Catherine and Hobbes

"Wow, it really snowed last night! Isn't this wonderful?" Calvin asked his best friend, Hobbes as they trudged through the fresh fallen snow with the toboggan.

"Everything familiar has disappeared! The world looks brand-new!" the anthropomorphic tiger agreed.

"A new year… a fresh clean start!" continued the six-year old.

"It's like having a big white sheet of paper to draw on!"

"A day full of possibilities! It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy…" Calvin commented as they got on the toboggan. "Let's go exploring!"

Calvin's voice echoed through the woods as he and his best friend set of to do just that.

26 years later…

"DAAAAAAAAAD!"

A now thirty-two year old Calvin groaned as the voice penetrated the quiet atmosphere of the house. He turned over and pulled his wife closer to him in hopes that the hollering would just stop. No such luck.

"DAAAAAAAAD!"

"Aren't you going to do something about our daughter?" muttered Susie.

If someone had told six-year old Calvin that he would one day marry his then neighbor and object of his scorn, Susie Derkins, he would have called them loony and gotten the dry heaves.

"She's your daughter too, you know," he muttered back.

"It's not my problem. She's calling for you."

"DAAAAAAAAAAAD!"

Calvin grimaced and finally got up out of the nice warm bed.

"Twenty-six years and you still drive me crazy, Derkins," he smiled slightly as he stretched and was rewarded with some snaps.

"Well you still drive me crazy too. Like when you call me by that name when you haven't been able to for the past eight years."

Calvin chuckled and glanced at the digital clock. 3:44 am. Now he knew how his parents felt when he got them up this early. "I swear the kid's just like me when I was her age."

He sighed and forced his legs to carry him down the hall to his daughter's room. When he opened the door he was greeted with a screech and a dart in the forehead.

"AAAAAIIIEEEE! A monster in the hallway!"

Calvin quickly shut the door before he opened it a crack again.

"Whoa, easy Catherine, it's me!"

"Dad?"

"Yes, now please put down the dart gun!"

"Sorry dad."

"It's alright, now what was all that about?" he asked as he sat down on his daughter's bed.

Both Calvin's and Susie's hair gene must have been dominate because Catherine's hair was blonde with brown streaks in it. It had Calvin's familiar spikes but fell in a more feminine way. Her eyes, though, were the same brown as her mother's.

"There are monsters under my bed! They're going to eat me as soon as I fall asleep!"

The corners of Calvin's mouth twitched upward slightly as he recalled the days when he thought the same way. His parents never played along for some reason but at least he had a friend to protect him. Wait a minute, a friend?

"You know what Cat, I just might know someone who can help you with this monster problem. I'll be right back."

Calvin walked out of the room and went to his studio. The room was illuminated by the light of the full moon filtering in through the window. It fell perfectly on who he was looking for. Hobbes sat on a shelf of the bookcase in all his orange and black striped glory. Calvin pulled him down and looked at him. Sad as it was, Calvin no longer saw Hobbes the way he used to. He now saw what his parents and everyone else saw: a limp tattered and stitched up stuffed tiger. Seeing Hobbes triggered a flash of memories for him. It had been a slow transition to letting go of Hobbes in a way. As Calvin grew up he actually made some friends. He started hanging out with them more and saw Hobbes less and less. The tiger would still pounce on Calvin when he got home from Jr. high but by that time Calvin was able to hold his own against the exuberant Hobbes. In the winter Hobbes would want to build snowmen or go walking in the woods and they sometimes did. But not always, with Calvin saying he was going to see the guys or Susie.

That was another change for Calvin. Actually becoming friends with the person he had viewed as his nemesis. By the time the sixth grade started he and Susie had become friends. When they got to high school they officially became a couple and shared their first kiss. As high school progressed Calvin started seeing Hobbes as a stuffed animal more and more. Both Calvin and Susie were ecstatic when they found out they were going to the same college. By this time Calvin had lost the ability to see Hobbes all together but couldn't bring himself to put his old friend in a box. Three years after graduation the couple were walking through the woods behind Calvin's house when he finally asked Susie to marry him. She said yes and they had the wedding eight months later. Nobody paid any attention to the stuffed tiger that had somehow made it on top of one of the tables with the pictures of the lucky couple. Two years later Susie became pregnant with Catherine and the rest is history.

Calvin snapped out of his revere and smiled at his best friend.

"Hi ol' buddy," he whispered. "It's been a long time hasn't it? Listen, I need a favor from you, for old time's sake."

He paused for a second as though expecting an answer. In his mind's eye he could see his friend cross his arms and raise his eyebrow as though to say 'You expect a favor from me after leaving me on a shelf and forgetting about me for years?'

"Just listen for one minute, please? It's my daughter, Catherine. She's six and there are monsters under her bed and she needs someone to protect her. She's inherited my inability to make friends at that age so it'd actually be great if you'd stay with her. I've been told that she's a lot like me and that's true. She has a great imagination and I'm sure the two of you would get along famously. What do you say?"

The plush toy remained silent and Calvin sighed. He stood back up and carried Hobbes to Catherine's room. His daughter cocked her head to the side when she saw Hobbes.

"Who's that?" she asked.

"This is Hobbes," Calvin said as he set the stuffed animal down across form his daughter. "He's the fiercest, but also the most loyal, person I know. He protected me when I was your age and I know he'll do the same for you."

"He used to be yours?"

"Uh huh, he was my best friend and we had many crazy adventures together."

"Really? Can you tell me?"

"Not tonight I'm afraid, maybe after I've had more sleep. Right now, though, it's time for you to go back to sleep. You have school in a few hours."

Calvin got up and left the room. He was about to close the door when he looked up and swore he saw Hobbes the way he used to, smiling at him and giving him the thumbs up. He blinked and when he opened his eyes again there was just an old stuffed tiger. What did this mean though? Could he see Hobbes again? He shook his head to clear it and decided not to think about it. But he smiled as he closed the door and went back to join his wife.

"Did you take care of it?" murmured Susie as Calvin snuggled back up beside her.

"Yeah, the problem's solved," he answered as he draped an arm around her.

"What did you do?"

"I gave Hobbes to her."

"Hobbes? You gave her Hobbes?"

"Yeah, something wrong with that?"

"No, there's nothing wrong, it's just that I didn't realize you'd kept him all these years."

"He's been on a shelf of the bookcase in my studio. Haven't you seen him there?"

"No, I don't go in there very often and when I do my attention is on this rather handsome guy."

"Oh? What's he like?" asked Calvin as he kissed Susie on the cheek.

"Well, I've known him since I was six and at first I thought of him an annoying, immature, weird little brat. But as he got older I discovered other things about him. He had quite a philosophical mind, a vivid imagination, and as he matured he became rather attractive," Susie smiled as she turned to face her husband

"Sounds like someone I'd like to know," Calvin muttered as he claimed Susie's lips.

It would be awhile until they went back to sleep.

Back in Catherine's room she and Hobbes were still looking at each other.

"Hi, I'm Hobbes," Hobbes finally said. "Your dad told me that you're Catherine, right?"

"Hello, yes, my name is Catherine, but my parents sometimes call me Cat."

"I like that nickname," Hobbes grinned.

"You don't eat little girls, do you?"

"No, I mainly eat tuna."

"You will protect me from the monsters, right?"

"Of course, as long as there's a ferocious animal in bed with you those monsters will just run and run and run and run away," said Hobbes quite proudly.

Catherine smiled and pulled Hobbes closer to her so she could snuggle up. Before the duo fell asleep they were both thinking about how great it was to have a new friend.

The monsters under the bed didn't bother Catherine anymore.

Only the beginning…

'Don't put away your childish things. Save them for your child.'

~Unknown

A/N: My first Calvin and Hobbes fic! What do you think? I hope I do the cartoon justice as it Is my absolute favorite comic period. This idea came to me after I saw a picture on the internet about an adult Calvin giving his daughter, Bacon (who names their kid that?!) Hobbes. Anyway, it put this idea in my head and I had to get it out. Now this might become a series and I have the very basic plot of it mapped out in my head. It would basically revolve around Catherine showing Calvin how to use his imagination the was he used to and that eventually affecting Susie as well and allowing her to see Hobbes the way Calvin and Catherine do. But to make this work I need ideas for future chapter plots. If you love the strip as much as I do, please please PLEASE PM some to me or put them in a review. I really want to make this work but I need support. Thanks to everyone who reads and reviews and keeps the magic of Calvin and Hobbes alive.

I think that this part of the fic is a bit redundant but I'll say it anyway. I don't own the masterpiece that is Calvin and Hobbes. Catherine and Hobbes is based off the comic Hobbes and Bacon by Pants are Overrated. Besides, I'm sure there's a reason they call it Fanfiction. In other words... GET ALL THESE COPS AND LAWYERS OUT OF MY HOUSE!