Chapter Ten

Three weeks passed. No sign of Tugger.

Poor Etcetera walked around the junkyard as if she were a ghost; her normally cheerful face was now constantly downcast. It seemed nothing could make her smile.

Even Demeter had begun to miss the flamboyant maine coon, although she'd die before admitting such a thing.

But the greatest change occurred inside of Bombalurina. Sure, she still had plenty of toms to flirt with—Tumble, Pounce, Admetus, and occasionally Alonzo (if he and Cassandra were off-again)—but it just wasn't the same. The poor fools couldn't hold their own against her natural charms. They couldn't shoot back one-liners or make snappy comebacks. No, they were a dull lot indeed.

If the red queen were truly honest with herself, she would admit that it wasn't just Tugger's flirtatious antics or his glib replies that she missed the most. She missed him. In a way, they were exactly alike, mirror-reflections of each other. And without her reflection, Bombie suddenly didn't feel whole.

Of course, her sudden feeling of loneliness could be attributed to that fact that she and Dem rarely spoke to each other now. It seemed that neither queen knew what to say, or what to do, to make everything right again. So, they lived side by side silently, both wanting desperately to mend the broken connection but neither having the slightest idea how.

So now Boms was deprived of two of the most important cats in her life. Misto and Jemima were the only other pieces that completed her life's puzzle; but without the other two, it still seemed hollow. Besides, Jemima was too young to understand all of this, and certain secrets in Bombie's past forbade her from confessing everything to Mistoffelees.

So Bombalurina decided to do the only thing that she could: she would find the Rum Tum Tugger.

~*~

"Everybody in for the night?" Alonzo popped his head through the cat door. The worried expression on Demeter's face told him that something was up. "What's wrong, Demi?"

"Bombie's gone."

"Out playing cards again?" Alonzo guessed. Demeter shook her head.

"No, I don't think so," the tears were evident in her voice. "She wasn't here last night; and now today—"

"Wait, wait," the black and white tom interrupted. "Do you mean that Bomba hasn't been here for at least two days?"

"No."

"But we have record of her checking in this morning."

"That was me," Demeter admitted sheepishly. "I…forged her signature. I didn't want her to get in trouble."

Alonzo swore under his breath, "Dem, you are a piece of work, you know that? If you hadn't been covering for your friend, we could have already realized that she was missing and organized a search party."

"I didn't think it was that serious," Demeter gave a heavy sigh of remorse. Try as he might, Alonzo couldn't be angry at her. She looked so dejected, sitting all alone in the windowsill. He didn't need to make her feel any worse than she already felt.

"Look," Alonzo took a deep breath. "I'll let Munkustrap know. First thing tomorrow, we'll get some cats together and go looking for her."

Dem nodded quickly, fighting back the tears that threatened her eyes. She trusted Alonzo. Her only hope was that they found Bombie quickly, and that her friend was safe.

~*~

Bombalurina was more than safe, actually. She was seated at a card table, occasionally glancing from her cards to scan the room. If she knew Tugger, then he would be here.

The red queen knew him very well, apparently, because he did appear. Bombalurina's face wore a look of concern when she saw him—he already seemed intoxicated and his coat seemed very shabby. The past few weeks had not been kind to the once-vibrant tom. His eyes—once his most beautiful feature—were now dull and lifeless. For a moment, Bomba wondered if she had made a mistake.

No, she knew it was him—the way he moved, the way his voice carried. It was the mighty Rum Tum Tugger. Except he didn't seem so mighty anymore.

Now that the moment was upon her, Bombalurina seemed unsure of what to do. Should she confront him? Should she just go home? Should she make small talk or get straight to the point? But more importantly, how would he react to seeing her again?

Bombalurina sat there, biting her lip in indecision. She took a few moments to watch the tom; the look on his face was enough to break her heart. He looked so lonely.

Finally, the red queen knew what she should do. Bomba quickly excused herself from the game and crossed the room, where Tugger was seated alone. He seemed surprised to see her. She gave a warm smile as she took the seat beside him, "Hey, Tugsy."

The sound of his old nickname caused him to smile briefly. Bombalurina leaned forward, expecting a reply, but received none. She gave a wry grin before remarking, "Not very chatty tonight, are we?"

"What are you doing here?" Tugger looked at her. He wasn't angry or even confused. He was…emotionless.

"This is my haunt," Bomba motioned to the card table. It wasn't entirely a lie. A coy grin slipped onto her features, "But when I noticed such a handsome tom enter the room, I felt compelled to stop by and say hello."

The queen expected to see a smile, or perhaps a flirtatious remark, but she was sadly mistaken. Tugger turned to her with serious eyes, "Bomba, the Tugger you knew doesn't exist anymore."

"What?" Bomba smiled, although she was thoroughly thrown off by his statement.

"I've had a lot of time to think over the past few weeks," Tugger continued, looking out at the dance floor with disinterest. "I thought about what I've done with my life, why I acted so stupidly—"

"Taking a stand against something isn't stupid," Bombalurina reassured him.

"But what was I opposing?" Tugger gave a rueful laugh. "I mean, did I say all those things because I meant them, because I felt that it was best for everyone? Or was I just pissed because my schedule was interrupted?"

Bombalurina's face contorted in understanding. She reached to pat Tugger's arm comfortingly, but he jerked away.

"Everyone has to grow up sometime," Tugger still didn't look at her. "It may have taken me a long time to realize this, but since then, I have sworn that I would do just that."

"What does that mean?" Bomba asked. Her dark eyes searched his face, trying to piece together this new Tugger.

"It means that I'm going to stop thinking about myself for a change," Tugger announced, pulling himself to his feet. "I've got to think about what's best for the others. And you. Which means that you need to leave."

"What?" Bombalurina rose to her feet and moved towards him.

"You can't be seen with me, Bomba."

"Tugger, don't be—"

"Don't touch me!" He moved away from her grasp once again. "You can't touch an exile. Jellicle Law."

"Tugger," Bomba took another tentative step. He looked at her. She fiddled with her paws nervously, "Tugger, I'm…I've left. I couldn't take it anymore. I…I came looking for you."

"What? Why?" Tugger felt as if he'd just been slapped with a brick bat.

"I…don't know," Bombalurina admitted with a shaky laugh. "After you left, I started thinking…about everything you said. And, well…I think you're right."

"You do?" Tugger's tone sounded slightly joyful. Boms nodded, a smile returning to her face once more.

"So?" She asked, looking around shyly. "What do we do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Bomba stepped closer, so that no one could overhear them. "If you meant what you said—about growing up and putting others first—then we need to stop Munkustrap, before he gets out of control."

"Stop him?" The thought fell upon Tugger like a weight.

"Things will only get worse," Bomba reminded him. She looked away sadly, "In the weeks that you have been gone, things have gone from bad to worse. The watchtom shifts have doubled. And we are constantly being monitored—Munku's gone extremely paranoid."

There was a moment of silence. Tugger rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I don't know what to do, Bomba. I mean, I want to help—but how?"

"I don't know either," the red queen admitted with a sigh. Then, she brightened into a smile again, "But we'll think of something. We always do."