded. At least it all made a bit more sense now that they had the whole picture to consider.

Possibly even somewhat cramped.

"I agree," she said and smiled. "But she's like that. Very kind and considerate. But think about it. She doesn't walk all that well anymore. She uses a cane even indoors some days when her arthritis is particularly bad. Cleaning this place must've been terrible for her."

William nodded and smiled, putting his arms around Emma from behind and giving her a little squeeze. "Yeah. But it was still very nice of her to let us have it and at such a decent rent. I'm sure she could've gotten more from someone else."

"Maybe, but with us she's certain to get two quiet, helpful tenants and neighbors, and I think that counts for something too," Emma added.

William could see the point. Mrs. Tanner was not exactly getting any younger, and it was probably a relief and comfort for her to know that the young furs she had living next door were highly unlikely to do something wild like having loud parties every weekend. And it was probably also nice to know that their circle of friends were decent, down-to-earth and solid furs as well. It made life as a landlady much easier, no doubt.

He gave Emma another squeeze and kissed her hair. "I'm glad we decided to do this. We'll make this a really nice home for the both of us..."

Emma felt good. It was nice and comfortable in William's arms and she felt safer with him than she ever had with Jeremy. In fact, she barely ever thought about Jeremy anymore. She still had nightmares from time to time, but while she had woken up several times a night at first, now it was once or twice a week, and steadily declining. She had no doubt she would be rid of the nightmares in time. Probably sooner rather than later. For the time being, though, her main concern was getting the apartment properly set up and furnished. They had promised Mrs. Tanner to keep the colors on the walls the same as she had used, but fortunately, the old canid had good taste. They had repainted, to freshen up the rooms, but in the same colors as they had been before. The kitchen needed a loving paw, too. It was rather old, but Mrs. Tanner had told them that they were welcome to fix it up. It would obviously be something they had to do little by little. A brand new kitchen, from scratch, would cost a small fortune. But buying what they needed one thing at a time and doing most of the work themselves would allow them to have a fixed up kitchen in a year or two. None of them expected to move again within that time-frame.

"Our first home," she said and leaned back against William's chest. "We haven't even known each other all that long."

William nodded. "That's true. But we are good together...and I for one think this is for life. I'd like to make a future with you at least."

Emma liked the sound of that. Sighing contently, she looked at the living room. It was half furnished. There were still boxes that needed unpacking. Her own things had just been carried from her old apartment next door, but William's stuff had all been boxed and packed down for the move. Still...half furnished as it was, this was home. It felt right.

She could look ahead...to the future...without being afraid now. It was a strange feeling.

And a wonderful one.

###

Marvin closed the door to his trailer behind him and grumbled something about the invasive heat and how Germany wasn't supposed to be Central Congo. He was sweating profusely. The heat was enough to drop an elephant. Heavy, thick and almost fetid. Sighing, he wiped the worst of it from his forehead. He wanted to get something cold to drink but his own small fridge had been empty. That was a little strange since he was pretty sure he had a few more bevvies left when he went to work that morning. But obviously, he'd remembered wrong. He crossed the group of trailers. Some of them had music streaming from them. There were lights on in most of them. He didn't really pay much attention. What he wanted was an ice cold beer. Something so cold he could feel the inside of his throat get slicked with ice when he drank it, preferably. Something so cold it hurt when it hit the bottom of his stomach.

He thought of stopping by Zig Zag's trailer but the skunk would almost certainly only have cold mineral water in her fridge and while it was certainly refreshing, Marvin wanted something stronger.

At least there would be beer in the kitchen-trailer. He knocked on the door but didn't receive an answer. Fishing his keys out of his pocket, he muttered something about cooks needing to stay on duty 24 hours a day under conditions like this. Then he let himself in. At least it was nice and cool in that trailer. Still, he was dehydrated and he wanted that beer worse by the second.

He stopped for a few moments and just let the cool air rush over him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before he opened the fridge.

Ham, cheese, butter...a liter of skim milk...

He wrinkled his nose. No beer.

Where could it be?

He opened the next fridge. More or less the same dismal result. Marvin felt like tackling something. Hard. This couldn't be right. No beer anywhere in the kitchen trailer...? Clearly, the universe was conspiring to make his life utterly miserable!

He wanted to tackle the universe but it was rather difficult to figure out where to hit it to make it keel over.

Growling, he left the trailer, locking the door after him.

Someone had to have something cold to drink. He'd just have to settle for some of Zig Zag's bottled mineral water.

He went to her trailer and knocked on the door but got no answer. By now, he was ready to start shouting. Instead he turned around, growling about the gross injustice of everything and how a badger had a right to a cold beer when it was this hot. Rafe nodded back at him and Marvin nearly bolted out of his fur from surprise.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!!" he exclaimed. "Dammit...a fur as big as you shouldn't be able to walk that quietly."

"Bare feet and grass, Boss," Rafe said with a wide smile. "Oh, by the way...Zig Zag's down by the 'inn'."

Marvin raised an eyebrow. They had built the inn for the village in far more detail than most of the other buildings, since there would be a number of scenes that required filming in the interior, and one or two where the camera literally followed the actor either from the outside and into the inn or vice versa.

"What's she doing down there at this time of night? A last minute re-shoot?" Marvin asked.

"Naw, Boss...nothing of the sort, I think. Not sure what it's all about but that's where you can find her if you want to talk to her."

Marvin nodded. "D'you know where all the beer has gone?" he asked.

"Hmm...is that a trick question? Along the lines of why the poultry wants to camp out on the other side of the interstate or something?"

"Never mind. I'll go find her down there..."

Marvin started walking. Something hadn't been quite right about that conversation but he wasn't sure what it was. He'd have to think about it later once he had something cold to drink.

As he came up on the inn, he could hear a lot of noise coming towards him. Music and laughter. He felt a momentary pang of annoyance. So they were having a party without him? With all the 'oh no, Marvin is taking over'-talk of the last few days he couldn't even say he was surprised.

He shook his head and pushed open the door to enter...

And got met by a roar of furs.

"HEEERE HE IS!!"

"THE BOSS IS IN THE HOUSE!"

"MARV!!"

Marvin had to admit it took him by surprise. The big banner with his name and a drawing of him flexing his muscles made him chuckle too.

Best of all, there was beer aplenty.

"You hid all the beer to lure me here?" he asked, looking around.

Mia shook her head. "Nope, but we did figure that with the heat being as bad as it is outside, we stood a decent chance that you'd go looking for it. If you hadn't arrived in ten minutes we'd have sent Rafe to get you."

"He found me," Marvin chuckled. "By the kitchen trailer, actually. Looking for beer."

Michael held out a bottle for Marvin, who took it and took a long, deep gulp from it.

Suddenly, the universe wasn't quite as bad anymore. As he drew a sigh of relief he realized what had felt so strange about the conversation with Rafe outside the kitchen trailer.

The wolf had called him 'Boss'.

Smiling, he shook his head. "Aww, jeez guys..." he mumbled.

A moment later he was the center of a ZZ Studio's group-hug.