When the bell rang, Felina grumbled. She had just gotten comfortable on the couch and now what? Salesman? Jehovah's Witness? Anyone important, like Uncle or mom and dad had a key. So she sighs and and grabs the remote to her sound system. The thudding beat coming through the stereo speakers stops as she hits pause. "Yes?!" she shouts at the door.
"Pizza delivery!" calls back a gruff voice.
Felina stares at the door a second, before shouting back, "You got the wrong apartment! I didn't order a pizza!"
There was a pause and a shuffling noise. "I got the right apartment! One large pizza for 3D. Somebody ordered it!"
Fur stuck up on the back of Felina's neck. While she hadn't heard of any home robberies that'd involved a fake pizza boy, that was probably because nobody was stupid enough to open the door for a pizza they didn't order.
Her apartment wasn't exactly in a bad section of town, but it was cheap, and crime rates were high throughout Megakat City. Most of her neighbors knew that an Enforcer Lieutenant lived in 3D. This was a selling point in their viewpoints, at least it was for the generally law abiding folks.
For Felina though it could be a headache, since more than once she'd been awoken by a neighbor banging on her door with a domestic problem or a theft complaint. Once she chased a burglar off the fire escape, clad in only sweatpants and a bra.
Other Enforcers she socialized with complained of the same thing. Their neighbors came by at all hours for crises ranging from broken toes to angry ex-boyfriends, or seeking free legal advice instead of consulting a lawyer. However, in the ten days she'd been out of the hospital Felina found having neighbors who liked you had its perks. The grandmotherly she-kat next door had brought her sugar cookies, a pan of brownies, and multiple cold cut sandwiches and bowls of home cooked fish stew. Twice now the upstairs neighbor had come to sweep and do dishes and a third neighbor brought in Chinese day before yesterday. Between her family dropping in and the neighbors she was getting on pretty well.
Maybe it wasn't a mistake or an enterprising robber and one of her friends had ordered it for her, but who? The only thing she could be certain of at the moment was that she wasn't gonna find out by staying on the couch.
After pausing to think it through she leans forward and grabs the pull on the drawer in the coffee table, opens it and retrieves a handgun. "Just a second," she grunts, checking the magazine.
"...Hey, Lieutenant! Are you sitting down? Don't get up."
She pauses, already mid-stand and halfway bent over. "What?" Before Felina can straighten up, there is a "pop" and the door flies open. Immediately Felina is on guard, as the tom steps over the threshold. "FREEZE!" She shouts, and on instinct and long practice, Felina is aiming right between his eyes. And then she realizes: Blue g-suit, red harness, and a surprised looking yellow tabby. It's T-Bone. She quickly points the gun up towards the ceiling.
"Geez, Lieutenant!" T-Bone shouts, reaching for the sky and balancing a pizza box on one hand and a six pack of milk in the other.
"T-Bone! How did you- Did you just break my door lock!?" She blurts.
"No! Course not, no just… can I put my hands down now?" he asks plaintively.
Felina glances up at the weapon in her hand and her expression is a mite sheepish. "Sorry. What are you doing?" She shakes her head and lowers the weapon, pointed away from them both. "...I can't believe this. I'm being invaded by a pizza boy," she quips.
"I uh… I didn't figure I should make you get up..." He slowly brings his arms down, though he's watching her extremely cautiously in case he needs to reach for the sky again.
"...But...you just broke into my apartment." She stares at him.
T-Bone scowls back and pushes the door to with his foot. "You pointed a GUN at me!"
"Why does this surprise you?" she responds tartly. She puts the weapon back in the drawer and pushes it shut with her knee. "Is there a good reason for making me think I was being home invaded at least?"
"Well uh, umm... Um. Hey, are you alright?" He asks, heading towards her with a worried expression. "You look like something hurts."
"Oh." She pauses, seeming to think over how to answer that. "Well. I am in pain when I'm moving around. Just a little bit," she clarifies firmly. She was slowly straightening up, with a hand across her middle.
"Sorry. I was trying to save you that," he admits. "You know by…." He waves vaguely at the doorway.
"So you just break in?!"
"...Well evidently this was a bad idea," he says, rather bitterly, and puts the pizza down on the coffee table none too gently.
She winces. "T-Bone, don't. I'm sorry... I shouldn't say that... I'm glad you're here? Uh. Why are you here?"
"Pizza. Remember?" He says with a little shrug. He sets the six pack down on the coffee table, along with the pizza box. "I thought it'd be easier… you know. Than going out and being mobbed by autograph hounds."
"Autograph hounds? Really?" She tilts her head, looking at him rather dubiously.
"Uh huh. Everywhere I go." He smirks. "Everyone wants Ol' T-Bone's autograph."
She eyes him, arms wrapped across her chest.
"It's true! When I walked in to pick up the pizza, I had a little trouble getting out of there. I had to sign a lot of napkins and couldn't leave 'til Papa Pappadelli found Mama Pappadelli and they got their picture took with yours truly." He sounds slightly proud.
"You're kidding."
"Nope. Mr. Pappadelli is gonna hang the picture above the cash register and he demanded I come back with Razor for another picture. He said they're gonna name these toppings the SWAT Kat Special and I got it free."
She stares at him in utter shock. "That old grump?," she laughs. "I don't believe it. He never gave something away free in his life."
"Cross my heart, and hope to die," he says, and shakes his head. "Then an Enforcer sedan pulled up and I had to book it."
"Fame not all it's cracked up to be?"
"Something like that," he grins.
She makes a dismissive gesture with her hand. "... Don't expect me to ask for your autograph."
He kinda chuckled. "You already have it, I sent a card to you when you were in the hospital."
"Pffft, I guess," she replies, flippant. "I'm holding you to using that coupon that was in it sometime, too, SWAT Kat."
T-Bone raises an eyebrow. "That's right, I did give you a coupon didn't I... Sooo… does that mean we get another date?"
"Who says this is a date?" she retorts. "This is not a date!"
"Oh really!" He changes his voice to a high pitched squeak. "Oooooh T-Boooone, any meeting is a daaate!"
She goggles at him. "I don't sound like that!"
He laughs and she sighs, shaking her head.
"You are lucky I like you." Felina says grouchily.
T-Bone's ears perk with interest at that statement.
She eases herself back onto the couch. "Join me?"
He pauses a second then moves to sit on the arm of the couch, watching her.
She tilts her head at him. "What, you afraid I'll bite?"
"No, afraid I'll jostle the couch and hurt you," he replies, serious.
"Oh. Nah. No. I'm not that delicate." she laughs. "Soo…. you're here."
He blinks and looks down at himself. "I…. seem to be?" he says, with a grin. "Don't want me here?"
"No! I mean yes. I mean..." She stammers.
He snorts back a laugh. "Should I leave? You're awfully nervous, Lieutenant."
"Felina."
"Yeah yeah, look. I should go, maybe, it seems this is a bad time. Enjoy the pizza," he murmurs.
"I liked the peonies!" Felina blurts. "And the socks. Those were from you too, right?"
His expression relaxes a little and he settles more onto his perch. "Heh, yeah uhm… well I'm glad you liked them, Lieutenant."
"Felina."
"Right, right. Felina. Habit."
She smiles a little and exhales. "And. Thanks for the card. And the CDs. I think I'm wearing them out. I appreciated it, um, knowing you were thinking of me anyway," she says.
He gives her a patented T-Bone grin. "I hoped you would like the CDs. Sorry I didn't bring everything in person."
"It's not like you could have just walked into the hospital lobby, or come knocking on my window," She argues.
He grins. "Why? Probably the easiest way actually...I dunno why I didn't think of that. But uh, I have to admit me'n Razor were busy with some things..." He reaches to pull a couple milks off the six pack.
She frowns. "Problems with any of our baddies of the week?" she questions.
He shakes his head. "Nah nothing like that. Just... I coulda made time," he grumbles, almost to himself. He offers her a can and she takes it.
"Um. Don't beat yourself up over it..." There's an uncomfortable silence for a few heartbeats before she speaks again. "Hey. You been out to the island?" she asks.
T-Bone nods. "Did a flyby just yesterday. They're still digging," he says, looking down at his hand as he cracks the can open.
She shakes her head. "I doubt my Uncle really thinks they're gonna find Dark Kat."
"I kinda doubt it too, but he finishes what he starts, I'll give Feral that." He shrugs. "If Dark Crud could cloak the entrance to that bay, he could cloak a small escape vehicle. That's how that crazy megalo thinks, he plans for those little contingencies. Gonna take a long time to dig in there to confirm though. Maybe they could dump a few hundred bunker busters."
She smirks. "Even Steele's not that dumb..."
"Oh, Steele! Don't get me started on that idiot!" T-Bone exclaims. "You won't believe what that jerk did!"
Felina blinks. "I dunno, I might. It IS the Lt. Commander," she replies. "What happened?"
"He impounded our cyclotron and the TurboMole."
Her jaw drops. "You're joking."
Seeing it would take a little more explanation he starts to do so, after taking a sip of his drink. "Okay, where should I start? Me 'n Razor didn't load them up that day. I mean Razor was exhausted right?"
"Did he get stuck?" she interrupts.
"Yeah…. ?" He asks slowly. "He got wedged in the tube somewhere. Had to be lazer cut out."
"Uncle said something about it but he wasn't real forthcoming… He was kinda subdued about the whole thing. I thought he'd love telling me about one of you guys getting your tails in hot water."
"He probably didn't appreciate the extra work, getting Pumadyne involved and all that," T-Bone replied. He also thought, privately, she probably didn't understand how close it'd been- she'd had her own problems to think about and Feral didn't want to stress her.
"Uncle just said- well all he said was that Razor had risked his life. I just thought his manner was was… a little odd. You guys do that all the time. Anyway, you were saying?"
"Yeah, uh, so Razor gets out of the tube, you're off in the medi-copter- no reason for us to stay. Razor needs a meal and a shower and sleep. I did a quick security check, didn't find any bugs, you know- we left."
She nods.
"Sooo…Didn't come back 'til late the next day to do a pick up only to be met by a squad of really nervous Enforcers who were about to load the Turbomole onto a boat. Well we had an interesting conversation." He chuckles. "Heh, Razor was like 'You know we can just take it back, right?' Didn't really like encouraging them to forget their oaths like that- but they musta weighed their options and decided for us cause they helped us load it. So we headed to Enforcer HQ, landed on the flight line and demanded the cyclotron back."
"And they just handed it over?"
"No, Steele's orders do count for something. So I went to your Uncle. He immediately had it released. They just rolled it out of the evidence locker onto street level and Razor went down and drove it off."
"And then you just went back to base?" She looks at him disbelievingly.
He snorts. "Nah, went out near Megakat Springs and spent three hours going over both vehicles with a fine toothed comb to find the tracking devices stuck in them."
Felina burst out in laughter.
"The cyclotron had one inside the gas tank." he says with disgust. "I won't repeat what Razor said."
She shakes her head. "He's such an ass."
"Yeah, but we got them back."
"He really thought to impound your stuff… I guess technically, that would be within our orders."
"Yeah."
"Uncle hasn't changed any of his policies towards you. You're still personas non grata."
"Yeah," he smirks "but the Commander didn't arrest us when we came after the Cyclotron."
"Yeah well. I don't know why Uncle don't throw Steele off the force."
"Politics. The same reason he got that high rank in the first place.
"Cause his family."
"Yep."
"How's Razor?"
T-Bone takes a sip of milk, and shrugs. "He's ok. Fine. Uh. I guess." At her curious glance he shrugs. "He messed up his hand."
"Is it ok?" She asks with concern.
"Yeah... After he landed in the ER and got antibiotics. IV ones, he had to go back every day for two weeks."
"Wow, that must've been a really bad cut," she blinks.
"Well he glued it shut and... I don't know. It got infected.," he grumbles. "It was all swollen up and red and hurt him like hell. He didn't say much about it but I could see it in his face."
"Doctors glue stuff all the time, how come he had issues?"
He throws his hands up in the air. "I don't know! I know this much about first aid," he says, making an infinitesimally small space between thumb and forefinger. "I shoulda made him go get stitches," he says guiltily.
"You say that like you feel responsible for the whole thing."
He shrugs. "I shoulda watched over him better. The thing got nasty and he tried to ignore it."
Felina surprised by this strangely vulnerable vigilante, blurts "You're kidding me," and he looks up in surprise at her tone.
"...What?"
"Why's that your fault? He's a grown kat."
T-Bone laughs. "He said the exact same thing. 'I'm a grown kat buddy. You can't blame yourself for the stupid things I do'." He shakes his head. "Still. He's lucky he's not losing it."
"That bad huh?"
"Next time I'll just throw him over my shoulder and haul him to a doctor whether he likes it or not."
She laughs at his expression. "How'd he get cut anyway? You guys fight with the steak knives over the dinner table?"
T-Bone smirks, deciding if he should answer in the affirmative. "Nah, just a mission," he says at last, shrugging. There wasn't much point in telling her he'd sliced it open during their rescue.
They're quiet for a couple minutes, both sipping their drinks. T-Bone is first to break the silence.
"So…. Felina. How are you. How are you really?" he presses.
"Well, actually, pretty good. Thanks to you and Razor," she replies, then she tips her can back and drains the last of it. She looks at him out of the corner of her eye then sets the empty can down. "You don't look like you believe me."
He reaches for the six pack and pulls another one off, offering it to her. "Oh sure I do. I know you're a tough cookie," he says, as she takes the can and cracks the top with a claw. "How long are you gonna be off the force?"
She sips once and sets the can down before shaking her head. "I don't know yet, but a while," she admits.
"Oh." He frowns, then grabs another can for himself.
"Yeah I've got some more surgery coming up and-"
T-Bone looks up wide eyed, mid-puncturing his own milk can. "What? Why?" he asks, looking concerned.
"Uh. It's called a takedown and osteotomy revision…"
"A what?"
She holds up a hand as if to stop him. "You are probably better off not asking. But I'll probably get back to work six weeks after that."
"Whenever 'that' happens."
"Prettymuch."
"Oh."
"In the meantime I am bored out of my flea picking mind. Daytime TV is awful," she says and he laughs.
"That's too bad. You could watch Scaredy Kat," he suggests.
She makes a face. "What, really? No. Just no."
"You…. don't like Scaredy Kat?"
"It's a kid's cartoon."
"Scaredy Kat is my favorite!" T-Bone blurts.
She bursts out laughing at the indignation in his tone, then has to stifle the laughter when T-Bone scowls at her. "Sorry, It just doesn't do it for me, T-Bone."
"I dunno why not. That's high quality entertainment right there."
She rolls her eyes. "Sure. If you stay too long you're going to want me to watch it with you," she quips. "That would be… That'd be horrible. Watching a dumb cartoon with you." Then randomly her eyes fill with moisture.
"...What's the matter?" he says softly, his hand on her shoulder. He'd wrapped it back behind her and he kind of pulls her a tiny bit closer.
She pulls away and is wiping furiously at tears on her cheeks. "Nothing! Don't look at me like that with that face!"
"But you're cryin-"
"I'm not crying!"
"Well your cheeks are wet," he observes. "Come on Felina. What's got you all teary?"
"Because this is nice," she chokes out.
T-Bone's ears flick. "You're crying because this is nice?"
"It's.. it's this. Because of this. I want this, all of it. B-being here with you. And I can't have it. It's not even an option," she says, her voice thick with suppressed tears.
"...I guess it could be an option?" He says, hopefully.
She shakes her head and leans it back against his chest.
"You're thinking of your uncle aren't you?" He asks, voice soft.
She nods then shakes her head. "Yes. No. I mean yes, but that's not all of it. My god, I'm an Enforcer Lieutenant and you're a vigilante! And despite that... What happens when one or the other of us in in danger? It's… I can't focus on my job if I'm worried about you," she mutters into his g-suit.
His heart sings. "Maybe it's worth it?"
"Why? So one of us can be broken hearted when the other gets killed by the next crazy megalo to run into town?" she snaps, lifting her head and her eyes glittering.
He pauses. "Either one of us could fall in the shower and break our necks tomorrow morning, Felina. Stuff can happen."
"Yes but… we're both on the front lines."
"That's no different than the couples who are Enforcers," he argues, "or fire kats or nurses or… whatever. Crud, working at a refinery or a museum or riding the subway to the grocery store is almost a death sentence here. Too many katizens are killed in this town."
She makes a face at him. "I suppose next you'll give me that 'it's better to have loved and lost' garbage," she snaps.
T-Bone leans away from her, onto his elbow. "Uhhhhh I wasn't planning on it? Kat's alive Felina!" he grumbles, kinda frustrated. "Bad things can happen, anytime. To anyone. You gotta live in the now, hon."
She scrubs with her palms at her cheeks.
"...Is this all, I dunno…. you don't feel, I dunno, guilty or regretting or whatever about being a single she-kat?" T-Bone asks. "Not wanting to die single? Or something?" he asks astutely.
"That is the dumbest thing..." She suddenly teaches over and plucks a whisker!
"OW!" he yelps and swats her hand away. "What the crud was that for?! Geez, Lieutenant! Correct me if I'm wrong but you sorta just admitted you 'like' me like me, and then you try to rip my face off!"
Her cheeks get a tiny bit pink.
He notices this with some pleasure. "What? Am I reading too much into it?" he asks, with a small smile.
"...Even if that's true, we can't… We can't. It's not an option."
He sighs, deep. "If that's really how you feel…. I mean I can't say I'm against the idea? Of trying?"
"You're… T-Bone, are you saying you, um… you 'like me' like me?"
Then at the worse possible moment, with the two of them nose to nose on the couch T-Bone hears a voice that sends a cold chill down his spine.
"Felina! Why is your door…" Said door, still cracked open, swings wide and in steps none other than Commander Feral, with a bag of groceries in one arm. T-Bone, with a can of milk in one hand stares stupidly with hanging jaw at the Commander who gawks back.
"Er…. Hello, Uncle," Felina says. She's recovered somewhat from her surprise. "It's uh. It's not what you think?" she offers.
The commander frowns as he takes in the scene, at the two official adversaries with an intimate air on the couch, evidently sharing an impromptu supper. T-Bone looks like he'd be thrilled did the ground swallow him. At long last Feral clears his throat, as he struggles to balance the grocery bag on the small telephone table next to the door. "Excuse me," he says quite politely, and he steps out the door.
T-Bone sputters, spitting milk everywhere. "I was just leaving, Commander-"
"Oh, no, no, I'm leaving," the commander insists firmly, throwing both his hands up. "I'm sorry I interrupted your meal! You two kits have fun," he adds, and with a smirk he grabs the knob again, steps out and disappears back into the hall. The door shuts firmly behind him
"...That…. That didn't just happen. I'm dreaming." T-Bone is staring at the door with absolute shock.
Felina is just as shocked and herself looks rather doubtful of the experience. "I…. I think it did…"
"...Wow," T-Bone breathes and turns to look at her. "Bizarro world."
Felina laughs and wraps an arm over her middle. "Stop making me laugh!"
"Fine, next time I'll make you cry," he quips. "But for now..." He leans in and entwines his fingers with hers. "Pizza?"
"Love to."
Hours later the pizza box is empty, crushed, and in the garbage can. The last two pieces are on a plate in the fridge, neatly covered with plastic wrap. The six milk cans are empty, rinsed and sitting in the sink upside down to drain before being placed in the recycling bin. The remotes are off the coffee table, replaced by an empty bowl of popcorn and a pack of cards.
T-Bone is still sitting on the couch with Felina, or rather he's reclined back against the armrest and she's cuddled nearly on top of him. Her head is cradled right in the middle of his chest and he gently strokes a couple strands of hair off of her forehead. She was snoring, quietly, cute little whistle snores out her nose. As T-Bone holds her gently, he can barely believe that this is real and he can't help wondering how it will change once she is back to work. But for the now he was gonna savor it.
