The day before Cassandra dully watched the train tracks from inside the house. Stretched out on the windowsill, she had perked somewhat when she saw Skimbleshanks, Jennyanydots, and the kittens walking along the tracks, the kittens 'ooh'ing and 'aah'ing when appropriate. But that was the end to her excitement, as she wasn't very inclined to join them.

Today Cassandra watched her owner leave out the door for a date or something of the sort. Lucky humans. It seemed so simple for them. She jumped on the couch and sulked a little, staring at the blank TV screen. She considered turning it on for a moment but decided against it; the remote was lost again and she couldn't be bothered to find it. Not that her human would notice; as humans went she was fairly unobservant. She just wasn't in the mood to dig around the house. It may have gotten in the fridge for all she knew.

Why was she just hanging around the house? Oh, she was so embarrassed. Surely Bombalurina was utterly horrified at what she had done. She didn't like that thought at all. How could she face the scarlet queen again? She wished to, but at the same time was simply too frightening. She picked at the couch with her claw, sighing. What was she to do? Face her fear? Cheesiest suggestion in the book, but she would get nothing accomplished if she moped around the house.

She stared off into space for a while, twirling thread from the couch cushion around her claw. All she could think of was Bombalurina. How beautiful and graceful she was. Sure she hadn't been herself lately, but didn't everyone have their off days? Cassandra rolled over onto her back, staring up at the ceiling.

She had to do something.

Sometime. . .

She wasn't sure how long she stayed like that. She just remembered suddenly leaping up from the couch and escaping out of the cat door.

She couldn't just sit and waste her life away. Hadn't she done that enough?

Demeter prodded Bombalurina, vaguely worried. The scarlet queen was curled in a ball clutching her stomach, and had been crying softly in her sleep.

"Bomba? Bombalurina? Are you okay?"

Bomba shook her head slightly, looking up at her friend teary eyed.

"No, no I'm not."

"What's wrong?" Demeter asked, sitting next to her friend and rubbing her back soothingly. "Do you want me to get Jenny?"

"If you get Jenny I swear you'll regret it." She growled through her teeth, closing her eyes. "And you have to promise you won't tell her." Demeter hesitated to agree to that, not wanting her friend to get hurt.

"Well. . . all right."

"I'm pregnant, Deme. My stomach feels upset right now."

"Is. . . is that why you're crying? Your stomach hurts?" Demeter attempted to hide her surprise at this news. She held her tongue; it would do no good to verbally slice Bombalurina to bits. What was done had been done. But Bomba shook her head.

"No. I think it started that way, but now I'm just. . . crying." She rubbed her eyes and sighed, resisting the hug Demeter tried to pull her into. Deme resisted a sound of frustration at that, and just contented herself with sitting next to her.

"So, when did you find out?"

"Find out what? That I was crying?"

Ever the sarcastic one. . .

"No, that you were pregnant."

"Oh, that. A little over a week ago I think. Might have been two weeks, I never was one to keep track of time."

Demeter sighed and looked away.

"And does Tugger know?"

"Yeah."

"What do you propose to do about it?"

"Birth it. Take care of it. Teach it to never trust a tom, that sort of thing."

Before Demeter could ask any more questions, Bomba was up and heading out of the den.

"I'll be back later for more of the third degree, Deme. I need some fresh air."

It seemed to be a ritual now. Every time she left the den there was the avoidance of Jenny and the question of where to go. She sighed and rubbed her arm with her paw. She'd have to tell her one day, but Jenny always seemed to be on her case. It wouldn't help matters in the slightest. Bombalurina turned decisively towards an old thinking place of hers. It deserved a little love in her time of need

She reclined inside of an old trunk, reveling in the memories it held. A hiding place when she was a kitten, a place to take lovers when it was more than forbidden. . . it had been a thrilling place. Now she was some queen who felt as if she'd aged years in the past couple of weeks, looking to hide from her problems. Well, wasn't that lovely. She rolled over onto her side, tracing a scratch in the trunk's inner cushioning.

When had this been made? She couldn't recall. It may have been made after she had stopped frequenting the trunk, for all she knew. What had caused her to forget this place? Growing up, more freedom, no need to hide anymore. . .

She felt herself getting tired along with her nostalgia. It was a restless sleep last night, so it didn't surprise her. She yawned tiredly and allowed herself to close her eyes.

She simply wished no kitten found her by accident.

"Did you try to talk to her?"

"Of course I did!"

"Did you really try to talk to her?"

"You think I'd lie to you?"

"Quite frankly, yes."

Munkustrap eyed his brother, who was shifting and looking slightly uncomfortable where he sat.

"Did you really, honestly, truly try to talk to her?"

"Okay, no, not really. Stop giving me that stare of doom thing."

Tugger crossed his arms moodily and pouted, causing Munkus to roll his eyes.

"The 'stare of doom' works, I suppose."

"Shut up."

"You need to expand your vocabulary."

"Now you're just being smug!" Tugger growled at his brother accusingly, causing Munkus to crack a smirk quite unlike him.

"Yes, well. . . you'll never fix this if you don't speak to her."

"Well, maybe I shouldn't fix it. I mean, it was always dysfunctional in the past anyway. Maybe this'll be that solution to keep us from hurting each other even more." Tugger seemed to shrink in his seat, still looking appropriately moody.

"And what about the kitten?"

"What about it?"

"You'd really like to have nothing to do with its life?"

"Hey, it hasn't done anything but screw up my life anyway. I don't need some snotty little sniffly kitten ruining my fun." Tugger looked away from Munkus, who raised an eyebrow.

"That's a change of attitude from before."

"Attitudes change. Now leave me alone. I have a date later."

"You are a bastard, in more than one sense of the word.

"Up yours, Munkus. It's my life."

"And you waste it so well."

Cassandra gulped, staring down at the sleeping Bombalurina. Obviously she had been trying to hide, and the sleek queen had foiled that plan. Well, she had picked out Bomba's scent from Demeter's den and followed it. It hadn't been easy – Cassandra was no bloodhound – but she had done it. Now she wasn't sure of what to do. Did this make her a stalker? Yes, in a way it did. She had found herself doing quite a lot of stalking lately, and was not proud of herself. But what was she to do?

Gathering her courage, she slid down inside of the trunk and landed with a soft thump.

"Bombalurina?" Softly at first, then she cleared her throat and spoke out louder. "Bombalurina?"

The scarlet queen blinked slowly and rolled over, bumping into Cassandra's legs. Bomba squinted and looked up at her, looking confused.

"Cass? What in Bast's name are you doing here?"

"Oh, I can leave if you want." Cassandra said, immediately embarrassed. She took a few steps back before Bombalurina shook her head.

"No, I want to talk to you anyway. Sit." The queen sat up and rubbed sleep from her eyes as Cassandra gracefully sat beside her.

"What do you want to talk to me about?"

Bombalurina just smiled at her.

"If you thought I hated you before you were really mislead!"

Demeter wasn't near as tall as Tugger, but she was getting rather intimidating. He gulped and stared at her, backing away as she advanced. He could have sworn she was trying to literally glare daggers at him.

"How can you do things like this? Do you like screwing up everyone's lives? Is this funny?"

"That's not-"

"Don't you talk to me!" Demeter's claws came dangerously close to Tugger's pretty nose; even if he was extremely confused he wasn't going to risk his appearance, so he shut his mouth.

"I can't believe it. You get her pregnant – and don't you dare play dumb, not that you even have to pretend – and you don't even have anything to do with her! She can't do this by herself! Why won't you help her?"

"I tried Deme!"

"Didn't I say-! What?" Demeter did a double-take. "What did you do?"

"She doesn't want me to help her."

Tugger crossed his arms and gave her a stern look, satisfied with the embarrassed expression her face soon adopted.

"Really? I-I assumed. . ."

"On an assumption you came over and started yelling at me. You know what that makes you? A major, grade A ass."

Demeter growled at him threateningly and he just chuckled. Soon enough she had turned on her heel and stalked out. No doubt she was going to hunt down Bomba and start a yelling contest.

"One point for the Tugger."

"So, Alonzo told you about that?"

"Yeah, and I've been thinking long and hard about it." Bombalurina crossed her legs, picking at some fur on her thigh as opposed to actually looking at Cassandra. She simply couldn't look the other queen in the eye, it seemed. . . odd.

"A-about what, exactly?"

The scarlet queen would have to admit she found reassurance in Cassandra's nervousness. Perhaps she wasn't alone in her confusion.

"Everything, really. I'm rather confused to be honest." Bomba paused, trying to come up with a way to properly word what she wanted to say. It took her a moment to realize Cassandra wasn't exactly breathing. The other queen was holding her breath in anticipation; Bombalurina let out a nervous laugh.

"Breathe, dear, it does help."

"Oh, right. Heh. . ."

"Well, let's see," she felt foolish at her embarrassment; she had never been like this before. "I suppose I've been thinking that I really like you. You're a good friend."

"A friend?" Cassandra smiled, but Bombalurina could see a hint of disappointment.

"Yeah, but maybe. . . uh. . . damn." She knocked her forehead with the heel of her paw, not sure of what she was trying to get out.

"Maybe what?" The sleek brown queen was sounding somewhat hopeful so Bombalurina took another breath and continued.

"Let me try something else. Was that you're. . . uh, you're first kiss?"

Cassandra immediately looked embarrassed and lowered her gaze to her lap.

"Yeah it was."

"Dear, that was a piss-poor excuse for a first kiss." Bombalurina said with a slight laugh. She stopped and bit her lip, hesitating. "Let me fix that."

Cassandra looked just as surprised as Bombalurina felt. But despite that, she put her paw on Cassandra's cheek and leaned forward, pressing her lips against those of the other queen. Somehow this didn't seem as odd as she had worried it would. It was almost like any other kiss. Almost. . .

Without another thought, she slipped her tongue past Cassandra's lips, wrapping her arms around the other queen. Cassandra returned the kiss with little hesitation, enjoying it. This wasn't so bad-

"Bomba!"

Cassandra and Bombalurina simultaneously pulled away from each other, the latter of the two ungracefully landing on her back. She stared open-mouthed upward, trying to catch sight of whoever had called her name. When she saw who it was the first words that came to her mind were: Holy shit.

Tugger leapt down into the trunk, giving a sour look to Cassandra who appropriately scooted backwards to get as far away from him as she could. Then he turned to Bombalurina, his eyes narrowed.

"What in Bast's name are you doing?"

"I'm not your property anymore, you ass. This is my business, not yours." Said Bomba, standing and taking a defensive position. She glared at him and he glared right back. They stood like that, unmoving and silent before he finally spoke.

"This is a mistake. How, Bomba? How? Do you go from this-" he gestured to himself. "To that?" He pointed behind him in Cassandra's direction, and the poor queen's ears folded against her skull and the way he referred to her.

"Don't talk about her like that. She isn't an object; she's just as much of a cat as you are. More, even. You're too stupid to realize everyone is just the same. You never even respected me."

"Yes I did, you thick-headed queen!"

Bombalurina was somewhat taken aback, and was caught so off-guard she lost her composure.

"Y-you what? Respected me?" Before she had a chance to blow up in his face, he spoke again.

"Yes, I did. Honestly, who couldn't? You protect those that need it, you're smart enough to get out of tricky situations, and you haven't let this pregnancy thing stop you in your tracks."

"You're pregnant?" Cassandra's voice was a squeak by now, afraid to speak to the angry tom. Bombalurina mentally smacked herself, remembering she had never told her suddenly more-than-a-friend.

"Yeah, I am." She said softly before hardening her gaze and looking back at Tugger. "But that doesn't matter any more. You never showed that you respected me, and you never acted like you cared. I'd like to say I'll miss you, but I'm afraid it would be a lie to some extent. Good bye, Tugger. Come on, Cass, he doesn't know how to quit while he's ahead."

Bombalurina gave Tugger one last scornful look before she shoved her way past him and took Cassandra's paw, pulling her up to her feet. The two retreated out of the trunk, leaving Tugger to feel sorry for himself.

"She. . .?" He plopped down onto his rump, staring at the place the two queens had been standing. It had been fine if he dated other cats, but not her. She was supposed to be torn up over him. Certainly she wasn't supposed to be with another queen!

For all the times he had damaged her ego, she really was getting back at him.

If he ever found the embodiment of karma he'd tear it to shreds.

"How angry do you think he is?" Cassandra asked, crossing her legs and looking to Bombalurina. She was still unsure of their relationship status, but figured that kiss had to mean something.

"I don't think he's mad so much as had his ego beat up. Queens are supposed to pine over him, not go off with other queens." She let out a laugh and stretched out on her bed.

"I hope he won't be too angry with me. . ." Cassandra looked at her clenched paws in her lap. "What are we waiting for?"

"Demeter. Obviously, I have something to say to her." The scarlet queen smiled and reached up to pat Cassandra on the back. "I rather like you. Quite a lot, really. You listen to everything I say; you don't think I'm stupid. . ." She rolled onto her side, facing away from Cassandra. "And I know you like me back, I don't have to guess."

Cassandra's heart was fluttering and it was all she could do to keep from getting giddy.

"I don't just like you." She mumbled softly. Bombalurina rolled onto her other side, propping up on her elbow and raising an eyebrow at Cassandra's back.

"What's that, Cass? Little louder, you're mumbling."

"I said I don't just like you." Cassandra said sheepishly, still not looking at the scarlet queen. "I think I may. . . love you?"

Few things had the ability to shut Bombalurina up. She could almost always find something to say in any situation, but this was one of the few where she was at a loss for words. What was she falling into here? Uncharted territory. Up until that kiss everything else was old news, but this wasn't normal for her. What could she say back? She didn't know, so the two ended up sitting in silence until they were disturbed several moments later.

"Bombalurina!" Demeter came screeching in, looking flustered. "You are so stupid! Tugger even offered to- oh." She paused when it dawned on her that Cassandra was there as well. She suddenly felt embarrassed.

"Oh, should I leave?" Cassandra asked softly, her paws over her mouth. Bomba shook her head and sat up.

"No, you should be able to hear anything Demeter has to say to me. You were saying, Deme?"

Demeter's expression clouded over as she looked at Bomba's smug face.

"Fine. Bomba you're an idiot. Tugger offered to help you with that damn bastard kitten you're going to have and you didn't take it. Why? Would you like to screw up its life too?"

Bombalurina's expression hardened and she snarled, leaping up to glare down the gold queen.

"Tugger would screw with its poor little mind until it hardly even acted like a kitten. He'd let it know, see, and hear so many things it ought not it makes me sick just thinking about it. Most of all, I won't be going it alone."

"Oh? And who's going to help you? You're dead-beat mother?"

Bomba growled and pushed the other queen over.

"At least she tried to take care of me!"

"So it is true, you do always become your parents."

Demeter glared up at the angered queen before clearing her throat and climbing to her feet. Bombalurina took this chance to snatched Cassandra's wrist and tug her out of the den.

"Screw you, Deme." She growled over her shoulder menacingly. "Screw you."

"I'm sorry, Bomba. . ."

"Does she think this is easy for me? I don't know why it seems like she hates me now. We used to be so close, now it's all gone."

Alonzo offered to let Cassandra and Bombalurina stay in his den for the night, and they had gratefully accepted. Bombalurina had no where else to stay now; her world had been turned upside down in the course of a day. Why her? Cassandra tried to comfort the scarlet queen, who was starting to go into hysterics.

"I just don't understand why she would do that," said Alonzo in disbelief. The black and white tom sat down heavily and stared at his feet. "She has never been like that."

"She thinks I'm an idiot." Bomba said, rubbing viciously at her eyes to rid them of tears. "All those years I took care of her and one big mistake of mine sets her off. I thought she was better than that."

"Things like that happen, Bomby." Cassandra said softly, disliking the way the other queen was taking this. "Maybe it was just time for you two to part ways?"

Bombalurina looked at her paws, bit her lip, then closed her eyes. She didn't say anything. What was there to say now?

"Well, I'm going to go to bed." Alonzo said hesitantly, standing. "I'll see you ladies in the morning."

Cassandra watched him walk out before turning her attention back to Bombalurina.

"We will get through this together, all right? Things will get better eventually."

"Together?" Bomba looked up at the sleek queen tearfully, and Cassandra nodded.

"Yes, together."

"I can do that."

Bombalurina cuddled into Cassandra's arms, not looking forward to the days ahead. Demeter and Tugger both would have something against her; two cats she had never thought she'd part ways with.

But she could do it with Cassandra with her, she knew that.

"I love you."

I was going to be a total meanie-pants and end the story here, but you guys are getting one more chapter and a nice little happy ending all around. Be proud; happy endings are not my forte.

Now, this story may be awkward. For this I apologize. The idea for writing this femslash was completely random in the first place, and I wasn't sure of how to go about it being a straight female myself. I hope it isn't as awkward as I think it is...

For this I would request another collective 'awww'.