SEEKING HAPPINESS

CHAPTER 2: Hunting Companionship

Feral's desire to find companionship became the buzz of high society thanks to there being nothing more news worthy around the city at the moment with it being so quiet of late. This left reporters hunting for stories in their least favorite area...high society doings. There were already plenty of news rags that did that beat already but work was work. So kats in high positions found their personal life even more under the public eye than normal much to their annoyance.

However, Feral wasn't one of them. Used to the press hounding him, he blithely went about his courting, ignoring the probing eyes of the cameras pointed his way. However, being skilled at subterfuge in his job as Chief Enforcer, when he wanted privacy he had ways of slipping out of view.

Being more visible now as he went out regularly, he could be seen surrounded by press as he squired beautiful she-kats, famous or not, to fund raisers, the opera, clubs, and fancy restaurants. But it was when he also chose to go out with many a handsome tom, that set the ordinary katizen's tongues to wagging. None had known he enjoyed variety.

Speculation was rife! Was the Commander searching for a mate? Or was he simply making up for time lost protecting the city. Feral never offered an explanation, leaving them to gossip and speculate all they wanted.

o*o*o*o

"Will you look at this? He's going out with that actor, Jason Windborne now," Jake snorted, pointing at the cover page of a mag he'd picked up at the store earlier in the day.

"Who?" Chance asked as he lounged on their new couch, TV controller in paw. He looked over his shoulder at his friend, a questioning frown on his face.

"Feral! He's made the news again."

Chance rolled his eyes and laughed. Turning back to the TV he said dismissively, "Well, let him. He deserves to get out and strut his stuff. I bet he's not had a date in years, probably worse than us. And if they knew who we were, we too would be followed about so count your blessings that you and your date will be left alone."

Jake tossed the mag to the table and went to the hall mirror to check his appearance one last time. "Oh, I am." Like Feral, he was out on the dating circuit. He'd been doing it for several months now. Like Feral, they weren't needed as much protecting the city so they had time to pursue a personal life.

Satisfied with his appearance, Jake picked up his leather jacket laying draped over the back of the couch and pulled it on. Eyeing his partner, he asked, "You haven't been going out lately. No one catch your fancy after that last item dropped you?"

"No. Just seems pointless," the tabby admitted, tilting his head toward the ceiling to stare at the pattern the lowering sun was making on it.

Jake stared down at his friend thoughtfully.

o*O*o

They had made the most of their new found freedom from crime fighting. Their first step was to get out of debt. Jake did that by using his call sign to sell a great many of his more benign inventions on line. With the money rolling in, he paid their debt to the Enforcers then with Chance's agreement and encouragement, bought a deserted island with its own extinct volcano. This he converted into their new headquarters. Of course, carving out a mountain is no easy task when secrecy is required but with the help of Cybertron II they borrowed from Professor Hackle, the job was done in less than a month.

With a safer, more secure hangar, they moved all their equipment, the jet, and many of their important personal items to their new headquarters, sealed up the old one, then closed the garage for good after making arrangements with other similar businesses to take their old clients. Callie had finally traded in her old sedan so didn't need them any longer which made the break easier.

However, they had no desire to live at the hangar as that wouldn't allow them to begin entertaining new friends so they went house hunting and had found themselves a really nice little beach house loaded with great amenities; a large kitchen with the latest appliances, two roomy bedrooms with their own bathrooms, a covered patio for BBQ's with hot tub, a small beach that lead to the ocean, no close neighbors, two car garage, and a boat shed where their small, fast speeder was kept.

Their new headquarters was just as nice as their home but more functional. It had a workout area, danger room, design lab for the red tom to build and sell his new ideas; a giant hangar that held the Turbokat and all their other specialty vehicles; a garage where Chance designed and built specialized motorcycles that he sold on the internet (for which he'd made his reputation as the premiere designer of stunning machines that were much sought after); and a small apartment for when they had to stay overnight.

But despite the new careers, they still kept themselves in fighting trim for their continued war on crime as the SWAT Kats. As T-Bone had told Feral when the last of the heavy hitter were gone, they weren't ready to turn in their hero titles yet. To keep busy when crime wasn't present, they had a paw in aiding the Enforcers during major accidents and incidents caused by rogue inventors and Pumadyne mistakes.

They should have been happy and more relaxed and in a way, they were but it wasn't enough. After three years of peace and getting used to doing other things, they soon realized it wasn't enough. So, just like Feral, they were going out and seeing other people.

However, despite their best efforts at trying to integrate into society again, they discovered it wasn't as easy as they'd hoped it would be. Having been each others constant companion and only friends for a decade, they found their secret identities still held them back from making a relationship outside their friendship stick. They were too hyper aware despite finally getting a break from the constant stress of fighting crime. This and their total reliance on each other seemed to be the reason why they couldn't seem to achieve a relationship that would last.

Despite that creeping realization or in spite of it, Jake was determined to keep trying to make some kind of connection with someone else no matter how long it took...even though he'd been trying for at least a year now.

Chance, however, had finally lost heart. His last relationship with a beautiful and bright she-kat had ended last month. Though they parted amiably it had still left him depressed. He was frustrated with himself. Why was it so hard to be with someone other than Jake? That question had haunted his nights of late.

o*O*o

"Still troubled, eh?" Jake asked, pulling away from his trip down memory lane.

"Yeah, aren't you?"

"Somewhat, but I'm not ready to toss in the towel yet. I still haven't explored enough outside myself to be certain what is troubling me so I'll keep at it until I have some kind of answer."

"And if you don't find one?"

"Then it's time to seek professional help."

Chance's head jerked up. Scowling at his friend, he snapped, "I am not seeing a shrink!"

"Nothing so drastic, buddy. Just a counselor."

The tabby shook his head firmly. "Nope! Not happening."

Jake rolled his eyes. "Chance, we can't go on being unhappy and neither of us has an answer as to why we shouldn't be enjoying our life now. It isn't healthy nor a good idea to ignore if we're to remain effective as the SWAT Kats," he said seriously.

Chance's shoulders slumped. Jake was right but he hated the idea of letting someone pick his feelings apart.

"Even if you don't go, I am seriously considering it if my efforts to pull out of this strange funk doesn't work. Something is holding us back and I need to know why."

"Yeah, I can understand that but I'm not ready to seek that route yet," Chance said. "Let's not talk about this now, you'll be late for your date."

"You're right, I should be going. Try not to obsess about it, buddy and I'll see you later," Jake said as he headed for the door.

"Not if you find your date more than a little interesting," Chance smirked.

Jake laughed and waved to his friend as he went out the door leading to the garage, closing it behind him. Parked next to Chance's sporty new, dark blue pickup truck was his pride and joy...a new, black jeep he loved madly.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Chance heard the quiet purr of the jeep start up and drive away until only the soothing wash of the waves from the bay outside intruded on his peace. He stared moodily at the TV that he wasn't really watching. Clicking the TV off abruptly, he tossed the controller to the coffee table and stood up.

Passing through the dining room then the kitchen, he went out the backdoor to stand and stare at the setting sun and the waves rolling up the beach.

Why was he unhappy? He'd asked himself that a lot of late. Surprisingly, his thoughts drifted to the doings of the Chief Enforcer. Seems Feral is seeking something or someone as well and hasn't found it either. Wonder what his reason is? How odd to be thinking about him of all people but then maybe it isn't.

He's been fighting a long time against the omegas too, married to his job. Must not have gone out much as it would be too dangerous for anyone he might be interested in and he'd never be able to offer stability as he was always on call and his job came first.

Wonder if he's having some of the same issues we are? Naw that's not right, he doesn't have a partner...he's completely alone. Wait! How do I know he doesn't have close friends too? We don't know anything about his personal life but then if he did have friends you would think the press would have dug it up and reported it now that they're watching him like a hawk. Could it be he's truly alone.

Chance shook his head. Geez, I must be really out of it to be thinking so much about that stiff pain in the neck. Shoving the disturbing thoughts from his head, he turned and went back inside. Maybe a bowl of ice cream and a movie would help him relax enough to get some sleep. Worth a try, he thought.