"You could have left a note or something. Everybody's been worried sick."
"I did not mean to worry anyone."
"So what exactly did you mean to do?"
Puss began gathering another armload of hay. "To live," he said.
"What do you mean?"
Puss looked at him. "Shrek is going to annihilate me when he discovers the fire was my fault."
Bananas was nodding in quiet agreement when his siblings and father came noisily into the hut. "So this is where you at," Donkey said. "I shoulda known."
"Perhaps, Donkey, there are many things at your advanced age you should know."
"What the hell you mean by that?"
"Grammar, for one thing."
"Pffft. Listen, for your information, there's a lot of stuff I know. And one of 'em is that a guilty conscience ain't gonna resolve itself. Now instead of runnin', you gotta come back and talk to 'em. 'Cause a guilty conscience can make you do crazy and stupid things."
Because Donkey's children were present, Puss held back a scathing retort; something about him being the authority on the subject of stupid. His noble silence made him distinctly aware that he was not doing anything crazy...yet.
"They found your hat," Donkey offered, when Puss hedged.
"I would rather keep my life." Puss walked to the door and held it open. "Please do not tell them where I am."
"I won't have to, because you're goin' back in there."
"Donkey-"
"No, listen, okay, Shrek doesn't even think you did it. He blamed me. Said everything I told him was a big cover story and that he was sick of my kids."
Puss looked in shock at the hybrids, all of whom looked sad. "You are-you are telling me the truth?"
Donkey sighed, sitting down on the familiar floor. "I'm the one who should be hiding out here. He never liked me anyway."
Puss tried to process the horrible misunderstanding. Narrowing his eyes, he found himself able only to repeat what Donkey had said to him. "I will stand up for you."
Donkey's irrevocably sad face tried feebly to smile. "I know."
Puss turned and left the hut, and Donkey slid into a laying down position. Closing his eyes, he thought of his beautiful, ferocious mate...and wondered if he would ever see her again.
Fiona was sitting on the bed with her children, just finishing up a pleasant bedtime story. Their little heads were lolling-until Shrek knocked loudly, jolting them awake. Groaning in displeasure, Fiona stood and walked swiftly to the door, pulling it open. "Must you be so loud?" she quietly demanded.
"What's the problem? Everyone's awake."
Fiona backed up, rolling her eyes as Shrek walked into the room. "Can I help you with something?" she asked, and hearing the warrior as clearly as if he was still in that world, he spun to face her, suddenly expecting to see her in spiky armor.
"Uh, I just..." Shrek shrugged, rubbing the back of his head. "I don't want to be alone tonight."
Fiona's expression softened as she looked at him.
"I need my family," he said shakily, and she went to him, taking his hands.
"We need you, too."
Shrek sighed as he and Fiona retreated to the bed. Shrek picked up Felicia. "I've never really grieved before," he confided. "I don't know how to do it."
"There's no right way, Shrek. You just...you do whatever it takes." She looked at him, suddenly shy. "For me, it's this."
Shrek considered her words. "It does sort of help."
Fiona nodded as Farkle crawled over to sit in her lap. For several unusually long seconds, the room was quiet; and the tension was only broken by a soft knock.
"Uh...come in?" Shrek called uncertainly; and the door was pushed open from the bottom. Puss walked in looking around the room; and when his searching eyes found the ogres, he stopped walking and turned to face them, putting his little paws on his hips. Perhaps it should have looked menacing, but Fiona thought it was pretty cute. "I have a bone to pick with you," he told Shrek.
"Ah...no thanks, I'm really just tryin' to eat more vegetables," he joked, but sobered when he saw the unappreciative look on his friend's face.
"Would you like me to go?" Fiona inquired.
"No. You ought to know the man you married." He returned his eyes to her husband. "Donkey told me what you said of his children."
"Now, Puss, you can't tell me it's not true. You know very well how chaotic they are."
"Life is chaotic. Those kids are a drop in the bucket. But Donkey is one of the few people who cared about you since day one. And right now he's somewhere out there, miserable because of you."
"Because of me? Who's the one who burned down the house?"
"I am," Puss said. "So you owe him and his children an apology."
Fiona smiled sadly. "Thanks for being honest with us, Puss."
"Donkey was honest with you, too. And you broke his heart. I cannot imagine he will be glad to return."
"Of course he will. It's me!" Shrek said, and rolled his eyes when they stared at him. "Okay, I know how egotistical that sounds. But he's always had a soft spot for me. He would gladly return if I wanted him to."
Fiona paused in the middle of shifting Farkle. "Wait, you're not going to invite him back?"
"I'm going to apologize for misjudging him. But I...I don't want him living with me right now. I'm finally a free ogre."
Fiona narrowed her eyes. "You keep talking like that, Shrek, and you're going to have a lot more freedom than you want."
"Oh, so I can't be mad, grieve, or express my opinion?"
"Excuse me," Puss jumped in, waving a front leg. "Before this gets ugly, may I have my hat?"
Barely looking at him, Shrek threw the hat; and Puss caught it deftly. "Thank you," he said with finality, and left the room.
"Stop it," Fiona chided him. "Puss just told us something extremely difficult and all you can think of is yourself. Donkey is a good friend!"
"Yes, but I don't want him as a roommate! He never goes away. This is our chance for uninterrupted sleep, peaceful visits to the outhouse, and waffle-free suppers!"
Fiona brushed at her bangs, drawing strength from an inner place. "Shrek," she finally said, "We don't live in a tiny house anymore. I'm sure you can find some way to share all this space with him."
Shrek grumpily looked at her. "Alright," he sighed. "He can have the far half of this place and just keep to it. I'm tired of putting up with him."
"Would you stop? My goodness! Shrek-do you even realize what you're doing right now?"
"Oh, what am I doin'?" he asked in disgust, as he stood up.
"Puss just told you he started the fire, and you didn't say a word about it. But you're still giving Donkey the third degree!"
Shrek stopped and considered his behavior. "Well..." he finally said. "Donkey bugs me."
Fiona set Farkle down and stood up, meeting his eyes. "You know what bugs me?" she inquired. "When you were telling Artie respect is all my family has...I believed you."
She walked past him and let herself out of the room. Moving hastily, Shrek moved the children up to the pillows and pulled the blanket up to their rounded chins. "Go to sleep, my angels," he murmured. "Everything's going to be okay."
He quickly let himself out of the room and ran after the shadow that moved along the wall before disappearing behind the corner. Catching up to Fiona, he grabbed her shoulder. "Wait."
She turned to face him. Her eyes were blue fire as she brushed away his touch. "I have waited. Nineteen years I waited, and you just keep..." Her words ran out and she shook her head.
"Okay. Okay, I know my mouth is bigger than my roar ever was. I told you, I would apologize to him and bring him here." He gave her arms a squeeze and let go, shrugging his broad shoulders. "What else can I do?"
"You are just going to have to figure it out."
Shrek gave a reluctant nod of compliance, wincing as she turned around and walked away. He was looking at her tightly woven braid and again comparing her demeanor to that of the warrior when he heard the muffled tap of heels on the stone floor behind him. Before Puss could begin to profusely apologize for having caused his son's demise, Shrek was asking a very unanticipated question.
"That story you told, about the goose and the golden eggs...You did make that up, right?"
Puss looked at him in surprise.