A/N: Please excuse both the long legnth of this chapter and the lateness of my update Between school, writer's block, Christmas anticipation, a million appointments, and alot of revision, this chapter just kind of...well...came about late. Anyways, enjoy.

Chapter 30 – Anticipation

Demeter opened her eyes slowly as the sun was beating down on them. Closing them tightly again, she bowed her head lower into whatever it was that she was lying against. When she realized that 'whatever it was' was something that was breathing, her heart skipped a beat. Braving the rays of the morning sun, she looked up at the tom who had a bored look on his face. He looked down at her and smiled. "Oh, good, you're awake," he said.

"Uh…" she managed to say.

"I didn't want to wake you," he explained, stretching his free arm, as Demeter realized she was lying on his other arm.

"How long have you been awake?" Demeter asked sheepishly, moving herself so he could free his arm. The silver tabby lifted said arm, as his paw fell limply. Munkustrap made a face, shaking his arm, to show off his lifeless paw. Realizing she had cut off the circulation, she ducked her ears back, embarrassed. "Sorry!"

"It's okay," he said, though he didn't seem sure of it himself. "I've been awake ever since Alonzo kicked me in the head."

"What?" Demeter asked, suddenly awake.

"He wasn't too happy with having to be the one who helped Jennyanydots with some of the preparations for the ball. You were still asleep," he added, though Demeter had figured as much, and blushed to herself.

"What did he say?" she asked. Munkustrap was reveling in a cat-like stretch when she asked, and so decided to elaborate. "When he found us…together…here…away from everyone else…what did he say?"

Munkustrap grinned to the queen and got up, offering a paw for Demeter. "I think he said something along the lines of 'It's about time,'" he said as Demeter took his offered paw, lifting herself up. "Then he told me that he wasn't going to do any more work, and Jennyanydots was waiting for me when I was ready to go and help."

"Which brings us back to our original question…when did all this happen?"

Munkustrap looked over to the sun, which was fixing itself in a comfortable position, perfect for getting in the eyes of sleeping cats and commuting humans alike. "Oh…since the sun started to rise."

Demeter looked over to the suns current position, then back to the tom. "That was about two hours ago!" she exclaimed. "You've been awake for two hours with your arm asleep?"

"And a kicked in head," Munkustrap added, grinning to the queen, but she was hardly amused. "What?" he asked.

"Why?" she countered.

"Oh…" Munkustrap said, dumbfounded, as though it were just so obvious. (Which it was.) "I didn't want to wake you." Demeter looked at him with some surprise. "In fact," he said, grinning at her expression. "I promised to kick Alonzo later for nearly waking you. You looked so 'peaceful' sleeping."

He still had that grin on his face as he said that, and Demeter couldn't bear to look anymore. She felt like she was going to melt, for sure. "Oh," she squeaked, blushing.

"Demeter," said the tom's voice softly. She looked up to those green eyes timidly. He looked like he was about to ask her something, but shook his head as he decided against it. "I have to go help the others."

"Oh," Demeter said, nodding in agreement. "I have to go talk to Bombalurina, either way." The two stood still for a moment. Wasn't something supposed to happen now? They were both new to this whole relationship thing. But for the moment, they were at a stand-off, waiting for the other to move. "Well…"

"Well…" Munkustrap made a jerky movement towards the queen, but she instinctively backed away, causing the tom to stop and stay where he was. Demeter then tried to open her arms, but fell short of the actual hug she was trying to pull off. Again they were at a standstill. "Maybe we should just--" he used his paw to indicate the direction he was going to leave.

"Good idea," she agreed, and headed off in the opposite direction, shaking her head and laughing at herself for her awkwardness.

Bombalurina was doing nothing to hide the wide smile on her face as she looked at her sister. Demeter was waiting for the other to say something, but nothing was being said. She just smiled, giggling every once in a while, but not saying anything. Demeter, in turn, shuffled nervously where she sat on the hood of the car they were sitting on, wondering what she was so funny. After a few minutes of this, Demeter finally threw her paws in the air. "What is it!"

"Demi and Munku, sitting in a tree," Bombalurina sang. Demeter sighed, covering her face. "I think it's adorable. You two were made for each other. I've known it all along!"

"Can you stop this?" Demeter said nervously. "I'm getting the feeling of déjà vu." Bombalurina didn't protest this time, as she thought back to the last time this had happened. The red queen scooted closer to her sister, putting an arm around her protectively and looking around nervously, before turning back to her sister, more serious this time. Demeter continued her explanation. "Either way, I don't know how to be around him most of the time. We were fine last night, but this morning, we were so…off."

"Off?" Bombalurina asked, but her sister simply responded with a shrug. "You weren't comfortable around each other?"

"No," Demeter sighed. "I had no idea what to do next. And neither did he! It was so weird. Awkward…embarrassing."

"You're thinking about it too hard," Bombalurina said, rolling her eyes. "You don't just sit there and think 'what should I do next.' Let it happen naturally. You'll know what to do. You'll react how you feel comfortable reacting. You don't have to jump into his arms and nuzzle his face while he's caught off guard…though that would be funny to see." Demeter nudged her sister, and Bombalurina laughed. "What brought you guys together to begin with?"

"Oh," Demeter said, looking down at her paws. "I went to tell him something...I FORGOT!" Demeter yelled suddenly. "After everything with Grizabella happened, I…"

"Grizabella?" Bombalurina asked.

"Oh…" She had forgotten to tell her sister the most important events of the night…(well importance is relevant here, but she was sure that that was more important to the other members of the tribe than her sprouting relationship with a certain tom.) And so, the gold queen relived in a hushed voice what had happened the afternoon before.

"You're kidding," Bombalurina said, astonished. "She had the nerve to come back here? And she looked that bad, huh?" Bombalurina momentarily removed her arm from around her sister and sat back, a distant look in her eyes as she too was shoved back into the past.

"She made me really sad," Demeter admitted, as was evident by her still puffy eyes. "But not only because of the past. She's…not doing good, Bomba."

Bombalurina looked troubled by the news. "Don't have a bleeding heart for her, Dem," her sister warned. "She made everyone in this tribe feel terrible, especially Old Deuteronomy. Like we weren't good enough to gaze upon the fur on her back, even though we all cared about her. Do you think Deuteronomy can take any more hurt from her? He's really showing his age, now." Bombalurina and Demeter both had a somber look on their face, Demeter leaning against her sister wearily at the thought. Soon, their leader may be leaving them. Hopefully not any time soon…but he worked his life doing his best for this tribe, and all his off-spring. "We can't let him know she came back," Bombalurina said finally. Demeter nodded in agreement, without protest. Perhaps they were underestimating his heart, but they believed it couldn't take another heartache.

Thoughts of the old cat reminded Demeter, once again, of a very important thing she needed to tell Munkustrap about. "I should probably go talk to Munku," she said, hopping off the car.

"Oh, you go do that," Bombalurina said, regaining her smile.

"And you should talk to Tugger," Demeter said, ignoring the other's implying smile. The red queen looked curiously to her sister for that statement. "I think he needs some company." Bombalurina gave her a look. "What?" Demeter asked. Thinking about what she had said, she rolled her eyes. "No! I mean to TALK to him! He was pretty upset yesterday."

"Why?" Bombalurina asked.

"Because..." Demeter took a moment to think her logic through before explaining. "You had to take care of me when I was younger because of our mother," Demeter reminded the other queen.

"Well…I'm sure he's over you hogging the attention when we were kits, Dem."

"No," Demeter said before realizing what the other had said. "Hogging the attention!" she asked indignantly before shaking the thought from her head and getting back on point. "I meant that Tugger is an older brother." The words wiped the smile from Bombalurina's face. "Munku was pretty young when Grizabella left. He didn't really understand either. So Tugger had to explain it to him, over and over again until Munkustrap understood that his mother wasn't coming back."

Demeter could see that Bombalurina was hurt by the memory as well. The red queen placed a paw over her heart, before redirecting her paw to her collar and fiddling nervously with the decorative spikes. Demeter pressed on. "And he had to watch his brother go through it all over again yesterday."

Bombalurina nodded quickly, indicating the gold queen to stop. "I get it," she said softly, her voice quavering slightly. Demeter waited for her sister to react. But the red queen surprised the other with her sudden jump from the car hood, embracing her sister. Bombalurina laughed lightly. "You're so serious!" she said, breaking away from Demeter and putting a paw on the gold queen's cheek. "But I'm glad we finally got to talk like normal. It's been so long."

Demeter slowly smiled to her sister. Satisfied, the red queen sighed, wiped her eyes as though she were trying to keep the tears inside, and then looked to her sister. "You go to one brother, I'll go to the other, and I'll meet you at the Jellicle Ball," she winked.

Bombalurina took on her best silky, sultry walk, and didn't bother to look back towards her sister. As she watched the red queen walk off, Demeter looked up at the sky. The Jellicle moon was a day away, and they would surely be maddened by the midnight dance tomorrow. Sure, she had lived through one Jellicle Ball, but she was so young, she really had no idea what was going on, nor did she care. She barely even remembered. There was dancing, singing, and something about sending someone off to the Heaviside Layer. She couldn't remember who, but surely it was no one she missed. But everyone was so excited about it, and it was hard not to share their excitement.

Demeter hurried her way over to Munkustrap's den. Surely, he would be there…if he had finished everything he had to do for the day.

Bombalurina found Tugger lounging by himself in a corner of the junkyard. The red queen rubbed up against him to get his attention before sitting next to him, fur to fur.

But Tugger seemed to be in a world of his own. A little shocked that he wasn't reacting to her flirty ways, Bombalurina tried to get him to talk. "Um…I heard about what happened yesterday."

"I don't want to talk about it," he said gruffly.

Bombalurina was a little put off, but she reminded herself that he was very upset about the whole incident, and dawned a smile. "I thought if you wanted to talk, you know…I'm here. I mean, you were there for me when I needed to talk to you, so I thought you could talk to me…if you wanted to." The queen thought the repetitive suggestion would hold over well for him, but he didn't even flinch. "Well…since I trusted you enough to talk to you, I was hoping that you could trust me enough to talk to me."

"I don't want to talk about it now," he said again, glancing over to the queen. "And if you don't mind, I want to be alone right now."

Feeling a little cheated, Bombalurina scoffed. "What is your problem?"

"You're bugging me, is what," said the tom, looking positively peeved. "You're sitting here and trying to get me to open up or something, and I'm just trying to get myself together for the Ball tomorrow night. Don't you consider that a little distracting?"

"Everlasting Cat, Tugger," Bombalurina said, standing up and putting her paws on her hips. "You're acting like an old grouch, treating me like your old mate whom you're tired of seeing."

"What makes you think I would have you as my mate?" Tugger asked, before looking back to the spot he was looking to before.

Bombalurina stood and stared at the tom in front of her for a few moments, feeling deeply hurt. She took a deep breath, and looked off, suddenly quite serious. "I don't know…I just thought we…kind of worked." Tugger looked up at her in surprise, a look very few cats can get out of the collected tom. "Didn't you ever think of being mated at all?"

"No!" Tugger said quickly, getting up and looking around frantically for somewhere else to be.

"Why are you looking so nervous?" Bombalurina asked.

"I'm not nervous," the tom said, avoiding eye contact with the queen. "I have to go, is all." And with that, Tugger walked off, faster than he usually does. He left a hurt queen behind, who felt like she had done something wrong. And with the tears threatening to fall, she tried to not think of how stupid she felt or how she had been thinking of something that obviously wouldn't be. He was just a tom that loved her attention, and nothing.

With these thoughts, Bombalurina took in a few deep breaths, turned, and walked as proudly as she could away from the spot where her heart was broken.

"Demetah!" Mungojerrie practically knocked the queen over. Demeter looked at the tom with some confusion. He was panting, doubled over trying to catch his breath. "I was…wonderin'….if you…'ad….someone to…"

"Catch your breath, please," Demeter said, amused. Gratefully, the tom sank to the ground and caught his breath, falling back on the ground. The queen looked around, truing to be enough so he could ask whatever he wanted, so she could go talk to Munkustrap. After a few more moments, the tom finally got back up, with a satisfied sigh at having refilled his lungs with oxygen.

"I was wonderin' if ya wanted to go to the ball with me?" He gave his most charming smile, though it somehow came out lob-sided and awkward. Demeter smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry…I was looking for Munkustrap just now and…"

"Oh," he moped, trudging over to a nearby pile of browning newspapers and sitting on them. "First Etce'tra said she was goin' with that Tuggah fellow, then that 'Lectra kit didn't really give me an answer...and that white queen who looks like a lil' Griddlebone is goin' with someone else! And that one kit didn't realize I was askin' 'er out. And now you're going with that silvah tigah cat thing!"

Trying not to delve into the fact that she was his fifth resort, Demeter tried a different approach. "Still don't have the names down, Mungojerrie?"

"Aw, it's not that bad," he assured her. "Sometimes, I jus' call 'Ey, you!' an' someone turns around."

"Well, here," Demeter said, sitting next to her friend for a moment. "I'll help you with it. Say Munku."

"I 'aven't met 'im, yet!" Mungojerrie marveled.

"No, it's short for Munkustrap…" Demeter assured him. "Now say Munku."

"Mun…go…" said the orange tabby.

"Okay…let's try something simpler. How about just Mun."

"Mon?" Demeter stared at the young tom. How did he manage to get a syllable wrong! But she couldn't very well yell at him. He was honestly trying his best. Though he was barely younger than she was, she felt like she was working with a kitten… "Anyways, that silvah thing is goin' with ya, so I guess I'll…BOMBALURINA!"

Demeter was practically knocked over when Mungojerrie jumped up and ran over to the queen. But before he could even say anything, the red queen stormed past him, leaving the tom standing in bewilderment. Demeter got up and stood next to him. "How did you manage to remember her name and not even know Victoria's? I mean, you've lived on Victoria Grove." But the tom looked like he had switched his mission to finding any remaining queen at a suitable age to ask out, and walked off with a determined look in his eye.

So Demeter herself continued on her way to Munkustrap's den. When she finally arrived, she poked her head in and marveled. She had been in there recently, yes, but she didn't notice how he had changed things around. For one thing, his bed was now adorned with some very comfortable looking blankets that looked new, and she wondered for a moment if he stole it from his humans. And what was this? On a hook that was fixed inside his den from an old locker, there was a little bright pink bracelet that sparked a sweet memory in her head, making her laugh.

She walked up to the bracelet, and natural cat playfulness took hold of her, as she batted at the bracelet. Then she heard movement behind her. She moved to leave, but her claw was stuck to the bracelet on the hook! She pulled and pulled her paw frantically, sitting on the little makeshift bed, and pulling with all her might, trying to get lose.

"Munk, I need to talk to you!" Tugger let himself into the den, where he met eyes with Demeter, paw still stuck, who was trying her best to look nonchalant. The two stared at each other for a moment in silence. Then a playful smile spread across Tugger's face. "What…are you doing here? On Munk's bed, no less."

"Huh?" Demeter asked, before realizing what he was implying. "TUGGER! You have such a dirty mind!" She made to leave, but with her paw being stuck, she succeeded in spinning herself around, falling off the bed, thereby letting herself lose from the bracelet that kept her there. Tugger laughed as the queen quickly picked herself back up and stared angrily at the annoying tom. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm his brother," he defended, the smile wiping off his face slightly. "I can come and go in his den as I please. It's my right. Why would a queen like yourself be in here?"

Demeter opened her mouth to speak, then stopped. What was less incriminating to say? Surely, no matter what she said, he would turn it into something it wasn't. "I just came to talk to him," she said, testing the waters.

"On his bed?" asked the tom. "At night, alone, with him not here? I tell you, Dem, you don't exactly have the best excuse in the world."

Demeter gave an exasperated sigh. "You are so annoying, Tugger!" She went to storm out of the den, but Tugger was standing in her way. She moved to the right, he blocked her way. She moved to the left, he blocked her way again. "What is it?" she asked.

"I don't want to be the reason Munk sleeps alone tonight," he said, smiling coyly. Obviously he just wanted to get on her nerves…which he did.

By this point, Demeter was blushing furiously. "That's not why I came here!"

"Well, I'm sure you don't oppose the idea," Tugger said matter-of-factly.

"I…what…you…just…UGH!" She put a paw over her face. "I am done talking to you," she said, before storming past the tom, who was laughing lightly. "I don't know how my sister stands you." Demeter saw Tugger's tail twitch, and thought she heard him growl lowly, but she didn't put much thought into the possibility that she might have insulted the Maine Coon.

As she was busy storming off, she rounded the corner and saw Munkustrap talking to Cassandra. She stopped dead as she saw Cassandra moving in very slow, deliberate motions that she recognized as Bombalurina's flirting methods. Now they were being used against the oblivious silver tom, who stood there and talked as though it was normal for a tail to swish so seductively.

Apparently the cat felt the daggers being stared into her back, as she turned and saw Demeter glaring at the two. Munkustrap, of course, continued on talking, not even noticing the stand off that was taking place right in front of him.

Cassandra, seemingly testing the limits, moved her tail to brush against the tom's leg. Munkustrap moved his leg back, but never gave up his adamant explanation of whatever it was he was talking about. Demeter was ready to tackle the queen, but then she thought she shouldn't resort to physical confrontation. At least, not with a queen…

Demeter walked slowly up to the two, the Abyssinian watching every step the gold and black queen took. Munkustrap's one way conversation started coming into ear shot. "But I told him not to do it. You know Alonzo, he'll do whatever he wants to." Demeter made her way just behind Munkustrap. "Aside from that, I was a little confused as to why he was running around with Jemima the other day." She ducked under his arm as it was adamantly swinging about in explanation. "She's just a kitten, he shouldn't be playing around with her. He's supposed to be a Jellicle guardian, protector, or something to that effect." She leaned against him, and he put an arm around her, before he even realized she was there.

Looking down in surprise, Demeter could see him smile out of the side of her eye. She was hardly looking at him, though. She was too busy giving Cassandra a smug smile, as though to say, 'See? I'm his queen.' Cassandra rolled her eyes. "What are you doing?" Munkustrap asked coyly with a curious look on his face, looking down to Demeter.

"Nothing," she said, laying her head against his chest, getting closer to him, stealing a smug glance over to Cassandra. The opposite queen put up her paws in resignation, and turned to leave. She did, however, pull off one last tail brush against Munkustrap's leg. (Not that he noticed, or ever would, as he can be immune to the flirtatious ways of queens at times. Perhaps he was born without a flirt-recognizing gene…)

Demeter would have knocked Cassandra over if Mungojerrie hadn't jumped out from behind a junk pile and scared the queen. Demeter smiled and was glad that she had Mungojerrie was a friend, even if he didn't realize he had done her a favor. "Cassava!"

"It's Cassandra," the queen said with some annoyance.

"Yeah, you!" he said with some desperation. "I was wonderin' if you'd come with me to the Ball!"

Demeter would have finished listening to their conversation if Munkustrap hadn't taken her attention away from him by hugging her and leaning against an old oven, causing the queen to fall against him for support when she was caught off balance. He smiled down to her. "That was unexpected," he said. "After this morning, I was a little worried," he admitted.

"Why?" she asked

"Well, you were a little uncomfortable," he explained.

"So were you," she protested. But before they could carry their conversation any farther, there was a bellowing voice that broke the quiet night air.

"FINE! I'LL JUS' GO WITH MY SISTAH TO THE BALL, THEN!" Mungojerrie threw his paws in the air, and Cassandra watched, baffled, as the tom stormed off, very annoyed. After a moment of confusion, the sleek queen composed herself and continued on her way.

"What is he so upset about?" Munkustrap asked to no one in particular.

"Uh…I don't know," Demeter said, shrugging. She then smiled to Munkustrap.

"Tomorrow is the Jellicle Ball," she informed the tom.

Munkustrap laughed lightly. "How can I forget? All the kittens are so anxious; they keep asking me what it's about. Everyone wants to pair off, but no one seems to want to ask the other, so everyone will just 'see what happens'. Old Deuteronomy has me in charge of things until he comes, as he's sure he won't be here on time, Jenny keeps asking me if I will keep anything in order, Bustober wants to know if there will be food, otherwise, he doesn't think he will 'grace us with his presence', Gus wants me to be a pirate in a play he wants to do, I'm trying to get everyone together for the play we're going to do for Deuteronomy, and while everyone is begging me to see their dance number, some want me to dance with them, and I--"

"Who wants you to dance with them?" Demeter found herself demanding.

"Oh, you know, some of the toms," he said dismissively, wanting to get on with his complaints. "They want their dance numbers to be balanced. Some queens too. I already promised a dance with Victoria. She's very popular this year, though. I'm surprised she asked me to dance with her."

"And Cassandra?" Demeter asked, looking over to where the queen disappeared to.

"Complaining about Alonzo," he said, a little annoyed. "Something about his flirting with other queens, and saying 'I'll show him' and what not." Demeter nodded, realizing what had just happened between her and the queen she rarely associated with, but Munkustrap went on to his complaints. "I can't really participate, though."

"Why not?" Demeter asked, disappointed. Munkustrap smiled again, and Demeter realized how frazzled he looked. He tested hugging her tighter, and the queen let him, laying her head against his chest and listening to the deep resonating sound of his voice.

"I have to watch Old Deuteronomy. So much has happened lately…he seems so fragile. And with…" Munkustrap cut himself off and looked at Demeter, a little worried. Demeter gave him a questioning look, but Munkustrap shook his head, taking a paw and tapping her ear as though he had never seen a cat ear before. "I just want to make sure he will be okay."

"You were going to talk about Macavity," Demeter said. She felt his grip become tighter at the sound of the ginger cat's name, but he retained his composure. "I've been meaning to tell you… he…always…complained about Old Deuteronomy. Like he had a vendetta against him, or something…"

"Don't talk about him," Munkustrap said rather forcefully, to Demeter's shock.

"I…just thought you should know…for Old Deuteronomy's sake," she said, wondering if he heard what she had said. Munkustrap went quiet, looking off, seeming a little upset, loosening his grip on the queen. "Munkustrap?" The tom eventually brought his gaze back on the queen in his arms. Demeter had never seen him look that way before. Like he was holding back something that would be utterly terrifying if released. She didn't want to think of her silver tom being in any way like the ginger cat that terrified her so recently. "What is it?"

It took a while before the tom spoke again. But when he did, his voice was very even. "Why did you cry last night?" Demeter was a little shocked as he let go of her. "Do you really love me?"

Demeter was dumbfounded. It took a while of staring at the face that seemed unrecognizable to her at the moment to remind herself that that was Munkustrap. And he was afraid of being hurt by love, too. "I cried," she said cautiously, "because I have been scared for so long…and so empty…" her voice got a little more powerful as she spoke, slowly rising. "And so alone. And it wasn't until last night that I was so comfortable simply being with you, knowing you loved me, that I finally felt like things were okay. I will be okay. I'm safe. And you want to question that? That I love you? You think I said it just to make you happy? Why would I do that to myself? I spent so long trying not to tell you that, because it scared me!"

"So…" now Munkustrap looked confused. Good. She didn't like how he looked before. Like he was ready to break. But then again, everyone has their breaking points. She didn't want him to reach his. "You don't love Macavity," he said the last word with disgust.

Surely she didn't just hear that question. Fighting with the need to yell at him and severely hurt him for saying that, she put a paw to her head again. "Are you insane!" she asked finally. The two looked at each other for a moment, each breathing hard from the intensity their conversation had taken. "No!" she said finally.

The two were silenced, Demeter shaking like a leaf. She didn't know if she should leave, or stay, or yell some more. "I'm sorry," Munkustrap said, forcefully pulling Demeter into an embrace she was hardly ready to accept. "I've needed someone to tell me everything will be okay, too." Of course he did…So, why did it come as such a revelation to the young queen? There was only one thing she could think to do for him then: embrace the tom who was surprisingly as fragile as she was.

They stayed there until their hearts began beating at a normal pace again and their stomachs untightened, stuck in an embrace they were afraid to break. Slowly, their tense muscles loosened, and the awkwardness dissolved as they melted into the embrace they hoped to save them. And finally, Demeter purred against Munkustrap…her tom. No running away, no fear. "I must have really confused you," Demeter said in a light air.

"Everlasting Cat, yes, you did!" Munkustrap admitted, laughing lightly. The two broke away and looked up at each other, both with a gentle smile on their faces.

"Tugger was waiting for you in your den," Demeter said, deciding it was best they part ways then.

"My den, huh?" Munkustrap asked, looking off. "That can't be a good thing. He only comes when he needs to talk about something. I wonder how long he's been waiting?" Munkustrap smiled to Demeter and gently touched her cheek with his paw, his form of goodnight, before turning to head to his den. As Demeter watched him walk off, he turned around again abruptly, making her break her gaze so that he wouldn't know she was watching him. But, of course, he probably saw her. "How did you know he was in my den?"

"Uh," Demeter said, shrugging and shaking her head. "I don't know. And if Tugger says anything about it…I have no idea what he's talking about." Demeter would have smacked her forehead if Munkustrap weren't watching. But he slowly smiled then turned to leave.

The queen resigned herself for the night. All the anticipation for the following night had worn her out.

A/N: Heh, I had a good thanksgiving, yes. You are all so funny. I always feel weird writing any romatic type stuff. It's not really my style, lol, but you guys seem to be indicating that I'm doing okay in that department. I like to lean towards humor, if you haven't noticed. Or drama, but who doesn't? heh. And I still don't think it's legal to 'shnrug' a Jellicle, lol.

This chapter gave me hell, so please review!