A/N: -enters, looks around- Oh yeah, I remember this place. Well, after several crazy holiday antics that involved annoying relatives, late hour spent doing nothing productive, and multiple bottles of headache medicine, I am back and ready to supply you guys with fanfic-ish stuff. So, here we go...-grabs jetpack and zooms away-

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Valerie opened her eyes a slit. Sunlight was attempting to stream in through the windows, but the thick cotton curtains blocked its way. She was unsure of the time. Perhaps it was early morning.

Who cares? her brain moaned in protest. Go back to sleep.

But Valerie shut out her thoughts, opened her eyes the rest of the way, and tried to sit up. Nothing happened. Again, she attempted to sit up and gather herself. Still she didn't budge. Then she saw a large orange, black, and white paw out of the corner of her eye and smiled. Behind her, pressed against the back of the couch, was Mungojerrie, sound asleep. Unable to turn over and do something extremely romantic like in a movie, Valerie took his large paw in her small one, and caressed it for a while. It was a little dirty and slightly rough to the touch, not at all like Daniel's hand was, but Jerrie's hand was much warmer. She liked that a lot.

Gently letting Jerrie's hand fall in front of her, Valerie looked at the other three sleeping cats in the room with her. Teazer was still in Skimble's recliner, her little orange and black tail twitching a little as she quietly snored. Tugger and Misto were sound asleep on the floor, Misto curled into a loose half-circle, while Tugger was more sprawled out, his limbs going in every direction. Smiling again, Valerie closed her eyes again and put her head back into the space below Jerrie's chin.

No sooner had her head made contact with the fabric, the door to the boot opened, smacking the inner wall with a thud. Valerie's eyes shot back open at the sound. Directing her gaze to the door, she saw Skimble enter, in his waistcoat with the pocketwatch chain dangling from it. He was standing slightly sideways, so he didn't see Valerie staring at him at first. Then, he turned towards the front room. Valerie could tell he was surprised.

Skimble did a quick scan of the room, starting at his daughter sleeping in his recliner, moving downward to Tugger and Misto, dead to the world on the floor, and then up to the couch, where the sleeping Jerrie still had his arm laced over Valerie's waist. The two cats eyes met, and Valerie could see Skimble's look of surprise change to something of a combination of knowing and glee. Stepping lightly, making sure he didn't catch Tugger or Misto under his foot, Skimble made his way through the front room and over to the kitchen. He opened a cupboard above the sink and reached inside, but stopped short when he came up with nothing. He looked over at Valerie with a confused look. Valerie laughed a little. She knew what he wanted. Pointing to the tea kettle on Skimble's right, Valerie said, "It's over there."

"Ah," Skimble said, grabbing the tea kettle and filling it with water from the sink. "Can I interest you?"

"Well..." Valerie began, casting her gaze up at Jerrie, who's arm kept her pinned to the couch. "I don't want to wake him up."

"He'll be fine," Skimble replied. "Just sit up. It won't bother him. That boy could sleep through an earthquake."

Valerie sat up as Skimble had instructed. Jerrie's arm slid off her waist and into an awkward position on his side, but he didn't stir at all. She stood up, the joints in her back popping angrily at her for making them move, stepped over Misto, and sat down in one of the kitchen chairs. Skimble was busy putting two teabags in two mugs, humming to himself. Valerie couldn't tell what the tune was, but it sounded oddly familiar.

"So," Skimble said, turning to face her, leaning against the cabinets with his arms across his chest, smiling wide. "Did you have fun last night?"

"Loads," Valerie answered. She thought about the night before, happily remembering the slightly-burned mousecake heads she'd devoured and the passionate kisses she'd received.

"I'm glad to know you and Jerrie felt the same way," Skimble said abruptly, as if reading her mind.

Valerie's head perked up. "How did you know about that?"

Skimble shrugged, "He told me. A few nights ago. I actually had a little bit of an idea before he told me."

"How?" Valerie asked.

"The little things," Skimble said. The tea kettle on the stove began to whistle. Grabbing the wooden handle, Skimble poured the steaming water into the mugs, gave one to Valerie, and sat in the chair opposite her as he said, "I would offer you cream, but I noticed that half of it was gone when I looked in the cupboard."

Valerie blushed. "Sorry about that."

Skimble waved the apology off. "It's nothing. That's probably the easiest and cheapest stuff to get. It'll be no problem to find another bottle of it."

Silence settled in. Valerie blew the steam off her tea and played with the teabag a little. She hated this silence. It was very uncomfortable.

Only one way to remedy that, her brain pointed out.

Valerie asked, "What did you mean 'the little things'?"

Skimble smiled and replied, "Just the way he would act around you. That first day at breakfast, the way he looked at you when you were talking. It was almost like he was entranced by you, that everything about you amazed him. And then two nights ago, before I went to bed, he came into my room and told me that he was almost crazy about you and he that he had no idea what to do and, oh Bast, what should he do?"

Valerie laughed a little. She could kind of picture the scene: a panicky Jerrie sitting at the foot of his father's bed while he spilled his guts about a queen he liked and the fact that he had no idea how to get her to notice him. The whole thing seemed really silly, and yet, very possible. Then Valerie asked, "So what did you tell him?"

"Well, I told him that he was being ridiculous to start. That he was making a big fuss out of something that was extremely simple. I told him all he had to do was be honest with you. To just tell you how he felt."

"It worked," Valerie said before taking a sip of her tea. She was glad to know Skimble had had a hand in this. It made her feel very good. Back in the front room, she heard a male voice groan and sigh, like the body it came from was stretching.

"Well, it's good to see you joining the land of the living, Tugger," Skimble said. Valerie turned in her chair just quickly enough to see Tugger's head snap towards them and his eyes grow very wide.

He scrambled to get to his feet, all the while stammering," Oh, Bast, Skimble, about your cream...I ...uh...I'll find you another bottle of it, alright...even bigger than the one you had..."

Tugger's stuttered apology and promise seemed just loud enough to stir the other three cats from their sleep. Skimble raised his paw to get Tugger to stop trying to apologize and said, "Tugger, it's quite alright." Turning his attention to the other three cats stretching and yawning, he said, "Well, I see you all had a party here last night."

"Yeah," said Misto rotating his head to pop his neck. "A pity party."

"Why's that?" Skimble asked, taking a sip of his tea.

"We found out yesterday that Victoria is a cheatin' wench," Teazer said, walking into the kitchen and plopping into a seat next to her father.

"Excuse me?" Skimble asked raising an eyebrow. He obviously had no idea what Teazer meant.

"She'd been seeing Plato for either as long as or longer than she'd been seeing me," Misto said, standing with Tugger next to the cabinets.

"So we kinda helped Misto drown his sorrows in mousecakes and cream," Jerrie said, sitting next to Valerie.

Skimble gave Misto an apologetic look and said, "Sorry about that lad. Are you alright?"

Misto sighed and said, "Yeah, I guess I am. But I still feel incredibly stupid."

"Ah, don't worry,boy, that'll pass in time," Skimble said, giving Misto a reassuring wink. Then he looked around the room and asked, "Where's Jem?"

"With Pouncival and Ectetera," Valerie answered as Jerrie put his arm around her shoulder. "I hope it's okay if we let her spend the night there."

Skimble smiled and nodded. He turned his gaze to Jerrie, with a looked that said "Didn't I tell you?" Valerie could see out of the corner of her eye that Jerrie was blushing slightly.

Suddenly Tugger spoke up, asking, "Hey, Skimble, what time do you have?"

Reaching into the pocket of his waistcoat, Skimble pulled forth his gold pocket watch and pressed a small button on the front. It's lid opened with a cheerful pop and Skimble read off, "Eleven-twenty-one."

"Oh, man, I better get outta here," Tugger said, pushing himself away from the cabinets and heading for the door. Before reaching, however, he stopped and looked directly at Valerie. "You do remember that you're getting accepted in a little more than half an hour, right?"

The question hit Valerie like a brick flung to the face. Her acceptance! She'd forgotten completely! "Oh, Bast, Tugger, you're right! Do I need to get ready or something?"

"You may want to take a brush to your headfur," Tugger said. "It doesn't look too good."

"Thanks," Valerie replied, deadpan.

"Jerrie," Skimble said, pushing his tea mug aside and taking on a very official tone. "You take Misto and go bring your sister and anyone who wants to be there back here with you."

Jerrie did a mock salute before motioning Misto to follow him out the door, Tugger trailing behind them. As soon as it was shut, Teazer grabbed Valerie's paw and dragged her down the hall.

"Come on, Valerie," Teazer said, stopping at the door on the right and flinging it open. "I want to help you get ready."

Valerie had never been inside the twins' room before, and, now that she was, it was very different from what she'd been expecting. It was, for one thing, much cleaner than she had anticipated. Nothing was popping out of any secret compartments in the walls. The beds were even made. Well, one, the one with a red bedspread, was. The other, an orange blanket covering it, was slightly mussed. Valerie figured that was Jerrie's bed.

Teazer pulled Valerie over to a small vanity that sat in the corner of the room. Valerie sat down at looked at her furry reflection. Tugger had been right about her headfur. It was horribly messy, like she'd just rolled out of bed. Well, she had, but she didn't want that Old Deutoronomy fellow knowing that. Luckily, Teazer grabbed a brush from the vanity and began to graze it through Valerie's headfur. She did it softly, making sure not to pull any tangles she came across. Looking at Teazer's reflection in the mirror, Valerie noticed Teazer looking at her with a wistful expression on her face.

"What's up Teaze?" Valerie asked.

"I saw you and Jerrie on the couch last night," Teazer answered, a small smile creeping over her lips.

"You knew about him liking me too, didn't you," Valerie asked.

"Yeah, I did."

"Was I the only one who didn't know?"

"Who else knew besides me?"

"Your dad, Tugger..."

"Well, Tugger dosen't surprise me. He's pretty good at noticin' crushes. But dad. Now that's a surprise. Jeez, Valerie, your headfur is full of tangles."

"Really?" Valerie ran a paw through her hair. She yelped quitely when she found a tangle by accidentally pulling it too hard. "I didn't notice any of them until just then. You're really good with a brush, you know."

"Dem taught me. Back before she was mated to Munkustrap. We used to do a bunch of stuff together, her, Jem, and me."

"Do you not do that anymore?"

"We do, just not as much as we used to."

"At least you still have Jemima. You can teach her to do stuff like this."

"Yeah, I guess."

"You're lucky, you know. I never had any siblings. Just a lot of cousins."

"I know about the tons of cousins thing," Teazer said, putting the brush back on the vanity. "And there we have it."

Valerie admired her reflection. Her headfur looked great, as if she'd just been to a professional. She started playing with it, flipping it and tossing it over her shoulders, and said, trying to sound like one of those Russian models she'd seen on TV as a kid, "I look simply mahvalous, dahling!"

The two queens laughed at the attempted mimickery. But the mirth was cut short by a knock on the doorframe of the bedroom. Both queens turned their heads to see Jenny standing at the door with a large smile on her face. "Sounds like you two are having fun in here."

"Hey, Jenny!" Valerie said.

Jenny's eyes widened when they matched Valerie's, and she feigned surprise. "My word," she said. "Valerie, dear, you look magnificent!"

"I have Teazer to thank for that," Valerie said, casting a glance at the now-blushing calico.

"Who'd you get to stay with Dem for you?" Teazer asked, her blush subsiding.

"I called in a favor from Jelly," Jenny said, "Well, everyone is waiting in the hall, so we need to hop to it."

Following Jenny down the hall into the front room, Valerie was taken aback by the small entourage of cats that now filled Jenny and Skimble's front room. All the kittens (minus Victoria, but after yesterday, Valerie wasn't all that surprised), Jerrie, Misto, and Skimble all stood in the living space with large grins on their faces.

"Ready, Valerie?" Misto asked.

"As I'll ever be," Valerie replied as Skimble opened the door to the boot and everyone filed out.

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The party reached an opening in the junk piles where Tugger and Alonzo stood. Valerie could see Tugger grinning madly as they came closer. When the group stopped, they parted to let Valerie walk to the front.

"Are you ready, Valerie," Alonzo asked.

Valerie suddenly felt her throat go dry, leaving her unable to answer Alonzo's question, so she just nodded.

"Alright," Tugger said, rubbing his hands together, "let's get this show on the road."

"Wait a second," a voice Valerie recognized as Jerrie's piped up. She turned her head to look at him. He stood rather rigidly, shifting slightly, with his paws behind his back, as he said, "I have somethin' I need to give Valerie before she goes in." Jerrie stepped up to Valerie and pulled his paws from behind his back. Valerie gasped. He held in his paws a soft purple leather collar, with small rhinestones pasted to it in a neat line. In the front, their was a silver tag dangling down. Valerie smiled at the gift and looked at Jerrie. She could feel her eyes tear up as he said, "I was knew I'd find somethin' useful in my humans house." Valerie unhooked the clasp on the collar and placed in around her neck. It was lightweight and cool against her fur. She looked up at Jerrie's face again, his grin glowing. "You look beautiful," he said.

Valerie didn't answer. Instead, she stood on tiptoe (as Jerrie was nearly a foot taller than she was), flung her arms around his neck, and kissed him. A chorus of "aw's" resounded from their audience.

Releasing Jerrie's lips, Valerie turned on her heels to face Tugger and Alonzo, who's smiles must have grown a foot.

"Alright," she said. "Let's do this."

She gulped as Tugger and Alonzo lead her past the two junk piles to be accpeted.

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Son of A/N: -zooms back in on jetpack;coughs on exhaust fumes- Well, aren't I just a cruel little person? Leaving you hanging at such a crucial...wait-listens-! Oh my word, it's the pitter patter of another chapter! It's twins -bawls for joy-.

So, yeah, it's two chapters, for the wait of one (even though the wait for one is usually extremely long). Have fun-ditches jetpack and rides away in go-cart-!

Cheers,

The Lavender Cat