A/N: This is a sequel to my story 'Of Cats and Facts'. It can be read as a standalone but its better if you read its prequel first. This piece is un-betaed, all mistakes are my own. Please feel free to point them out. Enjoy!
It had been a tough week for the White Collar division. A case involving stolen artifacts from the period of the Mughal Empire had the whole team putting in extra hours at the office, trying to recover the priceless art and jewels from a suspected thief they didn't actually have any evidence against. So, Neal had gone undercover as a possible fence. It had been a very demanding operation, taking every single trick Neal had learnt in his former career as a con man to convince Mr. Raheel to sell the 'knick knacks', as he had called them, to Neal.
They operation had ended successfully a few hours earlier, and Mr. Raheel was in FBI custody thanks to the ex-con. An exhausted Neal made his way upstairs to his loft, looking forward to passing out on his bed. It was Christmas Eve and June was at her daughter's house and her staff was on holiday so he was all alone in the house. He was hungry, but he really didn't have enough energy to whip himself something to eat. Sleeping was his number one priority.
He pushed open the door to his apartment and made his way blindly towards his bedroom, switching on the lights was an un-necessary hassle at this point. He stripped down to his boxers and collapsed onto his bed- only to jump back, fully alert at the loud hiss his actions caused.
Stumbling over his discarded pants, he ran to the wall and switched on a light. Turning horrified eyes towards his not so empty bed he caught sight of… a cat. Yep, pointy ears, cute little nose, huge whiskers, fluffy tail… He had nearly fallen over his ass because a cat scared him. It wasn't even a fully grown cat yet, more like a kitten. He had been scared of a freaking kitten.
"You've lost your edge, mon frère."
Neal jumped in the air as the unexpected voice rang in the apartment, letting out a squeak in his jittery state.
He felt his face burn in embarrassment.
"Moz, what are you doing here?"
"Well, I obviously didn't come here to enjoy the strip tease you just put up."
Neal felt his face grow even redder, hurriedly reaching for his silk robe.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you did like it, but you didn't answer my question. Why were you sitting in the dark? And why is there a cat on my bed?"
"Maybe it wants to eat you."
"Eat me?" Neal sounded incredulous now as he made his way to his bed.
"Seeing that you just let out a squeak, resembling that of a mouse." Mozzie was trying really hard to maintain a stoic expression.
"Mozzzzz!" Neal whined. He actually whined. Mozzie suppressed an amused smile.
"Well, I came here to help myself to some of your wine.."
"As usual, don't you have your own wine?"Neal said irritably.
"Ah, won't you want to know so you could steal it?"
"Ugh, Moz. Forget it. You can drink my wine. You never ask anyway. Just tell me, what's up with the cat?" Neal was now perched on the edge of his bed, reaching out a tentative hand towards the kitten. He loved cats but he couldn't imagine sharing similar feelings towards himself if he was the kitten-who-was-not-yet-a-cat. He had just sat on the fluffy brown creature after all.
"I have no idea. I thought you might have brought it here, knowing your penchant for binging strays home."
The beautiful Persian sniffed Neal's hand and then after bestowing him with a rather skeptical look, it gently pushed its furry head towards him.
"Ooh! There's something attached to its collar!" Neal said as he gently extracted what turned out to be an origami flower tucked into the cats red collar.
'I thought I'd give you what you always wanted for Christmas. I don't know whether you remember, but you kept gushing about cats when I drugged you. So, there you go. Merry Christmas, Neal. Xoxo"
The unsigned note ended there, but the scent of the perfume coming from the pink paper gave away the persons identity.
A smile graced his lips. "Alex."
"ALEX gave you the furry thing? She told me you had driven her insane with your ramblings that night!"
"Yeah, well. Alex knows me well." Neal was now petting the cat as it rubbed against him, purring happily.
"I'm sure she does. I was unfortunate enough to come across encounters in which both of you 'got to know each other better' too many times!" The short man exclaimed, causing Neal to blush again."
"I'm going to call you Amelia." Neal said, ignoring his friend as he rubbed the kitten under its chin, causing it to raise its head upwards and demanding more pampering.
"Amelia? It's a cat, Neal."
"Milly for short. I always loved the name Amelia." Neal said, a slightly sad look crossing his face before he hid it.
"Well, Milly is a suitable name for her." Mozzie had not failed to notice his friend's facial expression, but he would let it go. For now.
"Yeah, well I'm beat. I'm going to sleep. You are welcome to stay, but I really hope that you don't pull an Edward Cullen on me. Watching people sleep is creepy, Moz." Neal said, shedding his robe as he got under the covers, Milly settling down on his chest as he closed his eyes.
"Creepy? Me?" Mozzie spluttered but his friend was already asleep, Milly turned her had towards him to give him a questioning look.
"Hey! I am not creepy! Don't look at me like that! And now I'm talking to a cat!" Mozzie whispered, glaring at the golden-brown fluffy ball of cuteness.
"You are kinda cute, but you know you are pulling an Edward Cullen? Watching him sleep?"
Milly continued to stare at Mozzie, stretching slightly on its owner's chest.
"YOU are creepy. Hmph!" Mozzie grumbled, closing the bedroom door behind him.
A/N: Thank you for reading. This might turn to be a series so any ideas are welcome. Reviews feed the Author : )
