A/N- I'd better have made someone's day or I'll feel like I wasted my time on this...

HELLO AGAIN! Welcome back to SRCToE, which has been updated for the first time in....

...

Let's not dwell on that shall we?

Anywho, I felt I deserved to update this for all of you, my happy readers. I've been slightly overwhelmed this week, so this entire thing was kinda spontaneous. Track started, All County is in two weeks, I've got my SAT coming up, I've got two Math tests to do, I've got to finish an AP Literature essay, I got accepted to SUNY Fredonia's summer music program, and I've got a 'Spring Fling' to help out with and attend.

Kinda hectic.

But I still love you all! All of my readers and reviewers get straussburg pie.

Jellylorum walked into her medical box in the morning, yawning tiredly. The night's storm hadn't let her get to sleep until late at night. Cassandra had agreed to help her today though, which was a good thing, considering that all the kittens had insisted that they should be able to see Rumpleteazer today. And once they set their mind on something, they didn't stop pleading and begging, which they were particularly good at. She sighed and glanced over to Rumpleteazer's bed. It was empty.

"Oh no," Jellylorum exclaimed, mind racing at where the older kitten could be. Finally after searching most of the room, she looked at Mungojerrie's plank, where an unusually cat-like lump was lying beside him. The elder cat slowly lifted the sheet and found her missing queen, fast asleep at the tom's side.

Jellylorum shook her head in disapproval, but she even thought, in the corners of her mind that, in fact, they did look rather lovely together. But as quickly as those thoughts entered her mind, she tossed them away and replaced Rumpleteazer to her bed.

Cassandra walked in once the older cat had turned to see what she could do for the calico tom.

"Good morning Jelly," greeted the Burmese cat, scratching the back of her head. Cassandra yawned and stretched her graceful limbs out, trying not to disturb any precariously piled objects in the box. "How are they doing?"

"Well Rumpleteazer is most definitely getting better," Jellylorum informed her friend, grinning slightly. "But the tom …" She stopped talking, holding her words back as Rumpleteazer stirred, awakening from her sleep.

"Hello Rumple," Cassandra addressed the little calico, sitting down on the edge of the little queen's bed. "Did you sleep well?"

Rumpleteazer blinked and realized she had been moved from Mungojerrie's side. With some confusion, she replied, "It was … well enough." The young queen looked over to the tom. "How is he?" she asked, suddenly regretting the question as she feared the answer.

"He is alive, if that's what you're concerned about," reported Jellylorum, smiling at her, oddly. "Coricopat and Tantomile should be here in a bit. They'll tell you more probably."

Rumpleteazer's ears twitched at the grin the elder cat had given her. The striped cat obviously had moved her from Mungojerrie's side before she awoke, from what the kitten could guess. The calico queen glared at her, the look practically shouting I did no such thing!

"You are better though," Jellylorum continued, glancing to the entrance of the box. "In fact, I decided you were well enough to let your friends to see you today."

Rumpleteazer's glare quickly was replaced with an exited grin. "Really?" she yipped, in her usual, hectic way.

"Yes, but don't get out of hand," warned Cassandra, staring at the kitten firmly. "Lots of kittens in one box, with not much room, all hyper, equals chaos."

"I'll try not tuh," Rumpleteazer replied, trying to hide her excitement somewhat. My friends can see me today! she cried in her head, smiling even more broadly.

Jellylorum was happy to see that the kitten was excited. She hadn't been smiling this much since she had been brought back to the junkyard. Yes, today she would have some fun.

And it was about bloody time, too.

………………………….

Victoria waited outside of Etcetera's den, impatiently frowning. Her friend always slept late, no matter what went on that day. The white kitten began to pace outside the dresser, when Jemima walked carefully up, with Plato and Tumblebrutus following her.

"Hi Victoria," greeted Plato, cheerfully. Victoria smiled and waved a shy paw in response. Jemima giggled at her friends, knowing all too well that they could hear her. Those two had been born three months before her, leaving them as the oldest kittens, besides Rumpleteazer.

Tumblebrutus went over to the entrance of Etcetera's den ears foreword, looking for sounds from within it. "Isn't she up yet?" he asked, an impatient look on his face.

"No," answered Victoria, shyly looking to the younger tom. "I've been waiting here for a while, but she still hasn't woken up."

Plato sighed and scratched his head. "You know," he began, sagging onto a plushy bear like thing at his side. "She is the one who convinced Jellylorum to let us see her. You'd think she'd be up the earliest for it."

"I know," said Tumblebrutus, nodding in agreement. "And yet she can sleep through it."

Jemima shrugged and looked down. Her face suddenly brightened, and motioned to her friends to come over to her. "I have an idea," she announced. The rest of the kittens gathered around her.

"What?" inquired Plato, cocking his head to one side.

"Let's play a joke on her once she wakes up," she explained. "How about we do this…"

………………………….

Electra slowly rose up from her bedding, yawning and stretching out. She looked about the contents of her friend's dresser den, which was piled with junk. But Etcetera wasn't there. The brown kitten cocked an eyebrow in confusion, then looked to the entrance flap of the den. No one was there.

"Oh no," she moaned tail drooping. "I overslept!"

The kitten made her way out of the dresser drawer, searching the area for signs of her friends. Yet again, no one was there, but the place had an odd feel about it. Like someone was waiting for her to go somewhere.

"I'd better get going to Jellylorum's," she reminded herself, remembering what she got up to do. Electra quickly hopped off in the direction of Jellylorum's little 'medical box', listening to the early morning birds sing peacefully.

Meanwhile, Tumblebrutus waited for the kitten whom he thought was Etcetera to round a corner of junk, so he could signal to Plato, so he could swing down from the perch he was at, to surprise the kitten.

"C'mon," he grumbled at his friend's slowness. "What's taking her so long?"

He saw a shadow reach the bend, one of a kitten about Etcetera's size. Tumblebrutus smirked and signaled with his paw to Plato, who had just finished tying a string to his lower paw. Plato saw the signal and waved back, then went about hiding behind a broken chair leg.

Jemima grinned at her friends, seeing her plan was going well. "C'mon Victoria," she whispered to the white kitten beside her. "Let's go."

The two walked out of the junk- crevasse that the rest of the kits had hidden in and started to meander towards Jellylorum's place. Jemima threw a glance over her shoulder, still walking slowly to the box. She saw Electra, not Etcetera round the corner. Her eyes widened as she saw Tumblebrutus frantically waving to Plato, who seemed to understand.

"Aww," Plato sighed as he turned to untie himself from the string.

Suddenly, a bright, "Hello!" was shouted and Etcetera fell in front of him.

"AAACK!" he cried, stumbling backwards in surprise. He quickly lost his balance and careened over the perch, being stopped by the string right in front of Electra.

"YIE!" the flabbergasted kitten screamed as she fell over onto her back.

Jemima and Victoria raced over to Plato to untie him from the string. Tumblebrutus giggled as he ran down to help Electra onto her paws again. Both Jemima and Electra gazed up to see Etcetera laughing hysterically, rolling over onto the edge of the leg of the chair.

"You should have seen the look on your eyes!" Etcetera exclaimed between fits of giggles. "They were this wide!" she added, making obscenely large circles with her claws.

Plato frowned and grumbled, "That wasn't very fun for me." Jemima grinned as she let loose the upside down kitten, who nimbly flipped over onto his paws.

"Shall we go now?" he asked, still furious with Etcetera's joke.

"Yes, we shall," replied Tumblebrutus, smirking wildly as Etcetera made her way down the junk pile.

"How'd you know we were going to do that?" inquired Victoria as she ushered Electra and Jemima to Plato.

"I watched you guys. So I decided to scare Plato," Etcetera explained innocently. "I didn't know you were going to try and surprise me."

"Sure you didn't…" mumbled Plato as he rubbed his ankles, frown still sitting upon his face.

………………………..

Rumpleteazer sat on her little plank, still excited about her friends coming that day. But her excitement was overrun by her concern for Mungojerrie, who still would not move. Her mind was riddled with questions when Coricopat and Tantomile stalked in.

"Hello," greeted Coricopat quietly, barely moving as he let his sister through to Mungojerrie's side. He followed suite and moved to the other side of the tom, eyeing the calico oddly.

"Is he gettin' bettah?" asked Rumpleteazer, worried at what the outcome of the question would be.

Tantomile looked over the toms form and grinned slightly. "He is, actually," she informed the distressed queen. "That's new," she continued, placing a gentle paw on his forehead. "He seems to be, happy, though he is unconscious."

"What do you mean, 'happy'?" inquired Cassandra, rising up from her seat and approaching the twins.

"What we mean is," began Coricopat awkwardly, trying to explain in the simplest terms possible; which ended up sounding excessively corny. "His unconscious mind is far more… cheerful than it has been. This is a vital role in his recovery."

Jellylorum stared at the black scarred cats, dumfounded. What did he mean by, 'happy', and 'more cheerful'? 'Vital role in his recovery'? Then, she remembered where she had found Rumpleteazer that morning, and smiled to herself.

Rumpleteazer completely ignored Jellylorum's smirk and listened to the twin cats talk about how Mungojerrie was doing. He wasn' gonna die, she thought smugly to herself. He couldn't 'ave.

The young queen watched in wonder as the two black scarred twins preformed some spell over Mungojerrie. She couldn't see anything, no lights no 'magic dust', but she felt warmth emanating from where the calico tom was. It was almost as if a fire had been set in a cozy lodge, but no burning or spattering of wood, and no glow from any fire. It was just, there, giving comfort to whoever needed it.

Rumpleteazer waited a while, then lifted one of her legs back onto the plank and held it with her paws, bringing her chin to her knee impatiently. Wha's taking so long? she thought after the spell had been in process for more than three minutes. Isn' magic s'posed t' be quick?

Tantomile finally raised her head, along with her brother in their strange unison. "He will most likely awaken today," she announced, grinning broadly.

Coricopat nodded in agreement and smiled as well, but not moving until his twin did. It was almost like they were one entity with two minds.

Jellylorum smiled again and nodded, holding the flap open for the magical twins. "Thank you, very much," she thanked the two as they walked out.

"Our pleasure," replied the twins in unison. On her way out, Tantomile unexpectedly cocked her head to one side and sniffed the air. "It seems you will have visitors in quick coming," she turned back to the box.

"Don't let her get too excited." ordered her brother, pointing in to Rumpleteazer, who was engaged in conversation with Cassandra. "They're her friends."

"Ah," said Jellylorum, remembering that she had decided to let the other kittens see their friend today. "Yes. Thanks for the warning."

"Not a problem," replied Tantomile, smiling kindly. Then, she and her brother left; going to anywhere they felt like being, side by side, each movement of one in unison with the others.

"Those two kinda freak me out," murmured Rumpleteazer as Jellylorum re-entered the box.

"Don't mind them," said Cassandra, as she moved to sit upon a small canister. "They're just," she paused, looking for a word. "Intuitive?"

"Maybe, but they're still sorta weird," the calico queen agreed, shrugging her shoulders.

Jellylorum held in a giggle forcibly, for it would insult Rumpleteazer. Every kitten was scared, disturbed or 'freaked out' by Coricopat and Tantomile. But they didn't mind, sometimes even using it as a joke.

Rumpleteazer heard a crash from outside the box and turned her head to face it. There was Etcetera, being rolled through the flap by Plato.

"About time you let me do that," he grumbled, frowning a little. He looked up to see his calico friend sitting on her bed with a wide grin on her face. "Rumpleteazer!" he exclaimed, making the rest of the kittens rush in.

"Teazer!" cried Jemima as she was shoved in by the others. The young queen leapt over to the calico's side, embracing her warmly. "I thought I'd never see you again."

Rumpleteazer smiled and hugged the kitten back. "Yuh know me," she said cheerfully. "I always come back if I 'aven't said 'goodbye' yet."

Jemima just squeezed harder, causing the older queen to begin to wheeze slightly.

"Um, Jemima," came Victoria's shy voice from the back. "Might you want to let Rumpleteazer go so she can breathe?"

"Oh yeah," stammered the young queen, embarrassed. She smiled at Rumpleteazer and shifted back a bit.

"How're you doing Teazer?" asked Tumblebrutus apprehensively.

"I'm bettah," she replied, still slightly out of breath. She stared at the six kittens before her. "Where's Pouncival and Admetus?"

"They're helping out Alonzo stand watch, I think," informed Plato, scratching the back of his head.

The kittens continued to talk for some time, mostly it was the small gang of kittens telling what their friend had missed in her captivity.

Mungojerrie opened his eyes, just enough to see several kittens huddled around Rumpleteazer, talking feverishly. Wha' the, he thought, in serious confusion. Wha's up with all those weird kits? He tried to make a movement, or a sound, but his mind slipped up in the pain in that was smoldering back of his head, and he fell back to sleep.

REVIEW REPLIES

(I can't remember which ones I replied to last, so I'll go for three this time. If I missed yours, then I'll try and include it in the next update).

Krissy4- I seriously can't believe that you haven't tracked me down and killed me for not updating yet. LOVE your reviews, and I hope you appreciate the work I had to go through to do this today. And a saucer and cream would cheer up Jemmie. She told me so.

Kita Via- Yes, I updated. Yes, I'll try and keep it up! (Hands pie.)

soccerstar7- I feel an immense amount of energy rolling off of you just by reading your review. You've got to calm down occasionally. But I really appreciate knowing that you think the same way I do. Oh, if you want more Mungo/Teazer, go see Krissy4's account. She has quite a few stories that I love very much.

Anyway, you guys know the drill.

R&R. I shall try not to die and I shall try to update.