Disclaimer: I don't own CATS!


The next day, Tugger was at Jenny's bright and early, but when he got there, Tanto was having a really bad case of morning sickness.

"Um, Tanto, do I need to go get you a bucket?" asked Tugger.

"That would be great," she said, gagging.

Tugger ran and got her one and put it down in front of her just in time for her to puke in it. She slowly got back up, Tugger rubbing her shoulders, and they both sat down on the bed, Tanto in tears. Tugger tried to seem comforting, but acting like this was all new to him, after a few minutes of stroking her shoulder, he asked, "so, are you okay now?"

She closed her eyes tight and nodded, she was really getting tired of the morning sickness. Finally after a few minutes she said, "thanks Tugger, thank you," and they got up and went to the kitchen.

"So Tugger, I was thinking we should cover some difficult topics today," said Tanto, being completely blunt as usuall.

Tugger looked at her nervously, what did she have in mind?

Tanto started rocking back and fourth like she did the day before and said, "Tugger, I need my brother back, I can't live without Cori, and I also thought you should know that last night after you left, I felt my strength returning and so I tried counting the different brain signals coming from the kittens. I'm pretty sure I got six."

At this Tugger sat down, almost collapsing into a chair, covering his face with his paws. This was really pushing it, six kittens? Six little fur balls?

Tantomile giggled, she had expected this kind of reaction, and didn't hide her amusement.

Tugger shook his head and said, "okay, there is no way there are six kittens in you right now."

"Well, there is, and right now they are growing little legs, in fact, based on how good you claim to be, I'd consider this a small litter."

Tugger smacked himself in the face, this was to much, on his way over Bombalurina had tried to talk him into running away with her and leaving Tanto. Six kittens, if they were Bomba's, she wouldn't have such an attitude.

Tugger tried not to look at the smirking queen, he wasn't prepared to think about this just yet, they had to tackle something easier that day.

"Hey, you said you need to get your brother back, why don't we go talk to him now?" asked Tugger.

The thought of her brother brought Tanto back down to earth, she nodded and they headed out.

On their way there, lots of cats stared at them like they had never seen an expecting couple before. When they got there, it seemed like nobody was even home, but Tanto knew better than that.

"He knows we're here, he forsaw us coming and is pretending he's not home," she said.

Tugger beat on the door again, still no answer, he tried the door knocker and even yelling, but no answer.

"Let's just go in," said Tanto, walking right past Tugger through the door.

Tugger slowly followed behind her into the den, inside, it was dark and there were curtains lining the walls and books scattered about the floor. In the corner at the other side of the room, Coricopat sat facing the wall reading, pretending they weren't there.

Tantomile cautiously stepped forward and asked, "Cori, can we talk?"

Cori didn't move or respond in any way.

Tantomile looked at Tugger and then back at her brother, "Cori, some of the kittens are psychic, what do you think of that?"

Her brother continued to ignore them, until Tugger took matters into his own paws. He walked over to a small vase he saw in the corner and asked, "Tanto, how valuable is this?"

Tanto looked at him for a moment, and then realized what he was about to do, "Tugger, that vase is priceless."

"Oh, okay," said Tugger, picking it up.

At this Cori turned around and jumped at Tugger, accidentally knocking the vase out of his paws, thankfully, Tanto was able to catch it.

"Tanto," Cori screamed,"that was mom's vase! Why would you allow this low life to do such a thing?"

She set the vase down gently and said, "I didn't, I knew you wouln't let him smash it. And you're getting slow, I'm surprised you didn't see that comimg."

"Well," said Cori angrily, "my powers would be at their normal level if we were practicing together like always. But no, you had to go catting around with this son of a pollicle. Why did you even screw around with him, you wanted to be a slut?"

Tantomile glared at him, she wasn't going to be talked to like this anymore. "Now you listen to me Cori, the only reason me and Tugger did it is because of some spiked punch, but that's not important right now, what is important is that you get over yourself! You are acting worse than dad did when he found out we were on the way, you're the one acting like a low life son of a pollicle!"

Cori became inraged at this, their dad had been worse than their mom. "You want me to get over myself? Well you're the one who came here wanting me back, why should I take you back? Nobody respects you anymore, why should I?"

This time Tugger stepped up, "I respect her, and that's the first time I've ever said that about any queen. I respect Tanto for coming back here and facing you, even though you can't stop acting like a"-"like I'd care what you think, you're unintelligent, have no credibility, and what matters is what the other cats think. Not the low lifes who live for pleasure and waste their lives," interrupted Cori.

"Stop with the attitude of superiority, you know you had to have your ass wiped like everyone else at one point!In fact, you're the low life! You're the one who can't come to terms with anything that challenges your image of us, your not perfect and neither am I, so stop pretending," Tanto said, coldly.

"You and I are better than them Tanto, and you know it. We're gifted, we can't act like them," said Cori, as if trying to explain the obvious.

Tanto rolled her eyes and said, "Cori, I don't know why I let you have so much influence over me for so many years, making me think myself superior. There are a lot of cats that have been kind and supportive, why do I need you if you're going to treat me like trash?"

"I treat you like trash because that's the way you behaved!"

"Alright Cori," she said, "I shouldn't have gone to that party, but you know what, I had no control over what was in that punch bowl. And you know what else? I'm sorry, I'm sorry for not telling you before Jenny and Jelly, I'm sorry for ruining your precious reputation, I'm sorry for winding up exactly like mom!"

Cori looked at her coldly, he did not respond.

"But you know what? I'm going to do better, I'm going to have these kittens and I'm going to try to be a good mother," she continued,"I'm going to be responsible and I'm not going to abandon them like mom and dad did to us. And if you have any good in you at all, you aren't going to act like dad!"

Cori thought about their dad, he had left when they were barely learning to talk.

The psychic tom looked not at his sister, but at the vase at her feet. "That vase," he said,"remember, when mom left us in it, or how she told us it was from a friend who thought she would be excited about us? It represents the joy a queen is supposed to experience when she finds she is expecting, but mom wasn't joyful at all, this vase represents how a queen is supposed to feel."

"Cori, I know this, why are you telling me this?" asked Tanto.

"Tanto, I'm afraid you're going to be just like mom," said Cori, tears in his eyes.

Tanto shook her head, "Cori, you've shared my thoughts, you've shared my feelings. All the aloofness was just a guise to keep the others away, because we both were and still are hurt and scared. You know this, you've felt what I've felt and dreamed my dreams, Cori."

Cori finally made eye contact with her and asked, "are you still my sister? Do I still know you at all?"

"Yes Cori," said Tanto, taking her brother's paw, "you still know me," and then she said to him in his mind,"its gonna be okay."

Cori was shaking all over by this time, he looked away from his sister, unable to accept what she was saying.

"Tanto, I need to be alone for now, I can't talk to you right now, I need to think," he said, decidedly.

Tanto looked at the poor confused tom sympathetically, she took Tugger's paw and they both walked out, leaving Cori to come to terms with the situation.