AN: Thanks for all the great reviews. On with the story......
Chapter 3 The Break room Disaster
Thursday Morning
Jag Headquarters
11:00am
'I have to be in court in 15 minutes' Mac thought with out even looking at the clock in her office. She quickly packed up all the files she would need and quickly reviewed what she planed out to say concerning her prosecution of Harm's client. She practically felt like she had the case rapped up and believed without a doubt that she would win. Five minutes later she was ready to go and kissed the sleeping kitten. The kitten perked her ears up when she heard Mac head to the door. "I'll be back around 12:30 to bring you lunch. Be a good kitty while I'm gone." Then she shut the door, forgetting to lock it behind her. Mac ran into Jen as she was hurrying down the hall.
"Can I ask you a favor?" She asked Jen.
"Go ahead Ma'am."
"Could you see to it that my door stays closed while I'm in court? Do you know what I mean?"
"Sure I'll be happy to make sure that your kitten doesn't escape."
"Thanks, I owe you one," Mac replied as she left down the hall.
While Mac was in court Jen had checked on the sleeping kitten, but she couldn't stay with the kitten for very long. She had to get back to work. While she was gone the kitten yawned stretched then jumped onto Mac's chair and onto the floor. She was wide awake, hungry, and not sure when Mac was going to return. All that stood in front of the kitten and the whole office was Mac's door. Since it wasn't locked, it didn't take the kitten long to stick its paw under the door and push it open.
The first thing the kitten saw was the shuffling of feet and a clean floor to walk on. But the feet of the office workers looked big and scary to the tinny kitten. She dashed back into Mac's office and peeked around the door at the shoes again. The kitten's stomach was rumbling hungrily and she could smell tuna from across the room. In one brave move the kitten dashed with lightning speed across the room without being spotted. The door where the smell was coming from had strange letters spelling out BREAK ROOM. The kitten wasn't sure what the word meant, but the tuna smell was radiating from that room so there was no doubt in the kitten's mind that this is where she was going to find food.
No one was in the break room and the kitten bounced trying to get up to the counter. The tuna smell was getting stronger the kitten could almost taste it. The kitten jumped again and again trying to get to the counter top. She wasn't big enough for she was only a fur ball. She mewed in frustration until she saw a chair next to the counter that had been piled up with open cereal boxes. She jumped for the chair, pulling herself up the rest of the way. She climbed with difficulty up the four cereal boxes to the counter. The boxes of cereal crashed to the floor scaring the kitten as it sprayed out over the floor.The smell was now overwhelmingly powerful as the kitten saw where the source of the smell was coming from. Someone had left half a can of tuna left open from their lunch. The only problem was that the sink stood between the cat and the tuna on the other side. The sink was filled with water, obviously soaking the dishes inside, and this was an obstacle the kitten had to face. Being the smart kitty she was, she easily found a way above the water. Over the sink hung a paper towel roll, the kitten leapt for the roll and grasped the paper towel that unraveled between her paws and mouth. She had almost reached the other side when the paper towel roll started unraveling fast.
The kitten plunged into the sink water and gave out a cry as she shot up straight out of the water before she was completely submerged underneath. The black kitten was very drenched but clean as she stood on the counter. She shook out most of the water onto the floor and counter. The kitten approached the tuna sniffing it to see if it was safe then gobbled it up.
One of her instincts was to explore and she stayed on the counter for a few more minutes poking around, knocking things over, and occasionally chasing her tail just for the fun of it. A bag of chips had been sitting on the counter and the kitten stuck her head into the small bag of chips. The kitten didn't like the smell or the taste, but as she tried to back up she found that she was stuck. She franticly started shaking her head and ran back and forth on the counter, knocking things off the in the process.
Meanwhile.....
Court was just getting out and Harm and Mac walked side by side out of the court room. "Mac, you have to believe," Harm said, "that I out strategize you."
"You wish," Mac pouted. "Well you won this time in court but you better watch out next time. I must admit Harm; you actually startled me for a change presenting that new information at the last moment."
"Hey what can I say," Harm said proudly. "It was that information that saved my client from jail."
"Yeah, yeah...I was wrong; rub it in now while you still can."
"Was that a threat?" He asked. "Or better yet, Mac admitting she was wrong, that's like a camera moment."
Mac laughed before shoving Harm playfully.
"Now there's that smile," he said, looking her straight in the eyes.
"What smile?" She asked, trying to frown but failing.
"The one you're trying to hide. Admit it Mac I'm making you feel better."
"I feel horrible," she kidded putting her free hand over her eyes. Harm looked disappointed. "Ok, ok," she added, "you are making me fell a little better."
"I knew it!" He said giving her his special weak-in-the-knees smile. "You just can't escape my charm and dashing good looks, it always helps you feel better."
"What charm?" She asked. "Looks like someone's over confident."
"Huh?" He asked. "I'm hurt, offended, wounded, stabbed through the heart-
"I get it; sorry I insulted your charm."
Before Harm could replied to their witty banter, Jen rushed up to Mac.
"Colonel!!!!" She said, looking desperately at Mac. "I need to speak with you."
"Is everything alright Coats???" Harm asked seeing the worry in Jen's face.
"Everything's fine," she said pulling Mac away from him. When they were out of ear shot, Jen said, "Ma'am your going to kill me, I'm so sorry."
"What happened, Jen?" Mac asked becoming alarmed.
"I tried to keep the office door closed but I had to use the restroom and when I came back the door was open and the kitten was gone!"
5 minutes earlier.....
The kitten had gotten the bag off of her head and now was playfully dipping her paws in the sink water. She was pouncing around on the counter leaving wet paw prints everywhere. After that she started investigating nooks and crannies where different food was stored. Occasionally she'd knock over something and it would spill to the floor. Thinking nothing of it, the kitten continued to investigate and pounce on any object she thought fun to play with. She was a kitten and didn't know any better. This continued as Mac and Jen searched Mac's office for the missing kitten.
"Are you sure she's not in here??" Mac asked getting on her hands and keens to check under the desk
"Checked the whole office, she's not in here"
"Oh...no," Mac said, as a sinking feeling entered her stomach. "If she is not in here then she must be loose somewhere in the building. Pets aren't even allowed," she said, starting to panic.
"Calm down, Colonel," Jen said. "I'm really sorry."
"Hey it's not your fault. The kitten is smart and she probably found a way to escape.
We are going to have to search the area. She couldn't have gone far."
At that moment the kitten decided to leave the break room and find somewhere else to play. Mac and Jen started out slowly and checked the area around Mac's office, but found no sight of the kitten.
Mac's stomach was growling. "I can think better on a full stomach." As she said that Jen spotted Harriet eating a tuna sandwich and got an idea.
"If you were a cat Mac, where would you be headed?"
"I don't know where a kitten would be headed, but I need food."
"Exactly!" Jen said, as she pulled Mac into the break room.
As they opened the door they were shocked by the sight. It looked like s tornado had ripped through the break room. Boxes of cereal that had once been stacked on the chair were now littered on the floor as an ocean of cereal laid out under their feet. As their eves moved up to the counter they saw a mess of knocked over bottles and things spilled out on the sink. A long roll of paper towels were hanging in the sink and all over the room.
"What happened in here?" Mac asked, shocked at the sight in front of her.
"I think I know what happened;" Jen said pointing to the wet paw prints left by the kitten. "It looks like our little friend was in here."
Unexpectedly Mac started laughing while she tried to clean up some of the mess.
"Ma'am, are you ok?" Jen asked stooping on the floor to help her.
"I'm fine Jen," Mac said when she had controlled her laughter. "Nothing ever like this has happened and it just made me laugh thinking about what the kitten looks like after creating a mess like this."
"So you're not mad?"
"Actually I'm not, but I'm going to have to teach this kitten to behave."
"Whoa!!!! What happened in here?" Harriet asked as she walked in and saw the mess.
"It's a long story," Mac replied, setting the cereal boxes on the counter.
"Here, let me help you," she said, going and cleaning off the sink.
With the three of them working to clean up the kitchen, it was spotless sooner than imaginable. "Thanks for helping us," Mac said, looking at Harriet. "We are sort of on the search for a kitten."
"A kitten!!!!" Harriet exclaimed.
"SSHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mac and Jen hushed. Then for the next few minutes they began explaining about the kitten.
"Sure I'll help guys. I finished most of my paper work already and to tell you the truth I was kind of getting board."
"Lucky you," Mac said. "We'll shall we start looking? Three eyes are better than one. By the way only we three are to know about this kitten. Animals have been banned at Jag since-
"I remember!" Harriet interrupted. "Since AJ's frog in the Admirals coffee accident." They started laughing thinking about the look on the Admiral's face when he had found more than coffee in his cup that day.
They split up the office area into three parts. Harriet was to take the area around the front door, she was also to thoroughly check all closets or storage closets just to make sure the kitten hadn't gotten stuck in one. Jen was assigned to half of the desk area including the Admirals office. While Mac took the other half of the desk areas including other offices like Harm's and Sturgis' and Bud's.
After they were done checking their sections they were to locate Mac and report their findings. Having received their orders from Mac they set out on their selected area, hoping the kitten wasn't going to be hard to find.
End of chapter 3
Please review....It helps me to know that people like this story.