Disclaimer - NNNNNNOOOOOOOO!!!!! He has disrupted my plans yet again. Rum Tum Tugger will never be mine now! Nor any of the other characters from Phantom of the Opera or Cats. I give up. Wait! What about brat from Whistle down the Wind? laughs histerically!

Chapter 4 Grizabella the Glamour Cat

An old cat, her fur soaked and so dirty Eric couldn't figure out what her original colour was, her eyes baleful, the corners twisting up like a crooked pin, part of her ear missing and a tail that bent awkwardly like it was broken, walked in. She must have been beautiful once, enough to win competitions, surely, but that had long flown out the window. She was heartbreaking to look at.

Tom slinked back and nudged her forward. She approached cautiously, frightened. She hesitated towards him, her movements slow and careful. He bent down to meet her, falling on one knee. He held out his hand and she sniffed it reluctantly. After careful consideration, she moved to rub her head against his hand and he scratched the ear that was still whole. She began to purr. It sounded more like choked breathing.

I am Grizabella.

"I know," he said. Then, thinking quickly. "You're very beautiful."

I know you do not mean that but thank you anyway. You're a very handsome human. I like your mask.

"I know you don't mean that, but thank you anyway," he chuckled.

I'll leave you two to get to know each other better, said Tom. He turned to the glamour cat. I need to go find Rum Tum Tugger.

You do that.

And he left, splashing into that lake and swimming powerfully out of sight. Grizabella sat back on her bony hind legs and began to clean herself. Eric cleared his throat. "Alright, well, I'd better get the housekeeping over with. My name is Eric. What do you eat?"

I will catch my own food, she said without looking up.

"Very well. I am sure you'll find plenty of fish in the lake and there might be more rats around." He paused, unsure how to phrase his next question. "Can I pick you up?"

She looked up at him. Why?

"I would like you show around my lair. It's very big and I wouldn't like you to get lost."

She stared up at him suspiciously for a long time before answering. Be gentle.

He picked her up as slowly as he could and got to his feet. She was very light, too light, and her paws were wet with the cold ground. Her fur was dry but very muddy, covering his clothes with dust and dirt.

"This is my bed," he said, gesturing to the large king-sized, swan shaped, silk clothed, red pillowed bed. "You may sleep at the bottom at my feet at night. But I would like you not to enter at any other time. My music room," he said moving on to a large room filled with every type of musical instrument she could imagine. "Is where I practise. I play quite a lot. I hope you like music." She said nothing. "These mirrors," he said.

She finally interrupted I see no mirrors.

"They are behind curtains," he explained. "I don't like to see my own reflection." He walked through the rest of the rooms and showed her where she could go and where she couldn't. He took her everywhere except through a door at the far end of his lair. When she asked where it led, he said, "If you must know, a little bit of my homeland. A painful and merciless past I would not like to revisit," and said no more.

What time is it, she asked.

He checked his pocket watch. "About ten in the evening. Would you like to go to bed now? I am very tired myself…"

She purred, her sides vibrating against his chest, and stretched out her paws, flexing her claws. Bed sounds nice.

He began to hum softly as he carried her back to his bedroom. What are you humming? She asked curiously. He blushed, she could even see it under the skull shaped mask. "A little something that I used to sing to a woman I really loved…"

What happened?

"She left me, for another man," he said hollowly. "They were well suited to each other…"

He laid her down carefully on the bed and covered her with the sheets. Sing it to me, she purred. To send me to sleep.

He paused, awkward, not sure whether he should refuse or not. But what harm could it do? And he was in the mood to sing.

"Night time sharpens,

Heightens each sensation

Darkness stirs

And wakes imagination

Silently the senses

Abandon their defences

Helpless to resist the notes I write

For I compose the music of the night!"

She closed her eyes and curled up, warm and safe. She sang softly and sweetly, his voice lulling and hypnotic. He sang the whole song once through and as he ended, he could hear her breathing slowly, obviously asleep.

"You alone can make my song take flight

So help me make the music of the night…"

As silently as he could, he carefully got into bed and pulled the covers over him, trying not to disturb Grizabella getting her glamour sleep. Laying his head on the pillow, he breathed deeply and instantly fell asleep, leaving all the unpleasant events of the day behind him.

There, quite sweet. But i want to let you know, they will NOT fall in love. She is a cat and he is a human. It will never happen, so don't start getting any ideas!

RandomPhantom