Disclaimer: The Rat Patrol is not my property. They come out to play sometimes, then I send them home.
Lucy
By Suzie2b
It was 1am. Tully was startled awake by the sound of barking and yowling outside the apartment door. He flipped on the light and quickly crossed the room in his boxers to open the door. The light from inside the apartment dimly lit the hallway, where it revealed that one of the many feral cats in Ras Tanura had been cornered by a stray dog. Tully swung his arms and yelled, "Get outta here you dang mongrel!"
The dog, who was obviously smarter than it looked, turned-tail and headed for the door to the outside. After Tully was sure the dog wasn't coming back any time soon, he looked around for the cat. Not seeing it, he assumed it had scurried away without his notice and went inside to go back to bed.
Tully sat down and flipped the lamp off. As he started to move to lay down, he felt something against his leg. With a gasp he quickly pulled his feet up and turned the light back on. "What the heck?"
There on the floor looking up at him was an orange cat with tan stripes. The same one from the hallway. Tully put his feet on the floor and the cat rubbed against his shin. "Well, aren't you the sneaky one." He reached down and scratched its head. Then, as his hand moved along the cat's long, slender back, he noticed a bulge on either side. "Sneaky and very pregnant." Tully sighed. "Okay, I guess you can stay the night."
The cat was purring as she followed Tully into the closet. He took the empty box that had contained what his mother had last sent and cut one side down about halfway. Then he made a cozy bed in it with green, army issued towels that he and Charley never used because her Aunt Emily would send them big, fluffy towels. "Okay, Lucy, time to get some sleep."
Lucy looked up at Tully as if to say, "You've given me a name?" Then she jumped in and made herself comfortable. Tully reached down and patted her gently on the head. Then he went to bed.
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When the alarm went off, Tully turned it off with a groan. He'd rolled out of bed to go to the dresser for clean underwear when he heard it. Tiny mewling sounds were coming from the closet. Tully slowly walked into the closet and pulled the chain to turn on the overhead light. There was Lucy, in the box with four newborn kittens. She looked up at him and he could see she was exhausted from her nighttime ordeal. Tully reached down and scratched her behind the ears with a smile. Lucy purred and he said, "You had this planned didn't you?"
Lucy had obviously given birth on the floor, then moved the kittens into the box. Luckily it was a wood floor and easy to clean up. Then he went to the bathroom to get himself cleaned up and brush his teeth. When he returned, he dressed and got ready to leave. Tully got a bowl off the shelf over the table and filled it with water from the pitcher on the table. After setting the bowl next to the box, he opened the shutters and slid the window up enough so Lucy could get out if she wanted to. "Okay, I have to go to work. See ya later."
At breakfast Tully related what had happened that night and the miracle in the closet. Moffitt smiled and said, "And you've named her Lucy. Have you started feeding her too?"
Tully replied, "Nope. Don't plan to either. I left a bowl of water for her, but she's obviously quite capable of feeding herself."
Hitch asked, "When does Charley get back?"
"Couple days."
"Think she'll let you keep them?"
Tully smiled, "I don't think Lucy's the 'keeping' kind. I'm sure that one day, we'll come home and she'll have moved her and the babies out."
Troy looked at the private as he set his coffee down. "And if that doesn't happen."
Tully shrugged. "I guess we'll worry about that if it happens. For now I'll just leave the window open during the day for her."
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Tully returned home that evening to find Lucy with her kittens and wondered if she left them at all that day. When he went to bed he closed the window and shutters.
Morning came and Tully was awakened before the alarm by a purring in his ear. He reached up and petted the cat. "Morning, Lucy."
He turned the lamp on as he got up and Lucy followed him to the dresser. She jumped up on it and meowed at him. Tully smiled. "Okay, give me a second." Then he opened the shutters and window so she could go out.
By the time Tully was dressed and ready to go, Lucy was back with her kittens.
That afternoon, after returning from a patrol, Tully saw Lucy on the roof near the apartment window as he crossed the street. She appeared to be eating a mouse. Tully said to himself, "Thank you for not taking that inside."
After finishing her meal, Lucy went inside to greet Tully before going into the closet to feed her babies.
Later, after having closed the window for the night, Tully went into the closet to say goodnight to the little family. He scratched Lucy around the ears and said, "My wife will be home tomorrow. You'll like her. She's very understanding."
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The next afternoon Tully waited in the motor pool at the time he figured Eric Anderson would return with Charley. As soon as he spotted the jeep, he gave a relieved smile and went to meet them. When he got to where Eric had stopped Tully said, "Welcome back. Any problems?"
Charley smiled as she got out of the jeep and rubbed her sore back. "Nope. It was really a rather boring ride." She turned to her driver. "Thanks, Eric. See you later."
As they walked hand-in-hand to headquarters so Charley could sign in, Tully began to explain about Lucy and the kittens. Charley thought the story was very amusing and was excited to meet the family in the closet.
Charley "oohed" and "aahed" over the kittens while giving Lucy lots of scratches and pets. The mama cat purred contentedly as Charley said, "They're adorable."
The next morning Charley and Tully awoke to Lucy purring as she lay between them.
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It was about eight weeks later. The kittens had started getting out of the box on their own and Charley and Tully had to be careful where they stepped. They noticed that Lucy would take the four kittens out on the roof to eat the meals she had started bringing for them. Then she would take each one back inside when they were finished. Charley thought, "She's one considerate cat."
Charley had found a small metal basin and filled it with sand for the kittens to use as a litter box. She noted that Lucy never tried to use it, but made sure her babies did.
At ten weeks, when Charley got home after making her delivers, Lucy and the kittens were gone. When Tully got home, she sadly gave him the news. He hugged her and said, "We knew this was going to happen eventually, sweetheart. Lucy's a good mother. She knows what she's doing."
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Sometime later, when the kittens would have been a little more than three months old, Charley and Tully heard a loud yowl at their door. When Tully opened it he found Lucy there with her four kittens. "Well, look who stopped by for a visit."
Charley watched as Lucy led her family inside. "My how they've grown."
They had a good visit with the lone male kitten clawing his way up Tully's pant leg for attention more than once. They played and cuddled, giving plenty of attention to Lucy. The three females looked just like their mama, but the male was darker and he had one black whisker. Tully decided he looked like a Jake and started calling him that. The other three were christened Carmen, Lilly, and Rosy.
After a time, Charley and Tully started seeing Lucy out and about without her brood. But then they would see the now fully grown cats making their own lives on their own.
One day Charley and Tully spotted Jake deftly chasing down and catching a mouse. Charley smiled wistfully and asked, "Do you think we'll have children one day?"
Tully put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "Yep. In fact, I'm planning on four."