Disclaimer: I don't own the SWAT Kats or any characters and plots related to the series.

AN:

Wow the ones of you who first read this story almosta year ago must really hate me for leaving you hanging. I finally reclaimed my muse for this story and took this chapter in a totally different direction than I had planned to take it. To make up for the HUGE wait between chapters I made this chapter as long as possible. I can honestly say that it is one of the longest chapters I've ever wrote for any of my fictions. I hope everyone likes it. I won't spoil it though so you will just have to read and find out what I wrote.

To all my loyal readers this chapter is for you. Thanks for reviewing my work and encouraging me to write more.

Now on with the story.

LAST TIME

Most kittens don't loose both their parents when they are twelve years old."

"I know that dad, but I want to help him. He's my half-brother and I feel useless when he acts like this." Michael patted Chance on the shoulder and sighed.

"You aren't useless Chance. All you can do is be there for Jake when he's ready to talk." Chance sighed in frustration.

"I know that but I want Jake to know that I'm there for him whenever he wants to talk and sometimes it seems like he doesn't realize that." Michael smiled at his son.

"He knows Chance, sometimes it just takes time for him to ask for help."

SKSKSKSKSKSKSKSKSKSKSKSKSKSKSKSKSKSK

Jake made his way upstairs to his room and remained completely unaware of the conversation between Chance and his father. If he had known that his adopted father was present he would not have been happy about it. When he finally reached his room he grabbed a clean towel and a set of clothes and headed for the bathroom.

He turned the shower on and waited for the water to warm up before climbing in. Even though the hot water washed away the grime from the shop it still didn't make him feel clean. He sighed in frustration and leaned against the wall of the shower. Slowly he allowed himself to sink to the floor where he pulled his knees to his chin.

He didn't know what was bothering him to be truthful. It was getting close to the anniversary of his parent's death but he had never felt so on edge about it like he did this year. Maybe it was because so many things had changed in the last couple of years. He had never expected to be kicked out of the Enforcers and he definitely never counted on taking up a life as a vigilante. He loved his life and he loved the good that he and Chance could do but it still ate at him.

He had planned to go to grad school after he finished his mandatory years in the Enforcers. He would never have joined up if Chance hadn't asked him to do so. He could have gotten any number of scholarships, grants, and loans if he had wanted them but he had let Chance drag him into the damn Enforcers. When they had gotten kicked out and Feral had stuck them with the yard his dreams of going back to school were shot.

In a sudden fit of frustration he slammed his fist into the wall of the shower. The sudden impact should have hurt more than it did but he didn't care. It would hurt later but that didn't matter either. Suddenly he felt emotionally exhausted. He sighed and pushed himself to his feet to finish his shower. Once he was finished he shut off the water and dried off quickly.

Suddenly he decided that he didn't want to be cooped up in the house with an overly curious Chance for the whole evening. Having made his decision he pulled on a pair of jeans and made his way into his room. He threw the wet towel in the hamper before dropping onto his bed and pulling on his boots. Once he had them laced he grabbed a black sweat-shirt from his closet and headed down stairs.

It wasn't until he reached the bottom of the stairs that he realized that Chance wasn't the only one sitting in their living room. His eyes narrowed as he saw Chance talking with his father. The two kats looked over at him as he stopped and Michael stood.

"Hey Jake..." Jake sighed in frustration, if he wasn't in the mood to talk to Chance than there was no way he was going to talk to his adopted father.

"Michael."

"Can we talk for a few minutes?" Jake shook his head.

"I'm on my way out."

"I'll keep it short."

"I'm not in the mood Michael."

"Jake?"

"Not now Chance. Just stay out of it." Jake knew he was being a little unreasonable but he really just wanted to be by himself. Before either Chance or his father could respond Jake dashed out of the living room and stopped in the kitchen long enough to grab his keys, cell phone and wallet.

As he got outside he was relieved to see that his jeep hadn't gotten blocked in when Michael arrived. He had just laid his paw on the door handle when Chance ran onto the porch.

"Jake wait up buddy." A tired sigh escaped Jake's lips and he felt his shoulders sag as he looked back at the older kat.

"What Chance? I'm really not in the mood right now."

"Why are you pushing me away Jake? I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine."

"You're lying." Jake didn't know what to say in response to that. He was lying but he really just wanted to be alone with his problems and work them out on his own. Normally he would have talked to Chance but so much of his frustration centered indirectly around the older kat and he didn't want to make Chance feel guilty.

"So I'm lying. It's not the first time." He could see Chance's eyes narrow but he pushed on. "Sometimes I need to work things out on my own Chance. You can't hold my hand all the time."

"I'm not trying to hold your hand. I'm trying to be there for you when you need it but the way you push kats away makes it pretty damn difficult sometimes." Some of the anger that had surrounded Jake like a halo seemed to leave him and his shoulders slumped a little further.

"I'm not trying to push you away Chance." His voice was quiet compared to the angry tone he had used seconds before. He could feel Chance's eyes on him and sighed again. "I'm leaving. I'll be back later tonight." He and Chance usually patrol on a night like this but he wasn't going to risk mentioning that with Michael so close.

He knew that Chance would try to respond so instead of waiting he pulled the jeep down open and climbed in. As he started the engine he glanced back at the porch to see that Chance was still watching him. Without a further glance he turned the key in the ignition and backed out of the driveway.

After he had disappeared Michael walked out on the porch and stood behind Chance.

"I'm sorry Chance."

"S'okay."

"Do you want me to stay until he comes back?" Chance shook his head.

"I think that would make whatever is bothering him worse. You two never did get along that great."

"I tried Chance. It was easier with Aliyah but Jake never let me in."

"Yeah." Chance sighed and brushed past his father as he made his way back into the house. He had no idea what was bothering Jake and it bugged him. It wasn't like Jake to completely block him out like this. He could hear his father following him into the house and he turned to the older kat.

"Are you heading out or do you want to stay for dinner?" Michael considered for a moment.

"Why don't you come back to the house with me. I'm sure your mother would like to see you. You and Jake almost never come to dinner since you got kicked out of the Enforcers. She worries you know." Chance shook his head.

"Yeah, she worries all right, just like a regular mother hen." He considered the offer for a moment before nodding. "Sure why not. Give me ten minutes to take a shower and change before we head out." The older kat nodded and watched as his oldest son headed upstairs.

He was worried about Jake's attitude. The younger kat rarely snapped at anyone. Of all the kats Michael knew Jake reserved the angry snappish attitude only for him. To see him angry with Chance meant that Jake was really upset about something. With a sigh he dropped onto the couch and waited for Chance to come back down.

He wished that things would have turned out differently for the two of them. He had been extremely shocked with Feral had kicked them out of the Enforcers and forced them into the jobs they had now. It was easy to see which of his sons had taken the switch worse. The sound of footfalls on the stairs caused him to look back to see Chance coming towards him.

"Ready to go?" Chance nodded and headed for the door as Chance scribbled a note for Jake and grabbed his keys.

Once Jake got away from the scrapyard it was though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He kinda felt bad about how he had treated Chance but he was not about to go back and apologize. Chance would just have to live with the fact that the two of them weren't going to get along all the time.

He sighed and checked his fuel meter. One of the good things about running the scrapyard was the fact that the military provided them with fuel to run the yard's equipment. It would have been nearly impossible for them to fuel the Turbokat otherwise. It also kept them from having to rely on the cities gas stations when they needed fuel for their own vehicles.

One of Jake's first projects after being assigned to the yard had been to refit an old Enforcer jeep for his personal use. He had completely gutted the vehicle and rebuilt it from the frame up. It still didn't run as smoothly as a normal car but it was his and he was quite proud of the job he had done with it. Not as proud of the job he had done on the Turbokat but that was a different matter.

Seeing that the tank was nearly full and it was a nice night so he decided to drive around for a while. The rush of air against his fur calmed him and the eventually rumbling of his stomach made him realize that he had skipped out on Chance without getting dinner. Checking the area around him he recognized where he was and that there was a coffee house nearby. The place had an amazing kitchen and he knew from experience that he could find something to eat there.

Feeling better because he actually had a plan he drove through the streets until he reached the cafe. Since it was after the evening rush the place was relatively empty and the she-kat behind the bar waved for him to take a seat where ever he pleased. He chose a booth near against the wall where he could see the door and made himself comfortable.

He had just placed his order when the bell on the door jangled and another customer walked in. Being a kat, and a slightly paranoid former Enforcer he cast a quick glance towards the door. Callie, it was Callie.

In all the time Jake had known her he had never seen her dressed in anything but professional attire. To see her dressed in jeans and a dark sweater with her hair pulled back was definitely a change. She had her laptop tucked under her arm and Jake guessed that she had come down to the cafe to get some work done. She looked so much younger when she wasn't dressed for work and Jake was reminded that she was only twenty-six or twenty-seven. She had been the youngest deputy mayor in the cities history.

As she looked around for a place to sit Jake looked away from her so she wouldn't catch him staring. Even if she didn't see him looking at her she still saw him and was making her way over. Suddenly he wished he was anywhere but there. Not because he didn't want to be around her but because he had no idea what to say to her.

"Hey Jake." The sound of her voice forced him to look up.

"Callie, hi." He didn't know if he should invite her to sit down or if she planned to sit somewhere else and was just saying hello. Thankfully she spoke again.

"Can I sit down or are you waiting on someone?" He shook his head and moved gestured to the opposite side of the booth.

"Sure go ahead." She smiled at him and slid into the seat across from him and placed her laptop on the table.

"Did you order yet?" He nodded.

"Yeah but only a minute ago." He was prevented from saying more when the waitress who had taken his order returned.

"Hello Callie. Can I take your order dear?" Callie smiled at the woman and nodded.

"A pitcher of coffee and my usual."

"Working on another speech for the mayor I take it?" Callie laughed.

"When am I not?" The two she-kats laughed quietly and Jake couldn't help but smirk slightly at the comment.

"Well I'll go put your order in with the kitchen. If either of you need anything just flag me down." Jake and Callie nodded their thanks and the she-kat left her alone.

"So do you come here often?" Callie nodded.

"Often enough to have a usual I guess." Jake smirked at her. Since she had shown up his mood had lightened considerably. "What about you? I don't think I've ever seen you in here before."

"I used to come here to study when I was in college." The thought of his days in college, before the start of his time in the Enforcers was a bitter reminder of why he had left the house for the evening. Callie must have noticed that something was suddenly amiss because she questioned him about it.

"Is something bothering you Jake?" He shrugged.

"I'm just tired I guess. Business at the garage is picking up. We have a steady stream of regulars now and it's exhausting. I don't have time to do anything I used to do." It surprised Jake how easily he was able to stretch the truth to suit him. She smiled in understanding but she knew that he wasn't telling her everything.

"I can understand how that would be stressful. So where is Chance? I honestly don't think I've ever seen you two apart." She knew immediately that bringing up Chance was a bad idea by the way Jake's face darkened and she quickly tried to fix her mistake. "I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject. I'm sorry." He sighed and leaned back in his seat.

"It's okay."

"Did you guys have a fight or something?" Callie knew that she probably shouldn't push him but she was curious about what had happened between them.

"Chance thinks that he needs to know about every last thing that is bothering me. It's annoying, if I don't want to talk about something I'm not going to talk about it. He just needs to deal with it." He sighed again and looked over at Callie.

"Have you told him to back off and leave you alone?" Jake couldn't help but laugh quietly.

"Yeah about a million times. He doesn't listen." He was going to continue but the waitress brought their food out. Jake stared at Callie in amusement.

"That is a huge slice of chocolate cake. How, pray tell, do you manage not to gain weight when you eat like that?" Callie poured herself a cup of coffee and dumped about four tablespoons of sugar into it before answering.

"I'm just lucky I guess."

"If you are so lucky you won't mind if I steal a bite of that than." Before she could react he dug his spoon into the huge bowl of ice cream that was sitting beside the cake. Callie laughed quietly and grabbed a couple french fries from his plate. He couldn't help but grin at her.

"An eye for an eye." He laughed.

"Fine, let's say we call it even before my food gets cold and your ice cream melts."

"Deal." She stuck out her hand and Jake reached out to shake it.

"I didn't just sign my life away did I? You are a politician." She laughed again.

"Nope, no life signing aways this evening. I'm not technically a politician. I'm a speech writer. Most of the jobs as deputy mayor are superficial. I'm just there to make the mayor look good. He's the experience and I'm the young kat who is there to win votes." She smile and his grin widened and they lapsed into a comfortable silence as they ate. Occasionally Callie would snatch a couple of his fries and in return he would steal bits of cake and ice cream. It was more fun than Jake remembered having in a long time. They were finishing up and picking at the remnants of their meals when Jake pushed his plate away.

"I should probably get going. You have work to do and I'll just distract you." She looked over at him and pouted.

"Can't you stay for a little while longer? Just so we can talk. I didn't realize until this evening that I don't know hardly anything about you and you've been one of my mechanics for about two years now."

"What about your speech?" She shrugged.

"It isn't due for a couple of days. Besides most of the speeches I'm writing now are just a rehash of the same talking points and stump speeches I've been using for the past month. Not much changes when all he does is public appearance speeches. I won't really be busy for another year when the mayor runs for reelection."

Jake checked his watch and realized that he probably should head back if he and Chance were to go out on patrol but a quick glance at Callie's face made him realize that he didn't care. Chance would probably kill him when he got home but he would have to take that risk. The city could do without them for one night.

"Chance will kill me if I stay out too late."

"I thought you wanted to avoid him for an evening."

"I do but he's very overprotective." Callie laughed quietly.

"You act like he's your big brother and not your best friend." Jake suddenly found his leftover fries very interesting.

"He is my brother, by adoption. His parents adopted my sister and I when we were kittens." Callie reached over and placed her tiny paw over his.

"I had no clue Jake. You guys have different names so I just assumed." He nodded.

"Yeah, I didn't want mine changed." They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence and Callie moved a leftover bit of cake around her plate with her fork as she tried to think of something to bring back the earlier mood.

"Tell me a story about you and Chance than. The funniest most embarrassing one you can think of. That way when I come out to the shop next time I can tease Chance about it." He looked up at her and saw that she wasn't joking. Her suggestion was brilliant and a dozen stories immediately rose to his mind of the time he and Chance were kittens. He couldn't help but smile softly at the memories as he chose a story to tell her.

They spent the next two hours trading stories and drinking coffee. It wasn't until their waitress brought them their bill that they were finally forced to stop. When Jake looked at the bill he realized that it was considerably less expensive than it should have been and he called her back to show her the mistake. She looked at the bill and smiled at him.

"Don't worry about it dear. I'm the only one working tonight aside from Sam in the kitchen and you two had such a good time tonight that I decided to leave a couple things off." Jake stared at her with his mouth open for a second before nodding and paying her. When Callie tried to give him the money for her part he declined.

"I told you business is good for us. I can afford to pay for cake and coffee." She smiled at him as she gathered her laptop and he escorted her to the door.

"Where is your car? I'll walk you to it." She shook her head.

"I only live a couple blocks away so I walked. I can walk home just fine." She turned away but he reached out and grabbed her elbow.

"No way. I'm not letting you walk, it's late. Come on I'll take you home." He pointed towards his jeep and she nodded and turned to follow him. As she had promised the ride was short and it passed mostly in silence. When he pulled up in front of her apartment building he smiled at her.

"Curb side service as promised." She smiled at him.

"Thank you Jake. I appreciate it." She fell silent for a moment before speaking up again. "Do you think we could do this again? I had fun tonight." He stared at her in silence and she was afraid he was going to say no before he finally nodded and a grin spread across his face.

"Sure if you want. That would be great. I know I would love to." A smile broke across her face and she pulled out a small note pad from her pocket and wrote down her phone number before pulling the piece of paper free and passing the pad to Jake.

He took the pad and noticed that his hands were shaking slightly as he jotted down his cell phone number. He ripped off the piece of paper and they exchanged the sheets. He stared down at the paper in shock. He had never expected that his little self pity party from earlier that evening would lead to this. He folded the paper carefully and tucked it inside his wallet before glancing back at her. She looked up at him.

"Thanks Jake. I had a lot of fun tonight." He nodded in agreement. Without warning she leaned over and kissed his cheek. It happened so fast that he wasn't sure it was real but when he looked back at her and saw her blushing and knew that it had. Suddenly the heat rushed to his cheeks and he could hear her laughing quietly at him. He managed to get the color of his face back to normal before turning to her.

"What was that for?" She feigned being hurt.

"For staying with me for the evening. I can't wait till I see Chance again. He is going to hate you after I talk to him."

"I think I can defend myself." She moved a little closer to him leaned her head on his shoulder.

"You had better because I owe you dinner. You paid tonight so next time is my treat." Jake turned his head slightly so he could see her better and slipped his arm around her slim waist. He really had no idea what he was doing but since she had initiated contact he was not going to push her away.

"Callie can I kiss you?" She seemed shocked by the question and he was afraid that he had pushed too far.

"What was it you said earlier about an eye for an eye? I think it would be only fair since I stole the first kiss don't you?" He grinned for a second before shifting a little and catching her lips. They pulled apart seconds later and just grinned at each other. Slowly she pulled back.

"You're a good kisser. I need to get upstairs and get to bed though. I have to be at work by eight. Jake looked down at the clock on his dashboard and drew in a sharp breath. It was after two in the morning.

"Chance is going to kill me." A frown crossed Callie's face and she looked guilty for a second before he shook his head and looked back at her. "It's not your fault. He's just going to have to deal with it because I wouldn't change this evening for anything." Her smile returned and she gathered her things before climbing out of the jeep. Jake watched her until she got the door to her apartment building open. As she was about to disappear inside she turned to him and waved before blowing him a kiss. He waved back and waited until the door had swung shut behind her before pulling away from the curb.

Chance was going to kill him. He knew it. He had completely blown off their patrol and not bothered to call. He reached down and flipped his cell phone on. He had turned it off sometime during his conversation with Callie because he didn't want to be interrupted when Chance tried to call him. There were three calls from Chance. Yes, he was definitely dead when he got back to the yard.

By the time he got back it was almost three in the morning. Much to his dismay he noticed that the lights were still on in the living room. He parked the jeep in its usual spot and took a deep breath before heading in the house. Chance had obviously heard him pull up because he was waiting by the time he reached the porch.

"Where the hell have you been Jake? I was worried sick. You missed patrol, you turned your phone off, I had no clue where the heck you were going." Jake instantly felt his bad mood returning.

"Don't scream at me Chance. I needed a night out. It happens occasionally okay?" Chance seemed to deflate.

"I was worried about you. You just stormed out of here without a word about where you were going and when you didn't come back for patrol I got a little freaked." Jake sighed.

"I should have called. I'm sorry." He tried to slip past Chance but the older kat blocked his path.

"You aren't even going to tell me where you were all night?"

"I drove around for a couple hours and I stopped at a coffee shop I used to go to during college. I spent the rest of the evening there." Jake had no intention of mentioning Callie.

"So you just sat at a coffee shop for hours doing nothing?"

"I have some books in the jeep. I went and I read. I just needed a quiet evening out Chance. I'll make sure I call next time." Chance didn't seem quite convinced but he allowed Jake to move past him. He turned to follow him inside.

"You heading to bed?" Jake yawned and nodded.

"Yeah. I'll see you in the morning. Hopefully we can finish up the rest of the cars in the lot by early afternoon. I don't think any of them have anything major to fix so they should be quick fixes." Chance nodded and they made their way upstairs and to their perspective rooms in silence.

I have a question that everyone has finished reading the chapter.

Should Chance be jealous of Jake and Callie or should he be happy for the two of them? Your task... Should you choose to accept it, is to review and let me know what you think.

I hope you guys don't hate me for the bad blood between Jake and Chance. I love the relationship the characters have in the show but I wanted to make my story unique and having Chance as the overprotective, highly concerned older brother worked well for my purposes.

The interaction between Jake and Callie was totally unplanned. I hadn't even planned to make this story romance but my muse started writing and I was happy with what it wrote so I'm not complaining. I know someone is going to say it so I'm just going to address it now. The characters in my fic are slightly younger in my fic than they appear to be in the show.

Jake is 25, Chance is 27 going on 28 and Callie is somewhere in between the two of them. She's closer to Jake's age than Chance's though.

I'll get more into the actual plot in the next chapter but I hope everyone liked this chapter and decides to review. There are SOOOOO few SWAT Kats fans out there and I try to review all the stories I can when they catch my interest. Let me know what you guys think. If you have written something just let me know and I'll gladly read it and drop you have review if I haven't done so already.

Well that is all for tonight. Catch you guys again soon. There won't be a long pause like last time. I promise.

Coldfire