Haughty and Disaffected Like All of its Kin

Disclaimer:  I don't own these characters, not even Malky.

Chapter 2

I knew something was up the second my mistress came home.  She was bearing shopping sacks, that upon investigation, contained ripe, not spoiled produce, a bottle of wine, a bottle of milk, and a bag of flour.  And she was jittery.

First she shooed me from my perch on the counter, then called me back over once I was settled on the bed.  I flat out refused.  Make up your mind, away or close, not both. 

She set about actually cooking a dinner, and I took a nap.  Upon awakening, the loft smelt wonderful.  I did not know that she could cook.  I stretched, clawed the bed a bit, then scurried over to rub my head against her legs in hope of getting a tasty treat.

"Oh, Malky, you want some dinner, don't you?"

Yes, I do.  She patted my head. 

"Well, you have to wait.  I want the pie to be whole at dinner."

Excuse me?  Tease me with it and then say I have to wait?  I lept up on the counter and sniffed the pie.  It smelt even better up close.

"Unh uh.  Get away from it.  Later.  You had a mouse earlier, so you should be able to wait." 

That was a snack.  I stared unhappily at her, as she stared at her reflection in the window.  What was she doing?  She never cared how she looked, usually just dressed in a shapeless brown shift, covering every bit of green that she could.  She pulled her hat off, and ran her fingers through the mass of black hair, trying to untangle it.  It looked nice down.  For a moment I forgot I was mad at her.

"Do I look all right, Malky?"

Yes, indeed.  Quite pretty actually, I didn't realize you were capable of it.  She pet me again and reached into the shopping sack for the bottle of milk, finally filling a small dish for me.

"Fresh milk."

It's about time.  She'd been trying to make me drink the rancid stuff for some time now.

There was a knock at the door.  We had a visitor.  She looked to me. 

"It's time, Malky."

She picked me up, tossing me over her shoulder, and we went to answer the door.  It was, as I assumed it would be, Fiyero.  He was the only visitor we'd ever had, and she seemed to like him so.  After his last visit, I has reassured her, through purrs and comforting nuzzles that I thought he was a nice guy, and should come back.  It was nice to see she had taken my advice.  He smiled, and reached out to pet me with the hand that wasn't carrying a box that looked suspiciously like it was from the bakery.  I accepted the attention. 

"What's this?  I said I'd make dinner."

"And it smells good."

Seconded.

"Just some dessert."

Yum.  I'd had scraps from the bakery before and they were good.

"You didn't have to."

"I know."  Then he grinned, a devilish grin, and continued over to the counter.

My mistress squeezed me tightly, and followed him.

"It's a vegetable pie."

"Looks as good as it smells."

She laughed(a sound that I'd almost never heard from her), and set me down.

"Malky wanted a piece before, but I said it had to be whole when you got here."

"Aww, you could have fed the cat."

I liked him more and more.  She cut the pie(3 servings), and he poured the wine(only 2, sadly), and they went over to sit on the sofa to eat.  My own dish had been placed in the corner, so that I couldn't even watch. 

Finishing my supper, I lept up on the counter to watch them.  They were having a very animated conversation.   His tattoo pattern was very intriguing.  Apparently my mistress thought so too.  She kept mentioning how she liked it.  He watched her with such rapt attention, very formal, very polite, very charismatic. 

The box that he brought lay on the counter.  I trotted over to it, and sniffed. 
"Do you want dessert, Malky?" he asked, standing and coming up beside me.  He stroked my back and untied the knot of string atop the box.  I rubbed my head against him, and purred.

"You probably shouldn't feed him that."

The hell he shouldn't.

"Oh, its not going to kill him.  Here."

He lay a morsel of brownie in front of me, and took the remainder of the box over to my mistress.  I lost track of what was going on with them for a while, the brownie was so good.  By the time I finished my brownie nugget, they had apparently finished theirs as well, and she was telling him that he should be going.  He did not seem pleased.

"Will I be allowed back?"

She stared at him for a long while without saying anything.  I scampered over to where he still sat, and plopped down on his lap. 

"Sorry, Malky, Elphie wants me to leave."

He stood, still holding me.

"Next week.  Same time."

He nodded, and walked toward the door, stroking my back.  Up close, the blue diamonds were even more interesting.  Elphaba followed up to the door.  She reached over to pet my chin, which I promptly moved, so that her hand brushed against his cheek.  She gasped, and pulled her hand away, staring at the cheek.  He handed me back to her. 
"I'll see you next week then.  I'm looking forward to it."

Then he turned and left.

"Me too," she answered softly, so softly I think I'm the only one who heard it.  She carried me back over to the bed, and sat down.

"I can't do this, Malky.  I care about him too much.  He'll get hurt."

I purred, and nuzzled against her.  I wanted our Fiyero to come back.  She wanted our Fiyero to come back.  Fiyero wanted to come back.  She just needed to be constantly reminded.

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