Financially, the newlywed couple would have more than enough to get a strong start, but Melissa was concerned for her new mate that he wouldn't be able to spend as much time with her or any of the pups they would surely have together.  But for now, everything was going just fine in their lives and they set off for a week-long honeymoon in Dolphin Bay.  By now it was early November, and Melissa was starting to get the urge that most newlywed vixens get, to have a litter of pups with her new mate.  Todd and Melissa had yiffed several times before, but Melissa had her tubes tied until she was married.  But now they were untied, and years of maternal instincts built up inside the young vixen to convince Todd to yiff her.  During the course of the honeymoon, Todd and Melissa would end up yiffing several times.  By the time the couple left to go back to Fox Valley High, Todd was exhausted and just hoped that Melissa was satisfied.  Although after several days of yiff, Melissa's maternal instincts were suppressed; there was no guarantee that she was pregnant.  The instincts may have been satisfied for now, but just because they're not there, doesn't mean she would have any pups.  It would take several days to find out.

 

The answer would come on Thanksgiving, after having two or three plates of Turkey, corn, mashed potatoes w/gravy and stuffing.  Melissa felt bloated and immediately ran for the bathroom.  I don't think I would have to tell you what happened next (well, I could, but then I'd have to raise the rating to R!!!)... 

Anyway, after the "bathroom incident".  Melissa still looked like she had eaten too much Thanksgiving dinner, that's when she remembered the 5-day "Yiff-a-thon" that Todd was STILL recovering from.  The next day, Melissa went to the doctor's office and discovered that she was indeed pregnant.  Although, she was a bit disappointed when the doctor told her that she was only pregnant with twins.  But, as she'll find out later, quality is sometimes more important than quantity.

 

Over the next several weeks, Todd and Melissa prepared their new home for the arrival of their first litter while the pups continued growing inside of her womb.  By the time Christmas arrived, the nursery was all set for the new arrivals and it's now a matter of waiting.

 

Then shortly after the New Year began, Todd received a letter from a small TV station in Minneapolis, MN.  The owner of the station had a similar vision that Todd had and was interested in the programming on his station.  The owner of the station in Minneapolis had arranged for Todd to come in to the station on January 12.  But there was one problem...It had been nearly 2 months since Melissa had become pregnant.  If she were human, there wouldn't be any problem, but she's not human now is she???  Todd knew that Melissa was due to give birth at any moment.  He couldn't leave her back home if she hadn't given birth yet.  First, Todd tried to re-schedule the appointment for later in the month.  However, that was not an option, the TV station in Minneapolis was desperate for new ideas.  Several of the larger TV stations in town had already made offers to buy their station.  But these were all network affiliated, and the owner didn't want to sell it to become another "puppet**" to the "big 3".  After an unsuccessful attempt to change the appointment, Todd had no choice but to bring Melissa with him if she hadn't given birth by the time he left.  Four days had passed and Melissa was still pregnant.  Both she and Todd were wondering if their pups would EVER come out of her womb.  Finally, on January 8, it was time for Todd to go to Minneapolis, and since she was still pregnant, he had no choice but to bring her along.  He just hoped that the pups inside of Melissa could wait until after they got back to make their entrance.

 

The first 36 hours in Minneapolis were rather uneventful for both young foxes.  The humans in Minnesota had become accustomed to Vulpines.  At that time, Minnesota had the largest population of Vulpine citizens in the U.S.  Since their pups seemed to be in no hurry to leave Melissa's womb, They decided to go around town to see what it was like in the Twin Cities.  The weather was cold, but not terribly cold.  Plus, their fur coats provided them with an extra layer of protection.  But then, late on the 9th, things began to change.  The sky over downtown Minneapolis began to cloud up and light snow began falling.  This would eventually become the infamous "Storm of the Century" (in Minnesota, of course***).  And to make matters worse, around 3 AM on January 10, the pups that were growing inside of Melissa for two months finally lost their patience.  Todd soon awakened to discover that Melissa was in labor, at one of the worst possible times (in an unfamiliar place, in a snow/ice storm).  He spent nearly an hour figuring out what to do before he learned about dialing "9-1-1" for emergency assistance (Up until about 10 years ago, Vulpes had a different system to dial for emergency assistance).  Soon, an ambulance and EMT's arrived at the hotel they were staying in.  But when they got to their room, another ambulance had to be called in, because after one of the EMT's discovered that they were foxes, he had a HEART ATTACK! 

 

Anyway, after about an hour of getting both her and the EMT into separate ambulances and driving through one of the worst storms in Minnesota's history, they pulled up to the Emergency room of Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC...as seen on "Trauma: Life in the E.R.").  And while the EMT was rushed to one of the resusitation rooms to try to save his life, Melissa was rushed to the Maternity Ward.  Todd rushed to be with his mate, that is, until the head nurse stopped him and made him fill out a mountain of paperwork that was as high as some of the piles of snow the plows were making outside.  While Todd was filling out some umpteen-million forms, the doctors and nurses in the Maternity Ward were scratching their heads on how to handle this situation.  On the one hand, Vulpine females were similar to humans since they can walk on two legs, talk, and are very intelligent.  But then again, they are also part-fox, mouse, etc. and have different variations of similar body parts.  One of the doctors tried to check to see if he could find any sign of the pups being born.  But as he would soon find out, Vixens in labor can get agitated VERY easily, and he moved out of the way just seconds before her claws reached out and slashed his uniform and stethescope.  He was lucky that he did move, otherwise his chest would have resembled a tic-tac-toe board!

 

After that little incident, the doctors were afraid for hours to go anywhere near Melissa.  But then, around 11 AM, a specialist was called in to assist in the delivery.  Actually, she wasn't a specialist, she was another vixen who had moved to Minneapolis a few years ago and had pups of her own.  The hospital was so desperate that they found the first vixen who had pups to come in to assist them.  Once she told all the doctors and nurses that vixens in labor are extremely agressive towards anyone who so much as touches them without their mate present.  Melissa felt more relaxed with another vixen who had gone through with what she was going through, but still, if one of the doctors or nurses got too close, she would snap at them.  Finally, around 11:30, Todd had finished the forms and found the room were Melissa was in.  Now that her mate was finally here and able to comfort her, the doctors could finally get close enough to Melissa to help her without getting sliced and diced.  Things happened pretty quickly after that.  Within about another 20 minutes, the pups that were inside Melissa's womb had finally entered the world.  The doctors and nurses soon figured out why Melissa was so aggressive, because both of the pups came into the world AT THE SAME TIME.  They figured that this was normal for vixens, but even the vixen that they brought in from the street was scratching her head on this one.  It seems the pups didn't want to be separated (not even for a few moments), they had formed a very strong bond while inside their mother.  But that wasn't the only thing to cause mass confusion, all of the doctors and nurses looked at Todd and Melissa and then looked at the newborn pups.  They kept looking back and forth, thinking "if their parents are red foxes, then how come their pups have yellow fur coats?"  The only one who knew why their pups were golden foxes was Todd, although he was a red fox, he was also part-golden fox.  Up until Jennie was born, Mike and Michelle's birth certificates had "Red Fox???" on their birth certificates.

 

Anyway, back to the story.  You'd think by now that the doctors and nurses at HCMC would be used to the surprises that the two fox pups were dishing out.  But nothing prepared them for what would happen next.  One of the nurses took the two newborn pups to be weighed.  However, in the middle of January, in Minnesota, things can get mighty cold.  And when the nurse put Mike on the scale...it was so cold that he lept 15 feet into the air and landed on his feet.  Everyone in the room was stunned (even Todd and Melissa were a bit surprised) at what the 10-minute old fox pup just did.  The young fox looked at all the doctors and nurses who were so shocked that their expressions resembled those of a typical TEX AVERY CARTOON CHARACTER!!!  Mike continued to look at the people in the room and finally said "What are all of you starin' at?, Haven't you seen a fox before?"  That was just about all the humans in the room could take.  Some fainted, some tried to play "instant door" and ended up running head first into a brick wall, and some immediately went to the director of the hospital and turned in their stethescope!  But the foxes in the room were not surprised, the average newborn fox pup has the intellect of a 6-year old human child.  But Mike and Michelle were different, they weren't just foxes, they were ALPHA Golden Foxes (the first ones in nearly 3,000 years).  They had the intelligence level of a 10-year old human child at birth.  Eventually, when the doctors and nurses came back from the cafeteria or a recovery room, they finally got a hold of the situation and began to realize what they were dealing with.  Meanwhile, news of the unusual circumstances spread rapidly to not only the rest of the state, but to the rest of the nation.  By early January 11, it had reached 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  When President Gerald Ford received the news, he just about had a heart attack himself.  Although Vulpines had been living amongst humans for years, this was the first time that any were actually born in the U.S.  And according to the laws enacted by the government when Vulpines first came to the U.S., all Vulpines who are born on U.S. soil will be treated the same way as all children born in the U.S.  Therefore, Mike and Michelle became the first two Vulpines to be "native" U.S. citizens.  That wasn't all, as a gesture of goodwill, for being the parents of the first U.S. born Vulpines, Todd and Melissa received honorary citizenship.  This also included a special clause which would allow any additional pups that they would have (Jennie and Miles) would also gain citizenship (no matter where they were born).  Gerald Ford went to the Twin Cities to deliver the paperwork himself.  Melissa even let the President hold the then 1 day old fox pups (who reacted favorably to him).  To this day, Todd and Melissa still have a picture of the former President, themselves, Mike and Michelle as newborn pups somewhere in their home.  Finally, on January 14, the "Storm of the Century" had moved on, and things were slowly returning to normal in Minneapolis.  Todd had met with the owner of the TV station and joined it as a partner to the current owner.  It was time for the new family to return home.  Nearly 5,000 people and Vulpines gathered at Twin Cities International Airport to see the family board their plane back to Mason City, MAI and go home.  At that time, none of them knew just how significant this event would be...for BOTH worlds.