It was a dark and stormy night. Well, actually it was a dark and stormy morning. In all honesty, it wasn't even all that dark and stormy.

In truth, it was a pleasant and warm mid morning, and Pierce appreciated the enjoyable weather up until eight seventeen, when there was a knock at his door. He was very excited about having a mysterious visitor, but that quickly faded when he opened the door to find Boris standing on his stoop. Unannounced visitors were generally accepted by Pierce, but only when he didn't have to worry about being eaten by them. Cannibalism was one thing he had never wanted to experience, and he especially never wanted to be the one being cannibalized in that group. So, like most people in that situation, he slammed the door in Boris' face.

Usually when Boris decided he should drop in on the dormouse, that would be the end if it. He would whine outside the door for about five minutes, and maybe scratch at it a bit, but that was that. For some reason, things were a little bit different this time.

Pierce was sitting with his back leaning against the door, listening to the mumbling from the other side. Usually he would just ignore it, but something that Boris had said caught his attention.

"C'mon, I've got a present for you."

Boris sounded glum when he said that, and Pierce let his curiosity get the best of him. He stood and opened the door a crack. He mustered all of the courage in his tiny self, and spoke to the cat.

"What do you want, Boris?"

Boris tried his best to hide his grin as he pulled a small wrapped box out from behind his back.

"I brought this for you." He slipped his hand through the small crack and handed it to Pierce, turned, and walked away.

Pierce was confused, scared, curious, and amazed all at the same time. Boris had never been that civil to him, ever. What terrified him more was that what just happened was more then civil, it was almost…nice. He watched the cat walk away, and once he was out of sight, stared down at the gift in his hand. It was a small, pink box with black ribbons tied at the top. He tugged at the ribbons, and pulled the lid off.

Pierce had never been so disturbed in his life. Inside the box was a small, helpless bird, and it was very much dead. He didn't know what to do with the present; it was obviously a threat, after all you didn't just give people small, mangled animals for no reason.

Pierce carefully set the box on his porch, and ran back inside to wash his hands. Once he'd finished disinfecting himself he went and found his shovel, and dug a shallow hole at the base of his porch. He then pushed the little box off of his porch with a nearby broom, and it landed squarely in the hole. Using the shovel, he pushed the displaced dirt back where it belonged, and patted it down flat.

He didn't leave the house again after the bird's funeral. He knew that whatever Boris had planned for him, it could not have been good. He found that he was much happier curled up on his couch with coffee then he would be even considering going out side. The message that the bird sent was loud and clear. Boris didn't want to see him outside his house, and Pierce had no problem adhering to his request.

Unfortunately for both parties involved, that was not the message Boris had intended to send. What he was trying to say was closer to "You're adorable and smell like coffee", not "I want to disembowel you with a bendy straw." If only Boris knew that the way a cat shows affection wasn't quite acceptable in normal society, the first day of courting may have gone better. But, the attempted wooing went on, and Boris would eventually learn dead animals are not acceptable gifts.

Authors Notes:

I constantly had to remind myself 'I before E, except after C' while typing Pierce's name I called him 'Peirce' a bunch of times in the handwritten copy.

-While writing this, all I could listen to was 'Anything Goes' by John Barrowman, I'm not sure why, but whatever works…or should I say anything goes?

- "after all you didn't just give people small, mangled animals for no reason." I hate this sentence, so much.

-The 'Disembowel you with a bendy straw" thing is something I told someone once, which is actually pretty disturbing, isn't it?

Onto the serious note:

This chapter makes me sad, actually. It turned out okay, but I think I could have done so much better. I was just really frustrated with it, and ended up just writing. Starting it off with 'it was a dark and stormy night' was actually only because I would write five sentences for the beginning, and then delete, and repeat. I'm horrid at starting and finishing fic, so that's how it always goes with me. I'm not sure why it always happens like that, it just does.

Anyway, I'd love suggestions. I have the plot basically worked out already, but I love to hear other people's opinions and thoughts on what I write. Even if you just say "In line A, you used the wrong form of to.", I'll still love you forever for it.

I'll be seeing you later,

~Ali.