Work The Problem Ch. 03

The microwave dinged, and he got up and retrieved his meal. He sat back down and stirred the pasta and sauce with a plastic spoon. "Do you have soldiers in your world?"

"We do...sort of," replied Holly. "We have different countries, like here. We don't fight a lot but it does happen every so often. The big issue is having enough fertile land to grow crops. So we have people who are trained in using rifles, and if a war breaks out they get called together to fight."

Keith spooned a bit of pasta and tomato sauce into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "Sort of like the Minutemen," he mused. Then he looked down and realized that his meal probably looked like a big bloody mess to her. "Shit," he said, and looked up at Holly. She just looked puzzled at his expletive. "Sorry about that," he said. "This meal probably looks pretty gory to you."

She shook her head. "No, it's fine. I know that it's just tomato sauce. It's more the smell of meat that really gets to me." Holly shuddered a bit, and Ned reached over and rubbed her head as he continued to read through his schematics. She relaxed and got a little smile on her face.

The lieutenant was now curious about how her society was structured. "So do you have police as well?"

Holly nodded. "From what I've read of your world we have a lot less violent crime than here, but we do have theft. A lot of our police are also soldiers. Not a lot of us have the right mind-set to do that kind of work."

He ate some more of his pasta. "And are they all infantry? I mean, do you have people who specialize in fighting using boats or planes?"

"I...think so? We have planes, but nothing as big or as fast as the pictures I've seen here. I don't really know how many police or soldiers we have. I'm an accountant, after all."

Keith felt a little bit of relief. Of all of the alternate timelines they could have encountered, it was fortunate that they'd happened upon one that seemed to consist of cute and cuddly vegetarians who weren't looking to pick a fight. They could have run into something much, much nastier.

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Ned was feeling pretty well frazzled as they left the cafeteria. Arnold was able to contribute his expertise to the theorists while they tried to hammer out a new theory of what had happened. Holly, of course, was central to the whole effort. Even Daisy was in her version of doggy heaven. The pittie had just acquired a whole new slew of people to rub her tummy. But Ned had nothing to actually do. His 'real' job was on hold right now. The government had given his bosses at Arcor Aerospace a big chunk of money, and soon after he'd been officially 'reassigned' to the DoD as an outside contractor.

But Dengar Labs was far too small to need a full-time safety engineer, and he wound up having more free time than he liked. When he had free time, he tended to worry about the future. And so he'd thrown himself into trying to learn everything he could about the construction of what they were calling the 'Dengar Probe'.

"Are you okay?" asked Holly when they got back to their room. When they had been moved to the labs, Ned hadn't been sure how everyone else would view the two of them having a relationship. He had considered erring on the side of caution with separate rooms, but Holly had gently but firmly nixed that notion. She and Ned were sharing a room and a bed, and to hell with what anyone thought about it.

Ned shrugged and stowed the schematics he'd been reading. The room was small and didn't have much, just a little metal locker along with a plain bed and a nightstand. But it was a nice private space for the two of them.

Holly climbed up on the bed and used her new-found height to hug him around the neck. "You've been pretty quiet lately," she said into his ear.

Ned stroked the top of her head. The feel of her fur under his fingers worked better than a shot of whiskey to relax him. "Just a bunch of useless worrying," he said aloud.

She gave his cheek a little kiss and brought her head around to stare at him with those deep blue eyes of hers. "Care to unload? You know I'm here for you."

He kissed her little pink nose. "I just feel like I'm back in school again when I'm trying to read up on how that probe is put together. I'm also feeling like a fifth wheel. There's not a lot for me to do around here."

"Except me," said Holly with a sly grin.

He slid his hands down to cup her firm rear. He could feel the little bulge in the back of her sweatpants from her tail. "Yes, there is that," he said with an answering smile.

"That's a very important role, you know. I'm a very important person, and I demand to be kept pleasured." Holly arched her eyebrows like an aristocratic dowager. She brought up one of her legs and hooked it around his waist. "And if my pleasurer does not have enough to do, then I will have to come up with more duties for him." She hooked her other leg around his waist and clamped her legs tight around him. He could feel her mound pressing against him through both of their pants. Holly dropped the haughty look and gave him a big goofy smile. "So, you wanna get nekkid and fool around?"

Ned laughed, but his laugh was cut short as Holly pounced. Her tongue thrust deep into his open mouth and her paw clamped tight on the back of his head. She gave a lustful moan into his mouth as she began to grind against him.

For his part, Ned tried to reciprocate just as ardently. His hands squeezed and kneaded her ass, sending shudders through her body. Ned's tongue swirled around her intruding tongue. She seemed to scour the inside of his mouth, feeling the back of his teeth and then trying to reach the back of his throat. He returned her grinding with equal enthusiasm and felt himself begin to harden.

Holly actually growled, the vibration running into his mouth and making him that much harder. The paw on the back of his head began to massage him, kneading the back of his scalp. Ned ran one of his hands up to the waistband of her pants and slipped his fingers inside as he prepared to pull her clothes off...

And then, of course, there was a knock at the door.

Holly rolled her eyes, which was quite a thing to see given how big they were. She reluctantly broke their deep kiss and called out "Yeah?".

The door opened a crack and Karen poked her head in. Her brown eyes widened a bit when she saw Holly wrapped around Ned's torso.

"Oh, sorry," said the doctor. "I can come back later."

"It's no problem, Karen," said Ned. He put on a smile while inwardly cursing at the interruption.

"Yeah, I'm just cheering up my guy," added Holly, and squeezed him tighter with her legs. Ned resisted the urge to gasp. Holly's legs were a lot stronger than they looked.

"Er, yes, well you wanted to know when the gym was finally set up."

Holly's ears shot up. "And the treadmill?"

Karen nodded. Her normally dour face was smiling.

"Yay!" Holly looked back at Ned. "Can we take a...what did you call it that one time...a rain check?"

Ned laughed again and nodded. "Go! I know you've been aching to run. Besides, I could use a workout too." He knew the lagomorph was going slightly stir-crazy. And honestly, if he couldn't be fucking her then the chance to see Holly run in skintight workout clothes would be a suitable consolation prize.

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Of course, it wasn't just a simple matter of letting Holly loose on the treadmill. Both of the doctors were there to set up some bio-monitors on her.

"It's not that we think you're going to get sick or something," said Grace. "We just need the data on your heart rate and breathing when you're under physical stress." Karen said nothing as she continued to attach electrodes to Holly's torso.

"Yeah, I understand," said Holly impatiently. "You need to establish a baseline and all that. I just wanna get going." She had changed into a sports bra and a pair of tight yoga pants. The pants had a little hole cut in the seat for her tail, which Ned found adorable.

The rest of the lagomorph's outfit was not so much 'adorable', but more 'Va-Va-Voom!'. Ned kept sneaking surreptitious glances at the wonderful sight while he fastened the collars on the barbell on the bench press. The gym was a little bigger than he'd expected. There was enough room for a couple of treadmills, one of which was a smaller model for Holly. There was also a bench-press and a squat rack.

The only other person in the room was Sergeant Calvin Forrester from the Ranger unit that was now running security. The sergeant was taller and wider than Keith, but still had the lean-muscled physique of the other Rangers. The big man had been doing some sort of one-legged bodyweight squat exercise when the whole team had trouped into the gym. As if to spite the 'ooh-rah' stereotypes about elite soldiers, the sergeant had one of the calmest demeanors that Ned had ever encountered. Starting from his first meetings with Holly, literally nothing had fazed him.

"Did you want a spot?" asked Cal.

Ned nodded. "Yes, please. It's been a couple of weeks, so I'm starting a little under." He was starting at two hundred twenty pounds; it was lighter than his usual weight, but he wanted to be careful. Ned settled himself under the bar and gripped it, then hefted it off of the supports. It felt good to feel the solidity of the weight pressing on his arms. He'd been slacking off for too long. Ned lost himself in the simple act of moving a big weight down towards his chest and then back up, over and over. He got about ten reps in before he could feel the faintest warning twinge in his pecs. Ned carefully set the bar back on the supports and sat up.

"Good form," said Cal. "You're an old pro at this for sure. Let me guess...left tackle?"

Ned blinked in surprise. "Now how the hell did you guess that?"

The sergeant smiled. "You're helluva lot lighter on your feet than the usual iron-pumper. Did you ever play pro?"

The engineer smiled in return and shook his head. "No, just college."

Cal's expression grew distant, as if he was accessing some huge database deep in his skull. "There was a Chiang who played left tackle for USC. Was that you?"

Ned laughed out loud. "I think you're the first person to ever ask me about that."

The other man shrugged. "It's a hobby. Some do crosswords, I obsess about college football."

Ned and Cal swapped places and they went through another few rounds of sets on the bench. Cal couldn't lift anywhere near as much weight as Ned, but he could do what seemed like fifty thousand reps during each set.

During Ned's last set, he felt the tremble from his chest that indicated he was close to failure. He clanked the bar back on the supports. "I really need to get back in shape," he muttered. He looked up at his spotter.

Cal didn't reply. For the first time, Ned saw him look surprised. "Holy shit," muttered the Ranger. His eyes were fixed on the far wall of the gym. Ned sat up and looked in the direction of Cal's stare, towards Holly's treadmill.

Holly was running.

Her long legs were just a blur on the belt, and her long ears were tucked down along her back. Holly's face was set in concentration, but Ned could also see a savage joy in her eyes. Both of the doctors were standing back and staring in shock while looking at their equipment as if it was lying to them.

Ned didn't run much; if somebody asked him if he ran, his usual joking answer was 'only if chased'. But he had the notion that Holly was going just about as fast as any human possibly could. And she'd been doing it during the whole time that he and Ken had been benching.

The engineer looked up at Cal. "Is that normal?"

Cal just shook his head.

"How...how are you doing, Holly?" asked Grace.

"Good!" Holly still sounded cheerful and nowhere near out of breath. "I really needed this. But don't worry, I'm not trying not to push myself."

"Not pushing herself?" muttered Cal.

"Good," replied Grace. "Just, um, carry on."

The sergeant then went back to being Mr. Impassive. "So...squats?" he asked Ned. Squats were the same story as the bench press; Ned could do a lot more weight, while Cal could do about one bajillion reps. Then they switched to pull-ups, after which the sergeant went back to doing his bodyweight exercises while Ned started dead lifts.

During the whole time, Holly continued to run flat-out.

Holly finally started slowing down around the time that Ned was finishing up his last set of dead lifts. They didn't have rubber 'bumper' plates available, so he was doing less weight and really concentrating on lowering the bar carefully.

Karen spoke up as she looked up at Holly. "Um, you're all done, right?"

Holly nodded while she walked on the treadmill. The fur on her forehead and stomach was a little damp with sweat, and she was breathing deeply. But the lagomorph's eyes were shining and she had a big smile on her face.

The doctor looked back down. "Great. We've got a lot of data to go through, so we'll leave you to finish your cool down." She looked over at the two men. "You'll keep an eye on her?"

Both Ned and Cal nodded in unison. The two doctors hustled out of the door with their equipment, whispering to each other with incredulous looks on their faces.

Holly shut off the treadmill and strolled up to the pair as Ned began to remove and re-rack his plates. She stretched one leg out, and then the other. "Wow. I feel great. It's been way too long."

Cal opened his mouth but then paused. It was clear he wanted to say something, and after a bit he finally did. "Ma'am, you said you were an accountant, right? Not an elite runner?"

Holly smiled. "First off, please call me Holly. Second off, yes...I'm just an accountant. I run as a hobby."

The soldier laughed. "Just a hobby? I've done my share of running. Hell, during Jump School we're pretty much running in between everything else. I could maybe sprint as fast as you, but only for short periods. You're amazing."

The lagomorph shrugged, clearly a little uncomfortable with the praise. Ned smiled and placed his final plate in its place on the storage rack.

"Well," she replied, "you guys are a lot stronger than me. How much weight were you lifting?"

Now it was Ned's turn to feel embarrassed. "I was dead-lifting about three hundred pounds."

"See what I mean? I couldn't even lift one of those big iron plates." She walked over to the storage rack and tugged experimentally at one of the big 45 pound plates. "Yep, no way."

The sergeant had a calculating look on his face. "Holly, with your permission I'd like to see if we can set up a little experiment. I'd be curious to see how fast you can sprint."

Holly looked up at him. "I guess so. Why do you want to know?"

Cal smiled again. "Call it curiosity. I suspect you could already compete with elite marathoners in our world. I was wondering how you'd stack up against our best sprinters. Plus it would mean you'd get to go outside."

Her ears went up, but slowly. Ned was getting to know how her ears expressed her mood, and knew that this motion meant she was not quite sure if it was a good idea or not. "Okay, if you think it's safe."

Cal held up a hand, palm out. "Of course. Let me talk to the docs and Col. Gossett, and I'll get back to you."

Holly nodded, then looked over and pointed at Ned. "I'm going to take a shower and get these stupid electrodes off of me. I want you back in our room by the time I'm done."

"You're cashing the rain check?" asked Ned with a smile. Holly gave an even bigger grin in reply and walked out of the gym. Ned felt almost hypnotized as he watched her little white tail sashay out of sight.

Cal cleared his throat. "So, I don't mean to pry but you two are an...item?"

Ned almost didn't reply. Then he decided he'd take a page from The Book of Holly and just let it all hang out. "Yep."

The Ranger shook his head, but he was smiling while he did it. "If you don't mind my saying, you are one lucky bastard."

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Grace had been lying in wait in the women's shower for Holly, and had immediately pounced on her once she'd come through the door. She stood up from the bench that ran along the lockers and said, "I need your temperature." She held out a thermometer.

Grace expected Holly to protest a little. But she just took the thermometer and put it under her tongue, then tapped one foot on the floor while she waited.

The doctor smiled and tried to look apologetic. "Sorry, Holly. It's just...your metabolism must be amazing. Your heart rate never got above one hundred twenty beats per minute, even when you were going flat out. Oh, you should be good now."

Holly took out the thermometer and handed it back. Grace shook her head as she looked at it. "No real rise in your body temperature, either. Plus your sweating is a lot less than I'd expect. It's incredible."

The lagomorph gave a little laugh. "Much as I appreciate the interest, can I take a shower now?"

Grace looked up and felt another little pang of guilt. "Oh, yes, of course! The adhesive on those electrodes is soluble in soap and water, so they should just come right off. Let me know if you need..."

The doctor trailed off as Holly went right ahead and stripped off her sports bra and then shucked off her pants. Then Holly threw her clothes aside and strolled off into the communal shower area. Grace took the opportunity to get a really good look at her spectacular rear end and fluffy tail.

The doctor clutched the thermometer and looked away. Holly might not be sweating a lot, but she was sure as shit about to. She reminded herself yet again that Holly was her patient. That was a line she would not cross. Not to mention that even if Holly accepted her advances then Ned could be hurt, and that was something she didn't want. The engineer was a decent guy.

Her attempts to calm herself were not helped by hearing the water start up in the shower area. The mental image of Holly standing naked and with soaking-wet fur under running water...Grace put away the thermometer before she dropped it.

The door to the showers opened again and another woman walked in. Grace knew that she was one of the Rangers assigned to the labs as security. Her name was...Lauren? Something like that.

"Hi!" Grace said, a little too cheerfully. She was still trying to get images of a showering Holly out of her brain. "I don't think we've met. I'm Dr. Penn, er, Grace Penn."

The newcomer responded with a pleasant nod. She was a taller redhead with a friendly face and a build that reminded Grace of a greyhound. "Heya. I'm Leslie Nowak. Corporal." The soldier was wearing shorts and a tee shirt. She opened a locker and began to undress, then gave Grace a puzzled look.

Grace realized that she was just standing in the showers with a notebook and not making any apparent preparations to take a shower herself. It probably looked a little weird. She pointed back towards the shower area. "Ah, I was just finishing up some tests with Holly, running. I mean, she was running." Damn it, what the hell was wrong with her brain today?

Leslie grinned. "Got it. How did she do?"

"Amazing. Utterly amazing. We've got to go through her blood samples again and see what we missed. Her red blood cell count is higher than ours, but there must be some extra mechanism that allows for increased oxygen supply to her tissues."

Holly's amused voice sounded from the showers. "I hope you don't need more blood. It already feels like I've given enough for a whole other me."

Grace saw the very interested look that passed over Leslie's face when Holly called out. The soldier began undressing. The corporal's body had the barest swell at her hips and two peach-sized tits with tiny, adorable nipples. The rest of her was all whipcord muscle. Grace found herself staring; she normally preferred the curvy body type on her partners, but damn this woman was in shape.