Back in the present day, Tom's eyes began to well up with tears as he remembered the regular abuse and humiliation he was forced to endure. Mammy Two Shoes abused and humiliated him long enough. Called him an "old cat" whilst taking in temporarily a cat named Lightning to catch Jerry, barely gave him a moment of sleep, and generally just verbally and physically abused him as part of her daily routine. Finally, he could not take it anymore and decided to let it all out, revealing the secret that he was tired of catching mice for a very long time.

"Bullcrap." Tom muttered under his breath. "I'm tired of conforming to the other cats. I'm not like one of them, is there is freaking problem with that? I just wanted to be friends with Jerry, and this damn lady is forcing me to chase the poor helpless fellow. I don't care if I don't get a god damn meal again, I've gotten enough crap for that. So what if I don't kill Jerry? It's not like the sky is gonna fall down or anything!"

After Jerry finished pigging out on the food, he was surprised to find Tom. He reacted quickly, then brought a box of pins to pour over Tom. As Jerry was about to pour a shower of pins on Tom, he stopped and stared at Tom, his hands cupping his face that was so red from crying. Jerry has seen Tom fake-cry a lot of times, but he hesitated.

"Maybe Tom is playing a trick on me." he thought, "He is pretending to cry to get attention so he can catch me."

Tom heard the clink-clank sound of pins and looked up to see Jerry. Jerry gasped and backed a little bit, but Tom only whispered,

"Go ahead, Jerry. Hurt me. I've done all I could. Kill me. I don't care what you do."

Jerry stared, surprised at this unusual request. He still thought that this was a trick, however he thought that it would not do much harm to pour a couple of the sharp pins on him.

Jerry poured down nine or ten pins, but stared in shock, since Tom barely reacted to the pain of the sharp tips of the falling pins. Jerry dropped more, and some more, and some more. Finally Jerry could not take it anymore and poured the whole lot on Tom. Jerry stared in surprise and confusion. Despite Tom looking as if he was a grey cat with tiny oozing red polka dots all over him, Tom did not seem to feel any pain. Jerry gaped. This definitely was not the Tom he was expecting. Jerry hesitated, but decided to go down the cupboard and talk to Tom.

After Jerry slid down, Tom picked Jerry up and fiercely brought him to his chest, embracing him thoroughly.

"Tom..." Jerry said, struggling breathe through Tom's tight grips, "Why have you changed so much? Aren't you going to chase or hurt me?"

"Oh no," Tom said, crying once again, "I could never do this again."

"But why?" Jerry asked, confused, "What were all those insane chases for anyway?"

"I was forced to. But I liked you. I loved you!"

"You say that you loved me, and you have tried to kill me many times you bastard. Like what the hell, you tied me up, tried to run over me, pricked me with a fork or a knife, tried to shoot me, and even tried to eat me! Are you out of your mind?!"

"That's exactly what I was trying to tell you about-"

"Uh-huh. And you think hugging me will make a difference?"

"It will. I was trying to tell you. I didn't want to be a mouse-catcher, but Mammy Two Shoes forced me to. She has forced me to do so all my life. I tried to be friends with you, and this was the secret I was hiding for a very long time. Whenever I tried in front of other people, Mammy would smack me, or the other cats would laugh at me."

Jerry stopped frowning and pulled a neutral face.

"I understand," Tom sighed, "I guess I don't deserve to be your friend. I probably deserve to go back to the hellhole I came from." Tom hid his face, and began crying once again, his formerly golden eyes now red and swollen as a raspberry.

Jerry hesitated, then embraced Tom on the leg. "No! Tom, I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you! I was just really confused, because when you first met me as a kitten you were really sweet to me but then afterwards you seemed so mean and then you've been acting strangely. I'm really really sorry!"

"That's ok." Tom smiled, wiping a tear from Jerry's eye. "Don't worry, Jerry. We can start all over again. Let's start a new beginning and forget those things in the past ever happened."

And they shook on it as they feasted on some chocolate cake, already more than enough to ease Tom's pain from hunger.