Emily flung the drive into the laptop case, looked at the mess they’d made, then decided that it was mostly Homie’s fault anyway. “Let’s leave out the back,” she said before leading by example.

No one got in their way as they left out the back and Teddy helped her over a wooden fence that blocked off someone’s backyard.

Feeling rather self-conscious about the whole thing, Emily pulled Teddy along with her toward the center of the city and toward the campus.

It was only when she was halfway there and crossing over a little waterway that she finally ditched the bag and the drive. The bag went into a public trash can, and the drive splashed quite satisfyingly into the running water under the bridge.

Littering was bad, but . . .

But that was disposing of evidence, which was probably worse.

“How are you feeling?” Emily asked Teddy.

“I’m all right,” Teddy said. “Got squished a bit, but nothing broke, I don’t think.”

“Oh,” Emily said. “That’s . . . good. Um. What do you want to eat tonight?”

Teddy blinked up at her. “Anything?”

“You did a lot of hard work today,” Emily admitted. That, and if a nice meal could alleviate some of the guilt she felt for leading Teddy into trouble again, then it was worth any price.

Teddy licked her lips. “Fish. All the documentaries say that bears need to eat lots of salmon to get big and chunky. And I want to be the chunkiest.”

“We can buy some salmon,” Emily said. “Um. My dad used to grill fish outside. It was really good. But, uh, we can just stop by a nicer place and order some to go?”

“Sure!” Teddy said.

Emily patted the bear girl on the head, right between her fuzzy ears, then inspected her hand when it came back all greasy and covered in motor oil. “But you’re going to shower first,” Emily said.

“Aww, Boss.”

The return to the spot where Emily had stashed their normal clothes, then the quick stop by one of the nicer restaurants to pick up a rather expensive meal, was nearly all done in silence. Teddy did talk a little, but mostly she was going on and on about Cool Bear Facts, which Emily found . . . surprisingly enjoyable.

“And all the coolest bears have two layers of fur,” Teddy said as they finally, finally reached the dorm. Emily handed Teddy the food boxes as she unlocked it and opened up. “The long fur is to keep warm and make the bear look even bigger, even though bears don’t need to look big because they are big.”

“Uh-huh,” Emily said.

“And the short fur, that keeps the bear nice and dry and clean. Which is why I don’t need to take a shower.”

Emily smiled down at the girl. “Shower first, then food,” she said.