You OK, chére? Do you want me to carry you?" I snapped back to the present with a start. Hadn't realized I'd been standing there on the lawn holding Bella's paw and fidgeting nervously for almost a full minute.

"No. I've gotta face this on my own two paws. Let's go." I released her paw and started up the path towards my friends' house. About halfway there, the front door opened and a tall, lanky hare stepped out. Az looked thinner than I remembered, his face drawn slightly and his nose and other exposed skin paler than before. Slight discolorations in his fur hinted at scars underneath, and his left leg was visibly thinner than his right and bore a massive scar going up from his knee and disappearing underneath the leg of the bermuda shorts he was wearing.

Tentatively, I raised a tiny paw in greeting as he gasped and lurched down the front steps towards me with the aid of a cane he pulled from behind the door. He was clearly still in pain from his wounds, but he limped his way towards me as I ran towards him, falling to his knees and clasping me to his thin chest as I bowled into him like a runaway truck. I'd had no idea what my reaction to seeing Az again was going to be, but seeing him again broke open the floodgates and months of loneliness and despair hit me again like an emotional hurricane.

All I could do was stand there in his arms sobbing, embarrassed by my lack of composure but unable to stem the flood as I babbled incoherently trying to say all the things I wanted to say at once. I felt a dampness on top of my head and realized that Az was crying as well, though doing a much better job of keeping his composure than I was. How long this tableau lasted, I have no idea, but eventually I subsided into sniffles as I clung to my best friend. Sensing that I was calming down, Az broke my death grip on him and gently pushed me out to arms length, looking me over from head to toe.

"My god, Mel." He said behind red eyes. "You look..." I interrupted him quickly before he could say what I was afraid he was going to say. "I swear to christ, Az... If you say I look cute I'm gonna break your other leg." He guffawed and pulled me back into a briefer embrace. "I was going to say you look happy, healthy. You look good, sarge."

—

Exerpt from ch 27 of “A Tale of Two Badgers”

A little back story for some of you who may not have read or heard my full tale. Az (the hare) is Brock’s best friend and, to a certain extent, his mentor. They served together in the army, Az was there alreadywhen Brock joined up, and he served as Brock’s second in command of the Tunnel Rats for most of their career. He was severely injured during the events at Camp Everglades which left Brock with his regressive condition (Brock initially thought he had died) and is now crippled.

Brock and he had parted almost a year prior to this scene in less than pleasant circumstances (Brock was severely depressed and was being sent off to long term care while Az remained behind at the hospital, still recovering from his injuries and undergoing constant surgeries to repair his broken body) and hadn’t seen or spoken to each other since.