A/N: Just a little peice that came into my head when I went with my brother and sister in law to Walgreens. The 24 hour convenience store is probably only an American thing, but lets play pretend and say they have it in England too if they don't already. Pretend this is before all the kittens were born into the tribe.

Disclaimer: In case you didn't know, I don't own Cats. I am not ALW or TSE...Just one over tired "tiger" who really shouldn't write something when she is tired and just coming off of a stressful week.

Midnight Run

A woman sat at the register of a convenience store after hours. Hardly anyone frequented at this time of night, and frankly, it was very boring working such late hours. But this particular night proved to be different…

It was just past two that the woman heard the automatic door open. Perking up slightly at the possibility of some activity, she looked over to see no one was coming in. Frowning to herself, she looked down to the floor when she realized the door hadn't quite opened by itself…

In walked two cats, one an orange and brown tabby, the other a rather large black and white. The first seemed annoyed, the second seemed bored, and they both looked tired.

Sure she was imagining things, she rubbed her eyes and shook her head, then looked down again. But the two cats were still walking past her and into the aisles of the convenience store. Stupefied for only a second more, she then decided it best to catch them before her manager came out from the back and yelled at her about the unsanitary practices of allowing animals to waltz in at any time of night.

Following the two, the woman realized they seemed to know exactly what they were looking for. The tabby looked back at the black and white and nodded his head towards something on one of the lower shelves. The black and white walked over, and with some annoyance, grabbed the canned sardines off the shelf, and rolled it along in front of him, as he had no means of carrying it. The tabby in turn jumped up on one of the higher shelves, carefully nudged one of the jars, and let it fall.

Like lightening, the woman dove to the floor just in time to catch the jar of pickles before it shattered on the ground. The cat then jumped down, and nudged at the jar. "Oh, sorry," said the woman, putting the jar on the floor as the cat began to roll it away. "Wait a minute!" Gaining her wits again, the woman got to her feet, dusted off her shirt and pants and was ready to grab the two cats. But when the one black and white nodded to her, she found herself proud at having been acknowledged by him, and forgot about her mission to catch the felines.

To continue with their sojourn, the two cats went to the first aid aisle, and the black and white looked up at a high shelf. The tabby looked at the fat cat, but the other seemed to win whatever silent argument they had just had, as the tabby was the one to jump up onto the highest shelf and knocked down some important items: gauze, peroxide, cotton swabs, and even band-aids…the printed kind…Winnie the Pooh to be exact. (But that was probably because the other one had A Hundred and One Dalmatians on it…)

Then the two found themselves with a slight predicament…how would they get these items home? The cats stared at each other, and then looked up at the woman. "Meow!" said the tabby. The woman shrugged. "Meow!" the tabby said again. (Obviously, he didn't approve.) The woman sighed.

For a moment, she left the two alone. Then she returned with a plastic bag. She placed it down on the floor between them. But the cat once again meowed and the woman frowned, fell to her knees, and put the items in the bag.

"God, I thought only human customers were like this," she said, shaking her head.

The fat cat then went off on his own to the refrigerated aisle. He sat in front of where the ice cream was. "Meow!" he said. The woman went over and looked at the door, then over to the cat. "Meow," he said again.

"You…want me to open it?" she asked. The cat nodded his approval, and studiously, the woman opened the door for him. He nudged out a pint of vanilla, then rolled it over to the other cat and their bag of items, leaving the woman to close the door.

By the time the woman found the two cats again, they were leaving through the doors they came in. "Excuse me!" she saidwith some annoyance. "How do you expect to pay for that?" The tabby looked up at the woman before running outside for something, leaving the other cat to drag the items out. The fat cat stopped to catch his breath in all his round glory.

The cat then came back, placed a mouse at the woman's feet, went back to his companion to help him with the burden of their purchase, and with a wave of his long brown tail, disappeared from sight.

The woman stared at the mouse at her feet. She then decided it was best to get rid of the evidence, and pretend none of this had ever happened. No one would believe her, anyway…

Skimbleshanks came into the old ford, panting quite heavily. But not as heavily as Bustober Jones, who dramatically collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath, paw on his chest as though he were having a heart attack.

Jennyanydots had her back turned to them, checking on a young Alonzo, who had scratches all over his chest from a recent cat fight he got into. "Did you bring the items?" she chirped merrily, not bothering to turn around.

"Yes," Skimbleshanks replied, as Bustober Jones seemed about ready to pass out.

"Good," she said, turning her head to look at him. "I need the gauze, if you will! And be sure to bring out that ice cream…"

"For my wounds?" asked the adolescent Alonzo.

"No, for me, dear," Jennyanydots said, patting him on his shoulder. The fat cat had handed her the bandages, clearing his throat in an attempt to get a thank you. (There was none…) Skimbleshanks took out the ice cream with great difficulty (as it was a third his size) along with the other two food items.

"Uh, Jenny..." he started. "Are you sure you want…"

"Uh-huh!"

"Even with the…"

"Yes! Please, dear. Thank you!" She had just finished wrapping up Alonzo's wounds when Skimbleshanks placed a small bowl full of vanilla ice cream with sardines, topped with pickles in front of Jennyanydots. (However he got the pickles and the sardines open, Everlasting Cat only knows.) "Oh, that looks wonderful!" she said as she turned, her swollen belly showing as she reached over and began eating her meal.

Alonzo looked disgusted. "You're really going to eat that?"

"I've been craving it all day!" she said with her mouth full, getting up carefully and walking over to the other side of the room.

"That's not even cat food!" Alonzo debated.

"Well, you see," said Bustober, having perked up at the change of topic. "She wanted a dish of cream, but that would be a bit messy, and ice cream would melt on the way… which is basically cream. She also wanted salmon paste, but when was the last time a cat can find salmon paste? And…you know….I haven't the foggiest idea where the pickles came in."

"I think it's an expectant mother thing," Skimbleshanks said, sinking into a pile of clothes he used for a bed. Tired though he may have been, he was glad his mate had what she wanted. Even if they had to deal with human commerce to get it…