Chapter one

In Which Gold and Silver Discuss Family, Babysitting, and Children

"Nikolas, please, sit still for five seconds..."

"No!"

"Just let me put a shirt on you and then you can play—"

"No!"

"Nikolas..."

"No!"

Again the white-haired boy evaded Arthur's grip, dashing to the top of the sofa and looking over at him. "No" was one of the few words the barely-one-year-old knew, and he used it quite well. Again, Arthur attempted to snatch the boy, but he evaded him yet again, running around the living room while laughing in his adorable, yet so very humiliating way. He, the great ruthless One-eye, who defeated the Facility and the Loyals, couldn't catch a kitten.

He was soon relieved, however, when Alfred came around the corner and caught the boy in mid-run, hoisting him up playfully as Nikolas writhed in his grasp. The little boy squealed and said a few words in rough German that sounded like "Put me down," but Alfred just laughed.

"Nope, you need a shirt before I put you down." It was true; the kitten had been running around all day without one on, and before they went to go meet his parents he would have to put one on. He'd been left with Alfred and Arthur since Ivan and Gilbert had to go on patrol, and they wouldn't have been able to return until now, late in the afternoon. Now, however, they were returning, and they could finally return Nikolas to his parents. The boy was simply a raw ball of energy, like most young Hellcats tended to be.

Alfred handed the boy to Arthur, who quickly pulled a shirt over his head before he could get away. Nikolas gave Arthur a look of displeasure, and Arthur just rolled his singular green eye.

"Don't look at me like that, Niko, you're the one who drew it out." The boy quickly jumped out of Arthur's arms and ran over to Alfred, burying his face in the tall cat's knees. "I don't know why he's running to you, you're the one who caught him." Alfred grinned as he picked Nikolas up again, letting the boy cuddle into his neck.

"He must just like me better," Alfred joked, and Arthur shook his head, smiling over at Alfred.

Things had just been so much more relaxed since the Facility and the Loyals were defeated, and finally, everyone had been able to relax. Some of the pressures of leading a Gang during wartime were relieved from Arthur's shoulders, and it made him relax a bit and let his more gentle personality show more often. He was obviously much more relaxed, and, since the threat of an immediate enemy were gone, he and Alfred had begun thinking towards the future. They'd been married not too long after Nikolas was born, and had started thinking about other things.

After turning Nikolas loose to entertain himself with the TV for a few minutes before they had to leave, Arthur leaned against Alfred's shoulder, half-closing his visible eye. Putting an arm around his shoulders, Alfred looked over at him.

"He's a wild one, that kid," he murmured, carefully watching Nikolas out of the corner of his eye as he flipped through the channels. "Do you think we'll ever have any that crazy?"

"I should hope not," Arthur replied, rolling his eyes. "About us having kids, though..." Alfred looked at him again curiously. "Elizaveta told me that...since everything's been so relaxed lately..." He paused, messing with his thumbs. "She said that I'll probably start the heat cycle soon."

"So..." he murmured, almost a bit nervously as he twitched an ear, before lowering his voice so Nikolas wouldn't hear, "No unprotected sex for a few weeks?"

"Well...I was thinking that, if that's true...then maybe we could try to have a baby? I mean, you did ask before so..." He trailed off, and Alfred leaned down to kiss him, nuzzling his cheek affectionately.

"Only if you want to," Alfred replied, and a little smile spread across Arthur's face, as did a blush. "Do you?"

"I do," Arthur murmured. "I want to try for a baby."


Later that day, Alfred and Arthur went to the entrance of the city to wait for the returning patrol. The patrols were much more organized than they were when they were underground; every two hours, a new patrol would be released to stay out for four hours before they returned. Even though their main enemies had been defeated, they still had to be very careful; the dogs were setting up their own empire of sorts in a different stretch of the mountains, and Arthur did not want them meddling in their business. It was just about time for Ivan and Gilbert's patrol to return, and Nikolas was eagerly watching from where he sat on Alfred's shoulders.

"Where?" He asked enthusiastically, swinging his legs and unintentionally kicking Alfred in his shoulder blades. "Where Mama and Papa?"

"They're coming—ouch—stop kicking me please," Alfred murmured, trying to keep the boy's feet from hitting his shoulders. "Any minute now, buddy." He certainly hoped they'd arrive soon; his feet didn't hurt, per se, but the repeated injury was starting to bother him.

Eventually, they could see them coming up the path to the city, and Nikolas wriggled excitedly down from Alfred's shoulders, running towards his parents, happily exclaiming;

"Mama! Papa!" He ran to his mother first, and Gilbert picked him up, affectionately nuzzling the little boy. Ivan pulled both of them close into a hug, and Nikolas cuddled into his father's embrace. Of all of the kittens born in the gang, Nikolas had gotten the most attention. He was basically a symbol of a new era, the turning of a new leaf, and even though he hadn't been the one to lay the final blow on Sundita, Attilo, and Jones, he was still regarded as something of a hero.

After Gilbert and Ivan had given them their thanks and taken the boy home to put him to bed, Alfred and Arthur went to go visit Ivory, who was currently living on his estate. He'd requested to see them yesterday; it seemed as though the scientist was making up lost time with his sons that he hadn't been able to spend with them when they had been taken from him. He and Raven had also been married, and currently Raven was pregnant.

"I asked Matthew to come, but he's busy," Ivory was saying to them when they came. He was sitting on a swing that he'd made, an old-fashioned one, with a wooden board where you're supposed to sit and two long ropes connecting it to a tree. He was slowly rocking back and forth, with Alfred leaning up against the tree and Arthur standing beside him. It had seemed as though Ivory was letting his naturally childish spirit run free, now that he didn't have to act like a scientist anymore, and was making up lost time with his sons.

"I heard that he and Francis were off doing something," Alfred told him, shrugging his shoulders. After the Facility and the Loyals were finally defeated, the two had gotten much more intimate with their relationship. They were often seen together, rarely were they ever alone. It almost made Alfred jealous, but then he remembered that he had a partner as well, and that Matthew was no longer his only companion. He had a father too, now...the father that he'd always wanted. The father that he didn't know he'd been missing until he found him. He was no longer jealously watching the children walking down the street, holding their father's hand or riding on his shoulders. Hopefully, one day, Alfred would be like that himself, the loving father of he and Arthur's future child...if they were able to have one.

"Dad," Alfred finally said again, after moments of silence. Arthur was sitting now among the roots, his head resting against the tree, snoozing in the last rays of sunlight. Smiling slightly, he sat beside the sleeping cat, watching as his father jumped off the swing and came over to sit beside him as well.

"Hmm?" He asked, and Alfred cuddled up close to his father, nuzzling gently into his neck.

"Well we...Arthur and I...we wanted to try for a baby," Alfred finally murmured. For a moment, Ivory was quiet, before turning and hugging Alfred tightly.

"That's great, kiddo," he laughed, and Alfred felt a warm blush creep across his cheeks. Wriggling out of his father's grasp, he looked at him through slightly narrowed sky blue eyes.

"I'm not a kid anymore," Alfred told him, pushing out his lower lip and looking at Ivory indignantly. Ivory gave another laugh, reaching out and pushing back some of the hair from Alfred's eyes. It fell right back into place, of course, and Ivory's eyes twinkled with a new kind of happiness and love.

"You're still my kid, and you always will be."


That night, after Alfred and Arthur had returned home and were back in the bed that they shared, a dark shadow moved under the window. The figure twitched it's long, crimson tail, black eyes sparkling in the moonlight. The figure growled softly, before some loud snarls sounded behind him.

"What are you doing here, intruder?" One cat asked, fur along its spine and tail raising. For a moment, the red-furred cat flashed metal teeth, before jumping into the trees, and seemingly, disappearing. The cats that had spotted him looked up into the inky blackness, tilting their heads and cocking their ears. Shrugging, the two continued on their patrol of the borders of the city, not worrying about the mysterious figure.

Little did they know, that mysterious figure marked the beginning of another long struggle for the Hellcats.