What Needs to Be Heard

by Commander

Life can be tough, and being married doesn't make you any better equipped to handle it. Kaeloo and Mr. Cat are both still trying, though, and together, they'll find a way to navigate their way through their faults and their failures.

Author's Note:

This fic is a sequel to "Open a New Door". If you've seen me mention the sequel to that fic in the past, this is technically only maybe a third of what I had planned. But after thinking it over, I realized that the story I had in mind was basically two separate stories, which helped me to actually sit down and write this first part (although it took quite a long time to actually finish), since the whole story together probably would have been about as long as OAND and writing something that long again was too daunting for me to attempt right now. I think I only have it in me to write a long-ass fic like that once every five years or so lol. At any rate, this story then is rather short, and it deals with only Kaeloo and Mr. Cat (if I ever write the rest of my planned timeline in this 'verse, Stumpy and Quack Quack will show up in the continuation, but unfortunately they're not in this part), but it does deal with at least some of the questions readers had at the ending of OAND. So I did want to get this out there if only for that reason.

As for if/when I ever write that continuation, however, unfortunately I'm going to have to say "not for awhile" at this point. I can tell I'm in the process of fandom-hopping again—the question right now is which one I ultimately land in, since I've got story ideas for like three separate shows all running through my head right now (and none of them are Kaeloo). Of course the possibility always remains that I'll come back to my Kaeloo fic sometime down the line—it's happened before in other fandoms and I'm sure it'll happen again sometime—but if that does happen, it probably won't be for awhile.

Thanks again to Randomness Unlimited for beta-reading and offering some critiques on the fic!

And thanks again to all of you who've read/commented/reviewed my Kaeloo fics over the past few years. I'm really glad to have been able to share the thoughts in my head about this ridiculous, wonderful show with you all. :)

…

Parkside Plunge on a hot August day was the place to be for the weary, sweltered inhabitants of New Cross City. The summer had been a particularly hot one that year, and the waterpark was experiencing a surge in guests that hadn't been matched in many years.

And with a large portion of these guests being children and teenagers still on summer break, there was a larger percentage of guests who were… unruly.

Kaeloo truly did enjoy her job as a lifeguard. It was the perfect combination of two of the things in life that were the most important to her—helping people, and making sure that the rules were being followed. Rules were the foundation blocks that supported everything else in life. She couldn't imagine a life without rules, nor could she imagine how anyone could so blatantly ignore them.

…which meant that on days like this, with park guests like these, her stress level was already close to the breaking point.

The heat was already getting to her. Even now, at 8:30 PM with the park's closing hour just thirty minutes away. It had to be seeping into the park guests too, she reckoned, which was why poor decisions were being made. Never mind that they had the soothing coolness of the water at their ready disposal. (One of the bad things about being a lifeguard was that unless you were actually saving a life, you didn't really spend much time in the water at all—which could become quite unbearable on days like these.)

And she hadn't had the opportunity to sufficiently relax herself before heading out for her evening shift. Not for lack of trying, though. In fact, her afternoon had started off very pleasantly, with sharing a delicious late lunch/early dinner with Mr. Cat. And their plates had hardly been empty for a moment when Mr. Cat had embraced her in his usual manner, purring a low, rumbling suggestion for sex into her mouth. Or maybe it had been Kaeloo who had embraced Mr. Cat… it was sometimes hard to remember, with her wanting sex just as much as he did. And that particular activity, of course, had been very enjoyable. But Mr. Cat had dozed off upon finishing, and Kaeloo, who was conversely wired up and energized by the act, was left to clean up the kitchen and dining area herself. She was determined to leave the room immaculate, a process which had taken longer than she anticipated, and she had to hurry to work, only just barely arriving on time, and leaving her antsy and on-edge.

This is a mental state that can sometimes be good for a lifeguard… but sometimes, especially if the lifeguard is already a temperamental character, not so good.

The sharp squawk of her whistle pierced through the rowdy noise and laughter of the happy park guests. "NO RUNNING!" Kaeloo shouted over the din. The group of three teenagers to whom the order had been directed seemed to take no notice.

Irritated, Kaeloo leaned forward in her lifeguard chair, sounding her whistle again. The crowd was very noisy; perhaps they hadn't heard her.

One of the teens looked up at her and laughed, and the other two chuckled amongst themselves as well.

…no, they had heard her.

Kaeloo blew on her whistle again, pushing the air out with such force that her lungs nearly collapsed. "I SAID NO RUNNING!"

Regard for rules was clearly not something the adolescents had in abundance. Or at all. The first teen, still smirking, stuck his tongue out at her and deliberately ran across the wet pavement of the pool area.

Kaeloo quivered with rage.

"STOP RUNNING NOW!"she hollered, her voice dropping to an octave that those who knew her well would have found dangerous. The teens, though, ignorant as they were, continued to run off, seemingly forgetting about the fussy lifeguard.

And despite all of her mental training, from the therapy that she thought had been going so well, Kaeloo snapped. Three strikes, and they were OUT.

Thankfully, she leapt off her lifeguard chair as she transformed, for the chair most likely wouldn't have supported her new, monstrous weight. Indeed, the pavement cracked underneath her as she landed, although she hardly noticed. Nor did she notice the sudden shock of the rest of the park guests at her new, unexpected, fearful form. All she noticed was the halt of the teenaged boys, who finally did stop and turn to look at her with mouths agape, and while their cessation of running was not enough to fully calm her down, it did placate her enough to not run after them herself, instead merely chastising them from her current location.

"NO RUNNING! SIGNS ALL OVER PLACE SAY NO RUNNING! YOU COULD GET HURT, OR HURT OTHER PEOPLE! NO RUNNING, UNDERSTAND?!"

The three youngsters all nodded quickly, eyes wide with terror. "Understood, sir!"

"MA'AM!"

"Ma'am, sorry! We understand! Please forgive us!"

Bad Kaeloo breathed deeply, their apology enough to nearly subconsciously set off the coping methods she'd learned from a thousand counseling sessions. A couple more deep breaths was all it took for her to collapse into her smaller self, and she gasped as she did so.

Hushed gasps filled the air around her, too.

Kaeloo lifted her eyes from the ground, still breathing heavily, the stares of all the onlookers driving home how inappropriately she'd acted.

"Seriously," said the first teenager, still looking very contrite and sincere, "we won't do it again."

Still inhaling deeply, Kaeloo simply nodded.

"Kaeloo?"

Kaeloo spun around. The speaker standing behind her was her supervisor, with the director of the water park standing directly to her left.

Kaeloo gulped. "Yes?"

"We need to talk. Come to the office."

Kaeloo's limbs began to tremble again, but this time from fear, not anger. Meekly, she followed her supervisors, sure of the dire consequences that awaited her.

…

Kaeloo should have been relieved as she made her way home that night, walking through the dark streets of the city rather than taking the subway. Somehow, by some miracle, she hadn't been fired. She hadn't even really been yelled at—her reprimand had come instead from low, stern, disappointed warnings from her supervisors.

She almost felt that yelling would have been more preferable.

Of course, as she trudged down the quiet street, she couldn't ignore the real reason why she hadn't been fired today. She hadn't hurt anyone. True, she hadn't controlled herself enough to avoid the transformation itself, but she had held enough control to keep herself from reacting any further and causing damage.

This time.

She could not take comfort in the relatively positive result when compared to other transformations. Because it wasn't really a positive result, just a lack of a negative result. And that lack would not continue. In a future explosion of rage, when she would lose control and cause harm… because it was not an "if". It was a "when". She'd been lucky tonight that no one had gotten hurt on her account. It was only a matter of time before she really lost her cool… and people suffered for it.

The thought of harming the patrons of the water park, the very people that she as a lifeguard was sworn to protect, weighed her heart down like a heavy stone. If she could not protect them, if she was the hazard, then she should have been fired. She had to turn in her resignation. But then, what was to become of her? What other job could she find? How would she and Mr. Cat survive in New Cross City?

The obvious answer blared into her thoughts, unsolicited—they could go back to Smileyland. In Smileyland there were no jobs, no cost of living, no taxes. Kaeloo had made it that way upon discovering it and declaring it her own. Things were, by design, easy and simple there… too simple. To return there would be admitting defeat, practically wearing a huge neon sign that said "I can't handle being an adult". She couldn't have that. She could be an adult and function in adult society… couldn't she?

The memory of how poorly she'd handled the day's stress made her not so sure.

And if she couldn't fulfill this job, a job that seemed tailor-made for her, how could she expect to do anything else?

She was a failure. A complete and utter failure. She couldn't take care of herself, she couldn't take care of the patrons she was duty-bound to safeguard, she couldn't take care of anything or anyone.

She didn't belong here.

It was with these self-destructive thoughts that she pushed open the door to her studio apartment, longing to return to the serenity of home that she knew she didn't deserve, and was instead greeted with disaster.

The apartment that she had so meticulously cleaned before leaving for work was a mess. Beer bottles everywhere. A used pot was resting on the cooktop, bubbled-over stains of whatever had been cooking in it still clearly visible underneath it.

And the obvious culprit, Mr. Cat, was only just barely rousing himself from the couch where he'd passed out in a drunken stupor.

"What… what have you done?!" Kaeloo shrieked.

Rubbing at his eyes, Mr. Cat looked towards the mess on the cooktop, shrugging with the lightest display of guilt. "Can't a guy cook dinner?"

"Can't you clean up after yourself?!"

"Sorry, food coma." Mr. Cat sat up and stretched languidly, only further fueling Kaeloo's rage. "I'll get to it eventually, calm your tits."

Kaeloo only just barely managed to avoid transforming at that remark.

"CALM MY… THINGIES?! I work to keep food on the table and to keep us in this apartment and your only, single, solitary, EASY task is to take care of the apartment, and you expect me to be FINE with the fact that you can't even do this one simple thing?!"

"Holy crap, calm down," Mr. Cat muttered with annoyance. "I didn't realize that I had to keep the house at perfect 'home-magazine-quality' at all times."

"IS CLEANING UP AFTER YOUR OWN MESSES TOO MUCH TO ASK?!"

"Holy shit, I'll get to it! What's your problem, anyway?"

Kaeloo gripped the edge of the countertop and screamed wordlessly, her scream being the only barrier between herself and a destructive transformation.

"I ask of you only… a TENTH of what I do for this household! I work my hiney off so that we can stay here! And all I ask is that you keep our living space clean! But can you do that? OBVIOUSLY NOT!"

"I can," Mr. Cat protested testily, "I just didn't realize that you expected a two-second follow-up!"

"You fell asleep with a mess still there! You're useless!" Kaeloo shrieked before she could stop the words coming out of her mouth.

Mr. Cat visibly winced at that. Inwardly, Kaeloo winced too, but she was angry enough to continue to twist the knife.

"Why is it that I'm the only one that goes out and tries to earn a living in this household?! You could be contributing but instead you just sit on your butt and do nothing! It would be one thing if you actually attended to housework while I was gone, but obviously you don't! How is this fair to me?!"

"Listen," Mr. Cat muttered darkly, "I'm way more useful here than out there, I couldn't do a thing out—"

"What do you mean by that?! You could be doing so many things!"

"So many things that wouldn't mean a damn thing!"

"What does that mean?!"

"It means that you're right, I'm useless, I don't know how to do anything useful, and—"

"That's a lie!" Kaeloo screamed, her head pounding with confusion and rage. "That's a lie and a horrible excuse! There's so much you know how to do—you're the smartest person I know!"

"You don't know a lot of people!" Mr. Cat shouted desperately.

Kaeloo blinked at him, too shocked to respond at first.

Shaken, Mr. Cat took a deep breath, taking a second to look her in the eyes again. "You don't know a lot of people," he repeated, firmly. "Maybe if you did, you'd realize how pathetic I really am."

"FINE!" Kaeloo snapped in desperation. "Do you want me to go out and find someone else, then?! Actually, no, I'd be better off alone, wouldn't I?! I don't need you, or anybody!" Twisting the knife even more. She couldn't stop.

Mr. Cat stood up, with a calmness that didn't properly reflect the harsh words he'd just received. "No," he said simply. "You don't need me. It took you long enough to realize that."

That did it.

Kaeloo erupted into her bad form, violently and painfully, and forcefully smacked Mr. Cat across the room without a second thought.

"KAELOO DONE! KAELOO DONE WITH ALL OF THIS! KAELOO LEAVING!"

She spun around and slammed the door shut behind her, storming down the hallway and out of the apartment complex with quick, angry stomps.

It took Mr. Cat some time to be able to move from his landing spot against the table.

Normally he didn't mind it when Kaeloo hit him. Hell, normally he encouraged it. But she had been different tonight. Her rage had seemed more… real. In the past her transformation triggers had always seemed to be such trivial, silly matters that it was hard for Mr. Cat to be that afraid of her, despite her ferociousness.

Getting angry over leaving a mess in the apartment seemed, at first reflection, to be another similarly trivial matter, but Mr. Cat could tell that there was something much deeper going on.

Painfully, he pushed himself up to his feet, taking in the mess he'd left in the room. The disorder that had barely registered to him before now seemed jarring and offensive, splattering the apartment with his faults and failings that had been odious enough to drive his wife to such extremes.

In the fog of physical pain and mental self-hatred, it was only an understated side-note in his thinking that Kaeloo had left. Well, of course she had left. He hadn't given her anything to want to return to. And he could blame no one but himself for that. The thought of losing her had always been one of his deepest fears, but now that it seemed to have actually happened he didn't feel panicked. He felt… numb. And not just because of the pain she'd inflicted on him. He really couldn't blame her for anything.

Slowly, almost mechanically, he scooped up the empty beer bottles strewn about the floor and placed them in the recycling bin.

She deserves better than this. I PROMISED her I'd be good for her. I promised MYSELF. But I've let her down.

He scowled at himself, wishing she was there to hurt him again.

"I can do better," he said aloud as he scrubbed at the dirty stovetop without even realizing it. "I will do better."

He paused, looking down at the shrinking food stain from dinner.

"If she'll give me another chance."

He did not deserve it. He knew it, and given her words, he was pretty sure that she finally knew it, too. But he had to find her and ask.

But first, he had to be worthy of another chance. So, taking as much care as he could while still working with urgency, he continued to scrub at the cooktop, wiping away his mess and his failure. Once it was as spotless as he could make it, he turned his attention to the pot. He threw it into the sink with a clang that didn't seem loud enough to properly voice his frustrations at himself, and he turned on the water to a very purposeful scalding hot temperature as it filled the sink. He poured dish soap into the water and mixed it around, letting the water burn his paws. As he let the pain of the heat punish him further, he nearly forgot the main reason for the hot, soapy water—to clean the pot. Hurriedly, he did so, feeling guilty about removing his paws from the water. Once the pot was clean, he dried it with a towel and carefully placed it back in the cabinet where it belonged.

Taking a deep breath, he looked around the apartment, seeing many other little things that needed attention. But they were just that, little, and having taken care of the main messes, he knew that the most important thing right now was to find Kaeloo and bring her back. He quickly shook his hands dry before darting out of the apartment door.

As he locked the door, their next door neighbor was climbing up the stairs with a bag of groceries, and gave Mr. Cat a smile as she pulled out her own key. Mr. Cat only barely acknowledged her with a brief nod, too focused on the task at hand to really pay her much notice.

But the chipmunk hesitated at opening her door, and just as Mr. Cat was about to hurry down the stairs she had just ascended, she blurted out, "Are you alright?"

"What? Yes—I mean, no," Mr. Cat muttered, "but I'm taking care of it."

"You're bleeding. On your side…"

Mr. Cat looked at where the chipmunk was pointing. A small gash on the left side of his torso was indeed bleeding, probably from where he had made contact with the table.

He sighed impatiently. "It's fine. I'll take care of it. I have more important things to worry about right now."

"Is he hurting you?" the chipmunk blurted out again.

Mr. Cat blinked in confusion.

"Your partner," the chipmunk clarified. "I've heard… thuds, and loud noises, and if he's treating you poorly—"

"My wife," Mr. Cat corrected testily, "and no, she is not."

"Oh… I'm sorry." The chipmunk looked back down in her purse, retrieving her key once more. "I just thought… well, I've been in an… abusive situation before. And you need to know that it's not your fault, and that you don't have to remain in—"

"I don't need your advice. Or sympathy. It's not what you think. I have to go now." With that, Mr. Cat turned and stormed down the stairs, thinking of nothing but putting distance between him and the meddling chipmunk, and shortening the distance between him and Kaeloo, wherever she was.

At least the chipmunk gave him someone to be angry at other than himself.

He reached the bottom of the stairwell and quickly stepped out of the apartment building, letting the door slam behind him. Who did she think she was, anyway? What right did she have to go around judging the situation of her neighbors without knowing anything about them? Sure, so she probably heard lots of loud thuds and shouting, but that didn't mean that it was due to abuse. Half the time Mr. Cat not only wanted what he got, but he specifically requested it! And the other half of the time, he usually liked it anyway. True, this time he hadn't liked it, but he had deserved it.

Walking quickly towards the park, since he knew how well Kaeloo liked it and figured it was as good a place as any to start looking for her, Mr. Cat found his pace slowing a bit despite his quest, the ramifications of how their relationship must seem to strangers starting to make itself more clear. Through his annoyance at his neighbor, he begrudgingly had to admit that she wasn't wrong, per se. Kaeloo hurt him when she got mad, and wasn't that what abuse was when you got right down to it?

He shook his head fiercely. No, that was complete and utter bullshit. He knew what actual abuse felt like. He experienced it from his worthless parents and brothers enough to know the difference. He could tell very clearly, from their words just as much as their actions, that they meant to cause him harm. They didn't give a shit about him other than how they could use him to make themselves feel superior.

Kaeloo, however, was the exact opposite of them. She didn't like to cause harm. She truly didn't mean to hurt people… most of the time, anyway. And even when she did mean it, it was certainly warranted! Especially towards him. He'd be the first to tell you that he could be quite the asshole sometimes, and nine times out of ten deserved the comeuppance he usually received. If anything, he felt like Kaeloo was almost too soft on him, especially now that they were married.

Of course, he loved her softness just as much as he loved her fierceness. He thought back to their games in Smileyland, which would inevitably end in a beat down courtesy of Bad Kaeloo, which he enjoyed all on its own—but it became even better at the end of the day, with the sunlight dipping below the horizon, when Kaeloo would always come to him after the craziness of the day had passed and tended to whatever injuries he had, made sure he was alright, told him how sorry she was and that she didn't mean it. So caring. So sincere. And in those moments Mr. Cat had her compassion completely to himself, just as he made it so that he had her rage completely to himself earlier in the day.

His pace slowed even more.

He'd created the perfect system, hadn't he? The perfect system for himself, anyway. He had spent every day purposely pissing off Kaeloo so that he could experience her beautiful fierce physicality first-hand, and then receive her tender care by evening. Care that was brought on by her own guilt. He knew she felt guilty; he knew from the thousands of times the words "I'm sorry" fell from her lips as she tended to the wounds she had created. And still every day he purposely replayed the scenario anyway.

His stomach twisted. There was an abusive individual in this relationship, that was for sure, but it wasn't Kaeloo.

Despite the pain in his stomach and chest, he picked up his pace to one even faster than the one he'd had when first leaving the apartment. There was so much he had to say to Kaeloo, and he knew it had to be said sooner rather than later.

…

Kaeloo had gone to the park, and past the park. Past the shopping district. Up to the train tracks near the edge of town. At some point during her frantic run she had de-transformed, but she couldn't remember when or how. All she knew was she was somewhere unknown, where a small viaduct provided some scant shelter. She decided to take it, not allowing herself to take anything else. She could stay here. She could spend the rest of her existence here, away from anyone else, so that she would never hurt anyone again.

Stumbling her way through the dark, she made her way under the viaduct and slid against the side concrete wall, as far away from the road as possible. A train was rumbling overhead and she could feel it shake even here. Maybe if she was lucky, the whole bridge would come crashing down on top of her. The sound of the rumbling train was loud enough so that she could barely hear herself crying, and by the time it had passed her tears had mostly subsided.

She felt… stupid. Very stupid. She never learned, did she? She had been so hopeful when starting secondary school that maybe that was where she would feel happy and belong. She was hopeful of the same thing upon discovering Smileyland. And once again, she had been hopeful when encountering New Cross City, especially when Mr. Cat had gone with her. But during all that change, her hope ultimately amounted to nothing, because there had been one constant all those times that kept her from truly changing… herself.

And all the therapy in the world wasn't enough to get her away from herself.

Even here she couldn't escape her own failings, but at least she could keep herself away from other people. This would be a decent place to live. Not great, of course, but she didn't want great. She didn't even want good. Decent felt like it was far more than she deserved, actually. Maybe if enough trains rumbled by she'd feel sufficiently punished for being herself.

The weather wasn't right either, she thought to herself, slumping more against the wall. It was too pleasant. Why couldn't it be cold? Of course, it was summer, August even, so it wouldn't be cold right now… but couldn't it be hot at least, or muggy? If she were in a better mood she would have appreciated the beautiful summer night, but right now she felt sickened by it, knowing that she didn't deserve the agreeable weather. She prayed for a warmer front to move in so that the weather could punish her along with everything else.

Her eyelids were heavy with fatigue and grief, and despite some corner of her insisting that she didn't deserve sleep either, she felt herself starting to drift off, becoming numb to her mind's constant replay of the day's horrible events. On some level she knew she wasn't quite awake, as her mind was starting to replay the events slightly differently, like the patrons at the water park ganging up on her and taking her down after her transformation… and Mr. Cat slapping her first before she had a chance to, knocking her to the ground… and the train tracks above her collapsing, sending the train above hurtling down towards her…

"Um, excuse me…!"

Kaeloo's eyes shot open. A deer wearing a backpack stood in front of her, only barely illuminated by the dim light behind him. It was hard to tell in the dark, but he looked a bit concerned. "Are you alright? Do you need help?"

Kaeloo shook her head, diverting her gaze from him. "No, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. I can get you help—"

"I said I'M FINE!" Kaeloo snapped, transforming into Bad Kaeloo without a second thought and roaring at him, not wanting his charity.

"JESUS!" the deer screamed, hastily turning and scampering away from her in an instant.

Kaeloo could feel the angry tears at herself welling in her eyes even before shrinking again, and upon collapsing into her "normal" mode, she wept again, more bitterly this time, the pain of the suddenness from both transforming and turning back ripping through her body. She welcomed it, but the tears came anyway.

She could not see the deer continuing to sprint fearfully down the road and away from her, farther and farther, only stopping by running into a pedestrian going the other direction. Too panicked to apologize, he simply frantically warned, "Don't go that way! There's a monster there!"

And to the feline pedestrian he'd plowed into, this was welcome news indeed.

"A monster?" Mr. Cat grabbed the deer by the shoulders urgently, not breaking eye contact. "Was the monster large and green and muscular?"

The deer nodded wildly.

"Oh, thank goodness. Thank you." And with that, Mr. Cat released the deer and kept going the way he had been, now running this time, leaving the perplexed deer behind him.

Mr. Cat had been searching for Kaeloo for a while now, growing more and more frustrated as the evening colors faded into the darkness of the night without any sign of his frog anywhere. Or his toad, but since he had quickly been unable to see the telltale signs of destruction commonly left in Bad Kaeloo's wake, he assumed that she'd de-transformed fairly quickly… making herself a much smaller and tougher subject to find. But now, if that deer could be believed, she'd not only made herself more visible once again, but was also close by. Assuming that the large, green, muscular monster wasn't somebody else. Mr. Cat shook his head as he nearly sprinted down the path, not allowing himself to dwell on that thought. He couldn't imagine the despair at this being a dead end.

A weak streetlight illuminated an overpass over the road and sidewalk he was on, and a small figure huddled against the concrete wall.

"Kaeloo?" Mr. Cat called out.

The result was instantaneous.

The small figure was not so small for long. Erupting fiercely and savagely, she burst from her dark hiding spot as she transformed, roaring at him wordlessly, brutally, desperately. She seemed to not need to breathe as the roar continued much longer than usual, without any diminish in ferociousness.

Finally the roar petered off. Mr. Cat remained unflinching.

"Do you really think that that's going to intimidate me?" he asked.

Bad Kaeloo roared again, but still didn't move from her spot, or even really move at all, really. Mr. Cat crossed his arms, waiting for her to finish and hoping that his undaunted demeanor was hiding how joyous and relieved he was to find her.

"Are you done?" he asked when she'd finished a second time.

She glared at him, breathing heavily and trembling, and just when Mr. Cat thought that a third roar was coming, she suddenly stumbled forward, shrinking back into her regular frog form. Her eyes bulged and she continued to breathe heavily as she struggled to find her balance.

Despite himself, Mr. Cat quickly stepped forward and held out his arm, and Kaeloo grasped it for balance, also without thinking. She gasped for breath a few more times before looking up at her husband, and he could see how red and baggy her eyes were.

He knew he had to truly and fully apologize to her, but this was not the place.

"Let's go home," he said gruffly.

Kaeloo gulped and looked back down at the ground, but she did nod once in response.

Mr. Cat nodded back, even though she wasn't looking at him. Haltingly, he extended his arm to take her other hand, and was still genuinely shocked when she grasped it back.

He hadn't lost her. Not yet, anyway. And when they got home he was going to make damn sure he'd never give her cause to run off again.

…

The closer they got to their apartment, the more Kaeloo pulled away from Mr. Cat, putting more and more distance between them as she pressed further ahead of him. By the time she made it to their building, Mr. Cat was running to try to keep up with her, but even her fumbling to type in the security code didn't give him much time to close the gap. When he finally caught up with her she was already at their apartment door, struggling to fit the key into the keyhole.

"Kaeloo—" he began.

"Stop!" Kaeloo snapped. "Just let me—be alone!" The door finally unlocked and she bolted into the apartment, not stopping until she made it to the bathroom, and slammed the door behind her.

Mr. Cat always tried his best to be understanding with Kaeloo, he really did. But he wasn't perfect. And he knew getting annoyed probably wasn't the correct response to his wife's mood. But, well, it happened anyway.

"For crying out loud, frog," he grumbled, "can you just look at the apartment and see that I cleaned up a little?"

"I don't care!" came the reply from the bathroom.

Mr. Cat rubbed his forehead wearily. "You sure seemed to care about it earlier!"

"It wasn't that!"

"Oh, bullshit!"

"Stop swearing! It doesn't matter! I'm just going to stay in here forever so that I never have to hurt anyone ever again!"

"That's the stupidest fucking thing I've ever heard—"

"Stop swearing!"

"No, I'm not going to stop swearing. Because you aren't being just stupid, you're being fucking stupid. If you stay in there forever it's going to hurt my bladder if I can't go in there and take a piss every once in a while! Where do you expect me to shit? In the kitchen sink?"

The bathroom door flung open again, and Kaeloo was glowering, trembling, clearly about to explode.

"STOP… SWEARING! And I am not being stupid! Being stupid was thinking that I could live a normal life without hurting anyone! I was—I was a freaking moron to think that, but now I know better—"

"For fuck's sake, stop mincing your words," Mr. Cat interrupted, having lost all of his patience. "Tell me how you really feel. With all the crudest words you can think of. And shit, stop trying to act so fucking dainty around me, like you're somehow above swearing, I fucking know you better than that!"

Kaeloo violently slammed a hand against the door frame, eyes bulging and bloodshot. Mr. Cat instinctively took a step back, recognizing better than anyone else that he'd pushed her too far and had triggered another transformation.

But, to his surprise, instead of transforming…

"…FUCK! SHIT! FUCKING SHIT FUCK FUCK DICK BITCH SHIT FUCK! FUCK!"

Her outburst having run its course, Kaeloo leaned against the door frame, panting heavily, yet still retaining her normal form, all signs of a transformation vanished into thin air. Mr. Cat, for his part, was almost too shocked to respond for a moment or two.

"I told you I'd get you to swear someday," he finally said, with a small smirk despite everything.

"Shut up," Kaeloo muttered weakly.

"Feel better?"

Kaeloo hesitated for a moment, and didn't look at Mr. Cat when she answered, but she still responded with a small, "Yes."

"I thought so. Now… do you still want to stay here forever?"

Kaeloo shook her head. "No."

Mr. Cat waited.

Kaeloo finally looked up, almost apologetically, all traces of her rage gone but with nothing to replace her exhaustion and despair. "I want to go lie down," she murmured.

"Then come with me," Mr. Cat said without hesitation, extending his hand again.

She took it.

It took Mr. Cat a moment to guide her where they both wanted her to go, instead taking a moment to take her in, desperately wondering if he'd helped, and if he had, if he'd helped enough, if there was anything more he could do for her, if he could figure out just what this was all about in the first place. But the sudden mental reminder that he'd offered to help her right now jolted him back to reality, and he carefully led her to the bed, and Kaeloo plopped down on the edge almost mechanically. Mr. Cat moved to the other side and perched on his edge, uneasy, waiting either for her permission to stay or her demand to leave.

Kaeloo's face was downcast, her breathing slow but not belabored. A few quiet moments passed before her breath hitched, and her words came out almost rushed, in a small voice. "Mr. Cat?"

"Yes?" he answered instantly.

It again took a few moments for words to come. "Are you always mad at me?"

This was not a query Mr. Cat had been expecting to hear, and it caught him off-guard enough that now it was his turn to hesitate before speaking. "I—no. Obviously I'm mad at you sometimes, but not all the time, not even close. Why do you ask?"

"It's just that you swear all the time, and maybe you only swear when I'm around, I wouldn't know otherwise, so I just thought—"

"People don't swear just because they're mad," Mr. Cat said quickly. "Swear words add great enhancement to almost anything. It's the difference between saying something's good and that something's really fucking good."

Kaeloo winced.

Mr. Cat sighed. "Okay, okay… sorry. Maybe I do swear too much."

"I thought the problem was that I don't swear enough."

"Well then, we make the perfect pair. You can borrow some of my swears and we'll be even." Mr. Cat cracked a smile at that, but Kaeloo continued to look down at the ground in silence.

"Look, I'm sorry," Mr. Cat said quickly. "I'm not mad at you. Well—okay, I'm a little bit mad at you, but I'm more mad at myself than anything."

Kaeloo finally looked up and into Mr. Cat's eyes. "But… why are you mad at yourself?"

Mr. Cat was again nearly too surprised at the question to answer it right away. "You… you said it yourself earlier. I'm useless."

Kaeloo fiercely shook her head. "No, you're not. I was wrong."

"You were right," Mr. Cat insisted. "Don't try to be nice just to make me feel better. Everything you said about me was one hundred percent true."

"It wasn't," Kaeloo said, still shaking her head, her voice quivering. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I didn't mean what I said. I was just so—so angry, so scared, I was feeling so hopeless, and the words that came out of my mouth were as nasty and bitter as what I was feeling inside!" She sobbed raggedly, pushing a hand to her face.

Mr. Cat hesitated, still teetering between being on the bed and off. "Did… something happen today? At work?"

Kaeloo sobbed again, not looking up. "Yes," she mumbled.

"What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Mr. Cat was already nodding and his mouth was open, about to give her a word of encouragement, but Kaeloo spoke up again. "I don't want to talk about it, but I need to talk about it. You deserve to know, especially after how I treated you because of it."

"Um… okay, then." Mr. Cat shifted uncomfortably again. Kaeloo continued to sniffle and look down at her hands. At times like this it was crucial to be patient, but patience was not one of Mr. Cat's virtues, and the silence left him at a loss. Didn't she know that he couldn't help talk her through… whatever this was, without him even knowing what? Of course, he wasn't the greatest at talking her through things anyway, but he wanted a fighting chance at it, at least!

Kaeloo finally inhaled deeply. Her words came out quickly and breathlessly.

"There was this group of teenage boys who were running around and pushing each other, and just in general being unsafe and not following the rules. So I blew my whistle at them and told them no running, you know, like a lifeguard is supposed to do. But they didn't stop. And I blew louder and yelled louder, because maybe they didn't hear me, but they looked at me and they did hear me, they just didn't obey! They were deliberately ignoring rules and making an unsafe situation for themselves and others! I was so, so angry!"

"And you transformed," Mr. Cat deduced.

Kaeloo nodded, once again turning her head away in shame.

Mr. Cat, however, just smirked in approval. "I bet that got them to listen."

"Yes, them and the entire park!" Kaeloo shouted. "Everyone was staring at me! Horrified, terrified! It reminded me of—of the day before my birthday, at school, when everything…" She shook her head. "Anyway, you get the picture."

"Well, did you beat anyone up?"

"No, thankfully, but—"

"Then what's the problem? No one got hurt, and—"

"But they could have!" Kaeloo held a desperate, insistent gaze with Mr. Cat, her eyes hardly blinking. "I could have hurt people! My very presence makes the park an unsafe place, and management told me as much afterwards!"

"Did they fire you?"

"No—and I still don't understand why not."

"So they're giving you another chance," Mr. Cat reasoned. "When you return to work, just apologize again and tell them you'll do your very best to make sure that it doesn't ha—"

"Oh, Mr. Cat!" Kaeloo whimpered helplessly.

Mr. Cat quickly sat more fully on the bed, no longer bothering to wait for her verbal permission. He held out an arm and brushed her tear-stained cheek, and when she finally grasped his hand in hers, he pulled her closer, embracing her.

"I can't keep living like this," Kaeloo continued in a weak voice.

Mr. Cat rubbed her back, fixating his gaze on the wall behind him, trying very hard to come up with the right words. "What do you mean 'like this'? Like yourself?"

"Of course that's what I mean," Kaeloo answered bitterly.

"That's bull. Don't say that. You're perfect just as you are."

"No, I'm not!" Kaeloo forcibly pushed Mr. Cat away from her, a fierce conviction in her eyes. "I hurt people when I get angry and that's not okay! It's never okay!"

"It's okay for me."

"No! It's not! I mean, it's one thing when we're doing it as part of lovemaking, when it's controlled—but I hurt you when I'm angry, too! It's not okay, Mr. Cat! It's not!"

"Kaeloo," Mr. Cat said, as gently as he could, "I've told you that I don't mind when you do that—"

"But I mind!" Kaeloo frantically insisted.

Mr. Cat hesitated, all his former thoughts of how he'd used her for his own emotional benefit at the detriment to her own well-being resurfacing. He very carefully placed his hands on her shoulders again, and Kaeloo looked down again, but didn't push him away.

"I know," he started, very carefully, "that I'm not always the best at understanding you. I know that I'm a selfish jackass most of the time who doesn't notice these things until you've already erupted into rage. Which is why you shouldn't beat yourself up over how you treat me. Half the time, my stupid ass has it coming."

"It's still no excuse," Kaeloo blubbered, sloppy tears running down her face again. "And sometimes there's no reason at all. I shouldn't hurt you—I don't want to hurt you—I—I'm so sorry." She choked loudly on another sob.

Mr. Cat instantly opened his mouth to answer, the same responses from a hundred previous times at the ready—"There's no need to be", "It's fine", "I deserve it". But this time, seeing the state Kaeloo was in, seeing how his words were falling flat and far short of helping her, it suddenly became crystal clear to him that these responses weren't what Kaeloo needed to hear, and they never had been.

So, instead, in a soft voice, he responded, "I forgive you."

And under his hands, he could feel her shoulders slacken in the tiniest bit of relief. It was small, it wasn't much, she was still clearly distressed. But it was something, a step, even if the most miniscule, in the right direction. And Mr. Cat found himself letting out a small exhale of relief of his own.

"Because, let's be honest," he continued, keeping one hand on her shoulder but moving the other one to fondly grasp her own hand, "it's become abundantly clear that we're both absolute shit at knowing how to treat someone that we care about. Which is why I hope that you can forgive me, too. You've suffered for so long, longer than I've known you, and I still used your suffering to my own advantage, like the insensitive douchebag that I am. It made me feel good, but it made you feel worse, and I kept encouraging it anyway."

"Mr. Cat, I…" Kaeloo sniffled once more and used her free hand to rub at her eyes before continuing. "I know why you kept… 'encouraging' me to transform like you did, and my past traumas weren't thanks to you, but yes… you did make it worse sometimes."

Mr. Cat winced at this, even though he knew it was true, but tried to still keep his encouraging expression for her.

"But I do understand why you did it, and yes, I forgive you."

Mr. Cat exhaled again, unprepared for just how strong his sense of relief was. If Kaeloo had felt even half this emotion when he forgave her… Quietly, he simply closed his eyes and nodded, too overcome to say anything else, and touched his forehead to hers.

The couple spent a few more quiet moments like this, their fingers intertwined, before Mr. Cat felt Kaeloo's body ripple with what sounded like a weak chuckle. "We both are really bad at this, aren't we?"

"Horrendously so."

"Maybe… my dad was right. Maybe we should have waited until we were in a better emotional place to get married."

"Maybe," Mr. Cat said lightly. "It didn't make a difference to me either way. I would have waited a hundred years for you."

"I would have waited a thousand years for you!" Kaeloo countered.

"What," smirked Mr. Cat, still with his forehead pressed against hers, "are we making this a competition now?"

"Competition or not, it doesn't matter," Kaeloo said, sighing a little. "We didn't wait because neither one of us wanted to wait. We just jumped right in."

"Do you regret it?" Mr. Cat asked before realizing that he might not like her answer.

But she squeezed his hand and pressed her forehead against his more tightly. "No," she replied simply.

"Good. I don't regret it either." Mr. Cat pulled away from her to smile at her, his heart soaring when he saw that she was smiling too.

"I do regret not trying harder to be better for you, though," Kaeloo admitted.

"You've been trying a thousand times harder than I have."

"Well…" Kaeloo smiled again. "Like I said, we're both very bad at this."

"And like I said, we make the perfect match." Mr. Cat chuckled lightly at this as well, but he felt himself frown a bit, and he gently squeezed her hands. "But seriously, starting tomorrow I'm going to be better around here. I'll even try to find a job. I mean it. Actually—" His eyes glanced to the clock, and with a small amount of surprise, continued, "starting today, seeing as it's already past midnight."

"What?" Kaeloo pulled away and turned to look at the clock herself. "I can't believe it's that late! It's already Mond—" And then, suddenly, her breath hitched.

"What?" Mr. Cat asked her. "What's wrong?"

"It's—it's past midnight—it's the ninth. The ninth of August…"

Mr. Cat blinked slowly, knowing what the date meant, yet its full importance still taking a second to settle in. Unlike Kaeloo, he'd never actually forgotten this date, but at the same time it had been so unimportant to him, especially these last few years, and…

Kaeloo looked back at Mr. Cat, a huge, shaky smile on her face. "Happy birthday—"

And then her face crumpled and she sobbed.

"Aw, come on, babe," Mr. Cat said quickly, one hand instantly stroking her face as reassuringly as he could, "the thought of me getting older can't be that bad, can it?"

"It's not that," Kaeloo choked out through her sobs, "it's that—I've completely ruined your birthday. I was going to make it wonderful, but instead I hit you and ran off and was so absolutely horrible—"

"You didn't ruin my birthday," Mr. Cat insisted. "Now, if my birthday had been yesterday, then yes, the past couple of hours wouldn't have been great. But even then, it still wouldn't have been my worst birthday. Not even in the top ten, actually."

Kaeloo blinked with surprise and pity through her tears, and Mr. Cat silently cursed at himself. He still didn't want to discuss his past with her, even in such a vague reference such as that, and especially not like this, not now, as if he was trying to compete with her in the Misery Olympics.

"But this birthday," he hastily continued, "even though it's only just started, is already great. You're here with me, and I'm not going crazy with worry trying to find you—"

"Sorry!" Kaeloo blurted out.

"It's fine! You're here now!" Mr. Cat cupped Kaeloo's chin and held her gaze with his. "You're here now, which means I'm starting this birthday with my beautiful, amazing wife by my side, and I have a new lease on life and the drive to improve myself—"

"You don't have to sound like a motivational poster," Kaeloo said. There were still tears in her eyes, but the beginnings of a smile were tugging at her lips.

"I mean it, though!" Mr. Cat sighed, with a slight groan at himself, although he was also beginning to smile at seeing Kaeloo's smile. "This is already the greatest birthday I've ever had."

"That's… sad. If all your previous birthdays were so bad that this one in comparison…" Kaeloo wiped at her eyes discreetly before smiling more fully at Mr. Cat. "I'm not getting off to the right start, but I'm still planning on making your birthday so fun that you'll never even have to think about the bad ones anymore. Your first birthday as a married man is going to be one to remember! I want you to have the greatest birthday of your life… by leaps and bounds!"

Mr. Cat felt himself nearly glowing. No one had ever even acknowledged his birthday with such excitement and fervor before. He opened his mouth to tell her that, because of this, she had already succeeded at her goal, but instead the words that came out were a simple, "I love you so much."

Kaeloo smiled, although it was with the smallest flash of surprise and almost disbelief in her eyes. As brief as it was, it still kind of killed Mr. Cat to see that, to know that there was still a part of her that continued to believe that she wasn't capable of being loved.

But then again, it couldn't bother him too much, could it? Because part of him still felt the same way. Hell, sometimes he still had trouble grasping the fact that he was even married at all, let alone to her. Even though it had been over a month now.

Her hands squeezed his affectionately. "I love you too. And you will see how much when I throw you the best birthday party in the world! There will be cake! And presents! And party games, just for the two of us! And—" Her list was cut off by a large, loud yawn. "And ice cream…"

"You should rest first." The yawn, as yawns are, was contagious, and Mr. Cat found himself unsubtly yawning as well. "And I should rest. I'm exhausted, dammit."

"Sorry for keeping you up…" Kaeloo was already collapsing onto the mattress, the adrenaline that had been keeping her awake until now nearly spent.

"There are better ways for you to keep me up," Mr. Cat muttered without thinking, also heavily lying down.

Kaeloo hummed a bit at him with an arched eyebrow, "Really?" she mumbled. "Now?"

"No, absolutely not. I want to sleep." He snuggled up next to her and nuzzled into her neck, enveloping himself in her warmth and her scent. "Later, though. That's the birthday present I want."

"I can arrange that." Mr. Cat could hear her sleepy smile. "Goodnight, honey… happy birthday…"

He meant to say "goodnight" back to her, but he never quite knew if he got the words out before falling into a deep, contented sleep, the shared breathing of himself and his wife lulling him as nothing else could.

…

Kaeloo woke up slowly at first, then quite suddenly. The memory of the events from the last twelve hours or so had been as slow to wake up as the rest of her, but as she slowly made her way to the land of the wakefulness, so did everything else, exploding in her brain and jostling her nearly upright. While she could tell that getting some rest had definitely helped her mental state, the ramifications were still as fresh and clear in her mind as before.

Also, she appeared to be alone in bed, which was surprising.

"Oh, you're awake." Mr. Cat's voice sounded light, airy, almost cheerful, and definitely not like it usually sounded when he had just woken up. He was already up and in the kitchen area, tidying up the countertops. As Kaeloo sat up straighter and rubbed at her eyes in confusion, Mr. Cat swiftly grabbed the coffee pot. "Would you like some?"

"Er… yes, thank you." She stood up and made her way to the kitchen table and plopped down, looking at the clock and surprised to see that it was only 7:15. Well, part of her wasn't surprised because it felt like it was 7:15, yet she was also completely flummoxed regarding her husband's awake, alert state. He usually wasn't fully awake until at least 10:30.

Mr. Cat poured the exact right amount of cream into her cup, knowing by now precisely how she took her coffee, and handed it to her. "Still piping hot. And stop gaping, I know it's a shock for me to be awake this early, but—" He gave her a quick peck on the forehead. "Believe it, babe."

"But—but—why are you up so early? Early for you, I mean."

"Because I have a very long day of tidying up the apartment and applying for jobs ahead of me."

"Oh, honey, don't worry about all that today!" Kaeloo blurted out. "It's your birthday! You should be relaxing and having fun!"

"Later, but now that I have reached such an advanced age—" He smirked at her and Kaeloo lightly rolled her eyes in return, as his age was hardly advanced at all, it was just the same as hers now—"duty calls. And besides, I thought I heard something about you planning a huge, massive, surprise celebration for me."

"Oh!" Kaeloo blinked once more before nodding enthusiastically and finally taking a sip of her coffee. "That's right, I do have lots to prepare!" But then she frowned, the shame and horror at herself from last night seeping back into her words. "But I also need to go to work today when they open."

"Why?" Mr. Cat's eyes flickered to the calendar hanging on the wall that had all of their (i.e., her) daily schedules and commitments displayed. "I thought you had the day off."

"I do, but remember? I simply must go back and apologize to my supervisors and coworkers for my conduct yesterday. And try to explain that it won't happen again."

"And if it does, it's probably because some asshole guest deserves it."

"Mr. Cat!"

"What?" Mr. Cat took a nonchalant sip of his coffee. "It's true."

"I need to hurry," Kaeloo said, downright chugging the remainder of her coffee and slamming the mug on the table, to Mr. Cat's clear surprise. "I haven't a second to lose. I need to get there straightaway so that they know how dreadfully sorry I am, and—"

"Babe?" Mr. Cat cut in.

"What?"

"As you just got done reminding me, it's very early in the day. The park doesn't open until eleven, right? If you go now you'll be waiting for almost four hours to talk to your boss."

"Oh… you're right." Kaeloo picked up her mug, trying to ignore the burning sensation on her tongue from drinking her coffee so fast, and carried it to the sink to rinse. "But what should I do until then?"

"I'm sure you can think of something."

Kaeloo brightened, if only a little bit, and turned back to Mr. Cat with a flirtatious look. "I think I've just thought of something."

To her surprise—no, shock—Mr. Cat swiftly shook his head. "No, no, I didn't mean that. Not now."

Kaeloo gaped, mouth hanging ajar, too flabbergasted to say anything.

Mr. Cat smirked at her reaction. "Later. But not now. I'm going to go to the park and get out of your way. The signal there is pretty good and I should be able to apply for jobs on my phone there until my battery dies—and right now, it's fully charged."

"You don't need to get out of my way, honey! I'm not still angry at you!"

"No, but don't you have some birthday surprise celebration to set up?"

"That hardly seems like a justifiable reason to kick you out of your own home!"

"Perfectly justifiable." Mr. Cat unplugged his cellphone from its charger and embraced Kaeloo, giving her a soft kiss on the mouth. "Just don't go too crazy with everything. You know I'm not much of a party animal. I don't need much to have a good time." He burrowed his face into her neck, and with a smile that Kaeloo couldn't see but could still plainly hear, added, "And you already have everything I need for that." He nibbled her neck teasingly.

"M-Mr. Cat!" Kaeloo gasped in surprise. "I thought you said 'later'!"

"I did. Just giving you something to look forward to." He released her and headed towards the door.

"When will you be back?" Kaeloo asked.

"I don't know. After noon, at least. When will you be done with the birthday setup?"

"Oh, that shouldn't take long at all."

"Well then. Afternoon sometime." He smirked at her once more, turning the door handle. "Have fun. And good luck at work." And then he left.

Kaeloo blinked a few times before turning on the tap and letting her mug fill with water to rinse it. She probably needed to get going, too—not to work yet, of course, but she needed to buy supplies to prepare for Mr. Cat's birthday celebration. This was something she should have done earlier, in fact—much earlier—and she could feel her cheeks flush guiltily. She hadn't forgotten about his birthday, per se… well… okay, maybe she had sort of forgotten these past few weeks. Work-related stress had pushed all thoughts of birthdays far from her mind. Which wasn't surprising when she thought about it, since she'd done such a good job these past few years of never thinking about birthdays at all.

Of course, shortly after their marriage (and thus shortly after Mr. Cat told her his birthdate), Kaeloo had gone out really quickly and bought a birthday card. But she hadn't purchased anything else, initially telling herself that it would be hard to hide decorations and treats from him for so long. Until, at some point a week or two ago, she had quite simply just not even thought about the big day at all.

If Mr. Cat hadn't seemed so nonchalant about the day in general, in fact, Kaeloo would have been feeling extremely guilty over it.

Then again, she thought to herself as she washed her mug, right now she had far more things to feel guilty about other than preparing in advance for her husband's birthday. Like, for example, how horribly she'd treated him last night. True, she had apologized, and he actually seemed to understand just how wrong she was and truly accepted her apology for the first time she could remember, but that didn't mean that she still didn't feel awful about it.

But Mr. Cat wasn't the only person to whom she desperately owed an apology. And while she couldn't apologize to everyone who had witnessed her outburst at the water park yesterday, she could at least let her boss and colleagues know how truly she regretted her actions from yesterday. Even if it wasn't enough to save her from ultimately losing her job, she still knew that it was the right thing to do.

Unfortunately, she wasn't able to do that just yet, so after placing her mug on the drying rack, she headed out the door herself, off to buy party decorations and all the groceries she needed to bake the greatest birthday cake in the history of birthday cakes.

…

True, Mr. Cat didn't have much first-hand knowledge in this sort of endeavor. Okay, he didn't have any first-hand knowledge. But still, it seemed to him that finding a job should have been a little more difficult than this.

He'd spent about half an hour on a bench in the park, searching on his phone for places hiring entry-level, minimum wage positions, and unsurprisingly there were a fair amount, including fast-food eateries, convenience marts, and even local schools in need of janitors. He'd applied for as many of these as he could, feeling very strange both at having to embellish his (lack of) job experience, as well as actually using his real name on the applications. But even despite the oddness of the situation, it hadn't taken him very long at all. Not wanting to just lounge around on a bench for hours, he ventured off the bench and away from the park, in search of anything else he could do.

He found his way downtown, idly ambling down the streets, glancing in the windows of each place he passed by. As it was still early, most were only just opening for the day, if they were even open yet at all. But there was one place that he could tell was open before he even had to look—he could smell it. The bakery. And whatever they were baking smelled so delicious that Mr. Cat decided to pay them a visit. And as he entered the small shop, he nearly missed the small hand-written sign in the corner of the window: "HELP WANTED – ENQUIRE WITHIN"

It might have just been serendipity.

Because when he walked out of the bakery half an hour later, he not only had a bag full of freshly baked rolls, but he also had a part-time job to help clean up after-hours five nights a week.

Returning to the same bench in the park and slowly munching on a roll, still hours away from the afternoon, Mr. Cat almost felt guilty about the whole thing.

Sure, it was what he had set out to do. And sure, his natural charm that he could flip on and off like a switch probably had a lot to do with his relative ease in finding employment. But after seeing how much Kaeloo had struggled in the endeavor herself—to say nothing of her current troubles at her job which could theoretically threaten her position—well, Mr. Cat couldn't feel entirely proud and satisfied at a job well done. Not when the little nagging voice in the back of his head kept whispering, "Why you? Why do you get all the luck and not her?"

And he was going to continue to get all the luck, at least today, because for the first time in years, he was actually going to have a real birthday celebration. And he knew she was going to pull out all the stops. She'd insist that he deserved luck on his special day, after all.

Mr. Cat curled up onto the bench, tucking the bag of rolls close to his body.

Might as well believe her on that front, at least for a day.

With nothing else to do for the time being, and with very little energy thanks to a late night and early morning (which the coffee had only helped to stave off a little bit), Mr. Cat found himself drifting off to sleep in a modest, if uncomfortable, catnap. Dreams filled his sleep, dreams of sweeping up the bakery floor only to find Bad Kaeloo roaring at him that he missed a spot, oh yeah and that he was making her look bad, and that she didn't want to be with him anymore, oh yeah and happy birthday anyway… all disrupted his sleep and ensured for a restless catnap, to say the least.

Still, despite the rather unpleasant dreams, he wasn't roused from his sleep until a young pair of ducks started poking him in the shoulder, demanding loudly, "Mister? Mister? Are you gonna eat those?"

Mr. Cat's eyes fluttered open groggily, but he still managed to grasp the situation enough to pull his bounty closer to him instinctively. "Yes," he growled at them. "Go away."

"Sheesh, sorry for asking, mister." The two ducks scampered off.

Mr. Cat continued to scowl at them even as they vanished from sight, giving him enough time to recall just exactly what he had been doing and why he was there. He pulled out his phone to check the time, seeing that it was already 12:06.

Wow, he'd slept for longer than he thought.

But it worked out in his favor, for not only was his energy slightly replenished, but it was also after noon, and thus an acceptable time to return back home and see just what Kaeloo had prepared for him. He stood up, holding the bag of pastries at his side. He hoped his good news regarding his newly obtained occupation would brighten her day even a fraction of how much he already knew that she would brighten his.

In no time at all he had returned to their apartment building and scaled the stairs to their unit. Turning the key in the lock, he opened the door very slowly, anticipating confetti or party streamers popping out at him the instant the handle turned.

This didn't happen. However, there was a large "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" banner tacked up on the wall, and numerous, multi-colored balloons tied to the dining chairs. And, on the table, a white cake with pink frosting and a few birthday candles perched on the top.

Kaeloo, who had been lounging on the loveseat, leapt to her feet when Mr. Cat entered. "Mr. Cat! You're back! Happy birthday!" And she grinned, and she rushed towards him and gave him a big hug, but Mr. Cat could tell from her touch that she was… on edge. Antsy.

He opened his mouth to ask her, without even hugging her back, but before he could Kaeloo had pulled away in mild surprise. "What's in the bag?" she asked.

"Er—rolls. Pastries. I got a job," he blurted out without prelude. "At the bakery downtown—"

"Ooh, Maurice's Pastries?" Kaeloo said. "I know that place! Their food is so delicious! And you'll actually be working there? As a chef?"

"Unfortunately, it's not that exciting," Mr. Cat said apologetically, setting the bag of pastries down on the table next to the cake. "I'm just the night janitor. But still, a job's a job, right?"

"Yes, it is! That's so exciting, honey! Congratulations!" She gave him another tight hug, with limbs that were only slightly less tense than before.

"Okay, okay—" Mr. Cat wrenched Kaeloo off of him. "Thanks and all, but what's the matter? You seem a little distracted."

"Oh—yes, yes, I'm sorry—Happy birthday, and congratulations, and—"

"And you already said all that. Now tell me, what's bothering you?" With a sudden realization, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Did you get sacked from your job?"

To his confusion, Kaeloo shook her head, although with a still sort of strange look plastered on her face. "No… no, I still have my job, and I guess that's what's got me so distracted."

"Er… explain, please?"

"W-well, I got there, just before they opened, to apologize and ask if there was anything I could do to make up for my transgression yesterday. And they were surprised to see me—and also almost relieved. They showed me the messages they'd gotten on social media last night after my—episode, and…"

"And…"

Kaeloo blinked rapidly for a second or two, apparently still trying to take it all in. "And there were so many messages asking about when that… that 'cool monster' would be back. Word got out and now a bunch of people are clamoring to come and see… her." Kaeloo looked at Mr. Cat with the most honest look of confusion and perplexity that he'd ever seen on her. "They actually wanted me to stay and work today—I told them I couldn't, that I had to be here to celebrate your birthday with you—"

"Are you kidding?" Mr. Cat said, almost laughing a bit at the situation. "Do you know how much I'd enjoy my birthday knowing that you're excelling at your job by giving everybody exactly what they want?"

"But why?" Kaeloo blurted out.

"Because," Mr. Cat answered, very sincerely, "seeing you succeed is—"

"No, no, no," Kaeloo interrupted, "not why to you. Why to them. Why do so many people want to see that monster?"

Mr. Cat paused for a moment before letting out a light, soft chuckle. "Because they all have exceedingly good taste, clearly."

"Mr. Cat—" Kaeloo began with an exasperated sigh.

"They do know that you're taken, though, right?" Mr. Cat purred at her, pulling her body close to his.

"Honestly, Mr. Cat—" Kaeloo pushed him away. "I know that you have that sexual fetish about my other self—"

"It's not a sexual fetish," Mr. Cat protested.

Kaeloo rolled her eyes. "Lying does not become you, Mr. Cat."

"It's not only a sexual fetish," Mr. Cat corrected himself. "And there are plenty of reasons why people would be… shall we say, platonically attracted to your beautiful transformed self."

"Really? Name one! Everyone must have been joking in their messages, there's no possible way…" Kaeloo slumped down on the nearest dining chair, her expression sagging helplessly.

Mr. Cat knelt down in front of her, tenderly taking her hands in his. "Transform for me," he said, "and I'll name dozens."

Kaeloo looked at him, surprised, but no answer was forthcoming.

"Please. Transform for me. For my birthday," Mr. Cat added with a small smirk. He didn't consider himself much of a beggar, and he definitely wasn't one to use his birthday to any sort of advantage under normal circumstances, but Kaeloo did want to give him the best birthday ever, after all… why not push her in the direction of how to do so? Okay, so maybe he was trying to take a little bit of advantage. It was his birthday. Just one day out of the year. He was allowed one day.

Kaeloo, still sitting on the chair and breathing deeply, didn't begrudge him for that. It was his birthday, and she knew he'd like that, and besides, she'd been planning on transforming for him later anyway. But with the very surprising revelation on how bizarrely well-received her transformed self had been—despite every reason in the world for it not to be—it was hard to concentrate on any emotion other than honest befuddlement. And while Kaeloo could, with varying degrees of success, transform using other emotions than merely anger, confusion was not one of them. Confusion made her feel… weak. And weakness left her small and helpless.

But… with the way Mr. Cat was looking at her, gazing at her, feeling weak was nigh impossible.

She nodded. "Stand back. I'll try."

"You'll succeed," Mr. Cat answered with a smirk, dutifully letting go of her hands and taking a few steps back.

And Kaeloo responded as she normally did to his attitude—rolling her eyes and snorting a bit with good-natured annoyance—but that was enough to overpower the confusion just enough to focus on making herself larger and imposing. And as she transformed, she marveled to herself how nice it was to be able to do so with a trigger other than anger.

"Told you so," Mr. Cat said approvingly.

Bad Kaeloo… well, wait, she really shouldn't think of herself as "bad". This was still her, after all… trying to separate these two aspects of hers to the point where she tried to think of them as two distinct individuals had never helped matters, had it?

But of course, things felt so different when she was in this form. Like how she had to look down quite a bit to match Mr. Cat's gaze. That she'd never liked. But she tried not to think about that right now—she'd transformed for a reason, after all. "Well?" she grunted out, trying to not sound as loud as she normally did when transformed. "You said… you had… reasons…"

"Well," Mr. Cat started, his eyes flickering down to her torso, "not counting how amazingly tight and sculpted your ass is right now…"

"Mr. Cat," Kaeloo started with a growl, "platonic—"

"Right, right, platonic. But I still have to mention that, you know," he added with a wink.

Kaeloo wanted to say something to counter that, but even like this she could feel herself grinning from the compliment. Damn him and his flattery, anyway. As easy as it was to get annoyed by him, sometimes he made it exceedingly difficult to stay annoyed.

"We'll start with an easy one, then. You're commanding."

"That's… good?" Kaeloo said, surprised.

"Lots of people like having someone tell them what to do. Especially when they don't know what to do themselves."

"Not everybody," Kaeloo grumbled.

"But not nobody," Mr. Cat countered.

Kaeloo had nothing to say to dispute that.

"And do you know something else that a lot of people like?" Mr. Cat looked at Kaeloo knowingly. "People like to get scared. There's a reason why slasher movies and disaster movies and haunted houses are all so popular."

"But…" Kaeloo blinked, growling slightly at herself. She hated how hard it was to get words out when she was like this. "But… those not real…" Her shoulders sagged a bit. "I'm real."

"Yes," Mr. Cat agreed, almost wondrously, "and thank god you are."

"No—Kaeloo mean—" Kaeloo shook her head frantically. "Things that not real—they can't hurt… but Kaeloo can hurt."

"True," Mr. Cat said. "But you already told me that you didn't hurt anyone there. So what's the impression they're left with? A large, scary lifeguard that makes things exciting but isn't actually any danger to them whatsoever. Why wouldn't they all clamor for that?"

"Okay…" Kaeloo said, again having no ready argument. True, it was often harder for her to think in this form, but she still had to admit that what he was saying made a certain amount of sense. Maybe when she de-transformed she'd come up with arguments. Actually, she probably would without even trying… which was why she needed more of Mr. Cat's encouragement right then. "More? More reasons? You said—you said you had dozens…"

"You can reach the top shelf of everything."

"That… not important," Kaeloo muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Until that thing you need is on the top shelf, and then it's the most important thing in the world. You know I'm right," Mr. Cat said, smirking at her.

"Fine, fine, important. Next?"

"Pick me up. Please?"

"That's—not a reason," Kaeloo managed to get out.

"Sorry, babe, I can't help it, I want to feel you touching me."

"Stop flirting," Kaeloo grumbled, but once again she could feel that telltale smile spread across her face. Obligingly, she lifted Mr. Cat off the ground with both her arms and held him up so that they could talk face-to-face without her having to lean down, cradling him in the crook of an elbow.

"I should get a medal for waiting that long to ask," Mr. Cat shot back. He was still grinning too, although his eyes were soft and tender, full of clear adoration. He stroked her cheek. "You're so gorgeous, you know."

Gorgeous was about the last word Kaeloo would use to describe herself, especially in this form, but something in the way Mr. Cat said it made her almost able to believe it.

"Platonic," she managed to say, trying to get back on track, "remember?"

"I know, I know…" He quickly kissed the side of her mouth. "I'll be twice as romantic later to make up the difference. Can later be now?"

"Mr. Cat…"

"Fine." But despite this, Mr. Cat continued to gaze at her, utterly besotted, and lovingly stroked the side of her face again, and Kaeloo was too enraptured this time to redirect him. "You do realize," he finally said, "that like this, you're the perfect lifeguard, right?"

Kaeloo blinked, confused. "What?"

"Not just lifeguard—you're the perfect guard, period. Do you know how safe I feel right now?"

Surprised, Kaeloo shook her head. "I… no. Don't know."

"Well, you should." Mr. Cat stroked her cheek again before continuing. "You're strong enough to keep anyone safe. If someone was in distress at the water park—look at you! You could jump right in and haul them out of the water and save their life in two seconds flat. No one has to fear a thing when you're guarding them."

"They could fear me," Kaeloo countered. "They should fear me. Can hurt them—"

"But you didn't. And you won't. You're on their side." Mr. Cat continued to smile warmly at her. "And I'd bet money that that's why everyone who saw you yesterday is so anxious to see you again. They saw you exactly as I see you. Well, okay, hopefully not exactly. They can't have you like I do." He quite literally purred with this last bit, licking his lips. "But I wouldn't be surprised if one or two of them got a little… excited at the sight of you."

"Mr. Cat!" But Kaeloo was smiling again, despite herself.

"Are you convinced why people would want you now?" Mr. Cat asked with a smirk.

"Think so…" Kaeloo shrugged a bit, but still smiled. "Sort of."

"Need more convincing, huh? That's fine, I can do this all day."

"No!" Kaeloo blurted out, startling Mr. Cat a bit. "Your birthday! Need to celebrate!" She quickly set him back down on the ground and lumbered to the table, awkwardly due to her large size. "Have cake! Have ice cream! Take your—"

In her haste and with her size, she accidentally knocked over a large, square, wrapped box. "—Present!" she finished, holding it out to him. "And need music—songs—cake—food—parties—"

And then, something rather rare happened. In all her excitement and mania in thinking about Mr. Cat's birthday, she actually transformed back to normal without even meaning to.

"Aw, so soon?" said Mr. Cat.

"Whoa, that was… I wasn't even trying to change back!" She quickly held out the present to him again, adding, "Sorry, I can change back if you want!"

"Nah, don't worry about it, babe. Be however you want." He took the package from her and gave it a little shake. "Sounds like it has a lot of pieces."

"You don't need to shake it, Mr. Cat! You can open it right now!"

"No love for the suspense, huh?" Mr. Cat smirked at her before extending his claws and carefully ripping the wrapping paper from the box.

"Ooh," said Kaeloo, intrigued. "I wish I could do that."

"And I wish I could transform to three times my size like you do," Mr. Cat shot back, still smirking. Removing the wrapping paper, he revealed that his present was… "A science kit?"

"Yes, I—I thought it looked like fun, and—and you really are the smartest person I know. The smartest person I've ever known." She shrugged at him, almost apologetically. "Do you like it?"

"Ooh, ages fifteen and up?" Mr. Cat read from the box. "These must be advanced. Should be fun." He smiled at Kaeloo more fully. "Thanks, babe."

"You're welcome! I hope you have fun with them!"

"I'll expect your help with them, of course," Mr. Cat said off-handedly.

"Oh—you will? I mean, yes, of course, they'll be fun to do together!"

"Lots of things are fun to do together." Mr. Cat put the kit down and wrapped his arms around Kaeloo. "One thing in particular," he said suggestively, into her neck.

Kaeloo couldn't stop herself from moaning a bit. "But—but what about the cake and ice cream?"

"Later," said Mr. Cat, continuing to nibble on her neck, one hand slinking down between her legs.

And Kaeloo found that she agreed with him on that.

…

"Okay, are you ready for the cake now?" Kaeloo asked later, she and Mr. Cat both lying sprawled out on the bed and still breathing heavily.

"What's the big rush?" Mr. Cat asked, nuzzling his face into her side and kissing her smooth skin. "Staying right here the rest of the day would be heaven."

"But I thought we could go to my parents' house. They'll want to see you on your birthday."

Mr. Cat sighed to himself. "They can just send a card…"

"And we should go to Smileyland too, and celebrate with Stumpy and Quack Quack."

Mr. Cat's groan was louder and more frustrated this time.

"Come on, Mr. Cat, they're our friends and we haven't seen them for awhile! And I'm sure they'd love to celebrate your birthday with you!"

"You know I'm not big on parties."

"Come on, you love parties. And attention. And besides, they're our friends!"

Mr. Cat sighed again, but he didn't sound annoyed otherwise. "In a few days, okay? I just want to spend my day today lounging around and enjoying your completely undivided attention. The rest of the world can wait for a bit."

"Are you trying to tell me that you'll want more sex later?" Kaeloo asked, the corner of her mouth twitching upwards.

"Hmm. Maybe." Mr. Cat smiled against her skin and kissed her again. "And I don't think your parents, or Duckface and Nutcracker, should be seeing that."

Kaeloo grinned blissfully at the sensation too, before suddenly frowning and shaking her head. "No, no, Mr. Cat, I won't let you distract me like this! There is absolutely no excuse for not going to Smileyland today."

"No, actually, there's a perfect excuse." Mr. Cat kissed Kaeloo one more time before pulling away at her and looking her in the eyes. "I start work tonight at seven."

"Oh!" Kaeloo sat up in surprise. "That's—that's really soon! They just hired you this morning, didn't they?"

"And they needed the help right away," Mr. Cat said with a shrug. "And I had nowhere else to be. Why wouldn't I start right away?"

"Why, Mr. Cat, that's downright responsible of you."

"Yes, you've been a horrible influence on me." A sly grin accompanied these words.

"Well, what would you like to do until then? We still have a few hours."

"Hmm." Still grinning, Mr. Cat leaned over and gave Kaeloo a tender kiss on the lips. "After kissing my wife a few more times…"

"Mr. Cat," Kaeloo giggled.

"And after trying some of the delicious cake she's prepared…"

"I'm glad you didn't forget about that, I worked really hard on it!"

"After all that…" Mr. Cat stood up from the bed and smiled at Kaeloo, very sincerely. "Let's try out that science kit together. That will be fun."

Kaeloo smiled too, stepping off the bed. "Yes, it will be!"

They both made their way to the table and each cut a slice of cake. Mr. Cat took a bite, pleased to discover that the cake was soft and moist. "It's delicious," he told Kaeloo through the food.

Kaeloo, who also had a bit of cake in her mouth, nodded eagerly. "Thank you!" she said, her mouth similarly muffled from the cake. Swallowing it quickly, she added, quite tenderly, "Happy birthday, honey."

Mr. Cat smiled warmly. "It is, babe. It is."

And it was.