Chapter 45

Joanie

C ave fever has officially hit. It's like cabin fever, but worse. Top that with a heaping helping of guilt and a surprise pregnancy and you've got a Joanie special.

I was shocked it's taken this long to set in, honestly. Buu was pretty good at finding things to do to distract me, though— I was sure that helped a heap. And I don't mean the fun kinds of distractions. I mean chores to live, plain and simple.

So many damned chores.

Cave life is so not anything I'm cut out for, not in the long term. Ugh, what I wouldn't give for one of my suitcases full of my self-pampering shit right now!

Admittedly, I was growing a little suspicious of my Buu-buu bear of late. Call me paranoid… but sometimes he'd disappear for small stretches and I had no clue where he'd gone off to. This was beyond cave is so big I done got turned around bologna. This was…

He always comes back, but I'd swear there's this, like, guilty look on his face and then he'd take extra care with me, just being super thoughtful, more than usual. If we were back on Earth and he was human I'd be way more suspicious, I felt. These furballs have properly ruined me.

It was hard to gauge whether I was just being paranoid or Peekaboo was up to something.

Possibly as part of my own brokenness, or pure boredom, I was having trouble dividing the two at this point as I warred with my own personal worries related to things back home in Yetiville versus my worries with things going on right now, like Buu's possible subterfuge.

Sitting in the hall with my legs crossed, I was propped up there for a good hour, doing my best to be quiet, no sign of his ass for quite some time, when I finally heard it.

My eyebrows shot up as I glanced up at a scuffling noise and spied Buu's legs slipping out of a hole in the ceiling. Right before my eyes, he wiggled down and slowly slipped from his hidey hole. So soft, swift, quiet.

He was like a damn ninja, silently dropping into the cave system down the hall from me.

Snow covered his wide shoulders. Shrugging them and lifting his upper hands, he shook the snow off.

Turning to hurry towards the cave he'd last set me up in, he froze at the sight of me.

Cradling my quickly growing baby bump, I got to my feet. My very puffy of late, aching feet.

For the sake of my sanity, I'd stopped counting the days on the wall with tally marks and accepted that this might very well be my new existence. I might never fucking get out of here, I'd told myself.

"Find anything interesting?" I murmured softly, quietly.

There it was, guilt flashing in those beautiful purple peepers. The fool's fur began to stand on end.

Staring at him, I waited.

I'll admit I may have… Okay, so I'd totally lost it a couple weeks back. Finding a small, pin hole sized peek of light breaking through the top of the ice door blocking our way out, I'd cried, I was so happy, sobbing and babbling on about this being a sign. Soon we'd be able to leave! This was it! We were heading home!

The next morning, however, that pin hole of light had magically disappeared.

Sending up a silent prayer for my fur-ipede's soul, I advanced on him.

"You mean to tell me you've had a way to get out of here this whole time and you've said nothing to me? Not one word?" My voice was calm, low, but anger simmered. "I have mates waiting for me back home, our home, and you-"

"Joalee home," he cut in curtly, sharply, more sharply than I'd ever heard him talk to me.

Lips pursing to hold back all the things about to crap outta my mouth, I stiffened. "Excuse me?"

"Joalee home." Buu's toe claws scraped along the cave floor as he stared down at it. "Joalee home. This cave, Buu's home." Darting a glance my way, he grunted out, "Joalee say want stay with Buu. Joalee no want stay with Buu no more?"

Lord grant me the strength… "Yes, I want to stay with you," I replied carefully. Walking towards him, I gestured at him. "YOU, as in be with you , but I can't live here, in a damp cave in the middle of nowhere. You can't expect me to have our baby in a cave. I'm stuck in here, quite literally. No sunshine, no fresh air, just stuck in a cave that only you can Houdini your way in and out of."

"Joalee say want stay with Buu," he mumbled, lifting a hand to tug at his front left ear.

"I want to be with Buu, and bring you back to my village, like we've been talking about. I want to be with you and my other mates, and the baby. You know this." Taking his hand in mine, I brought it to my cheek to hold it there. "What were you thinking?"

Beastly subterfuge was nothing new to me, not anymore. Perhaps that's why I wasn't exactly shocked to discover this. That, or I've gone soft in my impending motherhood.

"Joalee see. Joalee like. Joalee want stay with Buu. Buu goot male. Take care my Joalee and bebeh," he whispered, hugging me to him to rest his cheek on the top of my head.

He was waiting me out? Hoping I'd give up? Oh… some beastie did not know this little lady very well.

Taking a deep breath, I bit my lip. "I'll never give up on getting out of here. I don't care what crack or crevice I have to try and wiggle my chunky buns through, Kehr-a-boo." Shaking my head, I pulled away from him. My hands fell to my belly. "What if there's a difficulty with my pregnancy? The birth? What if the baby needs a healer?"

His ears dropped forward, falling flatly to the sides of his head. "No ‘stand. No want Buu. Buu not welcomed Joalee village. Buu too different. Think Buu bad, like Krampus."

"That's silly." My hands flapped about between us. "You're nothing like a Krampus."

"Keep Joalee in cave. Think she want stay," he muttered flatly.

"Were you doing anything to actually keep me in this cave?" I ventured curiously.

Thick shoulders drooped. "Buu no push snowies over cave hole no more. Not after Joalee cry and cry and cry and want be leave ‘lone."

Closing my eyes, fingers falling to my sides to flex, I took a deep breath. "Thank you for telling me the truth." God, did that one fucking smart. Turning, I made my way down the hall without another word.

"Where Joalee go?" he croaked out tentatively.

"My cave room for some therapeutic screaming into a pillow. Don't mind the noise." One foot in front of the other, I just kept walking.

"Why?"

Turning to face him, the look I gave him could melt that ice blocking the door right off. "So I don't strangle you."

Buu's lips parted, large, cat-like eyes widening.

"I'll see you at dinner," I muttered as I reached the doorway to my room.

My throat was raw by the time I'd finished screaming my head off, but it felt like I'd gotten most of the rage boiling inside of me out. It couldn't be good for the baby to hold onto all of that. I felt less murdery. There was that.

Three months. I'd stopped counting down the days at three months. After I'd finished screaming I'd gone and counted those tallies.

I wanted to weep but I was too tired to after all the tears and screaming I'd shed earlier.

My new, colorful form of expressing myself was much better than holding it all in and pushing it all down. It felt better this way. I felt better.

By the time dinner rolled around, I'd even managed to squeeze in a nap.

Washing up in the salt baths, I felt more like myself as I headed off to gather fruit from one of several of his storage rooms and get dinner going.

The smell hit me first as I stepped back into the hall.

Following my nose, putting a pin in horrible, worrisome thoughts and day-mare type thoughts of coming back to the village to find my mates had all moved on and found their own better happily ever afters, I nearly passed the main entrance and Buu, sitting beside a fire he'd set up, dinner cooking on a small clay pan over the open fire.

"Are you trying to kill us with carbon monoxide?" I started in on him, frowning as I stepped into the room.

Buu glanced up at me in surprise.

My hands gestured wildly at the open flame. "The- the fumey stuff, in the air, where is all the smoke going to go?" Now that I'd mentioned it and my gaze shot up, I had to recant my statement as I noted a bajillion tiny holes in the entryway's cave ceiling.

I supposed if there was any place to start a fire, this was technically ideal.

"So, what, you're doing your dinner in here now, without me?"

Buu shot up at the hurt lacing my tone and squished me against him. "NO! Buu makes the fire, the food, for my Joalee!"

My scowl softened but remained. "Why?"

A pained noise left him. "No want my Joalee sad. Cry. Scream cry. Buu want Joalee stay but no want be like Krampus and force Joalee stay. Krampus not goot."

"They aren't," I murmured quietly. "If you have to force something, it's probably shit."

"No want force shit," he whispered, then started to press kisses along the top of my head. "Want Joalee with Buu, always. Joalee and bebeh Buu clan."

"And you're my clan. So are my mates back home and the rest of my family." Staring up at him, I gave him a squeeze. "I'm telling you, you're going to love it there." Pressing my head over his heart, I whispered, "I'll be there, Bump, we'll be together. The rest of my mates, they'll be your clan too."

Buu's ears kept popping up to flatten to his head, then pop back up again as his throat began to work. "What… what if Joalee mates no want Buu be in clan? Make Buu go?"

"They won't. I won't let them," I muttered into his fur. My fingers tightened.

Brushing his claws through my hair, he started to purr. "Say like Joalee say, that how it be."

"Because that's how it'll be if they like breathin'," I mumbled into his fur.

Buu's soft laugh made me smile. "No more sad mad with Buu still?"

"Oh, I'm plenty sad mad, mad-mad, bad mad, all the not nice kinds of mad, mister, but you aren't the first furball to try and pull one over on me in the name of their love for me." I had a horrible feeling he may not even be the damned last. Ugh. "I hate to admit it, but I think I'm getting accustomed to this world's particular brand of furry bullshit. That's not that great for the furballs out here. I mean, that bullshit? Zero stars, do not recommend. Avoid at all costs. But I'm still fucking here. Take it for what it is. A chance to make it up to me, kiss my god damn ass."

"Buu make things," he said lightly. He looked like he was still processing the whole kiss my ass thing.

"Things? What kinda things?" I shivered a little as the heat from the fire fought with the cold of this room.

Rubbing his arms up and down my shoulders, over my back, he purred, "Warm things. Things my Joalee like to have. Want when Joalee leave caves… ‘fore Buu kisses ass."

"Huh?" Craning my neck, I stared up at him. "Come again, my demon-angel with fur? Not about the ass stuff, but the other stuff."

Buu grinned at that. "My Joalee want see pretties Buu make?"

"Does a Krampus crap in the woods?" Just in case he didn't get it, I nodded and informed him emphatically, "Yes, definitely."

Letting me go, he hurried out of the room. Sitting near the fire, adjusting the pelt I walked around in with it cuddled around me at all times, I listened to him scrambling around elsewhere.

Buu came rushing back in, his arms full with odd shaped, fur covered objects.

"Too warm for caves," he cautioned as he handed me each piece.

Eyeing him, then each item, a thick pair of warm boots, a pair of pieced together pants, a dress looking long top, and a shawl piece that looked more like a hooded cape than anything.

"You've been working on this for a while." My eyebrows shot up. He was working on outside clothes while he tried to keep me inside?

Buu glanced away from my intense stare and the look on my face. "Buu… Buu Joalee smart."

"Not that smart if it took me this long to figure it out," I muttered as my hand waved off towards the ice door.

Buu glanced up at me with a frown. "Buu only push the snowies down the purpose the once, to cover the ice hole. Storm keep Buu in with Joalee, long time."

"Oh, thank god," I mumbled. The stiffness in my spine, making it ache worse than it already did, left me. It made me feel a little better about it all knowing he wasn't keeping up his ruse this entire time.

Glancing down at my swollen feet and my burgeoning belly, I sighed. "Truth time. As much as it pains me to admit it and my ass wants to go home, I don't know if that's going to be possible, the longer we're stuck in here. My feet are killing me, I have to pee every ten seconds. I might just end up having Bump in this cave." Frowning, I admitted, "I'm scared."

"No smell scared." Buu gave a loud sniff.

"Because I can't afford to actually be," I said simply. If I did, he might be dealing with a blubbering mess, a whole broken dam kinda deal. He wasn't ready for that.

Scrubbing at my face, I groaned and then started muttering my pick-me-up chant. "It'll be fine. It's okay. It'll be fine."

"Ice melts," Buu offered.

Glancing up at him, I forced a smile I wasn't feeling and looked towards the very slowly melting ice door. "It is," I agreed, and left it at that. He was trying to make me feel better, and possibly his guilt ridden booty as well, and I appreciated the attempt at a pick me up but that door had a long fucking way to go before I could fit my ass through that thing.

"I could eat," I said into the silence that followed.

Buu, ever the Suzy Cavemaker of the two of us, was quick to oblige.

That night, as I snuggled down on my respective sleep mat, I gave up waiting for him to make a move, knowing good and well it just wasn't his way and this waiting him out thing was just stupid and silly. Eyeing him, I stood and grabbed my things to drag them next to his sleeping spot.

Roling to face away from him, I scooted until our backsides touched.

I was still upset with him but I needed to feel him next to me. Sad mad, mad-mad, bad mad be damned.

Closing my eyes, I listened as Buu shifted. Feeling like I was being watched, I assumed he was glancing at me from over his shoulder.

"Night," I mumbled tiredly, then dragged my pelts up a little higher.

I was drifting off to sleep before he could respond.

???

I ce melting via cave fire felt an awful lot like watching paint dry.

Days. This was going to take days, maybe weeks, not some go to sleep and wake up, it's magically all good and we can head out and just take off kinda sitch.

Anxious as I was to pass by and see the passageway cleared to exit, I had this weird, nagging anxiety about all of it. That nagging anxiety dogged me as the days passed.

So many unknowns, too many what ifs. A part of me was scared. Very scared.

The Joanie that was taken wasn't the same Joanie that had survived and ended up here. Not by a longshot. It took a Krampus kidnapping and almost death to break my ass. If it were alive to gloat about it, it could pat its crazy ass on the back over the feat. I couldn't explain it. I just… felt different. Would they like me as I am now, my guys? Would they think less of me that I not only tolerated Buu's pseudo deceit but a part of me understood it from his perspective? Not that I was giving him a pass or anything— keeping the fact he could leave the cave from me was messed up. What would I do if I was all alone and finally found someone that turned out to be my forever someone, and they wanted to leave me and go back to their other family that I feared may or may not accept me?

I just… kinda, sorta, understood his fear of being all alone, being without any being— let alone beings, counting Bump— he cares about. Dare I say it, without the woman he loves?

We haven't said the words yet. I know it'd need to be prompted on my end. To expect him to just know the phrase and understand human romantic notions, ideas, etc, would be a little ridiculous.

I feel like he's been giving me space lately, or maybe more aptly he's pulling back? I don't know anymore.

I've given up putting any space between us while we sleep, thinking maybe that's something he needed, though. It was the absolute opposite of what I needed. I needed him.

We are now full time sleeping cohabitors, sleep buddies, sleepover amigos, however you'd like to label it.

We haven't been intimate since before all this keep me locked in bologna and the gap feels like it's growing and growing and I'm just lost on how to fix it.

There's distance on both ends, I feel, that wasn't there before.

I can't help but worry I'm losing him or like he might be giving up on me in some way.

Separate but together.

"Joalee goot?"

Buu calling for me dragged me from my thoughts as I peeled fruit and mashed vegetables. Popping out through that ceiling exit, Buu's managed to catch something to eat for supper. Fresh meat. I couldn't be more excited for a piddly looking carcass that'll barely feed us both but I am. There's only so much mash and fruit one can choke down day after day after day.

The dried, salted meat varieties he keeps in large quantities in one of his back storage rooms is great but after eating it endlessly, accompanying the mash and fruit, it's only appealing to me anymore if I'm just desperate enough. That equivalent to beef jerky for meat, mash, and fruit on an endless loop can get a pregnant gal yarking pretty quick here if she's sensitive to it, and I'm pretty freaking sensitive to salty meat. If I never saw another piece of salted meat ever again, that'd be just fine with me.

"What's all that racket?" I called out to him. I didn't bother looking up as I focused on not stabbing my fingers on the soft spots of the spiky-peeled fruit in my hands.

He called out for me regularly of late, like he was worried about me. Was he sensing something I wasn't? A distress in the baby? In me that I wasn't aware of? My hands and feet have been pretty puffed up to hell. Maybe that was it. My face is starting to get in on it, too, particularly my nose. Ugh. Not fun. I swear this baby must actually be six or something stuffed up in there, I'm starting to show so much, but Buu insists there's only one baby.

As I'm not much use moving heavy shit, clawing out cave walls, or going through the ceiling to head off on hunting expeditions, I can't say I'm keen on trying anyway, I could do this— food prep. It's also helped me out, as Buu loved his seasonings and tended to get very generous with the salt-like mineral he harvested in large quantities to keep on hand. His food was seasoned after mine was made. The arrangement worked out just fine for both of us. There was a very stinky herb he enjoyed to roll his food in on cornball nights, as I called the meat and meal mash rolled hush puppy-like hot-water-boiled dish. Buu claimed it made them taste that much better. Odix would freaking love it, I was sure. The baby thinks stinky seasoned corn balls are an immediate evac from my gut for even thinking to try and eat them kinda sitch.

I need to feel helpful. I can't stand sitting idly by while Buu does anything, I don't care what he says.

I could skin and treat pelts, collect snow from the caved in back room and turn it into drinkable water. Under Buu's tutelage, not that he had a choice in the matter or anything, ahem, I was pretty adept at cave living. I just really hated cave living and missed a warm, comfy bed about as much as I missed my freaking guys.

From all I'd learned back at the village, I'd managed to teach Buu a thing or two. He may or may not be thanking me for his newly found sweet tooth and the plants he was now growing and harvesting to keep a steady supply on hand.

What I wouldn't give for one of the ovens back home…

Fuck. What I wouldn't give to be back home.

Frowning down at my puffy, aching hands and feet, I grimaced. It wasn't looking real good. Dorothy would know what to do. And she'd put me at ease talking me into whatever treatment she'd thought was best.

That racket continued.

Groaning as I got to my feet, I made a quick pit stop to use the little girls' room before following that awful noise.

Buu was near the back of the very back of his cave system, where it was hotter and way more uncomfortable. So much so I avoided it at all costs. I was pretty sure he used the hot water pools here to forge the lumps of metal he dug out of the cave walls and shaped into things, some were so hot.

"Don't hang around here too long. It's too hot," I cautioned as I stood just inside the doorway.

Buu's head shot up from the odd shaped piece of metal he was working on. Fixing a tool, no doubt.

"I'll get you some water," I told him.

"No," he barked, coming over to me hurriedly to escort me down the hall.

My eyebrows shot up and I glanced over my shoulder, stealing another peek at whatever he was making. An axe? Did we need to chop wood? Was he making a dagger? Spear? Sword? How dire was shit getting?

One hand landed on my shoulder, the other wrapped around my side, while another settled on Bump, then another settled on my hip, as he guided me further and further away from all that heat.

"Not goot," he grumbled softly, smoothing a hand over my belly.

Lifting one of my hands, he got one look at my plump digits and gently began to massage them. "Need ‘lax," he rumbled down at me.

"I need to walk more. I think it might help. I'm drinking a fuck ton of water. I think salt meat really isn't helping the puff monster I've become any," I chattered idly as we walked the long way back to the main cavern.

"Need rest," he grunted out.

"There's too much to be done," I gently argued, "and I can help."

Buu grumbled something that told me he thought I was being stubborn.

"I'm sorry, come again?" My brow puckered and my lips pursed.

"Buu say no thing," he grunted out. Scooping me up despite my protests, he planted a kiss on my brow and escorted me, willing or not, down the hall.

"Neanderthal," I muttered under my breath.

"What nanner-thall?" he asked.

"A bossy grump that does what they want," I muttered.

Buu's clicking purr started up.

"Of course you'd love that," I grumbled under my breath. Crossing my arms, I rolled my eyes.

His purr grew louder. Ugh. Total "nanner-thall" this one.

Walking me past where I'd been preparing food, he detoured for our sleeping pelts. Setting me down on his, he scooted mine closer to stuff it underneath my back so I was propped up.

"What am I supposed to do now? Count weird glowing markings of I-don't-wanna-know origin on the ceiling?" I huffed and puffed.

"Want grrr-eees? Make own ceiling spots?" Buu gestured in the general direction of the room containing the slug bucket, as I so lovingly called the container housing the slugs he fed, bred, and then used the sacs that grew on their backs to fuel the odd light fixture, glowy lamp jar things sticking up everywhere to light our way, and most recently to mark up the walls for me. They naturally made beautiful patterns on the walls. Buu made weird noises that shifted the intensity of the light or turned them off entirely. It was some weird, symbiotic relationship thing. He fed them his blood once a month. I didn't delve too deeply into that ish to be honest and like fuck was I gonna donate to his vampire slug fund so that I too could creak-click-hum the lights on. The slug bugs had been in his clan for generations.

Choosing to live in my delusions, he didn't say shit when I pretended not to know anything about them because EW.

"You can't hold me prisoner for forever, you know," I bitched under my breath. A loud huff and puff followed.

When Buu had nothing to say to that, I glanced up to find him staring at me. He had the oddest look on his face. It was just shy of horror mixed with dawning realization.

Wondering at that, my brow puckered. "Not literally. I'm not your prisoner, Buu-bear. I was just joking." My hand lifted and I smoothed it over his arm, then down his chest.

His chest finally moved, his stiff form relaxing.

"I don't feel like you're keeping me here," I elaborated. "I meant, jokingly, about carrying me off to our cave and not letting me help you, when you obviously need it. You know, nanner-thal shit." Reaching out for him, I smiled when he left the fire and the food to take my hand in his. Going for broke, I brought his hand to my cheek to rub it along the unmarred side of my face. "We're a team, a unit, a package deal, just like me and my guys. I love you, just like I love them."

Buu blinked down at me at that.

"I love you means," I started to explain but I was momentarily hug attacked by a massive ball of fur.

"Buu knows loves means. Dace tell Buu bout loves," he whispered, his voice choking as he struggled to speak. "Buu loves Joalee." Burying his face in my throat, his purr was so loud his teeth began to chatter.

Wrapping my arms around him and giving him a squeeze in return, I pressed a kiss to his shoulder. "I love you more," I mumbled into his fur.

Jerking back to grip my shoulders, holding me at arm's length, he shook his head violently. "Buu loves more," he growled out with a teeth-baring smile.

My eyebrows shot up but I grinned. "I wouldn't be so certain of that but I won't argue with you on it." My grin grew impossibly wider when his growling rumble fought with his click-purr.

Staring into my eyes, he paused and frowned. "No want be gone from Joalee. Buu want Joalee all the times."

"I want to be with you all the time too, Peekaboo."

Buu snuggled back into me at that silly endearment. He was so sweetly receptive to them I found myself making up silly nonsense ones just to get in some extra snuggles and happy smiles out of him. Buu was the love bug of beasts and I adored him for it.

Thinking about Dace giving him the deets on this loves business, I ventured to ask, "Where exactly is Dace, like, right now?"

Buu mumbled at exactly the same time, "No want Joalie people say Buu no be with Joalee. Mates say Joalee no be with Buu. Buu be sad."

"You won't. It won't happen," I swore. "I wouldn't let that happen anyway."

"Make Buu to leave… Joalee… Joalee leave with Buu?"

Wriggling my way free of him, I gripped the fur on his chin and carefully urged him closer. My lips pecked the tip of his nose. "In a heartbeat, but it's never going to go down like that, I'm telling you, so you don't have to worry about it."

"Buu… Buu need- Buu want show," he murmured softly. "Want Joalee see. Know. Know why mates no want Buu." Scuttling back, he took a deep breath, reached up while I watched, and then snarled as he snapped off the fat horns on his head.

Buu looked so utterly devastated as he dropped his horns, his gaze never leaving mine, and his fun coloring fell away. The color literally drained from his fur, his nose, his lips. All but one set of arms receded into his body, along with his lower pectorals. In the place my furry cat-beast-boy stood was a veritable clone of a Lo denaii.

A soft gasp left me as I watched.

Shiny purple eyes welled and he swallowed thickly.

"Just like Tor but without the multiple personalities snug up in there," I breathed with a smile.

Buu's nearing-a-breakdown look disappeared, confusion replacing it. "Just like Buu?"

"Oh, yeah." My head bobbed in a nod. "But he's, like, supersized, a biggun, and he has a Lo denaii half, a beast mode half, and, like, an in between."

Buu breathed something I didn't understand but I'd heard Tor use similar words.

"Is that what you'd call him?" My finger tapped my lip. "I wonder if there's a translation?"

"Many in here." Buu motioned to his head, heart, and then encompassed himself but motioned around him.

I blinked up at him at that. "Buu… do you see colors around beings? Like, a halo, shadow, colors, you know?"

Buu nodded. Using that word again, he said, "They has many colors."

"Auras," I murmured. He could literally see auras. "Halos." I mimed the shimmering outer layer like he was saying.

"Dace say Buu soul seer. If Buu Soul Seer, Joalee Tor what Gii mii say Many Souls."

"Hey, so if someone is bad, can you tell by looking at their soul/aura?" I questioned, eyeing him.

Buu shrugged. "Bad colors, bad feeling, Buu stay ‘way. Not goot. No want. Krampus not goot. Dark. No sun, no moons. See through. Only shadow, Dace call it."

Circling back around to my sidetracked question, I nodded to what he was saying but repeated, "And Dace is…?"

Buu squirmed where he sat. "Dace go Suns cave. Worry Joalee no like. No want see."

"There's a Suns cave?" I blurted.

Buu glanced down and away but nodded. "‘Spose finish help Joalee and leave. Buu no leave. No want leave. Want Buu and Joalee stay Moons cave."

It took everything in me not to gape.

"Warmer. Clan travels to Suns cave for warm," he grunted out as he stole a peek at me. "Dace strong. Smart. Know woods. Buu teach. Dace be safe."

"You have colder and warmer caves," I said slowly. And we got stuck in the cold one.

"Moon caves clan caves. Buu caves Suns caves. Buu no like cold. Buu and Dace at Moon caves for-"

Now, whatever he said came out a garbled growl speak mash I had no clue as to what. When I stared at him blankly, he grunted out, "Praise, for lost, dead, for new, growth. Dace say, fedstival of lives."

"Sort of… Dia De Los Muertos," I murmured with a shrug. "Kinda."

"Find Joalee. Help. Dace leave, Buu stay. Joalee Buu's now and Buu no want Joalee leave Buu."

"Hey. I'll say it until I'm purple and blue spotted all over, honey, I ain't goin' nowhere."

Buu grinned at that, a habit he's picked up from me, and I was swallowed up in another tackle hug.

Buu purred as he took me down to the floor. Playfully biting and nipping at my neck, he didn't let up until I was a squawking, giggling mess.

"Mine," he rumbled out softly.

"Mine," I mock growled back, then laughed when his click-purr took the lead and drowned out the grr in his possessive growl.

He was mine, I was his, and we had a whole mess of beings waiting for us back home. Getting there was all that mattered now.

We just had to figure that shit out.

Easier said than done. Argh.

"Joalee miss her males?" Buu's click-purring paused to frown down at me.

"I miss them the way I'd miss you if we ever had to part, god forbid." Frowning at that, I looked towards Buu when he made an unhappy sound.

He didn't just make an unhappy sound, he looked visibly upset.

"I love you all, no one more than the other." Taking his hand in mine, I gave it a squeeze. "I don't care what Rek says, it's not some sort of competition. You may find him loud and obnoxious sometimes, and he can pester like no other, but I don't love him any less." My teasing smirk had him eyeing me.

"Joalee goot mate," he said finally.

"I try- Oof." Once more, I found myself a very willing participant of a Behr-hug.

"Buu loves," he grunted into my hair.

Resting my head on his shoulder, I wove my arms around his neck and smiled as I whispered back, "Love ya more."

???

D rawn from a rather naughty dream I was very much enjoying, roused in the middle of the night to find myself alone, I crawled from the warmth of my cozy bedding to discover Buu chipping away at the ice blocking the door with the tool he'd been forging earlier.

"What time is it?" I mumbled as I scrubbed at my eyeballs.

"No mean wake. Buu fix," he grunted out as he swung that pickaxe looking thing again and again.

Ugh. Too early. My brain. My poor, overtaxed preggo brain. "Can't this wait until the morning?"

"Buu fix," he got out between axe swings and the clink of ice chipping.

Staring at him, I mumbled, "I will suck you off if you come back to bed with me and let me get some sleep."

"No know means, sucked off," Buu grunted out.

"Polish your knob. Give ya a hummer," I mumbled.

His huh? look was adorable and strangely comforting. Miming a blow job, he tilted his head and blinked. "What do that?" he paused long enough to ask.

"Right…" Turning to stumble back towards our bedroom, a snort of a laugh left me. "Definitely not worried about him and Dace…"

???

A soft snuffling and the feeling of something tickling my ear woke me. My eyes popped open as a furry cheek nuzzled against mine.

"I'm up," I mumbled. "What happened? Where's the fire?"

Buu scooted in closer, until the tops of his feet were pressing up underneath the bottoms of mine. My toes curled as the furry tops of his feet brushed along my ticklish skin.

"Joalee… My Joalee mine…" Nuzzling his way to my shoulder, where he began peppering little nuzzle-kisses to my bared flesh as he dragged the pelt off my shoulders, his arms wrapped around me.

The soft little noises he was making, it took me a moment to realize they might actually be him softly mumbling words in his own language.

Glancing over my shoulder, warm, dark lips quickly captured mine.

A soft groan mixing with a clicking purr thrummed in his throat.

He was definitely talking, I realized as he broke our kiss to worry my ear with his teeth.

Thick fingers intertwined with mine as one set of hands cupped my breasts.

No, he was softly pleading, murmuring sweet nothings, I had no idea what, into my ear as his leg began to brush against the scar on my calf, eliciting a soft gasp and a round of gooseflesh pricking my skin out of me, and two of his hands smoothed up and down the scars along my back and shoulder.

His hips shifted at my back. That full pouch he was sporting was hot, pressed against my backside, but his little friend wasn't looking ready to play. His tail slid beneath my thighs, the hairless tip sliding up my folds to tease, but it never entered me.

I could make out the words take, Joalee, and mine, the rest of it was in growl-speak.

I was a pitiful mess as he toyed with the constant reminders etched into my flesh of what had almost become of me.

He teased me so much so, I felt sharp stabs at my breasts, right before a shock of pressure. Glancing down, expecting to find his claws stabbing the girls, they were engorged, as if the Krampus bite and envenomation had just occurred— a lingering side effect.

Those tell-tale pricks of his fangs sliding along my throat had me shivering in place. One of his hands slid up my throat, holding me perfectly still, before he struck.

A sharp cry escaped me as warmth filled my veins. Pure, liquid gold, ambrosia.

The combination of that warm feeling and the feel-good tingles from massaging my scars was almost too much. I was a melty puddle of horny goo and I wanted- No, I needed him NOW. Like, yesterday.

He was taking too long.

When I began to fight in earnest, he pulled back.

Rolling to face him, panting, breathless, right when I would have climbed atop him and rode him until he yodeled, I froze. He wasn't fond of women that liked to lead.

Noting my reticence, he shot up into a sitting position and mashed his lips to mine.

"Take. Buu's Joalee," he groaned against my lips between kisses. "Take. Buu want Joalee take."

Taking my hands in his, he brought them to his chest and smoothed them down his torso. "Take," he whispered against my lips, bringing one of my hands down to the slit housing his prehensile friend to brush my fingers along the seam.

Urging me to follow him back down to the sleeping pelts, he made sure to keep his lips pressed to mine as he urged me to straddle him.

Our groins met, his genital slit as slippery with slick as my pussy. Grinding down against him, I lined up my entrance with the small bump I kept nudging.

"Take," he panted out, chanting it like a prayer. His hands were everywhere, urging me not to stop.

The harder I ground down on him, the more pronounced that bump nudging me beneath his slit grew, the louder the garbled nonsense he was panting out became.

One of his hands cupped one of my breasts and he brought it to his lips, leaving me free to sit up straighter and ride him as he suckled my breast.

His moans grew louder and louder, turning into chest rumbling growls. Then something finally peeked, the head of his cock. On my next glide upwards, I took that knob ended tip into my body.

Buu's cock shot out the instant the tip was enveloped in my heat.

Buu bellowed, jerking from the force of it, his grip on my person, all four sets of hands, digging in simultaneously. Releasing my breast, he threw his head back and bellowed.

I kept going.

He thrashed beneath me, gnashing his teeth, entreating me not to stop through gritted teeth.

His cock immediately began to convulse. As I moved, milking his cock, it swelled, until I felt that pinch of pain that told me not to even think about trying to move.

Not wanting it to somehow hurt the baby, I held perfectly still atop him. The excess of his engorged length pressed up against my sex, bulging and convulsing in time with the rest of him. I was leaning forward enough it was pressing against my clit.

My hands tightened where they were digging into his shoulders as my climax washed over me.

Buu's chest heaved like a bellows. Purple eyes bright, he grinned up at me like a loon. "My Joalee take," he panted out.

Smirking atop this mountain, I waggled my eyebrows at him. "Yeah, I did, Kehr-bear."

When our bodies cooled down and we'd cleaned up, he insisted on being the big spoon to my little spoon.

Fiddling with my fingers in his in one hand, he played with my hair with the other. Another hand rubbed my baby bump. His hands were everywhere.

"What think?" he asked.

Glancing over my shoulder at him curiously, I shrugged. "A lot of things, all at once, I guess. What do you mean?"

"What like think?"

"Like… you and the baby, the guys back in the village. Dorothy. Rosa. Mal." I laughed a little. "Even Doogie."

His hands stilled. "What think like… them?"

"What do I think about them?" I asked.

He nodded. "Think ‘bout Joalee's mates in village?"

I thought about them almost constantly. "Will they be excited about the baby…? Did they assume I'd died? Had any of them waited for me…? How long did they look? How much I miss them. Are they missing me? Stuff like that."

"What think ‘bout, think ‘bout Buu?" he grunted out softly.

"Well, I think about us going back to the village a lot. About you holding the baby once they're born-"

"She. Girl," he said softly. "Bebeh es girl."

"She?" My hands fell over his where they were gently caressing my belly. "You mean- It's- We're having a girl?"

Nuzzling my hair, he gave a sharp grunt confirming his statement.

"Kirch is going to be so jealous," I whispered, then laughed.

"Say Kirch with the Meanie. Why Kirch jay-lous Joalee haves girl bebeh if him has the Meanie? Him no have girl bebeh with the Meanie? Kirch not have him's Low-tea?"

"He's greedy. He wants another one so badly it's adorable. He loves his boys to pieces but he's a total girl-dad. Lottie is his spoiled princess."

"Him not have Joalee girl-bebeh," Buu grumbled as he curled himself around me protectively. "Buu no let Kirch take."

"I promise he won't. It'll just make him all grumbly for another one of his own. He'll get all puppy dog eyes with Mina. It'll be hilarious." My smile fell, realizing just how much I missed not just my mates but everyone else, all the crazy goofs of the Yetidom. My support group guys. The whole lot. Were the guys getting along without my punch to the face pearls of wisdom? Had Debdo made up with his mate yet? Did he take my advice and knock his silly shit off? Did Cohrd make up with his fellow mate husband brother guy after they got into that big squabble over who had to feed the kep-keps?

Again and again, my mind wandered back towards the village and all the faces of the folks I was homesick for.

A soft warble left Buu. "Tell," he entreated.

"I don't want to," I admitted. I didn't want to live in it, to voice it, then I'd be bluer than blue and I knew it.

"Miss Joalee mates," he murmured knowingly.

Oh, I did, something awful, but I couldn't dwell on that for too long. It was just too damn painful.

We were here for however long we were going to be, and that was that.

After a brief hesitation, he grunted out, "Joalee… healer helps Joalee with the puffs?"

A short laugh left me. "That's a nice way of putting it but, yeah, Dorothy and her mate have helped others with pregnancy swelling before. She'll probably force my ass into bedrest and demand my mates comply with her decree. She's as bossy as me." Grimacing, I voiced my biggest fear out loud. "I hope it's not, like, pre-eclampsia. What I wouldn't give for a blood pressure cuff right now and some way to get a set of labs done or whatever needs to be looked into."

"What peed-clams-see-ya?" It sounded like Buu had stopped breathing for a moment.

"It happens with pregnancy sometimes. The pressure of your blood goes up and stuff and it can get ugly," I told him quietly. "It's not good for mommy or baby."

"No sound goot," he grumbled softly.

"It can be really bad." My throat tightened. "It's not that," I bluffed. If something happened to Bump, I'd be devastated. My hands went to my belly as fear shot through me.

"Be ‘kayed, my Joalee mine. Be ‘kayed." Buu brought one of my hands to his face to kiss my knuckles. A soft warble started up in his chest, small but comforting, growing louder but keeping that same soft cadence.

I fell asleep in his arms, trying not to wonder if I'd ever see any of the people I loved ever again, forcing all of my fears and worries deep down until my brain could finally calm down enough to find rest.