Kitteh

Stephanie Plum wakes up slowly. The room is dark and the bed is extremely comfy. She feels much better now, though her head is still aching a bit. She lost another car. She got thrown into a pile of garbage bags(Luckily they didn't break apart). Her skip got away. She and Joe had another fight over lunch. She got soaked in the pouring rain. And she didn't get to finish her meatball sub. Life sucks, she decides. Joe is getting more and more demanding. Her mother is getting more and more annoying . Grandma is crazy. Mary Lou is busy. Her father, as usual, offers little help. And she's getting tired of the pity and sympathy in Connie's and Lula's eyes. Yep, she knows she's a miserable mess. She's stranded at the crossroad, and she doesn't know which way to go. She came here because she was feeling afraid. Afraid of the cold darkness. Afraid of the unrelenting loneliness. Afraid of her dim future. If only she knows what Ranger wants. If only she knows what she wants. If only we can have peace on Earth. Stephanie rolls her eyes and gets out of bed.

She's not wearing her soaked clothes, she realizes. Batman and his magic hands. No marriage. No babies. No stupid things. No relationship. She'll always love Ranger's bed. She'll probably always love Ranger, too. She has no idea if she will ever have a permanent place in his life, but at least she can still have great meals and hot shower here. And maybe she can wear his t-shirt home when she has to leave. She wants to sigh but yawns instead. She takes a few steps toward the bathroom and suddenly stops. She frowns in slight confusion as her brain tries to tell her something. The familiar sound. The familiar warmth. The familiar feeling...They lost their family cat years ago, and she still misses the cat especially on rainy days. She was the cat's favorite. They always shared her bed on cold winter nights. And she bought Rex because she knew she wouldn't be able to have another cat...The familiar feeling of a sleeping cat pressing against her back!

Stephanie whips around, turns on the bedside lamp, and gapes at the sleeping cat in Ranger's bed. Ranger has a cat? When? Where? How? Why? A cat? She thinks dizzily. The man who lives a complicated yet simple life. The man who doesn't waste unnecessary energy. The man who wants no burden, loves freedom, and doesn't want to have something, anything, to hold him back. He's not exactly family material but now he has a cat. And he didn't tell her he has a cat. She almost laughs. It's not like he needs her approval to do stuff. It's not like he has the obligation to inform her of every little change in his life. They are friends and occasional lovers. And she's technically with someone else. Stephanie lets out a ragged breath. And as if on cue the cat wakes up, stretches, yawns, and looks her in the eyes. She likes the cat's curious little face. She likes the cat's bright goldish green eyes. She likes the cat's lazy purrs. She always likes cats. But she can't even take good care of Rex. She can't even take good care of herself. She has no car of her own and her apartment is worse than a death trap. She has kind of given up on herself. She has sort of lost her motivation in life. When did that happen? The day she went home early and found Dickie and Joyce together? The day she was told she had been laid off? Or the day she realized that even if she tried the best she could, she still couldn't find a decent job? She doesn't know. She doesn't want to know. She simply doesn't care.

Not anymore.