Thank you to my 4 reviewers! I hope you like the next chapter. Yeah, I like Alonzo and Jemima together as well!

Cassandra moved stealthily along the rooftops, balancing easily on the ridgepole of each roof and winding her way delicately round the chimneys. She moved with all the natural grace of an Abyssinian, and her clear blue eyes never stopped searching each roof for Alonzo. A tiny sigh escaped her as she thought of the black and white tom. She knew many of the other queens didn't like her, but the worst thing was that the toms avoided her too. Alonzo was the only one who she felt at least a little secure with.

'I know I'm not really pretty,' She thought to herself. 'But I don't understand why they don't like me. Plenty of the other queens aren't beautiful, and they never have trouble finding a mate.' Cassandra didn't realise it was her manner, rather than her looks, that turned the other cats away. She had been brought up in the richest area of London and was inclined to give herself airs, which annoyed the queens. The toms just thought she was weird. She was too mysterious for most of them, and they did their best to avoid her.

As Cassandra crossed to the next roof she caught a scent – Alonzo had been this way! But he wasn't the only one. Putting her nose to the tiles, she caught the scent of another cat – a queen. But who it was, Cassandra couldn't tell. The short fur on the back of her neck raised in confusion and a little anger. Alonzo wouldn't take another queen and leave her – would he? She didn't know. He had never been as affectionate to her as she had seen the other mates be. Perhaps he didn't like her either, after all. Warily she continued, afraid of what she might see but unable to turn away and, above all, angry with whichever queen might be trying to steal Alonzo away from her.

Two roofs later, she saw them.

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Alonzo gazed into Jemima's large, dark eyes.

"Your eyes are as beautiful as the moon and the stars," He whispered, bringing his paw up to stroke her cheek. She smiled at him and reached her golden face up to his, bumping noses with him and then rubbing against him affectionately. Alonzo returned the caress, his heart racing as she slid closer. Then they both looked up in surprise as they were cast into shadow, a shape above them blocking the moonlight. Cassandra stared down at Alonzo, claws glinting. Her blue eyes were filled with pain and sadness.

"Alonzo…" She whispered. Then she looked at Jemima, and her eyes hardened. "You! I might have known!" She spat bitterly. Of all the cats, it had to be Jemima, the prettiest queen in the whole Junkyard. Without warning she dived forward, knocking Alonzo with her back paws and slashing at Jemima, hatred filling her eyes. With a squeal of surprise Jemima rolled away. Alonzo skidded on some the tiles, sliding dangerously near the edge of the roof as the two queens gained their feet at the same time.

"Cassandra, wait!" Jemima cried, backing away. "I'm sorry…"

"It's too late for sorry!" Cassandra hissed. She lunged again at the smaller cat, managing to swipe her opponent's arm. Jemima cried out, more from surprise that Cassandra would hurt her than from pain, and ran towards the ridgepole of the roof to get away. She wasn't a fighter, and she knew that if she stayed she'd get hurt. Cassandra began to pursue, her jealousy and anger blocking out any common sense she had, but a call from below stopped her.

"Cassandra! Please, stop!" Alonzo pleaded. He had managed to scramble back from the edge of the roof where he had almost fallen to the hard concrete two storeys below. She watched him furiously as he approached. From the corner of his eye, Alonzo saw Jemima disappearing swiftly along the rooftops and cursed inwardly. It was about the worst situation for a tom to be in, but he had to stop Cassandra from hurting Jemima.

"It's my fault. Don't blame Jemima." He said. "She's little more than a kitten and she knew no better. It's me who has been unfaithful." Cassandra spat at his paws and glared at him. She seemed to be about to say something, but then suddenly her attitude changed. She dropped her head.

"Alonzo…" She whispered, tears threatening to choke her voice. "How could you do this to me? I thought you loved me…" A sob shook her body, and she turned and darted away, crying brokenly. It took a lot to make Cassandra shed tears – she prided herself on having control over her emotions, and could be rather scornful of 'weaker' queens. However, now she felt like her heart was breaking, and she ran, not knowing where she was going, but feeling that she couldn't possibly face the others in the Junkyard. Now that Alonzo had betrayed her. She leapt onto the fence and down into the street and raced away into the night, still sobbing.

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"Deme?" A small, wavering call sounded from the edge of the street ahead. Demeter recognised Jemima's voice. She sounded upset. Demeter ran forward a few paces.

"Jemi? Where are you?" She asked, and Jemima moved out of the shadows and into her older sister's arms.

"What's the matter, Jem?" Demeter asked in concern, hugging her tightly. Jemima choked back a sob.

"It's all my fault." She whispered. "I was on the roofs with Alonzo and Cassandra found us. Oh, she was so angry…she tried to hurt me but I ran away. But Dem…I think she was sad, behind her anger." Jemima rubbed her tears away and looked up into her sister's golden eyes. "Cassandra never really fits in, does she? I wish now that I hadn't asked Alonzo to come…but he is so strong and handsome." She finished wistfully.

Demeter was startled at her words. It was the first she had known of her smaller sister beginning to seek a mate, though of course, Demeter reminded herself, she was quite old enough now.

"Oh, Jem…you've got a bit of a problem there!" She agreed ruefully. "Did Cassandra hurt you?"

"Only scratched. No - " She protested as Demeter began looking over her protectively, "It's nothing, really. Barely drew blood. I licked it clean." She offered her well-licked forearm for inspection. Once Demeter was satisfied that it really was just a shallow cut, she suggested to her small sister that they continue walking the street until they met with Munkustrap again.

"We were searching for Alonzo," Demeter explained. "Cassandra took the roofs, and Munku the backstreets. It was his turn to kit-sit."

"Oops." Jemima smiled shakily. "He must have forgotten again!"

"We guessed that! But now we have something more to deal with. Tell me, Jem," She turned her intense gaze on her sister's wide, beautiful eyes. "Do you really love Alonzo – more than just a crush?" Jemima sighed and turned her head away.

"I don't know. I've never felt this way before…with Tugger, it was different. I just wanted to scream every time I saw him! But Alonzo is so much more mature. Truthfully," She looked back at Demeter, "I probably don't love him, not like you and Munkustrap. But then, Alonzo doesn't love Cassandra that way either." She pointed out shrewedly. "I do LIKE him, though!" She grinned. Demeter laughed.

"Don't worry, kit. You're way too young to experience true love yet…but believe me, it'll come, and Heaviside, you will know it!"

"I believe you!" Jemima was so fervent that Demeter laughed again. Jemima had watched the mating dance at the Ball a few times now, and the passion of the dancing pair still amazed her. "But now what do I do? Cassandra's angry and miserable, and Alonzo probably won't want to see me again. And Cassandra will be angry with him too." Demeter sighed.

"I really think that the best thing you can do is wait till she's calmed down a little, then just, well, grovel and hope Alonzo does the same. She may break off her relationship with him, but Munku won't be happy if there's dissonance within the tribe. And I don't think it's a good idea to continue with Alonzo, either."

"But Demi…" Jemima protested, unwilling to lose the new relationship she had formed with Alonzo. Before she could continue, they were interrupted by a call from above. Alonzo peered down at the two queens anxiously.

"Jemima? Are you ok?" He asked, searching for a safe place to descend.

"I'm fine. Are you?" Jemima called back, wriggling a little with pleasure that he cared enough to ask after her.

"Yeah, but I don't think Cassandra is. She ran off in that direction," He pointed in the opposite direction to the Junkyard, "And she was really upset." He found a tree growing from someone's yard right up to the roof, and scrambled down it.

"Well, she would be." Demeter said severely. She was inclined to be tougher on Alonzo than her sister – he was several years older, after all, and should have known better than to two-time. A guilty expression crossed Alonzo's handsome black-and-white face as Demeter continued. "Think of how she feels. You went right behind her back, and it's probable she was insecure anyway, beneath all her airs."

"You're right." Alonzo admitted, with an embarrassed glance at Jemima. There was nothing he wanted more right now than to just go and hide somewhere for a week, until all this had blown over. "Maybe we should go back and wait till she turns up? Surely she won't leave the tribe completely. And by the time she comes back, she'll be calmer…and we can forget it all?" He asked hopefully. Demeter shook her head.

"You really have to apologise – both of you."

Jemima sighed again, then poked her sister.

"Miss Wise! Be careful or you may turn into a hooter-bird." She teased. Owls, or hooter-birds as they were nicknamed by kittens, were notorious for appearing to be wise, but having their heads full of stuff and nonsense for most of the time. Demeter gasped in mock indignation.

"Why, you cheeky rascal! I've a good mind to send you to Jenny for a good bath -" she was interrupted by Jemima's wail of despair.

"Nooo! Anything but that!" She begged. It was the most kittenish of punishments, and Jemima knew all too well how the babies would laugh if they caught her, a queen, being licked clean by Jennyanydots.

"Demeter…ALONZO!" Alonzo jumped at the sound of his name and looked at Munkustrap, who was emerging from an alley. "And just WHERE were you tonight?" There was deep meaning in the silver tabby's tone, and Alonzo gasped as realisation dawned.

"Everlasting Cat! I was kit-sitting tonight!"

"Yes. You were." Munku was at his most severe. "And thanks to you, poor Jennyanydots has had to miss nearly half of her night off. No!" He stopped Alonzo's apology. "Get there, now!" Alonzo took one look at the towering silver tabby, gulped, and ran. Demeter and Jemima managed to control themselves until he was out of earshot, then began to howl with laughter. Munku looked at them in surprise.

"What?" He asked. Jemima tried to stop laughing.

"His FACE!" She spluttered.

"Poor Alonzo! He hasn't had a scolding in years. He looked like a kitten caught at the cream!" Demeter giggled.

"You're the one acting like a kitten!" Munkustrap told his mate reproachfully, refusing to see the funny side. "And Jemima, where did you come from?" Jemima stopped laughing and looked up at her sister's mate shyly. She hadn't quite come to terms with being closely related to the protector of the Jellicle Tribe yet, and his height compared to her tiny frame didn't make things easier. Demeter understood her difficulty and explained for her, including how Cassandra had found Alonzo and Jemima together, and how she had been violent and then run away. She knew Munkustrap would want to know of something like this happening. Munkustrap frowned.

"She scratched you?" He asked Jemima with concern. Jemima nodded.

"But it didn't hurt, Munkustrap, really. It was just a little scratch. I ran away before she could hurt me." Munku sighed.

"The problem, Jem, is what she might have done if you couldn't run away. I can't risk things like this happening. She has to learn to control her anger if she wants to stay in the tribe. Oh, I'm not kicking her out!" He exclaimed as Demeter and Jemima both began to protest. "But do you see my point? Once violence starts within a Cat, it grows, and I'm not talking about friendly brawls. In all the Heaviside we do NOT want another Macavity on our hands."

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Cassandra returned to the Junkyard just before dawn began to break. She didn't speak to any of the others, but went straight to her den and stayed there. When Jemima plucked up the courage to try and apologise, she was turned away without having a chance to say sorry – Cassandra hissed that she never wanted to even see Jemima's face again. Alonzo, approaching after his kit-sitting duties were over, fared no better. After consulting each other and Munku and Demeter, Alonzo and Jemima decided it was better to leave the angry queen alone for a while.

"What shall we do now?" Jemima asked Alonzo as they sat together on top of the old oven. "I mean, us together? I want to continue…" She looked at him shyly.

"I do as well," Alonzo said, looking at her gravely, "and I think that the damage has been done where Cassandra is concerned. Let's just…keep out of the way of her, and the others, for a while." Jemima nodded. They were both in trouble with the adults of the tribe over the affair, and the only other cat close to Jemima's age, Victoria, teased her mercilessly.

While the older cats didn't really notice that they saw less of both Alonzo and Jemima, Cassandra realised almost at once. The pair were careful about leaving the Junkyard separately, but often they were both missing the whole night, and in the daytime they could sometimes be found snoozing in the sunlight together – never in either one of their dens, of course. As the weeks went by, the tribe grew used to seeing the two together, and as normal life in the Junkyard continued, the affair was almost forgotten. By all but one.