"How much longer?" Jade perked her way over to the vet with a smile splattered on her face.

"A few more weeks, Ms. Harley." Doctor Equius Zahhak answered mindlessly. He was occupied with the papers and documents on a current patient and couldn't help but tear his eyes away for a second to glance around.

Equius sighed. He knew it was only temporary, but he still missed her terribly so.

A handful of weeks ago, he had finally taken Nepeta home. He was immensely concerned with everything in his house and had gone to the extreme measures of child proofing things, putting away anything sharp, and had even installed a house alarm. Needless to say, he was anxious that she would get hurt. When they were driving to his house, she was placed in the back seat where she had gazed around with interest. This wasn't new to her, but she still couldn't place what exactly was going on. He would check the mirror to view her at least three times every minute.

When they walked through the door with her in his arms and he set her down for the first time, it seemed as though his heart would explode from how hard it was pounding. He hated to admit it, but he feared that somehow her cleft lip would lead her to harm in life. He of all people knew that it wasn't going to, but a little fear could always disrupt his logical thoughts.

Instead of doing anything extreme and daredevil like, which he expected fully from her, she looked around almost in fear. She wouldn't even move unless prodded, and even then she would back slowly towards him. Within a minute she was practically tucked away in his coat he was wearing. A small smile had broken out on his face and he gently lifted her out and took her to her room.

Oh, how she loved the shelves he had installed in the room. She crawled all over those things like they were the only things available to her in this world. He watched from the pile of clothes on the floor from his sunglasses, which were still on. He wrote it up that he forgot to take them off with all the excitement going on today.

The vet smiled again in remembrance of the small yawn he gave out watching her. It was like watching a goldfish swim around mindlessly in it's small glass bowl. Therapeutic. He didn't even realize that he fell asleep until he felt a weight on his chest. When he had looked up it was darker than before and his grub was on his chest, curled up and ready to sleep.

"And how exactly did you get down from there?" He asked with a lopsided grin. He gently ran his fingers over her smooth shells and she purred deeply, leaning into it slowly.

Then as weeks went by, he knew it was only a matter of time before she went into her cocooning stage. This was the time when a troll grub transitions into being a troll version of a toddler. It took a few weeks to complete and afterwards everything would change. Instead of being small and durable, they were able to get more hurt and explore more. The shells would escalate into their side and stay there the rest of their lives. What's more is the fact that they would have teeth, or in some cases fangs, growing in.

Literally everything changed with the transition period and Nepeta was right in the middle of it. She had gone into a cocoon a while back and was still inside of it. He didn't know when she would come out or what happened afterwards, nobody had ever really documented anything of it online and he couldn't find anything in books. He expected it to be something similar to that of a butterfly, but he honestly had no idea what he was going to do. There was no information on it whatsoever, and he was almost desperate enough to post on their troll page asking if somebody had an idea. He never did though in fear of people thinking that he didn't know what he was doing. He didn't, but he didn't want others to know.

He was on his own and he hated it.

Feferi was a major help in this. She was always there for him when he would hit an emotional block or if he needed something. Which was getting often. She would always laugh at him and tell him what a good parent he would make. The p-word shocked him to the core to the point of him not being able to talk for a full minute, which she had found hilarious. "Equius," she would coo, "do you think that you would ever have kids?"

He would always choke in response, which she thought was hysterical.

The day eventually came when the two of them were watching a movie together in the living room of his house when something from upstairs sounded out. It sounded like something had fallen off a shelf or something. At first, they didn't think anything of it, but when another sound occurred, they paused their show and looked at each other in confusion. When they heard a third noise they went upstairs, him insisting to be in the front in case it was something dangerous. They expected to see broken windows and a man holding a gun whilst taking something valuable. Instead, they saw something he had been waiting for for what seemed like forever.

It was Nepeta.

She had finally came out of her cocoon, covered in the slime that had surrounded her for the last few weeks. Her body was a pale gray and had a slight tint of green to it, though that might've been from the slime. Her long tail was swishing about wildly next to her, hitting the wall with a thump each time that it hit. She was rubbing her head, her horns looking bigger and more cat like than before. They were mostly a yellow color, barely any red showing at all. Her hair was still jet black and wild. Her chest was proudly baring the green shells from her grub stage and was lifting and lowering quickly. She was still rubbing her head with the gray hands with yellow nail color on the fingers. Her toes also wore yellow and were a slightly different darker gray than the rest of her. Her cleft lip was still there, and it seemed like it was almost dragging her lip in the middle to make the number three.

She opened her eyes to look at the new intruders.

Equius swore that he felt his heart grow wings. Her yellow eyes pierced his own and she blinked them quickly with green tears filling them with each blink. She was scared, he knew that. She didn't recognize him yet, but she would once he began to talk and reassure her that everything was alright. The only problem was that he didn't know what to say or what to do.

"Equius," Feferi nudged his back. "Go on."

He took a step forward and she instinctively lowered her head a bit to make the horns point out towards him in case he was trying to harm her. "No, no," he smiled softly at her. "It's alright, Nepeta. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. I won't let anything hurt you." He sat down slowly and reached out his arms towards her. "Do you remember me?"

It took a minute for her to piece together everything that he was saying. By the time she did he had put down his arms and was looking towards Feferi for any sort of guidance as to what he needed to do now. All of a sudden, she scrambled over to him and all but tackled him into a massive hug. It knocked the wind out of him and her horns were piercing his skin, but he just winced and hugged her back.

It seemed that she was an avid crawler and before long, she was learning to walk. When Equius had read up on it, it seemed as though that while they were the size of a human toddler, they were no means the same structure or level of understanding. She was able to walk, climb, eat some soft foods, you name it. The only setback she had though was one that Equius would've gladly traded it for, in a heartbeat.

She couldn't speak just quite yet. She was still very young, and for her age was very small. She would be able to walk and run, jump, all physical activities she was doing fine, but speaking rose as a challenge. She would squeak or meow softly sometimes, but Equius was slightly nervous that she thought that was the style of speaking. He used smaller words and tried to get her to sound out a few, but she never would repeat him. What terrified him the most was the fact that some trolls never learned to speak and that she would become one of those. He wouldn't care of course, he would love her all the same, but still, he wanted the best for her and prayed that she would be able to speak somehow.

Feferi had gotten her some cute girly clothes that she hated at first, no dresses for this troll. She didn't like pink all that much either. It seemed as though whatever they had bought her she turned her face at. At the moment she was wearing an oversized shirt of Equius's until they could find proper clothes for her. They both agreed that she wasn't going to wear oversized clothes of Equius's forever so they took her shopping almost within a week of being a toddler troll type thing.

When they entered the store, they got a few weird glances, but they tried to shrug it off the best the were able to. Which wasn't very easy. Once they had gotten to the clothes department she immediately went to the darker shades of the boys' section.

"Nepeta, sweetie, the clothes for girl trolls are over here," Equius gently tugged on her hand. "We need to get girl clothes for you."

She just shook her head and picked out a black shirt with some skulls on it. She held it up to him and smiled brightly.

Equius was very hesitant. He was raised to believe that girls stuck with girl things and boys stuck with boy things. He didn't know if he could actually buy that for her. "Nepeta," he sighed. "I want you to get somethings from the girls' section, okay?"

She scrunched her eyebrows up then glanced over to the girls' stuff. Everything was pink and glittery and frilly and she wasn't a fan. She glanced back at the black shirt that was in her hands and thought silently for what seemed like an hour, before coming up with an idea that saved both of their skins. Instead of putting the shirt back like he thought she would, she meowed loudly at him and put the shirt in the basket then went over to the girl's department and got out a green shirt with some paw prints on it. She held that shirt up to the couple and glowed at their approving smiles.

She had combined the girls' clothes with the boys' to make them both happy. After some reassurance from Feferi that she could do whatever she wanted with the gender line, he agreed to buy her the mixed gender clothes. The line was so thick either way, for boys it was dark colors and lots of action, and girls had apparently claimed the brighter colors and lots of glitter.

So long as she was happy, he supposed that he could swallow some of the ways he was raised as well. Besides, it's not like he keeps in touch with his dad anymore anyway. It was a sure of a way to make sure his kids not to talk to him. Maybe somethings should change.

In the end of the two hour shopping experience, she had gotten five or six shirts, three pairs of pants, two pairs of pajamas, a coat, some shoes, short shorts, and of course, the necessary evil of underwear. She despised it, but the guy with the long hair that she knew said that everybody had to wear it. So wear it she shall. That doesn't mean that she liked it though.

Once they were home and properly dressed, Nepeta scurried under her blanket pile and yawned. All the shopping had worn her out completely and she wasn't even going to wait for the sky to turn black. She heard the two hornless people talk to themselves in the kitchen. The troll wondered why they weren't gray either. Was she different from them somehow? A lot of the people at the store today weren't gray like her either. Was something wrong with her?

These thoughts and worries had chased away all exhaustion from her system and she crawled out of the pile to run down the hall. Her feet hit the floor with a pitter patter pitter patter sound with the shoes she was wearing. They were a new concept that made her feel a bit trapped, but it made turning a lot easier though, especially when she made sharp turns. She dodged the corner's edge to see the pair of questionably ungray people standing there, putting other things they got at the store away.

She took a gasp of air and called out "ECUS!"

The two humans shot their heads towards her in amazement and started smiling instanly. The one with long hair that was usually there went up to her and picked her up. "What did you say?" He asked with a proud tone to his voice.

This was annoying. Couldn't they see that she was on a mission to find out why they looked different? She squirmed in his grip and groaned, trying to get out. "ECUS!" She growled out.

He put her down, but the smile wouldn't slide off of his face. "Wa diffurant?" She stumbled on the word.

"What was that, honey?" Equius asked.

Nepeta jabbed her finger out to Equius and to Feferi and back to her. "Wa diffurant?"

"Are you asking why we look different," Feferi suggested to Nepeta. At her head nodding, the two humans looked at each other. Nepeta was more observant than what they had thought was possible. Especially at her age. Maybe she was more toddler like, but that didn't mean her intelligent level was at a toddler's.

"Well," Equius began softly. He had thought that this question was to come much, much later than this. "We're a different species than you are, my dear."

"Wha dat?"

"Feferi," he raised his hand and her gaze followed. "And I," eyes followed hands to him, " Are humans. You," he pointed at her. "Are a troll. We're different."

"Wa?"

He swallowed. How was he to answer why they were like that? "Um, b-because." He stammered out.

She didn't say anything, just generally accepted it. She put her hands on her chest and tilted her head to the side to watch him with great big yellow eyes. "Me?" Nepeta asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes."

Almost instantly, her mood changed. She sniffled a bit and turned to go back to her room. Her tail was dropping on the floor. But she didn't pick it up. She felt it drag through the carpet and nearly shut her door on it by accident.

Feferi and Equius shared a concerned glace. "You should go talk to her," Feferi whispered.

"I don't know why she's upset." Equius shook his head. "If I did, this wouldn't be such a dilemma."

"You need to find out why then." Feferi nudged him. "I have to go in a few minutes for my shift anyway, go talk to her then text me, okay?"

Equius nodded and kissed her on the cheek. "I love you," He whispered in her ear.

She reached up and wrapped her arms around him and kissed him deeply on the lips. "I love you more," she teased and grabbed her stuff. He opened the door for her and she all but glared at him in the doorway. "Go talk to her."

"I will, I will." He sighed out.

"Good." She turned around and began walking to her car.

He watched her leave and sighed. Now was the fun part.

"Nepeta?" He opened the door. "Are you okay?"

He heard sobs coming from underneath the pile of blankets and his heart nearly broke.

"Nepeta," he sat down next to it and watched with concern as the blankets moved with each sob. "Baby, what's wrong?"

She poked her head out of the blankets and frowned. "ME!"

"You? What's so wrong with you?"

"Diffurant!" She screeched.

"You're just different from me and Feferi. We're humans. You're a troll." Equius thought this would calm her down, but this made everything worse. She began crying loudly. He frowned with her and picked her up. "Nepeta, please calm down."

She cried into his shirt, making wet spots all over. He sighed deeply and rubbed her back. "What's wrong with being a troll? You get horns and a tail!" He said exhilarated. He was trying something to make her happy about being one, if that was the problem.

"Me," she sobbed. "Don't want!"

"What down you want?"

"Diffurant!"

It took him a minute of shoosh papping before he realized what she might be saying. All day today they were surrounded by humans. She hadn't seen another troll after she had hatched, meaning that she wouldn't remember ever seeing one. Realization dawned on him and he gently pulled her away from his shirt so he would be able to look at her better. "Nepeta," he began extremely softly. "are you worried that you're the only troll?"

She nodded and hugged him again. "Oh, no, no, dear. You're far from being the only one." She shook her head into his soaked shirt. "You aren't. In fact, I'm friends with three of them." Slowly she peeled her face from him and blinked.

"Furends?" She squeaked.

"Yes, friends." He smiled. "Would you like to meet another troll?" At her nodding, he kissed her forehead softly. "Alright. We'll go see some trolls."

She hugged him tightly, still digging her horns into his chest. "Ecus," she said softly.

She fell asleep in his lap like that.