Disclaimer: I do not own Cats, Spring Awakening, or any of the characters from either. I also do not own the dialogue or songs from Spring Awakening.

Part 3: The Rehearsals

"Melchior?" Plato turned at the voice, smiling at the sight of the pretty white queen-kitten standing just a few short feet from where he sat, leaning against the junk-pile.

"Wendla Bergman?" he said, turning his body to face her as she approached. His voice conveyed both surprise and delight at her arrival, and she couldn't help but smile in return. "Like a tree nymph, fallen from the branches! What are you doing alone up here?"

"Mama's making may wine," she replied, coming a few steps closer to him, encouraged by his response. "I thought I'd surprise her with some woodruff," she went on, gesturing to the small bundle in her paws. "And you?"

"This is my favorite spot. My private place, for thinking."

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Victoria turned to leave, beginning to flee, but his voice stopped her.

"No, please!" She turned again, seeing him having risen slightly, but settling back down again as she hesitated. He smiled invitingly towards her. "So, how have you been doing?"

Suddenly excited again, she approached him, kneeling beside him in the shade. "Well, this morning was wonderful! Our youth group brought baskets of food and clothing to the day-laborer's children."

"I remember when we used to do that…together." His tone was filled with remembrance of the old days, when the two had been close friends.

"You should have seen their faces, Melchior! How much we brightened their day!" Her own face was radiant with joy at the mere reminder of the day's events. But the tom shook his head slowly, face clouded with thought.

"Actually, it's something I've been thinking a lot about."

"The day laborers?"

"Our little acts of charity," he said, a little scornfully, and she frowned. "What do you think, Wendla, can our…Sunday school deeds really make a difference?"

"They have to. Of course. What other hope do those people have?" She was desperate now, agitated by his words.

"I don't know, exactly. But I fear that industry is fast determining themselves firmly against them!" His voice was rising with passion, and he feared that he was going to frighten her off. But she was just as passionate, her volume increasing to match his.

"Against us all, then!"

"Thank you, yes!" he agreed, both of them kneeling now, facing each other with just a few inches separating them.

"If only more people realized, it's in all our interests to try to make things better!"

"If only!" he nearly shouted, shaking his head in amazement. "Wendla Bergman, I've known you all these years, and we have never truly talked."

"We have so few opportunities, now that we're older," she said, a little shy now.

"True. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all attend the same school? Boys and girls together?"

There was a pause, the two staring at each other with sudden wonder. It had been so long since they had seen each other, and so much had changed…Plato felt a sudden rush of feeling towards her, and by the look in her eyes, she felt the same. It was wonderful to be so close to her, to sit her and talk to her, all alone…

Victoria wanted to blush and look away. It was all too much, too sudden-she had liked Plato before, of course, but there was something different about him now. He wasn't just a handsome tom anymore, someone to flirt with and gossip about with all her queen-friends. She'd spent so much time with him in the past few days, he could no longer be just some silly crush.

"What time is it?" she asked suddenly, shying away as she stood once more.

"It must be close to four."

"I thought it must be later. I paused and lay so long in the moss by the stream, and just let myself dream…" She hesitated, looking at him again. "I thought it must be later."

"But can't you stay for a moment?" he asked, desperate to have her with him, reaching out to her even as she retreated. "When you lean back against this oak, and stare up into the clouds, you start to think hypnotic things."

"I have to get back before five," she said, clearly still hesitant about staying with him. But she so longed to be close to him again…

"But when you lie here," he went on, tempting her, "such a…strange, wonderful peace settles over you."

At last, she came back to him, settling herself against the junk next to him. The sky, bright and beautiful and hypnotic, stretched above them, but they could see only each other, so familiar and yet so new…

The sound of clapping startled them out of their trance. Instantly they went from Wendla and Melchior, young and newly falling in love, to Victoria and Plato—blushing and looking shyly away from each other, surprised by the intensity of the scene.

"That was good, kittens," Alonzo called from across the clearing, where he had been watching the entire scene. The other kittens were there as well, cheering and cat-calling and whistling at the couple.

"But I think you may want to remember the song next time," Cassandra intoned from next to her mate, smirking knowingly as their blushes darkened.


"You're trembling," Mistoffelees said, watching Pouncival running towards the group of tom-kittens, gathered in a loose bunch.

"For joy!" Pouncival yelled to him as he neared, grabbing him by the shoulders. "I passed!"

"Cross your heart?" Asparagus demanded. Having been seated before, Tumblebrutus sprang to his feet at the news.

"Twice over!" Pouncival yelled again. Mistoffelees looked off to the side suddenly, waving frantically as he saw Plato.

"Oh, Melchi!"

"Moritz! I've been looking for you!" Plato said, obviously relieved to have found his friend, but confused over what all the excitement was about.

"He snuck into the staff room!" Tumblebrutus reported cheerfully, laughing as Plato turned towards Pouncival in disbelief.

"Moritz, what were you thinking!"

"I had to. Melchi, I just had to!" he yelled, unable to stand still in once place for more than a few seconds. "The good news is, I passed."

"The middle-terms, at least," Tumblebrutus said, grinning as Pouncival faltered a little.

"Yes. Everything will now be determined by the final exams. Still! I know I passed," he said, his joy returning as quickly as it had left. "Truly, heaven must feel like this!"

Pouncival and Plato embraced, hugging each other tightly as the other toms stood and bowed to their audience. The queen-kittens (and Admetus, who, as Hanschen, was feeling a bit left out from this scene) whistled and clapped, laughing at their dramatics.


"Well, we all know who Thea would love to marry!" Etcetera exclaimed, turning teasingly on Sillabub as she spoke Anna's lines.

"Melchior Gabor!" Electra chimed in delightedly, standing next to Etcetera, playing as Martha.

"And who wouldn't?" Sillabub defended herself.

"He is rather handsome," Etcetera admitted with a dreamy smile.

"So wonderful," Victoria agreed.

"But not like that sad, soulful sleepy-head, Moritz Stiefel," Electra put in, and the other three turned on her in disbelief.

"Moritz Stiefel?" Sillabub asked scathingly. "How can you even compare them? Melchi Gabor—he's such a radical." She grinned suddenly, turning from side to side as she spoke to the queen-kittens around her. "You know what the whisper is? He doesn't believe in anything. Not in God, not in heaven—not in a single thing in this world."

As one, the girls fell to the ground with longing sighs, each with their own picture in mind of the tom of their dreams.


"This is going better than I thought it would," Victoria noted to Cassandra as the two sat together, watching as the boys practiced one of the first few scenes with Alonzo, each sitting in a chair as if in school.

"You thought it would go badly?" she asked, sounding amused. "Then why attempt to perform at all?" Victoria blushed a little, shaking her head slightly.

"It's not that I thought it would be bad," she clarified, shrugging slightly. "I just...wasn't sure if the others would take it as seriously as I do. Me and Jemima, I mean, we really wanted to do this, but I think some of the others were just going along with it because everyone else was." She sighed, shaking her head. "Are we doing okay, Cassandra?"

Cassandra smiled slightly, turning to face the "stage," where Plato had begun his first song, the rest of the tom-kittens chanting Latin in the background. She recalled the first few rehearsals, when Tumblebrutus and Pouncival had been flustered by all the Latin and could barely keep up, when Plato had been shy and hesitant in his singing. All that was gone now, and she saw Victoria's eyes light up as the song continued.

"Oh," she breathed softly, barely audible even to Cassandra, just a few inches away. "I haven't really been watching lately, I've been so nervous...but they are quite good, aren't they?" she asked, smiling.

"They are," Cassandra agreed with a small nod. The queen often gave off a cold, distant air, but she was happy to be participating in this. "You kittens are quite surprising, you know," she went on after a moment. "I have to admit that I hadn't expected much to come of this either. Perhaps some sloppy scenes and ill-rehearsed songs. No offense meant, of course, but I really hadn't thought you would accomplish much. I am impressed that you managed to put this together at all, let alone that it's coming out well."

"Thank you...I think," Victoria said, a confused expression on her face. Cassandra laughed quietly, shaking her head and turning to face the stage again.


Part three! We're over halfway done now!

Not sure what I think of this chapter. I like the first part, but not so sure about the others...I did really enjoy writing the next chapter, though, so there's that to look forward to tomorrow!