A/N: Next chapter's up. Not much to say, other than this is one of the hardest chapters I've had to write, along with the next one. Anyways, read, review and all that jazz.
I awoke with a start as I felt something get tossed onto my feet. I sat up and blinked in the harsh, bright, white light characteristic of human florescent lighting.
"I believe you know this cat," I heard Macavity say, sounding either bored or annoyed. I blinked and looked down at the cat at my feet. My eyes grew wide and I knelt down to him, cursing the chains that prevented me from holding him close to me.
"Jerrie, oh Jerrie, please be alive," I said softly.
"He is alive. I have a proposition for you though. If you can somehow manage to not touch Mungojerrie for 24 hours, I will let him go alive. If not, I will kill him," Macavity said. Jerrie groaned when he was mentioned and turned over, revealing that he had several gashes in his side. Macavity smiled and unlocked the chains around my wrists.
"You won't let me go?" I asked him incredulously. He shook his head.
"Now, I have some matters to attend to, so I shall leave you two alone. And I shall be watching," Macavity said. I nodded and pushed Jerrie away so that he wasn't touching me. "Good." He stepped out of the room and locked it behind him.
"Teazer? Teazer, is that you?" Jerrie said softly.
"I'm here Jerrie," I said softly, holding back every instinct to make sure his wounds were fine. He tried to sit up, groaning, and looked over at me tiredly.
"I feel like someone's used a grater on me," Jerrie said as he started to move towards me. I stood up and took a number of large steps away from him. "What's wrong? Why won't you let me touch you?" he asked me.
"Macavity said he would kill you if I touched you. I can't have you killed," I said softly. Jerrie nodded and I sat down beside him. "Teazer, I was so worried about you. I was praying to the Everlasting Cat more fervently than I ever have before for you to be safe and in one piece."
"I know. Even I was praying to the Everlasting Cat," I said, smiling slightly. It was often a running joke between us that I was farther from a religious cat than Macavity.
"Must have been pretty bad then," Jerrie replied. I shrugged.
"He hadn't done anything to me yet other than chained me up. It was more so the anticipation of it that scared me most. I'm just glad you're here," I said. Jerrie nodded and almost put his arm around my shoulder, yet remembered Macavity's threat and put it back in his lap.
We sat in silence there for a few hours, simply drinking in the other's presence and thinking of some way to get me out of this mess.
"Teazer," Jerrie said suddenly. "I can't think of a way to get you out of this." I looked over at him and shook my head.
"There has to be a way, there's always a way, Jerrie" I said, horrified that he would think that.
"The Jellicles won't help us, they hate us," Jerrie said as he turned towards me.
"What about Mistoffelees?"
"He hates us."
"He owes us though."
"He still won't do it. He'll say it's a fitting end."
"No he won't. Munk might say that, yet not Misto."
"Munk won't let him. Neither will Jemi."
"Jemi's my friend. She would help us."
"Jemi wouldn't want Misto to get caught in the middle of this."
"Jerrie! You can't just give up on me!"
"Teazer, I will never give up on you. I just can't think of a way for this to work."
"Jerrie, Jerrie, no. I'll die if you give up."
Jerrie shook his head and kissed me. I pulled away from him, horrified that he would throw his life away.
"How could you?" I asked him softly.
"Just—why can't you live life? Forget about tomorrow and what will happen then," Jerrie replied softly. I sighed and allowed him to pull me close.
We fell asleep in each other's arms, more happy than anyone could have guessed we could be in this situation.