Hi guys. Hope you enjoy this one. Thanks for reading so far. :)
Misto and Jemima were still waiting for their uncle and dad's best friend. They knew by them rushing off that it was serious. Jemima leant up against Misto. Misto looked at her and then looked back at the den. The junkyard seemed to be very quiet. Without Tugger being the loudest cat out here, the junkyard had no one else to listen to until he came out again.
"Misto?" Jemima asked quietly.
"Yeah."
"Do you think dad is going to be alright?"
Misto paused. He didn't know how to answer his sister.
"Misto?" Jemima asked worriedly.
"He'll be fine. Tugger and Alonzo are being over the top."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. You know Tugger."
"He's over the top about everything." Jemima laughed.
"You should know."
Jemima and Misto kept on laughing. They kept on laughing until they saw Tugger run out of Jennys den in floods of tears. Alonzo soon followed running after Tugger.
"What's up with them?" Victoria asked from behind them.
"You should be asleep!" Misto hissed.
"So should you."
"Don't start that again." Jemima sighed.
"Why's uncle Tugger crying?"
"Allergies." Misto answered her.
"Misto!" Jemima hissed.
"What?!" Misto mouthed at her.
Victoria yawned as she leant against her brother and sister. Soon enough Jemima was also asleep. Misto couldn't keep his eyes open and soon followed his sisters into the land of nod.
0000
"Tugger!" Alonzo shouted after his friend.
"Leave me alone!" Tugger shouted back.
"Can we just stop running?" Alonzo said, stopping as he was out of breath having run across half of the junkyard.
Tugger turned round to his friend. He stopped and went back to join Alonzo. Alonzo patted Tugger on the back as he tried to get his breath back.
"You run too fast." Alonzo panted.
"You should keep up then."
"I'm not in shape. I can't."
"You used to be."
"Yeah used to be."
Tugger chuckled at his friend.
"See. that's better." Alonzo smiled.
"Yeah."
"Don't worry about Munkustrap."
"How can I not worry about him? He's my brother Alonzo."
"I know he is."
"Then you can understand my worry."
"I do but there's nothing we can do."
"I know. I wish there was."
"Just be with him. That's what Jenny said anyway."
"I don't if I can cope with that."
"Then don't but when you see Munkustrap try to."
Tugger gave a little nod. That was enough for Alonzo, he knew Tugger was a bit calmer. He started to walk away from Tugger.
"Can I come on patrol with you tonight?" Tugger asked.
"Course. It's very boring though, you probably won't like it."
"I need something to do."
"Yeah."
Tugger joined Alonzo on patrol. Even though Skimble was away on business again, Alonzo should have patrolled on his own but let Tugger join him for company.
0000
Demeter and Bomburlina were looking for the kittens again. Carbucketty, Mungojerrie and Exotica were still asleep but Demeters kittens were missing.
"They can't have gone far." Bomburlina tried to reassure her.
"I know. Just after everything that has happened…"
"Don't think about it. We'll find them." Bomburlina said, putting her arm around Demeter.
This calmed Demeter a little. Her friend knew how to look after her even after all of this. Demeter became a little less calm when she saw Jenny walking towards the two queens. Demeter went towards Jenny, hoping for some good news.
"Well?" Demeter asked hopefully.
Jenny shook her head. Demeter nodded.
"He's getting worse. I'm afraid he might not have long left."
"Thanks for telling me."
"No worries." Jenny said, putting her paw on the black and gold queens shoulder.
Jenny then walked back to her den. Demeter turned to her friend. Bombrurlina knew what this meant. She walked with her friend to Jennys den. She needed someone to be there just in case anything happened.
When they got to Jennys den, most of the junkyard had gathered around the den. They looked up when they saw the two queens coming. Even Bustopher Jones was there and he barely ever turned up! Demeter nodded at all of them and then sat down with them to wait for news.
0000
Misto opened his eyes. He rubbed them with his paw to see what was going on. He then saw everyone outside the den. He nugged the others and they woke up also.
"What?!" Victoria moaned.
"Look." Misto whispered pointing towards the den.
"That's a lot of cats!" Victoria said not knowing the situation.
"Shut up Vic." Jemima hissed.
"You shut up." Victoria hissed back.
"That's enough." Misto hissed at his sisters.
Misto turned back to the den. The only cats that weren't there were Tugger and Alonzo. Misto guessed they were on patrol otherwise they would have been there.
"Maybe we should go." Misto spoke up.
"Do you think so?" Jemima asked him.
"Well maybe we should." Victoria backed her brother.
"We need to be there for dad." Misto finally decided.
"Agreed." His sisters said in unison.
Misto smiled and they all went to the den. The other cats weren't happy to see them out of bed but let them join in as it was their father. Mungojerrie had joined the group but Carbucketty and Exotica had been left to get some rest. Mungojerrie looked over to Rumpleteazer. She had ignored him since they got back. He crawled over to her.
"Rumple?"
"What do you want?" Rumpleteazer said grumpily.
"I want to apologise."
"Really!"
"I do."
"I don't believe you."
"What?"
"Munkustrap is dying in there and now you want to apologise! If you hadn't worked for Macavity in the first place, none of this would have happened!"
"It's not my fault." Mungojerrie tried to say.
"Just go away." Rumple said, keeping back tears.
"Okay. Just know that I didn't cause this."
Rumple watched Mungojerrie slink back. She wiped her eyes with her paw to get the tears away. She couldn't show emotion right now. She needed to be strong for everyone.
Misto had been watching this little conversation. He didn't know what to do. Both Rumple and Mungojerrie were his best friends, he couldn't take sides. He started to go over to Rumple when Jenny came out of the den with Jellyrom. Everyone came to attention when they did.
"He's near." Jelly announced.
"Does he want to see anyone?" Asparagus asked.
Jenny nodded over to Demeter and the kittens. Demeter nodded back and gathered up the kittens. Bomburlina helped her friend up and helped the kittens go inside the den. Misto looked around for Exotica who gave him confidence but she wasn't there so just went inside.